The Little Hawk by The Little Hawk

Iowa City, IA

Vol. 79

October 8, 2019

Issue 1

thelittlehawk.com

Quick NEWS The newspaper that leads

National Merit Six City High seniors were named National Merit semi-finalists.

HomeComing Royals At the Homecoming football game on September 27, Yardley Whaylen ‘20 and Robert Tharrington ‘20 were crowned Homecoming Royals. PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLIOT DUNWALD ABOVE: An aerial view of the City High campus and the upper parking lot, also known as the “jock lot,” which is currentlhy under construction

Students face parking issues due to construction

By Kate Kueter

he idea of a major parking area being unavailable for two years is now a reality for the students of City

High. Since the first week of the school parking lot closest to the tennis courts, also known as the “jock lot,” has been closed off for the upcoming construction on City High. The closure means the loss of around 70 spots. “With the current construction going on at City High, the upper lot is very crowded,” said Nathan Bradford ‘22. Sophomores and upperclassmen have always been allowed to park at City High, and only upperclassmen are allowed to park in the upper lots. Administrators have been patrolling the parking lots and checking the parking stickers multiple times a day this year to make sure the proper people are parking in the lots. New construction was provided by the largest bond issued in the state of Iowa. The bond granted every school in the Iowa City Community School District an upgrade. City High has chosen to add a new cafeteria, a new wrestling room,

new locker rooms, a new gymnasium, and central air conditioning throughout the school. Principal John Bacon believes that the changes are necessary to keep up with Liberty and West high schools. “When you’re a three-highschool town, and you have people making decisions about where they want to be, I fundamentally believe we must have facility equity between the three buildings, otherwise, you’re at a significant disadvantage,” said Bacon. With an area of parking out of commission, many students have decided to park on the streets close to the school and in the lower lots. Students have been given the option to park at Bates Field. If cars are parked illegally in areas like crosswalks, lawns, or fire lanes, they will be towed. No cars have been towed this year, but staff are monitoring the parking lots and side streets that students are using for parking. “There are plenty of places to park down there [at Bates Field]. It is not filling up in the way that I thought that it might,” said Mr. Bacon. Even with the possibility of parking at Bates Field and on the streets, students are still having

trouble parking. Johanna Kopelman ‘21 has first hour open and arrives at school around 9:15, giving her 29 minutes before second hour starts to find a parking spot and get to class. On a typical day, Kopelman arrives at school, circling the lower lot and trying to find a spot. As she finds spots and circles back to park, the spots are snatched away by other students. One day, during one of her laps around the lot, she became trapped in the lot by oncoming cars and cars that were parked illegally in the lot. “I had to approach their car and tell them, ‘There’s nothing left and my only way out is if you move,’” Kopelman said. Kopelman started to search the side streets and realized that second hour had started. “I had to pull over on the side of the road and call my mom to have her excuse me for a second period until I could find a spot,” Kopelman said. After winter break, students from Elizabeth Tate High School will leave the old Hoover Elementary facility. That will release around 70 spots in the old Hoover parking lot. Seniors who do not have first-period classes or who have

5A News “Deaths and illnesses lead to investigations of vaping” 12A Opinion “Staff editorial: diversity in the arts” @instalittlehawk

@The Little Hawk

to leave during the day and cannot find a spot to park will have a chance to claim a spot all their own. Assistant Principal Scott Jespersen has been working on a plan to hold a lottery for parking spots. Only seniors can participate in the lottery for parking spots. Seniors will be able to decorate their spots, and no one else will be able to park in that spot for the rest of the year. The administration is hoping to start the lottery after Homecoming week. Next year, the juniors will be able to participate in a lottery of their own. “This is one idea that I think would promote a lot of buy-in from the senior class. A lot of the students that are late arrivals are our seniors,” Jespersen said. Bacon said that students are being very considerate and accommodating to the current situation. “The students are adjusting to this and I’m very proud of kids being flexible and making it work,” said Bacon. For Bacon, a John F. Kennedy quote comes to mind. “‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,’” he said. “Well, that applies to City.”

16A A&E “Featured Talent: Aidan Spurgetis” B3 Sports “Fighting her way to the top”

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Debate City High high varsity debaters Simon Weiss ‘20 and Ellis Chen ‘20 won the Mid America Cup debate tournament.

BECOME Leadership team The new BECOME leadership team selected its mentors, who will help freshman and sophomore students.

Student Senate Student senate voted to abolish gender categories for the 2019 Homecoming court and replace King and Queen with “Royals.”

Football City High varsity football takes home the Little CyHawk trophy in a close game 28-25.

Powderpuff champs The Powder Rangers won the Powderpuff football championship.

VolleyBall The varsity volleyball team won the battle for the Spike against West High.

2020 Primaries 2020 presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren visited Iowa City to hold rallies for their presidential campaigns.

@thelittlehawk

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

2A NEWS

Letter Editors from the

Dear Reader,

We’re happy to announce that The Little Hawk is now sponsored by La Croix. (Just kidding. Or are we?) But in all seriousness, we’re so excited to present to you our first issue of 2019. In these hallowed pages, you will find a wide range of topics to peruse. The news section presents coverage of teen vaping and new teacher profiles; the opinion section tackles diversity in the arts; A&E has a profile of an aspiring writer; sports covers the tradition of freshman wake-up; and feature dives into how the crisis in Sudan has impacted Sudanese-Americans living in Iowa City. We’ve put in an incredible amount of work over the past month editing, designing, writing, and rewriting. But it hasn’t just been the two of us working hard in room 2109. Far from it. We have a dedicated team of editors who have put in the time to get their stories done, edit the other work going in their sections, and design pages. We have a staff of great reporters who have gone at the first issue of the year with a vengeance, even those of them who had never written a story before this issue. Without all of them, this issue never could have happened. Without our wonderful City High community, who provided us with interviews, information, passion, accomplishment, and bold ideas that inspire us to write. So, after much ado, we proudly present our first issue. Read on, dear reader. We hope you enjoy the reading as much as we enjoyed the telling.

Love,

Mira Bohannan Kumar

Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos

Student senate abolishes gender categories in Homecoming voting By Shoshie Hemley

ince last year’s student senate meetings, Phil Tyne ‘20 has been pushing to abolish gender categories within City High’s Homecoming Court. Not until the first student senate meeting of the 2019-2020 school year has there been discussion on implementing it. Much discussion occurred, with many students voicing their opinions on how to implement a new system. On September 4, student senate voted to abolish gender categories when voting for Homecoming Court. This would mean that rather than seven girls and seven boys being voted onto the court, simply 14 deserving people, regardless of gender, would be voted on. The same would go for the “King” and “Queen.” However, the Sunday night following that Wednesday’s meeting, pushback occurred. Different posts on social media started circling, criticizing the decision made by the student senate. “To me it just felt quite ridiculous because getting so upset over something that would help people just seems counterintuitive to me, especially to our school, our community,” Tyne said. Not only was there criticism to the student senate, but also to The Little Hawk, with some posts using the hashtag ‘no more liberal hawk.’ “I want to make very clear that I wear many hats, but they’re all different hats,” Mira Bohannan Kumar ‘20, who is not only the student

PHOTO BY SHOSHIE HEMLEY ABOVE: Students participate in a student senate meeting on Wednesday, September 11. body president but also the executive editor of The Little Hawk, said. “I’m not the type of person who will try to leverage my power in one situation to make good on something else. I wish that there was some way that I can perform both these roles without being the same person, but I can’t. The people elected me to be student body president, and people appointed me to be executive editor.” Many discussions were held whether or not to have an emergency meeting and how to proceed. Ultimately, due to time constraints, Bohannan Kumar decided to wait till the next Wednesday’s meeting to discuss the issue. The meeting was widely publicized and stu-

dents who disagreed with the decision were invited to both speak and vote. At the meeting, many students spoke about their views. Some claimed the change would create a more inclusive Homecoming, whereas others argued that the decision was made without the knowledge or representation of the student body. The meeting’s turnout had dozens of students filling every chair, lining up against the wall, and standing in the doorway to take part. “I liked the fact that the topic that we were embracing really generated a lot of interest. We had probably 50 or 60 people in a classroom, so I hope that continues, and that interest can be in a lot of other

areas, not just Homecoming,” Mrs. Melanie Gibbens, a U.S History teacher and one of the sponsors of student senate, said. Eventually, after a heated debate, Bohannan Kumar called for a vote. “When we came into the second meeting, which I had opened up and promoted and posted about to include more people, it became clear that people were just interested in the process and wanted to be a part of it,” Bohannan Kumar said. The senate voted almost unanimously to keep the previous decision. “I’m really happy. I’ve been working for it since my freshman year, so the fact that it got accom-

plished in my senior year is kind of a big deal,” Tyne said. While there still are people who are unhappy with the decision, it is final. “It’s going to to make the school more accepting. I know that while we don’t have a lot of non-binary students in the senior year, there are a lot of non-binary students in the younger years,” Tyne said. “This is something that is really going to help them feel accepted as they’re aging through their high school process and not feel alienated.” The Homecoming court was voted on the following week, with the changes being implemented. Following the circulation of a ticket of 14 boys, nicknamed “BroCo,” 13 boys and one girl were voted onto the court. “I think what we have taken from this whole experience is that it’s really important to listen to the student body, which is something student senate has been working on for a really long time,” Bohannan Kumar said. “I think that it’s really important that we take students’ concerns into account. With that said, I think it’s also important to preserve student senate precedent and process, and since I am student senate president, it is my job to safeguard the student senate process.” Whether or not the change will continue is up to those in future student senate meetings. In the meantime, student senate meets every Wednesday at 8:15 am in Ms. Gibbens’ room.

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

NEWS 3A

In loving memory of John Geerdes I knew John as a student at City High through his participation in our mock trial teams, in student senate, from watching him play varsity soccer and once, last spring, as a tennis player in a JV doubles match, which he and Nick Cronk won. John relished his life as a high school student and seemed to get as much fun as he could from almost everything he did. He was one of the widely acknowledged leaders of his class. To be a leader of that class is a singular achievement, because the Class of 2019 is one of the top two or three I have known in my fifteen years at City High. John and I were good friends

and we had hundreds of conversations. Almost all of them involved laughter and/or banter. What I came to know of him over his time at City High is that underneath all of the fun and laughter, he was a fundamentally serious person who knew who he was. Leaders, like John, have empathy, a sense of perspective on life, and a solid core of personal responsibility. John embodied these traits and deserved his role as a leader. Now, lest this brief portrait seems too perfect, I know from looking through his text messages to me in the past year that on several occasions he begged me to get him out of one, quote, boring place called class or another. I resisted,

most of the time. However, I now confess to sneaking him out a couple of times. The event today is called a memorial. Through human existence we have struggled with the fundamental paradox of life, which is that we are aware that it will end. Primitive rituals, religion and philosophy have attempted to answer this paradox. More recently, neurological research tells us that all of our experiences reside in that part of our brains called memory. Experience lies within us on a cellular level. It seems fair to conclude that in some form or other, memory equals actual existence. The lives of those no longer with us live on within our collective mem-

I was not the first–nor was I the last–freshman girl to have a big crush on John Geerdes. With those big, soft, brown eyes and long floppy waves, who could blame you. But if one thing could stick with you for the rest of your life, it would be that smile. That goofy, happy, perfect smile of his, that could melt your heart and build it right back up again in a second, and that single-handedly won him “Most Likely to Talk Themselves Out of Trouble.” I wish I could tell you about a side of John you didn’t know, that only I knew, but there is nothing to tell. John was just as you knew him to be; kind, honest, and loving. There was no secret to John, and he

liked it that way. John liked starbursts, hated Hi-Chews, chose dogs over cats, was addicted to Designated Survivor, and ate more Hamburg babycakes than would ever be considered healthy. His kindness knew no end, it was plentiful, it was genuine, and it was all encompassing. He could make best friends out of a stranger, or make you smile on your darkest days. It was never a facade, never forced or insincere. John was easy like that. I was lucky enough to call John mine for 6 months, and I know that I am a naïve seventeen year old girl, who has a life of love and heartbreak awaiting, but if I know anything at all it is this: I loved John Geerdes with my whole heart, and he loved

me too. And although I can wish to go back and tell him one last thing, or give him one last hug, or just spend one more moment with him, I wouldn’t change a thing. Because everything was perfect, light, and fun in his eyes, and I know he wouldn’t change a thing either. I love you John Geerdes. We all love you. Thank you for giving us nothing but love, light, and laughter. We wouldn’t change a thing.

I’m heartbroken and confused and I know that’s normal and the way I’m supposed to feel but it doesn’t make it any better. It’s not fair that we are all starting our lives and you don’t get to. It’s not fair that you can’t do all the great things we knew you were going to. It’s not

fair that something so awful could happen to someone so special. Thank you for every second we’ve spent together. I love you, Johnny.

ories. Maybe this is a part of the answer to the human paradox and the quest for life after death. All of us here have strong memories of John which will coninue to abide in us as a kind of physical presence. So, as we leave this gathering today, let us be grateful for those memories of John as they inform our lives and remain with us always. Thank you. —Chip Hardesty’s thoughts delivered at the Memorial Service for John Geerdes September 27, 2019

—Yardley Whaylen

—Ollie Morelli

Those looking to make a donation in memory of John Geerdes ‘19 can give to the Iowa Soccer Club Financial Assistance Fund or the John Geerdes Memorial Swim Lessons Fund. Noah Bullwinkle ‘20, a varsity soccer player at City High, thinks the donations to Iowa Soccer Club financial aid represent Geerdes’s values well. “For a lot of the younger players, John was one of the people that helped make them feel welcome,” Bullwinkle said. “He made sure everyone was included, so the financial aid, which could help marginalized people have the capability to join the club, makes a lot of sense.” For those looking to express condolences to the family, they may be sent to the family through www.lensingfuneral.com.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FRIENDS OF JOHN GEERDES

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

4A NEWS

BECOME Scholars program fosters community, leadership

A tale of two classes Students in AP French and French V: Seal of Biliteracy are taught together this year due to low enrollment By Mira Bohannan Kumar

alking into Room 3303 during sixth period may not reveal that the group of students asking each other, “Comment ca va?” are different than other sections of French, but upon further investigation, it soon becomes clear that something makes this group unique. In this period, French teacher Tony Balcaen teaches two classes: AP French and French V: Seal of Biliteracy. “I was a little scared,” Balcaen said. “The two at the same time is new for me, but mostly it was because [Seal of Biliteracy is] a completely new class that I’ve never taught before and I have to teach on top of another class that’s demanding, because it’s an AP class.” The Seal of Biliteracy program is new to City High this year; there are programs for both French and Spanish, and while the Spanish section has a class of its own, the French section has enrolled only a few students this year, keeping it from receiving its own class period. “This is a matter of enrollment and depending on how many you have...you can allow so many classes per teacher,” Balcaen said. “I have a big AP class but the Seal is not enough to be its own class.” Although Balcaen must teach both classes in one period, they are different courses with totally different sets of requirements, content—and students.

City Council approves urban deer hunt By Henry Mildenstein

espite initial hesitation from the Iowa City City Council, one year of professional sharpshooting followed by urban bow hunts during the next four winters was passed by the City Council. While the initial deer management plan included just one year of professional sharpshooting, the Natural Resource Commission (NRC) rejected the proposal, saying that it needed to include bow hunting as part of the plan.

By Emmelene Perencevich

“Seal of Biliteracy is a level up from AP French, because everyone in Seal of Biliteracy has already taken at least four years of French,” AP French student Lizzi Ayers ‘20 said. “Seal of Biliteracy is that you can get a certificate... from the state of Iowa [that says], ‘You can speak and write two languages.’ French IV AP, there’s the AP test, and you’re working...towards that.” Seal of Biliteracy student Ellis PHOTOS BY SHOSHIE HEMLEY Chen ‘20 said that along with a ABOVE: French teacher Tony Balcaen instructs the French V: Seal of Biliteracy volunteering requirement, Seal of and AP French classes Biliteracy is focused on “pressing once is a shortage of time. Balcaen said that the situation issues.” “If the class periods were lonmight be resolved if more students “Right now we’ve been talking about the idea of global citizen- ger, it wouldn’t be that much of an enrolled in either class. “The AP kids...there are a lot ship which is related a lot to issues issue, but...to cram two into one, in the world like social justice,” essentially, because they’re doing of them, so hopefully the desire Chen said. “We recently watched some things that are completely to take the level five on its own a video about migrants in France different,” Balcaen said. “[It’s] a might be enough...it might be a that were unaccompanied mi- little challenging for me...to make big enough number to have a big nors but they weren’t able to get sure I get to the point...I need to class,” Balcaen said. “This is what assistance from the government be when I know I can do less per we’re wishing for. We’re wishing because the government classi- class period than I would if it were to advertise for this class at the very beginning level to increase fied them as being adults. That’s the single class for each of them.” However, Chen said that he our numbers. The hope is to dean example of the issues that we doesn’t find the joint class time to velop and increase the French and talk about.” the program.” Ayers said that these different be a major obstacle to learning. “The alternative, I think, would Regardless of how the schedcurricula can be an issue in class. “It gives less opportunities for be the Seal of Biliteracy kids—just uling and enrollment progresses, us to ask questions. If we’re doing six kids—in one classroom. The Balcaen stressed his belief in the something, then more likely than classroom does seem crowded at Seal of Biliteracy program and its not, Monsieur Balcaen is work- times because there are two things value to students and to society. “It’s hard, but I’m excited. It’s ing with the other group,” Ayers going on at once, so if one class is being taught and the other class a good class and it’s a good prosaid. “He has to keep bouncing between them. Already, Seal of is being loud, that’s a little bit of gram and it’s an important thing,” Biliteracy has had to go out in the an issue,” Chen acknowledged, Balcaen said. “Students are rechallway several times while we’re but added, “Obviously, I can’t ognized more and more with the talk about other people, but...I’ve Seal—in schools and in the workworking.” Balcaen said that a problem been able to concentrate on what place. It really means something.” when teaching both classes at we’ve been doing.”

Iowa City has a history of using professional sharpshooters to maintain a lower population of deer in the city. Derek Frank, a sergeant at the Iowa City Police Department, said that the sharpshooting will be mostly unnoticeable to the people living in Iowa City. “The sharpshooters are professionals; they go out and scout the areas that are going to be most effective, then they determine the safest and best locations to do it. They don’t necessarily just go into people's yard,” Frank said. Although the sharpshooting is nothing new to Iowa City, Jim Throgmorton, the current mayor of Iowa City, thinks that the public's concerns rest mostly with the introduction of the urban bow hunting for the next four winters. “One fear is that people have brought up is that the hunter might wound a deer and not be able to follow it, leaving a dead deer in the city,” Throgmorton said. Another concern that he had was about public safety. “If you miss the deer, where's the arrow going to go? 25 years ago, when I was walking through a neighborhood knocking on doors...

an arrow...flew by my head and almost hit me,” Throgmorton said. Throgmorton, had some frustration with the interaction between the council and the NRC. “The NRC understood that the locals seemed to be very strongly against authorizing [bow hunting]. The commission was telling us we have to allow hunting. We felt a little frustrated that they have the authority,” Throgmorton said. In the end, Throgmorton believed the NRC was able to help rework the plan for the better. “We needed to get their approval for our deer management plan. I think the plan we came up with was better than the one that would have existed had we not engaged in conversations with them last July,” Throgmorton said. Azzurra Sartini-Rideout ‘20, a leader of Greenpeace, which is a club dedicated to making the community more green, wishes that other options were considered beyond hunting, but understands why the decision was made. “Deer overpopulation is a serious problem and needs to be addressed, but I myself would prefer if there was a way that we could do

PHOTO COURTESY OF HENRY'S MOM ABOVE: A deer feeds in Hickory Hill park, where a large proportion of Iowa City's deer population resides it without killing the animals, just because I am not a huge hunter,” Sartini-Rideout said. Despite some opposition to the hunt, Sartini-Rideout’s main concern is that the deer don’t suffer. “I oppose hunting that is done so people can boast about it and post pictures. As long as they are doing it for the right reason, and the animals aren’t suffering, that's completely different in my book,” Sartini-Rideout said.

stablished this year at City High, BECOME Scholars is made up of a select group of upperclassmen chosen to mentor students in grades nine and 10. BECOME stands for belief, empowerment, confidence, optimism, motivation, and excellence. Embodying these traits is a goal of both mentors and mentees this year. Although this is not the first rendition of a mentoring program at City, BECOME Scholars is a new initiative in its pilot year at City High. Mariam Keita ‘20 was involved with previous mentoring programs at City and now is part of the BECOME program. “There used to be a program called Program Achieve, which was directed towards high-achieving students of color and aimed at getting them the support and resources that they needed to be successful on the path to college,” Keita said. The original mentors were recommended for the program by teachers who felt that they were leaders in their classes. However, the program is now looking for more students to act as leaders. “In order to get BECOME Scholars off the ground, there needs to be a group of students interested in answering the call to action,” Keita said. While this year the mentors consist of only juniors this year, if the program is successful, the same students will be eligible next year. “BECOME Scholars was designed using a cyclical two-year model,” explained Keita. “Each year, the previous group of peer buddies, freshmen and sophomores, will also age. Previous buddies in their junior year would then have the option to apply for the peer mentor position and mentor the new incoming class of peer buddies. This will allow the program to continue building off of the momentum of each previous year. Since this is the pilot year, everyone will be new to the program and discovering everything together.” Ensuring that the program will be around for future students may turn out to be one of the most difficult parts of organizing a group like BECOME. One way Keita and guidance counselor Mary Peterson plan to accomplish this is by creating strong bonds between mentors and mentees. They hope this relationship will create routes to success for all of the students involved. “There is a lot of scholarship out there showing that students who have access to mentors have better social and academic outcomes than those that lack one,” said Keita. “It has two main objectives. The first is building long-term, meaningful relationships between students who would not normally interact in school. The second is preparing all BECOME Scholars for life after high school, whatever that looks like for them.”

NEWS 5A

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

Deaths and lung illnesses lead to investigation of vaping

By Victoria Weckmann

ccording to CASAA, the first electronic cigarette device was created in the 1960s, but it was not until between 2006 and 2007 that the first e-cigarette was introduced to the United States. Since then, Yale Medicine has reported that 3.6 million middle and high school students use e-cigarettes. As the popularity of the drug increases, new problems have arisen. According to Yale Medicine, “[D]uring a recent media briefing, the CDC advised people to avoid e-cigarettes while federal and state officials investigate a nationwide outbreak of severe respiratory illnesses associated with the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products.” According to the CDC, there are now 530 probable cases of the vaping illness, but there have also been deaths. “A California man has become the seventh person to die from a vaping-related illness in the United States,” said CNN. “[He is the second to die in California], plus one person each in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon.” The symptoms of this illness include a cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, and vomiting, according to the CDC. Along with medical complications, the American Cancer Society has released additional warnings. “The vapor that comes out of an e-cigarette can contain substances that are addictive and can cause lung disease, heart disease, and cancer,” said the American Cancer Society. “Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is very addictive and can harm the brain development of teenagers.” In a response to these new difficulties, some governments have started taking action. According to CBS News, San

Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban vaping. Michigan became the first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes, wrote the Washington Post. Most recently, around September 17, New York announced a ban on flavored e-cigarettes. Internationally, India announced a total ban on e-cigarettes, according to CNN. In response, City High has taken a stricter stance on vaping. “Last year, it was evident that vaping was becoming a much bigger issue in high schools across the country, including those in the Iowa City [Community] School District,” Scott Jespersen, one of the vice principals of City High, said. “We had a clear policy on tobacco before, but we wanted to make sure that the language in the student handbook clearly stated and included vaping.” The new policy on vaping was not a huge change from the rules

Raw Bacon: No frying pan, M all fire

the school previously had. “The parameters are outlined in the student handbook on page 29,” Jespersen said. “However, the policy did not change much because previously we tried to clearly define the rules to include all forms of e-cigarettes and tobacco.” The student handbook states, “using or possessing...drugs, or acting as if intoxicated or under the influence will not be permitted in the school building or on the school grounds or at any school event. This policy also covers the use or possession of synthetic drugs and other substances defined in Iowa Code chapter 124.” Jespersen was clear that the reason for a strict policy was to keep the student body from drug usage. “Most students like the policy. If you are someone that vapes and you get caught, you will not particularly enjoy the consequences, but we are

PHOTO COURTESY OF RAW BACON ROBOTICS ABOVE: Raw Bacon robotics members look on at a robotics meet By Callista Robertson

embers of City High Raw Bacon Robotics watched intently as they learned about this year’s FRC robotics challenge. The students involved with City High’s robotics program attended the season kick-off event on September 7th to learn everything they need to know for the 20192020 robotics season. The event gives students a chance to learn about robotics at various workshops as well as find out about the team’s challenge for this year. For this year’s challenge, the goal is to build as tall of a Lego tower as possible with as small of a

robot as possible. There are three types of members on the robotics team. Robotics participants can be either builders, coders, or outreach members to work on the engineering notebook and social media. Builders help create the hardware design and build the robot. Coders program the robots so they can make it through the autonomous and controlled phases of the competition. The outreach members put together the engineering notebook which demonstrates to the competition judges how the robot was engineered. Luke Aschenbrenner ‘21 is one of the lead coders on the team and is looking forward to being very in-

ART BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN determined to get this out of our school,” Jespersen said. According to an anonymous survey taken among City High School students, 52.8 percent of students are not aware of the new vaping policy at City High School, while 47.2 percent of either think they are or are familiar with it. Most of the responses to this survey expressed either confusion or appreciation of the new policy. Two of these were, “I don’t know what the new policy is, but vaping shouldn’t be tolerated in school,” and, “[Y]ou shouldn’t feel like you have to juul at school. If it’s that bad, it’s an addiction.” However, despite the admiration expressed toward the stricter policy, 30.6 percent of students reported that they have either tried vaping or used to vape.

When asked why they attempted vaping, the only people who answered included that they tried it to either be cool or understand it better. Some statements left were, “I thought vaping would be cool to try because all my friends were doing it, but it made me feel really sick and didn’t taste good. Then I found out what it was doing to people, how they were collapsing because of damaged lungs, and I told myself I’d never do it again,” and, “I honestly did it because I thought I was cool and I wanted to see what it was about. That’s why I think everyone vapes, but #thebuzzisntworthit should be a thing.” Along with this, 13.9 percent of students reported never hearing about the deaths that centered around vaping. However, when asked if they were scared by these deaths, 69.4 percent percent of students reported that they were. Despite what is happening in the news, a City High student, John*, said that the illnesses don’t scare him, even though he vapes. “The stuff on the news doesn’t bother me that much. I don’t let it get to my head. If anything happens to me, it happens. It doesn’t matter. I haven’t really cared about anything for forever,” John said. “When I lost my mom a few years ago, that’s when all this actually started.” After John lost his mom, his friends stepped in to help him deal with the stress. “One of my friends got me started, because they noticed that I was stressed out a lot. [They told me I could] borrow their vape pen for a while, and then they let me keep it,” John said. “When they checked in on me, I was a lot calmer.” To read more about the impacts of vaping, visit the feature section. *Name has been changed to protect anonymity.

volved this year. munity for all its members. “The robot uses sensors to try to “[The team] cares a lot about do stuff on its own. I’m hoping that people being kind to each other,” this year, our programming team Faden said. “The best part is just can make it more advanced, so we being with people and working on can complete more challenges and a whole project together.” get more points,” Aschenbrenner Club sponsor Christine Mons said. considers her role to be one of guidIn an effort to be more organized ance, and ensuring that everyone this year, the team is implementing has a place on the team. new programs. “One of the main things that “Last year, it was students come away kind of hard for prowith is real-world gramming to colleadership experilaborate because we ence,” Mons said. had everybody on a “Through our team separate program; we successes, our team each worked on the failures, we collecsame thing all by ourtively pick ourselves selves,” Aschenbrenup, dust ourselves ner said. “This year, off and keep going. we’re using a special That’s how we can software that’s like impart that sense of RAW BACON ROBOTICS SPONSOR Google Docs so we team—team owncan all work on the ership and team resame thing.” sponsibility. That’s Sophomore Ben Faden is new to our goal.” the team this year, and he is excited Aschenbrenner echoes Mons’s to be a part of the meets in the up- sentiment and agrees that robotics coming season. teaches members about teamwork “I really like meets because you and inclusion. get a chance to actually test all the “I just think it’s cool to be able work we’ve put into our robots,” to work together as a team, and Faden said. “It’s exciting because then see other teams and talk with they get really intense when you them to see what they’re doing,” have to do everything on the fly.” Aschenbrenner said. “[Robotics] In addition to creating robots, has definitely helped me learn how the club makes an emphasis on in- to work better as a team and to inclusion and creating a good com- clude more people.”

“We...impart...team ownership and team responsibility. that’s our goal.” CHRISTINE MONS

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CITY CLUBS

Caucus club

New club aims to create opportunities for students to learn about the political system, caucusing, and who to vote for in the crowded 2020 primaries

Psych club A new club at City High aims to tackle mental health in teens, explore the field of pyschology, and helps students who have mental health issues at City High By Jazsmine VanPelt

C PHOTO BY ALI BORGER-GERMANN

ABOVE: Members of Caucus Club pose for a photo at their first ever meeting By Yardley Whaylen

ith doors swung open, room 1310 was buzzing and energetic as City High’s new Caucus Club had its first official meeting. Initiated by Phil Tyne ‘20, Shoshie Hemley ‘21, and Daphne Knoop ‘20, the club aims to educate the students of City High on the upcoming election. The club agenda consists of the top issues on the debate stages (such as immigration, gun control, healthcare, and climate change), along with the individual candidates and their stances and solutions, to help students navigate the world of U.S. politics. Of the 23 presidential candidates, the Dem-

ocrats are the overwhelming majority, with 19 candidates still in the race. Only three Republicans have joined the race so far; one of these campaigns is the re-election campaign for President Donald Trump. Since the Democrats’ campaigns are in full swing and have already begun taking to the debate stage, the club will be focused more on the Democratic primaries. However, Caucus Club is open to students of all political parties and beliefs, and hopes students of diverse political backgrounds can come together for healthy and insightful discussions, as well as learning to better understand people with other beliefs while still maintaining respect and tolerance. Causcus club also aims to teach students how to caucus.

The club’s mission is to give a non-partisan approach to all issues, and instead discuss the topics objectively so that students will formulate their own beliefs and think critically for themselves. “We can’t form complex opinions without hearing a variety of opinions and thoughts on the candidates. This is a safe place to share your opinions no matter your political affiliation,” Tyne said. The club’s members has many events planned for the future, including voter registration at the Homecoming parade, marching for different candidates, and debate watch parties. Caucus club is open to people of all grade levels and previous involvement in politics and meets Tuesday mornings at 8:15 in room 1310.

SWRAS club A new City High club gives students opportunities to help raise money and participate in projects for world relief

By Callista Robertson

efore school on Tuesday, September 17, members of City High’s new SWRAS club gather around a quiet table in the library, listening intently to the club’s founder and president Haileigh Steffen ‘22 as she excitedly begins the first meeting of the year. Students for World Relief Action Society is a new club at City High this year. The purpose of the club is to participate in projects to raise money and resources for children in need in third-world countries. Members will receive Silver Cord hours for the time they put into projects and for organization of the club. The club’s main project for this year is teaming up with the Rebuilding Nepal foundation to raise money and school supplies for children in Nepal. “Last year, the Rebuilding Nepal foundation was having a Lego Drive. I thought that was really interesting, so I learned more about it,” Steffen recalled. “I realized that there is a lot more that the students of City High could do, not just college students or adults.” SWRAS welcomes anyone who is interested to join. Member Ana Laura Leyser ‘22 is looking forward to being a part of the club this year. “I wanted to join SWRAS because of the whole idea of helping all these kids who are really far away.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALLISTA ROBERTSON ABOVE: SWRAS club members discuss their plans at their first meeting It just seemed like a good thing to do for me as a teenager,” Leyser said. “I’m excited to do fun projects to raise a lot of money and get a lot of donations for those kids.” Steffen described how SWRAS has plans to have competitions within the club to see how many

donations they can raise and to make it more exciting. They have also talked about teaming up with other clubs such as Culinary Club to jointly organize things like bake sales, as well as selling cards made by the children in Nepal. Leyser explained that the idea

is for the club to have a very laidback atmosphere. There will be no required commitment to participate. Instead, members are welcome to come as often as they would like and can participate in whichever projects they choose. “Sometimes clubs can be really stressful if they give you a bunch of stuff to do and you still have school and everything else,” Leyser said. “[SWRAS] is a lot more relaxed and you can just do however much you want to contribute.” Unlike many of the clubs at City High, SWRAS is being organized entirely by students and will be completely student-driven. “When students can create their own projects, I think it has a deeper meaning for them,” Steffen explained. “It encourages them to do more projects like this in the future.” SWRAS is introducing a new kind of club environment for City High, with high hopes for the upcoming school year. It will meet on Tuesdays at 8:00 a.m. in the library until a firm location is set. “I’m hoping that we can establish ourselves as a community of good people who want to do something more outside of their school and outside of their country,” Steffen said. “Really, what we want is to give students an opportunity to create projects of their own and see that their ideas can have an impact on others around the world.”

ity High’s Psych Club, which was previously run by former teacher Jane Green, is starting fresh and new with psychology teacher Travis Carlson supervising. Both Carlson and Green found a shared interest in letting students who expressed a deeper interest than what the school was offering in the subject have a place where they can come together and learn. Phil Tyne ‘20 says Mr. Carlson approached him at the end of last year and asked if he showed interest in starting Psych Club with Carlson. They worked with each other over the summer to decide how they wanted to run the club. “We decided that [Psych Club] is a place for people who love psychology to come and explore new ideas, develop their knowledge, and use psychology to better your environment and the people around you,” Tyne said. This year the club is focusing more on tackling ways to better mental health amongst young adults, as well as bringing more awareness to mental health by recognizing certain months of the year that have been designated by the American Psychology Association. This brought up other ideas and questions like; “What mental health issues are prominent amongst high school students?” and: “What are ways in which City High can make some changes that might facilitate kids with some mental health issues?” Part of their goal was to brainstorm and implement ways for the psychological well-being of the student body can be improved and to find ways to provide resources and support for all of the clubs plans and projects. Psych Club is also hoping to get the chance to create some new institutions at City High that could help benefit the students as they believe that mental health is a prominent issue in teens. “We sort of jokingly talked about getting a corner of the library designated for nap time because we’re starting to see studies show that...even a 20-minute nap in daytime can have profound psychological benefits to people of all ages,” Carlson said. They’re hoping to be able to make a safe space for people who may be dealing with mental illness or give people who may not know much about certain mental illnesses a chance to gain a better understanding. Carlson hopes that the club can leave a mark on City High and benefit the school in the long term. “[Psych Club] wants to leave a mark that we made with our club and our contribution that overall had a long-term benefit to the students and the building,” Carlson said.

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Pocket Points pushes its way into education

Starting this school year, English teacher Anna Basile is giving her students extra credit through an app called Pocket Points, which monitors how much time one spends on one’s phone

Debate team expectations high The varsity debate team sets goals, aims for best season yet By Rhys Holman

INFOGRAPHIC BY VICTORIA WECKMANN By Victoria Weckmann

s society has transitioned into an age of digitalization and technology, the use of things like smartphones has exponentially increased in people’s daily lives. Anna Basile, an english teacher at City High, has launched a new extra credit system in her classes in an attempt to keep that trend out of the classroom. According to the Pew Research Center, “The vast majority of Americans – 96 percent – now own a cellphone of some kind, [while] just 35 percent [owned a smartphone in 2011].” When planning out this school year, Basile took some of her experiences as a student to help her design the extra-credit system she aimed to incorporate in her classes. “My system is really indicative of the fact that I was never a student that took advantage of extra credit. It was enough for me to just do what I was supposed to do,” Basile said. “For me, doing anything extra was silly, unless it was a purely enjoyable thing. It seems that extra credit could serve

the regular credit system in the fact stay off my phone during class.” that students are remaining focused Pocket Points can also make and using time to their advantage.” it easier for students and teachBasile’s new extra credit system ers when extra credit is involved. works through an app called Pocket “When it comes to extra credit, Points. After downloading this app I’m not saying my way is better. It’s on your phone, a student can enter just a way for me to be lazy,” Basile Basile’s class code. The app senses said. “Pocket Points could definitely when the student is in class and their be a strategy for extra credit if kids phone is off. It awards students points are liking it because it gives kids what based on how long they go without they want. It seems like a win-win using their phone. situation to me.” Students can So far, this sysalso earn points “Pocket Points could definitely tem has received by setting goals positive feedfor themselves. be a strategy for extra credit if back from people The points who are using it. students earn kids are liking it because it gives “I really love can then be put Ms. Basile’s exthem what they want.” toward achievtra credit poliing rewards as a cy,” Fast said. “It class (like extra would be amazing credit), and reif my other classceiving discounts es would use this at local and onsystem for extra line stores and restaurants. credit. I think it is really effective “One benefit of using this app is in getting students to stay off their that I can use points that I earn to phones during class. When I heard get deals and earn extra credit,” said about this system, I wondered why Hannah Fast ‘21. “Even if I don’t need we haven’t been using it for years.” the extra credit, I’m still inclined to One reason for this app’s pop-

Anna Basile

ularity is that is makes it more fun for students to do what they are already being expected to do. “I think [that Pocket Points is better than just setting expectations for students] because everyone appreciates the game,” Basile said. “Game-ifying something that we should be doing anyway is always going to be more engaging.” Basile sees an importance in helping students prioritize classwork over phones. “If we all were self-motivated, and we all saw the value in what we were doing together every day, then we wouldn’t need Pocket Points. But it’s hard to motivate oneself every single minute of every single day,” Basile said, “especially in an environment like high school, where we’re expecting you to be experts seven times a day in seven different things. That is just emotionally and mentally taxing. And so, of course, the phone has become the high schoolers’ recess. And wouldn’t any kid rather be at recess?” Students have reported feeling motivated by this app, and not only in class, but outside of school as well. continued on A9

fter a summer’s worth of debate prep, City High’s varsity debate team of Simon Weiss ‘20 and Ellis Chen ‘20 are aiming their sights high. “Our goal is to qualify for the Tournament of Champions. [We’re] trying to go out with a bang because it’s our last year and our last chance to make a name for ourselves,” Weiss said. The Tournament of Champions, commonly referred to as the TOC, is the most prestigious high school debate tournament in the country. Though the debate team has said that this is a lofty goal, its members are optimistic they’ll be up to the challenge. “We’ve got another year of experience under our belts,” Chen said. “I felt that last year was very educational for us and we spent a lot of time over the summer preparing for this debate season.” But in order to be successful, Weiss and Chen are making sure they have the preparation required to succeed at tournaments. “A lot of it comes down to the work that we put in before we go to tournaments,” Weiss said. “We have a great schedule that we worked on before the season started, so we’ll have a lot of opportunities to show the work that we’ve done.” In order to prepare further, Weiss and Chen are incorporating new strategies that City High debate hasn’t in the past. “This year we’re collaborating with West High more than in the past so that we can get more experience debating,” Chen said. “Having someone with a fresh perspective to look at our arguments and tell us how they’re flawed... helps us improve our arguments.” With this preparation and the effort put in over the summer, Weiss and Chen hope to have their best season yet. “I’m excited to have another opportunity for competitive success and just making this year an important year because it’s our last year,” Weiss said. “It’s something we’ve been doing for a long time and we want to make sure we have a team that continues.”

What’s new in the library

Lots of changes have been made to the City High library for the 2019-2020 school year including cycling certain books out and adding new ones By Molly McLaughlin

n the past decade, school libraries have changed with the times, but they have always been there for students. Whether a student is looking for a book to read or trying to find a resource for a class, the new additions to the City High Library are likely to affect users of the library. This year, Daphne Foreman, the City High librarian, wants the selection of books to be more empowering. “We really set out to revital-

ize her nonfiction this past year, because libraries have had a hard time deciding what nonfiction is for anymore,” Foreman said. During the 2018-2019 school year, the library staff have been working on getting more books that would be more up to date and informative on issues students are facing or want to know more about. They have worked with guidance counselor Mary Peterson and Student-Family Advocate Amy Kahle to add books for related topics. This includes such as self-care, self-

help, and fiction that had more accurate writing for today. “Both Amy Kahle and Mary Peterson recommended fiction books that are recommended as accurate portrayals of students with depression and anxiety and other mental health issues—not...glorify, or simplify, or victimize, but have an accurate portrayal,” Foreman said. They’ve also worked with media literacy teacher Troy Peters for new movies, and added other resources such as more books in languages other than

English, online resources for programs such as AP Capstone, and more nonfiction. However, like with any additions, whenever something new is added, one has to make space by getting rid of old materials. “We had a major...they call it a weeding,” Sandy Rackis, City High’s library secretary, said. “It was a list from the previous librarian [and] you have to go through the whole continued on A9

PHOTO BY MOLLY MCLAUGHLIN

ABOVE: A new display shelf in the City High library

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2020 presidential candidates hit the campaign trail in Iowa “we do not throw up our hands when it is time to roll up our sleeves.” Kamala Harris california SENATOR

“I have a plan for that.” Elizabeth warren massachusetts SENATOR

“something is happening in this country and we’ve got to end it befroe it’s too late.” pete buttigieg mayor of south bend, in PHOTOS BY JESSE HAUSKNECHT-BROWN AND SHOSHIE HEMLEY

Climate crisis: critiquers or concerned Examining students’ reactions to our changing climate and their awareness of recent events regarding these changes

By Victoria Weckmann

here are a lot of articles available that talk about climate change and its effects. However, not everyone is fully aware of what is going on revolving around the environment and this has led to some differing opinions on the “climate crisis.” “I don’t know much [about climate change] but I’m always open to learning more about [it]. I know that it’s been leading to extreme temperature change and causing many concerns,” Alexandra Le ‘22 said. According to a climate survey taken among City High School students, 98 percent of students believe in global warming, or climate change. This survey also revealed that 16 percent of students

felt they know a little about climate change, 60 percent felt they know a medium amount, and 24 percent felt that they know a lot. The survey also included a list of eight recent events which have happened as a result of climate change or worsened climate change, and asked students to list whether or not they had heard of them before. Some of these events included recent fires in the Amazon rainforest, Iowa City declaring a climate emergency, and that the polar vortex that hit Iowa last year was scientifically linked to climate change. The most unknown event was that a Russian ship was found abandoned at the bottom of the ocean carrying a nuclear reactor leaking radiation. This question revealed that eight percent of those

surveyed had ever heard about this while 94 percent had not. On the other side of the scale, 98 percent of students were aware of the fires happening in the Amazon rainforest while two percent had never heard of this. When all of the events were averaged out, 60.5 percent of students had heard of the events and 39.5 percent had not. At the beginning of the survey, 94 percent of students felt that climate change concerned them. However, after reviewing the list of recent events, 92 percent of students reported feeling more concerned about climate change than they did prior to taking the survey. When asked how the events regarding climate change made people feel, 40 out of 50 re-

sponses used words such as ‘powerless,’ ‘depressed’, ‘frustrated,’ ‘mad,’ and ‘terrified.’ Some of the statements left indicate feelings of fear such as, “I feel like we need to do things starting today to make change. If we keep with these same habits, the Earth is never going to be able to heal,” as well as, “I’m terrified, people need to get their s**t together,” and, “climate change makes me feel worried about the future, more people need to take part in helping to save the earth. The US government needs to stand up and take responsibility for this crisis. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed right now.” Other statements reflected ideas of anger, like, “I feel like dismantling capitalism by hand,” and, “I am really frustrated be-

cause clearly so many things are going on as a result of climate change, yet the people in power still refuse to do anything about it.” Others expressed feelings of helplessness by saying, “I am scared and wanting to do something but I’m also afraid that if I do something it isn’t going to be enough,” and, “you literally can not change a thing. You might be preaching on your Instagram story about it but are you really practicing it? And say you are practicing it, how will you get seven billion others to care about climate change?” Finally, some people reflected little to no concern with statements like, “everything litty, I love when it’s hot.” continued on A9

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Pocket Points continued from page A7

“I can earn points for staying off my phone at home as well as at school,” Fast said. “This is great because as a teenager, I know I spend too much time on my phone and I’m always prepared to open it for whatever reason. With this system, I want to stay off my phone as much as possible to earn more points throughout the day.” However, this app has not worked perfectly because the system is so new. “Pocket Points was brand-new this summer; this is totally guinea-pig style,” Basile said. “It’s not working perfectly for everyone, which is something that we’ll have to deal with. Technology is as technology does, but we’ll make it as equitable as possible continuing on.” Some people may wonder what benefit the Pocket Points system holds, because it is so different from more traditional means of extra credit. “Extra credit should be extra. I spend a ton of energy trying to make activities that meet our curricular needs and standards highly engaging,” Basile said. “For some students, that is not enough to get them where they feel they ought to be. So anything extra should be, in

Climate crisis continued from page A8 Despite the level of concern that is shared among students, 20 out of 50 students reported that they do nothing at all for the climate or only recycle. “I do not participate in school strikes for climate change, but I’m not quite sure if I want to participate,” said Seth Hiatt ‘21. “I would consider it because I’m aware of the effect that we have on not just Earth, but the atmosphere. If climate change goes on for much longer, then our very existence is threatened.”

fact, extra. I don’t want to have to be as thoughtful and creative about extra credit as I am with the core stuff.” As technology continues to be integrated into people’s education and day-to-day lives, some have seen problems arise. Basile has said that she has had problems with kids being on their phone too much in class. “I think it’s really important that not all teachers may view students with their phones out in class the same,” Basile said. “A traditional outlook might be that it’s a sign of disrespect, but that’s not how I see it. In fact, I see it more as just a basic lack of self-control. For instance, when my husband is talking to me and I am flipping through Instagram, I’m not giving him my full attention. That might read as me being disrespectful, but it is really just me lacking self-control in that moment.” Some students do experience a degree of concern for how their teachers and peers view them when they are on their phone. “One problem I have with this system is that to earn points, I have to get on my phone to activate the app,” Fast said. “When I go to class and I get out my phone to start tracking my points, some of my teachers might think I’m on my phone rather than setting up.” Despite these concerns, a

big motivation that Basile had for putting Pocket Points into place was to teach students the importance of self-control. “It’s not like I demand respect, it’s that students need to be able to manage and control themselves when in environments where they’re not prioritizing the thing that’s important,” Basile said. Pocket Points is beneficial in helping teachers teach these important life skills to help students succeed in school and beyond. “The community of Iowa City is putting us all in this building for free to make sure that the custodians of your education, your teachers, are giving you what you need to be able to thrive and be an active citizen,” Basile said. “If left to your own devices, you’re prioritizing Instagram every day over what the community needs you to be able to do by the time you graduate, then we’re doing you wrong.” Basile thinks that it is important to teach these life skills because students need to be practical about their futures, which is why Pocket Points has been helpful. “We can’t all be Kardashians, and that is just the truth,” Basile said. “We’re not all going to be influencers, at least on the Internet, but we can all be influencers in real life.”

The fears that people have regarding climate change also go beyond just general concern. “Sometimes I wake up or randomly get this paranoia about Earth and how in the future I might not live my life to the fullest. I’m terrified about what’s going to happen to us,” Hiatt said. “Eventually there will be so many tornadoes, hurricanes, and storms that we won’t have the money or time to recover from these natural disasters. Most don’t comprehend how much the weather affects our lives.” Due to their concern around the condition of the environ-

ment, people have become interested in climate change. “Climate change interests me because it’s a very real issue that’s happening right here, right now. The fact that my peers have little to no interest in it shocks me,” Le said. Despite how others may view climate change, there is deep fear rooted in some people about the state of the environment. “When I hear about climate change, my heart stops for a second. It is a real issue going on right now and the fact that no one seems concerned about it makes me worry,” Le said.

PHOTO BY MOLLY MCLAUGHLIN ABOVE: The City High library has made changes this year

Library additions continued from page A7

library and look for outdated books, especially reference books. If they’re outdated, they’re not reliable.” Through this weeding process, at least a few hundred books and other materials were rotated out for the sections to re-expand, while keeping classic sources. In the weeding process, a large number of books cut were ones that weren’t relatively new—for example a book from 1997 about immigration. One of the largest sections that has gotten an expansion overall has to be the nonfiction section, with more materials on drugs, the Me Too movement, mental health, technology, and more. “I think they rearranged it from last year. It looks like they got more art and [it looks]more organized,” Sierra Reese ‘21 said. Notable books that have been added include “Educated: A Memoir,” the historical fiction book “Refugee,” and the biography “Radium Girls.” In addition to this, sections of books have been rearranged for this year and the graphic novels have been moved to the back wall behind the fiction, with various display stands being moved. “Some of [that] stuff on the stand catches my eye,” Dan Gustafson ‘21 said. “But I haven’t really taken the time to look into it and try to find out if I can read it, or have time to.” A display people may have noticed in the library so far is the small bookshelf in front of the checkout desk. On the display is a collection of biographies of all the presidents (except for the last two) which were donated by a retired

judge for the school to give to the students, inspired by his own goal of wanting to know about all of the president’s lives. However, with budget cuts, one librarian position has been cut from the City High Library this year, leading to more work in the beginning of the school year for the two librarians left. “We’ll keep looking for better ways to do that,” Foreman said. “But with just a library secretary and one librarian it’s pretty hard to give out textbooks to 1600 kids; however, many classes they have textbooks in in just a period of a few days.” This has caused the library to need more volunteers, with jobs including helping with check-in, check-out, and shelving books. If students don’t have time to help but want to, they can make displays, book reviews, and stop by to help with social media. Foreman has hope for plans in the future , including converting the stained-glass space into a quiet zone, and more nonfiction books expanding on global warming and rebuilding after disasters. The main focus now, though, is making the library a place for students to explore their interests. “I was an English teacher for 22 years and I loved it,” Foreman said. “I’ve always been really interested in other stuff too. I like math. I like design things. I’d like to know about new inventions. I’m interested in the environment, and I think that people in general are interested in lots of things, and I think Iowa City kids are interested in lots of things.”

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SOMETHINGNEW!

A look at some of City High’s newest faculty members, their backgrounds, and their beginnings here

mike kowbel PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE KOWBEL

By Emmelene Perencevich

ith the start of the 2019 school year came the arrival of Mike Kowbel, who took on a new position at City High after being the band director at South East Junior High for a year. “When I came to town and I drove past City High for the first time, I saw the football field,” Kowbel remembered thoughtfully. “I thought to myself, ‘Man, I want to teach a band that performs on that field someday.’” He frequently shares these memories with his students in between friendly reminders to “march evenly through space and time.” “I just knew that I wanted to work close to home and [have] a chance to fulfill this dream of working at City High. And now, five years later, I finally have the chance to do that,” he said. “I’ve really found a home here. I really love it.” He followed his passion to teach band from South East to City High, but it began before that; Kowbel has wanted to be a band director since he was young. “My band director was really influential in my life; he kind of took me under his wing and taught me a lot of things. I wanted to have that same type of relationship with high school students,” Kowbel said. “And so I thought, ‘You know what, I think I’m pretty good at trumpet. I like music a lot. I think I can make a career out of this.’” Having been inspired by his own band director, Kowbel is now attempting to make a similar impression on his students. “Working with the students is the best part for sure, just getting to know [them]

and being able to just hear about how things are going and stuff like that,” he said. Spending around 45 minutes each day rehearsing outside, rain or shine, working on the show, requires commitment from the horn line, drum line, color guard, pit,

““I really love seeing something that is very imperfect at the beginning of a process become very great by the end.” mike kowbel band director directors, and everyone else involved. Even though the band only has a few chances to perform this year, it’s been working on its show since before August. “I really love seeing something that is very imperfect at the beginning of a process become very great by the end,” Kowbel said. The marching band has recently put their whole show together and still have to prepare for one of their few shows this year, a competition in ... “All this hard work—we’ve put in four months—come[s] to fruition on one night, and just all the galaxies collide and we hit that moment of beauty in our performance,” said Kowbel. “Those are the moments that I cherish.”

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

keith

enyart

PHOTO BY FRANCES BOTTORFF By Frances Bottorff

n sixteen years, Keith Enyart has taught Math Skills, Pre-Calculus Honors, and Geometry in four different states and seven different schools. Now, he has come to City High and added another school to his list. “We live really close to City High and our son [is] in kindergarten. For me, it’s really important for us to be able to ride our bikes to his elementary school.” Enyart has a viewpoint like no other because just last year he taught at a school in the very same district: Liberty High. “I feel more a part [of] this community than I did in North Liberty,” Enyart said. “I would commute, I would do my thing, and then just come home, and almost live two separate lives.” Even though the school year just started, he has already begun to impact students.

rebecca

“He’s patient and he doesn’t teach too fast,” said Dylan Chard-Cuda ‘22. She added, “He makes sure we know that it is okay if we don’t know what we’re doing and he doesn’t expect us to know what we haven’t been taught.” Students at City High have already made their impression, Enyart said. “I always really appreciate just getting to know different students and their personalities. You guys are hilarious, you have a great sense of humor, so I always look forward to that,” Enyart said. “Frankly, just working with young people, it just provides me with a lot of energy because you’re really engaged in your academics. It’s really inspiring to see that.” He now teaches geometry and algebra and offered the following advice: “Drink a lot of coffee. Be patient and don’t be afraid to reach out.”

fields- Moffit

PHOTO BY FRANCES BOTTORFF By Frances Bottorff

ebecca Fields-Moffit is a new teacher at City High and new to teaching at a high school. She has been a general music teacher for 13 years. “I started my career as a high school choral teacher. I have missed teaching high school kids for the last 15 years.I wanted to get back to it,” Fields-Moffit said. “When Dr. Brown said that she was going to go back to Longfellow full-time, I jumped at the opportunity to come up and do secondary again.” When asked what the difference was between City and her previous job, she responded, “I’m working in secondary education, which is so cool because the students can do so much more, so much faster, and they can take so much more ownership of their work.”

After teaching in elementary education for so many years, she decided to teach high school for a change. “[I] get to know my students better and I get to reconnect with former students, which has been really fun to see them in the hallways,” she said. Mrs. Fields-Moffit also taught music at three different elementary schools in varying grades. “I was primarily at Twain Elementary School. I’ve also taught at many other elementary schools, like Weber and Lincoln, but Twain has been home.” she said. It’s no secret that switching schools can be hard, whether as a teacher or a student. Mrs. Fields-Moffit offered advice to new teachers. “Be calm, and everyone is here to help you,” she said. “That’s what I have found: that everyone I ask is so happy to help.”

NEWS 11A

12A NEWS

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

Staff Editorial: The Color Palette of The Arts

THE LITTLE HAWK EDITORS

Executive Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos & Mira Bohannan Kumar Web Executive Rhys Holman News Henry Mildenstein Paris Fuller Features Jesse Hausknecht-Brown Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos Sports Julianne Berry-Stoelzle Allison Kenaston A&E Owen Sorenson Rachel Meehan Opinion Emme Perencevich Shoshie Hemley Culture Cecile Bendera Photo Natalie Green Video Ruth Meehan Katherine Kueter Copy Mira Bohannan Kumar Emme Perencevich Rachel Meehan Art Haileigh Steffen

Reporters Jack Ayers, Vincent Green, Aaron Stalkfleet, Romey Angerer Sueppel, Rochelle Longstreet, Emily Martinez, Jazsmine Vanpelt, Victoria Weckmann, Safia Almabrazi, Tracey Cirillo, Bryanna Coleman, Anna Gayley, Madelyn Hellwig, Mario Medellin, Nykaria Mosley, Rachel Tornblom, Yamileth Villegas, Eli Jaskolka, Molly Mclaughlin, Rachel Meehan, Ruth Meehan, Sam Myers-Verhage, Patrick Sarsfield, Charlotte Weigel, Aala Basheir, Alice Boerner, Frances Bottorff, Isaac Bullwinkle, Noah Bullwinkle, Jae Dancer, Wolfgang Fullenkamp, Reese Hill, Rachel Marsh, Ruby Miller, Callista Robertson, Sophia Wagner, Yardley Whaylen

Adviser Jonathan Rogers

Mission Statement The Little Hawk is a student-run journalism team that aims to inform, educate, and entertain readers; to provide an educational opportunity fo rthe students who produce it and to provide a medium for advertising. The views represented in the Little Hawk represent those student voices showcased in all our publications.

Equity Statement It is the policyt of the ICCSD not to descriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practicies. if you believe you have or your child has been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school please contact the equity director at 319-688-1000

ART BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN

ity High’s fine arts programs are some of the most esteemed in the state. We send our choir, orchestra, and band students to the AllState Music Festival annually. The theatre department puts on a successful play and musical every year. Last year, Fourth Ave won Grand Champions and other numerous titles during the show choir competition season. Art students hold a show every trimester to display their work. It is undeniable that City puts an emphasis on the arts, an emphasis that is taken seriously by many students, but not all of them. When watching an orchestra concert or a play at City, and many other high schools around the country, one thing is clear: most of the students are white. City is one of the most racially diverse schools in the ICCSD. Between 4044 percent of the student body identifies as a racial minority, according to the 2018-2019 ICCSD enrollment “ report. However, the percentage of minority students who participate in the arts is far less. People of color in show choir make up less than 15 percent of around 80 students in both Charisma and Fourth Ave. Around 21 percent of the students in Advanced Women’s Ensemble choir and less than 14 percent of Concert Choir are people of color. In last year’s Les Mis, out of the 10 leads and supporting actors, only two were played by minorities. While there are some people of color in the fine arts, even a smaller number identify as black or Latinx. Out of the few people of color in these programs, the majority are Asian, multiracial, from upper middle class socioeconomic backgrounds, or all three. Out of the seven people of color in Fourth Ave, four are Asian. There is only one black student in Concert Choir and many of the black and Latinx students within the fine arts are adopted or of mixed race. The majority of orchestra students are white or Asian. This is a clear issue in the representation of students at City. However, the problem isn’t that people of color are simply not being allowed into these programs. There are many factors regarding the few people of color in the arts. There is the idea that some ethnic cultures put a different emphasis on different activities as a sign of success. However, one of the most important is that there are so few opportunities for people of color to feel represented and included.

The drama department often has very few black students and thought this was going to be an issue three years ago when it announced that it would be putting on “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The play was based on the historical racial tension between black and white people and when there were opportunities for black students to be represented, they showed up, and many were cast in the play. A similar occurrence happened last year during the comedy one-acts. An all-black female cast played the characters in a short play called “Heritage, Her-i-tage, Hair-i-tage.” As long as people of color feel like there is no room in the arts for them, there will continue to be a lack of racial minorities in the fine arts programs. City needs to make an effort to further include and encourage people of color to join the arts. When there was a clear divide between the races within AP and Honors classes, initiative was taken. Now, the same must occur within the arts. It is equally as important for there to be a clear representation of people of color within City’s fine arts programs. City, along with high schools all over the country, must make an effort in including students of color in the arts. The arts must make an effort to make students of color feel that they have a place in these programs. Fine arts programs have long been dominated by white students. Once students of color participate in the fine arts, more and more will continue to until the programs are completely diversified. Students need to feel represented by these spaces. Being a person of color in a predominantly white space can feel isolating to these students. It will also continue to represent to students both in and out of the arts that it is a white space. The arts are a gift, and the fact that City has such a great arts program is quite a privilege. Many students get to take advantage of this, but not all. The arts are enriching and uplifting. Performing and creating can be an escape for so many students. Everyone deserves to have an escape and a platform to express themselves. Many of the students who are not being represented in the arts are those who would benefit the most. There is a divide that is hurting both students who aren’t being represented in the fine arts, and the fine arts programs themselves. The barrier of race has been attempted to be broken in core classes with changing policies towards AP and Honors classes. The barrier now must be broken within the arts.

As long as people of color feel like there is no room in the arts for them, there will continue to be a lack of racial minorities in the fine arts programs.”

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

OPINION 13A

“The Little Hoax:” Student senate abolishes gender ART BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN

The importance of global education

By Noah Bullwinkle

he world is now more connected than ever before. Due to the availability of media and the vast reaches of social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, citizens from countries across the globe can interact within milliseconds. As a result, it has become important that one understand perspectives in a global manner to maintain this positive connection. However, this connectivity is a mask for the inherent superficiality of online interaction. While the internet seems to bring us together, it does not diminish the worldwide perpetuation of racial stereotypes or misunderstandings about foreign governmental interactions. In America, there is an obvious culprit for these transgressions: the governmental encouragement of various educational standards such as No Child Left Behind and the Common Core. According to the official ed.gov website, these academic norms, which have mainly focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects, were created to “solve some of the complex challenges of today and tomorrow, and to meet the demands of the dynamic and evolving workforce”. The most recent iteration, Common Core State Standards, or CCSS, focuses its efforts on a trifecta of subjects deemed essential for students’ future success: English, Language Arts/Literacy, and Math (corestandards.org). To gain sufficient funding for the financial demands of maintaining schools, districts force teachers to teach students Common Core lessons in order to prepare them for important standardized tests which determine the districts’ financial sustenance; as a result, the pressure of a financially sustained education system sucks the lifeblood out of curiosity within the system. These requirements have significant conse-

quences. As the United States’ international relations become increasingly combative, awareness of foreign traditions and customs is consequently as crucial as ever. The lack of opportunities to cultivate globalist perspectives outside of clubs such as Model United Nations within school districts in the United States is embarrassing and creates an environment where globalized perspectives are almost nonexistent. Since our schools create the leaders of tomorrow, our future leaders’ legislation and diplomacy will reflect a lack of globalized understanding. In turn, they will approach lawmaking with neocolonialist and Eurocentric undertones, creating lasting rifts between the United States and countries in opposite hemispheres. Common Core standards carry a more dangerous agenda: their implied limitation of a globalized curriculum as a result of a focus on domestic and workforce based education. However, this focus on domestic strength is not the problem. The issue is found in the context of how those domestic skills are utilized within a global context. If global literacy is nonexistent, global economies, governments, and cultures cannot flourish and work together to solve progressively more difficult and omnipresent problems. Another result of Common Core education is the reduction of time given to subjects in the humanities and social sciences. Schools within ICCSD offer noticeably American- and European-focused education to those wishing to venture outside of STEM fields. Promotion of global citizenship is lacking at best: only two classes that focus on global affairs, World History and AP World History, are offered to students at City High. However, at West High, the only class offered that is relatively global is AP European History, which only reinforces the Eurocentrism found in all aspects of American education. The lack of education on global affairs also en-

courages the ubiquity of negative cultural, ethnic, and racial stereotypes, where many students are cornered into negative assumptions about them and their own culture. For example, the “model minority” stereotype, one of the most pervasive and harmful assumptions perpetrated by students in America against Asian students, has driven a narrative which expects mathematical and scientific genius from those students. Presumably, the reason for this stereotype would be the academic exclusivity of immigration criteria for students coming to America. This may be true, but the exceeding prevalence of wthe stereotype accordingly harms the mental health of Asian students who feel as if they don’t fit in with the brilliance supposedly shown by all other students who are racially similar to them. Global citizenship is one of the most important qualities one can possess in a world at its highest level of cultural and geographical diversification in history. The fact that it is widely neglected within government-mandated secondary school education is shameful and has broad consequences in many different aspects of daily life, communal harmony, international awareness, and inclusivity. If the United States wishes to be a nation that can solve the issues of the future, Congress must enact meaningful educational legislation which encourages both international schooling and cultural understanding. If we can’t teach our kids to be global citizens, it is subsequently unrealistic to expect our citizens, diplomats, and policymakers to understand the complexity of globalized interaction. The blatant lack of educational opportunities for exploring the diverse and complex world plagues not only the ICCSD but school districts nationwide. The ICCSD and other districts must consider the repercussions of having students who are globally uninformed.

Taboo or not taboo? That is the question By Owen Sorenson Content Warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault. ince the beginning of time, art has existed to be a faucet of creativity. We are allowed to express our emotions and ideas, flex our freedom, and tell a story. Because of the freedom in art, some people are willing to cross the line of what is acceptable in society. These artists, of course, stir large amounts of controversy as public discourse ensues. This can range from simple conversation to people calling to take down the artwork. There have been a range of prolific musicians in recent history who have done this. Controversy has been prompted across many different genres and concepts. Controversy can often lead to advancement in the rhetoric surrounding certain topics, such as depression or mental health. If pop culture begins to recognize and even normalize this, it could lead to advancements in removing stigma around such issues. Additionally, it is important to consider when discussing controversial music that it can be a coping mechanism. For many, art can be used as a form of catharsis, or the release of repressed emotions. This is an important and useful way for people to express their emotions. Despite all of the benefits of accepting taboo

music, there is another side that also has to be considered. When listening to controversial music, there is the chance that the song itself may be offensive to certain people, if not triggering or enabling. Songs such as “Rape Me” by Nirvana, about a rape survivor, or “Bastard” by Tyler the Creator, which dicusses Tyler’s past of depression and suicidal thoughts, might cause a visceral reaction from a listener. Furthermore, songs that are used in the form of catharsis such as “Kim” by Eminem, which follows a fictional Eminem killing his wife, might incite copycats, or people who find these things cool. Additionally, there is shock value and glorification. Some people argue artists like Tyler the Creator use controversial topics and language in their music because it is more likely to bring in listeners. Shock value is something that we as consumers must be wary of, as it is a pure exploitation of the issue, rather than adding to rhetoric or supporting a story. There is also the potential glorification of an issue, whether or not the artist meant it. If the music itself places the controversial act, such as self-harm, harm of others, crime, etc., in a good light, could potentially be problematic. Lastly, there is the argument of freedom of speech. When it comes to the fundamentals of art, most people would say that it is the artist’s right to be able to create whatever they like, despite how

taboo or controversial a certain topic may be. This allows the artist to fully be able to critique, comment, or express themselves in any way that they would want. On the other hand, when discussing the idea of a story, and the freedom that comes with it, it is important to recognize what it is conventionally okay in story writing. In the song “She” by Tyler the Creator, he sings about a character known as Goblin (which might reflect a fictional alternate personality) stalking, spying, and fantasizing about having sex with a woman. However, in the song it is never explicitly promoted as something good, and rather a way to progress the entire story arc of the album it is off of, “Goblin.” If anything, Tyler portrayed this character as an evil alternative to himself. Ultimately, as with all other forms of art, music should be left almost untouched. Music is and should be about expressing oneself whether or not through a story, retelling, or other sorts of fiction. For so many, music is meant to be something that they can connect to because they can find their own experiences within them. If music is given limits, it would deny someone’s basic right of freedom of speech. The only time that music should even considered being censored is when the song itself directly incites horrific actions. It is then, and only then, that a song should be taken down or completely censored.

SERIOUSLY: THIS IS NOT REAL NEWS IT IS FAKE By Reese Hill

any of the decisions the student senate has made in the past regarding Homecoming have resulted in controversial responses from the student body. This year, the senate’s debate was on whether or not to get rid of gender categories for students elected to the Homecoming Court. The final verdict? Abolishing gender altogether. “Blurring the lines between King and Queen for just the Court would be such a hassle,” Moira Boston-Kramerr ‘20, class president, said. “We finally decided to just get rid of gender entirely!” This change has come as sudden for many students, who have both protested the change and questioned the motivations. “I’m so frustrated,” Riley Smith ‘20 said, angrily wiping away tears. “My lifelong dream, ever since I was a little girl, was to be Homecoming Queen. Now they’re telling me I’m going to have to be Homecoming Royal?! I just can’t accept this. When I win Homecoming Queen I can’t wait to see the look on the class president’s face.” Smith was not elected to the Court. After preliminary voting, the court consists of 14 students elected by the senior class—all genderless— that will be brutally pitted against each other to win the hearts of the entire upperclassman body. Many students have found this change progressive, interesting, and overall positive. From the lack of gender boundaries on the Homecoming court to the new genderless policy throughout the school, many students are enraptured by the awaiting possibilities. “When I first heard about it, I was pretty upset, and arguing against it,” Morgan Leskowitz ‘20 said. “But now it’s kinda awesome. Nobody uses indicative pronouns like ‘he’ or ‘she’ anymore. We only kind of yell at each other or make grunts while gesturing in someone’s direction. Also, we can all use any bathroom now, which is great, because it means I don’t have to run all the way across the school to get to what used to be the men’s room anymore.” Teachers have found the effects on the classroom environment to be menial. “It’s been a confusing shift,” Dr. Hammond, biology teacher, said. “‘Confusing in the sense that I don’t know what all the fuss was about to begin with. I mean, now that we’ve abolished gender, it’s become apparent that we didn’t really know what gender was in the first place. It’s not a tangible change. Kids still wear dresses and kids still play football and they’re acting just as typical to everyday life without the labels as they did with them.” Overall, the change has been accepted into everyday life, and it appears student life will continue as planned.

14A OPINION

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

Head to Head:

Who bears the burden of climate change? Does the burden of solving climate change lie solely on the government, or do individuals have an important role to play as well?

ART BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN By Shoshie Hemley

or one to criticize the lack of climate from their government, but then to directly take actions that hurt the environment is inherently hypocritical. We urge governments to condemn the burning of the Amazon rainforest and stop agricultural corporations from cutting down forests to make room for cattle ranching. However, if we continue to eat the beef produced by such cattle ranches, are we any better? The responsibility to fight to end climate change does not lie solely on consumers and individuals, nor does it lie solely on the government. The fight against climate change has become increasingly relevant, and actions to stop it have increased greatly. The number of societal changes we’re making in order to adapt to our dying world is increasing. There are now more vegetarians, vegans, metal straws, recycled materials, vegan burgers, and other changes in our society that make it easier to adapt to a waste- and carbon-free lifestyle. It is undeniable that our society has significantly changed and put a newfound emphasis on the environment within just the last decade. It is true, however, that the government is partially responsible for aiding the battle against climate change. Without proper policy and regulation in place, corporations can continue to profit off of the cheapest and most environmentally harmful products. Factories pump out carbon emissions and plastic continues to be used in everything. But without individual change within our society, the government will not be able to change. It is necessary that both governments and individuals team up in order to solve this global issue. It must be something the entire world is ready to tackle. It is true that corporations are responsible for much of climate change. However, corporations produce because we consume. As long as we buy into capitalistic and harmful companies, they will continue to act in such a way. We can not demand change from those in power without changing ourselves.

Why would large companies change if there is no pressure from the people? If all corporations want is money, then wouldn’t they listen to where the demand is? Individual actions act as pressure towards those companies. If we don’t take action ourselves, we are hypocrites for demanding change. Of course, people who don’t have the resources to make these changes are exempted. Furthermore, the changes do not have to be big or costly. Simply saying no to plastic bags at the grocery store can make an impact. Not everyone has the privilege to change their lifestyle, but those who have the privilege should. They carry a responsibility to this planet. While there also must be pressure from the government, the government will not do anything without pressure from the people. It is not only about pressure because it is not only about large companies. Yes, corporations are responsible for much of climate change; however, each individual action has its own impact. While it may be viewed as cliche, it is true that every small action counts. One straw can kill one marine animal. One plastic bag can choke one bird. Regardless of how small the effect is, everything we humans do has one. It is our responsibility to reduce that as much as possible, no matter how small. To quantify the harm done to our planet takes away the meaning. Every plant and animal, the sea and the sky, the mountains and rivers—it all matters. Until corporations stop pumping carbon into the atmosphere and producing wasteful products, nothing will change. Nevertheless, as long as the individual consumer continues to purchase the products, corporations will continue to produce them. There must be pressure from individuals. Once there is less of a demand for environmentally-harmful products, the supply will lessen, and vice versa with environmentally-friendly products. There must be an entire societal upheaval if we want to fully combat climate change. And no social change has ever happened without the power of the people.

By Rhys Holman

ne hundred companies are responsible for 71 percent of carbon emissions. This fact is commonly lost in discussions of climate change and how much of an individual responsibility everyone has to reduce their own carbon footprint. But at the end of the day with corporations doing so much of the harm to the planet, is a plastic straw or eating meat going to be the straw that breaks the back of the planet? This is not to say that going vegetarian or using reusable straws is bad or useless. Reducing one’s own impact on the environment is a good thing, but that individual action isn’t going to have that much of an effect, even if many were to do it, compared to the vast damage corporations are doing to America for money. This is why focusing on structural change without being preoccupied by individual choices is the most effective path to solving the climate crisis. Oil companies are the ones killing the planet, not everyone who drives a car to school. Shifting blame onto individuals that belongs squarely on the backs of corporations is counterproductive and allows those very corporations to scapegoat individuals and scold them for their individual actions while polluting the Earth for profit. The focus on individual action instead of fundamental change serves to help only the rich and powerful who want to delay the day that they have to stop killing the planet for money. A common response to this is that individuals buying those products incentivizes companies to keep producing these harmful products, which creates a cycle that hurts the planet, so some of the responsibility falls at the feet of the consumer. But this fails to account for the fact that many people don’t have the choice but to consume how they do. 78 percent of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck and 71 percent have debt. These people simply don’t have the funds available to be able to

drastically change their lifestyle for the environment. Even if you only ask only those who are privileged enough to make these lifestyle changes, what’s the point of diverting attention away from the most important issue of institutional change for such a relatively small number who are able to do these lifestyle changes? Focusing on what individual actions people with the ability to take, can take, centers those with privilege at the crux of that conversation, when those that should stay there are the marginalized people who suffer most due to climate change and the corporations that are killing the planet. This doesn’t even take into account emissions that individuals have no control over. In 2017, the United States military emitted 59 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, as much as the entire country of Portugal. Individual action isn’t going to solve that. Only by focusing on changing these harmful institutions without being distracted by relatively insignificant individual actions will meaningful change to help the climate crisis even be possible. That’s why when discussing solutions to climate change, talking about individual responsibility isn’t particularly helpful, because conceptually there are so many dangers greater than those posed by individual action and in practice the number who can live more sustainably is relatively low, so focusing on individuals so intently is just not useful. This isn’t to say that talking about how to live more sustainably or actively living more sustainably are bad. But when this help turns to harm is when individual action is in any way equated to the damage done by institutions or is framed as though the importance of individual action is even close to the importance of structural change. Individual action is helpful on an individual level, but orienting climate change discussion around individual action and distracting from the dire threat that institutions pose towards us is simply counteractive to the end goal of stopping climate change.

16A A&E

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

ART BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN

ABOVE: Aidan Spurgetis ‘21 shares his poetry

FEATURED TALENT

Aidan Spurgetis

or much of his younger school career, the idea of being a writer sounded outlandish to Aidan Spurgetis ‘21. Despite getting recognition from his teachers, he lacked interest in the hobby. He also knew that being a writer was not a stable profession. However, this all changed during his last year in junior high, when he wrote a poem for the school magazine and subsequently won the poetry contest. It was after this event that he truly started to enjoy writing and recognized it as a real hobby, and maybe even a potential career path later in life. “Throughout later elementary school I would write something and my teacher would tell [me], ‘This is really good and you should be a writer,’ and I was like, ‘What? Why would I want to do that?’ But then once I reached junior high I wrote a poem for the magazine for South East and I won the poetry contest and I was like, ‘Wow, this is kinda cool.’ Then the next year, I wrote for One Book Two Book and got an honorable mention and I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I can actually write poetry.’ Finally, in ninth grade, I got “ninth grade best in Iowa’ and I thought to myself that I can actually write and that this might be worth doing.” Once he had ignited his passion for writing, one of the first pieces that he began to work on was a grand fantasy novel. The plot follows a group of rookie soldiers as they make their way through a war-torn planet, attempting to survive the bloodshed. This novel has seen many different drafts as it is the story that Spurgetis continues to return to.

Student Aidan Spurgetis ‘21 talks about his hobby and talent: writing “I have spent so much time with it. I mean, with all of the drafts, I have probably put down over 200,000 words, even though the final was probably half of that because I am always chipping away at that one. I’m currently still working on it and hopefully it can take me somewhere, or maybe just get it published,” Spurgetis said. “The plot focuses on two nations at war. The story itself is written kind of like a high fantasy story with technological elements. I would also say that it is a military story because it follows a young squad throughout a warzone as they try to survive and grow their legend.” When Spurgetis sits down to write something, most of what he is doing is very much based on his current mood. He often has to wait for the actual inspiration to set in, and when he actually gets started, the mood he is in shapes a lot of the poetry that he is writing. This process, however, is very different when it comes to novel writing, Spurgetis has to dedicate a lot more time into the actual setup of the story. To write a novel, Spurgetis begins with world building, focusing on both large, overarching things, such as the general shape of the map, and more meticulous and specific facets of the world,such as politics or religion of certain states. “With poetry, it’s mainly based on my feelings. I have to wait for an idea that I think works well with the poetry format before I can begin writing it. Usually with poetry I just sit down for an hour or two and just try and crank it out. With novel writing, that requires a lot more preparation because if you begin a story and you have no idea where it’s going or who

the characters are it’s just terrible. I cannot do it. In the earlier draft I usually spend about 25 to 50 hours just on developing the world for sci-fi/fantasy. I really just enjoy world building and actually writing is much more challenging. Usually I just make myself write, for example, I challenged myself to write 10000 words for five days in a row-which I managed to complete. It also just kinda helps to have a community there to help me make my goals.” Each artist has their own sets of inspiration that they pull from that helps shape the art that they are making. Spurgetis finds his inspiration in the works of Orson S. Card’s “Ender’s Game. To Spurgetis, this is his main source of inspiration as Card’s ability to create a galaxy with intense politics, science-fiction, and futuristic military simulation is what he wants in his own stories. Along with Card, Spurgetis finds the novel “Snowcrash” by Neal Stephenson to be a good work of science fiction as it builds an interesting cyberpunk world but has a lot of fun while doing it. “I think the first two drafts of that novel I wrote kinda just subconsciously ripped off a lot of [‘Ender’s Game’’s] politics and stuff,” he said. “As I have gotten older, I’ve gotten really into Neal Stephenson. There are two books that I am really into that he wrote ones called ‘Anathem’ and then the other is ‘Snowcrash.’ ‘Snowcrash’ is really just a fun book, whereas ‘Anathem’ is fun, but it is a really smart book, if not a little too smart. I honestly have a little trouble comparing ‘Ender’s Game’ with ‘Anathem,’ because I

would say that they are on the same tier for me. For fantasy I am really into ‘Alvin Maker’ by Orson Scott Card. It’s a reinterpretation of colonizing America with folk magic actually existing. Some people have superpowers. Napoleon can do some stuff that explains his story in our own time. It’s just really good.” During his ninth-grade year, Spurgetis once again submitted his work to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards poetry contest and won numerous awards while there. After he had done this, Spurgetis decided to take a year break from writing poetry competitively and focused on his school work. However, during this time, he still followed his hobby of writing, slowly working on his novel among other things. This year, however, Spurgetis plans on submitting 25 poems to the Scholastic contest. “I have gotten multiple Scholastic awards for my poetry throughout ninth grade. I then just took a break from submitting anything in tenth grade. However, this year I am hoping to come back with twenty-five submissions to Scholastic.” After recognizing both his passion and his skill in writing, Aidan has give writing a consideration as a career path. However, he can’t help but be reminded by the issues with the career, and what a more practical profession would lead to. “I would really, really like to [write for a living], but as my parents constantly remind me, writing isn’t the most stable career field,” Spurgetis said. “The dream is for me to fully support myself by being a published and successful author, so I’ll start with that and see where that goes.”

THE LITTLE HAWK THELITTLEHAWK.COM OCTOBER 8, 2019

A&E 17A

A&E

2019 Upcoming EVEnts

10.4 “REnt” at hancher

10.21 bates field follies

10.26 all-state auditions

10.28 Show Choir Works in Progress

11.6 fall Orchestra Concert

11.13 PHOTO BY HENRY MILDENSTEIN ABOVE: City High students listen to Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey perform spoken-word poetry By Henry Mildenstein As Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey began his performance, he immediately engaged City High School students with several spoken word poems about race, love, and depression. Rainey also discussed his experiences growing up black in the Midwest through his poetry. Rainey, who performed for the first time when he was 16, felt like poetry was a way for him to be heard. “I originally performed at a poetry slam at in high school to impress a girl, after the first time I performed I realized how I heard I felt when I was on the stage; that wasn’t something I had a lot in

Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey performs spoken-word poetry Promoting student voice, poetry, and creativity, Rainey brought his version of slam poetry to Opstad Auditorium school. I felt like I got to take the stage and everyone listened to me,” Rainey said. In addition to performing poetry, Rainey strives to create

communities for poetry. In addition to creating a literary magazine in college, Rainey is partnering up with the Iowa Youth Writing project to create a spoken word