Tiger Newspaper February 2022

Empowering students to think critically and creatively since 1913

VOLUME 108 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 17, 2022

IN THE NEWS

SOUTH PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL 1401 FREMONT AVE, SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030

TEEN DATING VIOLENCE

POWERPUFF GAME

GRAD NITE TICKETS

The Woman’s Club will host a teen dating violence webinar on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.

Seniors and juniors will face off in the annual Powerpuff game on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.

The PTSA is selling tickets for senior Grad Nite on their website until Friday, March 18.

ACTIVISTS DEMAND FREE SUMMER SCHOOL

STORY ELSIE WATERS ILLUSTRATION PENNY ABOUD

Following the release of the report, SPUSD issued a statement addressing Care First’s and other community members’ concerns.

Local activist group Care First and community members John Srebalus, Ella Hushagen, and Helen Tran, released a report calling for SPEF summer school to be free due to data showing racial discrepancies in enrollment for Latinx students. The report requests that

by Summer 2022, the district provide free courses to all students who receive free or reduced-price lunch, without requiring further proof of income.

“The District understands the concerns and regularly reviews student data to ensure that administrators and educators are cognizant of alleviating racial and ethnic disparities,” the statement said. “Specific student achievement data presented at the SPUSD December board meeting [Item 4.03 School Plans for Student Achievement] details how educators are ensuring student needs are being met during the school year and in the summer.”

By Summer 2023, the report asks that the district offer tuition-free recovery courses to all students, and assess how they are meeting the academic needs of Latinx students, who are more likely to come from lower-income families and be unable to afford the cost of tuition. By Summer 2024, the report recommends the district provides tuition-free summer courses for all SPHS students.

SPEF and SPUSD maintain their belief that no corrective action is necessary for the issue.

While SPEF acknowledged that Care First is trying to help students, they believe that their wishes are unrealistic, arguing that the revenue from summer school is essential funding for SPUSD schools.

In its current state, SPEF running the program allows students to be charged for summer school classes, whereas if SPUSD were to operate the program, the law would prohibit requiring tuition. Srebalus, Hushagen, Tran, and Care First believe that the tuition-based summer school model used contributes to racial and ethnic disparities among students of color. Throughout 2021, the group collected student transcript data to test this hypothesis. Their findings revealed racial and ethnic disparities in SPEF summer school enrollment trends, which pushed them to release their report.

They found that Latinx students are underrepresented in the $540 advanced courses, but overrepresented in credit recovery courses, which are usually priced at $180, but were offered free of charge by SPEF in 2021 using a state grant to subsidize the program.

In its released response to the report, SPEF stated that over the years, they have restored educational opportunities that for financial reasons, the district would be unable to offer without the non-profit’s help. “[The authors of the report] believe that SPEF runs summer school through the district,” Executive Director of SPEF Stacey Petersen said. “That’s not true, because the district has stated outright, that if SPEF didn’t run summer school, they wouldn’t run summer school either.”

SPEF will continue to provide tuition-based summer school in the absence of state funding that would allow the program to be free. The authors of the report hope to raise awareness on the issue and work towards cementing concrete change that diminishes the racial disparities within SPEF’s program.

PERSONALITYDRIVEN NEWS

FATPHOBIA IN ITS MANY FORMS

CELEBRATING LUNAR NEW YEAR

As more artists continue to boycott Spotify in response to “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Tiger examines the circumstances that have led up to the oversaturation of subjective news media.

Simultaneously farreaching and intensely personal, fatphobia is inescapable in society, infiltrating the realms of sports, the arts, P.E., and health care.

Tiger staff venture into Chinatown on the sixth day of Lunar New Year to observe how the annual celebration has transformed over the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

Page 6

Pages 8 & 9

Page 13

TIGERNEWSPAPER.COM

2

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

NEWS

AP Government seniors begin Civic Action Project STORY KAHLEN MIAO PHOTOS SOPHIE YEUNG

T

he Advanced Placement (AP) United States Government and Politics classes began working on the Civic Action Project (CAP) in early February.

This is the first year that the course is participating in this project, and alongside preparing for the AP exam, students will work on their project until the end of the year.

The CAP is a learning program created by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, a non-profit that aims to teach students how to apply the concepts they learn in class to enact change in the real world. The Foundation provides a framework for the project, but the majority of it is completely student-led and dictated. Through the project, students identify an issue they want to address and connect it to a public policy where they then can take civic action.

Students began the project by working in groups to discuss and research issues that they find prevalent in their communities. Narrowing down their subject choices, they will find a public policy that applies to their research. Projects range from tackling sidewalk safety in South Pasadena to homelessness in Los Angeles, and can lead to actions such as talking to the school board or writing a letter to a government worker.

APPLYING IN-CLASS CONCEPTS TO REAL WORLD ISSUES is an essential aspect of the AP Government classes’ Civic Action Projects.

Nielsen said. “I’m excited to do something where the students can make that connection and really take what we’ve been using and put it into practice and see how far they can take that and learn the habits and actions of what it means to be an effective citizen.”

In preparation for the CAP’s first year at SPHS, Nielsen attended training sessions hosted by the Constitutional Rights Foundation to learn how to best support students through the project. With the support of administration and resources provided by the non-profit, Nielsen is prepared to guide her students through a project she hopes will teach them how to address real-world issues in the future.

“I think it’s important that we know how to engage to bring about change constructively and productively in a positive way,” Nielsen said. “We live in a democracy and in a very complex country with a lot of great stuff and also a lot of deep problems.”

For the CAP, students can take civic action by making public comments at city council meetings, volunteering, and protesting, among other things. At the end of the school year, students will present the issue they identified and how they addressed it, among other things. Nielsen expressed that students have been motivated in their research for the project in its beginning stages.

AP Government teacher Maryann Nielsen learned about the CAP several years ago and planned to bring the CAP to SPHS last year, but was unable to do so because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“So far not one student has asked me how they’re going to be graded,” Nielsen said. “They’re not thinking about the grade; they’re more excited thinking about what they might do and how they want to create their project.”

“We learn a lot about a citizen’s role in society and policies and actions that people can take but it is always kind of theoretical when we talk about it in the classroom,”

Students will continue to work on the CAP in groups throughout the semester, and will finalize their projects after the AP exam in May.

New broadcast journalism classes added to SPHS course list STORY RALUCA TUDUSCIUC PHOTO COURTSEY OF DANIELLE LOO Four new broadcast journalism courses will replace the long-running SPHS woodshop class beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. The classes — Beginning Single Camera Production, Audio Production, TV Studio Production, and Radio Production — will be offered to all SPHS students as semester-long courses.

These classes will all be available to students through SPHS’s Dual Enrollment program with Pasadena City College (PCC), which has been running since the 20192020 school year. A student participating in the Dual Enrollment program earns both high school and college credits for the same course. These classes will be the first dual enrollment courses offered during the school day, as opposed to Sociology or Kinesiology which take place after school hours.

“We thought it was a good idea to have the dual enrollment where you get the college credit as well as the high school credit,” Assistant Principal of Curriculum, Instruction and Guidance Janet Wichman said. “Students are actually getting 20 credits for one class instead of 10.”

Beginning Single Camera Production focuses on different film techniques regarding operation, production, direction, and editing. As the name implies, the course only covers the uses of a single camera, as opposed to an ensemble. In addition, the class will discuss theory and various approaches to portable lighting, aesthetics, and content development.

SPHS students are also offered Beginning Audio Production exclusively in the fall semester. While Beginning Single Camera Production briefly touches on audio recording, this class will center entirely around sound. Students will have the opportunity to strengthen their technical skills in using a microphone and other forms of digital recording equipment. The skills learned

NEWS SNAPSHOT

2022 Senior Grad Nite The SPHS Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) began selling tickets for the annual senior Grad Nite at Disneyland’s California Adventure Park on Wednesday, Feb. 16. The event will take place on Saturday, June 4, and tickets will be available until Friday, March 18.

The pandemic forced the PTSA to put Grad Nite on hold for the class of 2020 and modify it for the class of 2021, but this year, it will return to its traditional format.

“The PTSA is so happy to offer this California Adventure Grad Nite trip again for our Seniors,” SPHS PTSA Grad

PREPARING FOR A FUTURE CAREER IN MEDIA, SPHS students enrolled in the new broadcast journalism courses will learn the basics of film and radio production. in this class can be applied to future careers in television, radio, and film, among others.

Following Beginning Audio Production, Beginning TV Studio Production places heavy emphasis on the operation of multiple cameras in a studio, while also touching on topics like theory and terminology. Students will also learn about real-time video production and how to operate audio and video equipment. Beginning TV Studio Production has the most laboratory time, with a total of 76 hours.

Production. The class will focus on applying different techniques of audio and video production to radio. A student enrolled in this course will improve their skills in announcing and writing for a broadcast. Beginning Radio Production will give students a rudimentary understanding of equipment used in both live and prerecorded broadcasts.

Beginning Radio Production will be offered only in the spring semester, similar to Beginning TV Studio

The new classes will serve as a continuation of the broadcast journalism course currently offered at SPMS. The class, taught by Danielle Loo, has been running since the 2016-2017 school year. In Loo’s classes, students learn the basics of broadcast journalism. Professors for the new courses have not yet been selected.

Nite Chair Jim Dowd said. “The last SPHS Grad Nite trip to Disney was in 2019. It has been a tough two years for these seniors with lots of canceled events due to COVID-19, so we’re excited to make it happen in 2022.”

be given the opportunity to attend the Disneyland Grad Nite Private Party Experience. In addition, photos with Disney characters in graduation gear will be provided to participating seniors.

While Grad Nite typically occurs on the night of graduation, the SPHS PTSA scheduled the festivities two days after graduation because Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollowood did not offer Grad Nites on SPHS’s graduation day: Thursday, June 2.

Seniors are offered three ticket options. The first is allday access to the main Disneyland theme park, which costs $119. The second option costs $179 and admits seniors to after-hour parties at both Disneyland and California Adventure. The Private Party Experience is another add-on that can be combined with either of the two ticket options for an additional $89. Transportation is included with all ticket options.

Grad Nite will take place from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Seniors participating in the event will leave campus on a bus at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night and will return around 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. While there, students will have unrestricted access to the theme park and will

Tickets for Grad Nite are available to seniors via PayPal at sphsptsa.net.

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

NEWS

3 3

PCC Dual Enrollment enriches education In classes like Sociology and Psychology, students gain experience in subjects they plan on majoring in.

STORY CHARLOTTE DEKLE & BENJAMIN REGAN PHOTO SARAH LEE

S

PHS students regularly take advantage of Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Dual Enrollment program, which SPHS started offering in the 2019-2020 school year. The Dual Enrollment program exists to provide high school students the chance to earn college credits and explore subjects not offered at SPHS that they are interested in. For others, it is a resource to complete all classes required to graduate, as they may not have enough room in their schedule.

“I take Precalculus Trigonometry at PCC because I needed just five more credits to graduate and this was the only way to get that amount of credits in that time,” senior Ellie Lupien said. “It’s fast-paced, like a college course, which is part of the reason I’m taking it. I’m going to be taking a full schedule of classes like this when I go to college, so it’s preparing me for that.”

PCC offers courses at seven school districts in the Los Angeles area. The South Pasadena branch previously operated under the Concurrent Enrollment Plan, in which PCC students would attend classes at the high school.

“About 15 years ago, we had some classes on campus that were concurrent enrollment. So there were students from PCC as well as our students, but they were on our campus, and so we thought it would be a great thing to start again,” SPHS Assistant Principal of Curriculum, Instruction, and Guidance Janet Wichman said. “But this time they had a new program, Dual Enrollment where it's only our students on campus with PCC teachers.”

Last semester, PCC offered Speech and Psychology to all students as an after-school course. Although open to all grade levels, the majority of participants in the latter class were upperclassmen: nine juniors and 10 seniors attended the Psychology class. On the other hand, the Speech course offered was mainly taken by freshmen, with 24 attendees in total.

This semester, Sociology and Kinesiology are open to students. The grade breakdown for Sociology is highly concentrated among sophomores, with 15 of the 33 total Sociology students being in tenth grade. The Kinesiology course, while still containing a higher percentage of sophomores, has a more balanced age range of students.

STUDENTS CAN EARN COLLEGE CREDIT IN HIGH SCHOOL through PCC's dual enrollment courses including Sociology, Psychology, Kinesiology, and Precalculus Trigonometry.

The Sociology class involves students learning about diverse aspects of society by studying different conjectures and perspectives. Racial, cultural, and gender dynamics are also explored.

In both courses, participants were drawn to the classes based on prior interest. The Psychology class helps students who intend on majoring in Psychology get a headstart in the subject.

“Currently I take Sociology and I took Psychology last semester,” senior Alison Jensen said. “I’m majoring in Psychology and the first dual enrollment class was introduction to Psychology so I thought I could get ahead on my major.”

In the Kinesiology pathway, students enhance their knowledge of human body movement, which coincides with high school class offerings.

“In general, I liked the [high school] BioMed class and Kinesiology is the study of the human body movement so

I thought it would work well with BioMed,” sophomore Zachary Phillips said.

Most of the Dual Enrollment classes take place after school on the SPHS campus, where PCC professors come to teach. The Kinesiology course meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Sociology course takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Precalculus Trigonometry takes place at the PCC campus on Tuesdays on Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“I love the [Kinesiology] course. [I like how we learn] how we apply critical thinking and analyze things,” sophomore Krish Patel said.

The Kinesiology, Sociology, and Precalculus Trigonometry courses will continue until the end of the semester. Next year, PCC will offer new dual enrollment broadcast journalism courses to SPHS students. Students can sign up for these new classes via an email sent out by administration in December 2021.

4

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

NEWS

Analyzing California Legislation Tiger’s legislative analysis dives into two new laws that recently went into effect and one proposed bill in California, covering menstrual products in schools, school shootings, and an ethnic studies course requirement. This spread examines each law’s background and language, as well as their potential impact on students in the near future.

STORY LEXIE DOIG & ANAYAH MEHDI

PAGE DESIGN ALLISON LEE & MARTIN WALSH

ILLUSTRATION ALLISON LEE & MARTIN WALSH

Mandating menstrual products in low-income schools The Menstrual Equity for All Act, which requires lowincome public middle and high schools to stock all women’s restrooms and at least one men’s restroom with an “adequate supply” of free menstrual products before the start of the 2022–2023 school year, took effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

SPHS is not required to adhere to the new law because it is not classified as a low-income school. However, SPHS administration has expressed support for student initiatives like the .GEN (Period Generation) club, which aims to increase access to free menstrual products for students.

California Assemblymember Cristina Garcia first introduced the bill in the state assembly in February 2021.

The law aims to combat menstrual poverty and provide access to menstruation products for all Californians.

Formed in 2020, the .GEN club highlights the importance of period education and provides resources to make students with periods more comfortable on campus. Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, the club began regularly stocking the women’s restrooms at SPHS with free menstrual products.

“When we introduced the bill it included all publiclyowned buildings, so it included things like state capitals, any government buildings, parks,” Garcia said in an interview with nonprofit Days for Girls. “It’s been narrowed down to just educational settings now, which is still great. But I would like to see menstrual products in all bathrooms everywhere. Just like we see toilet paper.”

“We hold drives to provide products in school bathrooms in stations that we made,” senior and vice president of .GEN Deanna Lau said. “We have informational meetings so more students can be informed about menstruation and increasing conversation on campus with the goal of eliminating the stigma.”

The .GEN club expressed excitement regarding the new law and hopes that it will make high school campuses more welcoming to period education.

“We have started a youth committee, comprising of five of our six officers, two teachers, and [Assistant Principal of of Curriculum, Instruction and Guidance Janet] Wichman to provide research into menstrual product dispensers and bulk suppliers to start the process of school-funded menstrual products in campus restrooms,” senior and treasurer and secretary of .GEN Isabella Alfonso said. “School-funded menstrual products are a necessity, and this is a standard our club is founded upon. It is incredibly important that menstruators are supported on campus as we comprise over half of the school’s population. We are hopeful for the future and look forward to continuing to work with administration to foster a healthier community for everyone.”

Preventing school shootings Senate Bill 906, introduced by State Senator Anthony Portantino in early February of this year, would require parents or guardians of students in California to disclose to school districts information on any firearms at home, including ownership, storage, and accessibility, if passed. Furthermore, the new law allows school officials to search students’ personal property in the event of a credible violent threat.

Portantino cited previous violent incidents in which school administrators failed to properly handle red flags as reasons for his authorship of the bill. One such example is the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan, where four students were killed. The shooter, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, used a gun gifted to him by his parents to shoot his peers, hours after a meeting with school officials regarding concerns over his erratic behavior and violent drawings. His belongings were not searched, and after his parents refused to take him home, Crumbley was allowed to return to class.

“In many cases of school shootings there were warning signs,” Portantino said in a recent statement about the bill. “It is my hope to take the politics and hesitancy out of the equation and give school districts the mandate they need to investigate and act on discernable threats.”

SPHS would be included in the schools required to collect information on firearms from parents in accordance with the proposed bill.

Senior Hannah Staudenmaier strongly agreed with some sections of the bill, but raised concerns over its intrusion on student privacy.

“It’s a complete invasion of privacy to search [students’] things,” Staudenmaier said. “We should be focusing on mental health resources and bullying prevention to prevent school shootings in the first place.”

The future of SB 906 is uncertain. If passed, California politicians would next determine when the bill would take effect and how it would be enforced.

Implementing ethnic studies courses California Assemblymember Joe Medina introduced Assembly Bill 101, requiring all California public high school students to take a semesterlong ethnic studies course to graduate, into the legislature in December 2020. The bill went into effect at the beginning of this year and amends the existing A-G requirements in place in California. By the 2029-2030 school year, all high schools must implement an approved ethnic studies course.

Bill authors believe that ethnic studies curriculum must accurately reflect the culture, history, and experiences of Californians.

“Ethnic studies promotes respect and understanding among races, supports student success, and teaches critical thinking skills,” Medina said in an article on his website. “It is vital for young people to learn about their history, and equally important for them to feel like they can contribute to their communities in positive ways.”

Currently, there is no set ethnic studies course at SPHS. However in the 20182019 school year, SPHS began offering a multicultural English class to freshmen. Originally optional, the now mandatory class focuses on incorporating the works of diverse authors into its curriculum. One of the class’s teachers, Rama Kadri, believes the new ethnic studies course mandate is a step in the right direction to representing California’s diversity in education.

“It’s important for curriculum to reflect students’ experiences and backgrounds. I am grateful that the state has encouraged us to take this progressive step forward,” Kadri said.

While it is still unclear whether or not the multicultural English class will fulfill the new requirements, SPHS Principal John Eldred believes it is an important addition.

“The perspective of most history books is perspectives of white male [w]aging wars [so it is] nice to get different perspectives in front of kids,” Eldred said. “Diversity is important for all students to be learning about.”

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

THEESTABLISHED TIGER 1913 CSPA SILVER CROWN 2021 CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2019 CSPA SILVER CROWN 2018 CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2017 CSPA CROWN AWARD 2016 CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2015 CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2014 CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2013 CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2011

5

OPINION

STAFF EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NOAH KUHN MANAGING EDITORS QUINN MANZO, Print AMBER CHEN, Online NEWS SOFIA ALVA, Editor ANAYAH MEHDI, Associate OPINION SAM GROTENSTEIN, Editor HANNA BAE, Associate FEATURE GEORGIA PARSONS, Editor CHARLOTTE DEKLE, Associate SPORTS ZOE SCHLAAK, Editor BENJAMIN REGAN, Associate MICHAEL MAYEMURA, Associate DESIGN CHARLOTTE COHEN, Editor TERRY SONG, Editor MARTIN WALSH, Associate ALLISON LEE, Associate PHOTOGRAPHY SOPHIE YEUNG, Editor MICHELLE SHADMON, Associate COPY ELLIE CAMPBELL, Editor CLOE MAURER, Editor STAFF WRITERS LEXIE DOIG KAHLEN MIAO RALUCA TUDUSCIUC ALISON WANG ELSIE WATERS SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER SARAH LEE PHOTOGRAPHERS ERIN LEE SAMANTHA SHIROISHI ILLUSTRATORS ISOLE KIM ETHAN LYONS GRAPHIC DESIGNER PENNY ABOUD BUSINESS AND ADS MANAGER ANIKA EBBERT WEBMASTER LILIAN ZHU FACULTY ADVISOR KAREN HAMES VOL. 108 NO. 5 DISTRIBUTED ON FEBRUARY 17, 2022

The spectrum of queerbaiting

Mischaracterizing all relationships as queerbaiting devalues representation.

T

he television show, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier showcases its two protagonists, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, rolling down a hill chest-to-chest. Previously, these two superhumans engaged in playful banter and couples therapy.

This kind of promise of a same-sex pairing with no execution is prevalent throughout media, however, the mischaracterization of some of these false relationships as queerbaiting trivializes attempts at representation and results in problematic realworld arrangements.

Relating to the previous example, in any heterosexual pairing, these moments (e.g. couples therapy) are an obvious buildup to a romance. But in the end, Bucky and Sam are established as no more than friends.

Queerbaiting is the act of gaslighting an audience with the promise of queer representation, but never fulfilling the promise. Numerous examples have cropped up over the past decade, including Stiles and Derek from the series Teen Wolf.

In Teen Wolf, the actors portraying the pairing appeared in promotional material cuddling and muttering the portmanteau ‘ship’ name in an attempt to campaign for an award. These two examples of using the possibility of relationships as a marketing ploy commodifies queer romance.

The other side of the term “queerbaiting” is fan service. These audience-driven ships are not necessarily queerbaiting. For example, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from BBC’s adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes tales have garnered accusations of queerbaiting by having in-show inquiries about the sexuality of its characters. However, acknowledging chemistry between characters is not inherently queerbaiting.

Watson and Sherlock have a sparky rapport and the running gag in the series is that civilians assume that Holmes and Watson

are a couple. While the series may queerbait, the accusation of characters themselves queerbaiting ignores the fact that Sherlock Holmes is an asexual and aromantic character, so pairing him up with Watson is asexual erasure. It is important to note that even if a character is subtextually depicted as queer, that does not mean that a same-sex relationship is being foreshadowed for that character.

Additionally, queer coding and queerbaiting should not be conflated. Queercoding is the subtextual reading of characters as queer, whether or not it comes to fruitition. The most popular modern examples of queercoding are within animated properties, mainly Disney.

Elsa’s character from Frozen contains prevalent queer undertones, mostly in the themes it addresses. For Elsa, ‘let it go’ can be decoded as unshackling yourself from the rigid confines of heteronormativity.

This bleeds into real-world celebrities and their relationships with their sexualities. Billie Eilish was recently accused of queerbaiting when the music video to her song “Lost Cause” was released. The video showcases Eilish frolicking around and being intimate with scantily-clad women after the end of a relationship. Eilish posted outtakes from this video with the caption “I like girls.” People interpreted this post as Eilish coming out and were angered by the fact that it was not. The fact is that celebrities do not owe fans any aspects of their private lives, especially not their sexualities.

Discussions of queerbaiting with fictional characters are vastly different than those of real people, but the quick confirmation of any same-sex relationships as “queerbaiting” ignores legitimate cases of queerbaiting and misleading representation. Not all relationships between two people are inherently romantic, whether heterosexual or not, no matter the sparky rapport or playfulling rolling down hills.

DISTRIBUTION: 1200 STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY; 1200 COPIES PRINTED. DISTRIBUTED BY TIGER STAFF FREE OF CHARGE.

Boos & Bravos

TIGER IS PRODUCED BY THE TIGER NEWSPAPER CLASS AT SOUTH PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL, 1401 FREMONT AVE, SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030.

SIGNED ARTICLES APPEARING IN TIGER REPRESENT THE WRITERS’ OPINIONS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE STAFF, STUDENT BODY, FACULTY, OR ADMINISTRATION OF SPHS. CONTACT TIGER’S BUSINESS & ADS MANAGER, ANIKA EBBERT, AT MSEBBERT@ICLOUD.COM FOR ADVERTISING RATES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS. TIGER WELCOMES ARTICLES, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AND OP-EDS FOR PUBLICATION IN THE PRINT AND ONLINE EDITIONS. ALL LETTERS MUST BE SIGNED AND VERIFIABLE, BUT NAMES WILL BE WITHHELD UPON REQUEST. INFORMATION ON HOW TO SUBMIT CONTENT TO TIGER IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT TIGERNEWSPAPER.COM TIGER’S MISSION IS TO PROVIDE A RELIABLE NEWS OUTLET FOR SPHS AND THE LOCAL SOUTH PASADENA COMMUNITY. THROUGH A DIVERSE ARRAY OF COVERAGE, TIGER EMPOWERS STUDENTS TO THINK CRITICALLY AND CREATIVELY, COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY, SOLVE PROBLEMS, SET AND REACH GOALS, AND WORK COOPERATIVELY AND INDEPENDENTLY AS RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS. TIGER IS A FORUM FOR STUDENT FREE SPEECH, IN ACCORDANCE WITH CALIFORNIA ED CODE 48907.

ALL REMAINING CURRENT TIGER NEWSPAPER POLICIES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT TIGERNEWSPAPER.COM, INCLUDING THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST, CORRECTIONS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA.

Tiger’s cheers and jeers for the month of February BOOS

BRAVOS

BOO to Madea Valentine’s Day. Can’t wait to watch the Madea President’s day parade on Starz.

BRAVO to the dog groomer I met on Kik. Just got groomed! (ru-roh!)

BOO to Wordle. Cring.

BRAVO to U2. Best Christian rock band!

BOO to admin for locking all of the bathrooms on campus. I SHALL PEE!

BRAVO to the stork. Keep them babies coming (a bit smaller please and thank you).

BOO to Pete Davidson. This publication has not been hacked (2/17/22).

BRAVO to scatting. Skidelybobbeepboop sheebadopbapboopsheebadee.

BOO to Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is your second warning, I swear to God.

BRAVO to a Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. I can smell numbers, I swear!

BOO to the new anti-vaping posters on campus. No one knew cigarettes could kill you either — until they did.

BRAVO to senior friend groups hanging by a thread.

The year is almost over!

6

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

OPINION

Buying your own stairway to Heaven Monetary reccomendations of mainstream religous institutions do not align with the principles of honesty, liberation, and modesty that they claim to be founded on.

it became evident very quickly that I did not belong. The other girls in the group had gone to church before they could walk, their parents were very involved in church services, and many went to the same school. I, on the other hand, joined the church when I was in third grade, did not participate in Awana Club, a separate bible study program, and did not have much interest in proving my material connection to the church. Each week I felt isolated and ostracized for not outwardly expressing my undying love for God and the gospel to my peers in material offerings or competing as to how much time I was spending at church. Jesus’s gospel is centered around freedom and equity, and fosters a commitment to equality and social justice. The Bible outlines the numerous times Jesus fought for the poor, the guilty, and the disabled. It was His whole “thing.”

STORY HANNA BAE ILLUSTRATION TERRY SONG

I

was raised pretty religiously. I went to church at 10 a.m. every Sunday, volunteered on the praise team in which I would lead worship songs, and traveled to biblical retreats, among other things.

I always asked my mom for a $5 bill to give for offering each week that I would put into the pocket of my sling bag, along with my VeggieTales Bible. I was giving all that I had in the name of the Lord. I started to forget to ask, and dug up two $1 bills at the bottom of my bag. Then, I started to ask my parents for $1 while getting out of the car. At a certain point, I forgot to bring cash all together.

This seemed to pose an issue for many of my peers. If I did not put in a $5 bill, I was suddenly a “bad Christian,” and no longer had a right to express my belief in God.

These experiences are representative of how churchgoers are judged and ridiculed by their peers in a place of worship. Other churchgoers decide who is a “good” and “bad” Christian shallowly based on the outer shell that they convey to others. Churches take pride in the righteous principles they are founded from yet the toxicity seen in church communities directly contradicts the liberation and justice preached in the gospel.

As I grew older and truly familiarized myself more with the church community, I developed a detrimental connection between faith and material spendings to prove my devotion to God to my peers. Nevertheless, I began to explore the wider range of activities and opportunities that were offered at my church. I went to Winter Retreat, volunteered at Fam Jam — a celebration on the day of Halloween — and did what I could to try to get closer to the girls in my Bible study group. However,

It seems that these small scale experiences are reflective of trends seen in personal greed seen among church owners and church communities. As tax exemption for churches becomes a rising issue, it has been identified that mega churches preach that people should be giving large offerings and donating in the name of the Lord.

Sermons preach that it’s valuable to give offerings, or sometimes known as tithe, to the church.

Church communities and pastors, who do everything in the name of God, follow texts that preach “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthews 7: 1-3 NIV). Only small parts of the gospel are picked to be believed and followed, and others disregarded or undermined. If certain values are preached at church, one would imagine that there would be at least an effort to follow it in daily life.

The false promise of personality-driven news STORY ELSIE WATERS ILLUSTRATION ETHAN LYONS The controversy surrounding Joe Rogan’s coronavirus rhetoric emphasizes a growing issue in our social media-focused, influencer-led world. For many users of social media, influencers have become a main outlet for scientific and political news, opening the door to misinformation that fans are especially likely to believe. While Rogan’s misleading comments should be criticized, especially given his immense audience, this issue speaks to the broader role that social media plays in informing the public, and points to a larger trend in news that prioritizes entertainment value over journalistic integrity.

Spotify has paid Rogan $100 million for his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, to stream exclusively on its platform; It is one of the most popular shows available on the app. Recently, Rogan has recieved backlash for featuring Dr. Robert Mahone, a physician infamous for spreading misinformation relating to the coronavirus, on his podcast. In the episode, Mahone spewed false and baseless beliefs about the coronavirus. However, this controversy calls attention to another predicament: When did influencers become a legitimized source of scientific and political news? Above all else, Rogan is an entertainer. He specializes in comedy, not medicine. He is simply not qualified to provide scientific or medical advice. Still, fans are looking to him and his platform to provide such information.

While influencers should feel free to share their views, fans should be able to filter what they say through the lens of entertainment, and not news. While Americans once turned to journalists held to a rigorous standard for reporting for their news and information, the rise of cable news conditioned them to digest news in the form of entertainment. Further fragmentation has occurred with the advent of social media platforms like Twitter, which leaves little room for nuance or detailed reporting and rewards inflammatory and attentiongrabbing opinions.

As news sites become more fragmented, consumers now select the news that reinforces their worldview, rather than turning to the news to inform their worldview. This is the petri dish in which Rogan has emerged, where clearthinking journalism has been replaced by inflammatory, polarizing ideas that either energize a base or provoke the opposition. This is what ultimately drives ratings and clicks.

Individuals now face immense discomfort consuming any media that even slightly contradicts their own beliefs, and “clickbait” and ratings-obsessed media conglomerates target those same individuals to create an echo chamber of one-sided “debate.” As a result, journalists who do the most incisive research are abandoned for the ones best at drawing ire and creating controversy. This decline in objective journalism has created a void filled by fringe news sites and a growing legion of entertainers acting as experts. Their celebrity status does not qualify them

Quinnie’s Opinnies

misogynistic remarks made by women. Why insult themselves and their loved ones simply for the sake of gaining white male validation?

QUINN MANZO

Validation from white men is worthless. And yet, the place they have been guaranteed in this country and the social conditioning they have adopted since they were children that solidifies their position of power make us believe there is value in their approval. It requires assimilation; it requires trying to omit all of your differences and ignoring all of the systemic and societal issues that differ your lives. No matter how many jokes you make, no matter how many backwards policies you publicly advocate for, the white man will never, ever see you as one of them.

Guilty of identity theft Enduring racist remarks as a Japanese and Mexican -American gradually became a predictable part of my life, and it feels like I’ve been accustomed to sexism since I was born. I knew that many of my white classmates were ignorant and hateful, likely from a lack of critical education or from cowardly embracing their parents’ views without questioning them.

I knew that many of the boys in my classes just needed to do something to make themselves feel powerful, to develop some faulty self-confidence by claiming they belong to a group of the superior.

What I will never get used to, though, is the racist remarks made about Asian-Americans and Mexican-Americans,

by Asian and Mexican-Americans, and the sexist and

Even if you make the joke, you’re not in on it. I believe the behavior of the self-hating person of color and the self-hating woman stem from insecurity and fear. The insecurity comes from a feeling of detachment from one’s identity. This person never indulged enough in their culture or issues that are relevant to them, so that they don’t feel like they’ve earned the privilege of proudly claiming their identity. I myself have struggled with the experience growing up without a definite cultural community. Even in elementary school I recognized that I was an “other,” and I grew up isolated from the MexicanAmerican and Japanese-American communities. I felt, and sometimes still feel, a hint of imposter syndrome whenever

to speak with authority on complex issues relating to science and politics.

Seen in this context, the controversy surrounding Rogan is not a surprise, but an inevitability. Rogan absolutely deserves the backlash he is receiving, but the real focus of society’s energy needs to be more comprehensive.

People must be more intentional about consuming and supporting journalism that is held to a much higher standard than the outlets that most turn to today. Let Joe Rogan stay on the stage, spewing his comedy, while the public gets the news from someone else.

I speak on issues that were relevant to me and my people. I felt like a poser trying to become a part of my community, my birthright. The slow and subliminal discouragement of young girls and people of color is truly a tragedy. When you are underrepresented, and school administration and city council leadership frequently make decisions that say your wellbeing is not a priority, when everything around you subtly implies you are less than, you start to believe it.

In middle school I made the decision to embrace my identity and defend it proudly, but I often wonder how I would behave, how I would see myself, if I had taken a different path — the path of assimilation. These circumstances urge me to be more understanding of my peers who consistently undermine themselves. Perhaps, because of their diminished self assurance, this is how they genuinely think they are supposed to act.

The behavior of self-hatred is hard to shake. That’s why I urge you to learn more about yourself, to dive into your culture and identity, to educate yourself on the history of adversity your people have faced.

I embarked on this journey and came out of it with selfassuredness, and a passionate love for my identity and multiple communities. That journey empowered me to write this. I only hope others feel compelled to do the same.

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

OPINION

7

Bitcoin is antithetical to carbon neutrality As it expands in popularity, cryptocurrency has proven to be an unanticipated threat to the climate.

STORY MICHAEL MAYEMURA ILLUSTRATION PENNY ABOUD

I

n recent years, Bitcoin has grown into the most dominant and recognizable cryptocurrency, attracting fortune-seekers and wannabe investors alike. According to the Columbia Climate School, in the span of a decade, the currency’s value has erupted from $1 in 2011 to $65,000 in 2021. This has been accredited to an increased public interest, fueled by the get-rich-quick myth.

Yet, unbeknownst to the average citizen, Bitcoin is an immensely unsustainable currency and as it continues to attract more and more fortune seekers, its environmental impact will hinder the U.S.’s 2050 carbon neutral goal, unless the government steps in to limit its expansion.

In spite of the freedoms Bitcoin advertises to its users, such as a decentralized and anonymous system that prevents governmental tracking, the industry’s very foundation is marred by environmental harm. Bitcoin mining, the process by which chains of code are deconstructed in order to “uncover” Bitcoins, is the only way for users to find new Bitcoins, and is, in essence, a glorified guess-and-check.

The Colombia Climate School found that the process wastes an average of 707 kilowatts of energy per transaction — a.k.a. “uncovering” new bitcoins — comparable to how much the average American household consumes every month: about 867 kilowatts of energy. Bitcoin’s high energy expenditure is connected to the extensive amount of electricity it requires to be mined, which only increases as transaction values decrease more and more. With new blocks of Bitcoin being produced every 10 minutes, the immense impact Bitcoin has on the environment builds bit by bit.

All in all, Bitcoin consumes 121.36 terawatts of energy per year, on par with the average national consumption of nations like Argentina, Sweden, Finland, and more energy than Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook use combined. The competitive nature of mining contributes to the currency’s massive consumption of non-renewable energy. Bitcoin’s emergence mirrors the rise of another industrial nation, one that is not bound to the world’s laws, governments, or pacts to mitigate its detrimental impact on the environment.

In order to meet the demands of the Paris Climate Agreement, the U.S. undoubtedly must make a complete transition away from fossil fuels. The insurgence of

Bitcoin presents a significant conflict of interest to this goals that the U.S. government has thus far ignored.

Major mines throughout the U.S., particularly in Texas, have emerged after large mines in China were shut down in an attempt to reach its carbon neutral goal. In their newfound homes, mines often shelter themselves in struggling coal or energy plants for their accessibility to quick, cheap energy. This is sometimes encouraged by states wishing to boost their local economies.

One example is Greenridge Generation, a struggling coal power plant in Dresden, New York that swapped its natural gas for bitcoin mining. In under a year (20192020) the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions increased tenfold with plans of growth projected for the next four years and aspirations to expand the industry to new plants by 2025.

As bitcoin mines spread and grow across the nation, spurred by states’ desires to “expand their economies,” the greenhouse gas emitted (nearly 23 metric tons worth)

will inevitably prevent the U.S. from reaching its carbon neutral goal. One of the few feasible, long-term options that can be taken to limit Bitcoins spread and carbon footprint, would be to uproot the volatile demand for crypto. Bitcoin is nothing more than the value people assign to it, and, unlike government-backed currency, has nothing to fall back on when the currency’s value plummets. If the U.S. government can disincentivize investors by cracking down on new mines or limiting the energy that can be consumed by known Bitcoin mines across the nation, its assigned value will likely falter.

Then, as prices diminish, Bitcoin mines will dwindle across the nation and, in turn, the U.S. can return to its path towards carbon neutrality.

The fight against climate change is growing more and more urgent by the day. Large industrial nations like the U.S. grapple with waning off the fossil fuels that they have relied on for years, but they also need to understand the emerging threat of cryptocurrency and take action to counter it.

Redefining cancel culture and its role in society STORY SAM GROTENSTEIN & CLOE MAURER ILLUSTRATION MARTIN WALSH In the past, Tiger defined cancel culture as an act of social isolationism, a scorn worthy gesture taken because one is either too lazy or cruel to educate their peers.

Now, it seems timely to re-assess whether or not the definition of cancel culture can be standardized. Cancel culture certainly exists in concept, as proven by the first, and now second, article written by this publication trying to untangle what it really means.

However, if cancel culture is laid out in definable terms and determinable actions, it seems to turn itself inside out. No matter the explanation, there always seems to be an exception to the rule.

For instance, contrast the ‘canceling’ of Marilyn Manson with that of Russel Brand.

Marilyn Manson is an underground electronic/grunge artist. Despite his dark persona, it still came as a shock when a number of former collaborators and partners came forward with allegations of intense sexual abuse. In response, Manson was dropped from a number of projects and media coverage of the event was far from sparse. In contrast, take the ‘canceling’ of Russel Brand. Following an appearance on British latenight talk show Newsnight, Brand (an actor, comedian, and outspoken progressive activist) had a now infamous back-and-forth with political commentator Jeremy Paxton. The take-away from the hyper-online progressive sphere was that Brand was a sexist, stemming from a snippet in which he referred to women as “birds.”

These instances share almost nothing in common, bar that they are both considered to be instances of ‘cancel culture,’ which is where the possibility of a singular definition of cancel culture begins to fall apart. Moreover, the fact that two wildly different instances can be identified as the same thing points to a critical error in cancel culture discourse. It makes more sense to shift the examination of cancel culture away from how it exists as a broader cultural phenomenon and towards what it means on a more personal and individualistic level.

The personal element of cancel culture identified in Tiger’s original article is cancel culture’s existence on a peer-to-peer level for the sake of purging a community of various “-isms.” The first part of this statement can be boiled down to truth. Cancel culture, in its most reduced form, is something people do to other people. Though, the second part, the motivation for cancel culture, is murkier than achieving harmonious community values. Like most cultural phenomena, it can be linked to something stickier and, frankly, deeply human: personal gratification.

Cancel culture is a way for people to reinforce their personal morality by carrying out a set of gestures, such as not listening to Marilyn Manson anymore or maybe unfollowing Russel Brand on social media. This is not to say that cancellation is selfserving or spiteful, rather it is almost uniquely earnest.

Actually, it is the sincerity of cancel culture that makes the whole phenomenon even more difficult to pick apart because it can not be easily written off as reckless ego feeding. Cancel culture is the same interpersonal conflict that has been documented since the fifth century. What changed is the ability to pathologize conflicts with a fervor and scale unlocked only by the advent of the internet. Today’s cancel culture is merely a digitalization of morality enforced by empty social gestures.

8

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

CEN

Fatphobia Stunts Po STORY HANNA BAE, NOAH KUHN, QUINN MANZO, & KAHLEN MIAO

PAGE DESIGN CHARL

Fatphobia: n. A pathological fear of fatness n. A societal belief negatively connotating fat and larger bodies Disclaimer: The words “fat” and “skinny” will be used as neutral descriptor words for body size in the context of this spread, with no intended connotations.

Fatphobia ruins artistic expression STORY QUINN MANZO ILLUSTRATION TERRY SONG

Reimagining P.E. STORY KAHLEN MIAO ILLUSTRATION PENNY ABOUD The U.S. has held fitness tests for students for over 70 years. In California, students take one every other year beginning in the fifth grade and ending in the ninth grade. While students are told that the fitness test is taken to gather statistics about student fitness by physical education (P.E.) teachers, the test has larger implications than simply collecting data.

As someone who loves theater and has been dancing since the age of two, I am all too familiar with the infestation of fatphobia in the performing arts. I believe every performing artist can recall the first time, of many, that they felt their body at odds with their art.

Performing arts communities prioritize the quality of a performance and creating a finished product that audiences enjoy viewing. Combined with pre-existing widespread fatphobia, said communities become cutthroat and overly critical, only allowing certain appearances and body shapes to thrive. Diversity and uniqueness enrich the arts, yet people with body types outside of the societally-desired norm are regularly barred from artistic opportunities.

The body is the means of expression for dancers, so when the body is insulted, one’s craft is consequently diminished. The prima ballerina, often playing the ingenue in a ballet, is expected to have a small, slender frame. Dancers with wider bodies are likely to be cast as comedic relief, the villain, or not at all.

In order to pass the California Fitness Test, students must successfully complete five out of the six tests given to them. This test has become a measure of how fit a student is, and by proxy, a measure of a student’s health. Among the set of tests given to students is the Body Mass Index (BMI) which measures a person’s height and weight. This test actively compares students to one another as it gives people a score based on their height and weight, then puts it against other scores to determine whether or not the score is “normal and/or healthy.”

Many judge the bodies of dancers as they watch a dance performance, fixating on the dancer’s limbs and whether or not they have a six-pack. While some dance directors value the technique and expression of their dancers, others fixate on the dancers’ appearances, convinced that if their bodies are not “perfect,” then their choreography and studio will not be well-represented. Dancers spend their careers having their value reduced to score sheets and medals, quite literally being judged. Ten-year-old me was being compared to other tweens with chiseled abs.

This test is often performed in front of a student’s peers, making them susceptible to internalizing insecurities about their body, intensified by the prevalence of rude jokes about appearance or weight. Additionally, some P.E. teachers feel it is appropriate to comment on their students’ weight under the guise of promoting health.

Most people enter the dance community at extremely young ages. For them, judging and contorting one’s body into an unrealistic image is all they know. I remember being told to suck in my stomach in ballet class because my teacher could “see my lunch.” I was four.

Hating one’s body is almost inherent to being a dancer. A harmful truth my dance friends and I talk about often is that if you want to become a dancer, you have to accept that you will develop an eating disorder at least once in your life.

P.E. class should not exist to determine a student’s fitness or health and certainly should not give P.E. teachers the ability to shame students for their weight out of supposed worry for their health. The purpose of P.E. is to get students moving, and it should encourage exercising in a positive way that does not make being skinny its end goal. Without the pressure of passing a fitness test or making the end goal of the class to make sure every student is fit, students can better enjoy P.E. by having time to move around rather than stress about their body and habits.

The physical fitness test exacerbates fatphobia as a student’s weight is measured and put alongside other tests to determine one’s “fitness.” If a student’s BMI is below or above the normal range — triggering a fail — they must pass all five of the other tests to fulfill the state’s physical fitness requirement. Students who do not do so must retake the tests in the following years until they pass. The other tests are push-ups, sit-ups, a trunk lift, the seatbelt, and the mile.

The extensive reliance on a person’s BMI when determining health encourages the stigmatization of being fat and allows people to take the score at face value, ignoring its lack of nuance in accounting for muscle mass, medical history, or underlying medical issues. It also pressures people to feel bad about their weight and score, often leading to disordered eating and over exercising. The BMI fails to consider that every person’s growth looks different.

P.E. teachers have influence over their students, and they can change the way their students feel about their bodies. This comes into play when instructors have the power to change how students feel and perceive a BMI score. Those in positions of authority are responsible for creating a space for students to feel comfortable in their bodies.

P.E. classes should place more emphasis on being active and participating rather than on ineffective scores. The BMI and the Physical Fitness Test should be made optional for students. In order to make P.E. classes a more welcoming environment for all body types, students should not be assessed, compared, and categorized based on their physical ability.

Dance is its own language. Dancers are encouraged to communicate their emotions and tell their stories through movement. It is that movement that holds the beauty, the value.

To subject one’s body and outward appearance to so much scrutiny is a rejection of the core values of dance.

The same issue applies to theater. Someone who participates in theater will inevitably go through the casting process at least once in their lifetime. People at auditions will read a couple lines, maybe sing some bars after they introduce themselves, but they are already being judged from the moment they enter the room. A common issue within the theater community is typecasting, when casting directors assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous success in such roles. Similar to ballet, the main character in a show, movie, or production is often skinny and dainty, whereas the fat character is the butt of the joke.

The skinny main character is written to have complex character development, and the fat character’s entire identity and story revolves around the shape of their body. Plotlines in movies and shows will involve a “glow-up,” where a character suddenly becomes beautiful and desirable, just because the character lost weight. Other plotlines include the reverse, where a character’s emotional deterioration parallels them gaining weight.

These plotlines convince children that being fat is something to be laughed at, or worse, something to be feared. They teach children that fat people do not get to be the main character or have their own stories; that they cannot experience complex emotions that don’t revolve around the shape of their body. After repeated experiences of typecasting, actors with bigger bodies are convinced that, because of their appearance, they do not deserve the spotlight.

Performers with larger bodies do not get the recognition or the opportunities they deserve.

Body shape is not relevant to the performing arts. It does not determine the way someone choreographs or an actor performs. Artists should be judged by what they express and how they express it, not by their physical appearance.

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

NTER

9

ositive Development

LOTTE COHEN & TERRY SONG

ILLUSTRATIONS PENNY ABOUD, ISOLE KIM, & TERRY SONG

End the myth of the “runner’s body” STORY NOAH KUHN ILLUSTRATION TERRY SONG Joining cross country is, without a doubt, the best decision I ever made in high school. But that does not mean the sport is free from fault. Fatphobia in the running community is a significant issue that is simultaneously far-reaching and intensely personal.

One of the most harmful parts of cross country is the widely-acclaimed “runner’s body.”

The myth of an ideal body type for running — in one word, skinny — transcends the sport.

My introduction to cross country, similar to many others, was through soccer. When my middle school AYSO coach recommended our team run on our own to get in better shape, I obediently obliged, eager to get closer to the slimmer size of many of my teammates.

I was chubby growing up, but the extra effort I put into extending my soccer stamina stretched out my body. Parents of my teammates and others in the community commented approvingly on my lankier looks, fueling my desire to get even thinner.

Even with my increased exercise, I still did not fit into society’s expected appearance of a runner, so when I began cross country in high school, I felt self-conscious training six days a week next to numerous shirtless guys and girls with six-packs. Even though I did the mandated eight-minute ab routine almost daily, I saw no definition in my stomach. Deep down, I knew that having a six-pack was not the norm, but being surrounded by the same, insanely-fit people everyday for months on end made me feel like an outlier.

Eventually, around the end of junior year, I grew more confident in my body. I began taking my shirt off on some runs, something I never dreamed of doing previously. But, it is still rare for a day to go by in which I do not at some point feel fat, and that that is a bad thing. I always suck in my stomach habitually in public, and especially when photographed. Fatphobia is so internalized in society that, even though I wholeheartedly believe that there is nothing inherently unhealthy or disgusting about being of a larger size, I do not want that for myself. Unlearning those deeply-ingrained biases is nearimpossible, so it is imperative that we focus our energy on raising future generations in a body-inclusive manner.

I am grateful that my cross country teammates and coach have fostered an accepting environment and not purposefully contributed to the fatphobia embedded in the sport.

Nonetheless, I am painfully aware that this is the exception, not the norm. Speaking with my teammate, UC Berkeley commit, and senior Sydney Morrow about her experiences with college recruitment drove this point home. “[In the recruitment process] I got to talk to so many different people from across the country, and everyone had something different to say about my body,” Morrow said. “It’s weird because nine times out of 10, it’s some older man talking to someone my age, some teenage girl, who obviously is in a phase where there is a lot of pressure to maintain a certain body type. A coach at a certain school said, ‘I watched a video of you running and your body type looks good for a miler or a half-miler, but as for the longer distances, not so much.’ I’ve never met this guy in person. He’s across the country, watches one video of me running a mile, and suddenly knows what I’m good at. That doesn’t make any sense.

You wouldn’t say something like that to your daughter, so why do you think it’s OK to say that to me.”

In addition to hurtful, back-handed compliments Morrow has received about her body aligning with certain distances and being “so muscular for a distance runner,” she has also faced overt fatphobia.

“One time somebody told me, ‘Only fat people chafe, Sydney. You shouldn’t be chafing,’” Morrow recalled. “No one has a right to comment on my body.”

Too often in cross country, coaches and athletes zero in on numbers — PRs, splits, mileage, weight, and height. But that emphasis on quantitative data disregards the more important part of running and any sport: feeling. Coaches, athletes, and fans have a responsibility to normalize the diversity of running bodies and prioritize how one feels on the inside, instead of what can fit in a spreadsheet or be photographed. Cross country is a rewarding and empowering sport that everyone deserves to belong in, regardless of their body size.

Skinny does not equal healthy STORY HANNA BAE ILLUSTRATION ISOLE KIM We live in a fatphobic society that contributes to misconceptions surrounding weight and health that are taught in the classroom, and further applied in the doctor’s office. There is a long history of doctors asserting that being overweight on the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale equates to being unhealthy. The BMI and societal misunderstandings create an illusion that a skinnier build is the only relevant criterion of being fit and healthy.

What someone’s body outwardly looks like does not determine how healthy they are and is not a direct reflection of their daily physical exercise and diet. There must be a clear distinction between physical appearance and health.

Individuals categorized as overweight on the BMI scale are often instructed to lose weight, work out, watch what they eat, and take blood tests — all as a precaution for underlying health problems. Conversely, people who are tall, thin, and fall within a certain BMI range in the doctor’s office are often assumed to be healthy, and there is no need to be cautious of any other underlying health problems.

Just because someone looks skinny, it does not mean that they are healthy as well. People who fall under the category of being skinny or close to underweight may look like they are lean and athletic, but outer appearance does not signify how their internal organs function.

Someone who is thin and looks like society’s traditional image of being healthy is, in fact, at risk for fat build-up around their organs.

This phenomenon is referred to as “normal weight obese” by researchers and according to a 2010 study in the European Heart Journal, an estimated 30 million Americans are “normal weight obese.” This can lead to complications such as heart failure, Type II diabetes, and high cholesterol. But these conditions often go undetected because the people who unknowingly have them fit society’s myth of a healthy person — being skinny.

This also applies to those who appear overweight. An individual may exercise daily, eat healthier foods, and do everything they can for their health, yet still appear overweight.

Even if they are healthy, there is an automatic assumption by healthcare professionals that they are not because of their size.

Many make the argument that if someone is overweight and they are tired of being ridiculed by others, they should simply lose the weight. However, it is never this simple. Genetic makeup and metabolism are key components in the way a person looks. Even if someone exercises daily, eats a balanced diet, and maintains an overall healthy lifestyle, their genetic makeup may simply make them weigh more.

Living a healthy lifestyle is also sometimes not a viable option. There is a correlation between economic disparities found in education and the workforce, and the large number of health issues found in these marginalized communities. Food deserts are a common cause of this.

Food deserts are defined as geographic regions where residents do not have access to affordable and healthy foods, in particular, fresh fruits and vegetables. Produce is often much more costly than processed snacks, so families with little disposable income are forced to prioritize finances over nutrition when trying to feed themselves. In the U.S., nearly 39.5 million people are living in food deserts, which accounts for about 12 percent of the U.S. population, according to a United States Department of Agriculture 2017 study. These food deserts are found in areas with a large number of vacant or abandoned homes and residents with lower incomes, higher rates of unemployment, and lower education levels.

Individuals who live in highly-populated and wealthy communities have the means to live a healthy lifestyle. Lower-income families do not have adequate access to the elements of a healthy lifestyle: fresh produce, health insurance, consistent doctor’s appointments.

Issues at the core of fatphobia like disparities in the doctor’s office and assumptions about an individual’s health are ignored when health is based solely on the size of one’s body. When an outward appearance is the only determinant of health, individual healthcare suffers.

10

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

FEATURE

Hey, put that down!

CLOE MAURER My mom gave me a copy of Michelle Zauner’s memoir Crying in H-Mart for Christmas. The book is about Zauner’s relationship with her mother and how it and her cultural identity metamorphosed after her mother’s death when she was 25. Like me, Zauner’s mom is a Korean immigrant and her father is white. I was vaguely turned off by the possibility of having to sift through hard feelings, so I shelved it.

Zauner, who makes music under the moniker Japanese Breakfast, released her third album Jubilee last summer. Her two previous releases Psychopomp and Soft Sounds from Another Planet came out when I was in middle school. I didn’t understand Zauner’s jangly, shrieking odes to love and companionship. I don’t think I was really interested in either, beyond how I felt when I saw pictures of Kurt Cobain or talked to my summer camp crush, a boy who wore a lot of Tyler the Creator t-shirts and wanted to be a producer.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is joyous but shallow Jamie’s brilliant performances make up for its surface-level writing.

STORY CHARLOTTE DEKLE ILLUSTRATION ISOLE KIM

A

fter two years bereft of live entertainment, the Ahmanson Theater returned on Sunday, Jan. 16 with the North American premiere of the British musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The story of a 16-yearold boy in Sheffield, England dreaming of becoming a drag queen plays at the Ahmanson until Sunday, Feb. 20. A thoroughly-enjoyable romp, Jamie is lively fun, although the production’s substance often does not match its style.

Jamie New (Layton Williams) is a high schooler preparing to graduate and move onto the next chapter of his life. While his schoolmates are planning to settle into their acceptable societal roles, he yearns to be a drag queen. Within this struggle, Jamie desires to don a dress to prom. To accomplish this goal, he enlists a faded drag star, Hugo aka Loco Chanelle (played by actual drag queen Bianca Del Rio), and his mother, Margaret (Amy Ellen Richardson) to assist in his transformation. Not everyone is so accepting of Jamie’s goals, like his homophobic schoolmate, Dean Paxton (George Sampson, doing his best with a one-note villain) who vows to stop Jamie from attending the prom.

There are plenty of reasons to gripe about the show, but Layton Williams is not one of them. Despite Jamie’s flaws as a character, Williams soars portraying him. Not only is he a true triple threat, he does it all in sparkly red stilettos. Richardson is equally terrific in her role as Margaret. Her second-act showstopper “He’s my Boy” showcases phenomenal vocal control, including soulful belting and a lovely head voice.

Jamie’s choreography is another bright spot.

Choreographer Kate Prince’s energetic routines imbue hip hop and more contemporary styles into the bright, poppy

soundtrack by Dan Gillespe Selles. However, this ebullient dancing feels out of place in some of the more somber moments in the show. For example, “If I Met Myself Again” is an introspective song when the mother laments her past relationship. This slow ballad is incongruously coupled with sharp and modern tricks and flips.

The issues with Jamie originate from the superficial and flimsy script. Primarily, there is little to no central conflict. The cruelty of the villains is lessened by the fact that they have no influence over characters or their actions. Although New’s attempts to make his father proud affect his character growth, the majority of the character’s arcs remain stagnant. For example, primary bad guy Paxton physically and emotionally abuses Jamie.

But Paxton has a relatively low social standing and Jamie has the entire school rallying around him. Thus, any potential interpersonal conflict disappears when neither Jamie nor his mates seem to care what Dean thinks.

Additionally, there is no stage time dedicated to fleshing out the villains. A single Dean solo could have cleared up any possible qualms with the lack of character depth.

Beyond the trappings of volatile and self-centered young teenagers, Jamie himself is relatively shallow. The show never explains why Jamie feels drawn to drag in the first place, beyond the basic enjoyment of the act itself. This is unfortunate considering the voluminous selection of shallow Jamie solos about his wants, without delving into why he wants this career.

Looking at the totality of the piece, it is easy to forget the tonal inconsistencies and flimsy character moments because Jamie is so much fun. While the premise is ubiquitous — numerous musicals have incorporated drag queens into the fabric of their plots — the shallow but sweet show is guaranteed to leave audiences talking, hopefully about Jamie.

The cover of Jubilee is a picture of Zauner crouching between hanging persimmons, the definitive fruit of my childhood. There was a persimmon tree in the backyard of the house where I grew up. When my grandparents visited from Korea in the summers, my grandmother inspected the tree like a petite, Korean John Muir in Ann Taylor slacks surveying a sequoia. In the fall, after they returned to Seoul, the fruit ripened and my mom and I began the harvest, returning to a kind of provincialism rarely encountered in suburbia.

When I was younger, my mom and I drove either to K-town or to a strip mall in Glendale almost every Sunday morning to shop at the Korean market.The radio was always on KCRW, so we listened to This American Life at 10am and sometimes the first half of Good Food. It was all very ritualistic. I would trail behind, distracted by the glossy packaging and the ads for instant coffee, while my mom filled the cart with everything from satsumas to raw squid. My relationship with my mom deteriorated and my self consciousness grew exponentially more acute, as it seems bound to do at age 14. I had very little interest in anything, much less anything remotely Korean, so I stopped going to the market.

It wasn’t until I was confronted by the listlessness of a drawn out junior year depressive episode that I started going with my mom to the new H-Mart in Arcadia. It was shinier than the markets of my early childhood, but the sounds and shapes and colors were all the same. There was a “French inspired” bakery, ajimas in big sunglasses, and young couples showing each other the foods of their childhoods. I don’t speak much Korean and I have never been to Korea, so I know my culture best through food. In that way, H-Mart is sort of bewitching. Besides my mom, it’s the most direct connection I have to Korea.

Last weekend, I finally pulled Crying in H-Mart off my shelf. I whipped through anecdotes that might as well have been ripped from my own childhood while listening to Jubilee. The similarities ranged from the purely coincidental (her mom’s name is Chongmi and my mom’s is Chanmi) to the more complicated (vicious teenage rejection of our Korean-ness). My cultural identity has always felt delusional. If not fraudulent, it was unduly fraught. But, by the end of Crying in H-Mart, I felt so sure of my experience and so ready for how I might feel at 25. When I told my mom I finished the book she said, “Well, are you going to be nice to me now?” Then she laughed and said, “That’s something Michelle’s mom would say, isn’t it?”

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

FEATURE

11

The Formosa Cafe epitomizes cultural appropriation in the restaurant industry STORY ALISON WANG PHOTOS SARAH LEE

F

ounded in 1925 by prize-fighter Jimmy Berenstein, the Formosa Cafe has long been lauded for its history of movie star patronage and vaguely Chinese influence.

The restaurant claims to tell “a storied history of Chinese Americans in Old Hollywood,” yet the cliched faux-Asian signage on the door was enough to signal that my dining experience would be less than authentic. While the opulent Chinese motifs garnishing the restaurant are partially sourced by Chinese-Americans, the use of Asian culture by the cafe’s white owners hollowly echoes the cuisine they claim to champion.

Its proximity to the former Samuel Goldwyn Studios made it the optimal location for celebrity patrons like Frank Sinatra and James Dean. There is a shrine of Elvis Presley figurines, as he was once a regular diner, and the walls are lined with black-and-white signed headshots of starlets. The restaurant was first opened in 1939, and boasts the self-titled moniker of “Best Chinese Restaurant in West Hollywood,” yet its decor from the Golden Age of Hollywood, not the food, is the main attraction.

The restaurant was purchased and renovated in 2015 by the 1933 Group, a collective of white real estate developers that promised to “combin[e] design aesthetics that embrace various time periods in early America with a passion for cocktails and the revival of the art of bartending.” The new reconstruction is a nod to classic Hollywood: The tiles on the floor are the same as the walk of fame and the VIP seating lies inside a Red Line trolley car once owned by Bernstein.

Formosa’s operators have long claimed to underscore the contributions of the Chinese American community in Hollywood, but their establishment borders on cultural appropriation. The current bar is the same as that of Yee Mee Loo’s Cocktails created for the film The Good Earth, a 1937 drama about a Chinese farming family rampant with yellowface. Rather than celebrate the influence of Chinese-Americans, the meticulous interior design instead presents a shallow caricature of our culture. This inauthenticity is reflected in not only its design, but in the dishes it offers.

The menu serves predictable Chinese-American dishes, but it could easily be bested by a Chinese mom-and-pop

FORMOSA CAFE’S main draw is its celebrity allure and Old Hollywood decor, not its menu. shop. The food lacks the authenticity and depth of China’s wide range of cuisines. I started with cong yu bing, or scallion pancakes, and was met with a bland taste and none of the crisp, flaky layers a typical cong yu bing should have, let alone scallions. The pancake should be a greasy comfort food that can be pulled apart layer by layer, and be properly seasoned. Formosa’s cong yu bing, however, could not hold up without a sauce accompanying it. The egg rolls were edible, but such quality could be found at the local Panda Express. Their wrappers appropriately fried, but the vegan filling, instead of cabbage and pork, was overcooked and lacking in texture and flavor. Even if vegan, it should have some varied texture from classic ingredients like cabbage or bean sprouts.

The dan dan mian noodles had none of their signature crushed peanuts, and contained poorly fried meat that should have been minced but instead clumped into giant

meatballs at the bottom of the dish that did not mix with the noodles. The bok choy that came along with it was raw and unblanched. The broccolini and steak were underwhelming. The ingredients for these items were by no means premium, and the prices for these simple dishes from a small shop could easily be two-thirds of what I paid.

The Formosa Cafe claims to emphasize genuine quality, but its paltry menu does not represent China’s diverse cuisines. Instead, the restaurant can only make Chinese culture palatable for white audiences. The United States has a history of marginalizing Chinese immigrants by restricting their job opportunities and forcing them to open restaurants that catered to their white surroundings. When white people attempt to reverse these historic roles, as the Formosa Cafe blatantly exemplifies, it intrudes on the Asian communities it poorly tries to emulate.

SPHS needs LGBTQ+ representation in its literature STORY LEXIE DOIG ILLUSTRATION ALLISON LEE SPHS needs to pick a summer reading book that highlights the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community.

As the summer reading book has been traditionally used to showcase diverse authors and stories, it is time to represent all students with a positive depiction of more identities than cisgender and heterosexual. The past summer reading books, Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give, and Traci Chee’s We Are Not Free have a total of one member of the LGBTQ+ community between the three of them. This is not to say that those books are inherently flawed for that reason, but it shows the need to take the next step towards creating a more inclusive environment in South Pasadena.

Seeing honest and accurate portrayals of queer characters in literature and media can help all students feel seen and

valued by highlighting and uplifting the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. Assigning these stories to the entire student body could raise awareness and acceptance of queer identities on campus.

According to a study by the Trevor Project, approximately 75 percent of LGBTQ+ youth will face discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity at some point in their lifetime. Increasing positive representation of members of the LGBTQ+ community would help reduce discrimination by battling the misconceptions and ignorance that are the foundation of homophobia and transphobia. At the very least, the school should consider assigning a book with prominent and nuanced queer characters.

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is an organization focused on creating better and more affirming educational environments for LGBTQ+

youth. In 2021, GLSEN released a booklist featuring diverse stories with prominent LGBTQ+ characters, many of which are written by authors in the community.

Some of these books are geared towards high school students and would provide SPHS with a starting point to begin introducing queer stories into summer reading.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, later adapted into the 2018 film Love, Simon, could be an introductory book to more queer-inclusive summer reading at SPHS. The coming-of-age story follows protagonist Simon Spier, a closeted gay high schooler who is forced to come out after being blackmailed by a classmate who discovered his flirtatious emails to another closeted student.

Albertalli’s book balances some cutesy romance with the reality of homophobia in the South, but overall it is an uplifting story about friendship, family, and identity.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a fun and easy read, and though it may not be the most impressive or groundbreaking queer story, it is a solid start.

Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston also offers a way to introduce queer literature on SPHS campus. McQuiston’s book follows the romance of Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the fictional first female U.S. president, and fictional British Prince Harry. Like Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, McQuiston’s book is not by any means a perfect or life-changing piece of LGBTQ+ literature, and though the book is riddled with cliches and romantic tropes, it is another example of a simple and comedic read.

GLSEN’s booklist is not limited to fictional stories. The Stonewall Reader (compiled from the archives of the New York Public Library) is a collection of first-hand accounts, diaries, and articles both preceding and following the Stonewall uprising, which is considered a turning point for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Highlighting the activists integral to the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera and Ernestine Eckstein, the book provides a detailed account of one of the most significant events in American queer history.

If the aforementioned examples do not meet the criteria for the next summer reading book, genuine consideration should be given to GLSEN’s many suggestions. Out of the hundreds, if not thousands, of positive LGBTQ+ stories out there, surely one of them is a good candidate for SPHS’s summer reading program.

12

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

FEATURE

Station Eleven depicts post-pandemic life STORY ELSIE WATERS ILLUSTRATION ETHAN LYONS

Atlanta (2016) as well as his role in the infamous music videos such as Childish Gambino’s “This is America.”

A

Station Eleven is inspired by the events of a graphic novel that one of the characters creates in the show called “Station Eleven.” There are two individuals who own a copy of the novel: main character Kiersten and a mysterious man with dangerous ambitions, who calls himself “The Prophet.” Apart from a shared sense of distrust and mutual disdain, the two have nothing in common. Nevertheless, the possession of “Station Eleven” links their fates. The two are also connected to the author of the novel, Miranda Carroll. The lives of the three are shown in both Year Twenty of the pandemic and Year One. The result is an imaginative, interconnected story.

series dedicated to telling the story of an unstable world before, during, and after a pandemic may sound a little too familiar to be enjoyable, but this is exactly where Station Eleven shines. The series is a marvel, spectacularly mind-bending in its defiance to this thought.

Set in 2040, twenty years removed from a life-altering and devastating flu outbreak that wipes out the majority of humankind, Station Eleven tells the story of the survivors of the pandemic as they struggle to rebuild the world while battling the traumas of their past. While the story is provoking and reminiscent in the way it transports viewers to a time where their own world went into lockdown, it duly offers a sense of closure many are still seeking by providing a satisfying ending to a story that is still unfolding in the real world today.

Adapted from Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel of the same name, HBO’s Station Eleven has a strong team behind its production. At the forefront is showrunner Patrick Somerville, a novelist and television runner known for Maniac (2018). Collaborating with Somerville is Emmynominated director Hiro Murai, known for his work on

Station Eleven perfectly illustrates a world before and after the pandemic in its ten parts. Individually, the episodes have a sense of simplicity; following a young Kiersten as she treks through a snowy forest, or Miranda as she heads into her corporate 9 to 5. However when compiled, audiences observe that each moment — no matter how seemingly mundane — combine to tell an intentional and cohesive story.

While the series presents a number of mysteries, the largest puzzle audiences are left with is how

Station Eleven managed to tell the story of a pandemic without leaving viewers feeling absolutely depressed.

The answer to this question is a childlike sense of wonder that persists throughout the entire series.

The heaviness of the subject, a subject hauntingly reminiscent of the world’s own coronavirus pandemic, is masterfully balanced through a blend of fantasy and magical realism.

Audiences observe the early days of the pandemic through eight-year-old Kiersten’s eyes, watching while she turns her apartment into a play production including home-made costumes and sets. They admire the Traveling Symphony, the Shakesprean acting troupe that adult Kiersten is a vital part of, perform renditions of its favorite plays to communities, complete with their own orchestra and costume designers. Despite being aware of a daunting plan looming in the background, and of course the lingering effects of the flu epidemic, viewers are offered an optimistic sense of innocence through the lighter aspects of the series. These moments of peace and contentment also succeed in enhancing the intensity of the dark, thrilling, and often-times eerie parts of Station Eleven, which are just as frequent.

The production is additionally brought to life by two things, the first being the performances and the second being the soundtrack. Mackenzie Davis shines in her starring role. She delivers the grit and fierceness of a toughened, older Kiersten to audiences with skill and integrity. In contrast, Matilda Lawler conveys the joyful and bewildered innocence of younger Kiersten with talent that makes it nearly impossible to comprehend the actress is barely a teenager.

These flawless scenes are brought to absolute perfection

by Dan Romer’s soundtrack. Moments of emotion are further elevated by the gripping intensity of Romer’s tracks. The thriller aspects of the show in particular are brought to new levels through the steady stream of music precisely aligned with the tone of the scenes.

Station Eleven tells its story with unpredictability, turning an already imaginative chronicle into an encompassing, captivating watch. Each episode is emotive in a way that offers a satisfying sense of familiarity and nostalgia.

Station Eleven pays tribute to the diverse experiences individuals faced as a result of the pandemic. Whatever incoherent mess the characters encounter reflect the situations society was faced with in the past. However, the beauty present in the series encourages viewers to reflect on the peculiarity of their own situation to search for whatever light they can find.

L.A.’s street art tradition spans decades STORY BENJAMIN REGAN PHOTOS SAMANTHA SHIROISHI Los Angeles has long been known for three things: bad traffic, mainstream entertainment, and murals. It has, much to the vexation of drivers, been unable to shake the first label.

However, the walls of L.A. that were once a canvas for artists to express beauty and share social justice messages did not see large-scale works of art for the better part of the 2000s because of vandalism and a ban on murals on private property in 2002.

Muralist, painter, and art professor Dr. Judith Baca’s 2,754 foot mural, Great Wall of Los Angeles, propelled L.A. to the height of its success in the 1970s and ‘80s in the art community, with the city boasting over 3,000 murals.

uninterested in conserving murals amidst riots in 1992 after the beating of Rodney King at the hands of the LAPD, the AIDS crisis, raging crime, and devastating natural disasters.

In 2002, the history and quantity of murals in L.A. seemed distant. The Los Angeles City Council banned the creation of murals on private property, which dissipated the mural movement. With many of the most illuminating works already tainted by graffiti, including The Great Wall of Los Angeles, forming legislation to prohibit murals on private property signaled the end of the city’s rich history of murals.

The ban would last until 2013, when, after significant efforts by city residents and artists, it was overturned. After

transitioning back into the public scope, artists began to recreate iconic murals and increase the maintenance of damaged pieces. New murals were created with modern and unique styles – the Polka Dot Wall, Love, and the Retna Wall put an Instagram-ready twist on past works.

As new murals pop up around L.A, Judith Baca’s half-mile mural was granted a $5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation that will enable her and corresponding nonprofits to extend the imagery to encompass the last half century of L.A history. The Great Wall of Los Angeles, with financial support, will become even greater. And perhaps, if these efforts continue, Los Angeles will reclaim its crown as the mural capital of the world.

The Great Wall of Los Angeles shines a light on the underrepresented folks of the city: women, BIPOC, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Each panel of the mural depicts a different period in Californian history, including prehistoric California, Spanish colonization, the Gold Rush, the World Wars, the Great Depression, the Zoot Suit riots, and more. For the thousands of visitors of the Tujunga Flood Control Channel of the San Fernando Valley each year, the mural is a vibrant and powerful work to jog or bike next to. To Los Angeles, it is a cultural landmark.

Artists have historically used murals to combat inequity.

Mario Terero’s 1978 mural We Are Not a Minority, was a call for inclusion and acceptance of African-Americans in a society plauged by racism and discrimination. A 1995 mural

by Art Silivia, A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy, refers to the centennial of the Philippine Revolution against Spain.

Many murals strived for acceptance of Mexican Americans, while artist Elliot Pinkney’s 1970 mural America Tropical was a call for improvement in addressing the poverty crisis.

These murals reflect the diverse tapestry of Los Angeles.

In addition, the mural tradition has deep roots in Mexico and Latin American countries. Mexican artists David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and Diego Rivera, internationally dubbed “the big three,” influenced many muralists in Los Angeles, particularly Mexican-Americans.

Since being called the mural capital of the world in the 1970s, the city has forfeited that title to Philadelphia, bearing just over 1,000 today. In the 1990s, murals began fading due vandalism, weather damage, and a lack of maintenance. City officials grew

ARTIST JUDITH BACA spearheaded the Los Angeles mural movement in the ‘‘70s and ‘80s.

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

FEATURE

13

TAAGLAA: Lunar New Year in L.A. TIGER’S AWESOME ADVENTURES IN THE GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA

STORY KAHLEN MIAO PHOTOS MICHELLE SHADMON

F

ive stops westward from the South Pasadena Metro station is Chinatown. Established in 1938, L.A.’s Chinatown is home to many Chinese immigrants and has become a popular tourist destination for those visiting the city. Filled with local market stalls, restaurants, and shops among many other businesses, there is always something to do. I hoped to catch a glimpse of celebrations in the neighborhood when I arrived the Saturday following the first day of Lunar New Year.

As my friends and I arrived at the station, I was welcomed by the neighborhood’s westernized pagodastyle buildings. I have always felt ambivalent towards L.A.’s Chinatown, as the neighborhood’s design is not actually reminiscent of real Chinese architecture, but rather a romanticized “oriental” version of it. Though this architecture falls in line with racist caricatures of China and Chinese people in America, it has become a mark of resilience by Asian immigrants who live in Chinatown and throughout the United States. Despite its inauthenticity, the neighborhood’s longstanding “oriental” architecture has protected Chinatown stimulating tourism.

I had never taken the Metro to Chinatown before, but it was refreshing to see the neighborhood from a new perspective. Instead of being greeted by the gateway adorned with gold-painted dragons, I was able to see it from above.

When we finally arrived on the main road, I was relieved to see the neighborhood was as lively as ever. With the sixth day of Lunar New Year in full swing, the New Year and Spring Festival celebrations were not quelled by the ongoing pandemic. The sixth day of Lunar New Year is the first day of public celebration, whereas the first five

THE THIEN HAU TEMPLE, KIM CHUY CHINESE RESTAURANT, and Crowns Bakery in Chinatown celebrate Lunar New Year.

days are spent with family. The Spring Festival, which coincides with Lunar New Year, lasts a total of 15 days in Chinese culture.

Walking down the busy street, I was immediately greeted by a familiar sight: Chinese grandmas and aunties selling fruits and counterfeit luxury items. Passing a little boy wearing a tangzhuang, a traditional Chinese jacket, and holding small firecrackers, I made a mental note to buy some before we left. We wandered a little while longer before ending up at Thien Hau Temple, a Taoist temple a slight walk from the main street. Admiring the building, we hesitated about entering as none of us had ever been to this temple before. We watched as families took pictures and yelled celebratory greetings.

We eventually made our way in and two of us were greeted by a man who gave us each 11 sticks of incense, exclaiming 新年快樂 (Happy New Year) as we accepted them with two hands to show respect. We continued our cautious exploration of the temple as we watched people throw jiaobei and draw lots, a tradition where sticks are shaken in a container until one falls out, representing a message from a god, while we lit our incense.

With all 11 incense lit up, I made sure to pay respects and bow three times to each god that I planned to give incense to, never puting four in each bowl. Four is unlucky, as it is a homophone for “die” in Chinese.

Our walk through the temple made us realize we had not had lunch beforehand, so we made our way back to a plaza we had visited before going to the temple. After a few minutes of deliberation, we waited in line and ordered from Kim Chuy Chinese Restaurant. The restaurant’s long line, disorderly service and atmosphere, alongside its plastic tables, chairs, and cutlery — a common indicator of authenticity — assured us the food would be nothing but the best.

Quite the wait later, we finally received our food. I ordered the first dish on the menu, wonton noodle soup, as well as fried doughnut sticks (youtiao), which did not come until later. I made sure not to cut the noodles, as eating long noodles during Lunar New Year is a tradition that ensures one will live a long life. Another friend ordered leek cakes for his mother but we ended up splitting one and eating it, declaring it was one the best leek cakes we ever had. Our suspicions were confirmed. The food was everything we had hoped it to be and more.

Though we were completely stuffed from our late lunch, we could not ignore the little Asian bakery that we had passed by earlier on our trip. Busy as ever, we waited in a short line at Crowns Bakery. I was tempted to get one of the roll cakes on display but realized that I was much too full to eat it. I decided to buy two packets of almond cookies to share with my family, which during the New Year, is one of many foods that signifies good fortune.

Making our way back to the Metro station, I remembered to make one last small pit stop at a store to buy some boxes of the firecrackers. The firecrackers are small round pellets that you throw on the floor to make noise in order to scare away the Chinese mythological monster, Nian, whose name translates to “Year” in Chinese. This monster would attack and terrorize villages at the beginning of each new year, yet happened to be afraid of loud noises and the color red. Thus, Chinese New Year is celebrated by wearing the color red, giving red envelopes to children, and setting off firecrackers.

Arriving back at the Metro station, I was slightly upset that we were not able to see any lion or dragon dances. I wish I had given myself more time to browse the market stalls that lined the streets. However, it was illuminating to see Chinatown from a new perspective with people I had never gone with before, and I was glad to see that the spirit of Lunar New Year was as vibrant as ever.

14

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

SPORTS

Softball aims for a revival season

Normal or Tangent LILIAN ZHU

(Not) running away from my problems For the first time since middle school, I am not part of a cross country or track team and running six days a week. The idea of this situation had previously terrified me. I was afraid of change and the potential lack of structure that I thought would crumble my life. But now that I am here, things are different, but not in the way that I thought they would be.

WITH A FRESH BATCH OF PLAYERS THIS SPRING SEASON, varsity softball is looking to rebuild its league standing record and improve team connections.

STORY ANAYAH MEHDI PHOTOS SOPHIE YEUNG

A

fter numerous grueling losses last season, SPHS’s softball team is determined to prove its reputation wrong by implementing new tactics players learn during practice into its performance. Last season, the Tigers ended with a 0-14 overall record and a 0-12 league record after struggling many times. This year, the team is poised to start off the season with a new roster and make it to the top in the Rio Hondo League.

“In past seasons, I think many players just had to go through a lot with so many changes and it was just so complicated,” sophomore shortstop Daphne Malatesta said. “But I think this year feels like a new slate, especially coming out of [the pandemic].”

“I think when you know who your teammates are as people, it makes it a lot easier to play with them and trust them on the field,” Malatesta said. “Last year we never had that opportunity to actually, genuinely see who everybody was and what they were like.”

The athletes have gotten closer this season due to the fact that there are more lenient coronavirus guidelines compared to last season and practices three to four times a week.

“Our team’s dynamic is trust. We have to have a lot of trust on the field, especially our pitchers,” sophomore third baseman Leilah Nolasco said. “They have to trust us [all the players, especially those that are infield] and our defense because we have our pitchers back.”

Head coach Edward McCarthy has been coaching softball at SPHS since November 2019, and was hired in hopes of reversing the trend of constant losses from many past seasons. Seniors Emily Garcia, a right fielder, and third baseman Zoe Hollingsworth are leading the team of 12, finishing off their fourth and final years with the team.

Coach McCarthy is set on one goal: winning. He believes that practice is the time to coach, but he steps back and observes during games. He expects players to make improvements based on recordings of previous games.

McCarthy is confident the team will be successful due to their understanding of the game and ability to reflect on past performances.

Sophomores comprise nearly half of the roster, including right fielder and second baseman Sydney Lee, who is accompanied by two freshmen: pitcher Natalie Kan and second baseman Emma Becerra.

This year, the Tigers strive to rebuild their name and, more importantly, find unity as a team and family. They have a young team that is ready to compete this season and in seasons to come.

The wide range of grade levels makes team bonding that much more important, since many of the players are on the same team for the first time.

The Tigers plan to prove themselves at their first game, a non-league matchup against the Glendale Nitros on Thursday, Feb. 17.

In the first couple of weeks that I decided to take a break from running, I was ecstatic about being able to pull allnighters and ignoring my phone reminders to drink water every couple of hours. All the free time I suddenly had, especially in the afternoons when I’d usually be at practice for hours after school, felt liberating. I gave in to all the vices I had previously sworn off like playing Teamfight Tactics for hours on end and binging Bojack Horseman for the third time in the span of two weeks.

However, this novelty quickly wore off.

Both my mental and physical states began to deteriorate, and laying in bed purposeless started to feel suffocating rather than freeing and gratifying. The carefree attitude I adopted after getting into college became short-lived, and this taught me a lesson that I reluctantly knew before. But it now enforced the sad truth that nothing tangible would ever make me happy.

Did this send me down a spiral of nihilism? Maybe. But it also truly highlighted the importance of embracing the journey towards something, rather than focusing on the end result.

I got back to my regular sleep schedule and have been running, though much less now, and feel immensely better. I reinvented my goals towards paying for tuition through having a job and applying to scholarships.

(Which on its own, is a much more depressing void than trying to get into college, but that’s a topic for another time.) I thought that without running being the focal point of my life, I would lose my identity. But I realized the sport had convinced me of being someone who I wasn’t. (I also don’t have to deal with sexist coaches that don’t enforce masks inside the weightroom, yay!)

Without putting school as a priority anymore, I can now go back to the hobbies I once deemed as a waste of time, like art and bullet journaling, or developing an unhealthy obsession with the planetarium at the Griffith Observatory. Although I miss running and my team, letting it go has empowered me to pursue my true interests and reformed my life.

Tiger’s Winter Sports Photo Gallery

Tiger’s staff photographers compiled some of their best action shots from this winter season.

PHOTOS ERIN LEE, SARAH LEE, SAMANTHA SHIROISHI, & SOPHIE YEUNG

SPORTS

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

15

Looking into SPHS’s sports medicine class In Room 514, students learn how to properly assess critical health emergencies, examine unresponsive patients, administer CPR, and perform mock phsycial examinations, among other skills.

EMPHASIZING REAL-WORLD APPLICATION, Zumaeta exposes students to a wide range of careers in healthcare.

STORY HANNA BAE PHOTOS ERIN LEE

F

irst established four years ago, the Sports Medicine course at SPHS comprises two classes this year, but hopes to grow in the upcoming years. Taught by Andre Zumaeta, the class is meant to encompass the entirety of the healthcare field, but is tailored mostly to sports-related injuries.

In the course, students learn how to treat wounds, respond to emergencies, and evaluate concussions. In addition, they also learn about the anatomy of the skeletal and muscular systems while also being introduced to a large range of careers in the sports medicine field such as orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist.

Class units are broken down into certain areas of the body: injuries in the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, arm, and more. Students generate strategies and protocols on how to assess and diagnose injuries.

In the classroom, desks are set up in teams of three. More than half of the tables are larger and accompanied by a foam mattress, that is meant to be used as a treatment table. These are laid onto the table so that students are able to complete physical examinations on dummies and each other. Diagrams of the muscular system and a close-up model of the skeletal system are both seen on the whiteboard, alongside notes from the previous lecture.

The class offers a wide array of hands-on activities, such as mock physical examinations for certain injuries and areas on the body, CPR simulations on dummies, and more.

Students are often seen moving outside of the classroom for assessments and walkthroughs. Students also helped participate in the creation of the school’s potential new emergency action plan in the event of a sports-related emergency.

“I love how hands-on the class is, it teaches me so much more and allows me to remember things a lot faster,” senior Alyssa Sokolow said. “We do hands-on assessments which I think is super fun and different…. We [also] did a walk around the school about safety.”

Class periods typically consist of a warm up, a lecture, and then a more hands-on activity. They differ from day to day, but in some class periods there are skill labs, or practical activities that help students apply procedures, a variety of projects, and written and practical assignments students complete in teams with classmates.

“It’s a team oriented atmosphere. If you look at the tables, there are teams of three, and they work as a team on a lot of assignments,” Zumaeta said. “There is independent work to be done in the class but a lot of the work that we do like the skill labs and projects, even some assessments, they work as a team.”

In the emergency procedures unit, for example, students come up as a team and are presented with an emergency patient scenario such as an unconscious or seizing patient. Students are then tasked to come up with a strategy to respond to the emergency together. “[I love] teaching, I love all the units, just the teaching and having students understand and get skills that they can rely on is really rewarding, it’s something that I really enjoy,” Zumaeta said. “And plus, I’m teaching my craft. So yeah, it’s fun all around. It’s fun for me, it’s fun for them.”

Students often join the class for reasons that range from an interest in sports-related injuries and to also earn health certifications. By learning how to approach certain situations and injuries, students are able to earn their CPR and First Aid certifications.

“I joined the class because I’ve gotten sports-related injuries in the past and I wanted to get more knowledge on the subject,” senior Isabella Wada said. “I plan on taking similar classes in [college] as well. I really enjoy this class as I’ve learned so many new things about sports-related injuries and how to treat them.”

Zumaeta emphasized that much of the information learned in class can be used during medical emergencies. He even recalled a student who was present when one of their family members experienced a seizure and used class knowledge to help assess the situation properly.

“They thanked me for teaching the material because [their] family was faced with an emergency situation and [they were] able to respond to it,” Zumaeta said. “Nobody else knew how to react to it, but this individual knew how to, and was able to respond.…

Stories like that really make a difference.”

Students are able to sign up for the class during routine course programming, which is currently happening. The Sports Medicine class is available to all incoming sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and the Advanced Sports Medicine class is available for incoming juniors and seniors who have taken the Sports Medicine class previously.

16

TIGER FEBRUARY 17, 2022

SPORTS

Cost and competition curtail youth sports participation

financial gap in youth sports is widening and has never been this striking. This phenomenon is contributing to youth sports leagues overwhelmingly composed of kids from wealthy families.

The decline is most evident in baseball, where participation rates have dropped by 20 percent over the past decade. Participating in a youth baseball league is a significant financial commitment. The South Pasadena Little League requires athletes to pay a $95 registration fee per player, covering the jersey, hat, and socks. The player must also have the appropriate equipment, including a bat, glove, helmet, and more. The cost totals $310 at minimum, while the purchase of quality equipment will take $670 out of parents’ pockets. Conversely, in basketball, where minimal equipment is needed, the decline has not been as significant: a 2 percent decrease over the past decade. This suggests the financial aspect of youth sports is the driving force in kids playing less.

Another contributing component to the diminishing youth sports participation rate is increased competitiveness and intense coaching tactics. This creates an intimidating atmosphere for young athletes.

BYU published an article in April 2017 exploring this, citing a lack of developmentally-driven teams and spikes in the level of competition as the primary grounds for the shrinking youth sports population.

STORY BENJAMIN REGAN ILLUSTRATION ETHAN LYONS

2018, when soccer, flag football, basketball, and baseball participation rates declined.

S

Increased competitiveness and financial commitments are detracting youth from sports, which, given the advantages and amusement provided for its players, is a disservice to the country’s children.

ports are one of the treasures of childhood: an opportunity for physical activity, a chance to bond with teammates, and a way to discover one’s passion.

A Little League game, hamburgers grilling behind the field, or a court of young basketball players convinced the hardwood of their local gym will be the origin of their NBA career — these are experiences that many cherish when reflecting upon their youth.

The benefits of youth sports are well-documented. A study from the non-profit Aspen Institute indicates children who participate in sports are eight times more likely to be active as adults than those who stray away from athletics as youth.

Money is among the main culprits for the decline of participation in youth sports. A 2013 ESPN study showed American families earning upwards of $100,000 annually accounted for 33 percent of the 43 percent of the country participating in youth sports at the time. The Atlantic reaffirmed these findings in 2018. Data collected indicated youth sports participation in wealthier households is on the rise, while kids from families earning less than $50,000 annually are disproportionately dropping out.

Improved cognitive skills, grades, standardized test scores, and mental health are all linked to youth sports.

In the early 2000s, nearly half of America’s youth participated in sports. That plummeted to 38 percent in

Financial advantages have always existed in athletics for those who want to get ahead. Richer families seek expensive equipment and private coaching, meaning money gives young athletes more opportunities. The

“I played soccer for two years. I decided to quit because once I learned how to play, I had to be insanely good to continue,” an anonymous student said. “It was competitive to get into teams; being good was the only thing that mattered.”

In other words, the middle ground for those who return to the field purely because of their love for the game is fading. Young athletes deserve an opportunity to enjoy their sport and take pride in playing, even if they may not be the best player. The heightening of competitiveness also leads to a higher risk of injury. Of the more than 3.5 million athletes under the age of 14 experiencing a sports-related injury each year, overuse injuries account for more than half of them. Coaches are demanding more of their players, which leads to more injuries.

No kid ever forgets their first AYSO goal or YMCA basket.

More welcoming sports leagues must return, with less emphasis on competitiveness and more on an affordable atmosphere, supporting players, and providing them with basic equipment. In this environment, young athletes of all demographics and financial circumstances will be able to line up their trophies and picture themselves on a professional field, the crowd chanting their name.

CIF update: Girls and boys basketball playoff runs Jan. 26. Finishing in first place in the Rio Hondo League, South Pas has an overall record of 25-2 and ended at 9-1 in league play.

The Tigers qualified for CIF and defeated the local Arcadia Apaches in the first game of the playoffs, 71-47.

Their precise and fast-paced offense resulted in landing shot after shot, while their aggressive, trapping defense prevented their opponents from closing the gap. On the occasion an other team’s defense became challenging, the Tigers lured them away with quick and disorienting passes before shooting.

However, its most recent quarterfinal game against Highland on Tuesday, Feb. 15 ended in a devastating 54-50 loss for the Tigers. After many mistakes and missed opportunities, the Tigers could not catch up to the Bulldogs in time, putting a bitter end to their quick playoff run.

South Pas is set to play Paramount in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Feb. 16, when they will likely employ similar tactics. As the CIF bracket unfolds, girls basketball appears primed for victory.

BOYS BASKETBALL STORY CHARLOTTE DEKLE & LEXIE DOIG PHOTOS ERIN LEE & MICHELLE SHADMON All information is accurate as of press time.

GIRLS BASKETBALL Girls basketball has dominated this season, winning nearly every game by incredible margins, such as their 84-20 beat down of the Monrovia Wildcats on Wednesday,

Boys basketball had a strong season, tying for first in the league. With a 19-9 overall record and a 8-2 league standing, the Tigers qualified for CIF. South Pas challenged Indian Springs in the Division 3A playoff opener, and succeeded in a 68-62 win.

Standout senior and point guard Dillon Akers has asserted himself as the primary three-point shooter and ball-handler for the Tigers. On Friday, Feb. 11, in its first playoff game, South Pas continually dunked on its opponents but later slowed down.

BUT WAIT!

CHECK OUT MORE COVERAGE ON

There’s more...

IN A GRUELING QUARTERFINAL GAME, boys basketball slipped up in the fourth quarter, ending its CIF run.

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

@SPHStiger

@SPHSTigerNewspaper

ONLINE

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

tigernewspaper.com

tiger.newspaper

@tigernewspaper