Communicator: Volume 45 Edition 2

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE. VOL. 45 EDITION 2, NOVEMBER 2018

About the Cover DESIGN BY ZOE LUBETKIN AND MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO

On the cover, we featured a collage of photos from various years of multi-cultural celebrations throughout two decades at Community High.

The graphic of the world represents all of the widespread ethnic coverage that happens on this day each year.

Throughout this edition, we have multiple articles about the multi-cultural celebration, the controversies surrounding it and how it has evolved through the years. Read the article beginning on page 18: How did it start, what went wrong and where is it going now? Find staff opinions on page 24.

BACK COVER ART BY TAI TWOREK, SOPHOMORE AT COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

TABLE OF CONTENTS 06

36 Years of Coffee and Juice

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The Left Lanes

A mere 24 hours after releasing their new single, “Autumn,” The Left Lanes rocked out at the B-Side for over an hour to a loyal group of fans.

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In the Snow

Now-sophomore Anton Greene, attending both Community and Huron, reminisces about starring as the lead role in award-winning Ukrainian film, “The Guide.”

Every morning, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church has served breakfast to the Ann Arbor community since 1982.

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The Importance of Languages

Students at Community High recognize the importance of being bilingual and talk about how knowing a language other than English has benefited them.

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An Artist’s Impact

An artist created a symbiotic relationship with an unlikely group of people — ­ dementia patients. She discovered her voice, while they improved the quality of their life through art.

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Chicago

Staff members of The Communicator traveled to Chicago for the National Scholastic Press Association conference, where they won Best in Show for both print and online.

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Letter from the Editors Dear Readers, Here on The Communicator, we are a family brought together through our passion for journalism. As the air cools and the trees begin to change color, we are given the opportunity to reflect on all of the things that have happened to us over the past few months. We have faced every challenge and every triumph as a family. Through our raffle ticket, ad and sponsor sales we were able to raise the funds we need to keep doing what we love. Because of this the journalism classroom continues to be a place where we can all come and be part of something greater than ourselves.

Entering into the holiday season as editors, we have been reflecting on what we are thankful for: our amazing advisor Tracy Anderson, our generous sponsors, our wonderful staff and loving Communicator family, and, of course, each other.

The holiday season can be bittersweet for many of us, for it is a time to think back on not only the positives but also the negatives from past years. As a staff, we hope that our publication can bring a smile to our readers’ faces and shine a light on what is happening in our school, our community and our world. Writing for The Communicator gives us a platform to make our voices heard and impact the community around us.

During the month of November, our school is challenged to give back and raise money for Food Gatherers, an organization dedicated to ending hunger in Washtenaw County. Last November we successfully raised $55,752, and had a matching grant of $50,000 for a total of $105,752. As a staff, we would like to take this opportunity to challenge our readers to give back to their own communities and make this holiday season a little easier for those who need it most.

On Nov. 20 the CHS student body will make their way to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church to tally up the final dollar amount from the 2018 fundraiser.

Following the ceremony, students will divide into their forums and commence the Multi-Culti festivities. For the last three years, Multi-Culti has been in a transition period with staff and Forum Council working together to find a balance between what is appropriate, what is educational and what is fun. Shifting from Multi-Culti to Comfe and finally back to Multi-Culti, the festival has undergone many changes, and as editors we are hopeful we are heading in the right direction.

From our family to yours, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

PRINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

COPY EDITORS

Abigail Gaies Ava Millman Wm. Henry Schirmer Camryn Tirico

Madie Gracey Loey Jones-Perpich Charles Solomon

WEB EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Mazey Perry

Mira Simonton-Chao Gina Liu Paige Duff

MANAGING EDITOR

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR BUSINESS MANAGERS Owen Kelley Camille Konrad Ruby Taylor

Isabel Espinosa

SECTION EDITORS Evan Ash Elena Bernier Hannah Bernstein Joshua Caldwell Jordan De Padova Atticus Dewey Dan Gutenberg Camille Konrad Zoe Lubetkin Joshua Martins-Caufield Mazey Perry Roxie Richner Andie Tappenden Geneve Thomas-Palmer Sacha Verlon Emma Winegarden Bella Yerkes

DESIGN EDITORS Ella Edelstein Isaac McKenna

VISUALS EDITORS Ebba Gurney iO Soucy

ADVISER

MENTORS Lacey Cooper Sophia Rosewarne

STAFF Luke Andoni-Sevas Sophia Berry Benjamin Cooper Leah Dame Brenan Dionne Ethan Gibb-Randall Daniel Gutenberg Hope Hesseltine Jenna Jarjoura Benjamin Kessler J Kincaid-Beal Andrew Lafferty Sophia Nunez Shea O’Brien Julian Reinhart Andrea Schnell Zachary Schueler Elijah Shore Joseph Simon Meghana Tummala Tai Tworek Cy Veilleux Nina van der Velde Maxwell Westrum

Tracy Anderson

Follow Us on Social Media! @communicatorchs @communicatorchs @communicatorchs Mission Statement: The Communicator is a student-

Your Editors,

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ABIGAIL GAIES

AVA MILLMAN

WM. HENRY SCHIRMER

CAMRYN TIRICO

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run publication and an open forum established in 1974 and created by students at Community High School. The staff of The Communicator seeks to recognize individuals, events, and ideas that are relevant to the community. The Communicator journalists are committed to working in a manner that is professional, unbiased, and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately and will correct any significant error. If you believe such an error has been made, please contact us. Letters of any length should be submitted via e-mail or mail. They become the sole property of The Communicator and can be edited for length, clarity, or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at The Communicator’s discretion. The Communicator also reserves the right to reject advertising due to space limitations or decision of the Editorial Board that content of the advertisement conflicts with the mission of the publication. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and not of Community High School or the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

The Communicator Online Read more at www.chscommunicator.com or download the app, available on the App Store.

NEWS

BERNIE SANDERS RALLIES FOR MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS

FEATURE

PIERCING THROUGH PREJUDICE: THE FALL OF PANGEA

More than a thousand people gathered in Rackham Auditorium on Friday, Oct. 19 to hear some of Michigan’s Democratic candidates speak, including gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer, speak.

BY RUBY TAYLOR

Alice Held felt uncomfortable. Shirtless and alone with a complete stranger, that feeling isn’t entirely unexpected. But it wasn’t just the vulnerability that frightened her; J.C. Potts, the stranger and man she had paid to pierce her nipples, was the main reason for her discomfort.

BY ISAAC MCKENNA AND ELLA EDELSTEIN

KNEELING: ONE YEAR LATER

VOICE

On Sept. 18, 2017, then quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick, knelt during the national anthem. For the first time, another player was alongside him––it was then 49ers safety, Eric Reid. On Sept.

27, 2018, Eric Reid was signed by the Carolina Panthers. Yet, Kaepernick has continuously been shunned by the NFL and has been experiencing unemployment as a result.

BY ELIJAH SHORE

YSIV IS GOOD?

A & E

Young Sinatra IV is good. Yes, you heard it right: YSIV is actually good. Logic’s last studio album “Everybody” was possibly his greatest work to date. But the Young Sinatra mixtapes have never tried to be anything close to Everybody.

BY BRENAN DIONNE

SPORTS

SKATE LIKE A GIRL

When Lindsay Falbo’s friends invited her over to their house to try longboarding, Falbo was scared. It was the beginning of summer 2018, and she was afraid of getting hurt. When she first stood on the longboard, it wobbled underneath her feet. Eventually, she got the hang of it and took her friend’s longboard out into the street.

BY TAI TWOREK

SOCIAL MEDIA

POLITICAL PUMPKINS

SONG OF THE DAY

“FEELS LIKE WE ONLY GO BACKWARDS”

Artist Victoria Fox, who has been at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market for 30 years, strays away from her normal nature paintings and painted a few political pieces. Inspired and outraged by President Trump and Supreme Court Judge Kavanaugh, Fox painted these as a form of therapy.

COMMUNICATORCHS INSTAGRAM

So, it’s 9 p.m. on a Sunday. I’m a little less than sleepy, a little more than tired: that dreamlike state of an evening without adrenaline or stress, where everything is soft around the edges. I’m driving home from Columbus, Ohio with some teammates, and all the regular restaurants — Panera, Noodles and Company — are closed. So we stop in a Jimmy John’s. And this song is playing. I’ve never heard it before, and the experience is nothing short of magical.

BY ANDIE TAPPENDEN

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Pieing for a Cause

Students crowded around a small foldable table on Community High’s front lawn on Sept. 9, brandishing their phones, ready to capture this memorable moment — when teachers Brett Kilgore, Ryan Silvester and Christia West would take plates of shaving cream to the face.

This was the sixth year a CHS forum “pied” teachers to fundraise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), and the second year that Kilgore’s forum — known to many by the nickname “the Kilgorum” — lead the event. The tradition was started by a former student whose sister and daughter of CHS teacher, Anne Thomas, Emma died of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Kilgore mentioned how grateful he was for all the CHS teachers who “volunteered their faces for the day.”

West was in third place with $67.13 in her jar, and thus was met with only one plate of

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THREE COMMUNITY HIGH TEACHERS “VOLUNTEER THEIR FACES FOR THE DAY” TO BE BOMBARDED WITH PLATES OF SHAVING CREAM.

BY GENEVE THOMAS-PALMER

shaving cream to the face. West prepared to by pied by donning a weighty-looking pair of goggles to protect her eyes and parts of her face. Though students and teachers alike teased her for her eye-protection, West got to gloat when her colleagues later complained about getting shaving cream in their eyes.

After ridding herself of most of the shaving cream, West molded her hair into a mohawk. As she posed for the camera, she jokingly threatened to use this pie-ing as an inspiration for her new hairstyle.

Though Marcy McCormick was not among the three winners, she seemed to have someone on the staff aspiring for her to be.

“We were in forum and some Kilgore forumettes came into the room,” Sage Iwashyna, a member of Courtney Kiley’s forum, said. “Courtney asked for the Marcy jar and passed it around and had everyone do-

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nate to the Marcy McCormick jar.”

As Iwashyna’s friend, Ameera Salman, said, there seems to be an “attack or be attacked” attitude when it comes to the pieing among Commnity’s FOS teachers.

Next in line after West was Silvester in second place with $102.53 in his jar. He — along with West and Kilgore — stuffed tissues up his nose and in his ears to protect himself from the shaving cream. His fate for second place was two pies to the face.

As Kilgore held his breath to ready himself for his three plates of shaving cream, a student among the onlookers called out, “The Community difference!” A chuckle pulsed through the crowd of spectators.

“Getting pied is fun, but it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world,” Kilgore said. “The drive home was interesting last year, especially at stop lights where people would look over at me and probably think, ‘What is happening today?’”

Theo Katzman THEO KATZMAN, MEMBER OF VULFPECK, TALKS ABOUT HIS SOLO WORK, ANN ARBOR AND HIS NEW ALBUM. PHOTO BY MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO

BY ANDREA SCHNELL

How has Ann Arbor helped your music?

First of all, it’s been a launching point. It’s the place I jumped off from college and met all my friends who I work with to this day. It’s definitely launched me in terms of social network. It also continues to be a resource because my friend lives here and he is a great producer. I come back to work on projects with him because he has a studio here. I know I live in LA and there are a million studios, but this is a special place.

Sometimes I just want to get out of town and for there to be a little to no distractions.

Lyrically “Heartbreak Hits” hits some deep notes about heartbreak and loss but it has a light tone, why did you decide to have that contrast?

It was intentional. I don’t really know what it is about that combination but I have always loved that in music. When the music and lyrics don’t match you can create an amazing effect on the spirit. Bob Marley, for example, has been a big influence. He has music that is musically the sound of it is very uplifting or kind of upbeat but the lyrics are quite heavy. They have to do with oppression and struggle. I think a lot of my favorite songs have that combination. I think if you keep the music light you can have the lyric deliver a message that otherwise maybe no one would want to hear.

Can you tell us anything about your new album?

There’s some heartbreak stuff. There’s some world issues. I don’t know if I’d call it world issues, just me reacting to the time that were in and some of the things that are important to me. That hasn’t really come up in my music yet. Now it’s rearing its ugly head and I have to reckon with that.

Why did you decide to take that turn [to write about world issues]?

It wasn’t really a decision I made. I think I try to keep my music about whatever I discover in my soul.

So if I sit down to write whatever comes up is what comes up. I don’t sit down saying “I want to write a ballad,” but if a ballad comes out from that, that’s what came out. Its also getting a little older and starting to listen a little more to what’s happening in the world and what’s happening in my own life and how people are being treated.

“This is the standard drop quote font. Do not change (except for special circumstances). Gloucester MT Extra Condensed 20 pt font with 18 spacing.”

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Years of Coffee and Juice SINCE 1982, THE ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH HAS BEEN SERVING BREAKFAST EVERY DAY TO THE ANN ARBOR COMMUNITY.

The first time James Brown* went to the St Andrew’s Breakfast Program, he was with his mother. Growing up, his family would volunteer for the church once or twice a week, mainly when the church needed volunteers. Brown wasn’t given a choice on whether he wanted to be there, but he knew it was for a good reason.

Years later, when Brown found himself in Ann Arbor short on money and with a busy work schedule, he turned back to the program.

“I didn’t really start coming back until 2010,” Brown said. “I got a job working [in Ann Arbor] that was early in the morning so I came through here and grabbed some food and [went] straight to the job.”

Brown is one of the hundreds of people who take advantage of the free breakfast served at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.

The program first opened in 1982, and every day since, volunteers come in to serve breakfast for those who need a meal.

Anyone can volunteer for the program, even high school students.

On her first day volunteering, CHS Senior Emma Zielinski woke up before sunrise. She had wanted to start volunteering at the program for a while, but her mom was hesitant to drop her off so early. After a fellow volunteer showed her how to get into the kitchen, she was thrust into the unknown.

At first, she felt lost: the other volunteers knew where to go and what to do but she was the only one without a job. Once she was introduced to the manager, she began preparing bagels and slicing apples. Shortly before guests began pouring in to get breakfast, the manager assigned her to serve oatmeal to the guests.

From the moment the doors opened at 7:30 a.m., she knew she wanted to volunteer every week. “[I fell in love with] the people,” Zielinski said. “I love my fellow volunteers. I love talking to the guests and being able to do something as little as smiling, talking to them or handing them a bowl of oatmeal [to] make them happy.”

Zielinski has remained at the oatmeal station since her first day, though she admits that the stations typically rotate every week. Along with oatmeal, the program serves grits, hard-boiled eggs, pastries, cold cereal, coffee and juice. They also have several sandwich-making stations for guests to make lunches to take with them.

Attendance ebbs and flows depending on the season, but there is always someone serving breakfast to members of the community.

“It has never missed a beat,” said Phil Macbride, who has been a volunteer at the St. Andrew’s program for over 30 years. “It has [always] served for 36 years.”

Even while the kitchen in the church was undergoing renovation, the program continued, temporarily moving to another church in the area. When the city tried to move the program to the Delonis Center, the guests fought to keep it at St. Andrew’s Church. They enjoyed the relaxing nature of St. Andrew’s, and the fact that they could sit while they ate comforted them.

The guests of the program come from varying backgrounds: there are people who are homeless, people who are low-income, people who are old and people who are young.

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BY ISABEL ESPINOSA

“I come here to waste time,” Brown said. Like many who can’t afford breakfast elsewhere, Brown eats breakfast while talking to the other guests, packs himself a lunch, and moves on with his day, returning the next morning with the same agenda.

“There are all sorts of people here for all sorts of reasons,” Macbride said. “And there’s a story behind each one of them.”

“They’re people I never would have met without the program,” Zielinski said. “Giving back and making someone’s day just a little better is a fantastic way to begin your day.”

People like Macbride and Zielinski are what set the St. Andrew’s program apart from other breakfast programs in Ann Arbor; they are part of the 100+ current volunteers who run the program. Despite this, they are always looking for new members.

“There’s no application,” Macbride said. “Nobody has to [ask if they can come], they just come and nobody asks any questions about it.”

For information about the breakfast program and how to volunteer, visit https://breakfastatstandrews.org. *Name has been changed to protect anonymity

‘‘

There are all sorts of people here for all sorts of reasons, and there’s a story behind each one of them.

Volunteers Chrissy Tingle and Emma Zielinski sit behind the food counters just before the doors to St. Andrew’s Church open to the public. “There’s always something to do here, whether it’s serving snacks, pastries, hot cereal or juice,” Zielinski said. Zielinski began volunteering during her Sophomore year, and has continued to go every Wednesday since.

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Today is Going to be a Good Day, and Here’s Why: Pasek and Paul are in Ann Arbor

BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH

The crisp fall wind on the evening of didn’t discourage anyone waiting in line outside Rackham Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11. Their arms were crossed to keep warm, but their spirits couldn’t have been higher: they were just half an hour away from seeing Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — the writers of Tony award-winning Broadway Musical “Dear Evan Hansen” — speak live.

The line, which stretched down the steps of the auditorium and down Washington street, began to move, and people pulled their tickets out of their pockets excitedly. Once inside, every ticket-holding guest was given a copy of Pasek and Paul’s novel, “Dear Evan Hansen,” which contained a signed bookplate and a raffle ticket, which would be drawn at the end of the night to give five audience members a chance to meet Pasek and Paul.

In honor of the “Dear Evan Hansen” book tour, Literati Bookstore hosted the special event at University of Michigan, where Pasek and Paul both attended college. They graduated in December of 2006, both holding BFA degrees in musical theatre.

“Dear Evan Hansen,” which quickly became a smash-hit Broadway musical after its debut in December 2016, details the story of Evan Hansen, a teenager with extreme social anxiety. His therapist suggests he write letters to himself as an exercise.

While printing one out at school, Evan encounters Connor — a loner and bully — who reads the letter and is livid at the mention of his sister, Zoe. Connor is found a few days later after his suicide. When he is discovered with Evan’s letter in his pocket, authorities believe it is his suicide note, addressed to Evan. Evan can’t help but lie, creating a fictional story in which he and Connor were friends. The lie carries throughout the show, shaping Evan’s life.

After the musical launched Pasek and Paul to fame, fans were very excited to welcome them back to their alma mater.

The program began soon after 7:00 p.m., when the Emeritus Chair of University of Michigan’s Department of Musical Theatre, Professor Brent Wagner, gave a speech to introduce Pasek and Paul.

Wagner spoke about his relationship with 8

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Pasek and Paul when the two were in college, speaking to their strengths as actors in the program.

“I actually think their writing is especially good because they started off as actors,” Wagner said.

He then continued to praise them for their success: According to Wagner, one-fourth of Broadway productions are successful, and three-fourths are based on already existing material.

“Evan Hansen is completely original,” Wagner said.

During the final moments of his introductory speech, as the audience members itched with anticipation, Wagner gave one final introduction: Darren Criss, U-M Acting alumni, film star and Broadway actor, would be the host of the event. As Wagner finished his speech, Pasek, Paul and Criss walked onstage and the crowd screamed with joy.

The three sat down, joking and interacting with the audience. Pasek complimented Criss for being charming, warranting cheers from excited fans. Once they were settled, Criss began asking questions.

He started off by asking them about the beginnings of their relationship. They joked about how they became friends during their dance classes at U-M, talking about the ways they would try to get out of having to dance.

“We bonded over being the two worst dancers in our ballet class,” Paul said.

Pasek continued to talk about how their songwriting relationship began: He wanted Paul to help him embellish some songs during their freshman year, and they ended up writing four songs together. During their sophomore year, when the two were cast as nonessential ensemble roles in Michigan’s production of “City of Angels,” they decided to write their own show, which they later performed at the Kerrytown Concert House.

“The first song we wrote was a super weird pop song that didn’t make any sense,” Pasek said.

Criss changed the subject when asking them about the origins of “Dear Evan Hansen.”

Pasek answered the question, talking about how he had first noticed a phenomenon while he was in high school: When |

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“The response when people come to the show: they connect with these characters because we talk about ‘taboo’ subjects.

Hopefully this book is a conversation starter.” someone at his high school passed away over the summer, the students came back to school with stories of the person, acting like they had a special relationship with the deceased student. Pasek said he too was guilty of embellishing his stories.

“I wanted to be a part of a tragedy that I had no right to be a part of,” Pasek continued.

And they noticed similar events on a much larger scale: they knew people embellishing and/or making up stories of people who passed away in 9/11, as well as posting online about deaths of celebrities.

They couldn’t help but wonder what made humans so lonely that they felt the need to lie about things like that, and how that lie could make them feel so much better. Of this question came the central idea of “Dear Evan Hansen,” a story of a boy who does just that: lie about his relationship with a dead person to feel less lonely.

The musical took years to finalize, but once it debuted, Pasek and Paul were overwhelmed with stories: people shared personal memories of experiencing the same phenomenon, of losing someone to suicide,

ILLUSTRATION BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH

of experiencing suicidal thoughts themselves.

The flood of stories showed the two young writers how powerful their story was, and how they had such a large opportunity to make an important impact. They decided that they didn’t want “Dear Evan Hansen” to only be accessible in New York for the price of a Broadway ticket: they wanted it to reach people all across the nation.

They discovered that by writing a novel version of “Dear Evan Hansen,” they could provide an opportunity for more depth than the musical provided: more points of view and development of different relationships.

With the novel, they had the chance to learn more about Connor — the boy who passed away at the beginning of the story. The audience got an example of Connor’s thoughts when Criss stood up and performed a dramatic reading of a passage from Connor’s point of view. The auditorium fell silent, holding onto Criss’s every word as he portrayed how Connor felt directly after dying by suicide.

After Criss’s tear-jerking performance, Pasek and Paul continued to discuss development of previously unseen relationships in the novel, ultimately inviting Chelsea Packard — U-M musical theatre alumni and Broadway star — and her husband onstage to sing “Only Us,” a romantic duet between Zoe and Evan: another relationship that the novel embellishes upon.

As it became apparent that the discussion

would have to end soon to leave room for a Q and A section at the end, Pasek and Paul began to discuss the outcomes of the show.

Though Evan lost many relationships once his lie was revealed, one person he never lost, the writers reminded the audience, was his mother. “[His mom] represents the people that are always going to accept you and love you exactly the way you are,” Paul said.

When asked about their goals for the book, Pasek and Paul responded with positivity and hope.

“The response when people come to the show: they connect with these characters because we talk about ‘taboo’ subjects,” Pasek said. “Hopefully this book is a conversation starter.”

With a quote from the show, Criss ended the discussion portion of the evening, opening the floor to questions from five lucky audience members.

“Today is going to be a good day, and here’s why: today, you’re you, and that’s enough.”

The house lights were raised slightly, a lowing five selected fans to ask Pasek, Paul and Criss questions. One, a writer, asked how they managed to turn a passion for creativity and writing into their careers, to which Pasek responded: “Take up space. You are as deserving as anyone else.”

One audience member asked a question that warranted responses from all three

men: What advice did they wish they had been given earlier in the process?

“When you think that your work is terrible, that is the best time in the world,” Pasek said, quoting Ira Glass. He continued to discuss the process of revision, and how it is okay to have bad work: you can only revise it and make it better.

“At least you know that you’re bad,” Paul chimed in.

“Know that your voice is very important,” Criss added. “You’re the only person with your voice.”

After the Q & A portion of the evening was over, Criss chose five raffle winners, all of whom stayed after the main event for a meet and greet.

They welcomed Packard back to the stage to sing “So Big/So Small,” a heartbreaking solo from Evan’s mom’s perspective. Applause rang through the auditorium after the song, and Criss began to end the night.

“Thank you all for being here, go blue and all that stuff,” Criss said, warranting laughter from the crowd.

And finally, Paul moved to the piano one final time and Pasek, Paul and Packard performed “You Will Be Found,” the Act One finale and iconic song of hope from the show.

Immediately after the final note, the audience sprung to their feet, cheering and clapping, and finally exited Rackham Auditorium, hearts full.

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CASUAL CLASHES

Ella Edelstein, a senior at Community High School, does not hesitate to mix and match patterns. Both her shirt and pants were thrifted; Together, they challenge the idea that two patterns clash. Instead, they complement each other.

The key to matching patterns is in the color of the print. Wearing two wildly different prints with different color pallettes appears almost disturbing. Imagine a neon-striped t-shirt paired with rainbow polkadots. It would look like a Halloween costume.

So if you are going to wear multiple patterns, make sure that they are neutral colors. Edelstein keeps it simple with a black-and-white flower pattern on top and green-and-blue plaid wool pants. She keeps the shoes minimal as well with a pair of Black 8-Eye Doc Martens that tie the outfit together.

“I got the earrings from my mom,” Edelstein said. “I borrowed them from her.”

So if you are compelled to clash patterns, be bold, but do not go overboard. Make sure to look at yourself before going out the door wearing multiple prints and ask yourself: Do I look like a fashion icon?

BY MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO AND SACHA VERLON 10

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TOP LEFT: Edelstein posts up at Community High English teacher Tracy Anderson’s desk.

TOP RIGHT: The pleated pants are from Salvation Army and feature a highrise waistline.

BOTTOM LEFT: To achieve the perfect length, Edelstein cuffs the bottom of her pants.

CENTER RIGHT: The short-sleeve button-down is from Salvation Army and is made of light polyester.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Circle earrings: big enough to draw attention, small enough to not weigh your ears down.

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Escaping the Vortex of Perfectionism A FILM VIEWING AND PANEL DISCUSSION OF “THE RACE TO NOWHERE” EVOKES HOPE FOR CHANGE IN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

BY LACEY COOPER

The screen flicked on, and immediately the heartfelt stories came pouring in. High school, middle school and even elementary school students of all ages and backgrounds shared their personal struggles with academic life.

“So much pressure that I would wake up and feel… like I’m dreading it,” One high schooler said to the camera. On Oct. 11, the Ann Arbor District Library held a viewing of the film “The Race to Nowhere,” with a panel discussion directly following.

The event was a partnership with the University of Michigan Community Scholars Program. The film’s aim was to shed light on the major flaws of our country’s culture around education. It centered around many high school students feeling extreme pressure to excel in the academic world and illustrated the struggle of meeting expectations catered to the very top percentile of learners. “The Race to Nowhere” interviewed and showcased the lives of students, parents, and teachers living in an environment focused around constantly developing, advancing, and expanding the definition of success.

Watching the film, I found myself thinking that any one of these students could be a Community High School student. The students interviewed in the documentary seemed to be facing the same struggles we often witness firsthand as Ann Arbor’s high school students. The ever-growing compilation of extracurriculars, volunteering, 12

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clubs, extra credit and AP classes, paired with overwhelming amounts of schoolwork and projects all geared towards the college application, weave together a scene that we in the learning community know all too well. Even more concerning are the mental, emotional and physical tolls taken on students’ health. Walk into any high school, in Ann Arbor or elsewhere, and ask the first student you see about how school work impacts their life. Their answer will most likely be a medley of sleep deprivation and extremely elevated stress levels, among the many other negative effects of a pressure-filled lifestyle.

The film was undoubtedly very relevant to our community. It also dove into the pressing question: What are all of these sacrifices for? It suggested that while our current education system does a great job at motivating students to get into the “best” colleges, it does not adequately provide them with the skills they need to thrive in these colleges.

According to the documentary, the University of California — a notoriously difficult school to get into — had to remediate about 50 percent of the students they accepted.

This serves as proof that a well-crafted application followed by an acceptance letter is not always a perfect representation of a student’s readiness for college. Although the students that applied for the University of California often had grade point averages greater than a 4.0, they ended up having to retake basic high school classes because |

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they hadn’t been retaining the same information they had been getting A’s on.

This statistic highlighted another of the education system’s biggest shortcomings: while AP classes and advanced courses provide heaping amounts of content, oftentimes the content is not given enough class time, discussion, or review and is instead rushed through at breakneck speed. This often results in what the film called “milewide, inch-deep” coverage of important concepts. This method of teaching tends to prepare students for the college application, not for the college experience. Unrealistic expectations have also lead to an epidemic of cheating and plagiarism as students are taught to prioritize their grades over their comprehension of the material, and even over their moral compass. A study done for the movie found that less than 3 percent of the 5000 students studied had never cheated or plagiarized. The piece also argued that high school and college should be times to learn about oneself and to find happiness and to strive for excellence in whatever it is the student wants to pursue. With the rigid, quantity over quality-oriented environment of high school, students are often not given the time, resources, or mentality they need to make crucial progress in their development as scholars and as people.

On the panel were John Boshoven, CHS counselor, Emeritus, and Co-Chair of the Ann Arbor Public Schools counseling department; Patricia Manley, a Trustee on the

Board of Education for Ann Arbor Public Schools; and Todd Sevig, Director of the Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Michigan. As the movie drew to a close, each panel member shared their opinions on the movie.

“Everybody knows it’s unrealistic,” Sevig said. “But somehow some students have internalized that [they] have to be nearly perfect throughout the day, and the week, and the semester, and the year.” Sevig expressed his hopes for positive change in our school system, sharing one of his favorite parts of working in education: seeing changes and growth in students.

“We see when students get better, when they can navigate it, and not get sucked up into the vortex of perfectionism,” Sevig said.

After all three panel members had had a chance to speak, the room became a center for discussion. Students, parents, administrators, teachers and others for whom the movie had depicted a painful reality were encouraged to share their points of view.

One woman was concerned about her two kids, both freshmen in the Ann Arbor Public High Schools. The amount of homework they were getting, she worried, was just too much. While she knew that both wanted to go to the University of Michigan, she didn’t want them to put too much pressure on themselves. She offered the idea of creating more schools like Com-

munity, smaller schools with smaller classes for a more tight-knit and specialized learning environment. Boshoven responded that with the development of Ann Arbor’s third comprehensive high school, Skyline, there had initially been discussion of creating two or three other community-style schools rather than one large public one. However, there was a push from many parents for more sports, orchestra, band, and other programs that are harbored and strengthened by larger schools.

Another parent worried about her elementary schooler, who she noticed was facing anxiety over classwork and homework and being punished with loss of recess time.

She wanted to make sure that Ann Arbor Public Schools would allow children time to play and develop important social and imaginative skills, without it being conditional in relation to how much work the child finished.

A student at the University of Michigan shared an alternative method of grading that was used in her Italian class in high school, and one that she thought was healthier for the students and more indicative of their understanding of the material. An Ann Arbor Public Schools teacher attested to giving either credit or no credit for her class, in an attempt to relieve some of the stress her students were facing. She was received with applause and cheering from the crowd, which was full of college

and high school students, some of them her own.

As a wide variety of students, parents, teachers, and counselors came forward, the stories sounded more and more similar.

All of them wanted happiness for their students, their children and themselves. They wanted education to be a process that created a sense of joy, motivation, and self-expression for students, rather than anxiety, stress, and toxic perfectionism. There was discussion of having homework-free weekends, or even introducing alternative methods of grading for some classes. Monitoring time spent on schoolwork outside of school was also a priority, in addition to opening the conversation on mental health and creating a more supportive environment for students experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression. The hope was that as a community, we can shift our thinking when it comes to our public schools. We can change our goals from students having 4.0 grade averages and perfect test scores to goals that will benefit students not only as students, but as people. We can change the ideal of students being perfect to the ideal of students having a sense of self and love for what they are learning. Most importantly, we can change our education system for all students to have a happier, healthier relationship with their school.

Our Voices Erin Simmons “I’ve always spent a lot of time here, I have my whole life. But, now it’s a lot more, and also the homework... It’s there’s less time to do whatever I want. I went to schools for a long time that pretty much didn’t give homework until pretty recently... I’m kind of not used to it, so it feels like a lot of work sometimes. I spend a lot more time on things homework, and less time doing stuff that I like. I’m a sophomore, and I worried about college since I was in third grade. It has always been [one of the] things that scare me a lot... I [thought] about it way more than I think some people do when I was younger, especially because my brother and sister are both way older than me. My brother went to college when I was five, and my sister went to college when I was in second grade.

So I just think about that a lot, and it worries me a lot. It’s a whole other stress thing to think about, that’s just moving in the back of your mind, always.”

Mia Monk “My brother gets really good grades, so I feel like if I don’t get good grades I’ll lose, I guess. I’m very competitive, so I want to be better than him. And also, my parents will be disappointed, I think, because I’ve always gotten good grades. It’s really stressful because they’re not all hard classes, but some of them are, and I’m not good at all subjects so that makes me more stressed. I do this volunteering thing that takes up a lot of time, I do soccer, and I do music.”

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Every Part of Me

STORIES ABOUT COMING OUT AND BEING OUT FROM LGBTQ+ STUDENTS AND STAFF AT COMMUNITY

BY GENEVE THOMAS-PALMER

Sophia Muraski

Sophia Muraski

Ada Janson*

Read more stories from Every Part of Me online at chscommunicator.com.

Photo illustration featuring Sophia Muraski and the pansexual pride flag.

Ada Janson* sat in her grandmother’s basement with her extended family, talking with her cousin about how odd the grade below her was, with their dyed hair and their anime. Her cousin said, “Two of them are,” then paused, taking the precaution of looking over both of their shoulders and leaning in with their hand over their mouth to hide the ugly word they were about to whisper into Janson’s ear. “. . . gay.”

“It was just kind of jarring to think that I see me as normal, as just a person, and [if my extended family knew I was pansexual] they would see me as almost a swearword,” Janson said.

Even though Janson loves her extended family, she is not sure they would support her if they knew about her sexuality, as they are conservative and lean Republican. She spends a lot of time with them, but what she is keeping from them puts up a boundary in their relationship. “[Their political views] make me feel like I’m being an awful person,” Janson said. “They undermine the confidence that I’ve worked on and how comfortable I am with myself.”

Janson doubts that if her immediate family knew she was pansexual it would change much in their relationship and wishes she felt she could. However, she still does not feel ready to come out to them.

“I know it’s not really going to affect my relationship with them, but they might feel differently about me,” Janson said. “I’m scared about how they’ll will react. I don’t want to change the dynamic.”

Janson lives in a reality where she occasionally overhears her mother bashing a family friend who identifies as gay — calling her sexual orientation a phase — and feels as though she can do nothing about it. She hopes that someday she can talk openly with her family about who she is attracted to, but does not yet feel comfortable taking that risk.

“I’m pretty confident with my sexuality and who I’m attracted to, but sometimes it makes it difficult because I want to have that open relationship with my family and be able to talk about who I’m attracted to,” said Janson. “Right now I feel like I have to hide every second, or else they’re going to do something — like they’re not going to like me anymore, they’re not going want to interact with me anymore.”

Sophia Muraski’s family used to have a running joke to see how long they could go without telling her sister Mariah that she was pansexual.

Muraski came out to her mother and her three sisters almost a year previously — not out of comfort, but out of necessity. In her eighth grade year, she told the boy she was dating at the time that she was pansexual. He had a tough time with their break up and began outing Muraski to the entire school, to the point where she had to report what was going on to the school counselors, and to her mother.

“At first, I was really mad,” Muraski. “[But,] as time went on I accepted it more. I was like, ‘Yeah. I am pan. I like everyone. You can either accept me or not.’ It was my time to come out to everyone.

I turned the bad situation into something where I could just own it and be myself. I was not comfortable telling [my mom] at that point and time, but I’m glad that I had that push to do it.”

Muraski says that, although it seemed like a big deal at the time, in the long run she was glad that she was pressured to come out.

Considering her mother grew up in Indiana with conservative parents, Muraski says she would not have told her if she did not have that push. She says that her family used to be “straight as an arrow,” as she grew up Catholic and didn’t feel it was an option for her to think about sexual orientation.

Although most of Muraski’s immediate family knows she is pansexual, she still has not told her dad, and does not think she ever will. ““[My dad] has not really been the most supportive my whole life,” Muraski said. “My mom has full custody over [my siblings and me], so I don’t see him a lot, and I’m not really comfortable around him. He tends to make jokes a lot, so I feel like he would make fun of me without realizing it. If I tried to tell him, he would think I was joking.”

However, Muraski feels it is important to stay strong, even if you don’t have the full support of your family and friends.

“You have to love yourself before you can let anyone else love you,” Muraski said. “You have to be comfortable with yourself and be confident enough and believe in yourself enough to be like, you know what mom, if you don’t accept me, then that’s ok. I’m still going to be who I am. I want you to accept me and I want you to love me, but I’m going to love you no matter what.”

*Name has been changed to protect anonymity 14

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Feature

The Left Lanes

BY ATTICUS DEWEY

Colors flashed outside of the windows of the B-Side as the single release concert began for The Left Lanes’ newest song, “Autumn.”

As the band was making last-minute preparations for the concert, people of all ages trickled in, talking about the band’s music and what they were anticipating the night to hold.

“We are really excited for everyone to come and listen to the song live,” drummer Gabe Wood said. “This song was made for a live audience, and it is such a fun song to play. While it’s a nice song to listen [to] recorded, I think it’s going to blow everyone’s minds away when we play it live tonight.”

After groups of musicians approached the stage, washing the audience with the sounds of their own music, the audience was boiling in anticipation for The Left Lanes. When the band finally stepped into the glimmering light of the stage, the audience exploded with the excitement that had been building for the past hour. When The Left Lanes picked up their instruments, the crowd’s cheering quieted to a whisper. When the mass was silenced, the band began their performance of “Heavens.”

As the group started going through their set-list, the passion that the audience exuded onto the band grew with every song. Playing songs such as “Blue Skies,” “Millennial Architect,” and “Forever,” the band then paused their performance to express their admiration to the audience. The talked about how the formation of music had been such an amazing experience for them, and that they were lucky to have such an amazing fanbase. Continuing the concert with songs such as, “Stay,” “Mellor Time,” and “F***ed Up,” the band was leading up to the main performance of the night, “Autumn.”

“It really is one of my favorite songs we’ve written together because it goes through a great emotional rollercoaster,” said Isaac McKenna, a guitarist for the Left Lanes. “While a lot of our songs do end up being emotional rollercoasters, I think this one’s climax just creates these really amazing raw emotions in the listener.”

When the band began to play, the crowd shook the entire building of the B-Side with their cheers. Their actions mirrored the song’s intentions perfectly: when the song was soft and relaxing, the crowd moved slowly to the rhythm of the song, however, when the song picked up tempo, the crowd’s dancing and movement stirred to match it. When the band finally finished their song and left the stage, the crowd demanded another song, chanting “ONE MORE SONG!” After several seconds of anticipation, the band came back on stage to perform “Leave It.” “When we play live, the audience can listen to the living and breathing version of a song, instead of whatever stage it was at when it was recorded,” McKenna said. “I think a recording can be a cool art form, but a live song just gives such a different experience because you have to figure out how to make the sounds that would easily be created on a recording, in a live setting.”

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Southport, North Carolina: A Story of Dread, Devastation and Hope HAILEY MEYER HAS LIVED IN COASTAL AREAS HER ENTIRE LIFE. IT WAS ONLY AFTER HURRICANE FLORENCE DEVASTATED HER TOWN THAT SHE REALIZED HOW QUICKLY HURRICANES COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.

BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH

When the eye of Hurricane Florence hit Southport, North Carolina, Hailey Meyer was safely in Boone, North Carolina; her family had evacuated a week before the storm. Weeks later, recovery efforts are still going on.

When did it become apparent that you were going to have to leave your town?

Well, since we’re from Florida, we’ve dealt with hurricanes a lot. And we normally don’t leave, because we kind of just stick it out. But we’re not in Florida, we’re in North Carolina now. And North Carolina isn’t really built to deal with hurricanes like Florida is; we took that into consideration. And also since my dad’s in the Coast Guard, we had to leave, because the Coast Guard made us. We had to leave. We left two days before the storm actually hit. We went to Boone, North Carolina. It’s two-and-a-half hours northwest from where I live.

How long were you in Boone?

We stayed in Boone for about five days; the storm slowed down and stayed over my original town for a very long time. We thought we were going to be able to come home a lot sooner, but we couldn’t and then the storm started coming towards Boone.

And since we were in the mountains, if we would have stayed, we would have gotten flooded and trapped in Boone. So we left Boone and drove south and went to Columbia, South Carolina for one night. And then we stayed in Charleston, South Carolina for four days.

And then you went home?

And then we went home, but my dad had to leave three days before us because he had to get back to the Coast Guard station in my town. He wanted to go check on our house before we came back and kind of make sure everything was safe for us to come back, because a lot of my friends were going back really soon after the hurricane. Their cars were getting swept off the roads from all of the running water and everything that was going across the roads. And they were getting trapped and they had to be water rescued. So we saw that and we didn’t want to go back because we didn’t want that to happen. Because then we would’ve had to be staying at a shelter instead of in our ho16

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tel room, safe.

How many people that you know evacuated?

Probably a week before the storm, about 30 percent were evacuating. And everybody else was kind of sticking in their roots about not wanting to leave. And then as the storm got closer, more and more people were evacuating. By the time the storm hit, I would say about 80 percent of the people I know evacuated. The other people stayed in their houses or went to family members’ houses that were more inland. One of my friends stayed in his house, which was kind of like a mobile home or trailer, and a tree fell on his house when he was in it. It broke through his roof and his windows and everything and it almost fell on him. They were trapped in their house and they had to get water rescued and taken to my high school, which was a shelter.

It was really scary because I wasn’t here to know if my house was okay, and I live a quarter-mile from the ocean, so I was really scared. When we left our house, we basically had the brain mentality that when we came back, we were going to be homeless.

It was a really stressful and weird feeling to have to comprehend that.

And you’ve dealt with hurricanes before, but never like that?

When we first heard about it at school, everyone was talking about it, like oh, it’s just going to kind of turn and curve out, go back to the ocean, because that’s what they normally do. But I guess there was a lot of pressure coming from the north and it was keeping the storm down and it wasn’t letting it curve up and go back out to the ocean, which is what they naturally would have done, so it came over my town. The eye of the hurricane went directly over my town. And that wouldn’t have happened if that pressure wasn’t coming from the north.

They originally said that it was a category five, it grew to a category five, and they were saying that this storm was deadly. It’s gonna destroy everything in its path. When I left school, I was thinking, ‘my school is going to be destroyed, my house is going to be destroyed.’ I had to think about stuff I couldn’t live without, because my house is going to be gone when I came home, which was really sad. And then as it got closer |

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to us, it wasn’t building up but it was still a huge storm. But it wasn’t as strong and powerful as they thought it was. So by the time it hit us, it was a category one. It stayed over my town for about two to three days, just pouring rain. That’s where the flooding came from.

Your house is okay, which is totally crazy. But what about other areas of your town?

Inland a little bit, there are the Boiling Spring Lakes. It’s a different town technically. A lot of people live in there and there’s a bunch of lakes. It’s really pretty and all of the water was held into the lakes by a dam, and it got so flooded that the dam broke and all of the water was drained out of all the lakes. So now there are just giant empty lakes all around my town in that area because the dam that held all the water in broke. It was rising so much because the dam was still holding, and water was about to be flooding into people’s houses. And then the dam broke and all the water just disappeared. I’m not sure where it went.

But if that dam wouldn’t have been destroyed and broken, all of the houses in that area would have been completely flooded and destroyed.

What day did you go back to school?

When we left school, we thought we were going to be back that Monday. We left on a Wednesday. We were set on being back on Monday, and then we were out of school for four weeks. We went back last Monday. We went back a week ago and we’re in school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then we had Thursday and Friday off because of Hurricane Michael, because that was supposed to come directly to us after it hit Florida. It was supposed to rain over us a lot, and we were really nervous about flooding again because our ground is still so wet and trees are still falling everywhere. We’re in a very vulnerable state, so we’re very nervous for storms and everything like that.

So you were out of school for four weeks. After you got home from your evacuation, what did you do with that extra time?

In our town, people had no homes. So my mom and I volunteered a lot of food distributions and giving our clothes and

stuff like that to help people because a lot of people lost everything. A lot of people stayed and didn’t have time to prepare before the storm. So then when their house got destroyed during the storm, they didn’t have anything together. So they just had to leave and their house got destroyed. We just helped the community and got our house back in order.

Good for you guys. Are those efforts still going on?

Yeah. When I went back to school, this past Monday, we talked about it a lot, obviously, because it destroyed our town. And at least three kids in each of my classes lost their entire houses and everything they own.

And so they’re living in trailers in parking lots of our Walmart, or at one of their parents’ jobs. The hospital was housing people for a little while. It’s still going on, and a lot of our roads are still destroyed. So getting places is really hard. And that was the biggest thing after the storm was getting people in and out of their houses, because a lot of people were trapped in their houses with no food, no water and no electricity because the roads got destroyed because of all the flooding.

For people that live in poverty who lost their homes, what’s going to happen?

Most of the people who lost everything did live in mobile homes or trailers. I did notice that that was most of the people. The people who did are the ones who didn’t live in two story houses. And our school has been doing a lot of surveys, we are getting papers constantly asking us to fill out things we have; if we have clean clothes, if we have toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, and asking us all these things, and then if you don’t have these things, when you hand it in, they’re calling kids down to the office to come get these things, and giving kids to the option to shower at school. Our lunches are free for the whole month of October, as well as breakfasts. Our homecoming dance has been rescheduled a lot, and that’s now free.

Our school is being very accommodating for everyone. And our teachers are giving kids who lost all their school supplies new notebooks, binders and backpacks. So everyone’s helping each other out.

How has school been operating this year, since you’ve only been back for a week and you took two days off?

It’s very stressful, because we were only in school for two weeks before we got let out

for a month because of the storm. So we had just started learning and then being out for a month and something like that happening, just so devastating for our town, has really set us back a while, because we have to relearn everything, we have to be accommodating for those who are going through hard times. I came out super lucky in this situation. I’m so grateful that I had a house to come home to, because it could have been so much worse. And it’s very stressful.

The state is trying to decide what they’re going to do about our standardized testing.

They’re trying to decide if we are going to get more of a curve than the other states because of the hurricane and us not having as much time. A month is a lot of time to cover things in school. You do something new every day in school, so month is a really long time. So it’s very stressful. They’re taking it easy on us just to try to get back to normal.

You’ve lived in coastal areas your whole life. Has anything like this ever happened before?

Hurricanes? Yes. All the time. I always have to have hurricanes, you know, just because like you say, I always live in coastal areas because of my dad. But I’ve never lived somewhere that it was so devastating to this many people. My dad went and helped with Katrina after Katrina happened, so he has seen this kind of stuff, but I’ve never seen it firsthand, this kind of devastation. And we lucked out. It could have hit us way worse.

They thought it would be much worse. But for some reason, it slowed down and lost some power. And thankfully, it just kind of hit us a lot less than it was supposed to. So that was good.

So speaking of your dad, how has this affected his job?

It was very stressful when it was happening. My dad’s station is right on the ocean, and he thought it was going to be completely destroyed. He had to move his boats out of our town and move them somewhere so his boats won’t be destroyed. It was a very stressful time for us as a family. I think, because we had to make decisions from our family and our house and make sure that we were going to be okay, and then on top of that, my dad had to make decisions and make sure that all of the guys in station were going to be okay too. It was just kind of a lot for us to handle.

Who was rescuing people during the storm if the Coast Guard made you guys evacuate?

We had mandatory evacuation a week before the storm even hit, they called a mandatory evacuation. So during the storm, nobody was doing anything. After the storm water rescue teams from California and Florida were flying here and getting here to go find people. And that’s why my dad had to leave early, because he had to go back to the station as soon as he could, to get the station running so they could be up and running as soon as possible to help people.

Are they still in crazy mode or has it calmed down a little bit for them?

I would say it’s calmed down a little bit. For so long, for a month, it was the only thing anybody was talking about. And it got really overwhelming. But it’s definitely calmed down more. And things are slowly getting back to normal. There’s still a lot of brush everywhere, because of all the trees that fell.

Houses are still being rebuilt and repaired.

And in Boiling Springs Lakes, the neighborhood where the lakes got drained, they didn’t get power and water back for about a week to two weeks after the storm was over.

So they were going to shelters and trying to have food. Our grocery stores were completely shut down, because they couldn’t get trucks in to get any new food. After losing power, all the food went bad. And so the grocery stores had nothing. So helicopters were flying in after the storm and bringing food and water for everybody who didn’t have the option.

How do you think experiencing all of that has impacted you or changed you?

It’s definitely made me see the intensity of how everything can change in a matter of seconds. Because even though I didn’t, a lot of people I know lost everything. And even just having to prepare for [the possibility of] that happening to you is really overwhelming. And I think it definitely did do something to me and my brothers and everybody who had to go through it, because just preparing for that just really is a scary feeling. Having to take all the pictures down in your whole house and put them in plastic bags up in the top of your closets. It’s very scary, just having to comprehend the idea of losing everything. And I saw how stressed my parents were, and it was just a lot. It was very scary. And it also showed me how a community really helps each other and works together after a time when you really need it, which was really good. I’m glad that we pulled through for each other like that.

When we left our house, we basically had the brain mentality that when we came back, we were going to be homeless.”

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Changing the Celebration of Multi-Culti MULTI-CULTI, HAVING BEEN THROUGH VARIOUS CHANGES IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, IS A CONSTANTLY TALKED ABOUT TOPIC AT COMMUNITY. HOW DID IT START, WHAT WENT WRONG AND WHERE IS IT GOING NOW?

BY GENEVE THOMAS-PALMER

On a bike ride through Gallup Park last summer, Steve Coron and his wife, Karie, got caught in a rainstorm. They hid from the rain in a pavilion next to the pond and the playgrounds, the same pavilion where families of Arabic descent were having a barbeque. Coron and Karie began talking to the kids about being in high school, to the moms about life in general, to the dads about how they were cooking their food. Soon, they were being offered shish kabobs, rice, grape leaves and lamb.

Sitting under a pavilion with a bunch of strangers, all from different cities in Metro Detroit, they were talking, eating and waiting for the rain to stop.

“I thought, ‘That is how people learn about other people and come to a point of understanding and acceptance,’” Coron said. “It was a perfect example of what multicultural celebrations can be.”

Every year, Community High School has a cele-

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bration called “Multi-Culti,” where an entire school day is devoted to the exploration of different cultures around the globe. Originally, each forum would agree on one culture to represent, but over the past couple of years, MultiCulti has undergone many changes. These changes were in part motivated by Jeri Schneider, the librarian at CHS. She’d had concerns about the way it was being done and felt uncomfortable with the way the cultures were being portrayed.

“It just felt very shallow,” Schneider said. “It never felt like we were really grasping anything other than the very surface, sort of visual notions of other cultures.”

During the first year that changes to MultiCulti were implemented, many students and staff were wary to accept the adjustments.

Schneider felt that there was no clear vision of what changes the school wanted to work towards. The result of these adjustments was something called “Comfe” — short for Community Feast — where each student in a forum would bring in food from their own culture.

“I think we have this misconception in the United States that white people don’t have a culture, that culture is [for] everybody else — people of color have culture and people from Asian countries and Mexico and Africa have culture,” Schneider said. “The first step in understanding other people’s culture is understanding our own. In building cross-cultural communication and dealing with cross-cultural conflict, you have to understand your own conflict before you can address someone else’s.”

After a single year of Comfe, the idea was thrown out, and Multi-Culti was back with a few adjustments. Now, each forum would represent one celebration or other aspect of a culture instead of the culture as a whole. Coron believes that, currently, MultiCulti is going in the right direction. He thinks the new

system gives forums a focused, specific purpose, while keeping it a fun even. For example, last year, his forum represented Day of The Dead in Mexico.

“That was specific enough we could talk about one isolated event that is part of that culture,” Coron said. “Not Mexicans. [Mexico] is a big country with a lot of people. It’s silly to think you can just do one country. There are many Mexicans, and there are many cultures within the culture, and there are many traditions within the country of Mexico.”

On the other hand, one student, Charles Eidelman, is not content with how Multi-Culti is currently celebrated. He feels that forums are too concerned about not being sensitive to the cultures they are representing, and he thinks that they will spend so much time focused on portraying the cultures in a way that is considered socially and politically acceptable and making sure they do not stereotype, they won’t be able to concentrate on learning about and accurately portraying the culture.

“There’s a point where you get too touchy,” Eidelman said. “Multi-Culti is supposed to be a celebration, not something to tiptoe around.

What’s offensive and what’s not offensive is kind of a petty issue because it doesn’t really affect anything other than people’s feelings.”

Schneider feels as though Multi-Culti is changing back to the way it was before Comfe, but she hopes that, in the future, it can be used as a tool to address racial conflict that happens below the surface at CHS and inspire difficult conversations between people of different cultures.

“White people have a hard time talking about race and racism — and I think we need to start doing that more as a school in order to address some of the problems,” Schneider said. “I would like us to focus on Multi-Culti as a way to raise our own awareness of problems that are going on and then look towards solutions.”

That is exactly why Schneider thinks MultiFormer Community students celebrate diversity during various multicultural celebrations.

Ranging from 1975–1995, the day often included food, music and discussion.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK

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‘‘

Diversity is something very special. It unifies us and brings us apart. No one is the same, but then again, everybody is, because we are all humans.

Culti is so important. Being a white woman, she comes from a place of privilege, so she feels that there are things in the world she wasn’t aware of before she learning about people from other cultures.

“I have to consciously make an effort to expand my scope of understanding and to learn about how I experience the world in a certain way because of the way I look,” Schneider said. “I can go through life thinking that’s how everyone experiences the world, but if I learn about people from other cultures, people from other races who are perceived differently and treated differently, then I start to understand that my point of view is just one point of view.

I didn’t understand I even had a point of view until I started learning about other people’s points of view and then understanding that there is this difference.”

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Coron also thinks that Multi-Culti should be used as a way to learn about different perspectives. He thinks that sharing meals is vital to understanding other people, and therefore should be a big part of Multi-Culti.

“The best way to learn about someone is to go to their house and have dinner,” Coron said.

“You sit down and you share food, and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, I’ve never made my mac ‘n cheese this way. Why do you make it this way?’

‘Well, because this is the way my family made it and my family is from Canada. This is the way we make our mac ‘n cheese.’ ‘Oh interesting. I wonder why you make it that way.’ ‘Well, because we’re from Canada and we put bacon in everything.’ [Multiculturalism] is a lot about food, because food is a big thing in all our lives.

It’s a common thread. It’s a way for people to connect.”

No matter how differently students and staff at CHS feel about the way Multi-Culti should be done, they seem to agree that at its core, Multi-Culti is a great opportunity to broaden mindsets, to understand other people, and to highlight the ways in which we are all similar and the ways in which we are all different.

“It’s important to celebrate diversity because the more you open your eyes to the possibilities of the world, the more you can truly understanding yourself and how other people are,” Eidelman said. “Diversity is something very special. It unifies us and brings us apart.

No one is the same, but then again, everybody is, because we are all humans, but we all have these different ways of living. [Celebrating diversity] brings us to the realization that everybody doesn’t live the same way and everybody has different circumstances, and it’s good to understand that.”

Multi-Culti Throughout the Years AS 2018–2019 MULTI-CULTI APPROACHES, STUDENTS CENTER IN ITS EVOLUTION THROUGH THE YEARS.

BY GINA LIU

2015 THE ORIGINAL MULTI-CULTI After 2014, there were new rules put in place

by Forum Council presidents Avery Farmer and Erez Dressel: the main point was that forums had to have their ideas approved beforehand. The biggest controversy of the year was one forum’s “Greek” culture, which actually focused more on the “Greek life” culture at colleges. It was abruptly shut down by administration in the middle of the day.

PHOTO COURTESY OF 2015–2016 COMMUNITY YEARBOOK

2016 THE YEAR OF COMFE Following the past year’s controversies, including allegations of cultural appropriation and picking cultures that were not cultures, administration notified forums that they could not do cultures this year, and instead had to bring food from their own cultures or home to share. According to Forum Council, many students felt that there was no agenda, which left students leaving early and wandering around the halls.

PHOTO BY KATE BURNS

2017 MULTI-CULTI... SORT OF The ‘original’ that upperclassmen had grown up with was brought back, advocating for forums to do holidays. However, some problems arose with forums truly researching holidays. “[This forum] didn’t specify which Diwali they were doing,” junior Addarsh Tummula said.

“They kind of generalized. They also had a picture of Ganesh on the board, which doesn’t make sense because he has nothing to do with the festival.”

PHOTO BY CAMMI TIRICO

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THE LEAD ROLE OF A UKRANIAN FILM NOW WALKS THE HALLS OF COMMUNITY.

BY ELENA BERNIER

BY ELENA BERNIER

Anton Greene, a sophomore at Community and Huron High School, did not have a typical fourth grade.

While the other fourth graders of Thurston Elementary School were memorizing their multiplication tables, Greene was running back and forth through the deep Ukrainian snow. He did not have today’s modern parkas to protect him from the bitter wind, nor any of the other comforts that the 21st-century provides in the winter. Instead, he had on threadbare clothes typical of the 1930s, in which the movie that he was starring in was set.

Greene says people to this day still ask him how he got the part of Peter, the protagonist of the award-winning Ukrainian film “The Guide.” It all started with a simple email in the summer sent out to Ukrainian families in Michigan. Director Oles Sanin was looking for a young Ukrainian-American boy of about 15 or 16 years old who could speak both Ukrainian and English. They needed a boy that would fit the part of Peter, the son of an Ukrainian-American engineer who is killed in the turbulent environment of Soviet Ukraine. Orphaned, Peter escapes from the police with a blind folk minstrel, who Peter guides through the turbulent country.

There were over 2,000 auditions, and yet Greene was chosen. He didn’t even fit the age requirement, as he was 9 years old, but he and his parents decided to give it a try and sent in his audition. For a few months they didn’t hear anything back, and the audition gradually sunk to the back of their minds. But then, in the fall, they got a response. They progressed to a Skype interview, where things clearly went well, because in three days’ time Greene was on a plane to Ukraine. As he flew over the Pacific Ocean into the unknown, he remembers being excited.

And in a few weeks time, Greene found himself thigh deep in the Ukrainian snow. Even though this was his 22

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first time ever acting, he didn’t let his nerves get the best of him. “For me, it was pretty easy to act,” Greene said. “I didn’t have very many lines so it wasn’t that hard. He felt like he was pretty similar to Peter. He just acted naturally in front of the camera, not really having to change a thing about himself.

Greene spent the next four months in Ukraine. They filmed all over, from the countryside to Kiev (the capital of Ukraine).

Greene doesn’t remember being homesick or missing his parents. He had his grandma with him the entire time, which was enough of home to keep the loneliness away.

Greene would describe a typical day on set as something like this: “I’d just be in my trailer, on my iPad playing some game, then they’d call me out, tell me what to do, then I’d do it, and then they’d film. It wasn’t really that complicated. They’d also served lunch, breakfast and all the meals. Not anything too crazy.”

Greene notes that Ukraine didn’t have any regulations for how long a child could be on set. So one time he was on set for 16 hours.

The hardest part of his whole ordeal was the scenes in the snow. “That really sucked,” Greene said. “My character was a kid in the 1930s so he didn’t really have that many warm clothes. It was pretty bad, but I got through it.”

The last day of filming was on Greene’s birthday, Dec. 20. That day yielded more than a couple of feet of snow, through which Greene, of course, had to run through. But despite it all, the last day was a sad one for him. “I got really used to the people there, all the staff, and I became really good friends with them,” Greene said.

“It was really sad because I was probably never gonna see them again.”

For Greene, that experience changed his life. “I definitely would be a different person if it wasn’t for [the movie],” Greene said.

Filming the movie was also a great learning experience for Greene; he felt more connected with his heritage than ever before. “It taught me a lot about the history of my country; I didn’t really know it at all until that movie,” Greene said. “It definitely made me realize the pain that [my family] went through because there was a lot of that in Ukraine’s history. And if it wasn’t for [the movie], I wouldn’t have known exactly what it was like, or how bad it was. I’m just really glad I did it and learned all of that.”

Despite it all, Greene was excited to return to his normal life in Ann Arbor. He successfully passed fourth grade, even after taking four months off.

Two years later, in 2014, the movie was released. There were premiers all over Ukraine, building up the film’s popularity as each one commenced. The biggest one was in Kiev, where Greene met the prime minister of Ukraine.

In addition, there were also premiers in

Ukrainian communities in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Toronto and Chicago. The premiers were a bit tedious for Greene. He got interviewed too many times to count. “It got so irritating, I kind of started to hate it,” Greene said. In total Greene went to about 18 premiers, where he had to watch the movie every time.

Soon, “The Guide” gained international recognition. At the Odessa International Film Festival, the actor playing the blind minister, Stanislav Boklan, won the award of best actor. The film also won the Jury Prize for cinematography and was nominated for the Grand Prix — the award for best movie. At the Warsaw International Film Festival, the film was also nominated for best movie as well. In addition, Ukraine submitted it as their entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but unfortunately the film was not nominated.

Greene often gets asked if he’s planning on starring in another movie, and his answer is a simple no. “It was a great learning experience for me, [but] I wouldn’t do it again,” Greene said. “It’s not that it wasn’t fun, because it was really fun. It’s just not my thing.”

Now, Greene’s thing is music. “I really love music, and I grew up in a household where [there was] music constantly,” Greene said.

Both of his parents are music professors, and both play instruments. Green’s instrument of choice is the saxophone, which he plays in the Community High Jazz band.

Looking to the future, Greene hopes to find a career that mixes business and music.

And although he has a lot on his mind now, there’s always a part of him that’s running through the snowy fields of the Ukrainian countryside.

Anton Greene, Community sophomore, starred in the Ukrainian film “The Guide,” which was released in 2014. The film was submitted as Ukraine’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.

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Staff Editorial:

Multi-Culti’s Flawed Past and Changing Future FALL: THE SEASON RIDDLED WITH PUMPKINS, LEAVES AND CULTURAL APPROPRIATION. Every year when Halloween comes around, people spark up the same conversation of cultural appropriation and how offensive it is to people of those cultures. In the fall at Community we have a second opportunity to be offensive and to appropriate a culture: Multi-Culti.

Multi-Culti is a school-wide celebration the day before Thanksgiving break. Each forum selects a culture, holiday or tradition to educate themselves and eventually others about.

The catch? Year after year some forum appropriates or misrepresents a culture.

The Levin forum in 2017 attempted to celebrate Diwali and generalized the North and South of India’s differing traditions. Two years prior, when it was expected to chose a real culture, the McGraw forum celebrated “Movie Night.” These forums are not alone, many forums over the years have done this.

In only a few of these cases, the forum has come forward, recognized their mistake and apologized; but, it is not solely their fault.

In years prior, forums only began to plan and start talking about Multi-Culti a mere week or two prior to the actual event. This did not give nearly enough time for a forum to fully educate themselves on a holiday or tradition, let alone an entire culture. To make up for the lack of time, many forums began to default to a culture that a member of their forum identified themself with, thus singling them out — arguably worse than being unprepared.

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We as a Communicator staff believe singling out a student and/or appropriating a culture is unacceptable and needs to end immediately.

In recent years, Forum Council and Dean Marci Tuzinsky have taken strides to make MultiCulti as respectful and enjoyable as possible.

Students and teachers have gone back and forth about what needs to change and improve with the day; they hope they have come to the perfect middle ground this year.

Forum Council, like in 2017, began preparing and setting the guidelines for forums in late October, hoping to eliminate any lacking preparations. In recent years, they have also narrowed what is being considered an acceptable theme for a forum, from exclusively a culture to now either an aspect of a culture, a holiday/celebration or an object’s history.

In the past, the definition of a culture has left groups feeling belittled, ignored and disrespected. As a staff, we believe that by adding a larger variety to options, it helps the issue but does not solve it entirely.

Despite the changes and attempts, about half of the Communicator staff anticipate this year that Multi-Culti will present at least one appropriated culture. This is concerning. If the students anticipate wrongdoings, than the guidelines are flawed. Going into the day falling before Thanksgiving break, students should not have to worry if a forum is misrepresenting your culture two doors down.

The Communicator staff strongly believes than Multi-Culti has had a flawed past and is now heading in the right direction, but we are nowhere close to where we need to be.

The Confidence Gap ON BOYS, GIRLS AND SPEAKING UP.

BY RUBY TAYLOR

Ironically, it was a male college admissions board member who awakened my feminist conscience. Sitting around a small wooden table in the counseling office with four other girls at a women’s college visit, I asked a question which would drastically change how I looked at my academic and social life: “Why would I want to go to an all girls school?”

He responded with a series of questions: “How often do you raise your hand in class and begin by apologizing? Do you feel uncomfortable contradicting or questioning points made by your peers? When working on group projects with boys or asking them for help are they often condescending? Do you ever feel embarrassed when asking questions in class? Taking all of these questions into account, why wouldn’t you want to go to a women’s college?”

These ideas stuck with me; I had never considered that my gender affected how others perceived my intelligence level, or with my confidence in speaking out and asking questions. After taking into account his response, I began to notice a pattern. My female classmates, myself included, seemed more hesitant to ask questions, and much more apologetic about asking them than our male counterparts.

“Speaking from my own experience, as a girl who has a lot to say, I notice that, for whatever reason, teachers encourage boys to speak out in class much more than they do girls, and that can result in girls being more inclined to watch what they say, and how often they speak,” said Leah Fleming, Community High School senior. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that teachers try to engage boys more… but it often results in outspoken girls feeling penalized and apologetic for sharing their thoughts with the class.”

The phrase “I’m sorry,” prefaces many — of my own, my female peers’ and even role models’ — statements and questions, no matter if we are at fault or not.

Why? I don’t want to come off too strong or seem abrasive, as if I’m trying to outshine others, or like I’m talking too much or too little. I am constantly struggling in both high- and low-stake situations to find a happy medium where I can make a positive impression, without overdoing it; sound smart, but not pretentious; seem kind, but not fake.

Even when I do manage to achieve a goal, I can’t help but feel like an imposter when I get there. Despite my qualifications, I lack confidence in myself to feel like I belong anywhere, especially if I had to work to get there.

“The Atlantic” interviewed a number of successful women and found a great shortage in female confidence. Two experts in the field, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, found a number of possible reasons for the confidence gap between men and women, including the fact that boys are taught at a young age to build a thick skin in a way that girls aren’t. The pressure boys have grown up with to let insults and loses roll off of their backs was established when they were taught to be competitive in sports and to throw friendly insults around.

Men learn these life skills at a young

age, and then carry them into school and eventually the professional world. Women, on the other hand, are taught to pay close attention to everyone else’s feelings, to be kind and good, and are reprimanded for being bossy, pushy or assertive as young girls. As girls go on and follow the rules set out for them, they become less and less comfortable with being in trouble and making mistakes, while boys are brought up to do things that may put them in these situations. “[Men] are thinking less about judging their own performance,” Shipman said.

Men are so used to making mistakes and being made fun of from years of experience that for the most part they are more likely to risk looking foolish.

We can’t change what we were taught as kids, and we can’t change how it has affected us throughout our lives. We can, however, take a step back and realize that these things don’t have to define how we present ourselves. My lack of sureness in myself is not due to incompetence. Despite what I have been taught, my thoughts and opinions have as much value as those of my male counterparts. Being aware of the confidence gap has inspired me to speak out more than ever. I hope that the women whom I once joined in saying sorry will join me in becoming unapologetic and making our voices heard.

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The Importance of Languages

BY MEGHANA TUMMALA

Many students in America don’t value the importance of foreign languages. In fact, according to the Student Language Exchange Community, 92 percent of American undergraduates are not taking a world language course at all. However, English is the most studied language across the world.

According to Ulrich Ammon, a German Linguist and professor at the University of Düsseldorf, there are around 1.5 billion En-

glish learners around the world. Even people right here — at Community — learned English to communicate with others. They assimilated. Shouldn’t we show that we can reciprocate when visiting another country?

Learning another language is beneficial on many levels, but the most critical advantage is that it improves your standing in the global community. Even the slightest of gestures like saying “Hello” or “Thank

you” to someone in their native language can hold great significance.

As for those who don’t recognize the importance of learning a new language, think about all those people who learned a new language to communicate with you. I talked with some of Community’s multilingual student body, and here’s what they have to say about learning another language.

EVE SHIKANOV Languages: Russian and Hebrew How has knowing your languages been beneficial to you?

“So, this past summer I went to Blue Lake and we do get international students, but typically those international students will speak English, or speak enough English to get by. There was a girl from Russia in my cabin, and she barely spoke any English, like maybe four words. It was by complete chance that we ended up being in the same cabin and I spoke fluently. She really opened up, and she was able to come out of her shell, and actually hang out with us and not just sit isolated on her bunk. Just the fact that this just happened, the fact that both of us spoke Russian and we ended up in the same cabin was a miracle in the fact that I actually have a new friend now.”

MIGUEL CLEMENT Languages: Spanish, French and German How has knowing your languages been beneficial to you?

“I have a lot of friends in all of Latin America, Spain and Europe just in general. Just because people come here or I’ve gone there and we can speak, so I have friends everywhere. I’m just more connected with people around the world.”

AMY RODRIGUEZ Languages: Spanish How has knowing Spanish been beneficial to you?

“Well, I know people always tell me it’s good for jobs. So I feel like I’ll get the advantage when it comes to the workforce, because they’re always looking for people that can speak two languages.”

What tips do you have for those learning another language?

“I think you learn best when you’re under pressure. So, maybe just get lost in the country.”

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EMILIO URIBE-BOTERO Languages: Spanish How has knowing Spanish been beneficial to you?

“Culturally, there’s a whole other culture behind the country that I’m from. I really enjoy that part of my life, because I get along with other people, speak my language and we get together and that’s really fun.”

JULIE PARK Languages: Japanese Do you think learning another language is beneficial?

If so how and why?

“I think it is beneficial because I can travel and be able to communicate with new people and learn new cultures.”

What tips do you have for those learning a new language?

“I feel like it’s important to learn the cultural aspect of the language and not just the language itself.”

ADARSH TUMMALA Languages: Telugu How has knowing your language been beneficial to you?

“I can speak with my own family, like my grandparents. My grandparents, other family members, other relatives, they don’t know English, most of them live in India, so knowing my language, I can communicate with them clearly.”

FRANCISCO FIORI Languages: Spanish Do you think learning another language is beneficial? If so how and why?

“I’m gonna give a very cheesy answer. Nothing means the same thing to someone unless you speak it in their language. And I think there are so many people in this world, and we all speak so many different languages, and there’s just something very personal and something that you can never replace. Like to talk to someone in another language that they are more familiar with. There’s no other way to do it.

So I think, if you are a person who wants to get to know people and get to know all of us as a whole, then I think learning another language is beneficial in that way.”

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Are You There Margaret?

It’s Me, God.

AMERICAN MILLENNIALS ARE CONSIDERABLY LESS RELIGIOUS THAN GENERATIONS BEFORE THEM. WHAT ARE THEY GAINING, AND WHAT HAVE THEY LOST?

BY ZOE LUBETKIN

Sitting down to write this, I felt good. Confident.

The story I wanted to tell was clear in my head: do not force your religion on your child. After 17 years of forced Christianity and church attendance, I’m qualified to talk about religion in the context of my entirely negative experience. Right?

Probably. But that’s not what I wrote.

Each Sunday like clockwork, my family goes to church. One hour every week for 17 years is 884 hours of Christianity under my belt, which has led me to the conclusion that this religion is not for me.

I was fully prepared to talk about my negative experiences; religion that you encounter only through the

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efforts of someone else is not religion worth partaking in, and in this case made me despise it completely. Back and forth rumination over days and days of thinking about my experience lead me to realize that my experiences weren’t entirely negative – not at all.

I do not consider myself Christian. I have known the religion isn’t for me for years, but that is not to say nothing came of these hours spent in a pew: they have taught me something crucial that is often ignored in this discussion when we paint religion with a broad brush. The ways I benefited from my experience with Christianity – which at first seemed to be nonexistent – became increasingly evident.

ABOVE: My father in a church in Stockholm, Sweden built in the 1600s.

Travel is an exception, but when we are back home, every Sunday like clockwork we go to church.

RIGHT: My sister looking in the same church.

When I took health last semester, spiritual wellness is not what first came to my mind when we discussed wellness, but it is an often overlooked aspect of having a healthy body and mind. It refers to having a strong sense of meaning or purpose, as well as concepts like compassion and capacity for love and forgiveness.

According to Pew Research Center, 25 percent American millennials are unaffiliated with a particular religion. This is up considerably from previous generations — 20 percent of Generation X were unaffiliated, and only 13 percent of Baby Boomers.

Religion doesn’t equal spiritual health, but there are many overlaps. Necessary concepts for spiritual wellness are often common religious themes. So when we take religion out of our spiritual diet, we become nutrient deficient — in ways less visible to the eye, but still key to our development and health.

Religion isn’t the only way to get your protein; God or bust isn’t the subject of today’s sermon. It’s when you don’t realize that you aren’t getting your protein in the first place that problems can arise.

According to the University of California, Riverside Wellness Program, “If you are a person engaged in the process of spiritual wellness, you are willing and able to transcend yourself in order to question the meaning and purpose in your life and the lives of others. In addition, you seek to find harmony between that which lies within and the social and physical forces that come from outside.”

Sound like anything familiar?

Despite the similarities, spiritual wellness is not synonymous with religion; I found that when we covered wellness and health this area needed the most improvement in spite of my regular attendance at my parents’ church. I was not alone; in the class, when we separated into groups based on which wellness area needed improvement, by far the biggest circle was spiritual wellness.

After I identified the problem, my diagnosis of my

need for spiritual wellness looked a little like this: I should be more compassionate (love my neighbor as myself, maybe). My capacity for forgiveness?

Definitely lacking. I felt myself missing a sense of purpose: as I grow up I feel increasingly unmoored, and I don’t have strict scruples or a higher power to pull me back.

I could address this in many ways, but more often than not I find myself wishing for something that looks suspiciously like religion. Since starting to write this, I haven’t been to church in probably two months, and that makes me feel strange. Sometimes I might even miss it.

I don’t know what this means for me. But I want to find out.

I tend to hear a common critical narrative of religion: the wars started and horrible events rationalized because of it. There is undeniable truth in that, and I have repeated this narrative many times, but no matter what I argue it holds no weight if I do not acknowledge the other side. Ignoring all but that which furthers my argument gets me nowhere in the end. I do not consider myself a Christian, but through years and years of Christianity I have learned lessons about guiding principles like compassion and sacrifice that make me realize that those years weren’t a waste. Not by a long shot.

Maybe I should go back to religion with an open mind, be ready to learn. Apparently God so loved the world that he gave his only son. The least I can give is my time.

And here we have it: millennials are less religious than past generations. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the value of a spiritual foundation that religion can provide should not be overlooked.

Whether developed through religion or in other ways, that foundation is a crucial addition to life.

Don’t just take my word for it: you’ll see it when you believe it.

“Religion isn’t the only way to get your protein; God or bust isn’t the subject of today’s sermon. It’s when you don’t realize that you aren’t getting your protein in the first place that problems can arise.”

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Resenting My Reflection EVERY TIME YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR ARE YOU HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU SEE?

BY CAMILLE KONRAD

Surrounded by mirrors. I am always surrounded by mirrors. These mirrors are often filled with young girls. These girls are often wearing tight shiny leotards and little spandex shorts. I have grown up believing that I am too fat, too tall, not pretty, simply just not enough.

When I was younger, I decided to try dance. My mom signed me up three or four weeks late, so I was already anticipating the nerves of that first day. Unsurprisingly, I finished my class and immediately felt embarrassed and started dreading the next one.

However, the more I went, the more I began to enjoy it. Although I’ve gotten used to the embarrassment of messing up or asking to repeat a step, one thing has never changed: the way I feel when I look in the mirror.

Most days at dance I spend hours and hours staring at myself in a room filled with my reflection. The hardest part is that I’m not alone in this reflection; I’m joined by many other girls. I try as hard as I can to always focus on myself and what I need to correct as I dance across the floor, but my eye slips and I am left looking at dancers with better bodies, prettier faces, skinnier legs or tanner arms. I cannot escape the feeling of being an outsider.

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While dancing, it is easy to forget about the insecurities that constantly consume me. But the moment the music turns off and I look around, I am forced looking at the people next to me. I know the “grass is always greener,” and someone longs for what I have, but no one wants to feel this far from normal.

I think everyone feels self-conscious at one point or another, and I think that it’s normal to feel that way. But the moment it begins to be a paralyzing feeling is scary and suddenly creates an active belief that indeed, I am on the outside.

Although I am the only person who thinks I’m truly on the outside, being an “outsider” is a very unique and different feeling to live with. I am certain that I am not the only one who feels like this, but it’s moments where I am so hard on myself that I feel so alone and that there is absolutely no one to help me.

Beautiful but betrayed by myself, everyday life seems very routine to many, and usually it is. The days when I am battling to keep my head up are the days that affect me most. It seems extra hard to get out of bed that day, and I always seem to be running late. I attempt to pay attention, but I am too focused on how horrible I look that day, |

Opinion

or how my voice squeaks, or even how unorganized my handwriting is. In my mind everything revolves around me. And yes that may sound selfish and egotistical, and it’s not something I wish for or something I believe, but I never stop thinking about how much better I could be.

As I struggle to see the beauty that I possess, I am often reminded by my friends and family that I am often wrong and in fact, in their eyes I am beautiful in one way or another.

Growing up, it was hard to stray far from social media, and society has only put more and more pressure on young girls. These girls (including me) grow up and have expectations of being a size zero or have thigh gaps for all of high school. This creates unhealthy mentalities for young women and girls to live with. When society is so harsh on our generation it leaves many girls feeling exactly how I do: an outsider.

As time has passed, I have learned that I’m enough just the way I am but something will always stop me from loving myself. I think I will always feel like an outsider, and to others it may seem like I’m not. At the end of the day, that thing that is stopping me from feeling beautiful is myself.

Stop and Smell the Roses IT’S IMPORTANT TO TAKE SOME TIME FOR YOURSELF.

BY MAZEY PERRY

Days pass by. They turn into weeks. And then turn into months. I work through math problems and read about atoms at the molecular level for what seems like hours. But when was the last time I didn’t rush my shower, or have time to paint my nails? At first it seems like days, but so quickly it turns into longer stretches of time.

College is the end goal for many high school students, and the path to get there gets steeper as the years go by. I reach junior year and all that seems to matter is how you do on two tests. I spend more time trying to figure out if an answer is A, B, C or D than on myself, but I am starting to realize that I just need to slow down.

It’s not just school that consumes my time, it’s all the extracurriculars I try to cram into my schedule so I can to make sure I will have a full transcript when I apply to college at the end of the year. I can’t remember the last time I hung out with a friend and we didn’t talk about how much homework we had.

When I entered my junior year everything became much important than it was the year before. Every assignment has a little more weight attached to it. Every test dictates my ending GPA. I attached the weight to all of those things, and put the pressure on myself but I can’t help it.

Being busy is great to an extent, but I started to realize that my mental health was slipping as I spent less and less time thinking about what I needed to make myself happy.

Having time to go on a walk or be in nature fall away deeper into the school year I go. Breathing in fresh air for more than 10 minutes is not something I have done in a month.

I am now realizing how important it is to “stop and smell the roses.” Being with myself and clearing my mind of all the work I have to do is becoming more therapeutic than ever. I have started to put down my pencil and paint my nails if I want to. It’s the little things that end up making a big difference in my mood. Just simply sitting on my front porch clears my head for a little while.

I’m not saying that school and homework aren’t important; I’m just saying that being mindful of what you and your body needs to be healthy should not be sacrificed to cram for a test.

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An Artist’s Impact

DEFINING MY ROLE AND DISCOVERING MY VOICE AS AN ARTIST THROUGH AN UNLIKELY SOURCE: DEMENTIA PATIENTS.

BY TAI TWOREK

We had sat in the hot, tightly-packed yellow school bus many times over those three weeks, but the first bus ride to the dementia center was different. Usually, the bus was filled with loud chatter and laughter, but that time a low, anxious murmur hung in the air like a thick cloud.

This summer, I was a part of the new program at Interlochen Arts Camp called Citizen Artistry, where we made art for and with the communities of Frankfort and Traverse City. Each day, we traveled out to the Great Lakes Children’s Museum in Traverse City, the Warehouse District in downtown Traverse City, or the Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital in Frankfort.

The Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital was the most memorable place we worked. We had the opportunity to make art with dementia patients, and it was the first time we were making art directly with people.

After stepping off the bus, we were led through the hospital to the living center. It was a cozy hideaway inside the sterile hospital. Large windows lined the walls of the television room, and patients sat in front of the screen. Their eyes were glued to the old black and white movies from their past.

Dementia is an umbrella term for symp32

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toms of memory loss. Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia are the two most common types. People who suffer from dementia progress to different stages, all varying in severity. Eventually, dementia can cause the deterioration of speech and judgement skills, as well as memory.

When we met with the activities director of the dementia center in the hospital, she told us that art, music and dance improve the quality of life for people who suffer from dementia. People who have dementia may not always recognize their own family members, however, they still recognize the love between them and their family.

The space the center gave us to work in was the activity room. It was a large room filled with foldable tables, and the five wheelchair bound patients we worked with were seated around two tables. We set out an arrangement of watercolor paints, polymer clay and thick stacks of paper. Our assignment was to make art with the patients and to have them take the lead. We were told to talk to them about what they could remember from their past. It was a tricky assignment: I had never made art with someone who was not an artist before.

The first day, I worked with a woman |

Opinion

named Tina. She was outgoing, and she expressed herself through her brightly colored outfits. She carried a plush llama stuffed animal with her, and she propped it up so it could watch us make art.

Tina was different from the other patients that I got to work with. She loved to talk, but her dementia advanced far enough that her speech was incoherent. As I sat next to her and tried to get her to paint with me, she was insistent on watching me first. I handed her the paintbrush after creating a few thick, colorful lines. Her frail, veiny hand trembled as she made brush strokes.

She gave up, sat the paintbrush down and returned to talking.

Every so often, when something I said in conversation or something that I painted sparked her interest, the first couple words of her long tangent were understandable.

Her eyes would light up with life, and she would flash her crooked teeth as she smiled at me. I could not help but smile back.

The activity room seemed to warp time.

We stayed for three hours, but it felt like we had been visiting with the patients for only a half hour. Towards the end of our first visit, Tina grabbed my hand. Her warm, delicate hand cradled mine, and she rubbed

LEFT: One of the patients of the Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital draws a tree with charcoal during our last visit.

RIGHT: Tina painting circles on multiple pieces of paper with watercolor paints during our first visit.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE PEETS

“She was talking on and on, and even though I could not understand what she was saying, I knew that she was trying to teach me something. The way that her mouth curled up into a smile as she talked resembled the excitement of teachers I have had in the past.”

her fingers against my skin in a comforting way. She was talking on and on, and even though I could not understand what she was saying, I knew that she was trying to teach me something. The way that her mouth curled up into a smile as she talked resembled the excitement of teachers I have had in the past.

Saying goodbye to the patients each day was bittersweet. We were sad to go back to camp, but we knew we had made a difference for them. Many of them do not often receive visitors, and seeing our young, fresh faces was new to them. At the end of our last visit, we had formed strong bonds with the patients. All eight of us found ourselves leaving the hospital teary-eyed, and we all sobbed on the bus together.

It was strange to see our art directly impacting the patients. Before I joined Citizen Artistry, my art had been strictly confined to the walls of my bedroom. The farthest I would branch out with my art was to work on it in a studio. All of the art teachers I have had in the past have told me that as an artist, my work has so much impact on me, and my community. I always brushed this off, and figured that they meant professional artists. I did not realize that even as a

teenager, what I do can have a large effect on different people.

Each of the patients of the Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital were at different stages of dementia. Some did not speak at all, while others seemed perfectly functioning. However, my peers and I used different strategies to connect with each of them.

Some of us communicated strictly through line, color, form, or shape.

That hot week in early July that I spent at the dementia center, taught me a valuable life lesson. Not only did I learn that my art actually has an impact on other people, but also that art is a universal language. Tina loved to talk, but few people could comprehend what she was saying. When we drew or painted something in front of her that sparked her interest, she became more comprehensible for a few seconds. Although she was insistent on watching me make art instead of making it herself, it still felt like a victory. She was surrounded by art, and I could see how every so often it would change the direction of her conversation, or spark a new interest.

The same happened with other patients I was working with. Margot — a woman from Germany who’s dementia was not as

severe as other patients’ — remembered quite a bit on her own. When she described what her childhood house looked like, she remembered more as she saw me drawing it in front of her. When I drew things that she was interested in, like a piano, her glossy eyes perked up with excitement.

I have been able to communicate through art with people who speak different languages as well. Since Interlochen is a world-renowned camp, I have had many peers from different countries. Often times we do not all speak the same language, but when I circle the room to look at everyone’s pieces, they’re all easily identifiable. A line is still a line no matter where you are in the world.

I will use the lessons I learned this summer from here on out in my life. I now know that I can use art to convey a message I cannot always describe in words, or as a message I want the whole world to know. I can also use art to communicate with different people, and enrich my life, as well as those around me.

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Stop Science-Splaining FACTS AND FIGURES TEND TO FAIL IN THE FACE OF GRIEVING PARENTS AND POLITICAL RHETORIC.

BY NINA VAN DER VELDE

The look on Bill Nye’s face as conservative commentator Tucker Carlson interrupted him for the umpteenth time to question his basic knowledge of climate science was both painful and all too familiar. In a 10-minute segment on his show, Carlson repeatedly laughs in Nye’s face and denounces his credibility, leaving the scientist looking like a joke to the audience of climate deniers Carlson is pandering to.

For decades, scientists have tried to convince politicians and the public that our planet is in danger. At first, it seemed to be working, as politicians came together across the aisle to declare the importance of the issue and work against it. However, rising party tensions and special interest groups shifted climate change from a human issue to a partisan one. Views polarized as Democrats placed more emphasis on the issue and Republicans more skepticism. None of the science has changed — in fact, greater evidence was produced for the case of man-made climate change while this shift was taking place — yet most conservatives remained steadfast in their denial of its existence or importance.

The obvious explanation for a lack of belief in climate change is scientific illiteracy. In other words, if you do not understand the science, you will not trust it. Therefore, it seems natural that presenting climate skeptics with facts and data would change their minds. Strangely, it doesn’t.

Many people are willing to overlook objective fact because it doesn’t fit within their established worldview.

The resulting discomfort is called cognitive dissonance, and one way to resolve it is ignoring the evidence altogether. This plays out in the climate change model and can backfire by further cementing people into their views, rather than changing them.

Another example of how cognitive dissonance works is through the vaccine-autism debate, which is centered around a single research paper published in 1998 claiming to provide evidence that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism. This shocking find was widely spread by the media, who were quick to jump aboard such a sensational story. However, when the study was debunked, repeatedly, there was no similar response. The fact that this debate still exists today shows how ineffective plain data is in reforming people’s opinions. The fear of autism in their children has parents opting not to vaccinate their kids, despite mountains of evidence that so greatly overwhelms the flawed foundation for the original argument.

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doesn’t work. So why do scientists keep trying to do it?

The scientific instinct is to fight illogic with clear, direct reasoning, the same way scientists approach any problem. That is why debates on subjects like climate change often end up heated on the denial side while the scientist or believer is calm and collected on the other.

However, this clear rationale can be perceived as robotic and unemotional. Rather than explaining the science of climate change, scientists’ time would be more efficiently spent explaining its effects. For people whose mindsets are resistant to the evidence, emotional appeals describing environmental refugees or the loss of jobs may be more effective.

Anti-vaxxers have proved this themselves when confronted with scientific data. Many are concerned parents who believe a vaccine caused their child’s injury or death, and consider this story to be scientific evidence in and of itself. This shows how convincing emotional anecdotes or descriptions can be in the mind of someone who resists evidence to the contrary.

There is also a dire need for science communicators, particularly on a local level. These people educate the public and work against misinformation, making science more accessible and easier to grasp. For one thing, statements that can mean so much to scientists do not necessarily translate well for others. The language of science always accounts for the possibility of being wrong with phrases like “no evidence contradicts” and “what we know right now” due to the understanding that scientific knowledge is constantly expanding. The problem is that these phrases may sound rather open and inconclusive, but in the scientific world, they express what most would consider as fact. Science communicators can help bridge this gap and put scientific ideas in context for the public.

This goes hand in hand with a widespread view of scientific authority as being patronizing and elite, which leads to dislike and distrust from many citizens. Science communicators within communities can counteract this image. Hearing about climate change or vaccinations from a local high schooler may make a skeptic think more than hearing a prominent politician or even Bill Nye. In a time when alternative facts are prevalent, the value of truth has somehow become negotiable. At the same time, there is so much politicization of scientific issues that clearly something has to change in the way that science is conveyed to the public. One thing is clear: the facts are not enough. If science is ever going to have the influence it deserves in the choices made by this country and its citizens, it will not get there through science-splaining.

Meet Me in the Lobby THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF GETTING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

BY SOPHIA BERRY

Over the winter break of 2017, a group of friends from my congregation and I took a trip to Washington D.C. to lobby for Congress. Our group couldn’t go in alone: we teamed up with the lobbying group Reform Action Center (RAC).

Prior to this trip, I assumed lobbyists were just corporations appearing as constituents to make their positions seem more likable when acting as concerned voters. Through this trip, I started to understand that many lobbying groups are full of constituents looking to better their lives through face-toface discussions with their representatives.

I spent some time talking to the friends I did this program with to get a wide range of perspectives and experiences from the trip. Some had overall positive experiences, while others didn’t enjoy it as much as their counterparts.

As part of the program, we got to decide what issues we could lobby on. Some chose women’s reproductive rights, others worked on environmental issues, and some focused on immigration law. This trip didn’t just give teenagers free range to preach social ideologies to their representatives, but to speak on behalf of an organization that has a reputation to uphold. This was something the organization told us would be helpful in our future careers.

It was empowering to get to write on topics I was personally invested in. An issue arose when the organization I was lobbying on behalf of didn’t precisely align with my view. A member of our group, Zachary

Weissman, expressed his concern on this aspect of this program.

“It was totally useless waste of time that taught me nothing about politics and our government and generally made me feel bad about differing ideologies and having to pretend my views were different to maintain their status,” Weissman said.

Having to alter my views and speak on behalf of the RAC put a damper on my legislative spirit. This may not be an issue to those who find a lobbying organization they align well with, but in my case, I didn’t get a choice. Yakirah Mitchel, another trip member, enjoyed the program. Mitchel took great pride in getting to read her letter aloud to her representative. “It felt great to get my voice heard even if our reps already agreed with our proposals.” Mitchell said.

This element of the program is what kept Mitchell invested in the lobbying process.

At points I felt as if I was being used as a protective shell to this group — where a company uses young constituents to look like an organization of real people, not just corporate business leaders — but the people working with us understood that feeling and gave informative advice about understanding your place and your amount of control in your government.

Rachel Rothenberg, who also attended the program, felt this helped her confidence and enjoyment in the trip.

“I felt like I was making a difference because I was speaking directly to the people that represent me,” Rothenberg

said. This was a fairly common reaction from the program. We didn’t get to speak directly to our congressmen and women, but more often than not we spoke to their chief of staff who could pass our letters directly to our representatives. Young constituents understanding that their voice matters not only in government but in other aspects of life instills a sense of self worth in a generation that currently feels helpless in wild world around them.

The downsides of this trip didn’t kill my passion for politics, but they made me more critical of its systems and more invested in correcting its flaws. I think that should be a lesson for many things in life. Instead of denouncing an interest you find flaws in, take it upon yourself to improve it. Many participants felt empowered through this experience and are getting active in local government through working election booths for midterms. Even Weissman, who overall wasn’t thrilled with the program, found an upside from the experience.

“I figured out it would be far more productive to get involved in local government and to contact our representatives at their local offices,” Weissman said. Being critical to large establishments like lobbying is necessary to keep it from having too much power, but while being critical we represented the need to step in and fix areas we see flaws in, rather than denouncing the system as a whole.

Which Industries Spend the Most on Lobbying?

OVER THE PAST 50 YEARS

Pharmaceuticals & Health Products

Insurance

Electric Utilities

$2,217,425,929

$2,230,043,875

$2,353,570,360

$2,704,636,807

$3,937,356,877

Source: Center for Responsive Politics (opensecrets.org)

Electronics

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The World in Lines

EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS IN CARTOON.

BY CY VEILLEUX

“Shoot! I forgot to change the clocks.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren released DNA tests to prove her Native American heritage. Which is only between 1.5 and 0.09 percent.

President Trump sat down with rapper Kanye West to discuss prison reform and gun violence in Chicago. At the same time, Trump’s wife Melania has been getting grilled for her outfit choices.

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Books That Change Lives

Dread Nation AUTHOR Justina Ireland MAIN CHARACTER Jane McKeene REVIEW BY Charles Solomon

Seeing the words “zombies” and “Civil War” in the summary on the back, I guessed “Dread Nation” by Justina Ireland would be some sort of historical twist on a zombie thriller. But this novel turned out to be so much more than a simple zombie thriller: Instead, it was a deep and vibrant story that discussed historical racial prejudices that are still relevant today.

“Dread Nation” chronicles the adventures of Jane McKeene, a student at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore. There, she learns to fight the zombies — or “shamblers” — that rose up from the earth after the Battle of Gettysburg during the recent Civil War.

This gives her a chance at a better future, but she really has no choice. The law requires African Americans, like McKeene, to attend these schools.

Quickly, however, the comfortable rhythm of Jane’s school routine is shattered. After she, fellow student Katherine Deveraux and ex-boyfriend Jackson Keats are all arrested for investigating a local family’s disappearance, the mayor puts them on a train to a frontier town he calls “the future.” Its name? Summerland.

Upon arrival, however, the trio finds the town is only idyllic for a few — the rich white families. For the African Americans, forced daily to keep the town safe with inadequate weapons and fed inadequate amounts of food, Summerland is no paradise. And as Jane, Kate and Jackson delve deeper beneath the town’s veneer of civility, they find out the truth: Summerland is on the edge of destruction, and the country is slowly being overrun by the dead. But what can they do to stop the coming onslaught? Who would listen to them if they tried? And above all, who can they trust to help?

I’m not a huge fan of thrillers, and I’m definitely not a zombie lover, but I liked the historical aspect of this story. I also thought one of the main foci of the book — the racism towards African Americans during that post-Civil War era — was very well-written and represented.

That being said, I did have a few issues with this novel. My main one was really development of the setting and background. It might have been nice to learn a little more about where the zombie plague originated and how it began.

Also, I feel somewhat slighted when it comes to one or two of the characters: One, a Native American mercenary named Daniel Redfern is someone who speaks with, fights with, and helps the characters, but after a certain point he simply disappears and we never really hear of him again.

“Dread Nation” should appeal to a variety of readers. Historical fiction fans should enjoy the historical setting and the references to major events in this nation’s history. Fantasy fans should enjoy the well-imagined fictional world, especially anyone who enjoys novels containing zombies or apocalyptic themes. Even if you don’t think you enjoy those genres, you should try this book. A New York Times Bestseller, “Dread Nation” is an interesting and thoughtful read.

WHAT TO READ NEXT For more books featuring similar themes and ideas, look at these titles. If you enjoyed “Dread Nation,” you might enjoy these books too !

FLYGIRL SHERRI L. SMITH Based on historical events, this novel is the story of an African-American pilot who wants to fly.

FRONT LINES MICHAEL GRANT Another alternate history, this novel portrays a WWII where both women and men can fight.

ROT AND RUIN JONATHAN MABERRY A tale of life and survival in a post-zombie apocalypse society.

LEVIATHAN SCOTT WESTERFELD A fantastical twist on WWI, with bioengineering Allies versus steampunk Central Powers.

CHAINS LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON 13-year-old slave Isabel struggles to survive in a racist Revolutionary War America.

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Chicago Thirty students from The Communicator staff went to Chicago for the National Scholastic Press Association conference from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. Pete Souza, President Obama’s chief photographer, kicked off the event. To bring the trip to a close, The Communicator received first place award in Best of Show for both the magazine and website.

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1. Loey Jones-Perpich, Ruby Taylor and Cammi Tirico jump in front of the Bean as they take a selfie.

2. On their final night in Chicago, The Communicator staff eats dinner at Broken English Taco Pub. 3. To satisfy their sweet teeth, The Communicator visits Jeni’s Ice Cream, tasting a variety of unique flavors.

4. After winning first place in Best of Show for both print and web, The Communicator celebrates with Chicago deep-dish pizza.

5. Instead of trick-or-treating on Halloween night, The Communicator goes to watch the musical, “Hamilton.”

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BY EBBA GURNEY

F A LL F A S H I O N

Bernie Barasa’s wardrobe directly reflects how she embraces of her favorite season: fall. “I take photoshoots with my friends, I get hot coffees and go to cafes to study and journal,” Barasa said. As her lifestyle changes, her clothes change with it.

Banana Republic: $41 “I LOVE this sweater. It’s actually my friend’s but I don’t plan on giving it back...”

Abercombie: $39 “I wear these jeans like every day, and they’re super comfy! They’ve definitely been easy to wear with sweaters and stuff as it gets cold.”

Blundstones:$190 “These Australian boots have become quite trendy. The company prides itself on comfort and long-lasting durability. Being stylish and easy to slip on, they are perfect for fall!”

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out Loud Yesterday - Noname In my opinion, Noname may be one of today’s most underappreciated artists. A multi-talented artist, Noname showcases her creative, meaningful lyrics, and her soft, yet powerful voice on her 2016 album, “Telefone.” The song that best displays her talents is the opening song, “Yesterday.” It starts out soft, and crescendos into a steady drum beat that pulsates in the background, paired with muffled piano chords and glissandos to announce Noname’s rapping. As a Chicago native, Noname was first a poet, and clearly uses the skills she developed as a writer when she raps.

In “Yesterday”, she reflects on what it is like to grow up as African American, and how money and fame will not make her forget where she is from. This is a common theme among many of the songs on her only released album. The first verse in “Yesterday” is the perfect way to introduce her album: And I know The money don’t really make me whole The magazine cover’s drenched in gold The dreams of granny in mansion and happy The little things that need to save my soul After the first rap verse, the song subtly transitions into the chorus, where Noname’s soft, familiar vocals are layered by the soulful and echoey voices of her background singers.

“Yesterday” is one of the more mellow tracks on “Telefone”, along with “Freedom Interlude”, “Casket Pretty” and “Bye Bye Baby.” The mood of the track “Yesterday” has a relaxing vibe, one similar to a much needed rainy day after a long dry spell. The hushed vocals throughout the song are accented by the instruments, but are not drowned out in the background.

To close the song, each instrument starts to disappear one by one, until you are left with hearing nothing else but the raw vocals of Noname’s background singers. The sweet, five note hum effortlessly transitions into the next song on the album, “Sunny Duet.”

“Telefone” will always be one of my favorite albums, and I will pair it with some of my favorite memories. I hope that when you listen to “Yesterday”, or any other songs on the album, you’ll like it as much as I do.

Tai Tworek

Nosetalgia - Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar Five years later, Pusha T’s debut album “My Name is My Name” is still as gritty and raw as it was on the day of its release. Although it wasn’t Pusha T’s first full length project, “My Name is My Name” showed a more refined and sleek sound which contrasted starkly with his boom-bap beginnings as a member of Clipse, the rap duo comprised of him and his brother. An exemplary intersection between Pusha T’s rugged mixtape past and his polished EP future is “Nosetalgia.”

A 2013 “Good Kid M.A.A.D City” Kendrick Lamar, teams up with a “Cruel Summer” Pusha T to deliver hard-hitting, nononsense verses; Pusha T delivers an uber-confident soliloquy while Kendrick spits a more reminiscent narrative. Both verses touch on their adolescence and their personal experience with the drug epidemic. Pusha T represents a tenacious opportunist who used the era’s shortcomings to his advantage while Kendrick voices a victim, whose community is entangled in a phenomenon beyond its control. The verses are full of allusion and imagery, not to mention seemingly endless jargon. Overall, the lyrics are entertaining and engaging enough for any listener.

The production on this track is where it deviates from many of the pop-influenced tracks such as “Let Me Love You,” and “No Regrets.” The beat is simple and repetitive; there’s no heavy bass or incessant hi-hats, just a captivating guitar riff and muffled drums.

The beat is gloomy and foreboding: its monotony and leaden pace shifts the spotlight from the production to the lyrics, a persistent style in Pusha T’s earlier work.

Overall, “Nosetalgia” is a laid-back track which gives listeners a lot to digest without being overly sentimental or “deep.” With graphic bars, quotable one-liners, and great chemistry, Pusha T and Kendrick shine.

Jordan De Padova

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For Your Precious Love - Otis Redding

Window - Noname

I would like to start by saying that this is inevitably going to be a plug for the film “Mr. Nobody,” but even more unavoidable than that is the plug for love — not cuffing season or the heart on Snapchat but the type that Otis Redding sings about in “For Your Precious Love” — which I think you’ll understand once you listen: the way he sings about that emotion is really something else.

For Your Precious Love is a December song, in the winter before it gets too slushy and gray. I saw “Mr. Nobody” in December, where For Your Precious Love plays during a very beautiful scene that goes on a touch too long. The scene is about a third of the way through the movie, so if you don’t feel like sitting all the through a vaguely existential movie that doesn’t quite make sense, you can still catch a little bit of Otis Redding-style intense affection before the screen goes black.

This can also be an August song, in the summer after the heat of the day breaks. Unfortunately most people don’t stand outside of houses with boomboxes anymore, but honestly I think this song would be worth the two minutes and fifty six seconds of bicep pain for the reaction you would get after the final note. If that’s not your style — or you’ve been skipping lifting in favor of leg day, which happens to the best of us — maybe play this when you’re on aux driving your more-than-friend home at night.

Look, we get it. This sappy stuff isn’t really your thing. But try it at least once, because something might just happen. I almost guarantee it, and so does Otis Redding.

See you after the big crunch.

It’s only been a few days since Noname came out with her new album “Room 25,” which means I still haven’t had nearly enough time to absorb everything new that she has to say on the record.

Still, “Window,” the fourth song on the album, felt familiar, striking me as quintessentially Noname: vulnerable and introspective.

The orchestral instrumentals set a dreamy tone to the song, almost like the intro to a Disney movie, yet her lyrics are far from idealistic: Rather than the fairytale romance usually associated with such films, she tells the story of a one sided, unsuccessful romance: “I knew you never loved me but I f*cked you anyway/ I guess a b*tch like to gamble, I guess a b*tch like to lonely.”

It seems that Noname — no matter how beautiful and talented she may be — is not enough for this man, yet she holds on to him.

Using the metaphor of the window, the song encourages listeners to look inside themselves rather than trying to change someone; “Quit looking out the window, go find yourself,” sings Phoelix during the hook. There is almost a sense that he is giving Noname advice which she is ignoring by continuing to wonder whether this man still thinks about her, whether he misses her.

This sort of vulnerability is why people love Noname so much.

While there is surely room for both in the industry, she strays away from the bragging and self-confidence displayed by more mainstream female rappers and of this fact, she is completely aware. On “Samaritan,” she addresses her critics: “You a female rapper. Don’t rap about that sh*t/You ‘sposed to be a bad b*tch or at least a little confident.” Instead, Noname creates stories that are relatable and often melancholy. “Window,” along with the majority of Noname’s work, challenges those who believe that rappers can’t be soft or show weakness.

This September, I encourage you to embrace that vulnerability and give this song (and the rest of Noname’s work) a listen. Don’t be discouraged if one listen leaves you unimpressed; these songs aren’t very catchy. I have found that most of her songs take time for me to appreciate her lyricism.

Thank you, and if you like this song, you’re welcome.

Zoe Lubetkin

Ella Edelstein

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Fashion is a part of who we are. From the sneakers on our feet to the necklaces around our necks, our style speaks — sometimes without us even knowing it. Style is communication without words; it is a way to express our individual backgrounds, feelings and experiences. And although it is silent, it can speak louder than words.

BY ETHAN GIBB-RANDELL, MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO AND ZOE LUBETKIN

“I’m wearing a faux-leather jacket that I got from my stepdad two Christmases ago, [and the] scarf is H&M. It’s a women’s scarf,[and] I realized that there’s difference between women’s and men’s scarves at the checkout at H&M. Apparently the women’s scarves are wider, and I was like ‘yeah, a wider scarf would be nice to cover up my neck,’ so I bought a women’s scarf.

[I’m wearing] black jeans and black chelsea boots. I like chelsea boots because they look sophisticated. I have a set in my wardrobe that’s more like streetwear, casual and then I have pieces that I wear when I want to feel more sophisticated or be more tailored. Chelsea boots are definitely a part of that, although I like to mix and match the streetwear side and the more like classic menswear stuff.

I think, at the very base, I just like feeling comfortable about myself.

It’s kind of like the ‘dressing for the job’ kind of mentality. I feel like if I can put together a good outfit, it helps me get in that mindset almost, like a productive mindset. If I don’t have a good outfit on, it’s just in the back of my mind bothering me. It is a little superficial but oh-well.

To me [fashion] is an art form. It’s maybe not the same type of thing as painting, but it is a form of self-expression.”

- Sacha Verlon

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“This shirt, I got it from Salvation Army for three dollars. I kind of like it for both ironic and like legitimate value because it’s kind of like real ugly. The shoes, these are from St. Vincent DePaul; I got them for eight dollars. St. Vincent DePaul has real nice shoes and they’re like all in my size for some reason. Fashion means expressing yourself and being comfortable with the things you put on your body.

I think it definitely is a form of body acceptance and like self-love. For me, I kind of see it as another form of art because there’s a lot of like aesthetics you have to consider when you’re putting together an outfit that you want to like nice in. And it’s not for everyone, but I really like to express myself with my clothes.”

- Romeo Klobukar

“I don’t really follow big fashion designers. I like more what the teenagers like. I like how people on YouTube and Instagram are putting their own spin off of things that they see other people do. Someone that I’m really inspired by is Jenn Im. She is a Korean-American on YouTube, and she started YouTube — she’s been on the platform for a while — and she just recently started her own clothing line. It’s like a mixture of Korean fashion and American fashion. It’s very modern but there’s also like a ‘90s spin to it, and it’s very cool how she did that. She’s really good at styling outfits, so I’ll look at her Instagram and get inspired. I’ll also just look at like random fashion people; I’m not really specific. I’m big on thrifting most of the time. Most of my things are thrifted or hand-me-downs from friends or family. I kind of like thrifting things because sometimes I wont see them in stores, or if I did have something I wanted I’ll get it for cheaper. I love searching in the men’s section because I can always make [stuff I find there] more feminine. I like expressing myself through [fashion]. You don’t have to say anything, everybody sees it. I personally like getting ready and dressing, and I get excited about what I get to wear. It makes me feel more creative in my everyday life. ”

“I’m wearing something I would normally wear: a canvas over-shirt over a t-shirt and just jeans and vans. But it was really cold this morning so I got out my peacoat. I think if I had the motivation to, I would definitely put more thought into an outfit. I don’t have any favorite colors, [but] I wear a lot of muted colors. It’s not really intentional but it works out. Anderson .Paak and Tyler the Creator, they’re very different, but those two [are my style inspirations]. And my Mom. She’s this hyper-urban individual who would be very not out of place in some hip corner of Brooklyn.”

- Callum McCullough

- Nanako Fujioka

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GRETCHEN EBY

HUMANS HUMANS HUMANS OF COMMUNITY “WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY? WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY OF THAT HOLIDAY?

[My favorite holiday] used to be Halloween, when everybody was little and my kids were little. It was fun, dressing up and [going to] the parties at school and my friends used to have this really big pumpkin party. They carved pumpkins, and we were in this tent that was all decorated, and it was really fun. One year, my whole family got marching band uniforms from the University of Michigan’s old marching band, so we were all a marching band. One of my friends went and got them for us and said we should do it. This Halloween, one of my sons and I were in Mexico for Day of the Dead, which was a pretty cool celebration. We went to several parties and one day of the party was really fun because we had somebody paint come and paint our faces. It’s usually just a celebration, a celebration of life.

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KATHERINE MATTSON

NOAH HOGAN

“WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT OF THIS YEAR? WHAT ROLE DOES RELIGION PLAY IN YOUR LIFE? I went on a retreat with my youth group, and we stayed at this campfire until two in the morning just talking and having fun. Most of the leaders are just out of college or mid-20s so they’ve gone through what you’ve gone through; they know how to help you. One of the leaders [of my youth group], she and I go and get hot chocolate or coffee or something.

We try to go once a week just to catch up on each other’s lives and see what’s happening. She always asks if there’s anything she can pray for me for, and it’s nice because I can just let whatever is stressing me out, and I know that she’s going to help as much as she can. There are so many different denominations of Christianity and everybody has their own opinion, and there are a lot of people who are gonna shove that opinion down your throat and who aren’t going to be nice about it. So it’s hard to know what you truly want to be, and everyone has their own interpretation of the bible. I think in high school I’m more aware of all the different things out there in the world, especially because I was homeschooled for elementary school. Now that I know lots of people and see all these different aspects of everybody’s cultures and who they are, it’s a lot different. I think I probably make my own choices [about religion and church] now.

“WHAT MADE YOU GET INTO MUSIC? WHEN DID YOU FIRST START PLAYING MUSIC?” I listened to a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan when I was really young, and so then when I moved here I wanted play guitar.

I was born in North Carolina, and when I was four I moved here, and we found the Ann Arbor Music Center, which was a great place to start taking lessons. When we moved here, I was too small to play guitar. So I started on ukulele, and when I was about six I started playing guitar. As of now, [my favorite type of music] is jazz, specifically Path Mahoney.

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s 9 or ! en –1 f H Te 12 he Y NT ed t O ag join M R n ca PE

GAME!

7 $1

GET IN THE

Teen Membership at the YMCA ANN ARBOR YMCA Teens aged 12–19 can join the Y for $17 per month and access all the Y has to offer. Get in shape with pick-up basketball, teen yoga, studio cycling, strength and conditioning, free weights and two indoor pools and an indoor track.

The Y is open 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekends, so, no matter what your schedule, there’s time to hang out at the Y.

Not into sports? Our Youth in Government program provides opportunities to get involved with governmental processes (including a three-day trip to Lansing!) and Youth Volunteer Corps gets you involved with service in your community during the school year and all summer long.

For more information, go to www.annarborymca.org, call 734.996.9622 or stop by after school.

MOST FINANCIAL COMPANIES FOCUS ON YOUR INCOME. WE FOCUS ON YOUR OUTCOME. Jeffrey Cohen, MBA, CLU®, CFP® Wealth Management Advisor (734) 323-7421 jeffrey-cohen.com

05-4012-1 © 2018 Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser and member FINRA (www.finra.org) and SIPC (www.sipc.org). Jeffrey Charles Cohen is an Insurance Agent(s) of NM. Jeffrey Charles Cohen is a Representative of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company®, (NMWMC) Milwaukee, WI (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), a subsidiary of NM and federal savings bank. All NMWMC products and services are offered only by properly credentialed Representatives who operate from agency offices of NMWMC. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP® (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.

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Located at 507 N Fifth Ave. Contact Us at 734.761.8175 or kerrytown.com/sparrowproduce/

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Our Donors STUDENT SPONSORS Ariella and Sergey Shikanov Judi Hoffman Henry Holcomb Gene Senn Corry Berkooz Miguel Clement Anne Heise Zack Schueler Kathy Scarnecchia Matthew Toschley Kelly Stupple Christine Kelley Leo Kupperman James Eddy Carlos Fiori Calvin Shaw Arlo Durgy Wolf Family

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LANSING, MI — On Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, The Communicator staff attended the 2018 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) conference at Lansing Center. While there, they attended four hour-long workshops lead by high school advisors and college journalism professors in order to learn more about writing, designing and the future of journalism.

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THE

Hippo Campus Honestly

BY ISAAC MCKENNA

Smino

Sjowgren

Verzache

It takes intense concentration to resist the urge to move some part of your body to Smino’s “Spitshine.” The hand-clapping, toned-down, beat is a big part of the dance-ability of the song, but most of it comes back to the complex rhythm of the synthesizer that opens the song and continues throughout. The interaction between these layers and Smino’s vocals displays a clear intention from a producer’s perspective. Smino switches between a flowing vocal hook and percussive rap. The album “blkswn,” released in 2017, is full of similarly interesting songs, and has a noticeable continuity despite the differences in the grooves of the songs. From the Caribbean-inspired breakout “Netflix & Dusse” to the trappy title track, Smino will keep you on your toes with “blkswn.”

The mysterious Californian band Sjowgren (pronounced “show-grin”) create smoky, catchy songs with mixes of grungy guitars and atmospheric synths. “Beginners,” one of only 10 singles released by the band, is a crunchy, swirling masterpiece that transcends category. From the sultry intro to the aggressive guitar outro, this song will have you hooked and probably searching in vain for more information on this talented band.

Zach Farache pens songs under the name Verzache that straddle the line between hip-hop and lofi, creating final products that are both emotional and energetic. “Kick It” moves effortlessly from a mellow intro into a smooth trap beat with Farache’s crackling vocals.

Spitshine

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From the opening seconds of “Honestly,” indie rock band Hippo Campus’s personality is on full display. It starts with a botched studio take and the resulting banter between the band members, all from St. Paul, MN. Then, with three clicks of the drum sticks, they jump into a smooth, rocking song. “Bambi,” the second LP released by the young band, is noticeably different from their previous work.

The aggressive keyboard on “Doubt” and vibey synths on “Golden” move the band more towards layered electronic music, an unexpected but flawlessly executed transition.

The Communicator Magazine

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Kick It

For the rest of the playlist, go to: bit.ly/playlistnov2018

The C.R. Spotlight

NOAH PIKE ON TAKING INTRO. TO AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

BY SHEA O’BRIEN

Community High junior Noah Pike takes advantage of one of community’s greatest attributes: close proximity to the University of Michigan. Every fourth block, Pike sets off on a mile walk to a lecture hall of over 100 college students in the World Languages Building to take Introduction to American Political Science.

“I’m really passionate about government, social studies, and political science,” said Pike. “It also gives me a chance to bond with my dad, who teaches at Saline.”

After emailing Professor Robert Mickey last spring for a chance to take his class, Pike is now a college student for an hour and a half three times each week. Attending lectures and a discussion group, Pike is just another Wolverine.

“When I walk into the lecture, people don’t know who I am; I’m just another student,” Pike said. “In the second week of my discussion group though, our GSI (Graduate Student Instructor) told us to take a quiz, and there’s some sort of rule that he couldn’t grade a high school student, so I had to raise my hand and tell everyone.”

Professor Mickey must grade all Pike’s materials himself, as GSIs are contractually held to grade only the work of fully enrolled students, so Mickey teaches and grades Pike’s work ‘pro bono’.

However, just because Pike isn’t subject to the occasional quiz from a GSI, doesn’t mean he’s not liable to difficult coursework and harsh college level grading. With a midterm and final exam and to two important papers all adding up to 80% of his final grade, Pike has little room for error.

“With [readings] the volume is a lot,” Pike said. “As far as the tests, I haven’t experienced much of them yet, but it does make me nervous.”

The class itself consists of a big lecture on subjects including distribution of federal power, the roles of separate branches of government, specific clauses of the Constitution, and various Supreme Court cases.

“The class is especially interesting how we don’t all argue about what should happen,” said Pike. “It’s all about what actually does happen. Not if Trump should be president, but the politics about why he’s president now...”

Though political views on a polarized country are sometimes difficult to avoid, Mickey approaches the class with an outside perspective as a self proclaimed Libertarian.

“He’s pretty funny,” said Pike. “He’s always making jokes about modern politics. He plays this character of not know-

ing what kids are doing these days and he’s younger than my dad.”

Close as the university may be, transportation is often an issue for Community’s CR students. Walking to lecture most days, Pike occasionally has trouble getting from Community to the School of Education each Friday for discussion group.

“Getting to class is hard sometimes,” Pike said. “The first week, I showed up late to a discussion while they were talking about why being late was bad. I looked really stupid.”

To combat this issue, Pike has gotten creative.

“Most days I walk, but sometimes I’ll bike

to discussion,” said Pike. “I have friends who will Bird [scooter] too.”

Although it is his first class at the university, Pike has gained some wisdom worth sharing to future CR participants.

“Never get behind on your reading; if you get behind you’ll never catch up,” said Pike.

“I’ve been reading all these chapters, but the extra readings have been harder.”

All in all, Pike is happy with his class and continuing to work hard for the upcoming midterm.

“I like my CR. I didn’t even know anything about it, but now I get to see what college will be like,” Pike said. “And it’s good on your application!”

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1000 Words

BY MADIE GRACEY

Not thinking much about composition and more about capturing candid photos, senior, Mackenzie Quigley, takes a photo of Isa Grofsorean sitting on her 1997 Lincoln Town Car. Quigley is taking a digital photography class with Steve Coron. “In class, we were assigned to capture photos that revolved around a theme of our choice,” Quigley said. “I chose cars for my theme, and walked around downtown capturing pictures.”

It took Quigley a couple shots before she was satisfied that she had captured a promising photo. She had Grofsorean stand in different positions around the car, but when that didn’t work, she ended up having Grofsorean hop onto the trunk of the car. “We continued our conversation, and I just took a spur of the moment photo,” Quigley said.

Quigley didn’t do much when it came to adjusting the photo. It was a dark and gloomy day, their wasn’t much natural sunlight to work with.

“It has a blue hue to it which I think most people would associate with sadness,” Quigley said. “But I think it gives the photo a rather calm and zen feeling.”

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1

GETAWAY W A S H I N GTO N D. C .

BY ISABEL ESPINOSA

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2 1. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MEMORIAL

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is a newer addition to the National Mall and Memorial Parks system. Design plans for the memorial went into production in the early 2000s, and the memorial’s official dedication was in late 2011. The memorial is comprised of a curved basin lined with quotes and a carving of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. coming out of the stone.

3. VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL WALL

The two-part wall that stretches tall at 256 feet 9 inches and pays tribute to the brave members of the U.S. Armed forces who fought and were killed in battle during the Vietnam War. Engraved in the reflective wall are the names of over 58,000 soldiers in chronological order of the day they died.

4. THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL

2. TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

The white marble crypt inscribed “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God” sits in the plaza of the Memorial Amphitheater overlooking the rest of the cemetery. The tomb is a monument dedicated to all of the U.S. service members who have died without their remains being identified. The tomb has been guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by a soldier of the U.S. Army since the first 24-hour guard was posted on July 2, 1937. While the cemetery is open, the guard is changed every half-hour in a symbolic ceremony. During this time, any public is welcome to watch, but must stay “silent and standing” throughout the event.

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The Thomas Jefferson Memorial stands out against other memorials for two reasons: location and architecture. Designed in 1925 with a Neoclassical design favored by Thomas Jefferson, the memorial is located far away from the rest of the National Mall: it sits on the south edge of the National Mall’s Tidal Basin.

5. MUHAMMAD ALI’S BOXING GLOVE

Located in the Smithsonian Museum of American History, Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves are a part of the American Stories Collection. The collection holds more than 100 objects that help tell the story of the United States from the 1620s until 2008.

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Our Turn: On Being Grateful

BY MAZEY PERRY

I’m grateful for my friends and my family, both of which are very supportive. I also am very lucky to live in Ann Arbor, because there is good education and public transportation. I never really thought I had it good, and I would compare myself to my friends, but now that I step back and look around, I have just realized that I am so lucky to have all of things that I do.

JOSH CALDWELL

I’m really grateful for my friends and family; they have supported me through everything that I am going through. Whether it’s classes, or drama or CET stress, I just know I have people to lean on and that is the best feeling. I definitely have thought about this a lot recently because of college applications and the stress that I have been going through. Around Thanksgiving I think about being grateful more than usual because people ask me about it.

ISABEL ESPINOSA

I’m grateful for all that my parents do for me: feeding me, housing me. I take this for granted, especially when I see how little other people have.

I know people who do not have as supportive of a family as I do; it’s very eye opening. It is also important to see [those less fortunate] because it can put things into perspective. I used to think Thanksgiving was corny, but now I see that it’s important to have a day dedicated to being grateful.

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ONETHING LAST Ben Wyngaard CHS SENIOR REFLECTS ON THE LAST THINGS HE EXPERIENCED. What was the last dream you had?

The last one I remember was a couple nights ago and it was actually one of the strangest dreams I’ve ever had. It was one of those inception type situations where you wake up and you think “Wow that was a wild dream!” and then you live another day then wake up again and think “Wow that was a wild dream!” and it repeated like 10 times.

When was the last time you wanted a hug?

Yesterday at 3 p.m. from my girlfriend.

Where was the last place you went on vacation?

I went the San Juan islands off of Seattle over the summer. I went with my dad, my two brothers and my dad’s wife.

What was the last movie you watched?

Probably Mad Max Fury Road, the new one.

What was the last performance you saw?

I was going to go to a concert a couple of nights ago but I didn’t make it so I guess the last one I saw was last Thursday. My brother, who is a freshman (he duals here and at Pioneer), I saw his orchestra concert at Pioneer.

What was the last thing you cooked?

Mac and cheese!

Who was the last person you had to apologize to?

The other day I woke up late so I ended up needing to get a ride from a friend to get to school. I had to apologize to both my mom and my friend for waking up late and then making my friend drive me.

ART BY: TAI TWOREK