Volume 109, Issue 8

The Spectator

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

OPINIONS

FEATURES

A&E

Is Centralist Populism Doomed?

Taking Educational Inequality Across the Ocean

Top Ten Albums of 2018

Jonathan Schneiderman makes a case for populism’s future in the age of Macron and Les Gilets Jaunes. see page 14

Countdown the top ten albums of 2018 with Shivali Korgaonkar and Morris Raskin.

Zoraiz Irshad investigates educational inequality in third world countries in an interview with the board of I-Help-Liberia.

Volume 109 No. 8

see page 18

see page 10

January 10, 2019

stuyspec.com

Class of 2022 Freshman Survey

BY THE NUMBERS are 4% ofblackfreshmen or Hispanic went 418 freshmen to prep school

to study for the SHSAT

(10% of students chose not to answer this question)

1%

of freshmen selfidentify as neither male nor female (10% chose not to answer)

strong169 freshmen ly opposed to sexual activity by high school

(see more on Page 4.)

Stuyvesant Against Sex Trafficking Club Hosts Guest Speaker

By STEPHY CHEN, KATIE NG, and ZOE ZAKRZEWSKA

The Stuyvesant Against Sex Trafficking Club hosted a lecture by guest speaker Kyra Woodsen, a representative from End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, on December 11. The lecture served as an opportunity for students and faculty to learn more about child trafficking and its prevention.

The lecture opened with an interactive activity that mimicked the game “Simon Says,” where Woodsen introduced common situations that victims of child prostitution and sex trafficking experience. Though the game began normally, Woodsen quickly turned the activity into something much more sinister, slowly asserting her dominance and control over the listeners’ lives. “Simon says, look to the right” gradually became “Simon says, all the

money you make goes to me” and “Simon says, you do exactly as I tell you to do.”

“Simon Says is a game we all remember dearly from our childhood, but the way our presenter discussed the topic turned it into a method of harm and exploitation...that was really scary and disturbing,” sophomore Claire Shin said. continued on page 2

Junior Caucus Hosts Movie Night

By JACOB GORISEKGAZZE and NEIL SARKAR The Junior Caucus hosted their first movie night at Stuyvesant, featuring the popular romantic comedy-drama “Crazy Rich Asians.” The event was held after school on December 14, giving students an opportunity to relax and enjoy the movie with friends.

The movie was projected onto a screen in the Murray Kahn Theater.

The movie was free to attend, making it accessible to all students. This was rewarded with a very high turnout, with both the ground and mezzanine levels of the theater being used. “I was super happy with turnout. I was not expecting to use the balconies and we did,” Junior Caucus Co-President Zeynep Bromberg said.

The Junior Caucus booked the theater and got the event approved through Assistant Principal of Safety, Health, and P.E. Brian Moran. Proceeds from concessions went toward the Student Union general fund, which in turn goes toward funding for future events, clubs, and other activities at Stuyvesant.

The movie and the event were both received positively on the students’ part. “Crazy Rich Asians” is the first film by a major Hollywood studio to have a majority Asian American cast in a modern setting since “The Joy Luck Club,” released in 1993.

Stuyvesant students related to certain aspects of the movie, and for many, it was moving to see Asian representation in film. In the film, Nick Young takes his girlfriend, Rachel Chu, to meet

his extravagantly wealthy family during his visit to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding.

Rachel faces drama, new experiences and culture, and the Young family matriarch’s disapproval in an adventure of a lifetime.

Members of the Junior Caucus were pleased with the outcome of movie night, despite some bumps along the way. “Getting another adult supervisor here so that the event would run more smoothly [would be a priority],” Bromberg said. During the event, noise and movement in and out of the theater created distraction and disorganization. Bromberg said that in the future, additional supervision would prevent this from happening. continued on page 2

Student Union Hosts Emergency Preparedness Fair

By GRACE CANTARELLA, EVELYN MA, and CHLOE TERESTCHENKO The Student Union hosted its first Emergency Preparedness Fair in the cafeteria on December 18. Representatives from six agencies around the city participated in the fair, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), NYC Emergency Management, American Red Cross, NYC Police Department, NYC Fire Department, and the Community Emergency Response Team.

Sophomore Caucus President and FEMA representative Katerina Corr communicated with FEMA and NYC Emergency Management to organize the event. She was assisted by Assistant Principal of Safety, Health, and Physical Education Brian Moran, who helped with issues regarding the actual setup of the fair, such as space and coordinating with the different agencies.

Corr recognized the importance of hosting an Emergency Preparedness Fair at Stuyvesant in order to increase student awareness of the significance of preparation and safety during emergencies. “We don’t learn a lot about preparedness, and I think that it’s a really important aspect of our lives that we just don’t really talk

about,” Corr said. “If a disaster were to happen, we count on our parents or our family members to tell us what to do and what our evacuation plan is, and so on.

But at some point, we’re going to have to be able to do that and increasing youth preparedness leads to a prepared community in the future, so I wanted to start small with our school and go from there.”

Those who attended the fair also felt that it was beneficial to both students and parents.

“The school is one of the ways that parents and students stay informed and connected, and I think it’s really important that there are opportunities like this where parents and students can take information away that can be helpful,” sophomore Julian Giordano said.

The agencies present at the fair hoped to educate students and parents on how to prepare for emergencies. In particular, they stressed the importance of being proactive. “Having an evacuation plan that is agreed upon by your family members is very important. You should have escape routes planned and have survival kits packed and ready to go. You should have a meeting point and continued on page 2

Page 2

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

News Stuyvesant Against Sex Trafficking Club Hosts Guest Speaker

NEWSBEAT The Council on International Educational Exchange invited 22 Stuyvesant students to its study abroad program this summer in 12 countries including China, Morocco, Dominican Republic, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, India, Korea, Peru, France, Mexico, and Japan.

The Stuyvesant Chess Team competed at the Grade Level National Championships in Orlando, Florida and took first place in the 10th grade National Championship.

Freshmen Alison Chan, Adam Avnet, Ryan Chan, Daniel Fridly, and Rayat Roy placed sixth in the country in the freshman division.

Sophomores Justin Chen, Ann Zhang, Cheng Chen, and Jun Li were the national champions in their grade’s division.

Freshman Shirley Tan won Stuyvesant’s Annual Holiday Card Design Contest with her winning design of a Stuyvesant snow globe featuring the TriBeCa Bridge.

The Stuyvesant Model United Nations team competed at Brooklyn Technical High School this weekend.

Freshmen Ian Graham, Lucas Lee, and Charlize Trostinsky won Best Delegate awards. Juniors Ahmed Hussein, Alex Gattegno, and freshman Emmanuel Abayev won Honorable Mentions. Freshmen Daniel Lyalin and Tanim Miah were awarded with Best Position Paper.

continued from page 1 Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and NASA

WORLDBEAT The United States Federal Government is entering its third week of a partial shutdown, stemming from a clash between the president and Congressional Democrats over the funding of a wall along the southern border. Mr. Trump has said he won’t sign any bill funding the government that doesn’t include $5.7 billion for a border wall. The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday that they will pay tax refunds through the shutdown.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced his resignation on Monday. Kristalina Georgieva, the current CEO of the World Bank, will become interim president effective February 1.

Thousands of “yellow vest” protesters were on the streets on Saturday, some clashing with riot police, in a renewed show of force against the French government. “Once again, an extreme violence has attacked the republic,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter. The demonstrators have no unified goal, but many are against the government’s planned fuel-tax increase. A national Odoxa poll published Thursday found that 45 percent of the French public is in favor of stopping the movement.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in late December, a day after Mr. Trump announced plans to withdraw troops from Syria, citing “misaligned” views with the president. Mr. Trump moved up Mattis’s departure date to January 1, two months earlier than originally planned, to replace him with former Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.

Student Union Hosts Emergency Preparedness Fair

continued from page 1

agreed-upon exit routes so you always know where the people in your family are when there’s a fire,” American Red Cross representative Zoe Dulchinos said.

Students generally had a positive experience attending the Emergency Preparedness Fair because they learned helpful tips about being safe during natural disasters, on the internet, and at home. Giordano named the NYPD as an agency at the fair that peaked his interest, since they provided extensive material and information about scams that can happen in our everyday life, a topic that many people are unaware of.

Moran acknowledged various rough patches in the execution of the event, one major issue being attendance. Instead of having students attend the fair for a grade boost, Moran

wanted people who were genuinely interested in the topic of emergency preparedness to go to the event. “I always hesi-

“We could do it in the lobby, at an open house, or during parent-teacher conferences where there is more traffic and

“We don’t learn a lot about preparedness, and I think that it’s a really important aspect of our lives that we just don’t really talk about.” —Katerina Corr, Sophomore Caucus President and Federal Emergency Management Agency representative tate to [offer] the whole extra credit thing, which seems to help with student attendance.

It takes away [from the event], and it makes it more so people just want to sign in,” he said.

To increase attendance for future fairs, Moran proposed the idea of hosting the fair during a time when more people are able to attend and in a more accessible location.

people might be more inclined to stop by,” he said.

Both Corr and Moran expressed hopes of hosting another Emergency Preparedness Fair in the future. In the case that another one is hosted, Moran suggested inviting more groups to the fair and encouraging more people to attend the event.

Woodsen then presented statistics emphasizing the different types of trafficking, as well as the magnitude of the trafficking business. “Two thousand to 4,000 teens are exploited every year in New York City, in which the LGBTQ youth and youth in foster care are the most vulnerable populations,” she said.

Woodsen also explained that assimilation into sex trafficking is generally a gradual process.

Typical cases of trafficking involve young women and men being lured into relationships with older adults. However, as time passes, the relationships become progressively more abusive, and these adolescents are eventually coerced into sexual activity, which includes prostitution, erotic dancing, and sexual abuse imagery.

Afterward, Woodsen projected a clip of the documentary “What I’ve Been Through is Not Who I Am,” where Katrina Owens, a victim of sex trafficking, shared her story and provided insight on trafficking.

Owens’s narrative revealed that most victims are children from broken homes because they are more vulnerable to emotional manipulation. For example, if a young girl was raised without a father, a trafficker could try to appeal to her as a father figure and coax her into a superficial sense of security.

Senior and Stuyvesant Feminist Society President Allie Lennard discussed how the documentary provided valuable insight into trafficking from a victim’s point of view. “[Owens] talked about how her trafficker took advantage of her situation by offering things that she did not have access to. With these continuous acts, the trafficker got her to a place [where] she was reliant and trusted him.

I believe that this process isn’t really talked about and people don’t really understand how it happens, but the [documentary] was a good description of the process,” Lennard said.

Unfortunately, many victims of sex trafficking do not realize that they are being manipulated.

“Victims are so isolated from normal life that trafficking subconsciously becomes normalized into their life,” Woodsen said during her presentation.

It is sometimes difficult to recognize trafficking—even victims themselves are not always aware of it. Woodsen explained that victims are often scared to leave the trafficking ring as a result of trauma bonds, reintegration challenges, feelings of hopelessness, and fear of the power their traffickers wield over them. Social isolation, having few personal possessions, and abnormal fear of law enforcement are all warning signs that may indicate someone is a victim of trafficking.

Trafficking prevention stems from awareness. Adjusting one’s language is one of the most significant ways to spread awareness, as poor word choice can be misleading. For instance, sexual abuse imagery was previously known as child pornography. However, since “pornography” suggests consent, it was modified to “sexual abuse imagery” in order to more accurately reflect the misuses of nude photography. Instead of labeling someone a “child prostitute,” which implies choice and consent, describe him or her as a “victim.”

Ria Gaur, senior and President of the Stuyvesant Against Sex Trafficking Club, elaborated on this concept. “I think that it is important to [change] the words we use on a daily basis and the slang that we use because behind [their meanings they are] affiliated with crime and these really terrible acts of violence,” Gaur said.

Woodsen emphasized that kindness is an important trait to adopt in the movement to become more sensitive to trafficking. “Most young people who are trafficked, who have toxic relationships, [and those] who get into abusive relationships are people [with] low selfesteem. A lot of that comes from your peers, family, friends, [and] how they make you feel,” Woodsen said. “Just in how we interact with one another, we should be a lot nicer to people who are different from us, especially to the LGBTQ youth.

Out of all the homeless youth, LGBTQ youth are the most likely to get trafficked, and it’s because of all this social stigma that surrounds them.”

Lennard agreed. “Just having a voice and speaking up for those who have been victims is one of the most powerful things one can do. Having a community in which we can hear different perspectives and share our ideas about issues of our society is very inspiring and empowering,” she said. “This is why it’s so important for Stuyvesant to continue spreading awareness and hosting lectures about certain issues of our society and continue building this community.”

Gaur encourages others to get involved with the cause. Her club is centered around bringing attention to sex trafficking and its victims, combating the issue, and fighting the stigma associated with the subject. “Students have a voice too. Youth activism is really important. It’s really effective, and I think a lot of people don’t think that. [They think] that we don’t have the power to do anything and that nothing will ever get done unless you’re the top government official, but that’s not true,” Gaur said. “In the end, every little step matters, and I really do hope that everyone does something to get involved.”

Junior Caucus Hosts Movie Night continued from page 1

Despite this, students still were content with the movie night. “I really enjoyed the

movie. I really liked the dynamic that [the movie] drew between the rich family archetype that I don’t know if a lot of us understand very well,” senior Shayan Chowdhury said. He was mo-

tivated to attend the event because of extra credit offered by health teacher Lisa Weinwurm.

Junior Justin Lam agreed. “I heard about the movie over the summer, but I really never got

to watch it. [That day] was my opportunity, and I wasn’t disappointed,” he said.

Both Chowdhury and Lam agreed that they would attend more movie nights offered in

the future, which the Junior Caucus plans to follow through with. “Overall, it was supremely successful,” Bromberg said.

The Spectator â—? January 10, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT

SAT/ ACT/ PSAT/ SAT 2 /AP Kweller Prep Offers Advanced Test Preparation in Small Group Settings Courses meet Thursday Nights, Friday Nights, Saturdays, or Sundays

Sign up for classes at www.KwellerPrep.com 2 Locations!

Queens 104-40 Queens Blvd; Suite 1C Forest Hills, NY 11375 (Queens Blvd and 69 Ave)

Manhattan 370 Lexington Avenue; Suite 800 New York, NY 10017 (Lex and 41st Street)

Kweller Prep is a Proud Supporter of the Stuyvesant Spectator It is a wise choice to prepare 3-6 months before you plan to take these tests

Page 3

Page 4

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

The Spectator’s Class of 2022 Survey The Spectator surveys the incoming freshman and outgoing senior classes every year and publishes the results in the first issue of the semester. Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. This anonymous survey should take no more than 10 minutes.

Part A: Demographic Information 1) Choose the race that best describes your background. a) Asian 66% b) Black 2% c) Hispanic 2% d) White 15% e) Other (American Indian, Pacific Islander, Multiracial) 8% 2) Choose the following that best describes your legal status in the United States. a) U.S. Citizen (Passport) 80% b) Permanent Resident (Green Card + Passport of another country) 5% c) Dual Citizenship (Passport of two countries) 4% d) Visa 1% e) Other 0% 3) Choose the religion that you identify with: a) Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, etc.) 18% b) Islam 11% c) Judaism 6% d) Agnosticism/Atheism 35% e) Other 23% *include Hinduism + other larger religions 4) How would you classify your family’s socioeconomic status? a) Lower/working class 8% b) Middle class 40% c) Upper Middle Class 21% d) Upper Class 2% e) I don’t know 13% 5) The highest level of education either of my parents/guardians received was: a) Middle School 3% b) High School 15% c) Associates Degree (two years of college) 9% d) Bachelor’s Degree (four years of college) 29% e) Post-college education (Grad school, PhD, MD, etc.) 29% 6) What type of middle school did you attend? a) Selective Public School or Gifted & Talented Program (NEST+m, Mark Twain, etc.) 52% b) Zoned Public School 29% c) Private School 6% d) Parochial School 1% e) Homeschool 1% 7) I identify as the following gender: a) Male 52% b) Female 37% c) Other 1% 8)I most closely identify as: a) Heterosexual (Straight) 75% b) Homosexual (Gay) 1% c) Bisexual 4% d) Unsure/Questioning 5% e) Other 3% 9) Have you ever been formed with a form of disability? If so, please specify. Leave blank if you have not. a) Emotional disability 1% b) Physical disability 4% c) Learning disability (ADHD, Dyslexia) 3% d) Cognitive disability (Autism, Down Syndrome) 3% e) More than one disability 1% 10) My immigration status is: a) I am an immigrant 9% b) My parents are immigrants 56% c) My grandparents are immigrants 8% d) Other 9% e) I don’t know 7%

Part B: Academic Information 11) I participated in my classes frequently in middle school. a) Strongly Agree 31% b) Agree 29% c) Neutral 21% d) Disagree 7% e) Strongly Disagree 4% 12) I consider myself to be aware of current events. a) Strongly Agree 11% b) Agree 40% c) Neutral 28% d) Disagree 11% e) Strongly Disagree 4%

13) I have a strong work ethic. a) Strongly Agree 16% b) Agree 36% c) Neutral 28% d) Disagree 8% e) Strongly Disagree 5% 14) Approximately how much sleep did you get on any given school night in middle school? a) Fewer than 6 hours 7% b) 6-7 hours 26% c) 7-8 hours 32% d) 8-9 hours 20% e) More than 9 hours 9% 15) My favorite subject is: a) Math 40% b) Science 22% c) English 8% d) History 9% e) Other 8% 16) I spent ___ hours on homework or studying on an average school night in middle school. less than ½ 10% a) 1/2 – 1 25% b) 1 – 2 32% c) – 3 13% d) more than 3 8% 17) After I graduate from Stuyvesant, I think I might attend an Ivy League University or other elite university. a) Strongly Agree 29% b) Agree 33% c) Neutral 24% d) Disagree 5% e) Strongly Disagree 4% 18) By the end of my Stuyvesant career, I predict that I will be among: a) the top 10% of my class 14% b) the top 25% of my class 36% c) the top 50% of my class 30% d) the bottom 50% of my class 6% *Bubbling error: 3% bubbled in e when there is no e

Part C: Applying to Stuyvesant 19) When did you start studying for the SHSAT? Leave this blank if you did not study for the SHSAT. a) Less than one month before the exam 4% b) One month – four months before the exam 21% c) Four months – six months before the exam 16% d) Six months – one year before the exam 22% e) More than one year before the exam 16% 20) Which best describes the method of studying you used for the SHSAT? Leave this blank if you did not study. a) Self-study/Preparatory books 16% b) Preparatory class (not SHSI) 54% c) SHSI preparatory school 5% d) One-on-one tutoring 7% e) Other 9% 21) To what extent did a parent/guardian pressure you to come to Stuyvesant? a) Not at all, it was my choice. 16% b) A little, but it was mostly my decision. 54% c) A lot, but in the end I accepted what they wanted 5% d) It was entirely their decision. 7% 22) I think there will be a positive correlation between my SHSAT score and my academic success at Stuyvesant. a) Strongly agree 6% b) Agree 26% c) Neutral 39% d) Disagree 12% e) Strongly disagree 6% 23) I would prefer that the SHSAT remain the sole criteria for admission to Stuyvesant. a) Strongly agree 39% b) Agree 22% c) Neutral 19% d) Disagree 7% e) Strongly disagree 4%

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 5

Survey 24) Approximately how much sleep do you expect to get on any given school night at Stuyvesant? a) Fewer than 5 hours: 14% b) 5-6 hours: 31% c) 6-7 hours: 31% d) 7-8 hours: 12% e) More than 8 hours: 4%

Part D: Identity/Lifestyle 25) I am opposed to the use of marijuana by high school students. a) Strongly Agree 45% b) Agree 21% c) Neutral 17% d) Disagree 3% e) Strongly Disagree 2% 26) I am opposed to the use of study drugs (prescription stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin) by high school students. a) Strongly Agree 35% b) Agree 23% c) Neutral 25% d) Disagree 4% e) Strongly Disagree 3% 27) I am opposed to the use of “hard” drugs (cocaine, opiates, etc.) by high school students. a) Strongly Agree 66% b) Agree 15% c) Neutral 6% d) Disagree 1% e) Strongly Disagree 1% 28) How much caffeine (95 mg of caffeine=1 cup of coffee) do you intake daily? a) None 64% b) 1-100 mg (0-1 cups of coffee) 23% c) 101-200 mg (2 cups of coffee) 3% d) 201 mg-400 mg 0% e) 401+ mg 1% 29) I am opposed to sexual activity by high school students. a) Strongly Agree 22% b) Agree 16% c) Neutral 41% d) Disagree 8% e) Strongly Disagree 4% 30) My mental health is something I think about regularly. a) Strongly Agree 13% b) Agree 34% c) Neutral 28% d) Disagree 11% e) Strongly Disagree 6%

32) How many hours a day do you spend on Facebook? a) I don’t have a Facebook account. 17% b) I don’t have a Facebook but I used other social media. 17% c) 0 - 1 52% d) 1 – 3 2% e) 3+ 2% 33) Choose the extracurricular you will be most likely to dedicate yourself to in the next four years. Leave this blank if you do not think you will partake in extra-curriculars. a) STEM/Academic Clubs/Publications 35% b) Sports 23% c) Debate/Government/Publications 8% d) Community Service 7% e) Arts (visual art, music, dancing, theater) 9% 34) When I am older, I hope to go into ____. Leave this blank if you are not sure. a) Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)-related fields 55% b) Humanities (Social sciences, Language Studies, Law) 6% c) Finance/Business/Management 9% d) Arts (visual art, music, dancing, theater) 2% e) Craft Vocations 2%

Part E: Academic Honesty 35) I would sacrifice a good grade to preserve my academic honesty (i.e. even if I could cheat, I would not because I feel it is immoral). a) Strongly Agree 24% b) Agree 36% c) Neutral 22% d) Disagree 5% e) Strongly Disagree 2% *10 percent chose not to answer 36) In middle school, I partook in some form of academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, copying, etc.): a) Frequently 2% b) Sometimes 8% c) Rarely 33% d) Never 39% *15 percent chose choice e.

37) I think that academic cheating (in any form) can be justified. a) Strongly Agree 2% b) Agree 8% c) Neutral 34% d) Disagree 32% e) Strongly Disagree 17%

31) How many hours do you spend watching TV (including Netflix), gaming, or on YouTube on a typical school day? a) 0 – 1 19% b) 1 – 3 46% c) 3 – 5 17% d) 5 – 7 4% e) 7 — 3%

Part A: Demographic Information While 65 percent of students are either first or second generation immigrants, more than 60 percent of students classify their family’s socioeconomic status as middle class or upper middle class. They also report high levels of parental education—a third have parents with a bachelor’s degree, and another third report parents who have some form of post-college education (grad school, PhD, MD, etc.). Half of the freshmen matriculated from specialized gifted and talented programs at public middle schools.

In terms of religious identification, agnosticism/atheism came out to be the most popular, with 35 percent of students identifying as atheists. Interestingly, given the choices of Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, etc.), Islam, Judaism, atheism, and other, almost a quarter of students chose the “other” option, suggesting that religions such as Hinduism, traditional Chinese religions, and Buddhism may be increasing in representation.

Page 6

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Part C: Applying to Stuyvesant

Part B: Academic Information When it comes to work ethic, the majority of responses leans toward the positive end. Thirty-six percent of students agree that they have a strong work ethic, 28 percent are neutral, and 16 percent strongly agree. Fewest students strongly disagreed, which is unsurprising given that Stuyvesant’s rigorous academics foster the need and development of a strong work ethic.

The choices for the number of hours spent on homework or studying on an average school night in middle schools are considerably lower than the time an average student at Stuyvesant spends. The majority of students spent at least 30 minutes and at most two hours doing homework or studying in middle school.

Interestingly, eight percent of students allocated more than three hours, and it can be worth investigating if these students come from specialized gifted and talented programs at middle schools.

The majority of students expect to attend an Ivy League University or other elite universities. Few students, ranging from four to five percent, disagree or strongly disagree. This overwhelming positive outlook is mirrored in students’ predictions for class rank. The majority expect to fall in the top 50 percent or higher, while only six percent expect to be in the bottom 50 percent. The fact that 11 percent chose not to answer might show an academic uncertainty. Since this survey was filled out before students started their first semester, the only factors that can predict academic performance are their SHSAT scores and previous academic grades, but even these are unreliable predictors. Considering this, the majority of incoming freshmen are optimistic about their high school performance, and share preconceived ideas regarding life after Stuyvesant.

The percentages for students’ favorite subjects show a preference for STEM-related subjects, as does the expressed interest for extracurricular activities and career paths. An overwhelming majority of 40 percent of students chose math. Science was the second favorite, with 22 percent. There is a noticeable gap between the percentages of these two STEM subjects and those of humanities courses. Eight percent of students chose English, while nine percent chose history. Eight percent of students also chose other, which encompasses a range of subjects limited by accessibility based on grade level, including music or language. Interestingly, 12 percent of students chose not to answer, despite there being an “other” option.

This series of questions asked about methods of preparation for the SHSAT and students’ opinions of the test itself. In terms of how long freshmen took to prepare for the test, results ranged almost equally between a period of a few months to a year. The method of preparation was more telling, with more than half of responses indicating that students attended preparatory classes outside of school.

When asked if they thought there was a positive correlation between their SHSAT score and their future academic success in high school, 39 percent of freshmen responded that they were indifferent. However, the same percentage of students indicated that they “strongly agreed” that the SHSAT should remain the sole criterion for admission to specialized high schools.

Though freshmen do not seem confident in the ability of the SHSAT to identify the students with the greatest potential to succeed in high school, they are unwilling to alter the method of admissions, a mindset that persists for many Stuyvesant students.

Part D: Identity/Lifestyle A 55 percent majority of the freshmen surveyed aspire to pursue STEM-related career paths, overwhelming the humanities, finance, arts, and vocational hopefuls—less than 10 percent chose each. It should be noted that unlike with the other questions in the Identity/Lifestyle portion of the survey, a quarter of freshmen chose not to respond, indicating not just an uncertainty about future fields but a willingness to accept that uncertainty.

Expressed interest in various extracurriculars followed a similar pattern, with STEM activities taking the lead with 35 percent of freshmen responses. However, sports extracurriculars were a close second favorite with 23 percent. Surprisingly, despite their wide popularity and established hold on the student body, speech and debate, student government, and publications lagged considerably behind with eight percent, being overtaken by visual arts, music, dance, and theater extracurriculars. The Spectator notes that a lack of elaboration on these activities may have contributed to this anomaly. Another reason may be at play, such as decreased publicity for these activities, lack of understanding about what these activities entail, or, simply, a change in the dynamic of the extracurricular student body.

Regarding mental health, the surveyed freshmen are either moderately aware of their mental health or not particularly committed to thinking about it. Though 28 to 34 percent of the responses clustered in the center, with fewer freshmen on either extreme, there are more freshmen strongly in touch with their mental health than those disconnected from it.

The consensus on sex is one of indifference. Forty-one percent of freshmen surveyed are neutral on student sexual activity. However, outside of this neutrality, more freshmen are opposed and strongly opposed to student sexual activity than not.

Part E: Academic Honesty Responses to these three questions exhibit trends that corroborate one another. The majority of students leans toward the positive end when asked if they would sacrifice a good grade to preserve their academic honesty. Similarly, 39 percent of students never partook in some form of academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, copying, etc) in middle school, and 33 percent rarely did. This corresponds to the majority of students who lean toward the negative end when asked if academic cheating in any form can be justified. Two percent of students strongly agree that it can be justified, and the same percentage applies to students who frequently partook in some form of academic dishonesty and for students who would not sacrifice a good grade to preserve their academic honesty. This shows that a minority of students consider forms of academic dishonesty to be means to an end (high grades).

A significant discrepancy indicates the sensitivity surrounding academic dishonesty: 10 percent of students chose not to answer if they would sacrifice a good grade to preserve their academic. Compared to the five percent who disagreed and the two percent who strongly disagreed, it seems that students would rather censor themselves than choose a negative response.

Still, it is unsurprising that the majority of the students do not condone forms of academic dishonesty. The administration has enforced stricter policies in lieu of past scandals surrounding academic dishonesty, and these policies take the form of signatures on liability documents.

The Spectator â—? January 10, 2019

Page 7

Art Weather Personification

Camilla Cheng / The Spectator

Katherine Kibatullin / The Spectator

Taylor Choi / The Spectator Andrea Huang/ The Spectator

Sunjung Bok / The Spectator Anna Ast / The Spectator

Serena Chan / The Spectator

Fareeha Tabassum/ The Spectator

Susannah Ahn / The Spectator

Katherine Lwin / The Spectator

Page 8

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Features Oh Brother: Stuyvesant’s Sibling Relationships

By THE FEATURES DEPARTMENT

Sammi Chen / The Spectator

“My sister and I have always had a strong bond together. I’ve always seen her as one of my best friends, and I could always talk to her about anything.

When she first came to Stuy, it was the first time the two of us were in the same school. Sometimes, it feels like we can get a little distant because of the workload we get, but when we do get the chance to talk, we still share the same bond. And though her going to Stuy hasn’t made us closer, per se, it definitely makes our conversations much more relatable. I have four other siblings and share a strong yet different bond with each and every one of them.” —Leon Maksin, junior

“My relationship with my brother started with us hating each other. Some may say it’s the typical sibling bond, but these fights got so out of hand that even my best friend didn’t want to come over anymore. Though we grew up in the same household, we were polar opposites.

He was outgoing and freespirited while I was more timid. Then, to everyone’s surprise, we just stopped fighting. […] Now, we protect each other from trouble we may get into with our parents and cheer each other up. When one of us is having a bad day, it’s normal for the other to buy food for comfort.”

—Tyseen Murad, junior

“My little brother and I have a pretty good relationship. He lives in China, though, which is probably why he loves me so much. I’m pretty mild so he thinks I am nicer than my parents. My parents work in China, and when they went back, he was still pretty small, so they decided to take him with them.

I’d already started school in America by then, so I stayed here with my aunts and grandparents. They’ve been talking about letting him go to school in America, but he’s pretty rambunctious, and they don’t really trust him, so they keep putting it off. For example, he broke his leg recently because he jumped down from his school steps.” —Wei He, junior “My sister likes to run; she’s currently in Young Runners, which is like the Road Runners club of her middle school. She runs two or three times a day, and she’s very interested in science and biology even though she’s kind of bad at it. She buys biology coloring books, which she colors, but also teach her certain questions. I think my relationship with her is pretty good. We don’t get to talk a lot because I get home kind of late and [we’re both] usually doing homework. The many times we do talk are like, ‘You should get me food.’ I guess our relationship consists of food. Dinner is the only time I really get to talk to her. Other times, I help her out with homework even though we might not stay on the topic.

Over the weekend, we might do some some sibling stuff like going to the movies. We’re both fans of the Marvel movies, and we might argue about our favorite superhero or scene. She wants to go to Stuy and get into a bigger school to be more outgoing, and I would really like to commute with her so we can talk more.” —Stephy Chen, sophomore “My sister and I roast each other every day, but we also defend each other when other people do it. We always stick together at public events so we can judge people, and we know all the tea on each other’s friends and family.

My sister is also disgusting and gross, but I appreciate her because she also really loves me and would probably fight someone for me. She’s super confident and cute, and ugly and gross. No me gusta. I’d rent her for three days for $100.” —Yuki Li, sophomore

“I have two younger sisters. I would say we have a close relationship. Whenever something happens in school, they would be the first to know because my parents don’t speak English well and it’s easier to express my thoughts to them. Whenever something happens with them, they tell me as well. We sometimes watch an episode of a show together, and we all work on our homework in the same room, so we chat while working. It helps to motivate each other.” —Jenny Chen, sophomore

“I have an older brother who’s 19 and a younger brother who’s two, so I’m the middle child. Most of the attention goes to the family and not me. My older brother tends to force me to take care of my younger brother when my mom’s outside. I get screamed at when my little brother does something, like ‘It was your fault. Why are you not taking care of your little sister?’” —Raihana Sultana, senior “One of my most distinct memories with my younger brother is a rather sad one, but it is one that I think really shows our sibling bond. It was after I picked him up from his taekwondo class on a Saturday afternoon. He seemed quieter than normal as we walked back home, and I quickly realized that something was wrong but didn’t know how to approach him because he’s the type to hide his true feelings. In spite of my apprehension, I asked him anyway, but like I expected, he wouldn’t tell me.

Later on, however, as I continued to push him, he eventually broke down. I found out that he had been bullied at Taekwondo class. It wasn’t dramatic or said to his face, but the words the other kids called him made him really upset. They called him “short” (he isn’t that short) and made of his last name “Cao,” because people tend to mispronounce it as “cow.” As he was telling me about this, he started crying, and I cried along with him.

Afterward, I told him about some techniques to stand up to bullies and disregard what they say. We had a long talk, and I think this really strengthened our bond. Our sibling relationship can occasionally be impaired by our four-year age gap and petty arguments, but crying with him really made me realize the extent to which I cared for him. No matter what happens, at the end of the day, we are still siblings who care for and rely on each other.” —Tiffany Cao, junior “I really love and value my sister, and a lot of her friends always admire our close relationship. […] Since she is a senior this year, I am a little sad to see her go. Yes, I always tell her how I won’t miss her and that I’ll be happy to have the house to myself when she goes, but deep inside, I really love her and wish she would stay in Stuy for another two years so we could graduate together. ” —Samantha Siew, sophomore

“I have three siblings.

They’re all younger than me. They always try to talk to me. I zone out sometimes, but I try my best to listen. Sometimes, I have to leave my work to play with them or they’ll get mad at me and accuse me of not spending enough time with them. There was a point when my mom had to go to Bangladesh with my youngest brother.

I had to use up a lot of my time to take care of my other two siblings. I’m confused as to whether or not I want to dorm in college. I don’t want to leave my siblings since they’re all a lot younger than me and I love all three of them. I feel like they shouldn’t grow up without me.” —Fareeha Tabassum, senior “My sister and I used to fight all the time when we were younger about every little thing, but after we came to America, we got a lot closer. ... As we got older, we had to take on more responsibilities from our parents because they were working hard, so we would fight, but once I got to middle school, that stopped because we figured out we had to work through life and family with each other. We always had to be there for each other; she idolized me, and I encouraged her to do things she was good at, like drawing.”—Mimma Hoque, junior

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 9

Features The Stuyvesant Square: Food, Grades, Sleep, Social Life

By TALIA KAHAN Stuyvesant is known for breeding a competitive academic environment. How do different students deal with these stressful conditions? And how do students manage the square (consisting of food, grades, sleep, social life), rather than a triangle, to acknowledge their specific dietary needs?

Ayala Sela (Pescatarian and Kosher) Sophomore Ayala Sela has been kosher—a diet governed by Jewish law that prohibits the mixing of milk and meat and only allows certain types of meat—all her life. But it was only toward the end of the eighth grade at NEST+M when she began to feel passionate and cared about what she was eating and where it came from. Sela decided to become a pescetarian that year. She described, “I think it came on from watching way too many National Geographic documentaries for my living environment class [...]

I think another project that year was about animal rights and how they were being treated. It made me lose my appetite, and it wasn’t really hard for me [to avoid eating certain types of meat], so life went on.”

Since then, Sela has had no reason to stop. She explained, “I don’t feel limited by my choices, and I still stick to the same moral ideas as to how animals should be treated.” One reason Sela does not feel limited by being a pescetarian is that she was already somewhat constrained by being kosher.

Emma Donnelly (Pescatarian) When most of us make our New Year’s resolutions, we keep them for a maximum of one week. But sophomore Emma Donnelly’s New Year’s resolution in 2017 was to refine her diet, and she has stuck to it ever since.

Donnelly’s diet consists mainly of “vegetables and fruit along with starch, grains, and fish,” she listed. She does not eat dairy (due to a partial allergy) or meat (for moral and environmental reasons) and tries to avoid processed foods like candy and cookies. Like Sela, Donnelly has not had a lot of trouble sticking to her diet. “Maintaining my diet at home has not been too challenging,” she described. “However, it can be hard to find foods that are compatible with my diet when I go to out to eat at restaurants or cafes. Sometimes, I crave foods, […] but I am able to resist the urge by thinking about the foods I can eat like smoothie bowls!”

Emily Chervinsky (Kosher) Sophomore Emily Chervinsky maintains a kosher diet, one that is “praised upon by God and that God allows,” she explained.

But she has not been this way all her life; Chervinsky only began keeping kosher when she started becoming more religious and understanding more about Judaism around two years ago.

Both Chervinsky and Sela bring lunch from home, making it easier to stick to their dietary restrictions. Chervinsky also thinks that living in New York City has made it much easier for her to keep kosher because there are many kosher options available around the city.

Leah Rosenthal (Vegan) For senior Leah Rosenthal, being vegan is much more than a diet. “It’s a way of eating, but it’s also a lifestyle and a belief sys-

tem,” she described. “It made me more active and vocal in things that I believed in.” But Rosenthal’s veganism did not spark out of thin air; she was born into a vegetarian household and converted to veganism when she was 10 years old. Rosenthal hopes to keep her vegan diet for her whole life.

During her sophomore year, Rosenthal tried to make her diet even stricter by starting with the military diet, a meal-plan that claims to help you drop 10 pounds in just one week. But she quickly realized that this was not a sustainable plan and instead decided to “be healthy but not put [herself] on any restrictions,” she said.

Lara Somoroff (Pescatarian) Most of us cannot imagine a life without eating meat. Sophomore Lara Somoroff felt the same way until she saw her friend become a vegetarian and wondered if she could do the same.

As Somoroff began to cut back on meat, she discovered that to her, meat did not even taste very good. She currently follows a strict pescetarian diet and plans to keep that diet for the rest of her life.

Somoroff ’s diet means a lot to her. First, it is a way of maintaining control. “A diet is the only way to have control of your body, along with exercise,” she explained. “Disciplining to eliminate something can be really good for you and beneficial for your body, and you can see the effects on your body.” Furthermore, Somoroff feels accomplished when she restrains from choosing unhealthy foods, such as sweets. Another reason Samaroff has continued her diet is due to her concern for where food comes from. Samaroff elaborated, “It’s me having to rely on something else for my food supply [that I don’t like].

Someone has to be there, it has to be killed, and it’s a whole process.

I just don’t want that reliance.

Fruits, vegetables, and plants— they grow every year.”

For the future, Somoroff considers eliminating fish and dairy from her diet. But for now, she is happy that New York City has the necessary resources for maintaining a healthy pescetarian diet.

Ezekiel Kazuo Stahl Ezekiel Kazuo Stahl, unlike other students who abide by a diet, does not have strict rules for what he can and cannot eat.

Instead, Stahl simply tries to keep an overall healthy diet. For him, this includes limiting sugary foods and fatty foods to once every few days. However, Stahl tries to keep in mind that having high-sugar foods is not necessarily bad for his body because of how one’s body metabolizes sugar; if it is small enough in amount, then the body will not react negatively to the sugar. Stahl also prioritizes fitting all three meals of the day into his busy schedule. Ideally, these meals are protein-filled.

Lastly, Stahl believes that dieting alone will not fix any issue. He explained, “You can change your diet and your lifestyle, but purely dieting is just going to be dangerous for your health.” Additionally, dieting without medical consultation can have unintended negative effects.

The diversity of Stuyvesant’s student body is mirrored well in the diverse diets that Stuyvesant students follow, ranging from students keeping strict vegan diets to people who only try to avoid certain foods to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

By MATYLDA URBANIAK and TASFIA RAHMAN

One of the greatest joys of childhood is staying up past one’s bedtime. Whether it be by getting up secretly after their parents have gone to bed or staying up for special occasions, children in elementary school boast about going to sleep at 10:00, 11:00, or even 12:00, hoping to impress their peers with having stayed up so late.

At Stuyvesant, students also boast about sleep, and while it may seem that everyone is running a “pity me” race over who gets by on the least amount of sleep, a universal wish among the student body is to receive more sleep.

Just as two-thirds of all freshmen at Stuyvesant expect to graduate within the top 25 percent of the class as reported by The Spectator in previous years, the majority of Stuyvesant students do not expect to receive as little sleep as they do.

“Before coming to Stuy, I expected to get seven hours of sleep a night,” sophomore Elizabeth Tang admitted. Similarly, senior Zihao Liu said he expected to get “six and a half to seven hours of sleep” each night. Nonetheless, even after three months at Stuyvesant, the majority of freshmen are still unsure of how much sleep they should be getting. Recent posts in the “Dear Incoming Stuyvesant Class of 2022 ...

WE HAVE ADVICE!” group on Facebook include: “How many hours of sleep is normal freshman year?” “what sleep,” and “How many hours of sleep do y’all get?...” Those posts have received more than 250 comments in total, mostly from students who report getting less than six hours of sleep each night. Freshman Andy Huang suggested that most of these people, like him, cannot manage their time. “I get little sleep because I’m a huge procrastinator,” he explained. Based on the number of comments on the Facebook posts, the majority of the students at Stuyvesant procrastinate too.

Though it may seem like everyone at Stuyvesant has bags under their eyes, there are some students who actually get the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep. Junior Aditi Haiman reports getting eight hours of sleep a night. Like all Stuyvesant students, Haiman is very busy. “I play piano, which is pretty time intensive, I’m in some clubs at school, and I’m also doing a mentorship program,” she said.

However, Haiman also stressed the importance of not procrastinating and instead finishing homework immediately after getting home. “I think procrastination is the main issue, or spending unnecessary time on assignments that shouldn’t take too long or doing unnecessary work [are the issues].

I think it’s helpful to be organized, know exactly what you should be finishing each day, and not get distracted by other things before starting work. I always make it a point to finish my homework first, so I know how much time I have to do other things,” Haiman recommended.

Unlike Haiman, junior Yifan Wang has a track record of getting low amounts of sleep. Her current sleeping schedule is largely affected by her workload from her five AP classes. She explained, “For me, I tend to get stuck on a home-

work question and waste a lot of time on that.” Wang admitted that she does procrastinate, especially on the weekends, which does ultimately affect her sleep schedule. In the future, Wang hopes to spend breaks more effectively because she acknowledges that she wastes time during break, so “when school starts again [she] gets back to the no sleep cycle,” she said.

However, Wang does not regret taking so many APs. Instead, she tries to listen to advice from seniors. “I should work smarter and not harder. [...] I should spend less time on homeworks that are less significant or I know I learn less from. For example, I spent a lot of time writing a lot of details for Cornell notes, but my teacher insists that we should think more and write less.” Wang said. She elaborated, “Working smarter doesn’t mean not doing homework you know teachers won’t collect! Smarter means more thinking is involved and less copying from textbook or notes.” Even with this advice, Wang only manages to squeeze in two hours of sleep on average. She jokingly revealed, “I fall asleep in some classes, and I sleep on the train sometimes. That adds maybe an hour to my sleep time total.”

Nonetheless, it is entirely possible to get a lot more sleep as one adjusts to life at Stuyvesant. Liu admitted, “During sophomore year, I was really bad at managing my time, and I also killed myself with extracurriculars, so I got three hours of sleep.” Despite this, has has since learned to manage his time better, getting about five and a half hours of sleep junior year. Currently, Liu tries “to sleep for at least five hours” every night, he said. For Liu, part of sleeping more is recognizing what he actually wants to do in terms of extracurriculars and coursework.

“I regret sacrificing so much sleep during sophomore year to do research everyday,” he explained.

Despite this, Liu believes there is some value in being sleep deprived in high school. “[Though] I wish I had dropped some of those commitments, functioning on minimal sleep helped me realize the importance of a good sleep schedule and mental health.

Without once overburdening myself with rigorous classes and time-consuming extracurriculars, I wouldn’t have learned that it is important to take a break once in a while, take a mental health day, or dedicate a few hours on the weekends to catch up on sleep,” he said.

His thoughts are echoed by countless alumni who report that college is easy for them and that they receive much more sleep in college, having already learned how to manage their time. Liu’s advice is to “write down your objectives for the night on a piece of paper. It provides a lot of motivation when you finish your work and check these items off one by one. Also, work in short intervals. Work for 30 minutes and take a short break and repeat. You’ll find yourself being more productive, and more efficient,” he said.

Senior Rina Sotiropoulou also believes that good time management skills are a must, yet she believes that stress and mental health issues play into the amount of sleep that most students get. During junior year, she only got about four hours of sleep a night, and

ADVERTISEMENT

she explained that “it was a combination of the workload as well as the stress. As most of us know, junior year is the ‘big scary year that counts for college,’ and so that really got to my head. I’d get home from school stressed out and tired, doing a little bit of work but not much. In short, I developed odd studying habits to cope with the stress and workload that caused me to get less sleep.”

Sotiropoulou began to wake up at 4:00 a.m. in order to finish work and enjoyed great results with her new studying schedule. “I am definitely more of a morning person. I can barely get anything done in the evening when I get home from school,” she laughed.

Sotiropoulou also stresses the importance of not drinking too much coffee. “No screens an hour before bed, lay off the coffee, and make a list of everything you have to do and prioritize it. [...] Also, if you are getting all your work done but getting unhealthy amounts of sleep, seriously [consider] lightening your workload by dropping a hard elective or AP. Having good grades is important, but at the end of the day, your health is what comes first,” she advised.

Sotiropoulou is not the only one to wake up in the middle of the night to do work. Sophomore Abir Taheer made the switch just a few months ago and is happy with the results so far. At the beginning of the year, Taheer got about four hours of sleep, but now he usually gets seven to eight. “Before, I was just less concentrated, and it took way longer to finish my homework. Now, I’m essentially putting sleep above homework and then trying to do homework after the sleep necessity is met,” he said.

He explained that because most of his friends are asleep when he wakes up to do his homework, he is less distracted and the additional time crunch forces him to be more productive. Taheer also reported an improvement in his mental health as he is less sleep deprived. Though his approach may not work for everyone, Taheer surmised that “when you work, you don’t get distracted. It’s all a feedback loop. More sleep leads to better focus leads to less time needed to do assignments leads to more sleep. And the counter is true as well.”

Ultimately, sleep is an important part of the livelihoods of Stuyvesant students. During Camp Stuy, Big Sibs show freshmen a graphic about a student’s life consisting of balancing a social life, grades, and sleep. They stress the importance of maintaining a fulfilling sleep schedule to freshmen whether or not it sticks. However, over the years, bonding over how little sleep students get each night has become part of Stuyvesant culture. Students often pride themselves over how little sleep they get while managing to function, and pulling an all-nighter has been described as a Stuyvesant initiation ritual on Facebook. While students get little sleep because of a variety of factors, it is important to remember that one of the biggest ones is still attending Stuyvesant and the workload that comes with it. Little sleep is seen as the default rather than the exception. “What do you expect, it’s Stuyvesant,” Liu laughed. Stuyvesant would not be Stuyvesant if everyone got nine hours of sleep each night.

Page 10

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

eature Tackling Educational Inequality Across the Ocean

By ZORAIZ IRSHAD

Within New York, there is a disparity in education levels from district to district. As students at Stuyvesant, it’s sometimes hard to be readily aware of such differences because we have so many amazing opportunities readily available to us. Our high school offers multiple college level courses, an interesting variety of electives, an array of professional equipment in respect to both science and sports, and over 100 extracurricular options. Schools that do not have nearly as many resources foster an environment in which students might have trouble reading, doing mathematics, or even telling the time.

This problem is amplified when looking at kids in Third World countries. Children are unable to attain a proper education because the education system is not fully developed. Those developing countries are unable to pay for teachers and the proper supplies required to facilitate an educational environment. Many of these kids are left wandering the streets or working jobs while earning little pay. Without a new generation of properly trained and well-prepared students, the Third World country continues to struggle, and the vicious cycle is repeated.

Small but active steps are being taken to lessen the problem of educational disparity. Juniors Vivian Jiang, Anthony Jiang, and Tiffany Ho are part of the leadership board of Stuyvesant’s new club, IHELP-Liberia. This club is geared toward providing support to children in the Third World country of Liberia. They focus on everything from collecting supplies to preparing lesson plans to help the teachers and students of Liberia.

The club recently hosted a supply drive from December 3 to December 17. They were collecting school supplies for kids in Liberia and accepting donations ranging from new to gently-used materials. Some of the items collected included pencil cases, pens, notebooks, and many textbooks kindly donated by biology teacher Marissa Maggio.

What prompted you to create the club?

Vivian Jiang: A friend from Hunter, who’s the president of the Hunter chapter of I-HELP Liberia reached out to me over the summer asking me if I wanted to start a Stuyvesant chapter of I-HELP Liberia. I-HELP Liberia began in Hunter and has been a club in Hunter for several years, and this year is the first year that they’ve decided to expand the club to other schools as well, specifically Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Technical, and Bronx Science. I-HELP Liberia is formed around a notable cause: empowering education in Liberia, a country in which quality education is scarce. In addition to working with all of the amazing people in the I-HELP Liberia City Board, I was really inspired by Hunter’s dedication to their chapter of I-HELP Liberia, and I want-

ed to take part in helping the cause by creating the Stuyvesant chapter.

Tiffany Ho: This club started from a Facebook post that sparked my interest, so I reached out to the head of the group from another school. I really admired the work they were doing by actually taking the initiative and directly helping out disadvantaged students in Africa.

Why is this club important to you?

tions with Liberia is also a top priority, as that will help us understand in greater detail what they need. re you at e th ho the drive ran?

VJ: In my opinion, the drive was pretty successful. As the first fundraiser of the year, I’m happy with the amount of supplies collected and the involvement of the members that watched over the donations table, which was down by the scanners, during their lunch periods and frees.

AJ: Yes, I am definitely satisfied with how the drive went. I am glad that so many people decided to help and donate supplies. We must extend a special thanks to Ms. Maggio for the lovely biology textbooks she donated.

Where in Liberia will the donations collected be going?

To which age group will they be distributed?

Emma Donnelly / The Spectator

VJ: Education is frequently taken for granted. Many of us have access to many educational materials and have the opportunity to obtain better education, but many of us don’t appreciate that.

Through I-HELP Liberia, I hope to not only contribute to the improvement of Liberian education, but also help those that participate in our fundraisers and activities realize and appreciate all of the opportunities we have.

TH: We don’t see how privileged we are to have so many resources around us. It’s so easy to take advantage of these without giving back and contributing our own time and energy to help others get the same opportunities.

Anthony Jiang: Not only do I have a chance to help a group of people that are in desperate need for support, but I am also able to give other people an opportunity to help that group of people. Many people find it difficult to help others in need, and I really love how I am able to lend a hand.

What are your goals for the year?

VJ: We plan on holding more fundraisers, drives, and all sorts of activities that the Stuyvesant community can participate in to help out students in Liberia. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get in contact with more Liberians from different areas of the country and figure out ways to contribute to their education. We’re currently preparing for the annual I-HELP Liberia Concert, which will be held at Hunter.

TH: Our goals will definitely be geared toward expanding outreach and getting our club to be an active member in the Stuyvesant community. We will be getting in contact with more and more Liberian students and teachers to narrow down how we can help them specifically.

AJ: We hope to collect a lot of supplies for the Liberian children this year. Forming more connec-

VJ: The supplies from the donation will mostly be going to Saclepea, a rural town toward the east side of Liberia. Since Saclepea is much more rural than m a n y other areas, the Liberian government doesn’t provide them with as many resources as it does the more urban areas. By sending the majority of the collected supplies there, those in Saclepea will hopefully be able to utilize them to improve their classroom environment. Though most of the supplies will be sent to Saclepea, it’s possible that some may be shipped to Ganta, a town in northern Liberia, but we’re not entirely sure yet.

If you had to give an elevator pitch to prompt people to join the club, what would you say?

VJ: I-HELP Liberia works to improve education in Liberia by creating lesson plans and holding drives for educational materials. By interacting with Liberians, we hope to allow members to gain insight on life in a country very different from ours and provide a meaningful experience.

TH: We always hear stories about kids in Africa and how disadvantaged they are in terms of food, education, and safety, and when we hear this, we think momentarily about how we can help.

However, we need to take real action and keep on thinking about these students. In such a global society, we are all interconnected, and as the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

When one of us falls, we need to help them catch up, and I-Help Liberia is an amazing opportunity to help them. While Liberia is far in distance, we can help bridge the gap in education and eliminate that distance between us. After all, we are all citizens of a global community.

AJ: If you wish to be a part of a great cause and help a disadvantaged group that isn’t as fortunate as us, join the Stuyvesant I-HELP Liberia club in our effort to provide Liberian students with academic supplies that they desperately need.

Pencil or Bow: Featuring Stuyvesant’s First Violinist

By TALIA KAHAN and JENNIFER LIU Senior Sean Takada sat still on stage, ready to perform composer Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade” as a soloist at the Winter Concert on Monday, December 17, to commemorate Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday. Leonard Bernstein, in Takada’s words, is “one of America’s most celebrated composers,” known for his pieces “Mass” and “Candide.” Takada was the obvious choice for the solo at the Winter Concert, as he is one of the best violin players in Stuyvesant’s symphonic orchestra.

But Takada did not reach this high level overnight; it took years of hard work and practice for him to achieve near-mastery of the violin.

Takada started playing the violin when he was four and a half years old. Unlike with other Stuyvesant instrumentalists, Takada’s parents did not push for him to play the violin. Instead, Takada had to convince his mother to allow him to play because she worried that playing violin would take up too much time and effort.

Takada recalled, “We went to Japan over the summer, and [the] son [of a friend of ours] played the violin for us, and I really liked the sound and said, ‘Mom, can I start learning the violin?’ She said, ‘No, are you sure you want to do it? It’s a lot of effort.’” Takada was sure. At the beginning of his career, Takada only played the violin recreationally. But as he realized that he had both a natural talent and a love for the instrument, he began to devote more time to playing the violin.

Committing to the violin came at a cost; Takada was forced to give up other extracurriculars to continue playing the violin at a high level. The first time Takada was faced with such a decision was when he was 10 years old and had to decide between staying on his travel soccer team and attending the San Francisco Conservatory, a prestigious music school. At that time, Takada lived in Silicon Valley, California, so commuting to San Francisco—about 30 minutes by car—was not an inconvenience.

Takada chose to attend the Conservatory because he “realized that [he] probably had more talent for violin than for soccer,” he said.

Takada stayed at the San Francisco Conservatory for a few years and moved to New York at the beginning of eighth grade upon acceptance into the Juilliard PreCollege Program. Takada was encouraged to apply by his teacher, who was offered a job at the Juilliard School. “I want to keep teaching you,” his teacher told him. “So do you want to come to New York with me?”

Application to the Juilliard PreCollege program is very rigorous and requires multiple rounds of auditioning. “First, you send in a videotape the judges view,” Takada explained. “The judges narrow it to about 100 people from about 600 people. Those people go to Juilliard for a live audition in front of a panel, and from there, depending on how many people graduate that year, usually maybe about 10 slots [are accepted], sometimes fewer, for each instrument.” For Takada, the private performance was the most stressful part. He recalled, “Before my audition at Julliard, my legs were literally shaking. I was like, ‘Mom, I can’t walk into the room,’ I was so nervous. But once

I started playing, I calmed down.”

After a long, arduous process, Takada was selected for the Juilliard Pre-college Program and moved to New York City with his mom. His dad stayed in Silicon Valley and visits once a year.

Now, Takada attends the Juilliard Pre-College Program every Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. His day consists of chamber music, orchestra, music theory, and private lessons with his teacher.

In addition to devoting his Saturdays to practice, Takada also tries to practice more than an hour every day after school, but due to Stuyvesant’s heavy workload, Takada “sometimes doesn’t have as much time as [he] would like to practice,” he said. This practice is in addition to a school period that is allocated to orchestra practice under the supervision of music teacher Joseph Tamosaitis.

As a freshman, Takada remembered “putting a lot of more effort into violin rather than school, and that took a toll on [his] grades,” he said. This is in part because Takada came to Stuyvesant “by chance,” he said. He wasn’t aware of Stuyvesant’s reputation of being very academically intense and had only heard that it was a good school.

When asked “What is one unique thing about you,” Takada kept the answer simple: “Violin,” he said.

However, Takada did begin to put more effort into his schoolwork as he realized how academically rigorous Stuyvesant was. This improved his grades but in turn took a toll on violin practice. Though playing violin was important to Takada, he realized that he was more likely to have an academic future and not become a professional violinist.

Takada hopes to continue playing the violin as a part of an orchestra in college but is not planning on playing violin professionally. Instead, Takada is interested in history or international relations. He explained, “If I just wanted to do violin [professionally], I definitely wouldn’t have come to Stuy, because otherwise, I could have practiced so much more. So for now, I guess I’m going on the academic road.”

But the violin is still a large part of Takada’s identity. When asked “What is one unique thing about you,” Takada kept the answer simple: “Violin,” he said.

This one instrument requires so much time and commitment for players of all levels. Even though the violin is reputed as one of the most difficult and nerve-racking instruments to learn, play, and perform, it is also one of the most gratifying: “I do get nervous before I go out to play,” Takada said.

“But once I am in front of people, I calm down, and once I start playing, I get into my groove […] After a successful performance, it’s really great because after months of putting work into pieces, [...] you feel really proud of yourself.”

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 11

ADVERTISEMENTS

PROGRAMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DESIGNED FOR OUTSTANDING STUDENTS GRADES 9-12

Spend Your Summer with Columbia University COLLEGE EDGE PROGRAMS

SUMMER IMMERSION PROGRAMS

Gain Ivy League experience and earn college credit while taking Columbia University classes with undergraduates. Choose from thousands of courses in a wide variety of subject areas. Open to students entering grades 11–12 or freshman year.

Study at our beautiful NYC campus or broaden your worldview in Barcelona with one of our pre-college summer programs designed specifically for outstanding high school students entering grades 9 through 12.

SUMMER:

NEW YORK CITY:

(6 week)

(3 week)

Session 1: May 21–June 29

Session 1: June 24–July 12

Session 2: July 2–August 10

Session 2: July 16–August 2

GAP YEAR:

Session 3: August 5–August 9 (1 week)

Summer-Fall, Spring-Summer, Fall-Spring

BARCELONA:

ACADEMIC YEAR:

TBD

Fall & Spring Semesters

EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS

sps.columbia.edu/HS19 19HSP095_Stuyvesant_Spectator_Ad_v02.indd 1

11/5/18 11:51 AM

Page 12

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Editorials Staff Editorial

Distribution of Funding for Student Groups

The recent $1 million donation to the school from two alumni, which has been set aside for the construction of a new robotics lab, sparked a conversation about the way funds are allocated to different student groups within the school.

The following is a short list of groups that would benefit the most from additional funding through outside donations, the Alumni Association, the Parents’ Association, and the Student Union.

Stuy Legacy

This urban dance crew has garnered attention along the East Coast with its powerful sets and sharp moves. According to senior and social media manager Christine Kim, “Every time hosts [introduce] us, they mention we’re from Stuyvesant, a top, elite school.”

The fact that these dance members bring some form of recognition to Stuyvesant and continue to have to pay for almost everything deserves some attention. In an interview with Olivia Chan, senior and director of this year’s team, Chan revealed that “most activities are paid out of the pockets of the members themselves,” with the rare exception of receiving money once from both the Alumni Association and parents from Spring Feast.

This money is used for everything from renting studios ($50 per hour) to paying for competition fees ($15 to $20 per person for the two to three competitions in which they participate) to paying for additional outfits to hiring special trainers for the team—all which are critical to success during onstage performances. Chan also noted that voluntary contributions from the team are often insufficient and that Legacy strives to place in competitions that award money and has held several fundraisers, too.

The directors on the team believe that being granted additional funds from sources within the school—notably the Student Union and Alumni Association—will not only relieve some of this pressure, but also allow them to devote more time into prepping for the actual performances (instead of constant-

ly worrying about money).

PSAL Sports

Though Stuyvesant boasts 38 varsity teams and numerous student-athletes, the lack of funding for Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) teams is often overlooked.

According to Athletic Director Peter Bologna, the PSAL gives a mere $2 for each athlete, an amount that contributes hardly anything to the teams. Currently, Stuyvesant’s PSAL teams obtain their funding from the Parents’ Association and a share of the Physical Education department’s budget. Teams often use the Physical Education department’s equipment since they are unable to afford new school equipment, especially for teams such as fencing and football. In some cases, coaches must use their own money to purchase team equipment or cover other team costs.

For sports like track & field, cross country, and swimming, invitational meets are an essential but pricey component of pushing athletes to the next level in meets with teams outside of the PSAL league.

These meets can cost anywhere from $5 to $25 per athlete, and as a result, only select athletes can race.

Additional funding for Stuyvesant’s PSAL teams has the potential to improve the quality of its studentathletes with increased accessibility to equipment and more opportunities to compete.

Orchestra, Band, and Other Student Music Groups

Student musicians are expected to pay $50 every year in dues, which is intended to cover the cost of instrument repairs, new instruments, the cost of sheet music, and concert tickets. Students put on two major concerts every year, a holiday performance in the winter and a concert in the spring. However, the students dues alone are not enough to cover the costs of maintaining an instrument room. Students in orchestra, for instance, are often forced to sit out during class rehearsals because instruments are broken and not repaired. Volunteers attempt to repair instruments during class periods, but they are quickly overwhelmed

by the sheer number of repairs that the aging instruments require. Increased funding for music groups would allow the music department to not only pay for a larger number of instruments, but also get them repaired quicker and allow students to spend more time rehearsing.

Speech and Debate

Every year, members of the Stuyvesant’s Speech and Debate team practice researching and performing several days a week to compete at prestigious schools. But behind its seemingly successful facade, the team as a whole unfortunately experiences many challenges with funding. According to senior and co-president Nishmi Abeyweera, the team “receives money from the Parent Association, Student Union, and alumni every year, but it is never enough.”

This money is used for everything from competition fees to travel and hotel costs to hiring judges and coaches, escalating the costs of tournaments such as the Harvard Invitational to $350 per person or about $20,000 for the entire team. Since school sources do not provide enough reimbursement, the team is forced to rely on other methods. Abeyweera believes that parents are often their first stop, saying, “We host an introductory meeting every year that discusses our financial woes with parents and ask them to donate.” The team additionally relies on GoFundMe sites and occasional contributions from the members. Even then, most competitors—despite their talent and immeasurable potential—cannot afford attending events outside their local region and instead have to undergo a complicated process in which channels subsidize those fees. Members of the team also cite a lack of sufficient administration as a factor holding the team back.

Because managing most of the logistics and administrative work can be quite difficult, a number of members of the team suggest appointing more staff and students to direct financial and organizational aspects of the team.

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

EDITOR S IN C HIEF

Jane Rhee* Beaux Watwood* N ews

Ed i to rs

Nishmi Abeyweera George Shey Erin Lee** Maddy Andersen**

Arts & En t e r t a i nm e n t Ed i to rs

Thomas Chen Emily Xu P h o t o graph y Ed i to rs

Ting Ting Chen Elena Sapelyuk* Zoe Oppenheimer** Art

Di re cto rs

Klaire Geller Darren Liang L ayo ut

Co py F eature s

Ed i to rs

Archi Das Amy Huang Amanda Peng Op i n i o n s

Ed i to rs

Celina Liu Ariel Melendez Jeremy Rubin Ahmed Hussein** h u mo r

Ed i to rs

Jeanette Cheung Michelle Lai* Jonela Malollari Tiffany Cao** Brian Zhang**

Ed i to rs

Artem Ilyanok Eliza Spinna* Sp o r t s

Ed i to rs

Dahae Choi Christina Tan Katie Wu

Ed i to rs

Kerwin Chen Gabrielle Umanova

Please address all letters to: 345 Chambers Street New York, NY 10282 (212) 312-4800 ext. 2601 opinions@stuyspec.com

Busi ne ss

M anag e r s

Stacey Xue Yaru Luo Rachel Joh We b

Ed i to rs

Darius Jankauskas Jerry Ye F ac u l t y

A d v i s Er

Kerry Garfinkel

* Managing Board ** Editors-in-Training

We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and length. © 2018 The Spectator All rights reserved by the creators.

Shots Fired in “The War on Christmas”

By Mia Gindis Recently, I volunteered at an elementary school on the Upper West Side. My job was simple; I was to help set up, and subsequently staff an arts-and-crafts stand at the school’s annual holiday party. To tell the truth, I was pretty excited—decorating gingerbread houses and stockings didn’t sound like a bad way to spend an afternoon. But upon arriving, it became apparent that the school had instead opted for a more politically correct approach to greeting the holidays.

The entire place was emojithemed instead of Santa-themed and, besides being a little cringy,

the arts-and-crafts weren’t really reminiscent of anything Christmas-y. It was disappointing. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t even celebrate the holiday.

“The War on Christmas” has become a Republican mantra, denoting Christmas-related controversies from the last several decades. A significant portion of the conservative population in America feels that, for a long time, political correctness has served to hinder celebration of the holiday. Their opposition argues that lessening the prominence of the Christian holiday will ensure that others of different faiths don’t feel left out.

Several secular attempts have already been made thus far to strip advertisements, entertainment, slogans, etc. of anything overtly Christmas related, so as to keep the shopping season culturally inclusive.

But according to religious folks, the casualties of “The War on Christmas” are rarely discernible. The forces of political correctness have already obliterated greetings such as “Merry Christmas” and replaced them with the more ambiguous “Happy Holidays.” Television personality Bill O’Reilly declared “The War on Christmas” a national crisis in 2004 and inspired the formation of “The Committee to Save Merry Christmas.” Their self-

proclaimed purpose “to protest the fact that big retailers profit from Christmas shopping dollars but refuse to mention the holiday by name” was supplemented with boycotts of major retail outlets, such as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Even more recently, it seems Starbucks has also entered the no-man zone. Their holiday cups have been the subject of much controversy for the past couple of holiday seasons, starting from their 2015 unveiling of a red ombre design in place of a more festive one. Shots were fired when Facebook user Joshua Feuerstein posted a video of himself trashing the brand and claiming that the coffee brand tried to “take Christ and Christmas off of their cups.” It eventually went viral, even going so far as to garner the attention of then presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In fact, Trump often championed the conservative side of “The War on Christmas” while campaigning. He’s been known to bash political correctness during his rallies, eventually making the eradication of ambiguous holiday greetings a part of his agenda. Maintaining that, under his presidency, “we’re all going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again,” Trump has repeatedly found himself fighting on the frontline over the controversy.

However, America is not

caught amidst a “War on Christmas.” The nature of the conflict is much less explicit, manifesting itself in sayings instead of soldiers and commercials instead of cannons. Much to the dismay of Fox News, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with being asked to grant equal respect to cultures and traditions that differ from one’s own. Understandably, any amount of spotlight being taken away from Christmas during the holiday season can seem like oppression since its been there for so long.

Embracing multiculturalism is certainly a noble intention, but one that progressives have done a shoddy job of achieving. American values haven’t been entirely Christian for decades; it simply isn’t realistic to assume that an overwhelming conservative presence has been stifling the observance of other traditions. The answer is to emphasize the richness of different cultures and the way they mark the holiday season instead of diluting the holidays for everyone. Allowing typical liberal paranoia concerning exclusion is counterproductive to making everyone feel welcome. Instead of purging the holiday season of any references to Christmas, we should focus on adding references to holidays such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

The reality is Christmas no

longer denotes a religious celebration, but instead, an overtly secular one. Its commercialization has established it as a national holiday, with elements such as welcoming Santa Claus instead of Saint Nick and spending time with the family as opposed to doing so in a church.

Stores profit from this newfound flexibility of meaning, and most ads/items are already geared toward all Americans. So maybe it’s high time for Republicans and Democrats alike to wave their white flags and face the (jolly Christmas) music—the War on Christmas has ended faster than it has been won.

Growing up, December 25 didn’t really mean much to my family. Regardless, the grandeur of the annual window displays on Saks Fifth Avenue, the enormous tree on Rockefeller, and the overwhelming toy advertisements never ceased to amaze me. The holiday season wouldn’t feel the same if not for my mom bringing me presents on Christmas Eve even though we didn’t celebrate it or without my family crowding around our Christmas tree (or our Hanukkah Bush). Inclusion doesn’t mean the dilution of a single, popular holiday, but instead, the meshing of cultures to make something even more meaningful than it had been before.

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 13

Opinions Lose Your Apathy Towards the Homeless

The subway door opens, and an unbearable stench envelops you. You wrinkle your nose and take a cursory glance at your phone screen. It is 7:40 a.m., and school starts at 8:00 a.m. You cannot afford to miss the train, so you hastily walk into the stifling train car, pulling your backpack in behind you as the door closes. The stench has amplified, and it’s leaving a burning feeling in the back of your throat. Then you notice the source of the smell: a homeless person asleep in the narrow two-person seat at the end of the car. Other passengers shake their heads at the sight, some sighing or frowning.

Something inside you feels off, but you figure you’re not in a position to help. What a way to start off the long day, you end up saying to yourself. Couldn’t the homeless person just sleep somewhere else?

With at least 62,166 homeless individuals wandering the streets of New York City, these situations occur far too often. But this mentality is more than just a personal issue—it also promotes collective apathy toward the homeless.

By excusing ourselves from our obligation to help, we dis-

with fire hazards, broken window guards, and a general state of disrepair pervasive throughout. A lack of maintenance of the radiators led to an explosion that killed two toddlers living in these clustersites provided for homeless families earlier in December 2016.

Shelters in New York City have the same problems, including overcrowding and a lack of safety.

Accounts from individuals who lived in shelters often describe the uninhabitable conditions: “People will steal your shoes, and there [are] bedbugs and body lice.”

Overcrowding in these shelters also contributes to the spread of diseases and general uncleanliness among residents. Oftentimes, disagreements between the residents lead to raging fights. The lack of proper heating during the winter and functional air conditioning units during the summer, combined with overpopulation, have led to deaths within shelters.

Many homeless individuals have expressed that the uninhabitable conditions within these shelters have made sleeping in the streets and train cars a more preferable option, despite the risk of hypothermia and frostbite in the frigid cold.

Moreover, these housings and shelters are only temporary residences. Due to overcrowding, shelter stays are generally limited to around 90 days. However, homelessness often isn’t temporary. According to the Bovary Mission rescue center, an overwhelming 60 percent of New Yorkers do not have the resources to cover rent and food under emergency conditions, and 20 percent of New York City residents live under the poverty line with an income of less than $24,300 per family. Most New Yorkers without a stable wellpaying job will have to resort to homelessness simply because they will not be able to support the high cost of living in the city. And for those 63,000 homeless individu-

Katherine Lwin / The Spectator

By Jenny Huang

tance ourselves from the reality of homelessness. We lose our sympathy in order to ignore the reality of the homeless ordeal, where there are no choices of help available.

Instead, we hope to remain blameless by pushing that responsibility toward others and choosing to believe that there must be other choices of aid possible for the homeless. Therefore, we suppress our sympathy by turning our heads away on the train, continuing to walk down the street and refusing to acknowledge the existence of the homeless.

This collective apathy stigmatizes the homeless experience.

In adopting such a stance, New Yorkers have become unaware and desensitized toward the plight of the homeless. According to a study by the NYC Department of Homeless Services under Mayor Bloomberg, the homelessness rate surged by 61 percent. Surprisingly, only 28 percent of New Yorkers surveyed noticed an increase in the number of homeless individuals.

Shelters and nonprofit homeless programs are pointed to as possible alternatives to homelessness. However, these programs are largely ineffective in combating the surge of homelessness in the city. The New York Times cites The Clarkson Avenue Building as an example of one such ineffective program. Due to the increase in homelessness, the city had established cluster-site programs—including private apartment buildings like The Clarkson Avenue Buildings—as an alternative source of temporary housing for the homeless.

However, these apartments are often neglected and are found to be in unsanitary, with a “dead rat in an apartment, garbage strewn in hallways and stairways, and a puddle of urine in the only working elevator of one building.”

Poorly maintained cluster-site programs like Clarkson Buildings also pose hazardous living conditions

als already struggling to find stable jobs and affordable housing amidst high rents, they have no choice but to return to being homeless after leaving their temporary shelters.

If there are long-term alternatives to homelessness, it would be less of a problem. Homelessness is characterized by instability, inability to find permanent residency, and a lack of choice. In believing that there are better alternatives or choices of help, we do nothing to alleviate the struggles of the homeless, which are more than just not having a roof over their heads.

While changes and reforms to these public homeless services are still being implemented and debated, we can still address the collective apathy we have toward the homeless. We adopt apathy toward the homeless largely in order to distance ourselves from the reality of homelessness. To lose the apathy, we need to recognize the reality of their struggles. Through acknowledging the presence of the home-

less, we can develop a feeling of sympathy which will help us progress in our war against homelessness. Moreover, since many of the shelters and cluster-site programs provided are only temporary and do the bare minimum in attempting to reduce homelessness, providing a more permanent housing solution for homeless families with affordable rent would assist in the transition out of homelessness.

Because temporary solutions lead to overpopulation and eventually disorganization, a permanent residence for homeless families would better address these issues by providing a place of security for the homeless until they are able to recover and obtain a stable job. By tackling the root of the negligence at these temporary shelters and attempting to establish permanent homes to ease the transition out of homelessness, New York City will take a step forward in reducing homelessness.

One Belt, One Road, One Winner

China’s people have much to be proud of. Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the country has been transformed from a stagnating communist backwater into an economic and industrial giant.

Massive increases in quality of life followed a series of ambitious economic reforms by Deng Xiaoping as 800 million people were lifted out of poverty and entered into the growing middle class. China’s GDP reached an annual growth rate of 10 percent (far outpacing the U.S.’s comparably low rate of 2.5 percent) between 1979 and 2017, and its manufacturing sector came to define its important place in the world economy. Industry is now China’s most valuable market; nearly half of the world’s entire steel supply was produced in China in 2017. It comes as no surprise, then, that the term “rising power” is heard more today than ever before.

At the root of China’s rise is the powerful leadership of Xi Jinping.

Jennifer Sun / The Spectator

By Michael Dekhtyar

His aggressive promotion of Chinese influence in Asia (and more recently, Africa) and his steely defense of the country’s policy goals have earned him a place among the great leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. The president’s interventionist approach to enterprise has earned him few enemies in the private sector. Most corporations have learned to survive and thrive by cooperating with the Chinese government. Companies like Zhejiang Huayou and Jinchuan Group hold uncontested control over the cobalt refining industry, positions they are unlikely to lose. And state-allied behemoths like Tencent and Alibaba (whose CEO, Jack Ma, announced membership into the Communist Party in 2018) continue to challenge American monopolies in shipping and sales.

It’s not just the private sector.

From building military bases in the economically important South China Sea to funding oil and gas pipelines in Russia and Siberia, China’s government has taken enormous steps in its pursuit of global economic primacy. Nowhere was this made clearer than in the 2013 announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive worldwide infrastructure development program. President Xi Jinping marketed the initiative as a flagship attempt to streamline international trade, lift poor countries out of economic stagnation, and increase technological and cultural exchange.

The BRI seemed like a saving grace for economically stagnant nations that attracted little international attention or investment.

For example, Pakistan had never been perceived as an ideal place to invest; corrupt governments, tensions with India, and the threat

of terrorist attacks discouraged foreign interest in the country.

This changed when China offered to build a new port in the small but strategically located city of Gwadar. The port was the first of many projects proposed, designed, and constructed by China in Pakistan’s interior, and the results are clear: a $62 billion “economic corridor” crossing Central Asia, with the promise of more development to come. Projects like the Gwadar port were supposed to be the gold standard for China’s international economic diplomacy: lucrative deal-making that benefited both sides equally and was an overall boost to the world economy.

In recent years, however, the BRI has run into problems. A $60 million loan to Pakistan was internationally criticized for its

unfavorable conditions: the deal threatened to devalue Pakistan’s currency and endanger its already fragile economy. These kinds of predatory loans are not made by accident. Too often, Chinese firms (almost always with substantial backing by the communist government) loan huge amounts of money to economically unstable countries that do not have the means to repay them. For example, Kenya, unable to pay off billions of dollars of loaned money, was forced to hand over its most valuable shipping port in Mombasa. Sri Lanka faced a similar situation when its Hambantota port—a project financed by Chinese loans—fell into disuse and irrelevance. The island nation’s government was unable to pay off the huge debts incurred in the port’s

development and surrendered it to China as collateral. In many cases such as these, the Chinese government used its great economic and diplomatic power to force smaller and poorer nations into giving up sovereign territory in place of repaying crushing debt.

This sort of “debt-trap” diplomacy only damages the fragile international economic order still in recovery from the shock of the 2008 crisis. It places Chinese policy goals ahead of the fiscal health of poor, undeveloped nations and hinders their ability to grow and participate in the world economy.

The world must act against the Belt and Road Initiative and all it represents. As is often the case, the cost of action is great, but the consequence of inaction is greater.

Page 14

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Opinions Do Emmanuel Macron and Les Gilets Jaunes Spell the Doom of Centrist Populism?

By Jonathan Schneiderman

and carefulness, seems diametrically opposed to populism, which is traditionally characterized by screaming hordes and a tendency toward extremism. Les Gilets Jaunes is the natural fulfillment of the populist ethos; of course it stands against Macron. And as fires rage in the streets of Paris, populist centrism looks dead.

But it’s not time to sing its dirge quite yet. While Macron has been unsuccessful in trying to implement le centre populiste, not all is lost.

For one thing, it’s important to keep in mind that this is France. For whatever reason, France has a long history of violent populist uprisings. The abolition of the wealth tax would likely have been much betterreceived in, say, the United States, which doesn’t even have a wealth tax.

For another, sin taxes, which ultimately hurt small consumers, are not the most effective way to legislate against climate change anyway.

That would be heavy investment in and subsidizing of renewables and nuclear energy, neither of which contributes to the greenhouse effect. Such investment, while costing large amounts of taxpayers’ money, feeds much more directly into the economy than fuel taxes. However good an idea such taxes may be, a host of new jobs creating and installing solar panels makes most voters much happier than the abstract (much more weighty, but still abstract) notion of avoiding future threats to the planet.

That kind of policy is the kind being pursued in the United States’ so-called “Green New Deal,” promoted by, most notably, the leftist freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And for all its issues, the Green New Deal currently has support from 81 percent of Americans, including 64 percent of Republicans.

The Green New Deal is problematic―for instance, it vows to

Infiltration Welcomed With Open Arms

By Jacob Steinberg

An online faction of extreme hate has gathered on the popular online forum board Reddit, as well as the less mainstream forum board 4chan over the past decade.

This group, known popularly as the alt-right, jumped into the real world last August, as a large number of hateful redditors gathered in Charlottesville to protest against liberals, minorities, Jews, and the removal of the Confederate statues. The combination of many subreddits, mini-forums on Reddit, fueled the hateful rally that ended in the death of Heather Heyer and the injuries of several others. On The_Donald, one of the subreddits, a post informing users of the rally was kept in major focus for the week prior to the event.

Though they already had power, subreddits such as MillionDollarExtreme, a fan page of the nowcanceled, hate-filled show by that name flourished. Similar subreddits like TheGreatAwakening, devoted to the following of the presumedto-be fake government official, Q, grew and allowed people that would’ve otherwise been shunned from society to disseminate hate among the online masses. After years of letting these subreddits grow and infect people with hate, Reddit finally quarantined (a form of banning which all but locks the subreddit from gaining new members) a large number of these hate subreddits on September 27, 2018.

However, there is a sole survivor. The_Donald, a subreddit devoted to President Donald Trump, is extremely hateful and maintains its status as a breeding ground for right-wing extremists. Before Red-

dit repeats its mistakes, it should quarantine The_Donald.

The_Donald is infested with hate. The comments and posts that commonly rise to the top of the subreddit are hateful toward Muslims. A top comment chain on one of the top posts of the subreddit on December 12 reads, “[User A]: How about we start a “C*oexist” campaign in the countries with a 99 percent Muslim population?

[User B]: Absolutely haram. [User C]: I would start a gofundme so liberals can go be liberals in Syria.”

These comments appear on a post meant to make fun of feminism and egalitarianism. This begins to crack the surface of the demonization of Muslims and other minorities found quite often on the subreddit.

Another top post describes sidewalk barriers as “the five pillars of Islam.” A comment replying to that post describes Muslims as pedophiles and animals. This stunning display of ignorance is grounds for banning by itself. As the alt-right is a group of people with real-life, harmful manifestations like Charlottesville, they can not be ignored and blindly accepted.

The CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, is cognizant of the problem rooted in The_Donald, where some posts calling out Huffman about banning a subreddit about the famous conspiracy theory Pizzagate have been edited by the CEO himself. When being called out on a Reddit Q&A that showed examples of The_Donald’s hate speech, Huffman gave his reasoning for the ongoing existence of the subreddit: “The_Donald is a small part of a large problem we face in this country—that a large part of the

population feels unheard, and the last thing we’re going to do is take their voice away.” Allowing hate to fester into violence like the death of Heather Heyer and defending with free speech is a generally weak approach. Social media companies cannot be sued for free speech and the impacts that this kind of speech is resulting in are deadly.

Huffman is allowing deadly hate to continue to perpetuate throughout his website and defending himself by saying that it should continue because the hate-filled people feel unheard a reckless mindset. If the unprotected speech is resulting in death, it ought to be regulated.

Furthermore, Mr. Huffman hasn’t avoided the punishing of hate subreddits before. Reddit has a history of quarantining many anti-Jewish, anti-black, and antidecency subreddits. Reddit has also banned subreddits that housed selfdescribed involuntary celibates, better known as incels, for spreading mass misogyny and fostering a disconnect from society. Reddit has also quarantined an infamous subreddit, CringeAnarchy, that was known for spreading hate for the sake of hate.

If Reddit and Mr. Huffman can acknowledge the problems that The_Donald brings to their website and ignore the rules and precedents of punishment the company has set, they are setting a dangerous example and allowing hate to fester. Allowing The_Donald to stand as a bastion of hate could very well lead to another Charlottesville, another gathering of the hatred that we have sworn to leave behind us. Reddit must ban, or at the very least quarantine, The_Donald.

Sammi Chen / The Spectator

Emmanuel Macron’s rise brought a new excitement to centrists around the world in 2017. With a wave of populism that produced Brexit and Donald Trump, brought sweeping far-right victories to parliaments around Europe on the right, and elevated Bernie Sanders―a man much less scary than his right-wing counterparts but extraordinarily problematic on policy nonetheless―on the left, centrism seemed doomed.

And then came Macron. At 39, Macron, despite his background as a wealthy investment banker, seemed to have all the appeal of a populist leader―youth, looks, a knack for social media-based organizing, no experience in elected office, insurgent poll numbers―with none of the problematic policies. When Macron defeated far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen by a 32-point margin in the presidential election, it looked like centrism had found its footing in the era of populism.

Those who know me knew how excited I was by this; upon Macron’s victory, I posted “Vive Le Centre” on Facebook in all caps and more exclamation marks than I care to admit. But with the rise of les Gilets Jaunes, or the Yellow Vests, it looks a lot like Macron’s brand, while suc-

cessful on the campaign trail, has translated into unsuccessful policymaking.

The movement erupted in late November in response to Macron’s government announcing the introduction of new fuel taxes to combat climate change. Anger at the fact that the tax would directly target fuel consumers, combined with the fact that Macron had previously abolished the wealth tax―a tax that targets all of a person’s wealth in addition to an income tax―engendered much anger among the working class. Those who were particularly affected were the rural poor, who eke out a living paycheck to paycheck and often can’t afford fuel without sin taxes. Macron’s background also makes him particularly vulnerable to working class resentment, and his policies have made him seem elitist.

Macron’s controversial policies represented, to some extent, the essence of centrism: wealth taxes discourage growth, and centrism seeks to encourage growth with market policy. At the same time, centrism acknowledges where the government’s presence is needed; climate change, which poses an existential threat, is well worth the short-term loss of growth affected by the fuel taxes.

But like all good centrist policies implemented in response to difficult situations, Macron’s was painful, making necessary short-term sacrifices for long-term gain—a term which here means “continued existence as a planet.” But short-term pain does not make good populism.

One rarely sees riled up crowds chanting, “What do we want? / Success down the road! / When do we want it? / After we adopt the necessary measures we need right now to achieve that eventually!”

It certainly seems like we were fools to believe that Macron’s populist centrism could ever feasibly manifest itself in policy; centrism, with its very deliberate moderation

bring the country to 100 percent renewables within 10 years, a policy proposal that is likely unrealistic and ignores nuclear energy―and not centrist, but it does show that effective climate policy can be synthesized with populist-friendly job creation to produce great popular support.

Populism also tends to resent the wealthy and powerful, which is why Macron’s wealth tax was so poorly received. But there’s an easy climate change angle on this as well.

Oil companies like Exxon spent decades covering up scientific evidence of climate change, and now they

should be forced to foot at least a large portion of the bill to solve it.

Imposing heavy fines on oil companies to help fund investment in renewables and nuclear power would be a populist way to implement effective climate change policy.

Macron’s story is a cautionary tale; centrists who wish to appeal to populism―which is to say, centrists who wish to survive the current political climate―should be very careful about figuring out which policies they should pass. There are, however, such policies. It’s a cautionary tale, not a tragedy. Vive le centre.

ADVERTISEMENTS

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 15

Arts and Entertainment music

By Matthew Wagman “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)”; “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”; “I Like America & America Likes Me”; “How To Draw / Petrichor”—What could these possibly be but blockbusters by The 1975, everyone’s favorite Indie pop band which can and do anything they want? Dealing with suicide, heroin addiction, gun violence in schools, and who knows what, these songs are just a brief sample of the amazing and beautiful chaos of The 1975’s new album, “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” (ABIIOR). Their charismatic and somewhat rash frontman and resident musical genius Matty Healy is seen as an almost Jesus-like figure to many fans, and for good reason.

With this album, Healy’s written a masterwork that touches, or tries to touch, upon almost every topic relevant to modern society. He honestly reflects his own struggle with drugs, making a song largely of tabloid headlines (“Love It If We Made It”) and even one about internet addiction narrated by Siri himself—all in under an hour. Drummer George Daniel programmed or played all the album’s drums, giving it a crisp and bouncy feel. He gets his real moment to shine on the “Petrichor” half of “How To Draw / Petrichor” with a British Jungle/Garage-inspired glitchy dance track, reflecting what 2019’s follow-up album should bring. The remaining members of the band are Adam Hann and Ross McDonald. They are the lead guitarist and bassist who don’t seem to do much in

music

By Jiahe Wang Not So Silent Night isn’t your typical holiday concert.

Instead of nostalgic Christmas melodies and the whimsical jingle of bells, the show, organized by alternative rock radio station 92.3, featured deafeningly distorted guitars, thunderous drums, and aggressive electronic synth beats.

Several prominent alternative artists took over Barclays Center on December 6: AJR, CHVRCHES, Mike Shinoda, Bastille, Foster the People, Death Cab for Cutie, Florence + the Machine, and Muse, in that order. Two things that characterized the night were the shockingly vulnerable moments littered throughout the show and the surprising spirituality of heavy rock music— something that is often seen as macho and violent. Despite the large venue, the show had the intimacy of a small stage; the artists were deeply personal and emotionally open through their artistic expression.

AJR, who simply introduced themselves as “a band from Manhattan,” started the show with one of their most well-known songs, “Weak.” The pop anthem’s explosive energy and catchy chorus “But I’m weak, and what’s wrong with that?” immediately set the stadium on fire. Continuing this streak of popular songs, they then whipped out a ukulele and

The 1975 Figure Out the Internet the way of creativity, but play their instruments well.

Despite dipping into at least seven styles of music, ABIIOR feels like a really cohesive whole, swapping various musical genres and styles as fast as Healy changes hairstyles in a kind of 15-track hodgepodge that actually works.

The themes of trying to survive in the modern world form the ethos of the album. The 1975 have a well-developed consciousness on how to construct songs that work. They started experimenting with a mix of atmospheric, pulsing synths and vocals that have been processed into instruments on their self-titled debut (2013), and they continued to perfect it on their sophomore record “I Like When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” (2016).

They carry on with it in this album. On tracks like “Love It If We Made It” and “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” they use the vocal bits as an accent to the main melody, as opposed to the equal mix of the two on “Sleep” or the awkward experimentation of their debut. While this is definitely something every pop producer from here to Indonesia is trying, Healy does it in a way that sounds genuinely fresh and manages to make it work with many different types of music (even jazz). The single “Give Yourself A Try” brings back

some of the shoegaze fog from their earlier, more unique sound that they largely left behind to fit into the pop genre. “I Always

Adrianna Peng / The Spectator

Wanna Die (Sometimes)” takes on a late ‘90s/early ‘00s sound strongly reminiscent of Coldplay, Blur, or Oasis, mixing in strong guitar, powerful drums, and contrasting strings. For a musician who’s claimed he’s “not into your modern singersongwriter dude,” quite a lot of

the songs are either acoustic or based around an acoustic guitar, reflecting the humble origins of most songs by The 1975 as drunk takes from Matty Healy’s bedroom.

Lyrically, “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” is true to its name, focusing on issues relevant in today’s pluggedin society.

The lyrics “I’m sure that you’re gonna say that I was sexist” and “You try and mask your pain in the most postmodern way” from the track “Sincerity Is Scary” describe almost every conversation on the internet. The line “Instead of calling me out, you should be pulling me in” actually does something most social commentary songs don’t: attempting to propose a solution. Epiphanies like the well-placed lines “I moved on her like a b*tch!” (courtesy of our President) from “Love It If We Made It” and “Kids don’t want rifles, they want Supreme” from “I Like America & America Likes Me” mirror the high level of insight and social intelligence The 1975 are

capable of.

While Healy does reference his addiction to heroin in multiple tracks, he doesn’t directly talk about the pain of the recovery process nor the larger issue around it, failing to mention the world epidemic of painkiller addiction. He talks about his own struggles with suicide, but doesn’t acknowledge anyone else’s pain or the other recent deaths of pop culture icons by suicide (except for the stray line about Lil Peep). Healy doesn’t try to relate his own experiences to others and speaks half-empty lines about trying and going outside as his sole suicide prevention message to his Internetcentric, largely younger fanbase.

Artists should try to relate their own struggles to their fans, or at least try to talk about them in a way that their fans can relate to or take inspiration from as part of their duty as influential public figures.

The 1975 have a tremendous amount of potential, but occasionally, it feels like they spend too much of it in one place and tire themselves out, leaving some tracks as shells.

The acoustic songs do work, but they might work even better over one of the amazing instrumentals The 1975 show time and time again they can make with ease. The idea that they don’t make their message more universal also reflects their waste of potential musical brilliance, and if they tried to hold up every part of their music instead of focusing on only a few unique sounds or important messages, they would become significantly better.

Not Your Typical Holiday Concert: A Review of Not So Silent Night performed “Sober Up” and smoothly transitioned to “Burn the House Down” with a trumpet riff. Emotions undulated underneath the seemingly shallow party rock anthems. When I was able to make out the words enveloped in loud beats and acoustic strumming, certain phrases stuck out in my mind.

I found myself pondering lines like “my favorite color is you” and “should I bite my tongue?”

Mike Shinoda, cofounder of rock band Linkin Park, performed without the formality of the other artists.

His gig started with a lighthearted video of him showing off his artistic skills in a tattoo design for a fan. However, the mood changed to a more serious tone with his first song “Make It Up As I Go” from “Post Traumatic,” the debut solo album he released after Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington’s suicide. The song was an eruption of dread and angst; along with clunky synths and echoing chords, Shinoda raps, “Reality was out of focus / I could be hopeless / Instead, I gritted my teeth.” The other songs from the same album showed different nuances of grief; in “Over Again,” Shinoda poured his heart out about individually saying farewell to Bennington’s family and friends at the tribute concert: “Sometimes you don’t say goodbye once / You say goodbye over and over and over again.”

Shinoda directly addressed this heartache in a genuine speech while he played melancholy chords on his keyboard, which he ended on a hopeful note. He said, “I realized it was our opportunity to celebrate Chester…for this song, I’ve always asked everyone to sing his part as loud as they can. And that’s your job tonight. Are you ready?” In this song dedicated to his longtime friend and bandmate, Shinoda and the whole stadium united into one powerful chorus. Bathed in cool blue light, the crowd chanted in a gospel-like harmony, “I tried so hard and got so far / But in the end, it doesn’t even matter.”

Bastille, the wellknown British rock band, performed next. Just like the previous artists, they too played their most popular but older songs.

“Good Grief ” was simple and catchy, despite the lyrics about coping with loss. “World Gone Mad,” followed by lead vocalist Dan Smith’s self-deprecating “Sorry, this next song is really [expletive] depressing,” opened with soft acoustic guitar chords, which was then joined by layers of subtle harmonies and Smith’s distinctive voice. The melancholy swooping melody was accompanied by poignant lyrics: “If half the world’s gone mad / The other half just don’t care, you see.”

Smith started their breakthrough song “Pompeii” with slow breathy vocals accompa-

nied by a keyboard; and as an anthemic drum beat joined the rhythmic “eh eh oh”s, the entire venue pulsated to grand synths and dazzling strobes that flooded the stage. As this song holds immense emotional significance for me, I immediately became misty-eyed when distant memories tinted the reverberating melody with a streak of nostalgia.

Toward the end of the show, the most anticipated band, Muse, finally made their dramatic appearance on stage.

Their strong stage presence was immediately evident. Lead singer Matt Bellamy, who holds a Guinness World Record for smashing the most guitars on a single tour, appeared in a flamboyant neon red suit decorated with LED lights, along with his signature shutter shades. The band started off strong with “Algorithm” from their 2018 album “Simulation Theory,” an album inspired by cyberpunk science fiction and dystopian views of the future. Matt Bellamy’s angsty vocals and hypnotic falsetto echoed against a throbbing beat: “Burn like a slave / Churn like a cog / We are caged in simulations.” The rest of the setlist was a great blend of both nostalgic old songs and their more ambitious creations. The heavy power chords of “Psycho” sent the audience into a storm of aggressive headbanging while “Starlight” brought the swooning crowds back to the 2006

arena-rock era. When “Supermassive Black Hole” came on, I heard a gritty voice behind me shout, “Finally!” One of Muse’s catchiest songs, “Supermassive Black Hole” is stuffed with rapid-fire drumming and epic orchestration evocative of impending doom.

Often described as the “best band to see live,” Muse was in perfect control of the atmosphere in the stadium. Throughout the performance, the band was electrifying in their shocking spontaneity: at one point, Bellamy dramatically kneeled down on the stage and deliberately butchered an improvised guitar solo, plucking random dissonant notes and sliding his pick up and down the strings to create something that sounded like a newbie guitarist trying out his gear at Guitar Center. This seeming effortlessness combined with their visible absorption in their own music characterized the rest of the night.

Not So Silent Night is not a traditional holiday concert by any means, but it had all the sentiments typical of one.

The fans felt excitement, anticipation, belonging, and even a sense of unity. Through the rowdy distortion and emphatic beats, artists were able to genuinely express their emotions and relate to the audience, creating a special bond that added a factor of human intimacy to this not so silent night.

Page 16

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Arts and Entertainment music

By Hugo Leuchars Earl Sweatshirt is back. It’s been over three years since his last album, 2015’s “I Don’t Like [Expletive], I Don’t Go Outside.” Since then, Earl Sweatshirt—real name Thebe Kgositsile—has largely been out of the public spotlight. He’s rarely been seen or heard from, dipping into the public eye for an occasional interview or performance and then falling back out. But now, after an extended hiatus, he returns.

“Some Rap Songs” is dense.

It is 15 tracks long, filled to the brim with intricate samples, memorable one-liners, and vocal chops that have become characteristic of Earl’s work. Though 22 minutes of music normally might not be enough to justify a full album release, Earl does more with the time than he has ever done before in any project, unpacking his own emotional baggage right in front of the listener, dropping intricate bars that layer over each other, and using samples that dip in and out of perception.

Some Rap Songs: Earl Sweatshirt Unchained Earl’s third studio album serves as the soundtrack to his life. With his father—famous African poet Keorapetse Kgositsile—dying earlier the year and having openly struggled with depression and other mental health issues, “Some Rap Songs” is more than the reverbsoaked beats—it’s also a transcript of Earl’s battles against others, and more importantly, himself. “Azucar,” appearing a little bit past the album’s halfway mark, feels like victory. Earl raps of living through his struggles: “Hands on like a goalie with the puck, don’t need any luck / See the ghost of where I was, lonesome as I was,” speaking deeply personally—commonplace on the record.

“Some Rap Songs” is a phenomenal rap album. Earl Sweatshirt delivers a record with flowing and precise production, bars delivered straight from the soul. Above all else, he delivers something new. Only slightly reminiscent of Madlib’s and MF DOOM’s “Madvillainy” (2004), “Some Rap Songs” is a breath of fresh air in an era of over-

music

Separating the art from the artist is a complicated topic. By separating the art from the artist, I mean listening to an artist’s music despite his or her personal history. This article will be focusing primarily on popular rapper 6ix9ine (this decision was not up to me ) and his new studio album “Dummy Boy,” which I cannot stand listening to. Personally, I would like to come out in full support of separating the art from the artist, as a musician’s personal history should, in most circumstances, not affect the listener’s experience or opinions in any way.

For example, let’s pick an artist (let’s just be random and sporadic and choose 6ix9ine). Once he releases an album, it is no longer his; it is the people’s. And this is especially true for Daniel Hernandez (6ix9ine), who has been sentenced to 32

account. It’s a slippery slope—from not listening to controversial artists’ art to completely shifting your musical tastes and opinions solely based on what other people have done in their private lives.

If you didn’t listen to any artists who have committed acts that might be considered indecent by the general public, you wouldn’t be able listen to XXXTENTACION, Kanye West, 6ix9ine, Chris Brown, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and many, many more. If you restrict yourself this much, music will become dry and bland as you’re constantly checking yourself to make sure you’re listening to the right people. Even in movies and TV, restricting yourself from certain controversial actors could prevent you from watching thousands of movies. Some of my favorite films with controversial figures either behind or in front of the camera include but are not limited to “Zoolander,” the original 2002 “Spiderman,” and “The Disaster

If you support “Dummy Boy,” you’re not supporting 6ix9ine’s personal history and crimes.

You’re simply supporting “Dummy Boy.”

years in prison. His music doesn’t really belong to him anymore. Rather, his music is for the people and to be used by the listener to think about and enjoy.

(Perhaps this is not true in the case of “Dummy Boy,” as it is nearly impossible to actually want to listen to the album, but it surely is in other controversial artists’ cases, such as Kanye West or XXXTENTACION).

Even if you streamed 6ix9ine’s “Dummy Boy” album for over 700 minutes straight, you would still be giving him less than a dollar, and most of that money goes to his record label, producers, and managers, not his actual bank

released as a single in the album run-up, features poignant lyrics,

Is Listening to 6ix9ine Justifiable?

Separating the Art from the Artist

By Morris Raskin

Camilla Cheng / The Spectator

saturated rap gimmicks. The highlight track “Nowhere2go,”

again alluding to Earl’s chronicled issues with depression: “I found a new way to cope / It ain’t no slave in my soul / But I keep the memories close by.”

“Some Rap Songs” is one of the best rap albums of 2018, and making something so poignant, emotional, and intelligent with a runtime under half an hour speaks to Earl’s talent as a producer, rapper, and first and foremost, an artist.

Earl uses this album to break himself apart and slowly reinvent himself throughout the album, culminating in “Riot!,” a purely instrumental track that feels like a rebirth of sorts, the conclusion of a trip through the inner machinations of his psyche, and the sound of mental fulfillment. The Earl Sweatshirt in “Some Rap Songs” is at his strongest lyrically and instrumentally, eclipsing prior efforts. Though he often raps over beats that are chained down, Earl is as free as ever on “Some Rap Songs.”

Artist.”

There’s simply nothing wrong with listening to “Dummy Boy” (except for the fact that it’s a 22-year-old kid with rainbow hair screaming into a low-quality microphone). How could past crimes he may have committed affect the music that he releases? If you support “Dummy Boy,” you’re not supporting 6ix9ine’s personal history and crimes. You’re simply supporting “Dummy Boy.” In the end, art can, quite simply, almost always be separated from the artist. Let’s be frank; this artist is already a millionaire, and your 16 cents probably aren’t going to change his life.

Listening to 6ix9ine is Endorsing Violence and Misogyny

By Theo Kubovy-Weiss For 6ix9ine, his garish, rainbowcolored hair and equally showy tattoos make him a striking figure. His

loathed by many. In 2015, 6ix9ine was convicted for his involvement in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old. He was accused of choking a 16-year-old fan during a meet-and-greet earlier this year. He was arrested on federal crime

“To listen to 6ix9ine is to not hold him accountable for his wrongdoings, and is to endorse his appalling, abhorrent actions in the past.”

hyper-aggressive lyrics, vocals, and instrumentals make his music intriguing to many. In addition, his ongoing legal battles, among other controversies, have monopolized headlines over the past few years. All of these features comprise the single, unified entity of 6ix9ine, and have been responsible for his major success.

It is not his substantial musical talent that has allowed 6ix9ine to become the immensely successful artist that he is today; it is his whole persona that has led to his triumph in the music industry. 6ix9ine’s character is offensive, unpleasant, and unrelentingly aggressive, but this creates intrigue for the public, as people tend to gravitate toward those who push the limits of social acceptability. This is, in large part, responsible for his meteoric rise.

All aspects of him, ranging from his appearance to his music and album art, tie into his aesthetic as a provocateur of the status quo in hip-hop. For this reason, it is impossible to separate 6ix9ine from his music, as he and his music go hand in hand. There is no argument to be made about any lack of consistency between 6ix9ine’s music and his persona, as incessant profanity and themes of murder, assault, sex, and drugs are prevalent in both.

It is no surprise that 6ix9ine is

charges of racketeering in November, for which he may receive up to life in prison. In corroboration with the legal charges against him, 6ix9ine’s lyrics involve themes of violence, murder, and robbery, among other offensive topics.

There is no separating 6ix9ine from his music because 6ix9ine is his music, and vice versa. The objectionable parts of his persona are just as—if not more—common in his lyrics. What has led to his success is his constant, unyielding ability to offend and provoke, as seen in both his personal endeavors and his music. For many other artists whose stage personas vary drastically from their personal characters, listening to their music is reasonable. For example, Richard Wagner is heralded as one of the best composers of his time despite his outspoken antisemitism because his music does not convey his bigoted ideology. On the contrary, what is portrayed in all aspects of 6ix9ine’s life and career is consistently negative, violent, and graphic. 6ix9ine made the conscious decision not to distinguish between his character and the themes in his lyrics. Because of this, to listen to 6ix9ine is to not hold him accountable for his wrongdoings and to endorse his appalling, abhorrent actions in the past.

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 17

Arts and Entertainment Get A Life: The Cultured Edition

By The Arts and Entertainment Department

ONGOING CONCERT Winter Jazzfest @ Greenwich Village until 1/12 $15-$55

January

11

12

SEMINAR Somebody to Love: A Feminist Reading of Freddie Mercury @ Strand Bookstore $20

ART SHOW Armenia! @ Metropolitan Museum of Art until 1/13 FREE ART SHOW Maya Lin: A River is a Drawing @ Hudson River Museum until 1/20 $4-$7

FILM SCREENING “BlacKkKlansman” @ Hudson Park Library FREE

13 TOUR Vogue Knitting LIVE! @ Times Square until 1/15 $20 and up

ART SHOW The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection @ Metropolitan Museum of Art until 1/21 FREE

15

15

ART SHOW Holiday Train Show @ New York Botanical Garden until 1/21 $7-$25

BOOK RELEASE “Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy” by Larry Loftis $27 hardcover

BOOK RELEASE “Our Year of Maybe” by Rachel Lynn Solomon $19 hardcover

FILM FESTIVAL New York Jewish Film Festival @ Lincoln Center until 1/22 $12-$25

17 CONCERT Japanese Breakfast @ Brooklyn Steel $23

17

ART SHOW Alexandra Bachzetsis’s Massacre: Variations on a Theme @ Museum of Modern Art until 1/31 FREE ART SHOW Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done @ Museum of Modern Art until 2/3 FREE

EXHIBITION Winter Salon: Writers on Home @ Brooklyn Museum $16

18

ART SHOW Empresses of China’s Forbidden City @ Peabody Essex Museum until 2/10 $12

20 PERFORMANCE Dance Theatre of Harlem—A Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration @ Colden Auditorium $35

ART SHOW Blue Prints: The Pioneering Work of Anna Atkins @ New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building until 2/17 FREE ART SHOW Andy Warhol—From A to B and and Back Again @ Whitney Museum until 3/31 FREE

CONCERT The Lemon Twigs @ Music Hall of Williamsburg until 1/19 $20 and up

25 ALBUM RELEASE “DNA” by Backstreet Boys

27 CONCERT Yams Day @ Barclays Center $40 and up

ICE SKATING The Rink at Rockefeller Center @ Rockefeller Center until 4/1 $37 ART SHOW Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future @ Guggenheim Museum until 4/23 FREE MUSEUM EXHIBITION Inside You @ American Museum of Natural History until 6/16 $18-$23

27 BOOK RELEASE “The Good Daughter” by Karin Slaughter $9 paperback

27 CONCERT Comethazine: B2 Tour @ Gramercy Theatre $20-$100

February

31 PARADE Annual Halloween Parade @ Park Slope FREE

ART SHOW In Praise of Painting @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art until 10/4/20 FREE

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Music

By The Arts and Entertainment Department Break might be over, but winter still continues. If one day Mayor de Blasio is miraculously willing to give us a snow day, here are a list of winter-themed songs to jam out to as you sit by the fireplace with a mug of hot cocoa.

“Every Snowflake is Different” My Chemical Romance Punk/Alternative rock “Wintertime Love” The Doors Classic rock “Who Hurt You?” Daniel Caesar R&B

“Sky Walker” Miguel ft. Travis Scott Hip hop “Spirit in the Dark” Aretha Franklin Soul “Last Snowstorm of the Year” Hippo Campus Indie rock “The Four Seasons: Winter” Vivaldi Classical

“End of the Season” The Kinks Soft rock/Jazz

“White Winter Hymnal” Fleet Foxes Indie/Pop

“come out and play” Billie Eilish Indie/Pop

“Oh Ms. Believer” Twenty One Pilots Indie pop

“Nature Boy” Harry Connick Jr. Jazz

“Sing For My Life” Sia Pop

“Snowman” Sia Pop “Winter Song” Nico Rock “Golden Slumbers – Acoustic” Dua Lipa Ballad pop “Winter” Susie Suh Pop/Folk rock

Page 18

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Arts and Entertainment Top 10 Albums of 2018

music

By Shivali Korgaonkar and Morris Raskin 2018 was a strange year on all fronts. Kanye West dressed up as a Roblox character, Will Smith jumped out of a helicopter, Barbra Streisand cloned her dog, and the entire world stopped in its tracks because someone found a recording of the word “laurel.”

The music scene was also (how do we put this gently) interesting.

After tirelessly sloshing through the mess of albums that came out in 2018, we picked 10 individual pieces of work that we felt were the best albums of the year in terms of lyrics, production, vocals/music, and cultural significance. Here they are: 10. “Invasion of Privacy” by Cardi B Best Songs: “Get Up 10” and “I Do” Genre: Hip-hop If you haven’t heard of Cardi B, then I’m not sure what kind of rock you’ve been living under. 2018 has been an unpredictable year for this rapper from

Best Songs: “Nai’s March” and “Relax” Genre: Indie pop/Electronic You’ve probably never heard of indie electronic group Superorganism, and that’s exactly how they like it. This eight-piece indie pop outfit doesn’t try to conform to the standards of the industry right now. Instead, they go in their own direction, using playful synths and effects to convey a rare feeling of childlike wonder. Each of their songs communicates a different part of our world that isn’t often talked about in music. “Everybody Wants to Be Famous” discusses the human need to be known, while “Relax” talks about stress and overcoming it.

At its core, though, Superorganism is just a fun band to listen to. Packed to the brim with interesting special effects and gliding synths, it is nearly impossible to listen to “Superorganism” without cracking a smile.

The production is entirely original and new, as the band makes a seemingly new genre just for them. “Superorganism”

is, in my opinion, one of the best R&B singles of the year. The two artists display their extraordinary and complementary vocals in this soft and calming song. The honesty and passion behind the lyrics are evident in their voices as they sing, “You’re the coffee that I need in the morning / You’re my sunshine in the rain when it’s pouring.”

In “Avenue,” H.E.R.’s distinct, raspy voice effortlessly produces a wide range of sounds.

H.E.R. sings about her anger and frustration toward men and the way they make it hard for her to leave. Not only is each song on “H.E.R.” extremely well produced and melodious, it also follows a relatable storyline that prevents this album from getting old.

7. “Trench” by Twenty One Pilots Best songs: “Legend” and “Jumpsuit” Genre: Alternative rock After three painful years of a Twenty One Pilots hiatus, they’ve finally returned with a

This album has been on the radio so much that I’m sure Ari-

ana’s vocals are playing in your head right now, so I’ll make this short. Ariana Grande puts her everything into creating albums, and there hasn’t been a single one that we listeners haven’t memorized the lyrics to. Some songs on the album, such as “R.E.M.” and “sweetener,” display a slow and soothing tempo, while others, such as “everytime” and “breathin,” are dance pop songs.

“God is a woman” is a song with traces of trap, pop, and even reg-

about how many women he had on his side, but simply fun rapping about achieving goals and being willing to sacrifice everything to get to where he needs to be.

If you find parts of Rock’s music reminiscent of rapper Kendrick Lamar, it’s because it is.

Kendrick Lamar ad-libs his way through the album with Jay Rock, and it’s a special treat whenever he does. The features on this album work perfectly, including J. Cole, Tee Grizzley, SZA, and Future. Each of them adds something new, like SZA’s smooth R&B vocals or Future’s whiney but addictive mumble rap.

In the end, though, Jay Rock’s not afraid of having a little fun, as apparent with the famous line in “King’s Dead” sing-rapped by Future: “La dee da dee da, slob on me knob.”

4. “Black Panther: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”

by Kendrick Lamar Best Songs: “King’s Dead” and

Fareeha Tabassum / The Spectator

the Bronx. She had a baby, got divorced, released an album, and took part in a number of “beefs,” some of which turned into lawsuits. However, you can always count on Cardi to put her personal life aside and produce empowering, energetic music.

“Invasion of Privacy,” Cardi’s first album, features many other rappers and R&B artists, such as Migos, 21 Savage, Kehlani, and Chance the Rapper. Cardi even exhibits her Spanish roots in “I Like It,” a collaboration with J Balvin and Bad Bunny.

Cardi is not afraid to tell people how she feels, and as a result, this album is a great representation of her personality. She sets the tone for the album with the introduction, “Get Up 10,” where she leads in with a slow beat, has a powerful bass drop, and then releases a rant on how the music industry tried to hold her back. She opens up about her rags-to-riches story in which she went from stripping and working low-income jobs to being the best rapper of the year. Her incredible lyrics and plays on words work so well in songs like “I Like It,” in which she raps, “Told that b*tch I’m sorry though / ‘Bout my coins like Mario / Yeah they call me Cardi B, I run this sh*t like cardio.” Cardi’s relatable struggle to success inspires many and gives listeners the motivation to push through and block out all the negativity to reach the top.

9. “Superorganism” by Superorganism

is impossible to categorize into just EDM or indie or pop, as it is simply a style that has so rarely been explored. The album is truly is a joy to listen to and was probably a joy to create as well.

8. “H.E.R.” by H.E.R. Best Songs: “Avenue” and “Best Part” Genre: R&B “H.E.R.” by H.E.R. is a Grammy-nominated album that is perfect for when you’re in the mood to do nothing but sit on your bed and eat ice cream.

H.E.R. is a relatively new artist; when she first started in the music industry, she tried to hide her face and keep her identity a secret to make listeners focus on the stunning voice she is presenting, not the face behind that voice. This slow and sultry album provides listeners with a deep understanding of H.E.R.’s feelings toward her relationships.

“Best Part,” a collaboration between H.E.R. and Daniel Caesar,

fourth full-length album, and it was definitely worth the wait.

The addition of a real bass was a risky choice for the band, possibly compromising the alternative and quirky sound they’ve worked so hard to build with albums like “Blurryface” and “Vessel.” But it pays off. They stay true to their slightly alternative roots while going in totally new directions with songs like “Leave The City,” a gloomy piano ballad, and “Pet Cheetah,” a song that takes notes from hip hop and provides an eclectic blend of sounds from all different times, genres, and artists.

“Trench” tells a story created by vocalist Tyler Joseph about a fictional civilization known simply as DEMA and expands on this dystopian story with wonderful world building and excellent character development through the lyrics and videos. The amount of time that must have been spent crafting this album and storyline and the amount of courage the band must have had to pull it off is truly admirable.

“Trench” wasn’t a surefire hit; it wasn’t made to pump out radio hits like the duo’s previous album “Blurryface” might have.

However, “Trench” was an album built to last, and it was created with actual musical quality as a top priority.

6. “Sweetener” by Ariana Grande Best Songs: “Better Off ” and “Sweetener” Genre: Pop

gae, creating a sound unheard of before. Ariana uses her lyrics to empower women by helping them remember that they are important and their voice should be heard loud and clear. Ariana’s music has reached such a wide spectrum of people because she is able to make fans feel understood and give them a safe haven with her words, as seen in “God is a woman.”

A terrorist attack took place in Manchester during Ariana’s concert in 2017. Ever since, Ariana vowed to keep her music honest and motivational, and that is exactly what she achieved with “Sweetener.” Every song is an anthem for listeners and makes them feel understood, even if it is just for a few minutes.

5. “Redemption” by Jay Rock Best Songs: “King’s Dead” and “Knock It Off ” Genre: Hip-hop Before the hip-hop track “King’s Dead” came out from the “Black Panther” movie soundtrack, I had no idea who Jay Rock was. And I’m so glad I discovered him, because “Redemption” ended up being one of the albums that defined my 2018.

Songs like “Knock It Off ” radiate Jay Rock’s calm, cool, and collected side, but others show he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. “WIN” is a joyful three and a half minutes of light flexing—not the obnoxious Lil Pump/6ix9ine-style bragging

“Big Shot” Genre: Hip-hop “Black Panther: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack,” the soundtrack to the Marvel movie “Black Panther,” was produced

by Grammy Award winner and hip-hop icon Kendrick Lamar and is also a nominee for this year’s Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album features many different AfricanAmerican artists, such as Khalid, Swae Lee, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, and 2 Chainz. It all works together both individually and within the context of the movie, creating a meaningful hip-hop/ pop album. The producers of this album created songs that represent authentic African culture by using classical beats and tempos in songs such as “Redemption,” which features two African-based artists. Most movie soundtracks are overlooked by listeners, as the main focus is usually what’s going on in the movie. However, Lamar’s “Black Panther” is unique in that it has built a reputation separate from the movie it was created for. This explosive album alone has represented many African people, as it was written, produced, and sung only by African artists who empower listeners through their defiant body of work.

Continued on page 19

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 19

Arts and Entertainment Top 10 Albums of 2018

music Continued from page 18

3. “Kids See Ghosts” by Kanye West and Kid Cudi Best Song: “4th Dimension” and “Feel The Love” Genre: Hip-Hop Only seven days after “ye,” an album of debatable quality, Kanye erased any notion that he might be slowing down by dropping his Kid Cudi collaboration album “Kids See Ghosts.” This album boasts just seven tracks, with each one bringing something new to the table. My personal favorite track, “4th Dimension,” starts with a sample of Louis Prima’s “What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’)” and builds the beat from there, adding a pounding kick, an addictive bass, and a reversed sample in the background. Kanye raps his part, an interlude plays for a few beats, and then Cudi starts his verse.

It’s totally possible for a rap-

per like Kid Cudi to be overshadowed by Kanye, who right now is at the center of controversy and in the middle of the public eye. But Cudi stands his ground and delivers a cool and suave verse, proving he can deliver a song seemingly made for all of Kanye’s strong suits. Overall, this album exceeded all expectations and gave fans exactly what they wanted from a Kanye/Cudi collab.

2. “Astroworld” by Travis Scott Best Songs: “Wake Up” and “Carousel” Genre: Hip-hop Months after this album’s release, you can still hear the opening words of “SICKO MODE” (“Sun is down, freezing cold”) at almost any event. Travis Scott’s iconic album “Astroworld” is a tribute to a closed down amusement park in Travis’s hometown of Houston, Texas. This track has 17 songs, many of which feature

notable artists of different genres, creating an album of very diverse products. The two leading songs on this track are “BUTTERFLY EFFECT” and “SICKO MODE.” Travis teamed up with Drake, Swae Lee, and Big Hawk on “SICKO MODE” to create an incredibly distinctive song. “SICKO MODE” is so unique because the beat changes three times, creating three different sounds in the span of five minutes.

“Astroworld” also includes songs like “CAROUSEL” (ft.

Frank Ocean), in which the two artists’ contrasting voices create a beautiful trade-off. In “COFFEE BEAN,” Travis sings, “Your family told you I’m a bad move / Plus I’m already a black dude,” discussing his relationship with Kylie Jenner. This personal song allows listeners to understand what it’s like to constantly be in the public eye—being judged on your life choices by everyone around you.

“Astroworld” will continue to stand as a benchmark for great hip-hop albums in 2019, as each song is true to Travis’ musical style, yet no two songs sound the same.

1. “Golden Hour” by Kacey Musgraves Best Song: “High Horse” and “Velvet Elvis” Genre: Country Let me be abundantly clear right now. Yes, this album is country. Yes, I hate country. And yet,

this is the undisputed best album of 2018. Don’t turn away now because of the genre; Kacey proves very quickly she can’t get boxed in by a simple label like that. In fact, you may be shocked to see this album seated at the #1 seat of this article. Don’t be. The fact that you’re surprised just goes to

show that you haven’t listened to “Golden Hour” yet.

This 13-song masterpiece will take you on a trip, lifting you out of gray, dark New York City and into the clouds. The blend of acoustic guitars, soft pianos, the occasional banjo, and Kacey’s beautiful voice makes for a deserving number one.

Kacey’s previous albums have solidified her as a legitimate artist in the music scene; her first album showed her talents as a smalltown, banjo-toting girl who knows how to talk about big things, and her second proved her rightful place as an ultra-talented singer

and songwriter. “Golden Hour,” however, takes Kacey Musgraves up from her dusty hometown of Golden, Texas and places her and her listeners in the sky.

A couple of weeks ago, this album surprised nobody as it earned a nomination for Album of the Year at the Grammys. It deserved it as much—if not more—than any of the other albums on that list (two of which are on this list as well). However, Kacey Musgraves is not dependent on fame or clout to gain recognition, unlike some other artists who deserve the nomination slightly less *cough-Drake-cough.* Kacey didn’t create “Golden Hour” with the intent of putting out hits. She built it for the fans, for the critics, and for anyone who can appreciate good music when they listen to it unbiased.

The music itself isn’t the only stellar part about this album. The lyrics are on a level unmatched by any other country album of today.

In “Slow Burn,” Kacey sings over a light acoustic guitar: “Born in a hurry, always late / Haven’t been early since ‘88.” This is the opening line to her album, and right off the bat, she comes in ready to stun you with her prowess every single song. With piano ballads, ‘80s dance tunes, vocoders, and more, this album really does have it all.

“Golden Hour” is an incredibly thought out and executed album, and it absolutely deserves the top spot.

Stuy’s Other Publications

literature

By Andrew Ng

At a traditionally STEM-oriented high school like Stuyvesant, it may be surprising to hear that there’s a thriving publication community creating written and artistic works. But the student body at Stuyvesant has carved out a brilliant collection of publications in addition to the well-known Spectator to support the creative pursuits of the student body.

Caliper Meeting day and place: Tuesday, Room 615E Boasting the title of “one of the oldest high school literary magazines in the country” on Stuyvesant’s official website, it’s no question that Caliper has ingrained deep roots into the community of Stuyvesant and its culture. One stop into the Room 615E where Caliper meets every Tuesday and you will find the stacks of old issues—some feathery and antiquated, others glossy and newly printed. One could immerse themselves for hours in the creative works of Stuyvesant students from the last century.

But Caliper isn’t going anywhere. Caliper still publishes students’ art and writing in a magazine once or twice per year, and they still meet every week.

Members respond to prompts and give each other constructive feedback. I spoke with Katherine Sanchez, senior and current President of the Caliper magazine. “I’ve been a part of Caliper for four years, so it’s very important to me,” Sanchez said.

“It’s an important part of Stuy’s history. It’s just supposed to be a community of writers here at Stuy, because it’s kind of lacking here.”

Sanchez found the community to be very supportive through her four years at Caliper. “I felt there were all these

people [who] were happy to hear my work, even if it wasn’t that good. I think positive reinforcement is really nice. To have the community of people that you can go back to every Tuesday. I always viewed the Caliper Heads [the term to describe Caliper presidents] as mentors,” she said.

In addition, Sanchez has taken strides to revolutionize the interaction between the Caliper Heads and the writers. Caliper is offering a new pilot program in which any student can create and publish their very own zine of two to three pages containing any art or genre of writing. The relationship between the writer and the Caliper staff could be “one-sided because you never could see them make the magazine,” Sanchez explained.

“Members may forget about it if they don’t go to meetings.”

Her solution is the new program in which the Caliper staff will mentor others in the process of creating a magazine and also provide funding for it. She believes that the program will provide an incentive for students to become more active in Caliper because they can be a part of the creation process. Sanchez also noted that the whole Caliper experience will be changed, as she is working on developing a website for Caliper that will have the archives of all their past issues.

Antares Meeting day and place: Fridays, Room Variable “Antares is your wormhole to […] the future—or any place— where anything can happen,” the website for Antares claims.

Stuyvesant’s Science Fiction and Fantasy publication, Antares, fills a distinct niche at Stuyvesant. “We’re a Sci-Fi and Fantasy magazine that focuses on art and writing, including traditional art, digital art, digital manipulation, [and] 3D,” junior and Antares president Daisy Shay said. “We’re

pretty flexible about genre, so it could range from anything from hardcore Sci-Fi like Star Wars [to] Fantasy—like a supernatural occurrence—but we’re generally very focused beyond that.”

Shay thinks that what sets Antares apart from the rest of Stuyvesant publications is that their community works in a very “intimate setting […] with the other members,” she said. She thinks what makes Antares so rewarding is “really just interacting with other club members both old and new. It’s nice to see

what freshmen can bring to the table.”

Regarding her presidency, Shay, who is new to the position, mentioned, “It’s great how the seniors […] have been able to help me in the leading process.”

As president, she increased advertising with posters around the school. With the cooperation of the old and new members, she feels Antares has become “much more vibrant than it was before,” she said.

Moonlight Meeting day and place: Thursdays, Room 337 A publication that has emerged as an outlet for student expression with art, writing, and other creative mediums, Moonlight publishes online biweekly.

“We wanted to offer people freedom to express themselves however they want. Traditional art, digital art, poems, short stories,” junior and Moonlight copresident Lea Shvarts said. The publication was founded last year as a way to “really focus on building a community where we can all grow stronger together.

We edit everything that people submit and provide plenty of

comments all the time to help our members develop their creative voice,” she said. She also talked about their mentorship program. “A member can request a mentor to work one-onone to come up with writing and art prompts and to hone in on specific skills that [they] may be struggling with,” she described.

Shvarts also noted that Moonlight differs from Caliper and Antares because they “have more frequent publications so that students [can] see their pieces published soon after they submit,” she said.

But Shvarts also mentions that Moonlight is more than just an online publication. The club,

which meets every other Thursday in Room 337, is structured as a creative seminar studio. The meetings “bring together a tightknit community of writers and artists where we work on activities [and] we all contribute to create something really special,” she said. Examples of such activities she noted were “a comic strip—it was a medley of a lot of different art styles” and a “spread where we paired writers and photographers to collaborate on a piece of writing,” she said. Members “get to bond in our meetings in a intimate setting and then produce writing or art that reflects that,” she concluded.

Page 20

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

ADVERTISEMENTS

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Page 21

Humor These articles are works of fiction. All quotes are libel and slander.

Stuyvesant Falls Into Anarchy Over Big Fish

By Chrisabella Javier

This may be my last message.

It has been about a week, and I am on fish 33.

Nobody knows when it started. It spread like an epidemic, and all of a sudden, it was on everyone’s phones. I personally got it from a guy from my “bad advice to pretend that your life is going swell” group chat. (Not to flex, but amongst my friend group, I am seventh place.) All of you know what I’m talking about.

Big Fish.

It’s a highly addictive Facebook Messenger game, where you force multiple fish to merge together and derive profit so you can replace them. You know the messages. “Join me, and you can earn rewards too!” “Some Asian guy with an incredibly white name just got fish number five!”

Maybe, in another dimension, it could have been a little trend that died out after a week. But it didn’t. There was just something about taking care of these tiny little fish living on your cell phone that appeased the masses.

For me, personally, the reason I

fell in love with Big Fish was because it was the first time in many years that something had gone right for me.

Slowly but surely, the grand and honorable Big Fish found its way into everyone’s mind. Group chats for classes devolved into Big Fish mines. Suddenly, people were no longer obsessed about trying to cop a 69 on their P.E. paper. Its bright, colorful fish that definitely were not copied off of Pokémon made circles around the school. It was no longer a game.

It was an obsession.

Signs of Big Fish fever were first apparent when people began flocking to Battery Park and performing pagan rituals to summon more fish. When a boy poured out the fish tank on the seventh floor in order to retrieve more fish, well, that was not the start.

That was just a sign that things had gone too far.

Suddenly, the whole school was struck by Big Fish Fever.

People who were once obnoxious lovers were now beating each other to death in the Hudson staircase—and not in the fun way.

Some girls were attempting to

2019 in Science

By Angélique Charles-Davis Hear ye, science kids! Has the winter got you down? Do you feel like all you need is some groovy science to lift your spirits? Never fear, here are 10 GrOoVy discoveries that are coming out in the new year!!!!!!!

1. Research suggests that as humans age, they lose the ability to turn just their neck to talk to you and must turn their whole body.

2. Studies show that in the year 2030, student debt will rise to three billion dollars. The student’s name has yet to be released.

3. A poll of the U.S. revealed the shocking news that 98 percent of Americans believe determination to be a country made up of the determi tribe.

4. Scientists at IBM have built a supercomputer working on facial recognition, but have reached a snag, citing that they “still can’t get it to tell

the basic white girls apart.”

5. Scientists publish report saying opening and closing both eyes at the same time is still the most comfy way to blink.

6. Experimenters attempt to put a name to the awkward run-walk thing you do when a car lets you pass.

7. Statisticians at the College Board report that their blood-sucking terrorist organization has brought smiles to thousands of seniors worldwide.

8. Brian Moran issues citywide report subtly suggesting that the Stuyvesant escalators may have slight mechanical issues.

Administration quakes.

9. Pearl E. White to compile the largest ever compendium of casseroles; soccer moms flock to her suburban home.

10. Apple releases report that Airpod users who talk on the phone with them have increased general public discomfort by over 1000 percent.

Post-Break Test Rush Triggers Student Protests

By Michael Dekhtyar JAN. 10, 2019 — In a lastminute attempt to deprive their students of sleep and truly prepare them for the college experience, the teachers of Stuyvesant have begun partaking in a mad dash to announce tests in the weeks before finals begin. The World Languages department was the first to schedule a test and/or quiz every single day before finals week. The Assistant Principal of the department, Ms. McAuliffe, defended its decision in a brief public statement: “How else will we test our students on the preterite, subjunctive, past subjunctive, ongoing present, continuous progressive, and [garbled speech] verb tenses?

This is the only way to prepare our students for the Spanish and French that they will definitely take in their college years.” The Mathematics department came in at a close second, managing to cover every other day of January

with “factually challenging assessment periods,” which is mathematician slang for “tests.”

The unprecedented crowding of student schedules proved extremely unpopular with the student body, already overloaded with extra-credit assignments, group projects, and chapter readings that were supposed to have been done over the break. The educational developments led to the formation of enormous lines of sleep-deprived, caffeine-demanding students at Terry’s, Ferry’s, McDonald’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts.

After a rise in the price of coffee at those locations, riots broke out among the exhausted students, who donned yellow Supreme jackets and banded together to protest the crowding of their schedules.

However, the purpose of the riots has expanded beyond mere scheduling issues; most students have declared their intent is to continue the riots until the administration fixes the escalators.

stab each other by flailing around fencing swords over fish number 25. People were jumping off the roof into the rivers for more fish.

God knows

w h y students turned to violence so quickly.

According to one soccer mom found cowering in her apartment trying to protect her children with a lacrosse stick, it was because the Devil himself had possessed the game. But it doesn’t matter why

it happened; what matters is the effect. Every store in Tribeca had to board up their windows to escape the mobs of students trying to loot as much money as possible to buy their precious, precious fishies. Outside, I can

see the local rich people with helicopters ready to evacuate the rioting neighborhood.

Mandy Mai / The Spectator

As of right now, I have locked myself in the swimming pool. I would like to say that it was not an intentional ploy to carve myself a little base for me to play Big Fish in peace. In reality, it’s because I don’t have any idea how doors work. It’s a real nice place. I have a big pool for the fish, a lot of space to cry in, and something that I think is food inside the equipment room. (My editor, Abdullah, is currently demanding to know where the equipment room is.

No way on earth I’m telling him. That’s a sign of weakness.) But right now, I can see the mobs of students outside the doors and windows trying to break in for maybe a little more money, for a little more fish so they can move up in their rankings. So far I have held them back, but the glass can’t hold up much longer.

I’m sorry. Sorry for a lot of things, like existing or coming to this school. But most importantly, I’m sorry for not clicking on your notifications when you clicked on mine.

Regents Week: Falling Apart as Quickly as the Students

By Anika Sujana

Every year, there is a hushed silence that falls over Stuyvesant toward the end of December. The students begin behaving a certain way. The look in their eyes is different, not quite as lifeless as they normally are, and the teachers and faculty take notice. Students begin doing the one thing that is much stranger than their usual antics; they’re smiling.

“It truly is a sight! I’m sure I even caught two kids paying attention today. Paying attention— in class!” Dr. Nedwidek-Moore exclaimed.

The time is the most magical of the year. After a full 11 days of winter break, they come back to the last two weeks of the semester and then the golden week: Regents week. Regents week is notorious for being almost equivalent to Winter Recess part two, where students come in to class to take their one-hour final and then waste away in Whole Foods for the rest of the day, convincing themselves they must have been productive because their laptops

By William Huang As the hunched and depressed mob of Stuyvesant students swarmed through the secondfloor entrance in their heavy winter coats after Christmas break, the last 10 days seemed like an illusion.

“I have no recollection of what happened the past week,” senior David Vinokur said.

Vinokur was one of the few seniors who walked into school that day despite the fact that the second term hadn’t started yet.

It turns out that Vinokur, along with many other students, had slept through the entire break.

“It couldn’t have been that long,” freshchild Timmy said.

“After all, the escalators still aren’t functional yet. I can’t wait to carry my 40-pound rolling backpack up the stairs and block everyone!”

The stairs have been less congested than usual, likely due to the absence of almost all of the senior class, though the freshmen have somehow multiplied to fill

are open. But this year, the fragility of the school’s restless excitement seemed to be exposed through one whisper in the lunchroom.

“I heard Regents week is a day shorter this year; we don’t have Friday off anymore,” sophomore Lily Peters says to her friend, and in an instant, the entire cafeteria falls silent. One child is escorted out because they began crying too hard. Another is having a frantic conversation with her mother on the phone about transferring schools. Though this truth was bound to be discovered eventually, everyone much rather preferred not knowing. Needless to say, Peters did not come back to school after break, or in fact, ever.

The Student Union was thrown into a frenzied panic at their next meeting, and trying to calmly explain to students that this was out of their control did not seem to be enough. So as most rational people would do, the students of Stuy decided to take the matter into their own hands. And thus began the start of their most brilliant plan yet: overthrowing the Department of Education.

The Day After this void. The senior teachers are confounded by this absence.

“Either everyone got into Harvard early, or the end is near,” government teacher Terry Krainor said.

With most of the senior leadership gutted, the performance of the winter sports teams is projected to fall. The Student Union itself is left leaderless, with Vice President Vishwaa Sofat having no choice but to take over and exert dictatorial control over the committee chairs, who are now competing for power.

In response to the ensuing chaos, Principal Contreras ordered an official investigation into what has befallen the missing students. In an unprecedented act, Contreras restored Señor Simon’s position as dean and expanded the jurisdiction of the deans over all of New York City. Exactly one day after the break ended, Contreras unleashed his dean hounds in search of the truant seniors.

“There’s no place for them to hide now,” said Mr. Moran with a

The only thing scarier than an army of sleep-deprived, overworked kids was an of army of sleep-deprived kids willing to miss sleep in order to riot against the board. The harsh reality of it all was that even with an extra day, the same cycle of procrastination until 2:00 a.m., studying on the train ride to the school, and complaining about the final being completely unfair would continue, but the thought of it all was what mattered.

And so, the riot began. Students were found outside the buildings and offices of the Department of Education with pitchforks, scantrons of their lowest test scores pasted to the front, causing one woman to almost pass out at the sight of a 42 percent.

“It was the agriculture test for AP Human Geography,” sophomore Adam Fisher explained.

The rioting, marching, and battle for what’s right still continues. Through the harsh winter, as finals are around the corner, and eye bags grow heavier, everyone is hoping that in the end, justice will prevail.

cackle while the light of the crimson sun glinted off his head. He stood outside the house of a senior at the crack of dawn, ready to raid the place in search of him.

Moments later he emerged, dragging a student by the collar as he kicked and screamed with a juul in hand.

“Nooooo…,” cried the student with his hand outstretched as the pod he dropped in the snow slowly disappeared as the inches piled on.

Back in Stuyvesant, it was business as usual. Seniors finally began showing up in greater numbers, mostly due to fear of the now unrestrained deans.

“All seniors must have perfect attendance from now on, or I will revoke even your 10th period PSAL frees,” Principal Contreras declared in an ultimatum.

The tone was ominous, but perhaps the increasingly authoritarian methods of the administration can finally provide an answer to the deadly plague of senioritis.

Page 22

The Spectator ● January 10, 2019

Humor

By Tony Moh After last month’s Junior Caucus Movie Night set a new record of 20 upperclassmen attendees, the S.U. excitedly announced last Monday that it would be revealing the candidates for upcoming movie nights in next month’s S.U. newsletter.

Fortunately for us, The Spectator News reporters managed to get a sneak peek at the list during one of the S.U.’s weekly “student compliance” meetings and returned with *most* of their organs intact.

Here are some of our top recommendations.

“Battery After 10th” If you’re into indie films, this one’s for you. Filmed through the lens of a secondhand iPhone 4 camera and live-streamed through Snapchat, “Battery Af-

By Laura Ilioaei How could an alien possibly take over a student’s minutes presentation for English class? Well, they plan E.T. beforehand.

An alien decided to crash English teacher Dermot Hannon’s first period British Literature class, initially masquerading as a senior by the name of Bruno Mars.

Unfortunately for the alien, this was not a class that did min-

Next Year’s Movie Night Candidates

ter Tenth” captures the harrowing struggles of underclassman Jenjamin “Jen” Erik’s rise to infamy as he beats up little kids from neighboring school P.S. 89 to boost his abysmally low clout levels.

While the movie does follow the overused underdog cliché, it sets itself apart by not only making Jen the most unlikable lead possible—courtesy of his abnormally prepubescent voice and nasty habit of referencing crusty memes—but also through its excellent cinematography and sound design.

We know a lot of critics dookied on the movie for being filmed in 144p and the difficulty hearing the scene over the sounds of 300 white kids hyped up on Honest Kids and Annie’s Organic Fruit Snacks, but to us, those choices just add to the intensity and nuance of the scene.

Oddly enough, the S.U.

utes.

Hannon was immediately unamused and attempted to shoo Mars out of the room, but was zapped with a bolt of cerulean electricity in retaliation. The students thought it was only a stage effect and laughed uncontrollably when Hannon sank limply into his chair.

The alien became aware of a particular student who was, like Hannon, unamused at the spectacle. She was wearing large, dark

seemed to completely miss the point of the movie when making the list, as reporters found the movie at the top of the recommendations with nothing but the words “simply epic meemays” circled in red ink along with an image of what appeared to be a malnourished haha react.

We wanted to question the S.U. about what part of the movie they considered a “meemay,” but we felt it was better for our reporters to leave with their livers in one piece.

Rating: A nice cult classic but not for everyone. One mile away/10.

Some Freshman’s Facebook Feed A modern masterpiece. This movie received critical acclaim after its initial release during a freshman’s PowerPoint presen-

Discord

circular lenses in order to conceal her fatigue. A perfect target for what he had to say.

Sardonically, he asked her, “Why are you wearing sunglasses in here? Your future can’t possibly be that bright.”

Angered, she threw her shades at him in petty reply, but they deflected off of him and back onto her desk, split into two perfect moons. A few students attempted to rise from their seats, but they were glued down to their

tation for biology class. Rotten Tomatoes called it “nuanced, fast paced...a joyride until the end,” referring to the paragraph-long rants said freshman’s friend Saul T. Naizguy was sending after he got rejected for the 32nd time in a month.

A renowned method actor, Saul trained for his role months in advance by macking on every freshman and freshman-sized upperclassman in the school, hitting up their DMs with his signature “yo lemme smash” before calling them out as “fake[expletive] [gardening tools]” after being rejected. By the time that filming came around, Saul was prepared to improvise on any script, now armed with a vast array of grade- and motherrelated insults.

The film also received praise for its “unbelievably unexpected plot twist” when, during the finale (spoilers ahead), one of the

group chats revealed that the lab answers they were copying the whole time were measured in degrees Kelvin instead of pounds.

During its first screening, half of the freshmen reportedly broke down at this scene. Whether it was from being moved to tears at this emotional moment or because they realized their lab grades were going to drop 0.000001 percent that day, we still think it’ll be a surefire hit.

The movie has since been translated into five other languages by the Foreign Languages department as part of their Level 3 listening finals, and its sequel, “JupiterEd Sending Grade Alert E-mails” will be released in 2019, a week after the in-school screening. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend saving the date for this movie.

chairs. Despite being physically grounded, everyone’s consciousness went beyond and into the clouds.

It was Hannon’s doing. Fortunately, the chair that he had sunk into previously was equipped with wheels. The vibrations emitting from Mars’s voice caused them to roll ever so slightly, snapping Hannon out of hypnosis. Though still glued to his chair, he had not been rendered entirely immobile.

Using his legs to propel the

chair, Hannon grabbed Mars and threw him out of the window.

Mars fell into the UFO that he had parked upon the Hudson.

Irritated that his plan had been foiled, in Zeus-inspired anger, he flung another bolt of cerulean electricity. This time, it hit the sky, causing the downpour of the decade to envelop NYC. An unidentifiable flying [musical] object, Mars’s presence became just another forgotten record.

Rating: A must-see. 99/100 unread messages.

Dead Art

Mandy Mai / The Spectator

In loving memory of Sister Wendy, who gave the gift of art to generations of Stuyvesant students.

The Spectator ● Janurary 10, 2019

Page 23

Sports Boys’ Swimming

Girls’ Basketball

Pirates Make a Statement Against Rivals Bronx Science

By Sunan Tajwar

The Stuyvesant Pirates, the defending PSAL swimming and diving champions, kicked off the season the week before Christmas with an impressive showing against our rival to the north, the Bronx High School of Science. The early season meet saw a faceoff between the city’s two premier swim teams, with both teams boasting lineups with nationally ranked swimmers. The state champions greeted the visitors to the Stuyvesant pool with patented team chants. On paper, the teams seemed even, besides the fact that the Pirates chose to compete without a diver and forfeited that one event to the visitors. Regardless, the Pirates set an early reminder of why they are the defending PSAL champions.

Of course, after last year’s performance, the Pirates came into the season expecting the gold standard in terms of training and translating the hours spent in the pool every day into success on gameday. For underclassmen especially, there is a lot of pressure trying to add to an already very successful team that has high expectations.

“This was our first competitive meet, and I really feel that we are in great shape. A lot of our swimmers improved in a variety of events. We are going strong into playoff season,” senior and co-captain Axel Tolpina said.

The captains, similar to many of the team’s newcomers, will feel the pressure of living up to a historically very successful team. But the captains have confidence in themselves and

their teammates. They have smoothly made the transition into prominent leadership roles, a transition that will be necessary if the Pirates want to defend the throne.

The underclassmen will be responsible for carrying the Pirate legacy after the seniors leave. Freshmen and sophomores alike proved that they can swim with the best of them early into their PSAL careers. “We had some very great underclassman performances. We had freshman Kai Mandelbaum go a 1.03.85 for the 100 breast and sophomore Bryce Lin go 55.22 for 100 free to name a few,” Tolpina said.

The underclassmen showed great potential and composure on a relatively big stage against Bronx Science. Under the tutelage of the upperclassmen, as well as the coaches, the underclassmen will be looking to etch their names into the Stuyvesant record books and add to its storied history.

The Pirates have four meets left in the regular season, and they are looking to build steam and confidence on their way to the playoffs. They have some tough tests coming up against George Washington High School, Hunter College High School, Roosevelt Educational Campus, and Bronx Science once again. The Pirates want to prolong their winning streak, which extends back to last season, and are on their way back to the chip. As the old saying goes, it is hard to win a championship, but it is even harder to defend it.

Greyducks Show Improvement at the Armory

By Bernard Wang and Aryan Sharma The Greyducks, Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity indoor track and field team, exited the holiday break with two more meets under their belt. They have now competed in four meets, which have facilitated the transition between cross country and indoor track while also providing experience for both new and returning athletes, since the start of the season in early December. Many outdoor athletes from last year are joining the indoor track scene, returning to their regular routines as the season progresses.

The girls returned to the Armory track for the third time this season on Friday, December 14 to compete in the Tim St. Lawrence Invitational. Junior Angélique Charles-Davis continued her run of top finishes, placing fourth in the varsity 55meter dash with a new personal record (7.60). Her performance was even more impressive considering the meet was an invitational, as invitationals tend to have higher levels of competition. “[I’m] just trying to keep the momentum going and keep running well,” said Charles-Davis, when asked about her goals for the rest of the season.

The Greyducks did just that on Saturday, December 22 at the Day of Distance meet, with three athletes placing within the top five in their events and

a podium finish for the relay team. The freshman 4x800meter relay team did exceptionally well, taking home second place (12:41.91). Senior Jeanette Cheung finished in third place in the varsity 1500-meter race walk (9:00.21), reinforcing Stuyvesant’s continued dominance in the racewalk event.

Despite the bronze medal, there was still more to be desired. “I did place third in the racewalk, but my time was almost a minute off my personal record, so I was not satisfied,” Cheung said.

Nevertheless, Cheung knows she has what it takes to bounce back. Looking toward the rest of the season, Cheung simply said, “I want to beat my current personal record.”

Sophomore Agatha Edwards placed fourth in the longest event of the afternoon, the varsity 3000-meter run (12:21.79), and fellow sophomore Jessica Kwok placed 10th in the varsity 1000-meter run (3:23.75). Underclassmen like Edwards and Kwok are beginning to realize their potential.

The stand-out performance, however, came from junior Ester Suleymanov. Suleymanov placed fifth in the varsity 1500meter run (5:25.60), beating her previous personal record by an entire 20 seconds. “I was very happy about my 23-second personal record in the 1500-meter run, but it wasn’t unexpected because of all the hard work I have been putting into my prac-

tices,” Suleymanov said. Suleymanov was four seconds off the time required to qualify for City Championships, which is her “main goal at the moment,” she said. Despite missing the cutoff, Cheung was optimistic, saying the team is “sure we’ll be seeing her qualify” in a future meet.

Even with so much improvement, the majority of the Greyducks have yet to reach full strength. “Because these are holiday meets, less of our team is available to race. The meets feel smaller,” junior Jing Su said. The size of the team does not directly affect those who attend, but as more athletes attend, they will get more experience, which is especially important for newbies. While reflecting on the Day of Distance meet, junior Sherry Chen said, “It was one of the earlier meets of the season and the first track and field meet since outdoor track for many of us, so we were just getting used to the race environment again.”

The Greyducks have managed to qualify two athletes for City Championships later on in the spring (Cheung for the varsity 1500-meter race walk and Charles-Davis for the 55-meter dash), but the next few meets will be both focused on development and pushing their top athletes to qualify for cities.

Mr. Autry wishes everyone a happy finals season (even if you’re not a student athlete with PSAL frees...)

Page 24

The Spectator ● Janurary 10, 2019

Sports Editorial

Editorial

Your Guide to the 2018 NFL Honors

By Lucas Dingman and Owen Potter Each year, the end of the NFL regular season comes with endless discussion about who will receive the most important awards in February at the NFL Honors show. Here are our predictions for who will take home each of this season’s biggest accolades.

Most Valuable Player: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Mahomes threw for over 5000 yards and 50 touchdowns, the first quarterback to do so in one season since Peyton Manning in 2013. He had the highest Quarterback Rating in the league at 82. His yards per attempt was an incredible 8.8 yards. These stats are, frankly, ridiculous, especially for someone in their first year as a starter. Despite the fact that all four of his losses were nationally televised and against playoff teams has led Mahomes’s critics to claim he doesn’t show up in big games, he still performed well in those losses, averaging 325 passing yards and almost four touchdowns.

Even with those four losses, Mahomes’s Chiefs still have the best record in the AFC and are arguably the best team in football.

Runner Up: Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints Offensive Player of the Year: Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys Ezekiel Elliott has quietly been the best running back in the NFL this year. He led all running backs in rushing yards and carries this season despite playing in one fewer game. In Dallas’s wins, he averaged 22 carries, but in their losses, he only averaged 17, showing his value to the Cowboy’s offense, which has been completely reliant on Elliot’s skill set. Elliot truly powers the Cowboys offense, and when they get him going, he takes their team to another level. He’s been a workhorse for the Cowboys and has carried them to an NFC East title.

Runner Up: Todd Gurley, Los Angeles Rams Defensive Player of the Year:

Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams Aaron Donald has had one of the best seasons by a defensive player ever. Despite getting double or triple teamed in almost every play this year, he still racked up 20.5 sacks, the most ever for an interior defensive lineman.

He had 59 tackles this season as well, tied for the third most this season among interior defensive linemen. Though the Rams are known for their powerful offense, Donald is the best player on a defensive front that has been essential to the team’s success. Last year, Donald won this award with only 11 sacks and 41 tackles, but he has only gotten better. With the dominant year he has had, he even has a case for MVP. Runner Up: Khalil Mack, Chicago Bears Offensive Rookie of the Year: Saquon Barkley, New York Giants Saquon Barkley has been the most dynamic rookie since his teammate Odell Beckham Jr. entered the league in 2014. While other rookies like Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb had great rookie seasons, Barkley had an amazing season by any standard regardless of experience. He’s already one of the most entertaining players to watch and can be considered a top five running back after just one year in the league. His versatility is what really sets him apart.

He can run inside, run outside, block, and catch the ball out of the backfield. He averaged over a 125 total yards per game and had 14 total touchdowns even though he ran behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. He’s going to be a huge part of the Giants offense for years to come.

Runner Up: Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns Defensive Rookie of the Year: Darius Leonard, Indianapolis Colts Leading the league with 163 tackles, Darius Leonard was one of the biggest Pro Bowl snubs this year. He also recorded seven sacks and four forced fumbles this season. He’s a dominant player on what has become a dominant defense. Since the 11th week, the Colts have given up an average of

just 15 points per game. This defense helped them reach the playoffs, and Leonard played a major role in their success.

Runner Up: Derwin James, Los Angeles Chargers Comeback Player of the Year: Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts After Andrew Luck missed an entire season with a shoulder injury, no one was sure if he would ever be able to play again.

Even if he did, no one knew if he would return to his elite level of play. He’s returned to that level this year, single-handedly carrying his team to the playoffs. He runs an offense that’s fifth best in the league despite having only one true playmaker in T.Y. Hilton, who has been banged up all year. Luck finished second in the league in pass attempts, which is extremely impressive coming off of an injury to his throwing shoulder. Luck has stood out from the group of star players like Aaron Rodgers, JJ Watt, Deshaun Watson, and Odell Beckham Jr., who were injured last year. Despite the formidable competition, Luck is a lock for Comeback Player of the Year.

Runner Up: JJ Watt, Houston Texans Coach of the Year: Matt Nagy, Chicago Bears The Bears have shocked everyone this year with their 12-4 record, a large part of which is thanks to the acquisition of head coach Matt Nagy. Under Nagy’s leadership, the team went from finishing last in the NFC North in 2018 to finishing first this year.

Nagy is an offensive genius and has turned a terrible offense into one of the league’s best. After placing 29th in the league last year, the Bears offense finished ninth in scoring this year despite having no offensive pro bowlers.

Nagy has also helped second year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky develop and play well above his level. Nagy’s performance has been reminiscent of that of last year’s Coach of the Year, Sean McVay, who helped his own quarterback, Jared Goff, become one of the best in the NFL. Runner up: Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks

The S in Sports Shouldn’t Stand for Sexism

By Ahmed Hussein This year’s Ballon d’Or award ceremony in Paris hosted its fair share of drama, with Croatian midfielder Luka Modric picking up the Ballon d’Or, yet another trophy for his brimming trophy cabinet. French forward Kylian Mbappe was crowned the best young player after tearing it up in France this year. Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg was the first female winner of the Ballon D’or despite the Ballon D’or being awarded since 1956.

On a night when she was supposed to honored, Hegerberg was left speechless (and not in a good way). Her win was overshadowed by sexist remarks from French DJ Martin Solveig, who asked Hegerberg, “Can you twerk?” in front of the star-studded audience. Hegerberg instantly said no, with the discomfort evident on her face. Hegerberg nearly walked off the stage in disgust but showed grace, smiling through the disheartening ordeal.

Mbappe was stunned as he sat in the crowd, watching this scene unravel. Solveig later apologized to Hegerberg, but the damage was already done. Had a male winner been asked to flash his abs to the crowd, would a simple apology have sufficed? No. Sadly, this is not the first time women have been sexualized in sports and likely will not be the last.

Tennis has also had its runins with blatant sexism. Raymond Moore, then tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open, received deserved backlash back in March of 2016 for saying that female tennis players are “very, very lucky” and that they should get on their knees every night to thank god for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who “have carried the sport,” he said despite female athletes like Serena Williams being far more popular than Federer and Nadal. Sure, this instance might seem outdated, and Moore has since stepped down, but things like this happen all the time in tennis, and Serena Williams has dealt with her fair share of sexism over the years. Blatantly incorrect calls have been made against her on the biggest of stages. Her body and figure have been criticized. Even the way she dresses on the court has been a topic of intense discussion. But every time, Serena still manages to come out on top. The real surprise, however, is that Serena is still facing such high levels of scrutiny after all she has done for the sport. She has transcended her sport, with young girls all

over the world looking up to her as they embark on their tennis careers. She is an icon, and she needs to be treated like one.

Women are held to a much higher standard in professional sports. They need to achieve so much to gain recognition despite achieving much more than men who receive the same amount of recognition. Let’s go back to Hegerberg. She has scored more than 250 career goals at just 23.

To put that in context, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 97 career goals when he was 23, and he is regarded as one of the best male players of all time. But have you heard of Hegerberg before now?

Probably not.

This sexism is evident in America as well. The US men’s national team is much more well known than the women’s national team. The latter won the last World Cup, and the former didn’t even qualify for the last World Cup; yet, the women’s national team players are paid substantially less than the men. The women make $15,000 for qualifying for the World Cup, compared to the men’s $76,000 (both per player). The men’s team makes $3.5 million for going to the round-of-16, while the women’s team gets absolutely nothing.

Yet, the women’s team achieves more at the top level and with greater consistency. Many might point to the lack of excitement in women’s sports. Anyone who has watched a women’s volleyball or tennis game knows that is far from the truth. To make up for what they lack in power, women are forced to adopt a much more intricate style that is more skillful than the brute force required for men. The increased skill level provides for a much more interesting watch. Now, I am not saying men don’t play intricately. But it’s clear that women need to be much more skillful to become professionals because they can’t rely on their physical prowess like men can.

The road to end sexist double standards in sports is long, and it’s the small changes that will make all the difference. Support your local, college, and professional women’s teams in any sport. Trade your Ronaldo jersey in for a Hegerberg jersey (or buy both!), and get behind female family members who play sports.

Support and show them their hard work is worth it. The beginning of the end for sexism is here, and you need to get on the field of equality while you can.

Girls’ Gymnastics

By Elias Ferguson and Aki Yamaguchi The Greyducks, Stuyvesant’s boys’ indoor track team and the defending Manhattan Borough Champions, have officially begun their season.

With the expectation of maintaining excellence, there is already a major change in standards and attitude. “There was a little turmoil last year, so this year we’ve been trying to keep things a lot more serious and focused,” senior sprinter and hurdler Peter Jin said. “This year we have set certain times that freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors have to

Felines Bounce Back After Shaky Start

hit respectively.” When asked what would happen if someone did not mean the set time, he said, “They’d be cut.”

And while the Greyducks’ season has only just begun, this new attitude already seems to be paying off. Jin and fellow senior Richard Peng have continued to assert their dominance in the 55-meter hurdles.

The average participant in the 55-meter hurdles runs a time of approximately 9.6 seconds.

Jin and Peng’s average time is around 8.9 seconds, which has led them to several top five finishes this year. However, they are not completely satisfied with their time

“I hope to break 8.5 seconds for the 55-meter hurdles,” said Jin, who has been practicing over the summer and during his free time. With a time like that, he could qualify for cities and win the Manhattan Borough Championship.

But it is not only the seniors who have been looking to improve their performance.

There are big expectations for the juniors, most notably Harper Andrews and Baird Johnson. Andrews, the team’s star triple jumper, looks to defend his Manhattan Borough Championship victory. Meanwhile, Johnson, who took second in the 3200-meter run in

last year’s Borough Championships and first in the FroshSoph Championships for the same category, set a goal for himself. “Personally, I want to run well under 4:30 in the mile this season and maybe take a shot at the school record in 1000 [meters],” Johnson said.

The current school record is 2:37:04, so it remains to be seen if he can top it over his next two years. Johnson racing against upperclassmen has not stopped him from coming in third place in the “Day of Distance” 1600-meter run.

“Adding in the seniors makes it more difficult, but we’ve been racing each other for

years,” Johnson said. His lofty expectations coupled with his competitive attitude make any goal seem within reach.

Even though qualifying for cities and winning meets are important for some individuals, the Greyducks are more focused on the long term goals. “We have a larger goal of beating out our old times, perfecting our form, and [for the seniors], preparing for college track,” Jin said. It is collective desire to compete at both the high school and collegiate levels that brings out the best in the team.

The Spectator ● Janurary 10, 2019

Page 25

Sports Editorial

By Lewis Woloch I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the Brooklyn Nets over the past years. I was nine-years-old and just getting into basketball when my dad told me our home borough of Brooklyn was getting an NBA team. I was concerned at first, because nine-year-old me felt a certain allegiance to the New York Knicks. I had never been to any games, but I would always watch games on TV with my dad and read about their achievements (and failures) in The New York Times. However, after some thought, I decided that the Brooklyn Nets sounded right for me. My dad promised he would take me and my brother to see them play in Barclays Center, a 10-minute walk from our house, and my friends and I all agreed that the Nets would be our team.

This decision was made easier by the Knicks’ drought of wins and good players. I wasn’t interested anymore. It was time for a change.

Fast forward a year, and the Nets have made their entrance into the league, winning 49 games before barely losing to the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. I was in love. Joe Johnson had become my new favorite player with his saucy moves and smooth step back jumper.

Deron Williams and Brook Lopez rounded out a big three for the Nets that, in my opinion, could have given LeBron James’s Heat a run for their money. Barclays Center was as lively as any arena across the US, teeming with new season ticket holders and passionate fans from all five boroughs.

But here comes the hate part of the relationship. Right before I left for sleepaway camp in June

The Nets Are Here to Stay

of 2013, the Nets’ general manager, Billy King, made a blockbuster trade with the Boston Celtics, trading away a plethora of draft picks for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Even as an 11year-old, I noticed the problems with this move. First, despite their legendary status, Garnett and Pierce were too old. Second, in my opinion, the Nets were giving too many future draft picks away for two guys at the ends of their illustrious careers. The Nets made the playoffs again that year, and I vividly remember celebrating in the dugout of my Little League game as I heard the news of Paul Pierce hitting a game-saving block to beat the Toronto Raptors in seven games.

In the second round, though, the Nets lost to Heat, ending a twoyear playoff run and beginning a dark age in Brooklyn.

Garnett and Pierce left the next year, leaving me to further question the Nets’ trade. This trade began a stretch of time when the Nets were just plain bad. No coach could remedy their problems, the constant flow of unwanted players into their lineup maintained a level of uncertainty for fans, and King made one poor decision after another.

The team had no future. None.

I watched the NBA draft for three years in agony as the Celtics carefully selected one young stud after another, knowing that the Nets could have gotten those players if they hadn’t made that trade back in 2013. Looking back on those dark days, I realize the main problem with the Nets was in fact Billy King and not just because he had traded away their future. He didn’t make smart draft picks for the few the team had left and failed to create any team chemistry or cohesion.

He would sign players without

thinking about how they would fit in with the rest of the team, turning the Nets into a jumble of aimless role players. Finally, the Nets got rid of Billy King in 2016, naming Sean Marks as the new general manager. Marks immediately made an impact on the team, drafting Jarrett Allen as a solid big man with potential for years to come. I was optimistic about this season too because Marks had made another smart move. Unlike previous years, he kept the same core of players on the Nets, letting them improve their chemistry. This season, players like Joe Harris, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and D’Angelo Russell came back for a second year to join Allen and the upand-coming Caris LeVert. The Nets weren’t proven yet, but their team was definitely exciting.

The beginning of this season was tough for me, though.

I’ve been patiently waiting for something to come together for the Nets, and watching an 8-18 start was painful. Don’t get me wrong—over the years, I’ve loved watching different players play. Sean Kilpatrick, a Gleague player scoring in bunches throughout the season, was a rollercoaster ride in 2017, and I was always a big Brook Lopez fan. But the Nets needed to win.

On top of their bad start, their one standout player, LeVert, got a terrible leg injury after averaging 20 points a game over the first quarter of the season. I had almost lost faith and hadn’t been watching games at all until a few weeks ago. One night, I saw a notification on my phone about how the Nets were on a five-game win streak. I did a double take and then investigated further. It turns out the loss of LeVert had actually motivated them, and the

whole team was producing and working well together.

This newfound prowess was best demonstrated in a game against the Lakers, in which the Nets were aiming to get their sixth win in a row. The best part of the game wasn’t one specific player either; the team was playing great and working well together. The Nets starting point guard Russell had 13 assists and led the Nets to a huge win against James. The Nets held onto their lead throughout the game, and it was incredible to watch as different players continued to step up and knock down shots.

Their chemistry was apparent in many aspects of their game, most notably on defense. Even though James was still on his own level for the whole game, scoring more than 30 points, the Nets played great team defense and were quick to double James and put him on the free throw line instead of letting him get his usual highlight dunks. Allen even blocked a Lebron James dunk attempt, becoming only the eighth player ever to accomplish the feat. The most astonishing thing about the Nets during this game and their winning streak, as I said before, was the balance they were achieving. There wasn’t just one player carrying the team; everyone was producing in all categories. Russell, as demonstrated in the Lakers game, was dishing it off to his teammates, Harris was pouring in a consistent 15 points a game, and backup center Ed Davis was rebounding the ball at an incredible rate.

One of the Nets’ main struggles in the beginning of the season wasn’t their scoring or defense, but their inability to close out games. They kept it close with some of the top teams in the NBA but couldn’t scrape

away a win at the end. I distinctly remember a game against the powerful 76ers, in which the Nets led for the whole game, shutting down Joel Embiid. It was looking great for them until the last play of the game when Jimmy Butler drilled an improbable three. The Nets seemed to have learned their lesson now and are becoming more mature and closing out close games when needed. One day following the clutch win against the Lakers, the Nets were able to grab another close one from the Chicago Bulls.

Reaching their seventh straight win in a row, the Nets hung with the inexperienced Bulls for the whole game even with fatigue from playing 24 hours before.

Unlike the 76ers, the Bulls didn’t even get off a shot at the end of the game, as the Nets played stifling team defense.

In my eyes, the Nets are looking great for the rest of the season. LeVert is going to come back at some point, hopefully regaining his role as the primary scorer, and the chemistry between the talented backcourt of sixth man Spencer Dinwiddie and Russell will continue to produce points in the meantime.

Coach Kenny Atkinson has impressed in recent days, making smart substitutions and figuring out the best, most balanced lineups for the Nets. He even chose to switch to a zone defense in a hard matchup against the Pacers, getting his team back in the game. The Nets are firing on all cylinders, and it’s an exciting time for Brooklyners. Hopefully, come May, I’ll be sitting in Barclays Center, cheering the Nets on in their first playoff game in three years as a “Brooooookkkkkklyn” chant reverberates throughout the arena.

Girls’ Gymnastics

By Elias Ferguson and Aki Yamaguchi The Felines, Stuyvesant’s girls’ gymnastics team, headed into the winter break on a high note following wins over Dewitt Clinton at home and away against John F. Kennedy Campus. These two wins righted the ship after a difficult loss to Bronx Science earlier in the season.

The meet against Dewitt Clinton was not nearly as competitive as the rival game against Bronx Science, so the Felines’ lineup was shuffled to give those who didn’t compete against Bronx Science a chance to perform. Senior and co-captain Lee-Ann Rushlow did not feature in every event, and one of the stars of the Bronx Science meet, freshman Agatha Nyarko, did not start the meet, opting to give some other players more of a run. Senior and co-captain Xinyue Nam performed in her first meet of the season after taking a back seat for the rival game against Bronx Science, excelling in the uneven parallel bars, floor exercise, and vaulting.

Nyarko and Rushlow reappeared in the lineup against Kennedy, however, and both picked up where they left off and performed well for the Felines. The meet also saw junior Theresa Teng start for the first time this season on the balance

Felines Bounce Back After Shaky Start

beam.

Nam in particular had a standout performance against Kennedy. She scored a 7.3 in the vault and a 6.2 in the floor exercises, both personal bests. After joining the Felines as a freshman, Nam worked her way up the ranks and rose to the top as a senior and now holds one of the captaincies. During her first three years on the team, Nam focused mostly on the vault. She participated in only one nonvault event, the floor exercise, in the 2016-2017 season. However, this season, Nam has branched out and performed in the floor exercise, vault, and uneven parallel bars to help counter a problem the Felines have with the bars. She wants to ride this recent wave of success. “I’m just hoping I can get more skills, as I came onto the team freshman year [without] having done gymnastics before,” Nam said.

For the Felines’ captains, there is a range of different areas they are hoping to improve in. A focus is getting the team’s overall score up by maximizing practices and making sure everything is refined and clean. The bar in particular has been a weak spot for the team, but to counteract this, members are working to remain tight and clean throughout the event. According to Nam, this still might not be enough. Judges tend to grade harshly on this event, requiring

the participants to have very clean and complex skills such as flyaways (a type of dismount).

This poses problems because “bars aren’t something people

have a chance at ranking higher with the current members, who have good work ethic and experience,” senior and co-captain Oliva He said. For her person-

At this event, he stated that the “best kids on the team [compete, and I am hoping for an improvement off] the score from Bronx Science, which was a 106.” He’s

“I’m just hoping I can get more skills, as I came onto the team freshman year [without] having done gymnastics before.”

—Xinyue Nam, senior and co-captain can work on every day because we’re sharing the gym with [the] guys, and they have to use the space [as well] to work on their own events,” Name said. However, the team makes the most of the space allotted.

Additionally, members of the team also participate in an outside club. PSAL guidelines for routines and club guidelines are different. This requires extra work because the team needs to make sure that all the routines are adjusted according to PSAL restrictions.

Nam hopes that this year, the Felines can beat Bronx Science’s team. With the score difference constantly hovering around a marginal difference of 0.075, a subtle tweak can be all it takes. “[If] all our practices can be more productive, we really

ally, she said that she wanted to “perfect [her] skills to improve [her] score” in her floor routine.

As a dancer, she has grown “up doing styles like ballet, contemporary, jazz, and tap. The first two have strengthened [her] legs immensely as well as ingrained in [her] mind ‘straight legs and pointed toes,’ which are also very important in gymnastics.”

She transfers all these skills into specific skills like her “jumps and turns […and] performance with floor routines,” coach Vasken Choubaralian said.

Looking to the future, Choubaralian is hoping to improve the team’s overall scoring at the divisional meet on January 5. Every team from the Felines’ division, Bronx/Manhattan, will be competing against one another.

hoping to improve on Nyarko’s scores, specifically in the vault, bars, and beam events. Furthermore, he’s hoping to have more new members start, specifically, some of the returning underclassmen like sophomore Tiffany Cai. “[Cai has] really improved from last time; last meet she did much better on the floor,” Choubaralian said. He hopes to eventually get everyone competing in meets or at least give them the opportunity to compete for the first time.

With the Felines on an upward trend, it’s up to the team to continue to take advantage of their practices and future meets.

For now, after two solid victories, the team is off to a solid start. the strongest team anymore, we still have the most heart.”

Page 26

The Spectator ● Janurary 10, 2019

Sports Girls’ Table Tennis

Second Loss Against Rivals Reveals Talent Gap in Division

By Isabel Leka and Kaitlyn Duong

Despite consecutive 5-0 wins over Tottenville, Susan Wagner, and Seward Park Campus, the Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity table tennis team, remain stagnant against their fiercest opponent: Millennium High School. Riding off the momentum of the previous three games, senior and co-captain Allison Eng expressed that the team felt confident heading into the two toughest games left in their season against McKee/ Staten Island Technical High School and Millennium High School.

During their three-game win streak, more players were able to gain experience in the absence of many of their starters, who were preoccupied with academic and personal circumstances.

Because of this, the team had to adjust their lineup. Some players, such as freshman Madison Cheng, who had to play second singles rather than her normal position on first doubles, had to play different matches than they normally would. In addition, players normally out of the rotation, such as juniors Clara Lam and Divya Chanani, had to step up as substitutes. Despite the absence of key players in those games, the team was dominant, showing the versatility of the young team.

In their away game against McKee/Staten Island Tech, the Peglegs secured their fourth straight win and fifth of the season by a score of 3-2. However, this game was closer than they had anticipated, revealing that the Peglegs have to work on their mentality in order to be successful going forward.

According to Eng, half of the battle in away games is simply

getting there. After a long trip to Staten Island, the team was mentally and physically exhausted, and it showed in their performance.

During their first match against McKee/Staten Island Tech, the Peglegs had the home advantage, leading to a 4-1 victory. Other than their loss against Millennium, McKee/ Staten Island Tech was the only team that had been able to score against them in their most re-

doubles matches, they were still able to come away with a win.

Sophomores Julianna Yu and Lolita Rozenbaum won the first doubles match, taking three of the four games in their match and bringing great hope to the team for future games and the season at large.

Despite the Peglegs having adjusted to a higher level of competition after facing McKee/Staten Island Tech, Millennium High School, the Peglegs’

match. For example, both Eng and Chen did not win the first two games of their matches but were able to defeat their Millennium opponents in the third games. Unfortunately, by the third game, it was too little too late, as Millennium’s players had already capitalized on Stuyvesant’s mistakes. Coach Emilio Nieves agreed, saying, “We tend to get off to slow starts, and this was especially the case against Millenium. They are difficult to

“We are at a position where we’re trying to practice and improve, and we can beat other teams, but we can’t beat Millennium.”

—Allison Eng, senior and co-captain

cent match. In the first game, senior and co-captain Katherine Lee easily defeated her opponent, Joy Jung, by a score of 3-0. In their most recent game, however, Lee struggled, resulting in a 3-2 loss. In addition to Lee’s loss, junior Kasey Chen lost to her opponent, freshman Clara Lu. Because of a strategic decision by McKee/Staten Island Tech, Chen had to face a strong third singles’ opponent whereas senior and co-captain Allison Eng faced a weaker second singles’ opponent. This was intended to ensure that McKee/ Staten Island Tech would get a point from the third singles match rather than lose both second and third singles.

Nevertheless, thanks to decisive wins by the Peglegs in the

rivals and the current frontrunners for the Division I title, proved to be too strong. In an away game earlier in the season, the Peglegs lost to Millenium 4-1. In the wake of the blowout loss, the Peglegs lacked confidence heading into their second meeting with Millennium, especially given that the opposition’s first singles player, Yinuo Yang, is ranked by USA Table Tennis.

Their lack of confidence was evident throughout the match, as Stuyvesant’s players struggled to stay focused and made a number of silly mistakes. For example, the team’s players took too long to get acclimated to their opponents’ playing styles, which prevented them from playing to the best of their abilities until around the third game of each

defeat as it is, and once we got behind, it was almost impossible to overcome the deficit.”

As the season has progressed, the Peglegs have plateaued in terms of improvement. “I don’t know exactly how we’re gonna improve from here because we’ve been doing drills that have tried to help us improve.

We are at a position where we’re trying to practice and improve, and we can beat other teams, but we can’t beat Millennium,” Eng said. The divide between teams in their division that are extremely experienced as opposed to those that are easy to defeat makes it difficult for the team to show improvement.

There are teams such as Tottenville and Seward Park that they can effortlessly defeat, so they

were not as pressured to improve. On the other hand, Millennium, the PSAL table tennis defending champion, is a strong team made up of only seniors and juniors, who have more experience than the relatively young Peglegs. Compared to the easier teams, Millennium is too big of a step up, such that the Peglegs cannot improve enough to reach that level of competition by playing weaker teams.

In order to prepare for these harder matches, Coach Emilio Nieves said he has “scheduled non-league matches against other top teams (Murrow and Bronx Science). [Their] performances against these teams will further show [them] what [they] need to do to guarantee success in the playoffs.” These matches will allow the Peglegs to gain more experience against them without hurting their playoff standing.

The team’s mentality and poise in stressful situations will need to change in order to succeed in the playoffs. This was a problem last season when players would psych themselves out at the end of their matches due to high stakes. In their next three games, the Peglegs will face teams that they have beaten handily in the past, which should present the opportunity to rebuild their confidence in time for the start of the playoffs. Eng and Lee believe that with increased focus and mental preparedness, the team can excel against lower-tier teams, but the overwhelming abilities of Millenium and other playoff contenders such as Brooklyn Technical High School, might be too great of a challenge to overcome at this point in the season.

Athlete of the Issue

Yeah Buoy: An Interview with Andrew Chopey

By Allison Eng Andrew Chopey Senior Andrew Chopey has officially committed to the University of Rochester as a member of their men’s varsity swim team. Part of both the Stuyvesant Pirates and the Queens Aquatic Club, he specializes in the 100-yard backstroke and is currently ranked 1st in Queens and 23rd in New York State.

As a proud member of the Pirates, who are 4-0 this season, he competes in many different relays, usually placing in the top 3. This season, he is looking to qualify for more individuals and relays than he did last year and help his team to another championship.

Grade: Senior Height: 5’8 Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown DOB: 06/23/01

1. How did you start swimming?

I started swimming when I was five years old; my mom forced me into a swimming program at this community program by my house just so I

wouldn’t drown if I ever went to the beach. At first, I really hated it, but slowly, I joined a team for fun then graduated to actually competing, and it’s been like that ever since.

2. Do you swim outside of school?

Yes, I do swim outside of school. I am on a club team called Queens Aquatic Club, and we swim year-round. That means that when it is swim season in school, I split my time between school practices and club practices, and when it is not, my focus is completely on club.

3. What are your aspirations for this PSAL season?

My goals for this season is to make State Championships again, as I did last year, but for more events. Last year, I only made it to State’s for one relay, so this year, my goal is to make it for two individual events and two relays. On top of that, I, along with Nick Wen, Axel Tolpina, and Kai Yamamoto, want to break the Stuy record in the 200-medley relay.

4. What’s the funniest thing that has happened while you’ve been on the team?

To me, the funniest thing

that I’ve seen since joining the swim team is watching people who are goons in the pool, on the pool deck, and in the locker room completely reverse their attitude and be very calm and collected to people not associated with the team.

5. Which of your teammates is the funniest?

By far, my funniest teammate is [senior] Tolpina. We’ve been together since freshman year in the same biology class and have formed a really strong bond. We’ve all matured a lot since then but Axel always knows how to make us laugh.

6. Proudest moment?

My proudest moment is when I committed to a college through swimming. Ever since I started swimming competitively, my goal has been swimming at a college level. To be able to commit to the University of Rochester, which has not only has a good swim team but also a good engineering program, has to be one of the best moments in my life.

7. Can you talk a bit about the recruiting process?

I basically had to fill out a bunch of forms and also had a lot of email threads and phone

calls with the coaches. I also went to Rochester a few times to meet with the coaches. That’s it!

8. How do you balance schoolwork and being on a team? What advice can you give others?

Balancing both swimming and schoolwork is very difficult. When I first came to Stuy, I struggled a lot. However, over the years, I’ve learned the best strategy is to start your work during your frees and on the train ride home. Doing this means that when you get home, you’ve already completed a majority of your homework and makes your life a lot easier.

9. How do you try to constantly improve yourself ?

In and out of the pool, I’m always trying to improve myself.

In the pool, I push myself to the limit every practice so when I am forced to give it all I have at meets, I can go even faster.

Outside of the pool, I’ve been working on my social interactions with people because I’ve always just liked having a group of few, close friends, but I am trying to broaden my horizons by talking to new people and starting new bonds.

10. What will you miss most about being on the team?

Going to college next year, I know that I will really miss each and every person on the swim team. Getting to know everybody, whether I’ve known them for three years or just met them this year, we’ve bonded so much and are almost like a family. The whole team is really fun to be around, and I’m sad that I have to go.

11. Who is your biggest role model / inspiration?

My biggest role model in life is my dad. He always pushes me to try harder, and he was the one that really encouraged me to pursue athletics in college.

Furthermore, he was a top level athlete when he was in high school, winning second place in the New Jersey wrestling contest. He also got his Masters from Cornell and is able to do so many things so well. I hope that when I grow up, I can match what my dad has done.

Choice drink: Peach Snapple Favorite Food: Pancakes Motto to live by: Achievement seems to be connected with action. Make mistakes but don’t quit.

Fun Fact: I’m half Japaneseu

The Spectator ● Janurary 10, 2019

Page 27

Sports Boys’ Table Tennis

The Goats, Stuyvesant’s boys varsity table tennis team, have been victorious in seven out of 10 of their scheduled matches over the past month despite significant changes in their roster.

The team lost six seniors from last year’s graduating class, four of whom were starters.

The boys also lost their coach, Dr. Feigenbaum, who retired last year. In addition to being a former AP Statistics teacher at Stuyvesant, he coached the entirety of the five years that table tennis has been a PSAL sport. He produced firstplace teams for four years in a row (2011-2015), only coming short of the championship last year, as Stuyvesant finished second behind Brooklyn Technical High School. Feigenbaum was arguably invaluable, and losing him presented a huge hole to fill for the team along with new challenges from his absence.

“Losing him and our core players represented a completely different team this year.

Tryouts underwent a whole new process,” sophomore and co-captain Nehemiah Yu said.

Without Feigenbaum to distinguish new talent and control the roster, it fell upon Yu to choose recruits during tryouts.

“This year, my co-captains and

I chose most of the new team members based off of their skill and knowledge of the game, but more importantly how they faced the other prospects in game scenarios. We were pretty successful, as the newcomers were truly the best group of players,” Yu said.

Instead of the minimum of five new players, the Goats acquired 12 new players, nine of whom are freshmen. The makeup of the team shifted drastically, as underclassman came to comprise over 80 percent of the team.

This year, Spanish teacher Mañuel Simón was the stand-in head coach. Despite the change in staffing and a new rookie roster, the team was able to finish the season with an impressive 7-3 record.

The Goats started their season out strong, sweeping Jacqueline K. Onassis High School for International Careers 5-0 on November 26. They won every match by an average score of 11-3. With this success on their mind, the boys prepped for their game against Millennium High School just two days later.

But once game day arrived, it quickly became one of the most controversial and noteworthy meets of their season.

The game began as tense as ever, with two teams seemingly matched in ability. Stuyvesant’s

Boys’ Wrestling

Girls’ Basketball

The Spartans’ Stellar Start to the Season Continued from page 28

beat them. We knew for a fact that we had beaten them with a so-called ‘wrong roster’. After fixing it, we became stronger than ever. We played them again and convincingly swept them, only losing our [second] singles games,” Yu said.

This win was extremely gratifying for the boys; they seized their chance and proved that they were the better team outright, which no technicality could prove otherwise.

Still, because of their official loss in the first Millenium game, Stuyvesant is currently tied for second place with Millennium in the Manhattan Central League. Playoffs will be the place to make a difference on this tie, and the team is continuing to practice hard in anticipation.

Throughout the rest of the season, the Goats routinely defeated Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School (BCAM) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School for International Careers. However, they faced a challenge in their matches against Brooklyn Technical High School, losing 5-0 on December 3, and again, 4-1, on December 14. If they do succeed in beating Millenium come playoffs, Brooklyn Technical High School will likely remain their primary rival, as the Goats seek to take back the

championship.

As their season concluded, the team nearly came full circle, winning their last meet 5-0 again against BCAM High School. This time, however, rookie players had a larger role, with freshmen Cyrus Cursetjee and Krish Gupta winning their doubles match against a junior and sophomore duo on the opposing team.

While the freshmen were not given much playing time in tougher league games compared to upperclassmen, they were given experience against lower-tier teams. In addition, freshmen were thrown into games when starters could not make the game.The players that showed the most commitment through their attendance record were allowed to start in official matches or even play exhibition.

“I feel that moving forward, the team will progress as a whole. We have many fresh prospects that are committed to improving in the game in order to get better and fight for a spot on the starting roster. Many of them have started to get in real, serious training and are taking their game to a whole new level,” Yu said. “Even if we aren’t the strongest team anymore, we still have the most heart.”

Stuyvesant Phoenix Ready to Soar

By Waseq Ahmed and Yae June Lee

The Phoenix, Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity basketball team, are ready to soar into the heart of their season with another victory against Seward Park Campus extending their previous 3-1 record. With home-field advantage on their side, the Phoenix dominated the Seward Lady Bears, winning 51-26 and establishing that they are a team to be reckoned with in the Manhattan A South Division.

The Phoenix had a bit of a difficult start to the first quarter, finishing up 10-4. Though they were able to consistently draw fouls to go to the free throw line, they were unable to capitalize. The team finished the game 2-14 from the line.“We definitely need to improve free throws. We missed 12 of them,” coach Vincent Miller said.

In Stuyvesant’s only loss against Millennium High School, free throw shooting was also a major deciding factor in the game, with Millenium shooting 5-7 from the free throw line while Stuyvesant shot 6-14. Though the game was decided by 13 points, a few more free throws would have changed the dynamic down the stretch of the game.

Against Seward, however, the lack of free throw shooting did not slow down the Phoenix. Stuyvesant managed to get in a rhythm in the second quarter, utilizing their speed and strength to blow past defenders and score easy points in the paint. Senior and co-captain Alexandra Archer (the team’s second leading scorer with 15 PPG), scored all 8 of her points in the paint. Senior and co-captain Talia Kirshenbaum’s three-point shoot-

ing, which opened up lanes leading to easy offensive opportunities for Stuyvesant garnered a lot of attention from Seward Park’s defenders. The first half ended with a dominant 29-8 Stuyvesant lead.

Kirshenbaum ultimately ended up as Stuyvesant’s leading scorer, with three 3-point field goals and 16 points.

During the third quarter, Seward Park started to get a bit of momentum, as they were only outscored 12-11. However, the 21 point lead that Stuyvesant had established at the end of the first half was too big of a deficit for Seward Park to come back from.

Despite playing more aggressively on the offensive end, Seward Park fell apart by the end of the second half. The Phoenix played tight uptempo defense, clogging passing

lanes for Seward Park and making it difficult for the opposition to shoot from deep and drive in the paint. When asked about what he liked about what his team displayed in the match, Miller said, “I loved their hustle and transition during the fast break.”

However, the most dominant aspect of Stuyvesant’s play was its rebounding. The team corralled a whopping 57 rebounds, 23 of which came on the offensive end.

On the other hand, Seward Park only managed to get a total of 38 rebounds. This gave the Phoenix many second chances to score and extend their lead. Three Phoenix players managed to get double-digit figures: Archer (10), junior Selene Kaehny (10), and Kirshenbaum (11). Kirshenbaum’s 11 boards complemented her 16 points to

give her a double-double. “I like the aggressiveness and toughness we showed on the court,” Miller said of his team’s work on the boards.

With a 4-1 record, the Phoenix have high expectations for the rest of the season. “Our goals are making the playoffs and getting the highest seed possible,” Miller said. The Phoenix are now second in the standings for the Manhattan A South division, behind the 4-0 Millennium High School. Millennium’s convincing win 54-41 against Stuyvesant at the start of the season is the Phoenix’s only blemish.

Their rematch on January 30 will be telling in determining the better team. Expect the Phoenix to come out motivated with a chip on their shoulder and a chance at redemption on the line.

Julian Giordano / The Spectator

Though Peng says that most players are meeting expectations, he went out of his way to mention freshman Ryan Poon’s exceptional play. It is rare that freshmen are able to contribute a lot to a varsity team— especially in wrestling—but it is exciting to see when one can do just that like Poon has this year.

The Spartans will face the tough task of maintaining this win streak against visiting Brooklyn Technical High School, which currently sits at first place in the division with an undefeated record of 4-0.

They will then travel to Grand Street Campus to square off with the Wolves, who currently also have a 4-0 record and sit at second place in the standings.

With a short season that is just seven games long, every game is important. In this difficult division, making the playoffs will certainly be very tough, but a win against Brooklyn Tech in front of the Stuyvesant faithful would certainly be a good place to start.

second and third singles won, but their first singles and second doubles lost. At this point, the match score was 2-2, with first doubles left to determine the victory. The Goats rose to the occasion and battled back from 1-2 in sets to clinch the win… or so it seemed.

“The whole team celebrated as this happened right in front of us,” Yu said. Despite losing 3-2, Millenium challenged the Goats’ roster, deeming it to be inaccurate.

“Even after Millenium physically lost to us, they reported our team for having an unfair roster, accusing us of putting worse players higher on the roster, thereby giving us an unfair advantage. As this unfolded, we were told to have to challenge each other for a completely new roster,” Yu said. Due to this incident, commissioner Janet Miles changed the official score to 4-1 in Millennium’s favor, marking Stuyvesant’s first loss of the year.

Bitter tensions arose among the boys toward Millenium; they were outraged at the fact that a win was essentially stolen from them. In their rematch two weeks later on December 10, however, it was Stuyvesant’s turn to take the 4-1 victory.

“In our rematch game, our whole team was determined to

Courtesy of Anna Lanzman

By Maximilian Mah and Lumi Westerlund

Goats Paddle Toward Playoffs

The Spectator ● Janurary 10, 2019

Page 28

The Spectator SpoRts Boys’ Wrestling

The Spartans’ Stellar Start to the Season

By Franklin Liou and Jooahn Sur

January

14 monday

@ 4:30 a.m. Girls’ Basketball vs. Graphics Campus @ Graphics Campus Gym

14 monday

Zoraiz Irshad / The Spectator

Coming into the 2018-19 season, the Spartans, Stuyvesant’s boys’ varsity wrestling team, started with a clean slate after the departure of their head coach Michael Cigala and a number of leading seniors.

New head coach Richard Murray, who had been the assistant coach in previous years, is focusing more on wrestling skills than conditioning. This has been a welcome change for the players, who are used to training under a coach notorious for running strenuous practices that left them exhausted and feeling unmotivated.

Before the start of the season, senior and captain Alwin Peng had low expectations for the team due to the loss of seniors and abundance of younger wrestlers. “[I expect us to perform] worse than before,” Peng said.

Much to the surprise of Peng, however, the Spartans got off to a roaring start to the season, winning three of their first four matches. They have pinned anyone who stood in their way to the wrestling mat one by one, paving their way to a three-game win streak. Nobody wants to try to stop this stampede.

In their only loss so far, the Spartans were defeated in their first match of the season against Midwood High School with a final score of 48-36. They were defeated in nine of 15 matches, with freshmen Ryan Poon, Krishna Dudani, and Ryan Li, sophomore Alexander Gee, and juniors Jeffrey Zheng and George Dong defeating their opponents in their weight classes of 99, 106, 113, 120, 160, and 182 pounds, respectively, respectively. Many matches resulted in a Spartan being pinned down by their opponent, ending in a fall. One match ended in just 20 seconds.

CALENDAR

However, the Spartans bounced back in their second match, defeating Bayard Rustin Educational Complex with a final score of 43-36. Eight of 14 Spartans came out victorious in this match in the weight classes of 99, 113, 126, 132, 152, 160, 170, and 220 pounds. Unlike their first match against Midwood, the Spartans were able to finish off their opponents quickly, setting a tone and holding a steady lead throughout the match.

The Spartans then proceeded to demolish Beacon High School with a final score of 6018, humiliating Beacon in front of its home crowd. Nine of 13 wrestlers were victorious in this match.

Stuyvesant continued its streak with a blowout win over

Murry Bergtraum High School, much to the delight of the Stuyvesant students in attendance. Just three wrestlers were unable to pick up wins in this match, which ended with a lopsided score of 66-18 in favor of the Spartans. Five of their victories ended in falls; three of them ended within a minute.

The Spartans now sit at third place in their division after winning three straight matches.

Things certainly seem to be looking up for the team, for which their highest ranking in the standings in the last four years has been fourth place (in the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 seasons).

Continued on page 27

15

@ 4:30 p.m. Boys’ Swimming vs. Hunter College High School @ Stuyvesant Pool

tuesday

@ 5:00 p.m. Wrestling vs. Baruch College Campus High School @ Stuyvesant Gym

18 friday

18

@ 4:50 p.m. Girls’ Gymnastics vs. John F. Kennedy Campus @ Stuyvesant Gym

friday

Girls’ Basketball

Stuyvesant Phoenix Ready to Soar Continued on page 27

@ 9:00 a.m. Girls’ Indoor Track New Balance Games @ The Armory Track

21 monday

@ 9:00 a.m. Boys’ Indoor Track Martin Luther King Games @ The Armory Track

Julian Giordano / The Spectator

Wrapup The Felines, Stuyvesant’s girls’ gymnastics team, defeated John F. Kennedy Campus 105.00-72.850 in their second win of the season.

The Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s boys’ swimming team, defeated Roosevelt Educational Campus 51-37, giving them an undefeated 4-0 record.

The Spartans, Stuyvesant’s varsity wrestling team, defeated Murry Bergtraum 66-18 in their third win in a row this season.