Issue 01 2020 by The Tower

THE

TOWER Issue 01

DETAILS

PHILOSOPHY The Tower is a student-run publication at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, CA. Writers and editors work together under the guidance of a faculty advisor to enhance the Bishop’s community and stimulate meaningful conversation through the collection and distribution of news. The Tower aims to educate the Bishop’s community about issues and events that pertain to the experience of young adults. Sections of The Tower include Sports, Arts, Culture, Campus, Local & Beyond, Opinion, and The Bell. The Tower prints six issues each academic year, in addition to continuous online content. POLICY The Tower refrains from prior review of its issues and maintains the right to publish anonymous quotes when the privacy of the individual is a concern. All quotes are subject to editing for clarity and length. Opinions expressed in The Tower do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or of The Bishop’s School.

COLOPHON The Tower is printed by Streeter Printing Company in Mira Mesa, CA. Due to COVID-19, Issue 06 was published online and sent out to the Bishop’s community via email. The Staff uses Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator to arrange photographs and graphics. Typefaces include Didot for the cover, headlines, and subheadings; Minion Pro is used for bylines and body text. Issue 06 and previous issues of The Tower are available digitally on issuu.com. THE BELL The Bell is a section of The Tower that intends to serve as a relief from the depth of the magazine. Satire, puzzles, quizzes, and the like are frequent inside The Bell.

DETAILS | Issue o1

CONTRIBUTORS

Editor-in-Chief Harper White Graphics Editor - Print Lucie Edwards Online Editor Sariah Hossain Graphics Editor - Online Maya Buckley Assistant Graphics Editor Kyle Berlage Managing Editor Alex Cotton Copy Editors Crystal Li Clare Malhotra Faculty Advisor Ms. Laine Remignanti CONTACT

The Tower c/o The Bishop’s School 7607 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037 www.thebishopstower.com thetower@bishops.com IG @thebishopstower TW @thebishopstower All members of the Bishop’s community are invited to submit letters to the Editor-in-Chief by visiting our website, www.thebishopstower.com, and clicking on the ‘Submit Letter’ tab.

OUR COVER Art by - Kyle Berlage (‘22) and Lucie Edwards (‘21)

In Issue 01’s cover story, Kyle Berlage (‘22) examines how simple rumors regarding Black Lives Matter protests shook La Jolla and many other communities across the United States, looking into exactly why they have caused so much panic, and whether or not this panic was warranted to begin with. The front cover depicts a calm protestor and the back cover represents the complex reactions of the public.

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W I

f you had asked me at the start of 2020 to predict the course this year might run, I can certifiably guarantee you that I would not have entertained the possibility of even half the events that have unfolded since January taking place. From the threat of nuclear war hanging over everyone’s heads to Australia burning up, a global pandemic to the fervent resurgence of the modern-day Civil Rights movement, saying that this year has been one of surprises—large, unavoidable, unignorable ones at that—would certainly be no vast exaggeration. We are living in unprecedented times, or so the tagline goes during these past few months, and not without justifiable reason, in my honest opinion. And this can be hard to handle sometimes; the new developments and changes we see taking place around us every single day can lend a feeling of impermanence, of jarring transition, of deep-set confusion. There is never a blueprint for the future, and certainly there isn’t one for the future we find ourselves in right now. But I think now more than ever it is important to realize we cannot use this uncertainty as a crutch for anything, least of all complacency or ignorance. In the cover story for this issue, Kyle Berlage (‘22) talks about the Black Lives Matter protests and the related violence, and how misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding the first increased concerns surrounding the second. And he hits on a crucial point in his article: ignorance, especially of the willful variation, has serious, real-life implications and consequences. In her article, Maya Buckley (‘22) taps into much of the same vein as this, delving into the rise of the “fox-eye” trend on social media and the real-time damage it ends up doing. The underlying factor is made clear: the ignorance these actions are either undercut by or perpetuate themselves is damaging. As we turn to this year, I think this is an important thing to keep in mind. To say we have reached the point in time in which ignorance can no longer be taken lightly is inaccurate—we have been there for decades, centuries, even. Rather I think the argument is we are no longer at the point where we can continue to excuse these injustices, to brush them aside, sweep them under the rug for convenience’s sake. The world around us has changed. Now it is our time to change too.

Love,

Harper White, Editor-in-Chief

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c o n t e n t s 4

CONTENTS | Issue 01

Culture

Local &

The Manny Will Not Be Televised

To V

Grow navir herd Alex

Generation Z and symbolism Harper White

Turning a Blind Eye

An inside look on the migraine pose trend circulation social media and its ties to cultural appropriation Maya Buckley

Taylor Swiftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s folklore: An Album Review and Exploration

20 Opinion

Sariah Hossain

Pre tio thi Cr

Social Isolating Slump

How quarantining may damage teenage mental health Clare Malhotra

Campus

Cover S

Service Switch

Changes in student service projects due to COVID-19 Lucie Edwards

Pan

Why and h Kyle

24 Beyond

Vaccinate or not to Vaccinate

wing skepticisms of the new cororus vaccine could hinder plans for immunity Cotton

The Bell Top Ten Online School Essentials

Hard Enough Already

esident Trump tried to ban internaonal students: how he failed, and why is matters rystal Li

tory

nic! At The Neighborhood

rumors of a protest shook La Jolla, how more rumors shook America Berlage

CONTENTS | Issue 01

THE MANNY WILL NOT BE TELEVISED Generation Z and symbolism Harper White

hen you think of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid it, you can hear the cameraman speaking. “Look how series, a few things might come to mind. pissed off he is,” he said, zooming into the drawing. Perhaps it is vague childhood memories of “Look how mad he is. He’s tired of police brutality.” blowing through stack after stack of the seemingly innu- Which, since its creation, is the role The Manmerable volumes of the franchise. Perhaps it is the image ny has risen to: a symbol combating this very bruof the emo teenage heartthrob that is the movie version tality, one meant to stand in solidarity with—and in of Rodrick Heffley. Perhaps it is nothing in particular; some cases as a synonym for—the Black Lives Matter Diary of a Wimpy Kid was just one of those things you (BLM) and All Cops Are B******s (ACAB) movements. didn’t really grow up with and have had very little reason But The Manny’s role within the largto ever think about during the course of recent times. er contexts of these movements is not ex If you find yourself in the latter position—if you actly singular, nor is public reception of it. find yourself in any position regarding the franchise, On one hand, many consider The Manny to really—then the recent cultural resurgence of it might hold a certain amount of cultural gravitas. In an artisurprise you a little. Because regardless of any previous cle posted to the website Medium, Kristin Merrilees sentiments you held towards Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it described The Manny as a “symbol of the revolution,” is not a long shot to asreferring to the If petitions such as that can garner sume that one of them Black Lives Matso much popularity, while those dewould likely not be one ter Movement. seeing a character from manding legitimate justice for vic- Further on in it become an emblem the article, Mertims struggle to gain traction for rilees goes on to of the modern-day civil rights movement. weeks upon weeks, are we setting state that “the Because that use of ACAB our sights in the right places? is what has happened. Manny shows As protests responding to the murder of George Floyd how Gen Z often mobilizes the internet, memes, and and pervasive police brutality began to break out pop culture for social causes.” And this is certainly true; worldwide in late May, one new tagline skyrocket- especially in recent months, it has been Gen Z orchesed in popularity until it had become almost national- trating some of the largest-scale responses to current ly renowned, gaining hundreds of thousands of views events, such as buying out seats to President Donald across social media platforms from TikTok to Twitter. Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or vari This is in reference to, of course, the Man- ous fandoms banding together to drown out legitimate ny, or, as it’s more formally known, The Manny Will posts under the #WhiteLivesMatter tags on Instagram. Not Be Televised. A strange portmanteau of the char- And the rise of The Manny has had similar imacter Manny Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid pacts. The spread of the symbol has encouraged the series and the Gil Scott-Heron song/poem “The Rev- spread of information in conjunction with it; signing olution Will Not Be Televised,” the Manny has be- petitions every time you see a photo of The Manny on come a pop culture icon in recent months, spreading your Instagram feed or Twitter timeline has become across the internet like wildfire ever since its creation. popularized through social media users like @soupy The Manny made its first appearance on June time on TikTok. @themannyspotted on TikTok—large8 of this year, when TikTok user @themannyspotted ly accredited as the account that popularized The Manposted a video of someone drawing a photo of Man- ny in the first place—has turned its substantial platform ny on the floor in chalk. The video was captioned of 57.7k followers into one of sharing information. “THE MANNY WILL NOT BE TELEVISED” and in

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The Manny Flag was, for a time, featured in a petition demanding that it be changed to the new version of the American Flag. Though the petition has since been revealed to be fake, it gained extraordinary traction, garnering nearly one million signatures. But on the other hand, distilling the face of what some such as the New York Times are calling “the largest movement in United States history” into a wholly unrelated cartoon character does not hold the utmost amount of tact or even sense, especially considering the humorous connotations that often go hand-in-hand with The Manny. Though they have since reined in their stance substantially, even the individuals behind @themannyspotted admit to having humorous intent with starting the account, saying plainly in an official statement posted on the 24th of June that The Manny “started as a joke.” “We didn’t expect it to catch on the way it did,” explained Vista, the online name of one of the creators. “The internet moved too fast for us to spread out the initial message behind it.” When Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series was made aware of The Manny and the significance it was beginning to take on, his immediate reaction was one of frustration. “Lots of people are asking me right now how I feel about my character being used as an anti-police symbol. Honestly, I don’t like it,” he said in a since-deleted Twitter thread. “The Black Lives Matter movement needs to be taken seriously. This isn’t helping.” In a later reply, Kinney acknowledged the strides that The Manny—and the propagators behind it, largely members

of Gen-Z—had taken, but still expressed concern over the fact that it was “trivializing” the BLM movement. And this is a completely valid concern, especially when you take into consideration the fact that this has happened in some cases. Petitions to change the American flag to the “Manny Flag” garnered nearly a million signatures while those demanding justice for individuals such as Oluwatoyin Salau lagged far behind their necessary totals. Though the flag change petitions were later revealed to be jokes intending to troll Fox News, the question still remains: if petitions such as that can garner so much popularity, while those demanding legitimate justice for victims struggle to gain traction for weeks upon weeks, are we setting our sights in the right places? Are we assigning the right value to the correct things? Are we trivializing a movement—a necessary, crucial movement—for the sake of marketable, meme-able content on the internet? The answer might not be clear-cut, but it is an important question to keep in mind, especially when partaking in activism online. Perhaps Vista outlines the crux of the issue best when discussing the developing purpose The Manny serves. “It’s for the movement,” he explained, “not the movement itself.”

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TURNING A BLIND EYE

An inside look on the migraine pose trend circulation social media and its ties to cultural appropriation Maya Buckley

iven the amount of time everyone is spending at home recently, it has become increasingly hard to stay off of social media, whether that be Instagram, TikTok, or the various other platforms. And with this increase of time on everyone’s hands, the popularity of social media trends has also grown exponentially across platforms, with new trends materializing almost every day. The newest addition to this expansive mass of trends is the “fox-eye trend”, which is credited to have been popularized by celebrities like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. In their social media posts, the supermodels would use a combination of eye makeup and posing to give their eyes a slimmer shape, coined as the “migraine pose.” Specifically, using their hands to pull back their temples or eyebrows as if they have a searing headache. However, the trend has started to take its own shape, and as it’s popularity has grown, so has its polarity, and is now at the center of giant controversy. “When I was young, a girl came up to me, pulled her eyes back and said, ‘look I’m Asian, ch*ng ch*ng’—she meant no harm, we were in elementary school— but I knew she was mocking me,” explained Haha Shi (‘22). The derogatory names that she was called in her youth followed her all the way to her teenage years, and now those painful memories have been dredged to the surface again

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with the rise of the fox-eye trend. Notably, the migraine pose that people copy in an attempt to achieve the “model look” has transformed into something eerily similar to the gestures used to demean her and other Asian Americans, glamorizing a struggle many people of Asian American descent have dealt with for decades. Perhaps the catalyst for the scrutiny this trend has received is social media star Emma Chamberlain—she has almost 10 million followers on Instagram—who was recently criticized for exaggeratingly striking this exact pose in a photo she later posted to her account. Despite the criticism, the only public apology Emma issued was a tweet in which she laments that, “some thought [she] was posing in an insensitive way”, and that she is “so sorry to those who were hurt by it.” Many people weren’t pleased with her apology and saw it as a thinly veiled attempt to avert blame from herself, especially as this is an issue that many perceive as close to home. Her casual treatment of her photo controversy is so frustrating to many, because it reinforces the casual microaggressions and transgressions that occur on an everyday basis against Asian Americans, reducing their identities to a single stereotype, such as what happened to Haha as a child. Cultural appropriation is defined as “the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural

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group from another; generally Western appropriations of non‐Western. The act of cultural appropriation connotes cultural exploitation and dominance,” by the Oxford Dictionary. The delegitimizing and trivializing of traditionally Asian American struggles is what makes this topic so controversial on social media. When the “fox-eye” makeup wasn’t trendy, people’s features were mocked—but the popularization of the migraine pose by mainstream influencers has almost wholly erased the long history of discrimination against Asian Americans for a stereotype perpetuated by Western society. “I think some people think it’s a joke or funny. It’s not—I have deep-rooted memories of people saying innately racist things to me because of features out of my control,” explained Haha. Popular creators like Chamberlain excusing their problematic behavior is what perpetuates the narrative that the fox-eye trend is ok and harmless. “There are just people who don’t understand, and partake in this erasure, like Emma, and even people I know that I see doing it on Instagram,” said Haha. Others evidently feel the same way, as videos of creators expressing their indignation at the trend are getting hundreds of thousands of likes on the social media platform, Tiktok. Jackie Liu, an artist on the app, post of her personal

experiences with the fox-eye garnered over one million views and 500,000 likes, proving the virality and overwhelming popularity of the subject. Despite this, the hashtag #foxeyechallenge has over 14 million views on TikTok and is still filled with videos of people giving tutorials on how to achieve the signature migraine pose of celebrities like Bella Hadid and Chamberlain, regardless of the backlash the trend has received. Sadly, there’s a war going on - one currently being masked by likes on Instagram and aesthetic makeup tutorials, one that has real effects on real people who can’t hide behind a screen. It’s doubtful that the conversation surrounding the migraine pose will ever reach a satisfied conclusion, just as the conversation about cultural appropriation has been ongoing for decades. One thing to keep in mind— in a culture dominated by the principles of Western society, sometimes the grasp on ignorant behavior can slip through our fingers. Our job as a modern society emerging amongst social media is to listen to the voices of minorities and what is harmful to them, no matter how normalized that behavior has become, and that includes matters such as the fox-eye trend and the migraine pose. Ignorance should not be a trend—let’s not make it one.

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TAYLOR SWIFT’S FOLKLORE: AN ALBUM REVIEW AND EXPLORATION Sariah Hossain

n a Thursday morning at the end of July, pop superstar Taylor Swift took to Instagram to announce that her eighth studio album, folklore, would be dropping less than 24 hours later. “Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen,” she captioned the post. “Surprise.” Swift wrote and recorded all 16 songs on the record during these months of quarantine. A decided pivot from the synth-soaked pop of her previous three albums 1989 (2014), reputation (2017), and Lover (2019), folklore is an indie-alternative album made of storytelling, layered characters, and the breadth of human emotions tied up in loss and love. It’s her most mature album to date, both sonically and lyrically, and was created largely in collaboration with The National’s Aaron Dressler. folklore wasn’t written for the radio or with goals of topping the Billboard charts in mind—it comes across as Swift’s most honest work because it is. “In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result, a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a

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stream of consciousness,” she wrote in another post on the eve of the album’s release. “I’ve told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder, and whimsy they deserve. Now it’s up to you to pass them down.” She opens the album with “the 1”, which is as strong a beginning track as they come. About half of the songs on folklore follow the perspective of a cast of fictional characters Swift created for the album, but along with a few others, “the 1” draws from her own life. It opens the record with a plucky yet contemplative look back at a failed relationship from years past where she asks, ‘what could have happened if every star had aligned?’ She reminisces but doesn’t yearn, singing in the chorus, “We were something don’t you think so? / Roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool / and if my wishes came true / it would’ve been you.” That one-that-got-away storyline finds a resolution of sorts in “invisible string,” another track personal to Swift’s own life. In this song, she flirts with the idea that there was always an invisible string tying her to her soulmate, one that pulled her “out of all the wrong arms” and “wrapped all [her] past mistakes in barbed wire.” It’s sweet and smart and

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rose-coloured, and it’s a clear reflection of the contentment Swift feels in her current relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. In “peace” and “hoax,” the final two songs on folklore, she speaks to the maturation of this relationship. Love isn’t just destiny and magic anymore; it’s wrestling with her private flaws and the struggles of Swift’s stardom. “I’d give you my sunshine, give you my best, but the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me,” she sings. “Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?” The candor and rawness with which Swift goes about her lyricism is her greatest strength, and with folklore she leans into it completely. Take “seven,” an ode to lost innocence and a childhood best friend, or “the last great american dynasty,” which tells Rebekah Harkness’ story, who owned Swift’s Rhode Island mansion before she did. “epiphany,” a slow and atmospheric track that in comparison to others, isn’t a standout on the album, compares her grandfather’s time in the military to the confusion and tragedy of life in a pandemic. This kind of narrative storytelling is exactly in Swift’s wheelhouse. It shines in some of her best songs of years past: “All Too Well,” “Last Kiss,” “Cornelia Street,” “Love Story.”

Swift had been under Hollywood’s unforgiving microscope through the majority of her formative years. She’s been painted in the media to be America’s young sweetheart, then a shallow, lovestruck teenager, then a snake during a public feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. These are the experiences Swift drew from to pen the haunting track “mirrorball” where she likens herself to a disco ball—mirrors on every surface. She’ll put on her best, brightest face just for you to enjoy, but when she “breaks it’s in a million pieces.” The lyrics are haunting but the production layered and dreamy, paralleling the shiny exterior Swift says she puts on for the world. In “my tears ricochet” and “mad woman,” Swift returns again to trauma she’s faced in the music industry. “my tears ricochet” in particular is widely speculated to be about this, specifically addressing her fight to buy back the masters of her first five albums from her former record label, Big Machine Records. “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace,” she admits in the chorus. She carries this sentiment to folklore’s twelfth track, “mad woman,” though that lacks the same emotional gut-punch.

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Perhaps the crowning jewel of folklore is a trio of songs Swift likes to refer to as the Teenage Love Triangle. “cardigan,” “august,” and “betty,”—tracks 2, 8, and 14 respectively—center around the characters James and Betty, who were in a relationship until James cheated on Betty and spent the summer with an unnamed girl. Each song is told from the perspective of one of the three: “cardigan” from Betty’s, “august” from the unnamed girl’s, and “betty” from James’. “One thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics, more than just the [music] videos,” said Swift in a YouTube Q&A. “I created character arcs & recurring themes that map out who is singing about who.” “cardigan” is the first in the trilogy chronologically. It’s a heartbreaking and mature portrait of teenage love where Betty reflects on moments from her relationship with James before the summer affair happened. With each chorus, these memories become more painful, beginning with the two dancing drunk under a streetlight and ending with James leaving her to remember all this, alone. In “cardigan,” Swift draws an artful comparison to Peter and Wendy from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, where Peter wanted Wendy to stay on Neverland with him where no-

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body grows old but Wendy knew she had to return to reality. In the frame of this metaphor, Wendy is Betty and Peter is James. The allusion reinforces the distance Betty illustrates between youthful affection and long-lasting love; James’s mindset falls into the former and Betty’s the latter. Holding on to youth and the refusal to let go of what you know are themes Swift carries through the ‘triangle.’ Her characterization of time shows it as a constant, inevitable pressure, especially clear in the unnamed other girl’s perspective in “august.” It’s possible that the choice to leave this song’s narrator unnamed—unlike Betty and James—was in order to keep the blame for infidelity and narrative focused on James rather than the other girl. Perhaps it’s because Betty and James, caught up in their own feelings, reduced her personhood and feelings to just being ‘the other woman.’ The beauty of Swift’s imaginative storytelling—and the nature of folktales, really—is its freedom for interpretation. “august” is a cornerstone of folklore, one of Swift’s most impressive efforts on the record. Her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff cited it as one of his favorite songs he and Swift have ever put out. It narrates the summer James and the unnamed girl spent together, sun-drenched and fleeting. It’s

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easy to imagine the two in an open field in late summertime, a golden haze cast over the scene. “I can see us twisting in bedsheets, August slipped away like a bottle of wine,” she sings, “cause you were never mine.” The girl knows James wasn’t hers to lose but can’t help her feelings anyway. Swift couples the naivety of teenage love with the self-aware and painfully adult sensation of realizing self-sabotage as it’s going on: “Back when we were still changing for the better / wanting was enough, for me it was enough / to live for the hope of it all.” God, she’s good. Some fans theorize that “illicit affairs,” a poignant track about the aftermath of infidelity, falls into their storyline as well. The song deals with the moral wrongdoing in the act but addresses it with nuance, recognizing the thrills and highs as well as the pain one experiences themselves as the situation comes crashing down. While it could be just a stand-alone track, it could fit the unnamed girl’s emotions toward James once she gets over their relationship and realizes the position James put her in. “You taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone else,” she sings, and it aches. “And you know damn well, for you I would ruin myself a million little times.” And finally, the love triangle wraps up with “betty,” where James comes to Betty, explains himself, and asks for her

back. The song’s production is guitar- and harmonica-driven, a more upbeat country song reminiscent of her first two albums, and perhaps the contrast between “betty” and the heavy and dark “cardigan” speaks to the difference in Betty’s and James’ understanding of love yet again. In “cardigan” she says she “knew everything when [she] was young,” but in “betty” James pleads, “I’m only seventeen, I don’t know anything.” Throughout the record, Swift’s production feels like a complementary tool to her storytelling rather than being the selling point of each song—the echo-like vocals in “this is me trying” that mimic a spinning head; a key change in “betty” to signify the narrator regaining hope; Swift and featured artist Bon Iver singing over each other in “exile” like two ex-lovers whose relationship fell apart because they couldn’t listen to each other. Each choice is conscientious and contributes to the lovely wholeness of folklore as an album. folklore felt like a familiar record upon first listen, and likely because it capitalized on what Swift had been doing with her music from the start. She tells stories and falls in love, romanticizes the past and then passes it on. It’s a glittering album for cloudy days and a cozy blanket, and it might be the best she’s created—yet.

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SOCIAL ISOLATING SLUMP How quarantining may damage teenage mental health Clare Malhotra

leary eyes, pajama pants, and slouching in bed replaced physical attendance at school last spring. Students could roll out of bed two minutes before advisory, eat during class, and pretend to stare at the screen while scrolling through social media. Whispering has taken the place of texting. Instead of walking from one class to the next, they simply click a button. Isolation can have detrimental effects on teenagers. The cancellation of any and all milestones and activities can induce depression and anxiety in teens as well, who generally tend to derive joy from working towards and achieving events. The cancellation of sports and arts has taken drive away from student-athletes and artists. Playoffs were cancelled, final performances. Many adolescents had to postpone or cancel birthday parties, including benchmarks like sweet sixteens, quincañeras, or becoming a legal adult at 18. The closing of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) meant many teens were unable to get licenses or learners permits, leaving them to rely on their parents, which may increase their feelings of frustration or suffocation.

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“Increased screen time usage...has been found to be linked with increases in depression, anxiety and perceived attention problems,” explained Jennifer Katzenstein, a psychologist at Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. Many teachers just continued their ordinary lectures in front of a screen, rather than giving students more interactive activities or giving them a chance to work on paper during class. “After a few hours on Zoom,” Mira Gowda (‘22) explained, “My eyes are sore and my head starts to hurt.” Even before quarantine and COVID-19, adolescents had a problem with internet and social media addiction. One study showed that about 50% of students felt addicted to their phones. Without the opportunity to leave their houses, many have resorted to spending more time scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, or other social media sites. Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube all experienced significant surges in Internet traffic, corresponding with the arrival of COVID-19 and with the stay-at-home orders. In many ways, Internet entertainment can help to distract people from the news, or a break from work and life.

Many people have reported increased screen time during quarantine, and sites such as Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube reported surges in activity. (photo courtesy of Kathryn Pryor on Twitter)

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“Increased screen time usage... has been found to be linked with increases in depression, anxiety and perceived attention problems” - Hopkins psychchologist Jennifer Katzenstein

However, as COVID-19 cases spike and quarantine extends, the end of the situation becomes further and further away. According to a Pharmacy Times article, anxiety levels have spiked, not only because of loneliness and screen use, but also because people are “in a state of danger or threat,” causing “widespread despair and feelings of vulnerability.” However, this extra time in quarantine has beneficial impacts as well. “At the beginning of quarantine it was a little tough because my days were so empty of activity and routine,” Mira noted, “But I think that a routine has really helped me feel less isolated.” Many teenagers have found increased time for self-

care. Families may spend more time together, especially if all members work from home. In addition, there is an increased opportunity for people to develop healthier habits. YouTuber Chloe Ting’s workout programs have gained massive popularity during quarantine, creating an online exercise community, inspiring people to exercise daily, and live a healthier lifestyle. “Incorporating some workouts into my routine helps me feel more energetic,” explained Nadia Bitar (‘22) “and I always feel happier afterwards—it helps me forget about everything that’s going on.” While quarantine has had unfavorable aspects, teens have also used the time to their advantage.

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SERVICE SWITCH

Changes in student service projects due to COVID-19 Lucie Edwards

any high school students here at Bishop’s utilize their three-month summer vacation to complete their yearly service learning requirement of twenty hours. With closures due to COVID-19 sweeping through San Diego, such students have been left with few of the community service opportunities that

they are used to having. While the minimum amount of hours for the 202021 school year has been reduced to ten, students are still required to serve their communities in some capacity. Faced with such obstacles, many students have gotten creative and found new ways to get involved with their communities without leaving

Making Items At Home to Donate This style of service during closures is good for many reasons. Not only are you helping organizations save money during these uncertain times but you also can fit your service hours into any free time you may find in your day. Healing Little Heroes Foundation is a domestic nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California. Their Beanie Project became a popular service program at Bishop’s in the 2019-20 school year. The Associated Student Body Council (ASBC) provided any interested Upper School advisories with kits that contained the materials to make the beanies. The kits consisted of a circular loom, crochet hooks, thick yarn, and an instruction sheet. After the beanies were made, they were donated to local hospitals for children and teenagers battling cancer. Senior Brooke Waite got involved with this project before COVID-19 hit and has continued to make the beanies throughout spring and summer. She has knitted over fifty beanies for the program, only stopping when her supplies began to dwindle. When asked what drew her to this project and inspired her to stick with it, Brooke noted, “It is very rewarding work, as many of my family members have suffered from cancer,” going on to say, “I know my time making these hats is going towards a great cause.”

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the safety of their homes. The primary types of service in quarantine tend to fit into three distinct categories: making items at home to donate to local charities, adapting pre-existing programs to function online, and creating new programs that easily lend themselves to operating over the internet.

Adapting pre-existing programs

While closures have shut down in-person service opportunities, many nonprofit organizations have found creative ways to operate over the internet. This allows volunteers to stick with the programs that they are passionate about while still following the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Seniors Lila Chitayat and Kian Tayebi cofounded Creative Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization focused on bringing art to local refugee centers to give the kids there a creative outlet to express themselves. There was no way to replicate this program over the internet, as it requires some supplies that the centers may not have regular access to. This realization prompted Lila and Kian to hold an art supplies drive, allowing them to assemble twenty-four personalized art kits for refugee families residing in City Heights, San Diego. After the success of this fundraiser, the pair hosted a food drive and are in the process of planning a toiletry drive. Creative Sanctuary also collaborated with Senior Naomi Deokule’s nonprofit, Project Tasveer, which strives to make progress in India through photography and the arts. Together, they held a creative art and mindfulness workshop for forty participants in early August. Lila recognizes that service during closures has been difficult, but she has still found value in it, saying “while service during COVID-19 has been difficult, it’s also been really fun coming up with new ways to serve our community during this time.”

The Tower

Creating New Programs

impacts_in_isolation Student spotlight! Lev Grezemkovsky is an 8th grader at The Bishops School in San Diego. Lev will be setting up times in San Diego for socially distanced beach clean-ups. He hopes to get the word out about ocean pollution and work towards creating a safer environment for people who enjoy the beach, the animals who live in it, and the planet as a whole. Please reach out to lev.grez@gmail. com or DM us if you are interested in doing your part to help save our beaches!

On their Instagram account, Impacts in Isolation posts photos to highlight students who have taken strong initiative to serve their communities.

Many students who have had the service carpet pulled out from under them have used the current global climate as an opportunity to serve in ways they had not previously considered. This not only promotes a global perspective but also allows for students to think about their true passions. Impacts in Isolation is an organization founded by nine teenagers from around the world. The goal of this organization is to bring students together to make a change in their individual communities during COVID-19. They host a wide range of programs, including Night Bites, a nonprofit dedicated to making baked goods for night-shift healthcare workers, and Masks for Hunger, which donates the profits from homemade masks to Project Bread. Other programs offer faceto-face (or “screen-to-screen”) interaction. An example of this is Super Story Time, where students read children’s stories over Zoom to give parents a break. Lev Grezemkovsky (‘25) has recently become involved with Impacts in Isolation. Grezemkovsky has organized various socially-distanced beach cleanups around San Diego. His goal is to spread awareness about pollution and to create a cleaner environment for the humans and animals who live in it.

Director of Service Learning Mrs. Jackie Gomez is really impressed with all the creative service projects that students have come up with during this time, and encourages students to get involved if they have not already, saying, “it’s not too late to do so!” Everyone’s lives have been affected by COVID-19, whether in big or small ways. While it would be such an

easy time to abandon community service projects due to closures, it is clear that now—more than ever—volunteers are needed to keep programs running. Service hours might be harder to come by and projects might be canceled or altered, but there are still many creative and effective ways to serve your community.

CAMPUS | Issue 01

TO VACCINATE OR NOT TO VACCINATE Growing skepticisms of the new coronavirus vaccine could hinder plans for herd immunity Alex Cotton

nce the vaccine comes out, life will return back to normal, right? It might not be that simple. According to the Mayo Clinic in order to have herd immunity, 60 to 80 percent of the population must be vaccinated. Once a certain percentage of the population is immune to a disease, the spread of the disease within that population will rapidly decrease thereby creating herd immunity. However, current statistics from Tufts University’s Research Group on Equity in Health, Wealth, and Civic Engagement show that only around 50 percent of the United States population say they will get the vaccine once it comes out. Executive director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health emergencies program Mike Ryan said on the number of people needed to be vaccinated, “whatever that number is, we’re nowhere near close to it, which

means this virus has a long way to burn in our communities before we ever reach that [herd immunity].” So why are people so skeptical about the COVID-19 Vaccine? According to an article from the New York Times, “mistrust of vaccines has been on the rise in the U.S. in recent years, a sentiment that resists categorization by political party, educational background or socio-economic demographics.” But, even people who are up-todate on all other vaccines are wary of the new COVID-19 vaccines. Historically, many vaccines have taken upwards of ten years to develop and test before they are approved for public use. But, many vaccine developers claim they will have a vaccine available within a year. This accelerated timeline has bred skepticism amongst many people because they think it is likely that developers are skipping

Researchers are developing more than 165 coronavirus vaccines, and 31 of them are in human trials.

C OVID-19 Vaccine Injection only

20 ml

18 LOCAL AND BEYOND | Issue 01

necessary steps or tests and rushing to put out a vaccine that is less than effective. In an article from the New York Times, retired fourthgrade teacher Joane Barnes said, “I just feel like there’s a rush to get a vaccine out, so I’m very hesitant.” It is reported that she has received all available vaccines. She continued, “the bottom line is I have absolutely no faith in the F.D.A. and in the Trump administration.” This mistrust in a vaccine created and released during Donald Trump’s presidency is shared amongst many Americans. “People worry that he may have secret deals with certain pharma companies, and may stand to — either his friends will profit or he will profit,” said Health Reporter Jan Hoffman, “And so, unfortunately, people are holding the product itself at arm’s length and looking at it through the lens of a political situation.”

The Tower

“My fear is that we may get to the place where — we will get to that place where we have that successful vaccine. But we still have the concern for many, and a mistrust.” -Dr. Anthony Fauci

But how can the United States Government and vaccine developer’s get the 50 percent of people who are skeptical of the vaccine on board to take it when it comes out? The New York Times reported, “Operation Warp Speed (OWS) , the $10 billion public-private partnership that is driving much of the vaccine research, [OWS] wrote, ‘rests upon the compelling yet unfounded presupposition that ‘if we build it, they will come.’’” However, with the growing skepticism amongst Americans that the quickly released vaccine will be safe and effective, more research needs to be done into how to ensure that enough Americans will get vaccinated to have herd immunity. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Texas State University anthropology department released a statement saying, “If poorly designed and executed, a COVID-19 vaccination

campaign in the U.S. could undermine the increasingly tenuous belief in vaccines and the public health authorities that recommend them — especially among people most at risk of COVID-19 impacts.” In the report, researchers noted that some of the ten billion dollars of vaccine research funding should be redirected to social psychologists to investigate the causes of vaccine skepticism and provide pointed messages to alter public attitudes toward the Coronavirus vaccine. “My fear is that we may get to the place where — we will get to that place where we have that successful vaccine. But we still have the concern for many, and a mistrust,” said Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, “And whether it’s vaccine hesitation or vaccine confidence — I don’t know what the buzz word is — but I’m worried that we don’t have a plan for how to deal with that.”

LOCAL AND BEYOND | Issue 01

HARD ENOUGH ALREADY

President Trump tried to ban international students: how he failed, and why this matters Crystal Li

“I

t’s hard to say (MIT) sued the Trump what my iniadministration. The tial reaction schools’ complaint, was,” explained an filed in the US District international student Court for the District from the St. Paul’s of Massachusetts, School of New Hampasked for a provisional shire. “Since I go to restraining order and a boarding school, a permanent injuncit looked like if I do tion—a court order choose to take classthat a person or entity es online, I would be take certain actions or forced to go through refrain from certain a complex procedure activities—preventing relocating outside the administration the United States.” from implementing On July 6, the the new policy. By the Immigration and Custime of the hearing, toms Enforcement more than 200 univerwcl_ifwhenhow Today @icegov’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced an (ICE), an agency withsities across the nation arbitrary and malicious new rule that... more in the Department of had announced their View all 5,646 comments Homeland Security, support for the lawannounced a number suit. Another group The initial announcement of the policy received of changes to the Stuof 17 states and the immediate backlash from all corners of social media dent & Exchange VisDistrict of Columbia platforms. itor Program (SEVP) filed a lawsuit of their that would have sigown, arguing that ICE nificantly impacted hadn’t followed the international students proper method for enattending school in the United States. The Trump forcing the new regulation. On July 14, United States administration declared that foreign learners would officials agreed to revoke the new policy in a settlehave to leave the United States. if the college or univer- ment with Harvard and MIT—the withdrawal ended sity they attend switches to online-only courses in the more than a week of uncertainty and shock for interfall school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. national learners and academies across the country. “Initially, I was shocked by the heartlessness of the Since this issue could have affected the lives policy. International students are integral to the na- of countless individuals, it is important to consider ture of American academia and it seems cruel to face the dire consequences if this policy had dragged on. them with the option of either risking their health at American educational institutions would likely have in-person classes or leaving the country entirely,” said suffered great economic losses, international stusenior Vanessa Yang, who was open in sharing her dents’ futures would have been bound with restricthoughts and being vocal about this issue on Instagram. tions, and many foreign learners would have been Soon after though, on July 8, Harvard Uni- trapped without other options—this decision can versity and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology be deemed a no-win situation from the beginning.

20 OPINION | Issue 01

The Tower According to EducationData.org, a site that provides accurate statistics on important topics surrounding education, there are more than a million international students in the United States These students contributed nearly $41 billion to the national economy in the 20182019 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. American universities rely on the revenue generated from these students, many of whom typically pay full tuition and are not eligible for federal student aid. Losing that contribution would hurt university finances, which would ultimately affect domestic students as well. Additionally, it is not guaranteed that these students have somewhere to go besides the United States. “The bigger issue is some of these countries have travel restrictions on and they can’t go home, so what do they do then?” said Theresa Cardinal Brown, the director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “It’s a conundrum for a lot of students.” According to Kayak. com, a travel agency and metasearch engine, only 36 out of roughly 200 countries have no travel bans as of July 12. The issued policy would have forced a rough, “one-sizefits-all” policy in response to

an intricate dilemma giving international students barely any options, trapping them in a distressing scramble to comprehend whether their future pathways are thwarted. “American universities are the academic destinations of choice for thousands of young people around the world,” explained Vanessa. “I think the new policy illustrates the government’s willingness to effectively penalize students who did nothing wrong and sends the unfortunate message that diversity within American education is ultimately conditional.” It is important to continue protecting the growing diversity of America—no one should be seen as illegal. No one should be forced to give up their choice of education. No one should be forced to feel trapped in situations like these. Our communities should speak loudly and clearly with a powerfully consistent message. “The first thing I think we should do is educate ourselves so that we know what exactly is going on,” said Katy Silva (‘23). “Next: spread the word. People need to hear about this.” Participating in social activism, signing petitions, and sharing useful information are all ways you can keep helping.

“Initially, I was shocked by the

heartlessness

of the policy.”

- Vanessa Yang (‘21)

OPINION | Issue 01

PANIC! AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD Why rumors of a protest shook La Jolla, and how more rumors shook America Kyle Berlage

n June 5, at 1:09 p.m., a strange email landed in my inbox from an anonymous sender. “As you may be aware, Antifa and its related radical left wing organizations plan to target the Village of La Jolla for a large protest march either this Friday or Saturday. To obviate a police response, their time and date will be determined with only a few hours notice,” the email warned. “The standard protocol for many of these protests has been to begin with peaceful demonstrations which convert into widespread arson, looting and mayhem… Consequently, we are respectfully asking the able bodied men of La Jolla, those with a sense of gallantry and valor, to come down and help peacefully defend our village shops and residential neighborhoods.” You might think that the use of such momentous and frankly medieval language would predict a huge battle: one group defending their picturesque city against the evil imposters attempting to burn it all to the ground. Spoiler alert: none of that happened. There were no Black Lives Matter protests in the Village of La Jolla on Friday or Saturday, and statistically, any protest that would occur, would be quite unlikely to turn violent. So why did these rumors have so much power in La Jolla, and across America? There is no doubt that some protests throughout the

22 COVER STORY | Issue 01

country have turned into violent riots. Specifically, the initial outrage that swept the streets of Minneapolis has been popularly seen as “mostly violent riots,” according to a poll by YouGov and Yahoo News. Portland, Oregon is also going through a similar situation as the initial outrage to Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, with special agents being sent into the city to quell the protests. With these riots, there have been many different attempts to utilize the emotionally charged images and language of the protests to further right-wing politicians’ and media corporations’ own political and economic benefit, creating panic at the prospect of a Black Lives Matter protest in their neighborhood. Right wing media outlets are some of the most crafty when using these images to concoct a dystopian view of the protests. For example, in a clip of Tucker Carlson Tonight from July 3rd titled “Who are the criminals destroying your country?,” Carlson uses repeated images of the same protests as well as images of a couple from St. Louis holding guns outside of their home as if they were being threatened by those protesting down their street. One of the tricks used by Carlson is to repeat a very short clip of the St. Louis couple, during the most charged part of the encounter, in order to keep emotions high when the viewer reacts to his commentary.

COVER STORY “Those who see... the police as guardians of public safety and property... will view the violence as the dominant and most important aspect of the demonstrations.” - Dr. Arthur Dobrin D.S.W. These techniques are also used from the first click on the Fox News website, with a charged title and a subtitle that reads, “They’re not protesters or civil rights activists. They’re violent criminals being used as a militia by the Democratic Party to seize power.” But as right wing media outlets use these protests to further their economic interests and keep viewers watching, many politicians are using the same techniques to further their political gain. Just as the media does, politicians also use their platforms to spread irrational fear about protests. For example, in response to statues being torn down, Republican congressional representative Jim Hagedorn said that those fighting for the Black Lives Matter movement were, “at war” with “western culture,” terms that, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, fuel white supremacy. Another instance of the political weaponization of the protests comes from Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, where he said, “[the protests are] not about violence. It’s not even about race. They

want to replace and destroy our great nation,” as well as saying that the concept of white privilege is a “racist” term. But as the media and these politicians stir panic to further their own gain, the information they spread about protests being overwhelmingly violent is either warped or false. According to research company Ipsos, out of the approximately 1,400 protests that happened in the wake of the death of George Floyd, around 81 percent had no observable violence. In fact, out of the 18 protests that happened within San Diego County, only two protests, or 11 percent of the protests had observable violence. But even though there was comparably little violence at these protests, especially within San Diego County, psychologists may have a reason for why protests might be seen differently by some La Jollans. According to psychologist Arthur Dobrin D.S.W. in PsychologyToday, exaggerated views of the protests can be compared to a glass half-full or half-empty situation. He said, “Those who see racism as baked

into the bones of America see the protests as justified. While condemning violence, they also can understand how rage can follow from malignant injustices. Those who see protesters as violating critical norms of society and view the police as guardians of public safety and property in a perhaps flawed but fundamentally just society will view the violence as the dominant and most important aspect of the demonstrations.” So as some La Jollans reacted to the circulating rumors about protests in the area, their more conservative and pro-police “frames” of viewing the protests blurred the fact that a protest in La Jolla was unlikely to become violent in the first place. So as whoever wrote that anonymous email to me fundamentally misunderstood what “Antifa” is and the statistical improbability that a protest would turn violent, the combination of media and political exaggeration of the protests, as well as the writer’s own frames of seeing the protests, provides a reason for why they felt that email needed to be sent.

COVER STORY | Issue 01

TOP TEN online school essentials TOP TEN TOP TEN TOP 1. TEN 6. TOP TEN TOP TEN 7. TOP 2. TEN TOP TEN TOP TEN 8. TOP 3. TEN TOP TEN TOP 4. TEN 9. TOP TEN TOP TEN TOP 5. TEN 10. TOP TEN TOP TEN blue light glasses so people know you mean business

wifi that conveniently shuts down right before you have to say a fun fact about yourself

homework from another class

advil and tylenol (just in case)

a bluetooth keyboard to help you gossip in the chat

a ring light to impress your crush

various half-finished buzzfeed quizzes

a deadbolt to keep out your annoying siblings

a pet for emotional support

24 THE BELL | Issue 06

customized Zoom settings (touch up my appearance, anyone??)

photo cr credits COVER Front and back cover thanks to Kyle Berlage (‘22) and Lucie Edwards (‘21) CULTURE The Manny Will Not Be Televised - Pages 6-7, Art by Harper White (‘21) Turning a Blind Eye - Page 8-9, Photo courtesy of @emmachamberlin on Instagram Taylor Swift’s folklore: An Album Review and Exploration - Pages 10-13, Photos sourced from Wikipedia Commons On the Social Isolating Slump - Pages 14-15, PC: Kathryn Pryor CAMPUS Service Switch - Pages 16-17, Photo courtesy of @impacts_in_isolation on Instagram LOCAL & BEYOND Alex - Pages 18-19, Art by Alex Cotton (‘21) Hard Enough Already - Pages 18-19, PC to @wcl_ifwhenhow on Instagram COVER STORY Art by Lucie Edwards (‘21) THE BELL Top Ten - Page 22, Art by Lucie Edwards (‘21) PC Page - Page 23, Art by Lucie Edwards (‘21)

PHOTO CREDITS | Issue 06