The Blue & Gold: Volume XXVI, Issue 3

Taipei American School | 800 Zhongshan Shan N. Rd., Sect. 6, Taipei, Taiwan | blueandgoldonline.org | VOLUME XXVI, ISS. 03 | March 19, 2020

FEATURE EDITORIAL

OPINIONS

NEWS

PAGE510 PAGE

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Dr. Richarddoesn’t Hartzellhave comes Senioritis to home be a bad thing

Paying for college

Dealing with COVID-19 coronavirus

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Protecting students against COVID-19

A lower school student applies hand santizer as he exits the school to make sure his hands are sterilized. [PHOEBE CHEN/THE BLUE & GOLD]

By Phoebe Chen(‘21)and Ian Ho (‘21) From mandatory fever checks to hand sanitizer stations, Taipei American School’s administration has strove to maintain a safe and healthy school community by preventing the potential spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, which was recently recategorized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 12, 2020.

Even before the virus was named a pandemic, TAS has worked to meet and exceed the Taiwanese Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) ongoing disease prevention guidelines, which include strict handwashing protocols, separation of at-risk students, optional and mandatory face mask wearing (depending on an individual’s travel history) and the establishment of a quarantine room for those who demonstrate virus symptoms. TAS has implemented all of these protocols since Feb. 25.

Individuals that have a temperature above 37.4 degrees celsius are sent to the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) lounge beside the spiral staircase, which currently functions as the quarantine room. In the case of a quarantine, nurses practice safety precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“After being escorted to quarantine, the sick patient, as well as the nurse that is treating them, are masked,” school nurse Ms. Kyndall Cheng

said. “Our goal is first to treat every patient who is sick and get them to follow up with doctors.”

To minimize the chance of contamination, individuals who are neither students nor faculty must make an appointment before entering the school. Parents who are picking up their children are now required to wait outside the school lobby.

“We can’t just be rude to parents, but we need to let them know it’s necessary,” Head of Security Mr. Ming-Der Huang said.

In addition to following governmental regulations, the school has gone beyond by preventing the spread of the virus by changing the way the school operates in other areas. Food services now provide plastic wraps around snack bar pastries and use plastic shields for serving food. Alcohol stations are also interspersed around the school.

These new policies were only made possible because of the coordination of the administration. “I have been in more meetings [due to the COVID-19 coronavirus] in the past month, than I have been in the years combined,” Upper School Principal Mr. Andrew Lowman said. “It is really important for everyone to remember that as we continue to work to ensure safety for everyone, we are also talking about information that is changing rapidly.”

Although the school campus reopened to students on Feb. 25, the school has been actively

arranging programs and schedule to prepare for the possibility of future online schooling. As part of the Western Association of School and College accreditation process, TAS is required to be prepared to educate students outside of school in the event of an emergency. As a result, many administrative discussions have already begun regarding revised procedures and logistics for continued online schooling.

“If school is closed down again, it will not be like we are suddenly going on vacation,” Mr. Lowman said. “We will still have school days.”

After returning to school, upper school teachers were required to send surveys to each of their classes to determine how online schooling can be improved. Furthermore, focus groups with randomly selected teachers and students, have been called to provide further feedback to the administration. These actions and other reflections will aid in planning improved digital learning procedures.

“I would rather school to continue until the end of the year, however, this time back in school gives us valuable moments to ask questions and gather data,” Mr. Lowman said.

“We did virtual learning, and now we get to analyze how the experience went and plan so that if it happens again, we are better prepared than we were before.”

TAS administration cancels off-island school trips

By Amber Wu (‘23)

Middle and upper school MUN students collaborate in a cross-divisional TASMUN practice in the MPR after all spring MUN trips were cancelled. [AMBER WU/THE BLUE & GOLD] Nine upper school overseas trips and all future off-island trips have been canceled due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

None of the trips have been rescheduled.

The canceled trips include National High School MUN in New York (NHSMUN), AMIS honor band and orchestra in Dubai, the Pittsburgh High School Dance Festival, the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools Dance, Drama, and Tech

conference (IASAS DDT), the IASAS music conference in Singapore, The Hague International MUN conference (THIMUN) in Bangkok, the IASAS Forensics competition at TAS, and the First Robotic Competition (FRC) to both Hawaii and Australia. Three additional trips including the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) trip to Nashville, monthly Orphanage club outings, and the YALE MUN Taiwan conference

(YALEMUN) were also canceled.

Ms. Jessica Lin, assistant to the dean of students, has been working long hours since the school closure in February as many trips were canceled. “I am always on call, so whenever Dr. Long needs me, I’m there,” Ms. Lin said. Her main responsibilities right now are to provide an “immediate response to travel agents, airlines, transportation, and hotels” in the midst of chaos.

As a delegate of NHSMUN, Ivan Wei (‘23) was disappointed about the canceled trip because he looked forward to having an MUN experience in New York.

Ivan most looked forward to the opening ceremony, where he would get the chance to see the famous podium that many activists have stood on while making speeches.

“In the end, even though we could not experience the climax of actually going to NHSMUN, it has been amazing to have the opportunity to learn from the experienced upperclassmen,” Ivan said. “And I am grateful for their tolerance in looking out for me despite being the only freshman.”

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Working from home members of the TAS community cope with self-quarentined with online schooling

Lana Lee (‘22) sits at home working on her Mandarin homework from online school. [LANA LEE/THE BLUE & GOLD]

By Amanda Chiu (‘20) and Amber Wu (‘23) Taipei American School announced that it was required for any student or family of the student who traveled to Level 3 countries—including China, Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea—to be self-quarantined for two weeks on Feb. 24.

MR. RAY HEBERER Despite not having any travel history since the Winter break, Mr. Ray Heberer, a K-12 music teacher, was quarantined on Feb. 25.

Prior to the start of school, he attended the weekly Taipei Jazz Orchestra rehearsal, which was conducted by a former graduate school professor, Dr. Gene Aitken. It was during the rehearsal when Dr. Aitken shared with the band and Mr. Heberer about his three-day trip to Seoul, South Korea.

“At about 5:45 a.m. on Feb. 25, I saw the email sent to all [TAS faculties and students] that said anyone who has traveled to South Korea, or who has family who has, or has been visited by someone from South Korea must enter a full quarantine program,” Mr. Heberer said.

After reading the email, Mr. Heberer immediately contacted the school. The TAS chief operations office confirmed that he should be quarantined for 14 days before

resuming to teach.

Not only did Mr. Heberer have to notify the school, he also had to arrange a substitute who was available to substitute for him during his absence in school. “It was the first day of school and I had only 70 minutes to organize a substitute teacher and prepare lesson plans for my first 8 a.m. class,” Mr. Heberer said. With his “generic” course plans, he was able to write up lesson plans for the substitute to follow and to keep the students on track with the curriculum.

In the mindset of protecting the school, Mr. Heberer chose to be honest about the fact that he met someone who had been in Korea recently. “Maybe I could have hidden the fact and still come to school, but that would have not been honest,” he said, “I’m just trying to do the best I can under the circumstances I have found myself in while protecting others and also myself.”

During his quarantine, Mr. Heberer is still preparing online lessons, listening to student recordings, and taking care of various school tasks that pop up. He worked from 5:30 a.m. to late at night, often to 11 p.m. “We’re not confined to our apartment, but we don’t visit with anyone. I

spend most of my waking hours online and had way too much screen time,” he said.

“I’m so glad to be back!”

LANA LEE (‘22) When her father came back from a business trip in South Korea, Lana Lee (‘22) was required to self-quarantine, starting on Feb. 22.

Lana’s dad came back before the government’s law of having mandatory quarantine. Although not required to be quarantined by the government, Lana was required to stay home for two weeks because the school’s policy was more stringent than the government’s.

Despite staying at home, Lana continues to put in the effort to be at school, digitally.

She had a similar schedule to the one she had when at school. “I tried to keep up with the pace of my classes,” Lana said. “Most teachers make a Zoom meeting available for me so I can listen to their lectures and join class discussions.”

During her time in quarantine, Lana had a quality of free time as she did not attend school. “I spent most of my time finishing school assignments,” she said.

“Afterwards, I spent the rest of my time talking to my family or watching Netflix.”

Lana took a lot of precautions at home, regularly “[eating] meals separate from my dad and wash[ing] my hands often” to ensure her safety from the virus.

Disclaimer: Lana Lee (‘22) is a staff member of The Blue & Gold.

ANGELINE SUN (‘23) After traveling to South Korea to update her passport, Angeline Sun (‘23) was quarantined for two weeks. She stayed at the airport in South Korea for only three hours but was still required to be quarantined.

Angeline worked very hard to catch up with her schoolwork over the two weeks.

“Teachers were really devoted a tremendous effort to make online learning possible,” she said. “I really appreciated the efforts that helped me keep up.”

When she had questions concerning a topic she was unsure, she would usually email the teachers and she would also schedule Zoom sessions to discuss the problems she had.

At home, Angeline spent her time finishing schoolwork and playing her piano.

She also wore masks at all times, “even at home to ensure that there is as little contact as possible” with her parents and siblings.

Cancellations all around: IASAS Cultural Convention and sports

By Amanda Chiu (‘20) and Sabrina Chang (‘21) The Taipei American School community was informed in February that the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools Cultural Convention and the season three IASAS championships would be canceled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

After taking account of the spread of the COVID-19 and the Taiwanese government’s regulation of large scale events, TAS decided to cancel most of the off-island trips for the rest of the school year.

Many athletes and performers have been preparing for the IASAS event in their respective areas for a long time. “A lot of us trained throughout the year, even during the summer,” Sarah Johnsen (‘21), member of the girls’ softball team, said. “It sucks to not even start the season yet and already know [IASAS] is canceled.”

Since last October, the IASAS Cultural Convention delegates have been reciting and preparing their solos to perform at this event.

“I thought it was a mistake [when I first saw the email] and to have this experience taken away from us really broke my heart,” IASAS band delegate, Joy Chou (‘20) said.

Although this announcement was not a

complete surprise, there was a common hope amongst students for a different outcome.

Logan Chen (‘20), track team captain, even created a petition asking for a delayed decision. “We had hoped for TAS to make the decision later with the other IASAS schools in case the situation got better,” Logan said. The petition was signed by over 200 students, including several from other IASAS schools.

“Having this experience taken away from us really broke my heart.”

The cancellation of IASAS affected the school significantly as many teams were ready to strive for gold this season. The girls’ badminton team, which has a streak of 17 gold medals, was aiming to continue their gold streak. “As a senior, it is extremely sad to miss out on my last IASAS and the chance to continue our streak,” Karen Wang (‘20), captain, said. “Last time the streak was

disrupted was in 2003 because of the SARS epidemic.”

For the non-seniors, this cancellation motivates them even more to work hard for next year. “It’s all about developing the younger players now and rebuilding our golden era,” Daniel Ku (‘21), the boys’ golf captain, said. “Since we don’t have any seniors, it’s important to focus on next year.”

Most student-athletes agree that IASAS is an irreplaceable event. “Being able to travel and completely focus on the one sport that you love playing for three days is really an amazing experience, it’s something you will remember forever,” Richard Wang (‘21), boys’ badminton captain, said.

As an alternative to IASAS Cultural Convention, TAS organized small scale concerts for the IASAS delegates to perform in their respective areas. “Unfortunately we will not be able to involve our parents, but the faculty, staff and students are invited and the school will monitor the number of people attending,” IASAS band director Ms. Jennifer Anderson said.

In this special time, IASAS schools have come up with a “digital IASAS” for students to receive feedback from other schools

online. “We upload our videos with an introduction and explanation of the piece.

Then other schools will watch it and give us online feedback,” IASAS dance director Ms. Cheryl Lagerquist said. The Athletic Department is still working hard to arrange on-island and local competition for the teams to play against.

IASAS CULTURAL CONVENTION PERFORMANCES MARCH & APRIL 200 people max per performance

DANCE

MARCH 17 & 19

Guy Lott Jr. Auditorium 10:45 a.m. (3/17) & 4:00 p.m. (3/19)

APRIL 1 & 2

MUSIC

Guy Lott Jr. Auditorium 4:00 p.m.

DRAMA

Guy Lott Jr. Auditorium 10:45 a.m. & 4:00 p.m.

MARCH 19

INFOGRAPHIC BY AMANDA CHIU /THE BLUE & GOLD

4 Introducing the Tiger Garden:

the blue & gold march 19, 2020

The lower school unveils a new, modern playground after nearly two years of construction

Girl Up club hosts fourth annual leadership summit

By Jonathan Chen (‘23)

The construction of the Tiger Garden has transformed Taipei American School. It is one of many recent and ongoing construction projects, such as the Solomon Wong Tech Cube and upper school science facilities. [SABRINA CHANG/THE BLUE & GOLD]

By Sabrina Chang (‘21) In December 2019, the brand new lower school playground, the Tiger Garden, was unveiled after nearly two years of construction.

The new playground, which was inspired by a tiger’s natural habitat, features a massive, climbable tree house covered entirely in safety netting as the centerpiece.

The playground is also equipped with slides, wooden platforms and spiral staircases.

“Our new landscape is undulating and play happens at different levels—it’s an amazing wonderland!” Ms. Tara Simonidis, lower school principal, said.

The playground also includes tunnels, talk tubes, a water-movement machine, “tiger dens” and three levels of rock climbing walls. “It’s non-traditional and nonprescribed playspace, which something with one purpose like a swing set can tend to be,” Mr. Larry Kraut, the school’s chief operating officer said. “This encourages the students to take appropriate risks and challenges.”

Numerous administrators, faculty, parents and staff members were involved in the planning and construction of the Tiger Garden. “Everybody formed a team, and as a team we started that design process,” Mr. Kraut said.

Lower school students were also able to

input their own ideas about the playground through talking to the designers. “They had great ideas that we were able to incorporate into the new playground, including the giant tree house,” Mr. Rick Rabon, Lower School Associate Principal, said.

The playground design was inspired by the ideas from various members of the lower school community, which ultimately creates a fun space for student development. “We wanted the playground to capture the spirit of the lower school,” Ms. Becky Klar, Lower School Associate principal, said. “The Tiger Garden offers children the chance to grow in confidence and be creative in their play, providing a balanced life at school.”

A lot of planning also went on behind the scenes to make the design become a reality.

It was essential for the TAS community to come together and show their support for this project.

“Hundreds of TAS families, across all three divisions, gave tax-deductible donations of all sizes to allow us to build this [playground],” Dr. Kathy Limmer, assistant head of school for advancement, said. “It was really fun to see the parents get as excited about it as the students.”

The playground structure was planned and built with precision and care in order to ensure the safety of the students.

“It’s risky in the sense that students can be up very high on the structure, but it is an appropriate risk because they cannot fall out,” Mr. Kraut said. New safety rules and guidelines were also created by faculty and students themselves.

The playground has already received a copious amount of positive responses from the TAS community.

“Anyone who comes to the playground will hear shouts of delight and see students in every nook and cranny of the space,” Mr. Rabon said. “When the playground first opened, even the lower school teachers and staff had fun climbing up into the tree house and shooting down the slides.”

The new playground has become a great addition to the world-class facilities at Taipei American School, reflecting its mission to foster student growth in all aspects of mental and physical development. This furthers the holistic educational experience that is offered at TAS. “The Tiger Garden is a jewel in the crown of the lower school, and we are thrilled with the results,” Ms. Simeonidis said.

In the words of one excited kindergarten student, “I like the Tiger Garden. It is so fun because I can jump on it and I can run on it and it is jumpy, and the slide is so fast and it is cool.”

On March 7, the Taipei American School Girl Up club hosted their fourth annual leadership summit, an event which aims to spread awareness and help empower teenage girls on an international and domestic spectrum. The officers of Girl Up and involved teachers led different workshops to allow students to engage in a variety of conversations and thoughtful seminars.

The theme of this year’s summit was “Tip of the iceberg”, which was inspired by the aspects of feminism and Girl Up that are often ignored. As one of the officers Yan Ying Mor (‘20) said, “Although feminism is a common term, there are still many controversial or overlooked issues we can actively learn about. We did not want to merely discuss the obvious and visible topics, but delve deeper and discover their hidden implications.”

This year’s officers decided to hold the summit in a different way compared to previous years. Instead of featuring a keynote speaker at the event, they replaced the spot with an interactive activity.

Participants of the event wrote who their role models were on sticky notes and placed them on the top of an iceberg that the officers created. For the closing activity, officers asked participants to write down any goals, aspirations or visions for the future and place their sticky note on the bottom part of the iceberg.

Another worthy event during this year’s summit was the panel full of female speakers who have had experiences in male-dominated industries. One of the panel speakers, Ms. Angela Pan (‘93) said, “be very clear with what you want out of life, as a woman, in your life there will be many obligations, you need to know your priorities and what’s the big picture. What you make out of your life is what you do and the people you affect.”

Ultimately, the Girl Up leadership summits provide interesting and engaging activities that all TAS students and faculty members are welcomed to partcipate in.

The pagoda, TAS alumni’s prized possession, moved to current campus from TES

By Nicole Chang (‘21) Over winter break, a 3-meter tall, red and yellow pagoda structure was moved from the Taipei European School campus to Taipei American School’s current campus on Zhongshan North Road. The landmark had been sitting at TES since 1989, when TAS moved from that campus to its present day location.

While many of TAS’s cultural pieces, such as the Thinker and the Shilin Bell, were moved, the pagoda was left behind out of fear that it would break.

According to Mr. Larry Kraut, TAS chief operating officer, officials at TES wanted the pagoda removed from their campus because many TAS alumni have attempted to revisit it there. The pagoda is now located near the lower athletic field, on the lawn outside the exterior doors to the upper school gym.

On the old campus, the pagoda was set on what former students called “Senior

Island,” an island that only seniors could go on.

Seniors would often paint the pagoda during special holidays such as Christmas, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. During the school year, seniors would gather together during their class meetings to choose the color scheme that they wanted the pagoda to be. Then, the art committee would go and paint the pagoda.

When the seniors would leave on their senior trips, the juniors would also take over “Senior Island’ and play a prank on the seniors when they returned. Ms. Debby Krieger (‘90), recalls the prank that her class pulled on the seniors in her junior year.

When the seniors left for vacation, she and her friend went to a horse stable near school and filled the whole “Senior Island” with horse manure. Since the pagoda was green at the time, they decided to decorate the island

like Christmas. They put up Christmas lights and ornaments all over the pagoda and “Senior Island.” They then took bags of flour and covered the horse manure to make it look like snow.’

“On Monday, the [seniors] came back and they went walking on the island,” Ms. Krieger said. “They had horse poop all over their feet and teachers were really mad because they were tracking it everywhere. It killed all the grass on [the] island, so it was really bad, but it was also really funny.”

The pagoda moving back “home” has definitely impacted former students who treasure these memories.“We still have alumni who know and cherish the traditions that were based on the pagoda,” Mr. Kraut said. “It represents something for them and they appreciate seeing it.”

Ms. Krieger hopes that the pagoda can also be a part of new traditions led by current students.

The pagoda, an important school landmark, moved back on campus from TES after 31 years.

[NICOLE CHANG/THE BLUE & GOLD]

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Ethan Hirai (‘23) wins silver at the Youth Winter Olympics

By Natalie Scheidel (‘21) Ethan Hirai (‘23) won a silver medal for competing in ice hockey at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, which took place at the Vaudoise Arena in Lausanne, Switzerland from Jan. 10 to 22.

Ethan began playing ice hockey at the age of four. “It is fun because of the gratifying moment when the puck goes into the net or hits the post and goes in.”

Before traveling to and competing in the recent Winter Youth Olympics, Ethan was only able to get to know the team over the course of 10 days of practice and only two practice games. To qualify for the Olympics team, Ethan had to first compete in a trial where all ice hockey players had to skate around the arena and shoot pucks as fast as possible at the same time. This trial was timed and each individual’s record was sent to the International Olympic Committee for comparison with other ice hockey players around the world. After that, only hockey players within the top 99 places were allowed to go to the Lausanne 2020 Winter Olympic Games.

Prior to the Youth Olympics, Ethan had always felt underappreciated by hockey players in Taiwan who believed he wasn’t as skilled. “Despite that, I never stopped pursuing my passion for hockey, although I did consider quitting hockey once I came into high school,” Ethan said. The friends he made playing the sport ultimately kept him playing and he deemed ice hockey as an unfinished project that he has been working on for so long.

“It is kind of taxing on my daily time in

Ethan Hirai (‘23), bottom left, and his team at Winter Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland. [PHOTO COURTESY OF ETHAN HIRAI] balancing my school work, extracurriculars and competing at this high of a level,” Ethan said. When he learned that he made the Winter Olympics, he began training for one to two hours every day, often missing a class for a quick hockey game.

Normally, Ethan would have hockey

practices starting at 6 a.m. at Taipei Arena on Saturday or Sunday and sometimes on both days. Ethan spends his practice mastering the three skills: skating, moving the puck and strategizing at the same time.

While Ethan is heavily involved in ice hockey, he does not quite see this as a

potential career, but instead as a hobby.

“I would want to contribute to the cause of saving the world’s environmental crisis, instead of just playing sports and ignoring what happens to our world,” he said. “Ice hockey would not exist if global warming continues.”

Mr. Rock Hudson is a teacher and an iron man

By Laura Hsu (‘22) As Mr. Rock Hudson competes against the clock, he speedily transitions from swimming to biking, and finally running.

While Mr. Hudson fights the exhaustion that plagues over him both mentally and physically, he arrives at the finish line. He beams with pride as hundreds of people gather around to congratulate the triathlon athletes.

Mr. Hudson is currently a middle school physical education and health teacher at Taipei American School, but when he is not at work, he is also a triathlon athlete.

“You need to be competent in all three disciplines,” Mr. Hudson said. A typical week of training would include a training session every day except for Friday.

“During the week, I do 11 sessions—four swims, three runs, three rides, and one gym session,” he said.

“During the week, I do 11 training sessions.”

Swim training consists of one longdistance swim, one speed session and two sessions that focus more on the techniques needed in a triathlon race. For running, Mr. Hudson runs for one long session, following with a timed speed run, or an uphill run, and he wraps up the training session with a recovery run plus a few running drills on the track. Bike training includes two long-distance rides, and one uphill ride as well as a speed biking session.

When it comes to the actual triathlon competition, Mr. Hudson is sometimes

Vanessa Huang (‘23) and her partners perform at a competition. [PHOTO COURTESY OF VANESSA HUANG]

Vanessa Huang (‘23), the water ballerina Mr. Hudson poses for the camera before a triathlon competition. [PHOTO COURTESY OF ROCK HUDSON]

forced to face challenges while he is under time pressure. “It is difficult when I drop water bottles at drink stations or special food I need on the bike,” he said. Getting cramps in the middle of a swim, or getting kicked in the face and losing his goggles are just a few of the difficulties Mr. Hudson encounters while competing.

Although triathletes are often under high pressure throughout the race, Mr. Hudson does not forget to look out for the interesting moments during the race.

“I was standing next to a man wearing a kids rubber ring around his belly. I asked him why he was wearing all the flotation aids. He told me he couldn’t swim! I just wished him good luck!” he said.

By Amber Wu (‘23) Vanessa Huang (‘23) has been a synchronized swimmer since she was four.

She started because she had finished learning all four styles of swimming when she was three. Her mom wanted her to do a sport more unique than competitive swimming, so she thought: “Why not synchronized swimming?”

Vanessa’s synchronized swimming journey started out rocky, but she became better once she was able to grasp the basic skills.

Vanessa has competed in a few competitions and trains twice a week. For warm up, Vanessa stretches and does cardio workouts. When she enters the water, she practices basic moves for floating, like the eggbeater. She also dives under water and swims 25 meters without breathing, twice.

Finally, she practices her figures, which are

formed by many basic movements.

Vanessa believes that synchronized swimmers need to confront their inner fear of not being able to hold onto anything. “You have to be able to relax,” she said. Although synchronized swimming seems easy, it is very challenging to float on water while performing a variety of musical routines in a short period of time. “At first, [the hardest part] was staying up on water,” Vanessa confesses, “but later, [you have to maintain] all those hand gestures that keep you from sinking.” The hand gestures and foot coordination are very challenging to do while in the water, as the swimmer also needs to stay on rhythm.

Vanessa’s parents are very proud of her and her synchronized swimming. They believe that “it is important to accompany your child in any activity”, as they have with Vanessa since she was four. “You have to be there to support your kid whenever they need help,” they said.

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the blue & gold march 19, 2020

EDITORIAL

Student leadership is fake 800 CHUNG SHAN N. RD. TAIPEI 11152 TAIWAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHARLOTTE LEE (‘20) MANAGING EDITORS NATALIE SCHEIDEL (‘21) NICOLE CHANG (‘21) COPY EDITOR KELLY PHIL (‘20) SOCIAL MEDIA & MARKETING PHOEBE CHEN (‘21) NEWS EDITOR SHARON LEE (‘22) OPINIONS AND VERDICT EDITOR KELLY PHIL (‘20) FEATURES EDITOR LAURA HSU(‘22) SPORTS EDITOR AMANDA CHIU (‘20) STAFF WRITERS VANESSA KANG (‘20) IAN HO (‘21) ALLISON KWAN (‘21) SABRINA CHANG (‘21) LANA LEE (‘22) AMBER WU (‘23) ARIEL LEE (‘23) AUDREY HWANG (‘23) JONATHAN CHEN (‘23) ADVISER MS. LINDSEY KUNDEL MISSION STATEMENT The Blue & Gold is a student-run publication dedicated to sharing stories from the Taipei American School community. Produced and distributed free of charge monthly during the academic year by staff writers at TAS, the Blue & Gold strives to showcase and interrogate the community it serves.

CORRECTIONS We take all measures possible to report accurately, and seek to bring professional, thorough reporting to our readers. Please report any inaccuracies in Blue & Gold content to out email, blueandgold@tas. tw.

OP-EDS AND EDITORIALS Editorials collectively represent the opinions of the Blue & Gold’s editorial board, while op-eds represent the opinions of each writer. Opinions in the Blue & Gold do not necessarily reflect the views of TAS student body, staff, faculty, or administration.

THE BLUE & GOLD ONLINE The Blue & Gold runs an online edition that publishes articles every weekday when school is in operation. Find the website at blueandgoldonline.org.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We welcome letter submissions from all readers. Email your signed letter of under 500 words at blueandgold@tas.tw.

Summerhill School in Suffolk, England, is a boarding school run democratically by students. The school was founded in 1921 by Alex Sutherland Neill with the philosophy that children should have freedom to do whatever they want, including enrolling in optional lessons. Conflicts between students are resolved by other student leaders called “ombudsmen” or brought to attention in regular school meetings, and everyone gets an equal vote on the punishment.

Of course, Summerhill had been the subject of a fair share of controversy back when it had been popular. The British government attempted to close it down; reporters portrayed it as anarchical and cult-like.

While Summerhill is an extreme and perhaps poorly executed example, many prestigious and respected schools around the world have been incredibly successful in placing more freedom in the hands of students, like The Lawrenceville School and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Leading educational institutions should experiment with finding the perfect balance between freedom and structure to create the best community for students.

As a leading educational institution in Asia, Taipei American School needs to provide more opportunities for students to take a real leadership role in deciding how they want to be educated.

While there are plenty of ways that students can become “leaders” of sorts, these leadership roles do not have a

significant lasting effect on our community beyond a student’s tenure.

For example, Student Government officers do not have regular, scheduled meetings with upper school or central administrators where they can work together to solve issues. While “government” implies that their primary responsibility should be governing, StuGov officers are more like “Spirit Heads” or activity organizers.

Clearly, we have romanticized the idea of leadership.

Similarly, Class Government officers are bogged down with planning regular class meetings, which usually consist of giving announcements that are on the week ahead anyways. While ClassGov officers are widely respected—especially during important special occasions like spirit week—administrators can trust them with more responsibility. As elected representatives, they could be far more effective in addressing student issues, such as vaping and sexual harassment, than teachers and administrators.

Club officers, who are often also StuGov or ClassGov officers, are far too overloaded with other work to fully commit to working for one club. TAS has 86 clubs, but few of them actually run events other than monthly dumpling sales.

More has become better. It is not enough to be an officer for one club, we have to be

an officer for two or three: which is why we now have clubs that are just full of officers—no members at all. Without a title, there is no incentive. Clearly, we have romanticized the idea of leadership.

But without the platform and structure for us to take real ownership over these roles, extracurricular activities at TAS will remain the punchline to jokes about the toxicity of college applications.

Building a structure to foster genuine leadership does not mean establishing more rules or programs. In fact, the overabundance of leadership programs has suffocated students so that there is no space for change, causing many students to feel that adults at the school are silently resistant to their new ideas.

Discouraged and numb, when club sale sign-ups are released, most club leaders mindlessly book their allotted monthly slots, not thinking twice. When ClassGov and StuGov responsibilities are restricted to busy work—it leaves no time for them to impact the school with character and morality.

On a more hopeful note, there are still some students who are trying to redefine leadership at TAS. Whether it’s organizing leadership summits, or banding together with friends for a beach clean up: imagine what students could accomplish if we stopped believing that the greatest impact we can have on the world right now—is selling potstickers under the Skybridge. But both students and teachers have to believe in that vision.

THANK EUROCENTRISM AND THE PATRIARCHY for makeup and lash extensions

By Charlotte Lee (‘20) She wiped a cold cotton pad over my eyelids, rubbing off the leftover perm serum and handed a mirror in front of my eyes. I blinked. Everything was blurry at first, but then it all became clear.

“It looks so much better this time!” The lady gushed. “Keep using that lash serum, and when you come back next time your lashes will look even better. Can I get a picture of you for Instagram?”

Semi permanent makeup is a godsend for anyone who prides themselves on getting out of bed at the last minute possible and wants to look good without putting in effort. I for example, have much to gain from lash perms and extensions. For less than NT$ 2000 every month or so, my naturally short and straight lashes are made to look long and luscious just like the models in beauty advertisements I’ve always envied.

But after six weeks, when I think about booking my next appointment, something just felt wrong about this endless cycle.

As someone who subscribes to the general concept of self-love, I couldn’t help but feel a little hypocritical, falling into this routine

of getting bi-monthly lash perms—when I would probably not consider getting cosmetic surgery to change other features about myself.

Firstly, lash lifts and extensions are considered beautiful largely due to Western beauty standards. Very few east Asian women have large eyes and long, naturally curly eyelashes. In the same way, narrow, tall noses are considered beautiful while flat, wide noses aren’t, Asian women are stereotyped to have more boyish figures, while European women are usually considered more feminine.

Growing up, we have been taught to believe that certain things are inherently more beautiful than others, when that just isn’t true.

The only purpose of our eyelashes is to keep things out of our eyelids. Before mindlessly changing our bodies because we want to “feel good for,” we should first think about what it is that makes us feel that the way we were naturally born isn’t good enough.

Naturally, this doesn’t apply just to lash lifts. The same holds true for extensions, microbladed brows, and makeup in general.

Daily makeup trends encourage us to believe that if we make our eyes look bigger and our cheekbones more prominent, that makes us

beautiful. It has permeated so deeply into our culture so that grown women who don’t wear makeup are labeled unprofessional or lazy. We are told that putting makeup on to “feel good about ourselves” can be a feminist ideal— as if making ourselves physically attractive according to someone else’s beauty standards, must give us confidence.

More than anything, the accessibility of semi permanent makeup procedures is what scares me. It has become a little too affordable and common for young people to change their appearance in ways that are increasingly hard to reverse.

It is not new for women to question the standards of beauty that have been placed upon them by generations of complicated history. Makeup can simultaneously symbolize oppression, empowerment, tradition, and culture. But now, technology has made these transformations instant and lasting. Young people are so excited to undergo quick, one hour procedures to change their faces for months at a time. Now more than ever, we need to ask ourselves whether we are choosing how we look, or if those choices are inflicting themselves upon us.

7

the blue & gold march 19, 2020

Why we’re the target of companies’ “fake-woke” campaigns A flurry of technicolor advertisements can be seen attracting viewers. [PHOTO COURTESY OF UNSPLASH]

By Kelly Phil (‘20) From Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi advertisment and to thousands of others that preach “woke”-ness, the ad game is changing.

Nowadays, companies have invested more in marketing and advertisements than ever before. These companies are now gesturing at liberal values through their messaging.

If television is waking up politically, with shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale, advertisements seem to be far ahead.

Why is this the case? For starters, advertisers are constantly looking for future markets, and younger Americans are ostensibly more liberal than their parents.

Brand loyalty matters. The increasingly progressive messages in marketing campaigns are clearly a mercenary attempt

to entice millennials: they are trying to be “woke.”

The coveted demographic that has the dollars to spend on high-end products is increasingly clustered in the bluest American cities, such as New York and San Francisco. In the past two decades, both capital and income have drifted there. If the Democratic party has changed, now circling around the professional classes and the very rich, the rise of Democratic consumer dollars is part of this shift, and these ads appear to be catering to it.

The strategy doesn’t always work, as shown in the embarrassing Kendall Jenner Pepsi spot, which appropriated Black Lives Matter in the name of sugar water. But for the most part the results are quite deft, as

in a Heikein ad, a British spot featuring a “real” transphobic lad conversing with a transgender soldier, across both beers and social differences.

Those who study commercials can also be skeptical of these precision Democratic and/or “activist” ads. “Empowering girls becomes a product unto itself. That’s commodity activism: there’s no real connection to structural change,” says Sarah Banet-Weiser, an advertising expert at the University of Southern California in an interview with The Guardian.

The real question is whether these practices are ethical. I’ll be the last person to say spreading awareness is bad but at some point, it feels sketchy that companies are commodifying our desire for a better

world for their own profit. Other than making an ad that spreads the message of empowerment, one must ask what these companies are actually doing to make a difference in the world.

Maybe coverage is good in a vacuum but we need to hold companies accountable for embodying the message their ads seem to sell. When Nike makes ads about female empowerment but refuse to continue contracts with female athletes when they get pregnant, is their “empowering message” really good or just a distraction to stop us from criticizing them for their problems?

Companies need to stop with the commodity activism until they have something to show for it than a catchy headline.

Empty promises to indigenous groups need to be fulfilled

By Natalie Scheidel (‘21) In 2016, current Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen officially apologized to Taiwan’s indigenous population of 530,000 for centuries of mistreatment. “For the past 400 years, each regime that came to Taiwan has brutally violated indigenous people’s existing rights,” President Tsai said. She promised that a historical justice commission would be established, and indigenous communities would have greater autonomy, land rights would be improved, and native languages would be preserved.

However, a 2018 indigeneous rights protests near the Presidential Office accused President Tsai’s promise of transitional

justice of being a lie; the proposed changes were never submitted to the Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee and the government always discussed the draft guideline with nonindegenous residents first.

In Taiwan, the indigenous people make up around two percent of the population with 530,000 people, and Taiwanese governmental policies aimed at protecting its indigeneous citizens have evolved significantly over the past few decades.

Mayaw Dongi, the minister and a member of the Amis tribe, points out the 1997 amendment to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of Taiwan, which

requires governments to safeguard political participation and status of indigenous people, as an extremely important milestone in the development of indigenous rights in Taiwan. Then in 2001, Taiwan’s government promulgated the Status Act for Indigenous Peoples to promote the reconstruction of the “aboriginal” identity.

Nevertheless, the indigeneous population remains disadvantaged compared to other Taiwanese populations, with lower average wages and higher levels of unemployment. The empty promises of politicians who only seem to care about the indigenous population as publicity maneuvers continue to disappoint the

already oppressed people. “Truthfully, no matter which political party is in power, we [the aboriginals] are already used to not having their promises fulfilled, and that is just the reality,” said Aruway Kadjaljavan, an aboriginal princess turned coffee shop owner in Taipei.

The government is currently reviewing relevant laws and regulations to determine if they are in accordance with the rights and interests of indigenous people. However, as political parties continue to abuse their platforms to promoteindigeneous rights with no practical follow-ups, many are resigned to the fact that any meaningful change would come too little, too late.

Is 2020 the new 2012? Why fear mongering is dangerous

By Kelly Phil (‘20) “6 ways World War Three could happen in 2020,” “A US-Iran war is likely to go nuclear,” and “Why the world is headed for a nuclear war” are some of the doomsday titles that have graced our news feeds since the United States conducted a drone strike to kill one of Iran’s top generals, Qasem Soleimani.

Immediately after the strike was conducted in January, analysts and government officials hailed the attack as a direct and indisputable act of aggression while many went as far as declaring it an act of war.

I myself am guilty of being swept up by the end-of-the-world thinking when the strike first occurred. And yet, it’s been almost two months since the strike occurred and not a single nuclear weapon has been launched.

Even after one of the clearest escalatory steps taken by the United States in decades towards war, the world seems to be in relative calm.

Instead of an existential risk, we’re left with a month’s worth of articles warning of impending doom gathering dust in Google’s search tabs. When so many of these predictions fell short, how much credence should we give articles that predict existential futures?

Often, articles that indulge in fear mongering can have disastrous consequences.

The Dune effect is explaining that those who control and have access to media have access to and potential control of public opinion.

In the case of Iran, the seemingly scary aftermath of the Soleimani strike might lead to instinctive and sudden shifts in public opinion to support war or increased military

spending to prepare for an existential Iranian counterattack that never came.

A good example of this sudden shift in opinion is with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. According to an article by Trevor Timm, an executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, in 2014 when ISIS was at its height, there was wall-towall fear mongering regarding ISIS’s plans to strike the United States. This coverage transformed a war-weary public that once opposed interventions into the Middle East to a public eager to re-engage in the region.

During this period, more than 60% of the public in a CNN poll now supports airstrikes against ISIS. Two more polls came out later, one from the Washington Post and the other from National Broadcasting Company News and the Wall Street Journal, essentially

concluding the same thing. Most shocking, 71% thought that ISIS has terrorist sleeper cells in the United States, against all evidence to the contrary.

This demonstrates the danger of giving fear mongering too much weight. It can change the course of public opinion from peace to war in a period of a few weeks. The Soleimani strike is another example when the fear mongering surrounding an event did not accurately predict the eventual outcome of the strike. We were lucky that the rhetoric surrounding Soleimani was not extreme enough to warrant a disproportionate military response, but we might not be so lucky next time. With this in mind, it seems best that fear mongering articles continue to gather dust in Google’s search tabs instead of blaring on our headlines.

8

the blue & gold march 19, 2020

Build an open community to prioritize mental wellbeing

Violin requires persistance and perseverance

By Amber Wu (‘23)

Some of Ms. Tan’s advisory students sit on the grass during field day. [PHOTO COURTESY OF MS. JEI-JEI TAN]

By Allison Kwan (‘21) You are sitting at home with a pile of homework and never-ending tasks to be completed. You try to make time by perhaps skipping a few meals, shortening your time to sleep or even canceling appointments with your friends.

When stress goes unmanaged, it can potentially lead to mental illnesses. I believe that building an open community that is willing to assist students whenever they are feeling overwhelmed is crucial to taking appropriate measures towards prioritizing physical and mental wellbeing. If we “create a culture that simply makes students connect intentionally,” we can be more open with each other, Vincent Chu (‘22) said.

One way we can create a more open community is by being open with your college counselor. Ms. Melanie Hamre, upper school director of college counseling, believes that although stress is always

going to be a part of life, it is part of her responsibility to lessen this stress during the college application process: “We want students to recognize what makes them happy and carry this into their college experience.” Ms. Hamre also encourages all of her students to talk to her about their stress because all college counselors have been on the other end as a college admission officer and are striving to make the college experience a more manageable and fun one.

Another way to encourage an open community is by using advisory meetings as a safe space. In my advisory, my close bond with my peers allowed each of us to openly talk. My advisory teacher, Ms. Jei-Jei Tan, also encourages us to develop a positive outlook during our time in and outside of school by asking us what we are looking forward to. All advisory groups can encourage this type of conversation so that students can be more transparent with each other.

One change that has already been implemented to incorporate wellness into school activities are the Adulting 101 open sessions for seniors. These sessions allow students to share what issues they have in regards to Taipei American School for faculty to improve the school. Other examples are clubs such as Reach Out, a club that helps new students transition smoothly into TAS. We should not forget that there will always be people in and outside the TAS community that care about our mental wellbeing.

In addition to the support of family and friends, Mr. Ryan Haynes, the upper school director of academic and personal counseling, encourages students to see the academic and personal counselors regarding their mental wellbeing.

“TAS takes mental wellness seriously.

There’s plenty of support here at TAS and students should not be afraid to reach out and ask for help,” Mr. Haynes said.

TAS should provide financial aid to create diversity

Lost items of TAS upper schoolers, seven of which are above NT$ 3000 including several pairs of Apple AirPods.

By Audrey Hwang (‘23) Students at Taipei American School are constrained to a bubble with socioeconomic borders — one that limits the student population to the top percentages of wealth status in society, which then creates a lack of socioeconomic diversity.

While there are exceptions to this, such as children of faculty members who are eligible to attend TAS for free, the majority of TAS students come from families and backgrounds of relative wealth in Taiwan.

The closest thing TAS has to financial aid is the Hope N.F. Phillips Scholarship Fund to provide temporary and partial scholarships for students whose families are experiencing short-term financial struggles.

This means that students eligible for this scholarship were once of similar financial background as their peers, thus not creating true diversity amongst the student population.

When students of the top wealth percentages of society are all gathered together to go to school, many students are pressured to dress and act in a certain way that can often be contradicting to the values that TAS preaches.

Students often flaunt wealth by splurging on designer brands such as Off-White, Supreme and Anti Social Social Club.

Financial aid would be helpful in instigating a new perspective for TAS students — perspective of wealth not being the only factor that determines a students’ self worth and erasing the need to flaunt wealth by wearing designer brands while some kids in the world cannot even afford textbooks for their education.

However, finding a way to make financial aid possible definitely has its struggles.

One way it could work is to look into outside available funds that could help make

[AUDREY HWANG/THE BLUE & GOLD]

this possible. Rethinking the current TAS budget would also allow the school to take in consideration of implementing financial aid.

We could have specific types of financial aids, possibly one for discounted meal plans or even a laptop need based scholarship.

Financial aid would be helpful in instigating a new perspective for TAS students Having a financial aid program at TAS would stimulate diversity, which would further allow for TAS students to gain a greater understanding that although we may be able to lose Airpods without serious repercussions, many kids cannot afford the tuition of high level education.

The violin is a very complex instrument so learning to play it can be challenging.

[AMBER WU/THE BLUE & GOLD]

One of the most common phrases heard by many people these days is: “It’s too hard.” You hear it in classes, on the field, at home… and in music classes. However, people should not simply give up on learning regardless of the subject. Even though the violin is one of the hardest string instruments to learn, I believe that the challenge the violin provides to students is good because it helps you grow as a person and learn resilience.

On stage, musicians make playing the instrument seem fairly easy and effortless. Unfortunately, that is not the case from the outset. I started playing the violin when I was eight.

Intonation was (and is still) one of my biggest challenges when playing the violin because the intervals between the notes of a violin are smaller compared to other string instruments.

Dr. Ruth Lin, one of the TAS string teachers, has been playing the violin since she was in first grade. She thinks that patience is the hardest to achieve when learning an instrument. “You have to be patient and you have to practice and play in good posture,” Dr. Lin said.

“It’s just like sports, if you want to be good at sports you need good posture.

Otherwise, it will get in your way.”

Although instruments such as the violin seem to be very challenging to learn, they give you an opportunity to grow as a person. Originally, I believed that many activities were hard to take on, so I gave up. When I first started playing the violin, I injured myself in the wrist because I positioned my bow in the wrong area. Nevertheless, I tried very hard to overcome the bad habit. Little did I know, I still had and have many challenges to face. Now, after dealing with many challenges as a violinist, I realize that it’s alright to challenge myself, although the process might take a lot of effort and time.

Whether it is the violin or another instrument, we should not give up on trying to learn an instrument.

We should persist, no matter how hard it is to make the sounds ring like the musicians up on stage.

9

the blue & gold march 19, 2020

Newsflash: students can’t “read” money

MONEY MADE SIMPLE

Paying for college

By Lana Lee (‘22)

By Lana Lee (‘22) In just three months, another 3.7 million students will graduate from high school, almost all of them not knowing how to “read money.” What’s more, they will graduate into one of the worst labor markets the world has ever seen.

Students should acknowledge their illiteracy in finance, and schools should facilitate access to financial education to them in preparation for real-world financial challenges.

To fill the void of financial education particularly in TAS, I will be starting a column for financial advice in The Blue & Gold.

Our society is so uptight about money that it is hardly ever discussed in most households or schools, causing more people to struggle in silence. Yet 93 percent of American parents with teenagers report worrying that their children might make financial missteps such as overspending or living beyond their means.

Their concern reflects the reality of today’s world. More than 40 percent of young adults aged 18 to 29 do not pay the bills on time every month, and student loan debt exceeds USD $1.6 trillion in America alone.

It is no surprise that money is the biggest cause of stress in the world.

Then, it is obvious that money management should be taught. The vast majority of statistics point to the lack of financial education as the primary cause of most monetary problems. Students are thirsting for it as well.

The National Financial Educators Council asked 1,101 young adults aged 18 to 24, “What high school-level course would benefit your life the most?” The majority (51.4 percent) responded “money management.”

Despite its overwhelming popularity, barely any measures have been taken to address this need for financial education while this crisis of illiteracy continues to undermine individual lives through divorce, suicide and anxiety.

Perhaps members of older generations like our parents may not see the value of a monetary education because they have never experienced it.

Or, as the Financial Literacy and Education Committee reports: “the majority of educators were not given a financial education course and feel unprepared to teach the subject.”

Teaching personal finances can be challenging since it is not an intellectual discipline like math or history. A definite

method to teach the subject does not exist, and the same method to different individuals can convey different effects.

And arguably, impulsivity is sufficient to manage one’s finances.

But the risk of completely depending on trial and error without any prior knowledge is too high. Because decision-making is like growing a tree, decisions you make now will have a direct impact on your financial welfare several years later.

Learning about some fundamental concepts about personal finances can help us ensure that every financial decision we make is backed by a rationale. Inevitably, it can lower the level of uncertainty of our financial future and help us predict success a little easier.

Georgia, Idaho and Texas, all found increased credit scores and lower delinquency rates on credit accounts immediately three years after implementing a financial education mandate.

By all means, we must utilize its efficacy to contain the wildfire of financial illiteracy in addition to our efforts to acknowledge the crisis. This is the way to ease the biggest transition students make in entering society, where financial difficulties are no longer sheltered from them.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Down with Liberalism, Up with Well-Defined Terms

By Baltazar Zuñiga Ruiz (‘21) What if I told you I was a liberal? What would that mean to you? What would you think of me?

Let’s start off by taking a look at the origins of the word “liberal.” The word comes from the Latin term “liber,” meaning free, or more specifically, a free man. It’s easy to see why Adam Smith, one of the first users of the word, connected liberalism with free markets and limited government. To Smith, liberalism was based on the idea of economic liberty, or as Smith puts it, the ability for “every man … to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man.”

Throughout history, the term has since changed. Starting in the late 19th century, liberals under the idea of Utilitarianism began advocating for a greater role of the state in the economy to counteract some of capitalism’s negative effects. By the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs, liberalism in the United States came to be associated with greater state control of the economy. As a result of the signing of the Civil Rights Act

by Lyndon B. Johnson, liberalism also came to be linked with civil rights, harkening back to its original definition as an ideology that upholds the natural rights of all citizens. It wasn’t until Bill Clinton’s presidency and the advent of neoliberalism that the ideology once again began to denote a freer market. Ever since then people who have been identified as liberals have had a wide range of opinions as

to how the economy should be handled, with politicians such as Bernie Sanders arguing for greater government spending in the economy while other, more moderate liberals calling for a preservation of the status quo.

Nowadays, individuals use the term’s vagueness in order to advance their own political agenda. A great example of this is when YouTuber Steven Crowder called Hitler a “liberal socialist” as a way to vilify today’s liberals. Crowder is able to link Hitler’s national socialist policies to today’s democratic socialist movement while ignoring Hitler’s racial policies. Crowder hence utilizes the ambiguity of the term “liberal” to apply it to any left-wing movement he views negatively.

On the other hand, Dave Rubin, an influential political commentator known for having “left the left,” upholds the definition of liberalism originating from Adam Smith’s writings and uses it as a basis for his argument as to why he “left the left.” From Rubin’s perspective, the left has shifted from their roots of social and economic liberty centered on the individual.

Instead, the left now abides by what he calls a “social justice ideology,” which puts the group over the individual.

Similarly, people situated on the left side of the political spectrum attack what they view as the “neoliberal establishment.” Leftleaning politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez prefer terms like progressive and socialist over liberal to define their ideology, which gives them the ability to distinguish themselves as being more in favor of state intervention in the

economy. The term “neoliberalism” also gives left-leaning individuals a blanket term to use to describe what they’re against, oftentimes without giving specifics. Nonetheless, unlike Crowder’s association of liberalism with authoritarianism, progressives define liberalism similarly to capitalism. On social policy, however, liberals and progressives alike both support the same ideas and movements, whether it be LGBTQ+ rights or third-wave feminism.

Individuals use the term’s vagueness to advance their own political agenda.

Through the analysis of the word “liberalism” and its different connotations throughout the centuries, it’s clear why the word as a political term has lost any sense of meaning. It’s best that politicians and journalists alike begin using more precise terms such as progressive, libertarian or moderate to refer to their ideologies. Libertarian, in this case, would have the most in common with Adam Smith’s original definition of liberal, while progressive would be more in line with the welfare state enlarged by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. While one simple word will never be able to give a detailed description of a person’s ideology, by removing liberalism as a political term, we can definitely do a lot to end confusion between people and their beliefs.

Paying for college can be a complex and contentious issue. But when you educate yourself on the financial aid opportunities available to you and make a financial plan, you may just find that college is much more affordable than you thought.

Here are some tips to ease the burden of college prices.

Calculate the estimated price When determining the affordability of a college, you must first calculate its estimated price. The cost of attendance is not always clear, since the sticker price can be deceiving.

For instance, the sticker price of Yale in 2019 was USD $75,925, but the median net price—after 64 percent of students received financial assistance— was USD $13,000.

It is important to note that board, transportation and personal expenses are highly variable and take up a major portion of the net price.

Though you will not know the exact net price until you’ve been accepted, most colleges offer net price estimators on their websites to give you an estimated cost.

Apply for grants and scholarships Submit the FAFSA and CSS Profile—the two forms most US colleges accept to determine one’s eligibility for need-based grants. Read more about them on blueandgoldonline.org.

You can also apply for merit-based scholarships provided by colleges and private institutions. These grants are offered regardless of a student’s financial need and do not need to be repaid.

Typically, they are open to international students and do not require extra applications.

One important distinction between need-based and merit-based aid is that the most selective US colleges only provide need-based, as opposed to merit-based, financial aid.

To find scholarships you might be eligible for, consult with your high school guidance counselor or free online services like Fastweb.

Only borrow safe loans Americans owe more than $1.6 trillion in student debt. It typically takes 181 months—more than 15 years—for a college graduate to pay off the average student loan debt.

Students often naively apply for private loans without getting so much as warning about its potential repercussions: it has very high interest rates, which can easily lead them to delinquency.

Instead, students should consider borrowing safe loans offered through the federal government or colleges.

Many schools will include at least a small amount of student loans in the financial aid package.

10

the blue & gold march 19, 2020

Former CNN correspondent reveals the danger of sensationalized reporting amidst the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak

By Laura Hsu (‘22) “I was always a news junkie, ever since I was a teenager,” Mr. Mike Chinoy said.

Growing up, Mr. Chinoy sensed how politically active his generation was, especially during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights movement at its height. “I remember sitting in my living room in North Hampton, just watching these news reports,” he said. Mr. Chinoy’s interest in news sparked his dream of becoming a reporter, “I got lucky, I ended up being able to do that.” he said.

“With [COVID-19], there have been instances of wild or inaccurate or sensationalized reporting that have served simply to alarm people rather than inform them.”

Mr. Chinoy’s deep-rooted interest in China was a driving force for the Chinese studies and journalism degrees he pursued.

The journalism education he received allowed him to further broaden his focus as well. “I felt I had the possible tools to work in a field that would allow me to cover other places as well,” he said. “Back then, going to China was like going to the moon. It was this exotic place that no one had ever been to,” he said.

Mr. Chinoy began his journalism career at the Columbia Broadcasting System as a freelance reporter. After a few months in,

Mr. Chinoy had fully immersed himself in broadcasting, “I understood it more, got better at it, and liked it more,” he said.

After eight years of reporting at CBS and NBC News, Mr. Chinoy gained much needed on-the-ground experience. In the summer of 1980, Mr. Chinoy joined CNN, which was, at the time, a small and unknown news organization, so many cynics called CNN the “chicken noodle news.”

At that time, Mr. Chinoy was only the fourth foreign correspondent hired by CNN and was based in London for five years. As a roving correspondent, Mr. Chinoy was CNN’s reporter on command. “They used to call me the fireman, when something happen[ed] they put me on a plane and [I went] to where [the] news was happening,” he said.

After moving to Beijing in 1987, Mr. Chinoy became the first CNN Beijing correspondent, and opened the CNN bureau.

He was one of the few foreign correspondents reporting live at the Tiananmen Square student protest, “I remember the Chinese army intervened, and crushed them with the loss of hundreds of lives.” he said.

Mr. Chinoy went on to report around the region, starting in 1989, he made a total of seventeen trips to North Korea. There Mr. Chinoy had a rare experience in which he was guided through North Korea by minders that followed him around. “It’s a society that is built around worship and affiliation of the supreme leader,” he said. It seemed as though everywhere Mr. Chinoy looked, there were symbols and pins of the face of the leader.

“I developed enough of a relationship with the people I was interacting with,” he said. “Part of the challenge as a journalist was

Mr. Mike Chinoy poses with journalism students during his month-long visit to Taipei American School. [THE BLUE & GOLD] to penetrate below the surface,” he said. Mr. Chinoy went on to dine with North Korea’s founding father, Kim Il-Sung three times.

Mr. Chinoy has spent the mid-70s to mid2000s as a foreign correspondent traveling and reporting from all over the world. Regarding the recent COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Mr. Chinoy said, “for me, this outbreak brings back memories of SARS, especially because the Chinese authorities initially covered up the SARS outbreak, which played a major role in its spread.”

Journalism and news reporting play

a huge role in informing people about COVID-19, as a senior correspondent Mr. Chinoy said, “With [COVID-19], there have been instances of wild or inaccurate or sensationalized reporting that have served simply to alarm people rather than inform them,” he said.

Although there are many challenges that occur, Mr. Chinoy enjoys broadcasting’s opportunity to allow people to consume news almost instantly. “Television is a fantastic median because you share the experience wherever you go,” he said.

New program brings Dr. Hartzell back for a scholarly visit

By Sharon Lee (‘22) Dr. Richard Hartzell, former teacher, coach and administrator at Taipei American School, returned as a visiting scholar of the Richard K.F. Soong Lecturer in Humanities Program between winter break and the Chinese New Year holiday. He worked mainly with Advanced Placement literature classes during his visit but also taught two days of AP History of Art. As a pastime hobby, he continued to participate in ninth and tenth grade physical education floor hockey games.

The Richard K.F. Soong Lecturer in Humanities Program was established to honor Richard K.F. Soong’s love for the humanities. His family funded this program in order to provide the TAS community with the opportunity for Dr. Hartzell to return and teach here for a short period of time.

The current plan is for Dr. Hartzell to come back for the next three years to share his incredible knowledge with groups of students. “Bringing him back provides students with an outstanding opportunity to learn from a brilliant scholar and excellent teacher,” assistant head of school for advancement, Dr. Kathy Limmer, said.

Since his retirement, Dr. Hartzell has been living in Southern California with his wife. He enjoys the amount of free time he has to binge read, work out and eat great food. However, he greatly misses teaching and interacting with teachers and students.

During his time as an upper school administrator, he has always taught around two classes on the side. “Teaching was always the best part of my job, I was always

a teacher. Coming back [to teach] is just one word: privilege,” he said.

One of the students in his AP Literature class, Andrew Xu (‘20), describes Dr. Hartzell’s very in-depth approach to teaching. Being the polymath that he is, having taught seven AP courses in his 45 year teaching career, he brings a deeper level of understanding towards the works of literature. “I enjoy listening to when he utilizes his ability to speak Spanish and French to create understandings that we would have never [have] unlocked ourselves,” Andrew said.

English department chair and teacher, Dr. Owen Lipsett, also describes how Dr. Hartzell brings a huge variety of concepts to the class. “He is familiar with a broad range of literature, a broad range of culture and he is able to bring those references in class to assist the students,” Dr. Lipsett said.

“Coming back is just one word: privilege.”

Ultimately, this program works to benefit the students. “Exposing students to high caliber conversations and bringing outside voices to spur that conversation will enrich education,” Upper School Principal Mr. Lowman, said. “We try to bring in people constantly here at TAS to provide the world class education that we

Dr. Richard Hartzell happy to be home at TAS as a visiting scholar. [SHARON LEE/THE BLUE &

GOLD]

believe our students deserve.”

Speaking of giving students the best education possible, TAS recently engaged in a period of digital learning due to school closing from the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

This was not a unique situation as school closures happened in 2003 during the SARS virus and in 2009 during the H1N1 outbreak. However, online learning systems were not available during that time.

Dr. Hartzell, who has a wealth of experience, had some interesting reminders for both students and teachers about the previous cases of school closure. “There was

no online classroom at TAS [during SARS].

TAS invested in the online classroom [Blackboard] because of it,” Dr. Hartzell said. He believes that now “is the perfect time to place more emphasis on Canvas, at least in the upper school.”

Although digital learning is a great solution for unexpected emergencies, and is an effective means of transferring information, Dr. Hartzell believes that it is not true education. “I despise the idea of pure online learning,” he said.

“An important part of any true education includes direct interpersonal situations.”

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the blue & gold march 19, 2020

Activist Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo (‘66) remembers an older era of TAS

By Ian Ho (‘21)

When Ms. Arrigo and her husband George Chen returned to California, she was expecting discrimination against a mixed-race couple and their baby.

Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo (‘66) is a political and human rights activist who assisted in the smuggling of political prisoners who were jailed, and likely tortured, by the Chiang Kai-shek regime. She was also a Taipei American School student during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, during a time when the children of high-ranking Kuomingtang officers and U.S. diplomats were her fellow students. Dr. Arrigo shares her experience living in Taiwan during the early republican era, from being a student at TAS to her experience with local Taiwanese.

Linda attributed her start as an activist and journalist to her early political awareness of the propaganda and authoritarian environment of Taiwan under the early Republic of China governance.

“When I decided to marry a Taiwanese, I got kind of a warning from the embassy.”

“It was almost in some way like being in the Qing Dynasty.”

“Most Taipei American School students were ‘military brat’ students,” Ms. Arrigo said. Her father, Joseph Arrigo, was a retired U.S military officer, and because of this, she had the chance to come into contact with individuals from the Taiwanese and American governments. Dr. Arrigo’s classmates included the daughter of former governor of Taiwan, Chou Chih-Jou and the daughter of Claire Lee Chennault from the Flying Tigers, the first American volunteer group of the Republic of China air force. Sometimes, she would even visit the home of the Chennault family.

Ms. Linda Arrigo stands up to give a speech at the annual TAS AI Cafe. [IAN HO/THE BLUE & GOLD]

The “ruling” class of Taiwan were all centered in one community. “It was almost in some way like being in the Qing Dynasty,” Ms. Arrigo said. While the association with the higher echelon of Taiwan gave Ms. Arrigo an awareness of the Republic of China’s actions in Taiwan, she also dived into the other extreme and “went local.”

To her, going local meant wandering the streets of Taipei, meeting local people and learning the local culture. Eventually, after her local explorations, she developed a fascination for Taiwanese culture. However, her interest was not always encouraged.

“When I decided to marry a Taiwanese, I got kind of a warning from the embassy,” Ms. Arrigo said.

However, to her surprise, her family dealt with very little bigotry due to the increasing number of Asians in California’s technology industry.

Societal expectations when Ms. Arrigo was a TAS student were really different compared to today. “Now we see that Taipei American School is almost all Asian. There are students with all kinds of mixed cultural backgrounds, [the students] do not have to hide [themselves] anymore.” Ms. Arrigo said. “Almost everybody in their life says I was excluded from this. I was excluded from that welcoming culture, because I did not have this [pure cultural] identity.” In the 1960s, having a mixed racial or national identity as an individual created a potential source of discrimination.

Today, it is not generally so. “I think now, objectively, the Asian Americans have an advantage,” Ms. Arrigo said. “We’ve come quite a long way.”

Alumna Rohenne Lee (‘04) pursues a community-building career at Airbnb

By Nicole Chang (‘21) All day long at the Airbnb Headquarters in San Francisco, Rohenne Lee (‘04) spends her time working collaboratively with designers, engineers, researchers, as well as with legal, finance and marketing departments. As Lead Product Specialist for Experiences, she often works crossfunctionally to come up with different initiatives that would benefit Airbnb’s customers for the company to pursue.

“There is not a typical day at work for most people in technology companies. We tackle different issues everyday.”

“There is not a typical day at work for most people in technology companies. We tackle different issues every day,” she said.

“There is a lot of time spent in meetings or creating project plans, but [it is] definitely something you need to do when you are working with cross functional teams.”

Since joining Airbnb in May 2019,

Rohenne has really enjoyed working with different people. “Airbnb is a place that really values the people they hire,” she said. “Everyone I work with is extremely intelligent but [also] really genuine. [The people] are easy to work with, resulting in good relationships and partnerships which makes working and collaborating much easier,” she said.

However, working at Airbnb has its fair share of difficulties. Since Airbnb’s product of a shared marketplace for places to stay and things to do is fairly new, not every country or city has knowledge of the company’s impact. In order for Airbnb to be successful, it is important to work closely with local governments, which can sometimes be a challenge.

“It’s a new business, a new market place, and a new type of law or regulation is needed,” she said. “[The company] actually needs to try and work with local authorities and local governments to make sure that it’s successful for the hosts, the guests, and the city itself.”

Despite these difficulties, she has really enjoyed traveling around the globe and doing research on the company’s users.

During a user research trip to South Korea, Rohenne began to better understand the different relationships and roles in the marketplace.

“Without a host, there is not going to be a home for a guest to stay in, and without a guest, a host is not going to make money. So, putting those together and understanding how we can, as the middleman [and] as the

platform that provides a service for them, make a host successful and make a business for them [is] really cool,” she said.

Working at Airbnb has also required her to use both hard and soft skills in order to be successful. At work, she often has to query for data and has to be able to use that data to define strategy. She also has to be empathetic and be able to put herself in other people’s shoes in order to effectively collaborate with different types of people with different cultures —this is especially important during user research trips.

Ultimately, Airbnb’s mission to create a

world where everyone can belong through healthy travel that is local, authentic, diverse, inclusive and sustainable, is what drives her at work.

“I felt that the company’s mission really aligned with what I wanted to do which is [to] help the community and [to] help everyone in the world feel inclusive,” she said. “In the future, maybe you are going to be living somewhere else that is not in Taiwan [and] you may not feel at home, so being part of a company that tries to make everyone in the world feel like they are a part of [a] community is a really noble cause.”

The vibrant, high-tech Airbnb headquarters located in San Francisco. [PHOTO COURTESY OF ROHENNE LEE]

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Mr. Williams dedicates his break to Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy

Mr. Chase Williams pictured with Mayor Pete Buttigieg after helping campaign for him in Iowa. [PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. WILLIAMS]

By Natalie Scheidel (‘21) While most people celebrated Chinese New Year break with family and friends, Mr. Williams spent his break making thousands of phone calls and knocking on hundreds of doors in Iowa for 10 days.

Mr. Williams decided to campaign

for Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy for the democratic primaries after seeing the successful and strong campaign Buttigieg ran through 2019 and knowing the historic nature of his candidacy. “Mayor Pete is a once-in a generation candidate, and as a gay man, I definitely identify with Pete’s

coming out journey and his candidacy,” Mr. Williams said. However, it goes beyond this; for Mr. Williams, it is about the bold vision for the future of America if Mayor Pete was elected.

During this time, Mr. Williams was assigned to a field office in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, and spent the majority of his time on voter contact and persuasion in attempts to convince Iowans to come out and caucus for Buttigieg. “As a political buff, going to Iowa during the caucuses has always been a bucket list item of mine,” Mr. Williams said. The ultimate goal was to galvanize supporters and to persuade undecided Iowans to join “#TeamPete” before the caucus.

During the trip, Mr. Williams’ favorite memory was with both Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg.

“They are both so kind and humble — it confirmed every reason why I’m so proud to support his campaign,” he said. Moreover, Mr. Williams was also able to meet former ambassadors, elected officials from other states, policy experts, and college students who took a semester off.

However, this was not Mr. Williams’ first campaign. Before he started teaching full time, Mr. Williams worked in politics.

Yet, for Mr. Williams, this campaign was noticeably different. First, Pete Buttinieg’s campaign, “Pete for America,” established a set of “rules of the road” to guide every decision the campaign makes and the value which they ask everyone involved to live everyday on the campaign.

“The culture of belonging and respect

is different than any other campaign and it truly shows the way Pete approaches people on the campaign trail,” Mr. Williams said.

Furthermore, he has never campaigned in Iowa before, and it was very eye-opening to see that people in Iowa actually want to talk about politics.

Despite the fact that Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race before Super Tuesday, Mr. Williams could not be more proud. “He put the future of America before himself,” he said.

“Mayor Pete is a once-in a generation candidate, and as a gay man, I definitely identify with Pete’s coming out journey and his candidacy.”

As a result, Mr. Williams will be supporting Joe Biden for the presidential election. “I think it is a two-fold, first as someone dedicated to the mayor, when Mayor Pete asked us all to rally behind Biden, I did, and also because it is either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders and I think Biden has more of a chance to beat president Donald Trump and win back the democratic Senate,” he said.

Horizon Journal: pushing the horizon of high school scientific research from online to symposiums

By Ian Ho (‘21) The latest issue of the Horizon Journal presents topics spanning from fighting cancer to Artificial Intelligence technology in articles that the editors of the publication tirelessly organized. The Horizon Journal is only two years old and was founded last year

by David Wang (‘19), Ethan Wu (‘19), and Tim Ho (‘19). Currently, Evelyn Lai (‘20) and Jack Bruce (‘21) serve as co-presidents and Editors-in-Chief for the club.

This journal is dedicated to featuring new scientific research. Jack, Evelyn and two other editors, Audrey Hwang (‘23) and Baltazar Zuniga Ruiz(‘21) handpick new scientific topics and write about them.

Every issue has an overarching theme.

Through these selections, the journal can bring to the community a broader exposure to a variety of research from the broader scientific community.

Currently, the Horizon Journal publishes every few months. Three issues are planned for this school year with one issue already having been published in December. Although, the majority of the research featured are from outside of school, the editors aim to include more student research in the future.

In the upcoming years, Evelyn and Jack are also seeking to expand the club.

While more writers are helpful, there are also benefits to a smaller organization. “In a small club, it feels like there are more personal connections between the editors,” Evelyn said. Even if publishing speed will be slower with a smaller club, the quality will still be their main focus.

There were also plans during in club discussions to split outside research and student research into two sections and to create a Q&A section, and a section

including interviews with student researchers. If implemented, these sections would allow readers to understand more about what the student research experience is really like.

Beyond the Horizon Journal, student researchers also get the chance to publish their research on platforms outside the school. Jack’s research last year regarding the creation of new and improved quantum dots (a form of nano-machine that emits light and changes the light’s color) was published on a preprint server for chemistry called ChemRvix.

Preprint websites are an effective way for novel and quality scientific research to be shared amongst the scientific community. ChemRvix is created by the American Chemical Society and is affiliated with chemical societies all across the globe in Russia, Britain, Germany, China, and Japan.

Peer review is a another online process where experts help edit the papers of their peers in the same field where experts need to have the same or greater qualification when editing to ensure the quality of the edits.

Beyond online platforms, symposiums also serve as a good way to publicize new research. Jack presented his research at the American Chemical Society symposium in Singapore last fall.

While some research gets the chance to be published, research that requires long experimentations may never be published in one’s lifetime. Evelyn’s research on lissencephaly, a brain disease where part of the supposedly folded brain becomes smooth, is like such. Experiments for studying brain disease may include modifying the DNA of protein production

Members of the Horizon Journal, Jack Bruce (‘21), Baltazar Zuniga Ruiz (‘21), Audrey Hwang (‘23) and Evelyn Lai (‘20 with their advisors. [IAN HO/THE BLUE & GOLD] to see how different mutations result in different brain diseases, and there are times when the professor leading the research may decide to expand the research to focus on additional aspects. All these components can lead to prolonged research.

While Jack and Evelyn are two

examples, countless students within the TAS community perform unique research.

From the Horizon Journal to ChemRvix, the media world of science strives to offer credibility and quality in presenting advances in science to the general public to advance knowledge in the 21st century.

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the blue & gold march 19, 2020

ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY PHIL/THE BLUE & GOLD

Law reviews and 3D printing: the wonders of high school research papers

By Sabrina Chang (‘21)

Research. Essay. Every student’s two favorite words right? For Yan Ying Mor (‘20) and Hironori Kondo (‘21), it really could be. Yan Ying’s and Hiro’s research papers show how diverse yet equally interesting research papers can be.

Yan Ying Mor (‘20) Yan Ying Mor (‘20) became interested in her research topic of choice simply because she wanted to prove others wrong. “Many students denied that the wage gap existed, and I wanted to be able to back up my argument,” she said. “People often assume that women fight with their feelings and not good judgement or rationality.”

More than anyone else, Yan Ying knows very well how tough it can be to go through the research process, as she had to read through numerous law reviews for her paper.

“Most people just read online sources, but I had to read graduate level theses,” Yan Ying said. “The resources I used are definitely not typical for a high schooler to examine.”

Conducting thorough research forces students to let go of their teacher’s hand and become more independent and resourceful, whether it is going to the library or finding credible sources online.

“Teachers can help students nail down information and lead them in the right

direction, but navigating through the research process requires independence, something that students may not get from a regular classroom lecture,” Dr. Soublet, AP U.S. History teacher, said.

Yan Ying learned a lot through the process, ultimately allowing her to expand her knowledge and skills. “It gave me a chance to use the school’s resources and find out the history behind the wage gap,” she said. “I was able to take learning into my own hands and do something I was passionate about instead of simply what was assigned in class.”

This is a significant reason why teachers find research papers so important and why we get assigned one almost every year.

“Conducting research and pursuing lines of historical inquiry that represent our passions are the closest that we can get to doing the actual work of historians,” Mr. Luke Walker, AP World and European History teacher, said.

Hironori Kondo (‘21) Hironori Kondo has always been fascinated by 3D printing. “I’ve loved it ever since middle school art, then I got injured one year and had to stay home a lot, so I got a 3D printer,” he said.

He chose this topic because of his genuine interest in the subject but also because he believes it can do so much more in the future. “In exploring 3D printing and all the different technology, some flaws became obvious but also the large room for improvement,” Hiro said.

As an AP Research student, Hiro must come up with solutions for his research question and then introduce them. “The class can be pretty limiting in structure for some students, as we have to write with a generic audience in mind,” he said.

“However, documenting the process and communicating ideas in a clear way that allows others to understand and believe is a very valuable lesson.”

The research paper process prepares

students with necessary skills for students to amass and use even after schooling. “It’s imperative to seek out what others think and reconcile new information with what you have learned elsewhere,” Mr. Walker said.

This applies to almost everything in life.

The research process takes time and commitment, but the skills are evident through all aspects of life. Running a business, investing in stock, and voting are just some of the tasks adults must do research for, and it is important to find credible sources to support these various ideas and stances.

“Given that voting is one of our most important responsibilities as citizens, the skills that writing research papers help develop must likewise be some of the most important,” Dr. Nelson, dean of programs and director of KA-12 Articulation, said.

Ultimately, students at TAS have written numerous papers earning A’s in their various classes, but what they really achieved was more than just a letter grade.

Body and soul: male dancers are defying gender norms

The majority of dance students at TAS are female. [AUDREY HWANG/THE BLUE & GOLD]

By Ian Ho(‘21) Walking down the corridor, jazz, waltz or pop music can be heard, their beats leaking from the dance classrooms. Looking in, you see dancers stretching their legs with kicks, turning on the tip of their toes, but few of them are male.

Jeffrey Li (‘22) first started dancing by playing music in kindergarten and moving to its rhythm. His parents became aware of Jeffrey’s inclination towards dance when they were informed by his kindergarten teachers.

Thereafter, he would often find and learn dance moves from Youtube, which he still does to learn dance today. Jeffrey first started performing dance when a third grade talent show presented the opportunity. These days, he would often share recordings of his dance

on social media.

Before Ethan Hirai (‘23) started dancing, he was a part of a beatbox club in second grade. The image of beatboxing being “cool” introduced relevant dance forms to Ethan.

He also participated in plays in the lower school. All of these activities contribute to his interest in performing arts. This continued when he entered TAS in 5th grade and entered dance the next year.

Harrison Yu (‘20) started dancing in seventh grade as a workout method that would both satisfy his desire for fitness and his identity as an artist. Another reason why Harrison started dancing was that his friends, Ai Li Mok (‘20), Genevieve Chan (‘20) and Krystal Lin (‘20), also took dance.

Alex Huang (‘22) started dancing in 7th

grade to satisfy the performing arts credit requirement as the music mix class was full, but stuck with it because of how fun it is.

“You feel satisfied after the performance, you feel successful,” Alex said.

There were originally only one to two dance classes in TAS, but the introduction of the IB diploma changed this. “We offered IB dance and we got 30 some people straight away.” Dance teacher Mrs. Deborah Flemming said. “The next year we got another 30 some people.”

Many male students who continue to dance in High School had experienced dance prior. Not all cases are like Jeffrey though, where the ability to self teach is required. In Taiwan, cloud gates and many other dance programs exist for younger children.

Ethan, for example, was sent to one of these programs. “My mom wanted me to join drama because she felt that it would help decrease my chances of stage fright and make me practice my sense of space,” Ethan said. Spatial sense and onstage confidence are traits that are never too late to be cultivated and are good reasons why dance may be of use to anyone.

Amongst the numerous benefits, fitness, as Harrison said, is, without doubt, a very big one. “Way back in the 2000s, there were a lot of b[asketball] boys who came into the dance studio and did IB dance and IASAS,” Mrs. Flemming said, “IASAS (Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools) Dance was four guys and four girls.” The

basketball players who went into the dance studio saw the fitness benefit of dance.

Although dance may seem slow at times, the slowness, in fact, requires tremendous core muscles.

“I think the pendulum [of gender stereotypes] might be swinging back a little.”

For these basketball boys, a more hip hop like dance style worked better. Different styles of dance may allow different groups to obtain the same bonus from dancing without being limited by stereotypes regarding dance, much like how Ethan got into dance from beatboxing and hip-hop style dances. Kobe Bryant, for example, took tap lessons as well.

In the end, there are different benefits for dance that incentivize different groups of people to dance. From experiencing the satisfaction of dance to fitness benefits, there are many incentives for dancing, but many reasons that disincentivize guys from dancing as well. Gender stereotypes for dance and many more activities prevent guys and girls from participating. “It wasn’t long ago that guys would never be caught wearing pink,” Mrs. Flemming said. “Now and then somebody would have on a pink hoodie. So I think the pendulum [of gender stereotypes] might be swinging back a little.”

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the blue & gold march 19, 2020

WANDERING MIND, HAPPY MIND Featuring five IB Visual Art Year 2 students

By Audrey Hwang (‘23) IBHL Visual Art Year 2 students share each of their unique and preceptive approaches to viewing and creating art. The theme of this year’s exhibition, “Wandering Mind, Happy Mind” stemmed from an idea that school speaker Dr. Craig Hassed had brought up during his speech during a Professional Development day last year. In his speech, he mentioned that a wandering mind is not a good state of being as it indicated lack of focus. Ms. Kao disagreed with this as she believed that a wandering mind is actually beneficial and crutial to artists, thus inspiring this year’s art exhibition theme “Wandering Mind, Happy Mind.”

EVELYN

YUKA

MICHELLE Michelle Yeh (‘20) incorporates her own life experiences in making art.

Thoughts, experiences, and memories all help her make art in a casual manner where she does not have to plan out anything. “I take a canvas, and what happens, happens,” Michelle said. She believes that art can be initiated through emotions, not through a formulaic way of having things planned out. “I just imagine the artwork and go straight for it without doing [any] thumbnail sketches,” Michelle said. As a person, Michelle appreciates beautiful things in her day to day life and tries to beautify her surroundings through art. Her favorite medium of art is oil painting.

ABBEY

Evelyn Pao (‘20) likes to choose fabrics that utilize Southeast Asian cultural patterns.

With an interest in the fashion industry, she likes to use these patterns on fabrics when creating outfits. Given the close proximity of Japan and China, Evelyn is inspired by Japanese and Chinese traditional patterns. “Because we are in Taiwan, we can just see [patterns from Japan and China],” said Evelyn. She appreciates the intricate detailing in each pattern.

“Almost every flower or pattern has significant meaning to it. For example, seasonal patterns may vary based on the flowers that are in season.” said Evelyn. She often incorporates such patterns into her artworks, especially when making outfits.

Yuka Miyazaki (‘20) likes to paint portraits of women to express the changing role of women over time. She wants to use art to express the change of women’s roles overtime. Her inspiration for drawing portraits of women came from artist Mary Cassat. She especially likes how Mary Cassat portrays women in more domestic settings to show the role of women during the early 1900s. Yuka also admires the way she uses style color to show the social and cultural aspects of females in society. Because of art, she has a greater appreciation for visually attractive things. “I learn to appreciate aesthetics and observe beautiful things in nature,” said Yuka.

VANESSA Abbey Foreman (‘20) likes to make art based on her views on social injustice. This year, she made a painting depicting the immorality of animal cruelty, along with integrating feminism in some artworks. She constantly strives to convey her moral and political beliefs through art. “I think that art is a great platform for [expressing my opinions] because it doesn’t require words or much context.

You can just look at something and see the feelings displayed in [the artwork],” Abbey said. Besides creating art based on her political views, she is focused on making textiles for the IBHL Visual Art Year 2 course. She integrates precision, detail, and print making throughout this textile making process.

Vanessa Kang (‘20) enjoys making art based on everyday subjects in either gouache or watercolor. “Artists like Andy Warhol and Wayne Thiebaud are a form of inspiration for my artmaking. I really like the way they utilize color and form in order to give a unique twist to average items,” she said. She strives to create art that is whimical and dreamy in style. Over the summer, she also gained interest in a form of art called surrealism, which uses realistic elements and combines them in an unusual way. This year, she painted an imaginary landscape with half of the canvas depicting day and the other half night. “Art is such a satisfying thing to do because you can say anything,” Vanessa said.

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the blue & gold march 19, 2020

Finding raw beauty in “Have a good day” No. 28, Lane 770, Beian Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, 104

By Allison Kwan (‘21) From Feb. 8 to March 28, Double Square Gallery has hosted New Yorkbased artist Huang Hai-Hsin’s solo exhibition. I found out about her gallery because it is located a few minutes away from my home. Huang is known for creating photojournalistic artwork which brings light to modern day problems and depicts a wide spectrum of scenarios and characters. The exhibition features 28 artworks in total, with fifteen new paintings created within the last couple of years and one video installation. The admission fee is free.

Huang’s work is inspired by situations and activities found in everyday life and her technique consists of simplistic yet strong brushstrokes to depict common people in their everyday life.

The exhibition title, “Have a good day,” originates from the artist’s personal experience of living in New York for

I can perceive her emphasis on the beautiful, seemingly random moments in life. years. “Have a good day” is a simple greeting that everyone uses yet conveys no genuine feelings. The artist translates this thought into simplistic paintings with a complex meaning.

Her newly created series, Zoo, is also on view in the exhibition. It consists of various areas for different animal species, including an African lion and wild animal

Huang Hai-Hsin’s solo exhibition is open until March 28 at Double Square Gallery. [ALLISON KWAN/THE BLUE & GOLD]

area, a Formosan monkey area, a African pygmy goat area, and an area devoted to koalas and other seemingly-friendly animals. However, instead of the animals in these specified areas, the audience can only see cold fences and empty spaces.

With her brush, Huang encapsulates the feeling of disappointment through the absence of the caged animals. Through her art, I can perceive her emphasis on the beautiful and seemingly random moments in life as well as the fragility of

humans.

When I went to visit her gallery, my first impression was amazement at how contemporary her art style was.

Rather than paintings of traditional still life, her paintings seemed almost like postcards that seemed confusing at first. It was a little bit hard to navigate around the gallery as the paintings did not have names directly underneath for identification. I was given instead a map to self navigate across the gallery. The

gallery was bigger than I expected which gave me lots of room to move around from painting to painting and compare and contrast different themes.

I found that trying to understand the meaning behind each painting was a bit difficult without a description but later, I was given a short essay by Huang’s art critic, Jian Tzu-Chieh which allowed me to appreciate her artwork more. I would definitely recommend this art exhibition to others who want something relaxing

Science experiment meets speed dating in “Love is Blind”

By Kelly Phil (‘20) Once again, Netflix has produced another bingeable reality show. Love Is Blind is an intriguing and addicting show hosted by a largely absent reallife celebrity couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who fell in love face-to-face. The two bring a tried and true formula that combines the anonymity of previous TV shows like The Circle and the speedy vows of 90 Day Fiancé.

It’s the messiness and drama of these doomed marriages that makes them fun to watch.

In the show, men and women live in separate quarters connected by a row of 15 pods, where they begin a rotation of 7-minute speed date sessions to get to know each other.

Although they can hear each other

A contestant prepares to see her fiance for the first time on “Love is Blind” [SLATE] speak, the catch is that they can’t see their dates at all because the pods separate the men and women with frosted glass walls.

At the end, the contestants can choose to either get engaged or to go home.

The couples get to meet in person once they are engaged, and drama continues to follow their lives after they leave the show.

In the first episode, Nick explains the theory behind the experiment to the participants: “Psychologists believe that emotional connection is the key to long-term marital success, not physical attraction.” So, in this show, they abolish the physical altogether. It sounded like a lofty social experiment and the premise of the show really drew me in.

Judging from other shows like Married at First Sight, where the contestants literally got married after barely knowing each other, the theory that love is blind seems largely to be disproven. 21 out of 29 of its couple subjects have divorced.

But it’s the messiness and drama of these doomed marriages that makes them fun to watch.

Ultimately, Love is Blind is like any other reality TV show. You watch the contestants interact with each other, form connections through various activities, and follow the drama that seems to be a part of every episode.

Every contestant finds their niche on the show. Whether it’s the couples you cheer for or the contestant you can’t stand to watch, the show allows you to feel fully immersed and invested in the outcome of every move and decision.

Overall, the show was addictive in exactly the right way a reality TV show should be but also left me wondering the ultimate question the show posed: is love truly blind?

If you’re a fan of reality TV, this will be the perfect watch. Even if you’re just interested in the answer to this age old question, it’s interesting to watch the show through a psychological lens and will be enjoyable nonetheless.

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the blue & gold march 19, 2020

REVIEW | Gu Dian Mei Ren (古典美人)

the blue & gold march 19, 2020

By Nicole Chang (‘21) 古典美人 (Gu Dian Mei Ren) is a Pan-Asian vegetarian restaurant by the Mia Cucina group. The restaurant, which opened in December 2019, serves a wide range of dishes; the most popular food items include their fried rice, dumplings and noodles. The restaurant definitely sports an elegant interior with its huge glass windows, simple Edison light bulbs and Instagram-worthy walls. However, despite the ambiance, the restaurant was a bit pricey for its rather average tasting food.

Umami Seaweed Fried Rice (NT$ 180)

Dan Dan Noodles with Sesame Sauce (NT$ 150)

Soy Sauce Tofu Clay Pot (NT$ 320)

Loofah Soup Dumplings (NT$ 195)

The first dish that I tried was the “Umami Seaweed Fried Rice.” Served with green beans, red onions, sesame seeds and eggs, the fried rice did not disappoint.

It was a perfect balance between sweet and salty. The seaweed that was added on top also helped enhance the flavor of the fried rice. This was one of the few plates in the restaurant that I would order again as it was delicious.

The “Dan Dan Noodles with Sesame Sauce” dish was tasteless and very dry. This dish was served with renkon, cucumbers and sesame sauce, but the sesame sauce was too thick and barely covered the entire noodles.

This dish could have been easily bought at 7-Eleven for a lot cheaper and a lot tastier.

The “Soy Sauce Tofu Clay Pot” was tasty but one of the pricier plates in the restaurant.

Served with bamboo shoots, mushrooms and green onions, this tofu plate was perfect over white rice. The tofu was also very soft and perfectly cooked. However, this dish could have been easily replicated at home for a cheaper price.

The “Loofah Soup Dumplings’’ were decent, but not amazing. Served with chopped green beans and luffa, the dumplings were a bit on the drier side and caused the dough to stick to the plate. The dumplings were not up to the standards of Din Tai Fung, so for those who are only looking to eat dumplings, this would not be the best place to go.

The one and only alpaca cafe heaven in Taiwan

The alpacas in the store can be fed and petted. [SHARON LEE/THE BLUE & GOLD]

By Sharon Lee (‘22)

The Oia Cafe is the perfect place to visit with friends and family on a sunny day if you love cafes —and big furry alpacas. These alpacas freely roam around the restaurant

and will not only go up to you asking for food but will also attempt to munch on all sorts of items in their sights.

The cafe is located in Sanzhi, New Taipei City, which is around an hour away by car. The shop is located on the shores of a small beach, making it an awesome place to explore and take good pictures.

There are two white alpacas who call this cafe home. The smaller one is named Snow, and the bigger one is named after a renowned Chinese poet from the Tang dynasty, Li Bai (李白). These two alpacas are only allowed to remain inside the restaurant. They reach up to around your chest and have thick coats of fur and long necks. There are other animals such as black furred alpacas and goats, but they remain outdoors. You can pet all the animals and also take pictures with them as long as they stay in their own separate areas.

The restaurant does an amazing job at keeping the place clean. The indoor areas do not smell, and although the alpacas may have grass hay on them, their food rarely gets

on the furniture or your clothing. However, it is important to wash your hands before eating and leaving the restaurant.

It is required for customers to order first before petting, feeding or taking pictures with the animals. On the counter, there is free food, including slices of potatoes, apples or other fruits and vegetables to feed the alpacas. Since the alpacas know where their treats are, they will immediately start following you around as soon as they see treats in your hands.

Each customer is required to order at least one drink or dish—or pay NT$ 100— just to interact with the alpacas.

The main attraction is, of course, the animals. Thus, the food is slightly on the more expensive side and is also a little bland. The cafe serves pastas, waffles, hot pots, casseroles, steak and a variety of drinks such as coffee, teas and smoothies. I would recommend ordering their waffles, which are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The waffles cost NT$ 230, and have many

flavours, including honey, chocolate and cheese with all kinds of fruits on the side.

The alpacas are incredibly friendly, and they also get along well with dogs. They may come and try to eat your food, or even your clothes, tissues or menus, which can be very amusing to watch. The workers are also very friendly and easy to interact with, and will warn you to look after your belongings, and to not walk behind an alpaca to prevent being kicked.

Despite the alpacas being very enthusiastic about taking everything in their mouths, their teeth are generally not strong enough to bite through your clothing or belongings, as they eat by grinding their teeth left and right.

I would strongly recommend this unique cafe for animal lovers of all ages. Not only is this the only alpaca cafe in Taiwan, the alpacas are more interactive with customers than most animal cafes. Although the place is far from Taipei, it is definitely worth it for the animals and the great view.

S-s-see snakes at Harajuku’s snake cafe

By Phoebe Chen (‘21)

Rainbow boa constrictor is known for giving off a holographic rainbow colored sheen. [PHOEBE CHEN/THE BLUE & GOLD]

Located in the depths of Harajuku, the Tokyo Snake Centre is a perfect spot for reptile and afternoon tea lovers. Whether it is sipping tea with an observation cage or physically handling snakes, Tokyo Snake Centre is a once-in-a-life-tine travel opportunity that provides an array of amenities for guests. Those who visit Tokyo should definitely pay a visit.

To be seated at the cafe, visitors must purchase at least 1000 yen (NT$ 270) of refreshments. After ordering, guests can

choose a snake observation cage to keep at their tables. In order to touch and play with snakes, however, guests must pay an additional fee of 1500 yen (NT$ 400).

Tokyo Snake Centre has a total of over 100 different breeds of snakes. From a basic milk snake to a rainbow boa constrictor, the cafe has nurtured snakes that are both easy and difficult to train. All snakes that are allowed to be handled at the center have been taught to remain docile, and trainers are constantly supervising guests who handle the snakes. In order to help reduce anxiety levels among the snakes, only a handful are available to be handled during the day.

Despite the playful and well-taught snakes, Tokyo Snake Centre’s menu and food quality is quite lacking. With roughly only 15 food options, visitors are not granted with much of an option when it comes to picking their meals. Those who plan to pay the center a visit should not expect to leave the cafe full or content with their meals.

Although the center may not be a recommended site to enjoy appetizing food, the snakes still make the location a must-visit. For those who are interested in handling snakes or are just in search of a fun way to spend an afternoon in Harajuku, Tokyo Snake Centre is a perfect location.