The Little Hawk

City High Expands With New Parking

City High opened a new parking lot in response to students parking in restriced areas

By Diego Loria-Eivins

On Monday, December 5th the new parking lot where Hoover once stood, opened up for City High Students to park in. The new parking lot named the “Hoover Lot”, offers over 200 new spots for students to park in.

“Over the last couple of years, construction and the growing size of City High has made parking a challenge,” said Principal John Bacon.

All vehicles must be registered to park in any City High parking lot and must display a City High parking sticker. Registration is free and can be completed in the main office quickly.

With the growing size of City High and limited parking options provided in the past, students have been improvising new parking spots along curbs, in the grass, on the cement islands, cross walks, in traffic lanes, and in no parking zones.

Beginning December 5th, all vehicles must be parked in a designated parking space. If a vehicle is not in a designated parking space, an attempt to contact the owner of the vehicle will be made. If the vehicle is not moved, it will be towed at the expense of the owner.

The lower level doors of the cafeteria will be opened to provide an entrance for students coming from the Hoover Lot. Mr. Bacon encourages students to give the Hoover Lot a try.

Naloxone Approved at ICCSD

By Hattie Conover

The Iowa City Community School District has recently unanimously approved a drug called Naloxone to be kept in schools and administered by licensed nurses and trained staff members. This drug can be distributed by way of injection or nasal spray to treat overdoses in schools.

“Naloxone comes in various forms but we’ll be getting it as an intranasal medication which is just

sprayed in the nose. It is atomizing so that you absorb it pretty quickly.” Suzi Wilkes, the school nurse, said.

Opioid use depresses the part of the brain that controls breathing, and when too much is administered, it can cause an overdose. Naloxone blocks the opioid receptors, which reverses the effects of the opioid, ceasing the depression

New Fighting Policy Hits City High

By John Weigel and Thomas Ksobiech

After a rise of fighting among students at all ICCSD schools, a new policy regarding fighting, physical aggression, and assault has been released to relieve the rise of incidents.

After the first fight students will now have a behavior contract that can include losing a phone for 30 days. After the second fight students will attend online school for

30 days. If a third fight occurs after returning from online school students will attend 60 days of online school.

The email from the district went on to explain they are to support students and provide a safe place for all students to learn.

“We really want to eliminate physical fighting in the building. That has no place here. It has no place in our high schools... Story continued on A6

STAFF EDITORIAL:

Why Elon Musk’s Twitter Won’t Work

By Isaac Bullwinkle and Tai Caputo

One of the most contentious issues across the country in the last few months has been that of free speech -- especially relating to the extent to which social media platforms must protect it. One recent event which has caused significant developments in the free speech

debate is the acquisition of Twitter by multi-billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Mr. Musk’s decision to acquire Twitter... Story continued on A12

By Grace Kirschling

ART BY ROSANGEL FLORES RUBIO

DEAR READERS, LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

It’s Rose and Lauren again, and winter has come. The snow is snowing, the cold is colder. My toes are cold. But room 2109 is always warm. This cycle, the editors have prepared for you a great collection of stories; from City High’s new parking lot, Naloxone at ICCSD to a full page on Monster High.

We hope you enjoy reading Isaac and Tai’s dive into new Twitter policies for the staff ed as well as flipping through the Feature Magazine. In it you can find great recipes and incredible design work made by the feature editors.

Stay toasty as you turn through these pages!

Hi again everyone!

Diving into a new season

City High boys swim begins the 2022 swim season

By John Weigel

Take your mark, go! Boys swimming launched with the first official practice of the year on Monday, November 7th with the regular schedule starting a week later. The season runs from November through early January, with championship season swimming through mid February. The team is being led by

Coach Mandi Kowal in her third year with the team.

“We are pretty excited about the interest this year as we start our first week,” says Kowal, “Last year was a tough year because our pool was closed and our schedule was constantly changing. That was rough.”

With Mercer’s closure until late January last year, City High took practice to the Coralville Rec and eventually Robert A. Lee for an unfortunate length of time. Chal-

lenges with the pools meant an inconsistent and unpredictable practice schedule. This year is different; back at the home pool and with new interest.

“We also love the fact that we have a range of experience. From 8 new swimmers to 26 guys with substantial experience. All of this will create a well rounded and fun team. We love how the experienced swimmers rally around the newer swimmers. It’s awesome. They do such a brilliant job with

folding them into the swimming family immediately,” said Kowal.

With practices happening on a normal schedule at the home pool, more opportunities arrive for the team to try out new and classic ways to improve in the water. Following a normal practice schedule returns greater team culture. Being back in the pool together and training up to 20 hours a week with the same people restores the social gap present in previous years following COVID.

Naloxone Approved at ICCSD

By Hattie Conover

The Iowa City Community School District has recently unanimously approved a drug called Naloxone to be kept in schools and administered by licensed nurses and trained staff members. This drug can be distributed by way of injection or nasal spray to treat overdoses in schools.

“Naloxone comes in various forms but we’ll be getting it as an intranasal

medication which is just sprayed in the nose. It is atomizing so that you absorb it pretty quickly.” Suzi Wilkes, the school nurse, said.

Opioid use depresses the part of the brain that controls breathing, and when too much is administered, it can cause an overdose. Naloxone blocks the opioid receptors, which reverses the effects of the opioid, ceasing the depression of the breathing center and returning to normal breathing, therefore, preventing an overdose.

It is extremely advised that you call

emergency responders as soon as possible after or before administering Naloxone. Naloxone only lasts for 30-90 minutes in that time frame the opioids may not have worn off and in that case, the person will stop breathing again.

“The great thing about Naloxone, it’s also called Narcan, is that it is a very safe medication. So if we have a student, staff member, or building visitor that is unresponsive, and we think that they may be overdosing on opioids, even if you give Narcan and they’re not experiencing an opioid overdose it’s still safe to give.”

Given the increasingly alarming rates at which opioid deaths are on the rise, Naloxone is very valuable and will save many lives in the coming years. ICCSD’s decision to instate this life saving drug at schools will add an extra safety net to make schools an even safer place to be for students and faculty alike.

“Having Naloxone in schools is overdue, it’s a good thing. There are a lot of risks in this population and with staff and visitors and so it’s going to be a really good thing to have Naloxone here in the event of an

Above, Woody Rogers dives into the Mercer pool to compete againt Cedar Rapids Washington. Left, Woody Rogers competes in the butterfly stroke event. Far left, John Weigel dives into the pool PHOTOS BY HATTIE CONOVER AND MEGAN SWARTZENDRUBER

emergency.”

Naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose is now available in the City High Health office. The decision to include Nalaxone in school health offices was unanimously approved by the Iowa City Community School District.

LEFT PHOTOS BY DIEGO LORIAEIVINS

ABOVE BY HATTIE CONOVER

Iowa City Community School District agreed to have a drug called Naloxone be available to reverse the affects of an overdose at school

Around the AP World

City High’s AP World Teacher’s Experiences Traveling Around the World

By Kate Meis

Covering over 3000 years of history in just nine months AP World History teachers Jason Schumann and Judith Dickson are going all around the globe with their lessons.

For Schumann, this is his 10th year teaching, having taught AP World for nine of those years and for Dickson this is her 30th year teaching. This is her 4th year teaching AP world history with roughly 10 years of teaching history in general. She’s taught American history, International Studies, and Government, as well as spending time as a school librarian and administrator.

Dickson recalled a past history teacher who later came to teach at City High being a big inspiration for her. Schumann, also, was inspired by a past teacher.

“My junior year in high school, I took AP US History, and had a teacher named Mr. Banker who very much inspired me to pursue being a teacher,” Schumann said.

The two teachers have had different experiences traveling to different places in and outside the United States.

“One of our favorite family vacation spots is in Florida, just because it’s always isolated and lonely. We like to come to different cities and try different foods. That’s really the big thing for us, different food and museums...we are adventurous eaters, so everywhere we go, we try to find well reviewed hole in the wall restaurants. We like to try to find authentic food experiences that are pretty unique to the areas we go to, like New Orleans or wherever else. You know, wherever we go food, food, food,”

Dickson said.

For Schumann his most impactful experience traveling was when he went to South Africa in college.

“It was it was a couple of years after the end of apartheid, so it was an opportunity just to get a sense of kind of living like that. The end of that chapter of South African history and also the beginnings of them trying to build a new more democratic government,”

Schumann goes on to say South Africa has been his favorite place he’s been to outside the United States.

“It’s just geographically beautiful. There’s this beautiful mountain called Table Mountain and Cape Town. The people are really

A Book Club Everyone Can Enjoy

The School That Reads allows more freedom to their book club members

By Sadie Bodzin

The idea for a book club at City High started as just a fun idea between English teacher Shamari Scott and his English students, but Claire Hartwig ‘25, Sadie Bodzin ‘25, and Layla Lovan ‘25 took action this year to make the idea a reality.

The book club gives students the opportunity to choose the books they want to read, by letting them pick any book of a set category/theme every month. They then meet in room 1307 every Friday advisory to discuss their books together.

“Last year we were in our English 9 Honors book slide presentation with Mr. Scott and he thought it would be fun to have a book club,” Hartwig explained. “We love Mr. Scott as a teacher, so we decided that we were going to do a book club together.”

Unlike most book clubs that give everybody a designated book to read, The School That Reads lets people choose the books that they want to read. By doing this, they’re hoping that the members actually

enjoy the reading, instead of forcing them to read something they don’t want to read.

“It’s a lot more work to try to get everyone to read the same book even though it might not be a genre people enjoy,” Hartwig said. “So I think just having one main theme or requirement for the book helps. It’s unique and catered to each person.”

When asked, the club’s advisor, Mr. Scott didn’t have to think twice about agreeing to help his students start the book club.

“Honestly, I love a good gossip session, and I’m an English teacher,” Scott joked. “So, what’s better than gossiping about books?”

On a more serious note, Scott believes that a book club is a great way for students to learn and express themselves, no matter how much they read on a daily basis.

“I think it’s a chance for students to really dive deep into another world,” Scott said. “I think it’s great for students to see things that they’re not used to seeing, experience different things and also hear the ideas of other students and their take on the literature that we’re reading.”

welcoming. And they’re not afraid to pull you aside and give you things and tell you their stories,”

Schumann has also spent time in Thailand, commenting on how culturally different it is from the United States. He went for his honeymoon and his time there included sightseeing and new experiences.

”Having these Buddhist temples on every corner was very different from here. I guess we have churches, but like it’s just a little more different in terms of they’re very welcoming. Just kind of walk in and take off your shoes. And as you have probably seen in Thailand the culture is just very different,”

While in Thailand Schumann also got to

spend time with the animals inhabiting the country.

“For me I really like animals. So in Thailand, my wife and I got to swim with a baby elephant. We got to care for an elephant for a day. One of the elephants was a mama elephant and she had this baby. We got to walk it to this waterfall and then we got to swim around with a baby elephant for a while,” Schumann added.

Outside the states Dickson has been to Spain and the Caribbean and other than South Africa and Thailand, Schumann has been to Guatemala, Mexico, and France. He highlights how much you learn from simple exposure when you go from one culture to another.

Back in the states Schumann has lived in Washington, and travel to the Midwest is something that brought him to teach in Iowa City.

“I lived in Seattle, Washington for a while so that is one of my favorite places to go, but I also enjoyed traveling in the Midwest. So one of the things that brought me here was travel and experiencing Midwest culture and people. People are so friendly, something I don’t think you realized until you’ve lived in other parts of the United States. There really are distinct ways in which people treat each other.”

Dickson emphasized how you can learn many things from other countries, cultures, and backgrounds without traveling. Things like books, movies, museums, music, and events in the community are ways anyone can learn more about people and places similar and different to those you know.

Both Dickson and Schumann highlight the importance of exploring other cultures.

Jason Schumann engages his class with interactive slideshows. PHOTO BY YOMI HEMLEY

Amal Eltayib ‘26 reads at book club. PHOTOS BY SADIE BODZIN

4th Avenue Prepares For Competition Season

After 4th Ave’s Works in Progress,

By John Weigel

The audience’s deafening cheering can be heard from behind the curtains, beckoning the performers on. There’s a thrilling energy pulsing around backstage; a great desire to do well takes hold of all the executants, combo, and directors. Clicks from the drum sticks mean walk onto stage.

“It’s always exciting to go out and perform for the first time in the season. I was a little nervous because our choreography camp for fourth Ave was about a month later than it has been in the past, and we’ve had to do more in a shorter amount of time,” said 4th Avenue director Tyler Hagy. “And so that was a little scary, going into it, but I think it’s always a great thing to go out and certainly to have this first kind of benchmark performance for us early in the season to really have a goal to push ourselves toward.”

City High’s prep group, Charisma, performed their show third after both of West High’s groups. The performance features 5 songs, telling a story with the theme Born a Dreamer. 4th Ave varsity group performed their show, “Rise Up”

soon after. The show is a story of a village rising up together to build back their community after a violent storm demolished the town.

“There’s always things that can get better, with anything in life, there are always things that you can improve upon. I think the nice thing about having works in progress so soon is that we get the big picture stuff done in that amount of time, whatever amount of time we have. So now it’s a lot more about the smaller finer details we can really hone in on. Both singing and dancing wise, and get every nuance we can out of the show” said Hagy.

City high groups, both 4th Ave. and Charisma, were the only two which performed fully memorized and with combo the entire show.

“I really feel like we kind of blew it out of the park with vocals for works in progress compared to last year. There were still a handful of people who weren’t fully confident on the show, which was the smallest concern because it is a work in progress. But I definitely think it went better than it did last year, which made me really excited for competition season because I feel like we’re only gonna get better,” said Sara Brenneman ‘23.

Art Classes Experiment With Can Cameras

By Rosangel Flores Rubio

When art students walked into their first period art class they were immediately met with an unnatural, putrid chemical smell coming from the storage room. Their confusion didn’t lessen when bins full of empty Monster energy drinks were set out on the desks.

“Pinhole cameras are so strange and unexpected.. It’s a neat [way] to introduce students to a way of doing things that brings together old techniques of photography and the contemporary technological things. I love processes that lead to the work of art, “ said Daniel Peterson, art teacher at City High.

Can cameras use the light rays

that are redirected to one point with the help of the metallic reflection inside the can, these light rays then help produce an image. Students then develop these images in the art department’s makeshift red room. As of now, the only class that has experimented with can cameras is AP Art, with Art Forms making box cameras.

“I think it’s difficult [while] also being fun and exciting with the ways the color translate into the final image,” said Jessica Kopp ‘24.

Other AP Art students share the same centiments about the black and white image process and outcome.

“It was invigorating to use something so simple yet complicated to make a detailed image,” Diego-Loria Eivins ‘24 said.

The energy of 4th Ave. is different this year. Every year the group has some new and some returning members, however this year has even more newer members and even less returning members after several have quit.

“It’s definitely different than it was last year. There were a lot of relationships built with the seniors of last year, so it was obviously hard losing them, especially since that was probably one of the strongest bonds we’ve had in a group, which the directors noticed as well. But that’s probably how it feels every year for the juniors and I think that now we’re gonna be those seniors who build the bonds with the underclassmen and make it a family as we call it,” said Brenneman.

The culture of the group is constantly changing, but contributing to that is the makeup of the group. This year has 8 underclassmen Sopranos and Altos compared to the usual one or two admitted in previous years.

“It’s certainly a different group than it has been in the past. We have a lot more new people in the group than we’ve had before,” said Hagy. “It’s kind of a different energy because we have all these people that have different experiences. At the same time, I think this group does work very hard, and certainly has a lot of potential to be really excellent. We are continuing to work on building the culture of show choir generally in this school and in this community.”

the group prepares to head into competition season, running through February.

Monster Energy Drink cans make for an interesting way to develop detailed images

Group photo of Fourth Ave. PHOTO BY TYLER HAGY

The art room’s makeshift red room. PHOTO BY ROSANGEL FLORES RUBIO

Grace Kirschling ‘24 performs at 4th Ave’s Work in Progress. PHOTO BY BELLA TISDALE

NEW FIGHTING POLICY HITS CITY HIGH

By Thomas Ksobiech and John Weigel

This fall the I.C.C.S.D implemented a new policy for students involved in fighting. After the first fight students will now have a behavior contract that can include losing a phone for 30 days. After the second fight students will attend online school for 30 days. If a third fight occurs after returning from online school students will attend 60 days of online school.

The email from the district went on to explain that their goal is to support students and provide a safe place for all students to learn.

“We really want to eliminate physical fighting in the building. That has no place here. It has no place in our high schools. That is just not the way that we can solve conflict,” Principal John Bacon said. “And it is an unsafe behavior. And it is just one of our non-negotiables here at City High. So if a student does have a fight, we go through the process”

The exact reason for the fights is unknown, but there’s a possibility they could be connected to the pandemic.

“I think the reality is that students, for all intents and purposes, have lost nearly two years of normalcy. As a result, there is evidence that some students need more support with social and emotional development, the maturation process may have been inhibited and they’re curbed a little bit by the two years of school that were really bizarre and really abnormal,” Bacon said.

This year particularly has had several accounts early on in the year of fighting and reports of incidents. Principal Bacon believes the difficulties of the last few years are at play.

“They might have only had a couple of months of normalcy in their entire junior high experience, and junior high are foundational preparatory years to be successful in high school,” says Bacon, “That’s why it’s called junior high school. I definitely think the abnormal conditions that we experienced probably contributed to some students lagging a little bit behind in terms of where their conflict resolution skills, maturity level, and experience learning how to work through anger and frustration in a more positive way are,” commented Bacon.

The new policy, sent out in an email to all teachers, parents, and administrators, highlights a zero tolerance attitude toward aggres-

sion and physical incidents. After a first offense, there’s a contract and behavioral plan. The big change being that if a student got into their second altercation, they would be sent to the online school for 30 days. If once they return, they participate in another fight or act of aggression, they would be sent online for 60 days.

“This is probably not a perfect policy. None of us want to see someone be in the online program for 30 days. That’s not what we want. That’s not what we think is best for that individual student,” says Bacon, “And we want to do everything in our power to avoid that. My sincere hope is that we have a grand total of zero students have that happen to them. That’s our goal.”

fighting, that students will be expected to work their way through before they can start back [in person],” Principal Bacon said.

The policy concludes with the loss of cell phone access for students integrating back into in-person school. Phones are taken so that students can focus on education and avoid the distraction and roles phones play leading up to incidents.

“We really want to eliminate physical fighting in the building. That has no place here. It has no place in our high schools. That is just not the way that we can solve conflict.”

JOHN BACON City High Principal

“Our job here is to help kids be prepared for success in life. And so it’s very, very important to me that we help students understand physical fighting is not the answer to a conflict,” Bacon said. “And we need to help students learn more positive ways to work through conflict, which is a natural, normal part of life.”

Over 1000 Students Earn Honor Roll

By Thomas Ksobiech and John Weigel

Amina Eason and Kylie Hoskins were two of over 1000 City High students who made the honor first trimester.

Debaters Win Debates

By Thomas Ksobiech and John Weigel

Little Hawk debaters brought home the trophies at the Bettendorf Bulldog Invite.

According to the district, the goal of the new policy is to deter students from making decisions leading them into physical altercations, as well as supporting students in their return from an online-school suspension. Instead of dropping students back into school after being online, there’s support to slowly integrate them back into their classes and the opportunity to catch up with school work.

“In addition to their online courses that they would be enrolled in, there will also be an expectation that they complete a class module online. It’s basically a class designed to offer students more strategies that are more appropriate ways of solving conflict. So kind of a positive conflict resolution module, alternatives to

“Coming back from a suspension, students are going to lose the privilege of having their cell phone during the school day for a period of one month,” Bacon explained, “We really want students when they’ve been out of school for a suspension to come back in and be able to fully focus on their education in their classes. The cell phone is a very powerful distraction.”

The policy includes loss of cell phone access is due to the role they play leading up to incidents.

“We believe many times the cell phone plays a role in incidents that can lead to a suspension in the first place. Whether it’s negativity on social media, whether it’s inappropriate texting back and forth between students that may be leading up to an altercation, too many times I can tell you cell phones play a role in the lead up to a problem, not every time, but many times,” Principal Bacon said.

The new policy also has an educational component for students. A goal of the policy is to teach students a way to deal with conflict in a manner that’s acceptable within society and the rest of the world.

Following the new policy comes the implementation of hall passes. The idea is to keep students out of the hallways to help reduce the number of incidents. The pass includes one uniform pass with a 20-minute expiration period. Only one student is allowed to leave the classroom at a time, and students are not allowed to be in the hallways during the first and last ten minutes of class; an effort to help reduce the number of incidents.

“I do appreciate that the administration is taking action on this issue, but it seems like there’s more that needs to be done at the root of the problem than just the hallways. [Hall Passes] seem very surface level,” says student body co-president Mary Cate Pugh.

Pugh believes the hall passes are an unnecessary edition consequential of the new fighting policy. The student co-president isn’t convinced that the Hall Passes contribute to the solution.

“Fighting is going to happen in school or out of school. I think what the administration was trying to do was minimize the traffic that’s going on during class in the hallways, but I’m not convinced it’s going to be helpful. I think it causes more frustration and hassle than it’s going to decrease fighting,” says Pugh. “Because there’s no way at this point to see if the hall passes are actually decreasing fighting, I think a lot of people are disregarding it, and nobody’s convinced this is going to work.”

Kaj Larsen and Jesse Varner won novice policy, and Juan Rosado finished 6th in extemporaneous speaking.

By Thomas Ksobiech and John Weigel

This group of students won over 2 billion dollars in an investing game conducting during Mr. Leman’s Personal Finance class.

Tardy Parties Celebrate Coming to Class on Time

By Thomas Ksobiech and John Weigel

A class with no tardies win donuts or pizza parties or other prizes.

After a rise in fighting the ICCSD implemented a new policy that includes an emphasis on teaching. The new policy will now have students attend online school for 30 days after the second physical altercation.

Photo by Thomas Ksobiech

New Speech Season Kicks Off

By Yomi Hemley

Rushing to the choir hall, you can see the ensemble room filled with people, seeming like they are acting, but there’s no script in sight. Inside, you can see Rigby Templeman ‘23 practicing improv.

“I felt better at acting after improv and ensemble acting, because they teach you a lot of little things that help,” Templeman said.

Speech has many different sub sections such as musical theater, improv, group and solo mime, ensemble acting, and more.

“I continued doing improv because it’s really fun. It’s my favorite extracurricular that I’ve done at City High and I’ve done a lot of extracurricular activities at City High. You basically just make things up and it’s a really good time,” Templeman said.

Speech auditions for general acting were held last week with improv auditions following the next day. Musical theater auditions were held on November 7th.

“This year was actually the first

time that I auditioned,” said Avery Provorse ‘24, a returning speech member. “Honestly, it was really fun. I had a good time. I learned a lot and I learned how to work outside of just the rehearsal time, and that was really helpful. It helps kind of create a sense of responsibility.”

Speech not only builds your responsibility, but can also build your vocal skills as well.

“I learned how to blend voices because I did musical theater,” Provorse said. “My voice just developed a lot through that process. And we had a great coach that helped us.”

Speech runs during the theater’s off season, between the fall play and spring musical.

“I think it’s a great way to get to know the theater community, and just people that are in it, and get to know new faces, but not be fully committed to something because rehearsals are only once or twice a week depending on how many things you do,” Provorse said. “And If you put in just a little bit of time you get a lot done.”

A Letter From The Editor

Dear Reader,

Snow is falling, sleigh bells are ringing, and hot cocoa is brewing here in room 2109. Also, I have recently learned how soccer works (sort of) (thanks World Cup!). But in all seriousness, paper day is finally here. Every issue is a labor of love and this one has been no different.

First thing’s first: Hi! My name is Esther and I am your Arts and Entertainment Editor. I haven’t done one of these letters since I became A&E Editor but as per the new ICCSD grading policy, late work is given full credit. At any rate, I am excited to be your A&E Editor this year.

In this holly jolly holiday edition of the A&E section, students attend the All-State music festival, The Little Hawk highlights an outstanding student artist, Speech starts their season, and the Art Department hosts their annual end of trimester art show. Also, I recommend some pretty good books to read over winter break.

Shoutout to our lovely execs, Lauren and Rose. This issue wouldn’t be possible without their heavy lifting. Also shoutout to everyone who has brought food in (especially the popcorn machine). That’s the other reason this issue is possible.

With all that said, I hope you enjoy this issue! Have a happy holiday season and a happy new year!

Color Guard and Marching Band march in the Homecoming Parade

Avery Provorse ‘24, Rigby Templeman ‘23, and Norah Mettemeyer ‘24 practice musical theater speech

PHOTO BY YOMI HEMLEY

Esther

Students Perform At All-State

By Tai Caputo

On November 19th, 30

City High students performed at the 2022 AllState Music Festival Concert in an arena large enough to hold over 14,000 spectators, Hilton Coliseum, at Iowa State University.

Located in Ames, the annual three-day event included more than 1,000 orchestra, band, and choir students from 150 public and private high schools across the state, the top 2% of music students statewide.

The students from City High School rode a bus to Ames on Thursday, November 17th. They stayed at nearby hotels, ate cafeteria food, and explored the Iowa State campus. After an initial audition for chair placements, they rehearsed all the next day, and performed on Saturday, the 19th of November.

Matisse Arnone ‘23, a French horn player, said that he learned a lot from the experience and he liked the way the conductor taught in rehearsals.

“I think you can tell [the conductor is] super focused on what he’s doing, and that energy is replicated by the orchestra, and I think we have very focused rehearsals. I’m learning how a good group can rehearse well,” Arnone said.

“At school, in our rehearsals, a lot of time is spent focusing on getting individual parts done, because people aren’t practicing as much for their school groups. But when people all come prepared, and especially when they all come wanting to be there, and wanting to actually get rehearsing, then they’re way more productive”

Band students at All-State are sorted at the first audition into either the All-State band or the symphony orchestra. Last year, Arnone was in the band, but this year he was in the orchestra. He said he enjoyed comparing the two.

“The way the orchestra conductor works with an orchestra is very different from the band approach to things,” Arnone said. “I feel you can learn things from both approaches. [For example] in orchestra the conductor talks to the strings about bow usage, which I can’t really relate to, but some of the points that he’s making about why using the bow–as in to do with articulation or like saving dynamics–can be related to wind instruments, because it’s very similar to using air.”

Arnone said that being in the full orchestra enabled him to get to know all of the people in his section.

“It’s really nice [being in orchestra], because last year in band, the horn section was huge, so you can’t really meet anybody, but this year I actually know everybody’s name in my section,” Arnone said. “During our chair placement auditions, we

hung out in a circle together and got to know each other a little bit.”

Students’ first audition to get into All-State in October was viewed by a single judge, but this second audition, consisting only of orchestral excerpts, was blind, with three judges behind a screen.

Kalea Seaton ‘24, a violist, said she felt more nervous because she couldn’t see the judge.

“Honestly, I prefer auditions that are not blind,” Seaton said. “I think it makes it less nerve-wracking when I can see that there’s an actual person there.”

Nevertheless, Seaton said she was glad to have the chance to audition and that she had gained confidence from auditioning last year.

“Learning to play under pressure really helps my playing for future scenarios that I might be in,” Seaton said. “[Last year] I was just so nervous that I couldn’t really play, and so this year, I thought I did a good job of calming down, and just playing the music.”

Seaton appreciated the chance to be able to participate in such an advanced orchestra.

“I think it’s fun to just get to perform with some of the best high school musicians in the state. And also, just playing with an actual full orchestra is really fun. And it’s really cool to meet new people from other places,” Seaton said.

Seaton appreciated the chance to learn more about individual practicing from the orchestra conductor, Allen Tinkham.

“I think that the conductor keeps going on these little tangents about different things and I think it’s nice. I think it’s cool that he has so much to share,” Seaton said. “[For example,] he has been giving tips on how to practice, even though we’re in a big rehearsal, and we’re not gonna really be practicing this particular music on our own, he’s giving us a lot of tips on the most efficient way to practice, and so I think it’s really cool that he’s taking the time to tell us about these things to help us improve in the future.”

Students were required to rehearse for up to seven and a half hours on the day before the concert. Although Seaton felt that the rehearsal time was rather long, she still had a good time.

“I think just the amount of rehearsal can be a little overwhelming, and it’s definitely tiring to be rehearsing for such long hours,” Seaton said. “But at the same time, I think it’s also really fun, and it’s a cool experience.”

Liv Leman ’25, a bass clarinet, said that this is her second time getting into All-State. She said that the scariest part about All-State was its auditions.

“I feel like auditions aren’t like an accurate representation of what you can play. ’Cause it’s just this little time someone listens to you

so it’s really intimidating, because if you mess up, it might not be how good you actually are, but it’s how good the judge thinks you are, and that can result in you not making it,” Leman said. “But it was less scary this year because I felt more prepared going into it after last year.”

Ms. Stucky-Swanson, orchestra director at City High, served as a judge in the first violin audition (violins at All-State are divided into two groups, firsts and seconds). Stucky said that the strings at AllState were very strong this year.

“[They] really responded to the conductor well, especially in the Bach [Kom Süsser Todd],” Stucky-Swanson said. “I think that by the end of the hours and hours of rehearsal, having to remain musical, and follow the conductor,

and not let your muscles take control over how sore you are, takes a large amount of maturity to do correctly, and the strings did that. It was beautiful.”

Stucky-Swanson pointed to advantages that students gain from auditioning for All-State.

“[Students who audition for All-State] gain so much more technique,” Stucky-Swanson said. “Even if they’re not accepted into All-State, they have still learned very difficult excerpts from real orchestral literature. So nobody can take that away from them, regardless of the outcome. But it’s also really nice for the students to experience the large ensemble, different conductors, something that’s outside of the normal routine.”

Stucky-Swanson’s recommendation to students applying to

All-State next year is to listen to recordings of the pieces.

“Judges will know within ten seconds if you understand how your part fits into the rest of the symphony,” Stucky-Swanson said. “Listening to the music is just as important as practicing the music.”

Although All-State requires a significant time commitment, Stucky-Swanson appreciated the opportunities to work with her students that don’t arise in school.

“I love the concert, and I love watching my students. But I also really enjoy the little moments of running into the kids in the hallway in the hotel, or hearing about their day, and all of their stories from the day. I like having those connections that I don’t normally get to have at school.”

City students at All-State PHOTOS COURTESY OF CITY HIGH MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Art Department Hosts End of Trimester Art Show

By Kate Meis

As you walked into the art room, works from all of City High’s art classes from this first trimester covered the room. Paintings lined the walls, the tables are full of ceramic structures, and students wer touring the temporary showcase.

“Students need to know that all their hard work is leading to something that they can be proud of and in the end can show off, whether they think of it as an assessment or a party at the end,” Art teacher Dan Peters said.

At this art showcase students can not only display their art works but can profit off their work by selling their pieces. Students can sell earrings, prints, ceramics, and t-shirts all with original artwork to their peers.

“They need to have their work brought to the attention of the rest of the school in my opinion, just like an athletic event, a play, a musical, or whatever. This is just how we do that,” Peters said.

The art show ran from 8:30 to 4:30 the last two days of the trimester, giving students, staff, and parents the opportunity to look at student-made art from all of the first trimester.

PHOTOS BY SADIE BODZIN AND MEGAN SWARTZENDRUBER

Maya Bennett Artistic Identity Takes Form

City High senior describes the path that got her into ceramics

By Matisse Arnone

Every Tuesday after school, students file down to the art rooms for the City High Art Club. Chatter and laughter fill the room as students get out their projects. In the back of the room on one of the popular pottery wheels, you are likely to see senior Maya Bennett as she works on her latest piece for her art independent study. Although she is now able to shape bowls with ease, Bennett’s development as an artist has been a long journey.

“I liked to work with my hands at a young age,” Bennett said. “I would just go through the recycling bin in my kitchen in early elementary school, and tape and build things.”

Bennett says that she loves art so mch because it is such a universal language that can break common barriers language provides. She is particularly drawn to sculpture because of the in-

teraction possible with the artwork and the freedom it allows the artist.

“It’s so creative, there’s no set structure to it or an order of operations,” Bennett said. “It’s interesting because there are so many techniques that have historically been used for sculptural and practical pieces that artists interpret with their own style and build upon.”

Even though Bennett has taken classes with Lyudmila Harte at The Harte School of Art in Iowa City since eighth grade, she was originally apprehensive about taking classes at all because she valued her own creative techniques.

“As a kid, I never wanted to take any classes because I felt like art wasn’t something that people could just teach you. I wanted to hang on to my creativity,” Bennett said.

However, after taking a class, she saw more of the value in art education.

“It’s been a space where I can learn a bunch of different forms,” Bennett said. “[The Harte School] offers a variety of mediums, but they teach some excellent technical skills for drawing and painting.”

Bennett also has drawn inspiration from various art camps including BSI, Interlochen, and MICA. In traditional school art classes there isn’t a big opportunity to learn about ceramics, so she is thankful she had the opportunity to attend more specified camps.

“It was really inspiring and enriching because there’s a lot of information that I never had even the opportunity to learn and you don’t know what hasn’t been taught to you,” Bennett said.

In the future, Bennett hopes to start selling her work and is potentially doing art in college

too.

“I can’t imagine ceramics and sculpture not being a huge part of my life. I would love to sell my work, maybe do gallery commissions, maybe teach, I’m not really sure, but there are options,” Bennett said.

She also hopes to encourage other students who might be curious but apprehensive about getting into art to not be afraid if they have an interest. A big reason that she sees students shy away from art classes is because they think there is only one respected way to create artwork.

“Just let go of the idea that there’s a certain way to do art,” Bennett said. “Often we look at really good artists as being the artist with the most training and technical ability, but something really special about the City High art program is that it’s so experimen-

tal and that’s what they’re trying to push students to do.”

That brings her back to the City High art department. Out of anywhere that someone could try art for the first time, Bennett thinks that City High is a great place to do so because of the relaxing atmosphere in the art room.

“The art club at City High is super open-ended and it’s basically just a space where you can use whatever resources are available to you, which is special,” Bennett said.

She also added how taking an art class can be a beneficial break from the stresses that other curricular classes often provide.

“I believe that every student should take an art class because using the creative side of your brain is really great for strengthening [work in all] other classes,” Bennett said.

PHOTOS BY MATISSE ARNONE

Winter Break Reads

Book Recommendations For Break

BY ESTHER PUDERBAUGH

1) Emma by Jane

Austen

A classic for a reason. Is arguably everything an Austen novel should be: full of wit and complicated Regency-era relationship dynamics. The novel takes place in Regency-era England and follows meddlesome Emma Woodhouse through a year in her life. Austen famously described the character of Emma as “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”. Funnily enough, Emma has since become one of the most beloved Austen heroines. Also, the 2020 adaptation of Emma by Autumn de Wilde is one of my favorite comfort films. Gorgeous costumes, great soundtrack, and Anya Taylor-Joy. But I digress.

2) Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver, being the prolific poet that she was, also happened to write beautiful prose. This is a collection of essays from throughout Oliver’s life. Topics range from reflections on her life to essays about other poets who were influential to her work to her thoughts on art. Fundamentally, Upstream is Oliver’s love letter to nature. Reading Upstream is a good alternative to taking a hike through Hickory Hill in the bitter cold.

3) Consent: A Memoir by Vanessa Springora

An incredibly important book: Consent is the story of complicity around a pedophilic relationship between the author and a revered French writer. Incredibly harrowing and haunting, Springora’s personal narrative is imperative. Springora’s prose are, to me, reminiscent of Joan Didion’s prose: cool, clean, and unflinching. Springora’s story will stick with you for a long time.

4) The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

A 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Dutch House is simply an excellent read. The novel follows a brother and his sister and their relationship with their childhood home. When put like that, it sounds kind of boring. However, Patchett’s prose and her ability

5) The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde

A self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet”, The Master’s Tools… by Audre Lorde is a necessary collection of essays for young people. Lorde’s voice is incredibly fresh even though pieces of this collection are nearly fifty years old. The essays highlight the dire need for intersectionality in the overturning of

6) Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis by Wendy Cope

This poetry collection has the most cozy winter title I have seen. Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis is by one of my favorite poets, Wendy Cope. This is her debut collection and while it isn’t my favorite of her work it is still quite good. Her wry and whipsmart voice shines throughout all of her work. The highlights of this collection are her parodies of famous works by other poets and her witty commentary on daily life.

to create sympathetic characters really sets The Dutch House apart. If you like the last great american dynasty by Taylor Swift, this is for you.

the patriarchy and how tolerance is not something to settle for in the journey to embracing and celebrating diversity.

Matisse Arnone, Bobby Bacon, Ahmed Basheir, Maya Bennett, Johannes Boevers, Josh Borger-Germann, Carter Blakeslee, Isaac Bullwinkle, Tai Caputo, Austin Chantry, Jack Degner, Gabe Egeland, Charlie Firmstone, Laine Forbes, Landon Griffin, Logan Kelly, Natalie Kuhlmann, Anastacia Laux, Layla Lovan, Alyssa Maiers, Lily Moessner, Sierra Pruessner, Jack Rogers, Megan Swartzendruber.

Mission Statement

The Little Hawk, student journalism newspaper and website of City High School, aims to inform, educate, and entertain readers. LH journalists follow the code of the journalist by seeking truth, doing no harm, being independent, and working toward balance in all news stories. All student voices are enouraged to be part of an LH journalism class. To join the class talk to your guidance counselor today.

Letters to the editor may be submitted to: LittleHawkPage@gmail.com

ICCSD Equity Statement

It is the policy of the ICCSD not to discriminate 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 itseducational programs, activities, or employment practices.

If you believe you have(or your child has) been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the Equity

Director at: 509 S. Dubuque Street (319) 688-1000

STAFF EDITORIAL

Lead Writers: Isaac Bullwinkle & Tai Caputo

Why Elon Musk’s Twitter Won’t Work

One of the most contentious issues across the country in the last few months has been that of free speech -especially relating to the extent to which social media platforms must protect it. One recent event which has caused significant developments in the free speech debate is the acquisition of Twitter by multi-billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Mr. Musk’s decision to acquire Twitter was motivated almost entirely by his goal to transform Twitter into a true marketplace of ideas, uninhibited by speech restrictions he deems unfair -- restrictions such as those that caused Twitter to ban former President Trump (who Musk has recently reinstated, as per a Twitter poll). The billionaire champions himself as a free speech absolutist, but, as he is already learning, the issue is far more complicated than that.

In the 16 years since its launch, Twitter has grown to be widely accepted as a forum for public discussion. Millions of US citizens have also come to rely on Twitter as a reliable source of news and emergency information, as well

as simply a space for communication between members of various communities. Since Mr. Musk’s takeover of the website, however, Twitter has come under fire for platforming both misinformation and hate speech.

According to statistics in The New York Times, slurs against gay people on Twitter rose 58% and antisemitic posts rose 61% in the two weeks following Musk’s acquisition of the platform. There has also been a notable increase in the use of misogynistic and transphobic language. In response to these unignorable issues, Musk introduced a new policy to address them -- demonetizing and deboosting what he called “negative/hate Tweets” -- but this policy exposes several underlying issues with his approach to free speech. First of all, Musk’s description of unacceptable tweets is incredibly arbitrary (what exactly does he mean by a negative/hate tweet?), but more importantly, the billionaire’s concession that some forms of hate speech and misinformation must be essentially shadow-banned from the platform shows that free speech can never be as absolute as he wants it to be.

There is another key difference between real and online speech: social media platforms like Twitter don’t just allow misinformation and hateful language to spread rapidly to millions of people, its algorithms actively amplify the posts that generate significant engagement (misinformation and hate speech make up a large percentage of these posts). Therefore, hateful and untrue tweets can have massive negative effects that offline speech simply couldn’t.

The consequences of hate speech and misinformation on social media platforms such as Twitter has previously and is likely to lead to increased violence.

According to a Department of Homeland Security statement on November 30th, domestic terrorists “maintain a visible presence online in attempts to motivate supports to conduct attacks,” with the report detailing increased risks for racial and religious minorities, as well as gay and transgender people. In one recent instance, a man was caught with a gun after tweeting about plans to “shoot up a synagogue and die.”

Despite these issues with hate speech and misinformation, we do

believe that too much speech regulation could limit the effectiveness of public discussion and healthy exchange of ideas on Twitter. Therefore, we believe Twitter should introduce a policy similar to that of the Digital Service Act, which was passed in the European Union in spring of 2022. This law has required European social media to remove hate speech, terrorist propaganda, and other “illegal” materials, making tech companies responsible for maintaining the safety of their platforms or risking significant fines.

Musk’s takeover of Twitter has shown that it is not possible to have a completely unregulated platform for social discussion. This has been made clear by Musk himself, since he banned certain accounts, including that of the recently anti-semitic Kanye West. It is imperative that Twitter and other social media platforms ban hate speech in a transparent and realistic manner, while also allowing many different types of people to have a voice on the platform. The United States government should work to strategically implement a policy similar to the European Union’s Digital Service Act.

Adviser Jonathan Rogers

Smile

By Yomi Hemley and Greta Hayek

Smile, directed by Parker Finn, is arguably one of the scariest horror movies from 2022, being not just a psychological thriller but also a terrifying horror film packed with jumpscares that will leave you having trouble sleeping. The consistent unexpected jumpscares lead to round-the-clock paranoia throughout the entire movie. The psychological aspect of the film is horrifying as well. Not knowing what is real life or just another hallucination gives Smile the opportunity to make shocking twists and puzzling scenes.

The film begins with Rose, a therapist, played by Sosie Bacon, tending to a patient in emergency care. After being mostly unable to calm him down from his manic episode, she is immediately given a new patient. Laura, a college student, is traumatized from seeing her college professor brutally bludgeon himself just a week prior. She claims she is seeing smiling people that have continuously played with Laura’s mind, attempting to kill her. Even so, Rose boils it down to PTSD hallucinations rather than some haunting entity. Rose’s patient begins to freak out and as Rose calls for help, Laura uses a shard of a broken vase to kill herself in front of her, all whilst smiling.

Throughout the week, she begins to see these “hallucinations” of smiling entities. They begin to take over her entire life, driving Rose to become paranoid and ruining her ability to correctly do her job. These smiling entities cause everyone in her life to turn against her with distrust, thinking that she’s crazy.

According to Parker Finn, the goal of Smile was to turn something usually considered comforting and pleasant, like a smile, into something unsettling and paranoia-inducing. Smile has many of the same aspects as It Follows, Truth or Dare, and The Ring, yet the film still manages to maintain a sort of uniqueness. The soundtrack is hair-raising and the sudden pauses in the soundtrack plunge you into complete silence– they’re enough to make anybody anxious for the next scene. Smile is a great horror movie to watch with friends or alone, especially taking into consideration the approaching of Halloween, and is overall an astounding motion picture.

NOPE

By Yomi Hemley

Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated film, NOPE, is a shocking experience. It manages to leave you terrified without the film being super gorey. The film is a beautiful statement about the relationship between humans and animals and bad miracles. NOPE starts off with young Ricky “Jupe” Park, played by Steven Yeun, a child actor starring in a 90’s sitcom. NOPE jumps into a terrifying scene where a monkey named Gordy who stars in the show, mauls Ricky’s on screen parents to death and his onscreen sister to the brink of death as Jupe hides under a table, unharmed but terrified. Gordy reaches a hand to Jupe, not in a threatening way, but to make a fist bump. Before their hands touch, Gordy is shot dead by authorities.

The film then jumps to Otis Junior “OJ” Haywood and his father’s horse ranch in Agua Dulce, California. When OJ’s father is mysteriously killed by a quarter falling from the sky and lodging itself in his brain, OJ doesn’t believe that his death was caused by natural causes. This causes him and his sister Emerald to find out that there is an alien hiding in the clouds above their ranch. Instead of being terrified, they use this as an opportunity for fame to save their ranch. Their plan is to get undeniable proof of the alien so that they can become famous, even if it means risking their lives in the process.

The ways in which the characters in NOPE act and the decisions they make are unique and no matter how unreasonable the audience might think they are, each decision they make has an underlying reason. Jupe’s decisions are also questionable, but they can all be tied back to the childhood trauma he experienced and how he gained a feeling of self entitlement after the incident. Instead of fearing this terrifying creature, he thinks he is special and can tame the beast. He thinks he has a special bond with the alien just as he did with Gordy. This cockiness leads to his, and many others, deaths.

NOPE has an incredible cast that really makes the movie. The sound design is hair raising and unique and the vagueness of the horror in the movie instills you with terror. The ending leaves you with a bittersweet feeling and the uncertainty of what is real and what isn’t is what makes the movie a worthwhile watch.

Enola Holmes 2

By Greta Hayek

The Enola Holmes Mysteries is a book series written by Nancy Springer, recently adapted into a movie in 2022 directed by Harry Bradbeer. This first movie starred Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, and Helena Bonham Carter. The film focuses on and follows Enola, younger sister of the renowned Sherlock Holmes as she embarks on a journey to find her mother, who has mysteriously disappeared. Along the way, she meets a boy, Tewkesbury, who is running away from home. Because of his title of the Viscount, someone has hired a hitman to chase after the young boy and kill him. Enola begins to unravel clues regarding the boy and her mother throughout the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Enola Holmes movie– it was a fresh, lighthearted mystery that portrayed a strong female lead. The riddles that the main character had to solve were unique and interesting. As for the sequel to this movie, I did not enjoy it as much as I’d anticipated. For one, it seemed to go by incredibly fast, as if nothing had really happened in the movie until the very end. Another reason I disliked this film was because the sexuality of Enola is a very controversial subject. In the book series, it is implied (but not confirmed) that she is canonically lesbian, while in the movies, there is no exploration of that concept whatsoever. Enola has only one love interest in the two movies and it is a male. I know that her sexuality is not technically confirmed, but it would’ve been nice to leave room for the character to explore different options and bring more inclusivity into the movies.

Overall, I feel that it is a well made movie with substantial acting and an entertaining plot. The only big problem in my eyes is the altering of the main character’s sexuality. It was such a simple detail to continue from the books into the movies and there really isn’t a good reason to change it. I did like that in most situations, Enola was smarter and better at fighting than the male lead because it showed a strong female character– but the fact that they have to end up together instead of her original script is a disappointing twist.

GRAPHIC BY ROSE FLORES RUBIO

Taylor Swift: Midnights

Taylor Swift tells the story of 13 sleepless nights with her 10th full-length studio album, Midnights.

By Sadie Bodzin

Known for love stories and revenge machinations, superstar Taylor Swift has experimented with genres from country to pop to, most recently, indie-folk with folklore and evermore. So, it was a surprise when Swift’s latest release Midnights turned out to be an energetic, electronic, synth-pop album. Originally released with 13 tracks, three hours after the album’s release, Swift revealed seven more songs with Midnights 3am Edition.

Midnights combines the sounds of three of Swift’s albums, 1989, Reputation, and Lover to form a chaotic yet sleek, mostly energetic, electro pop album. The vocal modulations and buzzing synth beats throughout the album are akin to Lorde’s Melodrama which isn’t a surprise as Jack Antonoff was a big part of both projects. The 3am tracks, however, are entirely more cryptic and depressing than the first 13 tracks and are more to the description of turmoil and tears that Swift released.

Swift references some of the hardest points in her life with this album. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” discusses her body image issues and a relationship she didn’t

feel enough in, with lyrics like: “I hosted parties and starved my body/Like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss.” The most upsetting track for me to hear is “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” where Swift grieves her 19-yearold self before “losing her innocence,” referencing “Dear John” off of her third studio album Speak Now. The parallels between the songs are genius and add more depth and understanding for the listeners.

Swift has been praised tremendously for her songwriting ability, with her brilliant

Amerie: All I Have

A throwback to the early 2000’s with Amerie’s debut album, All I Have.

By Wisdom Konu

July 30, 2002, Amerie released her debut album. This year, her album turned 20 years old. Let us take a look at her debut album, All I Have, and the relevance it still holds now. She begins the album with her first release, “Why Don’t We Fall In Love”, a song with nice complex harmonies and excellent background instruments.

The song’s premise is about her falling in love with a person she’s been hiding her feelings for and asking the question “Why don’t we fall in love?” The next track, which happens to be her second solo release, is “Talkin’ To Me” discussing how her and the person she’s fallen in love with don’t need anything else than their eyes to speak

their inner truths to one another. All of the tracks of the album match one another in terms of quality. Another standout track is “I Just Died”, which contains a fresh beat with melodic mixtures with her vocals. The song uses an analogy of falling in love with that of dying as if to say she loves her man to death and does not desire to be brought back to life.

2003 was a pivotal year for R&B, with releases from Brandy and Ashanti, but with Amerie’s debut album, it was indeed the epitome of the genre, showing she was an artist to look out for. She released her debut LP, All I Have in the midst of the heavy competition in the R&B scene with the album peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and stayed in the Top 20 for

Willow: Coping Mechanism

Willow has released her fifth studio album, Coping Mechanism.

By Wisdom Konu

Last year, Willow released her fourth studio album, “Lately I Feel Everything,” moving from an alternative indie sound to channeling her inner pop-punk princess. With her fifth studio album, “Coping Mechanism,” she has fully transformed into a true rockstar through these eleven tracks. The album’s release was preceded by singles like “Maybe It’s My Fault” and “Curious/Furious.” “Maybe It’s My Fault” is an emotional roller coaster of a love song, chronicling the rise and fall of a relation-

ship. “Coping Mechanism” is one of black feminine rage. She uses her powerful voice to convey the emotions she felt throughout the album. The album is a very emotional one, diving into Willow’s innermost thoughts, giving us a very authentic and personal album.

In comparison with her previous album, she has toughened up her sound and has fully plummeted into the rock genre. Willow has shown her versatility once again with this rage-filled album, showing us a more matured and evolved Willow.

musicality especially showcased in folklore and evermore. But, the lyricism in Midnights often felt lacking and artificial. “Karma” feels cringy with lyrics like: “‘Cause karma is my boyfriend,” and “Me and karma vibe like that.” Overall, some of the lyrics were simply lacking in detail and her incredible metaphors weren’t showcased as much with this album.

“Sweet Nothing,” which was written by Swift and her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn under the pseudonym “William Bowery,”

the song showcases a more vulnerable side of Swift. “I’m living on such sweet nothing/But I’m tired of hope with nothing to hold,” muses Swift. “Snow on the Beach,” a collaboration with Lana Del Rey, showcases dainty and elegant vocals from both artists.

“Anti-Hero,” which Swift released a music video for, recognizes self-image issues with lyrics like “I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror.” Though Swift’s storytelling lyrics as seen in songs like “the last great american dynasty,” and “champagne problems,” are some of my favorites to listen to, it is nice to hear her being so vulnerable about her own personal issues that many of her fans could possibly relate to.

Tracks like “Maroon,” and “Bigger Than The Whole Sky,” which are personal highlights of the album, showcase Swift’s duality in Midnights alone. Whether you want a sappy love song or a song you can cry your eyes out to, Midnights has it all. With production comparable to Reputation and Lover, the lyrics on Midnights diverge into an area of sensitivity Swift hasn’t really shown before. Yet again, Taylor Swift has proven her capabilities as a versatile and incredibly talented artist, and I’m always excited to hear her music.

about two weeks. In 2003, Amerie walked away from the Soul Train Music Awards with the R&B/Hip-Hop Best New Artist Award. With Amerie as a new found R&B superstar, she later then released her 2005 sophomore album Touch and its instantly ubiquitous lead single “1 Thing.” 20 years after her debut, her music has continued to be relevant in pop-culture and media, with her music being found being

used all over social media app, TikTok. On TikTok, it is very common to find popular songs sped up or altered in some form. The sped-up version of Amerie’s “I Just Died” has over 19.6k videos with the song being used. Amerie, although no longer in the music industry, has left her mark on the R&B genre with her complex harmonies and melodious voice.

ART BY MAYA BENNET

Monster High Makes Their Frightful Return

Monster High has returned with a new generation with a new purpose to fulfill.

By Wisdom Konu

Monster High is a school full of monster children attending high school. A rocky franchise, having been taken off the market and been brought back completely different due to parent criticism. Fear not, as Monster High is back! Scarier and better than ever, the new Monster High brings new and exciting things to the table.

Frankenstein, Dracula, and werewolves, their children have been reimagined and reintroduced for the newer generation with a set of new freakishly fashionable dolls who aren’t afraid to embrace what makes them different. The cast brings new ethnicities and situations to the table that children can relate to.

Clawdeen, half-werewolf, half-human, represented as a Afro-Latino biracial, born to a werewolf mother who is Mexican and a human father who is Black. Her werewolf-inspired look is an animal-print jumper with a long-sleeve top with a crescent moon print.

We’ve been introduced to Dracula and her father, but fans will be introduced to Draculaura’s mother, a vampire of Taiwanese descent, as her storyline will dive deeper into her heritage. Draculwaura’s body type has changed to embrace body diversity, with the revamp of the original character being shorter and curvier than before. Draculaura’s look is one of vampire chic with heart-print shorts, a vampy corset blouse with sheer sleeves and sheer, and ruffled stockings.

Frankie Stein, the child of Dr. and Dr.

Stein, is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. They are the tallest of the other ghouls and use a prosthetic leg. Their look includes platform sneakers, a plaid skirt and a bomber jacket decorated with thunder bolts.

Lagoona, originally from Australia with blue skin, is now from the coast of Honduras with pink skin and is a proud Latina. Lagoona’s look is sea monster-inspired having fin detailing throughout her wardrobe.

Along with the new set of revamped dolls, a live-action movie and an all-new series airs on Nickelodeon and Paramount+. “Monster High: The Movie” follows Clawdeen Wolf and her friends as she attends Monster High and discovers a devious plot that would not only destroy her school, but would also reveal her half-human, half-werewolf identity. “Monster High” follows Clawdeen Wolf, Draculaura, Frankie Stein, and Deuce Gorgon through

LH Movie Review: Monster High:

26 episodes, as they discover who they are, embrace their differences, and learn to be fierce and fearless at the one place they all belong: Monster High.

Monster High has always been a brand celebrating individuality and being different from others. This new generation of Monster High is here for children to serve the same purpose. Monster High is back, for a new generation, with stories and looks that represent the world kids experience today.

The Movie

By Wisdom Konu

Monster High, a franchise known for its scarily fashionable dolls, has finally returned. Fans fearing for the franchise now have a new generation of fangtastic ghouls to learn about in live-action musical form. Monster High, following generations, has released movies following the doll franchise with the first generation having a collection of eight 3D animated movies, with the first being “Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love?” The second generation has two animated movies. This live-action musical kicks off the start of the newer third generation. A collaboration between Nickelodeon and Paramount+, the movie was initially released on October 6th. The main trio consists of Mila Harris as Clawdeen Wolf, transgender actor, Ceci Balagot, as Frankie Stein, and Nayah Damasen as Draculaura.

The story follows Clawdeen Wolf, an Afro-Latino half-human, half-werewolf monster who is having trouble fitting in. She admits herself to Monster High, a school for monsters. She believes that this is where she can truly find herself. At Monster High she meets and befriends Frankie Stein (pronouns they/them), a non-binary simulacrum, who is also

new to the world (when they are first introduced, they are 15 days old) of monsters. She later befriends Draculaura, a Taiwanese vampire with witchy secrets. Cleo Ne Dile, daughter of the Mummy, and Lagoona, a saltwater sea monster, are a pair that continue to appear alongside the main ghouls and Deuce Gorgon, son of Medusa, is the love interest of Clawdeen Wolf. The acting is exceptional, and the actors do a great job on taking on these roles, with each of the main characters shining, as well as the supporting characters.

The plot follows Clawdeen beginning to find where she belongs at Monster High but things begin to change when a devious plot begins to arise and she is told that at Monster High where true monsters have true monster hearts and is at risk of her true scaratige being found out. In the end, Clawdeen is at home with her friends, Draculaura and Frankie, at Monster High.

The songs are nothing extraordinary, but “Three of Us” stands out with its fun and catchy beat with the main trio singing extremely well. The fashion choices are one of the best components of the movie, giving the rebooted characters each a unique and distinct yet cohesive style.

Problems that stand out to fans in regards to the new-

er generation, are the changes to specific characters such as Clawdeen Wolf and Ghoulia Yelps. One of the changes made to Clawdeen was her sexuality. Speculated by fans and encouraged by Monster High creator, Garret Sander, Clawdeen has been headcannoned to be lesbian but her sexuality has seemed to be changed as her love interest is now Deuce Gorgon, son of Medusa. Deuce previously dated Cleo De Nile in this film and as well in previous movies. Ghoulia Yelps, in previous generations, has been portrayed as a monster on the autism spectrum and has now been changed to a neurotypical character.

Overall, the movie is a fun-filled musical that reintroduces us to the newer generation of the ghouls with more stories to come. In comparison to older generations and the 3D animated movies, this new generation is vastly different but still contains the heart of the original franchise and the storytelling remains to be comedic, heart-filled and wicked cool. The reboot appeals to the newer generation of children with its purpose being to have characters that they can identify with and relate to. It’s iclawnic, defrightful, and spooktacular. The ghouls that get it, get it. And yet again, don’t forget: Be yourself, be unique, be a monster!

Image courtesy Paramount+

Image courtesy Monster High, edited by Wisdom Konu

With a new generation of ghouls, Monster High returns in live action.

Antisemitism in Media: Why it’s a Problem

By Sadie Bodzin & Yomi Hemley

Antisemitism has always been prevelant in media, in your favorite childhood movies, to even movies made today. With more and more movies and TV shows spreading rhetoric that Jewish people are ugly, evil and/or greedy, it becomes harmful to the Jewish community. If you cannot believe that such problematic depictions of Jewish people are still being shown today, take a look at some newly released Netflix movies.

The School for Good and Evil, a new Netflix movie, which came out on October 18, 2022. Sophie, one of the main characters, becomes increasingly evil and ugly as the movie continues. As this occurs, her nose becomes bigger and more hooked, spreading the notion that Jewish noses are ugly. Continuing to associate big nosed characters with being evil is inherently antisemetic and enforces eurocentric features as the beauty standard. The antisemitism in this movie is incredibly obvious and harmful and continues to make Jewish people and features, evil.

When looking at Disney villains, you can probably spot something in common with them, along with a few exceptions. Mother Gothel, Ursula, Captain Hook, Hades, and Lady Tremaine all have stereotypical

With antisemitism becoming more popular in movies and with celebrities, it’s time to address the problematic portrayals of Jewish people.

jewish noses, being big, hooked, and less eurocentric. Having no figure with features similar to yours to look up to while growing up causes children to resent their appearance from an early age, especially when the characters that do share your features are the villains who are produced to look scary and weird. These depictions of Jewish features and characters become even deeper when you realize how complex it truly is.

For example, Maleficent, a character with Jewish features, also has horns, an old stereotype common in Nazi Germany. When the Evil Queen transforms herself as an old lady to poison Snow White, her nose grows bigger as her face becomes more grotesque, conveying the message that non eurocentric noses are yet again ugly and evil. One of the more extreme examples of Disney’s villains being Jewish-coded and portrayed controversially is Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel stealing Rapunzel to continue her evil magic is incredibly similar to false allegations towards Jewish people called Blood Libel, where Jewish people were accused of stealing babies for rituals. Having people with Jewish features constantly be portrayed as the ugly villains in movies made for children is incredibly harmful for Jewish youth.

More recently, after Ye, or Kanye West, took to twitter to say he was going to go “Death Con 3 on Jewish people,” and a

huge banner saying “Kanye is right about the Jews,” was dropped over an LA freeway with individuals above doing Nazi salutes. While portraying villains with bigger noses may seem harmless to some, the subtle antisemitism in media snowballs into blatant antisemitism. The influence that celebrities like Kanye have on teenagers especially is large, and his antisemetic comments have sparked a wave of antisemitism throughout social media.

Another problem with antisemetic comments coming from such an influential figure is how quickly fans either jumped to his defense or have made the issue into a joke. Comments like “But he made Graduation,” under posts about Ye’s comments have garnered thousands of likes. Making the dangerous and disgusting comments into a joke is one of the most harmful things you can do. Making jokes muffles the voices and concerns of Jewish people and in turn amplifies antisemitism even more.

Kanye isn’t the only influential person continuing to spread anti semitism. On November 7th, Dave Chappelle hosted SNL. During his monologue, he treats Kanye’s antisemitism as a joke. Not only that, but he excuses his behavior by saying that he is mentally ill and furtherly implies that being mentally ill is an excuse for his hurtful comments. Being mentally ill is never an excuse, nor does it make it ok to spread

harmful antisemitism to millions of loyal impressionable young fans.

Dave Chappelle goes on to also defend Kyrie Irving for boosting an extremely antisemetic movie. Over 8 minutes of Dave Chappelle’s 15 minute monologue is focused on making fun of Jewish people. He makes fun of Jewish holidays and tries to convey the message that Jewish people run hollywood. While it’s not necessarily antisemetic to say there are many Jewish people in Hollywood, saying that they run Hollywood is, especially when an overwhelming majority of films and characters are Christian movies and characters, made for Christian people. This comment ties into the narrative that Jewish people are money hungry, and implying that they run Hollywood discredits the work of Jewish people to make jobs/names for themselves in Hollywood.

Whether antisemitism in media is subtle or outright problematic, it harms Jewish people and severely affects the young and impressionable. These issues are still relevant in the media today and will not stop anytime soon, especially with famous celebrities excusing these problems. It is important to see antisemitism and understand the problem that is at hand in terms of the constant depictions of Jewish people.

HISTORY-MAKERS

Girls wrestling hosted their first home meet ever now as a sanctioned sport. The state of Iowa officially sanctioned girls wrestling as a sport in January of 2022. The meet hosted regina, liberty, dubuque senior, solon, prarie, pleasant valley, and anamosa.

Player Profile:

Samuel Mbingazo From the Congo to City

By: Thomas Ksobiech

It’s not every day that a six-foot-nine freshman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo transfers to City High. It is even rarer that the same kid is a highly recruited basketball player with multiple division one basketball offers. That is Samuel Mbingazo ‘26.

Born in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Samuel didn’t play basketball initially when he was growing up. “In fact, my parents didn’t like it when I played basketball. When I was on my way to practice, they would say, ‘no, stop, go to school, not to practice,” Mbingazo recalled. It wasn’t until his ninth birthday that his uncle told him to play basketball. His uncle saw the poten-

tial that Samuel had, being extremely tall and lanky for his age. Basketball became an everyday obsession for Mbingazo. He would go with a neighbor to train before and after school every day.

A couple of years prior to Mbingazo moving, his uncle moved to the United States. Seeing the potential for Samuel, he convinced him to move across the world. “He told me that, in the United States, you can study and play basketball and that your doors will open to opportunities like the NBA. In the Congo, [those opportunities] are not as good.”

At first, he moved to Los Angeles, California. Mbingazo lived with his coach and spent almost all of his time playing basketball. During this time he began to make great leaps in his basketball abilities. However, he was only going to school

maybe two to three times a week. He wasn’t able to learn English, which was one of the big reasons for moving to the United States.

After sitting down and talking with his uncle, they decided that it was best for Samuel to move in and live with his uncle in Iowa. “My uncle told me to come to Iowa’s high school [where] I could come here to better learn English,” Mbingazo commented.After moving to the Iowa City School District, Samuel and his uncle decided it was best to attend City High.

“When I came, I knew players from this school, like AJ and Jameer. When I came here, my uncle told me to stay and study here. He told me to go to City High because this is a good school.” Mbingazo elaborated.

Only being a freshman, Samuel still has four years of high school basketball left to

play. After he completes his high school career, he plans on attending college and playing basketball in college. He has multiple Division One offers and lots of interest from other schools. He has requested that these offers and interests be kept quiet until he has a better understanding of English. He does not want to misrepresent himself or his intentions. However, a player like Samuel is one with an extremely high ceiling and lots of potential.

Samuel is looking to be a large contributor to the varsity boy’s basketball team this year. He is hopeful that the team will have more success than that in previous years. He has stated that he is willing to do whatever it takes to help propel the team to new heights. Samuel Mbingazo has demonstrated what it means to be a great player and teammate.

Freshmen Samuel Mbingazo talks about his journey from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to moving and playing basketball for the City High Little Hawks.

Sam Mbingazo ‘26 takes the court against Muscatine where the team held for thier first victory of the year.

PHOTO BY BOBBY BACON

Scan QR code to watch video interview of Sam by Bobby Bacon.

ROUGH RIDER

By Jack Rogers

At the age of four, Henry Ingersoll ‘26, inspired by friends, decided to try hockey. This was not a sport traditionally played within his family.

Henry didn’t love the idea of playing hockey at first. It took time. “At first I didn’t like it because I was very young and it was very challenging for me,” Henry said. He initially found other sports more interesting and intriguing than hockey.

“I come from a basketball family, my dad played college basketball so naturally that was the first sport that I played. It was just so different from basketball, I didn’t know what to think of it yet,” Henry ‘26 said.

After a few years, Henry tried hockey again and it seemed to come much more naturally for him.

“When I tried it again, I was older and bigger, and around that time I was starting to fall out of love with basketball,” Henry said.

Henry plays on a high school club hockey team called the Rough Riders, based out of Cedar Rapids. Hockey in Iowa is a growing sport. With the addition

of the Heartlanders, a minor league team in Coralville, young players now have more opportunity and competition within the sport.

Henry, throughout this season, has been fighting for his spot on varsity as a freshman.

“This year I’m focusing on making the roster and helping out the team, but next year will be about leading the team,” Henry said.

Throughout this season, Henry has been playing both JV and varsity. Henry has had three goals in five games so far this season. Although Rough Riders hockey hasn’t had the greatest start to the season, being 0-5, they are looking to bounce back. The team has faced some of the best competition around. They have lost a handful of close games to each of the top three teams in the league. Some of which went to overtime.

“I think that the team and I have had a solid start to the season, but I’m definitely not at my full potential. We have faced the best teams in the league so far and kept every game within a goal, both JV and Varsity are close to being winning teams,” Henry said.

Looking forward, Henry’s goals for his hockey career are making state all four years of high school and after high school, end up playing for a semi-pro hockey team.

Henry Ingersoll ‘26 stepped out of tradition and joined the growing sport of hockey in Iowa.

Henry Ingersol ‘26 shows off his stick skills ahead of weekend home tournament in Cedar Rapids

PHOTO BY JACK ROGERS

“I think that the team and I have had a solid start to the season, but I’m definitely not at my full potential.”

Henry Ingersoll Rough Rider