Merionite December 2015

The Merionite

Ardmore, PA, 19003

December 18, 2015 Ardmore, PA 19003

The official student newspaper of Lower Merion High School since 1929 www.themerionite.org Volume 86, Issue 3

The season of giving

“Enter to learn go forth to serve” Simone Burde ’17 News Editor This year on Veterans Day, November 11, students had the opportunity to hear LM alumnus Vice Admiral Herman Shelanski speak about his experiences in the Navy.

Shelanski grew up in Wynnewood and graduated in the class of 1974. After receiving a degree in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado, he began his career in the US Navy. This past May, Shelanski was promoted from the rank of Rear Admiral to Vice Admiral. In his new position he is obligated “to inspect, investigate, and inquire into matters of importance to the Department of the Navy and maintain the highest level of public confidence.” These duties are assigned by the Secretary of the Navy.

Social Studies interim department chair Chad Henneberry organized Shelanski’s presentation, which was open to all students during Lunch and Learn.

Henneberry commented, “The Social Studies department was pleased to learn that Vice-Admiral Herman Shelanski would be able to visit our school to help us honor Veteran’s Day. His life experiences and accomplishments are extremely impressive, ranging from his beginnings as a young naval aviator, to commanding the

Please see VICE ADMIRAL SHELANSKI on page 3

LM’S RATING

DROP LMHS drops from 96 to 83 in the School Performance Profile

C AT H E R I N E

M C FA R L A N D

“The

According to Pennsylvania’s Annual School Performance Profile (SPP), LM’s score dropped from a 96 to an 83 this past year, a plummet that outraged many in the community. This ranking system uses each school’s Keystone Exam scores as its data to judge a school’s achievements. The scores are largely based on three tests specifically: the Algebra 1, Literature, and Biology exams.

LMHS scored 96 last year, whereas this year they scored 82.5. ing by the state index could potentially lower home values in our area.

Community member and school district parent Colleen Law, said, “I want the very best for my kids; that’s why I’m here. If these ratings are accurate, then I am concerned that this may not be a good

Vice Admiral Shelanski graciously accepted questions from students in U.S. History classes.

Photo by Simone Burde/Staff

Student government committee expands its focus. page 3

OPINIONS The deception of social media Dora Nathans ’18 writes about the rarely acknowledged dark sides of social media.

page 7

Please see WINTERFEST on page 2 Season of Giving”

bulldog

Many members of the community expressed concern when they saw this major drop. Parents were uneasy about the deteriorating quality of our school’s previously consistently high-regarded education. Also, some community members worried that the lower rank-

NEWS PhilCo

’ 1 8

Ryan Fisher ’18 It’s December! Students and teachers alike are waiting for winter break to arrive. For some, this season comes with the anticipation of receiving gifts, accompanied by a large meal with family to commemorate time’s passing. Others, however, lack such luxuries.

Enter Winterfest, an event created to repair this imbalance. Organized by health and P.E. teacher Tom Kline and math teacher Brian Feeney, Winterfest begins with a canned food drive, where students are encouraged to donate nonperishable goods to the Adamutch Food Pantry.

What is Winterfest? The event is still young, as this year’s drive marks only the second one since its rebirth. The current idea is similar to the older model, in which the entirety of Winterfest consisted of a celebration commemorating the beginning of Winter Break. Last year, Kline and Feeney revitalized it, and although they kept the name, the

trend or investment for my family.”

On the other hand, Principal Sean Hughes explained that the SPP is not a school ranking, but a comparison of a school to its previous performances. This profile is also pretty new, so there are only two years of data for comparison. Our school performed exceptionally high in the 2013 school year, which makes it hard for us to show growth, since our baseline scores of proficiency were already high. Schools gain points based on their percent growth, so many other high-achieving schools also saw their scores dramatically decrease. Hughes stated, “Bottom line, the rating reflects changes to a state formula rather than changes to achievement levels of our students.”

Hughes also feels that there are many ways to assess student growth and the quality of a school. He added, “We strongly

Convention of Black engineers Nisha Arya ’18 On November 6 to 8, six LM students attended the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Professional Development Conference at the Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, MD. NSBE is a nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to increase the number of black engineers who “excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community through guidance and mentorship.” With over 31,000 members around the world, NSBE is one of the largest student-governed organizations in the United States.

The convention gave its participants the opportunity to communicate with their peers and technical professionals and to enhance their personal and technical skills.

Students had the opportunity to speak with representatives from graduate schools and top technical corporations such as Facebook and Google. Corporations involved with the convention also have the ability to recruit the most qualified, impressive candidates.

Please see SCHOOL RANKING DROP on page 4

SPECIAL FEATURE Read about college controversy and safe spaces

SPORTS Goodbye Kobe LM’s most famous alumni played his final game in Philadelphia on December 1. The future hall of famer announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. page 20

pages 10,11,12

FEATURES Senior with a once in a lifetime experience Spotlight on senior Brian Ramsey who spent 18 months circumnavigating the world with his family. page 9

Please see NATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK ENGINEERS on page 4

A&E Winter fashion Check out this season’s coolest looks.

page 14

2

News

December 18, 2015

The Merionite

Change from CVC to PhilCo Alexander Welsh ’19

In the spirit of giving back, the but we would love to aim around Philanthropic Committee (PhilCo) of the committee’s profits from last LM’s student council is broadening its year,” says Utkus. The money focus to include more charitable orgaraised during each event throughnizations throughout the community. out the year is given to charity.

PhilCo is a student-run committee For example, the money that was at LM designed to raise money and raised from Maroon Madness and awareness for charities and organizathe Sixers tickets raffle will go to tions by involving the LM communiCoaches vs. Cancer and the coins ty. According to Julia Utkus ’17, one collected from Penny Wars during of the heads of PhilCo, the committee Radnor Week went to the Chil“organizes all of our events, talks to dren’s Hospital of Philadelphia. sponsors, works out how we are going The committee kicked off the year to raise the money, and thinks of ways with the Million Mile Challenge we can involve the student body.” In in September, in partnership addition to Utkus, the other heads with Alex’s Lemonade Stand. On of the committee are David Maniloff Friday December 11, PhilCo col’16, Jake Newschaffer ’16, Emma Unlected at the basketball game for gar ’16, David Mei ’17, and Morgan the Hope Classic, an organization Naiberg ’17. Previously, the commitPhilCo committee heads (from left to right): David Mei, Jake Newschaffer, Emma Ungar, that raises money for the Angeltee was called CVC and its focus was man Foundation. Throughout this Julia Utkus, Morgan Naiberg, and David Maniloff at Maroon Madness. primarily to benefit Coaches vs. Canschool year, there are many addiPhoto by Sam Gamberg/Staff cer, a national partnership between the tional fundraising events that will American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. help PhilCo surpass last year’s proceeds. Upcoming fundraisers include a potenAccording to its website, Coaches vs. Cancer allows “basketball coaches, their tial 3v3 basketball tournament, a dodgeball tournament in the spring, and other teams, and local communities to make a difference in the fight against cancer.” smaller events.

This year, however, the committee changed its focus and its name to reach out to If interested, there are many ways that the student body can get involved with other organizations throughout our community. Utkus explains, “This gives us PhilCo. By attending the events that are held throughout the year, students can more freedom to help other charities in addition to CVC.” For example, PhilCo’s make a difference in the lives of people who are helped by these charities. Anfocus has expanded to benefit breast cancer research, the Alex’s Lemonade Stand other way that students can work with the committee is by attending the student Foundation, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as Coaches vs. council meetings to contribute ideas and provide feedback.

Cancer.

While the change from CVC to PhilCo may have, at first, brought confusion, Last year, the committee was able to raise around $10,000 from all the events PhilCo continues to do great things as it enables students at LM to support a vathat were held throughout the year. “We don’t have a definite goal in place yet, riety of causes through fun and creative fundraising events.

Winterfest

Cont. from THE SEASON OF GIVING, page 1 methodology of the event was altered. Instead of a baseless party, students are now asked to donate canned goods, so that the party celebrates the students’ generosity.

Last year, over two and a half tons of canned goods were delivered. Many families without enough to eat were satiated by the donations. One donor, Cathy Si ’18, stated, “It’s great to help our neighbors; I feel glad that we can make a difference in their lives.” Helping the surrounding community is a big part of the holiday season, and Winterfest aims to fulfill this component.

Winterfest offers a learning experience as well. Kline believes the event “give a message to kids that [shows] kids outside of the classroom of what we can do as productive citizens.” The goal is to remind students that they are a part of a larger community, and that not everyone is as fortu-

Kline and Feeney mug for the camera with a Winterfest donation box, one of many placed in advisories around the school.

nate as they are. The financial disparity becomes especially clear around the winter holidays. Feeney reminds us that “this time of the year, food pantries are barren, looking for replenishment.” Not only does Winterfest aid this collection, but it also fuels students to become driving forces in the long-term resolution of poverty.

In addition to battling scarcity, the Winterfest staff is holding a celebration following the collection on the day before winter break, to celebrate the event’s planned success. There will be pretzels and punch served in the cafeteria during Lunch and Learn. Additionally, the gymnasium will likely be available for use, and music will be played in both locations. Everyone is invited—even those who were unable to contribute—because “we don’t want it to be restrictive.

Ideally, people see the reaction of others of feeling good, and [we] hope they will [donate] in following years,” stated Kline. Since everyone can attend, anybody who donates does so out of his or her own generosity. There can be no selfish donors—those who give just so they can get. Ideally, the school will get to a point where donors give without considering what they will get in return and transform donating into a normality for all students.

However, there are still prizes for motivational purposes. After students finalize their donations to their advisories, the top four advisories with the most earnings can win pizza or trophies. The total weight of an advisory’s collection determines the victors.

Additionally, some teachers even offer an extra credit opportunity to those who donate. Others will have smaller competitions within their advisories that reward individual students for extreme generosity.

These incentives should help spark a desire to donate for students who lack interest.

One major difference this year is that monetary donations will no longer be collected. Instead, LM is doubling down on its efforts to contribute to the Adamutch Food Pantry. The event’s leadership believes that LM can accumulate five tons (10,000 pounds) to donate this year.

This is a welcome improvement. “The Adamutch pantry needs our food. There are a lot people—stereotypically homeless—most of whom are just in need [of] our donations,” remarked Kline. This figure can be achieved through the dedication of students at LM. It is becoming increasingly important that LM supports the surrounding community and makes sure that everyone within it is happy and satisfied. “Winterfest is good [for all],” remarked Josh Segal ’18. Winterfest is poised to help many of LM’s neighbors this holiday season.

Paris attacks hit home Kathryn Lockwood ’18 Lined along the walls of the LM world language hallway are #prayforparis signs. These signs, taped on classroom doors, send a strong message to those who stop to read them. The attacks in Paris on November 30 were, sadly, yet another incident of terrorism, taking 130 innocent lives. With Paris approximately 3,700 miles away, how could the attacks possibly affect someone here in Lower Merion Township? It is truly amazing how small this seemingly large world is.

All it took was a conversation in French class among a group of just 20 students to realize this. Madame Vargas began the conversation by asking, “Do you think these attacks affect you or anyone locally?” Perplexed by this question, I originally did not think it was possible that a terrorist attack 3,000 miles away could affect anyone here in the district, but I was quickly corrected. Within minutes I heard stories about friends and families of classmates just around the corner from the attacks. Madame Vargas also shared how a longterm French substitute teacher at Harriton had a close friend whose boyfriend passed away in the attacks at the Bataclan Theater, again exhibiting truly how small the world is. Vargas also shared “I have many friends in Paris, thankfully they were all okay, but I was still glued to the TV like the rest of the world, waiting for a clear story of what happened.”

The sign found around the language hallway at LM showing support for Paris following the terrorist acts of November 13.

Photos by Rebecca Tauber/Staff

NEWS

December 18, 2015

The Merionite

Vice Admiral Shelanski Cont. from “ENTER TO LEARN, GO FORTH TO SERVE” USS Truman aircraft carrier to his current position as Naval Inspector General. These serve as exemplars to our students of the great heights they themselves can achieve with a Lower Merion education, hard work and strong character. As an LM graduate of the class of 1974, Vice-Admiral Shelanski is a living embodiment of our school motto: Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve.”

Shelanski captivated a room of often stressed and distracted teenagers with his description of service in the Navy. He began the presentation with a PowerPoint filled with mottos embodied by the Navy, such as “Being there matters” and “When it comes to protecting America, our presence matters,” before launching into descriptions of his ship, the aircraft carrier USS Truman. With a size that rivals the Empire State Building, the USS Truman is based in Newport, Virginia and is a part of the Carrier Strike Group Ten. The 5,000 sailors and aviators serving on the USS Truman have participated in endeavors such as Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, the USS Truman has the amenities of a city with everything from a doctors’ office to a daily newspaper to two barbershops.

Shelanski then spoke about some of the Navy’s roles, which include providing assistance such as medical help to other nations in distress and protecting the national phone and cable lines located under the ocean. He further presented about life in the Navy, mentioning that the average age of the flight deck crew is 19. Shelanski also explained how serving in the Navy is no easy feat, having 16hour days and deployment lasting for seven to nine months—not to mention seasickness (although he made sure to clarify that he does not suffer from this malady).

Before taking questions from the audience, Shelanski shared an anecdote, which he thought summarized the morale of the US Navy. He explained how when the US Navy and Chinese Navy were at a

banquet together, he realized that although both the US and China are able to provide their Navies with the same state-of-the-art military supplies, the US is able to provide its Navy with something that China cannot: patriotic citizens looking to serve. Shelanski concluded that he believes that this distinction comes from US citizens having “freedoms which motivate them to protect that land,” while China’s citizens simply do not have those freedoms.

After his presentation, Shelanski answered questions from students in Henneberry’s AP US History classes. He addressed how his religious beliefs affected his service. Shelanski is Jewish and said when he first joined the Navy, he did not really think about his religion. However, he remembers a time when he was in training and his commanding officer needed someone to be the class treasurer. After coming up dry with economic majors, the officer then asked if there were any Jews. Shelanski stepped forward, and based on his religion alone, he became the class treasurer.

Another questioner asked about the lessons Shelanski learned from serving in the Navy. He believes that the Navy has helped him develop leadership and friendships and have allowed him to be “dedicated to something that has meaning.”

Shelanski ended the presentation with his last thoughts on the Navy and the military in general.

He admitted that he thought he would only join the Navy for one tour but has now served our country for 35 years. He believes that if someone wants to join the military, they should in order to challenge themselves. He believes that the Navy allows one to “grow in physical, in mental, and in leadership” skills.

While Veterans Day was not a day off for LM students, it was not an ordinary day either. Just as Shelanski entered LM “to learn,” students also entered the LGI on November 11 “to learn,” and it is possible that as a result of Shelanski’s presentation, they will emulate him and “go forth to serve” our country in the future.

Cont. from LM’S RATING DROP, page 1 believe that our local assessments are more valuable and more revealing than state standardized tests.”

Even though the SPP is controversial, this can be an indicator of areas where we do need improvement.

Marissa Golden, a recent school board member and parent, noted, “As a School Board member I think that the numbers are useful in a broad sense especially to see which groups are struggling because the results are broken down by factors like race and gender.” But, Ms. Golden also agreed with Hughes that these profiles are strictly based on growth, and with our numbers so high to begin with, it is hard to increase them. She also felt that these scores do not place us behind other high achieving schools like Conestoga or Harriton. LM continues to be ranked as one of the top schools in Pennsylvania as well as nationally. For example, Niche.com recently ranked LM as the fourth best high school in Pennsylvania.

In conclusion, the SPP shows LMHS areas for improvement, but cannot be the only factor considered when weighing the success of the school and student achievement.

Paris attacks Cont. from PARIS ATTACKS HIT HOME, page 2 France had been on high alert since early 2015 when 17 people were killed in the Charlie Hebdo shootings, which also had a hash tag campaign #JesuisCharlie.

LM also took a moment for France back in January last year—you can find hanging in the French rooms the Tout Est Pardonné article Charlie Hebdo wrote, pre-

“

..terrorism is a global epidemic that must be stopped.

”

News in Brief

Dena Behar ’16 Editor-in-Chief As many of you may already have experienced the effects this year, the School Board has decided to enforce pre-existing policies regarding field trips, which have been ignored in the past. According to these policies, there must be an eight-week leadtime to submit paperwork for most field trips. The paperwork is then reviewed by a field trip committee, which was formed at the end of last year and is located in the central office. The committee reviews the necessary resources, trip budget, and student costs. According to Don Walsh, LM activities and athletics director, the policies are in place to make sure teachers don’t go on excessive field trips. Additionally, the policies aim to cut out trips that are not educationally focused.

The policies have received mixed reviews–mainly negative–from students and teachers, especially those involved in clubs. It is now much harder to get approval for a field trip, even if the trip has been taken in the past. The eight-week notice also makes it difficult to plan field trips on the spur of the moment. Walsh does point out a pro of the policy, though: intensive planning gives teachers more assurance that an event will go smoothly.

School ranking drop

served even after the attacks.

These attacks on Paris were the deadliest attacks in the France since World War II and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombing in 2004. ISIS has declared they were responsible for the attacks that took place on November 30. The group’s motives are currently under speculation, but many see them as retaliation to Operation Chammal, the current military operation France is spearheading. Quickly following the attacks, the French fought back, launching its largest airstrike since beginning Operation Chammal.

While the attacks occurred across the globe, the #prayforparis signs remind us that the attacks do not just affect those killed and wounded; they affect everyone– both because many have friends and family in Paris, and because terrorism is a global epidemic that needs to be stopped.

Vice Admiral Shelanski’s former ship, the aircraft carrier the USS Truman.

Field trip policies

3

Senate votes on school funding Deepika Jonnalagadda ’17 News Editor

On Monday, November 23, the Pennsylvania Senate voted on a decision that could have upended the entire system of public school funding. The state legislature narrowly rejected a proposal to replace property taxes with increased sales and income taxes in a tie broken by Lieutenant GovernorMike Stack. Since Pennsylvania has one of the most inequitable systems of public school funding in the nation, as visible by the extreme wealth discrepancy within districts just across City Line Avenue, this topic occupied a major portion of the legislation’s extended budget deliberations. The disparity is a result of property taxes being used to fund public education—wealthier neighborhoods have wealthier schools, and poorer neighborhoods have poorer schools.

The proposed measure is to fund districts by substituting property taxes with increased income

and sales taxes, a radical approach to the issue of school funding. To account for the loss of revenue from property tax, the state would have to increase sales tax by 1.25 percent (from 6 to 7.25 percent) and income tax by 1.95 percent (from 3 to 4.95 percent), although it isn’t guaranteed that this change would have been a sufficient compensation. Nevertheless, this proposal would have led Pennsylvania to have one of the highest sales taxes in the nation, only second to California, which tops the list with a whopping sales tax of 7.5 percent. Jeffrey Cahill, a US Government and Psychology teacher, however, notes the importance of acknowledging the “fluctuation of taxes so whether you pay sales tax or property tax, the overall impact wouldn’t be too significant.” Regardless, the debate over inequitable public school funding will continue to be prevalent in the future– both within the state and on a national level.

4

News

December 18, 2015

The Merionite

Updates from the October issue Solution to contract talks

Outcome of school board elections Bradley Kaplan ’17 On November 3, the citizens of Lower Merion cast their ballots to decide which of the eight candidates would take five open spots on LMSD’s School Board. The School Board is made up of nine members who are elected in odd numbered years to serve four-year terms. The board members set policies that determine much about the K-12 public education system in LMSD. The five open spots this year were taken by Virginia Pollard, Diane DiBonaventuro, Subha Robinson, Dr. Robin Vann Lynch, and David Federman. Federman is the only new board member, as the rest receieved an additional term.

All who were elected are Democrats; the four Republican candidates were not elected. Everyone who was elected has a level of education at a Bachelor’s degree or higher, along with many other qualifications such as educational job experiences. The elected board members were sworn in December 7, with Vann Lynch and Dr. Melissa Gilbert unanimously elected as President and Vice President, respectively. These experienced members of the Board will hopefully bring positive change to the district during their terms.

Sydney Orloff ’17 After months of negotiations, the Lower Merion Board of School Directors and the Lower Merion Education Association (LMEA) approved a new two–year contract for the LMSD staff on Monday, November 16. The contract is retroactive from July 1 of this year, meaning that salaries and other benefits will be adjusted in the present. It will be effective until June 30, 2017.

The major debate between the two sides over healthcare has finally come to an end. During contract deliberations, the School Board and the LMEA were discussing the implications of the Affordable Care Cadillac Tax, a government excise tax on expensive healthcare plans. This caused a major debate between cutting into the budget versus changing the healthcare plan to a less expensive one, which the LMEA did not want. In the new contract, both parties have agreed to an introduction of a medical deductible. Consequently, according to President of the LMEA Chris Santa Maria, “Employees will increase their payment for their medical benefits by two tenths of a percent of their salary in each year of the contract.” An additional Blue Cross medical plan was also added to the LMSD platform. This new healthcare platform will reduce overall plan costs

while continuing to provide quality health care to all individuals covered in the new contract.

In addition, the new contract will minimize the growth of maximum salary levels while also limiting the increases in the salary levels to less than 0.5 percent each year. Santa Maria states, “ The School Board understands that the accolades earned by LMSD for its schools is the result of recruiting and keeping the very best professionals in the state. The results we get as a district come from these dedicated employees going above and beyond what their contract requires of them.” The new contract also includes a shift in how the staff is held accountable for professional development hours, making it easier for them to meet their requirements. Furthermore, the contract has extended the number of professional workdays to 190 days, enabling staff to use the additional days for professional development. It has raised salaries for employees while also expanding the workdays. Additionally, the contract has made it easier for teachers to take vacation time or a sickleave.

Overall, the extensive dialogue prior to the updated contract has paid off, as many members of the LMEA consider it to be a success.

National Society of Black Engineers Cont. from BLACK ENGINEERS CONVENE, page 1 LM students Kailyn Saunders ’16, Khayla Saunders ’17, Nychelle Fields ’18, Kaleb Karr ’18, Erika Howard ’18, and Davon Collins ’19 attended the annual NSBE conference. Khayla Saunders said about the event, “I really did have a lot of fun traveling to Maryland with my team and meeting even more people.

It always amazes me to see how big the organization is and how many other students are involved.”

At the conference, there were over twenty leadership, technology, and professional workshops. One workshop, Leading Your Team, was facilitated by an army engineer. He gave students various scenarios that he had experienced while being deployed, and the students had to satisfy all parties involved. This challenging task taught them to compromise, listen to others, and utilize all of the team members’ strengths instead of allowing just one person to take over.

There were many other workshops at the conference, such as the Women’s Executive Round Table Panel Discussion, the Technical Certification Training, and the Technology Expo. Howard stated, “My favorite workshop would have to be the bioengineering one. So much information was packed into the short half hour, but I still couldn’t get enough!”

In addition to programs, careers, and leadership, the conference also held many fun events. They included but were not limited to a Lego competition, a VEX Robotics competition, a Boeing flight competition, gospel singing, stand-up comedy, and gaming: Khayla Saunders loved the VEX Robotics competition, saying, “We are working on building some robots ourselves, and seeing some that people made was really inspiring and gave us a lot of great ideas.

I’m really excited to start building.”

From these fun workshops and competitions, students made new friends, such as Khayla Saunders who made a lot of friends from Maryland and DC. “Most of them were really into coding.

They were talking to us for literally a few hours about coding languages and showing us all these new things. I don’t really know much about coding, so I just pretended to understand.”

Mentoring is a huge aspect of this conference.

Influential speakers came to talk about their professional careers at the convention. Senior executives led many small group mentoring sessions. Many workshops were led by engineers and leaders and focused on students’ questions about finding and developing a successful career. When Howard first arrived, she met a mentor named Andrew. “Andrew told me the reason of him becoming an engineer and why he continues to contribute to NSBE. It was really inspiring.”

The most important aspect of this conference is providing the guidance and means necessary for students to succeed in professional careers. In one portion of the conference, companies interactively showcase their latest projects for the purpose of educating the NSBE members and marketing their companies as exciting places to work. Companies set up learning stations, workshops, and activities to simulate the experience of being an engineer at their company. Companies in various fields of engineering and applied science use this conference as a time to persuade NSBE members to apply to intern (or maybe even work) for them. This career fair aims to help students understand the day-to-day work for an engineer at each company and innovate research ideas. Howard describes the career fair as “an active hive. Each person was engaged with the assorted with the various booths such as Google, Facebook, and famous colleges devoted to engineering. I loved it.”

The theme for this year’s conference was “Transforming Your Path to Professional Success.”

Its main goal was to pinpoint what the NSBE students need to achieve their career goals and provide the tools to support their success. Howard says, “I met my soulmate in the army line waiting for dog tags all because of a comment on my dress and after that we just clicked. I never met someone whose interests aligned so much with mine; I know I have made a lifetime friend.” Overall, the convention was a success in bringing together young black students with interests in engineering and applied sciences.

LM and Harriton students displayed their engineering skills at the annual convention.

Photo courtesy of Nyanthen Bantoe

Advertisements The Merionite

December 18, 2015

5

6

December 18, 2015

Opinions The Merionite

The Merionite

The official newspaper of Lower Merion High School since 1929 www.themerionite.org Columbia Scholastic Press Assocation Silver Crown 2013 Editors-in-Chief Dena Behar ’16 Olivia Johnston ’16 News Editors Simone Burde ’17 Deepika Jonnalagadda ’17 Rebecca Tauber ’16 Op-Ed Editors Adrian N. Corbey ’16 Todd S. Gilman ’16 Nina McKay ’17 Features Editors Isabella Dumitrescu ’17 Leslie Gladstone ’16 Alexandra Hummel ’17 Arts and Entertainment Editors Jon Adams ’16 Sophia Salganicoff ’16 Margo Urheim ’16 Sports Editors Kelly Harrigan ’17 William Rieke ’16 Daniel Wilson ’16 Copy Editors Dora Nathans ’18 Grant Wei ’16 Graphics Editors Sasha Brooks ’18 Samuel Gamberg ’17 Web Editor Jacob M. Noel ’16 Business Manager Justin A. Guo ’16 Advisor Charles Henneberry Business Advisor Sean P. Flynn, Esq. The editors believe that all facts presented in the newspaper to be accurate.

The paper acknowledges that mistakes are possible and welcomes questions as to accuracy. Inquiries regarding accuracy should be directed to the editors of the paper. Editors can be contacted via e-mail at merionite@gmail. com or in Room 200A. To represent all viewpoints in the school community, The Merionite welcomes all letters to the editor. Letters can be sent via e-mail to merionite.opinions@gmail. com or dropped off outside the Merionite office. The Merionite reserves the right to edit letters to the editor for length or clarity. All unattributed images are courtesy of WikiCommons.

Editorial: off-campus privilege Lunch is a time of envy: lusting over a delectable Nutella sandwich your friend’s mom packed her while internally crying over the chocolate chip cookies your mother forgot to pack. And worst of all, watching the Snapchat stories of your friends at other public high schools, like Radnor, leaving campus during lunch hour in search of cuisine not found in the average cafeteria. Don’t get us wrong—LM’s cafeteria goes above and beyond most students’ expectations of what a public school can offer. The Panini press is delightful, and the omelets are on par with those many of us can get at home.

This issue is bigger than simply the injustice of being denied Chipotle and Panera at lunchtime.

Mutual respect is something that builds a community within a school. Now, that’s not to say that the school doesn’t respect its students. The introduction of Lunch and Learn has brought freedom rarely experienced by past members of Aces Nation. But all of this is still experienced within a confined and tightly regulated environment. At the beginning of the year, students weren’t even allowed to enter and leave the cafeteria through multiple doors, which felt demeaning and frustrating to students of all ages.

The ban on students leaving campus was understandable during the previous lunch schedule; 25 minutes plus a five-minute grace period barely left sufficient time to drive over to Suburban

Square and pick up a to-go order without missing the start of the next set. The new Lunch and Learn schedule, however, gives students approximately an hour, free time which is more than enough time to head over to Snap Custom Pizza or Ruby’s and grab a bite. Furthermore, many upperclassmen have a free before or after Lunch and Learn— or both, in some cases—giving them two or three hours free in the middle of the day. The editors of this paper believe it’s more than acceptable to give upperclassmen, especially seniors who can drive, off-campus privileges, with parental permission, when it comes to lunchtime. Regular rules would still apply—students with poor grades would be barred

“The editors of this paper believe it’s more than acceptable to give upperclassmen… off-campus privileges.” from leaving, and students coming back would still have to enter through designated entrances, like the front office or the gymnasium entrance.

The Merionite urges the school to try giving upperclassmen off-campus privileges. Such a decision would show the mutual respect between students and administration for which this district is renowned.

Unsigned editorial on this page reflects the general opinion of staff editors, not the views of individuals.

Letter-to-the-editor: the starving kid 10,000 miles away

by James Cato ’16 and Zack Bookbinder ’16 Letter-to-the-Editor in response to “The Starving Kid Ten Miles Away” by Griffin Kao ’16, in the October issue of The Merionite. The authors, Cato and Bookbinder, are both officers of buildOn. Most LM students know a few things about buildOn treks. You probably know that “trekkies” go to a third-world country to construct a school. Like Griffin Kao ’16, author of “The Starving Kid Ten Miles Away,” you too may harbor a suspicion that external “résumé padding” motives cause trekkies to participate. We were aware of the self-benefits of trek before we applied, and we won’t tell you we never considered them (as with almost any activity we do at LM, from sports to The Merionite). But this is not nearly the whole story. Before trek, the folks we planned to help were abstractions while we went about our daily business in LM, and this isn’t uncommon for service. Projects such as food drives and fundraisers leave the people on the receiving end nameless and unknown.

Only when we stumbled off our tumultuous offroad truck and met our host families, laughing and staring and poking fun at us for fearing a (terrifying) tarantula, did the abstract idea of the villagers crystallize into multiple distinctive personalities and names. Antonio was a stoic father—stern, but playful with his infant daughter Jessica, and not averse to offering a thumbs up and a smile if we happened to see him at the worksite. Fedelia was an easy-going and keen young mother who noticed everything, always plopping heaping plates of rice and beans in

“These are real people. The word ‘poor’ changed as we slept on cots in homes with dirt floors and listened to a baby coughing late in the night without hope of medicine.” front of us at every meal with a grin. The kids in the village, laughing and chasing us with large flying insects clamped between their fingers—Anna, Thomas, Junior, and so many more smiling, observing, or giggling children—easily found a place in our hearts as well. Even the police officers, our protectors, played a

goofily maladroit game of Frisbee with us, hooting at themselves for their clumsy performance. All of them struggle to put food on the table.

These are real people. The word “poor” changed as we slept on cots in homes with dirt floors and listened to a baby coughing late in the night without hope of medicine. Kao’s statement that trek is “morally and economically inexcusable” jarred us. Most of these men and women cannot read—is helping them “inexcusable?” Although Kao is correct that our efforts don’t benefit our local community directly, the dollars work hard in third-world countries. We provide the potential for future prosperity for people trapped in a vicious cycle. We promote acceptance and create warm intercultural bonds. And when trekkies return home, we bring a new perspective to our community. The school and relationships we build are investments that last for generations—the school doesn’t fade, the locals don’t forget their American friends.

As far as the economy goes, it’s not like our “homogeneously wealthy” community can’t afford to do both community service and community outreach—and LM buildOn does both, as was stated in the article.

These conditions cannot be likened to Philadelphia’s less advantaged. Almost half a million Philadelphia residents receive assistance through soup kitchens and food stamps, while the starving children of developing nations are forgotten in the midst of corrupt and misappropriated support. It becomes easy to say that we are overlooking the “starving kid ten miles away” if we lose touch with the fact that our government spends over a trillion dollars on over eighty welfare programs to support this country’s impoverished residents. Now that we can bring to mind the kitchen without running water, equipped with only four plates, two spoons and two cups, we get it.

Helping these great people in any way we can is the best decision we’ve ever made. Only when a Philadelphia public school becomes a one-room awning with a hole-ridden corrugated steel roof, will we feel guilty about our overseas efforts.

Opinions

December 18, 2015

7

The Merionite

Seeing is deceiving

Dora Nathans ’18 “Should I post this picture on Instagram?”

“Wait, let’s take a selfie so I can put it in my Snapchat Story.”

“Should I follow her back?”

“What time should I post this if I want to get a lot of likes?”

I often hear these statements (or variations of them) from my peers as well as coming from my own mouth.

In an age when almost everybody we know uses at least one of the many social media platforms, it’s easy to get sucked in and create online personas that are happier, more social versions of ourselves.

High school has long been known for its demanding workload and even more for its social pressure. What makes the current millennial generation’s high school experience stressful in a way it has never been before, though, is the omnipresence of social media.

I recognize that in some ways, there are positive aspects of social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. They can be used as platforms for communication or sharing. Scrolling through one’s newsfeed can be an instant solution to temporary boredom.

What isn’t typically emphasized, though, is how social media platforms can and often do have harmful effects on our self-esteem. We get stuck comparing the posts of our social media “friends” to the realities of our lives, which can be a dangerous thing to do.

With a majority of people posting only the happy, impressive events of their lives, it’s hard not to feel like you’re scrolling through a feed of perfect peo-

ple living perfect lives.

Studies at the University of Houston have shown that the more people go on Facebook, the more depressed they feel. These findings shouldn’t come as a surprise though; it’s depressing to compare the highlight reels of others’ lives to the most depressing moments of our own.

One LM student told me about a party she went to in which she felt the real effects of social media deception. “[The party] was pretty boring and there wasn’t much going on. This was probably due to the fact that instead of

doesn’t measure up to those of the people at the party. Furthermore, her experience—which is consistent with what I have experienced at many gatherings—shows the burden many of us feel to get a good photo that we can post in order to show our followers that our social life is thriving. Most people find themselves on both sides: posting misleading photos and feeling inadequate compared to what they see online.

Clearly, there is a desire, especially among teenagers, for a forum in which they can express who they actually are, not who they appear to be on

Graphic by Julia Rosen ’18

socializing and enjoying themselves, the majority of the people at the party were focused on taking pictures.” The really alarming fact, though, is that when she later checked her Instagram feed, it was “full of pictures of people from the party, looking like they were having the time of their lives. As someone who was there first-hand, I know that the party was not as great as everyone made it out to be on their Instagram accounts.”

For anybody who wasn’t actually at that party, it would appear to be a really fun event, possibly leading one to feel as though one’s own social life

their Instagram accounts. This forum, nicknamed a “finsta”, or fake-instagram, is essentially many people’s way of showing their closer friends (whom they believe they can trust) a more accurate portrayal of their lives. I follow several friends’ finstas, and I would say that those accounts are far more accurate portrayals than their regular Instagram accounts.

And as if what we post d0esn’t worry us enough, many people also put a lot of thought into how many “likes” they receive on a photo. In essence, it’s a new definition of being liked. And it’s a dangerous definition considering how

easily our confidence can be deflated.

I have even been asked directly to like a friend’s post. To put so much stock in this number and to imagine that it reflects how popular we are is dangerous, and in turn can easily evoke insecurity.

This problem is not restricted to high school. On a larger scale, an 18 year-old Australian model, Essena Oneill, who was famous on Instagram for her beauty, has since come out and revealed the truth behind all her posts.

She has gone through each of her photos and edited the captions, revealing things such as, “[I] was paid $400 to post [a picture in] this dress” and “[I] took over 100 [pictures] in similar poses trying to make my stomach look good. Would have hardly eaten that day.” Before her followers got to see the honest captions, her life appeared to be practically perfect when it was far from it. Social media would be very different if we all used more truthful captions, such as “This party was really boring, but I like my outfit, so I spent about twenty minutes trying to get a cute photo of myself. Please like it.” The deception behind her account was basically a more extreme version of what goes on in high school.

Social media has distorted how we conduct relationships, how we display ourselves, and how we view others. At the rate things are going, I can only assume that more social media apps will emerge and become popular. I am not writing this article to suggest that we all immediately delete our accounts. I truly believe that most of the problems associated with social media can be fixed through awareness. By grasping that people’s accounts aren’t unedited representations, but rather what they want people to see and think about their lives, we can reduce our own feelings of insecurity. And based on my personal experience, I believe that social gatherings are often enjoyed more when the focus isn’t on taking a ton of pictures and making the event look amazing through the lens of our cell phones. To attempt to wipe out social media wholly would be a near-impossible feat. But to change the way we use and interpret social media is both achievable and in all of our best interests.

Guns out of control

Abby Ritterband ’16 Since I began writing this in October, I have had to amend my opening paragraph twice in order to accommodate the most recent mass shootings. As I write this version in December, I am forced to open with the murder of 14 people in San Bernardino at a center for people with developmental disabilities. I can only pray that by the time this is printed, I will not be out of date.

There have been 45 school shootings so far in 2015, and nearly 1000 mass shootings since President Obama took office. In 2012, there

were more Americans killed by guns per capita than there were murders per capita in Australia and the UK put together. Apparently, guns kill people.

“People kill people” may be one of the least sophisticated answers to the gun control question. Nobody thinks guns are animate objects that aim and fire on their own accord.

Gun control advocates see guns as unnecessary tools that allow people to carry out deadly actions. Taking away these deadly weapons proactively will prevent deaths. If we cannot stop people from desiring to kill, which would be impossible, then we must control and limit their means of killing.

A gun in the hands of a killer may satisfy that person’s Second Amendment rights, but it strips his victim of his right to live. Which is more important? What about those who argue that we can fight guns with more guns? Some propose arming school teachers, bringing AK-47s to the mall, and teaching children how

to gun down the strange intruder if they are home alone. Apparently, some people want to live in a world where these scenarios are the realities.

But is this really feasible? Do we really have the resources to arm and properly train every single teacher in the country? What happens if that teacher refuses to bear arms on religious or moral grounds? How safe would you feel shopping with assault rifles nearby? And don’t guns in the home lead to many more tragedies than successful examples of self-defense? These options are not viable.

Legitimacy should not be lent to pro-gun advocates, like Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who advocates for a strict interpretation to the Second Amendment.

During an episode of Fox & Friends, Carson proposed a solution to mass shootings: simply organize “everybody” and “tackle” the shooter.

Certain guns that Carson believes every American has a right to possess can take down many people in

the time it takes for “everybody” to “tackle” the shooter. Most shooting victims are not highly trained neurosurgeons like Carson, and may not, therefore, respond to crises in such a composed manner. Even in Carson’s remedy to a shooting situation, somebody still gets shot!

I am not foolish enough to think I know the panacea for gun violence.

But I know that there is no hope of fixing the issue so long as conservatives in Congress refuse to entertain the idea of real reform, while the National Rifle Association continues savagely to restrict Republicans from voicing any anti-gun opinions.

Our American society needs to push towards a community in which violence is condemned, not bemoaned.

The more common guns are, the more people will be gunned down.

This issue is not like welfare or civil rights; nobody is sufficiently isolated from facing the consequences of inaction. Surely, that should be enough of an incentive for compromise.

8

December 18, 2015

Opinions The Merionite

A flawed solution to a flawed system

Rebecca Tauber ’16 News Editor A common statistic states that the average person should get eight hours of sleep, while teenagers should get even more than that. On average, I probably get six and a half hours of sleep a night, and I do not know many LM students who could say they get they get the suggested amount of sleep either. However, while I live with permanent bags under my eyes, I oppose the start time petition.

In short, I do not think that starting school later will result in anything but students staying up later. We would wake up later, but we would also start school later, get out later, start after school activities later, finish those activities later, get home later, start our homework later, finish our homework later, and go to bed later. All a delayed start time would do is shift our waking time up an hour or two. School would still be the same length, after school activities would still run for the same amount of time, and we would still be assigned the same amount of homework. There are only so many hours in the day, thus we would still get the same amount of sleep.

Even if students did manage to get more sleep with the delayed start time, the change would have a detrimental effect on sports. Many of the possible solutions to the potential problems a delayed start time would bring are

Graphic by Todd Gilman/STAFF

unrealistic and costly. For example, if time before school were used for practices, there would be no point in starting school later. Students would be getting up at the same time they normally would (or even earlier) to attend practice.

Another problem is that teams that continued to practice after school would practice later due to a delayed start time, and would, therefore, have to practice in the dark upon the start of daylight savings. While installing lights on our fields and busing teams to other locations until the lights are installed could solve this problem, it is unfeasible. The district has been struggling with this issue for so long. Why would we suddenly be able to obtain lights now? Even if we could put up lights on all our fields, buying and installing the lights as well as busing students in the meantime would cost tens of thousands of dollars. Additionally, lights would not solve the problem of darkness for sports such as crew and cross-country (unless we plan on installing lights along the four mile stretch of the river on which the crew team rows).

Even if sports practices found a way around these issues, a delayed start time would present problems to sports games as well. While in a perfect world we could delay our start time in sync with other schools, it has proven to be difficult enough to get our own school district to agree to the petition; getting every district in the Central League to switch is simply unfeasible. In that case, athletes would have to leave school earlier and miss more class than they already do in order to attend games.

Ideally, there would be a way to increase students’ sleep without negatively impacting sports. However, I cannot see an outcome that does not involve shortening the school day, which is unrealistic, or decreasing students’ workload, which is a whole different conversation. At this impasse, I do not claim to have the answer. However, while I commend those who are trying to solve this problem and bring attention to the issue, I think that the proposed solution will only bring more problems than the current situation already does.

Free speech at home and abroad

Michael Cheng ’18 Born in 1931, my grandmother would always hold a quite unfortunate distinction. She was one of the few people old enough to understand and be affected by the events of World War II, but young enough to live through the entire regime of the Chinese Communist Party and be subjugated to a life’s worth of propaganda.

There was one day with her that I will never forget—the day she started chanting Party propaganda. “Xi Jinping [the President of China] is great,” she chanted. And why was he great? “Because the Party is great!” And why was the Party great? “Because they made China great!” And why did they make China great? “Because Xi Jinping is great!”

A circular argument, but propaganda nonetheless.

Still, subjugated to over 65 years of lies, I can hardly blame her. She got all her news from only one source—the government—because all other news sources were banned for most of her lifetime. By blindly reading, listening, and following everything the government told her, with no potential for dissent, it’s only natural that she would believe everything she was told.

The tale of my grandmother raises a rather tricky question: how much freedom of speech is enough? Recently, many students have started demanding both protection from racial hostility and a more inclusive campus environment. These students have also launched movements to remove racist figures, such as John C. Calhoun and Woodrow Wilson, from their campuses and residential dormitories.

Logically, their argument makes perfect sense—students of color feel uncomfortable living in dorms and studying in colleges adorned with racist figures, and keeping racist figures on campus undermines many colleges’ goals of being inclusive campuses.

Others, however, have argued that protecting students from offensive speech undermines our constitutional right to freedom of speech. They argue that, in removing these undoubtedly racist figures from campus, we undercut our heritage and practice historical revisionism. Some on the right have even decried efforts to be shielded from offensive speech as an example of overreaching political correctness.

There are serious merits to both arguments. It is unreasonable to expect students of color to live in a dormitory adorned with racist figures and not to be the slightest bit offended by it. Subjugating students of color to offensive statues and campus landmarks is not freedom of speech.

However, by removing these racist figures from campus, we run the danger of practicing a variation of historical revisionism that consists of removing them from history entirely.

Just as liberals have called out history textbooks in states like Texas that force-feed American “exceptionalism” while downplaying the historical contributions of minorities, removing racist figures from campuses and other arenas stifles future discussion on their historical legacy and prevents any recognition of their merits. While Woodrow Wilson was clearly an avowed racist (even for his time) who re-segregated the federal government and disenfranchised racial minorities, he was also a two-term U.S. president who laid the foundation for the modern United Nations.

By demanding the removal of racist historical figures from our history, we effectively stifle future analysis of their good and bad deeds and prevent discussion, positive or negative, on the merits of their actions. Hundreds of years from now, future generations of Americans may never learn about Woodrow Wilson or the legacy of slavery and segregation. Future Americans may never see how Woodrow Wilson was morally wrong in re-segregating the federal government or how slavery and segregation were completely unethical practices that violated fundamental human rights. By removing figures or events in our history that we do not like, we enable future generations to repeat the horrible mistakes of the past. The past is the past, and while we cannot change it, we can study it and use it to change what we do now and in the future.

With the potential for historical revisionism in mind, we must remember the plight of my grandmother and the many others like her. With no competing interpretations of history, she would ultimately be bound to parrot the latest talking points of her nation’s authoritarian ruling party.

One of the greatest things about the U.S. is that we have the freedom to criticize our own government; to be exposed to diverse, independently-funded media; and to say whatever you wish to say without suffering government-sanctioned repercussions.

If we truly live in a free society, we should be able to tolerate divergent opinions and accept speech that we do not agree with. We should have the freedom to read about racist figures and discuss how they were racist and why we should not repeat their dirty deeds today. We should not live in an authoritarian society that only tells history from one perspective and ignores all other interpretations, like the one my grandmother was subjected to. In a hundred years, history textbooks should not erase racist figures or simply denote that they were racists. Rather, it is my hope that our future history textbooks will both acknowledge and analyze racism.

Still, students of color should not be forced to live next to unapologetically racist figures. Just as it is important to preserve and protect our right to freedom of speech in a free society, it is also important to give students the right to live and work in a place that is free of discriminatory tones.

Forcing students of color to live in dormitories named after racist figures and adorned with offensive statues is completely unacceptable. Therefore, I fully support the right of students to study without the specter of racist figures on campus, but we should preserve the history of those figures in our history textbooks so future societies can learn from our past mistakes.

It is paramount that we do not condone hate speech in the name of freedom of speech. Students of color face hurdles ranging from microaggressions to full-out, explicit discrimination each and every day, and discrimination is still hurtful and still undermines our shared American ideals of freedom and opportunity for all. As our nation’s courts have already ruled in cases like Craig vs. Masterpiece Cakeshop, discrimination is not exercising one’s right to freedom of speech. Discrimination is discrimination.

In conclusion, we should support students in their efforts to remove offensive figures from their campuses, but we should make sure that we do not go too far by removing them completely from history, because it is imperative that we learn from past mistakes and vow not to repeat them. Discrimination is discrimination, but history is history.

9

December 18, 2015

Features The Merionite

Brian Ramsey: aters Open W Man On A Grant Wei ’16 Copy Editor

It was December 1, 2013. Senior Brian Ramsey’s quest to circumnavigate the Earth began in a simple port in North Carolina. Spending his last night in the States on his boat, Brian woke up enveloped in his own sweat. His bubbling anxiety only excited his overzealous heart. Born and raised in Lower Merion Township, this journey would be Brian’s first significant time away from home. In the distance, a radiant, blood-orange sun scattered its light over the serene sea landscape, bringing him warmth and comfort. Brian knew he wanted to do this. This was what he was born to do—literally. His parents were determined to give Brian and his siblings the same unique experiences they had shared as children. After all, his father met his mother on a boat.

But Brian did not venture on this expedition alone. Aside from the 41 other ships part of World ARC, the group with which he set sail, he had the loving company of his parents, his sister Lucy Ramsey ’19, and his brother Eric Ramsey ’12. Although they each spent their nights in different bedrooms, the family spent the majority of their days in one community living room. Understandably, such proximity sometimes aggravates even the tiniest issues. Many of us would probably get sick of our families, especially on an 18-month voyage. The Ramsey family was no exception.

They argued. They boiled over. But after each incident, their family bonds only strengthened, for they experienced a shared adversity at sea.

But throughout his journey, only in very brief pockets of time did he have access to the Internet (and thus his friends).

Aside from traversing the sea, Brian also explored the local islands and immersed himself in local cultures. Take this excerpt from a letter to his family back home:

“Morning time! We gave [the Vanuatu community] things like soccer cleats, t-shirts, swimsuits, camp chairs, shoes, flip flops, reading glasses, pens, pencils, paper, children’s books for their new school, and many other things that people brought with their boat for this purpose or brought on their boat and have found no purpose yet. These villagers are very impoverished, but unlike people in the ghettos and slums all around the world, they are HAPPY. They want education for their kids, and the last world arc donated a roof to their school house...”

-The Letters of Brian Ramsey (unpublished): June 10, 2014

Brian’s adjustment back into high school life has been quite smooth according to his friends.

Dean Hughart ’16, a friend of Brian’s since elementary school, describes the first moments back with his friend. “I have a beautiful relationship with Brian. On the first day of his return, we greeted each other with a prolonged embrace, one that I had missed for the last two years.” He subtly adds, “I would also like to mention that we had a record Snapchat flames streak of six days as he was settling into his apartment.” Alden Hallak ’16 corroborates this claim, describing their current relationship as, “We’re tight yo.”

Despite not attending formal school or extracurriculars in the past year, Brian has made sure to not miss out on LM’s activities upon his return.

He has since engaged himself in winter track and Bethel’s tutoring program and plans to play lacrosse in the spring. His travels have not hindered his plans for a future education either. He has adequately prepared for standardized examinations such as the SAT and took self-taught academic classes while at sea. He is fully prepared to go on with his life, and has since applied to the Naval Academy.

Brian does not yet have any major future plans involving sailing, but he has stated interest in sailing the Mediterranean with some other sailors he met on the journey. Upon completing his circumnavigation, the World ARC organization gave him four certificates: one for each ocean crossed and

Brian jokes with villagers in Vanuatu after a ceremony thanking Brian and his family for helping with the village school.

Brian’s family receiving a Hindu blessing from a local in Bali, Indonesia before crossing the Indian Ocean.

Life on a boat may seem all fun and games, but even Brian admits that sometimes the feelings of boredom overwhelmed him. Take the time when Brian crossed the Pacific Ocean in 22 days. He exiled himself from life as he knew it. For 22 days.

Imagine that: 22 days without any sort of outside interference. When asked how he preoccupied himself during the long journeys at sea, he replied, “eat, study, sleep.” According to his family and friends, he has slept up to 16 hours a day. When Brian traveled along the coastlines and lived in the local isles, he had access to civilization. More importantly, he saw something that was...not ocean.

Here’s a reasonably quick synopsis of Brian’s odyssey: he first headed south to the British Virgin Islands and Panama, where he crossed the Panama Canal to the Galapagos Islands. Next, he travelled across the Pacific Ocean, a journey which took 22 days to complete. Next, he traveled to Polynesia: to Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu. He then went to Australia, Indonesia, and Brazil. Finally, he returned to North Carolina, thus completing his circumnavigation, 18 months after he departed.

Upon seeing him return to school, I thought Brian missed a vital part of the “the high school experience.” After all, he missed out on the infamous junior year. But upon interviewing him, I realized Brian has experienced more than we could ever learn in school. While we were staying up until 1 a.m. trying to memorize how many molecules of ATP photosynthesis yields, he was embracing life.

He was learning about the world as it really was, as opposed to from a textbook. He was making a difference by helping others achieve education.

But above all, he was experiencing, and no amount of essays or lab reports can allow you to have the same experiences he had.

The family sailed on a 38-foot Catamaran named Folie Á Deux.

one for sailing “full circle”. Out of the 41 ships he set sail with, only 18 completed circumnavigation.

His sister, Lucy, was the youngest person in the fleet to complete it. During the trip, Brian picked up deep-sea fishing, starting from scratch and eventually winning the “Top Fisherman” award winner in the World ARC rally. He has partied with the locals of Polynesia, dancing around a bonfire, eating exotic fruits. He has truly seen the world.

When finally asked about what he learned from such a life-changing experience, he could only reply, “There is no place like home.”

Photos courtesy of Brian Ramsey

10

Special Feature The Merionite

December 18, 2015

Photo courtesy of Business Insider Graphic Courtesy of Sam Gamberg/Staff

SPEAK

Hurtful spaces

by JUSTIN GUO ’16 Business Editor

F

rom elementary to high school, those around us have tried to maintain for us a high level of emotional security. As children and adolescents, we are all still developing; our mind still flexibly shifts and molds to what surrounds us. We need a safe space to learn, where we can develop to our fullest potential, unhindered by the ugliness of our society. But this safe space should only exist from elementary through high school. We cannot get too used to it.

When it comes to college and beyond, safe spaces hurt. While it is one issue to be physically threatened (which is illegal), it is different to feel offended. Embrace offensive speech, and use the power of dialogue to voice your opinion. The best you can do to change people is to try to convince them they are wrong. But you cannot censor them.

When we censor, we cower, we create a sense of insecurity, we reflect an unwillingness to argue. This is exactly what the offenders want—for us to be hurt, for us to hide.

Consider the purpose of college. Regardless of whether you see college merely as a stepping stone to a career or as a place of

self-discovery, the college experience prepares us for life. We become independent. If we place too much emphasis on safe spaces, we detract from this formative college experience. Even at schools such as Mizzou, where offensive problems such as racism indeed went largely unaddressed, the designation of safe spaces are likewise unable to address the root of injustice. Safe spaces simply allow administration to sweep a problem under the rug in an attempt to mute both offenders and protesters. Students can only fix injustice through open dialogue, not censorship.

And when students at Yale lash out against “appropriative” Halloween costumes, we see a situation in which the idea of safe spaces goes too far. Do we truly move society forward when we say that minorities need largely white and privileged student leadership to protect them from offensive ideas? As journalist Brendan O’Neill put it in a public debate over the “right to be offended” at Oxford University, “That doesn’t sound progressive to me; that sounds neocolonialist”.

The college experience allows us to think, to consider new ideas, to solidify our place in society. We can only accomplish this when all ideas are allowed to flow, no matter how disagreeable or offensive. In fact, we should

want to be offended. Being introduced to every nasty and terrible and stupid opinion that exists forces us to articulate why we feel how we feel, making our own opinions more powerful and better thought out. And only when we have thoroughly understood both offenders’ and our own opinions, can we make an impact on others. Injustice is best combated through understanding and dialogue.

Let’s also not forget that every advance in society started out offensive to a dominant party. There will be times when offensive ideas have merit. From Socrates’ questioning of Athenian government to the modern push for gay rights, someone has always been deeply offended. This is not to say that racist comments will move society forward, but when we censor, truly valuable ideas that are, at first, offensive to people will never come through. Discouraging offensive speech only keeps society from moving forward.

Dialogue is the most powerful practice in existence. Although the promotion of safe spaces is well intentioned, we have to realize that they are dangerous. Relying on the subjective nature of “offense” puts any challenging idea at risk of censorship. Safe spaces only create a sense of complacent sheltered-ness.

STUDEN SAFE SP

“If schools are required t protect us from emotiona harm, then they might a well just live the rest of our lives for us.”

- Allie McGowan ’16

“Feeling on edge and fee ing like you don’t have a safe place to express wha you feel could potentiall ruin your entire high school experience, as it probably already has fo many.”

- Alimah Granieri ’19

“Allowing people to con tinue a legacy of oppressi views enforces the falseho of white supremacy.”

- Rani Barlas ’16

Do you believe that an academic institution has the responsibility to ensure the emotional safety of its students?

IS THERE A

Consensus?

THE MERIONITE SURVEYED LM STUDENTS AND STAFF TO SEE HOW THE SCHOOL FEELS ABOUT SAFE SPACES.

81.8% Yes 18.2% No

Minority Responses

73.3% Yes 26.7% No

Non-minority Responses

December 18, 2015

R

ecently, controversy has broken out at colleges across the country such as University of Missouri, Yale, and Ithaca College. The source of the conflict stems from a debate over an assurance of

emotional safety, and whether or not it is a school’s responsibility to do so.

Many of the student protestors

are demanding that their schools create a “safe space” where they believe they can work best. This can mean not tolerating opposing, and sometimes offensive, viewpoints. In academic institutions, a “safe space” is a space where rules guard an individual’s self-respect and dignity, and where individuals are encouraged to respect one another.

At Missouri, controversy arose after one student had racial slurs directed at him, prompting him to write a Facebook post in which he said, “it’s because I’ve experienced moments like this multiple times at THIS university, making me not feel included here.”

KING OUT

NTS WEIGH IN ON THE PACE CONTROVERSY

to al as f

ela at ly

t or

9

nive ood

“The right to say whatever you want, whether it be for religion, press, protests or just to say it, symbolizes what it truly means to be American.”

- Max Kalan ’17 “Students should be able to feel safe walking through the doors of the place they spend so many of their waking hours in.”

- Jake Gurevitch ’18

“If we censor and hide difficult topics, then those topics are just going to lie there and grow.”

- Beza Zenebe ’17

At Yale, controversy arose after a professor responded to an email requesting that students not wear racially insensitive costumes, saying that it was a student’s right to wear whatever costume they desire, whether the costume is insensitive or not. Students protested after this email was sent, saying that the University had a responsibility to make them feel safe from micro-aggressions, like Halloween costumes depicting caricatures of Mexican people.

For this speical feature, The Merionite has gathered student and faculty opinions on the issue and how it affects LM.

Teacher Perspectives The counterproduction in comfort

by MARK LEVY

T

Minority Responses

Social Studies Department

he question of safe zones is a complex issue of rights and feelings. To put it simply, it has a lot gray area. It is complex because sometimes morals conflict with each other. The right to be safe and the right to free speech sometimes clash, and we constantly debate in this country when the right to privacy ends when security is at stake. The greatest struggle among democratic countries is how to balance these rights. This is nothing new. Plato and Aristotle recognized this problem with democracy, as did the Founding Fathers. Everybody has the right to be safe, but everybody also has the right to free speech, including even offensive speech.

A free press is essential to a democracy, and that includes an offensive press.

Hence, a newspaper that wants to print something that may be offensive or controversial must be allowed to do so even if it means that some feel “unsafe” (I am not saying that they should publish, but rather that they MUST have the right to publish—a key difference.) University of Missouri students holding a public protest on public land have no right to try and physically block a photographer from taking pictures because some of the protestors felt “unsafe” having their picture taken (this incident can easily be found on YouTube.) The media’s first amendment right overrides any “right to feel safe.” Democracy is built on this foundation, and we cannot shift from this.

Please see LEVY page 12

Concerned student 1950

by BLESSING OSAZUWA ’16

T

he fairly recent controversy at the University of Missouri has sparked support from some, and harsh condemnation from others.

The issues originally arose from allegations of racism and homophobia around the campus. A series of heinous acts including, but not limited to, students dropping cotton balls in front of the Black Culture Center (a reflection of slaves being forced to pick cotton on plantations), the use of racial and anti-gay slurs, and the drawing of a swastika have prompted graduate student Jonathan Butler to launch a hunger strike–which was eventually joined by the Mizzou football team and campus activist group Concerned Student 1950.

The controversy brings about a pertinent question: why are safe spaces in schools so important? The saying, “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me” has never been more untrue.

Words have the power to influence and change, as well as to tear down. Emotional safety is essential to learning, because one cannot give one’s all and perform to the best of

one’s abilities in an environment where he or she feels hated and unwanted. There is a large difference between expressing dissenting viewpoints in a respectful manner and using the First Amendment privilege to be deliberately cruel and vile to another student. That is unequal treatment and school is not the place for it.

To be clear, having a safe space does not mean that there is a complete deprivation of a person’s freedom of speech. Neither does it have strict guidelines that must be followed (this is always said or that is never said). A safe space does not mean protection from offense.

In a government class that I took over the summer, while discussing the removal of the Confederate flag from government buildings, I found a few of the comments to be appalling. To me, that symbol represents a history of hatred and violence against people who look like me. We had a strong disagreement, and even though one of the students later apologized, I would have been perfectly fine if they had not. Part of having a safe space is making students feel comfortable enough to effectively share opposing viewpoints, as was done in this situation.

As a student at LM, how much do you think the school protects you from controversial viewpoints?

39.4% Too much 36.4% The right amount 24.2% Not enough

11

As someone who advocates for social justice, I do not want protection from views that may be offensive to me! What good is that?

I do not want to be kept in a box.

I want to explore thoughts outside of my own. Too much protection does not provide room for learning or growth, but instead shields people from the harsh realities of the world. School is meant to build those things. However, being called a derogatory racial term in a place where I am supposed to nurture my abilities is much different from mere disagreement. It carries a heavier weight of hatred and deliberate personal attack against another student that should not be tolerated in institutions.

No one is seeking to remove freedom of speech in schools, but limits should be placed on speech that interferes with a student’s adaptation to the academic environment.

If a student feels uncomfortable, unwanted, and inadequate by very personal attacks, or if a student feels threatened by hate speech, a line should be drawn. In a learning environment, having a voice is just as important as being thoughtful and considerate of others.

Should upper level academic institutions be allowed to limit someone’s free speech?

30.8% Too much

7.8% Yes

60% The right amount 9.2% Not enough

44.4% Sometimes

Non-minority Responses

47.7% No

All Responses

Special Feature

December 18, 2015

12

The Merionite

Philadelphia’s Black Israelites, free speech, and a school’s responsibility

by RYAN McCLOSKEY World Language Department Walking around Center City Philadelphia, I have many times come across a local group called the Black Israelites. Have you run into them yet? They stand on podiums in crowded places, wearing clothing reminiscent of the movie Mad Max, and scream offensive and intimidating language with megaphones at those walking by. I do mean scream. They scream about how God hates homosexuals, God hates white and Asian people, and how women are prostitutes—all in much more offensive words than are appropriate for a newspaper. To me, they seem militaristic, angry, hateful, and extreme, and I often feel intimidated when encountering them. The Black Israelites are by no means the only local group or the only local individuals spreading offensive ideology, but I have chosen them as the example here because of their visibility in Philadelphia.

In July of 2013, Philadelphia judge Ellen Ceisler ruled in favor of The Black Israelites’ right to “protest” in front of the shops at Liberty Place in Center City. Sidewalks are public domain, and the Black Israelites are permitted to demonstrate even if their tactics frighten away potential customers to local businesses. Free speech is protected, even when it allows the Black Israelites to scream racist, homophobic, and sexist language at people who could potentially be very emotionally damaged by it. There are many different kinds of people in the United States, and a person does not have to look far in order to be confronted with offensive ideology and behavior.

A school, however, is not the sidewalk in front of Liberty Place. A school is a place where a person chooses to go to better him or herself. A school’s mission is to educate and edify, to provide a space, an environment, and the parameters for growth. The learning that takes place at an educational institution is the stitchwork for the betterment of a society, and for the continuation of human progress.

Recently, an issue at Yale University came to the forefront of a national discussion about a school’s role in protecting students from feeling offended on campus. There has been much debate over whether Yale, in hopes of

preventing offensive Halloween costumes, should or should not have advised students on the types of costumes to avoid. One employee of the university publicly denounced the effort

by Yale to intervene in student Halloween costumes on the grounds that it constituted censorship, and student groups have since called for her dismissal from the faculty. The issue has become so contentious that it has led to heated protests on campus, and simmering social unrest at the university. Should an educational institution shelter its students?

Yes. Physical and emotional safety in the school environment is foundational to a student’s intellectual, emotional, and social growth. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, food, shelter, and safety are the foundation.

A student cannot be expected to grow into

Levy From THE COUNTERPRODUCTION IN COMFORT, page 11 These guidelines were clearly designed to create a “safe zone” for students who might be offended by a particular outfit. A professor argued in an academic and professional open letter against these guidelines, suggesting that instead of banning outfits, the community talk about what might offend and have a constructive conversation. This professor and her husband were subsequently treated in an appalling manner—I encourage you to Google the story. Look for yourself to see if you think the professor wrote anything that could be considered prejudicial or “unsafe.” If Yale students cannot have a reasonable and orderly conversation about what is appropriate or not for Halloween because of “safe zones,” I wonder about the future of

Staff Responses 39% Yes 61% No

16.7% too much 72.2% right amount 1.1% not enough

Have you ever elected not to teach something because you worried it would be too controversial and possibly offensive to students?

As a staff member at LM, how much do you think the school protects its students from controversial viewpoints?

the realm of self-actualization without feeling secure. In order for a person to gain the personal strength and power to do great things or to stand up against injustice, he or she must be allowed to grow. A school, whether public or private, is an educational institution that creates its own culture. Allowing prejudice at a school is institutionalizing prejudice, and a school culture in which students feel intimidated does not allow education to thrive. The “protestors” in front of Liberty Place will still be there. Offensive and intimidating thought and behavior will still be very easy to find (just take a look at Yik Yak), but it is a school’s responsibility to provide the best possible environment for students to learn and growone that is free of bigotry.

this country.

If a university wants to provide a space that is only for LGBTQ students, or a Jewish student center, or an area for African-American students to be able to voice their opinions by themselves, fine—I am happy for each institution to decide if they need this, and obviously, they must prioritize the views of those minority students in reaching such a decision. However, the problem surfaces when people try to force this private safe space into the public arena. Once you are in public, you are open to opposite views, however hurtful. You shouldn’t try to make people feel uncomfortable, but if your own sincerely held

views make people feel nervous, that’s life. We progress as a society when we critique, analyze, argue, provoke and debate, and no idea should be free from criticism.

Salman Rushdie argues that “ideas [including religious ones] deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect”— and he is right. Universities should always be on the side of free speech and allow “bad speech.” As J.S. Mill argued, bad ideas are important because they reinforce good ideas. Good ideas will win out in the end, but if we shield ourselves from other challenges we can never change our minds, never grow, never mature. You might hold a core idea so centrally, so internally that to have it challenged is a real attack on your identity. However, no matter how sincerely you hold these ideas, you do not have the right to have these ideas shielded from challenges or even ridicule. There is no right not-to-be-offended. Institutions of learning have every right to educate and encourage their members on how to be sensitive and respectful, but at the end of the day banning speech gets us nowhere.

It is also patronizing to minorities, suggesting that they can’t stand up for themselves.

So do Lower Merion teachers have the responsibility to restrict any speech to create safe zones? I would suggest that if a teacher thinks a provocative statement is purely designed to hurt another, having no other educational intention, they should put a stop to it. There is a difference between a student making a statement criticizing a religious practice while we are in the middle of a discussion about D-Day and a student arguing against the existence of God in a discussion about the origins of human morality. The former should be shut down while the latter, even if it makes people uncomfortable, should be embraced. Additionally, no discussion about world politics can possibly take place without casting a critical eye over other cultures. Context and intention are everything—teachers at Lower Merion understand this. I hope our institutions of higher learning like Yale can too.

A misunderstood movement For a better perspective on the Safe Space controversy, The Merionite reached out to Gabe Nathans ’12, a current Yale student and LM alumnus.

The Merionite: How do you think the Yale student body as a whole feels about the safe space debate? Is the majority of students standing with the protestors or against them?

Gabe Nathans: It’s hard to say— there are definitely more visible and vocal students standing with the protestors than against them.

And to give you a sense of the numbers, over 1,000 students took part in the “March of Resilience” that happened a few weeks ago. But I suspect that a lot of students who have some issues with the protestors aren’t speaking up, possibly for fear of being called racist or insensitive.

M: How has the controversy affected your classroom experiences? Are professors less willing to bring up controversial topics? Have any of them offered up their opinions on this issue?

GN: I haven’t noticed any real changes in the classroom—many professors said a few vague things about the protests and racial issues in general without really taking a stand, but oth-

er than that I haven’t noticed any significant changes in my classes.

M: How has the controversy affected discussions about controversial topics outside of the classroom? Are they more or less common now?

GN: The week of the chalkings and march, I think pretty much everyone (at least among my friends) was talking about what was going on pretty much all the time. I think it was really interfering with everyone’s work actually.

The discussion has died down somewhat since that 1-2 week period, but I still talk about it somewhat often. I don’t think it’s really affected discussions of other controversial topics.

M: When freedom of expression and protection from negative opinions (like racism) collide, which do you think is more important?

GN: The biggest thing I would emphasize is that I think the national media has made the events at Yale out to be much more of a free speech vs. safe spaces/protection war than they actually

are. The biggest things that the protesters are calling for—better mental health [facilities] for students of color, more faculty of color, more serious recognition and expansion of ethnic studies programs, racial sensitivity training for students and faculty—do not in any obvious way undercut anyone’s right to free speech.

And, in fact, they are changes that would (hopefully) make students (particularly women) of color feel more comfortable exercising their right to speech (in classes that aren’t as white dominated, for instance).

M: What do you think is the biggest takeaway from the protests and conflict?

GN: I think the biggest takeaway (and this is what I tell everyone outside of Yale who asks me what’s going on here) is that the protests aren’t really about the email or the incident at SAE [women of color have claimed to have been turned away from the fraternity’s house party], or about something like trigger warnings.

They’re about the subtle but persistent incidents of racism that students of color experience all

too frequently here—tokenized students expected to speak for their race in seminars, people not holding gates open for black students because they don’t think they’re Yale students, white girls being more welcomed and better treated at frat parties, students of color made to feel like they were only accepted to Yale because of their race. I think that daily incidents like these can make life here quite difficult—and the protests were a moment when students of color finally spoke out, loud and clear, about these things.

M: Is there anything else that you would like to let us know about your experience with this issue or your opinions on it?

GN: That said, I disagree with the calls for the master and associate master of Silliman (who sent out the email) to be forced to resign as master/associate master. I thought the email betrayed a real lack of understanding of (and disregard for) the very serious issue of cultural appropriation, but I think that forcing Erika Christakis to resign as associate master would be to police her speech in

an ultimately dangerous way.

M: From your knowledge of LM, could a similar protest emerge within our school?

Does LM, in any way, foster the opinions of the protestors?

GN: I don’t feel that informed on this question, but I remember LM as a pretty segregated place in a lot of ways, especially once I started taking more AP classes (which were composed pretty much entirely of white or Asian students). Looking back, I’m ashamed that I didn’t really make an effort to break out of my pretty much entirely white circle of friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of students of color feel marginalized, or if students of color in white spaces like AP classes feel tokenized or expected to speak for their race. I would be surprised if a similar protest emerged at LM, but more because I don’t really remember any sort of unified protests happening with any issue while I was at LM. Interview by Dena Behar ’16 and Olivia Johnston ’16.

13

December 18, 2015

Features The Merionite

Who ruined your childhood?

Stories of the monumental discovery that Santa is not real.

“My mom warned me from an early age not to spill the beans to the Christian kids. She told me it gives Jewish kids a bad name.”

- Aly Hummel “ In second grade, I was in the back“My parents always write seat of Danny Boden’s car. Danny to say ‘from Santa’ on our presents. One year, they asked his dad if Santa was real. didn’t. I asked my mom why that could be, and she said, His dad said angrily,

“In second grade, Joseph Salzer ’17 screamed “Santa isn’t real!” in the heat of an argument . I went home determined to prove him wrong, so I threw a full-on temper tantrum until my mom told me the truth.”

- Isabella Dumitrescu

“When I was ten, my Christian friend was telling me what Santa had brought them for Christmas. I said, and I quote, ‘Are you kidding me? Santa isn’t real.’”

- Dora Nathans

“What do you think?! ” - Mr. Henneberry

“Up until last year, I hadn’t really seen any conclusive evidence that he wasn’t real. In the car, I asked my dad, ‘So, are you every going to give me a straight answer about the Santa question?’ He laughed and said, ‘Santa doesn’t exist.’ And then I cried.”

- Nina McKay

‘Oops, I forgot.’”

- Deepika Jonnalagadda

“My parents used to always tell me that Santa left me under the Christmas tree. My sister told me that my parents actually found me in the sewers, and I started crying.

To make me feel better, my mom told me the she’d had me in the hospital. That’s when I realized that there was no Santa to leave me under the tree.”

- Jon Adams

Assigned reading standouts Why the books we read as underclassmen are actually good.

Julia Rosen ’18 Assigned reading is rarely seen as a positive in the eyes of a high school student. Freshman year English class at LM brings with it two standout books: The Kite Runner and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Incoming freshmen are bombarded with greater amounts of work than they have ever experienced, so a book targeting the reading comprehension of a fifth-grader is welcomed with open arms. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is enough to coax a student down from the brink of a mild panic attack induced by grades that matter for the first time in their life.

The fairy tale-esque nature of the story makes students forget that they’re now in high school. Most importantly, Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a good read as well. The vivid imagery and

fantastical characters make it easy to get wrapped up in the story. Admittedly, some of the appeal wears away after two weeks spent brutally dissecting Haroun for the swirling mass of allegories it truly is.

The Kite Runner is exceptional for very different reasons. The Kite Runner has advanced material that comes with a higher degree of learning. Students basically get the same bragging rights for reading The Kite Runner, as they do for finishing a mind-numbing “classic.” The Kite Runner is also fascinating and students inadvertently learn a lot about the history of Afghanistan and the refugee experience. Not to ruin anything for the current freshmen, but you’re lying if you say you didn’t cry.

Romeo and Juliet, which finishes up freshman year,

carries the same bragging an story made my life seem rights as The Kite Runner, like a breeze in compariif not more. A timeless sto- son, making it a little easiry written by the most illus- er to appreciate life as I trious playwright of all time have it. Books like these is never something looked are like weekends, little down on. The play brings rays of hope that keep with it the realization that us going through the maybe Shakespearian En- long days of early glish isn’t really all that mornings and imbad; at least until the un- possible math decipherable mass that is problems.

Othello is presented sophomore year.

Sophomore year has some standouts too. It starts with the dystopian novel 1984 as the required summer reading. If I could use one word to describe how 1984 made me feel, it would be thankful, especially since it was summer reading. The beautiful sunshine (this summer especially) made the conditions Winston was forced to en- Shannon Rudick ’18 dure seem exceptionally brutal. Winston’s dystopi- Photo by Staff

14

December 18, 2015

Arts & Entertainment The Merionite

Molly Kaiser ’17 This fall is full of tons of new fashions, with influences from the 80s and 90s especially.

Some of the hottest trends this fall are: Halter Shirts By definition, a halter top is a type of sleeveless shirt similar to a tank top, but with straps that are tied, wrapped around, or are centered towards the neck. Shirts with a halter neckline have become incredibly popular in the last couple of seasons.

The halter neckline provides a girly, delicate look that goes well with skirts, jeans, and leggings alike. You ask whether or not they can be classified as winter clothing? Absolutely! Coupled with a patterned cardigan or zip-up hoodie, halter tops can act as a fashionable tank top or t-shirt.

Jean, Button Up, and Plaid Skirts Yes, jean skirts are making a comeback!

Some of the most popular trends this fall are button up jean skirts, corduroy skirts, and printed skirts. Skirts like these first came into popularity in the 80s and 90s, as seen in the movie Clueless (pictured to the right).

They are most commonly paired with fitted crop tops or cropped sweaters and look great with stylish sneakers or cozy socks and boots.

Local brands: Urban Outfitters, Pacsun, American Apparel Online brands: Brandy Melville, ASOS. com

Tai and Cher casually rock plaid button down skirts.

Hallie Garton ’17 models the described halter top.

Chelsea Boots: Found at Urban, DSW, ASOS.com—pair nicely with leggings or jeans, oversized sweaters, jean jackets, and all types of skirts and dresses.

Baseball Hats Denim or solid colored baseball hats have entered this summer and fall’s fashion. Pair it with a t-shirt or cozy sweatshirt—it’ll create a cute, sporty look.

Local brands: Forever 21 Online brands: Brandy Melville

Vans Sk8-Hi Shoes: Found at Vans store, Urban Outfitters— look great with skinny jeans, leggings, or genie pants Hiking Shoes: Bean boots (from LL Bean), Timberlands—also look great with pants, cute socks, and oversized tops

Local brands: Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Pacsun, Forever 21 Online brands: Brandy Melville

Above: Marie Nikolov ’19 adds a fresh edge with a pair of Vans high top sneakers.

Below: Abbey Hecht ’16 takes regular Timberland boots to the next level with insert cord netting on the side panels.

Sophia Salganicoff ’16 pairs camel Chelsea Boots with a shearling jacket.

Jean Jackets As a timeless classics, jean jackets add a vintage or preppy twist to any outfit.

Rocked with a scarf or an eye-catching neckalce, they can spice up any outfit.

Simone Burde ’17 pulls off a sleeveless jean jacket.

Recommended brands: Urban Outfitters, Francesca’s, J.Crew, Gap Online brands: Levi.com, Calvinklein.com, Brandy Melville, ASOS.com

Other fun accents to consider: Coats with a faux-fur trim around the hood are a great way to keep warm this blustery winter, but do so with a stylish yet ethical touch.

Nude, deep maroon, army Vanessa Poe ’16 wears green, and neutrals are all nude chukka boots, popular colors to consider dark wash jeans, a for yourself this winter. pocketed long sleeve t-shirt, and a fauxfur trimmed coat as Although you may think a casual, cute, winter they’re an awkward height, Chukka boots will be all the school outfit. rage this coming winter. They pair well with long leggings, skinny jeans, or with rolled up jeans (pictured left), along with warm knitted socks. We fukka with the chukka.

“Bomber” Jackets Originally made for pilots, “bomber” jackets have been tailored to be timeless stylish items and are projected to be one of the most popular items this fall. Pair them with jeans and a printed collared shirt for a dressed up, yet casual, look.

Local brands: Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21 Online brands: ASOS.com

Don’t forget! Fashion trends for guys this winter.

There is no reason that guys cannot dress fashionably too. As seen to the left, thin vests, collared, patterned button-ups, and khakies or jeans are a great combination to be spotted in. If the aforementioned pants are too bland for you, colored chinos add a fun flare.

As for shoes, there are plenty of options. Vans sneakers or Bean boots pair well with a myriad of outfits, and can be sported with something as casual as jeans and a t-shirt. Don’t fall to peer pressure and slip on sweats and a t-shirt — be bold!

Jon Adams ’16 follows the style guide from head to toe, accesorizing with a navy quilted vest and matching blue fashion sneakers.

Arts & Entertainment

December 18, 2015

15

The Merionite

Molly Gonzales ’17 Adele is absolutely ruthless.

She showed no mercy when writing the songs on her new album, 25. I warn you now, do not listen to it if you have recently recently gone through a breakup. You will feel things that you weren’t even aware you were capable of feeling.

Unlike her previous albums, 19 and 21, 25 has a new edge that we have never before heard. “Million Years,” her ninth song on the album, gives off a kind of Simon and Garunkel vibe while “River Lea” has more of a jazzy R&B beat behind it. Her songs aren’t the same break-up and heartbreak ballets we are used to though; each song is different and unique. “My last record was a break-up record and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record,” Adele wrote. “Making up for lost time.

Making up for everything I ever did and never did.” “Hello” is far from the only hit on the album.

How did Adele manage to sell 3.38 million copies of 25 in the first week of US sales alone? Choosing not to share her album on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music definitely contributed to her increase in sales. All of this contributed to 25’s phenomenal debut week, one in which it beat the record, previously held by N’SYNC, for the most records sold in a week, and also sold more copies than Taylor Swift’s 1989 did in a whole year. Adele’s timeless sound appeals to a larger demographic, which contributes to her colossal record sales. Her song “Hello” can be featured in a variety of Pandora stations from, “Today’s Hits,” to “Adult Alternative,” and even “Study Songs.” Not just drooling teen girls enjoy Adele; grandmothers, teachers, parents, and students of all genders alike can find something in her they admire.

W

o t e m o c l e

g i N

e l a v t h Molly Cutler ’19

Where can you find a dog park guarded by hooded figures that is forbidden to both humans and canines alike, a faceless old woman who secretly lives in homes, a “literal five-headed dragon,” the Sherriff’s Secret Police working in tandem with A Vague, Yet Menacing Government Agency, strange beings all named Erika, a man in a tan jacket with a face no one can remember, a cat that hovers four feet above the ground in the men’s bathroom, a high intern death rate, a vicious corporation that worships a smiling god, and most importantly, a community radio host named Cecil and his handsome scientist boyfriend Carlos? Nowhere but the amazing little Southwestern town of Night Vale, brought to life by the wildly popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale,

written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. And now, it’s a novel too.

Fink and Cranor are pioneers in the relatively new art form of using podcasts as slates for storytelling. Night Vale is written in the form of community radio broadcasts from the fictional town, which has been described by Fink as “a town in the desert where all conspiracy theories are true.” Science fiction, dry humor, the paranormal, and horror all play a part in Night Vale, where they are all accepted as normal by the townsfolk. Cecil Palmer, the radio host and main character, narrates such goings-on in the town as news (usually an absurd and apocalyptic event such as Street Cleaning Day or the invasion of StrexCorp Synernists Inc.), the weather (actually a song by a guest musician instead of a forecast), the community calendar, the Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner, or even personal events in his life. The podcast has been downloaded over 100 million times and has a bustling fan base on both Tumblr and Twitter. Now the new novel, called Welcome to Night Vale, published in October, is getting rave reviews from various media outlets across the country.

You don’t need to have listened to any or all of the

I am personally rooting for her, as she writes her own songs, refuses to be auto-tuned, and is always laughing in her interviews. She seems like a real person, which, in the highly glamorized and sometimes superficial music industry, is hard to find.

78 episodes of Night Vale to appreciate the book, though there are some sly references worked in that listeners will certainly recognize. It’s told from the perspectives of Jackie Fierro, the pawnshop owner who has been 19 for as long as she can remember, and Diane Crayton, the single mother of a shape-shifting teenager named Josh and the treasurer of the Parent-Teacher Association. One day, Jackie is given a slip of paper from a man in a tan jacket holding a deerskin suitcase. The paper reads “KING CITY” and is impossible to remove from her hand. Meanwhile, as Diane struggles with Josh’s literal identity crisis, she sees Josh’s father pop up all over town, and Josh starts to grow an interest in him—something Diane believes will result in disaster. Both Jackie’s search to return to her routine life and Diane’s search to help her son lead them again and again to King City, though both find it impossible to reach.

The book’s prose flows beautifully and perfectly advance the eeriness of the plot. It’s just as well written as the podcast, with disturbing existential monologues and descriptions of things one might not think could be described. The technique of alternating between sections of very clipped, short, to-the-point sentences, and long, unbroken ones, which can be strung together for pages, serves the sometimes mundane, sometimes fantastic beyond belief world of Night Vale very well. And the relatable struggles of Jackie and Diane are a relieving touch of reality in the otherwise bizarre setting. Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel lives up to the artfully written podcast and is definitely a quality read for anyone looking to be sucked into a peculiar meld of conspiracy theories and the Twilight Zone.

16

December 18, 2015

Advertisements The Merionite

ADVERTISE FOR THE MERIONITE. Reach out to the entire Lower Merion Student body.

Expand your business.

Now offering mail subscriptions.

Get the Merionite directly to your house.

CONTACT US AT: merionite@gmail.com

Arts & Entertainment

December 18, 2015

17

The Merionite

Inside Out—What’s it all about?

Molly Kaiser ’18 LM’s Art Department is proud to present an unprecedented new installment: a digital art magazine known as Inside Out. The magazine aims to promote art culture within the school and to give students the opportunity to both showcase and utilize their talents in drawing, painting, filming, and photographing, along with writing, marketing, and editing. Inside Out isn’t your average magazine. Since it’s digital, with a click of the link, you’ll not only be able to view submitted pieces of artwork, cartoons, photographs, and articles, but you’ll also be able to watch videos within the magazine. The magazine staff also hopes to include interviews with students and local artists about their artwork, opinion based pieces, movie reviews, current events in the art world, ads, and contests for a chance to get your artwork featured on the cover of the magazine.

An interesting component of the club is that it is mostly student driven. The art teachers

created the first edition, and students will be taking over the upcoming editions. The club is composed of around 25 students, whose roles include photography, graphic design, investigating pop culture, copy-editing, and writing opinion pieces. In the words of Assistant Principal, John Fadely, “The club, Inside Out, is...innovative and student driven which supports LM’s Building Goals—it’s an opportunity to recognize others’ work and document students’ success. This club allows a forum for people to have deep thoughtful conversations with each other about each publication or maybe just on a specific piece. It fosters opportunities to share views and perspectives in a respectful way. I look forward to watching it’s growth and development.” You can access the magazine online at http://www.joomag.com/magazine/artnews/0341875001432130243?short. Inside Out is a huge step for both the Art Department and all of LM!

Inside Out’s inagural issue cover.

Gilmore Girls gets the ending it deserves Claire Ochroch ’18 Recently, news broke that Gilmore Girls will be coming back as a limited series on Netflix. This show, and many others such as Full House, Twin Peaks, and X-Files, are seeing a resurgence of popularity, from new fans viewing the shows on video streaming websites. Gilmore Girls has a large fan base, and because of Netflix, it has expanded dramatically. The show’s fans have wanted a revival for a long time because creator, writer, and director Amy Sherman-Palladino had to leave after season six due to contract disputes.

Following single mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) who live in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Gilmore Girls charms its audience with fast-paced dialogue, mother-daughter banter, romantic relationships, and quirky characters. Some of the more serious topics include education, work, family, sex, and questions of class. The show’s social commentary manifests most clearly in Lorelai’s difficult relationship with her wealthy, appearance-obsessed parents, and in Rory’s interactions with the students at her high school, and later at Yale University. The show has earned several award nominations, winning one Emmy Award.

Since the beginning of Gilmore Girls, Sherman-Pallidino has had a true vision for the ending of the show—she even had the last four words in her mind—yet it was never brought to the screen. At the television festival ATX, almost the entire cast of Gilmore Girls reunited and answered questions about a possible revival. Sherman-Palladino wants to have a conclusive ending as much as fans do, explaining, “There’s nothing in-the-works at the moment. Here’s the good thing: Nobody here hates each other. It would have to be the right everything: the right format, the right timing. It would have to be honored in a certain way. If it ever came around, I think we would all jump in and do it.” The panel showed that it was possible to get the cast back together again,

ly

th Mon

fasdfssssssdfasdfasdfas

ASDFASDFASDFASDF S

ASDFASDFSADFSADF

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

M O V

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Action, adventure, fantasy) Release Date: December 18 Director: J.J. Abrams Stars: Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega A galaxy far, far away returns in the seventh installment of George Lucas’s epic saga. Set 30 years after Episode VI (released in 1983), old faces such as Han Solo and Princess Leia return to win the ongoing civil war and defeat the villainous Empire.

fasdfssssssdfasdfasdfas

ASDFASDFASDFASDF S

ASDFASDFSADFSADF Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

and the huge crowd showed that many fans would be interested in a revival. With the conjunction of the release of the show on Netflix, it is being introduced to an entire new generation, and seems like the perfect time to have a revival of the show.

The revival will be four 90-minute episodes, which span over the time period of one year. Each of the mini-movies will be written by Sherman-Palladino and executive producer Daniel Palladino. In the story that Palladino pitched to Netflix, we meet up with the characters in the present day, or roughly eight years after the series ended, and we will be returning to old conflicts and following them through new plotlines. We should expect for most, if not all, of Rory’s major suitors (Logan, Jess, and Dean) to turn up in the four super-sized installments. Although negotiations with the cast are only now beginning, the majority of the main players: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop and Scott Patterson are expected back for the continuation.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sherman-Palladino said, “The beauty of Gilmore, and the beauty of family-relationship shows, is you never really run out of story. You’re going to battle your family until you’re all in the ground. Those things never resolve, doesn’t matter how much therapy you get. 10 years later, there’s still going to be [material] there to mine and to delve into.” This revival allows Sherman-Palladino to delve back into the lives of these characters and give them conclusive endings. She will be able to end Gilmore Girls as she always intended, right down to those elusive final four words. Fans know that with Sherman-Palladino behind it, there is nothing to worry about when it comes to the revival, and it will be an amazing ending to an incredible show.

I

E

Joy (Biographical dramedy) Release Date: December 25 Director: David O. Russell Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Isabella Rossellini The true story of Joy Mangano (Lawrence), a single mother who, through sheer determination and will, created the Miracle Mop, in turn founding a powerful family business dynasty and becoming one of America’s wealthiest self-made women.

S

for er emb c e D

fasdfssssssdfasdfasdfas

ASDFASDFASDFASDF S

ASDFASDFSADFSADF

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Sisters (Comedy) Release Date: December 18 Director: Jason Moore Stars: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, John Cena, Maya Rudolph Question: how do two sisters, one of whom is recovering from a divorce (Poehler), and another who never outgrew her wild-child phase (Fey), react when their parents decide to sell their childhood home? Answer: they throw the killer house party they never got to have.

18

December 18, 2015

Sports The Merionite

LM’s most famous alum says farewell

Daniel Wilson ’16 Sports Editor “With the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets select Kobe world’s biggest basketball stage, he Bryant, from Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania”. responded that he wanted to “cut their According to Bryant and countless other NBA players throughout history, there hearts out”. This did not set well in the will never be a moment that beats the day you go pro. Kobe’s entrance into the NBA stomachs of the Philly faithful. What was anything but average; he was not selected by the team for which he would play used to be this beloved kid from Philly for, the pick was traded to the Lakers. He was also 17 at the time, so his parents was now getting showered with boos actually had to co-sign his rookie Lakers contract. This could never happen in the in his return home. Kobe and the NBA today-in 2005, the NBA instituted a rule that stated all high school prospects Lakers won their second consecutive must play at least one year in college or overseas. There were some who believed championship by a series score of 4-1, that Kobe’s hometown Sixers, a franchise that formerly employed his father, might with the last game being held on the consider drafting Bryant with the first overall pick. However, the Sixers stuck with home floor of the Sixers. In 2002, the their gut, drafting their future franchise player, Allen Iverson, causing Kobe to drop NBA All Star Game was held in Phildown to the 13th pick. adelphia and Kobe Bryant was named On August 23, 1978 Kobe Bean Bryant was born to parents Pam and Joe in MVP. Once again he was showered Philadelphia, PA. Joe “Jellybean” Bryant was a player with the Philadelphia 76ers at with boos by the Philly faithful, who Kobe dribbles up the court during the the time. Kobe had about a 6-year childhood in the United States before his dad’s once embraced him as one of their 2009-2010 season. basketball career moved him and his sisters Sharia and Shaya to Italy. Bryant lived own. there until age 13, at which point he moved back to the Philadelphia area, and the Many players and media members family bought a residence in Wynnewod. His 8th grade school year would take place describe Kobe as a ruthless, in-your-face kind of player. Similarly, Philadelat Bala Cynwyd Middle School. Soon thereafter, it was evident that he had talent; phia fans have the reputation for being ruthless, in-your-face sports fans. Kobe not just a pretty good skill set, but incredibly dominant ability. News of the lanky may not have been loved by the Philadelphia fans for his comment prior to the 13 year old traveled fast into the ears of LM’s head basketball coach Gregg Downer, Finals, but the reality may be that his ruthless playing mentality at the time, and who quickly invited Kobe to varsity practice to see how he would compete. Within throughout his career, can be traced back to his Philly roots.

5 minutes, the eighth grader from BC not only proved himself as the best player on Kobe’s ex coaches and friends from LM might have been the only Philadelthe court, but even an eventual NBA player. “I never saw a 13 year old kid so good” phia residents still rooting for him. Treatman and Downer, in particular, were Downer said, “I knew he would be a pro”.

Kobe’s biggest fans. “There was no NBA League Pass at that time, we would drive Bryant was never someone fazed by having to play with players at higher levels. around to various bars that carried the games at During the summer going into his senior year, Kobe was invited to scrimmage with 11:30 at night to watch Kobe play”. Treatman said. Treatman also admitted that the Sixers at their practice facility at St. Joseph’s University, and he more than held although he had been a Sixers fan up to that point in his life, this was a weird exhis own as a 17 year old playing against professional athletes. In fact, it seemed like ception to the rules of allegiance. He just couldn’t help rooting for this kid whom anyone who saw him play would recognize immediately that he was truly something he had known since he was 13. Downer added “it was great to see him compete special. for the NBA title against Sixers, the Philadelphia fans did not care for Kobe, but Jeremy Treatman, who in 1992 coached JV basketball at Akiba Hebrew Academy, I was proud of him, and knew there was no way he would not win the title that developed a frienship with Joe Bryant, as he was the head coach of the girls’ varsity year”. team. Often times they would practice at consecutive times or even share the gym.

A lot has changed since the early 2000’s; ever since Kobe switched his number Treatman first saw Kobe play when his from #8 to #24 he has been much more widely respected around the league dad brought him to the gym to pracand by his teammates. Many have said that he is nicer and more matured, and tice on the side one day. He had seen he has only had positive press ever since. On November 29, 2015 Kobe Bryant exceptional players play before, but this announced his 20th season in the NBA was going to be his last. Two nights later, was different, he kept an eye on this son the Lakers were scheduled to play the Sixers for what would officially be his last of a former NBA player. Bryant followtime ever playing in the city of Philadelphia. ing in his footsteps career-wise seemed The game was highly anticipated, tickets on Sixers.com sold out. The price of incredibly likely at such a young age. admission on StubHub to watch two teams with a combined record of 2-32 on a Over the next two years, Treatman weeknight in December ran upwards of $70. coached Kobe Bryant’s Narberth The 20,510 on hand at the Wells Fargo Center showed Kobe some brotherly love, Summer League teams, and his original giving him a standing ovation, as well as chants of his name during starting lineup introductions. The warm embrace seemed like an unlikely scenario, considerPhoto Courtesy of Merionite Staff expectations were shattered. “He was by far the best player I had ever seen” ing where he stood just 13 years ago.

Kobe’s high school memorabillia case on Treatman said. “By 11th grade, it was Downer experianced a few minutes in the limelight, sharing the court predisplay in the atrium of the Bryant Gym. clear that he was the best High School game along side Kobe and Dr.J, and conducting interviews with numerous media Basketball player in the country”. outlets shown mid-game during CSN Philly’s broadcast. He was even shown on In December of 1995, the Philadelnational media outlets such as ESPN and Bleacher Report. When asked about all phia Inquirer published a story about the 17-year-old superstar from LM. He was of the sudden press, Downer said “I don’t like the attention, but meeting Dr. J and ranked as the top high school player in the country and was expected to be the first Kobe at center court was a dream come true for a guy that loves basketball and guard in the history of the NBA to get drafted straight from High School. Treatman, both those players. I just told Kobe how proud I was of him and he thanked me, who at the time worked at the Philadelphia Daily News/Inquirer, had never seen I knew a long time ago he was going to be an all time great, but he went out and higher buzz around a Philadelphia high school athlete. “It got to the point where did it, and made himself into a hall of famer. His blue collar mentality and no there were ticket scalpers at the games” Treatman said. “I had never seen anything short cuts/no excuses mindset is what I admire most about him”. like that at the high school level”. Kobe’s fame was through the roof, and he wasn’t Kobe will be leaving the NBA nothing short of one of the most decoratDID YOU KNOW that lack of sleep even a legal adult yet. ed players to ever play the game.

He’s a five NBAofchampion, can increase yourtime chances becoming including a As many can imagine, Kobe Bryant was the best player Gregg Downer had ever “three-peat” from 2000-2002 in which he and Shaquille teamed up to injured? According to a study O’Neal at the Chilseen. There was, however, one possible concern: would the fame and glory go to the form one of the most dominant stretches for any team in NBA history.

In 2009dren’s Hospital of Los Angeles, which head of the young teenager and negatively the greater good of the team? This was 2010, he lead his own Lakers team to back-to-back championships and won the observed 112 random students in grades not a problem. The season started out seemingly slow, with such a high expectation Finals MVP award both times.

He was also recognized as the 2008 NBA MVP, a 7-12, sleep deprivation can lead to slower player/team rolling out to a 4-3 start. Dominance soon followed, though, when they 17-time All Star, a two timereaction scoringtimes. champion, and 11 times sleep was named to the Getting inadequate rattled off 27 wins in a row en route to the PA state championship. Downer didn’t All-NBA First Team. On January 22,soft 2006, he scored 81 points prevents tissue like muscles fromin a game vs. the seem to think it was anything more than a slow start, having nothing to do with Toronto Raptors-the secondhealing greatest scoringand performance properly increases ever behind only Wilt the fame or the glory. In fact, Bryant was one of his favorite players to ever coach. hormones in the body. Unfortunately, this Chamberlains infamous 100-point game. lead tomost longer recovery periods.

“When your best player has a great work ethic, he wins all the sprints, he’s the first When asked about whatcan changed from his time at LM to his 20 year guy in gym, last one to leave, it makes the coaches job easier” Downer said. Kobe playing career in the NBA, Downer added that “he got a lot stronger and learned was just a teenager who loved the game of basketball, and he was really good at it. to play in the post more. His He would refuse to let the outside buzz go to his head. basketball IQ is off the charts His incredible work ethic and great attitude were recognized within the boundand after he left me he just aries on LM in the 90s but not the rest of the nation. In the early part of his NBA kept getting better in all arcareer, his national perception took a turn for the worst. In November of 1999, a eas of the game. He was such 21-year-old Bryant met the love of his life, 17 year-old Vanessa Laine. Less than two a great student of the game years later, they married, much to the disapproval of his parents and family memand did not want to have any bers. His parents, his two sisters, his longtime agent/advisor nor his Lakers teamweaknesses as a player”. mates attended the wedding. This snowballed into a two year period of disagreement Kobe Bryant is oneof the between him and his parents, ending with the birth of his first daughter. While greatest players ever, plain his life had taken a number of bumps for 2 years, it did calm down. Then came a and simple. But even better, second hiccup. In the summer of 2003, a 19-year old hotel employee in Colorado he is one of LM’s own, accused him of sexual assault. For nearly a year, this case continued to hang over remembered and admired by Kobe’s head. The case was eventually dropped due to the victim’s refusal to testify. more than just a trophy case Photo Courtesy of Aces Basketball While the evidence to prove Kobe’s guilt was lacking, the negative press continued to and a gymnasium. A first ballot Bryant smiles while talking with the surround Bryant’s career. Numerous stories out of the Lakers locker room suggested hall of famer, Kobe’s career wil 2009-2010 Aces basketball team. that he wasn’t the most beloved player in and around the league, or even by his surely never be forgotten.

Kobe Bryant carried this role back to his hometown in the 2001 NBA finals against the Sixers. Prior to the series, when asked about facing the Sixers on the

Sports

December 18, 2015

19

The Merionite

Racing through the winter weather Kelly Harrigan ’17 Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of LM Yearbook Maria King ’16, along with her teammates, sprints through below freezing weather every practice to train for competitive

Cold weather. Snowy and rainy days. Dark skies at 4:30 p.m. One would think that the winter season is definitely not the time for a traditionally outdoor sport like track. However, there is a group of athletic girls at LM who disagree. The girls’ indoor track team at LM is the perfect team for anyone who enjoys running competitively and enduring the low temperatures and wild weather patterns that accompany the coldest months of the year. Many may feel as though winter track is a training season for spring track, but they are wrong. Winter track, like any other sport played at LM, requires dedication, determination, and a love of competition.

Winter track athletes are, as all other athletes in the LM community must be, extremely dedicated. They practice multiple days a week. Additionally, they have to travel long distances to compete in meets. Sarah Doebley ’16 elaborates on the time commitment required for the sport, stating, “In some ways winter track is much more of a time commitment than spring track because our home track is two hours away.

Every Friday we are away at meets from 4:00 p.m to 1:00 a.m.” Not only do these athletes have to sit on a bus for multiple hours before they are able to compete, they also have to stay and run for multiple hours before trekking back home and collapsing on their beds at a time so late in the night it is practically the next morning. A serious love and commitment to winter track is required to tolerate this much trouble.

Each girl spends multiple months training for specific events both inside and outside, in order to run the fastest time possible. To train for these distances, the athletes often run outside, regardless of the weather. “The hardest part is running outside in the cold weather because even though it is called indoor track, all of our practices are outside and it can get pretty cold,” Louisa Ebby ’16 confesses, “But I like

doing it because it is very different from the other sports that I play.” One may think that all the runners participate solely “to stay in shape for outdoor [track],” as Doebley admits she originally did, “but winter track is actually very different. The meets are just as intense and competitive as outdoor track.”

There are many other runners that run indoor track to train for spring sports, but as Abby Ritterband ’16 states, “That doesn’t mean winter can’t be fun.” The winter track team has its own tradition each year as a reward after 1:00 a.m meets.

After every single meet, the team makes 12:00 a.m runs to Chick-fil-A or Wawa. Ritterband admits, “I guess you could say that’s our version of a social life.” This tradition is the perfect way to reward oneself after an extremely long and exhausting day. In addition, it strengthens team bonds, which are a vital part of any team regardless of whether the competitions themselves are completed individually or as a team.

Like many of the teams in the LM community, the girls on the team act as a cohesive unit, regardless of the fact that it’s a sport run by individuals. Ebby explains, “We train together even though we are competing for the same spots to run in the meets. My favorite part is being part of the team because everyone is so supportive and encouraging.”

This feeling is shared by many of the girls on the team, as Doebly similarly states, “Although track is an individual sport, we all unite at meets and it really is a team effort.”

Like all sports played here at LM, winter track is a legitimate sport. It is physically demanding, requires a serious time commitment, has numerous competitions, and emphasizes closeness between the athletes.

The girls love the sport and are determined to run as long it takes and make as many midnight Chick-fil-A runs as necessary in order to have a successful season.

LMGB starts a new season with a new type of team Emily Barson ’16 Imagine you are walking into the Kobe Bryant gym. You can hear the pounding of footsteps on the court and feel the players’ momentum intensifying. The Lady Aces’ basketball season is quickly approaching under the leadership of Lauren Pellicane.

The team has yet to reveal their new secret weapons for this season: Rowan Hassman ’19 and Shannon Rudek ’19. The two cross-country stars are freshmen, and they will fortify the varsity team. Hassman, a strong post player, will add height to the team and strengthen its defense. Rudek, a dominant guard, will bolster the team’s offense. Rebecca Shields, a senior transfer and another addition to the team, is a newcomer who can make a major impact. The team intends to utilize her height as an advantage to its defense at the forward position.

The athletes are excited about the endless possibilities of this season. One of the team captains Claire Brown ’16, disclosed that the team took part in a fall league and attended weight lifting sessions, which are new approaches to training for the season. Another outstanding player, Sarah Fitzpatrick ’18, reported, “I’ve been working on my skills all summer, and I am more aware of the court and able to run plays more instinctively.” Brown and Fitzpatrick both agreed that the team has more chemistry this year than in previous years and is able to achieve bigger goals.

Assistant coach Gretchen Lawson added her thoughts on the upcoming season,

Freshman Jackson Forrest Sport Played: Basketball What are your top three pump-up songs? Big Rings, Pipe it Up, and Remember the Nam. Who is your favorite basketball player and what is your favorite part of their game?

My favorite basketball player is Steph Curry because of his shooting and range.

What is the worst gift you’ve ever received? A puzzle

stating, “We are returning 15 of the 17 players from the program last year, so our season should be very successful. Many of our returnees put in a lot of hard work in the off season, which will definitely pay off.”

The girls’ basketball team has received key new players this season, and each adds a unique contribution to the program. The Photo courtesy of Bethany Eldrige ’18 team started off their regular LMGB plans to train their young team season with a big win against into having a winning season.

Penncrest, winning 43-41. The gritty win was redemtion for a tough Penncrest loss last year. Before the game Coach Lawson was asked about their new approach. “The Lady Aces have a different mindset going into the game. “We will go into the game with a much more experienced, stronger team, and we should come out on top.”

Sophomore Ashley Roberts Sports Played: Field Hockey, Basketball, and Lacrosse What are your top three pump-up songs? Trophies, That’s My Kind of Night, and Get’cha Head in the Game Who is your favorite basketball player, and what is your favorite part of their game? Kobe Bryant because of his tremendous work ethic, leaderhsip, and knowledge of the game.

What is the worst gift you’ve ever received? Earings (My ears are not pierced)

Junior Sarah Lipson Sports Played: Tennis, Swimming, and Ultimate Frisbee What are your top three pump-up songs?

Sorry, Power, and Ultimate from Freaky Friday What is your favorite snow day activity and why?

Watching the Harry Potter movies because what else is there to do?

What is the worst gift you’ve ever received? An ACT Book

Senior Vince Barnett Sport Played: Track and Field What are your top three pump-up songs?

Jump Man, Stronger, and Alright What is your favorite snow day activity and why?

My favorite snow day activity is sleeping because I’m tired from practice.

What is the worst gift you’ve ever received? Mittens

20

Sports

December 18, 2015

The ultimate paradox

The Merionite

Bethany Eldridge ’18

Dear faculty, administration, and students, No doubt, LM has school spirit. When the basketball season begins, students’ determination to be spirited ramps up. It is easy to find students so dedicated to the boys’ basketball team that they will come to every home game and even travel over 30 minutes to watch the team play.

Watching the massive and hyper crowd at any of the boys’ games can be exhilarating and may even fill you up with school pride. Some may think that the amount of support for our athletes is superior to other schools, but this notion is undermined by the vacant stands at girls’ games.

As a female athlete, the lack of support is disheartening. I do understand the appeal of the boys’ games. I am not oblivious to the fact that basketball games are social gatherings. This draw exists because of the sheer crowd of people that is guaranteed at every game. After polling 50 LM students, two in ten students responded that they have debated going to every single boys’ basketball game, whereas seven in ten stated that they have never been to a girls’ game and do not plan on it.

I am not saying stop going to the boys’ games because it is true that audience support helps a team’s performance. I personally support the boys’ team because I want to see all athletes in our school do well. I am suggesting that instead of driving to Conestoga, students should choose to watch the girls’ basketball game at home.

Furthermore, an epidemic has filled our school’s hallways: the hypocritical proclamation of feminism and the support of women’s rights. For example, when these supporters say they support the women in our school and promote how strong women can be, they often go to boys’ games over girls’ games. By not celebrating some of the incredibly powerful female athletes in the school, they contradict their own message that women can be as strong as men. Filling up some of the bleachers at girls’ games, and encouraging others to join is an easy way to fight the longstanding tradition of only supporting male athletes.

The bias pervades into school advertising. The morning announcements heavily feature male athletes who have graduated in the past like Kobe Bryant and B.J. Johnson. The morning announcements especially seem to neglect LM’s female teams. There has only been one field hockey video broadcasted; it is a shame that there could not be a more diverse selection of clips for students to watch everyday. Posters on the walls promoting Maroon Madness, the morning announcements, and even the promotional hype-videos in the Aces Nation Facebook group seem to be directly advertising only the boys’ team.

Even in our Kobe Bryant Gym there are only four pictures of girls players on the walls. All of these factors result in 91.5 percent of students concluding that the advertisements for both genders in our school are not equal.

Although I have mostly focused on the culture of our student body, the faculty and administration are somewhat responsible, as well. It is the habit of the administration and staff to often inquire only on how the boys’ teams are doing. In fact, during girls’ basketball games, I only see a couple of teachers regularly watching.

When I go to watch the boys’ games I see numerous teachers and faculty filling up those not-so-lonely stands. A simple change, such as asking both boy and girl athletes how their games went, will inspire the students in your classroom to do the same.

Coming to girls’ games should not feel like an obligation. The team this year is stacked with a large class of sophomores, strong juniors, and fierce seniors. This squad is good, and we can do well this year, but the school’s spirit does matter and is

Photo by Dan Wilson ’16/Staff Student attendance at girl’s basketball games is sparce.

Photo courtesy of LMSD.org The Dawg pound, LM’s fan section, come out in force during boy’s basketball games. The pound has been voted top fan section in the state. important to us.

I believe that we will not be a losing team this season, especially if we hear some more cheers that are not all coming from our parents or bored siblings. We have a good chance to get to the playoffs this year, but we need the whole school’s help in getting there.

Sincerely, Bethany Eldridge, Forward

Philadelphia: the worst pro-sports city in the nation Josh Hetzelson ’17 The Philadelphia Phillies had the worst record in the free-agent head coaches, the Flyers went off the list and MLB in the 2015 season and, right now it looks like it hired the North Dakota head coach. During his 11 year won’t get better for a while. The Flyers have been a dis- head coaching tenure at North Dakota, he led the team to appointment, and the Eagles have not lived up to their seven frozen fours. However, the jump from college to the expectations. The absolute worst of all the Philadel- pros is a challenge for Hakstol and the rebuilding roster. phia teams is the Sixers who have won just a single game all season.

Jahlil Okafor, the Last season, the Phillies were trythird pick in the ing to rebuild, which caused them to 2015 NBA Draft and have 99 losses. The whole point of the Sixers first pick, last season was to see the young guys was pulled over last play to help the Phillies get ready for week for driving next year and beyond. Allowing the 108 mph in a 40 rookies to play came with great lossmph zone. Okafor es to the existing lineup. Veterans also has been inlike Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon, Chase Utley, and many more volved in multiple were traded to various teams for street fights since top prospects in the minor leagues. being drafted.

The best of the bad Philly teams right now is the Flyers. They have many young prospects. Their minor league system has With Chip Kelly taking over operations in the football been restocked with new players from draft picks due to organization, expectations were high for the Eagles. Kelly the poor season they had last year. The main problem with made many changes to the lineup. He got rid of Lesean the team is the salary cap issue. General Manager Ron McCoy and acquired Demarco Murray from the Cowboys.

Hextall, when he took over for Paul Holmgren, received a The Eagles were 4-7 after three consecutive losses to teams handful of big contracts and bad deals. He is now trying to that aren’t even close to being contenders in the NFL. Their fix the problem by freeing up cap room and roster spots. last loss was a blowout to the Lions on Thanksgiving, losRight now, the Flyers are stuck with expensive, fading vet- ing 45 to 14. The teams losing record is the exact opposite erans whose contracts are tough to move. The Flyers sur- of what fans and experts predicted after the phenomenal prised everyone when Dave Hakstol was named the 19th preseason they had. Kelly has taken most of the blame head coach of the team. With one of the deepest pools of for the performance of the team this season, going from

a football genius to a failing coach. However, the Eagles did throw the football world for a curve by defeating the 10-1 New England Patriots on their home turf, improving to 5-7 and restoring any playoff hope that existed before.

The Sixers hold a 1-20 record, with their only win coming in the homecoming of Kobe Bryant, who currently plays for a Lakers team, which is equally as atrocious. In addition, the team is also on pace to break the record for most losses in a season, set by the 1973 Sixers who went 9-73. With their 27 consecutive losses dating back to last season, the team has set a record for the most consecutive defeats by a professional sports team in the country. Unlike the Eagles, the Sixers weren’t expected to do well, but many thought with the addition of Jahlil Okafor they would improve.

Even though he has done well in the NBA (averaging 17. 5 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game) one player cannot win by himself. With his troubles off the court as well, things are only getting worse for the Sixers. Looks like tanking for top draft picks is their only option. They used this same tactic last year and clearly it didn’t turn out well. This shows that it’s going to take more tanking for the Sixers to be a dominating force in the NBA, which leaves fans with the question-how many years will this take?

The combined winning percentage for the Philadelphia big four teams is .3375 percent, which is by far the worst winning percentage in the nation. In short, Philadelphia teams need a little more practice.