Fast Forward | November - December 2021

FastForward

Vol. 31 No. 2 | November/December 2021

On Building Back Black ALICIA GARZA, BLACK FUTURES LAB

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CONTENTS For our cover story, we interviewed Alicia Garza, a civil rights activist and Founder of Black Future Labs. Talking with Alicia inspires us to reach out, taking action to create change. We interviewed local NY Times best-selling author Marci Shimoff who shared her experiences around happiness and how she has pursued her dream of helping other people. Also included is an interview with PBS NOVA Producer Sarah Holt who produced the newest PBS documentary “The Cannibas Question.”

“Our minds expanded, while learning that listening to someone else can change our lives.”

Palmer Dean

Emerson Swift

Lily Leone

Jack Callahan

Nicholas Chin

Annelie Kamperin

Semira Robinson

Minna Hibbitts

Jane Newbegin

Jacob TaichmanBernstein

Marguerite Walden-Kaufman

Zadie Winthrop EDITOR

Harita Kalvai

Camron McDonald

Eliza Gould

Lyla Tipton

learn, expand

P. 4

“ON BUILDING BACK BLACK” — ALICIA GARZA

P. 10

SARAH HOLT — PRODUCER — “THE CANNIBAS QUESTION”

P. 14

MARCI SHIMOFF — THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS

P. 16

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST- INA KIM, SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL

P. 18

OPINIONS — CLIMATE CHANGE, SLAVERY & STUDENT DEBT

P. 20 P. 21

THE ENVIRONMENTAL PAGE — DELIVER ZERO

P. 22

GARDEN PAGE — MILLER CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL GARDEN

P. 23

ART PAGE — MILL VALLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL

P. 24

OPINIONS — KENT MIDDLE SCHOOL 8th GRADERS SHARE

OPINION — GEORGE FLOYD- MINNA HIBBITTS, MARIN ACADEMY

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PUBLISHER: Winifred MacLeod winifred@fastforwardweb.com Published by KidSpeak, Inc., Vol 31 #2 www.fastforwardweb.com O: 415-256-8920 M: 415.272.3569 ADDRESS: FastForward 775 E.Blithedale Ave #388 Mill Valley, CA 94941 STUDENT EDITORS: Zadie Winthrop, Semira Robinson CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS/WRITERS: Nicholas Chin, Jack Callaway, Eliza Gould, Zadie Winthrop, Annelie Kamperin, Lily Leone, Jane Newbegin, Marguerite Waldman-Kaufman, Palmer Dean, Milena McMahan, Emerson Swift, Semira Robinson, Jacob Taichman-Bernstein, Lyla Tipton, Harita Kalvai, Minna Hibbitts, Camron McDonald, Harita Kalvai, Grayson Flynn, Lara Hallemeier, Lucas Iraheta, Luca Jacobson, Adriana DeLeon Medina, Ethan Pederson, Savia Shenkin, Andres Reyes, Alaina Small, Ashley Vela CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Zainab Bham, Grace Hakanson, Finley Robinson, Mizuko Scharber, Catherine Wood, Emma Wood and Ina Kim

FastForward PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST Vol. 30 #4 March-April 2021

THE PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST More than 400 entries vied for top prizes. See the pictures that took the top three spots, Honorable Mentions and Awards of Merit in a particularly strong year for photographers from Marin County High schools.

Call for entries...

Email three (3) entries (Jpeg, PDF or PNG - High Res) Winifred@fastforwardweb.com (Include name, school + grade) Due December 1st...Contest to be published in FastForward 1st Prize $300 2nd $200 3rd $100 + $50 (10 Honorable Mentions)

Photo by Alyssa Mulligan Junior, Marin Catholic High School

FASTFORWARD

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2021

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ON BUILDING BACK BLACK

An Interview with Alicia Garza, Principal of Black Futures Lab

BY PALMER DEAN AND MAXINE FLASHER-DÜZGÜNEŞ | ASSOCIATE EDITORS REPORTERS: LYLA TIPTON, SEMIRA ROBINSON, JACOB TAICHMAN-BERNSTEIN, NICOLAS CHIN, ZADIE WINTHROP, EMERSON SWIFT AND JANE NEWBEGIN

A

n organizer is simultaneously selfless and selfish,” says civil rights activist Alicia Garza. “Being selfish is about staying focused on the task at hand, and being selfless is about giving of yourself, your time, your energy, your capacity to move a thing forward.” A year after the murder of George Floyd triggered international outrage and a dramatic upsurge in the Black Lives Matter movement, we followed up with the author of The Purpose of Power on what it means to be the cofounder and principal of Black Futures Lab, which helps Black communities build and transform political power at the local, state, and federal level. As a grassroots instrument for social change, the project has created leaders out of everyday citizens.

E

U.S. non-Hispanic white population 2010 2020 64%

58%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

arlier this year Garza and her team met with Biden administration officials to discuss data and insights from the Lab’s Black Census Project, the largest survey of the country’s Black population since the Reconstruction era. “People are eager for ideas,” she said. “I’ve been really encouraged by the notion that some of the things we’re putting forward as tangible solutions have been embraced in a lot of ways. That doesn’t mean they’ve become the rules, but we can use it as a starting point to negotiate what those rules become.”

U.S. census data, meanwhile, shows that “for the first time in the history of this country, white people are not a supermajority.” The non-Hispanic white population declined from 64% to 58% between 2010 and 2020—and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) communities are growing exponentially. Garza and her team would like to see our government parallel our diversity.

Garza, who was born in Oakland and has been an activist since she was a socially conscious teen growing up in Marin, believes that the country’s changing demographics should inform decisions made in Congress, and that “following the rules” can be a relic of the past when it comes to inclusive governance. “Because today people are more engaged in the political arena, it’s creating more opportunity for new mistakes to be made,” she said, referring to her belief that mistakes are integral to the forging of a better future. “What I like about this new set of mistakes is we’re having more nuanced conver-

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sations about things that are relevant to what is happening to us right this minute”—climate change, the care economy. “We used to want to follow the rules through bipartisanship and all this other stuff. No! Get out there and get some stuff done.”

Greater diversity, more accessible participation, and equal distribution of power are all part of race-forward governance, a system Black Futures Lab strongly supports. Race-forward governance “identifies that racism has been an organizing principle in this country since its very beginning, and the new rules we’re making are intended to undo it.” This is in contrast to race-neutral policies that are based on the concept that all people are created equal, “but that’s just not

true. It’s not true in practice, and it’s not true in policy. If we’re not being explicit about trying to change inequities based on race, based on gender, based on sexuality, based on disability, based on immigration status, whatever, we can’t hope to fix the problem.”

The Black to the Future Action Fund, a Black Futures Lab sister entity, works to build Black political power through policy initiatives and the election of Black legislators with progressive values. “It’s really specific about policies that remove barriers for Black people to have access to resources, access to power, access to decision-making.”

Access to power is imperative in Black Future Lab’s vision for the U.S. government. “I would change the equation pretty dramatically,” says

ACTIVIST AS CELEBRITY

Q: Have you had to change your approach as an activist as you and your work have taken on more of a celebrity role in the media?

Garza. “We’re being held hostage in a whole bunch of ways by a small group of people who are afraid of progress.

And that has everything to do not just with representation, not just with participation, but with rules that have been rigged to keep powerful people powerful, and to keep power away from those who currently lack it.”

Another critical Black Futures Lab campaign is “Build Back Healthier,” which provides information about COVID-19 vaccine safety and reliability to counteract widespread disinformation and, most importantly, helps set up vaccination appointments.

The Lab also supports a campaign in Illinois that directs resources from the burgeoning cannabis industry into education grants and small busi-

ness loans for black and brown communities; a campaign in California to change sentencing guidelines if the convicted criminal has domestic or intimate partner violence in their background; a campaign in Florida to enable government-subsidized “baby bonds” (children’s savings accounts for infants); and a campaign here in San Francisco to provide digital access and literacy for black trans communities.

“The greatest lesson I’ve learned is that relationships are everything,” says Garza. “And the way that things happen, move, and change is all through relationships. It’s all about who you know, but it’s also about who knows you and how you make people feel. And that really goes far, especially in the shark tank that is politics.”

Previous spread: Brandan “Bmike” Odums and Rick Williams Above: Du Heart Next spread: Brandan “Bmike” Odums

A: Yes. One of the things I think happens with celebrities who are largely entertainers (like athletes) is that people expect you to perform for them, no matter what you have going on. One of the things that I’ve really had to learn how to do is say no, when I need to, and stay focused on what is important to my work and my mission, which might be different than what is important to other people. And just being okay with that. I think having a bigger platform means that more people see you. And it also means that there’s more of a demand for your time, your skills, your expertise, et cetera.

Sometimes that demand can take away from the things that got you that platform in the first place. For me, what I always try to prioritize is things that help to move our mission forward. Things that help to bring more visibility to the communities that I’m organizing with.

Things that bring more awareness to the issues that are impacting my community, and stories of people in my community that don’t have the platform that I do, but still deserve to be seen and be heard.

The greatest lesson I’ve learne relationships are everything. A things happen, move, and chan relationships. It’s all about who it’s also about who knows you a people feel. And that really goe the shark tank that is politics.”

“FAMILY TREE”, MURAL BY BRANDAN “Bmike” ODUMS

ed is that And the way that nge is all through o you know, but and how you make es far, especially in ” — ALICIA GARZA

The Marin County Free Library’s Mission is to provide welcoming, equitable and inclusive opportunities for all to connect, learn and explore. A core strategy to achieve our Mission is providing resources and information that will help our community learn about and more deeply engage in racial equity.

Visit: marinlibrary.org

Sarah Holt

“THE CANNIBAS QUESTION”

WRITER: Semira Robinson Sophomore, Phillips Academy Andover

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uestions pervade every aspect of science. They are the catalyst for innovation, our reason for research, what shapes our world.

A definition does not exist without a question and in “The Cannabis Question,” a documentary airing on PBS NOVA, film producer and writer Sarah Holt, investigates cannabis usage throughout the United States, where the legality and criminalization of the plant go hand in hand.

The inspiration for NOVA’s newest installment of was a previous documentary titled “Addiction,” which covered the Opioid Crisis. As public sentiment on Cannabis varies from state to state. Holt’s team visited drastically different environments, from clinical trials exploring cannabis’s medical use, to prisons, housing some of the 40,000 Americans incarcerated for cannabis charges.

“The Cannabis Question” explores the spectrum of how cannabis affects Americans’ lives, making for a masterful program bursting with personal anecdotes and scientific knowledge.

Holt explained, “You have more cannabinoid receptors in your brain than any other receptor, forming a mysterious system, called the Endocannabinoid System. It helps regulate key processes like appetite, mood, sleep, cognition, and even memory, and because cannabis directly affects these receptors, it can change the way those aspects of the body work.”

However, few of us believe that cannabis is a benign drug, it is anything but, impacting your brain at any level of use. The question researchers work to answer is how?

From obtaining permits, government grown cannabis, and the paper-

work needed to study the plant, research remains difficult. Cannabis is still classified as an illegal substance as dangerous as heroin at the federal level. Such classification allows the drug to be weaponized for random searches and racial profiling. That’s exactly what happened to Sean Worsley, an Iraq veteran using medial cannabis to treat his PTSD who is featured in the film, and though I won’t reveal much, “The Cannabis Question” probes the nuances of crosscountry cannabis restrictions and the devastating impact on the war on drugs on public health through his story.

The documentary also profiles a clinical trial treating autism with high doses of CBD and the intricate history surrounding families that pioneered the research for treating epilepsy when the notion of legal CBD for their children was a far-away dream. It tells the story of former NFL player Eugene Monroe, using cannabis to treat his chronic pain, and of Elizabeth Pinkham managing the side effects of her chemotherapy with cannabis. Interested in examining the non-medicinal effects of cannabis too, the documentary follows a clinical trial around looking at how cannabis affects the teenage brain and provides information on the National Institute of Health’s work. Holt and her team even sat down with scientists and vendors to talk about the popularization of CBD oils and the realities of their consumption. Every aspect of it is genuinely fascinating and extremely relevant to our everyday lives because many of us know someone who actively uses cannabis products, medicinally or recreationally.

Holt spoke fondly of all the people and teams she had the pleasure of working with while filming. With the pandemic’s unforeseen compli-

cations, Holt and her crew had to endure a host of COVID-19 restrictions, while maintaining NOVA’s top notch documentary quality. They certainly succeeded. Featured interviewees personal accounts are intimate, genuine, and well-documented. Camera angles are superb even in difficult filming locations, such as rural Alabama where Holt and her team had to exercise extreme care, as they documented jails and prisons where filming was denied, and their physical safety in the pandemic.

The impact that “The Cannabis Question,” has on viewers is undeniable. Holt herself recounted the story of when she first showed her son the documentary. He sent the research on what happens to the brain with daily cannabis use to his friends and Holt thought to herself, “Maybe I’ve accomplished something.” And that she has.

“The Cannabis Question” is not only a stunning cinematic experience but brimming with knowledge I found valuable. It is a tool to help us navigate our rapidly changing world, that allows for more access to cannabis than ever before. So, as scientists seek to answer how the endocannabinoid system interacts with cannabis and the wider body, it may be argued that the public has a duty to interrogate the systems with which cannabis is simultaneously prohibited and prescribed and lucky for us, “The Cannabis Question” is a great way to start.

Viewers can stream the film online on NOVA’s website: pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-cannabisquestion/pbs.org/nova On the PBS video app NOVA’s YouTube Channel: youtube.com/watch?v=w-dxMTDzMLY

“You have more cannabinoid receptors in your brain than any other receptor,

forming a mysterious system, called the Endocannabinoid System. It helps regulate key processes like appetite, mood, sleep, cognition, and even memory, and because cannabis directly affects these receptors, it can change the way those aspects of the body work.” — Sarah Holt, Producer FASTFORWARD

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MARCI SHIMOFF

Writers/Reporters: Nicholas Chin, Zadie Winthrop, Milena McMahan, Jacob Taichman-Bernstein, Lyla Tipton Schools: Marin Academy, San Rafael High, Sacred Heart Preparatory, St. Ignatius, Tamalpais High School, Urban School of San Francisco

No one knows the secret recipe for happiness. Try as we might to crack the code, we must, at one point or another, accept that the perfect, universal formula for happiness simply does not exist. This doesn’t mean, however, that we should just give up and accept that our amount of happiness will always be left to chance — there are strategies, both scientific and not, that are shown to generally increase levels of personal happiness and well-being.

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While it’s certain that not every strategy will work for every person, it is well worth your time to make a tactical effort to increase your own level of happiness.

And, if you succeed, you could pass down your wisdom to others, guiding them in their journey to achieve the same level of happiness that you’ve attained. In a world of chaos and confusion, where we are left to figure out our paths on our own, many people need someone to turn to for guidance. Having a grounded, genuine source of counsel, with years of tried and true strategies for achieving happiness under their belt, can make a world of difference to those who feel lost. For many, Marci Shimoff is that source.

Simply put, Marci Shimoff’s job is to be happy — and to teach others how to do the same. From a very young age, Shimoff had a clear vision of what she wanted to do with her life. She saw herself traveling around the world giving inspirational talks. “I had felt from a young age that I had this destiny, that was to be a messenger for the masses,” she explained.

“And the message was how to live a better life.” That’s not to say, however, that Shimoff has had a perfect, happy life from day one. “I was born depressed,” she told us, explaining that even though she had a happy childhood, life felt completely overwhelming to her. “I felt like my life was about finding my own way back to happiness, and then sharing that with the world.”

Fast forward to Shimoff’s adulthood: she had received her MBA in training and development, was teaching self-help courses, and was constantly working to better herself and increase her own personal happiness. She was on the path to realizing her dream, but wasn’t quite there yet, and was plagued with frustrations and doubt. In an attempt to curb the burn-out she was feeling, she embarked on a seven-day silent meditation retreat.

On the fourth day, in the middle of a meditation, a light bulb went off in her head.

“I saw the words, ‘Chicken Soup for the Women’s Soul.’ And I knew that was it. I knew that was the ticket to what was going to bring me to a world stage.” Despite not being able to tell anyone this thought during the following three days of silence, Shimoff saw her idea through. As soon as she was able to speak again, she called her mentor, Jack Canfield — who is the originator of the original “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series — and told him

of her plan. Canfield and his publisher loved the idea, and about a year later, Shimoff’s book was released, going to number one on the New York Times bestseller list within its first week.

You might think that it was the success that brought Shimoff her happiness. She thought that would be the case as well, until it happened to her. “Most people are out there trying to make their lives look perfect in order to be happy. I was one of those people... I had five goals, and I thought if I get those five goals, I’ll be happy. I wanted a successful career helping people, a great husband or life partner, a comfortable home, fabulous friends, and the equivalent of Halle Berry’s body.

I worked really hard to get most of those things. And yet I still felt a certain emptiness inside.” She realized, after achieving her goals and still feeling dissatisfied, that things can only bring you temporary happiness, not life-long fulfillment. This realization inspired her to find out what it truly takes to create lasting happiness.

Shimoff began conducting extensive research and interviewing 100 “unconditionally happy” people all over the world.

Ultimately, she found that the only thing different about these people than the rest of us, was their habits. She explained how there are proven scientific methods to increasing happiness, as well a series of habits that “happier” people tend to pick up on. In fact, Shimoff found that there were 21 habits shared by nearly all of the interviewees, each of which fell into one of seven different areas. These “seven areas of happiness” are analogous to a home, she told us. “A home has a foundation, four corner pillars, a roof, and a garden. The foundation is taking responsibility for your life and your happiness.

It’s not about waiting until something happens to be happy. The four pillars are the mind, the body, the heart, and the soul. Do your thoughts support your happiness? Do you live with an open heart?

Do you have the right biochemistry for happiness? Do you feel connected to a spirit, whatever that means to you? And then the roof is your inspiration in life. It’s your purpose or passion— following what it is you feel you’re here on the planet to do. And then the garden is who you surround yourself with. Are you surrounded by weeds, or roses and gardenias?”

Of course, there’s a lot more to these seven areas of happiness than this analogy can encompass, and it would take

reading one of Shimoff’s books or attending one of her programs to truly take in all that she has to offer. However, her overall message is clear: happiness is not as straightforward as simply achieving your physical goals; it has a lot more to do with your mental state of mind than your material circumstances. She puts it simply: “If money, success, fame, and beauty were the keys to happiness, we’d have a lot more happy people.” She explains that each of us has a “happiness set-point,” which is like a thermostat setting that may move up or down depending on the circumstances in our life but tends to return to our original set-point over time.

For example, people who win the lottery think ‘oh, all I have to do is win the lottery and I’d be happy,’ and they are happier for a couple of months. But they then soon return to their original happiness setpoint.” The key, she told us, is to change your set-point, and this can only be done by changing your habits. Practicing simple but effective habits in each of these seven areas, can help to create a state that Shimoff calls, “happy for no reason”, which she defines as “a deep inner state of peace and well-being that’s unshakable no matter what happens externally.”

Shimoff, in her parting words to us, cited a Chinese proverb that she finds particularly meaningful. “It says, ‘When there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. When there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. When there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. And when there’s order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.’”

To Shimoff, finding happiness benefits more than just an individual. It benefits the community around them, and ultimately the world at large. “I believe that us finding that light inside changes the world, and that that’s what we’re here on the planet to do,” she told us, “because this world certainly needs more light and peace.”

Marci Shimoff is a #1 NY Times bestselling author, a world-renowned transformational teacher, and an expert on happiness. She has several NY Times bestselling books: “Happy for No Reason,” “Love for No Reason” and six titles in the “Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul” series. She’s also a featured teacher in The Secret and narrator of the award-winning movie, Happy. She currently coleads a global online program called Your Year of Miracles to help people live more miraculous lives. www.HappyforNoReason.com FASTFORWARD NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 15

Spotlight PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST

16 FASTFORWARD NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2021

INA KIM

San Domenico High School Grade 12

Q: What are six words that describe you?

Calm, compassionate, caring, cool, compassionate, and curious.

Q: What does art mean to you?

Art to me is a form of expression, bride to the world, and language of passion.

Q: What kind of art do you create?

Most of the time, abstract art using mixed media and line drawing.

Q: Why is art important in the world?

Earth without art is just “eh.”

It’s important in the world because it makes us laugh and cry, bring out emotions, let us feel, and truly be alive.

Q: Who inspires you as an artist?

My mother, friends, tattooists, musicians, lovers, and amazing artists who I look up to. So basically everyone!!

Q: How do you find inspiration for a piece?

From my surroundings. This year, I found inspiration from nature and the pandemic. Flowers, the color of bricks, reflection of sunlight, sound of the wind, spaghetti from dinner. It could really be anything.

Q: What are your plans for the future as an artist?

Moving forward from just creating art, I want to learn more about art administration and business in college, so that I not only create art, but bring ways to show it to the world.

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OPINIONS >>

A

Cancel Student Debt

s 2019 came to a close, almost 43 million Americans held student loan debts. For perspective, 94 million Americans over the age of 25 hold college degrees, or roughly two-thirds of the population of the US. One-sixth of adults hold student debts, and that number continues to grow.

Student debt represents a significant financial drain on a large portion of the population, straddling many families with a burden that causes undue stress. It can lower credit scores and their ability to buy a home — but that is the cost of a college education in America.

The rising costs of college nationwide and housing, in California especially, have made it difficult for many young people to find stability. And looking into the future, the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt more severely. At the grocery store where I work, (Harvest Market Novato) I noticed the price of my favorite beverages and snacks have

Jack Callaway Junior, Marin School of the Arts

gone up by one, sometimes two dollars, a few cents at a time.

This inflation may not last forever, but it will certainly hurt students entering college for the next several years. As of 2021, the average cost of a four-year public college tuition is slightly over twentyseven thousand dollars. Very few of the people attending four-year colleges are capable of paying both that and costs of living at the same time, and many will take out loans to be able to attend their schools.

The problem is not in students who can afford the skyrocketing costs of education, or even the banks, who only provide their services as the state of the economy dictates. College is more expensive because of college.

Over the last several decades, as more and more Americans attended college, campuses expanded, new buildings were constructed, and more faculty had to be hired.

Lack of funds and additional costs meant that colleges had to charge their students more for their edu-

cation. Institutions hoping that to receive revenue from more students who were willing to pay higher prices has yet to be realized.

So the problem with student loans is that the cost of college is too high; the problem with the cost of college being too high is that colleges over-expanded to accommodate an increasing number of students in attendance.

People will continue attending college, while colleges expandand charge their students more. Those students will take out loans that let them pay for that college.

The biggest problem is that we don’t have a solution to this—this problem isn’t a massive issue for the government and the general public. College offers the best opportunities for a future; many jobs require a college degree. American’s top priority should be restructuring our education systems to make higher education affordable to all, to make sure our children, and generations beyond theirs, can benefit from the resources available to us.

Climate Change: What are We Doing Wrong?

I

Harita Kalva Junior, Marin School of Environmental Leadership

n August of 2018, Greta Thunberg, then 15, began skipping school on Fridays to protest against the Swedish Parliament’s negligence to Climate change. Today, Greta Thunberg is a household name, and the climate movement has boomed in popularity, with celebrities donning Chanel water-bottles at the Grammys and using social media to raise awareness. As the climate movement grows stronger, are we really holding onto its true message?

The growth in the sustainability sphere has led to a new type of social media figure — the zerowaste influencer. Their steps to sustainability are simple: Get rid of your plastic straws, bags, and utensils and change them out for something more permanent, like

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wooden spoons, metal straws, and tote bags. While some people might argue that one social media niche wouldn’t have such a huge impact on the day-to-day lives of an individual, the truth is that social media has twisted the zero-waste movement into one that creates a false sense of good. It encourages people to buy new, zero waste products when they can just use the ones they’ve always had — plain metal utensils, paper shopping bags, and tupperware. Furthermore, the social media zero-waste movement isn’t always intersectional. Many disabled people need to use plastic straws, and many people cannot switch to a different diet. The worst aspect of the zero-waste movement is that it is hypocritical. Why guilt the working class into believing

that they are the sole reason for our declining environment?

The truth is the exact opposite of the lifestyle that social media has capitalized on — the common person is not responsible for climate change. According to The Harvard Political Review, “In fact, only 100 investors and state-owned fossil fuel companies are responsible for around 70 percent of the world’s historical GHG emissions.”

Through the capitalization of the zero-waste movement, we have forgotten about Greta’s first ask, which doesn’t target the average person, but rather targets the people in charge. It’s time we start holding the right groups accountable. Climate change is a huge issue, but we’ll need the support of every group if we want to make a difference.

& IDEAS >>

The Legacy of Slavery in 2021

T Marguerite Kaufman Sophomore, San Rafael High School

PARK SCHOOL Ms. Kat Taylor, Teacher As Park School Peaceful Playground Coaches, we role model kindness and help intervene with conflicts out at recess. We work in small teams and offer help to students when conflicts arise between friends. If students need help finding someone to play with, we help them do this. We help to organize and manage recess equipment.

We also pick up equipment at the end of the day to make sure our recess equipment is taken good care of throughout the year. Our team is filled with leaders who promote responsible behavior where we show we respect and care for others.

hroughout the beginning months of 2020, the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd showed the world the racial injustice and violence that persists in our world today.

The legacies of not only slavery, but also additional events such as Bacon’s rebellion, Jim Crow Laws, and the three-strikes law with the Clinton administration are just a few of the events that formed an unjust foundation and institutional racism in the United States.

The murders of these individuals in 2020 demonstrate white supremacy that has been part of this country since its foundation, with the institution of slavery as one of its principal components.

One of the initiating events that enhanced white supremacy and racial segregation was Bacon’s rebellion in Virginia, 1676. Nathaniel Bacon was an affluent white property owner who organized his own militia of white and Black indentured servants, and Black enslaved individuals to try and

overthrow the governor’s plan for the colony. The militia captured Jamestown, and white male aristocrats became fearful of multiracial alliance and began to place more permanent discrimination laws in place.

Current day events show the persistent effects of racial discrimination and white privilege.

For example, in 2020, Amy Cooper, a white woman, called the police on Christian Cooper, a Black male watching birds in the same area of Central Park in New York City. Her racial bias in seeing him as a danger and accentuating the use of the word “Black male” while on the phone with the police highlights the policing and attempts to control Black bodies.

After slavery was abolished, it’s legacy infiltrated life in ways that continue to exploit and restrict African Americans. For example, the Supreme Court and later, Jim Crow laws, entrenched segregation and “separate being equal.”

Although the concept of slavery and Jim Crow laws differed, the

theme of inequity ran through both. More current day injustice includes the three-strikes law from the Clinton administration, which drastically heightened incarceration rates and specifically banished people of color to prison, often for crimes they did not commit or for exaggerated sentences. In addition, the loss of voting rights after being convicted for a felony adds another dimension to institutional racism.

The events listed are just a handful out of a plethora that tie into the unjust ripple effect of slavery, with the consistent intentions over the last 400 years to exploit Black people, and strip them of their rights as humans. The legacy of slavery still persists in the economic inequity, discrepancies in quality of life, and even the impact of the COVID pandemic.

We know it exists. It’s clear in our everyday lives. But the question is: Are we going to allow it to carry on with future generations, or can we work to end it?

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DELIVER ZERO

By Palmer Dean Urban High School of San Francisco, Senior

Take-out and Delivery in Returnable Reusable Containers The Big Apple, the city that never sleeps.

We have all heard of its Broadway musicals and the Statue of Liberty. But what most of us have not heard of is its ongoing mass production of waste. Every year in New York City, 414,000,000 pounds of restaurant disposables are used. That is equivalent to nearly 1 billion takeout containers a year. As climate change continues to threaten our world, reducing waste is more important than ever.

Lauren Sweeney, co-founder of Deliver Zero sat down with me to share her team’s approach to growing the zero waste movement in New York City.

Launched in November of 2019 in Brooklyn, Deliver Zero was founded on the idea of creating a “zero waste Seamless.” Seamless is the major food delivery platform used in New York. The concept is ordering takeout or delivery like any other food delivery service, except all your food comes in reusable containers. Once you receive your food you can keep the containers for $3.25 each or return them to a partner restaurant or delivery person within six weeks. Lauren’s cofounder started by compelling eight restaurant owners in Park Slope to work with them. From a business perspective, the Deliver Zero team felt that the zero waste movement had so much potential to expand and blow up.

They explained to restaurants that a lot of customers would be more inclined to order from these restaurants if there was a zero-waste component, many feel strongly about minimizing waste. After those initial eight partnerships, Deliver Zero has been able to use social media and press to expand into over one hundred restaurants in New York City.

Now, how has the Deliver Zero Team continued to partner with so many restaurants?

What is in it for them? Well, from a cost perspective, partnering with a zero-waste delivery service saves money f or a restaurant. To start, restaurant partners are not charged f or reusablecontainers that Deliver Zero puts food in. Restaurants are only charged a commission for eachorder received through the Deliver Zero platform, but it is lower than the commission

price of all the other food delivery services. In addition to low commission prices, restaurants can save money from not buying single-use plastic containers.

“If you add up the expense of each order, just the containers are costing restaurants a lot of money,” Lauren says. “To create a solution that really feels accessible for restaurant operators and for customers, it needs to feel either cheaper or kind of equal to the existing solutions. Rather than making them pay more. It makes it easy for them to make the right choice.”

Single-use plastic containers range in price from $0.18 to $0.85 a container.

This means that the average order f or one customer is costing the restaurant $2 just i n containers, all of which will be used for about twenty minutes. It is ridiculous how wasteful and costly this is.

These quick calculations are the most convincing points for a restaurant to want to join forces with Deliver Zero. On the consumer end, Deliver Zero has to focus on drawing customers towards their platform and away from others.

“We’re really out to convert the Door Dash customers to order through us because that’s how we’re reducing waste. We take someone who was ordering in single-use containers and convert them into ordering and reusables.”

Lauren and her team have utilized social media to their advantage. One strategy is using humor to point out the absurdity of single-use plastic through Instagram and other platforms.

“Our goal sounds very challenging — and it is.

We want to make participating in our reusable system as easy as throwing something away.”

— Lauren Sweeny, Deliver Zero

“I think the way into people’s minds and hearts can be through humor,” she says. “So we try to kind of funny and share social stats wherever we can. Stats around climate change, in particular, are more resonant with our customers.”

Since Deliver Zero has expanded so widely in the last year, I asked Lauren what the future holds f or her business. Deliver Zero hopes to see their reusable containers become an option on other delivery platforms like Seamless so customers do not just have one platform option to save waste. In addition, the team hopes to get their model working within fast-casual chains and grocery stores, creating a network of reusable containers. As one of the company’s advisors put it, “Our goal sounds very challenging — and it is. We want to make participating in our reusable system as easy as throwing something away.”

For more info, visit: www.deliverzero.com

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FASTFORWARD MARCH 2020

How Far Have We Really Come Since George Floyd’s Death?

“Today we are able to breathe again.”— Philonise Chauvin, George Floyd’s brother

By Minna Hibbitts, Marin Academy, Senior After a painstaking three-week trial, the longawaited verdict was announced.

Derek Chauvin was charged on all three counts of murder of which he was accused and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. As a police officer, Chauvin had detained George Floyd and knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd repeatedly told him he couldn’t breathe. When footage of the event was released, a torrent of outrage exploded nationwide. Floyd’s death sparked an uprising for racial justice on a scale not seen since the civil rights protests in the 1960s.

Tears of joy, relief, anger, pain, and solidarity filled the streets of Minneapolis and across the nation. Finally, came clarity.

Polls across America showed that in a nation full of divisions over race, class, generation and gender, there was a surprising agreement on the issue of whether Chauvin’s verdict was justified.

But the question still stands: Was justice really served?

Tragically, George Floyd’s death was not an anomaly. Police brutality has been a significant issue in America dating back to the 18th century. Black Americans have long been targeted by police officers, making up

a disproportionate percentage of victims of fatal police shootings. The racism that’s remained endemic to our country since its founding is deeply embedded in our justice system — directly impacting both policy and practices alike. There has been little accountability for the actions of officers involved in the shootings of unarmed Black Americans, depriving victims and their families of justice.

Today, we ask. Was Chauvin’s arrest a turning point? Or was it an anomaly? Have we as a country taken a step forward toward racial equality? Or should we remain critical and wary. Many argue that Chauvin would likely have faced no charges whatsoever had the encounter between him and Floyd not been caught on video.

While there is no definitive answer to these questions so many Americans continue to ask, one look at the statistics can help us better understand where we are today.

On average, about 1,000 Americans are killed annually by police officers. Although half of those people are white, Black Americans are killed at a disproportionately high rate. Despite making up 13% of the population in the United States, they represent more than a quarter of police shooting victims. A study found that black men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white men. In addition, it was found

that black people shot by police were twice as likely to be unarmed. The trend of fatal police shootings of unarmed Black Americans has not ceased since Floyd’s death, and rather continues at an alarming rate.

It is true, however, that Floyd’s death was a wakeup call to many Americans, further fueling the global Black Lives Matter protests. A call for police reform has been issued, demanding radical systemic change.

Since Floyd’s death, 21 departments across the country have begun implementing policies increasing supervision and requiring officers to use all other means before firing a weapon. But despite the increased use of body cameras and closer media scrutiny, there has been no reduction in the racial disparity in fatal police shooting victims over the past five years, according to a report conducted by researchers at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania. If we are to move forward in a meaningful way, far more action is needed. We need new federal and state policies governing police behavior and providing more robust training in using nonlethal force. It is critical we spread awareness about the struggle that Black Americans face every day so we can begin to dismantle the impact that racial bias plays in our justice system. Many leading experts have said that what has been done at the local level — such as body cameras and independent investigations — has been insufficient. We need to raise it to the state and national level and codify it into law.

On March 3rd of this year, the House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Floyd’s honor. The bill aims to bolster police accountability and regulate the movement of officers from one department to another by creating a national registry to track those with checkered records. It would prohibit unjust police practices including profiling based on race and religion, banning chokeholds and carotid holds, and abolishing no-knock warrants. In addition, the bill would require federal funds be put towards ensuring body cameras are used and reform qualified immunity for officers. While promising in its nature, the bill has not passed the Senate.

While the justice system may have worked this time by sending Chauvin to jail, it is clear that the fight for true racial justice is far from over.

FASTFORWARD NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 21

Music Connects

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Re ections on ur School ar en Nina Cunnan ar en Teacher I think the garden is a peaceful place where you do a lot of things like read, write and many more calming things. It has a lot of flowers, so it is beautiful and smells amazing. uan 6th Grade The garden is an important part of our school, and it makes me feel calm and joyful. The school wouldn’t have the same feel if it didn’t have the garden. The garden is one of my happy places.

Aven 6th Grade The garden is a relaxing, calm, cozy place. It is very welcoming when you first step inside. Nate 6th Grade I like the garden because the flowers are beautiful, and I love the plants that grow here. It makes me feel positive. Narissa 6th Grade The garden is very cool. I like it when I can go out with my class and work in the garden. Davi 6th Grade I like the garden because it is very quiet and peaceful for reading and writing. The garden is also fun and full of life. Dani 6th Grade I think the garden is a wonderful place to hang out and experience nature. — Sarah 8th Grade The garden is a calm place where we can be ourselves. heni 7th Grade

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Art

Mill Valley Middle School Art teacher Kim Tran

Mizuko Scharber, 7th grade Grace Hakanson, 7th Grade

Zainab Bham, 7th Grade

Finley Robinson, 7th Grade

Emma Wood, 7th Grade

Catherine Wood, 7th Grade

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27

OPINIONS >> KENT MIDDLE SCHOOL

SCHOOL

DO YOU EVER FEEL LONELY?

School should be fun, not stressful and boring. School is important, as it prepares you for your future adult life. It should be enjoyable to learn, yet many times it gets very tiring and stressful.

This can be solved by removing the aspects of school that students hate. For one, homework can be removed, as it eats up lots of time out of a student’s day and is usually stressful and sometimes repetitive. Second, the school day should be shortened. School shouldn’t dominate a student’s childhood and hurl long hours of work at them. Students don’t need to learn so much, because they only end up using about 2 percent of knowledge in adult life that they learned in school.

Third, students should be able to pick what they want to learn and learn more specific topics than just general and basic topics. School should be a place to learn and have fun.

Do you ever feel lonely? People can interpret the word lonely differently.

For some, it’s a sense of peace. And others? They don’t know how to deal with it. Some people just need to have something or someone in their lives at all times, whether it is someone toxic, so someone who is loving.

Why would someone absolutely need somebody in their lives to be happy?

Are they scared of being alone? Scared of what they will become?

Maybe because they can’t bear to live with themselves, they live and distract themselves with something else. I’ve spent quite some time being alone and I think that being alone and feeling lonely are two very different things. Sometimes there is a sense of comfort when I am alone. Sometimes I feel so lonely I can’t picture tomorrow. It has to differ for everyone I would think. Do you ever feel lonely?

Ethan Pedersen, 8th Grade

Alaina Small, 8th Grade

HAS A BOOK EVER HELPED YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF OR YOUR WORLD BETTER

CHANGING OUR WORLD Lara Hallemeier, 8th Grade

Our world has some big problems. The human race has never been perfect, but whenever we hit a bad patch, we always seem to recover from that or work hard to get a problem solved. Right now, I am sad that we aren’t working hard enough to solve our problems — problems like racism, climate change, homophobia, and more. Yes, there are always select groups of people who devote their time to these problems, but if we want the world to change for the better, we ALL need to care.

One big step toward solutions is to stop denying these problems and start accepting that we aren’t perfect. My family and I have had many conversations about race around the dinner table. Take the death of George Floyd, for example: I would express my thoughts on how wrong it was that he was killed and how taking another human’s life is unjust, but some people in my family would always circle back to the fact that he was a drug dealer. For me, in the grand scheme of things, this was unimportant. Even if this was true, it is not a valid reason for someone to rob a man of his life. Regardless of any mistakes George Floyd made, I feel the act of taking his life was despicable. The problem is right there in front of us. We just need to open our eyes and see it. If people keep denying it, nothing will change.

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Andres Reyes, 8th Grade

One book that made me understand my world better was Prisoner B-3087.

Prisoner B-3087 made me understand how it was to be a Jew. Germans made you believe that your very existence was a disgrace and a burden.

Before I read the book, I had some background knowledge of how the Jews were treated by the Germans, but I didn’t know how poorly treated the Jews were and I didn’t know how it must have felt. After I read Prisoner B-3087, it helped me understand how it felt because I read from the perspective of Yanek, a young Jewish boy in the times of concentration camps. The author, Alan Gratz made me feel like I was Yanek and boy did I feel exhausted and guilty to be a Jew when I know it wasn’t anything to be or feel guilty about.

HOMOPHOBIA

Luca Jacobson, 8th Grade I honestly think that too many people are just shy or scared to speak out for their rights. Fighting homophobia isn’t going to work if people are too scared to say anything. Being a transgender and gay person myself, I can say that it feels horrible when someone purposely says “I’m not accepting you for who you are: Absolutely horrible. I

& IDEAS >>

have seen it happen to myself and other people where they receive that hate, but just sit and don’t say anything about it. People need to stop being scared and start speaking out about these things. The members of the LGBTQ community and even just supporters are all normal human beings.

We may look and act slightly differently, but we are all humans. We deserve respect. Stop sitting, start speaking.

ARE WE TOO HARD ON OURSELVES? Adriana DeLeon Medina, 8th Grade

Sometimes being hard on yourself can lead to having depression and anxiety. Sometimes we don’t think about what we really want, we just focus on what people expect from us.

We try to please people but not ourselves, and drowning ? ourselves when it usually is the other way around.

I have a Latino parent. Most people don’t realize that they put a lot of pressure on us and are overwhelming us. As a Latina in a Latino family, we never talk about our feelings because when we do, it always turns into an argument.

They always bring up their past to make us feel bad for them. They say it’s to make us “grateful for what we have” when we know what they have been through. They don’t realize that school is stressful. They think we just go and sleep and our homework is 1+1=2. They don’t understand that most of us are having trouble.

HOMEWORK IS AFFECTING US

Savia Shenkin, 8th Grade I am a kid who loves to learn, and I appreciate school very much.

What I don’t appreciate is the amount of homework I get every day after school.

Fresh air. Everyone needs it, along with exercise. So, after school I have sports for about an hour and a half, and then I go home and start my homework at about 5:00. I finish at 12:30 every night. The next morning, I, along all the other kids going to school, have to be shaken awake and sent off to school. The teacher proceeds to ask us why we are all so tired and that we should be getting more sleep. What they don’t know is that we were not getting sleep because of them.

“Test day! Did you all study?” the teachers ask us.

Yes. I did. But I didn’t remember it because it was 12:00 at night. Then I proceed to fail because of my lack of sleep.

Hopefully you will hear me when I say that the homework is way too much!!!

OLDER GENERATIONS MISUNDERSTAND TEENS Ashley Vela, 8th Grade

I think older generations misunderstand everything about teens today.

For starters, when they think of the word teen, some automatically think about a kid’s rebellious years or their own teen years back when we were not born. They often misunderstand why teens do things or they compare themselves to them. When they think of teens most think about the time they spend on their phones or how often they talk back.

These are often misunderstandings. I personally don’t have a phone, but I have a computer which my mom always tells me I spend too much time on. She thinks that I am watching TikTok or Youtube at times, when in reality I am either finishing all the homework teachers give us, reading an e-book or, in rare cases — because I don’t have much free time due to everything going on in my life — watching/enjoying a good show.

RACISM Lucas Iraheta, 8th Grade Racism is a problem for obvious reasons. If I was old enough to drive, and drove a Honda Civic (stereotype) people would think that I am Latinx. Sterotyping can cause a lot of problems in the world. We studied the Civil War. It feels like slavery is still alive, so to speak, because of the millions of underpaid workers— most of which are Mexican immigrants.

It is such a problem because you may say something and not mean it to sound like that but you could theoretically say something racist without realizing it. At some point, I think all of us have said something racist. We don’t think about it too hard but it is more likely than not.

ARE YOU BEING RAISED TO PURSUE YOUR DREAMS Grayson Flynn, 8th Grade

Are you being raised to pursue your dreams? My answer is “yes!” I love photography and have been loving it for most of my life. It started when I woke up early one morning and took pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge with my dad. I’ve continued my love of photography since then and have posted my photos online and gone on photography adventures. My parents have helped me pursue my dream of becoming a nature and landscape photographer by going on photography adventures with me, waking up early to see the sunrise off a mountain and many more things. They also bought me my first camera and photography lessons to take my photos to the next level. My parents fully support me in the dream of being a photographer and help me whenever I need it. I am being raised to pursue my dreams and I am very grateful for that.

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Top, left to right: Jaliyah Cook, Sarah Williams, Dominiq Austin, Camron McDonald, Raymone Reed and Tayana Bland.

Bottom left to right- Brenda Lara, Bella Lucky, Mykolas Vilatis, Mason Le and Briana Zuniga.

The Marinovators: A Way Out of No Way nited arkets congratulates all the students and teaching artists who helped make it possible for students to create a riting and irtual eality pro ect that lets all of us learn about the untold stories of four frican merican workers who eventually became arin ity elders. The pro ect was composed of three separate tracks toryboard, usic, and modeling, learning of history and work environment experiences. The students created a musical tribute to lack workers from the arinship hipyard called The arinovators ay ut of o ay. In collaboration with ibraries, The erforming tars of arin, I , The alifornia tate ibrary s I Initiative, The arin ounty ree ibrary, arin ounty ce of ducation, arin ommunity oundation, and icrophone echanics, the six song features songs highlighting four main characters s. nnie mall, s. odessa a le, ev. eon amuels, and oseph ames. nderstanding diversity, equity and social ustice is enhanced by personally experiencing implicit biases.

This program makes those lost stories come alive in a personal way.

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