Issue 02 2022

PHILOSOPHY

The Tower is a student-run pub lication 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 is sues and events that pertain to the experience of young adults. Sec tions of The Tower include Cam pus, Arts, Sports, Culture, Local & Beyond, Opinion, and The Bell. The Tower prints multiple issues each academic year, in addition to con tinuous online content.

POLICY

The Tower refrains from prior re view 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. Opin ions 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. The Staff uses Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illus trator to arrange photographs and graphics, and distributed 300 copies of Issue 02 to the Bishop’s commu nity. Typefaces include Saonara for the cover; Public Sans for the head lines, bylines, and subtitles; Minion Pro for the body text. Issue 02 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.

CONTRIBUTORS

Editors-in-Chief

Leila Feldman

Crystal Li

GraphicsEditor

Isadora Blatt

Online Editor

Spencer Ralph

StoryEditors

Sydney Chan Summer Hu

CopyEditor

Bella Gallus

Staff Writers

Aiden Afshar Nora Bitar Ben Brown

Camille Greenlee

Dane Jorgensen Reagan Kliber

David Lai Lucy Marek Lisa Pan

Kayden Wang Emeraude Westlake Joyce Wu Melanie Yau

FacultyAdvisor

Laine Remignanti

CONTACT

The

Bishop’s School

La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

by Isadora Blatt (‘24)

Why should someone who has grown up speaking a language their whole life be al lowed to enroll in that language class? How fair is this to students with no background in another language, and what alternatives does the School have in the placement of heritage speakers? In this issue, Isadora Blatt (‘24) explores these nuanced questions of culture, equity, and more.

Bishop’s community are

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the‘SubmitLetter’tab.

Dear Bishop’s,

Frankly, I have probably written fourteen variations of this editor letter, and as I write this I’m still not sure if I do this Issue justice.

Earlier this year, Director of Communications and Marketing Ms. Keri Peckham and Dance Teacher Ms. Donna Cory passed away. This Issue honors both beloved community members. My Co-Editor-In-Chief Crystal Li (‘23) and I co-wrote the tribute to Ms. Peckham and our Graphics-Edi tor Isadora Blatt (‘24) wrote a personal tribue to Ms. Cory. Unfortunately, neither Crystal nor I ever had a personal relationship with Ms. Peckham, so the tribute is a collection of wonderful anecdotes, stories, and memories of her from people close to her. There were many times while interviewing her family and friends and writing this article I began to cry; I have had to take many trips to the bathroom after interviews because my tears wouldn’t stop. Writing this article gave me a new understanding of Ms. Peckham and her love for this school, her community, her children, and her husband. Isadora is in Performing Dance Group (PDG) and has been a student of Ms. Cory’s for nearly four years. Her tribute is a personal essay to Ms. Cory — not only a collection of her own stories but also photos and quotes from students’ past. As well, Isadora dedicated a wonderful two-page spread to Ms. Cory’s many dance masterpieces. These two members of our community were cornerstones of our school but more importantly were wonderful, full-of-life, enthusiastic women. If you are struggling with either loss, please reach out to an adult or person who you trust — there are an exceptional number of people who love you.

Grief and loss are dark, scary, never-ending tunnels, but as someone who has experienced both, there is an end. Maybe there isn’t an end, per se — but you get better at managing it. It doesn’t stop hurting and time doesn’t heal you, but the process does. When these things happen it can be really hard to put things into perspective. It feels like concrete ruins are falling on your head and you keep getting hit no matter how far you run or how low you duck. It’s a horrible feeling. It is in these moments that you must turn to someone that loves you and whom you trust.

For me, when I was struggling with loss and stress and pressure, I turned to my grandfather. I would regularly go over to his house and pour my heart out for an hour. In between my talks he would serve me popcorn and Fiji water and whatever other food he thought I would like — that’s how every Jewish grandparent shows love, after all.

Sometimes, it was closer to a pep talk, but a lot of times, it was that I needed someone to listen to me. I had felt so trapped and isolated and I just needed someone to listen. One time, after a 45-minute-long tangent, he spoke for the first time and he turned to look at me in my puffy eyes and said, “Leila, you can only do your best. Your best is good enough. If your best isn’t good enough for someone else, then they aren’t good enough for you.” He clapped his hands together like he was whipping the crumbs away, “Then that’s it, they aren’t good enough, turn your energy elsewhere.” It was then that I realized that I wasn’t so alone, I wasn’t alone in my struggles. It was then that I realized I had to stop focusing all my energy on what was going wrong and set my energy on new goals for myself. That year was going to be hard but that didn’t mean it had to be miserable.

With each issue that comes out, I am getting better at managing my Editor-In-Chief role. It is hard — that doesn’t mean I would trade it for anything. This issue is too broad to summarize in an overarching theme, and maybe that’s just the point — maybe there is no theme.

In this issue, we have a lot of articles about new changes that are happening on campus and in our world, from Sydney Chan’s (‘24) about the Americanization of cultural cuisine to Lisa Pan (‘26) and Crystal Li (‘23) pieces about new faculty. Sydney explores the topic of whether the americanization of food is a good thing, where it originated from, and how it continues to be prevalent in our nation’s society. Lisa and Crystal introduce members of our community that will be influencial of Spanish and Physics, respectively.

In the realm of sports, Emeraude Westlake (‘24) and Camille Greenlee (‘23) talk about new beginnings and ends. Camille pays homage to a personal hero of mine, Serena Williams, and the struggles she faced because she was a female athlete. Emeraude’s is about this year’s dungeon, their hopes, goals, and vision.

And of course, our wonderful cover story by Isadora who discusses the advantages native speakers have in their re spective language classes. This article is one we talked about extensively across many different meetings, the way it affects our classroom environment, the harms and benefits amongst much more.

Until we meet again, Leila Feldman

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Photo courtesy of Sydney Chan (‘24)

BEGINNING AN ERA:

BIENVENIDO, SRA. ROGSTAD

Profile on a new faculty addition to the Spanish department

Crystal Li

Asyou walk down the Upper Scripps hallway, where familiar Spanish classrooms follow one another, and pop your head into room 207, you’d probably see Señora Leah Rogstad, smiling, amidst groups of chattering students. “Even though we are teach ing higher-level, content-based courses, I always like to think of students first as the curricu lum,” she said. A new face in the Bishop’s Spanish department, Sra. Rogstad loves nothing more than seeing Spanish culture drive conversations within her Spanish Three and Four Honors classes.

For Sra. Rogstad, her love of language somewhat began with her experience in travel ing. Originally from a very rural place in Vermont, she traveled abroad to Peru after high school. This first experience of traveling outside of the country ignited a passion for travel; so far, she’s lived in Peru, Mexico, Spain, and even Los Angeles for five years. “I wanted to become a lan guage teacher because I grew up in a pretty homogeneous space, both culturally and racially,” she explained. “Through learning Spanish and having the experi ence of interacting with Spanish speakers, it opened up my world

to other perspectives and expe riences, which have flowed over into all aspects of my life.”

Living abroad has really brought language learning alive for Sra. Rogstad. “By really set tling into daily life with people, you start to understand not just like the stereotypical aspects of culture, but you actually get to see how different people think and live by having conversations with them,” she said, expressing her appreciation for the diversity Southern California brings.

In her seven years of teaching, Sra. Rogstad has taught everything from middle school to university-level Spanish. Just last year, she taught at a univer sity in Spain. “I have taught mid dle school for two years, and high school for three years,” she count ed. “So I was excited to come back to high school this year, and specifically teach courses that are a bit more content-based.”

She expressed that her interest in Global Studies really made her eager to make com prehensive curriculums. She added that she looks forward to specifically helping high school students to have an open mind set in culture and exchange. “You can use language in any context, really,” she said. “You might not

become a Spanish teacher to get a doctorate in Spanish, but wheth er you’re going to become a law yer or scientist, knowing another language is going to help you by opening up your perspectives.”

When asked about why she chose to join the Bishop’s teaching community specifically, she noted her appreciation for the pillars of episcopal identity and student attitudes. “I was ex cited to be in a space where not just academics were important, but also thinking about how we should develop as good humans,” she said. “Also, there’s a genuine curiosity and wanting to go be yond the minimum in learning with students here at Bishop’s… it’s really exciting as a teacher to have that.”

Sra. Rogstad’s mission in teaching Spanish lies within the many roles she has created for herself: facilitator, communi ty builder, coach, contextualizer, and connector of students, texts, and people. “My primary goal as an educator is to create a space where all students feel seen, re spected, and valued in our com munity,” she said. In every class, she puts care into incorporating a lot of informal times where casu al conversation in Spanish takes place. She explains, “We can’t talk

about big issues if we don’t know each other… in talking to each other and creating that commu nity, it also makes those bigger is sues more relevant because we can connect them to ourselves.”

Students definitely see and appreciate the class commu nity Sra. Rogstad has carefully built. “One thing I really appre ciate about her classes is the wel coming environment,” Sophia Hayden (‘25) noted. “Every time we meet, we take a moment to talk with each other as a class, dis cussing weekends, homework, or other activities in our day.” Bianca Zorilla (‘23) added, “I personally feel like my speaking has already improved in the past few weeks!

Sra. Rogstad is a very engaging teacher and welcomes different viewpoints during our discus sions.”

As a student of hers in Spanish Four Honors, I have felt that because of these steps she has taken within the classroom, I real ly connected with her as a person, not just a teacher. Besides her life as an educator, she is also an art ist and avid explorer of nature. “I didn’t study art in college, but it’s always been a passion of mine,” she continued, describing the art courses she takes outside of school in weaving, painting, and pottery. “I grew up in a really rural space where my grandparents even had a campground, so camping has

always been a huge part of what’s important to me,” she said, “Also hiking and backpacking… I real ly like long walks, like exploring the Camino de Santiago and trails in Vermont, and hope to explore the John Muir Trail in California sometime in the next summers.”

Interested in what she thinks of our campus community after these first weeks of school, I asked Sra. Rogstad about what she loved most about Bishop’s so far. She started off by reiterating her appreciation for the positivi ty of the student body and added, “Also, definitely, my colleagues… the people in my department are super friendly and caring. Even when things are difficult in the

first couple of weeks, they’re al ways there to support me!”

Though she has been pretty busy so far, she still has many things to look forward to in her Bishop’s experience—some of such things involve going to sports games, musical events, and theater pro ductions. “It’s always fun to see students shine in a different way than just in their classes… I’m really looking forward to seeing that!”

So, next time, when you find yourself backpacking down the Upper Scripps halls and pass ing the Spanish classrooms, peek your head in her office—room 222—and say hi. Bienvenido, Sra. Rogstad.

“We can’t talk

“We can’t talk about big issues if we don’t know each other.”

Photo courtesy of The Bishop’s School

– Spanish Teacher Sra. Leah Rogstad

Mr. Milling is a name that most high school students have only seen at the bottom of Concep tual Physics Enriched (CPE) worksheets. Physics teacher Ms. Ching described the curiosity of her former students, laugh ing. “The kids were like, ‘This problem is so crazy! Like, what is this? Who is this Milling?! Who is this Milling?!’”

This “Milling” is a new Bishop’s Physics teacher, who actually isn’t new to the school at all! In fact, he was a teacher at Bishop’s for eleven years before leav ing to Morocco to teach internationally. When looking at science, he strongly be lieves in a transformative learning expe rience with hands-on labs and in-person experiences.

During his break, Physics teacher Mr. Marcus Milling taught at many interesting and unique places, such

comes back at you with an interesting spin. You can volley it back and forth.” Mr. Milling said, as he leaned back in his chair.

Of course, Bishop’s has changed a lot over the course of six years. Mr. Milling said, “I would say there’s lots of different dimensions, but one dimension you can think of in a school is how cor porate it is versus how organic it is. And so, Bishop’s was extremely organic back then.” Mr. Milling smiled fondly. “There were a lot of really interesting organic things going on. People were being very creative.”

While Mr. Milling agrees that having similarities between teaching styles is important, and is glad that the school has moved a little bit more to the corporate side, he expressed that teach ers are still individuals with creativity,

interest, and is one factor in why more students want to pursue advanced sci ence courses.” Ms. Ching pursed her lips thoughtfully, and said, “I think he really believes in students’ ability to do stuff. I think that he expects his students to be able to think, and he sets his class up that way.”

Mr. Milling expressed his thoughts about most other schools’ sci ence curricula. “There’s a lot of science students out there who do little to no experiments. They sit and they listen and they get lectures,” he said. In fact, Mr. Milling brought in most of the lab equip ment used by freshmen today, back when the Science Center was first being built in 2008. His passion for physics poured into his worksheets, inscribed in the cur riculum that he built.

“He seems very energetic. You

as the Archer’s School for Girls in Los Angeles, and two international schools, one in Ghana and one in Morocco. How ever, things at Bishop’s seem to have a special shine to them, he reflected. “It’s very much like a very fun game of tennis with the students that are here, because you kinda volley something over and it

and hopes to retain this mindset.

Mr. Milling has left a lasting imprint on our science curriculum and many teachers agree. Dean of Faculty

Mr. Ben Heldt shared that more students wanted a deeper science experience. “The ninth grade curriculum that Mr. Milling designed invites students’ curiosity and

can hear the passion in his voice,” Abra ham “Abie” Nahl (‘26), a current student of Mr. Milling, said. Mr. Milling’s drive for organic learning to root itself deep into the heart of Bishop’s created an ex perience of a lifetime for many students.

He explained that experiments are how students learn what science is.

Mr. Milling returns to Bishop’s

Lisa Pan

“In science, you want to actually be acting like a scientist. And [the stu dents] are the scientists.” He smiled proudly, looking around his class room, and said, “Learn how to learn, and just understand the way the physical world operates.”

Our passions shape how we view the world, and Mr. Milling is a shining example of that. “When you understand astrophysics, how the universe developed, where it’s go ing, how large the universe is… that can’t help but change your overall perspective on where humanity fits,” Mr. Milling said.

This year, Mr. Milling is looking forward to experimenting with new labs and getting to know the students. “It is like starting over, but if you think about it, every year is like that for a teacher. Every year you’re always meeting and working with new people,” he said. “Coming back here and getting established again, it’s like, what’s new that I can create?”

People all around campus are overjoyed to see Mr. Milling back in action. “I’m happy he’s back. He explains concepts really well,” Tyler Chang (‘26) said, even though he has only known Mr. Milling for four weeks. “I’m glad he’s back! I re ally enjoy the day to day interaction,” Physics teacher Mr. Adam Weiner said, grinning. The prospect of a new year bloomed in Ms. Ching’s voice as she said, “We, as a school, are very lucky that someone like [Mr. Mill ing] would choose to come back.”

Many students know Mr. Milling from seeing his name on the bottom of the Conceptual Physics Enriched worksheets. After a six-year break, which he took to teach international schools in Ghana and Morocco, he has returned to Bishop’s.

Photo courtesy of Mr. Milling

A VOICE IN OUR HEARTS

was the combination of hardworking, striv[ing] for excellence, and deeply car ing,” noted Head of School Mr. Ron Kim. “She believed strongly that what we put out should reflect who we are.” The Bishop’s community lost a mother, wife, friend, and colleague on August 7. Communications and Marketing Di rector Ms. Keri Peckham passed after a tough battle with cancer but the legacy she leaves behind is one of love, devo tion, and thoughtfulness.

“I miss her personally… her laughs and smiles,” Assistant Head of

School Mr. Michael Beamer said. Not only did Mr. Beamer remember Ms. Peckham as a talented colleague and friend, but he also reflected his appre ciation for her selflessness and commit ment to her job.

On campus, Ms. Peckham led the school in all aspects of internal and external communication. She edits the drafts of every all-school address es, from Head of School messages, to Knights News, to the Locker Room. “I still think about her a lot when I’m writ ing,” said Mr. Kim. “I think about what she would think, what she would say, and think about how we can honor her.…”

Even when Ms. Peckham com municated with her colleagues about her sickness, she remained selflessly dedicated to her work and being the light in the room. “She was vibrant; she came to work, and she worked out,” Ms. Shea noted. “What Keri really sought was normalcy,” Mr. Beamer added, in recollection. “How she can continue to deliver at work, for Bishop’s, in a way that honors her work, allows her to leave on her own terms, and prepare this community and her family.”

Family time was important to Ms. Peckham. Pictured is her with her husband, Clay Peckham.

In managing so cial media and the School’s brand, Ms. Peckham not only thought about how best to get certain information out, but also focused on connecting with the people of our community — like parents and faculty. When trage dy struck, Mr. Kim remembers Ms. Peckham stayed up all night craft ing a clear, com forting message to the community, even while she was fighting the cancer. He remembers this as “a perfect in capsulation of her dedication for this place, her love and care.”

Her close confidant, Campus Scheduler and Events Coordinator Ms. Kanda Maynard described Ms. Peck ham as a ray of sunshine.. “She made everyone feel special,” said Ms. May nard. “You could tell her your favorite flower was a sunflower and she would remember it.” Regardless of who you were, Ms. Peckham had a way with words that makes you feel like every thing was okay.

Though Ms. Peckham built many meaningful relationships with people on campus, her most important bonds were with her children—Avery (‘28) and Clay (‘26). “She was a rock star,” said Clay. “She was the leader of the household, a powerful woman figure that respected everyone… she taught me everything I know.” Avery added, “She loved us more than anything… there isn’t a way to explain her since she was too many things to even say.” Avery and Clay both knew that they were their mom’s best friend.

Ms. Peckham had a great love for life and the people she had in her life. “She was kind and smart… she was so happy to be around her friends and family,” Avery continued, “She was always excited for big moments in me and my brother’s lives.” In explaining her mom’s “happy hands” that she

“She was perfect,” Avery explained. “In my eyes, she was perfect.”

“She was perfect,” Avery explained. “In my eyes, she was perfect.”

“She

Remembering

Peckham

Leila Feldman

did when she was proud of her chil dren, Avery paralleled her palms and clapped her hands together without noise.

Her children felt most com fortable when they were around their mom and would regularly go and hang out in her office throughout the day. Mr. Kim, who worked down the hall from her, said,“I always appre ciated seeing one of both of her kids sprawled on the couch.” To Avery, her mom’s office was “a place to relax during the day—she always left her door open.”

Avery and Clay also fully un derstood that they were their mom’s priority. “One hundred percent,” said Avery, w. Without missing a beat. H, her brother added to that by saying

she would “pick us over any thing.” In Ms. Maynard’s eyes, the relationship between Ms. Peckham and her children was truly something special. “Her kids came first… She was so dedicated to her kids.” And yet, “she allowed them to be their own people, she never forced her own beliefs on her kids and she supported them.”

Ms. Peckham loved and cared for her kids so deeply, so fully, so fondly in a way that only she could. She understood that showing her children love was the most im portant thing. “She and I had this thing where we would mouth ‘I love you’ and ‘I love you too’ back and forth to each other regardless of where we were.” She paused,. “I don’t think I’ll ever find someone else like her for the rest of my life.” Clay’s re lationship with his mom was also very loving and open. Clay said that he “didn’t ever try to hide

One way her family liked to spend quality time together was going to Padres games. Above: Ms. Peckham with her husband and two kids, Avery (‘28) and Clay Peckham (26).

“She brought light to everybody’s day — if I was feeling sad she would make me feel happy,” said Avery.

anything from her. She told me when she was scared and I told her when I was scared.”

“She was perfect,” Avery ex plained. “In my eyes, she was perfect. She loved to [do things] with me and I loved going with her.” Clay agreed, saying, “She loved to be around us no matter what, she would jump at any opportunity.” Above all else, Avery said, “She was such an amazing per son and brought light to everybody’s day — if I was feeling sad she would make me feel happy. So many people really cared about her and really miss her and love her so much.”

Photos courtesy of Clay Peckham (‘26)

xoxo,

xoxo, dc

Wordscannot begin to encapsulate all that de fines Ms. Donna Cory, Bishops’ beloved dance teacher who passed away on September 26, 2022. She was so much more than a dance teacher: she was a mentor, a friend, and a second mother to all of her students. In her 20 years of teaching dance at Bishop’s, Ms. Cory touched the hearts of so many young artists and changed students’ lives for the better.

As a second-year member of the Performing Dance Group (PDG) and student of Ms. Cory’s since Dance 8 in eighth grade, there are infinite words and clauses that I could use to try to express how much our community loved her. Instead, I’m going to share a few of my own favorite memories that I feel capture who she was as a teacher and person, to give those who never got

a chance to work closely with her a window into what it was like.

Ms. Cory liked to talk. A lot. I’m sure her long spiels were one reason many of the energetic eighth grade boys who went through her PE rotation dreaded the class, aside from the main concern of looking stupid doing Ms. Cory’s challenging dance moves in front of their friends. But she really thought so deeply about everything, always wanting to ex press her values fully and thoroughly to her students. And she wanted no less than the same in return. “Talk to me,” she would say after we received any new information, sitting back in her seat and sometimes repeating it over and over until someone spoke up.

When she talked, she had a way of throwing in whimsical phras es that made you have to double back and reconsider what she really meant. In one PDG class in the 2021-2022 school year, she spoke about applying corrections, and how she could tell you infinite details to fix here and there, but at the end of the day, you under stand your body best. You are the only one who knows how to take those directions and apply them to yourself. She used Elise Watson (‘22) as an example, saying that she could tell Elise what to do all day long, but only Elise knows what exactly to do with that in formation, because “she is actually inside of that canister.” This short phrase really stuck with me, rep resenting how Ms. Cory saw the true inner potential in each one of

In any spare moment, Ms. Cory could be found handmaking intricate costumes and set pieces, such as this turtle shell for “Blue,” decorated with bottle caps and other recycled plastic waste.

us. She connected to us on so much deeper of a level than just the move ment and instructions – as my class mate Sanskar Lohchab (‘24) agreed, she could somehow always look at you and know exactly what you were thinking.

On another note, Ms. Cory was just so funny. Ask any previ ous student of hers, and they would agree – she was hilarious. From up in the dance studio above the gym, if there’s no music being played, you can hear everything going on out side, including the conversations of students walking by the flagpoles in front of the gym. In one class, we heard a group of students—probably middle schoolers—singing a loud and unfortunate rendition of “happy birthday” to another student. We all listened in amusement for a second, and Ms. Cory said, “They’re singing that song in the key of Q.” In so many moments like these, Ms. Cory had the entire room dying of laughter.

Ms. Cory was a beloved dance teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend in the Bishop’s community.

courtesy of @thebishopsschool

Isadora Blatt

Over time, I began to no tice Ms. Cory’s desire to develop students that were not only good dancers but good people all around. For example, later in the evening oweekday, I was walking around campus looking for any mainte nance member who might be able to unlock the orchestra room, since I’d forgotten to take home my vio lin that day. There was Ms. Cory, sitting at a table on the terrace right outside the dance room. This wasn’t surprising; she often stayed on cam pus for all hours making costumes and set pieces or otherwise prepar ing for an upcoming show. I said hi to her, then noticed two members of the Bishop’s maintenance crew nearby, so I ran over to them and explained my situation, and they kindly agreed to unlock the room for me.

Once I got back, relieved and violin in hand, I passed by Ms. Cory again, and she pulled me aside. What I had done was incon siderate, she told me, and she ex pected better from me. The main tenance staff had been there since early in the morning, and it was not my place to interrupt them from wrapping up the end of their long day just because of my own mistake of leaving something at school. In stead, I should have directly called the Bishop’s security line. She told me to do better next time. I was shocked by how much Ms. Cory’s disappointment im pacted me, even in a context outside of the dance studio.

I had hardly considered the view point of the two staff members, and Ms. Cory made me realize how my actions reflected what type of per son I was, and how I needed to im prove on that in the future.

In the studio, Ms. Cory had a unique, beautiful view of what the high school dance experi ence should be. I was lucky enough to hear her explain this view first hand–I wish I had written down her exact wording. She expressed that her goal was to create a space for young artists to discover their craft no matter their background. Other dance companies and teams accepted people primarily based on physical competence: technique, flexibility, skill level, etc. To Ms. Cory, it was never about how many pirouettes you could do or how high you could grand jeté (leap). Instead, in auditions, she looked for creativity, collaboration, and a willingness to take risks. She looked for artists. It didn’t matter whether you’d been in ballet classes since the day you could walk, grew up tap dancing competitively, or had only taken a few hip hop classes here and there. If anything, she embraced this diver sity. As she described that day in class, since

her first day at Bishop’s, she worked hard to shape PDG into the wel coming space that it is today, where students with a genuine passion in honing their craft can all come together as a team and work in a place of mutual growth.

The rich memories that we all cherish with Ms. Cory only make us grieve the future experi ences that we will never get with her. However, one thing Ms. Cory said time and time again was that no matter what, she wanted us to “get the education that we came for.” As we continue to heal from this loss, she would want us to take care of ourselves first, and keep go ing. For this reason, it is the per forming arts department’s respon sibility to keep making art in her honor. As a creative community, we will carry Ms. Cory’s legacy of inclusion and inspira tion with us always.

Ms. Cory was known to sign all of her emails “xoxo, dc.” PDG members wrote journal entries to her every Friday, and she would include the iconic signature in her responses as well.

of Isadora

“She was the kind of woman who you knew would never leave you.

"Knowing Donna was one of the great privileges of my life. She was a visionary, an advocate, a creative, a friend. I miss her terribly." – English and Dance Teacher Ms. Crescence Birder (‘07)

Ms. Cory at Ms. Birder’s senior prom in 2007

“Ms. Cory’s never ending encouragement to step out of my comfort zone is the reason why I am the artist I am today.” –Michelle Lai (‘22) (right)

Amea Wadsworth (‘19)

Ms. Cory embracing Charlotte Mack (‘19) after presenting her with the Marlene Teitelman Dance Award

Her presence would never stop impacting you––Haha Shi (‘22) in your art, in your work, in your whole life.”

Photos courtesy of Studio M, Gavin Zau, Ms. Birder, Char lotte Mack (‘18), Mr. Samale, and Delilah Delgado (‘21)

“Ms. Cory, my continuous love of dance is entirely credited to you. You were so much more than just a dance teacher to me. I will forever miss your creativity and guidance.”

“It’s hard to believe that the woman to whom I owe my creative drive is gone. She is so deeply embedded into my Bishop’s experience, and I hope that the next generations of PDG are able to carry on her legacy and dance in honor of her.” I hope that she will continue to inspire all of us. Thank you, Donna.”

“To me, Donna was two things. She was a wonderful friend, someone you always felt comfortable around and knew was there for you. Donna was also an artist who saw beauty in all things and had the gift of helping others share and celebrate their beauty. “ – Science Teacher Mr. Mike Samale

Below: Mr. Samale photographing Robert Devoe (‘22) for “Blue”

“Working with Ms. Cory was never work, it was a pleasure.

Pictured: Ms. Birder’s piece, “Grief is just Love in a Heavy Coat,” in last year’s PDG Spring Dance Concert–Tech Director Mr. Kyle Melton

“Ms. Cory was one of the most important people in my life – she was like that for everyone. She was everyone’s inspiration, encouragement, and place to go to talk about art (and end up talking about life—or are they the same? She’d make you wonder). What a life to live, to be that place for so many people.”

–Delilah Delgado (‘21)

Below: Delilah

–Sharisa You (‘22) (below)

–Elise Watson (‘22) (right)

Aye, Aye, Captain! Fall Season Ahead!

Fall sports captains share their hopes, reflections, and favorite parts of playing

Fallrepresents the start of many things: pumpkin spice at Starbucks, hoodie weather, an obscene amount of new stress. For fall sport athletes, it’s the start of their season, reuniting with and making new friends, wins and losses, new and old traditions, and of course, compe tition.

Many Bishop’s athletes, like Co-Captains Steven Yin (‘24) (Cross Country) and Kate Peterson (‘23) (Field Hockey), started their sports in freshman year. For them, their sport brought new opportunities. Kate said that she had to push herself to “play with some really good girls” who encouraged her to be a better field hockey player. Steven said that his team has provided him comfort. “We are all super supportive of each other and we cheer up our teammates after a race. We always tell [each other] good job regard less of the time [a teammate ran],” he explained.

For others like Co-Captains Grace Sun (‘23), Sophia “Sopo” Guan (‘24) and Emma Myer (‘24) who have all played individ ual sports since they were very young, Bishop’s offered them a rare opportunity to play on a team. Grace, who plays golf, was introduced to “the concept of team, and then [she]understood the spirit of the team.” Emma, who plays tennis, said that although tennis is so “individual, I recently tried to focus on being a better captain and team player, working together as a community instead of individual matches.”

When you spend every day af ter school with the same people, it makes sense that you would all become close friends. For Grace and Sopo, their golf team serves as a place where a lot of their friends are. Sopo said, “you belong on a team, because you all have the same goal” and as a result, they all become “much closer.” Grace agreed, saying, “something that’s really special [about golf is that you] get to know someone, who they really are,” and the sport has made her “talk to people

[she] otherwise wouldn’t have talked with.”

The golf team isn’t an anomaly. The Girls’ Field Hockey team has incred ible camaraderie. Kate said that “being with a different group of girls is nice and refreshing — getting to laugh with new people and cultivate new friends” brings her joy. Her Co-Captain Novalyne Petre kis (‘23) said, “the sport brings an insane amount of euphoria and I associate my best friends with this sport.” Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Co-Captain Sydney Bold (‘23) said, “every girl on the team is rooting for each other’s success, and everybody brings the energy every day.” Her Co-Captain Au drey An (‘23) added on, saying they “get close because [they] are all going through the same struggles,” school, stress, and the pressure to win, amongst others. At that, both Sydney and Audrey laughed. Co-Captain of the Boys’ football team

Hewitt Watkins (‘23) said that they “are family… I wouldn’t trade our time on the field for anything.”

As teams become closer, they es tablish new traditions, from team songs to snacks to secret Instagrams. For the Girls’ Volleyball Team, their “Little Sally Walk er” chant is a must-do before each game: hyping up each other and their crowd, or their “dig pink day” which honors breast cancer, according to Audrey. For the ten nis team, wheat thins with cream cheese are a must-have before every match. “My personal favorite type is strawberry cream cheese,” Emma laughed. And for the Girls’ Golf Team, their Instagram account (@ brummiegolf), is where they record food

Leila Feldman

reviews of their team snack on the rides to their matches. Each team has a specific thing that brings them together.

Beyond just the people, the sport itself brings most athletes a lot of joy. For Emma, it helps her “get her mind off what ever [she] is worried about” and lets her channel her focus to something unrelated to academics. For Audrey, volleyball is her “escape, it lets [her] turn off [her] brain, let out all [her] frustration in exercise.” Steven also experiences similar emotions while running. He said “running helps me release energy, watching the scenery around me and it brings me a piece of mind. [I often] run before homework to focus [or] clear [my] mind.” Co-Captain of the football team Jaden Moore (‘23) said, “[football] a great distraction, everything is on that sport and what you are doing. Football is a great outlet, it helps me get through high school.” His Co-Captian William Fier ro (‘23) added on, saying “football cancels out the noise and stress through out the day, also it’s just be ing around all my friends.” He continued, “I love these kids like my brothers.”

Sopo said that the Bish op’s Community has “made me a more extroverted and talkative person. I’ve found my own sense of humor and energy, and I appre ciate the teachers that have personal con nections. Especially with advisors, they do more than just their job.” Co-Captain of the Varsity Girls’ Field Hockey Team Erika Pfister (‘23) has had to learn to “become a role model. I have also learned work ethic and time management because Bishop’s is so rigorous, I’ve learned how to parse out my time for each class.”

Bishop’s sports offer every stu dent a place regardless of previous experi ence and can introduce you to a whole new set of peers that you would have otherwise had no contact with. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your new best friend?

“We are all super supportive of each other and we cheer up our team mates after a race. We always tell [each other] good job regardless of the time [a teammate ran].”

– Steven Yin (‘24)

Co-Captain Emma Myer (‘23) says that although tennis is so individual, she has “recently tried to focus on being a better cap tain and team player, working together as a community instead of individual matches.”

On August 18th, Jaden Moore (‘23) and the Boys’ Varisty Football team faced La Jolla High in their anual “Battle for Pearl Street.” This year, they won in a 28-7 battle.

On August 29th, Erika Pfister (‘23) and the Girls’ Varisty Field Hockey team faced He lix Charter High School and won in a 9-0 game.

Photo courtesy of Emma Myer (‘23) Photo courtesy of Jaden Moore (‘23) Photo courtesy of Erika Pfister (‘23)

A MOTHER’S CHOICE: SERENA WILLIAMS STEPS OFF THE COURT

On Monday, August 29, 2022, with memories, music, and thousands of fans waiting in anticipation, Serena Williams played her first tennis match of what could be her last ever United States Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York. In 1997, the year the sta dium opened, Venus Williams made her first appearance in a United States Open Final. And just two years later, her younger sister and commonly re ferred to as the greatest tennis player of all time (GOAT), Serena Williams, won her first grand slam title at the age of 17.

Williams, now 41, wants to focus on growing her family and after 27 years of playing professionally, has decided to step away from the court. Like many other women around the world, female athletes have to take time off to care for their children and their pay is often reduced, so eventu ally, unlike male athletes, they have to make a decision between prioritizing raising their family or prioritizing their career advancement. Her retire ment is the result of this decision be tween focuses; Serena Williams made a sacrifice, and that sacrifice was retir ing from tennis and the community she influenced significantly.

In a maternity rights issue by The Boar, Serena Williams compared herself to Roger Federer, one of the best male tennis players in the world, by saying, “having a baby on the ten

nis tour is the most rebellious thing I could ever do” and that “It’s so unfair. [Federer] produced four babies and barely missed a tournament.”

Despite being the top ranked female tennis player for many years, on August 9, 2022 after 23 grand slam titles, Serena Williams announced her retirement from tennis in a Vogue article she wrote herself. She plans to spend more time growing and building her family and companies: Serena, a clothing brand; Serena Wil liams Jewelry; and Serena Ventures, a company that raises money to invest in new businesses. When Serena an nounced her retirement to her fami ly, she told Time Magazine that her five year old daughter, Olympia, was the most excited. According to Time Magazine’s profile, Olympia has al ways wished to “be an older sister.”

As depicted in the award winning 2021 film King Richard — a film walking through the hardships of the Williams family and their road to becoming professional tennis stars — Serena Williams and her family grew up in Compton, California. They of ten struggled to find nice, safe courts to play on. But, their pure drive for the sport opened many opportunities for their future. After several years of training with only their parents, they started taking lessons from Rick Mac ci, who described Serena and Venus in the Times Article, as players with “a rage, a burning desire that I’ve never

seen in two little girls…And I haven’t seen to this day.”

For almost two years, the Williams sisters stayed out of playing junior tournaments and King Richard implied that Richard Williams did not want his daughters to “burn out” early into their pro careers. Additionally, in an interview with Trans Sport Tennis, Richard says he didn’t want to expose his daughters to the “ugliness of junior tennis” either. However, this didn’t stop Serena. At just 14, on October 28, 1995, she made her professional debut at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City. Four years later, on September 11, 1999, she won her first grand slam title. 25 years later, and 23 grand slam titles later, she played what might be her last match ever on September 2, 2022.

Because Williams has a young family, she finds it hard to fo

In one of her last professional games, Serena Williams won her first two rounds of the US Open in August 2022.

Camille Greenlee

Serena Williams retires after 23 Grand Slam titles

Photos courtesy of @serenawilliams on Instagram

In the series of photos, Serena WIlliams faces nervous beginnings, feel ings of accomplishment, and struggle in the 2021 Australian Open. In the end, she loses to the 3rd ranked at the time, Naomi Osaka in the semifinals.

not take off ex tended periods of time away from games and physical activ ity while their families are growing. How ever, for wom en, months and months are ded icated to carry ing and raising a newborn. When reflecting on her experience, Ser ena says in Vogue,“If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.”

was like, ‘You’ve got to take it easy, 100° heat, yadda, yadda, yadda,’ Serena said, ‘I got this.’ As long as she was confident, I was confident.”

cus on both tennis and home life. With a five year-old, “tennis is a sacrifice,” as she wrote in Vogue, especially when it comes to deciding which to focus on. In the same article she adds that she doesn’t want to partially focus on tennis nor her family — both deserve her full attention.

This isn’t often the case for male athletes pursuing professional sports careers.

When male athletes play pro fessional sports, it’s a given that they will

For many women in general, they lose their stable income when taking time off from their work to have and raise children. With this being said, many women, especially female athletes, wait until the final month to take maternity leave and have their baby. In Serena’s case, she still played in the major tournaments leading up to the final months of her pregnancy. At seven months pregnant, in 2017, Serena Williams won the Australian open against her sister, Venus Williams. Her husband, Alexis Ohanian, described the stressful days up to the birth in the Times Maga zine by saying, “Even though the doctor

Serena’s experience with moth erhood as a professional athlete has echoes in other arenas. Athletic Director Coach Paula Conway shared an experi ence she had with a previous employer. At the time, her kids were very young so when an administrator expressed it was going to be tough for her to raise her kids and focus on the job she said, “‘Well that doesn’t really matter. In my mind I know my kids are young and they need me but it’s a professional goal and they’ll learn to adapt and adjust.” Coach Conway’s story was relates to Williams’ in many ways, but even the GOAT has to decide what she needs to fully focus on. Her work inspired many female athletes and women in sports to take on the labor it takes to mul titask as a mother and athlete, as shown by Coach Conway today.

For female athletes and ten nis players in general, Serena expressed that “I’d like to think that thanks to me, women athletes can be themselves. They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all.” Despite retiring from ten nis, after 27 years, she has inspired young female tennis players to feel free to ex press themselves with their own identity. Her career lives on and she continues to empower female athletes and all women.

– Serena Williams (Vogue)

“I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst. But please know that I am more grateful for you than I can ever express in words. You have carried me to so many wins and so many trophies. I’m going to miss that version of me, that girl who played tennis. And I’m going to miss you.”

IT’S KNIGHT TIME!

KNIGHT TIME!

What time is it? Knight Time! Who’s house? B-House! Bishop’s, you know, fight Knights, fight! This is the chant that this year’s next Dun geon leaders are fighting to im prove the spirit of Bishop’s ath letics.

With the start of the 2022-23 school year, a new gen eration of Dungeon leaders, se niors Chase Landa, Julia Bona guidi, Jake Molinar, Jameson Vaccaro, Phoebe Paredez, Erin Ellsworth, Alexandra Houk, Novalyne Petreikis, Ryan Ar rowsmith, and Casey Ryan, take the stands and bring in energy to athletic games. Recent purchases, the tunnel and t-shirt launcher, aim to increase spirits.

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the Bishop’s athletic programs. Coach Paula Conway, the Director of Athlet ics, said, “Last year, I was really nervous about sports being can

The School and the Dungeon make new efforts to improve school spirit

Emeraude Westlake

celed, so I feel like having the student body back to a normal school year has really been a lot of fun.”

phasizing the relevance of school spirit in upholding the School’s core value of belonging.

In unison, like a chant at a football game, the Dungeon said there is “not enough” school spirit. Ms. Michelle Shea, Dean of Students, said “It can be a coun terweight to whatever stressors there are in the world,” explain ing that she too would like to see more school spirit at Bishop’s. Phoebe Paradez (‘23) continued, “It’s the thread of our commu nity.” Associated Student Body Council (ASBC) is also focusing on this issue: Serena Zhang (‘24), the ASBC Chief of Staff, said “School spirit is definitely at the center of ASBC’s focus this year.”

„

Coach Conway add ed, “[School spirit adds] a sense of belonging for everyone, that they feel a part of the communi ty whether you are playing that sport or you’re just a fan,” em

Excited for the new generation of Dungeon lead ers, Coach Conway noticed that the group has been more inclu sive in their attendance of home games. She said, “I’ve seen [The Dungeon] at so many different sporting events, not necessari ly [just] football or water polo games. They’ve been out at field hockey and volleyball, so I feel like they’re spreading themselves out a little bit more than what I’ve seen in the past.”

The Dungeon is a group unique to Bishop’s, of ten replaced with a cheerlead ing squad at other high schools. Coach Conway said, “I have been at schools where they’ve had cheerleading teams, and I like how the Dungeon is more of an organic group.” Julia Bonaguidi (‘23) added, “Having a Dungeon

is less formal and you’re cheering for friends.” Casey Ryan (‘23) contin ued, “We connect more with the stu dents. We are the cheerleaders, but like way cooler.”

To heighten the spirits of mem bers of the Bishop’s community, large purchases have been made in the past two years: the Knight’s Tun nel that football players run out of at the start of each home game, and more recently, the T-shirt cannon that launches Bishop’s apparel into the roaring stands. The Dungeon gladly accepted the new gadgets, but admitted that they don’t know what’s in store next: Jameson Vacca ro (‘23) said, “We don’t know…it’s a surprise.”

Coach Conway also ex plained that improving school spirit was a popular request. “Talking to

the students and some of the parents and just some different constituents, they wanted to feel more, have a fun environment,” she remarked.

School spirit also plays a significant role in setting the tone for athletes’ game play. Erin Ellsworth (‘23) said, “[It influences gameplay] a lot. I think that as an athlete, when you have people cheering for you, it just makes you feel better about yourself. You’re more motivated to play well.” Casey Ryan (‘23) added on, “Whenever there’s one fan, I play ten times better.”

School spirit not only brings people together, but it also

helps incorporate Bishop’s as a sig nificant part of a student-athlete or fan’s identity. Jake Molinar (‘23) said, “You have an incentive to win. [You] represent these people, [you] want to make them look good.”

The Dungeon is ready to to support teams throughout the school year and encourage students to do the same: Chase Landa (‘23), this year’s Dungeon leader, said, “[We want to] rally together and support people who work [hard] ev ery single day on that field,” encour aging fans to support the athletes and bring out the best in themselves.

- Casey Ryan (‘23)

Pictured from left-to-right on September 2: Seniors Julia Bonaguidi, Chase Landa, Jake Molinar, Phoebe Paradez, Jameson Vaccaro, Alexandra Houk, Erin Ellsworth, Casey Ryan, Novalyne Petrikis, and Ryan Arrowsmith announce their leadership of the Dungeon to their Instagram followers.

Photo courtesy of Kate Weatherup (‘23)

TAIWAN: DEMOCRACY UNDER FIRE

OnFebruary 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Fol lowing this historical assault, many countries including the Unit ed States rallied to supply Ukraine with aid to help their war effort. With nearly six months passed, the United States may again have to support a war drawing nearer to unfolding in Taiwan. Only this time, more is at stake.

Taiwan is a democratic and prosperous island in the South China Sea roughly 100 miles from the coast of southeast China. Although once part of China, Taiwan became a place of ref uge for the Nationalist Party after they lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949. At first, martial law in Taiwan strictly op pressed the people, and the island was ruled by the Republic of China’s armed forces.

But in 1975, following the death of Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan began to transform into a democrat ic government, and the martial laws loosened. By then, the United States was in the midst of the Cold War, in which they competed against the Soviet Union to spread their political and eco nomic ideas to young nations vulnera ble to foreign manipulation. And thus, the United States immediately backed Taiwan, because they now hold demo cratic and capitalist ideas.

Since then, Taiwan has pros pered in trade—for example, they are

Ben Brown

currently supplying the world with 65% of the crucial semiconductor market. Semiconductors transmit energy in or der to power many electric items, from computers to cars. But the controversy of whether Taiwan is its own, indepen dent country is yet to be solved. Currently, only 13 countries, all developing countries, recognize Tai wan as an independent nation, accord ing to News Week. The United States does not recognize Taiwan as an inde pendent country, because, as Taiwanese student Ayden Chang (‘23) explained, “in order for countries to do business with China, they mustn’t acknowledge Taiwan as a sovereign nation.” In order to trade with Taiwan, the United States follows a foreign policy known as stra tegic ambiguity in Taiwan. This simply means that the United States treats Tai wan as a sovereign nation without rec ognizing it as a sovereign nation. This way, they reap the economic benefits from both China and Taiwan. However, the United States may soon have to decide if they will directly intervene in Taiwan. Accord ing to the British Broadcasting Cor poration (BBC), China’s President Xi Jinping has said “reunification” with Taiwan “must be fulfilled.” Gary Hu (‘25), who lived in China most of his life, explained that the Chinese gov ernment “believes that Taiwan is part of the mainland, and is willing to do all

means necessary to make this happen.”

In the midst of this histor ical, political, and economic tension, the United States finds itself at a cross roads: should they intervene in this conflict or not?

On one hand, China and the U.S. are closely connected in trade, and cannot simply proclaim each oth er as enemies – as has been done with Russia. But then there’s Taiwan: an eco nomically valuable democracy that the United States has already backed for decades.

“There really is only one choice we have here,” History and Eco nomics Teacher John Nagler explained, “it is in America’s best interests to back Taiwan.” Taiwan’s economic and po litical value is too crucial to be lost to China. Mr. Nagler said that “in the long run, it’s in America’s interest to protect like-minded governments.” This is not only because of the semiconductor trade but also because of the “promo tion of democracy,” as Mr. Nagler puts it.

However, even if the United States must side with Taiwan, how can they do this in a smart manner that won’t escalate tensions?

Well, entering the conflict too early will risk escalating already high tensions. For example, it was October of 2021 when Chinese President Xi Jin ping announced his plan to bring about

As tensions between Chinese and Taiwanese affairs rise, what are the United States’ next steps?DEMOCRACY UNDER FIRE

TAIWAN:

“Taiwan’s democratic system, in defiance to China, is something cool and worth defending.”

– Annalise Chang (‘23)

democratic system, in defiance to China, is something cool and worth defending.”

a “reunification” with Taiwan. Howev er, since then, no extreme action has been taken by China. That is, not until Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi vis ited Taiwan on August 2, 2022. During her visit, her focus was on reiterating the United States’ support for a dem ocratic and independent Taiwan. Tai wanese student Annalise Chang (‘23) explained that “It was a very strong sig nal of U.S. support.” Days following her visit, according to BBC, China held its biggest-ever show of military force in the air and seas around Taiwan, along with calling Nancy Pelosi’s actions “ex tremely dangerous.”

This depicts something cru cial—the United States’ intervention in Taiwan will have a huge effect on the way this conflict plays out. And if the mere presence of Nancy Pelosi meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen sparked a historic military action by China, imagine the escalation that will happen if the United States intervenes further. The United States must be care ful in what they do next.

If the United States reacts too quickly to the situation, it could only worsen the already tense situa tion. Gary explained, “America doesn’t need to get involved until it reaches a breaking point.” With this being said, the United States should not inter vene in Taiwan unless a direct conflict commenced; before then it would only worsen the situation. Ayden agrees that “America will not intervene unless war actually breaks out. I don’t see that hap pening. It’s not a smart play on their part to do that.”

However, if war is to come, the United States would need to inter vene. According to The Military Bal ance 2022, China outnumbers Taiwan in all categories of armed forces, most notably having 2,035,000 active troops compared to Taiwan’s 169,000 troops. Mr. Nagler explains the seriousness of an invasion: “If China launches an as sault, it’s going to be a full war.” Also, according to BBC, Taiwan could only slow down a Chinese invasion, but not win a direct conflict. Ayden reiterat

ed that “if war actually breaks out, there’s nothing the Taiwanese people can do.”

Taiwan cannot pro tect itself in a war with China. But they are too economically valuable to lose. So in the case that war starts, the United States would have to change its policy to direct involvement, in order to protect in ternational trade and promote global democracy. Annalise explained that the United States would enter the war because they are a country that likes to protect democracies” and “Taiwan is a beacon of democracy in the Pacific.”

So perhaps both Mr. Nagler and Annalise put it best when they simply said this conflict was “compli cated.” The United States cannot inter vene too early because it would escalate a tense situation, but must be ready to intervene in the case of war so they can protect an economically and politically valuable island that is unable to protect itself. Pretty complicated, indeed.

more Chinese active armed forces than Taiwanese active armed forces.

more Chinese active armed forces than Taiwanese active armed forces.

According to The Military Balance 2022 (via BBC), there are

Following Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit with Taiwanese President Tsai, China held its biggest-ever show of military force in the air and seas around Taiwan. This included firing several waves of missiles over the Taiwan Strait, which hit targets in the waters encircling Taiwan.

Photo courtesy of CNBC

FOOD FOR THOUGHT...FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

Foodis so much more than just fuel for your body; it’s an unspoken language. A way of wrapping your fami ly and friends in love. A way of bringing your children and later grandchildren into your child hood memories. A way of keep ing your culture alive.

The United States is a global melting pot of people, traditions, and cultures. And with them, comes a delicious variety of international foods. However, international dishes often shift in America to appeal to the average American. The popularity of hard shell tacos over traditional corn tortillas is an example of “Americaniza tion.” But through this inevita ble process, are we broadening cuisines or simply losing cultur

al connections?

The answer is more complex than it may seem. A majority of this confusion rises from the discrepancies in what an authentic dish in America actually means. Truman State University sociologist Dr. Ste phen Christ spent two years researching this question. After interviewing staff at 54 Mexican restaurants across the country, Dr. Christ came to a conclu sion. “A restaurant is only as au thentic as profits will allow,” he shared in a Bloomberg article summarizing his study.

Sophia Ling, a writer from The Emory Wheel added, “authenticity in food is about hominess.” It’s about what a dish feels like. These discrepan cies are what make it difficult to

determine if Americanized cui sine is a good thing.

Over the years, various international cuisines have un dergone vast changes in Amer ica, but not by the same degree. French cuisine in America has stayed more or less consistent, according to Ava Bradley (‘24), a French-American. Because France is a European country, she believes that people see the nation’s cuisine as already pres tigious. In a New Yorker arti cle, Lauren Collins, a reporter specializing in French Culture, explained, “In the American imagination, French cuisine can seem a static entity–the inevita ble and unchanging expression of a culture.”

“What you see in America is the easier version of that food,” Ava continued. Besides the Eiffel Tower, of course, France is well known for its attention to detail in the culinary arts. In the US, corners get cut while making French dishes, Ava noted. The results in the States are signifi cantly different from what a native French person would expect in France.

In a Forbes article, Alex Ledsom, a senior con

No matter the cuisine, students enjoy spending time with each other during the school day over a meal. Juniors (pictured from left to right) Kylie Larson, Bella Gallus, and Lily Gover smile over plates of enchila das and Spanish rice.

Photo courtesy of Sydney Chan (‘24)

tributor with a background in research added, “[But] in its defense, French cuisine can be technically difficult to master and with the proliferation of so many French restaurants, kitch ens don’t have the skills to deliv er.”

On the other hand, there are other cuisines that have been drastically Americanized. One of the most well-known Americanized cuisines is TexMex, a cuisine filled with nachos and burritos, neither of which

for the U-shaped taco shell, in 2011. Glen Bell–a man with Eu ropean heritage, not Hispanic heritage–the founder of Taco Bell, first made the shape popu lar. The shell was mass-produced and took the nation by storm.

But why were these dishes Americanized in the first place? Alex Gomez (‘23) said that it’s likely because “Amer icans like to put things they’re used to on unfamiliar dishes.”

Jackie Simone, a writer for Buzz saw Magazine, wrote about how

must surrender part of their own culture.”

Thus, it’s common to see restaurants slowly introduce unfamiliar dishes to consum ers by adding nontraditional aspects. In other words, restau rants will add ingredients that make culturally authentic dishes familiar to the American taste.

“Make it more of a norm to try new foods that we aren’t comfortable with,” Junior Eric Chen recommended. And in the end, it’s about keeping an

are native to traditional Mexican cuisine. The cuisine has since led to the wide-spread popularity of hard-shell tacos.

The San Francisco Weekly spoke with two taco ex perts to find out the origins of the “anglo taco,” another name

Thai cuisine is becoming more popular in the US. Yet Thai chefs have to choose between “retain ing their traditions and becom ing an economically successful American.” She added, “In order to achieve the American Dream of economic prosperity, they

open mind, Marcus Buu-hoan (‘24) added. Try out new restau rants in your area that focus on traditional cooking practices and dishes, but also experiment with fusion restaurants. It’s all good food at the end of the day.

Broadening cuisines or losing traditional connections?

Chan

“Make it more of a norm to try new foods that we aren’t comfortable with.”

– Eric Chen (‘24)

OFONE PIECE

What has led to anime’s enduring popularity?

Hu

AMERICAN CULTURE

AMERICAN CULTURE

AsI grabbed another fistful of mov ie theater popcorn, an intriguing trailer caught my eye. Six years from its initial release, the English version of the anime One Piece: Gold reappeared in select theaters for its anniversary. The re-re lease was a tribute and yet also evidence of Japanese animation becoming more main stream.

Anime like Demon Slayer, which follows the adventures of teenager Tanjiro Kamado, exploded in popularity. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train currently sits at the 25th spot on the highest grossing movies of 2021. Raking in 21 million dollars in the United States on its opening weekend, it earned a total of 504 million dollars world wide. According to Parrot Analytics, the

global demand for anime increased 118% since 2020. These statistics suggest the enor mous pandemic-driven increase in the an ime fanbase worldwide.

Tracing the trend to its origins, lockdowns motivated people to find hob bies and interests within their own homes.

As a result, media binging marathons be came commonplace. Fans frequented their favorite streaming platforms such as Net flix, Hulu, or Crunchyroll, which caters spe cifically to anime.

For example, anime watcher Gab by Gaspar (‘25) got into anime because of her brother. However, “over the pandemic I guess I was just bored all the time so I would binge watch,” she said. Gabby wasn’t the only fan binging anime during that time.

As of 2022, Crunchyroll currently has 120 million users, a significant growth from when the media site had barely 2.6 million users in 2019.

gathered together to collect merchandise and cosplay their favorite anime characters. Booth volunteer for Anime Los Angeles Kesha Nash-Johnson spoke from her own experience working in the anime commu nity. “Anime is now marketed more towards kids and teens than it was for adults because the adults that grew up watching it are now also helping make [their own shows],” she said. She continued by saying that stream ing platforms played a part in allowing “a lot more people to have access to anime that they would usually have to move over to a different avenue to consume.”

Students have taken to different methods of ex pressing their interests in anime. Jazzy Joseph (‘23) (above) started cosplaying her favorite characters and Evan Ben (‘23) makes clean digital art (right).

Co-President of the Japanese Art and Culture Club Ariston Oakes (‘23) started watching anime when he was around five or six years old. Ariston the orized that the rise in popularity resulted from people not going out as much. He said that the “accessibility” of anime was the reason for its popularity. He’s not wrong: according to the data of The Association of Japanese Animations, in 2020, the an ime industry experienced a 3.2% growth. The industry earned 1,239.4 billion dollars overseas, a large differ ence from the 9.7% de crease in Japan’s anime industry. According to AnimeNewsNetwork, with this growth “the overseas market size surpassed the domes tic market for the very first time.”

Fast forward ing to 2022, the Ronin Anime Expo occurred in Los Angeles on Au gust 13. Anime fans

An anime streetwear vendor since 2012, Lupita Lopez noted that she saw an increase in her sales since the pandemic. As a member of the anime community since 2009, she noticed that “more people than [she] would expect” have started attending the anime conventions where she vends. Lupita noted that people are now being more open to expressing their interest in anime.

But it wasn’t always that way. Although anime is currently considered mainstream overseas, anime fan Hen ry Armstrong (‘25) noticed a stereotype around anime fans had existed. “There was a stigma around it where only really weird people watched it for interesting reasons,” Henry noted.

Ariston noticed a shift in this per ception once the pandemic hit. “I think the stigma of watching anime kind of disap peared due to the large increase of people who watched it over the quarantine as well as the fact that it’s grown to be pretty influ ential in other forms of pop culture like mu sic or film making,” Ariston said.

Beyond the lockdown-driven popularity, many other factors came to gether to build anime’s popularity as well. Through social media, anime has become a pop culture trend. Tiktok trends, such as the silhouette trend, utilized certain aspects of anime. With the silhouette trend, people used a red filter and posed with the shadow of their favorite anime characters.

Evidently, Japanese animation ref

of

erences have been more publicized in pop culture also. Celebrities like Kanye West and Billie Eilish are some of the many public figures who have shown their love for the genre. In his music video for “Stronger,” Kanye made several referenc es to Akira, a manga and anime that is set in a dystopian Neo-Tokyo. On Twitter, he said that Akira was “the greatest anima tion achievement in history.” Billie Eilish often wears clothes with anime referenc es, recently fashioning a Jojo’s Bizarre Ad venture shirt.

Anime may have been able to make such a large impression due to its ability to appeal to many demographics. The genre has a diverse array of subgenres including: horror, slice-of-life, romance, and fantasy.

Still, other aspects of anime may also contribute to the growing pop ularity of the genre. Some viewers enjoy the story aspect of anime. Henry started watching anime when he was 10. “Dev ilman Crybaby is probably my favorite anime of all time because of its complex ideas of human nature and sticking to your morality even in absolute chaos,” he said. Ariston added to Henry’s point, stating that he enjoyed Jojo’s Bizarre Ad venture because it “has a pretty solid and cohesive storyline.”

Other viewers enjoy the art as pect of anime. Jasmine “Jazzy” Joseph (‘23) enjoys how animation can make the impossible come to life. “I also love anime because of the gorgeous art; I real ly appreciate how each anime has its own look and style,” she said. Jazzy enjoys the show Demon Slayer because of its “vivid and mysterious colors and creative char acter designs.”

Jazzy isn’t the only one who ex presses her appreciation for the genre in other ways; a whole community around anime exists. Besides watching anime, some fans enjoy cosplaying, creating fan art, or reading manga (Japanese comics). Donning a black overcoat, combat boots, and a sleek purple wig, Jazzy cosplayed as Touka from Tokyo Ghoul for the 2022 Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California on July 1-4. Jazzy described cosplaying as “empowering” because she becomes another character. “It involves fun cre ativity and crafting to make parts of the costumes, and it’s super rewarding when it all comes together in the end,” she said.

Ariston recently started read

ing manga after watching his favorite anime. “My brother and I like to do cos tumes for Comic-Con, some of which have been based on anime characters in recent years,” he said.

Because of its widespread pop ularity, anime is now releasing more frequently on Netflix. Live-action adap tations have also been granted more fund ing. For example, longtime fan-favorites Cowboy Bebop and Kakeguri both have live-action adaptations on Netflix. At An imeJapan 2022, Netflix revealed that they

would be releasing 40 anime titles. And that number will only keep growing. In a licensing deal with Nippon TV, a Japanese television broadcasting company, Netflix picked up 13 titles. The long-awaited One Piece live-action is currently in produc tion and has a budget of 200 million dol lars to bring the adaptation to life. With these large amounts of financial backing and support, the popularity and culture of anime will only continue to grow worldwide.

One Piece and many other anime titles have sustained their popularity from the pandemic in recent years.

THE HERITAGE HEADACHE

Isadora Blatt

bad because of all the feminine and masculine words,” said Spanish 4 Honors student Sienna Garza (‘24). “Sorry.” Having lived in Mexico, those nu anced grammatical details aren’t as hard for her to pick up.

“Ifeel

We can all agree that it’s easier to learn a language that you’re familiar with and have spoken at home your entire life. “I’m most impressed by what students learning a second language from scratch can do,” said Spanish teacher Sra. Julieta Torres-Worstell. And yet, Sra. Torres and other language teach ers continue to teach both heritage speakers (people who have learned a language infor mally at home) and students who are brand new to the language in the same classes. Since the skills that heritage speakers stand to gain

reading and writing. However, “that student is clearly going to be ahead of his or her class mates with respect to listening and speaking,” Mr. Hayden said. These heritage students could be much better grouped together by being separated from those learning the lan guage from scratch.

Eric Chen (‘24) grew up learning to speak Chinese, but chose to take Spanish at school. “Being a native [speaker], you have a completely different skill set,” he said. “For me, my speaking and listening would proba bly be enough to take advanced honors, but I am basically illiterate. Anyone can pick up the language by speaking it at home, but writing takes so much more time since you have to learn all the characters and strokes individu ally.”

Similarly, Sienna takes Spanish to maintain her skills in her native tongue and improve her vocabulary. “Grammatically, I’m not proficient,” she said. “I can speak Spanish fluently, but I don’t practice writing or read ing it at all.” As a new student to Bishop’s this year, Sienna was previously learning Italian, but chose to take Spanish here since Italian was not offered. She was born in Mexico and has lived there at various times, even moving back at one point just to maintain her Span ish. “Now, [the class] helps me have a stable knowledge in Spanish by speaking it more throughout the day and using different words than I use at home,” she explained. “It’s really important to me to be able to connect with the people where I’m from, since all my family still lives over there.”

Heritage classes could foster these vital connec tions to family and cul ture, while also bringing together students of sim ilar backgrounds.“A

from language classes are different than those of students with no prior experience, both groups would benefit from separate classes and curriculum.

At Bishop’s, language classes are geared towards students with no prior expe rience or exposure to a language. “The whole design intent of the program is second lan guage acquisition,” said Chair of the World Languages Department and Latin teacher Mr. Ian Hayden. Second language acquisition refers to learning a new second language after your first language is established.

More focus must be placed on her itage speaker programs that could serve to separate students into better-fitted groups. Continuing to offer heritage speakers the op tion of taking a language they already know is unfair to those without that choice.

While each heritage speaker may have different reasons for maintaining their language, they are all working on the same skills in doing so. As Mr. Hayden laid out, speaking, listening, reading, and writing are the four core modalities of a language. A her itage speaker may be on a more level playing field with non-heritage speakers in respect to

An additional factor that went into Eric’s decision not to take Chinese was look ing at it from a college admissions viewpoint. Colleges can see when a student is from a Chinese background, and they know that it may make the class easier for that student. “A lot of colleges might make that assumption, even if you didn’t know the language,” Eric said.

On the other hand, there are a vari ety of valid reasons for why heritage speakers take the language they already know. Kath erine Ge (‘24) takes Chinese to maintain and improve her conversational skills. “I get to speak to my grandparents more fluently,” she explained. “Before taking these classes at school, I felt like I wasn’t good enough at my home language.”

heritage speaker class could almost function as an affinity group,” said Ms. Hsiao.

There are many reasonable fac tors as to why individuals may want to de velop a deeper understanding of their ha tive language. However, there are a range of grade-motivated factors that go into the deci sion for some students as well.

Ms. Hsiao said that students with previous learning experience are often placed in level 2 or higher, and “as a result, they take the Honors classes with a grade bump sooner than others.” Along with this potential factor, she has also seen a variety of other reasons. “Sometimes the parents tell me, ‘I want my kids to take Chinese because that’s one sub ject I can help them with,’” she said. “And for other people, they say they’re too busy, and

Photo courtesy of Spencer

we need to reexamine the way we include heritage speakers in language classes

“The whole design intent of the program is second language acquisition.”

– Language Department Chair Mr. Ian Hayden

“Being a native [speaker], you have a completely different skillset.”

– Eric Chen (‘24)

they just want to be done with the language requirement. Maybe their passion may not be learning new languages.

Maybe they want to learn more science,” explained Ms. Hsiao. She expressed that in these cases, heritage-speaking dents will take Chi nese to balance out their course load.

“That way, they can pursue other subjects.”

Why should heritage speakers get to balance out their sched ule and take a language class that is easy for them, when the majority of other students don’t have that op tion? How many options do heritage speakers have that are not available to students with no outside language background?

Additionally, enrolling students in a language they know is unfair to students who speak lan guages outside of the four that Bishop’s offers. “It’s an advantage compared to someone like me who speaks Italian, but cannot take it because

ly disagree with this statement, stating that language classes are not graded on a curve.

“There is no maximum number of A’s that we give out,” said Chinese teacher Ms. Christine Hadley. “If you all do well, you all get an A. You’re graded based on competency, and it’s all individual.”

Additionally, many language teach ers expressed the benefits of having heritage speakers in class. “I try to teach kids that this is a community of learning,” said Ms. Hsiao. “Instead of actually studying abroad to learn from and listen to native speakers, you have your friends here right next to you speaking good Chinese.”

Mr. Hayden agreed, explaining, “If

I can have peers in my group who are at dif ferent points than I am, that’s going to add di mensionality to my experience, and give me a range of input that I might not otherwise have if I were in a more uniform environment.” He described that for students, having heritage speakers your age in the room with you can create a clear goal of what you’re aiming for.

Ms. Hsiao added that heritage speakers can be very helpful for the teacher.

“For example, I have two heritage speakers in my Chinese class who are middle schoolers in an upper school class. They can actually help me help the non-heritage speakers, and it’s a much faster class,” she said.

Although there can be certain ad vantages to having heritage speakers in lan guage classes, it all comes down to the equity that students get in choosing their role in these classes. If the curriculum is designed for second language acquisition, why should only certain students get the choice to take on the role of an additional educator in the class?

riod of their life. In these cases, the student did not make a conscious effort to learn the language with the goal of being in accelerat ed Bishop’s classes in the future, as students may do with math. Instead, they simply ar rive in high school with a rich background in a language, and subsequently take advantage of the opportunity to enroll in that language class.

WHY WAIT?

it’s not offered,” said Giacomo Berti (‘24).

A common misconception that non-heritage speakers have about this topic is that having heritage speakers in their classes puts them at a disadvantage from a grade standpoint. Most if not all of the language teachers at Bishop’s would firm

Ms. Hsiao, along with many other teachers and students, compared heritage speakers to students taking a higher level of math class after studying extra math out side of school. The limitation of this paral lel is that studying math (or any subject, for that matter) outside of school is a conscious choice that a majority of Bishop’s students have access to. Some students may never speak Chinese at home, for example, but they could theoretically enroll in a Chinese Sun day school and begin learning the language from a young age. This would be a similar case.

However, for many students lan guage is more a matter of circumstance. Some may have grown up speaking Chinese at home, or actually lived in China for a pe

Bishops’ placement testing meth ods have evolved over time, and now have an improved capability of measuring for profi ciency. Mr. Hayden estimated that we have around 90 percent second language learners and 10 percent heritage speakers right now, although the number fluctuates every year. The School has new students fill out a sur vey detailing what language they speak at home and their level of experience. “[The placement test] used to be a lot of grammar, but now there are more oral questions,” said Sra. Torres. “You can tell when a student has been exposed to training as a second lan guage learner. The heritage speakers, on the other hand, tend to make spelling mistakes and write in the same casual way they speak, because they have not received the guidance to write with accuracy and to speak more for mally.” There is no lack of awareness of the School’s heritage speakers in any given year. Sra. Torres explained that the class placement of heritage speakers is an ongoing discussion in the language department. “In stitutionally, we have to make a decision on whether we’re going to remain a second lan guage acquisition program or if we’re going to add a program for heritage speakers,” she said. But why wait? The issue of inequality in students’ choices persists, and if it has applied to students the same way every year, now is a better time to act than ever.

“It has a lot to do with staffing,” added Sra. Torres on the implementation of a more permanent heritage speakers program. “We’d have to hire and train new staff, and all of that needs to happen to do it right.” Again, the topic of heritage speakers’ involvement in language classes is far from black and white. What we do know is that a more permanent course for heritage speakers would be benefi cial to those wanting to gain a deeper under standing of their native language, as well as balance out opportunities for students with out that choice. The systems we have in place need a more aggressive examination in or der for the School to make a decisive change moving forward.

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