The high 54 by The High

Editors in Chief Jocelyn Kwan, Meghana Mortier

Editors John David Villarino, Ian Chen

November 13th, 2015 Issue 54

A Fragile Bubble Lyndon Kwan and Camilla Lozinska-Brown

n Thursday 29th October, High School students made their way to the auditorium for what they thought was going to be a normal assembly. Upon entering the vast room, teachers’ solemn and stern faces puzzled the wave of students being quickly beckoned to their seats and silenced within the shortest time frame. Whispers between students and their friends

Illustration by Ian Chen

were filled with questions: “What do you think this is about?” and so on. These were all quickly answered with Miss Cheetham’s brief introduction, which highlighted that a confrontation between Year 9 and Year 10s had occurred, resulting with a weapon being pulled out of a young man’s pocket. However, no threatening actions were taken as, upon realising his mistake, the student in question quickly put the knife back into his pocket. This was the bombshell which was thrown onto the High School students that Thursday morning. Mr Foley then took the stage to go over and emphasise the importance of ISL’s code of conduct and the culture of our community. Through his address to the students, he placed special emphasis upon the fact that an incident of this nature - or any form of bullying or harassment - will never be tolerated ever again. Additionally, Mr Foley conveyed the school’s disappointment that, despite several individuals witnessing it, not one single student came directly to a teach-

er and reported this serious event. The school was only informed of what occurred through a student’s parents. This incident has raised questions regarding several different aspects of school life which are rarely brought to our attention, such as a potential underlying bullying between students which is taken as ‘banter’; the potential culture shift a big school has created; etc. As the ramifications of this occurrence subside, some serious questions remain: Is there an underlying and unnoticed aspect of bullying between age groups and students? Has the expansion created a culture shift? Leaving the assembly, a sense of shock and bewilderment was shared between the majority of the students. A student who has decided to remain anonymous said “It shocked me because it was my good friend. It’s not his personality to do this.” Another student said “What shocked me the most was that this happened in ISL. You hear about these things happening in America and Britain, but never did I think it would happen in our little international school in Switzerland.” A Year 12 student conveyed similar feelings to the rest of the school - shock that such a serious incident had occurred in our peaceful and idyllic school. One cannot help but ask whether this incident was the result of levels of unwanted harassment and bullying taking place within younger years, or the result of a school expanding too quickly for our conduct to remain the same?

continued on page 3

A Letter to the Editor Adam Hunter

ear Mlle. Editor, Last week I was reading an article describing the story of Captain Lawrence Oates and the ill-fated Antarctic expedition led by R.F. Scott in 1911-12. The team spent months trekking across the harshest terrain on the planet only to find that they had been beaten to the pole by the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen. Exhaustion, gangrene, a serious shortage of food, frost-bite, and the death of one of their number were just a few of the problems that the team faced in the -50°C blizzards. After abandoning hope, Oates delivered his famous line, “I am just going outside and may be some time.” With no boots on, he walked out of his tent into the night. We all know how the story, and Oates, ended. I do not normally read The High, obviously, but something about the story of Oates’ almost unimaginable hardship reminded me of an opinion column from one of your editions last year, “Cross about Crossing” The High, Issue 51. Your columnist set out an impassioned anti-expansion polemic. Journeys between the campuses, losses of learning time, and apparently superfluous employees found themselves in her

crosshairs. Rather than writing to you to explain the merits and legal necessity of our crossing supervisors and to question who really ought to take responsibility for getting themselves to and from lessons on time, I thought I would offer you six quick-fire positive reasons why the expansion is a good, or even great, thing for you and the rest of our students. One: Your broader curriculum – four new Diploma subjects being studied by more than half of Year 12. Ask the one student taking Computer Science, Music, Global Politics, and Mandarin if they appreciate it. Two: Your teachers – an inspiration of expertise from international schools all around the world. These are people from some different walks of life, with experience teaching different subjects in different cultures and even planning and developing the MYP and DP with the IB. Different. People who have brought more to ISL. Three: Your balanced school life – the International Award, two new choirs, debating society, three plays, new rock bands and concerts, more sports teams, and lots more to come. There is a good chance you will find something for you. Four: Your new space – a fitness room, recording studio, science in science

labs, music rehearsal spaces, an opportunity to perform in a real auditorium, play spaces, social spaces, and more. These do not make a school. But if you take the opportunity, these can open up new paths for you that were not there before. Five: Your friends – if you have ever felt like a bit of an outlier or misfit, there is a slightly better chance you will find someone like you. Mlle. Editor, you might have made friends who joined the school this year. Some of your readers might even find a new boyfriend or girlfriend. Or bridge partner. Six: Others – we are often told to think of them. Many here at ISL, such as your columnist, are rightly protective of the education you receive here. Now it is for the privileged few. Not just the privileged very few. You will remember Mr. Foley saying at the start of the year that bigger is not necessarily better. It will take some work. But ISL is a more vibrant and enriched place with our new staff and students. They are all welcome. And as ISL evolves we will feel this more and more. No doubt set against the strains of your intrepid columnist as she drags her feet through the corridor, “I have to go over to the North Campus now and may be some time.”

Jam Nation Luca Adams

o you love to play an instrument or sing? Do you want to start or join a band? Do you want to be with other people and not be a lonely sod? Then this one’s for you! Wednesdays, at lunch time, come over to the music rooms and get jamming! This isn’t about being the best there is and only the best. This about having fun and becoming the best. You might just start playing or singing along with other people and learn to play music with other people or you could use the theme to make something awesome! It’s like a hub for music in ISL. I visited jam nation twice already. One time, we got together, ate our lunch,

and got to terms with the theme - which was disco bass lines including songs like Treasure by Bruno Mars and Get Lucky by daft punk. So the drum set a beat, the bass and the pianos followed the bass line, and the sax improvised a little over the top. Talking about improv, Jam Nation is great if you want to learn or improve your improvisation. You’ll be given the chance to experiment with your instrument. And no one’s gonna judge you! Improvisation is great because it helps you come to terms with instrument. This will make your instrument SO much more fun to play. And if your instruments more fun to play, then you’ll want to practise more, making you a better player overall. The second time, we continued the theme and started trying to put it into our own arrangement. Everyone just

played but at the same time searched for cool riffs and melodies that would fit the song. SonJam Nation, it’s all about fun. If you feel stressed, you’re doing something wrong. The point isn’t to try to play the song perfectly. It’s just to leave your mark on the final product. Jam nation. It sure beats damnation!

A Fragile Bubble Lyndon Kwan and Camilla Lozinska-Brown Continued from front page Although the opinions vary on these problems, Mr. Foley believes this is not the case. When we interviewed him on the matter, he said: “Young people in our school, in the ten years that I’ve taught here, even when the school was smaller, have made many serious mistakes. That’s not pre or post expansion, that’s just the nature of young people: they will make mistakes.” Furthermore, he explained that the school’s dangerous items policy will be revisited to ensure that it is fit for purpose in the future, and to leave no doubt that such items must never be brought into school. During our interview with Mr Foley, he stressed three important messages. The first of these was that this sort of incident must never happen again. The repercussions for a student could be much more serious, potentially resulting in direct expulsion. Secondly, the school’s zero tolerance of bullying and harassment will remain the same and must continue. Finally, Mr Foley wants every student to think about how the school will maintain a successful culture of communication between students and teachers, if students do not approach teachers when a serious incident occurs. Understandably, some students may not want to be known as the Year’s ‘snitch’, and thus will wait till someone else will go to a figure of authority. A Year 12 student, Amanda Bris, summarised a feeling that each of us will have experienced during our school life: whether to stand up and carry out your ‘duty’ as a witness, or stay silent and wait for someone else to step up. She stated that, “Oftentimes, people are too afraid to speak out because they might seem like snitches or like they’re betraying their friends. It is a very unusual incident to report on and it would be a very bizarre, and possibly uncomfortable, conversation to have with a teacher at such a young age.” This was almost certainly the case in this situation as all of the parties involved were aware of the mistake the boy had made, and the serious repercussions which would then ensue. One cannot help but wonder what triggered a young boy to pull out a knife (and quickly put it back); was it a case of harassment or was it a misunderstanding

of friendly ‘banter’? There is no clear answer. However, the school has responded by banning the full tackle versions of rugby and American football on the Astroturf. Some students believe this is to minimize the chances of an outbreak of violence between students, as this was initiated over a game of American football. However, Mr Foley explained that this is more about ensuring students do not cause serious injury to one another during such games, rather than their potential for encouraging violence. So what does this all mean for the school? The school has simply decided to go back and revisit the dangerous items policy. Some displayed a concern of our school community changing and that the expansion of our school has caused something like this to happen. Mr. Foley explained that need not be the case, and the culture of the school need not necessarily change. In his opinion, the culture remains the same. For ISL, this has been a serious incident which “shakes the foundations of ISL culture and reflects who we are as a school”, as put by Mr. Foley. He does not believe that the incident was a result of school culture changing, but rather an accident and our school culture and morals have not changed, and for now they won’t for a while. Despite his feelings, some students expressed the opinion that the school has changed drastically because of the expansion. A year 12 student explained “We lost the family aspect I loved about this school because of the expansion” and another student in year 13 said “I can honestly say [the school] has changed drastically in the last two years. It feels like because of the expansion and more students joining each year, a lot of things changed. I feel like people are obeying rules less, especially in the younger years.” The school is confident that an incident like this won’t ever happen again and they believe that the ones responsible understand this.

The High comments on the discussions of the last few weeks.

n recent weeks, many questions about ISL’s culture have been raised. Has the expansion changed the way students are interacting between themselves and the staff? Is there unaddressed harassment and threatening in our school? Is the recent incident shocking, or something that should have been expected? There is a feeling that there has been a shift in the dynamic of the school since the expansion has been implemented. The addition of over 120 students in secondary alone does not leave a school unchanged. With the new staff on top of this, students may take longer to feel the same sense of being highly connected to and knowledgeable about the people they share their school with. There may have been a change in how students feel in the school environment, but definitely not to the extent of complete alienation. In any environment, there will often be depreciation of those lower down in the ranks, whether in terms of age, popularity, etc. ISL’s code of conduct strongly conveys the school’s commitment to keeping bullying to the absolute minimum. Any sort of harassment is swiftly dealt with and the only sitatuation in which such problems aren’t dealt with is when the school does not know that it is occuring. The recent incident was impactful enough to require an assembly for the entire secondary school, as well as a Q&A session for parents that pulled in around a hundred people. But it may not have been as big of an incident as it was made out to be. Students that have been at ISL for a long time may find some behaviours shocking, although they may be common in schools across the world, including international ones. We are not saying that we should expect such behavior to occur, nor that we should accept it. Rather, that the extremely safe atmosphere which ISL provides may have caused it to stand out so prominently, whereas in other, less protective environments, it would have seemed more normal.

Bamboozled Edward Fraser trash-talks and trash-builds.

he Year 11s had the chance to go to Cambodia this year as a new service trip introduced by Ms. Ashton and Mr. Alexander. The trip spanned over the half-term break, from the 16th to the 24th of October. Services in the trip included a housebuild, teaching basic English to a class of Khmer children, painting the classroom walls in this school, and a bottlebuild – though there was much more to this trip than just these activities. The journey from school to our destination in Siem Reap was fairly lengthy but was organised and handled very well by both Ms. Ashton and Mr. Alexander. This involved our group of 19 students leaving at first recess of Friday (October 16th). From school, we jumped onto a bus which took us down to the Lausanne train station. Here, we were able to buy some lunch, which was great news considering there was a Subway in the train station. We then got on a 2 ½ hour train-ride towards Zurich airport where we were able to arrange our seats for the first flight towards Bangkok. After checking in, going through security, and wandering off to various restaurants, we boarded the plane towards Bangkok International Airport. This was around 11-12 hours of non-stop flying, which I loved

because, weirdly enough, I love longhaul flights. Almost everyone slept for about 4-5 hours of this flight while others seemed to watch movies the whole way through. After arriving in Bangkok, we had a little bit of a layover and then jumped right back onto another plane towards Siem Reap. Fortunately, this flight was only about one hour as Bangkok isn’t too far from Siem Reap. We arrived at the airport in Siem Reap and hopped on our Tuk-Tuks (which was our mean of transportation throughout pretty much the whole week) with all our luggage en route to the Rithy Rine Angkor Hotel which is where we’d stay for the duration of our trip. This hotel was amazing accommodation for us and yes, most importantly, there was wifi. Although only a selection of people actually went in, there was also a pool in the hotel, which was definitely a nice way to cool off after working all day in the intense heat. During the trip, we were looked after by Indago, which had the friendliest, best counsellors I think I’ve ever had on a school trip. We started off by doing the housebuild for a “Poor 1” single mother with an 11-year-old daughter and nearly 1-year-old son. Throughout Siem Reap, families are ranked according to their wealth and income. The “Poor 1” families are the least wealthy. Many fami-

lies were interviewed by HUSK (the organisation we worked with during this trip) and then this particular family was selected for the house-build. We worked in the village of Kompheim in Siem Reap, where we carried out the house-build, bottle-build, and teaching – all made possible by HUSK. The house-build involved the hammering together of bamboo wall frames, hammering the floorboards of the house, leafing the frames for further insulation, and finally erecting the walls and door of the house. All of the houses within Siem Reap are elevated as there is constant flooding for about half of the year from the nearby Tonlé Sap lake and river. These house-builds that HUSK are responsible for are really quite interesting as they are so material efficient. In fact, apart from a few nails and metal wires, the house was completely built of materials found within the area, almost entirely using bamboo and bamboo leaves for the walls and door. We also taught Khmer-speaking children some basic English. Because there were 19 of us, we were split into three different groups, each with our own group of children. Some of the classes were more experienced with English than others. The class that I was part of consisted of 13-15 year old kids. Our classes had a focus on shapes and colours but we also did revision on when to use have/has, numbers, and plurals.

In Cambodia We were even tasked with creating our own lesson plan for the children for one of our lessons, which was definitely challenging but at the same time very exciting. The day after finishing teaching, we came back to the school to paint some of the classroom walls to enhance the children’s English learning experiences. Each classroom had a particular theme, and I was part of the jungle-themed classroom where each of us painted an animal you could find in the jungle. The rooms ended up looking amazing and we received some excellent feedback from the directors of HUSK after they saw the newly painted classrooms. Also part of HUSK’s many service activities, we also helped with a bottle-build. The bottle-build involved quite an interesting process. Within Siem Reap, there is no efficient trash collection service, and many people ended up with large trash piles near their homes as a result of it. HUSK started a program where the people of Siem Reap would fill their plastic bottles with the trash and bring it to HUSK for rice (12 trash-filled plastic bottles would amount to 1kg of rice provided by HUSK). This was genius as it provided more of an incentive for the people of Siem Reap to limit their littering and the bottles would then be used in the construction of new buildings. These bottles were stacked on top of each other between chicken wire to build up some very effective heat-insu-

lating walls. 4 or 5 students would mix cement while most of the others were then cementing over the bottles to finish the walls. The particular building we were helping build was a workroom for eight Khmer women looking to work for HUSK’s Softies program, providing them with a steady source of income and sewing skills which allowed them to not be forced into back-breaking labour jobs. Aside from the many service activities involved with this trip, there were many other educational, but extremely enjoyable activities which we were fortunate enough to do. Throughout the week, we visited quite a few of Siem Reap’s popular Hindu and Buddhist temples, including Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm (the temple seen in the Tomb Raider film), and a few more. Learning the history of Siem Reap and Cambodia, such a culturally-rich country, was very eyeopening and definitely a great new experience. We also had so many great meals in Cambodia. There was a balance between eating at the hotel and out at various restaurants, which was perfect because there was a range of amazing food throughout the trip. One of our dinners spent outside of the hotel was accompanied with a traditional Khmer dance called the Apsara dance which made for a very enjoyable evening. That day was also the birthday of one of the students on the trip and we were surprised with “Happy Birth-

day” being played on the roneat (a Khmer instrument similar to the xylophone). Towards the end of the week, we also went to a circus workshop in the evening at Phare Circus. After the workshop, we watched the circus show Sokrias (Eclipse), which was an absolutely fantastic performance – one of my favorite parts of the week. Finally at the end of the week, we all took part in the “Amazing Race”. This was definitely a fun way to conclude our trip and required us to use the knowledge we had acquired over the past week to go through the various stages of the race. The arrival back to Switzerland late on Saturday night was definitely welltimed as we were all tired from the journey back and luckily enough, it was the perfect time to go straight to sleep and avoid any serious jet-lag. Plus, we did still have the Sunday before school started to recuperate if necessary. The only issue with a trip like this is the inconvenience when it comes to completing work due soon after the break. However, teachers were quite lenient when it came to providing extensions for the students part of the Cambodia trip. Upon introduction to the trip back at the end of last year, many were drawn away to the trip as it spanned over the half-term break. However, this could not have been set at a better time as the trip genuinely did feel like a holiday of sorts and in my case, was definitely a better way to spend a week off school than I could’ve ever hoped for.

Shaving Must Ache Chloe Rodriguez has a razorsharp tongue

ovember has finally arrived! That funny little in-between month that bridges the seasons of autumn and winter. That one month where we can still enjoy the last vestiges of fall; the red and orange leaves, acceptable light jacket weather, and women and men alike can finally put down that razor for the period most commonly known as No Shave November. Those who are capable of growing facial hair get a chance to show their support and provide awareness for people with prostate cancer. For ladies, cold weather means no shorts (except for the odd PE lesson or sports event),

so we can finally take a well earned pause from shaving our legs. If you think about it, there’s a bit of a double standard when it comes to this whole shaving thing (Double standards between men and women? I know, nothing new). For women, body hair is absolutely unacceptable and pretty much taboo. Leg and underarm hair on guys? No one bats an eye. One can wonder when this obsession with the removal of unwanted body hair started. After all, shaving isn’t a particularly new practice. The Ancient Egyptians went bald from head to toe since it was considered much easier to maintain and was more hygienic as it prevented the spread of disease and lice. However, for most of history after that period, women had no reason to shave at all since nobody was even allowed to see past their ankles, so if no one saw anything, why bother? This all changed in the spring of 1915, when the upscale fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar run an advertisement showing a young model wearing a sleeveless slip-like

dress with her arms outstretched. And just like that, removing body hair became not just a fashion trend, but divine law up until this very day. Like in many other areas of our culture, strict double standards referring to gender prevail in the realm of body hair. For a woman to have body hair is uncouth and deplorable, but it is simply considered masculine for any guy. Now, I’m not implying that I’m about to burn my razor into a smoking pile of ashes in a show of rebellion. It’s just that I find it rather silly some ancient societal rules or trends such as these dictate what I should look like and what I should be doing to my body. November is here, and so is the opportunity to take full control of your body and defy outdated gender stereotypes.

Year-late Books Meghana Mortier is flicking back through the pages.

earbooks were given out two weeks ago. Upon getting them, there was a period of unified distraction, where no teacher could stop clusters of students from eagerly flipping through the pages to find pictures of themselves and their friends. After the first half of the day the excitement had died off. Now, they sit at home, completely forgotten. If our yearbooks are already collecting dust, were they really worth the 90 CHF that many students have payed for them? We dole out the money for a hefty, hardback book filled with glossy, fullcolor pages. We flick through these pages for 15 minutes or so, finally finding the 5 or so pages that actually have us on them. We might find a couple funny pictures in the other pages, but nothing really worth remembering in the years to come. Hardback books with glossy pages aren’t exactly the most environmentally friendly things to produce, especially if you’re printing them for an entire school, and each

person in the school only finds a couple of the pages relevant to themselves. In light of this, are yearbooks worth getting? Based on conversations with my peers, some of them think yearbooks are a waste of money. Even so, I stand by the belief that yearbooks are an important part of the life of an international student. All the stated drawbacks to yearbooks are valid points. Furthermore, we only receive them the next school year, which totally defeats the purpose of the notes section in the back. At previous schools that I attended, we were given our yearbooks a week or so before school ended. That day was devoted to running around and getting friends to sign the pages of your yearbook; better friends wrote entire letters in the back of your yearbook, even if they were seeing you the next year. The sentimental value of the yearbooks was greatly increased by this tradition, one that I have seen practiced in all schools but this one. Despite what I would see as ISL’s failure in this area, I still think yearbooks are worth having. Yearbooks are a peek into the past.

Yes, only a few pages may have you on them, but there are also pictures of your friends and teachers, and the funny pictures of random people do provide laughs, even years into the future. Having never stayed in any city for more than 4 years, yearbooks have been central to me in remembering where I have been. This area is maybe where some ISL students won’t see eye to eye with me, as I have noticed that a high proportion of students have been here for many years. Such students may not feel the need for yearbooks as they can keep in touch with the few friends that have left with ease. For students that have moved much more and that want to remember the entire groups of friends they leave behind every time they move, yearbooks are a gift. Every once in a while I sit down on my bedroom floor and open all my yearbooks. I recall all the places I have been to and am reminded of many of the things I have forgotten. Having notes from old friends is even more nostalgic, but even without them, yearbooks are a central part of life as an international student.

#NotAllFeminists Ruby Griffiths is fed up with be- as a word is used to address a specific issue, in this case political equality, ing misinterpreted.

hy is Feminism a bad word? It’s not. At school it’s a word people are not yet comfortable with. Many do not like to be associated with it, nor agree with it on the basis that it is derived from “feminine”. The word is not offensive, it isn’t incomplete or biased; it’s derived from the need for advocacy of female rights back in the day of first-wave feminism. The reason why women’s rights were the central focus of the word was because women were denied the vote. In a clip shared and promoted around ISL relatively recently, Lauren Southern tries to explain her aversion to feminism. Southern is a conservative writer for The Rebel, an online social commentary platform located in Canada. Her video, “Why I’m not a feminist” is, to say the least, one of the poorer attempts at arguing against feminism. The unfortunate thing is that her point, whilst being misinformed, is still in some places valid. The second irony of the video is that it was shared on a Facebook webpage called OnlyForMen. However, even if the etymology of the word ‘feminism’ does not particularly interest you, its history is important. Your dislike for the word is irrelevant, for any aversion to the word is merely a fear of social change and of the movement toward equality. The word is just a word. Please get over it. Please stop saying you are for equality, yet will not associate yourself with a word with feminine connotations. By ignoring injustice, you are condoning it. From the 1890’s, the word ‘feminist’ has been in debate, specifically in terms of for whom the word represents. In France, where the word was first pioneered, ‘feminism’ remained a movement seeking the interests for both men and women. In a paper presented at the National Women’s Studies Association in 1985, activist Jo Ann Evansgardner suggested changing the word ‘feminism’ to ‘isocracism’ –a word meaning equality of political power, specifically pertaining to the individual rights. The reason why this did not go down too well in the meeting is, firstly, its definition does not stretch over the complex issues that women and men face in different cultures, nations, and epochs. Secondly, the word is uniting. As soon

more words would be needed to then address each issue, each situation, and each woman. Already, there is an identity many link to ‘the feminist’ based on a stereotypical group of American feminists who tote the ‘feminist’ label, and are known for their avant-garde rebelliousness and anti-bourgeois stance. To many, they are ‘lifestyle feminists’ who do not “retain much sociopolitical or theoretical content,” according to Karen Offen, researcher at Stanford University. Although this is a somewhat elitist view of ideological perspectives, this stereotype of a ‘feminist’ has been confused with those forging for equality between genders. Nevertheless, equality does not mean difference; these concepts are not opposite each other. Lauren Southern, and many at

ISL, do not seem to have grasped this. This idea of a feminist, that many still retain, is of an extremist, a man-hater, a victim. Similarly, why do people associate muslims with terrorists? We are equating the few with the many. Southern’s argument does this. Her video, “Why I’m not a feminist,” distorts the feminist word; misinterprets the entire feminist movement; insults intellectual debate; and attempts to simplify one of the complex relationships known to mankind, understanding the relationship between men, women and society. So to answer your question as to why feminism is seen as a bad word, particularly within the ISL community, is merely an ingrained ignorance that is continuously affecting the way girls at ISL are being perceived.

Halloween Lauren Nudi scares off little children...

his past weekend was the weekend many people look forward to the whole year… it was a time for tricks and treats and costumes galore. That’s right, it was Halloween! ISL took part in the festivities by hosting our very own primary school Halloween party. It was a chance for kids to play games, go ‘Trunk or Treating’, and show off their costumes which their parents had worked so hard on (or not) for the past month. The entire event was organized by a dedicated group of primary school parents who, in my opinion, should have won best dressed with their Grease themed costumes. To join in on the celebrations, senior students helped out by volunteering to run games and hand out candy for the trunk or treating. Personally, my fa-

... while Anna Voigt prefers to tell tales of blood and ghosts.

alloween is a tradition that almost everyone gets to enjoy in their childhood. When we are young this event consists of days of fun costume and party planning and cherished baskets of candy that last us until Christmas. Get a little older and there still might be the parties but also the constant nightly marathons of chainsaw murderers, monsters, and ghosts. These horror movies are always indulged in around this time, resulting in goosebumps and nightmares. Where did all this come from though? Halloween started as an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of the darker half of the year, or winter. People would wear costumes to scare off roaming ghosts during this festival. Then, centuries later, a pope came along proclaiming November 1 as All Saints Day to honor all the saints. Later on, the day before incorporated these two holidays into Halloween, a secular night of child-friendly fun. After all that, we teenagers spend this historically important holiday watching horror movies and going out with friends. With these increasing traditions, American folklore became a prime concept that we have carried into the our modern day lives. Ultimately, exchanging folklore is a way of scaring people into doing the right thing. Although now storytelling is something we all do on a

vourite part of the night was getting to interact with the kids. There’s nothing better than seeing a smile light up on the face of a child when you recognize them as their favourite superhero or movie character. Being at this party also reminded me of what it was like to be a young kid again. As I was watching groups of small boys and girls run around from car to car it made me realize that the best part about them is their free spirit. Most children in primary school don’t have stress to deal with, and they don’t care much about how their peers see them. They do what they want instead of worrying about what everyone else will think and they simply live in the moment. This is something that I think is really important for students, especially those in high school, to remember. Our next big test or paper isn’t going to change our lives, but our relationships

with ourselves will. If you continue to let your life be ruled by the expectations of society you will never know who the real you is, so I encourage you to set aside time in your busy schedule to let go of all of your burdens and think about what you want and need in your life at that moment. Now, make that happen. Through doing this, you’ll gain the spirit of a child but also have the knowledge and commitment of a teenager, giving you the best of both worlds. Volunteering at the Halloween party was a chance to not only help others but I was doing something to make me happier with myself as well. I’m sure others felt this way too, and fortunately with the hard work of everyone involved, the party turned out to be a smash hit for both the young and old alike.

daily basis, but there is nothing like a good horror or campfire story to grab people’s attention, especially on such a night as Halloween. No matter how cultures commercialize this grand holiday with candy, costumes, and nights of fun, cultures will always have oral tradition. Bloody Mary is one of the most popular campfire stories, and, in celebration of this year’s Halloween, it is worth recounting. There once was a dark spirit that lived deep in the forest that lay right outside of a tiny town, which was occupied by farmers and ranches. The people there called this spirit Bloody Mary, because it appeared to them in the form of a woman with blood red hair. None dared enter any part of her eerie, spine-chilling forest. There came a dark month where the thick air seemed as black and heavy as ash within the town. Starting that deadly month every night a little girl of the village simply disappeared, one by one they started to vanish. No one could find out where they had gone. Grief-stricken families were so desperate that a few brave souls searched the woods. They came upon the ghostly appearance of Bloody Mary that shone very young, and attractive. The neighbors were suspicious, but too terrified to demand if the spirit had taken their young ones. Then came the night when the daughter of the miller rose from her bed and stumbled outside, following an haunting sound

that only she could hear. The miller’s wife watched her daughter leave the house in a sort of trance wondering if what she was seeing was a dream. She screamed for her husband and followed the girl out of the door. The miller came running in his nightshirt. Together, they tried to restrain the girl, but she kept breaking away from them and toward the ominous forest. The desperate cries of the miller and his wife woke the neighbors, who dashed to assist the frantic couple. Bloody Mary suddenly appeared glowing with an unearthly light as she set her evil spell upon the miller’s daughter. The townsmen raised their shotguns pitchforks and ran toward the witch. One farmer amongst the crowd raised his gun and a bullet hit Bloody Mary in the side and she tumbled to the ground. The angry townsmen leapt upon her and carried her back into the field, the spirit laughed the whole way in a deranged frenzy and shrieked how she had cut open the little girls to use their blood to make her bodily appearance young again. In great hysteria, the townsmen built a huge bonfire and burned her at the stake. As the figure burned, she screamed a curse that from that day, anyone foolish enough to chant Bloody Mary’s name three times before a darkened mirror will summon the vengeful spirit and she will tear their bodies to pieces and ripping out their souls and placing them trapped forever behind the mirror.

Flags of Our Students Adela Sahraoui wants to fly her colours from the highest mast.

SL is a school that has always assumed its internationality and cultural diversity. One of the ways it has exhibited this is through the display of flags that used to hang from the above the auditorium which showed the variety of countries ISL students come from. I noticed, however, that there was one important flag missing. My Algerian flag! After incessant pestering and complaining to teachers, the school finally obtained the flag but, before it could even go up, the whole collection came down due to reconstruction work. Having never seen my flag hanging there in all its glory, I thought to myself: why not investigate the cause of this and look more deeply into the flags’ future, their purpose and their emotional significance? I interviewed two teachers who could offer answers to my well-thought through questions, the former and current Secondary school principals, Mr Ivett and Mr Foley.

John Ivett Did you decide to bring the multi-national flags to ISL and why? It was middle school principal Anthony Coles’s idea. He was a previous MYP coordinator from Australia. Mr Coles thought that, in a physical way, flags would display the international nature of our student body. What motivated you in the choice of flags? The goal was to have a public display of the different nationalities we have in the school. Every student should be able to see their flag. However, the flags were just for Secondary. How long has ISL had these flags? About 10 or 11 years. I have tried to keep this tradition going. Over the years, flags have been regularly added as new students have come. Should the tradition continue? There is something nice about students coming into the school and being able to see their national flags. They could perceive it as a sign of acceptance. What is the importance of the flags?

You see it outside the United Nation in New York. You see the whole range of flags there. That says they are a multinational organisation. I suppose for us it says we value the nationalities of everyone in the school if we take the time, energy, and expense to display their flag. So I can see there is something positive there. It is a form of acceptance. BUT, a display of flags doesn’t display an international school. It is the attitudes that people display and show and the actions they do. In the same way that an International Day which is just food and flags doesn’t really promote internationalism. It’s very surface level. But having the flags is a nice message. Do you think they affect us on an emotional level and if so why? I think people feel more of an emotional attachment to their flag when they are outside of their country. It’s difficult asking me that as I am British and the British are generally not very nationalistic. I am not naturally a flag-waver. But some people do have a huge emotional attachment compared to others as it is something they have been conditioned to feel if they have been brought up by a family which feels that way

Simon Foley I found out that the flags are lost for the moment. If they were to be found again, would you put them back up? If so where? My understanding is that we didn’t know that the flags were lost until halfterm when we moved to put them back up and that they would go back up in the reception area of the school which is really where they were before. If need be, we would buy new flags. What do you think is the significance of flags in an international school? S The debate currently going on in New Zealand, about changing their flag, is quite interesting. It seems to provoke quite emotionally strong responses and it’s a good indicator of the value that many people hold of this kind of symbol of nationality. National pride is tied up very closely with a country’s flag. Something that happens in state national schools all around the world is that students quickly learn their flag. For example, my 5 year-old son talks to me all the time about how the flags of New Zealand and Great Britain are similar.

So it is clear that flags for many people have a huge significance, but putting up the flags of every international student does not make ISL an international school. It is a representation of the fact that ISL is a diverse school nationality but little more. All teachers at this school understand that internationalism and being at an international school is quite loosely related to having flags at the school. I think that for many people they hold it as an important gesture of our diversity, but actually internationalism comes from a mindset. Teachers talk a lot about what internationalism means and the thing we come back to is our own ability to recognise one’s own culture and personal background and history and recognise the role that that plays in a diverse world. For me, personally, flags play a very small part in that, but at the same time they are important for many people. They represent for them a recognition that they are valued in the school and that the country they come from is valued in the school. Every student in this school should have a flag. If there is a nationality at this school then that flag should be up there. If a student doesn’t have their flag, they can ask Radouane to get one for them. To summarize, flags represent our diversity but they don’t make us an international school and they don’t create internationalism. It is interesting to note the shared view of internationalism between Mr Ivett and Mr Foley. It is not just about the flag. Flags are symbolic. They represent the countries that ISL students come from. But internationalism is more about the way we think and behave and how our culture, history and personal backgrounds help us to play a role in a diverse world. Yet, the flags are of sentimental value for many people and hold a strong fascination particularly for young children. Having a parent working in Primary, I know that there is strong interest from children for their own flags and those of their classmates, especially in the buildup to International Day. Although the flags are not responsible for bringing internationalism to ISL, they do bring awareness to young minds of their similarities and differences and therefore could play a role in shaping their acceptance of diversity. Not to mention that flags would add a little colour to ISL’s bland interior.

Ball Season Genta Hemmi shoots for three.

he 2015-2016 NBA season has just kicked off with such shocking upsets as well as exceeded expectations from the top contenders in an early shove to the throne. To start us off, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, the reigning champions, have topped their predicted performance with a 9-0 start. They have been steamrolling through strong play-off contenders in the wild west including the Houston Rockets, the New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Clippers as well as the Memphis Grizzlies where they were handed off their worst loss in their franchise history (119-69). Steph Curry, the league’s current MVP, has dished out astonishing performances delivering three quarters scoring more than 20 points as well as clowning opposing players with his nasty handles on the ball. Throughout the past 3 seasons, Lebron James has been recognized as the best player on the planet. At this rate, if he continues to surprise us with his ability to shoot the ball and strike

fear in the opposing team as soon as he crosses the half court line, dethroning the king that is Lebron may not be a dream. Despite the western teams battling in chaos as per usual, the eastern conference may not be an easy path for Lebron and the Cavaliers to meander through with teams that have loaded their teams in the off-season. Although teams such as Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland and Toronto are expected to make a deep run in the eastern playoffs, there are teams that should be considered to make it into the playoffs, such as the Charlotte Hornets, the Detroit Pistons and the Miami Heat. The Hornets, formerly known as the bobcats, ended 11th in the east last season with a record of 33-49 under ownership of the great Michael Jordan. However in the pre-season, the Hornets held a record of 7-1 against strong contenders including the Clippers twice in back to back games thanks to the addition of Jeremy Lin. Although they may be off to a bad start in week 1, they may be a team to look out for. The next team on our list is the Pistons. The Pistons gained their fame as a franchise in the late 1980s

throughout the early 90s with the back to back championships lead by Hall of famers, Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, and Joe Dumars. However in the recent years, they had struggled to win games ending 12th out of 15 with a record of 32-50. This season, they started off their first four games with a record of 3-1, tied with the Cavaliers, beating out strong contenders. Finally, the Heat have struggled for a whole year after losing Lebron James to Cleveland as well as Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade to injury. The Heat were 2 wins shy of making it to the playoffs ending 10th in the east with a record of 37-45. Nonetheless, they have loaded their roster acquiring star players including Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic, not to mention, the return of Wade and Bosh. Overall, we can expect a hectic season this year including the reigning champions contending for another championship, the rise of east, not to mention, the return of Kobe Bryant after 2 full seasons of injuries. The NBA season, as it is now is already off to a blasphemous start and this may be the year where records may be broken.

What Does the Fawkes Say? John David Villariño is ready to blow up

emember, remember! The fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot! Don’t you hate it when you’ve been planning something and it doesn’t pan out the way you wanted it to? That is exactly what happened to Guy Fawkes and his small brigade of men who tried to blow up the king at the time, King James I of England and VI of Scotland (multitasking is hard, so kudos to the guy for running two countries at once). Led by a guy named Robert Catesby, these driven men planned the assassination of the king by blowing up the House of Lords during a state opening of the Parliament. Well, at least they trying to blow it up. By placing 36 barrels of gunpowder under the new parliament and blowing it up, these men wanted to get back the Catholic monarchy they had always wanted from

the Protestant grasp of their multitasking King. Should they have succeeded, they would have placed the princess upon the throne, as the leader of the country. This would have allowed more religious tolerance for English Catholics, a privilege that had disappeared during the rule of King James. Their devious plan was foiled however, as an anonymous tip to a baron 9 days before the plot took place gave away their plan and the whereabouts of the gunpowder. The House of Lords was then searched on the day of the treason and Guy Fawkes, who would have ultimately lit the gunpowder, was caught red-handed, guarding the barrels. Guy Fawkes and his comrades were ultimately hanged on the 26th of January the following year, after all being chased down and caught, with the exception of their leader, Robert Catesby, who got shot before being captured. Years thereafter, the fifth of November

became a celebration and is observed even to this day. Last Thursday, people of Great Britain lit bonfires around England to celebrate the failure of the plan through colourful fireworks and the immolation of grotesque effigies of Guy Fawkes himself. It was also in commemoration of the fact that he got tortured and executed, an event that must definitely be celebrated. Ultimately though, this celebration is for the survival of the King James and the new Parliament. Although it has evolved over the years since the phenomenon happened, a retained tradition of bonfires being lit annually has signified the celebration of this event. Bonfire Night is celebrated all over England, but mostly by locals in rural areas as it has been a longstanding tradition for the British people. Although it may not be the most famous of celebrations, it commemorates an important event in British history.

Nice Try Emily Coyne wants to get in the ruck.

hese past few months saw the start of the Rugby World Cup, which for many is considered the pinnacle of international rugby. Approximately 20 countries came together to fight for victory in stadiums in England and Wales, this year’s hosting nations. Much like football, the rugby world cup saw extremely disappointing results for England as sadly, for the first time ever in rugby history, the hosting country was kicked out in the group rounds. After several brutal, gripping rounds of quarter and semi-finals, New Zealand and Australia battled it out for the title of world cup champions. Nonetheless, for a sport capable of drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to stadiums - not including the many more watching with eyes glued to their T.V. screens - and one which has a dominant presence within schools across the UK, it seems rugby has not found its spot amongst the sports team at ISL. Is this due to the lack of facilities? Unwillingness from students to participate in the slightly barbaric game? Fear from teachers of watching kids rip each other apart? The answer required some further digging, with the help of students and teachers from the school. According to Paula Cermeli, a year

12 student and member of the school football team, “rugby is an aggressive sport, and the school does not want to provoke any bad behaviour”. How aggressive is it really though? A quick flashback to the 2014 football world cup reminds us all of Luis Suarez biting Giorgio Chiellini during a match, and we must have all cried watching Neymar receive a knee to the back from Juan Camilo Zuniga, taking him out for the rest of the cup. After only naming a few of the violent scrabbles breaking out on the football pitch, it seems that rugby has been unfairly written as one the more aggressive sports. Let’s break down the basic concepts of rugby. Men of approximately 100 kilos running into each other at top speeds to gain possession of the ball, to get across the length of a pitch without being tackled, to score a try. Inflicting total pain and inducing maximum fear in the opposing team, all part of the rules. It’s not unusual for several players to be taken of the pitch during each match, and witnessing bloody noses and broken bones are a regular. On top of the pressure of up to 800,000 spectators, concentration can fall apart and the chance of being injured or causing an injury increases. While it is clear why rugby is portrayed one of the more vigourous of most pastimes, is it really that much worse than football?

Studies have shown that when compared, football players get more injuries - not including their infamous fake falls - than rugby players. According to Karim Kaddour, the reason for this is that footballers attempt to injure each other in sneakier ways, often breaking the rules. Rugby players generally have a larger, rougher, and less appealing look than footballers do, which is seemingly the main reason that the sport has attracted less attention from students to participate in, according to Mr. Kaddour. While it is clear that both sports have negative aspects to both of them, football plays a much larger role in the lives of ISL students then rugby does, and it is clear that the difference in injuries or safety sadly seems irrelevant. In the height of the world cup, it is hard to believe that such a mesmerising sport has not earned it’s spot amongst other teams in the school. One can only assume that preconceived ideas of rugby being the most aggressive sport have prevented students from participating, despite the strong sense of British culture streaking through the school. Afterall, it would be legendary to live to see the long awaited day the English team make it past the group stages, in any competition.

Review: RPG Maker Conrad Grindheim

he RPG Maker line of software has been going on for quite a while, the first one having come out in 1992. It’s a great game creation tool (if you can’t tell, it’s used to make RPG’s - Role Playing Games) and as more instalments were made, new features have been implemented. The newest RPG Maker, RPG Maker MV, comes out with the most features out of any of its predecessors. The most important of these new features are “plugins”. In short, plugins are JavaScript scripts made by you or other people to further customize your game. These range from changing the combat system from turned based to time based to adding animations for your skills. The most convenient part

about plugins is that, if you don’t know how to code, you can just use someone else’s. Furthermore, most of the time they’ll even let you use their code in commercial projects, as long as you give them credit! Another feature that isn’t really new but that got given a major overhaul is the character generator. Instead of only being able to generate faces and overworld sprites, the new character generator can create all of that and battle sprites, as well as dying sprites (how uplifting!). Now, what is a sprite you ask? No, it’s not a beverage, but rather a drawing made of pixels. Rather than having to draw them yourself, RPG Maker can generate them for you by having you choose what you want your character to look like e.g. blue long hair, with a long nose, and a slim face.

One of the great strengths of RPG Maker is that it has a ridiculously simple User Interface (UI), especially for the mapping. Creating a map is as simple as choosing what tile you want to place, and then clicking on where you want to place it. This can also be done for events (an event can be anything: an enemy, a shop, a Non-Player Character, etc.). This makes it really easy to create the worlds you’ve always wanted to create, as the UI makes your imagination the only limit (as cheesy as that might sound). All in all, RPG Maker MV is a great piece of software that is a must-have if RPG’s are your thing. It might be a bit limited if you don’t know how to script, but it still offers a wide variety of tools that will aid you in creating your dream game.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot... Jocelyn Kwan

Find these handsome types of moustaches, and spot the even handsomer teachers wearing them. CHEVRON DALI ENGLISH GOATEE HANDLEBAR HORSESHOE IMPERIAL MANCHU PATCH PENCIL PYRAMID SOUL TOOTHBRUSH WALRUS