The High 82

THE HIGH E D I T I O N 8 2 | M AY 2 4 , 2 0 1 9

WACKY WEEK:

Photograph by Giovanna Macedo

WATERED DOWN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Suhasini Mehra DEPUTY EDITOR

Khwaish Vohra

TOKILEAKS To what extent was it a mistake?

JAMES CHARLES

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Tea for Two

Worth the hype?

2

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Suhasini Mehra

W

hen I first walked into the newsroom three years ago, I knew that I had found a home in The High.

I found voices that resonated with me, whether I agreed with them or not. I found people who were kind, but never afraid to push for what they believe is right. Most importantly, I found a community of students who care - who care so deeply about each other and their school. This is what I see when I look around me, as I type this, and it’s what I want you all to see, too.

That’s why, this year more than ever, we at The High are striving to put your voices front and center. In this issue, you will find articles on news that concerns all of us, regardless of political leaning. Poppy challenges our school’s questionable alarm system; Coline highlights the efforts ISL students have

taken towards solving Climate Change; Danix spills the beans on the leaked TOK grades; and, perhaps most importantly, Jade gazes with starry eyes at Avengers Endgame. Of course, we also have a healthy dose of SJW opinion pieces, because we know how much you all love those.

As always, we encourage you to bring your voices to us.

Interviews are always appreciated, letters to the editor coveted, and Instagram followers yearned for (follow us @the.high.isl - please, we only have 9 followers; it’s depressing). In the meantime, start your Friday right with the abundance of tea in this issue - you can even pair it with a perfect recipe for falafel. Enjoy, and, in the wise words of Ellie Parsons (2019): “Peace out, girl scouts!”

EDITORS Elif Civelekoglu - News Coline Coubat - News Ellie Parsons - Opinion Poppy Harrison - Opinion Joseph Nobs - Arts and Culture Artemis Faulk - Features Jade Tan - Graphics

TABLE OF CONTENTS Wacky Week Winter Ball Fire Alarm / TOK Vaccinations Corporate Honesty Wage Gap Notre Dame Apathy

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

WORD OF THE MONTH

Too Young For Love Stress / 5G Gary Vaynerchuk In Our Shoes Screenwriting Abundance/Quicksand Avengers: Endgame James Charles #FridaysForFalafel

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Artemis Faulk

Hullaballoo: basically the sounds you make if you shout or scream while having an argument with someone. You’re welcome for this exuberantly useful and elegant word to add to your vocabulary.

3

WACKY WEEK: ENDGAME

I

t has emerged that changes are in the process of being made to Wacky Week, which, among other things, could see a reduction in overall competitiveness. The Leadership Team (Mr Cairns, Mr Foley, Ms Secker, Mr Spinks, Mr Harrison, Mr Alexander and Mr Anderson) has been in discussions with the Student Council Events Team with the aim of bringing about “significant changes” to the event. The changes are coming after this year’s Wacky Week, which ended just over a month ago. Mr Foley has said the changes are coming due to a marked increase in competition over the past Wacky Week.

“I think everybody accepts that Wacky Week was out of control,” he says.

Although nothing is set in stone, there are some changes the Leadership Team is putting forward that are very likely coming into effect regardless of what takes place in further discussions with the Events Team. The least controversial of these is the decision to move Wacky Week from the last week of Year 13. Mr Foley explains, “Traditionally the decorating of places around the school was done by Y13 on their last day.

This year, this got completely out of hand.” The tradition of decorating a designated area of the school has typically been reserved for Year 13, and occasionally Year 12, but this year it grew to encompass more year groups and a greater area.

Year 10 and 11 decorated their corridors, Year 12 the outside of the North Campus, and Year 13 much of the South Campus. The Leadership Team sees it as a tradition gone “outof-hand”.

Another important reason for the change, as cited by Mr Foley, is that the atmosphere of Wacky Week undermines the significance of the last week of Year 13. While the two have been closely linked in the past, with Year 13 nearly always taking home the trophy (leading to accusations of “rigging”), Year 12’s victory in the past event has revealed that the student body puts a definite emphasis on Wacky Week over the Year 13s, according to a number of teachers. “I had three complaints from Y13 parents on the Saturday of the holiday,” reveals Mr Foley, “that said that their Y13 students had come home a little bit down or hard-done by. They felt that their last day was not a celebration of their last day in school, but a celebration of Wacky Week.” Discussions of exactly when Wacky Week would be are still in progress, though currently there is a possibility of it being moved to October.

The second main change is the reduction of the length of Wacky Week from 4 to 3 days. “I think most people, if they reflect, will understand that Wacky Week has an impact on learning,” says Mr Foley. For many years now, certain students and teachers alike have found the week simply too long, and have had enough by the end of it. Mr Foley says that he has received much support from the teaching staff for this particular change. “I think that some of the students might think that we are reducing the value of Wacky Week by reducing it from 4 to 3 days,” says Mr Foley. However, there is also an acknowledgement that that this will likely be very

Joseph Nobs plans a three-day week unpopular among the students. Meanwhile, members of the events team say they are leaning towards keeping the daily themes the same, although they will have to choose which of the existing ones goes.

The most controversial change is the removal of a competitive element from Wacky Week. While there are plans to include separate assemblies for Middle School and High School, which will pick out individuals to celebrate, the overarching competition of Wacky Week, where each task works towards a total score, is being removed. The changes are still in the process of being discussed, but according to Juan Pablo Lopez Rojas, the Shadow Executive Director, “The Events Team doesn’t want to keep the scoring just meaningless.”

Moreover, there are plans to keep the current games and scavenger hunt as stand-alone competitive elements, without working towards a greater competition. Mr Foley explains the reason for the change: “I don’t see how celebrating and having fun has to involve beating other year groups.

What ends up happening, if you have four year groups, you have three year groups who end up disappointed.” He goes on to say, “We still recognise people’s efforts, but not in a way where it’s winner-takes-all, where efforts of other people are overlooked.”

While most students are so far unaware of the changes, both the Leadership Team and the Events Team are expecting a largely negative response. The few students who do know of the changes are not pleased with them. Upon hearing of the changes, Poppy Harrison, a prominent Year 12 Wacky Week organiser, commented in despair, “If I pretend [the changes] aren’t happening, they’re not happening”. An anonymous Year 11 student also raised the point, “The competition of Wacky Week brings students together within their year groups, which is more important.” A common idea among the students is that the competitive element motivates people to take part in the first place. Mr Foley responds to this: “I think if that’s why they’re doing it – just to beat the other year groups – then that goes against the whole idea of a spirit week.”

Meanwhile, the Events Team is working hard to ensure it represents the student body’s best interests, though there is only so much they can do. Mr Foley says, “Some of the decisions lie with the students, and some lie with the school.

I think the changes we’re making to Wacky Week lie with the school.” Ellie Parsons, the Executive Director of the Events Team, states, “Most of it is down to the Management Team.”

However, from the Events Team’s perspective there is little that can be done. Gina Macedo, the Communications Officer, explains, “The teachers have had enough of Wacky Week.

We need to make these changes, otherwise the whole thing might just be gotten rid of.”

4

GETTING THE BALL ROLLING

T

hese tables are the wrong size,” said one seasoned volunteer as the team moved in on Friday afternoon to build New York in the lobby of the Palace Hotel. After 9 months or more of planning, we had not banked on this. There was no way to get 12 people round these small tables. We had around 27 hours before the 227 guests were due to arrive for the 2019 Winter Ball. We had planned to get the room ready by Friday night, leaving just the final touches for Saturday. However, this was before one volunteer nearly came a cropper, tripping over one of the extra large tablecloths, except they were not extra large, it was the tables that had shrunk!

A frenzied negotiation began with the hotel. The clock was ticking down. The theme of New York, New York had been decided back in the summer. Between then and February 2019, anyone travelling back to the US, UK or wherever, was used as a mule to bring in the décor more affordably to Switzerland.

Other questions raised: should we use the same venue? should it be a buffet or served meal? DJ or no DJ? Everyone had an opinion. Feedback from the previous year had informed us the students found the quiz and games too long, there were not enough photo “booths”, and to end the night dancing under the bright lights of the dining room had been disappointing. We listened and acted.

We had shortened the games’ section, we had brought in a team of roving parent photographers and doubled the photo “booths.” No one would escape the camera’s lens, unless they wished to. More controversially, we had decided to move the dancing to Le Caveau for the end of the night, the dance space in the basement of the Palace, and hire a professional DJ. This all meant extra cost. The school was concerned; it would be too difficult to move the students between locations.

The students were concerned; it meant

raising the ticket price from 85 to 90 francs. We took a calculated risk. The gamble paid off! The students loved Le Caveau and told us so on the night –phew! The Student Council survey, which was carried out recently, said it was a “great improvement” though it was too hot (could we add a fan next time?) and the carefully selected DJ was “disappointing” (we will not be asking him back). The survey of 100 students across the age groups also suggested the games needed to be freshened up for next year. It found most of the food was good, though some main courses arrived late and cold, but the unappetising vegetarian/vegan dessert was the major let down, two insipid slices of pineapple.

Meanwhile on the eve of the ball our hardworking volunteers had missed their first deadline to get the room ready. Retrieving our large tables from another event in the hotel, ironing the now rumpled table cloths, and rearranging the room had taken hotel staff nearly all Friday afternoon. It was 10:00pm and the chairs still needed their gold sashes and black covers, that had been flown in specially by our secret pilot friend. The centrepieces modelled on silhouetted, high- rise skylines, needed to be put together and placed on the tables and there was still the small matter of Central Park to build in the foyer. We would reconvene early Saturday full of fresh vigour. The dining

The Winter Ball Committee room was ready and the lobby transformed with Christmas trees and fake snow. We had just put the gates of Central Park into position as the first guests arrived. A rota of around 25 volunteers had slaved away to create a winter wonderland of snowy trees and greenery. There were some testy exchanges, panic occasionally set in but everything was done in the end and mainly in good spirits. As the students arrived, dressed to kill, we were impressed. As they took in the scene, we hoped they were also impressed. “The biggest challenge,” said Shawnmarie Mayrand-Chung, our Winter Ball chair, “was the seating plan.

We were still making changes up to the last minute to try to please everyone.

The hotel wasn’t happy.” Would she organise another Winter Ball? “I did enjoy it. So possibly, with another good team like this year!”

We will take heart from the very encouraging findings in the student survey. The vast majority wished to keep the same format next year: a sit down dinner, smart dress and the same venue but with a few minor changes such as the games and maybe a room where people could change for the dancing.

Just three people suggested scrapping the whole thing. “What I have learned,” said Shawnmarie simply, “is that you cannot please everyone, but you can please most people.”

Photograph by Diana Van Dooren

5

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

A

t a school, safety ought to be a number one priority, shouldn’t it? Yet somehow, there was immense confusion over the fire drill that took place last Wednesday. As a student who has been at ISL for almost 14 years, it was disorienting and a little disappointing when a loud blaring noise came on over the tannoy, instead of the voice that usually directs people from the building following the green exit signs. It also took away the opportunity for old time students to quote the repetitive phrases that they had so proudly committed to memory while in primary in an odd sort of emergency karaoke. Nevertheless, a key point that needs to be acknowledged is the ridiculousness of the alarm system that is used for the drill not matching the real alarm for when the smoke alarms are triggered in earnest. What is the point of practicing for a fire if all it does is cause havoc when people don’t know how to react to the intimidating noise booming from the speakers because

they have never heard it before?

Once the initial shock caused by the alarm had worn off, many of the classes were under the impression that the drill was for a lock down, and quickly hurried to jump under the desks and close the shutters. Although it is important to consider that this may be because of the warning that the teachers were given for an approaching lock down drill, it caused bewilderment nevertheless. As Eve Kurt-Elli says, “there was huge confusion and there was a commotion as we all tried to hide.”

Not only was it a nightmare when the broken blinds refused to stay closed, resulting in inadvertent light filtering into the supposedly dark classrooms, but had the drill really been caused by a fire, the teachers would have essentially locked their students inside a burning building - potentially not the best reaction to a fire.

Despite the teacher’s efforts to evacuate in a orderly procedure, the attempts were in vain as the new alarm

Poppy Harrison caused the students to be chattering and giggling all the way out of school until they finally found their peers on the football pitch to excitedly exchange stories with. Hopefully, the school can take this as a learning experience, and as the Head of Operations, Ms Stockley says, “we consider this to be an excellent opportunity to learn and improve,” and realize that the entire point of practicing the drill is to prepare the students for the actual event of a fire.

The school is taking positive action from the experience and explains that they “will be looking into making the change [to the same alarm sound] so that we have consistency in both practice and the real deal.” Although the exact reason the alarm was triggered is still undetermined, it can be said that the “smoke ventilation system showed there was an anomaly in the auditorium.” Ultimately, we all ought to be thankful that it was a false alarm, or else the chaos could have resulted in some significantly worse results.

YOU DONE TOK’D UP

O

n Sunday the 12th of May, a student who wishes to remain anonymous found a Theory of Knowledge (ToK) document shared with them, their ToK class, and all the ToK teachers. This had not been the first time their class had been given questionable rights over a document; they also had editing rights over the ToK presentation schedule and the planning documents of every other student in their year. Of course, after finding this, the class had believed it was a simple mistake. This student went on to see what other documents were shared with them. With the discovery of many other documents he told his ToK class what he had found. Another student later informed the group that there was a document shared with them containing grades of most students including those of Year 13. Naturally, this information spread like wildfire and by last Tuesday the whole year knew about it.

By Tuesday afternoon, teachers found

out. There were two reasons for this: firstly, two students spoke to a teacher about it albeit they were not complaining about the information spread but rather found it humorous that there had been such a leak. The second reason was that apparently one of the year 12 parents found out after their child had informed them of their grade and the parent had inquired further. This parent emailed the school about it which is supposedly when the school management was officially informed of the situation.

On Wednesday lunch, all Y12 students were called in for a year group assembly. It was speculated that this assembly would be about the leak. About 10 minutes into period 6 and the suspicions were confirmed. Mr Alexander talked generally about the presentations and how students had done as Ms Secker focused more on the leak. It was explained that the leak had been caused by a ToK teacher sharing a file with his students that wasn’t supposed

Danix Santos

to be shared as it held confidential documents. This was later confirmed by the ToK teachers themselves. What caused some controversy in the Y12 year group was a statement made by Ms. Secker: “Some students managed to gain access to some ToK documents that were only for teachers.” In the mind of some students it implied that she was accusing some students of using questionable methods in order to view these documents. She also stated that many students were disappointed and concerned that their ToK grades had been shared. One year 12 student remarked in the assembly that they did not believe students had been disappointed due to the sharing of their grades, but rather that the extremely positive feedback was not reflective of the grades they were given. The concern some students stated was that they would have used the same techniques for their ToK essay as they had in the presentation in the false belief their presentation had been a success.

6

JUST A LITTLE PRICK Elif Civelekoglu spreads ideas, not diseases

M

edicine and advanced technology has allowed us to beat previously untreatable diseases for quite a while now. Thanks to this, we are now able to live longer and healthier lives without having to worry about the possibility of catching diseases that haunted our ancestors for hundreds of years. Through trying new methods for the past century, we have achieved many things in the medical field which would have been regarded as miracles mere decades ago. In doing so, humanity has more or less forgotten about the dangers of health epidemics and their disastrous consequences. If someone were to be told the cold they have now could have been life-threatening a century ago, they would likely not believe it. After all, no significant amount of people die from “common” illnesses anymore, so why worry?

Well, you should. Recently, the news has been swamped by articles covering the measles outbreak in the United States. The outbreak is said to have hit a 25-year high, why? Measles was, at least for us, a forgotten disease. It was never acknowledged when learning about common diseases, nor was it ever discussed on any social platform.

The news articles concerning vaccinations haven’t just been about the measles outbreak. One of the more popular stories includes a teenager from Kentucky who recently sued his school after being banned for refusing to be vaccinated against chickenpox. The story has recently come to light again, due to the same student getting chickenpox.

In other news, Ethan Lindenberger has defied his anti-vaxxer parents by getting himself vaccinated. He stated that he has disagreed with his parents “in the most respectful way [he] could”.

Even major political figures are now getting involved in the ongoing discussions about vaccines. The Be Best platform, founded by Melania Trump, promotes the well-being of children. While

she hasn’t yet explicitly spoken about vaccines and her views on it, she did invite the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Collins, to speak in the one year anniversary celebration of Be Best. Collins stated that “to make an important and timely point, vaccines are a highly safe and effective line of defense against measles and other infectious diseases.

So if you want your kids to Be Best, do what the President said last week: get them to get their shots.” Donald Trump stated a few weeks ago that “[Children] have to get their shots. The vaccines are so important. This is really going around now”.

The general attitude of the ISL parents is uncertain

But how are ISL’s policies regarding vaccines? Unlike other places where children can get vaccines at school, according to Ms Coen, the nurses at ISL are not allowed to vaccinate children.

For safety reasons, this is a doctor’s job to carry out. “However, as school nurses we recommend that all students have vaccinations in line with the Swiss vaccination schedule,” comments Ms Coen. When asked about what age vaccine education for children should begin, she stated that “while in primary and learning about bugs, it would be good to just describe what a vaccine is and how it works”. The general attitude of the ISL parents is uncertain, as it is a very personal opinion. It would be impossible to generalize such a variety of opinions, given how much they all differ.

Of course, just like with anything, vaccinations come with a risk. They aren’t perfect, and can cause potential harm

albeit an incredibly low possibility. As Ms Coen stated, “I think any vaccination recommended by a public health service, you can be absolutely sure that the risks of a serious reaction are very minor compared to the advantages of having been vaccinated”. Overall, the good of the vaccines outweighs the bad: According to the World Health Organization, vaccines are effective about 98% of the time. If the vaccine doesn’t immunize an individual against the disease, the effects it has on the individual if they catch it are reduced.

Finally, vaccines are one of the best methods to prevent illness. Through vaccination, the diseases that we once saw as being deadly and incurable are now eradicated. An example of this is smallpox, which was declared to be eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign led by the World Health Organization. This event would have been called a miracle by our ancestors without effective and long-term ways to combat illness. After learning this, one may make one want to ridicule anti-vaxxers. However, while vaccines are almost always effective, mocking the other side does not make them understand and believe that vaccines are good for you. What should happen is a calm and factual talk between both sides, without words such as “child murderer” being thrown around.

Illustration by Ellie Parsons

7

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

B

Khwaish Vohra

reaking someone’s trust is like breaking a china vase; you can try and glue it back together, but the cracks will always be there.

transparency. Companies don’t outright lie, but they either bend the truth or keep much of the inner workings of their systems hidden, when in reality, they should be exposed.

We have all heard this phrase or some adaptation of it before. As children, we are constantly told that lying is wrong; after all, it is one of the deadly sins. As students, we are told that academic honesty is a virtue and we should always strive to maintain it. We are told that solid relationships are built upon a foundation of trust.

How does this relate to us in our daily lives? As students, we are always told that we need to remain honest in our work in order to make sure our work is both our own and credible.

The school promotes the idea of being honest as a favorable trait to embody.

We have established that we all lie, but we don’t always lie for the same reason.

Some of the biggest and most devastating lies are told by people in power. People we trust with our money, our wellbeing, our lives. The most recent example of a situation like this was with the Boeing scandal. Essentially, in an attempt to keep up with their competition, Boeing created an updated version of an existing plane by making it more fuel efficient. In order to keep the cost of buying this plane low, they deemed that training the pilots through simulations was unnecessary and said that course that could be completed through an iPad would be enough ‘training’ for these pilots. However, due to the structure of this new airplane, the plane did not handle properly at a high angle of attack.

In order to address this problem, Boeing created additional software that automatically fixed the angle of the plane. It worked most of the time; however, sometimes it created new problems in other situations and would override the pilot’s attempts to fix the angle manually.

In this situation, Boeing, a reputable company, took advantage of the faith the public had in the company, as well as regulatory boards such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in order to skim costs. This not only led to a faulty aircraft system, but also caused 346 deaths.

The situation with Boeing is an extreme one; it shows the extent to which lying or not being transparent can go. This is not to say that if a lie doesn’t result in death then its consequences are not so dire.

Take Facebook for example, by now, everyone is familiar about how foreign powers were able to meddle with the U.S. However, few know about the fact that Facebook knew that there was suspicious activity going on, and yet, senior officials like Sheryl Sandberg tried to suppress such information being released to the public, in order to avoid a political backlash.

Often in corporate honesty scandals, the root of the problem is not a textbook case of lying but more an issue related to

While it is highly unlikely that being dishonest will result in death or masses of people being wrongly manipulated, it allows a precedent to be set. Research has shown that our brain becomes accustomed to the stress and discomfort we go through when we lie, making it easier to tell another lie.

The thing about lying is that we only regret it once we are caught and until you are caught, you will continue, becoming slightly bolder with each time you fabricate a story, inadvertently entrapping yourself until one day you cannot lie anymore to get out of your original lie.

So it seems that honesty might be the best policy, even if it is not always the easiest way out. Not only should we hold major corporations accountable for their narrative, but individuals as well because unless we start demanding honesty in every aspect of our life from a young age, we allow ourselves to reinforce an addiction until one day, we don’t even realize the destructive path our lies leave behind.

Illustration by Elif Civelekoglu

8

MIND THE GAP Daniel Friedmann got paid 30% more for this article

T

he wage gap. One of the main pillars of third wave feminism.

“A woman makes 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.” Many people don’t even know what this means.

This statistic was derived by comparing the mean salary of men and women. Nevertheless, if you dig just a little deeper you see that the situation is not so one-sided and much more complicated. Refer to the graph below that illustrates pay inequalities in different fields of work. From this graph we can see quite a funny picture. If we take a look at jobs in science, tech and health, most of these jobs have relatively low gender pay discrepancy. In some, women are even paid more. However, as soon as we look at jobs in the business area, we see a much more unequal situation. Why is this? Maybe because men are better in business? Or because the system implemented in most of the firms is masculine and oppresses women? I think that neither of those assumptions is right, and here is why.

Let’s take a look at a study done by Claudia Goldin, which followed the graduates of business administration school for over 30 years. What has been observed is that, at the beginning of their career, women earned an almost identical amount of money to men. Nevertheless, as the years progressed, the

gap between men and women rapidly increased, peaking at around when the participants were about 30. However, somehow, when women have entered their 40s and 50s, the gap started to shrink - and quickly. What is that awful thing that affects only women through their late 20s and 30s? Well, this may come at a surprise to you, but women have a wonderful ability to create little people. Even though this is wonderful, it may affect your job. Nevertheless, we can’t blame everything on kids. In my opinion it’s the lack of flexibility in jobs that makes having a kid such a big deal.

Let us take a look at pharmacy. No, not the big pharma, but the small shops where you buy painkillers for your fake back pain. Previously, they were all small private businesses with specific times. Guess what? On average, the female workers got about 60% of males’ salary. However, now the pharmaceutical companies are owned by big corporations and run 16 if not 24 hours a day. This means more shifts were needed, hence the flexibility. A person could have an 8 to 4 shift or a 6 to 2 shift or even an 8 to 12 shift followed by a second 1 to 5 shift. The management didn’t really care; as long as you did your hours and the work was evenly distributed, everything was fine. Now female workers in pharmaceutics earn

about the same as males (95). Due to flexibility, women could wake up early, go to work, and come back by lunch to care for the kids (I know that women don’t have to look after the kids, and house chores could be split between partners, but pragmatically it’s still mostly female oriented). This way their career wasn’t disturbed.

Let’s take a look at our diagram again.

Now we can notice that the more flexible the job is, the lower is the difference in the pay based on sex. If you’re a scientist, you work your own hours, based on a schedule you make; you’ll notice that the wage gap is small in this area. If you work in a 9 to 5 marketing job, I got bad news for you.

Humor aside, the lack of flexibility for women may result in damaging situations. One great example of this is Japan; women choose career over family because the system lacks Flexibility there -- one must choose one or the other. As a result, Japan has a huge problem because there are just not enough children. If our system doesn’t change and become more flexible, this may be our problem. It’s not that the women are discriminated against, but that the system doesn’t account for children in it. We need to fight that and not the in considerable discrimination.

9

NOTRE DAME IT, CAPITALISM!

B

y just two days after it began to burn, Notre Dame reached €1 billion in restoration funds.

Poverty pervades our society, from the slums of India to the rural expanses of America. Countless families live without heat in the winter; without a reliable source of water; without accessible education; without the slightest hope to change any of these realities. Sustainable energy is still not at the point we desperately need it to be, and the UN has found that 15,000 children under the age of five still die of treatable diseases every day. These problems cannot be solved so easily, we are told over and over again, because there simply isn’t enough money. There isn’t enough money to pay everyone a sane minimum wage; there isn’t enough money to provide people with free education; there isn’t enough money to guarantee people life-saving medication without placing them in life-crushing debt. And this is true: life isn’t fair, and finding solutions to issues that have existed since the dawn of civilizations requires more than accumulating money and throwing it at the problem. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do whatever we can to provide at least the most basic necessities to the most people possible. Still, nothing changes, least of all the world’s justification: there isn’t enough money.

And yet, here is Notre Dame. Allow me to reiterate: that’s €1,000,000,000 in two days. Several of France’s biggest billionaires, along with high-profile transnational corporations like Apple, contributed the largest amounts, each donating sums in the hundred millions. Why they did this is obvious: reputation. It’s good publicity to be seen engaging with a hot-button social issue. As much as I would love to rail against corporations and the aristocracy for selfish spending, I can’t blame them; they have the right to seek good publicity however they see fit, and they aren’t actively harming anyone

by contributing to the restoration of Notre Dame. No, today is not the day for blame-seeking. Instead, we have to look inwards. After all, we are the public these billionaires and corporations are trying to impress. What does it say about us, then, that they have chosen to appeal to us through a cathedral rather than through the preservation of human life? A friend suggested to me that people are naturally more inclined towards issues that hold emotional value to them. If that’s true, it means that we, as a global community, place a greater emotional value on a sequence of stone and glass than we do on the children that share 99.9% of our DNA. That’s a horrifying thought.

There is never enough money?

This problem extends beyond Notre Dame. It’s not about billionaires and ridiculous donations; it’s about how we, each of us individually, value each other and our world. Knowing that Nestle has allowed child slave labor in their Illustration by Manon Libine

Suhasini Mehra burns with rage operations in the Ivory Coast, would you still buy a Nespresso for every morning? It’s not enough to complain that corporations are cruel; businesses respond to the wants and needs of their consumers. If we are satisfied to turn a blind eye to their less-than-legal actions for favor of enjoying their products, then what right do we have to complain about their cruelty? I’m not naive. I know that it’s impossible to ensure, with complete certainty, that every product we buy has not caused harm to a single individual along the supply chain. But wouldn’t you agree that it’s our responsibility to try? Try. Forgo that KitKat, even as it calls to you so alluringly from the shelves at the Migros check-out. Let corporations know that their sins haven’t gone unnoticed.

Speak out when you see inordinate amounts of donations pouring into causes that never really needed the cash. Remember that flesh and blood will always be more deserving of your love and empathy than stone and glass.

And, for god’s sake, guys, stop buying plastic bottles at school. Change starts here.

10

TICKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

W

e are handed to us an abundance of opportunities.

At our disposal lies an extensive list of service opportunities, student-led projects, and activities - all provided by members of our community and serving as free engines of growth. In my experience, such opportunities are often met by rejection as a result of our own apathy. Choosing to not participate in a service opportunity does not mean you are a selfish and uncompassionate person; those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. But, we should still acknowledge and more importantly, question why we feel apathetic.

Collectively, myself included, we need to make better use of these opportunities and place them on a higher pedestal than simply a box we need to tick for our CAS. The response that The Sibling Project received only cemented my worries about how students approach these sorts of opportunities: with indifference and cynicism. The Student Council Parliament introduced The Sibling Project in which a high school student is paired with a middle school student for one homeroom every few weeks. It provides the opportunity to meet a new person and learn from them. Why are we so quick to dismiss something that has the potential to benefit both participants? The Sibling Project was mostly met with complaints and I am also guilty of this, in every way, shape and form -- it is a direct reflection of why we dismiss other opportunities: we do not see any personal benefit from partaking in them and as a result feel apathy towards them. The disinterest towards service projects just adds to the monotonous feeling that surrounds CAS, resulting in a check-list-like attitude. This is not a criticism of CAS. Despite popular belief that the CAS system itself causes this mentality, I think it is a result of how we, the students, approach it. The CAS system forces involvement and, without this force, I doubt less than half of the students who participate in service opportunities would do so. Forcing individuals to partake in service can, of course, lead your projects to feel contrived and inauthentic.

For me this is more telling of the individual in question rather than the system itself.

Perhaps the fatal flaw of these service projects, activites, and the like lies in the trade-off between our own personal time and an activity that we view unbeneficial enough to give up.

I spoke earlier this year in The High about treating time as a commodity and this rings true to CAS; if time was a commodity, CAS is one of the most expensive things out there. “Why should an individual give up so much of their time to tick a box?” is the mindset I fear many have, resulting in the “bare minimum” tactic. And I empathise with this tactic because I too followed it religiously for several years, only doing services to get my boxes checked. Seemingly there are no conventional rewards for doing service projects and perhaps the greatest gift CAS can give to you is a sigh of relief when you have met the requirements. Our community as a whole does

Ellie Parsons is counting this as Creativity

a good job of exhibiting a sense of importance. There is very little I would change in the way those who do take initiative in service projects present their services back to the community. What I do think needs to change to help combat this apathy starts with opening a transparent dialogue addressing popular concerns that often go undiscussed due to disliking participating in service projects being taboo (as it should be).

From my own experiences, I discovered that you first must omit the mindset that CAS is just a box to tick and instead treat CAS as a genuine learning experience. It took me a few months to realise that the planning, the teamwork, the leadership, and the situations that evoked genuine critical thinking were all skills that universities and the “real world” require. The IB embraces the fact that education extends above just receiving a grade. A quote used in an article posted by the IB Community Blog on the influence of CAS post-IB Diploma perfectly illustrates the merits of CAS, the DP alumni stated that CAS “was not something [they] really appreciated until much later -- after university and well into professional life. From where I stand now, it was incredibly valuable.”.

The alumni anecdotes are enough to conclude that CAS is meaningful and is more than deserving of your time, interest, and enthusiasm. With the opportunity to maybe not change the world, but take initiative and use CAS as a means of self-improvement and self-discovery. Are you a leader, or a follower? Do you thrive under pressure or do you crumble?

The IB is adamant about a holistic education and CAS lies in the center. The majority of students around the world aren’t given the opportunities we are given, and we are all forced to do CAS whether we like it or not -- so we might as well capitalize on it.

Illustration by Artemis Faulk

11

TOO YOUNG TO BE IN LOVE?

W

ho else melts remembering the scene from Love, Actually where the young Sam proclaims his love for his classmate Johanna? And who else cried out “No!” indignantly along with him when his father retorted with, “Aren’t you a little young to be in love?” He definitely proved his adoration for her by learning how to play the drums to accompany his crush in the Christmas concert and chasing after her at the airport as she left for Christmas break. But this leads me question what his father told him… can you really be too young to be in love?

Before being able to answer this question, establishing the definition of love is a first step: “An intense feeling of deep affection”. I then asked ISL students what their own take of the concept.

One Year 10 student mentioned that there were two types of love: “[...] There’s the typical form of love we hear about which involves being in love with someone else romantically. In this case, I think that love is being totally comfortable around someone. Never getting bored of them. Understanding them. Wanting to make it work even when it seems like there’s no way it will.”

She then continued on to say that, “[...] There’s the love we’ve nearly all felt every day of our lives. This is the love you feel towards things or feelings or people. Where you like them more than just like. I think there’s a big difference in loving something/someone and being IN love with something/ someone.”

Jade Tan in Year 12 gave me as short and sweet answer: “Love is like a double edged sword… especially if it’s unrequited.”

One Year 13 simply answered, “How would I know the answer to that question?” Definitely the most insightful answer.

Evidently, everyone has their own definitions that are all equally valid. One could even say that that’s what makes love beautiful; everyone perceives it in their own way and feels differently experiencing it. But what would I know?

Next, I am led to my even bigger question… can you really be “too young to be in love”? Before I even looked at any psychology, research, stories or anything else behind this, I was incredibly curious to find out what students had to say.

Out of the people I asked, 66.7% of them believed that, yes, you can be too young to be in love. When it came to asking them which age category was “too young”, Middle School and younger were the two answers to come up.

Reasons why? Another year 12 student claimed that, “You are just starting to figure yourself out and what you like and what you don’t like. However at an older age you start finding things you love, whether that is a person or something else.”

Another Year 10 student told me that “I would say we are too young. At that age, we may feel something inside us, pulling us towards the other person, and may even know the word love, but we are too young to understand it well.”

It appears that even when people don’t believe in being “too young to be in love”, there is still some hesitation and doubt

Chloe Uzoukwu kept this article PG-13

to their answer. A student has told me that, “While I don’t think you can be too young to be in love, I do think love is a feeling that comes with time. I don’t think it is possible to fall in love with someone within, for example, a week [...].”

Taking this conversation and moving it onto sources beyond ISL: I decided to read arguments for and against being too young to be in love.

When it came to against, I read an article published last year,

by Kaitlyn Garcia. Her article was simply titled There’s No Such Thing As Being Too Young To Fall In Love. Her argument put in the simplest form: “I started dating my boyfriend when we were 13, and we’re still together 7 years later”.

Garcia wrote in her article that she fell in love with her boyfriend at 13, despite people around her claiming and telling her that she was too young to understand the concept of love.

She said that, “I knew I loved my boyfriend the same way I knew I loved my stuffed bunny when I was three, and basketball when I was seven, and reading when I was 10. He made me feel happy and safe [...] I looked forward to seeing him at school every day [...] And I was never tired of talking to him, the same way I was never tired of reading – because, to me, he was the most interesting book I had ever come across.”

And an argument for? Well… I couldn’t find any. However, there were numerous that were advising against falling in love at a young age for multiple reasons. To summarize the overall ideas: 1. Hormones can definitely cloud judgement.

2. At a young age, you should be focusing on your studies.

3. Around age 16 (younger and slightly older) is that really awkward, confusing stage where commitment tends not to pan out.

4. On that note, Middle and High school relationships rarely last for longer than a few months.

5. When you’re young, it’s time to experiment, not commit 6. At a young age, people are emotionally immature. According to a study, women don’t emotionally mature fully until 32, and men don’t emotionally mature fully until 43...

7. Elaborating on the last point, immaturity can lead to breakups being blown way out of proportion and getting hurt more than you should.

8. Parents (for some).

9. You cannot love someone else before learning to be yourself.

10. You cannot love someone else before learning to love yourself and loving yourself often starts when you’re a young teenager.

These are relevant arguments. Both the for and the against side have arguments that can have you stuck between believing whether or not you can be too young to be in love.

So, in your opinion, was Sam too young? Do you think that you were too young when you got your first boyfriend or girlfriend?

12

STRESS-B-GONE

A

s the Spring term comes into full swing, the Year 12 IB students are starting to the feel the intense pressure of all the IAs and deadlines, along with exams rapidly approaching. If we are ever to see the start of summer then we must focus, stay determined and stay positive!

During this short yet stressful term, there are a number of methods that many students use to destress and feel more at ease. As a current IB student myself, here are some of the top ways that really help me to unwind from school and balance my studies with other aspects of my life and overall to keep a clear mindset.

Personal deadline calendar - adding any major deadlines and events to your own personal school calendar will help you to see what you have to do and

when, so that large amounts of work do not build up until the last minute.

Interim deadlines - following on from my previous point, create smaller interim deadlines leading up to the bigger IA. For example, if you have an IA draft due in three weeks, try and do the introduction by a certain date and then the next part by another date, and before you know it you will have accomplished a piece of work gradually instead of right before the deadline. This is a great way to enable you to progressively reach your end goal by splitting up the workload over the weeks while not getting too overwhelmed.

Extracurriculars - sports, creative activities, and service projects are a great way to clear your mind and remove focus from school for a short while. At the end of the day, everyone needs a break because using school work as an excuse not to go your ASAs is not

RADIO GAGA

Y

ou have all heard of 5G. Swiss phone companies Salt, Sunrise, and Swisscom proudly proclaim 5G will be all over Switzerland soon -if the cantonal governments of Vaud, Jura, and Geneva allow complete deployment. These three cantons await federal and World Health Organisation research proving that 5G is harmless before fully accepting 5G on their territories. But, do you really need it?

Researchers have linked wireless telecommunication technology with cancer, cognitive disorders, and other problems. It can also increase the risk of people becoming electro-hypersensitive (EHS), which is an “allergy” to radiofrequency radiation. 2G, 3G,4G,WiFi and Bluetooth, have already demonstrated health effects, but more prolonged exposures and cumulative effects regarding 5G is even direr for our health. It is worth mentioning that “epidemiological evidence that the major diseases of modern civilization—cancer, heart disease and diabetes—are in largely caused by electromagnetic pollution, from a literature base of well over 10,000 peer-reviewed stud-

ies”. Even while it is non-radioactive because “while IR [ionic Radiation, the type of radiation including all the “G”s] directly damages DNA, NIR [non-ionic radiation] interferes with the oxidative repair mechanisms resulting in oxidative stress, damage to cellular components including DNA, and damage to cellular processes leading to cancer”.

Telecommunication company executives may or may not be aware of these impacts, however, their vested interests in the latest technologies push them to take advantage of the 5G opportunity. By flooding us with marketing, these companies make us forget essential concerns like our health or the environment. This is a comparable situation to e-cigarettes, currently legal to advertise, the product is ahead of the medical research that will prove their danger in the future. For the moment, they are advertised to such an extent that people fall for the promise of ephemeral pleasure in the belief that they are cooler, more socially-acceptable and healthier than “real” cigarettes. In the case of 3G, 4G, and now 5G, people who protest against trans-

Jaina Patel always beneficial. After all, this tip is a great stress reliever and doubles up as CAS at the same time!

Positive mindset - work hard now and keep telling yourself that all this hard work will pay off in the future.

Friends and family - organize something with friends to mark the end of this jam packed term. It will give you motivation for something to look forward to at the end. Be sure to spend quality time with your family because later, when you move out from home for uni or work, you’ll will be sorry you had that petty fight with your sibling or didn’t do what your parents told you to do.

For any future IB students reading this, these tips could be extremely useful in the future. Be sure not to worry too much and good luck. You will definitely be able to face any challenge you put your mind to!

Artemis Faulk mission towers or express concern about the health impacts of mobile phones are considered to be kooks, outcasts, or conspiracy theorists, much as those who claimed, in the 1960s, that smoking is harmful. The most compelling parallel of all between e-cigarette or tobacco smoking and mobile phones is that so many people are addicted to them, and do not want to hear anything negative about their addiction.

Our home canton of Vaud is an outpost of critical thinking about electromagnetic fields. It is worthwhile for each of us to get as much information as possible about human health impacts of mobile technologies and 5G in particular to be active and informed. When we look at the scientific research, we should keep in mind the precautionary principle, which demands “risk prevention in the face of scientific uncertainty” and “aims to prevent harm before a hazard has come into existence”. Before 5G is upon us, we should, inform, debate, and reflect before exposing people and ecosystems to it.

13

GARYVEE FEVER Tom Secheyron has a man-crush

G

ary Vaynerchuk: a name thrown around these days on all social media platforms. Why? Because he’s THE man right now. THE trendy, up-to-date internet influencer. He claims through his motivational speeches to have made his way to the top of the online world through years of hard work, or as he often calls it: “grinding”. His bold personality and style, his trademark on social media, hasn’t always been there though, as Vaynerchuk first moved to the US when he was 12 years old, but he is of Belarusian origin. His story really began after graduating from college in 1998, when he took control of his Dad’s long-running wine business. In the space of a couple of years, the businessman completely turned the family business upside down, making it go from a value of $3 million per year to nearly $60 million.

The second characteristic which stands out with Vaynerchuk is what he talks about. After watching too many of his videos, it is impossible not to notice that he enthusiastically addresses an absurd amount of relatable problems.

He dissects the steps to finding constant productivity, he investigates the impact of caring too much about others’ opinions, he explains the personal benefits which one can obtain from being kind in every situation. Most importantly however, he always gives his opinion. His stance on common, dayto-day issues is always clear and quite simply unavoidable.

This success led him to an epiphany: he fully realized the potential which he held within him and steps away from the family business in order to build VaynerMedia, an agency he co-founded with his brother in 2009. From there, the rise of Gary Vaynerchuk was shocking, breathtaking, and absurdly quick. VaynerMedia has become a widely-known and recognized agency in the States, and I stumbled across the Belarusian-American man’s Instagram account whilst looking for inspiration and motivation to study for IOCs.

One of his most recent and, coincidentally, most intriguing videos presents his view regarding the psychological pressure which parents apply on their children. Not a life-changing, productivity-related video and message. Nope. Just an opinion. An opinion which is presented in a bold, audacious style. A young girl presents her problem: her parents are forcing her to go to college despite her wanting to divert away from that and do her “own thing”. Vaynerchuk looks up at her, and quite simply says: “They’re not in charge. They’re only in charge if you’re using their home and their money.” He looks concerned, but at the same time, detached. He knows exactly what he’s saying. The audience claps. He emphasises upon his point, explaining that he’s “pro-you”, that the young high school senior needs to move and follow her dream. Simple as that.

The first aspect of Vaynerchuk which one might notice is his fearlessness.

He talks, whether it is into his phone camera or to a large audience, with an astounding amount of confidence. He takes his time with every word, emphasizing the key aspects of his message.

He makes an innumerable amount of gestures, going from aggressively punching his hand to assertively wagging his finger in your face. In short, you cannot avoid him. You cannot get distracted by something else whilst watching this man talk.

Vaynerchuk is a master manipulator

Vaynerchuk is, in my eyes, a master manipulator. The way he daringly explains to an 18-year old girl that her only option for realizing her dreams is to completely financially detach her-

Illustration by Zoé Poinssot

self from her parents is not atypical for him. This is his style. He uses his past experience, his stereotypical “American dream” past to drive his boldest claims.

Does he provide any evidence that this strategy will work? No. Does he present a piece of his own past to show her that this tactic is worthwhile? No. Is the audience captivated? Does the girl smile and thank him? Am I writing an article about him right now? Yes. His manipulation techniques are not that complex.

Confidence. Audacity. Guts. And yet it works: 5.9 million followers on Instagram and an article written on his behalf in the High. I love him. He might be completely fooling me with his insane claims, but he has my attention. I look forward to his videos on a daily basis, just like millions of others around the world.

Not surprisingly however, and just like any social media figure, Vaynerchuk has his fair share of haters. What I love about him is what they might hate the most. His tips are not backed up by anything, his attitude and demeanor are too rash. Fair enough, I get that. But you can’t deny his success and ascent to being one of the hottest figures on the web right now. I believe his manipulative style has got him to this point, and I’m sure the “Garyvee” fever will reach you soon. If it hasn’t already.

14

IF THE SHOE FITS Rafael Ribas

M

uch more than other art forms, theatre is about community. It involves people talking to each other, concentrating their experiences in a small space, condensing their lives in the duration of a performance. “In Our Shoes”, the devised play that took to the ISL Auditorium this week, is the perfect embodiment of these ideals.

There is, of course, great value in engaging with the classic texts of all times, from Shakespeare to Miller; in performing hilarious comedies, high-brow dramas, spectacular musicals. We learn also by exploring the words of our predecessors, and by finding new ways to bring them to our current reality. But what the cast of “In Our Shoes” have done, led by Ms Friend and Mr Fessler, is bring their own reality to the stage.

In the eight vignettes that make up this short production, loosely hanging from the common thread of “community”, the voices of our students sound authentic, personal, even raw.

And in those voices we hear them telling us that friendship groups are important, but fitting in is hard; that they crave the connections they forge online, but resent the isolation that their devices bring; that they can act tough or despondent towards their parents and teachers, but that inside they are suffering, yearning for affection, feeling lonely. There are moments in the performance that particularly echoed with me, an outsider looking in: the metaphor of language barriers depicted in “The Man who Couldn’t Speak”; the fleeting futility of a person’s milestones as shown in “A Life in a Day”; the inner monologue that “The Girl who was Just Fine” cannot quite turn into words.

These forty-five minutes are jampacked with ideas, emotions, snippets of truth, and we as adults have plenty of opportunity to reflect on what our students, our children, are telling us.

Apart from what it tells us, the other remarkable feature of this performance is how it tells us. The apparent simplicity of the staging - a white box set, some seating blocks, odd shoes,

plain white t-shirts - allows the cast to roam around freely and create a variety of spaces and situations with swift transitions. Movement has been carefully choreographed, until it reaches that point where it appears at the same time natural and stylised. Different speeches add up on top of each other, creating an illusion of cacophony that actually conceals a choir of voices where the sum is more important than each individual part.

The outstanding visual effects, coordinated by Mr Capes, finally demonstrate the potential of all the equipment in our Auditorium: video animations, moving lights, floors and ceilings and clouds and houses appearing and dissolving in sync with the music as if by magic. The result is a pacy performance that can still afford to be reflective and sedate at times, before grabbing us again and leading us into the next chapter, the next scene, the next idea. And there are plenty of ideas in this production; this is a play that contains the seeds of many future ones, in the way it incorporates technical and theatrical elements together, or in the freedom it allows its cast while keeping them in a very contained structure.

I have a feeling that “In Our Shoes” will have an impact in the way theatre is approached at ISL. This production blurs

the line between visual art, dance, creative writing, digital art; it invites people who are not thesps to join in a communal experience. It brings together students of different ages and experiences to create something together, something that reflects their individuality as well as the traits of their generation. The discussions in the foyer at the end of the performance also hinted at the universality of the ideas we saw; this is a play that could easily be transferred to other schools and stages anywhere in the world.

Twenty-four hours after the curtain went down, moments of this production still linger in my mind. While there is no substitute for the intense experience of being in a room where a play is performed, you may be able to catch a recording online. Do yourself a favour: listen to these students. Get in their shoes.

15

HOW TO RITE GOOD Rashid Baxter delivers his script

W

hat makes us different? What makes you the person you are? Is it your wealth? Your nationality? Your love? Your pain? It may be those things, to certain degrees. But I think there’s something much deeper than that. Something much more basic. Something that our ancestors shared around the warmth of the hearth. Something that we will continue to share with our children: our stories. The stories we hold are molded by conflict, by pain, but also by love and empathy. Each story we tell has something to say. Our minds can create entire worlds. Entire lives. Entire conflicts. It’s the main thing, I think, that separates us from animals; storytelling. Taking each other on a journey, without even taking a step in the real world.

With the classic pretentious preamble out the way, let’s talk about one specific form of storytelling. I’d wager you’ve seen it before - film. Movies, as profit driven as they may be, allow people to experience what they never could in the real world. Things like war, in Dunkirk.

Or an epic Western in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Or maybe even a bounty hunter story in Bladerunner.

However, in the context of film, we constantly talk about the directing, or the acting, or the action set pieces. We rarely talk about the script, the actual words on the page which brought the film to life. We don’t talk about it often enough. Here’s a little thought experiment: ho’s your favourite actor? You probably have a list of names running through your mind when you’re asked such a question. But how about this: who’s your favourite screenwriter?

When I ask this question, I often get an “I don’t know”. This reveals a missing appreciation for script writing; because at the end of the day, the entire film is based from the script. Everything, from the acting, to the set design, to the directing, is based off that script.

So let’s talk about it.

Screenwriting is a highly specialized form of literature. Let’s face it: no one reads scripts. Not really. The general public does not go out of their way to read a screenplay. But they do go out of their way to see a movie. And so, the ideas on that script are always experienced by the audience. With that in mind, how can someone write a good script? How can a writer bring you to the edge of your seat? How can a writer make you cry, laugh, or scream? I have a few ideas - while I’m not so experienced in screenwriting, I have learnt a few things along the way. Let me share just a few.

First, you need characters. Make someone up - write down their beliefs, their passions. Write down what ails them.

Build their whole world, build their whole life. This is my favourite part about writing a story; creating people.

People with struggles, suffering, love and life. Do take one thing into consideration; how will your character grow through the story? Try to make your character flawed in some way. If your characters are the very symbol of perfection, your audience will have a hard time connecting with your imaginary people.

That’s part of what makes storytelling worth it; achieving.

Then, you need your actual story. What happens in your movie?; A wise man once told me that all films can summarized like this; a character wants something. Someone or something contests them in that pursuit of that

something. And in the end, the character either gets that something, or they don’t. Put your character in that situation. Make the audience understand what’s at stake. Let me give you an example, from a really popular comedy; Two buddy cops (main characters) want to infiltrate a drug dealer, and find the supply at a school poisoned by a drug ring (pursuit of something).

However, the drug supplier masks his identity by using students to sell his supply (contest of that something). In the end, the two buddy cops catch the supplier (they get that something). This film was 21 Jump Street. Even a comedy like that follows the same storytelling convention.

Then, you write. This is the worst part of the whole thing. You’ve created your characters. You’ve created your world.

You’ve created your plot. But now, you actually have to write the thing.

At times, it can be painful. Writing a 120 page film takes immense cognitive strength. But, so long as you have a vision, and so long as you care for the people you’ve created, the story will come to you, as I always find. Let your characters give you the story. Slowly, the words will write themselves.

That’s it. Easy right? No, of course it isn’t. But that’s part of what makes storytelling worth it; achieving. Writers write. Even if they are busy, even if they have Internal Assessments to do, Extended Essay deadlines to meet and exams to prepare for, they always find time to write. We all have a story in us.

Big or small, deep or simple.

Go tell yours. Put the words on the page.

16

TOO MUCH STUFF

T

he 21st century brought massive changes to the part of the world we live in. In previous centuries many people’s lives focused on survival and while we still have to overcome scarcity in certain parts of the world, in more economically developed countries we see a trend of increasing welfare. At this point, in some countries we can even see an overabundance of not only physical objects but also of information and opportunities. The internet, which 56.1% of people in the world have access to, hasn’t existed for that long. Yet, it enables people to find information in a few seconds and has completely changed the way in which we understand the value of solid, traditional knowledge. Suddenly, knowing which year Christopher Columbus discovered America is an easy question to answer - we simply have to Google it.

This brings about another issue which is the way in which our schooling systems need to change in order to adapt

to our modern world. Knowing something by heart is not as important as it used to be. Now, it is important to be able to find, process and filter the vast amounts of information we receive every day. These are the skills that will be useful in the future and that employers will be looking for.

On the other hand, the constant ability to research what we need to know at a certain moment can be extremely demotivating. It may leave some people wondering if knowing excessive amounts of information is valuable, as we can simply check what we need to know when we need it.

What has also changed over time is the meaning and value of creativity. There are a number of ideas that we can find online, which often do not encourage creativity, as it can make people believe that everything has already been said and discovered. On the other hand, this makes truly creative people stand out more noticeably, as creativity is not a

QUICKSAND

S

ure, I do marathons. On Netflix.

The most recent “Netflix marathon” I did was with the newly released show, Quicksand. Quicksand is the name given to Netflix´s first Swedish show, based on the book by Malin Persson Giolito. The show explores the aftermath of a school shooting, where the 18-year old Maja and her dead boyfriend Sebastian are the prime suspects.

We are thrown right into the bloodbath. Maja is found soaked in other people’s blood in a classroom where a teacher and four students lie dead on the floor. She is the only survivor - we believe - and was involved in the shooting, but exactly what has happened is unclear. Maja is detained and kept away from her family, the media and any possible external information for several months before it is time for trial. Through interrogation and conversations we get a picture of what happened, or rather what happened leading up to the school shooting.

About a year earlier, Maja fell in love with Sebastian, son of businessman Claes Fagerman. At first, Sebastian is perceived as both romantic and generous, a rich man’s son who can still be extremely charming and in some ways down to earth. But beneath the surface there is an incredibly toxic relationship with the father, which makes Sebastian boil over, and turn to drug abuse and generally unhealthy behavior. Maja is dragged into the chaos, but at the same time tries to be a safe shoulder for her boyfriend.

What I found the most intriguing about Quicksand was the ripe, noteworthy plot and how it handled several controversial and important issues. Since the show was mainly based around high school students, it dealt with the emotional issues faced by teenagers in a very realistic manner and it made it almost impossible not to be touched.

Nothing was glorified or overdone, which made the show that much more gripping. Compared to the many shows

Kaia Grabowska frequent asset.

As teenagers and young adults, we might find it hard to enter this world of overabundance of choice and choose who we actually want to be. Some massive changes are still happening before our eyes, new jobs and opportunities are constantly emerging. We have a variety of different options that we need to choose from and the ability to make these choices is both a blessing and a curse. It is undeniable that we are extremely lucky to have the education and number of opportunities that we have. Some people may believe that the privilege to make choices is extremely motivating as we can do something that can make a difference and have an impact. On the other hand, the fact that we have so many things to choose from may make some people fall into stagnation. Ultimately, we decide which approach we take and how we use the opportunities we are privileged to have.

Tindra Österling I have seen, Quicksand was by far the most relatable.

The cast of Quicksand were simply perfect for the roles. For a series like this, the character work is always an important element to get right and thankfully every character in Quicksand is on point for most of the run time. Hanna Ardéhn does an excellent job portraying Maja, with just the right level of wide-eyed stares and tear-stained shock to contrast with her more sensitive moments.

Felix Sandman’s portrayal of Sebastian is worth pointing out too, as his mentally unstable, unpredictable demeanor is effectively juxtaposed with Maja’s character. The only thing that potentially bothered me about the casting were the strong Swedish accents of the characters in the English version, however it doesn’t take away from the overall message of the show.

Overall, the series raises many long-lasting thoughts. You will 100% be binge watching it next weekend.

17

A MARVELOUS ENDING In the wise words of River Song, “Spoilers!”

A

s one of the most highly anticipated superhero films of the decade, Avengers: Endgame (2019) is now officially the second-highest grossing movie of all time, surpassing Avatar (2009), with a total of $770.8 million, just four weeks after its release. This comes as no surprise. I recall the time I attempted to watch Endgame on the third day of its premiere but was unsuccessful at the rate movie-goers would pile into the cinema, all united by the same admiration for a certain set of heroes.

Above all, Endgame is both a satisfying conclusion to Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and an exciting beginning to Phase 4. Despite some flaws, the three-hour long journey to reverse Thanos’ Decimation balances comic relief and the gravity of the “Snap” aftermath while resolving certain character arcs and long term plot issues while setting up a few storylines for future films. For a sequel intended to follow many character demises (Marvel got me for a solid year, I was grieving for Peter Parker like no other), the overall tone of Endgame was surprising. I was definitely convinced it would be waterworks the minute beginning credits flashed on the widescreen, but I was relatively composed throughout the movie (up until the end). To my delight, Endgame appeared more light-hearted and cheerful than its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War (2018).

This was due to the humor and references cheekily embedded into the script at certain times during the movie, making a good balance between drama, action and comedy. For instance Scott Lang, in the most relatable fashion, comments on how Steve Rogers’ “old suit design did nothing for his ass.”

It leads to one of the film’s most iconic moments, where later on, Steve examines his own behind for a moment before commenting, “That is America’s ass.”

When news broke out that the film would focus on time travel, I was quite excited. However, those who were cynical of that idea from the beginning were right to be. Instead of assisting the Avengers, it seemed to complicate the situation more by opening plot holes and unplanned alternate timelines. An example of of this is the irony where Professor Hulk denounces Back to the Future as “bullshit” with its inaccurate portrayal of time travel, yet Endgame is equally as guilty of “lampshading” (dealing with a subject by mentioning it briefly but only using it for plot or a trope) time travel logistics. Professor Hulk explains to a confused Scott Lang: “If you travel back into your own past, that destination becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can’t now be changed by your new future.” If this is so, the twist on the “Kill Baby Hitler” concept with Thanos (which Rhodey proposed) would not work because the baby you supposedly kill becomes an alternate timeline. Regardless of the complications, the ambiguity in the rules allows for viewer’s interpretation and imagination, ultimately defining why the movies

Jade Tan is no longer silenced by Thanos are esteemed by fans. Hence why I have strong intuition that 2012!Loki from the Battle of New York is well, alive and in possession of the Tesseract (don’t fight me on this).

Illustration by Manon Libine

While we’re on the topic of time travel related complications, Captain America and his rather surprising stunt comes to mind. Of course, the sentiments are there; the rest of us have also been waiting for that dance between Steve and Peggy since 2011. However, that appears to overshadow the consequences of Steve’s actions by contradicting all the time rules and his character arc by doing something for his own benefit. Staying in the past with Peggy after returning the Stones meant everything Steve stood for has been for nothing, including his moving words “I’m with you ‘til the end of the line” to Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). The only redeeming quality here is Steve being the foil (a contrasting character) of Tony Stark, who was first seen as arrogant and egocentric but overtime becomes selfless, since his last actions were sacrificing himself to restore order on Earth, Snapping away Thanos and his army. In fact, throughout the entirety of the MCU, the two have always contrasted each other, so both of their arcs come full circle by swapping personalities.

For the average viewer, Endgame may just be like any other ordinary superhero movie, but as a Marvel fan myself, it is safe to say it holds a special place in my heart. One might even go as far as to say they love it 3000.

18

KISS AND MAKE-UP

E

steemed peers, my guess is, even if you aren’t invested in it, you’ve heard about the James Charles and Tati drama. There are people who couldn’t care less, and there are people who are burying their $40 eyeshadow pallets, and I have been watching the sub count go crazy with a bag of popcorn. So here’s a recap of all the drama.

On April 22, James Charles, a successful beauty Youtuber with 16 million subscribers (at the time), posted an ad for Sugar Bear Hair’s new sleeping vitamins on his Instagram story. Soon after, Tati posted a story (visibly upset) talking about how she feels outcasted in the beauty community, including spicy quotes as “everybody says what they need to say and uses who they need to use, and I have had about enough”. Shakespeare would be proud.

In response, James made a public apology on Instagram.

On May 10, Tati Westbrook, veteran beauty guru, and owner of the vitamin company Halo Beauty uploaded a 43-minute video to YouTube titled “BYE SISTER...” airing her grievances with James Charles. You can break the video into 2 parts: money and boys. To my understanding, the reason why Tati was so disappointed is that she had offered James sponsorships in the past.

While it is no secret James is gay; Tati’s video brought up how he attempts to get men. She brings up a waiter who James tried to charm at her birthday dinner (named Sam) who was reportedly straight, but this didn’t stop James, who said, “Doesn’t matter; I’m a celebrity.” Cue spit takes and memes. Sam responded with a video, and it turns out James and Sam did have a consensual hookup. In fact, Sam had told James that he was bisexual. Then there was a second boy named Gage Gomez, unmentioned in the “bye sister” video, yet is still relevant. Gage was spotted cuddling with James at Coachella when a fan pointed this out on Twitter. James

McKenna Quam chugs the tea subtweeded: “this boy played me for months on end and is a disgusting con artist.” In response, Gage claimed in another video that James had pressured him into hanging out.

In both situations, James goes after guys who describe themselves as bi-curious, which gets him into trouble. Tati mentioned in her video that James talks about boys, but what disturbed her was that he would do this in front of his parents. According to Tati, when she came over for dinner James brought up the topic of sex at the dinner table and talked about the theory of sexuality that no one is 100% straight. He also talked about this topic in another video with Jeff Wittek, another vlogger.

He has caused more drama within the LGBT community before his drama with Tati, as he incorrectly interpreted the work of Alfred Kinsey, saying that he “was not fully gay” because he felt attraction to trans men.

The drama piled up on one another led to James losing 3 million subs, Tati gaining 5 million, and plenty of material for drama channels. And you’d think that would be the end of this, BUT IT’S NOT. I haven’t even gotten to James’s apology video, and the bombshell of James’ “No More Lies”, that has so many receipts that you would get yelled at by the IT department if you

printed them all out. The video refutes all of the claims made in Tati’s video and is a masterclass in how to handle a public scandal. In addition, it works as an UNO reverse card as now James is gaining subs and Tati is losing subs.

I originally wanted to end this article by just bashing James some more, as some of his actions regarding boys could be used discourage people from experimenting with their sexuality, and with James being one of the youngest ambassadors of the LGBT community he should be careful with words regarding the topic. But when researching this story I came upon Shane Dawson’s response to the drama on Instagram. He said, “Even though I believe some people need to be humbled, I also could never enjoy watching someone go through this. Today, I want to focus on the good stuff. I feel like I have tea poisoning from seeing all this drama. Send a nice text to a friend today. Give someone a hug. Tweet a link to your favorite music video, something nice. I feel like we all need that right now.” And I think he’s right, so before we all cancel James or stan Tati we should take a step back from the drama, and be nice to each other. So, dear reader, have a wonderful day, catch you on the flip side.

Illustration by Joseph Nobs

19

#FRIDAYSFORFUTURE

I

t’s difficult to live in our world today without hearing about climate change. It has been called man’s greatest challenge and many more titles and has been making headlines for over a decade. Instead of discussing whether or not climate change is a real part of our world, a more interesting focus is on the movements and protests that have been going around recently worldwide, such as #FridaysforFuture and Greta Thunberg’s school strikes, as well as what our school has been doing to try and make a difference.

The social media movement #FridaysforFuture is very closely related to the school strikes that Greta Thunberg started a year ago. The young Swedish girl decided not to go to school every Friday so that she could protest in front of her home country’s parliament, asking them to take action against climate change. Soon afterward, the rest of the world joined in as well, with students going to the streets every Friday.

Soon afterward, #FridaysforFuture was

trending all over social media. This idea not only consisted of striking but also of taking different initiatives to minimize our carbon footprint. Now, ISL’s Eco-Society is attempting to integrate #FridaysforFuture at ISL. So far, this group of around fifteen students with Mr. Printer and Ms. Baker are trying to encourage small initiatives all students can partake in to minimize our individual carbon footprints.

One of the proposals was to encourage people to take public transport, bike, or walk to school. ‘The end goal potentially would be to sometime next year have a Friday when no cars come onto campus. We recognize that’s very difficult, and that’s what really #FridaysforFuture is about here; trying to form good habits,’ said Ms. Baker. The Eco-Society also encourages students to try to buy as little plastic and PET bottles as possible, and to go meat-free (mainly beef), on Fridays.

The team has also done a survey to try and estimate how well ISL as a school

RECIPE: FALAFEL Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Total time: 30 minutes Yield: 12 falafels

Ingredients •

400g canned chickpeas

•

1/3 small red onion (chopped)

•

1/3 cup fresh parsley (chopped (or

a mix of parsley and cilantro)) •

1 cloves garlic (peeled and roughly

chopped) •

½ lemon (juiced)

•

Pinch of paprika

•

Pinch cayenne pepper

•

1 tsp cumin

•

1/3 teaspoon salt

Coline Coubat

is doing overall when it comes to carbon footprint, biodiversity, etc. According to the results that Ms. Baker kindly shared, ISL is doing quite well when it comes to biodiversity and a green campus. Furthermore, the school has a variety of options when it comes to food and the heating is done by woodchip oiler.

The main area ISL should focus on is littering when it comes to going back and forth between North and South Campus, as well as in the entrance areas.

Often, trash or small pieces of plastic can be found lying around the doors and staff are left to clean them up.

The goal for ISL is to achieve the ‘Green Flag’ for schools that are environmentally friendly. The entire Eco-Society is working hard to try and reach this point. Meanwhile, there will be another march in downtown Lausanne today.

Several ISL students already participated last time and many are expected to attend this time as well.

Reyna Guven Directions • Preheat oven to 205°C. • Rinse and drain canned chickpeas.

• Remove the outer skin of the chickpeas.

• Add chickpeas into a food processor and pulse until coarse.

• Add onion, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and spices.

• Pulse ingredients in the food processor until no large pieces are visible.

• Place parchment paper on a baking dish • Scoop 1 tbsp of mixture (you can do 1 ½ if desired).

• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked throughout.

20

THE LAST LAUGH: NAUGHTY OR LICE?

Quentin Bachelot

WORDSEARCH: ENDGAME