Globe Newsmagazine, February 2018, Issue 5, Vol. 89

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PIPELINE TO PRISON The Globe examines connections between suspensions in schools and the carceral state in Missouri page 20

issue 5, volume 89 Clayton High School. Clayton, MO. February 2018.

T H A N K Y O U TO OUR SPONSORS! The Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. We receive no funding from the school district for printing. Each issue of the Globe costs approximately $2000 to print. We are deeply grateful to our sponsors for their support of our publication. They make our work possible. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email us at globe@claytonschools.net.

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contents february 2018 issue 5, volume 89

Cover: Pipeline to Prison Khaylie Ross: Athlete Profile Best of STL: Brunch Love, The Globe: A Column

Pastaria has become a local favorite for brunch. The Globe visited Pastaria along with other places in their latest search for the Best of STL. (Photo by Michael Melinger).

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CONTENTS

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STAFF

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EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

SENIOR MANAGING EDITORS

Noah Brown and M itali Sharma

Madeline Bale

CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR

M ichael Bernard Charlie Brennan

Lauren Prais s

J acob LaGes se

CHIEF PHOTO EDITOR

SECTION EDITORS

Michael Melinger

Justin Guilak, NEWS

COPY EDITOR

L i l a T a y l o r , F E AT U R E

N e e l Va l l u r u p a l l i

Daniel Cho, SPORTS

CHIEF VIDEO EDITOR

Olivia Joseph, OPINION

Sean Kim

Richard Cheng , RE VI EW

GRAPHICS EDITOR

REPORTERS

Lizzy Mills

BUSINESS MANAGER Daniel Cohen

PAGE EDITORS

Ashley Chung

Sophia Thompson

J osephine Cross

S a m Yo u k i l i s

Camille Curtis

Hongkai Jiang

Sam Fehr

S a n Kw o n

S a m Ze i d

Ka t i e H e

J a n e Ka l i n a

Ke i l a n M o r r i s e y

Ca therine Walsh

Sophie Bernstein

Cody Krutzsch

Laura Par vu lescu

N ikki Seraji

Maddy Ackerburg

Paul Liu

Philip Stahl

Grace Snelling

Lise Dersken

James Malone

Junyi Su

Ka t i e S n e l l i n g

Mariclare Ga tter

Neema Naemi

Victor Wei

Sarah Baker

Gracie Morris

William Redington

Noor J era th

Sara S temmler

Theo Fehr

Leo Thoma s

Za ch a r y Fi s h e r

PHOTOGRAPHERS Synthia Baer

Fiona McGuire

Erin Brown

Alexandra Hardie

Barrett Bentzinger

Jovan Miller

Isabella Clark

Paige Holmes

Elizabeth Cordova

Mallory Palmer

Za ch a r y C o b l e

Xuenan Jin

Alex Darmody

Sophia Ryan

Cindy Combs

Caroline Marsden

Ella Engel

Saniya Sah

Ka t h r y n C o o p e r

Ka t h e r i n e O w i n g s

Catherine Holtzman

Annika Sandquist

Gwen Duplain

Mia Redington

I sheeta Khurana

Emma Siegel

Madison Gudmestad

Madison Rudd

Professional Affiliations: Sponsors of School Publications, Missouri Interscholastic Press Association, Missouri Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association

A month ago, superintendent Sean Doherty invited the Globe to speak in front of superintendents from several St. Louis area school districts. Pointing to the Globe as an example, Dr. Doherty reiterated the importance of extending learning beyond the classroom. Listening to Dr. Doherty’s words, I was reminded of some of the intangible qualities unique to a Clayton education as well as reassured that the work I do - both as a student and as editor of our school newspaper - has a greater purpose that doesn’t go unnoticed.

We, as students journalists, have a intrinsic responsibility to chase the truth and to shed light on it even if it is overshadowed by darkness. We, too, must learn, and, we must embrace the quest for learning the same way we do, as students, in the classroom.

Last issue, we published an in-depth story about educational equity. The story was the byproduct of a month-long investigation into the very concept of equity - its historical roots as well as its present-day manifestations. It was the culmination of conversations we had with several teachers searching for ways to make their classrooms more equitable places for learning as well as with administrators searching for ways to structure curricula and craft policy to make the district a more equitable one.

We made the decision to pull some data to accompany the written content in attempt to paint a broad picture about the disparities that exist in regard to the racial composition of advanced classes at CHS. For good reason, the presentation of the data was not well-received by some members of the CHS community.

The way it was presented, it was seen to oversimplify the way in which students choose to take classes as well overlook some of the structural barriers that might account for some of the statistical dispar-

FROM THE EDITOR ity between white and African-American students’ participation in advanced classes.

At the core of the issue is the fact that the CHS history curriculum does not have an honors track.

By design, all CHS freshmen and sophomores take US/World History I and US/ World History II, respectively. As these conversations ensued, we realized that we’d made an oversimplification by grouping the number of students that took both AP and honors classes. As a result, the data tells a different story than the one we learned about through talking with some members of the history department.

In this issue, we look to tell the whole story (see pages 12-13). The story is not simple. But it’s our job to tell it.

It revolves around a deliberate mission of the CHS history department which we we weren’t aware of during our initial coverage of the topic.

As the cliché goes, journalism truly is the first rough draft of history.

I gained a greater appreciation for the inherent difficulty of using data and numbers to tell complex stories. I was reminded of the great power vested in conversation. Our correspondence with the history department catalyzed important learning and staff-wide discussion that will surely inform the way we treat similar subjects in the future.

Taking a step back, it also made tangible how fortunate I am to be in a district whose teachers and administrators care

so deeply about its students.

Our quest for learning is a collective one. There’s never been a more important time to chase the truth vigorously and ceaselessly – to be the bearers of light.

But, to grow as an organization, and as people - and to hold others accountable, self-accountability is more than essential; it’s requisite.

noah brown @noah.20 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Globe Newsmagazine exists to inform, entertain, persuade and represent the student voice at CHS. All content decisions are made by the student editorial staff and the Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. Not every story that our reporters write is published in the print newsmagazines. Visit www.chsglobe.com for additional stories and photos and for more information about the Globe itself. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement - for more information about advertising and subscriptions, please contact our office: Clayton High School Globe

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CHS Changes Athletic Policy Over the past 18 months, the CHS Athletic Department has worked with coaches, parents and the high school Captain’s Council to review and modify the school’s athletic policy. Clayton’s unique no-cut policy still exists, but the group worked to change formerly loose guidelines into specific participation requirements. The updated policy mostly explains the new absence rules, as well as expectations about playing time and team roles. The official guidelines can be found in an email from principal Dr. Gutchewsky.

The policy review addressed issues about playing time and varsity placement for basketball and other sports teams.

(Photo by Sophie Ryan)

Known well to many CHS students who regularly use its facilities, the Center of Clayton is a sports complex connected to the high school. Because of the direct connection, the school district shares half of the cost for the Center with the city.

Recently, the management at the Center associated with the city began interest in upgrading the facilities. This would include replacement of old machinery, flooring and other parts of the gym, as well as large changes to the Center’s layout.

First, the designers are considering relocating the front desk closer to the door as well as installing a permanent desk by the upstairs CHS entrance. This would affect students’ ability to freely enter and pass through the Center, especially without a Center of Clayton ID. The most significant change would involve an expansion of the upstairs facilities by extending the construction on the second floor. A new wing would be built over an existing part of the first floor, adding on to the equipment available upstairs.

One concern with the expansion is parking, which already

Governor Greitens’ Scandal Missouri Governor Eric Greitens is taking fire now for admitting to having an extramarital affair, as well as allegedly blackmailing the anonymous woman.

The woman met Greitens in 2015 because she cut his hair and said she immediately became interested in him.

He then invited her to his house but refused to meet publicly, saying “I can’t be seen with you. This is wrong,” according to a News 4 report.

The woman eventually made a visit to his house that March, during which they had two sexual encounters, consensually. The woman claims Greitens tied her up and blindfolded her, then photographed her naked and threatened to post it online if she spoke about the affair.

Later, he told her that he had deleted the photo.

This information came out when the woman’s ex-husband, represented by attorney and former Clayton parent Albert Watkins, spoke out and released a recording of the former couple discussing the affair. During the tape, the anonymous woman reveals details about her en-

CLAYTON RESTAURANT WEEK

22-28 JANUARY CHS TRIVIA NIGHT

26 JANUARY MAPLE SUGAR FESTIVAL

11 FEBRUARY presents a significant problem to the Center because of student parking. A proposed solution involves converting the former “mulch pile” into a parking space. More details about the parking problem and the mulch pile can be found at www.chsglobe.com

Greitens kisses his wife, Sheena, before giving his victory speech after winning the 2016 Missouri gubernatorial election. He recently admitted to having an extramarital affair in March 2015.

(Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

counters with Greitens and that she was still connected with him at the time. Later that year, she reached out and asked him to stop booking at her salon.

She and her husband were divorced in March 2016 and did not plan to speak out about the incident. However, he was prompted to reveal details by recent government and media attention, including a voicemail on his daughter’s phone. After that, he spoke with News 4 and provided them with the tape.

News and Notes

Clayton Center Considers Expansion and Renovation

THINGS TO DO

2 9 O N YO U R S I D E News anchor and Clayton parent Kay Quinn has been working for KSDK Channel 5 for the past 29 years.

Kay Quinn at News Channel 5. Photo

by Michael Melinger “When you come to work, you never know what’s going to happen and I really like that part of it,” Kay Quinn said. “Anything could happen, you could meet anyone and you just never know.”

Quinn started at News Channel 5 doing freelance work, which quickly became a full-time career. 29 years later, Quinn continues to work at Channel 5 as a news anchor and reporter.

Throughout her childhood, Quinn was immersed in the world of journalism and from a young age. Quinn lived in Hawaii for 13 years during her childhood and was influenced by her exposure to journalism. Her father worked in sports management for his whole career and had many friends who worked as broadcasters and sports writers. During their time in Hawaii, Quinn’s father worked as a general manager for a baseball team; Quinn and her siblings would explore the Pacific Coast League stadium.

“Then, it was only men in the press box, so this would be in

FEATURE

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the 60s, and we’d just go running through the press box, and they’d say, ‘no women in the press box!’, and we’d laugh at them because we were just little girls,” Quinn said. “But it was interesting to see, to think back on that experience and then to think at 14, ‘ I want to do what they do.’ I always liked this idea of hearing something, getting information, hearing someone’s story, being able to tell other people about it. So that’s what really got me interested and then just by knowing some broadcasters, that really got me interested.”

Quinn began her first job in Vancouver when she was 18 years old. She worked as a traffic reporter on one of her dad’s friend’s radio stations.

“I had a job at a radio station which is how I started my career. I always tell people, you get your first job by a different combination of things: it's going to be luck, it’s going to be who you know, and following your passion, what your interests are and playing up your strengths.”

For Quinn, having connections to other broadcasters and journalists opened up many opportunities for her career.

Quinn worked in radio for eight years before transitioning to the television industry. She moved to St. Louis in 1985 and continued working in radio with KMOX and KXOK. Then, Quinn began working part time for Channel 30.

“I was doing some On-Air promos for Channel 30, just on the weekends, they were all pre-taped, but it was on-camera experience,” Quinn said. “I had the reporting part of it, I had the voice part of it, I had so many pieces of what I felt were the journalistic skills that I needed that would transfer over to TV. What I didn’t have was the on-camera experience.”

While working with Channel 30, Quinn was given the opportunity to be a representative for a United Way show. The director of News Channel 5 saw Quinn on the show and recruited her to do freelance work. Within three months, Quinn was working full-time for Channel 5.

Over the course of her career, Quinn experienced the dramatic evolution of technology. In the television industry, this change in technology was very visible. When Quinn arrived at Channel 5, the staff used typewriters to write their news copies and camera shots.

“Then, they would rip these papers (news copies and camera shots) apart and they would get distributed to the director, the anchors, the reporter, and one would go on this teleprompter where the papers literally rolled on this conveyor belt, through a series of mirrors were reflected onto the teleprompter in the studio,” Quinn said. “I was here before they had computers, I remember when computers arrived, we had one. We never had cell phones, we didn’t have phones in our news units, so you would have to make all of your calls before you left on a story and then when you

(from left) Scott Connell, Chester Lampkin, and Kay Quinn. Photo by Michael Melinger got there, shoot your story and come back, and you wouldn’t be able to talk to the news room or the assignment desk or your supervisor. You would just go out and collect the information and hope everything went well and come back.”

Now, cameras can be programmed to move to different shots, and a large quantity of information is stored digitally.

“It has just been an unbelievable change,” Quinn said, “and to watch it all happen has just been fascinating, the way technology changes and the quality of what we do.”

In addition to the technological change Quinn witnessed, she has also been able to experience the progression of women’s involvement in the news industry. When she was growing up, there were very few women entering television.

“I think the idea of women entering television was fairly new,” Quinn said. “Barbara Walters, who is still a huge icon of mine, she was one of the first women on the air and I remember being in high school and writing her a letter telling her how much I admired her work and asking for her advice on getting into the business.”

While her choice to go into television news and media was not one made by many women, it was the rarity of the career that appealed to Quinn most.

“I just think it was because television was so at the time and there were so many women breaking down the barriers and actually getting in the business. That’s what I think had the appeal to me as opposed to working in a paper or the print side of things. It just seemed exciting,” she said.

Women continue to face challenges in the workplace today, and fortunately, Quinn has not faced a great deal of inappropriate behavior during her time in the entertainment industry.

“I think the challenges are really the same today, which are wanting to be treated fairly in the workplace and luckily I didn’t meet up with too much of that,” Quinn said. “We’re hearing a lot

about the sexual harassment piece of what goes on in the entertainment industry and some in the broadcasting industry as well.

I faced a little bit of that, but nothing that made me want to quit or leave my job. I just kind of always ignored it and just kept going. I think I just set a goal focused on that and never took my eyes off of that, but there were challenges.”

Quinn explained how hard women have had to work to be viewed as reporters and journalists, not just “eye-candy” for the viewers.

“The men were always the serious ones in the suits, and the women were almost like the visual part of it. I think women have struggled initially, especially Barbara Walters and the first women in television to be taken seriously and to be looked at as journalists who are just as strong as men,” Quinn said.

While women have made great strides towards equality throughout Quinn’s career, she still thinks that society has a long way to go before equality becomes a reality.

“I don’t think women are paid equally, that is going to be the next big barrier, is for women to be paid just as much as men. If you are doing the same job, the pay should be equal. But these are issues that women face in every industry and its just going to take time and hard work.”

lila taylor @lilataylorr FEATURE SECTION EDITOR katie snelling @k80_snelling PAGE EDITOR

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FEATURE

T H E T R A C K I N G D E B AT E Last issue, we published a graph showing African-American enrollment in honors and AP courses.

It was then brought to our attention that history does not have honors classes as a result of a push towards educational equity. Our graph did not tell that story. Here, we print a graph which demonstrates the impact of non-tracking in terms of AP enrollment and look into the philosophical roots of the department’s decision to not offer honors courses.

At the beginning of this year, CHS senior Jacob Blair sat in his AP U.S. History class during a discussion of the controversy surrounding the removal of confederate monuments across the country.

“One of the students said something about how we can’t take away history. We can’t get rid of the fact that that existed. And one of the other black students in the class tried to say something to substantiate the idea that you’re not taking away history by taking down a statue honoring someone who was racist, had slaves, and did all these types of things. But she couldn’t really articulate the words. And so that is when I was like ‘oh, I see what you’re trying to do. Let me step in,’” Blair said. “As I started to speak, I could see the tension in her entire face just start to let go and she looked at me and mouthed ‘thank you.’”

Blair spoke to the challenges presented when many of his fellow black students participate in advanced classes.

“You just are overwhelmed and outnumbered so that sense of support is important,” he said.

Blair attributes success in the classroom to feeling a true sense of belonging.

“In order to actually successfully function in a class you have to feel like you are a kin to and alike and accepted by the students in the class,” Blair said. “I would argue students -- but specifically any black student -- has to almost prove themselves to both the rest of the class but also themselves that ‘I belong in this classroom because it doesn’t seem like anyone else who’s like me belongs in this classroom but I still do.’”

Unlike many of his peers, Blair was identified as a student capable of succeeding on the honors and advanced tracks. This transition forced Blair to acclimate to the high-level track environment and gain a familiarity with the typical composition of an honors classroom.

“For me, that was a period that I went through roughly 7th, 8th grade, freshman year even. By that time I realized that this is just where I am, that’s just what it is,” Blair said.

However, for students not selected for the honors track at such an early age, the process of acclimation can be an intimidating and difficult one.

“I think that for a lot of other students who haven’t been at a course at that level -- their friends aren’t in courses at that level -- they would go to that course without that network that I think is important for a lot of students,” Blair said. “You know, being able to text your friend to figure out what the homework was, if they did it, how they’re studying for the test, what’s going on. So you basically have to volunteer yourself to move up a tier in difficulty and simultaneously lose access to the network that you felt kept you afloat the entire time. I think that that scares a lot of people.”

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For courses like math and science, advanced ability identification occurs at an early age. This division of levels in middle school and even at the elementary stage feeds straight into the high school honors programs in these curricula.

The history department takes a different approach. Unlike the other three core subjects, honors courses are not offered at the 9th and 10th grade levels, making the classrooms of freshmen and sophomore year history courses uniquely heterogeneous environments.

Such a system was already in place when current social studies curriculum coordinator Paul Hoelscher arrived to Clayton in 2001. Hoelscher believes that the unique curriculum ensures that all students are exposed to a baseline level of academic challenge.

“The effort -- to me -- is to challenge all students. For us, a big part of not tracking is really challenging those low-end students and getting students that struggle to be in a mixed ability class where they see a wide range of students. In some cases I have had students that will -- based on the pressure from the peers -- rise to that level of challenge,” Hoelscher said.

In addition to standardizing high expectations for students, the history department’s mission also revolves around combating racial segregation. Hoelscher questions whether academic tracking could - unintentionally - exacerbate the racial divide among students in particular classes.

“Sometimes people talk about this building being two schools.

The high level, not just college track, but the absolute best national college track, which is great. Does the tracking indirectly, without any purposeful intention, also racially segregate our students?” Hoelscher said.

Being on the honors track is generally a prerequisite for joining an AP course. This not being the case for history classes is a deliberate attempt on behalf of the department to break down some of the structural barriers -- often in the form of prerequisites -- that may make it impossible for students to enroll in AP classes.

“We as a department are trying to be purposefully less strict with APs. We are trying to use some data -- a real good indication is an A in 9th or 10th grade-- that’s an easy recommendation. But again to also consider things like students’ interest and increased maturity from one year to the next. So as a whole we are for good or bad less strict about those recommendations,” Hoelscher said.

“Rarely does a student ever get totally turned away. If they have their hearts set on taking an AP history class and they’re going to put in the work, we feel that the curriculum up to 10th grade has prepared them and we feel like we can maybe outside of class do a little bit more to support, to encourage, kids who normally maybe wouldn’t be able to take an AP.” For CHS social studies department chair Josh Meyers, the results of this effort became evident in one particular student’s experience.

“This student asked more questions in my sophomore history ute to some of the racial segregation in the district, in our buildclass than any student has asked in my 20 years of teaching. He ing,” Hoelscher said. was just really inquisitive. He was not a good test taker. He was The history department looks to expand its efforts through the not necessarily a good writer. But he was absolutely interested in eventual adoption of a co-teaching model. As department chair, the subject and just as curious as anyone I’ve ever seen. And I told Meyers has been receiving reports from teachers who struggle this student during recommendation ‘man, you’ve got to take AP to academically support and encourage the average students in a US History. You’ve got to take that class.’ And he was like ‘no way, mixed level classroom. no way, no way.’ But he ended up taking it his senior year and he “The worry was that we’re missing students that are at the cusp did fabulous,” Meyers said. of proficiency. If we can have a little bit more help -- especially with The value of AP courses stems from the academic rigor, critical some of the more struggling students -- it would free us up to target thinking and intense discussion demanded by the curriculum. In those students that might be AP-ready,” Meyers said.

Hoelscher’s eyes, recognizing the rewarding nature of this experiThe adoption of a co-teaching model would require hiring ence is at the root of the initiative to draw a greater population of more faculty for the history department. Meyers explained the students to the social studies AP program. approach to using the hiring process as a vehicle for maintaining “I feel like that all the AP classes from psychology to economand expanding on the overall mission of the department. ics are the perfect stepping stones to college -- whether [students] “Our curriculum is really unique because it’s blended -- we take the test or not. It’s not the culmination of the test, it’s the mix both American and World history -- and we don’t track. It’s experience throughout, so we’re trying to get more kids into that key that we let all prospective candidates know this in the initial experience,” Hoelscher said. screening process. And we just kind of monitor their response.

Blair himself has taken three AP history courses and acknowlThere are some people who are dead set opposed to the philosedges the benefits ophy of heterogeneous of their challenge grouping, so after teasing and rigor. out their thinking more, “When you we may shy away from enter an AP classthat person,” Meyers said. room, you get the “There’s no question that added benefit of a in the interview process teacher really fowe try to tease out how cusing on the upper these people feel philolevel students. You sophically about certain islearn more, you’re sues because this is somechallenged more. thing our department For me, it’s really believes in deeply. This is satisfying and gratisomething I hope the adfying because going ministration believes in, through two years so it’s important that our of regular history new hires believe in it as is like ‘okay, this is well.” fun, this is alright, As the department I get it,’ but to a moves in this new direccertain degree you tion, reducing the dispardo get tired of it. ities between the ‘two Percent of African-American students in AP courses.

It’s too easy,” Blair schools’ of CHS remains at In 2017, 21.5% of the CHS student body was said. the heart of discussion and While the social decision-making.

African-American according to the Missouri studies department “I think I, as many emDepartment of Elementary & Secondary Education. made the decision ployees, are concerned to keep single-level about do we have two difclasses for freshferent schools? And do men and sophothose schools ever cross mores with the intent of challenging a greater group of students, paths or interact? Are there some students that only go to school questions arise on how to properly challenge the historically every day with the same group of cohorts?” Hoelscher said. “I high-performing students in such a setting. do 100% support the line of questions and the thinking and the To combat this concern, history teachers attempt to differentirethinking of all sorts of these things. Just because we’ve always ate the classroom experience, tailoring their teaching to meet the done this in the past, I don’t know if that necessarily means that’s needs of all levels of students. the way we decide our way in the future.”

“The hope is that within a given classroom we can differentiate noah brown & mitali sharma enough to reach kids who need some assistance or support and @noah.20 @mitasharma at the same time challenge students that are at the top end. It’s imperfect, but the alternative of pulling kids out for “honors” or EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF lower-level [courses], we wonder if that doesn’t further contrib-

13

FEATURE

AN INCUISITIVE MIND Junior Josh Cui creates unique metal structures out of nothing but wire.

I

Junior Josh Cui holding one of his wire sculptures. Photo by Michael Melinger.

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did it for myself, not for other people,” CHS junior Josh Cui said. “I feel like people would have been supportive of my art, but I just never really talked about it.

It was just a personal thing.”

Since elementary school, Cui has spent countless hours hunched over spools of wire, manipulating thin strands of metal into three-dimensional sculptures that depict topics ranging from machines of the future to Transcendentalist philosophy of the past. Despite his devotion to and success in this unique field of art, however, Cui has always kept his creations to himself, preferring the long process of building the sculptures themselves over the celebration of finished products.

“I do art for myself. I love the whole process of making sculptures,” he said.

Cui first fell in love with the art of manipulating metal wire into three dimensional structures at the very beginning of elementary school. As other students learned about coloring within the lines and proper scissor-carrying protocol, Cui taught himself how to bend wire into whatever shape he desired.

“I don’t really remember how I started out, but it came naturally,” Cui said. “I was just playing around with the wire, and then it just kind of happened.”

Although he developed a clear passion for wire working at a young age, Cui temporarily drifted away from art during his middle school years. Not only did he cease to make his unique metal creations, but he also stopped sketching depictions of futuristic machinery from the stories of science fiction that had long fascinated him.

“To be honest, I never really figured out why I stopped making art in middle school. I think maybe I was trying to make some changes, and in the process I kind of forgot about wire art. It’s weird to think back to those times and try to explain,” Cui said.

Middle school years void of art, however, soon gave way to high school, and Cui returned to the art that had first fascinated him almost ten years previously.

As he learned more about wire working, Cui noticed a unique pattern emerge in his artistic process.

“Sometimes I have inspiration for a project, so I start the project knowing what I want to make. But most of the time, I just start and hope that something good comes out. Usually it all turns out okay,” Cui said.

In fact, Cui is most accustomed to changing directions halfway through the building process and pursuing the creation of something entirely unexpected.

Over this past summer, for example, Cui started making a dragon.

“I had completed the spine and the skull structure of the dragon, but then I kind of put it aside when summer ended,” Cui said.

“But then when my English class got to our Transcendentalism unit, one of the possible assignments was to make an art project and then write about how that art reflected a Transcendentalist

philosophy or message. And I’m like, ‘Oh, wait! I have this dragon. I can write about that.’ So then I went back to the dragon and changed it, creating something that connected to transcendentalism.”

When Cui is not deriving inspiration from the concepts discussed in his English class, he is finding ideas for his sculptures in the science fiction pictures that he draws based on futuristic movies and books. Although no two wire sculptures end up looking alike, each piece has a similar effect on the few who get to see them.

In November, for example, CHS senior Daniel Cho got to watch as Cui worked on his dragon sculpture during any scraps of down time he could find while working at the Clayton Fall Classic Speech and Debate tournament.

“Initially, I saw Josh with a spool of wire and was pretty confused why he brought it. But whenever we would have any breaks during the tournament, everyone would see Josh working on his sculpture. He was making this really cool 3D dragon, and everyone was super impressed,” Cho said.

A month later, both Cho and CHS senior Kate Cooper watched as Cui worked on a completely new project – this time, an angel – on the four-hour drive to Independence, Missouri, where the CHS Speech and Debate team would compete.

“I never would have thought that anyone would be able to use wire to make something so intricate,” Cho said. “What was even more impressive was his dedication. He worked nonstop to get the project finished. It was clear that he loved what he was doing.”

Cooper agreed. “I remember sitting next to Josh on the bus the whole weekend. While everyone else was frantically prepping for the competition, Josh was calmly twisting and molding away. It was awesome to see a spool of wire turn into an angel in the matter of a few days,” Cooper said.

Indeed, although the wire structure themselves appear as though they might require weeks or even months to complete, Cui has now progressed so far into the skill of wire working that each sculpture only demands about five to seven hours of work.

However, that does not mean that the process of wire working always comes easily to Cui. “The most difficult part of the process usually occurs about halfway through, when the sculpture just doesn’t really look like anything and it gets kind of discouraging,” Cui said. “But I just have to keep pushing myself to get through that point and reminding myself that, even if I don’t have a clear vision of what I’m making right then, I eventually will. I try not to think too much about what it looks like at that halfway point. I just want to focus on the final product.”

Although Cui is accustomed to keeping those final products to himself, he is now beginning to look into opportunities to share his work with others. Most recently, Cui considered entering some of his sculptures into a national art competition: the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. He ultimately decided not to submit his work, but he considers his initial interest in entering as an important first step toward developing a willingness to publicize his work.

“I think I might enter stuff in contests later this spring. I don’t often put my art on display, but I’m trying to start submitting my stuff and sharing it with others,” Cui said.

Ultimately, Cui creates art not for any type of recognition or praise; he creates art because he loves the process.

“It’s difficult to explain the importance of art in my life. I just really like doing it,” Cui said. “Art is something that I’m passionate about. It’s fun.”

maddy bale @maddybale SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR catherine walsh @cat.walsh PAGE EDITOR

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FEATURE

M e at m e i n

The Globe dives into the RESTAURANT th

By Lila Taylor with reporti

Danny Meyer at one of Shake Shack’s opening events in the Central West End. Photo by Michael Melinger.

Hungry customers used to line up at a hot dog cart located in Madison Square park for three summers, until this little cart’s popularity led it to become a permanent stand in 2004, which founder Danny Meyer named Shake Shack. Today, with over 136 locations, the multi-billion dollar burger empire is continuing its expansion past the east coast and opened its St. Louis location in December 2017. With lines that stretch around the block, Shake Shack’s newest location in the Central West End is an obvious suc-

16

cess.

Meyer was born and raised in St. Louis, and is excited to finally be able to bring Shake Shack to his hometown.

“It’s not as easy as you think to distribute food and have really good management in different parts of the country, so we really wanted to wait until we could know that we’d be incredibly successful in the Midwest,” Meyer said. “We had our first test in Chicago three years ago, and that’s gone so well we decided it was time to come to St. Louis.”

Meyer attended John Burroughs School as a teen, and credits one of his teachers as one of the reasons for his success.

“I had the best Home-[Economics] teacher on earth named Mrs. Holekamp and I took cooking classes while everyone else was out playing football,” Meyer said.

Many others involved in the restaurant business admire Meyer for his success and are enthusiastic about Shake Shack’s newest location. Spencer Pernikoff, a food writer and photographer who has been featured in publications such as Food Network, Sauce Magazine and Bon Appetit, is one of these people.

“I have a lot of respect for Danny Meyer as a restaurateur and I’ve had Shake Shack a number of times in D.C., and I have to admit that it is very delicious,” Pernikoff said. “When I heard it was coming to St. Louis, I knew I had to get involved.”

Pernikoff recognizes Shake Shack’s special qualities -- the underlying reasons why it has done so well.

“Fresh ingredients. Quality ingredients. It feels like what I would imagine what a fast food restaurant used to be like instead of now where everything is full of chemicals and made in a factory and thrown on a grill and made,” he said.

Pernikoff also credits Meyer’s success to the hospitality that one faces when they enter a Shake Shack location. Shake Shack Area Director Josh Kalson believes that the people that Shake Shack hires are what give the restaurant its friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

“I think the biggest thing is how our team interacts with the guest––the energy they bring to the building every single day,” Kalson said. “Overall just the people that we hire. The main goal is just to make sure that people are empathetic, have curious intelligence, a strong work ethic, so I think it’s just the people we bring on.”

Shake Shack’s arrival in St. Louis has been a long time coming, and Kalson, along with many others, feel similarly.

“Danny’s been trying to get us to being back Shake Shack for a lot of years and I think the way our company’s hitting strides,

n St. Louis

NT that IS sweeping across the nation

orting by Michael Melinger efficiencies, I think it’s the right time to bring his brand back to his hometown,” Kalson said.

Strange Donuts owner Jason Bockman admires Meyer for being able to maintain his business’ integrity as it expands nationally.

“I just know how hard it is to have one business, let alone recreate the vibe and food in many different locations,” Bockman said.

“It’s a lot of work, and I think they’ve done a great job of including the community.”

As the Shake Shack empire continues to grow, they maintain their policy of fresh ingredients, inviting ambiance and delicious food which has now made its way to the streets of St. Louis.

A classic Shake burger and fries. Photo by Michael Melinger.

17

MEET WITH MERRILLS The Globe sits down with CHS Spanish teacher Kayra Merrills, who is following her passions in all different avenues of life. but the whole goal was to follow the American dream particularly for us, so that we can grow up in a better space and have more opportunities than them, so that was kind of the vision.

But growing up Latina, I felt different, not that I wasn’t part of the norm, but I did feel like I went into school not necessarily feeling American because when I went home I couldn’t even speak English. As a woman of color, as a black girl, maybe my world or the people around me wanted to make assumptions about me, but I had to always volley back and say, ‘yes I’m a black girl, but I don’t really have the typical American experiences than an African American has,’ so I always felt a little different. I always felt like I wasn’t Latina enough in certain circles and I wasn’t black enough in certain circles. As I got older, I said I’m Afro-Latina which is a thing and submitting to that concept and being okay that I don’t fit the stereotypical camp of being a Latina girl or African American girl.

There’s this rumor that you know a Liberian Socialite.

My childhood friend, I met her in middle school in Maryland and we’ve been friends all the way to middles school and high school and there’s like a crew of us of five. And she’s the last one to get married and she’s from Liberia. Long story short, a couple years ago she said she wanted to move back to Liberia and were like, ‘why do you want to move back to Liberia?’ and she said, ‘I’m done with the US,’ and after a few months later, she said she had a boyfriend and then a few months after that, she said she’s engaged and after doing research on him, we found out that he was the son of the vice

Where did you grow up?

I’m originally from Panama City, my family immigrated to the United States when I was one year old to California until the third grade, and then we moved to Maryland where I was there from the fourth grade up until I graduated high school.

What was it like growing up as a Latin American in the United States?

So that’s layers. As a Latin American, one I do not want to give generalized statements, but for me, I grew up in a very typical Hispanic house. I grew up speaking Spanish at home and eating typical dishes from Panama. Because my family or my parents were immigrants, they didn’t understand the education system here,

FEATURE

18 3

president of Liberia. His father, the vice president, was running for president just now and unfortunately he just lost, but the wedding was a big deal in Liberia because the vice president was there and a former Nigerian president attended as well I think. The who’s who of Liberia were present, so it was a pretty big deal.

How was the wedding?

The wedding was gorgeous, on the beach and about 300 people attended. Her wedding was amazing and she completely shut down this huge resort. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m even shocked that I did that and now I’m here back to teaching?

How did you get into teaching?

When I was in college, they had this summer program to teach different subjects to the faculty kids, like a summer school program. I was already a Spanish major and thought that this would be a good job, but I didn’t think I wanted to be a teacher. When I graduated from college, I was the administrative assistant for the county executive office, but because I knew Spanish they made me interpret and translate documents for them. So that year I sat in an office for an entire year and I was over it. Naturally, I have a lot of energy and couldn’t picture myself just sitting down at a computer everyday till retirement, it just didn’t fit my personality. So I looked up a program at University of Maryland and I could go to school for free if I did my masters in a year with them, but then I had to go teach kids for half that year. So I was taking courses, but then I was being the teacher. Since I already had Spanish teaching experience, they wanted to hire me and I had to be a teacher that fall. That’s a story in itself that I was so young and inexperienced and teaching in high school

You were interested in modeling and acting before you became a teacher and now you have a fashion blog. Could you talk about your blogging experience?

Before I became a teacher, I’ve always had a passion for the arts. In college, I modeled and I was part of the fashion scene. I would work the runways and in DC, Howard University would throw huge fashion shows and I would audition and be a part of the modeling team. That was about it for my modeling career. For acting, I always wanted to do acting, I never did theatre but I was part of the New York film academy so I did a month or six weeks at Princeton where I acted and did video editing. I guess the real goal after finishing college with my Spanish degree was to move to New York.

And I was just gonna wing it, I was gonna be a server and get auditions. But I fell in love and was dating my husband at the time and little by little I started to ignore my dreams and then I got a full time job and just turned it off. In the last few years,

Photos from Dr. Kayra Merrills’ fashion blog. the light came back on and I love teaching, but I still had this passion for designing and clothes and there’s no reason why I should neglect this passion and I can write a blog and I don’t have to go to LA or New York, I can just do it here in St. Louis.

So has it turned from a hobby into something bigger?

If the blogging thing turns into something bigger, then I am going to welcome it. But the reality is that it takes a lot of work.

As I was telling somebody earlier, I am treating the blogging like I am in school, the same way that if I was in a graduate program taking history or art, there are certain assignment that I need to complete to get the degree. So right now, I guess I’m considering myself a student of blogging, I’m giving myself assignments, trying to learn the craft and seeing if I can grow. If it was just a hobby, then I wouldn’t do it cause I already have enough in my life: I’m a mom, a teacher. So yes, I am fully fledged and invested, so if it turns into something, we’ll see.

nikki seraji @nikkiseraji PAGE EDITOR

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FEATURE

PIPELINE TO PRISON

By Noah Brown, Grace Snelling, and Charlie Brennan With reporting by Jacob LaGesse

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), America, the “land of the free,” is home to only 5 percent of the world population, but incarcerates 20 percent of the world’s prisoners. 34 percent of these inmates are African American, most of them having not graduated high school.

In fact, according to a study by Northeastern University, about 1 in 4 young black male dropouts are incarcerated.

A leading contributing factor to the high drop out rate of black male students from school are suspensions.

Here in Missouri, a recent study conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles found that black elementary school children are more likely to be suspended in Missouri than in any other state.

To better understand this reality and its costs, the Globe examined the connection between America’s educational system and the current carceral state.

Intro Clayton School District Disciplinary Data

A

2015 study conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) showed that black elementary school children are exponentially more likely to be suspended in Missouri than any other state. In the 20112012 school year alone, 14.3 percent of all enrolled African American students in Missouri from the ages of 5 to 10 were suspended at least once. According to Washington University in St. Louis adjunct professor and graduate student Olivia Marcucci, these statistics are highly exacerbated by the policies of a select few school districts.

“Missouri is the worst state in the nation for racial disparities in suspension, particularly for kindergarten through third grade suspensions, and the [UCLA] study found that it’s actually a specific few school districts who are responsible for the disparity.

Which means that there’s a gap between the rate at which white students are suspended and black students are suspended,” Marcucci said.

Statistically, the information that Marcucci relates is true; districts such as Normandy, St. Louis City and Riverview Gardens, which all lost and regained accreditation in recent years, account for a large percentage of Missouri’s total suspensions. In fact, all three of these districts ranked among the top 10 highest-suspending districts for all elementary school students across the country in 2011 and 2012. Marcucci explained one of the reasons for these higher rates of suspension.

“I work at University City High School, which is a predominately black school, and unlike CHS, does not have many resources. So, typically, schools that are predominantly black have fewer resources -- less money. And that’s because of a very long history of racial segregation and the way schools are funded,” she said. “Teachers working at these predominantly black schools, even though they care about their students just as much as the teachers working here, have a higher stress job because they have less resources to do the same job. As a result of this, they might be unconsciously using implicit bias to build up solidarity with other teachers. Implicit bias can become a way for teachers to bond with other teachers.”

Implicit bias is defined as attitudes or stereotypes that are formed by one’s mind unconsciously. These biases often dictate the way that people view and interact with one another, sometimes even despite a person’s awareness of their own implicit bias.

“Everyone has implicit bias, which means that teachers, when they’re in classrooms, think and act differently around students of different races, even though teachers believe even more in racial equality when compared to the general population. So the idea is that teachers are unconsciously disciplining their black students more, even though they don’t mean to,” Marcucci said.

Across the country, the rate of suspension for black students is up to three times greater than that of their white peers, especially at schools that are majority African American. Marcucci outlined the significance of this disparity and outcomes of it.

“The discipline gap is what people call this idea of a racial disparity in school discipline. There’s two ways to think about the discipline gap. One is between schools, so a predominately black school versus a predominately white school. The idea is that, maybe there’s some difference between those schools that’s making black students in one school get suspended more than white students in the other school,” she said.

“Then there’s also the fact that at a school like Clayton, which is sort of diverse when compared to other schools in St. Louis but still predominantly white, black students are considered to be at an even higher risk of getting suspended. Research has shown in other parts of the country that school districts like Clayton actually have higher rates of suspension for African American students.”

Demographic data collected by the Clayton School District on in-school and out-ofschool suspension rates illustrate a substantial disparity between white students and students of color. Although African American students make up only 17.9 percent of district enrollment, they account for 70.2 percent of out-of-school suspensions and 67 percent of in-school suspensions. Over the past several years, there has been an ongoing effort to remedy this discrepancy. Administrators at the elementary, middle and high school levels have been attempting to alter their disciplinary policies in order to create a more consistent and equitable school environment.

(This page) Out-of-school suspension rates for Clayton High School compared to the state of Missouri as reported by DESE..

(Charts on opposite page) Discipline data charts provided by the School District of Clayton. The School District, and each respective building, is currently making an effort to remedy these trends so that discipline is more equitable across all demographics categories.

Elementary Level

T

he 2015 UCLA study on suspension rates in the US has initiated debate, especially in Missouri, about how discipline for younger students can be made more consistent, effective and equitable. It has also brought the reality of the disparity in Missouri’s school systems to the forefront of public discussion.

In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Raheema Wilson, mother of a fourth-grader in the Normandy School District, said that her daughter was suspended for three days for talking back to her teacher.

“She didn’t have any homework to do. She came home, helped me clean the house and wash clothes,” Wilson said.

Similarly, at Riverview Gardens, four students were suspended for bringing toy guns to school; in 2014 alone, Riverview Gardens issued 4,200 elementary-level suspensions.

Although Clayton has a very small suspension rates in comparison to these larger districts, principals in the Clayton district are re-examining their suspension data and looking at how they can improve.

Glenridge Elementary School principal Beth Scott said that over the past two years, Glenridge has been focusing on ways to make sure that its disciplinary system benefits all of its students.

“The way we’ve been working to level a playing field with behaviors is absolutely minimizing our number of race-based office referrals,” Scott said.

According to Scott, in order to reduce the effect of implicit bias on discipline at Glenridge, staff members are encouraged to evaluate their own biases and the ways that these might affect the school environment.

“One of our school improvement goals is just titled ‘equity’. Within that umbrella is the opportunity for

staff to examine and process bias, and where unintentional bias creeps into our school day, where we’re possibly not having as high of expectations for one student over another. It could be a race-based response, which is not at all intentional, but aware-

“We need to put in place more restorative practices when a child acts out and is showing us that he or she cannot manage his or her behavior in certain settings ... A suspen-

sion is most likely just flat-out punitive”

- Beth Scott, Glenridge ness brings action, and if you’re aware that you could be offering a biased response, you can think twice before responding,” Scott said.

Additionally, Glenridge offers safe spaces for its staff to discuss current events and social activism, which, Scott said, allows for a heightened sense of self-awareness.

“We [the staff] meet once a month for what Glenridge has called game changers, so it’s been a safe place for teachers to talk about Ferguson, to talk about what’s happening in the media and social justice causes that this district is pretty passionate about.

But it also is about identifying how you’ve been raised, differences in climate and cultures in your households, and how biases are formed naturally in all of us, and how we’re responding then to the students that we’re serving. Because we’re here to serve all,” Scott said.

Although these shifts in philosophy have caused substantial change in the way that Glenridge functions, the school has also

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employed other, more tangible strategies to encourage a disciplinary leveling of the playing field. One of these strategies, Scott explained, is relying more on teaching-oriented solutions to misbehavior rather than purely punitive ones.

“Restorative justice is kind of hitting the airwaves recently, saying, ‘why are schools suspending?’ We need to put in place more restorative practices when a child acts out and is showing us that he or she cannot manage his or her behavior in certain settings.

You tend to lean in at elementary school and be teaching oriented, versus punitive … and a suspension is most likely just flat-out punitive,” Scott said.

Restorative justice is the idea that, rather than simply punishing a child for a certain action (or relying on their parents to

punish them), the child should be offered resources to understand why that action was wrong, to repair the harm that was done, and to reintegrate the child into the classroom environment as smoothly as possible. For elementary students, this promotion of constant behavioral growth is especially crucial. However, Scott said, punitive practices, including suspension, cannot always be avoided.

“We have different levels of infraction. If a student physically assaults someone else, then that will come to my attention, and we will make a decision about whether it’s a suspendable offense.

As my personal philosophy, I realize at times it [suspending a child from school] has to take place, but it’s probably the last resort,” Scott said.

Middle/High School

C

hanges in disciplinary tactics are taking place not only at the elementary level, but district-wide. Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Kashina Bell said that many of these changes are a response to the re-examination of suspension rate data.

“We have to take very close look at our suspension rates and determine if there is any type of disproportionality,” Bell said. “I think in any school district, continuous improvement is very important. School districts have to constantly review their policies and practices to make sure they aren’t resulting in any unintended consequences. Disproportionality is not something that happens just at Clayton, but it is something that I think every district has to review. Clayton is no different. We value each and every one of our students, which is why we are working to find a better way by looking at how Restorative Practices, Mindfulness, Responsive Classrooms, Character Education and Trauma-Informed Care may support our work. In turn, we can better support all of our students, including those who may be involved in a discipline situation.”

Wydown Middle School principal Jamie Jordan said that Wydown has been focusing specifically on the demographics that make up its suspension data for the past two years.

“We started to look at who was being sent in-school and out-ofschool more transparently two and a half years ago, but last year was our big kick-off, when we started having teachers trained around the restorative practices. So we sort of sent a lead group

of teachers to be trained and then we did our own in-house program. And right now probably about half of our teachers have been trained in restorative circles,” Jordan said.

Similarly to Glenridge, Wydown has begun to shift from punitive to restorative justice techniques. This has included renovating the in-school suspension room to be a more learning-conducive environment and reaching out to students and parents in order to prevent any child from being disenfranchised from the school community.

The Clayton School District does not have any overarching policies in regards to a transition to restorative justice practices.

However, most schools in the district are altering their punitive policies in order to better serve all students, according to principals at the elementary, middle and high school level.

Dan Gutchewsky, principal of CHS, said of CHS’ suspension data from the 2016-2017 school year, “We were cited for a disproportionate number of African American males with individualized educational programs being suspended compared to the general population.As a result of that, we’ve desegregated all the data and looked at it in different ways. One of the challenges for a school of our size is that when you have a relatively small student population, one student who repeatedly has discipline infractions can have a pretty big impact on the percentages. That’s one of the factors at work, but we’re always looking at ways that we can get better and make sure that our kids are successful.”

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By The Numbers Black students are

3.5x more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students

Sourced from the US Department of Education

1 in 4 young black male dropouts are incarcerated Sourced from Northeastern University

1 in 3 black men will be incarcerated in his life Sourced from the Sentencing Project

The Pipeline

D

uring the 2011 and 2012 school year in Missouri, 27 percent of African American students in grades six through 12 were suspended compared to seven percent of their white peers. The 20 point percentage difference was the fourth largest in the U.S. at the time. This disparity, coupled with its correlation to the current carceral state, is commonly known as the pipeline to prison. April Fulstone, a Wydown english teacher who is heavily involved in social activism and avocation, most notably in her role as an educator, described this phenomenon.

“The pipeline is really just a metaphor for socioeconomic and racial systemic inequity. Our school system is so archaic. It was built during a time when systemic inequity was never questioned and almost expected as the way society runs,” Fulstone said. “So school was a way to categorize people and say, ‘you’re gonna succeed and you’re just a waste of space’. We never fixed this system and now all of these other problems have been more and more exacerbated with segregation and lack of resources.

So you have schools like Normandy where there are very few resources.

We in Clayton don’t have those issues but we have kids coming from communities that may be facing those issues in other ways and I would find it interesting to see among our students who come from communities like Normandy where there aren’t as many resources, what percent of those students are actually ending up in the criminal justice system?”

Fulstone is aware of two former Clayton students, both black males, who went to Wydown while she taught in the building that were eventually incarcerated.

“The two black males that I know of [who went to Clayton and ended up in prison], I just wonder what happened to fail those people. What did we do to not give the opportunities that we have access to to help these specific students really avoid this trap?”

Fulstone said.

She also expressed her view that the effects of suspension policies can sometimes mirror those of the juvenile system or prison.

“At Wydown we started this restorative justice system. As a building culturally, we’re trying to avoid suspension. It has been proven that suspension is not effective, just like going to jail, you’re pretty much just made to feel like you’re not a part of the community, that there’s no way to incorporate yourself. Just like when you go to jail and spend years in prison, you can’t adapt back. You can’t get a job, you can’t vote, you’re basically a non-citizen. As a student you can get trapped in that. I had a student several years back who got suspended so many times and it was to the

point where you couldn’t even catch him up. Every other month it was a week out of school and it’s just really ineffective. It’s a stamp of, you’re a failure, we can’t help you,” Fulstone said.

According to a report on the school-to-prison pipeline conducted by the Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice, the pipeline is primarily caused by nine key factors; low expectations, low academic achievement, incorrect referral or categorization in special education, overly harsh discipline including suspension, expulsion, referral to law enforcement, arrest and treatment in the juvenile justice system.

Marcucci explained several of these points in greater detail.

“African American students are actually disproportionately assigned to special education classrooms, and a lot of times that’s not necessarily a direct inroad to the pipeline, but it starts to marginalize students from the larger school community. So they start to feel less connected to the school, less successful in school, and then they look for things outside of school that may or may not be legal, which then encourage them to join the pipeline,” Marcucci said. “The other thing in schools that pushes students towards prison is the fact that there are police officers that are actually stationed in schools. Some people like that there’s a police officer. But a lot of times it means that legal charges are filed against students for school-based infractions, something that they do in school. All of a sudden the police actually get involved much quicker than if there wasn’t a police officer stationed in the school.”

Marcucci also pointed out that although suspension is one of the main ways that schools push students toward prison, it only becomes a detrimental issue when the suspension is chronic. “[It becomes more likely that a student will be pushed into the pipeline] When you start being suspended multiple times in a year or when your suspensions involve interactions with the school police officer or something like that where you have initial contact with the justice system. And then you start missing school, you start missing coursework. The other big problem with suspension is that it also cuts off relationships. You start losing connection with your peers and your teachers and you begin to become disconnected with the school,” Marcucci said.

Although most research on the school-to-prison pipeline centers around how the actions of schools push students towards incarceration, there is some argument that the justice system itself is organized in a way that pulls minorities towards it.

“At Wydown we started this restorative justice system. As a building culturally, we’re trying to avoid suspension. It has been proven that suspension is not effective, just like going to jail, you’re pretty much just made to feel like you’re not a part of the community”

- April Fulstone, Wydown

The Carceral State

J

eff Smith, author of the memoir “Mr. Smith Goes to Prison” and a fromer prisoner, believes that a comprehensive understanding of the prison pipeline requires an understanding of the current status of America’s prison system – of the carceral state. Smith pled guilty to two felony charges for attempting to obstruct justice during his 2004 congressional campaign and spent a year in jail as a result.

Before Smith was sentenced to prison, however, he spent his time in politics advocating for combatting the disparities of the criminal justice system.

“Working with people who had convictions was a big legislative push of mine before I went away [to prison],” Smith said.

Smith adamantly believes that a central flaw within America’s criminal justice system is the way in which it systematically deprives inmates of proper educational opportunities. Smith described a relationship that exists between recidivism rates and educational opportunities afforded to prisoners.

“The number one flaw in the prison system is the total dearth of educational opportunities inside prison,” Smith said. “And we know social science tells us that one of the only things that can meaningfully reduce the likelihood of recidivism is advancing educationally while you are locked up, yet where I was there were only three educational opportunities offered in a year.”

Smith went on to describe the lackluster educational opportunities he and his fellow inmates were offered. As an inmate with a completed doctoral degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Smith knows firsthand the importance of quality education and assumed he would have the opporunity to work as a teacher while serving his time - this was not the case.

“One [of the offered classes] was a week-long course in hydroponics; they taught you how to grow tomatoes in water. The second one was a GED course taught by someone who had just gotten their GED,” Smith said. “Nobody was taking it seriously at all and the teacher had no teaching experience. I’m not saying that I deserved to have the best job, but I did have ten years of teaching experience and a doctorate.”

Smith’s experiences led him to believe that a systematic value on prison education is nearly absent in the United States.

“If they cared about the progress, advancement and preparation for society, they might have considered that [I] might have been better qualified to teach the GED than someone who had just taken the GED,” he said.

After being released from prison, Smith spent time in a halfway house, which is a common experience for many prisoners. He empha-

sized the ways in which his experience at the house differed from his in-prison experience.

“When I got to the halfway house, it was the exact opposite.

The minute I got there the guy in charge said ‘look man, I know about your case. It looked kind of stupid that they sent you to prison. It was just a waste, so I want to get you out of here as soon as possible. I know you are supposed to be here for three months but why should you be taking a bed away from someone who really needs it? I know you have a house. We’ll get you out of here in a few weeks.’ So my time was about a quarter of what was assigned.

I was expedited,” Smith said.

Jeff Smith, Executive Vice President of Concordance Academy of Leadership and former prisoner. (photo by Michael Melinger)

Prison Education

S

mith currently serves as Executive Vice President of Concordance Academy of Leadership, a local nonprofit organization devoted to reducing incarceration rates through education and community engagement.

“We are a one-stop shop for people who come out of prison.

We provide housing assistance, legal assistance, cognitive behavioral therapy for people with mental health struggles,” Smith said.

“We provide education, preparation for the HiSET test, job readiness, guaranteed employment for a year, spiritual care, and support teams who dedicate a year to surround a person and make sure that people are ready to be on track.”

To avoid selection bias, 250 participants are selected at random to join Concordance Academy. Johnny Hampton is one of

Johnny Hampton, Condordance Academy of Leadership member and former prisoner.

(Photo by Michael Melinger)

them, and is currently several months into his year-long partnership.

“Concordance has been a big help. It has helped me get up on my education, how to approach a job, how to do it and when to do it, what to wear. It gives inmates a second chance not having nothing. It helps you get food stamps and anything you need,” Hampton said.

In addition to guiding him through the process of reentering society, Concordance Academy surrounded Hampton with a support system.

“I don’t even know my old life anymore. If you aren’t positive or have something positive going on, I don’t condone it. They really taught me who to be around,” Hampton said. “I went to University City High school, but I dropped out in order to sell drugs.”

Washington University professor Margaret Garb serves as Co-Director of the Washington University Prison Education Program.

“We offer a liberal arts education; anything that’s offered on campus, we try to offer in the prison. This isn’t vocational training; this isn’t therapy. This is a liberal arts education because we believe in the value of having education for everyone, whether you’re in prison or not,” Garb said.

Despite these offerings, Garb contrasts the prison and university teaching experiences.

“You can’t ever forget that you’re there, that you’re in prison when you’re in the room with them. You are, obviously, in a prison. To get to the classroom you have to sign in with a guard, they give you a handheld alarm you are supposed to take with you at all times. You have to go through security,” Garb said.

However, some of these same differences bring new perspectives to the classroom.

“The discussion is on a pretty high intellectual level. There are moments where the men in the room could be students anywhere, they’re as smart, as sharp, as insightful. They are very good readers. In some ways it’s very different, in some ways it’s a classroom where you have some very serious and engaged students. It’s a really rewarding teaching experience because the students are so serious, so smart,” Garb said.

Garb believes that prison education

programs and prison education, in general - allow prisoners to better appreciate and fulfill their potential.

“Most of them never got through high school, they got a GED in prison. Most of them had bad experiences in high school, they didn’t like it, didn’t feel smart, didn’t feel encouraged. Over the course of a couple semesters, as they realized they were smarter than they thought they were, that they were more capable than they thought they were, reading difficult books and writing papers, you just see them gain confidence and become serious scholars. Most of them weren’t certain that was going to happen. They were curious, interested, but they didn’t know what this college thing was about,” Garb said.

While in prison, Hampton took advantage of his exposure to educational opportunities, specifically those offered by the Washington University Prison Education Program.

“I took Washington University classes and I got my GED in prison. Then since I got out, Concordance has helped me look at colleges I want to go to,” Hampton said. “I am still going to [get]

around to college to get my psychology degree. I was thinking about going to Fontbonne University, but I haven’t made a total decision yet. I want to be a motivational speaker for the youth. My goal is to go worldwide.”

Hampton testifies to the successful approach of the Concordance Academy and to the benefits derived from being part of prison education programs, in general.

“It has been a really positive experience. Ninety percent of the people who have come out with me have a job, someplace to stay, and they aren’t homeless. That’s all thanks to Concordance.

They helped us learn who we are and what we need to be to succeed. Without Concordance, I would probably be out there on the street selling drugs, probably living the crime life,” Hampton said.

Hampton spoke to the importance of his and his fellow participants’ long-term commitment to education and reform.

“Everything ain’t perfect, but they are learning as they go. You just have to stick with [the] program,” Hampton said.

The Path Forward

I

n order to close the discipline gap in education, Marcucci insists that teachers and educators must reach out of their comfort zones – breaking barriers created by implicit biases and stereotypes. For St. Louis, this means acknowledging and addressing a history of racial difference and segregation.

“They can foster interracial teams in their work and they can regularly seek out media that is counter-stereotypical. I think the most important thing is to actually interact with people that don’t look like you. And that’s something that can be uncomfortable, particularly in St. Louis because it’s such a segregated city,” Marcucci said.

According to Bell, another important aspect of regulating discipline policy on a district-wide level is remaining consistent and examining all aspects of an incident.

“I think we have to look at practices [to avoid discrepancies in discipline data]. When a student comes before us with a situation, we have to look at the severity of their actions, the frequency with which this same person has done these types of things, and then you have to also look at consistency. So do [principals] give out the same consequences based on the severity of the situation and regardless of what the person looks like,” Bell said.

Both Concordance Academy and the Washington University programs have a limited amount of seats.

“The [Washington University] program has become very selective. Last year we had 70 applicants for 14 spots. As word spreads in the prison more and more men want to get into the program and continue their education,” Garb said.

The prospects of improving the carceral state will, in Smith’s

eyes, hinge significantly on how ex-felons are viewed and treated by greater society. According to Smith, the state of America’s politics will inevitably influence and even complicate the criminal justice situation.

“There is a mushrooming decarceration moment, but [whether or not] this be sustained in a Donald Trump-era is the question.

He ran on being the law and order president much like Nixon in 1968. Jeff Sessions is the worst person in the senate and maybe the country to be attorney general. He is so unsympathetic. I think that it’s very up in the air,” he said.

Smith believes there exists a misconception surrounding the origins of national criminal justice reform.

“Often times people pay too much attention to the federal level, but where the real change is going to come from is the state level,” Smith said. “You have Georgia, Texas and South Carolina, these southern republican states, who are doing pretty good work in their prison systems--getting more beds for treatment for those with drug problems, helping people get jobs and decreasing the length of sentences for certain offenses. I think we are seeing a lot of conservative republican governors leading the way on this reform.”

In addition to changes in national policies and attitudes, moving forward and making significant reform will require individual efforts from people like Smith and organizations like the Concordance Academy and the Washington University Prison Education Program.

“When I came out, I vowed that I was going to do everything I could so that the guys I was locked up with would not waste any more time than they already had,” Smith said.

29

COVER

ATHLE TE PROFILE:

KHAYLIE ROSS

The Globe sits down with CHS sophomore Khaylie Ross, the lone female on the wrestling team.

K

haylie Ross had already received a full-ride scholarship for wrestling at Missouri Baptist University in seventh grade despite only wrestling for one year.

However, unlike most of the other wrestlers, Ross is a female.

Ever since she was young, Ross has shown a tremendous amount of interest towards athletics.

“My little brother wrestled. I always thought it was cool because the coaches would sometimes let me participate in the warm up because I was just there and had nothing to do,” Ross said. “But when I asked them if I could wrestle with them [...], they said, ‘No, we don’t allow girls on the team.’”

Ross, who was desperate to give the sport a real shot, was unsurprisingly upset. She felt that she had to prove the coach wrong and stand up for gender equality.

“I felt like I had a point to prove that I could do the same things that guys could do. They had the rope climb,” Ross said. “I could climb it faster and better than all the other guys.”

Ross’ resilient attitude displayed itself as she and her mother searched for wrestling teams in the St. Louis area that accepted females.

Knowing that club teams, unlike high school teams, are not obligated to allow males and females to be part of their team, Ross knew finding a team that accepts females would be difficult. However, after numerous calls, Ross and her mother discovered the

Mid-County Wrestling Club.

When Ross initially showed interest in the club, Mid-County only had males on the team. Nevertheless, it was soon found out that they accepted females and embraced diversity. Thus, when Ross asked the coaches if she could be part of the team, they were more than willing to let her train with the boys.

“They were excited that there was a female trying to wrestle,” Ross said. “It is pretty rare for females to wrestle.”

Initially, Ross felt a little out of place on the team as she was the only female.

“I didn’t really talk to anybody on the team. [The new people and I] just didn’t work out really well,” Ross said. “But then I got more comfortable, and they treated me like one of the guys. I was okay with that. That’s all I really wanted.”

However, after practicing and being around the male athletes, she began to see her teammates as family.

“I got more comfortable and they just treated me like one of the guys. I was happy with that as that was all I really wanted. They would make fun of me for some stuff, but it’s nothing they wouldn’t make fun of the other guys for,” Ross said.

Although Ross ended up finding her place on the team, her untraditional role was often still apparent.

“Even at Mid-County, sometimes, I get treated differently because I’m a female,” Ross said. “I was okay with that.”

During her first year on the team, which was when she was in 6th grade, Ross only practiced with the team as she did not feel

Khaylie Ross leaves the mat during a wrestling meet. Photo from Lawrence Austin.

SPORTS

30 3

“It’s a male dominated sport. It’s pretty rare that you would see a female wrestling,” Dickens said.

“She goes all out. She works hard the entire time and doesn’t stop.”

ready to prove herself on the mats.

However, the next year, Ross decided that she would begin to compete in matches.

Since this was her first time competing, Ross, by state rules, was considered a rookie.

“I started practicing and I got more comfortable. By that time I was super cocky. Females can wrestle,” Ross said. “I made it to AAU [Amateur Athletic Union] State.”

Out of herself and the seven other male competitors from her weight class that made it this far in the season, Ross placed sixth.

After being on the team for two years, Ross decided to leave her wrestling family and take a break from the sport.

In her freshman year at CHS, Ross originally planned on trying out for the wrestling squad.

“I asked [the CHS coaches] last year if they accepted girls and they said yes,” she said. “I had been debating it ever since then.”

However, after giving it some thought, Ross decided against playing for the team. “[Last year] I was still in that little phase where I was scared to wrestle. In eighth grade and ninth grade I weighed about 140.

Guys at 140 normally are short and fat or tall and muscular,” Ross said. “I just didn’t want to wrestle a guy who I knew would crush me. My upper body strength is non existent.”

However, sophomore year, with her headgear still hanging on a rack in her room, Ross got the urge to head back to the mats.

The coaches were eager to see her compare to the other male wrestlers. “[I was] very nervous. [I] wanted to prove myself. I would practice really really hard the first two weeks of practice to show them that I could be as good or if not better than the guys on the team,” Ross said. “Within the first week, the coaches said she’s practicing better than you all and you all have been doing this longer.”

Trenton Dickens, a senior at CHS and co-captain of the wrestling team, was ecstatic when he learned a female was interested in joining the “boy’s wrestling team.” (The CHS Greyhounds website still lists wrestling under the boys’ category) This would become the first time that Dickens has shared the bench with the opposite gender in any sport in his life, and he was inquisitive as to how this new acceptance would play out.

“I was excited to see how she would stack up compared to some of the other guys. It’s been impressive. Everybody was a little apprehensive about working with her,” Dickens said. “But we are doing her a disservice to not go just as hard with her as we would everybody else. [We don’t] treat her any differently because the other competition won’t.”

The captain believes that with the addition of Ross on the

Photo by Annika Sanquist team, the overall morale of the group has increased dramatically.

Since her joining, the team has become closer as a family and has been able to wrestle with more success on the mats.

“I partner up with Kaylie a lot. I tell her what she’s good at [and] how she could be better. In turn, she is also better than me in a couple things,” Dickens said. “I try to learn from her as much as I can.”

Dickens admires Ross’ fight for women’s rights.

“It’s a male dominated sport. It’s pretty rare that you would see a female wrestling,” he said. “She goes all out. She works hard the entire time and doesn’t stop.”

michael bernard @mkevvb SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR daniel cohen @danielc_52 BUSINESS MANAGER

31

SPORTS

JUMANJI

Official Movie Poster From 1981, to 1995, and now to 2017, a timeless classic has been brought back to the movie industry. The story of Jumanji is back in the form of another movie -- an iteration of the 1995 film starring Robin Williams.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle begins in New Hampshire during the year 1996. As an easter egg to the original Jumanji film, teenager Alex Vreeke is gifted the Jumanji board game by his father after finding it on a beach. Mysteriously, the board game turns into a video game cartridge. When Alex proceeds to play the game, he is transported into the game never to be seen again.

The story picks up on the four main protagonists 20 years later.

Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff), Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman), and Martha Kaply (Morgan Jeanette Turner) are coincidentally brought together after they are all sentenced to detention. Whilst serving their time in the school’s basement, they find an old console with the Jumanji cartridge stuffed inside a storage box.

The four of them pick up a controller and choose a character.

However, when they proceed to start the game, the console be-

REVIEW

32

gins to emit a green light. In a matter of seconds, the four high school students are sucked into the world of Jumanji. Each of the protagonists are turned into the character they chose acted out by Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan with unique strengths and weaknesses.

As the four of them venture around the world of Jumanji, they begin to pick up bits of information regarding their mission and how to escape. With each of them possessing three lives, they have to take the “Jaguar’s Eye” that was taken from the main villain Russel Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale) and return it to the jaguar statue in order to lift the curse set on Jumanji. Only by returning the jewel and yelling “Jumanji!” can they teleport back to Earth.

While advancing through each of the game’s levels, they have to fend off Russel Van Pelt and his henchmen.

Along the way, they encounter Alex (Nick Jonas) inside of the game and join forces in order to beat the game together. It is at this moment Alex realizes that he has been stuck inside the game for 20 years. Nevertheless, the now five protagonists proceed through the game.

This film demonstrates a masterful combination of action, cinematography, characterization and humor. Each of the starring actors have their shining moments while continuously showing strong chemistry with one another. Despite having a predictable plot-line, the film does a great job piggy backing off the still popular 1995 version and adds a much needed contemporary twist to it. Furthermore, while I watched the film in the theatre, the film had many scenes that caused an eruption of laughter throughout the audience -- its comedy is smartly distributed throughout the movie and is not overwhelming. In particular, the dynamic interaction between Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson is especially memorable.

Despite having stiff competition in its opening night with the likes of Star Wars, The Greatest Showman and Coco, the movie still garnered $6.9 million on its opening night and has managed to climb to the top of the box office after amassing over $240 million domestically and over $510 million domestically.

For those nostalgic about the original Jumanji film or are just looking for an overall great action comedy, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is for you.

daniel cho @cho__bani SPORTS SECTION EDITOR

best of STL BRUNCH ISSUE

RICHARD CHENG, SEAN KIM, JUSTIN GUILAK, AND JaCOB LAGESSE GET THE SCOOP ON THE BEST BRUNCH SPOTS IN TOWN

ALL PHOTOS BY MICHAEL MELINGER

PASTARIA 7734 FORSYTH BLVD, Clayton Pastaria has the most unique options of any brunch place we visited, and it became one of our top picks.

The oven-baked eggs are poured over a layer of toast, then baked with tomato sauce and cheese. It was a unique and flavorful dish.

Pastaria’s breakfast pizza combines egg and bacon with tomato sauce and cheese to capture the Italian theme of the restaurant’s other menus. The runny egg at the center makes the first bite too rich to enjoy, but the rest of the pizza provides a well-balanced savory taste. The only sweet dish on the menu is the semolina waffle, a crispy, walnut-covered waffle with powdered sugar and maple syrup. Despite this seemingly-excessive sugar, the waffle has the perfect amount of sweetness, especially when paired with some melted butter.

The biggest concern with Pastaria, however, is the price. Especially for high school students, dishes costing upwards of $15 each, without any sides, can be financially draining. Regardless, we agreed that the cost fits the quality of the food; while it was expensive, Pastaria’s brunch was definitely a cut above the rest.

HALF & HALF

8135 MARYLAND AVE, ClaYTON

Located on Maryland Ave within walking distance from CHS, Half & Half offers a wide variety of traditional brunch items. We visited at around 10:30 on a Wednesday, and because we came at peak brunch hours we had to wait around 20 minutes for a table.

We began the meal with a great french toast.The portion size was just big enough to provide a satisfying meal without leaving me desiring much more.

The next item we tried was the stack of pancakes. Like the french toast, we found the pancakes to be very filling. While they were good, they were not anything special.

As we moved from the sweet side of the menu to the savory, we started with the classic eggs benedict. While initially tasty, the dish became extremely rich and almost nauseating to eat.

We had an overall pleasant experience at Half & Half. If you’re looking for a nice place for a traditional brunch, this location would be a good choice, especially due to its close proximity to CHS and downtown Clayton.

FEATURE REVIEW

16 34 38 3

WHITEBOx 176 Carondelet Plaza, CLAYTON Despite being located near prestige restaurants such as 801 Fish and 801 Chophouse, Whitebox does not live up to the quality one would expect out of the restaurants in Carondelet Plaza.

We started with the berry french toast, a dish boasting berry compote, whipped cream and pecans. Starting from the fact that the restaurant did not offer the berry compote anymore and substituted it with fruit and regular syrup, we were presented with a strangely warm fruit and rather soggy bread.

The next item we tried was the biscuits and gravy that were topped with scallions for garnish. Again, the dish was nothing out of the ordinary other than a mild spice that came with the gravy.

Whitebox’s dishes were banal and absolutely not worth the price.

WINSLOW'S HOME 7213 DELMAR BLVD, ST. LOUIS Winslow’s Home was the final stop of the brunch taste test across Clayton. Immediately, we were greeted by a fifteen minute wait to order and a further five minutes to eat, so we expected quality dishes. Instead, we were greeted by somewhat average, but adequate dishes that left you full but a little disappointed.

On the basic breakfast plates, while not severely overcooked, the eggs were dry and could have used more better and less time in the skillet. The bacon was fairly dry as well; the saving grace of the dish was the delicious potatoes. The breakfast burrito, while boasting interesting flavors, was overwhelmed by pork and fairly monotonous. The Winslow’s Home experience, while decent, was too diminished by a long wait time, average food, and overpriced dishes to warrant a recommendation.

35

REVIEW

The Center of Clayton Stay active all winter with membership.

Resident rates available for all Clayton School District families.

(314)-290-8500 www.centerofclayton.com

Center C C The Center of Clayton

welcome to

Love, The Globe a column

introduction

Art By Lizzy Mills

We put a lot of emphasis on love at the Globe.

I distinctly remember my introduction to this foundation of our group. I was a freshman, partnered with an upperclassman I had never met before. Next thing I knew, we were handed the New York Times’ “The 36 Questions That Lead to Love” and I was having a discussion with the upperclassman about my identity, my happiness, my hopes and my fears. In that moment, two souls were slowly being revealed and these souls were gaining an understanding of one another. These are the embers that lead to the light of love.

I think we don’t realize how many times this light shines in our lives. We take it for granted, just as we take the sun. Think about the sun.

It’s literally the key to our existence; we revolve around it. But it rises everyday, so we don’t appreciate the star as we should.

Love is a lot like the sun. It brightens our world, warms our hearts, and life is a nearly impossible task without some form of it. And we aren’t always grateful for it; we don’t always see how often it enters our life.

That being said, we notice some kinds of love.

We make lots of movies and write lots of books about this kind of love. We even search for it on the internet. And don’t get me wrong: romantic love is indeed a beautiful love. Its light is radiant and worthy of appreciation. But there are other sources of this warming luminescence.

Take for example the bond that exists between families. The care that flows between friends.

A deep passion for an activity. A fascination -- a connection -- with a place. Care for the self. (Very different than selfishness, mind you.) The learning that occurs during mentorship -- both for the mentee and the mentor. A flow of creativity; the birth of an idea. The list goes on.

We’ve tried to keep this focus on love a central part of Globe. We continue to have touching conversations, build community, and encourage love for human storytelling and observation of the world around us. And we’re taking a step to expand the realm of this philosophy of ours.

Greatly inspired by the New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, Globe is following suit and presenting a “Love, the Globe” column. Each issue from now on will feature a commentary following one writer’s story with any form of love. In a world where the news can get heavy and dark, we hope these stories will help the light of love shine a little brighter.

mitali sharma @mitasharma EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

exploring the facets of love My dad wasn’t always my dad. There was a time when he was just my parent: A stoic figure, a homework helper, but not quite a source of love. He never needed to be. My mom provided all the love I needed. She was more than just a parent - she was a friend, a confidant, and most importantly, she loved me unconditionally.

It’s not as if my father wasn’t in the picture, he was an ever present figure in my life, but we didn’t share the same kind of relationship that my mother and I had. He was constantly working, providing for my family, but lacked a strong personal involvement in my life. He was a parent.

However, when my mom passed away from cancer, my father and I faced the unprecedented trials and tribulations that come along with the tragedy of losing a loved one. My dad, who I had been emotionally distant towards, slowly began taking steps to reinvent our relationship.

These efforts first became apparent to me on the final days leading up to her death.

An image that stands clear in my memory is the final day. I sat alone in the waiting room, too anxious to move, paralyzed by the idea that if I went in, I might see her take her last breaths. As I sat with my eyes in my hands, an unfamiliar warmth surrounded me with a hug. It was my dad. For a moment I wasn’t in the hospital surrounded by these people, it was just me and my dad. We sat for a while, and then he offered to take me home. On our drive, I had one of the first intimate conversations with him that I can remember. We talked about when he met my mom, how they fell in love, and what he loved about her.

For a short time I had escaped from the hardship consuming my life. I was immersed in the story of them meeting during their twenties in San Francisco and falling in love, and I could feel my mom’s bold and lively charisma that he fell in love with. This was the root of our revitalized relationship, the foundation of a new love.

We gradually became closer in the years after her death. Our differences settled out and we grew to understand each other. The constant fights subsided, and the misunderstandings diminished. He became my go-to, the person I trusted most in the world. Quiet, small-talk dinners slowly shifted into opportunities for us to connect and catch up. He’d give me advice on every topic that concerned me, even if they weren’t ones that he could directly relate to. In middle school, he was constantly updated on the ever-changing status of my crushes. In high school,

he shared my stress over the social challenges and academic hurdles every teenage girl awkwardly faces. And now, he subdues my interminable anxieties about college and the future.

I don’t think any singular moment can define the growth of our relationship. It was a process full of trial and error as he endeavored to raise a teenager on his own. But with persistence and care, my dad took on the dualities that a single parent must face-to be the good cop and the bad cop, to be motherly and fatherly, a parent and a friend.

Single parenthood is often brought about unexpectedly. This is a challenge that many families face, and it is up to the individual to decide how to cope with the task of fostering a child on their own. The recipe for a single parent’s love cannot be taught or handed down. It can only be crafted through experience, failure, and effort. The mystery ingredient is the driving force behind the relationship. The innate motivation to care for your child and love them wholeheartedly. It’s unmeasurable, and defies any analytical reasoning.

My dad is more than just a parent. He’s a stoic figure, a homework helper, a friend, a confidant, and most importantly, he loves me unconditionally. olivia joseph

@olivia.joseph OPINION SECTION EDITOR

Art By Lizzy Mills

M i s s o u r i Lo s e s i n G re i te n s F i g h t w i t h B o a rd o f E d u c a t i o n

Eric Greitens emerges as winner of the Missouri governor’s race on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, at his election watch party at the Double Tree Hotel in Chesterfield, Mo. Greitens, a Republican, defeated Democratic nominee Chris Koster. Since taking office Governor Greitens has battled against the Missouri Board of Education, using his position to fire Board members opposed to his plans for education in Missouri. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS) Over the past five months, Missouri Governor Greitens has played politics with Missouri’s Education system, attempting to personally control the Board of Education, disrupting and delaying it from its job.

Finally, after 10 attempts appointing new members to Missouri Board of Education, Governor Eric Greitens finally got his way last December.

Five of the eight members of the Missouri State School Board have been replaced Gov. Greitens within a period of months. The governor fast-tracked the process to fill board seats, appointing 10 people for the eight seats, finding those who would fulfill his ultimate personal goal of getting rid of Missouri Education Commissioner, Margie Vandeven.

Greitens did not provide a specific reason why he wanted Vandeven removed besides broad comments about needing change and improving the quality of Missouri’s education. “Today, the system works for insiders and bureaucrats who get paid real well, but it fails too many students, families, and teachers,” Greitens said in a statement.

Many, however, have speculated that the real reason behind Greitens strong push for Vandeven removal stems from her support for public education over charter schools.

Greitens has supported more funding for charter schools and had received $370,000 in campaign contributions from charter school advocates including now Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Not only did the Governor not explain why he wanted Vandeven gone, but he also pursued her removal even though a vast majority of Missouri’s teachers and administrators have shown their support for her.

The Missouri State Teachers Association issued a strongly worded letter condemning Greitens tactics and questioning the legality of his actions. “The Missouri State Teachers Association is deeply troubled by the politicization of the State Board of Education. The attempted ouster of a sitting commissioner without any justification, by newly appointed and unconfirmed board members, is outside of the framework adopted by Missouri citizens in a statewide ratification of our current Constitution.”

It’s indisputable that Greitens actions are unprecedented.

A report released by the MSTA that documented the history of Missouri’s Board of Education showed that the most appointments ever in a single year was three and the average term of an education commissioner was over 11 years. Vandeven was appointed in 2015.

The report also showed that former Governor Jay Nixon nominated only seven members during his eight-year term, and before him, Governors Bob Holden and Matt Blunt each only appointed four members during their four-year terms.

The MSTA letter continued, “A drastic partisan shift in the state board and the unprecedented removal of Dr. Margie Vandeven would be a step backward for Missouri’s students and teachers and a smack in the face of the citizens who ratified Missouri’s current Constitution drafted specifically to remove politics from our state school system.”

Grietens finally got his way in a December meeting when the board voted 5-3 to remove Vandeven, all five votes coming from members appointed by Greitens.

Five other appointees either resigned or were removed by Greitens.

This marked the first time an Education Commissioner had

been fired in Missouri’s history. The removal makes the end of many months of political maneuvering and controversial appointments by Governor Greitens.

The governor’s last appointment, alderman Eric Teeman, was placed on the board just hours before the final vote. The seat opened up when Claudia Onate Greim who herself had previously just been appointed by the governor suddenly resigned her position.

It’s not a mystery as to why, she had previously voted to keep Vandeven, stalling the firing at a 4 to 4 deadlock.

In a press release after Vandeven removal, Greitens said, “Today, kids, teachers, and families won. The State Board of Education voted for new leadership for our school system. That’s a major step in the right direction as we work to improve public education in Missouri.”

Again, the Governor used broad generalizations, refusing to reveal his motivations and leaving the people of Missouri without answers. By appointing over half of the board, Greitens has the power to control the future of the board and the direction of Missouri’s education system.

Grietens’ actions have not only shocked teachers and administrators but also his fellow Republican lawmakers as well.

Grietens has largely shut lawmakers out of the appointment process which has upset many on both sides. Not smart politics considering new board of education appointees must be confirmed by the Senate before they can officially join the board.

Republican Senator Rob Schaaf publicly criticized Greitens and said he would try his best to block his appointees. “I will be opposing them to the fullest extent of my ability, and I think that’s a pretty good extent,” Schaaf said.

In response to opposition to his picks, Greitens responded by pulling all five of his appointment and quickly reappointing them, a move that gave his appointments another chance to go through

the Senate, while also paralyzing the board.

Without being confirmed by the senate, the appointees are not allowed to vote, leaving several important issues in limbo.

Grietens repeated effort to excise his personal will on a supposedly independent organization shows his reckless desire for his own gain.

The governor has prioritized playing politics instead of seeking consensus.

Seeming to work on his own behalf inMargie Vandeven, former stead working for the benefit of all Missouri- Missouri Education Commians. Governor Greitens sioner. Photo from Missouri should learn that our Department of Education. state’s government isn’t his own private vehicle for his self-advancement and should start working together with others to create a better Missouri.

david higuchi @hi_guchi REPORTER

O u r m i s s i o n i s to p rov i d e s ta te o f t h e a r t m e d i c a l a n d s u rg i c a l t re a t m e nt of t h e fo o t & a n k l e.

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MEDIA M I S R E P R E S E N TAT I O N

Photo of Kelly Marie Tran, known for her recent role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

At first, when I heard that there would be an Asian woman in the new Star Wars movie, I was shocked. An Asian? In a Star Wars movie? I couldn’t comprehend it. My shocked reaction was soon replaced by excitement, but I asked myself, why was there a momentary feeling of shock? Surely if a black or white woman was given the role instead, I would not be shocked. So why Asians?

Stereotypically, Asians are seen as very obedient and docile.

This could stem from the fact that Asians usually are strongly disciplined, and are told to work hard instead of arguing or protesting. Asians are also seen to be very focused on academics, and discouraged from careers in the entertainment industry.

At one point in time, there may have not been enough Asian actors to be able to be represented properly, but times have changed, and now there are many Asians pushing towards an acting career.

According to the 2011-2015 ACS Demographics and Housing Estimates, around 5.1 percent of the United States is Asian. Many would agree that what we see in Hollywood movies is disproportionate to the real world.

One problem is that movies that have Asian roles are often whitewashed. For example, white actresses Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton in their respective films Ghost in the Shell and Dr. Strange played roles that were initially Asian. Many fans argued that the actresses who portrayed whitewashed characters did not have a choice, but other actors prove that is not always the case. Actor Ed Skrein turned down the role of the Asian character Ben Daimio for the remake of “Hellboy” to prevent whitewashing. His actions were met with praise, and afterwards, Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim replaced him.

Actions like those of Ed Skrein are important for many different reasons. Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in Star Wars, stated in an interview, “I just remember growing up and

OPINION 42

ashley chung @achvng REPORTER

not seeing anyone that looked like me in movies.”

The media is a large influence during one’s adolescence. TV shows and movies tell stories, and if people do not see actors or actresses like them represented properly, or even not represented at all, they are influenced to think that they are either unimportant or bound to become exactly how the actor represented them.

Although Asian actors may be casted into roles, these roles are not necessarily fair. Korean American actors Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park left the CBS show, Hawaii Five O, because they were not being paid an equal amount as their white co-stars Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan.

It was reported that Kim and Park’s final pay offer was 1015 percent less than O’Loughlin and Caan’s pay offer. Actress Chloe Bennet, who starred in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., also felt that there was discrimination against Asians. Originally born as Chloe Wang, the actress changed her last name because of discrimination.

In a response to a comment about her changing of name, Bennett wrote, “Changing my name doesn’t change the fact that my blood is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese. It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable. I’m doing everything I can with the platform I have to make sure no one has to change their name again just to get work.”

If actors and actresses feel as if they must change a part of their identity to be able to be paid equally, there is an issue that needs to be addressed.

There are also other issues with how Asians are portrayed in media. First, if seen at all, Asians characters are almost either Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Indian. There are forty-eight different countries in Asia, so it is unfair and inaccurate to assume that all Asians are east Asians or Indian.

Next, as Thai-American actor Pun Bandhu stated about Asian characters portrayed, “We’re the information givers. We’re the geeks. We’re the prostitutes. We’re so sick and tired of seeing ourselves in those roles.” Asians are associated with certain roles, so as a result, it is very hard to see change in the roles Asians play.

One Asian CHS student said, “People want to see themselves and their cultures represented, and they want them represented accurately.”

In order to be able to fix this problem, people first need to be aware about it. Often, this issue is brushed aside and not known about. It is important to be aware of this issue because it affects how people see Asians in society. The way media portrays Asians on screen reflect on to how people see them in real life.

Even though these issues are still prominent, media has made progress in diversifying itself. Shows like Dr. Ken, Fresh Off the Boat, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and more prove that there is hope for the future. There is a call for the media to shift its representation of Asians, and by doing this perhaps we may conquer stereotypes in the real world.

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PRO: NET NEUTRALIT Y REPEAL

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n early 2001, in the middle of an age of rapid technological innovation, the Microsoft Corporation was accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of becoming a monopoly and engaging in anti-competitive processes. The central issue was whether Microsoft was allowed to bundle its flagship browser, Internet Explorer, with its Windows operating system.

It was believed that this bundling was responsible for Microsoft’s victory in the “browser wars”, since every Windows user now had a copy of Internet Explorer. It was alleged that this action restricted the market for competing web browsers, for at this time web browsers were not freeware, but payware. However, technology has left the browser wars in the dust. Nowadays, broadband has made it irrelevant whether computers come pre-installed with browsers, instead, anyone can download competing browsers -- Chrome, Firefox, Safari -- in less than a minute, and for free.

Today, a new technological issue has ensued, that of net neutrality, which is all about giving the government the right to control and regulate the internet. Ultimately, it is designed to prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon from speeding up, slowing down, or blocking any content, websites, or applications that they are not in partnership with.

Although this is an idealistic concept that promotes fairness over the web, the problem is that net neutrality as a practice is hard to implement.

The net neutrality debate stems from a general lack of understanding of the way the internet works. Most people think of internet as a massive public network that everyone connects to in the same way. Data is thought to travel from web companies such as Google and Yahoo into a massive “internet backbone” of cables and data centers, before it moves into a myriad of various ISPs that transfer that data to us. This would be a “neutral web”, but it is not our internet because too much traffic comes from just a handful of companies. Essentially, companies have already found ways to technologically bypass the political law of net neutrality.

How is this possible? The core issues net neutrality aims to solve is allowing government regulation of ISPs, in order to prevent ISPs from allowing some companies to have internet “fast lanes” while others toil at slower speeds. Essentially, this is a fear of ISPs speeding up, slowing down, or blocking certain sites. Although this is a well warranted fear, it doesn’t make much sense because privileged companies such as Google, Facebook, and Netflix already benefit from what are essentially internet fast lanes.

As Craig Labovitz, CEO of DeepField Networks (which tracks how companies build internet infrastructure), said, “The fast lane is how the internet is built today.” Major companies have direct connections to big ISPs and run dedicated computer servers deep inside the ISPs, also known as “peering connections” and “content delivery servers” (CDN), vital parts of internet. In other words, these major companies have basically created their own personal “fast lanes”.

For example, when I watch a movie on Netflix, the video stream doesn’t have to travel from California through an array of different autonomous networks (internet backbone) and into my living room in St. Louis. Instead, the video stream only needs to travel a few miles from a nearby Netflix server, thus giving Netflix a clear advantage, or a “fast lane”, over other streaming services like HBO, which can’t afford to pay for the CDNs built into the local ISP servers. Thus, both the ISP and Netflix benefit from this

Photo by Michael Melinger arrangement, but I do too. I get faster and cheaper internet speed.

This arrangement is a violation of net neutrality itself, and only shows how useless net neutrality is.

Today, the internet is so influential that governments feel a need to get in on the action, that is, to regulate the Internet. The government is trying to solve a lack of competition in the internet industry with law to regulate how a for-profit corporation can operate, which is not right. Especially in the area of technology, government regulation has very little place. Essentially, governments cannot move fast enough to effectively regulate technology companies. By the time governments have settled on a solution, technology has changed and the debate is irrelevant, just like the Microsoft issue. Thus, the US government is not capable of providing appropriate fairness to the internet, and should instead leave the internet in a free market state.

In fact, data from USTelecom, a non-profit organization, showed that because of government regulations, the investment for internet infrastructures decreased over time. ISPs within US invested 78.4 billion dollars in US in the year of 2014, before the Open Internet Act of 2015. After FCC passed Net Neutrality in 2015, the investments started a downwards trend to $77.9 billion in 2015 and $76 billion in 2016.

This decrease in investment means that the ISPs are less interested in maintaining and improving the broadband internet, like creating new servers or “fast lanes” for slower and less covered regions. And that was mainly due to the passage of net neutrality.

This means that if net neutrality stays in place, then 10 years from now there may be new low-earth orbit satellites that emerge and

CON: NET NEUTRALIT Y REPEAL

allow us to all have wireless connections from space. With the rise of 5G and wireless broadband, new and old companies may jump into the new wireless network industry, increasing the competition and breaking the cable monopoly, making us forget that we ever worried about net neutrality.

victor wei @victorw10 REPORTER

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hongkai jiang @hong_k_j REPORTER neema naemi REPORTER

ntering the twenty-first century, as technology advances, the concept of a free and open internet has shifted from being viewed as a luxury to being seen as both a necessity and a given. Culture, communications, and business flourish on a free internet, as do education and the job market. An open internet expands the realm of opportunity to otherwise unreachable people and places.

The Federal Communications Committee (FCC), a five-member organization, wants to take these benefits away from everyone.

Last month, the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai, voted to repeal net neutrality. Net neutrality is a broad term for the free and unrestricted internet, as well as the laws which ensure this, and it benefits every user of the internet. The convention of net neutrality helps small businesses and startups access possible customers more easily, as well as allowing people to take college courses on-

line, apply for jobs with ease, and communicate with friends and family across the world. It also prevents Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from manipulating what their customers access online, as well as charging additional fees for improved service.

One would question why the FCC would vote to remove such a beneficial convention. The answer? Profit for big businesses.

Though Pai claimed that his goal was to actually benefit internet users, saying in a PBS interview, “Well, I favor a free and open Internet, as I think most consumers do,” it is clear that motives for repealing net neutrality benefit only those who profit from the use of the internet, the major ISPs. Pai dismissed the concerns of internet users, saying that “Well, there are isolated cases,” of ISPs blocking certain services (such as Skype, FaceTime and Google Wallet), “But if you look at the FCC’s own records, there are only scattered anecdotes to support this.”

The fact that this is a possibility at all is concerning, especially considering that the FCC has made it clear that they will no longer be overseeing the activities of telecom giants such as Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast. These “scattered anecdotes” could become the norm of ISP behavior with net neutrality revoked.

Without Obama-era protections of net neutrality, American internet users – nearly all Americans – will be subjected to mistreatment by corrupt ISPs, because without net neutrality, potential for ISPs to profit increases enormously.

ISPs will be able to charge extra money for certain content or better-quality service, as well as prioritize or block data from their users’ access. Essentially, if an ISP favors one business, they will be able to slow down or even prevent access to sites of competing businesses. The same applies to ideologies; if an ISP disagrees with a political standpoint, or even just an opinion which reflects badly upon the company, they could make it more difficult or expensive for their customers to reach sites pertaining to said ideologies.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) fears that net neutrality will impact freedom of speech online as well. If telecom giants take offense to protests by citizens, whether they be against the removal of net neutrality or another cause entirely, protesters can be silenced from speaking out online. Challenging what the ACLU views as an attack on freedom of speech, Ron Newman of the ACLU said, “In a world without net neutrality, activists may lose an essential platform to organize and fight for change. . . Congress must stop Chairman Pai’s plan in its tracks and ensure that net neutrality remains the law of the land.” The potential censorship which could occur without net neutrality belongs more in a dystopian work of fiction than in the legal workings of America.

The injustice of removing the uncensored and unrestricted can not be ignored by the American people or leaders. Senior policy analyst of the ACLU Jay Stanley said, “Internet rights are civil rights.” In the fight to preserve net neutrality, it is the job of the American government to preserve these rights.

anna sturmoski @moonage__nightmare REPORTER

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PRO/CON

Pittsburg (Kan.) High School student journalists Trina Paul, from left, Gina Mathew, Kali Poenitske, Maddie Baden, Patrick Sullivan and Connor Balthazor hold up copies of The Booster Redux on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, containing their article that led to the resignation of the school’s newly hired principal. (Keith Myers/ Kansas City Star/TNS)

S TA F F E D : SHOW ME FREE SPEECH The Walter Cronkite New Voices Act would support free speech in Missouri.

Last March, high schoolers in Pittsburg, Kansas caused an uproar in their town after publishing an article in the school newspaper that accused the newly hired principal of harboring false credentials.

Threats of suspension and lawsuits were tossed at them like tomatoes on a bad comedian. The fact that they had openly questioned the authority of the school district, and specifically the decision of a beloved superintendent, was considered impudent, disrespectful, even libel.

What the article really was, however, was the execution of free speech to convey a buried truth.

All of this was possible due to Kansas law that prevents students from administrative censorship.

Most other states do not have the same luxury, as the enforcement of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press and speech for minors has long been a subject of great controversy, particularly since the Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier case, which, originating in Missouri, was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In fact, it is almost 30 years ago from the day when the decision was announced. Under the Supreme Court Ruling, public schools have a legal right to censor the students, as they are not given the full protection of the 1st Amendment.

However, the fall of the just enforcement of the First Amendment has also seen the rise of agencies which protect student journalists, such as the Student Press Law Center, which launched the idea for a bill that guarantees students full protection against censorship at the state level.

This bill, known as the New Voices Act, has passed in dif-

OPINION

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ferent versions in 12 states: Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon, California, North Dakota, Maryland, Illinois, California, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Missouri passed the version of the bill called the “Walter Cronkite New Voices Act” in the House of Representatives, but has yet to push it through the Senate successfully.

As quoted directly from the language of Missouri House Bill 2058, “A student journalist has the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially by the school district or by use of facilities of the school district or produced in conjunction with a class in which the student is enrolled.”

As such, the CHS Globe encourages readers to take action and let our legislators know that this is something we care about.

The Clayton School District and the Globe have an agreement defining the relationship in that the Globe cannot be censored by administration. A former superintendent suggested that the Board create an official policy giving student publications editorial freedom when a new principal tried to censor student publications.

Most other student journalists in Missouri are not offered this same protection, thus they are dependent on this bill.

Walter Cronkite, a beloved Missourian for whom the legislation is named, held at the core of his beliefs that “Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.” At a time when the press has been labeled “the enemy of the people,” it is important to remember that without a free press, we are without a democracy.

100% of the Globe staff agrees with the overall sentiment and content of this piece.

SENIORS AND THEIR FAMILIES are invited to

SENIOR SNAPSHOT

Picture yourself in college where you can achieve your goals without spending all of your hard-earned money.

Take a peek during this event specially designed for high school seniors: • Learn about all that’s available at STLCC

OF STLCC FEBRUARY 28 5:30 - 7 P.M. STLCC - Meramec 11333 Big Bend Rd. Theatre

• Meet the faculty and staff • Choose a breakout session that’s right for YOU

View all event topics and RSVP at stlcc.edu/seniorsnapshot

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