Issue 1 - September 2020

OPINIONS Presidential Ads on Social Media pg. 12

FEATURES Student Pandemic Workers pg. 08

LIFESTYLES

The “I’m Not Like Other Girls” Phenomenon pg.

20

SPORTS

Homelessness Growing in Cupertino Investigation on the growing encampments in Cupertino pg.

16

ISSUE 1, VOL 63

Tackling the Pandemic pg. 24

IN THIS ISSUE

news

California’s Wildfires................... 04 The VTA Financial Crisis............. 06 Teachers as Essential Workers....................................... 07

features

Student Pandemic Workers...........08 featuring Claire Hesley, Leah Knodel and Melody Lou

opinions

During the 08: Working Panemid

lifestyles

Bias Against Animation................ 20

Political Ads Should

The “I’m Not Like Other Girls”

Be Allowed on Social Media....... 12

Phenomenon............................... 22

Changing the APUSH

90’s and 00’s Fashion

Curriculum.................................. 14

Comeback................................... 23

investigations

Homelessness Growing in Cupertino.................................. 16

sports

Tackling the Pandemic............... 24 Playing on COVID’s Field........... 26

perspectives 16: Homeless Encampments

Generation Z as Different Professions................................. 28 Your Inner Monologue When Arguing............................ 29

postscript It’s All Okay: Looking Back at Myself..................................... 30 Column: Don’t Worry About it....................................... 31 COVER DESIGNED BY STELLA JIA

THE PROSPECTOR

STAFF 2020-2021

editors-in-chief Alexandria Hunt Lawrence Fan Stella Jia

copy editors Ankita Acharya Juliet Shearin Avi Pandit

news editor Juliet Shearin

photo editors Megumi Ondo

opinions editor Rachel Park

online editors Keerthi Lakshmanan Sanat Singhal

features editor Krithika Vekatasubramanian

business manager Ankita Acharya

assistants Anand Ashar, Arnav Vishwakarma, Arushi Arora, Hyunjun Kim, investigations editor Joshua Lee, Katelyn Joan Thyagarajan Chu, Kavya Kaushal, Kevin Jia, Kriti sports editor Kaushal, Megana Henry Ma Kashyap, Meghana perspectives editor Vinjamury, Nachiket Sarah Pollans Kerai, Norman Chow, Raissa Ji, Rajasi postscript editor Laddha, Saniya Megumi Ondo Laungani, Sonia Patil, Theresa Nguyen advisor Ann Peck lifestyles editor Jenny Wu

Editorial Policy

“The Prospector” is an open forum of expression for student editors to inform and educate their readers. It will not be reviewed by or restrained by school officials prior to publication or distribution. Advisors may and should coach and discuss content during the writing process.

The staff of “The Prospector” seeks to recognize individuals, events and ideas and bring news to the Cupertino community in an accurate, professional and unbiased manner. “The Prospector” will not avoid publishing a story solely on the basis of possible dissent or controversy.

If you believe an error has been made or wish to have your opinion expressed in “The Prospector,” please contact us via mail or email. Letters sent become the sole property of “The Prospector” and can be edited for length, clarity or accuracy.

“The Prospector” editorial board reserves the right to accept or reject any ad in accordance with its advertising policy.

Contact Us: prospector.chs@gmail.com The Prospector 10100 Finch Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014

A LETTER FROM THE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Dear Reader, Six months since we’ve been on campus. Six months of quarantine. Six months of groundbreaking history being made.

From the fires to COVID to awkward Zoom breakout rooms, we’ve experienced struggles together as a community on a local and national scale. Adapting to this new normality, our staffers have transitioned into a completely remote environment. Despite the challenges, we are grateful for the stories that our staffers have created, shining light on various local and national issues.

Beginning with the local community, our Investigation team undertakes the controversy regarding Cupertino’s growing homeless encampments on page 16. In the midst of this pandemic, some teachers and students have become essential workers. Featured students on page 8 include Claire Hesley, Leah Knodel, and Melody Lou. Scaling out to a national level, we explore the heated topic of west coast wildfires on page 4.

Regardless of the difficulties we’ve faced, Generation Z still finds an avenue to come together through pop culture trends. Whether it’s analyzing the fashion trends from various decades (page 23), discussing the “I’m Not Like Other Girls” phenomenon (page 22), and how Generation Z tackles adulting (page 28) — there’s new things to get caught up in.

We hope that our news-magazine can bring awareness to issues all around us while providing hope and entertainment to y’all. Trekking through this unprecedented school year, we are excited to continue serving our community. :) Best Regards, Alexandria Hunt, Lawrence Fan, and Stella Jia

NEWS

California’s

WILDFIRES 1851: A fire destroys three-quarters of San Francisco

1906: A 7.9 earthquake causes widespread fire in San Francisco.

August 2018: The Ranch Fire becomes California’s single largest wildfire ever.

Summer 2019: Widespread public safety power shutoffs create public discontent with PG&E.

Fall 2019: Lightning strikes cause at least eleven large fires.

2018

4 | DESIGNED BY JULIET SHEARIN

2019 September 2020: Air quality in California and Oregon intermittently becomes the worst in the world.

August 2020: 38 fires combine into the August Complex, the largest such complex in California history.

February 2020: A dry late winter increases the chance for an especially deadly 2020 fire season.

2020

MEGUMI ONDO postscript editor/photo editor

Every year since 2016, the wildfires in California are named the “greatest in history,” only for a more destructive wildfire to arrive the following year. The wildfires last season were thought to be the most catastrophic season,

tween 8.7 to 10.7 billion dollars to recover. In the same month, the Woosley Fire was estimated to need 3.1 to 5.1 billion dollars to recover from the damage. In just 2018, it took 24 billion dollars to repair the damages.

This year, the wildfires in Northern California were ignited due to a rare lightning siege on August 17.

The dry lightning, caused by the colliding weather systems, has now started hundreds of wildfires, and over one million acres has burned since.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, three of the recent wildfires- SCU Lightning Complex, LNU Lightning Complex and August Complex are among four of the largest California wildfires in history.

“When the [lightning] storm rolled through, I woke up, and was listening to it. One of the things I was listening for was rain.

With a thunderstorm like that, I expected a torrential downpour, and to hear only a pitter patter of rain, was honestly concerning.” said Cupertino High School teacher Ashley Hooper.

Living in East San Jose, Hooper was close to getting evacuated

Over one million acres have burned since August 17.

In 2018, it took 24 billion dollars to repair the damage from fires.

a surprise if the fires next season will overcome it.

NEWS | 5

only for those this year to be even bigger, leaving extensive burn scars of charred land across California.

Wildfires in California often occur due to the dry climate of the state. As vegetation dries out, it becomes more prone to ignite.

In recent years, California’s temperature has been steadily increasing, stripping vegetation of moisture. This is one of the significant reasons why recent wildfires have been larger than its predecessors.

In 2018, the Mendocino Complex Fire, which was the largest California wildfire in history, burnt across 459,123 acres. The wildfire left massive burn scars in over 700 square miles of land.

The yearly wildfires harm not only the environment but also the economy. The Campfire that occurred in November of 2018 is the costliest wildfire in US History, as it was estimated to cost be-

due to the fire coming nearby.

Said Hooper, “In the years past, I wouldn’t have been as worried as the years past, but it [reminded] me of the fire in Santa Rosa. It made me think back to that, because [the lightning complex] felt like a different type of fire. It was the idea that the homes that are not built-in fire-prone areas were at risk. That was really scary to see.”

The wildfires being more immense this season put even more workload onto the firefighters.

Said Bryan Ronalter, a firefighter for the Santa Clara County, “It is very strenuous hard work, and it also requires a great deal of teamwork. Many firefighters work together to protect life, property, and the environment; in that order. We keep each other in good spirits because we are always planning for the long haul. It is always a marathon fighting these fires nowadays, and it’s all about pacing yourself.”

The fires this season may be record-breaking, but it will not be

THE VTA

Financial Crisis

SONIA PATIL

6 | THE PROSPECTOR

lifestyles assistant

Valley Transit Authority (VTA), which controls transportation in Santa Clara County, faces one of the largest financial crises ever. Public transit, primarily funded by sales tax, is witnessing a sales tax drop of 40 percent due to the pandemic, leading to a possible plan of cutting bus services by a third.

As public transit continues to decline, fewer people are likely to ride it, making it less of a priority. As a result, bus routes will be cut, and bus frequency will be decreased to a 30 minute wait time, creating a setback for the 80 percent of non-car owning VTA riders.

Said Cupertino High school student Teesha Sreeram, “Transit gives me a safe and quick way to get home after school every day, saving me and my family a lot of time. I have younger siblings, making it difficult to coordinate who gets home on time, so transit is really important.”

However, funding issues for public transit have existed long before the financial crisis caused by the pandemic. Before 2020, even with high sales tax and gas tax projections for funding, bus services have continued to be cut for the past 20 years despite promises to in-

crease transport in multiple ballot measures.

Said transit advocate Monica Mallon, “They do break promises, but they don’t care as much about breaking promises to people that take transit because they’re generally students, seniors, low-income people that don’t have the resources to fight back. They care a lot more about people that are wealthier and have more current influence.” Certain business groups are able to spend a large sum of money to fund their own proj-

“They don’t care as much about BREAKING PROMISES to to people that take transit.” ects for VTA to implement, yet transit advocates sometimes fail to put their own measures into place as they lack financial influence.

As of now, the future for bus services has a very unprecedented outlook scaring many of those who are solely transit-dependent and bringing concern to the priorities of those who hold power.

ALL PHOTOS BY MEGUMI ONDO

TEACHERS AS ESSENTIAL WORKERS NORMAN CHOW news assistant

Due to the current pandemic, teachers are now considered essential workers. As of August 20, to encourage in-person learning, the White House declared teachers as essential workers, now requiring them to continue to work, even after being exposed to COVID-19.

Ever since the start of the pandemic, students have reported that school has become more difficult for both teachers and students. They have had to adapt to new formats of online education, dealing with a multitude of different issues. These issues have included technology and time management, as online schooling has given students much more leeway.

Said Joshua Cheng, a student at BISV,: “School has become harder since the start of the pandemic., I feel

“Teachers are facing [...] the same issues as students.”

Teachers being considered essential workers has become a risk and an homage.

are facing a lot of the same issues as we students do regarding the transition to online schooling, added on to the fact that they have to deal with teaching without being in front of us physically. They have to make things more interesting so that students pay attention.”

Teachers being considered essential workers has become both a risk and an homage to the struggles that teachers must face during this crisis, as society realizes that they are, in fact, very much needed.

Although being an essential worker is a risk, schools everywhere, such as in Cupertino, have taken the necessary precautions to keep teachers safe, including transferring education to an online-based system.

This has become both an honor and a risk for teachers across the United States. As society continues to adapt to the current pandemic, essential workers such as teachers have become critical, opening people’s eyes towards how vital teachers are to our community.

NEWS | 7

disorganized and find myself procrastinating very often.”

Along with the student’s’ difficulties in adapting adaptations, there have has also been a fair share of teacher struggles, as they have had to learn how to teach a group of students that they may have never even seen in person, Said Anurag Paudel, a student at Cupertino, “Teachers

“School has become harder since the start of the pandemic.”

FEATURES

8 | DESIGNED BY KRITHIKA V

A look at how CHS s tuden worki ts hav ng am e foun idst a d globa l pand ways to ke emic ep

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARIS BAGUETTE, FIERCERETAIL AND L&H SIGNS

HENRY MA sports editor

Even though the coronavirus has turned down the idea of applying for a job for many students, Claire Hesley, a senior, has started working at Paris Baguette. She planned on getting a job before the pandemic to save up money for college and her personal spendings.

Said Hesley, “ I was planning on getting a job before the pandemic. And I think I just keep that, even though I probably shouldn’t have, but I wanted to save up

A L C

workers’ efficiency from doing their jobs, but they are a necessity to keep Hesley, her coworkers, and customers safe.

Said Hesley, “We have to sanitize everything very often. So that adds more work. And we also can’t get close to the customers and whenever they come into the store, we have to go back behind the counter. So it

Y E L S E H E R I hinders me from do-

some money for college and then also just save up some spending money for myself”.

At Paris Baguette, Hesley keeps the store running by making drinks, cleaning up, and refilling pastries. While working at Par-

ing my job.”

Hesley plans to continue working throughout the pandemic as well as after the epidemic is over. So far, Hesley has a positive experience of working throughout quarantine and becoming good friends with her coworkers.

Said Hesley, “ All [my] Coworkers are really nice and responsible, so it’s really fun working with them and I think we have become pretty good friends.”

However, Hesley has had some regret for working during the pandemic because there is a chance that she is accidentally putting someone at risk. Even though Hesley has had some regrets about working during the pandemic, she still believes that it has helped her during the quarantine.

Said Hesley, “ In terms of me accidentally putting people at risk? Yeah, definitely. I regret that. But, having social interactions often has actually helped me a lot because beforehand, when I was just stuck in quarantine doing nothing and talking to no one, it made me really sad.”

“We have to sanitize very often, so that adds on more work”

ALL PHOTOS BY MEGUMI ONDO

FEATURES | 9

is Baguette, Hesley has to follow strict guidelines.

These precautions may decrease the

ARUSHI ARORA

sports assistant

Despite most high school students choosing to quit their jobs during the pandemic, junior Leah Knodel continues her weekly shifts at Target.

Knodel began her job in January 2020 to pay for gas for her car and remained at work through quarantine to continue earning despite her recent injury.

Said Knodel, “I had actually broken my foot just before quarantine, so I didn’t work the first few months of quarantine[...]. Once I got the wires out of my foot, I started working again.”

She decided to continue her job at Target amidst the pandemic, keep-

A E L

L E D O N K H

ing safety guidelines in mind while making the best decision for herself and her family.

Said Knodel, “I don’t really have any concerns about the pandemic and [me] or my family staying safe because of my understanding of what is going on. But I do try to keep people comfortable. That’s why I clean down carts or [wear] a mask so they’re comfortable talking to me [or] coming into the store..”

Leah’s responsibilities are tai-

10 | THE PROSPECTOR

lored to satisfying the customers’ needs, including a new position recently added with the pandemic.

Said Knodel, “My job title is a guest advocate. Basically, I help guests in any way they need. I either work at self-checkout, a checkout lane, or LSA, who is the person that stands by the door, welcomes you, and cleans the carts. [Target] started the LSA position because people wanted their carts wiped down before they came in.”

There have also been new protocols and measures specific to Leah’s

job to ensure customer and employee safety.

Said Knodel, “They provided gloves, masks, disinfectant, and paper towels for wiping stuff down. [...] About two weeks after I started working, they required us to wear masks. At self-checkout, every time someone was done with the machine, you had to wipe it down. They have you wipe down everything you can whenever you can.”

However, working long shifts every week can be time-consuming.

Said Knodel, “A lot of the time that is usually set aside for students [...] is taken up by my work. I work 20 hours a week. That’s a lot of time that I could be watching TV, having my personal time, exercising, or doing any sort of homework.”

During her time working at Target in quarantine, Leah has encountered several unique experiences, including one interesting encounter with a hoarder.

Said Knodel, “ There was one lady who tried to buy like 12 bleach bottles, like the big gallon ones, and we’re like, ‘You can’t buy our whole stock of bleach!’”

“I mostly am doing stuff to keep others comfortable with this level of safety.”

STELLA JIA print editor-in-chief

Determined to find a part-time job, Junior Melody Lou secures a position at a dermatologist clinic during the midst of the pandemic. Although most high schoolers find work in the service industry like Chipotle or boba shops, Lou explored a different avenue through a nine-to-five Monday

“Cleaning in the day makes the patients feel more comfortable during a pandemic.”

MELODY L OU

While gaining experience in her field of interest at the office, she also immerses herself in the workplace atmosphere. One of the few quirks at the clinic is the office dog, who Lou finds enjoyment in interacting with. Along with animals, she also gets to learn from the experiences of her coworkers.

Said Lou, “Most people working there are adults, but there are a few other part-timers, including someone else who goes to our school and my sister in college who introduced me to the clinic. Everyone’s super friendly and chill!”

Although summer is over, Lou continues to work part-time at the clinic but on shorter hours. While the pandemic has caused dramatic shifts in our dayto-day lives, Lou’s aspiration to get a job still stood.

Said Lou, “At the end of the day, I wanted to do something over summer that I could benefit from in some way, and getting a job provided me with some great experience.”

FEATURES | 11

through Friday job at a dermatologist clinic called Refined MD, located in Los Gatos.

Being a worker at a clinic involved a variety of different responsibilities on Lou’s part. General housekeeping tasks ranged from cleaning the patients’ rooms to helping out with laundry and cooking.

Said Lou, “I would go in every day and do MA (medical assistant) light work like clean up rooms after patients were done and general cleaning throughout the day. There is a custodial staff at night but helping with cleaning in the day makes the patients feel more comfortable during a pandemic.”

On the flip side, Lou also got to experience unique tasks allowing her to gain exposure to the medical field like assembling numbing kits and mask air filters for the patients and staff. Medicine serves as a field of interest for Lou, and on occasion, she would get to see procedures and interact with MA’s to further her knowledge in that area.

Said Lou, “In the future, I would like to work somewhere in the medical field, and working at the clinic has given me the slightest bit of exposure. I don’t get to see anything super insane since I’m just a part-time worker and not an MA, but learning about the different kinds of procedures has been rewarding.”

OPINIONS

GRAPHIC COURTESY OF FORDHAM POLITICAL REVIEW

Follow

Political Ads Should Be Allowed on Social Media 894 Following

6.8M Followers

Tweets

Tweets & replies

JOAN THYAGARAJAN

12 | DESIGNED BY RACHEL PARK

investigations editor

In response to the upcoming 2020 presidential election, several social media companies have changed their policies on political advertisements.

The spearhead of this change has been Twitter, which back in October of 2019 announced that it would ban all political ads.

Said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, “We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought.”

However, certain companies—mainly FaceBook— have decided to allow political ads to be displayed on their platforms. In FaceBook’s case, their decision has resulted in severe backlash from both users and employees.

While there is a reason for concern with having a stream of political ads on social media platforms, these ads should be allowed since there are a multitude of ways to handle misinformation in ads. For example, FaceBook has an option for users to turn off political advertisements. However, more importantly,

Media

Likes

advertisements have been banned due to ethical reasons—but when the situations are carefully analyzed, the ethical problems that are solved by this prohibition are sparse.

Beginning with Dorsey’s remark about banning political ads, there are evident flaws in the logic being used. As Dorsey said, Twitter “believe[s] political message reach should be earned, not bought.”

However, the money used to pay for ads comes from the political campaign fund, which accumulates donations from supporters, super PACs, and various private committees, including the Democratic and Republic National Committees. To put the sheer amount of donations into perspective, President Donald Trump has raised $1.21 billion for his presidential campaign. Former Vice President Joe Biden has raised $699 million for his presidential campaign.

This is more than enough to fund an advertisement.

A significant amount of the funds come from committees and corporations that support the presidential nominee, and they have the right to donate to the cause they believe in. If the money used for these political ads comes from supporters, then all benefits

tisements to. While this is true, Twitter and other social media platforms that have prohibited political ads allow people to post political opin-

For example, FaceBook makes approximately $66 billion a year in total revenue and will make roughly $330 million for political ads, which

Rob Leathern “In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies. [...] We based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.”

ions, so buying an advertisement to spread the same message should be allowed as well. For example, both Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump have Twitter accounts just to post the same content as they would put

is 0.5% of yearly income. For a social media empire such as FaceBook, that is an easy loss to swallow, so even if FaceBook were to put its company growth over ethics, this would not be heavily reflected in its ads.

Investigations Editor Another point that should be considered is how ethical it is to refuse all political ads. While certain ads might contain misinformation or be slanderous, there are most certainly several political ads that are valid and should be promoted.

in an advertisement. If the opinions are already on the forum, prohibiting ads is useless, and the better option would be to make a decision that will help their business.

In this article, it has been frequently stated that corporations should put ethics first, but if ethical standards are met they can then base decisions on how it will benefit the company. However, the idea of a corporation putting ethics first might sound unrealistic. Even so, companies that are keeping ads have made it clear that there is no substantial monetary gain in keeping political ads, so there is little reason to worry about a corporation disregarding ethics for greed.

This year’s presidential election has opened up a vast array of opinions on the ethical, political, and economic standards on which a company should base its political advertisement policies. It is crucial to understand both sides of the argument and understand that the idea of keeping political ads is not as conniving and greedy as it is made out to be. It is legal, the monetary benefits are not substantial enough for revenue to play an influential role in decisions, and any benefits from the ads have been rightfully earned.

OPINIONS | 13

from the ads, including the “political reach” Dorsey mentioned, have been earned.

Along with this, there are no existing government regulations for what social media companies should do for political advertisements. If political ads are going to increase the corporation’s revenue and are approved by the government, it is only logical that the corporation will choose to accept those ads.

Said FaceBook’s Director of Product Management Rob Leathern, “In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies. [...] We based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.”

There are two crucial points to pull from his words. First, hearing from the candidates. This is vital for voters to form opinions about the people who will be running the country they live in. Second, there are no government guidelines for what a corporation is supposed to do with political ads. While there have been court hearings about political ads, including the infamous match up between Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and FaceBook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the government’s opinion holds very little weight if they do not have explicit guidelines companies are required to follow. Thus, companies are free to do as they please with advertisements legally, and as a corporation, they will naturally choose the more lucrative route.

Another point that should be considered is how ethical it is to refuse all political ads. While certain ads might contain misinformation or be slanderous, there are most certainly several political ads that are valid and should be promoted. However, a consistent refutation to this claim is that since they are corporations with full ownership of their platform, it is up to them who they sell the adver-

CHANGING THE APUSH CURRICULUM SANAT SINGHAL website/podcast editor

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat.” The adage is visible today, as the narrow view of American history taught in school is directly tied to the rampant ignorance pervading the country.

This phenomenon is prominent in the AP US History Curriculum set by the College Board, which fails to objectively and adequately cover the history of minority populations.

“We teach students about the purpose of government for them to be educated citizens. So, we are doing them a disservice by painting a false picture that prevents them from understanding the issues within our society,” said Brandon Pan, a senior at CHS who started a campaign titled “End the College Board’s Whitewashing of US History,” which has over 18,900 signatures.

A critical issue with the APUSH curriculum is the omission and lack of emphasis placed on black populations’ historical oppression.

The effect of policies like redlining and the War on Drugs are left out of the course and exam description, despite their undeniably

“

lasting impact in the modern-day. Redlining started in 1933, when the federal government began a program explicitly designed to increase — and segregate — America’s housing stock. African-Americans and other people of color were left out of the new suburban communities — and pushed instead into urban housing projects. While the curriculum does reference “racial segregation” during this time period, that framing positions it as a problem of the past. While this policy was banned over 50 years ago, it still affects homeownership rates, home values, and credit scores in the impacted communities.

The “War on Drugs,” a term popularized in 1971

by President Nixon and expanded on by President Reagan is also glossed over in the curriculm. This policy had the intention and effect of disproportionally impacting communities of color, primarily Blacks. Nixon’s domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, blatantly stated that “by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” President Reagon doubled down on this policy, causing the total prison population to double eight years after 1980 and hitting communities of color hardest. Even today, Black Americans

14 | THE PROSPECTOR

It is incumbent upon curriculum developers to resist such political pressure and stay true to the purpose of giving students an accurate understanding of this nation’s past and its effect on the present day.

make up nearly 30 percent of all drug-related arrests, despite accounting for only 12.5 percent of all substance users. Without learning about these past injustices in history class, students are bound to enter adulthood without the context to understand racial tensions in the present day.

N

SLAVERY

IMMIG RATIO

The curriculum’s flaws extend to the representation of Native American, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ history. Firstly, the curriculum does not mention the mistreatment of indigenous populations by the US government as a key concept.

Another piece of history left out is the public perception and treatment of immigrants post World War Two. The idea that “Immigrants from around the world sought access to the political, social, and economic opportunities in the United States” suggests an unarguably positive experience for immigrants in America. When it comes to LQBTQ history, the only concept that students are required to understand is that “feminist, gay and lesbian activists mobilized behind claims for legal, economic, and social equality.”

Changing the APUSH curriculum is not an entirely novel undertaking. In 2014, the College Board changed its curriculum to cover the nation’s history of racial and gender conflict. While these changes were relatively minor, it provoked a backlash from conservatives calling the new content “anti-American.” The College Board responded to the criticism by dialing back the rhetoric and content. This partisan intervention to present a historical narrative that supports ideological beliefs blurs the line between fact and opinion to an alarming degree. It is incumbent upon curriculum developers to resist such political pressure and stay true to the course’s purpose of giving students an accurate understanding of this nation’s past and its effect on the present day.

The College Board must pay heed to these concerns and change the curriculum to give an accurate and diverse perspective of its history. “History is a story. The history textbook authors have chosen a particular way to tell that story, and they have chosen a lot of things to leave out”, said Jenny Padgett, a Freshman Literature and American Lit Honors teacher at Cupertino High School.

“Our world is demanding for a more diverse and more honest way of telling that story.”

LGBTQ+

INVESTIGATIONS

16 | DESSIGNED BY JOAN THYAGARAJAN

HOMELESSNESS GROWING IN CUPERTINO

Background HYUNJUN KIM social media assistant

INVESTIGATIONS | 17

Despite the soaring cases of COVID-19, a rising number of people in homeless encampments is also evident.

Unemployment–a status in which people cannot find work–has been an economic shackle to those in the Bay Area. As the pandemic impedes the running businesses and department stores, workers struggle to find employment and maintain a steady income. For instance, George Avalos, a business reporter for The Mercury News, has reported that “unemployment would soar up to nearly 17 percent in the Bay Area, and 18.8 percent in California”. Consequently, the gradually increasing rate of unemployment in the local community intimates the expansion of the homeless shelters within the area.

The Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Department has successfully handled the homeless population’s influx in recent months. In May, they provided 18 people devoid of the necessities with various services such as meals, hygiene, and health assessments; they anticipate to provide more services for people who face either financial or housing difficulties. Like Santa Cruz’s calamity, an expanding “colony” of homeless people is evident near Wolfe Road–a familiar street for Cupertino residents–as the county seeks appropriate solutions to cease the growing homeless population.

ALL PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE FAN

Past Actions KEVIN JIA

podcast assistant

As the amount of homelessness begins to increase, city officials have started to discuss what they can do about the current situation and what they already have done.

The city has tried to help with the homelessness issue on Wolfe Road, providing essentials such as trash pick-ups, handing out free face masks, setting up portable bathrooms and handwashing stations that are serviced twice a week, and a $65,780 grant. Cupertino City manager Deborah Feng has been working with this issue.

Said Feng, “What we’ve done is we’ve created a team or group collaboration where we work with the county to help these folks get onto a pathway for housing.”

The area the encampment is on is owned by Caltrans. As a city manager, Feng has been working with the sheriff department and Caltrans

18 | THE PROSPECTOR

“The city has tried to help with the homelessness issue on Wolfe Road, providing essentials such as trash pick-ups, handing out free face masks..” to resolve the issue in the most efficient manner.

Said Feng, “The role of the sheriff department is to do mental health check-ins for wellness with the encampment members [...] With the recent fires causing bad air quality and heat waves, we’ve also offered water and cooling centers given their inability to shelter-in-place.”

Steps they have taken so far is relocating those living in the encampment to housing. Along with relocating, the city has partnered with West Valley Community Services to help provide basic necessities like food, water and other supplies. Although measures have been taken to lessen the spreading impact of the encampment, there still have been many complaints from members of the community. Plans have been made to evict all residents of the shelter once the quarantine for the coronavirus pandemic is lifted.

Said Feng, “It’s really not safe to be living on the streets, especially a busy street near a freeway ramp [...] Each person [in the encampment] will have their own individual plan for relocating given that each one has a different situation. ”

The long term solution the city hopes to accomplish is relocating all the residents of the encampment to proper housing however Cupertino does not have any homeless shelters. To combat the lack of homeless shelters, the city has partnered with Destination which helps homeless individuals relocate into housing.

Said Feng, “The sheriff’s go out there everyday and the county is out there a lot encouraging individuals to talk about their plans. In the coming weeks we’re hoping that we will be able to bring it to resolution.”

Cupertino’s plan on ending homelessness has been going on for a while, and the issues have not stopped even with complications such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Wildfires, and the sudden heat waves California residents recently have been facing.

Future Plans JULIET SHEARIN news editor/copy editor

With COVID-19 highlighting Cupertino’s homeless, community resources are being diverted to assist them. More eyes have fallen on what local measures can do to improve the crisis.

Like Connie Cunningham of Cupertino’s Housing Commission, housing activists point to Cupertino’s lack of infrastructure to support the homeless. Currently, Cupertino has no homeless shelters to help the homeless during California’s many disasters. Instead, in conjunction with West

“It all adds up to a grim near-future projection for the homeless people of Cupertino.”

“city officials will again uproot them once risk from COVID-19 is low enough.” munity, multi-pronged effort, is likely to impact an issue as deeply rooted as homelessness.

Soon, homeless encampments will once again be regularly dissolved, and homelessness will return to being an invisible problem. If Cupertino is to have a future where the unhoused can once again have a permanent address, invisible must not mean unresolved. Although Cupertino cannot offer easy solutions, California’s state legislature and local community members’ concerted work is slowly moving Cupertino towards a more equitable future.

INVESTIGATIONS | 19

Valley Community Services, Cupertino supports its unhoused population with short-term but practicable measures like donations.

Cupertino does not maintain any approved homeless encampments. Although CDC guidelines have temporarily halted the dispersal of homeless encampments, city officials will again uproot them once risk from COVID-19 is low enough, regardless of if housing is available.

The encampment on Wolfe Road, which shelters about 20 people, will be given 72 hours to relocate themselves and their possessions; all unhoused people in Cupertino could face relocation shortly. Relocation has been Cupertino’s historical policy, aimed at maintaining clean and safe neighborhoods.

Activists for unhoused people fear that there is nowhere for them to go. One of the most effective methods to reduce homelessness is constructing more affordable housing. Cupertino has continually lacked projects, including Below Market Rate housing: economic concerns mean that no developers applied for BMR housing permits in 2019 or 2020.

Cupertino’s homeless problem will only worsen. In 2019, Cupertino had 159 unhoused people. That number likely rose with the economic disruption of COVID-19: the most common self-reported reason for people to become homeless is job loss. It will only grow further when eviction moratoriums lapse. It all adds up to a grim near-future projection for the homeless people of Cupertino. State legislature offers some hope: bills incentivizing BMR housing, like AB-2345, can reduce the housing gap, though many people face widespread opposition.

There is no simple solution to homelessness. However, cities across the Bay Area face similar challenges and represent valuable, cautionary case studies. In Santa Cruz, an emergency transitional shelter was opened in February 2018 until city officials could find a permanent location. After widespread local opposition, no suitable location was chosen, and the temporary shelter closed in November of 2018. In 2019, Santa Cruz had 1,179 homeless residents, or roughly twice Cupertino’s per capita homelessness rate.

Santa Cruz demonstrates that only a whole-com-

LIFESTYLES

20 | DESIGNED BY JENNY WU

the bias against

IMAGES COURTESY OF GOOGLE

JENNY WU lifestyles editor

“Animation is

films in order to accurately appeal to the nostalgia in the story of Santa Claus. After storyboarding the script, designing backgrounds for layouts and planning the camera angles like live-action films, the filmmakers of Klaus then had to animate the characters and color the backgrounds of every single frame while making sure the two blended together seamlessly into the same world. Every intricate detail was hand-drawn digitally, refined into crisp lines in a cleanup stage, and painted with basic flat colors (all 2D processes), followed by the 3D lighting process that ultimately took over two years of production and 300 people to complete.

Shooting live-action movies usually only take around four to ten weeks.

Some may say that animation lacks realism.

Maybe realism makes a movie more immersive.

But is sacrificing the emotional value of animation for authenticity really that great? Let’s take a look at The Lion King. Sure, the resemblance between the animals in the film and animals in real life is uncanny, but it was the anthropomorphized singing cartoons from the original animation that connected the audience to the original characters, and without them, the live-action version was a bust.

With technology advancements constantly coming out, it’s easy for humans to get caught up in the snazziness of everything. But just as trends come and go, the glorification of the realism in live-action movies will soon wear off, and all that’ll be left is a movie with a weak plotline, dull characters and no emotion. So before 2D animation becomes a lost art, please start appreciating it more.

not a Genre, it is an Artform

BRAD BIRD

play a crisp illustration, ultimately making the film feel like it is all printed in ink and it’s almost as if you’re watching the comic book come to life.

While the visual language of Spiderverse did end up bringing some publicity back to 2D animation, no film in the medium has made headlines in mainstream media since its release in 2018.

However, we can take a look at the 2019 Netflix original, Klaus. Although the film used 3D effects by rigging the lighting to make characters appear 3D, the rest of the movie was made entirely with 2D methods. Filmmakers wanted to give the film a nostalgic 2D animated style like that of the 90’s Disney

LIFESTYLES | 21

In the past couple of decades, newly made 2D animated movies have disappeared from the box office charts, as the film industry continues to feel obliged to reimagine their classic animated pictures into live-action movies. With the recent remakes of The Lion King, Aladdin and now Mulan, this bias against animation is only becoming more prevalent.

When animating, an animator only has to deal with the limits of their own imagination, while live-action filmmakers have to work with real-world restrictions and a cast with different perceptions of the movie.

The infinite flexibility that animation offers produces much more expression than that of a live-action film. Unlike cartoons, humans are not capable of comically extending their eyeballs out of their sockets or flattening into a sheet of paper when ramming themselves into a door. Would it really be that fun to see a real-life Snoopy flying a dog house? I didn’t think so.

Additionally, animators do not have to rely on a particular actor’s personality to create their characters. Instead, they can craft personas to fit a character perfectly. Although actors are meant to take on different personalities in a film, they still project their own characteristics onto whomever they play, ultimately altering the character’s personality.

Because of the industry standard of 24 frames per second, an intricate amount of planning goes behind every little detail in an animated film, which gives ani-

mation the ability to have an emotional impact through careful attention to detail that simply cannot be delivered in a live-action movie.

And while 3D animation uses software to link keyframes together algorithmically, every single frame in a 2D film is individually crafted.

Although Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse was three-dimensionally animated, the filmmakers drew a lot of their artistic inspiration from the half-toning, hatchwork and linework done in Jack Kirby’s comic book illustrations.

By refraining from using popular 3D animated effects like motion blur and camera focus, the film can be frozen at any frame to dis-

I’M not LIKE THE

OTHER GIRLS

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE

RAJASI LADDHA

22 | THE PROSPECTOR

opinions assistant

Internalized misogyny envelops our daily lives nearly as much as toxic masculinity, yet society has taken even fewer steps towards addressing it. Internalized misogyny is a loose term that describes how women forever scramble to be accepted in society from their looks to their behaviors. The more desperate a woman is to follow the ever-shifting, contradictory rules, the easier she is to control and exploit.

The “I’m Not Like Other Girls” phenomenon is a toxic mentality that women adopt when they claim they are different from other girls. Through this, they shame other women for behaving in a certain manner, whether they

are conscious of it or not. This reinforces negative stereotypes and pits women against each other.

Chances are that you have encountered a pick-me girl at one point in your life. They might have said to you: “I do not wear makeup like other girls” or “Gosh, I eat so much for a girl.” These seemingly harmless phrases shame other women.

By calling themselves different for not participating or acting in a certain activity, these women label that activity as undesirable or “too normal”.

Negative stereotypes about women abound. When women distance themselves from other women with phrases like these, they send a message that there is something wrong with being or acting a certain manner. Pick-me girls are superior for doing or not

“I do not wear makeup like other GIRLS Women who say things like “I’m not other girls; I’m quirky” put themselves on a pedestal in order to be favored by men and are often referred to as pick-me girls.

90’S AND 00’S FASHION COMEBACK RACHEL PARK opinions editor

Fashion repeats itself: always in different ways, but still inspired by a particular era. Cycles in fashion happen every 30 years, so in 2020, ‘90s styles are coming back. Younger generations may think current styles are new, but most are just old trends being reinvented.

Some examples are crop tops, mom jeans and tie-dye. In the ‘90s, crop tops were everywhere. From Beyoncé to Britney Spears, many stars wore crop tops on MTV and red carpets.

Today, crop tops are once again back on the runways, streets, and television.

Tie-dye has also recently

become a popular phenomenon. In the ‘90s, tie-dye was extremely popular. Interest in tie-dye has increased drastically since nationwide quarantine measures were put in place.

Mom jeans is a slang for

high-waisted, loose women’s jeans. They were initially considered unhip by trendy younger women in the late ‘90s and 2000s. However, they are once again becoming popular in 2020.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE

LIFESTYLES | 23

participating in that certain thing.

They might say I play video games unlike other girls, or I don’t wear makeup like other girls, which insinuates that other girls are undesirable or inferior to them for wearing makeup.

However, the toxicity does not end there. Girls who adopt the “I’m Not Like Other Girls” mentality also shame women who dress or act mainstream. This can take the form of calling girls who shop at Brandy Melville basic or ordinary, or implying that how they dress or act is superior to those girls. In addition, by not acting a certain way, quirky girls distance themselves from other girls. Their aim may be to contradict common stereotypes, but they end up perpetuating them and shaming women in the process.

This mentality is also perpetuated by social media. Media already shames young girls for not behaving in certain ways. When they see other women be put down for certain behaviors, they can grow to believe that shaming other women is normal.

They adopt the mentality that if they are different, they will be noticed and chosen over other girls. The most recent version of this mentality has surfaced as the conflict between basic girls and bruh girls. Both are opposites and it was trendy to be a bruh girl. This trend divided women on social media as both sides shamed the other and considered themselves superior. However, both sides were pick-me girls as each shamed one another. The mentality describes any woman who claims they are better and shame other women simply because they behave in a certain way.

It can be adopted by any woman or person, not just so-called basic girls.

The “I’m Not Like Other Girls” mentality does nothing but encourage women to shame those that they should embrace.

24 | DESIGNED BY HENRYMA

SPORTS

PHOTO COURTESY OF CUPERTINO ASB

KRITI KAUSHAL photo assistant

be frugal in how we budget,” Gilmore said.

However, scheduling and monetary proposals haven’t been finalized yet due to the unprecedented nature of school policies. Gilmore explains, “If we don’t go back to school in January, then [the school] is going to cancel everything. We are not gonna have athletics this year.”

This is devastating news for athletes who have been training hard and looking forward to their seasons.

Said varsity football wide receiver Shiwoo Lee, “With football you can’t really play after high school unless you plan to play collegiate or professional so you only have four years to play. [...] Missing just one year is a big deal.”

Chris Oswald, long-time coach of the football team, parallels Lee’s opinions.“Football allows a sense of freedom. [...] If we get the opportunity we’ll play [the season] backwards; We’ll have senior night the first week because we never know when the athletic leagues will shut down. [...] I don’t want my seniors who have done everything I’ve asked to be stripped of their crucial experiences.”

Lee and many of the other Varsity football players have been practicing rigorously in preparation for their season. As a current senior who has devoted himself to football for the past six years, Lee states that getting the opportunity to play “would mean the world to me”. That could apply to every student on campus, spectator and athlete alike.

SPORTS | 25

Sports have always played an integralrole at Cupertino High School. From the annual helmet game to late-night basketball nail-biters, sports have fostered traditions on the Cupertino campus that remain as nostalgic memories even after graduation.

Postponed by the recently adopted distance learning model for FUHSD schools, sport seasons will be deferred until December when school is expected to resume in person.

James Gilmore, Cupertino High School’s athletic director, expects that sports will be modified to account for the delay of their seasons.

Said Gilmore, “As long as we return to school in January, we can start [...] with games as soon as December 28. [... ] Right now, we are still planning on having every single sport but they are condensed from three seasons into two seasons with a slightly staggered start date for most of them.”

Another aspect of sports which is directly impacted by distance learning is the allocated financial budget.

“The revenue from the gate sales contributes to our overall funds [...] and so do ASB card sales. [ASB card sales] are really important. [...] Even if you are not going to use the ASB card as much as you would have in the past, because we might not be able to go to games, it helps keep all the programs, not just athletics, afloat. [...] Without any money coming in, we won’t have any money for the coming years so we need to

MEGANA KASHYAP

investigations assistant JOSHUA LEE

26 | THE PROSPECTOR

podcast assistant

Since this past spring, sports season and the current school year have seen a complete flip in the sports scene at Cupertino High School and worldwide. Because school was closed down, many sports teams and clubs were forced to end their season early. Others cancelled their season altogether. Summer outdoor conditioning used precautions such as having smaller groups, keeping players six feet apart, and even separating groups while conditioning. After a month-long summer conditioning for fall sports like field hockey and football, the Fremont Union High School District halted all activity on July 21, 2020.

The Fremont Union High School District has decided that sports will tentatively start December 2020. The sports seasons will be cut short and will feature more sports during the Winter and Spring seasons, with most fall sports being played during the winter.

Arjun Rao, a senior, has been on the Cupertino High School varsity swimming team all throughout high school and had his swimming season cut short last year. He has also been on the DACA national team since eighth grade. Swimming has played a central role in his high school career. Said Rao, “When our club closed down, we could do ‘dry-land’ workouts but I decided apart from that, I’d go biking and working out a lot at home, outside of the pool.

They [DACA] would send some workouts but everyone on the national team takes responsibility for staying in shape because [we] want to stay in shape.” He further explained that “these past two or three months we have been working to get back into racing shape, but we still don’t know how meets are going to work.

We are just working towards being able to race at any time so that colleges can see.” His experience through the pandemic has been quite different from many athletes: he has had to focus not only on staying in shape for his team but also staying in shape in case an opportunity arises to be recruited by a college. His recruitment journey has been put on hold since February in what he described as a “freeze period,” during which colleges could no longer re-

cruit athletes. The sudden stop in recruitment has left Rao motivated to come back better and has further pushed him to stay in shape.

The national sports world, especially the NBA, has also taken a huge hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a normal NBA offseason, players would go to gyms to work out, sharpen their basketball skills, and practice with full contact. However, after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus, the NBA season prematurely entered the offseason. Right when players were preparing to compete in the NBA playoffs, they were forced to switch to life in quarantine with little to no access to a gym or basketball facilities. Many were limited to doing basketball drills at home without any contact to follow social distancing guidelines. Because of this, muscle groups that can only be trained through full contact practices and games likely weakened, putting players at risk of injury. When players arrived at the

NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, they had to quarantine before being cleared for practice, which further delayed the start of practices. In addition, since 22 teams were in the bubble, not all teams could hold training camp practices simultaneously because of space constraints. This limited training opportunity and rushed players’ conditioning, which made them more injury prone. Players reported feeling sore after their training camps because they needed to get used to full contact training after not playing for four months. Many others suffered injuries that forced them to sit out for a few games, or in worst cases the rest of the season.

SPORTS | 27

PHOTO COURTESY OF NBA

PERSPECTIVES

ADULTING

GEN Z EDITION lawyers

DOCTORS

*points to evidence* this you?

I thought somebody with a lack of evidence said something

LMAO IM DEAD ð&#x;’€ð&#x;’€ and so is your son She’s sick but you’re not ready for that conversion.

28 | DESIGNED BY SARAH POLLANS

TEACHERS

THERAPISTS

Not you turning in your assignments late again It’s the plagiarism for me

Not you getting tears on my couch again...

Patient: *talks about problems* Therapist: felt that ALEXANDRIA HUNT print editor-in-chief

The Art Of The Argument ...WHEN YOU ARE SO WRONG

the inner monologue of one who knows they’re wrong, but keeps going anyways SARAH POLLANS perspectives editor

What could go wrong, Am I right?

Of Course i am.

I always am.

I am, but let’s evaluate both sides here; you have to be fair to the argument, after all. If I am wrong, what else could I be wrong about? Everything?

What about the last argument I had? And the one before that?

Where does the madness end? What am I supposed to do now? I don’t know what it’s like to be wrong. This is a very new experience! Obviously, this is still all completely hypothetical, I sincerely doubt that I am wrong, but what would I do if I were?

Here we go, I have an idea: I will simply repeat the

argument that I made earlier.

It worked then, and it’ll have to work again. See, there we go!

Their jaws are dropped, and their minds are blown.

Wait a minute, they just refuted it the same way they did last time! That was awfully rude of them, and they even used my own words against me! I feel like I’m slowly losing sight of how this argument is going to pan out. Also, for the record, I think reusing the same ideas twice in an argument seems really cheap to me, and it shouldn’t be allowed.

I have planned to adopt a new strategy: if I don’t say anything, maybe they’ll piece it together that I’m actually right in all of this, and they’ll finally agree with me.

And now they’re accusing me of having no other arguments against them. Which, again, for the record, I totally do. I’m simply… saving them for future use. Gotta save up on these things, you know?

Well, I guess this is the end of our little squabble. I have no other defenses to put forth, and they seem altogether pretty done with themselves as well. Perhaps they were right, and I was wrong. I still have some doubts about that, but I do appreciate a good fight.

PERSPECTIVES | 29

Okay! Here we are! In the middle of a debate! Honestly, I have pretty high hopes here: I have a couple of good points ready and some rebuttals prepared. What could go wrong, am I right? Of course I am; I always am. Nobody can prove me wrong, and most definitely not in a small little disagreement like this, where I am clearly correct. And hey, this argument is going pretty well.

My points are stumping them.

They might as well be hanging on by a thread.

Oh, hang on, that was actually a good idea they just brought up. Well, at least it was just the one. Obviously, my ideas are better; I just thought that the one they mentioned was generally alright if I really had to give them that.

Wait, there’s another good point! How did they even think of that many? I mean, I definitely thought of more than them, but I am a bit shocked they’ve been able to keep this up for so long. I also am a bit shocked that I haven’t thought of a counter for their point yet, so I think I better get on that.

You know, I usually wouldn’t say this, but they might be really on to something here. I’m not quite sure what to do at this point, but…

hang on… could I be wrong?

No, that is just impossible, I’ve built such an obviously brilliant, impenetrable offense, and my defense strategy is simply denying everything they say!

Okay, slow down. What if I was wrong? Not saying that

POSTSCRIPT

it’s all okay looking back at myself

30 | DESIGNED BY MEGUMI ONDO

June 21st, 2020 Dear Diary, Every time I think about how I’m feeling, I get a pit in my stomach.

It feels like I’ve given up on myself. I look in the mirror, and I see someone I don’t want to be. I hurt some of my closest friends. If they can’t forgive me, no way I can forgive myself. I keep telling myself to let go of my past, but I feel undeserving of being happy again. Undeserving of the love I once received from those friends, unworthy of the loyalty. I regret everything I said, did, and thought, and wish I could take it back. It’s been hard even if my problems aren’t as bad as others’. When I think about how I’m feeling, I continuously need to remind myself that others have it worse.

Who am I to complain? Maybe if I ignore my problems, they’ll go away. I need to start focusing on important things, like the load of chemistry homework I have, or the massive amounts of reading I’m falling behind on. I don’t deserve to move on, do I? I messed up.

September 25th, 2020 II need to learn from the past and improve as a person. It’s been a few months. I’ve managed to learn from my past by accepting my actions. I have. I’ve realized I can’t go back and change things , so I’ve instead accepted them. All those nights where I just stared at my ceiling wondering why I had dug myself so deep into a mess that I couldn’t get out of have finally come to an end. I had to learn that everyone that comes into your life isn’t always there to stay. I learned that the hard way, and I’ll carry that with me forever.

There’s no point in beating myself up about past occurrences. I can’t go back and change anything. I need to accept what has happened and move on. I’ve grown as a person. I can finally look in the mirror and tell myself that I DESERVE to be happy. I always have. And I can be thankful for that. I finally forgive myself.

social media assistant

don’t worry about it a story of learning to accept mistakes

THERESA NGUYEN perspectives assistant

Even though I didn’t end up winning, I was glad that I didn’t withdraw from the competition. I was proud of myself for not giving up. Besides, the competition was over, and I could finally spend the rest of my summer in peace.

POSTSCRIPT | 31

I was just two weeks away from performing in the piano competition that had stumped me the year before. Getting second place last time was my motivation to claim the top prize. I practiced endlessly, hoping that this was my chance to turn things around.

As a reward for my hard work, my dad let me play with some of my cousins at my grandparents’ house. We spent hours playing outside despite the summer heat.

Of course, it was all too perfect to be true. I was wheeling out a ping pong table when it tipped over, pinning my fingers to the concrete. Luckily, none of my fingers were broken, but it was a bad enough sprain that I couldn’t practice.

With my competition just a couple of weeks away, everything seemed bleak — was all my hard work just for nothing? I spent the entire day in worry and regret, unable to practice as I listened to recordings of my pieces over and over again.

A week went by. I still couldn’t practice the way I did before, but I was getting closer. It was difficult resisting the urge to play

normally, but I had to remind myself to take it slow.

The competition was now just a week away, and if I did anything to hinder my recovery, I would have no chance to compete at all.

That was probably one of the most grueling weeks of my life. Knowing that I could play one way less than a month ago but that I could barely practice a few weeks later hurt more than the experience itself. I felt like I was losing progress and blamed myself; if I had done things differently and asked for help to carry the table, would I still have been in that situation?

Now that I look at this years later, I can see that I was worrying too much.

I shouldn’t have stressed over something I couldn’t have changed. Plus, I couldn’t have known about what would happen.

The best thing I could’ve done was to worry about the things I could change instead of wasting my time on something that already happened.

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