BLACK & GOLD QUARTERLY (BGQ) APRIL 2020

The Shape of the World

50 Questions with KSB

Down the Rabbit Hole

Boomer vs. Zoomer

100 Years Ago at Central

The Ethics of Designer Babies

BGQ BLACK & GOLD QUARTERLY april 2020 / / volume ninety-nine

BLACK & GOLD QUARTERLY: APRIL T W O - T H O U S A N D TWENTY Editor’s Note

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sophia Boyce PHOTOGRAPHY Joie Baldyga Olivia Hale GRAPHICS Joie Baldyga Jack Doerr Maria Linck BUSINESS Henry Huschke Niklas Fagerman EDITORS Joie Baldyga Maria Linck STAFF WRITERS Ted Arnold Olivia Hale Henry Huschke Addison Swanson Mallory Swope Trinity Whiteford CONTRIBUTORS Jazryel Freeland COVER PHOTO Joie Baldyga Maria Linck Advisor: Jim Filkins

January and February have come and gone. Within the first two months of the new decade, the United States almost started WWIII according to social media and is bracing for the Coronavirus. While we attempt to survive in modern times, we turn to English teacher and fashion icon Ms. Kathryn Shelley-Barnes for a peek inside her world, as well as our very own TC fashion week. She leaves us not only laughing, but also thinking towards the future.

When we were younger we thought by 2020 we’d have flying cars. While they’re not a reality yet, they could be very soon. After looking at what people predicted for 2020, we asked Central Students what their predictions are for 2120. Spoiler alert: the most outlandish by far is ‘The Lions will make it to the Super Bowl.’

The Gallery is a place where students usually submit anything they want, but we asked students to base their artwork off what they think the future will look like in this isssue.

While we begin the issue looking towards the future, we also take a mini step back for a review of the 2010’s.We asked Central students to rank the best movies, music, video games, and apps of the decade. But we like to jump big, all the way back to the 1920’s to be exact. We take a look at what was going on at Central 100 years ago, and unfortunately for sophomores, they were still getting picked on by Seniors. We don’t stop at Central though, we also explore advances through the last 100 years in music and technology, as well as women's equality.

One of the more abstract themes throughout this issue is generational differences, from our Boomer vs Zoomer spread where we ask teachers and students their opinions on the opposite generation, to a complex discussion on societal norms. What is normal in a world that is constantly changing?

From the Pub, Sophia Boyce

MISSION STATEMENT: The Black and Gold Quarterly (BGQ) is Traverse City Central High School’s student-run magazine. Since its conception in 1886, our publication has evolved with the times, frequently changing in style, format, and even name. However, one factor has remained constant—our staff’s desire to capture the story of our community, to challenge the accepted, and to open our minds to perspectives that we hadn’t previously considered through investigation, research, and inquiry. We are constantly striving to improve our content and artistic elements; after all, the BGQ is a school publication, so educating both ourselves as well as our readers remains one of our primary goals.

24 // BGQ // April March2020 2020

C O N T E N T S

19

14 4 6 8

33 Central’s Future Forecast

2120 predictions

The Gallery

a student showcase

From Speakeasies to Spotify

the evolution of music across time

9

Communicating Across Time

10

The Ethics of Designer Babies

12

Identity in Traverse City

14 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 33

technology from the past present and future

should we let nature take its course… should we let nature take its course…

50 Questions with KSB

get to know your favorite english teacher

What’s Your Tik-Tok Girl Persona?

are you a VSCO girl or an E-Girl...

Boomer vs. Zoomer

the classic generational clash

Down the Rabbit Hole

facing my worst fears…

Best of the Decade

top ten songs, video games, movies

Central Speaks

what the student body is concerned about

The Shape of the World

the “norm” in society

A Two-Sided History

reflecting on societal changes

100 Years Ago at Central

a look back at the last century Send information, advertising and other inquiries to: Black & Gold Quarterly Central High School 1150 Milliken Drive Traverse City, MI 49686 Phone: (231) 933-6533 Email: filkinsji@tcaps.net

21 20 21 20 21 20 21 20 21 20 21 20 4 // BGQ // January 2020 March 2020

Central’s Future Forecast

What does the next century have in store for us? The BGQ set out to find what CHS students had to say, and the results are --you can determine that for yourself.

We will reach the technological singularity in which machines transcend humans.

World War III will kill us all because everyone launches nuclear bombs at each other because of petty fights and careless comments.

The Earth will destroy itself because of climate change.

The planet will no longer be able to support humans.

Discover a new planet that can support human life Aliens taking over

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tio c i d re

The iPhone 51 Detroit's population will hit 2 million.

The Lions will finally go to the super bowl.

We will find ways to cut our carbon and plastic use by becoming carbon/plastic neutral within the next 20 years.

I think in the next 100 years there will be a new plague. 1820 → plague, 1920 → plague, 2020 → plague Everyone will have self driving cars and forget how to drive and the planet will be mostly cities because of the growing population as well as deforestation of the Amazon from farming beef

graphics: J. Doerr

Samantha Maldonado ‘20

Olivia Richards ‘20

the Gallery Chloe Dutton ‘20

BGQ////March April 2020 2020 6 6////BGQ

Anna Ritzer ‘20

A student showcase Chloe Wallman ‘21

Tayler Mccaughna ‘20

Mazie Gunn ‘21

Toria Breadon ‘20

From Speakeasies to Spotify

The BGQ reviews 100 years of music and its influencers. by: TRINITY WHITEFORD staff writer

Photo: T. Whiteford

We all have different preferences of music, whether evolved through little steps and he really busted it be jazz, pop, country, rock or some of the many through the wall, and started challenging people’s other variations. But how is that music produced? To ears.” According to Hester, Stravinsky kept pursuing find out, I went to Studio Anatomy, a local recording his music and that evolved into music genres we have studio on Front Street in downtown Traverse City. now.

Owner Brian Chamberlain informed me of two types After meeting with Brian Chamberlain, I wanted to of recordings; analog and digital. Analog is a more know more about changes that brought about the manual, hands on process, but it is recorded on music we hear today. Jeff Haas, a local jazz musician, wax or vinyl cylinders, meaning that if the recording introduced to me a new world of change in the doesn’t sound right starting over is the only option.

1920s. He explained how recording studios were just Digital is more complex than analog. It involves sound getting started around this time, and speakeasies traveling through a microphone and onto a computer were the primary source for music. “There was always through multiple chords. This process makes it easier to music playing, and there were all different types of edit and delete parts of a song rather than restarting people composing and going into speakeasies and all together. Digital recordings are often preferred playing music.” Haas believes that “music is your way due to sheer lack of convenience. of expressing yourself, with both the However, analog recordings can pain and celebration of life.” Musicians be more desirable because many like Haas are always composing for people feel there is a difference ordinary people, which in turn creates in the overall quality of sound, a safe haven for all. particularly in terms of warmth, Everyday people such as Jeff even though analog recordings Haas, Brian Chaimberlain, and David are slightly more expensive than Hester continue to help shape the digital. music industry into what it is today Changes over the past century by creating and producing music. in recording music are important, Think of recorded music like vinyl, but I also wondered about the cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs and streaming.

Photo courtesy of: C. Hale changes in the music itself, so I We have instant access to music spoke with David Hester, Central’s band director. through devices like iPods and smartphones that Hester introduced me to a whole new world of music wasn’t available a little over 100 years ago. We find and change over the past decade, especially with comfort in music today just as people did in the 1920s. regards to a Russian composer. “One of the most In a way, apps like Spotify and Pandora are our 21st famous contemporary composers was Igor Stravinsky; century speakeasies, minus the Flappers. / / he really pushed the envelope and got music into the more avant garde. He really broke away from the common melody that composers used before him.”

Having been used to listening to jazz and the blues, Stravinsky’s music was different.

“People were just doing crazy things with music.

[They] were just so thrown off guard by the music and styles. If it wasn’t for that time period then we wouldn’t have what we do here today.“ The 1920s encouraged people to think outside the box and push boundaries of music and self expression Photo: T. Whiteford in general. “Everyone tried to take baby steps, music 8 // BGQ // April 2020

Communicating Across Time Technology from the Past, Present, and Future

by: TED ARNOLD staff writer

Photo: T. Whiteford

Smartphones are a hallmark piece of 21st century life. With 5G technology around the corner and folding smartphones dominating trends, it’s worth taking a look back at the start of these technologies.

In doing so, we can begin to look forward to what we’ll see in the future.

Social media has connected us in ways we could never have imagined before. In a poll conducted by the BGQ, over 90 percent of students at CHS report having a smartphone, and nearly 95 percent of students report using social media. This ubiquity of communication was not commonplace just 100 years ago. The telephone still hasdn’t reached prominence in day to day society. Even through the 1960’s, more than 20 percent of the American populous did not have access to a telephone, per the 1960 Census of Housing.

On April 7th, 1927, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) and Bell Laboratories executed the first practical demonstration of broadcast television as reported by The New York Times. They simultaneously began testing a technology now used by everyday consumers and business workers alike. This was the first test of visual radio, the precursor of video calls or FaceTime, Apple’s more prominent branding. Earlier in 1927, the first transatlantic phone call was made when AT&T president Walter S. Gifford called the Secretary of the General Post Office of Great Britain, Sir Evelyn P. Murray. This was the first practical demonstration of how the interconnected world would operate.

In both schools and the workplace today, technology is interwoven deep into the very fabric of our lives. Laptops have become a staple in American schools and grades as early as kindergarten, and a large amount of schoolwork is now completed digitally. Evan O’Branovic, TCAPS Director of Technology, claims the district is planning to evolve their uses of this technology to better immerse the classroom. He is excited by the possibilities of reliable wireless connections “so that a teacher can be mobile and moving around and interacting.

O’Branovic also says things like virtual reality and augmented reality are a super exciting prospect.

“I think when you look at the ways that you could

hopefully use [new technologies] in an educational setting, it’s really exciting to just be able to leverage that with the kids and get them excited,” O’Branovic explained.

The focus of technology now, however, is the expansion of 5G infrastructure which is just now reaching major cities in the United States and Europe.

This focus is shared with the prospect of fiber-optic connections expansion in order to cover a wider area. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also deploying Starlink, a network of satellites that would provide an internet connection for under-served areas in developed nations, connect unserved areas in third-world countries, and create competition in well populated areas.

Technological progress made in the last 100 years shows us just how hopeful we can be for progress to be made in the future. The internet could become so pervasive that everyone in the world could be interconnected. Augmented reality could transport us to other worlds while remaining rooted in our own.

Implanted neural links may become the smartphones of the future, connecting anyone and everyone without needing to move a muscle.

Technology evolves to meet the demands of the consumer. Smartphones have become smaller and more compact meanwhile expanding our capabilities. Phone-like technology embedded in glasses and earpieces is becoming more prominent today. The more portable we can make our technology, the more connected to society we can be. //

Graphic: J. Baldyga

The Ethics of Designer Babies — Or Lack Thereof Should we let nature take its course or should we reap the benefits of our genetic-modification capabilities?

Graphic: J. Baldyga

by: ADDISON SWANSON staff writer Imagine—you and your partner sit down in a modernly-furnished office within a fertility clinic.

You’re presented with a folder containing a menu.

This menu, however, is not for deciding whether you want the vanilla macchiato or that tempting iced caramel latte. It’s for viewing human embryo descriptions and selecting traits for your soon-to-be child.

This could very well be the reality in the near future.

Wake up and smell the java—scientists now have the ability to cook up modified human embryos in tubes (pun intended). But does that mean they should? The original genetics of these embryos are changed in a way that allows for the integration of desired traits and the expulsion of unwanted traits. Needless to say, the controversy of this subject raises a myriad of questions. From an ethical standpoint, is it right to interfere with nature? Conversely, is it right to sit idly by and allow someone to be born with a life-diminishing genetic ailment when we have the technology to correct genetic abnormalities?

To give this dilemma some perspective, imagine this scenario: you and your partner have just discovered that your offspring would have a 50–50 chance of inheriting the gene variant that causes Sickle Cell Disease, a genetic disorder where the red blood cells become misshapen and break down. If your child did inherit the “bad” genes, he or she would have a 25% chance of actually developing the condition. Those odds suddenly seem much more horrific. Would you be willing to take that gamble on your child’s health and the health of future generations linked to that child?

It’s certainly one thing to utilize our advances in gene modification for the betterment and well-being of a child, but it’s an entirely different thing to exploit such a capability in order to build someone’s idea of a ‘perfect’ child with desired characteristics. Consider natural selection, a natural process through which individuals or groups best acclimatized to the environment are most successful. Traits rendering an organism ill-equipped and incapable of survival eventually vanish from the population altogether. Natural selection relates to genetic modification. It certainly seems that this new technology aims to snuff out malicious and or inefficacious genetics and minimize the likelihood of complications from those genetics. Some believe that genetic modification accelerates the 10 // BGQ // April 2020

process of what’s already happening through natural means. Others feel there is no way to accurately predict what will happen and thus, genetic modification becomes much more like “playing God,” which is something different altogether. Whether the process should remain natural and deliberate or be hastened through science and technology becomes the essential question. The future rapidly approaches—will our impatience exact a toll?

Further complicating the moral aspects of this issue is the financial impediment that, for some, will deny access. We risk creating a society where certain socioeconomic classes (specifically the lower class) would bear a greater burden of genetic disease. In other words, the upper class would have unfathomable opportunities; choosing the eye color of and even boosting a child’s intelligence level (and SAT score) would all be within reach. Hence, those who had the means (wealth, power, influence) could contrive a superior race of human beings, not only influenced by the wealthy class but would also be the wealthy class. This could be Nietzsche’s vision of Übermensch (Super Humans) coming to fruition; in other words, a potentially “perfect” ruling class of designer babies wields power over a mass of inferiors.

Where do we draw the line? Are human beings vending machines into which an elite few would simply insert a coin, press a few buttons and have a perfectly designed child pop out? The term “designer babies” has a negative connotation, suggesting something unethical or discretionary. While it could also be used in a sensible and sagacious manner to benefit humanity by eliminating malignant genetics, the potential for human abuse is pretty easy to envision. Our advances in genetic modification (if used responsibly) could help to mitigate human suffering and, simultaneously, could rival the discovery of fire in human evolution. As with so many human endeavors, “there’s the rub,” as Shakespeare’s Hamlet would say. This is human life, or more accurately, the human “condition” and ultimately the future of the human race that we’re dealing with here. Then again, in the face of catastrophic dilemmas like global warming, and potential pandemics like COVID-19, perhaps designer babies are “much ado about nothing.” //

FREAKY

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What career did you aspire to pursue (in elementary school) How has that changed?

I wanted to be a ballerina. And then I wanted to be an underwater archaeologist. That changed when I realized that I was not going to be either one of those things. One, I never took ballet.

Two, I hated scuba-diving classes when I took them. I went to school for social work and sociology and worked for 14 years as a social worker with the Department of Corrections. I wanted to be on the same schedule as my kids and the position here opened up, so it all just aligned.

Julie Flaherty

Photo: A. Swanson

What kinds of foods did you enjoy (in elementary school)?

How has that changed?

I loved Macaroni & Cheese, hotdogs, Taco Bell soft tacos, and spaghetti. My parents were busy people so we did quick, easy stuff.

What genres of music did you listen to (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

When I was younger, it was Top 40. My parents also always had music playing when I was growing up, so we would listen to the variety of different genres of music that my parents listened to.

What kinds of clothing did you wear/what was your style (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

I wore pegged pants, Sperrys, and polo shirts (sometimes double polo shirts). I also wore slouch socks and if you had a bunch of different colors stacked that was cool.

It’s interesting because you do see styles come back around and a lot of the stuff was what we used to wear as kids and teenagers. There’s certainly a different spin on how people go about wearing it now but the general feeling is the same.

identityin

traverse city

by: ADDISON SWANSON staff writer

In our spin-off of Human of New York, the Black & Gold Quarterly went out into the Central High School community in search of uniquity. Our mission was to find inspiring stories and share them to encourage self-expression. Through a variety of randomly selected people, we were about to find one commonality: passion.

Stories like theirs are what makes us believe in the power that comes from expression through journalism. People are art. We feel combining their words with a visual story, a unique and inspiring message is created. Members of our community have conveyed their identities and inspired us through their words and sense of passion. To us, this is the truest kind of journalism--finding moving stories and sharing them.

12 12 // // BGQ BGQ // // April March2020 2020

What career did you aspire to pursue (in elementary school) How has that changed?

I wanted to be a teacher. I would always play school with my friends as a kid and I always thought that being a teacher would be super fun! That’s changed now and teaching isn’t really an interest for me anymore. Looking back at it now it seems like a huge job and I don’t think that it suits me. I think I really want to go into something music-related which wasn’t really on my radar when I was younger. Middle school to high-school is when I decided that I really liked to sing.

What genres of music did you listen to (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

I liked listening to Kids Bob. I also liked early 2000s pop music. I can’t remember any songs specifically, but I did listen to artists like Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez; just stuff that was popular at the time. Now I listen to some music that follows the trend, but I mainly listen to broadway music because I’m really passionate about musical theater.

What kinds of clothing did you wear/what was your style (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

When I was younger, my mom helped me pick out my outfits because I didn’t really care about what I wore when I was that age. I used to wear a lot of dresses. Now, picking out an outfit is so much more difficult. I’m just looking around in my closet like, ‘What am I going to wear? I have no clothes!’, which is not true at all because I have lots of wonderful clothes.

Photo: A. Swanson

Margaret Kernan What kinds of foods did you enjoy (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

I definitely wasn’t as diverse of an eater and didn’t particularly love a lot of different types of foods. Now I love Asian food, Indian food, Seafood etc. I also really enjoy sushi, oysters and brussel sprouts.

What career did you aspire to pursue (in elementary school) How has that changed?

I guess I wanted to be a lawyer for a while.

Now I realize that going into and studying law would be a lot of hard work and a lot more schooling than I really want to do in my life. As for what I want to be, I don’t have any idea.

What genres of music did you listen to (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

I was really big into KHQ, and the classics like Lady Gaga, Ke$ha. Now I listen to rap.

Photo: N. Fagerman

Michael Gibson What kinds of foods did you enjoy (in elementary school)?

How has that changed?

I used to eat shrimp raw, like super raw shrimp and that’s really weird but I ate a lot of raw shrimp. And now I like hummus.

What kinds of clothing did you wear/what was your style (in elementary school)? How has that changed?

I had the worst style. I wore super old jeans all of the time and t-shirts that didn’t fit. Now I mostly just wear sweatshirts.

Questions with KSB by: JOIE BALDYGA & MARIA LINCK content editors

All Photos: M. Linck and J. Baldyga

In the BGQ’s first ever 50 Questions With feature, we put the spotlight on Central’s very own Kathryn Shelley-Barnes, aka KSB. Shelley-Barnes, a passionate English teacher, who is very popular for the energy and personal experience she brings to her classroom.

Here we reveal the more personal side of KSB through questions ranging from her favorite eating utensil to her biggest fear.

BGQ-What is your favorite music genre?

KSB-I would say rock and roll.

BGQ-What is your favorite color?

KSB-Black.

BGQ-What’s your secret talent?

KSB-I’m a pretty good chef.

BGQ-What was your first car?

KSB-A VW 1963 bug, I called her the Gray Ghost. I always name everything. That’s my secret talent: naming stuff.

BGQ-What has been your favorite vacation that you have taken?

KSB-My husband and I, in 2013, during Christmas and New Years, went to London and Dublin. That was a great trip.

BGQ-What is your favorite book?

KSB-Well right now, it’s Mary Oliver’s Upstream, it’s a collection of essays. She talks about other poets that I just love. Whitman, Walt Whitman . . . *sigh* . . . As a student I would say Catcher in the Rye had a real influence on me. I was a sophomore when the English Department Chair, Ms. Louise Guery, said that I had to read The Catcher in the Rye or else I couldn’t graduate. And I believed her. I was very naive. But I really liked it, and when I read it again in 12th grade I got more out of it because I was a little bit older. Also in a poetry elective course, taught by the same 14 // BGQ // April 2020

All Graphics: M. Linck

teacher in my junior year, I was introduced to the poet Sylvia Plath. I was so surprised by the candidness of her poetry. I read her memoir The Bell Jar, which chronicled her experiences in a mental hospital when she was sixteen. This book resonated with me for a long time. I was fascinated by her, so I studied her in college as well.

BGQ-What is your favorite eating utensil?

KSB-Fork.

BGQ-How do you take your coffee?

KSB-Black.

BGQ-What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

KSB-There’s so many new flavors. I would say my favorite flavor is Meditteranean Mint Chocolate Chip. It’s really gelato, but any mint chocolate chip. It has to be green, it can’t be white, and it has to have those little black flecks in it.

BGQ-What is your favorite article of clothing?

KSB-I’m into jackets now.

BGQ-Where is your ultimate retirement destination?

KSB-Traverse City.

BGQ-If you could teach any subject other than English, what would you teach?

KSB-Probably history or psychology.

BGQ-What is your favorite way to work out?

KSB-I like to lift weights, and I like cardio. I like

any cardio: cycling, elliptical. I do a bootcamp on Saturday mornings which is all kinds of stuff: running around and jumping on ladders, doing steps, and running up and down hills.

BGQ-What time do you wake up in the morning?

KSB-3:00am BGQ-What time do you go to bed?

KSB-9:00pm BGQ-What is your most prized possession?

KSB-I have a necklace, which I have on and never take off, and a pair of earrings that match, which my husband gave me for my birthday before he died.

BGQ-What’s your lucky number?

KSB-5 BGQ-What is your favorite room in your house?

KSB-My living room.

BGQ-If you could have any other job what would you be?

KSB-I’d like to be an FBI or CIA agent.

BGQ-What is your favorite poem?

KSB-Tennessee Williams “We have not long to love” BGQ-Describe your perfect day.

KSB-Saturdays are always my perfect day.

Saturday is my day off. I get up early, I grade papers, you know, my day off! I do laundry…

I get up early, not as early as 3:00, maybe 4:00 maybe 5:00. And I do some chores and get those out of the way. Then I go cycle from 9:00-10:00, then I go to boot camp from 10:30-12:00. Then the rest of the day is mine for free. I shop, I have lunch, whatever happens. I don’t schedule anything, I love Saturdays.

BGQ-What is your favorite quote from a former student?

KSB-My favorite quote from a former student is one that sticks in my mind. Her name was Rebecca. She was very exotic-looking, very beautiful. She said, “Ms. Shelley-Barnes you’re making this stuff up. These stories you’re telling us, you’re just making them up.” To which I replied, “If I could make these up they’d be in a book somewhere and I’d be famous.”

BGQ-If you could take any vacation, where would you go?

KSB-I want to bicycle. Instead of making resolutions, I have five rules that I’m trying to live by in the next five years. One of them is that I want to bicycle across Italy, and eat as many carbohydrates as I possibly can.

As much pasta and so forth, I’m not a big pizza fan.

I would like to go to northern Italy and ride for a little while, have lunch, ride some more. And yeah. I would like to bicycle in Italy especially, just because I haven’t seen Italy, but I would pretty much go anywhere.

BGQ-What is your favorite time of day?

KSB-My least favorite time of day is 5:00pm. It’s that 5 o’clock depression, kind of you know, it’s not quite dark and it’s not quite light, and it’s after work, and

you’re tired, and you’re like uhhhhh. That’s when I go to the gym. My favorite time of day is between 3:00 am and 6:00 am.

BGQ-What famous person would you most want to have dinner with?

KSB-Maya Angelou BGQ-What is your dream car?

KSB-Well, I sort of have one. I have a Mazda Miada, 1991 red convertible.

BGQ-What do you put on your pizza?

KSB-I haven’t had pizza in three years, but I would want to try pizza from Pleasanton Bakery. They put goat cheese and duck on the pizza. Weird stuff, but I’d really like to try it sometime. But really I like mushrooms, onions, and green peppers, sort of a veggie pizza. And I also like thin crust. I don’t like that thick doughy stuff.

BGQ-What is your favorite kind of shoe?

KSB-I like boots, but I like all shoes really.

BGQ-What is your biggest pet peeve?

KSB-In life, I think that most people are good, but I think that sometimes, people don’t really pay attention very well to people around them and don’t say excuse me or don’t hold the door, you know just don’t engage with each other and that’s something that I am disappointed by.

BGQ-What is your favorite meal?

KSB-Anything with lobster, crab meat - I like seafood. There’s a pasta called bucatini and it’s long but its got a little hole in the middle of it and I don’t know why that makes a difference but it sucks in all the sauce. So, a Bucatini pasta with mussels, clams, lobster - I’d be in heaven BGQ-What is your dream pet?

KSB-I think my dream pet would be one of those vacuum cleaners that roams around and cleans your house for you - that would be my dream pet because I wouldn’t have to feed it, I wouldn’t have to take it for a walk. I had pets when I was a kid and now, I like other people’s pets but I don’t want a pet. I don’t want to take care of anything but myself.

BGQ-If you had a movie made about your life who would play you?

KSB-Sandra Bullock. She’s quirky, and she’s tall. She’d have to dye her hair, but definitely her.

BGQ-What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?

KSB-That I can tell you about? My first year of teaching, I and three other teachers took kids backpacking to Big Bend National park. We were there for seven days. It was long. We backpacked through the desert.

We had to carry everything out with us, including our toilet paper. No tents. Tarantulas! I threw up the first few days because as much water as you think you need to drink, you’re not drinking enough because it was 95 degrees. We climbed the Chisos Mountains and our backpacks got lighter and lighter the further we went because the more food we ate, the less stuff

we had to carry around. I was with Johnathan and his wife was with another Johnathan, a history teacher.

It was the four of us, and we each had seven kids. I didn’t know any of them because at the time, I only taught freshmen and this was the spring break trip for upperclassmen. There were a few different trips that you could have taken. There was one to Italy, and a few others including this one. The other group got cliffed out. They got lost, basically. Everywhere they went, there was a cliff. We were supposed to meet up halfway, switch groups so that we could get to know all the kids and have fun, but they (the other group) never showed up. Before the trip, you cache your water where you need it to be. It is a national park, so they will help you with all of that stuff. They didn’t meet us at the halfway point so we started to get really worried and Johnathan was really worried because it was his wife with the other group. Those two had done the trip before, maybe not in Big Bend, but with other groups, so I was the neophyte. This was adventurous for me because I had never done anything like this before. I had camped, but never hiked 50 miles up mountains and stuff, especially not with teenagers. I was almost a teenager myself. I was only 22 - right out of college, this was my first teaching job. So anyway, they got cliffed out, so we found a Park ranger and he said that if they didn’t find them in a half hour, they would get the helicopters out. What had happened is that when they realized they were cliffed out, Johnathan and Dotty left the kids - the kids stayed up all night waiting for them. The adults went to see if they could find a way to get back but they couldn’t. They almost got hypothermia because the desert is cold at night. People don’t realize this but the desert gets really cold. Those kids who waited for them, hooked on to them, so there was no way we were going to switch kids. We had all been scared, so our kids hooked on to us.

We let the kids decide whether or not they really wanted to switch. They met, and they decided they did not want to change leaders. So we got up to the top of the Chisos Mountains and you could see all of them. It was just amazing. I mean we saw eagles, It was just breathtaking. Not having showered or shampooed my hair for seven days, it was amazing how nice my hair was. I was amazed. It gave you a whole different impression . . . yeah.

The other part of the adventure was climbing down the Chisos Mountains and then we waded across the river - the Rio Grande River. So a lot of these Mexicans wanted us to take a canoe or a horse or something, but we didn’t have any money.

Dotty was keeping track of all of the money. She had enough money for us to have lunch in Mexico, so we all had passports, and then to also come back to El Paso and 16 // BGQ // April 2020

take showers and get regrouped and then get on an airplane. El Paso is really interesting, very interesting.

There was one block of these American high rise buildings and all around it was a lot of poverty.

So yeah, that was an adventure. I had never done anything like that and I haven’t done anything like it since. I have taken kids on field trips but never to this degree again. But it also gave me a love of national parks and doing that kind of stuff.

BGQ-If you could have any superpower what would it be?

KSB-It would be to convince people to not wage war and not to hurt children and to end all of the strife we have around the world - I would want to stop that. Let other people figure out global warming. I would want the power to stop people from killing each other.

BGQ-What is your spirit animal?

KSB-Giraffe BGQ-Who is your idol?

KSB-The Obamas - I look up to them a lot. I used to send emails to them in the White House telling them things I thought they were doing well and some suggestions I had. But then I started to worry that the secret service thought I was a wacko, so I backed off a bit, just in case. I mean I wasn’t threatening or anything - I was always positive. In my personal life, there was a woman in New Jersey who was a really great mentor for me. Her name was Catherine Fine. She was from France and she was a sports car driver. She already had a degree from France but when she came to the U.S. she had to re-do med school. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. She merged the two so that she could get two different sides of medical knowledge. I really admired her moxy and audacity to be able to do that and she was a great mentor to me. I also admire Dr. Leathars, my English professor and advisor at Ohio Wesleyan. I also admire Dr. Frye, an anatomy and physiology professor whose teaching acumen I try to emulate still.

BGQ-What’s your favorite restaurant?

KSB-The Boathouse BGQ-What is your biggest fear?

KSB-It’s not a biggest fear, but I worry sometimes what I’m going to do with myself after I retire. I want to have a plan. I worry that I am not going to be as happy retired as I am working. That’s a fear of mine - that I am not going to find something that enriches me as much as teaching.

BGQ-What kind of phone do you have?

KSB-I have an iPhone. Some techy girl at Target talked me into it. She said, “well if you’re gonna pay that kind of money for an Android then you might as well just buy an iPhone. They’re much easier and here’s what you do.” I said, “well can you set it up for me?” and she agreed, so I bought an iPhone.

BGQ-Who is your favorite musician or band?

KSB-Bruce Springsteen and his band E Street

Band BGQ-What is your favorite thing about teaching?

KSB-Despite what other people think, I really like teenagers. When I say despite what other people think, I mean other people will say to me “you work with teenagers?!” like they are something to be feared. I like teenagers. I like that sense of when students get inspired and their curiosity and when students realize that they are improving. I like to see that. I want kids to succeed. I want them to be really good citizens, and I want to be a part of that.

BGQ-What is your favorite Shakespearean play?

KSB-The Taming of the Shrew (she later changed to Richard III) BGQ-What’s something you want people to know about you?

KSB-Some people have the impression that I’m really mean and scary, but not really. I have that reputation, but when students meet me and are in my class, they realize that I am really friendly but intense. I do sometimes have an RBF. BGQ-What is your favorite movie?

KSB-Bambi from when I was a kid. But a movie that had a great effect on me was Scindler’s List or Gahndi.

BGQ-Who is your celebrity crush?

KSB-My new boyfriend is Ed Sheeran. Yeah, I like him a lot.

BGQ-Have you ever had a near-death experience?

KSB-Yes several. I hit black ice - I was listening to NPR and didn’t hear anything about road conditions. I was on an overpass right outside of Philadelphia and I hit black ice and my car went around and around and I started to head towards the edge of the overpass. There was a barrier but I thought I was going to go right over. I just let go of the steering wheel and thought okay, well this must be God’s plan so I’m just gonna let it go and the car stopped. These guys in a pickup truck stopped and sat with me. I wasn’t hysterical, I was just a bit shaken up. They said it was scary because they were watching but couldn’t do anything. That is the time where I can remember most seeing the white light kind of thing and thinking, this is it.

BGQ-Where was your childhood hangout spot?

KSB-I don’t know the name of it, but it was a little diner on Main Street and we used to get up and meet early and get coffee together. We would chat about school, and we all played sports together and stuff. It was a small diner, and then I ended up working there just briefly one year when I had like three jobs. So it was just a little diner on the main street that we used to hang out in.

BGQ-What was the most trouble you got in growing up?

KSB-That I can tell you? I didn’t really get into a lot of trouble. I guess, in 10th grade, I left campus without permission. I was seen by one of the Physical Education teachers. It was a school right on mainstreet, I

was probably up to no good. I didn’t get suspended from school, I got detention. My parents - my mother gave me two weeks where I couldn’t go anywhere because I had embarrassed my father because he taught there. They sent a letter home and my father said, “she didn’t embarrass me, she embarrassed herself.” My mother was not happy with that response.

She wanted me to feel really terrible and I did. It never happened again. That is really the only trouble I got into. The other trouble I got into was 8th grade, I was playing varsity basketball. I mean I was playing varsity in the 8th grade and I just got so full of myself and just was not really doing my schoolwork and was being itchy, and everyday, I just couldn’t wait until 3:00pm.

One of my teachers, my English/French teacher, pulled me out in the hall. We had to have a parent teacher conference and so my father did not like that very much and was worried about what they were going to do with me. So I got the message - I needed to shape up. And that was the last time that the sports organization allowed any 8th grader to play on the varsity team. We didn’t have a freshmen team, so it was either JV or varsity in high school. There was still 8th grade basketball though. That was hard on my father, so I cleaned up my act. And that was pretty much it. I was a pretty good kid and didn’t do much to get in trouble - just small stuff.

BGQ-What are three things you can’t live without?

KSB-Cast Iron frying pans, my closet (with everything in it), and my study with all of my books.

BGQ-What is a prediction you have for the next century?

KSB-The next Century - things are going to be just terrible. Climate problems and wars in the Middle East. But I try not to think that way. I think that your generation will help to fix things and will try to make things better - I really do. I predict there is going to be a woman president of the U.S. and I hope that comes true. And I also think that women will take over the world. As soon as enough get sick of men and what they do and what they don’t do. Mother knows best. I predict that there will continue to be fewer and fewer men going to college and grad school because they’re lazy. I don’t know what they are doing. At least in this country but also in Europe too. I think that women will take over. Not just this country. I think that if they want it, they could take over the world. //

What’s Your TikTok Girl Persona?

What is your favorite of these colors?

START

by: OLIVIA HALE staff writer

>

Black

Do you wear /use scrunchies?

Yellow

Purple

Always

Never

>

>

>

Nope

>

Do you own/ use a hydroflask?

is your >What favorite

Are your ears pierced?

music genre?

Yep! Gotta save the turtles!

Nope!

Yes!

Rock

Pop

> Puka Shell Necklace

Choker

Burts Bees ONLY!!

Striped T-shirt

Oversized T-shirt

Graphic: M.Swope

>

>

>

>

You’re a VSCO Girl

And I oop! You’re totally a VSCO girl! You love staying hydrated and saving the turtles with your hydroflasks and metal straws. You always have a scrunchie on hand or in your Fjallraven Kanken backpack. Sksksksk!

18// BGQ // April 2020

>

What is your wardrobe staple?

>

Any kind is fine...

>

>

>

>

Do you have a chapstick preference?

What is your choice of necklace?

You’re an E-Girl

You’re an E-Girl, without a doubt. You either have colored hair already, or you want colored hair. You never leave the house without your chains and checkered vans, and your makeup and hair are always bold. See you on the For You Page!

How to Dress Like an E-Girl The ultimate style guide to dressing like an E-Girl

J E W E L R Y

The most important aspect of the “E-Girl look” is in the details. E-Girls wouldn’t be E-Girls without their accessories. To start on your journey to dressing like an E-Girl, you’ll need one dangly earring, a black choker necklace, and silver chains. Remember, more is more, and you can’t do “too much” when dressing like an E-Girl.

C L O T H I N G

E X T R A S

The clothing worn by E-Girls is distinct and iconic. Of course, their staple piece is the long sleeve shirt, which can be worn underneath any t-shirt or tank top.

Bonus points if the long sleeve tee is patterned.

On the bottom, this look can be paired with black ripped jeans or miniskirts with fishnet tights. Dr. Marten boots or vans are typical E-Girl shoes.

All Photos: O. Hale

The cherry on top of the E-Girl look is the hair and makeup. Half up/half down pigtails or space buns are simple hairstyles to achieve the look. As for makeup, eyeliner is your friend.

Winged eyeliner, and an eyeliner heart beneath the eye are simple makeup looks worn by E-Girls, alongside blush on the cheeks and tip of the nose.

by: OLIVIA HALE staff writer

BOOMER BOOMER by: HENRY HUSCHKE staff writer A few months ago, I was driving from Midland to TC with my dad and Billie Eilish’s song “Bad Guy” came on the radio. For you Boomers out there, “Bad Guy” topped the charts all last year. My 52 year old dad suddenly asked about the song. I, somewhat stunned, replied ““Bad Guy,”

by Billie Eilish.” My dad exclaimed, “Billy Eyelash! What kind of name is that?” After a piece of my soul died, I accepted the fact that my dad just didn’t listen to the radio regularly. It was not like I was a big Billie Eilish fan anyways.

I decided to accept the fact that he just doesn’t listen to the radio. But instead of letting the conversation die, my dad continued to circle back to the name, repeating “Billy Eyelash” probably twenty more times as if he craved not knowing basic pop culture. The next time he said it, I just replied, “OOOOOHHH-KAY BOOOOOOMMER!” “OK boomer” has taken over American pop culture. For those that have not heard it. “OK boomer” is a meme (A catchphrase people share on the internet) that means the old folks just don’t get it. Its popularity displays a sentiment that has been universal throughout time. Teens feel like their elders have this sense of superiority and wisdom that is not based in current times. Meanwhile, elders feel like the next generation’s ideas are dangerous and worse than the ideas they had when they were young. To see whether my conceptions of generational clash have any footing in reality, I talked to a variety of Central Students and staff.

What do you think about the older generations in our society?

“I think in general older generations like to pick on younger generations, and that’s just normal. That’s always happened. But everybody has their own little unique perspective, so everybody has their own little passions.”

-Kelly Smith Gen Y

What do you think about the concept of generations?

“The younger people always thought that the older people didn’t know what they were talking about.

Now the older people have to remember what they were like when they were younger, because I feel like the younger people still kind of feel this way. You don’t want to hold it against them, you just want to help them learn it together.”

-Marla Gerber Gen X 20 // BGQ // March 2020 20 // BGQ // April 2020

What makes you the most optimistic about the future?

“I’ve always been pretty optimistic because every year I get to teach a great group of kids. There’s always a couple of yo-yos, but by and large kids are still kids and kids want to learn.”

-Joe Forlenza aka JoFlo Boomer What do you think about teens?

“I think you guys really have it going on. I think you are smarter than we ever were at your age. It kind of blows me away. I do worry about some of the anxiety that is happening with our students. I do worry about a lot of the things younger kids are exposed to.”

-Diane Burden Boomer What do you think of the phrase Ok Boomer?

“It reflects ignorance, judgment, ageism, and disrespect. It is dismissive and pejorative and it reflects poorly on younger generations.”

-Lisa Dohm Boomer

V V

VS VS

ZOOMER ZOOMER What do you think about your generation?

“I think that we are going to be one of the most important generations, although I don’t know how we will handle the challenges facing us. When I look around, I see a whole host of things we are going to deal with. We have a growing climate crisis, an unstable global order, and crushing personal and public debts. I also think that “Boomers” can be resistant to fixing the issues we’ll face in the future, because they won’t have to deal with them.”

-Tristan Ringsmuth

How do you see the generational divide right now?

“I feel like there is a lot of political polarization going on in the world. It seems like people can’t really decide on anything, and I think you see that divide fall somewhat along those generational lines. I think that this political divide is the root of the generational antagonism. I firmly fall on the younger side of that spectrum, but I understand the harm that the division causes. I really just wish everyone would wake up to the fact that we should embrace science and logic when it comes to our politics.”

-Gabe Howard What do you think about Boomers?

“I think there are some good Boomers but I think the vast majority of them are kind of old and out of touch with society. It’s the typical trope that as you age you become closed off and you’re willingness to accept new ideas decreases, and I don't necessarily know if it’s a bad thing, but I do think that it really does reflect in quote on quote Boomer Culture. It doesn’t really match the societal norms people are trying to push in the 21st century.”

-Colin Shepard

In closing, I think we can see that whether one identifies as a Boomer, a zoomer, or somewhere in between, we all have and will be both at some point in our lives. I’m sure when today’s teens are sixty we’ll be skeptical of the iPhone 51 and the Detroit Lions’ first superbowl appearance. Just like I’m sure adults remember when they were our age and thought their parents were strange for disliking their bell bottoms and Walkmans. As long as we keep this in mind, I think we can all agree to disagree.

What do you think of the phrase ok Boomer?

“I think it can be somewhat humorous, but I almost never actually use it. I think everyone our age knows that “Boomer” that will ramble on about things where they can be wrong. I also think it’s meaning isn’t really tied to age as it is as much mindset.

It really just means “don’t be so close minded” and “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

-Colin Miller

What do you think about the elderly?

“I think that old people can offer us good wisdom, but they are often way too arrogant and entitled.”

-Paige Conners

Oka

y, B

oom

er.

All Graphics: J.Doerr

Down the Rabbit Hole

Graphic: M. Swope

Facing my worst fears and turning on my morals, all for one app by: MALLORY SWOPE staff writer When I first heard of TikTok, I thought it was pointless. laughter. No longer would I hide from the monster on I told myself I would never stoop so low as to downmy phone. load an app and do nothing more than watch strangThe next few weeks of using the app were seamers lip-sync. I would never become addicted to such less. Just because I downloaded the app didn’t neca ridiculous app. I would never let an app get in the essarily mean I’d become addicted, did it? In a way, way of my social life.

I would reward myself for finishing my homework with Then it happened. I was texting a friend who had no more than five TikToks. I made the standards strict returned to college for the fall semester, and we were though; my homework HAD to be done before logcomplaining about the difficulty of chemistry and ging onto the app, no exceptions. As time progressed, life in general. We were in the middle of a conversahowever, I let myself go and allowed myself to log on tion when she started laughing uncontrollably, and I for any given reason at any given time no matter the couldn’t figure out why. When I asked her what was so inconvenience it caused. TikTok showed me its fatally funny, she couldn’t even put words together between venomous colors. her cackles. So instead of telling me, she sent me a Now, months later, I go home with full intentions video—I’m sorry, a TikTok—and said I absolutely had of starting my homework and getting it all done at to watch it because we were literally just a reasonable hour only to find that TikTok “No longer would has different plans for me. It starts with me talking about this. I informed her in my response that no matter what, I was NOT I hide from the telling myself that everything can wait for going to watch it. I was not going to belater. I proceed with my plan of finishing my come one of the people who struggled monster on my homework promptly for an average of 30 to peel myself away from my phone be- phone.” minutes. Then I give myself a “reward.” I alcause of some stupid video. I remained low myself to log on and say it’s completely strong for the first few hours, ignoring the justified because I’ve worked so hard, and text that held the fate of my future. Then the struggle I deserve to watch a few TikToks. Except, it becomes began. The screen of my phone illuminated, the more and more difficult to stick to the limit I set. Bemessage notification displaying yet another link for a fore I know it, five TikToks becomes ten, ten becomes TikTok. It stared at me with bitter, violent eyes. The link 15, and 15 becomes 20 or even 30. The addiction is dangled the carrot right in front of my face. I wanted real. Although, when I consider what my “addiction” to watch the videos more and more. I succumbed to is, I don’t really associate it with TikToks themselves.

TikTok. Rather, the addiction comes from the entertainment I unlocked my phone to open the messages and joy I get when watching TikToks. That makes it all and scrolled up until I met the chemistry TikTok faceokay, right? to-face. I opened the link and pressed play. It was Perhaps my resolution for the new decade will all downhill from there. I watched as a teenage girl have to be focused on reducing my use of TikTok. complained about sig figs, valence electrons, and Maybe then I’ll be able to go out in public with friends exceptions on the periodic table. I laughed at myself without resorting to the entertainment radiated from for thinking I was powerful enough to protect myself TikTok. Maybe then we’ll be able to have a conversafrom such a hungry beast. The second TikTok was tion about our own lives rather than TikTok-er’s lives. completely unrelated to my chemistry struggles, yet That’s just a thought though. Until then, I’ll most likely I laughed just as hard at this one as I did the previbe found either laughing to myself over the latest viral ous one. Upon realizing how much joy I could endure TikTok or sharing them with friends as I descend deepthrough the simplicity of TikToks, I decided it was time er down the TikTok rabbit hole. // to jump on board with seemingly every other teenager around me and download the official app. No longer would my friends get frustrated with me for refusing to watch their “stupid videos.” No longer would I struggle to find a source of entertainment and 22 // BGQ // March 2020 April 2020

REFRESH YOUR MIND

1133 S. Airport Rd., Traverse City • 231-929-9866 bigapplebagels.com

Best of the Decade

Video Games

1. Minecraft This game rocked. We all know that we wasted wayyyy too much time doing something in this game.

2. Fortnite Total sensation, which hijacked pop culture in the second half of the decade.

3. Grand Theft Auto V This game is the pinnacle of being able to do whatever you want in an open world.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Another game with massive scope, Skyrim was a by: HENRY HUSCHKE huge innovation in open world gaming. staff writer 5. Red Dead Redemption With the closing of the decade, we here at the BGQ thought we Incredible quality and a fantastic storyline gives should reflect on the 2010s. Today we’ll take a look at our picks Red Dead its place on this list. for the top ten songs, movies, video games, and apps of the decade that will be the hallmarks of our generation. Keep in mind 6. League of Legends that these picks are meant to start a discussion and are in no way One of the largest games ever made, this free to completely play online experience marks a pillar of the growobjective. ing eSports industry.

7. Smash Bros. Ultimate The absolute peak of a fantastic Nintendo game.

Pretty much everyone is down to play smash.

8. Portal 2 1. “Uptown Funk” - Bruno Mars What a great puzzle game! Portal 2 rocked.

An absolute classic that puts everyone in a great mood 9. Dark Souls 2. “Gangnam Style” - Psy The only easy thing about this game is putting on A Complete Cultural phenomenon. “Gangnam Style” the top ten list. was truly the macarena of the 2010’s 10. Counter Strike: Global Offensive 3. “Old Town Road”- Lil Nas X The biggest eSports game in the world, this conAnother total sensation, Old Town Road shattered the troversial first-person-shooter game is too big not charts unlike any hit we’ve seen before. The only thing to include on the list. preventing it from being higher is the lack of hindsight we have.

4. “See You Again”- Wiz Khalifa Ft. Charlie Puth A song which became dedicated to the tragic passing of Paul Walker. This song was truly the “Candle In The Wind” of This Generation.

5. “Someone Like You”- Adele It came at the start of the decade, but many forget just how huge this hit was, marking the start of the Adele era.

6. “Shape Of You”- Ed Sheeran Sheeran was perhaps the biggest male artist of this decade and this was his biggest hit.

7. “Shake It Off”- Taylor Swift The queen of the decade, who honored the decade by creating radio hit after radio hit.

8. “That’s What Makes You Beautiful” One Direction One Direction was the Backstreet Boys of the 2010s. This song marks the flashbang that kickstarted their fame.

9. “Despacito” Luis Fonsi Despacito is the most viewed youtube video on the ginormous platform with nearly seven billion views.

10. “Happy” Pharrell Happy was an earworm that just could not escape our heads once it forced its way into the decade.

Songs

24 // BGQ // April 2020

Movies 1. Avengers: Endgame We all loved this movie 3000. Enough said.

2. The Avengers This was the start of one of the most successful film franchises EVER. It was an incredible innovator in the now beloved crossover genre.

3. Frozen When we looked at Frozen, we concluded that it is absolutely impossible to Let It Go. 4. The Dark Knight Rises The conclusion to my personal favorite superhero trilogy, this movie was a BLOCKBUSTER. 5. The Martian Matt Damon made us all love science in this clever film.

6. Inception DeCaprio’s dream outing is a classic.

7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens This movie was huuuuuuuuge.

8. La La Land This Ryan Gosling/ Emma Stone musical produced hit after hit that transitioned to radio play wonderfully.

9. Coco This movie said “remember me.” We definitely will.

10. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 The biggest movie depicting perhaps the biggest book series of the millenium.

Apps

1. Snapchat Snap is the essence of teen life.

2. Instagram Instagram is too, but it doesn’t have the same level of activity as Snap.

3. Spotify This is the biggest provider of one of the biggest human needs, music.

4. Youtube While not generally thought of as an app, youtube itself is sooooo influential that it makes the list because it has an app.

5. Twitter Arguably the second largest social media provider ever behind facebook.

6. Angry Birds The original game, with multiple movies.

7. Netflix Unless you live underneath a rock, you know Netflix.

8. Vine The meme center of the 2010’s.

9. Candy Crush Saga Admit it, you lost wayyy more money on this game than should have been possible.

10. Facebook Probably the most iconic social media platform ever.

Central Speaks

graphic: J. Doerr

by: OLIVIA HALE staff writer

High school can be tough.

Between school, sports, clubs, social life, family responsibilities, work, and other obligations, it’s a stressful life, and sometimes there are little things that can get under our skin or brighten our day.

Central Speaks is a forum for students to share their thoughts about the ups and downs of the “Central” Life.

Here’s what students like you had to say.

Central is a wonderful high school with great academics and extracurricular opportunities, but one of its major shortcomings is shared by many schools in the area: its schedule. School begins on the first Tuesday after Labor Day in September, and ends around the second week of June.

Due to this calendar, students are forced to take their winter break at the end of December, return to school for one week and then take exams. They’re expected to take two weeks off and return with all the semester’s material still fresh in their mind, yet somehow also use the break to relax and refresh. However, the looming exam deadline forces teachers to pile loads of homework on their students to complete over the “vacation.” If the school year began at the end of August and ended at the end of May, students would be able to take their exams before going on winter break and enjoy a true work-free vacation. -Brynna Wesley ‘20

I think it’s really dumb that students are not allowed to sit in their cars at lunch. Some upperclassmen don’t want to leave campus, but also don’t want to sit in the cafeteria for lunch.

People who want to sit in CPL and eat their lunch should be allowed to because it’s their own car.

Everyone else just goes and sits in a park for lunch in their cars. Isn’t it better if they’re on campus??

-Sylvie Shane ‘20

26 // BGQ // April 2020

Paying $25 for a parking pass seems a bit much. If all that money is being used for something productive then that is one thing but I think a sticker on your car that says you can park in the parking lot of your own public school that you are required by law to attend everyday should be at most $10. Or if they are going to charge that much, people should at least be able to sit in their cars during lunch to use the parking lot they’re spending that much to park in and it should probably be adequately plowed in the winter so it’s safe. -Siiri Asiala ‘20

Academic Awards and Honor Roll have a negative impact on students. Students who are motivated to do well in school will do so, but there is no need to push down other students who aren’t succeeding in high school academics. The way that the education system is built is only built for one type of learning process. This pushes all of the different learning processes that students have into one narrow box that they are expected to succeed in. It could be argued that with enough effort anyone could succeed in boundless amounts of homework and standardized testing, but should it really have to come to that? Students who excel in academics will be awarded by getting into good colleges and self success. Adding the honor roll creates a discriminatory and elitist society in the student body that is toxic for those who don’t make the honor roll.

Students who don’t make honor roll question their academic merit. If honor roll is a student’s motivation to do well in school, that is a problem. Motivation to succeed should be an internal drive. Putting students neck to neck against each other creates nothing but toxicity between students. Enough pressure is put on us in high school, is it really necessary to rank students?

-Grace Bartley-Schroeder ‘20

If you would like to submit your thoughts for the next issue, send your message to bgq@tcapsstudent.net!

IN RESPONSE TO SYLVIE SHANE: “I’m a pretty big component of kids not being able to eat lunch in their cars. Number one, it’s a safety thing, because when we have kids sitting in their cars and we look out and see them sitting there and don’t even know who it is. The other piece of that is, other than security, is that it is creepy when we have people just sitting in the back of the parking lot. We have gone out there and it’s been adults who don’t even have any kids here, and it’s like “I don’t know why you’re here! That’s weird!” The other thing is the sense of sharing a meal with friends that you can’t experience if you’re just sitting in your car. We try to be inclusive and have places for students to eat if they don’t like the cafeteria like outside the auditorium and the library.”

IN RESPONSE TO BRYNNA WESLEY: “A bunch of teachers have talked about this, we have actually thought about what it would look like to give exams the week before winter break, with the idea of wanting to give kids two weeks off to relax after exams versus coming back and immediately taking exams. Our calendar is set at the district level so that’s not something I as a building principal get to control, but I will say that we have a teacher leadership group that this has come up in a few times. We think about how we could possibly tweak the schedule to allow teachers to be able to give exams the week before winter break if they wanted to. The biggest problem, because of our district calendar, is that we would have less instructional days in the fall semester and more instructional days in the spring, so figuring out that balance. AP teachers have the best go-around because their exams are in May, so that is the end of their year, but it would be harder for some of the other courses.”

IN RESPONSE TO SIIRI ASIALA: “Parking is definitely a privilege.

We use the $25 cost to offset the security, both the personnel and the cameras and the surveillance.

It has also allowed us to have a security guard on staff until 4pm, which has been nice for students who need to wait a little while after school to be picked up or to get rides. It helps us monitor the lot, both for people who shouldn’t be in the lot for the safety of our students and staff. Also, in case there is an accident or a fender bender, we are able to pull tapes and figure it out. It doesn’t go to plowing through, it offsets security costs.”

IN RESPONSE TO GRACE BARTLEY-SCHROEDER: “I think that academic cords and academic recognition are really meant to motivate students, I have looked at them as a way to honor the hard work that students have done, and knowing too that it isn’t the end all be all. Grades are just one piece of the puzzle that we measure a student by, there are lots of other components. When I look at our honors convocation in the spring, we often invite students who aren’t even getting academic awards and are being recognized for something else like scholarships or other awards based upon their kindness to others, their work ethic, their integrity, so we do try to capture some of that, and you‘ll see it more in the spring. We always have a handful of seniors who get specifically invited to that night and they are not getting honors cords but they are getting some other special recognition. I do think that we could probably do more with that, I would love for students to come up with ideas for us to do that.

We have thought about having more of a student voice in graduation, and it not just being about how you did in your classes. We as a district moved away from doing a valedictorian and the saludetorian because we wanted to open it up and recognize more people. When you have a class of 350 kids, saying one of them is the ”best,” what is it based on? Somebody then has to choose because if I go based on GPA, some students have a higher GPA but don’t have as rigorous a class schedule.

Or it could go on SAT scores, but that is just one test.

So I am glad we don’t have to have those discussions, we do say what you have to have to have a gold cord and to have a silver cord, and here are other ways to get a service cord or other recognitions, but I am always looking for ways to expand that, too. I typically try hard to write cards to kids to honor things they do that are outside of the GPA or their grades.”

Central Speaks Back As busy the administrators at Central are, they always have an open ear to listen to what is on the student body’s mind.

Here’s what Principal Houghton had to say in response to our Central Speaks forum.

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“Do you want to be a boy?”

My aunt has asked my ten year old cousin, Mia, this for the past few years. You might ask why has she been asking this question? It’s actually quite simple.

For around three years my cousin has been asking for, what she classifies as, ‘boy’ clothes. My cousin thinks that sweatshirts are just for boys. She actually has quite a few qualms about stores, and how they market clothing to children. As she recently went into a Disney store, she realized only the boys’ section sold sweatshirts. The girls’ section only had the option of princess dresses. Normally she would have just settled for a sweatshirt out of the boys’ section, but she didn’t want StarWars or Avengers merch, she wanted a hoodie with a princess on it.

On the one hand, society has evolved so much, but on the other, we’re still pushing old fashion stereotypes onto boys and girls. Societal norms are something that affects our lives from the get go. As kids grow up they are told that pink is for girls, and blue is for boys.

Girls are classified as tomboys if they want to play with trucks, and not wear dresses; boys are seen as not manly enough if they play with Barbies. What we as a society regard to be ‘acceptable’ conduct for individuals as well as groups is very limiting.

For years many people have been arguing that societal norms are harmful, yet we still perpetuate them. Saying that, I do believe that in the past decade things have changed dramatically and in a short span of time. After gay marriage was legalized in America, 28 // BGQ // April 2020

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there was a big shift towards PC culture, aka Politically Correct culture. We started talking about things deemed ‘socially unacceptable’ in the past in a much more open way, which is a drastic shift to make when you’ve grown up thinking the opposite.

When it comes to controversial topics, it always goes back to those generational shifts and political power.

Most people who are a part of Generation Z (19952012) grew up under the Obama administration: The first black president, a very anti-bullying, accepting presidency. Baby Boomers (1946-1964) grew up in a society where racism and homophobia were the norm. Those are two completely opposite mindsets that reside in the same social environment.

The younger generations are pushing towards open-mindedness, while the baby boomers are still in positions of power. On top of that we have Generation X (1961-1981) and Millennials (1981-1996) who are in the middle. Millennials are, much like Gen Z, more inclined, and accepting towards PC culture. My aunt is a good example of Gen X, and the conflict they face with PC culture. It’s overwhelming, and they don’t fully understand, and people aren’t explaining it to them. Instead they get attacked online for something they did ten years ago. But on the flip side of that coin, younger people now just assume it’s common sense that it’s okay for boys to play with Barbies, because most people just don’t care What was acceptable 20 years ago, isn’t anymore.

Norms are constantly changing. We, as a society

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Take, for example, a shape sorting toy for babies.

There are slots for the triangle, square, circle, etc, and in a perfect world they fit every time. But more often than not, the baby tries to put the square in the round hole slot -- spoiler, it doesn’t fit. These politicians who are 70, 73, 78, are the square pieces that are inserting themselves into a board that they no longer fit into.

In the past people would retire around the age of 60-65, because there were younger people who could do their job better by the new standards of contemporary society. Why do current politicians think they are exempt from this idea? There is always going to be a younger generation that better understands the social environment that they grew up in, better than those in power, who, let’s face it are rooted to the past. It’s the natural chain of succession. As the common saying goes, “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Unfortunately for us, our

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grow, learn more, and do better. But after the introduction of the portable internet through cell phones, and social media, that change has been happening much quicker, particularly -- in the public sphere. Perhaps part of the problem is that the people in power have such starkly opposing views to those seeking change. Older generations think that the way they grew up, and their opinions on what is ‘acceptable’ or ‘normal’ are right, because that’s how it was in their day. This is not a new concept.

Younger generations always butt heads with older generations; and more specifically, they blame each other for the world’s problems. People can ignore change, but not prevent it.

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government does not even believe in the heat. It is one thing to be nostalgic, it’s another to force the younger generations to fit into an outdated mold.

Fundamentally, people want to be right, but when it comes to societal norms it’s not ‘oh this is right or wrong’ it’s ‘this isn’t working anymore.’ When you know better, you do better. While there is something to be said about the people making a change, government backing helps solidify that change.

I do not believe that as a nation we would be as open to the LGBTQ+ community as we are today if the Obama administration had not supported legalized gay marriage. I’m not saying that everyone is open and welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, but it is not longer socially acceptable to call people ‘faggots,’and the world is a kinder, better place because of this change.

Society is changing at a much faster rate today. It took hundreds of years to tone racism down to the level it is today, while it only took 20 years to go from the first ‘modern’ computer to everyone having smart phones. Change is moving exponentially, and for people who grew up with that concept of change, it’s easy, but for those who didn’t, it’s hard to grasp. Gen Z kids are not exactly empathetic towards Boomers, but when they put their head in the sand and ignore reality as it is today, it’s not necessarily unfair. The world is different now than it was three years ago, let alone 100 years ago, and it’s only going to keep changing; the only thing that is ‘norm’ in society is the fact that it is in constant transformation. //

A Two-Sided History Reflecting on societal changes throughout history that altered men and women’s lives both in the past and today.

by: MALLORY SWOPE staff writer

The feminist movement is one of, if not, the longest-spanning societal movements of all time in America. Because the movement has gone on for so long and its effects continue to trickle down from generation to generation, it has a sort of connotation that makes us as a society oblivious to the whole of its effects. Throughout all of the changes made in the feminist movement, society tends to solely acknowledge how women’s lives were altered.

This leads the public to overlook the second side of the story, the men’s perspective. When the first women stepped into their new jobs in factories alongside men, the women were not the only ones to experience a jolting culture shock. As men left for their shifts after women were adopted into the workforce, they felt their own sort of culture shock. They wouldn’t leave their wives at home for 12-hour shifts anymore. Instead, they both left for work at the same time and came home at the same time. This advance in society was just one of the first that began a series of changes that would be observed for the next several decades and even into the next century.

The foundation of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) - 1869

Impacts on Women: With the establishment of the NWSA came the beginning of the official Women’s Suffrage Movement, and it motivated women nationwide to vote.

In areas of the country where it was still considered taboo for anyone who wasn’t a white male to vote, the NWSA inspired women to take control of their beliefs and promote them. They were encouraged to become involved in the government and political reforms which created a domino effect as sub-groups of the NWSA such as the National Woman’s Party were created.

30 // BGQ // April 2020

Impacts on Men: Even though the Women’s Suffrage Movement was centered around women, men were the ones who had control over the results ultimately. The feminist movement also caused conflict between men who had opposing viewpoints on women’s voting rights.

Men were also presented with the fear that women would use their right to vote as a way to spite them for the years of societal lag the women suffered, according to the National Association of Scholars.

Impacts on Men: Opposite to the women, men’s power was slightly limited by the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

To compensate for the balance of status in society, men were forced down so women could rise.

No longer would men have all the say in elections and the ratification of laws. They were also prohibited from trying to prevent women from voting in any election, and this became an act punishable with the same consequences as breaking all other Amendments.

Impacts on Women:

Ratification of the 19th Amendment - 1920

After 41 years of fighting against the government, women were finally given a promotion in society. It became one of the most revolutionary events in the history of female empowerment and gender equality, even to this day. This was one of the first times men and women held some sort of equal power in society, and women were able to help make decisions that impacted both their lives and the lives of future generations.

Flapper Movement of the Roaring 20s

Impacts on Women: During this movement, women of all ages stepped outside of their comfort zones and the norms society had in place at the time. An increased number of women were found in the workplace and enrolled in college, and fewer spent their lives as stay-at-home mothers or housewives. They adopted new senses of fashion and hairstyles, tastes in music, and loves for drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes that made them stand out more than ever before.

Impacts on Men: Men, especially those who were older and more traditional, resented the flapper movement. In some cases, they were embarrassed by how their wives appeared out in public with their revealing clothes and how their wives participated in activities that they previously considered taboo. In other cases, men endorsed their wives’ new behaviors and their marriage dynamic was strengthened because of it.

Impacts on Women:

Impacts on Men: As women continued to gain power in society, their male employers who they sued for discrimination had their lives turned upside down in some cases.

Women were likely to team up and host sit-ins and strikes in and around the businesses they called out, trashing the names and images of both said businesses and employers. Men also suffered because of their female counterparts’ empowerment through the form of divorce. Divorce rates spiked in the ‘60s and ‘70s, forcing men to lose their property and belongings in addition to their families.

This wave of the feminist movement showed the country and the world that American women were adamant about making something of themselves in society. Their fight against discrimination in the workplace called negligent male employers out on their faults, and the women proceeded by digging deeper and initiating the battle for equal pay. The second wave revamped the feminist movement after what appeared to be a lull that spanned several decades.

The Second Wave of Feminism - 1960-1979

Impacts on Women: Women involved in this portion of the modern feminist movement branched out and showed society that they would not accept abuse or harassment from men anymore. Promoted by gender equality, these women allowed themselves to single out events and people who changed their lives for the worse because of sexual assault. Celebrities who called out their former coworkers and producers inspired women of average class to open up about their struggles. Women all over the country who were affected by sexual assault were given major closure through this movement.

32 // BGQ // April 2020

Me Too Movement - 2006-present

Impacts on Men: Assuming the best-case scenario in unsolved cases, 201 men lost their standings in society due to their alleged sexual misconduct. They lost their jobs and struggled to find new sources of income, bringing down their families in the process. As the Me Too Movement gained momentum nationally and globally, men who were falsely accused of sexual harassment were given their shot at justice with the Him Too Movement. The movement originated in France and crossed the Pacific in 2018, encouraging falsely-accused men to refute their accusers through lawsuits.

100 years ago at Central

The 1920s, a walk down memory lane as seen from high school students 100 years ago. Century old Black and Gold Newspapers and The Pines by: JOIE BALDYGA Yearbooks tell the stories of Central’s students in the 1920s. content editor Clubs and Organizations: Building: Some clubs and organizations were fleeting - they The Central High School building in the 1920s was showed up once and never came back, but through made of yellow brick. Throughout the 1920s, there the 1920s, many of the clubs grew and expanded were portable structures out front because of overto include more people. One of the most reported crowding in the school. Later in that decade, a red brick addition was added on to the sides. Some of this on clubs/teams of the 1920s was the high school’s debate team. The debate team was strong, winning building is still standing today and serves as Central many of its competitions most years. Some form of a Grade School. The red brick addition is now the Lars Drama club was always around in the 1920s, however, Hockstad Auditorium. it took many different titles. Originally known as the Music: Amicitia Et Humitus club, which was girls only, this club Through the 1920s, the high school orchestra was a was more a social club than a drama club. Later, the constant, however, the band was a new addition in club was known as the Thespian Society. This version 1926. The band was made up of both Junior and Senior High students and was an after school club. Even of the club was also girls only, but they did start to though the band’s original director left after only one focus more on dramatics. By the end of the 1920s, the year of advising the club, the band continued on. club took on the name “Drama Club” and began to Sports: welcome boys. The glee clubs of the 1920s were also Central 100 years ago was doing well in sports. Our prominent standings. The decade started out with football team was thriving. We won almost every only the boys glee club, but by 1924, a girl’s Glee club football game throughout the decade and our boys was added. Other clubs through the 1920s include a girl’s Chorus and a boys chorus, science club, agriculbasket ball team did well too. The girls basketball ture club, student council and government, yearbook, team did not have anyone to compete with, so they and newspaper. just practiced, but they did so fiercely.

November 22 ‘29 SOCIAL CALENDAR

1800s Lab

Friday 22 - End of second six weeks.

Saturday 23 - Bay City vs. T.C.H.S (there).

Monday25 - Freshmen class party.

Tuesday 26 - P.T.A. Lecture.

Wednesday 27 - Report Cards. Journalism club.

Thursday 28 and 29 - Thanksgiving vacation.

Friday 29 - Older Boys conference.

Sunday 1 - Older Boys Conference.

Tuesday 3 - P.T.A. Lecture.

Wednesday 4 - French club. Journalism.

Friday 6 - Petoskey-T.C. Debate From the Pub of 1920

Evolution of the Lab 1920s Lab

All Photos: J.Baldyga & old Central Yearbooks

2020s Lab 34 // BGQ // April 2020

THE GUM-CHEWING GIRL Gypsy: “I tella your fortune.“ Jim Merey: “How much is it?“ Gypsy: “Twenty-five cents.“ Jim Merey: “Correct, how’d you guess it?“ Andy: “Will you join me in a bowl of soup?“ Miss Keppel: “Do you think there will be room for both of us?“ From the Pub of 1920

1800s Library

Evolution of the Library 1920s Library

2020s Library