Signpost Fall 2016

Page 2

The children of war

Global

BY ABIGAIL GRAY ‘17

The days when battles occur in remote like they normally would, either because battle fields, soldier on soldier, are far, far, their health centers didn’t have electricity, behind us. Now, battles aren’t just fought or the medication to administer, or simply between countries, they are fought within because families were too scared to leave and across countries. Where once they were separated from military conflict, civilians are now thrown into the midst of war and are often the target of many attacks, making up ninety-percent of the casualties in battle (www.warchild.org. uk). In many war zones, children make up the majority of this ninety percent. Worldwide, millions of children and young adults are affected by armed conflict going on in their country on a daily basis.

During war, children and young adults not only experience extreme violence first-hand, but some are forced to survive in unhealthy living environments, or are thrown on the front lines, fighting for a cause they might not believe in.

Photo courtesy of engagingpeace.com The media is quick to show stories where innocent children are maimed and murdered by weapons during war, but rarely do they their homes because of the fighting. show the real reason so many children die UNICEF reported that this put over 2.6 during wartime – illness. In most of the million children at risk for contracting cases where a child dies in a warzone, the the measles, which is highly contagious cause is an illness that would otherwise be preventable or curable had they received proper medical attention.

Unfortunately, war destroys everything, especially infrastructure and jobs.

More often than not, health centers in these countries are destroyed, or doctors and nurses are forced to flee to safety, leaving the remaining civilians with no medical help. Children are also the most susceptible to diseases such as malaria and cholera; their immune systems aren’t as strong as an adult’s, especially if they are malnourished, which lowers their immune systems ‘ defense abilities even more. Treatments for most of the diseases that children die from during war are often cheap and simple. Nonetheless, millions of children and can be fatal without proper treatment. have died and continue to die because of a Diseases that normally wouldn’t severely lack of health care. For example, in Yemen affect a child can be fatal during times of in 2015 children were not being vaccinated war, which is why children make up such

a high percentage of the civilian death toll.

In addition to being at risk of disease, children in other countries are often recruited to become soldiers, and are placed on the frontlines of the battlefield. For example, in August 2016, Iraqi police stopped a 15-year-old boy with explosives strapped all over his body from entering a Shia mosque and attempting to carry out a suicide mission for ISIS. Days before this, a young Turkish child bomber targeted a wedding, killing at least 54 victims, many of whom were children under the age of 14. The manipulation of children for these suicide missions is nothing new, especially for extremist groups such as the Taliban, the Islamic State, and Boko Haram.

In fact, utilizing children as weapons is becoming increasingly popular in modern day combat. In 2012, a 14-year-old suicide bomber riding a bicycle hit a NATO base and killed six people; two years after this, a teenager blew himself up at a French cultural center in Kabul, the Afghan capital. Experts have speculated that extremists utilize children as weapons in order to preserve adult soldiers who carry out more difficult missions, or to simply catch their target off-guard with a seemingly innocent child. The fact that children are now seen as weapons to extremist groups puts them in immense danger during times of war.

But why would they employ children as weapons? Or, to ask a better question, how could they?

These children-turned-murderers are often stolen from their homes or are brain

The media is quick to show stories where innocent children are maimed and murdered by weapons during war, but rarely do they show the real reason so many children die during wartime - illness.

Global washed into believing that what they are asked to do is for a plausible, often religious, cause. ISIS is known to begin training children as young as eight years old to indoctrinate them to their cause. Many of the extremist groups “condition” their child-soldiers by threatening them to do as they are told, intimidating them, and subjecting them to unrelenting endurance training in order to instill obedience in the children.

Some children have even reported that they were forced to watch fellow recruits die at the hands of their ‘mentors’ for disobeying or refusing to follow orders.

This kind of trauma that these children are exposed to at such an early, crucial time in their development has been studied widely in recent years. Now more is understood about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – which almost all of the children who make it out of extremist militias suffer from in some way or form. In comparison to adults, the psychological effects of war are worse on impressionable, vulnerable children, especially because many of these children can’t fully comprehend the cause they asked, or forced, to fight for. Being exposed to this at such an early age can leave children incapable of maintaining healthy relationships with adults, and their

peers.

So, how do we combat the problems children endure during war time? Education is the best weapon against corruption and

Page 3 strongly encourages secondary education, if it is available and accessible, because education of youth is essential within all societies. The promotion of harmony between nations is built by teaching children early on how to be good citizens.

This right is stripped from the child when war strikes their homeland.

However, education is not the only way to combat the problems that children of war experience; global awareness of their plight is crucial. Organizations such as War Child and the Children of War Foundation promote awareness of the issues that children endure during wartime by holding seminars, supplying nations at war with proper health services, and more. It is important to remember that it’s not just the child on the front cover of today’s news that is suffering because of war. It’s the child you don’t see or hear about. It’s the young child being sold as a sex slave. It’s the child being forced to quit school and look after her siblings so that her parents can go to work. It’s the child that was abducted from his home and thrown into extremist training. All children, not just the ones in the headlines, suffer in some way from war.

These children-turned-murderers are often stolen from their homes, or are brainwashed into believing that what they are asked to do is for a plausible, often religious, cause. poverty – two major factors of war. The education of children is also a crucial weapon in combating abuse or neglect. But many times they lose this weapon. More often than not, children who live in war zones lose their chance at an education; often, their educational development is severely delayed. Many parents in third world countries can’t afford to send their children to school, or they must pull them out of school so that they can contribute to their family’s workload, or they need the older children to stop their education in order to look after their younger siblings while the parents go to work. Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states that every child has the right to a free primary education and

Photo by Maggie Loftin ‘17

Photo courtesy of borgenmagazine.com

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Disaster Tourism

Global

BY GRACE GALLER ‘19

Ground Zero in New York City, Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, The Hiroshima Peace Museum, and the Costa Concordia Site, all of these places are sites where people go to practice “Disaster Tourism:” the act of traveling to disaster sites out of your own curiosity, not courtesy to the victims of the disaster.

Many “disaster sites” are actually memorials, and their purpose is to show respect for the victims and their families.

Memorials try their hardest to establish rules that will prevent offense to the victims.

The Ground Zero Memorial in New York City has rules about conduct while you visit the disaster site. In the conduct rules it states “The Memorial and Memorial Museum are places of solemn reflection dedicated to honoring and remembering the tragic events and the overwhelming loss of innocent life that occurred at this location and others on September 11th, 2001 and February 26th 1993.” Some things that can cause you to be asked to leave the memorial are engaging in sporting and recreational activities, making noise that is unreasonable, or behaving in a way that is inappropriate regarding the solemn nature of the memorial, engaging in selling products, and throwing trash into the reflecting pools.

Saundra Schimmelpfennig, an international philanthropist, writes in her article on her blog GoodIntensions about her experience of being asked to lead disaster tours. She states that she was always unsure of what was morally right. In her article she writes “Was it more important for that person to see the situation on the ground, or was it more important for people who have just

lost their homes and loved ones to be able to care for their children and rebuild their lives without having strangers walking through their village and looking at them?”

She argues with someone who stated that “The donor’s needs for understanding are just as important as the needs of the aid recipients.” Personally I have to disagree with that. My curiosity to learn about disasters does not trump the needs of those who have actually suffered through it. My home has not been torn out of the ground, my family has not been killed, and I do not suffer from PTSD; therefore my “needs” of wanting to know what a disaster sight looks like are at the bottom of the list. Saundra also gives people looking to become disaster tourist a list of questions to ask themselves.

“1: Is visiting this site crucial to your decision making, or will it just satisfy personal curiosity?

2: Is visiting temporary camps and newly built villages necessary, or would visiting destroyed areas provide you with the information or photo ops you are seeking?

3: If you must go into the villages, how would you want a person of equal standing to act when walking through your own neighborhood, near your children, or watching you in the unemployment or food pantry line?

4: If you want to speak with a disaster victim, then under what circumstances would you feel it was appropriate for someone of equal standing to take up your time with questions?”

Many other articles written about disaster tourism argue if it is ethical for a country to exploit a victims’ dignity. Travel agencies offer trips that say the money is going to aid the people they will see while in a certain company, but some companies are under the discrepancies that they are keeping the money for personal use.

Most of the time these trips Photo courtesy of timesofisrael.com compel people to go and

Photo courtesy of denalioutdoor.com

help victims, but unless these people have special skills or are trained physicians, the help can actually be unwanted by the local people. The local people and disaster victims can also become frustrated when the people who intend to give aid ignore their country’s culture and religious beliefs.

A company out of Europe has been using disaster tourism for their own gain by offering people to spend their “holidays” reliving and viewing disaster sights. One of the trips you can take is to relive the Hudson River plane crash. The “experience” includes a simulated flight, a full emergency landing in a “smoky” environment, and an emergency landing in the water. The company also takes people to the disaster site of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.

The visitors stay in the Chernobyl hotel and can “examine the deadness” and they will bring you food from the outside to “avoid contamination”.

The idea to aid people in other countries thrives here in the United States, but here in the U.S we have an excessive amount of homeless and starving people on our very own streets. Veterans who have served their time for our freedom are starving, homeless, and suffer from PTSD, but people still want to tell them to get a job.

People could focus more on helping their communities here at home before helping people overseas. This is not to say that the overseas causes are not important because they are. But before you decide to go view a disaster site and “help,” maybe look around the disaster sights near you.

Global

Page 5

Alternate universe or false memories?

BY AVERY BOALS ‘19

Do you remember the series of children’s books filled with a friendly family of bears who helped parents teach their children to have proper morals and manners named The Berenstein Bears? Well, if you go online to search this family of bears, their name is actually The Berenstain Bears. Although this may seem very unimportant, it is only the start to a large conspiracy theory called the Mandela Effect. The Mandela Effect, put in simple terms, consists of a large group of people in the world who remember events from the past that never actually happened. This conspiracy theory could potentially help prove the existence of alternate universes or time travel; people believe that once you have entered an alternate universe, there are slight changes throughout the world, but large groups of people still remember the past universe. Also, for those who have seen the Back to the Future movies, it would be like Marty McFly travelling back in time in the DeLorean and accidentally changing an aspect of the past, ultimately changing the future. For example, in the first movie, Marty accidentally goes back in time to when his parents are teenagers and ends up having to make them fall in love again. After these events, the future changes, and the villain of the movie, Biff, ends up working for the McFly family, rather than the other way around.

Although this theory sounds unrealistic, multiple examples help to make more sense of it all. To begin, the whole theory started when Fiona Broome, a blogger, was at a convention discussing the death of Nelson Mandela. She vividly remembered Mandela’s death in prison in the 80’s, but others contradicted her, proving that he died at the end of 2013. In our universe, Nelson Mandela died in 2013 from a respiratory infection, but some remember otherwise. The blogger claims to remember news articles about his death, videos of his funeral, and a speech from his widow, but

none of them exist. The more interesting part is that a multitude of people agree with Broome, remembering his death in the 80’s, thus resulting in the new conspiracy theory.

To continue, another example would be Tank Man, the unidentified protestor who stood in front of a line of military tanks in 1989, after the Chinese military ended the Tiananmen Square protests by force. Now in the videos of Tank Man, he continually moves, blocking the tanks from moving around him and also climbing on top of the first tank. By the end of the video, men are showed pulling him away from the tanks and into the crowd, but no one is positive

to “mirror, mirror” including the original Brothers Grimm story and The Red Fairy Book. In addition, do you remember the television show with the infamous Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety and more animated characters? Well, if you do, is the spelling Looney Tunes or Looney Toons?

If you look it up now, the correct name is Looney Tunes. Many people who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s remember it as Looney Toons.

Referring back to the Berenstain Bears, a journalist from Vice, Mack Lamoureux, even emailed the publishers of the books, Random House, asking about the spelling of the name; their reply Photo by Avery Boals ‘19 wouldn’t even answer the question. Others have found Berenstain Bears books in their houses with the spelling Berenstein. Some think that the publishers could have misspelled the name in the beginning, so at some point they changed it to the correct name, but there is no proof of the name change. Also, since the publishers have not addressed the situation, it gives people all the more reason to believe in the conspiracy theory. to who did so. The only thing wrong is So, you may be asking yourself, could that many people remember the outcome time travel and alternate universes really differently: Tank Man was killed after the exist or are these people just remembering tanks ran over him. Some people remember everything wrong? This is a possibility; watching the video live on the television, false memories, or memory distortions, showing him being killed. So, what really are memories that are remembered happened? wrong or memories that were altered Other examples may actually have you by association with something else. questioning your childhood; everyone There is also something called memory remembers the Evil Queen in Snow White confabulation in which a completely new and the Seven Dwarfs and her magic mirror memory is created by your mind on its on the wall, but do you the most famous own. According to Erika Hayasaki from line in this movie correctly? While the The Atlantic, memories that are attached Evil Queen is asking her mirror who is the to strong emotions are the ones everyone fairest of them all, does she say, “magic remembers more distinctly, but that does mirror on the wall…” or, “mirror mirror not necessarily mean that these emotional on the wall…”? Surprisingly, the correct memories cannot be altered. Also, in On phrase is, “magic mirror on the wall…” the Origin of Stories by Bryan Boyd, he although the many stories Disney based says that memories do not just record this movie on have the direct translation information and peoples experiences, but

Page 6 your brain also fills in gaps and creates its own memories, meaning your “true” memories might not be as true as you think they are. Now you may be asking yourself, how is it possible that such a large quantity of people can remember different things?

The easiest way to explain it is with PlayDoh; every single memory in your brain is like its own piece of Play-Doh, which has its own unique shape and size. Some are larger because they are more important or some might be stale and forgotten, while newer ones are still soft and moldable.

When your brain creates a memory, it is not set and stone. It updates, as psychologists call it; the new piece of PlayDoh is moldable and can be molded into a different shape until after a certain amount of time before it hardens. So, if you are

Editorial given a false memory, you have a limited amount of time before it does become harder, meaning that if it is not updated in time, it will become a “true” memory to you. In large groups, if you are given false information, it feeds off of others and could potentially become a permanent false memory, instead of updating the information as soon as possible to make it a correct memory. William Hirst, a Professor of Psychology at The New School, helps to explain this concept: “In terms of groups talking together, studies suggest that false memories are more likely to arise in a group discussion than individually because there is more chance of somebody offering a false memory which can then be implanted.

However, if somebody in the group says ‘no that’s not true’, that will mitigate the

influence.”

To conclude, the Mandela Effect has gotten people thinking about what is actually real. The possibility of this effect being caused by alternate universes or time travel is highly unlikely and has not been proven scientifically, so many believe the phenomenon is caused by these false memories from outside influences or your own mind tricking its self. The only reason so many people believe in this theory is due to the amount of people who have experienced the same memories and how many aspects of this universe have changed.

So, if these are just false memories, how do they apply to such a large percentage of the population? Or, if it is somehow an alternate universe or time travel, what does this mean for our future? What other

“Pick that up,” my roommate Alya New York is a magnet for anyone across commanded, only moments after I met the world who wants to study in the United her. “Excuse me?” I reply. “Yeah, you, States: Columbia just happens to be an pick that up and hand it to me right now.” incredible institution in the right place.

I look around the room, but my mom has During the application process, Columbia already left, and there is no one to tell asks you to agree to room with whoever me whether or not I should laugh or if I they match you with. Of course I agreed; should legitimately hand this stranger her if I were to be accepted into the program, hairbrush by demand. Is this a joke? This my roommate would not be my first was the first of many instances when I had to understand a culture I had wrongly assumed I understood well.

This past summer, I had the opportunity to study creative writing at Columbia University in New York City for three weeks; being from Memphis, I applied to receive a room on campus for the duration of the program. Part of the application process to get a dorm included an essay about tolerance, and this was an area in which I felt particularly confident. Hutchison raises girls in Photo by Samantha Tancredi ‘18 a tolerant environment, and I would be studying global relations at Governor’s concern. Rather, figuring out how to handle School in the summer, too. I felt that I would the homework load would shoot to the have any tool necessary to handle situations top of my list. From here, I can say that that could potentially arise. I already knew I certainly received the global experience that the Columbia website implied that a that many people did not simply by having large foreign student population would be a dorm mate from a completely different attending the program. Within an hour of background than my own. My roommate my arrival, I had met students from Japan, flew from Saudi Arabia to New York Qatar, Taiwan, India, China, Indonesia, to study economics and global ethics.

Turkey, England, and France among Ironically, she did not have high tolerance multiple other countries. Unsurprisingly, for others, so I was hopeful that the course

would hone in on this aspect of life for her.

Eventually, it did.

Yet, my first encounter with my Saudi Arabian roommate, Alya, led me to wonder how her life back home was. The first day ended rather quickly, and after some orientation notes, we had free time and then had to check in by 11:00 with our advisors.

Shortly after checking in, Alya asked me if I had any questions about Saudi Arabia. Of course I did, but I did not know where to start, so I asked a question to get her talking about herself and inquired about the lives women lead in Saudi.

Alya replied in a very unique way.

She explained the idea that women are not oppressed and that women can do anything men can except drive, which actually does not bother her because she enjoys being chauffeured around. I had a little background in this ideology from an article titled “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” that explores the idea that Laura Bush misidentified Muslim women as being oppressed, and it suggests that Americans need to assist the Muslim women through empowering them. Similarly, Alya was telling me that she lived a fair and normal life and never felt any sort of oppression. Yet, her words did not match my idea of reality. Shortly after, she explained that she could not go to certain areas in her country since she was

Culture Clash

BY SAMANTHA TANCREDI ‘18

a woman, yet she was not bothered by this because she did not want to go. She was in a relationship in which her boyfriend would not let her go anywhere alone, which was normal to her—she did not feel dependent, but instead, she felt loved. The ideas we think of as oppressive, she found to be completely normal.

I then invited Alya to ask questions about the United States of America. She immediately asked me if I was team Trump or team Clinton. I tried to steer away from politics by mentioning that I live in the South to potentially spark questions or conversation topics, but she was only interested in my political views.

It made me realize how important American policies and decisions are to those around the world; people from everywhere are looking in on the U.S., especially with its current heated political climate. I did not share my personal beliefs, but instead informed her on the polarized state of the country and how different this election is from the others. She lost interest after that.

One constant throughout my time having Alya as a roommate was this idea that I was there to cater to her needs. “Pick up the brush. Move over. Turn down the air. Order my food. Turn on the light. Give me that.”

These words were effortlessly pouring from her tongue; furthermore, she seldom thanked anyone, and she always cut in line or knocked you aside to be first. I am not one to accept this type of behavior in friends, so I constantly said no in attempt to teach Alya how to act in our country. According to my friend Saadia who took extensive trips and visits to Saudi Arabia, Arabs in Saudi act exactly how she acted while she was here. If an Arab were to walk into a store while a non-Arab was being helped, the store manager or employee would drop its non-Arab client immediately and rush to help the Arab person, regardless of any circumstance. Arabs cut in line all of the time and are not required to wait like the rest of the people do. I personally would not do well in this environment because I know differently, but I quickly realized that Alya did not understand where I was coming from. So, I had to learn where she

Editorial

was coming from. This concept comes into play when I did laundry for the first time.

I asked Alya if she wanted to join me, and she plopped all of her dirty clothes in my laundry bag; consequently, I took every piece of her laundry out of my bag and placed it on her bed. I went to the basement and did my own laundry, and when I returned, she was furious. “Why didn’t you do mine? I told you to,” was her reply. It ultimately came down to me inviting her to join me in the basement, and I taught her how to wash and dry clothes and then how to fold them. When we returned upstairs, she confessed, “I’m sorry…I don’t even know where the laundry room in my house

Page 7 a self-perceived title to them. One night, she took my iPhone charger and used it until morning; when I woke up with a dead phone, she simply commented, “I did not want to break mine by stretching it too far.”

She would say please and thank you as she saw fitting. Coming from the South, this lack of mannerisms was definitely new.

Though I had a difficult time understanding her ways, I ultimately was able to see where she came from. Someone with a different socioeconomic status in the same country would have acted completely differently.

For better or worse, Alya continued to believe that I live on a farm and that I am miserably broke after I made my bed each morning or because I knew how much detergent to put in the washing machine. We both misunderstood one another.

In the end, I gained a broadened perspective and recognized what it was that I stand for. Tolerance is important, and learning of another culture is imperative prior to making notions or decisions about a group of people. However, in the end, you have to know when to put your foot down.

Perhaps I was searching for a friend in Alya that she was unaware of; or perhaps, I held too high of hopes for a friendship that would never last. I saw her treat other students the same way she treated me, and they were submissive in hopes to receive a gift or two. As it turns out, those people were invited to a concert for free just because Alya did not want to go alone.

After that, I knew that my roommate and I had completely opposite philosophies of life, and that is fine; however, I am not one for forced friendships. I never said goodbye to Alya—she left during my class the day before designated departure to go to a Drake concert with front row seats. A part of me was distraught that my own roommate did not want to say goodbye to me, in the end, she was neither someone who I enjoyed the company of nor someone who I would ever go out of my way to contact again. I did send her a few texts in hope of reaching out to her once more to say a technical version of goodbye, but she did not reply. I cannot say I am surprised.

Perhaps I was searching for a friend in Alya that she was unaware of; or perhaps, I held too high of hopes for a friendship that would never last. is.” It was then that I realized that I could teach her—after all, she said sorry for the first time—and it was when I realized that she cared to learn, at least some things.

Finally, one of the largest differences between Alya and me was the style of each of us. I am a confident person, and I like to look nice, not to impress, but simply for myself. Alya would spend three hours every morning caking makeup onto her face. The night before, she would spend three hours picking out an outfit that matched perfectly while picking her favorite jewelry to go along with it. Meanwhile, I found that I could sleep in with ten minutes until class, throw the first thing I saw on and run to the lecture room and still make it in time. This, I owe to Hutchison. I do not care what my appearance is as long as I feel comfortable and confident in what I am wearing or how I look. It was mind boggling to see the process it took for Alya to feel even slightly okay in her own skin that did not look like her own skin anymore. Never take for granted being raised in the South and in an all-girls’ school.

Alya had an interesting ideology. She threw away four diamond rings simply based on the fact that they did not shine enough anymore. She would borrow items from me without asking because she had

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Local

The Tragedy of Memphis

BY MAGGIE LOFTIN ‘17

As children, all or most of us had set parameters as to where we were allowed to play. For me, these were strictly defined: don’t go past the creek or onto Mrs. Brooks’s property. For you, maybe these limits were the block you lived on, your backyard, or your entire neighborhood. What happens, though, when you realize there is no reason to follow these guidelines? For me, this happened around 7th grade when I stopped obeying my boundaries and explored past the creek.

Recently, the areas within my reach have magnified, and I now have the entire city of Memphis in reach and am usually not told that I cannot go to a certain place. True, I generally do stay within certain areas (Overton Square and Park, Cooper-Young, S Main Arts District, East Memphis), but this summer I discovered the beauty of some less travelled areas.

After I moved to Downtown Memphis this past spring, I was very cautious about what part of the city I was in. It had been ingrained into my head that Memphis, Tennessee, was extremely dangerous and that there are many areas of the city where I would get shot for simply walking down the street. Quickly, I realized that this is not necessarily true. I am comfortable walking

down the street alone Downtown, driving down EH Crump at night with the windows down, and weaving my way through unfamiliar neighborhoods to avoid traffic.

During my initial skepticism about the danger of Memphis, a friend of mine told me, “You know, lots of areas with a bad reputation aren’t dangerous. They’re just poor.” This isn’t to say it’s a good idea to throw caution to the wind and go running through the city helter-skelter, completely oblivious to good sense, but rather that before you say not to drive down a certain street, it may be a good idea to reevaluate whether

Photo by Maggie Loftin ‘17

Photo by Maggie Loftin ‘17

that area really poses a threat or not.

A friend of mine from Nashville asked me, “Why Memphis? It’s so unsafe.”

I was shocked. I hadn’t realized how overwhelming the negative stereotypes surrounding the city were. Sure, I knew that within the local area Memphis generally brings up the topic of crime, but I was not aware that this perception spread to other cities.

I think some of the problem with how people see Memphis is simply how the city looks. Memphis is old, and the city’s appearance reflects this. Maybe that building down the street from where you’re eating dinner looks run down or abandoned – maybe it is – but that does not mean you will be assaulted walking to the car.

The old, sometimes deserted buildings give the city character. On the north side of Mud Island there’s a group of buildings by a water tower that appears to be abandoned,

Local victims of a long-ago fire. Next to the Metal Museum, there’s an abandoned marine hospital. There’s a warehouse off the interstate, another close to the marine hospital, and yet another abandoned warehouse (the J.R. Watkins building) on Crump.

And, just a few weeks ago, there was a motel.

I remember the day it vanished. I was sitting by the pool with several of my friends when I thought I heard thunder. I looked around, confused, because there was not a cloud in the sky but just shrugged it off as a big truck going down the road. That night, at dinner, my father excitedly asked, “Maggie, did you know they imploded that old motel across the street? You know, the one you can see from the balcony.”

Shocked, I got up from the table and walked to our balcony, staring out at the now unfamiliar landscape in front of me. It was gone.

Fortunately, this is not always the fate of such buildings.

The marine hospital is undergoing renovation, as is the warehouse by the interstate. The Hotel Chisca was recently turned into apartments. Others, such as the warehouse on Crump and the Sterick Building have been abandoned for years and show no sign of renovation. I often drive by these buildings and wonder about what happened in them. The Sterick Building was once called the “Queen of Memphis” and employed over 2,000 workers. Now, it sits abandoned since 1987.

Throughout the past year I have watched these buildings come and go, often lamenting the changes made to them. I am glad some buildings are being salvaged; however, in the process of this, much of what I consider art is being removed. For example, the J.R. Watkins building located

at 70 Crump Blvd has recently had most of its graffiti painted over in what I assume is in hopes to increase the chance of the warehouse being leased out.

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under bridges, yet some of it makes its way onto edifices such as the J.R. Watkins building. Recently, all graffiti within easy access on this building has been painted over. I remember the first day I noticed this: I drove home, burst in the door, and yelled something incomprehensible about the art on one of my favorite buildings in Memphis being destroyed.

When I look up at a building and see graffiti, I see Though I understand that most graffiti character. It almost makes the buildings qualifies as destruction of property, it have a personality, some intriguing quality also seems as though artwork is being that draws me in and makes me want to demolished. This does not constitute know what happened there. Now, when I that all graffiti is art; rather, it means that drive by the Watkins building, I still look up some, not all, graffiti is artwork that can expecting to see some of the most intricate be considered valuable to society. The graffiti, but I instead am gifted with the majority of Memphis’s graffiti is located sight of large black squares painted over a crumbling brick exterior.

Photo by Maggie Loftin ‘17 Where the graffiti seemed natural to me, the black covering them up seems so wrong, like a violation of the nature of the building.

To me, these buildings are tragic. In the mistaken eyes of many, they give the city a sense of danger, letting years of the city’s history fade into dilapidation.

With the exception of the Sterick Building and the marine hospital, it’s actually rather difficult to find any information on these places.

And so the relics of the past die, falling into oblivion, before anyone can spare enough time to save them. I implore the city of Memphis to take an interest in its history and the fragments of the past that still remain.

Who knows what will be uncovered, what new, unknown memory, will be discovered if only we just look.

And so the relics of the past die, falling into oblivion, before anyone can spare enough time to save them.

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Bridge Bike Path

Local

BY ELIZABETH MCVEAN ‘20

The Harahan Bridge or the “Old Bridge”, A bridge was needed that had more than now known as Big River Crossing, is a one railroad track to accommodate all the bridge connecting Photo courtesy of pintrest.com d o w n t o w n Memphis to West Memphis across the Mississippi River.

The city recently added a biking and walking lane to the side of the bridge which will connect the green line to a path that stretches almost a mile to Arkansas.

This project would not have happened without private donors such as McVean Trading and Investments, the Plough Foundation, The Hyde Foundation, FedEx, Auto Zone, trains that were coming through Memphis. and Pyramid Peak foundation. A TIGER Trains were becoming a better means Grant was given to Memphis specifically for this project and it will also help with the “Main to Main” project, which is trying to help connect the Main Street in Memphis to the Main Street in West Memphis. TIGER grants are given to cities with transportation projects that aim to connect parts of a city and bring them together; Memphis was very lucky to have been selected.

In 1916, The Harahan Bridge was the second bridge to for transferring goods than ships. When be built that connects Memphis to Arkansas. traveling by water, it took days to reach the

destination. If you travelled by train, this journey would not take as long because trains moved at a faster speed than ships.

The bridge was built for trains, but then in 1917 planks were added to the bridge so that a two-way highway could be used to accommodate the automobile.

The highway portion of the bridge remained until the opening of the Memphis/ Arkansas Bridge that was built in 1949. This bridge had more lanes that were paved and not covered with planks. The Harahan Bridge was originally called the Rock Island Bridge but was renamed after a man named J. T. Harahan, who served as a Captain for the Union Army in the Civil War. His son William Johnson Harahan also went into the railroad business and was the President of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.

Ironically, J.T. Harahan died in a car accident when he was on the way to Memphis to oversee the construction of the Harahan Bridge.

This accident Photo by Maggie Loftin ‘17 also killed three other important executives who were coming to help with the inspection. They dedicated this bridge

Local to Mr. Harahan.

Mr. Harahan was a very important man but he didn’t really achieve international fame, so in a recent decision, Charles McVean, of McVean Trading and Investments, decided to change the name to Big River Crossing. He did this to accommodate the new bike path and to use the name to attract foreign tourists to the bridge.

Big River Crossing is going to be the largest public pedestrian path across the Mississippi River. Private donors are working hard to have Phillips Lighting install LED lights on the bridge that can be changed for special occasions. These lights will be able to be used and changed for special occasions in the city and in the country. The extremely nice thing about this addition as that none of the costs come from the citiy’s budget, but from private donors. One donor, who wants to remain unknown, and the person in charge

of the lighting, have worked extremely hard negotiating with Phillips Lighting and making this possible for Memphis.

Page 11 People can bike, scooter, or walk across the bridge and see the amazing view. A private donor has added a Bike Share so that if a person doesn’t have a bike but would like to enjoy riding across the bridge, they can rent a bike to use for the day and enjoy the view. The Mississippi River is an international tourist attraction, and Charles McVean’s vision for this project is to bring in tourism to the city. With tourism comes the need for things to accommodate these tourists, which will create jobs for people in the city.

Some of these jobs will be in new restaurants that, the Bike Share, and electrical and light maintainance of the bridge. Overall, this project will be an amazing new element of tourism for the city and will help us connect more to West Memphis while getting exercise and enjoying an amazing view.

...this project will be an amazing new element of tourism for the city and will help us connect more to West Memphis while getting exercise and enjoying an amazing view.

The crossing opens on October 22, 2016, just in time for nice, cool weather, and this year marks the bridge’s 100th anniversary.

Mrs. L’s Blog

BY ABBY HAYS ‘20

Almost everyone wonders what teachers do once they leave school. It is a shock to see your biology teacher grocery shopping or to find the history teacher at Target.

More than once I have been shocked to see faculty out and about while not dressed up

in dress pants and a nice shirt. As it turns out, teachers don’t solely grade quizzes and create new lesson plans. So the question is

this: what do teachers really do once they leave the Hutchison campus?

After some investigation, I found answers.

Amy Lawrence, the eighth grade English teacher, runs a vegetarian blog with her husband, Justin Fox Burks. The blog has an unforgettable title that some would consider an oxymoron: The Chubby Vegetarian.

When asked about the origin of the title, Ms. Lawrence said the following: “We try to make food that’s not a little salad, or not just vegetables on a plate. We want to make it something that everyone wants to eat, and we try to make hearty food.”

They aim to break the stereotype of boring, tofu-filled vegetarian food by incorporating their creativity into every dish.

During 2013, the couple decided to take their skill to the next level: they released a cookbook entitled The Southern Vegetarian: 100 Down-Home Recipes for the Modern Table, containing all of their favorite foods from the South. They put their own spin on the classics such as pimento cheese, fried okra, and red beans and rice. Burks and Lawrence aim to use their culinary gifts to ensure that the fried chicken, country ham, and sausage gravy

are not missed. Ms. Lawrence told me about her inspiration behind this when she stated “We just wanted to show how we grew up, how we like vegetarian food, and that was pretty fun to write.”

Because of this, their blog became more popular. The Chubby Vegetarian was

We just wanted to show how we grew up, how we like vegetarian food, and that was pretty fun to write. recognized by BuzzFeed, the Commercial Appeal, the Washington Post, Food

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Network, and more. Lawrence’s and Burks’ creations have increased in popularity, leading to a more diverse group of people keeping up with their blog. This

Mexican pizza!’ It’s really how we make food at home. And we cooked a lot of Southern food for the first book, which I really do like. But this is more the stuff we make day to day; it’s what we make at our house.” I am planning on getting my hands on The Chubby Vegetarian: 100 Inspired Recipes for the Modern Table as soon as I can; it makes me hungry just thinking about the Mexican pizza.

I am marking my calendar because the new cookbook will be released on Photo by Abby Hays ‘20 November 1st just in time for the holidays. lead to an unexpected partnership; Susan I, personally, am most looking forward to Schadt, of Susan Schadt Publishing, the butternut squash ‘steaks,’ the Mexican approached Ms. Lawrence and her pizza, and the dessert section. The husband to propose the idea of producing butternut squash steak looks amazing and another cookbook by the holiday season super flavorful and it definitely earned its of 2016. Schadt loves editing hunting, place on the cover. It has fresh herbs and fishing, wildlife, and national park themed tomatoes and it is grilled to perfection. You books, which is quite different than a know the vegetarian food has to be good vegetarian cookbook. They accepted the when even meat eaters are raving about offer excitedly; Ms. Lawrence says she it. I am looking forward to the Mexican has loved working with Susan Schadt pizza because it is such a creative dish because “she allows them to have a great and it combines two of my favorite types deal of freedom in incorporating their of food. I do not know anyone who does own style into the cookbook.”

Since February, they have been working tirelessly on perfecting the new cookbook entitled The Chubby Vegetarian: 100 Inspired Recipes for the Modern Table.

Throughout this book, Lawrence and Burks truly invite their readers into their dining room by choosing the recipes that represent the typical dinner in their household: spontaneous, resourceful, and international food. After I asked her how not like dessert. I mean, what is not to like she decided on the international theme, about an extra sweet snack at the end of she stated, “When I get home from school the day? Plus, The Chubby Vegetarian and we are deciding what to have for also accommodates the vegan community dinner, I say ‘well, we haven’t had Italian with numerous vegan-friendly dishes on food in a while. Let’s make some pasta the blog and in the cookbooks. Readers or ravioli!’ And then the next night I say will find that most of the food in the ‘well, we have avocadoes and we haven’t cookbooks is delicious food that they will had Mexican food in a while; let’s make not even notice is vegetarian.

After hearing all about this other facet to Ms. Lawrence’s life, I just had to know how she was able to balance teaching

English with writing a book and keeping up with a blog all at the same time. She gave me some great advice stating, “Basically, if you are writing a book, that’s what you do on the weekends.

Friday night, you may be trying out a new dish. Saturday, you’re editing. And Sunday, you are figuring out any emails that need to be sent…you have to pick and choose; you can’t do certain things when you want to complete a big project.” It is important to pick the activities to which you are the most dedicated to prioritize.

Ms. Lawrence is such an incredible teacher that I am amazed she had time for all of the work she and her husband completed outside of school.

So, I encourage you to get to know your teachers; they work to help you succeed each and every day. Their entire goal is to teach you information and skills that will allow you to achieve and surpass your goals. The least we could do is build a relationship with them. I promise you, our teachers and faculty are more interesting than you would ever think before you get to know them. After all, you might even find that they are a co-author of a famous blog with tons of mouth-watering vegetarian recipes.

Basically, if you are writing a book, that’s what you do on the weekends.

Hutchison

New Faculty

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BY JASMINE MCGILL ‘17 From the newly paved parking lots (in student parking, gym, and Abston) to the newly renovated Crain Center, Hutchison has made several new changes to many parts of their community in the past few months. Specifically, Hutchison has proudly welcomed several new members to their faculty and staff this year.

In the athletics division, we welcome Coach Carlos Rivera, the new middle school physical education teacher. Coach Eryka Jenkins, the new fitness specialist coach, talked about how being in a military family has caused her to be “the new girl” at least eight times in eight different states and countries; she continued on to say that this “is the most welcome I’ve ever felt at a place. Hutchison has done a really good job with making us feel like we’re apart the community, especially with the new faculty and staff orientation, I’ve never been to a place that actually took out the time to do that for new people.” Coach Rebekah Askins, also serves as a new fitness specialist along with Coach Jenkins in the Crain center.

Mrs. Askins is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and she also has experience with being a personal trainer at Germantown Athletic Club.

In Early Childhood there are three new faces which consist of a prekindergarten, junior kindergarten, and music teacher. First, there is Mrs. Tanya Crump, who has been teaching for eleven years, and now serves as the assistant junior kindergarten teacher. Next is Mrs. Renee Grinder who has returned to Hutchison now serving as an assistant pre-

kindergarten teacher. Last is Mrs. Leandria Smith who previously instructed piano in the Center for Excellence and has returned to now teach early childhood music. In

lower school there is one new face, Mrs. Wendy Bolding ’06 who joins Hutchison as a first grade teacher.

In the Upper School, we welcome Dr.

Upper School is Ms. Mary Nelson, the Upper school secretary, Mrs. Kimberli Ware, the new Hutch Invests director who also teaches entrepreneuring, a class that is now being offered to students, and Ms. Rachel Mattson who teaches 9th grade history. Also new to Upper School is Ms. Jamie Dunham who now serves as an upper school studio art teacher; she also continues to serve as the Hutchison Dance Team coach.

In the middle school we welcome new Middle School Head Dr. Christine Saunders from Minneapolis, MN who led the distinguished arts program at the Blake School, a Pre-K through 12th grade independent day school in Minneapolis, and Mr. Cesar Salazar who teaches middle school Spanish. Then there is Sherri Sobczak who has joined as a middle school science teacher.

Last but definitely not least, there are three new faces who serve as new staff members. First is Mrs. Brianna Lofton who joined this past spring as the new Center for Excellence coordinator. Next is Mrs. Mary Riddle who now serves as the new horticulturist, and then there is Mr. Jonathan Schallert who has joined as the music ensemble and orchestra director.

With such an abundance of new faces that have joined the Hutchison community it is evident that Hutchison is progressively improving in areas of academics as well as health and wellness. This is a school full of positive change and a very promising future in all aspects. For those who are either new to the school or who are very young, this is the place to be as the future is bright and very eventful.

For those who are either new to the school or who are very young, this is the place to be...

Barry Gilmore, the former Middle School head now serving as the Upper School head, Ms. Michele Davis who serves as the new College Counselor, and Ms. Amanda Magdalena, a former Peace Corps member, joined as the 10th grade history teacher.

Mr. Robert Lofton teaches microbiology, anatomy, and physics. Also new to the

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Hutchison Invests

BY CORRINA BROWN ‘18

For years, Hutchison has created a large Students are excited to take advantage of variety of extra-curricular programs and participating in such a great fellowship. fellowships to enhance opportunities and “Hutchison Invests is a great opportunity leadership roles in the Upper School. From for all girls to take their own ideas and turn Hutchison Leads to Hutchison Serves, it into a reality,” says Suraya Buffong’18 there are amazing programs in leadership who was in the program last year, “I’m glad and community service for all girls to join. I have the opportunity to participate in such Now, Hutchison is broadening its horizons a great program.” even more. The newly launched Hutchison Invests Photo by Corrina Brown ‘19 is a new program developed to provide girls with insight into the world of business by teaching what business is, how business operates, and how to create and run their own business.

The main purpose of Hutchison Invests is for girls to have the opportunity to create and launch a full scale business. New Upper School teacher and Hutch Invests director, Kim Ware, says, “Girls will work with the Hutchison Invest director and their mentor to come up with an idea and research the idea. Girls will After planning out the basics of their test out their idea, adapt as necessary, and business, students will then move on to start building out marketing and budgeting the process of running it. “Girls will test plans.” Even though each student is placed out, adapt as necessary and start building with a mentor, the creation and process out marketing and budgeting plans, “says of their business venture is ultimately the Mrs. Ware, “Girls will then roll out a miniresponsibility of the students. With guidance version of their idea and get feedback while from the mentors in their community, girls simultaneously working to legally set up will have full control over what they want the idea and creating the infrastructure that to create, how they are going to create it, will support them.” Girls are given a large and the process of launching the program. deal of responsibility which allows them

SIGNPOST Editor in Chief Maggie Loftin ‘17 Senior Editors Abigail Gray ‘17 Jasmine McGill ‘17 Samantha Tancredi ‘18

Junior Editors Corrina Brown ‘18 Avery Boals ‘19 Grace Galler ‘19 Staff Writers Elizabeth McVean ‘20 Abby Hays ‘20

to understand how to navigate through the process of creating a business. It is also a chance for girls to look into an area of life where the female population is much smaller than the male population. Mrs. Ware is enthusiastic about influencing girls into pursuing interest in the world of business. “I am so passionate about empowering young ladies with the confidence to be leaders in their community, and Hutchison Invests will definitely empower our girls to take more calculated risk, set higher measureable goals and express outwards confidence in the marketplace.” Mrs. Ware says when speaking on sparking interest in a maledominant area of work.

With new leadership and a clear vision, Hutchison Invests is bound to reach new limits becoming a vital program within the upper school. It will allow girls to be exposed to the world of business and possibly spark career interest in the business world. “I could not be more excited to start working the Hutchison Invests Fellows this year” says Mrs. Ware. Hutchison Invest will not only provide Upper School girls with a glimpse into the business world, but will also be the start of a completely fresh and innovative program within the Hutchison community.

The Signpost staff strives to practice ethical journalism and to promote integrity in its work. The editors and staff reserve the right to publish only those articles which they consider accurate and not injurious. All articles must meet these criteria in their inception and execution. The opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the entire staff, faculty, students, or administration.

Signpost wants to be inclusive of the entire Hutchison community, and we welcome submissions from faculty, students, and alums. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at hutchphotos@gmail.com We do not guarantee that every article will be published. Every article sent is subject to be edited for content and size.

SIGNPOST IS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF THE CLASSMATES AND FRIENDS OF MOLLY MCCONNELL ‘59, WHO SUPPORT STUDENT JOURNALISM AT HUTCHISON IN HER MEMORY.

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Vamos a Peru

BY SAMANTHA TANCREDI ‘18 A popular aphorism states, “Travelling is the only thing that you can pay for and come back richer.” Hutchison enriched 14 students including myself by creating a trip to Peru; there, we travelled through Lima, the current capital, and Cusco, the former capital, and we paid a visit to Machu Picchu as well. The trip was chaperoned by biology teacher Mary Lee Wesberry, Spanish teacher Alejandra Lejwa, and Hutchison Serves director Rachel Frank. For ten days, we explored the country, immersed ourselves in the culture and practiced our Spanish speaking abilities while also participating in a few service activities.

Along the way, there were several highlights that made the trip as incredible as it was. There were some flight delays due to stormy weather in Texas, so finally arriving in Lima was already very exciting. From there, we visited a street market with beautiful linens and keepsakes and were able to get insights to the traditional clothing and the local Peruvian people. The people were very welcoming and positive, even though we had just met them that morning. This general kindness was also evident a few hours later when we visited an orphanage for the afternoon, which marked the beginning to our service activities.

The adults running the orphanage had such kind hearts and invited us in without pause. The two women who run the entire orphanage are originally from Germany, but they have a dream for every single child to have a prepared and balanced future full of positive events, rather than harmful or negative ones. They saw a need in Peru and created a home for the children who needed one. Thus, the orphanage provides housing for the kids in addition to schooling, sports and help, after turning 18, to assist in the children’s adult lives. For our visit, we brought toys and items from the United States to give to the kids, and they were overjoyed to receive a new ball, jump rope, or book. This was

Hutchison’s students group in front of Peruvian mountains.

An indigenous woman standing in front of Peru’s floating islands.

Machu Pichu, ancient home of the Inca civilization.

definitely the group’s favorite stop.

Travelling by train, we reached the city where the wondrous Machu Picchu is located. After breakfast, we boarded a bus that took us deep into the mountains and woods where we would see the Incan ancient ruins.

Upon approaching, everyone was speechless. Nothing is like the soaring mountain tops or the structural walls that remain nothing compares to the grassy hills lined with what is left of farming strategies, or the natural, hand-carved steps that transfer people everywhere. To think that a culture was able to accomplish what it did without a modern measuring system astonished us. Even pictures could not capture the beauty.

Toward the end of the trip, the group visited floating islands on Lake Titicaca, which is a remarkably sizeable lake, located between Peru and Bolivia. The Quechua tribe has members who live on the water atop floating islands; these islands are made from layers of soil and straw and other raw materials that cycle on top of each other. Seasonally, the people are forced to move to other locations so that their homes do not sink. This creates a challenging lifestyle, yet they are able to maintain the familiar culture their ancestors shared. During our visit, we were able to stand on the island, wear traditional clothing that the families dressed us in and look at all of the artifacts the people were selling.

The trip was a great experience.

Coming home, we were each richer in our understanding of Peruvian culture from the music to the food, from the dancing to the home life, and from the language to the importance of tradition. While we speed through our daily lives here, it is nice to be reminded of what is important; on this trip, students were able to glimpse a lifestyle that is more relaxed, and were able to bring home with them ideas of how to to lead an engaged, soulful life.