Issue 6, Volume 92

The Pepperbox

June

BOX BRIEFS June 8-10: Yearbook pickup 10AM to 2PM. Textbook returns 10AM to 2PM. Locker clean out.

June 9: Virtual Senior Awards June 11: Class of 2020 Graduation, 2PM June 11: End 2019/20 school year June 15 to 17: Textbook returns 10AM to 2PM. Locker clean out.

Want to advertise or buy a mail subscription to the Pepperbox? Email Business Manager Zane Clarke at pepperbox@nohum.k12.ca.us !

EDITORIAL STAFF

REPORTERS

Fiona Murphy Editor-in-Chief Stella Walston Managing Editor ZoĂŤ Reiss News Editor Martina Mapatis Feature Editor Jake Knoeller Sports Editor Kein Mazzotti Deputy Sports Editor Bailey Ives Life Editor Ruby Langdon A&E Editor Jack Taylor Opinion Editor Will Oviatt Photo Editor Isabel Wedll Online Editor Zane Clarke Business Manager Marisa Mendosa Art Director Zelda Geren & Lilli Bowman Social Media Isabella Kellawan, Skaidra Pulley Copy Editors

& Kamari Brown

Diego Bazan Caledonia Davey Thalia Godinez River Kiener Marisela Montoya-Tejeda Alexander Rice Levi Robbins Tommy Robinson Gabriel Sanchez Emilio Silveira Tyler Vizenor Natasha Youravish Kelsey Atkinson-Hatch Miles Rodelander

The Pepperbox would like to thank Western Web, based in Samoa, for printing at-cost. Western Web supports student journalism throughout Humboldt County and has made publications like the Pepperbox possible for decades. We appreciate their dedication to Western Web keeping print media alive.

IN THE BOX BSU Seaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 BSU Speaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 2019/20 Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Bromance Update. . . . . . . . . . . 8 Retirees/Val&Sal. . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Quarantine Lessons . . . . . . . . . 10 Senior Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Senior Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Questions regarding editorial content of the Pepperbox should be directed toward its editors. Opinions expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of Arcata High School.

Adviser Danielle Witten

Editor’s Box Fiona Murphy

I

Editor-in-Chief

have started this in my head a thousand times. I don’t know how to capture the beauty and pain of babying this paper for the past three years. I don’t know how to convey what I have felt, the smell of the press, the fear gnawing at my stomach and the pride bubbling to my brain. Most of all, I don’t know how to say goodbye.

Pepperbox has been a burden and a joy. This year I wrapped myself in the pages and at some points, lost myself in them. I have a habit of throwing myself too far into what I love, such as spending 20 hours a week writing and editing.

There were times when I felt as though I was drowning in ink and there was no one to pull me out. My love for the paper overwhelmed my own sanity and health. I can still feel the ache in my neck that formed when I let my fear and stress overtake me.

I often forgot that I needed to let myself breathe. I took photos for AIBT with a fever, frantically scribbling score notes on Post-Its between photos.

When I write about the pain this paper caused me, it is too easy to erase why I did it. It’s true that I have regrets. I should have been more forgiving of myself and more trusting of others. I should have relinquished some control.

But I would never change my decision to walk into that classroom the first day of sophomore year.

There is too much suffering in our world, and for the most part, I feel utterly powerless. But sometimes, I get to help someone. Journalists often say they give voice to others. That is wrong. People already have voices, journalists just help to elevate them, they pass the microphone. The joy I get from Pepperbox is in helping others’ voices. It is in giving people a place

to express their pain and sorrow and laughter and exhilaration.

As the editor, my focus was on others’ voices. I learned that I am not a great writer, I mean, look at this article. My job was to guide the staff to stories they wanted to write and then help to make those stories better. I spent hours reading over articles and adding questions and advice, and trying to piece together what the hell Jack was trying to write without any punctuation (and it paid off, he got second for his Garrett profile). I sat with students who really didn’t want to write (I can’t really fault them) and we plotted out goals and interests and plans to get them published.

This year, each staff member was published at least once.

Not only that, but Pepperbox as a whole and several staff members won awards or were recognized by the Journalism Education Association of Northern California. (For some perspective, that includes the Bay Area and one of the papers we were competing with has its own building.)

I was far from perfect in my efforts to get other people to write, sometimes I pushed too hard and was a little too harsh. But sometimes, someone would see their article in print and their face would light up. That is what makes it worth it.

But, Pepperbox is about more than the writing. It is about the stories people tell. It is about the late night moments and fonts and the conversations that range from light to deep and deeper. I’ve learned infinite lessons in that class. More than any other class taught me.

One last thing before my tearful goodbye. As we should all know, protests against police brutality are sweeping the nation. I am not going to write about the institutionalized racism and brutality, as the

Continued on page 4.

We have a website! Go to thepepperbox.com for breakInterested Follow ing news and in writing more exciting us on for Pepperbox? content! contact the editor.

Instagram! fmurphy@no@ahspephum.k12.ca.us

perbox

Danielle Witten/PEPPERBOX

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The Pepperbox | Page 4

Class of 2020 next couple pages have much more informed and better articles than I could ever write. Besides reading articles by our BSU members, I recommend readings such as “White Fragility”, “The New Jim Crow” and “Between the World and Me”.

What I will write about is the journalists who are targeted by police during protests. Journalists have certain protection. We are allowed to be places other people are not. I don’t believe the police attacks on any protesters are acceptable. However, when police arrest and attack reporters when they are clearly marked and announced as press it points to a very dark truth.

Over the past four years, the president and his supporters have sewed distrust and hate for the media. That is dangerous. Reporters are the reason history books are made. They are the people who have the resources to draw attention to crises and the training to find the truth. Media is not always perfect. We cover things the wrong way, we let bias affect stories, and we make human mistakes with huge consequences. But if the press disappears, so does democracy.

Now back to me. This was not how I pictured my year as editor of Pepperbox. This isn’t how any of us pictured saying goodbye. I never thought my last months would be spent alone in my room publishing online instead of in print. I thought I had more time to teach next year's editor and to say goodbye to the most influential part of the last three years. I thought I would have more Saturdays to spend in the classroom laughing over cookies and covers and crying when the computers crash once again. I didn’t think the last time I got to pick up the paper and breathe in the sweet paper scent of fresh issues would be in a mask, alone.

I imagined driving with next year’s editor, showing her the almost invisible turn to Western

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020 Web and where to find the gate that’s always open. I imagined seeing the vibrant colors and silently thumbing through the paper for whatever mistakes we missed, staining our hands with ink. I imagined unloading my car one last time and watching as stacks are delivered to classrooms. I imagined getting to hug our adviser goodbye and thanking her for changing my life. I imagined passing on my title, the tears on my cheeks from pride and the exhilarating sadness of moving on. But imagination is so often far from the reality of things.

We are allowed to be sad and have regrets and wishes.

But this isn’t the beginning and end of our lives.

This year, none of us get to say goodbye the way we imagined.

Instead, we will remember March 13th as the day we left without knowing we wouldn’t come back.

We will be known as the class of Corona, stuck in a limbo between the freedom of adulthood and the lack of closure. I won’t try to fill your heads with promises or encouragements, because I know they are empty platitudes. What I will say is that it hurts and we are allowed to be angry and we are allowed to be sad and have regrets and wishes. But this isn’t the beginning and end of our lives.

Our lives are not bus rides and we didn’t miss our stop. Remember your anger, your fear, and your heartbreak. Remember how quickly plans can change. Remember your regrets.

And if there’s one thing that can make this better, remember that no one can say you haven’t been through some shit.

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

The Pepperbox | Page 5

Class of 2020

Speaks out: Nishyra Aaron-Williams, BSU

I

have said many times, “the news isn’t even the news anymore.” We’ve seen police brutality on the news for years and years. Black people are constantly mistreated, and for what?

It just doesn’t make any sense. If the police are supposed to “protect and serve,” then why are innocent people beaten and murdered? Why are the peaceful protests suddenly violent when cops and undercover cops get involved? People shouldn’t be hunted down by police, in fear of being killed because of the color of their skin. The police shouldn’t be getting away with this and there is no excuse for killing an innocent person. We need to use our voice to speak up and be an advocate for what is right. Not only when it’s trending on social media, but when we see something inhumane happening. We shouldn’t be judged and treated a certain way because of our ethnic background.

People should all be treated equally and be judged by their actions and the way they treat others.

Protests took place all around the US for the justice of George Floyd. When I heard about the first protest in Eureka, I couldn’t go because I had work. However, I saw videos of what went down. There were a lot of people protesting and blocking the roads. I saw a video of a protester getting hit by a car, the person driving just sped away. It made me sick to my stomach.

The next day, my friend and I went to the second protest in Eureka. We showed up at night. At one point, the police stopped the protest and told everyone that this will remain peaceful, but they were going to arrest certain people for vandalizing. People tried to stop them from arresting anybody then the police started to get violent.

Protesters were shot with “less than lethal” rounds. My friend and I started to head back to her car after this started to happen. So many

cop cars and highway patrol cars were driving past us. We were so anxious driving back to Arcata. I will never forget that night, I began to view Humboldt a lot differently.

People on social media called local protesters a variety of disgusting and hurtful names and were even making threats to shoot them. It was scary knowing that others would say such crazy things to people who just want the world to be a better place for everyone.

Being a Black girl at a predominately white school was pretty tough. Since I was in preschool, other kids would make fun of my naturally frizzy and textured hair.

My freshman year, someone told me that I was “a disgrace to the African American community” because I’m not “slim thick.” Guys would talk about how “exotic” and “different” I was. Some had made the impression that they were al-

most ashamed of associating with me.

My personal space was constantly invaded by people touching and pulling my hair. I’ve always been told not to act a certain way and express how I feel because I’d be “feeding into the stereotypes.”

A lot of these comments were made when the Trump Rally took place the same day as the BSU’s Black History Month assembly.

Students have called me racial slurs at school. Most of them were loud enough for other people to hear, and no one did anything. I’ve told the admin about it but nobody did anything. It encouraged this type of behavior to continue. I always felt like I had to act a certain way to be accepted and to even feel like I was included at school. It had a very negative impact on my self esteem. I wasn’t the only Black student that felt this way either.

The Black Lives Matter move-

ment isn’t just a hashtag and it’s more than a trendy topic to talk about on Instagram and Snapchat.

Black Lives Matter goes against racism and violence to African Americans.

Racism has been around for years and it will still continue if we don’t help make a change. Yes, you do bring more attention to racism in America. However, there are more helpful ways to bring attention to the issue. Human beings are facing tremendous amounts of violence for who they are. As a country, we need to do better. You can donate to organizations and campaigns for equity for BIPOC. You can take the time to do research and educate yourself about the racism and injustice in America. You can even support Eureka’s NAACP. Hate is ugly, and racism is ugly. We all deserve equal rights and equal amounts of love and acceptance.

Community members protests at Arcata City Hall for Black Lives Matter.

Fiona Murphy/PEPPERBOX

The Pepperbox | Page 6

Class of 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

Speaks out: Jackie Garcia, BSU

T

he protests being held all over the country and world are incredible to me, seeing the millions of people supporting the Black Lives Matter movement is extraordinary. But even after protests aren’t being held, after the #BLACKLIVESMATTER isn’t trending anymore, when everything is back to “normal” for you, don’t stop helping, donating, educating others or yourself. There is still work that needs to be done.

We all know why these protests are happening, POC, especially Black people, don’t want to live in fear of being just “another case” to police officers, and to the system.

Don’t ignore it, use your voice!

During a time like this we need support from our allies. I know you all see that even when we’re being peaceful, we’re still not being heard. I also know some of you don’t like being told you’re privileged, but you are. It is not just because of the color of your skin, but it’s the way you use that privilege that shows your true colors.

“But nothing bad happens in Humboldt!” Yes actually, sadly a lot of ignorant and racist things happen here too. I know there are some people for example who have friends that just love to say the n-word, some may have friends

that like to act “hood” and act Black. Speak up!

Like come on, we live in Humboldt, this place is very white!! If you say “Black Lives Matter!” Say it with your fucking chest, say it with your heart, say it and mean it.

Don’t be afraid to say something, don’t be afraid to educate them on why they should never say that word again.

These protests aren’t pointless.

For someone to say and think that is basically saying that my life and my people's lives are pointless. I don’t think I’m here for no reason, I am here to fight for Black lives, for equality, and for change in our

system, in the country. Also, please remember to surround yourselves with love. I know with everything going on people are trying to stay updated on the protests, comments from others, etc. That’s good, but this shouldn’t be the only thing you’re consuming 24/7.

Spread love, help one another, be part of this movement to help change the country for the better, but take care of yourself too. We’re not asking for anything crazy, we want peace, justice, and safety, that’s only something’s from a long list that we should’ve already had.

Remember all lives don’t matter until Black Lives do!

Class of 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

Marisa Mendosa/PEPPERBOX

The Pepperbox | Page 7

The Pepperbox | Page 8

Class of 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

An update on the AHS Bromance Isabel S. Wedll Online Editor

D

uring these difficult times, a lightness is needed. The lightness is the now-famous Arcata High bromance between social science teachers Mr. Pinkerton, Mr. Moore, and Mr. Mielke. To better the vibe, here’s an update on the bros during the great coronavirus quarantine. So, how has quarantine affected their lives?

“It has changed how I plan my lessons and assignments.

It's strange being at home all the time while trying to keep things normal with work,” Pinkerton said. “'Virtual', the term frequently attached to on-line anything, indicates something which is not real,” Moore explained. “That is where we find ourselves at present, in a surreal cyber world attempting to mimic life. We are all doing our best, I daresay, but like Diet Coke, I prefer the real thing.”

“I have been coordinating with Mr. Moore on lesson plans so that we are staying together for our sophomores. Dragging Mr. Moore along in the technology department is something that has been different for me,” Mielke said.

Mielke also mentioned that Before COVID, or as he stated (BC), he was not able to partake in many activities that are now a part of his daily routine, such as a workout every morning, learning how to play the piano, and many other

things.

For many, this quarantine has shown us who are our true friends, what friendships can withstand not seeing each other for weeks on end. Is this bromance strong enough to withstand the hardships of social-distancing?

“We see each other weekly over online meetings and Mr. Moore even ‘accidentally’ drove by my house and we talked IRL,” Mielke wrote, “Mr. Pinkerton and I text regularly but Mr. Moore doesn't want people to access him that easily. *Gestures wildly in Italian*” Meanwhile, Pinkerton said, “It's going to take something stronger than a pandemic to break our bromance (such as Mr. Moore refusing to be our guide in Italy).” *Cough Cough* Mr. Moore you should really be the boys’ guide in Italy, you can flex your great knowledge on your former home.

Moore kept it professional by writing, “Any relationships, professional or otherwise, which can look upon the Corona tempest and not be shaken will have shown themselves to be worthwhile.”

But is ‘broing’ out still occurring, has it now adapted to ‘broing’ out virtually?

“Of course but not in person,” Pinkerton said.

“I ‘bro’ out daily,” Mielke wrote.

“I do not recognize the verb 'to bro', and so cannot answer this question,” Moore stated.

The Pinkerton and Mielke families now have been blessed with more dad time as quarantine started.

Some of Pinkerton’s favorite quarantine activities include, “Going on walks and bike rides with my family, reading books, and watching movies.”

“Santa brought my kids a trampoline for Christmas and we have been spending a lot of time on that, I am maintaining a garden, and I have been golfing a little bit,” Mielke wrote. “Mostly I have been working to maintain an engaging learning module for my students. I miss (most of) my students.”

Whereas Mr. Moore, “[Spent] a week turkey hunting and am currently a volume-and-a-half into Winston Churchill's Nobel prize-winning history of The Second World War, so at least two of my life-long hobbies are flourishing.”

Even with the infinite amounts of free time, many of us HATE quarantine even though it is necessary. Even the famous bros are not immune.

Pinkerton stated that he hates, “Being away from my students and coworkers.”

“Hating things requires too much energy which I prefer to dedicate to other things and people. To quote Jimmy Cliff ‘Love is my foundation’ Moore wrote.

But Mielke seems to be taking social-distancing and quarantine the hardest.

“I am an extrovert, social interaction is kinda my thing, I hate not being able to gather. I miss the handshake routine, I hate that students can't come to me for help. I hate how politicized this whole

thing has become,” he wrote.

When preparing for this virtual-email-interview I was informed of some gossip or ‘tea’, which of course as a journalist I had to find out if it was true. The rumor being, Mr. Moore almost hit Mielke with his car when they were social-distancing. “'Tis true. Flushed with envy at his superior teaching and professionalism, I thought bumping him off might improve my position vis-a-vis intra-departmental competition,” Moore wrote. “However, being a history teacher I have ingrained a belief in law-and-order deep in my subconscious, which held my foot off the accelerator.”

“Mr. Moore is new to the whole driving thing and was practicing driving in my neighborhood, he saw me and practically ‘Forrest Gump-ed’ out of his car when he saw me,” Mielke stated.

For those wondering what “Forrest Gump-ed” is, it’s the scene when Forrest jumps out of his shrimp boat because Lieutenant Dan was on the dock.

Finally, for our great class of 2020, the history bros have some words for you.

“Hard work, honesty, and kindness will take you far in this world,” Pinkerton noted.

“Life is now. Do not wait for it to happen and remember that Destiny doesn't love planners,” Moore warned. “ [The] ability to motivate oneself is going to be a key skill moving forward in their lives,” Mielke concluded.

Isabel S. Wedll/PEPPERBOX

The Pepperbox | Page 9

Class of 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

2020 Retirees J&J are val&sal Zoë Reiss

Fiona Murphy

News Editor

Editor-in-Chief

Earl Peters

Allen Schmidt

A

fter years of coaching and teaching at Arcata High, Allen Schmidt is retiring. After graduating from Arcata High in 1982, Schmidt coached the football team in 1985, kicking off his long term career as a teacher in physical education, health, math and more.

A true Arcata High veteran, his favorite memories as a student and teacher are the classic high school events, or as he explained it “the fun stuff!” He loved homecoming weeks, graduations and the high school traditions that accompany the last days of school.

Schmidt became a teacher after working as a coach for numerous Arcata sports teams. After those years of coaching, teaching seemed like a good next step.

“I really liked the idea that teachers have a lot of autonomy.

Teachers have a lot of choices in what they decide their classroom is going to look like on a daily basis and how they are going to deliver their curriculum,” he explained.

Retiring this year is, of course, strange. Schmidt served as a class adviser for the class of 2020 and expressed sympathy with their experience.

“It was my honor to serve as a class advisor to the class of 2020. I wish all the seniors joy, happiness and good health,” he said.

Schmidt has long been a familiar face around campus. It is hard to go through four years without knowing who he is, whether as a coach or a teacher. Despite his retirement, he is still a part of the Arcata High family.

“Having been a student, coach and teacher at Arcata High, I consider myself a ‘Tiger for Life’,” he said.

W

hether it be for Chemistry or AP Biology, the majority of students who have walked the Arcata High halls have had Earl Peters as a teacher. Peters has been a teacher at Arcata High for 29 years. Peters has always taught with enthusiasm that was able to capture the attention of even the most withdrawn students.

His favorite memories “mostly involve making students laugh when I improvised something. For example, a couple of years ago, some students had a disagreement about Scooby-doo, and, well, I do a pretty good Scooby-doo voice.”

Peters’s charisma and jokes always made class interesting and amusing - even at 8 am. Another landmark of either AP Bio or Chemistry which Peters usually teaches are the entertaining and memorable labs.

“Lab activities, while they are time-consuming to set up, are what I'll miss most because that's when I would be able to talk with students individually as they were doing something interesting and potentially dangerous,” he said.

Those who have been in his classes will most likely remember launching dry ice rockets, creating glowing bacteria and, of course, the infamous tie-dying that occurs towards the end of the school year every year. Peters is also famous school-wide for his guitar playing in all teacher band “Juju and the Plague”. His plans for his retirement include this musical hobby.

“When I retire, first I'll try to get back into better shape physically and mentally. I'm also going to record music again, garden, and travel,” he said.

We will miss him.

Jason Tuermer-Lee Valedictorian

Q: What are your favorite AHS memories?

A: I think that my favorite AHS memories were mostly during my junior year playing varsity basketball. The practices, the van rides to and from games, the tournaments out of town, the team dinners, and the games were all some of my favorite times at AHS. The friendship I felt from that team was as fulfilling to me as any other experience at Arcata High. That, and meeting my girlfriend Q. Q: Who was your favorite teacher? Why? A: I've had lots of great teachers, but I have to pick Mr. Peters, because of his dry humor and deep understanding of biology. AP Bio with Mr. Peters was my favorite class at AHS (but also the hardest, in my opinion).

Q: What are your thoughts graduating during corona?

A: It is what it is. It's not the end to our high school careers we wished for but I'm grateful that I'm healthy and safe. Things could be a lot worse. That said, I'm sad that my class won't have memories together at Safe & Sober, senior prom, Buff Stuff / Powderpuff, ditch day, senior trip, etc.

Q: What advice do you have to underclassmen?

A: Be humble, respect your upperclassmen, don’t act like you know everything. Be yourself. Surround yourself with people that help you grow. Give back to your community.

Q: What are your plans for next year?

A: I'm going to be attending UC San Diego and majoring in Chemical Engineering. I'm hoping to get some research experience within sustainable energy, infectious diseases, genetic engineering, or something else.

Jocelyn Bliven Salutatorian

Q: What has been your biggest challenge?

A: My biggest challenge over the past four years has been my health. I attended less than two thirds of freshman year. I have some chronic conditions I was still learning how to manage. The process to become healthy has been long and hard but, however cheesy it sounds, it has truly made me the person I am today.

Q: What advice would you give to underclassmen?

A: The advice I got as an eighth grader was to get involved in high school and that was the best advice I got, so my advice to underclassmen is the same: get involved.

However you want in whatever capacity but go and do something.

Q: What is something you learned in high school that you’ll use the rest of your life?

A: People make the experience.

The classes that were my favorite were the ones with the coolest people. The most fulfilling work I did with clubs was with other people. The best teams are the ones that have special bonds between teammates. My favorite memories are with my favorite people.

Q: What are you most proud of?

A: I think I am most proud of the fact that I tried really hard at everything I did in high school, whether it was school or sports or clubs or friends. By the end of high school I think my hard work has paid off. I got good grades. I had success and lots of fun playing sports. I feel like I did good things in my clubs. And I made wonderful friendships that I will have for the rest of my life.

Jocelyn will be taking a gap year before attending Williams College in Massachusets. She hopes to travel once it is safe.

The Pepperbox | Page 10

Class of 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

What are Martina Mapatis

M

Feature Editor

aybe it’s you, maybe it’s your mom’s ambitious Facebook friend, but those of us who haven’t limited their only activities to watching Netflix and not doing homework (sorry mom) are taking advantage of their free time by bettering themselves and learning new skills. Among those outgoing people are three AHS juniors.

Alexus Roberts: I almost guarantee you’ve seen Alexus showing off her uniquely styled outfits and upcycled clothes around campus. She’s a pioneer of artsy, vibrant, yet punk rocker style.

“I use clothes to express myself and stand out from other people,” she said.

Thrifting unique pieces is usually Roberts’ go to, but thanks to this shelter-in-place, thrift stores have been closed. However, this time of isolation isn’t going to stop someone as creative as herself. She’s been furthering her knowledge of sewing by deconstructing her clothes and then sewing them back together in an inventive way.

“I have always kinda hand sewed and altered a couple of things here and there but during the first week of quarantine I was able to get my sewing machine working and have been making pieces completely from scratch,” she explained.

Since she’s started, Roberts has produced 6 pieces with more in the making. This break has given Roberts an opportunity to experiment with diverse patterns, design her own clothes, and cool clothes to wear after quarantine is over.

“Even when life goes back to normal I’ll still be stylin’ some new threads,” she said.

Carly Lankarani: While others are learning physical skills, Carly Lankarani has been dedicating her time to verbal learning. Besides already taking French class with Madame, she’s also decided to take on Spanish. Being half Mexican, Lankarani wants to feel more in touch with that side of her culture.

“My family didn’t teach it to me when I was growing up so I just decided hey now is the time to do it,” she said.

Without any in-person teaching, she’s been finding ways to learn such as the well-known language app Duolingo. She takes it easy, only spending about 15-30 minutes a day. Learning a language can be hard to distinguish from homework and may take more discipline than sewing or embriodery.

To ease some of the stress, she finds ways to incorporate Spanish into her life like watching Spanish movies and TV shows. Lankarani hopes to come out of quarantine ready to take the seal of biliteracy for both Spanish and French and with the ability to communicate with more of her family.

Alexus Roberts’ fantastic threads.

The Pepperbox | Page 11 Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

Class of 2020

we learning?

Meiwan Gottschalk:

Embroidery has been around for thousands of years, and during this time of isolation, it’s made a comeback. Several Arcata High students have used embroidery as a creative way to spice up their favorite clothing items in the past, and now you can add “to pass the time” to that reasoning. Meiwan Gottschalk is doing just that. After consistently having too much time on her hands, Gottschalk became inspired to learn the aged activity.

“My mom has done embroidery since she was a kid and I always thought it looked fun,” she said.

It was easy enough for her to find embroidery floss and a needle, so all she needed to do was look up the good ol’ classic YouTube tutorial and occasionally receive some guidance from her mom. So far she’s embroidered some flowery designs on her clothes, her favorite being a patch on a jean pocket. When it comes to continuing the art after quarantine, she says she’ll “embroider here and there as a craft when I’m bored or to spice up my clothing.”

This shelter-in-place has been tough on quite a few of us, and a lot of people have found comfort in keeping themselves busy while expanding their understanding of an art. If you’ve been finding yourself having nothing to do or losing value in the amount of time you have to do things, go online, look up some articles, check out YouTube videos, and find something that is inspiring and motivating.

We’re high schoolers, we learn things all the time in our classes. A lot of kids found it in the extracurriculars that aren’t fully available to us anymore, but I think sometimes we forget the joy of learning things that we are truly interested in. So the next time your mind comes across the tiniest bit of motivation, look for that thing or skill or activity, and proudly come out of quarantine with a new passion for learning.

Carly Lankarani shows off her Duolingo practice.

Meiwan Gottschalk’s new embriodery skills.

The Pepperbox | Page 12

Class of 2020

The Class of 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020 Photos courtesey of those pictured

In their own words

Eva Villamor 2am cereal breakfasts and 8 page papers, fridge light lighting and snoring dads. Burning incense, finally cooking, and staring out windows… These are just a few little things most of us are facing right now. Along with facing life’s general, harsh realities, we have a pandemic to keep us home, trapped, and for most of us, with our families.

Family-phobia has now taken us. It seems we are practically immune to surprises at this point.

But, surprise! This time of year, for us seniors, is supposed to be the best, for we are supposed to celebrate our undergoing of our own

metamorphoses: adolescence to adulthood. High School is coming to an end. We had 4 years, what a surprise, it’s the end of an era, and our childhoods.

Netflix is our favorite teacher now. RENT wasn’t paid this year.

The AAI music scene is cut short as well. No recordings, no performances, no parties, or yearbook signing. As if technology wasn’t already consuming us, screens have now completely taken over. They are our schools, for some our families, and they even seem to be our very lives. The days go by, every day like the last, it’s Groundhog day once again. Senior rites of passages are being replaced with slow motion this year. Where is our closure? Prom for us is being blasted through our earbuds and speakers, and there’s too much room for Jesus between us. With distance of six feet apart or more, we are deprived of our senior year farewells and expectations. They’ve been thrown out the window into our quarantined houses and cars. Our senior class doesn’t --we-- don’t get a normal graduation ceremony, unlike those previous and those not yet born. And to those of us who chose our senior year to thrive with positive and cre-

Ben Aldag Senior year was, well, interesting. The first few months were pretty nice, because everything is very easygoing and I wasn’t taking any super difficult classes. Once you get past the introductory period of senior year, I realized that all I was going to think about for the next 6 months or so was college.

I got hit with roughly 10 emails per day from various colleges that I had never heard of about how

ative juices, time is not on our side.

But we will have future chances at flourishing. Our muses will not cease, and art and music will keep us sane through these times of the unknown.

Senior year normalities don’t exist this year. But guess what--we will be just fine. Though the troubles we share, and do not share, are all valid, we must remember that. We can wish we had our senior moments, but there will be other moments too. We will soon realize that bigger things await us and this will all bring forth more perspective.

It is an understatement to say this year has thrown some unexpected curve balls our way. But, life is always throwing things at us, and we will learn to dodge the ones we can and accept the ones we miss or can’t quite grasp. It may feel like everything is on hold right now, and it may seem like a big deal to not get the closure expected of us, but life has just started for us. Quarantine will not define us…

There is so much more past and beyond high school--we the class of 2020 will remember these days of insanity and anxiety and we will say “we FUCKING got through it! And we made it!” their college was better than all the other ones. You will never feel more wanted again in your life once you start getting emails from colleges about how cool they are.

Senior year was also about getting more sleep than I had in every other year of high school. I dropped out of the orchestra, which allowed me to get up an hour later.

I also got to go home an hour earlier, because I also dropped AAI. For someone who is known at the school for being a musician, I sure didn’t look like it. To fill that gap in my life, I put together a band and

Talula

Peterman

I feel like we were robbed of the best time of our entire school experience and I’m sad about that part.

But at the same time I feel like we’re all growing together and bonding even more! I miss the homies for sure but know we’ll all party like crazy when we can again! Love you all. was having a lot of fun with it until the shutdown.

To me, senior year meant that it was time to move on from this part of my life, some of which was lots of fun (hanging out with my friends and performing in many music groups), and some of which I hated (see “Freshman Year” for reference). And honestly, I’m glad that I have the opportunity to move on.

I’ve been restless for most of this year, and I feel as though I need a change of scenery, which I’m very excited about getting next year at San Jose State.

The Pepperbox | Page 13 Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

Class of 2020

Hannah Davis

Cecilia Ammon

Everything you’ve worked for your entire life, the start of your future, your rite of passage into adulthood: canceled. That’s what it's like being a senior in high school right now. I will say it’s nice to have the chance and time to root back into myself before I go embark on this journey of adulthood, but I only have the ability to say that because I'm fortunate enough to have a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I feel silly complaining because everyone is facing hardships and experiencing loss right now. That being said, it still sucks to have no closure of your entire childhood and the freedom of your early adult life postponed.

Every year Spring hits with a guarantee of sunshine vibes brought in by the Senior class.

With college commitments and graduation in sight all that’s left for us is to reminisce over the last four years and coast into summer.

And while quarantine isn’t exactly the conventional transition we’d wished for, it’s hard to really complain when my schedule has opened up so much. Warm weather and Senioritis had squashed any motivation and the stay at home order seems like a small price to pay for not having to be in a classroom five days a week. No penalties for sleeping in or taking a day off to go to the river make it feel like vacation has started early and the flexibility of my schedule has made it easier to enjoy all of the things that I love and will miss about being home. I can spend my time diving into projects, allowing me to be more creative than ever with drawing, baking, beading, and making TikToks. Quarantine has also meant that some of my favorite people are home and, while it sucks that they can’t be where

This year has been one of the greatest and worst of my life. From power shutdowns, to world pandemics. From the closure of friendships to the building of new ones.

From mental breakdowns to building myself into a much stronger person than I was last year. And through it all, my senior class was right there with me. We banded together with blankets and hot coffee when the heaters at school stopped working. We stood together with passion and courage when we felt our voices were going unheard and decided to protest. We held each other through the passings of fellow classmates, through some of the hardest times of our lives, and now we don’t even get to say goodbye.

To the Arcata High Class of

2020 -- thank you. Thank you for picking me up when I was down, holding me when I felt alone, making me smile, cry with happiness, laugh till I couldn’t breathe.

I wanted to be able to say all of these words to each and every one of you, after we walked across that stage together, just as we have gone through these past four years together. We have gone through so much together and we deserve to end this chapter together. I love you all so much, and will forever be grateful for the experiences you have provided me with. I hope each and every one of you take this next chapter of adulthood in your hands and make the absolute best of it. You all deserve every ounce of success in this world. Thank you.

they’re supposed to, I’m glad that I can do all of the Senior things™ with my best friend. The uncertainty of what the future holds seems only natural at this point and I’m sure I’m not the only one debating whether to hype myself up for online classes or wait it out with a gap year. What I do know is that whatever I end up doing will be a heck of a lot more interesting than high school and I could not be more excited to see what’s next.

Lilli Bowman

Caledonia Davey

During this pandemic, the most difficult part is maintaining a stable mental state. Without school being something that kept me in a daily schedule I have lost the majority of my motivation. Learning online has presented itself much more difficult then I presumed.

With loads of free time I try to stay active and eat healthy which works out for a couple days and I eventually fall back into a hole where I comfort myself with food and movies. Not saying that is the worst thing ever but it doesn't make you feel very good about myself and how I am spending my time. I also have been struggling more about my appearance and it almost seems that's on my mind more than anything else.

Books have become a godsend to me during all of this. Before I wouldn't be able to read as much because I was so busy but now I have all the time to just sit and read a great book. I forgot how much I loved reading and I'm very grateful for this time to let me just read.

The one thing that makes this pandemic so hard for me, I think all of us, is its uncertainty. It seems to be changing everyday and who knows where life will be in a month let alone three months when college was supposed to be arriving. I just hope everyone is doing well during this very surreal time.

The Pepperbox | Page 16

Class of 2020

Photos courtesey of the respective designers

Flow 2020

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

Ruby Langdon

T

A&E Editor

he Arcata Arts Institute’s fashion showcase was unfortunately cancelled this year. Students design and create pieces over the year that they get the chance to display. Some designers completed and shared their work online this year. Though we couldn’t get work from everyone, here’s some lovely pieces from some of this year’s creators. We wish we could’ve seen them on a runway instead but being able to share the artistry in this way is good in its own way.

Above: A design from Ruby Langdon’s Flow line. Her fabric came from Daisy Drygoods, but her looks were modern so she went for “sexy old lady” style.

This was Langdon’s first time designing but since then she has started to make skirts for herself with the same pattern.

Right: Two designs from Simone Haggerty’s line. The entire line was inspired by self expression.

Two looks from Lizzy Heidrick’s The one above was meant to be “Magical Girl” line. Based in the final piece so she wanted it sustainability, she used 100% “bold.” The skirt on the bottom sustainably sourced materials. photo has faces embroidered to She was influenced by “Japa“represent community and how nese anime and street fashion the people areound us can inand Wiccan culture.” spire us.”

Above: Three looks from Tia Franklin’s line. Top is Raver Perez in a button down. Middle is Franklin in a dress. Bottom is Emma Fechner in a top and jeans with patches. Franklin’s inspiration was modern ‘80s.

“Pandemic” theme The Pepperfaux | Page 11

Fashion icon Jocelyn Bliven graced us with a blue gown. She explained that her choice was very symbolic in nature.

“The blue is like water which people need to drink so it’s like life which is the opposite of a pandemic,” she said.

A renaissance woman.

Talula Peterman used her signature overalls in this year’s look. She chose a nice beige because “I liked it.” Her most noticeable accessory was a pink birthday crown. She wore it “to show solidarity with all the kids who had birthdays in quaratine.”

Faux(Not News)

Elizabeth SloanRouse pulled a Lady Gaga this year, switching looks on the runway. She went from a business casual (top) perfect for your Zoom classes to a casual casual emblematic of the “shelter in place vibes,” she explained.

The second look paired perfectly with the first, keeping the blue theme from tops to shoes.

Fiona Murphy focused her look on the coping mechanism side of a pandemic. In a controversial move, she brought sourdough bread and pesto cheese rolls to the event. The look itself was designed

by Pepperbox. The sweatshirt was actually a reuse from three years ago, which sparked a wave of criticism and praise.

Probably some time in June?

Probably some time in June?

Senior prom2020

Zuzu Longstreth and Lizzy Heidrick wore a paired look this year. Both gravitated towards satin. While the pairing is subtle, it was done in a very talented manner. Each wore a corsage matching the other’s dress.

While they did not fully fit the theme for this year, their looks were loved by many and were hands down gorgeous.

The Pepperfaux | Page 10

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Photos courtesy of those pictured

Zoë Reiss embraced the glam side of the “Pandemic” theme.

She paired a mask designed by the Reiss family with a matching gown. Her choice to forgo shoes was a “statement on the fact that many people aren’t wearing shoes because they are inside all day, also shoes kinda suck,” she said.

Cecilia Ammon rocked the runway in satin coture gown. Despite being slightly off the “Pandemic” theme, the satin proved to be quite popular this year.

We tried to put her on the cover, but her legs were just too long. Cecilia is about 5 foot 4 inches.

The Pepperfaux | Page 9

17-22 year olds stop existing Fiona Murphy

Disgruntled 18 year old

T

he United States government, in a shocking move, has decided that anyone between the ages of 17 to 22 who is counted as a dependent on their parent taxes does not exist anymore. When sending out stimulus checks, dependents of those ages simply ceased to exist.

“I just refuse to accept the existence of these so-called ‘people’. I don’t think they exist and even if they did, they don’t cost their parents any money,” President Donald Trump said.

The people in this age group were, at first, shocked by the sudden realization that they don’t exist or contribute to the economy.

However, many soon accepted it.

“You know, I contemplate my existence a lot, but now, knowing I don’t exist is really comforting,” said senior and 17 year old Jocelyn Bliven.

Most 17-22 year olds are either in college or about to be in college.

Usually, they would be contributing thousands of dollars each to the economy because they are paying for tuition and housing. For many students, the cost also falls on the shoulders of their parents.

However, since the government decided that they do not exist, students are rejoicing in the fact that they won’t have to pay thousands

Faux (Not News)

of dollars for a concrete room and online classes.

While they may not really exist, the people in question are still physically present in the United States. It must be noted that the United States was the only country where they ceased to exist. 17 to 22 year olds can still be seen around and do still eat and sleep.

Their lack of existence seems to only fall within the purview of money and the government. Because of this, many 17 to 22 year olds have embraced the perks that come with a half existence.

“It’s amazing. I don’t have to pay taxes or really pay for anything anymore,” one 20 year old said. “I think my favorite part is that since I don’t exist to the government, I can’t get arrested for breaking the government’s laws.”

There has been an increase in crime now that the government doesn’t recognize 17 to 22 year olds. However, they are no longer crimes when they are committed by people who don’t exist. Tax fraud and larceny are now popular pastimes among the nonexistent.

The more adventurous among them have started to explore revolution and arson as well.

While these changes in existence rocked the nation at first, people who both currently and formerly exist are quickly adapting. It is unclear whether aging out of or into the aforementioned age group will change existence, but people are ready to see what happens.

Iris Mahony-Moyer/PEPPERBOX

An 18 year old is blurry in a photo due to lack of existence.

Probably some time in June?

Witten’s gulag uncovered Jack Taylor

A

Patriot

t the Pepperbox, nothing is more important to us than our civil liberties as Americans. The right to a free press is one of the most essential parts of modern democracy, and we fight to uphold it.

With that in mind, the Pepperbox takes any attempt to take away our civil liberties as unconstitutional and dangerous.

Earlier this year, Pepperbox reporters obtained a secret letter.

From an anonymous hero came a cry for freedom. In this letter, ungodly details were unearthed. The part in question was the allegations that English teacher (and as Pepperbox advisor) Danielle Witten’s class was in fact, a “Gulag”.

With this on our mind, the intrepid reporters of the Pepperbox could not help but wonder what horrors lay inside of Witten’s class.

Would there be statues of Stalin?

Karl Marx posters on the walls?

Mandatory readings of The Communist Manifesto? Daily singing of the Soviet National Anthem?

As we call ourselves proud Americans, we could no longer stand by in the face of these horrors. We knew we had to act fast.

Nothing less than our freedom was at stake.

Our brave team of reporters decided to go undercover and infiltrate the class as common students.

Being experts in investigative journalism, we took all the precautions for something as dangerous as this.

Do not try at home.

As we entered, we looked around in fear and amazement as to what untold horrors this class might hold. First observation was the American flag in the corner.

Weird. Must be a cover up. Maybe there's a Russian flag hidden underneath it. As we waited for fourth period journalism to start, we asked a few students what life in the gulag was like.

While our sources remain anonymous for safety’s sake, be assured that I did not make these up while I sat in my room as Fiona texted me to finish my article for the 10th time this week. (Also Fiona is working with Witten. Confirmed Communist.)

One student remarked “She made the class read for 10 minutes straight.”

Another student whispered to us about mandatory creative writing.

A final student told us the worst horror of all, “She made us watch the movie after we read the book.”

Within minutes we realized: This wasn't a classroom. This was Communism.

With the horrid knowledge in our heads, our brave team was bewildered on what to do next. Some suggested calling the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Others said we must liberate the class at once.

To all this I simply said, why don't we let the people decide? We publish this article so the truth may be brought to light.

More as the story continues.

Fiona Murphy/PEPPERBOX

The real door of room 104.

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Probably some time in June?

The Pepperbox | Page 8

Summer 2020 safe and smart hobbies Fiona Murphy Editor-In-Chief

O

All graphics by Marisa Mendosa/PEPPERBOX

*Pepperbox is not advocating for any of these hobbies.

We deny all responsibility for repercussions*

ver the last few months (or maybe years - who knows or even cares at this point) students out of school have fended off their own thoughts by learning some fun new hobbies. I mean, honestly, no one wants introspection, so I’m just going to learn how to make bread to distract myself from our impending doom and the passage of time. I really don’t want to think about the fact that I will probably never see my classmates again and the fact that our world will probably never go back to the way it was and I might never feel comfortable with human contact but also I am so touch starved. Anyone want some sourdough?

Anyway, we don’t really know how much longer this will last.

We probably won’t have the marvelous senior summer (or normal mediocre kind of boring summer) we all planned for, but what we can do is pick up some super handy hobbies. I took it upon my very knowledgeable shoulders to enlighten you about some of those hobbies.

Learn to summon ghosts to haunt your house. There are literally no ways this could go wrong. You get to learn some fun words that are probably in Latin (tbh I don’t really know how it works) plus you get some new friends! It’s very hard to contemplate your own mortality when you have a whole bunch of dead people banging on your door. You guys could do fun little art projects together. You can use paint and they can use the blood of their enemies.

Committing tax fraud is also a really great hobby to have. At

this point, most of you probably don’t do taxes, but it’s really never too early to start. Maybe help your parents with it. The government is about to collapse anyway, so paying taxes really isn’t

necessary. For inspiration, just look to some of the masters, like Jeff Bezos. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be exactly like him?

Learn some new recipes for when the class war starts and we eat the rich. Across the world, people have been getting into trying new recipes. Why not expand that to cannibalism? Is it even cannibalism if you eat the rich?

Are billionaires really human?

That’s up to you (but there’s only one right answer). I am sure you could find a helpful recipe on Bon Appetit, right between Gourmet Makes and It’s Alive. You might have to decide between this and tax fraud because you can’t eat the rich if you are rich. Unless you’re into that.

One popular and very useful hobby is learning to rewire clocks. Because quarantine has made time a total illusion, playing with clocks is a good reminder that time doesn’t actually exist and we have unlimited power to change it however we want. Time and space is but our plaything and it bows before us.

Try thinking about your future! Right now really is the time to contemplate what you want to do with your life and layout super concrete plans that definitely won’t change. Focus on things like how much you want to travel and how important it is to get out and see the world. Think about how completely sure your future is and how the economy is great for a young professional.

Speaking of the future, now is so totally the time to travel! You know that international trip you have always wanted to take. Do it right now! There is no reason at all to put off traveling. Go to Europe and backpack across a bunch of different countries! Meet new people and do the cheek kiss thing! Totally safe.

The Pepperfaux | Page 7

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Probably some time in June?

QuaranTrends of spring 2020 Ruby Langdon Trendy Teen

Fixing Furniture with Raw Beef:

You may have seen it with ramen, sunflower seeds, and resin but recently raw beef has been the go to for those redoing their furniture. Some say it just fills the cracks much better while others prefer it for the smell.

Being Kind:

Just being sensitive to other people’s thoughts and feelings, this one is super cool because empathy is great but even better in a hard time.

Spreading love and positivity while people need it is by far the coolest trend and probably the only one on this list I’d actually recommend doing.

Age Lines:

Maturity is beautiful; youngsters everywhere have been drawing on age lines to display their knowledge and experience. To do it yourself, just scrunch up your face and fill in any lines that show up to see the future and be the coolest kid in town. “Everyone tells me I have a baby face so with the help of this makeup trend I’m able to look ten years older at least,” said style guru Alexus Roberts.

Swag:

Curdcore:

You may have heard of cottagecore but the next big thing is Curdcore. The dictionary tells me that a curd is “a substance consisting mainly of casein and the like, obtained from milk by coagulation, and used as food or made into cheese.” and I think that’s beautiful. So if you’re a lover of coagulation and congealing this could be the lifestyle for you. “I've always been a fan of cottagecore and farmcore, but when I heard about curdcore I just about fainted. This creamy lumpy trend is one that I just can't get enough of and I think it's going to go mainstream pretty soon,” said Junior Izzy Knife.

Snorting Powdered Milk:

“My favorite trend is snorting powdered milk, giving the snorter a serious nasal infection that some find favorable,” said Jack Malast. Much safer than drugs like cocaine with the same sort of sensation in the nose without the side effects! The nasal infection wasn’t the initial goal of the trend but soon became its claim to fame.

The term swag has made a comeback; it’s such a versatile word. When your friends share something cool with you? Swag. When your cat knocks over your essential oil diffuser? Not swag. It’s perfect for literally every single situation. “The word swag is so swag,” said sophomore Bodie Lewis.

Orange Cereal:

People have been dicing oranges to put into bowls of milk and calling it Orange Cereal.

Doesn’t sound like a great idea if I'm being honest. I’m sure there’s far better flavor profiles that deserve recognition, ones that don’t curdle at very least.

The Poop Your Pants Challenge: Teens across various social media platforms are challenging each other to soil themselves to break societal standards and be considered a brave soul. You may be asking yourself, what exactly are teens gaining from this? I say they’re gaining a stronger sense of willpower and self awareness through this challenge. Self inflicted character development if you will.

Doing Homework:

Everyone has been super productive and made lots of progress in their homework! Good thing self motivation is super easy and fun or else this one might be a bit tricky.

Furries on the rise:

With an abundance of time to reflect on self identity there’s been a recent rise in people identifying as furries. Stimulus checks are being spent on the highest quality tails around. “I just couldn’t help having a strange attraction to Nick Wilde from Zootopia,” admitted Nuala Lockwood.

All images in their horrible beauty are by Marisa Mendosa

Probably some time in June?

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Jacky T exposed Zoë Reiss

Shocked and disappointed

J

ack Taylor, Jacky T, Jarky. These names are all referring to the same person. This tall, lanky, curly brown-haired boy can be seen in Lululemon shorts, a Patagonia climbing tee shirt and flip flops almost every day year round.

Over the past four years he has been observed pulling up to school, sandy, with a surfboard in the back of his little red truck (R.I.P.), claiming he just got “pitted”. And although he exudes typical California surfer/ski bro vibes… I feel that, as his closest friend (Will doesn’t count), I have a duty, nay, an obligation to society to reveal the truth. Jack Taylor is a fraud.

Let’s start with the names. Why on Earth would anyone need so many names unless they were trying to create alter an ego. These names are part of the elaborate facade he has been creating to trick our community for years. Although he dons a climbing shirt on an almost daily basis, until the past month at the earliest, Jack has not climbed.

As if this wasn’t enough, dear heartbroken readers, Jack Taylor doesn’t and never has surfed. He spends all of his time watching surfing videos and googling “cool surfing terms to make it look like I surf” so that he can talk about Nathan Florence with his buds.

Jack’s routine on those countless mornings that he pulls up looking like he just emerged from the ocean is elaborate. First, he puts an 800 dollar Pyzel surfboard in his car and drives down to the Jetty. He puts on a wetsuit that has never once been in the ocean and walks down to the shore. He fills a bucket with sea water and dumps it over his head, lies down and rolls around in the sand for exactly 15.36 seconds and then dumps another bucket of water over his

The Pepperfaux | Page 6

head.

You may be thinking “But Zoe, wouldn’t it make more sense for him to just jump in the water and then leave?” You know what, reader, yes, it would, except for one catch. Speaking from knowing Jack Taylor since his days on the Humboldt Swim Club, Jack can’t swim. As an experienced swim teacher of 2 years, I would put Jack in the starfish group of swim lessons (usually ages 3/4).

The next step of his routine, since Jack can’t swim, is to have his brother take his board out while Jack takes pictures. If you look closely there is no way to determine that it truly is Jack and not his brothers in the surfing pictures that he posts. He then loads everything up and drives to school wet and sandy, playing the part of a surfer almost perfectly.

I hope that this has cleared everything up, and made it obvious to everyone that Jack cannot surf, swim, or climb. I have outed this dirty liar to the best of my knowledge for the best of the entire surfing community and everyone else he has deceived.

Jack Taylor/PEPPERBOX

A confession from Jack Taylor

Famous fosters: Animal celebrities find Humboldt homes Martina Mapatis Feature Editor

Martina Mapatis/PEPPERBOX

Remy the rat: ​We’ve seen what’s happened to the rats in New York, but now it has hit Paris. With rat on rat violence increasing because of lack of human food waste, all rats are at danger even in their own homes.

France has decided to send its own national treasure abroad to Humboldt to be fostered by our very own sophomore Sidney Lusa.

Remy is famous for his exceptional cooking skills at Gusteau’s restaurant in Paris, so it’s no surprise that he has been baking up a storm during quarantine.

“Croissants, bagels, muffins, bread, he really can make anything.” said Lusa. When he’s not working as a chef for Brio, Remy spends most of his free time in the kitchen, experimenting with flavors and perfecting new recipes to take back to France. Although it seems Remy is loving Humboldt just fine, Sydney has a hunch that he misses his best friend Linguini.

“Sometimes when we hang out he pulls my hair. He thinks I don’t notice but I have a feeling he wishes he were back in France.” For the time being Remy has found comfort in teaching the Lusa family how to cook, serving them threecourse meals, and hosting free baking lessons every Thursday on Zoom.

Scooby Doo: The landlord of Shaggy’s apartment recently found out Scooby Doo had been calling the pet-free building his home for 6 months; so while Shaggy finds a new pad our favorite mystery solving pup has found a home with Lance Camilli.

“It’s really nice to have someone other than my family around since I can’t see any of my friends right now,” said Camilli.

The new best friends take part in activities like gaming and going for walks in the community forest, and without any mysteries to solve, the pair have been listening to mystery-solving podcasts, watching scary movies, enjoying many true crime tv shows.

However when it comes to doing chores, Camilli has had some trouble motivating Scooby Doo. “I would give them to him, but I think he’s addicted”, said Lance on the subject of ScoobySnacks.

Lance loves having Scooby as a companion, but certain strange things have begun to occur since his arrival.

“Anytime I’m with Scoob and we both walk into my room we end up exiting my parents’ room. It might’ve come in handy when being chased by a vengeful local in a suit imitating an urban legend, but it’s getting old quick,” he explained.

The Pepperfaux | Page 5

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Probably some time in June?

Pepperbox prints issue without angering admin Fiona Murphy Editor-in-Chief

U

sually, newspapers avoid writing about themselves, but this is an incredible story that must be shared. The Arcata High Pepperbox was able to report and print an entire issue without drawing the attention of less than happy administration. The issue focused on how wonderful the school is and how few problems occur on campus.

The issue made no mentions of sexism, racism, homophobia, bigotry, harassment, lack of representation, addiction, drugs, alcohol, inequality, transphobia, discrimination, sex, politics or civil rights and liberties. Instead, it focused on just how perfect the school is and how none of the problems listed above exists on our campus.

Articles included “The Women’s Basketball Team Totally Happy Without Assembly for WAIBT or Any Recognition Whatsoever”.

This article asked female basketball players their thoughts on the Zoo rarely attending their games and the lack of an assembly for the WAIBT. However, they didn’t find it bad at all! They explained that it wasn’t at all sexist or

Fiona Murphy/PEPPERBOX

The historical cover of the issue.

anything.

“We Have Never Once Witnessed a Drug On Campus, Ever”. Try as we might, Pepperbox just couldn’t find any mentions of drugs or addiction at Arcata High. It was like we, through positivity, were able to completely avoid the classic high school drugs and alcohol as well as deter Juul and their child marketing team.

We here at Pepperbox were overjoyed to report on the truly important parts of Arcata High life. It is our job to share voices and tell the truth of things, so we had to show that there are not problems at all here. As hard as we tried to find the problems on campus, there

just weren’t any.

The most exciting result of this issue is recognition from the Society for Professional School Administrators. Though relationships between administrators and school publications are often rocky, Pepperbox’s “no problems” issue seemed to heal that rift.

“As administrators, we always completely cooperate and support school newspapers, so it is nice to finally see the real issues reported on.

We would like to thank Pepperbox for spending considerable time and energy to show the hard truth about their school, that there are no problems at all ever,” a spokesperson wrote.

The Society was mostly thankful for the lack of angry parent calls they received over the coverage. Normally, they can expect quite a few from parents who don’t understand that the administrators can’t censor the paper or who are mad that students are talking about problems and trying to make them better.

“Not having parents calling over the paper really made my day! I got to see my family,” one administrator explained.

Pepperbox is now extremely excited to continue the important work of pleasing school administrators and angry parents.

“Hunger Games” era teens disappointed by it's bad for a lot of people, but why couldn’t our dystopian future first pandemic be zombies. Then at least I’d get Fiona Murphy Editor-in-Chief

T

eenagers across the United States are disappointed by the lack of brooding love interests and fight scenes in their new dystopian future. Raised on The Hunger Games and Divergent, these teenagers are struggling with the idea that their very own dystopia is full of bad Netflix originals and loneliness instead of revolution and newly discovered superpowers.

“Honestly, with the climate crisis and everything I was so ready to go all Mad Max and be the main character, but apparently all I get is depression and unsuccessful attempts at journaling,” one teen explained.

The pandemic itself has proven slightly underwhelming for many dystopia loving teens.

Rather than a zombie outbreak, the current situation actively discourages fighting your enemies and falling in love with a side character who has a dark past.

“Like I get that the situation is serious and

to use a machete,” Senior Eve Ashbrook said.

The usual tenets of dystopian novels and movies are oppressive regimes, societal collapse and some kind of love triangle or something.

The current situation seems to be in the early stages of two requirements, but with social isolation love triangles are proving difficult as are violent uprisings.

“I mean, if we wait like three or four years the government will probably collapse and we can embrace anarchy, but by then I’ll be too old to be the main character. I’ll have to be the mentor or something. Really not worth it,” Abbie Brodhag said.

However, some teenagers are embracing the current dystopia wholeheartedly.

“I always saw myself as a Katniss, but turns out I’m way better at bread making then hunting. Also, I’m vegan, so I don’t really know what I was thinking,” Elizabeth Sloan-Rouse said, “I’m totally cool being the side character who just makes food all the time, because they usually have less trauma.”

Courtesy of Flickr

Probably some time in June?

Faux (Not News)

The Pepperfaux | Page 4

“It was never supposed to go this far,” Seniors cause covid-19 shutdowns Sky Pulley Mastermind

In a shocking turn of events, the Arcata High Class of 2020 has announced that quarantine, and by extension the entire coronavirus pandemic, is simply a senior prank gone very, very wrong. According to our sources, the original idea was to have an extended senior ditch day, and the pandemic excuse was just a pretense for a wild week of partying on Moonstone beach.

“It was never supposed to go this far,” sobbed one senior, video calling us from her fallout shelter.

“All we wanted was a few days off from sophomores taking our parking spots.”

Back in 2016, there was no master plan. We were freshmen, mainly occupied with choosing the cutest Jansport™ backpack, finishing the pineapple lab, and avoiding that one couple that always made out right in front of the elevator.

We were forced to watch as the classes before us brought their dogs to school, cut a [male body part] into the grass of the senior lawn and other things that we aren’t going to mention for legal reasons. The driven future graduates soon realized that for us to go out with a bang, we’d have to do something much more substantial.

As sophomore and junior years dragged by, we began to realize that the best pranks had already been taken. Some guy on vine sold his school on craigslist. Some dude convinced half of suburbia not to prevent their children from getting polio. We were going to have to think big when the time came.

“We went into senior year with really high expectations of what we could pull off,” senior Cece Eggleston said. “And we ended up

going a bit too far.”

When senior year finally did arrive, we started off mellow. We worked slowly, gathering information that might help us create the best and biggest prank in history.

“Epstein was really the gas on the fire,” said Ben Aldag. “We realized that if the American public could believe that he killed himself, they could believe almost any-

the perfect environment to plan our prank.

“It was absolutely perfect,” explained Eggleston. “Now wearing black was ‘for solidarity’ instead of suspicious and no one was around at lunch. Plus, we were just helping the teachers on their way.”

By hopping through an unlocked window that opened behind a bush on the senior lawn, se-

thing.”

Our first step was to slightly destabilize the normal school routine, and because this is Arcata High, we did it in the only way we know how; a walkout. In September, we walked out for climate change. While all the tree-hugging hippies and wannabe tree-hugging hippies were circling the plaza, several carefully chosen individuals stayed behind to slip a couple choice words about health coverage into teachers’ ears.

Other than a few whispers about the budget and some discreet encouragement, it didn’t take much for the senior class to incite our beloved faculty into all-out rebellion. One by one, classroom doors at lunch were shut and soon the class of 2020 had orchestrated

niors were able to access an empty computer lab. From there, we rolled out phase two. Several computer-savvy seniors, who for legal reasons will go unnamed, hacked into international news outlets.

By slightly misinterpreting several quotes, we antagonized North Korea, Russia, and the U.S. For the technologically illiterate among our ranks, we had to find other ways to occupy our time.

While creating artistic renderings of M&Ms, inspiration struck.

“We were sitting at the tables and we realized that the green M&M looked a whole lot like a virus,” said an AP Bio student. “We already had access to the news channels and we figured that us all taking a sick day was a whole lot more believable than us all getting

drafted for WW3.”

The operation became so delicate that we were forced to black out the area for days at a time.

This allowed us to finish our online work in peace, and wasn’t hard to pin on PG&E.

By Christmas, senioritis was hitting hard and our plan was almost fully formed. Our operation headquarters in the back of the computer lab had almost been discovered a few times, but thankfully we had a couple seniors who were willing to take one for the team.

“All we had to do was flick the puff bar into the trashcan once we were done with it and the paper towels lit right up,” explained one of our operatives.

The melting trashcan caused enough of a distraction for us to pack up any evidence before the two week break. As several admin should remember, a couple senior girls (including yours truly) would not shut up about needing to use the bathroom. As soon as they unlocked the door, everything suspicious was smuggled out the back of the FAB and into a waiting car.

Over the next couple weeks, we released news stories about a virus through various outlets, gradually increasing the severity until they were sure to reach Nurse Kell’s ears. We had planned to keep up the ruse until we were let out, and then report that the virus had mysteriously disappeared a week later.

Imagine our surprise when news outlets that were not controlled by us caught on before we could publish the disappearance. Suddenly it was out of our hands. In less than 24 hours, we’d gone from controlling the greatest prank of all time to being pranked ourselves.

And so is the circle of life. Ashes to ashes, prankee to pranked.

QuaraQuotable “This is the Lord of the Flies of Kahoot.”

-Adam Pinkerton on distance learning (this one is actually real; gotta keep Pinkerton in every Quotable)

The rest of these quotes are real things said by Pepperbox staff. We couldn’t put them in other issues because of stupid journalism rules but now we can.

“Excuse me, I’m fantasy birding.”

-Ty Vizenor (Honestly most of these are from Ty).

“I’m gonna make Mayor Pete go on Drag Race.”

-Ty Vizenor, politics expert.

“It’s like my fetish it’s just not sexual.”

-Zoë Reiss, I think she was talking about leaves but I don’t remember

“My name is Trump and I love Jojo Siwa.”

-Ty Vizenor, still our resident politics expert.

“You ever look at a tree and want to eat it and if you knew you could eat it you would?”

-Zelda Geren, nature lover??

The Pepperfaux

Time isn’t real anymore BOX BRIEFS

June 9: Fiona’s birthday June 11: Fake graduation June 12: Corona June 13-July 13: Covid-19 July 14: Guess what, still quarantined July 15: School decides we should just go back then, no summer July 17: Probably a meteor or something at this point August 1: Something from Hunger Games, poison gas maybe? I don’t care at this point.

EDITORIAL STAFF & REPORTERS

IN THE FAUX

Senior Prank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Issue/Dystopia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Foster/Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Hobbies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Gulag/17-22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Prom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Fiona Murphy Editor-in-Chief Who are we kidding? Fiona does everyone’s jobs.

DISCLAIMER This is PepperFAUX. This is a fake news issue where we write fake things and sarcasm. Nothing in this part of the issue is serious, don’t take it seriously. There is this thing called satire.

This is satire. This is where we get to make fun of the serious things in the world and stop worrying for a hot second. Ever heard of the Onion? That’s what we are trying to do here.

One last time, this is FAKE. Also there is legal protections on fake news stuff. Look up that one John Oliver episode about slap suits.

If you have thoughts or problems with this issue email the editor at pepperbox@nohum. k12.ca.us . She is graduating so she probably won’t care very much.

Adviser Danielle Witten