Every month of Keio Journal, the food section will feature the favorite hometown and home country dishes of teachers and faculties from Keio Academy of New York. For the June issue, we interviewed the teachers from the Department of Social Studies: Mr Consolati, Mr Baylies, Mr Card, Mr Ciafardini, and Ms Kikuchi Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions!
Pasticcio (Greek Lasagna) -Mr. Consolati
Mr Consolati lives in Norwalk, Connecticut, a city famous for its large Greek community. Being in this neighborhood, he has grown to love Greek dishes, including Pasticcio, which he described as “so delicious full of pasta, beef, and a nice thick white sauce ” Pasticcio is composed of layers of pasta, beef, white sauce, and cheese on the top; therefore, it takes hours to cook If you are interested in the recipe, please reach out to Mr. Consolati!
Mr Baylies shared with us a sweet family history related to cod fish Cod fish cake is Mr Baylies’s favorite home dish from his childhood He grew up in Marion, Massachusetts, near Cape Cod, a popular summertime destination and famous for its seafood
“My grandmother would visit every weekend and spend all day cooking She grew up in Newfoundland, Canada, so the food she cooked was from her
childhood There is not much to do in Newfoundland – in her town of St John’s, almost everyone was a fisherman They caught cod fish, and that was what you ate: cod fish, cooked up in many different ways. On her visits to us, my grandmother made my absolute favorite dish: codfish cakes My sisters and I could never get enough of them! I made them for my children many years later, just like Mama had made them They were, in the words of my daughter, “Revolting!” My son said, “Yuck!” My wife did not like them either. So I got to eat them all And now, whenever I make cod fish cakes to bring to my sisters, everyone leaves the kitchen ”
The salt cod came in small wooden boxes (I used the boxes to collect bird eggs and other things I found in the woods.) This is his grandmother’s recipe for the cod fish cake: “you need cod fish that has been salted and dried The salt cod needs to soak in a pot of water overnight to remove the salt Then potatoes are boiled and mashed, the cod is cooked in water for about 15 minutes, and then the potatoes and cod are mixed together in a bowl with ground black pepper. The cod-potato mixture is shaped to the size of golf balls and then rolled across a pan of flour to make them easier to handle They are finally fried in hot oil for about 3 minutes until golden brown ”
If you have a chance to cook during the long summer break, please try cod! fish cake and tell Mr. Baylies your opinion!
Salt Potatoes -Mr. Card
Mr Card was born in Syracuse, the northern part of New York state Due to salt springs and salt mines found nearby, the city is often called “Salt City” Salt potatoes became an iconic dish brought by the Irish immigrants in the 19thcentury Unlike regular boiled potatoes,
salt potatoes are creamy inside, and the outer skin gets crispy The unique texture will amaze you, and you should try it when you have a chance! It is one of the easy-to-cook dishes, only taking 30 minutes.
d of , New ice from s been his s been making Italian ice since 1897, founded by John Bonanza, an Italian immigrant When Mr C was our age, he would ride a bicycle into town, play tennis on the beach, and treat himself to the “best homemade Italian ice on the planet!” This Stand sells a variety of Italian ice His favorites were the rainbow, lemon, and cherry You will definitely find a flavor for you from the hundreds of flavors they have You cannot miss it, especially during the summer!
Ms Kikuchi is from Tokyo, Japan; however, as her mother was from Aichi Prefecture, her home taste was always a mixture of the two different areas She enjoyed eating Maze Sushi, which is a Japanese dish with sushi rice, thinly-cut vegetables, cooked eggs, and some fish, such as salmon. It is a great dish to eat during the summer with seasonal vegetables, and please talk to Ms Kikuchi if you are interested in cooking it!
Written by Hana Tanaka
Cod Fish Cake -Mr. Baylies
Maze Sushi -Ms Kikuchi
THE PROBLEM WITH FAST FASHION
In light of World Environment Day, which took place on June 5th, let's talk about the environment It is not recent news that global climate change poses an increasing threat to the Earth One of the top contributors to climate change that is not often discussed is fashion-- specifically, fast fashion According to the United Nations Environment Program, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon gas emissions This number is greater than emissions caused by air travel
Fast fashion refers to the mass production of trendy, cheap, readily available, and disposable clothing As its name suggests, it is "fast " The trends in
fashion are fast, the rate of production is fast, the delivery is fast, and the clothing is worn fast; they are quickly discarded You may have seen an example of fast fashion online in clothing "haul" videos A clothing haul is a video where someone reviews a collection of recent clothing purchases. These people sometimes spend hundreds of dollars to buy massive amounts of clothes On social media, these videos are usually titled "try-on hauls" or "back to school hauls "
The environmental impact the fashion industry has is drastic According to the EPA, the average American generates 81 pounds of textile waste annually Out of the 81 pounds, 85% is expected to end up in landfills, and only 15% is to be recycled Fast fashion has not made these statistics better Fast fashion companies usually create garments that are not meant to last long These companies heavily depend on using cheap, synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and elastane These materials are mainly composed of plastic and are derived from petrochemicals obtained from fossil fuels These synthetic materials are known to shed microfibers (also called microplastics), which is the leading cause of aquatic micro pollution It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that humans live on one giant pile of plastic
Another major problem of fast fashion is the societal devaluation of labor that goes into making clothes The fashion industry as a whole is heavily dependent on labor work So for fast fashion companies to price their products cheaply, they rely on labor exploitation This usually means low wages, overworked workers, dangerous working conditions, and child labor How do companies get away with such things? What usually happens is that companies will export their products to other countries with inadequate labor laws According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), 75 million factory workers are employed in the fast fashion industry However, less than 2% of them make a living wage from their work
Fast fashion is also responsible for creating microtrends A trend in the fashion industry would describe a popular style of clothing Celebrities and specific events often start trends
HOMEMADE
MUG CAKES ON CAMPUS
Have you ever felt like you wanted to bake something sweet while on campus? But you can't because you don't have enough supplies, are not being allowed to bring any heating device into the dorms, and for more reasons? Here I am today sharing with you a quick and easy recipe to satisfy your sweet cravings And that is mug cakes Students don't have access to ovens here at Keio Academy Still, we do have microwaves at the North and South Rotundas. Why not make good use of them? Let me share with you a tasty Chocolate Mug Cake recipe
Famous for
his hats and glasses Mr.
Iwahashi
Things You Will Need:
- Mug x 1 - Something to mix (eg spoon) x 1
- 4 tablespoons of flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon chocolate hazelnut spread, plus more for topping
After collecting all of the ingredients, all you have to do is mix the ingredients together, cook the batter in the microwave for 90 seconds, and let it cool before you dig in This quick and easy microwave mug cake is delicious and fun to make! I highly recommend trying it if you get a chance
Written by Aoi Shiraishi
(Faculty/ Director of Academic Logistics/ Head of House)
Head of K house, a busy math teacher of 12th grade Linear Algebra, 10thgrade Algebra & Trigonometry, and 9th-grade Algebra & Geometry, I had the pleasure of interviewing him while playing chess with the math club members He learned chess from his cousin when he was in the fifth grade and from his parents in the second grade of elementary school He loves board games and card games, and because of that, he is also the adviser of the math club The math club members encourage interested students to join next year if you like these types of games They also solve math problems together Since his childhood, Mr Iwahashi has always been good at working with numbers, and he is especially good at recognizing mistakes in calculations Because of his wonderful abilities, he thought about becoming a math teacher, a math researcher, or an actuarial insurance agent since middle school He was thinking about becoming an actuarial insurance professional because he thought it would make a lot of money. However, he decided to work as a math teacher in the U S Since 2009, he has been a teacher here at Keio Academy of New York for about 13 years. He said he is a fossil of this school himself
We asked him what he values in life He seems to be conscious of a healthy lifestyle I hope he will maintain his good health and will continue to be an excellent but strict school teacher and dorm supervisor at this school
Mr Iwahashi has his own YouTube channel where you can watch his beloved cat and his easy-to-understand math lessons. If you are a student interested in this, please search on Youtube: "Akifumi Iwahashi" to watch the videos and subscribe to his channel!
Written by Ruka Takegawa
OUR SHOFUSAI
After two years of hardship, we finally held our school festival, Shofusai Shofusai 2022 was held on the Saturday of May 28th Our theme was "reunited " This year was exceptionally challenging for all students since we had a fewer budget, less preparation time, and only a small amount of people However, thanks to Mr Meringolo, our Shofusai organizing committee, and all of our students and teachers, successfully hosted the event
We had a total of 16 stations, most of which were related to Omatsuri Yatai All committees, clubs, and houses worked hard on their stations. In some food stations, there were a wide variety of things such as ice cream, bubble tea, and shaved ice, which had never been approved before this year Our creative 10th graders performed their Manjiro drama at the Speaker's Hall We all wore our Shofusai T-shirts designed by our talented students Furthermore, we had more than 200 guests coming to our campus, including graduates and retired teachers of Keio New York, and students of the Harvey School. I spoke to several of our guests as they were leaving campus, and they all said they had a great time that day
At the end of the event, we had a general assembly There, we announced some of the outstanding achievements the students had accomplished We had about $6,500 in sales on the day of the festival, which was far more than our budget of $5,000. We then thanked everybody who was involved in this event. It was a heartwarming moment in which everyone clapped for their fantastic efforts We also held the student raffle One of our students bought 175 raffle tickets, and it was astonishing how he won many prizes After that, we had a slideshow of photographs from the day
Everybody seemed to have fun Of course, we had some unexpected challenges, such as an emerging number of COVID cases in our school and heavy rain on the day of Shofusai Regardless of that, we were able to finish our Shofusai successfully I hope that this Shofusai became an excellent memory, especially for graduating 12th graders I cannot wait to see how we will do next year We are definitely going to fly high
Written by Mayuka Kitada
Edited by Aoi Morita and Rei Muto
THE CARNEGIE HALL EVENT
On the 26th of May, some of the music students at the school went out to Manhattan to go hear the Baylor University musicians play in Carnegie Hall With the guidance of 3 wonderful teachers, Ms Mortenson, Ms Davis, and Ms Gollin, the students, took the bus for about an hour and first walked around Central Park. Just walking in the park while talking with friends is something that the students usually could not do after the devastating outbreak of COVID, and this event was a great opportunity for thestudents to just enjoy some things they could have done before the pandemic.
After enjoying the walk around Central Park, the students headed towards their next destination, dinner at Carnegie Diner and Cafe Students ordered lots of food, from hamburgers and steak, to desserts such as ice cream and cake. The total money spent was around $1,000, but Mr Mortenson, the father of Ms Mortenson and the dean of Harley College, who actually helped plan this event, paid for the students with a black card!
Following the delicious meal, the students finally headed toward Carnegie Hall, their final destination Upon going in, the students encountered a crucial problem Due to COVID, they needed a vaccination record card to go inside The students panicked for a little bit; however, since their roommate and friends were still in the dormitory, they called their friends to send them a picture of the vaccination card In no time, all of the students were able to go inside Carnegie Hall The performance was incredible,
Hall The performance was incredible, including a string quartet, piano player, bass player, and a piano and vocal duo Every moment of their playing grasped our hearts and the students and teachers were able to have a relaxing time listening to the players After the performance, we joined the people of Harley College in a casual celebration party, and were able to communicate with some of the students that played in the concert
The end activity to this fantastic event was the bus ride back to campus. You might think that after doing all sorts of activities, everyone would sleep on the ride home, but actually, the most energetic and exciting time for everyone was on the bus A karaoke party was suddenly held and everyone started to sing along the songs from all genres, JPop, American Pop, Broadway musical songs (Hamilton), ending with Keio’s fight song, Wakakichi
This event was a great opportunity for students to go out of campus and not only to just listen to a wonderful concert but to get a chance to meet with students from a music college, and to further connect bonds with fellow Keio students
Written by Hikaru Mizutani
Edited by Aoi Morita, Rei Muto
ARTWORKS AT SHOFUSAI
This month, the school festival, Shofusai, was held in our school Many of the people visited our beautiful artworks and loved them
The eye-catching and abstract artwork was done on the spiral staircase at the school rotunda. The enormous drawings of colorful flames were cut into rectangular pieces and pasted on each step of the staircases The artwork on the spiral staircase caught many people's attention, inviting many students and visitors to take pictures with it This beautiful and creative artwork reflected the efforts of the art club's members One of my friends who came to Shofu sai was really impressed by the picture on the staircase.
Another artwork that was done at Shofusai was the photo booth The room was decorated with newspapers, collages, clocks, and more! There was even a wedding dress made out of newspapers, and it was really cool. People could take pictures with those in the background There was also a place to take photos with flowers and tiaras Many students loved the photo booth Many people posted pictures taken at the photobooth on Instagram and other social media
Every artwork was so beautiful and creative I am excited to see new creative artwork at next year's Shofusai!
Written by Setsuna Akiyama
THE PROBLEM WITH FAST FASHION (CONTINUED)
STUDENTS' FEEDBACK ON ATHLETICS DAY
As the school year draws to a close, it is a great time to reflect on all the fantastic events held One of the most significant events held this year was athletics day We have some exciting feedback from the students to announce!
When asked, “what was the most enjoyable aspect of the athletics day,” we received many positive responses It seems as though tug of war, house dance, and relay were some of the popular events amongst the students. One student said they enjoyed athletics day because it allowed students to interact with people in their house who they would not be able to otherwise I totally agree with this opinion, as weekly dance practices provided an excellent environment for us juniors to talk with the seniors
Some students thought that letting the juniors and seniors race against each other simultaneously could have made the events more interesting Some events, such as tail tags and tug of war, were indeed done in a way that separated the juniors and seniors
I believe athletics day is an event that should be enjoyed by the whole school Hence, I think it is imperative to report back and make improvements to make the day more exciting for next year
I asked some students if they had any events they would like the house sports leaders to add for next year’s athletics day The events included double dutch skipping rope, tug of war by grades, and swimming
Written by Hitomi Kunihiro
Trends come, go, and eventually return (in a cycle) In the 20th and 21st century, a trend cycle would last for 20-30 years However, in recent years, cycles have lasted much shorter due to the rise of social media and the internet; we are exposed to new trends quicker. These short cycles are referred to as microtrends Microtrends make a piece of clothing popular fast but also make it old fast Consumers will often try to keep up with the trends by buying more clothes to avoid being stigmatized for wearing a past trending outfit The cheapest way to do so is through fast fashion In this way, microtrends are harmful because they often promote overconsumption
To sum up, fast fashion is harmful due to its environmental impact, labor exploitation, and promotion of overconsumption That being said, should you stop buying from fast fashion brands? Of course, telling the world not to buy anything is unrealistic However, if there's one thing you take away from this article, it would be to learn to become a thoughtful consumer Everyone likes fashion, as it is a form of selfexpression and a creative medium But it is possible to enjoy fashion without buying many clothes Instead of fast fashion brands, sustainable fashion brands are organic, biodegradable, and pay employees well However, I strongly encourage buying second-hand clothing, thrifting, and upcycling (using old
“Fast fashion is like fast food After the sugar rush it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
-Livia
Firth, Creative director of Eco-Age
clothes to remake them into something trendier) Because the fact is, a big amount of clothes are already sitting in landfills in big piles The more we can put them into use instead of throwing them away, the better it is for the environment.
Behind you, all your memories. Ahead of you, all your dreams. Within you, all you need. The rest of the school wishes the class of 2022 the best of graduations.
Special thanks to our editor-in-chief Chihiro Nagayo Even during her last and busiest semester, she took on the responsibilities of being the first-ever editor-in-chief of the Keio Journal She oversaw the entire project, edited the articles, and formatted them into the actual newspaper If it wasn't for her hard work and sacrifices, you would not be reading this right now Congratulations on making it through three years of high school, and good luck in the future!
