LH Feature Magazine

The Little Hawk Feature MAgazine

Food in the Age of Social Media - Money Pressures in the Modern Age - Harassment in the Time of #MeToo - Buoyant

Letter from the editors Dear Readers, Welcome to our fourth feature magazine! This was a fun issue to put together, but it’s definitely a long one. In times and places of high stress, such as the news lab on a work night, it is important that you find a way to relieve stress. We recommend a few simple solutions such as going for a walk, taking a bath, watching Netflix‌or our preferred method of stress relief: dressing up as Bob Ross and doing some painting.

Honestly, though, we truly enjoyed putting together this issue, which combines hard-hitting articles with a lot of fun pages. We start off with a food feature, showing just how obsessed people are with taking pictures before they eat.

Next we go into the future, taking a look at technological innovations created in our community. There are stories covering money and job pressures, sexual assault, and black excellence. We close with a fashion editorial, relationship advice from teachers, and a coloring page, giving you the chance to color City’s own Louie the Little Hawk!

We hope you enjoy reading this issue, and as always, let us know what you think!

Mina Takahashi &

Maya Durham

2 the little hawk

Table of Contents 4-7

Food in the Age of Social Media by Lottie Gidal and Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin

8-11

Welcome to the Future by Mina Takahashi

12-15

Money Pressures in the Modern Age by Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos

16-19

Harassment in the Time of #MeToo by Maya Durham

20-23

Won’t You Celebrate With Me? by Eden Knoop

24-27

Buoyant by Zoe Butler and Olivia Lusala

28-31

Teachers Give Love Advice by Zoe Butler and Shayna Jaskolka

32

Coloring Page designed by Lindy Rublaitus february 16, 2018 3

Click Share Mmmm...

4 February 16, 2018

Brunch in the Age of Social Media

By Lottie Gidal and phoebe chapnick-sorokin BANANA PANCAKES

Blueberry Scones

Eggs in purgatory

1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup milk 1 tbsp sugar 2 tsp baking powder 2 ripe bananas, mashed 1 egg, beaten 2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 cup all purpose flour 1/4 cup cold butter 1 tbsp baking powder 1 cup fresh blueberries 3/4 cup half-and-half 1 egg, beaten 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large cloves garlic, minced 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes Pinch of salt and pepper 1 large sprig fresh basil and rosemary 2 tbsp grated Parmesan 1 tbsp unsalted butter 6 eggs Slightly crusty bread for serving

Ingredients:

Instructions: 1) Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt.

2) In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil, and bananas.

3) Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.

4) Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.

Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown

Ingredients:

Instructions: 1) Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).

2) Cut butter into mixture of flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add blueberries and mix.

3) In separate bowl beat together cream and egg.

Slowly pour into dry ingredients, then knead.

4) Divide dough in half.

On lightly floured board, shape each half into a 6-inch round. Cut into 6 wedges.

5) Bake for 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

Instructions: 1) In a large skillet with a lid, heat oil on medium.

Add the sliced garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until the garlic turns golden brown at the edges.

This should take about one minute. Stir in tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil.

Turn the heat to low.

2) Simmer, squashing tomato pieces with a wooden

spoon or a potato masher, until the tomatoes break down and thicken into a sauce, 20 to 25 minutes.

Stir in Parmesan, butter, salt, and red-pepper flakes to taste.

3) Using the back of a spoon, make 6 divots into the tomato sauce, then crack an egg into each divot. Cover the pan and let cook until the eggs are set to taste, about 2 to 3 minutes for runny yolks. (If the pan is not covered, the eggs won’t cook through, so don’t skip that step.)

4) While the eggs are cooking, toast bread in a toaster or under a broiler. Rub warm toast with the cut garlic clove, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt.

5) To serve, sprinkle eggs with more Parmesan and chopped herbs, then spoon onto plates or into shallow bowls. Serve with garlic toast.

R

emember going out to brunch on a lazy Sunday morning?

Maybe your family forced you into it, maybe you wanted to spend time with your friends, maybe you just like brunch. Remember the excitement of a meal that is not quite lunch or breakfast, but somewhere hidden in between?

It’s so exciting, in fact, that we constantly feel the need to take a photo of our meal before we eat it. And then that photo is so pretty we post it on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, you name it, just so all of our friends can see how beautifully presented our meal is. It’s free publicity for the restaurant: they get some of their signature dishes shared with hundreds of people who, before that day, might never have heard of them.

It seems as though a large portion of the Internet is food photos. Food is one of the most impermanent things that humans create. It almost doesn’t make sense to spend that much energy to make something look so good only to have it completley destroyed a few minutes later. All of that work, now in the customer’s stomach. In that sense, it makes perfect sense that we all document every meal. Apart from the memory of how happy our taste buds were, there is no other way to remember just how much fun brunch really is.

Art by ella hennager hand model paul cornell

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE Technological innovations in our own backyard

By Mina Takahashi

O

“Our research is currently being extended to allow multiple digital human models to interact with each other to complete tasks cooperatively.

Research also continues to grow in its dynamic capabilities, through the integration of artificial intelligence, design optimization, physics-based modeling, and advanced, multi-scale physiological models,” Abdel-Malek said.

Mathematically, the model for the Santos skeleton was developed based on kinematic and dynamic analyses. Optimization was used to determine postures and motions that were governed by various human performance measures and constrained by the restrictions imposed by the skeleton, the laws of physics, and the environment.

“The software must be as fast and efficient as possible in an effort to provide real-time simulations. I originally conducted research in robotics, developing mathematical models to enable robot manipulators to predict their motion, posture, and dynamics. The same methods, when applied to human models, were found to enable the prediction of human motion,” Abdel-Malek said.

“The most difficult part of designing this simulator was enabling the model to learn and grow, and integrating the many disciplines needed to achieve our goals.”

A standout moment Abdel-Malek had while working on this project was the delivery of the GruntSim program to the US Marines.

The software creates human models that are representative of Marines, examining the result of biomechanical stresses on every joint in their bodies. This technology aims to predict when Marines will be hurt, and what types of exercises they should to do avoid injuries.

ver the last century, technology has slowly encroached into every aspect of our lives.

It’s in our pockets, on our wrists, and we encounter it everywhere we go.

Audrey Friestad ‘18 has grown up in the age of technology, and has seen drastic changes in various products throughout her lifetime.

“The thing that stood out the most to me is the media, especially videos,” Friestad said. “I remember when I was younger, whenever I would want to watch a movie, my mom would put in a VCR tape and now it’s like, all DVDs. And not even that, now it’s just online like on Netflix or stuff like that.”

Besides rapid changes that have affected how we consume media, there are many other large scale technological innovations, some happening right here in the Iowa City area, including the Virtual Soldier Project, the National Driving Simulator, and robot-assisted surgery.

A

n independent research group at the University of Iowa started the Virtual Soldier Project.

They created Santos, a virtual human who stands at the center of digital human modeling and simulation research.

“Our mission is to deliver high-fidelity, biomechanically and physiologically accurate human simulation environments to enable validated modeling and simulation of human activities to assist in engineering, ergonomic analysis, human performance analysis, human systems integration, and training,” Karim Abdel-Malek, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and a principal investigator on the project, said.

Santos has a wide range of capabilities created using state-of-the-art technologies adapted from robotics, Hollywood, and the game industry.

Simulations using this virtual human helps with designing better armor for soldiers, mitigating injuries, and optimizing performance.

“Our high-fidelity, biomechanically accurate musculoskeletal model was developed from the inside out by our team of biomedical engineers, and incorporates 215 degrees of freedom, including hands, feet, and eyes. The dimensions of the skeleton are mutable, able to represent any anthropometric cross section,” Abdel-Malek said.

“In addition, Santos includes a muscular system with the ability to predict muscle activation and muscle force in real time, using a novel optimization-based methodology.

Over time, the Santos family has grown to incorporate a variety of different body scans to provide a range of models including a female version, Sophia.

10 the little hawk

T “The most difficult part of designing this simulator was enabling the model to learn and grow, and integrating the many disciplines needed to achieve our goals.”

-karim abdel-malek

he National Advanced Driving Simulator is a transportation and safety research center in the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa. Researchers such as Deputy Director Omar Ahmed provide data to sponsors that fund research from both the government and industry.

The facility is home to the one of the world’s most advanced driving simulators, as well as a fleet of vehicles that are partially automated.

“We study the connection between humans and vehicles, and the technologies that can help make driving safer for everyone,” Ahmed said.

“Our mission is to improve safety by researching the connection between drivers, motor vehicles and road users.”

Ahmed has been with the National Advanced Driving Simulator since its inception and even wrote part of the original code.

“This year, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary. The program was conceptualized at the University of Iowa in the early 90s. We started building the facility and the simulator in 1998

and we officially opened for business in 2001,” Ahmed said.

One reason for the near-decade between concept and creation, Ahmed said, was the daunting novelty of the undertaking.

“The most difficult part was daring to dream big and think about doing something that had never been done before. Making the dream a reality required a lot of help from people all over the state of Iowa, the country, and the world,” Ahmed said. “We competed against a lot of states to be the host site for the simulator. Once we won that competition, we worked with a consortium of companies to build the simulator.”

“The most difficult part was daring to dream big and think about doing something that had never been done before.

Making the dream a reality required a lot of help from people all over the state of Iowa, the country, and the world,” -omar ahmed

A

nother innovation that continues to improve is robot-assisted surgery.

Dr. Chad Tracy is a urologist and the Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery and Kidney Stone Treatment at the University of Iowa. Although Tracy did not have a clear role in creating or designing this technology, he works with robotics to perform surgeries like prostatectomies, and treat kidney and bladder cancer. He believes that mimicking the human hand was one of the most difficult parts of the design process.

“Robot-assisted surgery was developed for use in the military for remote surgery, but is not used to any extent for that purpose at this time,” Tracy said. “Hopefully in the future, video enhancements and augmented reality will actually make using the robot better than human eyes and hands can do on their own. We also hope to include enhanced imaging that will allow us to see the blood supply and cancer cells in real time during the surgery. Miniaturization of instruments will allow us to use smaller and smaller incisions and may even let us do surgery through one incision. Our goal is to decrease the morbidity of surgery and improve outcomes. We need to be able to do everything and more with the robotic instrument that we would be able to do with our own hands.”

Tracy said that the technology that goes into robotic-assisted surgery has taken leaps and bounds over a short period of time.

“The evolution of the technology even during my relatively short career has been amazing, as it has spread to multiple disease processes and expanded opportunities for helping patients,” Tracy said. “Every week we perform surgeries that previously would have had more complications, longer recovery, and worse scarring.”

There is a constant debate as to how much technology is too much. In some cases, technology may detract from the quality of human communication or have a detrimental impact on certain segments of the economy. However, technology can also make us more productive and can even save lives.

february 16, 2018 11

Money pressures in the modern age

By Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos

Teenagers today are leaning more and more towards careers based on money, rather than passion. The Little Hawk inspects why that is.

12 The little hawk

I

n the 21st century, trends with teenagers are constantly changing — everything from Pokemon Go to slime, you never quite now what’s going on. But when it comes down to a career, what are these social media fanatics’ future plans?

There are two generations that make up the population of young adults: Generation Z and millenials. Millennials are generally identified by whether or not they were born early enough to understand or be frightened by 9/11 when it happened — which typically means they were born between 1980 to 2000. On social media and in the news, it’s not uncommon to see stories about how millennials are lazy and just like to be on their phones, something that has turned into something of a joke for the generation. One Telegraph article described a millennial at work as “a casually-dressed slacker, strolling into work late on his phone, only to complain there’s no room on the office bean bag.”

Members of Generation Z, who were born after 2000, don’t quite have the stereotypes against them that millennials have. They are, however marked by the technology of the time and are sometimes referred to as “iGen.” Will these teens follow the Millenial’s footsteps or will they find their own path? ”Everytime someone talks about a job people ask ‘how much money does it make,’” said Carly Weigel ‘20.

According to a blog by Mansoor Ayub, a 19-year-old politician, “57% of Generation Z prefers to save money instead of spending it.”

This is a sharp contrast to millennials, who prefer the experience of spending to the value of the money they’re spending, according to Business Insider.

“I thought about being a teacher,” said se-

nior Claire Stolley ’18. “But then I realized it doesn’t really pay that much so I kinda was like ‘eh.’”

Stolley is planning to study Animal Sciences in college, but she’s not sure what she would like to do after that. Stolley and her friends look at their future through a practical lens, rather than an idealistic one.

“I want to major in film, television, and production.

It’s just something I’m passionate about and something I think I’d enjoy doing.”

- Noah Mueller ‘18

Stephanie Verdinez ‘18 agrees with Stolley.

When considering her career, she looks at how she’ll be able to live on the salary she’ll make.

“Maybe nursing,” she said. “You’ve sort of got to think about how you’re going to live.”

Why are these students so aware of their financial future in correlation to their vocational future? A popular theory is that, due to that fact that Generation Z grew up in a time of economic instability, this might have lead them to be more aware and careful of the money they spend, whereas the millennials grew up in a time of economic stability in the United States.

Ryan Jenkins, a generational expert, said, ”Millennials became optimistic thanks to their encouraging Baby Boomer parents and growing up in a time of prosperity and opportunity.”

Although Generation Z is expected to be a little different.

“Generation Z will be realistic thanks to their skeptical and straight-shooting Generation X parents and growing up in a recession,” he said. “According to Pew Charitable Trusts, during the Great Recession, the median net worth of Generation Z’s parents fell by nearly 45 percent.”

However, this does not apply to all Millennials and Generation Z teenagers — many still have no idea what they want to do, or have passions that have nothing to do with money.

“I want to major in film, television, and production,” said Noah Mueller ‘18. He didn’t choose this path for money, but for a vocational purpose. “It’s just something I’m passionate about and [something] I think I’d enjoy doing.”

Mueller is similar to Ariana Mendoza ‘20, a sophomore who knows that she wants to help people in her career. Mendoza is frustrated by the amount her her peers who want to go into medicine for the money, she thinks it’s stupid.

“When I grow up I want to work with children in the medical field, but as of right now I’m not sure the exact specific job,” said Mendoza ‘20. “The amount of money the job offers has not affected my decision because I love child-

February 16, 2018 13

ren and I want to help sick children recover and enjoy the life they are meant to have.”

The infamous question, “What do you want to do when you grow up” often pushes students to think about their futures is most often college or their major. The repetition and stress often associated with this topic makes students worry about their futures. Aubrey Pisarik ‘20, is one of the students who feels this way. “[I get] kind of frustrated,” she said. “Just because I feel pressured, and I have no idea what I want to do.”

Marin Irvine ‘19 agrees with Pisarik.

“I would prefer [adults] to ask me what I’m interested in because I have lots of things I’m interested in but I don’t have a career to name,” said Irvine.

There are many surveys and exercises implemented into the Iowa City’ school district curriculum to help identify possible careers, but Irvine has not found them useful.

“They didn’t offer enough variety in the career caravan,” she said. “I wasn’t interested in anything that I decided to take.”

Students begin the I Have a Plan or Career Caravan at the eighth grade. Mr. Peterson, a guidance counselor at City High, works closely with these career-building initiatives. “[Students] certainly go to salary, it is one of the first things they look at,” said Peterson. “Occasionally you’ll hear conversations like ‘Oh my god they don’t make any money!’ It’s hard to tell if those [careers] are things they’re interested in or not.”

But Peterson doesn’t see this desire of money necessarily reflected in the student body.

“I can’t say we necessarily see a trend. I mean, every student is different when they come in,” said Peterson. “Salary does not come up a ton. Every now and then it does and it

14 The little hawk

comes in varying forms.”

“they certainly look at salary.

Occasionally you’ll hear conversations like ‘Oh my god they don’t make any money!’ It’s hard to tell if those careers are things they’re interested in, or not.”

- mr. peterson

Peterson, however, sees the focus on salaries as a larger issue.

“I think a lot of the time, students have a look at where the higher incomes are within a career,” he said. “To be honest, a lot of the time when students think about money they’re looking at their current situation within their family and think about if they want more or would be willing to not have that much [income].”

Peterson’s theory has nothing to do with generations, but more an overall observation that could be applicable to any time period.

That being said, Peterson has noticed a pattern in the career choices of Generation Z. “A lot of the time, students will come in and say they are interested in either medicine or being a doctor,” he said.

He speculated the population of this field may have to do with how students are aware of that specific career and interact with people in that profession throughout their lives. In fact, the majority of the careers that interested students in a survey by The Little Hawk were in the medical field; just like Ana Van Beek ‘21.

“I know that it will be a nice stable job but I also enjoy doing medical work and stuff like that,” said Van Beek. “I think I have an overall general liking for medical things.”

When asked if she would still be interested in the medical field if it wasn’t as stable of a career as it is and didn’t have such a high salary she was certain she would be. Though those are aspects of her interest, she likes the career generally.

“I’m lucky because a lot of the professions that I’m interested in make a decent amount of money; but money definitely doesn’t determine happiness,” said Liza Whaylen ‘18. “I’d like to make enough money to be comfortable and to be able to travel like maybe once a year, but it’s not a huge factor.”

Photos by Maya Durham

February 16, 2018 15

Sexual hara In the time of #metoo

By Maya Durham

A

wareness of sexual harassment has skyrocketed: from #MeToo to Time’s Up, from Harvey Weinstein to high school students, the issue is making headlines and changing conversations. A poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post found that 54% of all American women have experienced “unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances.” Thirty percent of women have experienced sexual harassment from male colleagues and co-workers, and 25% “identified men with sway over their careers as the culprits.”

It’s affecting school-age students, too.

Ellen Fields ’18 has experienced it throughout her entire high school career.

“For the last four years, particularly my sophomore and junior years, I experienced a fair amount of what you might called moderate sexual harassment,” Fields said.

“Probably the worst event was Homecoming at the dance, and somebody reached under my skirt and grabbed my butt.”

Fields said that the perpetrators—a group of boys in her grade—had other classes with her, as well.

“I took Strength Training my sophomore year and there was a group of boys that would wolf-whistle or catcall me every single day,” she said. “One of the boys was actually in another class of mine at the same time, and they continued that harassment there. Finally, the day before the end

“It’s with this me too, time’s up movement that people are getting more courage to talk about it and people are becoming a lot less tolerant.”

- ellen F ields

of the year after this had been continuing for a good seven months I finally just lost it in the middle of class, screamed at them and ran out of the room. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

According to RAINN, an organization for providing support and information on sexual violence, 44 percent of sexual assaults happen before college, and one in five girls reported that they have been assaulted on their school campuses. However, this problem is not a new one. Mary Ann Rasmussen, an English and Gender Studies professor at the University of Iowa, has observed a long history of sexual harassment and abuse.

“Now we have much more discussion of gender and the roles that have been learned in terms of gender and sex that are so damaging to both boys and girls and women, which carry over into our adult relationships. So all of that has made the problem more visible now,” Rasmussen said.

Fields agrees that movements in Hollywood and pop culture like #MeToo and Time’s Up have inspired new discussions about sexual harassment and abuse.

“Little sophomore me would not be willing to [talk about this]. She would not be willing to tell anyone that this guy had been giving me s*** because I would have been afraid—and I still kind of am—of retribution, people coming after me for talking about it,” Fields said. “I think that it’s with this Time’s Up, Me Too movement that people are getting more courage to talk about it and people are becoming a lot less tolerant.”

The two movements, which were started in the wake of high-profile accusations of sexual abuse and harassment against people such as President Donald Trump, have started conversations on a global scale. According to CBS News, as of October 2017 there were 1.7 million tweets about #MeToo spanning 85 countries. #MeToo was started in 2006 by Tarana

assment Burke, and Time’s Up is a coalition composed of women in Hollywood and the music industry. Both work exclusively to bring light and awareness to the systemic issue of abuse.

“I think that that’s really encouraging, the visibility of this harassment culture,” Rasmussen said. “What’s interesting is that for my generation, that was also something you’re trying to do, we were trying to say ‘This is not normal. This is a block to women participating in the world of work, this is a block for women becoming doctors or lawyers…working in offices or leaving the home.’”

In the past, and even today, sexual harassment allegations are swept under the rug. A prime example of this is Harvey Weinstein, a director and producer, who harassed and assaulted more than 50 women throughout his career and was only just exposed, despite his misconduct being a well-known issue within the industry, according to BBC News.

However, at City High, there are specific protocols that faculty, staff, and administrators must follow.

“We would make sure that [a sexual assault allegation] was handled with the utmost detail and attention,” John Bacon, City’s principal, said. “The school district provides us with guidelines for how to address situations like this, and consequences could range from a couple days’ suspension to expulsion.”

The district also works with the Rape Victims Advocacy Program (RVAP) on an anonymous text line that allows students to report sexual harassment directly to administration.

Fields used the hotline when she was harassed three weeks ago.

“The only time I’ve had follow-up on reports has been this last time,” she said.

“And I honestly think that’s because I got the student body president involved. I made a big stink about it.”

John Geerdes ’19 said he thinks the issue of harassment is dependent on per-

“it was a volcano waiting to erupt, and it’s actually a really powerful and important thing.”

- maryann Rasmussen

ception.

“What’s harassment to one person may not be harassment to another, you know? Some people might enjoy what you could argue would be more rough compliments like ‘What’s up, hot stuff?’ whereas some people are ‘classier’ in a way, like ‘I like your smile,’ or dress or whatever,” he said. “Some people might like one way, some might like the other.

You never know what the person is like, so it’s better to not say anything. A random compliment could brighten someone’s day or it could frighten them. I think that, in these cases, the risks outweigh the benefits.”

Geerdes said he believes that sometimes discussions about harassment can be hypocritical.

“The #MeToo movement has been really prevalent in the media. One thing I don’t like about it is the hypocrisy of the females in it,” he said. “Because a group of guys will talk about a girl like, ‘Yeah, she’s pretty.’ Some women will say that you can’t say that, but there’s no way that girls don’t do the exact same thing. There’s no way that girls don’t wanna have sexual relations with guys.”

Rasmussen believes that there is a gender gap in terms of how sexual harassment is perceived and understood.

“We need to start talking more about the socialization of boys and girls and what happens through that socialization and gender norms and how we’re trying to change that. Boys and men need to understand what girls and women are saying when they’re talking about consent or respect,” Rasmussen said. “There’s just a huge gap between their understanding and what girls and women are trying to say, but don’t feel like they’re being heard about. It’s not surprising that we’ve gotten to where we are now—it was a volcano waiting to erupt, and it’s actually a really powerful and important thing.”

February 16, 2018 17

won’t you celebrate with me?

Four city high students talk to the little hawk about their experiences being black in the 2010s.

By Eden knoop

“I grew up in Ethiopia. We’re very proud people,” Hewot Getachew 18’ stated, having just finished flipping through a slideshow of photos of her in Ethiopian dress.

“We’re proud of our culture and of being in Ethiopian. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that was never colonized. We were able to defeat the Italians twice,” Getachew said. “It was the first African country to defeat a European.

Because of that, some countries like Ghana adopted our flag colors: green, yellow, and red.”

Despite her pride in her heritage, Getachew finds herself critical of efforts like Black History Month.

“How do you include everything into one month? You can’t. Black History didn’t stop after the civil rights movement. It’s still happening today. It’s not just about what happened in the past, but what is continuing to happen now,” she said. “It should be celebrated every day. It should be acknowledged. It should be talked about. We’re making history every day. People are breaking boundaries, people are dying, and you’ve got to keep talking about it. Racism is not over. It’s still happening.”

Getachew immigrated here when she was nine. Until this year, she lived in Texas. Her senior year is her first in Iowa City. That background offers her a unique perspective on racism in America.”

“I didn’t really know about racism because there everybody was pretty much the same skin tone. Racism didn’t really exist,” she said. “I didn’t know about it until I came here.”

The experience that stuck with her the most occured her junior year.

“Last year, in Texas, our high school football game was black-out. They have games where it’s pink-out, white out, or blue-out to support the police. And for the black-out game, there was a white guy with his face painted black and wearing a Trump hat,” she said. “Blackface. For pink-out and white-out nobody colored their face white. Nobody colored their face pink. For me, it was really hurtful.”

However, the confrontations that are most memorable to Getachew aren’t always so big.

“I get asked a lot about where I’m from. I say I’m from Ethiopia. And then they ask where that is. I say Africa and then they go ‘Oh, so you’re African?’ Yes, but no,” she said. “I am African, but I’m Ethiopian first. That’s where I was born. That’s my culture. That’s where I’m from. You can’t just categorize me as African. No one asks a white person, ‘Oh you’re from Italy? Oh so you’re European.’”

Getachew’s heritage only strengthens her connection to her own race.

“To be black, it’s pride in who you are. Black people are just the most resilient people. We face so many different things. People try to come and box us in. Being able to break out and do great things, it’s amazing,” she said. “Just because you say this doesn’t mean that’s all I am. I can be more. You have to do twice as much just to get to a certain place. That’s what it means to be black. Just rising.”

Because of racial bias she sees in society, Getachew is highly critical of privilege that she perceives.

“Back in Texas, there’s a girl I know. When she started driving, she got a ticket.

The first three times, she cried herself out of a ticket. And then the other day, she posted a video of herself really upset and crying. She was talking about how she didn’t like the police, they’re just so unfair, and she just feels so mistreated because they gave her a ticket,” she said. “That’s a huge part of white privilege. For many black people, that wouldn’t have been a ticket, it would have been a bullet.”

Getachew has a message for all people, no matter their race: “Don’t assume things. Don’t apply stereotypes. Don’t expect less. As a community, you have to push people up, not like push people down because they’re black,” she says. “Black people, don’t let yourselves be conformed to the stereotypes. Break out and be great, because you are great.”

20 The little hawk

“I didn’t really know about racism... until I came (to america).”

- Hewot Getachew

“I didn’t really have a sense of racial identity until a really late age,” Mariam Keita ‘20 said. Although she now reflects on her race with pride, this wasn’t always the case.

“I can remember being 9 years old and talking to Hispanic and Latinx people about how they weren’t white. To me, that just meant they didn’t have dark skin,” she said. “It made me so confused, like, ‘What do you mean you’re not white?

Look at how pale you are in comparison to me.’ My classmates would say things to me like, ‘Oh, you’re dark, but you’re not black like me.’”

Much of Keita’s past confusion stemmed from her own unique identity.

“I’m not an African-American that was born in in this country to African-American parents. I’m an African-American that was born to native African parents. My cultural background is different from that of an African-American, being Gambian-American,” Keita said. “Furthermore, I have a white stepmother, so I come from a multi-racial family.That’s also influenced a lot of my earlier outlooks on life because I wasn’t taught to see in color.”

Although Keita understands why she was raised that way, she disagrees with it.

“It seems great in theory, but was actually really harmful to me because I didn’t have a group that I could fall back on and relate to. I didn’t think of all of the strong black women that had come before me because I didn’t consider myself to be a black woman,” Keita said. “As soon as I accepted myself as being black was when I kind of started to craft an identity.”

Her pride in her cultural heritage is only tempered by the knowledge that not all are so lucky.

“I’m really privileged in that I’m able to link myself back to a culture. Many people cannot trace themselves back to a certain country or certain tribe or even a certain location in Africa. They just have been robbed of any ethnic and cultural background,” Keita said. “That’s something that gets brushed over a lot in America. People are like, ‘Oh, slavery happened, it’s gone, now get over it,” but how do you get over something that’s ruptured your identity so deeply? I commend the African-American black community for surviving that and for crafting a new identity for themselves here. I think that’s so powerful.”

Despite recognizing the uniqueness of her experience, Keita still considers herself to be very much an American.

“I have been submerged in American culture from my childhood. English was my first language because my dad thought that starting me off with a native dialect would confuse me when learning English,” she said. “He thought that would cause hardships for me later in life and would put me at a disadvantage. I never learned either of [my parents’] native dialects.”

This language barrier has impacted Keita’s ability to connect with her family.

“I can’t speak to most of my family because I don’t understand them. That speaks so many volumes about surviving in this country. In order to succeed here, you have to give up what makes you you. You’re not allowed to not conform to the American ideal,” Keita said. “You have to speak English to succeed. If it’s not your first language, whether or not it’s fair, it does become a disadvantage. I understand why I wasn’t taught another language, but it still hurts so much when my family is talking to my dad or my mom on the phone and I can’t even understand what they’re saying.”

Despite her denunciation of the barriers many immigrants and minorities face, Keita believes it is a mistake to lump all of their experiences together.

“I reject the notion that that there is a black experience because it promotes this belief that being black is monolithic. Not all black people are the same. Not all black people share the same background. Not all black people have experienced the same hate and discrimination or experienced it in the same circles or in the same delivery,” she said. “Even though black people in America do suffer from the effects of systemic oppression and systematic violence, it’s harmful to assume that everyone can articulate that in same way. How do I speak for my entire race?”

That criticism is part of the reason that Keita finds herself critical of Black History Month.

“There’s this one quote by Morgan Freeman where he goes, ‘I don’t believe in the idea of Black History Month. Isn’t every month Black History Month if African-American history is American history?’” Keita said. “Even though we definitely need to appreciate all minorities on a larger scale, just because it’s Black History Month doesn’t mean that March 1st comes around and we don’t care about black people anymore. It means we never cared about black people, so where do we start?”

“i reject the notion that there is a black experience because it promotes this belief that being black is monolithic.”

- Mariam keita February 16, 2018 21

“I can really jive with multiple groups of people without any problem.”

- Shay McLean

“I do not think at any point in my life my race has ever been a burden or a negative thing,” Shay McLean ‘18 said. “It’s never held me back. I don’t think I’ve been chained down.”

In part, McLean attributes that to his mixed race heritage.

“My mom is white, my dad is black, so I’ve had one foot in both groups. I’m comfortable either/or, it doesn’t matter to me. All of the people in my mom’s family, all of the white people I’ve encountered, I’ve never had someone being racist to me,” McLean said. “None of that has ever happened to me. I don’t know if it’s that I don’t care if it happens or if it’s just subtle enough that it just brushes off, but I’ve never been blatantly attacked or ridiculed or demeaned for something like this.”

McLean feels like his upbringing has allowed him to connect to people from all backgrounds.

“I can really jive with multiple groups of people without any problem. When I was little, my dad places had an apartment building in a predominantly black part of New Jersey. I would be left with the tenants of these apartments, with all these people coming in and out. He’s Jamaican, too, and he had a restaurant. That brought in a whole diverse group of people,” McLean said. “At that time, we lived in a little apartment above my grandma’s house. A lot of the time, I would spend my whole day with my grandma, who’s a white lady, and then I went to a private Catholic school from preschool until third or second grade. There were probably three other black kids. All my teachers were white Italian ladies or white Italian nuns. Those spaces I grew up in and got all of my early experiences from were polar opposites.”

Although he was raised in New Jersey, McLean still feels a connection to his Jamaican roots.

“It’s always been there. It hasn’t always been in my face, but it’s always been in the back. My dad likes listening to Jamaican music, he’s a chef who has a Jamaican restaurant. I listen to Jamaican music, I eat Jamaican food,” he said. “Language?

Eh, no. I can kind of get it but it’s pretty rough.”

His Jamaican heritage has been most apparent for him in his upbringing.

“There’s a big emphasis on rules and respecting your elders. My dad made that very clear. From what he’s told us, that’s the way it was in Jamaica,” McLean said. “The kids were the inferiors and the adults were the superiors and that sort of rubbed off on his parenting style. Obviously, his parenting style impacted me because I’m his kid.”

Despite that, McLean doesn’t feel as though his race is central to his identity.

“I don’t think that me being black or half-black is my defining feature. If you asked me to describe myself, that’s not going to be in the top fifteen. It’s not a central thought. It’s an afterthought,” he said. “Even scientifically, race is not relevant.

There’s more genes deciding height than there are race. I don’t think that being the color that I am makes me who I am. I think who I am is more based on the experiences that I’ve had growing up and living my life.”

McLean disagrees with the expectations people have of him because of his race.

“People always expect me to have this fiery passion to right the wrongs. Never in my entire life have my parents ever said, ‘Back in the day, things weren’t good, so now people owe you something.’ My entire life, I have been told that the world owes you zilch,” he said. “If you’re always looking for someone to right wrongs that happened in the past that they had no impact on, that’s really not a good foundation for your future. If I want to be successful, I have to be successful on my own, with my own work, not relying on other people’s sympathy.”

As for Black History Month, McLean finds himself mixed.

“I think that the whole idea of educating people is always a good thing. Education is never not a good thing. But I don’t think that there necessarily has to be a time dedicated. It should just be a part of what’s happening. If you’re teaching material properly in your curriculum, this material is going to come up by itself. You can’t just cut out the whole civil rights movement. That would make no sense,” McLean said. “At this point, for a large majority of people, people don’t look at someone and judge them based on their race. Once it becomes more normalized, I think it’s going to become less important to have one segment of time dedicated to educating the population about the subject.”

“it’s real testament to how strong the human spirit is and what great things can be achieved when you want to survive.”

- Jessica Sheffield

“I don’t really like labels,” Jessica Sheffield ‘18 said. She credits this in part due to her upbringing.

“My experience is different from a lot of people’s because I’m Armenian, Middle Eastern, Southern European, and West African, so I have some of everything.

Growing up, it was kind of difficult for me because my whole family is white and I went to a mostly white elementary school,” Sheffield said. “People always ask me, ‘What are you? What race are you? Which one of your parents is white? Are you adopted?’ People were just really surprised by me.”

Sheffield’s diverse background often left her feeling out of touch with her own identity.

“I was adopted, and so my parents made a huge effort to incorporate me in their family. By doing that, I lost a little bit of my individuality and my own culture,” she said, offering an example: “My family is Mormon, so they’d celebrate Pioneer Day. Every Mormon has a pioneer ancestor. When I was little, I would be like, ‘What about my ancestors?’ They’d say, ‘Well, you’re a part of our family now, so these are your ancestors.’ It was hard for me to reconcile those two parts of me.”

Unfortunately, Sheffield doesn’t see her struggles with identity as uncommon.

“It’s really hard for African-American people in this country to be in touch with their roots because a lot of their ancestors were brought over as slaves,” Sheffield said. “I do have a great-great-aunt who was a slave. My whole [biological] family and I are really proud of descending from her. We call it our ‘resilient genes.’”

For most of her life, Sheffield had no clue how her ancestors came over.

“I was in that boat for a long time, until my auntie called me on the phone and said, ‘Did I ever tell you about my great-aunt?’ When [my aunt] was little and would go to visit her family, they would cry and hug her and tell her how beautiful she was and how they were so proud of her. My aunt went to a predominantly white Catholic school that was really prestigious. She’s like 70 now, so it was a big deal back then,” Sheffield said. “She found out they had this reaction because our first aunt in this country was a slave. She had nothing. To see one of her progeny move on and be able to go to school and get a good education was such a big deal for them that they were moved to tears. Hearing that story was just really special to me. I have a huge respect for the opportunities that I have and I think it kind of pushes me and plenty of other young women like me to keep trying to succeed and make our family proud.”

Her family history has shaped how she views her own race.

“I really think [being black] goes back to resiliency. These people were taken away from home and had their children ripped out of their arms and here they are still making a life for themselves and for their family,” Sheffield said. “If someone did that to me, I’d be like, ‘Eff this! Eff everything!’ To me, it’s a real testament to how strong the human spirit is and what great things can be achieved when you want to survive.”

Despite the progress she sees, Sheffield still finds herself frustrated by some barriers.

“I take more advanced classes and I’m usually one of the only minorities not only in that class but in the whole section itself. I don’t really feel like I’m represented,” she said. “In English class, for example, it’s hard to have discussions because I’m the only one with a minority female perspective. So a lot of times, even if people aren’t being negative, I feel like I’m kind of on my own.”

However, the real issues, she feels, lie outside of the classroom.

“We’re in Iowa, so if you go anywhere outside of Iowa City, you start seeing the Trump signs and the KKK truck stickers. I was at an auction out in the middle of nowhere and a guy walked in with a confederate flag hat on. I was the only black person literally for miles,” she said. “He asked me to move. I was scared. I’ve never…people are crazy, people carry weapons. When I experience fear or opposition, my response is to go inwards so I just got up and left. My whole family was there and they didn’t even really know what happened. Because they’re all white, some of that stuff just goes right over their head.”

Despite acknowledging the need for more awareness, when it comes to Black History Month, Sheffield is torn.

“I’m an idealist. In my ideal world, black history would be so integrated in American history that we wouldn’t need a Black History Month,” she said. “Of course it’s important to bring attention to black writers and athletes and musicians who have made contributions. But now, in 2018, it’s more important to make that mainstream. That should be the standard.”

As for Sheffield, she is still focusing on learning more about her own ancestry.

“It’s hard (to balance my identities). My [biological] grandfather is 100% Armenian, my grandmother is 100% French, and then my biological father’s family is all African. I chose to take French in school not because it was required, but because I have cousins who still live in France and my grandmother is a first generation immigrant from France,” she said. “When I go to my [biological] sister’s house and cook, we try to cook different kinds of food: traditional African-American food, African food. I’ve started trying to look into Armenian and Middle-eastern food, trying to share that with my family and tell stories, write down names, get information. I’m really trying to preserve those lives and stories that were told so they’re not lost and not forgotten.”

February 16, 2018 23

pictured: Ollie morelli ‘19 wearing clout gogGles and a silk robe.

BUOYANT

BY ZOë BUTLER & OLIVIA LUSALA

Winter comes with its advantages. In this fashion editorial, The Little Hawk explores layering, light, and statement pieces to find warmth in the cold.

pictured: Ollie morelli ‘19, tommy brands ‘19, and william irvine ‘20.

february 16, 2018 24

25 The Little Hawk

Teachers give love advice You asked. They answered.

28 The little hawk

By ZoĂŤ Butler & Shayna Jaskolka

“You are asking that question of somebody who, in high school, collected comic books and someone who played magic the gathering., we are not experts.”

- Jason Schumann “Yes, High school was not our stellar moments of relationshipping.” - John burkle

February 16, 2018 29

“You never really get over the fear of rejection, i don’t think, but you get over the fear of the fear of rejection.” - AJ Leman

“If at first you don’t succeed try, try, try, try again.”

- Ali Borger-German

30 The little hawk

“I don’t think i’ve ever met a girl thats like, “you know what he’s super boring i love it.’” - Lynsey barnard

To see the full video, follow the link below.

“Sometimes, what your mother doesnt know won’t hurt her.” - anna basile

https://tinyurl.com/loveadvice18 February 16, 2018 31

Little Hawk Coloring Page

Complete, tweet, and tag @thelittlehawk for a prize from the little hawk staff!