WG ECHO November 2022 Issue

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Lydia Urice

PRINT EDITOR: Izzy Poole

JUNIOR EDITOR: Hadley Hoskins

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER/ GRAPHICS EDITOR: Maren DeMargel

VIDEO EDITOR: Luca Giordano

NEWS/OPINION EDITOR: Ali Schulz

SPORTS EDITOR: Owen Crews

PODCAST EDITOR: Sam Klein

FEATURE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Joe Harned

BUSINESS MANAGERS: Soledad Lee Dakota Motley

TIKTOK/ PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER: Eleanor Kanerva ADVISOR: Donald Johnson

SOME MATERIAL FROM TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

The Echo is a monthly publication of the newspa per staff of Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Ave., Webster Groves, MO.

To contact staff members, call 314-963-6400 ex. 11157 or write to wgecho@wgmail.org. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of a majority of staff members; signed articles are the opinion of the writer

Letters to the editor of 300 words or less are welcome; submit letters by the 10th of the month to wgecho@wgmail.org, or room 155. All letters must be signed, although the name may be withheld from publication if requested. The Echo has the right to edit letters for publication as long as intent remains unchanged.

The Echo is a member of Quill and Scroll, JEA, MIJA, NSPA and CSPA.

Exchange student gets involved in American Activities

Junior verbally commits to D1 school for soccer Swim and dive team bleaches hair for State Cross Country team reflects on season Mid-term elections provide students first time voting ‘Grease’ returns to stage at WGHS Students share opinions on Thanksgiving origins Soccer wins State championship ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ lives up to hype Swift’s new album divides fans Gun laws need to be stronger

Cover Cutline: Senior Branyon Heard and junior Riley Mihill celebrate with teammates during their State Semifinal game against Whitfield on Friday, Nov. 18. The Statesmen won with a score of 1-0. Photo by Ali Schulz. Correction: The photo used with the Reel Film Club story last month was mistakenly attributed to Jacob Riefle when it should have been attributed to Maya Murray.

San Juan to St. Louis Exchange student gets involved in American activities

Maren DeMargel Social Media Manager

“It’s always been something that I always aspired to do, to visit, and to know,” Argentinian exchange student Coty Ripoll said of the American high school experience.

Coming from San Juan, Argentina where school days are short er and after-school activities are few and far between, Ripoll has had to adjust to an entirely new schedule and environment.

“In San Juan, it’s really common to take this nap after lunch, so it’s like you wake up, you go to school, then like back to your house because we don’t have lunch in school, and so you go to your house you eat your lunch, and then you take a little nap and then you come back,” Ripoll said. “We have like five hours of school I think, and sometimes [American school] has been really tiring.”

While she does miss the afternoon nap, Ripoll said American school still has its perks.

“You can choose the classes; we can’t do that in Argentina,” Ripoll said, “and I’m really en joying Spirit Week. I’m loving it. It’s so funny seeing different people with dif ferent costumes.”

Spirit Week is just one tradition that Ripoll has enjoyed.

“I really liked Hal loween. I think it’s something really fun to do, like go trick-ortreating; I did because it was my first time. It was really fun and I really liked it,” Ripoll said.

Ripoll has mixed feelings about Thanks giving though.

“Thanksgiving. I’m a little bit scared of Thanksgiving, like, I don’t really know what you do. I don’t know,” Ri poll said.

According to Ripoll, while both Americans and Argentinians celebrate Christmas, the traditions associated with the holiday are different in each country.

“Christmas is different (in Argentina). I know you wake up and then you open the gift; we do not. We have the gifts at night, and so basically, you will distract the kids with the fireworks, and you will put all the gifts under the tree, and then when they come in side, they see all of the gifts, and we open it at night,” Ripoll said.

Ripoll also celebrates Webster’s plethora of clubs and activi ties, since in her hometown of San Juan, there aren’t many to participate in.

“I’m part of the musical. I’m actually like an extra, and it’s been really fun. I did softball. I am thinking about doing some sport in winter. I am in Spanish Club, SNHS and History in Action,” Ripoll said.

Not only have these activities been entertaining for Ripoll, but they have also helped her find her place.

“I definitely got a lot of friends or people that I know with softball, and that has helped me a lot with just going in the hall ways and saying hi to peo ple, and you don’t feel like that alone,” Ripoll said.

Another activity that makes her feel less alone is her involvement with Spanish Club and Spanish National Honor Society.

“I like that contact with Spanish and all that, and people trying to speak the language. I’m always really proud of people that actually try because I know it’s a really difficult language,” Ripoll said.

Ripoll’s host sister, junior So nora Haake, is a part of these clubs alongside Ripoll.

“It’s really interesting to have her there because we talk about some kinds of cultural things and have done activities like learning to salsa dance, and it’s cool to hear her input on what we’re be ing taught,” Haake said via email.

The two have become close and have devel oped a sister-like relationship.

“My favorite part about being her host sister is when neither of us has anything going on we hang out together and she is really fun to be around. She loves cracking jokes and listening to music, and it’s really en tertaining. Within the first week of being here, she was teaching us Argentinian insults (cussing) at the dinner table,” Haake said via email.

Even though the two grew up in different countries and have different first languages, that has not stopped them from finding ways to connect and communicate.

“When she doesn’t know if a word is right, it’s usually one where multiple words could fit the sentence but there is one that just makes a little more sense so we’ll help her figure out which one that is. There are also times though when it feels like she knows English better than I do,” Haake said via email.

Junior Coty Ripoll is in volved in clubs and activi ties including Spanish Club and Drama.

Photos by Isabella Pan tano, Lydia Urice and Maren DeMargel

Art from Canva

Junior verbally commits to D1 school for soccer

Sam Klein Podcast Editor

Junior Kameran Bluette announced her verbal commitment to the University of Tennessee on Oct. 25, to play D1 soccer.

“My coaches were a big help. They re ally pushed me and they also had connec tion, and that’s a very main thing about the recruiting process you have to have con nections, and so I think that helped, but they really pushed me, and you can’t just settle you have to do more outside,” Blu ette said about what got her to where she is today.

Bluette plays both wing forward and wing center mid for her club team, St. Louis Scott Gallagher 06 ECNL Navy, and played one year on Varsity for Web ster her freshman year. Last year she de cided to play for her club team during the high school soccer season, but she is con sidering returning to the team.

“I’m basically on a club team that plays for a regional league, but throughout the regional league there’s a national league, and so we go to national events, and that’s where colleges come to watch us play, so through that Tennessee noticed me,” Blu

ette explained.

On June 15, before players junior years of high school colleges can begin com municating with players, and from there Bluette started talking with Tennessee and they made a deal.

Bluette started playing soccer when she was in sixth grade after she quit gymnas tics which makes a total of only five years that she’s been playing the sport.

“She put in a lot of hard work, she went to the practices, she practiced as hard as she could, and then when she came home, she did even more. She went down to the basement and worked on foot work, juggling. We have a net, like a soc cer net, in my backyard and she would go out there for hours,” Bluette’s twin sister Karson Bluette explained the work her sister put in.

Bluette told about how proud she is of her sister and how far she’s come. At first she questioned if her sister quitting gym nastics for soccer was the right move, but she watched as her sister put in the effort and eventually the work paid off.

“She wanted to be the best, she wanted to get better, she just wanted to be- she just wanted to be number one basically.”

Bluette’s twin said. “I’m just like so proud of her and all the work and dedication she’s put in.”

On July 11, in 2022 in Richmond, Ver mont, Bluette and her club team took the title of national champions, and now Blu ette has a verbal commitment to Tennes see.

Swim and dive team bleaches hair for State

Lydia Urice Editor-in-Chief

Men’s swim and dive competed at State on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12, at St. Peters Rec Complex.

There, the team competed in 10 swimming events and three diving events.

In anticipation of the meet, the team got together at junior Calum and sophomore Emmett Shank’s house for team bonding. This bond ing was different from their usual team dinner before meets.

“[Everyone] competing or [at tending as] alternates at the State meet, bleached their hair,” senior Dominic Lee said.

“We put bleach in it. Then we washed it out and put purple shampoo in it. Then we repeated it a few times,” freshman Ryan

DeMargel said.

The result was met with mixed feelings.

“Bad, bad, because I look like I’m Irish,” senior Dani Llompart said.

My hair’s not that bad because it was al

ready light before so I don’t mind it. My hair barely changed,” DeMargel said.

“It makes me really excited for state. It’s also pretty funny to look at all of us when we’re together,” Lee said.

“Honestly my thoughts change every minute, but it shows how close the team is,” junior Calum Shank said.“We did it to bring the team closer but also to look cool at State. I’m pretty happy about it and how it turned out,” senior Bennet Loving said.

Their coach, Evyn Spencer was a fan.

“I love their bleached hair. It’s great team bonding, really fun. Their reactions were funny. I’m excited to see how it grows out,” Spencer said.

Junior Kameran Bluette plays in her club soccer game against Solar Soccer Club.

Photo provided by Kameran Bluette

Senior Dani Llompart and freshman Ryan DeMar gel disagree on the outcome of bleaching their hair.

Photo by Lydia Urice

Cross Country team reflects on season

Owen Crews Sports Editor

Cross Country finished sixth this year at State on Nov. 4. This race took place at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.

Coach Jon Petter had some thoughts about the overall season via email. “Our team finished sixth place at State - the highest fin ish since 1993 and only the fifth time in school history finishing in the top six at State. The guys competed hard in brutally windy and warm conditions at State and made our team and the school very proud.”

Senior Brennen Ulrich also reflected about his time at State. “At State my orig inal goal was to get All State, but going into the race I struggled a bit mentally, but I still managed to push myself and place pretty high in the race placing 34th, a couple places off from medaling which is good.”

This however led to some disappoint ments felt throughout the team.

Sophomore Henry Boland mentioned his own feelings of State.

Boland said, “I think we had some high expectations going into State. We knew what we were capable of and could do, and the overall goal was it was just ex citing to being there and just a great ex perience being with the team. We didn’t necessarily get the results we wanted, but still we were there.”

Junior Max Kilstrom also had a similar experience. “Coming into the race, I was trying to give my all, but after the race happened I feel like I had more in me. I think as a team we could have done bet ter.”

The team also mentioned some posi tives.

Ulrich said, “The team all pushed through and did very well. I am very proud of everyone.” This was also a senti ment that was shared by other racers.

Junior Jack Schnei der said, “I think we still overall through out the season we were doing good as a team and am proud for us getting to State.”

However most con sensus of the team was looking towards the future.

Petter writes via email, “We don’t want to allow extrin sic goals to prevent us from seeing our growth, but we defi nitely are hungry for going after the work needed next season to get us on the podium at State in 2023.”

Sophomore Domi nic Buckman also spoke about their placement and how

it felt running at State.“I was defi nitely very excited to run State being a sophomore obvi ously getting the experience to run state. We got sixth which was kind of disappointing for us though. We were expecting to do a lot better, and so it was bittersweet, but I was grateful for it.”

“The teams that compete for tro phies are the ones that work hard and know what it takesand we expect to be one of those teams that understands and does these things.”

Petter said via email.

Members of the men’s cross country team line up for photo after finishing sixth at State at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course on Nov. 4

Photo by Brady Curtis

Midterm elections provide

Luca Giordano Video Editor

Midterm elections took place Nov. 8, and 18-year-old students experienced their first time voting.

Student voters viewed voting as a responsibility to participate in society.

“I decided to vote because I personally think it’s my civic duty to go out and at least look at the bal lot and fill out what I have an opinion on. There were some is sues that I didn’t vote on, but there were also issues that I did vote on,” senior Jude Bronner

Bronner voted at the First Congre gational Church on Lockwood. Upon arriving and finding that his driver’s li cense had expired, people in the voting center cheered and rang bells as it was his

Senior Lily Petersen voted at Edgar Road Elementary School with her sister. Petersen was surprised that her ballot was a piece of paper rather than a machine or computer ballot. Petersen also felt that voting was her responsibility as a citizen.

“It’s my responsibility as a person who cares about the state of the world, even though I knew in the state we live in, my specific votes probably weren’t going to actually make the changes that I want, but it’s still important to vote, especially because a lot of young people don’t,” Petersen said.

Students asked parents and friends about voting. Although others helped in their voting process, stu dents felt they could make their own po litical decisions.

“I feel like I could mostly make my own decision. I’m pretty good at making my own de cisions on politics and stuff because my family and I don’t really agree, so

Senior Jude Bronner stands as volunteer voting center workers verify his information. Bronner voted at the First Congre gational Church on Nov. 8.

Photo provided by Jude Bronner

students first time voting

cause his parents told him it was a good idea.

For students who didn’t vote, registering was the issue. Both senior Mirabelle Williams and senior Jackson Bacilek were not able to vote as Williams regis tered late, and Bacilek forgot to altogether. Wil liams and Bacilek regretted their de cision.

“I wanted to (vote), very bad ly. Although it’s hard because I saw the results and for the person who I would have voted for, my one vote wouldn’t have made them win, but I still feel like it’s a duty, and that you should vote for who you want to be in office,” Williams said.

I’m usually pretty solid in what I think,” Petersen said.

Student voters did research on amendments and candidates prior to voting. Bronner acknowledged sites Ballotpedia and Vote411.

“Obviously, women’s rights are kind of at stake right now, so I wanted to do a lot of research to make sure I was making sure that my rights are not taken away,” senior Molly Knackst edt said.

Knackstedt researched on the internet about candidates and is sues. When she arrived at the voting center and gave the people at the voting center her ID, they helped her on where to go to vote.

Being younger in the voting center meant acknowledgement from voting staff.

“They obviously know it’s your first time, so there’s definitely a sort of different warmth towards you. It’s all in a nice way,” senior Cole Sturgeon said.

Sturgeon went alone to Hudson to vote. Af ter standing in line for 30 minutes, it took him 10 minutes to vote. Stur geon decided to vote be

“I regret a little bit not voting. I regret not speaking up, not displaying my opinion.

feel

kind of just for got about it really,” Bacilek said. Williams and Bacilek plan to vote in the next election.

Student voters encouraged young people to vote.

“I think it’s vital for young people to vote. I’m pretty sure that Gen Z is the most underrepresented group in voting, and I think often we have the strongest opinions, and I think if you want to act on those strong opinions, one of the most direct and effective ways is to vote,” Bronner said.

eryone should have a right to do that, and I

Senior Lily Petersen sits in her car with voting sticker on her forehead. Petersen voted at Edgar Road Elementary School. Photo provided by Lily Petersen

Art by Lily Musgraves

Halli Bronner and her son, senior Jude Bronner, smile after voting.

Photo provided to Jude Bronner

‘Grease’ returns to stage at WGHS

Lydia Urice Editor-in-Chief

“Grease’’ is a movie, produced in 1978, starring Olivia New ton-John and John Travolta, but it’s also the WGHS drama de partment’s fall musical.

“It’s the third time Webster Groves High School has done it. They did it 1989, 2002, and we’re gonna do it now,” director Todd Schaefer said.

Library aide Lamar Fitzgerald was in the ‘89 production.

“I ended up doing tech and backstage. I think they also let me sing in “Greased Lightning.” Library aide Lamar Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald planned on attending the show.

“I’m excited,” Fitzgerald said.

The musical premiered in 1972.

“The big question is: is ‘Grease’ still relevant? Because it is such an old show, 1972,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer said it is.

“It’s talking about sex, drugs and rock and roll. 1958, but I see a lot of what the kids are dealing with now. We’re still dealing with teen pregnancy scares. We’re still dealing with kids drink ing earlier than they should be. We’re still watching kids get their first cars and find freedom in so many ways,” Schaefer said.

“‘Grease’ is the last ditch effort of the adult populus going, ‘No, we are a pink and blue society,’ and the teenagers going, ‘No, we’re not. No, that’s just not cool.’ I like when theater can look back and go, ‘We’re still working on these problems. There’s still a problem, and we still need to work on them,’” Schaefer said.

Schaefer likes that “Grease” is an autobiography.

“These two guys that wrote it, are kind of the Danny and Kenickie of the story, and all of the characters are based on real people. Rydell High is based on Taft High School, where they at tended high school in Southside, Chicago. Unlike the movie, this is about the lower economic sector of Chicago at that time. These are struggling high school kids,” Schaefer said.

“Hollywood sanitized it a bit and cleaned it up quite a bit. This is really a story about real kids from high school. I liked that aspect of it. I didn’t always like the idea of ‘Grease’ because I thought it was a bit cartoony. This kind of pulls that away. Hol lywood is the thing that cartooned it. The original show is not a cartoon. It’s about real kids, so we’re trying to get back to the authentic,” Schaefer said.

The production, which opened Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. in Knights Auditorium, started out smaller and has since grown into something bigger than Schaefer first imagined.

“This year I knew we had to do a musical, so we’re doing what I call the jeans and tee shirt show. The costumes for the original 1972 production, which is what we’re doing, were jeans and tee shirts. The pink ladies are in very simple 1950s outfits. We ended up choosing the show for that reason. The original cast was 17 people, and they all got a jeans and tee shirt outfit and a dance outfit. Second act, they go to the prom, kinda the high school homecoming, so they all get a second outfit,” Schaefer said.

“We have padded the cast. We had so many people show up to the auditions, that were very talented, that we added another 15 roughly actors to the padded cast. These are the other high schoolers in the story. So they’re in three or four scenes and the dance numbers and singing numbers. Well, that took us away from the jeans and tee shirt show,” Schaefer said.

Monetary factors were also considered.

“It’s not a cheap show rights-wise. It’s actually one of the more expensive shows to get the licensing, but the show itself, the pro duction is not expensive to produce. We’re making a lot of our stock, a lot of scraps from previous shows and converting them.

Another factor is that male attendance in the theater industry is low.

“We’re struggling to get boys into the program, so I’m trying to find a show that is safe for the boys. Where they hear the word ‘Grease,’ and it’s cool to be on stage singing because we’re not alone [in low male participation]. This is trickling down from conversations on Broadway where the male attendance at theater is down. Male attendance at auditions is down. Male attendance period for the straight heterosexual male in theater is down, so I’m trying to pick shows that push not necessarily a masculine agenda but that push the safe zone for men to get involved,” Schaefer said.

The last reason is that Knights Auditorium will be under con struction next year.

“We got a bond issue passed to get our repairs that are need ed, which is brand [a] new fly gallery, all new lighting system, all new sound system, new curtains. The rest of the auditorium got its facelift five, seven years ago. This is way overdue. We’re gonna live out of the Black Box next year, and because we knew we were going to be going to smaller shows next year, we picked a big one [this year],” Schaefer said.

The play ran Friday, Nov. 11, and closed Saturday, Nov. 12.

Co-heads of costumes and sophomores Ellis Gibson and Ellen Luecke work on costumes for upcoming “Grease” production.

Photo by Lydia Urice

Soccer wins State championship

Hadley Hoskins Junior Editor

Men’s soccer won the MHSAA Class 3 State Championship on Saturday, Nov, 20, in a game against East Kansas City High School. The score was 3-2 after going into penalty kicks.

At halftime, the score was 1-0 East. In the second half of the game senior Jonas Oesterlei scored.

It was then followed by another goal from senior Oliver Doyle, who scored in a penalty kick after a foul drawn by junior Brendan Crews. Regulation ended with a 2-2 tie, resulting in two overtime periods and eventually, penalty kicks.

Back-up goalie junior Krew Rekart was in the goal after goalie senior Luca Zarky was injured.

Doyle expressed his pride in the team for the win.

“I’m glad that all of our work from early June until now has all paid off. We worked really hard this season… It’s just such an amazing moment,” Doyle said.

Webster’s record for the season was 21-3-3. East’s record was 20-3-1.

Op-ed Students share opinions on Thanksgiving origins

Eleanor Kanerva TikTok/Public Relations Manager

Thanksgiving is full of good food, family and gratitude, but the origins of this holiday are more divisive.

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 when the English colonists of Plymouth and the Wampanoag Natives came together to cel ebrate their first harvest, but that’s not the full story.

What people leave out is the English exploitation of these Na tive Americans and their land along with colonial expansion and the spread of disease.

Questions about whether or not this controversial holiday is worth celebrating anymore given its past are present now more than ever.

Junior Ari Eichberg said, “I believe Thanksgiving should be

continued to be celebrated because of the traditions that bring families together despite the politically incorrect history.”

Students agree with this statement that the holiday and its val ues that are celebrated now don’t reflect its disturbing history.

Junior Maggie Lodes said, “I don’t think of Thanksgiving as a celebration of what happened between the pilgrims and the na tives. I think of it as a day to come together with your family and be thankful for what we have.”

Senior Kaz Bergmann said, “Thanksgiving means many dif ferent things to different people. I think the history of the holi day is something to note and how people celebrate Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of America. It’s morphed into a way for families to get together to catch up and enjoy food. I think that for many families it can be a very important holiday, it has just come from such a bad place.”

Jack Lewis passes to teammate during the mens soccer game against Whitfield high school. They won with a score of 1-0 in the semi-final game on Friday, Nov. 18.

Photo by Ali Schulz

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ lives up to hype

Dakota Motley Business Manager

Marvel Studios released one of its new Phase 4 movies, the sequel to Black Panther which came out in 2018. The movie quickly became number one in the theaters.

The new movie was filmed after the lead actor, Chadwick Boseman’s death back in 2020. The movie starts off with a fu neral for Boseman’s character, T’Challa. They never explain how T’Challa dies, but viewers see how badly the death impacts not only Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) but his sister, Shuri (Le titia Wright).

Long time Marvel viewers have been waiting years for this film to come out and are excited to see it hit the big screens. The movie was predicted to make $435 million dollars in the box of fice, $300 million less than the first Black Panther movie.

The film puts viewers into the shoes of both Shuri and Queen Ramonda by showing how they deal with T’Challa’s death. The movie’s cinematography immerses viewers into the world of Wakanda and allows it to be seen from a new perspective that the previous Black Panther movie did not.

Shuri and Queen Ramonda are shown dealing with T’Challa’s death, and finding a “new black panther”. Shuri took the loss very hard, seeing as though she and her brother were very close. Queen Ramonda has grieved and dealt with T’Challa’s death but Shuri still hasn’t let herself grieve.

Shuri and Ramonda take a trip to try and help Shuri grieve about T’Challa’s death. As they are on a beach, a mysterious man, by the name of Namor (Tenoch Huerta) appears out of the water. Namor warns the two of danger coming from keeping vibranium away from the rest of the world.

Namor gives Queen Ramonda a choice between getting help from him and his tribe or going to war against them. Queen Ramonda thinks about the offer and sends Shuri and Okoye (Danai Guri ra) to find the scientist that built the vibranium finding machine.

The movie has a series of fight scenes and suspenseful points which cater to the Marvel theme. There is never a dull moment in the movie and will keep viewers trapped, waiting for the next thing to happen.

A question that plagues the whole movie is ‘What happened to the Black Panther and will there be another one?’ Marvel does answer this question with a wonderfully filmed scene featuring Michael B. Jordan’s previous character Erik Killmonger.

“Black Panther Wakanda Forever” is a PG-13 rated movie, perfect for those who love watching with family and friends. It has a run time of two-hours-and-41-minutes.

Art by Dakota Motley

Swift’s new album divides fans

Soledad Lee Business Manager

Taylor Swift released “Midnights,” her new album on Friday, Oct. 21, at midnight.

Fans, known as ¨Swifties,¨ patiently waited, as Taylor Swift announced the album at the MTV Video Music Awards during her acceptance speech for an award for the ¨All Too Well¨ short film, on Aug. 28.

Listeners might have noticed how dif ferent this album is. It is not like anything Swift has done before all together. Maybe the album isn’t a big step forward into who she is, but it does bring a new mind set from Swift. As a whole the album is creatively abstract with what songs are on it. Although listen ers still will find those painful tracks about love and even repu tation style tracks.

English teacher Steve Leftridge reflected on this: “I think for Taylor it feels like, to me the whole album feels like a holding pattern for her. She’s taking a little bit of a step backward where she’s trying to find this middle ground, between her big pop self like the reputation style Taylor Swift and the more fuzzy sweater, cabin in the woods, folklore, Taylor.”

When Taylor comes out with new music, fans are bound to find connections through her old music as well.

“‘Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve,’ was very fun to listen to, cause I love ‘Dear John,’ and I was happy to see her bash him (John Mayer) again,¨ junior Audrey Culver said.

The album has 13 tracks, excluding the other seven tracks in the “Midnights (3 a.m. Edition).” The 13 tracks were re vealed to Swifties, slowly through a series on TikTok created by Swift called ¨Midnights Mayhem With Me.¨ It was written and produced by Swift, along with a big collaboration with Jack Antonoff.

“I think Jack Antonoff makes really terrific records, so it’s a cool sounding album,” Leftridge said.

Other fans disagree.

“He’s (Antonoff) making all the indie girls sound similar to him and he needs to lay back a bit, release the reins, so they can do what they do best,” junior Frances Baken said.

“Some fans are missing Swift’s old style of mu sic.

“‘Midnights,’ it’s good. It was not nec essarily my favorite, but it definitely had all different aspects from her old al bums, which I liked, but OG Taylor will always be my favorite Taylor,” junior El lie Jacobsmeyer said.

Swift has been put into controversy for years in the industry. Just as ex pected with her new release of “Mid nights” and her music video for “An ti-Hero,” one of the 13 tracks on the album.

“I think people are giving her a lot of backlash, for opening about issues she’s had, like the whole music video thing, that was a little annoying cause she was getting a bunch of backlash for being vul nerable, and I think it’s a repeat of past album is sues,” junior Audrey Culver said.

“I yearn for ‘Teardrops On My Guitar,’” Latin teacher Jeff Smith said. Smith is a OG Taylor Swift fan, as he refers to Swift’s song, “Teardrops On My Guitar,” from her first album, “Taylor Swift.”

by Frances Baken

Art

Editorial Gun laws need to be stronger

Two people were killed and seven others were injured in a shooting at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience on Oct. 24.

This event showed the reality that guns can find their way into communities even like Saint Louis.

Police responded to a 911 call that morning indicating there was an active shooter in the building. Although the police re sponse was quick, Alexzandria Bell, a sophomore at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, and Jean Kuczka, a health teacher at the school lost their lives. Seven other vic tims, with ages ranging from 15 to 16, suffered injuries due to the shooting.

Although these were the only victims suffering physical in juries, hundreds more students will be dealing with the men tal effects of the aftermath of the shooting--both those who were at the school, and those who weren’t.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and against gun violence, “ Missouri gun laws are some of the weakest in the country. Missouri has no law requiring back ground checks on unlicensed gun sales. State law also allows people to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public without a permit or safety training.”

Missouri is also in the bottom 10 states for gun law strength and experiences the fourth highest gun death rate, with an av erage 1,288 people dying due to guns per year in Missouri. Out of that average of 1,288, 116 are children and teens.

The rate of gun deaths in Missouri from 2011 to 2020 has increased by 70%, compared to a nationwide 33% increase. In 2020, firearms were also the leading cause of death among children and teens, significantly higher than even motor ve hicle accidents.

These alarming statistics, along with recent events, have provoked a call for action by some Missouri legislators.

Missouri State Senator Doug Beck is again, for the third year in a row, filing legislation to establish a Missouri “Red Flag” law due to the recent events at Central Visual and Per forming Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience. This “Red Flag” law would establish proce dures for courts to issue an extreme risk order if an individual in possession of a firearm is deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Although Beck is working on passing gun control legisla tion, the same can not be said for other Missouri lawmakers.

On June 14, 2021, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed into law the “Second Amendment Preservation Act, or SAPA.” This law makes any person or entity who “know ingly deprives Missouri citizens of their right to bear arms liable for redress and monetary damages of $50,000 per oc currence.”

This law also prohibits state and local cooperation with federal officials that attempt to enforce any rules, laws, orders or actions that violate Second Amendment rights of Missouri citizens.

The SAPA now has multiple lawsuits being filed against it. The United States Department of Justice has filed a fed eral lawsuit against the state of Missouri over this law. The City of Arnold also filed a lawsuit against the SAPA, and is

now being backed by nearly 60 police chiefs from the St. Louis Area Police Chiefs Association and the Missouri Police Chiefs Association.

The federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was passed in June 2022 and is an act to keep communities, schools and chil dren safe, and to reduce the threat of violence across the coun try. The SAPA currently prevents this law from being instated in Missouri, due to its prohibition of cooperating with federal of ficials, and it will remain that way at least until the cases against the SAPA are settled.

The inability for the federal Bipartisan Safer Commu nities Act to go in place in Missouri is damaging to the whole community. Proper gun regulations can not be put in place, and people will continue to be put in danger again and again.

While one can not go out and change the current laws in Missouri, there are still ways they can get involved. There are many organizations, such as Everytown for Gun Safety or March For Our Lives, that one can donate and give support to. Both of these organi zations accept donations, and tell one how to get involved in the movement to end gun violence.

Art by Gracie Giles