April-May 2022

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April-May 2022

Volume 55, Issue 2

Photo: Jada Carter

Curtains takes the cake

FHS Theatre Company performed spring musical over April weekend. Zachary Schafer Journalism Student

...games won by Freedom High School sports teams...so far.

…days of summer vacation before the next first day of school at Freedom.

...new Freedom Family staff members (approximately) who joined us this year.

The cast of Curtains puts on a memorable show. Photo: Zachary Schafer

Freedom High School’s Spring Theatre Production of a classic whodunit murder mystery Curtains was a smash hit among the community. Hosted between April 21st and 24th, with shows ranging from 2PM to 7PM, and directed by Justin Amann, the show lasted three hours total plus a 15 minute intermission. The musical is set in Boston, MA. 1959. The storyline follows Lt. Frank Cioffi, played by senior James Meyers, who is a police detective who is a musical theatre fan who is investigating a murder of the leading lady in a

theatre during a performance. In order to save the show, he must solve the mystery and find the killer before it’s too late. The musical itself was amazing, and the fact that all these students could pull off singing and dancing for three hours straight is just incredible. The performance had its share of funny moments, sad moments, and shocking moments, but overall it was by far the best full-on, post-pandemic play yet. One of the best parts about the performance was the lighting and stage sets. The sets were beautifully painted and designed by Freedom Theater Company’s stage crew, and they looked so realistic that it felt like you were actually there, instead of looking at dried up paint. They even had a curtain for the performance inside of the performance, the “Robbin’ Hood”. My favorite songs out of the entire performance has to be “I Miss the Music”, sung by sophomore Connor McClure and junior MaryJo Rutkowski and “It’s a Business”, sung by freshman Tori Prostko. The first one was beautifully sung and it had so much meaning, such as lost love reacquainted for the

first time. The other favorite songs are “What Kind of Man” and “The Woman’s Dead” and “The Man is Dead”, which are basically the same song but about different people. The ending of the performance was shocking to say the least, when it was discovered -- spoiler alert -- that Daryl Grady of the Boston Globe, played by senior (and Freedom Forum writer and host) Ben Lee, was behind the murders. Overall, this show was definitely a great evening of entertainment, laughter and joy. This is definitely a show that will be remembered for years to come.

Seniors and Freedom Forum cohosts Zachary Schafer and Ben Lee pose for a post-show picture. Photo: Christine Smith

Trends at FHS

Harry’s House

Kansas Wins

Celebrity Idolization

Freedom Student Style

New Album Release

March Madness Review

The Problems & Pitfalls

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Freedom High School - 3149 Chester Avenue - Bethlehem, PA 18020 - www.FHSForum.com - @FHSForum Celebrating over 50 years of serving the Freedom community


2 News & Features

April - May 2022

The Forum

Companies have stopped operating in Russia Companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi have suspended their products in Russia Cody Ulianna Journalism Student Large numbers of companies have suspended their products in Russia, so they aren’t sold at the moment. Aside from probably the two of the biggest companies, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, here are some other brands that will no longer be selling in Russia and how much profit they will lose. McDonalds has stated that they have temporarily suspended their 850 businesses due to shareholders saying they would not stand for generations of profit from Russia. Following McDonalds shutting down, Starbucks has also stated that 100 of their coffee shops are being closed down temporarily. Nestle, which owns a massive amount of

Stores closed at Russia’s largest mall.

brands, also have halted their products to just bare essentials. Not just the food and drink industry are suspending sales, the retail industry is also responding by shutting down their stores in Russia’s largest mall “Aviapark” at an estimated 390,000 square meters of space. Those stores were closed as of

Graphic: Aviapark & BBC

March 11th with likely more that followed after. The tech industry also took a big hit with Samsung no longer shipping to the country, but Samsung has not said whether it will close stores completely or not. Joining Samsung, Sony and Nintendo both suspended the delivery of shipping consoles. Another big

company in Russia that is closing down its shops is Apple which has also limited its use of apps and features such as “Apple Pay” and “Apple Maps”. Two Apps that are huge in Russia are Tiktok and Facebook. Facebook announced they are blocking their site in total and Tiktok is blocking all nonRussian content in Russia as well as blocking live streaming. Now probably the biggest industry hit is the oil and gas industry, with both the US and UK announcing they are Banning or Curbing getting their oil and gas from Russia, according to the BBC. Oil and gas prices are skyrocketing across the world with the current gas prices (April 11th) being at $4.219 a gallon for regular and $4.880 for premium. It’s clear that these changes will have an impact not only on Russia but on the world as a whole.

Trends make an impact at Freedom Influential fashion trends inspire the students at FHS Jada Carter Journalism Student Do you ever wake up in the morning and throw on the first thing you see in your room? Or do you plan out what you are going to wear an entire day or week ahead? Students at Freedom High School can most likely relate to the first person described, but still make a statement in how they dress. Fashion trends at Freedom make everyone unique in their own way. Whether they dress like they are ready for practice or dress a little more casually, they are still following some type of trend. Even the teachers and staff have a trend where they pay $5 to wear jeans on Fridays. However, when it comes to the students, what influences their everyday style? Do you like to wear athletic clothing such as leggings and hoodies? Then you might fit under the category of the sporty style. This style can be influenced by professional athletes or having a love for the gym. Maybe people dress this way without even realizing it. This fashion trend is popular amongst the students of Freedom High School probably because we have so many amazing athletes here. The casual fashion trend is also a popular style. Casual wear refers to a style of clothing that allows people to feel comfortable but also look somewhat professional. Some examples would be wearing jeans, sweaters, tshirts, sneakers, etc,. Teachers and staff lean towards the business casual style, but plenty of students know how to dress casually.

If thrifting clothes is something you love to do, then it is very possible you already have an article of vintage clothing or even a whole outfit. The term “vintage” refers to something that is old but high quality. So the vintage fashion style includes fashion trends from time periods most of us were not even alive for. What is better than cheap, classy clothing that everyone can afford?

Senior May Guo poses with her comfy fit. Photo: May Guo

May Guo, a senior at Freedom, finds herself wearing “mainly comfy clothes”. She tries dressing for herself, but she mainly gets “inspiration from people on social media”. As for peer pressure, May has in fact changed her style before “because everyone else did”. So not only was she influenced by social media, fashion trends around school had a part in how she dresses now. When it comes to her celebrity role model, which is Zendaya, May is

The Freedom Forum A publication of Freedom High School Bethlehem Area School District 3149 Chester Avenue Bethlehem PA, 18020

(610) 867-5843 www.FHSForum.com

influenced by her athletic, sporty style that she pulls off so well. May is one of many at Freedom High School whose fashion style is impacted by her surroundings.

Yeonjung, Hei Huixiang and other kdrama or c-drama actresses. The fashion trends that grab Kayla’s attention are the Korean and Asian style. Not only is she influenced by types of fashion, she also finds herself becoming amused by styles she sees on Tiktok. She also has “a lot of Pinterest boards dedicated to the aesthetic she wants”. When it comes to trends that are seen around Freedom, she has definitely “followed trends like bucket hats and pleated tennis skirts”. Although everyone has worn this style at least once, she said “I always try to make my style my own at the end of the day by adding personal touches like jewelry or shoes.” So even though there are other people who play a part in how she dresses, Kayla likes to add her own touches to ensure that her style is unique. It is just as easy to take a style and Senior Lance Aborde in a fashion make it your own as it is to hop on the photo shoot with his car. Photo: Lance Aborde latest trend happening at Freedom. Whether inspiration is found from Lance Aborde is another senior at your phone or from those around you, Freedom High School whose style there’s a style for everyone. was influenced by someone else. He said “My cousins and friends mainly influence my style as I would consider my style to fall between urban-casual and minimalistic.”. For those who do not know, having a minimalistic style means to dress simply. The urbancasual fashion clothing refers to hiphop or street style. Because Lance likes to make his style his own, he never changed his style because of how everyone else dresses. If there’s one celebrity that does impact how Lance dresses, it would have to be Drake. Speaking of how celebrities impact Junior Kayla Schankel shows off her students’ styles, Kayla Schankel, a unique style. junior, is impacted by Park Gyuri, Ho Photo: Kayla Schankel Staff Jada Carter Erin Krauss Ben Lee Deanna Miller Marella Ramsuchit Ashley Rodriguez Cody Ulianna Zachary Schafer

Advisor Miss Anna Marmaros Principal Ms. Laurie Sage Superintendent Dr. Joseph Roy For our editorial statement and correction policy, please go to www.fhsforum.com/ about.html


3 Entertainment

The Forum

April - May 2022

Harry’s House set to release May 20th Erin Krauss Journalism Student Are you as excited for Harry’s new album as I am? If you are a 100% Harry Styles fan (like me), then you probably are counting down the days until May 20th. In case you’re lost about who this man is and why his house is releasing, don’t worry, it will all make sense after I explain it. Harry Styles was in the band One Direction when he was 16 years old. He auditioned for the X-Factor along with a bunch of other people and Simon Cowell grouped five boys together to make One Direction. These boys, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan released five albums during the time that they were together. One Direction even had movies made about them. The first one was in 2013 called “This Is Us” and one in 2014 called “Where We Are” which focuses on one of their concerts. The band also sold over 6 million albums and all of their albums debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart. The boys then went on their own separate ways and are now all solo

artists. Styles made a name for himself by releasing his first solo album called Harry Styles in 2017, then his second album in 2019, called Fine Line. In 2019, Fine Line also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart. He recently went on tour this past fall in the US, starting in Las Vegas on September 4th and finishing on November 20th in Los Angeles, California. He had a total of 42 shows and performed in more than 20 different states. Each one of his shows sold out which racked up 95 million dollars. Now, us “Harries” or Harry Styles fans were blessed with a new song on April 1st, but some people were worried that it was actually going to be an April Fools prank.. He announced that he would be releasing the single on March 28th on Twitter and Instagram by posting a picture of his back, with the caption of “As It Was. April 1.” Fans immediately commented saying that they were not ready. Even @iheartradio said, “STOP IM SHAKING!!!!”. Instagram wasn’t the only platform that people were going crazy on - Tiktok had its fair share of fans uploading conspiracies about the song and even the album. In addition to

that, they did their best to try and figure out how many songs we would get and calculate the number of days in between March 28th and April 1st to try to figure out if that meant anything. “As It Was,” was released, and that’s no joke. The music video was released on April 1st at 12:00 AM for those who live in the UK, but 7:00 PM on March 31st for people who live on the east coast. It is a little under three minutes long and features Harry running in circles, trying to get to a girl dressed in blue. Personally, I love the song. I think it’s very different from what his fans are used to. The music is upbeat and sounds like it would be a happy song but the lyrics are sad and have a lot of meaning behind them. The song even has an emotional beginning when there is a child’s voice saying, “Come on Harry, we wanna say goodnight to you!” Some people suspected that it was one of Olivia Wilde’s children, but he has confirmed that it was the voice of his goddaughter who used to call him before bed each night and one time, he didn’t pick up, so he decided to put in the beginning of the song to see what

it would sound like and kept it in because he thought it fit. It adds a fun touch of excitement to the song and always makes fans happy when they hear it. Another emotional lyric occurs a little while later, “Answer the phone/Harry you’re no good alone/ Why are you sitting at home on the floor?/What kind of pills are you on?” These lyrics might suggest isolation and loneliness and specifically uses his own name. The rest of the album will be released on May 20th. I can’t wait for the whole album, which I already know is going to be amazing.

Cover of Harry’s House Image: Architectural Digest

Melanie Martinez’s album and movie touch on real world problems which came out in 2015. Her half-and -half dyed hair and retro-styled clothing compliment her colorful indie music that portrays the life of a character named Cry Baby. After four years, she returned with a new album and movie in 2019; K-12, which can be found on YouTube. The movie is from the perspective of Cry Baby who is attending a sleepaway school. But, this is no ordinary school. We follow Cry Baby through her day at K-12 and along the way meet new characters and are introduced to real-world problems through symbolism in her songs. This Cover of Melanie Martinez’s hit school is set on reforming the chilalbum, K-12. dren, and harshly punishing them if Image: Apple Music they disobey. The song, “Drama Club,” entails the student body being Deanna Miller brain-washed through the play. This Journalism Student song expresses how the students are Alternative singer and songwriter no longer their own person and have Melanie Martinez is most commonly masked their own identity and feelknown for her debut album, Cry Baby, ings with a script written by a higher

authority. Each song is suited to the characters’ trauma and conflicts, which many adolescent girls find themselves relating to. Melanie Martinez wrote the song, “Show & Tell” to express her feelings and share her experiences being a popular artist. She describes how she is “on display” and a “product of society.” In the chorus she sings, “I’m just like you, you’re like me; imperfect and human are we.” This song symbolizes her career and the expectations people have, how fans want more and more when she cannot always provide. It’s about the fact that at the end of the day, celebrities are still human and can only give so much. At the end of the song, the lyrics are drowned out and faded in the instrumental as she sings, “Why can’t you ... hear me?” In this line, she communicates how her concerns and opinions are never taken into account. “Orange Juice” has another heavy

topic; eating disorders. In this scene in the movie, Cry Baby has a friend with bulimia. “You turn oranges to orange juice” refers to solid food turning into liquid by throwing it up. Eating disorders affect many teens and are fatally harmful to their health. This song shines light on the many people suffering from this and sends a very important message through the lyrics, “Your body is imperfectly perfect, everyone wants what the other one’s working; no more orange juice.” Melanie’s music allows for thousands to feel seen and heard, and that they are not alone. Lyrical genius Melanie Martinez uses imagery and catchy beats to paint an honest picture of the real-world. The smooth flow of the lyrics convey meaningful messages throughout every song as she touches the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. K-12 is both informative and entertaining, and overall definitely worth checking out.

DC vs. Marvel: Who wins the battle? Ashley Rodriguez Journalism Student DC and Marvel have been rivaling each other for many decades now. But what are their differences? What makes them special from each other? Let's first look at the themes. What really is the difference? Marvel usually has lighter tones in their stories; they would also have more realistic themes for their story and character, like in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies where there is a more playful atmosphere and a lot more jokes in it. DC is the opposite, with darker themes, especially in the movies, like The Batman where they stick to the

dark plot and stay away from any comedy. What about the characters? Most DC characters are granted some kind of power either from birth or at some point in their life. They are also usually based on some sort of mythology, mostly Greek, like Aquaman representing Poseidon and Wonder Woman representing the god of war. DC heroes will also usually be incredibly powerful in both films and movies without anything leading up to it. On the other hand, Marvel characters are more ¨human¨ and they are usually seen slowly getting better at handling their powers, like when Spiderman was bitten by a spider for his powers

or how the Hulk got his power from an accidental exposure to gamma rays. Both of these characters throughout comics and movies were learning how to use their powers. When it comes to ratings, while people have many different opinions about both, Marvel is the more wellliked one out of the two. The average Metacritic score they usually get is 58.73 while DC usually gets 56.71. They also scored an 87 on their most successful movie Black Panther while DC got an 84 on their highest movie Dark Knight. Meanwhile, DC has the lowest score on a movie with a 27 on the movie Catwoman while Marvel scored a 52 in their movie Eternals.

There are many differences between Marvel and DC. Marvel seems to be the more fan-favorite but that doesn't mean it's the better one. Their differences make them unique and provide fans with endless hours of entertainment and debate.

Left: Marvel, Right: DC Image: GameRader


4 Sports & Entertainment

The Forum

April - May 2022

Kansas defeats UNC for championship title leader scorers with 15 points. RJ Davis was right up there with Bacot, with 15 points as well as 12 rebounds. The winner of this year’s men’s As for the Kansas Jayhawks, the lead March Madness was the Midwest’s scorers that led them to a victory were very own Kansas, the top-ranked team Jalen Wilson and David McCormack, of that area. Having an overall record of 34-6 in their regular season, they didn’t come to mess around; they were gunning for that championship win. They beat North Carolina with a final score of 72-69. It surprised fans, as everyone had Gonzaga on their brackets to win, after their upset in the final two the previous year. Starting with the North Carolina Tar Heels, there are some interesting stats Kansas celebrates their victory. to come out of that game that almost Photo: Associated Press led them to a championship title. One of their forwards, Armando Bacot, led the team in rebounds with a total of with 15 points each. Christian Braun 15. Not only was he the top rebounder was the top rebounder with 12, and for the night, he was also one of the had an excellent defensive game with

Jada Carter Journalism Student

11 rebounds on defense. These three key players contributed to the number one seed to win the championship in this year’s March Madness. This year’s championship title could have belonged to any team. St. Peter’s out of the East made that believable. Since they were ranked 15 out of 16 teams in their area, they weren’t expected to make it far. However, with an outstanding 67-64 win over the third-ranked Purdue, they made it to the Elite 8. They made history that day for being the first 15 seed to make it to the final 8 teams. March Madness is the NCAA Division l Men’s Basketball Tournament. It’s a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States. It first appeared in the state of Illinois over 60 years ago for the excitement around the state basketball tournaments. The term was coined by

Excitement builds every March for the college basketball tournament. Image: Onlocation.com

Henry V. Porter, who coached and taught at Athens High School in Central Illinois. This year, the tournament featured 68 college teams across the country. They came from either the East, West, South or Midwest. Every team came to play and showed everyone that ranks do not matter; it could have been anyone’s tournament win.

Pro baseball is in full swing Erin Krauss Journalism Student

continue to play the 2022 season until October 5th, 2022. The season was originally scheduled to start on March 31st but was pushed back because of bargaining agreements. There was a potential of no MLB season this year because a lockout was put into place on December 2nd, 2021 and the MLb didn’t do anything about it for over a month. At the end of April, the Yankees were the leaders of the East AL, tied Photo: Sporting News with the Blue Jays with a record of 10 The MLB had its opening day not -6. The Twins had a record of 8-8 long ago, on April 7th, 2022, and will which put them in first place in the

Central AL, and the Mariners were in the lead of the West AL also with a record of 10-6. As for the National League, at the end of April, the Mets were in the lead of the East NL with a reocrd of 12-5. The Cardinals had a record of 95 which claimed their spot of number one in the Central NL, and the Dodgers had a record of 11-4, paving the way for themselves in the West NL. Photo: Slugger.com Now, in early May, baseball is back and better than ever. Fans are now 2019. There is much excitement to allowed to watch games in person - come since this is just the start of the full capacity for the first time since season.

Celebrities: The Problem of Idolization

The idolization of celebrities can be detrimental.

Ben Lee Journalism Student “Hey, did you know that The Rock went to Freedom High School?” said every Freedom High School student ever. About a few months ago, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson delivered a special surprise to the Freedom High School football team with new gear, equipment and an electrifying video message our school would never forget. Even though this happened months ago, the event still remains relevant at Freedom today and likely years to come. This is just one example of the mass influence celebrities have over people. In some scenarios,

Graphic: UCSD Guardian

celebrities are even worshipped like gods. Fans will cry, pass out or even attack other people for their favorite celebrities. A good example would be BTS fans attacking someone on social media who shared a negative opinion about the Kpop group. This begs us to ask the question: why do we do this? Why do we worship celebrities? James Houran, a psychologist at the consulting firm HVS Executive Search who helped create the first questionnaire to measure celebrity worship, states… “Celebrity worship, at its heart, seems to fill something in a person’s life...it gives them a sense of identity, a sense of self. It feeds a psychological need.” Of course, celebrity worship in most

cases is not too serious. However, celebrity worship can go over the top. Analyzing the recent situation between Will Smith and Chris Rock, there have been very strong feelings towards the issue on both sides and this story stayed inside the news for multiple weeks. While there is an entire war going on, a story of two celebrities took up the headlines for weeks. This is a great example of celebrity worship in our society and how the media exacerbates this. Regardless of your feelings towards the situation, all celebrities ultimately have flaws and are not perfect. A major factor to pushing one down the road of celebrity stalker-life is personality. Being egotistical, irritable, and impulsive are key personality traits in determining one’s likelihood of falling into the rabbit hole of celebrity worship. Specifically, considerable changes in someone’s life such as a divorce or being fired as well as finding one’s identity are the biggest reasons. To elaborate, this struggle with identity is likely the culprit of why more teenagers, on average, wor-

ship some kind of celebrity. At the end of the day, celebrity worship is not harmful in many cases and it can even provide a social outlet for some people. However, celebrity worship can easily become toxic and we should all remember celebrities are people just like us. And they have flaws too. Don’t make someone else your personality; find who you are.

The celebrity slap heard around the world. Photo: Time


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