October 2020

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Volume LXIII, No. 1 • October 23, 2020 • Larkspur, CA

Learn about virtual activism p. 8 Find out how Redwood students would vote p. 11

Illustration by Kalyn Dawes and Keely Ganong

Redwood High School 395 Doherty Drive, Larkspur, CA 94939 www.redwoodbark.org Editors-in-Chief: Ella Green Sofi Mincy Camille Ray Jack Watson Art Consultants: Kalyn Dawes Keely Ganong

Copy Editors: Olivia Kharrazi (Head Copy) Sophia Rocha (Head Copy) Avery Aguero Maxanne Anderson Samantha Elegant Martha Fishburne Ava Koblik Abigail Shewmaker Natalie Tress Shannon Watridge

Business Managers: Annie Goldstein Katie Parsons Survey Manager: Audrey Lightfoot

Social Media Manager: Greta Cifarelli Podcast Editors: Hollis Belger Video Editors: Sydney Liebhauser Hannah Morgan Multimedia Editor: Mara Farese

Reporters​: Nathan Ash Will Baker Julian Belzer Charlotte DeForrest Alex Fisch Clariss Garcia Nina Geoghegan Caroline Goodhart Kylie Horstmeyer Libby Hughes Patrick Jacobson Mia Kessinger Sterling Lazarus Brooke Leslie Emma Lightfoot Alyssa McCadden Declan McDaniels Kate McHugh Samantha Michaels PJ Pfeiffer Bella Piacente AnnaLise Sandrich Caroline Scharf Hannah Sellers Gemma Strauss Allie Vasquez Keegan Williams

Opinion Editors: Anna Silverman Christopher Vargelis Feature Editors: Nicole Johnson Alli Runnfeldt Lifestyles Editors: Taylor Elliot Sol Ladetzky Sports Editors: Jackson Epps Kent Goodman

News Editors: Isabel Ames Charlie Ginsburg Review Editors: Casey Braff Jacob Mandel Spanish Editor: Loughlin Browne

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Volume LXIII, No. 1 • October 23, 2020 • Larkspur, CA

Sports Spotlight

14

COVID-19 Halloween

17

21

Gap Years

redwood high school • 395 doherty dr., larkspur, ca 94939 • volume LXIII, no. 1 • October 23, 2020 • www.redwoodbark.org

TUHSD combats antisemitism after online hate speech By Samantha Elegant On Thursday, Sept. 3, Instagram accounts promoting antisemitic content were brought to the attention of the Redwood High School administration. These accounts had usernames linking them to Redwood, such as @ redwoodhs.soas and @rhs_anti_semi_truck_league, and requested to follow Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) students. Their main content included lists of Jewish students on a “target list.” The accounts have since been taken down, and in an email sent to the Redwood community, Principal David Sondheim confirmed that the incident is being looked into by the district and the Central Marin Police Authority. Additionally, the administration has sent follow-up emails explicitly addressing the antisemitism and organized an educational webinar open to the community. Sondheim is appreciative of all the parents and students who have provided information about the accounts. While antisemitic behavior has occured in the past at

Redwood, Sondheim stated the consequences of these actions include suspension or expulsion given the extreme nature of this behavior. “We work hard to make sure that Redwood is an environment that is fully supportive of all our Jewish students. We do not want to see anybody take these kinds of actions against anybody,” Sondheim said. Since the accounts became known, Redwood has done multiple things to combat antisemitism. On Sept. 11, Tara Taupier sent an email to the district on behalf of her and Rabbi Stacy Friedman from congregation Rodef Sholom and submitted an editorial to Image courtesy of Marin County Office of Education the Marin Independent Journal which denounced hate speech SPEAKING TO AN online audience over Zoom, Brysk talks about what can be against Jewish students and other done about bigotry and antisemitism. community members. The email included this statement. “Together, we can counter the voices of hate and insure that this is a safe and nurturing community for all,” Taupier and Friedman said. On Sept. 30, there was an interactive webinar on confronting antisemitism that partnered with the AntiDefamation League (ADL), the Marin County Office of Education, the District Attorney’s office and Marin Jewish faith leaders from Congregation Rodef Sholom. Calif. Assemblyman Marc Levine was one of the speakers at the event who stressed the significance of the issue. “It’s important to stand up for students when they are Marc Levine, targeted by bigotry. Anti-Semitism is especially pernicious CA assemblyman as it can go unnoticed by many who don’t recognize it when they see it,” Levine said. Seth Brysk, regional director for ADL, believes social The response has not been limited to administration: students have organized a club called Students Organized media platforms, as well as the people in the community, Against Anti-Semitism (SOAAS) that is currently open are able to learn from events like this. “It’s an opportunity for education. Nobody is born to new members. Mara Menachem, a Jewish mother of two students from High School 1327 (formerly named Sir hating. People have to learn how to hate, and if they learn Francis Drake High School), was initially upset about how how to hate, they can be taught that [this] form of hate is Redwood handled the situation but now believes that there wrong,” Brysk said. Brysk believes that events like this are not isolated and has been improvement and that much of it can be attributed instead indicate a deeper problem. Though they should to the initiative of students. “I think what it shows you is that if you’re loud enough never be tolerated, these incidents provide an opportunity and you don’t let [the administration] drop it, that they will for change. do something, but we can’t be silent. We can’t because then nothing will happen,” Menachem said. selegant@redwoodbark.org

It’s important to stand up for students when they are targeted by bigotry.

Photo by Samantha Elegant

POSTING ANTISEMETIC CONTENT, accounts targeted Jewish students.

these

California takes charge in the race to zero-emissions By Jackson Epps “We’re facing a climate crisis. We need bold action. California is phasing out the internal combustion engine. By 2035, every new car sold in California will be an emission-free vehicle,” Governor Gavin Newsom said. On Sept. 23, Newsom announced California’s commitment to help solve the climate crisis via executive order through his office. California will join fifteen nations in phasing out the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle. Alice Zanmiller, a sustainability planner for Marin County, believes the target is “incredibly ambitious,” but a necessary change she believes should have started earlier. “That news came right at the perfect time. In order to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals that we’re proposing by the year 2030, we’re going to need to have 40 or 50 percent of the cars on the road in Marin County be [electric vehicles] by 2030,” Zanmiller said. “The state issuing such a strong proclamation in support of electric vehicles was really encouraging, and it also pulls on levers that local governments don’t necessarily have as much influence over.” Newsom cited California’s market power as leverage to push the U.S. as a whole towards an emission-free future. Zanmiller echoed these statements in regards to climate policy on a local vs. state level. “It feels like a reach when we just talk about doing it from a county level. But when you have the support of the whole state, it feels more plausible because there’s more

Photo by Jackson Epps

THE MOST PURCHASED California car, Tesla’s all electric Model 3 drives past Trader Joe’s. weight behind it,” Zanmiller said. Bill Carney, president of Sustainable San Rafael, however, believes that California must support consumers. The biggest hurdle between now and an electric vehicle (EV) only future is consumer support, and Sustainable San Rafael and Carney aim to aid that transition through virtual workshops. “It’s not a question of whether we could get there. The technology is there, it’s available, it’s affordable,” Carney said. “It’s a matter of getting the public on board to make those decisions.”

On a local level, both activists and local government workers are excited about the changes that Newsom’s executive order will bring to California. However, Zanmiller is focused on one concern. As of January 2019, there were 7,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road in Marin County. In order to meet California’s greenhouse gas emission goals by 2030, that number needs to increase to 90,000, according to Marin County’s Climate Action Plan. Continued on page 2

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Page 2 • News

October 23, 2020

Photo Survey What is the hardest class to learn online?

“I would say P.E. because you can’t work together as a class and you can’t do much physical activity.”

“I would say Spanish because a lot of the learning in Spanish comes from speaking in-person on the spot with my classmates.”

Eddie Lin

Chloe Bishop

freshman

sophomore

“Spanish is definitely the hardest class right now because there’s no interactive assignments other than Zoom presentations.”

“I think that AP statistics is the hardest to learn because it’s mostly done all on paper, so it’s a lot harder.”

junior

senior

Will Fitzgerald

Gabriela Rosenfeld

• Zero-emission cars Continued from page 1

“For [California] it’s really easy to say, ‘We’re going to reduce our emissions by half in ten years,’ it’s easy to make broad proclamations like that. But then when you look at what that would actually take, it really is a pretty substantial shift,” Zanmiller said. Carney and his organization are working in tandem with others throughout the Bay Area to raise awareness and knowledge about EVs in preparation for this dramatic shift. But car manufacturers will be equally affected by Newsom’s executive order. Barry Lakritz, General Sales Manager for Novato Toyota Kia Marin, is not fearful that the shift to an EV only business model will affect sales as both Kia and Toyota are both heavily invested in alternative green vehicles. However, Newsom’s executive order brings two main concerns to the forefront of Lakritz’s mind. “Our current electric grid cannot come close to handling the increase this would require. We’ll have to see what type of infrastructure improvements [Newsom] has in mind to prepare for this,” Lakritz said. “Given California’s recent electricity outages, I don’t think it’s a good idea to mandate such an extreme change.” Instead, Lakritz believes increasing incentives for EV ownership, and therefore a market shift Kirsitin Abbott Seth Anderson Susan Anderson Robert and Jean Baker The Baker Family Susan Ellsweig and Gary Barnett Caroline Beard The Belger Family Kathleen Belzer The Bishop Family Fred and Mary Blum The Braff Family Jason Brown Victoria Camelio Monica Canas Lucy Churton Kevin Cifarelli Robyn Cohen Laura Collins Edwards Conti Deborah Cook Kelli Cook Hali Croner The Culhane Family Courtney Daly The Dawes Family Regina DeAngellis Sonya DeForrest Sandra Derango Joanne Desin Robby Dinowitz Erika Elliot Mary Elliott Ronald Ellsweig

Photo by Jackson Epps

PARKED AT NOVATO’S Chevrolet dealership, a fleet of electric Bolts line up next to each other ready to be sold.

instead of a mandated shift, would be a more and Marin’s, number one carbon emitter: viable option. transportation. “As manufacturers continue to improve their products, more people will switch to EV’s naturally without mandating it,” Lakritz said. Despite Lakritz’ concerns, Newsom and California will move forward in partnership with manufacturers in order to reduce California, jepps@redwoodbark.org

Veronia Skelton and Joseph Estus Deidre Evershed Jennifer Fang Kristin Farese Monica Fieber The Fishburne Family Rod and Hannah Fligel Pamela Fong Robert Frankus Paul Gehrman and Norah Frei Allie G The Ganong Family The Ginsburg Family William Gisvold Martin Goldstein The Goldstein Familiy Cynthia Goodman Ina Gotlieb Jennifer Green Melissa Harms Christopher and Jennifer Hartung Randy Herbst Nancy and Allan Herzog Joan Hornberger The Hughes Family Tamara S Hull Robin Jacobson Carolyn Jensen Wendy Jessen Sylvia Jones William and Rachel Kessinger Anneke Koblik E. Koeppel Zoe Koonce

BarkPatrons Carl Krawitt Sol and Gil Ladetzky Reshma Lensing The Leonard Family Elizabeth Brown and Janet Lewin Deborah Lightfoot Stephen Lightfoot Burt and Lisa Losee Ellen Lynch Alexandra Maliniak Harold and Nancy Mann Dana Marotto Micheal Marrero Kerianne and Christopher McBride Ruth McDaniels Katie and David McGee The McHugh Family The Michaels Family Robert Morgan Ann Aiko Morton Camelia Negrea Cecily and James O’Connor Denise Olson Hillary Oppenheim Sharon Parsons The Parsons Family Cynthia Patrizi The Pfeiffer Family

Frances Piacente Michael Piacente Gabriella Piccioni Megan Pirsch The Ray Family Bruce Reed Jennifer Reese Lesley Reidy Timothy Richards The Rocha Family Liliana Royal Jason Ryning D. Sanders David Sandrich The Sandrich Family Wendy Shewmaker Jena Shore The Silverman Family Peter and Lucia Sinatra The Smallhorn Family Michael and Victoria Song The Steele Family Seth and Jill Steinberg Paul and Amanda Stephen Catherine Stevenson Irene and Phil Strauss Kate and Ron Strauss Jennifer Sutter Mary Sylla Richard Thalheimer

Maryann Thompson Jean-Ray Tippo Deborah Tirschwell The Towns Wagner Family Andy Tress Christopher and Lisa Tribolet Kimberly Tully-Sutton Lisa Turner Dawn Valler Caroline Wabi Kimberly Wagner Perelandra Wait Diana Wang The Waltridge Family The Watson Family The Welch Family Larry Wilson Ryan Wilson Julia Wolfert Sarah Young Constance Zlot Simon Zomoza

If you would like to support the Redwood Bark, donations can be made by check and mailed to Redwood High School. Checks should be made payable to the Redwood Bark. See www. redwoodbark.org for an online payment option.

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Page 3 • News

www.redwoodbark.org

MEEP provides academic support during distance learning By Libby Hughes Whether it is doing jumping jacks for P.E. in front of a laptop camera or awkwardly waiting for the other people in a breakout room to unmute themselves, Redwood students are now facing an array of new technological learning challenges in light of the pandemic. However, for many students, especially those of a lower socioeconomic status, the transition to online learning has proven to be even more of a struggle academically. Students coming from lower household incomes often have limited access to computers and WiFi at home, placing them at an immediate disadvantage during distance learning which is predominantly online. Moreover, especially during the pandemic, extra instruction and supervision outside of school can be difficult for lower income families to afford, further deepening educational disparities. Mary Bender, sixth grade teacher at Saint Hilary School and founder of the tutoring service

Photo by Libby Hughes

MEEP VOLUNTEER TUTOR Michael Bender tutors a fifth grade student who attends Bahia Vista Elementary School.

Homework Helpers, recognizes the prevalence of this educational inequity in Marin. “There is a gap between the kids that can afford a $100-an-hour tutor and the kids that can’t … The students [who] can’t afford [tutoring] are falling farther and farther behind with distance learning,” Bender said. “Many of them have parents [who] are domestic workers, and if they don’t work, they can’t put money and food on the table for their family. Those people never stopped working, so you have these kids that are home that are unsupervised and falling behind.” To combat this growing disparity, this past August, Bender joined with child behavior development specialist and consultant Diane Provo to create the Marin Equality in Education Project (MEEP). The organization aims to achieve equal access to education for Marin students by providing elementary and middle schoolers coming from families that make under $75,000 a year with free high school and college student tutors over Zoom. Several Redwood alumni including Eli Ganong, Kyle Felder and Robbie Wilson are in charge of both matching the students with tutors and fundraising for the organization. The alumni created a GoFundMe to keep the organization running through most of the school year while providing students with the academic resources which they would have normally had access to in in-person classes. Marin school districts have also helped increase awareness of MEEP through informative flyers included in the free lunches that have been distributed. To accommodate the growing number of students in need of tutors, Ganong believes Redwood students would be ideal volunteer candidates. “We are looking for college students and high schoolers that are on top of their own schoolwork and organized enough with their own classwork in order to help someone else. You need to know simple math and English, but the main part of [MEEP] is just about getting [the students] some face-to-face help,” Ganong said. In addition to reforming education, Provo stresses that Marin residents need to become aware of this disparity that exists in Marin and realize how important tutors are for low income households. “Right now, with the way the education system is handling this issue of online learning, these kids feel more

Photo courtesy of MEEP

cared for by these high school students and the college kids than they do by their schools,” Provo said. If high school and college students are interested in becoming a volunteer tutor, they can fill out an application through the MEEP’s website at https://www. marinequalityineducationproject.org/ or contact the program leaders at info@marinequalityineducationproject. org.

lhughes@redwoodbark.org

COVID-19 leaves shelters empty and homeless dogs happy By Nathan Ash Empty cages line the hallways of the once hectic dog shelters in Marin. The weary eyes of homeless dogs behind bars no longer follow potential owners as they walk past. Instead, those eyes are now filled with elation as their new family welcomes them to their new home. Marin has seen an unprecedented rise in shelter rescues and adoptions recently and COVID-19 has been a significant contributor. The Marin Humane Society shelter in Novato reported over 750 adoptions during the pandemic, according to Patch News. After arriving at the shelters, many dogs are adopted or rescued almost immediately. COVID-19 has posed a great challenge to American citizens, but in the eyes of homeless dogs in need of loving homes, it has been beneficial. Private animal rescuers like Paula Fontenot, who has saved over 250 dogs over the span of 25 years, find that the pandemic has guided people towards adopting and fostering dogs. Before COVID-19, people’s lives were filled with responsibilities that made it difficult to spare any time on a dog, but during the shelter-in-place, Fontenot has noticed that families now have ample time to care for

an animal. “[New owners] would finally have a lot of time to help an animal in need, so there was this big surge in applications at shelters and rescue groups to help get them out of the shelters. We call it ‘clearing the shelters,’” Fontenot said. According to Fontenot, numerous shelters in Marin have also transitioned to online based adoptions, a significant change to the adoption experience. She claims that their new processes are more streamlined, safe and accessible for rescuers to get dogs out of shelters and into the comfort of a new home. “I don’t know if you’ve been to a shelter, but the noise level can be unbearable [due to kennel stress]. That’s why a lot of people won’t go to a shelter. But with the quarantine, the process has changed. A lot of the systems are online now, so people are honing in on a dog that they want to help, and doing the application online,” Fontenot said. “Some of these shelters and rescue groups have matchmakers where you put what you’re looking for, and they’ll match you up with the dog, and then you can actually do a drive-through adoption.” A local dog trainer, Kara Galindo, has had positive experiences with the online

Photo by Becca Weinstein

A RESCUE FROM Petaluma, Rocco is sprawled out on the bed in his new home, finally enjoying a life of comfort.

Photo by Nathan Ash

FONTENOT’S RESCUED PIT bull, Lola, relaxes on the couch after a long day of playing with her foster brother, Cowboy. system that the Marin Humane Society has implemented to make the adoption process safer. “The Marine Humane [Society] is doing really great things [with] their website. As soon as you go to their website, they have a notice that pops up and they’re doing [online] appointments,” Galindo said. Junior Griffin Womack is one of these new owners, having recently added a canine member to his family during quarantine. Womack’s new 11-month-old puppy, Trip, was rescued in July from a shelter in Tennessee. Another family was planning to euthanize Trip, but the Womack family stepped in and took Trip home. It took some time for the Womack family to adjust to Trip’s personality, but the entire family soon came to love Trip and his quirks. Griffin finds that Trip’s constant nudges to play fetch or tug of war cure the boredom of having to shelter-in-

place. His puppy’s energetic nature keeps the whole family occupied. “Trip is a puppy, so he has a lot of energy, and he’s constantly running around barking and playing with toys. Sometimes it’s a lot to handle, but we love him because he adds that positive element to the house,” Griffin said. In addition to adding new companions to the household, Galindo notes how helpful the Marin Humane is in the process of adopting a dog and supporting the new owner even after the dog has found a home. “The Marin Humane [Society] is awesome, and I can’t speak more highly about them. There are other great rescues in the area, but do your research of the rescues, how they handle their animals and [how they] support after you [adopt],” Galindo said. nash@redwoodbark.org

opinion

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Politics should not pervade non-partisan issues By Keely Ganong In today’s political climate, it seems as though any remotely controversial issue is dragged into a partisan battle. While politicization is not a new development, it has recently become more present in issues that do not belong in politics, especially with matters concerning scientific facts. This is in part due to the increase of polarization and radical views regarding policy change. According to the Pew Research Center, partisan animosity has more than doubled since 1994. Today, intense partisans are found to believe the opposing party’s policies are “so misguided that they are a threat to the nation’s well-being.” Despite being named the “United” States of America, now, more than ever, citizens are hardly united. With the cavernous split between political views in our country, we are often unable to find common ground on even the most indisputable topics rooted in science and fact. Many extremists and general party members now form their opinions solely based on their political parties’ stance on the issue and rely on their party’s polarized view rather than listening to experts’ advice. Citizens should conduct their own research to form sound opinions on which side they support in a matter, and partisanship needs to be curtailed in order to allow scientific evidence to be assessed by individuals without political interference. Along with just about every decision in the management of COVID-19, the decision to wear a mask has become politicized. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Democratic leaders have been vocal about kdawes@redwoodbark.org

the importance of masks, echoing scientists’ assertions that everyone should wear one in public. Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have shown that masks can reduce the chance of both transmitting and catching the coronavirus. As a result, the answer to this debate should be simple: everyone should wear a mask. Whether or not there is bipartisan support for masks, what matters is the scientific research behind their usage. However, with many Republican officials downplaying the need for protective equipment like masks, our nation has become divided over something meant only to protect public health. Both political parties have taken advantage of this controversy to gain power for their own side and discredit the opposition, turning mask-wearing into a political debate rather than a public

health issue. Democrats quickly developed a Illustration by Livy Selden critical view of those refusing to wear a mask while Republicans in turn argued that mask mandates infringed on their rights. Decisions to control the pandemic and overall health should not be complicated by politics. These opposing claims are a waste of time amid this already-complicated effort to control the virus when scientists have found evidence proving the validity of one side of the argument. Likewise, views on climate change should not be swayed by political divides. When it comes to scientific and environmental matters, we should always trust and accept data provided by scientists. However, as President Donald Trump continues to understate the reality of climate change, his polarizing views influence his supporters to discredit scientists. According to a Pew Research study, trends show that partisanship consistently corresponds

with the trust of environmental scientists. While more than 70 percent of liberal Democrats trust climate scientists to provide accurate information about climate change causes, only 15 percent of conservative Republicans feel the same way. Conflicting sides are unable to see climate change through the same lens, as they perceive data from scientists from different perspectives with varying levels of trust. However, politics should not distort solid facts: as we come to face the environmental consequences formed by our lack of action, we must realize that party identification is irrelevant and climate change is affecting us all. In order to address climate change, we must join together in a nonpartisan manner and trust the facts. This is not to say politics

aren’t important. We are reliant on our government to use political power to set policies and create laws. Dissenting political views were essential to the formation of our modern government and the lasting structure created from the Jeffersonian era has allowed for wide representation of citizens’ ideological views. However, the issue arises when polarization is so prevalent it interferes with any productive government action. Regardless of political association, science should never be considered a partisan debate. As we continue to face both a pandemic and the looming reality of climate change, now, more than ever, we must realize the importance of scientific facts as a tool to create policy. In order to handle future controversial issues in a less divisive way, we must put aside partisan politics and focus on changes moving in the direction of unity and not benefiting political parties. kganong@redwoodbark.org

Page 5 • Opinion

www.redwoodbark.org

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Online learning is Zooming away mental health

of entertainment are compiled in the same place, as they now are on the computer. Additionally, the Psychiatric Wake up, stumble out of bed, hastily get ready and Times describes how the pleasure we derive from inimmediately sit down in front of a screen; this is the new person social interactions far outweighs that of online normal morning routine for high school students. You communication due to dopamine release in the brain. Despite these findings, there is no definitive evidence log onto Zoom and try to pay attention, but find yourself zoning out just a few minutes in. The entire period is a that proves looking at computer screens for long time fight against the urge to turn off your camera just to give periods will cause permanent eye damage or otherwise your eyes and mind a break. Then you realize that what impair physical health. According to Harvard Health, has felt like hours has only been one class period, and you many worry that the blue light emitted by screens will lead to age-related macular degeneration or blindness. drag yourself to the next virtual classroom. “Zoom” school is taking its toll on all of us, as extensive However, the concentration of light produced by amounts of screen time can lead to mental health and consumer electronics is small enough that it won’t cause physical issues. As distance learning continues, we must retinal damage. That being said, exposure to blue light seek alternative learning methods to online classes, as well can lead to minor issues; according to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health, our as ways to alleviate the ensuing “Zoom fatigue.” eyes have to work extra hard to Redwood students and focus on pixelated images when teachers are among the 300 looking at a screen. Furthermore, million daily users of Zoom. humans blink half their usual According to the Psychiatric amount when using computers, Times, participants, such as which can lead to eye strain and ourselves, are experiencing contribute to “Zoom fatigue.” what they call “Zoom In order to mitigate these fatigue,” the tired or burnt effects, certain practices out feeling that occurs after should be enacted to reduce using online programs for overall screen time. According extended periods of time. to Petriglieri, Zoom calls According to a Bark survey should be limited and cameras should conducted in October 2020, 63 Illustration be optional. It is also helpful to set the screen percent of Redwood students self-reported by Isabella to the side and ensure that all time spent online always feeling tired or burnt out after zoom Lombardo is used efficiently. Lowering screen brightness, classes and 27 percent say they often feel this way. sitting two feet from the computer screen and However, “Zoom fatigue” isn’t the only remembering to blink are also helpful practices. problem. Our mental health is also at stake. In Although optional cameras and some of these other a survey from the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, 41 percent of youth report that using screens methods may not be feasible for school, teachers can and negatively impacted their fun while playing, while 35 should try to combat digital fatigue for our happiness and mental and physical health. This means our school needs percent believe it affects their mood and mental health. Experts have found that these detrimental impacts on to use our screens only when necessary by possibly doing our mental health are common due to the major differences more work on paper and giving students time off from between online communication and in-person social cameras through regular breaks. Teachers and students alike are doing their best to interaction. In a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interview, Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at navigate our new, virtual world. The hope is that we will the European Institute of Business Administration, said return to in-person school as soon as possible, as of now that one of the reasons for the fatigue and decline in mental in January, but with our lives still limited to boxes on a health is because it’s hard to process and pick up non- screen, we need to recognize and limit the effects of screen verbal and social cues over a screen. He also explained time for the sake of our mental health. the “self-complexity theory” of how negative feelings can arise when our social lives, academic careers and avenues selegant@redwoodbark.org By Samantha Elegant

Global Warning: Sweeping forest floors uncovers dirt on Trump’s adminstration Story and Illustration by Anna Silverman “Global Warning” is a column discussing relevant environmental concerns that our planet faces today. The column aims to provide thought-provoking commentary on such issues and offer reasonable solutions that will propel our world towards sustainability. Trump: “[The climate will] start getting cooler —just you watch.” Crowfoot: “I wish science agreed with you.” Trump: “I don’t think science knows, actually.” This was the conversation between President Donald Trump and California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot during Trump’s September visit to the wildfire-ravaged state. Crowfoot was right: the climate isn’t cooling. Instead, global temperatures are fast approaching the 1.5° Celsius increase predicted to irreversiby damage global health. As for Trump? Well, he’s taken to Twitter once again to express his thoughts. In 2018, Trump issued his first statement blaming California for its devastating fires, tweeting “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly fires in California except that forest management is so poor.” He then demanded the state “... remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” In 2020, he repeated this sentiment in lieu of the worst wildfire season in recorded state history, declaring at a Pennsylvania rally on Sept. 18 that he’s “been telling [California] this now for three years, but they don’t want to listen” and reiterating his threat to “make them pay for it.” Trump needs to stop publicly targeting these defamations toward California and start leading America in the fight against climate change. Most of the president’s threats prove hollow anyways, considering the federal government controls 57 percent of California forest territory and, on Oct. 16, he approved a billion-dollar deal to aid with fire mitigation efforts that he signed only two days after his Pennsylvania comments. However, these statements’ real consequences lie in their dividing effect, as political polarization significantly impedes any environmental action. Despite his slanderous remarks, Trump has made one solid point: California must employ controlled burns and other forest management techniques in order to reduce fire devastation and regularity. This will most likely be one of the solutions to the current wildfire issue, but it is just a short-term fix and certainly not the end-all be-all for the increasingly concerning crisis. The signs of global warming are everywhere. California’s precipitation rate dropped by 30 percent this year and temperatures across the state and nation reached record highs this summer. Dry vegetation with low moisture replenishment are both factors that sparked 2020’s devastating wildfire season, which has scorched a record of four million acres so far and generated six of the largest fires in California history. This is not about forest management; this is about climate management, an area in which the government has failed our country. Trump’s administration has passed a total of 68 environmental rollbacks so far out of their 100-rollback end goal. These have removed or reduced funding for many advancements on climate research and regulations. Instead of repealing the fragile line of defenses against the imminent climate crisis, the government needs to start reacting to the obvious signs that the earth is degrading. Otherwise, the wildfires will become the least of our worries as world populations, ecosystems and human health are compromised due to the overextension of our carbon budget. Trump has the power to begin conservation and sustainability initiatives by rejoining the Paris Accords and starting legislative conversations about solutions. However, in order to mitigate future climate consequences, our government must drastically reform their current policies. Emissions need to be cut, not taxes, and trickle-down economics needs to change into trickle-down environmentalism for the fate of our planet. asilverman@redwoodbark.org

Inclusive curriculum needs to be integrated into our classrooms

prejudice can be reduced in children if they are taught more complex ways to think. When children are taught to During my freshman year, I had to face a startling fact: look at various aspects of people rather than just their race, 15 years of my life had passed before one of my English their bias is reduced. teachers required a book written by a non-white author. We need to highlight novels that show diverse Until that moment, all of my classes had stuck to the stories because they allow for more conversations about classics: novels by the same straight, white men whose historically ignored perspectives as white supremacy voices have been amplified for centuries. However, after continues to rise in the country. According to the Antia national outcry from the Black Lives Matter movement Defamation League, white supremacist propaganda this past year, many teachers and students have been distribution tripled from 2017-2018. It’s important to pushing for a more diverse curriculum in their classrooms. educate students about cultural differences in order to As the U.S. faces a racial reckoning, it is important for foster a new generation of empathy and tolerance. inclusive material to be taught in classrooms in order to Despite these facts, some individuals, including promote awareness of other perspectives and social teachers, believe that California has taken issues. sufficient action to push for diversity. According to the United In 2016, California introduced States Census Bureau, nonthe Assembly Bill AB 2772 Hispanic white students now that would make ethnic studies make up only 51.9 percent of courses a requirement for students’ all students enrolled in school. graduation. Despite gaining However, this diversity is not support from many educators who represented in lesson plans, where felt that the passage of this legislation English classes across the nation was monumental, some minority Illustration by Kalyn Dawes revolve around an overwhelming groups, such as Jewish and Korean number of books written by white authors. Even Redwood residents, expressed discontent with the bill and claimed it is not exempt from this level of curriculum cherry picking, inadequately represented these groups and their histories. with only five out of the 17 assigned books in English In response to the criticism, Gavin Newsom vetoed 3-4 written by authors of color. Since the only required this bill, calling it “insufficiently balanced and inclusive.” texts in our English curriculum are Shakespeare’s “Romeo While this proposed piece of legislation was a step in the and Juliet” and “Macbeth,” this biased selectivity is even right direction, classrooms should not be relying solely on more obvious as some teachers prefer to teach older and the government legislature for enforcement of diversity. more academically accepted literature. Instead of confining teachers to specific government Diversity shouldn’t be enforced solely to meet a quota standards, these bills need to support teachers and their either; when implemented correctly, it can have a profound efforts to improve inclusivity, not create one standard impact on students. It is no surprise that we are naturally of diverse teaching. To make inclusivity as effective as more engaged when we are shown relatable stories about possible, teachers and school administrations should be our own culture in our classrooms. According to a 2018 taking initiative to provide diversity in their schools to New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, create a more personal and welcoming setting for their Education and Human Development analysis, student students. engagement in classrooms increases in literature and My freshman English class introduced me to history lessons when students feel the content reflects their stories of various perspectives for the first time. If my identity. Inclusive material in classrooms helps students teacher had not taken the initiative to assign a diverse learn better and also opens the door for them to have their curriculum, I wouldn’t have taken the time to listen to stories heard by their teachers and classmates. various perspectives in literature. For the benefit of future Not only does material from varying perspectives generations, our curriculum needs to start reflecting the help students relate to their material, but it also allows for unique diversity of our country. impactful conversations about the world. According to Erin N. Winkler, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin, cscharf@redwoodbark.org By Caroline Scharf

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Page 6 • Opinion

October 23, 2020

Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes but defunding the police is a start Story and Illustration by Nina Geoghegan A collection of shallow dents circle the golden handle of a pine-colored front door that has been broken off its hinges. Dark streaks tattoo the side of the splintered door frame, grim remnants of a battering ram’s work. Ironically, a worn welcome mat sits on the ground out front. The property is littered with dozens of bullet casings: all but one from an officer-wielded gun. It was at this scene in South Louisville, KY, that 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was killed by multiple police-fired bullets in March of this year. She was unarmed, unprepared and sadly unexceptional in suffering this fate. Taylor is now just another name on the long list of Black police brutality victims in America. According to a Washington Post database, 1,006 Americans of varying racial backgrounds have been fatally shot by police from the beginning of 2020 up until Oct. 12. This alarming statistic is evidence of a problem that should not exist: the abuse of arms by America’s police force. America must fix this error by disarming the police, as the loss of life has set the cost of having cops who carry guns too high. Although police officers are expected to protect and serve civilians, their inadequate and often incorrect training on critical skills makes it difficult for them to properly do their jobs without relying on their firearms. According to the Institute for Criminal Justice Training Reform,

officers receive around 647 hours of basic training on average on topics including cultural diversity, firearms and defensive tactics. However, this number is almost laughable when compared to the roughly 3,500 hours it takes to become a plumber. Learning how to handle a weapon should require more training than fixing toilets.

The repercussions of unsubstantial training have materialized in the senseless and disproportionate shootings of Black Americans in recent years. A 2019 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) report by researchers Frank Edwards, Hedwig Lee and Michael Esposito found that police use-of-force is one of the leading causes of death among Black men. The same study stated that between 100 in 100,000 Black men will be killed by police — an awfully large figure considering that the number for white men is 39 in 100,000. Seeing as only roughly 13 percent of America’s population is Black, with Black men making up an even smaller percentage, this statistic speaks for itself in its inequity. Gun usage can act as a self-defense mechanism for officers against violent

individuals. In his article “Why cops carry guns,” Richard Fairburn, the public safety director of Canton, Ill., mentions that in some cases, the way to stop a terrible incident may be to use deadly force. Additionally, the National Rifle Association (NRA) suggested that guns aren’t necessarily the issue when it comes to disturbance and death. In October of 2020, they stated that in 2019 the violent crime rate was at 379 per a 100,000 population — the second lowest since 1971, despite the growing rate of gun ownership. Although there may be some truth in these arguments, mindsets like these produce the common misconception that guns are necessary for “saving the day.” Even when handling potentially hazardous scenes, police should never think of killing someone as

ngeoghegan@redwoodbark.org

Back-to-School BINGO By Martha Fishburne

Let’s face it: online learning sucks. This BINGO board may not help us get back to the classrooms or help you pass that chemistry class you haven’t been paying attention to, but at least it’s not another breakout room. (Cross off boxes as you experience them. You win when you get five in a row.) mfishburne@redwoodbark.org

It’s time to cancel ‘Cancel Culture’ Story by Ella Green Think back to November 2019. Coronavirus is still a thing of the future. You are walking the crowded halls of Redwood, navigating past the trio of freshman girls unaware that their position blocks everyone else’s path. You rush to the Wellness Center to snag one of those delicious cough drops and then wait an unnecessary amount of time in line at the water fountain for a kid to fill up his water bottle perfectly to the brim. Your day is as ordinary as any other, and then you hear someone use a slur. Maybe it is someone calling something “gay” with disdain, or a non-black student using the n-word to complete a song lyric or a microaggression, so slight it is barely noticeable by anyone except the target. But, the sad part is, at Redwood, hearing it does not make your day any less normal. At Redwood, 48 percent of students self-reported hearing the use of derogatory language every week or more. The Racial Justice Bureau even reports Marin County as the most racially disparate county in all of California. The homogeneity at Redwood in particular contributes to notions of white supremacy and the idea that students can say whatever they please, despite the administration’s efforts to mitigate these incidents. I moved to California from New York City in the summer before my freshman year. In my first few days at Redwood, I was horrified by the nonchalant use of slurs. Never before in an academic setting had I heard someone use homophobic, xenophobic or racial slurs, but I heard all of those within my first week. Moving from one generally progressive county to another, I assumed Marin would hold similar ethical standards to New York City. In spite of Marin’s selfproclaimed inclusive culture, it appears as though much of it is merely performative. A different story is told behind the scenes and within school halls, that results in serious consequences. As the Black Lives Matter movement regained traction following the death of George Floyd in May 2020,

an option, regardless of how abhorrent the felony or unstable the person. By not taking into account that their gun should be a last resort, the armed police pose a bigger threat to their citizens than they perceive. However, this does not need to be the case, as demonstrated by the 19 countries with unarmed police forces that include the U.K., Norway and New Zealand. Rhodes Scholar and Time Magazine writer Mélissa Godin investigated such countries. According to Godin’s inspection of the gun-free systems in Norway and the U.K., these countries are still able to ensure general public safety and focus on mitigating the severity of situations through more extensive training. They also employ “policing by consent,” a concept where police focus more on public approval of their behavior, giving citizens the ability to deny an officer’s unwanted actions. The job of a police officer is to establish security. Instead, their recent behavior has displayed a growing carelessness with the power they carry holstered at their hip. The gun’s presence is a constant reminder of how the idea of protection has truly gone awry. The solution is clear: disarm the police.

vigilante justice was employed at Redwood as several students were “exposed” and “canceled” (socially scorned and isolated) for saying the n-word. Many were frustrated with the administration’s response to the allegations or seemingly lack thereof. Despite these assumptions, Principal Sondheim asserts that action was taken, just not publicly. When allegations are made towards minors, Redwood legally cannot divulge information in the same way that police can do with those crimes. Even so, the administration’s inability to fully communicate the behind-the-scenes of disciplinary actions

Illustration by Kalyn Dawes has resulted in a clear disconnect between students and administrators. Many feel the administration is tolerating the use of slurs and other discriminatory behavior. With the growth of social media, it has become dangerously easy for students to make viral what they personally feel is right and take it upon themselves to socially isolate students they feel are not being properly punished. And so the students, rather than the administrators, are playing the role of judge, jury and executioner. While hate speech should not be tolerated, the idea that “canceling” a singular student will solve the problem of slurs here at Redwood is

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simply incorrect. Instead, these online actions will only further divide the student population. Although it is incredibly unfair that the victims of microaggressions and derogatory language need to take the high road in these situations, it is necessary to inspire positive change. You cannot fight fire with fire, and you cannot fight hate with hate. Reciprocated bullying towards one student may temporarily silence them, but in four years an entirely new batch of kids will be in high school, and Redwood’s toxic cancel culture will continue. Slur usage is never okay and will never be okay. But if we begin to foster a culture of communication, understanding and learning, we have a chance at permanently minimizing the use of derogatory language here at Redwood and establishing a longtime habit of awareness and growth. Employing cancel culture is almost like playing rock against rock in a game of rock, paper, scissors. No one emerges a winner and both sides remain frustrated. Additionally, it’s important to recognize that we are still in high school and people make mistakes, granted some mistakes are far more serious than others. But think to yourself — if you made a mistake, what would help you avoid it in the future: the entire student body viciously attacking you, sending death threats and terrorizing your family members? Or if someone reached out to you and calmly explained why you were wrong? The first option leads to hate, the second to education and reform. Everyone at Redwood dictates aspects of our culture in some small way. If you are one of the people contributing negatively through the use of slurs, consider your impact. I doubt it is one you want to have. If you are one of the people taking to social media in an attempt to virtue signal by putting others down, consider your impact. Don’t become that which you are fighting against. We all make mistakes, but we do not always learn from them. Let’s start learning. After all, that is the whole point of school anyway. egreen@redwoodbark.org

Page 7 • Opinion

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Redwood High School 395 Doherty Drive Larkspur, CA 94939 www.redwoodbark.org Editors-In-Chief Ella Green Sofi Mincy Camille Ray Jack Watson

Vote ‘yes’ on Measure M to ensure the success of the TUHSD

editorial “We already lost in-person school. Don’t let us lose our programs, too.”

Whether it’s the honors biomed classroom filled with students enthralled by their lab, the gym filled with red-clad fans cheering for the basketball team or the lively atmosphere created by a song performed by Mr. Mattern’s jazz band, Redwood is defined by moments made in its special programs and events. Those experiences, however, are in jeopardy due to a new threat on the horizon: a future without funding from Measure M. If not passed, the learning experience of every Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) student will be significantly harmed, not just those involved in the aforementioned courses. Our district would face a $16.8 million deficit, accounting for 17 percent of the TUHSD budget. Measure M’s failure or success will decide 115 teachers’ fate out of the current 303 employed by the district, according to the TUHSD parcel tax information webpage. Measure M proposes renewing the current $469 parcel tax already in place for homeowners 18 to 64 with a three percent cost of living adjustment each year and exemptions available for seniors and lowincome people with disabilities who are eligible. This is a drastic reduction from last March’s Measure B proposal, which would have resulted in an annual tax increase of $190 per resident on top of the $469 tax already in place. Measure B needed a 66.7 percent supermajority vote to pass but, unfortunately, came up four percent short. This forced the district to make $3 million in cuts after already cutting $5.8 million over the past two years. Measure B’s defeat was a major loss for both our community and TUHSD as a whole, compromising various programs vital to the quality of our education and student culture. This was made clear by the March budget cuts that resulted from Measure B’s failure which, among other cuts, restricted students to seven periods and eliminated roughly 13 percent of student newspaper instructional time. Furthermore, the entire Tamiscal High School Team program was cut, destroying an alternative curriculum for juniors that past students often refer to as life-changing. Following the failure of Measure B, the district reevaluated their proposition to ensure the success of Measure M, according to M Campaign Co-Chair Dana Linker Steele. In addition to no longer asking for a tax increase, Measure M will only have a nineyear term instead of the 10-year term proposed for B. This year, Measure M has garnered greater support than Measure B had. The Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers (CO$T) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that represents Marin taxpayers’ interests, according to their mission statement. Last spring, CO$T disapproved of Measure B, arguing that it was unfair and unaffordable because of the tax increase and its flat rate. This year, the organization has taken a neutral stance on Measure M. CO$T is a constant opponent of additional taxes on the community, but their neutrality on Measure M signifies its reasonable propositions and how important its passage is for our district.

A BARK to blue light glasses. Teachers have found the best tool yet to catch us multitasking. A BITE to online school headaches. No wonder we’re Zooming to the Tylenol bottle every afternoon. A BARK to drive-in movie theaters. Looks like sneaking in snacks will be easier than ever. A BARK to Biden’s fly swatter campaign. Way to capitalize on the buzz of the VP debate.

Further budget cuts would be another potential impact of M’s failure. Students would see a drastic decrease in the availability of Advanced Placement (AP) courses. According to U.S. News Rankings, Redwood’s AP participation rate is 83 percent. Funding provided by M would continue to support these course offerings that have provided an outlet for students to explore interests in greater depth. Consequently, its failure would result in a less rigorous curriculum and decreased chances to earn college credit for students. Not only are AP classes valuable to students, but if their availability decreased it would subsequently harm the overall quality of TUHSD schools. Since property values directly correlate to the caliber of the public schools in the area, even residents without children in the district would be financially affected should M fail. We have seen this happen before with Proposition 13, a tax measure that limited property taxes at the expense of school funding after its enactment in 1978. In the case of Prop. 13, homeowners voted with similar incentives as those who voted against B, and the former resulted in a worsened public school system. Should M fail, properties may lose more than just $469 in value, exceeding the annual cost of the parcel tax itself. Opponents of Measure M, such as Michael Hartnett, treasurer of the Marin Public Policy Institute, criticize the regressive nature of the tax. He claims it is unfair that people who live in small condos pay the same amount as those who live in larger homes. However, this argument is ill-informed because the legality of square footage-based parcel taxes for school measures is still a contentious issue. In fact, other public school districts, such as Alameda and Los Angeles, have recently passed parcel taxes based on the square footage of property and been challenged in court, resulting in costly lawsuits for the districts that are not yet fully resolved. Others that oppose Measure M are subject to the misconception that the funds will go towards renaming High School 1327 (formerly Drake High School). TUHSD, however, disproved this claim, stating that only donations will support any name change. Failure to pass Measure M would be a disservice to teachers, athletes, artists, academic scholars and residents alike. We want to preserve the current opportunities that Redwood students have and ensure that prospective students can relish them as well. It is time to vote “yes” on Measure M to save our school and the future of our district. Have an opinion regarding anything that appears in the Bark or in general? We encourage our readers to submit letters to the editor. Letters to the Bark should be 500 words or fewer, typed if possible and signed. They must be submitted to room 177 or in the Bark mailbox in the facility. They may also be emailed to bark@redwoodbark.org.

A BITE to the rest of the semester being online. Have fun doing swim unit in the bathtub, underclassmen! A BARK to Cardi B and Offset for getting back together. Seems like they are WAP: Working At Parenting. A BITE to paying attention in online class. AP Stat? More like AP Snap. A BITE to the district’s WiFi going out in class. When we said we wanted teachers to explain

things slower, we didn’t mean it like this! A BARK to Dr. Fauci for planning to keep his position for the next four years. Maybe he can find a vaccine for senioritis. A BITE to U.S. politics. That’s it. That’s the bite. BARKS and BITES are the collective opinions of the BARK staff concerning relevant issues. BARKS are in praise of accomplishments, while BITES criticize decisions or events.

Head Copy Editors Olivia Kharrazi Sophia Rocha Copy Editors Avery Aguero Maxanne Anderson Samantha Elegant Martha Fishburne Ava Koblik Abigail Shewmaker Natalie Tress Shannon Watridge News Editors Isabel Ames Charlie Ginsburg Opinion Editors Anna Silverman Christopher Vargelis Feature Editors Nicole Johnson Alli Runnfeldt Sports Editors Jackson Epps Kent Goodman Review Editors Casey Braff Jacob Mandel Lifestyles Editors Taylor Elliott Sol Ladetzky Spanish Editor Loughlin Browne Podcast Editor Hollis Belger Video Editors Sydney Liebhauser Hannah Morgan Business Managers Annie Goldstein Katie Parsons Social Media/ Snapshot Editor Greta Cifarelli Survey Manager Audrey Lightfoot Multimedia Editor Mara Farese Art Consultants Kalyn Dawes Keely Ganong Reporters Nathan Ash Will Baker Julian Belzer Charlotte DeForrest Alex Fisch Clariss Garcia Nina Geoghegan Caroline Goodhart Kylie Horstmeyer Libby Hughes Patrick Jacobson Mia Kessinger Sterling Lazarus Brooke Leslie Emma Lightfoot Alyssa McCadden Declan McDaniels Kate McHugh Samantha Michaels PJ Pfeiffer Bella Piacente AnnaLise Sandrich Caroline Scharf Hannah Sellers Sophie Smallhorn Gemma Strauss Allie Vasquez Keegan Williams Advisers Rebecca Elegant Erin Schneider

POLICY: All editorials are unsigned and have been approved by the majority of the Bark staff.

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Tres restaurantes locales de Latinx para probar

frescos, burritos y lunares junto con otros alimentos caseros mexicanos. Ordené su pollo a la parrilla, que consiste en pollo, frijoles refritos, arroz mexicano, cebolla a la parrilla y guacamole. El pollo estaba a la parilla y tierno, mientras que la salsa de cítricos ofrecía un toque de acidez. Los frijoles refritos eran agradablemente cremosos y el arroz era ligero y satisfactorio. No hace falta decir que me encantó esta comida. Los Moles superó mis expectativas culinarias y estéticas y animo fuertemente a todos los amantes de la comida mexicana a darle una oportunidad al lugar.

Por Gemma Strauss Una de las industrias que ha sufrido más debido a la pandemia del coronavirus ha sido la industria de restaurantes. Desde los cierres a principios de marzo, los restaurantes más pequeños están luchando para mantenerse a flote. Para hacer tu parte en el apoyo a las empresas locales, aquí tienes tres restaurantes latinx que probar la próxima vez que pidas comida para llevar.

El Restaurante Perol

Este restaurante basado en San Rafael abrió por primera vez sus puertas en el distrito de la misión de San Francisco. Después de más de 20 años en ese lugar, se vieron obligados a cerrar después de que un incendio quemó el edificio. Afortunadamente, el restaurante se trasladó a su ubicación actual en la calle B y ha estado abierto allí desde 2016. El restaurante sirve auténtica comida peruana basada en recetas familiares. “Todos nuestros elementos del menú se hacen con amor desde cero. Cocinamos nuestra comida usando sólo los ingredientes más frescos y hierbas y especias auténticas, tal como solían hacer nuestros abuelos,” dice su sitio web. El cuidado y dedicación de El Perol es evidente en su comida. Disfruté particularmente de su pescado a lo macho; un guiso de marisco hecho con mejillones negros, calamares, camarones y un pescado blanco llamado basa. Este plato es similar al cioppino italiano, sólo mucho más picante y hecho con crema. El guiso está lleno de sabor y una visita obligada para los amantes de los mariscos. Si no eres tan aficionado a los pescados, recomendaría probar las empanadas. Estos pasteles salados se hacen con masa escamosa y se rellenan con su elección de pollo o carne de res. Hacen un aperitivo perfecto junto con las papas fritas de yuca del restaurante. El restaurante también sirve una variedad de otros platos principales,

El Lucerito Restaurante Guatemalteco

Foto por Gemma Strauss

LLENO DE SABOR, pescado a lo macho de El Perol es perfectamente picante y delicioso. como platos de arroz y tamales. El Perol tiene un menú de postres limitado, que solo sirve alfajores tradicionales peruanos: galletas hechas con pan cortado, relleno de leche dulce y crema volteada: el equivalente peruano de flan. ¡Sólo asegúrese de llegar allí antes, ya que los postres por lo general se agotan!

Los Moles, hecho en casa

Los Moles, hecho en casa es un restaurante más nuevo y un lugar animado para sentarse y escuchar música en vivo mientras comes comida deliciosa. Aunque recogí comida para llevar, disfruté sentarme un momento, escuchar a la banda y disfrutar del bullicio del centro de San Rafael. La ubicación de San Rafael es una de las tres tiendas de los Moles, con las otras dos ubicadas en Emeryville y el Cerrito. Actualmente ofrecen asientos al aire libre en su pintoresco patio al aire libre. Los Moles sirven tacos

A pocas manzanas de los Moles, el Lucerito sirve platos tradicionales guatemaltecos. El Lucerito es un restaurante popular, escondido en la Avenida Lincoln de San Rafael. El restaurante es de propiedad familiar y mantiene la integridad de los platos tradicionales de la madre de los propietarios. Tienen un extenso menú que va desde opciones de desayuno hasta platos abundantes. Pedí uno de sus platos más populares, carne adobada. Este plato vino con dos tipos diferentes de cerdo, arroz, frijoles negros refritos, cebolla verde y una ensalada de acompañamiento. Aunque uno de los tipos de cerdo era duro, el resto de la comida lo compensa. El arroz era ligero y carnicería, mientras que el otro tipo de cerdo era picante y abundante. ¡no podría recomendar este restaurante y el plato que me siguió lo suficiente! La diversidad culinaria enriquece el ambiente de Marin y contribuye al ambiente de nuestro condado. Durante estos tiempos difíciles, animo a todos a apoyar a las empresas locales y tomar una oportunidad en un restaurante pequeño, de propiedad familiar. Restaurantes de propiedad de latinx, en particular, son ricos en sabor y cultura. ¡Hay tantas opciones deliciosas, puede que te sorprenda! gstrauss@redwoodbark.org

“Black Lives Matter” genera atención en España fase por la que pasaron todos, debería pensarse en ella todo el tiempo,” dice Roy. Racismo es algo que los Estados Después de las muertes de George Unidos ha tenido que lidiar con por mucho Floyd y Breonna Taylor, el movimiento tiempo, debido a su historia con esclavitud, Black Lives Matter (BLM) envolvió a injusticia criminal y la continuación de los medios, la televisión, el teléfono y racismo sistemático. las calles. Protestas como Ni Una Más, Alberto Aparicio es un nativo de Fridays for the Future y BLM tomaron España que corrientemente enseña español las calles de países de todo el mundo. en Redwood. Visita regularmente su país Se organizaron protestas y personas de origen y cree que es fundamental que se influyentes en las redes sociales, así aborde el racismo en todo el mundo. como celebridades, abogaron por el “[El movimiento de Black Lives Matter] movimiento. es necesario! Es importante concienciar Meghan Roy, junior en la escuela a la gente de que se esta reproduciendo de Redwood, reflecta en las protestas violación de los derechos de las personas locales en Marin County. de color,” dice Profesor Aparicio. “[La protesta] de Redwood, que Según Naciones Unidas, España fue dirigido por estudiantes de SOAR, tiene un largo historial de discriminación hizo un muy buen trabajo al reunir a racial. Una encuesta realizada por la todos y discutir por qué estábamos FRA mencionó que el 42 por ciento de todos allí. Todos estaban apasionados los nortíeafricanos y árabes en España por la causa que apoyamos, así como informaron haber sido detenidos por la por el movimiento. Solo espero que la policía, mientras que solo el 12 por ciento gente continúe mostrando su apoyo y no de los blancos lo experimentó. El acoso permita que esto sea como una pequeña policial en España tiene importantes lagunas en la protección de las personas afrodescendientes, y es solo un ejemplo del racismo “endémico” presente en el país. Alejandra Martinez, una estudiante de Hamelin Laie International School en Barcelona, es parte de varios grupos de activismo como “Fridays for Future” y el movimiento de BLM. “Normalmente se trata de separar Black Lives Matter en los Estados Unidos, y la gente piensa que eso solo pasa allí pero no son conscientes que en nuestro transporte público, en nuestras calles todas esa injusticias que vemos en la Foto cortesía de Alejandra Martínez LOS MANIFESTANTES USAN máscaras y tele y que parecen tan lejanas sostienen carteles coloridos en diferentes también pasan aquí,’’ dice idiomas. Martinez. Por Libby Hughes y Clariss Garcia

Foto cortesía de Alejandra Martínez

ARRODILLADO EN SILENCIO la protesta se queda en silencio para respetar a los asesinados por la brutalidad policial.

Martínez también se refirió a los obstáculos que muchos inmigrantes tienen que atravesar para encontrar trabajo debido a su origen étnico. “Las empresas y industrias abusan de los inmigrantes en la fuerza laboral. Les hacen trabajar más horas, les dan trabajo físicamente más duro sin proporcionarles el equipo necesario y les pagan menos,” dice Martínez. El 7 de junio, al igual que en EE. UU., Barcelona protestó pacíficamente contra los continuos abusos hacia los ciudadanos negros y comparó la muerte de George Floyd con la muerte de 14 personas que intentaban cruzar la frontera de Marruecos a España. A pesar de que los migrantes estaban desarmados, la policía siguió utilizando fuerza letal para hacerlos retroceder. La policía local asegura que cerca de las sedes de la Generalitat de Catalunya y del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona se llevaron a cabo unas 3,000 manifestaciones de BLM. “Hubo unas memoriales donde llevamos flores, y las organizaciones bailaron y asieron rituales típicos de sus

países, y otras fueron más como protestas pero eran también muy tranquilas. No hubo violencia,” dice Martínez. Ex estudiante de Redwood, Layla Schmidt atiende la escuela Hamelin Laie International en Barcelona. Schmidt toma clases de política global y ha estado aprendiendo del movimiento Black Lives Matter, y ha aprendido más a problemas de raza en su clases y se ha vuelto más consciente del racismo sistemático en su comunidad. “Hemos hablado mucho más sobre eso en clase. Hablamos sobre cómo es principalmente en los Estados Unidos, pero también sobre cómo está sucediendo en todo el mundo y cuán global es el problema,” dice Schmidt. Redwood y las escuelas locales de Marin también han convertido en una prioridad educar y difundir la conciencia sobre el movimiento BLM. Una estudiante de SOAR, Olivia Letts, explica las formas en que Redwood está actuando. “Corrientemente [para SOAR], estamos trabajando en una propuesta para la administración de la junta… Esto definitivamente afectará a Redwood y esperamos implementar una política antirracista y de no tolerancia. Que es algo que se espera que se emplee en la vida diaria de los estudiantes, los maestros, el personal y la administración,” dice Letts. Letts y Martínez esperan crear conciencia al seguir participando en protestas y organizaciones antirracistas, para ayudar a las familias y personas que emigraron a España de la misma manera que ella. “Las personas piensan que porque venimos de diferentes países que no somos inteligentes o no tenemos educación. Pero la verdad es que si lo tenemos, pero a veces el lugar en donde estamos no tiene los recursos que necesitamos,” dice Martínez. bark@redwoodbark.org

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Page 9

Promoting or preventing pedophilia? A look into child sex dolls in the US Story by Alli Runnfeldt Warning: the information in this article includes explicit descriptions of the sexual abuse of children. On Aug. 12, a mother — known only by her first name, Terri, for privacy reasons — was Facebookmessaged an advertisement for a sex doll. The doll strikingly resembled a photo of her eight-year-old daughter that was posted on the woman’s personal Facebook account, matching the photo down to its socks, shirt, pose and hair style. This specific doll had been listed as a product on Amazon since Nov. 2019 and has since been removed, but it remains for sale on several other sites. The reviews on the websites left below the product indicated it had been purchased several times. There was no doubt in Terri’s mind that the creator had stolen her daughter’s image, according to the Child Rescue Coalition, the organization helping Terri; the question that remained for the mother was how the sale of childlike sex dolls was legal. In every state but Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida, the sale of childlike sex dolls, or dolls that enable users to simulate sexual acts with a child, is legal. In the 47 remaining states, people can go home and use childlike sex dolls without ramifications. Hypothetically, anyone can legally spend their days with children while enjoying sexual activities with a doll doppelgänger of them at home. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that at least 100,000 American children (ages 0-18) are sexually exploited each year. To put this in perspective, more American children are sexually exploited annually than the total number of people that are killed from car accidents and illegal drugs combined in the U.S. According to a study done by the University of New Hampshire, an estimated 823 children are sexually abused specifically in U.S. daycare centers annually. Thirty-five percent of these cases are committed by the child care workers operating such facilities. In older age groups, according to a survey done by the American Association of University Women, 38 percent of students in grades eight through 11 have been harassed by school employees. In 90 percent of all child cases, the child victims know their abuser in some way, states the U.S. Department of Justice. According to Glen Pounder, chief operating officer of The Child Rescue Coalition, more often than not, an owner of a childlike sex doll is also in possession of child sexual abuse material (formerly known as child pornography). They also are likely to actively abuse children. “They want a reaction from a real child. I know from

law enforcement colleagues of cases where a suspect was Malcolm said. bringing in a child who didn’t live with them. They [had] Melanie Blow, the chief operations officer of The pictures of [the child] in his house, and they had a child Stop Abuse Campaign, a group composed of advocates sex doll. [They] would put pictures of the real child next and educators aiming to both protect children from to the child sex doll, and when they couldn’t rape the real adverse experiences and to create child, they were doing the same with the child sex doll solutions to prevent them, enforces and, honestly, looking forward to the next time they could that the use of childlike sex dolls by bring the child,” Pounder said. “Because I know of cases pedophiles is not such a proper outlet. [like these], I don’t have any doubt there is a correlation “[Pedophilia] is not exactly a between [ownership of] child sex dolls and the risk to a normal sexual attraction,” Blow real child being raped.” said. “Not only is it unhealthy, but Predators entice children through grooming methods, [pedophiles] tend to have trouble or the establishment of relationships with victims to controlling it. It is really bad to create trust, which often entail desensitizing the reinforce that attraction. Sex child to sexual situations. offenders are not treated “Some pedophiles will groom a child by clinically by giving them a showing the child sexual abuse material; it’s handful of child [sexual abuse the same with these dolls. They can use the material]; that’s not how it’s dolls and say, ‘Hey, look, this is fine,’ and done because that’s not the try to normalize that activity for the child by right way to do it.” using the doll in the child’s presence,” Pounder The release of Terri’s story said. in early September caused an However, Jeremy Malcolm, executive director uproar on social media, pressing of Prostasia Foundation, a sexual abuse protection for these dolls’ manufacture and agency for children combatting ineffective juvenile sale to be made illegal federally. protection movements, holds that further research is However, Pounder thinks needed. He wants to be able to determine the specific addressing this issue will take uses of these dolls and any potential benefits they some time, as legislation often have before banning them, and sees that these dolls trails behind the creation of new could potentially help certain groups of people, technology. such as children with special needs, as they age “The level of depravity and into their teen years. the level of discomfort is just “Some kids [with special needs] start to have going to get worse because there certain feelings, and because they don’t have the control, will be more and more life-like voices they [sometimes] just start touching people. They’ll — somebody’s voice could be used as just touch someone’s [breast] and can be committing well as photos. In the circumstance of abuse without any intention because of their special Terri [and her daughter], her photo was needs,” Malcolm said. “So these sex dolls, which are taken, [and] most people’s images are out age-appropriate for those teenagers, could be a way of there on the internet these days,” Pounder stopping them from acting out against peers or even said. teachers.” The sexual abuse and manipulation Malcolm also finds a correlation between the of minors is not limited to small use of these dolls and a reduced likelihood of Illustration by Kalyn Dawes children; increasingly accessible pedophiliac behavior towards real children. social media platforms used by “What [the dolls] may do, in fact, is stop [pedophiles] teenagers can serve as a new frontier for both sex doll from being so likely to abuse real children because they manufacturers and predators themselves. Two-thirds have an outlet: they have something that they can use as of all sexual assault victims under 18 range from 12 a way of allowing them to act out their feelings to 17 years old, according to Rape, Abuse and Incest with a lifeless inanimate object, w h i c h National Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest antiis a way of saving children sexual violence organization. Teenagers can be easily from abuse. [Whether this susceptible to grooming due to new independence and works] is not certain yet responsibilities, lack of experience and such accessible because there needs to be social media. more research into it,” According to Australian Institute of Criminology, social media outlets serve as a way for pedophiles to contact adolescents. This relatively new form of grooming can be used to receive sexually explicit images and often ultimately convinces children or teenagers to meet predators in person. Often, the minor believes the person they are talking to is around their age, but in reality, they are grown adults. With 72 percent of the U.S. population on some form of social media, according to Pew Research, the majority of the country has their information and photographs on the internet; when looking specifically at teenagers (ages Infographics by Mara Farese 13-17), 95 percent report that they possess or have access to a smartphone. Many children are on social media and have cell phones, and any information put on the internet can be taken. As Terri wrote on the Child Rescue Coalition website, “There should be a zerotolerance approach to child abuse material which includes sex dolls that look like real children. The United States should not support pedophiles that wish to sexually abuse our children. We need to act NOW.”

arunnfeldt@redwoodbark.org

bark

Page 10 • Feature

October 23, 2020

Social justice on social media: the impacts of virtual activism Story by Isabel Ames and Sol Ladetzky

Since the Arab Spring demonstrations in 2010, social media and activism have appeared inseparable. As post after post is reshared across platforms like Twitter and Instagram, feeds are filled with calls to action and resources for providing help to various groups. This year, social media is going through a second wave of advocacy, with the number of users participating in activism rising from 45 percent in 2018 to 58 percent in 2020. Similarly, a survey of Redwood students found that 49 percent have partaken in some form of social media activism. A significant portion of this increase occurred in May, after the video of George Floyd’s death flooded the internet, serving as the catalyst for the reignition of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In the almost two-week span between May 26 — the day following Floyd’s death — and June 7, the BLM hashtag was used 47.8 million times on Twitter, according to the Pew Research Center. Now, in October, social media activism is being used to raise awareness for a range of social movements as well as current events. As stated by CBS News, the Generation Z (Gen Z) cohort is revolutionizing activism and is the most politically active generation online. In addition, Gen Z spends the most time on social media, with 90 percent of the generation using these platforms daily in comparison to 69 percent of Gen X. Senior Eva Strage is just one of the many Gen Z-ers who started utilizing their own social media platforms for activism this year. Knowing she would connect with a large audience online, Strage has dedicated many of her posts to the social justice issues she feels passionate about. “By posting on social media, more people are made aware of what’s happening in the world, and, in a time of such drastic social unrest, the more people that get educated, the better,” Strage said. “Social media does a really good job of getting a lot of people involved and making sure information is reaching a greater group.” As activism increases online, it continues to take many forms. Petitions, research, articles and other resources are frequently shared to raise awareness for causes ranging from climate change to abortion rights. However, among some educational posts advocating for awareness and change, threatening and hateful language is often directed towards those who present themselves as opponents to the respective movements. Junior G a v i n Green has also participated in social media activism and notices the divisive impacts it has. “[Social media] polarizes opinions because a lot of posts tend to defend one group and attack another. A lot of posts make people want to get defensive because they feel personally attacked, which in some respect is reasonable,” Green said.

In light of social media-induced polarization, Green shared a post of his own inviting his peers to research both sides of an argument before taking a strong stance. “I had people jump to conclusions after seeing my post. All I advocated for was exposure to a well-rounded set of viewpoints, yet people automatically assumed I was against them. What I posted was completely neutral, but people still found a way to tell me I was the bad guy,” Green said. Speaking up against certain social movements is not often tolerated in Marin. According to psychology teacher Jonathan Hirsch, Marin County has isolated itself through its politically homogeneous environment. “What matters is not that Marin is a liberal-leaning community, but how homogeneously liberal it appears to be. When people come to the conclusion that intolerance of other points of view is a criteria for belonging, you start to see something called group polarization,” Hirsch said. Hirsch explains that it is a common practice to resort to labeling people who share a different point of view on viral movements. Declarations such as “if you vote for Trump, you’re a racist,” and “keep your filthy laws off my silky drawers” are commonly seen on social media and display the increasingly reactionary nature that Hirsch believes leaves little room for rebuttal. “When [we] stop seeing a diverse set of viewpoints around any issue, we start to assume that everyone thinks the way we do. It creates an ‘us versus them’ mentality because when we go off the assumption that everyone agrees with us, then everyone who doesn’t [agree] becomes ‘them’ and potentially worthy of attack because then they become a threat to our group,” Hirsch said.

The “us versus them” mentality Hirsch explained creates more aggression towards the opposition. However, especially in communities as seemingly politically homogeneous as Marin, the consequences for immoral actions are far more severe than any reactionary language used towards differing viewpoints. During the height of the BLM movement on social media, two former Redwood students were exposed for using racial slurs. One of the first to release the videos of them publicly, class of 2020 graduate Adam Wilson played a large role in initiating the clips’ circulation throughout the community. According to Wilson, it is important to hold people accountable for their actions.

“You need to be straight-up with people who have done wrong. I think what I did was okay because the videos I shared were already available for the public to see and I am allowed to post what I think,” Wilson said. After these videos were released, a range of responses ensued from the student body that included cyberbullying, death threats and verbalized intents to vandalize the students’ homes. Many of these responses are examples of the online phenomenon known as “cancel culture,” which is the act of isolating a person from a community for “inexcusable” behavior. Green believes cancel culture takes things too far. “I think that there needs to be a line drawn between reprimanding somebody and hurting their life. No matter the degree of the mistake, they should never endure any physical harm or be completely alienated from society,” Green said. “It’s not healthy to cut people off super easily for mistakes.” Senior Israa Mussa is the current president of Students Organized for Anti-Racism. As cancel culture becomes increasingly popular, one topic the class and club focuses on is reactions to hateful acts. “When you get really heated over some kind of act of racism, a lot of times your response in that moment is not the appropriate response. If you took two days to breathe and think about it, that’s probably the appropriate response,” Mussa said. While cancel culture works to prevent people from getting away with actions from their past, there is a clear difference between “canceling” someone and educating them on how to change. Hirsch understands that although one’s first instinct may be to react out of anger, this type of response almost never leads to the desired outcome. “While we may not remember what people say, we will always remember how they make us feel. People who have been wronged may seek revenge or retaliation: an eye for an eye. What if it’s revenge on a whole group? Take, for example, police officers. [Say] I’m a very reasonable Central Marin police officer and I have no history of violence or anything other than standing up for people of all color and their rights. If someone says that I’m a part of a group that has wronged them, even if I didn’t, and they take it out on me, that creates an enemy where I could have been an ally,” Hirsch said. In a time when polarization seems to plague our country, the ways change is propagated are critical. Current methods such as cancel culture and social media activism effectively raise awareness but continue to divide members of our community in the process. However, according to Hirsch, by listening to one another rather than lashing out, education provides an opportunity for growth. bark@redwoodbark.org

Illustrations by Kalyn Dawes and Sol Ladetzky

Page 11 • Feature

www.redwoodbark.org

COVID-19’s costly consequences on Latinx communities By Sophia Rocha and Sophie Smallhorn

COVID-19 in the Canal District Marin County is the most racially disparate county in all of California, according to Race Counts, a Californian organization aiming to inform citizens about racial inequalities within the state. Racial disparity is the difference in the treatment of one race to the next — though it does not necessarily come from a place of intentional prejudice or racism. This racial divide has manifested itself most recently in Marin throughout the pandemic, particularly in the Canal District, where 93.9 percent of residents are of Latinx backgrounds, according to Statistical Analysis. Despite the fact that Marin’s Latinx population composes 16 percent of Marin’s population, it made up 67 percent of the total positive COVID-19 cases as of Oct. 19, 2020, according to data from Marin Health and Human Services. Dr. Gregg Tolliver, MD, MPH, Clinical Infectious Diseases Medical Director at Marin Health, is not surprised by the Latinx community’s high percentage of positive cases. “The bottom line is that when you look at the density of people living in the population [in the Canal], it would be very difficult [for them] to isolate [themselves] if a family member tested positive. [People who live in the Canal] are 15 times more likely to be sharing a room with someone else compared to the average population,” Tolliver said. According to the U.S. 2010 Census, the Canal District is the second most densely populated district in Marin, second only to San Quentin State Prison. Maria Fernanda Civano, a Spanish teacher at Redwood, credits this dense population to Latinx cultural family values. “You’re talking about Latinx communities that historically have multigenerational households. They cannot isolate. They cannot put the kids to one side, parents to the other. They are all together,” Civano said. The exceedingly high number of cases in the Latinx community could also be attributed to poverty in the Canal District. According to Healthy Marin, 18.9 percent of Marin’s Latinx population lives below the poverty

line. “[COVID-19] is a disease of poverty. [With] any respiratory, transferable, infectious disease, the wealthier you are, the easier it is for you to isolate yourself and buy masks. If you need to get the testing, if you need to get a computer to do your zoom classes or meetings, all of that is easier [when you are wealthy],” Tolliver said. Civano also believes that, in addition to financial motives in the Latinx community, there is also a cultural motive to keep working, even if they feel the symptoms of COVID-19. “When [people in the L a t i n x community] feel some symptoms, they keep going, and they’re like, ‘Ah,

Illustration by Kalyn Dawes it’s just a cold, whatever,’” Civano said. “There’s this part of them that wants to fight it and stay strong and continue working.” Tolliver also connects the disparity in positive cases to the amount of stress that the pandemic places on lowerincome families. “All that stress, things like, ‘Am I going to be able to feed my child? If I get sick am I going to lose my apartment because I can’t work?’ The fear of possible persecution or deportation adds to the economic insecurities for some of the Latinx population,” Tolliver said. “The stress can

bark

actually significantly impact how much people suffer from the disease.” Distance learning in the Canal District Remote learning has undoubtedly slowed the pace of learning across the nation; but for some students, learning momentarily stopped. According to a recent Bark survey, 27 percent of Redwood students have difficulty accessing stable WiFi for remote learning. Canal Alliance, a non-profit helping first-generation immigrants, surveyed Canal residents in March. By comparison, about 44 percent of Canal residents stated it was difficult to connect to the internet, indicating a majority of Redwood students were better equipped to learn at home compared to Canal students. Michael Gomez, the supervisor of Canal Alliance’s university prep, spoke on this technology divide between the Canal district and the rest of Marin. “About one to two weeks ago, Canal Alliance collaborated with Marin County to put up a mass network, which is an open WiFi network in the Canal. Prior to that, if students needed WiFi, they needed to get hotspots from the school, which ran out pretty quickly,” Gomez said. Nevertheless, San Rafael City Schools (SRCS) have made major progress in connecting all students to remote learning platforms. According to Sarah Ashton, the Chief Technology Officer for SRCS, 65 to 70 percent of students currently have Chromebooks distributed by the district. Even those with access to technology fell behind at home, especially when surrounded by family members who speak English as their second language. Gomez adds that students who are learning a second language rely heavily on engagement from a teacher. Despite hardships, Gomez has witnessed kids in his program develop valuable skills and gain new perspectives. “Coming from challenging circumstances or having to overcome barriers, I think students have a really unique perspective and a willingness to help people and help themselves,” Gomez said.

bark@redwoodbark.org

America’s future president — if students chose By Camille Ray

cray@redwoodbark.org

By Nicole Johnson and Katie Parsons Overlain in a coat of black ash, the dry brush distinctive to wine country crunches beneath quickly yellow and orange traverse the hills of Napa County, pursuing August’s Hennessey Fire as smoke blurs domain of stress and quick work for those combatting individuals in orange, it is also a site of temporary exemption.

higher than the national mean. This stark contrast in earnings only deepens when the amount of money inmate volunteers save the state is considered: according to The found employment with Cal Fire through an existing program, but for most, criminal records have acted as immense roadblocks to occupations, initiating a cycle often resulting in re-arrests and re-imprisonment. For years, petitions condemning these blockades have

deemed a recent progression by many, Williams holds that legislation like this is long overdue. “It kind of blows my mind that we even have to have risk for [about] a dollar a day when I’m incarcerated, why can’t I do that in the free world to keep me out [of prison]? To keep me safe? To put me amongst the rest of the heroes that risk their lives protecting our citizens’ properties and lives?” Williams said. “I’m appreciative in one sense that there is some recognition going towards these gentlemen

of thousands of signatures. Such calls for reform were answered on Sept. 11 when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 2147 allowing volunteer

system, but this bill needs to go further.”

for record expungement, granted only to those with

during which he accumulated the titles of emergency medical technician and leader of the ambulance and medical

vote in the Senate, the law aims to address California’s problem of recidivism, or the return of a formerly incarcerated person to prison. It also appears to be a strive toward recognizing the

risked his life, he also found that, in a sense, it saved it. “There’s this sense of purpose and pride that comes from being brothers at arms, going into life-or-death situations together, having a sense of connection that’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Stanley-Lockheart said. “You’re talking [to] somebody who [is] a former gang member: [I] was doing it because [I] was looking for a sense of comradery, a sense of belonging, a sense of

but the state’s deployment of these groups has proven anticipated characteristic of increasingly dry autumns. has [seemed to be] a never ending process” this fall. Though the now-extinguished Hennessey Fire stopped scorching areas north of Marin on Oct. 2, the (Cal Fire)’s efforts were a recent example of the resoluteness their work demands. serving Marin County Fire’s Woodacre headquarters, collaborated with these incarcerated volunteers on the scene. Now wedged between Sonoma and Napa County as his strike team combats the Glass Fire, Burns has

opportunity for people who otherwise would be denied the opportunity at a job that [many] have spent years working [at],” Carlson said. about the legislation’s implications. In an Aug. 31

distinctly remembers the tenacity of those inmate crews just weeks ago. were working with a lot of these inmate crews, who work extremely hard. We laid hose up this hill and then we cut a line down the hill and made a dirt line so the of those guys were puking,” Burns said. “That night, we all crashed together up on the hillside.” Incarcerated volunteers brace for this level of routine, through Cal Fire’s conservation camp training

heads to the Governor. If we really want to bring about change and lower our recidivism rates, we have to ensure that those who have served their sentences have an opportunity for meaningful employment. Those that

inmates being released were assessed as “at risk” of returning to prison. To some, this bill’s signing transcends the issue of recidivism. Troy Williams was formerly incarcerated at

in my regular life, and now our lives depend on each other.” Since his release in January, Stanley-Lockheart has been a keen criminal justice reform activist for incarcerated Oakland employing and supporting former inmates and underserved Bay Area communities through food justice initiatives. Although he considers AB 2147 a step in the right direction, he holds that there is more to be done in the bill regarding equal pay, automatic expungements of records and the following release. Estimating that the record-clearing process in step with the time it can take aspiring professional train

could

year anniversary of what he dubs his “freedom day.” After helping start the prison’s radio program inside its walls The pandemic’s slimming effect on prison populations has effectively reduced these numbers, though: an Aug. 6 ABC News article cited state

Journalists on behalf of the program following his release, Williams has taken his experience outside,

California prisoners could be sent home in attempts change.” Though AB 2147 is To incentivize incarcerated individuals demonstrating good character behind bars to join this ever-thinning earn two days off their sentence for every one day of service. On site, incarcerated volunteers are typically tasked with assignments that are equivalent in intensity to those of take life-risking forms. However, a vital discrepancy between the groups lies in their differences in pay. Inmate

while the average base salary for California’s

Illustrations by Nicole Johnson

How Ca

accumulate to a multiple-year path to employment, Stanley-Lockheart approaches the legislation with cautionary optimism. “AB 2147 is not a solve-all and [doesn’t] eliminate a hurdle, but it actually kind of puts that hurdle a little further out,” Stanley-Lockheart said. “[Newly released men] are returning to the same systems that destroyed [them], but [they] now are in the mindset of ‘I want to be did on the inside is no good — it’s a lived experience that doesn’t count for anything. So, AB 2147 is [enacted]... but anything with the writ of habeas corpus can take over a year to get [expunged]. These [people] are looking at years until [they] can even think about becoming seasonal return to prison?” While Stanley-Lockheart took another occupational path upon his release, AB 2147 still appears to have sparked positive momentum for formerly

waiting for their opportunity to get out. [They want to] have an impact on the community and advocate for there is still some stigma about formerly incarcerated people, but things are changing,” Stanley-Lockheart said. “I’m 43 years old and that process is still a long, hard road, [but] what I do is I lend my voice in hopes of changing things for those who are on their way out, so in that comradery and am trying to have an impact.”

bark@redwoodbark.org

in any other rehabilitative programs, he hopes that this potential for widespread progress will be extended to all incarcerated people looking for more than just captivity in the near future. “There are thousands just like me who are doing time and just

Heroes dressed in orange

alifornia legislature blazes a new path for formerly incarcerated firemen

sports

Page 14

Tommy McKnew is (hole) set to take on the Navy By Charlie Ginsburg Growing up, many kids have a natural passion for a sport before they even play it, but for senior Tommy McKnew, it was his boredom and curiosity that brought him to a sport he has come to love: water polo. Having always been a gifted swimmer, McKnew swam for the Tiburon Peninsula Club (TPC) swim team until fourth grade when he decided he was sick of the same old routine. “Eventually [swimming] ends up getting boring,” McKnew said. “I remember at one point we overlapped [practice] times with the water polo team by about half an hour so in that last half hour of my swim practice, I would watch their first half hour. After seeing them practice I thought, ‘Well that’s a lot more fun than just swimming back and forth.’” Not only did water polo prove to be more fun for McKnew, he also quickly found massive success in his new sport. After playing for the TPC water polo team throughout middle school, McKnew joined the Redwood varsity water polo team as a freshman, a very rare accomplishment, and later earned a starting spot as a sophomore.

In the 2019 season, McKnew played hole set, the equivalent of center in basketball, and led the team with 76 goals, complemented by 19 assists, according to MaxPreps. According to senior teammate Joey Quirk, much of the team’s offensive strategy revolved around McKnew because of his larger frame and quickness. “Our game plan is usually to get the ball to him,” Quirk said. “Hole sets are usually known to be quite slow, but Tommy has the size for the position and also the speed, so we like to get him the ball as our main scorer.” While McKnew had a plethora of goals this past season for both Redwood and his club team, Steve Lacy, head coach at the San Francisco Water Polo Club and McKnew’s club coach for the past three years, thinks McKnew’s impact on offense is noticeable even when he is not scoring. “Tommy is a 235 pound 17-year-old, so in the water it’s very hard to guard him.” Lacy said. “[Opposing teams] have to use multiple defenders to guard him and if they guard him successfully, someone else will always be open.” In addition to being a go-to scorer and assister, Quirk also added that teammates look up to McKnew as a team leader. “We kind of view him as the biggest player in the pool and also outside of it because of his leadership role,” Quirk said. For his final year on the team, McKnew’s main goal is to establish a permanent winning legacy at Redwood before heading off to the United States Naval Academy (Navy), to where he is currently verbally committed to play collegiate water polo at the Division 1 level. “We have a lot of younger kids this year who have potential,” McKnew said. “As a leader on this team I’ve got to help lead the team and establish a mindset of winning and continue some of the success we had last year into this year.” The future is bright for McKnew. Choosing to play at the Navy is a choice that Quirk believes emulates McKnew’s character. “It takes a lot of aggressive characteristics and grit to go to a school like that. I think it really shows what kind of

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT

Photo courtesy of Tommy McKnew

CLUTCHING THE BALL in his right hand, McKnew overlooks the defense as he searches for an open teammate.

Photo courtesy of Tommy McKnew

LIFTING HIMSELF OUT of the water, McKnew attempts to deflect an opposing player’s shot. person he is and how motivated he is,” Quirk said. According to Lacy, McKnew’s strength as well as his mindset are two assets that allow him to flourish in games. Lacy believes that as McKnew’s college career approaches, it is these components of his game that will allow him to see significant playing time at the next level. “You have to really pick up the game plan and the techniques that the coach wants you to use in order to take advantage of the opportunities at the college level,” Lacy said. “His ability to be coachable and listen, and have great attention to detail on fundamentals coupled with his strength and size is a unique combo that should help him play sooner rather than later.” Looking towards his future, McKnew is hoping to further improve his game and start a new chapter in his water polo career, all while building relationships that last beyond the sport. “At a military academy you have your platoon and your squad that you kind of gain friendships with, and I think that’s something I’m excited to be a part of. I’m excited to be at a place like the Navy that has such a deep rooted history,” McKnew said. cginsburg@redwoodbark.org

COVID-19 restrictions change the recruiting game plan By Shannon Watridge Every athlete longs for the pre-pandemic days when practices, competitions and tournaments were a familiar routine. While college recruiting was always stressful, athletes striving to compete beyond high school usually had a rough idea about the process. COVID-19 has upended the norms for recruiting in most sports and, therefore, upended many student-athletes’ plans. Since March, thousands of tournaments, races and games essential to the college recruiting process have been canceled, making it difficult for athletes to get exposed to different college coaches, especially in team sports since they rely on the combinations of players’ unique skills. Junior Harper Glass, who is hoping to get recruited for Division I lacrosse, has found it difficult to get noticed during the pandemic. Glass believes that athletes from areas with fewer COVID-19 restrictions, such as many counties on the East Coast, have an advantage in the recruiting process. East Coast players have been able to film their matches and send updated highlight reels to college coaches, whereas California athletes are still unable to practice in full capacity and are limited to playing in pods of 12. Additionally, new nationwide National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules for girls’ lacrosse, as well as other sports with earlier recruiting timelines, have prohibited all inperson communication between college coaches and potential recruits graduating in 2022 or later until Jan. 1, 2021. “The coaches are really looking to grab the people who they have seen and commit them to a team before they actually get the chance to see everyone else, which sucks

because now they can’t see us for three more months,” Glass said. Even athletes in less subjective sports such as track and field, swimming and golf that rely more on statistics and times have been affected. Many are struggling to send in updated results, though they are less likely to fall behind in the recruiting process compared to their competitors across the country. Senior Hudson Grace is in the midst of his recruiting process for both cross country and track and field, and though he acknowledges that there are disadvantages caused by the pandemic, he admits that it may not be as drastic as other sports since he has been able to race in unofficial time-trials to update coaches on his current times. “A lot of [runners] have a lot of potential, but they haven’t reached that potential because they haven’t been able to race,” Grace said. “Because they don’t have the times they could have gotten during the season, their recruiting may have been impacted.” On the opposite side of the process, college coaches have faced equally challenging deterrents, such as finding the finances to support college seniors already on the team who are eligible for an additional scholarship year due to canceled seasons. According to Kelly Coffey, the head women’s soccer coach at Dominican University, returning seniors could affect the financial scholarships normally reserved for incoming freshmen for years to come, especially in sports with less funding. This could change how coaches choose their future rosters. However, the highly televised sports such as Division I men’s basketball and football are less likely to run into this issue. Admissions are

more willing to cover the cost of the extra than they normally would have. scholarships awarded to fifth-year players Glass too has taken a positive outlook in these sports because they generate larger on these unexpected circumstances. While revenues for the schools. she wishes she could have had a normal Along with navigating these new season, she is appreciative of certain financial challenges, Coffey admits that the aspects of this new process. pandemic has been especially difficult for “[Recruiting happens] so fast when women’s sports such as lacrosse and soccer they are able to see us play, so it lets me since they usually think about what have larger rosters the right decision and faster recruiting is for me and what processes. Without I really want to being able to attend do for the next tournaments and four years,” Glass hold camps, college said. “Honestly, coaches are now it is unfortunate relying on film that everything and communication happened, but in with players. hindsight, it’s kind “The two biggest of better that it has [issues we have] slowed down a lot.” are the inability to Grace has also evaluate players adjusted to the new and have them on process and shares campus. It has really his optimism for the forced us to be future, reminding creative with some others that no matter of the things that we the outcome, the do. We have Zoom process will have recruiting trips. As been worth it. a department, we’ve “The worst Photo courtesy of Harper Glass possible created a virtual outcome athletics based LEAPING IN THE air, Glass catches the is that someone video that we send ball at a college recruiting tournament. doesn’t get recruited out to athletes so who could have,” they can tour the athletic complex and the Grace said. “That is unfortunate, but if you are academically strong as well, I think rest of campus,” Coffey said. Although there are downsides to the that you are going to be able to do well new recruiting process, Coffey understands throughout college and throughout life that coaches have gotten to know their anyway.” potential recruits’ personalities better through Zoom meetings and phone calls swatridge@redwoodbark.org

Page 15 • Sports

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Sports teams fall back into practices By Annie Goldstein and Bella Piacente As students began to settle into their desks at home for the start of online school, the preseason training for fall sports sprang into action. The following sports have slowly resumed practices to the best of their ability within the current guidelines. The fall sports season has temporarily been pushed back to Dec. 7, though this date is still subject to change. Field hockey Despite being unable to play field hockey, the pandemic has not stopped the field hockey team from continuing their training sessions. This time has allowed the team to grow closer and focus on finetuning their skills. Senior Chloe Swildens has been participating in the team’s pre-season training since September, which is run by personal trainer Lori Holscher. While the pre-season training has required a restrictive structure for it to run safely, the team has not been affected socially. “There’s not really much of a divide in our team from last year socially. In response to the coronavirus, even though we have to be six feet apart, we can still converse during our activities and workouts that we’ve been doing together,” Swildens said. The team’s training has been centralized around a variety of abdominal and leg strengthening exercises as well as running to get back into shape. Because the new form of training does not include field hockey practice with sticks, the conditioning has given Swildens a new perspective of the sport. “I am thinking more about the athletic aspects of field hockey [now]. I’m realizing more about how conditioning plays a role in field hockey, whereas in the past, I thought of it as more skill-based rather than athleticism,” Swildens said.

Photo courtesy of Lori Holscher

THE FIELD HOCKEY team trains with strengthening exercises.

Water polo The girls’ and boys’ water polo teams dove back into the pool during the midsummer months. Currently, they are training four days a week, working on conditioning and utilizing this time to improve individual elements, such as strength and shooting form. Although this schedule seems demanding, many players including junior Aiden Squiers look forward to this time out of the house. “You get out of the house more, and it’s just good for your mental health. You’re not cooped up inside and you have an actual schedule to your day,” Squiers said. While Squiers recognizes that the sport has changed with the new restrictions, he still finds practicing beneficial. Similar to Rosenfeld, Squiers explains that it is harder to bond with his teammates. “I now realize how lucky we were to have those practices where we could actually interact with people. I feel like we took it for granted when we had it because we never knew that this was going to happen,” Squiers said. As students began to settle into their desks at home for the start of online school, the preseason training for fall sports sprang into action. The following sports have slowly resumed practices to the best of their ability within the current guidelines. The fall sports season has temporarily been pushed back to Dec. 7, though this date is still subject to change Cross country Unlike many other sports, crosscountry got an early start to their preseason, beginning their training in June. Since then, the team has been practicing five days a week with a variation of drills such as sprints and long-distance runs, similar to before the pandemic. Before they began officially practicing, sophomore Daegan Cutter used the summer to continue running by himself to stay in shape. “Being able to talk to everybody is so much nicer. Running is a social thing for me, so being with people makes it a lot more enjoyable,” Cutter said. By resuming in-person practices and their social aspects, Cutter has been able to reflect on how much his sport means to him. “It’s really significant to my mental health, and when I’m not practicing, it’s hard for me to focus on school. I think it showed me how important this sport is in my life,” Cutter said.

Photo by Keely Ganong

RUNNING IN THEIR masks, [from left to right] Hailey Connery, Helena Janku and Tawny Strotz train for their upcoming cross country season.

bark

Photo courtesy of Caroline Reidy

THE GIRLS’ TENNIS team runs ladders and circuits for socially distant conditioning drills and workouts. Girls’ volleyball The girls’ volleyball team has been unable to practice indoors during this time, however the team was informed that workouts would begin in October and November, with tryouts for the season starting in December. Although the practice structure is different, having a tight-knit group of players has allowed them to stay close during this time apart. Senior Grace Mathews, a twoyear varsity player, has fostered many friendships through volleyball. Mathews has been able to stay active with other programs while keeping in touch with her teammates before this upcoming season begins. “Most of the girls on our team either play club or beach volleyball. So for my sister [sophomore Kaley Mathews] and I, we have been able to train pretty much all quarantine,” Mathews said. Mathews and her teammates have used the opportunity to practice beach volleyball to stay in shape. Even though the transition of returning to indoor play when guidelines loosen will be an adjustment, Mathews believes that having support from her teammates will make the transition smoother. “We are going to come back stronger mentally after all of this and even more unified because we are all going through this together,” Mathews said. Girls’ golf Despite golf being one of the first activities to resume during quarantine, the varsity girls’ golf team has yet to start practicing. While unable to attend official practices many of the girls continued to play on their own over the summer. Junior Alex Rose has improved her technique by taking advantage of golf courses in the Bay Area, which have been open since April 29. “Practice always helps. I’ve had time to really focus on the small changes that I can make to my swing to make it that much better. In golf, it’s the smaller changes that make a big difference. I have been able to refine my swing and correct some of the errors I have made in the past,” Rose said. While Rose has been practicing golf outside of the season, it has been challenging for the team to get together because the team’s new coach was only recently named. “Right now, I still keep in contact with a few of my teammates through social media or talking on the phone which has been great. It is hard that we’re meeting new people really late in the school year, and we don’t know each other,” Rose said. Even with the restrictions and guidelines, Redwood athletes have made the most of the situation at hand. Many have found a new appreciation for their sport, which can be carried into the start of the season.

Girls’ tennis As students began to settle into their desks at home for the start of online school, the girls’ tennis team stepped onto the courts, resuming practices at the end of August. Even though players can social distance by remaining on opposite sides of the net, they still have additional restrictions due to COVID-19 guidelines. The team has been divided into two pods, and players are limited to interacting with only those in their pod. Currently, the team can only communicate through phone calls, texts and emails, which negatively affects the social aspect of tennis. Although the team feels divided, senior Gabriela Rosenfeld still sees the positive side of continuing training. “It’s something to look forward to, and it takes us out of our bedrooms and [off of our] computer screens. I definitely appreciate tennis a lot more every practice that I get since they’re less frequent,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s more special now because it’s one of the only things that I can do with other people.” Football The National Football League began their 2020 season on Sept. 10 and Redwood followed suit with football training starting soon after. While professional football returned to a full contact season, Redwood football kicked off their return with socially distant conditioning-intensive drills and workouts. Redwood coaches have made adjustments for this season’s practices under the new guidelines, a stark contrast to previous seasons which consisted of practices five days a week with time in the weight room. The practices under COVID-19 guidelines will be an adjustment for many of the players, including junior and varsity player Nico Tribuzio. “[Practicing during the pandemic] is going to be tough. It is nice that we have two and a half hours, three days a week to get out there, but it is definitely going to be an adjustment,” Tribuzio said. In addition to reduced practice times, Tribuzio has found the transition to not wearing helmets or pads because of the nocontact restrictions challenging. Because football is centered around contact, practicing without it will impact the team negatively when normal play resumes. “For the freshmen and new players, it’s just [difficult] because right now we would already be tackling and getting used to hitting each other,” Tribuzio said. Despite the restrictive guidelines, the team has been able to start conditioning in the form of running and passing drills.

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October 23, 2020 bark Page 16 • Sports Ben Cohen winds up for a fast recovery post Tommy John surgery By Greta Cifarelli “I get on the mound and my arm’s a little sore, and [then] I heard a pop on one pitch. I come to the dugout and my coach [says], ‘You got to get Tommy John [surgery].’ I [said], ‘No way,’ because it [didn’t] really hurt that bad. It was just a scary sound,” senior Ben Cohen, a three year varsity pitcher and Pomona Pitzer commit, said. After trying out and making the Zoots Baseball Team, a competitive Northern California travel team, Cohen attended a national tournament in Arizona. At one game on July 31, after striking out the first hitter, he tore a ligament in his elbow called the ulnar collateral. On Sept. 2, Cohen received Tommy John surgery to reconstruct this ligament. Although Tommy John surgery is common among pitchers—about 25 percent of all active Major

Photo courtesy of Ben Cohen

DURING HIS SOPHOMORE season, senior Cohen eyes the batter and winds up to pitch.

League Baseball (MLB) pitchers have had the procedure according to the Sun Sentinel—Cohen did not expect this injury. Following the footsteps of his two older brothers, Cohen started playing baseball when he was three years old. He met varsity coach Mike Firenzi shortly thereafter. “It’s going to be the end of an era when Ben graduates… Let’s put it this way, I’ve written Cohen on my lineup card ever since I have been at Redwood,” Firenzi said. Firenzi has been in Cohen’s life since he was 6 or 7 years old. Because he has known Cohen for so long, he has

watched him mature tremendously. “Ben is very confident with whatever he does. That could be [from] being the youngest of three brothers and going in the same path as his older brothers ... it’s kind of a byproduct of that,” Firenzi said. “But on the other side, he is a little different than the other two. They are similar, [but] he’s his own guy.” Although Cohen has a confident persona to guide him, it is backed up by hard work. According to senior Ethan Crawford, who has played with Cohen for four years, Cohen’s leadership qualities and persistence have contributed to the team’s success. “He definitely has a work ethic that separates him from others,” Crawford said. “The fact that he puts in so much time out of school and out of practice to get better, and keeps his grades up, he can get places that other people wouldn’t be able to in terms of colleges and also play time on the field.” Cohen was anticipating offers from top Division I schools including the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Davis; however, these universities rescinded their offers once he underwent the surgery. Despite these setbacks, Cohen persevered. He continued talking to college coaches and recently committed to Pitzer College for their highly ranked Division III baseball team, the Pomona Pitzer Sagehens. “They still believed in me because after Tommy John surgery, you actually come back stronger,” Cohen said. Cohen’s positive attitude will support him through the year-long recovery ahead. While he will be able to bat this senior season, which begins in mid-March, he will not be able to pitch. However, if he continues progressing with physical therapy, he will be cleared to pitch for his spring 2021 season at Pomona Pitzer. Crawford acknowledges Cohen’s fight to recovery and commends him for continuing to support his team throughout his rehabilitation stage. “He’s definitely going to be there. He’s been going to [offseason] practices with us. He’s been there to make the guys work harder, which is a great thing because that’s what we need right now, especially when no guys have really been playing for a while because of [the pandemic],” Crawford said. Cohen often reminds himself of the mental involvement in baseball while he is unable to contribute to the physical aspect.

“Expect to fail, but learn from your mistakes because baseball is a game of failure. You got to just be patient to succeed and your time will come. It takes practice and hard work and dedication to be your best self,” Cohen said. “I’m still working. I still have a lot to improve. Everybody does. Nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s perfect in the game of baseball, nobody’s perfect at any sport. It’s about hard work and just being your best.”

Photo courtesy of Ben Cohen

SMILING AFTER TOMMY John surgery, Cohen prepares for a year long recovery.

gcifarelli@redwoodbark.org

OMG! Giants transfer to IMG to pursue athletic aspirations By Kylie Horstmeyer For many Redwood athletes, COVID-19 has limited their ability to play sports, however, for senior track standout Jason Kuehne and junior lacrosse star Lucas Ross, the pandemic has spurred a search for new opportunities. At the height of the outbreak, last spring and summer, both Jason and Ross transferred to the International Management Group Academy (IMG), a prestigious and athletically focused private school, for the 2020-2021 school year. After contacting their respective coaching staff at IMG and submitting their applications, Jason and Ross made the move to Bradenton, Florida. While Jason made his final decision to transfer late in the summertime, Ross was convinced that he wanted to transfer after last year’s spring semester. “Online school was really difficult for me last spring, so I was thinking about transferring schools anyway. Also, I really like playing lacrosse, and I want to play lacrosse in college, so going to a sports academy like IMG seemed like a great option,” Ross said. According to Jason, one of the main

Photo courtesy of Lucas Ross

OVERLOOKING THE BEACH volleyball court are the IMG dorms where Ross and Jason will be staying.

Photo courtesy of Catherine Kuehne

STANDING ON THE track, Jason smiles as he holds his winning ribbon. differences between IMG and Redwood, other than staying in a dorm away from home, is the rigorous sports schedule IMG student-athletes have. Jason has school from 7:40 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. before attending a three to four hour track practice. Conversely, the majority of Redwood students do not start their day until 8:30 a.m. and are in class until around 3:00 p.m. Although Jason says the adjustment to the schedule has been challenging, he believes IMG is the best environment to prepare him for running track at the collegiate level. “It’s really a college prep school where [IMG’s main goal] is getting their athletes [into] college for their specific sport. By the end of the season, my hope is to be at college for my sport. The big thing here is getting you ready to live in a college environment while exposing you to new training regimens [in] many different

college programs,” Jason said. Despite the fact that both Jason and Ross decided to attend IMG hoping to pursue their sports at the highest level, they also agree that attending in-person class is better than online. Redwood’s average class size is around 28 students; the much smaller IMG 15 student class size has been another positive aspect for Jason. Another difference between IMG and Redwood is the weather. According to Jason, the hot, humid weather in Florida was difficult to get acclimated to. Despite the new challenge, something Jason enjoys at IMG is the strong community. Transferring is never easy, however, the IMG culture has made this new experience even more exciting. “My senioritis was already kicking in by the end of my junior year [at Redwood],” Jason said. “Going here is a really refreshing experience. The people here are really cool and devoted to their sport. It all brings a sense of community that everyone lives together at all times.” On top of the incredible culture at IMG, Jason’s mom, Catherine Kuehne, believes that IMG is the perfect transitional period before he tackles college. “The way I look at it is that he’s gone to college a year early. He [does not have] all that crazy freedom, but he does have [independence] in a controlled and safe [environment]. I think it’s a great stepping stone into his college career,” Catherine said. Unlike Jason, Ross is a junior and plans to come back to Redwood after finishing the year at IMG. Even though it is a change for Ross, he acknowledges that by the time he is a senior, the future outcome of transferring will be worth the sacrifice. “It’s obviously a huge change, but the reward after this year is going to be bigger. They teach you a lot here about not only about academics, but also about training

and [lessons] for your personal life that you can take with you for the rest of your life,” Ross said. Jason agrees with Ross and, even though he is missing his senior year at home with his Redwood friends, he believes attending IMG has helped him and will continue to be beneficial in the future.

Photo courtesy of Lucas Ross

ROSS STANDS on the lacrosse field he will be playing on for the rest of the year.

khorstmeyer@redwoodbark.org

review

Page 17

Creative and COVID-19 safe ways to spend Halloween By Taylor Elliott

A neighborhood street decorated with cobwebs and carved pumpkins overflows with witches, princesses and superheroes as the sun begins to set. “Trick-or-treat” echoes from house to house as kids of all ages gather their year’s supply of chocolate and other sweets. Oct. 31 is usually a spooky yet exciting night for many; however, this Halloween, Marin County health officials urge people to stay home. According to the Marin Independent Journal, parties, carnivals and festivals are banned, and trickor-treating is “strongly discouraged.” But if this pandemic has taught us anything, it is how to make the best out of a bad situation, so here are a few enjoyable ways to spend Halloween night COVID safe. Socially-distanced pumpkin carving When meeting up with friends, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends meeting outdoors and maintaining a physical distance of at least six feet from those not in your household. These guidelines can be met while carving pumpkins with friends or family. Head over to a local pumpkin patch or gardening store, such as Sloat Garden Center in Mill Valley, and choose a few pumpkins that you deem appropriate for carving. To aid you in designing the perfect jack-o’lantern, make sure to have serrated knives, scooping spoons, trash bags and maybe even some decorative teeth on hand. Making Halloween themed food Perhaps all that carving will work up an appetite. Making Halloween treats is one of the best ways to get into the fall spirit. Pinterest offers a variety of recipes and photos for inspiration, such as jack-

o’-lantern quesadillas, breadstick witch fingers and even graveyard pudding cookie cups. Search these names on the site for more information or choose to recreate the Oreo witch hats and spiders I made. That recipe calls for Double Stuf Oreos, vanilla frosting, food coloring, pretzels and Hershey’s kisses. Another more savory idea is mummy hotdogs! Halloween movie night After a night of carving and cooking, you may want to curl up in bed or on the couch and watch a spooky movie. Some family-friendly titles include “Hocus Pocus,” “Halloweentown,” Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Haunted Mansion.” All of these films can be found on Disney+. Prefer to watch a scarier movie with friends? Netflix offers both “Goosebumps” and “Goosebumps 2,” “Poltergeist” and, my personal favorite, “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” To abide by social distancing guidelines, watch a movie with friends through Netflix Party. This Chrome extension allows users to watch almost any show or movie in sync with friends and chat over text on Netflix. If you have access to a projector, another way to enjoy Halloween films with friends is outside while six feet apart. Costumes with masks Finally, just because people can’t go out does not mean they can’t dress up! Wearing a costume can still be fun even if it is just around the house or at a socially distanced event. There are plenty of masks that double as a costume, such as the Jack Skellington mask or pumpkin grin face mask. Both are sold on RedBubble if you want to get a bit more creative; wearing a costume that already requires a mask is a great option. Dress up as a doctor or nurse paired with a medical face mask, and it doesn’t alter

the original costume at all. Another idea is going as a ninja and wearing a dark face mask. Both of these items are available on Amazon in many variations. With these costumes, you can be COVID-19 safe and stylish! telliott@redwoodbark.org

Image courtesy of DVD Netflix

RELEASED IN 1982, Poltergeist is still scaring audiences today and is available to watch on Netflix.

Drive thru Corte Madera to eat at the exceptional Amy’s Drive Thru By Mia Kessinger

Taking over the old Denny’s location, Amy’s Drive Thru opened on Aug. 4 off Highway 101 in Corte Madera. A twist on classic diner food, they offer a fully vegetarian menu equipped with vegan and gluten-free options. In addition to take-out via the drive-thru and online orders, Amy’s Drive Thru set up picnic tables outside to accommodate dine-in customers while keeping a safe distance to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The opening in Corte Madera is an extension of Petaluma’s location, and it has a friendly, laid-back atmosphere. To create the traditional diner environment, both the exterior and interior of Amy’s Drive Thru incorporate bright colors, most notably a rich teal and sunflower yellow. However, to promote their healthy take on fast food, the restaurant’s roof is lined with luscious grass and leaves that radiate a natural ambiance. Their menu offers a variety of delicious options for lunch and dinner, such as vegetarian burgers, burritos, chili and macaroni and cheese. Although temporarily closed for breakfast, they offer a multitude of baked goods the rest of the day. According to their mission statement, they are “returning to the

Photo by Mia Kessinger

CHANGING THINGS UP, the spicy sauce on the burger creates delicious flavors.

roots of American fast food.” This led me to choose the most established American fast food items: a hamburger with sides of fries and a seasonal salad in addition to a classic vanilla milkshake. On my $5.19 single burger, I opted for the spicy version of their secret sauce — a variation I was quite pleased with. The patty itself had strong flavors,

but it was too thin for the savory taste to come through. However, with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions and secret sauce, the size of the patty did not matter too much; the spicy tang of the sauce created a heavenly taste that kept me going in for more. For some people, the spicy option may be a turnoff because of the extra heat, but I personally found that the zestiness

complemented the sweetness also present in the sauce. While the burger was delectable, the fries were extraordinary. With a perfectly balanced ratio of crispy and salty on the outside to fresh potato on the inside, they were easily some of the best fries I’ve had in Marin. Although the price is on the expensive side at $3.29 (compared to Shake Shack’s price of $3.09), I found that it was worth the extra money for the quality of the fries. The shake did not disappoint either: the simple vanilla flavor was not too overpowering but sweet enough to be satisfactory. Unfortunately, the consistency was a little too watery for my liking. Lastly, the pricey seasonal salad ($5.29) was very basic with carrots, cabbage and tomatoes, yet the ingredients were fresh and the flavors fulfilling. Bringing a new option of vegetarian cuisine to Marin, Amy’s Drive Thru provides a healthier version of American fast-food, making it a visit I would highly recommend. The variety of the food on their menu in addition to the lovely atmosphere will not fail to impress. mkessinger@redwoodbark.org

October 23, 2020 bark Page 18 • Review Need some fresh music? Check out these new albums

silly and packed with amusing lines such as “Gravy got the drip and the cheese like I’m fondue/All of y’all been on one, congrats, b****, I’m on too” and catchy choruses. The most entertaining tracks are “yup!” “Tampa Bay Bustdown” and “Gas Money.” “Zeros” by Declan McKenna

By Abby Shewmaker

Though the pandemic has been a challenging time for most, it has also brought introspection and selfdiscovery, which has inspired many artists to release new music. These new releases have not disappointed and make up for the fact that experiencing live music won’t be a possibility for a long time. From pop to rock to rap and R&B, here are four new albums to check out while staying home. “Ho, Why is You Here?” by Flo Milli Newcomer to the rap arena, Flo Milli shows that she is here to stay with her mixtape, “Ho, Why is You Here,” released this summer. You may already know many of this mixtape’s songs from TikTok, where several of the tracks went viral before it’s release. Songs like “The Party” and “Beef FloMix” inspired popular dance video trends that dominated the social media scene for the summer. This playful mixtape is as confident as it is breezy, with a snappy flow that just begs to be sung along to. After only a few times listening to the mixtape, there were a few songs I could not get out of my head, like “May I,” “Not Friendly” and “The Party.” “The Ascension” by Sufjan Stevens “The Ascension” marks the eighth studio album release for Sufjan Stevens, as well as an evolution of his sound. Stevens is well known among the indie rock community for albums such as “Carrie and Lowell” and

Playlist by Abby Shewmaker

FEATURING THE TOP songs from each album, this Spotify playlist can be accessed by scanning the barcode above. “Illinois,” although some may know him for his Academy Award-nominated contributions to the soundtrack of the film “Call Me By Your Name.” Fans of Stevens and those albums may find themselves alienated by his most recent work. The electro-pop sound seemingly came out of nowhere, considering his previous discography of primarily indie rock and folk albums. The gorgeous lyrics that Stevens consistently brings to his work are ever-present in this album. However, this does not make up for the jarring production and general awkwardness of most of the tracks. Though the intricacies and quality of this work should be appreciated,

“The Ascension” is likely not to lure dedicated fans. Standout songs include “Run Away With Me,” “Die Happy” and “Death Star.” “Gasanova” by Yung Gravy Yung Gravy returns with his studio album with the release of “Gasanova,” a 38-minute interlude filled with Gravy’s signature charming and humorous lyrics over mostly classic jazz beats. The features on this album include Y2K, Ski Mask the Slump God, bbno$ and Chief Keef, each bringing their own personalities and styles into this album. “Gasanova” is by no means a masterpiece, but it’s fun,

Declan McKenna’s sophomore album, “Zeros” pays clear homage to his Britrock predecessors of David Bowie, U2 and The Beatles, while combining them with fresh modern takes. “Zeros” is a concept album, following survivors of the end of the world, flying through space as they grapple with the gravity of their situation. Through this lens, McKenna explores a variety of themes prevalent in today’s political sphere, such as climate change and surveillance capitalism, as well as parallels between the 1960s spaceage and today. The concept album works well, as the songs both fit nicely into the story and work well on their own. The rousing production, clever lyricism and storytelling make for an enjoyable listening experience. The best songs on this album are “You Better Believe!!,” “Daniel, You’re Still a Child” and “The Key to Life on Earth.” Although a few of the releases were disappointing in their own ways, I would still recommend giving any of these albums a listen.

ashewmaker@redwoodbark.org

Are these latest celebrity-created products worth the hype? Story and Infographic by Avery Aguero As the popularity of today’s famous celebrities and social media influencers grow, more and more of these influencers are releasing their own unique products. Currently, several stores and fast food chains offer a handful of attractive items created by celebrities and their marketing teams, but are any of them really worth what these celebrities make them out to be? Below is a comprehensive review of the top celebrity products available right now. The Charli drink at Dunkin’ Donuts On Sept. 2, Charli D’Amelio, a 16-year-old TikTok star with over 90 million followers, debuted her new coffee drink at Dunkin’ Donuts. D’Amelio

Image courtesy of Gallery Books

THE IDEAL PLANNER was released just in time for students who want to boost their organizational skills.

rose to fame back in 2019 when she began making dance videos on the popular social media app TikTok. She quickly became a social media sensation and currently has the most followers on the app. For months, D’Amelio’s frequent unsponsored Dunkin’ shoutouts on her TikTok demonstrated her love for their coffee, and now their partnership is finally official. The Charli drink, based off of the star’s goto order, is a combination of Dunkin’ Donuts’ classic cold brew, whole milk and three pumps of caramel flavoring, priced at $3.19 for a medium sized cup. After ordering the Charli drink from the closest Dunkin’ Donuts location in South San Francisco, I was left with mixed feelings. As an iced coffee lover myself, I appreciated the strong flavor profile of the cold brew, but it was basic and underwhelming. I anticipated the Charli drink would taste extremely sweet from the caramel syrup, but the bitterness from the coffee was overwhelming. Considering how standard the ingredients were, I could have made the same coffee at home for far less so if you are looking to elevate your taste buds, I do not recommend purchasing the Charli drink. The Ideal Planner quirky messages, which made my organizational experience far from boring. Emma Chamberlain’s newest creation, The Ideal Unlike most planners on the market, The Ideal Planner, has everything you need to get your life Planner is undated, allowing you to use it at any organized and keep it that way. The 19-year-old social time, regardless of the month or year. You can find media influencer, fashion icon and YouTube star Chamberlain’s planner online or in stores such as with over 9.5 million subscribers swears by planners Target, Walmart and Barnes & Noble for $30. The to help her stay organized and productive every day. Ideal Planner certainly lives up to its name and is With high quality stationary and a durable hardcover, definitely worth spending the extra cash. there is no denying that this planner is well made. Along with Chamberlain’s unique abstract cover art, The Ideal Planner includes self-reflective journal pages, custom mood boards, games, puzzles and Continued on page 20

October 23, 2020 bark Page 18 • Review Need some fresh music? Check out these new albums

silly and packed with amusing lines such as “Gravy got the drip and the cheese like I’m fondue/All of y’all been on one, congrats, b****, I’m on too” and catchy choruses. The most entertaining tracks are “yup!” “Tampa Bay Bustdown” and “Gas Money.” “Zeros” by Declan McKenna

By Abby Shewmaker

Though the pandemic has been a challenging time for most, it has also brought introspection and selfdiscovery, which has inspired many artists to release new music. These new releases have not disappointed and make up for the fact that experiencing live music won’t be a possibility for a long time. From pop to rock to rap and R&B, here are four new albums to check out while staying home. “Ho, Why is You Here?” by Flo Milli Newcomer to the rap arena, Flo Milli shows that she is here to stay with her mixtape, “Ho, Why is You Here,” released this summer. You may already know many of this mixtape’s songs from TikTok, where several of the tracks went viral before it’s release. Songs like “The Party” and “Beef FloMix” inspired popular dance video trends that dominated the social media scene for the summer. This playful mixtape is as confident as it is breezy, with a snappy flow that just begs to be sung along to. After only a few times listening to the mixtape, there were a few songs I could not get out of my head, like “May I,” “Not Friendly” and “The Party.” “The Ascension” by Sufjan Stevens “The Ascension” marks the eighth studio album release for Sufjan Stevens, as well as an evolution of his sound. Stevens is well known among the indie rock community for albums such as “Carrie and Lowell” and

Playlist by Abby Shewmaker

FEATURING THE TOP songs from each album, this Spotify playlist can be accessed by scanning the barcode above. “Illinois,” although some may know him for his Academy Award-nominated contributions to the soundtrack of the film “Call Me By Your Name.” Fans of Stevens and those albums may find themselves alienated by his most recent work. The electro-pop sound seemingly came out of nowhere, considering his previous discography of primarily indie rock and folk albums. The gorgeous lyrics that Stevens consistently brings to his work are ever-present in this album. However, this does not make up for the jarring production and general awkwardness of most of the tracks. Though the intricacies and quality of this work should be appreciated,

“The Ascension” is likely not to lure dedicated fans. Standout songs include “Run Away With Me,” “Die Happy” and “Death Star.” “Gasanova” by Yung Gravy Yung Gravy returns with his studio album with the release of “Gasanova,” a 38-minute interlude filled with Gravy’s signature charming and humorous lyrics over mostly classic jazz beats. The features on this album include Y2K, Ski Mask the Slump God, bbno$ and Chief Keef, each bringing their own personalities and styles into this album. “Gasanova” is by no means a masterpiece, but it’s fun,

Declan McKenna’s sophomore album, “Zeros” pays clear homage to his Britrock predecessors of David Bowie, U2 and The Beatles, while combining them with fresh modern takes. “Zeros” is a concept album, following survivors of the end of the world, flying through space as they grapple with the gravity of their situation. Through this lens, McKenna explores a variety of themes prevalent in today’s political sphere, such as climate change and surveillance capitalism, as well as parallels between the 1960s spaceage and today. The concept album works well, as the songs both fit nicely into the story and work well on their own. The rousing production, clever lyricism and storytelling make for an enjoyable listening experience. The best songs on this album are “You Better Believe!!,” “Daniel, You’re Still a Child” and “The Key to Life on Earth.” Although a few of the releases were disappointing in their own ways, I would still recommend giving any of these albums a listen.

ashewmaker@redwoodbark.org

Are these latest celebrity-created products worth the hype? Story and Infographic by Avery Aguero As the popularity of today’s famous celebrities and social media influencers grow, more and more of these influencers are releasing their own unique products. Currently, several stores and fast food chains offer a handful of attractive items created by celebrities and their marketing teams, but are any of them really worth what these celebrities make them out to be? Below is a comprehensive review of the top celebrity products available right now. The Charli drink at Dunkin’ Donuts On Sept. 2, Charli D’Amelio, a 16-year-old TikTok star with over 90 million followers, debuted her new coffee drink at Dunkin’ Donuts. D’Amelio

Image courtesy of Gallery Books

THE IDEAL PLANNER was released just in time for students who want to boost their organizational skills.

rose to fame back in 2019 when she began making dance videos on the popular social media app TikTok. She quickly became a social media sensation and currently has the most followers on the app. For months, D’Amelio’s frequent unsponsored Dunkin’ shoutouts on her TikTok demonstrated her love for their coffee, and now their partnership is finally official. The Charli drink, based off of the star’s goto order, is a combination of Dunkin’ Donuts’ classic cold brew, whole milk and three pumps of caramel flavoring, priced at $3.19 for a medium sized cup. After ordering the Charli drink from the closest Dunkin’ Donuts location in South San Francisco, I was left with mixed feelings. As an iced coffee lover myself, I appreciated the strong flavor profile of the cold brew, but it was basic and underwhelming. I anticipated the Charli drink would taste extremely sweet from the caramel syrup, but the bitterness from the coffee was overwhelming. Considering how standard the ingredients were, I could have made the same coffee at home for far less so if you are looking to elevate your taste buds, I do not recommend purchasing the Charli drink. The Ideal Planner quirky messages, which made my organizational experience far from boring. Emma Chamberlain’s newest creation, The Ideal Unlike most planners on the market, The Ideal Planner, has everything you need to get your life Planner is undated, allowing you to use it at any organized and keep it that way. The 19-year-old social time, regardless of the month or year. You can find media influencer, fashion icon and YouTube star Chamberlain’s planner online or in stores such as with over 9.5 million subscribers swears by planners Target, Walmart and Barnes & Noble for $30. The to help her stay organized and productive every day. Ideal Planner certainly lives up to its name and is With high quality stationary and a durable hardcover, definitely worth spending the extra cash. there is no denying that this planner is well made. Along with Chamberlain’s unique abstract cover art, The Ideal Planner includes self-reflective journal pages, custom mood boards, games, puzzles and Continued on page 20

Page 19 • Review

www.redwoodbark.org

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A playlist for a spook-tacular Halloween By Audrey Lightfoot Although Halloween will be very different this year due to the continued spread of COVID-19, there are still several ways to get into the spooky spirit while staying safe. As autumn creeps up on us, the need for the perfect Halloween playlist is stronger than ever. So, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and cover your baking pan with the classic Pillsbury Pumpkin Sugar Cookie

Dough. Light a couple of fall scented candles and listen to this playlist to experience the eerie aura of Halloween. This playlist is comprised of a variety of songs ranging from the classics to early 2010s hits, guaranteed to get you ready for Oct. 31.

“Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Picket “Thriller” by Michael Jackson “I Put a Spell on You” by Nina Simone “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. “This is Halloween” by Citizens of Halloween “The Addams Family Theme” by Vic Mizzy “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold “Heads Will Roll” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Pyscho Killer” by Talking Heads “Calling All the Monsters” by China Anne McLain

alightfoot@redwoodbark.org

Illustrations by Kalyn Dawes and Sofi Mincy

Picture-perfect picnic spots in the North Bay By Caroline Goodhart

no place to hide from the wind at Crissy Field, I would strongly recommend going on a calm day. Additionally, the constant noise of the nearby elevated highway can detract from the stunning view and harmonious beach. Overall, Crissy Field is the place to go if you are looking for a large space with a panoramic view.

It is another beautiful day in the Bay Area. The smoke has finally cleared and people everywhere are itching to get out of the house for the human contact they have been deprived of all week. Bay Area parks have been packed ever since the pandemic struck, and picnicking McNears Beach has quickly risen in popularity. After picnicking around Marin all summer, here are the places that I One of Marin’s hidden gems, have found to be the most enjoyable, McNears Beach is the ideal spot to rated on a scale from one to five. get a group together and spend a relaxing day along the water. Because Crissy Field it is a County Park, McNears has a $5 parking fee, however, the price is well Crissy Field, located just across worth it. There are plenty of spots to the Golden Gate Bridge, has a set up picnic blankets, shallow waters beautiful view of the bay, the bridge to wade in, a dock for fishing and and downtown San Francisco. It is an overall lovely atmosphere. Since the perfect place for a picnic, with McNears is tucked into a pocket of plenty of room to comfortably the Bay, it is rarely windy. In addition, socially distance and let your dog there is a nice balance between sunny run free. Its close proximity to the and shady spots due to the coverage of beach and bike path allows other fun eucalyptus and palm trees. Although activities such as biking, jogging and the Bay is not always the cleanest swimming. However, since there is place to go swimming, McNears’

Photo by Caroline Goodhart

VISITORS ENJOY THE warm sun and fresh air at McNears on a warm Sunday afternoon.

Photo by Caroline Goodhart

THE HILLS OF Paradise Beach park in Tiburon are blanketed with beautiful green foliage.

calm waters make the experience more enjoyable. If you do not feel comfortable swimming in the Bay, it is also a great spot to go kayaking or paddle boarding. All things considered, McNears is a pictureperfect picnic spot and one of my favorite places to be in the Bay Area.

you should be picnicking. It is a great way to meet up with friends and family while staying socially distant. Spending the day at these spots always makes me feel happy and refreshed, especially after a long week of Zoom classes.

Paradise Beach Park Located on the backside of the Tiburon Peninsula along Paradise Cove, Paradise Beach Park is another delightful place to picnic. The park also has a $5 parking fee, but once again, it is definitely worth it. Additionally, the park is along the popular bike route, Paradise Drive, and the ride is a shady and pleasant alternative to driving. The Park has plenty of picnic tables, a long dock and a staircase along the hillside that leads down to a serene beach. Its green rolling hills are the perfect place to set up a blanket and enjoy the view. However, I would not recommend this spot to students who just got their licenses, as the curvy road makes passing bikers on the blind turns difficult. But if you are comfortable driving, Paradise Beach Park is truly a sliver of paradise. Wherever you go this weekend,

Illustration by Sofi Mincy

cgoodhart@redwoodbark.org

October 23, 2020 bark Page 20 • Review Trick or treat yourself to these Halloween TV specials By Emma Lightfoot

As the fall season continues, little kids and teens alike look forward to Halloween, a day celebrated by trick-or-treating, going to costume parties and eating an ungodly amount of Twix bars. However, due to COVID-19 related health restrictions, Halloween is undoubtedly going to be different this year. Even if we cannot participate in traditional activities like trick-or-treating, we can still enjoy television’s take on the holiday; Halloween TV specials provide a great way to get into the spooky spirit. Whether you are in the mood for a sitcom special, a TV series scare or a feel-good fall episode, the Bark has got you covered. Here are some of the best Halloween TV specials. The Office: “Halloween” (season two, episode five) The Office’s second season presents its first Halloween special, which takes place, unsurprisingly, in the Dunder Mifflin Scranton office. This special centers around the corporate office’s request that Michael Scott, regional manager at Dunder Mifflin, fires one of his employees by the end of the day. Throughout the workday, Michael brainstorms who he must fire by confronting his employees, which leads to

hysterical bickering, an absurd role-play and chaotic office pranks. Complete with the character’s various costumes choices, ranging from Michael wearing a paper head placed on his shoulder to Dwight Schrute, a serious salesman and assistant to the regional manager, as a Sith lord, this episode is sure to get you in the Halloween spirit. In addition to this episode’s costume festivity, Michael’s multiple failed firing attempts add to the ridiculous drama and are sure to get you laughing. New Girl: “Halloween” (season two, episode six) In New Girl’s first Halloween episode, the main character, Jess, is hired as a zombie in a haunted house and invites her friends and casual hookup Sam, who she is catching feelings for. While Jess grapples with her serious feelings for Sam, her roommates find themselves battling new and unresolved feelings. Nick catches up with his college crush, Winston is struggling with his current relationship and Schmidt has a hard time accepting that his ex-girlfriend, Cece, is dating again. Though it seems like all of the characters are at different points in their relationships, when attending Jess’ Halloween event, everyone comes to the realization that they must be honest with themselves and their partners. The fun-filled set created a spooky atmosphere and only added to the Halloween excitement. This episode’s hilarious

Image courtesy of Netflix

REALIZING THAT NONE of their other classmates are wearing Halloween costumes, Mike, Dustin, Will and Lucas look at their peers in embarrassment.

costume choices, quick-witted banter and haunted house scares will get you excited for Halloween night. Stranger Things: “Trick or Treat, Freak” (season two, episode two) The Halloween episode in the second season of Stranger Things leaves viewers feeling eerie and full of suspense. Though this episode contains some light-hearted fall fun, like trick-or-treating and dressing up for Halloween, everything has a dark twist. Centered on Halloween night, each character has different plans on how to enjoy the holiday’s festivities. However, each character’s initial plans are interrupted by their personal fears and doubts surrounding the Upside Down, Eleven’s disappearance and Barb’s death. Although the episode’s spooky tone drives down the episode’s festive factor, the killer 80’s Halloween soundtrack and decorative set design make this episode a mustwatch. If you are looking for something scary to watch this October, definitely watch this episode (or binge the entire series on Netflix). Friends: “The One with the Halloween Party” (season eight, episode six) After eight seasons of iconic holiday episodes, Friends fans finally received the coveted Halloween episode, and it does not disappoint. In this episode, Monica and Chandler throw a costume party in their apartment. But, of course, the party does not go as planned. Each character deals with a personal struggle which all comes to a head at the party. Whether it was Ross’s confusing “Sputnik” costume (a combination of a potato and the Russian satellite) or a newly pregnant Rachel who gets tricked into handing out dollar bills and checks as a substitute for Halloween candy, this episode’ comedy does not fall short. The wacky costumes, seasonal party decorations and arm wrestling competitions will evoke some nostalgic fall feelings.

Image courtesy of Warner Bros/Everett Gallery

DISCUSSING EACH OTHER’S hilarious costumes, Rachel, Phoebe, Ross and Joey meet at Monica and Chandler’s Halloween party. Continued from page 18

Photo by Avery Aguero

THE CHARLI DRINK debuted at hundreds of Dunkin’ Donuts.

elightfoot@redwoodbark.org

The Travis Scott Burger The world famous rapper and music producer Travis Scott recently collaborated with McDonald’s to release the Travis Scott Burger this past September. For just $6, you can get a quarter pound cheeseburger with shredded lettuce, bacon, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard, plus fries and a Sprite to complete the meal if you choose. As a big fan of Scott, I was excited to try the rapper’s signature meal to see what all the rave was about. While I was disappointed by the thin and dry burger, the crunchy lettuce, smokey bacon and salty pickles made up for the lack of flavor in the patty. Personally, I am not a huge fan of McDonald’s, but you get a solid deal with the Travis Scott Burger. It is no Super Duper burger or DoubleDouble from In-N-Out, but for $6, it is pretty decent. Photo by Avery Aguero

aaguero@redwoodbark.org

‘IT’S LIT,’ AS Travis Scott might say in reference to his new meal now available at McDonald’s.

lifestyles

Page 21

F illin g in t h e g a p : t h e a lt e r n a t iv e t o o n lin e c o lle g e By Taylor Elliott and Hollis Belger After a year’s worth of college applications, standardized testing and immeasurable amounts of stress to get into the college of their dreams, taking a gap year was the last thing on most seniors’ minds. However, the COVID-19 pandemic redefined what freshman year of college would look like for the class of 2020, leaving students with a difficult choice. Would they begin college in the fall as planned, despite heavy restrictions, or would they take a chance and defer? According to LendEDU, a nonprofit organization that collects data on us school systems, 43 percent of high school seniors who had not yet committed to a college at the end of last school year were considering a gap year. To explore the fascinating opportunities that come with taking a gap year, five alumni share how they are making the most of life after Redwood. LYLE BELGER When Lyle Belger was accepted into Stanford University, the choice seemed obvious; she would double major in psychology and theater performance studies at one of the world’s top universities. However, when Stanford asked students to decide if they wanted to defer in early June, Belger had to make a decision despite limited information. “I didn’t know what [Stanford’s] plan was going to be for the fall, and it wasn’t until August that they released that they were going to be all online. So, I’m thrilled that I decided to take a gap year when I did,” Belger said. With a spot waiting for her at Stanford next fall, Belger currently spends her days working at an internship for the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in an assistant role and helping out with youth classes. She also plays music at restaurants around Marin. In addition, Belger tutors kids of all ages, which has given her some fascinating insight into online learning. “It’s really interesting to see how kids are being taught these days and how their brains develop. A challenge is keeping them on task because they are sitting right next to their best friends, but I love that it gives them that social connection that I think is missing on Zoom classes,” Belger said. SARAH YOUNG Sarah Young is one of the top sailors in the nation, ranked second for girls under 19 in the Laser Radial class and was recruited to Dartmouth College’s sailing team. “I was being recruited to three different schools and I knew I wanted to sail on a D1 team, so [I] chose Dartmouth. It was my favorite school and the team and coach were super welcoming when I visited,” Young said. However, like many others, when faced with the idea of a fully online school year, Young took advantage of Dartmouth’s offer to defer, even as a committed athlete. “[Dartmouth] extended their gap year deadline date,

Photo courtesy of Sarah Young

SARAH YOUNG SPORTING her Dartmouth Sailing sweatshirt at the San Francisco Yacht Club, where she is both coaching and practicing sailing.

Photo courtesy of Charlie Tantum

CARVING SIGNS, CHARLIE Tantum works on off-season projects for Camp Belknap in Tuftonboro, New Hampshire. and I applied then. As far as I could tell, they let everyone defer if they wanted to, [including athletes], so they were really generous with it,” Young said. Currently, Young is coaching and practicing sailing every opportunity she gets. “I am still training with my [sailing] team here, and I’m also on the [U-21] Olympic development team. [The Olympic development program is] just starting to do clinics again with the earliest one scheduled for Thanksgiving, which I’m hoping to go to,” Young said.

with her choice to defer and has discovered so much about European life. “I’ve been immersed in the culture because I’ve been staying with friends and have been able to see how other people live,” Comins said.

LAUREN STEELE After becoming overwhelmed and struggling to maintain motivation with distance learning during her last high school semester, Lauren Steele knew she wanted to defer CHARLIE TANTUM early on if Duke University After deferring from Williams announced they would not College in Massachusetts, Charlie return in-person. As soon as the Tantum has returned to Camp announcement was made, Steele Belknap for his gap year. It will and her mother researched be his tenth year attending the several programs before finally non-profit traditional overnight deciding on Pacific Discovery, a summer camp for boys ages company that offers experienceeight to 16 in Tuftonboro, New based semester long trips for Hampshire. However, Tantum is students taking a gap year. no longer a camper, but an intern “Right now, I’m in Idaho USE THE QR code above to watch a with leadership responsibilities. on their backpacking trip. We He is working to improve the video on the class of 2020’s gap years. started in Denver and then went experiences of campers through to Boulder and then started to offseason work. go all over. Next, we’ll go to Wyoming, Montana and “I started going there when I was eight, and I’ve been Washington, and then we end in Lake Tahoe,” Steele said. back every summer since. This summer, we made lots of Steele described that the program is about more than fun videos on all sorts of topics. Some to help kids learn enjoying mountain biking, hiking and other outdoor new things but mostly to keep them engaged and have fun activities. She feels immersed in new cultures, has worked watching camp stuff from home,” Tantum said. on service projects, explored the wilderness and worked Currently, Tantum’s work includes participating on personal development. in activities like sailing, water skiing, archery and “A big focus of the trip is finding out who you are. We’ll construction. After benefitting so much from these tasks do something super fun, like rafting or rock climbing, in unexpected ways, such as gaining leadership skills, and then we’ll take time afterward and reflect. It’s also Tantum encourages future students to consider taking a a requirement of the program that we keep a journal, and gap year for fun rather than using the year as a resume that’s also really helped me,” Steele said. builder as many feel pressured to do. Steele will return home in November and then embark “Every day we’re going to do a cool new thing. A lot on another adventure to Israel through Aardvark, where of outdoor stuff like learning how to route signs or drive a she will learn Hebrew and hopes to land a journalism boat,” Tantum said. internship. Despite the less than ideal circumstances that EMILY COMINS COVID-19 presented recent Redwood graduates with, Originally from England, Emily Comins has made they were able to make the best of their situations and her way back to Europe this year, traveling the continent take this year to explore new endeavors. Perhaps their with friends and family. Unlike most Redwood graduates, stories will motivate other students to reconsider their Comins knew that she wanted to take a gap year regardless plans after high school, whether that means taking a gap of COVID-19. year themselves or finding different ways to travel during “I always knew that I wanted to have a break in college. between high school and college. A [gap year] just seemed fun,” Comins said. Comins will be attending the University of Bristol next year, but plans to visit England, Scotland and Italy alongside her friend and Branson class of 2020 graduate, Charlotte Fletcher, until then. Comins is already thrilled bark@redwoodbark.org

October 23, 2020 bark Page 22 • Lifestyles Face to Face: Should we change to a hybrid schedule? By Allie Vasquez Face to Face is a feature that allows two members of the Redwood community to debate with each other, argue or simply converse about a relevant issue or event. We provide the topic and they do the rest. This month’s participants are juniors Avery Grant and Hannah Jones. They are discussing the topic of whether Redwood should transition into a hybrid model, now that we have shifted into California’s COVID-19 red zone, despite the Tamalpais Union High School District’s decision to wait until January. Do you think that we should go into a hybrid model, now that we are in the red zone? Avery Grant: When I filled out the survey, I said that I was uncomfortable going back [to school] in the yellow zone. Even [going back to school] at all is a bit of a stretch because in reports from all over the country, we’ve seen kids going back to school and cases popping up everywhere. I think it’s too big of a risk to go back. Who knows if there will be a large outbreak at school and then we might have to go back to all online. I don’t think that we should go back until we can stay there for a long time. Hannah Jones: I don’t get a lot out of being online. I feel for some [classes], especially science and drama, there’s not much that we can do. It would be nice to have a hybrid model for some of those classes. What are the pros and cons of the online school curriculum that we have right now? AG: I like that we have [double] blocks for the majority of the week. I think that it’s good because it gives

us more time to work. But, I also think that we are getting too much work and it’s too much time in front of the screen. Instead of just an online school, it’s turned into an online day. I wake up, I do school on my computer for six hours and I have another four or five hours of homework in front of my computer. HJ: I think a definite pro for me is I feel that I have more control over my schedule as to when I do work. I get up later which is really nice because the schedule is a little different. I think that it makes more sense for me to have all of my classes on Monday and space out the blocks instead of doing it how ever we were doing it before. I think that some of the cons are I don’t get enough real face-to-face

Avery Grant

Hannah Jones

[time] with the teacher. I don’t personally learn very well unless there is someone in front of me telling me how to do it and explaining every step. Do you think that there is an impact on kids’ mental health because they aren’t around their peers and teachers?

AG: I think a lot of kids can sometimes feel somewhat isolated because we’re stuck in our houses. [Isolation] can have a really large impact on people whose mental health really relies on seeing their friends and having interactions with their teachers. HJ: I’m an extroverted person and one of the biggest things I lost over quarantine was being able to see people. I feel like being online and not having the outlet of seeing your friends and having a place to go that’s not school has been really hard. Especially when you’re in in-person school and you leave campus it’s like, ‘Okay, my school is done for the day, and now I have my homework.’ When you’re at home, it’s just all school, all homework and I’m always on my computer. What do you think would change if we are to switch to a hybrid schedule? AG: I really have no idea [what would change], so I’m not sure how the teachers plan on doing it. I think in a way that [the hybrid model] will slow down learning because there are so many logistics that go into getting people back at school, back in the classroom and learning. HJ: The masks and six feet apart will be kind of hard to enforce, but I think that it is really important, so we need to find a way if we are going to go into a hybrid model. I think that it will be beneficial for people to be in the classroom. I would get better grades on writing assignments because I would be in class and get the inperson feedback that I don’t really get online. Right now, we are allowed to use notes on our math tests, but when we get back to school, we are not going to be able to use notes and I’m not sure how that’s going to translate. avasquez@redwoodbark.org

Kojima sisters film ‘Relive to Remember’ documentary By AnnaLise Sandrich “I don’t know what word you want to use, but we’re not using ‘internment’ camps to describe the ten prison camps we were held in. Euphemistic language really distorted what happened to us, so we’re trying to correct it,” Satsuki Ina said in the documentary “Relive To Remember,” produced and edited by junior Hina Kojima and sophomore Kana Kojima. To Japanese prison camp survivors like Ina, the distinction between “prison” and “internment” is an important one and demonstrates the need for survivors’ stories to be told. That’s exactly what the Kojima sisters aimed to do when they interviewed six survivors of Japanese prison camps for their documentary. They came up with the idea to create a project about the Japanese prison camps when Kana learned about them in her freshman English class. “We knew we wanted to apply [to the Dragon Kim Foundation], but we struggled figuring out what we wanted our idea to be. Kana came home and suggested that we do [a project] about Hina Kojima, the prison camps,” Hina junior said. Much of the project was made possible through the Dragon Kim Foundation. Based in Irvine, the Dragon Kim Foundation is a high school social entrepreneurship incubator that grants projects up to $5,000 in funding, provides leadership training and matches participants with mentors to guide them along the process. It is free to apply and participate in and was co-founded by executive director and marketing professional Grace Kim. “We wanted to create a way for high schoolers to take whatever they are

passionate about and find a way to change their corner of the world,” Kim said. The Dragon Kim Foundation provided the Kojima’s with the necessary training and funding to make the film. However, even with access to sophisticated filmmaking technology, the editing process was still demanding. The Kojima’s had to edit 19 hours of footage into a film that was under 25 minutes. “We had no experience in film whatsoever, so it was really difficult to learn … but it was worth it in the end,” Hina said. The COVID-19 pandemic added challenges to the process as well because the Kojima’s had to find ways to connect with their subjects while staying socially distanced. As the program manager Photo courtesy of Hina Kojima of the fellowship HINA AND KANA Kojima produced and edited the documentary “Relive to department of Remember.” the Dragon Kim As a Korean-Japanese American, Lugo Foundation, Arie because they lived through so much… I’m Lugo works closely really grateful that I was able to do this resonates with watching other Japanese with program because, in ten, twenty years, most of the people share such personal stories. She participants and was prison camp survivors won’t be with us hopes that more people will see it and either learn something significant or feel able to oversee the anymore,” Hina said. Each interviewee had a unique more understood. documentary-making “I do think that the more we get the process for “Relive to perspective to add and after hearing the interviews, Hina and Kana changed their word out about this video in places where Remember.” “I’m really proud documentary’s structure dramatically to people need to hear these stories, it will continue to have the really poignant impact of the work they better share the different stories. “Everyone came out of the prison it’s had so far,” Lugo said. did to create this Scan the QR code below to watch documentary even camps with such a different mindset. I knew during sheltering. I couldn’t structure it the way I’d planned, “Relive to Remember” or to watch Hina Given the sensitive just because the way I’d structured it was and Kana Kojima discuss their film. topic, and the nature of so generic, and it relied on everybody’s wanting to have a very genuine interview, story being the same,” Hina said. Although it was a lot of hard work and Hina and Kana worked really hard to make connections to find great sources who time, the experience was rewarding for would speak personally on this topic and Hina. Since the film’s release on YouTube, string it together in [a] way that felt very the Kojima’s have received several comments from other people impacted by personal,” Lugo said. Although the Kojima’s did thorough the prison camps sharing their own stories. “The best part about finishing it was research before conducting interviews, they were still surprised by the things all the positive support and encouragement they learned, particularly each source’s we’ve received from strangers,” Hina said. “It was really amazing knowing how many experience in the prison camps. “A big [thing we learned] is taking the people we were able to [connect] with our time to hear out the stories of your elders, film.” asandrich@redwoodbark.org

I’m really grateful that I was able to do this because in 10, 20 years, most of the prison camp survivors won’t be with us anymore.

bark Art with a Heart brings color back to the pandemic Page 23 • Lifestyles

www.redwoodbark.org

By Sterling Lazarus “As a group, we’re all very passionate about art and it’s a big part of our lives,” junior Kacey Douglas said. “We wanted to incorporate [art] by using something that we know that we can do and that we’re good at, and then use that to benefit others.” Douglas, one of the founders of the student-run nonprofit Art with a Heart (AWH), started working with fellow junior and co-founder Natalie Oh on AWH in 2018. Through AWH, they have raised money for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by selling masks, stationery and other art. Each product is handmade by one of the associates using a range of materials from sewing machines to painting supplies. However, according to Douglas, day-to-day operations can often consist of a multitude of different projects. “We have a spreadsheet schedule and we need to [write] in what kind of tasks we need to accomplish. That can range from making a product to promoting on Instagram, but we always have something we need to do,” Douglas said. AWH originally started as an eighth grade school project to raise money for education and to combat child

Photo by Sterling Lazarus

ART WITH A Heart sells masks, stationary and art to raise money for the CDC.

marriages for Sierra Leonean girls, but was put on hiatus once the school year ended. The co-founders brought the organization back this spring to raise money for the CDC after the COVID-19 pandemic began. “When we restarted [AWH], we changed [the mission to raise money to combat] the virus. It was more relevant and we felt that we would be able to help a more local community,” Oh said. Initially, the company was only run by Oh and Douglas, however, it has since grown to include three more associates. The extra associates have helped the co-founders come up with new ideas and add new products to their line up. “Restarting [AWH], I wanted [the organization] to be a little bit more serious,” Oh said. “I asked my friends to see if they wanted to join. They’re all people I met in art class, so I knew that art and creativity was something that they were interested in.” Douglas attributes their newfound success to the fact that they began to incorporate more products, including masks, which are pertinent given the current circumstances. She explained that masks have become their biggest seller and that they even make custom ones. “We expanded our skillset and the kind of products that we make; especially with masks. We decided to do embroidery and more paintings. Before it was very niche,” Douglas said. Oh mentions there were some unforeseen challenges with working during a pandemic. Due to COVID-19, the communication has been especially difficult, and sometimes ideas get lost while speaking or texting online. “[Business has been] hard because of the distance thing and definitely coordinating meetings,” Oh said. “With more people, it’s harder to coordinate because we’re all busy.” These challenges, however, have not stopped the members of AWH from conducting business. Recently, they sold a large order of 20 masks to customer Tom Smallhorn, a Redwood parent, for a funeral service.

Photo by Sterling Lazarus

NEW ASSOCIATE ISABELLA Lombardo (left) joins co-founder Kacey Douglas (right) outdoors to make masks. “It was a small service because of social distancing and we gave one to everybody who attended the service,” Smallhorn said. “They’re beautiful masks and it was a nice way of being unified at the service.” In the future, Oh and Douglas are planning to tackle other pressing issues by using the same business framework they have now: selling art to raise money for a charitable cause. “We want to focus on a bunch of issues that are relevant to current times. After this, we might move to the Black Lives Matter movement or any other social justice issue that we want to address,” Douglas said. If you would like to purchase artwork, masks or support AWH, use the QR code found below.

slazarus@redwoodbark.org

Cookie by cookie, juniors spread hope during COVID-19 Story and Illustrations by Kate McHugh It is 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon as juniors Haley Rothbart and Bridgette Ryning box up two dozen chocolate chip cookies for the Marin County Fire Department. In September, Rothbart and Ryning opened Baking a Difference, a cookie business from their homes, with all the proceeds going to local organization Heart of the Village. Heart of the Village works to create a connection between Southern Marin and Marin City and to help people get involved in supporting both communities. More specifically, Rothbart and Ryning donate their proceeds to provide foster kids in Marin City with a place to do school work by supplying desks, chairs and reliable wifi.

“It feels really good to do something with purpose, especially with all of these weird things that are happening [right now],” Rothbart said. “Now that school has started, I realized how important in-school [learning] is. I want to make sure other kids who don’t have the opportunity can have those desks and chairs in order to have a classroom that they can be in.” Fellow community member and mother of two Redwood students, Amy Hughes, originally came up with the idea, inspiring Rothbart and Ryning to team up in creating Baking a Difference. Previously, Rothbart has worked with Hughes to give baked goods to Marin firefighters, so when

Photo courtesy of Haley Rothbart

ZIRPOLI, RYNING AND Rothbart gather at the fire station after delivering their first round of cookies

Hughes heard that Heart of the Village was looking for donations, they decided to put the two ideas together. “I just gave her the [organization] idea, but it was just a sketch of what it could be. [Haley] flushed it out, expanded it and organized it,” Hughes said. Rothbart and Ryning receive donations from community members who then specify who they want the cookies to go to, often a relative or frontline worker in Marin. Then, that donation is used to pay for the desks and chairs for the foster kids. Hughes is happy with how the idea has turned out because it directly benefits Marin City, which was one of her main goals when coming up with Baking a Difference. “I love to see high school students who want to do something and give back [to the community],” Hughes said. “I feel like we have [Marin City] right on our doorstep with all these people who need resources, and we’re very lucky to have what we have, I feel like this is something that could be a direct result and they could feel the impact.” Despite only delivering their first order a week ago, Baking a Difference has already raised $1,116. Ryning likes Heart of the Village’s mission and how it helps kids during this tough time, so she is very happy to be able to work with them. “We’re really grateful that a lot of people donated to us, [and] want to fulfill our promises, to help people and to give the baked goods,” Ryning said. Now that school has started back up,

Photo courtesy of Haley Rothbart

WAITING TO BE delivered, neatly decorated cookie boxes are ready for the firefighters. it has been harder for the team to continue baking on top of navigating online school and homework, however, Rothbart and Ryning are continuing to stick with it because they love to see how it affects their community. “My favorite thing about it is that it is not just one thing, but rather it’s helping two different aspects of our community,” Rothbart said. If you are interested in helping Baking a Difference, be sure to check out their new Instagram page @bakingadifferencemain for more information on how to donate. kmchugh@redwoodbark.org

Senior Ellen Cordisco transitions from stage to studio By Emma Lightfoot With the release of her first Extended Playlist (EP) on Sept. 19, senior Ellen Cordisco is charging headfirst into the world of professional music. Her four-song selftitled EP “Ellen Cordisco” contains a range of songs, from upbeat to somber, and is available on all music streaming platforms. Cordisco first stepped into the world of music at the age of five when she began singing and writing songs from the comfort of her bedroom. However, she only became serious about it during her freshman year when she joined Redwood’s music department. “[In Intermediate Performance Workshop (IPW)], we were writing, playing and learning about music, and I had just never been in a serious music environment before. I fell in love with it and, from that point on, I wanted to really strengthen every part of my knowledge on music,” Cordisco said. Through IPW and Advanced Performance Workshop (APW), senior Aiden Thompson, a bandmate and classmate of Cordisco, has been able to watch her advance as both a singer and person since their days in elementary school together. “I’ve seen her grow a lot as a performer and get a lot of confidence on stage, which I think is honestly half the battle when you’re performing,” Thompson said. Senior Sylvie Lodish, also a part of APW, appreciates Cordisco’s determination to improve her craft. “I think she is more driven than a lot of other students, so she actually works to improve instead of just doing her best,” Lodish said. This passion ultimately led Cordisco to release her own music. Last year, Cordisco released an original song on the online audio distribution platform SoundCloud. Her song, “Waste My Time” featured a jazzy combination of piano, drums and vocals. Despite the positive Photo courtesy of Ellen Cordisco

feedback she received after its release, Cordisco still wanted to step it up for her next EP: she felt like it was time to write more songs and extend her music to all streaming platforms, rather than just SoundCloud. To further i m p r o v e , Cordisco also explored other music programs outside of APW. Cordisco attended one of New York U n i v e r s i t y ’s (NYU) world r e k n o w n summer music production programs in 2019 to expand her expertise. Though the program did not focus on singing and vocals, Cordisco was able to receive high level training from prestigious professionals about the intricacies of music production. “It really encompassed everything I wanted to do. We wrote the music, we played it, we recorded it, we mixed it and then at the end we got to perform it,” Cordisco said. While NYU’s program helped Cordisco become more familiar with the production of EPs and all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating them, she still ran into difficulties when producing her music at home. “The hardest part for me was engineering the music because, even though I went to that program at NYU, I don’t have super strong experience mixing music. It took me a while to get into the groove of how I wanted to layer all the instruments and how loud each one should

be,” Cordisco said. Although Lodish and Thompson agreed to record the guitar instrumentals for Cordisco’s EP, they immediately ran into obstacles due to COVID-19 restrictions. Unlike the typical album recording process, the two were unable to go to a studio to play and record together. “Usually we’d sit down at Redwood because they have a really nice recording facility and Photo courtesy of Ellen Cordisco we’d sit down for a couple hours and record. It was definitely different doing it at home.” Thompson said. Cordisco’s vocal coach, Amber Morris, also played a vital role in the EP process by working on emotion and range in Cordisco’s songs. Morris has been working with Cordisco for four years and has been able to help her grow as a singer and performer. During Cordisco’s vocal training, Morris also helped her prepare for events such as college auditions, showcases and music class. The release of Cordisco’s EP has made Morris extremely proud, as she believes it has increased her confidence significantly. “I think that getting this four-song EP out has been a tremendous power move for her because everything she had to do to make it happen was on her,” Morris said. Since the release of her latest EP, Cordisco has been more inspired to pursue her music career and continue her musical journey in college. “I would definitely love to [continue producing music]. I don’t know if in this next year that’ll happen, but when I get into college, I want to study music production and songwriting,” Cordisco said. “I want to really strengthen my skills in those areas so that when I do release a [full] album, it’s really professional.”

elightfoot@redwoodbark.org