Volume 112, Issue 3 by The Stuyvesant Spectator

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

Volume 112  No. 3

October 15, 2021

stuyspec.com

FEATURES

“But How Are Your Lockers Holding Up?”

Even on the back end of a pandemic, Stuyvesant is hiring! Meet eight of Stuyvesant’s new teachers for the 2021-2022 school year, and learn about their journeys to our school.

Freshmen, ever wondered how your 10th-floor locker is doing? Or seniors, ever think about that locker that you shove your iced coffee in every morning? Well, these lockers have some thoughts.

COVID-19 Causes Stuyvesant Classes to Adjust By REBECCA BAO, SARAH DIAZ, ELAINE HUANG, and JUNI PARK

every [instrumental] part is covered, and then I have the next band playing. The other person plays first clarinet, for example, and another person plays second clarinet, instead of having them playing all at the same time.” For band and choral classes, Stuyvesant ordered special personal protective equipment, including choral masks, instrument-tailored masks, and covers, all of which are currently being distributed to students, to follow more safety guide-

Julia Lee/ The Spectator

Classrooms are filling up with students, and hallways are returning to their pre-COVID bustling state—Stuyvesant has transitioned back to in-person learning. Inperson schools now require the implementation of new rules and restrictions, which have affected some classes more than others. Band is one such example. Be-

fore the pandemic, classes were more concerted and practices were done through the whole class. Now, to abide by social distancing guidelines, the band is often separated into smaller groups. “I try to build subgroups so that I have every instrumental voice covered, but with a smaller number of players,” music teacher Dr. Gregor Winkel said. “I have [little bands where]

The PSAT/NMSQT was administered to sophomores and juniors on October 13, 2021. The DOE updated its face covering policy to mandate that all people entering an NYCDOE building must wear a face covering. A sophomore crashed into the front door window of classroom 840 and cracked it on October 8.

Social studies teacher Michael Waxman organized a visit with Principal Seung Yu and the administration to present letters of thanks from Stuyvesant students to the local FDNY in memory of 9/11.

lines. “We have special covers that go over the bell and brass instruments,” Music Appreciation and Guitar Appreciation teacher Harold Stephan said. “We’re getting pads for spit valves on trombones, [and with choir,] we purchased a special mask that has a little more continued on page 2

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Ditch the A.P.’s

OP-ED By KERRY GARFINKEL Kerry Garfinkel is an English teacher at Stuyvesant. I know it’s not that time of year yet, but when it is, you will all know what I mean: I’m referring to that dreaded month when the entire school seems to shut down in service of passing a certain set of outsourced, standardized tests. I’m talking about A.P. season. Freshman and sophomores lose their minds, their sleep, and their attention to other classes. (And while I’m here, A.P. is supposed to be “college level.” So: Freshmen? Really? For that matter: Sophomores? Really? College level?) Juniors seem to hide their stress a little better, though it may be that because they’ve signed up for so many A.P.’s, they are numb for the entire month. Seniors probably don’t care so much; they’ve already been accepted to college and have lost the will to fight. So here’s a proposal, modest though it may be in our school full of high-achievers and Ivy-aspirants: Stuyvesant should drop out of the A.P. program. Just dump it altogether. Instead, we should give our own Honors classes, design our own evaluations, and end the insanity that is administered from afar by some soulless office of the College Board. I know, I know: sacrilege. How will we compete? How will we show our superiority? WHAT WILL THE COLLEGES THINK? Well, how about this: They’ll think that we are so confident in our teaching, our grading, and our students that when we say Honors, we mean it. We don’t need some standardized test, given once and taken in a few frenzied hours, to prove the worth of our academic program. (I’ll wait for the shock of all this to settle in.) To make my case, I will speak

mostly to the English Language and Composition Exam, the one I prepare my junior students for every year. Hear me now and hear me well: The A.P. test is antithetical to the study of English. It actually tests for all the wrong aspects of our subject. Let’s start with reading comprehension passages and their multiple-choice questions. This exercise insists that there is only one right way to interpret something you read. Choice A, B, C, D, or E. That’s it. In English class, we might entertain any number of student ideas about a passage; we would compare these responses to try to get closer to a consensus on what the reading might mean to us. But on the A.P. test, students are expected to tease out the subtle clues that the test-makers have embedded—the difference in connotation between two words that are essentially synonymous. Sure, I can usually explain what the test-makers had in mind. And sometimes it’s an obvious distinction that any good reader should pick up on. But too often, it comes down to splitting hairs between two otherwise reasonable responses. This is English! We don’t do multiple-choice questions on a Scantron! We’re about interpreting what we read and convincing an audience that our interpretation is valid. There is more than one way to read anything! And your way shouldn’t have to match some test-maker’s gotcha moment. Then, there are the writing portions of the test: three essays, back to back to back, hastily scribbled (or typed) in 45 minutes each, on material the students are seeing for the very first time. Everything we do in English is about deliberative, reasoned, supported, and deeply understood argumentation and analysis! We want you to actually digest what you are

writing about and devise and refine your own written response! No one ever wrote anything of real value in 45 minutes, in a first draft, three times in a row. (Well, maybe journalists, on deadline. Or law students, on their LSATs. But there will be time to learn those skills.) The three essays themselves are not inherently faulty, but the way to approach the test is. The task encourages students to rely on the triedand-true, formulaic, five-paragraph essay that we introduced to you in elementary school. The five-paragraph essay I spend the entire junior year, in an advanced class, teaching my students to move beyond, in order to produce genuinely thoughtful, in-depth analyses. Preparing for the A.P. test undermines, and threatens to reverse, the work of an entire year of “college-level” writing. So, I’m against the A.P. English test. Perhaps teachers of other subjects feel differently about this. But I’m willing to bet that if given the choice to design their own instrument to test their students’ knowledge and accomplishments, most teachers would say that they could do a better job than the College Board, that their tests would be more relevant, and that they wouldn’t have to spend so much of the year teaching to the A.P. test and curriculum. So what do you say, Stuyvesant? Can we be as confident in ourselves as we seem to be in the College Board? Can we truly stand behind our own teaching, our own standards, our own achievements? I say we can. I say it’s obvious. Ditch the A.P.’s. Have a response to this piece? Submit a letter to the editor to opinions@stuyspec. com; The Spectator welcomes letters from students, teachers, administrators, parents, and anyone else who has something to say.

Stuyvesant Students Featured in Vogue for Climate Strike By ALICE ZHU and MAHIR HOSSAIN Fridays for Future hosted a climate strike at Brooklyn Bridge City Hall, with the meeting point at Battery Park on September 24. Numerous speakers, including President Joe Biden’s Environmental Justice Council Advisor Jerome Foster, came to share their stories regarding climate change. Many students who attended the climate strike, including juniors Daria Minhas and Lea Esipov, were featured in Vogue. Esipov and Minhas were surprised when they learned that their photo had landed on Vogue Magazine’s front cover. “I was like, how did this happen because Vogue has 35 million followers on Instagram and it was just us two on the cover. I felt empowered,” Minhas said. The climate strike also featured several guest speakers. “The one thing that moved [me] was the

indigenous speaker who I cannot remember by name. They sang a song in their native language and

Courtesy of Shana Jade Trajanoska

Senior Rishabh Das will join the U.S. Math Olympic team to compete at the Romanian Math Olympiad on October 12 and 13.

HUMOR

“Getting to Know Stuyvesant’s Newest Teachers”

see page

NEWSBEAT

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

it was so heartbreaking thinking of all the oppression and cultural

genocide,” Esipov said. The two frequently attend climate change protests together. “Almost all mass movements in history were started by protests by the people. It really wasn’t the government [t]aking the initiative to change laws to better everyone, so I try my best to go to protests,” Esipov said. Both felt that attending the climate strike was a powerful experience. “I remember walking through the streets of Manhattan with a poster and a massive group of people. I literally get chills every time I go to a protest because I feel like I’m part of a bigger thing than myself and I’m convinced everyone feels the same way.” Minhas said. Minhas emphasized general negligence toward the climate crisis. “If we don’t have an environment to be in, nothing really matters besides that,” they said. “As much as you can talk about politics

and picking sides and money, it’s irrelevant if we’re being destroyed by our own planet.” Similarly, Minhas discussed the humanitarian issues that result from climate change, especially for marginalized groups. “Climate change disproportionately affects minority communities everywhere. Not only [will] natural storms from climate change destroy infrastructure, but minorities will also live in neighborhoods that have worse infrastructure than other major cities,” they said. The two hope that students strive to make an impact, regardless of whether they attend protests or not. “I urge whoever is reading this to participate whenever you can. If you can’t make it to any protests, repost whenever you can, and tell your friends and your neighbors to get involved. There are plenty of organizations that one can join to make an impact,” Esipov said.

The Spectator • October 15, 2021

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News COVID-19 Causes Stuyvesant Classes to Adjust feasible when working together. “I [am] always [concerned] about the students’ safety [because] they have to get closer to the partner to listen to the partner, and with the mask on you have to speak louder or you just have to get closer [...] to your partner,” Mandarin teacher Shu Shi said. “I always have that concern [about COVID-19 safety] but I have to [use group work] because it’s language class. You [...] have [a] lot of pair work to do [...], you listen to other students practice, and you exchange information.” Masks have also created communication issues within language classes. “It’s difficult [...], especially when I teach a first-year class, for the students to be able to see my mouth doing what it needs to at different sounds in the language,” McAuliffe said. Not only do masks make it harder for students to understand their teachers, but covered mouths also make it more difficult for language teachers to know if students are pronouncing words correctly. “Sometimes, when I ask students to read aloud together, when I see students’ mouths, I know if they pronounce correctly. But now with the masks on, I cannot tell. I have to listen to them carefully,” Shi said. Suggestions to ameliorate this issue include buying clear masks for teachers, though this might not be feasible. “We’ve looked into getting some of those clear masks, but I didn’t find one that had great reviews. Unfortunately, they fog up [and] tend to not be as hygienic […] condensation covers the whole thing and the point is [stifled], so, for now, we are going with the protective and trusted cloth and/or medical masks,” McAuliffe said. Other teachers are obtaining voice amplifiers in an attempt to ease the muffled sounds of talking through a mask, helping students hear them clearer. “I [requested] the voice amplifier on

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space so that the sound can develop inside the mask.” Band masks specifically have special openings and filters so that students can stay masked while playing their instruments. “[The masks] have an opening because they need to have access to the mouthpiece. And then in addition to this, we have filters on the instruments,” Dr. Winkel said. Choral masks, on the other hand, have a larger and bulkier shape to allow for more breathing and singing space. As a result, some had to adjust to the effects of the new mask. “I’ve just distributed the choral masks and we haven’t started using them heavily because they’re made of very thick material,” Choral Director Liliya Shamazov said. “When it was 90 degrees out, I couldn’t wear [the choral mask] because that warm air accumulated and it was very difficult to breathe. [The masks] also resonate, so a singer hears themselves more than they hear anything else, [making] the sound a little bit muffled as well.” Additionally, language classes have been affected by COVID protocols, though the content of the curriculum stayed relatively the same. “You’re still going to be learning what you need to be able to [...] interpret what is being presented in the form of reading, writing, or communicating in the language,” Assistant Principal of World Language, Art, and Music Francesca McAuliffe said. “There should still be group work happening in classes, students collaborating and speaking in their target language, [and] pursuing the New York State Seal of Biliteracy.” However, group work, used in language classes to practice diction, has been affected due to concerns surrounding safety protocols, as staying three feet apart is not always

DonorsChoose,” Shi said. “It’s very useful because I speak in [a] low voice but everybody [is able to] hear me.” Nonetheless, students have expressed that language classes are much easier to learn in person, despite some of its drawbacks. “Being in a classroom where I can hear [the teachers] and [...] find the errors in my pronunciation [...] definitely [helps] and [...] made it feel easier to raise my hand,” sophomore Bishesh Shah said. Physical Education (P.E.) classes have also changed significantly by new pandemic protocols, such as sanitation measures and outside walks along the piers. For the first month, students did not need to change into their P.E. clothes. “We don’t have a locker room now. Right now, for the time being, students work out in their regular clothes. All the equipment has to be sanitized, so every time a class uses something, I have to clean [and] sanitize it,” P.E. teacher Howard Barbin, who teaches boxing and requires boxing equipment, said. “We [also] had to make sure [the students] are socially distanced. The biggest adjustment is probably taking the students out as much as possible so they can take off their masks and get some fresh air.” Despite these new regulations, many students expressed their appreciation for an in-person gym class. “[Gym] is actually the best part of doing school in-person,” sophomore Tomas Levani said. “I’ve been using the mask for such a long time that I don’t mind it anymore.” Teachers are also content that students are able to return to inperson classes this year in light of the new adjustments. “I really think that our staff, especially the World Language, Art, and Music [teachers], are so excited to be back in front of the students again,” McAuliffe said. “There are, of

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and NASA

WORLDBEAT The Biden Administration reversed a Trump-era policy that prevented federal funding for clinics that provided abortion referrals. Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of a tool that builds molecules through a new type of catalysis. The Senate confirmed Breon Peace and Damian Williams as the U.S. attorneys for New York, with Williams being the first Black person to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor. A pipeline failure spilled at least 126 thousand gallons of oil in California. Facebook’s apps, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger were disrupted on October 4, facing an outage that lasted for more than five hours. United Airlines is terminating about 600 employees for refusing to comply with their vaccination requirement. course, challenges, and I think one of those is teaching five or six periods with this mask on the whole day, [but] our staff is doing the best that they can to provide support and to be really understanding and empathetic with the fact that this is hard for all of us.” Similarly, many students seem to feel much more fulfilled to be back in school than they had felt during remote. “It’s very draining mentally sitting in a room by yourself, so [being] in person, seeing people, I think it’s much better,”

sophomore Aleksey Olkovenko said. “It also gives you much more motivation; [...] even the walk to school empowers you a little bit.” Overall, students and teachers alike are adapting to this new way of learning. “It’s not an ideal situation. [...] Of course, I’d rather have [normalcy] but it’s all about adapting. I guess making lemons out of lemonade,” Barbin said. “I’m looking for a day where this is all behind us and it can be the way it was, but that might not be possible for a few years.”

SU Hosts In-Person Clubs & Pubs Fair The Student Union (SU) held its annual Clubs & Pubs Fair inperson with social distancing guidelines on September 20, 22, and 23. The event has traditionally served as an opportunity for underclassmen to search and join the variety of Stuyvesant clubs and ultimately fostered socialization among all grade levels. There were approximately 120 clubs and 500 attendees each day. This was a significant increase in attendance, as the SU Events Department, which was in charge of organizing the event, originally released only 150 tickets per day. The Clubs & Pubs Fair aims to introduce attendees to the large selection of clubs to help students easily find clubs they’re interested in. “One of the great things about Stuy is that we have so many diverse clubs that can often feel overwhelming to an incoming student who has so many interests, and they don’t necessarily know which club to go to first,” senior and SU President Shivali Korgaonkar said. Compared to previous years, this year’s fair planning focused on upholding safety protocols, such as social distancing. “This is our first year transitioning back in-person, so we wanted to make sure that it was an in-person event

but at the same time [ensure] that we were following COVID guidelines as much as we could given the circumstances,” junior and Clubs & Pubs Fair co-director La-

ties and confirm they wanted to present at the fair. From there, the SU created a directory that listed and organized the participating clubs by category, and a map that

club booths was one of the difficulties the Events Department encountered. “The logistics were kind of hard for the floor planning because our plan was to put

rissa Yue said. As an extra layer of precaution, the SU extended the length of the fair from two days to three to prevent overcrowding. The fair’s planning started in the early summer when clubs were asked to recharter on StuyActivi-

detailed each club’s location. The SU also collaborated with Big Sibs and ARISTA volunteers to help control traffic, help set up the tables for club booths, guide attendees, and prevent overcrowding. Mapping out locations of the

all the clubs that were very similar in one specific area so that one popular club in that genre attracts other people to smaller clubs that are similar to it,” senior and Clubs & Pubs co-director Jennifer Ji said.

Francesca Nemati / The Spectator

By ZIYING JIAN, NIKKI CHEN, MARY LEE, and SARAH HUYNH

Additionally, the SU faced a few organizational issues. For instance, the fourth floor, which was assigned to the musical and cultural clubs, displayed large attendee interest, but a few clubs struggled as clubs were all performing simultaneously. “The fourth floor was the loudest because it was the music ones, but that also wasn’t great because everyone was trying to do some sort of music and it kind of all clashed,” sophomore and Vice President of Vocalasia Erica Chen said. The Clubs & Pubs Fair department changed the protocol and allowed clubs to choose where they wanted to set up their booth on the second and third day of the fair. Additionally, the SU initially planned to organize all attendees for each day’s fair into three groups: Group A, Group B, and Group C. Every 30 minutes, the groups would switch floors to reduce traffic. This plan was only implemented on Monday. “We found that it didn’t work and it wasn’t natural,” Korgaonkar said. “Sometimes you want to see a club only on the fifth floor, or only on the third floor, and you don’t want to wait 30 mins to go in between.” This plan was not implemented for the remaining fair days. continued on page 4

The Spectator • October 15, 2021

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The Spectator • October 15, 2021

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News continued from page 2

Some leaders felt that there were still areas of confusion that could have been addressed. “We weren’t sure if people would go into the [club] room, or whether we should set up outside, [be] cause some clubs had tables but we didn’t, so that was one of the confusions we had on the first day, and it was a little bit harder to get people to come into the room to sign up,” junior and President of the Asian Youth Act Stuyvesant Cynthia Chang said. While not a requirement, many clubs added QR codes onto their flyers to direct attendees to their interest forms instead of using paper signups to avoid sharing writing utensils. However, many had connectivity issues and were unable to sign up during the fair. “Because of the internet, a lot of people weren’t able to [scan the] QR code and it wouldn’t load on their phone,” junior and Co-President of Bridging Seas Jina Koh said.

Furthermore, some expressed their concern about the length of the fair to the SU. “We heard the concern that being in the fair for two hours over three days was a lengthy period, so we could have probably shortened it in timing,” Korgaonkar said. In contrast, some club leaders thought the fair was too short. “It was a little disheartening to see people pack up really early because the Clubs & Pubs event was from four to six, but clubs started moving out at like five, and most clubs were out by 5:30. So there was a point at which everyone on our floor—we’re on the third floor—was just gone,” senior and President of StuyFlow Aaron Hsu said. Though the return to an inperson fair was the objective, last year’s virtual fair brought its own unique advantages, such as the ability to record presentations for attendees to refer back to. “We had a recording for people who couldn’t attend. The other positive about having that virtual re-

Sabrina Chen / The Spectator

SU Hosts In-Person Clubs & Pubs Fair

cording is that many of the clubs that participated virtually are still around today. For example, if people wanted to hear about Red Cross, Key Club, Spectator, the

clubs that exist year-to-year, they have that virtual recording which they can always go back to,” Korgaonkar said. In contrast, some attendees

felt that the in-person environment allowed for organic conversations and interaction between attendees and club leaders that was missing in last year’s online format. “It was so much better because you can actually talk to people, and afterward, you were allowed to go to each club individually or [to] their interest meeting, but during the virtual [fair], there were only one or two people and everyone would have their cameras off,” sophomore Iris Lin said. After a year of remote learning, many embraced the in-person Clubs & Pubs Fair. “I just liked seeing everyone, seeing the energy of the school, and a bunch of freshmen, sophomores, and some juniors just roaming the halls, looking for clubs to join. And then you get the super eager freshmen that come in like, ‘Yeah, I wanna do every single club,’ and they have a whole list of clubs they’re planning to join. It was just nice to see that again because we didn’t really have that for a year,” Hsu said.

Stuyvesant Switches to PupilPath By EZRA LEE, RAJHASREE PAUL, and JAMES KANG For the upcoming school year, Stuyvesant switched its grading platform to PupilPath and Skedula, the student and teacher portal respectively under the school management system IO Classroom. Traditionally, teachers had the option of using platforms of their choice, such as JupiterEd. However, as this required students to switch between multiple sites to access their grades, the administration decided to consolidate grades into one platform to centralize all class-related data. “We’re a large school and the goal is to create some levels of consistency including with one gradebook,” Principal Seung Yu said in an e-mail interview. “We believe PupilPath will serve our needs to showcase learning and grade progress of students in their classes.” IO Classroom also provides various applications that other grading sites do not. “Illumi-

nate Education, maker of IO Classroom (aka Skedula) and PupilPath, was chosen due to its Integration with current DOE systems, attendance-taking capabilities, integration with Google Classroom, [and] reporting capabilities,” Dr. Haber said. While Stuyvesant chose to use PupilPath for centralized grading, Stuyvesant had commonly used JupiterEd. “Many people were surprised by how sudden the switch was and which platform was chosen,” senior Nicole Itkin said in an e-mail interview. “Only one of my teachers, prior to this year, used PupilPath. Everyone else used Jupiter.” Like JupiterEd, PupilPath lists the classes of each student, where each class details specific assignments. However, PupilPath also has additional visual components to display grading data. “I definitely prefer PupilPath more because of the layout, like the pie chart and bar graph,” junior Natalie Ma said. “Sometimes Jupiter doesn’t really show the weighted assignments,

but PupilPath does that.” Others are uncertain of the advantages that PupilPath has to offer compared to that of JupiterEd. “I know that Jupiter has a lot of functionality in addition to being a grade book, such as a place to submit homework and to hold tests,” senior Michelle Lo said in an e-mail interview. “As I’m mostly unfamiliar with what PupilPath has to offer beyond keeping a record of students’ grades, I’m curious to see how teachers will use PupilPath for this year.” PupilPath also lacks certain features that were offered on JupiterEd, such as the ability to message teachers directly. “I liked the messaging feature on Jupiter since [...] some teachers don’t use their Stuy email,” Ma said. Using PupilPath is also a new adjustment, given its distinct layout and features. “Many of my teachers have said that it’s harder to check the averages of different assignments (particularly tests) on PupilPath and that it’s more difficult to assign seats and, in general,

it’s simply more difficult to use,” Itkin said. The gradebook also does not allow teachers to edit grades or resubmit them, creating an additional challenge. “Some of my teachers have complained about PupilPath because of something that locks their grade once they submit it (they can’t edit the grade),” senior Edward Oo said. As a result, some teachers have become stricter in submitting assignments. “You can’t resubmit [grades] and one of my teachers has a strict policy against it saying that he’ll grade whatever you submit, so if you [make a mistake when submitting homework], you get a zero,” senior Vicky Liu said in an e-mail interview. Even teachers who have used PupilPath in the past acknowledged the difficulties of using the platform. “It’s going to be painful in the short run, as many teachers adjust to learning the nuances behind the program,” math teacher David Peng, who has used PupilPath since 2018, said in an e-mail interview. “I went through them

too and I did not enjoy putting in so much time in learning the platform, especially with no training available back then. Transition was tough for me then because nobody in the school used the platform, so I had to explore many of the features on my own.” Despite the difficulties, moving to a centralized platform could be worthwhile in the long run. “Long-term, switching to a single grade book platform is worth the headache,” Peng said. “It never made sense for students and parents to have to log into multiple websites to figure out how they are doing in their classes.” While Yu acknowledges that PupilPath is an unfamiliar platform for some, he instructs all teachers to use it. “Teachers are expected to input grades into PupilPath,” Yu said. “We recognize we’re transitioning to one platform (PupilPath), so we know there will be a learning curve as we move to PupilPath. We’ll work with staff and students to use PupilPath this year.”

Hallway and P.E. Lockers Free for All Students By KEVIN CHAN and JOSHUA WONG

books to school, they would get back pain if they didn’t have the lockers,” sophomore Karen Chen

are convenient for students, especially if they are taking 10 classes a day or at least eight classes, and also because they have to bring so many notebooks and text-

said. Students are now expected to return their locks, which in turn, allowing the school to save money. “We have enough locks to

Julia Lee / The Spectator

Traditionally costing $14 and $7 per student, hallway and Physical Education (P.E.) lockers are now free for all students for the 2021-2022 school year. In the past, money collected from locker payments was used to maintain and purchase new lockers and locks. “There is a significant cost in purchasing and maintaining locks/lockers,” Assistant Principal of Security/ Health and P.E. Brian Moran said in an e-mail interview. The decision to make all lockers free this year was made collectively by the Stuyvesant faculty to help students and families, especially coming out of the pandemic. “We are making a school-wide effort to reduce the out-of-pocket expenses that Stuy students and families have each year,” Moran said.

Many students expressed contentment that lockers are free this year. “It’s nice because lockers

supply students with one lock,” Moran said. “At the end of this year and following years, students will return their locks, and therefore, there will not be the need to purchase additional locks. If a student loses their lock, they will be responsible for replacing it.” Still, some are surprised by the change and why it is implemented this year rather than previous years. “I thought they’d find a way to charge us,” senior Sanjiv Jewram said. “Maybe they’ve always had the budget to do this and just haven’t for whatever reason, but it’s nice to not have to worry about spending money on lockers and maybe more kids will have an incentive to use them now.” While changing in the locker room was delayed as a way to adjust to the building (thus leading to a lack of locker utilization) P.E. lockers were administered last week. “In P.E., we are taking an

intentional approach and gradually increasing activity, while utilizing outdoor space as much as possible,” Moran said. “P.E. locker info [is] populated in Talos and class time will be used to assist students with locker room rules.” Despite the delay, locker assignments will function the same as in previous years. “[The] locker room will still be for freshmen, sophomores and juniors [...] students will still have them for three years,” Moran said. “I am looking to add more lockers—hopefully, we can offer seniors lockers in the future.” The administration is considering adjusting lockers to be free for students in the future. “One of the major issues we have is re-assigning students a locker every year. The most cost-effective way would be to issue a student a hallway locker for all four years,” Moran said. “The goal is for lockers to be free every year.”

The Spectator • October 15, 2021

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Features Getting to Know Stuyvesant’s Newest Teachers By ISABELLE YAREMENKO, JUDY CHEN, LAUREN LEE, and ZIFEI ZHAO

Regardless of whether you’re a student or a teacher, every new school year brings on an onslaught of new challenges. But this is especially true when you’re arriving at Stuyvesant High School. This year, meet eight new teachers who have been tasked with keeping up with Stuyvesant students and culture in the midst of a pandemic.

Steven Wen / The Spectator

Alice Yang is the newest member of the English department, and currently teaches American Literature and Writing in the World. Born in Beijing, Yang moved to Houston, Texas, as a child and spent her formative years in mostly small schools. After moving to New York for college, Yang fell in love with teaching. Prior to arriving at Stuyvesant, she taught at multiple other schools throughout the city, including Beacon High School. In contrast to her own upbringing and teaching experiences, she finds Stuyvesant High School to be an incredibly diverse and large community. Yang loves the variety of clubs that Stuyvesant has to offer, and is looking to get involved in any clubs relating to animals, nature, or fashion. Overall, Yang aims to teach her students to be intellectually challenged and to continually seek different perspectives. “My joy is seeing the classroom come alive with people arguing for different interpretations and honestly just expanding people’s perspectives and listening to each other. So, if a student comes out of my class with more questions than answers, I think I’ve succeeded,” she said. Yang is also dual certified in History, so she loves incorporating historical context into her English curriculum. In her free time, Yang can be found taking road trips or walking her dogs.

Jingwei Liu / The Spectator

Jeremy Shahom joined the mathematics department this year and is teaching Geometry and AP Calculus AB. Shahom’s interest in mathematics manifested early on in college. Though he had initially considered pursuing Computer Science, he found debugging to be a tedious process. “Part of it was the frustration of [having] one semicolon or parentheses in the wrong place and then having to look through it,” he described. Instead, Shahom fell in love with the precise, procedural nature of math, and found himself taking more math courses as college progressed. After enjoying his time as a part-time math workshop tutor, Shahom decided he wanted to become a math teacher. Since then, Shahom has been working in the New York City School system for 19 years and counting. Despite what many students may think, Shahom finds math to be a creative subject. “I love how abstract it is and how you can solve problems, […] though students sometimes think that math is right or wrong […] But nevertheless, there’s different approaches that can be very creative,” he explained. Shahom has also heard all about the reputations of Stuyvesant students, and finds his students more than just test-taking machines. “Everyone expects Stuyvesant students to be very smart and [to be] able to handle a lot. I’m seeing that,” he said. “I’m also noticing how respectful and kind students are, which is very refreshing and very nice to be around.” When he’s not teaching high schoolers, you can find Shahom teaching his 10-year-old son the multiplication tables.

Coco Fang / The Spectator

Francesca Nemati / The Spectator

Jeffery Wan has returned to Stuyvesant, his high school alma mater, as an honors physics teacher. Having graduated from Stuyvesant in 2015, Wan went to City College where he majored in physics and minored in education. As an alum, Wan already knows all of the stereotypes about Stuyvesant students who sleep at 2:00 a.m., anxiously await graded papers, and study late into the night. Wan is looking to break these stereotypes. During his time at Stuyvesant, he was inspired by biology teacher Maria Nedwidek-Moore and wants to follow in her footsteps to create a supportive classroom environment. “I want to be that person who will help out; who will listen to somebody; who will really think about the students,” he said. Wan also wants to have fun with his teaching and make physics an engaging subject for his students by incorporating lots of drawings and demonstrations. “I try to have fun, I try to be spontaneous, and I try to make it as easy as possible,” he said. Having been remote in all of his two-years of teaching, Wan sees this year as his “third first-year” of teaching. The thing he’s most excited about for in-person learning? Finally getting to use chalk on the blackboard.

Computer science teacher Izagma Alonso found Stuyvesant High School to be the perfect fit for her. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Alonso moved to New York to pursue a teaching career. Her Bachelor of Science in Math and Master of Science in Computer Science gave her a foundation which allowed her to teach math in middle schools and high schools all over New York City. But five years ago, Alonso made a shift to teaching Computer Science. After her experience as the sole Computer Science teacher on staff at her former school, Alonso came to Stuyvesant to join a team of enthusiastic Computer Science teachers and became a part of the rigorous CS department. Alonso is excited for her future at Stuyvesant. “I was interested in teaching a rigorous CS curriculum and liked that every student at Stuy takes at least a semester of CS,” she said. Regardless whether her classes are taught online or in-person, Alonso is eager to teach a diverse group of students who are just as passionate about the subject as she is.

Rania Zaki / The Spectator

Xingjia (Ginger) Tang teaches Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus. Tang graduated from SUNY Stony Brook University with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Masters of Arts in Teaching. Though she did not expect to become a teacher upon entering college, she discovered that she enjoyed teaching after becoming a teaching assistant at Stony Brook. Afterwards, she even taught some college level courses back at her alma mater. Before teaching at Stuyvesant, she taught math courses at St. Catharine Academy, The Bronx High School of Science, and Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. She enjoys working with high school students because of the relationships she is able to form with students, and finds the growth of students during an academic year to be her favorite part of teaching. Tang found herself at Stuyvesant after learning about the academic reputation of Stuyvesant students, teachers, and administration. Her expectations for students go beyond solving repetitive problem sets. Rather, she hopes that she can introduce difficult problems and have students successfully grapple and reason with them. At the same time, Tang is aware of the effects the pandemic has had on students’ learning. “I want to be more mindful of students’ social emotional needs and provide the support and resources that can help support students to reach their academic and personal goal by the end of the year,” Tang said.

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The Spectator • October 15, 2021

Features Getting to Know Stuyvesant’s Newest Teachers

Sabrina Li / The Spectator

Victoria Crutchfield is one of the newest additions to the English department and teaches Freshman Composition and American Literature. Growing up in New York City, Crutchfield discovered her love for teaching early on as an SAT tutor and opera director. She later taught Shakespeare to middle schoolers, but quickly made the shift to high school teaching in order to explore more advanced texts and topics. Through a recommendation from her graduate program, Crutchfield started teaching at Stuyvesant as a student teacher in the fall of 2019. The community at Stuyvesant matched her teaching style, as it had the academic rigor that she expected from her students. She later moved on to become a long-term substitute for English teacher Maura Dwyer in the spring of 2021. She hopes to become a teacher that can be empathetic and encouraging toward her students. “I’ve learned that the pressure to be bright, motivated, and curious all the time can be overwhelming. I want my students to know that I appreciate them as humans first, and they don’t need to be perfect to earn my respect,” she said.

Sasha Burshteyn / The Spectator

Hong Yang grew up in New York City and attended Millennium High School, so she is no stranger to Stuyvesant’s reputation. After earning a bachelor’s in mathematics and master’s in teaching, Yang is now a mathematics teacher at Stuyvesant and teaches Algebra 2 and AP Statistics. Though Yang always knew she loved math, she wasn’t sure on how it would apply to her career. But after being a teacher’s assistant for her calculus professor, Yang was sure she wanted to be a high school teacher. Specifically, during her time as an assistant, she saw how a lack of solid math foundations can hinder learning, so she wanted to make sure that students were prepared for more advanced courses in the future. Yang strives to make math fun and relevant, so she includes current events in her AP Statistics classes. “Oftentimes, I would spot an article in the newspaper that spurred me to investigate further and I encourage my students to do the same. I love having my students perform their own mathematical/data analysis and compare and contract their results with what was written in the news,” she wrote in an e-mail interview. At the end of the day, Yang hopes her students will take an investigative approach to learning mathematics.

Rania Zaki / The Spectator

Since his time as a student at Townsend Harris, Lance Tomas has always been interested in Latin and Greek culture. During high school, Lance failed his first semester of his Greek language class, but by the grace of Zeus, he was able to excel second semester in both Latin and Greek. After tutoring his friends in Latin and helping to breathe life into the “dead” language, Tomas knew he wanted to become a teacher. Since then, Tomas has studied Classical Philology with a focus on Greek Literature at Hunter College and Columbia University. He loves how strong the Latin program at Stuyvesant is and is excited to contribute to it. “I know firsthand from Latin competitions, both as a competitor and as an advisor, how robust the Latin program is, and I am very fortunate to be able to take it over,” he wrote in an e-mail interview. “Additionally, I didn’t score high enough on the SHSAT to get into Stuyvesant, so I’m probably dealing with deep-rooted issues about 15 years later,” he joked. Beyond translating Latin, you can find Tomas rooting for the Mets, Giants, Knicks, and Rangers, or hanging out with his beagle-chihuahua mix named Ajax.

By CATHERINE CHING and KHUJISTA UMAMA

From ‘Karate Kid’ Fan to World Champion fencing team. “I have to wake up early, like today, I woke up at 8:30 a.m. to train. On Saturdays, I train for an hour, and on Sundays two hours. On Tuesdays and Fridays, I do karate, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I just do fencing,” he explained. With this busy schedule, Nakajima-Wu struggles to keep up his energy at times. “I kind of just do it because I have to. I’m in survival mode,” he said. During his most recent competition in Istanbul, he attributed his ninth place standing to exhaustion and not enough mental preparation. “It was because there’s forms and fighting [...] I had done the forms before [...] but by that time, I was already tired and I wasn’t in the mindset to win,” he said. After the match, Nakajima-Wu described feeling angry and frustrated with himself. However, even with a loss, he felt the tenacity to continue fighting. “It gets better and more fun,” he said. Nakajima-Wu is bound for many more tournaments. “I’m doing [karate] at the highest level you can right now [...] I’ve been going to the highest caliber tournaments,” he explained. With so many wins under his belt—approximately 100 medals and trophies that have begun to crowd his room—Nakajima-Wu feels that the Olympics is within reach. “I still want to compete,” he said. “I [even] know the third place medalist [for

Francesca Nemati / The Spectator

Most people take a lifetime to figure out their passions, but for sophomore Aidan Nakajima-Wu, this was far from the case. After watching “The Karate Kid” (1984) at the ripe age of four, Nakajima-Wu and his older brother developed an interest in karate and enrolled in local classes. Little did he know, this movie would alter the course of his life forever. Nakajima-Wu started competing in the martial art at the age of five, going on to win his very first medal at the first tournament he attended. Up until the age of twelve, he competed nationally, amassing medals and trophies from his various competitions. A little after he turned twelve, he started competing at international tournaments, traveling to places including Mexico, Italy and Cyprus. While these trips can be very exciting, they are equally as exhausting. Most trips last around five days, with each one packed to the brim. “I’d say it takes two days just to get rid of jet lag and relax, and then compete and have one day to sightsee,” Nakajima-Wu recalled. When asked about his favorite karate tournament location, NakajimaWu replied, “Probably Venice, because it’s like sightseeing all over Italy.” Though he has traveled to many different places, one

memory stands out above all others: “I’d say it’s probably getting a medal in Cyprus this year.” This trip marked a huge milestone in the young martial artist’s life. “After I got my medal, I was ranked third in the world,” Nakajima-Wu fondly recalled. To endure so much stress is exhausting, but Aidan has a healthy support system in his family. Nakajima-Wu is thankful for his parents, who helped him get to the place he is today. He described his mother as his enthusiastic supporter during competitions. “She’s always yelling from the stands,” he said. Meanwhile, his father is more of a quiet supporter, in charge of recording and taking pictures. As for taking care of other needs, both of his parents work together. While most would feel nervous with their parents watching them during a high stakes performance, Nakajima-Wu is impartial to it. When he begins competing, the world around him ceases to exist. Outside of the frenzy of competition, Nakajima-Wu is absorbed by the daily demands of Stuyvesant. “Traveling to school and back is exhausting [...] I live in Astoria,” he said. Naturally, school has taken some time away from his karate practice. During the summer, Nakajima-Wu dedicated at least an hour a day on average. Currently, he isn’t able to keep up this time commitment because he is part of the

karate at the Olympics],” he added. Karate has been part of Nakajima-Wu for the majority of his life. At only 15 years old, he has driven himself to an incredible number of places around the world because of his performance. Still, he

doesn’t limit himself. Starting from the bottom up, as a local student training in Astoria, Queens, to third best in his division in the world, NakajimaWu still has more to show. When asked his secret, he said, “It just clicked.”

The Spectator • October 15, 2021

Page 7

Features STEM Teachers and Media, a Beneficial Pair

By ISABELLE LAM

By ISABEL CHING and JENNIFER JI

mentioned that Agatha Christie novels were among his favorites. He described an appreciation for all of the small details that build up to solving the mystery––a common occurrence in Christie’s novels. When quarantine started, Jaishankar didn’t pick up any new books. “I don’t like reading books online; I like having the hard copy in my hands and reading it. I don’t know, I guess I feel more of a connection to the story I’m reading,” he explained. He instead resorted to re-reading old classics such as “Sherlock Holmes” and other assorted short stories. In an attempt to broaden his horizons, Jaishankar turned to his students for help. “I asked on a test, ‘What’s your favorite book?’ and I think three of [the students] said “Cloud Atlas,”” he said. “That’s on my list, but finding the time [was] hard because I was teaching and then going back into dad mode.” Similarly, mathematics teacher Patrick Honner has been reading and spending time with his family. Honner’s favorite books lately include a collection of science fiction short stories by Ted Chiang and “The Signal and the Noise” by Nate Silver. He reads a balanced mix of both fiction and nonfiction, favoring science fiction and reading about mathematics respectively. In regards to science fiction, Honner feels public perception of the genre tends to be misconstrued. “Science fiction has

a connotation that it has to be technical in nature, whereas a lot of good science fiction isn’t necessarily about technology or science. [Instead it’s] stories that could be told in alternate possible futures,” he explained. As for reading about mathematics, Honner often finds recommendations through Tweets sent out by friends who have similar interests. Honner also indulges in music, but prefers to play it instead of listening. “I rarely sit down and think, Oh I want to listen to music, let me sit down here, and listen. Usually, it’s in the background or it’s something I’m actively doing,” he said. He plays the guitar and is a beginner on the piano, which he practices on a keyboard at his home. Like Orlando, Honner also finds joy in playing games with his family. “Some of the games are competitive, and some are collaborative [...] so that’s been a lot of fun. We’ve gotten into that in the past year,” he said. His favorite games include Mario Kart and Mario World 3D, which are multiplayer games. Though STEM teachers’ jobs may not entail consuming much literary media, teachers are always open to the idea of learning something new and looking for ways to keep themselves entertained. Whether it be playing fantasy games with family or perusing through the newest selection of science fiction, everyone has their own ways of passing time.

College Coronavirus Craziness

It’s that time of year again. Everybody feels slightly nauseous, bleary-eyed seniors come to school in a haze, and the whole building reeks with five-days-a-week dreariness. No, we’re not talking about flu season, we’re talking about a far more dreaded Stuyvesant yearly occurrence: college season. As October wears on, the all-too-real college application process looms large. Do Stuyvesant seniors have what it takes to weather the storm, this time on the back end of a pandemic? Director of Stuyvesant’s College Office Jeffrey Makris offered his knowledge on the process, and detailed what has changed since the onset of COVID. “The two biggest shifts that have happened in the admissions world would be the availability of ways to virtually engage colleges. Some of that existed before, but that exploded—virtual info sessions, virtual tours, webinars,” he explained. While the future remains uncertain, Makris added that he feels the virtual component of the college application process will remain in place even after the pandemic––colleges realized it is simply too expensive and inconvenient to rely on students to travel. An anonymous senior shared this gratitude for virtual tours: “I appreciated that colleges held so many virtual information sessions and many of the college fairs were quite accessible.” Another effect of the pandemic has been the newfound popularity of test-optional admissions. “For this year, I

think we’re probably going to be looking at a similarly high application volume at [Ivy Leagues]. Selectivity doesn’t seem to scare people away, but having to submit high test scores did seem to be a deterrent for some populations of students,” Makris said. The anonymous senior agrees: “I thought that the COVID accommodations were satisfying […] In terms of the applications themselves, many schools kept the optional testing policy, which I think is helpful to students that didn’t get a chance to take it,” he said. Senior Olivia Tedesco echoed Makris’s statements, explaining that the pandemic has increased college accessibility. “The pandemic has allowed me to learn more about colleges virtually. College information has become more universally available, even if that means acceptance rates are dropping,” she said. However, the relatively recent shift to test-optional applications has raised alarm about declining acceptance rates. As the anonymous senior shared, “I feel that COVID is somewhat of a tradeoff in terms of admissions. One on hand, many schools have had lower admission rates as many more kids apply. On the other hand, accessibility isn’t a bad thing. I think that it can be daunting to see these dropping admission rates, but all you can do is try your best,” he said. Long-term, Makris feels the test-optional movement will continue to gain steam because of the new opportunities it provides for all applicants. “Colleges found that when you go test-optional, you typically get more applicants and more diverse applicants [...] You can

diversify your population, you become more selective, your average scores for students typically increase,” he said. Senior Maxwell Seto echoes Markis’s sentiment, saying, “The test-optional addition helps in more ways than one in my opinion. Outside of COVID, there are many factors that play into one’s test score and it is less holistic than it may seem.” While test scores can help illuminate certain aspects of a student, there has been a growing sentiment that it is not a puzzle piece that should be required for every applicant’s picture. Makris also touched on how admission officers are handling students who have been detrimentally affected by the pandemic, whether it is through a parent’s unemployment or, even worse, the loss of a family member. “Their challenge is to understand the context of the applicant and their high school, particularly for the regions most impacted by COVID [...] It’s very clear that admissions officers overall understand us, and they are all trying to be as fair as they can given all these additional challenges that everybody faces,” he said. An example of this sympathy is the Common App’s new addition of the COVID-19 section, a specific space for applicants to describe how “community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters” impacted them. In any college season, and especially one with this much uncertainty, students are bound to feel anxious. Seto bravely admits, “Of course, I am more worried about this year’s college application process because I feel that there

is more competitiveness than previous years. Because of the nature of our school as well, it is difficult to find solace at times.” However, in the words of Makris, “It’s important to remember that the sky didn’t fall.” If any students relate to Seto’s sentiment, Makris reminds us that the college office is always there: “Remember to ask for help when you need it […] That is a sign of strength and insight to know when you need help and ask for it rather than just struggle in silence.” Tedesco agrees: “The Stuyvesant College Office has also helped me to finalize my application list as well, and it’s nice to hear that their door is always open.” Though many students have the date November 1 ingrained in their heads, some, such as senior Devin Deng, feel as though they are in a more fortunate position. “I don’t think COVID has changed the way I apply for colleges […] I’m not that stressed. I think the seniors last year had an even better process because of the free time they had to complete applications.” Whether you’re unruffled like Deng or as stressed as can be, it is important to know your value as a student. Makris points to his copy of Frank Bruni’s 2015 book “Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be.” “I display that cheesily for a reason [...] A lot of times at schools like Stuyvesant, we treat college like its life or death, and it really is not,” he said “Where you go doesn’t define you, it’s your talents and your engagement. What you do in the workforce, that’s what leads to success, not what college you go to.”

Adrianna Peng / The Spectator

During in-person school, most upperclassmen can remember posters scattered around the sixth floor advertising books that English and history teachers were leafing through. But what about STEM teachers’ media consumption? Over the summer, chemistry teacher Michael Orlando consumed all types of digital media, ranging from role-play games to YouTube tutorials. “I have two small kids. [Even though] my wife and I got vaccinated [...] we more or less stayed home this summer,” he said. During this time, Orlando played games such as “Returnal,” “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night,” “Hollow Knight,” and “NieR: Automata.” “You’re the worst [if you have not played ‘Hollow Knight’],” Orlando said. Another game he’s been playing with a group of his friends is Dungeons and Dragons, which heavily relies on fantastical and role-playing elements. His cousin was the nexus for the group: everyone knew his cousin, and eventually got to know each other as they played more. “I played back in the early ‘90s when I was a kid, so it’s always something that’s been a part of my life. When my cousin wanted to bring it back, I bought a bunch of books,” Orlando said. Orlando revealed that he thinks that his love for teaching is bolstered by his appreciation

for the humanities. While he could teach in a robotic, lecturestyled manner, he recognizes that even the best of students would eventually fall behind and lose interest in the class, a lesson learned when creating and personalizing campaigns for Dungeons and Dragons. He’s also been watching a YouTube channel called “Cracking The Cryptic,” which specializes in solving challenging Sudoku puzzles. “Sometimes there are two hours of these guys who are really really good at Sudoku just banging their head against the wall. [...] I’ve seen him derive new formulas about how a Sudoku grid works on the fly,” Orlando said. As for mathematics teacher Ashvin Jaishankar, he’s mainly been making the most of his Disney+ subscription. “You can clearly see that I’m getting my seven bucks a month value out of it,” he joked. He’s had Disney+ since its inception, and has made great use of it. For some time, Disney+ has been an integral source of media consumption in his household. Jaishankar’s twin daughters were both two years old when the streaming service was launched. Because both of them are now five years old, Jaishankar has since introduced them to a variety of Disney classics such as a family favorite, “Cars.” Unlike Orlando, Jaishankar does not play many games, but rather opts for movies, music, and literature. For books, he

Clara Shapiro’s Advice Column Querida Clara, How do I talk to classmates about applying to college? —Anonymous, Senior I, too, have picked up on the ruckus about this whole “college” thing. In fact, just a scant few days ago I emerged from my cave to go to The College Meeting, and WHAT DOES THE OFFICE TELL ME? I must fill out “APPLICATIONS” to get into these institutions! Suffice to say this doesn’t play to my strengths, such as my biceps. And now here these colleges are, telling me that “in the context of an academic environment” my extreme musculature is a no-go. Now I must write “an essay.” Feh! Well, my friend, if my equivocation is any hint, what I mean to say is that you are right–– it is difficult to talk about college, even to our dearest friends. To reveal the specific names of colleges can feel like a jinx or simply an invasion of privacy, even to those who normally love to share the sordid details of their personal lives. Yet at the root of it, why might it be that a person would ask another about The College? Long have I pondered. Here is what I think: October is the fall, and we are falling. But why are we falling? Because we have jumped! College is that jump. And as we take the great leap, it is only natural that we seek another person’s hand to grasp during the plummet. Questions such as “How are the applications going?” don’t really seek the names of specific schools. Rather, these questions are outstretched hands reaching for another to hold onto in the great freefall. The details of what manner of ground, what sort of campus we will hit after great fall are unknown to us all and not so important; what is certain is that for the moment, we seniors are all in freefall, and so we must feel free to grab one another’s hands and share what we feel as we plummet. By and by the plummet will feel a bit more like solid ground.

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Page 8

The Spectator • October 1, 2021

Editorials Morning Mishaps, Entrance Errors, and Headphone Hassles

Filing into the building after getting just a few hours of sleep is a daily morning occurrence for thousands of Stuyvesant students. It’s no surprise if they occasionally fumble with their ID cards and swipe the wrong way, show the wrong screenshot of their daily Health Screening, or forget to take out their headphones. These are honest mistakes and can be quickly corrected with a modicum of patience. But rather than being responded to with sympathy, many students have been reprimanded and even subjected to harsh punishments, such as losing their outdoor lunch privileges for two weeks, because of a five-second holdup. However, these consequences were never clearly communicated to students, leaving them unaware of what constitutes an error. Additionally, when doling out any punishment—especially something as severe as ID confiscation or voiding lunch—for a mistake that anyone could have made, students should be well-informed of the actions that warrant such consequences. Yet virtually no information about entrance conduct has been available in the Health Screening-related e-mails sent to students. Instead, students learn of these policies when it is too late, causing frustration and a disconnect between the student

Features By AVA FUNG Tests, teachers, and theorems are back in a full in-person slam. While we can now put the challenges of bad internet connection and muted silence behind us, there remain the scars of lost connection and community that have yet to heal. Stuyvesant boasts over 150 extracurricular activities covering everything from volunteering to glowsticks–– there’s a club for everybody.

body and administration. Despite the scrutiny students are put under before 8:00 in the morning, other policies remain murky within the school––most notably the school’s phone and headphone policy. While the number of phone confiscations has been greatly reduced this year, school officials seem to be more strictly enforcing the headphone policy. The headphone policy is more relaxed in certain areas of the school, such as the library and cafeteria, which causes confusion about the exact boundaries and borders of the policy. It is not just a lack of transparency that makes this policy hard to navigate, but also its inconsistent enforcement. There must be clarity, communication, and trust between students and the administration regarding these policies and punishments. Over the years, students have proven that they can be trusted using their devices outside of classrooms and that they are no less focused in class because of them. The same goes for the headphones and the entrance policy; students have made it clear that they will work to respect the school’s rules, so long as these rules are crystalized and publicized. The first step to addressing the problem is to ensure that school policies are made clear. The lack of transparency re-

Club Continuum

person setting can help the club expand its community space. “There are a lot of girls at Stuy who are passionate about gender equality and who want an outlet to convey that passion,” junior and club president Lianne Ohayon said. With a return to in-person learning, there’s hope that a physical space can help engage new members, especially because recruiting members during remote learning proved to be a challenge. As

“We hope to build community partnerships [and] relationships, as opposed to getting in as many hours as we can or raising as much money as we can.” —Leah D’Silva, senior Last year, a virtual setting caused clubs to shift from school rooms to Zoom links, leaving members disoriented, and putting a big responsibility on club leaders to provide the structure of Stuyvesant’s four walls in an online space. Now, with school back to in-person, clubs have had to adapt once again. Senior Leah D’Silva felt the weight of responsibility when she stepped up this year as the president of ARISTA. Compared to previous years, ARISTA seems to be placing a greater emphasis on community over prestige. “We hope to build community partnerships [and] relationships, as opposed to getting in as many hours as we can or raising as much money as we can,” D’Silva said. In a similar sense, Stuyvesant Girl-Up hopes that the in-

garding consequences and implications of breaching certain school policies has left many students frustrated about the punishments that they end up receiving. In addition to communicating these policies with students, the administration must also guarantee that they are reasonable. Currently, students have had IDs confiscated and lunches voided for showing a Health Screening for the wrong date, and headphones taken away from them simply without explanation. Perhaps a more reasonable measure might be a required redo of the health screening, and a trip to the back of the line. Whatever the policy ends up being, the bottom line is that students should know what it is. This problem does not rest solely on the administration. Yes, mistakes happen, but students should also doublecheck their Health Screenings to reciprocate respect towards school officials and create a more seamless school entrance. If students want to be respected, they must respect the rules and establishment that they go to school under. Through clear communication and empathy, the administration and student body can build a foundation of mutual respect and trust that makes all of our early morning entrances a bit easier.

ARISTA works with many middle schools, it was often a struggle to keep students motivated over Zoom. “If [middle schoolers] were not in the same physical space as the tutors, they had a lack of motivation to show up and lack of relationship to form through a screen,” D’Silva said. Junior and Vice President of Stuy Flow Sarah Ibrahim shared a similar sentiment: “We had to rely on past member recommendations to their friends and people looking at our Facebook posts and thinking, ‘That sounds cool, I should join.’” Senior and President of Stuy Flow Aaron Hsu agreed with this sentiment, noting that he felt Flow was missing the meaningful small interactions. “[The] Zoom environment just doesn’t conform to

that. You can’t always see everyone’s face, not to mention their bodies, and if you want to have small talk you have to unmute, but when you unmute everyone can also hear you, so you feel less obligated to talk,” he said. Though getting people invested in clubs proved difficult, online platforms also helped increase productivity and communication. “Nobody [was] in a rush to leave because everybody [was] home together,” ARISTA faculty advisor Eric Witosky mentioned. Clubs did not only experience internal developments, however; external reach also expanded. During remote learning, Girl-Up was able to host Zoom sessions with various female speakers ranging from business leaders to creative thinkers, and more. Ohayon stated that the Zoom experience might have even strengthened Girl Up as a club. “Zoom [was] a great platform for club meetings, since there [were] no physical blockades,” Ohayon said. Moving forward this year, club leaders are looking forward to mixing virtual strategies into in-person meetings. For Stuy Flow, the cold journey of silent breakout rooms is over now that they have set up socially distanced practice spaces. In addition to the focus on new members for ARISTA, D’Silva hopes to build up the connection between the younger generations of leaders and role models. “I’m really excited to see how [new members] are going to involve themselves in these opportunities that we’ve given them and make it their own,” D’Silva said.

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The Spectator • October 1, 2021

Page 9

Opinions Money Wins By ASHLEY LIN The most expensive presidential election happened just last year with over $14.4 billion spent, more than double the total cost of the 2016 election. A fraction of the $14.4 billion was donated by average voters. However, the majority was given by billionaires and corporations writing large checks to Super Political Action Committees (PAC), large corporations, interest groups, and associations that provide pools of funds. Super PACs raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, associations, individuals, and constituents. Wealthy donors expand their political power by donating unprecedented sums of money to elections. For example, non-party independent groups can donate an unlimited amount to their preferred candidates, leading to over $4.5 billion donated over the decade, while the 10 most generous donors and their spouses injected $1.2 billion into federal elections. These contributions shift elections in favor of candidates with the most funding. For seats in the House of Representatives, more than 90 percent of candidates who spend

By CHARLOTTE PETERSON President Joe Biden’s unofficial campaign slogan, “Settle For Biden,” was frequently echoed by American progressives prior to the 2020 Democratic primaries. In an effort to remove the right-wing Donald Trump from office, many leftists opted to vote for the more moderate Biden, believing that he had the highest chance out of the Democratic nominees of unseating Trump. Biden was successfully elected, with progressives intending to put someone with more liberally aligned policies and campaign promises in office. However, not as much has changed from the previous presidency as was implied or outright stated, yet Biden is not receiving the same pushback from Democrats as Trump received for his empty words.

the most win. While there was only one election cycle in which that did not hold true, the 2010 election, 86 percent of the top spending candidates won, still a shockingly large percentage. These statistics display the scope of the control large corporations and millionaires have over American democracy and political campaigns. Big money in politics has disrupted the fundamental relationship between Americans and their elected officials. Public servants and elected officials should be serving America’s best interests. Instead, politicians often vote in a way that favors a specific demographic group or business to ensure they receive large amounts of campaign donations. For example, in 2018, wealthy donors Sheldon Adelson and Miriam Adelson gave $122 million to Super PACs that supported Republican candidates. In the previous four election cycles, they donated close to $300 million to pro-Trump and pro-Republican Super PACs. As a result, they were able to persuade Trump and his administration to promote their casino project and curb online gambling that competed with their interests. Additionally, mega-donor Bob

Murray donated $1 million to Trump’s Super PAC. His list of policy wishes was soon incorporated into Trump’s “ToDo List.” Lastly, Doug Deason made Republicans seeking campaign donations aware that if they did not repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass major tax cuts, he would not donate any money in 2017. The Republican Party passed one of the largest tax cut bills in history, appealing to the interests of donors like Deason. In the following 60 days, millionaires and billionaires dramatically increased their political donations, giving a total of $31.1 million in just two months. The values and interests of the richest one percent differ from those of ordinary Americans, who disagree on many pressing issues such as taxes, education, and unemployment. These policies increasingly benefit the wealthy and harm the poor. It certainly does not help that in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United, which reversed campaign finance restrictions and allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. Prior to this case,

Citizens United, a right-leaning non-profit organization, wanted to air a film criticizing former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. This release would have been a violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which banned any organization or corporation from funding an “electioneering communication” within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election. Citizens United argued that this law was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment. The ruling heavily increased the amount of political spending from outside groups, allowing large donations to dominate the U.S.’s political campaigns and drown out the voices of ordinary American voters. To fight big money, campaign finance laws and rules must be enforced to ensure political campaigns have integrity. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) should institute reforms so it is no longer gridlocked due to partisan split and can finally serve its true purpose of enforcing and regulating money in politics. The FEC has not been able to perform all of its duties, including enforcement, regulations, and audits, and has failed to provide can-

didates and parties with guidance regarding legal obligations and investigate allegations of legal violations. A better functioning FEC would allow for greater transparency in political advertising and decrease unlimited political spending by large corporations and millionaires. Legislation that requires the disclosure of all political spending should be passed to increase transparency in who is trying to control elections through large political donations. Lastly, Congress should pass bills aimed to prevent coordinated activity between PACs and political candidates. Closing these fundraising loopholes would ensure that elections are not controlled by top donors. Fair elections are a fundamental part of democracy, and they should not be bought by the rich and powerful. Certain interests should not have less representation because of donations from the top one percent. Big money in politics has resulted in a government that does not truly work for Americans anymore, and this issue must be addressed to successfully confront all of its detrimental effects.

During the Trump administration, Biden criticized the mishandling of immigrants by the United States and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Biden’s official campaign site stated that placing children in cages is “wrong, and it stops when Joe Biden is elected president.” At the time Biden was elected, there were fewer migrants detained than at any other point in the past 20 years. Despite these promises, there has been a 70 percent increase in jailed immigrants since Biden took office. Though there has been bipartisan criticism of Biden for his handling of the influx in Haitian immigrants on our shores, he has not been condemned as much for the lack of change in the whole immigration system, which caused these very issues. Many Latin American migrants remain trapped in detention facilities from the Trump admin-

istration. Biden has not lived up to his promises to improve their lives, their unjust detainment, or the overall immigration process in any significant way. Additionally, Biden has fallen short on racial justice. At the height of mainstream media visibility for Black Lives Matter in late summer 2020, Biden publicly addressed the racial injustices and systemic inequalities that Black Americans have dealt with since the founding of our country. He made campaign promises to work toward racial equality and reform the police and legal systems by creating a police oversight task force. However, many civil rights leaders did not agree with the creation of a task force, and activists called for the defunding of police and redistribution of funds to community programs. Biden did not comply with these requests

and instead simply promised to create a task force, which has not been worked on either. As the Black Lives Matter movement gradually exited the news cycle and was no longer used for performative activism, public calls for police reform died down. In accordance with this timeline, Biden’s initial promise to create a police oversight commission fell short. He claimed that his original plans for the commission would not be as effective as legislation, which he believed would make a longer lasting impact. The George Floyd bill—which would have made it easier to effectively prosecute police officers, according to Biden—did not succeed either, failing to pass by the Senate’s Republicans. While this result was not Biden’s fault, little racial justice has been achieved under Biden’s administration. His promise for an oversight com-

mission slipped away despite the bill’s failure, and his pledge for racial justice fell through the cracks. Biden has accomplished a lot in his first 250 days in office. He has more than fulfilled his promise of administering 100 million COVID-19 vaccines, surpassing the 200 million mark on his 92nd day, and has created the most diverse cabinet in United States history. However, Biden still has unkept promises that need to be upheld. Regardless of his party and political alignment, Democrats should not hesitate to call out his shortcomings as they did with Trump and should always push Biden to do better. Politicians need to be held accountable for their promises, regardless of political faction, if they are to properly serve their constituents and make progress.

Settling for Biden

You Can Only Get Some of Your Rights Delivered

By PETER GOSWAMI

We live in a world where we can open an app on our phones and have food from our favorite restaurants delivered to us without leaving our houses. Even with this magic convenience, we do not hold back on our dissatisfaction. Many times, I have complained about the food arriving late, not getting the sauce I wanted, or the food getting cold, disregarding the difficulties that delivery workers have to endure to provide me and countless others with cheap and fast delivery. Delivery workers in New York receive much lower wages than other workers and often face robbery or assault on the job. While New York City has passed six new bills to improve conditions for delivery workers, more needs to be done to ensure fair wages, equality, and improved conditions for these workers. Sixty-five thousand delivery workers work in New York City,

and many are immigrants or part of marginalized communities. These delivery workers continue to face low wages even as food delivery app companies profit, made evident by the increase in food delivery app revenue and users in the U.S. from $22 billion and 95 million users in 2019 to $26.5 billion and 111 million in 2020. New York City delivery workers earn an average of $7.87 an hour before tips and $12.21 an hour with tips, which is still well below the minimum wage of $15 per hour. With this low wage, it is almost impossible for delivery workers to live comfortably in New York City, where the average overall costs of living and housing are 1.87 times and 2.94 times, respectively, the national index. While delivery workers face low wages, food delivery apps continue to make false claims about the rate of pay, leading to misinformation among consumers and the circulation

of inaccurate data that make it more difficult to assess the conditions that delivery workers face. Approximately 42 percent of delivery workers reported unreliable or late payment, and many face robbery or assault on the job and do not receive worker benefits. About half of all delivery workers crash on the job and then must pay for their own medical care. Many are even restricted from using bathrooms at the restaurants they deliver for. In response, New York City passed a set of six bills to improve some of the conditions for delivery workers and put certain restrictions on food delivery apps. One bill in this set is Int 2296-2021, which prevents food delivery apps from charging workers an additional fee to receive their payment. Another is Int 2399-2021, which allows delivery workers to set parameters on the distance they travel for delivery. Int 2298-2021 requires restaurants to make their

bathroom facilities available to delivery workers, and Int 18462020 requires food delivery apps to disclose their gratuity policies to consumers. While the new set of bills improves certain conditions for delivery workers, more steps need to be taken to truly grant delivery workers equal rights. Under the new bills, delivery workers are still classified as independent contractors, preventing them from receiving workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits. Especially during the pandemic, delivery workers are essential to our society and should be given the same minimum wage as others. Many are immigrants with little to no generational wealth and come from marginalized communities. Preventing them from receiving fair wages and benefits further disenfranchises them in a system already designed to put them down. The bills can be improved to allow delivery workers to receive

the same standard minimum wage as other workers. With the high rate of assault and robbery that delivery workers face, the city must establish bills to give delivery workers compensation and medical benefits so they do not have to pay for their own medical care when harmed on the job. The bills must be more strict on food delivery apps and require them to disclose their payment and gratuity policies to consumers so that if delivery fees increase, consumers understand where the fees are going and how they help support the workers. New York City is a delivery hub of the world. We must create laws that protect and support the workers who provide a service that has become commonplace. As a densely populated and influential city, we must stand as a model for other cities and states to create laws that protect workers across the board.

Page 10

The Spectator • October 1, 2021

Opinions By ERICA LI

By KENNETH GAO

specifically defined what exactly the restraint of trade or monopoly meant. This missing rigidity gives the courts a wide authority. It also means that monopolies like Google or Apple are still technically legal as long as they do not engage in business practices specifically designed to target competition, allowing these Big Tech companies to keep their power. Furt h e r more, many of

these Big Tech companies hold a significant amount of power over public debate by allowing misinformation t o spread without regulation, thus having control over the circulation of political information and free speech. For example, during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the power to judge if content was harmful or not

to democracy was given to a handful of Big Tech executives. The lack of transparency in these companies’ policies attracted extreme public scrutiny. Many platforms did not bother fact-checking their political ads. Another example is Facebook’s constant deflective actions in stopping the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. People across the

country refuse to get vaccinated due to false stories they read on Facebook, such as theories that the COVID-19 shot can cause infertility, autism, and stillborn babies. Facebook has continuously stated that they

You Should Learn How to Create Art

on what you would like to do and simply looking it up on YouTube can be a helpful exercise. YouTube is excellent because it is free, and the amount of people who publish on YouTube ensures tremendous variety, letting one find personal inspiration and quality content

use? When working in a digital medium, the anxiety around finding the right tools can often feel as important and decisive as the work itself. Many may think of paid options: for hobbies such as digital painting, photo editing, video editing, and other visual work, the

Eleanor Chin / The Spectator

The Internet democratized the ability to learn new skills. Anyone with the will to learn and an Internet connection can learn how to cook, construct furniture, or calculate complex mathematics with the tap of a key. One can also learn how to create art—draw, paint, produce music, take photos, or tie-dye a shirt. The educational freedom of the digital world allows people to grab hold of their creative instincts. Often, when we doodle, sing, or see others do it better, we box ourselves in with the terms “good artist” or “bad artist,” “talented” or “untalented.” We create an unfairly high barrier of entry for anyone who hopes to express themselves. However, the digital realm allows one to get in touch with one’s individual artistry. We all have something that can creatively inspire us. After all, we engage with art on a regular basis, including film, books, music, or social media. Next time you are inspired, go create something because the tools are all right there. Drawing from this inspiration to come to a conclusion

the venture capital investments in the startup in the corresponding market space fell by 40 percent on average. When Big Tech acquires a startup, it also incorporates whatever features made the startup special into its own products. This adoption discourages the public from switching to the new product and reduces the number of potential investors, thus stifling innovation. Big Tech companies have only gained more power and money during the pandemic, especially with consumers spending so much time online. The average price for Facebook advertisements rose by 30 percent, Amazon’s cloud business gained another $1 billion in profits, and Microsoft’s profits jumped by 31 percent. These changes are just the beginning. As the world slowly embraces the digital revolution, Big Tech companies will be able to maintain their dominance in their specific sectors. However, the largest problem allowing the retention of Big Tech’s power is that the antitrust laws, statutes developed by the government to protect consumers and ensure fair competition, are based on judicial interpretation and enforced by lawsuits and the court system, not Congress. This means that the 2020 House report that tried to catalog Big Tech’s data practices as illegal would completely overturn years of precedents that judges have been trained to follow. Any judge, whether Democrat or Republican, would be hesitant to view antitrust cases using the ideas the 2020 House report suggests. Additionally, America’s oldest antitrust law—the Sherman Antitrust Act passed in 1890, outlawing trusts, monopolies, and cartels in order to preserve a competitive market—never

Sophia Li / The Spectator

The United States tech industry contributed around $1.99 trillion to the country’s overall GDP in 2020, with Big Tech accounting for most of the money. Big Tech is a name given to the most dominant companies in the information technology industry, namely Apple, Google (Alphabet), Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon. They have monopolized the industry, quietly getting rid of competition and taking advantage of our private information for profit. This trend will only continue as the tech industry expands. A past investigation conducted by Congress into Big Tech found that these companies were able to maintain their power by exploiting the large amounts of data gathered on consumers to influence competitors and gain an advantage in new product markets. For example, Google figured out which web browsers were the most popular based on how people used Gmail and Search, giving them an edge when they officially launched their own browser, Chrome. In addition, Big Tech lowers innovation. When Big Tech companies buy startups, they get rid of a future competitor and also “kill” the product that the startup has created. With a lack of competition, Big Tech’s new technology is mostly created to protect its dominant market position rather than creating something revolutionary. And even if Big Tech does not buy the startup entirely, many Big Tech companies have a habit of purchasing stakes in startups. This practice tends to create a “kill-zone,” which suggests that if a product or service is in any way threatening or beginning to grow, Big Tech will either force-buy the startup or clone the product, thus destroying its market. In fact, a study published by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research found that in the three years after a typical Facebook or Google acquisition of a startup,

A Game of Monopoly

with a bit of trial and error. It doesn’t have to be just tutorials either. Simply finding other artists who share their work and lives on the site can be just as productive as a how-to. But what apps should one

Adobe Creative Cloud is the immediately visible option. While the tools are good, they come at the high price tag of $50 a month. One great way to find what works for you is to experi-

ment with the plethora of free tools available, such as Blender, a versatile software that helps create at-home 3D VFX, cut together video, and animate. Those looking to draw or paint can use applications such as Krita, a digital canvas, or Inkscape for versatile graphic

The digital realm allows one to get in touch with one’s individual artistry. design. Those aspiring to create videos may use DaVinci Resolve, an all-encompassing video editor and color grading software, and those working in audio can turn to Audacity, a free program for recording and

grapple with posts that fall in between their rules—posts that cast doubt about vaccines but do not clearly violate the actual terms and conditions. Even after multiple meetings between the White House administration and Facebook, there are still no concrete solutions. Recently, though, House lawmakers have proposed five bills that will attempt to limit the power of Big Tech companies. Each bill specifically targets one or two Big Tech companies, contributing to an overall decline in power. Google and Facebook, for example, might have to reach a higher bar to show that their mergers and acquisitions are acting on an anti-competitive business practice. Apple could have a harder time trying to incorporate new apps and businesses into their products. Amazon might even have to divide, as one of the bills proposes limiting companies that own platforms from selling their own products on these platforms. This introduction of bills has some bipartisan support and is one of Congress’s most aggressive moves to restrain and regulate Big Tech’s power. While most Big Tech companies refused to comment on the bills, smaller tech companies like Roku actively support it. With the current tech industry, Big Tech does not just control online information; it also controls the news, the economy, the world, and our daily lives— what Americans see, say, and hear online. It has stifled innovation and discouraged small businesses, leading the only real competition to be between the Big Tech companies themselves. Their power over human society has gone overboard, and it needs to be stopped.

mixing audio tracks. These free tools allow one to experiment without immediately tying onself down with what would feel like an investment, allowing anyone curious to fool around without having to commit. As both an illustrator and digital sculptor, I often pull out a drawing tablet or even just a sheet of paper to seek reprieve from the stresses of daily life. Whether I am affected by the tail end of a bad day or the crushing anxiety of schoolwork, there is zen in the act of translating something that previously only existed as thought into reality. You may feel this way too, doodling eyes and stick figures in the margins of a worksheet or humming along to a tune because the experience exists in every facet of life. Creating art is an activity you should allow yourself to indulge in. The resources that the Internet provides create a vast space for anyone to discover what they enjoy, and it is an opportunity that is not taken up quite as often as it should be. For what that opportunity provides, it is well worth the effort.

The Spectator • October 1, 2021

Page 11

Opinions By JACOB STEINBERG Chuck Grassley is running for reelection to the United States Senate—for the eighth time. He is 88 and has been a senator for 48 years. His significant length of service and age do not stand alone. In fact, the average age of a senator is over 64 years old. The often renewed House of Representatives, with an average age of 58.4 years old, does not fall far behind. With no disrespect to the Congress members who have contributed to our country, term limits on Congress must be instituted. For one, Congress could use a fresh injection of ideas. With term limits, Congress could eventually be filled with a new set of politicians whose backgrounds would provide a brand new set of experiences and perspectives, which we don’t have enough of now; only 12.9 percent of representatives and nine percent of senators are newly elected in the current Congress. Term limits are also important electorally. Conceptually, Congress serves as an outlet for citizens to express their will through representatives who reflect their state and district. The absence of term limits has created a massive distance from that ideal. Overwhelmingly, incumbents dominate elections with 93 percent in the House this year. Such high rates of reelection have been a constant trend for the past 50 years. When an incumbent is defeated in either

By ELICIA CHAU

a primary or a general election, it is often considered a major political event and is analyzed heavily for what it might indicate in terms of political and demographic changes. There are several reasons for this imbalance. One is the sense of comfort that comes with name recognition. Even if vot-

with congressmembers to help push their reelection campaigns. The high rate of incumbency pushes back against the movement toward diversity and youth as the entrenched establishment faces off against its youthful challengers. That recurring conflict would be avoided for both parties if term limits were estab-

limits erode this establishment and can replace it with a new, diverse body. One avenue for gaining diversity is age. This year, the mean age of a newly elected senator or representative is around seven years younger than the overall average age of both the congressional bodies. The 2021 Georgia

voting members of the House and Senate is either Black, Hispanic, Asian American, or Native American. With this demographic change, Congress is hearing voices it has never heard before. As white men are still heavily overrepresented in the United States legislature, term limits would allow new congressmembers to refresh Capitol Hill, hopefully reflecting the constantly changing America. With term limits, white congressmen would be cycled out far quicker than they are usually voted out. If current trends continue, voters will replace those congressmembers with ones who better represent the American population. To replace the dug-in politicians currently dominating Congress, term limits, passed through an amendment by both Congress and individual states, are a strong alternative. With a potential term limit of two terms, congressmembers would have 12 years to create change without being entrenched for too long. A term limit of six terms for the House would have a similar restriction. While it may seem counterintuitive for Congress to restrict itself, the House reached a majority on an amendment to institute term limits in 1995. Though it did not receive the two-thirds of votes necessary to pass, this support could be achieved over time and through political campaigning. Term limits would achieve the new look that Congress needs.

With term limits, Congress could eventually be filled with a new set of politicians whose backgrounds would provide a brand new set of experiences and perspectives, which we don’t have enough of now; only 12.9 percent of representatives and nine percent of senators are newly elected in the current Congress. ers do not follow a race closely, they are still more likely to recognize their senators or representatives than a challenger who has only become mainstream during that race, and thus, they feel inclined to vote for a more familiar candidate. Moreover, barring a major controversy, voters tend to believe that members of Congress knows what they are doing. Already being a congressmember brings its own set of advantages, such as existing financial structures and connections with parties and fellow members. Connections are key to elections, as a flock of endorsements from major party officials can tip the scales in a primary or excite party voters in an election. For example, throughout his presidency, Donald Trump took the stage

lished, gradually removing the Old Guard and preventing a new one from forming and recycling the same issue. Long-term incumbency creates an establishment of career politicians who legislate from their perspective as politicians rather than as citizens. It is troubling to have political parties that are more identifiable by their politicians than their policies and key legislation. Having elected officials like Minority Senate Leader Mitch McConnell with systems to defeat legislation without so much as a vote is harmful to democracy. Long-serving incumbents have a strong disconnect from their constituents since they have spent so much time working and scheming on Capitol Hill. Term

Senate runoff elections, which drew much attention, added a young, invigorating politician, Jon Ossoff, to the older body. He is more socially connected to the American youth, a recently disaffected group, than many other senators. Ossoff ’s connection to this demographic will hopefully continue to increase young Americans’ civic awareness, and this trend will only continue with the elections of more young senators. It is not just age and service, though. With every election, Congress is becoming increasingly diverse. One hundred forty-three women are serving in this Congress, an increase from the 33 of the last general election and 55 from 2008. Racially, a record almost quarter of

An Apology to the Girls Gone Bad

Spears’s case. Spears only trended with #FreeBritney this year, over a decade after she was placed under a conservatorship for what was supposed to be her own safety. For years, she was the most popular pop star figure until the media created an exaggerated narrative of a transformation from pop queen to mentally ill. Until news of her suffocating life as a conservatee became mainstream, Spears was the ultimate girlgone-wild figurehead, showing what happens when girls become involved with drugs and sex. Spears was torn down for years until the full truth about her father’s overbearing conservatorship and her lack of basic freedoms, like spending her own money and having kids, became known, demonstrating just how quickly the media jumps at the throats of women. She wasn’t the only one; plenty of popular ‘90s and 2000s stars suffered at the hands of online media and harassment until their own stories became known, many following #FreeBritney. Megan Fox, for instance, was only 15 when she auditioned for leading roles in “Bad Boys II” and “Transformers.” Director Michael Bay made her wash his car in a bikini to get the role, a perverse act that not only sexualized a child but was also immortalized on video. In “Jennifer’s Body,” Fox was required to wear nude underwear and pasties, and her privacy was violated by a photographer who snuck on set. When she attempted to speak out about it

on television, Jimmy Kimmel not only made a joke out of her suffering but allowed Fox to be dubbed as overreacting to Bay’s actions since they merely represented “a microcosm of how all [men’s] minds work.” Bay published an open letter on his website dubbing her “queen of talking trailer trash and posing like a porn star,” and the

Similar to most controversies, huge details are excluded to perpetually restrict women to these misogynistic labels. Certain stories do not describe how Fox would frequently ask Bay for advice on her character portrayal and how to be a better actress but was only instructed to “just be sexy.” After being exposed by the phoYing Chen / The Spectator

Practically the entire world watched Britney Spears’s public mental breakdown back in 2008. They mocked her shaved head and tears, shamed her apparent drug and alcohol addiction, and debated how she, among other ‘90s poster girls like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, fell into disorder. They dubbed her a bad role model, and young girls were told to not turn out like her. I was too young to watch Spears’s downfall as it happened, but as a woman, it is difficult to ignore the lasting effects of the blatant sexism, public humiliation, and sheer joy that society enjoys when watching female celebrities fall. After all, the disparaging way female celebrities are treated is present in every facet of modern media. There is a continuous trend of mistreatment of women in media: oversexualization from a young age as seen in stars like Megan Fox, body shaming over minuscule weight gain or natural aging like with Rihanna and Victoria Beckham, and a general disparity in how women are treated in the news. The headlines “Amber Rose lets her baby bump hang out in revealing leopard print bikini and crop top at eight months pregnant... after cancelling SlutWalk” and “Never mind Brexit, who won Legs-it!” demonstrate the extent of the unnecessary sexualization in media. Even someone as beloved as Lohan, an icon of ‘90s films and television, was dubbed a “slut” and “delusional” for having sex and checking herself into rehabilitation. As long as it provides entertaining content, the Internet tears down these celebrities to the point of mental breakdowns, like in

It’s Time to Refresh Congress

press, rather than defending Fox against the sexist comments and hypersexualization, embraced this narrative. Fox was portrayed as a terrible and lazy actress who relied only on her appearance to gain roles; these stereotypes have followed her for the rest of her career.

tographer to the world, Fox openly opposed being stripped of her privacy, citing how it made her feel “hunted” by the Internet. Regardless of how much Fox spoke outwardly about her experience as a woman in media, she was still fired by Steven Spielberg and harassed by Bay’s crew, and her career was destroyed by massive figures in the film industry. The disparaging treatment of female celebrities is apparent not only in false headlines but also in the intrusive nature of the media, who repeatedly violate boundaries set by these women to the point of mental breakdown and then target them for showing weakness. Though it can be said that such harassment is

just “part of the job,” it must be emphasized that women are often placed on the industry’s chopping block, where even their positive attributes can be turned negative with sleight of words. Spears and Fox are just a few examples of countless celebrities who have suffered as a result of the media. Women in particular fall victim to mindless and far-fetched rumors and are torn apart due to false controversies. Despite how frequently movements that support trying to “find the truth” crop up, they often result in meaningless trends that only increase the attention on the controversies. Instead, people should be held accountable. Too often, someone’s cancellation, such as that of Bay or journalists who focus more on women’s bodies than their achievements, is short-lived. After a period of time, people return to consuming the content produced by problematic media, perpetuating the cycle further. On an individual level, it is necessary for us to stick by women who have spoken out about their experiences rather than abandoning them in favor of a “juicier story.” On a broader level, we must continue to call out those who have contributed to online harassment and stand by these convictions. No one should ever endure what female celebrities go through. There must be critique and rejection when women’s careers are ruined out of sheer pettiness, which cannot be accomplished without the genuine acknowledgment and improvement of consumers of popular media. There is a difference between engaging in modern media and harassment. Too frequently, that line is crossed, especially when it’s about women.

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

Page 12

Science SCIENCEBEAT

Bring Back the Woolly! By SATHIRTHA MONDAL Chances are that you’ve either seen or heard of “Jurassic Park,” the science fiction film that tells the story of a remote theme park populated by genetically engineered dinosaurs. Inevitably, things go wrong: the park’s security system fails and the resurrected dinosaurs escape, endangering the lives of visitors on the island. Perhaps this was a warning to future generations to never try to bring back extinct animals. When the movie was released in 1993, such a concept was pure science fiction. Since then, scientists have made immense progress in deextinction, the process of bringing back extinct species, through genetic engineering. In fact, a team of entrepreneurs and scientists launched Colossal, a company aimed at resurrecting the long-extinct woolly mammoth, which has raised $15 million in initial funding. Though the company has only recently been publicized, the project has been in the making for eight years. The idea first emerged in 2013 in a talk given by Dr. George Church, a biologist at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Colossal, at the National Geographic Society. Church and his fellow researchers studied the genomes of extinct species to identify key differences between them and their modern cousins. In doing so, they also determined how these genetic differences led to phenotypic, or observable, differences. The process led Church to target the genome of Asian elephants, the living descendants of woolly mammoths, to replicate them. He has been leading

a small team of geneticists, biologists who study genetics, in developing a hybrid embryo. The process entails editing elephant DNA by adding genes that match those responsible for mammoth traits like thick fat, blood that resists freezing, and dense hair. While this will not bring back the woolly mammoth, it will introduce a mammoth-elephant hybrid closely resembling it. If scientists can bridle the skeptical crowd and commence their experiments, we can expect the first calves to be produced within

until a heatwave in 2020 made it start to thaw. Unfortunately, the permafrost is covered with a layer of thick snow that prevents the frigid air from reaching it and keeping it frozen. As permafrost contains plant matter, its thawing causes this matter to rot, releasing substantial amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. As methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, this would rapidly drive climate change. Reintroducing woolly mammoths, which are cold-resistant,

threatened species a safeguard against extinction as humans would have the capabilities of resurrecting them. In spite of its potential benefits, Colossal must first overcome the major hurdle of ethics before it can go through with experiments. Many critics, especially environmentalists, point out that dedicating ample money and resources to de-extinction may take away from current conservation efforts, especially if the project fails. Many also argue that we should allocate resources to more

A team of entrepreneurs and scientists launched Colossal, a company aimed at resurrecting the long-extinct woolly mammoth, and raised $15 million in initial funding.

six years. Colossal’s mission is not solely to bring back the woolly mammoth. Instead, it tackles a broader issue of revitalizing ecosystems and fighting climate change. During the Pleistocene, the era in which woolly mammoths lived, the Siberian tundra was a vast grassland where these giants roamed, fertilizing the grass with their droppings and clearing the land of trees and shrubs. Over thousands of years, this region developed a layer of permafrost, or frozen ground, that persisted

to the tundra would allow them to consume the plant matter encased within the permafrost and destroy the blanket of snow atop it, enabling the cold air to keep the layer intact and preventing the release of methane into the atmosphere. In fact, researchers suspect that they can keep 80 percent of the permafrost frozen through 2100 with the woolly mammoth, whereas only 43 percent would remain frozen if the ecosystem is left untouched. The addition would also promote the Earth’s biodiversity and provide

urgent matters, like combating the ongoing sixth mass extinction that is looming over nearly one million threatened species. Some are also skeptical of whether the hybrid would survive in a world that has changed so drastically since the Pleistocene era. However, the scientists at Colossal suggest that over time, the process will become less costly and their work may actually benefit the Asian elephant and other endangered species, as well as draw attention to conservation efforts. While science fiction has

Molnupiravir, an antiviral pill developed by Merck & Co. aimed at treating COVID-19, has shown in clinical trials that it halves hospitalization and death rates from the virus. A custom brain implant has been used to cure a woman’s severe depression through deep brain stimulation, measuring brain activity corresponding with symptoms and applying a current to correct them in real-time. The joint European and Japanese BepiColombo mission successfully captured the first close-up photos of Mercury in a fly-by and is planning to permanently orbit their spacecraft around Mercury by 2025. covered seemingly impossible concepts like de-extinction, the team behind Colossal is seeking to make it a reality by reviving the long-extinct woolly mammoth. The initiative is said to be an effort to combat climate change and promote Earth’s biodiversity by restoring the tundras. Inevitably, it has widely been met with ethical concerns as vast amounts of resources and money are redirected to the project. While it may be prudent to invest in saving endangered species rather than compensating with artificial hybrids, many rally behind Colossal, insisting that the project is a necessary resolution to protect our planet. These giants may soon roam the Earth again, and “Jurassic Park” references aside, what could go wrong?

The Role of Biofuel in Tackling Climate Change By OSCAR WANG Let’s face it. You’ve heard of climate change and its disastrous implications for years; yet current data suggests that though we are trying to stride forward, our growing world keeps pulling us back. The global energyrelated carbon emissions were at 33.4 Gt CO2 (gigatons of carbon dioxide) in 2019 and while last year’s lockdown reduced that number by seven percent to 31.5 Gt CO2, data from 2021 shows that we have rebounded back up to 33.0 Gt CO2 after resuming our pre-pandemic activities. While last year’s lockdown proves that we as individuals can reduce emissions by consuming less fuel, transportation still made up 16.2 percent of global emissions by the end of the year. Despite this, the clean energy industry still made several advancements last year. Namely, research in biofuels, alternative sources of fuel that release less carbon dioxide when burnt, yielded promising results that could change the way we produce biofuels in the future. However, a more in-depth look at the history of biofuels and their applications can tell us more about their environmental impact. Unlike fossil fuels, biofuels are renewable resources derived from modern-day organic plants and waste. The most primitive form of biofuel is ethanol, which is alcohol mixed with gasoline to reduce the emission of carbon monoxide and other pollutants

like formaldehyde and nitro- fications needed to make them gen oxide. Ethanol produced compatible with our engines. by fermenting plant waste using Nonetheless, ethanol and biobacteria and yeast has been com- diesel have laid the groundwork mercialized since the 1970s. Ac- for present-day research aimed at cording to the US Department improving these flaws. of Energy (DOE), One result of this research is over 98 percent biobutanol, a bioof gasoline fuel that emits 85 in the counpercent less cartry contains bon than gasoE10 today, a line and can mix of one be used in part ethacar engines nol to nine without any parts gasoprior modifiline. While cation, greatthere are fuly reducing els, like E85, the cost of that have a s w i t ch i n g. higher conHowever, centration separating of ethanol, the fuel from they canthe rest of not be used the byprodefficiently ucts of ferwithout mentation is special car a difficult and Tina Siu / The Spectator engines. costly process. Biodiesel is another form of One way around this biofuel that, unlike ethanol, is is using metal-organic framebased primarily on recycled veg- works (MOFs), which are molecetable oils, and underwent com- ular machines designed to move mercialization just 10 years after and separate substances. Applyethanol, in the 1980s. However, ing this technology to biobujust like ethanol, biodiesel must tanol production, researchers first be combined with its nonre- from Oregon State University newable counterpart to be com- reported that they successfully patible with traditional engines. developed a novel MOF that While both forms of fuel are successfully isolated biobutanol cleaner and more energy-effi- from its fermentation mixture in cient than traditional fossil fuels April 2020. (diesel, petroleum, gasoline), neiTo fund more projects like ther eliminates carbon emissions these, the DOE announced on completely because of the modi- September 9 that it would pro-

vide $65 million to fund biofuel research to reduce carbon emissions of airplanes and ships. This ambitious project falls in line with the administration’s goal of decarbonizing air travel by 2050. Even with this funding, however, researchers still face significant barriers before biofuels like biobutanol are optimized for our growing needs. One major obstacle lies in the agricultural sector, which uses massive quantities of water to grow the crops needed for biofuel production. Though electric vehicles (EVs) serve as an alternative that circumvents these challenges, they are not without their own faults. For example, EV production still relies on the energy provided by fossil fuels. Additionally, EV travel is currently limited by the lackof charging stations throughout the country. With this in mind, biofuels area necessary temporary fix until we have the means to sustainably produce EVs and other alternatives. That is also not to say that all our biofuel research will one day go to waste. In fact, one study concluded that the same biomass used to create biofuels is 80 percent more efficiently used to create electricity, producing no carbon emissions. Though biofuels themselves are imperfect solutions to climate change, they, along with electric vehicles and biomass electricity, are still necessary parts of the same whole. However, much of what we are told today does not reflect this no-

tion. A popular, but largely inaccurate, narrative nowadays is that everyday consumers must alter their choices to reduce global carbon emissions. Companies like BP Oil and Coca-Cola have been pushing campaigns around carbon footprint for years. These campaigns distract consumers by pushing the narrative that reducing carbon footprint is the individual’s responsibility, rather than a global issue that requires everyone’s—especially big corporations’—attention. The truth is that no matter how many people switch to electric vehicles, no matter how much energy we all collectively save, carbon emissions will continue to rise unless we target the systemic, root cause of it all. So will we ever get to the root cause? While individuals like us may feel powerless against the keystones of our economy, we shouldn’t lose all hope. Advancements in science and technology will undoubtedly bring us closer to a zero-emission future. However, without pushing for changes on the policy to regulate various sectors of the economy, new technologies like biofuel, EVs, and biomass electricity will never be fully implemented. In the meantime, we can make choices that reduce our carbon footprint not because it will fix the issue by itself, but because these choices will motivate and change the mindsets of the next generation of researchers, engineers, and educators who will carry on the fight for our planet.

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

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Science How A.I. is Shaping the Future of Agriculture When you stop by the grocery store to grab a bag of freshly grown tomatoes for dinner, your eyes will likely be drawn to the tomatoes’ country of origin and expiration date on the front cover of the package. There is, however, another aspect of the production of these tomatoes that only a few individuals will pay attention to—these tomatoes may have once been under the hands of nonhuman entities: artificial intelligence (A.I.). As a scientific field that has gained vast popularity in recent years, A.I. has expanded into one of the oldest foundations of humanity—agriculture. With the world’s rapidly increasing population, farmers worldwide are under immense pressure to increase their crop yield and agricultural biodiversity to meet growing consumer demands. Coupled with economic shutdowns due to COVID-19, the global food system must be transformed to provide affordable, healthy diets that are sustainable and inclusive in efforts to eradicate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition. Thanks to the emerging developments in A.I. technology and machine learning, the productivity of farms has increased significantly, along with the minimization of resource and land usage. One of the most common applications of A.I. in agriculture is the creation of autonomous robots to monitor and manage essential agricultural activities and environmental factors much faster than that of the traditional, manual approach. NatureSweet, for example, is a San Antonio-based

grower of premium fresh tomatoes that uses machine learning and computer vision, a field of A.I. that trains computers to interpret the visual world, to increase crop yields and control pests and diseases in its greenhouses. To do this, the company implemented tasktracking systems to monitor watering and seeding. Ten cameras are installed in the greenhouse ceilings to take photos of the crop and provide instant feedback. By detecting insect infestations or other problems, weekly harvests are estimated to grow by two to four percent, and the company will produce healthier tomatoes every day. In addition to ground data, seasonal forecasting and predictive analytic models are commonly used to improve agricultural accuracy and productivity. Under changing climate conditions and increasing pollution, it is often quite difficult for farmers to determine the right time to sow seeds, water, and harvest. A.I.-enabled technologies, however, can assist farmers through accurate predictions in upcoming weather patterns and environmental conditions. Both seasonal forecasting and predictive analytic models have become crucial tools used in small farms, especially in developing countries. As A.I. continues to spread, these small farms grow beautiful yields and create a lasting impact on the global food supply chain, accounting for approximately 70 percent of the world’s crop production. Coupled with unmanned aircraft systems and drones, A.I. can capture images and data points of the entire farm, allowing farmers to analyze a wide spectrum of environmental factors—including

temperature, water usage, and soil conditions—in near realtime. More importantly, these captured images will then be analyzed through deep learn-

far more land—sometimes thousands of acres—in a much shorter time than humans on foot. Additionally, a general man-

ing algorithms and neural networks where farmers can quickly identify problem areas, such as those being affected by pests or bacteria, and receive potential improvement suggestions generated by the A.I. model. This particular aspect of A.I. in agriculture is especially valuable in farms that stretch across large areas since unmanned drones can cover

agement style called precision agriculture often uses A.I. sensors to collect and analyze data. For instance, it can target diseases and pests in crops before the application of herbicides to prevent overuse and pesticide resistance. Farmers also use precision agriculture to implement probabilistic models for determining the best crop varieties for future growing sea-

Justine Kang / The Spectator

By DONGNI (HELLEN) LUO

sons and their most ideal planting times and locations. Crop diseases account for the primary causes of deprivation and food security concerns. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is an international research and development organization that aims to improve the livelihoods of farms and reduce poverty and hunger in developing countries. In the CIAT agricultural biodiversity research division, scientists have used A.I. technology to create a smartphone program to help detect the signs of five major diseases and one common pest found in banana plants. With an average 90 percent successful detection rate, this platform is a remarkably useful built-in tool in a mobile application called Tumaini, which helps smallholder banana growers monitor their crops and prevent a largescale banana disease outbreak. There, the app imports a large dataset of banana disease images taken in Congo, Uganda, and South India to generate a series of recommendations and management techniques. Beyond the current applications of A.I., there are many other unique technological advances making notable headway in agriculture. A.I.controlled vertical farms, for example, require significantly less land and water resources compared to traditional farming operations due to the use of robots to monitor growth patterns and variables of water, temperature, and light. With that being said, it is unquestionable that the future of agriculture will intertwine with developments in A.I., but the outcome of this crossover will remain a mystery for decades to come.

The International Space Station is Aging By ARYANA SINGH Imagine a six-bedroom house with two bathrooms, a personal gym, and a 360-degree view window displaying the stars. Now imagine it floating in space. It seems like a fantasy, like something straight out of Star Trek, but it is real and has been for nearly 23 years. This is the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is a ginormous hunk of metal, nearly as long as a football field, that orbits the Earth 16 times a day. The ISS has been continuously occupied by astronauts and the occasional spiders, mice, and tardigrades since 2000. Experiments have been conducted over the years to advance the fields of medicine, quantum mechanics, and biology, to name a few. After more than two decades, however, recent leakages and cracks lead some to believe that the ISS is approaching its final days. While the space station was built with a 10 to 15 year life span, it is pushing twice that age and is currently cleared to operate up until 2024. That six-bedroom house does not sound as amazing if air were to start leaking out of it.

Issues aboard the ISS are not new; several pieces of essential equipment broke down in October, 2020, including a toilet, oxygen generator, and oven. Earlier that day, the astronauts onboard found and patched a miniature hole leaking air. In another incident in August 2021, the ISS spun 540 degrees around when a module mistakenly fired its thrusters, taking an hour for the crew to regain control of t h e system. Additionally, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lost contact with the station twice, totaling 11 minutes of no communication. This may not seem like a lot, but every second counts during such dangerous events. These issues are too serious to be overlooked, and it would be irresponsible to not take further precautions when dealing with air leakages and oxygen genera-

tors. If engineers decide to disassemble the ISS, it has to be done safely. One such method involves a controlled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and several predeter mined Emily Tan / The Spectator

crash landings in the ocean. NASA most certainly does not want a repeat of the Skylab incident. The agency’s first space station, Skylab, was scheduled to get a boost from an incoming space shuttle. However, extensive delays of the launch caused Skylab to slowly fall out of orbit. In 1979, the station reentered Earth’s atmosphere with no prediction of where the debris would hit. It could have hit the vast ocean or a densely populated city. Luckily, the pieces ended

up in the limitless deserts of Australia, hurting no one. For the future, China has ongoing plans for its own space station several times smaller than the ISS. In fact, the foundations of the Tiangong space station are already being built. While officials in China have stated that t h e Tiang ong will be open to astronauts from other countries, American astronauts will most likely be excluded, due to a 2011 decree passed by U.S. lawmakers that banned direct coordination between NASA and any Chinese-owned company. As of now, NASA has no plans to build a replacement for the ISS, other than crafting a lunar space station that will orbit the moon for their future Artemis missions.

It will only be a matter of time before the ISS is decommissioned and countries start jumping at the chance to build their own stations. In fact, Russia wishes to build its own space station by 2025. The advantage of having several small space stations is that each country can focus on a particular goal, whether it be studying the effects of space on the human body or developing new technology. Additionally, if one station were to malfunction, there would be others to resort to. However, multiple space stations would also hinder global cooperation and may even be dangerous. Compared to international stations, individual stations would have less supervision in their development. Without the proper safety regulations, countries could potentially be sending haphazard vehicles 250 miles above humanity. Regardless of the benefits and harms of countries building their own small space stations in comparison to having one large international station, there will ultimately be no shortage of science experiments and revolutionary breakthroughs anytime soon.

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The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

Science What’s With the New Alzheimer’s Drug? By ANDY CHEN Over the past few decades, billions of dollars have been invested into treating Alzheimer's disease with no promising results. That was the case until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved aducanumab, marketed as Aduhelm, ending the nearly two-decade-long absence of approval for Alzheimer's drugs. More than simply improving symptoms, aducanumab promises to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. Can it really do what it promises, though? Alzheimer's disease, first discovered in 1906, is a progressive disorder that causes memory loss and destruction of mental functions. The disease affects an estimated 6.2 million Americans and is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists suspect amyloid plaques, abnormal protein structures formed by the aggregation of beta-amyloid between neurons, to be a root cause of Alzheimer’s. Misfoldings and mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) creates beta-amyloid, a longer and stickier version of the APP. Beta-amyloid is also produced at a higher rate than APP, leading to the formation of amyloid clumps—clumps are associated with disruption in cell communications, death of neurons, and symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Aducanumab, classified as a monoclonal antibody, is the first therapy to target plaques, reducing amyloid aggregates and preventing their buildup in the first place. The drug functions by recognizing and binding to beta-amyloid, effectively lowering the amount of protein that could combine to form the plaques. In fact, aducanumab clinical trials in all phases con-

sistently reported significant reduction in amyloid plaques. However, it is still uncertain whether reducing plaques will improve the conditions of patients with Alzheimer's. Aducanumab, created by the biotechnology company Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, did not walk a smooth path to approval. In March 2019, the drug was almost discontinued after two large late-stage clinical trials failed an interim analysis. While both trials showed decreased beta amyloid plaques, one trial called ENGAGE indicated negative results in the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB), implying that aducanumab was ineffective. In a later reevaluation

the FDA received backlash for approving the controversial drug. Many scientists, including members of the advisory committee, expressed that there was not enough conclusive evidence that the drug provided any benefits. Three members of the committee even resigned in protest after the approval was announced. The FDA finally recognized the problem of inadequate evidence only after approval and took a different approach. They moved aducanumab onto an accelerated approval program, an alternative pathway that permits drugs treating serious diseases to be used without definite signs of benefits. In aducanumab’s case, it targeted the biological

these groups. In fact, prominent hospitals, private insurers, and the Department of Veterans Affairs all deemed the drug risky and prohibited its use. Meanwhile, some like Eric Siemers, a drug-development consultant in Zionsville, Indiana, believe that aducanumab’s approval could lead the way to the revival of neuroscience research, especially with neurodegenerative disease. Many groups such as the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association welcome the new flexibility shown by the FDA and hope that the same flexibility would be directed towards other serious neurological diseases. However, the drug tominersen, created by Roche and Ionis

A controversial Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab, made its way to the market, but it isn’t so clear if it provides any cognitive benefits.

of the data, however, Biogen found that participants in the high dosage subset in the other trial, dubbed EMERGE, experienced a slight improvement in their cognitive functions. Following this event, the firm pursued an FDA approval for aducanumab. In June, the FDA disregarded the concerns from its advisory committee and approved aducanumab, basing their decision mostly on the drug’s ability to lower levels of amyloid plaques rather than its clinical benefits. Unsurprisingly,

causes of the disease, and Biogen needed to produce a postmarketing analysis by 2030 to prove the effectiveness of the drug. Despite the FDA’s second chance for aducanumab, its situation remains a topic of great controversy. Aside from the lack of concrete evidence supporting its efficacy, aducanumab has serious side effects. In clinical trials, 40 percent of the high dosage groups experienced brain swelling or bleeding. Nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea also occurred more frequently in

Pharmaceuticals, is an example of why flexibility in regulation could backfire. Tominersen was developed to treat Huntington’s disease, another neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s, and targeted the toxic version of the huntingtin protein responsible for symptoms, similar to aducanumab. While Tominersen demonstrated potential for treating Huntington’s at first, it was eventually discontinued in its phase III clinical trials when studies showed that the drug worsened patients’ conditions. Health experts argue that

what happened with Tominersen could happen to aducanumab, but at a much larger scale since it is on the market. Not only is the drug extremely expensive, at $56,000 a year, but it relies on false hope instead of scientific evidence, providing little to no benefits or, even worse, endangering a patient’s health. The drug’s approval also came with criticism of the amyloid cascade hypothesis, which states that the build-up of betaamyloid is the main disruptor of neuronal function and has been acting as the foundation for pharmaceutical research. Yet, the true function of amyloid in Alzheimer’s is still unclear. One theory states that amyloid is not a cause of Alzheimer’s but rather a response to the brain’s degeneration, while others mention that Alzheimer’s is a heterogeneous disease that includes several root causes besides betaamyloid aggregates, such as tau tangles, formed by aggregation of a protein called tau, and vascular abnormalities, changes in blood flow of the brain. Regardless of whether approving aducanumab was right, the scientific community has taken a big step. Aducanumab represents a bright light for Alzheimer’s patients who have never seen a glimmer of hope after being diagnosed with this terminal disease. If aducanumab is successful, it could set a precedent for other drugs treating serious diseases that need conditional approval. This optimism is also a double-edged sword, however. If it fails, the hopes of patients and scientists alike could be crushed, and therapy regulations would likely become stricter. In any case, the best thing to do is wish for aducanumab to be the miracle drug that paves a promising future for neurodegenerative diseases.

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The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

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Arts and Entertainment Literature By ANIKA AMIN Many feel as if they are living in unprecedented times. A hazy question mark floats around everything, whether with regard to job prospects, the housing market, or the fate of humanity itself. This sort of anxiety permeates the work of Irish literary wunderkind Sally Rooney, none the more so than in her most recent novel, “Beautiful World Where Are You?” released on September 7. Following the success of her first novel “Conversations with Friends” (2017) and the even greater success of her second, “Normal People” (2018), “Beautiful World Where Are You?” sets out to answer the very question posed in the title. Alternating between omniscient third person narration and an epistolary e-mail correspondence, “Beautiful World Where Are You?” follows a pair of best friends (Alice and Eileen) and their respective love interests. The book differs from Rooney’s other work, as the characters are already in their late 20s and early 30s, well into their careers, and past that fleeting precipice of youth in which you still think your dreams may very well be realized. For Alice, an idealistic and successful novelist with critical and commercial acclaim, achieving her dreams was the part that caused her to spiral. Following a mental breakdown and brief stint at the psychiatric hospital, Alice has fled to a small town near the ocean. She meets Felix, working a bluecollar warehouse job, and asks him to travel to Rome with her. Back in Dublin her old college roommate Eileen is recovering from a bad breakup, stuck in a dead-end job at a literary magazine. Her story follows her and Simon, a man she’s known since childhood, and their tricky relationship that has escaped definition ever since.

Zillenial Existential Dread It is difficult to describe “Beautiful World Where Are You” beyond that—critics and fans alike have noted the style of Rooney’s novels, a style that is best summed up as “No plot, just vibes.” Of course things happen, but it is largely a character study. They love, cry, fight, make up, and worry. They have philosophical conversations about the morality of spending one’s life loving, crying, fighting, making up, and worrying. Rooney’s writing may be extremely accessible and easy to read, but nevertheless, she demonstrates an incredible command over language. Her dialogue is at its best in “Beautiful World Where Are You” and it seems that she recently turned over a new leaf in comedic writing––there are actually some laugh-inducing moments in this book. Her signature lack of quotation marks and the direct and sparse narration invites readers to pass their own judgments and come to their own conclusions. But on the few occasions that there is a precise look into the heads of the characters, it is all the more impactful. Alice and Eileen are Rooney-typical leading ladies: prestigiously educated, painfully self-aware, and mildly unhinged. Smart enough to understand their poor decisions, but for whatever reason, powerless to stop. In between their romantic entanglements, they write to each other (in lengthy emails that utilize at least one SAT caliber vocabulary word per sentence, for some reason) about everything—their lives, their loves, and the Bronze Age Collapse. The epistolary chapters have garnered some criticism, perhaps rightfully so. Though providing valuable insight into the voices of the characters and acting as a sharp contrast to the eerie omniscient uncertainty of the other chapters, they are often dominated by philosophical

musings and existential anxieties that alternate between genuinely lovely and thought provoking, to ridiculously first-world, and— this is the most important— extremely meta. There is a large emphasis placed on a recurring question throughout the e-mails, first posed by Alice. In a world racked with suffering, the majority of the population living in what the girls would consider abject poverty, what do the things that Alice and Eileen concern themselves with even matter? The irony is obvious, maybe even prompting readers to wonder whether this is satirical or not. Where “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends” had lasting appeal and an ambiguous timeline— obviously taking place within the 21st century and post the 2008 economic downturn— you can’t really pinpoint it beyond that. The book is really a book of the current moment. Conversations on the state of modern conservatism, capitalism, and politics are abundant throughout. What makes it interesting is the fact that the book directly acknowledges its relation to time. In an e-mail to Alice, Eileen talks of how “there is no longer a neutral setting, there is only the timeline,” speaking of the manner in which everything, including art, is defined by its relation to the current period of historical crisis. By the end of the book, the pandemic is underway. Contemporary novels being chronically of their time is nothing new. English literary critic James Wood coined the term “Hysterical Realism” in 2000 in an effort to describe what he felt was a trend of novels characterized by absurd prose (the hysterical) and indepth discussion of social phenomenon (the realism). While Rooney’s writing could hardly be characterized as this—shorter and focused on the mundane—she attempts

to describe how the world works and how somebody felt about something. This wouldn’t be a problem if her social commentary wasn’t half-baked every single time. At the start, it seems like there is potential. Felix spends more hours working, only to make a fraction of what Alice does; Eileen has conversations with her fellow workers about the state of capitalism. There was the setup for something more. The issue is that the girls—Alice in particular, who is literally a millionaire—spend so much time reflecting upon their privileged place in the world, only to come to the conclusion that the only thing you can do is to savor the moment and cherish your loved ones. In a way, this is the best and worst thing about “Beautiful World Where Are You.” The conclusion is emotionally fulfilling and leaves you with a warm feeling because alongside all the self-indulgent moral debate, Alice and Eileen do genuinely build precious relationships with the boys and with each other. The reader is left happy that on the personal end, things more or less worked out. But for a book that presents itself as a political project—and it would be an entirely different matter if it never attempted to do so—it serves to reinforce the sense of psychological comfort that holds together the mental health of those who are “aware” of their privilege in the first world. From a literary point of view, the novel is moving and beautiful, and perhaps that is the point it tries to make, that that is all that matters. Funnily enough, I feel as if I’ve fallen victim to the very phenomenon described in the book: judging art relative to the timeline. But although I appreciate the irony, I can’t help but believe that the “lesson” of the book, so to speak, is the same stale rhetoric that has always been used to keep people comfortable and complacent.

Television “Only Murders in the Building” Kills It By ROXY PERAZZO A true-crime lover’s dream, “Only Murders in the Building” features a trio of New Yorkers simultaneously trying to solve a murder and get their big break into the world of podcasts. With a story that continuously peels back more and more layers of mystery, alongside a healthy dose of humor, the show infuses a classic murder mystery with comedy and, needless to say, kills it. “Only Murders in the Building” features the unexpected trio (both in real life and in the show) of neighbors Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short). After fellow tenant Tim Kono (Julian Cihi) dies mysteriously, they team up to solve what they believe was a murder. As they begin their investigation, Oliver also has the idea of creating the trio’s own true-crime podcast: “Only Murders in the Building.” An almost-serious murder

mystery is new ground for seasoned comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short. Charles’s more reserved personality and dedication to the investigation contrasts well with Oliver’s more outgoing nature and dedication to the podcast, keeping time with the classic dynamic of the two without taking the spotlight. On top of that, the show is even more of a stretch for popidol and Wizards of Waverly Place star Selena Gomez. Despite this, all three have great chemistry with each other on screen. The seasoned comics work well with Mabel, whose character is more serious and mysterious. Charles and Mabel connect on a shared reserved quality, while Mabel and Oliver connect over their constant dedication to the investigation. While the core trio is definitely unorthodox, something they are able to admit through humor, they work surprisingly well together. The age gap between the two men and Mabel provides

moments of cross-generational comedy, full of cheeky outdated references and explanations of modern slang. Despite not always fitting the serious tone, the comedy ties in well because it mainly consists of quick, witty banter between the characters that gets the viewers’ attention but isn’t drawn-out. Not only does the wit of the show shine through in the dialogue, but it also shows in the trio’s parody of a podcast team. While the plot and writing help balance the different aspects of the show, the overall structure also plays into the show’s appeal. The pacing is slow, but it works with the suspense of the mystery surrounding the characters, especially Mabel. From the start, she is presented as a very private, closed-off character, but as the episodes progress, we get more insight into her personal life and her past. The storylines and mysteries are balanced such that “Only Murders” never feels tedious which could easily

be the case with less skillful execution. And, as a result of the pacing, each episode has a chance to go in depth on a specific and engaging aspect of the investigation. Not only does the pacing play into the sense of mystery within the show, but the aesthetics are also perfectly catered to the tone. The muted, earthy color scheme along with the dim lighting give it a cozy and old-timey feel that adds to the curious nature of the characters and the investigation. The building’s aesthetics play into the sense of wealth that comes from the characters, something that could influence the case. A combination of classic murder mystery and modern comedy, “Only Murders in the Building” has it all. Full of twists and turns with witty humor included, the show is a genre-bending delight. The mystery is continuing to unfold with new episodes still coming out, and they’re sure to die for.

Playlist Songs to Fight a Black Bear To By THE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT DEPARTMENT Imagine this: you’re taking out the trash. The sky is orange in the moment of twilight where the shadows stretch across the ground like the fingers of a grasping hand, prodding and poking into winding alleys and empty back lots. You turn the corner. A black bear! You have a few seconds to pick a song as it charges you, but that’s not nearly enough time. Luckily A&E has your back!

Survival Tactics Joey Bada$$ feat. Capital Steez Hip-hop Samurai Sword The Microphones Noise Rock Notice Moe Shop Electronic Dance Something Soon Car Seat Headrest Indie Rock For a Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic Paramore Rock LEMONHEAD Tyler, the Creator feat. 42 Dugg Hip-hop Duel of the Fates John Williams Film Score Rip & Tear Mike Gordon Metal Blitzkrieg Bop The Ramones Punk Rock Black Skinhead Kanye West Hip-hop STFU! Rina Sawayama Indie Rock Don’t Call Me The Highwomen Country

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The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

Arts and Entertainment By LUCA ADEISHVILI In the present, sex is widely considered taboo. Netflix’s “Sex Education” takes this stigma and flips it on its head. The show is very open with its commentary on sex, with the humor and dialogue often being on the very vulgar and raunchy side. However, what differentiates “Sex Education” from other teen-oriented shows of a similar nature is that within the crude humor is a sincere discussion on issues pertaining to sex as well as relationships, identity, and mental health. At its core, “Sex Education” is a show full of wacky, heartfelt characters and some of the best writing and acting of any modern teen dramedy in recent history. The recently released third season maintains the strong writing and charming acting present in the previous two seasons as it tackles new issues, characters, and plotlines. By the start of season three, the sex therapy “clinic” that socially awkward teenager Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) and resident bad girl Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) ran together at Moordale Secondary School has ceased operations, with the pair being on shaky terms by the end of season two. Moordale

Music By LEVI SIMON It feels like Lil Nas X has been a constant of pop music discussion since his early 2019 breakout, riding a wave of controversy, meme marketing, and hype he generated with just a few well-timed social media posts and remixes. Between the passionate genre-categorization debate over the ubiquitous “Old Town Road,” the openly gay and graphic visuals for the lead singles to “Montero,” and flashy fashion statements, Nas X has whipped hit songs into one of the biggest superstar presences in the world. As such, his debut album has had astronomical expectations, and not just for chart success—“Montero” is Nas X’s opportunity to define himself as an artist. If he fails to find an artistic identity or land a few more catchy tunes, all of the shock tactics and marketing in the world can’t sustain his popularity, and he will go down in history as a gimmicky one-hit wonder who was in the right place at the right time. So, how did Lil Nas X fare on “Montero”? As with most pop records, it’s something of a mixed bag, both stylistically and qualitatively. None of the content reaches “bad” status per se, but disappointing squandrance of good ideas is a common thread throughout the album’s weaker moments. The broadest constant besides Nas X himself is producer duo Take a Daytrip, who, along with former XXXTentacion associate John Cunningham, produced the vast majority of “Montero.” Nas X is clearly comfortable with their inclusions; he has enough faith in their songwriting and production abilities that he interpolates melodies from their production in nearly half of the album, for better or worse. The instrumental palette is generally tasteful, featuring some impressive string, horn,

Moordale’s Finest Return for a Third Season High School is shaken up by the meantime, Maeve deals with arrival of a new headmistress, life on her own as she grapples Hope Haddon (Jemima Kirke), with a new relationship with as Headmaster Michael Groff parapalegic Isaac, her mother’s (Alistair Petrie) steps down due drug addiction, and her younger to a series of scandals. sister’s life in foster care. Maeve Once again, the show also goes through her own manages to juggle various development, as she learns to plotlines alongside genuine and be more open to the support of three-dimensional character others and attempts to rectify her development. Otis continues feelings regarding Otis. The side to grow as he deals with characters come to the forefront relationships—both new and of the show this season, as onceold—as he enters a relationship shallow characters are given with Moordale’s popular girl depth. Through her relationship Ruby Matthews (Mimi Keene) with Otis, Ruby (who was and attempts to reconcile with once the quintessential “queen Maeve. Similarly, Otis’s best bee”) is able to open up about friend Eric Offiong (Ncuti her insecurities regarding her Gatwa), and his boyfriend Adam family and her frugal home life. Groff (Connor Swindells) The cast of the show shines in navigate the intricacies of their their performances, as they all relationship and their identities. charismatically play each of their Eric confronts his sexuality, characters, with specifically how Emily Lu / The Spectator the performances it clashes with of Ncuti Gatwa the conservative and Connor culture of his Swindells parents’ home being particular country of highlights. Nigeria, Beyond while Adam the teenage deals with characters, his lasting both Jean insecurities and (Gillian struggles with Anderson), embracing his O t i s ’ s sexuality. mother, In the and former Headmaster

Groff struggle with issues regarding their relationships, as Jean handles her pregnancy and attempts to mend things between her and her boyfriend Jakob (Mikael Persbrandt). Throughout season three, Jean learns to be a better partner and mother as she attempts to overcome her deep-seated issues. Michael also learns to accept his past of abuse by his father and become a happier, more lively person after his divorce. Michael’s development this season toward a person attempting to atone for his past actions and find happiness is a welcome departure from his season two portrayal as a maniacal villain. Despite the strides he makes this season, much room remains for him to fix his strained relationship with his son, Adam. The overarching plotline of season three revolves around Moordale’s new headmistress, Hope Haddon, as she attempts to end Moordale’s reputation as the “sex school.” She quickly establishes herself as an unlikeable, tyrannical headmistress, limiting selfexpression and imposing an outdated sex education curriculum onto students. Hope is portrayed as cartoonishly evil throughout the season, and the attempts to humanize her by

depicting her struggle with her fertility and genuine concern about Moordale fail miserably when her actions are put into perspective: it is quite hard to redeem someone who restricts the individual expression of her students and is openly discriminatory to students such as Cal Bowman (Dua Saleh), a nonbinary student at Moordale. “Sex Education” season three is yet another entertaining entry in the series, as it explores new, complex issues and develops its characters in a compelling fashion. The season explores issues such as gender, grief, sex positivity, and love thoroughly and respectfully. “Sex Education” establishes its necessity as a show in today’s social and political climate, as it facilitates a necessary conversation on sex and various other social issues that pervade current discourse. It remains strong and direct in its messaging, not being afraid to convey its issues without any sugar coating. The show isn’t condescending in its message and naturally communicates its ideas through captivating characters and high-standard writing. “Sex Education” demonstrates that it is and will continue to be a significant, enthralling, and important piece of media for modern times.

Lil Nas X Proves Himself on “Montero” and piano arrangements updated for the modern pop landscape. Punchy kicks and bass, snappy claps and snares, peppy rhythm guitars, and futuristic synthesizers round out the instrumental side of “Montero,” with the last piece of the puzzle being Nas X’s contributions. Lyrically, he moves on from his spurious, contrived country boy roleplay into typical pop-rap territory. He not only celebrates and reflects on his success but also sings about young love and lust in the context of his sexuality. Not that Nas X was expected to craft a magnum opus that revealed some mystic wisdom, but considering his wholly unique place in the mainstream, lyrical depth is notably absent from his introspective moments. Nas X is at his best when he’s having fun. “Industry Baby” with Jack Harlow is the best Lil Nas track to date, with its bold, triumphant horn line standing as one of the most defining moments in pop this year. The other main boon of “Industry Baby” is its song structure, which avoids Nas X’s tendency to abort his best ideas without much development. Its robust three-and-a-half minute runtime is enough to leave a real impression. Conversely, the lead single title track is such a strong statement on its own that its fragmented two minute length is plenty satisfying. The Spanish style guitar and synth bass build a catchy foundation onto which Nas X gives some of his most explicitly gay and sexual lyrics. The bass on the chorus mirrors his melody, making the track feel front and center, immediate and unavoidable. Nas X is gay and here to stay. Sandwiched between those two highlights is “Dead Right Now,” which is almost as catchy as the aforementioned two. It’s more mellow, but the distinct processing on the horn section gives it an unmistakable identity.

“Life After Salem” is even more calm at first, but Nas X shows off his range as the track springs into a cleansing, passionate chorus, topped off with some anthemic guitar riffs. “Dolla Sign Slime” uses staccato horn arpeggios to achieve a similar grand effect as Young Thug’s “Hot” or J. Cole’s “Middle Child,” and a standout sexually charged feature verse from

tendency to underwrite. The paramount example of Nas X’s bad habit is “Void.” While it’s the longest track on “Montero,” the length is mostly devoted to a drawn out, sanitized acoustic guitar line and peppy kick pattern that sounds faux-inspirational and hokey. It hardly introduces any new ideas in its four minutes besides a slow and uninteresting string

Megan Thee Stallion elevates it to a key track. “Tales of Dominica” sees Nas X try his hand at some Post Malone and Kid Cudi-esque entrancing, downbeat, liquidy trap, and over it, he tells a brief and revealing story about his mother’s drug addiction. While he vaguely circles emotional resonance with his lyrics, he never zeroes in on any memorable imagery or deeper insights into how he’s changed from his experience. Despite the song’s overall quality, the lack of attention to detail on “Tales” is one of the clearest examples of his

drone. Lyrically, he articulates his feelings in the bluntest possible way: “I’d rather die than live with these feelings.” There’s nothing wrong with being direct, but the line feels out of place and unwarranted without sufficient buildup. “One of Me” completely wastes the piano contributions of gay pop legend Elton John with an egregious and clunky interpolation on the chorus and painfully basic lyrics about self doubt. Beyond his on-par lyrical proficiency, Nas X utilizes a multitude of techniques which

Joanna Meng / The Spectator

Television

are a few tweaks away from their most polished selves. “Scoop,” featuring Doja Cat, may have a decent tongue-in-cheek contribution from the guest rapper and a standout line from Nas X (“I ain’t talkin guns when I ask where your [EXPLETIVE] at”), but it sounds like a tired, pitcheddown retread of “Juicy,” an already mediocre track from Doja herself. “That’s What I Want” is a sweet, well-written pop rock number chronicling Nas X’s pursuit of a crush, but with heavily autotuned vocals and guitar pickups that lack any bite or smolder, the production feels so antiseptic and stripped of its edge that it has the appeal of chewed gum. “Lost in the Citadel” brings some pop punk energy, a solid melody and guitars with more body to them, but the rest of the production is underweight and lacking. Overall, Lil Nas X spends more time on hinting at interesting ideas rather than bringing them to fruition. The attempts to voice his insecurities and traumas show heart, and the forays into guitarbased music were a fitting change of pace, but Nas X’s decisions lack the refinement that would have made them what they deserved to be. Fortunately, while “Montero” might not show Lil Nas X at his full potential, he succeeded in creating an overall enjoyable project that sets him apart from his contemporaries. Not all of his stylistic flairs panned out perfectly, but that’s just the nature of a debut. He’s only 22 years old; he has plenty of time to smooth out the kinks, break even more records, and break the mold further in normalizing gay sexuality. “Montero” may not be consistent, or even worth revisiting besides its two or three major highlights, but culturally, it’s a landmark moment for one of the world’s biggest new stars. Lil Nas X has proved himself.

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

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Arts and Entertainment Fashion By SUAH CHUNG, CHRISTINE LIN, and SAMIRA ESHA Fashion’s biggest night made its extravagant return on… the second Monday of September? Despite being postponed due to the pandemic, the 2021 Met Gala—a fundraising gala for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute— made headlines. In honor of the Met exhibition “America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” this year’s prompt was to define a version of American Independence. Co-chaired by Grammywinning singer Billie Eilish, Academy-award-winning actor Timothee Chalamet, American inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, and tennis champion Naomi Osaka, the 2021 Met Gala attendees are remarkably different from previous years. Exemplified by the age range of the co-chairs themselves, some of whom made their Met debut at the gala, many of the invites this year have been offered to the younger side of the fashion and influential world spectrum. As seen with the attendance of figures like Emma Chamberlain (a fashion YouTuber), as well as other rising stars on the red carpet, there is a new focus on Gen-Z influencers, perhaps implying that American fashion lies in the next generation. Nonetheless, the ensemble of the co-chairs together create a striking image. Eilish continued her “Happier Than Ever” (2021) album aesthetic with a flowing, pink organzacorseted ball gown and platinum blonde curls reminiscent of American icon Marilyn Monroe. Chalamet sported a crisp white suit coat paired with white sweatpants and converse, a refreshing blend of formal and streetwear. Osaka turned heads in her eye-catching braided updo and unique Koi fishpatterned dress in silver, blue, and purple with floor-length, black ruffled sleeves—a tribute to both her Japanese and Haitian ancestry. Last but not least, Gorman turned heads in a strapless royal blue gown as the Statue of Liberty, reimagined. A vision in her own right, the crystals embedded in her dress and splatter of stars across her face truly achieved the American flag constellation in motion look she was inspired by. The symbolism of her silver laurel crown and a blue book, emblazoned with “Give Us Your Tired”

Met Gala 2021: A Lexicon of American… Confusion? instead of the stone tablet, paints a vivid picture of the new colossus and a new era of American fashion. On a red carpet filled with celebrities sporting sleek finger waves or retro curls, Old Hollywood glamour was by far the most popular interpretation of American independence. Some references admittedly missed the mark, with Kendall Jenner wearing a gossamer and embellished version of Audrey Hepburn’s iconic gown from “My Fair Lady” (1964) which, despite being a beautiful rendition, was a film that featured Hepburn in a British role. Gigi Hadid, another frequenter of the Gala, wore a strapless, white gown with a boned bodice, in an effort to opt for American “simplicity.” Though the gorgeous combination of her periwinkle eyeshadow and long rust-red ponytail updo made for a dramatic appearance, any relevance to American Independence that could have been incorporated became wasted potential. Barbie Ferriera also dazzled in a sparkling silver mini-dress with pearl detailing that draped off the shoulder and near her waist as well as pearl fringe trailing over the skirt paid an homage to the 1920s era flapper style. By far the best reference of the night was worn by Yara Shahidi, who honored the Americanborn French artist Josephine Baker in an ethereal beaded metallic gown complete with matching elbow-length gloves, and a golden tulle veil and train. Other attendees chose

decorated with a bejeweled dragon and long pastel green train. Chan’s hair was styled into ornate circular braids, channeling Wong’s character in “The Thief of Bagdad” (1940). Though the reimagined dragon itself was a beautiful touch, as it was stenciled from a Qing dynasty handscroll in the Met Museum, the outfit overall was a bit unfulfilling compared to the original, lacking the effortless elegance and powerful aura that make Wong’s fashion moments eye-catching today. The most striking moment of the night, however, went to Quannah Chasinghorse,

globe. In the center of his shirt were two men kissing, an image inspired by art from David Wojnarowics, an artist who passed away from AIDS in 1992. Other attendees sported direct quotes on their dresses for the audience to see: Cara Delevigne was notably spotted wearing a Dior vest with the message “PEG THE PATRIARCHY.” The most discussed political statement of the night was worn by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Her simple, off-theshoulder white gown, made by Aurora James, a Black American immigrant, had the words “Tax the Rich” written across it in large red

Cadence Li / The Spectator

an Indigenous model and activist. Empowered by her Native American heritage, Chasinghorse wore a flowing golden lamé dress, layers of turquoise jewelry crafted by Navajo artists, and facial tattoos called Yidįįłtoo. In a sphere that is newly welcoming to Indigenous

letters. Critics of Congresswoman Cortez found it ironic for her to be flaunting this statement at an event where ticket

Exemplified by the age range of the co-chairs themselves, some of whom made their Met debut at the gala, many of the invites this year have been offered to the younger side of the fashion and influential world spectrum. to embrace American multiculturalism, with the likes of Gemma Chan paying homage to Chinese American actress Anna May Wong’s iconic cheongsaminspired black gown with a golden dragon embroidered across the dress. A work of Paul Gurung, Chan’s ensemble included a modernized black mini dress

models and designers, she hopes to provide greater visibility to the beauty of her culture. In such polarizing times, politics were bound to make an appearance at the gala. Many guests let their outfits speak for themselves. One of these stars was actor Dan Levy, who wore a Loewe suit resembling the

prices range from $35,000 to $300,000. Another topic of the night was the controversial guest list of this year’s Met Gala. Known for its exclusivity, the Met Gala has recently begun inviting more and more “influencers’’ who gained their fame quickly and through non traditional routes.

TikTokkers Dixie D’amelio and Addison Rae are two examples of celebrities who rose to prominence almost overnight—making their attendance pale in comparison to highprofile gala regulars such as Rihanna or Jennifer Lopez. YouTuber Emma Chamberlain’s attendance was also much anticipated, and albeit glamorous, there was, unfortunately, nothing Americana about Chamberlain’s asymmetrical gold Louis Vuitton dress. In pleasant contrast, Dutch beauty Youtuber Nikkie de Jager’s turquoise tulle Edwin Oudshoorn gown was not only on par with the theme but a moving tribute to transgender activist Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson. While the inter pretative nature of each Met Gala theme is what makes the event so memorable, it is also what makes it so disappointing when celebrities miss the mark. Kim Kardashian arrived in a head-totoe black ensemble by Spanish brand Balenciaga, in which her reference to American independence was more confusing than the look itself. Others, like Grimes in her “Dune”inspired sheer gown, had just as vague references. In Grimes’s case, her message was only further clouded by her elven ears and western European sword replica. There were surprisingly few references to classic American films (outside of the ones done by British actress Audrey Hepburn), icons such as Jackie Kennedy, or artists such as Andy Warhol. For a country rich in pop culture, many looks felt underwhelming— even with their extravagance, like Lil Nas X’s gold robe and armor or Megan Fox’s Dracula-inspired red dress. Despite this year’s theme being largely up to designers’ interpretations, many outfits fell short of expectations: whether they were making lackluster statements or ignoring the theme altogether. The Met Gala may be fashion’s biggest night, but the 2021 Ball seemed confused about what it was trying to embody. Perhaps that’s the most American thing of all… not knowing what it means to be American.

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The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

Arts and Entertainment “Squid Game”: An Ugly Reflection Of Human Nature

Television You’re in a room with a playground. There are cotton candy clouds painted on blue walls, a sand pit, and a large animatronic girl far ahead, with her back facing you, flanked by men in red suits and black masks. You look around and see others wearing bright green tracksuits with flashing numbers. The girl begins to sing a song, sparking some long-lost memory within you. You know this game; you’ve played it before. “Red light, green light…” You begin to walk with the others until the girl turns around and you freeze. You scoff internally–– why a children’s game? Then, the person in front of you moves, a near imperceptible turn of the head, and a loud gunshot rings out. The person drops to the ground, blood staining the sand. Chaos ensues, and the game has begun. “Squid Game” is Netflix’s newest addition to its ever-growing collection of Korean dramas and is its most popular yet, being the first to top Netflix’s US charts. So what exactly is captivating about the show? The series revolves around a group of people who have fallen on desperate times and need a quick payout. When these individuals are offered the chance to play a few games to make almost $40 million by a mysterious benefactor, they jump at the opportunity. However, the games have a horrifying twist: if you lose, you die. After this revelation, “Squid Game” turns into a test of survival and luck with the only way out being to win. But as friendships form and bodies begin to pile up, the lengths the participants must go to win only grow more complicated. The show opens with a divorced father, Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae), who is drowning in debt and decides to participate in

Film By ASA MUHAMMAD The hood classic is dying, and I don’t know how to feel. In order to address this death, we should first define the relatively vague term of “the hood classic.” What’s so hood about the movie? What makes it classic? The hood classic really only has three parameters, two of which regard the production of a film: I. The hood classic must be made for the hood. II. The hood classic must be made by the hood (or at least have authentic ties to it). III. The hood classic must be embraced by the hood. A movie must meet all three of the requirements in order to be considered a hood classic, so movies like “Scarface” (1983) and “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” (2018) that have entered hood canon don’t count because they were made neither by the hood nor for the hood. Movies like any of the “Friday” sequels don’t count simply because the hood didn’t embrace them (for good reason). While it’s difficult to define the hood in concrete socioeconomic terms, you can imagine any traditionally underserved neighborhood that has multiple bodega-adjacent establishments with either plexiglass or barred windows. These establishments are rarely Black-owned (see “Menace II Society” (1993), “Do the Right Thing” (1989)). The distinction between the hood as a community and the Black community is

the games in order to be financially stable enough to share custody of his daughter. As he continues on in the games, he forms alliances with some of his fellow contestants, including Sae-Byeok (Hoyeon Jung), a tough North Korean refugee, Cho Sang-Woo (Park Hae Soo), a cunning businessman and Gi-Hun’s childhood friend, Oh Ilnam (Oh Young-soo), an old man who is dying of a brain tumor, and Abdul Ali (Anupam Tripathi), a naive immigrant from Pakistan. The pacing of the show starts off slow as it carefully sets up

more and more desperate. The games themselves are children’sfare like “Red Light, Green Light” and “Tug of War,” satirizing the innocent significance they played in our childhoods and contrasting them with the brutal reality of the present. The mystery of who is actually behind the games also intensifies as the games’ history and origin are revealed little by little through Joon Ho (Wi Ha-joon), an undercover police officer who is in charge of investigating the game. The characters are a high point of the show and add a surprising

its characters and introduces the audience to the premise of the game. But as the show progresses and the stakes get higher, things fall apart quickly. With each passing game, participants become

sentimentality to an otherwise action-filled show. In fact, the series goes quite in depth with each character’s story, especially with their unique motives for wanting to win the game. However, the game

Jasmine Wang / The Spectator

By NICOLE LIU

itself brings out the worst qualities in these characters. As a result, the audience is often torn between empathizing with the characters and hating them. The backstories of the characters also reflect presentday situations that many people in the real world find themselves in. For example, Ali is a Pakistani immigrant who is discriminated against in his workplace, a problem that is prevalent in today’s world. In addition, Sae-Byeok is a refugee who was separated from her family, which is another pressing global problem. The proximity that these stories have to reality further emphasizes how the game and the people serve as a reflection of humans and their willingness to survive in a harsh world. “Squid Game” also expertly displays the emerging relationships between the contestants and the quick bonds that are eventually fragmented by the pressure of the games. An uneasy trust blooms between the contestants despite their differences, encouraged by their determination to survive. Even through the tension, there are heartwarming moments between the members of the group as they work to keep each other alive and sane. The general unease surrounding the game is bolstered by the show’s color scheme and setting. When the players first agree to participate in the games, they wake up in an underground bunker, devoid of any furniture besides beds that are gradually taken away as more and more players die. The bunkbeds themselves resemble storage shelves in a warehouse, further emphasizing the expendability of the players once their usefulness in the games have run out. At the very end of the show, the nearly empty room serves as a melancholy reminder of those who had passed. The bunker room itself has a

very minimalistic, utilitarian gray scheme, while the games take place in bright pastel rooms, juxtaposing the harsh reality of the games with a cheery facade. Additionally, the show often incorporates vibrant block colors into its background, such as the green uniforms of the players and the red suits of the workers, or the pink bows on gift-resembling coffin boxes of those who have died playing the game. These colors convey a childlike feel, highly reminiscent of a playground. Throughout the show, the audience also sees glimpses of brightly colored stairs, which symbolize the contestants’ need to climb up in society from underground. These maze-like stairs further add to the absurdity and the disorienting feeling of the whole situation. “Squid Game” also boasts an especially memorable soundtrack. The songs add tremendously to the overall unease and childhood nostalgia of the show. One of the songs, “Way Back When,” contains a distinctive flute sound that harkens back to the innocence of youth. Since this particular song is often played as a motif during the dangerous games depicted in the show, the dissonance between the innocence of childhood and the current violent reality continues even in the music. A disturbing reflection of society, “Squid Game” is a thrilling dark satire that makes viewers question whether we too might resort to such lengths in a similar situation. Though the desperate lengths the characters go to in order to win may seem far-fetched at times, there are debtors and powerless people all around us, held stagnant by the economic and social structures that determine our lives. To what extent are these characters ourselves, and the Squid Game our world?

The Death of the Hood Classic important because the death of the hood classic seems to come at the heels of the golden age of Black cinema. The nineties were a particularly good era for hood film. John Singleton perfected the formula with his 1991 hit “Boyz in the Hood,” which addressed the primary demographic for what would become known as hood films in an original way. Singleton proved stories of inner-city violence could be portrayed on screen with a sense of nuance and tragedy and still be commercially viable. In the same year, “New Jack City” was released, chronicling the rise of the crack epidemic through the lens of an entrepreneurial drug dealer. While it did not serve as a glorification of the crack era, “New Jack City” represents the genesis of another hood classic formula: the Black mafia movie. These two developments galvanized the golden age of hood cinema (1991-2002), and subsequent movies generally fluctuated somewhere between these two archetypes, producing films like Tupac Shakur’s breakout acting role “Juice” (1992), the Hughes Brothers’ directorial debut “Menace II Society,” and rap album turned feature film “Paid in Full” (2002), which bookended the era. While John Singleton was able to pave the way for hood crime dramas, there were still stories of hood domesticity to be told, and so Singleton once again attempted to break barriers with his 1993 film, “Poetic Justice,” following a

romance between Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur. By 1995, the hood movie had solidified itself with gritty depictions of life in American ghettos, and so the ensemble comedy “Friday” was born as a much needed reprieve from the angst. While known for having launched Ice Cube’s controversial acting career, “Friday” also marks a turning point in film history. The hood movie could now be about anything, which led to more diverse offerings. “The Wood” (1999), directed by Rick Famuyiwa became a coming-of-age hood wedding movie, and Eminem’s “8 Mile” (2002) became the first white hood movie. The diversification of the hood movie is what ultimately led to its death. The 2000s bore a tragicmany hood movies, whilst yielding very few hood classics, but this diversification also led to new kinds of Black stories being told, and it was that genesis that brought us into the new age of Black film starting with “Precious” (2009). “Precious,” a film very much set in the hood, is an authentic depiction of the tragedy of a child fallen through the cracks of flawed welfare and education systems. The reason “Precious” isn’t a hood classic might just be because it’s too authentic. “Precious” is a hard-to-watch, upsettingly tragic movie. “Precious” serves to address the failings of our government, and of the community, but it does so without the reprieve of comedic relief or the exhilaration of gun violence, and so it joins the

pantheon of one of the greatest, and saddest hood films ever made, but without actually becoming a hood classic. It’s simply too inaccessible, not by virtue of any avant-garde storytelling, but by subject matter. While “Precious” serves to demonstrate an evolution in Black storytelling, it’s not a true bookend to the genre of the hood classic. The final hood classic is “Dope” (2015). Though not a commercial success, Rick Famuyiwa’s “Dope” is a final goodbye to hood films as a genre. It hits all the beats of a hood classic but all the while deconstructing the idea of a Black monolith. The film, featuring Pharrell-authored poppunk, centers around protagonist Malcolm who is in a band aptly named “Awwreeoh.” “Dope” was premiered in the indie movie circuit, meaning that while it is a hood classic, it marks as a departure from the formulaic hood movies of the past, not by actually departing from the formula, but by injecting it with new ideas on what the “hood” can be. Black artists notable for having pushed that boundary before join the film, including A$AP Rocky, aforementioned Pharrell Williams, and Sean Combs in his “Puff Daddy” era. The film is a love letter to the hoods of Los Angeles, but it also has white actor Blake Anderson, and that multifaceted approach is what ushered in a new era of Black filmmaking. The following year, Barry Jenkins released “Moonlight,” which also hits every hood classic trope (drugs, crime, poverty), only now

bolstered by long shots, color theory, and the overall arthouse aesthetic. It uses techniques foreign to its genre, and in doing so, alienates the hood classic demographic. That alienation in style makes it that much harder to sell the substance of the film. In a genre riddled with toxic masculinity, how can you address homosexuality and maintain the same audience? The movie is still definitely a Black coming of age story and so the question arises: who is it for? As Black cinema evolves, it brings with it new possibilities, but as new niches are explored, old audiences are left behind. Movies like “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” (2019) portray images of masculine friendship largely construed as homoerotic, and that theme of platonic intimacy is offputting for some, and through those themes a story of family and community is built. All the while, nothing really happens because it’s a character study. This diversity in storytelling is a good thing. The expansion of what a “Black” movie can be is really what “diversity” in Hollywood should be. There’s no function in having tons of hood movies/Black movies/ whatever if they’re all the same (Tyler Perry may disagree), and this evolution has led artists to explore their work outside the confines of one genre: “The Black Movie” or “The Hood Movie,” which have historically been interchangeable. As such, I haven’t found the time to mourn the death of the hood classic.

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

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Arts and Entertainment Yes, You Can Still Get Cheap *ss Lunch Near Stuy

Food Inflation sucks. Back in the fabled days of the “prepandemic” era, you could get a styrofoam tray overflowing with dry yellow rice, suspicious meat fragments, and scraps of wilted lettuce all smothered in “white sauce” for only a fiver. Oh, and most of the guys were nice enough to give you a free bottle of water if you flashed your student ID. But that was then, and this is now, and you won’t get much more than a snack if you aren’t willing to shill out at least seven bucks. The name “Cheap *ss Lunch” doesn’t really have the same ring to it anymore. But I’m determined. I strongly believe that you should still be able to get a satisfying, easy lunch in the mere forty minutes we get to leave our whiteboardpaneled cages. We’re just going to have to raise that “Cheap” bar a little bit, to a tenner. Luckily, one group of vendors which has survived the god-knows-how-many months of this plague are every Stuyvesant student’s favorites, the Halal Carts. I don’t feel it necessary to review everyone’s friend by the McDonalds, and I’ve previously gone over some of the more interesting offerings by the likes of the Green Indian cart and Cuisine K.

That leaves the subject of today’s article, “Bismilla Indian Biryani House,” the bright yellow cart reminiscent of a taxi in front of Whole Foods. It occupies a bit of a weird niche in the neighborhood food ecosystem––not quite cheap nor unique enough to be

his window for free with any platter, once a given but now a noteworthy luxury. The Curry (you can only get chicken, ignore the menu) is $7, and the Chicken Tikka is $8. The food comes nestled in one of those two-piece black and clear plastic containers

noteworthy. Their options include the obligatory chicken or lamb over rice and gyros, but as their name suggests they also offer Indian dishes like Kati rolls and Chicken Tikka. The cart is run by an easygoing baseball-capped fellow who will let you take a bottle of water or soda from the ice bags beneath

instead of styrofoam, so you can pretend you’re actually going to recycle. Sauce application is liberal here, so be forewarned—there will be a large white and red slick all over the yellow rice and chunks of meat, even reaching the drab lettuce, tomato bits, and half of a boiled egg. Upon opening the

Reya Miller / The Spectator

By MATTHEW WAGMAN

container, there is a muted but still fiery aroma, calling tastebuds forward to prepare for the feast that will follow. Common to both options is rice, which is dry toward the top and moist toward the bottom, uniformly soft as it takes in the flavors of the rest of the dish. The salad

peppery taste provokes a haze on your tongue. The Chicken Tikka is a dollar more but furnishes much more meat, with bright orange chunks bringing a distinct Tikka flavor but not hitting you over the head with it either. Both options are filling, especially with all of the rice, but the curry feels a bit lacking in the meat department once you’re halfway through, as the balance of remaining bites shifts decidedly toward rice and lettuce. This is not the greatest cart to ever grace the streets of New York, or even Tribeca. While your $7 will go farther at this cart than most others, Cuisine K and the Green Indian cart––both just down the block––still stand secure in their positions as the best halal in the area. Yet, by the time you’ve finished this ample meal, all the elements will have descended into a pleasing mishmash of warm spices and varying textures, embracing your tastebuds, filling your stomach, and confirming that your money, is surprisingly adequate, and more importantly your especially with its white time, has been well spent. sauce coating, providing a refreshing counterpoint to Directions: the spicy meat. The egg is Leave the bridge, almost rubbery but sweet walk a block down to the and silky on the tongue, McDonalds, and turn right. making for a nice addition to Walk two blocks and the the overall experience. cart will be there, in all its The chicken curry radioactive yellow glory, comes garnished with crisp outside of Whole Foods. crumbles of garlic, and its

Editors After a Long Day of Spectating

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

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

But How Are Your Lockers Holding Up? By KRISTA PROTEASA

“Tim, I swear, if one more pack of cereal gets shoved into my esophagus, I might combust. I can’t take it anymore.” “John, I totally get you. I’ve had this big AP Calc BC book in

there for t h r e e days, and I’m about to give out.” “I think I also have five-dayold coffee in here? Wait, I definitely don’t remember all these cookie crumbs being here. Wait, Tim, am I just a food locker?!” “HAHA, I think you’re right, John. The little delinquents only like you because you hide the food they can’t eat in class. That’s so funny. You’re

basically useless.” “Ok, I’m definitely not useless. You can’t just store postpractice Oreos anywhere. It is because of me that the plethora of children who swing by me always leave happy and sugarfilled.” “You’re going to bring the rats down here from the seventh floor.” “Oh, no, rats?” “You have it easy though, John. I have about four sophomores and three juniors in here. The amount of forgotten English books is too many to count. I can’t even breathe with all these binders. I’m not even sure how they all de-

Chloe Huang / The Spectator

This past year and some has been absolutely excruciating for your locker. Now that they have to endure their prepandemic abuse again, do you wonder what they’re up to? I’m glad you said yes (if you said no, you meant yes) because I’m about to lay down all the passing comments I’ve heard from these lockers. First Floor: “Priya, Priya, look!” “What’s up? OMG! The chorus kids aren’t singing today! I can finally take a nap! Stella, this is amazing. I might cry. Wait, Stella, why are they standing? Dang, they’re singing, huh? I want to leave this school. I’m so tired.” “Priya, you are a locker. You don’t get tired. Now get back to work.” Walking down that same hall: “Hey, Tim, why did two different people just put stuff inside me?” “You’ve been sold, Marc. That senior gave you away to a mere freshman because you were too ‘inconvenient.’” “Oh, Tim, that’s so upsetting. So what if I’m all the way near the River Staircase? I’m plenty convenient… right?” Second Floor: “Walter, if I somehow summon the powers of the locker overlord to let the next iced coffee that this junior puts in me fall over, will I get replaced?” “Yes.” “Fantastic.” Behind the senior bar: “Bri, this doesn’t look like a

senior sitting here.” “Yeah, that’s a sophomore who felt too entitled to stick with the sophomore bar.” “How preposterous. The current seniors got a few months of the sophomore bar before having this rite of passage ripped from them. The least the underclassmen could do is cope with their own spaces.” “I know, right? The seniors went through the torture of ninth-floor lockers, too. Ugh, I feel queasy just remembering there’s a sophomore year.” Down near Ms. Pedrick’s office, a particularly mind-boggling exchange: “June, this might be it. Today’s the day I get up and go get that fun-sized Milky Way I’ve been eyeing for the past 40 days and 40 nights.” “Jude, I don’t know who needs to tell you this, but you don’t have legs or hands.” “Hush, Jude. I got this.” Jude then proceeded to shake the whole locker unit so violently that it fell over. That’s why they had to put a water fountain in front of it—to prevent future large-scale mishaps such as this. Fourth Floor:

cided this was the place to be. You said it first, this is in the way of most of the fourth-floor traffic. What’s the appeal?” Ninth Floor: “This is so upsetting. Why am I always empty? Why don’t the freshmen love me? Am I that bad? I have a nice view, though. What is it, Saph? Tell

me why they laugh at those who visit my friends but refuse to give me a notebook, a binder, anything?” “Suck it up, Costa. You don’t get paid to complain.” “Saph, I don’t get paid at all. All I want is some love and appreciation. The amount of appreciative freshmen roaming this hall is dwindling; our time here will soon come to an end.” “Costa, you sound just like Marge from near the Hudson staircase. They’re always talking about the end of the world and whatnot.” Speaking of Marge from near the Hudson staircase: “Lem, if the world just ended right no—” “Marge, if you talk about the world ending one more time, I will use my nonexistent limbs and shove a club poster down your vents. Please. How can you talk about utter doom when the chemistry classrooms are right down the hall? This is, like, too much for my metal brain to handle. Like, you know how much the Sun would have to expand to engulf the Earth right now? I wish I could do that to end you. Leave me alone.” “Wait, Lem. Aren’t you a locker?” “You bring up a good point; a fabulous point, even.” All in all, I know you were so desperate to learn the whereabouts and howabouts of your precious metal containers. Now you know them. Be nice to them; they’re just trying their best. Until next time, keep your lockers clean and your attitudes toward them even cleaner.

Desk Vandalism: A New Messaging Medium By ESHAAL UBAID “Truth be told, I never was yours.” I sat back in relief. I was so edgy, so emo, and so in need of releasing my deep dark emotions that I resorted to scribbling this song lyric onto my desk in English class. I know, it sounds cringy. You wouldn’t understand. No one does. The day after that, I returned to class only to find a wonderful surprise—someone had written back! “The fear of falling apart.” Could it be that someone out there comprehends the depths of my very soul? How could anyone else know of a song so indie and underground? Excited, I wrote again, the flick of my expensive pen dispensing ink as dark as my spirit. “WOAH U LISTEN TO P!@TD 2? SO COOL WHATS UR FAVE RELEASE” I could hardly sleep that night. To know that someone, somehow, at some other point in the day, connected with me at such a deep level! That I could see their response the very next day! I hoped that the skull I drew was emo enough to initiate a conversation. Sure enough, over the next

few days, they continued responding. “Ms. Jackson. Wbu?” “SO UNDERRATED” “Doesn’t it have 92M views” “ur funny, random kid” My desk in English class was essentially my personal DMs with this kid, which is also really cool and quirky and old-school.

They went so far as to say my haircut looked nice. Wow. How dare this lad not show themself ? “Woah u have seen me? who are uuuuuu” My desperate desk message was only met by a disappointing, “no one important.” “so mean of you… i wanna meet you”

my mom was making stew tonight. Could this person have been watching from a window? Or maybe I slipped it in conversation, and they overheard? No, they said they SAW it. I couldn’t just let it rest. Desk vandal buddies don’t invade the privacy of other desk vandal buddies. It’s so not cool.

I was so edgy, so emo, and so in need of releasing my deep dark emotions that I resorted to scribbling this song lyric onto my desk in English class. Physically writing to someone is a genius idea that only I could have come up with. It’s a wonder that no one’s done it before! “You look nice with that short haircut.” I paused. What? They’ve seen me before? That’s odd. Why didn’t they say hi to someone so clearly on the same wavelength as them? I was almost offended. I thought we had a connection.

“nah. anyway, tell your mother i say hello and that the stew she’s cooking up looks great.” WHAT? Now, I’m not scared of things. I like creepy things. Creepy things are edgy, and liking them makes me super cool and edgy and #notlikeothergirls. But this was kind of weird, bro. Was my emo music buddy a… stalker? Only I knew that

“ayo? How do you know that?” “beats me. Also, quit drinking so much coffee, it’s not healthy.” “?????!!!!!!!!!??????” “lol you can find out a lot of things with just a name and birthday” Birthday? BIRTHDAY? Gosh, I should have expected this. It’s no wonder I had a

stalker. I mean, who could resist the urge to talk to someone so mysterious and quirky? But I couldn’t just let it slide. What other information did they have? My number? Social security number? That one fourthgrade school photo where I sneezed at the flash of the camera? It was too risky to just do nothing. So, I did the only rational thing an intellectual would do. I skipped all of my classes to see who occupied that very desk during the other periods. Period 1 was some band kid in a striped t-shirt. So not emo. Periods 2 and 3 were emptier than my heart. Period 4 was that one freshman who Naruto runs to P.E. at the warning bell. I was ready to give up. Disheartened, tired, and honestly just feeling dissatisfied with life, I turned to leave the hallway. Until I heard a snicker while dramatically walking down the stairs. “That’ll teach ya not to mess with school property.” My English teacher, who had been reading my personal essays all year, clicked her tongue, spun around on her heel, and left the floor, one black oil-ink pen in hand.

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

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Humor “THE SPECTATOR” CORRUPTION EXPOSED! By ETHAN LAM This isn’t a Humor article. I lied! Hold up, don’t stop reading. Hear me out, it’ll take just a minute. So, here I am, writing an article at too-late-in-themorning-a.m. o’clock. I’m past the deadline for my article and

my editors are severely disappointed in me. Anyway, I thought about all the time I’ve spent writing for The Spectator. And then thought about all of the ways I could’ve used that time instead, like procrastinating on my college essays. Which has led me to an introspective journey:

Secret Story of the K-Pop Revolution By ERICA CHEN and CYRUS CURSETJEE

Jessica Mui / The Spectator

Stuy Confessions #134340 When you think of clubs, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably some relaxing, smiling kids in a classroom, nice adjectives, and fun moments to destress. Yeah yeah, that's what they all say. But what if I said there was something darker lurking beneath the facade of it all? Something so dark and disturbing that it could literally cause the entire student body to go “boom!” and self-destruct? Nah, I’m joking, but it's not cap when I say that it will shake the entire Stuyvesant community

and proficiency in the Korean language (somehow). Infected victims became more inclined to sign up for the club (or at least cheer obnoxiously within the crowd). Though the effectiveness of these parasites has a strong correlation with the refinement of musical taste, the speaker procedure was executed with a surprisingly high conversion rate. Moving on, the motive of the dance choreographies isn’t as clean as the dance moves are. The seemingly innocent choreos made for each dance crew were specially prepared arm wiggles, step movements, and body rolls meant to hypnotize all those that were watching. It’s actually been

to the core. Did you know that the seemingly innocent dance crews and K-pop clubs use the Clubs & Pubs Fair to try to brainwash and get everyone on their side? Yep, you heard that right. All that fame and attention they got during the Clubs & Pubs Fair was thoroughly planned to try to make their evil plan blossom to the fullest. You might be wondering, how can you trust me? Well, simply put, you can’t, but if I disclose my name, it is likely that I will be subject to performing horribly cringy aegyo in front of the entire student body, and you’ll never hear from me again (I’ll be hiding somewhere under a rock nursing my terribly intense embarrassment). I strongly advise you to take this all seriously because this is most definitely real. Now, onto their plan. First, the purpose of those speakers wasn’t just to bombard the ears of all the students on the fourth floor with the blaringly loud K-pop beats. If you thought they were just another colloquial sound device, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Those speakers were actually transmitting radio waves infested by microscopic parasites that shimmied their way into the brains of unsuspecting bystanders that formed a very, very crowded circle around the dancers. These parasites would then undergo mitosis in the cerebellum, resulting in increased balance, muscle synchronization,

scientifically proven that certain motions will cause people to lose all sense of their rationality and mindlessly boggle. After gaining sufficient members and supporters, the K-pop club faces one final obstacle before they can execute a large-scale syndicate of the entire school. They must control the most powerful figure in Stuyvesant: Principal Yu. Eyewitnesses already caught him filming a dance performance during the fair. I also personally saw a piece of paper on his desk (I “accidentally” snuck into his office) illustrating his plan to pose as a student and attend all of the club meetings after school in the upcoming weeks. By then, he will already be a puppet emperor and K-pop shogunate. A totalitarian regime will be instated within Stuyvesant. “Standard K-pop Moves” will be a mandatory unit in every department’s curriculum; the plan will come to fruition. If you have not already deduced this, I myself am an exmember of Stuy K-pop. Only recently did I open my eyes to the reality of the situation. So now I urge you, my readers, time is of the essence. No matter the consequences, it is my moral obligation to share this story before Stuyvesant falls. Even if you never end up hearing from me again. I wish you all good luck in overcoming this. As for me, I’m graduating soon, so this no longer concerns me~ (senior, cat)

What am I even doing here? What’s the point of anything, really? Does anyone actually read my articles? Is life worth living? Why have people failed to recognize that 100 percent of violent crime in this solar system is committed on Earth? Ok, let’s rewind a little bit. Let’s focus on one question:

does anyone actually read my articles? Let’s take a survey. I- I promise I won’t cry at the results. Scan the QR code provided to prove that people read my articles and to give me validation. Okay, thanks, bye.

High School of the Sleeping-Dead By ANIKET ROY and ALEXANDER CHU A zombie outbreak occurred at Stuyvesant High School earlier today. At around 9:00 a.m., the police received a call from inside the school about “some kid that won’t stop asking if there were notes last night.” Calls continued to pour in with phrases like, “Can I sleep in the library? I’m really tired,” and “I’m really not prepared for this AP Bio test, man.” Within hours, the school was full of sluggish children drinking from Ferry’s coffee cups (Mr. Ferry hasn’t responded to our questions regarding the supply of these cups). Within hours, the school was placed under an indefinite lockdown to determine the source of the outbreak. According to lead CDC infectious disease scientist Dr. NoughItall, the cause seems to be the lack of sleep amongst students. “Because these students have well under the recommended amount of sleep per night and consume outrageous amounts of caffeine, they enter a trance-like state. I think it is safe to say that these kids are operating on autopilot, for the most part,” he said. Through his research, he was also able to name a Patient Zero. “Through this security camera footage, we can identify one student who seemed to be under the influence of the virus before anyone else.” This student has been identified as freshman Jimmy Thompson, who is known for dozing off during class. It is hypothesized that due to the AP Biology

test he was set to take today, Jimmy to dodge and weave through the studied all night. His exasperation horde to avoid getting infected. and misery mutated into a virus There’s this coffee-colored mist that he unknowingly carried to in the air, and students seem to school. do nothing but wander the halls, Close observation reveals looking for someone to ‘give them that symptoms of this vi- r u s notes’ or to ‘help them out with include extreme drowsitheir homework.’ I managed to ness, frequent find some students and teachers yawning, and hiding away in a classroom, hidmumbling phrasing from the chaos in the halles like, “Did we way. They told me that they have homemanaged to survive by ‘doing work today?” or the zombies’ homework’ and “Does anyone ‘promising to tell the teacher have the notes they were in the bathroom’ from yesterday?” to keep the zombies at bay,” Students infecthe said. ed with this virus To this very moment, spread it through Stuyvesant High School is touch, and constill under lockdown, retact with a ceiving FEMA food nor mal, and water airdrops. non-afBoth are delivered fected through windows student into classrooms q u i c k l y saps all where trapped students of their energy and and teachers remain, still workspirit, simultaneously ing through the assignments of materializing a Ferry’s their zombified peers. Students coffee cup in their outside during this outbreak hand. are said to be attending BrookUsing bureaucratlyn Technical High School. ic red tape and three In response to the lack of health screenings, we sleep that caused the zombie managed to send one outbreak, Principal Seung Yu, of our reportwho survived by hiders, Steve Aging in a locker, simply german, into mumbled, “Dammit, Christina Jiang / The Spectator Stuyvesant I knew coming to this High School with a cameraman school was a bad idea. Should’ve to give an update on the situation. just listened to Contreras’s warning “There were so many zombies. about ‘sleep-deprived zombies.’ Every hallway was filled with stu- I thought he was just pulling my dents like a passing period. I had leg.”

Theater Kids Form Ethnostate By OLIVER HOLLMANN Terror and outrage have struck the student body of Stuyvesant as the demented and depraved group of individuals known as “Theater Kids” formed a republic and emancipated themselves from the school. The formation of what people are calling an “unholy union” has brought misery and horror to the other, non-self-hating students. It all started last week when a mob of blue-haired, spontaneously-harmonizing dramatists overran the Student Union (SU) room. Shock spread quickly since the theater kids usually channeled their built-up rage and insecurity through song rather than brutal violence. Rumors of breakdowns at auditions and outrage due to “budget cuts” in the fall musical clearly couldn’t prepare anyone for the type of madness those heathens incited. When asked about the coup, most SU members refused to answer, with many saying the devastation was too overwhelming to recount. One brave soul racked their mind, eventually uttering, “Their kick line, their ungodly overacting… we couldn’t hold them. It was too much. Like, emotionally as well as physically,

you know?” The vicious actors then “staged” a Les Miserables-esque brigade, their painfully discordant voices emanating throughout the school halls, to the student body’s displeasure. A significant portion of the SU was taken hostage, some tortured by theater kids unafraid of out-of-tune belting. After tense negotiations with a frightened Mr. Polazzo as an intermediary, ransom in costumes and props was paid to the merciless theater kids. After this demand was answered, the feared troupe moved westward toward the theater, like salmon swimming back to their birthplace. However, after hearing of this hostile takeover, the valiant members of The Spectator Humor Department formed a defensive pact with the Speech and Debate Team, the latter remarking, “They’re just us but gay!” and the former stating, “WE are the only disgruntled loudmouths to spew hackneyed lines!” This newly formed team, anticipating movement by the theater kids, erected a fortified stronghold outside the theater’s lower entrance. Unfortunately for this brave band, the devious STC came forth through the backstage entrance of the theater and ambushed their adversaries

from behind. With a great number of theater kids moving at once, the SU to theater traverse is now said to be the bloodiest stage transition in history. After the massacre, the theater kids retreated back into their den of iniquity. Following this horrific series of events, STC's acronym was hastily changed from “Stuyvesant Theater Community” to “Student Theater Coalition” and was subsequently emancipated from the school. Since then, an excessive amount of show tunes have come from the theater. “Not very good,” Ms. Shamazov remarked. Yet it is still unknown what utter inanities go on beyond those doors. Though nothing has been done yet, plans are being made in a partnership between the SU and the collective faculty to form a joint operation to take down the newly-formed STC. Hopefully, this effort will prove successful, though worries spread that the theater kids might expand to the rest of the school and institute their debaucherous rule. Hey, if it happened at LaGuardia, it could happen here too. However, the theater kids’ self-isolation may be their downfall; due to the newfound deprivation of both caffeine and parental support, they will not likely last very long.

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Humor New Student at Stuy, Y/N By EZRA LEE Hey everyone! Thanks for reading my fanfic. I’ll be posting more chapters if you all want. Make sure to vote to encourage me to keep writing these chapters. Thanks, and enjoy! *** You walk across the Tribeca Bridge for the first time as you watch the other students frantically filling out their health screenings and taking out their student IDs. It’s the first time you moved out of your small rural town where all of your friends lived. You see hundreds of Stuyvesant students on the bridge—many of them studying while others stare at their phones. As you walk into the school building, a random girl stops you. Random girl: Hey! Are you Y/N? I think you’re supposed to be with me. Y/N: Who are you? How do you know my name? Random girl: Hi, I’m Karen! I think I’m supposed to be your tour guide if you're the new student. Welcome to Stuy! I’m surprised to hear that you got into this school. We usually don’t accept people in the middle of the year, especially sophomores. Y/N: Yeah, I got in because my father has connections with an administrator. Karen: Oh… nepotism? I mean, that’s some good Spec content. We can start our tour before second period starts. You both walk past the weird senior hangout section and you pretend to listen to Karen as she rambles on about the 11th-floor pool until you notice this kid by the “senior atrium,” or whatever they call it. They’re wearing all black and reading a book. Looks like a thriller. They’re… kinda hot. Y/N: Karen, who’s that student by the window? Karen: Hm, I think that’s

(pick your crush or something idk). They’re a senior and notorious for being a pretty antisocial “bad boy” type. There was a rumor that they beat up a senior when they were just a freshman. You should steer clear of them. Honestly, that’s kinda sexy. It’s good to know that there’s only a two-year gap between you two, or else you would’ve given up on them by now. #1 Love Interest suddenly looks up from their book and stares directly at you. They walk up to you, lean against the nearby wall, and push their long, silky hair back slowly and seductively. #1 Love Interest: Hey, are you the new student? Y/N: Y-yeah. I’m Y/N. #1 Love Interest: You busy tonight? My friend Brian Moran is holding a crazy study session tonight at Whole Foods. It’s gonna be lit. You should come. Y/N: Um… I’ll think about it. They nod, wink, and walk back to read their book. You and Karen hurriedly walk past the second-floor bathrooms. Karen: Oh my god, #1 Love Interest personally invited you to the study group! The only thing I was ever invited to was the Big Sib-Little Sib dance. You look at her with a confused look but decide not to ask any more questions. #1 Love Interest was just so dreamy. Their sexy voice and fierce, passionate eyes were all you could think about. You both continue walking until another stranger approaches. Stranger: Hey Karen! What’re you doing right now? Karen: Oh, hey (pick a second crush’s name you have. DON’T LIE I KNOW YOU HAVE ONE)! Y/N is a new student at Stuy, and I’m just helping them tour the school. They look at you with a bright smile. You feel your face flush.

#2 Love Interest: I hope you like our school so far! I’m #2 Love Interest, a junior. If you have any questions, let me know! They’re wearing red Spectator merch. Y/N: Yeah, I’ll consider it. Shoot. They’re kinda cute, too. #2 Love interest: Great, gotta get back to APUSH. Bye! They’re even taking AP classes! That is so, so attractive. Karen stares at you as you watch them walk away for an uncomfortable amount of time. Karen: Heyyyy you like them or what? Y/N: Hell no. Karen: Sureee whatever you say. I heard they’re going to the study party too… Y/N: Whatever, I’ll consider it. Karen: Ok, let me know when you decide ‘cause I’m too scared to go alone. She skips ahead and continues as you blank out the entire tour. People at Stuy are interesting… *** For the rest of the day, you sit in the back corner of the classroom, invisible to others so no one talks to you. But these nerds don’t know how to socialize anyway. As you enter the cafeteria for lunch, you text Karen through Messenger. You thought Facebook was for boomers, but apparently, all the students here use it to communicate. As you walk to find a table, you realize that you have no friends and that Karen is the only obligatory friend you have, and that Stuy kids are strange. Some are doing work. Others are huddled around a singular Nintendo Switch screaming at each other. Some upperclassmen with shirts reading “Big Sibs” are bullying the poor freshman in the corner. You grudgingly sit on the radiator alone. This

sucks, and your butt is burning. You’re eating your sad mozzarella sticks when you see a large shadow on the floor and feel a tap on your shoulder. You look up to see #2 Love Interest staring at you. #2 Love Interest: Hey you’re Y/N, right? Wanna come sit with me and my friends? You both walk to the table with their friends. As you settle in, you start to notice more things about #2 Love Interest. Their kissable, soft, glossy lips and that puffy, soft hair you’d die to touch and rub your face on. Exactly your type. You zone out as you stare at them. But suddenly #2 Love Interest turns and looks at you… actually for a long time. #2 Love Interest: Y/N don’t move. They get out of their chair and lean towards you. Your heads are getting closer. You see their lips getting closer to yours. You close your eyes and lean your body slightly. Are they about to kiss you? #2 Love Interest: Got it! You open your eyes to see them holding a napkin with marinara sauce. #2 Love Interest: You got some of the sauce on your shirt. But I got it now! You blush bright red. What were you thinking? Did you really think #2 Love Interest was going to kiss you? You should’ve known that Stuy students don’t have romantic game. #2 Love Interest: Oh wait, I think there’s some sauce on your lips. They reach out to wipe your face when suddenly #1 Love Interest steps in between you two and grabs #2 Love Interest’s arm. #1 Love Interest: Don’t touch Y/N again or you’ll deal with me. The cafeteria becomes silent. You see #1 Love Interest holding a fist tightly, ready to

swing a punch. Y/N: Hey hey, this is nothing to fight over. I’ll just wipe the sauce off by myself. You grab a wipe. #1 Love Interest looks at you, glares at #2 Love Interest, and walks away. Silence. Y/N: Um hey, I gotta get to the next class. See you later. #2 Love Interest: Oh okay, bye. You quickly pick up your trash and try to quickly throw everything out, but a student who claims to be from the Environmental Club tells you to recycle properly. Ugh, that was so embarrassing… but hey, two of the hottest students at Stuy were fighting over you. *** After school ends, you attempt to go to Whole Foods using Google Maps. It was only after 30 minutes of wandering helplessly and asking for directions on the Dear Incoming Facebook group that you found out there was a cafe on the second floor. What kind of supermarket has an upstairs?! Karen: Y/N YOU’RE HERE! You see Karen all tidied up with a fresh pair of clothing, cheery as ever. Y/N: You’re looking good today. Who are you trying to impress at Whole Foods? Karen: Don’t be ridiculous, I’m just trying something new from the two Spec hoodies I cycle through. Let’s go. #2 Love Interest said they would be at the back, saving us a seat. As you walk up the staircase, you see someone familiar. They kinda look like #1 Love Interest, but you can’t tell. Tonight is gonna be… interesting. *** I hope you all enjoyed it! Make sure to comment and share this story with your friends!! Next episode will be posted soon.

Stuyvesant’s Newest Clubs By LIESEL WONG With the end of the iconic Clubs and Pubs fair, our beloved Stuyvesant community is now burgeoning with new clubs, both large and small, active and defunct. Here is a sample of some of the truly incredible extracurriculars advertised to the student body. Students Against Minutes Students Against Minutes is protesting one of the most important issues of our generation: minutes. An anonymous member laments, “Why must we participate in this punishment? Why must we suffer through pirated clips of the Matrix? How many random news articles snatched from the New York Times will be shared before the English department relents? OUR SUFFERING DOES NOT NEED TO CONTINUE!” To protest Minutes, students T-posed in front of English classrooms, lacing food they had brought with laxatives and attempting to launch “Minutes folders” into the Hudson River.

Many of these valiant resistors were apprehended by the school, yet the club is still largely functioning and continuing with its various escapades. Square Dancing Club The Square Dancing Club hopes to teach the American style of group dancing. Com-

teachers.

and gives out bubble tea.

TwoSet Violin Club TwoSet Violin, run by Brett Yang and Eddy Chen, is the preeminent classical music YouTube channel. Their instruments of choice include rubber chickens, children’s music toys, and sometimes violins. The club was

Disgruntled Students League Disgruntled Students League is dedicated to airing the concerns of Stuyvesant students. On the club’s website at www. facebook.com/StuyvesantConfessions, students of all backgrounds lament their experienc-

Students Against Minutes is protesting one of the most important issues of our generation: minutes. plete with show-stopping tunes like “Chicken Reel Square Dance” by Square Dance Heroes and “Buffalo Gal” by Zip Wilson, members learn to appreciate the strong community bond and complex moves associated with the dance style. Though the club has existed since the school's inception, it has yet to gain a single member. The club is mostly run by P.E.

founded by the masses of TwoSet Violin fans running rampant around the first floor. Members play the “Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto” by Brett Yang at every meeting. The club focuses on contacting TwoSet through every conceivable social media platform. Most messages threaten to sacrifice the sacrilegious violas in the instrument room until TwoSet visits Stuyvesant

es. During meetings, club leaders express complaints through a Google Slides presentation. Notable meetings include “Talos Crashing when Schedules are Released (part 50),” “Let’s Talk About the Lack of Toilet Paper,” and “The MTA: a Menace to Society.” Club President Mickey Mouse, who wrote that the club has 2400 members on his Common Application, said, “If you

think about it, all Stuyvesant students are members of this club. We all complain and love complaining!'' Liesel Wong Stan Club: Liesel Yi Xian Wong was born on October 20, 2004, at exactly 12:51 a.m. When she came into this world, a ray of light exploded from the hospital room and was witnessed across all seven continents. At the age of one, she moved her entire family from California to New York City. After graduating from middle school, she was named heir to the throne of Carrotland, a country in Antarctica. Since then, she has considered (and then rethought) achieving world peace, sailed around the world in her dreams, saved 100 people in Operation, and flown a battleship at the Star Wars Virtual Reality theme park. In her free time, she attends Stuyvesant High School. Whether you play League or eat plain fries, Stuyvesant has a club for you! We’re a specialized school for a reason.

The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

Page 23

Sports NBA

The Bens Simmons Situation second round. Many people picked the 76ers to win the series in five or six games. They simply had more star power (center Joel Embiid is more talented than any Hawks player). What fans hadn’t anticipated was for Simmons to play like a coward. He looked like he didn’t want the ball, and his averages for that series were an anemic line of 10 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Fans can expect this production from a role player, but not one of the leaders of a team and a top draft pick. The series went all the way to Game 7, with Embiid having great games in order to get there, and Philly had a chance to eliminate the Hawks on their home floor.

By JOHAN WIELAARD If you’ve been following the National Basketball Association (NBA) in recent years, you probably know who Ben Simmons is. He was the number one pick in the 2016 draft, 2018 Rookie of the Year, and widely considered one of the best defenders and passers in the league. He’s also known as one of the worst shooters in the league, becoming the butt of jokes and subject of memes across social media. In the 2021 Playoffs, Simmons showed us that his shooting problems are too large to ignore. The top seeded Philadelphia 76ers faced off against the fifth seeded Atlanta Hawks in the

The 76ers led the game most of the way throughout, but, in the fourth quarter, the Hawks made a surge with their efficient three-point shooting. With around three minutes remaining, Simmons passed up an open dunk over the much smaller Trae Young and sent his teammate to the line. That moment right there summed up Simmons’s entire series: he was scared of the moment, and he passed up an open dunk on his home court. After the game, 76ers coach Doc Rivers said he didn’t know if Simmons could be a championship point guard on their team. Some may see this remark as inappropriate coming from a coach, but others see it as motivation.

Simmons’s reaction has been underwhelming at best. He recently announced that he never wants to play in a 76ers uniform again, and he is not showing up for this year’s training camp. Simmons is not doing his job. You get paid millions to play basketball, so play it. The ball is quite literally in Simmons’s court. The best course of action now is for him to respond with aggression (on the court), come back a different man, and remind the fans that he can be their championship point guard. Where do the Sixers go from here? Simmons and General Manager Daryl Morey both look to be standing their ground. Simmons doesn’t want

to play, and Morey doesn’t want to trade him for less than he is worth. A possible trade could be Simmons for the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving. The Nets have enough offensive star power with Kevin Durant and James Harden, and Simmons could be the defensive anchor who sets them up for the future and makes them better. For the 76ers, Irving could be an extremely skilled point guard with elite ball handling, shooting, and finishing, the perfect pick and roll partner for Embiid. However, it appears as though this trade will likely not go through. All fans can hope is that Simmons bucks up and comes back as the player they expect him to be.

Football

New Season, New Challenges for the Peglegs Down 22-14 during the final seconds of regulation, the Stuyvesant Peglegs knew that they had one last shot to score and force the game into overtime. Inside the Sheepshead Bay Sharks’ 10-yard line and with parents, students, and coaches nervously watching from the sidelines, the Peglegs broke out of their huddle and lined up against their opponents. Junior quarterback Adam Sherer took his position directly behind the center. At his call, Sherer received the snap and ran it by himself down the middle, weaving and dodging opponents as he battled his way toward the endzone for a touchdown. Now, all the Peglegs needed was a two-point conversion to tie the game and send it into overtime. The ball was snapped once again and tossed back to junior running back Sam Glusker, who ran it down the right crease into the endzone. With this game-tying play, the Peglegs forced their opponents, the undefeated Sheepshead Bay Sharks, into OT during their game on October 1. Though they ultimately fell short in a thrilling double overtime finish, the game was indicative of the Peglegs’ resilience and positive start to the season. Down 22-8 in the third quarter, the

Peglegs were persistent and slowly worked play-by-play to get back into the game against the Sharks, one of the top teams in the division. “We got another week of practice ahead of us. We’re going to practice hard [and] practice long. This is the topranked team in the division. Next

key starters due to injuries. Senior running back George Lin, who was essential to the Peglegs’ rushing game, is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, and co-captain and senior wide receiver Tolan Aksay suffered a dislocated shoulder, which has limited his playing time.

week should be better,” Sherer said. Their competitiveness against the top-ranked opposing team was especially impressive considering that the Peglegs were missing several

These injuries challenged the depth of the team and forced reserves to make plays in situations that they weren’t accustomed to. Fortunately, this obstacle wasn’t a major setback

Zifei Zhao / The Spectator

By TAEE CHI and JULIAN DURAN

for the Peglegs. “We’re a really deep team, so we can fill those roles pretty well […] We’ll continue to work just as hard with whoever we have,” Glusker said. This positive outlook is one that resonates among all the players on the team. Given the daunting task of facing two undefeated teams in backto-back weeks, the Peglegs remained focused and driven. Whether facing off against the Sheepshead Bay Sharks team this week or the Dewitt Clinton team in the previous game, the mindset remained the same: battle on every snap. “We try to be a team with a short memory. We go into every drive [and] every snap like it’s 0-0,” Glusker said. The Peglegs currently stand with a 1-2 record after their loss to Sheepshead Bay High. The Peglegs’ first PSAL game in nearly two years was against William E. Grady High School, which saw the Peglegs dominate their opponents 22-0. The team played well on offense, torching Grady’s defense for 119 passing yards and 146 yards on the ground. The biggest highlight of the game was senior wide receiver Phillip Phan’s 61-yard touchdown reception. His fellow senior and co-captain William Woodruff also played a key role in the passing game, tallying five receptions for 57 yards. On the other side of the ball, Woodruff significantly led

the defense with nine tackles (three of which were for a loss). Lin and senior Yaqin Rahman also compiled tackles for loss, which helped lead the Peglegs to a commanding win. The Peglegs’ second game against Dewitt Clinton highlighted the team’s aptitude for passing the ball as they tallied a total of 103 passing yards with 7.92 passing yards per play. Woodruff once again led the team in total receiving yards, tallying 87 yards from three receptions. Where the team fell short, however, was in total rushing yards (30 compared to their opponent’s 318). Though the final score indicated a lopsided match, the Peglegs were hanging with the opposing team and making it a closely contested game entering the fourth quarter. “Our defense is solid. We held Clinton to eight points in the first half,” Phan said. During a time when the players can easily become unmotivated and distracted, the Peglegs have done a good job staying determined and working on improving in all aspects of their game. With the overall positive start to the season, the team is optimistic about its remaining games. “We expect to win the remaining games in the regular season, and we plan on carrying that momentum into the playoffs. From there, we’ll see what happens,” Phan said.

Girls’ Soccer

The Mimbas Are Prancing Their Way to Victory After leading for three quarters of the game against one of its rivals, Beacon High School, the Mimbas, the Stuyvesant girls’ varsity soccer team, conceded the equalizing goal. It may have been easy for the Mimbas, who had dominated possession throughout the game, to just fold and play for a draw. However, they refused to give in. With eight minutes left and anxiety exuding from the Stuyvesant sideline, the ball took a deflection off an errant pass into the box. Junior and co-captain Susie McKnight was there to clean up the rebound and bury the ball into the back of the net for the game-winning goal. Going into the season, the Mimbas were thrilled to finally get back onto the field together. After a COVID-19-ridden fall saw the Mimbas lose out on their season last year, they were excited to compete on the pitch once again. However, due to the unusual nature of last season, the Mimbas needed time to adjust to their changes in personnel. Despite a strong returning core led by leading goal-scorer and senior co-captain Lucinda Bryce, the Mimbas have only nine upperclassmen, who had limited varsity experience as underclassmen. Nine upperclassmen is the lowest

count for the Mimbas in many years. Even with their expected rust, the girls were happy that they came out of the gates strong and put together an impressive showing in their first four matches. They ended September with a 2-1 record. Despite their strong start, which has the Mimbas fifth in their 13-team Manhattan A division, they still recognize that their weaknesses, specifically defensively, must be corrected in order to become the team they want to be. In two of their first three matches, particularly against Lab Museum United and LaGuardia High School, the Mimbas were able to use their offensive firepower to take commanding leads. Led by Bryce, who is attempting to follow up her 17-goal sophomore year campaign, with seven goals through help from McKnight, senior Shivali Korgaonkar, and junior Alessandra Colagreco-Knight, the Mimbas were able to outscore their opponents 12-1 over their first two wins. The team utilized its speed and athleticism to blow out the opposition. Between the games against LaGuardia and Lab, the Mimbas were tested defensively for the first time in the season against Bard High School. The game started out rocky. Defensive lapses, specifically around the box, and the Mimbas’ tendency to concede corners created easy

scoring chances for Bard. Though the game ended in a 3-1 loss, the Mimbas built off their strong second half performance in order to learn

mental approach to the game in order to provide an example for the underclassmen. The captains have been encouraging the team

and improve. “Right now our biggest weaknesses are transition defense and connecting passes from the defense to the midfield […] Against Bard, we conceded too many corners,” Bryce said. Her comments are reflected in the fact that the team allowed a season-high three goals against Bard. The upperclassmen on the team also want to instill a stronger

to be stronger on the ball and more resilient in chasing it. “[Bard] beat us to every 50/50 ball […] We need to be more aggressive,” McKnight said. Winning possession for the team will allow more time to construct a strong attack while limiting the time opponents have to create offensive opportunities. The possession battle, often determined by the aforementioned 50/50 balls, is

Francesca Nemati / The Spectator

By ETHAN KIRSCHNER and BEN HAMEL

a strong indicator of which team is controlling the game. The Mimbas seemed to carry their captains’ message into their game against Bronx Science High School. While they were hoping for a win, the game ended in a 1-1 tie. However, the team’s defensive performance certainly represented a step in the right direction. The young defensive line for the Mimbas stepped up to the task against a formidable opponent, which was a success for the team. In their past two contests, against the quality Hunter College High School and Beacon High School teams, the up-and-down nature of the season continued. It seemed that the team may have taken a step back with the loss to Bard. But, the team showed its progress in a 2-1 win against reigning city champion Beacon. For its confidence and playoff standing, the Beacon victory meant a lot to the team. As the season progresses, the Mimbas will continue to gain experience, particularly in the defensive end. As inexperienced defenders adapt to the pace of high school soccer and pick up on the tendencies of opponents’ strikers, they will continue to improve. The Mimbas hope to continue to make history and improve defensive play into the playoffs.

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The Spectator ● October 15, 2021

THE SPECTATOR SPORTS Boys’ Soccer

A Strong Start for the Peglegs The game had dragged on for more hours than goals on the scoreboard. It certainly seemed to both spectators and the team itself that the boys’ soccer Peglegs’ grueling trial against the High School for Math, Science, and Engineering (HSMSE) would end in a tie. As overtime began, the team stepped onto the field with low hopes and high tensions. But those feelings didn’t stop them from giving the game their all. The Peglegs tapped into a supply of energy, and co-captain and senior Mathias Melucci moved the ball down the wing, setting up junior Ryan Petrauskas for the header that won the game within one minute of overtime. It was here, with their first win under the belt, that the Peglegs’ promising season really began. After over a year away from the sport, the Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s boys’ varsity soccer team, has returned with a winning mentality. Led by cocaptains and seniors Benjamin Hamel, Melucci, and Leo Rahn, the Peglegs have started off the season strong with five wins, one loss, and one tie. At the outset of the season, the team faced a 5-0 loss against Martin Luther King Jr. High School. However, the squad did not let this setback inhibit their potential. Rallying together for its next game, the team narrowly

defeated the HSMSE. All three captains deemed this game their most important win so far. “Our victory against HSMSE gave us momentum that set the tone to win our next three games after

team after a lot of playing time, both in games and at practice. Coach Vincent Miller pointed out their improvement in scoring. “Our goals have started to pick up, especially thanks to

the loss,” Rahn said. Rahn’s statement proved true as they defeated their next three opponents by a margin of at least three goals, and one opponent by 10 goals. Throughout these games, the team has improved immensely. “It took a while to figure out ideal positioning on the field and build confidence, but once we did, we saw our playing quality multiply,” Hamel said. These developments in chemistry have come to the

juniors Aden Garbutt, Patrick Kawulok, [...] Petrauskas, and Jack Colvin,” he said. Each player he named has upwards of four goals. The game against Beacon High School on October 4 was a chance for the Peglegs to prove themselves against a team with a strong reputation. Though the Peglegs’ winning streak was great for morale and team chemistry, from Beacon onward, they will be facing historically harder opponents.

Dorin Flocos / The Spectator

By ROXIE GOSFIELD and SUSIE MCKNIGHT

The upcoming games present multiple opportunities for the team to demonstrate its strength, chemistry, and perseverance, rather than just its scoring ability. While the team hoped for a win against Beacon, the game resulted in a 0-0 tie. Dominating possession and moving off each other and the ball, the Peglegs were able to open channels in Beacon’s midfield and defense, resulting in opportunities to attack on goal. With the Peglegs’ back line serving as a brick wall, they shut down almost all of Beacon’s attempts to go forward and distributed the ball out quickly in order to maintain possession. The midfield was then able to build from there, utilizing both central and wide players to effectively stretch out the opposing team’s defense, which created space and time for Garbutt, the striker, to attack. Though Stuy had plenty of shots on net, many of them breathtakingly close, the team failed to convert them to goals, leaving the scoreboard empty. Nevertheless, the Peglegs’ ability to hold off a strong team like Beacon is a testament to their potential this season. “I think we played really well in that game. It was our best performance of the whole year. However, we need to finish our chances,” Garbutt said. This tie was a victory for the Peglegs as it boosted team confidence and morale as they planned for the

remainder of the season, along with playoffs. Looking forward, the Peglegs want to focus on two particular goals in order to reach their true potential: holding second place in their division, which they are currently tied for, and taking down John Jay High School. “Something we’ll need to work on moving forward is bringing the confidence and grit we had in our Beacon game to our upcoming matches and continuing to improve our finishing ability on the pitch,” Melucci said. Considering its current high standing in the Manhattan A Division of PSAL, the squad is hoping to be seeded well in the upcoming playoffs, providing it with easier competition for the early rounds. Though the Peglegs have not tended to make it past the second round in the past, this season looks like the right time to break this barrier. Regardless of the teams they are up against, the playoffs will be tough, and the sentiment expressed by Melucci is exactly the mentality the team needs to maintain throughout them. So far, the Peglegs have had a promising season full of improvement, excitement, and potential. However, the team’s success goes beyond the standings. “Aside from playing soccer, the guys and I have had so many laughs and good times,” Miller said.

MLB

The 2021 MLB Wild Card Games Lived Up to Their Name By MAYA BROSNICK The 2021 MLB season has been filled with new rules, fun moments, and exciting players. But as this year’s baseball winds down, the fans’ attention is turning to the Wild Card Games ahead of the World Series. The American League (AL) Wildcard Game on October 6, 2021 featured the rival Yankees and Red Sox, both fighting for a spot in the AL Division Series. The game went quickly in the Red Sox’s favor with a huge two-run home run by Xander Bogaerts, stripping the Yankees of any dreams of a comeback, which was also partly because of pitcher Gerrit Cole, who allowed three runs on four hits and did not record an out in the third inning. The relievers settled the game down a little, but the Yankees’ only real chance to pull off a win came in the top of the sixth down 3-0. Early in the inning, the Yankees’ Anthony Rizzo cracked a home run to bring the Yankees within two points of the opposition. After an Aaron Judge single, Giancarlo Stanton came up to the plate for the tying run, and he very nearly delivered. Back in the first inning, Stanton hit a long shot that appeared to be a home run. However, it was soon revealed

that the ball bounced off the top of the “Green Monster” at Fenway Park and back into play, leaving Stanton with just a long single to show for his efforts. Afterward, the Yankees didn’t present another challenge. The Red Sox quickly matched the Yankees’ run with another one of their own in the bottom of the sixth, and they added two more in the bottom of the seventh, propelling them to a 6-1 lead, which the Yankees, who went 3-28 outside of Stanton, would not threaten again. By the game’s end, the Red Sox were up 6-2. The NL Wild Card, on the other hand, was a much tighter contest. The game featured a pitching matchup between two aces, Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals and Max Scherzer of the LA Dodgers. Both pitchers started their careers in 2005,and have turned in some pretty impressive numbers since. Wainwright boasts a strikeout count of over 2,000 and two Gold Glove Awards, and Scherzer won the Cy Young award twice in a row in 2016 and 2017. Given these statistics, it is not surprising that the game was a low-scoring affair. In fact, each team only plated a single run during the first eight innings of the game. Cardinals second baseman

Tommy Edman led off the game with a line drive to right field. Edman then stole second, and Paul Goldschmidt followed with a walk. The next batter flew out with a little help from Mookie Betts’s incredible defense, but Edman still tagged up and advanced a base. Nolan Arenado came up to the plate with an opportunity to bat a player to home plate, but he quickly fell behind with two strikes and no balls. Instead of ending the atbat, however, Scherzer’s next pitch bounced outside and away from the catcher, allowing Edman to score. A couple batters and another error later, the Cardinals had players on first and third base with two outs and Yadier Molina up at the plate. In an anticlimactic end to the intense inning, Molina struck out, and the team wasn’t able to rack up another run. Scherzer and Wainwright reluctantly came out of the game in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, and the teams traded zeros until the ninth. At his next at-bat, Edman once again singled to right and stole second, but this time, it came with one out, and the following two batters struck out to strand him on second, a base that neither team had gotten a runner past since the fourth inning. With that, the Cardinals

and reliever T.J. McFarland’s goal was to shut down the Dodgers’ offense in the bottom of the ninth and send the game into extra innings, when they had their heavy hitters in Arenado and Molina due up. The plan started off well. Both the Dodgers pinch hitters lined out to center, and the Cardinals were an out away. McFarland walked Cody Bellinger, so Cardinals manager Mike Shildt brought in Alex Reyes to face Chris Taylor, who has destroyed lefties like McFarland this year. Reyes started off the at-bat with a

changeup that Taylor swung at and missed. Reyes then threw the next two pitches in the dirt to dig himself into a 2-1 hole. Pitch number four was a slider but spun right over the middle of the plate. Taylor was right on it, and his 420-foot bomb propelled the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory and to an NLDS contest against the San Francisco Giants later this week. While the two Wild Card Games were nearly opposites in their makeups, both were exciting contests, and the rest of the postseason is shaping up to be just as exciting.

SPORTSBEAT The National Women’s Soccer League was thrust into the national spotlight as North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. The MLB Postseason began, with the Boston Red Sox defeating Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card game. Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden is under fire after an e-mail containing racist and sexist remarks. The WNBA Finals began, with the Phoenix Mercury battling the Chicago Sky. UFC Legend Chuck Liddell was arrested on domestic violence charges.