Volume 109, Issue 12

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

OPINIONS

A&E

Grappling with Gentrification

“The Next Wonder Woman is a Cyborg”

Sophomore Kristin Cheng discusses how modern cities should prevent themselves from becoming inhospitable to the urban poor.

Arts & Entertainment editor Jacqueline Thom explores the femininity of “Alita: Battle Angel.”

see page 13

Volume 109 No. 12

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

see page 18

March 19, 2019

stuyspec.com

Art Department Receives $10,000 Paper Donation

NEWSBEAT Senior Hanah Jun was awarded the New York Times scholarship.

Juniors Alexia Leong and Joyce Liao placed second at the Cornell University High School Programming Contest.

Matt Melucci / The Spectator

Two Stuyvesant teams made it to semifinals and quarterfinals at the History Bowl.

By LAKSHYA RAJORIA and KAREN ZHANG Senior Theodore Peters passed the Physics Olympiad exam and qualified to take the USAPhO Exam in April.

Junior Daisy Shay received the First Place Award in the Digital Category for the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Metropolitan New York Chapter Poster Contest.

By KATIE NG, STEPHY CHEN and IAN LAU The School Leadership Team (SLT) revised the cell phone policy on February 13, expanding the designated areas where cell phones are permitted. Previously, students could only use mobile devices in the Student Union (SU) room, cafeteria, and library. The updated phone policy is now more inclusive, allowing cell phone usage on the first floor, half floor, and within a limited section of the second floor (from the printing station to Room 220).

Changes were first proposed by social studies teacher Eric Wisotsky, who felt that the old policy was outdated and needed adjustments to fit the current student needs. Wistoky also consulted with SU President William Wang and SU Vice President

The art department recently received a paper donation worth an estimated $10,000 from a parent of a freshman at Stuyvesant. The parent works for a company called Legion Paper. This donation is the first of its kind in Stuyvesant history.

The donation included several drawing pads and multiple types of paper, ranging from thin Japanese paper to thick watercolor paper. The new paper is of a better quality than the paper students have previously used. Paper is measured by weight per ream, and one ream is about 500 sheets of paper. The greater the weight of the paper, the thicker and more expensive it is because it can

hold more water. Each ream of the new paper weighs about 275 to 300 pounds. For comparison, the paper the art department currently uses is generally around 60 to 90 pounds.

Having better paper will help students in art classes produce better results. “When I did my watercolor painting project, the paper came off because I painted it so many times. Having better paper can definitely help,” freshman Yuqing Wu said.

ARISTA helped the art department organize the donation.

ARISTA members volunteered to help transport and sort the donated paper. They cleaned out the storage closet, removed old supplies, recycled paper that had been permanently bent or damaged by the sunlight, dusted the shelves, and reorganized the

supplies. This cleared space for the new shipments of paper.

“We really received an enormous amount of paper and [though] clearing the storage room required a lot of manual labor, it was exciting to see the new resources we had for our art department,” senior and ARISTA volunteer Lois Wu said.

The art department was especially grateful for the ARISTA members’ assistance. “We could not have accomplished setting up the closet with new paper if it was not for their help,” art teacher Jeanie Chu said.

Because they do not have to spend money on new paper, the art department will now be able to divert its budget toward other art materials. “Sometimes people [lose] supplies. When we [were working on] the portrait

SLT Introduces Revised Cell Phone Policy Vishwaa Sofat. “It is a draconian policy in the way that [the old cell phone policy] prevents students from using their phones as an educational resource, especially considering how much happens online...such as accessing your textbooks and getting your homework,” Sofat said.

Assistant Principal of Security, Health, and Physical Education Brian Moran agreed. “Before this year, the cell phone policy was updated four years ago by New York City’s Department of Education (DOE). The city changed the policy from not having cellphones to allowing cellphones in schools,” Moran said. “We felt like it was time to update the language. The language in the old cell phone policy was outdated in that it included the use of MP3 players, PSP devices, Blackberries.”

Before any changes were

made, the administration and the SU “tried to get a sense of where electronic devices were being used and what they were being used for. The administration, [...] with the help of the SU, found that students were using them to study and do homework. We had allowed laptops, and it was inequitable that if you don’t have a laptop, you can’t do homework in the hallways,” Moran said.

Wang elaborated, emphasizing that “one of the biggest issues was that Wisotsky and the other deans worried about students who were unable to bring their laptops to school, knowing that students who didn’t have laptops were at an unfair disadvantage compared to students who did. Around 44 percent of this school is eligible for free lunch, and we didn’t want any of those 44 percent—[who] may or may not have laptops—to

fall behind while everyone else is using his or her laptop to finish his or her homework,” Wang said.

During the SLT meeting, parents and teachers expressed concern regarding the possibility of students taking advantage of the new policy and disrupting classes in session. Accordingly, the SLT settled on the compromise of allowing students to use their phones within a limited space. “We felt that we needed to maintain order and prevent disruption, so we decided [to allow cell phones only] on the first and second floors, where there are not as many classrooms and where most students go to do their homework,” Moran said.

Wang supported this new change. “Many students use their phones during their free periods. If you look at where the students are during their free periods, they’re

project, some of the sharpies were lost,” Yuqing Wu said.

The new paper will also help the art department thrive and is a welcome change from the norm, where the majority of funding usually goes toward STEM-based classes and extracurriculars. “It was really exciting to see that […] the arts would continue to flourish at a school typically known as a ‘STEM’ school,” Lois Wu said.

The donation will ultimately help the art department support students in their artistic endeavors by giving them access to both better quality paper and other resources as a result. “It’s really not typical for art students to have access to this type of paper,” Chu said. “We were super enthusiastic about receiving it.”

at the half [and] first floors. Now that those areas are being covered by this policy, fewer students will be scared of using their phones.

That’s important for two reasons.

One is that at the end of the day, Mr. Moran’s job shouldn’t be giving back phones. Instead, he’ll be focusing his energy and resources on other things like student safety and security. And secondly, if there is influx on the first floor, that should not be a problem because that space isn’t utilized by students when it could and should be. We have security down there, so it shouldn’t result in any problems, and I think we’re really using our resources within the school more appropriately,” he said.

Another concern surrounding the new changes to the policy continued on page 4

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The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

News

By JULIAN GIORDANO

Understanding the Bill to Change the SHSAT

In early June of 2018, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor Richard

Carranza unveiled a plan to change admissions to the city’s nine specialized high schools. This requires amendments to the New York State Law that originally created the Specialized High Schools based

on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the single factor of admission. The Bill is currently in the State Assembly, though it has yet to be discussed or voted on. Over the past

eight months, there has been much debate over the proposed changes and how they will affect the diversity, performance, and equity of what are considered some of the top schools in the city. However, this

discussion lacks foundation in the contents of the bill itself (10427--A). The specific changes proposed in the bill have been analyzed below with the intent of providing clarity.

AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to admission to the specialized high schools in the city of New York The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

§ 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education law, as amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows: all specialized high schools. The specialized high schools shall include the schools known as The Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and such additional schools as may be designated by the chancellor from time to time. (1) The specialized high schools shall be permitted to maintain a discovery program (2) in accordance with the law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section; provided that the requirement that a student who is considered for the discovery program attend and pass a preparatory program administered by the specialized high school, (3) demonstrating thereby his or her ability to successfully cope with the specialized high school program, shall refer to a program that can take place during the school year or the summer; admissions to the specialized high schools shall be conducted in accordance with section twenty-five hundred ninety-h-l of this article; § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2590-h-1 to read as follows: § 2590-h-1. Admissions to the specialized high schools. (4) 1. Admissions to the specialized high schools shall be conducted in accordance with this section, provided that students may also be admitted to the specialized high schools for the two thousand nineteen--two thousand twenty and the two thousand twenty--two thousand twenty-one school years pursuant to the discovery program (5) as set forth in section twenty-five hundred ninety-h of this article.

2. For the admissions process conducted during the two thousand eighteen--two thousand nineteen school year to determine admissions to the specialized high schools for the two thousand nineteen--two thousand twenty school year, students who meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision shall be offered admission to the specialized high schools in the following order: a) students attending public schools located in the city of New York who are in the top three percent of their eighth grade class, as calculated based on multiple measures of student achievement pursuant to subdivision five of this section, and who achieve a composite score above or at the cutoff composite score for the school such students have committed themselves to attend, pursuant to subdivision five of this section, provided that such students shall also rank in the top quarter of public school students in the eighth grade citywide based on such multiple measures of student achievement, and provided further that openings shall be reserved for such students at each specialized high school as set forth in subdivision seven of this section; (6) b) students in the city of New York who take a competitive, objective and scholastic achievement examination in the eighth grade and achieve a score above or at the cut-off score for the openings that remain in the school for which such students have taken the examination; (7) and c) students in the city of New York who take a competitive, objective and scholastic examination in the ninth grade and achieve a score above or at the cut-off score for the openings that remain in the school for which such students have taken the examination. (8) 3. For the admissions process conducted during the two thousand nineteen--two thousand twenty school year to determine admissions to the specialized high schools for the two thousand twenty--two thousand twenty-one school year, students who meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision shall be offered admission to the specialized high schools in the following order: a) students attending public schools located in the city of New York who are in the top five percent of their eighth grade class, as calculated based on multiple measures of student achievement pursuant to subdivision five of this section, and who achieve a composite score above or at the cutoff composite score for the school such students have committed themselves to attend pursuant to subdivision five of this section, provided that such students shall also rank in the top quarter of public school students in the eighth grade citywide based on such multiple measures of student achievement, and provided further that openings shall be reserved for such students at each specialized high school as set forth in subdivision seven of this section; (9) b) students in the city of New York who take a competitive, objective and scholastic achievement examination in the eighth grade and achieve a score above or at the cut-off score for the openings that remain in the school for which such students have taken the examination; and c) students in the city of New York who take a competitive, objective and scholastic examination in the ninth grade and achieve a score above or at the cut-off score for the openings that remain in the school for which such students have taken the examination.

4. For the admissions process conducted during the two thousand twenty — two thousand twenty-one school year and subsequent school years to determine admissions to the specialized high schools for the two thousand twenty-one--two thousand twenty-two school year and subsequent school years, students who meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision shall be offered admission to the specialized high schools in the following order: a) students attending public schools located in the city of New York who are in the top five to seven percent of their eighth grade class, such percentage to be determined to allow openings to remain for admission pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision and as calculated based on multiple measures of student achievement, determined as set forth in subdivision five of this section, and who achieve a composite score above or at the cut-off composite score for the school such students have committed themselves to attend, determined as set forth in subdivision five of this section, provided that such students shall also rank in the top quarter of public school students in the eighth grade citywide based on such multiple measures of student achievement, and provided further that openings shall be reserved for such students at each specialized high school as set forth in subdivision seven of this section; (10) and b) students in the city of New York who have a minimum grade point average of 3.7, provided such students shall be admitted by a random selection process for the openings that remain in each school. (11) 5. The chancellor shall determine the multiple measures of student achievement as referenced in this section, and the weight of each such measure, provided that such measures shall include academic course grades and standardized test scores. (12) A description of such measures and the weight accorded to each shall be made publicly available, including on the website of the city school district. A student who is evaluated based on such measures for the purposes of this subdivision shall be assigned a composite score based on such weighted measures. Offers of admission to the specialized high schools pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivisions two through four of this section shall be determined by arranging the composite scores of all students who are assigned such scores and who then commit themselves to attend a particular specialized high school in descending order from the highest score and counting down to the cut-off composite score, which shall be the composite score of the last student who receives an offer of admission to such school based on the number of openings available in such school pursuant to such paragraph. (13) 6. Offers of admission to the specialized high schools pursuant to paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivisions two and three of this section shall be determined by arranging the scores of all the candidates who took the competitive, objective and scholastic examination and who then commit themselves to attend a particular specialized high school in descending order from the highest score and counting down to the cut-off score, which shall be the score of the last candidate who receives an offer of admission to such school based on the number of openings available in such school.

7. The number of openings reserved at each specialized high school for students who meet the criteria set forth in paragraph (a) of subdivisions two through four of this section shall be determined by multiplying: (a) the total number of ninth grade available openings at such school; by (b) the number of students who meet the criteria set forth in paragraph (a) of subdivisions two through four of this section divided by the aggregate number of ninth grade available openings in all the specialized high schools. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, admission to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and other schools of the arts that may be established pursuant to section twenty-five hundred ninety-h of this article, shall be determined by a student’s demonstrated abilities in music or the arts as well as such student’s scholastic achievement. § 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the amendments to paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education law made by section one of this act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such section pursuant to subdivision 12 of section 17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, as amended when upon such date the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect. (14)

(1) The Hecht-Calandra of 1971 was a piece of state legislation that created the first system of specialized high schools (Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, and Brooklyn Technical) that used a single-test admissions system. As time has gone by, new schools have been added (LaGuardia School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Brooklyn Latin, High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering, High School of American Studies, Queens High School for the Sciences, and Staten Island Technical). This bill would allow the Chancellor of the NYC DOE, currently Carranza, to designate new schools under the Specialized system.

(2) The discovery program has existed since the Hecht-Calandra Act, but de Blasio and Carranza have recently worked to grow and expand it, which they can do without state approval. The discovery program is a “summer enrichment program” which allows students who score directly below the cutoff for the lowest-cutoff specialized high school, who are either from low-income households, English Language Learners, or have unstable housing situations, and who attend a high-poverty middle school (at least a 60 percent Economic Need Index) to be placed into specialized high schools. The purpose of the discovery program is to increase the racial diversity of specialized high schools, but in an indirect way using economic need. The DOE is planning to increase the number of seats available at Specialized High Schools through the discovery program from 4 to 13 percent for the applicants for the 2019-2020 school year, and 20 percent for the applicants for the 2020-2021 school year. At Stuyvesant, this would mean approximately 120 students from the discovery program in next year’s incoming class, and 180 the year after. The discovery program is currently the subject of a civil rights lawsuit contending that the rights of equal protection under the law (the 14th Amendment) are being violated, particularly for Asian Americans.

(3) The discovery program requires its students to receive some form of instruction to bring them to the level of performance expected at specialized high schools.

(4) The following section of the bill focuses on the plan to phase out the SHSAT over the course of three years. The end goal of the phase-out is to make specialized high school admissions offers to the top seven percent of each DOE middle school based on a diverse set of criteria including middle school grades, citywide performance, and a ranking system similar to the one the SHSAT currently uses.

(5) These years of admission are for the upcoming school years, and if the bill doesn’t pass by then, the bill will be amended to be shifted to a later time-frame.

(6) In the first transition phase, students in the top three percent of their eighth grade class based on the measures of achievement the bill uses (outlined later in the bill), will receive a composite score similar to one received by students taking the SHSAT. This composite score will be used to rank students and determine what schools they can gain admission to based on their choice ranking.

The only other limit placed on students is that their composite score must also rank among the top 25 percent of students citywide.

(7) This section of the bill deals with the remaining seats available in specialized high schools, which will be given to students who take the SHSAT. (8) This section clarifies that all ninth-grade students applying to specialized high schools will do so through the SHSAT during the first year of the transition phase.

(9) The admissions process in the second transition phase is the same as the first transition phase, but with the top five percent of each eighth grade class instead of top three percent.

(10) In the final transition phase, the percent of students at the top of each school’s eighth grade class expands from five percent to between five and seven percent.

(11) Rather than continuing to be admitted by the SHSAT, students filling the remainder of open seats in specialized high schools will be randomly selected if they have a GPA of 3.7 or above.

(12) This part of the bill gives authority to the chancellor of the DOE to decide what factors will be assessed when creating composite scores for students eligible for specialized high schools. Though this is ambiguous, Carranza has said that the factors will include 7th grade Math and English Language Arts State Exam scores, as well as 7th grade English, math, social studies, and science grades. It is important to note that these factors could be changed by any future chancellors without requiring state or city approval.

(13) As is currently used with the SHSAT, students would still receive offers to specialized high schools based on a score ranking whereby the students with the highest scores receive offers to their first-choice schools until the number of seats fills up, after which second, third, etc. choices are considered. The only difference would be that the score used for ranking would be a composite of the multiple measures of student achievement and not the performance on a single exam.

(14) As mentioned earlier, this ensures that if the bill doesn’t pass before the next round of admissions, the dates planned for its transition phase will be shifted to a later date. For example, if the first phase does not occur during the 2018-2019 school year, the dates will be changed to the 2019-2020 school year.

The Spectator â—? March 19, 2019

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The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

News

By KATIE NG, STEPHY CHEN and IAN LAU continued from page 1 was that the increased usage of electronic devices throughout the school community would result in less frequent social interactions between students. Contreras acknowledged this issue and held it in high consideration when discussing revisions to the policy.

“Recently, I read a New York Times article about cell phone usage and how it impacted everyone tremendously. Even I feel attached to my phone, and I feel that it always needs to be with me. The administration has recognized the importance of using electronic devices for academic and work spaces, but we also want to maintain many social aspects of the school as well. We didn’t want Stuyvesant students to lose the sense of communication and building relationships that [the school] currently upholds, but we also wanted to provide the stu-

SLT Introduces Revised Cell Phone Policy dents with more opportunities to complete their work,” Contreras said.

An unresolved debate remains regarding whether parents should be required to pick up their child’s phone after their first offense, since it is a major inconvenience for families who live further away and for parents who cannot spare the time away from work.

Sofat proposed an alternative to this policy to accommodate for these inconveniences. “We should be using resources like Talos or automated voice messages to inform parents [that their child’s phone has been confiscated]. We can easily set up a system so that when a student’s phone is taken away, the parent can get an e-mail through Talos and a phone call through the automated calling system. Then, the parent would be expected to call Mr. Moran and discuss how to proceed,” he said.

Though this part of the policy has not been revised, the expansion of areas where cell phones are allowed reduces the chances of confiscation and results in fewer

parental visits to school to retrieve cell phones.

While the recent changes to the policy have been progressive, there are still many students advocating to further reduce limitations on cell phone usage. Some students have voiced that the cell phone policy should be expanded to allow cell phones in other areas as well, such as in the hallways of upper floors.

However, other students disagree, believing that the current changes to the policy are sufficient enough. “There is already a generous amount of space given to students who need to use their electronic devices for academics.

If you expand it [to] other floors, people will abuse that power and [cut] class and [be] on their phones in the hallway,” sophomore Alan Guo said.

Though Guo believes that the cell phone policy should not be expanded to other floors, he strongly believes in allowing the use of headphones and speakers. “I believe that it will be beneficial for students to use their

headphones for academics, such as watching lectures or files that were assigned,” Guo said. “It will [also] benefit students to use their speakers for recreational [purposes], as they provide students with peaceful spaces within a stressful environment like Stuyvesant. In addition, it is necessary for students to use music during recreational activities such as dance and singing—that is, to practice for Stuy Squad, SING!, and SOS.” Sofat diagrees, describing the use of speakers and headphones as a disruption and safety hazard.

“Speakers should not be allowed.

Not only are they rude to the teachers teaching in classrooms, but they don’t really create the best environment,” he said. “The whole rationale [behind not allowing headphone usage] is that you can’t use headphones for safety purposes, such as if there [were to be] an announcement being made about a fire. Those things matter, and if students have headphones on, they might ignore them. It might not be what the students want, but it’s with good reason.

It is also for the students’ safety, which is our first priority.”

Junior Chris Brown agrees with Sofat regarding speaker usage, but he is not satisfied with the rationale behind headphone prohibition given by the administration. “[The administration] says you won’t hear important announcements, but what if I’m sleeping?” Brown questioned.

Previously, the cell phone policy implemented by the DOE prevented students from accessing their cell phones in school.

The new updates made four years ago by the DOE lifted the ban on cell phone usage and allowed each school to establish its own cell phone policy. The new changes to Stuyvesant’s cell phone policy has allowed for significant change within the majority of the student body. Following the resolution of the revised cell phone policy, the SLT and administrative staff continue to look forward to reviewing and updating other policies to further improve the Stuyvesant community.

Environmental Club Increases Efforts Towards Bettering Stuyvesant

By HAYEON OK, ANNETTE KIM and REBECCA KIM

At Stuyvesant, the administration has consistently had issues getting students to help maintain their school environment. “It was one of the things that bothered me around the cafeteria for the past two years I’ve been here, the idea that we’re not recycling the way that we should be and that people weren’t taking individual responsibility for their own messes on the tables,” Principal Eric Contreras said.

However, in the new semester, there has been a greater effort to monitor recycling at Stuyvesant, such as stricter regulation of trash separation and the share table, and more emphasis on raising awareness of recycling. With the efforts of both school officials and members of the Stuyvesant Green Team, many hope that the cafeteria can become cleaner and that Stuyvesant can become more environmentally aware, decreasing its waste output.

Members of the Stuyvesant

Environmental Club uphold these responsibilities. The Environmental Club promotes a greener community through Terracycling bins, which divide landfill from recycled material and compost, as well as volunteer activities and the rooftop garden.

These recycling efforts started four years ago with the Zero Waste initiative in New York City. The Zero Waste Campaign is a program that aims to have New York City schools contribute zero waste to landfills by 2030. Stuyvesant was one of the first 150 schools to take part in this initiative and is continuing to strive to become a zero waste school.

Sophomore Sammi Chen, a member of the Environmental Club, expressed similar disappointment. “It’s also sad to see how terms like recycling and helping the environment have become topics of jokes, complaints, and they are overall just not taken very seriously anymore.” Chen said.

“While major consequences may not impact us now, they will sooner or later.”

“Many people don’t recycle or

don’t think it’s important because not everyone does it. They might feel like their everyday trash won’t significantly change the condition of the environment, so they don’t take the extra step to recycle it,” sophomore and member of the Environmental Club Haley Huh said. Huh believes that this student apathy may stem from a “one individual doesn’t matter” mindset and hopes that people will realize that everyone must contribute to make change possible.

Students are expected to put their trash items in their respective bins and may face disciplinary action if they do not follow the policies put in place regarding recycling and composting. But recently, problems have surfaced as students have become less cooperative with cleaning up and separating their trash. “Before stronger regulations were in place, many students threw away their whole trays into the trash bins or didn’t sort their trash thoroughly. Some students just left their trays on the tables, so they ended up going in the trash,” biology teacher Deame Hua said.

Members and advisors of the Environmental Club hope that by making new initiatives, such as the share table, and by spreading information, students will be more collaborative. The share table, named “The People’s Pantry,” is located near the cafeteria exit and allows students to leave unopened food for other students who may take it as they please. “The share table is a place for students to leave uneaten food that can then be taken by other students who may want the item. What is left at the end of the day still is placed into [the] compost bin, but the share table will help to decrease the [amount of] food that is wasted,” biology teacher Marissa Maggio said.

In addition, last year the Environmental Club created hallway grading systems where every recycling and trash bin station is graded on a scale from A to F. These grades are based on “[whether] the contents are thrown away correctly in the proper bins and how clean the surrounding area is,” Chen said.

Students are also working on the bottle cap project, a mural cre-

ated with bottle caps that will be on display in the cafeteria soon. “[We are] redesigning three of the bulletin boards near the windowside entrance to the cafeteria to further promote recycling and raise awareness about trash accumulation,” Chen said.

With all these initiatives, Contreras hopes to see his students grow to be environmentally aware. “[We] bear the responsibility to make sure that we graduate knowledgeable citizens when it comes to environment sustainability, especially given that global warming, its impact on [the] environment, and how it connects to personal responsibility [are some] of the things that we don’t really speak enough about,” Contreras said.

Contreras also hopes that students can take the habits they develop at school regarding recycling and apply them to their lives at home as well. “I hope that 3400 students go home and actually do things like recycle at home,” he said. “I feel that collectively as a group, we can actually make a significant difference over [the] years.”

Centralized Online Grading System to be Implemented Next Semester

By GRACE CANTARELLA and DIEGO VASQUEZ

Starting in the fall of the next school year, Stuyvesant will implement a centralized grading system in which teachers must choose either Skedula (IO Education), alternatively known as Pupilpath, or Jupiter Ed as a grading platform. This decision comes as one of Stuyvesant’s recent initiatives to improve the school’s use of online technology, also seen in the development of Talos, which manages students’ attendance, program changes, textbooks, and lockers.

Spearheading the initiative is Principal Eric Contreras, who recognizes the importance of centralizing the school’s grading methods and resolving the problems created by using many grading platforms.

“When I first became principal, there were between 12 and 14 different platforms, and a parent raised the issue that in order to get onto their child’s gradebook, [...] they had to go to five or six different sites each night, creating undue burden,” Contreras said. “Each site has different protocols for where work is posted, where announcements are made. Each one has embedded communication systems for e-mail between teacher and students, and it just becomes unnecessarily unmanageable for students

and parents to have to navigate them on a daily basis.”

Many students agree and note that managing the current range of grading platforms contributes to their stress. “Seeing my grades would motivate me to do better or let me know that I’m doing all right, which would take away some stress,” sophomore Brinja Vogler said. “My Mandarin teacher, for example, doesn’t post grades anywhere, so my report card is my only way of knowing how I am doing as a whole.”

Jupiter Ed and Skedula are the top choices for usage next semester, as they are both widely used sites by the Department of Education (DOE). “The advantage of them is that they both sustain a large number of schools, so they know how to troubleshoot issues because they have to navigate the needs of hundreds of schools in the DOE,” Contreras said.

However, Jupiter Ed and Skedula will primarily be used to track assignment grades, meaning Talos will still be the main source of academic communication among the school, students, and parents. “We’re not looking for a full information system. The plan is to maintain Talos to see a transcript of your grades or your attendance.

These other platforms, for now, will be gradebooks,” Contreras said.

Along with the implementation of a more centralized grading system, students and parents will be sent a summary of the student’s grades every two weeks as opposed to at the end of each marking period. “Having updates at least every two weeks allows students to reflect on their current state and gives them the time to make adjustments in their work patterns or study habits with enough time so that it doesn’t just live on the report card,” Contreras said. “Having greater frequency of performance data and academic data allows students to be more responsive and own their adjustments.”

However, some teachers, like those from the English department, have raised concerns about the synergy between their grading styles and sites like Jupiter Ed. “One challenge, for instance, for English teachers is that in other subjects you are probably more likely to get more grades during a week or a marking period,” Assistant Principal of English Eric Grossman said.

“Teachers don’t want to have their hand forced into giving lots of tiny assessments just to have something to put online.”

Additionally, teachers don’t want to send the wrong message to concerned parents. “One concern I know that some English teachers have expressed is that if you or

your parent were to look on Jupiter Grades, then you might have 10 math grades over the course of two weeks and no English grades,” Grossman said. “The perception then is, ‘Wow, they’re doing so much in math and nothing’s happening in English,’ when that is not in fact the case at all.”

Assistant Principal of Mathematics Eric Smith feels similarly.

“Students and parents are obviously very concerned about grades. The biggest drawback will be if making grades accessible on a consistent basis fuels the concern over grades and makes them the focus over the actual learning,” Smith said in an email interview.

Teachers may also have more effective means of communicating with their students that they would have to exchange for either Jupiter Ed or Skedula. “Though it gets disorganized to handle checking grades across a number of websites, I can understand why certain platforms are used over Jupiter or Pupilpath,” sophomore Jillian Lin said. “For instance, one of my teachers in the past used a website that did show grades, but also was used for homework, submissions, and a more organized way of announcements than what I know from my experience with Jupiter.”

Despite his worries, Grossman plans to cooperate with the princi-

pal’s plan while ensuring it does not damage the teaching styles of the instructors in his department. “My job is to make sure there’s some consistency among English classes, but also to support the differences among classes and the ways in which it’s its own unique subject,” Grossman said. “I’ve been really clear with my teachers that as long as they continue doing the good job that they are doing, I’m not going to allow the fact that we’re moving [toward] an online platform [...] change what is good and useful about their teaching in any big way.”

While Smith also has concerns about the centralization, he acknowledges that it will improve communication regarding grades.

“Do I think it will be successful? I suppose that depends on how you define ‘success’ in this context. Do I think it will make grading more transparent? Yes,” Smith said in an e-mail interview.

While teachers will be able to choose between the two platforms this coming September, Contreras plans to use a single platform and phase out the other one, should a vast majority of teachers prefer one over the other. “If in the future there is an overwhelming feeling that one system is better than the other, then we will move that way,” Contreras said.

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

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Features Behind the Scenes of SING! Part 2: A Day in the Life of SING!

By AFLAHA FATEHA and WEST GORMAN

By NICHOLAS MARTIN Though Stuyvesant’s stressful work environment pushes students to their limits, Stuyvesant also offers a variety of extracurriculars that allow people of similar interests and talents to come together. These extracurriculars include the diverse selection of sports teams available for students, who devote invaluable time to practice and compete. Despite our school’s large pool of student athletes, there are some who take the extra step to play outside of Stuyvesant.

Some students play sports that are not available in school.

Sophomore Sabira Tasneem takes taekwondo at her local dojang in Brooklyn and has been fully committed ever since the location opened near her home three years ago. She started as a student and is now a staff member at the dojang, teaching new techniques to younger kids and immersing herself into a tight-knit community that has become her second family.

However, the job also requires her to stay until 8:00 p.m. every weekday. Ironically, the responsibility becomes her motivator to stay on task. Tasneem claims the program pushes her to try harder in school. “I’m still on top of my school work because otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed to staff. It’s

fill out a countless number of forms, and make sure that their entire crew is on top of their game. Every dance director must run their rehearsals in a way that assures productivity.

“First we warm up, and I like to have us run in a line,” Junior SING! modern director Loula Koustas described. “Then we stretch all directions of splits, our back and our sides. We mark the choreo once, and then we dance up to wherever we had left off, with music this time.

We make sure to clear up any confusion before we start teaching. To teach, we show them the steps in chunks, have them do it without music, and then with music, until they get it enough to teach them the next part. When we finish teaching for the day, we usually have time to run it a few times [fully] before we leave,” Koustas said.

The run-throughs during mid-winter break constitute a major part of SING!. Dance crew directors use break rehearsals to drill choreography. Other crews take advantage of the time and use break rehearsals to get a lot of their work done. However, break rehearsals are not always the most productive. “[They give] the illusion of hyperproductivity. They were longer, but many SING! participants weren’t able to come to rehearsal during the break. Because of this, a lot of the material that we taught needed to be retaught.

That being said, they were also more enjoyable. We had a lot of time per rehearsal day, so we were able to take breaks in between work periods,” Lee said.

The lost time from people

not being able to attend break rehearsals leads to the last few weeks before SING! being extremely stressful. “The most stressful part of directing is coordinating with different people in order to make sure everything gets done,” Junior SING! tap director Elizabeth Doss said.

SING! directors not only have to ensure their crew is in place, but they also have to communicate with producers, other directors, and faculty advisors to ensure that the production runs smoothly.

Despite the stress that having so many rehearsals adds, the many crews of SING! are confi-

Beyond The Walls of the Stuyvesant Gym the reason why I don’t procrastinate like I used to,” she said.

The late nights are offset by the program’s close proximity to Tasneem’s house. Though Tasneem only has to travel a couple of blocks, sophomore Ethan Shenker has to travel all the way to Long Island to play hockey, a sport that is underrepresented within the city. Shenker, who began playing at age eight, is currently a goalie at a club that meets over the weekend.

Shenker is able to use the skills he learned playing baseball to excel at the goalie position, and encourages any new prospects to learn a little at a time. “Each sport is made up of a few fundamental concepts, so understand and master each and then just put it all together at the end,” he advised.

Hockey may not be very easy to play within the city due to the lack of rinks, but it is certainly well known and has a large fan base. On the other hand, sophomore Ariel Schechter participates in competitive rowing, a sport most people are unfamiliar with.

Schechter, who is part of the Row New York program, realizes and enjoys the uniqueness of his sport. He also enjoys the even playing field that all new recruits start on, claiming that in sports like soccer, “people are just naturally talented, whereas in rowing nobody is great from the start,

and you have to earn your skill,” he said. This merit-based system makes the rowing community and competitions all the better for Schechter, who goes to practice five times a week year-round at the program’s Manhattan boathouse, located along the Harlem River.

This river, compared to the Hudson, has less traffic and calmer

ence and muscle memory about the game and learn the style that fits you best,” he advised.

Sophomore Ezekiel Stahl is one of the few students who play multiple sports in and out of school while also managing Stuyvesant’s rigorous courses.

Not only is Stahl on the boys’ track team at Stuyvesant, but

dent that SING! will be worth it in the long run.

“I’m super excited because I know how much work everyone’s putting in, meaning the show must be amazing,” sophomore and Soph-Frosh SING! step director Raymond Xu said. With so much time and effort put into SING! by the crews, everyone is on the edge of their seats for the first SING! performance on March 13. As Junior SING! step director Wendy Yan puts it, “Without a doubt, SING! is definitely worth all the time and effort, and there really isn’t any other experience in [at] Stuyvesant that can replace such an experience.”

you will end up quitting,” he said.

Sophomore Ethan Lin was forced to quit not because of the sport, but because of the external pressures placed on him.

Lin, who previously played tennis, chose to quit the sport because of the amount of school work and pressure to get better grades. Instead of pursuing a

“You have to be able to harness your will at first or you will end up quitting.” —Ezekiel Stahl, sophomore waves, making it ideal for rowing.

Senior Jerren Dang, who is a member of the Stuyvesant boys’ volleyball team, travels from school to play volleyball for NYC Impact. This team, with practices spread out across the city, requires him to practice every weekend and participate in games and tournaments outside the state. Dang, whose mother introduced him to volleyball, enjoys the freedom and independence that the Impact has to offer, allowing him to hone his skills the way he sees best.

Dang, who will be attending Boston University next fall, says he will definitely try out for the college team. “Get more experi-

he also swims for the Metropolitan Sharks. He was introduced to swimming by his eighth-grade friend, who is now a junior Olympic swimmer, and saw it as a way to stay in shape.

Despite prioritizing track, Stahl is still invested in swimming, taking sophomore swim gym to maximize the amount of time spent in the pool. He no longer sees swimming as just a way to stay in shape, but additionally as a stress reliever and a way to clear his mind. Stahl pushes himself to the limits every time he competes and suggests other athletes do the same: “You have to be able to harness your will at first or

high-commitment sport, Lin now works as an intern at Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side, developing his passion for biology. He also sees his decision to quit tennis as a smart choice for the future: “I decided to quit tennis because in the long-term I was most likely not going to make a career out of it,” he said.

Though most high school students do not make the professional level in their respective sports, these students are not necessarily devoted to a career in them. Instead, they play for teams because of the values they learn, the friends they make, and a love for the game.

Rebecca Collins / The Spectator

What seems to plague a vast number of Stuyvesant students with some unforeseen added stress, yet also add a subtle skip to their step? The schoolwide musical production of SING!.

Since 1973, starting at the beginning of the new school year and spanning to mid-March, Stuyvesant has been filled with the hustle and bustle of SING! auditions and rehearsals. Now, with the crews cast, the scripts and songs written, and the dances choreographed, the first SING! performance is rapidly approaching.

The hierarchy of SING! begins with the coordinators for each grade. Soph-Frosh SING! coordinator Liam Kronman said, “My directors are all incredibly capable and accustomed to the pace at which SING! moves. […]

Essentially, I walk around checking in on each crew, making sure their work ties in well with the work of other crews. Managing crews is more [of] a directorial task; however, my producers consult me when they feel a crew is particularly unproductive.”

Kronman has a lot on his plate coordinating Soph-Frosh, as he is in charge of two grades, one of which has no prior experience with SING!. He ensures that everyone stays on track so that they can pack in all that must be done before the show nights in a mere span of six weeks. He believes that their current wellarticulated plan for the show will be enough to bring the musical together.

The coordinators oversee their grade’s entire production, but one person cannot manage so much technical detail. This means that there are directors for each SING! crew. Each crew has one to two directors and some-

times an assistant director. Every director starts SING! season by holding tryouts. Afterwards, the jobs of non-dance directors and dance directors begin to differ.

The bulk—and sometimes the most stressful part—of SING! season are the rehearsals, with each crew led by their respective director as the coordinators and producers watch over everyone.

The non-dance crews include cast, chorus, makeup, art, costumes, props, tech, stage, lights and sound, and band. Each crew has a different way of running rehearsals. Cast, chorus, and band are similar in that they all have to rehearse their parts, and they all perform onstage during the actual show. “Sometimes we would practice with band and/or cast,” sophomore and Soph-Frosh SING! chorus director Isabella Lee said. These crews work together to make sure the production runs smoothly and everyone knows their cues.

The art-based crews—makeup, art, costumes, props, tech— use rehearsal time very differently. They work with the producers and the directors of cast, chorus, and dance crews to coordinate both how the set should look and each director’s vision for their crew. After the crews decide on what exactly they have to create, they spend rehearsals working on bringing the vision to life.

The stage and lights and sound crews work with each other throughout rehearsals. “So far, we’ve run rehearsals by meeting with the lights and sound directors/crew and working with them because we do very similar jobs before run-throughs start. We tell our crew what’s going to happen that day and then do what we have to while sticking to our agenda,” Junior SING! stage director Morgan Eve said.

Dance directors create choreography, decide on stage outfits,

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

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Features What Homework Really Means

By THE FEATURES DEPARTMENT In light of the revised homework policy, our writers asked teachers about their homework-giving habits and the effect of this on their students: 1.

How much homework do you assign per night? How long do you think this takes your students?

2.

Do you assign homework to review or prepare?

3.

Do you think your students are focused when they do their homework?

Writers asked students about the breakdown and efficiency of their evening: 1.

How long do you spend on homework per night? What class do you spend the most and least time on?

2.

How effective are you while doing homework? How much time do you spend on social media or other online platforms while doing homework?

3.

What is the average makeup of your evening (e.g. one hour homework, dinner, two hours homework, 30 minutes YouTube, sleep)? Do your extracurricular activities affect this? If so, how?

Ellen Siegel, history teacher

Teachers

Jennifer Suri, Assistant Principal of Social Studies 1. I do not assign homework every night. The assignments vary from reading, taking notes on [the] reading, or preparing for an exam or essay. I think if you count test preparation, homework on average would about 30 minutes each night, four to five times a week.

2. Homework is normally to help students better participate in class discussions of what they read. The night before a test, I imagine students could spend up to three hours studying if they did not prepare ahead of time.

3. My feelings about homework have really evolved over time. I have been consciously trying to scale back the amount of work I give students and hope that what I do assign is of high value to their learning and skill development.

Maura Dwyer, English teacher 1. My daily homework is reading. For freshmen, I aim to assign no more than 25 pages of reading a night; for sophomores, no more than 30; for juniors, the average is around 30 pages per night.

2. The homework is almost exclusively to prepare. If students don’t do the reading, we can’t have a good discussion.

3. When students read carefully, they get a lot more out of class. Their contributions to discussion are more thoughtful, and their writing assignments are stronger. If a student has read, the questions we discuss in class are engaging; if a student hasn’t read, or has just read an online summary, the questions are confusing and their understanding of the book is incomplete. So actually reading the book makes or breaks the student’s experience in class.

1. I have the right to give five hours of homework a week, and I think I give that amount for my AP U.S. History class, and I give far less for my AP Gov class.

2. Prepare. I cannot teach everything in the textbook because it’s an AP class, and I think students should be prepared to go more in-depth in class on some of the topics and the issues.

3. I don’t think that students are as focused [as they were] before social media. In general, the onslaught of this media has prevented students [from sustaining] their focus on reading. I think some students take too many AP classes and courses. If you’re taking nine classes a day, with five AP courses, which is the maximum, you would get seven hours of homework a night. Students should be accountable to themselves as well to make sure they’re not overloading themselves with work.

Marianna Reep, biology teacher

1. I assign reading from [a] chapter of the textbook every night.

2. I sometimes give articles to summarize or answer questions for. I have optional active reading guides.

3. I trust the kids to do the work on their own time and at their own pace. My policy is that work has to be done by a certain time. Here’s the date it’s due, and figure it out on your own. You have your own schedule. You can self-regulate. The homework is used to reinforce information but it depends. The book has a lot of information, and I can’t teach all of it. So you guys need to read the textbook, but I also realize that I have kids with four APs in this class.

4. If I [were] teaching this to freshmen maybe I would teach it differently. When I was teaching freshmen, I gave homework four days a week and I said to the kids, “Would you like me to tell you that at the end of the week you should have this done and [...] your homework [stapled] together?” They said no. They would rather have me assign something every single day.

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

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Features What Homework Really Means Katherine Fletcher, English teacher 1. My hope is that the reading that I assign will take students between 30 and maybe 40 minutes to complete.

Then, in connection with each text that we read, there is a major writing assignment. The major writing assignment takes a lot more time than 40 minutes, but I try to give as much advance notice as possible so students have as much time as they need to complete it, and I don’t usually assign reading the night before the written assignment is due.

2. Always to prepare.

3. It’s something that I worry about because I know that they are so many distractions to all of us these days. It’s so hard to sit quietly with a book and read it in a focused way without the distractions of the internet or whatever might be going on in your house. My hope is that my students do find a quiet space to do the reading. I think a great place to do the reading is on the subway.

Gilbert Papagayo, biology and chemistry teacher 1. I try to assign about 30 minutes of homework per night. In chemistry, this doesn’t necessarily translate to an assignment due every day, but I give more or less regular quizzes in which I expect students to review their notes for 15 to 20 minutes each night.

2. I assign homework more to review. In biology, I assign homework to prepare as well.

3. I think some students are more focused when they are working on their homework, though I know with today’s distractions some students are not as focused when doing homework. This is reflected in summative assessments.

Students

Jingyu Zhang, freshman 1. I usually spend three to four hours on homework and I spend the most time on AP Biology and the least time on Chorus.

2. I am not very effective. In AP Biology, you’re only supposed to take one hour, but I always take an hour and a half. About social media, usually a lot of classes have projects that I have to work on together for homework, so it’s necessary to use social media.

Sometimes [that] can distract you, looking at your phone, checking it every five minutes.

3. My transit goes into my evening, so transit an hour and 30 to 40 minutes, homework three to four hours, cooking 30 minutes, eating 15 [minutes], shower 15 minutes, videos 20 [minutes]. If I have to study for a test, then no leisure time.

Shivali Korgaonkar, freshman

Katherine Sanchez, senior 1. A maximum of two hours, an average of 30 minutes. (Well, this isn’t counting English readings, since I do those during my morning and after-school commute.) Bless this second-term senior life.

2. Not at all, but it doesn’t really matter since I have so much time lately. Some would say I spend too much time, probably. But for me, it’s like, “Why not?”

3. An hour of cooking and eating dinner, 30 minutes of homework, an hour of doing chores/ taking care of my siblings, and then the rest is usually filled up by YouTube. My extracurriculars affect this 100 percent. I’ve taken up an extracurricular every day of the school week, something I couldn’t have done in previous years due to ample homework and studying.

1. If I were to do homework straight without any distractions, it would take me three to four hours. Most of my time is spent on my hard classes, global and AP Environmental Science, but I also tend to do most of my homework on the weekends so I don’t spend as much time on it during the weekdays.

2. I’m pretty effective as long as my phone isn’t near me and I’m not distracted by it. I typically spend two to three hours a day on social media platforms.

3. Assuming I have no extracurriculars that day, I usually give myself half an hour to check my phone before I start my homework and put my phone away where I’m not tempted to use it. Usually, after one to two hours of homework, I’ll get bored and watch YouTube for like an hour before I eat dinner and go back to work. I find that nighttime is usually when I’m the most concentrated and focused on my work. However, if I have soccer or another extracurricular, I use my phone less at home.

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 8

Features What Homework Really Means Bwohan Wang, Sophomore 1. Usually at night I spend only about one to two hours on homework, usually toward the one hour side, because I do homework during my free. Usually the classes I spend the most time on are computer science and sometimes language.

2. Usually, while doing homework I manage to stay off social media for the most part. I listen to music to help me concentrate and ignore any notifications, though I might sometimes take a break after a few hours of work.

3. I stay at school for some kind of event, such as my club, and I arrive home at about 7:00 p.m. After that I eat dinner, and depending on how much work I have, start my homework at around 8:00 p.m. I will usually only work until about 9:00 p.m, sometimes earlier, unless I have a big assignment or test. I also lessen the load of my work at home by doing work during my free.

Stefany Quiroz, junior 1. I spend two hours on homework a night. I spend most of my time on AP American Literary History because the annotations take a long time and I want to put as much effort as possible into the class. I spend the least amount of time on US History because the assignments are always straightforward.

2. I procrastinate often. I take extended social media breaks in between assignments. I probably spend about three hours on social media every night.

3. I do a lot of extracurriculars so I return home at 8:00 p.m. every day. I try to eat outside because I don’t have time for dinner. I spend an hour relaxing and eat a small snack as well as shower. Afterward, I start homework with social media breaks in between. On average, I go to sleep at 1:30 a.m

Yinknow Chan, Senior Subyeta Chowdhury, sophomore 1. Per night, I spend around four to five hours on homework. I spend the most on AP World History and Genetics Research and the least on my language class.

2. While doing homework, I am not that effective due to many outer distractions. I spend around five hours on social media, which does prolong how long I spend on homework.

1. I definitely spend the most time on my CS courses because they are pretty open-ended. The homework can often be beautified or expanded upon and it’s something I like doing.

The shortest homework is usually math because we often don’t get homework, and if we do, it’s just to finish the class work.

2. I am very ineffective at doing homework. I get easily distracted and don’t get enough sleep so I may fall asleep while reading about the Jeffersonians and the Feel Good era. Also Netflix, YouTube, and social media definitely do not help my case. I readily switch between social media and my homework so I’m guessing about half the time I’m doing homework and the other half I’m doing “homework.”

3. Usually I switch between homework and not homework whenever I get bored so it would look like one hour of homework, dinner, two hours of homework, one hour of social media and games, and then sleep. However, [this is] with frequent breaks during the homework sections. Yes, my extracurricular opportunities do affect this; if I get home late because of an activity, I will often have less breaks during the time I’m doing my homework and finish much faster. I guess pressure helps me work faster.

Derek Lao, Junior

1. It takes four hours-ish. It can vary; I could have seven hours on one night, one hour on another.

2. To me, I’m all right in my effectiveness. I try to do homework on my way home on the train. I may spend a total of two hours on social media and other platforms while doing homework. I do think this prolongs the amount of time I spend on homework.

3. I may finish my homework by 1:00 a.m., and then I will study on to three or four in the morning, or I will spend those hours doing homework ahead of time in an attempt to get ahead or to catch up on any homework I have missed. I effectively finish my work for the next day at around one or two a.m. I take whatever time is left until four a.m. (if I do not hop on bed) to review my class material. If there’s something I did not understand in class, I will review until it clicks for me.

It is really studying that takes up a lot of my time.

Science Olympiad is like three or four extra classes in itself, with studying for competitions like studying for tests, but the studying is much harder because there is barely any way to figure out what will be on the test. You can never be too prepared. A huge source of my sleeplessness in the months from December to February was due to Science Olympiad.

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

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Features

By LAMIA HAQUE and KATIE LETON

By TALIA KAHAN This was the fourth night I had fallen asleep on the soft ground in the forest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was finally getting used to waking up in a sleeping bag with bugs flying past my ears. That morning we began with stretch circle, where all 12 15- and 16-year-olds on my trip to the North Carolina mountains each led with their favorite morning stretch—I chose the washing machine—and then proceeded to assign jobs for the day. My job was the water-monitor: this involved filling, maintaining, and distributing water from 10-pound rubber bags. We called these bags “Baby Seals” because they wiggled around like small seals when they were filled with water. For the rest of the morning we followed our standard morning routine: make breakfast, which was Raisin Bran cereal with powdered milk that day; fill our packs with clothes and additional equipment; and clean the campsite of any garbage.

After leaving our campsite, we trekked for about an hour until we reached our lunch spot: a waterfall. We ate tuna and crackers,

for tests, she learned to complete it all with little procrastination.

It’s likely that the freshmen joining STC this year will commit until their senior year. “I’m definitely planning to continue with it. I want to be in the cast for this show, and then maybe for next year’s SING! I want to be the cast director. If that doesn’t work out, I want to keep acting, and really getting involved in any way would be totally cool for me,” explained freshman Jasmine Wang, the only freshman in the cast of “Wait Until Dark.”

Lin, a member of the stage crew for both the fall musical and the winter drama, also plans to continue. “I’m probably planning on doing stage crew again for the next few years,” Lin said.

“It’s just super fun to give orders to the lights and sound crew and also, because I’ve already done it a few times, [I seem] to have formed a bond with several of the other stage crew members.”

“It’s a really comfortable place to be in. I enjoyed learning a lot of new things that I had no experience with before.” Each student had a unique experience in STC, but they all agreed that it came with no regrets, only making them more determined to be a part of the family,” said freshman and lights and sound crew member Steffny Megoda.

In Stuyvesant, where students hail from all five boroughs, combined with its 10 floors and double wings, it’s easy to get lost—both figuratively and literally. STC is a tight-knit group that allows members to form close bonds with the people around them. Choi commented, “I was able to make new friends through STC.” Sophomore Reilly Amera, who has past experience in STC, agreed, “I’ve met a lot of really good people through STC, and people who I still talk to regularly, who I’m friends with. I really like the sense of community.”

Lin also added, “There’s just that additional feeling of ‘Wow, I was part of that,’ and seeing everyone work together [is

Zoe Oppenheimer / The Spectator

The lights flicker off, and the whispers of the audience grow with excitement and then fade into silence. Phones are switched off, and people lean forward in their seats, ready for Stuyvesant Theater Community’s (STC) latest performance. The curtains glide open to reveal another world, perhaps an apartment in 1960s New York City, or the streets where runaway children play.

In every STC production, students from all grades collaborate to create powerful and moving performances for faculty, families, and students alike. This past year, a number of freshmen have become involved with STC, working to create the 2018 Fall Musical, “Runaways,” and the 2019 Winter Drama, “Wait Until Dark.” Freshmen were involved in many aspects of the production, from directing and acting to working on stage and in the lights and sound booth.

For many Stuyvesant students, freshman year is the ideal time to be involved in extracurriculars. There tends to be less work in the beginning of that year, allowing freshmen to explore and try different extracurriculars.

Junior and a director of “Wait Until Dark” Victoria Wong commented that STC brings together different types of people, all of whom share a love for theater.

On the other hand, it can be tough to adjust to Stuyvesant as a freshman, and joining STC requires immense commitment.

Wong explained that STC is one of her main extracurriculars and that rehearsals are usually every day after school. Freshman and a director of “Wait Until Dark” Ashley Choi also commented that on some school days, she stayed as late as 8:00 p.m. While freshman Leo Lin believes this time could have been used for homework and studying, Choi said that it taught her efficient time management. With so little time to do homework and study

STC: A Growing Family

what] makes STC so fun and worthwhile. This sense of unity is what makes STC special, with it not only being the only theater club, but [also] the only one with this level of togetherness.”

STC is unique because, while it is a small community, it welcomes everyone. Wong has been a part of every STC show since the spring of her freshman year.

Wong commented, “There are definitely people who frequently participate in shows, but we also have seniors who’ve never done anything theater-y become a part of the community, for example.”

Since the cast and crew are quite small, it may seem like people are excluded. This issue became especially apparent in the latest STC production, “Wait Until Dark.” With a cast of only six members and only two traditionally female roles, many STC members originally involved with the performances were unable to take part. Amera provided a potential solution for this issue in the future: “We could change

something about the way they pick the shows, and allow people to have a say in what gets chosen.” But as for the current cast selection process, Amera believes it’s fair. “I know that SLATE is fairly qualified and they are making decisions that are the best for STC as a whole,” she said.

Directors make sure to choose people based on whether they fit the roles and not on their performance in past shows.

“Even people who some would consider ‘regulars’ have to audition or interview for each new show,” Wong said. Nonetheless, if someone does not get a role in one show, there are still two other shows a year. This gives students multiple opportunities to be a part of a production.

Through these opportunities, students are given a chance to find a niche in the theater community. Choi joined as a director because she was inspired by her father. “My dad’s dream as a kid was to be a film director,” Choi said. “He would tell

The Hardest Day

and learned our first game of the trip, Rocky Handy. To play Rocky Handy, all the players hold a small rock in the palm of their dominant hand and use that same hand to push a similarly-sized rock off of the other players’ hands. Afterwards, with full stomachs and slightly lighter packs, we continued our hike for the day. As we walked, the sky darkened and thunder roared miles away. Because of the deteriorating weather conditions, when we reached a campsite around five p.m. that afternoon, it looked appealing, especially compared to the treacherous journey both ahead and behind of us. But George, one of our instructors, told us that there was another possible campsite not too far away.

We formed a pack circle—just like we had been taught—and deliberated over the better option: stay at this campsite, or hike three miles to the next one? Despite slightly worried looks from our instructors as they glanced at the sky, we decided to head on to the next campsite because it would allow us to sleep in the following morning.

Soon after leaving that initial campsite, rain started pouring down on us. Later, we would

describe this moment as God crying because he knew we had made a terrible choice. We followed protocol and put on our rain jumpsuits; they consisted of rubber yellow overalls and a yellow button-down trench coat. We trudged along, our quickening pace mirroring the increasingly aggressive pattering raindrops on our jumpsuits. Suddenly, we saw a bolt of lightning and immediately grabbed our watches to count the number of seconds between the lightning and the succeeding roll of thunder. Thankfully, it was more than a 100-second gap, meaning that the lightning was more than 20 miles away and we could continue to our next campsite. But, only a few minutes later lightning struck again. This time there were only 80 seconds between the lightning and the thunder. This meant that we had to do our first lightning drill: we ran into the nearby unwooded area, lay out our sleeping mats, and crouched down on our body-size packs.

We sat in this hunched position for what felt like hours, but in reality, was a little more than 20 minutes. As the raindrops pounded on my back like arrows gone amiss, I

thought about the irrational fear that lightning would strike me.

I tried to comfort myself by reminding myself of the tiny chance of being struck by lightning, but slowly all my emotions came pouring out, like a crowd that had been stuck in a small space. I panicked that I would not make it home, and even if I did, I would still be stuck under my sister’s shadow.

After a particularly loud clap of lightning that was not followed by thunder, I wiped my eyes and got up from the crouched position.

Now, almost half an hour after the initial flash of lightning, we continued walking, but this time at a slower and more defeated pace.

We reached our destination at nine p.m. and only then began our evening routine. Cooks for the day prepared dinner and water-monitors found a nearby creek to fill up our “Baby Seals,” while the rest of our crew set up our tarps. These tasks were particularly difficult that night; the kitchen area was far away from our sleeping area, access to the creek required us to bush-push, or to hike without a trail, and there were not enough trees to set up proper tarps. But we had no other option than to work

me stories about his high school teacher who was an actor and brag that he had an actor as a teacher, always mentioning specific film stuff to me. As a result, I wanted to try out as a director.”

Lin was influenced by a number of factors. “It wasn’t just through process of elimination that I arrived at stage crew. I definitely wanted to try something new, and something about tech crew evoked a feeling in me,” Lin said. STC gave these students the chance to pursue something that, for Choi, was a dream, and for Lin, was a completely new experience.

Though it has its limitations, STC comes with a magical element. After a long day of classes, it can be a haven. Surrounded by people with the same interests, members become a part of something bigger than themselves.

Each person’s talent plays a role, and no part is too small. As they all stand behind the curtain, it’s almost as if they share a certain sparkle in their eyes, one that spreads to everyone in the audience.

with what we had, and so we did exactly that: we bush-pushed our way to a creek, the cooks prepared dinner by the light of our headlamps, and we used hiking poles in place of trees to support our tarps.

As usual, during our “evening meeting” that night we sat in a circle, lit only by the moon.

We each took turns and said “a rose,” a positive occurrence during our day, “a thorn,” a negative experience, and “a bud,” a skill we were working on and hoped to improve. My rose was the waterfall we had stopped at for lunch, my thorn was the unsatisfactory campsite, and my bud was embracing challenges in logical steps.

I admitted to the rest of the group, and to myself, that I had unreasonably panicked during our lightning drill. There was no need for me to worry about the one-in-a-million possibility that I would be harmed by the rainstorm. Instead, I should have used this time to my advantage as a chance to rise to a challenge. My sister’s achievements do not define me, but they can inspire me to be the best version of myself.

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 10

Features Project Blue Book: UFOs and Men in Black

By VERONIKA KOWALSKI

Several professors at the Texas State Technical College witnessed a boomerang-shaped formation of lights speeding across the night sky on August 25, 1951.

They were photographed by university student Carl Hart Jr., and since then, nobody has been able to come up with a viable explanation for this phenomenon.

Stuyvesant alumnus David O’Leary (‘94) launched the television show “Project Blue Book” on the History Channel on January 8, 2019. The show depicts and offers explanations for this occurrence and several cases like it. “For me, it became, ‘How can we explore an espionage, Cold War, Russian spy element on the show that was truthful to the larger reality of the time?’” O’Leary said. The creative team focused on finding the perfect actors to bring their vision to life during the audition process.

When the Project Blue Book initiative was launched by the government, its primary mission was to determine whether the reported sightings were a threat to national security. Each week, the drama examines a new case from this initiative. “We try to take the best cases, and tell a story out of that,” O’Leary said.

While the creators of “Project Blue Book” do take some liberties with the creation of dialogue and the chronology of events, the facts of the cases are rooted in reality. “I want to entertain people and give them an awesome and compelling show that’s spooky, cool, and fun, but then also drive people to do their own research into the real-life cases so that they can make up their own minds about what they think really happened there,” O’Leary explained.

Most of the spookiness and fun of the show is derived from the investigations themselves.

The post-World War II era investigations into the thousands of reported sightings of inexplicable phenomena across the United States were led by astronomer J. Allen Hynek, who is featured as the main character in the new series. He initially walked into the initiative of Project Blue Book as an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) skeptic. He spent 10 years working with the United States Air Force, and after repeatedly encountering parts of cases for which he could not find a reasonable explanation, he became an outspoken critic of the project as a “disinformation campaign” to sway public opinion about UFOs, he said. However, Hynek eventually concluded that UFOs are “real” and “worthy of rigorous scientific study,” he said.

In the investigations, the term

By LAURA ILIOAEI Row, row, row your boat, as fast as you can be, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, straight to victory. “[Rowing] is a very exclusive thing. [When] you think of high schools that have rowing clubs in the city, what comes to mind are private schools, not Stuy,” senior and rowing team captain Jon Lu told me when questioned as to why the sport does not garner more public attention. But given that Stuyvesant is harbored by the Hudson River, there could not be a more perfect location for a rowing team to have been birthed 10 years ago.

In the offseason, the team trains in the gymnasium, but from the beginning of the spring through the end of November, the team practices in the Hudson River for out-of-state competitions.

UFO does not denote the stereotypical 18-foot-radius hovering chunk of metal carrying little green men whose objective is to take over the human race, an idea popularized by reporters poking fun at the concept. Rather, a great deal of the sightings involved moving orbs of light that seemed to display unearthly physics.

One famous case involved former World War II pilot George F. Gorman engaging with a light source “about six to eight inches in diameter, clear white and completely without fuzz at the edges,” Gorman said in a statement. “It was blinking on and off. As I approached, however, the light suddenly became steady and pulled into a sharp left bank. I thought it was making a pass at the tower,” he said. There has been no shortage of similar reportings, both in the air and from the ground.

Though there was a weather balloon, a balloon that reports on different measurements, present in the area at the time of this sighting, scientists were convinced that the reported orb could not have been a balloon because the movements of the object were described as jagged, and according to calculations, the weather balloon could not have been reflecting light from the football game below.

Among O’Leary’s personal favorite incidents is the terrifying Flatwoods Monster case in rural West Virginia (1952), in which a family of six boys, a mother, and their dog went to investigate the crash of a red object pulsating against the sky. At the crash site, they witnessed a “10-foot monster with a blood-red body and a green face that seemed to glow,” according to contemporary news reporting. “There were multiple witnesses who all claim to see the same things: the mysterious object that crashes down in the woods, and this very strange creature that they all describe,” O’Leary described. Upon rushing home immediately, the witnesses were forced to endure the lasting physiological effects of the encounter, such as burn marks on their faces.

“That was always a crazy case for me in that these people had no reason to lie, and even regretted coming forward because of all the attention they received,” O’Leary said. The government initiative Project Blue Book officially explained the case as the simultaneous occurrence of a meteor crash and the landing of a great horned owl, but even that explanation does not account for every aspect of the story.

Some of the objects that first appeared in the crash were removed from the site. Descriptions of these items are not avail-

able to the public and require a certain level of clearance for access. Information concerning these cases is intentionally being withheld from the public eye.

Though the series mainly focuses on events in the United States within the span of a decade, hysteria over unexplainable sightings is a global and timeless phenomenon. “UFOs have been seen all throughout history going all the way back, and there’s definitely evidence to support those ideas, such as in art you see across the world,” O’Leary said. He believes that there has been a sharp increase in the number of UFOs seen since World War II in part because much attention has been given to what is going on in the sky. “This is also around the time that we started to understand our place in the cosmos,” he added.

One plotline running in the show is the repetition of meeting mysterious “Men in Hats” (similar to “Men in Black”) who never fully reveal themselves. “When people think of ‘Men in Black’ or ‘Men in Hats,’ they think of the concept of the Will Smith movies, but that [concept] is actually based off of real reports of people who would show up in dark Cadillacs with fedora hats and had very intense, intimidating demeanors,” O’Leary said. This idea dates all the way back to the modern UFO era starting in 1947.

A major theory held by both Russia and the United States was that there were top-secret aircrafts being built by the other nation. This theory was upheld by the intense fear bred during the Cold War. In order to illustrate the skepticism both nations held for each other, the creators of “Project Blue Book” cast Latvian-Canadian actress Ksenia Solo to play the part of the Russian spy who finds elaborate ways to lure Hynek’s wife out of the house so that her partners could investigate their home.

“To fully represent this phenomenon, we had to support the idea that both our side and the other side weren’t sure what we were dealing with,” O’Leary said.

It is often assumed that the number of reports of UFOs is not as significant today as it was in the era of Project Blue Book, when in fact, it has risen. It is more difficult to distinguish between valid reports and practical jokes, though, because of how easy it is to spread false information on the internet. While evidence piles up into the present day, still more witnesses are reluctant to come forward for fear of shame from their communities. On that note, Hynek reported to the Chicago Sun-Times, “We need to present this information to the scien-

tific world, in a fully acceptable manner.” Hynek chose not to propose an overarching explanation to the occurrences because any potential stance he could have taken “could be jumped on or overemphasized,” he said.

The uncertainty of such phenomena, the ongoing debate on the validity of UFOs, and the mistaken preconceptions of “Men in Black” all called for the creation of an informational and intriguing show. It bridges the divide between followers and non-believers alike, and functions as a vessel for open communication on this controversial topic.

Hynek’s message reverberates not only through the general public, but lives on through his children, as well. “My father’s main message to us kids was always to keep an open mind,” said Joel Hynek, J. Allen Hynek’s son, in an interview with KGRA radio host Martin Willis in January 2019.

“In science, they would get very comfortable, think that they knew everything, and then some new discovery would come along that would shake their world,” he said.

Not only did O’Leary’s show uncover an infrequently studied segment of American history, but it also brought him on a journey of self-discovery. “When I graduated college, I didn’t even know I wanted to be a writer,” he said.

He had initially planned on being exclusively a producer, having in-

Raise Your Oars

Notably, the boats are built by the members themselves. “We take half a year to a year [to] build them. We buy massive sheets of cedarwood, shave them down into planks, and then we glue it together and make a boat,” Lu elaborated. These are no display models either; come competition day, they’re the team’s ride to the finish line. The bond between the boat and the boat’s conductor is more intimate than if the ship was simply bought: if the boat fails, the boat conductor’s spirits may go down with his ship. This is an incentive for the team members to take great care in piecing together a critical part in their equation to victory.

However, rowing is not limited to being an intensive team sport.

There is also a club for those who are interested in rowing but cannot fully delegate their time to the demands of athletics. Lu stressed

that previous experience with rowing is not a prerequisite for either the team or the club. “Students don’t need experience rowing to join the club, to come to a meeting, to be like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna jump on a boat, maybe we’ll get wet, and you know, we’re gonna row!’” Lu said. “All my friends [have] never been on a boat, never been on the water. People don’t need experience. You’ll have a few practice runs, then you’ll jump on the boat and row,” Lu said. With such a policy, students contemplating whether they wish to row will not feel the restraint of obligation before they get to test the waters of what is often a novel nautical endeavor of controlling a boat on the open waters.

Junior Berecah Lam is one such student. “I love the personal accomplishment I get from rowing. Like all beginners, I started at [the] port engine, which is sup-

posed to be the easiest rowing position. A few months later, I moved to a slightly harder position, so a new one could take [the] port. On my last row this school year, the senior members of the club decided to teach me how to be a coxswain, or the person who sits at the head of the boat to steer and shout order[s] at the rowers.

I was tickled. Out of the people on that boat that day, I probably had the least knowledge of rowing, but they were all willing to share their knowledge and experience with me,” she told me. It was a beautiful confession, one of how a hobby unexpectedly and naturally builds one’s character to be both confident and resilient.

Of course, fun aspects of rowing cannot be left unacknowledged. Not everything in life is meant to be about encompassing its heavier components: “I love breaks on the water. We just let

terned and assisted at various companies until he was 28 years old. It took another 10 years for O’Leary to be writing a show as well-received as “Project Blue Book.”

But he has known for quite a while that he is interested in writing science fiction. “I remember being in high school and thinking about ideas for a screenplay I wanted to write,” he reminisced.

He also took acting classes and directed plays, such as “Noises Off ” and “Juvie,” under the guidance of the English department.

“I used to direct [‘Timeless’ actor Malcolm Barrett] in high school plays at Stuyvesant,” O’Leary said proudly. “That was his first big break, and I knew then that this guy was going to be a star.”

O’Leary continues to keep in close contact with the Stuyvesant community. He helped organize his 20th high school reunion this past November by publicizing the event on Facebook. “It was a ton of fun,” he said. “It was great to be back.”

O’Leary left me with the message that the achievement of long-term goals takes time.

“No matter what you want to pursue, it’s about irrational persistence,” he said. It is important to acknowledge one’s successes along the way. It is easy to believe O’Leary’s success happened overnight, but his work has been at least 10 years in the making.

the boat float and we just sit or lie down in silence. It’s really nice out there. There is water all around, there is sky above, and the sunset is reflecting off the skylines on either side. Sometimes we have to out-row ferries. That’s always very exciting,” Lam told me.

Lu points out that the club also has its sentimental aspects: “Being on a boat for three hours with four other people is just magical. You get really close to each other and operate as one body. All four people have to row in tandem, and this is after [...] you figure out how to have everyone row.

Because the tides will be different, the Hudson River isn’t really a river; it’s a tidal estuary [that] goes back and forth—there [are] those conditions, there [are] wind conditions, and just gauging how well your boat is [is] important. But you know, it just comes together.”

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

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The Spectator ● March 19,2019

Page 12

Editorials Does Homework Work?

In schools where students are constantly forced to choose from the triangle of social life, school work, and sleep, a homework policy is meant to alleviate the amount of stress the daily workload gives students. One part of Stuyvesant’s homework policy requests that teachers give a maximum of 30 minutes of homework for a regular class and an hour for Advanced Placement (AP) classes. While this is meant to accommodate the vibrant but time-consuming student lifestyle, much of the student body continues to feel trapped within cycles of an overwhelming burden of homework from their classes. The full benefits of the homework policy are not yet felt, and this is largely due to one glaring flaw the policy suffers from: it is not universally enforced.

On one side of the spectrum, there are the teachers who closely adhere to it, even asking that students do not go beyond the estimated time limits; on the other are the teachers who don’t, posting homeworks late and giving students only a couple of days to complete major projects. This is not to say that homework isn’t critical; in fact, the NYC DOE’s teacher surveys found that approximately 82 percent of Stuyvesant students believe homework to be a necessity for understanding course material. The issue here is an unstable, confusing policy that varies significantly from teacher to teacher, and it is clear that some steps should be taken to reform it.

We ask that teachers be more mindful of students’ commitments and challenges.

Students at Stuyvesant try to do it all—we want to excel in our academics, pursue extracurricular activities within and outside of school, maintain jobs, and even play critical roles in our families. These obligations take up some of the limited time that we have after school, and teachers should consider that it is difficult for students to spend extended amounts of time on one assignment. Furthermore, teachers’ judgments about the

length of time needed to complete an assignment often differ from what actually happens. In a survey administered by the Student Union (SU), over 90 percent of students stated they take at least one class in which the homework assigned regularly exceeds the maximum time.

To the extent possible, teachers should regularly check with their students regarding how long their homework takes to complete.

The timing of the assignment is also a complicating factor. Homework assigned late (e.g. 7 p.m.) makes it harder for students to plan in advance to complete assignments in a timely manner. Like students, teachers will sometimes be delayed by personal things in posting assignments; however, they should then accept that students may no longer be able to complete those assignments by the original due date. Ultimately, a more liberal policy like this one will only enhance students’ comprehension of the material and performance in class.

While these steps would make a tremendous difference in students’ abilities to handle their workloads, we suggest the establishment of a school-wide policy that allows students to anonymously convey a concern when a teacher fails to observe the requirement that homework may not exceed 30 minutes a night or one hour for an AP class. Currently, the responsibility is on students to raise homework complaints with their teachers; this feedback should then escalate to guidance counselors and APs if needed. However, in practice this process allows for homework policy violations, as many students are deterred by the potential of incurring the wrath of their noncompliant teachers. In addition, successfully changing infringing behavior requires multiple complaints, a pattern of escalation that students may be unwilling to pursue against their teachers. Because students are currently unable to ensure that the homework policy works in their favor, the administration has an

obligation to step in and ensure students’ rights are protected.

The School Leadership Team (SLT) held a meeting on March 5 to discuss the homework policy. One proposal suggested by the SU was to have each academic department make available an online form that students could complete and submit to inform an assistant principal that the homework policy was not followed.

The assistant principal would be responsible for monitoring the submissions and assessing trends within the reports. That way, an assistant principal could differentiate between when a student is making a frivolous complaint about a particular assignment and when a group of students is communicating similar concerns. Such an approach would weed out isolated grievances, but it also would permit assistant principals to identify potential situations that may need to be addressed.

Since the responsibility to assess problems stays within the assistant principals’ realms, an exaggerated or fabricated complaint would be an outlier. Those types of complaints would likely be recognized as such and so disregarded. The SU policy, however, does not grant teachers access to the data concerning their own class. We advocate that teachers should have access to the results of this online form. This information is critical for teachers if they want to revise their homework immediately and not want to wait for an assistant principal to follow up with them.

It’s easy to simply hold that it is the students’ responsibility to prioritize the homework their teachers assign over their own extracurriculars, sports, and other obligations. But it’s the diversity of interests and activities in the student body that ultimately makes Stuyvesant the vital and compelling community that it is. The homework policy was passed to protect this environment, along with students’ health. It’s time to ensure that the policy will be better enforced.

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NewYork Math Circle Summer 2019 High School Summer Program

Program Location:

July 22 - Aug 8

Stuyvesant H.S.

Weekdays!

345 Chambers Street

Register at www.nymathcircle.org/summer Qualifying Exam Dates

Do you even lift bro?

Saturday, 4/6 and Sunday, 4/7

Test Location: NYU Courant, 251 Mercer Street The New York Math Circle 2019 Summer Program is open to all students with an interest in learning and doing mathematics above and beyond the standard curriculum. This selective program is appropriate for students entering grades 9-12 in the fall, especially those wishing to acquire deeper insight to mathematics, develop their reasoning and analytical skills, practice for a math team, or simply to have fun with wonderful mathematics. Interesting topics and intriguing problems will be explored in a casual setting, providing ample challenges for students of varying levels. Enjoy an intensive and rigorous summer, immersed in problem-solving and posing, in the context of such fascinating topics as number theory, algebra, geometry, combinatorics, and more!

The cost for the program is $775, with need-based financial aid available.

Visit www.nymathcircle.org for details and registration information.

The New York Math Circle is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching and supplementing mathematical education in New York City.

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http//www.nymathcircle.org info@nymathcircle.org ! 646-706-7647 © 2019 New York Math Circle

For the Record • Issue 16, our article “Coach’s Corner: Meet Retiring Coach Eric Wisotsky” was written by Nikki Daniels.

• Issue 16, our article “Athlete of the Issue: Frankie Michielli” was written by Allison Eng.

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 13

Opinions The Solution to Seattle’s Affordable Housing Crisis Seattle expansion projects in protest of the tax, the Council was forced to retract the proposal.

Critics of head taxes contend that businesses may be forced to relocate to evade such taxation, losing valuable jobs and economic capacity in the process.

But businesses’ locations are not directly linked to excessive taxation. Cities where tech giants like Amazon or Microsoft are based often boast a well-educated workforce and proximity to markets or transportation hubs. These are vital factors in the success of a company, and corporations are unlikely to abandon these advantages for the sake of avoiding taxes, which often compose only two percent of business costs. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that Amazon’s first-quarter net income in 2017 was $1.6 billion. Despite this, in that year the company paid no federal taxes.

Even if the per-employee tax was enacted, the company would only be taxed $10 million per year—a small price to pay for the number of affordable housing units that would be created.

Furthermore, despite the failure of Seattle’s 2018 head tax proposal, hope remains that city governments will prevail. In San Francisco, a program to fund services for the homeless through taxes on large businesses, known as Proposition C, was approved by voters last November. Similarly, residents of East Palo Alto, where Amazon recently leased 214,000 square feet of office space for 1,300 new employees, approved a proposed tax on large plots of commercial real estate.

These California cities demonstrate ways that the government may fund real investments in affordable housing, which would alleviate pressures on the housing market caused by tech giants.

California’s attempts were considerably more successful than Seattle’s, largely because their taxes were enacted on gross receipts rather than employees.

Under the proposed per-employee tax, companies in Seattle would have been taxed several hundred dollars per employee, which appeared excessively high to smaller corporations and fostered severe opposition. However, the state of Washington prohibits income

taxation, making any proposal to tax corporations based on revenue illegal. The most obvious solution to Seattle’s political gridlock and economic dilemma would be to remove such statelevel restrictions in favor of more consumer-friendly policies.

If taxes prove to be unpopular, there are other paths for city governments to consider when combating affordable housing crises. For example, to combat exorbitantly-priced real estate and land—a notorious side effect of the gentrification that often accompanies tech giants in big cities—vacant or existing properties could be purchased by community land trusts (CLT).

These CLTs would have access to a combination of public and private funds, allowing them to rent and sell parcels of the land to aspiring homeowners and members of the community at reasonable rates agreed upon in board meetings. Rather than focusing on the market value of land, CLTs would take into account median income in the area when determining cost.

New York City’s first community land trust, called Interboro CLT, was established in 2017 when the de Blasio administration called on proponents to submit proposals for these establishments. Grant funding that the administration applied for yielded a $1.65 million contribution from non-profit organizations

and stakeholders. This helped finance the initial purchase of parcels of land, and the community land trust now aims to maintain affordable housing options for low-income New Yorkers.

If Seattle’s government made similar efforts to develop CLTs, the city would finally recognize affordable housing as a necessity rather than a mere commodity.

Their creation would grant lowincome residents greater autonomy in deciding what housing prices are truly affordable, since rent would be solely based on the average income of those within the community, rather than constantly fluctuating market prices.

Moving forward, it’s imperative that Seattle assumes greater responsibility for its low-income residents and the affordable housing crisis that plagues the city. Settling for policies like Microsoft’s $500 million contribution would subordinate public policy to company action. Instead, the implementation of income taxation on large, prosperous corporations would allow for the development of new, affordable housing units throughout the city. The creation of citywide community land trusts would allow for existing parcels of land to be set at consistent, permanently affordable prices. In the end, gentrification is not the enemy of the big city, but governmental failure to protect its most vulnerable citizens is.

Sammi Chen / The Spectator

By Kristin Cheng Amazon’s 2017 announcement of its search for a second headquarters location elicited enticing bids from contestant cities. Urban centers across the country advertised their industry, labor force, and economic clout in their attempts to attract Amazon’s commercial power to their populations. However, when Long Island City (LIC) in Queens was announced as one of two locations for the new “HQ2,” fierce opposition to the company’s arrival arose among New York activists. Local politicians such as Alexandria OcasioCortez and Michael Gianaris argued that the creation of 25,000 jobs would not offset the costs of gentrification or the $3 billion in government incentives (subsidies to some) that NYC’s government planned to allocate for the company. Many argued that the excessive financial support granted to Amazon by Mayor Bill de Blasio would negatively impact the many working families living in LIC. New Yorkers familiar with the process of gentrification—in which struggling areas are revitalized economically at the cost of displacing many longtime residents—recognized how Amazon’s presence could impact the people of the city. The stubborn resistance provoked Amazon’s decision to cancel plans for HQ2 in Long Island City.

Kristin Cheng Long Island City is just another example of America’s constant battle with technology-driven gentrification and its effect on the nation’s cities. Seattle epitomizes this struggle; as home to both Amazon and Microsoft, its own housing crisis is driven by a rapid influx of high-income tech employees

into urban areas. The new arrivals drive up prices for homes and encourage commercial expansion into the city, making day-to-day life harder for Seattle’s poorest residents.

The meteoric rise of housing prices has adversely affected the city’s most vulnerable citizens.

The rate of homelessness in Seattle grew by 44 percent between 2015 and 2017 alone, and it has the third largest homeless population in the nation. Responding to a lackluster government response, Microsoft pledged $500 million to the city and acknowledged the increasing difficulties that its population faces. Microsoft President Brad Smith admits that the region’s median income “hasn’t kept pace with rising housing costs, increasingly making it impossible for lower- and middle-income workers to afford to live close to where they work.”

Unfortunately, Microsoft’s ambitious efforts serve only to benefit affluent residents at the expense of families affected by the housing crisis. Ninety-five percent of the pledged money comes in the form of loans to housing developers, and 50 percent of those loans go to building and preserving “workforce housing” in areas where 50,000 Microsoft employees live. In 2017, Seattle’s per capita income was $43,203. Instead of providing aid to those whose wages have plummeted far below this average, Microsoft chose to allocate cheap housing for its own employees, who are paid an average of $117,468 per year. Only $25 million of the $500 million pledge was donated to services for the region’s low-income and homeless residents.

Considering Microsoft’s failure to seriously address the problem, one would expect other organizations or branches of the government to step up. But other proposals to resolve the housing crisis have been met with obstacles. In May 2018, the Seattle City Council proposed a “head tax” of $275 per employee on corporations such as Amazon, whose annual revenues exceed $20 million, the funds of which were to be used to build affordable housing units. However, after Amazon threatened to halt downtown

Asian American Representation: Done&Gone in the Media?

By Ying Zi (Jessy) Mei Fashion company Dolce and Gabbana posted a distasteful ad last November on its Instagram page promoting “the Great Show,” its latest promotion in China. The ad portrayed a Chinese woman garbed in a bright red sequined top ignorantly prodding pizza, cannoli, and spaghetti with a pair of chopsticks as stereotypical

Asian music played in the background. In the background, a narrator mispronounces “Dolce and Gabbana” in an unmistakably Chinese accent and condescendingly brands chopsticks as “little bamboo tools.” Deemed a “tribute to China,” this video was cast into the tide of social media and soon swept away by backlash from audiences worldwide. Such an ad coming from a major modern company makes it evident that racism remains a prevalent issue in our culture, as even preeminent luxury brands, including Dolce and Gabbana, release advertisements with such preconceived notions of a race.

It is everywhere: in ourselves and in the fashion, film, and entertainment industries. However, we must acknowledge the pervasiveness of racism in our society before we can begin to understand the cultural basis upon which stereotypes are built and end them.

Dolce and Gabbana’s ad is

an example of institutionalized, internalized, and perpetuated racism at its apex. As an instance of internalized oppression existing in mass media—specifically, social media platforms such as Instagram—it uses misinformation about the Asian-American community to perpetuate and play out false stereotypes. The ad is given a stronger sense of authenticity through its use of an Asian narrator and an Asian woman wearing heavy makeup to emphasize her “slant eyes” and a bright red top. These traits are synonymous with the stereotypical image of Asian culture.

Despite its attempt to imitate “authentic” Asian culture, the ad is far from authentic—instead, it caricatures Asians and mocks them for their “uncivilized and primitive ways.” It was definitely not created “with love and passion” nor with “respect for the people of China,” as Stefano Gabbana claimed. Throughout the video, the Asian actress is

oversexualized and child-like; she sports an excessive amount of gold jewelry, sucks on her chopsticks with enlarged eyes, and pokes at her food, exhibiting naïvete and ignorance. As she struggles to pick up a cannoli with her chopsticks, the narrator says, “It’s way too big for you, isn’t it?” The narrator references the stereotype of Asian men being asexual or sexually incompetent. In addition to her lack of sophistication and fragile doll-like qualities, her offthe-shoulder top oversexualizes her, furthering the idea of the Asian woman as a hypersexual and submissive “Dragon Lady.”

Through the use of mass media, Dolce and Gabbana distorts the perception of Asians and AsianAmericans, perpetuating the idea that Asians are a backward people who will never be able to assimilate into mainstream American culture; instead, they forever enjoy eating pizza with chopsticks, so to speak.

Despite the disturbing and blatant racism in Dolce and Gabbana’s ads, this is far from the first time racism has appeared in American media. Minstrel shows were some of the most popular sources of entertainment in the 19th century. In these shows, white actors put on blackface to imitate and ridicule black culture. While African Americans used many songs as expressions of melancholy, white actors used the same songs to mock blacks’ inability to assimilate into white American culture. The film “Birth of a Nation” of 1915 portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as heroes protecting “pure, white women” from “lustful blacks” during the post-slavery South.

Despite its racism, it was commonly deemed to be the first great American film, and it was even shown at the White House.

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Opinions Asian American Representation: Done&Gone in the Media?

Continued from Page 13 The 20th century also saw a rise in yellowface, the portrayal of East Asians by white actors in American films, most of which were Americo-centric,and highly focused on exaggerating stereotyped aspects of East Asian culture. Thus, the issue with Dolce and Gabbana’s ad isn’t simply an isolated, one-time occurence—it is only a small portion of a larger issue that has been festering in our country’s history, and it has only seen a rise in recent years.

Nearly two centuries after the first Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States, a lack of diversity still plagues the film industry. Though the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was repealed in 1943, it seems that the social norm of excluding Asian-Americans from mainstream culture has not yet been lifted. According to the Census Bureau, China was the most common country of origin of immigrants in 2013. It accounts for 40.2 percent of the total immigration flow, compared to the previously leading country, Mexico (which accounted for 25.5 percent). However, AsianAmericans are still largely underrepresented in American films, TV shows, and movies. According to a report from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2014, Asians only made up 1.4 percent of lead roles in a sample of studio films.

The influx of Asian-Americans into the U.S. conflicts with their absence from the screen. With a greater population of Asians, there should also be a greater Asian presence in the film industry, but they have proved to be vastly underrepresented in this field.

Even in instances when an Asian character is featured, whitewashing of the role disregards the ethnic origins of the character, giving another minority’s role to its white counterpart.

In Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” Tilda Swinton plays the Ancient One, an Asian character in the original comic. In such rare occasions when a Asian-American may have a chance to be a lead-

ing character in a film, his or her white counterparts fill in, many of whom are extolled for appropriating Asian roles.

Even when Asian-Americans are featured in films, their presence is often to satisfy the model minority stereotype. This is evident in the case of Anna May Wong’s career. Despite being the first Chinese actress in Hollywood, Wong failed to make much progress in correcting American media’s perception of AsianAmericans, since she was limited to being cast for tropes of Asian women. Even 19 years ago, this discrimination was present in popular culture. In “Ally McBeal,” a TV show that ran from 1997 to 2002, Asian-American actress Ling Woo plays an AsianAmerican character. As the Chicago Tribune notes, Ling “is seen holding down a handful of jobs, speaking with an antisocial bluntness, and boasting of her sexual prowess.” Though an Asian is being portrayed by an actual Asian here, the racism is blatant. Ling’s deviation from those around her is overt, exaggerated by her diligence and accentuated sexuality.

By doing so, she is made a foreign presence in the show, demonstrating how distanced Asians are from the image of a typical “American” in mainstream American culture. Her character, juxtaposed against others with names like Ally McBeal and Billy Thomas, only highlights the differences between the two contrasting cultures, implying that Asian-Americans will never be able to fully adopt American culture.

The destruction caused by the underrepresentation of AsianAmericans isn’t bound to the screen, but it haunts us in reality. Children around the country make their own generalizations of Asian-Americans based off of these unrealistic, stereotypical depictions. This is especially true of those who are physically distanced from Asian-Americans and have never interacted with them. A lack of Asian-Americans on screen may also suggest that they are incompetent and lacking in the arts. This in turn promotes

other stereotypes regarding their rejection of pursuing a career in theater; rather, they supposedly choose other careers, including being a doctor. Other stereotypes that perpetuate the Model Minority Myth promote competition and feelings of inadequacy or of being “less Asian” in Asians when they don’t reach the high standards imposed on them by society. Studies have also shown that those aware of stereotypes regarding their racial groups tend to perform worse. Children grow up and base their generalizations of the Chinese on what they see and hear through a screen.

They grow to accept society’s designated roles for them, thus feeding into the oppression of Asian-Americans and perpetuating racism and ignorance around the world.

Unfortunately, the dearth of non-stereotypical roles on television for Asian-Americans not only impacts non-Asian youth, but also Asian children with a passion for theater. With few roles to choose from and an even smaller possibility of being cast for those roles, Asian-American children may feel trapped, as the only roles they are likely to get are ones in which they are portrayed in a stereotypical manner. Some may have qualms about choosing to put themselves in a racially biased environment where few like them have thrived in. As an article from The New York Times put it, “more than half of film, television, and streaming properties feature zero named or speaking Asian characters.” Thus, in the film industry, there are few role models of their race to even look up to.

As a result, Chinese underrepresentation in the media is a vicious cycle that will continually worsen, making it harder for us to put an end to it.

Instances of these overtly racist characterizations of Asians also play out in our daily lives, and they are deeply embedded into our culture. Personally,

I’ve had many experiences where strangers have said to me the following: “Ni hao,” “Xie xie,” “Konichiwa,” and the seemingly innocuous “So where are you from?” These microaggressions find their way into our lives because of the idea that anyone who is not white is “fresh off the boat,” exotic, or not “American.” When you ask someone where he or she is from, you give America one race, reject the idea that an Asian-American is born and raised in the U.S., imply that he or she does not belong here, and deny his or her right to feel national pride. This is all because she is not “American enough.”

When you say “Ni hao” to every Asian on the street, you reduce all East Asians into one homogenous race and disregard their cultural background for your own perception of their racial identity.

You bring the return of ancient power structures that once dictated society and re-insti- gate a sense of white supremacy.

These microaggressions are trivialized in our day-today

Serena Chan / The Spectator

interactions with people, but they are a materialization of dangerous stereotypes meant to oppress minorities. They normalize harmful behavior, reveal

systematic and internalized racism, and therefore erode the mental health of such victims, causing psychological distress.

But by increasing Asian-American representation in the media, Asian-Americans may one day be acknowledged as “American” and will not have to fend off the aforementioned expressions.

Our presence in the media won’t be marked by having slant eyes or the Model Minority Myth.

This issue in the media reflects an inner evil at work. The portrayal of Asian-Americans as caricatures—so foreign and distant from the image one conjures when one hears “American”— exhibits how America has distanced the idea of Asian-Americans from their “Americanness,” especially since there is indeed a difference between an Asian and an Asian-American. The AsianAmerican has labored and sweat to make it into a country with the hope that things are better there, but he or she is still not accepted there. Nor is he or she acknowledged for his or her efforts. Nor is he or she allowed to join the “American” community. The scarcity of roles for Asians perpetuates a xenophobic agenda in a country founded on ideas of equality, liberty, and diversity. If the issue of underrepresentation persists, racism, implications of white supremacy, and ignorance will spread across the country like a cancer. The media shapes our perceptions of each other. Don’t let America become a white, racially ignorant, a n d o p pressive countr y.

Instead, let us fight for a greater true representation of stereotyped minorities on-screen to reclaim our hyphenated American identity.

Hungary for Children

By Elena Hlamenko China’s infamous one-child policy of the early 1980s reflected a growing concern about overpopulation and the economic capacity of the government to support its people. Despite China’s heavily broadcasted concerns, many countries struggle to maintain a growing population at all. In response to a highly insufficient fertility rate of 1.54 children per woman (to replace itself, every generation must have 2.33 children per woman), Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has set in motion a pronatalist (pro-birth) campaign offering tax breaks, cash benefits, and housing provisions for women who have more than one child.

Under his plan, Orbán believes that the population of “true Hungarians” will rise, as he puts an anti-immigration spin on a familiar pronatalist message.

Orbán has issued numerous radical, albeit somewhat unrealistic, reforms aimed toward his envisioned population boom, the most profound being the Family Housing Support Program, or CSOK in Hungarian. Commonly

dubbed the “three-child policy,” CSOK has provided married couples with three children up to 10 million Hungarian forint, or nearly $40,000, to be used for housing of the children. Yet, Orbán’s cash handouts have sent the Hungarian economy into a tailspin, as the influx of cheap credit from CSOK has led to real estate prices soaring nearly 20 percent.

As it stands, Hungary currently spends roughly five percent of its GDP on family benefits— four times its defense spending.

Some of the policies Orbán announced have been in place for years—several pre-dating Orbán entirely—without making significant changes to the stagnant fertility rate.

Orbán’s policy of economic incentives for procreation is hardly unique in European history.

Over the past century, many European countries have attempted to raise birth rates with similar strategies; “The Lancet,” a medical journal, describes pro-natalist policy as “[having] been pursued in more than a dozen countries,” but it also says that “the effects on fertility rates have not been large.” Tomas Sobotka of the

Vienna Institute of Demography agrees and believes that the policies outlined by Orbán will not add anything more than a shortterm bump to Hungary’s fertility rate, with others “likely to be outright ineffective.”

Over the past decade or so, several Asian countries have offered similar cash benefits and tax breaks for families. Unfortunately, they are to no avail.

Singa­pore’s birth rate reached a seven-year low of 1.16 births per woman in 2017, largely due to the heavy competition in the job market. This delays couples from being financially independent enough for children. Echoing Orbán’s approach, Singapore even provided $10,000-cash bonuses to families with three or more children. Yet, these sums were a bandaid fix to the underlying economic insecurity plaguing the 20 to 30-year-old population in Singapore. Similar issues are present in Japan; a decade after Japan’s adoption of fertilityfriendly reforms, birth rates have just barely risen from 1.37 births per woman to 1.46. Meanwhile, other countries have abandoned such policies entirely. After a mi-

nor population increase following Australia’s introduction of a $5,000-baby bonus in 2001, many were quick to praise treasurer Peter Costello for his effective reforms. Yet, research conducted

by Ross Guest at Griffith University in Australia proved that fluctuating population increases can be easily accredited to the influence of demographic and economic changes. Ultimately, the costly toll of 1.1 billion Australian dollars on the economy proved to outweigh the marginal birth increase, leading to the program being discontinued.

Notably, even in countries where fertility rates are relatively high, the populations continue to decline. After recovering from years of post-Soviet corruption, Georgia retains a birth rate of 1.996 children per woman—the third highest in Europe. Through economic setbacks that create unchanging cultural expectations, Georgia is able to retain this birth rate, unlike its modernized neighbors. Still, a relatively high birth rate is not enough to compensate for a low employment rate, lack of job availability, and an education system unable

to prepare students for the pace of the modern economy. Such factors push the younger generation out of Georgia, accounting for the population decrease. Ultimately, population fluctuations are influenced by a myriad of factors that undermine the effectivity of pronatalist policies entirely.

It is essential for governments interested in pronatalist changes to understand the changing culture and economic dynamic of the childbearing population.

With rising costs of living and much of the youth population swamped with unemployment, lack of job security, and student debt, the first step any government should take is to directly combat the issues plaguing individuals in their 20s. In Italy, for instance, 35 percent of individuals in their 20s are unemployed, making it unsurprising that since the 1960s, Italy’s fertility rate has dropped to just under half a million babies per year. 2015 saw the lowest birth rate since Italy united in 1861.

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Opinions Hungary for Children Continued from Page 14 With an abundance of case studies suggesting that Orbán’s pronatalist policies are destined for failure, Hungary should reconsider the way it combats its population decline. For one, Or-

bán fails to consider the alarming rate of emigration from Hungary; since 2006, close to a million citizens are estimated to have left Hungary due to decreasing employment rates and falling wages, with only a few hundred thousand returning so far. Given Or-

bán’s firm stance against asylum seekers (Orbán once said, “In our minds, immigration is surrender.”), it is unsurprising that Hungary is faced with a shrinking number of youths remaining in the country. To effectively take on the birth rate issue, Or-

bán must redirect his efforts to improving education and job availability, particularly for young adults in their 20s. Orbán and the rest of Hungary’s right-wing politicians ought to reconsider their positions on immigration as well, though such changes to a deeply

conservative country may not be implemented anytime soon. Ultimately, pronatalist policies are not inherently bad—it’s just that countries like Hungary need to change their methods of implementation.

Mainstream Music’s Reponsibility Towards LGBTQ Consumers

By Jenny Huang Since its release last month, The Weeknd’s “Lost in the Fire” has sparked outrage over its homophobic lyrics and festishization of lesbianism. Queer consumers of The Weeknd’s music expressed their discomfort toward his choice of lyrics; in the song, The Weeknd depicts bisexuality as just a “phase” and festishizes having sex with a bisexual partner and her girlfriend. Not only does that phrasing objectify bisexual women by reducing their purpose to fulfilling the sexual pleasure of men, but queer fans also pointed out that it marginalizes lesbianism, dismissing the possibility of a woman loving another woman.

Above all, queer consumers were horrified by the following lyric: “While I [EXPLETIVE] you straight.” This line went beyond just the dismissal of bisexuality; it actively threatens to inflict corrective rape―rape with the intention of changing its victim’s sexual orientation―upon a bisexual woman until she is “[EXPLETIVE] straight.”

While The Weeknd has been bearing the brunt of recent criticism from LGBTQ+ consumers, mainstream music has always had issues with queerphobia and its

depiction of the LGBTQ+ community. From lyrics and music videos fetishizing the queer community to lyrics riddled with derisive comments and homophobic slurs, pop music artists often fail to acknowledge and respect their LGBTQ+ consumers.

Many songs belonging to mainstream music tend to degrade homosexuality outright with homophobic slurs. Rappers such as Eminem use slurs like “faggot” to emasculate and humiliate other male rappers. Artists in hip-hop and rap also tend to reject inadvertent double entendres with homosexual interpretation in their lyrics because homosexuality is seen as contradicting masculinity and strength.

Other artists invalidate homosexuality and objectify women through lyrics. In such cases, the artist does not regard same-sex love as seriously as heterosexual feelings. When the artist fails to acknowledge same-sex attraction but chooses to sing about it nonetheless, bisexual females are objectified by the male gaze.

Even worse, the lyrics can promote disturbing corrective rape upon bisexual females, which is seen in “Lost in the Fire.” There is a lack of any bisexual female perspective in these songs. This inevitably leads to the heterosexual male invalidating homosexuality altogether, acknowledging only the heterosexual part of bisexuality. Even when male artists do choose to acknowledge bisexuality, that “acknowledgment” consists of their own version of a bisexual threesome fantasy, in which the heterosexual male conquers both his bisexual girlfriend and her female partner whilst disregarding their same sex-attraction. Otherwise, it ends with horrible corrective rape because the heterosexual male

believes that he can “[EXPLETIVE]” his bisexual girlfriend straight. But ultimately, bisexuality is rarely acknowledged to be anything more than a “phase” or a way for females to get attention from male partners because it is strictly told from a heterosexual male’s perspective. Bisexuality in mainstream pop is often just another way to objectify females and heighten the excitement of male conquest of women―the ideal male isn’t just claiming sexual victory over a woman against other men, as he’s claiming sexual victory against women as well.

However, once in a while, mainstream pop music releases music experimenting with sexuality. Katy Perry’s 2008 hit “I Kissed A Girl” and Rita Ora’s 2018 “Girls” both feature bi-curious lyrics. Both songs feature a common trope about bisexuality in mainstream music, setting up sexual identity as an “experimental game.” While there is no issue with experimenting with sexuality—nor are the songs as outright offensive as The Weeknd’s— both songs feature insensitive lyrics undermining queer feeling.

Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” was not well-received by some of the LGBTQ+ community in 2008 because of its following exploitative lyrics: “I got so brave, drink in hand / Lost my discretion… .I kissed a girl just to try it / I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it….No, I don’t even know your name / It doesn’t matter / You’re my experimental game.” Critics pointed out that even though Perry sets herself up to be bicurious, the song does not focus on bisexual feelings as much as it objectifies females under the male gaze, with Perry calling for male attention while kissing another female. Bisexual feeling is not only undermined by the

idea that a female can only love another female while intoxicated; the lyrics reduce bisexuality to a game with no genuine same-sex attraction being involved. Ora’s “Girls” invokes the same feeling and enforces the same trope of sexual experimentation under the influence of alcohol. With the chorus chanting that “Sometimes I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls / Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls,” Ora feeds into the overused trope of experimentation under alcohol. Based on her lyrics, queer feeling is provoked because of intoxication and incoherence of thought, not because it is genuine.

Though Ora truly intended to explore her own sexual identity (Ora identifies as bisexual) and wanted “Girls” to be a bisexual anthem that celebrates bisexuality, queer artists called out her lyrics for being shallow. Even after nearly 10 years, mainstream artists who attempt to make progress in including more queer representation in music fail to depict queer attraction without downplaying their validity. While both Ora’s and Perry’s songs may reflect their suppressed bisexual feelings that manifest when inebriated, their lyrics limit the possibility of queer attraction to circumstances only involving alcohol. Perry and Ora are free to describe their suppressed bisexual feelings under alcohol’s influence, but to truly validate bisexual feelings without exploiting those who have experienced same-sex attraction their whole lives, their lyrics must evolve beyond just describing the feelings while drunk. There should be more focus on an active discussion of bisexual attraction itself as well as more efforts to normalize and celebrate that attraction, both of which are lacking in Perry’s and Ora’s

songs. Queer artists whose songs provide active discussions that normalize queer attraction, including Hayley Kiyoko and Troye Sivan, are seen as more productive in pushing for the acceptance of the queer community. Queer attraction in Sivan’s and Kiyoko’s songs become more than just fleeting feelings induced under intoxication, but it is celebrated as genuine attraction.

Considering that pop cultures and music have a large group of LGBTQ+ listeners, more work must be done to ensure that LGBTQ+ consumers feel safe and respected. Toleration of offensive lyrics and slurs in mainstream music not only feeds into the stereotypes about the queer community, but it also makes the use of these slurs more acceptable in the eyes of non-queer consumers. More dangerous lyrics, such as The Weeknd’s, normalize corrective rape to heterosexual male consumers. To dispel these stereotypes, LGBTQ+ allies must continue calling out artists who undermine or blatantly reject same-sex attraction in their lyrics. In hip-hop, artists should also be called out when they openly offend the community with homophobic slurs. As for more insensitive lyrics, artists who identify as bisexual women and want to produce mainstream music with queer representation must forgo the “intoxicated sexual experimentation” trope that inevitably downplays bisexual feelings. Most importantly, consumers should support rising and mainstream queer artists who portray genuine queer attraction. They include Kiyoko, Kehlani, and Sivan. Only through pushing for acceptance of genuine queer attraction and rejecting homophobic lyrics can we truly respect LGBTQ+ consumers of mainstream music.

Climate Change: Not Trumped Up

By Claire Shin Imagine a world without land.

Imagine the greenery surrounding us unnaturally submerged in salt water. Invincible buildings that seemed to touch the sky are partially buried in water engulfing their once grandiose entrances. The unlucky residents of the coasts of every country have lost the ability to even walk on the ground they once took for granted. They are forced into an exodus further into the hearts of

their nations, only to have the inevitable rush of the sea catch up to them. At the same time, despite the rapid spread of the water’s boundaries, millions perish of thirst and dehydration due to droughts brought about by rising global temperatures.

It’s a scary prospect that seems to be an apocalyptic illustration painted by the paranoid and hysterical. Or, if it is our bleak destiny, it seems like a far-flung and obscure future irrelevant to the present. However, no matter how much conservatives and anti-science “experts” want to delay addressing climate change, it seems that this terrible future isn’t so far off after all.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and his administration are taking incredibly slow, negligible steps to prevent this dark future.

They are also neglecting and undermining efforts to combat climate change. Trump established a new panel on February 14 to evaluate whether climate change impacts national security, and he selected William Happer, a staunch climate change denialist,

as chair of this new panel. Happer has made repeated ludicrous claims about climate change, even going so far as to say that “the demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.”

Besides Trump’s choice to select Happer, a key issue of the panel lies in its very existence. It appears as if three long years after the election, this panel seems to be the first pathetic step toward progress. Trump has changed his opinion toward climate change multiple times, but holding the highest office in America does not seem to have dissuaded him that climate change is a “hoax created by the Chinese.” This is problematic, to say the least. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the effects of climate change on national security. As established by hundreds of studies (and gathered by a twominute Google search), climate change is causing rapid rising in sea levels, alarming changes in precipitation patterns, droughts, longer and more intense heat waves, more severe hurricanes,

heavy downpours, increased erosion, flooding, and the spread of disease in plants (particularly trees). All of these cause greater threats to national security than any attack from an enemy nation ever can. Additionally, these perils are approaching us at an accelerating speed. United Nations representatives from around the globe, all of whose countries are jeopardized by the actions of the biggest carbon producers in the world (the U.S. happens to be second), say that their countries have already seen “existential threats.”

As citizens standing only for the wealth, prosperity, and security of one another and our nation, we must continually ask ourselves why—just like scientists do. We must chase after the roots of the biggest problems of today’s world, including deforestation, shrinking ice caps, and extinction.

All of these superficially unrelated disasters are linked to climate change, and the why of climate change lies in our actions. Because this situation is our doing, we now bear the burden of fixing the problems we have created.

Climate change has the potential to destroy everything that makes our planet the one-in-atrillion place we know it to be, but combatting it truly isn’t the herculean task it seems. Habits have power. Switching off your house lights when you don’t need to use them, turning off the air conditioner and heat when they aren’t necessary, and driving less often (walking or biking whenever possible) all go an incredibly long way in reducing your carbon footprint. The three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) are also applicable here; a study showed that 29 percent of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions originated from “provision of goods,” which COTAP, an organization dedicated to offsetting carbon dioxide emissions, defines as “the extraction of resources, manufacturing, transport, and final disposal of goods.” Using recycled products cuts down the need for the provision of goods.

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Opinions Climate Change: Not Trumped Up However, the government has a significantly greater capacity to affect change on a much larger scale. It is easy to break things, but much harder to fix them; above all, the government must be at the forefront of environmental protection. Trees, as we all learned in biology, consume carbon dioxide in the life-sustaining process of photosynthesis. They alleviate the cause of climate change, or excessive amounts of carbon in the atmosphere, by removing it; thus, creating programs to allot land to plant more trees is a simple yet effective solution. This is not to say that these trees are the only shield to ward off climate change; the U.S. government on the local, state, and federal levels must take steps to reduce carbon emission itself, rather than focusing all its efforts on counteracting it. Establishing laws against excessive heater or air conditioner use, two of the biggest emissions drivers that most average families don’t think much about, would be a step in the right direction. Another possible approach would be to require all newly manufactured thermostats and air conditioners to automatically turn off after a certain period of time. Yet larger-scale, more ambitious solutions, as outlined by the Green New Deal, includes giving monetary incentives for businesses to go green and giving loans and grants to smaller green businesses that are usually drowned out by bigger, industrial businesses in our heavily industrial and efficiency-

centered economy. Less taxpayer money should go into military defense; climate change is an unprecedented struggle in that it presents

climate change should not be the sole responsibility of the U.S. It is often noted that the vast majority of the world’s carbon emissions is

tries on climate change, he cut off the distribution of funds (through the United Nations Green Climate Fund) and scorned future genera-

not driven by our nation, and we must cooperate with the nations who can’t afford to adopt more environmentally- friendly manufacturing methods. Cooperation was entirely possible until Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement in June 2017. The resources of the U.S. are vast; when Trump chose to cut off discourse between coun-

tions by ceasing efforts to mitigate climate change. The U.S. government must aim to do the opposite of what the Trump administration had done: it should re-enter the Paris Climate Accord and pledge billions of dollars to the United Nations Green Climate Fund to aid lesser developed countries in their fight against climate change.

Aishwarjya Barua / The Spectator

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a threat beyond any human war in history, and it can’t be won using brute force. Instead, more of the federal budget should be funneled into research, which will one day allow us to find a way to make green options cheaper and more desirable than their fossil-fueled counterparts.

However, the struggle against

If the latter goal seems too challenging, it should be important to note that $4 billion was pledged to the fund under President Obama.

For comparison, Trump’s 2019 federal discretionary budget request consisted of $1.19 trillion, $716 billion of which would go to the military.

Each week we spend arguing about the extent of the danger of this topic is a week that could have been spent reducing carbon emissions and reversing the terrible deed we’ve inflicted on Mother Nature. Each week brings us closer to the critical point of no return―the point at which no action—no matter how large-scale or environmentally friendly—can alleviate the damage we have inflicted on the earth. Each week, Donald Trump, through pure ignorance and denial, ushers in the apocalypse. This is not an exaggeration.

Even with the most powerful telescopes we can use to peer into the frontiers of the cosmos, we have not yet found a world that we can truly call the Blue Planet. We have no excuse to squander and destroy that unique title. We have no excuse for our descendants, whose entire lives depend on our choices now; we have no excuse when we dejectedly tell them that we traded their only planet to save a couple of dollars. At the level of progress we’re currently making, all of humanity―every surviving generation―will suffer immeasurably. The duty of every citizen should be to leave the world better than when he came. The environment is not an exception.

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Arts and Entertainment We’re In the Endgame Now

Film

By Caroline Pickering

Culture moves inward from the margins. In other words, mainstream culture doesn’t show up out of nowhere; it comes from fringe groups. The ultimate irony is that almost every major trend in popular culture was originally favored by outsiders who were initially rejected. Even worse is that usually, nobody realizes it.

Case in point: thrifting. For those who don’t know, thrift shops sell second-hand clothing, though many people shop specifically for vintage items.

For decades, the only people who darkened thrift shop doors were those with low-incomes shopping on a budget or those who frequented subversive art scenes, railing against consumerism. Today though, it’s not unexpected to see a popular, wealthy high schooler frequenting a Brooklyn thrift shop. But 20 or 30 years ago, most people who could afford to shop retail

half, including Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Sam Wilson, all of whom are set to return to Marvel sometime in the next year. While Rogers and Romanoff are in the past trying to stop the fall of SHIELD, they could very likely enlist the help of their fallen friends. However, there is one more familiar face who didn’t perish with the other half of the universe and who happens to be the only deceased

character seen in either trailer: Peggy Carter.

Having died in “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), Carter was one of the last people alive to remember Rogers in the 1940s. In the “Endgame” trailer, he can be seen holding a compass with her picture that will look familiar to many as the one from “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011). Set during World War II, the film shows Rogers’s transformation into Captain America and the sacrifice that lead him to be frozen

for 66 years. At the climax of the movie, Rogers is forced to crash a bomb-rigged plane headed to New York City into the Arctic Ocean. In his final moments on screen, he can be seen looking at Peggy’s photo in his compass. The return of the compass could be a parallel to Rogers’s original sacrifice, except this time he doesn’t wake up in the twenty-first century.

From deep space to time travel, “Avengers: Endgame” is looking to be an insane roller coaster of a movie that will surely leave viewers on the edge of their seats. The

Avengers will bring their very best and by far most creative fight to the fight against Thanos, which will indeed be the spectacular blaze of glory that the parting heroes so willingly deserve. Despite being the last hurrah for the original Avengers, “Endgame” will serve as both end and beginning, giving viewers their first glimpse at the next generation of heroes. Be sure to see what will most definitely be the greatest Avengers movie yet in theaters on April 26, 2019.

Why We Thrift

Culture

By Miranda Lepri

the stealth suit from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014). This could confirm the suspicions of time travel’s significance in destroying Thanos, as “The Winter Soldier” took place around five years ago.

Additionally, Captain America is joined by the Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), who also played a pivotal role in the film.

The two characters have been spotted in set photos wearing their old costumes from “The Winter Soldier,” and there have been reports that sets from the film were reconstructed in preparation for “Endgame.”

But what is so special about “The Winter Soldier?”

The answer is SHIELD, a special agency within the Marvel Universe that acts as a supernatural CIA. During the events of “The Winter Soldier,” it was discovered that SHIELD had been corrupted by HYDRA, an evil Nazi organization thought to have been long dead. Thus, SHIELD was forced to collapse, taking HYDRA with it. However, in the upcoming movie “SpiderMan: Far From Home” (2019), this is far from the case. In the trailer for “Far From Home,” SHIELD appears to be up and running once more, despite the movie having been confirmed to take place after “Avengers: Endgame.” Additionally, the titular character, to the dismay of many fans, was one of the many Avengers who perished at Thanos’ hand. In an attempt to better fortify the Earth for Thanos’ attack, we may potentially see Rogers and Romanoff journey back in time to rewrite the past.

Along with SHIELD, “The Winter Soldier” also happens to be full of characters who faded away after Thanos cut the universe’s population in

saw thrift shops as an inferior alternative. The term “used” was thrown around more often than “vintage.” Even in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when American culture was, arguably, at its peak in terms of capitalist sentiment and consumerism, the “trash” aesthetic of thrifting wasn’t widely accepted. Artists, in particular, were the lifeblood of the industry. Even decades before, artists were the earliest celebrators of the aesthetic of imperfection.

As early as World War I, avant-garde artists repurposed used merchandise or trash, pushing back against what they saw as the commercialization of art. “Fountain” (1917), a famous exhibit by early conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, was an example of anti-commercialization, in terms of both form and content. By calling a discarded urinal a work of art, Duchamp was one the first artists to present cast-aside items as artworks in and of them-

selves, known as “readymades” or “found objects.” The 20th century challenged tastefulness standards; its artists were among the earliest practitioners of thrifting by choice, as opposed to out of necessity. That iteration of thrifting would seep into popular culture.

One famous example of the blurring of lines between thrift and pop culture is Madonna.

Her first film role as Susan in “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985) featured her traipsing around New York City in the ‘80s like a princess, with her tiny round suitcase full of eclectic styles, while haggling with thrift shop owners. Just as used objects were a rejection of commercialized art in the early 20th century, in the ‘80s, some considered thrifting part of an ideological push against the money-obsessed capitalist culture of America. Many people probably wanted to be just like Susan: a rebel against some cause they weren’t quite aware

of. Along with other style icons at the time, Madonna popularized the trash aesthetic in the context of fashion in a way that signified the first big shift of the “thrifting culture”—one that moved it from the margins of society to the mainstream.

The aesthetic of being an outsider, of rejecting trends, became a trend in and of itself, the irony of which is pretty obvious. Still, the strength of its allure is clear from the lasting popularity of thrifting, thriving decades later. It’s a symptom of a larger social cycle: the commodification of dissent. The romanticized outsider is an idea that allows something like thrifting to spread from artists and the low-income to reach the wealthy. The popular appeal, at least to those who didn’t thrift out of necessity, came from the desire to be unique, even though through endorsing something because it’s trendy, that point is defeated.

Thrifting has morphed from

a way to pinch pennies or deviate from mainstream consumerism into something else entirely. For most, it’s a trend and nothing more. Not only does stealing culture from fringe groups make popular culture fleeting, it also devalues the ingenuity at the root of a trend.

It’s not the mainstreaming of these trends that is the issue.

After all, half the incentive to innovate is that one’s ideas will eventually become mainstream.

The problem becomes the anonymity of popular culture. We, the masses, make little effort to understand or consider the trends we copy. We simply use and discard them as we might a tissue, their only value being their novelty, not the ideas themselves. We are aiding and abetting the cultivation of a culture that favors the illusion, or aesthetic, of being different over actual dissent. It’s problematic because it means that, eventually, we are going to run out of original content.

Daniel Berlinsky / The Spectator

Eleven years. Twenty-two movies. All of them leading up to this. After the emotional destruction that was “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), fans have anticipated learning about its April sequel. Finally, this past December, their prayers were answered with the first fulllength trailer, and once more a mere few weeks ago with an ad during the Super Bowl.

The culmination of all the previous Marvel movies was the arrival of Thanos, the mad Titan, a purple giant with the goal of saving the universe. His plan: to gather the six Infinity Stones, powerful ingots forged at the birth of the universe that give the user god-like abilities.

They’re so powerful that their collective energies can be used to erase half of all life from existence, and it is up to the Avengers to stop Thanos from harnessing them. However, things are looking grim for the heroes, as “Infinity War” left us with Thanos succeeding in his plans and with the remaining half of the universe left to recover. Now, with only the original Avengers left, they are faced with the task of undoing Thanos’s destruction—no matter the cost.

All this comes as the first chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes to a close, as many of the founding actors end their contracts soon, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Considering this, the film will more than likely lead these actors’ beloved characters to make the ultimate sacrifice in their fight against evil.

The first trailer opens with Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, adrift in space on the brink of death—or so it seems. Though

he is only seen for a moment in the second trailer, we see Stark doing what he does best: building himself a path to freedom, this time with the help of Thanos’ adopted daughter Nebula.

The pair was last seen stranded on the planet Titan, and are now making the long voyage through space, trying to get back home. Though previous films have seen Stark escape dire situations, we know from his heartbreakingly hopeless monologue at the beginning of the first “Endgame” trailer that time and resources are limited aboard his spacecraft. It’s plausible we’ll see another character come to his aid. My guess: Brunnhilde.

More famously known as Valkyrie, Brunnhilde did not make an appearance in “Infinity War,” leaving many fans devastated as she had become a treasured character for her charm and sass in “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017). Her story left off embarking toward Earth on a small ship full of Asgardians, the magical people of her and Thor’s homeland. However, the trip was cut short by Thanos and his posse, who destroyed the ship and what seemed to be nearly everyone on it. As Brunnhilde is one of the few characters known to be in space at the end of “Infinity War,” she could be the one to save Stark and Nebula from their predicament.

One character who was front and center for a large portion of both trailers was Captain America (Steve Rogers) which could mean that he’ll be taking center stage in the sequel, having only been seen for around seven minutes in “Infinity War.” Though promotional art has depicted him in a new scaled suit that more closely resembles his comic book appearance, he can momentarily be seen in the trailer sporting

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The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Arts and Entertainment Film

By Morris Raskin The release of “The Lego Movie” in 2014 proved that even with a film acting as one big advertisement for a popular toy, it could still make for a movie filled with comedy, action, and most importantly, heart. Achieving this balance seems almost impossible for a massive corporation like Lego trying to sell us their products, but they did it—and with style.

After the success of the first movie, Lego started pumping out more, each with slightly worse box office returns. Now, five years later, the fourth Lego-based movie has arrived, and it’s clear that as far as buying a movie ticket goes, for many people, talking Legos just won’t do it.

Like the first film, “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” chronicles the adventures of Emmet Brickowski (voiced

by Chris Pratt), a cheerful, optimistic, and lighthearted minifigure, and his cold, angsty friend, Lucy. The movie follows the characters’ journey to a far-off land to prevent “Our-Mom-Aggedon,” the doomsday event in which all of the Lego pieces get thrown into a storage bin. Side characters include the self-obsessed Batman, whose favorite color is dark, dark gray; Benny, a spaced out, spaceship-loving blue astronaut; Rex Dangervest, a ruthless and fearless space ranger; and an angry cat. It’s safe to say that, like the original, “The Lego Movie 2” has a pretty wacky character roster.

Much like how part two features a sprawling cast of characters, the film’s plot stretches itself too far by trying to cover everything and anything that might possibly appeal to its audience.

There is absolutely no breathing room in the script, and any possible time that could be used to

Film

By Jacqueline Thom

let the viewer relax is taken up by a joke or funny quip. That being said, the jokes aren’t aimed at a childish audience and do land well. When it comes to naming things, every single thing in this movie is a punny play on words (e.g. the Sis-Star System is the sister’s room).

Locations, surprisingly, play a large part and are used effectively as sources of humor and creativity. Emmet’s home is a desolate wasteland, harkening back to the first m o v i e w h e n E m m e t ’s newfound

otherworldly Lego universe.

At times, though, the experience isn’t fun. The speed at which the story races is oftentimes overdone. Especially at the end when elements of time travel are added in, the plot gets confusing and exhausting. The sheer amount of information being flung at you is a bit much, especially when the film turns into a full-blown musical.

No, really, it does turn into a musical. The music in this movie is fun in small doses, but after 107 minutes of nonstop songs, it becomes annoying. While there are a few good ones from notable names, such as Beck’s incredibly

Backstreet Boys back to sing a song about the credits of a movie was an… interesting choice.

The visuals of the movie, unlike the music, are actually very good. Overall, this movie is animated incredibly well, and it never fails to impress me that a group of animators can make a few Lego bricks look this amazing on the big screen. The colors are bright, vibrant, and expressive. Perhaps the greatest feat is that the animators managed to crea t e al-

friends were marveling at how devoid of thought Emmet’s mind is (and also how dumb Emmet can be sometimes). From there, we travel to a spaceship, to a planet, to another planet, to a normal human boy’s room (??), to the space under a washing machine, and so on. The changes in location signal different moods and scenes, and overall offer a wider glimpse of the fun, chaotic, and

catchy “Super Cool,” and Dillon Francis/T-Pain’s significantly less fun and more irritating “Catchy Song,” the rest of the soundtrack is a mess. If you read my “Best Albums of 2018” list a couple of months ago (which, let’s be honest, no one really did), you’ll know that I am a big fan of Superorganism, but their song on this album is just not on par with their previous work. Bringing the

most every single thing in the movie out of small, digital plastic pieces. Everything, including the fire, lasers, clouds, water, plants, and more, was made out of Legos. It doesn’t seem quite as impressive now as it did in 2014 when the first Lego movie came out, but it is still an achievement in animation greatness.

Bearing all this in mind, why, then, did “The Lego Movie 2:

The Second Part” make only $34 million domestically in its opening weekend? The reason probably lies in the fact that “The Second Part” just seemed too similar to the first to be a financial success. To put those numbers into perspective, the movie had a budget of about $100 million dollars, not including costs of advertising and marketing. In the first Lego movie’s opening weekend, it made a whopping $69 million domestically, and it was an immediate worldwide hit, both critically and commercially.

The reason for the sequel’s lack of substantial success could be traced to the possibility that the Lego-driven animation style is simply getting old. Back in 2014, this very original concept seemed worth putting in $10 for a ticket.

However, five years and three movies later, the Lego film brand seems a bit overdone. For people deciding whether they want to spend their money on a movie ticket, the concept has to contain a certain level of freshness and creativity or at least be a part of some sort of multibillion dollar superhero or action franchise. The second Lego movie tries to do that, but it oversteps by attempting to cover too many genres, styles, and aspects of storytelling at the same time.

Despite the fact that this “movie” is, in the end, a featurelength toy commercial, I would still highly recommend this film.

“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” manages to satisfy the casual viewer seeking humor, action, and adventure, while still appeasing moviegoers also looking for interesting visuals, pop music, and a good time.

7/10

The Next Wonder Woman is a Cyborg metropolis in which Doctor Ido (Christoph Waltz) finds Alita’s body. Alita, who is an entirely CGI-based character brought to life by Rosa Salazar (Bird Box, Maze Runner), is repaired by Ido, but she has no recollection of her past. When she is pitted in dangerous situations, however, Alita, almost predictably, turns out to be a martial arts master in “Panzer Kunst,” an ancient form of martial arts specifically programmed in age-old cyborgs like Alita. She slowly regains her memory as a soldier in the war that had tore apart Earth.

That’s not all, though. Alita falls in love with Hugo (Keean Johnson), a human boy who does shady work to try to earn his way into Zalem. Alita also uses her martial arts ability as a justification to become a Hunter-Warrior, a kind of mercenary who kills wanted people.

Along the way, Alita pushes back against Ido, who acts like her father figure, while Ido’s former wife, a talented neurosurgeon called Chiren (Jennifer Connelly), seems determined to kill Alita. Doing so would restore the unchallenged corrupt business that Chiren and her boyfriend, Vector (Mahershala Ali), have in place, and could earn Chiren enough money to buy her way into Zalem.

While all these storylines aren’t as confusing when watching the movie itself, thinking about it can be a headache, as James Cameron’s muddled script seems more for show than for any insightful (and original) storytelling. That doesn’t mean director Robert Rodriguez hasn’t manned the helm well, though.

Yes, there’s mediocre film technique in “Alita,” but despite the lack of formidable cinematography or even breakthrough VFX, Rodriguez makes sure that when you watch the movie, it’s digestible. It’s a perfect balance between action, drama, and open-world exploration while maintaining a fun wow factor, particularly when Alita makes her opponents regret underestimating her as just another pretty face.

Adding to the mix is the cast full of big names. Besides Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Downsizing) and Salazar, A-listers like Connelly (Requiem for a Dream), Ali (Green Book, True Detective), and Lana Condor (Deadly Class) make up a formidable cast that play fairly believable characters, though ones representative of basic character tropes.

One of these characters, Waltz’s Ido, is a doctor struggling with his daughter’s death and names Alita after her as her

surrogate. Alita herself is strongwilled and oftentimes naive as teenagers can be, at one point even taking out her mechanically-pulsing heart for Hugo to sell so that they can get to Zalem together. Hugo, proving to be

the kind boy living in the slums who falls in love with Alita, refuses the heart. Moments like this, however, while endearing, are predictable.

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Sophie Poget / The Spectator

She has the face of an angel and the body of a warrior and her name is Alita. The instant Doctor Dyson Ido, a cyborg scientist and Alita’s soon-to-becaretaker, examines his mangled cyborg remains in the light of the setting sun, a story about belief, love, the pursuit of dreams, and bravery arises. This movie’s incredibly simple story, great characters, and full-blown CGI has enabled “Alita: Battle Angel” to successfully cement itself in the film and animation world.

“Alita” is a product of 18 years’ worth of scriptwriting, negotiating, and waiting for James Cameron to make all his other movies first, and the intermission has been worthwhile. If this film had come out in 2009, when it was first slated for release, the mix of live action and computer animation may not have worked as well in portraying Alita and her friends’ rocky existences and vast environment, much less the same kind of unseen otherworldliness that Cameron’s famous “Avatar” (2009) movies boasted.

The film takes place in Iron City, the last great city on a warravaged Earth. In the skies above it is Zalem, a paradise for the wealthy, away from the rugged

The Lego Commercial Two: The Second Sale

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 19

Arts and Entertainment Film Continued from Page 18 Hugo is “the boy next door,” Doctor Ido is the overprotective, shy father, and Chiren is the mother-turned-villain when her daughter dies who pairs up with Vector, himself a villain without a cause who is easily manipulated by the hidden government running Iron City from above. While some moments are cringey and detract from the movie, Cameron could have incorporated much more nuance into their scenes, considering the many years spent writ-

Culture

By Christine Lin and Suah Chung New York Fashion Week (NYFW). A renowned event that was once dubbed “Press Week.” A Paris fashion show knockoff has now bloomed into an opportunity for American designers to showcase their work. The weeks leading up to the show incite an electric thrill throughout the city among tourists, citizens, and designers alike. As the product of months of work, coordinating, and styling hits the runway, it creates a whirl of excitement, never ceasing to amaze even after 76 years of shows. We’ve narrowed down our top eight most iconic shows from NYFW history.

1991: Michael Kors Michael Kors’s 1991 NYFW show was quite groundshaking—literally.

Supermodels were strutting down the runway in shiny coats and retro clothing when suddenly, the ceiling collapsed. As it turns out, the bass in the show’s background was so loud and powerful that it had caused the ceiling in his midtown loft space to fall down just six looks into the show. The designer later recalled in an interview that he had thought the noise was from gunshots in the audience, before model Naomi Campbell ran backstage to break the news to him. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but surprisingly no one had left.

In the midst of all the chaos, guests stayed to watch Cindy Crawford lead the model finale across the runway. It is a true testament to the resilience and dedication of the fashion community.

Additionally, this show was a major historical moment for NYFW as it had persuaded the Council of Fashion Design in America (CFDA) to designate a location for all the events. Previously, each designer had their own space in which they hosted their shows. This meant that if there were 50 shows during the week, then there were also 50 locations. The CFDA, seeing what had happened during Kors’s collection, took action.

“We live for fashion. We don’t want to die for it,” said Fern Mallis, executive director of CFDA at the time.

Kors’s 1991 show is not only the epitome of the saying, “The show must go on,” but is

The Next Wonder Woman is a Cyborg

ing the script. The ending of the film also makes the whole thing seem like a sell-out as it makes way for a sequel when most viewers really just want to see an action movie that can be great on its own.

Ultimately, though, the film’s substance boils down to the action sequences. They’re sprinkled throughout the film and they are awesome. Being the superbeing she is, Alita not only defies gravity, but also can jump higher and further, run faster, hit harder, and perform

satisfying killer moves that not even Keanu Reeves can keep up with. The action harks back to the martial arts style in films like “The Matrix” (1999) while featuring those same pounding, edge-of-your-seat fight sequences found in the likes of the Kingsman franchise.

In between the action, we learn a lot about Alita. Despite being a warrior cyborg, she’s also incredibly compassionate and tries to see the good in others, acting more humane than any of the humans in the film. Even

though she’s living in a world of survival of the fittest, Alita manages to come out on top by following her guts and refusing to stoop to the other HunterWarriors’ levels by becoming a killer without emotions. Much like Wonder Woman, Alita is the person we’ve always wanted to be. She is a strong, underdog-turned-heroine. She won’t turn away someone in need of help and will break into a smile as fast as she will never take no for an answer.

While “Alita: Battle Angel”

fails to provide any deep backstory to a history that seems essential in a movie paving way for more, oddly enough, the simplicity works. It leaves nothing to be thought out and invites viewers to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Watch it in IMAX for an even better experience that is sure to have you leaving the theater feeling like you were really experiencing the sights and sounds of Iron City with Alita. She’s got the face of an angel and the body of a warrior and she will return.

Eight Iconic Shows from New York Fashion Week History

also a representative of something more than just the crazy event where the roof collapsed.

It represents the moment that the event had changed from just an array of shows to the organized week of fashion that we know and love today.

1993: Marc Jacobs The 1993 Perry Ellis NYFW show got Marc Jacobs fired, but also kick-started his career under the Louis Vuitton label.

Once shunned by fashion industry, Marc Jacobs seamlessly incorporated youthful influence into his legendary women’s grunge collection. Critics initially disliked Jacobs’s work because it was so different from the sophisticated pieces that were usually shown at NYFW. It was only later that they respected Jacobs’s instinct to design clothing that did not fit a known category or align with fluctuating trends. Fashion became an artful blend of styles, and constant surprise was the core of its appeal.

The ‘90s grunge fashion trend consisted of plaid and flannel fabrics and sheer floral patterns contrasting with the intricate fashion typically shown at NYFW at that time. Models wore knit hats, black laced-up boots, simple sandals without heels, long graphic T-shirts, loose plaid pants, and anklelength tight dresses in pastel colors, easily pulling off the comfortable vibe. The sheer flowing dresses were striped, floral, or patterned with vibrant fruits, adding to the careless and effortless feel. The grunge style came across as dressing solely for comfort and not for vibrance, but Jacobs’s collection declared to the fashion world that casual dressing is an art in itself.

skirts. What was more surprising was his cast of models. During this time, inclusivity and body positivity were not as big as they are today, which magnifies the significance of McQueen’s inclusion o f people

1999: Alexander McQueen Alexander McQueen’s 1999 show (named No. 13) was revolutionary in many ways. Models walked down the runway wearing intricately embroidered hessian tops and dresses. The structured dresses and modern corsetry provided a stark contrast to McQueen’s previously transparent and flowy tutu-like

such as double amputee and Paralympian Aimee Mullins in the show, wearing custommade wooden legs designed by McQueen himself.

The attendance at his show wasn’t all that impressive, however. There were no A-list celebrities in the front row (though it was rumored that Victoria Beckham had asked for an in-

Susu Tran / The Spectator

vite to the show but was turned down by McQueen because he wanted to keep the attention on his selection). Nevertheless, the show was arguably one of McQueen’s best ones to date. The audience was in for a big shock as Shalom Harlow, a former ballerina, stepped out in a white strapless dress, twirling around on a revolving platform to close the show. Next to her were two robots pre-programmed to spray black, green, and yellow paint onto her dress. This concept was said to be inspired by artist Rebecca Horn’s “High Moon” installation, and left the crowd speechless as the robotic figures were seemingly destroying Harlow’s virginal dress.

With such unique work rooted in both the arts and crafts movement and in technology, Alexander McQueen proved that he is always ahead of his time. About his work, McQueen once said, “I know I’m provocative. You don’t have to like it, but you have to acknowledge it.”

2015: Tracy Reese Models walking down a runway to showcase the 2015 collection? Boring! Tracy Reese opened up her NYFW show unlike any other. Dancers, whom she had situated within the crowd, popped up to perform an original contemporary piece. It aligned perfectly with Reese’s Spring collection, inspired by movement and dance.

The piece was divided into three “acts” that embodied the way Reese lived her life through discipline, craft, and exuberance.

The show started with a series of dark dresses and skirts, gradually building up in color until the models were walking down in bright yellows, purples, and greens. The prints were eye-catching and embellished, a perfect display of Reese’s ability and passion.

Better yet, all the models were wearing flats, including those in elaborate evening gowns; flats were just gaining popularity again and are revolutionary in their own right. Another inspiration for Reese’s collection was choreographer Martha Graham. As Reese stated in an

interview once, she “admired the way Graham lived her life,” with how Graham was a strong believer in taking one’s time to master their craft before expressing it.

The amount of thought Reese put into this collection is what makes it stand out from the rest. Aside from having a school of dancers and funky cacti prints, she strays from the common trend of slapping a label onto clothing to make it couture or simply releasing styles because they’re in trend.

Instead, her collection is meaningful and authentic, something that isn’t as common within the 21st century.

2016: Anniesa Hasibuan Anniesa Hasibuan made NYFW history in 2016 when all her models sported sleek, beautiful hijabs. The hijabs were adorned with intricate embroidery and tiny pearls.

The models were all first- or second-generation immigrants, and showcased Hasibuan’s assortment of pastel satins and silks. She respected the modesty of her Islamic culture while also adding exaggerated feminist touches like statement necklaces and large bejeweled sunglasses. Using a minimalist but creative palette of colors, Hasibuan paired light pink, blue, and marigold hues with ageless metallic accents. The models had scarves around their waists and flowing anklelength wraps complementing each piece, expressing a fresh and floating atmosphere. Her ensembles impressively made plaid chic again and included the smallest touches of iridescent fabrics, subtle ruffles, and statement fur, proving that fashion is for all cultures.

2017: Vaquera In response to the controversial Trump inauguration, Vaquera utilized the recognition of 2017 NYFW to express their bold opposition. Firing up the audience with references to a Tiffany & Co. larger-than-life pouch, an over-sized but trendy chef ’s ensemble, a waitress piece, a construction worker outfit complete with a stark white plastic hat, and more, Vaquera exhibited the average American’s humble lifestyle with a vintage touch.

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Arts and Entertainment Eight Iconic Shows from New York Fashion Week History

Culture Continued from Page 19 Vaquera’s pieces complemented slightly torn jean fabrics with plastic accessories and metallic jackets held together with pearl strings with houndstooth-patterned jackets, but their American flag knee-length dress with a several-foot-long train stole the spotlight. The muted shades of the American flag were highlighted by the metallic blue pumps the model wore. The elegant piece was shoulderless and had ruffled oversized sleeves. The outfit’s simplicity contrasted with its message of the American flag dragging on the floor, which portrayed Vaquera’s redefined American dream.

2018: Julia Daviy Julia Daviy truly revolutionized the production and creation of clothing in her 2018 3D-printed collection. Her passion for the environment and interest in fashion blended and formed her line of recyclable clothing, Liberation Collection. Though she is not the first designer to experiment with 3D printing, Daviy is the first to create flexible, biodegradable pieces for everyday use without extra waste. She drew inspiration from mesmerizing coral patterns, using her 3D printer to precisely recreate the delicate, white spiky anemones, contrasted with sheer fabric and a thinly lined semi-transparent black layer overlaying a mesh of cut-out squares.

Daviy used a model with muted blue hair to subtly making the blue-black undertones in the dress pop. She strategically combined touches of pink and light gray to understate her intricate patterns, practical for everyday use and yet timeless.

Daviy also explored different textures, projecting the dotted pattern of a sea urchin exoskeleton onto a shiny black material and merging spiky 2D overlapping patterns of anemones with a detailed lace mini-skirt.

From the sheer gloves to the captivating hair colors and innovative sunglasses, Daviy showcased all her clothes with a futuristic vibe. She adjusted the reputation of futuristic clothing from unrealistic or tacky to elegant, establishing the fluidity

of fashion.

2019: Pierre Davis Pierre Davis makes her fashion week debut with her new brand, No Sesso. Aside from her avant-garde line, Davis is breaking boundaries by becoming the first transgender designer to present her collection during fashion week. She aims to spread the message of inclusivity within her brand, hence the name No Sesso, which translates to “no sex” in Italian.

For her, this means putting out clothing that is universal and made for all people, no matter their age, size, gender, sexuality, or race.

No Sesso’s 2019 ready-towear collection is titled “Trust No Trade” and displays an ar-

ray of uniquely-structured jackets and shirts, as well as pants and skirts, with some low-cuts that’d almost make you think the 2000s were back. Some stand-out pieces include a grayblue velour tracksuit that looks as if it were straight out of Paris Hilton’s closet, and a long marbled silk dress that is offset with a bright orange fur and leather coat. To further support the brand’s ethos, the collection was modeled by people of all sizes, sexualities, and colors. After all the controversies that have happened within the fashion industry regarding cultures and inclusivity, it is truly refreshing to see each model strut down the runway, being able to showcase both their individuality and authenticity.

A&E Goes Rogue

By The Arts and Entertainment Department At this point, who cares? No one even listens to these. We put whatever songs we wanted.

Follow our Spotify by typing “spotify:user:spec.ae”

100 Bad Days AJR Alt. Pop Rock

Sleeping in Waking Rina Sawayama R&B

Bandito Twenty One Pilots Pop Rock

Baba O’Riley The Who Rock

Ready to Let Go Cage the Elephant Rock

We Think We Know You Bo Burnham Musical Comedy

Different World Alan Walker Pop

Psycho Killer Talking Heads Rock

Sour Candy Melt Pop

Sixteen Blue The Replacements Indie Rock

Hurt Johnny Cash Country

Forrest Gump Frank Ocean R&B

Pool Paramore Pop Rock

Seventeen Sharon Van Etten Indie

Phantom of the Opera Andrew Lloyd Webber & Charles Hart Musical Theatre

Tints Anderson Paak feat. Kendrick Lamar Funk / R&B half alive still feel Pop

Dead Art

When you don’t shave for one week.

Serena Chan / The Spectator

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

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Arts and Entertainment Get A Life: The Cultured Edition

By The Arts and Entertainment Department

march ONGOING ART SHOW Kevin Beasley: A view of a landscape Whitney Museum Until 3/10 Free with student ID

8 MOVIE RELEASE Captain Marvel Most major theaters $10-20

FILM SCREENING Babylon Peter Jay Sharp Building, BAM Rose Cinemas Until 3/14 $15 ($7.50 for members)

CONCERT Members Only Vs. The World Tour: Kid Trunks with Craig Xen Gramercy Theatre $29

FLEA MARKET Brooklyn Flea Market All around Crown Heights Until 3/22 Free ART SHOW R.H. QUAYTMAN: +X, CHAPTER 34 Guggenheim Museum Until 4/23 Free with ID ART SHOW Monumental Journey: The Daguerreotypes of Girault de Prangey Metropolitan Museum of Art Until 5/12 Free ART SHOW The Self Portrait, From Schiele to Beckmann The Neue Galerie Until 6/24 $12

CONCERT Robyn Concert Madison Square Garden $75

9

PLAY True West Roundabout Theatre Company Until 3/17 $59-$169

8

11 BOOK RELEASE Hustle and Gig by Alexandrea J. Ravenelle Strand Bookstore $5

11 CONVENTION Frontiers Lecture: Amy Mainzer, Asteroid Hunter American Museum of Natural History $12-15

12

12 BOOK RELEASE The Sound of Drowning by Katherine Fleet Barnes & Noble and other major bookstores Hardcover- $14.78

PERFORMANCE ART Baba Brinkman’s Rap Guide to Consciousness SoHo Playhouse $39

14 PERFORMANCE ART MOCATalks with NüVoices of the Diaspora Museum of Chinese in America $15

15 ALBUM RELEASE The Cinematic Orchestra “To Believe” Most Streaming Services Free

19 BOOK RELEASE The Next to Last Mistake by Amalie Jahn Barnes & Noble and other major bookstores Paperback- $15.99

17 PARADE St. Patrick’s Day Parade starts at 44th Street and goes up 5th Ave Free

2 CONCERT Travis Scott Concert Barclays Center $90.95-$210.95

Page 22

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Humor Arista Decides Two is Greater Than Three—Administration Says Don’t Count On It

By MITCHELL LEUNG The Arista Executive Council (EC) made a surprise announcement on the night of February 16, one that would leave a lasting impact on the organization and its popularity for a great many hours to come: along with making the routine cuts to service hour requirements toward the end of the trimester due to the inevitable lack of events to actually fulfill said requirements for a huge chunk of panicked Arista members, the EC declared that this way of life was no longer sustainable.

Vice President of Events Lucy Zhang made the statement, “We live in a society today in which it is no longer serviceable to have 95 percent of this organization be pissed at the leadership and giving us a bad name in general. For every member who has quit Arista, I’ve taken a full long event off the events calendar to discourage further misbehavior—which might explain some things, actually.

Anyway, as such, we’ve decided that in keeping with Arista’s mission to forever serve and aid the less fortunate, the EC is finally giving in to the demands of the little general members and changing Arista over to a semester-based system.”

Given that her picture is the biggest among the EC’s portraits on the website, the general members soon decided to place total trust in every word she related.

As such, overall rejoicing began to ring out soon after—students didn’t cut class for several periods, JUULs were voluntarily given to the deans in good spirit—for the impossible had finally been ac-

complished: the EC had pleased its members and done something smart. Prayers made to the tutoring gods and the events committee had been heard and answered at long last, and students no longer had to fight for every last event, fake those final “tutees” and subsequent tutoring hours, and stress over whether they would get those events credits for that event that ended early. Members even emailed the EC members personally, thanking and complimenting them on their spectacular feat, and a record number of applications for membership were tallied for next year.

But just as all seemed well in the kingdom of Higher Academia, the oppressive regime known as the Administration took back control and threw the lives of the frail and nerveshot students into turmoil once again.

A week after the Arista announcement, after much reassurance beforehand from his esteemed colleagues in education, Daryll the Security Guard and Gale the Lunch Lady, Principal Eric Contreras wrested control of the morning announcements from the appalled and frankly intrigued student announcers, Amanda and Shray, to deliver a daily fun fact even they had not heard: “Onward and henceforth, this here Stuyvesant High School will be operating on an annual trimester system. No need to thank me—I do this for money and for myself. That’s right dawgs— should’ve let me go before when I willingly abdicated my dictatorial reign over you pitiful mutterings.

But alas, my dominance over you is thoroughly established now,”

High Overlord Contreras chuckled.

Given that announcement listenership peaked at 28 percent seven years ago, Contreras’s bombshell did not officially make landfall until a sufficient number of students also checked their emails later on, and eventually by word of mouth, the entire student population of Stuyvesant High School—and half the Bronx Science and Tech kids—had learned of this development.

Needless to say, the first disaffected party to lament was the Arista EC. “We finally do one good thing for our constituents, we EARN BACK SOME TRUST AND POPULARITY, AND NOW THE STUPID BOSSMAN HAS TO PULL THIS?” was Vice President of Operations Crystal Wang’s vocal reaction as Shray and Amanda began the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance after Principal Contreras’s ominous portents. Given her advanced choral experience, her voice carried so far out into Manhattan that all male corporate executives stopped their work for that instant, fearing an enraged female coworker about to storm in. Yet immediately after, she clamped her mouth shut—a subsequent attempt to regulate herself, lest the awesome, investigative members of the Spec turn their attention from their most recent victim (see: Big Sibs) and move on to new prey (see: utterly annihilating Arista).

Contreras’s controversial decision reportedly came after hours of studying the models of several successful universities over the weekend, and is viewed as Stuy’s next big step to becoming “just

like college, but only the hard stuff.” When asked why exactly he saw fit to implement this, Contreras replied, “To, like, fully discredit Arista once again.” When questioned about how hard it was to make the ultimate decision, he scoffed at us in his green v-neck T-shirt and maroon bell-bottom pants. “It took like 0.3 percent of my power to misalign Arista’s calendar with our academic calendar again. Here, I’ll show you what 0.1 percent looks like.” He stared into my eyes intently, his mess of sandy-blonde hair hanging down over his eyebrows, and before I knew it, I was hanging upside down from his office ceiling, and my debit card and ID were gone.

But beyond the EC’s defeated efforts at reclaiming legitimacy, if not as an honor society then at least as an adequately-managed club, this revolutionary system revamp has daunting implications for all students in Stuy. Future seniors and basically any non-high school graduates, for one, have been royally screwed over again for being born after the bicentennial, only one of the many burdens their backs have recently been saddled with, including the curse of Talos and bondage by gym uniform. With word reaching universities and colleges internationally about Stuyvesant’s evolution, they have now revised their application policies to make a “special exception” for Stuyvesant. Colleges will now accept second trimester senior year grades as part of their admissions process for all those “special” Stuyvesant students.

Given that second trimester now finishes at the end of March, not only will students have to drink

that special anti-senioritis juice all the way through March, but given that the majority of admissions results are released around that time, seniors will also be forced to wait ANOTHER two months for their decisions. Yes, you heard it here first, folks: Stuy students are gonna have to work for two extra months from now on to ensure that they move on to a highly competitive university and burn out there instead of in high school. Void my lunch and give me a B- if the senior conga line doesn’t evolve into something deadlier from now on.

Along with newfound “special privileges” being granted to Stuy students from colleges, the whole system is out of whack from Contreras’s Thanos Snap. Students will have to attempt program changes three times a year now, which will lead to 50 percent more annual disappointment, not to mention the more shame you will incur upon your soul with an extra report card berating you for your 95 average. Students will fall asleep in approximately 49 percent more classes from the added “rigor” (see: workload). Professional workplaces that request high school transcripts will no longer employ students who operate based on a silly trimester-based school year.

And the sourest grape in this vineyard of villainy? After some hard lobbying by Dr. Markova on her ultra powerful spincycle, the school will now be replacing all decently-tasting snacks in the vending machines with the fruit from the cafeteria leftovers table.

Make no mistake, newly-enlightened readers: the world IS cruel.

The Reject of the Reject Table

By CHRISABELLA JAVIER “Take another fruit.”

Begrudgingly, I followed the lunch lady’s instruction and carefully balanced a 15th orange onto my biodegradable tray. Not like it mattered. We both knew that the fruit would never end up anywhere near my mouth, much to the dismay of the physical education teachers who tried to make us eat healthy by force. If it had been a few months ago, it would have ended up in some sort of trash can.

But today, my large pile of fruit got dumped onto the Reject Table in the cafeteria. (It’s probably not actually called the Reject Table, but let’s be honest, that’s what everyone calls it.) We all know it’s sorta useless. Before this day, I was kind of sure that the reason it even existed was to make the school feel better about the fact that absolutely no one wants to eat cafeteria fruit.

However, in my rush to discard the few nutrients available to me, I realized that I had dumped my student ID on the tray placed on the table.

And some guy just took the entire tray of oranges. Crap.

Now I had to go follow the tray just to get my ID back. (Or I could get a new one, but I’m broke and I really do not want to see the disappointment on the faces of the attendance office staff again.)

I followed the large pile of oranges up to the rooftop, careful not to be seen. Who the hell decides to bring oranges to the roof?

The boy with the tray was wearing a hoodie, marking him as a member of the Environmental Club, and he whispered a pass-

word that somehow opened up the gate.

Okay. Let me weigh my options. I could either follow the fruit or suffer through an entire period of comp sci. On one hand, if I cut comp sci one more time, I am going to get a zero in that class, and also I think we have a

Jennifer

Sun / T

lab today. On the other hand, I didn’t do the homework and I don’t like that class. Might as well spend the rest of my day stalking these oranges and doing whatever I am supposed to do when I get the tray. So, careful not to make too much of a sound, I followed the boy with the tray.

You will not believe what I saw.

On the Stuy rooftop, I saw a humanoid figure tied up with biodegradable materials. The being was large; if it stood up, I would have expected it to be six and a half feet tall. It was made

entirely of fruit. And I mean entirely; every single body part, every strand of hair—even its eyes were strangely-colored oranges. I hid in the plants as the guy from the Environmental Club added on some more oranges to the cre-

it does not matter.” Well, at least they didn’t follow up on my lack of manners.

“What’s your name?”

“I do not have one.”

“Cool. Imma just call you Fruit Man. What’s going on?”

Fruit Man looked around.

“Okay, here’s the story. The Environmental Club made me. The school wanted to

he Spec

tator

ation before leaving.

I got up from the shrubs. “Hey look, I’m just here to get my ID,” I said, tryi n g to avoid making any eye contact whatsoever, but I failed.

“What’s the magic word?”

Oh man. The thing could talk. “Who are you?” I asked, after a very awkward silence during which I tried to become invisible while it stared at me.

The being lay on the floor and sighed. Mood. “Nevermind,

create a superior dean who could take phones without breaking a sweat. So, they commissioned me. They decided to make me out of fruit because it’s organic and compostable. They also want to use me to beat up people who put the wrong piece of trash in the wrong type of recycling.

Please help me.”

I stared, dumbfounded.

“What can I do? Like seriously, what am I supposed to do?”

“Untie me. Set me free. And tell my story.”

As I began untying him, I asked, “How would I be able to

tell your story?”

“Aren’t you a Spec writer?”

“Well, yeah, but I already wrote like two exposès on secret projects the school has, and if I do another one—” The door opened, and three members of the Environmental Club stared me in the face. “Who are you?” they said in creepy unison. Next to me, Fruit Man was frantically trying to hop off the roof with his legs still tied. “What are you doing?”

“Seriously? I already told him,” I said, gesturing to Fruit Man. “I’m not sure what he’s doing. If you jerkwads give me my ID, I might know.” I walked up to the group. “What are you doing here?”

“We belong here.”

“Are you sure?” In the corner of my eye, I could see Fruit Man shuffling off the edge of the roof.

I just had to distract them so he could get away.

“Get out of the way.” They then tried to shove me away to grab Fruit Man, but I could not let them do that. I had to stop them. I grabbed the first thing to my right, a backup generator, and threw it as hard as I could toward the group. Somehow, I found the strength to throw it between Fruit Man and his pursuers.

I was just in time to see Fruit Man plummet into the dark Hudson below.

So now, I am on my fire escape, looking into the distance. I wonder if Fruit Man survived the fall. Is he still out there, trying to make a life for his juicy self?

What ever happened to my ID? And can I stop procrastinating on this article so I can tell his story?

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 23

Humor The Fourth Roman Empire

By JONATHAN XU

Yaqi Zeng / The Spectator

Yo, yo, yo, what’s good? Are you sick of watching President Trump and the Dems argue over funding for a border wall? Do you want a third party candidate to win in 2020? Do you just wanna get this bread (and circuses)? If you answered yes to any of these questions (or no, since what the heck, it’s not like an EMPER—sorry, a CONSUL of ROME is going to care), then flock to my banner and let us establish the Fourth Roman Empire!

“Why fourth?” you ask. See, Augustus Caesar set up the OG Roman Empire (OG = Only Good), Constantine established the Eastern Roman Empire (not really Roman at all), and Charlemagne created the Holy Roman Empire (Biggest rip-off ever. Not holy, not genuinely Roman, and not even an empire! What a pleb!).

Naturally, this shall be the fourth one. Anyhow, here are my campaign promises:

•

•

•

•

Lavish parties with wine for all! Like our Roman ancestors, we only have leaded wine. Surely that can’t be any worse than the DOE’s leaded water.

But first, take a fruit. You need an apple or two tangerines.

No more border walls!

Why should we build a wall to separate one part of America from another part of America? Where is the logic in segregating Texans and Mexicans?

(Some naysayers might say that Mexico isn’t part of America. I say, why not?)

Eat the Constitution.

How can a piece of paper give freedom? Me give freedoms!

An end to elections! Who even votes in these? Hell, the United States’ last dictator didn’t even win

• •

half the votes. #NotMyPresident. To which I say, #ImYoEmperor.

Invade Russia in the winter. What’s the worst that could happen?

Gladiator battles! Any volunteers?

My fellow Americans, do not let our political system be paralyzed by inaction, indecisiveness, and disunity! Let us establish the Fourth Roman Empire here in North America, and let us revel in the glories to come! And no, before you ask, I’m not doing this just because I’ve been binge-watching way too much “Spartacus.” It’s a shame that there are only five episodes, given that the series is an absolute classic and holds up to the test of time, unlike many others of the time and genre. Then again, when you think about it, it’s historical accuracy—hold up. I’m way off-track here. Anyway, let’s perform a Caesar of power and establish the Fourth Roman Empire!

Elon Musk Retrieves Oppy in $2.5B Expedition

By JASMINE WANG Ladies and gentlemen, Elon Musk has done it again. When he dies (or doesn’t die; for all we know, he could be an immortal), his most notable achievement won’t be Tesla or SpaceX; it’ll be the rescue of the Martian rover, Opportunity. America’s robot sweetheart, lovingly nicknamed Oppy, is coming back, thanks to a $2.5 billion expedition to Mars scheduled for June 28, which is coincidentally Musk’s birthday.

In his tweet currently being inscribed in history textbooks now and forever, he states, “Oppy coming back with self-funded $2.5B.” This tweet instantly shot up to over seven million retweets, breaking world records and beating the world record egg’s pathetic attempt to take Twitter by far.

Theories about Musk’s plans are plentiful. In his “Meme Review” episode on famous YouTuber PewDiePie’s channel, Musk

mentions “a great coming that will shake the world,” which most likely refers to Oppy coming back (we hope). Since then, YouTube has been filled with conspiracy theory videos breaking down the video frame by frame, pointing out details like how in certain frames, his mouth makes the shape of an O, obviously code for Oppy. Needless to say, the internet is in a frenzy.

Many wonder why the rover should be rescued in the first place; after all, it has served its purpose and is outdated technology. Some speculate that Oppy contains information that, under closer examination, will reveal hidden secrets about Mars that could revolutionize the scientific world. Others suspect Oppy will be placed in a temple for proper worship by rover fetishists and emotional teenagers alike who have pack-bonded with Oppy.

With Musk commandeering the movement, the latter option is

frankly more likely. A secret society dubbing themselves “Drop the Oppy” suspect that Oppy is a sentient supercomputer who has invaded Musk’s mind and is controlling his every move.

It is fairly likely that “Drop the Oppy” is composed of two potheads and their very confused but scared grandma, judging by their Facebook group “Dear Incoming Drop the Oppy Members… We Have Advice!”

There has also been concern over how the collection robot, named Savior, will be sent out with just over four months to prepare. Musk, however, is prepared for anything. In a bold statement, he proclaimed, “Savior is an act that will transcend anything we have ever accomplished before (except for Oppy, obviously) and will be sent out on schedule at any and all costs. I swear it on my life and my $21.5 billion fortune.” Then, he elaborated on the plan: Savior will be

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sent to Mars without a camera or anything arbitrary that would not directly contribute to Oppy’s rescue. Upon reaching Mars, Savior will locate and encapsulate Oppy before throwing itself back to Earth, burning through itself but (hopefully, probably, maybe?) leaving Oppy intact.

That statement, made on the balcony of his mansion two weeks ago, was the last official message from Elon Musk, besides cryptic tweets about Oppy and Meme Review. His other projects (which include proving we live in a simulation, creating the world’s first puppy-axolotl mix, and silencing the communists, etc.) have appeared to fall by the wayside. Musk’s staff has been dedicated 24/7 to constructing and programming Savior, and Musk himself is not free from this emotional and physical drain. He has been previously said to go four days in a row without sleep, subsisting only on Ambien and pot.*

He has also been locally spotted buying out entire boxes of fivehour energy drinks, which goes to show that Musk truly throws himself in his work and that perhaps Savior will be sent out on time, at the cost of whatever sanity Musk has left. There have been a few videos circulating the internet of a man, who looks suspiciously like Musk, running around the streets of California yelling, “I CAN’T DO IT! I CAN’T DO IT! I CAN’T DO IT!” before slamming face first into a metal pole and collapsing.

With these bleak events, one can’t help but wonder if it’s not just Oppy’s battery getting low and their world becoming dark.

But no worries here; Oppy is coming back, and the world will be green thanks to Elon Musk. *Here at The Spectator, we do not endorse the usage of pot or Ambien to reduce amounts of sleep.

Page 24

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Sports Boys’ Baseball

Everything You Need to Know before the Peglegs’ Season Opener

By RUDOLPH MERLIN The Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s boys’ varsity baseball team, are gearing up for another spring season, hoping to continue their streak of five consecutive playoff appearances.

After another first-round exit in the playoffs, they look to extend their streak and remain as one of the best teams in New York City.

Senior catcher and closer Jeremy Rubin summarized the team’s objectives for the 2019 spring season. “Our goals this season are to win the division, secure a top 15 seed in the city, and win at least one playoff game,” Rubin said.

There will be some gaps to fill.

The outfield was the driving force for the offense last year, while the infield was predominantly made

up of seniors. Regardless of these changes, the team is filled with confidence. “I genuinely believe that the team has what it takes to do all three,” Rubin continued.

These are very ambitious goals. If the Peglegs want to win the division, they will have to step up to the plate. Led by seniors Michael Gillow and Max Onderdonk, (who had a 0.409 and 0.320 batting average), the Peglegs barely came second last year in their division when it came to runs per game, producing only 5.1875 runs per game. This paled in comparison to three-time (consecutive) division winner Beacon High School, which achieved 10.23 runs per game. In their two games against Beacon, the Peglegs were outscored 19-5, losing their

second game by a score of 14-1.

Even against weaker teams, the offense was relatively inconsistent. For instance, their first game against William C. Bryant ended in a 19-3 rout. In their second game against them, on the other hand, the offense could produce only two runs, ending in an extra inning 2-1 victory.

Senior Cooper Nissenbaum (who had 11 RBIs last year) and junior base-stealing Franklin Liou will be crucial to the lineup this season. And perhaps junior Owen Potter, who had a 0.588 batting average in his sole year in junior varsity, could spark the bats on fire.

However, an offense isn’t the only thing that helps win games.

The Peglegs have solidified them-

selves as one of the best defensive teams in the AAA Western League, allowing only 57 runs over a span of 16 games. The defensive skills of Liu and Rubin were a good portion of this achievement. Furthermore, the defensive scheme continues with the pitching. Jared Asch, the Peglegs’ ace, had a surreal season last year, going 6-0 and boasting an ERA of 1.19. Despite these phenomenal numbers, Asch is determined to improve.

“I’m hoping to have my fastball velocity around the low 80s (mph), and I hope to have more control of my offspeed pitches,” said Asch, hoping to continue his dominance. An ace is not without his assets, though. Senior reliever Matthew Deutsch is returning to the bullpen, and he mounted an

impressive 2.65 ERA through 13 innings of relief. This is in addition to senior reliever Malcolm Hubbell. Hubbell not only helped the Peglegs get two crucial wins last season, but he also had a batting average of 0.324.

The team’s first game is at Pier 40 against Norman Thomas, a team that had given the Peglegs difficulty in the past. If Asch is on the mound opening day, he will have to deliver. “Against any of the teams in our division, one small pitching mistake can cost us a big hit, so I need to be careful and keep the ball low and away from the hitters,” Asch stated. A combination of pitching, hitting, and confidence will bring success to the Peglegs this season.

Athletes of the Issue

What’s a Baseball Player’s Favorite Movie?

The Umpire Strikes Back. continued from page 28

base and pitcher, and I will also catch or play some outfield. MH: Keep in mind that Mr. Rubin here was the best reliever—the best closer in the city as a sophomore for all of varsity, so shout out to him.

What has been your favorite memory so far?

JR: After every game or every win at the pier, the entire team goes to the Dunkin’ Donuts right next to it. We order a bunch of donuts, Coolattas™, and we basically just chill with the team for 45 minutes to an hour after games.

It’s just a really great time to hang out with the team, de-stress, and celebrate a win with your best friends. We’ve all been playing together for four years, and it’s just a great atmosphere. MH: Our last game sophomore year, we went

to Dunkin’ and bought a full ice cream cake, and we ate it without utensils, so it went everywhere.

One of my favorite memories was during my sophomore year when I won the starting first base position over a senior and a junior who were also competing for the spot.

I competed well considering I was a sophomore, (JR: very well), but I definitely was not a leader yet.

Adjusting to the higher level was difficult. So the last game of the season, we were playing against William Bryant High School, and it went to extra innings because we were tied. I had the opportunity to compete with a runner on second base—to win the game and walk off—and I did walk off, so it was a great way to end the regular season. I was proud of myself, and it was a great feeling. JR: I helped us to the highest finish Stuyvesant has ever had.

Funniest player on the team?

JR: Junior Jooahn Sur. MH: Cooper has some gems. JR: Senior Cooper Nissenbaum, our other co-captain; along with senior Jared Asch, he’s a co-captain. MH: Ian Sulley (senior). JR: Daniel Kim (senior); it’s honestly just a funny bunch of guys. We just have a great team dynamic.

What do you hope to improve within your own skills this season?

MH: Last year, I had a successful year hitting, but I felt like I was not very consistent as a pitcher. I had some good outings. But, I also had some not so quite good outings, so I’m hoping to be much more consistent this year. JR: I hit a pretty awful point last year.

I was batting a solid 0.192, so my goal this year is to make more solid contact. Last year, I rolled over the ball a lot, which led to a lot of

weak ground balls. I’m also looking to improve a little defensively at third base; I’ve been playing it before, but since I did catching, I didn’t get that many opportunities to play third. I just need to get back into the ground there, but it’s looking up.

Anything to add?

MH: Yeah, we just want to thank Coach John Carlesi. We could not be nearly as successful without him. He’s incredibly devoted, and he cares about us so much. Pretty much no other coach would hold practice as often and sacrifice as much of his time as he does. He’s just so knowledgeable about baseball, so he’s a great resource to have, and we owe a lot of our success to him. JR: I just don’t think we would be nearly as good without him. We wouldn’t be the 13th seed last year. Nor would we be the 10th seed the year before

that if we didn’t have his guidance steering us on the baseball field.

He’s the stabilizing force of the team; without him, the team would just be very different.

JR Choice drink: Strawberry Coolatta™ Favorite food: Mac and cheese Motto to live by: Live life like you’re blood type B positive.

Fun fact: That’s actually my blood type in my motto.

MH Choice drink: Chocolate malted milkshake Favorite food: Barbecue pulled pork Motto to live by: I’m just here so I don’t get fined.

Fun fact: I’m better than cocaptain Jared Asch at paintball.

Dead Art

Klaire Geller / The Spectator

“Stuyvesant students on the Tribeca bridge, 2019 colorized”

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 25

Sports Tampering

Tampering is the Name of the Game

Time’s Up for Tampering

By LEWIS WOLOCH The NBA is changing, and Lebron James is responsible. With his infamous decision to join the Miami Heat in 2010, James paved the way for the rise of super teams in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors have been the epitome of the term, combining five all-stars this year in an effort to win their third straight championship. While the Miami Heat, Warriors, and Philadelphia 76ers are fun to watch, they’re tearing the league apart. Superstar players are starting to value teaming up with each other over trying to lead their own team.

The following is a prime example of this: DeMarcus Cousins recently signed with the Warriors for one year and only $5.3 million. For the sole purpose of winning one championship, he is worth much less than this as a player Players are becoming more and more selfish, outspoken, and impatient, and the league is just sitting and watching. Tampering, or colluding with another player to team up, is only worsening the whole situation. The basketball world first experienced this term when James appeared to ask Anthony Davis about joining the Los Angeles Lakers during a game. Whispers went around the NBA, noting that James, a player, was actively pursuing a player who has a contract with a different team. Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner, did issue out a general warning to all teams about tampering, but it lacked the force to discourage future players from acting the same way that James did.

A few months after this on-court meeting, Davis requested a trade from the Pelicans and was immediately handed a $50,000 fine. He was let off easy.

The fine should’ve been higher, since it was obvious he had been influenced by James’s appeal. The timing of the trade request and the lack of authority when it comes to tampering make it hard to believe that this was all coincidental.

However, what was more important about his request was that he was setting a precedent for players to come. The NBA needs to make clearer rules about tampering and enforce more aggressive

punishments to make the league more about playing basketball and less about joining forces to make superteams.

While it is good for players to voice concerns about their own teams and where they want to go as a free agent, only general managers and front office staff should be dealing with trades and constructing their teams. We have to remember that general managers have a job to do, and their job is made so much harder when players try to dictate the decisions that they are supposed to make. When talking about the ordeal with Davis, one general manager from an unspecified Eastern Conference team said in an interview with ESPN that “It’s a New Orleans’ problem today and a problem with a different player tomorrow for the rest of us.” Adding to this, he said, “It’s open season on small markets and our players.” Tampering has become the root of problems throughout the ranks of NBA teams, and it plagues organizations without super rich owners and stars, luring other players in.

Chandler Parsons of the Dallas Mavericks made it his mission to bring close friend DeAndre Jordan onto his team in 2015. Parsons brought billionaire owner and mogul Mark Cuban into the mix, wooing Jordan with fancy dinners and clubs. Though in the end, Jordan didn’t sign with the Mavericks and rather stayed with the Clippers, this clearly showed the inability of the NBA to curb such obvious evidence of collusion. The NBA did take a step in the right direction with Davis, but much more needs to be done.

Basketball needs to return to the days when it wasn’t all about winning. Players need to start taking their own initiative to build their own teams from the ground up instead of asking for a trade just because they’re losing games. Davis could start an avalanche— one that propels more and more players to feel entitled to their own superteam.

Tampering puts the players in an unfair position to barter with the league and try to build their own teams, taking away from their performances on the court.

By WASEQ AHMED Recently, the NBA sent out a memo to teams that reminded them of the league’s anti-tampering rule after Lebron James’s comments on the Pelicans’ star player Anthony Davis. James told ESPN in late December that it would be “incredible” to play with Davis.

It’s not the first time in recent years that the NBA has handed down tampering penalties.

The Los Angeles Lakers were fined $500,000 in 2017 for tampering with Paul George when he was under contract with the Indiana Pacers. This was before they dealt him to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Mark Cuban, the owner of Dallas Mavericks, was fined $25,000 in 2015 after an attempt to secure Deandre Jordan, the Clippers’ center at that time. Even rapper Drake caused the Toronto Raptors to be fined for tampering due to his pitch to bring Kevin Durant to the team in 2014.

None of these cases involved the most common type of tampering: when a player colludes with another to convince him to join his team. The league’s statement on the Lakers’ fine for tampering with Paul George ended with the following: “The NBA’s antitampering rule prohibits teams from interfering with other teams’ contractual relationships with NBA players...including by publicly expressing interest in a player who is currently under contract with another team or informing the agent of another team’s player of interest by one’s own team in that player.” This specification clearly provides a loophole in which players have the opportunity to collaborate with another regardless of their contract status. Because the multitude of NBA players use this to their advantage, the NBA should enforce this loophole in its regular set of rules.

The truth is that in the NBA, these talks, in which players discuss possible futures with players under contract with other teams, happen all the time, and they benefit teams and players. Some of the NBA’s top contenders and entertaining teams wouldn’t exist without them. There’s no better example of this than Draymond Green, who called Kevin Durant the night the Golden State Warriors lost Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers and implored Durant to join Golden State. If Green didn’t take initiative,

the Warriors’ dynasty would have not been created. Another example is the Heat dynasty with the core of James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. James, Wade, and Bosh readily admitted that they discussed playing together as far back as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the three eventually chose the Heat when they all hit free agency in 2010. When questioned by the media regarding if this was allowed, then commissioner David Stern said, “What we told the owners was that the three players are totally, as our system has evolved, within their rights to talk to each other.” He added that players controlling their destinies by working together in such a manner “is not tampering or collusion that is prohibited.”

Tampering is also a way to bolster relationships among the NBA’s best stars, and it has led to less resentment from players toward each other. We clearly saw that in the AllStar Game this year, the teams seemed to have exceptional chemistry with each other and played out one of the more entertaining games to date.

Year after year, teams announce the signing of free agents just hours after free agency begins on July 1, an obvious form of tampering that the league seems none the wiser to.

In an interview with Bleacher Report, an eastern conference general manager outlined this further by asking the following: “How many names flash across the ticker two hours after midnight saying they’ve agreed to a four-year, $64 million deal?” “You think that was negotiated in 10 minutes? If you’re an agent and you wait until July 1 to find out what your client’s options are, you’re going to get fired. You’ll be sitting there while your client’s options are falling off the table,” he added.

With player-to-player conversations happening on a daily basis, the league is virtually powerless to stop this. The truth of the matter is, if such excessive tampering with players and other teams happens excessively behind the scenes, a more lenient approach should be taken in the enforcement of tampering rules.

The only way tampering is a problem is if the rules are enforced unevenly. With tampering becoming an inexorable part of the modern game, it’s time to level the playing field by making tampering a possibility for everyone—not just for the few risk-takers.

Girls’ Badminton

Girls’ Badminton Ready to Start Strong

By ISABEL LEKA As we, the students of Stuyvesant, trudge through the second floor entrance, scan our cards, and rush to our first period classes every morning, we pass underneath a banner that most of us probably miss. It reads “2017-2018 Girls’ Badminton PSAL Champions.” Many people

team is the team to keep your eye on this spring. With experienced players, strong chemistry, and lots of hard work, the girls’ badminton team has a strong chance of reclaiming the City Championships.

Senior and captain Keying Wang is one of the many experienced players the team includes.

As captain and the first singles

The girls’ varsity badminton team overcame the odds. It went from underdog to top dog in the city, and it is hoping to lengthen its stay at the top.

do not pay mind to this successful yet underappreciated team.

They would rather focus on how the football team is shaping up as well as the record of the Pirates, the boys’ swimming team. However, the girls’ varsity badminton

player during her junior year, she will be able to provide the team with the same leadership and guidance that resulted in last year’s city championship. Wang said, “Our goal this year is to keep the title of city champions.

In order to do that, I will definitely push the team even harder as its captain. No one slacks off!”

With such a persistent and motivated role model, the girls’ badminton team can expect to begin the season with the same energy and expectations as last year.

In the two seasons before last year’s championship win, Stuyvesant only advanced to the semi-finals and quarter-finals, respectively. According to Wang, what had set last year apart was the elevated concentration and energy during practice, along with a more closely knit team. She said the following: “We were a lot harder on ourselves during practice last year than we had ever been. We were constantly pushed beyond our limits. Everyone on the team was very supportive, and we would always point out each other’s improvements, which motivated us to do even more. When we got to the finals, we had this mindset that if we already made it this far, we could win the championship... and we did!”

The chemistry between the players on the team last year was what had allowed for the doubles players to ensure a win in their fi-

nal game against Brooklyn Tech, the first seed and predicted winners. “Our biggest strength is our team spirit. Every player on the team takes their responsibilities seriously. We see ourselves as a team no more than we see ourselves as a family. We trained really hard together,” Wang said.

The sense of family that the girls’ badminton team was able to create—whether it be during practice or at “Kung Fu Tea after practices”—will be key to their growth as players, since it will inspire them to keep improving for their teammates. Though the team lost three seniors, which included their first doubles and second singles players, we can expect the remaining players to keep this chemistry alive.

The girls’ varsity badminton team has put on a steady performance in the regular season for the past three years, consistently finishing with a 9-1 record.

It had lost only once each year to Seward Park Campus. Oddly enough, Seward Park also finished 9-1 in the last three years, losing one game per year to Stuyvesant. This rivalry makes Seward Park the team to beat this season. “Stuyvesant and Seward

Park are true frenemies. On one hand, Seward Park is the biggest opponent in our division. The matches [against Seward] are always some of the most heated and exciting games in the entire season,” Wang said. She adds that while both teams are very friendly with one another off the court, they fight intense battles on it.

Seward Park Campus has also won a championship in recent years, so this season could be the year its team’s feud with Stuyvesant escalates. If Stuyvesant is able to go 10-0 without a loss from Seward this season, it would be even closer to their dreams of recapturing their title.

The girls’ varsity badminton team overcame the odds. It went from underdog to top dog in the city, and it is hoping to lengthen its stay at the top. With Wang’s leadership, hard work, and an unbreakable team spirit, the players have great expectations for this upcoming season. So the next time you swipe your card through the scanners on the second floor, look up! The girls’ varsity badminton team is striding toward the City Championships once again.

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The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Sports Boys’ Tennis

The Hitmen Look To Hit Back

By SAM LEVINE and MAX MAH The Hitmen, Stuyvesant’s boys’ tennis team, are looking to bounce back from a somewhat disappointing season in 2018. Last year, the Hitmen went 5-5 in the Manhattan A Division, which tied them for third place along with the High School of American Studies.

Beacon and Bronx Science placed first and second, respectively. According to Coach Marvin Autry, these two schools are the toughest competitors that the Hitmen will face, as they each beat the Hitmen twice last season. Additionally, Beacon has successfully defended the PSAL Championships for the last 10 years.

Despite a first-round bye and their 5-5 record got them into the playoffs, the Hitmen unfortunately fell to New Dorp High School in the second round. They lost

all three of their singles matches, which was largely due to the absence of their two best players that day: current junior Sujay Sharma and sophomore Harrison Saladini.

Both weren’t able to make it to the match. This was enough to tip the balance in New Dorp’s favor for the rest of the meet.

The Hitmen suffered some tough blows last season. In addition to missing their two best players for the playoffs, the Hitmen’s third and fourth best players quit the team midway through the season last year. They quit because they didn’t want to switch positions, but this put the team at an even greater disadvantage. Autry believes that the Hitmen had a good chance to win it all last year if it were not for these setbacks.

When talking of the players who left the team, Autry said, “We would have had a championship team…if [the third and fourth

best players] had stayed on the team and taken a different position. We would’ve won the championships.”

Though the Hitmen are coming off a shaky season, Autry is optimistic about the team’s returning players. The Hitmen only lost two of their senior players from last season. While schools like Bronx Science lost three of their starters, the Hitmen are retaining most of theirs. Returning at third singles is junior Albert Wan. Seniors and newly appointed co-captains Robin Han and Nicholas Chan are returning at second doubles.

Most importantly, Sharma and Saladini are expected to return by the time the Hitmen open their season against the High School of American Studies on March 27.

Coach Autry has full confidence in these two. “[Sharma and Saldini] are among the top two players in the city,” Autry said. Along with

Chan and Han, they should be able to help lead the team to the playoffs.

Overall, the Stuyvesant Hitmen should be looking at a solid season this year. “We have a very good team that’s gonna be in the running for the championships,” Autry said. “I don’t think we’re gonna have any problem making the playoffs and winning the first and second rounds.”

That being said, Autry still has to host tryouts at Pier 40 this upcoming week to scout out new potential talent. He is looking for at least six freshmen with years of solid alleged experience under their belts. Stuyvesant has a highly competitive tennis population; many players train at Matchpoint in Brooklyn or the Queens Tennis Center. Many also take private lessons of some sort.

As a coach, Autry’s goal is to maintain his players’ consistency

at team practices and keep their confidence level up. A “majority [of the team] know[s] how to play. Last year, many of them got nervous and messed up their first serves,” he said. This anxiety had led to much weaker second serves, which are often returned very well and can put the server in a tough spot. It will be very important for the Hitmen to get their first serve down.

The Hitmen will look to start their season out strong with a win against the High School of American Studies on March 27.

They played against powerhouses Beacon and Bronx Science on March 1 and March 3, respectively.

Overall, the Hitmen are poised for a very good bounce-back season.

With top players returning and captains ready to lead the way, the Hitmen should be on their way to a top finish.

Girls’ Softball

Renegades Ready to Defy Expectations

By ETHAN KIRSCHNER and MATT MELUCCI As they walked off the field for the final time last spring, the mood among the Renegades was somber. They had just been defeated 5-0 by Fort Hamilton in the third round of the playoffs. It was the last game the team would play together, ending a two-year run of improvement and success. Yet, as they left the diamond for the final time, the players were proud of what they had accomplished.

They just finished the most successful season in softball history at Stuyvesant, and they had plenty of reasons to hold their heads high.

Coach Vincent Miller was proud of last season. It was “definitely [our] best season ever, as we finished sixth in the city,” he said.

“Last season exceeded any

expectations the team or I had,” said senior Alexandra Archer, reflecting on the experience. The postseason run capped off a campaign which saw the Renegades finish second in their division— only one win behind Manhattan Center, which finished the season 11-2.

This season, Stuyvesant will have to make up for the loss of two key players and former cocaptains: catcher Charlotte Ruhl and ace pitcher Francesca Michielli. “We lost our hard-to-replace starting pitcher and catcher, but we will be okay,” Miller said. Ruhl had an astounding batting average of .476 last season, while Michielli finished the season with a solid record of 8-4 and a 3.6 ERA. She started every league and playoff game. She also hit a solid .297 during the regular season. “This year

is definitely going to be a building year for the team,” Archer said. This is because the loss of key players “will leave large shoes to fill,” she continued. The good news for the Renegades is that they have six of their nine starters back this year. However, they will need some of the younger players to step up, such as juniors Aeryn Lubelsky and Julia Amoroso— that is, if they want to be as successful as they were last season.

An increase in competition is expected this year, since the Renegades have been moved from Manhattan AAA to Manhattan AA. “We were placed in a more competitive division this year, so we won’t have any of the past games that we took advantage of to win by a large margin,” Archer also commented. Though the competition may be fierce, the

Renegades are ready to step up to the plate and accept the challenge. They will be led by their seven seniors, including captains Ruby Gary, Julianna Fabrizio, and Alexandra Lennard. The team’s experience will certainly be an advantage when it comes to managing tougher opponents such as the Manhattan Center for Science and Math.

The Renegades’ offense should be their key strength this year. Even after losing two solid hitters, the team’s lineup last year was a huge asset. “The lineup was very deep…everyone could hit and help out in terms of runs,” said Archer, referencing the strength of Stuyvesant’s starting nine players; they achieved a batting average of over .400 last year.

They got production from and throughout the order. Their of-

fense carried them through large stretches in the season despite multiple errors on the field.

The Renegades should feel confident about repeating their successes from last season. Coach Miller is also optimistic. “We are aiming to stay top-tier and win the division this year,” he said.

This is a pivotal year for the team, since they have seven seniors set to graduate this June. Their roster is also filled with experienced returning players. They have a real shot at making a deep post-season run—maybe even farther than last years. It will surely be an emotional season for the Renegades, as the seniors are looking to leave their mark on the team’s history. In the Renegades’ final season, they will be determined and ready to end their careers with a bang.

NFL

Robert Kraft’s Seventh Ring

By SUNAN TAJWAR If you’ve been watching football since the turn of the century, you should know by now that there are three things guaranteed in life: death, taxes, and the Patriots making it to the Super Bowl.

Since the 2001-2002 season, the New England Patriots have only missed the playoffs once, and they have won a remarkable six Lombardi Trophies. It all started when the Patriots picked a scrawny quarterback from the University of Michigan. He ran one of the hardest-to- watch 40-yard dashes in NFL Combine history. Who could have predicted that this fifth-round backup to Drew Bledsoe would become arguably the greatest quarterback to have ever graced the gridiron?

The kid’s name was Tom Brady, and he would lead the Patriots to a 20-17 victory in Superbowl XXXVI against a St. Louis Rams team, often referred to as the “greatest show on turf.” It was a duel with future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, with a fourth-quarter gamewinning drive capped off by an Adam Vinatieri field goal. It was a great story—until he did it again against the Carolina Panthers two years later with another fourth-

quarter game-winning drive, finishing with a 32-29 victory. And you wouldn’t believe it if I told you that he did the exact same thing the very next year against Donovan McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles, again winning by a mere three points (24-21). As if three championships weren’t enough, the Patriots decided to win another three in the next decade, stealing the Lombardi Trophy out of Marshawn Lynch’s hand in 2015, orchestrating the greatest postseason comeback in history against the Atlanta Falcons in 2017, and completely embarrassing the Los Angeles Rams just last season.

But in addition to having the greatest quarterback of all time, the Patriots also had the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick.

Bill Belichick fathered the Patriot way. It consists of creating defensive schemes capable of neutralizing any opponent who can catch or run with the ball, orchestrating late fourth-quarter drives, and doing it all with anybody they can grab off the street for a buck and a sandwich. For obvious reasons, anyone living outside of New England has a deep, jealous hatred for the Patriots. It also didn’t help when Brady went on trial for deflating footballs in the infa-

mous deflategate scandal, and the coaching staff was accused of illegally accessing their opposing teams’ playbooks.

But many often overlook the critical third point of the Patriots’ holy trinity: owner Robert Kraft.

Kraft has played a crucial role in building and maintaining the Patriots’ dynasty. Through the years, Kraft has helped Bill Belichick build and restructure the team, maintained and established the Patriot brand, and protected his players from all the naysayers (and commissioner Roger Goodell), especially in the case of his adopted son Brady. Kraft has always been a symbol of professionalism, a class act, and the gold standard for NFL owners since he bought the team in 1988. And after his sixth Superbowl victory, Kraft may have solidified a place for himself among the Mount Rushmore of American sports team owners of all time. Most would think that one would get bored after five Superbowls, but the sixth championship last month was nonetheless a call for massive celebrations. Most owners usually organize championship parades and give back to the fans after winning the Superbowl. Kraft followed that example in the last five occasions. But this

year, Kraft, started soliciting prostitutes.

Kraft recently pleaded not guilty on two counts of soliciting prostitution in Florida. Kraft, who has a home in Palm Beach, was accused of being involved in a sex trafficking scandal at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. Surveillance footage suggests that Bob Kraft had visited one of these institutions and paid for such services in cash on January 19, which was an interesting way to mentally prepare for the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City the next day. If found guilty, Kraft could face up to a year in jail, a mandatory $5,000 fine, and 100 mandatory hours of community service. But Kraft needs to forget about the authorities because he has something much greater to fear: the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell.

If we have learned anything from the NFL under commissioner Goodell, it is that he will take any steps necessary to maintain and protect the integrity and respect of the name and symbol of the NFL. Goodell is renowned for having very low tolerance for player actions that could be damaging to the league’s reputation.

Whether it be domestic violence cases involving players such as Ray Rice and Ezekiel Elliott, or a violation of PED/drug usage rules cases involving players like Randy Gregory, Josh Gordon, and Martavis Bryant, Goodell has sent a message to the league that he doesn’t care who you are or what team you play for: you will be thoroughly punished if you put his and the NFL’s reputation in jeopardy. Keeping that in mind, the NFL is likely to tag Kraft with the maximum $500,000 fine and suspend him for a significant portion of the Patriots’ season. Remember that Goodell has a bad history with the Patriots. He may be the most hated man in New England for his role in pushing the case against Brady in deflategate and enforcing a six-game suspension on Superbowl MVP Julian Edelman for PED violations. But the following question remains: in this day and age, will the NFL let Kraft off the hook? $500,000 is a small fraction of Kraft’s $6.6 billion net worth, and the Patriots will continue to win games whether or not Kraft is sitting in the owner’s box; after all, it’s the Patriot way. But on a continued on page 27

The Spectator ● March 19, 2019

Page 27

Sports NBA

Robert Kraft’s Seventh Ring

continued from page 26

larger note, the questions remain of whether Kraft even deserves the chance to redeem himself, especially since people who have committed much lighter offenses are stiffed by the league. Players like Colin Kaepernick and Ed Reed, who have proved themselves to be performers among the highest level of NFL football, cannot find jobs and are allegedly being blacklisted by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice.

As harsh as Goodell and the NFL have been on players, the majority of them had gotten a second chance. Kareem Hunt was caught on camera kicking and abusing his girlfriend. It was appropriately released by the Kansas City Chiefs and reprimanded by the league for his actions. But it didn’t take longer than a few months for the Cleveland Browns to offer him a contract. On the other hand, Kaepernick is practicing a modern form of civil protest for social and racial injustice against the African-American population, and owners and coaches still refuse to sign him, citing any excuse

they can. Some even go as far as to say that he is “overqualified” to be a backup quarterback in the NFL. This is to justify keeping Kaepernick off their books, as the coach of Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll, has done in the past. Besides the obvious blacklisting by the league, there is one other significant difference between these men and Kraft: Kaepernick and Reed did not commit any crimes.

It will be a sad day for the NFL when a sex trafficker is better off than a former starting quarterback who led his team to the Superbowl and peacefully stood up for his beliefs. Kraft’s punishment is simply

not enough to reprimand him for his actions. Kraft has carried the torch as the blueprint of an NFL team owner, and if Goodell lets him off the hook, he will set a dangerous precedent for owners to come. The NFL has an implied policy in which as long as your production for the league is high, the league’s tolerance of you will also be high. So if Kraft gets away with a simple fine and limited suspension, Goodell will be directly correlating a team’s financial and sporting success to his level of tolerance toward the team’s “off the field” actions. Goodell now has a prime opportunity to re-

move the notions of a successful security blanket over NFL owners. He can truly establish himself among the powerful owners who have been there long before himself by making an example of the puppet master of the Patriots’ dynasty. But more so, after bobbling the Kaepernick controversy that will follow the commissioner to his grave, Goodell can reinforce the standards for the league and prove that the NFL’s policies are fair and unprejudiced.

With the entire league watching, Goodell has a golden chance to push this case toward the right side of NFL history.

Cricket

The Tigers Roar for Redemption

By SUBHAN CHAHAL Having finished rock-bottom in their Bronx/Manhattan League for the past two seasons, the Tigers, Stuyvesant’s coed varsity cricket team, seek a new beginning—one that uses their recent struggles as a lesson for the upcoming season.

Many of the team’s recent issues were rooted in the inexperience of the roster. Senior and vice-captain Ahamed Rashid noted, “The team’s struggle can be rooted in the loss of senior players who at the time made up nearly the entire starting lineup. Once they had left, the team was left with several inexperienced players who needed time to develop and

grow.”

Without many of their critical players, the team’s focus transitioned to developing younger members. Many of them lacked sufficient game experience and even basic knowledge of the sport, largely accounting for their 0-11 record in the 2016-2017 season.

Further complications were spurred by the inactivity of their current coach, Mohammed Khan.

Khan “does not bother to take the time to come out for practices and help teach players what they need to do,” sophomore and vicecaptain Parthiv Lodh said. This forces the captains to devote their time to coaching younger players at the expense of their own training.Without an active adult coach,

an inability to access proper facilities emerges. Local venues, including Asphalt Green and Pier 40, are usually reserved by various softball teams. This means that “you have to either go to Queens or Brooklyn. Thus, players would have to spend time commuting—time which should be spent practicing,” said Vishwaa Sofat, junior and cocaptain.

Not only is this an inconvenience, but many of these pitches, including the team’s usual practice field (Kissena Corridor), are not the most well-maintained. Grass is rarely being trimmed, and the crease is bumpy, making bowling and fielding incredibly difficult.

However, this rebuilding phase for the team has a silver lining.

Many of the inexperienced players have improved tremendously and are ready for their first games.

The team has also committed to training off-season to avoid rust as the new season begins. “Working on drills instead of doing as many scrimmages as possible will help with the technical part of the game,” Lodh said.

The captains have also encouraged players to join leagues over the summer, and many upperclassmen that participated in such leagues have come back with valuable experience.

Contesting the playoffs is the obvious mission for the Tigers.

Despite continuing conflicts over coaching and access to proper facilities, many of the younger

members like Lodh have begun to realize their potential, and the upcoming tryouts present an opportunity for the addition of even more talent.

Kicking off the season against Lehman Campus in early April, Sofat expressed his desire to reach the playoffs. However, he said that the team will “grow, take it one game at a time, and learn from what it can do. The biggest goal is not reaching the playoffs, but rather it is becoming a better team.”

Whether or not the team’s development will be enough to see the Tigers regain the form that sent them to the second round of playoffs three years ago remains to be seen.

Boys’ Volleyball

Can the Beasts Recapture the Division Title?

By LEWIS WOLOCH and BENJAMIN HAMEL Last season, the Stuyvesant boys’ volleyball team was set for the city playoffs. Their starting lineup of all seniors had been waiting for this moment since they were freshmen, and the stakes were high for the 10-0 Beasts. However, disappointment soon struck. Two starters, seniors Shun Bitar and Tommy Min, had to miss the game, and they lost 2-0 to Francis Lewis. Almost a year later, excitement for the volleyball season is building again.

The Stuyvesant Beasts have achieved considerable divisional success for the past few years under the steady hand of Coach Vasken Choubaralian. Though the Beasts have gone undefeated in the Manhattan A West Division for the past two years, they’ve had limited citywide playoff success.

Hopefully, that will change this year. With the girls’ varsity team clinching the city championship last fall, the pressure is on the boys and Choubaralian to bring home a second title for Stuyvesant.

While hopes are high for the Beasts’ season, the team has to

make up for some key losses from last year. Their past starting team consisted entirely of seniors, so the underclassman will have to step up and pick up the slack this year. Senior Scott Abramowitz talks about the team’s aspirations.

“Despite only having one returning starter, we have a great group of guys this year, and we believe that we have the chemistry, talent, and desire to win a championship,” he said. The desire, along with immense success over the past two seasons, can lead the Beasts to a championship this season. Their ability to handle pressure will be tested, since

many of them did not play much last season. Yet, junior Timothy Stansberry remains confident in his team’s ability to perform. “We have been playing together for a long time now, and we have developed great communication and familiarity with each other,” he said. It’ll be up to Stansberry and Abramowitz—as well as other juniors and seniors—to produce this spring.

With the first league game against Brandeis on March 19, the team aims to get a win to start the season with a morale boost that can give them the momentum to push further. Though Brandeis

may not be the most daunting opponent, the Beasts cannot overlook this game given their 1-9 record last season. This game will set the tone for the season, and starting off on the wrong foot can lead to a poor season for the Beasts.

Since the Beasts are defending division champions, their aspirations are no different this year.

Another exciting season is on the horizon for Stuyvesant volleyball, and the Stuyvesant community hopes to see a second volleyball championship trophy in the third floor cabinet come summer.

Boys’ Outdoor Track

The Greyducks Get Ready to Fly Outdoors

By PAUL LIOU and ROHAN SAHA The Greyducks concluded the indoor track season in February with strong performances at the PSAL Borough and City Championships; they hope to mirror the positives from the indoor season in the upcoming outdoor season, starting with their talented underclassmen. “I have really big expectations for the sophomores and freshmen, as they showed off [exceptional performances] in the indoor track season,” said Joseph Lee, senior and captain.

Sophomore Connor Ng qualified for the City Championships meet in the 300-meter dash, 55-meter dash, and 4x200-meter relay. He competed exceptionally well at

the Borough Championships, where he helped the Greyducks place first in the 4x200-meter relay. Performances like these from the underclassmen will be needed to replicate the success from the indoor track season.

Expectations are just as high for the upperclassmen, who put together a phenomenal indoor season. Seniors Richard Peng and Peter Jin will look to continue their success after dominating the 55-meter high hurdles at the Borough Championships, finishing first and third respectively.

The Greyducks’ star pole vaulter, senior Andrew Wargo, will also look to defend his borough championship victory. Juniors such as Harper Andrews are also expected to perform at high levels

this upcoming season. Andrews is a versatile athlete who has done exceptionally well in many events, finishing first in both the 300-meter dash at the 2019 Indoor Borough Championships and in the triple jump at the 2018 indoor Borough Championships.

Though expectations are high for the Greyducks as they head into the outdoor track season, success will not be easy.

For starters, the Greyducks will have to step out of their comfort zones and participate in new events. “For this season, I expect the underclassmen to try out different field events,” Lee said. “As track and field athletes, my hope for them is to experience and expand their athletic capabilities by participating in different events.”

The Greyducks have shown in the indoor track season that they are capable of doing so; case-inpoint is junior Jackie Dong, who competed in the high jump for the first time during the Borough Championships.

Another challenge to keep in mind is the fact that outdoor track takes place in a different environment than indoor track.

“Outdoor track has more factors that can affect a race,” Lee said.

One of them is the weather. The outdoor track season begins in the cold month of March, when weather conditions do not favor running. Some variables include wind, track condition, and even extremes such as health conditions. They can all result from running outdoors. This is a major

change from the controlled atmosphere in the Armory, where most meets during the indoor track season took place.

Additional adversity comes from the loss of runners to other spring sports and the introduction of fresh faces. However, Lee showed no concern. “Though the team is losing talented athletes going into the outdoor season, we are not too worried because we have returning athletes who will fill in those gaps,” he said.

All in all, success will be difficult for the Greyducks during the outdoor track season. However, if their performance during the indoor season is any indicator, the Greyducks are more than capable of dashing to victory.

Page 28

March 19, 2019

THE SPECTATOR SPORTS Athletes of the Issue

What’s a Baseball Player’s Favorite Movie? The Umpire Strikes Back.

By AKI YAMAGUCHI

Jeremy Rubin Grade: Senior Height: 5’9” Eye color: Brown Hair color: Brown DOB: 03/13/2001 Malcolm Hubbell Grade: Senior Height: 6’2” Eye color: Green Hair color: Brown DOB: 10/05/2000 When did you start playing baseball?

JR: I started playing baseball when I was around five years old doing t-ball with West Side Little League. MH: I started playing baseball with my dad when I was around two years old. My dad would just take me to the park and make me throw things, but then I couldn’t really throw the ball too well because I was two. JR: I started playing with my best friend from preschool, Jack. MH: And then I started playing on a team when I was around five years old.

Do you play on a team outside of school?

JR: I played with the NY Gothams since I was 13, and before that, I played with the West Side Little League travel team starting at 10. MH: I played with the Brooklyn Bonnies and the Brooklyn Bulldogs, and now I play for the Brooklyn Wrath. And this has been

March

18 NBA

@ 7:30 p.m.

Denver Nuggets vs.

Boston Celtics

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Jeremy Rubin and Malcolm Hubbell are both returning captains on the Stuyvesant baseball team, the Peglegs. Last year, the Peglegs came in second place in their division, qualifying for playoffs. Sadly losing their first playoff game, they look to bounce back and win their division this year. Both Rubin and Hubbell had strong seasons, with Rubin throwing out 13 people stealing and Hubbell with a batting average of 0.324. With the season beginning soon, these two enthusiastic captains tell us about their expectations for their final year and reflect on their journey to where they are today.

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for the past three years through the late spring and summer seasons, with me traveling through the tristate area and to Delaware.

What are your goals for the team this season?

JR: I think our main goals are to win the division and beat Beacon. Secondly, we want to be top 15 seed in the city, which goes hand-in-hand with the first goal.

Third and most importantly, we want to win at least one playoff game. MH: We made playoffs every year while at Stuyvesant, and we have gotten somewhat unlucky with those we got matched up with. One of our best players got hurt freshman year, so there have been some unfortunate factors in past years. We’re just hoping to take a win this year.

How do you juggle baseball with school work?

MH: Baseball has always been sort of a motivator for me. You have to do well in school and you have to attend school to be able to play baseball. I make sure to manage my work so it doesn’t prevent me from going to baseball. It’s honestly been difficult sometimes to go to school, work out for three hours, come home, and then immediately have to start homework for a couple of hours. It’s a focusing thing and gets you stressed out, but physical activity like baseball and schoolwork are very different kinds of work, so it’s not too bad to do both. JR: To add on, we have

practices pretty much six to seven times a week come March 1. I’ve heard a lot of people say about sports in general that they have too much work, so they can’t come to practice on a certain day. But, I feel like it’s the opposite for me. Going to practice gets me hyper-focused because I know I have to get stuff done now within a limited time.

And like Malcolm was saying, it’s a great way to lift the burden of the day off my shoulders, and it lets me think about baseball instead of whatever tests or projects I have. I can just focus on doing the thing I love doing for a couple of hours.

What are your respective positions and what do you like about them?

MH: I’m a pitcher, and I play first base. I was a shortstop for a long time, but then I got too tall and awkward to shuffle around that fast. So my coach said, “Tall boy, you can play first base.” So now, I’m a first baseman. JR: I caught in middle school, and I pitched for the Gothams. I came to Stuy, and I said I was a shortstop and a pitcher. I got called up to varsity freshman year because a senior named Nathan got hurt, so I pitched solely for that year. I was a backup third baseman sophomore year, and I also pitched. I transitioned back to catching my junior year because we lost both of our formal senior catchers. This year, I will probably play a lot of third continued on page 24

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Boys Varsity Baseball

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Premier League

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Liverpool vs. Tottenham

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Adlai Stevenson Campus vs. Stuyvesant Renegades Adlai Stevenson High School Field