The Nueva Current | November 2022 by The Nueva Current

NEWS

CULTURE

FEATURE

OPINION

San Mateo County seeks to reach “net-zero homelessness” by the end of 2022. Read about how local authories are meeting that ambitious goal.

Taylor Swift's Midnights has taken the world by storm. Some hate it, some love it, but all should read Ellie K.'s '24 take.

As artificial intelligence art rises in popularity and accessibility, artists and AIcreaters grapple with its ethics.

Guest writer Noor Z. ’24 weighs in on how the historic movement in Iran is redefining the way she views women’s roles in the greater Middle East and shaping the future.

READ MORE ON PAGE 9

An album for the insomniacs

Taylor Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights, marks a historic milestone in her career mark the end of an era and beginning of and self-loathing into catchy choruses, as STORY Ellie K PHOTOS Taylor Swift

“Just like clockwork, the dominoes cascaded into line,” and the “Mastermind” Taylor Swift released her tenth album, Midnights (and Midnights [3 a.m. edition] which includes seven extra songs), featuring storytelling, brilliant lyrical genius, and immense vulnerability. I grew up alongside Swift’s discography; I’m a long time listener of her lyrics and an admirer of her albums. As a lifelong fan, I’ve watched with awe as she's reinvented herself and her music, transforming the hate she received into Grammy awards and sold out stadium tours. To me, Midnights—depicting “13 sleepless nights” in 13 tracks—reflects her career, demonstrating how far she’s come as a musician and a woman in the music industry; it’s a concept album that delves into her honest reflections of emotional pain and self-loathing while grappling with a life of “unmanageable size” and the consequence of “not feeling like a person,” as she described on an Instagram reel. Midnights is her time to introspect and reflect on her career. Swift’s symbolism of “midnight,” is an attempt to not only chronicle the late night mental spirals and cerebrations, but also to

another. Swift is currently returning to her past through re-recording and gaining ownership over her earlier albums—two of which have already been released with the addition of (Taylor’s Version) to their titles. When Swift made her debut into the music industry, she was perceived by the media as a sweet, bubbly, curly haired girl with a sparkly guitar, and the country twang. She soon became defined by which man’s arm she held onto, as she publicly dated many celebrities and focused many of her songs on her break-ups. Eventually, she gained the reputation of a drama-loving, calculated “snake” as a consequence of her conflict with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Kim Kardashian. In Reputation and Lover, Swift’s sixth and seventh albums, she sings to her haters, taking back power and depicting her recovery from the years of drama. Now, in Midnights, Swift continues to sing about the career-altering events she endured, yet with more vulnerability and confidence. She is honest when singing about what keeps her up at night. She turns her trauma

seen in her leading single “Anti-Hero” (“It’s me, hi / I’m the problem, it’s me.” and “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror”). In an Instagram reel prior to the album’s release, Swift explained, “Track three “Anti-Hero” is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I really don't think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before.” Yet not all of Swift’s midnights are plagued with fear. Some are full of comfort and enchantment, sparking the creation of her characteristic heartfelt love songs fans know all too well. On “Sweet Nothing,” a song she cowrote with William Bowery (a pseudonym for Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend), she sings, “Outside they’re push and shoving / You’re in the kitchen huming / all you ever wanted from me was / sweet nothing.” Swift has been in an off camera relationship of six years, which allows her some freedom from the media’s infamous scrutiny of her love life. Luckily for her fans, her happy and healthy relationship consistently produces passionate tracks that tug at fans’ heartstrings. Swift does not stop at reflecting on her struggles and successes; she reminds the world of her love of revenge, strengthening her new persona of a powerful woman which contrasts the submissive young girl she once was when she entered the industry. In “Vigilante Sh*t,” she advises listeners, “Don’t get sad, get even” and in “Karma,” she sings, “Karma is a cat / purring in my lap ’cause it loves me.” The bridge of

CINEMA AND SONGWRITING

Swift revealed Midnights to be a "visual album," with many songs accompanied by film-style music videos.

“You’re On Your Own Kid” perfectly encompasses Swift’s career, revealing the dark side of her fame where she encountered misogynist comments on her appearance and the impossibly high expectations for female pop stars: “I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this. / I hosted parties and starved my body / like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss.” She concludes the song by singing, “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it / You’ve got no reason to be afraid,” identifying the Midnights era as her period of nostalgia, cogitation, recovery. With its unique promotion (a TikTok series titled “Midnights Mayhem with Me” in which Swift released song names throughout the weeks leading to Oct. 21), signature cryptic planning (Midnights was released on the day Swift turned 12,000 days old), and characteristic storytelling, Swift’s newest album is a tribute to her life and career. Its melodies mimic her past songs and eras, serving as a testament to her love, fear, turmoil, and tears—“a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.” Once again, Swift has transcended the music industry, becoming the first artist to occupy the top ten spots of the Billboard Hot 100 and shattering records for the most streamed album in a single day and most streamed artist in Spotify history. As she sang in “Maroon,” the album’s second track: “That’s a real f*cking legacy.”

It Starts With Us brings new meaning to fan fiction

Colleen Hoover's latest sequel accomplishes exactly what it set out to do: appease her diehard followers STORY Josie B PHOTOS Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover’s It Starts with Us can be summarized in one word: epilogue. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The novel begins exactly where Hoover’s previous bestseller, It Ends with Us, left off. A young woman, Lily, is grappling with the trauma of her previous abusive relationship—this relationship is depicted in the first novel. She begins to pursue her childhood love interest, also from the first novel, and the two end up happily moving in together at the book's conclusion in the hopes of starting over. Yes, there are a few other minor details, the most relevant being that the love interest finds out he has a long-lost twelveyear-old brother, but these largely serve to enhance the ideal happy ending rather than having much of an influence on the plot. Despite its simplicity, this kind of novel is exactly what Hoover's followers have been begging her to write since It Ends With Us went viral on social media in 2021. On Reddit, one fan wrote, “Is there any chance that Colleen Hoover has written a part-two with Lily and Atlas in the future? I just couldn't get enough of them! I need MORE!” In her acknowledgments, Hoover writes,

“It Ends with Us is the one book I have been adamant that I would never write a sequel for, but then #Booktok happened, [along with] the online petitions and the messages and videos.” Hoover refers to her remarkable online success, which has largely been fueled by her cult-like social media following. On Tiktok, for example, the hashtag "colleenhoover" has received over 2.6 billion views. Even before it was released, Atria Books announced that It Starts with Us had become the most pre-ordered novel in Simon & Schuster history. Hoover goes on to explain, “I realized most of you weren’t asking for me to put them through more pain. You simply wanted to see Lily and Atlas [the protagonists’ original love interest] happy.” While the novel isn't necessarily one I would pick up again, by the standard of giving the two idolized lovers a comfortable ending, it undoubtedly delivers. Contrary to Hoover’s trademark style, the novel is carefree and restrained, lacking many of her strong emotional passages. Hoover frequently uses a shocking twist to draw the reader's attention to her books, but this one— aforementioned longlost brother—felt rushed and somewhat forced. The time jump at the end didn't

help either, as I felt it detracted from the actual progression of the main characters' relationship. Overall, I was left feeling as though I had read a fan’s version of an extended epilogue to It Ends with Us, except the fan had essentially just elongated the conclusion that Hoover had already written. While the novel doesn't do much else besides providing that happy ending for the two main characters, I don’t hold it against Hoover. She never intended for the book to be written in her typical plot style in the first place; it doesn't fit her collection of emotional trauma-heavy tear-jerkers. In essence, the story is fan fiction, with the concept being created by and for fans. It Starts with Us sold a record-breaking 800,000 copies on its first day of release, an unprecedented number given that it takes only 5000 to reach #1 on the Amazon bestselling list. These numbers further illustrate how Hoover's choice to release the novel was likely an easy one. Her fan base would have devoured any sequel, good or bad, and anyone could have been persuaded by the guaranteed massive profits. This begs the question: As her fanbase continues to grow, what else will they pursue her to write? Fans who were charmed by the hints of a renewed relationship in It Ends With Us

will find closure and a satisfying ending in this novel. However, for first-time readers who were drawn in by the first novel’s heart-wrenching undertones and complex characters, I’d recommend waiting for Hoover’s next release.

TIKTOK FAMOUS

Colleen Hoover has amassed over 1.1 million followers, 14.6 million likes, and garners over a million views per video.

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Pop Culture Report Card Our staff’s celebrations and condemnations of the latest events in pop culture STORY Gabe H. & Samara B. PHOTO Getty Images, Rueters, Trevor Noah

A GENRE STAPLE

With the characters' idyllic mindsets and freespirited takes on an educational institution, the 1989 film Dead Poets Society has quickly become synonymous with the dark academia subgenre.

Dark academia writes people of color off the page Megan Thee Stallion on SNL A+ Megan brought freshness, hilarity, and style to her much-anticipated hosting debut!

Senate candidate Herschel Walker pulling out a police badge during a debate D- I would give this an F, but the person receiving a failing grade is me because I lost signifigant brain cells watching this sitcom. Oh wait, it was a televised debate! Oopsies!

Rex Orange County Allegations F- Self-explanatory.

'White Lives Matter' T-Shirt Worn at Paris Fashion Week F- Offensive Prada T-shirts are never classy, among various other complaints about the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

The social media aesthetic can’t seem to shed its sexist, eurocentric origins STORY IMAGE

Isabella X. Dead Poets Society

It’s a tale as old as time: Our naive protagonist enrolls at a foliage-filled elite preparatory school, befriending an eclectic (yet still strikingly undiverse) band of fellow students and, through Homer recitations and table-top speeches, discovers the spirit of brotherhood. This is the scholastic dream—or at least, that’s what “dark academia” would have us believe. Like most internet niches, the dark academia subgenre’s roots can be traced back to Tumblr. In 2014, the microblogging platform saw an influx of users pulling on vintage tweed blazers and posting annotated copies of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. At its core, dark academia embraces the intellectual and paints it as something magical. Hallmark media include films like 1989’s Dead Poets Society and V.E. Schwab’s 2013 novel Vicious. However, it wasn’t until the 2020 pandemic that the niche gained mainstream popularity. As students were uprooted from plastic desks and fluorescent lights, the search for academia manifested elsewhere—namely, TikTok, where “#darkacademia” has since amassed over 2.9 billion views. But as the trend’s popularity grows, so has its audience, and we’re not all from old-money white families. Dark academia’s defining traits— eurocentric topics like Homer, Shakespeare, Latin, and “carpe diem”— leave little room for racial minorities to see themselves on the page. I’m left wondering if Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic would ever be as definitively “dark academia” as Donna Tart’s The Secret History, simply because it doesn’t fall into the antiquated eurocentric zeitgeist of what academia should be. There’s also a distinct lack of female representation. Due to the subgenre taking inspiration from late-1800s and early-1900s media, women are

portrayed as male fantasies. We exist without initiative of our own, only as waifish muses for male inspiration. Take The Secret History’s only prominent female character, Camilla Macaulay. She serves as the long-term object of the protagonist’s lust and is feminine to the point of caricature. Tart writes that she was “still a girl, a slight lovely girl who lay in bed and ate chocolates, a girl whose hair smelled like hyacinth and whose scarves fluttered jauntily in the breeze.” Camilla, like most women in dark academia, is portrayed as a male fantasy, a romanticization of girlhood that crosses into the dangerous (yet frighteningly common) realm of female objectification.

is not enough to bridge racial gaps and immerse myself in the white-dominated space of dark academia. Luckily, I’m far from alone in our frustration. Just this August, author R.F. Kuang published Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. The book is a self-described “thematic response to The Secret History,” inspired by Kuang’s experiences as a student at Oxford and Cambridge University. The novel’s setting and prose place it squarely in the realm of dark academia, but it’s the first to venture into the neo-colonial legacy of the internet aesthetic.

While at times a bit bold with its commentary, Babel’s debut marks a welcome shift away from the eurocentric-dominated academic space.

For women of color, their intersectionality exacerbates this exclusion. In a think-piece for Post45 titled, “Too Dark for Dark Academia?” University of Michigan Ph.D. candidate Mel Monier reckoned with dark academia’s exclusionary boundaries, writing, “As a Black queer woman, I am as excluded from dark academia as I am from every other contemporary online aesthetic that idealizes whiteness.” While exploring the subgenre, I, too, have felt relegated to the role of an onlooker. While watching dark academia staples, like 1989’s Dead Poets Society, I struggle to see any part of myself in the characters. Ultimately, a love of literature

Set in 1828, Babel follows Robin Swift, a Cantonese orphan who is brought to London and begins studying translation at Oxford. But when Britain and China begin to war over silver and opium, Swift must “grapple with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.” While at times a bit bold with its commentary, Babel’s debut marks a welcome shift away from the eurocentricdominated academic space. In tearing down and re-examining the legacy of academia, Kuang presents a novel that, I hope, can carve a space for darkness in dark academia.

Submit work to the 2022 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

STORY

Gabe A.

Consider this opportunity to share work with a national audience and build your resume

Trevor Noah Leaving the Daily Show D- He's the best thing to happen to talk shows—maybe ever. At least he won't have the chance to overstay his welcome on our TVs.

Calling Nueva’s talented community of artists and writers: the annual Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is approaching! Scholastic is a prestigious national contest that offers scholarships as well as recognition to high school students. It is America’s longest-running recognition program for creative teens, ranked #1 in the National Society of High School Scholars’ list of “11 Writing Contests for High School Students with Cash Awards.”

The deadline for writing submissions is Dec. 7; artists have until Dec. 15. Scholastic offers a plethora of submission categories for both art and writing, including critical essay, flash fiction, printmaking, ceramics, glass and more. More than just a chance to spotlight works in front of a larger audience, Scholastic also aids students in building liberal-arts-cented resumes. Participation and recognition from Scholastic has been

a popular outlet among Nueva students to signify dedication to and engagement in their passion for art or writing. Of the 2021 submissions, 13 submissions from Nueva students were awarded Honorable Mentions, l, Silver Keys, or Gold Keys. With the entry deadline nearing, students should begin revising pieces, obtaining the required teacher confirmations, and preparing the mandatory $10 entry fee for each piece.

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THE NUEVA CURRENT PAGE 7

A YouTuber’s betrayal

Internet reaction to Try Guys cheating scandal exemplifies YouTube parasocial relationships STORY PHOTO

Samara B. & Gabe H. Try Guys

When evidence leaked via Reddit posts that Try-Guys member Ned Fulmer had an illicit affair with an on set producer, fallout was inevitable—but making national headlines and devastating fans globally was the end result. Loyal fans expressed disillusionment and betrayal at Fulmer’s infidelity after having cemented his career on content related to his wife and kids. Not only was the public’s perception of the group tarnished, but the public image of content creation as an industry was put in jeopardy. The four-member group originated on Buzzfeed but broke away from the company in 2018 to found their own YouTube channel, which has since amassed 8 million subscribers. Their schtick has been attempting niche and sometimes risky endeavors (testing their sperm count, eating undercooked meats, trying on underwear from Victoria’s Secret, etc.) and, racking up millions of views. Each member of the group—Eugene Lee Yang, Ned Fulmer, Zack Kornfeld, and Keith Habersburger—has carved out their own celebrity. Integral to Fulmer's identity is that of being a family man and husband to his wife, Ariel, who has also starred in several of his videos. Within hours of the initial announcement on Sept. 27, the Try-Guys had overtaken nearly every celebrity gossip tabloid, with various sources flocking to provide a similar analysis of the overwrought conflict. Even The New

York Times weighed in, releasing an in-depth feature on the same date. Social media users also had a lot to say. Since the news was broken, Ned Fulmer lost over ten percent of his following, roughly one hundred-thousand followers. That day, he released a written apology via Instagram, doubling down on his commitment to his wife Ariel. Comments on his post expressed feelings of betrayal. Thousands of long-term Try-Guys fans weighed in, conveying dismay and astonishment. When celebrities deviate from their public personas, fans may be deeply impacted. What is thus harbored is an unrequited connection between individuals and the content creators they revere, a dichotomy that becomes arduous to deviate from. Parasocial relationships are defined as “a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience member who follows someone in the media or online, oftentimes a youtuber or another kind of influencer.” The interactive and playful nature of Try-Guys makes the group a breeding ground for parasocial associations. Some students at Nueva felt blindsided when news of the scandal became public. “I think especially YouTube is a platform where you're really engaged with viewers. There is a pretty strong effect on me and other viewers who might feel blindsided by this,” said Kayla L. ’26, who has subscribed to the Try-Guys since 2019. For other students, however, this scandal brought up previously held doubts about the

Try-Guys' reputation. Mira H. ’25, who has been following the group since middle school, expressed that she foresaw a scandal involving Fulmer taking place. “I'm not saying I predicted this, but I sort of did. Like I knew something was gonna happen,” she said, referencing Fulmer’s heavyhanded marketing of his marriage and family. Kayla was initially drawn to the Try-Guys because of their lighthearted material: “They make content that just makes people feel good and happy and joyful.” This sentiment rings true for other students. Emi Y. ‘26, who has been following the Try-Guys since their 2018 departure from BuzzFeed, echoes the idea that the creators inspire joy in their viewers. “It was just really cool to see a bunch of guys that didn't care about anything other than making people happy,” Emi said. A collective dissonance arises when public figures who once inspired joy in individuals falter from those duties and reveal themselves as blemished humans; viewers may be left conflicted about whether or not their continued support of these figures is condoning the poor behavior that got them into trouble in the first place. The internal conflict of viewers is thus set in motion. They must juggle a hampered celebrity-individual relationship and duly reckon with the power of their own actions. Furthermore, a previously uncharted level of internet celebrity opens up public figures to the inevitability of scandal. Sophie D. ’24, summarizes this aptly: “I

think no franchise is immune to controversy. In my opinion, there's always gonna be something that happens because that is the nature of the internet. If you make a mistake, that's always gonna come out, especially if you have such a massive podium.” It is thus evident that scandal is an inevitable force in celebrity politics. It is a testament to the character of the celebrity in how they wish to address said scandal. Many fans gained respect for the creators due to the group’s crisis management. Emphasizing a permanent ban on Fulmer-related content, the three remaining Try-Guys released a podcast episode outlining the events that had unfolded. The rage and betrayal of the remaining members was instantly discernible. Eugene Lee Yang was noted for his punctured glare at the camera, which intermixed with the simmering disappointment of Keith Habersberger, and the teary scowl of Zach Kornfeld. Ani W. ’24, a Try-Guys fan since the group’s inception, believed their handling of the situation was mature and timely. Ani respects the group’s acknowledgement of the workplace relationship between Fulmer and Herring. “They didn't try to sweep it under the rug. They acknowledged the power dynamic,” Ani said. The Try-Guys controversy has provided a unique crash course on the nature of parasocial relationships. It remains to be seen whether or not the symbiotic duality of celebrities and their fans will be closed or fomented by future scandals.

In trying times... The Try Guys and Ariel’s response to Ned Fulmer’s cheating scandal could not have been better STORY PHOTO

Natalie L. Try Guys

When a classmate broke the news to me that Ned Fulmer, the YouTube “family man,” had been caught in an affair, it felt like a slap in the face to my 11-year-old, Try-Guys-obsessed self. Ned, a founding member of the American comedy YouTube channel, Try Guys, confirmed on Sept. 27 that he had cheated on Ariel Fulmer, his wife of 10 years with whom he shares two young children, with former Buzzfeed colleague and Try Guys producer Alex Herring. Neither Ariel nor the self-dubbed “second generation” of Try Guys, consisting of Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habersberger, and Zach Kornfeld (publicly known by their first names), claimed to have been aware of the affair for long before it took over pop-culture news. Hours after Ned’s post, the trio announced that Ned had been fired as a fourth member of Try Guys; they did not comment on Herring’s position. So when the news broke, beyond grieving for a couple I had previously dubbed as “iconic,” I was worried that the end of Ned

and Ariel—and consequently, a best-friendbreakup between Ned and the remaining three Try Guys—would come to be the epitaph of Try Guys as a whole. I envisioned the scattered immortelle and condolences from their nearly 8 million followers who perhaps, like my impressionable, pre-teen self, had spent years looking up to them (albeit through an electronic screen) and admiring their happygo-lucky attitude towards the world. The stakes felt high on Oct. 3 as I clicked on the Try Guys video titled, “what happened.” Going into it, I half-hoped that Eugene, Keith, and Zach would manage the situation responsibly and reassure us that everything would be alright, while half-expecting it to be 30-minutes of call-outs and shade thrown at a man they had loved like a brother for the past decade. And yet, through their furrowed brows, composed postures, and a killer glare (by Eugene, of course), they managed to give us a perfect combination of both. “I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to fully articulate the pain we feel at this moment,” Zach said in the video, close to tears, “It’s hard to rewatch old videos that we love and we’re

proud of.” The trio continued to share their disappointments and feeling “deeply hurt,” and confirmed that Ned would be edited out of all pre-filmed videos and the planned merchandise release. “What we hope is that within this, there’s also the opportunity for positive growth and better videos ahead, but it’s gonna be hard,” Zach said. Nothing about the video was childish, frivolous, or at all like the typical messiness of celebrity scandals. Throughout the video, it became clear that the new-and-improved generation of Try Guys have thrown Ned to the curb to extend compassion to the victim of the scandal, Ariel. During possibly one of the most difficult times of their life, the Try Guys were able to put aside the loss of a brother, and empathize with the Fulmers’ loss of a stable family. “The internet has a tendency to be a lot harsher towards women than men. So please, we ask you to exercise kindness,” said Park, closing the video with a powerful message. Additionally, I commemorate Ariel for her response to the online frenzy due to her husband’s affair. She displayed maturity

beyond what you and I, cumulatively, would probably muster in her place. “Thanks to everyone who has reached out to me–it means a lot. Nothing is more important to me and Ned than our family,” wrote Ariel on Instagram on Sept. 27, “and all we respect right now is that you respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.” While I would’ve included harsher prose towards my cheating husband, between her statement and recent sightings by the TMZ newspaper of her and Ned in public together, Ariel appears as composed as ever. She also appears to be the sole parent prioritizing the supposed joint-value for their childrens’ well being with her mature, nonexplosive handling of her husband’s offenses. In the time it took the video to accumulate 10 million views thus far, my admiration for the second generation of Try Guys grew exponentially as well. While I can no longer rewatch nostalgic Try Guys videos in the same carefree, silly light, I applaud Eugene, Keith, and Zach, for continuing to nurture a sense of family between themselves and their fans despite the shadow Ned and Alex have cast onto the Try Guys brand.

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“Viewer” and “victim” become synonymous while watching Dahmer Netflix must remove the series from its catalog; unnecessary gore retraumatizes victims and disturbs viewers STORY PHOTO

Gabe H. Netflix

Trigger Warning: depictions of violence and assault. Netflix miniseries are rarely subject to intrepid failure and offensive messaging. When they are, it is a staggering fault, both for their creators and the network promoting them. This fall, Netflix viewers were scandalized following the release of Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story—the inflammatory 10-part miniseries depicting the life and killer motives of serial murderer Jeffery Dahmer— that came out on Sept. 21. Dahmer's initial pitfall is its lack of focus. I was perplexed watching scenes unfold with horrific intricacy; whether Dahmer wished to posit itself as extrapolative commentary, a “cautionary-tale” narrative, or, perhaps most morbidly, a serial killer re-enactment—was wholly unclear. Exerting painstaking effort, Dahmer seemed to oscillate between contrasting mediums, never settling on an angle. Excessive detail is added to the show to compensate for lacking substance; Dahmer capitalizes on gore. Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters) appears prowling in the shadows of bars, waiting solicitously outside bodegas frequented by underage boys, and wielding his not-so-inviting charm to lure unassuming men

of color into deadly encounters. Dahmer is worsened by its graphic nature. The show follows its lethal protagonist as he maims and decapitates his victims. Sickening closeups of severed heads are shown in nearly every episode. These nauseating details appeared to be wielded solely for shock factor. Said factor is underlined by a callous disregard for the humanity of Dahmer’s victims. Bombshell closeups of dead bodies, broken ligaments, and detached bones are dehumanizing additions. This gore is worsened by the show’s distillation of victim’s lives into the incongruous moments they were tragically cut short. Victim's experiences are seldom delved into, and when they are, it is only in relation to Dahmer and death-related fallout. It asserts that Dahmer’s victims existed only to be killed, the ultimate sacrifice for a spineless capitalization on the largest streaming service on the internet. While victims are rendered nonhuman, Dahmer is humanized to the most nuanced degree and the series reads as an “antihero” narrative. Dahmer manipulates viewers into harboring sympathy for its title character through the inclusion of fragmented and unrelated sub-narratives. Aspects of Dahmer’s childhood are clumsily explored—his struggle to fit in with the elementary school crowd, a blighted

kinship with his father, and the overdose of his mother at a young age. Frankly, I was baffled by these scenes. These anecdotes, presented in isolated flashbacks, barely contribute to the story’s central events. Rather, they serve as inept justifications for Dahmer's actions. The framing of the events furthers the disturbing notion that serial murder is pardonable. Online discourse surrounding Dahmer involves not only the show itself, but its branding as well. The popular Instagram account @ mattxiv (with 1.2 million followers), known for posting culturally-relevant educational synopsies about LGBTQ life in the digital age, slammed Netflix for adding an LGBTQ+ tag to Dahmer. On an Instagram story from Sept. 28, he wrote “I genuinely cannot believe that Netflix originally labeled the Dahmer series as LGBTQ content…this is NOT what we meant when we said we wanted representation.” Tags are meant to be helpful indicators of content, but Dahmer is hardly a show about LGBTQ life. Netflix eventually removed the tag after outrage was elicited from its presence in the show notes. Dahmer represents yet another flagrant instance of Netflix attempting to tack on a misguided symbol of representation on its platform which habitually equates enslavement with black stories and other fallacious

misrepresentations. In addition to provoking rage in ordinary viewers, the series has reignited irreversible trauma in the family members of Dahmer’s victims. Eric Perry, the cousin of Eroll Lindsay, killed at 19 years of age, took to Twitter to air his frustrations: “I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn [sic], but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/ shows/documentaries do we need?” The horror Jeffery Dahmer inflicted on Milwaukee communities in the late twentieth century will never be assuaged, and no finalized closure will come to the families who suffered. It is one thing to pay homage to the young lives lost at the hand of this killer. However, to purposefully reignite the victim's anguish on Netflix glorifies the same trauma-inducing malignancy of Dahmer himself. In an age where true crime series are able to authentically bear witness to trauma and hardship, Dahmer feels regressive. The internet has already canceled Dahmer. It’s time Netflix follows suit.

Embroidering fantasies through haute couture Grace’s culture corner

The universal scope of Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy STORY PHOTO

STORY Grace F. PHOTOS Joji, Kevin Wilson, Marvel

Isabelle S. Guo Pei & Legion of Honor

Tucked away in the downstairs gallery of San Francisco’s Legion of Honor and scattered throughout the museum are 82 silver and gold mannequins, each flaunting an ethereal dress by Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei. With gravitydefying headwear and goldarmored footwear, the collection is dazzling. Couture Fantasy, Pei’s first comprehensive exhibition, will be on display until Nov. 27. Born in 1967 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Pei is hailed as China’s first couturier. Through her theatrical gowns, featuring lavish embroidery and unconventional dress-making techniques, Pei creates a fantasy that fuses the influences of China’s imperial past, the grandeur of European architecture, and the botanical world. But it wasn’t just her designs that lured us in; it was her pioneering drive growing up in the midst of an era that erased China’s beauty and luxury. Working in the fashion industry for the next

two decades, Pei revived what beauty meant in a time when art was utterly destroyed. In her work, Pei explores Chinese artisanship to acknowledge the traditional craft quashed during the revolution. Spending tens of thousands of hours in China weaving together her dresses stitch by stitch, Pei created works to remain admired and relevant “a hundred, two hundred, three hundred, or even a thousand years later” and evoke memories of the eras in which they were created. With her entrepreneurial spirit— even knocking on door after door to find a willing embroiderer—Pei emerged as a fierce figure in China and across the globe, paving the way for generations of fashion designers following her. After visiting her display at the Legion of Honor, I’d wholeheartedly

Tales of resignation and reminiscence

believe that she has achieved her goal; Pei proved that art transcends barriers of culture and language. In a video about the exhibit, Jill D’Alessandro, curator in charge of Costume and Textile Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, believes Pei not only “represented the evolution of Chinese fashion” but also a “global fashion narrative.” I’d thank her, because her work brought the three generations of my family together to appreciate the culture we all come from. She had inspired conversations between us about the clothes my grandmother had worn in her family, opening opportunities for us to talk not only about heritage and tradition but also the loss of culture. Walking from gallery to gallery, we came face to face with not only her designs but also our cultural roots.

Listen: Smithereens by Joji (Nov. 4) Japanese singer-songwriter Joji is known for his hypnotic lofi tracks and modern angst. However, his third studio album, Smithereens, will also focus on his past relationships and add a level of reminiscence to his art. The lead single, “Glimpse of Us,” is more stripped down than his other singles, and has become his highest charting song. Joji will continue to explore this more emotional side of music in this album.

Read: Now Is Not The Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson (Nov. 8) This novel focuses on an anonymous art piece that becomes a cryptic note which the townspeople of Coalfield, Tennessee are left to decipher 20 years later. The piece was created back in 1980 by two young artists motivated by romance and solitude. This novel raises questions about the permanence of an artist’s legacy, and how a single message can reverberate and evolve throughout the years.

Watch: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nov. 11) Black Panther (2018), starring the late Chadwick Boseman as King T'Challa, was a sensational addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, adding more gender and racial representation to this already fruitful canon. The sequel, expected on Nov. 11, follows the Wakandans as they attempt to rebuild and protect the nation after King T'Challa’s death. This film both focuses on building a legacy while not forgetting the hallmarks of the past which equipped its characters to embark on this journey.

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THE NUEVA CURRENT PAGE 9

Who did it? Watch Clue to find out The upper school’s fall production of the comedic murder mystery will keep viewers on the edge of their seats STORY PHOTO

Owen Y. Char P.

Was it Peacock, Mustard, or Plum? Was it with the rope, the lead pipe, or the candlestick? This year’s fall play production of Clue will keep audience members pointing fingers until the very end. Based on the wildly popular board game Clue and its 1985 movie adaptation, the play opens with each of the six characters receiving a mysterious dinner party invitation. Their host threatens to expose their darkest secrets unless they show up to his mansion and follow his instructions. When a series of murders unfolds, the party guests—colorfully named Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mrs. White, Colonel Mustard, and Mr. Green—must scramble to uncover the murderer among them before it’s too late; their lives and reputations are at stake, after all. The show utilizes farce comedy, a genre defined by hyperbole and absurdity, to deliver witty one-liners and over-the-top characters—it’s “fast-paced, zany, kooky, physical comedy,” as upper school theater teacher and director Zoe

Swenson-Graham put it. “It’s a real opportunity for the actors to not only explore physicality but also to explore big characters,” Swenson-Graham said. “I love the cast’s willingness to try all of our weird ideas.” Beyond the stage, a unique logistical challenge that has arisen is the doublecasting process: most roles will be played by two different actors depending on the performance, and each actor plays more than one character. This also means they need to learn twice as many lines as usual and have less time to devote to each role. However, cast member Sophie D. ’24 believes the extra effort and moving pieces involved will be worth it. “The complexity is what’s going to make this such a fun show to watch,” Sophie said. “I’m really excited to see the audience’s reaction—I honestly wonder if they’ll be able to catch everything.” Sophie, who will be playing both Mr. Green and enigmatic party host Mr. Boddy, described the cast as “fantastically skilled at comedy.” “Honestly, at times it’s hard to work alongside them because I can't stay in character,” she said, recalling instances when rehearsal had to be paused for the actors to regain composure after

A LABOR OF LOVE Students have rehearsed over six hours every week in preparation for their December debut.

collective fits of laughter. These shared moments of joy and silliness are just one example of the tight bond the 15 cast members have developed through their countless hours of rehearsal together over the past few months. Jasper F. ’25, who will be playing Mr. Wadsworth—Mr. Boddy’s butler, highlighted the welcoming and supportive environment of the class. “If you make a mistake, everyone’s like ‘oh, that was funny,’ then we just continue

Traditions stay the same as Coffeehouse grows Second outdoor event brought attendees out to enjoy live music, creative writing readings, comedy STORY PHOTO

on,” he said. “I love how close everyone is.” The play is set to perform Dec. 2-4, with four shows in total. SwensonGraham encouraged audiences to attend more than one performance to see how the different casts have embraced their roles. She also hinted that “things are not as they seem” and alluded to a few plot twists. “You won’t be bored,” she promised. “There are a lot of surprises along the way.”

FROM LEFT: Livie P. ’26 plays the ukulele during the sound check; Aura M. ’24, Jim Munzenrider (faculty), Hazel B. ’25, and Tom Z. ’25 kicked off the start of Coffeehouse; Grace C. ’25, Eleanor A. ’25, Allegra K. ’25, and Aspen R. ’25 spread out on picnic blankets on the Rosenberg Lawn; Aaron H. ’24 and Sam J. ’23 help serve food from local restaurant KingKat to attendees; Ethan H. ’25 and Leah T. ’25 perform "Coffee" by beabadoobee.

Zara M. Grace F.

Coffeehouse attendees cozied up with hot cocoa and blankets as they awaited the first performance of the night of Oct. 20. Fairy lights framed the jam-packed stage full of speakers, instruments, and microphones. The night began as Winston L. ’23 introduced four students and faculty members to perform the opening song “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits. Co-hosted by StuCo and The Nueva Current, Coffeehouse was originally brought to Nueva in fall 2018 in hopes of spreading the love and appreciation for performing and visual arts. The first event was so well-received that the organizers eventually decided to add a second Coffeehouse in the spring. Arts Rep Kayte C.’s favorite aspect of the Nueva Coffeehouse tradition is the casual nature of the event which fosters an encouraging environment. “I love how relaxed and community oriented Nueva Coffeehouse is…We get a really big turnout which is nice and it is just really supportive,” Kayte ’25 said. Kayte was the lead organizer of the fall Coffeehouse, and partnered with various

administrators and staff to execute the event. Journalism teacher LiAnn Yim, who serves as the faculty advisor for Coffeehouse, arranged for the food to be catered from KingKat Bar & Eatery, a restaurant three blocks away from Nueva on 25th Avenue. “We really wanted to support a local business, especially one that is in our immediate neighborhood,” Yim said. Attendees were enthusiastic about the food, which included basil popcorn chicken, a popular street food that is a staple of night markets in Taiwan, fried tofu, spring rolls, and beef, chicken, and pork skewers that came with an assortment of dipping sauces. There was also hot chocolate, one of the traditions of the fall Coffeehouse, that was prepared and served by StuCo members. Participation in the coffeehouse events has grown over the years, leading to some necessary changes. The recent fall Coffeehouse did not offer an “open mic” for the first time in the event’s history. After last spring’s event went almost 90 minutes over its end time, Kayte and Yim agreed to keep the event tight by limiting performers and to drop the open mic section of the evening.

Although there was no open mic at this Coffeehouse, audience members still had over 20 performances to enjoy, including sophomore Connor C.’s guitar cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (an especially whimsical and intimate performance; guests hummed the lyrics of Elvis Presley’s renowned song as phone flashlights waved in the air), senior Riyana Srihari’s rendition of Adele’s song “When We Were Young,” senior Char Perry’s stand-up comedy act, faculty performers Andrew Alexander (a reading of W.H. Auden's poem "If I Could Tell You") and Amber Carpenter (two creative fiction readings), and more. Winston Li returned as the emcee, introducing each act and helping foster cheers and applause after each performance. A hallmark of the Coffeehouse is the supportive and welcoming audience. Lee Miller, parent of Brenna A. ’25, noted how the students in the audience encouraged every performer. “I of course cannot sing myself, but if I did, I would love to have an audience like this,” Miller said. Alicia Huynh, parent of Ethan H. ’25, was another Coffeehouse attendee.

“[Coffeehouse is] just fun and relaxing. It's nice to sit out here and enjoy the music. All the performances are really impressive,” Huynh said. On the other side of the stage, Connor talked about his decision to perform at his first Nueva Coffeehouse. “Before I came to this school, one thing that every faculty member and student hyped up to me as an art student is ‘we do this thing called Coffeehouse and they’re great. We get to hang out after school and do these performances.’” Conner said. “Before I even came to this school, I made up my mind that I wanted to do some sort of performance like this.” Conner already has ideas for future performances, which would most likely include a group of musicians performing all at once. “I plan to get together a bunch of guitarists or percussionists and do a recreation of a song…but there’s five people playing one guitar. It’s something more community oriented so I won’t be alone,” Conner said. The next Coffeehouse will be on May 12.

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SUSTAINABLE SCHEDULES The new Wednesday format opens discussions on how to rebuild a balanced schedule. READ MORE ON PAGE 11

11/04/2022

TEACHER CULTURE

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST

How does Nueva's high school environment affect the way in which teachers approach an interdisciplinary curriculum?

Students have found loopholes to Canvas’s system, shifting the trust between students and their teachers.

Learn more about the offcampus artistic life of Jes Muse, who is the Facilities & Operations Manager.

READ MORE ON PAGE 12-13

An inside look into solving the “puzzle of Nueva”

STORY PHOTO

Serena S. Serena S.

How does Scheduling and Academic Data Coordinator Kevin Dineen create your schedule? Standing at his desk in an office adorned with Star Wars bobble heads and Arsenal Football scarves, Kevin Dineen, new Scheduling and Academic Data Coordinator, stares at his color-coded Google spreadsheet containing every Nueva class separated by discipline. His task: curate every teacher and students’ personal schedule from scratch. After teaching English in Milwaukee prior to joining Nueva, Dideen has found beauty in creating connections whether across literature texts or, most recently, in data analytics.

“There's a lot of connections and different ways to read the data that can open up different insights. So just like in literature, there's always more than one way to read things which leads to crucial discussion and debates,” Dineen said. With the opportunity to pick any two, or three, or even six of the eight courses as electives depending on grade and various ability-based levels of language and math, no two students have the same schedule. To Dineen, Nueva’s unusual yet core approach to class selection is a “puzzle”

SCHEDULER AT WORK Kevin Dineen in his office on the first floor. November is one of his busiest months, as he creates the schedule for Intersession and the spring semester.

waiting to be solved. “When I was first told about how the schedule works, I was a little nervous because of the uniqueness,” Dineen said. “It’s like you have a Rubik's Cube, but put that Rubik's cube on steroids, and it’s 12 each side rather than nine.” Currently, Dineen is working to create the spring semester schedule, a near twelve week process which began early October and will conclude with student’s receiving their finalized schedule right before winter break. The near 12-week exercise is done entirely by hand in Google Sheets. Once satisfied with the main schedule, Dineen begins to arrange and toy with student’s schedule in order to get as close to a certain percentage of full scheduled completed as possible—the most time-consuming part of the process often taking around two weeks. In addition, Dineen’s priority is to ensure that faculty are equally content with their class distribution and makeup—his first step in deciding which classes are offered in each block. “Do [teachers] want a common planning time with others in their department? Do they want a specific room? For teachers who travel between campuses, do they need their classes in the morning or afternoon? I think about teachers who have young kids and need to drop them off, so maybe not have a first class is better for them because they don’t have to rush,” he said. “And once I get all that information, that’s when I start designing.” “I always try to give students their first choice but, with anything, that’s not always possible. If I start moving things around, that’s

Are we in a political echo chamber?

STORY ART

going to have a ripple effect and that’s where it gets tricky,” he said. “Sometimes, I’ll even have to have a conversation with the student about their preferences.” Specifically, Dineen points to the amount of Singletons offered (classes only taught during one block) which greatly hinder the flexibility of a student’s schedule. Some of these classes include student publications, art classes, and more niche classes including Capitalism and the Apocalypse and Cinema Studies. “[Singletons] are great from an interest standpoint and inherently Nueva, but very difficult from a scheduling standpoint especially if a student has a lot of Singletons in a single discipline,” Dineen said. “So it’s then manipulating those students’ schedules in a particular fashion,which proves to be quite challenging.” But his job doesn’t just end once schedules are sent out—one of the most demanding parts is accommodating the students who have reason to switch classes. “The lines don’t faze me,” Dineen said, referring to the wave of students who requested a class switch in late August. “In a perfect world, I know I've been successful when that line is shorter. That means students got what they wanted and they're happy with their schedule.” Above all, Dineen treasures the student gratitude he receives for his work. “I really appreciate when students come up to me in person or via email and say ' ‘I really like my schedule and things like that,” Dineen said. “It’s the positive memories and moments like that which I hold on to when I’m struggling to solve the puzzle of Nueva.”

Grace F. Grace F.

In light of the upcoming federal election, seniors weigh in on the political landscape at Nueva and in Gen Z Fourteen percent of the class of 2023 will be eligible to fill out their first federal election ballot in November. For Zander C. ’23, the mix of being a legal adult but still attending high school makes politics a convoluted topic. “Nueva is advertised as a place where every opinion matters,” Zander said. “But I think we are too quick to consider political opinions which differ from the majority and that we need to follow through on our saying that we won't judge you for this belief.” Henry S. ’23 agrees, saying, “If we’re in a place where there is a strong majority opinion, any minority opinion could potentially be silenced.” Henry and Zander both feel that while there are benefits to being in a politically saturated environment, such as further conversation and brainstorming on certain issues, it can lead to difficulty in developing different perspectives. Anahita A. ’23 believes that teenage voters tend to lean heavily towards how their family members and immediate community vote, due to both loyalty and a sense of pressure, but adds that “being on the cusp of adulthood” yet still living at home could also take away a level of critical thinking from how teenagers vote. “I think a lot of us focus less on the issue of healthcare, for example, because most of us don't have to contend with finding our own healthcare,” Anahita said. “But there's also a difference in how adults and teenagers follow local politics, such as school board elections and California propositions.” As the co-lead of the upper school’s Feminism Club and co-captain of the Model United Nations Team, Anahita believes that though there can be dangers of being in a politically saturated environment, there are also opportunities for students to bounce ideas off of each other.

“Because we have so many students who are really into politics, you have the opportunity to engage in the sort of critical thinking that you maybe wouldn't find on social media,” Anahita said. “We can learn more about politics from our peers, especially if we’re already inclined towards one political perspective. There’s a lot of ways to engage with that, learn more about it, and continue dialogue over current affairs.” Zander believes that though it is a comfort to be surrounded by similar opinions, people should also think critically about these biases. “Most parents generally pass down a series of values and beliefs onto their children, and they are the place where we get a lot of our knowledge for engaging with the world around us,” Zander said. “That's one place where bias and information can be introduced, and I think that is okay, as long as you think critically about your beliefs.” However, with the rise of Gen Z voters, multiple seniors see a rise in social media swaying the way in which political information is spread. Rohan S. ’23 believes that although social media such as Instagram and TikTok can be a great place to gain information, its trend-based algorithm can also cause a pressure for certain types of political involvement. “I think that the whole structure of some movements necessitates some level of social media involvement,” Rohan said. “I don't think that shying away from it is the right answer, but I do think to be wary of people who are doing activism in a feel-good or selfish way as opposed to a transformative one.” Rohan, Henry, Anahita, and Zander all noted the event “#blackouttuesday,” a hashtag meant to spread awareness of George Floyd’s murder in 2022 thatbecame a performative display of involvement. However, these four seniors all agree that any sort of involvement

is still beneficial, as it will change how politics will look in the future. “It's important to understand that social media was able to galvanize our own voting populations more than through what other generations might have access to," Rohan said. "But I think through that lens, we definitely have a responsibility to conduct politics in an ethical way.” Zander agrees that regardless of the source of information, involvement will still shape the future and push more populations into making change, and is excited to vote this November. “As a white male, I feel that there's a social obligation for me to vote and to assert my opinion, to help bring change, which I see and want. And not voting would be a disservice to those who have not had such ability in the

past,” Zander said. “In addition, I want to have the ability to affect things. Although people can say, 'oh, it's just one vote,’ all of the votes add up, and the general population’s mindset makes a big difference.” Henry believes that although the way political discourse is currently held is saturated towards certain opinions, Gen Z can use their progressive stances to be able to hold healthy intergenerational political conversations in the future, thus improving the way in which politics operate in the United States. “In the future, our kids will likely be more progressive than us," Henry said. "All I hope is that Gen Z doesn't become what our forebears historically are, and that we don't slow down the progress at any point in time.”

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Owen Y-L Freepik

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

During the COVID-19 pandemic, schedules were constantly revised and fine-tuned as faculty found new ways to support students in a challenging time. “Being one hundred percent remote was astonishingly taxing,” Yeo said, “in terms of attention and focus in an uncongenial workplace—the home— along with great loneliness.” One prototyped solution was the “Flex” schedule, which designated Fridays as “flex days” dedicated to school-wide meetings, tutorials (oneon-one meetings with teachers), and, most importantly, encouraged students to take a much-needed break from screens. Despite these efforts to improve remote learning, according to Yeo, faculty observed students disproportionately falling behind in their homework “for many reasons that we’ve all experienced: loss of focus and motivation, and the fragmentation of our community.” These concerns led school administration to reevaluate their scheduling priorities as the school transitioned into a post-pandemic landscape. “We felt we had to help bring kids back to that level of pre-pandemic academic achievement,” Yeo said. “We needed a bit more face time in lessons.” Kevin Dineen, newly hired this fall as the Upper School Master Scheduling and Academic Data Coordinator, added that Nueva legally “has to hit a certain number of instructional days,” another challenge with flex days and WoWs. “Those expectations were relaxed during COVID due to the extreme circumstances,” Dineen said. “Now that we’re back in person, it wouldn’t be

plausible [to continue WoWs weekly] without extending the school year.” Ultimately, the school settled on replacing most of the WoWs with regular class time this year. For Yolanda Navarro Rajoy, this decision was good news. As an upper school Spanish teacher, Navarro Rajoy appreciates having “more contact hours with students;" any opportunity for students to reinforce their Spanish communication skills adds “remarkable value.” “There’s a lot I want to share with the students,” she said. “The more classes the better, for me.”

“We felt we had to help bring kids back to that level of pre-pandemic academic achievement. We needed a bit more face time in lessons.” At the same time, Navarro Rajoy, who co-led a leather crafts workshop with fellow Spanish teacher Francisco Becerra-Hernandez in October, appreciates the opportunities offered by WoWs. “I enjoy that we have some time to be creative and share different skill sets or passions,” she said. Noah S ’24 enjoys the WoWs as well but misses their frequency last year. For him, they were an opportunity to catch up on work and “take a break

from the strict regimen of education.” “I miss having the option to have a two-hour work period as a workshop,” Noah said. “Those helped me get through my week.” As co-lead of the Filipino affinity group, Noah’s free time is limited; he is worried that he will fall behind in the new schedule. Instead, Noah’s ideal system would consist of a four-day workweek, a proposition he admitted would be “very impractical.” “The two-day weekend is not enough time to recuperate and relax,” Noah said. “A three-day weekend every week would be awesome.” Beyond the student experience, Yeo expressed concerns that teachers currently have to plan together “in moments snatched outside the schedule,” which is “increasingly difficult as we grow.” In her idea of a perfect schedule, Yeo would build faculty development time into the school day. Unlike Yeo and Noah, Dineen didn’t have a particular utopia in mind. “It all comes down to what you want your schedule to do for you,” he said, highlighting the precarious but crucial balance between instructional time and other activities such as clubs and tutorial meetings. As the world settles back into a post-pandemic rhythm, Dineen acknowledges that there is no onesize-fits-all solution but hopes to reach an equilibrium that is sustainable and consistent in the long term. “There’s always a lot of give and take,” he said. “There is no such thing as a perfect schedule.”

What would you like to see in the schedule?

“Early dismissal or a late start some days. We proved during COVID that we can do with less school.” —Kaitlyn K ’24

“I wish we could have no school on Wednesdays, rather than weird schedules that are impossible to remember.” —Julia R ’26

“Update the class schedule on the Nueva homepage to match the Google Calendar.” —Kate K ’24

“It should be easier to take an off day. Also, 75-minute class blocks are too long. 60 minutes would be perfect for me.” —Ethan L ’25

Twists and turns: A brief history of Nueva’s schedules 2016-2017: Trial and error

2020-21: Time to “flex”

2022-2023: Back to basics

The developing upper school experimented with squeezing abbreviated, 40-minute blocks of all eight classes on Mondays, while the other days alternated with four classes each.

Amid a chaotic year of hybrid learning, “Flex Fridays” provided time for all-school meetings, one-on-one tutorials, and clubs. An all-new trimester model was piloted in the spring.

The majority of WoWs were replaced with regular class time. Wednesdays now alternate between A and B days, with lunchtime reserved for affinity spaces.

2017-20: Learn the ABCs

2021-22: “WoW” factor

Most closely resembling the current structure, Fridays alternated between A and B days. These helped to reduce the impact of four-day weeks due to holidays or professional development.

Wednesdays of Wonder, weekly two-hour community-led workshops, were introduced for the first year back in person. Titles ranged from “Jewelrymaking” to “Cuban Salsa Dancing.”

PAGE 12 THE NUEVA CURRENT

Reimagining the high school learning experience has also created a new kind of teaching role How Nueva’s reinvention of what it means to be a high school impacts teachers STORY ART

Aaron H. Anwen C.

“Sometimes people ask, ‘Oh, you’re a high school teacher, do you have to deal with discipline?’” Hurwitz said. “And I'm like, ‘No, not at Nueva. It's more like feeding the lions: you just kind of throw the raw meat out there and if you've got the right students and the right lesson, they're interested.’”

More than 80% of upper school faculty hold advanced degrees

According to Nueva’s website, the upper school “reinvents the high school experience.” When the high school was being designed, students and their families, along with teachers and staff, were invited to imagine what the ideal high school learning experience could look like. And in reimagining a new kind of high school—one that is based on the pillars of “inquirybased learning, collaboration, and self-discovery”—what teaching has traditionally looked like in a school has also been redefined. When Design With Impact teacher Morgan Snyder stepped onto campus for the first time last year, she was prepared for change, but she wasn’t prepared for how much. Coming from the perspective of a substitute teacher at an East Palo Alto public charter school—where the goal was to get “every kid through the curriculum”— Snyder was surprised with how true Nueva’s ethos of “students control their own learning” was. “In my classes, I use the phrase ‘choose your own adventure,’ so much,” Snyder said. “I’ll just present [projects] for students to do in my class and go, ‘This is a container for your own learning.’ And that's really different.” To many teachers, the “choose your own adventure” aspect of the school allows for a flexibility and curiosity not supported by rigidadherence to textbook curricula. It allows teachers the creativity to really design classes that meet the needs and interests of their students. History teacher Barry Treseler, who has been working in education for 35 years and spent the last eight years at Nueva, credits one student in the first graduating class for truly introducing him to Nueva’s interdisciplinary pedagogy. “I had a student who was 100 percent into science and really uninterested in [World] History, and I thought, ‘Oh my, how am I going to reach this kid?’”

Treseler said. “For them, it was all about chemistry.” In time, Treseler did get through to the student. His secret? An interdisciplinary research project where the student was allowed to recreate ancient Chinese fireworks. Motivated by their love for chemistry, the student quickly moved through the research phase of their project, learning “all about [ancient] China,” along the way. The student’s project culminated under a chemistry laboratory hood, where the class gathered around and watched a small-scale fireworks display using the same chemical reactions that the ancient Chinese used nearly two millennia ago. “Now, I haven't had too many people blowing things up on campus since then, but it really did teach me that trying to allow students the freedom to explore their own topic and their research process is really important,” Treseler said. “Maybe more important here than anywhere else.” So much of what makes Nueva special, according to students and teachers, is the lasting relationship between students and teachers. “[Nueva relies] on the fact that it’s a relationship-based school,” Snyder explained. “So, your ability as a student to drive your own education journey is largely determined by the type of relationship you have with your teachers.” Relationships with teachers are not only paramount for students, but they’re also of vital importance between teachers themselves. For Snyder, it was necessary to have mentors to guide; she credits her I-Lab team and other colleagues for providing that support. Snyder is not alone in needing mentorship to adjust to Nueva’s less traditional pedagogy; this is typical for many incoming teachers. In their first year, they might frequently seek support and assistance from their department’s “founding faculty” or long-time employees, who can have valuable knowledge of the institution and its culture. Founding faculty is a term referring to the staff present at the upper school’s inception in 2013 and who had a hand in developing aspects of the learning experience in the high school; physics teacher Mark Hurwitz is

one of few who remain. “Sometimes people ask, ‘Oh, you’re a high school teacher, do you have to deal with discipline?’” Hurwitz said. “And I'm like, ‘No, not at Nueva. It's more like feeding the lions: you just kind of throw the raw meat out there and if you've got the right students and the right lesson, they're interested.’” As a founding faculty member, Hurwitz has seen all stages of the high school’s development, but more importantly for him, he has seen where it can improve. “We don’t have department chairs,” Hurwitz noted. “We now have, and I think it’s a good thing, an Academic Council where every discipline—we're so reluctant to use the word ‘department’ that we call them ‘disciplines’—has one or more representatives. But that's still not quite the same role.” The difference between a department chair and the academic representatives, Hurwitz explained, is that a department chair is tasked with ensuring all of their department’s classes form one coherent whole. And if it happens here, Hurwitz jokes, “It happens much more organically.” Although joking, Hurwitz identified a common struggle within Nueva’s teaching staff: finding the right person for answers and for support. “Everybody who works at Nueva wears multiple hats,” associate math teacher Matthew Gil said. “So, sometimes it's hard to know who's wearing the hat you need.” When Gil first joined Nueva last fall through the Innovative Teacher Program (ITP), the school’s associate teachers program, he found it difficult to find the right person to answer his questions. For math curriculum or lesson plans questions he had his colleagues in the math department, but when it came to his unofficial “hats” in supporting admissions, or even proctoring the PSAT, finding the “right person” for “the right thing” could sometimes

be a s On upper was in 11 Eng upper divisi An of fin come to cre struct teach “M

11/04/2022 PAGE 13

“I really think the casual learning environment is conducive to a great classroom culture. There's always opportunities for students to ask their peers questions, but especially teachers.”

—JOSHUA R. ’24

“What makes Nueva really special to me is how much the teachers care about the students. I really appreciate my teachers for making the transition from public school math to private school math so smooth.”

—OLIVIA C. ’24

“Teachers care about the success of the students. For example, teachers actively meet with students during tutorials when they see a student is struggling.”

—SELIN K. ’24

struggle. ne source of support for Gil is the r school ITP lead Allen Frost, who nitially hired in 2015 to be a grade glish teacher but now is also the r school’s teacher mentor (each ion has a teacher mentor). nd according to Frost, the struggle nding the right person at Nueva es from the initial intention eate less formal hierarchical tures in order to “empower hers.” Most high schools will have a

“Nueva’s Upper School...is a reimagination of high school. In many ways more like a university than a traditional high school, Nueva offers broad-based interdisciplinary studies coupled with deep explorations into specific areas of interest.” —NU EVA’S U PPER S C H OO L PR O FI LE

history teacher, who reports to the history department chair, and then that person reports to the dean of faculty, who then reports to the Associate Head of School,” he said. “At the upper school, it is kind of just Liza [Raynal] and a bunch of teachers.” Frost explains that the “flat hierarchy” worked when the school was relatively young—allowing for teachers to take on as many unofficial hats as they wanted—but now that the school has expanded to 454 students and 77 faculty members, structures are needed. And Frost, with the help of Assistant Director of the Upper School Claire Yeo, Head of Upper School Liza Raynal, and Upper School Master Scheduler Kevin Dineen, have been working on solving this issue. And while the administration is working to solve this issue, Gil still ran into some complications—although most of which were unrelated to his associate teacher position. Two months into his job as an associate teacher, Gil learned that he was to do student admission interviews. Although he was happy to help, he felt unprepared and uncomfortable, being still so new to the school. “[Prospective] students would ask, ‘Oh, how long have you been at Nueva?’ and I’d go ‘Like, two months?’ It just seemed weird and I wasn't prepared for it; I had no idea that was going to happen.” But Gil also sees Nueva taking the right steps in the right directions, especially with the creation of the new rubric, or “nubric.” In an email on Oct. 19, Head of Upper School Liza Raynal announced the nubric: a pilot program by the Academic Council to “streamline” and create a “unified format” across “all disciplines” for the rubric. Not only was the change intended to help families understand their students’ progress come midterms or finals, but to lift the burden of rubric chaos off the teachers’ shoulders too. And according to Gil, this was the right way to go about change. “There's no way to approach [the nubric] theoretically and know what's going to work in practice,” he said. “With this, it has to be an iterative method of, ‘okay, let's slide it a little more this way. How does

that work? Okay, that was too much.’” Additionally, the idea of “too much” is a frequent feeling many teachers encounter, each having varying positions on the matter. “One challenge is that change is inevitable,” as biology teacher Paul Hauser put it. Hauser, who joined Nueva in 2019 as an experienced teacher who taught for six years as a graduate student at Berkeley and then at University High School in San Francisco, has encountered change every year since his arrival—not just within his classes’ curricula, but in who his colleagues are, too. “Change is really important for schools to grow and learn, but sometimes I wonder to what degree?” Hauser said. “The challenge for me is what's the right amount of change to make this place still feel innovative, creative, and very alive, but also not exhausting and depleting?’” According to a 2017 study by the American Psychological Association, 55 percent of people who say they experience organizational change at work reported feelings of chronic stress. And for Hauser, having a conversation about the frequent changes is “necessary.” “I would just like to talk openly with other faculty members about what we change for, why we do it, and on what timescale,” Hauser explained. “Do we make changes to make things better or just to say we’re staying ahead of the curve? And I don't think we talk about it nearly enough.” Hauser also described the crucial difference between “team support” (colleagues in helping the colleagues in their respective department) and “school support” (more specifically, administrative support) both being vital to a teacher’s success at the upper school. The lack of some structure and systems was meant to empower teachers with freedom and control over their own curriculum and

classes—which it does afford. However, balancing the tension between freedom and guidance continues to be a work in progress. Due to this, many disciplines rely heavily on team support. For example, Treseler describes the history department as “a powerhouse of a team,” for one key reason: trust. “We trust each other, we give each other a lot of latitude, and we also give each other a lot of support when we need it,” he said. “There's not a lot of ego in the room; there's a lot of help in the room.” And Hauser and Treseler concur that any solution begins at having a conversation between all faculty and staff. “We have these regularly scheduled faculty meetings. They're often very logistical. It's like, ‘What are we doing next week? What are we doing the week after a bit?’” Hauser said. “And I think the barrier is that we haven’t just made space for that meatier conversation. We need to put value [into] learning more from the perspective of the adult community here.”

PAGE 14 THE NUEVA CURRENT

FEATURES

The Terms and Conditions of Canvas

11/04/2022

STORY ILLUSTRATION

Josie B. Anwen C.

How can students prioritize academic integrity and communication when working online? It doesn't take much: the press of a button, a missing line at the bottom of a paper, or even a broken link can be enough to tip the scales of academic integrity. According to upper school assistant division head, Claire Yeo, monitoring academic integrity online typically involves two main issues: uncited sources and dead links. Dead links, she explained, are links that either don’t lead to the assignment they are submitted under or do lead to that assignment but are locked to outside viewers. “It appears like an easy way of buying them some time because students can just pop in a link—it might even be to a completely different piece of work—and say, ‘I'm so sorry, I put the wrong link’ or ‘Oh, I didn’t give you access, I’m so sorry’,” Yeo said. However, when it comes to academic integrity, seemingly minor offenses don't always lead to minor penalties. “I think some students are probably unaware of how serious it is,” said upper school English teacher Jonathan Quick. “The first incident of plagiarism, for example, requires a number of meetings. The second incident goes on your permanent academic record, which does affect future possibilities.” Yeo agreed, explaining that it's important to raise awareness of the severity of consequences beyond Nueva’s walls. "Students need to understand that we're a compassionate space, but when you go to college, that's one strike and a dropout,” Yeo said. At the same time, Liza Raynal, Upper School Division Head explains why the Nueva puts the emphasis on compassion when approaching academic integrity: those most affected by these incidents are students themselves. “The point of school is learning. Our hope here is that we're creating assignments that really allow for students to learn and stretch and change and grow,” Raynal said. “The person that students disadvantage when they don't do the work is themselves.” This raises the question: Why, given the gravity of academic integrity, do some students continue to neglect it online? At the upper school, the place to go for all matters related to assignment submissions and online discussions is Canvas, a course management system that was released in 2011 by the company Instructure. In addition to tracking progress and scheduling meetings,

the program provides students with one-stop access to assignments, announcements, and assessments. Upper school English teacher and teacher mentor Allen Frost explained how, despite Canvas’ many benefits, it does introduce a certain amount of complexity regarding what kinds of things are expected for each class's online submissions. “It's kind of a double-edged sword, because it gives us new tools and new ways to communicate with teachers and submit work,” Frost said. “However, it also introduces this kind of uncertainty, and some of these other complexities, into how students submit work.” Yeo explained that these complexities aren’t a new phenomenon. Academic integrity online is “historic,” having been an issue ever since students began using online platforms. “This is my seventh year here, and kids have been doing it ever since I set foot on this campus, Yeo said. “If we're asking for electronic submission, then these are the consequences.” However, Yeo explains that discussions around upholding integrity online may become a greater priority as students and teachers fully re-adjust to learning in person “I think as we sort of get used to having all four wheels on the ground post-COVID, consistency [around academic dishonesty] is really something we can work on and talk about as a faculty to help students,” Yeo said. Charlotte R. ‘25 said that from her experience with the complexities of online submission, a standardized set of guidelines online could be helpful. “[Canvas] does put a lot of trust in students, to have them do tests at home without external regulation, things like that. I feel like all students have good intentions, but you never know, right?” Charlotte said. “At a certain point, you kind of have to mandate certain things and lay down rules.” At the same time, there remains a conflict between wanting to standardize

certain aspects across disciplines to provide an easier way to communicate, and the unique individuality of each class at Nueva. “There’s always a balance between wanting to do something that really feels the most useful and beneficial for that teacher and that teacher’s students, and streamlining or standardizing things across the whole school,” Frost said. Communication between teachers and students can act as a bridge between both parties when cultivating an honest and collaborative relationship online. “Speak to your advisor, they're on your side, speak to the teacher, it's so important to keep the cmmunication open, because we can help and there's so many ways in which we can help,”Yeo said. So, if collaboration is key, how can students and teachers work together towards academic integrity online? Yeo recommends teachers stick with a more old-school approach. “If I were a teacher, now, I would ask that students upload a PDF, or,

being old school, I would ask that they print it out and hand it to me,” Yeo said. Frost uses a similar method in his class that allows him to annotate by hand in a way that is more comfortable for him and also cuts down on any complications through canvas. “I asked all of my students to print out their essays. It allows me to grade in a way that's easier for me and my students.” Frost said Students can also do their part in bringing the focus back towards academic integrity. “At the first twinge of desperation, that terrible feeling of being overwhelmed, reach out to somebody, even ask your friends for advice.” Yeo recommended.

Building a “culture of curiosity”

Long-time teachers reflect on the continuing evolution of Nueva culture STORY Sami K. The founding faculty, teachers who have been a part of the upper school since its debut in 2013, have a unique perspective to analyze the culture that now exists among the people that walk the halls. The original goal of the upper school was to reinvent high school, so there were many creative ideas that determined its foundations. “It was more visionary in the beginning because there weren’t rules,” George Jemott, a founding I-Lab teacher, said. “Although rules brought the consistency to build a cohesive culture of curiosity, it also depleted the freedom of not having structure, which was both fun and exhausting.” Despite a lack of structure as the upper school grew, there remained a clear prioritization of student-driven learning in the classroom and outside of it, which is a clear distinction from other schools. “The irony for learning is a lot lower here, and the level of genuine self expression is higher,” Jemott said. While students come and go every four years, the teachers who remain have had a front row seat to watching the culture shift with the evolving student body. “The students have more influence in the short term,” said upper school math teacher Jana Comstock, who joined 13 years ago. “But faculty can prune the atmosphere long term.” While there is a set curriculum for her classes, the interests of the students drive further depth and exploration in certain topics. For her own long term impact, Comstock hopes that she has helped cultivate a culture of learning that is filled with kindness, collaboration, and inclusivity, devoid of

competition and ranking. In all disciplines, students have constantly encouraged deep passion for learning through odd and different ways. The creativity and curiosity of students and faculty members alike prompted many developments in the early years. As prom season approached in the inaugural year of the upper school, community members debated if the event should be a traditional dance party or if students should wear fancy prom clothes to a non-prom venue such as a mini-golf course. Eventually it was decided that there would be a normal prom, but that was one pivotal moment where the classic narrative for high school could have deviated. “There’s a zaniness and a kookiness at school from the students,” Jemott said. Zoe Monosson, a new I-Lab shop manager who graduated from the Nueva middle school in 2008, agrees that the variety of interests from when she was a student is still very present. “I joke that I peaked in third grade: we had theater month, then I did math with Peter Kohler, an amazing silly mathematician, and we had a pet venus flytrap,” Monosson said. The “culture of curiosity” has grown in new ways throughout the years, influenced by the many students and faculty members making their mark on the community.While teachers can “prune” overtime, each year as a new senior class settles in there’s a new flavor added to the culture. “[The] senior class brings back a big part of the love of learning, and a safe space for geekery where we’re all kind of different, but we still chat with each other and respect each other’s vibes,” said Lee Holtzman, 9th grade dean. This year’s seniors will be the seventh graduating class, about 50 percent of the

class who went to the middle school, and is currently the class that missed the most amount of in person school during their time at the upper school. “One of the things that keeps culture alive is a continuity of people on campus having

“One of the things that keeps culture alive is a continuity of people on campus having similar experiences– like a senior to freshman bridge,” Holtzman said. similar experiences– like a senior to freshman bridge,” Holtzman said. Despite this, many faculty members are excited for what the class of 2023 may bring to the community. “The seniors don’t seem to be sick of each other as I see seniors making new friends with other seniors in a way that I don't normally see,” said Rob Zomber, 12th grade dean. During the grade retreat Comstock noticed an incredible kindness that seniors showed each other, crossing the extravert-introvert divide. In her classes, the seniors are inclusive to other grades.

“I hope it trickles down to the other grades and doesn’t just bounce next year,” Comstock said. As the culture and norms are bound to change in the future, faculty members have hopes for the future that creates more opportunities for students to explore freely. Rachel Dawson, upper and middle school art teacher, hopes that there will be more opportunities for students to get involved with creating art in the future. Art requirements are far and few between. For example, it’s possible for a student, who took one art class in middle school, to take their first art class in over five years as a junior or senior. Dawson remarks that she can see the difference of skill in students who attended the middle school in comparison to students who had more consistent art classes, but she hopes that with the future new facilities that there will be more enticing opportunities for students to take advantage of art sooner. “I would love to bring back mixed media, photography, and film video making classes in the future,” Dawson said. Beyond art and non strictly academic endeavors, there are other areas of growth for the rules that dictate the type of understanding that students draw from their classes. While there’s a zeal for learning, the awareness of grades is not lost on students or faculty. Holtzman hopes that one day there will be a grading system that awards learning while keeping the essential things that students should learn. The future is full of possibilities for students and faculty as the culture encourages quests of knowledge. “Some things haven’t changed, there’s still intense curiosity to explore,” Monosson said.

FEATURES

11/04/2022

THE NUEVA CURRENT PAGE 15

Art in an increasingly digital world As AI-generated art rises in popularity and accessibility, artists and AI-creaters grapple with its ethics STORY Isabella X. PHOTOS Bodie C. via Stable Diffusion & Jason M. Allen via Midjourney

What is art? Is it the years spent perfecting the stroke of a brush, or the anatomy studies used to refine the portrayal of the human face? Or is it the intention behind the work, to set out to spread a message? Recently, the question of the definition of art has been on the rise. With the emergence of accessible, artificial intelligence driven art-making platforms like Wombo, NightCafe, StarryAI, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, those with little to no artistic experience can create award-winning works, calling into question whether AI-generated art should be considered art. This September, creator Jason M. Allen won a $300 dollar prize from the Colorado State Fair’s annual art competition, a decision which erupted in controversy online, with one Twitter user calling it

"VIBRANT INTELLECT" AI-created art produced by Bodie Currier via Stable Diffusion.

“gross” and another claiming that the “death of artistry [was] unfolding right before [their] eyes.” The piece, Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, was generated using Midjourney, a prompt-based bot which runs within the instant messaging platform, Discord. Like Allen, Bodie C. ’24 was inspired by the rise of AI art, and harnessed its accessibility to create AI Club, where he mentors the club members in writing “detailed and delicate prompts” for the softwares. These “prompts” are strings of words or phrases that tailor the bots’ searches as they scour image databases for images tagged with the keywords. For example, Bodie will often add “trending on art station” so the bots can draw from trending art, heightening the product quality. However, according to Bodie, as AI becomes more sophisticated in the next few months, this “prompt engineering” likely won’t be needed. “Soon, making AI art will require no skill at all,” Bodie said. But without skill, can AI art still be considered art? Bodie has grappled with this question in AI Club and with his own work. He defines “art” simply as “something that is creative and intentional.” And while not all AI art is intentional—“I can say ‘a banana riding a motorcycle,’ and there’s little to no intention or skill behind that,” he said—according to Bodie, creating such prompts still requires creativity. “I consider AI-generated art to still be a real form of art, just a new kind that we haven’t fully explored yet,” Bodie said. But because Bodie’s definition of art is

THÉÂTRE D’OPÉRA SPATIAL Created by Jason M. Allen, the AI-generated piece sparked controversy online after winning a local art competition. In an interview for the New York Times, Allen maintained that because he submitted the work under the name "Jason M. Allen via Midjourney," he would not apologize for it and "didn't break any rules."

not universal, neither is his acceptance of AI art as “real art.” For Gigi S. ’23, co-lead of Art Club as well as a digital and traditional artist, to be considered “art,” a piece must be created with a human as the central actor. While she’s dabbled in AI art, Gigi ultimately decided that it felt “ingenious” due to the “computer being an actor upon the art.” “I think if I’d created the code myself, it would have felt fine, but since I wasn’t involved in the entire process, it felt like cheating,” Gigi said. Another criterion of Gigi’s definition of art was its capacity to evoke emotion. “Traditional art requires a certain level of intentionality to stir emotion— something that current AI art hasn’t been able to achieve,” Gigi added. If AI art continues to grow in popularity,

Making art out of found objects

Gigi believes that traditional artists will develop their own niches to highlight the emotional aspect of their pieces. Similarly, Bodie predicts that while there may be a change, traditional artists will still be required in the creation of high-quality AI art. For AI Club specifically, Bodie aims to reach out to artists to help “edit and refine” AI-generated pieces. Bodie also sees a world in the next few years where artists can upload their art to an AI model and receive commission when the software uses their art, allowing traditional artists to generate revenue even as AIs become more sophisticated. “Artists will always be required, just to a lesser degree,” Bodie said. “It’s absolutely valid for them to be enraged, but technology is still going to progress.”

STORY Ellie K. & Isabella X. PHOTOS Jes Muse

From metal detecting to making a podcast, upper school Facilities and Operations Manager Jes Muse has tread every artistic path

As the Facilities and Operations Manager, most of Jes Muse’s work at the upper school goes on behind the scenes. Muse, who goes by she/they pronouns, oversees all operations on the San Mateo campus—work that can include setting up a stage and stringing lights for the Coffeehouse, turning the WRC into a conference space, replacing the water refill station's filter so it gushes water instead of just trickling, and so much more. Off campus, Muse dedicates their hours to a lifelong passion unbeknownst to passersby in the upper school’s halls: they experiment with practically every art form one could imagine, ranging from drumming in a band to creating metal sculptures with materials they find buried under the sand. As a third generation artist, Muse’s life has centered around art for as long as they can remember. Growing up in New York as a child, the world was Muse’s artistic oyster. Trips to museums and shows with their grandma or having “free rein to any media” in their mom’s art supply store underpinned their childhood; this early immersion and exposure instilled in them a lifelong love of artistic expression.

Muse’s passion for art only strengthened with time; after attending the State University of New York at Purchase— combining liberal arts and sciences courses with visual performing arts—Muse found themself following many artistic paths. In addition to being surrounded by creative people, Muse attributes their varied artistic pursuits to their “I like this, I like this, I like this” mentality and being always willing to start a new project. “I have the typical ADHD where I have a lot of different interests,” Muse said. “One interest will be hyper focused on for a while, and then I’ll go back to something else.” In the past, Muse hosted a podcast to discuss embarrassing or awkward stories. When scheduling guests became a challenge, they changed course. These days, metal detecting has been on the forefront of Muse’s interests. They’ll spend their afternoon at the beach in hopes of finding a piece of metal to incorporate into their next artwork. A recent found object that has yet to be transformed into art is a hammer head. On past occasions, Muse’s hobby has even helped locate people’s lost rings.

However, except for interesting foreign coins and keys, the majority of Muse’s finds—bottle caps and beer/soda can pull tabs—are difficult to create with, and their objective for the afternoon transforms into cleaning up litter left on the beach. “It’s become a lot about actually cleaning up the beaches and the parks and getting the trash out of there that people leave behind,” they said. Muse does not let the lack of luck discourage them. When metal detecting is not successful, Muse buys materials from stores to maintain their productivity in the workshop. Another of Muse’s projects is creating a metal gate for their house, to replace its predecessor which is currently “rusting away to nothingness.” “All my little sculptures are kind of working up to that big gate I’ve had in my mind for a long time,” they shared, describing the many lessons they’ve learned about metal and glass cooling and heating temperatures in the process. “But it’s been a long time coming. I feel like I’m never going to finish the project. But I'm getting close.” With so many ideas and so little time, Muse finds themself frequently starting

A GLIMPSE INTO THEIR WORK Many of Muse's creations are sold online or featured in galleries (left to right: fireplace screen, "Thundercloud," "Tangled," and bottle rack)

projects and never finishing them. “I think about my projects and what I want to do all the time,” they said. “I don’t necessarily have the time to do them.” Muse finds themself prioritizing work and time with their partner over their art. Yet, beyond their busier schedule, Muse grapples with recovering from the pandemic’s isolation and subsequent lack of inspiration. “I haven’t been actually feeling very much like an artist lately because I haven’t really been doing much art,” they said. “It’s been a challenge to get back to producing a lot.” In the past, Muse has participated in several local art galleries and would be interested in reenergizing their passion and hosting a faculty exhibition at the upper school since faculty rarely get to show off their work, Muse said. Muse’s life has been filled with artistic exploration and experimentation. From working at the Ice Cream Museum in San Francisco to facilitating the Instagram presence of their two dogs, Freya and Magnus, Muse’s creativity knows no limits. Maybe one day, they will be found welding metals in the I-Lab.

OPINION

PAGE 16 THE NUEVA CURRENT

11/04/2022

ADVICE COLUMN

“SPECIAL” ISN'T A COMPLIMENT

STUDENT STANDOFF

PICKLEBALL IS THE NEW GOLF

We introduce the first-ever advice column: You submit the questions, we answer them.

Learn from Grace F. '23 why terms like "special" and "gifted" are counterproductive to conversations about disabilities.

Aaron H. '24 and Samara B. '24 take two different stances on take-home tests.

Guest writer Isabella Y. '23 opines that pickleball is the new favorite for people in business, replacing 18 holes on a golf course.