35.05

The Milton Paper NOVEMBER 10th, 2017

VOL. 35 NO. 05

MILTON’S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER

The Wanger

Feeling Stupid

By JESSICA WANG '18

Right now, I am sitting at a hackathon. I’ve decided, rather than coding, as I’ve done for the past four hours, to write a much-needed article on the culture of computer programming.

News

Growing Concern Leads to Middle School Switch to Flag Football

I’ve always felt that there was a group of people who were “in” with the world of computer programming, and a group of people who were, fatally, left out of that world. I fell in the latter. I didn’t know what I was missing, but I definitely felt as if I was lacking that elusive “something” that set me apart from the other members of my class. This was the “something” that allowed people to blurt out answers in class, or come into class discussing the specs of the newest PCs and spout jargon I could never hope to know.

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News Diwali Assembly: What are the Roles of Clubs on Campus?

By EVITA THADHANI '20

At Monday assembly two weeks ago, South-Asian society shared a presentation about Diwali, the Hindu light festival, with the entire Upper School. The intent of the presentation was to educate the community about the holiday, but the crowd soon became distracted by an onscreen image of a Hindu symbol resembling the Nazi swastika. Soon after, SAS emailed the entire school an apology for portraying this symbol. A heated debate ensued about whether SAS had to apologize and the connotation of the symbol arose, displayed to everyone on the all-school email chain.

Administrators were disappointed

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Image courtesy of Neighborhood Sports

By ALEX MILLARD '18 & MOLLY WILSON '18 This fall, due to rising concern among parents and the resulting inability to field a team, the middle-school football program switched to flag football. According to middle-school athletic director Sam Landau, the switch from tackle football to flag has been a long time coming.

Over the last few years, significant and indisputable research has revealed the vulnerability of developing brains to long-term damage and the correlation between youth football and such brain injuries. In a recent New York Times article about youth football, writer Ken Belson explained that doctors at the Wake Forest School of Medicine found that “boys between the ages of 8 and 13 who played just one season of tackle football had diminished brain function in parts of their brains.” Similarly, Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center found that “playing tackle football before

the age of 12 increased the odds of problems with behavioral regulation, apathy and executive functioning later in life by twofold, and the odds of suffering symptoms of depression threefold.” (Sean Gregory, Time Magazine) Echoing the concerns of medical professionals and researchers, some Milton parents were hesitant to allow their children to play tackle, and the middle school football team’s numbers dropped significantly. Over the past few years, the middle school consistently had a roster of only seventeen to twenty, while a typical tackle football team calls for twenty-five or more players. According to middle-school football coach Chaim Andler, most of the middle-school players “were 6th graders and smaller 7th graders,” yet most of the team’s match-ups were against 7th and 8th grade teams with larger players. Andler described the situation as “potentially

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Inside This Issue Development Ambassadors pg. 5 || Bathrooms & #Metoo pg. 12|| Lil Pump pg. 14

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The Milton Paper The 35th Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief Managing Editor Editor at Large Opinion Manager News Managers Senior Editors Website Editor Layout Editor

Navpreet Sekhon and Rachel Handler Nihal Raman Jonah Garnick Aditya Gandhi James DeLano and Emma James Edward Moreta and Alex Millard Coalter Palmer Zoë Camaya

A&E Editor Elizabeth Foster

Opinion Editor Molly Wilson

Faculty Sponsor Lisa Baker

Humor Editor Jake Griffin

Sports Editors Thomas Elliott James Oh

Associate Editors Pierce Wilson Natasha Roy Rishi Dhir

News

Opinion

Abby Walker Evita Thadhani Lyndsey Mugford Sarah Alkhafaji Brendan Hegarty Susan Urstadt Hana Widerman Nathan Smith Sarah Palmer Max Litvak Cece Zinny Charlotte Kane Eliza Dunn Louise Goldenberg Oscar Burnes

Celena Eccleston Rachel Ding Serena Fernandopulle Vivian Soong Willa DuBois William Kim Jack Weiler Jessica Wang Pierce Wilson Jessica Kim Drew Bartkus Bodhi Becker Katarina Stephan Olayeni Oladipo Maggie Shields Christian Westphal Eva Westphal Ella O'Hanlon Emma Bradley Jana Amin Kathryn Fer Kayla Mathieu Madeline Fitzgibbon Maya Bokari Nikhil Pande

A&E Madison Lynch Hannah Hachamovitch Maggie Adedamola Hannah Hachamovitch Jane Yang Jennifer Lim Calvin Cheong Grace Li Grace Vainisi

Humor Jake Griffin Janelle Davis Lyndsey Mugford Drew Bartkus

Narrative Journalism Malia Chung

Sports Kendelle Grubbs Liam Kennedy James Oh Sophia Li Katherine McDonough Antoine Wiley Eliot Miailhe Luke Monnich Lily Wright Zacary Omar

Milton’s Independent Weekly Student Newspaper “A Forum for Discussion and Thought” Founded 1979 • Publishing Weekly Since 1983 Founders David Roth • Mark Denneen The Milton Paper is an independent, student-produced publication. It does not necessarily represent the views of the students, faculty, administration, or Milton Academy itself. Please do not copy or reproduce without permission.

Letters Policy: The Milton Paper gladly accepts letters from anyone who sends them. We do not promise to publish any or all letters, and we retain the rights to edit letters for content, length, and clarity. We will not publish anonymous letters. If inclined, please take the opportunity to write to us. Send letters by mail (Letters to the Editor, The Milton Paper, Milton Academy, 170 Centre Street, Milton, MA 02186), by email (TheMiltonPaper34@gmail.com), or by personal delivery to our office Warren 304.

Editorial

Condemn Sexual Violence at Milton

Just like any other institution, whether it be a workplace or place of education, Milton Academy is not immune to sexual offenses.

Given Milton’s history with sexual offenses, our reaction to allegations of such should regard them with higher importance. However, these problems can sometimes fall into the background because we struggle to reconcile how such vulgar actions could happen in our safe bubble.

Even when we do acknowledge these issues, denouncing the perpetrator can be difficult because we know that person as our teammate, classmate, dormmate, or colleague. As a result, we bury the allegations. We prefer to act as silent bystanders. We say, “They made a mistake,” or, “They’re not like that,” rather than confront the upsetting reality that people we interact with are both perpetrators and victims. With this mentality, we justify our silence.

Consider the issues of sexual assault and harassment at Milton.

Contrary to how we strive to truly listen to others’ truths regarding their identities, we refuse to react in the same manner when we acknowledge sexual violence. We focus on issues of diversity and inclusion, but we don’t dig as deeply into understanding sexual realities.

In too many occasions, the identity of the perpetrator plays a large role in our reacting to grievances. The students who have social power in the school will probably not hold their friends accountable, thus ostracizing those who had the courage to simply speak up.

Milton must cater to all of its faculty and students, set the standard for how it assesses punishments regarding sexual offenses, and define how to approach similarly complex issues. We believe that students should be held—and hold each other—accountable. At Milton, we learn about more than just how to analyze sentences: we learn how to interact with the world and establish values that we carry past our graduation. All that we internalize from the adults in our community informs those principles; thus every action creates a chain reaction on our mentality of how to treat others.

Sexual offenses occur at Milton. We need to be able to admit that reality as a part of both our institution’s past and present. To discuss these issues is to progress our mindset on denouncing sexual violence. If we care about this community, then we must support those who come forward, and reject those who perpetrate such despicable acts. We must not waver in this commitment: we don’t get a day off from condemning sexual assault.•

Thank You Veterans For Your Service

PAGE 3

News

Changes to The Office of Multiculturalism

Image courtesy of Milton Academy

By SARAH ALKHAFAJI '20

The Office of Multiculturalism and Community Development (OMCD) has made changes to its faculty and programming since last year. The name of the office has stayed the same, but the office has made sure to make itself more accessible to and recognized by students and faculty.

The office has recently expanded from its two-person faculty, previously consisting of Heather Flewelling and the since resigned Jamila Capitman, and has now grown to include Suzanne DeBuhr, Tash Dukuly, Mark Heath, Tasha Otenti, and the new head of the office, Ilan Rodriquez.

Each of the new faculty members have been previously involved in helping with the programming of the office. The office added these new faculty members after taking into account its need for a broad range of perspectives and connection to a wide range of students. The newly added faculty also take the time to work in the office’s development. “Each individual in the office has a particular focus for expanding the diversity and inclusion efforts around campus,” Suzanne DeBuhr stated.

Ms. Flewelling stated that the he goal of the office is to “encourage all students to see themselves as connected to important conversations and sharing of identity and community and to work to identify strategies to develop common language and skills to understand diversity and inclusion in more coherent ways.”

Changes have been made to the transition program, including more workshops in

place of classes. Likewise, more diversity workshops have been added to the opening of school programming.

These programs allow students to share parts of their identity, better understand one another, and spread less hatred. Ms. Flewelling stated that these assemblies and discussions serve to, “create a space for learning about how our personal stories make it possible to see each other in fuller ways, giving a richness to our community.”.

Returning students were able to recognize the OMCD’s stronger presence and changes in programming. The fireside chat last week was another way for the student body to get to know the staff of the office of multiculturalism; moreover, this chat provided students an opportunity to share their own stories. With the fireside chat and the OMCD assembly, “[The OMCD was] hoping to model what it looks like to share stories in order to encourage others to also share their stories,” Ms. Debuhr said.

By organizing assemblies such as the fireside chat, Rodney Glasgow’s and Rosetta Lee’s speaking, opening of school programming, and the OMCD Wednesday assembly, the office has made itself more open to students and faculty and to constructive criticism. “I feel like the Office of Multiculturalism has been trying to get closer to students this year,” Avery Miller ’20 said, “but the faculty should reach out to students who do not necessarily show interest in what the office stands for. They should include more in-school programming instead of just optional work that only the already woke people attend.” •

You're being daft.

Flag Football CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 dangerous for the younger kids.”

Given the dwindling number of players, uncertainty regarding the ability to compete, and concern about player safety, the middle-school athletic department initiated conversations with Upper-School varsity coach Kevin MacDonald, Upper-School Athletic Director Lamar Reddicks, and others about making a change. After much deliberation, Mr. Landau sent a letter this summer to middle-school parents announcing that the football program would be switching to flag football.

While many parents were relieved by the shift away from tackle, others expressed initial concern. Some worried that this switch would leave their children ill-prepared to play highschool tackle football. However, Mr. Landau alleviated these concerns by allowing physically-capable 8th graders to play on the JV high-school team and be absorbed into the upper-school program.

With these qualms addressed, the transition has proven a great success.

Mr. Landau described the quality of play as “really looking like football without the tackling. Coaches run plays, the kids work together as a team.

It doesn’t look like backyard football.”

Additionally, the switch to flag has strengthened the program’s enrollment.

The current roster lists twenty-two students, including one girl. The team played twelve games this fall, an increase from their previous eight, and also played against some new schools.

Milton was not the first middle school to switch to flag football and will likely not be the last. The combination of an inherently dangerous sport with young athletes and their developing, fragile brains has become unsustainable and arguably unethical. As a middle-school athletic director, Mr. Landau sees this danger and foresees others gravitating towards the safer option, predicting that “middle-school tackle football will become obsolete in the next five years.”

With this trend away from tackle, highschool football may soon diverge from the sport we’ve come to know•

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News

Behind the Class IV Election Process

By LOUISE GOLDENBERG '21 At Milton Academy, ten students hold a special position of power. These chosen students, selected by their classmates to stand as representatives in the Student Governing Association (SGA), represent the needs of their classes. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors elect their student leaders in the spring of the previous year. However, the Freshman class cannot.

Elections for freshman class reps take place about two months into school, and students are expected to self-nominate by sending in a paragraph to the class deans explaining why they believe they are the right choice for the job. These statements of intent are sent to the whole grade; a few days later, each nominee presents a one minute speech following up this paragraph.

The class votes directly following the speeches by ranking the candidates.

With the election being early in the year, are the freshman class reps the best people to lead the class or just the most popular? How does the election process encourage one or the other? When asked

how popularity affects students’ voting decisions, Charlotte Gilson ’21, one of the Class IV representatives, said, “I think that since everyone has their friends, a lot of people voted for the people that they knew the best; however, I think that people were considerate of other people’s speeches.”

Gilson’s comment suggests that the freshman class representative election may be a popularity contest, where students failed to consider each candidate.

However, Mrs. Kelleher, one of the Class IV Deans, had a different outlook on students’ friendships affecting their votes. She said that “sometimes [students] vote for someone [they] like a lot because [they] feel that the reasons [they] like them actually make them a good candidate.”

Mrs. Kelleher noted that voting based on popularity may not be completely negative.

In her view, although there are flaws in the election process, it is still a very good process that has room for improvements that teachers and students can work towards in the coming years.

Similarly, Ian Glick ’21, the other Class IV representative, stated that students are “not just voting for a speech, [they’re]

Integrity of the Classroom

Image courtesy of Milton Academy

By JENN CHEN '19 The beginning of each new school year marks a fresh start. Senior fall, however, usually marks the journey of college applications, essay writing, and grade-related stress. Seniors have six weeks of work and perhaps two or three major assignments in each class before grades are shipped off to schools for review. The stress of sending grades to dream schools pressures not only students but also teachers to produce higher grades—deserved or not—for the sake of college and the future.

Grade inflation is the depreciation of the

value of grades through teachers’ giving out high, if not undeserving, grades to students, a practice more likely to happen in the frenzy of senior fall. The topic of grade inflation does not often enter the day-to-day dialogue of Milton students and Milton faculty, and if the subject does come up, no specific names are uttered.

From an educator’s standpoint, inflating grades at Milton is unethical. Rod Skinner, Director of College Counseling and a former English teacher, believes that allowing the college process to affect grades and teaching “violates the contract of learning.”

Consciously giving leeway to seniors due

voting for a person” and that changing the election process to something like an anonymous election would not fix problems.

While an anonymous election would eliminate the popularity effect, class representatives are not supposed to be people who can write a good speech—they must also have good personalities and leadership skills that are present in everyday interactions.

While the Class IV election process may have some problems, the class reps and deans feel that there is no perfect solution and the current process is working quite well. They all believe in different improvements that can be made to improve the system; however, the general consensus was that the current election system works effectively to elect class reps who will lead the class and represent them in the school.

As Mrs. Kelleher said, “We trust the Class IV students...with [their] vote.”

While the process isn’t perfect, and it probably never will be, freshman classes must trust each other to vote and elect who they believe will be the best representative and leader of their grade. •

to college should not be allowed. However, Mr. Skinner also says that “some inflation” does occur at Milton. “The grades are high,” he says, “But one could argue, the kids are smart.”

Mr. Skinner hopes Milton teachers do not succumb to pressure to inflate grades, and if grade inflation has occurred, “we need to talk about it and do something about it.”

Grade inflation is certainly an issue of integrity of teachers. However, are teachers the only ones responsible for this issue?

The pressure around grades and success in courses starts before senior fall even begins, when juniors are picking courses. Bill Hamel, chair of the Modern Languages Department, uses the term “risk management” to describe students’ entry into the college process. The grade-related turmoil starts when some students pick particular courses to try to ensure good grades for their senior interim marks. According to Mr. Hamel, that pressure to achieve higher grades increases as interim grades approach, and teachers receive the question of how to “ensure” a certain grade by more and more.

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News

PAGE 5

What is a Development Ambassador? (From Some of Us)

By EMMA JAMES '18 & PIERCE WILSON '19 One of the few activities on campus not associated with the Student Activities Association is the Development Ambassador program, run by the Development Office. Development Ambassadors are involved in a variety of Development projects, from Thank-a-Giver Day to Reunion Weekend to Mr. Millet’s 100th Birthday festivities. But most consistently, Development Ambassadors meet every few weeks to help with “phonathons,” events during which Ambassadors and other volunteers place calls to a list of

prospective supporters either thanking them for donating or asking them to donating. Ambassadors specifically call members of the Milton alumni network, Milton’s registered group of alumni and alumni parents.

The Development Office has been organizing a Milton-Nobles Day young alumni donation competition event against Nobles for the past few weeks: the school with the most gifts, no matter the size, wins. Last Thursday, the Ambassadors called alumni from graduation year ’03 onward and encouraged them to make any gift, whether it be $1 or $100. Ambassadors were given a script to help cover the main details of the

event, but improvisation was the norm as conversation was a priority.

An education Milton cannot give in the classroom is that of philanthropy: the desire to support a good cause, most often by donating time or money. And considering the Dare Campaign is 70% towards its financial goal of $175 million, Ambassador and student involvement is more important than ever.

Besides learning the important skills of philanthropy — giving, networking, fundraising, and more — Ambassadors have plenty of educational interactions. Amy Shohet ’19 shared a funny anecdote in

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Diwali Assembly CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 by the lack of empathy and civilized dialogue demonstrated in this email chain, prompting the administration to shut off the ability for students to email the whole school. The administration further urged the community to continue the conversions face to face rather than over a public electronic space. These incidents spark the pressing questions: how did the assembly affect people in different ways and what should be the roles of cultural clubs and affinity groups on campus?

The assembly definitely affected each person in a different way. “I was not offended—possibly because I already knew about the Swastika’s history—but I can understand the opinions of those who were offended. Some have relatives who were affected by the Holocaust, and others can’t look past the Swastika’s more modern connotation: I feel that both those who were offended and those who weren’t had valid opinions,” says an anonymous member of the Jewish Student Union. The assembly evoked varying opinions, but overall, students seemed to empathize with one another and see different plausible points of view.

However, the email chain that followed left many feeling hurt and frustrated. An anonymous member of SAS explains that he was hurt by one comment which implied that South Asians are less significant in our community as Jews, so Jews should not need to learn or see the symbol. “I do not think that this comment was productive. Just because a specific group is a minority doesn't mean it's not worth learning about them because if that was true we would only be learning about white culture and white history because the majority of our school is white,” he says.

SAS is just one of the many cultural groups on campus, and their effort to share the Diwali celebration with us raises whether culture and affinity groups should strive to teach others about their culture or merely stay within those who already know the culture. Mrs. Singh, faculty sponsor of SAS, answered this question quite eloquently. “One of the great gifts of being a part of a diverse community is being able to learn from each other about different cultural traditions and faith, experiences, and we would be at a disadvantage if we didn’t create opportunities in our community to learn from each other,” she says. However, the purpose of these groups is also to provide students with a safe space to share unique parts of their identity. She goes on, explaining that “The goal of both affinity groups and culture clubs are to create a space for students to explore different parts of their identity, and in the case of SAS, south asian students represent such a small percentage of our community that I hope it's a space in which students can explore and or be reminded of where they come from.”

Many cultural and affinity groups seek the perfect balance between providing a space for a specific group of people and attempting to remain an open forum for outsiders to learn about this specific group. But is that specific group responsible for teaching others? “I think it is not solely the responsibility of students to teach one another about their respective cultures, and that the school has a role to play in that as well,” Mrs. Singh explains.

However, some people believe that cultural clubs and affinity groups should not educate others at all. “The groups can have joint meetings, but an emphasized

attempt to combine cultures is unnecessary and counterproductive. The whole point of specialized cultural groups is for members of those groups to discuss issues and topics specific to each group...

When I go to JSU meetings, I expect to connect with other Jewish students, not to learn about the the life of southern Asians, the condition of Christians, or the predicament of international students,” the JSU member exclaims.

Clearly, the assembly impacted people in different ways, and opinions vary on what role clubs and affinity groups should play on campus. However, I think most agree that the assembly incident ultimately helped our community grow in a positive direction; the incident allowed the high school to see the importance of empathizing with those unlike us and the lasting impact of the world’s complex past. “We have to find the right balance between exploring the actual evolution of the symbol and being mindful of the impact that such a pursuit could have on individuals,” Mrs. Singh states. Finding this balance proves to be difficult, but the assembly incident provided a learning experience to move us one more step in the right direction. Ms. Moyer, the JSU faculty sponsor, contemplates the SAS’s apology following the assembly. “ It was, in my opinion, an excellent example of how as a community we can work through a difficult issue,” she says. While this incident may have created some turmoil within the Milton community, this event actually served as a platform for us to develop as more socially conscious students. •

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News

The Logistics of Religious Holidays at Milton

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

By MAX LITVAK '20 “Our institution [wants] to ensure that students feel supported in practicing their faith,” Mr. Ball stated in a recent Monday assembly. Milton Academy seeks to respect their students’ range of religious beliefs. But in reality, the logistics of establishing inclusion for all religious holidays has proven a balancing act for the administration.

The administration strives to ensure that Milton community -- students and teachers -- are supported during religious holidays.

Administrators and educators “typically communicate multiple times before the holidays,” Mr. Ball shared; this year, teachers received several emails regarding the expectations for homework assignments during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, holidays signifying the beginning of the Jewish year.

Afterwards, administrators visited the Jewish Student Union (JSU) seeking the Jewish students’ view on their school efforts to handle the holidays.

While the focus on reducing workload to allow Jewish students time for celebration is important, the question of whether the holidays are recognized throughout the community in terms of understanding is more complicated.

There is no “absolute rule,” on how to ensure students and faculty obtain knowledge on each holiday, Mr. Ball said. For example, Mr. Ball “knew that he wanted to invite JSU to present Monday morning,” although the administration still “does not require groups to make presentations.” Holidays significant to many members of the community can pass unnoticed by the greater student body if care is not taken to inform and educate.

According to the academic policy for religious holidays, “no homework should be expected of students observing a religious holiday.” In addition, “no quizzes or tests may be scheduled on the holiday or the day following.” While teachers must abide by these guidelines regardless, a deeper understanding of the holidays might transform an obligatory homework pass into a moment of learning and empathy.

Due to the nature of many holidays, including Yom Kippur, which traditionally involves fasting and multiple prayer services, observing students are truly unable to do homework. Mr. Ball said that “if students feel as if the work they are asked to produce for the day after the holiday is unduly burdensome, than the homework also requires re-examination.”

Although the administration is not re-examining this homework policy right now, Mr. Ball discussed the conversation on allowing for students to take time off to observe holiday. From boarding students’ perspectives, “it is worth it to have long breaks,” but “for day students, that may not make sense.”

Even if each boarding student was granted several days to take off on their own, as time supplemental to federal holidays, Mr. Ball fears that boarding students would take advantage of the privilege: in an optimal situation, “If your faith has four holidays and mine has one, you should take four days off, and I should take one off, and if there are no important days, I should take zero.”

The administration must balance many variables, including “range of faiths” and “range of proximity to family.” There usually seems to be one prohibiting factor to solutions around religious holiday, whether that be responsibility for boarding students, the calendar, etc.

A solution that perfectly fits every member of our religiously- [and otherwise] diverse community does not exist, and giving time off can be very complicated. On the other hand, the no-homework rule on religious holidays, perhaps when supplemented with an all-school email acknowledging different religions, would be an easy improvement.

Putting religious holidays and cultural celebrations on the all-school academic calendar for students, families, and faculty to view would minimize confusion around planning events and show all students that they are seen. •

Integrity CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The idea of grade inflation, as described

by Mr. Hamel, is “a product of a battle that both sides have neither lost or won.” Students often feel, Mr. Hamel points out, that “[they] can’t have a grade below an A-, and the teacher does not want to go down a path of awkward conversations about giving a grade below an A-.” In some instances, this situation can put stress on faculty-student relationships.

But, from a senior’s perspective, leniency during senior fall is needed amidst the stress of starting a new chapter of life. Alex Millard ’18 thinks that faculty who teach seniors should keep in mind that seniors have added work with college applications and “should be a little kinder with grading, but still make sure that [students] are trying.”

Millard says that teachers “have been neither more nice nor more harsh with their grading in senior fall,” only occasionally being “more lenient with giving extensions,” but overall still holding fast to previous standards. Like Mr. Hamel, Millard believes that generally Milton teachers preserve the integrity of the classroom during senior fall.

However, upon being asked about grade inflation, Millard stated that she has heard of teachers inflating grades because the “[teachers] feel bad for students.” But she has also heard that teachers are “pretty stoic and do not care that students are applying.”

Millard also brought to light that “it is unfair that some teachers do grade inflation and other don´t because it is unfair to help some students but not others... it doesn’t balance out.” Grade inflation and the upholding of classroom integrity, at least according to this student perspective, is not completely set in stone.

Grade inflation is a breach in classroom integrity made by the teacher, but created through an accumulation of student and teacher interaction. The act of grade inflation is invisible and unspoken, but students and faculty alike can always be more light on topics that are not talked about. •

They're back.

Again. In case you couldn't tell.

PAGE 7

News

New ASC Project

By CHARLOTTE KANE '19 Art with a Social Conscience revealed their newest project to the Milton community a few weeks ago: a display of multi-colored index cards hangs from the windows and rails of the Student Center. Although these cards might seem trivial to passerby students, they intend to symbolize how far our community has come in creating a more welcoming place, as well as the work we still need to accomplish.

Sit-ins lasting two days last spring brought the Milton community to a halt after students brought racism in the community to light. Many students were left confused, angry, and upset after the protests and the administration’s subsequent response. For many students, no outlet existed to help them process how they felt.

In response to these feeling and many more, Kat Stephen ‘19 and Jeanna Shaw ‘20 wanted to “help people process the protests,” Shaw said. With the help of Latin teacher and, as of this year, OMCD coordinator Ms. Otenti, they worked out plans with

class deans for programming to complete the project. All sophomores, juniors, and seniors had the opportunity during their respective assemblies to write their own cards.

Each color had its own “prompt”: according to Stephan, green cards are takeaways from the protests, yellow cards show pledges each student made, pink card represent appreciations for those around, and blue cards indicate confusions students had and might still have. Shaw said that the cards remind us that “each one of us should make an effort to help change the community for the better.” The cards let Milton students express their individual beliefs and be mixed in with their peers’ ideas.

Although the spring’s events may seem far away, the cards remind the community of the work that still needs to be done and that “bigotry and racism did not end over summer vacation,” as Shaw said. The statement sent out to students this past spring says that seeing the issue is “the first step to fighting systemic oppression.” The cards hold the potential to help members of our community take that crucial leap.

This fall, Art with a Social Conscience strung the cards and hung them so that all members of Milton could be reminded of last spring’s events. Although the cards remain on full display in the Student Center, Stephan said that people might have a “disconnect between the message and the audience” because the cards were not put up immediately after the protests.

Student reactions to the display have been mixed because some don’t understand its significance. When asked what she thought the project symbolizes, Susie Urstadt ‘20 said she didn’t know and dismissed them as “from some club.” On the other hand, Victoire Legrand ‘18 claimed that the cards “serve as a good reminder of the ongoing progress we need to be making” in accepting our differences.

What should Milton students and faculty do in response to this project? The project’s organizers hope to show that the community can “work collectively and as individuals” for the good of the school and all the people in it. Most importantly, to its creators, the project aims to show students that “we have people with us for love, support and unity.” •

Instructional Rounds

By OSCAR BURNES '21 Instructional Rounds resumed the week before last; although last year, the Rounds seemed to focus on greater patterns in the Milton community, this year the intention seems to focus more on inter-teacher observational learning.

Ms. Singh is the Dean of Teaching and Learning and one of the Rounds’ coordinators; last year, she was tasked with working with the faculty to create a way for all the teachers to learn together and learn from each other. It soon became clear to her that Milton needed to find a way for the faculty to work together on their craft, and from that, the Instructional Rounds were born.

Starting last fall, teachers spend a few days over a month sitting in on various classes to observe fellow teachers’ classroom strategies. During the Instructional Rounds, teachers are assigned random classes outside their subject to attend. So, a

math teachers might attend an English class, history teacher to Spanish, etc. Over the course of two years, each teacher will have completed a set of Instructional Rounds.

Ms. Singh described Rounds as “opportunities for [teachers] to see students outside of their spaces.” For students, these rounds offer the immediate reward of more free periods, but hopefully will offer overall improvement in teaching at Milton.

The Rounds promise progress for teachers in evaluating their own teaching styles.

It helps them reconsider their current teaching practices; in the words of Ms. Bonenfant, Academic Dean and math teacher, the Rounds cause teachers to “ask themselves, ‘is everything I’m doing serving the purpose of learning?’” It can be challenging for students and teachers alike to step back and think critically about their practices; Rounds strive to simplify this.

During Instructional Rounds, teachers can almost pick and choose teaching ideas

they like from another teacher. But greater than just scrutinizing over individual teachers, Rounds allow observing teachers to note “patterns of teaching and learning across disciplines, as Ms. Singh said.

And these rounds are proven to cause positive results. After combing through the research on similar Instructional Rounds models at other institutions, Ms. Singh found that “teachers who collaborate have deeper levels of learning happening in their classroom.”

Rounds have the potential to make a positive impact on our Milton education, so if you see a math teacher in your English class, don’t tell them they are lost and direct them towards Ware. Because while they may seem redundant at first, with your participation, Rounds can benefit your learning in ways you may not even notice. As your teachers develop the ways in which they think, learn, and teach, your classroom experience will improve.•

PAGE 8

Opinion

RIP All_USStudents Email

MENTAL HEALTH AT MILTON

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By SERENA FERNANDOPULLE '19

As we all know, the all school email address that was used to send emails to the whole upper school student body has been suspended for the time being. Students primarily used this email group to send emails for clubs or general school announcements. However, recently, it has become a platform of unproductive dialogue. In the email Mr. Ruiz sent announcing the deactivation of this service, he explains that “the All_USStudents conference was not designed to be a discussion space.” I would like to challenge the concept that the all school email is not meant to be a place for dialogue.

Over the past year, Milton has strove to bring diversity speakers to Milton in order to talk about healthy dialogue due to the events that transpired last spring.

All of the speakers, including Rodney Glasgow and Rosetta Lee, emphasized the importance of open dialogue. The administration has started a movement to encourage hard conversations about race, gender, and other identity-related topics.

Since then, both productive and unproductive conversations have exploded on campus.

I think that it is only natural that students start having these conversations on platforms such as the all_usstudents conference, because reaches a broader audience than just the people we talk to.

We don’t want to talk to just our friends who most likely have the same views as us, we want to interact with different opinions. The whole purpose of productive dialogue is to engage when you disagree with someone; however, we are not given the chance to do so unless we use larger platforms such as the all school conference. Last spring, many students sent emails on this conference with the intent of having a dialogue and the email

was not shut down then. Back then, we did not follow the rules of a safe dialogue because of the high emotions. I understand that at that time, there would have been huge backlash if the school deactivated all school email. It was crucial in organizing and educating others on what was happening at the time. Even though the emails sent a two weeks ago were a different scenario, I think that deactivating the all school email and not allowing these conversations to happen on large platforms conflicts with the school’s goal of more open dialogue across the community.

The debate over the appropriation and other meanings to cultural symbols is important for us to grapple with. However, there was no platform or forum for the whole school to engage with this conversation other than the all school email. For this specific example, I think that it would have been better if the deans chatted with the parties involved in the unproductive dialogue and revoked their all_usstudents privileges, not the whole school’s. I know that the all school conference was not created for dialogue, but we students have used it to have these difficult conversations.

We need another place or forum to have these discussions school wide if the administration thinks that the all_usstudents conference is not meant for conversation. Good or bad, any dialogue and is one step closer to the school being a more open, accepting, and equitable community. Deactivating a major place of community dialogue defeats the purpose of the administration’s many efforts over the past six months. The only way for us to learn to have good dialogue is to try it out and to make mistakes. If we don’t have any way to have community conversations, then we cannot even putting our good dialogue to the test.•

Image courtesy of North Americfa Tuned In

By MADELINE FITZGIBBONS '20 Milton students face a lot of pressure, and this year students have heard several times that mental health is a key theme for the year at school. At various assemblies, teachers have spoken about prioritizing mental health, but it is unclear what this actually means and how it will affect students. We have heard that Milton is working to focus on mental health awareness and outreach to students, but, as of now, we have not seen any plans implemented. Instead, we hear vague ideas and good intentions with no concrete action. While I recognize that the year just began, I feel that offering more definitive guidance, teaching students about available resources, and providing opportunities for discussion would be more effective than mere announcements.

In large group settings like assemblies, students can only listen without truly engaging in conversation. Student engagement is crucial to truly understanding emotional well being and reducing the stigma of mental health, and only through understanding can students work to both improve their own health and create a more supportive environment.

Students at Milton face severe academic and social pressures, and few have reliable strategies for managing stress. Though self-advocacy is encouraged, new students in particular are unsure how to alleviate stress or even what resources are available to help them. Students cannot be expected to advocate for themselves without being aware of opportunities for assistance and support.

Although Milton is talking about improving mental health, with more targeted and

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

PAGE 9

Opinion American Drama

Image courtesy of Digital Inspiration

By RISHI DHIR '19 Every day, millions of people gather in front of their televisions to catch the latest episode of Keeping Up with The Kardashians or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Yet, with the sharp increase in viewership of reality shows, Americans have become more dependent on drama in our everyday lives, allowing ourselves not only to be easily manipulated but also to become obsessed with drama, seeking it everywhere we go.

FX research uncovered that in 2015 the number of unscripted shows, or reality shows, were shown during primetime hours 83% more than scripted shows.

Since most of the channels pander to what the viewers want, it is clear that what American viewers want more of is drama.

Many actually use this craving to their advantage. During the campaign, Trump would constantly spout outlandish statements, each one more ludicrous than the previous one. Whether he was calling all Mexicans “rapists” or mocking a disabled reporter, we knew that each of his statements would make headlines for the next few weeks.

Trump’s increased media presence drew significant attention to himself. This helped Trump really put his name out there and distract people from his policies, or lack thereof. Come election time, Trump had attracted so much attention from the American people that he ended up as President of the United States. While we may never know if Trump said these statements with the intention of creating drama, he has demonstrated the American’s increasing craving for drama.

Consider another such case. Lavar Ball is the father of the Ball brothers, which include Lonzo, a rookie point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. Lavar is also the founder of the Big Baller Brand, a company known for two things: the BBB symbol and eccentric prices. Lavar shot into prominence by going on shows like First Take and making ridiculous claims.

He has said that Lonzo, who hasn’t even been in the league for a year, is better than the 2-time Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry. Lavar has even claimed that he could beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one. While most people laugh at his absurdity, his company has received a wave of attention. Celebrities like Jay-Z have endorsed the Big Baller Brand, buying three pairs of the ZO2 shoes (which retail for 495$ a pair). Lavar has taken advantage of our addiction to drama and built up an entire company.

Unfortunately, Milton too falls victim to this indulgence. Last year, in response to the privilege posters displayed around the Student Center, SAGE held a joint meeting among the different affinity groups on campus, among them Conservative Club and Onyx. This joint meeting had the right intention, hoping to encourage dialogue between different groups. However, over one-hundred students filed into Straus hall to witness the drama. Students were reportedly saying that “There’s so much beef here, I can’t wait to see what happens” or “I want to see these groups really fight it out.” Clearly, the majority of those at the meeting were there to watch a bloodbath, not exchange ideas. During the discussion, anytime someone said something slightly controversial, a roar of gleeful oohs and aahs arose from the crowd.

Our dependence on drama is toxic. Our craving leads us to become

more susceptible to manipulation of our ways of thinking. And if we let our lives be controlled by drama, we will constantly be distracted by something out of our control.

Only by decreasing our reliance on drama can we actually involve ourselves in the amazing things that our community and its people have to offer in the world. For a few brief moments, we are all together as a single community.

Likewise, during the first day of the sit-ins last year, songs by people of color regarding issues pertaining to people of color washed over the bottom floor of the Stu, as, regardless of race or ethnicity, we all sat and represented the groups in our community who had been hurt by years of negligence by various administrative and student communities. We sat together and listened to Kanye West’s “Blood on the Leaves,” which samples Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit,” a song about the Jim Crow Era in the south. Even in moments when we are most divided, lyrics can bring us together to embrace the people who most need support.

We create so many categories in our community: Black, White, Asian, LGBT+, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Conservative, Liberal, Paper supporter, Measure supporter—the list goes on. We make opportunity for us to be divided, to fight, to hate each other. But we must take a minute to make some music together, or listen to some music together, and realize that we are all just people. We are all the same at our very core, and music puts us all on the same level. While I don’t advocate for the use of music as a tool to simply end a conversation, we can use it to set aside our differences and see each other on a human level.•

Opinion

PAGE 10

Middle Schoolers: Don’t Try-out for Varsity Level Teams

Mental Health CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Image courtesy of @ma_athletics

By CHRISTIAN WESTPHAL '21 With winter tryouts just around the corner, many Milton students are practicing their sport non-stop in hopes of becoming a varsity athlete. But what some don’t know is that they’ll have to compete with a few talented middle schoolers to earn these coveted spots. To me, this makes no sense and frankly seems unfair. After all, middle schoolers are given enough athletic opportunities at their age group, and increase their risk of serious injury at a young age.

Most importantly, the teams these middle schoolers try-out for were created for upper schoolers. Doesn’t it make sense then for only high-schoolers to make the cut?

There are only a limited amount of spots available for each team. For each one of those spots, multiple students in the Upper School already desire to become a varsity athlete. And yet, with middle school students attempting to make the team, the chances for each highschooler to make the team becomes lower. Not necessarily because the middle-schooler might be better, but because there is greater competition.

Also, if the middle-schooler is already good enough where they are allowed to try out for one of the high school teams, chances are extremely high that they will have a successful high school sports career.

This extra competition is unneeded, as middle schoolers have their own sports teams where they can hone their skills.

As a former middle school student, I can confidently make the claim that there is an opportunity for both the good and the bad athletes to improve within the middle school athletic. Even the best athletes lost every once in awhile during their middle school matchups. Therefore, the

middle schoolers can play against their own age group and wait until they enter freshman year. Once they begin high-school, the middle school graduates will see how little time they have to do anything except for schoolwork.

The gifted 6th-8th graders typically also play sports outside of school on a club team. Again, many high schoolers, especially boarders, are not able to invest enough time in such an activity. If the middle-schoolers play on a club level team already, they are surely challenged by their opponents resulting in growth of ability.

Middle schoolers don’t need to join the upper school level team if they already play on a team which promotes their athletic growth.

Of course there is also a risk involved while playing sports, and being smaller than your opponent just increases this risk. Varsity level athletes are often strong, big, have an aggressive play style.

They are unafraid to push young players out of the way when they’re running after a tipped ball, or check them into the glass while playing good defense. Middle-schoolers are smaller, and inexperienced. Knowing when to move out of the way to avoid injury can only be learned after exposure to such aggressive athletes.

Let’s be real. Milton Academy is not a professional sports organization. Although winning does feel good, it’s not as important to the school as providing all the high-schoolers an opportunity to play on high-school sports teams before the middle schoolers. After all, the middle schoolers do have their own designated sports teams.

So when it comes down to choosing a middle-schooler or a high-schooler for the highly coveted position, the answer is a no-brainer: just take the highschooler!•

specific outreach to students, the community could begin to engage in practical discussions and work productively to improve mental health. Milton could implement several simple plans as a start to creating mental health awareness among students. Even having a weekly class in which a teacher presents information and begins to dispel common misconceptions about mental health could kickstart discussion for students. Information and conversation could go a long way to educating students and beginning to remove stigmas surrounding issues of mental health. In addition, offering a concrete list of available sources of advice or information is important if students are to seek assistance and support.

For example, most of student body does not utilize to its fullest potential by students, largely because Milton does not effectively inform students of the services and support available. As a new freshman, I did not even know about the Health Center until a friend mentioned it. Some students do not know where the Health Center is located, and many view it only as a place to go when physically sick, rather than a safe space. Many students do not know about counseling office, while others do not know that they can visit the health center during the school day. In addition, because the subject of mental health is somewhat stigmatized, students may feel uncomfortable reaching out for help. The health center offers many resources that students do not use because they are either unaware the resources exist or are concerned about being disparaged for using available resources.

Milton educating students on the resources that already exist at school and providing basic information to help remove negative connotations around mental health would be some simple solutions that could help many students find the support they need.

Mental health is criminally misunderstood, and while Milton’s commitment to improving mental health is admirable, the most effective way to improve mental health is to engage students in discussion and educate them on available resources rather than speaking broadly on the subject at assemblies.•

New pet name: sweet potato fry

Opinion

PAGE 11

Benefits and the Necessity of Later Start Times in Schools

Image courtesy of Verywell

By EMMA BRADLEY '20 “Getting a healthy 8 hours of sleep each night is extremely important for your mental and physical health!”- every Milton teacher. But it’s hard to get even close to that amount considering the fact that we are all required to be on campus, checked-in and seated at assembly, before 8:00 a.m. each day.

The push for later start times in schools is backed by several scientific studies. In our bodies, chemicals are released at certain times; a critical one is melatonin, the chemical that helps us fall asleep. However, studies have shown that melatonin is released about three hours later than the average adult for teenagers in their internal clocks, keeping them awake even later at night than adults; So no, parents, “going to bed earlier” won’t solve teenager’s sleeping habits.

In the morning, light triggers the body to stop releasing melatonin, and this reaction helps us to wake up. However, if I’m waking up before the sun rises, how am I supposed to feel awake and ready to take on U.S. History at 8:20 in the morning?

The problem is that as a half-boarding, half-day private school, Milton has day students who may travel from far away, but its schedule is geared more towards the boarding community. My own commute starts at 7:00 a.m., and I often leave my house while it is still dark. This departure time means that I have to wake up even earlier, usually around 6:15 a.m., when it is completely dark outside. This struggle, I’m sure, is felt by many day students at Milton.

As we all know, Milton’s work load is difficult to manage; up to 1 hour of homework per class for between 4 and 5.5 classes means that students can have anywhere from 4-5.5 hours of work per night. For students who commute, many of them may get home at 7:00 p.m. and then have to start all of that work. That’s easily a midnight bedtime each night, followed by a 6:15 a.m. alarm in the morning. The crazy part is, many day students at Milton face 12-13 hour school days on average, leaving their houses when it’s dark and getting home when it’s dark, too.

Some of us may say to ourselves: ‘Sleep is for the weak! I can easily stay

up til 1:00 a.m., wake up at 6:00, drink four cups of coffee, and repeat!’ Trust me, I’ve tried. However, studies have shown that not only does a lack of sleep cause physical sickness, but also it causes mental health problems.

As sleep increases, depression rates among teens decrease. As sleep increases, car accidents—the #1 cause of death among teens—decrease. And overall, students running on a good night’s sleep can come to class feeling awake and refreshed, ready to learn.

I doubt that Milton’s homework load will ever really change—to keep up with such a rigorous academic environment, homework is usually necessary. However, a later start time could help balance out the homework-to-sleep ratio.

If students had another hour in the morning, we could all gain an average 5 hours of sleep per week and—finally— start waking up when it’s light outside. •

PAGE 12

Columns

Bathrooms & #metoo

Image courtesy of Patheos

By MALIA CHUNG '20 While traveling this summer, I found myself standing in a line with ten women for a restroom on the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia. The portable bathhouse was a nest of flies and littered toilet paper; the smell of warm sh*t filled the air. The men had chosen a large row of bushes behind the bathhouse to pee. Two female attendants sat in front of the entrance accepting 50 cent euro coins. While I might have called this scenario of paying for poor bathroom conditions offensive, what I’ve come to see is that bathrooms can tell us something about a country and connect us with different people in many ways we don’t often think about.

Last year, my parents’ old colleagues traveled to Japan where they stayed in a hotel with toilets with so many buttons they had to actually call the front desk for directions on flushing. In 2016, Japan’s GDP per capita, or average national income, was 38,894.47. In comparison, Serbia’s GDP per capita in 2016 was 5,348.29.

I am comparing apples and oranges:

It is not fair to compare a hotel bathroom in Japan to a Serbian roadside stop, but I found that over the course of our family’s drive through Eastern Europe, a roadside bathroom’s quality could indicate something about a country’s economic and political priorities. In Austria, we wandered upon gas stations serving platters of fresh fruit and whole fish. In America, we are all about efficiency and independence (a quick fix before we rush on to something better), qualities which differentiate American culture from others.

We live in a world that constantly reminds us of our divisions: I couldn’t even drive through Eastern Europe without comparing it to what I knew back home.

At some point during my wait for that bathroom in Belgrade, I realized that not only did all ten of us speak different languages, but also none of us were the same age or ethnicity. We didn’t even share similar hair color. And yet, we all stood there, horrified of the bathroom conditions we had to endure. After stumbling out of the bathhouse, one woman locked eyes with me and we began to laugh -- our momentary shared language.

Merely out of human necessity, bathrooms connect us, but perhaps they create a stronger connection among women. While the men in my story were able to take the easy pee in the bushes, the women squatted over unflushable-toilets, paying the same fee to relieve themselves that men were spending on a coffee and pastry. There, I thought of the importance of women sticking together, especially in a world where men enjoy freedoms that women don’t.

What might have happened had we banned together that afternoon to protest the bathroom conditions to the manager?

One in five women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, while only one in seventy-one men will experience the same terror, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. As thousands of women add their stories to the #metoo campaign in the midst of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations, I am reminded of how a shared experience (even the mild discomfort of a dirty bathroom) can create opportunities for political power among strangers.•

Columns

PAGE 13

The Wanger

Image courtesy of Milton Academy

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 When I spoke to my computer-programming teacher about this issue, she told me that she didn’t see this large chasm between me and the other students in the class. Rather, she told me that the only difference between one of kids I considered to be the smartest in the class and me was level of confidence.

While I didn’t necessarily feel like confidence was the only thing keeping me from setting up a server with node.js, I felt as if there was a truth to the idea that my perception of my own self-worth had drastically affected my own abilities. And this wasn’t an issue that stayed exclusively in my computer programming class.

With the increasing demands of college and the expectation that we all have perfect interim grades, I’ve heard a similar sentiment from many close friends and acquaintances about feeling inadequate in classes.

To me, it seems like in the fall of senior year, there has been a spike in the imposter syndrome among our class. The imposter syndrome is described as a feeling of “phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement.” According to Carl Richards in The New York Times, “while these people are highly motivated to achieve, they also live in fear of being found out or exposed as frauds.”

As students at Milton Academy, we are all, to some extent, over-achievers. Because we are so driven to be successful, the imposter syndrome tells us that we are not enough or that we have somehow scammed our way into our achievements.

I hear many incoming freshmen and even past seniors, many accepted to elite

colleges, doubt their own self worth with phrases like, “I have no idea how I even got in,” or “I think the admissions officers made a mistake.” Of course, this is a product of our culture’s expectation of humility, yet it also perpetuates a habit of underselling our own impressive qualifications and talents.

Unless we intentionally choose to combat the imposter syndrome in our daily lives, we run the risk of living our lives as if we are frauds, and studies have shown that our self-perception can actually affect our abilities.

The good news is that we aren’t alone in the struggle. Maya Angelou herself has said, “I have written 11 books, but each time I think, “Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.” If anything, at least we’re struggling along with the ranks of Maya Angelou.

There are many ways to combat imposter syndrome, but I won’t bother listing them here because you can discover them easily through a simple Google search. Rather, I think one of the best ways to combat any sort of issue is by discussion and sharing of personal stories.

So here’s a time when I felt caught up in the imposter syndrome and my thought process behind it: I remember a particular moment earlier in the year when I left math class feeling confused and lost. I hadn’t fully understood what we were covering in class—compositions and set theory—but I didn’t know whether the other members in my class understood it either. I panicked, and that made me more confused.

But then again, was I really confused?

Perhaps it was only my perception—the

imposter syndrome—that was making me feel confused. What if I felt confused and inadequate only because others in the class were speaking more confidently than I was, and in reality, they were just as confused as I was? In reality, perhaps I understood the concept better than they did. How do we distinguish the perception of feeling confused from actual confusion about the material? Even if I was completely confused, that didn’t matter to me as long as I knew that others in the class were equally confused about the issue at hand.

But when everyone else in the class is either of the grade above or of a different gender—as has often been the case in my previous STEM classes—they feel much less approachable. Thus begins the imposter syndrome cycle. When we feel alone or others in the class feel unapproachable, we often assume that they know more than we do, and the toxic cycle begins.

I think that I am smart. Or am I? I really don’t know. What I do know is that in the past four years that I’ve been a part of the Milton Academy computer-programming and math program, I’ve felt stupid. That isn’t the fault of the program, but rather, I think the culture in our school and society that perpetuates hiding the times we feel uncertain and confused and portraying only a façade of confidence.

The more we sit alone, mulling through the negative feedback loop of the imposter syndrome and pretending to be confident on the outside, the more we allow the imposter syndrome to take control of our lives. So, let’s talk about the times we feel stupid. Because feeling stupid with other people is a lot better than feeling stupid alone. •

Arts & Enterainment

PAGE 14

Lil Pump

Image courtesy of HotNewHipHop

By LIZ FOSTER '18 Lil Pump is Soundcloud’s current prodigy child. Gazzy Garcia, Pump’s actual name, is barely seventeen years old and has already released a top ten album, headlined multiple tours, and garnered millions of views across various platforms.

Lil Pump encompasses literally everything that Baby Boomers detest in younger generations. He’s entitled, materialistic, and crude. But man can the boy make a banger. Pump has straddled the line of being a real rapper and a meme for the past few months, a trope into which many rappers, like Indonesia’s Rich Chigga or Florida’s XXXTentacion, have fallen into in 2017. With his debut album LP, Lil Pump established that he’s more than just someone to make fun of.

Lyrically Lil Pump isn’t anything to gawk at. Most songs repeat their lyrics

countless times. “Crazy,” “Molly,” and “Gucci Gang” repeat their titles more times throughout their relatively short track lengths than one would think possible. The occasional clever word play wiggles itself into his mixtapes, but, overall, the lyrics are simple and easy to remember.

Pump’s content is what you would expect it to be: driving foreign cars, hooking up with attractive women, and spending lots of money at various designer stores.

Some of the collaborations on this mixtape make sense, like “What U Sayin’” featuring fellow soundcloud star SmokePurpp, and “Pinky Ring”, including one of Pump’s influences, Rick Ross. However, other choices were...choices. Both Gucci Mane and Chief Keef sound lost on their respective tracks, adding unnecessary features to moments where Lil Pump would have otherwise shone.

The strength in this project lies in the

production choices. Even when the lyrics on a track are shoddy, the trap beats that explode through your speakers make you want to keep listening, no matter how ashamed you are. There’s some intelligence beneath the loud booms of snares and bass, as seen in “Gucci Gang’s” (somewhat) beautiful and charming piano melody.

This mixtape didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it was something. As rapper XXL said, “[Lil Pump] is a project that confirms its creator's arrival and his place as one of the leading men in the SoundCloud rap scene.” Lil Pump has become the face of Soundcloud and, at only seventeen, has plenty of room to mature as an artist and develop his sound further. Even when it lacks substance, Lil Pump is fun throughout all of its fifteen tracks.

So, yeah, as ashamed as I may be to say it, I liked Lil Pump’s Lil Pump. •

Arts & Enterainment

PAGE 15

"IT" Remake

By ALEX FLEITES '18 Back in 1990, ABC aired a miniseries starring Pennywise, the dancing clown who wreaked havoc on Derry, Maine and promised he would return in 27 years to continue the nightmare. Now, 27 years later, we have It, a two and a half hour long remake of the three hour long original. Both the movie and the miniseries were adapted from the horror novel of the same title, written by Stephen King, the same King family after whom our King Theater is named; however, after watching the two versions, I found that that each gave off a very different feeling. Of course, a *spoiler alert* is necessary.

The 1990 miniseries was a classic King adaptation, with its touches of both psychological and supernatural horror.

While the special effects were obviously not up to 2017 standards, the storyline heavily focused on scaring the audience.

Pennywise’s appearance was closer to that of a classic clown than in the 2017 version, where Pennywise’s makeup and costume are meant to aide in the audience in thinking “this is a creepy clown.” Unfortunately, the scarier outfit did not deter any fans from

Who is Scott Nobles?

deeming Pennywise “Clown Daddy,” which is just another reason why this generation can’t have nice things.

Like many modern horror movies, the 2017 rendition of It has its fair share of jump scares, yet it doesn’t rely on them. The newer adaptation has its own pieces of subtle horror as well, with the simple image of a red balloon foreshadowing the appearance of Pennywise, and TVs in the background brainwash the adult characters throughout the film. An important note is that It (2017) is a feature film, while the miniseries was made for TV, meaning that the 1990 version did not have as much freedom in terms of graphic violence and language as the 2017 film did. Andy Muschietti, the director of the most recent adaptation, certainly took advantage of the lack of restrictions.

The 2017 cast spends much of the film swearing, and making jokes about each other’s mothers. The cast of the 1990 adaptation portrays a much more wholesome, “fun for the whole family” kind of friendship, fit for TV, with a classic band of misfits fighting against overly violent school bullies and cannibalistic clowns, as one does.

get out of me. What I mean is that I draw inspiration from them being creative and excited about their photos. Maybe it goes back to me being a photo student as a means of expressing myself.

How do you stay true to yourself?

Image courtesy of Scott Nobles

By GRACE LI '20 Mr. Scott Nobles is a new member of the Milton Visual Arts faculty this year.

How has your time at Milton been?

I absolutely love it. I was nervous about the transition to full-time teaching, but I’m loving it. Don’t tell the students this, but I get as much out of them as they, hopefully,

As a freelance photographer with a family to support, it is hard to take jobs that I’m not excited for, but oftentimes you’ll take the job because it is a way to earn a living. I also self-assign projects—a lot of photographers do this, too, as a way to keep motivated and inspired. Whether it is to update your portfolio or send to potential clients, these assignments make sure that I am still creating work that I love and am proud of, and also to send to clients stating that “this is the work that I am proud of, this is the work that I enjoy creating.” One of the photos that came from a self-assigned project actually landed on the desk of a publishing company who were looking for the same concept.

What advice do you have for emerging photographers?

Stay true to yourself and keep pushing.

You will find clients who will like your

Possibly the most notable difference between the two versions is the storylines they follow. The most recent film’s storyline is entirely linear, beginning with Georgie’s death and ending with the demise of Pennywise; on the other hand, the original adaptation is told as a series of flashbacks.

It is 27 years after all the terror takes place in Derry, and the children are going back to their hometown to fight the clown once again, helping each other remember the events of their childhood at the same time.

It (2017) stays strictly in one time period throughout the movie, never hinting at a possible continuation of Pennywise’s terror, until the last moment before the credits, when “Part 1” flashes across the screen, informing viewers that there is more to come.

Although the two versions place the center of the action at different locations, with the 2017 version filmed in a haunted house as opposed to the dingy sewers of the 1990 version, both movies terrify their audiences in a way that only Stephen King could. The question of which one to watch comes down to whether you want laughable special effects,or a crush on a murderous, creepy clown. The choice is yours.•

style and work. My second piece of advice is to understand business. Photography is 90% talking and pricing and logistics and 10% actually shooting and editing. You have to be equally as successful in business as you are in your art. Marketing, promotion, dealing with clients, working out how much money I put in vs. how much I get out, and questions like that all fall under the business category. I think it’s important for anyone interested into a photographic field to understand.

How do you take a good photograph?

Something that I always say to my students is that you don’t take a good photograph; you make it. Elaborating on that, I feel that you have a stronger image if you take time to compose it and think about the different aspects of your photo. Pay attention to what you are putting in the frame, instead of pressing down the shutter randomly.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

I would have to say Cookies ‘n Crème, but I don’t like Oreos by themselves.•

PAGE 16

Arts & Enterainment Space Music

By NATASHA ROY '19 Last Thursday evening, Mike Massimino, former NASA astronaut and Columbia Engineering Faculty member, spoke to a Milton audience about his experiences in space. Massimino has been on four spacewalks during his two missions to service and repair the Hubble Telescope. He was the first person to tweet from space, and has appeared as himself six times on The Big Bang Theory. He gave a touching, even profound speech about his difficult road to success and his life-changing experiences in space.

I, however, was most concerned with what songs he could recommend for my Spotify “Space” playlist. It’s not everyday you meet an astronaut, and I had important questions to ask.

On each of his space expeditions, Massimino and his fellow astronauts had some amounts of down time in the rocket while they weren’t fixing the Telescope. His fellow

astronauts, whom Massimino described as “type A’s” who got easily bored, filled this time watching trashy movies. Massimino, however, prefered to look out the window; he saw the stars from his god-like perspective, and thunderstorms bursting over Australia. He watched all this while listening to music.

What music does an astronaut listen to in space, you might ask? When I did, Massimino told me he used to listen to Coldplay—think “Yellow” and “Sky full of Stars”—U2, and the “Dances with Wolves” soundtrack. John Williams, who wrote the scores for the Star Wars series, ‘E.T.,’ ‘Superman,’ and many other science fiction movies, also played in the background of his space adventures. As I like to imagine, every astronaut initiation features Elton John’s “Rocketman.” When I asked about the song, Massimino laughed that, indeed, the astronauts had an Elton John bobblehead on their rocket.

Natasha's Space Playlist Recommendations 1. Space Oddity

by David Bowie 2. Sally Ride

by Janelle Monae 3. Cosmic Ride

by Florence and the Machine 4. Spaceship Coupe

by Justin Timberlake 5. The Hidden Figures Soundtrack

by Pharrell 6. Walking on the Moon

by The Police

Art and Self Care Image courtesy of Facebook

By GRAVE VAINISI '19 Wednesday night. 8/7 central. The CW. Riverdale.

Like clockwork, I’m on the couch with my dog as we settle into the eerie landscape of Riverdale in all its teen horror glory.

Sure, I watch Riverdale for Cole Spouse and the just-crazy-enough-to-makesense plot twists, but I also use my Riverdale time as a way to both decompress after a long couple of days and celebrate being halfway to the weekend. I am to Riverdale what a yogi is to yoga. I’m dedicated and certainly knowledgeable, but mostly I use that Wednesday night from 8-9PM to clear my mind and check in with myself.

There’s a common misconception that because yoga or meditation does not work for someone, neither does self-care.

We forget that we can care for ourselves through a variety of activities and experiences. Depending on their interests and strengths, different individuals can find very different things stress-relieving. Among these things, the arts comprise one huge category of self-care. People find everything from dancing to painting soothing. The arts

are often dismissed as childish or just play, but even people who are not themselves “artsy” can find their wellness through the arts, if they are only willing enough to look.

Ginny Barrett ’20 notes that creating music is a “productive way to get through anything, and at the end you get something more beautiful than you started with.” Barrett negates the frivolity that the arts are commonly looked upon with, as she artfully demonstrates the ways that music can boost people back up in times of trouble.

However, you don’t need to be writing plays or conducting symphonies to find solace in the arts. Even appreciating the making of a TV show—Riverdale, for example—can help someone take time for themselves just as making music like Ed Sheeran or drawing like Edgar Degas can help each respective artist. Self-care in the form of arts and entertainment helps people beyond those actively involved in the arts.

From simply scrolling through beautiful paintings on Google Images to watching amateur covers on YouTube, there are a wide variety of ways that a typically “not artsy” person can find comfort in an artsy

world.

Take a beat, even for just twenty minutes a week, and use arts and entertainment as a healthy resource. Don’t avoid your work; I’m certainly not advising you to just watch TV instead of doing your homework (I’ve been there, it’s not fun). Keep a balance. Especially as the seniors wade through the treacherous and turbulent waters of the college process, form a solid schedule so you never forget to take the time and take care of yourself. Self-care can be as easy as watching the same show at the same time each week.

Whether it’s watching an episode of your favorite show, doodling, dancing, or singing, I hope you can find just a moment to give yourself a break. Try new things and see what works for you. But I have to plug Riverdale one last time. You’d be surprised how the dramatic tones of the Riverdale soundtrack mixed with the overdone intrigue of the Southside Serpents can help you clear your mind and ready yourself for the struggles and triumphs ahead..•

Arts & Enterainment

PAGE 17

New Gorillaz

Image courtesy of Infinite Energy Center

By NATASHA ROY '19 One afternoon, Blur musician Damon Albarn and comic-book artist Jamie Hewlett sat in their London flat watching MTV, and thus the ground-breaking virtual band Gorillaz was born. The band consists of four animated cartoon members performing tracks written and performed by Albarn and a rotating slew of other guest musicians including Vince Staples, Lou Reed, and Snoop Dogg. "If you watch MTV for too long,” said Hewlett in an interview for Wired, “it's a bit like hell – there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that."

In creating the cartoon celebrity, Gorillaz has made a mockery of the often shallow way in which we consume music, so often idolizing the artist and losing sight of the art itself. The cartoon musicians each have fantastical background stories explained through animated music videos; they, through intricate animation processes, perform the live shows with the real musicians concealed in the background. They even give interviews as their fictitious selves.

The listener absorbs the music as if it were truly written and performed by a group of cartoons; Albarn and all other human celebrities fade away.

The music moves to the foreground in a way that popular art cannot in our celebrity obsessed culture. A Taylor Swift song tops the charts days after its release because millions of fans obsess over Taylor the person: her story, her relationships, her journey, her persona. Her newest song becomes an

extension of Taylor herself, and not a work of art, capable of standing on its own legs as a musical achievement. Gorillaz, on the other hand, offers consumers only a concocted group of cartoons to front their music; to worship cartoon musicians would be ridiculous. All we’re then left with is the music itself.

Of course, given the personal nature of art, music and musician remain inextricably linked; music is just the musician’s thoughts and feelings projected onto the world. Yet, separating music and musician allow for a possibly deeper listening experience. The reason is the exact same one for which your Milton English teachers will pester you to eliminate all uses of “the author thinks” in your essays. In freshman workshop, I remember becoming frustrated with Ms. Sabin’s assertion that “you don’t know what the author thinks. You only know what you think.” But, Ms. Sabin, don’t Steinbeck’s experiences in Salinas, CA inform the narrative of East of Eden? Of course they do-how couldn’t they, when writers really only write about themselves. Remove, however, Steinbeck from the novel and take only from what you’re given on the page: what you’re left with is a set of themes that transcend Steinbeck, his life, or the period in which he lived and wrote. The same can be said about music; ignore the musician and you can appreciate her music for what it is.

In 2007, Gorillaz launched Reject False Icons, a marketing campaign to promote their song “Rock It”. They sold black stickers inscribed with the words “Reject False Icons” for fans to stick onto “false icons,” like celebrities in tabloids and models in

fashion magazines. Cartoon band member Noodle says that “‘Reject False Icons’ means many things, one of them is to think for yourself.” The concept urges listeners to pick art that genuinely speaks to them, instead of to instinctively follow and worship the art shoved down our throats by the media. The Billboard Hot 100 probably dictates which artists and songs fill our lives, leaving us to mindlessly surround ourselves with art selected by the masses and not by ourselves. If we were to so “reject false icons,” ignoring musicians’ personas for favor of the music they create, we could perhaps find the music we truly like. Who’s to say whether I listen to The Weeknd because I actually like his music, or because Today’s Top 50 has just shoved so many of his songs down my throat that he’s wormed his way into my playlists.

The Gorillaz’s message of rejecting false icons can guide us. Do we read Jane Austen because we’re genuinely drawn to her books, or because the canon has deemed her an important writer? Are we drawn to a certain college because we believe in its ethos, or because it holds a prestigious position in our educational culture? Gorillaz reminds us to, perhaps in all aspects of our life, find our own interests, beliefs, and tastes instead of mindlessly going along with the norm.

By doing away with the celebrity, the art tells its listeners: Pick what music you like, not what others like. Pick what you like, not what your family likes, not what your friends like, not what the media likes. Once we reject celebrity culture, we must ask ourselves that all important question: What do we really like?•

PAGE 18

Sports

Game of the Week: Men's’ Hack Soccer v. Boys’ Junior Varsity A&B

Images courtesy of @ms_athletics

with a beautiful goal from Caleb Beebe ’18 in the thirtieth minute of play. Assisted by Jaime Moore-Carrillo ’18 and Jack Pacheco ’18, this goal demonstrated the truly exceptional physique of Hack soccer’s immaculate individuals, leaving the prosaic JV players distraught. This goal sent the players into a rage from which they could not possibly recover.

While JV B tried to strike back, they were constantly stopped short by the powerhouse defense of Zac Mustin ’18, George Luo ‘18, and Tommy Elliott ‘18, backed up by goaltender Jake Griffin ’18. Unfortunately, the strikers of JV B might as well have played defense, as they were unable to score or mount any sort of extended offense insurgency. They were constantly tackled and were dismantled on the defensive end due to

By TOMMY ELLIOTT '18 On a brisk Friday afternoon, Men’s Hack Soccer decided to entertain the young upand-comers from Boy’s JV B with a scrimmage on Upton field. While this match will certainly be the highlight of most JV B players’ soccer careers, the match was nothing more than an everyday affair for Hack.

With manager Harold Pratt missing from the match, Scott Crawshaw ’18 played the mental chess match with JV B Manager Michael Wood. Even with a concussion, Crawshaw was able to easily win the game of intellect as he performed seamless line shifts—all while Wood was often caught with too many players on the field.

Unsurprisingly, Hack struck first

Hack’s excellent fundamentals.

The game was put further out of reach thanks to goals by Jimmy Delano ’18 and Jack Pacheco ’18. This was in part due to Editor-at-Large Jonah Garnick ’18 smacking the strikers into shape as offensive coordinator. Garnick utterly destroyed JV B’s defensive schemes, setting up excellent plays off the corners as well as from friendly areas deep inside.

The next week, Hack continued its reign of terror against JV A. The 4-0 walloping came thanks to two goals by Jack Pacheco ’18 and a rifle by Jonah Garnick ’18 as well as a fourth goal assisted by Managing Editor Nihal Raman ’18. The JV boys hoped to come from behind only to once again be stopped by Chris Partridge ’18. •

Development Ambassadors CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 which she spoke with former head monitor, now-alum, Avery Park ’16: Park remarked that she was “glad [Amy] does this,” and expressed confusion about Milton’s decisions to spend money on library chairs and weird printers.

But Ambassadors also spend time with donors and notable alumni in-person, giving personal tours to prominent visitors and assisting with various functions during Reunion Weekend in June.

Right now, the Development Office is busy with several initiatives, including the Dare-on-the-Road campaign off travelling the world. A development event Milton students can look forward to is Thank-a-Giver Day: for the first year, the event will be run completely by Ambassadors, falling soon after winter break.

We need another place or forum to have these discussions school wide if the administration thinks that the all_usstudents conference is not meant for conversation. Good or

They're back.

bad, any dialogue and is one step closer to the school being a more open, accepting, and equitable community. Deactivating a major place of community dialogue defeats the purpose of the administration’s many efforts over the past six months. The only way for us to learn to have good dialogue is to try it out and to make mistakes. If we don’t have any way to have community conversations, then we cannot even put our good dialogue to the test. •

Sports

PAGE 19

Mustangs of the Week:

Scott Crawshaw '18

By LUKE MONNICH '20

Scott Crawshaw ’18 is a Milton Paper Mustang of the Week for his admirable effort in leading the hack soccer team. As head coach and general manager, Crawshaw has been doing all that he can to help bring the team to success.

This leadership has led hack soccer to a spectacular win against the boys’ JV B soccer team two weeks ago.

Throughout the entire game, Scott Crawshaw could be seen on the sidelines, making substitutions and motivating his team to work as hard as possible. When asked about his coaching, he said that he attempted to “ensure the maximum success in all facets of the game.” Crawshaw had taken notes earlier in the day to make sure that hack soccer would get the win, which worked in the end. His starting line-up was outstanding, and his substitutions were carefully thought-out, helping lead to a hack soccer win. For example, Crawshaw’s decision to sub Thomas Elliott ’18 into the game eventually led to the first goal of the game. His pregame speech was “what really got the men fired up.” It “added fuel to the roaring inferno that is hack Soccer,” and the JV B team couldn’t stop them. Crawshaw believes that hack lived up to their motto of, "Sacrifice the body, make the play," and he was very pleased by how the men performed. At the end of the game, Crawshaw subbed himself in, making a few passes to his teammates and eventually leading his team to the win.

Crawshaw’s leadership provided the spark for the hack soccer win, and without him, team team might not have achieved. He was a fearless leader on the sideline, with the entire hack soccer team under his control.•

Julia Johnson '19

By LILY WRIGHT '19

Julia Johnson ’17 of girls’ varsity field hockey has been selected as The Milton Paper’s Mustang of the Week!

Since September, Johnson has been putting in outstanding work on and off the field to help her team reach its impressive season record of 10-5. As a midfielder, Johnson relies on her unwavering speed and endurance to help her team get the ball down the length of the field from the defenders to the offenders. She is humble, hard working, and a tri-varsity athlete who also excels in girl’s varsity hockey and track and field, two sports that compliment her field hockey skills nicely by strengthening her ball handling, hand eye coordination, and cardiovascular endurance.

Despite the fact that Johnson was brand new to field hockey her freshman year, playing for Milton’s 3rds girls team, in her words, “just for fun,” she picked the sport up so quickly that she was able to make the varsity team by her sophomore year. Now a junior, she is one of the strongest and most consistent players on the team, often playing entire games with no subs.

Aside from the physical demand of playing an entire game without subs, it can also be really challenging to stay focused for the entire hour, especially when things do not go as planned. Johnson admits that staying focused throughout the hour-long games is one thing she hopes the team can work on for the remainder of the season because it is when they play with determination that they play their best. Despite a loss to Governors this past Friday, Johnson believes it was one of the team’s best games because they played with heart and determination the entire time. Johnson says, “everyone hustled, made so many good passes, and had a lot of great scoring chances.”

Johnson loves the contagious camaraderie and spirit of the team that especially shines through during games, when everyone not playing cheers from the sidelines. Overall, she really appreciates how the field hockey team allows her to be a part of the Milton community in a non-academic space with students from across every grade. Look out for Julia Johnson and the Milton girl’s varsity field hockey team as they take on Nobles this weekend. •

Ad Nauseam

PAGE 20

How to Get Good at Gotcha 1. Finally take Mr. Bland up on a “personal chat” in his office 2. Don’t

his offer for

be a freshman.

3. Invite the whole school to a “Tootie Ta Throwdown.” Lock the doors.

4. Outreach

the person who has you.

5. Slowly

gain the trust of your tagger through a committed relationship; after the 5th date, while nuzzled under his voluptuous bosom, realize he can no longer find you while you’re lost in his eyes.

6. Label “Tagging”

as a micro-aggression.

7. Pair Adidas

shorts with a salmon pink shirt to effortlessly camouflage in a crowd of DSBs.

8. Get

expelled.

Printed on 50% post-consumer waste. Please recycle this paper. www . themiltonpaper . org