tive during virtual learning

Quaranteens

Old school vs. new school

Cecelia Kurland ’22

On March 12, we were told that we were not going to be able to go back to school for two weeks, this then became four weeks, which then became the rest of the school year. On-

cern as we return to what we considered “normal,” but some questions are left unan-

between what we used to call “normal,” and now our “new normal” are going to be big. New ways to te(a)ch Mia Hail ’23 Copy Editor

school with new classes, teachers, and schedules has been a challenge for -

uation. In a classroom, the teacher can always look around to see if the students are focused and engaged, whereas on Zoom students

Fun fresh fall! Olivia Lee ’23

Fall is here and it’s the best time of the year to eat, so let’s check out some delicious recipes that everyone can cook!

Crunchy Churro French Toast Sticks

The ultimate recipe to make on a chilly Sunday morning: crunchy churro french toast sticks! They’re warm, rich and most of all, sweet. Begin by removing the crust from a loaf of brioche bread and cutting them into large square pieces. Set aside the bread and crush two cups of cornflakes in a baggie and then pour them into a shallow dish. Now that the bread and cornflakes have been prepared, set it aside. Mix three eggs, three tablespoons of milk, two teaspoons of brown sugar, two teaspoons of cinnamon, and one teaspoon of vanilla in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine half a cup of granulated sugar and two tablespoons of cinnamon into a bowl. After preparing and setting aside all the ingredients, continue by heating up a skillet with a tablespoon of butter. As the butter melts, dip the bread into the egg mixture on all sides and coat it in crushed cornflakes. Grill the french toast until it looks golden brown, then immediately roll it in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Once all of it is cooked, enjoy with syrup and chocolate sauce!

Butternut Squash Soup

Who doesn’t like a good butternut squash soup for a fall afternoon? Butternut squash is one of the best comfort food out there! To start, peel and remove the seeds from one butternut squash, then peel two potatoes and cut both the butternut squash and potatoes into cubes. Next, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a large baking sheet, toss the butternut squash and potatoes with two tablespoons of olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Once the oven has been preheated, place the large baking sheet in the oven for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, begin chop-

ping one onion, one stock of celery and one large carrot. In a large pot over medium heat, melt one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil. Add the vegetables, and cook for seven to ten minutes or until the vegetables have softened, then season with salt, pepper, and one tablespoon of thyme. Pour the butternut squash and potatoes into the pot along with one quart of low-sodium chicken broth, and allow the contents to simmer for ten minutes. Then, finish off by transferring the mixture into a blender, creating a smooth consistency. Finally, garnish with thyme and serve!

Honey Salmon

Sweet and savory is the perfect blend for the fall season and a honey garlic glazed salmon will surely satisfy that craving. First, with paper towels, pat dry four, six ounce salmon fillets and then set them aside. Begin finely cutting three garlic cloves and slicing a lemon into round pieces. Then in a medium size bowl, whisk together one third a cup of honey, one fourth a cup of soy sauce, two tablespoons of lemon juice, and one teaspoon of red pepGraphic by Emerald Wu ’23 per flakes. Set the mixture aside, and heat a skillet on medium to high heat with two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Wait until the oil is hot (but not smoking) and add the salmon skin-side up. Then, season each piece with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Once the salmon has been cooking for about six minutes or until deeply golden, flip and add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Continue to cook the salmon and add the finely cut garlic for a minute. Add the honey mixture and sliced lemons. Let the salmon cook until one third of the sauce is reduced, turn off the heat and allow the salmon to baste. Garnish the dish with sliced lemons and, of course, enjoy! Fall is a wonderful time of the year to gather with friends and family and these dishes are perfect for making together!

Octivities

Julia Russel ’23

Due to COVID-19, this year’s fall traditions will be cel- themed penitentiary halls filled with people dressed in ebrated very differently. First of all, a lot of annual LM scary costumes. Along with this haunted house, there are fall activities won’t be happening in the same way this multiple others in the area, such as the Bates Motel. Sadyear, such as Radnor Week. Radnor Week is an entire ly due to COVID-19, these houses will be suspended and week dedicated to getting LM students excited for the big students will need to get creative with getting their “scare” football game against our rival. The various events dur- on. Regardless of age, the most classic halloween tradiing the week include spirit days, daily lunch competitions, tion, trick-or-treating, will always be exciting. Seeing all hallway wars, powder puff games, and more. It’s a great the decorations on the houses and picking through bags to opportunity for students to be actively involved and it’s find your favorite candy will always be a favorite memory such an exciting part of the school year. Alina Morin ’23 is of mine. This is the season when students browse through “disappointed about events like football games and other Pinterest during class, “claiming” Halloween costumes LM fall traditions like Radnor Week being canceled be- hoping no one else will choose an identical outfit. It is a cause they are an important part of our high school experi- festival that cuts across ages and cultures, with everyone ence, but hopefully we will have more opportunities soon.” just wanting to have a good night of fun and be something From trick-or-treating all the way to apple picking, that they’ve always fantasized about. Like so many other everything will be changed due to the new guidelines and traditions and festivities, maybe Halloween in its tradirestrictions. There are tons of Halloween traditions that tional form will also be canceled, but those who insist on LM students usually take part in. One of my personal not letting this holiday slip by without any memories will favorites would be “Terror Behind the Walls” at the East- experience a very different Halloween this year. Just like ern State Penitentiary. Here, my friends and I are con- every LM Ace, I am excited to see how we will transform stantly frightened, as we walk through the Halloween this Halloween and defy the constraints of COVID-19.

Arts & Entertainment The Merionite

From the top...from home: How to learn music virtually

Angela Ge ’23 Features Editor

Virtual learning has posed a different participating in a virtual music massive challenge in many class- class as opposed to a virtual core class. rooms this school year. However, One of the most obvious differences music classes have had to make between music classes at school and at especially drastic changes in how home is the environment. For choir stuthey teach and learn. Like most oth- dents, when at school and rehearsing in er classes at LM, music students the choir room, there is a safe, welcombegan the year by making Flipgrids, ing environment to sing in. However, introducing themselves, and get- at home, singing alone can be distractting to know each other, then got ing to others or even embarrassing started with a lot of preparations in to do in front of family members. This is order for the year to go smoothly. why one of the class’s first assignments Despite a similar start, it has been quite was to learn how to set up a work-

Avid movie-goers and film-buffs beware: there likely won’t be much new content coming to the silver screen until 2021.

In March, when COVID-19 started spreading rapidly across the country, movie theaters, like most businesses, closed, halting the release of some of the year’s most anticipated films.

Movies like the much awaited No Time To Die, the latest installment of the long-running James Bond series, were delayed for an entire year, now being released in April 2021 instead of April 2020. Black Widow, the anticipated addition to a Marvel fan favorite backstory, was also delayed a year until May 2021.

But with theaters closed, there was hope that streaming platforms would be able to come out with blockbuster films. Netflix and Hulu have released original content on their platforms for years and other organizations were trying to wade into these waters.

One of the biggest attempts to do this was with Mulan on Disney+. The film was a live-action remake, a style preferred by the studio in recent years, and had much excitement around its release. Despite controversy surrounding the lead actress, backlash after she backed Hong Kong police against pro-democracy protesters, trailers had millions of views and fans were eager to see Disney’s latest installment in their live-action remakes of classics.

Mulan’s premiere was on March 9, which was unfortunate timing in relation to the pandemic. After months of trying to schedule a summer release, Disney came to the conclusion that September 4 would be the debut over Disney+. However, in order to watch the film, subscribers would have to pay 29.99 dollars. Unlike other movies that came out over streaming platforms, Disney wasn’t going to provide this for free.

space where students felt comfortable with mics off while teachers consinging. Orchestra and band students duct or play a metronome. When also learned to create practice spaces practicing at home, it is incredibly where they could eliminate distrac- difficult to listen to others and adjust tions and minimize the distraction they accordingly, which is compoundmight create for those around them. ed by the inability to hear how loud

Another new challenge that everyone else is and mesh sounds has arisen in virtual rehearsals and with the surrounding musicians. classes is that it is much harder for For choir, because fall concerts teachers to sync all of their stu- are most likely not able to occur in dents together. Due to these compli- person, students will each be recordcations, most music teachers have ing themselves singing, after which the decided to have students practice recordings will be put together, creating an album out of the music they learned. For that reason, the way of learning the songs has changed from learning all of the pieces the same time and practicing each song for a little every class, to focusing on one song, recording it, and then moving on to the next one. Also, since many people don’t like hearing their own voices, students were tasked with analyzing how voices that are recorded differ from what one hears in their head, and how to adjust accordingly. These assignments have helped facilitate a smoother start to virtual practices and provided students with enriching musical experiences that can be hard to come by in these difficult times. As orchestra student Amy Huang ’23 stated, “Although no virtual experience can measure up to the joy of making music alongside your friends, I deeply appreciate all the effort the music department has been putting into allowing us to have the most enjoyable experience possible while virtual learning.”

The fall of the blockbuster

Davis Giangiulio ’21 Arts & Entertainment Editor

Graphic By Emerald Wu ’23/Staff

“I get that they were trying to make a realistic price to what it would’ve been [in theaters], but you’re paying partially for the experience at a theater which you don’t get at home sitting on a couch,” said Ellie Ward ’21, who purchased and viewed the movie on Disney+. This was, to put it simply, a horrendous decision on the part of Disney. Few wanted to pay an extra price on top of their subscription, and it led only to criticisms of Disney. Even worse for the company, their decision to release it for free on Disney+ on December 4 has led many subscribers to just wait a few extra months to see the film. Disney therefore made only made $6.88 million dollars off of Mulan, very little money compared to its budget of two hundred million, and its controversial release only led to less people wanting to see it. Ward also thought that the movie’s cost “wasn’t worth it,” from a quality standpoint, continuing that she, “liked the original much more.” With Disney proving that blockbuster franchises will struggle with new releases, and with movie theaters like Regal shutting their doors again, it seems unlikely that we’ll get any new films until it’s safe enough for theaters to have large audiences once again, not to mention that more films will be additionally delayed because filming for many productions up in the air due to COVID-19 precautions. So if you’re looking for new films beyond Netflix originals, you’re probably going to have to wait, as Disney’s struggle shows there’s no good way for studios to release big films at this time. However, what you can look forward to is late 2021 and early 2022, when there will be a flood of new releases, as things, hopefully, return to normal. Graphic By Noa Cutler ’22/Staff