The Mental Health Breakdown by The Fourth Estate

From the Editors

the STAFF EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Aura Carlson Rose Houglet

Dear Readers, In the theme of this March issue, we are addressing mental health and the stigma surrounding it. As we approach Mental Health Awareness Month in May, we hope to expand readers’ recognition of mental illness and its prevalence in our society. Along with familiarizing our readers with mental health awareness, in this March issue, we are recognizing Women’s History Month by featuring the Jan. 21 women’s marches both in Los Angeles, California and Washington, District of Columbia. From a story on the tenth grade students’ World History classes’ letter exchange with unabomber Ted Kaczynski to several feature stories profiling students and grounds keeper Martin Adame, this issue will both entertain and inform readers about topics of interest. — the Editors-in-Chief

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sonya Kotler NEWS & MANAGING EDITOR Jack Stein FEATURE EDITORS Carina Tedesco Caylin Zimmerman A&E EDITOR Kendall White SPORTS EDITOR Kelly Bickett

We hope to use this space to cover events, interviews, and topics of interest in greater depth. Our creative team of photographers, artists, and writers strive to capture the voice of the students and tell their stories in a compelling way. The Fourth Estate is an open forum created for and by journalism students of Laguna Blanca Upper School. Our staff seeks to be a platform for creative expression and to report on events and ideas of importance to our readers. The Fourth Estate welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and must be no longer than 400 words. Editors reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and/or taste. Anonymous letters will not be published. The Fourth Estate reserves the right to reject advertising. Opinions expressed in this publication reflect the perspectives of the staff. The Fourth Estate publishes four issues per year with a senior insert in the last issue. We mail issues to subscribers and advertisers and exchange papers with high school journalism classes across the country. When factual errors occur, we will correct the error in the next issue. The Fourth Estate accepts both print and online advertising in either black and white or color. Contact Amanda Skinner at skiama@lbsstudents.org for advertising and/or subscriptions. Visit our online paper for daily updates: www.thefourthestate.net. “Follow” us on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook.

OP-ED EDITOR Kailea Hieshima

This is the second issue, and 23rd volume (published on Jan. 6) of the Laguna Blanca School, 4125 Paloma Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93110, newspaper, The Fourth Estate. Contacts are available at tmchale@lagunablanca.org, (805) 687-2461 x317 or www.thefourthestate.net. Laguna Blanca School has an EK through 12 student population of approximately 375, with 100 in the Lower School, 110 Middle School and 165 in the Upper School, and a faculty population of approximately 60. The Fourth Estate is an 8.5 by 11 newsmagazine, created on Apple computers on Adobe InDesign CS6, using Helvetica Neue and Adobe Garamond Pro font families and printed on glossy paper by aPrintis, free for students and $30 for a yearly subscription. The magazine is distributed to all Upper School students through the school’s advisory program and sent by mail to subscribers, with 600 copies printed per issue. We are associated with NSPA, CSPA and JEA.

REPORTERS

LIFESTYLE EDITOR Fiona Flynn PHOTO EDITORS Carina Tedesco Caylin Zimmerman BUSINESS EDITOR Amanda Skinner COPY EDITOR Mathew Goldsholl Jackson Hurley WEBSITE EDITOR Sydney Edgecomb FACULTY ADVISOR Trish McHale, MJE Jules Bernard Julia Fay Hunter Hawkins Natasha Heyer Clara Hillis Sydney Hlavaty Ava Morouse Kathryn Norris Luke Smillie Peter Smith Sierra Willard

In This Issue NEWS 4 Speakers in Spaulding 5 Letters to Kaczynski 6-7 California’s New Laws 8 Winter Formal Photos 9 Interview with Regan FEATURE 10 An Online Presence 11 Pagodas to Palm Trees 12-13 Faculty Profile 15 Illustrated Interview

THEME 25 Stance of the Staff 26-27 Self-Diagnosis 28-29 Mental Health 30-31 Silence Kills

36-37 Microagressions 38 Anonymity Can Kill 39 Go Marching On 40-41 Women’s Marches 42 Anti-Semitism 43 Dear Tall People LIFESTYLE 45 Best Friend Break-up 46 Something’s Brewing

OPINION-EDITORIAL 32-33 Sharks 34-35 Cat Calls

THE COVER BY: JUNIORS KAILEA HIESHIMA SONYA KOTLER (PICTURED)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 16-17 Rap is Dead 18 Marvel

SPORTS 19 Swimmers Up Close 20 From Gym to Home 21 Facts on Snacks 22-23 Winter Sports

16 41 12 23

PHOTO PROVIDED BY: CHLOE HOWARD

JUMPING: Speaker Chloe Howard, founder of “Stand Beautiful,” jumps in her backyard.

Chloe Howard, a victim of bullying, spoke to students in an assembly to share her story. Howard was born with a congenital deformity, specifically, a club foot. She thought of it as something that made her special. But, in 2014, Howard was assaulted at her school by a group of girls who pushed her to the ground and held her down while they took off her shoe and sock to uncover her scarred foot. She no longer felt proud. A turning point for Howard was meeting Bono who inspired her to share her story and to challenge others to embrace their uniqueness and “boldly face their beautiful selves.”

Speakers in Spaulding BY KENDALL WHITE

PHOTO: CARINA TEDESCO

Rabbi Zulmy Kudan (left) and sophomore Sully Israel (right) posing for a picture. Rabbi Zulmy Kudan, invited by sophomore Sully Israel, spoke in assembly on Feb. 1. His message focused on leadership and communication. He advised students on how to deal with conflicts respectfully. Kudan focused on three methods to start difficult conversations. The methods are proven to inspire respect and problem-solving. The strategies he suggested to the students for starting difficult conversations include saying: “I’m wondering,” “tell me more” and “I need your help.” He suggested everyone to buy Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

Poetry Out Loud is an annual national competition that inspires students to memorize and recite poems. Every year, students in English instructor Bojana Hill’s classes — English 10 and AP Literature — must memorize and recite a poem to their class. A handful of students are chosen to recite in Laguna’s Poetry Out Loud competition and three are chosen to compete at the county level. This year, senior Zuley Lewis and sophomores Sully Israel and Stella Haffner were chosen to compete at the county level but no one advanced further.

SINGING: Junior Camila Lemere (left) and senior Joan Curran (right) singing “You’re the One That I Want” from the film Grease.

PHOTO: CARINA TEDESCO

NEWS

PHOTO: CAMILA LEMERE

RECITING: Sophomore Ava Morouse recites her poem.

What happens when a magician and musician walk onto a stage — the Laguna Blanca Talent Show. Math Department Chair Paul Chiment was in charge of coordinating the show. There were a total of eight acts including singing, lip-syncing and even an entertaining “magic show.” Some highlights of the show include sophomore Sully Israel bringing his original song “It Gets Sullier” to life as well as Aidan O’Donnell and Henry Farrell performing their famous “Rod Stew Magic Show.” “It was wonderful. I loved to see teachers and students collaborate on the stage,” said sophomore Alex Koke.

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O T S R E T T E L

KA GR

HIC

: JA

STE

BY JACK STEIN

here’s a lot more to history than what you read in books. History is unique among school subjects because it is constantly changing. It’s important to look at the past, but it’s also important to realize that the past is relative: it could be five minutes ago or five hundred million years ago. For such a rapidly evolving subject, teachers need to balance reading from textbooks about things that happened centuries ago and reading on the Internet about events transpiring around us every day. A teacher who may have found this balance is history instructor Kevin Shertzer. In addition to teaching tenth grade World History, Shertzer teaches electives including Critical Thinking and Current Events. Shertzer’s history class, while drawing the majority of its information from the past, forges ample comparisons to our modern world. These comparisons are beneficial, according to sophomore Stella Haffner, because they “[allow students] not only to see [historical concepts] but to make connections to what’s happening currently.” But Shertzer doesn’t just bring current events into the classroom — recently, he brought the classroom to the current events. While learning about the Industrial Revolution in class, sophomores were exposed to the writings of Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, an infamous terrorist active from the late seventies to the mid nineties. His name came from the victims he targeted: He was given the acronym UNABOM, which referred to the universities and airlines that he targeted with bombs disguised in packages. The truly interesting part of his ethos was his motivation for these violent acts, described in the Unabomber’s Manifesto.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Clocking in at a whopping 35 thousand words (roughly half of the first “Harry Potter” book), the Manifesto was the Unabomber’s Magnum Opus, his raison d’être, the culmination of what he’d spent a lifetime passionately believing. When Kaczynski promised to cease the bombings if the Manifesto was printed in a newspaper, the Washington Post had no choice but to comply. He was caught when his brother linked the Manifesto to Ted Kaczynski. His anti-industrialism beliefs were the antithesis to the movement that students were learning about. Students learned that, while many people approve of it, “industrialization can… slow down other skills… [people] shouldn’t rely on these fancy machines” sophomore student Kovid Mishra said. Mishra continued, saying that, according to Kaczynski, the entire idea of industrialism can “lower your innovation levels.” Looking at issues from another side of the story helps students be able to understand both the upsides and downsides of a topic, as well as be able to look at it objectively. Shertzer, however, wasn’t content with reading the Manifesto. To truly learn something, one requires immersion. Shertzer, to sate this required total immersion, proposed a radical idea to students: write the Unabomber a letter. In early December, all of the students had one week to write letters (under false names) to where Kaczynski was incarcerated in Colorado. While students had the option to opt out, none took the option. The students’ letters were sent out in a single envelope. Haffner “found it highly improbable that [they] would get any kind of response.” This sentiment was shared by her classmates, and even her teacher. That’s why it came as a huge surprise

when, shortly after sending it out, the class received a reply. Written in tidy handwriting, the letter from one of the most notorious terrorists of the modern era was unassuming to say the least. Its contents were almost as surprising as the existence of the letter itself. Not only had Kaczynski read all of the students’ letters, but he had actually answered questions. For most of the questions, he referred students to find answers in his Manifesto. Interestingly enough, one of the few letters that Kaczynski provided a direct answer to was a math problem from sophomore Caitlin Gainey. Gainey, stating that “the best way to appeal to people is to talk to them about their interests,” took advantage of the fact that the Unabomber is famously a “mathematical prodigy.” She decided to use this, and “catch his attention with some multi-variable calculus problems.” While other letter-writers posed questions about his crimes, his morality, and the resounding moral repercussions of his deplorable actions, Gainey’s alternate approach was one of the only questions that got an answer. On the surface, writing to a known terrorist is at best fruitless, at worst dangerous. But a closer look reveals the true virtues of the idea. Shertzer wanted to remind kids that despite these historical figures’ fame, “they’re still people… you feel like you can’t contact them, and the truth is you can.” What Shertzer taught his students is that when you are looking at something as divisive as history, it’s always best to get another opinion. History isn’t linear like it is in textbooks. It’s a multifaceted kaleidoscope of jigsaw puzzle pieces, and everybody has a different way of putting them together. Plus, Shertzer said that students “were asking questions that [he] couldn’t answer.” A truly great history class gives students the facts, the information, the story as it is. It’s up to the students to fill in the blanks and put the jigsaw pieces together, and exactly how they do that is up to them. In writing to a real historical figure, Shertzer said he was “empowering the students, in a sense,” ideally bringing a personal aspect into what can be a very impersonal subject. Ted Kaczynski is a man who put his puzzle pieces together in a way that nobody else did. His puzzle, however, was just a bit broken, but that doesn’t mean that it has nothing to offer. And as students put together their own puzzles, even broken ones can have meaning.

NEWS

From Cell Phones to Marijuana to Concussions — California’s New Laws of 2017 BY CAYLIN ZIMMERMAN // GRAPHICS: CAYLIN ZIMMERMAN

Cell Phone Use While Driving

Felons’ Right to Vote

he use of a hand-held wireless phone or wireless electronic device while driving, will no longer be allowed unless the device is mounted on the vehicle windshield or dashboard in a way that does not restrict the driver’s view of the road. This law was largely influenced by the courtroom arguments from drivers charged with texting or calling while driving; the drivers claimed that they were merely using their GPS. Officer Juan Galvan with California Highway Patrol explained in an article by the L.A. Times that, “People were holding it in their hands using their GPS. This new law is going to eliminate that all together and now cell phones will have to be mounted.” Now, drivers are allowed a single tap or swipe on the phone as long as it is mounted to the vehicle. If caught handling a phone while driving, you could receive a fine initially of $20 and then $50 for each following offense. Student Opinion — Junior Sophia Fay: “I’m not a fan of this law because sometimes I need to go to a new part of town and I don’t know how to get there. Before I would just pull out my phone, enter in the address and hold the phone next to my steering wheel and it would direct me to where I needed to go, now I have to buy a mount for my car? It’s very inconvenient and in my opinion, not necessary. I understand why you can’t text or call but all I do is occasionally glance at it while I’m driving, I don’t think it’s nearly as distracting as texting.”

elons who are not currently doing time in state or federal prisons are now allowed to vote. Assemblywoman Shirley Weber believes that it is up to California to set an example at a time when other states are trying to limit voting rights. While the opposers to the new law such as the President of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, Sheriff Donny Youngblood believe that, “there have to be consequences to your actions, and the consequences of being a convicted felon are that you can’t vote.” The California Police Chiefs Association also argues that the state should not be restoring a right traditionally lost when people commit serious crimes. Many Republican lawmakers are claiming that this new law will compromise the integrity of elections. Teacher Opinion — AP U.S. History Teacher Lindsay Woodard: “Taking away anyone’s right to vote makes me uncomfortable. It would make sense if someone were convicted for voter fraud, but in the vast majority of cases, felons are convicted for violence and drug-related offenses that have nothing to do with voting. Committing a crime shouldn’t make someone less of a citizen, and all American citizens are guaranteed the right to vote. The fact that California is leading the way in restoring the vote to felons who are not currently incarcerated gives me hope. I’m hoping that other states will follow suit.”

Marijuana Legalization

Concussion Safety

t is now legal to smoke weed in private and be in possession of it throughout the state of California. However, without a medical marijuana card, Californians will be unable to purchase from dispensaries until 2018 when the state will begin issuing retail licenses for the sale of marijuana. According to The L.A. Times, black market sales will still remain illegal. For adults over the age of 21, you can’t just walk into a medical dispensary and start buying without a patient card, but you can use, possess, share, and grow cannabis at home. The law’s supporters are claiming that marijuana legalization is good for social justice, and drug laws have been used for too long as a way to arrest and incarcerate minorities at a much higher rate than whites. Supporters also argue that studies have shown that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and its use should be considered as normal as having a glass a wine. The law also helps the government to avoid creating the perfect black market for criminals, while still being able to tax and regulate cannabis. Student Opinion — Senior Will Bartholomew: “The legalization of marijuana will bring hundreds of millions in tax dollars, it will decriminalize lower tier risk ‘felons’ that were charged for possession, and it will hopefully keep weed from pouring over our border from Mexico.”

NEWS

imilar to a previous law aimed at protecting high school studentathletes who may have suffered head injuries, youth sports organizations are now required to notify the parents or guardians of athletes younger than 17 years old who have been removed from activity because of a suspected concussion. It also requires athletic organizations to offer concussion and head injury education to coaches and administrators on a yearly basis. The organizations also have to comply with athlete removal provisions and return-to-play protocol. The biggest problem with the law is that it states that the return-to-play protocol must be conducted “under the supervision of a licensed health care provider.” It is likely that a concussed athlete will not be directly supervised through each step of a graduated return to play protocol by a licensed health care provider, leading to issues regarding the proper standard of care. Teacher Opinion — Dean Coach Shane Lopes: “I am very familiar with this topic and am in full agreement with the law, especially on the regular education of coaches on how to prevent and handle injuries. It is the responsibility of the parents, coaches, trainers and athletic directors that every detail of the given “return to play protocol” be followed. I have found the process to be thorough and in the best interest of the student-athlete.”

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Minimum Wage to $15/hour by 2020

Right-To-Die

erminally ill patients in California will be allowed to use experimental drugs, which do not have full regulatory approval, to decide to end their lives. The law came about after Brittany Maynard, a Bay Area woman with terminal brain cancer, moved to Oregon before taking her life using drugs. The End of Life Option Act gives patients access to lethal medication to accept death on their own terms. However, not everyone supports this new law. Another concern is that in our current state, millions of people are forced to rely on government-subsidized care. It is possible that the government would be more willing to prescribe suicide pills rather than months and years of expensive medicine treating a patient’s terminal illness. To avoid this, part of the law states that the patient has to specifically request for the lethal medication, and the doctor cannot bring it up with the patient. Teacher Opinion — AP Psychology Teacher Meghan Roarty: “For those facing terminal illnesses, the End of Life Option Act can provide comfort, support, and a feeling of dignity for both the individual and the entire family involved as watching a loved one suffer significantly and unnecessarily is one of the most difficult things to endure. There are of course ethical concerns associated with the choice to end one’s life, but the law comes with specific requirements, such as the patient needing to be mentally competent and with a prognosis of less than six months to live. Many worry that this law will lead to huge increases in those choosing to end their life, but statistics from other states, such as Oregon, that already have a legal process for patients to obtain aid in dying have been informative about what to expect. I believe people have the right to choose to live a good life, and when tragically faced with very unfortunate circumstances, should have the right to choose to have a good death as well.”

he Fair Wage Act of 2017 will be gradually raising the minimum wage by one dollar each year until it reaches fifteen dollars per hour by year 2021, for example this year the minimum wage will be ten dollars. The state council’s proposal was designed to increase the minimum wage by 2020 for businesses with more than 25 workers. The new law also allows workers to earn a minimum of six paid sick days each year, rather than the three required before. The law’s opposers are saying that those who have leapt ahead on this issue have been feeling the pinch of job losses and without jobs, a higher minimum wage will not help anyone. An example of this is in San Francisco where a $15 minimum wage was passed in 2014. Following the law’s passage, some of the city’s 100 top restaurants closed doors and cited the minimum-wage hike as a determining factor, and the unemployment rate there grew by 22 percent. A typical franchisee, like McDonald’s for example, sells about 2.6 million dollars worth of food, leaving them with about 156,000 dollars in profit. A 15 dollar hourly wage would require up to three-quarters of that profit, or for some locations the entire profit. The average U.S. citizen, however, is overwhelmingly in support of a higher minimum wage; according to the National Employment Law Project, an estimated six in ten Americans support a $15 minimum wage. Student Opinion — Annabelle Finefrock: “While I believe that minimum wage isn’t enough to support a family, minimum wage jobs were originally intended for high school and college students as their first jobs. By raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars, businesses will have a hard time keeping up and will not be able to hire as many workers which will ultimately make the unemployment rate go up, hurting those who would benefit from a higher minimum wage.”

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

Sexual Assault Clarification

ll single-user toilet facilities in an business or public place must now be changed to all-gender facilities. This new law will not only help those with non-conventional genders, but the law’s supporters say that genderneutral restrooms would also help parents with children of a different gender and adults caring for aging parents. Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco said his legislation would establish the nation’s most inclusive restroom-access law and “chart a new course of equality for the nation.” While this law does not require every public place to have a gender-neutral bathroom, it’s a huge step towards the inclusivity of gender identities. Student Opinion — Junior Kathryn Norris: “I personally don’t understand why this issue is such a big deal, but if it helps people then I support it. I think that people should just go to the bathroom that they feel most comfortable in, but I like how it will help parents with a child of a different gender. This law may be an inconvenience for businesses, especially if soon the law might require businesses to build new bathrooms. But if it helps people with an unconventional gender, then I support it.”

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exually assaulting an unconscious or severely intoxicated person is now a crime ineligible for probation. This new law will clarify that a victim incapacitated by drugs or alcohol cannot consent to sex. The clarification in the law came after former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was given six months in jail and released early for assaulting an unconscious woman. Also added to the law is a new statute of limitations. Before the statute of limitations for sexual assault was ten years, but now, due to the new law, if someone is sexually assaulted, the victim can report it at any time in the future and the case can be prosecuted regardless of how much time has passed. The rape allegations against host Bill Cosby influenced the passage of this new law as well. Student Opinion — Junior Kendall White: “I’m surprised we haven’t had a law like this sooner because I think it will be very beneficial. Sexual assault is extremely devastating for a victim, especially when a victim has been through so much and then the law lets their assailant walk free or with barely any jail time. I’m glad to see that California is taking the necessary steps to properly support the victims of sexual based offenses.”

NEWS

Seniors Zaira Paredes, Mathew Goldsholl and Melissa Silva

Junior Zane Mazor-Brown and Dean Lopes

Freshman Natalie McCaffery and junior Jackson Hurley Juniors Mia Waters and Julia Fay

Sophomores Sam Stegall, Oliver Heyer and Sophie Henderson

Freshmen Julia Guglielmo, Emma Raith and Sofija Ninness

Sophomores Maddie Walker, Bella Gavasse, Sierra Willard and Margaux Murphy

Junior Roth Yin

Seniors Fiona Flynn and Luke Smillie

PHOTOS: CARINA TEDESCO

Juniors Kendall White and Aidan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnell

Seniors Travis Smillie and Clara Hillis

Juniors Mia Waters, Annabelle Finefrock, Carina Tedesco and Kendall White

Freshmen Sydney Hlavaty, Rae Bernstein and Charlie Jacobs

NEWS

More photos on thefourthestate.net

Junior Laird Fowler

Junior Sasha Hsu, freshman Wells Fowler and junior Laird Fowler

Juniors Aura Carlson and Rose Houglet

Sophomores Alex Freshman Sully Israel and Koke and Sophie Henderson Mr. Angeloff

Freshman Lucy Cao, senior Cindy Shan, Sophomores Ava Morouse, Julia Stone, Caitlin freshman Melissa Zhang, senior Sally Li and Juniors Clay Rodgers, Spencer Rycroft and Jason Barnick Gainey, Hayley Bankhead and Isabella Sabino sophomore Helen Yang

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PHOTO: REGAN WILLIAMS

BY NATASHA HEYER

ophomore Regan Williams is no stranger to exploring the wider world. In Williams’ sixth grade year, she took a class called “Work Cultures and Religions” in which she quickly became fascinated with different countries and religions throughout the world. Her enthusiasm for this class was easily apparent to her family, and they realized it was time to leave Santa Barbara’s protective bubble; they sold all their belongings and booked a one-way ticket to Bangkok, Thailand. Williams spent the beginning of her adventure backpacking through southeast Asia with her family, where they volunteered for a wide variety of causes. In Thailand, she dedicated her time to an orphanage, and in Cambodia, she volunteered at a home for abused girls. Here, Williams was a mentor to young girls who were the victims in an abusive family. She organized art projects for the girls. “It was actually a very happy place, and the girls all seemed grateful to be loved and taken care of by the amazing women who work there,” Williams said. Continuing her adventure in Vietnam, Williams worked with an organization that serves as a hub for children’s reconstructive surgeries all over the world. Fortunate enough to experience everything with this organization, she worked beside the nurses and doctors during procedures and outside of the operating room. She comforted the patients’ families while they awaited the outcome of their children’s surgeries. She first-handedly experienced the solace provided by the operations and the

impact that they would have on each child’s life. “Those three months in Asia were some of the toughest I’ve ever had. I felt so grateful for all that I had and couldn’t imagine why I had so many blessings while others in the orphanages and such did not,” Williams said while reflecting on her time in Asia. However, her journey did not end with philanthropic work in Asia. She also traveled to Turkey, where she witnessed the hardships faced by Syrian refugees and the struggle forced upon families who are desperate for safety. “This experience, living and interacting with the refugees, also changed my worldview and gave me a deeper understanding of the realities we see on the news,” Williams said. However, flash-forward three years later, and Williams “imagines now that the refugee crisis has gotten worse, that the neighborhood is overrun and that the refugees there are suffering a lot.” The people she met attributes to an appreciation of life, an aptitude for philanthropic work and an admiration of other cultures that will stick with her forever. “The people I had met opened my eyes to who I wanted to be and what I cared about, and I am so thankful to have had that experience,” Williams said. Her worldwide travels led her to where she is today. On Dec. 30, 2016, Williams left right before the second semester of her sophomore year to attend The Green School in Bali, Indonesia. It is a school dedicated to a holistic learning process and prides itself in its environmentally-cautious infrastructure. The Green School provides kids of all ages with a globally-academic experience, as it is home to people from 35 different countries – a perfect place for Williams to spend the next six months of her life. Williams feels a “pull” from both the beautiful and spiritual aspects of the Eastern world and is already very happy with her decision for a nontraditional educational route, allowing her to meet people who share her global-fascination and her concern for civic welfare. After having been given the world, Williams is now taking it by storm.

Travel Tips by Regan

1 2 3

Always choose a place to stay that is easy to find and relatively nice. It’s horrible after a 15hour flight to arrive at a place you have never been. Pack things that you like! Don’t only bring touristy clothes from REI. You won’t be comfortable and you’ll definitely stand out. Before you leave, figure out the currency and whether tipping is proper or not. Also find out if bargaining is customary in that country so you don’t get too ripped off.

Use a suitcase that doubles as a backpack, because otherwise you will hurt your back and shoulders, and if you just bring a suitcase, it can be really difficult to transport, depending where you are. The best backpacks I have found are from Patagonia.

The world is a friendly place. I have never had anyone steal from me, harm me or anything like that in all my travels. If you’re smart and safe, then you will be totally fine. The best part about traveling is the people you meet, so don’t be paranoid or frightened of everything you see on the news.

Around the

WORLD with

Regan GRAPHIC: NATASHA HEYER

THE FOURTH ESTATE

NEWS

A Life

Q: How long have you been on YouTube? What made you start?

Online

I started doing weekly uploads in seventh grade after a YouTuber named PewDiePie responded to a comment of mine. My channel gained a couple hundred subscribers, and that felt like a lot to me.

Q: YouTube-wise, who inspires you?

I’m really inspired by the YouTuber “IAMKARENO.” She makes these really amazing fashion lookbook videos, and I really love the filming [style] and the lighting that she uses … it’s just really beautiful and it’s very inspiring to me – it gives me ideas for what I want to do with some of my videos.

Q: How do you feel about attaining a ‘following’?

Well, I think I have a long ways to go with my following, because I’d say that it’s still pretty small compared to a lot of people I know … but I think it’s so mind-blowing to me that there are people who actually want to watch videos that I make! People will go out of their ways to message me… So that’s just, kind of, mind-blowing to me.

Q: What is your favorite part about social media? Least favorite? My favorite part about social media is that you can make so many lasting friendships with people ... and they can become life-long friends. There’s a lot of really interesting people on there that you can meet [who have] the same interests, and it’s so awesome. My least favorite part about social media is I’ve seen so many people have stuff go to their heads, especially when they’ll ‘blow up.’ I’ve had people I know go from five thousand followers to five hundred thousand followers in less than a year, and they become a totally different person. Especially because a lot of the “internet-famous” people are teenagers, they can become really fake.

Q: Do you ever interact with your followers? If so, what is the PHOTO: CARINA TEDESCO

Sitting Down with

most memorable experience you’ve ever had doing that? I haven’t really interacted with many of them in person, but I do online. I do live streams often ... and I respond to almost every message and comment from people who support me.

Q: How has social media changed your life for the better?

Sofia Martin

BY AVA MOROUSE *** “Hi! My name’s Sofia, and welcome to my YouTube channel!” A bubbly Sofia waves at the camera as the video begins. Sophomore Sofia Martin has been creating YouTube videos since fifth grade, and she continues to incorporate social media into her everyday life, whether it be making ‘internet friends’ or creating content for her loyal group of supporters on several platforms. With over 3,000 followers on Instagram, 2,000 subscribers on YouTube and videos with over 120,000 views, Sofia continues to grow her social media presence while dealing with the challenges that come with living in the midst of a typical teenager’s life in high school.

FEATURE

It’s really changed some of the ideas that I’ve had for careers. I went from, when I was younger, wanting to be a doctor, to, now, I’m really interested in filming, producing and even social media stuff. I’ve also met a lot of cool people, and made a lot of really awesome friends.

Q: What message do you most hope that your followers attain

through following you as a figure on social media? A message that I’d like to spread is to be yourself, and you don’t have to try super hard to fit in. I used to do that a lot, and, it’s taken a while, but I’ve realized that you should always do what you want to do. Just be yourself, and don’t be somebody else for another person.

Q: Hopes and dreams for your social media legacy?

Well, I really hope that I can inspire other people, who are maybe nervous about starting a YouTube or just going out there and doing something. I hope that I can inspire some people to… take that step and be bold, and be themselves. For more photos and the full interview, visit www.thefourthestate.net

THE FOURTH ESTATE

From Pagodas to Palm Trees BY SYDNEY HLAVATY First crushes, trendy shoes and the latest phones are what American sixth graders normally think about on a day to day basis. Not moving to another country halfway around the world. However, in China, study abroad dreams begin as early as fifth and sixth grade. For young Chinese students, the pressure of schoolwork pushes students to seek opportunities in other countries. Language skills, responsibility, and independence are just a fraction of the tools these students use while living in a new country. For freshman Luming “Lucy” Cao, and her little sister Yanhang “Tracy” Cao, these tools have been put to the test as they spend their second year living in Santa Barbara after a childhood in Hangzhou, China.

Q: Where did you live before? Hangzhou. It’s in the southeastern part of China — a very beautiful city.

Q: How did you hear about going abroad?

Was it from a friend, online, a teacher or your parents? Studying abroad has become quite popular in China, especially studying in the U.S. Many people I know are going abroad. The idea of going abroad is not uncommon. In China, kids get a lot of pressure from school since they are really young. The education is very exam-orientated. Many parents want to send their kids abroad.

Q: How did it feel when you found out you were going to be living in the US for sure? I made that choice myself, so it didn’t come to me as a surprise. I guess my feelings were a bit complicated because I didn’t know what it would be like. It was hard to say goodbye to my friends and a place where I had lived all my life.

Q: Was the language barrier a hard obstacle to overcome?

It was hard at first. I was self-conscious about my English, and sometimes had problems understanding other people talking. It became much better after a while, though.

Q: Did you want to come to the U.S.? Why? Q: Did you choose to move to Santa BarYes. Before I decided to come to the U.S., my parents thought I should get to know America better before making the decision. So my sister and I went to a summer camp in Ojai Valley. It was a wonderful experience and we both loved it. Later, I decided to come to the U.S., so it was my own choice.

Q: Did your parents do most of the

bara in particular or were you assigned a certain city? I applied to six schools in total, and five of them were in California because we just love California. My family visited Santa Barbara when I went to the summer camp in Ojai, and we thought it would be wonderful to live here. I chose to go to Laguna partly because of Santa Barbara.

work or did you?

My parents connected me with an agency that helps Chinese students apply to American schools. So they helped me to choose suitable schools and helped with the application. My parents helped me a lot as well, but since both of them are not very good at English, there were things I had to do by myself.

when you were in China?

Yes, I started to learn English in third grade. It is a very important subject at school in China. After I decided I wanted to study abroad, I took English lessons outside of school. There were several months that I didn’t even go to regular school in order to take English lessons in a tutoring center. To get into a good high school in America, international students need to do well on an English-language test, so my English had to reach a certain level before I came.

Q: How did you feel once you got here? Were you excited, nervous, etc?

Both excited and nervous, because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know if I would like this place.

Q: What do you like about the US?

People here are very nice and welcoming, and they are alway patient and polite. Also, it might sound odd, but I love the weather here. The air pollution is really bad in China, and it is raining half of the days. I like it in California that it is never cold or too hot.

Q: What were your first thoughts when you got here?

The first time I had ever been to Laguna was when I was shadowing. That was in February of 2015, and the lake in Hope Ranch was full. I thought the views were stunning.

Q: Are you glad you came to the U.S.? Why?

Q: What was the biggest obstacle

Yes. I really like Laguna because I have great teachers and amazing friends, and I think I have learned a lot. I think it’s wonderful to study in another country — to experience a completely different culture.

you faced?

Trying to adapt to everything and be a part of the community.

PHOTO & GRAPHICS: SYDNEY HLAVATY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Q: Had you been taught basic English

FEATURE

AN INTERVIEW WITH GROUNDSKEEPER MARTIN ADAME BY CLARA HILLIS // PHOTOS: CARINA TEDESCO

FEATURE

THE FOURTH ESTATE

FEATURE

THE ILLUSTRATED INTERVIEW

FRESHMAN BEAU GLAIZER BY JACK STEIN

Draw a self portrait!

What time period would you ideally live in?

What is your biggest fear?

Who inspires you?

What is your favorite thing about Laguna?

THE FOURTH ESTATE

What is your favorite animal?

What is your dream career?

FEATURE

RAP IS DEAD. LONG LIVE RAP? BY JACK STEIN

hat is it with rich white kids and hip-hop music? Over the past few decades, the white upper-middle-class has seized the idea of hip-hop, more specifically ,rap, and held onto this music with fervor. For some, listening to rap music has completely defined their identities, to the point of changing their personalities entirely. This is by no means a bad thing — rap, like all music, is made to be enjoyed and listened to. Race and ethnic background shouldn’t ever get in the way of that. What’s interesting, however, is how far rap has come from its origins. Rap didn’t originate in the United States, where it has become most popular. It began over one thousand years ago in Africa. African villages held ceremonies called “griots,” in which village elders would tell stories, speaking over music. This tradition of talking with music was brought over to the New World in the Imperial Age. Despite the horrific nature of how and why these traditions were brought here, they brought with them a new brand of music that’d change the world. The first time the world saw rap music as we know it today was in the early ‘70s, and was ushered in by a Jamaican DJ named DJ Kool Herc. DJ Kool Herc, an influential DJ and emcee in the Bronx, is considered to be the grandfather of rap music. The first rapper ever, Coke La Rock, was good friends with and inspired by DJ Kool Herc. Rap hit the mainstream in 1979 with the song “King Tim III (Personality Jock),” written by the Fatback Band. But it didn’t stop there. Hugely influential artists, such as N.W.A., Wu-Tang Clan, Eminem, the Beastie Boys and many more emerged throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. What had started as a way for poor African-Americans to express themselves had morphed into an international movement that took the world by storm. But did it lose

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

its meaning along the way? In the 21st century, the entire hip-hop genre is nearly unrecognizable. Most popular hip-hop artists have been elevated to super stardom, and their music reaches a much broader audience. The music of artists like Nas and Tupac Shakur has fallen to the sidelines of mainstream media, replaced by artists like Drake, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. These artists, while certainly talented to a certain degree, have changed the core concept of hip-hop music so much that the question has to be raised: Is it still truly the same genre it once was? Rap has taken a serious turn towards pop. This change has occurred not only in its newfound mainstream status, but also in the mood and lyrical tone of the songs themselves. Many songs, such as those by popular artists 2 Chainz and Young Thug, have lost a certain lyrical intensity that was captured by the traditional rappers of the late 20th century. Not all of the changes, however, have been negative. In recent decades, the traditionally misogynist genre of music has opened up many opportunities for women to enter the rap scene. Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj are two hugely popular hip-hop artists who wouldn’t have been able to enter the world of rap in the ‘80s or even the early ‘90s. New opportunities for women are one of the huge changes for the better, but what about the quality of the music itself? The aforementioned swing toward pop has definitely changed the identity of what rap is, and artists are creating music that is of what some would call a much lower quality. That isn’t to say that modern rap isn’t good —

THE FOURTH ESTATE

some of it is fantastic. Artists like Kanye West, J. Cole and George Watsky are creating many lyrically complex, high quality pieces of music that are upholding rap’s name. The real problem arises when you get to what are called the “sellouts.” A sellout is an artist who has “sold out,” sacrificing the quality of his or her art in order to appeal to a larger fan base. Sellouts can be anything from an artist who has lost touch with their roots, like country-turned-pop-star Taylor Swift, to an artist who has given up on the message that they originally intended to convey, like pseudo-punk band Green Day. Regardless of how “good” or “bad” their new music is, sellouts are hated in the com-

munity of music and its fans. Rap, like any genre, has its sellouts as well. Some people in the rap community who are considered sellouts include Eminem, who is believed to have given up his “shock rap” persona for a more sappy, party-oriented type of music; Dr. Dre, a once hugely respected producer and rapper who is now banking on a lucrative headphone deal with Apple; and Jay-Z, who’s music is considered to be toneddown and mainstream. Just because these artists are said to be sellouts doesn’t mean that they can’t create good music. Lots of rap from these apparent sellouts hasn’t been terrible — but the more important aspect of the change is how it affects the reputation that the genre holds. Gone is the image of counterculture rebels who were the face of the rap movement for decades. It has been replaced with ideas of excess, cheap music, overproduced beats and meaningless, derivative lyrics. Rap used to be one of the most highly respected expressions of life in America’s lower class. It has since

been taken over by wealthy “artists” who care more about making money than making music that actually matters. Rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac, artists from the golden age of hip-hop, were killed, in part for their art. They were true masters of the form, and one has to wonder what they would think if they saw where the genre that they pioneered has ended up today. Rap music is more popular than ever, but it isn’t the same rap that broke down the barriers for African-Americans in the world of music decades ago. Between overproduction and sellouts, hip-hop has metamorphosed into something new and different. It could be argued that rap is dead. If not the music, the very ideals that it stood for have been left in the dust. But can an art form truly be dead? Despite huge differences in the very meaning of what rap is, artists would beg to differ. For every sellout that makes millions every year, there is an earnest, hardworking artist that is just trying to get by in the competitive world of music. To really understand rap, one has to take it at face value: it isn’t music so much as poetry (be it good or bad), a way of rhyming expression that, for some people, is a way to have their voices heard. Regardless of race or religion, rap is a form of music that can be created by and enjoyed by anybody. Despite its reputation as being misogynistic and riddled with expletives, that is just a small but vocal minority in a sea of much more progressive voices. What was once considered the rhyming ramblings of gangster punks about drinking, drugs and abusing women is slowly being accepted by the public as true art, whether or not there really is a decline in quality. People who once questioned whether or not rap is even music are now realizing that it was never a question whether it was music — the real question is where it will go from here.

GRAPHIC: JACK STEIN

THE FOURTH ESTATE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THE TIME

When you think of the the course of the last seventeen years, actor superhero movie, what Hugh Jackman has taken his character, the comes to mind? Probably Wolverine, through a true odyssey. glitzy heroes decked out He has been everywhere and done everyin spandex, generating mind- thing, from fighting ninjas in Japan to travelless popcorn flicks for the ing back in time to the 1970s. But for Jackwhole family to enjoy, because man’s final film as the character, he wanted to that’s exactly what they are. do something different. Well, maybe not for long. Instead of the usual lighthearted, if vioFebruary 2016 brought an un- lent, fun of the classic X-Men movie, director precedented event in the modern James Mangold opted for something much age of superhero movies: a main- different, and much more meaningful. stream, R-rated comic book film. On March 3rd, fans will be treated to a “Deadpool” was studio 20th Century heavier, darker version of the Wolverine Fox’s biggest gamble in a long time, and character than they’ve ever known. His powthe only thing more surprising than the ers slowed and weakened, his body old and fact that they had to guts to do it was decrepit, the film will explore the true mental the fact that they actually pulled it off. and physical tolls that being a superhero can The movie, starring Ryan Reynolds take on a person. shocked the world with its frequent expleFrom the first looks at the movie, it aptives, racy humor, blood and gore, violence pears to be the final Wolverine outing that and the fact that, longtime fans want despite all of and deserve. these things, it was “[LOGAN] LOOKS LIKE A MOVIE But the somber actually pretty fan- THAT MIGHT BREAK THE GLASS tone of “Logan” tastic. brings up anothCEILING” Critics and audiencer question: when es alike agreed that the awards season rolls - RYAN REYNOLDS BY JACK STEIN movie was great, elevataround, could it be a GRAPHIC: FOX STUDIOS ing it to the status of one contender? of the highest grossing R-rated movies of all time. Up until this point, the closest that comic Of course, after the minimal budget and out-of-nowhere suc- book movies have come to winning major cess of “Deadpool,” there was one question on the minds of the awards has been Heath Ledger, who poststudio and the viewers: humously won the award for Best Actor in What would be the next “Deadpool?” And who would be the a Supporting Role for his portrayal of the studio to make it? Joker in 2009’s “The Dark Knight.” Could As it turns out, that studio was, once again, 20th Century Fox. “Logan” continue this trend of darker, more After the resounding success of their first foray into the world of serious comic book films being considered mature X-Men titles, they needed another hit to cement the for awards? Deadpool thinks so. fact that the hard-R-rated comic book movie wasn’t just a one“Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, having trick pony. seen parts of “Logan,” told Variety magazine But their next movie in the vein of “Deadpool” would be that it “looks like a movie that might break its polar opposite. Fox made this abundantly clear when they that glass ceiling,” referring to infamous lack announced, for a March release, “Logan.” of superhero films winning for best picture. Fans of the popular X-Men character Wolverine will rec- After the first forty minutes of “Logan” were ognize Logan as the clawed mutant superhero’s real name, screened for a select group of critics, recepand the title of the next solo movie in which he is slated to tion was similar. appear. So could “Logan” be the first movie of its There are two things that make “Logan” different than kind to win big at the Oscars? Reynolds’ own any other of the other eight X-Men movies in which the “Deadpool” was just recently snubbed, decharacter has appeared to date. spite recent WGA and Golden Globe noms. For one, the movie has, like “Deadpool,” garnered the If “Logan” wins, or is even nominated, it infamous R-rating, this time for what the MPAA refers to as “strong would mean great things for the studio and brutal violence and language throughout, and for brief nudity.” the genre. It would open new doors for suWhile it isn’t entirely clear what that entails, fans are eagerly antic- perhero movies, R-rated and otherwise, and ipating getting to witness some of the character’s “berserker rage,” a would change the world of film and be a pertrait that has only been displayed in a PG-13 format. fect way to close the story of the Wolverine. The other thing that sets “Logan” apart is its mood and tone. Over

THAT MARVEL

WENT R-RATED

AND IT

ACTUALLY WORKED

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THE FOURTH ESTATE

BY NATASHA HEYER GRAPHIC: JACK STEIN // PHOTOS: CARINA TEDESCO

Laguna students have a freestyle approach to life. Students who decide to opt out of the streamline selection of curricular sports, dive into the opportunity to pursue independent sports. For senior Melissa Silva, junior Abby Corpuz and freshman Tatym Levine, swimming serves as a way to engage their bodies mentally and physically.

Melissa Silva

Abby Corpuz

Tatym Levine

Why: Avoid boredom Stroke: Breaststroke

Why: Relax myself Stroke: Butterfly

Why: Relieve stress Stroke: Freestyle

“I have been swimming for six years, and I like swimming because there is enough variety to keep me from getting bored. There are four different strokes you can work on, and within in each of the those, you can work on drills as well. I used to swim at the Santa Barbara Swim Club, which was pretty competitive, but now I just swim on my free time. I have gained discipline from swimming. When I was at Carpinteria High, I would have to wake up at half past four and be at the pool by five. I also teach swimming at the YMCA in Montecito and I have been doing so for a little over a year. It has been a super fun experience because I teach kids between the ages of three and eight and they make things really interesting and fun.”

“I swim because being in the water relaxes me and it is also a great way to get in cardio without beating up your knees. I have been swimming since I was four, and I have been swimming competitively since I was 6. My favorite stroke is the butterfly. It is hard but definitely rewarding. Through swimming I have learned that nothing comes easy, especially swimming a good time on the 500 fly. I love how I feel after I swim. I feel refreshed, clean and energized. It’s relaxing for my mind, it clears my pores and it’s so good for your muscles. Other sports really bang up your knees, especially volleyball, which is why swimming is such a nice contrast. I’d say one of the only downsides to swimming is that it’s so bad for your hair!”

“I swim competitively for Santa Barbara Swim Club, and I have been swimming for about six years. My favorite events are the 50 meter freestyle and the 100 meter freestyle. I don’t exactly know why I swim, but it relieves my stress and keeps me fit. A lot of the time I want to quit, but I have put in too many hours and have made too many sacrifices to stop, and that is what keeps me going. Swimming has taught me to never give up. When you are in the middle of a super long, hard set, most of the time you just want to rest, but you can’t do that, you have to have motivation.”

THE FOURTH ESTATE

SPORTS

From Gym to

Home: BY KELLY BICKETT

f you’re trying to be more healthy, walk more steps each day or push yourself through a brutal morning workout try a fitness app. Fitness apps can also be known as personal assistants that help track health, progress, weight-loss and fitness, and they are totally confidential. Achieving your goal of becoming fit or healthier requires day to day activity and better food choices. It may be hard to make those good decisions since its often a battle in your head and usually end up surrendering and eating those french fries. Accessibility is a major benefit of a fitness app, because most people today always carry their phone on them wherever they go. So those few notifications from that app could make all difference in making the right decisions. There are all kinds of apps that can suit your personal goals perfectly. Many can log workouts, count calories or collect stats about runs, walks and bike rides to show you your progress over the weeks. They can also be influential and put you in touch with nutritionists and personal trainers if you work better that way.

TOP FITNESS APPS

MyFitnessPal is a great app if you are looking to monitor your calories and exercise. According to Jilly Duffy from PCMag, “This free app lets you count the calories that you consume everyday as well as tally up the calories you expend, and then see if they balance. It’s compatible with a number fitness trackers, which means MyFitnessPal can estimate how many calories you burn automatically by pulling in your activity data from your tracker.” MyFitnessPal is great at helping you become more aware of your eating habits and just how much exercise you need to do each day to burn off the average food you eat.

Another way to get motivated is to listen to a good music track to keep you going while working out. “FIT Radio, for example, specializes in creating playlists that you can play over your headphones for a variety of workouts, such as running and yoga. All the songs in the playlist have a consistent beat. The music streaming app Spotify has a great feature for Premium subscribers that lets them find their running tempo and get songs with a beat that match it. Once the app finds your tempo, it leaves the beats-per-minute setting alone, so your music becomes a metronome of sorts,” Duffy said.

You hear that Yoga is a great way to burn fat but can’t seem to find a time to go, Yoga-Pedia is a great app for you. It has almost 100 poses and mudras. The basic poses are accompanied by photos and are explained. You can also access a daily audio lesson for the “Pose of the Day.” If you’re new to yoga and need a little more help sorting through all the options, there’s a “Find a Pose” feature that allows you to sort poses for your needs, like poses that help increase energy, or poses that aid in weight loss. All you need is a yoga mat and a quiet spot and you are ready to go.

If your New Year’s resolution was to eat healthier and be fit, then the Six Week Training app is a good choice. Does cranking out 100 push-ups and killing 200 squats seem impossible? Not with the Six Week Training App. In the app you can choose your challenge, perform an initial test and start the program geared to your fitness level. The app has a system of allowing you to schedule workout reminders and chart your progress to make sure you are on track to meet your goal. After multiple weeks you can choose to take a periodic progress test to ensure that you’re always training at the appropriate level.

If you can’t make it to the gym or go for a run or walk, there are apps made for the home. The Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout App helps you squeeze some exercise into your day at an intensity level that’s right for you. All you need is seven minutes, 11 if you add a warm-up and cool down, and a chair to complete a quick workout. A medium-intensity workout can include jumping jacks, pushups, wall chair, high-knee running in place, crunches, plank, side plank, triceps dips using a chair and a few other moves. The app coaches you through each move as it comes up in the workout.

If you are just starting to workout and don’t exactly know what type of exercises to do, FitStar is a great app for you to try. Duffy said, “FitStar creates custom workouts for you based on your fitness level. You start by doing a few workouts with the app, and you give it feedback as you go about which exercises were too tough, too easy or just right. The app uses that information to create a routine that challenges you in all the right ways.” The app has a workout buddy constantly giving positive feedback and coaching to get you through your workout.

SPORTS

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Pre-Workout Foods

Comfort Foods

Whole wheat toast with peanut or almond butter with sliced bananas and cinnamon: contains complex

Ice Cream:

Although Arctic Zero Frozen Desserts contain 150 calories, it also has 12 grams of protein and eight grams of fiber. Add fruit, nuts or other toppings for an extra push of energy.

carbs that will keep you moving. Adding fruit gives you extra energy. Cinnamon has also been shown to stabilize blood sugar and improve brain function.

Hot Chocolate:

Watermelon: buffers muscle fatigue, which allows you to

Cocoa is packed with antioxidants that reduce your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that makes your body hold on to belly fat. Also, hot chocolate’s combination of protein and carbs can help you recover from a hard workout.

push harder while training.

Apple wedges and banana with almond butter:

Bananas are very rich in fast-acting carbohydrates that provide energy and also supply potassium. This is perfect for working out because your body’s potassium level drops when doing physical activity, and this snack will help maintain muscle and nerve function.

Chicken Noodle Soup:

Eating a soup that is vegetable or broth based before a meal can cause you to consume fewer calories overall. The fact that eating soup takes a longer time than regular foods gives your body time to realize you are full. Chicken noodle soup is a good choice because it contains protein, vitamins and fiber, which are necessary for a quicker metabolism.

Egg whites: contain four grams of protein and no fat. Fruit smoothies: packed with high-quality protein, can be

Roasted Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes:

rapidly digested and have the key combination of simple and complex carbohydrates. They provide a steady stream of energy throughout a workout.

White potatoes contain a disease fighting chemical called allicin that fights inflammation in the body and contributes to a smaller waistline. Sweet potatoes can prevent sugar from getting stored around your waistline as fat. They are filled with fiber and prevent blood sugar from plummeting, all while keeping you from getting hungry.

Coffee: Caffeine generates more energy, slows down fatigue and increases the rate of fat-burn.

Facts on Snacks

Post-Workout Foods

BY KELLY BICKETT

t is hard to stay away from guilty pleasures like French fries, brownies, pizza or hamburgers; however, those foods are not always a bad thing. One of the first steps in becoming more fit and gaining better eating habits is also having a cheat day or a cheat meal. Taking a cheat day will not only calm your nerves but also will eventually improve your chances of choosing an apple over a cookie, because you know that you eventually have your cheat day. But with cheat days come consequences that you will have to make up for with healthier choices. However, sometimes the healthier choices aren’t as “disgusting” as they appear to be.

Mini Meals

Carbs and protein are very important to eat after your workout in order to decrease muscle protein breakdown, increase muscle protein synthesis, restore glycogen, the storage of carbohydrates in muscle tissue and enhance recovery.

Grilled Chicken and Mixed Vegetables:

contain lean protein and carbohydrates with fill you up without making you feel bloated. Veggies in olive oil are also a great option.

Chocolate Milk: filled with carbs and protein for

Greek Yogurt and Raspberries: great combination of healthy fats,

fiber and protein to fill you up. Also raspberries, which are high in Vitamin C, increase your body’s fat-burning ability.

Grapes and Nuts: A handful of grapes and nuts together create long-lasting energy and are filled with natural sugars, fiber, healthy fats and protein.

Kind Bars: A diet rich in whole grains can help you burn fat, and Kind Bars

muscle recovery, water content to replace the fluids you lost in your workout and sodium and sugar to help you recover faster and regain energy.

Salmon and Sweet Potato: packed with

protein perks and salmon has bioactive peptides which play a role in lessening inflammation and regulating insulin levels.

meet one-third of your daily whole grain needs. Kind Bars are gluten-free. However they have a lot of sugar content, so be mindful of what other sugar you are planning on eating.

Whole-Wheat Wrap with Turkey and Veggies: Grains, fiber, and veggies replenish your body’s

Veggie Plate: Cucumbers, olives, carrots, celery and hummus are all high in

Avocados: Avocados provide a healthy fat to

fiber, low in fat and pair perfectly for a snack that feels more like a meal that’ll keep you full for longer time.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

loss of energy and keeps your blood sugar levels steady. restore your energy and carbohydrate levels you have lost during your workout.

SPORTS

TACKLE: Junior Jules Bernard dives in for the ball in the game against Bishop Diego. DRIBBLE: Junior Jackson Hurley dribbles to basket in the game against Besant Hill. VOLLEY: Freshman Sully Bah volleys the ball.

Girls Soccer

BY ROSE HOUGLET

PHOTOS: ROSE HOUGLET & BRAD ELLIOTT

VARSITY itting on the bench, Varsity Girls Soccer Coach and History Instructor Kevin Shertzer cheered as junior Kelly Bickett kicked, who scored the team’s first goal in the first game against Dunn. Although the team lost this game 1-2, Shertzer commented on this game as a turning point: “We lost the game but I think the game showed us that you need passion, desire, and heart in order to succeed. It set up quite a battle in the second game, which we tied but when you play the same team again, it gives you a chance to measure how far you have come.” The team started off the season with some non-league losses against Carpinteria High School (0-3) and Bishop Diego (0-4), as well as some wins against Santa Clarita Christian High School (2-1) and Coast Union (1-0). The Owls also won against one of their unofficial rivals, Cate School, 3-2. When asked about the importance of this game, junior Tiffany Yabsley said, “There has been some kind of long internal lust for domination over them. I think it’s just that it’s tradition that we want to beat them, and they play dirty. Also, beating Cate proves to us how well we will do that season.” The team, last year’s Condor League champions, began the league this year with a tie (1-1) against Midland, quickly followed by a loss against Dunn (1-2) and a win against Ojai Valley (12-0). They also won their second game against Midland (3-0) and tied their second game against Dunn (2-2).

SPORTS

Throughout the season, the team also fought through numerous injuries — junior sweeper Clare Ogle with a knee injury, junior forward Brooklyn Kinsler also with a knee injury, freshman goalie Natalie McCaffrey with a broken foot halfway through the season, and a number of other minor injuries. Nonetheless, Varsity Assistant Coach Megan Roarty said, “We have endured some injuries, some of them have been more brief, some are season ending, but even though the girls who were injured haven’t been able to play, their presences have been felt throughout the season. They’ve gone to practice, sat on the sidelines and cheered, and I know that it has meant a lot to the girls who were able to play and to the whole team.” This year, the team was Co-League-Champions with Dunn School, and for the first time in Shertzer’s coaching, made it past the first round of CIF with a 5-1 win against Desert Christian. The season ended in a hard-fought game against Lennox Academy (1-1 until PK’s, where Lennox placed 2 goals to 0). When asked how it felt to make it that far, freshman Audrey Murphy said, “ I feel honored to be part of such an amazing team. I look forward to every practice and every game because of how fun it is to play with such a great group of girls. I think why we’ve made it so far (to CIF) is because of not only Mr. Shertzer’s coaching but the eagerness to play as a team. I love being a part of it, especially as a freshman.”

When asked what she will miss most about this team, co-captain and only senior Grace MacNeil said, “The camaraderie. You know, my favorite part of all the four years of soccer was just being around a bunch of excited and motivated girls and going out there and having fun. If I have a tough day at school, I know I can always count on my teammates to cheer me up on the field. Mr. Shertzer and Ms. Roarty (and Mr. Chiment!) have been the best coaches we could have asked for — their passion and drive to see us succeed has pushed all of us to try our very best.” JUNIOR VARSITY n the junior varsity team, the girls have been practicing and improving daily. For freshman co-captain Sydney Hlavaty, one of the most memorable parts of the season was when the whole team played practice games against the Junior Girls Varsity Soccer Coach Davies Kabogoza. Hlavaty said, “playing with Davies is kind of exhilarating actually because we get to go up against someone who has had years of practice, but truly does enjoy playing with us and tries his best to make it enjoyable.” Though they lost all three of their games, from water fights to focused practices, the JV Owls bettered their skills throughout the season, and junior co-captain Isabelle Davenport said “Although we didn’t have many games, we still had a great season. Davies is an amazing coach, and we all improved a lot because of him. Overall, we had a great time, and I am sad to see it come to an end.”

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Boys Basketball BY KELLY BICKETT

Boys Soccer

BY KELLY BICKETT

fter graduating five starting seniors, the boys’ basketball team had a lot of positions to fill. Fortunately for the Owls, many new freshmen, sophomores and juniors decided to play. The Owls had a lot of work cut out for them this season to prepare for a difficult league. In the league opener game, point guard and co-captain freshman Wells Fowler put up 13 points and forward co-captain junior Aidan O’Donnell added ten, but the Owls fell short against Orcutt losing 71-36. The Owls gained good game experience and recovered in their following games by losing to Foothill Tech only 47-30. In the Foothill Tech game, junior Jackson Hurley led the Owls with 11 points, nine of which were three-pointers. The turning point of the team’s season was the Besant Hill game, where the Owls came up short 60-56 after Besant Hill pulled ahead in the last 45 seconds. Hurley was hot from the three-point line, hitting seven and scoring a total of 25 points, with sophomore Ty Trosky adding 12. Coach Carlos Guerrero said about the players, “One thing that we can take from this season is that no matter what happens

in the course of the game, winning or losing, I can depend on each and every single one of them to play with heart, intensity and desire.” After the Besant Hill game, the boys bounced back and won their first game of the season against Dunn 65-55. Freshman Christian Branch was on fire from behind the arc, scoring five three-pointers in the third quarter and scoring 20 points overall. Hurley and freshman Spencer Turner hit seven three-pointers combined. The Owls continued with their momentum, beating Midland 80-37. Yet again, both Branch and Hurley dominated the three-point line, Branch with eight and Hurley with six. Branch ended the game with a high score of 32 and Hurley with 23. However, what played a huge role in those games was the Owls’ defense. They then beat Ojai Valley 60-44. The boys went 3-2 in league and overall 3-12. Wells Fowler said, “It was a building season because we lost a lot of good senior players. In the beginning we lost a lot of games, but we learned, worked and got better. Toward the end we started winning games, and now we are headed to the playoffs and we are excited.”

he boys soccer team was quite busy this year winning preseason matches. After losing in the second round of CIF last year, the boys bounced back quickly by beating Villanova Prep with a hat trick and two assists from junior Ethan Tyng. According to coach Gof Boyoko, “Fatta Koroma scored a pair of goals and was a constant threat to Villanova’s defense.” The Owls continue to impress and pulled a 2-1 victory in a thrilling match against rival Cate. At half time the Owls were down 1-0, but they came back in the second half. The team tied the game with a through ball from freshman Sulaiman Bah to Tyng, who chipped the ball over the goalie’s head. The pair matched up again to score the game winner. The Owls went 6-0 in preseason. In the Condor League, the team beat Ojai Valley, Midland and Oak Grove with ease; however, the boys suffered their first tie of the season against Dunn. The boys were losing 2-0 by the end of the first quarter. With determination, sophomore Josh Baron put one on the board; however, the Earwigs responded with another goal, making it 3-1. Baron added another goal, trying to get the Owls to tie the score, but again, the Owls fell behind by two after another goal from the Earwigs. Finally, in the last movements of the game, Tyng scored on a break away and a nerve-racking penalty kick to tie the score 4-4. The boys gained great experience and will build on what they have learned. Junior Alex Furukawa said, “It’s going good, but nothing matters until CIF. It’s great that we beat Cate, but I wish we could have beat Dunn, but we always have next year.” However, the Owl’s undefeated record came to a halt after falling short against Dunn 3-1 when they traveled up to Santa Ynez. So the team ended up taking second place in League, with an overall record of 9-1-1 and 3-1 in the Condor League. They have won their two first CIF games, 11-1 and 2-0.

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Boys Soccer Timeline 11.28.16 Santa Clara 4-3 12.02.16 Santa Clarita Christian 10-0

11.30.16 Villanova 7-2

12.07.16 Bishop Diego 5-1

12.10.16 Cate School 2-1 12.13.16 St. Bonaventure 6-2 01.06.17 Bishop Diego 3-1 01.11.17 Coast Union 6-0 01.13.17 Dunn 4-4 01.18.17 Oak Grove 7-0 01.25.17 Midland 7-1 02.01.17 Dunn 02.18.17 1-3 Academy of Career & Explorations 02.22.17 11-1 California Military Academy 2-0

SPORTS

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: HIC

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MENTAL HEALTH

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stance of the staff T

here’s a funny thing about mental illness: despite the fact that, in many cases, it’s life-shattering, it can be hidden relatively easily: a person with depression can just pass off his or her numbness as ‘having a bad day,’ and someone with chronic anxiety can pass off his or her fear as stress. But depression isn’t just one bad day. It’s hundreds upon hundreds of terrible days. Days when you feel unwanted, unliked, unneeded. And anxiety isn’t just being stressed out over an essay due the next day. It’s throwing up daily before you see your friends — afraid that they don’t like you. But if these illnesses are so terrible, why don’t you just say something? Why don’t you just get help? The answers to these questions lie in society’s twisted view of the mentally ill. Even though, according to the Kim Foundation, over 26.2 percent of US adults (that’s 1 in 4 people over the age of 18) are afflicted with some kind of mental illness in a given year, there’s still a stigma surrounding it. In fact, 9 out of 10 of those 26.2 percent have reported being discriminated against as a result of their illness. This prejudice says that it’s embarrassing to have a mental illness — in a survey taken in the UK, 80 percent of participants agreed with the statement “most people are embarrassed by mentally ill people.” And thus, worrying about their peers’ perceptions, the mentally ill choose to either ignore their symptoms or hide them. Of the mentally ill who are not being treated, embarrassment is cited as the main reason — they would rather suffer silently alone than risk having other people laugh at them. And this doesn’t just apply to anxiety and depression. There are countless types of disorders, with infinite subsections and spectrums for each one. These include (but are definitely not limited to) anxiety disorders, OCD, eating disorders, mood disorders, addiction and tic disorders. This raises a major problem: because people are too embarrassed (or afraid) to seek the help they need, their problems aren’t getting any better. Especially for people with depression, not being able to (or not wanting to) find help makes it hard for people to feel accepted and often results in isolation, which, when paired with self-harm, can make for a very dangerous situation. Additionally, finding help is not cheap, with most therapists charging over $100 per session and medications adding to the cost. And many of these services aren’t covered by insurance either. People honestly need to get over themselves. The mentally ill have real illnesses and need help and support. And they can’t get that help if they are ignored because nobody knows how to deal with them. We need to learn how to approach these people — how to help them — so that, in the long run, their quality of life and ability to function in today’s society can improve. Regardless of what we need to do, right now, mental illnesses are thought of as embarrassing and are often ignored making it very difficult for people afflicted with these diseases to seek help (which can be easily found), and many end up homeless or even dead. I guess it’s not so funny after all.

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The Self-Diagnosis Disorder This trend is literally depressing me. BY FIONA FLYNN // GRAPHICS: FIONA FLYNN

ime and time again, as I walk around campus, I hear students proclaiming “I have so much homework tonight. I think I’m depressed,” or “My OCD is coming out again!” Hearing these statements, I can’t help feeling a bit of shame and am left consulting the lack of education and ignorance the use of these words give off. Yes, everyone feels extremely sad, happy

MENTAL HEALTH

or anxious at times, but millennials, in particular, have integrated mental illness terminology into their vocabulary to such an extent that it’s almost unnoticeable, despite the harsh reality of these terms. However, although throwing in a few of these phrases during everyday conversation may seem harmless, it’s extremely damaging to those who actually struggle with these very real, very crippling diseases.

According to American Psychiatric Association, “Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/ or problems functioning in social, work or family activities.” By undermining the severity of these disorders, not only does it trivialize the seriousness of mental health issues, but it also

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adds to the stigma of these diagnoses that society already holds. Using mental disorders as adjectives isn’t an issue solely among Laguna students; it has also gained popularity in the media. Influencers such as the Kardashians are guilty of this self-diagnosis trend. In a video series called “KHLO-C-D,” Khloe Kardashian gives tips on stacking cookies in a jar adding, “You may say OCD is a disease, but I say it’s a blessing.” A blessing? Is washing and scrubbing your hands under scalding water to the point that they bleed a blessing? Is staying up all night worrying about that one thing in your cupboard that shouldn’t be there a blessing? Is persistently locking and relocking your door everyday for half an hour because you believe something horrible will happen if you don’t a blessing? Kylie Jenner is also guilty of expressing these illnesses incorrectly by tweeting “I miss my black hair I’m so bipolar.” American model Hailey Baldwin tweeted, “Soooooo OCD about my apartment.” Remarks like these contribute to the problem. When people joke around loosely saying that they have a mental disorder when describing the way they are feeling, they weaken the seriousness of the disorder and perpetuate stereotypes. Using terms like depressed, bipolar and anorexic in a light manner takes away the importance of these debilitating mental conditions and ignores the struggles people with real diagnoses go through. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, roughly “one in five adults in the U.S. experiences mental illness in a given year.” So, although you may not know it, when you frivolously use these terms as adjectives, you may be belittling one of your friends’ reality. Furthermore, the use of these terms stigmatizes and adds to the stereotypes that these issues already have. Because mental disorder symptoms are already hard to understand, many people don’t take these illnesses seriously, especially in comparison to physical illnesses. When expressions such as insomnia are used in everyday conversations, it adds to the notion that mental health problems aren’t valid, therefore causing those who may actually suffer from an illness not to seek help.

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An anonymous source who is actually diagnosed with OCD shares a small insight into one of the daily struggles of having this disorder. “[Falsely claiming to have a mental disorder] sounds stupid saying it next to a person who for about a year was 15 minutes late to school because he had to touch all sides of his shower walls multiple times before he could touch his shower door, to keep it all even and symmetrical, over and over again.” He goes onto say, “The worst part is that because of these people, it is so hard to tell even your friends about what is going on with you.” Feeling stressed out about your homework

— so learn more about these disorders before you talk about them and find other words to describe how you’re feeling. However, if you do feel like you might have a mental illness, seek help, not attention. Mental disorders are not a fad. They are not fun. They are not quirky. Saying you are bipolar because you are indecisive or you have depression because you are feeling down is like saying you’re paralyzed because you broke your finger. Until the day people start saying “I’m so Ebola!” or “My diabetes is coming out,” I urge you to use a different word.

does not make you depressed. Color coordinating your notes does not mean you have OCD. Having mood swings doesn’t make you bipolar. Feeling worried about a dance doesn’t mean you have anxiety. And staying up till 1:00 a.m. does not make you an insomniac. You don’t have a mental illness, you’re just ignorant. Psychological disorders are legitimate illnesses that impact every aspect of a person’s life and certainly shouldn’t be taken lightly

MENTAL HEALTH

Maintaining Mental Health BY JULIA FAY // GRAPHIC: SONYA KOTLER “We need, ultimately, to be able to view mental health with the same clear-headedness we show when talking about physical health,” said Matt Haig. Mental health is often over looked when compared to physical health, but it is equally as important. Poor mental health can lead to a variety of disorders that affect millions of people worldwide, some of which are depression and anxiety. Below are simple ways to maintain good mental health. Practice Gratitude

Value Yourself

Try meditation

Studies have shown that practicing gratitude on a daily basis can make you happier, lower stress, protect you from depression, help you sleep better, boost your immune system and improve your relationships. Practicing gratitude helps you focus on the positive aspects of your life instead of the negative ones. Learn to say no Don’t feel like you need to say yes to everything people ask you to do. There is only so much time in the day, and you should be able to spend it any way you like. Learning to say no can allow you to try new things and spend time on the things you truly want to do.

Quiet Your Mind

Meditation, in a way, is the equivalent of exercise for our brains. It has been scientifically proven to assist in mental health maintenance, improve our memory, empathy and sense of self. A study done by Harvard researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital found that meditating for as little as eight weeks significantly changed the brain’s grey matter–– a large part of the central nervous system. Grey matter is associated with processing information and providing nutrients and energy to neurons. This is why scientists believe meditation has shown evidence of improving memory etc. Your brain needs time to process information, and meditation is a great way to relax both the mind and body. Write in a journal

Acknowledge your talents and strong suits Many of us are acutely aware of the weaknesses that restrict us and are just as unaware of our inherent talents and abilities. Focusing on weaknesses contributes to feelings of self-loathing, failure and discouragement. This is why it is crucial to recognize your strengths. Do something you’re good at to build self-confidence, then tackle a tougher task. Manage your time When life gets busy, things tend to pile up especially fast. Time management isn’t about getting everything done, it’s about having enough time for the things that matter to you most. Time management is a skill necessary for achieving better quality of life. By managing your time more efficiently, you will get all the most important things done and still have enough time to relax. Being an effective time manager takes organization and practice. Each day, make a plan for what you need to accomplish. Plan what time you will work on each task, and estimate roughly how long you think it will take you. Then make a to-do list and cross off each thing after you complete it.

Writing accesses the left side of your brain, which is analytical and rational. While your left brain is occupied, your right brain is free to create and feel. Writing allows you to use all of your brainpower to better understand yourself and the world around you, as well as to remove mental blocks. This is why journaling can be an incredibly valuable tool to maintain good mental health. In order to get the most out of this activity, write in a journal everyday. Include three things you were grateful for and three things you were able to accomplish each day. In addition, write about any positive or negative experiences you had and reflect on how they made you feel. Take a bath once a week It is recommended that people take their baths right before bed because warm baths promote sleep and relaxation. Baths are a great way to relax and contemplate anything that’s on your mind. If you have aching muscles, taking a warm bath acts as a “hot pack” and increases the temperature of the aching muscles which blocks pain sensors and produces pain relief. In addition, try adding Epsom salts to soothe aches and pains and help boost magnesium levels, which can be depleted by stress.

Practice having a positive body image

Take 30 minutes to go for a walk

Body image and self-esteem start in the mind, not in the mirror. Having a healthy body image is more than just tolerating your looks. A healthy body image means you are able to truly accept your appearance and recognize the individual qualities that make you feel good about yourself beyond things like weight or shape. Self-esteem is how you value and respect yourself as a person–– it’s more about your whole self, not just your body.

Research shows that being in nature can increase energy levels, reduce depression and boost well-being. Taking a short walk in nature can allow you to clear your mind and focus on the pleasant parts of your life.

MENTAL HEALTH

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Cope with Stress

Take Care of Your Body

Let your emotions out

Eat nutritious meals

It’s okay to cry. Releasing your emotions is much healthier than holding them all in. Holding in your feelings can lead to physical complications, such as headaches and high blood pressure, while releasing them can provide a sense of relief. Tears caused by stress help the body get rid of chemicals that raise cortisol, the stress hormone. A good cry can also be relieving, even if our circumstances still remain the same. Crying is known to release stress hormones or toxins from the body, and as a result, reduces tension.

This is a very important part of maintaining your health on a mental and physical level. According to the National Health Service, a balanced diet consists of modest food portions from all the major food groups. Make sure to include fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grain items, legumes and limited amounts of sugary and high-fat foods. The NHS also recommends eating high-fiber and starchy items to fuel the body throughout the day. Other foods to work into your diet are omega-3 fatty acids because they are linked to decreased rates of depression and schizophrenia among other things and also build healthy gut bacteria.

Dance Dancing improves your heart health, overall muscle strength, coordination and reduces depression. If you are struggling with depression, consider dance as a form of therapy. While it should never replace seeking out help from a professional, it can be a great tool to stay healthy. A formal dance class, exercise class, or even alone in your room could be enough to make a difference. A study done in Switzerland tested 100 teenage girls struggling with anxiety and depression, and had half of them take a dance class while the others continued on with their normal, daily life. Those who took the class improved their mental health and reported a boost in their mood. These positive effects lasted up to eight months after the dance classes ended. The researchers concluded dance could result in a very positive experience for participants and could potentially contribute to sustained new healthy habits.

Surround Yourself with Good People

Drink enough water Drinking water is the key to feeling vitalized and healthy. It also helps maintain the balance of healthy fluids in your body, energize your muscles, control calories, relieve fatigue and flush toxins out, among other things. Anytime you’re feeling lightheaded or dizzy, water should be a go-to solution. Your body uses water in all its cells, organs and tissues to help regulate its temperature and maintain other bodily functions. Your body loses water through everyday actions like breathing, sweating and digestion, so it’s important to rehydrate by drinking fluids and eating foods that contain water. Exercise Endorphins are magical. When you exercise, your brain releases these “feel-good” chemicals, giving you an instant mood boost. Additionally, try to take your workout outdoors.

Talk to trusted people about your problems

Sleep more

Acknowledging your problems and talking about them out loud helps your brain process information. In addition, other people can help you figure out solutions to your problems and support you in times of need.

A good night’s sleep can improve memory, spur creativity, sharpen attention, help to maintain a healthy weight, lower stress and depression and boost your metabolism. The optimal temperature for sleep is between 60˚ and 67˚ Fahrenheit, so remember to keep it cool.

Take time to laugh Hang out with a funny friend, watch a comedy or check out cute videos online. Laughter helps reduce anxiety and relaxes your whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after. It also decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, therefore helping your body to fight disease. Practice forgiveness Even if it’s just forgiving that person who cut you off during your commute. People who forgive have better mental health and report feeling more satisfied with their lives. Hug someone you trust A simple hug releases the hormone oxytocin which can lower blood pressure and make you feel happier after just a few seconds. Hugging a close friend can also make you feel safe and secure, which will help to reduce stress.

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Go on a digital detox Leave your smartphone at home for a day and disconnect from constant emails, alerts and other interruptions. Spend time doing something fun with someone face-to-face. Travel It could be camping with friends or a trip to the tropics. The act of planning a vacation and having something to look forward to can boost your overall happiness for up to eight weeks! Try something new If you keep doing things the same way you always have, it is easy to fall into a rut. Experiment with a new recipe, write a poem, paint a picture or try a Pinterest project. With practice and persistence, you’ll be able to gain a new skill or hobby to add to your repertoire. This can make you feel great and give you more confidence, as well as get you out of your boring routine.

MENTAL HEALTH

Silence Kills S

ubstance abuse is a huge issue in America. The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that around “570,000 people die annually in the U.S. due to drug abuse.” People become addicted to drugs because they begin using drugs to hide and cover up their feelings. Drugs makes them feel good and let them forget about anything dark or serious in their lives. Eventually, they think they can't go on or deal with their daily lives without drugs. According to a 2010 government survey, “22 million people in the U.S. are suffering from an illegal drug abuse problem.” Addiction is often treated as a crime in America. Drug addicts get sent to jail rather than to rehabilitation programs. Having an addiction should be treated more like having a disease or a mental illness. In this sense, drug use and mental illness are intertwined.

“570,000 people die annually in the U.S. due to drug abuse” — National Institute on Drug Abuse Within the problem of substance abuse, one of the worst issues we face as a society is the abuse of prescription medication. The problem with prescription medication is that it's everywhere in our culture. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the most commonly abused prescription drugs are, “Hydrocodone (Vicodin), Oxycodone, Diazepam (Valium), Alprazolam (Xanax), Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and Amphetamines like Adderall.” The average teenager can take a look into his or her parents med-

MENTAL HEALTH

icine cabinet and find these dangerous, even lethal drugs. The fact that prescription drugs are so accessible is part of the problem. We, as the human race, are a medicated people. Many people believe that painkillers and anxiety medications like Xanax aren't addictive. The problem with any of these drugs is that the more addicted you get, the more of the drug you need to achieve the same high. The more of the drug you take, the more harmful it is to your body. It will get to a point where you are taking such a large quantity of the said drug, that you overdose. At this rate, if you try and go cold turkey and attempt to stop taking the drug entirely, you can die from withdrawals. Like all narcotics, these prescription medications can negatively affect your heart, brain and body. Adderall is used by college students in the thousands to stay up late and study. In fact, Adderall can cause irregular heart beats and seizures. A study conducted at Bates College found that “one in every three students had abused Adderall at some point.” Kids are asking their peers who have prescriptions of the so-called ‘study drug’ to sell it to them. Another commonly abused drug is the pain medication Vicodin, which can restrict breathing. Xanax is used by teenagers to party and is often combined with alcohol. Both alcohol and Xanax affect the central nervous system. Taken independently, the two drugs are calming and relaxing. However, when used together, the effect is multiplied and people are overly sedated. The two drugs on top of each other can literally cause you to stop breathing and die. All of these drugs are clearly dangerous, and they are a serious cause for concern. People take drugs for many different reasons. To party, to numb themselves, to fit in, to change their perception of the world or to escape from reality. Whatever ones reason is for taking drugs, it often comes from a place of intense darkness and pain. The truth is that our world, our reality is a scary, haunted place, and for many, it's easier to live within the fantasy world that drugs can create. However, these drugs are only a short-term fix. Once they wear off, once you sober up, the harshness of reality sets back in and you are back to where you started. This is similar to the struggle faced by people with depression and anxiety. They fight to endure life every single day. In our modern-day society, many people with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, many other mental illnesses and, of course, people with drug addictions are ostracized, with no one caring how they feel. Many people with mental illness are robbed of their ability to tell the difference between fantasy and reality. They look in the mirror and do not see themselves. They do not recognize the world that they are living in, and they do not know how to deal with it. The sad truth of our world is no matter how much people love each other, people do not always want to hear other people’s problems. People do not want to face the madness and darkness. They want to live in blissful ignorance of anyone who is sad or depressed or addicted to drugs. They do not want their lives to be hindered by others’ problems because many human beings are selfish. John Green and David Levithan, in their novel Will Grayson, perfectly sum up this idea when they write, “no one really [cares] one way or another, unless we choose to bring a gun to school or ruin the morning announcements with a suicide.” People love to act like they care, but for the most part, they don’t. This indifference is a large reason why so many addicts are sent to jail and not sent to receive help. It's also the reason so many people who suffer from handicaps like drug addictions and mental disor-

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ders end up homeless. Because no one is there for them. Now this isn't to say that humans don't have the capacity for empathy. We, as a people, have two choices, to love and to care for those around us or to just act like we do. The problem is that there are too many people who are so obsessed with and consumed by greed and power and wealth that they don't care for the people struggling all around them. There are too many people who are only kind to one another because society tells them to be. There are too many people who only ever do the bare minimum to help and will stop helping whenever it inconveniences them. There are too many selfish people. Overall, drug abuse is a serious issue within our country, as are mental health disorders. Prescription drugs being used recreationally is dangerous and people are not informed about the seriousness of the issue. While it's also true that drug abuse and mental health disorders are often genetic issues, passed down from generations of misunderstood and ostracized people, the root of these problems stem from places of darkness and fear. People feel isolated and as if no one really cares for them. Because of this, they resort to drugs or simply can't take it anymore and fall into the dark spiral of depression or insanity. This leads to the bigger problem in our world. That too many people are making the wrong choice. They are choosing to be overwhelmed by selfish ideals and are so obsessed with themselves that they don't truly care about others. The world is a hard enough place to live in as it is. If more people could only see this and start caring and accepting others, we would live in a society of peace and grace as opposed to one of hate and prejudice.

50%

of teens believe that prescription drugs are much safer than illegal street drugs.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Foundation For A Drug Free Wold

BY LUKE SMILLIE

PHOTOS: LUKE SMILLIE

65%

of teens say that home medicine cabinets are their source of drugs.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Foundation For A Drug Free World

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MENTAL HEALTH

Somefin Needs to Be Done Become an educated consumer, the industry won’t change unless you make it change.

auled on deck, the shark wriggles to free itself from the large hook jammed in its mouth. It is kept still by boots and small hand-held knives driven into it’s flesh to keep it from sliding around. Its fins are individually hacked off its writhing body. With all of its fins crudely removed, the shark is shoved off deck back into the ocean, where it slowly sinks to the bottom. Unable to move water over its gills, the shark is eaten alive by other fish as it slowly suffocates and bleeds out. This disturbing image isn’t part of a gruesome fiction book, it’s a growing industry called shark finning. Over 8,000 tons of shark fins are processed each year and, because fins only account for a mere four percent of a shark’s body weight, 200,000 tons of shark are being tossed back in the ocean to die. According to National Geographic, 73 million sharks are killed annually for just their fins. So, why are shark fins such a commodity? In Chinese culture, shark fin soup has traditionally been associated with virility, longevity and high societal status. As China’s population has generally grown more affluent, the high prices of shark fin soup are no longer as daunting, and the demand for shark has grown. Also, shark fins are often served at formal events to show wealth and affluence to guests.

BY JULES BERNARD GRAPHIC: JULES BERNARD

OPINION-EDITORIAL

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http://www.wildaid.org/sharks GRAPHIC: JACK STEIN

All over the world, shark fin soup is sold by Chinese vendors as a foreign delicacy, enticing uneducated locals and tourists to buy an inhumanly killed product. The fin itself is tasteless cartilage that adds more health threats than benefits.

Health Threats

ecause sharks are high on the trophic pyramid, meaning they eat other large carnivorous fish, they contain high levels of mercury that accumulate in their blood and fins. The process of drying and treating shark fins to go into shark fin soup further concentrates the mercury to dangerous levels, making it more harmful for human consumers. The World Health Organization, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (and others) warn against the adverse effects associated with shark meat and mercury poisoning.

Economic Value

esides being a health risk and inhumane, in a study conducted by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, scientists found that each individual reef shark in the protected waters of Palau generated about $179 thousand tourist dollars each year. This means that in a typical reef shark’s lifespan, just one shark can generate $1.9 million in ecotourism.

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When compared to the $108 dollar-market value of a reef shark fin, these sharks are worth more alive than dead. This is just one community, but if we extrapolate this data to global communities, sharks are an investment. In 2004 alone, shark ecotourism contributed $78 million to just the Bahamian economy, as stated by the University of Miami. And, according to Oceana, the shark ecotourism industry is expected to double in the next 20 years and generate $780 million per year on the global scale. It’s economically and ecologically in our best interest to abolish the shark finning industry. Sharks are vital to all oceanic systems: without sharks, fish overpopulate and consume mass quantities of eel grass and coral algae, and have the potential to decimate already fragile ecosystems. Additionally, the weak and sickly fish that would be weeded out of the mating pool by sharks repopulate and weaken the overall health of the ocean’s fish species.

Research Value

harks are also essential to researchers as apex predators because they serve as ocean health indicators. When animals are at the top of their respective food chains, their individual health can indicate the health of the entire food chain they consumed.

We need sharks in our oceans, not in our soup bowls.

So, What Can You Do?

he good news is, for us as American citizens, it is illegal to fish for shark fins in United States waters. The bad news is, the buying and selling of shark fins is mandated by state, and only a few have laws against it, and, even in those states, you can still find stores that openly sell fins. There is a Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016 that has been brought to Congress in hopes that a national law can be set outlawing the trade of shark fins. You can support it at change.org with the petition, “Congress: Support the Federal Shark Fin Elimination Act and Save Sharks Without Exemption.” There are airlines that ship shark fins to vendors in other countries, so try to fly on airlines that have policies against the transportation of shark fins – United Airlines, Air Pacific, Korean Airlines and others. Boycott FedEx because they ship shark fins within the United States. Support UPS which has banned shark fin shipping worldwide. If you find yourself at an event or restaurant serving shark fin soup you can contact the International Humane Society at iho@ hsi.org and they will take action.

OPINION-EDITORIAL

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Cat Calls From the Perspective of a 17-year-old Girl

BY CARINA TEDESCO GRAPHIC: CARINA TEDESCO

t may seem paradoxical, but receiving compliments from strangers on the street lowers my self confidence significantly. Unlike some women who view catcalls as complimentary ego boosts — for example, New York Post journalist Doree Lewak, who wrote the infamous “Hey, Ladies — Catcalls are Flattering! Deal with it” — I find them frightening, objectifying and truly blood boiling. To the man who followed me, a then 15-year-old girl, on a State Street side-street continuously asking, “Are you a cheerleader?”: I am not, nor have I ever been a cheerleader, although my bare legs in shorts on an 80-degree August morning led you to believe it was reasonable to inquire. It was not reasonable to inquire, and your comments left me feeling sick to my stomach for the rest of the day. “I resent the notion that it is okay to make someone feel like a sexual object,” said Head of Upper School, Lolli Lucas. And catcalls are exactly that — a condoned method by which men are able to dehumanize women of all ages. After balancing chemical equilibriums in AP Chemistry and analyzing and implementing historical documents into long essays in AP United States History, one objectifying comment from a middle-aged man on the street makes me, a high school girl, feel like my worth is no more than my body — like my intellect, hard-work, wit and compassion are meaningless. So it is because of this that I find catcalls so unnerving. I have never been physically harassed by a stranger on the street, (excluding the one time I got punched in the face by a drunk woman in Italy while eating gelato, but that’s another story) and to be honest, although my heartbeat does speed up when catcalled, a large part of me knows that on a public street in broad daylight, it is unlikely a catcaller would get physical. But the fact that men can, at any time, equate my self worth to my sexuality, infuriates me. Christine Sisto, an editorial associate for the National Review wrote in an article titled, “No, Catcalling is Definitely not Flattery” that “According to a report by Stop Street Harassment, 65 percent of women have experienced ‘at least one type’ of street harassment in their lifetimes. 57 percent of those women say they have been harassed before age 17… (How does that make you feel, dads?) 57 percent of all women have experienced verbal harassment, and 41 percent of all women have experienced physically aggressive forms of street harassment. That’s a lot of ‘compliments.’” Sisto goes on to explain that these ‘compliments’ are really opportunities for a catcaller to achieve power. This ego boost that comes with identifying a woman as an object should no longer be accepted. The commonly acknowledged getout-of-jail-free card that ‘men will be men’ and ‘boys will be boys,’ needs to be eliminated. After hearing strong negative opinions on catcalling from high school girls, I went on to see if this trend continued when asking high school boys their perspectives on the same topic.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

However, no matter how hard I searched, I initially could not find a high school boy who condemned catcalling. Many brushed it off as something they had no knowledge of or something that “doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.” Some boys even said they do it themselves, as “just something my friends and I do as a joke.” I started to lose hope until I spoke to junior Javier Abrego, who said about catcalling, “I’ve never witnessed it, but if you have the audacity to objectify women and shout disrespectful things at women, you should get some help.” Following my interview with Javier, I spoke to sophomore Oliver Heyer and junior Sasha Hsu, who both had similar responses to Javier’s. From speaking with teachers and students and researching online, I realized that the catcalling culture will only be stopped if we teach our sons and daughters how to treat people, before we teach them how to react to the ways others treat us. No matter how many women come together to speak out, nothing will change, because catcallers get their power through the reactions of their victims. This is why, instead of focusing on telling our daughters how to react to catcalls or how to perceive catcalls as

“I resent the notion that it is okay to make someone feel like a sexual object.”— Lolli Lucas flattering, we need to focus on teaching our sons that it is not okay to seek power through the intimidation and objectification of women. Only then will this underlying allowance of derogatory behavior be eradicated, allowing women to feel more like equal human beings than window-shop merchandise. In the comments section of an article I read, in which a female Harvard University student, Lily Calcagnini, addressed “The Insidious Problem of Catcalling,” I spotted a comment from an anonymous user, which I found to be particularly distasteful. On catcalling, the user rebutted: “It is unpleasant, but it is a compliment even if unpleasant and unwanted. Cheer up-- in 20 years or less you will be invisible.” To the anonymous author of this comment, I say that in 20 years or less, neither the female author of the article who attends one of the top universities in the country, nor I will in any way be invisible. In 20 years or less, I will be making a difference in whichever field I find to be my passion, pushing myself to create change and influence and inspire others. Although I will not look as youthful, and therefore stereotypically attractive, as the comment implies, I will most certainly not be an anonymous, anti-feminist internet troll, because you, @‘63, are invisible.

OPINION-EDITORIAL

SMALL WORDS. BIG IMPACT. The racism we all overlook. BY CLARA HILLIS

OPINION-EDITORIAL

THE FOURTH ESTATE

olumbia professor Derald Sue defines microaggressions as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.” In other words, a transgression not as blatant as a hate crime, and one that has enough deniability — “It was a joke!” — to be considered excusable. Because of the desensitization our generation has undergone to various racial slurs (“n****r” and “bea**r” are dropped in everyday speech), microaggressions are difficult to spot at first. A microaggression isn’t intentionally hurtful. But to be on the receiving end of one stings and leaves you to wonder: should you speak up? A microaggression can come in many flavors: mocking, appropriating, patronizing and fetishizing, to name a few. It’s the racism that seeps into our regular conversation and reinforces stereotypes and discriminating behavior. An obvious offense is making fun of another’s race (so obvious, in fact, that it might qualify as a full-fledged aggression instead of a micro one). This might include imitating a person’s accent or mocking one’s physical appearance: “I look so Asian,” someone laughs when they’re caught blinking in a photo, or someone mimics and exaggerates a Mexican accent for comic effect. Racist mimicry takes the shape of cultural appropriation, as well. Appropriating isn’t necessarily the same as mocking, as its main purpose is not to be funny. The issue here is that appropriating another’s culture typically disrespects it by making light of honored traditions just because they’re trendy. Every Halloween there’s at least one “Sexy Indian Princess” dressed in something skimpy barely resembling traditional Native American clothing. If the person was wearing this out of respect for the outfit’s original purpose, it would be a different story. More often than not, though, this is not the case. A more benevolent form of microaggressions is patronizing – I say benevolent because most of the time, the aggressor’s intention is to be helpful. Patronizing most often manifests as treating a person of color as if he or she doesn’t speak the native language or doesn’t understand local customs.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

While there is a time and place for helping someone learn, it is condescending to make an assumption that a person is unfamiliar with English based purely on race or appearance. Social Science Instructor and Head of Middle School Stephen Chan recalls how people frequently “compliment” him on how well he speaks English. “For me, [I] might be having a great conversation with somebody, and then they come out with that: ‘You speak English really well,’” Chan said. “And all of a sudden, I feel like I’ve been diminished in their eyes in some way, and it puts me on the defensive. So, the conversation no longer feels like it’s among equals, because now I feel I’ve been put in the position where I have to defend myself or justify myself.”

“It just gets in your head, whether it’s logical or not, whether it’s true or not, I still think about it. I think about it a lot.” — Stephen Chan Another form of microaggression that hits close to home is racial fetishizing. Let’s take, for example, the common admissions of “I’d love to sleep with a black guy,” or “Asian girls are hot.” This isn’t the same thing as having an innocent preference in partners; it’s an othering, and it reduces a person to nothing more than their race.

ally hard because on the one hand, you don’t want to react in a way that’s overly dramatic, but on the other, you want to inform the person how hurtful that is. She added, “I don’t know what age you have the strength and the stamina to do that . . . Because to be the person of color and always be the person educating is a really tough position to be in. “There were only five black kids in my entire middle school, and so in most of my classes I was by myself and I didn’t want to be the voice of my race . . . I always questioned, ‘Should I be doing more? Should I tell somebody? Should I try to explain?’” So what really is the problem with microaggressions? Hurt feelings? Yes and no. Microaggressions create a sense of alienation for their victims. Once you are conscious of microaggressions, comments that once seemed small begin to feel enormous. “The fact that I think about these things is the insidious nature of microaggressions,” Chan said. “It just gets in your head, whether it’s logical or not, whether it’s true or not, I still think about it. I think about it a lot.” This feeling of isolation, and borderline paranoia, contributes to a larger problem of white supremacy. If it seems that the perpetrators of microaggressions are white people, it is because, in our society, people of color are systematically disadvantaged and discriminated against. Racism cannot be eradicated if attitudes don’t change first, and microaggressions are at the root of these attitudes. They send the message: “You are not like us. You are outside us and beneath us.”

n a personal note, racial fetishizing has perhaps affected me the most among said transgressions. Recently, I became aware of conversation within my circle of friends where boys I’ve talked to were being teased about having “yellow fever.” That is, a fetish for Asian girls. Hearing this reminds me that there are people who continue to talk about me, and other people of color, as if we didn’t belong — like we exist outside of a core white community — and who make me feel like my worth comes only from those who “have a thing for Asians.” Head of Upper School Lolli Lucas weighs in, explaining the hardships of addressing these concealed insults. “It’s difficult to withstand it and not know how to respond to it. And I also think it’s re-

PHOTOS: CARINA TEDESCO GRAPHIC: CLARA HILLIS

OPINION-EDITORIAL

ANONYMITY KILLS BY PETER SMITH

GRAPHIC: JACK STEIN

ho doesn’t love social media? It allows us to see what our friends are up to, see babies grow and it gives us a window into people’s thoughts, dreams and hopes for the future. But others love social media for the wrong reasons. There are those who strive to abuse the power of the internet, those who use the internet and the anonymity it provides for them to bully and harass others. Anonymity allows for people to hide behind usernames and false identities. It is under these identities that people can act irrationally and cruelly. “The research has shown that we are definitely different online when we are anonymous — when a name is not attached to us than if a name actually is,” said AP Psychology instructor Megan Roarty. Is the behavior that someone exhibits online when they are anonymous good or bad? Bad, for the most part. “If someone is responding to, let’s say, a political article, people tend to be more outspoken, use stronger language, or can be meaner,” Roarty said. This change in personality can be traced back to online anonymity.

OPINION-EDITORIAL

It can come to a point where an online persona is totally disassociated with the person behind it. How a person acts online is sometimes very different than how he/she acts in real life. They might say things online that they would never say at the dinner table. A couple of months ago, in very late December, while scrolling through my Instagram feed, I happened to notice an Instagram Live icon pop up. As I opened it, I witnessed a horrific display of bullying. On the live stream, people, some of whom I knew quite well, were harassing the live streamer. They were telling him to kill himself, to humiliate himself, and called him the most repulsive names. I was shocked, mainly because some of the people I knew, were nice respectable people, would never say such awful things in person. But they were doing this to a person whom they did not know well. This story demonstrates the impact of online anonymity on genuinely nice people. It gives people the freedom to harass others,

while escaping any repercussions whatsoever. Although people can be horrible when they are anonymous online, there is a great deal of good online that anonymity can provide. Being anonymous can provide freedom of speech with little to no social repercussions. “Some researchers found that [online anonymity] allows people to be a little more creative, to think outside the box,” said Roarty. As true as this may be, the risks of being anonymous online outweigh the benefits. The overarching psychological impact on the anonymous can be devastating. After becoming an online bully to just one person, it’s hard to be objective. Bullies eventually target more people. The best way to combat hurtful online anonymity is to be aware. A study by the Pew Research Center concludes that people who are more active online have a statistically higher chance of being targeted by anonymous online adolescents. One solution to stopping online bullying is to look out and stay sharp. If you witness attacks, report and block the attackers. If you do that, the attackers become powerless.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

veryone knows you should never poke sion.” an anthill. Since high school, Lolli has looked up These once calm creatures erupt into a to female role model Lorraine Hansberfrenzy, quickly becoming a seething black ry, saying “She was a poet, screenwriter, a mass in search of whatever upset them, writer, and she part of the Harlem Renaissending a pang of fear into even the most sance. She wrote a number of pieces about ferocious creatures. A mass of mobilized ants the struggle of women, particularly black turns into something impossible to ignore. women, and how to be inspired. So I’ve Recent political events have poked the always been inspired by her writing in terms anthill. Instead of ants, it’s women streamof the challenges she obviously faced. She ing out from all parts of the world, joining also wrote one of my favorite pieces, called together with fearless determination. The “To Be Young, Gifted and Black.” There is a threat to female rights established a century short poem she wrote in the beginning, and ago galvanizes women all around the globe it is in every one of my journals, so it’s an to campaign for not only their own rights, inspirational piece for me personally.” but also for the rights of the women who Chemistry instructor Katherine Pointcame before. er looks to more familial role models. “It In a single day, female role models of would be my mom, her sister, and my all generations, whether they be mothers, grandma. They all personified different leaders or human right advocates, gathered parts of what I think it means to be a strong together to inspire, fight, and rally for huwoman. My aunt has two man rights and justice. Within our own community, female role models shape current thinking and discussion. When Upper School Head Lolli Lucas spoke of her four role models: her mother, Gloria Steinem, Lorraine Hansberry, and BY KATHRYN NORRIS Mary McLeod Bethune, she said, “I think they were all very strong-willed and they had a lot of confidence and power. doctorate degrees and was the president of There was also a lot of conflict, so it was a college, my grandma went to college and tough for them to be in the roles they were got a masters degree long before that was in. So it was helpful for me to admire what the norm for women. And they all three they were going through and realize that I have encouraged me to be who I want to was going to face challenges as a woman, be, as opposed to any specific vision of who but I know other people who have gotten society says I should be.” through it.” Perhaps the most enduring quality of a When history instructor Richard Narole model is to inspire and guide the next than mentioned his female role models: his generation. AP Psychology and Academic mother, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Theresa Services instructor Meghan Roarty has one and former Prime Minister of Pakistan role model in particular: Michelle Obama. Benazir Bhutto he said, “I’d say in their difObama has recently crossed cultures and fering ways they’ve influenced me in terms generations with her inspirational messages of tolerance and open-mindedness. And in and leadership. “She is someone that [sic] the case of my mother, she instilled in me a embodies a good human being that you determination to make the most of my life: would want to be like,” Roarty said. “She Don’t waste the talents that I have, use them wants to make a positive change and I in some way that’ll express who you are and think she’s so genuine. Like she says, ‘to rise give you satisfaction but will also give some above,’ and I think that’s a really important degree of pleasure and a degree of compasmessage right now.”

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Because of the influence role models have had on their lives, faculty strive to meet or exceed the lessons passed on to them. “Strive to be as successful as you can be and do not be intimidated by any pressures or obstacles you encounter, knowing that the process of history is in your favor. We are going in the right direction even if it’s taking us a while to get there. But never lose a sense of compassion,” Nathan said. “Always seek to fulfill yourself to the best you can but always have that concern for other people.” For Roarty it’s all about kindness and improvement. “As a role model, to be able to show kindness, strength and to encourage people to try to be better, to reach their full potential,” Roarty said. A lot of good comes from when you first start with yourself and feel good about yourself — you can create change after that.” Teachers impart their wisdom, beliefs and hopes on their students. I asked teachers what they hoped their enduring lessons would be. “On the one hand, I hope that I’m able to show young women that careers in science are open to them so they can see themselves in that world,” Pointer said. “But on the other hand, I hope that I can be a person of integrity who cares and models what it means to do a job well and to care for other people.” The lessons and legacies passed down to recent generations offers a platform for worldwide protests and a foundation for common unity on progressive female rights. The battles, and the hard-won successes of past generations, have stimulated current female protest efforts. The fear of not living up to previous role models, combined with the responsibility of leading future generations, is perhaps the main incentive for contemporary marches. And as ants instinctively swarm together to fight for their homes, women will continue to fight for basic human rights, just as so many women have done before us. We will all go marching on.

OPINION-EDITORIAL

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS: (from left to right) Juniors Abby Corpuz, Rose Houglet, Sydney Edgecomb and Clay Rodgers pose as the march comes to an end.

BY ROSE HOUGLET PHOTOS: AURA CARLSON, ROSE HOUGLET & JULIA RODGERS

f you had to guess why four teenagers from Santa Barbara were heading down to Los Angeles on a Friday night, you probably wouldn’t say to protest for equal rights the next morning. However, that is how juniors Clay Rodgers, Sydney Edgecomb, Abby Corpuz and I spent Saturday, Jan. 21, with an estimated 750,000 other people. We were not the only Owls who attended the march — seniors Clara Hillis, Natasha Heyer and Luke Smillie, as well as science instructor Staci Richard, also traveled down to Los Angeles. Organized by Rodgers, president of the Young Democrats Club, the journey also included his mother, Julia Rodgers, who drove us downtown where we stayed the night and made posters to hold during the march. Although it was called the “Women’s March,” Rodgers explained that “the huge protest was a show of strength for all liberals and progressives. The march showed to the world that the left is not as divided and shattered as the news makes it out to be. It send the message that we are not going anywhere and will not surrender to right wing populism.” “It is important to stand up for everyone because even if the persecution doesn’t directly affect you, it will harm someone just like you. Unless you want to be treated the same way, you have a responsibility as a citizen of a democracy to stand up for what you think it right, especially human rights and freedoms,” Rodgers said. Senior Luke Smillie experienced a similar response to his attending the march with his friends asking him, “Why would you

go to a women’s march when you’re a guy?” When asked what he would respond to this question, Smillie replied, “It’s pretty self-explanatory.” With arriving at the march the next morning came the realization that Rodgers and Smillie weren’t the only one who thought that way. The march was advertised on its website as a “call on all defenders of human rights,” and the diversity of people, chants and signs certainly upheld that mission. Though many of the signs marchers carried were centered around women’s rights — such as “I stand with nasty women” or “the rising of women means the rising of us all” — just like in the Washington March, a variety of issues were addressed. People came with their kids or with their grandparents, all to get one message across: no matter your cause, everyone is equal and that will not be changed by what is going on in the government. Nonetheless, the march didn’t have a hateful or unpatriotic energy; on the contrary, it was full of love and faith. As we stood in the crowd waiting to move, a man played the national anthem, “America the Beautiful” and “This Land Your Land,” on the trumpet. People smiled and politely nudged their way through the crowds. It was like there was a common agreement that we wanted this march to peacefully get a point across. Originally, the march was going to go from Pershing Square to City Hall, but because so many people showed up, that whole area was filled and there was nowhere to walk. In fact, the most challenging part of the day was trying to make the 750,000

WOMEN ARE HUMAN: A woman holds up her sign with the slogan “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” among the 750,000 fellow marchers in L.A..

people understand that we needed to turn around by chanting “March! March! March!” and pointing toward the back end of the crowd. After a few minutes of screaming “March down Olive! Left on 7th!” our group finally started moving, stopping only for a concrete truck and an ambulance going by. As we walked people chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” “The people, united, will never be divided” and “Can’t build a wall, hands too small!” We encountered one young woman, sitting on an elevated structure by herself and silently holding a red rose in her hand, as she held up a certain finger to the crowd, the establishment and the whole situation. Without saying anything, she captured everything that the march represented: we were peacefully, yet explicitly, showing the country that we are still here, and that four years will not change our faith in equality and freedom for all. Whether screaming or silent, the crowd held its power in its numbers. According to BuzzFeed News, 4,876,700 attended the marches worldwide, which is more than the number of people who attended Super Bowls one through 50 combined or the population of Ireland, and enough to stretch as far as the volumetric circumference of the Earth. When asked what she thought made the march so powerful, Hillis said, “I think — and this happened even more in retrospect — that it was really a big moment in history, and to know that I was a part of a big moment in history is unbelievable.”

WOMEN’S RIGHTS: Seventh grader Frances Carlson and her sign in front of the Capitol.

HEAR OUR VOICE: Crowds of marchers walk down Madison and 7th cheering for Women’s Rights.

Everyone’s signs reflected the message she n Jan. 21 the Women’s March on Washington, DC was ‘canceled.’ Why? or he wanted to spread. There was even one woman, whom Hanchett and her sister saw, Because so many people — women, men, who was holding the same sign that she had young and old — showed up that there used in the ‘60s at a women’s march and she wasn’t enough space to walk along the was saying, ‘How can I be using the same planned route. sign now that I used then?’ Even though there wasn’t much actual Throughout the day, there was the unex“marching,” but rather, inching forward plainable uprising of what you might call amongst 470,000 other people, the march‘whooping.’ A group of people in one area ers fighting for the rights of all genders, would start, and soon you could hear the ethnicities, sexualities, races, religions, etc. cheers travel down the crowds of marchers still made their voices heard. to reach your group and then continue beOne woman named Candice Hanchett who also travelled from Southern California yond to the rest of the crowd. Even though to Washington, DC to march with her sister, Hanchett believed that the worst part of the march was being stuck amongst the dense who lives in Seattle, Washington, described crowds she said, “It [still] wasn’t terrible. her biggest reason for marching: “WomEveryone was so kind. Not one person was en’s rights, women’s rights, women’s rights. Rights for everybody. Equality for everybody rude. It was amazing.” Another struggle of the march was trying — women, transgender, gay, everybody.” to meet up with family members. Neither There was a general feeling of, one could say, “collective effervescence.” When Hanch- having the ability to spot our family from a distance nor to receive cell phone service ett got off the metro along with the crowds because of there being so many people, of fellow marchers in ‘pussy hats,’ she says, meeting up with people was pretty hard. “you could feel how everybody just wanted We spent a solid two hours trying to to be together and stand up for something, communicate with our family who showed like a common goal … right when you got off you realized that this was so much bigger up later than we did. We kept calling each than you could ever imagine.” Throughout the day, even though not everyone was cheering the same thing at the STRONG WOMEN STRONG WORLD: In the crowd a marcher holds up her sign. same time, people were certainly cheering. There was not a single clear leader of the cheers. All over the place, every few minutes (or even seconds), a random person from the crowd would start leading a cheer, and the people within earshot would respond. For example, a random marcher would scream “What do we want?” to which the crowd would respond “Equal rights” and then the marcher would yell again asking, “When do we want them?” to which the crowd again responds, “Now.” There were other cheers such as “love trumps hate,” “my body, my choice,” “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” and “we want a leader, not a creepy tweeter.”

IN THE CROWDS: Marchers glancing up at fellow marchers leading chants on a storage truck. other, but all the calls failed. Sometimes, for a split second, a call would go through, and you would have just enough time to say “hi,” and then the call would fail. To avoid being stuck among the crowds and get more of a glimpse of the action, after catching sight of marchers standing on top of a parked box truck, my cousins and I climbed up onto the top of the driver and passenger portion. We stood there with our signs for a while, joining in on cheers, conversing with our fellow truck-standers and watching the many marchers walk by on Madison and 7th. “You can’t see the end of people,” seventh grader Frances Carlson said when standing on top of the truck. Even at 5:00 p.m., when people were more dispersed and starting to head home, the whooping continued. As we were leaving, we saw a wall of posters lined up along a fence on the lawn of the back side of the White House. We added the two posters, handed up to us by strangers while we were on the truck, to the wall. While driving away, looking out of the car windows, we could still see people with posters in hand, ‘pussy hats’ on, proudly marching for their rights. WATCHFUL: A women in her ‘pussyhat’ looking out on the National Mall.

BY AURA CARLSON

nti-Semitism doesn’t exist. It is a form of discrimination that existed in the past and does not play a major role in society today. How can it? Jews are white and powerful, so isn’t discrimination against them just anti-white discrimination? But the Jewish people are not free from prejudice. Jews are not safe in the United States, yet this fact goes largely unnoticed. Why is it ignored? Prejudice is uncomfortable to acknowledge in oneself. It is something of which all are capable and something that all commit. And whenever people feel like they can deny that certain prejudice exists, many will automatically do so in order to hide their own flaws. Hatred of black people didn’t disappear once slavery was abolished. It still hasn’t disappeared from this country. Anti-Semitism has been real for centuries, and it too never went away. It has only been blanketed. It now works in the dark, and, when a force acts undercover, when it is exempt from popular scrutiny, it can begin to play in devious ways. It can begin to plant itself, little by little, into the minds of the unaware, because to many, anti-Semitism doesn’t exist. For example, Breitbart News contributor Pizza Party Ben (yes, that is the actual name on the byline) wrote an article that mocks reporter Ben Shapiro for “playing the victim on Twitter” by “throwing around allegations of anti-Semitism and racism.” Pizza Party Ben goes on to say, “Ben [Shapiro], no one hates Jewish people.” According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 14 percent of United States adults believe that “Jews think GRAPHIC: JACK STEIN they are better than other people,” which is a breeding ground for hate. It gives those people a justification to hate Jews. If they follow these hateful people in verbal attacks, then they are followers enough to support anti-Semitism when it becomes convenient for them. This feeding of anti-Semitism, especially since it is unacknowledged, is a major threat against the Jews in the United States. The problem is that it’s so hard to tell the trolls from the actual anti-Semites — the ones who are gung-ho to go to war against the Jews in America and will follow the actual anti-Semites, believing them to be fellow trolls, into hate speech, demonization

OPINION-EDITORIAL

The Unacknowledged Threat of Anti-Semitism BY MATHEW GOLDSHOLL and eventually, real violence. The ADL’s latest Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents in 2015 stated that “the number of violent anti-Semitic assaults taking place in the U.S. rose dramatically last year.” Even if trolls don’t particularly want to engage in or support violence themselves, they will abet it, perhaps because they don’t think that violence will ever come to pass. Why? I am not sure of the answer to that, but you might be able to garner a reply from the same people who voted for President Trump thinking that his Muslim ban would never happen.

“The problem is that it’s so hard to tell the trolls from the actual racists — the ones who are gung-ho to go to war, or at least support a war against the Jews in America.” Well, it did happen. Now those same people support the ban. Forty-nine percent of the country supports the ban, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. According to Atlantic reporter Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Americans viewed Adolf Hitler after the Great Depression as “a clown” and “a caricature of himself ” when he took office. Hitler wasn’t trying to be funny, but the hateful saw him as an opportunity too good to be true — a chance to kill minorities — and they didn’t realize that this psychopath wasn’t kidding. So the Germans followed their Führer into a Holocaust. Then 6 million Jews were murdered. But recently, there has been reason to be optimistic. On a New York City subway, after attendants noticed that their subway car had been vandalized and covered with Nazi swastikas, they quickly got to work and cleaned away the hate vandalism. And while this is an incident that occurred in a very liberal city, there is more reason to rejoice. In Whitefish, Montana, Andrew Anglin, founder of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, planned to lead an armed march against the Jews in the town. But the march was such a failure that it could not even pull together the required $125 fee. President Trump recently made a statement regarding the bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers, saying they are “horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.” So, there is reason to be hopeful.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

PHOTO: ROSE HOUGLET GRAPHIC: CARINA TEDESCO

BY AURA CARLSON & KAILEA HIESHIMA

e were all short at one time. But then you all grew. And we didn’t. Our “growth spurt” didn’t happen like we thought it would. Our dreams of being tall have long since perished, and now we’re stuck here rotting as the lowly armrest of the rest of humanity. And there’s nothing we can do about it. The only good thing about being short is that we can order off of kids menus without being questioned. And we can probably do this all the way through college (and beyond) — you get the gist. You faced these problems of being short when you were younger — unless you were abnormally tall for your age. But, years and years later, we still have these problems. We still can’t reach things. Even you clothing stores; you put all the 0s and 00s on the top shelf, how dare you. And once we do ask someone who works at the store to bring down our clothes, they don’t end up fitting

THE FOURTH ESTATE

us anyway. They might seem cute off the rack, but what’s the point of buying pants if we have to cut off the entire bottom hem? It’s just a waste of money if you ask us. And you complain about being tall. Ha. Let’s talk about hugs. In hindsight, they seem great — a way show affection and greet people, but we don’t want to show that much affection. And by “that much affection,” we mean: every single time we give (a normal person) a hug, our faces somehow always end up right in her or his (no discrimination) boobs. And then there’s the concerts, movies, events, etc. We can’t see anything. The only view of the event we have is of people’s backs. We have to pay, what, $10 to get into the theater, and then we can’t even see the movie. And then there’s just talking to people. We are constantly looking up. After a while it starts to hurt our necks. And then when

other tall people come, we’re just ignored. Nobody knows we’re there. It’s like we are out of their field of vision. And don’t get us started on how many times people ask “where’s Kailea” or “where’s Aura” when we are standing less than three feet away from them. And don’t even get us started on the fact that we get no gosh dang respect. I am not a child. I am not 10 years old. You can stop talking to us in that tone, using words like ‘sweetie,’ ‘honey,’ ‘are you lost,’ ‘should you be out here by yourself,’ or ‘Where are your parents.’ No. We are not lost. We are holding our car keys in our hands, you can stop yelling at us asking “Are you okay? What are you, like, 12? Where are your parents?” You can stop talking to me like I’m 3. I would really appreciate it. In conclusion, short people are people too, so, please, treat us accordingly.

OPINION-EDITORIAL

819 State Street Suite A

Surviving The Best Friend BREAK-UP BY MATHEW GOLDSHOLL

ost of us have, during our lives, reached a point in a friendship when it becomes plagued with anger, fights, silences, extended silences, one-sided bad-mouthing, mutual bad-mouthing and/or violence (hopefully not). If you haven’t, and you don’t relate to the subject, good, count yourself lucky. But if you or a friend has gone through any of the above or experienced a friend break-up, or are currently experiencing one, you know that it cuts into your happiness and keeps you up at night. I’ve never been through a romantic breakup, but a friend breakup hurts. You tell yourself it’s fine, because you didn’t actually want to be friends with your former frater anyway. It was all to pass the time. So, unless you like lying to yourself and suppressing prominent emotions, take a look at this helpful list should you find yourself in a friend breakup.

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Don’t Seek Revenge — It’s tempting to do so, but this makes it clear to your new enemy that it is acceptable to play dirty. If you do this, the person who knows everything about you could destroy your life. Say good-bye to secrecy and say hello to misery. You’re former best friend knows what hurts you; he or she knows what secret trauma runs deep through your life, and unless you want everyone around you to be slyly manipulated into leaving your side and knowingly torturing you with the things you can’t fathom to live through once more, don’t seek revenge. Try to Forgive — This doesn’t mean you have to like your former best friend, it just means you probably should try to understand his or her motives and thought processes and attempt to forgive. While for some, it is hard at first, forgiving someone is a great relief and an even better relaxation. You can now focus on things you want to stress about. Also, if you did anything bad during the friendship, try to forgive yourself: attempt to understand what you may have done (or maybe you did nothing wrong) and relieve yourself of the anguish. Replace — Friends give friends emotional stability. If you did not value friendship because it pleased yourself, then you would not care about losing your former best friend. So pick a person or people who may fill the void and be happy. Be natural. If you try to recreate the fractured friendship with someone else, it does not become a friendship — it becomes insanity.

Write — Write out your feelings (if you’re into that). Conscious understanding and verbalization of feelings help to bring us closer to peace. Knowing how we feel and who we are makes us more confident, and therefore, more able to function. Mending — Talk to this person. Have a calm conversation. If you can’t have a peaceful talk alone, don’t get a mediator. Your friend will not like that and things will get messier. Trust will dissipate even more so. Don’t try to set a trap for your friend. Save everyone the agony and sit down like mature human beings. You don’t have to revive your old relationship, but if you haven’t already done so, it might be therapeutic to understand from where your friend is coming, and to possibly have him or her understand from where you are coming. Maybe this will even allow you two to push aside this rift. You never know.

LIFESTYLE

Something’s Brewing BY SONYA KOTLER & AMANDA SKINNER

here are many ways to brew a wonderful cup of coffee, but most of them are overshadowed by, the bit overrated, if you ask me, espresso. After way too much time and money spent running to coffee shops, whenever I needed a little help staying awake, I finally realized that a decent cup of coffee did not require so much money and, in fact, could be made at my own house within five minutes. I have recently become a huge fan of drip coffee. This method is great not only because I can easily make coffee, even as the barely-functioning human I am in the mornings, but also because it brings out the flavor of the coffee beans — allowing even a latte lover like myself to drink it without milk, and have it still taste amazing. There are two approaches to making drip coffee: first you can buy a five dollar plastic cone or you can spend a bit more on a Chemix, which is just oh-so-pretty and makes you look and feel like a real barista. I have both and the only difference between the two is that the Chemix requires more coarsely ground beans and makes slightly more concentrated coffee.

LIFESTYLE

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Place coffee grounds in the filter and pour hot water until they are completely covered.

Pour in the rest of the water onto the edges of the filter, making sure that all grounds are on the side of the filter.

Let “bloom” for about 30 seconds (small bubbles should appear on the top).

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GRAPHIC: LUISA CAMERON