The Chatterbox - March 24, 2022 - CXVI.09

Know your rights

The WHHS 2021-2022 Student Handbook is an official statement of rules and regulations regarding school policies, put together by administrators and counselors. The handbook includes rights and responsibilities students have and should be utilized by families. An updated version of this school year’s handbook can be found on the

Dress Code

grade level websites, which are linked on the school’s main website. Students who have feedback on the handbook are welcome to email their grade level counselor with any questions or concerns.

Much of our student body is largely unaware of their rights while attending a public high school in Ohio. In 1969 the Supreme Court

Within the Student Rights and Responsibilities’ section of the WHHS student handbook, it states that “Students have the right to symbolic expression. This refers to expression that conveys personal beliefs through such means as hairstyle, clothing, [and] buttons.” The ‘Dress Code’ section makes no mention of commonly prohibited clothing items, such as ripped jeans and crop tops, citing that, “The primary responsibility for a student’s attire resides with the student and parents or guardians,” so long as, “student attire does not interfere with the health or safety of any student, and that student attire does not contribute to a hostile or intimidating atmosphere for any student.”

However, the handbook currently includes a specific, gendered dress code for school dances, with multiple differences listed as to what is acceptable for students to wear. For semi-formal dances, acceptable male attire includes, “dress shirt with collar, dress tie, turtleneck shirt/sweater, knit shirt, dress coat/sport coat/jacket” whereas female attire includes, “blouses or tops with modest neckline, dresses or skirts (midthigh/fingertip length or longer),” lacking the more progressive stance of the dress code for every-day clothing.

Freedoms of Expression

All students at WHHS and any public school in the United States are still considered ‘persons’ under the Constitution, meaning that their First Amendment rights to express themselves remain while at school. Students have the right to voice their opinions and are encouraged to do so. They may hand out flyers and petitions, write articles and assemble in organized groups as long as there is no material or substantial disruption to classes or other school activities. The student handbook recognizes that upon administrative approval, all school groups, “have the right of access to school publicity facilities – bulletin boards, Daily Bulletin, and approved areas for posting announcements, as time and space permit.” Students may also symbolically express themselves and these freedoms cannot be restricted solely due to a staff member or administrator’s difference in opinion. Legally, students are allowed to petition school policies or public injustices through means that do not disrupt the school day. Protests and walkouts have occurred several times in the last decade at WHHS, however are not protected under the law because, in Ohio, everyone under 18 years of age is required to attend school. That being said, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, schools cannot punish students for missing school to participate in political protest more harshly than it punishes students for missing school for any other purpose.

Disciplinary Action

Academic disciplines such as detentions and in-school suspensions can have damaging effects on a student’s record and, in some cases, on college applications. Currently, after-school office detentions are assigned for minor misbehaviors including tardiness and littering. As stated in the handbook, “Students may be assigned to Friday Evening School for more serious violations to the Code of Conduct than warrants detention.” Serious, Category III violations include possession of alcohol or drugs, physical or sexual assault, sexting and arson. A compre - hen -sive list of discipline procedures, based on Ohio law and CPS Board policies can be found in CPS’ Code of Conduct.

If a student feels a given consequence is unjust, they have the right to defend themselves under The Fourteenth Amendment. This amendment states that no government agency may deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Students are entitled to be informed of rules and to be heard in their own defense when assigned to considerable disciplines. For expulsion and suspensions a “due process” must be followed. Per the 1975 Supreme Court ruling, at a minimum, schools must give effective notice of the charges to students and a brief informal hearing with an opportunity to present the student’s version of events.

ruled that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” After reading through the 54-page handbook, here are some key takeaways that students should be aware of and take advantage of.

Student Congress

While the rights of Student Congress may often be overlooked, the handbook specifically addresses their rights, including representation, expression and election. The handbook states, “The student body has the right to organize a representative student government …[that shall] be elected and shall equally and democratically represent all students,” also explaining that Student Congress “may evaluate any aspect of the school community.”

“Student Congress has two representatives on both the LSDMC [Local School Decision Making Committee] and ILT [Instructional Leadership Team]… and through those committees, we work with things like communication, scheduling, programming, and course offerings,” SENIOR class president Kylie Bridgeman said. “I’m the [student] representative for the ILT… and it’s just been a great experience [to be] in the room where decisions about education are being made and being able to bring in that student perspective.”

Student Congress is also responsible for planning the majority of class events, including school dances, where students lead decisions ranging from finances and budgeting to dance themes and decorations.

“[You get to bring the ideas you see other people do [on so- cial media] to life and it’s just amazing to put your own spin on it and to bring new traditions [forward],” Bridgeman said. Student Congress elections are quickly approaching for the upcoming school year; candidates are posted on the Chatterbox website every year.

Grading Policies

Students are entitled to receive a grade for accurately reflecting how well they demonstrate that they have learned the material for each class, respectively. The 2021-22 course guide states, “grades at Walnut Hills are earned by the student, determined by the teacher, and are considered final. Any concerns about grades should be brought directly to the teacher.” Teachers at WHHS should be available at least once a week for help before or after the school day. This time can be used as a student sees is best fit and can include preparation of a special report, review of a test or quiz or help with a specific skill. The handbook also makes clear that “Excused absences, misconduct or disciplinary actions in or out of school are not to be used as criteria for academic grading,” and that a student’s personality should have no bearing on the grade they receive. Over the last few school years, CPS adopted and has updated a new 50 Point Grading Model, stating that, “a zero to fifty-nine percent range for an F grade would serve to be disproportionately punitive for students.” Many teachers support the 59-50% F grade, as opposed to a 0-59% range. “I always thought the grade report and double F rule were unfair,” a CPS high school counselor said.

SARAH DAVIDOFF/ CHATTERBOX PHOTOS BY KYNDALL GRIFFIN, AUDREY MELLO, THOMAS MAGGART, KIMAYA

Sarah Wilson, ‘25 and Kimaya Mundhe, ‘25

Losing the spark

Isabel Rodriguez, ‘22

Tired and slowly losing motivation, I typed “current events” into the search bar, and willed something to appear that would provide me with the new idea I so badly needed. The New York Times’ website appeared as the first result, and without wasting time, I clicked.

Scrolling past updates on Russia and Ukraine, inflation rates and political stories that seemed never-ending, I became even more disheartened. Don’t get me wrong, those stories are all very important, but I wanted a story that would be relatable.

Suddenly, I saw the title that was my saving grace: “19 Extremely Easy Recipes for When You’re Burned Out.” The first sentence of the description read, “Tired of….everything?” I automatically responded in my head: Yes, yes I am.

As a SENIOR in the final quarter of her high school career, I can’t seem to find the motivation to do much of anything. After the first semester ended and my college applications had been sent out, all I had left to do was wait. With one acceptance and one rejection in my back pocket, I set my sights on life post-high school. Suddenly, worrying about AP exams seemed like a thing of past years, and relatively harmless (formal apology to all my AP teachers, I promise it’s nothing personal).

Unfortunately, my “senioritis” affliction is actually a real thing and more than just a joke parents use to tease you. According to a 2017 survey done by NYU’s Steinhardt

School of Culture, Education and Human Development, the majority of seniors agreed that they would face a motivational drop-off in their second semester. In contrast, the majority of freshmen, sophomores and juniors believed they would be largely unaffected by “senioritis” in the future, despite the widely known fact of the second-semestersenior-year motivation dropoff. What goes largely unrecognized is that similar effects of the infamous “senioritis” are present in the much larger, all-encompassing term: “burnout.”

Dealing with burnout in high school

Alonzo Montgomery, ‘23

“They’re not dino shaped, though.”

That statement was confusing for multiple reasons, the main one being that it simply lacked context.

We, as people, rely on context a lot more than we think. We live in an age where we can talk to people with the press of a button, and when we don’t feel like face to face interaction, we text using acronyms and abbreviations.

A good example of the importance of context is the first sentence of this article.

In 2019, the World Health Organization classified burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” or basically stress that keeps on building and building endlessly.

Students of all grades experience this every year, as third quarter ends and spring break looms just out of reach. We grow impatient and ready for time away from schoolwork and messed-up sleep schedules.

I was so convinced that I would only have to survive one week of

The story behind it is that one friend got a dino shaped waffle maker and wanted to take it to another friend’s house when they went to hang out. Sadly, they forgot the waffle maker. Optimistically the other friend said they had waffles, but the friend who forgot their waffle maker objected and said, “they’re not dino shaped though.”

We have become so used to this that we don’t consider how important context is to a lot of the conversations we have.

The definition of “context,” according to Oxford Languages, is “the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea and in terms of which it can be understood or assessed.”

Probably the most common use of context would be understanding cues in a conversation, such as when to switch topics or when the other person finds something

The Chatterbox Policy Statement

The Chatterbox has been guaranteed the right of freedom of the press through the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The administration of Walnut Hills High School is thus bound to support and protect the Chatterbox’s inalienable rights as a free press. As an integral part of the Walnut Hills High School community, the Chatterbox has the responsibility to report in the most comprehensive and objective manner possible. Students, parents, faculty, and administrators

are encouraged to use this publication as a forum to express any ideas or concerns, whether they be personal or of local, national, or international scope.

Journalists are required to work under established guidelines. Invasion of privacy as a means of news gathering is prohibited. Articles found to be discriminatory, libelous, or unnecessarily obscene (as determined by the editors or the advisor) will not be published. Finally, journalists are granted the right to keep private the name of a source

fourth quarter and then be able to escape, but the school calendar proved me wrong. In case you thought the same, I understand your disappointment--but don’t be dismayed.

Remember to take time to breathe and decompress from what I know can be a very demanding schedule. Read a book (preferably not the one your English class assigned), take a walk outside and thank Cincinnati for finally deciding to stick to warmer weather, or even try your hand at making sheet-pan gnocchi or “Perfect Instant Ramen” courtesy of

you said to be interesting or amusing. This context is the kind that shows itself physically and helps guide how we interact with people on a day to day basis.

Think of inside jokes as an example. How many times have you been in a social setting and heard one person say something seemingly random and meaningless to another person and then the person they said it to starts hysterically laughing? The other person had the context of the inside joke, and so to them it was funny, but to you it made no sense. You lacked context in this situation that would have clarified what was going on and why it was so funny.

We rely on context to understand more than just conversations, stories and jokes. Having context can also explain action. What is the context in which an action hero in a movie does what they do or why the president

from whom they received information with the understanding that the source was to remain anonymous. The role of the newspaper advisor will be to provide counsel and criticism pertaining to the newspaper’s content and production. Although both the advisor and the administration hold certain powers regarding the Chatterbox, both must respect the paper’s autonomy. No student shall be prevented from joining the staff on the basis of sex, race, creed or national origin.

the New York Times. If you’re not into cooking (or if you’re currently exhausted and falling asleep at your desk like I am), I recommend a nap or an earlier bedtime.

On a serious note, if you are struggling to keep up, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You don’t have to place full responsibility on yourself all the time.

All views shared in the Opinions section of The Chatterbox belong to their respective authors, and may not represent the views of the publication as a whole.

addresses the nation? Without it the actions of people would seem random or have no solid reasoning behind them.

Another use for context is understanding the depth and severity of a situation. The broader context here would allow you to understand why something is as serious as its being made to be. It would allow you to become aware of the severity even if what is happening doesn’t directly affect you in any way.

Context helps us to understand the world around us.

All views shared in the Opinions section of The Chatterbox belong to their respective authors, and may not represent the views of the publication as a whole.

The Chatterbox Editorial Staff Bobby Keegan, Editor-in-Chief

Kaylee

Managing Editor of Current

Hajra Munir, Managing Editor of Student Life

SARAH DAVIDOFF, ‘13

Zinchini, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ryan Helton, Operations Manager Alonzo Montgomery, Public Relations Manager

Samantha

Brian

SYDNIE BARRETT / CHATTERBOX VIA SKETCHIFY / CANVA

The importance of context

A new direction

Athletic Director, Steve Ellison, pursues new opportunities after five years in the WHHS community.

Hajra Munir , ‘23

After five years as the head athletic director at WHHS, Steve Ellison is moving on from the nuthouse to focus on his family and eventually start his next chapter.

Ellison started his career as an athletic director at Woodward Career Technical High School for four years. Ellison was the youngest AD in Ohio at the time and was excited to take on this title.

“I was young and hungry and ready to make an impact on not only athletes but students in general,” Ellison said.

When Ellison made the transition to WHHS he was already familiar with the territory. During his undergrad days, he did an internship at WHHS.

“It was a pretty long internship, so I had to get hours and so I actually got my start here at Walnut with athletic administration and it was kind of my full circle moment,” Ellison said.

When the previous head athletic director retired, Tom Donnelley, Ellison saw this as an opportunity to return to WHHS.

“The position opened up, and I had kept in touch over the years with the administrators and the AD’s that were here at the time. And when the job opened up. It just made sense for me to come back home,” Ellison said.

One of Ellison’s main attractions to returning to WHHS was his familiarity with the campus and the staff as a previous alumni. Ellison was a three sport athlete during his high school career at WHHS and was grateful to be able to rejoin the community as head

AD.

“Pretty much everything that I am today is because of Walnut. My experience for six years of my life academically and athletically have been here [Walnut] so to be able to come back and give back to the school that gave me so much was rewarding,” Ellison said.

During Ellisons time here, he has been able to largely impact athletes and students in

general by opening new doors for them.

“My biggest accomplishment would be being able to provide as many opportunities as possible, not only for student athletes, but coaches and anyone that’s come through my department as an intern or an administrator,” Ellison said.

Along with Ellisons many accomplishments, he faced some obstacles

trying to accomplish his goal as an inspiring AD. With a school as large and lively as WHHS, it is difficult to be everywhere at once.

“My biggest challenge was being able to manage my time while also trying to be visible to everyone. There are only three people in my department so trying to spread the love and support to that many students became difficult,” Ellison said.

Ellison has changed the lives of so many students during his time at WHHS, but after five years, he has decided to leave so he could spend time with his family. Being head AD has occupied a lot of Ellisons evenings and weekends and he feels it is time to be there for his kids more.

“I am reclaiming some time back to be able to be around my family a little bit more and watch them grow up. I don’t want to miss their important milestones as they get older.”

As he departs, Ellison has high hopes for whoever is chosen to fill in his shoes.

“My hope is for someone to come in here and be able to continue to steer the ship forward. They should be able to put their own spin at it,” Ellison said. “I want them to be able to identify areas of improvement and capitalize on those but also continue those aspects that are already positive about our athletic program.”

Ellison is grateful to have been a monumental figure at WHHS and is excited to see the futures of the students.

“I hope the students still strive for greatness in everything they do,” Ellison said.

Ready for the season

compete in a game last season. Bahri blocks the opponent while

SENIORS

“Because I’m a SENIOR, I really want to leave the team on a good note,” Mangan said.

Megan Dorr,

‘22

As lacrosse season draws near, the captains of the WHHS girls varsity lacrosse team are looking to get the team ready. The teams first game was on March 19, but practice and training have been already for some time.

The three captains are SENIORS

Sophia Bahri and Ella Mangan along with Gabrielle Nelson, ‘23, who were all elected by their teammates to lead the team.

“I was happy [with being elected captain] because my teammates are my friends but they also see me as a leader and someone who can take charge,” Nelson said.

The team has many goals for the season, with a current focus on team bonding in order to make a strong connection.

“We’ve made an effort to really work on team chemistry and how we play as a team and how we get along,” Mangan said.

“My goal for the team is to trust

each other on the field because that will help us win,” Nelson said.

The team frequently has team dinners or outings, such as going to the park to hang out, so that they can build a stronger connection.

Lacrosse requires teamwork and communication to move the ball up and down the field with accuracy and ease.

However, even with the connection on the field, lacrosse still requires lots of practice to master the difficult skills. The ball

is very small and it is difficult to consistently catch and throw it.

“It feels rewarding when catching passes and doing well because a lot of people aren’t able to catch the ball at a good rate and accuracy,” Nelson said.

All three captains began their lacrosse journey when they came to WHHS. They got involved for different reasons, but have had the same outcome. Bahri, Mangan and Nelson have all fallen in love with the game of lacrosse.

Besides having strong team chemistry, another goal for the team is to rack up as many wins as possible, including over their rival, St. Ursula Academy in their game on April 9. They beat them last season in overtime and hope to come out on top again.

“Personally, since it is my SENIOR year, I just want to leave on a good note,” Mangan said.

Sophia Bahri and Ella Mangan

Mangan has the ball.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLA MANGAN

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLA MANGAN

The WHHS girls varsity lacrosse team is led by their three captains, SENIORS Sophia Bahri and Ella Mangan, and Gabrielle Nelson ‘23. Their current focus is making sure the team is very connected before their season begins.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE ELLISON

Boone perfects his craft

Nazret Degaulle, ‘23

William Boone, ‘24, has been making his own guitars from scratch since August 2021.

“I started because they were too expensive, and then I just kind of went from there,” Boone said.

Boone, who is also a member of the WHHS Junior Orchestra, views making instruments as “an aspiring profession.”

“I’ve thought about taking commissions later on so then I can make kind of a side job out of it,” Boone said.

Instrument-making is something that Boone sees as much more than just recreation, because of this, he is very dedicated to his

Step-By-Step

work; he spends around six months on each instrument that he creates. “It starts as a block of wood and then I shape it around, detail it and fine tune it,” Boone said.

Although it is hard work, Boone takes great pleasure in creating these instruments. When asked what his favorite part of making his own instruments is, Boone said that he enjoys “finishing up, oiling and clearing [the instrument], so that I can see the final product.”

With the amount of time and effort Boone puts into perfecting his craft, seeing the finished instruments is very rewarding to him.

Expression through art

Rylee Williams, ‘23

From a young age, SENIOR Arlo Grimaldi knew that she wanted to be an artist.

Inspired by her parents, who are both illustrators and painters, she was taught as an adolescent the importance of expressing herself through her artwork.

“I was taught [multimedia illustration], from a very young age, and when they saw that I was serious about doing art, they really fostered that creativity,” Grimaldi said.

Grimaldi was four years old when she decided she wanted to take up a career in art. With this same mindset, as a SENIOR, she has pushed herself to not only become a better artist but to know the history behind artworks that inspire her.

“Learning the history of art is just as important as learning how to do it,” Grimaldi said.

Some of Grimaldi’s biggest inspirations to become a better artist include, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dali, and Wangechi Mutu.

Growing up, Grimaldi loved a lot of prehistoric art and contemporary artists coming from the Neo Expressionist Movement.

“I really learned to love the artists from the 80s, 90s and 70s, who were really doing this groundbreaking work. [Neo Expressionism] was sort of my favorite art movement of fine arts,” Grimaldi said.

Grimaldi’s art has shaped and shifted as she has grown. She wants both the way that she views the world and the way the world views her to be depicted in her artwork.

“As I came to accept myself, my art shifted to a more expressionistic lens,” Grimaldi said. ”It became less about what I saw optically around me and more about what was driving me to create, what was driving me to live, what was driving me to survive.”

In her years at WHHS, Grimaldi has taken several art classes. She has been in AP art for a number of years

important if you want to succeed in this industry,” Grimaldi said.

As Grimaldi continues her artistic journey, she is planning on majoring in fashion design with a minor in art history at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (UC DAAP). With the support of friends and family, she is ready to take on whatever comes after WHHS.

“Once you have a passion for it, and someone with some type of authority tells you to pursue it, you just kind of have

and is taking her first year in AP art history.

Outside of WHHS, she has participated in ArtWorks Cincinnati and worked as an apprentice. ArtWorks is a gallery in Cincinnati focusing on young emerging artists. While working as an apprentice, Grimaldi helped paint murals, make pamphlets and create illustrations for other artists based in Cincinnati.

“I think in school you learn a lot about the expression part [of art] and all that. Once you get outside, you learn how to be a professional artist, which includes a lot of things like having to talk to people who are funding your art…and that’s very

to start hitting the ground running,” Grimaldi said. “I was four, I really had a passion, my parents and people were telling me to just go for it and ever since, that’s what I’ve been sort of locked in on.”

HAJRA MUNIR/CHATTERBOX

William Boone, ‘24, works to create his own instruments. Boone has made three so far, but he is excited for what the future of his “inspiring passion” holds.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WILLIAM BOONE

“I feel like I am writing as I am creating art because I am trying to explain it to myself in my head. I want to make sure that there’s a purpose to everything I’m doing,”

-SENIOR

Arlo Grimaldi

“As we transition as people we transition with our art.”

- SENIOR Arlo Grimaldi

SENIOR Arlo Grimaldi works on a new still life drawing which is any picture including natural objects such as fruits, flowers, or vegetables for the purpose of celebrating material pleasures.

Ukraine invasion by Russia

On Thursday, Feb. 24, Russia, under the orders of President Vladimir Putin, began a military operation and invaded Ukraine. President Putin claims that Russians living within Ukraine are being persecuted and wants to help them. Putin wants to invade Ukraine to keep it away from NATO because if Ukraine joins NATO, then NATO’s missiles could be installed in Ukraine along Russia’s borders, according to TASS (Russian News Agency).

“If the aggressive line of our Western colleagues continues, we will take adequate militarytechnical response measures and react harshly to unfriendly steps,” President Putin said to the Russian Defense Military Board, according to The New York Times.

Once the Soviet Union fell in

1991, Russia, the Soviet Union and Ukraine went through ties and tensions. Ukraine’s policy was to keep its independence that was stabilized with the European Union (EU) and Russia. The relations between the two countries have been hostile since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, which took down Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych and his supporters. Yanukovych turned down a trade agreement with the EU and aligned himself more with Russia.

In 2014, with former territories of the USSR joining the EU and NATO, Russia thought that if Ukraine joined NATO and the EU, then Russia would be cut off from the Black Sea. The Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, killed about 13,000 people.

Within the current mainland of Ukraine are two main separatist regions, Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic.

These two areas are home to separatists that side with Russia and consider themselves part of mainland Russia. Ukraine states that Russia is using these areas to instigate a broader war and seize all of Ukraine. On Feb. 21, 2022, President Putin and the Russian assembly declared these to be independent regions and ordered its military to invade Ukraine and help support them.

“In the absence of any aggressive action from the Ukrainian defenders, the (Luhansk and Donetsk) occupiers themselves are blowing up infrastructure in the occupied territories and firing chaotically on towns,” the Ukraine military said on Feb. 21.

Since the invasion, the people of Ukraine have decided to take up arms themselves along with their military to help support their country. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenski, has so far

End of the masked age

Bareen Abdulrahman, ‘26

Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) recently announced that all students and staff members are no longer required to wear masks in CPS buildings.

This decision was based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) decision to change their COVID-19 guidelines, allowing 70% of Americans to choose to go maskless.

The new mandate categorizes the recommendations of masking to fit the severity of COVID-19 in every county (e.g., amount of hospitalizations, amount of deaths, etc.). There are three levels: low, medium and high, and Hamilton County is currently low with the seven day moving average being eight cases as of March 15 according to Hamilton County Public Health.

Based on the guidelines, counties with a medium status are given a choice to lift the mandate, and CPS chose to make masks optional.

Of 100 WHHS students surveyed, more than half said they did not expect the mask mandate to end so soon. When asked whether they agreed to this decision, 31 said they agreed, 32 said they disagreed and 37 said they were caught in the middle.

During the meeting of the Board of Education on March 6, many of the public speakers weren’t in favor of ending the mask mandate so soon, and wanted it to happen either sometime around spring break, or next school year.

Two days after the mandate was lifted, most students continued to wear masks, which surprised many.

stalled the complete invasion of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

Russia has already taken over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant where one of the worst nuclear catastrophes took place. Russia’s army is now a few miles from Kyiv. Russia, on March 6, 2022, continued to bomb Kyiv according to The Guardian.

Ukraine has also received support from the EU, US and NATO, which have sanctioned Russia severely. 80% of Russia’s banks have been removed from the SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) system which will take a heavy toll on Russia’s economy. The US Commerce Department announced Friday it had further restricted Russian access to oil and gas extraction equipment and products needed for refining oil, and to American software and technology that might be used by

the Russian military according to TIME.

Nobody knows how Russia is going to respond to the sanctions. CBS News reports that some people are saying that Russia is going to use Cyber Attacks on the US and EU. They also say Russians might use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. The Biden Administration is convincing other countries to ramp up oil production as an offset for not buying Russian oil. They have also released 30 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Reserve.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia and Ukraine officials have met three times to try to broker an agreement without success.

“It’s not that I want to talk to Putin,” Zelenski said. “I need to talk to Putin. The world needs to talk to Putin. There is no other way to stop this war.”

Even after the mandate was lifted, a majority of students continued to wear masks for various reasons. Teachers and staff have advocated for tolerance and respect towards everyone’s decisions on whether to mask up or not.

During the board meeting, it was suggested that all students would choose to go maskless right away, and those who continued to wear masks would be singled out, but it was almost the exact opposite.

This caused many to hesitate to take their masks off, and many teachers had to take some time to explain to their

students that whether someone wears or doesn’t wear their mask, doesn’t change what type of person they are.

Armaan Tindni, ‘27, said, “[The mask mandate] will make people happy to see each other’s faces, but it could be a health hazard if there is another outbreak.”

Krishna Malhotra ‘27

US military personnel prepare to send supplies to help Ukraine. The US is also sending about 200 million dollars in aid, but no troops will be sent. “That’s a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another,” President Biden told NBC news.

JAMES BOVE, AIR FORCE /US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

AIR FORCE SENIOR AIRMAN KARLA PARRA/US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The HBO series “Euphoria” has swept the nation, and their teenage viewership is leading the fandom. The show follows the dramafilled lives of several high school students. The common themes of drug use, sex, mental health, struggle with addiction and friendships keep watchers coming back for more. We asked WHHS what they thought about the popular TV show. In response to the question of “who is your favorite character,” survey results reveal Fezco, the kind hearted, school-dropout drug dealer, as being voted #1, followed by Maddy and Lexi. Maddy, although she is always in the center of drama, is simply iconic. As for “best couple,” Lexi and Fez won with a clear majority at 64% of survey takers, Rue and Jules taking second place. For most toxic couple, Nate and Maddy won no question; their relationship has had ups and downs at extreme levels. Best style goes to Maddy with her New Years outfit getting the most recognition.

Vibrant without direction

A review of Jack White’s new Fear of the Dawn singles

Owen

Cummings, ‘22

Fear of the Dawn, the fourth solo album from exWhite Stripe Jack White, will be released on April 8, 2022. While a deep dive into the album as a whole is certainly warranted, there is enough to pick apart from the three singles that have been released so far to justify a review of their own.

“Taking Me

Back”

If White’s previous album, Boarding House Reach, was a middle ground between his more established sound and the integration of a more electronic vibe, “Taking Me Back,” the first song off of Fear of the Dawn shows that his transition has been completed (for this album, at least).

The track opens with a buzzing, siren-like scream from both White’s guitar and keyboard (as all of the instruments on this track were played by White), before launching full force into a series of guitar stab couplets that have the size and ferocity of a live concert. The fuzzy guitar is accented by squealing synthesizers and the introduction of White’s drums, before the mix cuts out and White, singing with two other of his vocal tracks, cries “I’ll bet you do,” and the track kicks off into its unwavering intensity.

Overall, the song feels like White showing off his skill

as a producer more than anything. The lyrics often feel amateurish (“When you make us both coffee/Are you taking it black?/Are you taking me back?”), but they do give White as a musician much more of a chance to shine than his previous album had.

Boarding House Reach was a record in which each individual backing member of White’s band got ample time to showcase their talents, as White had, again, taken on more of an auteur role to compose the incredibly tight, funky sounds on the album. While this tactic did create a masterpiece, many fans and critics were quick to note White’s apparent lack of fun on most, if not all, of the tracks, regardless of their overall reviews.

Now that “Taking Me Back” has White both playing in and controlling the studio, this combination of sonic architecture and musical talent creates one of White’s most exciting and exuberant tracks yet.

“Fear of the Dawn”

Whatever of White’s excitement that was created and projected on “Taking Me Back” abruptly disappears by the time the album’s second single, “Fear of the Dawn,” kicks off. The familiar, fuzzed-out guitar kicks into gear at a faster, more urgent pace than its predecessor. White swaps out the

synthesizer for a much more eclectic instrument, the theremin, which sounds like it is being wrestled by White in the background, producing whistles and shouts that eerily echo the vocals.

The smile on White’s face that is audible in “Taking Me Back” is swapped for the aptly described fear and anger in the title of this track. Lines like, “When the moon is above you, does it tell you I love you by screaming,” and “To keep us alive, I’m

going to hold you and hide electricity” paint a narrator wrecked by fear of both losing light and his love, both of which he clings to for dear life.

While, lyrically, this song is a vast improvement over the first track, the production value goes down. The whole mix feels very compressed, almost to the point of being unintelligible beyond the oddly clean sounding theremin, save for both of White’s trademark schizophrenic, messy solos.

Perhaps this was intentional, as both the song and its music video showcase very enclosed spaces, but the lines between tactic and sloppy are too blurry to tell for sure.

“Hi-De-Ho”

The third single and fourth track on this album is when things started to become confusing from a theoretical perspective as to what this album would really offer. This song is almost a collage of sounds, none of which necessarily flow into each other with much precision, but are connected through the recurrent vocal line of “hi-de-ho.”

After a slow, lumbering intro of muddy guitar warbles and clanking drum fills, the track explodes into a nearly cinematic scale, with some of the more fuzzy sounds from the previous tracks being replaced with organs and clean sounding synthesizers. A sample of Cab Callaway’s “Hi-DeHo Man,” the inspiration for this song’s hook, plays over the slow fades of the instruments, before a funk driven baseline kicks the song into a consistent tempo.

White’s vocals are few and far between on this track, almost acting as rapper Q-Tip’s hype-man, as the featured artist takes the second minute of the song to provide a sing-song verse that delivers a lot in terms of lyrical composition and

flow, but the delivery and the processing on the vocals makes it grade rather quickly. This track is a departure of sound beyond what was even on Boarding House Reach. While the extended instrumental passages on that record felt incredibly tight and rehearsed, this song feels very sloppy in its execution. White is an incredibly engaging live musician, so the sound is not necessarily bad, but it still feels on the lower end of what White is capable of.

None of the instrumentation feels out of place, and none of it is played poorly; it is mainly the fault of the laughable vocal incorporations that hold this track back. If they were easier to ignore, this song would be much more enjoyable, but because of their prevalence, this track as a whole feels aggravating to listen to.

It’s tough to say at the moment what the rest of White’s new album will entail, but these few glimpses into the sounds that will be present on the record overall leave a lot to be desired, less from a production standpoint and more in the way that these songs lack an overall direction. Perhaps it will become clearer as a whole, but so far, it is reasonable to be, if not fearful, then apprehensive of the “dawn” that White is selling.

Jack White performing in 2012, at the time when his first solo album, Blunderbuss, was climbing up the charts. His newest album, Fear of the Dawn, is set to release on April 8, and its first three singles have been released in promotion.

COURTESY OF TERESA SEDÓ/FLICKR

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: EDDY CHEN/ HBO, SPOTIFY

Kate Stiens, ‘23

“The show does a good job at showcasing mental health.”

-Megan Wildner ‘27

From start to finish

Jack Davis, ‘26

After a long, hard-fought season, the eighth grade boys basketball team were victorious in the ECC Championship game. Some may not know the whole story, however, so let’s go back to the beginning.

“At tryouts the talent was definitely there,” assistant coach Chuck Knight Jr. said. “I didn’t know the players personally because I am new to Walnut. After about a month of practice, I definitely thought we had a championship team.”

After tryouts, it was time to get down to business with six practices a week. Many players agree the practices were difficult, but very beneficial for team building and getting better at basketball.

“[Practices were] very intense; we had to run more than people who did track, but it helped us get a lot better, and also be more serious,” BJ Samuel, ‘26, said.

“Coach Anderson and I wanted to make practices as tough as possible, because we knew it would be the only way to make them show their true potential,” Knight said.

The practices paid off when they won their first two games back from winter break, making their record six wins and only two losses. The wins slowed down a bit in January against some of the top competitors in the league, despite this fact, the team’s focus and morale did not

suffer.

“There were a lot of ups and downs, but the team was able to persevere through tough losses, and able to still be good even though some players were not able to play because of COVID and academic priorities, they were still able to win games,” Knight said.

After the regular season the

eighth grade boys basketball team ended with a record of 10 wins and 6 losses. While the record is still good, many members of the team thought they could’ve done better.

“[Our regular season record] was pretty good but we had the talent to be undefeated,” Charlie Stoffregen said.

For the team, the regular

season was all in the past and it was time for the championship. While everybody was excited and confident for the big game, the coaches came in with a strategic approach.

“We were fairly confident because we had split with Kings during the regular season,” Knight said. “In the first game they beat us, but in

the second game we were able to match their physicality through scouting and such. While we didn’t have a guaranteed win going in we felt fairly confident.”

After all their hard work in practices and in their games, the eighth grade boys basketball team won the ECC eighth grade basketball championship.

“I was extremely happy knowing that we had finally won. I couldn’t play because I broke my wrist but seeing the score board and knowing that our hard work and energy paid off was really exciting,” Samuel said.

It was a thrilling win for the players and coaches alike, but for Knight it meant something more. “My reaction [to the win] was one of extreme excitement, because after previously coaching at Withrow against Walnut, I longed for a championship, which I couldn’t get at Withrow,” Knight said. “Then when I came to Walnut and we won I was overwhelmed with excitement.”

In his interview, Knight also wanted to express his gratitude to WHHS.

“This was a very special season for me personally, not being a graduate of WHHS, I wanted to thank Walnut for welcoming me with open arms, and I especially want to thank my players for letting me coach them,” Knight said.

Eighth grade boys basketball team wins ECC Championship Book Recommendations

The eighth grade boys basketball team celebrates after ECC championship game win.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMANDA DUGGAN

Dominic Hamon, ‘25

How do you feel about the lifting of the mask mandate?

“While it’s good for some kids' faces to be able to smell the air again, obviously it’s kind of annoying because, while some cases are going down, people are not continuing doing what they were doing, so numbers are going to go up again.”

- Charlie Kalain, ‘27

“I don’t know. It’s kind of weird seeing some people’s faces. I’ve been surprised. I don’t really care whether someone has a mask or not, as numbers are going down.”

“I think it’s good we don’t have to do it. I think you still should.”

NOTES

- Submissions for this year’s issue of the Gleam literary magazine are due March 25. This issue will be published digitally during the month of April.

- Yearbooks will be sold until they are out of stock. There are currently about 55 left. Buy your yearbook at jostens. com

- Prom tickets are currently being sold on walnuthillseaglesathletics.com under the ‘Tickets’ tab. Students must use their student ID as the passcode. This can be found in Powerschool. Students bringing a guest must also submit a physical copy of the Guest Permission Slip to room 3717.

- Ajanae Dawkins is the artist in residence at the Taft Museum of Art, and will be holding her workshop in the library.

If there are any events not included in this calendar that you would like to see the Chatterbox or Yearbook cover, feel free to let us know by emailing cboxwalnut@gmail.com, filling out our feedback survey or visiting us in room 2306.

- Cameron Kachar, ‘27

- Katie Ragland, ‘27

Faith Wallace, ‘24 start

end