BHS Jacket 2022 Issue 11

BERKELEY HIGH

PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE STUDENTS OF BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL no. 11

www.berkeleyhighjacket.com • friday, february 11, 2022

since 1912

FEATURES

STUDENT SUBMISSIONS ON PAGE 9

OWEN BLAIR, RIOKA HAYAMA, & LOULOU ZIEGLER

Black Officials Strive Towards Better Representation in Berkeley BY AELIA GYGER staff writer

Ka’Dijah Brown attended Berkeley schools all her life. She began at Washington Elementary, moved on to Longfellow Middle School, and finally graduated from Berkeley High School (BHS)

in 2009. Today, Brown is the current president of the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) School Board. What Brown loves about Berkeley is that its schools are made up of people from all walks of life. “That’s what’s amazing about Berkeley … it’s just this melting

pot of really incredible people,” said Brown, who has served on the board since 2018, though this is her first year as its president. The school board includes two Black members, another who identifies as Latinx, and two white members. “I think that it’s a great representation of what all of

our schools look like … diverse people who represent the best and brightest within our district,” Brown said. Like Brown, Berkeley City Council member Terry Taplin was born and raised in Berkeley. Representing District Two, he said that the current racial and ethnic makeup of Berkeley is

dramatically different from what it used to be. According to Bay Area census data from 2000, 13.6 percent of Berkeley’s population was Black or African American in that year. By 2020, that number had fallen to 8 percent. “[Black] voices are really vanishing … People are leaving the city. They’re

being priced out. We’re just losing a lot of our diversity,” Taplin said. Taplin attended Saint Mary’s College in California. He originally planned to study Ancient Greek and Latin but decided to become a politician when he saw all the work that needed to be done in his PAGE 10

FEATURES

QuestBridge Links Students to College BY KIRA RAO-POOLLA staff writer

When Yasmin Navarro received an email from QuestBridge her junior year of high school, she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I thought it was a total scam,” she said. At the time, Navarro was living in a low-income household. She was the child of a single mother who had recently been laid off, having previously been making around nine thousand dollars a year. While a teacher had encouraged her to apply to college, as she had always

excelled academically, Navarro never considered it to be a financial possibility. Navarro continued getting emails from QuestBridge and decided to apply to several schools through the program. Today, Navarro is an Amherst College graduate and a college counselor at Berkeley High School (BHS). She spends her days guiding students, many of whom come from similar backgrounds as herself. QuestBridge is a national non-profit program designed to find low-income, high-achieving PAGE 10

Assassin Game Garners Mixed Reactions at BHS After a two-year pandemic hiatus, Assassin has had a controversial resurgence among upperclassmen. PAGE 4

EMILIA FREILICH

FEATURES

The Reality for Nonbinary Teachers at BHS BY MIRABAI PARNALL staff writer

“I have never felt fully safe on campus in all my years here,” said nonbinary special education teacher Jacob (he/they), who does not use their last name ex-

cept in a legal context. Many transgender or nonbinary teachers the Jacket interviewed reported having very polar experiences. How can Berkeley High School (BHS) help teachers feel safe and validated on campus? Jacob talked about his very mixed experience as a

Listen to the latest podcast! People Behind BHS: Cafeteria Workers Scan to listen on Anchor, Spotify, or Apple Music.

nonbinary teacher at BHS. They said, “There is less homophobia on campus than there was a decade ago, but it’s still prevalent. I hear what I hear and I see what I see, and I’m an adult. [But] I think I would have felt far safer here than at my alma mater, and I am grateful this

place exists.” For many teachers, there is a stark contrast between BHS and other schools. Sam Matsumoto (she/they), a film photography teacher at BHS, said, “Berkeley High in general is much more accepting; there is a lot more support for PAGE 11

BUSD Superintendent Brent Stephens to Leave District Stephens will stay on until the end of this school year. He has not shared his future plans or the reason for his decision. PAGE 3

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

NEWS BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

news editors: Naomi Rubalcava Levinthal & Clara Brownstein

naomirubalcavalevi@students.berkeley.net

BHS Teachers and Families Connect at Virtual Open House so they can know what they’re going into,” said Anya Draves, a senior in Academic Choice (AC), who presented at the B erkeley High School Advanced Math Open House (BHS) held its annual Open with other seniors about their House virtually this year, experiences in the program. allowing students and parents During this part of the to interact with teachers and program, teachers were able giving current freshmen the to communicate with parents opportunity to learn about in a way normally inaccessible BHS’s small schools for next to them. They took questions school year. from the crowd, addressing During the first half of the concerns and discussing what evening event, families the remainder of the were separately year had in store. invited to watch an “[It’s] always nice “I’ve long felt that Open House ... to talk to the parents, asynchronous video needed an update.” presentation detailing because we never get the advantages and a chance to connect disadvantages of each with them [otherwise],” Philip Halpern, of BHS’s five small said Matt Albinson, a BHS teacher s c h o o l s . St u d e nt s BIHS computer science from each small teacher who organized school shared their the Zoom directory for experiences and discussed the the Open House, teachers the event. personal bonds they formed pre s e nt e d t h e i r c l a s s e s Before the pandemic, Open during their time in the small to parents of current and House was an in-person event schools. prospective students. The with it its own benefits and For B a s i l i o Me nd oz a presentations, which lasted challenges. Juachon, a senior in Berkeley thirty minutes each, covered “Going to the different International High School the general information about classes and periods was pretty ( B I H S ) on it s a dv i s or y the class or classes, and were fun,” Juachon said. “It’s a lot committee, the Open House attended by around twenty better for parents to walk provided an opportunity people each. around the school and see what to help a new generation of “It’s valuable for other it’s like and get an idea of what incoming sophomores see students and parents to hear the their kids are doing.” BIHS in a more diverse, experiences of other students Albinson said there was BY SAMUEL FELDMAN staff writer

positive light. “The past couple of years, t he BIHS te achers have been wanting to shift the perspectives of what BIHS is,” they said. “Traditionally, [it has been] a really rigorous, strict, white school.” Through Juachon’s and others’ presentations in the video, BIHS is working to make itself more approachable and less segregated. In the second half of

a lot of pressure placed on the technology to withstand a substantial load. During Back to School Night earlier this school year, the webpage crashed when too many parents visited it at once. “We wanted to make sure that wouldn’t happen again,” he said. Philip Halpern, a co-lead for Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) and video production teacher, said one benefit of having a virtual Open House for the teachers was increased time to give presentations. Whereas they previously only had 10 minutes

per group, the teachers now had 30 minutes to present. “[In-person], you do a highenergy eight or nine minutes, then a quick Q&A, and then you’re done,” said Halpern. “A few surface-level statements and then it’s over.” Ho w e v e r, Ha l p e r n questioned whether Open House is fulfilling its intended purpose. “I’ve long felt that Open House, as we used to know it, needed an update, and COVID-19 forced us to make changes,” he said. “A longstanding concern of mine is that the parents we really want

ANJA BALL

to meet with are the parents that are unable to come.” Ha l p e r n e nv i s i o n s a restructuring of Open House in the form of “an equity measure.” This would promote one-on-one conversations, where teachers and parents wou l d work to d e vel op solutions. “[This new Open House] wou ld have te achers in conference with the parents of struggling students,” he said. “I think the school district should spend these substantial resources on connecting teachers with the parents of kids [who] are not succeeding.”

New Policy Offers Students Two Weekly COVID-19 Tests in Class

In-class COVID-19 tests are administered to students twice weekly by volunteers.

BY KAIYA JORDAN staff writer

S t a r t i n g o n Ja n u a r y 26, Berkeley High School (BHS) recently implemented an opt i on a l C OV I D - 1 9 surveillance testing plan that

aims to test all 3,100 students twice per week. According to Principal Juan Raygoza, over the first four days of the testing schedule, BHS administered 3,809 rapid tests and identified 22 positive cases. BHS’s surveillance testing schedule, a reaction to

ROWAN KENNEDY

the Omicron surge, was put in place to keep students and faculty safe. Previously, BHS provided COVID-19 testing for individual students solely after school, offering 9th and 12th graders the opportunity to test on Tuesday and Thursday,

and 10th and 11th graders on Wednesday and Friday. The schedule, which offered testing after school, caused long lines and conflicted with some students’ after school activities. Principal Juan Raygoza said surveillance testing was important for keeping the number of cases down and protecting students and faculty at school. He said after school testing was inconvenient for some students and didn’t offer nearly the same effectiveness as the new schedule. “If we didn’t have this system … would we have detected those seven positive cases? ” R aygoza said in response to the identification of seven positive cases on the first day of testing. “They were on campus [and] in class. If we don’t have a system … testing students, how many of those seven students [would] continue to come to school if they’re asymptomatic, and

possibly spread COVID-19?” Students are tested in their English classes, the rationale for this being that English is a mandatory class for every student. Over the course of the first few days of testing, some classes were not on the testing schedule, including Latinx Literature and some Academy of Medicine and Public Service (AMPS) English classes. Diane Kung, an AMPS English teacher, said there were flaws with the schedule missing some of her classes, but she also discussed the importance of testing and the short time frame in which the plan was put together. Kung said the administration was able to quickly add classes and smooth out the issues. St u d e nt s w h o t e s t e d positive were notified, sent home, and received a letter containing instructions for when they could return,

precautions they needed to take, and a check-in that they were safe at home. Nat a lie Power is a sophomore in Academic Choice (AC) who experienced the new testing schedule in her English class. “[The third day of testing] was much smoother,” she said. “They were definitely on it. They tested everyone in the class, and I was only out for around five minutes.” Melissa Jiménez, a Berkeley International High School (BIHS) English teacher, has not needed to make drastic changes to her teaching plans to accommodate this new testing plan. “It’s not a significant disruption right now,” Jiménez said. “When I design my lesson plan, there’s always time in the lesson where students are working on a particular skill or activity. So I am just getting a little creative.”

PATRONS & SPONSORS

The Jacket needs your help! As a completely student-run, self-funded newspaper, we rely heavily on financial aid from patron subscription and business advertisements in our newspaper. Our prices are $60 for a one semester subscription, and $85 for a full year. Full sponsorships, which include a full year subscription, are $250 and up. If you would like to subscribe or contribute any amount, please send a check to the Berkeley High Jacket, Business Manager, 1980 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, 94704. Checks can be made out to the Berkeley High Jacket. For more information, contact Business Manager Anabel Fredman at bhsjacketbusiness@gmail.com

SPONSORS

Computers and Structures Inc., Dorothy A Haas, Joan Firestone, Denise Yip, Joye Wiley, Catherine Zhang and Larry Drumm, William and Heather Clydesdale, David and Karen Eichler, Marjorie and Sander Weinreb, William John Skoonberg, Anna and Henry Lai, CW and Agnes Huang, Ori Tzvieli and Lori Freedman.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

NEWS

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Superintendent Brent Stephens to Leave at End of School Year Studies curriculum. “It has been an honor to work beside so many remarkable educators, parOn Wednesday, Februents, community and City ary 9, Superintendent Brent partners, and students,” SteStephens of Berkeley Uniphens wrote. “Berkeley is a fied School District (BUSD) singular place – smart, ideannounced that he will not alistic, passionate, and proextend his contract with gressive – and I am deeply BUSD past June 30 enriched from being of 2021. Stephens has by your side durbeen superintendent ing this exceptional “It has been an honor to work since 2019 and will time.” stay on until the end beside so many remarkable educaStephens enof this school year. A tors, parents, community and City tered his role as susuccessor has not yet perintendent on July partners, and students.” been named, and Ste1, 2019, after a career phens did not share in education that led Brent Stephens, what prompted his him from a position BUSD Superintendent decision or his future as a Spanish bilingual plans. teacher in Oakland to In his message to Chief Academic Ofthe district, Stephens re- millions in new grants to ficer for San Francisco Uniflected on BUSD’s accom- provide mental health sup- fied School District. plishments over the past port for students, as well as “I extremely value workthree years, referencing to aid in the development ing with student leaders and progress in regards to edu- of a new Native American working with their enthusi-

BY ELLA CREANE staff writer

cational equity, increased support for teachers, and the creation of EdHub, a collaboration between the Berkeley Public Schools Fund and the district supporting BUSD families during the pandemic. He also said that the district was recently awarded

asm and helping them make a difference,” Stephens told Jacket reporters at the time of his hiring. “I’m excited and thrilled for this opportunity.” Throughout his time working in BUSD, Stephens dealt with teacher shortages, budget reductions, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Stephens said the pandemic “almost completely defined” his time in the district. Balancing the wishes of both students and parents, on top of the safety of every individual, proved to be a difficult task, and Stephens faced controversy from community members including parents, students, and teachers over his decision to keep schools open during the threats of the Omicron surge. BUSD School Board President Ka’Dijah Brown

also released a statement in an expression of gratitude to Stephens. “We are not saying goodbye just yet,” Brown wrote. “In the next coming weeks, the Board will discuss and

determine its next steps in the search for our Superintendent’s successor. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Dr. Stephens and wishing him all the best on his next journey.”

On June 30, Superintendent Brent Stephens will leave BUSD.

BUSD

School Board Talks Black History Month, COVID-19 Measures BY LAUREN HUANG staff writer

At its February 2 meeting, the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) School Board convened to commemorate this year’s Black History Month and review future steps regarding COVID-19 policies including mask mandates, testing, and employee vaccination requirements. Throughout the meeting, board members displayed Black History Month themed Zoom backgrounds in celebration of the occasion. During the comments

portion of the meeting, Vice President Laura Babitt posed the question of what Berkeley’s community can draw from the topic of Black History Month, recognizing that past prejudices against Black Americans return in the presence of neglect. “I ask you to please teach truth, teach justice, but most importantly, work to live a just truth, because the struggle continues and the strength to overcome [is] still being forged,” Babitt said. The board’s president, Ka’Dijah Brown, acknowledged the importance of recognizing Black accomplishments as well as the

“central roles” they have our staff.” it is currently unnecessary quired to be vaccinated by played in history. The board announced to continue mandating out- the city such as childcare “While February is the that community engage- door mask wearing. workers. time of the [year] that we ment events for Black His“With the new group “Some of our unvaccicelebrate, we know that tory Month will resume contact tracing … there no nated staff have been out Black history is longer is a modified quar- on … required quarantines much more than antine,” McDermott said. and five day bursts … over a once per year “While February is the time of the “Now, kids who have been and over again,” Stephens event,” Brown exposed to a case can con- said. “This is presenting a said. “In Berkeley [year] that we celebrate, we know tinue to attend school re- real challenge for us given that Black history is much more gardless of [whether] they that we don’t have substitute Unified School District, we honare vaccinated or not.” teachers, [which] can presthan a once per year event.” or the contribuIn other news, field trips ent an instructional disruptions of Black are expected to be per- tion for students. It’s also Ka’Dijah Brown, and African mitted both indoors and exhausting our current staff BUSD School Board President American people outdoors, including over- [because] they are required to culturally relnight trips. Additionally, to cover for employees who evant teaching, distribution of at-home are absent.” their learning and their ac- since the Omicron variant testing kits is a possibility According to Stephens, tivities, and our schools that delayed multiple activities. for spring break, according the policy will require that benefit all of our students, Board members thanked to McDermott. employees be “fully-vacall of our faculty, and [all of] volunteers who helped test After the presentation, cinated” as defined by the students for COVID-19 at the board’s general consen- Centers for Disease ConBUSD schools. sus was that the outdoor trol and Prevention (CDC) Superintendent Brent mask mandate should be re- which does not include Stephens and Public Infor- moved, although there were booster shots. Director Ty mation Officer Trish Mc- some concerns about mask Alper said that the policy’s Dermott reported on district misplacement which Ste- greater purpose would be updates regarding getting unvaccinated the Omicron surge, staff vaccinated on a “We want to give our students saying that testing timeline that would has proved effec- some hope that they’re not going to allow for full vaccinative in lowering case have to wear masks all day long, tion. numbers. “We want to that they’re not going to have to be However, McDergive our students pulled out of class to get tested...” some hope that they’re mott noted that despite the success in not going to have to Ty Alper, testing, it is unsuswear masks all day tainable to rely on long, that they’re not School Board Director volunteers. going to have to be COVID-19 cases pulled out of class to continue to decrease each phens assured would not be get tested or go after school,” week according to Stephens. an issue, since the district is Alper said. “And with our A total of between 20 and 30 “sitting on a king’s treasure’s high vaccination rate — and cases are detected per day worth of surgical masks.” we should continue to push across BUSD. Stephens also presented that and mandate it for staff McDermott addressed BUSD’s employee vaccina- — I fully believe we can lifting requirements for out- tion policy which would promise that we are going door masking, given guid- be directed at all employ- to get back to a sense of norance and future information ees who are not already re- malcy.” from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on masking. Reviewing the initial purpose LOCATION TOTAL SINCE 1/27 of outdoor masking — offer389.5 51 Berkeley High School ing modified and quarantining options to unvaccinated 213 BUSD 1128 students — McDermott said MAHELA CABRINI

COVID-19 DASHBOARD

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

NEWS

Assassin Game Garners Mixed Reactions After Two Year Hiatus

In the controversial game of Assassin at BHS, teams can “kill” their targets by water gun attack.

JULIAN CURRIER

disruptions, although school is mostly considered a “safe zone” where teams can only kill targets using timers or After a two-year hiatus, fake poison. However, more Assassin has finally returned to severe actions usually take Berkeley High School (BHS). place outside of school. These The game, which was have included teams hiding in designed by and for the seniors front of their targets’ houses to of BHS, officially began ambush them when they on Monday, January 31. leave for school, selling Assassin consists of “This game has genuinely helped peers’ addresses, and teams of three — each even placing a tracking the spirit of the senior class.” with one “captain” — device on a target’s car targeting and trying — though that has since Norrie White, to “kill” other teams. been deemed against the Each team’s goal is to rules. BHS senior kill its assigned target O n We d n e s d a y, within a week. If a team Februar y 2, BHS is unsuccessful, or its captain is dollars this year. Pr i nc ip a l Ju an R ay goz a killed, the team is disqualified. Though some seniors expressed his concern about “Dying” in the game means find this game entertaining the game in a school-wide being the victim of a water and uniting, others at BHS, email. gun or water balloons, timer specifically educators and “I want to be clear that the bombs, fake poison (putting administrators, are concerned game, behaviors associated salt in someone’s drink), or that the game may cause with it, and its mission other fake weapons. disruptive and inappropriate (even if only for fun) are not Some students feel that behavior. acceptable,” Raygoza wrote. Assassin is one of many senior There are some in-class “Administrators will deal with BY PHILIPPA ZLATEV staff writer

traditions that, at least in part, make up for the sense of spirit and school unity the pandemic has cost them. Assassin is eagerly awaited by many seniors every year, especially considering the cash award for winners, which is said to be over two thousand

misbehavior by participating school and completing your a timer in another student’s students with appropriate work,” White said. “We have backpack. The student was school discipline. I want to to do well so we can keep our caught and asked to leave thank our student leadership college acceptances. It might the classroom, as they had and the Activities Department be a bit more difficult to focus interrupted a lesson, but that have b een working at school because of the stress continued to insist they stay hard since the Fall, when I of the game, but homes are until the task was completed. announced a delay to any spirit completely safe. Students are “What shocks me is not week activities, for advocating still doing their work.” that the student disrupted my for a safe Spirit Week this Of the seniors that the class to play the game, it’s the Spring.” By comparing Spirit Jacket spoke to, most said fact that they kept insisting Week and Assassin, some the same thing: the game that they had to stay until they students were confused as wasn’t a distraction from their had finished the ‘killing,’ even to whether Raygoza was academic priorities, and they though the bell had rung and comparing Assassin to the play it to make some final I had asked them to leave,” uncontrollable activities memories in high school. Aguilera said. that take place during Spirit Pablo Lamiquiz, a senior Aguilera also said he thinks Week or calling Assassin an transfer student from Spain, the drive for this inconsiderate extension of Spirit Week. generally agreed with White’s and rude behavior is due to However, some seniors perspective on the game. the cash prize. He said the have greatly differing incentive for money perceptions of the game. is w hat mot iv ate s Senior Norrie White “What shocks me is not that the students to act out and, described the value of in this case, forget a student disrupted my class to play sense of responsibility the game to her. the game, it’s the fact that they “ This game has and of right and wrong. genuinely helped the kept insisting that they had to stay Ultimately, Aguilera spirit of the senior class,” until they finished the ‘killing.’ ” believes the negative she said. “Due to [the effects of the game pandemic] … it’s hard aren’t just a few missed Victor Aguilera, to feel like a unified classes, but also the BHS teacher senior class — let alone lack of understanding a unif ie d B erkele y of why their actions are High, when we are so wrong. divided [and] isolated and “I think this game can “By removing the cash have nothing fun and full of cause people to act out, but if prize, I believe the incentive spirit to bring us together … we all act with maximum level to act out to the extent that People understand the school responsibility, we can all enjoy students do would no longer be rules and people understand it while keeping our focus on present,” Aguilera said. that this is a game, that it is a school and our priorities,” Aguilera also said he tradition at Berkeley High, and Lamiquiz wrote to the Jacket. thought if the cash prize were has been for years — it isn’t Victor Aguilera, who removed, students’ drive to win part of any Spirit Week.” teaches sophomores and would decrease, and the game To the question of whether seniors, said that he has seen would be more enjoyable. There bad grades and behavior are Assassin directly interfere in has been much controversy on related to the game, White said his teaching. According to whether the game does more she didn’t see it that way. Aguilera, a student who was good or harm, but Assassin “As s e n i or s , w e s t i l l not a part of his class entered continues, with several teams understand the importance of after the bell rang to place still competing so far.

PTSA Holds Second Annual Black History Month Art Contest is important to Loving. She said that the short window of time in which we honor Black History Month means For the second year in it takes more effort to create a row, the Parent Teacher an impact, and is part of the Student Association (PTSA) reason the contest was creis hosting an art contest ated. in honor of Black History “[It] gets students that Month. The PTSA estabmay not be mindful of Black lished the contest as a way art, history, people, etc. to to recognize the importance pay attention,” said Konani of Black History Month, Chinn, last year’s winner acknowledge the struggles for photography and digital Black people face, and offer art. “The contest highlights students an opportunity to a topic that is underreprecelebrate Black Hissented in the media.” tory Month through Chinn also said an abundance of art the contest aims to “The contest is very important illustrate hardships styles. because it sheds light on Black According to throughout Black hisBerkeley High School excellence and Black art, and the tory, and it is “a way (BHS) student and to showcase Black art beauty of it.” PTSA student presiand Black artists.” Acdent Anaya Loving, cording to Chinn, in a Shayla Avery, last year, the PTSA time where so much 2021 contest winner brought on a student is happening in our team to their board world, it is essential in order to have more to recognize this topic student involvement and Month. that doesn’t get as much merepresentation. She said the Loving said the contest dia attention. students created the con- “[gives] voices to people Shayla Avery, last year’s test to commemorate Black who don’t normally get ap- winner for the poetry secHistory Month and remem- preciated as often.” tion and a BHS graduate ber important people and Acknowledging the his- from the class of 2021, said events in Black history. The tory of Black people, partic- the contest shows Black student section of the PTSA ularly in the United States, beauty as well as Black joy. BY AVA RAMSDALE staff writer

continues to lead the art contest today. “As someone who identifies as a person of color … it is important we celebrate these times,” Loving said. “To other people who identify as a person of color, the contest is an outlet in which they can share their stories.” As one of the heads of the PTSA, Loving helps to organize the contest, and said it is as much about the students’ art as it is about the recognition of Black History

“The contest is very important because it sheds light on Black excellence and Black art, and the beauty of it,” Avery said. Her piece illustrated the struggles Black people face and how they have learned to embrace their culture and heritage despite the racism aimed at them because of their complexion. There are a variety of dif-

ferent categories in which students can submit their work, including photography and digital art, visual art, poetry, music, and performance art. This includes songs, stories, music videos, and sculptures. Students can submit one piece of work per category and win prizes for first, second, and third place rankings. Students can only win one prize despite

multiple submissions. Prizes include $100, $50, and $25 for first, second, and third place respectively. The contest encourages all BHS students to submit, not just those who are Black. The submission link as well as the full list of rules can be found on the PTSA Instagram, @ptsa.bhs, and submissions are open until February 14 at 9 PM.

BHS junior Konani Chinn won last year’s contest in the photography and digital art category.

NOLAN WHITEHILL

OPINION BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

opinion editors: Anjuna Mascarenhas-Swan & Lianna Leung

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

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anjunamascarenhass@students.berkeley.net

Balancing Diversity and Safety in Multicultural Classes Is Key to avoid white ignorance in education. However, encouraging white students to take these As a student of color classes could potentially lead at Berkeley High School to a majority of white voices (BHS), finding a commutaking control of class connity of fellow non-white stuversations. To avoid this, the dents is a rare and cherished increase in advertising for opportunity. For many BHS multicultural classes should students, multicultural predominantly take place in classes such as Afrispaces such as the BIcan American HisPOC Student Union, tory and Chicanx/ bring such courses to Latinx Literature Teaching a pro-white narrative in the attention of BIhave become safe ha- classes ... allows for ignorance and POC students. vens. However, the More imporbigotry to manifest in students. disproportionately tantly, the mainstream low enrollment of history and literature different ethnicities courses at BHS must in these classes raises some rative are put on the back incorporate discussions of concerns. With so few white burner, leaving important racial struggles throughout students attending these conversations about race history, rather than allowing courses, it is easy for them throughout history un- for courses that are so blato become ignorant of his- discussed by the major- tantly Eurocentric. Teachtorical BIPOC struggles. ity of students. BHS must ing a pro-white narrative in When promoting multicul- encourage enrollment in classes in which the majortural classes, it is important these courses more heavily ity of BHS students are enBY VIVIANA HILARIO staff writer

to make them accessible to students of all backgrounds while still preventing majority-white enrollment. These courses are often less advertised and harder to access than the plethora of other electives at BHS. This can be extremely harmful as the few classes which emphasize a non-white nar-

rolled allows for ignorance and bigotry to manifest in students. This only exacerbates the conditions of systemic racism under which we live. An example of efforts to improve is the International Baccalaureate (IB) English and History courses

in Berkeley International High School (BIHS), which have made an attempt to be more well-rounded in their curriculum by teaching a more multicultural narrative. However, there is still much room for improvement.

POPPY CHAMBERS

The safe and comfortable communities created by African American and Chicanx/Latinx courses at BHS are incredibly important to many non-white students. These classes must be celebrated alongside the slew of other courses at BHS.

NFTs: More Than Just a Trend BY ELIOT HERTENSTEIN staff writer

RAPHAEL BARBOZA

Absent Students Need Support BY MIRIAM REICHENBERG staff writer

Talk to a few Berkeley High School (BHS) students who have had to quarantine because of a positive COVID-19 test, and they’ll each have a different response as to how they’ve kept up with their classwork while out of school. Even well into the second semester, rules around how and when students make up missed classwork while absent vary from teacher to teacher. By implementing a more uniform and straightforward method of assigning work, teachers can ensure quarantined students are able to learn new material and complete classwork. While creating a clear protocol for how students can complete assignments independently may be inconvenient for teachers, it will require less time and effort from them in the future. Under a clear, structured system, students will already be caught up on work when

they return. This saves time for teachers and spares students the heightened stress of missing so many classes. Putting a system in place that would benefit both students and teachers could be extremely simple. Hazel Wolff, a BHS freshman, was absent for five days, and was only able to complete work after reaching out to her teachers, most of whom only sporadically update Google Classroom. Consistently updating Google Classroom, a tool already available to teachers, would allow students to complete assignments while quarantined at home. Procedures could also include posting weekly class content on schedules, therefore explaining what will be covered each day. Additionally, teachers who already hold office hours could start to host them on Zoom, which would allow both absent and present students to check in and individually receive support. Of course, last year, during distance learning, it be-

came apparent that some subjects and lessons are challenging to replicate in an online format. Participating in science labs, using woodshop tools, and developing film all require handson learning, which cannot always be done at home. Teachers may improvise by recording labs or holding occasional, in-person office hours when students return, allowing them to use the tools available at school. Communication and implementation of systems that allow students to make up missed classwork is vital to support quarantined students. Teachers must communicate regularly and consistently about their policies around missed assignments, and students must be assertive when arranging times to receive support. The Omicron variant is teaching us that increased student absences may be inevitable, forcing everyone to continue to adapt. Students must know what is expected of them before they find themselves missing school.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have recently began to be a trend, with many Berkeley High School (BHS) students taking a strong stance against their existence. However, while many students have heard of NFTs, they don’t understand what NFTs actually are and how they work. If they did, they may realize that NFTs are not as useless as they may seem. At their core, NFTs are a digital way to represent the ownership of an item. Like the deeds to your house, an NFT is simply paperwork that says who owns what. However, unlike the deeds to your home, NFTs are decentralized. It’s impossible for anyone to modify a NFT if they aren’t the owner, including the government or the artist. Additionally, the purchase history of NFTs are public, meaning anyone

can go and see what an NFT sold for in the past. People most commonly associate NFTs with collectibles like the Bored Ape Yacht Club or CryptoPunks, where each NFT has a certain number of traits, — some rarer than others — similar to Pokémon card packs. However, NFTs can also be more artistic. Some artists have sold digital artwork for tens of millions of dollars, while others have embraced the platform even more, creating art that changes as it’s bought and sold. Ownership of digital artwork may sound ridiculous at first: why would someone want to own a file that anyone can download? However, this concept is not too different from any other collectible, whether it be baseball cards, Pez dispensers, or famous autographs. These items have no intrinsic value and are easy to reproduce but still amass thousands or millions of dollars when

J HORSLEY

auctioned. Along with collectibles, NFTs allow digital artists to license their work in a way that benefits them and the buyer. Previously, digital artists made money selling high-quality copies of their art, though these were easily pirated. However, with NFTs, they are able to sell their artwork securely and make money off of those sales. NFTs also make art accessible to more people. Anyone can buy cryptocurrency and purchase a NFT anonymously, unlike with galleries, which typically want to vet a client before they buy art. However, NFTs are important not because of their current applications, but because of their security purposes and use in the real world. The past transactions of a NFT can’t be modified by anyone other than by the current owner. This idea that the ownership of an item cannot be modified is incredibly useful because it makes it easy to verify who owns — and has owned — a given item. While NFTs do have some downsides, the benefits they provide to artists, coupled with the security they offer, prove that they do deserve a place in society. So, the next time you see a monkey-smoking-a-pipe profile photo, don’t be quick to dismiss it as an image that you can simply screenshot. Instead, notice what this image represents, and how NFTs could be even more helpful in the future.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

EDITORIAL

Black History Month Activism Is Too Performative At the beginning of February, for the fifth year in a row, Target released their “Black Beyond Measure” clothing line for Black History Month. The line consists of clothing pieces preaching sayings like “Radiate Black Joy” and “Noire Icon.” While the sentiment is most definitely there, these Tshirts and sweatshirts blasted on the front of their website are just that — items of clothing with no substance behind them. This is not uncommon. As Black Lives Matter and calls for racial justice have swarmed social media, companies like Target have filled their shelves with products celebrating Black culture. However, these efforts are ultimately heartless, for these products aim to make money from this celebration more than anything else. Black History Month performative activism is rarely backed by sufficient diversity and genuine racial justice efforts. While the faces that fill our magazines, newspapers, and social media pages may reflect the Black community, rarely is there any hint of true racial diversity behind the scenes, nor a substantial effort to enact meaningful change.

OPINION

Some may question how Target could possibly enact racial change. This notion, however, ignores that racial inequity lives on in every facet of our lives. The corporate world is largely undiverse and the same goes for magazine and newspaper editorial boards. Thus, how can a company preach that Black lives matter when they fail to put Black workers in positions of power? Even as companies move towards diverse leadership, customers cannot expect that to be enough. We all have a responsibility to acknowledge what is often painful to think about. It’s the easy road to consider performative activism sufficient, to avoid learning about how racism impacts all of our lives, no matter your race. If we decide that T-shirts plastered with Aretha Franklin lyrics are enough, the fundamental goal of this month is lost. Yes, Black History Month is about celebration. It's also about honoring historical figures who made sacrifices more than it is about selling merchandise. It is about acknowledging that racism exists in our lives more than it is about posting an Instagram infographic. For Berkeley High School (BHS) students in particular, Black History Month is an invaluable opportunity to recognize the Black history on this very campus. In the 1960s, the BHS Black Student Union demanded several administrative changes to the school, advocating for a Black-focused curriculum, increased teacher diversity, soul food in the cafeteria, and more. What they got was the first and only high school African American Studies Department in the nation, run by Richard D. Navies. The first and only to this day. The efforts of Navies and the Black Student Union are the reason students can take African American Studies classes

BERKELEY HIGH Editor-in-Chief

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today. Spencer Pritchard, Dawn “Doc Dub” Williams, and all the teachers running the African American Studies Department allow for students to take engaging, enriching classes that acknowledge Black history and culture year round. The work of Mama Naomi Diouf, who in the 1990s revived what was the Afro-Haitian Dance Program, brought beautiful African dance to the stage every year. After Diouf ’s retirement, Williams and Tanzia Mucker — known as Ms. Shorty — run the program, continuing Diouf 's legacy. Irma Parker’s relentless volunteer work with the Parent Resource Center has supported Black and Brown students for decades. Her work has brought historically detached Black parents into the conversation at BHS. In addition, she’s supported unhoused and struggling students, helping close the achievement gap one student at a time. BHS still has a long way to go in terms of racial equity. The racial achievement gap and self-segregation on campus are impossible to ignore. Still, during the month that celebrates the achievements of Black people, we cannot ignore the strides that Black people have made for this school. Too often, the impactful work of those who are Black is overshadowed by companies' performative activism to prove their “wokeness.” The next time you pass by the Black History Month section in Target, think about not only Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, but about Irma Parker and Mama Naomi. If you really want to understand what this month is about, take the time to learn about what has been done by Black people in your community, and what is still being done to this day. That’s what matters. - Mimia Ousilas, investigative editor

Should Students Choose Their History Course Curriculums? BY OHAD AVIRANFINKELSTEIN staff writer

Berkeley High School (BHS) requires students to attend a history class every year, which can be anything from Ethnic Studies to AP Government. However, many of the required history courses simply cover a narrow range of American or world history. This raises the question of whether these classes are actually influential or whether students are learning about topics that don’t relate to them. If students can’t connect to a class, why should they be forced to take it? In order to make learning as accessible and engaging as possible, students should be able to influence their history curriculums. Ethnic Studies, the man-

datory history class for freshmen, is a perfect example of how important this approach can be. In this class, students learn about narratives of many marginalized groups. Studies have shown that students who take an Ethnic Studies class have higher GPAs than their counterparts who don’t, and they also have higher grades in other classes as well. However, Ethnic Studies is currently one of the few classes at BHS that is led by and centered around students. Apart from the African American studies department — offering classes such as Afro-Haitian dance and African American studies — which is highly influenced by BHS’s African American student population, the majority of BHS classes are created by teachers and curriculum designers.

Jerome Paulos, Isabella Tasso, Katherine Cole, Nina Parry-Franklin, Rowan Kennedy, Nolan Whitehill, Emilia Freilich, Malina Meissner, Fiona Firepine, Malin Morell, Yasmeen Bawany, Lily Frost, Marina Pedemonte, Mei Saphir, Ashley Diaz, Clara Elm Nettesheim, Julian Currier, Natalie Frasier, Sasha Balasubramanian, Penelope Gilligan, Ava Mussi, Theo Fleig

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The Berkeley High Jacket is a designated public forum for student expression without prior review by school officials in which students make all final decisions on content. The by-lined opinions expressed in the Editorial/Opinion and Entertainment sections and columns are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Jacket. Non-by-lined editorials represent the opinion of the Jacket and must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Editorial Board. Any opinions or views expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of the Jacket. We encourage students, staff, and the community to submit letters to the Editor for publication. All submissions must be signed; anonymous letters may only be printed with a two-thirds vote of the Editorial Board. Not all submissions will be printed and may be edited to conform to Jacket policy or to meet space restrictions. 1980 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA (510) 644-6121 | www.berkeleyhighjacket.com

OWEN BLAIR

An example of a better system is the Agora School in the Netherlands, which brings students’ influence on their education to the next level. At the Agora School, students have full control over what they do throughout the day. This can be anything from learning an instrument, building a robot, cooking, and even metalworking. So far, this program has been highly successful since students are able to choose what they are interested in early on and then thoroughly learn about that topic. BHS is too large to have this exact structure, but students would greatly benefit from more choice and academic freedom. Although changing these classes might sound like it would come with a hefty price tag, BHS already has the necessary resources. Given that some classes already have curriculums that are influenced by what students desire, the class content would only need to be tweaked a small amount. Additionally, by adjusting already existing classes to represent the lives and history of BIPOC, BHS will let students learn about topics that they are passionate about and can personally connect with. Although some BHS students might want uniformed history classes, many ethnic and racial groups are left out of the lessons. This implies that they don't have a history, and this narrative must change. The reality is that a one-size-fits-all approach to learning simply doesn’t match BHS's ideals of equity and could hurt the entire community.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

OPINION

BHS Math Must Support Black Students

Students attend AP Calculus AB. Higher math classes have shown racial achievement gaps.

BY HOLDEN ELIAS staff writer

When asked, few students would say that they like math. Abstract concepts and mundane worksheets can make the subject boring. However, a basic understanding of math ensures that students can be successful in whatever career they choose. Therefore it is very concerning that some demographics of students are struggling in such an important subject. According to data from the Berkeley Unified School District, only 50 percent of African American students in second grade are meeting or exceeding grade standards, compared to 86 percent of their white peers. Additionally, at the high school level, African Ameri-

can students are extremely underrepresented in the Advanced Math track. This discrepancy cannot be tolerated. A goal of public schooling should be to provide all students with an equal opportunity to succeed, but this data is a sobering view of the reality of our public school system and its failure to serve students equitably. “We need to recognize that there are students below grade level and provide resources to support them,” said Monique Duncan-Harris, a math teacher and the co-lead of the math department at BHS. So how can the school support students who are struggling? One of the main problems with the current math program is a lack of resources for struggling students. The resources that do exist

MARINA PEDEMONTE

are often underutilized. An example of this would be the Learn, Engage, Accelerate, Persist (LEAP) elective. All ninth graders can choose to take a LEAP class in which they receive academic support, including for math. However, LEAP works on an opt-in basis, so many students who need support don’t join. One of the proposed strategies to fix this would be to mandate taking a LEAP class for students failing math. All of these solutions would certainly help the current situation by supporting underperforming students, lowering the discrepancy between African American students and their white peers. However, looking at what the school doesn’t do is only part of the equation. Looking at the math resources

that the school does provide reveals an over-allocation of resources for students who are more than proficient, like those in the Advanced Math track. In practice, this class is overwhelmingly white. 52 out of 81 students in Advanced Math 3 are white, and there are no African American students taking Advanced Math 3 this year. The fact that disproportionate amounts of resources are dedicated to this small program harms everyone else by leaving fewer funds behind to finance support for less proficient students. For these reasons, at least the first year of Advanced Math should be eliminated, ensuring that resources could be focused on one class instead of two. Having only one ninth grade math class could free up more resources to support students below grade level. Additionally, it could help ninth grade math teachers flag students suited to a more advanced track, but who have not applied due to accessibility or other issues. This would also create more diverse math classes that represent Berkeley as a whole. In order to ensure that BHS truly provides students with an equitable education, more effort must be made to diversify our math classes and uplift Black students.

Finding Common Ground on Cursing BY ULYSSES NOE staff writer

At Berkeley High School (BHS), it is not uncommon for teachers to curse. While some teachers would never dream of using profanity in front of a classroom of students, others punctuate their lectures with expletives. So-called “bad language” is a complex thing; it can encompass everything from a slur to a mild expression of frustration. Curse words can also change the impact of a sentence: swears can exaggerate, display sarcasm, or create surprise. Cursing is taboo in American society. Swears are connected to immorality, especially within Christian world views. Certain parents, consequently, feel that cursing has no place within a high school classroom. It is reasonable for parents to complain about the language of teachers because they are often in the best position to advocate for students. Parents who believe that curse words are harmful to the upbringing of their children should by all means speak up. Administrators

ELLIOT SHRAG

and school boards, on the other hand, should exercise their discretion when considering feedback; it is important for a teacher to know that a parent is uncomfortable with the way the material is presented, but a teacher does not need to place the judgment of a parent before their own. If a teacher is able to improve their lecture with the use of profanity, then that profanity is in the best interest of the student. What makes the question of whether or not swearing is appropriate in the classroom more complex is the

line where language crosses from expressive to harmful. In certain contexts this is obvious; it might make sense to throw an expletive in a sentence for emphasis, but it is clearly not acceptable to curse out a student. What is more complicated is language that can be in itself problematic. A curse word can be used in a hurtful way, but certain words are harmful in any context. To add another difficult layer to this puzzle, language is always evolving, and what carries a harmless meaning today may develop harmful connotations in the future.

ZOE FUNG

Because the line between innocuous and problematic language is so fine, it is important to maintain an open channel between parents and teachers. Teachers and parents have a similar goal. Parents want what is best for the future of their children, and teachers want to educate students in the best way they can. Because no one group can represent the needs and interests of everyone, teachers, parents, administrators, and students must work together to find common ground on appropriate language while teaching.

RETAINING FREE WILL ELI KNISBACHER

Imagine your favorite dish — after a long workout, you are starved to an extent that would make anything taste fantastic — imagine salivating, sweat-drenched skin, blood saturated with endorphins. Then, upon being given permission to dig in, imagine grabbing your fork, approaching your plate and … being predictable. Taking a bite, chewing, swallowing. When given your favorite food after arduous exercise, you are predetermined to eat it. Following your meal’s completion, what would happen to your plate? A text from your significant other meant not for you but a secret romantic partner could lead to your throwing your plate on the ground in rage. Upon finding that an assumed Impossible Burger tastes far from impossible, you (a vegetarian) might toss the antithetical burger into the trash, along with your recently contaminated plate. Determinism’s philosophical opponents believe in free will — that complex decisions (deciding to cheat on one’s significant other, or not paying attention while clicking through DoorDash, as your eccentric vegetarian self) are not predetermined because human consciousness is more than the product of a predictable, mechanical brain. If all factors are considered, determinists argue, even complex situations can be predicted. If the thoughts of every person involved in a situation can be read, if people’s emotions and backgrounds and lifestyles can all be taken into account, everything is predictable. Applying this chain of thought to one’s life, however, can undermine individual purpose. If the future is determined, then all choices ever made are set in stone, and one might feel a lack of control over their own destiny. By lacking purpose and believing in determinism, one’s mindset could become fatal, or fatalist. Scientists from Dali, Southwest Minzu, and Sichuan universities in China found that “fatalistic determinism was positively associated with depression.” But human mortality (being less than godly) may be the cure. Humans are scientifically advanced, but far from omnipotent: we found the atom, but lose our car keys. We cannot predict what tomorrow holds, and we can barely imagine predicting an entire life. But imagine: to predict a life, one must know every miniscule detail about the world — the weather and the tides; Joe Biden’s dreams and a social-worker’s musings; the conspiracy theories of one particularly insidious columnist. To predict a life, one must have total knowledge of every psychological and scientific phenomenon, including access to computing power. Despite Moore’s law (a theory that computing power doubles deca-annually), this is far out of humanity’s reach. Without being able to predict the future, humans retain free will. We make decisions based on what we know, what we feel, and who we are, decisions that are not influenced by predictability or fatalism. And our purpose, in spite of determinism, is to make a difference. Not to follow our parents’ or our government’s agendas, but to do what we think is best for ourselves and our world. We must start soon, for as Jim Morrison put it, “The future’s uncertain and the end is always near.”

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

INVESTIGATIVE

INVESTIGATIVE

BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

mimiaousilas@students.berkeley.net

Investigative editor: Mimia Ousilas

The Sexual Harm Walkouts: Two Years Later, What’s Changed? BY ELTA TRACY staff writer

In the middle of second period on February 10 of 2020, thousands of Berkeley High School (BHS) students left their classrooms and streamed into the courtyard, all in protest of sexual harm. Tensions had been building in the weeks before, from the list written on the bathroom wall, to the exposure of a court case against the BHS Title IX office, and the feelings of powerlessness throughout the student body. The 2020 sexual harm walkouts were a monumental moment of unity and a pinnacle of the strength of student activism. Now, two years later, what do the lasting effects of these protests look like at BHS? 2020 BHS graduate Ayisha Friedman, a leading organizer of the walkouts, said that her

parents attended BHS in 1993. “The same exact things happened when they went to Berkeley High,” Friedman said. “So it's been going on forever, this culture that Berkeley had.” By 2020, BHS students were exhausted by the broken system. “On the surface level was this kind of exasperation with the culture that had been going on since before any of us had even gotten here, and then I think on a deeper level, it was really a lack of feeling like we had voices in our community,” said Berkeley International H i g h School (BIHS) senior Ab i g a i l L a m oreaux, BHS’ Commissioner of Women’s Rights

and Equity. A list of demands were drawn up by the organizers, including consent education, training for Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) staff on Title IX, and requiring the program Coaching Boys Into Men for sports teams. According to the Title IX office, every single demand on the original list has been addressed, if not fully met. Additionally, students have reported an increase in attention to issues surrounding sexual harm from both

BHS administration and their peers. “You did see a little bit more commitment from the district, you saw more consent and trainings, you saw a little bit more sex ed, and you saw students raising their voices more,” Lamoreaux said. The walkouts also inspired the younger generation of BHS students to continue to fight for fair treatment. 2021 BHS graduate Mia Redmond, an instrumental organizer of the walkouts, said, “I think what we did had an impact that you can see now because people are talking about it and are working on doing things to try to prevent these issues.” L am oreaux believes that the power that was obtained in this event has changed the perspective of students on the value of their own voices. S t u dents are finally re a l iz-

ing that it's better to not be divided, and it's better to figure out what we want to see from each other, and then work towards getting it from the people who have the power,” Lamoreaux said. “I think it definitely showed that student unity was the best policy when it came to getting anything done.” Friedman also felt a shift in how the community discussed these issues; the walkouts changed it from a subject to tiptoe around to one that is necessary to discuss. “Just the fact that people are still talking about [the walkouts] means that people are still discussing the issues that we wanted to raise awareness around,” Friedman said. “Nobody openly talked about this stuff outside of their friend group before.” However, the work is far from over. “I think that we have just gotten into dipping our toes into the water of what needs to be done,” Lamoreaux said. 2021 BHS graduate Melani Garcia added that

BUSD must still be proactive in practicing preventative care. According to her, BHS must also offer more nuanced sexual education for administrators and students, as well as clear consequences for perpetrators of sexual harm. Jasmina Viteskic, BUSD’s new Title IX coordinator, recognized that although the original demands have been met, “I don't want to be too optimistic and say we achieved all of it and now we're done,” Viteskic said. “I think it's a work in progress. And I think that we constantly can improve,” she said. These protests have paved the way for change at BHS, but in order for that to happen, the community must continue to work towards a better culture. “I hope the newer generation at Berkeley High is getting what we fought for,” Garcia said. “But at the same time, I hope that they're still trying to do something and I hope they don't let it go.”

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ILLUSTRATED BY OLIVER PARSONS, staff illustrator

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

FEATURES

9

Black History Month Student Submissions

MAE C. JEMISON is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA Astronaut. She is well known as the first black woman to travel to space. She is currently leading the 100 Year Starship project through the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ensuring the possibility of human space travel to another star within the next 100 years. A fun fact about her was that her inspiration to be an astronaut was not from Apollo airings but from Nichelle Nichols’ performance as Lieutenant Uhura (yuwho-ruh) on the TV show Star Trek. It's all about representation!

BAYARD RUSTIN was an openly gay Black man during the Jim Crow era, and because of this, he had to keep a low public profile. However, that didn’t stop him. He was the man in the shadows that organized and strategized the March on Washington, which gathered 200,000 peaceful protesters at the US Capitol. ALEXA CANADY was the first female African American neurosurgeon in the United States. She was born November 7, 1950. She attended the University of Michigan, graduating in 1971. One of her most famous quotes was, "The greatest challenge I faced in becoming a neurosurgeon was believing it was possible."

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM became the first Black woman to be elected to the US Congress. She represented New York’s 12th congressional district. Additionally, in 1972, she was the first African American to run for a major party’s nomination for president of the US, as well as the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. While running, her campaign slogan was “Unbought and Unbossed.” Biographies of influential Black figures by Hanim Nuru, Miles Davis, & Ny'Aja Roberson

GARRETT MORGAN was an African American businessman, inventor, and community leader. His most pivotal inventions were the three-position traffic signal and the gas mask. He was born on March 4, 1877. He died on July 27, 1963. One of his most notable quotes is, “If you can be the best, then why not try to be the best?” ALICE COACHMAN is an American athlete. In 1948, she was the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She set the record high for high jumps 5 feet and 6 ⅛ inches.

Art by Aceeyah Safi-Eddine

OWEN BLAIR

Good Food, Hospitality, and Service: Everett and Jones Barbecue “We do it everyday, no questions asked. If they want a plate, they can come by.” Customers take notice Since its opening in 1973, of the service. “It’s a real Everett and Jones has been a good thing what [Everett Bay Area fixture. Known for and Jones] is doing for the its traditional barbecue, as community,” said Willie, a well as for supporting those customer for over 30 years. in need, the restaurant con“They feed the homeless, tinues to be a Black-owned there’s a lot of things they and women-run business do.” that operates on the prinConnection over food is ciple of uplifting the coma fundamental part of community. munity, and Everett and While it was originally Jones’ food has built a comlocated solely in Oakland, munity of customers that Everett and Jones opened keep on coming back. a second restaurant loca“[Everett and Jones] is tion in Berkeley on San the only real barbecue place Pablo Avenue in 1974. It besides KC’s [BBQ], from then opened another OakEast Oakland to Berkeley,” land outpost in 1975. The said Willie. “[Their barbeSan Pablo location cue sauce is] one of a became the oldest kind.” surviving restaurant Mr. Adachi, an“[We strive to] make sure we after the first burned keep things running the way [my other longtime cusdown and moved to a tomer, has been commother] wanted us to.” different building. ing to Everett and Mary Everett, Jones since he was a Amani Cotton, daughter of founder student in Berkeley. Dorothy Everett and Now 82 years old, Owner owner of the Berkeley Adachi continues to outpost, passed away frequent the restauin September of 2021. Her ample, the restaurant often rant for its food and hospisister Dorothy White, who feeds unhoused community tality. ran the Oakland outposts, members that stop by and “[Every dish is] good,” also passed away in 2021. donates food to schools and said Adachi. “I know They are survived by their shelters. enough of the workers so children who now own and “If they’re hungry, we they give me extra sauce. I operate all of the locations. feed them,” said Cotton. love that sauce.” BY FINOLA JACKSON staff writer

Amani Cotton, daughter of Mary Everett and granddaughter of Dorothy Everett, said that the new generation of Everett and Jones owners is focusing on running the business as their mother would. “We are the new generation that has actually taken over since my mom passed last year, so we’re trying to do the best we can just to keep it open,” said Cotton. “[We strive to] make sure we keep things running the way she wanted us to, and be consistent and keep everyone happy.” Cotton said that Everett and Jones continues to carry out community service as their mother did. For ex-

Cotton said that her favorite dish at Everett and Jones is the homemade beef links, which are made in the restaurants from a recipe created by Dorothy Everett. Nate Jefferson, an employee at the San Pablo Everett and Jones, said that his favorite dishes are the beef brisket and the beef links. The longtime cultural roots of Everett and Jones have drawn many celebrities and well-known public figures to eat and hold events at the restaurants. The list

includes former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Golden State Warriors basketball star Stephen Curry. “I have seen Oprah Winfrey come here,” said Cotton. “I have seen [Dwayne] ‘The Rock’ [Johnson]. We were actually featured on his show, Ballers.’” Overall, Cotton said that giving back to the community is something that everyone should strive to do.

“Just keep giving back, because it’s definitely going to come back to you, without any questions asked,” said Cotton. “Do right by people and treat your neighbors the way you want to be treated.” As a community business, Everett and Jones is built on good food and hospitality. Adachi noted that the warm welcome was his favorite part. “Come on out here and enjoy the barbecue,” Jefferson said.

Everett and Jones is a Black-owned barbecue place with a Berkeley location on San Pablo Ave.

MALINA MEISSNER

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

FEATURES BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

features editors: Raven Fonseca Jensen & Amelia WIley Moreira

Ravenfonsecajensen@students.berkeley.net

BHS Students Earn College Acceptances Through QuestBridge

BHS college counselor Yasmin Navarro attended Amherst through QuestBridge.

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youth and connect them with highly selective liberal arts colleges and research universities in the US. As of this year, the program is partnered with 48 schools, including Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Brown, and Columbia. Navarro explained that QuestBridge typically looks for students whose families make approximately $65,000 a year or less, and who have a GPA of at least 3.5. “They act like a middle person between students who have those sorts of stats who might not necessarily see themselves at high achieving schools, and then they send these names off to these schools,” Navarro said.

Students first apply to QuestBridge by submitting information on their academics, activities, household, and financial background, as well as two essays and short answers, two recommendations, a school report from their counselor, their high school transcript, and any available standardized test scores. QuestBridge looks for students who are strong in academics and personal character, demonstrate ongoing financial hardship, and possess extracurricular achievements, according to their website. If a student is selected as a finalist, they can apply to be “matched” with up to 12 schools by ranking their choices. QuestBridge will send their application to

SASHA BALASUBRAMANIAN

their first choice, and if the school accepts them with the necessary financial aid, they will be “matched.” If not, their application will be sent to their second choice, and so on. If students are not “matched” with any college, they can still submit their early decision or regular decision applications through QuestBridge. Navarro added that being “matched” is a binding commitment, so students should only apply to their top choices.“This is a match project,” Navarro said. “That means that you must like the school, but the school must also like you. You have to be okay with ending up at any of these schools, so do not rank any schools that are not your top choice.”

More than 27,000 National College Match finalists have been admitted to a college partner, and over 7,000 QuestBridge Scholars have “matched” to a college partner with a four-year scholarship since the QuestBridge program was founded in 1994. One such student is Keila Rodriguez, a senior in Berkeley International High School (BIHS). Molly Offermann, her counselor, recommended QuestBridge to her, and she thought that she “might as well try it.” Rodriguez started her application in early September,and learned that she was a finalist in late October. She then applied to Stanford, Yale, Brown, and Columbia. On December 1, 2021, Rodriguez heard back from Stanford, which admitted her with a full-ride scholarship. As a first-generation college applicant, it was difficult to be the first one in her family to go through the application process. However, her parents always encouraged her to go to college, whether it be a community college or a private school. “Especially if you’re a first-gen, or if you're low income, it's a really good opportunity. If you get nominated as a finalist, they can give you up to a full ride to one of the universities they’re partnered with,” Rodriguez said. “They give you

a lot of financial support, and then also support within the university. You get to meet up with other people who may also be first-gen students or who are going through a similar process that you are.” Tenzing Chosang, a senior in BIHS, was also a QuestBridge finalist. She applied to four private colleges through the program. Chosang described the pressure she felt to apply to several schools, even though they weren’t her top choices. “There was a time when I clicked the schools that I wanted to match with and I ranked them, and the only ones I really wanted to go to were Barnard and Claremont McKenna,” Chosang said. “I was scared that I wouldn't get one of my top choices and would end up with one of my lower ranked schools.” She was not “matched” with any of the colleges, so Chosang reapplied to Barnard early decision and was accepted with a full-ride scholarship. “I still ended up at the top college I wanted to go to,” Chosang said. “I ended up not matching at all, and then went through the second process of QuestBridge, and I'm very excited for my future and happy with the outcome.” She recommends that other students “​​put [their] everything in it, and really take time with the essays

and reflect on [themselves].” However, Navarro suggested that QuestBridge may not be for everyone, as it involves a lot of work, and results aren’t guaranteed. “[Whether the process is worthwhile or not] depends on the student,” Navarro said. “For me, it felt like it was gonna be a lot of work, but I am the kind of person that puts in that kind of work. I know plenty of students this year who decided not to complete the application because it was just too hard, too many essays.” Navarro added that QuestBridge doesn’t really help in terms of admissions. The process is still extremely selective, with only one in 16 students being “matched” this year. Even so, she said that since the QuestBridge application is much more detailed, it can look better. Navarro described the impact Questbridge had on her life. “I had a lot of experiences that I wouldn't necessarily have been able to have had I not had a full ride to a school in Massachusetts,” she said. “I learned about skiing, and I learned about generational wealth that I was not aware of before, and I got to rub elbows with people that I had only seen on television ... I've had to grapple with the socioeconomic inequality in the US a little bit more because of it, but at least I've had the privilege to do that.”

Black Public Officials: Taplin, Brown, and Babitt Pursue Equity CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

community. “I live with my mom … I'm helping take care of her. She has multiple sclerosis and diabetes,” Taplin said. “I noticed that all my friends [from high school] were either taking care of their parents or were trying to raise children.” This experience compelled Taplin to run for City Council. He said, “I wanted to give back to the community that really nourished me and really made my life possible.” Last year, Taplin passed proposals on affordable and social housing in Berkeley. He also passed the Ceasefire gun violence intervention program, and worked to create more STEM education opportunities and career pathways. This year, he is proposing a mental health crisis stabilization center, as well as a proposal to lower speed

limits and pass other traffic safety reforms across Berkeley. “Traffic violence disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities,” Taplin explained. As a Black councilmember, Taplin reported experiencing pushback. “One of the challenges we have [is that] sometimes you see people speaking for other communities without giving those communities the chance to speak for themselves,” Taplin said. “I've also experienced a lot of pushback when trying to talk about things like white privilege with folks… trying to talk about the ways that some of our past policies have harmed communities of color, especially around housing.” BUSD School Board member Laura Babitt also spoke about a need for affordable housing, especially to preserve racial diversity. Babitt grew up in Oakland

and moved back to Berkeley in 2008. She has served on the school board for the past five years and is currently vice president. Babitt reflected on the diversity of the board. “It's the first [time] that we've had both the president and vice president of African descent on the [BUSD] School Board,” she said, “so I think that's a sign of continuing progress and people being involved and engaged in really wanting to just drive change so that outcomes for all students are improved.” Similarly, Brown spoke about how Berkeley has come a long way, but still has room for improvement. “Equality is giving everyone the same thing, but equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful. So here in [BUSD], we need to work on improving our service model [for] our students and families of faculty and staff to ensure that ev-

eryone is getting what they need to be successful.” Brown encouraged students to take the initiative to create the change they want to see in their commu-

nity. “I would implore all of our young people to be the change that we want to see in the world,” she said. “If we want to see a change in the demographics of people

who are representing our voices on a governmental level, then this is your time to get active, to get involved, and to rally around causes that are important for you.”

RIOKA HAYAMA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

FEATURES

The BHS Nonbinary Teacher Experience CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

different kinds of family structures and gender expressions than at the last school that I worked at.” Jacob echoed Matsumoto’s sentiment, expressing that he felt “very fortunate to be working here.” Although many teachers spoke about enjoying their experience as a part of the BHS community, not everything has been favorable. Jacob spoke of hate speech and misgendering on campus. “I don’t think people at school are getting more prejudiced though, I just think we have a very, very long way to go. … We, the staff, but more importantly admin, and the district, broadly, need to work a lot harder on these

issues. A lot harder.” Jacob has been indirectly called the f-slur by students on campus. Blatant misgendering has not gone unnoticed and is hurtful for him and many of their colleagues. The introduction of pronouns to the non-queer population is rather new, beginning in the past couple of years. Often at the start of the school year, a teacher will state their pronouns and the title they prefer. “Mx.” is now much more common. Matsumoto said, “It was actually students who brought [using Mx.] up to me! I hadn’t really thought about it before.” Teachers whose careers have felt satisfactory at BHS have experiences that di-

Teachers Laroia-Nguyen, Gorrin, Matsumoto, and Jacob.

EMILIA FREILICH

verge to a great degree from those who have not felt the same. Laura Gorrin (they/ them), a math teacher in Arts and Humanities Academy (AHA), urged BHS staff and administration to create more accessible resources for students. “Having more gender-neutral bathroom options, more consistent education in classrooms, and helping students understand pronouns would make the high school experience better for everyone involved,” Gorrin said. Jacob believes that “technological issues with deadnaming should not be happening as often as they do.” Frequently, new or substitute teachers will use students’ legal names instead of their preferred names. This can create feelings of gender dysphoria, leading to serious anxiety around roll-call. Matsumoto and Noah Laroia-Nguyen (they/ them), a film photography student-teacher, both explained that Title IX can be connected back to trans and nonbinary issues. Although Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination, it can pro-

tect the trans community as well, securing better rights for trans and nonbinary students. As Laroia-Nguyen put it, “Title IX is not just a cisgendered woman’s issue.” Laroia-Nguyen believes that it needs to be revisited and amended. Matsumoto agreed, asking, “Are there protections in the workplace [for teachers having different gender expression]?” Jacob stated, “I expect that making myself more visible in the campus consciousness as an out trans person will open me up to more verbal abuse, though to be clear, also I expect it to come from students and not staff.” They expressed worry: “If adults are being addressed this way for presenting as LGBTQA+, I can’t imagine what our students are experiencing when we’re not around.” On the contrary, Matsumoto was grateful for the BHS community. They said they have “never felt unsafe here in terms of being able to be [themself].” LaroiaNguyen said, “Being trans and nonbinary is great. It should be celebrated.”

AFAM Department Weathers COVID-19 BY MARGOT JOHNSON staff writer

Dawn Williams and Spencer Pritchard, both teachers in the African American (AFAM) Studies Department at Berkeley High School (BHS), had a vision for the department. For Black students, they’d offer a way to relate to a course. For non-Black students, they’d provide a chance to learn about the past and present of Black people in the US. “I didn’t have a Black professor until I came to Berkeley for graduate school,” Dawn Williams said. “I experienced firsthand what it was like to have a professor who could connect with your roots and your culture in the classroom.” The AFAM Studies Department at BHS was born in 1968, partly as the result of the efforts of Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, both former BHS students who formed the Black Panther Party two years earlier. The Black Power movement at this time inspired many to protest for Black and Ethnic Studies. At the program’s founding, Clarence Hampton was named curriculum associate. He emphasized the importance of hiring Black teachers, explaining that it was crucial to include staff with whom students could relate. Since then, the department has thrived.

In recent years, however, the department struggled due to the pandemic. Previously, the department relied heavily on students discovering the program through performances when it came to things like dance signups. That became nearly impossible with COVID-19. The campus shut down, thus making it difficult for the department to gain student attention. “Our enrollment decreased due to COVID-19,” Dawn Williams said. “Last year, we were on Zoom, and that meant we did not have our annual show. Our performances are the equivalent of a commercial for our program. Without it, students don’t always know that we exist.” Dawn Williams and Pritchard mentioned that due to COVID-19, the Hip Hop Studies class and a section of African Diaspora Dance was lost. “We hope to expand our course offerings in the future to reach more students, especially those in ninth and tenth grade,” Pritchard said. Having an extensive AFAM Studies Department benefits the community in more than one way. It opens up the possibility of exploring new cultures, away from the typical eurocentric lens. While many schools may only have traditional academic courses, like African American Economics, there is the ability to make the

program more creative. BHS, for instance, offers African Diaspora Dance classes in addition to other more academic courses. “For dance specifically, it is about fully understanding the dance, the music, and its origin,” Dawn Williams said. “Being able to center Black/African culture and history unapologetically is a huge benefit.” Diamond Williams is a senior in the Academy of Medicine and Public Service (AMPS) who has been taking African Diaspora Dance since freshman year. “It’s us learning the history behind it, and the stories that everyone tells through generations with these dances,” she said. “There are so many and they’re coming from so many different places.” Dawn Williams explained that her course has not just produced phenomenal performances on stage but it has also drawn out self-confidence many stu-

dents don’t know they have. It is a source of growth and friendship through the art of expression. “The biggest joy is seeing students transformed by the information,” Pritchard said, mentioning his African American History, Black Psychology, and Black Economics courses. “Often, students visit me after they graduate and share how these courses have helped them be more confident navigating their life after high school.” While the global pandemic may have made enrollment difficult, it’s not hard to see the overall impact that the AFAM Studies Department has had on the BHS community. “Our BHS AFAM Studies Department is proof of activism creating change,” Dawn Williams said. “[It was] born in 1968 from student and parent demands, and that is an important legacy to carry on.”

Pritchard and Williams teach in BHS’s AFAM Department.

SAYLOR COLE

#METOO MIRANDA COUCH

It was 2017, and Alyssa Milano’s tweet, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet,” prompted surges of Title IX reports, 19 new sexual harassment protection policies, and a series of discussions on sexual misconduct, in places ranging from Hollywood to our own classrooms at Berkeley High School (BHS). But did you know the original founder of the Me Too movement was not Milano, but author and activist Tarana Burke? Tarana Burke is a Black woman who was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. In her early childhood, adolescence and adulthood, she was sexually assaulted multiple times. Horrified by the lack of resources with her experiences, she committed her life to helping others through what made hers so difficult. Burke started the Me Too movement in 2006 as a way to help women of color, who have been disproportionately affected by sexual violence for centuries. But after 11 years of her hard work, when #MeToo went viral, she didn’t see Black people with a platform to share their voices and experiences. In her words, “Sexual violence doesn’t discriminate, but the response to it does.” She describes how since there isn’t as much minority representation in the media, there was a lack of response to #MeToo in minority communities, including her own. However, when 35 percent of Black women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime, compared to roughly 20 percent of all women, silence wasn’t an option for Burke to consider. But what can we do? How can we help prevent sexual assault, and how can we support those affected by it? Unfortunately, preventative measures don’t just mean making sure consent is given, though that is extremely important. A message Burke repeats is that sexual assault isn’t a crime based on sex, but a crime based on power. The physical act of this crime strips the violated person of their power, which is essential to regain during the healing process. Often, keys to supporting survivors include reassuring them of their strength, reminding them that what happened wasn’t their fault and that they didn’t deserve it, and letting them know they aren’t alone. Burke realized the only way she could fully support and empower others’ healing was to share her story, hence “Me Too.” When the hashtag went viral, Me Too was not taking the steps Burke had planned it to. She writes, “Other than these women being survivors of sexual violence, none of what was happening in Hollywood felt related to the work I had been entrenched in within my own community for so many years.” Initially, she was worried that she was being co-opted from all her work, and that she would not get credit if someone else had started the reaction. And she was right. There was a lot of erasure, both of her and other Black survivors. As mentioned previously, this became a Hollywood movement, and the lack of media representation severely affected minority groups’ ability to report. But the initial purpose of the hashtag has remained: reminding survivors that they aren’t alone. To read Burke’s piece, her book Unbound is available at the Berkeley Public Library, including as an ebook and audiobook.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

ENTERTAINMENT BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

Entertainment editors: Asha Baudart-Gehlawat & Ruby Freedman

GAVIN’S FROG LOG GAVIN TROTMORE

In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to share the story of a monumental frog scientist that I have looked up to since the 3rd grade. Today, we will be learning about Dr. Tyrone Hayes. For anyone, acquiring a PhD shows a level of intellect and commitment that earns widespread admiration. For scientists of color, and especially Black scientists, it takes an additional level of pinpointed precision to puncture the sealed bubble of racism in the whitedominated field. Black scientists’ credibility is often questioned. This discrimination is demonstrated by the fact that only 7.4 percent of “life, physical, and social” scientists were Black in 2021, according to the US Bureau of Labor. There needs to be a deeper level of appreciation and understanding for what it takes to be a well-respected non-white scientist. Dr. Hayes was born in South Carolina, in a neighborhood where under half of residents graduated from high school. He was always intrigued by reptiles and amphibians, specifically the euphoric transition from tadpole to frog. In the 6th grade, Dr. Hayes was accepted to an accelerated learning program in a different neighborhood. He later went on to graduate from the prestigious Harvard University. Dr. Hayes studies the role that external chemicals play in the sexual development and mutation of amphibians. After becoming a professor in various departments at University of California (UC) Berkeley, Dr. Hayes was invited to a panel of experts working for the company Syngenta, also known as Novartis, one of the largest agricultural companies in the world. Dr. Hayes discovered toxicities in the pesticide Atrazine, which had negative affects on the reproductive growth of amphibians. He reported his findings to the panel, but Syngenta regularly used Atrazine and ignored his report, revoking their funding of his research. Dr. Hayes left the panel and continued his work independently. Atrazine was heavily used in corn production, so Syngenta wanted to keep this under wraps and decided to try to discredit Dr. Hayes. Dr. Hayes began to feel alienated in the workplace and paranoid that he was being watched. Old Syngenta colleagues knew strange details regarding his schedule. On one trip, he stayed at a different hotel every night. Later, a lawsuit confirmed all of Hayes’ suspicions and more. Despite this spy movie-esque drama, Dr. Hayes continues to dedicate his life to academia. Syngenta’s actions toward Dr. Hayes exemplifies the discrimination that scientists of color face. They wanted to silence and discredit him to the point of ending his career. They preyed on his insecurities to not only alienate him as a biologist, but as a Black man. Today, Dr. Hayes has one of the most diverse labs at UC Berkeley. Hearing such a tale of ribbiting resilience, I hope you all are just as enamored with this toadly tale as I am.

ashabaudartgehlawa@students.berkeley.net

The Evolution of Reggae and Its Impact BY MARINA HOWARD staff writer

Originating in the 1960s, reggae music was a powerful way for Jamaicans to express their discontent towards societal and economic injustices. Reggae’s influence on modern-day music is evident in the sweeping genre of reggaeton, which also incorporates rap and hip hop elements. Considering how much reggae has changed over the decades, it is fascinating to see the world’s tight grip on this beloved genre. Some of the world’s most famous reggae artists have evolved right alongside it. Take Bob Marley, for example, who started out in a group called the Wailers, whose primary genre was ska/rocksteady. Marley’s huge change in rhythm and instrumentation over the course of his career is a great example of the growth of reggae music. Ska, which took influence from American blues and jazz, was a music genre popularized in Jamaica in the 1950s, and its own evolution has shaped the modern state of reggae. The transition from ska to rocksteady in 1966 can be characterized

by the slowed down beat and repetitive bass, which is also integral to modern reggae. However, reggae differed from both genres in the sense that it eliminated the Western style of singing, again diminished the bass, and adopted a religious connotation to Rastafarian (a religious-political movement originating in Jamaica) beliefs. One interesting example of reggae’s role in protest is the song “Legalize It” by Peter Tosh. Tosh was also a member of the Wailers, born in 1944 in Western Jamaica. Tired of oppressive colonialist ideas about marijuana being pushed in Jamaica in the 70’s, Tosh

wrote this song as an argument towards legalization. Mirroring some Rastafarian principles, Tosh believed that pot could be used as a medicine. Reggae allowed him to vocalize the injustice that was so prevalent in his community. Although some artists use reggaeton to call out wrongdoing in society, the genre is often criticized for its “shallow” culture and attributes. One of the most recognized reggaeton songs in Western culture was “Despacito” by Daddy Yankee. A song that was so obviously sexualizing women was not what reggae enthusiasts pictured as the new face of the ever-changing genre.

ALEXANDRA MORGAN

Despite “Despacito” gaining so much publicity, the song does not authentically represent reggaeton’s message as an entire genre. Some artists still use reggaeton very similarly to how it was started. One song praised in recent difficult times was “Lockdown” by Koffee. A commentary on the pandemic, people felt empowered and connected to what she was singing about, similar to original reggae. Although it is ever evolving, the genre of reggae has stayed in the hearts of fans since the mid 60’s. It will forever give a voice to those who need it in this world of injustice.

Celebrating Sidney Poitier’s Film Legacy

ROBERT GELLNER

BY PEARL GAUTHIER staff writer

On January 6, 2022, Sidney Poitier passed away at 94 years old. He was an extremely influential actor and pioneer for Black people in Hollywood. In the wake of his passing, we are able to examine his long life of ac-

complishments and the path he forged for generations of Black actors after him. Poitier acted in most of his films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but continued his work into the 2000s. He was the first Black man to win a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field, which was

a huge feat given that his industry was dominated by white men. One of the reasons Poitier was so remarkable was his refusal to act in racist and stereotypical roles, which was the case for the majority of roles available to Black people at the time. By refusing to play these roles, Poitier was able to instead personify Black characters, including a doctor, a reverend, and other dignified and moral parts. The movies he starred in often acknowledged the racism that his character would likely have to face. Poitier is well known for when he fought for a script change in the film In the Heat of the Night, in which he played a homicide detective. The script wanted one of the white suspects to slap Poitier’s character in the face, so Poitier pushed for an alteration to the script so that he would slap the man back. “I knew that [by not reacting] I would have been insulting every Black person in the world,” Poitier said in a 2013 CBS interview. This

open act of defiance and pride for a Black character in the film was transformative, and is often used to anecdotally describe Poitier’s role as a Black trailblazer in Hollywood. The height of his career was during the 1960s and 1970s, while the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. One can imagine what it must have been like for America to watch a Black man receive an Academy Award on national television in 1964, just one year after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Despite Poitier’s accomplishments, we still are observing a deeply flawed Hollywood. After Poitier, only a handful of other Black people have won Academy Awards, and they have been few and far between. To honor Poitier’s legacy, Hollywood needs to continue to examine inequality within the opportunities it gives Black actors for recognition. Poitier’s accomplishments in Hollywood will hopefully continue to inspire change for people of color.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

ENTERTAINMENT

‘King Richard:’ the Man With the Plan BY OCHI GRACE staff writer

When the topic of American tennis comes up, the names Venus and Serena Williams are often at the forefront of the discussion. They became well known during their teenage years, but who helped guide them through their journey to success? The film King Richard (2021) focuses on Richard Williams’s plan to make two of his daughters, Venus and Serena, professional tennis players. Richard put this plan together before they were even born, and did everything in his power to follow through with it. The film takes place in Compton, California, where Serena and Venus grew up and were trained by their former tennis-playing parents. The film shows that despite a lack of resources and access to safe practice areas, Venus and Serena Williams still managed to have professional success. However, their glory didn’t come easily. Richard

made them constantly train, even through harsh weather conditions such as pouring rain. In one scene, the conditions were so extreme that one neighbor even tried to get child protective services involved, which later led to Richard explaining his parenting as a means of protection. He said that if he wasn’t there to push his kids, no one else would be — that his kids were destined for more than falling victim to the harsh streets of Compton. These themes of greatness and respect for life recurred throughout the entire film. Richard always made sure that Venus and Serena felt like they were deserving of respect. When they received odd looks from the other families when entering the tennis courts, Richard told his family that “They’re just not used to seeing good lookin’ peoples like us.” His approach to parenting is quite relevant within society today because he emphasizes the importance of having a strong upbringing and support system. There are many other

valuable messages shown within the film, such as the benefits of hard work, as well as the pressures that come with maintaining a high standard of work. Before Venus was getting ready to play a high-stakes match against the athlete Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Richard told her, “You’re going to be representing every little Black girl on Earth.” This brings into discussion the lack of representation regarding Black youth in sports, and especially Black girls and women. It’s clear that African American girls

are still not represented enough in the sports industry, so a win for Venus and Serena was a win for the entire Black community, especially for younger women. They opened new paths and interests for Black girls to strive for. The film itself is a beautiful representation of the importance of having a strong support system, representation, and of putting in hard work. These values and many others were consistently displayed throughout the whole film. This film could be considered both timely and timeless.

ELLIOT SCHRAG

Questlove Helps Redefine Untold History BY ZADA SANGER staff writer

The highly anticipated soundtrack to Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s film debut Summer of Soul was officially released on January 28, 2022. The documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in July 2021, became an instant hit and was quickly dubbed as “the best concert film ever made.” With the awards season on the horizon, many people are calling Summer of Soul the strongest contender for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The documentary is about the largely forgotten Harlem Cultural Festival that took place in 1969

at Harlem’s Mount Morris Park. It happened at the same time as the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, and was known informally as the “Black Woodstock.” The concert’s headliners included music legends Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, among others. The festival occurred at a pivotal time for civil rights reform, and it celebrated Black pride. Up until this point, the Harlem Cultural Festival has been robbed of its rightful historical significance because of the lack of televised footage. Questlove salvaged the archived footage of the festival and presented it in his stunning film, documenting and narrating the importance of the event. The groundbreaking movie tackles the

erasure of Black history and the powerful role of music during this turning point of American history. Questlove began his career as a drummer and percussionist for the band The Roots in the 1990s. He also published three books, and won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album of 2018. He described himself as a “hip hop historian,” and his mission to tell the important stories of Black music and culture is clear in his latest endeavor with Summer of Soul. He explained that he initially was just excited to make a concert documentary series that would commemorate and immortalize the incredibly special festival. But, as the political unrest surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement

LUCY RICKART-WEBB

unfolded in 2020, the movie gained another dimension of present-day meaning and relevance. “We were editing and filming this thing in the middle of a revolution,” he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The shifting cultural tides from 1969, which were analyzed in the documentary, paralleled those that were occurring in real time. The documentary does a phenomenal job of allowing the music to speak for itself; it serves as a platform to amplify the performances so they may inspire and be appreciated by the greater American public. It also provides the perfect amount of context and analysis about the footage, so the viewer may fully comprehend the importance of the concert through the social justice crusade happening simultaneously. The 17 songs on the motion picture soundtrack exceptionally capture intense feelings of anger, urgency, optimism, and resilience felt by African Americans that have been oppressed since the birth of the United States. The film does exactly what it set out to do and more — it sheds light on a powerful historical moment that was abandoned in the depths of a storage basement, showing America’s routine dismissal of African Americans’ contributions. Questlove’s Summer of Soul is a sensational film that furthers the reshaping of history.

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CENSORSHIP OR CONSCIOUS CHOICE? LILIANE LOZAC’H

The Color Purple, an epistolary novel by Alice Walker, was, and still is, one of a kind. Written in 1982, the book brought something to the literary table that had rarely, if ever, been seen before. (You can imagine that books about queer, black women were a scarcity as it was.) The Color Purple won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 and was later adapted into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985. When the narrator, Celie Johnson, is first introduced, she is pregnant with the second child of a man she once called her father. Her children are brutally taken away, and she is left with only her younger sister, Nettie. It is immediately clear that Celie’s relationship to men is in general very negative after being sexually exploited by her father, and later forced into a marriage with Albert Johnson, who consistently treats her abusively and disdainfully. It is important to note that Celie’s predominantly harmful experiences with men could contribute to her general mistrust of them, and, as she later admits, how she feels no desire for Albert nor derives any pleasure from cohabitation with him. In fact, after Nettie is forced off the property by Mr. Johnson, Celie is resigned to the fact that she will never find anyone she loves as truly as she did her sister. That is, before she meets Shug Avery. Shug was Mr. Johnson’s mistress for a couple of years before she comes to stay with the Johnson family to recover from an illness. Celie doesn’t mind, of course, as she doesn’t have any real feelings for her husband and finds herself craving Shug’s approval more than she does his. It is a well known fact that in the novel, Celie and Shug form a relationship, with everything from clandestine kisses, to “I love you’s,” to sleeping together when their husbands aren’t home. What I’d like to talk about is the film adaptation, where this relationship is oddly cut out. The movie leaves out any direct mention of Celie’s sexuality, so that the (singular) kiss with Shug could be interpreted whatever way the viewer wishes it. This could be one of many directional choices that Spielberg made. It could be that he was trying to appeal to a larger audience, it still being 1985, or perhaps that he wanted the focus to remain on Celie’s struggles as a Black woman in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, interviews with Spielberg on the matter have been disappointing and vague. In an edition of Entertainment Weekly, Spielberg said, “[I] was the wrong director to aquit some of the more sexually honest encounters [in The Color Purple].” However, whether it was a choice based on censorship or a choice made to highlight the Black experience, we can conclude that Celie and Shug’s relationship was still featured in the film, if you look through the eyes of a fastidious observer. It remains in the form of covert glances, gestures of affection, and two women who only have eyes for each other. Ultimately, we can conclude that The Color Purple, the novel, has endured as one of the most revolutionary books of its time, and Celie’s identity is only a small part of her story. The book is one of love, pain, silence, struggle, and family, and displays that it is possible to persevere through any amount of adversity.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

ENTERTAINMENT

BHS Community Recommends Four Black-Authored Books NATIVE SON by Richard Wright is a book that’s important to Joseph Omwamba, a Universal Ninth Grade English teacher. Published in 1940, the book tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young man living in a poor area of Chicago. “Bigger Thomas starts out with everything against him, but he ends up falling in love with reading, which made me identify with him,” Omwamba said. “The message of this book is that your current situation should not define you.”

BY AVHA MEISELS staff writer

THE FIRE NEXT TIME by James Baldwin is a novel that means a lot to Hanim Nuru, a twelfth grader in Berkeley International High School (BIHS). This non-fiction book was published in 1963 and starts with a letter written by James Baldwin to his nephew, followed by an essay about a difficult period of Baldwin’s life. The book especially deals with race and religion. “It talked a lot about internalized racism and how it can affect someone mentally,” Nuru explained. “It’s a novel that addresses the Black experience in America.”

BELOVED by Toni Morrison is a favorite of Rhonda Jefferson, the faculty sponsor of the BHS Black Honor Society. A fictional novel published in 1987, Beloved depicts the story of Sethe, a former slave, who is haunted by a spirit from the year 1873. “I love Toni Morrison’s writing because it’s challenging,” Jefferson explained. She also added, “Beloved shows the mindset of a slave, it lets you see what slavery does to the mind. How it attacks the mind. How it makes you do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

JUST MERCY by Brian Stevenson stands out to Israel Nikodimos, a BHS freshman. The memoir was published in 2014 and tells the story of Stevenson’s career as a lawyer defending people in need. “This is the first book that actually made me cry because of how sad it was to see how messed up the justice system is. It was very eye opening and it’s a lot to take in,” Nikodimos said.

PAGE DESIGN BY STELLA RANELLETTI PHOTOS BY AVA MUSSI

THE CROSSWORD

‘Euphoria’ Season 2 Gets Deep BY SKYLER ROCKMAEL staff writer

ACROSS 1. Entangle 5. Places of relaxation 9. Dryly witty 14. The Hindu concept of sensual pleasure 15. Prefix meaning next to 16. Video killed these stars 17. Very stupid 19. Makes ajar 20. Common location of G. Washington’s face 21. Achings for Krispy Kreme 23. Afternoon nap to escape the heat 24. Helped 25. Wolfs (down) 27. ____ Houston, first president of Republic of Texas 30. Patron of Columbus 34. The site of a clash 36. Rudolph ___, Soviet-born ballet dancer 37. Ionic or Doric, for example 39. Avian neck motion 40. Things that provide comfort and convenience 42. Avoid committing to a side 43. Programmed into a device before its use 44. One from Cambodia, Japan, or Tajikistan 46. The sagging of the upper eyelid 51. Get too warm 54. Nearly but not fully 55. Cowboy exhibition 56. Person who understands without sound 58. Dim or filmy 59. Espouse the virtues of 60. South Asian women’s garment 61. Taste, for example 62. Specifically 63. What the Caspian is DOWN 1. Slides 2. River in New South Wales 3. Stroll 4. Scottish and Irish ethnolinguistic group 5. Opening in an organism for respiration 6. Friend

7. First war between the US and Native Americans west of the Missouri 8. Appeasements to the gods 9. A crowd of people or animals moving together 10. River obstacle 11. Greg ___, Portland draft bust picked ahead of Kevin Durant 12. Suffix meaning small, like with duck13. A defeat 18. The first nebula to be observed with a spectroscope 22. Super Bowl ever-presents 26. Finnish architect known for sculpting furniture 27. A game before the final 28. One of Green Gables 29. Property measured in grams 30. Part of a foot 31. Certain 32. Historical region and culture covering Syria and parts of Turkey and Lebanon 33. Franklin, Simmons, Affleck 34. Not a lot 35. A groove worn by a wheel in a road 38. A state with no challenge to its regime 41. Refer to 43. Dessert with fruit or cream in a crust 44. Regions 45. A meeting of land and sea 47. The third stomach in cows 48. Coke, Pepsi, or Dr Pepper 49. French department containing Grenoble, on the eponymous river 50. A line differentiated from its surroundings by color or texture 51. Spheres 52. Rodent similar to a mouse 53. Anthony ___, Churchill’s foreign secretary and successor 57. Monetary subunit of the afghani

— Raven Fonseca Jensen — Nicholas McGlashan

Euphoria is a one-of-akind show on HBO Max that has attracted unmatched numbers of viewers by exploring the complex realities for Gen Z. According to HBO Max, Euphoria has an average of 2.4 million viewers per episode, while a comparative current HBO teen show, Gossip Girl, has an average of five hundred thousand viewers per episode. The show stars the renowned Zendaya and takes place in the suburbs of southern California. In many ways, it is an exaggerated depiction of the teen experience, but it explores important topics such as addiction, heartbreak, trauma, and the modern impact of social media on one’s mental health. Euphoria’s relatability is the main reason why it has gained so much popularity: teens look to the media for their experiences to be turned into something beautiful. The show’s diverse cast and breadth of issues it attempts to address allow a broad audience to see themselves on the screen. Whether the viewer is exploring sexuality or drugs, having family drama, or conflicts with friends, Euphoria will appeal to almost all of today’s youth. However, it also amplifies the high school reality to a possibly unnecessary extreme. In many ways, Euphoria tends

to glamorize high-risk and often unsafe behavior. In season one and especially in season two, Euphoria dramatizes certain teen behaviors, such as the detailed showing of gratuitous nudity and sex in the show, rather than enriching the plot and characters. Nevertheless, Euphoria is not alone in its representation of nudity; popular shows like Shameless, Elite, and Outlander are also known to frequently display nudity. However, in season two, Euphoria has proven itself to be radical on this front through its unprecedented shots of male genitalia, countering the disproportionate representation of female nudity in media. The narrator of the show, Rue, is battling a severe drug addiction, and we see the show through her eyes as she hides it from her friends and family. In season one, the show highlights Rue’s journey through recovery. She stays sober for most of the season, but struggles on the path of sobriety while going through the hardships of life. In season two,

Rue’s relapse sends her sinking deeper than rock bottom; it’s not just the drugs that are ruining her life, it’s herself. There are many concerns for shows like Euphoria, and one very apparent issue is its potential impact on younger teens. By glamorizing drug use, it creates a false narrative of what high school is like. It makes the high school experience seem more adult and scary than it really is, with no support systems for those who need them. This false view of high school might lead to increased fears and worries about the already nervewracking transition. Euphoria is a unique show that explores the Gen Z experience to such an exaggerated extent that it might be better categorized as a show that explores drug addiction and social dynamics, without age being an influential factor. There is undeniable beauty in the cinematic elements and the vulnerability in the acting, but it could also potentially have a harmful effect on viewers.

MAIA KESLER

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

SPORTS

15

Meet the BHS Mountain Bike Team Coaches BY SHANZA SYED & STEPHANIE JERSEY, staff writers ILLUSTRATED BY RIOKA HAYAMA, illustration editor PHOTOS BY LILY FROST, staff photographer

Inspired by his son’s involvement with the Berkeley High School (BHS) mountain bike team, Hunter Hubby decided to reconnect with the sport by stepping up as a coach last year. He immediately recognized the strength of the community. “I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with the kids’ ability to look out for each other. … The culture feels super safe and inclusive,” said Hubby. He aspires to help each individual grow as a rider. “My goal is for them [is] to be able to do things that they couldn’t do in December, whether that’s doing an entire climb without having to take a break or doing a descent that was unimaginable before.”

For Jessica Mast, mountain biking has positively impacted her life since she joined her high school team. Now, she coaches for the BHS team. “I had a lot of really awesome coaches when I was in high school that shaped me into a lifelong mountain biker, and I wanted to do the same,” she said. Mast emphasized how biking has helped her become stronger, both physically and mentally. When an injury left her unable to ride a few months ago, she was not discouraged.“I was actually more motivated to ride after that experience … I realized how important it was to me,” said Mast.

Lani Gentry has been a mountain bike coach at BHS for four years. When her daughter joined the BHS mountain bike team in her freshman year, it became a family activity, eventually motivating Gentry to become a coach. Gentry is in charge of BHS’s chapter of the Girls Riding Together (GRiT) program, which aims to involve more women in mountain biking, as it is currently a male-dominated sport. At BHS, 106 of the 135 riders on the mountain bike team are boys. Mountain biking is special to Gentry because it gets people out in nature and promotes independence. “It is one of the few sports where there is no bench. Everyone rides, everyone plays,” said Gentry.

Amanda Spiller only started mountain biking six months ago, but began her first year as a mountain bike coach at BHS this year. Previously, Spiller exclusively road biked, leading tours all over the world. Spiller got into mountain biking after she bought her friend’s used mountain bike at their insistence. “Mountain biking is such a great way to enjoy the beauty of our Bay Area,” Spiller said. Spiller recommends beginners “follow that curiosity.” At BHS, Spiller said, “we take it at your pace.”

Nick Hoeper-Tomich started mountain biking at the age of 11 with his mother and brother. As a BHS alumnus, he joined the team his freshman year and “hasn’t looked back since.” Now the head coach of BHS’s mountain bike team, Hoeper-Tomich believes that the sport has a one-of-a-kind mixture of perseverance, independence, and grit that sets it apart from other sports, adding that every ride is unique. For people interested in trying it out, Hoeper-Tomich highlights the fact that mountain biking is a sport that meets athletes at their skill level, no matter their current fitness. Embodying this spirit is important to him, which is why the BHS team is no-cut. Hoeper-Tomich concluded that “there is true beauty in the path less traveled, and by the power of the bike, you can get anywhere!”

Olympics Occur at the Expense of Environmental Sustainability BY SOPHIE HORVATH staff writer

The grandeur of the Olympic Games awes the world every two years. However, achieving the environment the Games are known for makes a huge negative environmental impact. Emily Carr is a master’s student at the University of California (UC) Berkeley in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department and part of the Energy, Civil Infrastructure and Climate program. She co-authored a report focusing on the sustainability of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, in which they “... [critiqued the Games’] methodology and how they reported what they did related to sustain-

ability.” During their semester of research, the team reviewed the impact reports published by the London and Vancouver Games. These reports consist of five reports covering the sustainability of the host cities at five points leading up to, during, and after the Games. An absence of standardization in the measurement of sustainability between these complex reports, done by local universities or committees put together by the host city, makes it difficult to decipher the true environmental impact of each Games, and if cities met their sustainability goals. Dr. Sven Daniel Wolfe, an urban and political geographer in the Department of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Lausanne, co-authored an article on the sustainability of the Olympic Games from 1992

to 2020. He affirmed that the complexity of these reports and the onerous process to complete them does not motivate host countries to make sustainability the priority at these events. Vancouver was the only host city to ever complete all five reports, but neither London nor Vancouver met their sustainability goals. “What are they going to do? They’re not going to cancel the Olympics if you don’t meet your sustainability goals,” Carr remarked. In their report, she and colleagues suggested the International Olympic Committee appoint a research team dedicated to crunching the numbers every year. That way, a standardized system would be developed. Clear communication is the first step on the way to accurate action. There are many more

moving parts to factor in. One of the most difficult issues to solve is that of transportation. In Vancouver, transportation accounted for 87.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the Games — though 22 percent of energy consumption — simply because athletes, trainers, and spectators need to be brought to one place, and therefore these emissions appear hard to avoid. “With international prestige and billions of dollars on the line, it becomes extremely challenging, if not impossible, to mitigate all harm. Harm mitigation is not the priority. Pulling off the Games is the priority,” Wolfe said. For the current Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, this meant diverting water from an important reservoir into a dried-up riverbed to provide the

Olympic facilities with enough water to manufacture the necessary snow. However, harm reduction is essential, and another idea sustainability experts have to lessen the energy consumption of each Games is to reduce the number of locations where the Games are held. “When you look at the life cycle of a building, a lot of energy is going into building at the beginning, and if you’re just using it for one year, all of the initial im-

LYDIA KIM

pacts are only divided over one year,” Carr explained. “The longer a building is used, the smaller its overall impact.” Wolfe gave a suggestion: “We could rotate the Games among the same host cities, so we don’t have to build new infrastructure. You could even have different cultural and infrastructural hosts, so Guatemala could host in London, for instance, or Cameroon in Athens. The important bit is not to build anew.”

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

sports editors: Luisa Bertolli & Norah Lee

SPORTS BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

norahlee@students.berkeley.net

Single Season Sports Become Year Round BY FINN GARDNER staff writer

The African Diaspora Dance Program, which put on its 53rd winter show on December 2, offers a safe environment for students.

MALINA MEISSNER

African Diaspora Uplifts Dancers of Color BY MADELYN PHILHOWER staff writer

The Berkeley High School (BHS) African Diaspora Dance Department changed its name in 2020 from the Afro-Haitian Dance Department in order to encompass “all the countries where African Black people have been in this world,” Dr. Dawn Williams, instructor and executive director of the program, explained. The name change was important in better connecting to the cultural history of the dances the department teaches, allowing the program to extend its global reach. Dance has been an in-

credible physical and creative outlet for people since the beginning of humanity, but racist standards festering within dance programs often undermine dancers’ self image, confidence, and careers. The expectations for how dancers should use their bodies in many dance forms can create pressure to look a certain way, especially for dancers of color, who are often told they don’t have the “right body” for the art form. “It really depends on the type of dance you’re doing. … Sometimes you see [slim dancers] and the instructor is constantly putting them in a position in the front. … It can make you

BHS SCOREBOARD RECORD

LAST GAME

NEXT GAME

Girls Basketball

5-18

Boys Basketball

12-11 W 56-51 vs. San Leandro

2/11 @ BHS

Girls Soccer

9-6-5

L 1-0 vs. James Logan

2/11 @ BHS

Boys Soccer

12-4-4

W 4-0 vs. Mt Eden

2/11 @ O’Dowd

L 63-32 vs. San Leandro Final Game 2/9

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Digital ticketing: https://sites.google.com/berkeley. net/bhsathletics/

self conscious, specifically in ballet,” Aiyala Scott, an African Diaspora dancer, said. “That’s really the racism [in dance]. It’s not really the color … it’s the body shaming. The image of what you think you’re supposed to look like,” said Tanzia “Ms. Shorty” Mucker, an instructor and artistic director of the BHS African Diaspora Dance Program. The toxic environment in some dance programs can be difficult to overcome, according to Ashley Gayle, a professional dancer, board member for ShawlAnderson Dance Center, and co-director of Visceral Roots Dance Company. As a biracial dancer, going to class was difficult in Gayle’s youth. “I’ve seen good friends of mine, beautiful dancers, who’ve had to leave the art form [ballet] because they just mentally and emotionally couldn’t handle the pressures.” Additionally, as Gayle stated, “There’s a lot of dance history that has gotten lost … hidden, and … commercialized or whitewashed” through the persistence of

creative theft and lack of cultural knowledge within the dance community. Although dance can historically be a place of impossible standards, African Diaspora dance at BHS offers supportive community. “We have … every different shape and size in this class … that’s also part of the beauty of what we bring as African Diaspora dance. In the motherland, in Africa, there is no rigid way of looking at who’s gonna be able to dance. Everybody gets to dance!” said Dr. Williams. African Diaspora dance doesn’t just teach dance steps, but different meanings and history of each dance and song, and the unique cultures that created them. “I’d never really seen a performance for [African Diaspora Dance] before … I get to Berkeley High [and] … I’m just like ‘Woah, hey, I have a culture here, that’s part of my historical background!” said Scott. Ms. Shorty said, “We teach the peace. We teach the harmony, we teach the unity. We teach community, we teach family.”

Many athletes, including students at Berkeley High School (BHS), train, play, and practice year-round in order to be competitive. To succeed in BHS’s soccer program, many players like Academic Choice (AC) sophomore Finn Gohlke, who plays on the BHS boys varsity team, play outside of the winter season. Gohlke doesn’t look at this negatively. “For me, it is a great privilege to be able to play all year round,” said Gohlke. “[It] has definitely helped me develop as a player [and] additionally [build] a strong passion for the sport.” Liam Morehouse, an AC senior and former BHS varsity water polo player, played club water polo for CC United in Lafayette during the BHS off-season since his freshman year. “It’s obviously something that has to be balanced with the other expectations of a high school student,” he said. “But with the right mindset, it’s completely doable,” Morehouse said. His love for water polo made it

easier. “There’s really nothing better than being in the water, and knowing it will help your high school team makes it all the more worthwhile,” Morehouse said. Training for BHS crew currently takes place for nine months of the year, though at one time, it was strictly a spring sport. “As our region became more competitive and the other programs were racing yearround, it became necessary for us to have a more established fall season,” said BHS head crew coach Marie Jones. Jones argued that this difficulty builds time management skills and recovery habits like eating, sleeping well, and stretching, but also acknowledged the ways in which it “can wear on people both mentally and physically.” Heulwen Davies, a junior in AC and a BHS womens varsity rower, “[finds] it hard at times to manage the long hours on top of all my schoolwork and other extracurriculars.” While training yearround allows athletes “to continue to perform, grow, and improve throughout the year,” Jones said, “It’s a tough balance.”

GABRIELLA BUSANSKY

ATHLETE PROFILE CHLOE BURKE, a senior in Academic Choice (AC), has been playing for the Berkeley High School (BHS) girls basketball team for four years. Burke finds that practice helps her relax and focus on the present. “When I’m stressed, it’s nice to just let it go for about an hour and a half,” she said. For Burke, the team lets people take risks without fear of judgement. “This is your team … they’re supposed to push you to your limits,” Burke said. As a word of advice to other young athletes, Burke noted, “You can be yourself, you can play the way you want to play … so don’t worry, you don’t have to hide or be shy, just don’t be afraid, just go with it.” Burke also reflected on how her time on the team has taught her to push through obstacles: “Taking risks in basketball has also helped me take some risks in my own life,” she said. YASMEEN BAWANY

— Mateo Tsai