Volume 57 Magazine 2

The

B&W The People Issue

The

B&W

Print Editor-in-Chief Eva Herscowitz

Print Managing Editor Jessica Buxbaum

Print Production Managers Sophie deBettencourt, Jana Warner Production Assistants Zoe Chyatte, Noah Grill, Sam Nickerson, Sam Rubin, Joey Sola-Sole Print Copy Editors Mira Dwyer, Matthew van Bastelaer News Editors Zoë Kaufmann, Sydney Miller, Matthew Proestel Sports Editors Chris Atkinson, Max Gersch, Elyse Lowet Feature Editors Camerynn Hawke, Julia McGowan, Yiyang Zhang Columnist Editors Maddy Frank, Jenny Lu Opinion Editors Ella Atsavapranee, Katherine Sylvester Graphics Manager Landon Hatcher Business Managers Matthew Boyer, Lexie Johnson, Azraf Khan News Writers Zara Ali, Meera Dahiya, Joseph Ferrari, Katie Hanson, Blake Layman, Max London, Lukas Troost, Anna Yuan Feature Writers Danny Donoso, Jack Gonzalez, Aditi Gujaran, Clara Koritz Hawkes, Anna Labarca, Jack Middleton, Alex Robinson Opinion Writers Will Brown, Dana Herrnstadt, Emma Iturregui, Hirari Sato, David Villani Sports Writers Sara Azimi, Mateo Gutierrez, Harry Kaplan, Ally Navarrete, Bennett Solomon, Isabel van Nieuwkoop, José Wray Business Assistants Khanya Dalton, Min Yeung Photo Director Lukas Gates

The Black & White is an open forum for student views from Walt Whitman High School, 7100 Whittier Blvd., Bethesda, MD, 20817. The Black & White’s website is www. theblackandwhite.net.

The newspaper is published five times a year, and the B&W magazine is published biannually. Signed opinion pieces reflect the positions of individual staff members and not necessarily the opinion of Walt Whitman High School or Montgomery County Public Schools. Unsigned editorial pieces reflect the opinion of the newspaper.

All content in the paper is reviewed to ensure that it meets the highest level of legal and ethical standards with respect to the material as libelous, obscene or invasive of

Print Managing Editor Eric Neugeboren

Print Production Head Julia Rubin

Photo Assistants Annabel Redisch, Kurumi Sato Contributing photographers Katherine Luo, Charlie Sagner Senior Columnists Shehrez Chaudhri, Ariana Faghani, Rebecca Mills, Jeremy Wenick Puzzles Editors Cam Jones, Eva Liles Editorial Board Ella Atsavapranee, Cami Corcoran, Meera Dahiya, Joseph Ferrari, Lukas Gates, Max Gersch, Clara Koritz Hawkes, Jack Middleton, Ally Navarrete, Hirari Sato, Jessie Solomon, Katherine Sylvester, Ivy Xun Adviser Louise Reynolds

theblackandwhite.net Online Editor-in-Chief Thomas Mande Online Managing Editors Hannah Feuer, Rebecca Hirsh Online Copy Editors Jesssie Solomon, Ivy Xun Multimedia Editors Anjali Jha, Maeve Trainor Multimedia Team Luka Byrne, Sam White Online Production Head Selina Ding Online Production Assistants Kyle Crichton, Alex Silber Communications Director Cami Corcoran Social Media Director Naren Roy Head Webmasters Anthony Breder, Caleb Hering

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS It’s easy to forget that amid the buzz of own lives—the interminable deadlines; strings of text messages; missed calls and voicemails; personal histories and future fears—others’ lives are just as noisy as our own.

But imagine if we could, for a moment, peer into others’ experiences.

Perhaps we would discover that students who we mindlessly pass in the hallway are not only active members of clubs and student publications, but are juggling numerous committments

while suffering from debilitating concussions. Or that the girl who sits next to us in English is an equestrian who one day hopes to make it to the Junior Olympics, but not first without missteps, grit and a debilitating concussion. Or that our neighbors and friends, many of whom are Holocaust survivors, their children and their grandchildren, are attempting to preserve monumental legacies before the survivors are gone.

That’s why we’re calling this magazine ‘The People Issue.’ We hope we’ve

given the people in our community a platform—with the hard work of our thoughtful writers and editors; imaginative production team; and our endlessly supportive adviser, Mrs. Reynolds—to showcase their own narratives truthfully.

And to the people featured in this magazine, thank you for allowing us to share your stories.

Jessica Buxbaum Managing Editor

Eric Neugeboren Managing Editor

Eva Herscowitz Editor-in-Chief

Photo by LUKAS GATES

On the cover: photo director Lukas Gates took this photo of students and community members—from a sophomore fencer to the prototypical millenial—featured in this magazine, “The People Issue.”

1 2 3 4 5

Equestrian Calli Lipping, pg. 8 A student at a school of the future, pg. 6

Photo story: junior David Jacobstein, pg. 27 Fencer Sarah Tong, pg. 24

6 7 8 9

A textbook iGen-er, pg. 22 A characteristic gen X-er, pg. 22

3 2 1

5 4

6

7

8

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A prototypical millenial, pg. 22 Holocaust survivor Joel Darmstadter, pg. 18

Photo story: senior Allison Xiao, pg. 26 3

TABLE of CONTENTS Issue 4, March 2019 6 A look at schools of the future 8 Equestrian Calli Lipping

trains for Junior Olympics

10 Students cope with seasonal depression

12 A conversation about dispelling the stigma surrounding religion

14 Concussions hinder students long-term

16 Silver Diner’s best eats 18 Holocaust survivors grapple with fleeting legacies

21 How a writer changed her

mind about affirmative action

22 Why we should stop making assumptions about generations

24 Sophomore gains confidence with fencing

26 Photo story: what objects mean to us

29 Why the end result doesn’t matter

Junior Calli Lipping bounds over a 3-foot-6-inch jump at Full Moon Farm Horse Trials this past November.

Lipping and her horse, whose competition name is “Wild Affair,” placed third overall. Read more on page 8. Photo courtesy CALLI LIPPING

HOW WILL WE LEARN IN

SCHOOLS OF THE THE

FUTURE? 24

by ZARA ALI

artwork by JULIA RUBIN In the Tacoma School District in Washington, artificial intelligence isn’t a futuristic gadget. It’s simply another classroom tool. Throughout the past six years, the schools have used AI to gather data on their students’ progress and determine which ones are “at risk.” By determining the kids who need the most assistance, the teachers have been able to help them individually, improving overall student graduation rates from 55 percent to 82.6 percent.

Schools are beginning to reconfigure curriculums and integrate high-tech tools to prepare students for the increasing number of technology-related jobs.

Robots have not only replaced manufacturing jobs but are filling in for clerical workers and can even make medical diagnoses. In fact, robotic automation technology will do the equivalent work of nearly 4.3 million humans worldwide by 2021, according to Forrester Research.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the workforce, and education has begun to adapt along with it, giving students early opportunities to interact with AI, virtual reality and individualized curricula.

It’s expected that AI in American schools will grow by 47.5 percent between 2017 and 2021, according to the Artificial Intelligence Market in the U.S. Education Sector report.

Schools in the U.S. have already implemented curriculums centered around AI. In MCPS, schools with magnet programs, like Montgomery Blair High School and Poolesville High School, are offering a course on artificial intelligence.

This increase has prompted educators and parents to ask themselves: what are the ethical issues surrounding schools of the future? Will high tech tools replace teachers? And does technology truly help students?

Technology education expert and graduate professor Kathy Schrock said technology and learning will have to merge.

“Technology will be ubiquitous,” Schrock said. “Teachers will continue to guide students in the processes needed to excel, such as collaboration, creation, computational thinking and design

thinking. The focus will not be on learning content but using content to create.”

Seneca Valley High School is in the process of constructing a Career and Technology Education hub in their new school, which will include learning spaces for robotics and career readiness programs for cybersecurity, principal Marc Cohen said.

As part of the career readiness programs, the school will replicate work environments like doctor’s offices and cybersecurity workspaces so students can get hands-on experience.

“Our school is being referred to as a school of the future because of the significant number of career and technology programs,” Cohen said. “It includes cybersecurity and engineering programs that will help our students get closer to earning their associates degrees.”

Some schools are using AI as an automated teacher’s assistant. At Slackwood Elementary School in New Jersey, classrooms introduced Happy Numbers, an AI computer program that has helped nearly all students surpass the school’s benchmark math score, according to EdTech Magazine. Similar to teachers, the program watches students solve problems and provides guidance on what they’re doing incorrectly.

But the increase in AI has raised ethical concerns. AI can collect students’ progress, emotions and mistakes through surveillance, but the students often have no knowledge of who can access this data.

In China, some schools have started using AI to determine if students are on task during class. Venture capitalist KaiFu Lee has invested in machines that can identify students who are concentrating or distracted, allowing teachers to recognize those who are struggling or gifted, according to a January CBS article.

APES teacher Kelly Garton said teachers could use this type of algorithm to determine if students are absorbing relevant material.

“The teacher could get back instant information,” Garton said. “It was kind of creepy, but it’s interesting, and I’m wondering if more classrooms will not just focus on the teacher, but back on the students in a way that helps them stay

engaged.”

Schools outside MCPS are also reinventing the way we learn, think and socialize.

The California-based Alt School, which was founded by former Google executive Max Ventilla, has received backlash for not meeting the individualized standards the school promised. At the school, students choose the projects they work on, and teachers make individual “playlists” of tasks for each student. Kids take their own attendance on an iPad, complete their personal playlists and learn 3-D modeling software, according to a 2017 Business Insider article.

Alt School administrators couldn’t be reached for comment.

While some people, including international education consultant Matt Harris, don’t see VR classrooms as realistic, English teacher Ryan Derenberger does.

Derenberger has experience in the private field of technology and education.

“People would log into a VR scenario into an empty room, maybe even with desks, and put on augmented reality glasses,” Derenberger said. “Once the glasses are on, they would see their classmates, a teacher up at the board and everybody will be interacting in a way that is deeper than your typical online discussion board.”

Regardless of how advanced schools can get, Schrock said technology won’t replace teachers for at least a couple decades.

“No matter how good AI is promised to be, there is no way it can replace the human,” Schrock said. “Schools can help by both challenging the students with real-life problem solving as well as allowing students to develop products and assessments in areas they’re passionate about.”

Derenberger sees robots replacing human teachers as the end game.

“I think it’s inevitable in most industries, and teaching is not an exception,” Derenberger said. “People will say that teaching is more artistic than other professions because it requires a human touch, but I think eventually even that can end up in a software that could be so advanced that it’s hard for us to really grasp what it would look like.”

7

I L L A C G N I P LIP H T I W E L D D A S E H T IN

by ALEX ROBINSON

Junior Calli Lipping has a lot of words to describe horses. When she first saw a barn full of horses, she thought they were “such amazing creatures.” When she watched her first professional eventing competition, she remembers the horses running like “machines.” When she first competed with her own horse, Davie, she thought he was “the most beautiful little mover.” Above all, her horse Maggie is her “best friend.”

But the day before a qualifying competition this past September, Maggie was “agitated.” Running through a practice cross country course at her trainer’s barn, Lipping and Maggie were racing downhill toward a four-foot jump.

Just before the jump, Maggie got nervous and tensed up. As they crested the jump, Maggie tipped over and began to fall, rotating as she barreled toward the ground.

Maggie went one way. Lipping went another, landing directly on her head.

When she woke up the next morning, Maggie was too injured to compete. But Lipping, who suffered a concussion from the fall, still went to the competition to cheer on her friends.

“Riding isn’t supposed to be glamorous, so when I fell off, I wasn’t knocked out, and therefore I was fine,” Lipping said. “I’ve been taught that you can work through a lot of pain, especially since in the moment, I’m always really happy and have a lot of adrenaline pumping.”

Though this mindset has been dangerous for Lipping in the past, she said it

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has taught her a crucial lesson: the importance of grit.

“I think hard work is going to get people places way more than talent is going to,” Lipping said. “When I’ve been on the ground, in a lot of pain, I’ve always gotten up because I want to do well so badly, and I know that there’s no other option for me to get there.”

Her trainer, Lillian Heard, joked that Lipping “can even work too hard sometimes.” This, combined with her innate talent, is why Lipping has been so successful, Heard said.

“Calli is a very natural rider, and that’s something I wasn’t myself,” Heard said. “I had to learn it the hard way, but her instincts are just perfect, which is really unique and special.”

Lipping has been riding horses since she was six and competing since she was 10. She has traveled across the country to compete in national tournaments and hopes to make it to the Junior Olympics this year.

She competes in eventing, a type of riding that includes three disciplines: dressage, cross country and show jumping. Dressage involves performing a series of fixed movements in front of judges, cross country consists of a twoto-four mile-long obstacle course and show jumping includes a series of jumps in an enclosed area.

When she’s not competing, Lipping practically lives at the barn. On the weekends and over the summer she works at a barn in Pennsylvania, and is spending this winter living in South Carolina to work and learn at her trainer’s barn.

“At this point, riding is a part of who I am, and I don’t know where I would be without it,” Lipping said. “It’s a sport that has taught me responsibility, brought me to some of my closest friends and given me this constant state of adrenaline that nothing else can top.”

Lipping’s Riding Evolution Lipping began her equestrian journey—which she jokingly describes as “the beginning of the end”—when she was two years old.

“When you’re a kid, horses are like unicorns,” Lipping said. “I just wanted to touch them and play with them, and then I wanted to ride them.”

Before she started training in eventing, she competed in a more traditional discipline of riding where scoring is based more on presentation and style than the rider’s skills. Though this helped Lipping advance her skills, she still found herself falling behind her peers. Her wealthier competitors could afford expensive lessons and higher quality horses, which are so highly trained, they can win a competition with almost any rider.

“When you’re competing with the top .01 percent of the nation, you start to realize how privileged you are but also how much more people have than you,” Lipping said.

Even without a highly–trained horse, she excelled. At one of her early competitions, Lipping was the only rider under 18 competing in her division. Despite her age and the fact that Lipping had only been riding for three years, she won.

NG

Clockwise from left: Lipping smiles after her dressage performance at the Morven Park Spring Horse Trials in April 2017; Lipping crests a threefoot-tall jump during her cross country event at the Full Moon Farm Horse trials last November; After finishing the Maryland Horse Trials in Oct. 2016, Lipping cools off her horse, Maggie, with a full body scrub. Photos courtesy CALLI LIPPING

“From that point on, I knew she was never going to stop,” her mother, Liz Callihan, said.

When she started training in eventing—she said her “need for speed” prompted her to make the switch—she bought her own horse, Davie. But at their first competition together, she placed dead last.

She performed well in dressage, but in the cross country section, Davie panicked and hesitated before every jump.

After this competition, she determined Davie’s strengths and weaknesses and grew from there, learning to be grateful for his dressage skills and learning to adjust to his “spookiness” during cross country.

“He would just be scared of a blue flower under a fence, or something stupid like that, so I learned to be aggressive,” Lipping said. “It kept me really hungry for it, and it was very humbling because when he would do well, I would be on cloud nine.”

As her riding career picked up, she learned not only to how to handle setbacks but how to make sacrifices. When Heard moved her farm to Pennsylvania full-time, Lipping decided this past fall that she would drive up every weekend to train.

She struggled to balance her two lives; she never got to hang out with her school friends on Saturday nights, struggled to get her schoolwork done and had to quit being a writer for the Black

& White. But she said she doesn’t regret any of it.

“It was so worth it because Maggie and I continued to get the prestigious training that we love and need,” Lipping said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

South Carolina Livin’ Lipping has big plans for the future.

Along with hoping to qualify for the North American Youth Championships and the Junior Olympics this year, she wants to advance to international competitions before she graduates high school.

She hopes to own a barn, like Heard, when she’s older, where she could compete internationally, train other people’s horses and give lessons.

“I know it’s a pipe dream, but I think that pipe dreams get people the furthest,” Lipping said. “I just have to be smart about it.”

Without a good trainer near home, she decided to move with Heard to Aitken, South Carolina, for the winter. She’s living in a house with four other riders from January through March.

Every 10 days, she drives home and goes to school for five days to catch up on tests and turn in big assignments. But everything else school-related—completing smaller assignments and learning the course material—she does online on her own.

She said her schedule is jam-packed.

“To work off the lesson fees, I work

at the barn in the mornings up until noon or one,” Lipping said. “Then I get back to the house and do schoolwork up until like five at night so that I can have the nights to be free to be a normal person. I think that’s important.”

To her, the hardest part of the arrangement isn’t missing schoolwork; it’s the days she’s home when she doesn’t get to ride a horse all week.

“I like to ride as much as possible because that’s my lifeblood,” Lipping said.

“I wouldn’t call myself a workaholic, but I just really get upset when there’s nothing to do.”

It isn’t just her hopes for the future that motivate her. It’s the way she feels when she’s riding, galloping on a long stretch of a cross country course and hearing nothing but the wind whooshing past and her horse’s hooves hitting the ground. It’s the quietness of the barn at night when she checks on the horses and hears nothing but the sounds of swishing tails and the horses munching hay. It’s even winding down after a long day with a walk in the woods with her friends and her horse.

“I don’t think I’ve had a monumental specific moment that’s been my favorite, but the little moments are really big for me,” Lipping said. “They remind me why I do it.”

9

Seasonal Affective Disorder damages students’ social lives, grades

by EMMA ITURREGUI and ALEX ROBINSON Students’ names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Junior Ryan’s friends usually describe him as “positive,” “passionate” and “confident.” But in the winter, he’s a completely different person. Instead of being excited about his hobbies and open to trying new things, he becomes “detached” and unmotivated, he said. Instead of being his normal, friendly self, he becomes irritable, gets frustrated easily and lashes out at family and friends.

“He gets very insecure. If there was a problem, he would assume it was him, not the situation,” Ryan’s girlfriend said.

“Sometimes tiny little comments he

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makes worry me.”

Though he’s been experiencing these behavior changes since freshman year, he didn’t recognize what was going on until he talked about seasonal affective disorder with a friend this past year.

He immediately knew it described what he was feeling.

Seasonal depression, or seasonal affective disorder, is a subset of depression that occurs annually, usually in the fall or winter. The main factor is decreased exposure to natural light, but since SAD was discovered for the first time in the 80s, scientists are still unsure of the specific cause, psychologist Janis Anderson said.

For SAD patients, the decreased light in the winter throws off their circadian rhythms, which regulate sleeping patterns, eating habits and the release of mood-regulating hormones like serotonin. Just like people with depression, Anderson said SAD patients can lose interest in day-to-day activities and experience a general sense of hopelessness, but their symptoms fade when spring approaches.

“We are looking for something that happens year after year, around the same time, where it goes away in the spring or summer, even if it’s not treated,” Anderson said. “That’s very different from other types of depression where you can’t

predict where it’s going to strike or how long it will last.”

Though the recurrence of Ryan’s symptoms each winter helped him recognize the disorder, it also made it difficult for him to label what he was going through. Since his symptoms would disappear once spring came, he would ignore his mental health issues until they reappeared in the fall. But in the fall, his lack of motivation made it difficult to reach out.

About five percent of the U.S. population experiences SAD, according to a 2012 report by the American Family Physician. With national rates of teenage depression on the rise, Anderson said this trend may extend to increased SAD diagnoses, but there’s no available data on whether SAD is becoming more prevalent. Patients usually do, however, first report their symptoms in their late teens and early 20s, she said.

Rachel, a junior, first noticed her symptoms the winter of her sophomore year. She didn’t just feel sad or unmotivated, but extremely irritable, she said. A low point for her was when her grandma was staying at her house, and Rachel repeatedly lashed out at her for no reason.

“It was like I just broke,” Rachel said. “I was frustrated and angry, but then after I was crying and just kind of overreacting.”

At school, her mindset about schoolwork and friends was extremely negative; she started fights with friends over insignificant issues, normal comments irritated her and she ultimately pushed many of her friends away, she said.

“I was really worried,” Rachel’s friend said. “I could just tell that something was wrong.”

She struggled to handle minor issues; she would be “crushed” if she got a C on a math quiz, and gaining a pound would set her off.

“I would look in the mirror and just hate what I saw,” Rachel said. “And then because of my depression, it would ruin my whole week. It was a bigger deal to gain a pound in the winter than in the summer.”

Though Rachel felt she was spiraling out of control, her symptoms weren’t so obvious to her family. Her father said Rachel often internalizes her feelings, but he also didn’t notice her symptoms because he thought winter was a depressing time for most people.

There are multiple seasonal factors that can increase someone’s vulnerability to depression, like spending more time

indoors or increased school workloads— but having seasonal triggers isn’t the same as having SAD, child psychologist Adelle Cadieux wrote in a 2015 Fox News article.

Rachel suspected she had SAD before she reached out to her doctor about her symptoms. Her mom and grandmother both have the disorder, and because it can be genetic, it was easier for her to know to seek help, she said.

“If I didn’t have my grandma—who also suffers from it—I think it would have been a lot harder for me to recognize the symptoms and hint towards diagnosis,” Rachel said. ‘I would just think, something is wrong with me.’

been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and clinical depression during middle school.

In the winter, her symptoms would get considerably worse, and she felt “numb, cold and tired” all the time, she said.

Because of her preexisting mental illnesses, she was already taking antidepressants and going to therapy when she was first diagnosed with SAD. Most recently, she started using a sunlamp— which she affectionately calls a “happy light”—as a new way to treat her seasonal symptoms. She also increases the dosage of her medication during the winter and goes to therapy more often.

To manage his symptoms, Ryan relies mostly on cognitive behavior thera-

I would look in the mirror and just hate what I saw. It was a bigger deal to gain a pound in the winter than in the summer.

- junior Rachel To relieve her symptoms, Rachel started going to therapy, taking antidepressants and experimenting with light therapy. Now, she sits in front of a sunlamp for 30 minutes in the morning during the winter, which has the same effect on her as if she were to go on a walk outside.

The National Institute of Mental Health first tested light therapy in the 1980s, a few years after SAD was recognized as a condition in 1984. Scientists knew that seasonal changes could affect animals—decreased temperature and light force most animals to hibernate or migrate—but they found that some people are also affected by decreased sunlight. This prompted researchers at NIMH to experiment with using light as a treatment option, SunBox Company President Neal Owens said.

Treatment is always individualized because patients might be suffering from multiple disorders and have different lifestyles, Anderson said. Some people are too busy to sit in front of a light box for 30 minutes every morning, so they have to work with their doctor to figure out other options, like taking antidepressants or meeting with a psychologist, Anderson said.

Emily—now a junior—was diagnosed with SAD in 9th grade, but she had

py, where an individual learns how to use thinking to reduce symptoms. This type of self-treatment is under-utilized but can be extremely effective, Anderson said.

Changes of scenery also helps Ryan; he often spends time at his computer programming job or riding his mountain bike in the woods as his form of self-treatment.

Spontaneity, he said, makes his days feel less mundane.

“It’s nice to be in nature and just calm down and think about things slowly for once instead of at a hundred miles an hour,” he said. “You’re trapped in a building all day at school and then you come home and it’s just walls. Being in a space that is just endlessly open helps a lot.”

In the long-term, Rachel hopes to go to college in a warmer state, where more natural light will help her cope with her symptoms. Emily’s a bit more nervous for college; she worries that it will be harder to manage her symptoms when she’s living on her own. Luckily, most patients’ symptoms begin to fade as they get older, Anderson said.

Now that all three students have found ways to manage their symptoms, their mindset has changed completely.

“Now that I recognize that my irritability is depression, I try to ignore it,” Rachel said. “I have this new mindset that’s like ‘I don’t want my depression to win.’”

11

A conversation about religion

by CLARA KORITZ HAWKES

On Feb. 14, I spoke with six Whitman students about an often uncomfortable topic: religion. In part due to ignorance, assumptions about others’ beliefs and the current political climate, religion has become a topic that people aren’t completely comfortable discussing. In fact, in February, a Federal Appellate Court ruled on a case in which a Christian student in Southern Maryland took legal action because she thought a lesson on Islam violated her constitutional rights.

While the Court ruled against her, the case is a perfect example of what happens when we rely more on stereotypes than facts: we feel threatened in instances when we shouldn’t.

Although I’m relatively comfortable with my own religious beliefs, I was still nervous before the conversation. I worried that there wouldn’t be common ground, that the conversation would be awkward and that no one would

Where Beliefs Come From Most of the students said their families largely impacted their religious beliefs and practices, though now, many practice by choice.

Senior Alisha Dhir: “My parents really influenced my perspectives. We practice a very weird version of Hinduism—we kind of pretend to be Hindu because there are so many beliefs that we just don’t agree with.”

Junior Joanna Papaioannou: “I wouldn’t be as religious as I am if it wasn’t for my parents since they were always the ones who took me to church. But as I’ve gotten older, it’s become more of me taking the lead on this, and it’s not so much what my parents think. It’s more, this is what I want to do, this is what I believe.”

Senior Daniel Harris: “My outlook was somewhat shaped by my parents. We’re humanists so we don’t really believe in the more religious aspects of Judaism; over half of our congregation is atheist. My parents very much attempted to allow us to explore our own religious beliefs and seek out what we believe on our own. I kind of came to the conclusion that my parents did, largely because I was raised by them.”

The students also agreed that misconceptions about religion are common; in fact, almost every single student had more than

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one story of encountering ignorant reactions when sharing their beliefs.

Papaioannou: “A lot of people always ask me if I worship Zeus. I get that question more often than you think—I don’t know if it’s just plain ignorance or them trying to be funny or because it’s practiced by so few people. Other than that, I don’t think people necessarily have negative perceptions, they just don’t really know it exists.”

Harris: “A boy I was friends with in middle school once sat down next to me at lunch, looked at me, and said, ‘Daniel, did you know that the Jews killed Jesus?’ He definitely didn’t understand the implications of what he and other people were saying.

“I also find that people are shocked to find out that there are people who are Jewish and also atheist. I think a lot of people have the misconception that to be Jewish you have to believe in God. I think you can believe in a principle and hold that as the core belief of Judaism, instead of believing in God.” Junior Azan Ali: “Most people in America don’t meet a Muslim. A lot of people also have this common belief that all Muslims are terrorists—which is false first of all—but also that Muslim people hate Jewish people, when the Quran actually says the opposite. There’s so much misinformation in the media that people make all these assumptions.”

be particularly open. Instead, I observed a conversation that was candid and respectful. Though the group of six people certainly don’t represent every religion at Whitman, the conversation between students that practice different religions—Reform Judaism, Greek Orthodox Christianity, Protestantism, Hinduism and Islam—proves that conversations about religions can be positive. I hope that this kind of discussion regarding religion can be normalized; especially when considering that for many people, religion is an integral part of their worldview and identity.

Identification: Junior Syed Azan Ali is Muslim, senior Alisha Dhir practices a modified version of Hinduism, senior Daniel Harris and junior Ethan Singer practice Reform Judaism, sophomore Grace McGuire is a member of the United Church of Christ, and junior Joanna Papaioannou is Greek Orthodox Christian

Dhir: “People often don’t really know that much about Hinduism. They don’t want to make any assumptions, so they don’t talk about it. Other times, people will just think I’m any ‘brown person’ religion. I’ve been called a Muslim and a terrorist on the street before.”

These experiences have made them wary to open up about their religion to people who may not understand.

Dhir: “It’s definitely a ‘pick your battles’ kind of thing. Some people you just know you can’t have this conversation with, so I’ll just tell them they’re right or not react. But if there’s someone who actually wants to be educated, then it’s different.”

Ali: “If a person calls me a terrorist, I find there’s two types of people. There’s a certain amount of people who are willing to learn, and then there are people who are just ignorant. If it’s a person who I don’t think has a capacity to understand, I’ll say ‘No’ and ignore them. But if it’s someone who is sincere, I’ll answer them properly.”

Papaioannou: “I don’t really feel like I have to explain myself to people who don’t understand—I just kind of accept that I won’t be able to really talk about going to church with them because I don’t want to spend time explaining why church is meaningful to me to someone who won’t get it.”

What Students Believe Some of the students’ religious beliefs help them answer questions most of us ask ourselves—questions like, what happens when we die? Regardless of how much of a role religion played in their lives, all the participants had something to say.

Papaioannou: “Afterlife is something I try to avoid thinking about because it kind of scares me. I don’t really believe in hell, I mostly believe in Heaven. Not even just that good people go somewhere or bad people go somewhere—I just don’t believe in that. I believe that after you die, you get to watch the world.”

Harris: “I don’t believe in the afterlife. I have always believed—definitely because my

parents believe this—that when you die, it’s lights out, it’s over and there’s nothing after that.

I definitely agree that it’s a very scary idea, so I understand why the concepts are preached and believed.”

Dhir: “I haven’t thought much about it, but whenever I do, I take that logical approach that it ends, that I live my life for now.”

Ali: “I feel like an outlier here, but my religion strongly believes in the concept of afterlife, that everything is for that. Our concept is that you’re going to live there forever, so you have to use this time wisely and do as many good things as you possibly can.”

Junior Ethan Singer: “In terms of what happens to your actual soul, I agree that you’re done.

Questions and Problems Most of the students said they don’t agree with every facet of their religions. Still, the degree of disagreement differed.

Dhir: “I very much disagree with the caste system. It’s all fake. I don’t at all agree with forcefully putting people into a hierarchy. It is also written in the religion that women are worse than the lowest caste. Even if you’re in a higher caste, women are still rejected from the society. Hinduism just doesn’t make sense—it’s so outdated.”

Harris: “I believe in a lot of the values of Judaism and what they mean in practice, like what it means to see every individual as a human being.

One of the things I’ve decided is that the fact it’s in the text doesn’t make it

a binding law I have to abide by.”

Papaioannou: “I agree with most parts of my religion. The teachings and parts that I might not agree with are usually the older beliefs—what I’d consider outdated. I’m a strong believer in that we have to mold beliefs to modern society, and for me, mold it how it applies to my life now and use it to guide me.”

McGuire: “I take Christian principles into account, but I think a lot of parts of the Bible are almost exaggerated and don’t really apply to today.

There are stories that might not be true, but I definitely believe more in the actual principles.”

Ali: “I am probably what’s considered a ‘standard Muslim.’ Most Muslims agree with most of the religion.”

A Common Ground The most significant aspect of the conversation wasn’t the differences in religions, beliefs or practices among the students. It was the fact that the six students agreed on issues far more often than they disagreed.

The best example of this came when discussing how religion shapes their identity.

Singer: “I definitely think the cultural parts of being ethnically Jewish are more important than the religious texts. The lessons my parents taught me about being Jewish, they shape every decision I make.”

Dhir: “I really value Indian culture more than I value Hinduism.

That’s almost why I practice at all; I sing the songs and say the prayers

and hug my family on big holidays because it’s part of my culture.”

Ali: “Ethnicity and religion are so important, especially being Muslim in a non-Muslim country. They coincide for me.”

McGuire: “It’s a big part of my identity, but I don’t think my religion defines me.”

Harris: “The Jewish culture and community is definitely an inseparable part of me and shapes my political ideologies more than anything.”

Papaioannou: “Religion is a huge part of who I am. It relates to ethnicity because everyone in Greece believes similar things, so it also connects me to that part of myself. But I think at the end of the day, the biggest thing it is an outlook of what it means to be a good person.”

Neil Degrasse Tyson has this really nice explanation about what happens when you die, basically all about how you as a person no longer exist, but you decompose and feed life forms again. I think that’s pretty cool and kind of like an afterlife. But I can’t really tell someone not to believe something else, because obviously I have no idea.”

Sophomore Grace McGuire: “I want to believe that people watch over you. I definitely don’t believe in hell, but at the same time I can’t believe anything else. So I do agree that when you’re done, you’re done. But it’s definitely more comforting to think that doesn’t happen.”

“My parents

very much attempted to allow us to explore our own religious beliefs and seek out what we believe on our own.”

- senior Daniel Harris

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Concussions impair students’ lives Students suffer from repercussions long after diagnosis

by Katie Hanson Photo illustrations by Lukas Gates

T

hree years after getting hit by a volleyball at practice her freshman year, senior Julia Rubin is still suffering from the effects of her concussion.

As a freshman, she considered herself “bubbly,” played on the varsity volleyball team and looked forward to going to school. But since her injury, she has suffered debilitating migraines, which have forced her to take a break from sports and frequently miss school. At home, when she has a migraine, she lies in her bed in a dimly lit room, listening to TV shows with her eyes closed.

Rubin still deals with migraines a few times a week. She doesn’t know whether the migraines are a symptom of her concussion, though their severity and frequency have increased since her injury.

This year, after a migraine attack, she quit volleyball.

“I just couldn’t handle it anymore.

It was too much pain,” Rubin said. “My world revolved around sports for a really long time, and now it doesn’t. We’ve always watched sports in my family, but I’ve always liked to be the one on the court. I miss it.”

The American Medical Association found in 2017 that one in five teenagers will get a concussion, and of those teens, 33 percent will have at least two more that same year. But treatment for concussions is still a grey area. In recent years, most neurologists have told patients to rest in darkness until they feel symptom-free. But a recent landmark study by the University of Buffalo suggests that prescribed, individualized exercise can expedite recovery.

Just last fall, the Centers for Disease Control developed its first guidelines for treating youth concussions.

Senior Theo Andonyadis has suffered three concussions since his sophomore year, forcing him to quit the varsity soccer team after his junior year. He was also diagnosed with post concussion syndrome, a disorder where concussion symptoms continue past the initial injury.

Constant headaches and dizziness force students with concussions to miss school for long periods of time. After suf-

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fering a concussion his sophomore year, Andonyadis missed a week of school, then began going for half days. He would miss the first few periods and then come at lunch, or only come for the morning.

“It’s very hard on a student to deal with that, especially in this community, where everybody’s working hard and you’re not used to being behind,” neurologist Carolyn Wang said. “We know that affects your sleep. If you’re not sleeping well, it starts to affect your mood and your anxiety and depression and focus and attention, too. So it’s very circular.”

When Rubin returned to school her freshman year, the transition was difficult, both academically and socially. Every class felt like a “foreign language,” she said. School has always been her priority, yet her concussion made it hard to do any work for more than a few hours, Rubin said.

She only went to two classes, so she didn’t see her friends or peers for most of the day. To avoid the noise of the cafeteria, she would eat lunch in an art classroom with some of her friends. But most days, she sat with former principal Alan Goodwin, doodling in his office.

“I became very isolated and distant from my friends,” Rubin said. “A lot of my friends feel like I don’t care for them anymore because I don’t talk to them, but I just can’t. They understand that, but as much as they say, ‘it’s okay, take care of yourself,’ I know there’s a part of them that’s just like, ‘why don’t you ever ask how I’m doing?’”

Wang said that recovery time for concussions depends on a patient’s past history with certain symptoms.

“Some people will just recover in two weeks. Other people will take months,” she said. “If you go into a concussion and you’ve had a previous concussion, you’re more likely to have post concussion syndrome. If you go into a concussion and you’ve had a history of insomnia or sleep problems, or you’ve had a history of depression or anxiety, you’re more likely to continue to have these symptoms.”

This fall, Andonyadis suffered another concussion playing a pickup basketball

game with friends.

“I’m so cautious about not wanting to hit my head anymore. I had gotten to the point where I wasn’t having many headaches and I felt normal,” Andonyadis said.

“When I got hit, I knew how bad the consequences were. It was very disappointing.”

Andonyadis was in the middle of the college application process and had incomplete grades from his absences, which colleges wouldn’t accept.

“It just became, ‘I have to get all my stuff done so I can make it into college.’ I had to spend all my time on mental work doing applications,” he said. “Some of my teachers were frustrated because I wasn’t getting their work done, but something had to give.”

English teacher Todd Michaels only had one student with a concussion when he began teaching in 2003. Last semester, he had four students, including Andonyadis, with concussions. He tries to approach each student based on their individual needs and circumstances.

“If it’s a serious concussion and the kid is unable to perform academically, we should do everything we can to be sympathetic,” Michaels said. “But we also have to find that balance between being sympathetic and maintaining proper rigor.”

Finding a solution to her migraines has been frustrating for Rubin. She has gone to different doctors, tried massage therapy, began acupuncture and changed her diet, all in hopes of at least lessening her symptoms. Still, she gets a headache most Sunday nights that usually lasts at least a few days.

For Andonyadis, doctors advised avoiding screens and noisy areas. After spending nearly three weeks lying in bed without the lights on, listening to albums and podcasts, he struggled with the artificial lighting when he came back to school.

He had to bow his head in classrooms and had trouble keeping his eyes on the Promethean Board for more than a few minutes.

Wang advises her patients to get at least nine to eleven hours of sleep per night, take naps and avoid blue light and

strenuous exercise.

Still, neurologists are split on the best treatment method.

Karen Laguel, the medical director at HeadFirst, a concussion clinic, said prescribed exercise is crucial to expedite recovery. Laugel said the treatment she prescribes to her patients coincides with the University of Buffalo study.

A former Whitman student (‘15) was also advised to lie in a dark room but struggled to recover from his three concussions in high school. His grades went “straight downhill,” he was unable to practice football and he started increasingly using recreational drugs.

He noticed his head would feel better after smoking marijuana, so he and his friends began smoking it twice a day.

On the weekends, he and his friends would go to parties and experiment with drugs like LSD, opiates, variations of marijuana products and benzodiazepines.

“When I got that concussion, that was the point when recreational use and experimentation changed to ev-

eryday use,” he said. “When you’re under the influence of those drugs, in my experience, I was unable to do any sort of homework. That’s why I eventually stopped doing well academically.”

The next year, he began his first semester at a mid-size private university. He continued going to parties and started skipping classes. Before the first semester ended, he dropped out.

In the fall, he enrolled in Montgomery College and began pursuing an associate’s degree in business. Eventually, he hopes to transfer to the University of Maryland. He has also dramatically changed his lifestyle, quitting all the drugs he once used and even becoming vegan.

“If you asked me when I was 17 where I would be now, I wouldn’t say here. I’m not exactly where I wanted to be a couple years ago, but I know that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he said.

“I have a future and direction,.

That feels good.”

Although he has experi-

enced long-term effects, for some people, proper treatment can reduce symptoms in a matter of months, Laugel said.

“I think the pendulum has swung too far,” she said. “We have a lot of people now who are very fearful that when they get a head injury that it’s going to mean they have brain damage. It’s more common that people do quite well and heal normally and get back to their usual life.”

Rubin said that although she had to stop doing her favorite things, her injury gave her a chance to discover more about herself. The months she spent doodling in her room and Goodwin’s office made her realize her passion for art. Now, she wants to pursue a degree related to graphic design in college.

Still, she said she has good and bad days.

“Over the weekend, I was perfectly fine, super happy and for the first time in a really long time I felt like my normal self,” she said. “Then I woke up this morning just in this funk again. I couldn’t envi-

sion myself being that level of happy and bubbly, when less than 24 hours ago I could’ve taken on the world and done anything.”

With college coming up, she said she’s most nervous about her living situation. She has to go to bed early, not have strong smells in the room and not have too many people in the room at once.

But Rubin doesn’t want her concussion to “define” her. Instead, she wants to grow from it.

“It’s like when you can’t hear: your other senses are enhanced. It was the same thing with my concussion,” Rubin said. “I couldn’t play sports or go to school. Everything I knew was taken away from me and it gave me a chance to rediscover myself.”

Julia Rubin is Print Production Head for The Black & White

Senior Theo Andonyadis Three diagnosed concussions

Senior Julia Rubin One concussion and severe migraines

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THE PERFECT SILVER DINER MEAL DOESN’T EXIBY CHRIS ATKINSON, CAMI CORCORAN AND CAM JONES PHOTOS BY JULIA RUBIN Silver Diner boasts a mile-long menu, offering everything from grain bowls and salmon patties to cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes. With so many options and so much variety, we set out to find the perfect meal at the diner.

After tasting 17 dishes and drinks, we left with three full stomachs, a noise complaint and some newfound favorites.

Drinks:

*Guava Ginger Ale, $4.99: One sip of this, and we were transported to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. The guava flavoring was refreshing, and the ginger didn’t overpower the beverage. The blending of the sweet guava and tangy ginger added up to a tasty drink we just couldn’t put down. 10/10 Hibiscus Lemonade, $3.99: Though the subtle, tart sweetness of the drink was immediately distinct, it lacked the Guava Ginger Ale’s signature zest, yet paired wonderfully with many of our dishes. 9/10

Milkshakes:

Soy Vegan Acai Hibiscus Shake, $6.99: Though we almost didn’t order it, this vegan option ended up being berry good. It slightly resembled a smoothie or sorbet, the sweetness was a pleasant surprise and the texture was silky smooth. 9/10 Campfire Shake, $6.99: Though the chocolate balls added texture and crunch, this ordinary vanilla shake was nothing special. The graham cracker topper definitely added some points, though. 6/10 Chunky Monkey Shake, $6.99: This shake struggled to balance the odd floating banana pieces with the soggy Oreos and chocolate flavors, making it more of a chunky banana smoothie than a special shake. 4/10

Appetizers:

Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon, $10.49: Silver Diner has certainly caught on to the avocado toast trend—and this dish didn’t disappoint. The tomato and onion added a nice kick of flavor. But the smoked salmon wasn’t as fresh as we had hoped, making us regret the fish’s extra four dollar tab. 9/10 Cheese Fries with Bacon, $8.99: Cheese with french fries and BACON! It was good, but for the additional calories, it wasn’t worth it: the cajun spice on the fries overpowered the rest of the flavors. 8/10 Buffalo Wings, $6.49: The lack of spice didn’t have the kick of a true buffalo wing. It wasn’t anything bad, but our Super Bowl party would have been fine without them. 7/10

Breakfast:

Eggs Benedict, $12.99: The eggs benedict was a grandslam: the ham was well sliced, the hollandaise

sauce rich and creamy and the eggs perfectly cooked.

The salted side of home fries completed the dish. 9/10 Banana-stuffed French Toast, $10.99: An unhealthy, heavy breakfast choice and an underwhelming dessert, the Banana Stuffed French Toast left us full and with a sugar rush after two bites. 7/10 Pancakes, Eggs & Bacon, $9.99: The pancakes were fluffy and dry, and the colorless eggs were more like airplane food than expert diner cuisine. 5/10 California Omelet, $12.99: To any omelet lovers out there, stay far, far away. The texture of the omelet was almost soggy and the chicken tasted microwaved.

This is an item we will surely never order again. 1/10

MAIN COURSES:

*Short Rib Burger, $15.99: Hop on the burger express because it’s headed to Flavortown! The salty flavors of the pulled pork, bacon and ribs blended beautifully with the arugula, and the crispy onion strings added a necessary crunch that topped off the burger.

10/10 Chicken Tender Platter, $13.99: Not fantastic, not terrible: these chicken tenders were pretty standard but lacked the crunchy shell we were craving. 6/10 Roasted Chicken Pot Pie, $15.99: While the minimal amounts of chicken were tender, a bowl of soup with two crackers and a hidden soggy biscuit would be a better description of this odd concoction. 1/10

DESSERT:

*Churro Waffle, $7.99: Shockingly, this dessert tasted just as good as it looked. The cinnamon-speckled waffle paired with the subtle raspberry drizzle was great tasting and aesthetically pleasing. This dish can be for two or even three, and it’s a great bang for your buck.

8/10 Triple Layer Chocolate Cake, $6.49: This triple layer cake could have as easily been baked out of a box.

Although it didn’t have an overpowering amount of chocolate and boasted a nice flavor, given the excellent churro waffle, we’d have to desert this next time. 6/10 Overall, Silver Diner may have a plethora of options, but you can’t go wrong with a glass of guava ginger ale, a burger and fries, and a churro waffle.

*Perfect meal Clockwise from top left: Short Rib Burger; Pancakes, Eggs & Bacon; Chicken Tender Platter, Roasted Chicken Pot Pie, Eggs Benedict; Banana Stuffed French Toast, California Omelet; Soy Vegan Acai Hibiscus Shake, Chunky Monkey Shake, Campfire Shake; Buffalo Wings, Cheese Fries with Bacon, Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon; Hibiscus Lemonade, Guava Ginger Ale; Churro Waffle

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Holocust srvivor Ruth Cohen photographed at her home this February.

The Generation After As Holocaust survivors dwindle, who will be left to tell their stories?

by Max London photo by Lukas Gates 20

W

e’ve visited the Holocaust Museum.

We’ve read about the Holocaust and learned about the millions of lives lost. But as instances of anti-Semitism increase globally and the number of survivors rapidly decreases, the Holocaust is becoming a distant historical moment, referenced only in textbooks and museums. For survivors and their descendants, their experiences contain invaluable lessons worth preserving.

With insight into profound hatred, suffering and strength, survivors want to pass these lessons onto future generations—before the survivors are gone.

Worldwide, anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks are on the rise. French politician Marine Le Pen, whose party has been accused of anti-Semitic remarks, earned 34 percent of the vote in the 2017 French presidential election. Last February, the Anti-Defamation League released its annual report, which found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide had increased by 60 percent from 2016 to 2017; it was the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported since the ADL began reporting in the 1970s.

In October, a gunman opened fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 in what’s believed to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

Even with a large Jewish community, Montgomery County and its residents have been the target of anti-Semitic hate crimes. In 2016, swastikas were painted at Burning Tree Elementary School, Westland Middle School and Richard Montgomery High School. In 2017, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School received a bomb threat, and a Jewish sophomore at Churchill High School received an anti-Semitic text message.

Just last month, swastikas were found drawn on a desk at Churchill. Statewide, from 2015 to 2017, reports of anti-Semitic incidents have risen 1,006 percent, according to the ADL. This increase has especially worried survivors.

“People haven’t learned from the Holocaust,” survivor Ruth Cohen said.

“What scares me is thinking about new generations who will never know that a mass genocide happened because people were racist and didn’t stand up when they saw people being taken away and murdered.”

Now, survivors’ children and grandchildren are asking themselves: what can we learn from survivors, and how can we ensure their legacy is preserved?

Survivors leave a generational legacy Recent studies, including a 2016 National Institutes of Health report, have found that Holocaust survivors aren’t the only people who suffer longterm effects from the genocide; trauma and resilience are passed down to their children and grandchildren.

Whitman parent Mimi Darmstadter’s father, Joel Darmstadter, was born in 1928 in Mannheim, Germany.

At the age of nine he was expelled from school and his father lost his job because they were Jewish. In 1939, their home was heavily damaged during Kristallnacht, a night during which the Nazi regime burned and vandalized synagogues and Jewish homes across Germany. At the same time, Darmstadter and his brother were sent to Britain under the Kindertransport program, a nine-month rescue effort to relocate about 10,000 refugee children from German-controlled areas before the start of World War II. “It was scary,” Darmstadter said. “I had English skills that were very limited, and there my brother and I were: on a train, alone, without our parents or knowledge of what would come next.”

sonality have made him a very sensitive soul and very other-oriented; he doesn’t think much about himself but thinks a lot about other people. I think those traits have been passed on.”

But for some children of Holocaust survivors, inherited personal trauma defines their childhood memories.

Barbara Brandys is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and had her own painful upbringing in Poland. During her childhood, the Polish communist regime’s 1968 purge of Jews forced her family to relocate to Israel.

When Brandys moved, she felt distant from her Jewish heritage because her parents’ trauma made them reluctant to talk about Judaism, she said. Brandys wanted her own children to form the strong Jewish identity she hadn’t had in her youth, so in the U.S., she sent them to Jewish preschools and day schools.

Her parents were still emotional about their family members’ deaths in the Holocaust, so Brandys grew up knowing she could never ask about her grandparents.

“My father’s sister had long, dark braids,” Brandys said. “His last memory of her was seeing her pretty braids shaved off, and then he never saw her again. When I was growing up, my father made me have long braids. One day

22 percent of U.S. millenials say they haven’t heard of the Holocaust or don’t know if they’ve heard of it A 2018 study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany That same year, before Hitler enacted his “Final Solution,” Joel’s parents when I was about 16, he had been gone were released from Dachau, a concen- on a trip, and I cut off my braids. When tration camp, while Joel and his brother he came back, he felt like I had personwere “adopted” by a Jewish family in ally betrayed him.”

Brandys said she sometimes had to Manchester. But with the outbreak of think about the emotional needs of her war and anticipation of German bombings, the British government ordered parents before her own. Often, when children to be evacuated. Months later, she or other family members were flyhe, his brother and his parents obtained ing to visit Brandys’ mother, her mother visas and emigrated to the U.S. They would stay up all night with a radio by later found out that Joel’s maternal her bed, anticipating news that their grandparents and several other family plane had crashed.

“When I had a flu or a high fever, members had died in Polish or German my mother used to come into my room concentration camps.

Mimi said her father’s experience at night and kneel down to see if I was has shaped her personality. Growing up, still alive,” Brandys said. “Because of she was taught to appreciate inclusion her trauma of living through the Holocaust, there was no margin between bad and diversity.

“I was raised believing very strong- things and death. That fear of things goly—and having it demonstrated for ing wrong has definitely passed on to me—that you don’t discriminate and me.”

Two of Adam Weissmann’s grandthat everyone’s equal,” she said. “My dad’s Holocaust experience and his per- parents were Holocaust survivors.

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Barbara Brandys’ father, a Holocaust survivor, stands with his grandchildren during a 2000 memorial ceremony at a Jewish cemetery in Poland.

Brandys lost her aunts, uncles and grandparents in the Holocaust and was forced to leave Poland for Israel in the Polish Communist regime’s purge of Jews in 1968. After moving, Brandys said she lost a sense of her Jewish heritage. Photo courtesy BARBARA BRANDYS

Weissmann said learning about their experiences has shaped his outlook on life.

“Even as a small child, I’ve always had the sense that my life was an accident and that I have to make it count,” Weissmann said. “I’m not just living for myself; I’m living for all the people who weren’t born because their would-be grandparents didn’t survive. I have a special mission, like other grandchildren of survivors, to live more, and that’s not always an easy thing.”

Descendants continue survivors’ legacies

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Senior Emily Schweitzer, whose great uncle—along with all of his immediate family—survived German concentration camps, said she was bullied when she was a freshman for being Jewish; she often heard anti-Semitic and Holocaust jokes in school. After writing about her experience during an anti-bullying activity in her class, she created and delivered a lesson to English teacher Omari James’ classes about anti-Semitism and her family’s experience in the Holocaust.

“If people don’t hear from survivors or don’t learn about the details of the Holocaust, ignorance, anti-Semitism and

Holocaust denial can thrive,” Schweitzer said. “I’m worried that losing a face-toface aspect when survivors pass away could worsen anti-Semitism, but I’m optimistic that there are resources and people out there who want to educate new generations about the Holocaust.”

While teaching at a middle school in Arkansas, University of North Carolina student Noa Borkan, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, was asked to speak to 7th grade English students who were learning about the Holocaust. Her relationship to survivors helped her personalize the issue, Borkan said.

“It was a very strange experience since they were so disconnected from the story,” Borkan said. “I was the first Jew they had ever met—let alone someone connected to the Holocaust. To them, the Holocaust was this distant historical event. When I was growing up, Holocaust survivors always told us we would have to continue their legacy because soon no survivors would be alive to tell their stories.

In that moment, I really felt that.”

Several groups, all with the goal of educating future generations about the Holocaust, have formed locally. The Generation After, a D.C. area group of survivors and their descendants, works to teach

people about the Holocaust and to continue the legacy of survivors and those lost.

One of the group’s projects is Remember a Child, a program led by Brandys that matches Jewish students preparing for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs with the names and stories of children who died during the Holocaust before they reached Bar or Bat Mitzvah age.

“I feel like The Generation After is a very natural place for me to be normal,” she said. “My parents’ experiences in the Holocaust is always in the back of my mind—always to remember, always to try to continue their legacy.”

Weissmann is a member of a group similar to The Generation After, called 3GDC. “My grandchildren will never have the chance to see my grandmother’s face turn to stone when talking about her mom and dad and brothers, what they were like, and trying to convey what it was like for her to lose them,” Weissmann said. “Nothing can convey that. I have to do my best to be a conduit and to explain to them what happened and how personal it is to me. That gives my generation a unique role; we’re the bridge between memory and legacy.”

I

What I learned from writing about affirmative action We’re Not as Open-Mindeded as we think — but we can be

by ANNA YUAN

In the last Black & White magazine, I wrote a story on the community’s reaction to Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a lawsuit involving an anti-affirmative action group who accused Harvard University of discriminating against AsianAmericans in college admissions.

I’d been following the case closely, even before pitching the story. Admittedly, I went into the article with my own opinions.

Every once in a while, my parents and I would discuss affirmative action during dinner and all become equally irritated with the policy. My parents’ reasoning seemed straightforward to me: Asians are a minority that faces discrimination, consistently receiving low marks on personality traits like positivity and courage from admissions officers, while having to score higher than any other race on standardized tests to stand out.

Our 20-minute dinners quickly became an hour long, leaving me upset and frustrated. After all, it seemed to me that as an Asian, I had to study harder and do more extracurriculars just because of my race. I was convinced that affirmative action should be abolished and replaced with a system based on socio-economic status, rather than race.

Still, I believed at the time that I was open-minded and clearly understood the other side of the argument.

Oh, how wrong I was.

To write the article, I started a month-long journey, reading every relevant story I could find and interviewing every stakeholder who was willing to talk to me, including students, alumni, constitutional law professors and representatives from civil rights organizations. And

slowly but surely, my opinion began to change.

My first interview was with Duke freshman Aaron Zhao (‘18), who was also a staunch disbeliever in affirmative action in high school but said that he began understanding the benefits of a diverse campus after only a semester of college.

“Coming here, I’ve met people from all over the world, in different financial situations, who bring so much to the classroom,” Zhao said.

“In my biomedical class, there’s this guy from Togo, and he said that he wouldn’t be here if affirmative action had not been in play. He adds so much to the conversation that none of us can just because he’s from a different side of the world.”

I realized then that I had spent so much time and energy thinking about getting into college when I had never actually considered what my college experience would be like.

It was the last interview that really changed my mind.

“I hate that SFFA is using Asian students to take away something that can help students of color in general,” senior Breanna McDonald said. “They’re just trying to pit these two minority groups against each other when we really should be uniting and trying to fight for a better cause. Affirmative action works in a way that it gives students in lower income schools the opportunity to reach their highest level of education so that they too can go to college and be afforded the same opportunities that we have.”

Before interviewing Breanna, I looked at the issue with tunnel vision, not considering how other minorities were affected by affirmative action, and that Edward Blum,

a conservative legal strategist and the president of SFFA, could just be using Asian-American students as pawns to abolish affirmative action.

Only after I wrote the piece did I fully realize what had happened: before, I never wanted to acknowledge that the other side had a valid argument. Instead, I blindly believed whatever my family and friends— who shared similar views—were telling me.

Sadly, this isn’t unusual. Although we may not like to admit it, many of us have learned to hear what we want to hear and believe what we want to believe, blocking out opposing stances. In fact, 35 percent of liberals and 50 percent of conservatives feel that it’s important to live in a place where most people share the same views, Pew Research Center found in 2014.

But in order to have truly open discourse and fully understand any issue, we need to listen to each other, educate ourselves and not be afraid to change our beliefs.

I was so angry about being treated differently that I never honestly considered the other side. And when I did, I realized that Harvard and other proponents of affirmative action weren’t blind to discrimination like I had assumed, but I had been blinded by my own frustration.

Now, I still believe that some bias exists against Asian-Americans in college admissions, but the benefits of having a racially diverse campus and the lack of a better system have convinced me that affirmative action in its current form is needed.

So let’s stop staying so affirmed in our opinions and open up our minds to other people’s perspectives, no matter how set we are on our own.

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It’s time we Stop generalizing generations

BY MEERA DAHIYA AND ALLY NAVARRETE aRTWORK BY JANA wARNER

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f you want to design a product sure to inspire any iGen-er, make it high-tech, authentic, personalized… and add a Snapchat filter, why don’t you? That’s how a 2018 Forbes article titled “13 Strategies For Marketing To Generation Z” recommends advertisers appeal to Gen Z, also referred to as iGen, the cohort of individuals who came of age after Sept. 11, 2001.

As each generation becomes consumers, many groups—including marketers, the media, the government and even history teachers—intent on simplifying generational differences categorize and stereotype generations.

To advertisers, members of the silent generation are hardworking and disciplined. Baby Boomers are independent and competitive. Generation X-ers, by definition, are self-sufficient and resourceful. Millennials are confident and ambitious. And us? We’re pragmatic, tech-dependent change-makers. Capitalizing on these traits makes it easier to sell products, collect data and identify patterns.

Generational labeling is even a part of the college admissions process.

New York University has changed its marketing strategies to appeal more to the individualistic aspect of Gen Z. Christopher Browne, an art director in the advertising and publications department at NYU, said this is one way in which labeling generations has actually been effective.

“When I first started here five years ago, there was an old fashioned approach to talking about what NYU has to offer,” Browne said. “It was highminded, aspirational, institutional talk, and it didn’t seem very personal. Then it became more personalistic because this is a generation that wants to be treated as individuals.”

But confining entire generations to a handful of key characteristics stifles compromise and understanding between groups that, after all, aren’t that different in the first place.

With the rapid development of technology, it’s easy to believe that iGen is exceptionally unique, that the values we stand for—individualism, creativity, social change—are unprecedented. The clear-cut labels advertised by marketers and the media were, admittedly, attractive; distinguishing our generation from our parents and grandparents felt good.

Who doesn’t want to be special?

So that’s how we approached re-

porting for this story: under the impression our generation’s habits were never before seen.

We interviewed members of four different generations, asking them what made their generation unique, and what we found differed significantly from our assumptions. While technology distinguished our generation from others, values overlapped between generations.

In 1969, an estimated 500,000 people protested U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In the wake of the Parkland shooting, our generation also took to the streets, with an estimated 800,000 people marching at the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. “During the Vietnam war, we started protesting,” Whitman grandparent Sandy Grundman, a member of the Silent Generation, said. “We started to think of ourselves as not respecting authority as much. I think it became a period where we really questioned authority a whole lot.”

A combination of enormous events—the death toll in the Vietnam

to nurture, not discipline, their children.

Still, we will never quite be the same as our parents and grandparents.

Social media has connected people in ways that the brick phone of the 1980s never could. With the help of technology, our generation is perceived as more politically active than anyone before us.

We’re unquestionably more impatient than our predecessors, and technology has drastically altered the way we see the world: civil wars and famines are far more visible when they’re mentioned in headlines on Facebook.

“Because of social media and the way that information is shared, there is very little sense of hierarchy or power structure that can’t be crossed,” English teacher Matthew Bruneel, a millennial, said. “Anybody can access the microphone or podium and really be a change agent.”

Sure, generational clichés can be somewhat useful; marketers, historians and anthropologists benefit from categorizing generations into bite-size groups. But if we want to reduce finger

Confining entire generations to a handful of key characteristics stifles compromise and understanding between groups that, after all, aren’t that different in the first place.

War broadcasted on nightly news, the sameness of suburbia, the bubbling resurgence of conservatism and the cloud of secrecy that shrouded the White House—compelled young people of the 70s to take to the streets.

For us, a succession of school shootings, government inaction and a mind-numbing news cycle all convinced iGen-ers to assemble across the country for the March for Our Lives.

Each generation builds upon the progress of the last, and youth protests of the 70s paving the way for the changemakers of Gen Z is only one example of this.

Even parenting resources were commonplace among earlier generations. The books were nothing like the helicopter parenting of today, but guides like Dr. Spock’s “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care,” published in 1946, place, taught parents

pointing and increase understanding, dismantling generational stereotypes is key. The experiences of past generations shape our understanding of the world; for us, events that influenced our parents and grandparents are distant, but the values gleaned from them aren’t foreign. Accepting the commonalities between iGen-ers and our grandparents is a small step toward bridging the generational gap.

Visit theblackandwhite.net for an interactive look into a hypothetical family through the generations

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Fencing helps sophomore Sarah Tong let her guard down

by CLARA KORITZ HAWKES Photo by LUKAS GATES

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s a kid, sophomore Sarah Tong was always the first to back down from conflict.

“Sarah can be very quiet and shy,” her mother, Wei Shen, said.

“When she was little, if anything approached her, she’d step back.”

To give her daughter more confidence, her mom signed up Tong, then 11, for fencing.

After starting fencing in Shanghai, China, Tong and her family moved to the U.S. four years ago.

Since then she’s competed at the Junior Olympics three times. She competes nationally once a month and attends local tournaments one to two times a month, she said.

Despite her success, Tong says she’s at a disadvantage. Most competitors started when they were eight or nine and have parents who also fenced.

“Especially when it comes to competitions, it’s not really skill; it’s also mentally knowing what choices to make in a split second,” Tong said. “With experience, you know what to do. For me, I make the wrong decisions a lot because I just don’t have that experience.”

At national tournaments, she’s up against more than 200 competitors. Tong tries to place in the top 40 percent of competitors and earn national points so she can qualify for more prestigious competitions, like the Junior Olympics and Summer Nationals. She has a B rating on the national A to E scale.

Her coach said that fencing has given her tenacity she didn’t have before.

“Sarah has come from being a reserved and shy girl to a mature fencer who isn’t afraid of overcoming herself,” he said.

Tong’s family moved to the U.S. because they wanted her to get an American education, she said, but her timid nature made her move more challenging. She went from a small, private international school where everyone was friends with everyone, to Pyle Middle School, which was bigger and more intimidating, she said.

namic has drawbacks, it has helped her improve.

“One-on-one training is extremely important,” her coach said.

“Fencing is a sport of one-on-one competition, so private training helps gear those core techniques to Sarah and helps her improve from a strategic point of view.”

There have been several occa-

In real life I hesitate a lot too, but I’ve learned you have to stop and go, even if you aren’t sure if it will work out.

- Sarah Tong Fencing, in part, is what gave Tong the confidence to walk up to people, making it easier to make friends.

When not practicing or competing, she works out and does footwork drills, like ladder exercises and specific fencing steps at home.

But for Tong, the hardest part isn’t the time commitment or physical dedication—it’s having the mental strength to outsmart an opponent.

“You have to trick your opponent into thinking that you’re doing something you aren’t—you have to plan multiple steps ahead of them,” she said. “It seems like you’re just poking someone but when you’re on the strip, the most tiring thing you’re doing is thinking what the most strategic move will be.”

Tong usually travels to competitions with her parents, who record videos of her matches and send them to her coaches.

She trains one-on-one with a coach. Although this individual dy-

sions when Tong has wanted to quit.

Last year the sport had become too tiring, and she hadn’t been as successful as she had hoped, she said.

Her dad emailed the coach, and she ‘quit’ for a week before her mom encouraged her to go to one last tournament.

“That competition was actually how I earned my B rating,” she said.

“So then I figured it was a sign I shouldn’t quit because it was a reminder that my work actually had paid off.”

Tong said confidence is one of the most important things fencing has given her.

“A lot of times when I’m in intense situations while fencing, I hesitate. But when you see the opportunity, you have to strike,” she said. “In real life I hesitate a lot too, but I’ve learned you have to stop and go, even if you aren’t sure if it will work out.”

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This story is about pausing and reflecting on those frozen moments and memories.

THE OBJECTS THAT DEFINE US

BY KATIE HANSON PHOTOS BY CHARLIE SAGNER

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hile it often feels like our lives are in constant motion, a childhood toy, a certain photograph or a special pair of earrings can remind us of an activity we used to love or a person we miss. For me, it’s the books from my grandparents’ bookstore that they brought my family on Sunday nights before my grandma died. For junior Lorenzo Natal, it’s the Italian flag he sees first thing every morning.

And for sophomore Gabby Fleming, it’s the microphone she uses to express herself.

This story is about pausing and reflecting on those frozen moments and memories. Along with sophomore photographer Charlie Sagner, I went to several students’ homes, asking them how their favorite objects represent who they are.

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1. JUNIOR GRAHAM SOOFER “I was super close with my grandparents. We would go out to dinner a lot; they introduced me to mussels and Mountain Dew. When they moved to Bethesda, we would see them almost every weekend.

“Unfortunately, they passed away. It sucked. This is the game we would always play. When we were cleaning their apartment out, there was this one game we used to play called ‘Perfection,’ and I was like, ‘we’ve got to keep this.’ It was kind of an ‘always thing.’ When I got older they didn’t want to play as many games as when I was younger, but this game was always fun.”

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2. SOPHOMORE GABBY FLEMING “This is my microphone. It helps me sing well and use my voice. I sang at Strathmore when I was 14 and 15, and now I like to sing ‘How Far I’ll Go’ from Moana. I also like to sing ‘Remember Me’ from Coco; it’s my favorite song. I’m singing ‘How Far I’ll Go’ at Carderock Idol. It’s a contest next weekend.

It’s my first competition.

“I like singing with the microphone to practice. I dream about being a pop star or becoming famous.”

3. SENIOR ALISON XIAO

“This is a hedgehog, as you can see. It’s a little stuffed animal that I collected when I was in Japan three years ago. It was given to me as a gift from one of my host students I had at the time. Being able to stay with them and be with them was one of my favorite experiences I’ve ever had. I love Japanese culture.

A big dream of mine is to study abroad in Japan.

“But Japan and its neighboring countries don’t have really great relations right now. It’s deeply rooted in a lot of hostility that has to do with imperialism from World War II. It really makes me sad when I hear about how my relatives don’t want me to hang out with a certain Japanese family because they don’t like the Japanese. That’s something that I want to improve on if I can.

“This is a symbol of friendship between me and a Japanese family.”

4. JUNIOR LORENZO NATAL

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“It’s an Italian flag. I bought it with my own money. It’s important because half my family is from Italy. We don’t often go to Italy, so it’s important to remind ourselves where we come from. I like how it’s extremely different—how people live—especially in the summer. Even if they don’t know you, people are more friendly and open.

“At the same time, there’s a reason my grandparents left Italy: there’s not a lot of opportunity there. There’s a trade-off, but that’s why we go back there and we keep these signs of it.

“We’re tourists there. We’re the Americans of the family visiting the Italian part. Sometimes our Italian gets really rusty, and it’s obvious that we don’t live in Italy. I see this and I’m like, ‘yeah, I’m Italian.’ I speak English all day, but in the end I’m Italian, and the flag reminds me of that.”

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THE OBJECTS THAT DEFINE US I’ve always just loved music. It’s the one thing I love to do. I could just come home and play guitar for hours.

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5. JUNIOR RACHEAL ADEOTI “I’ve always just loved music. It’s the one thing I love to do. I could just come home and play the guitar for hours. My mom bought it for me. I don’t see my mom often, especially when I was in boarding school. I guess that’s why I love it so much. It’s a coping mechanism. Imagine being in a boarding school in a different country when you’re 11.

Music was something I was good at, and it was an escape. My friend and I auditioned for talent show and we actually won. In terms of Whitman, people don’t really know I play guitar.

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6. JUNIOR DAVID JACOBSTEIN “I’m a diehard Star Wars and Marvel fan.

I’m one of the only people I know who does this. I play with them sometimes, but I usually keep them on display. It lets me represent myself in my own way. I have a whole list on my phone of things I want to look for. In the collecting community, there’s a term used called ‘in the wild,’ where you don’t order it online; you go out in stores and find it. There’s no other feeling like it.

“I’d been looking for Darth Revan for forever. Scalpers were selling it for 70 bucks. I was like ‘I need to get this guy one way or another.’ I was looking for another figure, I called Toys R Us and I was like ‘Do you guys have this figure?’ and they were like, ‘No, we have Rev.’ And I was like, ‘You guys have Rev in store! Hold it right now!’ It’s the thrill of the hunt for me.”

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Embrace the effort, not the outcome

by DANA HERRNSTADT

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few weeks ago, I got myself into a pickle. I had a math test coming up, and like any self-proclaimed optimist, I visualized myself finally— finally!—getting that A. I searched tirelessly for silver linings and found some false hope in the fact that I got a whopping three out of six answers right on our last homework assignment. Instead of bothering to study the material like usual, I became blinded by my hope for a perfect ending.

As you can imagine, my A didn’t work out. At all.

I painted a picture of success in my head and hoped actual success would follow, but focusing on the outcome and trying to maintain my sunny disposition didn’t help me; instead, it hurt my motivation and my grade.

It’s easy to forget that the destination isn’t everything, especially in an age where vloggers constantly tell us to keep our chins up, buttercup; where lifestyle gurus clog our Instagram feeds with reminders that everything will work out; and where we rave more about the outcome than we appreciate the struggle. In the constant whirlwind of motivational quotes and gimmicks about achieving the perfect ending, the beginning and middle of our stories get lost.

For most of us at Whitman, focusing on the end game is all we know—we want an A on the test, an A in the class and an acceptance letter to that perfect college. Some students take AP after AP just to get into the Ivy League school of their dreams, only to complain about how much homework they have each day. Even the people who put in the work to reach their goals don’t benefit as people; they only benefit on a paper transcript.

It’s not active, enthusiastic learning. It’s reluctant. It’s forced. Students make themselves miserable by overlooking the experience of actually learning and growing.

In learning and in life, hoping for the best isn’t good enough.

When we take classes with only the end goal in mind, we don’t learn. We memorize information for a test, then forget it immediately after. Students also miss out on taking classes they actually like— those funky, non-honors classes— in favor of improving their transcript. We forget that learning can be fun.

Imagining only the outcome can be detrimental. A 2011 study by the Journal of Experimental Social

Psychology found that fantasies about success lead to poor achievement. They decrease motivation because the brain responds as if the goal has already been reached.

Picturing the effort, though, rather than the outcome, leads to fulfilling one’s goals. And picturing the effort is a lot easier if it’s something you enjoy.

Out of college, my uncle didn’t know what he wanted to be. He ended up operating a forklift for a short time, then became a photographer and finally a photography professor at Iowa State University.

He’s over 50 with a steady job, but last year he took a sabbatical. On a whim, he travelled to Maine for a knife-making class, and he loved it so much that he’s designing a similar course to teach at Iowa State.

To me, my uncle is a perfect representation of taking life in stride. He doesn’t forge ahead to the ending in sight, but waits patiently to see where life takes him.

I’m not anti-hoping-for-thebest. I’m not anti-sunshine or anti-rainbows or anti-daisies. I just think we need to learn to love the steps, the pit-stops and the confusion. In learning and in life, hoping for the best isn’t good enough; we need to be willing to work for what we want and learn to enjoy the work along the way.

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Mega crossword: World landmarks Visit theblackandwhite.net for the answer key

by CAM JONES and EVA LILES

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ACROSS: 1. Scratched with animal nails 7. Fur Elise is written to be played on these 13. Claire Holt played this character on Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars 19. A form of short-cut pasta, also known as Orzo 20. At an angle or in a sloping direction 21. A juicy, soft orange fruit 22. Cheatom and Cooper 23. Unique cathedral in Barcelona 25. Institute of Brand and Innovation Law, abbr.

26. One who consumes food 28. At a delayed time, abbr.

30. Red bridge found near Alcatraz 32. “Hello My Name Is” 36. Japanese ceremonial preparation and presentation of powdered green tea 37. Natural wonder straddling the U.S.-Canada border 42. Follows the letter “M” to create an elementary school subject 45. Lorelai’s daughter in Gilmore Girls 47. A company that provides outsourced research support to pharma, biotech, and med device industries, abbr.

48. Athletic shoe fitted with studs on the sole for traction 49. Longest of the New7Wonders of the World 56. New York & Company official abbreviation 57. Name of cardinal direction shared by Kim and Kanye’s daughter 58. A steamy place to decompress 59. Marijuana 62. Second most traded currency in the world 63. National Commission for Women, abbr.

64. To repress or stop oneself 65. Mysterious neolithic monument in Wiltshire, England 70. Reagan asked Gorbachev to tear this down 74. People who live outside their native country 75. Illinois institute of Technology, abbr.

76. To leave hurriedly, usually because of a threat 77. To make smaller and denser 80. One of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China 83. Gene that encodes the Trophinin-associated protein 84. Keates wrote one of these to a Grecian urn 85. Architectural wonder in New South Wales, Australia

89. These are used in rock climbing and sailing 92. To express shock or excitement, electronically 93. “Fabric” in Caracas 94. “The” in Berlin, masculine 95. Fortress in the capital of Czechia 100. A small ornamental case for holding needles 102. Haploid sets of chromosomes 103. English royal palace named for the duke of this place 109. Words meaning group that is against, abbr.

112. Department of Defense’s combat logistics support agency, abbr.

113.To brag 114. The Big Easy, abbr.

115. This ancient wonder might tell you a riddle 121. One who brings together 123. Tupac, Eminem, Travis Scott, and 21 Savage 124. Largest island in Indonesia 125. An office of the Roman curia that investigates suitability for papal benefices 126. Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic 127. Damian Lillard plays basketball in this state 128. Planned social occasions DOWN: 1. Youngest pitcher in MLB history to record 300 saves, _____ Kimbrel 2. A party game that requires players to bend backwards 3. The piece needed for propulsion on a schooner 4. A 2005 Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning movie saw a war of these 5. Italian multinational oil and gas company, headquarters in Rome 6. To deprive someone or something of an endowment 7. Staple food of Italian cuisine 8. International Scientific Academy of Engineering & Technology, abbr.

9. Author of The Man with the Golden Arm, Nelson _____ 10. An association whose member brokers are realtors 11. Lead female character in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle 12. HIV or chlamydia 13. “This is ______!”

14. A limb we have two of, also the abbreviation of another word for weapon 15. Customizable character on the Wii 16. Well-known non-profit dedicated to protecting the rights of Americans 17. Drug used to enhance muscular abilities,

abbr.

18. Imperial four-legged transport and combat vehicle in Star Wars 21. During the time following an event 24. The school that one attended, ____ mater 27. Wide open spaces, feared by those with the opposite of claustrophobia 31. The planet we live on 32. Police officer who enforces laws regarding illicit sale or use of drugs 33. Silver Hydroxide, to a chemist 34. NFL Conference containing the Patriots, Ravens, and Jaguars 35. A girl, young woman 38. International Coalition for Animal Welfare, abbr.

39. Creator, writer, and star of Girls, ____ Dunham 40. What you mow in the spring 41. Red, swollen lump at the eyelid margin 42. Little girl voiced by Elsie Fisher in Despicable Me 43. LA Angels star center fielder, Mike _____ 44. Kentucky Basketball star Freshman, Tyler _____ 46. An abbreviation for the Sunshine State 50. Made amends or reparation 51. Air filled organ used to breathe 52. On one occasion 53. Institute of Medical Technology and Research, abbr.

54. A hammer’s best friend 55. Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse, abbr.

60. Youth Leadership Network, abbr.

61. A curly hairstyle worn by some Jewish men 64. The way in which something is organized, planned, or arranged.

66. A file extension for an executable file format 67. A condition encountered in diving beyond a depth of 100 m, abbr.

68. Achieved without great effort 69. National Training and Education Division, abbr.

70. Another name for a ballpoint pen 71. Homonym for a word that indicates permission 72. What many do with a car to have a lower monthly payment 73. A person suffering from leprosy 75. An extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque episode 77. A group of people authorized to act as a single entity, abbr.

78. A strong, usually unpleasant, smell 79. A United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment, abbr.

81. What a soccer goal and basketball hoop

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have in common 82. The Trojans fought against these in the Trojan War 83. First Anglo-Norman poet to write in the Anglo-Norman French language, rather than Latin, Philip De _____ 86. Central facial feature 87. Clinicians, trained to respond quickly to emergency situations regarding medical issues, abbr.

88. Measures the height of an object relative to sea level 90. Platypuses and echidnas are distinguished from mammals because they can create this 91. Institute legal proceedings against

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96. Orson Scott Card novel, ______ Game 97. Carbonated soft drinks flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings 98. What Yoga is commonly done on 99. Moving away from the land 101. Cause to catch fire 104. Uranium, Oxygen, Neon, and Oxygen, to a chemist 105. A well-worn wig 106. Oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang 107. This can be in Amber or Severe Weather 108. Maryland’s first colonial settlement and capital, St. ____ City 109. Masculine “other” in Montevideo 110. Canada’s public health agency, abbr.

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111. Frog internet meme 116. Used to measure proficiency in school, out of 4.0 117. Confucian virtue denoting the good feeling someone experiences when being altruistic 118. An individual who owns a small business, abbr.

119. Matched with “Favor” to beg in Beliz 120. Empire Napoleon destroyed in 1806, abbr.

122. Rapper who features on Travis Scott’s YOSEMITE along with Gunna

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