Volume 105, Issue 15 by The Stuyvesant Spectator

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

Volume 105 No. 15

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

May 28, 2015

stuyspec.com

Student Union Endorsements

Newsbeat

The Spectator chose to endorse Krzysztof Hochlewicz and Kate Johnston for the Student Union, David Kang and Rahul Debnath for Senior Caucus, Anna Usvitsky and Sachal Malick for Junior Caucus, and Kevin Boodram and Oscar Wang for Sophomore Caucus. Turn to pages 4 - 7 for coverage of the elections.

Sixty-two Stuyvesant students received medals in the National Japanese Language Examination Program. Wenting Li and Joshdel Xiedeng earned perfect scores, ranking them first on both the state and national level.

The Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers awarded freshmen Razeen Adit, Mika Simoncelli, and Daniel Tam first place, fourth place, and honorable mention, respectively, in its essay contest.

Former Central Intelligence Agency case officer Joseph Wippl and United States Customs Patrol computer engineer Thomas Boney, who specialize in cyber defense, gave presentations for the students of social studies teacher Kerry Trainor’s Intelligence and Security Studies class.

Two New York State Supreme Court Judges, Danny Chun (’80), and retired judge William Erlbaum, visited Linda Weissman’s law class to discuss controversial legal topics, such as the death penalty.

Sophomore Sharon Lin received a Future Scientist award in the NextGenVest Awards, which recognizes future leaders in a variety of fields from around the world.

Juniors Henry Filosa and Jennifer Dikler were a finalists in the Law Day Essay Contest, “Magna Carta: Symbol of Freedom Under Law.”

WHAT’S INSIDE? FEATURES Arts and Entertainment

New STC Slate Is Chosen By Sharon Lin and Jan Wojcik Executive Producers sophomore Winston Venderbush, junior Fiona Cohen, and junior Hajra Sarfraz, and Technical Coordinator sophomore Lela Ni were chosen on April 3 as the new members of the Stuyvesant Theater Community (STC) Slate for the 2015-2016 school year. They will begin their new term at the start of the Fall 2015 term. The job of the STC Slate includes organizing and producing the annual fall musical, winter drama, and spring comedy. Each executive producer in Slate is required to produce at least one production per year, and the Technical Coordinator is required to oversee the technical aspects of all shows, such as coordinating the Art, Tech, Costumes, and Lighting and Sound Crews. As a result, the application process to become a member of Slate is competitive, with more than a dozen STC members applying for the positions each year. Report card grades are examined, and an interview is conducted with the current Slate. “We want to see that the applicant has worked well with people and has been efficient in the past, but also that they are articulate in a more formal setting and have some sort of plan for the future, a direction for the STC to go in,” current Slate member Thomas Perskin said.

Rhys Suero: Venturing Into Neutral Territory

In addition, past participation and motivation within the STC is considered, to ensure that the new leaders are both responsible and passionate about the organization. Because all applicants are considered equally, it is uncommon for rising juniors to be selected to become part of the Slate, as Venderbush and Ni have been. Venderbush began as an assistant producer for the fall musical “West Side Story” his freshman year, later producing “The Crucible,” “Rent,” and starring in this year’s winter drama “Twelve Angry Men.” After having worked with the previous Slate on setting new standards for organizational work, such as creating spreadsheets to keep track of daily attendance and paperwork, moving up to Slate seemed like the right decision for Venderbush. Sarfraz began as a producer for the spring comedy “Pygmalion” her sophomore year, later producing “Rent” and “Twelve Angry Men.” She expressed her interest in further expanding interest in [the STC] in the years to come. “Kids have joined the STC who I thought were really shy, but when they hit the stage, their whole persona changes,” Sarfraz said. “Everyone loves what they do, whether it’s performing, doing tech, or being in Lights and Sound, but [in STC] they’re all able to come together.”

continued on page 2

An interview with sophomore Rhys Suero on the topics of gender, rudeness from Stuyvesant students, and living with two identities.

Ticket Sales for School Events Move Online By Julia Ingram and Blythe Zadrozny Beginning on Tuesday, May 12, ticket sales for school events were moved online, as a result of a recent audit by the Department of Education (DOE) which found that Stuyvesant was not in compliance with a regulation prohibiting student organizations from handling large sums of money when selling tickets for events such as SING! and school dances. The issue lies in the large projection of sales associated with school events. Small events like flower sales, which sell each item at $1 to $2, do not present a problem, but SING! tickets and tickets for proms and school dances, with ticket prices that range from $15 to $65, do. In response to the audit, the Student Union (SU) launched ticket sales for the Soph-Frosh SemiFormal and Junior Prom through an online system called Tix. From now on, tickets will most likely be sold through these online services. Online ticket sales, however, can complicate buying tickets when students have to pay an additional processing fee and borrow their parent’s credit cards to make the transactions. Additionally, online purchases match a ticket up with the information of the person who bought it and require a student to present their student ID to verify their ticket is their own. This

creates issues for some students. “My friend bought my ticket since I didn’t have a computer and it says her name on it. We figured it out by contacting a person who is in charge [but] they should just make it easier to change the name in the print-out,” freshman Sophia Azaraev said. Matching a name to a ticket not only prevents the reselling of tickets at a higher price, but also prevents students who cannot attend from giving away their tickets. Despite the kinks in the system, SU feels the online system is safer and more efficient, as it allows the SU to exchange funds more easily. “[I]t isn’t all that safe to let students handle large sums of money. In the end, it’s much simpler and safer to get a check from the company we’re working with,” Freshmen Caucus Vice President Tahseen Chowdhury said. The SU is working closely with the administration to make the shift to online sales as smooth as possible. “We spoke with both [Assistant Principal of Safety and Student Affairs Brian] Moran and [Coordinator of Student Affairs Matthew] Polazzo and expressed our concerns about all the potential issues with online-only ticketing,” Junior Caucus President Krzysztof Hochlewicz said, “Since the complaint came from the higher DOE, they can’t let us sell tickets in person, but [they will] work with us to resolve any issues that might come up.”

Vanished Into Thin Air A spread by various Arts & Entertainment writers about television shows that should not have been cancelled.

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

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News Worldbeat World News The Islamic State (IS) insurgency, which appeared to be under pressure from US airstrikes and a commando assault which killed one of its top leaders, struck back with extreme violence and conquered two cities: Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar Province in Iraq, on May 17 and Palmyra, a regional center in Syria, on May 20. IS also took credit for the suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia that killed 20 people on May 22. Despite the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, Ireland legalized same-sex marriage by popular vote on Saturday, May 23, with 62 percent in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and 38 percent against it. National News Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings on Friday, May 15. He will be formally sentenced in late June, and within 30 days of his sentencing his lawyers are expected to initiate an extensive appeals process that could push off the execution for at least a decade. The US Senate voted against a measure to extend the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ telephone records for two months after its June 1 expiration date early on Saturday, May 24. Earlier, the Senate also narrowly blocked a bill that would replace the large-scale collection of telephone data with a more targeted program; thus, the fate of the current program remains uncertain. Local News Amidst a national debate over how schools and companies should handle criminal records of potential students and employees, New York University has announced that the school will not take past criminality into consideration when reviewing applications, although admissions officers can access the applicant’s criminal record if the he or she is poised to be accepted.

New STC Slate Is Chosen continued from page 1 Cohen joined [the STC] her freshman year and participated in chorus for “Grease,” as well as working in costumes for SING! and the 2013 spring comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Cohen emphasized the influence past Slate member Lucy Woychuk-Mlinac (‘13) had on her involvement in the theater community, including helping her through auditions and rehearsals when she was still a freshman. “[Woychuk-Mlinac] encouraged me to get involved in STC. She was very open and accepting to [everyone], values that I think are very important to the STC’s success,” Cohen said. Ni also joined STC her freshman year, working as a member of the Tech and Lights and Sound crew. She later led the 2014 SophFrosh SING! production as the assistant director for Lights and Sound, and was a director of the 2015 production. Although the Slate does not play a direct role in the technical renovations in the Murray Kahn Theater, Ni noted that she was considering bringing several issues to the administration’s attention, including integrating more modern light fixtures, higher quality handheld microphones, and lavalier (also known as clipon) microphones into the STC. “We currently don’t have the equipment to individually wire our actors with a microphone, so we use hanging microphones. These dangle above the stage, making them effective only when actors really project, which they sometimes

have trouble doing,” Ni said. “They also pick up on ambient noises from the stage that can be heard when we push up the volume and get audio feedback very easily.” Venderbush said that there was a possibility that the Parents’ Association of Stuyvesant High School would be renovating the sound system within the Murray Kahn Theater this summer. Apart from technical renovations, the upcoming Slate has also been drawing up plans for the upcoming year. Other than choosing productions for the upcoming fall musical, winter drama, and spring comedy, they have also discussed reviving the One Acts, student-written plays performed during the spring term. “It was something [the STC] cancelled when Hajra and I were freshman,” Cohen said. “Other than the seniors, most people don’t really remember what the production was about.” The One Acts are traditionally small, student-submitted, and student-directed plays They were typically run during the spring term and served as an outlet for students more interested in writing for theater to become involved in the STC. The Slate has already accomplished their goal of obtaining access to the black box theater on the third floor, a venue that has been used for One Acts in the past. “We’re pretty adamant and determined to make [the One Acts] happen,” Cohen said. Meanwhile, the team has focused more on organizational improvements, including improving the STC website, making more documents accessible from the web,

and making use of online spreadsheets to keep track of attendance. Sarfraz and Venderbush piloted the new system of administration within the STC last year, which allows crew directors to individually manage their portion of each production, reporting their paperwork to the producers. “It just adds an element of structure and accountability that was missing for a long time,” Venderbush said. The STC website, which was created and maintained by senior Andrew Fischer, prior to this year, has served as a hub for Slate to post paperwork and documentation for the crews. The Slate plans on using the website to host an archive of past STC productions, as well, providing future STC producers resources for their productions. Venderbush noted that producers in the past had consulted an “STC Bible,” which contained outdated information on how to organize productions. “It was started sometime in the 90s,” he said. “But it stopped getting updated in the early 2000s, [although] I tried to update it last year, to no avail.” Moreover, there are plans to revise the STC grade policy to a more case-by-case basis. The current policy prevents members with more than one N during the first marking period of a term from participating. “[The policy] is still under discussion, but we’re working on it,” Cohen said. Moving forward, the Slate plans on selecting the fall musical by mid-June. Current ideas have ranged from “Little Shop of Horrors” to “Legally Blonde” to “High School Musical,” although no concrete plans have been made yet.

PA Promises Funding to Renovate Auditorium Sound System By Adam Rosen and Henry Walker In an effort to address the technical issues that have increasingly plagued SING! and Stuyvesant Theater Community (STC) productions in recent years, the Parents’ Association (PA) approved a motion to give $250,000 to the administration for sound system renovations in the event that the administration’s grant applications to the Department of Education (DOE) to repair the outdated systems are rejected. The renovations will likely be complete by SING! 2016. The Zhang administration came to the conclusion that renovations were necessary after consulting with experts last year regarding the auditorium’s current facilities. The current sound system, which is an analog sys-

tem that has been in use since Stuyvesant switched buildings in 1991, has experienced multiple repairs since its assembly and has since become an amalgamation of original and new pieces put in

After the fall STC production of “Rent,” interest in improving the sound system intensified. The administration submitted multiple grant applications to the city for all of the renovations that

and the floor. These renovations were started over winter break and completed in January 2015. The administration has since resubmitted applications to renovate the lighting and sound facili-

“There started to be wireless communications issues between the booth and the stage and microphones wouldn’t pick up their signals.” —Winston Venderbush, sophomore and member of STC Slate order to maintain its functionality. “There started to be wireless communications issues between the booth and the stage and microphones wouldn’t pick up their signals,” sophomore and STC Slate member Winston Venderbush said. “It’s a common issue.”

they wanted done on the auditorium, including fixing the floor, the seats, the lighting, and the sound facilities. The city rejected the applications for money to improve the lighting and sound facilities but gave the administration $300,000 to redo the seats

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ties, but if these applications are rejected, then the PA will donate the money for the sound systems. “The PA has some surplus money. Basically they’re saying, ‘if you don’t get the money from [the DOE], we are willing [to pay],’ because they feel it’s urgent to fix the

sound,” Principal Jie Zhang said. The new renovations would include a complete overhaul of the sound system. Funds for renovating the lighting system have not been approved yet, “but [the PA has] some grant applications submitted that may be able to help with that,” co-president of the PA David Venderbush wrote in an e-mail interview. At the earliest, the sound system renovations would be completed during the 2015 summer vacation or the 2015-2016 winter break, in time for the SING! 2016 performances. The administration has yet to receive word on whether or not the latest grant applications have been approved, which will ultimately decide the source of the project’s funding. Regardless, the renovations will likely occur within the next year and will benefit future STC and SING! productions.

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

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SU Endorsements: General Election

Jensen Foerster/ The Spectator

Krzyzstof Hochlewicz & Kate Johnston

It is rare that a candidate running for Student Union seems to bring the promise of real change: last year, the Spectator Editorial Board came very close to writing no endorsement at all. Therefore, this year’s race is a welcome change—in it, one of the two tickets, that of Krzysztof Hochlewicz and Kate Johnston, is organized, experienced and determined to change Stuyvesant’s student government. For those reasons, as well as Hochlewicz’s previous experience as Sophomore Caucus and Junior Caucus president, this Editorial Board has chosen to endorse Hochlewicz and Johnston for the Student Union election. Hochlewicz is a supremely qualified candidate—he is not just an incumbent, with all the benefits

that entails, but also has a history of following through on his elections. Of his campaign goals, Hochlewicz has accomplished all of them: a chocolate fountain at the 2014 Sophfrosh Semiformal, convincing the administration to grant a junior “swim gym,” planning three college trips, and getting @stuy.edu emails for the entire student body. Additionally, he’s constantly in touch with the administration about student needs and requests: notably, he has gotten in touch with Principal Jie Zhang about over-testing and makes a point of taking Facebook surveys of what the junior grade wants (for example, about ticketpricing for Junior Prom). Hochlewicz and Johnston’s platform also exceeds that of their

competition. At the most basic level—what Hochlewicz terms “Campaign Promise 0”—the pair promise to “[fulfill] the responsibilities of the SU presidents as outlined in the SU constitution,” a seemingly basic point, but one that Student Union President Keiran Carpen and Vice President Jonathan Aung have neglected. To digress momentarily, Carpen and Aung’s lack of efficacy in their positions this past school year must be noted. For the same reason that The Spectator did not endorse Carpen last year—he and Eddie Zilberbrand did nothing in their year in office—we also cannot recommend voting for Aung and current Sophomore Caucus President Matthew So. Even Aung acknowledges that his and Carpen’s government was a failure in many of its initiatives. Though he promises differently this year (who wouldn’t?) and So is more competent than Aung was at the same point in their political careers, precedent and history are against them. The two are excellent campaigners, and strong on rhetoric, but behind that, there lies mostly fluff. But even disregarding Aung’s ticket’s flaws, Hochlewicz deserves our endorsement on his own merits. To further elaborate on his platform, The Spectator respects his main platform promise of “Pulling apathy up by the roots!”. In fact, apathy seems to be the main issue

at Stuyvesant: with more student involvement, many of our other problems would fade away. Too many tests or too much homework, for instance? If more than a small handful of students complain, the administration would be forced into action. Some of the ways Hochlewicz hopes to accomplish this promise by targeting underclassmen, starting from Camp Stuy Part II, and forming a schoolwide mailing list to be able to contact the student body without the aid of the administration. Beyond that, there are the concrete, small things: expanding on his candy giveaway; making sure SING! is recorded this year; setting up a Student Union printer for club and pub usage; enforcing a system where SU Cabinet members are removed from office if ineffective (a serious problem under Carpen’s administration); and continuing his habit of conducting surveys and polls of general opinion among the student body. Hochlewicz and Johnston call all of the above their “promises”— they also have a page of reach goals, which they recognize to be difficult to achieve given the status quo with the administration. Their ideas include online locker trading, allowing students who don’t meet the grade requirements to participate in STC or SING!, subsidizing college trips for those in need, and evening amending the SU Constitution to form a depart-

ment devoted to listening to students’ concerns. Though many of the proposals are ambitious, this Editorial Board has faith that were Hochlewicz and Johnston elected, they would follow through to the best of their abilities and succeed in at least a few. Hochlewicz and Johnston have some flaws, of course: they haven’t worked together prior, and Johnston’s voice was often dominated when they interviews. In fact, her lack of experience is worrisome, but Hochlewicz’s clear ability more than negates any doubts about her qualifications. Additionally, Hochlewicz is less charismatic than Aung or So, likely meaning he will have to work harder to appear as approachable as his opposition. But this concern is likewise easily abated: he is omnipresent on Facebook and takes extraordinary care to reach out in ways that Aung and So historically have not. The Spectator is pleased to be able to award our endorsement to Hochlewicz and Johnston, who we believe to be the clear choice in this year’s election. We urge the student body not to be blinded by empty promises or campaigning dazzle, but instead look at the cold, hard facts of each candidate: their achievements in office and their platforms for the 2015-2016 school year. When viewed in that light, this year’s election decision is not a difficult one at all.

Ashley Lin / The Spectator

Jonathan Aung and Matthew So

The candidacy of Jonathan Aung and Matthew So seems very strong on paper. Both Aung and So are seasoned leaders—Aung as Student Union Vice President and So as President of first the Freshman Caucus and now the Sophomore Caucus—and their ideas have yet to be jaded with the defeatism that often accompanies student government. However, this paper would like

to stress the danger of electing the incumbents, and place an emphasis on what Aung and So have been able—or rather, unable—to achieve. The duo are extraordinary campaigners, well-groomed and articulate, but this fact might blind the student body to their real lack of strength and inferiority to their opposition. While their platform is strong, marked by a few well thought-out,

concrete policies, we question their ability to achieve it. Highlights of this platform include plans to digitize Club/Pub charters, utilization of a Student Bulletin Board, and even the possibility of opening the fifth floor balcony to all students. This last plan was actually quite well developed, yet the obstacles involved are in many ways insurmountable, such as the administrative pushback. The platform is also marked by a commitment to the SU in a more general sense— increased communication, a better website, and even the creation of guideline for future Student Union administrations. In many ways, this ticket echoes the Keiran Carpen-Jonathan Aung candidacy, which has governed ineffectively over this past year. Again, the Vice President has stepped up to assume his role as the President. Again, the track record of that Vice President is a major concern, in light of the ambitious platform outlined by Aung and So. Granted, So has more experience in student government than Aung did at this time last year, but the failures of the Carpen-Aung administration deal a serious blow to these candidates.

This is exacerbated when comparing Aung to his challenger, Krzysztof Hochlewicz, who is a far stronger opponent than last year’s challenger, Gabriel Rosen. Hochlewicz has proven himself time and time again to address specific concerns of his constituents, and to push for real change in the face of the administration, succeeding, for example, in acquiring stuy. edu emails for the entire student body (even if they are still slightly buggy). Aung’s leadership has only left concerns regarding his ability to stay committed to his plans, and So’s accomplishments in the Sophomore Caucus number one: a successful Soph-frosh Semiformal. One major component of Carpen’s campaign revolved around rapport with the administration. Aung, on the other hand, has not focused on it at all—likely because that is a losing battle. Hochlewicz has asserted himself as an ideal ambassador for the students to the administration, and while Aung has the eloquence and tact to do so, Hochlewicz has simply been more dedicated to fighting the battles that the students want to be fought.

So has taken a political leap of faith—rather than remaining as a caucus president, he has joined Aung to create a powerful political alliance. However, while Aung and So claim to push for wider communication, So’s failure to utilize his advisory council (holding one meeting all year) shows that he hasn’t done so in the past. So has much more experience than Kate Johnston, yet this does very little to improve the ticket. Given the high level of competency displayed by Hochlewicz in nearly every aspect of student government, the vice presidents in this race are of much less importance, and So is not impressive enough as to make a difference. Quite simply, Hochlewicz is an excellent candidate with a stellar track record. While Hochlewicz and Aung both have big ideas, Aung’s ideas only raise questions as to why they have not already been implemented, and Hochlewicz’s come with a fair level of certainty that he will deliver on his promises. Aung and So, while not unelectable, have yet to prove that their words will translate into changes.

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Page 5

SU Endorsements: Senior Caucus

Jensen Foerster / The Spectator

David Kang and Rahul Debnath

The two terms of senior year are known to lie on opposite sides of the spectrum. One is defined by stress and college applications, while the other is characterized by deserved blitheness and decreased motivation. Of the candidates in the relatively weak race for Senior Caucus, the Editorial Board of the Spectator chooses to endorse David Kang and Rahul

Debnath for their social adaptability and accommodation of the needs of students in the two contrasting time periods. The Kryzsztof HochlewiczWilliam Yang ticket, in the past two years, has established itself as effective representation for the Class of 2016 in the SU. However, with Hochlewicz’s decision to run for SU and Yang’s rise to Hochle-

wicz’s role, we question Yang’s ability to lead as president of the class. In his interview with the Managing Board, he was shadowed in conversation by Daniel Poleshchuk, his vice presidential running mate, who often showed signs of speaking before he’d thought out his answer. This led us to doubt the ticket’s effectiveness if chosen, as it seems Yang’s successful tenure over the last two years should be credited mostly to the head-on attitude and leadership of Hochlewicz. As for Yang and Poleshchuk’s platforms, they lack the ingenuity and innovation the Hochlewicz-Yang duo once possessed. Kang and Debnath, on the other hand, situate their platform around student involvement, something they believe to be especially important in a time as stressful, and fun, as senior year. “The first step we’re taking is something called ‘Hashtag 600.’ It’s a campaign initiative,” Kang said. Whereas around 250 to 300

people normally vote in caucus elections, they want about three quarters of the class (600 people) to fight political apathy and have their voices heard. How they would do this is of some concern to us, as only their outlines for establishing a greater sense of school community were given to us, but we believe the general sociability of both candidates can lead to greater communication with the student body (and administration) and subsequently, greater encouragement. Other plans for creating a better school community involve peer-to-peer and peer-to-alumni college essay editing workshops. In the first term of senior year, they believe that contacting alumni is the most practical way to attain college advice for the class. The duo wants to bring a senior trip back to Stuyvesant, which seems a little bit too ambitious, considering the size of the class. But more practical goals include starting a school wide

tradition in creating murals to be hung up for all senior classes and turning the contentious issue of having coffee in the school into a competition in which grades compete to see who can recycle the most cups (of coffee). Finally, Kang and Debnath want to run fundraising campaigns mainly in efforts to change Stuyvesant’s location of graduation from the United Palace Theater, which they believe to be too far from Stuyvesant and “too sweaty,” to Lincoln Center, a place that is more expensive to rent. And more spirit days, along with greater collaboration with senior adviser James Lonardo, was stressed by them. The Kang-Debnath platform goals recognize the extent of power Senior Caucus has, and are ambitious enough to earn the endorsement of the Editorial Board. The senior class could use less stress in the coming year, and the candidates’ promises would do just that.

Jensen Foerster / The Spectator

William Yang and Daniel Poleshchuk

After seeing two productive years of current Junior President and Vice President Krzysztof Hochlewicz and William Yang in office, it is surprising that they are not running together this

year. And yet, to Yang and his vice presidential candidate, Daniel Poleshchuk, this does not make them any less confident in their chances of winning the upcoming election. Confident, eager,

and full of ideas, these two show much promise. Just as Hochlewicz and Yang have done for the past two years, these two candidates run on the promise that they can get things done. This ranges from continuing current trends such as a grade-wide mailing list to attaining ones that are more difficult to achieve. These include small things such as holding rap battles, hosting video game tournaments, and placing coffee machines in the cafeteria to larger goals like opening up the swimming pool to students when it is not occupied by a class. For the most part, we do not doubt Yang’s and Poleshchuk’s abilities to follow through with these plans. Yang is very experienced with the SU, being vice president of both Sophomore

and Junior Caucus, and has a record for getting things done. And while his running partner does not have any experience with the student governing body, Poleshchuk has a myriad of leadership experience in other organizations. Alas, for all of their positive attributes, they have downsides to weigh them down as well. During the interview with the Managing Board, Poleshchuk gave few opportunities for Yang to talk even though he is the vice presidential candidate and the less experienced one as well. At times, he even sounded pushy. For this reason, we ask ourselves what the relation will be between Yang and Poleshchuk if they are to be elected. Will Poleshchuk try to dominate his partner and act as if he were the president? Further-

more, while the two had many good ideas, none of them were outstandingly unique. Above all, we feel that their platform of accomplishing feasible tasks is not for the best interests of the upcoming seniors. The current juniors have only one year left at Stuyvesant, and most of it is marred by dread from the college admissions process. We feel that the Senior Caucus’s primary goal should be to make senior year fun and enjoyable. While holding video game competitions and distributing coffee in the cafeteria is rather pleasurable, it doesn’t quite cut it. For this reason, The Spectator has chosen not to endorse William Yang and Daniel Poleshchuk for Senior President and Vice President.

Jin Hee Yoo / The Spectator

Tae Kyung Kong and Tina Zhang Tae Kyung Kong and Tina Zhang present a strong platform that focuses not only on easing the stressful first months of senior year, but also on forming closer connections within the grade and formulating a legacy to leave behind after graduation. As Freshman Caucus President and Junior SING! producer, Kong has experience working with other students and the administration, while Zhang hopes to give a voice to the majority of students who do not usually pursue leadership positions. Their platform focuses on four Cs: Community, Collaboration,

Change, and Character. Kong and Zhang aim to forge bonds across many levels of the Stuyvesant community through a senior picnic, intergrade advice sessions, and partnerships with local businesses. They plan to work closely with other organizations such as the college office and the writing center to guide seniors through the college process, as well as the alumni association to allow seniors to find and pursue passions and career paths. Kong and Zhang are eager to address specific complaints on behalf of their constituents, seeking to expand the phone policy to

allow phones in atriums, open the fifth floor roof for student use, and improve the process of programming changes. Finally, they look forward to helping the seniors leave their unique mark on the school by holding a locker decorating contest to showcase creativity, improving spirit days, and decorating the senior atrium. Unfortunately, Kong and Zhang did not receive The Spectator’s endorsement because they lacked a novel idea to place them above their competition. However, their qualifications and platform make them strong candidates nonetheless.

Jensen Foerster / The Spectator

Mary McGreal and Alexis Kushner Senior Caucus candidates Mary McGreal and Alexis Kushner have a strong platform centered around the college application process and prom. However, due to doubts regarding the feasibility of these ideas and McGreal and Kushner’s commitment as representatives, The Spectator has chosen not to endorse this ticket. McGreal and Kushner’s platform is full of ideas. They promise to allow PSAL athletes to waiver out of gym; redirect PA funding, although funding is distributed with very little influence from the SU; hold a lock-in over night for students to talk to teachers and college counselors, (however, when pressed, McGreal and Kush-

er struggled to explain why anyone would volunteer to spend the night with 800 stressed and sleepdeprived seniors); and reduce the price of prom tickets for Stuyvesant students, many of whom are on free and reduced lunch, through carnival fundraisers, “just a little bit” from $210 to $100 according to Kushner. In all, though the ideas are new and innovative, this ticket fails to comprehend the capacity of the office of Senior Caucus—and worries that when the candidates are faced with the stress of their own college applications, might fall short on their promises. Yet another concern for The Spectator is balance of power between McGreal and Kushner.

Though McGreal is listed as the Presidential candidate, she failed to step up and answer interview questions first. And when she did, Kushner would often step in and add on completely new ideas, making us unsure of the cohesion between the candidates. McGreal and Kushner bring up an important point that the Junior grade has failed to elect a female to office, and as a whole the SU is primarily composed of men. However, McGreal and Kushner didn’t explain what components of their platform would specifically benefit Stuyvesant’s female population, and so a vote for McGreal doesn’t seem to have any real impact on equality.

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

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SU Endorsements: Junior Caucus

Julie Chan / The Spectator

Anna Usvitsky and Sachal Malick

Sophomores Anna Usvitsky and Sachal Malick are not imposing, and the duo does not command attention in the way that many candidates do. But, they

are confident and original, not only saying they can get things done, but proving that they will. For these reasons, The Spectator has decided to endorse Usvitsky

and Malick for Junior Caucus. Though neither Usvitsky nor Malick has held a leadership position in the Student Union (SU) before, their lack of experience does not strike us as a hindrance to their campaign. Usvitsky is wellintegrated in the Stuyvesant community, citing her participation in six clubs, a sports team, and two publications. Malick, though he doesn’t take part in as many extracurricular activities, carries himself like a leader; he is a good listener and is confident and able to accomplish things—all traits that were apparent in our interview. Their platform is built around the acronym “FIVE” with (ironically) four main components. The F is for feedback, the I is for information, the V for versatility, and the E for equality. The “feedback” portion includes an idea in which Usvitsky

and Malick would create a website where students can anonymously explain their problems with a certain teacher. Usvitsky and Malick would then approach the Assistant Principal of said teacher and try to remedy the problem. In the “information” section, the pair said they would send out a biweekly newsletter about the going-ons in the SU. The “versatility” portion calls for the addition of AP Art History and a Hebrew elective to Stuyvesant’s program. Lastly, to achieve more “equality,” Usvitsky and Malick detailed an idea in which students whose grades do not qualify them for AP classes would be able to take an exam, and if they scored high enough, they could be placed into the class. “We want to remove the caste system that’s in Stuyvesant, where students come in, they have a rough freshman year, and then they can’t

pick themselves up and get into the rigorous courses,” Malick said. While these ideas alone are notable, what separates Usvitsky and Malick from other candidates is that they have already begun executing their plans. The two had already met with history teacher Michael Waxman many times and knew exactly what had to be done to re-instate a Hebrew elective (show that 100 students are interested), spoken to Assistant Principal of Art, Music, and Technology Dr. Ray Wheeler about the AP Art History class, and met with Assistant Principal of Guidance Casey Pedrick about the viability of the “equality” component of their platform. With fresh ideas and go-getter attitudes, Usvitsky and Sachal exhibit the two most important components of caucus candidates: a genuine desire to improve Stuyvesant, and the work ethic to do so.

Jensen Foerster / The Spectator

Alec Dai and Jodi Ng

Sophomores Alec Dai and Jodi Ng heard that junior year is the most stressful and high-stakes year at Stuyvesant, and centered their platform on remedying this situation. They hope to provide juniors with

opportunities to de-stress as well as ways to keep track of the whirlwind of events that they must deal with. Specifically, the duo divided their ideas into three categories: Relaxation, Communication, and Open

Community. In the “Relaxation” portion, Dai and Ng hope to open a juniors-only yoga class—an initiative they’ve already discussed with Assistant Principal of Health, Safety, and Student Affairs, Brian Moran. Additionally, the duo wants to continue the current Junior Caucus’s tradition of distributing candy during finals week, and to hang up more posters by the bridge: “small, simple things to brighten days,” as Dai said, is a key component of their platform. They also plan on relocating the “wellness room” from behind the senior bar—a location that is not widely known and that seems to overwhelmingly attract seniors— to an empty classroom. Dai and Ng explained that the initial plan for the wellness room was for it to be in an empty classroom, but this got squashed because no classroom is empty for the entire day; they solved this issue by suggest-

Namra Zulfiqar and Enver Ramadani As they outlined in their platform, which goes by the acronym “TIGER”, sophomores Namra Zufilqar and Enver Ramadani are primarily focused on alleviating the stresses of junior year with field trips. The two plan to organize day trips to places like amusement parks and ice skating rinks, and/or overnight trips in addition to college trips, with destinations like Washington, D.C. The locations for these trips will be determined through the results collected from surveys filled out by the junior class. However, it was not clear how feasible these trips would be, due to the possibilities that they would require students to miss school without an academic reason. It appeared that Zulfiqar and Rama-

dani hadn’t decided beforehand whether trips would take place on days where there wouldn’t be school, or on regular school days. Another one of Zulfiqar and Ramadani’s main focuses is to engender a sense of inter-grade unity in order to put an end to the segregation between the grades. For example, instead of limiting participation in spirit days to seniors, Zulfiqar would like to see a day in which everyone can come into school dressed in, say, a particular color to represent the grade s/he is in. The candidates also brought up the idea of a dance for both juniors and seniors, similar in idea to the SophFrosh semiformal, although its main purpose would be to provide a place for seniors

to symbolically “pass the torch” on to their younger counterparts. Zulfiqar and Ramadani are wellintegrated into the student body and well-prepared to serve as the Junior Caucus, as demonstrated by each candidate’s involvement in a diverse selection of extracurricular activities. Both have held directorial positions in SING!. Zulfiqar is also a News writer for the Spectator and was elected as the vice president of Sophomore Caucus this year. Ramadani is a gymnast, a member of the PACT Youth Charity, and serves on the Sophomore Advisory Council. The candidates’ extensive previous experience and their prospects of boosting both the spirits and spirit of our student body make them particularly promising.

Stephen Nyarko and Louisa Cornelis Though Junior Caucus candidates Stephen Nyarko and Louisa Cornelis spoke confidently and eloquently, their platform seemed too broadly focused to accomplish any meaningful reform. Like many campaigns, they put extreme emphasis on improving communications—namely, trying to make communication with the student body more personal and comfortable—and decreasing stress levels. Nyarko mentioned putting suggestion boxes in every junior homeroom in order to establish a direct line of communication between the Caucus and those they represented, and Cornelis said that she and Nyarko were ideal students for the job because they were both

well-connected and approachable. The ticket also expressed a strong desire to inform students about what is happening in the Student Union (SU), and to work towards dispelling fear some students may have about coming to SU candidates with their problems. However, when asked for more specific details on how they planned to improve communications and reduce ignorance, the candidates had trouble coming up with a meaningful answer. Cornelis proposed that building more bike racks would be beneficial to the community, and Nyarko talked, rather vaguely, about the cell phone policy, but the two sophomores

seemed to have very few concrete ideas built into their proposals. Further, because their ideas were so broad and overarching, they ended up not being particularly novel or challenging. The Spectator believes that both of the candidates on this ticket have the capability to be strong, competent leaders, and appreciates their willingness to improve aspects of the school that need reform. Regrettably, their will is not enough without a concrete plan. Because of this, the paper believes that Nyarko and Cornelis are unprepared to take on the duties that will be required of them if they were to take office.

ing that games and snacks be kept in a room’s closet, and taking them out in the middle of the day or after school so that students can utilize the room during their lunch periods or when the school day ends. To improve communication, Dai and Ng want to send out monthly e-mail newsletters with catchy subject lines and information for their classmates. These newsletters would include upcoming SAT deadlines, information about tutoring and prep courses, and overall “things that people should probably know but don’t know,” Ng said. They also want to open an active Google form or physical box for people to enter suggestions or grievances. Lastly, the pair hopes to partner up with SPARK to advertise the events SPARK holds throughout the year, and to put more meaning behind the initiatives, leading to a more “open community” at Stuyvesant.

These ideas have a lot of merit, and the pair had already made some progress in achieving them. However, they did not hold up to Usvitsky and Malick, whose extensive platform and clear methods of execution simply outshone Dai and Ng; while Dai and Ng had spoken to SPARK Coordinator Angel Colon about a potential partnership between the Student Union and SPARK, Usvitsky and Malick had spent hours with history teacher Michael Waxman, learning about the history of the Hebrew elective and making plans for its reemergence into the program. Still, Dai and Ng have an effortless chemistry and well thought-out platform, making them stand-out candidates in the large junior caucus election; if elected, The Spectator would be excited to see what Dai and Ng are able to accomplish throughout their junior year.

Dina Re and Judy Li Dina Re and Judy Li are running for Junior Caucus with one main priority—to make their junior year more fun. Of course, they also promise to aid their classmates in their academic pursuits and to organize the expected college trips, but their overarching campaign goal is simply to make junior year less stressful for everyone. The duo has a number of ideas to accomplish this fairly ambitious plan. One is to mimic Hunter High School’s policy of periodic “homework-free” weekends by mandating that all teachers give their students a weekend off on a predetermined date. They also plan to hold monthly movie nights and event nights, and to improve student activism

by planning fundraisers or creating some sort of large philanthropic undertaking for the entire grade to work on. Re and Li hope to explore other options for the location of the Junior Prom, as many do not appreciate its current location on a boat. The Spectator decided not to endorse this pair because their platform lacked concrete ideas and feasible mechanisms of implementing them. For example, the idea of a “homework-free weekend” sounds great on paper, but specifics about how Re and Li will accomplish this is very unclear. However, the thesis behind their platform is an admirable albeit not very original one, making Re and Li formidable candidates in the Junior Caucus election.

Max Bertfield and Janet Zhang

After coming in a close second to current Sophomore Caucus President Matthew So, sophomore Max Bertfield is back in the race for Junior Caucus, now with a new vice president: Janet Zhang. Their platform is made up of five Cs: Communication, Cohesion, Community, CostEffective, and College Trips. They hope to improve communication using a variety of mediums ranging from Piazza to a Facebook page. Betfield and Zhang have a number of ideas to improve the junior “community,” such as purchasing more vending machines (so classmates can talk to each other while waiting in line), making a lounge exclusively for juniors, and opening the balcony. To make their grade more cost-effective, Bertfield and Zhang

want to secure student discounts in food venues near Stuyvesant. Lastly, they hope to improve the quality of the junior’s college trips, as well as to increase the number of trips. While their platform includes a variety of interesting ideas, The Spectator is hesitant to endorse Bertfield and Zhang because many elements of their campaign are either vague or silly, such as the aforementioned vending machines idea. If Bertfield and Zhang were to become Junior Caucus representatives, they may not be able to communicate effectively with the administration because of the jocular nature of their campaign which would lead to a pair that lacks a mandate or clout. Regardless, Bertfield and Zhang are contenders in the junior race because of their novel ideas and clear desire to represent their grade in the Junior Caucus.

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 7

SU Endorsements: Sophomore Caucus

Jensen Foerster / The Spectator

Kevin Boodram and Oscar Wang

Sophomore Caucus candidates Kevin Boodram and Oscar Wang think big. Even though they’re freshmen, they have plans to reform the entire Student Union, are committed to making change, and are the one and only ticket in the entirety of

SU elections (in any race) concerned with the outrageously underutilized Student Union Constitution. For these reasons, they have earned The Spectator’s endorsement in this year’s Sophomore Caucus election. A vast majority of Boodram’s

platform is concerned with large problems in the Student Union as a whole. The Spectator has faith that if elected, Boodram will be able to work beyond the office of Sophomore Caucus and make meaningful reforms to benefit not only the sophomore populace, but all of Stuyvesant. Presidential candidate Boodram is professional, well spoken, and determined. From working on professional campaigns to serving in Elementary and Middle School student governments, where he worked with administrators to achieve goals such as modified lunch menus and altered English curricula, Boodram boasts a wide range of experience. Most importantly, Boodram has recently displayed his commitment to students’ voices. After witnessing what he believed to be inadequate communication between the SU and the Student Body, Boodram founded

the Student Action Committee (SAC), a club that discusses problems around Stuyvesant and possible solutions. During meetings, Boodram has noticed a disconnect between caucus representatives and their positions on key issues (e.g. locker trading). If elected, he hopes to encourage more communication between caucuses by pressuring the SU president to hold more Executive Council meetings. He argues that these meetings are key for the SU to work not only as a unified front, but also acknowledges his power to keep the organization moving by motioning for the removal of inactive cabinet members. Vice Presidential candidate Oscar Wang is approachable and personable. Allowing Boodram to dominate most of the interview, Wang seems to understand his vital but yielding position as VP. Boodram predicts that once elected, he will render the SAC useless by reviving Stuyvesant’s

Student Forum as outlined by the SU Constitution. The Forum will be executed in a similar manner to Karpen and Aung’s Town Hall meeting this year. However, Boodram and Wang want to ensure that the meetings occur more frequently, are better publicized, and focus on issues that concern both upper and underclassmen. In their first two weeks in office, Boodram and Wang want to publicize SLT meetings, and be sure to post minutes the day after the meeting occurs—a Constitutional responsibility that is currently abdicated by SU President Keiran Carpen and Vice-President Jonathan Aung. Though Boodram and Wang may not be as sophomore-oriented as many of the other tickets, they seem both determined and apt to not only fulfill duties such as the SophFrosh Semi Formal, but also to ensure that the SU function as it ought to, as outlined by the constitution.

Abie Rohrig and Inbar Pe’er Sophomore Caucus candidate Abie Rohrig and his running mate, Inbar Pe’er, seemed genuinely enthusiastic about having an opportunity to improve our school. They spoke almost effortlessly, emphasizing their close connection and personable warmth as key factors that would make them more capable representatives of the student body. However, while both candidates have had previous

experience with student government, their platform was not well-developed enough to merit an endorsement. The freshmen spoke mainly of small-scale improvements to everyday student life, including accumulating restaurant discounts and running “homeroom competitions” in order to improve grade-wide unity. The students also seemed to have a strong sense of initiative, as they

had already gotten a ten percent discount at Cafe Amore for Stuyvesant students before their interview took place, and said they had spoken with representatives from Chipotle and Subway. Though daily improvements such as these are important in reducing stress levels and promoting a less apathetic student body, none of the ticket’s suggestions were particularly novel or innovative.

More importantly, the freshmen lacked significant longterm goals, in contrast to the Boodram-Wang ticket. They seemed certain that they would face few obstacles if elected, so they offered little insight into how they would address any largerscale problems that might arise. The Spectator appreciates Rohrig and Pe’er’s enthusiasm, commitment and approachability. They seem to work ex-

tremely well together, supplementing each other’s ideas with a level of comfort that only comes with having known each other for over nine years. Unfortunately, the candidates’ outline for the future of their grade lacked a sufficient base. The Spectator worries that, once elected, they will implement few serious, meaningful, long-term reforms, and is thus uncomfortable endorsing their campaign.

Jensen Foerster / The Spectator

Tahseen Chowdhury and Pallab Saha

Both incumbent candidates, freshmen Tahseen Chowdhury and Pallab Saha offer a promising level of experience that should

appeal to rising (and, hopefully, voting) sophomores. As freshmen representatives, Chowdhury and Saha demonstrated

their individual capabilities as leaders as well as their collaborative strength and genuine interest in the student body. They seemed particularly interested in organizing student events, citing their key role in orchestrating the Freshman Spring Fling this year, and their desire to arrange a winter dance for sophomores—particularly as a method of increasing funds for SophFrosh semiformal, which they said was rather expensive this year. To provide more gradewide activities for students that might find themselves out of place on a crowded dance floor, they suggested movie nights and board game nights as other ways for sophomores to wind down. This, they explained, would also help improve inter-grade communication, since movie nights

and board game nights would be open to the entire student body. In terms of trying to break the notorious communication barriers between the SU and the student body, Chowdhury and Saha suggested a sophomore Town Hall meeting, where sophomores could share concerns and ideas to their representatives. They also proposed a “live box office” (or, perhaps, an online form instead) where students could voice their concerns. While these ideas are interesting, it is important to recognize that student apathy is somewhat responsible for the lack of communication, and Chowdhury and Saha have not provided solutions that will combat that. Though Chowdhury and Saha spoke with command and demonstrated a professionalism that the Spectator found impressive,

none of their ideas were compelling enough to award an endorsement. Their platform lacked a certain degree of organization; they were able to cite specific plans, but there was no overarching theme or explicit method of implementation, and the Spectator is concerned (especially with regards to their plans for improving communication) that these plans—though well intentioned—are somewhat idealistic. When confronted with the sheer strength of ideas possessed by the ticket of Kevin Boodram-Oscar Wang, theirs pale in comparison. Chowdhury and Saha aren’t weak candidates (in fact, the Sophomore Caucus race has, on average, the strongest tickets), but their promises would do less for the student body than those of Boodram.

Kevin Li and Asim Kapparova Sophomore caucus candidates Kevin Li and Asim Kapparova believe that they are the most capable and ready to fully represent their grade, and they hope to boost a sense of community among sophomores if they are elected. However, The Spectator has chosen to not endorse Li and Kapparova because of their limited platform, which mainly consisted of abstract ideas on how to improve school spirit. The main focus of Li and Kapparova’s platform was to increase school spirit within the sophomore grade and the school as a whole. They mentioned teacher versus student and homeroom versus homeroom events, such as basketball games, as possible ways to achieve this where students could also watch.

The candidates believed that this would be fun for students and would increase exposure for clubs that would organize these events. While The Spectator believes this is a decent idea, Li and Kapparova did not mention how they would make their ideas a reality or how they would get students to attend these events when students already do not attend sports games and other such activities. Li and Kapparova also talked about having open club meetings at the beginning of the year to get sophomores interested in other clubs they may not have participated in during their freshman year and allowing students who are not part of the advisory council to listen in or contribute ideas during advisory

council meetings. To The Spectator, neither of these ideas stands out particularly. In terms of experience, Li was part of the freshman advisory council and helped campaign for the current freshman caucus, and Kapparova was a part of her middle and elementary school student government. Though Li and Kapparova appear to be very motivated and intelligent candidates, The Spectator is hesitant to endorse them because of their lack of concrete platform ideas and the fact they did not have any novel ideas for the sophomore caucus.

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 8

Features Stuy Archery Hits Its Target By Alice Cheng How would you react if someone came up to you and said that Stuyvesant offers the opportunity to learn legitimate archery under a professional coach for free right here in the school building? “Really?” you’d say with a hint of skepticism. You might think it’s unrealistic. After all, Stuyvesant’s lacrosse, track, and bowling teams have to travel miles away in order to practice, so how could we possibly have space for a shooting range? And what are the odds that Assistant Principal of Security Brian Moran would even allow something as sharp and pointy as an arrow fly across the air faster than the eye can follow? However, thanks to tremendous efforts from co-presidents and juniors Frank Shlafer and Chloe Kaubisch, Stuyvesant now has a club called Stuy Archery, which allows students to experience this very opportunity. By signing up to be on their mailing list and getting one’s parent’s permission through a waiver form, members can shoot in the third floor gymnastics gymnasium once a week under the instruction of a licensed coach. But, this opportunity has only started recently. When Stuy Archery first began, the club was merely a small group of students who usually met outside of school. The club was founded by Kaubisch and some other archers two years ago after being inspired by a casual conversation with Kaubisch’s guidance counselor Audra Parris. “I mentioned to her that I was interested in archery, and then she knew another archer at Stuyvesant, and that archer knew two other archers,” Kaubisch explained. “We all got together and talked to Ms. Zhang and created the club.” The club presidents at the time were Kaubisch, alumni Eugene Lee’11, Delilah Marto ’12, and senior Jessica Kardo. Because there was no shooting range in Manhattan, they held weekend meetings at an archery spot located in Queens called Pro Line. But, this did not gather a large audience with

Stuyvesant students due to the one to two hour trip that had to be taken in order to arrive there. “During Club Pub Night, we had over one hundred and fifty people on our mailing list,” Shlafer recalled. “But I didn’t remember any more than seven coming to the meetings.” Shlafer, who was introduced to Stuy Archery sophomore year, was one of seven who actually came. After becoming an avid member of the club he became co-president with Kaubisch the following year. This school year, in an attempt to increase their club’s attendance, Shlafer and Kaubisch worked together to turn Stuyvesant into a shooting range. After the Student Union gave them $300 to fund their club, they planned to use the money to join a non-profit archery organization called Olympic Archery in the Schools (OAS). This organization is dedicated to introducing archery to New York City by providing coaches and free equipment to all of its members. The annual fee is only $250, which fit perfectly under Stuy Archery’s budget line. Unfortunately for them, Kaubisch and Shlafer’s plans were quickly disrupted when they asked Moran for permission to shoot in the school. The time it took for them to meet his safety requirements caused them to pass the deadline to join the organization. “But they were fair,” Schlafer added, looking from Moran’s point of view. “Like the equipment would be locked up so where only he and the advisor could access it. [We ensured] that the advisor would be here at all times when we’re shooting….that I would figure out all the rooms and funding. Essentially he [gave] me his blessing, and I have to work with what I can do.” To move around this temporary road block, Kaubisch and Shlafer shifted gears and joined a different non-profit organization called Hidden Gems Archery. Like OAS, this organization provides free equipment to its members and does not require an admission fee to join. The only inconvenience was that, in order for the professional coach to come and teach Stuy Archery

would have to pay a hundred and fifty dollars per lesson. Kaubisch and Shlafer, therefore, could only afford to have two meetings before they finished their budget. Luckily, the club received more money after consulting Coordinator of Student Affairs Matthew Polazzo, and can now hold a meeting every week for the rest of the school year. Stuy Archery did not build an audience over time. Rather, the popularity with the club exploded as soon as news spread that it was possible to shoot inside the school. I decided to head down to the third floor gymnasium after tenth period on April 31 to check out their second meeting of the school year. Immediately, I noticed the mass of people—40 to 50 people were waiting outside the small gymnasium doors, clustering near the doorway, resting against the lockers, and leaning on the curved walls. I was surprised to see this since I assumed the club was obscure. Once students were allowed into the gym, Shlafer and faculty advisor Peter Bologna immediately split the mass into two groups: newcomers and the experienced. Giant black targets were rolled out of the closet to be positioned about seven feet away from the second cone, while a giant sheet of netting was to be placed behind targets in case stray arrows missed the targets. Orange cones were then placed to represent different boundaries of the shooting range so no one was allowed to walk in front of someone shooting. The newcomers were then divided into several rows and learned the basics of handling a bow and arrow. Members learned the proper stance for shooting, how far back to pull the bowstring, and where to aim for at a target. To practice, the coach gave everyone stretchy red bands to pull and let go of. Meanwhile, experienced members who attended the first meeting were allowed to shoot right away, and lined up behind the orange cones. Curious, I studied the equipment that was being used in the meeting. “What kind of bows are those?” I asked, pointing at a bunch

resting in their cases. These bows were very large and ranged from five to six feet. “Those are recurve bows,” Shlafer explained to me. “Recurve, you’ll notice there’s a curvature to the bows...so when you’re shooting, the bow slightly curves back, and when you let go, it recoils.” “And what are those for?” I asked, pointing to the guards that were covering the members’ forearms. “So when you shoot, and your non-dominant hand is holding the bow,” Shlafer explained, motioning with his hands. “A common mistake that a lot of people do is they stretch back a bit so when you let go, the string hits you. It burns. It’s not that bad but it will hurt so they wear that so if it skims off, it doesn’t affect you.” The meeting continued onward for another forty minutes. Students lined up in several rows, and shot three arrows before returning to the back of the line. Members with no experience were told to line up on the leftmost rows to shoot under the guidance of the coach, while the right half was designated for experienced shooters. All the rows were open to everyone once the novices could handle the bow on their own. “Hey, don’t you want to shoot today?” Shlafer said to me, noticing that I was just standing around. “Oh. Alright then.” I replied taken aback, but secretly pleased with the offer. When I arrived at the front, the coach, Quailan Pantin, taught me the correct stance and how to straddle. “One finger above the arrow, two below,” she instructed me with handling the bowstring. “Keep pulling keep pulling keep pulling, right to the corner of your mouth…and 1, 2, 3.” In an instant, the arrow left the bow, creating a clicking noise as the nock snapped out of the string. Then came the sound of a solid thud, as the arrow dug into the cork of the target. Although I did not aim for a specific area at the target, I was proud to see that the arrow was at least near the center. It felt exhilarating to let the string go and extremely satisfying to hear the ar-

rows thud. Several of the members in the club had diverse reasons for enjoying archery, along with interesting backgrounds on how they first came upon it. “It’s a great skill to learn: accuracy and precision,” sophomore Gazi Oti said, and stated that letting the arrow go felt “natural.” Freshman Anthony Solodkov has been drawn to the sport for a long time. “I love the Mongols, and they used recurve bows and I always wanted to use a bow,” Solodkov explained. “Bows are like the ultimate weapon. You don’t just shoot a gun or something...you still have the mechanical motion.” Similar to Solodkov, senior Farzana Haque was inspired to learn archery from history as well. “You know the Renaissance man?” she asked me. “Oh! Like someone who is skilled in many fields?” I answered. “Yeah, I kind of want to be like that except a Renaissance woman,” she said. “I can at least try some skills before I get into college.” Faculty advisor Peter Bologna became interested in archery when he was first introduced to it in college. “I loved it so much I bought my own recurve and started shooting,” he stated. “The fact that you’re on your own, that it’s up to me to make the shot is… enticing.” Towards the end of the meeting, Shlafer surveyed the crowd, satisfied with how it went. “These past five months have been….haywire,” he concluded. “But it was worth it to see this.” And lifted his hands to the scene. Looking ahead of Stuy Archery’s future, he and Kaubisch see this as a solid start to ambitious goals. Next year, they will apply to be part of OAS and aim to participate against other high schools in competitions, as Shlafer has already raised the possibility of making archery a PSAL sport to Christopher Galano. “If not [PSAL], OAS, they have their own inter-school competition that maybe five or six high schools in the city that do this with them,” Schlafer said. “And so hopefully we can do competitions between the schools.”

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The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 9

Features A Writer at Work By Julia Ingram and Maya Mitrasinovic Stuyvesant and all its students are trapped in a giant, light-fluorescent box. Blinding white light is the only source of energy for students who are hardly let outside. Resources are scarce, and soon, the administration locks all the students in the theater. A similar scenario frames the story of junior Hayley Gruenspan’s most recent novel, “Blondes, Redheads, and Sharks, Oh My!” Having already written two novels and two plays, this is Gruenspan’s fifth fictional work, and this is no easy feat for the average Stuyvesant student. Surprisingly, her journey into writing did not start too long ago—her involvement in extended fiction writing began the summer before her freshman year. Before her start as a writer, Gruenspan spent her summers at a sleepaway camp. However, after getting an unfortunate concussion, she was unable to participate in regular camp activities. Instead, she decided to spend that summer at a writing workshop at Writopia Lab, a non-profit organization that holds workshops for children and teens. Gruenspan started out with short, eight-page stories, reflecting back on one of her earliest short stories as “awful and melodramatic,” about a ballerina with anorexia. “It really sparked my interest in wanting to write more and more, so freshman year, I continued writing eight-page [stories],” she recalled. One of Gruenspan’s short stories, however, grew into something much longer and complex when she took a three day, five hour per day intensive workshop at Writopia Lab. The idea for the story she started there stemmed from a number of influences, one of which included the main actress of a television series “Suburgatory,” who is a snarky and somewhat careless teenager. Gruenspan wanted to place a similar (but by no means identical) character in a different environment and explore how the story would play out from

there. Starting it off as “a kitschy high school romance,” Gruenspan’s story soon reached 22 pages and was far from complete, thus beginning her journey into writing a fullfledged novel. “I realized that with my main character’s background, having an abusive mother and also having another guy in her life, it was more complex than falling for the new boy in school; she sort of had to go on a journey before sh let someone else in, and over time it got more and more dark, but she eventually got out of this rock bottom state she was in,” Gruenspan explained. After seven weeks of writing, Gruenspan had completed the 150-page novel “A Short Fuse,” a coming-of-age story about a girl who has trouble finding herself throughout her junior year because of her abusive parents. The evolution of Gruenspan’s story, however, did not come as easily as it sounds. She recalled the extensive revision and rewriting process, which required her to write and rewrite many passages. “I hit a wall in the first week of writing my book, because I had this whole idea of a subplot in my mind. It was 14 pages and it was longer than anything I’d written, and I asked my teacher what to do, and he said, ‘What’s the point of a subplot?’” she recalled. Gruenspan learned from there on not to be afraid to cut out large portions of her work. “The best thing to do is to just cut it out [...] and try again and eventually you’ll find the right path,” she explained. Similar to her first novel, “Blondes, Redheads, and Sharks, Oh My!” underwent an evolution. Originally a dystopian novel, it was supposed to end with one student escaping the trap. However, she later read “Candide,” by Voltaire, and Voltaire’s humor inspired her to shape her second novel into more of a satire. “A lot of times I see things where they have a message, but it’s sort of hammered ineffectively, and with humor it’s easier to swallow, and that’s what drew me to

satire in the first place,” Gruenspan described. Gruenspan has expanded her fiction writing beyond novel writing into playwriting, having written scripts for and overseen the production of two plays. Gruenspan was inspired to create the setting for both of her plays after taking a clinical psychology course at the Brown Pre-College Summer Program. The first of these plays, “Living Grace,” is about a dysfunctional family attending group therapy sessions to recover from the suicide of one of the family’s members. The second, “Red Streaks,” is an “awkward romance” between two teens with disabilities. A mentor at Writopia, Rebecca Wallace-Segall, sent both plays to Worldwide Plays Festival, a group that produces studentwritten plays through a grant given by David Letterman, and both Gruenspan’s plays were chosen to be produced by the organization. Gruenspan then began a three week production process in which she got to oversee the actors rehearse her play. “I got to see how my play was going to go out, and I had to change a lot of lines since a lot [of it] didn’t sound natural, and I ended up with a really satisfying finished product,” she explained. “Living Grace” was performed on Friday, May 15, and “Red Streaks” will be performed on Monday, June 15. Gruenspan has many ideas and is excited to continue writing. Recently, she has received the Smith Book Award for her work, and has also submitted both her novels to Scholastic in hopes of eventual publication. As of now, besides working on a third novel about a girl in a mental hospital, Gruenspan is working with a fiction fellowship at Writopia to guide her in the process, and, most importantly, edit her work. “It’s just a process of reading it over and over again. I believe Mark Twain once said [something to the effect of ], ‘You know you’re finished editing when you add a comma in the morning and by lunch you delete that comma,’” she said.

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Page 10

The Spectator â&#x2014;? May 28, 2015

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5 5 5 5 5

Once Stranded, Now Happily Lost

By Justin Pacquing

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If I could put my high school experience, if not my entire adolescence, in one word, it would be stranded. Stranded in awe of the oceanic expanse of a clear spring sky, in the vacuum of Nassau County, in the comfortable stagnation of a Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day afternoon, I realized that. I realized that when my best friend asked me, â&#x20AC;&#x153;What song best represents you?â&#x20AC;? and I right away thought of Earl Sweatshirtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Grief.â&#x20AC;? The junior-year onset insomnia kept me awake long enough to see the premiere of the music video. I should have been dreaming, but the track ended up being much more affecting than any visions of a subconscious let-loose. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Griefâ&#x20AC;? introduces itself guttural bass murmurs of a sedated but sureto-be-met demons. Demons that then yield to an ethereal keyboard loop, light enough to come from an angel yet heavy and distorted enough to know that messenger is fallen. The uneasy, muffled bassdrum heartbeat, the migrainous cymbal crashes, stirred up memories. The lyrics called me to reflect upon the memories. The opening line is: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Good grief, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been reaping what I sowed.â&#x20AC;? I remember feeling stranded by my depression. I found myself intimidated by Stuyvesantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 10 stories and the 3,000 stories contained within them. I was afraid of becoming diminutive and insignificant, only a five-foot something with hardly anything resembling his own voice. I stranded myself emotionally, sowed seeds of sorrow on the island I created, and ate from the shame I reaped. I swallowed my pride too much, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I stayed obese until I dropped thirty pounds last summer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been outside in a minute.â&#x20AC;? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m only a boy from middleclass, suburban Queens. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve rented the top-floor of all three, two-family homes Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve lived in, all within a one mile radius. Everything I ever needed I could find on the Q58 bus route. Then in the fall of 2012, I became stranded on Manhattan island. I was intimidated by the juxtaposition of bourgeois and broke that walked the streets at the same high-tempo. I was angered by promises delayed, if not entirely broken, by the MTA. I was saddened to see that outside of my familiar borough, it was hard for me to be outside of my shell. Yet, I felt like an outsider, whether in my English classes or on the 6 to 8 forgetting the name of the guy who sat in front of me in Euclidean Geometry and always said â&#x20AC;&#x153;hiâ&#x20AC;? to me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And all I see is snakes in the eyes of [them] / Momma told me told how to read â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em when I looked.â&#x20AC;? The â&#x20AC;&#x153;competitivenessâ&#x20AC;? of this school made it hard for me to trust people. Not everyone was looking for the grades, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a shame that I assumed so anyway. For better or for worse, my parents told me I could accomplish anything academically. Eventually that became all that I valued in myself. I was angry because I thought that all that anyone ever wanted out of me was homework problems, even though it was hardly true. The mentality soon became, â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m good for, then Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll go way beyond that.â&#x20AC;? In fighting the perception I did not want, I created it; instead of being open about work, I should have been open about myself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chasing dragons, tryna make it happen on a mission / Step into

the shadows, we can talk addiction.â&#x20AC;? This is when I have to admit with listening, interpreting, relating to music comes unfair appropriations. In this line Earl is talking about drug addiction, which exceeds any sort of parallel I can draw with my excessive work habits. His addiction led to extreme weight loss, the worst that mine could do was give me a paper cut. I can still grasp the emotional destructiveness of it, however. I isolated myself for the sake of it, obsessed over it. I was crying over an itch I knew could never be fully be scratched, but kept on scraping anyway. It reminds me of Tim Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brienâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Things They Carried,â&#x20AC;? the distinction between â&#x20AC;&#x153;story-truthâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;happening-truth.â&#x20AC;? It does not matter whether what happened in a story was trueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;for the author or the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;only if the feelings it intends to invoke are invoked. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Focus on my chatter, ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as frantic as my thoughts / Lately Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been panicking a lotâ&#x20AC;? The problem reached its zenith when I had a panic attack in the middle of a geometry exam. I was stuck on a proof about triangles, and I stayed stuck. My mind stayed stuck on it while my hands were clammy and trembling. It stayed stuck while I broke into tears in the freight elevator and my legs wobbled to the guidance office. It stayed stuck until I was doing breathing exercises in front of my counselor and I saw myself out-of-body and thought the person I was looking at was weak. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Feeling like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m stranded in a mob.â&#x20AC;? I just did not want be average. My biggest fear is living an average life, where on my death bed Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll look back on it thinking I did not make a difference. From that panic attack freshman year, I put myself on autopilot. Sometimes the work I genuinely believed in pulled me out of itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;English essays, computer science projects, history readingsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but the days started to blur into commutes: morning and afternoon through subways, in-between classes through hallways, stairways and escalators. Sure, my GPA was great, but I was becoming something people in this school are too consumed about: a number. The closing line is: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just want my time and my mind intact / When they both gone, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t buy â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em back.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Griefâ&#x20AC;? came at a crossroads in my personal growth. After sophomore year, I tried to escape the plaguing mentality of stagnation. I lost 40 pounds and was proud to finally call myself only overweight. The fall term of junior year, I made progress on breaking my shell by making sure I had a friend I could talk to in every class. The work became more intense, but so did my satisfaction in it. I joined the Arts and Entertainment section to share my love for the music that got me through the tough times. By the end of the term, my birthday, I opened a blog to become more open about my feelings and my writing. When â&#x20AC;&#x153;Griefâ&#x20AC;? came in March, the depression and the anxiety had already came back. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I ever solved my issue of self-worth, but the momentum had allowed me to run past it whenever it came up. When the momentum finally stopped, I found myself sinking again. Perhaps this time around I sank deeper than I had originally, but I also emerged from it quicker, feeling stronger than ever. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Griefâ&#x20AC;? is not the song I think should represent me, or at least wholly. A month after, I was intro-

duced to Frank Ocean. His song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thinkin Bout Youâ&#x20AC;? has these optimistically swelling violins and keyboard riffs that make you nostalgic for a better future you know is going to come. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Griefâ&#x20AC;? is what I had to go through to get to where I am now, but â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thinkinâ&#x20AC;? is why I need to move past it. The song starts: â&#x20AC;&#x153;A tornado flew around my room before you came / Excuse the mess it made, it usually doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rain / In Southern California, much like Arizona / My eyes donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t shed tears, but boy they pour when [...]â&#x20AC;? My best friend is the only reason I can consider myself happy now. I first saw her across the room in Freshman Composition, but the first time we talked was in European Literature. We exchanged our likes, our dislikes, our feelings, our problems and became close, as close as to anyone I was able or willing to get to. She was the only one I allowed to deal with my tornadoes. She gave me tough love when I gave myself excuses of lack of strength. She told me what I did not want to hear so I realized what I needed to tell myself. She allowed me to come to terms with my depression because it prevented me from caring for the people I care for most, especially her. She became my rock, and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the breeze I hope one day I can catch up and make up to. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been thinking about you / Do you think about me still? Do you, do you? / Or do you not think so far ahead? / Cause Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been thinking about forever.â&#x20AC;? There are two different â&#x20AC;&#x153;youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sâ&#x20AC;? in this case. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;? is the future-me I think about, the future I hope to become. I hope he thinks about the past me as the one heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s able to learn but escape one, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be able to think of the current me as the one he was able to grow from. He is half of my motivation for anything. He ought to only dedicate himself to what he believes in, and stand up for it. He ought to be able to stand up for himself. He ought to be doing things for the right reasons. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;? is also the future girl I dream about, the girl an adolescent boy would dream about but never admit to thinking about. I hope sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll think about what I first imagined her to be and we can laugh about how naive I used to be. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the other half of my motivation. I hope she will be proud of all I did to get to her. I imagine future-me happily lost in the eyes of the girl. When I was depressed, I could only hope they both would come, but now I know they will come, I just hope they would come sooner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Griefâ&#x20AC;? sounds differently now. Hearing music affects the mentality, but mentality also affects the way we hear music. When I first heard â&#x20AC;&#x153;Grief,â&#x20AC;? I connected with it because I described how I felt. Now, I connect with it because I know that I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that way anymore. I will feel depressed sometimes, but I know now it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t and it canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be something that consumes me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thinkin Bout Youâ&#x20AC;? makes the appreciation for what I have now and will have consumed me. Instead of stranded in feeling of hopelessness and immobility, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m now happily lost in an optimism for better times. Being asked that question reminded me of a lyric from Nujabesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Luv[sic] Part 3.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s funny how the music put times in perspective / Add a soundtrack to your life and perfect it / Whenever you are feeling blue keep walking and we can get far / Wherever you are.â&#x20AC;?

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 11

Features Rhys Suero: Venturing Into Neutral Territory

Christopher Liang / The Spectator

What does agendered mean? It’s either a neutral gender, right in between masculinity and femininity and not identifying with either, or total lack of gender. I am under the umbrella of transgender, but I would say I am agendered or genderfluid. For me, being agendered is my gender. It’s neutral for me. I could just be non-binary. It’s still iffy.

By Liana Chow Sophomore Rhys Suero goes to school every day as an agendered pansexual and goes home pretending to be a heterosexual female named Gloria. Rhys has chosen the pronoun “they,” which represents gender neutrality. When I interviewed Rhys, they openly discussed the meaning of gender, rudeness from other students, and living two identities. To start off, what would you like people to know about sex and gender? There are four things people have to separate: sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality. It’s not a Venn diagram; it’s four separate circles, and often they don’t influence each other. Just because I am agendered does not mean I am asexual or aromantic. My biological sex has not influenced my gender expression, my gender identity, or my sexuality. Sex has to do with biological purposes. Someone who is female has female reproductive organs, carries out female biological processes. Males carry out male biological processes. Sex is binary— in two little boxes. Gender identity is where you place yourself, on the spectrum from masculinity to femininity— or your lack of placement on the spectrum. In my case, I have a lack of placement on the spectrum. If someone is cisgendered, their gender coincides with their biological sex. Gender expression is the way you portray yourself. It’s a societal construct. Clothes, makeup, music, backpacks, pens shouldn’t have genders, but society places a gender on them, unfortunately.

How did you realize you are agendered? I had grown up from the time I was four until I was 15 not really knowing who I was. I knew I didn’t feel completely like a girl all the time, but I didn’t always feel like a guy either. I thought I was always going to be an outcast—I’m never going to be able to tell people who I really am. From 12 to 14 was a dark period of my life because I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Then I started discovering all these new terms and sexualities and genders, and that there was a spectrum. I learned the term agendered on Tumblr. People have this weird perception of Tumblr: that it’s all feminazis or people obsessed with Sherlock, but I’ve actually learned so much about gender and sexuality from reading posts and articles. I had no idea pansexuality was a thing until learned it from Tumblr. I wasn’t actively seeking something to identify myself with, but when I saw it, I was like, “That’s it, that’s me!” I realized I wasn’t bisexual ever; I had always been pansexual. I knew I was attracted to just people. I just didn’t know what the word for it was. When you identified as female, how did that restrict you? Since kindergarten, I’d see dresses and think: “I don’t want to wear a dress. I want to jeans and a shirt or a suit. My mom would say, ‘No, you need to wear dresses and skirts because that’s what girls wear.’ It’s not so much that I was transgender. It’s just that I didn’t feel like I should be restrict-

ed to one side of the store. It was just very confusing for me. If I go shopping in the ‘men’s’ section, in my head, it’s not men’s clothing, it’s just clothing I like.” When did you first come out to someone? Seventh grade is when I first started identifying as bisexual. At that time I didn’t really understand sexuality. I came out to a close friend and her cousin. We were having girls’ night. I was like, “You know how I really like guys? I really like girls too.” My friend’s cousin was like, “Oh really? Me too.” I didn’t become more open about my sexuality until eighth grade. No one’s that bigoted when you’re in eighth grade. People either accept it and say “cool” or are like, “um, that’s weird but whatever.”

Christine Jegarl / The Spectator

Have you discussed your gender identity with your parents? I had a Gay Lesbian and Straight Spectrum (GLASS) t-shirt. My mom tore it up and threw it in the trash. So I was like, “Well, it looks like I’m not coming out to my parents.” It didn’t make me so much sad as it made me detached for a while. I decided it’s safer to just not come out. It’s not that my parents are intentionally bigoted. They came from a different time and from

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the Dominican Republic, with the government being very traditional. They were raised Catholic, and that’s part of the problem. When it comes to Hispanic culture, Hispanic society, there are so few people who are out that it seems impossible to be something other than heterosexual and cisgendered. Is the situation with your mom affecting your relationship in the long-term? Long term, no, because I don’t actively think about my sexuality and my gender identity. I don’t go up to people and say, “Hey, I’m Rhys, and I’m agendered and pansexual!” You don’t go up to people and say, “I’m cisgendered and heterosexual!” Usually when I’m around my mom, it’s not something that’s directly affecting me or our relationship. There are times when there would be an item of clothing I’d want to wear, like a binder to flatten my chest, and I wish my mom would be more open, so I could be freer with my gender expression, but for now I’m just going to hang tight. I’m going to save changing my appearance until college. I’m content with my appearance for now. Being out, being with friends, gives me the freedom to be a little more expressive of who I am. Once I go back home, it’s back to the cisgendered, heterosexual girl Gloria who is a stellar student and values education. How has the Stuyvesant community reacted to your changing your name and gender? I’ve never really encountered discrimination, but I’ve encountered ignorance. Only a few people have actually been rude to me. I use the pronouns “they” and “them.” This kid was like, “You can’t just reconstruct the English language because you want to seem special.” With my name change, it was: “But Gloria is your legal name so it doesn’t matter what you want to be called.” It’s hard when people say, “That’s not

even a real gender, that’s not a real sexuality.” Teachers have been pretty nice. Mr. Grossman talked to a lot of my teachers, and I talked to a lot of them, so most call me Rhys. I don’t explicitly say I’m agendered — I just say it’s a gender-neutral name and leave it at that. How did you choose the name Rhys? As freshman year progressed, every time someone called me Gloria it started to irk me. I realized it was because it had a feminine connotation, so it felt confining. I think I changed my pronouns first, and then I had to find a gender-neutral name. It was the summer before sophomore year that I sorted things out with my gender. Originally I dropped all the other letters from Gloria so it was just Ri, but it was so short and seemed awkward. I had seen the name Rhys because there’s this great actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He’s, like, really handsome. The name is Welsh, and it means enthusiastic. What has been your greatest struggle as a person with a nontraditional gender? Accepting that not everyone is going to use the correct pronouns. It’s been a rocky road. I say, “It doesn’t really matter, you can use ‘she/her’ if that’s easier for you.” I’m generally timid, and it’s hard for me to be like, “By the way, my name is Rhys, I’m agendered, and also you need to use they/them pronouns.” I don’t want to pour all of that on people, so I just accepted that if people want to use “they/them” pronouns, they will. I wish they would do it right, but we don’t live in an ideal world, so I just deal with it. If you were to give advice to anyone who identifies as agendered or LGBTQ, what would it be? You don’t have to come out. It’s easy for people to say, “Just do it— your parents will always love you.” But if you don’t feel safe, don’t come out. The risk isn’t worth taking. There is always going to be a time when you’ll be able to be out, even if it’s not as soon as you’d like. Another thing: you don’t have to label yourself. You don’t have to find a sexuality or a gender identity if you’re comfortable just being a free-spirited individual. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Page 12

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The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Editorials Staff Editorial

The Key to Improving Teacher Evaluations: Giving Students a Voice

Recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been working to improve teacher evaluations in New York, since the current system has reported 96 percent of teachers to be either “effective,” or “highly effective”—a statistic that Cuomo has referred to as “baloney.” As proposed by New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, the Board of Education has made the decision to include student input to a greater extent in teacher evaluations. Student surveys, put together by the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, have been given out to students for the past two years as a part of a pilot program, with the eventual goal of implementing these surveys on a regular basis. Some students at Stuyvesant will be taking them on June 3rd. If these surveys continue to accurately reflect teachers’ performances—MET has found them to be a better source of information than supervisor observations—they will eventually count toward about 5 percent of the teacher evaluations. Stuyvesant isn’t facing a shortage of qualified staff. However, in an environment that students often describe as competitive and stressful, a system for evaluations that encourages the most effective teaching methods would benefit the school.

We would like to propose that all students fill out a survey in homeroom at the end of each semester, answering eleven questions regarding each of the teachers they had that semester.

Currently, teachers are evaluated by administrators who peek into classrooms about four times a year. These snippets are hardly enough to evaluate overall performance. Even more so, it isn’t uncommon for the mood of a classroom to shift abruptly the moment the AP walks into the door. The largest gap in the information collected by teacher evaluations is student input. Students’ opinions should be

an integral element of teacher evaluations because students spend every day with their teachers, and thus they have the capacity to paint a comprehensive picture of teachers’ effectiveness.

Unlike rare and specific complaints from the few students brave enough to confront APs about ineffective teaching, student surveys would paint a picture of each classroom— good and bad— for holistic evaluation by the AP.

The Editorial Board recognizes the problem with this type of evaluation, and why it has not been used in the past. The teacher-student relationship is certainly delicate. Education is often perceived with the premise that students are in school against their will, and that learning must be forced upon them for their own good. While this may be accurate in certain instances, it handicaps progress in schools such as Stuyvesant by creating unnecessary strain between administrators and students. Teacher evaluations are the perfect place to begin reforming this antagonistic relationship; students are able to stake a claim in their own education, and teachers can receive valuable feedback from those they impact most. The Editorial Board does not believe that unconditional trust is warranted or necessary, but instead, that a new form of evaluation ought to recognize that student-teacher relationships are relatively symbiotic. We would like to propose that all students fill out a survey in homeroom at the end of each semester, answering eleven questions regarding each of the teachers they had that semester. All results would be anonymous, encouraging students to be honest with their feedback, thus supplying data that can be trusted. While certain outliers might be compelled to air their grievances by giving unreasonably harsh answers, the sheer sample size will ensure that the results reflect the opinions of the student body, rather than those of a select few. Data collected from student surveys would serve as a valu-

able resource for department chairs. Unlike rare and specific complaints from the few students brave enough to confront APs about ineffective teaching, student surveys would paint a picture of each classroom— good and bad—for holistic evaluation by the AP. This system could also mandate that each AP utilize the information in his or her assessment of a teacher’s strengths and weaknesses in the classroom, and make it part of the official evaluation. For instance, if everyone in Teacher X’s Russian Folklore class “Strongly Disagrees” that the homework given is conducive to learning, then the AP could use that data to act as a spokesman for the student body, as well as to fulfill his duties as an administrator, by approaching Teacher X and working to reform his homework policies. This system might not work in the state as a whole, but that shouldn’t stop up from employing it to improve instruction at our school. The Editorial Board acknowledges potential pitfalls: we worry that if surveys are weighted too heavily, just as principals tend to rate teachers favorably, mindful students would likely experience the same subconscious upgrading. Or perhaps, in line with what administrators fear, students would take advantage of online communities and work together to punish specific teachers because of homework policies, grading policies, etc. Thus, the Editorial Board encourages the use of student surveys as tools for the administration to aid teachers in improving their methods, rather than as a factor to determine a teacher’s overall rating in our school. Sample Survey Answer all questions on a scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, and Strongly Agree.

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1. Class time is spent effectively. 2. Homework is conducive to learning. 3. Teacher gives reasonable amount of work. 4. Grades are representative of work. 5. Teacher encourages class participation and questions. 6. Teacher encourages appreciation of the subject. 7. Teacher creates a comfortable and productive environment for learning. 8. Teacher follows a comprehensive curriculum. 9. Tests are representative of what has been taught in class. 10. It is clear what a student must do to excel in the class. 11. Teacher is helpful when you seek help.

A Note to Our Readers: The Spectator will now accept unsolicited Op-Ed pieces written by outside students, faculty, and alumni. These columns, if selected, will be published in The Spectator’s Opinions section. Recommended length is 700 words. Articles should address school related topics or items of student interest. Columns can be e-mailed to opinions@stuyspec.com

Do you want to reflect on an article? Or speak your mind? Write a letter to the editor and e-mail it to opinions@stuyspec.com or drop it in The Spectator box in the second-floor mail room.

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Page 15

Opinions

By Ryan Boodram It might come as a surprise to know that the Stuyvesant Student Union (SU) has a constitution, which lays out the structure and responsibilities of the SU and its members. Reading through it, however, it becomes clear that the structure of our student government is severely flawed and that in recent years, the SU has neglected to follow its constitution and fulfill its obligations. According to the SU Constitution, which can be found on their website, the main body of the SU is the Executive Council, a legislative body chaired by the SU President and composed of 19 voting members including the Caucus Presidents and Vice Presidents and the SU Vice President. 11 other voting members are appointed by the president such as the School Leadership Team (SLT) Representative and

Budget Directors, which means that they comprise the majority of the voting members of the Council. It is disconcerting to think that the majority of what is supposed to be a legislative body representing the will of the students aren’t elected, but appointed by one person without any oversight. This is akin to allowing the President of the United States to appoint 60 percent of Congress. In a system where a two-thirds majority is required to pass anything and overriding a Presidential veto requires a three-fourths majority, controlling even such a slim majority of the Council gives the SU President a large amount of power. While this flawed system is inherent to the structure of the SU and not the fault of the current administration, it is something they should consider amending the constitution to fix.

Even more critically, this is only how the SU Constitution says that our government is supposed to work. It seems, however, that the current administration is mostly just ignoring the Constitution. The SU fails to keep publicly available agendas, minutes, and summaries of Executive Council meetings, and to make meetings open to students, both of which they are mandated to do by Article II of the Constitution. And according to Junior Caucus President Krzysztof Hochlewicz, the Executive Council has met about 3 times this year. It is little wonder that our Student Union accomplishes so little when they never have meetings. The SU constitution also calls for a Stuyvesant Students’ Forum, during which the SU listens to the concerns of students and clubs, particularly large ones such as Big Sibs and ARISTA, and relays the students’ worries onto the SLT. When asked about the Students’ Forum, SU Vice President Jonathan Aung responded that he had never heard of it. It seems that this body no longer exists, even though it is required to meet at least 2 times per semester and be chaired by the SU President under Article III of the Constitution. Additionally, there is the fact that members of the Executive Council do not fulfill their obligations under the constitution. For instance, the sole job of the

IT Director is to maintain the SU website. Yet the SU website is outdated, even listing current President Keiran Carpen as Vice President, a position which he held last year. The responsibility for keeping the student body informed on the happenings of the SU falls on the Communications Director, yet most students have no idea what the SU does—some might not even know what it is— and there has not been an effort to fix this. Finally, we have the Chief of Staff whose job is to make sure the SU abides by the Constitution, which they don’t, and that the other members of the SU fulfill their constitutional obligations, which they aren’t. Sadly, it seems as if SU positions have become nothing more that things to be listed on college applications. Following the Constitution would be a good way of solving problems, which the SU has had and continues to have. The best way to have the SU to do so is for the students of Stuyvesant to read the SU Constitution and expect their government to adhere to it. If SU officials were expected to follow the Constitution the same way they are expected to put on SING! or plan parties, they would. Instead, by expecting nothing from the SU, we the students of Stuyvesant have created a selffulfilling prophecy of inaction. As part of this push for an accountable SU, students should

Emily Wu / The Spectator

Tanumaya Bhowmik / The Spectator

A Lesson In Constitutional Law for the SU

use the power of their votes to elect candidates who promise to abide by the Constitution and impeach SU officials who fail to fulfill their responsibilities (any member of the Executive Council can call for the impeachment of another member). We should also consider changing the structure of the SU, to make it more responsive to the student body, replacing the Executive Council with a Homeroom Senate much like that proposed by SU Presidential Candidate Gabriel Rosen and already in practice at the Bronx High School of Science. Although this year’s administration may be about to retire, hopefully the next will bring actual change, and not just empty promises.

Got Milk? By Mika Simoncelli “My Milk + Your Mothering = Happy & Healthy Baby” “Adopting New Born Preemie Twins. Would love to give them the best start.” “Young mother of a 5mo old with a huge oversupply of sweet liquid gold” Welcome to the “classified” ads featured on onlythebreast. com, a Craigslist-esque website for buying and selling breast milk. This practice is completely legal, and, though not recommended by the FDA, relatively commonplace among mothers who are unable to breastfeed. Aside from these unregulated websites, there are also nonprofit milk banks with networks of donors across the country and biotechnology companies, such as Prolacta Bioscience. The last, Prolacta, is a for-profit organization that buys milk, concentrates it into more powerful formulas, and distributes it to premature babies (the cost of which is paid for by health insurance). There are issues with all of these options, and the online market presents a few of the more serious ones: first, buying unsafe milk puts infants at risk given their young age and resulting fragility. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently published a study in which they found that more than ten percent of breast milk samples bought online were adulterated with cow’s milk. Feeding babies diluted breast milk is dangerous—most doctors agree that

cow’s milk should not be introduced to a baby’s diet until they turn a year old—and can cause iron deficiency anemia, milk allergies, and type one diabetes. The possibility of income also gives women incentive to hide their own health problems, which may compromise the safety of the milk, and have been shown to deprive their own children in favor of increasing milk production. On top of that, this milk (though of questionable quality) is really only sold to the economically privileged. Ideally, the breast milk market would provide milk for mothers who could not produce and act as a source of income for the underprivileged. However, milk can cost up to $10 an ounce, and an average sixmonth-old consumes 30 ounces per day. Therefore, when most

is also meticulously screened for safety. On the other hand, women are paid $1 an ounce for their milk by Prolacta, while the formula, which includes a fortifier, that the company creates is sold at $180 an ounce, according to the New York Times. Almost all of Prolacta’s profits go to the company’s funding (they also do some research

Carrie Ou / The Spectator

mothers sell their milk, rather than donating it, excess milk goes only to babies with the financial means, instead of those who require it based on medical necessity. At a first glance, the company Prolacta Bioscience seems to deal with these issues by only distributing their formula to premature babies. The milk that goes into their formula

into the properties of break milk) rather than to mothers in need. Additionally their formula is not meant to be used for a year—the cost would be beyond prohibititve—only a few weeks, which goes to counter to research suggesting that babies are healthiest when fed breast milk for at least six months. The issues presented in the current system could be cor-

rected if breast milk were a completely donation-based distribution, just like blood. If this were the case, milk quality would not be compromised, as donation banks would be non-profit and conduct safety screenings. Unfortunately, paid maternity leave is uncommon in this country, and though the federal government requires reasonable break time for nursing women, payment is not mandatory; additionally, many women are unemployed—for too many mothers, selling breast milk is the only source of income. Even for many who don’t need it, taking advantage of this source of income makes more sense than donation, but by perpetuating the market, they make it harder for underprivileged babies to obtain milk. A black market

would certainly spring up with the advent of a donations-only system, but if, breast milk “donors” were should really be paid small amounts of money by the federal government for their milk, the financial need behind the existing market (and all of it’s problems) would be satisfied. Of course, even with this compensation, eliminating a black market entirely is near impossible. But the existing market functions like one giant black

market in its lack of regulation.

[Buying breast milk online] is completely legal, and, though not recommended by the FDA, relatively commonplace among mothers who are unable to breastfeed… for a surprising number of mothers, selling breast milk is the only source of income.

As of now, the only federal laws regarding breast milk are about public and workplace pumping. The government needs to get involved in this market for the sake of the infants and mothers involved.

Page 16

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Opinions

Stephanie Chan / The Spectator

We Are the Only Ones Who Can Help Chinese Ethnic Minorities

By Eelia Shaw Many of us are well aware of some of the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist government: the limitation of basic freedoms, such as those of speech and religion, is fairly commonplace in China. However, a less-known issue is the unadulterated discrimination of ethnic minorities. The Chinese government has firm laws and policies controlling certain ethnic groups, such as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and ethnic-Koreans, that hurt their basic human rights, cultural identities, and future opportunities. Residing mostly in Yanbian, a province along the border of North Korea, ethnic-Korean children are forced to learn Korean in a country where Mandarin Chinese is the predominantly spoken language. Of the two kinds of schools offered to children here, Korean schools and Chinese schools, ethnic-Koreans are barred from enrolling in the latter. Instead, they are only allowed in Korean schools, where the brief and poorly taught Mandarin Chinese language class every day is insufficient to making the students fluent in the language. With this policy, the Chinese Communist government singlehandedly blocks ethnic-Korean progression. It is impossible to get a job or a college education with this language barrier still intact, which makes migration from concentrated ethnic com-

munities like Yanbian nearly impossible. In addition to restricting language, the Chinese government attempts to limit ethnic-Koreans’ ability to help others. It is illegal for ethnic-Korean minorities in the Yanbian region to offer any sort of aid to desperate North Korean refugees passing through, who are escaping from intolerant North Korean conditions. Instead, ethnic-Koreans must immediately report the refugee’s appearance and location to the police. Naturally, many ethnic-Koreans help the refugees anyway by giving food or shelter.

The consequences are severe if they are discovered: the local police immediately arrest the benefactor and interrogate them for hours on end. In some situations, the police would go as far to even beat whoever helped the North Korean refugee if he or she did not cooperate during the investigation. The reason for this is so that the Chinese Communist government can remain on good terms with the North Korean government—by stripping minorities of their humanity. The Chinese government justifies its policies for ethnicKoreans as a method of “preserving their culture.” However, laws governing Tibetan language education starkly contradict this claim. In Tibet, students are mandated to learn Mandarin Chinese when many of their religious rituals rely on the Tibetan language. Countless sacred recitations and religious texts require the use of Tibetan, yet children are deprived of the education of their language in school. By eliminating the minorities’ freedom of

choice, the Chinese government is deliberately enforcing the slow but steady erasure of their culture. Ethnic minorities are aware of the effects of the Chinese Communist government’s unreasonable policies and have expressed their discontent. Peaceful protests across the nation, however, are dismissed by the government with shocking violence and celerity. Any differing opinion is immediately marked as slander; people are arrested, threatened, and silenced by the police. Some Tibetans have resorted to selfimmolation (suicide by fire) as a more radical method of protest. Instead of attempting to address the concerns of these protestors, the Chinese government insists that the Tibetans who have set themselves on fire—a total of 138 people since 2009—are “mentally unstable” or “manipulated by the ‘Dalai clique.’” In Xinjiang, ethnic Uyghurs, another Chinese ethnic minority, are also affected by language education policies. The Uyghur people are extremely dissatisfied with Mandarin Chinese being forced into their curriculum, causing cultural assimilation, and the unrelenting dictatorial rule. Ilham Tothi, an ethnic

Vivian Lin / The Spectator

Uyghur college professor, believes, “We should have the right to use our language and develop our education. We should have the right to decide on the development of our towns. We should have the power of decision-making.” The uprising of the Uyghurs, however, is significantly more violent and controversial. The semi-recent protests by the Uyghurs have been labeled by many as terrorist attacks. In October 2013, three people crashed a car at Tiananmen Square in a suspected suicide bombing, resulting in the death of the people in the vehicle as well as two innocent bystandersSix months later, in March 2014, a massacre occurred in Kunming in which eight knife-wielding men and women attacked civilians, killing 29. Ethnic Uyghurs were held responsible for both of these incidents, resulting in a swift crackdown on Xinjiang. The Chinese government has the Uyghur people labeled as radical extremists, while they protest that they’re the ones facing severe discrimination and mistreatment. Terrorism and the deaths of innocents are not justifiable, but these past events were certainly desperate, if not morally correct, calls for help. Most Americans would not be aware of the plight of Chinese ethnic minorities if they had not gained publicity through the media with their protests. The oppression by the Chinese government has driven oppressed peoples to their limits. Seeing that the government will do nothing to heed their requests and demands, those with voices that can be heard need to make a stand against what is clearly unjust. As Americans, we have the ability and right to speak openly about our opinions. We have a moral obligation, as people living under a democracy, to spread awareness and protest openly and strongly enough from the United States to pressure the Chinese government to make changes. Ethnic minorities may have run out of paths to take, but they aren’t hopeless.

The Name Game By Andrew Chen A name is the first thing you learn about someone. First impressions are everything, after all. But prejudice leans on the first wisp of a trait, whether it be a character feature or something as inconspicuous as a name. Our names (and faces) are assigned—almost at random—with no relation to our personalities; names are stuck to infants, not chosen by adults, and faces are simply a consequence of genetic sequence. Nevertheless these qualities become key components of our identities. Though we are remembered by these traits, we often fail to acknowledge names as a target for prejudice. Increasingly in our modern society, we meet names before we meet people. Why is it, then, that names are denied classification as a cause of bias? Names are integral to our identities, which is a problem in a school like ours—majority Asian, that is. From the two countries’ respective 2000 censuses, a hundred last names account for 85 percent of China’s population, and just five last

names account for half of South Korea’s. Augmented by the tendency for first generation immigrants to pick common Western first names for their children, we have more than a few instances of repeated names. Compare this to American society, where a vast majority of names are unique. The most common last name in the US is Smith, though it is held by less than a fraction of 1 percent of citizens. In such a culture, when people meet for the first time, they associate a personality with a name. Coming to Stuyvesant, both teachers and students accustomed to a culture with unique names are forced out of their comfort zone. But all these Asians with the same names make this difficult! As a consequence, Asians are perceived (even if only slightly) as a conglomeration of Chen-esque personalities, contributing to the stereotype of Asian homogeneity. I’ve seen this firsthand on too many occasions to count. “We’ll call you Chendrew, and the other one Andrew.” I was given no choice by the

teacher. “Oh, we got three Chens in this room? I never got why there were so many of you, it’s confusing.” I now have to apologize for how common my last name is. “Which Andrew?” “Chen.” “Which Andrew Chen?” I had trouble telling if this was a joke or not. (It wasn’t, thank god.) “What’s your name again? Wait, let me guess, Kevin Chen?” The annoying thing was that she was half right. “So do you two Andrews have a spiritual connection or something?” Are we one person now? I feel swallowed in a crowd of Asians. I’m just another Chen, an extra quiet Asian student. Of course, these incidents are specific to Stuyvesant, but our school isn’t the only place where name prejudice, nameism, exists. My parents’ names have

A hundred last names account for 85 percent of China’s population, and just five last names account for over half of South Korea.

been stripped of meaning as well—my father’s first name was changed to Gang, and my mother’s an unpronounceable Yunzhong. The actual Chinese characters, their inflections and

meanings, are absent, just like my real Chinese given name is gone from my birth certificate. Our names have vanished— just one of the things my parents lost in translation. Only my Chen remains, holding no information, and contributing almost nothing to set me apart from other Andrews. I’m left with a single name instead of two, a name that I have to share with the many, many Andrew Chens in this city alone. Though names are one of the most important factors in forming a first impression, people seem to pretend that they’re insignificant. But subconscious bias puts entire groups of names as shy, or incompetent. Neglecting this crucial trait as a target for prejudice makes it impossible to prevent. Namesim should be treated just like any other -ism, as a form of discrimination that must be eradicated. Yet it’s completely left out of equality seminars, the media, and people’s minds. I don’t want to put my last name on the back of a hoodie. If I become a writer, will I have to include a picture of my face on the cover along with my name?

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 17

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The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Arts and Entertainment What’s the Scoop? By Zovinar Khrimian and Anna Usvitsky After a seemingly eternal winter, a sunny, blue sky is a gift to be treasured. With temperatures north of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, life seems to have opened up to opportunities for exploration of the great outdoors, or rather, the wilds of New York City. And what better way to celebrate the beautiful weather than with a summery outdoor treat like ice cream? Teenage life without exciting culinary adventures is a bore; it’s like going to Whole Foods and grabbing a slice of cake every time your sweet tooth kicks in. It’s time to expand your horizons beyond the usual after-school haunts. Whether you seek frozen yogurt, gelato, or just a scoop of classic vanilla, Battery Park City and its surrounding neighborhoods are not void of summertime treats. After a hard day cooped up in the classroom, there is no reason to refuse the numerous temptations of frozen dairy available in downtown Manhattan.

For those who would enjoy a pleasant walk through one of Manhattan’s most colorful neighborhoods, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is a phenomenal and conveniently located hotspot for creative and unusual flavors. With a surrounding atmosphere full of vibrancy and the hustle and bustle of fish markets and bubble tea, a crowd of teenagers can be seen with scoops of pink and green ice cream in hand. When the menu features red bean and black sesame as their regular picks and carries vanilla and chocolate as exotic extras, it’s hard not to attack the more colorful side of the ice cream spectrum. There are about 30 flavors ranging from tropical fruity concoctions of mango and banana to rich pumpkin pie and coconut fudge. Taro is a standout on the menu in terms of its uniqueness. As one might expect from ice cream produced in-house, there is a slight graininess to an otherwise perfectly balanced, creamy scoop. The flavors are subtle, but pleasantly so; they feel like you can trust that they are made from real ingredients, lacking the high doses of chemical additives that are expected from larger businesses. The green tea scoop is delightfully authentic, reminiscent of the real flavor of a freshly brewed mug in a frozen form. The ice cream and Chinatown’s famous establishment is perfection even without the embellishment of toppings. Chinatown Ice Cream Factory may seem out of the way, but with only a less than 20 minute walk from Stuyvesant, it lands you in the summertime feeling. Humble in appearance, but high on the praise and recognition of dessert enthusiasts everywhere, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory offers a frozen dessert experience worthy of every resident and visitor who finds joy in the unexpected.

Yorganic Bliss Bowl

YOGO: New York’s Finest Frozen Yogurt

Tanumaya Bhowmik / The Spectator

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

Food trucks are a common sight in the Battery Park City/Financial District area, where white-collar business people hop from smoothies to biryani along Greenwich Street during the midday hours. In the springtime, ice cream trucks are easily accessible, but somewhat more noteworthy is the frequent appearance of a bright pink truck that specializes in frozen yogurt: the YOGO truck. YOGO clearly capitalizes on quality and simplicity, offering only two flavors: original and vanilla. Yogurt here comes with free toppings, offering a sweet combination of refreshing dairy dessert and fresh fruit, honey, chocolate coating, and more. The vanilla yogurt was chilled to perfection, with honey caked over it in a sweet golden ribbon. Each spoonful was an incredibly rich and remarkably sweet experience. Reaching the end of a small cup was something of a struggle, as the yogurt was so creamy and thick, almost requiring a little dose of effort with each spoonful. In spite of this, its refreshing sweetness and underlying quality confirms such a definitive title as “New York’s Finest Frozen Yogurt” (as the truck reads). When seeking the best froyo for your buck, YOGO is the way to go, exceeding any self-serve in flavor, quality, and accessibility in the area surrounding Stuyvesant.

The menu at this health food establishment, at least when it comes to dessert, is very minimal, serving only an original, fat-free yogurt and a rotating seasonal flavor in dispensers behind the counters. However, the shop seems eager to aim for purists in the realm of yogurt, and does not seek to impress with great variety. The shop is small and stocked head to toe with health foods of exceptional variety. The presence of frozen yogurt is overshadowed by the clearly emphasized “bliss bowls,” a healthful to-go dish composed of a rice or noodle base and tempting mix-ins. However, when it comes to the yogurt, the only unique flavor is the “seasonal” green apple. Toppings, which are matched with an additional fee of $1.00, include coconut, almond, and other conventional choices. A dusting of flakey coconut shavings on a swirl of green apple amounted to $5; however, the result was delicious. Frozen yogurt, especially that which boasts enormous variety and self-serve freedom, often ends up lacking the authentic yogurt-y tartness that gives a refreshing kick to the end of each creamy spoonful. However, Yorganic’s yogurt did precisely that: the subtle green apple flavor did not overpower a remarkably delightful tart finish. That being said, the coconut lacked flavor and did no more then add a little crunch to the outer bites of yogurt swirl. Regardless, there was an undeniable level of quality that isn’t commonly matched by typical frozen yogurt and was worth another visit, especially when a new flavor enters the rotation.

Blue Marble Ice Cream The tiny seasonal outpost of Blue Marble Ice Cream, tucked away behind the skate park on Pier 25, offers more vision than reality. With small portions and steep prices, ($3 for a golf ball-sized scoop and $5 for a tennis ball-sized scoop), customers must be won over by the product’s integrity. Indeed, Blue Marble Ice Cream is the only certified organic ice cream plant in NYC. You can eat a scoop of ice cream guilt-free, as it’s free of antibiotics, hormones, artificial additives, gluten, and GMOs. Offering classic favorites such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate, and cookies and cream, Blue Marble aims for simplicity in product and ingredients. If you’re up for an adventure, don’t despair. Instead try the raspberry-lime sorbet, which bears near identical resemblance to the real fruit, as the bitterness of the lime breaks the sweetness of the authentic raspberry. While Blue Marble has its milk produced by pasture-raised cows, has funded Rwanda’s first ice cream shop, and is an overall healthier option, it’s ultimately up to the customer to weigh the significance of price against quality and integrity.

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The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 19

Arts and Entertainment

By Jongyoul Lee If these are the first words your boyfriend says to you after sex, you are probably going to be quite disoriented. But Jay (Maika Monroe) has little time to ask for clarification, since a naked woman slowly approached her during this conversation with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary). By the next day, Jay is more than aware of the curse’s consequences; she encounters an old woman following her in school whom others do not see, spots a half-naked bloodied woman approaching her at home, and gets chased by a man whose eyes are gouged out. We gradually piece together the whole situation as Jay and her friends plot together to end the bane of Jane’s life without spreading it to others. It Follows, an indie horror film by David Robert Mitchell, is a movie quite distinct from recent horror movies, with many similarities to those from the ‘80s. In place of stereotypical momentary silences, loud booms and gory action is a premise that is quite novel: a curse that is sexually transmitted. The lack of conspicuous scares does not prevent the audience from getting startled; we are constantly scanning the background, search-

ing for signs of “it.” The green suburban streets of Michigan emphasize Jay’s desolateness, as she flees through miles of leafy streets with the support of only a few friends and no adults. Mitchell toys with the viewers by creating seemingly innocent unclothed, bloodied people disguised as Jay’s family members. The film has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for “disturbing violent and sexual content including graphic nudity and language.” This rating is quite appropriate due to occasional violence and sexual references, although there is not a particularly explicit scene after the beginning. As an adolescent, Mitchell often had dreams of being followed. He believes that they were caused by anxiety since his parents were in the midst of a divorce at the time, and the dreams made a lasting impression on him. Incorporating this element into the movie, Mitchell added the sexually transmitted nature of the curse to enable this living nightmare to transfer among people. This unique aspect of the film led several critics to speculate that the film is an exposé on either STDs or the inevitability of death, de-

pending on one’s interpretation of “it.” Despite such speculation, the film does not seem to discourage teenagers’ sexual activities since it portrays Jay as nothing more than just an innocent victim of the desperate Hugh, and none of the characters are overly promiscuous. As all horror movies require an eerie soundtrack, It Follows does not fall short of this expectation. Richard Vreeland, an electronic music composer better known as Disasterpeace, composed the entire soundtrack for the movie, with a total of 18 tracks. The film opens with “Heels,” a creepy song with loud but low thumps that resemble approaching footsteps. Others include “Jay,” “Inquiry,” and “Anyone.” The truly distinctive quirk about this ‘80s-influenced score is that although the songs are completely original, they possess a sense of déjà vu that leaves the audience antsy. Monroe and Weary are not new to the big screen, but most of the audience is unfamiliar with them and the film’s others actors. However, seeing new actors is refreshing, and the plot is more applicable to the layperson with faces we are unaccustomed to. As the audience witnesses Jay’s dilemma between her morality and her safety, it completely sympathizes with her, especially admiring her when she turns down another man’s offer to have sex. Hugo on the other hand, juggles the roles of a selfish character and a pitiful one with his melancholic facial expressions and hoarse voice, especially when confronted by Jay. At the end of the film, whether Jay is finally liberated of being followed by “it” is up to the audience to decide. What is certain, however, is that the “it” of the movie will continue to follow the viewers long after leaving the theater.

Food

A Taste of France By Adi Kapoor Offering premium French cuisine in a modern NYC setting, Le District recently opened at Brookfield Place (the new WFC) near Stuyvesant. As the name suggests, Le District is a predominantly French marketplace that is arranged in a “village-like” fashion, where the foods are placed in their respective areas. The front of the market includes a wide assortment of baked goods and pastries while the backside includes two large restaurants, a florist shop, and a produce section. The pervasive aroma of freshly baked cakes and steaming crepes makes the bakery section warm and welcoming while the assortments of truffle chocolates and colorful biscuits add a hint of childhood excitement. The pastries and crepes do not come cheap, and some small pastries can reach around six dollars. However, most of the pastries do live up to their high prices, and their delicate flavors provide a treat for anyone’s tastes. A notable confection is the Opera cake, which is available in two different sizes. Garnished with gold leaf, the cake is not too sweet, with its subtle bitter coffee flavor, and the chocolate works in perfect harmony with the glaze.

The biscuits come in a variety of flavors, from apricot to chocolate, to suit the needs of every culinary adventurer. The chocolate biscuit is a classic French biscuit that delivers a taste of home with the alltoo-familiar texture of melted chocolate. On the other hand, the apricot and apple fillings provide something different by adding a tangy flavor to the semi-sweet cookie shell. The croissants of the bakery are at a fair price but do not hold up to their hype; they are not very fresh, and when reheated, they lose the much of their soft buttery flavor and gain a hard, crunchy toast-like texture. The sandwiches share the similar fate of staleness, as they come packaged. A rather uncommon sight in markets, the caramel / fudge “bar” provides a place where customers get to experiment and try the intermixed salty, sweet flavors of the caramel bricks. Certain caramels contain toppings, which improve the experience by adding a crunch. The main attraction of the bakery, however, is the Creperie. The crepes are made to order, and the open style griddle is satisfying. The downfall is that there is often only one person making the crepes, causing backorders and a crepe to take between 20

and 30 minutes to make. Nevertheless, these crepes are worth it; the customization is endless. The strawberry-nutella crepe is especially exquisite with the tang of the strawberries creating a powerful contrast against the sweetness of the nutella. The careful arrangement of tables around Brookfield Place handsomely blends with the open architecture, and the outdoor seating is adorned with colorful umbrellas. Inside, plenty of natural light is let in through the complex series of windows, characteristic of the city, and enhances the eating experience. Its size and location, however, make it a hotspot for many people working in and around the World Financial Center, causing huge lines from lunchtime to well after 5 p.m. Though service is generally slow, the employees are always ready to help and eager to offer suggestions. Since Le District is relatively new, one can only wait to see whether the long lines are an indication of its success or just the hype of the new area. It is unlikely that Le District will become popular with students since it is more of a business setting and its target audience is clearly the men and women of Wall Street out with clients.

Cartoon

Steven Universe: A Cartoon of the 21st Century

Justin Chan / The Spectator

Jarett Lee / The Spectator

Movie What Followed the First Date...

By Jenna Bawer Cartoons—especially children’s cartoons—are an underrated medium. People over twelve years old don’t seem interested in tuning into anything on Cartoon Network, perhaps because they don’t care about cartoons in general, or they’re just bitter ‘90s kids who don’t think anything made after the VHS was discontinued is quality. Nevertheless, these individuals could be missing out on shows that are clever, heartbreaking, fantastic, suspenseful, adorable, or progressive. “Steven Universe,” which is currently winding down its first season on Cartoon Network, manages to be all of these. It proves casual diversity works in television and challenges the tropes typical in cartoons.

On a children’s show, portraying this sort of diversity casually can raise the confidence of children (and older people) of all races, sizes, genders and sexualities.

“Steven Universe” revolves around the title character: Steven, a curious, optimistic young boy who loves to see everyone happy. What sets Steven apart from everyone else, however, is that he is the child of Rose Quartz, the leader of the Crystal Gems, who died when she gave up her physical form to give birth to him. This means Steven is half Gem alien, giving him Rose Quartz’s otherworldly powers (such as shape-shifting, fusing, and shield-wielding). However, he can’t figure out how to control them. Fortunately, Rose’s closest soldiers in her army, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (all Gems are named after the gemstone on their body, the source of their magic), help him discover the full extent of his powers and fight corrupted monsters and malicious Gems throughout the show. With its light, charming score

and soft, pastel art, the show is almost reminiscent of a magical girl anime. However, the magical clichés do not transfer. The plot is packed with so much action and suspense behind the mystery of what the Gems and Steven really are that each episode is able to thrill its fans. The show is constantly breaking the mold set for many children’s cartoons. The characters are all very multi-dimensional and diverse, steering away from the cliché tropes associated with their personalities. Greg isn’t a joke because he’s a fat deadbeat dad but because he’s a friendly man who’s struggling to keep his son safe. The rude, lazy teenager Lars turns out to be horribly insecure, justifying his need to look cool, which causes him to act rash at times. The “cool kids,” who make up the show’s token teenage clique, all have distinctive personalities unlike those of sheepish, petty teenagers; they support Steven and joke with him without belittling him. Connie and Steven are best friends, and Steven’s implied crush on her doesn’t overtake the friendship. Thus, Connie serves as more than just the designated love interest. “Steven Universe” has rare themes that are important for children to absorb. The show portrays the Gems, an exclusively feminine race, as powerful and magical, which is groundbreaking for a network that typically spotlights males on its shows. Created by Rebecca Sugar of “Adventure Time,” it is feminist in a “meta” sense, too, as it is the first Cartoon Network show created solely by a woman. The characters vary greatly in size, shape, and race, but no one is portrayed in a negative light for being fat or colored. The show also possesses some LGBT subtext. In an episode, Steven and Connie fuse into a single androgynous being. Although they have a feminine appearance, male and female characters alike are implied to be attracted to them. The show even features an extremely close romance, sealed with a kiss, between two feminine Gems. On a children’s show, portraying this sort of diversity casually without the intention of mocking it can raise the confidence of children (and older people) of all races, sizes, genders, and sexualities. The show is groundbreaking television for its ability to convey touching, mature themes while still managing to maintain the joyous quality characteristic of children’s cartoons. Steven Universe has something magical, like Steven himself, that makes it shine among other cartoons. It is a children’s show that no one should feel embarrassed to enjoy. “Steven Universe” airs every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on Cartoon Network.

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The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Arts and Entertainment Vanished Into Thin Air Now that APs are over, you can finally kick back and relax! And, as a member of the chronic couch potato generation, you’re pretty much obligated to oodles of time by catching up on all of your favorite TV shows, right? Wrong. Many of us have had to deal with the heart-wrenching reality that the capitalist swine running our nation’s television networks have cancelled our dearest prime time delights, be it because of low ratings, low viewership, or what have you. But, as the journalists we most certainly are (technically speaking, we may be too mushy and artsy to wear the name with much legitimacy), we will take a stand by doing what we do best: complaining, in print, about the harrowing cancellations of the gems of the small screen.

Firefly

Katherine Gershfeld / The Spectator

By Shahruz Ghaemi “Firefly” (2002) is a staple of the science-fiction fan community, a cult classic that is now treasured as a martyr to the cause of the wrongfully cancelled show. It is a show that mixes sci-fi and Westerns, following Mal Reynolds’s (Nathan Fillion) rag-tag crew aboard the spaceship Serenity. The show is set 500 years in the future, a time in which ecological catastrophe has forced humanity, led by an American-Chinese Alliance, into a new solar system. But the poorer outer planets fight a war against the “oppressive” Alliance, a war loosely based on our own Civil War (though there’s no slavery involved here). It ends much as the Civil War ended, and Mal and some of his crew who fought as “browncoats” on the losing side turn to a life of minor-league smuggling and crime at the fringes of the solar system. Like some of the best sci-fi before it (“Bladerunner,” the original “Star Wars” trilogy), the show is gritty. Mal and Serenity’s crew trudge through crowded spaceports and get into fights at seedy bars. The show is first and foremost about people struggling to make it from day to day on the outskirts of civilization. To quote the introduction before each episode: “A ship would bring you work. A gun would help you keep it. A captain’s goal was simple: find a crew, find a job. Keep flying.” These jobs include adventure classics like train robberies, Bond-style heists, and once, flying an old war buddy’s coffin home. Plus, in this Chinese-influenced world, the show’s creator, writer, and director Joss Whedon was able to use entirely fictitious Mandarin phrases to get around TV prohibitions against cursing—“holy mother of God and all her wacky nephews” and “inbred stack of meat” are some of the only ones we can print here. (But, the actors’ accents are truly horrendous, and it turns out the show’s only Mandarin advisor is probably Whedon’s wife, who is not a native speaker.) The world isn’t all fun and games, however—that temptingly unguarded Alliance train, it turns out, is carrying medicine to poor people who desperately need it, and Mal’s war buddy is actually quite alive and very much caught up in organ smuggling. In “Firefly,” the bright spark of life is always at odds with the internal darkness of humanity and the darkness out at the edge of space. That is at the heart of why I think “Firefly” holds up more than a decade after it was made: funny, serious, quality storytelling firmly focused on the characters. Whedon also knew that special effects served the story, and not the other way around, so the show retains its believability much more so than other early Computer Generated Imagery works (looking at you, George Lucas). The show ran for only 11 out of 14 produced episodes before being canned by Fox executives unimpressed with its low ratings. Never mind the fact that they had switched the show’s air spot and episode order multiple times. I’m not going to waste time railing at the follies of the past. We have what we have, and that is an amazing TV show that, though dead, has never been forgotten. “Firefly” has been winning fans almost since it was first cancelled. Demand from fans led Whedon to make a movie sequel, “Serenity” (2004), which acceptably adds another adventure to the canon, though a die-hard Browncoat will always want one more flight on board Serenity. “Firefly” is available on Netflix.

Allegiance

Better Off Ted

By Victoria Huang Meet Alex O’Connor (Gavin Stenhouse), an American-born spy whose ultimate goal is to stop the SVR, a Russian organization, from bombing the prominent United States infrastructure. His parents, the spies for the SVR that Alex is searching for and is willing to kill, will do anything to shield him from their dark past. This twisted family starred in NBC’s newest spy drama, “Allegiance” (2015). The show premiered on February 5, 2015. However, NBC cancelled the show after only five episodes on March 6, 2015 to open a spot for their newer series, “The Slap.” Due to multitudes of furious viewer complaints, NBC decided to move “Allegiance” online, and the remaining eight episodes aired via Hulu and NBC. The series finale was on April 30, 2015. When it was announced that the show was cancelled, I thought I had misunderstood what was happening. “Allegiance” has all the elements of an unbelievably remarkable TV show: the superb cast, the suspenseful plot, the gripping drama—the list could go on. Stenhouse’s Alex is a rookie CIA agent; he is essentially a modern Sherlock Holmes who stresses about his work too much. Stenhouse makes his character seem more realistic by always wearing the same stern facial expression. Other shining actors include Hope Davis, Steve Cohen, and Margarita Levieva. On the outside, they seem like innocent angels who have nothing to do with the Russian bombs, but on the inside, they are actually butt-kicking machines. Davis, Cohen, and Levieva do a great job of illustrating this self-contradictory composure. They manage to seamlessly portray bitterness and the phony sugar coating meant to cover it up. The plot pulls the audience deeper into the story as each episode passes. Just when the protagonists seem like they are in the lead and will stop the SVR, something always happens to make the story more astonishing. There are countless unexpected plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat. For example, when Alex believes that the SVR messenger is his boss, he is proven to be wrong. So wrong that he falls into yet another trap and has to restart his whole search again. Each episode always ends in a cliffhanger, which makes the viewer want to watch even more.

In “Better Off Ted” (2009), all the characters work for Veridian Dynamics, a truly evil conglomerate that stops at nothing to achieve its goals. The series centers on Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington), whose job is to oversee the research and development of often questionable inventions, such as weaponized pumpkins. He technically has a conscience but it is sometimes hard for him to distinguish between right and wrong, as his company’s motto is “money before people” and its CEO relishes making the world a worse place. Ted’s daughter, Rose (Isabella Acres), along with his coworker, Linda (Andrea Anders), are the ones who often point out the faults of Veridian, which help guide Ted. On the other hand, his boss, Veronica (Portia de Rossi), has little regard for others and usually pressures Ted to go along with what the company wants. Alongside them are Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett), scientists who are constantly creating new, eccentric contraptions. “Better Off Ted” ended abruptly—it ran from 2009 to 2010 with only two seasons and 26 episodes in total, because ABC cancelled it due to low viewing figures. The show ended without a resolution and a lot of wasted potential—for instance, Ted and Linda’s relationship. They kissed for the first time in the very last episode, causing their relationship to not be as explored as it could have been. What was Rose’s reaction to them as a couple? Did Veronica try and break them up? What would happen to them in the future? These are questions that will never be answered. Although it’s not the only show set in an office, “Better Off Ted” is particularly unique. Ted’s way of addressing the audience makes this so—he breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the camera. Initially, this seemed a little strange but it soon felt natural, as if Ted were personally addressing every viewer. Another fun aspect of the show was the commercials for Veridian Dynamics that came on at the same time the normal commercials did. They were funny in a quirky way, often showing generic stock videos with peculiar voiceovers. For example, an ad for diversity proclaimed: “Just like we enjoy varieties of food, we enjoy varieties of people. Even though we can’t eat them.” What other show would go through the trouble to make its own commercials? Without “Better Off Ted,” our airwaves are missing out.

Melanie Chow / The Spectator

Adam Wickham / The Spectator

By Samantha han

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 21

Arts and Entertainment The Crazy Ones “The Crazy Ones” (2013), which ran a mere season on CBS, served as an outlet for the late Robin Williams to explore his characteristically zany humor. This took the form of a goofy Technicolor sitcom about a father (Williams) and daughter (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who co-directed a Chicago-based ad business, and their staff of slightly off-color “creatives.” This band of whimsical individuals, who would dream up advertising genius whenever inspiration hit, came together with an often sugary storyline, always complete with mushy father-daughter moments. “The Crazy Ones” was not without its flaws, but was quite a delightful addition to CBS’s comedy line-up. The show remained, for the most part, a workplace sitcom, where the characters constantly found themselves in a variety of business-related, or simply silly, Robin Williams-esque situations. It lacked the gratuitously sexual humor of the rest of the CBS family. “The Crazy Ones” had a particular lightheartedness to it, a carefree attitude with minimal romance and high-stakes drama. Williams was the most noteworthy in the show, although it wasn’t his devastating and untimely death that resulted in the show’s cancellation—rather, it was a plummet in viewership and the network’s decision to choose a more conventionally appealing sitcom. “The Crazy Ones” was by no means a perfect display of primetime comedy, as its humor often got caught in receptive loops, and, from time to time, fell flat all together. At the same time, it did not lack merit, either. There was something very fresh about the dynamic between the each of the characters, who interacted like real friends, often shamelessly. The use of the creative environment of an advertising firm successfully weaved together unique story lines. Additionally, having the main characters be an adorable father-daughter duo was a good choice and paved the way for the exploration of a very relatable bond with a humorous edge. It was disappointing to see this program vanish into thin air so quickly, when it had so much room to grow and find a larger audience.

Red Band Society

By Livia Brodie Shawn Spencer (James Roday), son of a retired Santa Barbara cop, was raised to spot the kind of details nobody else can see. The only problem is that he’s too good. When a major robbery is investigated, Shawn calls in to report the crime with such an astounding amount of details that he is hauled in as a “person of interest.” Everyone’s wondering, “How can he know so much?” His answer is that he’s a psychic. After rattling off some “divinations” about his interrogators’ personal lives, the cops are convinced of his psychic powers and they retain Spencer as a police consultant. And so began “Psych,” a delightful TV show of eight seasons, running from July 2006 until March 2014, each of the 121 episodes a hilarious and exciting caper culminating in the solving of a homicide. The masterful ensemble cast includes Spencer’s sidekick and best friend, Burton “Gus” Guster (Dulé Hill); his curmudgeonly dad Henry (Corbin Bernsen); his frenemy, pompous, priggish detective Lassiter (Timothy Ormudson); and his love interest, the long suffering Juliet (Maggie Lawson). When the USA network cancelled “Psych,” there was certainly a lot of life left in the show. Rather than growing tired, it had gone from being strong to even stronger, consistently finding fresh villains and fifty new ways to kill someone. The show regularly surprised with tribute episodes: “Dual Spires” was a spectacular homage to “Twin Peaks,” “Mr. Yin Presents” was an ode to Hitchcock, and you can guess which classic inspired the slasher send-up “Tuesday the 17th.” The cast members managed to pull off a seemingly an effortless chemistry and balanced one another well. Lassiter’s “stick-in-the-mud” personality offset Spencer’s “juvenile” one, and Gus’s scaredycat flight responses contrasted with Shawn’s fearlessness. But the best lines were delivered by Woody, the coroner, played to comic perfection by Kurt Fuller, who can best be described as having no filter when chatting and behaving around dead bodies. Shows usually don’t get better as they progress. They decline in quality and audience. “Psych,” however, is the happy exception. The brilliant dialogue, complex personalities, and the evolution of the characters—all sustained for a long eight years—clearly show the dedication to writing, directing and acting. It’s obvious that the people behind “Psych” loved their job, because we felt the same love watching their work.

Miranda Luong / The Spectator

By Zovinar Khrimian

Psych

Jarett Lee / The Spectator

The Tomorrow People

The hospital is said to be a place of doom, but this can’t be more untrue in Fox’s “Red Band Society” (2014). In the teen dramedy, hospital patients with different backgrounds and personalities band together. Told through the eyes of philosophical coma patient Charlie (Griffin Gluck), they love, sing, cry, do drugs, go through surgery, and race in wheelchairs together. The series premiered on September 17, 2014. It continuously garnered around three million viewers each episode, had a dedicated fanbase, and showed a lot of potential, making most believe it would be extended to 22 episodes at the very least. However, the ratings continued to decline, and the show was officially cancelled on January 13, 2015. At the time, there were three produced episodes left, one of which was aired on January 31, 2015. The last two episodes of the show aired as a two-hour finale on February 7, 2015. “Red Band Society,” with so much untouched potential, did not deserve to get canned. Each episode contained the main ingredients for a successful dramedy, the perfect balance of tragedies and moments that inevitably make your heart swell with happiness. The characters are likeable, and the plotlines, intriguing and heartwrenching, keep your eyes glued to the TV. Nurse Jackson (Octavia Spencer) acts as a mother hen towards the kids, and while harsh and strict at times, you can tell that she really cares about them and their wellbeing when prioritizing their needs over her own. Emma (Ciara Bravo), a 16-yearold anorexic, is the typical “girl next door.” However, this persona breaks often as she deals with her disorder. Bravo does a great job maintaining a calm composure that can break at any moment. Dash (Astro), a cystic fibrosis patient, is much more mature than he seems. Even though he hits on many older girls throughout the show, he has a softer side, shown when he lets go of Mae (Jessica Lu), a fellow cystic fibrosis patient, even though he’s in love with her. He often falls in the shadow of his best friend Leo (Charlie Rowe), an amputee and former osteosarcoma patient, but he keeps the gang together; he is the first one to comfort his friends when they’re sad or angry. The plotlines are meaningful and allow the characters to show development. Kara (Zoe Levin), a mean cheerleader with an enlarged heart, learns to become nicer after falling in love with Hunter (Daren Kagasoff ), who needs a liver transplant. Cancer patient Jordi (Nolan Sotillo) learns from his mistakes after his failed attempt to emancipate himself as a minor. The most relatable issues, however, were the family-afflicted ones. For example, like most teenagers, neither Kara nor Emma like their mothers at the beginning of the series. Later, the mother-daughter relationships start to heal as the women open up to one another. The last episodes are a constant reminder that the show with its unforgettable characters and fascinating plots is gone, but watch them; the show still maintains the comedy and the heartwarming moments that drew viewers to it in the first place. It’s bittersweet to know that the series has come to a close, but every minute spent watching “Red Band Society” is a minute well spent.

Emily Mai / The Spectator

By Tiffany Chen

By Jenny Jiang “Homo superior,” a human species evolution that possesses special powers and can sometimes time travel, has formed a rebel group known as the Tomorrow People. This frames the aptly-named show “The Tomorrow People,” which was shown on the CW TV network in 2014 but was cancelled after one season. This show follows the life of Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell), a struggling teenager whose dedicated, loving father mysteriously deserts his family, leaving Stephen with a busy mother and distant brother. At night, Stephen is sometimes found in strangers’ beds, or in other situational comedic situations. These strange occurrences are passed off as a severe sleepwalking problem, which led to Stephen’s many drug prescriptions. When Stephen starts hearing voices in his head, one of them is the voice of Cara (Peyton List), a leader of the Tomorrow People. Cara finds new Homo superiors and protects them from dangerous outside influences, like Ultra, a genetic cleansing organization that attempts to remove Homo superiors from society and force them to work for their organization. I started watching this show after it was cancelled, but there’s a reason I watched half of the first season in two days. Though the faults are easy to see—the romances are sometimes overplayed, constantly argumentative characters kill the mood of each episode they’re in, and special effects are occasionally subpar due to the low budget—the story and the potential of the characters easily gripped me. The CW network is known for having cliffhangers sometimes in the last few minutes of an episode, and the series finale of “The Tomorrow People” was no different. The producers of “The Tomorrow People” have moved on to bigger things such as “The Flash,” “Forever,” and “The Originals,” but at least closing up this story would be gratifying, as unfinished stories with shocking last-minute footage can leave a viewer restless.

The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Page 22

Arts and Entertainment Movie

Playlist

Frolicking in the Mayweather ing daisies from the hands of small children. Blood-infused lemonade. Brezhnev putting an end to Prague Spring of 1968 by mauling peaceful flower children. Those blisters you get from wearing sandals—that’s what these tunes are about. Munawar Rahman / The Spectator

“Roses” OutKast Funk/Hip-hop “Blood on the Bluegrass” Legendary Shack Shakers Bluegrass “Better Weather” Kimya Dawson Folk Punk We are going to take a chance and guess that you do not live under a rock. (If that were the case, your brains would probably be smooshed to a certain extent, thus thoroughly hindering your reading abilities, preventing you from comprehending this nugget of text.) So, you are—we hope dearly—not completely unaware of the historically irksome fight that took place between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Similarly, you have, again, hopefully, been in the presence of a calendar in the past couple of weeks, thus making you aware of the fact that we are currently in the

month of May. In addition, we’ll assume that you’ve been outside, or at least have been made somewhat aware of the goings-on in the great outdoors. If this is the case, you know of the existence of a little thing called weather. And so, in celebration of May on this day (be it with a May Day parade, if you will), and the glorious spring weather, and Floyd Mayweather’s boxing victory, we have put together a playlist of songs that capture the beautiful aggression of this saccharine season. Think of leather jackets and the floral sundresses beneath them. Pluck-

“What Kind of Man” Florence and the Machine Indie Rock “Storm in a Teacup” Red Hot Chili Peppers Alternative Rock “Thistle & Weeds” Mumford and Sons Folk “Break My Body” Pixies Indie rock “Nature Feels” Frank Ocean R&B

Movie “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the Most Thrilling Two Hours You’ll Have All Year By Lev Akabas There’s a beauty in the madness of a Salvador Dali painting—a swarm of ants off to the side of a work focusing on melting clocks somehow fits right in. The universe of the painting is made of up small and seemingly random, but wondrous details. A similar attention to detail makes “Mad Max: Fury Road” not just a good movie, but the best action movie in several years. In the opening scene, a two-headed lizard scurries onto a rock in a barren wasteland. Director George Miller uses shots like these to develop his post-apocalyptic world and to put you right in the middle of it. This is Miller’s fourth film in the “Mad Max” franchise, but it’s his first entry in thirty years, and after dabbling in the children’s genre with “Babe” and “Happy Feet,” he pulled out all the creative stops for “Fury Road.” Porcupinelooking cars, a skull-shaped stick shift, and a sandstorm sending vehicles flying into the air are just a few of the zany images that immerse you in Miller’s world. After a nuclear war has turned the entire world into a desert, people fight over scarce commodities such as water and gasoline. Immortan Joe, a cross between Darth Vader, Bane, and Frankenstein, is a tyrant who controls The Citadel, the largest water supply in the area. His army of War Boys, distinguished by their shaved heads and painted white skin, worship him and are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect his resources. At the start of the movie, Max (Tom Hardy), a former cop haunted by his past, is captured by the War Boys. Shortly after, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) sneaks away with Immortan Joe’s five wives, on whom he was relying to produce his heir to the throne, on a war rig and attempts to drive them to freedom. The War Boys strap Max to the front of a car and send

their entire armada of vehicles after Furiosa, leading to a highoctane pursuit that occasionally slows down, but essentially doesn’t stop for the rest of the movie. As far as action flicks go, the film boasts technical perfection. The chase scenes are creative, well choreographed, and carefully edited so that you always know who is doing what to whom and where amongst the chaos they are doing it. Very little of the action is computer generated—it is almost entirely real actors performing stunt-work, which, whether you realize it consciously or not, adds tremendous tension to the fight scenes. Junkie XL’s loud, punk-rock soundtrack flawlessly captures the essence of Miller’s vehicular opera and provides a driving rhythm to every chase. Lastly, the cinematography is not only highly functional, but the breathtaking wide-angle shots allow you to see hundreds of Immortan Joe’s cars in formation across the desert landscape. The plot is simple enough to be written on one side of a paper napkin, but, in this case, less is more. Miller ingeniously chooses to leave the backstories and motivations of many characters open to speculation, adding mystery to his world. Instead of being bogged down by excessive explanatory dialogue, the story is brought to life by simple phrases, glances, or facial expressions. And despite the minimalist dialogue and storyline, there’s certainly enough going on thematically to justify the heartpounding action. Although not all multi-dimensional, the characters are extremely colorful. Nux, a diseased War Boy who wants nothing more than to die fighting for Immortan Joe, has an enthusiasm to go into battle that is both terrifying and oddly touching. My one complaint about the movie (other than the fact that it ended) is with the character of Max, who is harder to connect with than

Mel Gibson, who portrayed Max in the original films. Hardy seems slightly unsure of how to play the part and doesn’t command attention the way that Gibson did, or the way that he himself did when he played the villain Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Hardy definitely settles into the role as he interacts more with Theron and the action picks up, but he is not convincing during the first leg of the movie, when Max is supposedly so burnt out that he can barely talk. Max also doesn’t seem very clever or resourceful, which is disappointing considering that he’s the title character. But maybe that’s for the better since this isn’t really Max’s movie—it’s Furiosa’s. (In fact, her injuries towards the end are almost identical to those of Max at the end of “Mad Max 2”). Theron is as charismatic as any male action star and is phenomenal at showing emotion using her eyes. And, beyond just having a strong female lead, this movie is blatantly feminist. The premise is, put simply: a female protagonist frees several women being held captive by a white man, who proceeds to send an army of white men that the women must fight off. When one character asks, “Who killed the world?” the implied answer is not all that hard to figure out. In same the way that Miller doesn’t try to hide the movie’s feminist undertones, he does everything with confidence. It’s the film equivalent of writing with caps lock on. Accompanying Immortan Joe’s army is a blindfolded man in a bright red suit who plays an electric, flame-throwing guitar atop a truck covered in speakers. It is probably the single most awesome thing I have ever seen on a movie screen—not only does it not feel the slightest bit out of place in the circus that is “Mad Max: Fury Road,” it’s exactly why the movie may very well end up being a classic.

Stopping “Slut” Once and For All By Danielle Eisenman

When Brooklyn teenager Winnifred Bonjean-Alpart told her father that she would be portraying Joey del Marco, the notoriously promiscuous rape victim in Katie Cappiello’s play, “SLUT,” he responded by asking, “Can’t you just, like, do ‘Annie’ or something?” His apprehension makes sense—as we’ve been raised to believe, girlhood is supposed to light and sugary-sweet, like a cloud of cotton candy, whose perfect oblong shape has yet to be disfigured by hot saliva and sticky fingers. Annie is cute as a button; Joey has a taste for vodka, uses expletives liberally, and describes, in graphic detail, the experience of being sexually assaulted by a group of boys. She even abandons the delicate femininity of her given name, “Joanna.” “SLUT,” which was put together by Evenstar Productions and The Arts Effect All-Girl Theater Company, follows Joey as she goes from being an inexperienced, but confident and self-identified “slut” to a humbled survivor of gang rape, reporting her harrowing experience to the police. The people around her are unapologetically skeptical, inspired by, as it exists in our society, a systemic denial of sexual violence in the high school setting. “SLUT” is vulgar and unsettling— but in a way that is entirely necessary, as the play addresses issues that are equally vulgar and equally unsettling. The play’s dealings with teenage rape culture have sparked all sorts of reactions at its performances in locations ranging from New York to Los Angeles to Fargo, North Dakota (yes, like the movie.) At one performance, a man told the company that the play was inappropriate, and should no longer be performed. At another, an 80year-old woman began to cry, because seeing “SLUT” enabled her to identify a childhood experience as molestation. In fact, the play has stimulated something of a national conversation. The Feminist Press recently published an eponymous book of responses to “SLUT” in the form of essays and poems by students, activists, and student activists. The work in Slut shares a common theme of denouncing rape culture, and advocating for the elimination of “slut” from the adolescent vocabulary as a way to eliminate the harmful, dehumanizing stereotypes the word connotes. In his essay, “You Watch Porn,” Fred, a 13-year-old boy, discusses his experiences watching pornography. Speaking of his first encounter with porn, he says: I wasn’t shocked because the videos contained breasts, vaginas, and penises. I expected that. I was shocked by the realization that these porn videos seemed to take place in their own world. [...] I had entered a world where every girl is recorded saying she “wants it.” [...] It was a strange world, and even then I knew I disagreed with most of it. But I still continued to watch. As the story progresses, Fred realizes that the world where women are portrayed as objects that “want it” isn’t all that different from the one he lives in, with one major exception. “The womenare-sluts-here-for-your-pleasure mentality does not stay within the confines of a video; it does not fade away like a porn video,” he says. “Permanent harm is done.” Fred arrives at this conclusion after hearing about a horrendous incident in which a girl who went

to his middle school was harassed by one of her classmates, but no action was taken and no sympathy was felt because the common (and toxic) notion that “she wanted it.” “You Watch Porn,” and other essays and poems, like “No, You Can’t ‘Join Us For a Little Girl-onGirl’” and “Best Friend, No Slut,” all of which were written by real, live teenagers, are so compelling because of their just-barelypubescent candor. You are presented with imperfect kids and their encounters with the seedy underbelly of adolescent sexuality, along with the ubiquitous presence of sexism in the media. Slut’s chorus of unique and genuinely concerned voices reveals just how messed up the teenaged conception of sex is, but also how effective the play, “SLUT” has been in leading students to speak up about the incidents they’ve seen and experienced. In addition to the teenagers’ takes on rape culture, we hear from adults, too. Farah Tanis’s “An Open Letter from Black Women to the SlutWalk” makes the point that having a successful protest with the word “slut” in its name is impossible, because the word just carries too much weight. In the same way that the Civil Rights Movement didn’t appropriate the n-word, explains Tanis, she refuses to appropriate “slut.” In “Slut on the Latina Body,” Veronica Arreola talks about teaching her daughter about consent, or, “body autonomy,” as she refers to it. “As a Latino family, we have a culture of piercing our daughters’ ears as young as possible. I did not,” she writes. “I chose, instead, to keep her ears intact so she can make that decision for herself.” This conversation in response to “SLUT” has been expanded upon by several coalitions under the name of “StopSlut.” Aided by the handbook included toward the end of Slut, teenagers nationwide have started their own StopSlut chapters to facilitate meaningful and uncensored discussions regarding feminist issues. Through these discussions, teenagers have been able to navigate the ugliness of their own situations, and have the resources to educate others in an effort to put an end to rape culture in high schools. Stuyvesant is no different from the rest of the nation. The word “slut” is not a stranger to casual hallway conversation; it weaves its way into jokingly self-deprecating comments about lipstick shades, casual remarks about girls who are, for whatever reason, notorious for wearing shirts that don’t cover their bellybuttons. Even “Slutty Wednesday,” which did not make headlines too long ago, boldly wore the word in its title for the ultimately feminist cause of ridiculing the discriminatory measures Stuyvesant took to enforce its dress code. In retrospect, “Slutty Wednesday” appears to have been a scoff-inducing stunt, easily laughed off as a demonstration of the student body’s strange attachment to short shorts. Slut seems to be suggesting that if the student body decided not to propagate the use of a word with so much problematic baggage, “Slutty Wednesday” would have been considered seriously. We’ve all seen its toxicity play out in our own community; and everyone can, and needs to work to StopSlut. As Executive Director of the Feminist Press Jennifer Baumgardner wrote in Slut’s introduction, “We owe it to ourselves to make this work.”

The Spectator â&#x2014;? May 28, 2015

Meet the Artists

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The Spectator ● May 28, 2015

Humor Should I Go to JProm? By WINTON YEE

Point: Well, How Else Are You Gonna Spend a Counterpoint: Man, Screw All These Kids on Wednesday Night, You Sad Little Man?JProm? This Stupid Boat Look, I don’t like the situation you’re in either. You’re on that weird middling cusp of popularity: not popular, not unpopular, stuck in the dog-eat-dog world of high school as some sort of size-challenged St. Bernard. But come on, you droopy-eared, sad-faced, tail-chasing weirdo. What else are you gonna do that night? Well, let me tell you. You’re gonna go home, after another day of school, and sit down on your couch, having largely no idea what to do with your life. After a while of sitting prone and confused and sad, you’ll decide the best way to remedy this situation is by eating junk food (ostensibly not a good way to remedy the situation). You’re gonna plunk your sad little self downstairs and look at that junk food and be like, “Huh. What should I eat? Doritos?” This is what your life has come to. Deciding whether or not to eat Doritos. You’re gonna eat some Doritos. You’re gonna feel fat. You’ll decide that in order to fix this new problem, you’ll play some video games, sending you even deeper into a spiral. You’ll swivel over to your computer and boot up some game, where you shoot something or build something or solve something, and fail to solve your existential longing. At some point, as we wear on to midnight, you’ll start watching some weird internet videos. I’m not even going to get into that now. But they are going to be weird. By then, you’ll probably start crying about the sad husk of a person high school has turned you into. I get it. JProm isn’t the best. Stuy kids are weird. They smell a little bit. The last place you want to be with some of them is out on a boat in the middle of an ocean. But that has to be far better than whatever depraved mental and physical pig-out session you have planned. If you still have doubts: think ahead, 70 years, when you’re old and wrinkled and about to die with all your cats surrounding you. Your last thoughts don’t want to be: “Aw, man, if only I had gone to JProm. I wouldn’t have all these cats licking me while I die.”ing in the entire upper-Midwest. Perhaps what is most worrying is that the discussion regarding this one senior’s life decision extends far beyond light-hearted gossip. Junior Antonia Stefanescu was overheard in the hallway saying, “Is that school even considered a hidden Ivy? This is a sign. The kid is going nowhere. All we can do is hope he stays out of prison or does not end up homeless.” There has, however, been a slight bit of positive response in contrast to the entire backlash. Brook’s friends felt bad for all the bad publicity he was getting, and bought Mr. Brook a brand new U.N.D. sweatshirt. Over the next couple of days, Noah Brook was seen throughout the school wearing the green and white hoodie. “It is just very comfortable. I am even starting to feel some pride as I put it on. Who knows, if I hate it down south, this might be the first place I apply to transfer to,” Brook explained. Though all this misunderstanding caused the boy much strife, the tides seem to have turned and it could have all been for the best.

Bro. Let’s just think ahead a week or so. You’re standing on this weird yacht, sailing ahead on a mildly warm night. You’re wearing a mediocre two-piece suit, and you’re starting to feel damp (let me remind you that damp is the worst possible adjective you can be during this situation). The tables all have those weird red plush seats that you absolutely hate, because, you know, what if someone threw up on those seats? It’d just get absorbed into the stuffing, and then you’d be sitting on vomit. That’s nasty. There are all these Stuy kids on the boat. Look, it’s the quiet kids you never talk to in your Comp Sci class. Over there, in that corner, popular people doing popular people things. Half these kids are not wearing deodorant. Do you really want to go dance/eat/do anything with them? Let’s review what the night’s itinerary will be. Everyone will board the boat, and then awkwardly mill about for about twenty minutes, desperately trying to form a group of people to hang out with throughout the night so that their social standing may be broadcasted for everyone to see, effectively turning this into what most of high school is, a strange sort of popularity contest where the winners and losers both end up feeling hollow. After these initial pleasantries, some crappy trap music is going to start blaring out of some speakers. The music is going to be stuff like “Shotz 2 the Sky: Kttez Remix,” and then people are going to be like “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh” and form circles and start dancing badly. As the night progresses, the boat is going to get increasingly hot and smelly and you are going to have to decide whether you want to take your suit jacket off and be slightly less damp. You’re going to have to listen to people intersperse everything they say with “hannnnnn” and “fam,” and that doesn’t even make any sense, when you give it any thought, really. At some point, everyone is going to sit down to eat, and if the food is not hamburgers and stuff, which would make you feel like a fourth grader at a fourth grade school dance, and is actually something edible, you won’t be able to eat it anyway, because that weird thing happens to you when you have to eat when everyone else is eating, when you can’t eat because you’re gonna be judged by the way you eat your sandwich. Because eating is inherently such a weird disgusting thing, putting food in your mouth so that it may be salivated, that you don’t want people to see you doing it. Video games > boat. in the entire upper-Midwest. Perhaps what is most worrying is that the discussion regarding this one senior’s life decision extends far beyond light-hearted gossip. Junior Antonia Stefanescu was overheard in the hallway saying, “Is that school even considered a hidden Ivy? This is a sign. The kid is going nowhere. All we can do is hope he stays out of prison or does not end up homeless.” There has, however, been a slight bit of positive response in contrast to the entire backlash. Brook’s friends felt bad for all the bad publicity he was getting, and bought Mr. Brook a brand new U.N.D. sweatshirt. Over the next couple of days, Noah Brook was seen throughout the school wearing the green and white hoodie. “It is just very comfortable. I am even starting to feel some pride as I put it on. Who knows, if I hate it down south, this might be the first place I apply to transfer to,” Brook explained. Though all this misunderstanding caused the boy much strife, the tides seem to have turned and it could have all been for the best.

Math Star Lee Sidelined With Paper Cut

Courtesy of Wikipedia

is not the first time the team has had to overcome injuries to star students. In February, junior Jesse Elliott jammed his index finger in a door just before the AIME. In 2013,

By Jacob Faber-Rico Junior and Math Team Star Calvin Lee missed the New York State Mathematics League (NYSML) competition last month with a laceration in his right thumb. He suffered the injury when he cut his thumb on a health worksheet the day before the competition. “You never really know with paper cuts, and you have to be careful. I might’ve been able to compete through it, but I didn’t want to aggravate the injury,” Lee said. “Right now, the best thing I can do for my thumb is rest it.” Lee and his coaches are optimistic about his recovery. “Since the injury, we’ve been doing everything we can to get him back as soon as possible, like ice, antibiotics, physical therapy, and those special fingertip Band-Aids,” coach Ashvin Jaishankar said. “He resumed math-related activities a week ago, and so far he’s been able to construct parallel lines and write out binomial expansions

with no pain. We expect him to be in full strength for the ARML competition this weekend,” Jaishankar added. Lee is undefeated this year in local meets such as NYCIML, CML, HMMT, and HPV, so his absence hit the team hard. However, the defending champions were still able to successfully defend last year’s title thanks to breakout performances from other students, most notably junior Nicholas Beasley. Beasley won the individual championship and, in a thrilling finale, scored the winning point with a clutch usage of De Moivre’s Theorem. “Being in that high-pressure situation is really one of the most exciting feelings in math. Problem 10, you’re one point behind, and the fate of your team hangs on your pencil. Fail and your team loses, find the sum of the coefficients of a 2015th-degree complex polynomial and you go home a hero. It’s the kind of thing every kid dreams about,” Beasley said. This year’s NYSML competition

“Fail and your team loses, find the sum of the coefficients of a 2015th-degree complex polynomial and you go home a hero. It’s the kind of thing every kid dreams about.” – Junior Nicholas Beasley current senior Gideon Leeper was forced to sit out ARML after stabbing himself with a pencil. And last year, Beasley himself missed half the season with a broken wrist after crashing his bicycle into a tree. “These kinds of things happen, and so we’ve had to learn to deal with it. Luckily, we have enough talented students that someone can usually step up and fill the gap,” Jaishankar said. “It’s all just part of the game.”

Horoscopes By Randolph Higgins Aires: The alignment of the stars indicates a time of bad luck approaching. Try not to take any tests or exams for at least a month. Taurus: People who read horoscopes tend to be less successful when actual science is concerned, but given your last report card, you already knew that. Gemini: Surround yourself with people you love tomorrow. Chances are at least one of them has done the homework. Cancer: The presence of a full moon in your countersign suggests a time of stress is approaching. Try to avoid arguments with your significant other and doubleangle formulas. Leo: Leo is the lion. Bold, handsome, and courageous, he always knows right from wrong. Check again to make sure you’re not a Virgo. Virgo: The stars would like you to know that “auspicious time for business decisions” did not indicate an endorsement of your gambling addiction. Libra: Your abject denial that bodies of rock in space could ever affect your fortunes in life will be tested this week as tidal floods sweep most of your possessions out to sea. Scorpio: They say that money can’t buy happiness—which is irrelevant for you, since your college prospects indicate a lifetime of both misery and debt. Sagittarius: The alignment of both Venus and Saturn in your sign this week indicate it’s a good time for romance. The alignment of most parts of your face indicate the subjectivity of the term “good”. Capricorn: Don’t worry about the full moon in your sign this month. Wolf-attack survivors receive extra time on both the SATs and APs. Aquarius: A photograph has the power to hold memories for decades. This week, try to take a selfie with Mr. Moran or Mr. Simon. Pisces: There’s a hole inside of everyone that needs to be filled. Fortunately for you, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream will do the trick.

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Sports (Floor)Ballislife For lunch, there was always “an absurd amount of chicken, rice, and potatoes,” Kratsios said. The same was true for dinner. After lunch, there would usually be some free time. During his free time, Kratsios attempted to do some of his homework, but he would often be exhausted, and doing homework while being exhausted is a deadly combination. So, Kratsios and his teammates chilled out in their hotel rooms and watched some television. “We rested up for whatever activity we had next,” Kratsios said. Kratsios was not in Sweden just to admire the landscape and hang around in a hotel room though. He had to get down to business and play well for his team. In the tour-

nament, there were two divisions: A and B. The A division has the top eight teams in the world. The winner of the B division competes in the A division in the next tournament, and the loser of the previous year in the A division moves down to the B division. The U.S. team competed in the B division, as it was its first time. The eight teams in the second division were split up into four and four. “So you play the three other teams in your division, and depending on how you placed, you can play either a consolation game or go to the play-offs,” Kratsios explained. Kratsios’s position was forward. “My strengths are my speed. I’m pretty fast out there,” he said.

The U.S. team was smaller than many of the competing teams, so speed was a key component of their strategy. “A weakness is that I’m not the biggest guy,” Kratsios chuckled. Kratsios is five feet five inches, and he had to face some opponents with heights of about six foot three inches to six foot five inches. Kratsios acknowledged another weakness: his lack of intense floorballing experience. “I’m not as technically skilled as some of the kids who’ve been playing for like five [or] ten years [...] Obviously I don’t have the same experience in playing floorball,” he explained. Despite these weaknesses, Kratsios managed to score the first two goals for the team. “It was the

first U.S. team they ever had, so that was kind of cool,” he said. In the end, the U.S. team won seventh place out of eight teams in the second division. Kratsios hopes to play in the next floorball tournament, which will happen in two years. He also has a great interest in creating a floorball club at Stuyvesant. He recognized that there had been efforts made to create an ice hockey team, but “ice costs a lot and you need to know how to skate and you need people who’ve actually played before. Floorball, as long as you can hold a stick and run, you can play, you don’t need to be very technically skilled to do it,” he said. To sum up his experience,

Kratsios first responded with the word “fun,” but he then laughed and said there was much more to it than that. “It was truly an experience of a lifetime, just being able to play kids from other countries and experience a whole new country,” Kratsios described. Hopefully, Kratsios will end up going to the next Men’s World Floorball Championships. And if he succeeds in creating the Stuyvesant floorball club, maybe you can, too. Then, you will be able to amaze your Spanish classes with your participation in the world floorball championships.

Change the Ending By Evan Sheaffer with additional reporting by Lucas Weiner In the New York Rangers’ second round matchup against the Washington Capitals, the series did not look good for the Rangers. After a dismal game four, the Blueshirts were down 3-1 to the Capitals, long-time rivals of the Rangers. This was the fourth time in five years the two opponents have met in the playoffs. With the Rangers looking thoroughly unimpressive heading into game five, Coach Alain Vigneault had a lot to fix: a stagnant offense in which star players were unable to score, a horrid passing game, an inability to win face-offs, and, worst of

all, a dispirited team. This Rangers team, the winners of the President’s Cup—which is awarded to the team with the best record in the regular season—was now facing elimination from the playoffs thanks to a Capitals team that was physically dominant and a superb opposing goaltender. But precedent was on their side. As of this season, the Rangers’ goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, had a record of 11-3 in elimination games. The Rangers had won all eight of their past eight elimination games at home ice. Conveniently, game five took place in Madison Square Garden, the home of the Rangers. This thrilling game climaxed in an overtime

goal by captain Ryan McDonagh, forcing a game six in Washington. Suddenly, the momentum shifted. The Rangers finally looked like the better team, especially in game six, in which two players suffering from goal droughts, Rick Nash and Dan Boyle, finally scored, and the Rangers won it 4-3. Both teams were going back to MSG for a winner takes all game 7. It was Alexander Ovechkin, star winger for the Capitals, who struck first, with a late first period goal to give Washington a 1-0 lead. The Rangers struck back in the second period with a Kevin Hayes goal to make it 1-1. After a scoreless third period, the game entered overtime, in which Derek Stepan put in a rebound to send the Rangers to

the Eastern Conference Finals. There, they face the Tampa Bay Lightning. It is a bittersweet meeting, as Rangers forward Martin St. Louis was formerly the captain of the Lightning. Likewise, former Ranger captain Ryan Callahan, now on the Lightning, will not be received kindly at Madison Square Garden. Playing against a team that isn’t as physical has been helpful for the Blueshirts, but the Lightning have in many ways mastered the game of speed rather than strength. While the Lightning did sweep the Rangers in the regular season, both defeats came before New York’s December resurgence. Since then, the Blueshirts have toughened up. More significantly,

the potent offense of Tampa Bay has created a need for more physical play by the Rangers, a strategy that worked wonders in game four but fell clearly short in game five. If the Rangers are going to win this series, they will need to continue to adjust. The power play must resemble its game four form, the passing must be crisp, the hits hard, and the forecheck aggressive. Tampa Bay has too many dangerous scorers for the Blueshirts to play undisciplined, and if the Rangers can’t make the necessary adjustments, they won’t be playing in the Stanley Cup Finals. If they do, either Anaheim or Chicago would pose a tough matchup. But first, Tampa Bay must be defeated.

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May 28, 2015

Boys’ Lacrosse

The Spectator SpoRts

Sports Wrapup

A Mediocre Season for the Peglegs By Xuanjia Fan As the season ended on March 11 for the Stuyvesant Boys Varsity Lacrosse Team, the Peglegs, the team found out the hard way that they have much to improve when they faced Tottenville in the first round of the playoffs. Despite entering the playoffs with optimism, the Peglegs suffered a gruesome defeat, only managing to score one point against Tottenville in a blowout which ended with an 8-1 score. Unable to achieve their dreams, the Peglegs went home dejected, pondering on what they could have done differently. Overall, the 2014-2015 season was not terrible, but the Peglegs failed to reach their original goal which was to play on the levels of strong teams including Franklin Douglass Academy and Hunter College High School. Throughout the season, poor performance reflected the skill gap between the Peglegs and these teams. For example, Hunter College High School managed to sweep the Peglegs twice with scores of 12-2 and 15-2. The Peglegs also suffered from a defeat against Curtis, which won with a score of 18-4.

“We were individual players on the field.” —Laolu Ogunnaike, junior

In contrast to facing the strong teams, the Peglegs had very successful games against some teams including both Christopher Columbus Campus and KIPP NYC College Prep (6-0 and 7-0 respec-

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tively). However, most of these teams were relatively new to the lacrosse program and had clear differences from the stronger teams. One of the greatest weaknesses that plagued the Peglegs is lack of teamwork. “We were individual players on the field,” junior Laolu Ogunnaike said. During many of the games, some players tended to run the ball themselves instead of passing it. Ogunnaike points to the shortage of practices the team had as the reason for this lack of synergism. The team did not have enough time to get accustomed to each other’s game or to let the new players to master their skills. The Peglegs hope to fix this by increasing the amount and duration of the practices for next season. Another weakness is the lack of confidence in the players when it comes to taking shots. Throughout the season three players were responsible for the 83 of 110 points scored: junior Andrew Kratsios with 33 points, junior Dante Del Priore with 31 points, and Ogunnaike with 19 points. Many of the inexperienced players are reluctant to take a shot because of lack of confidence. This was evident during the game against Albert Tuitt Educational Campus in which the players passed instead of going for a goal. If the Peglegs work on these shortcomings, they will have a chance against the stronger teams in the division. While the Peglegs did have many flaws, they did exceed expectations in some respects. “The team has proved that we can win games without Noah Kramer,” senior Calvin Cheung said. Kramer graduated in the class of 2014 and had been essential to the Peglegs’ offense during last season. During most of the 2013-2014 season, the Peglegs relied heavily on Kramer, who led the league in shots last season, to score. Many players last season would simply pass to Kramer instead of taking the shot themselves which led to Kramer attempting many shots. There were players who have stepped up to fill Kramer’s shoes this season, though there could have been many more. However, it was still

The Stuyvesant Greyducks performed very well at the Manhattan borough championships on May 16. They came in first in the: • 110 meter hurdle • Triple jump • 200 meter dash • 400 meter dash • Shot put • 800 meter run • 4 X 100 meter relay • 4 X 800 meter relay

a big accomplishment considering that the Peglegs’ offense relied solely on Kramer last season.

“I think that this year’s team had the most camaraderie by far compared to the previous seasons” —Su Rho Yoo, senior

The Stuyvesant Hitmen’s season ended on Wednesday, May 21 when they lost to George Washington high school in the first round of the playoffs. The Stuyvesant Beasts, the volleyball team, lost in the second round of the playoffs to Staten Island tech. The Stuyvesant Peglegs, the lacrosse team, lost in the first round of the playoffs to Tottenville. Neil Vyas won the individual golf tournament for Manhattan.

SPORTS CALENDAR Though the Peglegs did not have much time to bond this season, it seems that they still managed to create lasting friendships. “As the only fourth year member on this team, I think that this year’s team had the most camaraderie by far compared to the previous seasons,” senior Su Rho Yoo said. The Peglegs’ managers, juniors Sabrina Lau, Belle Chow, and Joyce Lee are phenomenal in their support of the team as well. They always showed up to cheer on the boys and at times even baked some cookies for the team during some of their matches. This friendship off the field will be important next season as the Peglegs will work even harder to achieve their goal of finally making it to the finals. It seems the Peglegs are optimistic for next season, despite the major loss they suffered during the first playoff game. “Looking ahead, our squad is heading into Spring 2016 more prepared than ever,” said junior Spencer Eo. Time will tell if Eo’s prediction is true, but for now, the Peglegs have many steps to go before reaching the finals.

Thursday, May 28

Sunday, May 31

PSAL Multi-Event City Championship @ Randall’s Island, Icahn Stadium

PSAL City Championship - Running Events @ Randall’s Island, Icahn Stadium

Monday, June 1

Wednesday, June 3

Stuyvesant 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament @ 6th Floor Gym

Stuyvesant Senior vs. Faculty Basketball Game @ 6th Floor Gym

Thursday, June 11 Stuyvesant 3 Point Basketball Shootout @ 6th Floor Gym

Stuyvesant Boys vs. Girls Volleyball Game @ 3rd Floor Gym

Courtesy of Adam Troy

(Floor)Ballislife

By Elizabeth Lawrence “Kratsios? Where’s Kratsios?” Spanish teacher Robert Weldon exclaimed while taking attendance during ninth period. “Oh, he’s playing on the United States team in the 2015 Men’s World Floorball Championships in Sweden,” replied junior Grace Quispe nonchalantly, as if playing floorball in Sweden was a run-of-the-mill excuse for being out of school. Unlike Quispe, Weldon and the rest of the class oohed and ahhed, because obviously competing in world floorball championships is not a normal occurrence. But, junior Andrew Kratsios is not your

typical kid. According to Kratsios, floorball is a lot like the floor hockey we play in physical education. More specifically, floorball is a blend of hockey and soccer. “The game style is more like hockey, and the rules are more like soccer,” Kratsios said. Kratsios was first introduced to floorball a year ago at an ice hockey tournament in Connecticut. The sport was being promoted there, and in between games he would play floorball. In the beginning, Kratsios had a little trouble transitioning to this new sport, but the general process was seamless. “I found the ball harder to control than a hockey puck, because

it bounced off the stick easier, but it really wasn’t that hard to transition from the feeling of ice hockey to the feeling of floorball,” Kratsios said. Eventually, through the floorball games he’d played in Connecticut, the U.S. Floorball team contacted him and asked him to try out. Tryouts were at the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, and Kratsios went straight from his hockey practice, which was in the same building, downstairs to the basketball courts. They did some drills and then played a few practice games. He made the team, which, according to him “wasn’t that hard” because floorball is not a wellknown sport, and there was not a large number of kids at the tryouts. However, this did not make the victory of getting on the team any less sweet. Kratsios received a “crazy legit e-mail” with a certificate and more from the U.S. Floorball team, and when he saw it, he was very excited and couldn’t resist showing it to his parents and friends. “It really felt surreal. That’s the biggest feeling I remember—just the fact that I could be representing the U.S. in a sport somewhere. It didn’t seem in reach until I got this e-mail and it became a thing,” Kratsios recalled. The kids who got onto the team were from all around the country, and some even lived in Sweden

with United States passports, so it was not possible for the whole team to get together and practice regularly. But there were six kids, including Kratsios, from the New York area, so every Wednesday night they would meet and practice at Roosevelt Island. To prepare themselves for the championship, the group would play practice games with local men’s floorball teams who came in to help out. A couple months before the championships in Helsingborg, Sweden, there was a big tournament in Brewster, New York, and all the boys who lived in the U.S. flew in to play. Around ten kids on the team played in this tournament. These ten kids flew to Sweden five days before the tournament where they met with the remaining five kids on the team who lived in Sweden, and practiced every day as a full team. After these five days were up, they were prepared for The Men’s U19 IFF World Floorball Championships for kids ages 15 through 19, which this year was from April 29 through May 3. After being together for ten days, Kratsios grew close with his teammates. The team had various bonding activities, including an indoor barbecue, meetings, and television and movie-watching in their spare time. “After spending a number of days with the same

kids, you just start to mesh and connect,” he said. A particularly fond memory of Kratsios’s is when he and his teammates went to the beach. “We played soccer and golf, but with the floor hockey sticks, and instead of a golf ball we used the floor hockey ball, and we tried to see if we could get it into this little box far away,” recalled Kratsios, smiling. He also reminisced about the jumpy van rides that the team experienced together. For the actual games and practices, the team rented an official coach bus, but for fun rides around Sweden, the team rented two run-down vans. The driver was a dad of a boy on the team, and the physician of the team. “He’d drive around crazily and we called it the party bus. We just floored it on the highway and stuff, hoping not to get arrested,” Kratsios described. Kratsios’s daily routine in Sweden was very different from his usual Stuyvesant school day. The beginning of his day in Helsingborg consisted of a 7:30 wake-up, then breakfast. “For breakfast we had the same meal every morning. It was bacon, sausage, cereal, some fruit, basically an average hotel buffet,” Kratsios said. After breakfast, there would be a team meeting, and some practice. After that, there was lunch. continued on page 27