Carlmont Highlander Magazine Vol 13 Issue 5

Volume XIII, Issue V | Sincerely, 4th period seniors - Page 4 | Humanizing homelessness - Page 40

STARTING FRESH Read on page 23.

Highlander Staff Highlander Editor-in-Chief Isabelle Nunes

Scot Scoop Editor-in-Chief Elle Horst

ScotCenter Editor-in-Chief Phoebe Gulsen

Social Media Editor-in-Chief Mira Bhatt

Managing Editors Chelsea Chang Amber Chia

Faculty Adviser Justin Raisner

Editors Allison Raisner Andrew Shu Anika Marino Austin Li Chesney Evert

Claire Tseng Erin Kee Grace Wu Raina Lahiri Rebecca Von Tersch

Staff Writers Aidan Lynd Andrew Tolu Anita Beroza Anna Wilkinson Anoushka Mekerira Cali Shohet Cambell Kirk Carolina Cuadros Catherine Eikelbarner Elise Hsu Erin Kee Ethan Man Gem Kryhina Glydelle Espano Isabel Wright Izaan Masud Hayes Gaboury Hudson Fox Isa Khalak Isabel Wright Jack Hansen Jessica Conley Julia Roseborough Kai Yoshida Karla Lee

Kasey Liu Katherine Tsvirkunova Kaylene Lin Kayley Ebaugh Keegan Balster Kiana George Leanna Gower Lindsay Augustine Lucy Lopshire Madelyn Mercado Malina Wong Mandy Mah Marrisa Chow Maya Campbell Maya Kornyeyeva Niamh Marren Nyah Simpson Oliver Fichte Payton Zolck Robin Linares Sabrina Lo Soleil Dam Sophia Gurdus Sophia Mattioli

Highlander is a newsmagazine dedicated to providing Carlmont students, staff, and community with highquality news, features, and opinion articles. We want to keep our readers informed on important issues ranging from events at Carlmont to international news, and want to engage them with unique stories and designs.

Highlander is a publication completely run by the students of the journalism classes at Carlmont High School. Story ideas are generated by the students and the published content is up to the direction of the editorial staff.

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Dear reader, Spring is here, and we hope you’re enjoying the new season! In this issue of Highlander, we embrace what spring symbolizes. For many of us, this includes spring cleaning, which is what this issue’s Scotlight focuses on.

While tedious for some, Spring cleaning can be a great way to de-stress. Not only does it tackle physical clutter, but it can also cleanse the mind. Due to its restorative nature and emphasis on letting go of mental or physical baggage, spring cleaning can also symbolize a new beginning.

Speaking of new beginnings, graduation is right around the corner, and many seniors are getting ready to begin a new chapter of their lives post-high school. This year’s graduating class has undoubtedly faced many challenges as our high school careers come to a close. Many of us will be heading to college, joining the workforce, exploring the world, and seeing where life takes us.

However, for the seniors in Carlmont journalism’s 4th period, this is a bittersweet time and issue for us; although it’s the last Highlander issue we will ever produce, we’ve made countless lifelong memories in S11 and are excited to see what the future holds. As we move on, we’ve left behind one last gift for our underclassmen: a collection of advice we’ve learned throughout our academic careers. We hope something resonates with you and you take away something valuable!

That said, we’re thrilled to introduce this school year’s fifth Highlander issue. We hope you enjoy it!

Much love,

ISSUE 5 / HIGHLANDER 2022

CONTENTS Scotlight: Spring cleaning Read on page 23

FUN 4 Sincerely, 4th period seniors 6 McLovin’ around the world 8 Leaping into origami 11 Popular product dupes

CAMPUS 13 Go green for Earth Day 14 After-school adventures

SPORTS 17 Spring sports at a glance 18 Sports around the world 20 Trailing behind backpackers

OPINION 28 UCs are not as they seem 30 Don’t undermine those with actual diagnoses 32 Editorial: Toxic positivity causes more harm than good

FEATURES 34 A how-to guide for allies 36 A Barbie girl in a biased world 38 Birthdays around the world 40 Humanizing homelessness 43 A race against time 44 Pro-life feminism in an age of political polarization 46 Health has a price tag

Sincerely,

4th period seniors Writing and Photos by Julia Roseborough

One minute, it’s the class of 2022’s first day of high school. Then, just a second later, it’s spring 2022, and the final countdown until graduation is on. As the seniors in 4th-period journalism create their last pieces of work, they reflect on their experiences and recognize their ambitions for the future.

Mira Bhatt

Chels Chang

Jessica Conley

Kiana George

Cambell Kirk

Gem Kryhina

Raina Lahiri

Kasey Liu

Sabrina Lo

Ethan Man

Anika Marino

Niamh Marren

Allison Raisner

Julia Roseborough

Calista Shohet

Claire Tseng

Anna Wilkinson

Kai Yoshida

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APRIL 2022 HIGHLANDER 5

cLovin’ around the world

Writing by Kiana George and Art by Claire Tseng McDonald’s is arguably the world’s most brilliant franchise. With its famous golden arches and iconic happy meals, McDonald’s has served the world for over 66 years with cheap food, fast service, and a welcoming environment. Now, McDonald’s has over 39,000 locations in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. Let’s take a look at what McDonald’s food items look like across the globe.

Teriyaki Burger In 1979, a Japanese businessman from Osaka was inspired by America’s McDonald’s, where he described that he was in charge of the “quick-service system.” In 1971, he successfully brought the first McDonald’s to Japan and began to put spins on American McDonald’s products to appeal to a Japanese market. McDonald’s team created a pork patty burger glazed with teriyaki sauce in hopes of mimicking the traditional sweet soy sauce teriyaki sauce that is common in the Japanese diet. Due to its popularity, they have recently added five new teriyaki items: the Teriyaki Muffin, the Oyako Teriyaki, the Shaka Shaka Potato Teriyaki McBurger, the Kurokosho Teriyaki, and the Shichimi Togarashi Teriyaki Spiced Burger.

¥ 0 5 3

6 HIGHLANDER FUN

C$4.29

Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry

McDonald’s in Canada has a sweet offering with its unique seasonal Easter drink, the Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry. The vanilla soft serve concoction is swirled together with bits of milk chocolate and then whipped with the “yolk” filling of the Cadbury Creme Egg candy. The inventor and franchisee Ron McLellan said, “I never expected that my creation would circle the globe with countries mixing together their own unique flavors.” Although this product has spread to over 99 countries, it most likely won’t come to America, as Cadbury eggs were banned in the U.S. in 2015 when Hershey’s filed a lawsuit against them, stating that Cadbury copied an already existing Hershey chocolate egg.

McSpicy Paneer

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In India, nearly half the population follows a lacto-vegetarian diet as many live animals are seen as sacred beings that shouldn’t be harmed. Due to this, McDonald’s in India has adjusted their menu to exclude beef and pork. It has created meat-free substitutes, and an example of one of its most popular items is the McSpicy Paneer. Since people had never made large-scale paneer burgers, McDonald’s took two years to develop a paneer filet that was able to hold its shape when fried yet was not overly stiff to the point where it would lose its desirable creamy texture. Now, the McSpicy Paneer is one of the most wanted items and nearly sells out every day across Indian Mcdonald’s outlets.

9 4 $ X M

McMolletes In Spanish cuisine, molletes is an open-faced sandwich that is topped with cheese, refried beans, and additional toppings like avocados or pico de gallo. McDonald’s Mexico put their own spin on the popular breakfast item by serving the typical molletes components on a McMuffin.

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Leaping into origami 1

Writing and Art by Kasey Liu

2

April is National Frog Month! To celebrate, try folding an origami frog using the instructions provided. After you fold the frog, use your finger to push down on its back. By doing this, it will leap, just as you have leaped into origami!

Fold your square paper in half.

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Open the crease from Step 4.

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Open the crease from Step 2.

Crease the corner of your folded paper down to form a right triangle so that the edges are aligned.

Fold your half-paper in half again and open. The crease will act as a guide.

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Fold the top of the paper down to the middle, and unfold it.

Open the paper, and fold it in half the other way.

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Repeat Step 2 on the other side.

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Fold the center triangle down and the side triangles toward the middle.

Push everything down flat.

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Fold the bottom of the paper to meet the triangle you have just created.

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Fold each side down along the dotted line, and unfold to make diagonal creases.

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Fold the bottom left and right parts of the paper outward to make the legs. The angle doesn’t matter, as long as they resemble the diagram.

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Fold the left side of the paper into the middle, but don’t fold the triangle on top. The paper will tuck behind this triangle.

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Fold the bottom of the paper along the dotted line.

Repeat Step 8 for the right side.

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Pull the two inner flaps of the paper outwards.

Flatten this section into a boat shape.

Fold each side of the trapezoid down along the dotted line.

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Crease the edges of the triangle upward to make the arms. The angle doesn’t matter, as long as they resemble the diagram.

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Fold the entire thing up along the dotted line.

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Fold the top part down along the dotted line.

Flip the whole thing over, and it’s complete! Push down on the back folds to make your frog leap!

Take a picture of this page before you begin!

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Fun facts about frogs There are over 6,000 types of frogs worldwide, and scientists are still searching for more.

Frogs pull their eyes down to the roof of their mouths to push food down their throat.

Many frogs can leap over 20 times their body length.

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Popular Product Dupes Marrisa Chow

We all want nice things, but that doesn’t mean we can always afford them. Below are four products that garner the same quality as your favorite name-brand products without breaking the bank.

Lululemon Pace Breaker Shorts

Lululemon’s Pace Breaker shorts are lightweight, soft, and quick-drying. The breathable blend of polyester and elastane wicks away sweat quickly and allows the thighs room to move freely. They’re perfect for both lounging around and working out. COOFANDY’s Gym Workout Shorts are just as breathable and light at a fraction of the cost.

AirPods AirPods took the world by storm, but if you’re looking for a more affordable option, consider EarFun’s Air True Wireless Earbuds. Reviewers rave about battery life, cancellation of background noises, and overall sound quality. If that isn’t enough to sway you, the 18-month warranty and 30 days no-questionsasked return policy might help.

Drunk Elephant’s T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial Drunk Elephant’s T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial exfoliates your pores and resurfaces the pore lining. Fans of the product can’t stop talking about how it brings back skin brightness and a youthful glow. The only downside? 1.69 oz of this will cost you $80. Fortunately, The Ordinary’s AHA 30% + BHA 2% Exfoliating Peeling Solution costs one-tenth of the price and produces the same results.

North Face 1996 Retro Nuptse Jacket

Walk around Carlmont, and you’ll find puffers everywhere. Everyone has their eye on The North Face 1996 Retro Nuptse jacket, but the price tag can make it hard to justify purchasing. You can look just as stylish with Uniqlo’s Ultra Light Down Short puffer jacket. Compressible and lightweight, it’s 90% down and keeps you warm on the coldest of days.

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Go green for Earth Day Writing and Art by Niamh Marren

With climate change becoming a pressing issue, individual actions against carbon emissions have increased in recent decades.

Earth Day first began in 1970, as more people worldwide became aware of environmental issues that humans were causing. In the years prior, pollution in the air and water were normal for all living in the United States. There was little research on the impact of pollution from many manufacturing plants, car emissions, and the burning of fuels.

However, as national awareness of environmental harms caused by humans grew, the first Earth Day occurred on April 22, 1970.

Earth Day was first supposed to educate students at colleges and universities about the impact daily practices had on the environment.

Eventually, this holiday spread to more than just students and inspired over 20 million Americans to participate in the movement, creating the Environmental Protection Agency. Soon after, many national environmental policies were passed, such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. This education that first started in 1970 is still relevant in schools today. At Carlmont, many students actively participate in protecting the environment from human actions.

Nadine Lahlouh, a senior, explains some of her daily practices to help protect the Earth.

“When I first learned about the harmful effects on the environment caused by humans in eighth grade, I made every effort to recycle, volunteer at beach clean-ups, and buy sustainable clothes as best as possible,” Lahlouh said.

With the increased participation in climate change prevention among Carlmont students, many clubs have also started to help spread awareness about environmental issues and how to prevent them. One club is Mission Marine, and their main goal is to educate people in the field of marine biology and protect

the oceans and environment as a whole.

Kaitlyn Fong, a senior and a member of Mission Marine expresses Earth Day’s importance.

“Earth Day is a vital way for which we can both educate, celebrate, and bring awareness to the importance of the Earth, its natural resources, and its impact on our lives,” Fong said.

Since joining the clubs, Fong has participated in clean-ups that eliminate the increased plastics and trash on beaches. Climate change affects our waterways, and Mission Marine increases awareness of how everyday activities affect our environment.

Alyssa Attard, a senior, has seen drastic changes in the climate due to increased temperatures in California.

“There have been more severe storms across the United States. Especially in California, wildfires have drastically increased, endangering many species and also lives,” Attard said.

Climate change is also affecting our oceans drastically. Soon after countries around the

world started burning fossil fuels in the 1800s, the ocean level began to rise, only worsening in the past years.

“Sea levels rising, increased ocean pH resulting in coral bleaching, oil spills that kill aquatic animals, and plastic in the ocean that harm aquatic life are all effects of the environment changing,” Fong said.

Some students believe that Carlmont could still improve on becoming more environmentally friendly. Lahlouh explains some ways students can become more involved in learning about the impact of their actions on the environment.

“I think Carlmont could do more to protect our local community. There should be a weekly trash pickup day to allow students to be more aware of the trash around the campus. Carlmont could also move towards online textbooks and worksheets to reduce paper use,” Lahlouh said.

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es

af t

ur

l adv o o h c e nt s r e

Writing and Art by Kai Yoshida For many of us, the best part of the school day is the trip back home. But even this can feel repetitive at times. So, we can learn from “John of the mountains,” John Muir, and turn to nature to spice up these afternoons and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Belmont a little more.

CALIFORNIA PEPPER TREE Nicknamed the California pepper tree, the Schinus molle has leaves that droop willow-like, with picturesque gnarled bark. Contrary to its name, the California pepper tree is not native to California and is actually from South America, according to Britannica. It has become naturalized around the world, mainly as an ornamental plant. The tree has clusters of bright red pepper seeds. When you crush them, they give off the distinct aroma of black pepper.

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SOAP ROOT

Soap root is a highly versatile plant. Californian indigenous tribes used it as glue, soap, for eating, and more.

It can be identified by its long wavy leaves and the hairs around its stem. If you dig the bulbous root out, peel the skin, crush it, and mix it with water, it becomes a bubbly white soap. Not only could this lather be used for washing, but also for catching fish. According to KQED, Natives would put the soap into slow-moving streams, clogging the fish’s oxygen transport through the gills; eventually, fish would float to the surface for accessible collection.

MINER’S LETTUCE

Easily recognized for its broad spade-shaped leaf with a pale white flower at its center, miner’s lettuce thrives in shaded areas amongst shrubs and grasses.

According to the Atlantic, it is native to the western coast of North America and got its name during the Gold Rush; miners would eat this lettuce to get essential vitamin C and prevent scurvy. Characterized by a mildly sweet taste similar to spinach, it has been consumed throughout the centuries, from natives to miners, and now, restaurants to hikers.

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16 HIGHLANDER SPORTS

Spring sports at a glance Writing and Photo by Hayes Gaboury As the weather begins to warm, spring sports athletes have already started training with their respective teams. Sports like track and field, lacrosse, and baseball have started their conditioning and practices. It’s an exciting time for the athletes involved, but some may not be up to speed on what sports are in season. Here’s a quick guide to some of Carlmont’s spring sports.

Track and Field Track and field is a sport where everyone can find something they enjoy. Whether it be running relay races or competing in the high jump, there are many options for athletes. The encouraging atmosphere and friendly athletes make track and field a very appealing sport to students.

“There is a great community with like-minded people all trying to improve themselves,” said Ethan Moussa, a senior.

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a mix of soccer, football, and hockey elements. Players wear upper body pads and helmets and carry lacrosse sticks with a netted pocket at the top. With a baseball-like ball in those pockets, players attempt to score in the other team’s goal. The hand-eye coordination and footwork complicate the sport — while carrying the ball, you look for incoming players and your teammates.

“Learning how to play lacrosse took a while, but once I got the hang of it, I loved it,” said Brynn Toomasson, a junior.

Baseball After a pandemic-shortened season, Carlmont’s baseball team is back in action.

“We aim to take a more aggressive and ‘time to take care of business’ approach along with stronger team chemistry and cooperation,” said Gavin Grivas, a junior.

Baseball’s focus on teamwork requires communication from everyone on the field. Knowing where to position yourself, what type of pitch to throw, or when to steal a base is crucial to playing well. Despite this complexity, Grivas and the team are excited and optimistic about their chances this season.

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Sports around the world Writing and Art by Ethan Man Sports surround us as hobbies and lifestyles alike. They have become a universal language communicating teamwork and competition across borders. With sports being so culturally significant, what are some of the world’s most popular sports, and where did they come from?

Surfing - Polynesia

According to the Smithsonian, surfing likely originated in Polynesia and extended to Hawaii, where it developed further. Over the years, it has been enjoyed as both a fun activity and a competitive sport. At the time, Hawaiian royalty would often have special boards and ride the “best” waves, which, funnily enough, are now considered the easier waves to ride.

Ice Skating - Scandinavia

According to Britannica, this elegant and graceful sport likely originated in Scandinavia as early as 1000 B.C., when the first ice skates were composed of animals’ rib bones.

Skating was a popular pastime in the Middle Ages and became even more popular in the late 1800s with the creation of indoor skating rinks. The sport would inspire several variations, including figure skating, speed skating, and ice dancing.

Basketball - United States

Basketball was founded in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, making it the only major sport of strictly U.S. origin. According to Britannica, the game was first enjoyed with two peach baskets as goals and quickly advanced and grew in popularity, soon becoming a professional sport. The National Basketball Association has since been home to some of the “greatest of all time” like Michael Jordan and Lebron James.

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Gymnastics - Ancient Greece

According to Smithsonian Magazine, gymnastics originated in Ancient Greece as early as 1500 B.C. and trained men for war. The incredible art was described as a form of wisdom comparable to poetry, music, and arithmetic.

The sport has been a part of the Olympics since 1896 and has produced incredible athletes, including Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Brody Malone, and others.

Hockey - Canada

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, while it’s likely that hockey originated in Europe, the first recorded game played was in 1875 in Montreal, Canada. Its origins are unclear, but hockey is undoubtedly the most popular sport in Canada, even being its national winter sport. Canadians play the sport every winter and currently make up nearly half of all players in the National Hockey League.

Soccer - England

According to Britannica, soccer, or “football,” has been traced to medieval times, but England was the first to create rules in 1863.

The world’s most popular sport has unified people despite borders, language barriers, and wealth gaps. Even in World War I, soccer played during the “Christmas truce” has demonstrated the power of sports to unify all people, even warring enemies.

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TRAILING BEHIND BACKPACKERS Writing and Photo by Jessica Conley While many people prepare for their summer trips to destinations surrounded by first-class amenities, Andrew Manrao has been planning for a journey into the wilderness with nothing but their backpack.

Thru-hiking is a sport in which hikers hit the trail for months at a time. The most common thru-hikes are the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), and the Appalachian Trail (AT). When hikers complete all three, it is referred to as the coveted Triple Crown, nearly 8,000 miles.

Manrao, a sophomore at Design Tech High School, plans to hike the Ansel Adams Wilderness this summer for a week.

“I have been on 12 other backpacking trips before. I did not train for any of those 12 but am currently training for this one.

I don’t regret not training, but I regret not learning how to pack better and get better gear,” Manrao said.

Like Manrao, many backpackers train in the off-season to get in shape for peak performance. It is recommended to hike in higher altitudes in preparation for the 10,000-foot peaks they will have to endure.

Aside from elevation training, it is also important to go on various day hikes with a weighted backpack the hiker will use.

“It’s crucial for people to get used to their backpacks. If something is wrong with the fit, they can get it adjusted,” Manrao said. “On practice hikes, people can figure out where they want the weight in their pack to be placed and where each item should go.”

Although hikers can pack their backpacks based on their preferences, many esteemed backpackers recommend placing heavier items closer to the back and lighter gear below. The weight distribution of their equipment is a major consideration.

“To cut weight, I am buying a better pack and lighter equipment. I’m also trying to get as dehydrated of food as possible and carry less water and heavy things. I’ll also be bringing fewer luxury items,” Manrao said.

Thru-hiking and longer backpacking trips are far different from the car camping trips that many people typically go on.

Hikers must acquire permits well in advance to go into the backcountry. This process happens around half a year before the hike, so everything must be well planned out. But while the process may be competitive, many can overlook the chaos.

“Overall, it is so worth it. I love being outdoors, surrounded by breathtaking mountains,” Manrao said.

Along with the views, trail magic and trail angels make the experience unique. Hikers bestow upon trail names — which are fun or serious — and are supported by trail angels. Trail angels supply food, water, and sometimes shelter along the trail.

Manrao encourages anyone interested in backpacking to prepare for the most extraordinary adventures of their lives.

“The stories that come out make it worth it,” Manrao said.

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22 HIGHLANDER SCOTLIGHT

SPRING CLEANING

Writing by Mira Bhatt and Cambell Kirk Design by Allison Raisner

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24 HIGHLANDER SCOTLIGHT

S

pring is the season of new beginnings: flowers bloom, chicks hatch, and animals emerge from hibernation, all ready for a fresh start. This time of year is the perfect opportunity to spruce up your home — and your life — with a bit of spring cleaning.

Spring cleaning is a popular concept dating back hundreds of years.

According to the Washington Post, during the 1800s, the largest cleaning events took place in the spring because homes were heated with coal or wood, and the winter left behind layers of soot and grime.

As heating technology and spring cleaning evolved, people continued to use April and May as a time to reorganize their homes, workspaces, etc. A study by Business Wire reveals that in 2021, roughly 69% of Americans stated they would participate in spring cleaning, and 55% of the survey respondents stated that they would be cleaning more than usual due to COVID-19.

“Right now, I probably do a big batch of cleaning twice or maybe three times a year. If I see clutter, it drives me crazy, and I can’t focus on anything. I feel like my mind is more clear when everything is organized, and there is less to worry about,” said Sachi Chen, a Carlmont parent and alumnus.

With the pandemic, it is more important to keep clean and stay healthy. People have shared many new cleaning and organization tips over the last few years. Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant that provides lots of tips, rose to fame after publishing her book “The life-changing magic of tidying up” and starring in her own Netflix show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.”

Kondo follows one type of organizing method, which she created, called KonMari. According to Kondo’s website, the KonMari Method encourages tidying with the idea of keeping what brings you joy and discarding what does not.

The method involves organizing items by category rather than by location (e.g.,

beginning with clothes, then shoes, then miscellaneous items, and lastly sentimental items).

“It’s hard to let go of sentimental items. Marie recommends starting with clothing because every day, we get up and decide what we want to wear.

Usually, we’re drawn to things that make us look and feel good, so it’s easy to decide whether something sparks joy just by choosing to wear that item. And then, you go through all the different categories with the same idea in mind,” said Karen Wong, a Bay Area KonMari consultant.

This process is considered to be tidying, which Kondo emphasizes is not the same as cleaning — tidying involves confronting yourself, whereas cleaning is confronting dirt.

“A lot of people think tidying and cleaning are the same things, but they’re not. In order to be clean, you have to be tidy. If you have a lot of things on the floor in your room, you have to tidy up before you can actually wipe and vacuum,” Wong said.

To begin a spring cleaning ritual, Kondo believes you must first tidy and only keep what brings you joy. Then, you can begin the cleaning process by setting the mood—opening windows and doors and playing calming music helps to keep spirits up and become more successful in cleaning.

While Kondo emphasizes tidying by category, she believes in cleaning by location. Start with the innermost room and work your way out; in each room, start with cleaning the ceiling and do the floor last so that any dirt on the ceiling will fall to the floor and can be cleaned at the end.

“I like to take a look at one room at a time, purge what I don’t need and donate it, and then pare down things to just what I really want to keep. I’ll organize and then put things back where they should go or try to figure out better systems than I had before,” Chen said.

Creating a schedule for cleaning and tidying can help make these tasks part of your regular routine, allowing you to

tackle cleaning a large home more easily.

“With spring cleaning, I feel like you’re able to achieve it long term and it becomes routine. Once you do it, you won’t go back. I have been able to stay tidy, and I now have a different mindset and a different lifestyle than before I began tidying,” Wong said.

There are many other benefits to spring cleaning, as it gives people an opportunity for a fresh start and home and life improvement.

“It helps me relax and I like having a clean space. Being in a clean space helps motivate me to do homework and get stuff done” Michelle Lui

Spring cleaning can also help to strengthen immune systems and prevent illness. Springtime is known for its blossoming flowers — and blossoming seasonal allergies. Having a clean home can help you breathe better by preventing respiratory issues, and cleaning things that people touch often can minimize the spread of viruses or bacteria, according to Healthline.

Along with illness, spring cleaning can help reduce the risk of injury.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 1 in 4 adults over the age of 65 fall each year, and falls are the highest cause of injuryrelated deaths for this age group. Tidying and cleaning near stairs and doorways can help lower the risk of falling.

“Cleaning can help remove physical items in your way and create space.

Besides that, it can add positivity to your life as opposed to negative things and helps you be in a mindset that you choose,” Wong said.

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Mental health decluttering Sort through your emotional health

Spring is the time of year to clean out your pantries and closets and discard the clutter that has found its way into your living spaces. The result of cleaning out and freshening up is a much more enjoyable place to live. An emotional spring cleaning can do the same wonders for your mental health. You live in your mind just like you live in the rooms in your house. Taking the time to “clean out” the habits and practices of your daily life is just as important as sorting through your garage or kitchen.

Sharon Martin, a psychotherapist, recommends sorting your emotional health into three piles, just as you would do while cleaning your house: things to keep, things to get rid of, and things that you need but don’t have.

First, ask yourself what habits you practice frequently that support your mental health. Maybe you consistently get a good night’s sleep or surround yourself with supportive, loving friends.

Perhaps you regularly go on walks around the neighborhood to cope with your stress levels. It’s important to acknowledge the good in your life and the helpful ways these decisions impact you.

At the same time, spring is a great time to assess what is dragging you down emotionally. This can be something as minor as eating poorly or procrastinating on homework, or something as major as a toxic relationship or substance addiction. Martin says that one of the most important questions to ask yourself is, “What needs to go for you to be happier?” She recommends paying attention to what keeps you up at night. This may give you insight into the behaviors you can change to improve your overall well-being.

Finally, take time to notice what’s missing from your routine that would improve your emotional health. Perhaps you lack a creative outlet. It may be that you need more quality time with your family. Maybe you realize you need to work on over-working yourself less. Whatever it may be, acknowledging the areas in your life where something is missing can help you fill those gaps and improve your overall mental health.

Creativity is like grass — it must be planted and routinely "watered" to thrive. Have you always wanted to learn the ukulele? What about knitting? How about that watercolor kit you got for Christmas but never got around to trying out? Spring is a great time to indulge in the creative desires you may have been setting aside. Exploring your creative passions can be beneficial to your overall health.

According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, participating in creative tasks helps focus the mind in the same way meditation does due to the calming effects it has on one's brain and body. Simple tasks such as gardening, drawing, or playing an instrument releases dopamine which acts as a natural antidepressant. Finding a creative project to indulge yourself in is a great way to give your mental health a spring cleaning.

Take time for your physical health

Explore creative projects

You've probably heard it a million times by now — the key to better mental health is maintaining good physical health. This statement reigns true. The body and mind are closely linked, so when your body feels better, so will your mind.

People who exercise regularly tend to do so because it gives them a great sense of overall well-being. Activities such as taking a walk around your local park on a sunny day and drinking more water add up to a healthier you overall.

This is because exercise releases endorphins in the brain. This chemical helps your muscles relax and relieves tension in your body. Exercising may make you feel more energetic throughout the day, sleep better at night, and feel more relaxed and positive about yourself and your life. Exercise is a powerful medicine to combat the stress and anxieties your daily life may bring you.

If you're looking for ways to de-stress and improve your emotional health, you may find that implementing simple, small actions of exercise can significantly affect your overall well-being.

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When most people think of spring cleaning, they think of mops, sponges, and reorganizing homes.

However, it is so much more than that. Spring cleaning gives people an opportunity to re-evaluate their goals and what they want to do with their lives. For many Carlmont teachers, teaching was not their initial career path, but something they later realized they loved. They were able to reflect and “spring clean” their lives to understand the right career for them to pursue.

DAVID BRAUNSTEIN

Modern European History, Government, and Microeconomics teacher What was your previous job, and what was the experience like?

“​​When I was younger, I wanted to be a women’s Olympic gymnastics coach. I thought about being a chef or a Sovietologist, and I was mayor of Belmont. I had a background in all of these fields. I have coached in various places around the country in gymnastics. I had cooked at camps and other places.

My educational background was in international relations with a focus on Soviet foreign policy. And I have always been interested in politics, so I went to graduate school for public policy. And then, later on, I got involved as a council member in Belmont.”

When did you realize that you wanted to become a teacher?

“I’ve always wanted a job that will help people. And I decided that some of the jobs I pursued challenged me in ways that I didn’t want to be challenged with regard to politics. I didn’t want my morals or ethics to be challenged. I want to be the same person I am. So I decided to retire and spend more time with my family. With gymnastics, I decided that for a variety of different reasons, there were other ways that I could help more people. I’ve coached football and my sons’ baseball teams, so I’ve had an opportunity to coach, which I really enjoy. But with teaching, I could help a lot of people.

The realization took a number of years to figure out where I wanted to go. I decided I wanted to be a principal. When I came to Carlmont, I wanted to work my way up to the principal, but I fell in love with the classroom.”

How do you think this decision has impacted your life for the better?

“When I was very young, I used to lay on my bed, look up at the ceiling, and try to think of different careers. And every career I thought of wasn’t good enough. And it wasn’t good enough because it didn’t help enough people. I feel as though the teaching has impacted my life because I know that I’m trying to help other people better their lives. It certainly challenges me on a daily basis to connect with people and help them learn. I love when you see the spark in someone’s eyes that they understand the material.

That’s it for me, and it’s made my life better knowing that I’m doing something that helps others.”

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Sophie Gurdus The Universities of California are sought-after, dream schools for students worldwide. Academically competitive, centrally located, beautiful, and prestigious, they garner record applications each year.

But they aren’t all they seem.

The UC system received 249,855 applications for the 2021 school

year, up 16.1% from 2020, according to the UC Graduate, Undergraduate, and Equity Affairs. It’s clear where this leads: to record numbers of rejections. But student populations are rising as well. So much so that the universities can no longer accommodate them.

Schools like UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) and UC Berkeley went into overflow in past years, and the trend has continued.

Students had to be moved into hotels instead of dorms.

These hotels are off-campus and far, without dependable transportation services.

There isn’t even enough space for freshmen on campus, let alone sophomores and upperclassmen. And housing in cities like Isla Vista, Calif., isn’t cheap. Many students cannot afford to rent there, and with the precautions of the pandemic, housing has become more limited.

According to Gurleen Pabla, vice-chair of Isla Vista Tenants Union, there are only 10 students in a house on average, compared to 16 in previous years. As a result, rent increases, and housing itself becomes harder to find.

OPINION: UCs ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM

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Other schools, like UC Berkeley, are no different.

Before classes began in 2021, nearly 5,000 student applications for housing at UC Berkeley were unable to be accommodated, according to a spokesperson. Additionally, housing prices continue to rise, and availability just gets lower in these populated college towns, especially when they overlap with a major city.

Many of the UCs are taking measures to fix this. Building new dorms is the first resort. UCSB, in particular, has plans to build a new “megadorm.” Charlie Munger, a 97-year-old billionaire, is only financing the new hall if it follows his design, one that structures the building into apartments of eight single occupancy rooms. And in the entire building, 94% of those rooms will be windowless. But not to worry, the hall has plenty of room for surfboard storage!

The school is hopelessly out of touch with what students actually need.

Students have taken to social media to protest, comparing the building to prison cells, but the school plans to press on with its design.

UCSB isn’t unique in its new dorm construction. UC Berkeley is also attempting to build additional dorms to support its influx of students, as are UC Davis and UC San Diego.

Still, housing isn’t the only thing impacted by overpopulation. Admitted students struggle to enroll in classes — classes they need to graduate, classes they need for their major, and classes

to just fill their schedule and fulfill the mandated number of credit hours necessary to be considered a full-time student.

Getting classes at any college can be a pain. We know this. Students race to avoid 8 a.m. lectures and scour Rate My Professor before meeting with advisors.

But the UC system is especially bad.

The schools are understaffed. There aren’t enough professors to handle all the students attending, even while holding lectures with hundreds of students.

Just filling credit hours is difficult, and adding in need for major-specific classes is next to impossible. But instead of allocating more resources to increased staff and classes, UCs are looking into cutting requirements for degrees and pushing some majors to be completed in less than four years. Or looking to treat summer classes as equivalent to a full quarter or one semester classes, rather than the pay-by-the-unit way they are now.

This difficulty in getting classes only exacerbates the shrinking graduation rates. Students cannot enroll in the classes they need and have to push their graduation date. Not only is that a major inconvenience, but also a huge financial burden. The student now has to pay for the extra semester, the extra year. They lose months when they might have been working a full-time job.

And yes, graduating “on time” is a myth and one we should dismantle.

But that doesn’t change the reality of being unable to graduate in four years because of the school itself, rather than

a student’s own pace. Students who plan to graduate in four years or fewer are now forced to remain longer in their expensive college towns to take just one or two classes that they should have been able to complete in the years before.

This adds up, especially when the public universities aren’t all that cheap in the first place. UCs cost 9.52% more than the nationwide average for a public four-year institution, according to Education Date Initiative. For the 20192020 school year, UC Berkeley’s final instate undergraduate cost with room and board factored in was $39,550. UCSB’s was over $36,000. UC Merced and UC Davis were both about $38,000. There is a huge gap compared to a school like the University of Florida, a public land-grant research university that costs $21,430.

The UCs are expensive, even for in-state residents. So much so that it is not uncommon for students to go out of state and pay similar tuition. Financial aid can bridge the gap and bring costs at schools outside of California to the same level or even cheaper.

Paying nearly $40,000 for a public education in-state is far from typical.

And to pay that much to not even be guaranteed campus housing or necessary classes is highway robbery.

The UCs are incredible schools — I am not here to refute that. The issue comes in when their faults are glossed over. Schools are more than location and prestige, and their actions speak loudest.

So when you’re committing to a school, just remember: you can’t see the beach if you don’t have a window.

Veronica Roseborough

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Opinion: Don’t undermine those with actual diagnoses Anna Wilkinson Too often, people use words that correlate to mental illnesses, which end up normalizing these illnesses instead of bringing awareness to them.

This kind of language is embedded in our generation and used daily. To explain, it is easy for us to describe the situation by saying something such as “I am so depressed” or, in more extreme terms, “I am going to kill myself ” when something doesn’t go in our favor. The same goes for people who tend to be organized and self-diagnose themselves as having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While some may think that this is acceptable and doesn’t mean anything, this language is not only triggering but hurts those who have mental illnesses. Recently, people have realized that some words embedded into our vocabulary are offensive, but we haven’t gone far enough to purge all of these words from daily use.

An article from Hogg Foundation for Mental Health talks about similar topics but specifically highlights preference.

Since the way we speak is constantly evolving, we must keep checking up on each other to see what we prefer to be called. It should be the norm to ask those affected how they want either themselves or what they are suffering from to be referred to as.

I am sure you have heard someone say that they are “so OCD” because they love to be organized. Or that they like to clean, so then there must be OCD somewhere in their genetics.

This image of OCD has been going on for many years, and it is an inaccurate painting of the disorder. OCD isn’t just about being an organized person, which people often assume it is. Instead, OCD is an all-consuming and often detrimental disorder that can occur in any kind of person, organized or not. Although I do believe most people realize that being organized is different from OCD, our language around these topics still remains. In the end, this use of this kind of language can come down to education, or the lack of it, around these disorders and illnesses. It is essential to educate students about the signs of things like OCD and depression so they can be aware of how inaccurate their language is.

According to the American Psychiatric Society, someone with OCD would have mannerisms such as recurring unwanted thoughts, ideas, or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions).

Repetitive behaviors, such as hand-washing, checking on things, or cleaning, can significantly interfere with a person’s daily activities and social interactions.

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When it comes to signs or symptoms of depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, someone could exhibit any of these symptoms: persistent sadness, anxiety, an “empty” mood, feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, irritability, loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities, difficulty sleeping, early-morning awakening or oversleeping, thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts.

To be clear, I feel like most people in Generation Z are guilty of using depression as a way to describe their bad mood. We need to grow out of this habit as it has become detrimental. As a society, we know that certain words, such as swear words, are bad and should not be used due to their negative connotations. Yet, we fail to realize that words surrounding these illnesses can have the same connotations. By making depression a term to describe normal sadness, we undermine people’s experience with this mental illness by making it a common term.

Since phrases like “I am going to kill myself ” are commonly used by the younger generations, we miss signs of when someone is actually having symptoms of these illnesses when any inconvenience happens in our life.

This kind of language is not only common with Gen Z, but Carlmont teachers use the same language. During lectures, instead of using language like “sad” or “upset,” teachers often use “depressed” to depict the extreme sadness they feel is being induced. It may seem like that is the only word to describe extreme sadness, but many other words suffice. To give a few examples: distressed, agony, disheartened, gloom, disappointed, etc. All these words still portray the same message without any consequence to them.

This is not to blame every person who has used this kind of language or any language that undermines someone’s situation,

as I am sure most people have done this throughout their lives. Rather, I suggest changing this kind of language to support those around us.

Often, I hear people complaining about how they feel useless when it comes to helping those diagnosed with any illness, mental and physical. Still, the easiest way to try and better ourselves for their sake is to rid ourselves of words that can be hurtful and offensive. I find that a lot of older generations are surprised when Gen Z calls them out for their offensive behavior and language. As I mentioned above, this shows the lack of education around why this kind of language is hurtful.

Since these generations have grown up seeing this language as equal to any other kind of language, it can be understandably difficult to expel it.

We can fix this behavior by taking the initiative to educate ourselves on the illnesses we are so commonly talking about and how our language affects those affected. Also, we can kindly remind ourselves and those around us not to use these words as they are doing more harm than we often realize. Most importantly, as mentioned above, keep a person’s preferences in mind if you are able to ask someone affected by these illnesses or disorders, in a respectful and comfortable environment, about their experience and how they feel about the language surrounding them.

Ethan Man

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Editorial: Toxic positivity causes more harm than good “Everything happens for a reason,” “look on the bright side!” and “stay positive” are all common phrases people hear in times of loss, distress, or anger.

They are often regarded as comforting phrases — those that are meant to soothe and relieve. However, in extreme cases, they tend to have the opposite effect by disregarding people and dismissing their struggles.

In times of hardship, many go to peers, family members, or trusted friends for comfort and to confide in them and explain their situation. This process can be challenging to tackle in itself, as many struggle even to be vulnerable enough to open up to others.

Yet such positivity disguised as comfort becomes toxic. It leaves the individual feeling more alienated and disconnected than before they reached out. Through seemingly small and harmless phrases, this practice merely dismisses an individual’s problems and provides them with false reassurance.

Toxic positivity can often be challenging to recognize as people believe they inspire positivity in others during hard times. However, claiming that “everything happens for a reason” after someone has experienced extreme loss is not only insensitive but also dismissive of their emotions. Since many are taught that positivity at any cost is a good thing, people tend to perpetuate this habit without even noticing.

To better recognize if you are perpetuating toxic positivity, make an effort to analyze how you approach situations when people are in times of need. If your go-to comfort phrases are similar to those listed above, re-evaluate the impact those words can have on others. Ask yourself, “are my words truly providing validation and comfort to this person?”

Beyond this, make an effort to be genuinely empathetic — put yourself in their shoes, and try to understand how you would feel if someone comforted you in the same way.

Some risks of toxic positivity include ignoring the actual harm of the individual facing a particularly dangerous or hopeless situation. By “always looking on the bright side,” those with the best intentions may encourage others to overlook serious issues.

Toxic positivity further promotes low self-esteem while encouraging others to ignore their emotion. According to a University of California, Los Angeles study, verbalizing emotions helps relieve people of intense pain or sadness and fosters various other benefits in the process. By suppressing the feelings of others, people may discourage the process of releasing emotions in a healthy manner.

Instead of saying, “things will work out,” try saying, “this must be hard right now — is there any way I can support you?”

By doing so, you offer support rather than dismissal and can work to be a truly reliable source of comfort for many.

Validation is a vital selection of the process in any situation involving comfort. Avoid minimizing the problem and emotions the other person is experiencing, and instead provide hope in an understanding way. Not every situation has a positive spin; some things can be sad or frustrating, and that’s okay.

While positive outlooks can undoubtedly benefit by forming a sense of hope, they can cross a line if consoling a person in times of need. By recognizing that negativity is a regular part of life, people will be able to comfort others in a much more empathetic way.

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A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR ALLIES

Disclaimer: People who use the terms nonbinary, asexual, or demisexual to describe their gender identity or sexual orientation may do so because that is the term they think best fits them or feels most right. Some people using these terms may not seem to fit their definitions exactly. Language is freeing yet limiting, and it is up to each person which labels they use or do not use. As an ally, it is not your place to tell someone which label they should use or that they cannot use a particular label.

Gem Kryhina The LGBTQ+ community includes various sexual and romantic orientations and gender identities. Some of these are more well-known and accepted than others.

For example, nonbinary, asexual, and demisexual people are members of the LGBTQ+ community whose identities are often unknown, rejected, and erased.

Because of this, not all allies, and even members of the LGBTQ+ community, recognize and respect nonbinary, asexual, and demisexual people.

Being an ally to nonbinary, asexual, and demisexual people centers around validation and individuality. That is, the key to being an ally is validating nonbinary, asexual, and demisexual

NONBINARY The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to advocacy and crisis support for LGBTQ+ youth, has many resources for LGBTQ+ people and allies on its website, thetrevorproject.org.

One such resource, A Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth, defines nonbinary as a gender identity outside the male-female binary.

This means that people who identify as nonbinary may identify as neither male

people’s identities and recognizing that everyone’s identity is unique.

A person’s relationship with their gender or sexual orientation can be influenced by many things, such as their experiences and other identities, Avantika Swaminathan points out.

Swaminathan, a junior and president of Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) at Carlmont, identifies as nonbinary and uses all pronouns.

“Being [LGBTQ+] can mean so many things, and it definitely can depend on people’s other intersections of marginalization,” Swaminathan said.

“People of color, Black people, and Indigenous people may experience gender identity or sexuality in different ways depending on their cultures and how they fit into a Eurocentric society.” nor female, both, or a combination of these.

Xen Lapshin, a nonbinary senior that attends Middle College and uses they/ them pronouns, reminds nonbinary allies that it is essential to realize that nonbinary identities are complex and vary from person to person.

“The most important thing to remember is that everyone’s gender is different,” Lapshin said. “Two nonbinary people could have completely different gender experiences.”

Differences between nonbinary

Pronoun Examples they/them: They wanted to read the Highlander, so I gave them a copy of the magazine. ze/zir: Ze wanted to read the Highlander, so I gave zir a copy of the magazine. xe/xem: Xe wanted to read the Highlander, so I gave xem a copy of the magazine. sie/hir: Sie wanted to read the Highlander, so I gave hir a copy of the magazine. she/they: She wanted to read the Highlander, so I gave them a copy of the magazine. he/they: He wanted to read the Highlander, so I gave them a copy of the magazine.

Source: Gender-Neutral Pronouns 101: Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know via them.us

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people include how they think of and use the term nonbinary. Some nonbinary people use nonbinary as the only label for their gender. Others use more specific labels, using nonbinary as an umbrella term instead.

Lapshin encourages allies to use they/them pronouns for a stranger or a “hypothetical person of unknown gender,” both in speaking and writing, to avoid assuming someone’s gender and normalize the use of gender-neutral pronouns.

Gendering nonbinary people correctly is an integral part of nonbinary allyship. Being addressed by a specific name different from the name assigned to them at birth may also be part of a nonbinary person’s gender expression.

While some people use binary pronouns, they/them pronouns, or a combination of these, others may use neopronouns. Neopronouns are pronouns that are different from she/ her, he/him, and they/them pronouns, and they are used by people who feel that more widely used pronouns do not accurately or entirely refer to them.

Neopronouns, like any other pronouns, refer to someone in the third person without the use of their name.

Using neopronouns to refer to people who use them validates their identity.

Remember that using different pronouns takes practice and everyone makes mistakes. If you use the wrong pronouns for someone — referred to as misgendering — quickly correct yourself, apologize briefly, and move on.

A lengthy, elaborate apology might seem like a good idea. Instead, it can shift blame and responsibility onto the person you have misgendered, which virtually negates your apology.

When you introduce yourself, you should offer your name and pronouns — traditionally, women use she/ her pronouns, and men use he/him pronouns. Sharing your pronouns allows people to feel safe about sharing theirs.

Charlotte Fields, a Carlmont sophomore who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, said that allies should strive to make nonbinary people

feel safe and comfortable.

They encourage allies to have an individual approach since being an ally to one person may differ from being an ally to another person. Talking to nonbinary people you are close to is a great way to start being an ally, especially if you are unsure about what is best to do.

“People who are new to allyship should reach out to the nonbinary people in their lives and see how they can best support them,” Fields said. “We don’t bite, I promise.”

ASEXUAL SPECTRUM

Someone who is asexual experiences no sexual attraction, as defined by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN). AVEN, which can be found at asexuality.org, has resources for both asexual and allosexual — not asexual — people.

Asexuality is also considered a spectrum. The asexual spectrum includes various asexual identities categorized by different levels of sexual attraction and situations in which people experience sexual attraction.

People with identities on the asexual spectrum can be referred to as aspec, an abbreviated term that may also include the aromantic spectrum.

“I believe the most important thing to consider is that each asexual and aspec experience is different. Even if someone chooses to label themselves, it doesn’t box them into one experience,” Varun Avari Kapoor said.

Avari Kapoor is a Carlmont graduate who is currently a freshman at the University of California, Davis, identifies as asexual, and uses he/they pronouns.

He explains that allies should learn more about asexuality by researching independently and talking to asexual people who are comfortable sharing their experiences. Avari Kapoor said that when allies listen to and respect them, it is

“validating.”

“All we want is to be seen since the world considers sexual attraction something that makes us human.

However, that’s incorrect, as we are living proof of that, and the world sometimes doesn’t understand that,” Avari Kapoor said. “Being an ally is about recognizing that we exist.”

Demisexual is a sexual orientation that falls on the asexual spectrum.

According to the Trevor Project’s guide titled Understanding Asexuality, demisexual people experience sexual attraction toward another person only after forming a strong emotional connection with them.

Claire Bing, a Carlmont senior who is GSA vice president and uses she/her pronouns, explains that many people don’t know much about demisexuality.

“So many people believe stereotypes, myths, and misinformation about [aspec] people. Always speak up to kindly inform and correct others when you know they have gotten something wrong to combat this misinformation,” Bing said.

Asher Pollan, a Carlmont senior who is demisexual and uses he/ him pronouns, describes that people should respect the “boundaries and differences” of demisexual people. He also emphasizes that while allies’ support is appreciated, demisexual people are not helpless.

“Don’t feel the need to save us from discrimination or oppression. If we need help, we’ll ask. Part of being a good ally is knowing how involved to be.

Being too involved and having a savior mentality rubs us the wrong way,” Pollan said.

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A Barbie girl in a biased world Lindsay Augustine “Does anyone even like Barbies anymore? Am I even relevant?”

This trend, found on TikTok, is answered with, “Of course I am; I’m Barbie.”

However, Barbies haven’t been relevant for everyone. Millions of little girls and boys have grown up with dolls that didn’t reflect who they were.

“Most of the time, we see white dolls. That’s what we see… It’s kind of disheartening to see dolls that do not look like you,” said Bobby Jones, the founder of the Facebook group Black Dolls Rule.

Nothing made this more apparent than “The Doll Test” of 1947. In this study, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark gave African American children four dolls, two Black and two white.

“The children were more likely to step over or even step on the Black dolls to get to other toys. But that didn’t happen with the other dolls.”

Toni Sturdivant

They then asked the children to place the dolls in categories: which doll was nicer, which doll they would rather play with, and which doll was most like them.

Black children disproportionately chose the white doll and often became upset when they would have to choose the Black doll when asked which doll was most like them.

The Clarks believed this was due to the segregationist and racist culture Black children faced at the time.

“We found the children really didn’t want to be Black or even brown,” said Mamie Clark in an oral history interview in 1976. “Then you began to wonder about the whole field of education, and ‘What did it mean that all these children were in one place?’ You know what kind of situation this is — that they’re isolated from whites, and they can never learn that they’re just as good as whites, they’re just as bright as whites. They’ll always think they’re inferior. They’ll always think that whites are superior to them.”

The Clarks testified about their findings in one of the five cases comprised in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that deemed segregation unconstitutional. Their contributions were vital to the case, as the Supreme Court quoted the Clarks’ paper in their final statement.

“To separate [Black children] from others of similar age and

qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone,” wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Unfortunately, Black children’s feeling of inferiority didn’t end with the Supreme Court’s decision in 1954.

Toni Sturdivant, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, recreated The Doll Test for herself.

She reported her findings in her article, “What I learned when I recreated the famous ‘doll test’ was how Black kids see race.”

“Without asking specific questions as the Clarks did, I still found a great deal of bias in how the girls treated the dolls. The girls rarely chose the Black dolls during play. On the rare occasions that the girls chose the Black dolls, they mistreated them,” Sturdivant wrote. “The children were more likely to step over or even step on the Black dolls to get to other toys. But that didn’t happen with the other dolls.”

However, when Good Morning America recreated the test in their segment, Black and White, they found more positive results. Only 32% of children had preferred playing with the white doll, compared to 63% in the original study. The percentage that thought the white doll was nicer decreased from 56% to 32%. Black children

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were also much more likely to identify with the Black doll now, increasing from 56% to 88%.

This may be due in part to Barbie changing their approach to diversity and using their dolls to teach children that people of color are beautiful.

“Whether it be in the aisles of the beauty section of a grocery store, the main characters selected for a children’s movie, or the conversations parents have at the dinner table, Black children need spaces that tell them they are perfect just the way they are,” Sturdivant wrote in the article’s conclusion.

Avantika Swaminathan, a junior at Carlmont, also thinks that representation is an important step to take. “[My sister] had a doll that kind of looked like her, not all the way, of course, but it kind of looked like her. I was very jealous that she had gotten to have that experience,” Swaminathan said. “I don’t know how that might have affected her positively or negatively, but I know that in general, with the things that I’ve been told — I don’t live in India, so I’m not the beauty standard — there’s a lot of stereotypes that are put on [people of color], and that can

be really harmful. So representation isn’t the only step to take, but it can be helpful for younger kids to see that.”

Recently, Mattel Inc. tweeted that Barbie is “the most diverse doll line,” adding dolls with vitiligo (a condition causing patches of skin in different tones), dolls in wheelchairs, and dolls of different races.

“As far as the diversity that they’re expressing now, I think it’s great,” Jones said. “I think it’s really awesome that they’re finally reaching out to different cultures, different people, and showing people that they can find dolls that look like them.”

Lindsay Augus

tine

Art by Lindsay Augustine

APRIL 2022 HIGHLANDER 37

Birthdays

AROUND THE WORLD Writing and Art by Sabrina Lo The myriad of cultures amongst the 195 countries on this planet all vary in practices and traditions but have one aspect in common: celebrating birthdays. Within the United States, people are quite familiar with the classic birthday cake with balloons, streamers, gifts, and the birthday song. Countries around the world have their unique take on birthday celebrations, with some following their history or customary beliefs.

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Germany

Germany refrains from celebrations when it’s not quite time yet. It is considered rude and bad luck to tell a person “Alles Gute zum Geburtstag” (“Happy Birthday”) before their actual birthday. For the same reason, birthdays are never celebrated early; if the celebration needs to be moved to a different date, it is always moved to a day after the actual birthday.

China

China is known for its strong belief in fostering peace, prosperity, wealth, and luck. In order to incorporate such notions into Chinese birthday celebrations, it is customary for the birthday person to eat “longevity noodles.”

The birthday person is supposed to slurp up the long noodles as much as possible without biting or chewing them to represent the longevity of one’s life.

The more you slurp, the longer your life will be.

Canada

Canada gets its distinctive birthday tradition from its Scottish descendants.

The birthday person’s friends and family grease up their nose with butter in order to make them too slippery to be caught by bad luck.

Italy

Similar to how the U.S. has birthday punches, Italy, Hungary, and Argentina celebrate the birthday person by tugging on their ear. They tug the birthday person’s ear the same amount of times as the age they are turning.

Jamaica

Pranks on the birthday person are common in many countries, including a unique tradition in Jamaica. They celebrate by “antiquing” the birthday person, where friends and family coat them in flour. Though this is usually done in an ambush or surprise, antiquing can also be organized.

APRIL 2022 HIGHLANDER 39

Headline goes right here Humanizing homelessness: isabelle nunes

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The stories of Miguel, Karina, and Manuel

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Writing and Photos by Hudson Fox Sweltering heat beats down on your neck on a hot summer day, an anomaly for a city famed for its rolling blanket of fog. Meandering through the streets of San Francisco, you search for a shady bench. When you find one and sit down, you look to each side. There are spiked metal poles sticking out at threefoot intervals, making lying down impossible. Cops patrol the neighborhood, watching intently as you take a seat. To you, this is no big deal.

To the homeless population, it is everything.

Being unhoused has always been difficult in San Francisco. Take Miguel Carrera, a formerly homeless resident of San Francisco who has now become a housing justice organizer at the Coalition on Homelessness.

“When you become homeless, you lose your job, opportunity, and your family,” Carrera said.

According to Carrera, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his time on the streets. Motivated by these traumas, he has dedicated himself over the past 27 years to “advocating for and defending” the rights of the homeless and working to ensure that adequate housing is provided in San Francisco.

Carrera has faced some of the same challenges shared by today’s homeless population.

“I know how difficult it is when you are homeless, looking for an area to rest, and then have the police come up to you and tell you that you have to move.

They don’t offer a solution. Either you move, or they bring you to jail,” Carrera said.

Anti-homeless architecture, a recent tactic employed by the city of San Francisco, involves purposely building infrastructure meant to prevent homeless encampments from popping up in public areas. Combined with an increased presence of police, this creates a difficult environment for today’s homeless population.

In terms of city-led alternatives, some officials will argue that homeless shelters temporarily solve the issue by providing a roof over homeless people’s heads. However, a lot of homeless people choose the streets over the shelters.

Karina*, a homeless resident and mother of four who used to live in women’s shelters in San Francisco, reflected upon her poor experience in the shelter system. “[Authority figures] in shelters yell at you, ‘Hurry up, what’s wrong with you?’ What’s wrong with me? I’m being yelled at. That’s what’s wrong,” Karina said.

Getting back on her feet was hard, as the constant belittling and condescending attitudes of some workers made it difficult for her to tolerate the situation.

“I was working, trying to go to school at an academy of arts, and it was fun, but they still looked at me like I wasn’t s**t,” Karina said.

Many others in shelters share that experience. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Coalition on Homelessness, 55% of the 215 shelter resident respondents said the staff or other residents had verbally abused them during their stay at homeless shelters.

Carrera acknowledged that the system built to positively address the homelessness crisis sometimes has the opposite effect.

“The problem is not the homeless people; it is the system. [Policies and practices] create bad conditions that [work against] poor people,” Carrera said.

Given these issues, organizations have begun searching for solutions. For Carrera, affordable housing is the number one priority.

“You cannot provide a recovery program, an [Alcoholics Anonymous] program to homeless people, if we don’t provide the stability that homeless people need. This stability means housing,” Carrera said.

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According to Carrera, 40,000 empty housing units in San Francisco remain abandoned. He proposed moving homeless people into empty housing units and hotel rooms as a temporary measure to address the issue while simultaneously developing plans to decrease housing prices and create permanently affordable housing. But to him, inaction reveals how little government officials care.

And San Francisco isn’t alone.

“Cities in the Bay Area aren’t trying to solve the problem, and that is an issue,” Carrera said.

Across the Bay Area, the homelessness crisis has exploded.

Between 2017 and 2020, the Bay Area’s homeless population increased by 22%, making up roughly 30% of the growth in the national homeless population, according to a report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

Composed of over 100 cities, the Bay Area covers nine counties. In San Mateo County, local communities are presented with similar problems to those who live in metropolitan areas such as San Francisco.

After her experience in the shelters, Karina migrated southward, set up a series of tents to house her family, and established a settlement in Redwood City, California. Manuel, another homeless resident of Redwood City, came by choice.

He cited his father’s passing as the impetus for choosing to become homeless, breaking away from his family and leaving unannounced.

When he first arrived in Redwood City, he was taken aback by the diversity of people that he encountered on the street.

“Being here was a totally new experience. It’s very dangerous to be on the streets. There are so many people here that come from different backgrounds. There are professionals, some that use drugs like marijuana, heroin, and crystal meth,” Manuel said.

Manuel plans to soon leave the encampment. However, leaving may be hard for him.

“I don’t want to leave because [right now], I don’t have the pressure of paying rent, of neighbors complaining about the

music being too loud, and things like that,” Manuel said.

However, a personal attack may have swayed his opinion.

During our interview, Manuel recounted how, about a week before, someone hit him over the head with a two-by-four-foot block of wood. In explaining the attack, Manuel referenced the attacker’s history of drug usage.

“That guy shoots [heroin]. I don’t know why, but I guess that is why he went crazy,” Manuel said.

Physical attacks and crime are not the only issues for homeless residents of the Bay Area ­­— access to clean water can present a greater problem than almost any other.

“Taking showers is one of the biggest challenges because water is scarce. Water is the key to everything,” Karina said.

Manuel agreed, noting that he also prizes showers and clean water.

A report from last year drove home the point that water is hard to come by for the homeless community. The UNHOUSED Water for All Initiative report by the Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, published on March 16, 2021, reveals how in San Francisco, 61% of respondents didn’t have access to the lowest international minimum standard for water access.

For Carrera, access to showers provided him with new opportunities. “[After being able to shower], I was clean and sober while looking for a job. Now, I [was able to] start making money,” Carrera said.

Noting that many homeless do not have the same access to basic amenities such as a shower and clean shelter, Carrera struck a somber final note.

“If we don’t have the opportunity, it’s difficult to create change,” Carrera said. *In an effort to protect the identity of the homeless population and their whereabouts, the last names of these sources have been withheld in accordance with Carlmont Media’s Anonymous Sourcing Policy.

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The fear of joining extracurriculars late Carolina Cuadros The timer to dedicate yourself to an extracurricular starts counting down the moment you enter high school. Panic pollutes many students’ brains when they realize they are already behind because everyone else had a head start on the activity.

High school has turned into a competition to be the smartest, the fastest, the most creative, the best. This cutthroat environment is filled with individuals who have dedicated their lives to a sport, skill, or club.

Despite how daunting it is, individuals still join activities partway into high school.

Enter Aylin Salahifar, a senior at Carlmont High School. In her sophomore year, she made the decision to join the school’s track and field team. Salahifar was met with record-breaking teammates, creating the illusion that she was already so far behind.

The question “How am I going to keep up?” constantly invaded her thoughts.

Older students are more susceptible to distance themselves and even avoid activities altogether out of embarrassment when younger students excel at those same activities. Salahifar was no stranger to this; she found that many freshmen had a more extensive skill set than her since she was new to the sport.

“Because the Bay Area is so competitive, everyone starts their hobbies at a young age, so it seems like they are so good at what they do,” Salahifar said.

The Bay Area is specifically prone to invoking these intrusive thoughts. Home to top universities, tech companies, and high-performing programs, residing in this environment makes the stakes feel excruciatingly high. According to NBC Bay Area, students feel that the Bay Area high school culture is so intense because classrooms are made up of top-performing students, athletes, and competitors. Consequently, pressure and competition constantly occupy this hyper intensified bubble.

“It’s like grade inflation but talent inflation,” Salahifar said.

Though some students find a niche as a result of genuine passion, many are driven by the pressure to allure top universities. Often, parents intensify the pressure by enrolling their kids in extracurriculars with the sole purpose of building their resumes. Naturally, these students strive to be the best.

This competitive nature can often turn toxic. From athletes to computer scientists to debate competitors, students find unethical ways to intimidate others from joining. Salahifar noticed a pattern of lies stemming from her acquaintances.

“It’s the strangest thing because people are always downplaying their skills, so when new people join something, it can be really discouraging because people pretend that they are on the same level as you but then succeed amazingly.”

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Pro-life feminism in an age of political polarization Andrew Tolu “Religious, conservative, Republican.”

For many Americans, these are the first words that come to mind when describing those who are pro-life, a term used to denote someone who is against abortion.

Kristin Turner is the antithesis of the stereotypes associated with the pro-life movement she spends much of her life devoted to. A survivor of sexual abuse, a self-proclaimed feminist, a strong supporter of progressive ideals, an atheist, and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Turner is not what comes to mind when a pro-life activist is pictured.

Turner herself is currently the executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco, the founder of Take Feminism Back, and the communications director for The Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.

“For me, feminism isn’t just about the equality of the sexes.

It’s about how we analyze every single intersecting group that we are a part of, how that affects our everyday lives, and how that affects us on a systemic level,” Turner said. “When we talk about feminism, it’s not just white women and white men; it’s black women, it’s queer women, it’s women from all different identities, it’s gender non-conforming people, it’s people from all different backgrounds.”

Turner’s definition of feminism is known as intersectional feminism. Kimberlé Crenshaw, the woman who coined the term, described intersectional feminism in an interview with Time as “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.”

Turner’s and many other pro-life feminists’ viewpoints on abortion come from the fact that, to them, the unborn are encompassed under their definition of intersectional feminism. To Turner, not advocating for all pregnancies to end in the birth of a child is not within her definition of feminism because she sees the unborn as a currently marginalized group that pro-choice advocates are continuing to repress.

“I think that being pro-choice is being antithetical to being a feminist in the same way I believe that being ableist is anti-feminist or that being anti-LGBTQ is anti-feminist. I believe those ideas do not coincide with each other. So while I think that they do great work on other issues, to holistically go through the world as a feminist, you have to be pro-life,” Turner said.

Many pro-life progressives, including Turner, also subscribe to the consistent life ethic as a belief system, or the idea that all life is precious. People following the consistent life ethic typically advocate for the ending of capital punishment, are against abortion, against euthanasia, and against unjust wars or

wars in general.

For many, however, Turner’s views on abortion and her following of the consistent life ethic automatically make her unable to use the term “feminist” to identify herself.

“Being pro-choice is not being necessarily pro-abortion — it’s choice. So that means that if the right choice for someone is to continue a pregnancy, then that is their decision, but that not everyone is restricted by that belief, legally,” said Addison Gaitán, an English teacher at Carlmont and staunch pro-choice feminist. “So I think that it would be hard for me to say you could be pro-life and be a feminist because then you would be taking choice away from other women.”

One of the major issues that many pro-life feminists see is the demonization that occurs of people who do not conform to conventional beliefs, especially those that straddle the border between the two major American political parties.

“I think in liberal areas, there’s a lot of things that people think of as going along with being anti-abortion. If you’re anti-abortion, then [people often assume that] you’re probably also a racist, sexist, and really just conservative. I’m not any of those things,” said Janice Buckley*, a senior at Carlmont who identifies as both pro-life and a feminist.

Turner affirmed that the demonization of others is also present in conservative circles surrounding abortion rights.

“Pro-lifers, especially the ones I find that have some sort of faith in God, believe that [abortion is] an absolute evil, not even [just] the ideologies, but the people who believe [in increasing abortion access] are absolutely evil. That hurts because, as somebody who used to be pro-choice, I wasn’t an evil person; I just had different ideas,” Turner said.

This polarization, Turner feels, can oftentimes overshadow the goals that many people share.

“When we demonize people, and we make them seem horrible, completely evil, and it doesn’t help us. I think prolifers and pro-choicers are likely to realize that there’s a lot more that we agree on than we think we do,” Turner said.

What many pro-life and pro-choice advocates agree on is improving the options for women faced with unplanned pregnancies and changing the way abortion is discussed in the United States.

“A lot of the way that we talk about abortion in the United States is very reactionary, and it doesn’t look a lot at the root cause of why we have unwanted pregnancies, why the pregnancies happened, and why they are unwanted. Alleviating some of that fiscal burden on moms who become pregnant [is necessary],” Gaitán said.

Buckley echoed this point, demonstrating the fundamental agreement that many pro-life and pro-choice feminists have.

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“I think that the solutions that are important to make to have a world without abortion feasible, are improving the foster care system a whole lot, making adoption easier, making resources for women who are pregnant [more accessible], having better childcare services, and having better opportunities for single parents,” Buckley said.

This polarization and lack of understanding of their commonalities often come from the fundamental disagreement of who’s autonomy is more important, that of the fetus or that of the individual carrying the fetus.

“I think that pregnancy is something that is very challenging and really deeply personal. And interestingly enough, being pregnant myself with a very wanted and planned child has made me even more pro-abortion access than I even thought I could be, just because it’s so mentally and physically challenging and definitely something that people should have a choice over,” Gaitán said.

While Gaitán sees terminating a pregnancy as a decision for an individual to make about a part of their body, Buckley* sees it as a decision to end the life of another being.

“I think the main difference in beliefs is often just like whether people see the fetus as part of the mother or not. And I’m not sure that’s a belief that can be easily changed either way, so I’m not sure if people will ever agree on this issue, but I do think that people are too polarized. We don’t need to be this polarized,” Buckley said.

As a whole, many feminists fear the consequences of the United States, where abortion is made illegal without addressing the lack of support for many pregnant women.

“I’m really scared going into this period where Roe v. Wade, [the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States], could potentially be overturned because I feel like there isn’t enough out there, there’s not enough help… I wish that there was a better system for pregnant people in our country,” Turner said. *This name was changed by the author to ensure anonymity for the source that was interviewed due to a fear of pushback for political beliefs, in accordance with Carlmont Media’s anonymous sourcing policy.

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APRIL 2022 HIGHLANDER 45

Health has a price tag Writing and Art by Calista Shohet It is common knowledge that obesity has long plagued the American population in startling numbers. According to 20172018 census data, the percentage of obese adults in the United States was over 40% compared with the 2016 worldwide amount of 13%, according to the World Health Organization.

However, what is not commonly acknowledged is the interconnectedness between poverty and obesity. Since the cost of a healthy lifestyle is not realistic for a significant percentage of U.S. citizens, survival overrules well-being.

The inability of many families to afford healthy diets is demonstrated by a 2017 research study analyzing the cost of following a MyPlate diet, the dietary guidelines recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The revealing study, conducted by researchers Kranti Mulik and Lindsey Haynes-Maslow, demonstrated that the cost for following these guidelines would range from $1,109 to $1,249 per month for a family of four. This is not feasible or realistic for much of America’s lower class.

Without a healthy diet as an option, people search for anything that can fill them up on a budget. Here, fast food comes into play. Its consistent low prices and convenience make it ideal for those working to support a family. With a Big Mac costing about $4, McDonald’s is the more accessible option than the MyPlate diet. However, this comes at a price.

King’s College London’s Professor of genetic epidemiology Tim Spector had his son Tom experiment with McDonald’s cuisine for three days. Following the trial, Tom’s gut was extensively damaged. He had lost around 40% of the bacteria species in his gut, a key sign of impending obesity and diabetes.

It is not only the price and convenience of fast food keeping the obesity epidemic intact in America. The arrangement of neighborhoods also plays a significant role due to food deserts.

A food desert is an area where healthy options, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are not easily available for consumption.

For various reasons, food deserts commonly come to life in low-income areas. To start, opening a grocery store anywhere is a large financial risk. In less privileged areas, this risk greatly increases. People with financial assistance on food can’t help the store make a profit, and socioeconomic issues such as crime rates can greatly increase insurance costs for these institutions. Transportation to food stores is also more challenging when money is limited. Due to these challenges, corner stores and fast-food chains tend to be more prevalent in these communities.

Luckily, Carlmont has been a leader in fighting this problem in the school community. Daily breakfast and lunch for students are free, providing a way for so many families to save money.

“Carlmont strikes me as having not particularly unhealthy or healthy items. The fruit and milk offered have nutrition, but of course, not everybody grabs them, and overall there aren’t many vegetables. They really could expand on offering more vegan or vegetarian options as well,” said Katinka Lennemann, a senior working in the Carlmont cafeteria.

However, the school’s hard work in providing healthier options is sometimes overlooked by students.

“If the pizza’s there, more people come for food. Free pizza is free pizza, and we’re hard-wired to like the salt and fat,” Lennemann said.

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