“Art is either revolution or plagiarism.” — Paul Gauguin For senior Rebecca Cheng’s “The Puppet Master,” it was its removal — not its message on racial injustice — which sparked the dis- course. The striking self-portrait, which confronts the overlooking of Asian-American discrimination, was removed from the PAUSD dis- trict office for its inclusion of racial slurs. In our cover story “Drawing a Fine Line,” staff writers Kaitlyn Ho, Sasha Poor and Kobi Johnsson investigate the discordance between student artistic expression and administrative restraint, tracing the creative dead-ends of several Paly artists. On our cover, Photo Director Lucia Amieva-Wang captures Cheng and her controversial piece, which includes the slur “ch-nk.” Its inclusion on the cover was not a decision Verde made lightly — our consideration process included in-class discussion, hours of editorial deliberation, consultation of AP Style guidelines and conversations with professional journalists.
