Taft Global Journal, Spring 2017

Taft School

GLOBAL JOURNAL

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CONTENTS SPRING, 2016

3 ยกViva Cuba!

7 GSS, Zambia, and Me

5 Have You Heard About Hygge?

9 An Introduction to Trumponomics

11 Sharing Language

13 Electrical Signals and Human Health

14 Global Journal Photography Contest 15 A Look at Taft Summers 18 The Power of Stories

19 The Future of the European Union

21 Reaching Out To Those Out of Reach 23 Finding My Words

25 2016-2017 Staff Reflections

cover art by Emma Cooney '19

A MESSAGE FROM

THE EDITORS

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Founded in 2008, Global Journal is a student-led publication with a mission to shed light on the wide range of perspectives present in the Taft community. To this end, GJ seeks to introduce global issues and ideas through pieces on current events, culture, and travel, and to share the non ut sibi spirit through students’ service experiences. All pieces are global-themed student and faculty submissions. After submission, the Editors carefully review each article to ensure clarity and quality of the content, before formatting and publishing. The issues are then distributed in various places around the school, for faculty, staff, student, and visitor perusal.

In this issue, we asked students and faculty to share their spring service adventures, travel experiences, new cultural phenomena, and opinions on current events. Also included are the Senior Editors’ reflections on how GJ has grown, changed, and continued to reflect their love of Taft. In addition, this issue includes the winners of our second-ever Photography Contest! We received a multitude of amazing submissions, and choosing just three of our favorites was tough. Thank you to everyone who submitted photos, and be on the lookout for yours!

Lastly, we are proud to announce the new Editors of Global Journal: Aditya Balsekar, Ali Sinan Kaya, Eliza King Freedman, Magda Kisielinska, Benjamin Laufer, and Maddie Savage.

Please be on the lookout for the articles they’ve written for this issue! We’re very proud of their multitude of contributions over the past three months, and very excited to see how they grow GJ further.

In addition, a loud shoutout to Headmaster MacMullen for his promise to help us fund the next three issues! We are so excited to be able to focus on bringing bigger and better to the Taft community! If anyone else would like to support us, please contact Mr. MacMullen or any of the Editors—anything helps!

Once again, thank you to all of the students, faculty, and staff who made this issue possible. We’ve been honored to be able to read, edit, and publish your ideas and voices on this platform, and we’re proud to present the Spring 2017 Graduation Issue of Global Journal!

photo by Gabriela Gonzalez Carpio '17

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¡Viva Cuba!

Checking into the hotel in Tampa the night before I was to catch my flight to Cuba, the woman at the reception desk asked me if I was with the group that was going to Havana the next day.

When I replied that yes, I was, she looked me in the eye and said, “Just do me a favor, don’t go out by yourself, anywhere. It is a terrible, dangerous place." I asked if she had ever been, and she replied, “Good Lord, no!” She then went on to list a litany of objections to Cuba: terrible human rights abuses, corruption in every aspect of the government, gangs who run wild in the streets, etc. The diatribe was vast, until she produced her final declaration that Barack Obama “really got duped by the Castro brothers when he got rid of that embargo. Everyone who goes there is supporting their corruption!” Wow, not really what I had expected when I innocently expressed my excitement about my trip, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised given the Cuban presence in Florida. Due to the state’s close proximity to Cuba, there has been a Cuban connection in the state that started long before the 1959 Cuban Revolution. That rev-

by Baba Frew

olution, however, marking as it did the introduction of a socialist government in the heart of the Western Hemisphere, brought the Cold War into our back yard, and produced a tide of Cuban immigrants to the state.

My check-in conversation tempered my enthusiasm and reminded me once again of the many lenses through which one can look at Cuba. Having received generous support for my trip from the Lance Odden Summer Sabbatical Teacher’s Fund, I traveled to Cuba on a National Council for Geographic Education trip. Our leaders were two Geography college professors and a high school AP Human Geography teacher from Jacksonville, Florida - my hometown! I had always wanted to go to Cuba. As a child, I heard my parents and grandparents talk about Fidel Castro and Che Guevara as if they were Satan and the Antichrist rolled into one, but then I learned that Cuba had one of the highest literacy rates in the western hemisphere, one of the lowest infant mortality rates, and universal access to healthcare. I read about the history of right wing dictatorship, U.S. intervention,

and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Castro regime. What is the real story of Cuba? As usual, there are no easy answers, only complex issues - so here I offer you my top five list for what I learned about Cuba.

1. Let me make it perfectly clear for those of you who might be thinking, “I have to get to Cuba before the flood gates open and tourists can get there and spoil the “charm.” You may have seen those photos of classic old cars. And yes, they are there, but they are very much a tourist attraction already. Citizens from every other country in the world have been allowed to travel to Cuba all this time, with cruise ships docking in the port of Havana and unleashing their hoards of consumers. So, Cuba, much like the other Caribbean nations, counts on tourism for a significant portion of the nation’s economy. That number has increased greatly since Obama opened the way for more people from the United States to travel, but tourism has been around this whole time.

2. The urban architecture of Cuba is a fascinating mix of Spanish colonial styles, art deco masterpieces from the early 20th century, and post

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revolutionary buildings and open spaces designed for their functionality. Everywhere you look there is an homage to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara; from huge murals and billboards to small portraits on t-shirts and key chains, Che and Fidel are shown together with the banner “Viva la Revolución”. I often wonder how Fidel’s brother and current leader of the country, Rául, feels about this

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hero worship - but it is his burden to bear.

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Cuba is a nation of varied physical geography. There are mountain ranges, lush valleys, abundant rivers, and karst caves and mogotes— limestone hills that look like pillows. There are beautiful beaches, mangrove swamps, and some of the most robust coral reefs in the Caribbean - and I didn’t even get to the eastern half of the island!

Much of the land we traversed was bountiful agricultural land dedicated to growing the two crops for which the island is famous: tobacco and sugarcane. It was this plantation agriculture, especially the sugarcane, that led the Spanish to bring vast numbers of Africans to the island; it was the continued mistreatment of the Afro-Cuban populace that contributed to the Cuban revolution.

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Cuba is a leader in sustainable development, in large part because they have had to seek alternative fuel sources thanks to the US embargo, combined with the economic and political crises of the Soviet Union and most recently, Venezuela.

The most significant advances have come in agriculture, where, due to the lack of petroleum-based fertilizers, farmers have turned to alternative farming methods. We visited two farms, one that now supplies much of Havana with fresh produce year round, and the other that is the largest center for urban agriculture in the Caribbean.

5. And finally, all of the people I met in Cuba - from our tour guides, restaurateurs, bus drivers, snorkeling guides and singers in nightclubs to the people I met on my own, the fellow shoppers in grocery stores, the fishermen hanging out by the water on the famous Malecon in Havana, the old couple dancing to a band of musicians in a small plaza and the women selling mangos by the side of the road - all were kind and interested in what the future holds for them. What will Cuba be like in another 10 years? How will their lives change?

No one knows, but I hope to be able to go back and see for myself.

Have You Heard About Hygge?

by Magda Kisielinska '18

Forbes Magazine recently named Denmark the happiest country in the world; with the release of this new title, countries around the world began to wonder what it is that makes the Danes so content as a whole. There must be something that differentiates Denmark from other top 10 happiest countries, right? The answer is simple: hygge.

Hygge is the Danish philosophy of coziness and happiness. The main theory is comprised of six core principles: finding happiness in small things, creating an atmosphere, being in a comfortable space, living in the present, pampering, and cultivating authenticity. This seems somewhat doable, right? However, in our daily lives it is easy to neglect the happiness that comes from small things— we focus on our failures instead of acknowledging small joys. Hygge serves as a reminder that happiness is at hand — only as far as a cup of tea and your favorite blanket.

In Denmark, hygge is more than just a philosophy, it has created a new space in the market revolving around the simplest things. In Copenhagen you can find hygge laundromats, where you can order coffee and brunch while waiting for your clothes to wash, hygge bike rentals, where you can sit in a cozy space and have a coffee or

tea before you embark on your hygge bike ride, and hygge books which teach you how to achieve hygge. Danes define hygge as candlelight, friends and family— the simplest joys in life, easily attainable; yet, neglected by many.

The crisp last couple of weeks proven that there is no wrong time to be cozy, especially in New England’s brisk and deceiving May chill. Maybe this charming weather is one of the reasons why some Tafties already practice the material aspects of hygge, more or less consciously: dorm rooms decorated with fairy lights, numerous pillows and blankets, teacups and teapots, the list goes on. Yet, some of us fail to meet the fundamental, more ideological principle of hygge— finding and appreciating the joy in small things, and taking care of oneself. Thus, I encourage you to pull out your favorite blanket, grab an interesting book and a cup of tea, and indulge yourself in hygge; most importantly, don’t neglect the philosophy behind it! Truly take the time to enjoy relaxing and appreciate existing. Forget about your next assignment, that game you’ve been stressed about, that friend drama that keeps popping up, and give yourself a chance to simply enjoy life, its unembellished perks, and your surroundings.

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GSS, Zambia, and Me

by Eliza King Freedman '19

The Global Studies and Service Diploma is a unique opportunity for Taft students to demonstrate their civic leadership through coursework, co-curricular programs, and service to communities both local and global. The diploma aims to prepare Taft students to be global citizens and to foster a desire to improve and work to make a difference in our world. It is described on the Taft website as an opportunity that provides those who earn the diploma with “the capacity to appreciate the global dimension of everyday, local life and to catalyze social change within an increasingly complex and international world.�

The GSS program requires three cross cultural experiences: one community, one local, one global. Locally, I have volunteered at the Waterbury chapter of Girls, Inc., and I plan on using the global cross cultural experience to travel to Zambia to work at a preschool that enrolls orphans. In the fall, I will then take everything I learned there and bring it back to Taft for my community cross cultural experience: raising awareness about the poverty and health issues in Zambia, particularly just outside the city of Livingstone, as well as facilitating fundraisers that will allow me to provide the school with the materials they were lacking most during my stay.

Though the inspiration for this trip originated from the global portion of the GSS Diploma requirements, it has been something I have wanted to do since before I even knew what the GSS path was. I had the opportunity to visit Mwandi, a small village about two hours outside of Livingstone in Zambia, through the connections of a former teacher during the summer of 2015 and since then, have been unable to stop thinking about my time there. I plan to spend a little over four weeks in the village, starting in June and ending in July.

The organization I will be working with is a small program called Home for AIDS Orphans, and it is run by a woman named Paula Van Zyl and her husband, Dan. I met the couple during my previous trip through a partnership she has with the group I travelled with in 2015. This past February, after almost two years of Mwandi being continuously present in my thoughts, I emailed Paula to see if she needed any extra hands this summer at the newly established local preschool that Home for AIDS Orphans sponsors, Aunt Beanor’s Preschool.

Zambia is one of the many countries in Africa that struggles with AIDS and HIV transmission, and this unfortunate epidemic often results in parentless children. Mwandi in particular has

seen a vast number of grandparents in the village lose their children to the disease, leaving them to take care of their grandchildren. Home for AIDS Orphans works to bring volunteers into the Mwandi community to support existing programs and provide resources to both continue programs and as well as develop new opportunities. The small organization has had over 3000 volunteers stay with them since 2005, and they have built over 140 homes for 800 orphans. Last spring, Home for AIDS Orphans opened Aunt Beanor’s Preschool, which was funded through donations to the organization and is entirely run by a close associate of Paula’s. As it turns out, I will be spending about a month there both helping out at the preschool and with the one of the organization’s more central projects, building mud houses for the orphans and their caregivers.

My trip is unique in that it is not school-sponsored, nor is it funded by the Poole/Page grant fund.

Home for AIDS Orphans does not have a history with Taft, but this is something I hope to change.

When I leave Mwandi in July, I will consider my time to have been a solid foundation and the be-

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ginning of my involvement with Home for AIDS Orphans, not the end. Mwandi is a village that is incredibly special to me and I feel unbelievably fortunate to have the opportunity to return there this summer. I look forward to writing about my experiences in the fall issue of Global Journal.

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An Introduction to Trumponomics

by Aditya Balsekar '18

On January 21st, when President Donald J. Trump took the oath of office to serve as the President of the United States of America, he instantaneously acquired unparalleled capacity to shape the global economy. The President of the United States wields such tremendous power in terms of global economics that he could either single-handedly commence a debilitating, worldwide recession or choose to foster an era of economic globalization and widespread prosperity.

Among other things, Trump’s economic agenda has been highly scrutinized by his political counterparts, renowned financiers, and economists alike. The global bandwidth of the President’s fiscal policy primarily rests on its ability to enact change through shifts in American trade diplomacy.

First and foremost, President Trump hopes to reduce America’s trade deficit through a mixture of protectionism and mercantilism. In his recently published op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Peter Navarro, the director of the White House’s National Trade Council, outlined the Trump Administration’s intentions to expand US exports, reduce imports, and, all the while, reduce America’s merchandise trade deficit—a reduction that the Trump administration thinks will increase the United States’ wealth and economic growth. In the execution of this plan, Trump claims that he will leave the ashes of instrumental trade agreements like NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership in his wake. While the idea of decreasing the trade deficit and increasing exports seems appealing on paper, most economists disagree with the premise of the idea. For instance, Peter Navarro and President Trump view an increasing trade deficit as a negative occurrence, but Richard Epstein, a member of the Hoover Institution, views

the idea behind a trade deficit as potentially positive. Since the balance of payments must always add up to zero, the automatic ballast for a trade deficit comes in the form of foreign direct investment. Epstein believes that a trade deficit epitomizes the notion that one country has convinced firms and investors from other countries to invest in it (capital is flowing in), where their financial support (foreign direct investment) can be used to spur economic development in the form of jobs, technological innovation, and other ways. In the case of American automakers, outsourcing the manufacturing of automobile parts to other countries, where labor is cheaper, is not a bad thing, as it allows automakers to increase output, increase margins, and more efficiently sell their cars in domestic markets. Engaging in trade diplomacy (predominantly with the use of tariffs) and thus making it harder for US companies to manufacture in countries with lower production costs can be potentially debilitating for these firms because it reduces their ability to remain competitive in an increasingly globalized trade spectrum.

One of the principal parts of Navarro’s argument lies in the equation that determines a country’s GDP (gross domestic product). For reference, GDP represents a country’s total economic output (goods and services produced) in a calendar year. The equation of the GDP is C (consumption), plus I (investment), plus G (Government Spending), plus nX (exports minus imports). Navarro believes that increasing the US’s nX value will result in an increasing GDP and a healthier economy. However, what the Trump Administration does not realize is that the trade deficit itself is a very small part of the United States’ GDP in the first place. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2016 the trade deficit stood at about $500 billion while private investment and

consumption—two other parts of the U.S. GDP— stood at $3 trillion and $12.8 trillion, respectively.

If we look at the disparity between the relative sizes of the trade deficit and other GDP components, we understand that using policy to augment other GDP components rather than nX would have a far larger effect of the U.S. economy. Even if Navarro is correct in his assumption that a trade deficit is an indication of a weak economy and, therefore, needs to be corrected, history stands the United States was exporting an exponentially larger amount of goods than it was importing.

Conversely, during the Clinton administration, the US economy was booming, with full trade agreements will severely strain the health of the global Joseph Sohm / Visons of America

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economy because it will not only hurt American firms by causing them to be inefficient but it will also harm foreign-based manufacturers who rely on U.S. trade to survive. Global trade is a quintessential manifestation of a symbiotic relationship, a relationship where both parties involved benefit from the transaction. Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and China have already notified the Trump administration that President Trump’s economic policies are concerning. Destroying agreements like NAFTA and imposing harsh tariffs on imported goods will categorically ravage the global economy, leaving the US economy at the center of the shambles—a possibility that I certainly hope does not become a reality.

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Sharing Language In 2008 I was informed by my parents that our family would be moving to a far away land known as Hong Kong. At the time I was completely unaware of what or where Hong Kong was, but I most definitely knew that my pleading to stay in the United States would be completely disregarded. A few days later the moving trucks came and we were off to our new home. Upon landing in Hong Kong, I noticed the massive differences between Hong Kong and the US in terms of the climate, food and people; however, the thing that interested me most was the Chinese language. I wasn’t interested in what the natives were saying, as I couldn't quite understand the content of their speech; rather, it was the difference in how they communicated that intrigued me. From then on, driven by my passion for linguistics, I have dedicated a lot of my energy and time to learning Chinese. I am confident that my consistent effort since fourth grade has made me better and better at Chinese. However, I have come to understand that learning Chinese in a classroom setting is not enough to become truly fluent in the language— I had to immerse myself in a real life situation. In order to gain real life experience speaking Chinese, I created an organization, along with Corrine Bai and Stephanie Sze, called English For All (EFA).

English For All’s mission statement is to teach English and to provide educational resources to underprivileged kids in rural China. In order to carry out our mission statement, Corrine Bai and I utilized the generous funds provided by the Poole Grant Committee to travel to a rural village in Haikou, China to teach elementary school students English. When we first arrived at the school in Haikou, we took a tour to get a better understanding of the

by Chris McDermott '18

nature of our volunteer work and of the children we would be working with. Even though the educational facilities were somewhat outdated and the classes were relatively large, having around fifty students each, we came up with an effective plan of how we would teach these kids. In our lessons we would focus on building four essential English language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. By teaching all aspects of English to the students, Corrine and I hoped to improve their English capability as a whole. It is also worth noting that we used leftover money from our Poole Grants in addition to money generated by our Chinese culture sales to buy supplies for the students. We provided the students with notebooks, writing tools and English books so that they could continue to cultivate their English skills even after we left.

After long hours of teaching English in the classroom, Corrine and I would unwind by travelling around Haikou, exploring the food scene and learning about the unexposed side of Chinese culture. We would join the principal and his wife each night for dinner at local restaurants. Since the locals usually did not speak English, I had an opportunity to practise my language skills by ordering food in Chinese.

Although I would frequently be flustered by the look of the food served in local restaurants, upon trying the food I would usually really enjoy it . Every single time we went to explore the village I was able to learn more about Chinese culture and improve my Chinese speaking skills through real life application.

By the end of the short trip, I truly felt that I had not only helped the students improve their English but that I had also improved my understanding of the Chinese language and culture. The students surprised us immensely with their positive attitudes and their eagerness to learn in and out of the classroom.

Even though I left feeling as if I had made a difference in their lives, I also believe that they had taught me many valuable life lessons. They allowed me to see that life is not all about being successful or getting a thirty six on the ACT, but that we should be thankful for each and every day we have. I am truly grateful to the Poole Grant Committee for allowing me to pursue my interest in language through service.

by Cauviya Selva '17

Electrical Signals and Human Health

My roommate and I came back from our last group meeting and let our mutual melancholy engulf us: we realized that our summer program at UConn had come to an end. We spent the remainder of the night sharing why each of us had decided to do this summer program, me in biomedical engineering and her in sports medicine. Personally, I had received a Page Grant and had wanted to combine my passion for engineering with the Page Grant emphasis on health. Having come across this particular UConn program on biomedical engineering, engineering with the purpose of improving human health, I was intrigued.

Right from the very beginning, our professor, Patrick D. Kumavor, made this program an interesting experience, introducing us to the many aspects and application possibilities of biomedical engineering (BME). Whereas I had already known about a few sub-fields of BME, such as tissue engineering and bioinformatics, I was thrilled to learn about other fields such as biomechanical engineering. Patrick told us that he had actually majored in electrical engineering, making me wonder how he had ended up as a BME professor. It turns out that he had found a way of merging his interests in both electrical engineering and medicine, becoming a biomedical engineer.

His research was centered on electrical impulses in the human body and the harnessing of said impulses to external devices. According to Patrick, the concrete objective of his lab was to create a device that could monitor fine eye movements and twitches in order to predict the likelihood of a person to have a heart attack. Fascinated by the fact that something as seemingly unrelated to medicine as electrical engineering could have such a valuable medical application, I wondered what other extraordinary things I would learn during my time at UConn.

Stepping into my first biomedical engineering class felt like returning to my freshman physics course. I was expecting to find various electrical devices and to learn how they were being used in the medical realm, instead I was met with a board filled with circuits and equations...I guess I would have to learn the basics first. Slowly, we worked our way up to our final project—building a device that could

sense muscle movements and react with electrical impulses. I was excited to see how the electric devices built by us would be applied to the human body, but first we got to see how a different medical instrument, the ECG machine, worked. We did an experiment, where we checked the heart rates of each member of our class in both idle and physically active states, comparing the results between male and female subjects and generally active versus generally sedentary subjects. Having received both theoretical knowledge and practical exposure to electrical device application in medicine, we were ready to develop our own gadgets. While they were not as complicated as the one that Patrick was developing, the concept of our devices was similar. In teams of two, we were building devices which could sense muscle contraction and trigger a certain impulse response.

Specifically our devices would be connected to a human arm and when the muscles in the arm would contract, an LED would light up. We learned that, conceptually speaking, the way our devices worked was similar to how prosthetics operated, moving in accordance with a person’s will—or rather, the electrical impulses from the person’s brain.

When the day to program our built devices finally came, I knew that the many hours I had spent in robotics with Mr. Mooney would pay off. I was the only one in the class who had done Arduino programming before, hence upon finishing earlier than everybody I had some extra time to experiment with my device. I programmed the device in a way that five LEDs would light upon receiving a signal from a single flexed muscle. This practical experience convinced me that I could use my knowledge to create things that would benefit humanity.

In today’s world, filled with technology, what if we were able to harness the ability to translate all human functions into electrical signals? What if a digital app could collect, process, and interpret human functions to warn people of any medical issues they might be having like impending heart attacks, seizures, or low blood sugar. After my experience in this program, I found my head filled with new ideas and possibilities for the world of medicine.

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Global Journal Photography Contest

First Place, Portrait Gabriela Gonzalez Carpio '17

First Place, Cityscape Quint Stovall '19

First Place, Landscape Emma Cooney '19 First Place, Landscape Clara Ye '19

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Runners-Up Cityscape

Pearl Young '18

Portrait

Emma Cooney '19

Landscape

Sarah Steber '20

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A Look at Taft Summers

Elizabeth Baratta ‘18: Last summer I received a Page Grant to travel to the Dominican Republic for two weeks on a Global Health Initiative to work with an organization called 7Elements. This year I received another Page Grant to go back to the DR and work with the same organization to help combat prevalent health issues in the local communities. I plan on writing an article for the Global Journal when I come back.

Eliza King Freedman ‘19: This summer I'll be travelling to Cuenca, Ecuador to work with the Orphanage Support Services Organization in both an orphanage for young girls and an orphanage for disabled children. The orphanages do not have the means to employ either manual laborers for the grounds or people to care for the children, so it will be my responsibility to bring not only supplies and but also ideas for ways to keep the children occupied and engaged throughout the day. On top of that, it will be part of my overall responsibility as an orphanage volunteer to engage with the children in Spanish, and help them cope with their respective experiences prior to their arrival at the orphanage. I'll only be there for three weeks in June but I know it will be a life-changing experience.

Micah Umeh ‘19: I'm using the Page grant money to attend a biology research program at Columbia University. I plan to expand my knowledge on the human body and prepare myself for both AP Bio and Post AP Bio while living on the Columbia campus.

Gaby Gura ‘17: This past summer I used the Page Grant to attend Georgetown University's one-week Medical Institute. I went to solidify my desire to become a doctor and to get exposure on what the medical field was all about. Several other Taft students went with me, and we spent our days listening to lectures from different doctors and professionals in the medical field, as well as doing hands-on labs, including a cadaver lab. We were always busy in the week we were there, and I really enjoyed how in depth the whole program was!

Peter Oh ‘17: Last year, I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients of the Meg Page Grant, receiving a grant of one thousand dollars. With this money I was able to attend a three week intensive biomedical engineering summer program at the University of Rochester in New York. I am writing this email to share with you my wonderful experience with the summer program and also to thank you for giving me the opportunity to further explore my interest in biomedical engineering. During the course of the program, I had the chance to explore many different aspects biomedical engineering.Through hands-on experiences and lectures given by university professors, I was able to get a better understanding of what an biomedical engineer does and how a biomedical engineer thinks. The picture that I attached below was taken while I was working with three other students on designing, building, and programming a heart rate sensor. As a group, we had to work together to make sure our sensor was the best that it could be. I really enjoyed this workshop because not only did I learn how to build a heart rate sensor, but I also worked with students from various parts of the world. Bill (black shirt) was from Shanghai, Jeffery (red shirt) was from NYC, and Marcells (grey shirt) was from Budapest. All in all, I had an amazing three weeks this past summer at the University of Rochester. With the help of the Page Grant, I was able to explore my interests in both the engineering and medical field.

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Tattnall Holt ‘18: Last summer I shadowed Dr. Charles Fraser for a week. Dr. Fraser is Surgeon-inChief, Chief of the Department of Congenital Heart Surgery, and Cardiac Surgeon in-Charge at Texas Children's Hospital, the largest children’s hospital in the world. He is also the chief of the Congenital Heart Surgery Division at Baylor College of Medicine, and Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Surgery Program at the Texas Heart Institute. I observed three open heart surgeries that lasted 4 ½ hours, 8 hours, and 9 ½ hours. I also observed an achilles lengthening procedure, two sclerosis correctional procedures, a frontal orbital removal which, though I’ll spare you the grosser details, means that I saw somebody’s skull get taken apart, reshaped, and pieced back together two feet in front of me. I also had the opportunity to shadow their chief of reconstructive cosmetic surgery for a day, so I observed 13 operations by him ranging from a skin graft to a tonsillectomy. What I took away from my Page Grant experience this summer is that I want to be a surgeon when I am older. Observing surgery first hand, and literally seeing lives saved right before my eyes was unlike anything I have ever experienced before, and I am so greatful to the Page family for giving me the opportunity to experience this.This summer I will be flying to Cordoba, Argentina, to volunteer at an underfunded and understafed hospital for about two weeks. Once at the hospital, I will be learning from local staff and professional medical volunteers, who will share their knowledge and experiences with me about the best practices to use under certain circumstances. I will observe nurses and doctors on their daily ward rounds, and practice my spanish skills with patients who would otherwise be taking up the time of a more qualified health assistant. I look forward to helping people who have so much less than we all have here, and I am grateful for the opportunity the Grant Committee and the Page family have given me.

Logan Clew-Bachrach ‘20: I applied for the Page grant to go to the Georgetown Medical Institute over the summer. A few other Taft students have participated in this program recently, and I'm really excited. I don't know a ton about who specifically I'll be working with, but I know that it will be Georgetown professors. The program I'm doing is pretty much a snapshot of the Georgetown medical school curriculum, and I'll be learning about a variety of topics like anatomy, physiology, microbiology, surgery, and cancer.

Jasmine Mendoza ‘19: Earlier in the spring, I was fortunate enou to work with the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD) in Kingston, Jamaica this summer for two weeks. The JAD works with deaf children and adults to provide them with resources catered to their needs. I'll be acting as a teacher's assistant in a school for the deaf in Kingston, which entails helping prepare and teach lessons as well as classroom management. I'm most looking forward to learning Jamaican Sign Language!

Joe Hardison ‘18: I received the poole grant in order to fund my train expenses from Darien to Harlem, NY. This summer I will be volunteering as part of the Harlem Lacrosse Organization, which is a national organization that helps develop inner-city kids both in the classroom and on the lacrosse field. I will be taking the train in to Harlem 125th from June 12th-18th to help tutor kids and run clinics for the lacrosse camps in the afternoon. The link to the Harlem Lacrosse Website is http://www.harlemlacrosse.org. I highly suggest watching the video to learn more about it. Thanks!

Mary Colette ‘17: I spent a week at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in Eleuthera, Bahamas working with the bonefish and flats conservation team. We spent a lot of time on the boat, looking to practice angling and capture methods to tag as many bonefish as possible to contribute to the international tagging program. In addition to studying bonefish ecology, we took a closer look at the relationship between local fish, coral, and plant populations in the extensive mangrove habitat around southern Eleuthera.

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Philip Huang ‘18: Thanks to the Page Grant, I was able to have a great experience at the Georgia Tech medical program this summer. Going down to the Southern part of America and a medical camp for the first time was an amazing experience, and it helped me step out of my comfort zone. I learned basic medical terms, ethics, and the different types of drugs doctors use to diagnose their patients. I was also able to do hands on activities such as doing CPR on a dummy, suturing on a slab of chicken, cutting open a cow’s eye, and cutting open a sheep's heart. There were many memorable events outside of the medical camp too. I got to go to the Emory University Hospital and learn from actual doctors. I tried sugary drinks from all over the world at the World of Coca Cola, even though it made me feel sick for the rest of the day. I also got to go to the Georgia Aquarium, in which I saw very interesting marine animals I had never seen before.

Jamie Howie ‘18: Last summer I traveled to Nosara, Costa Rica to volunteer with Sibu Sanctuary, a small non profit organization that is dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned monkeys. I worked with the owners of Sibu to help them publicize their organization, while also working with the monkeys and doing other jobs around the sanctuary. I helped to collect the monkey's food, clean the monkey habitats, and distribute the food to the monkeys, among other things. Woking with Sibu was an incredible experience and I will continue to help their cause to save the wildlife of Costa Rica from threats such as the expansion of tourism and infrastructure that continues to grow.

Natalie Waldram ‘18 : This summer I will be doing a sustainability program in the Amazon that focuses on the effects of industry on indigenous communities in Ecuador. The second part of the program is a leadership program at Dartmouth that focuses more on how change is made around the United States through individual work or through the work of organization and businesses.

The Power of Stories Over the past summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay in Panama City for a week with a Chinese couple who had lived there for several generations. Over well-cooked meals, they shared many of their memorable experiences they had throughout the years and told stories about how their life in Panama had transpired. On one of those days, the husband, Gustavo, casually mentioned the fact that one of the buildings down the street was the building in which Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama, was captured during the U.S. invasion of Panama. I, like most, had never heard of Noriega nor of the fact that the U.S. had even invaded Panama at all, so naturally I inquired further.

He began to recount his memory about how scared he was of the pandemonium that ensued.

He remembered seeing the fighter planes fly across the city, hearing explosions and gunfire for the first time in his life. It was a total chaos with no police force to stop the rampant turmoil ravaging the city. He said that in those couple of weeks, anyone could falsely report someone for cooperating with the dictator and the U.S. military would

story and photo by Isaiah Jones '18

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take them into questioning, which is exactly what happened to his brother. According to Gustavo, his brother was reported by a jealous neighbor and was sent to prison where he was treated no better than an animal; a week later he was discovered to have no connection to the regime. However, Gustavo surprised me when he noted that he held no animosity against the United States. He felt that there was no reason to hold a grudge, for it would only breed hatred and negativity. We finished up our dinner shortly after that conversation.

That night as I laid awake in my bed, I reflected on how unlikely it was for our paths to collide.

I mean, what are the odds that two families from opposite sides of the planet meet each other on a hiking trail in China? It is crazy sometimes to think that there are so many stories just like Gustavo’s that are just waiting to be told. When there is so much to be gained from the people we interact with, asking questions can prove to be the most powerful tool we have. Everyone has an opinion, everyone has a story, and in our interconnected world we can all play our part and share the stories that make each and every one of us unique.

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The Future of the European Union Jean Monnet, the founding father of the European Union, once noted that “Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises.” As the EU continues to struggle with economic stagnation, an unprecedented influx of migrants, and the consequential rise of Eurosceptic parties in member states, one can only hope that Monnet’s optimistic outlook will materialize and that Europe’s historically greatest political experiment—the EU—will survive.

Nonetheless, the gradual consolidation of Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France, Geert Wilders’s fervently anti-European Freedom Party in the Netherlands, and Beppe Grillo’s Italian Five Star Movement relays a clear message: European constituents think that their countries’ alignment with the EU no longer coincides with their national interests. In other words, there is a prevailing sentiment that the EU no longer serves the true European worker, the French, Italian, or Dutch common man, in turn benefiting only trans-national corporations, the relatively underdeveloped post-communist member states, and migrants. The grievances of these European factory workers, who lost their jobs to the arguably irreversible powers of economic globalization and manufacturing automation, should not be arrogantly dismissed. As we have observed with Brexit and Trump’s US victory, disenfranchised Western workers have power to unify and significantly alter national and international politics. Even though Le Pen lost to Macron in the 2017 French Presidential election, she still managed to establish a very strong voter base that will only expand if both France and the EU do not go through extensive reconstruction over the course of Macron’s presidency. Wilders, Le Pen, Grillo and other populist demagogues will

by Zygimantas Jievaltas '17

continue to tap into the ever-expanding ocean of desperation and anger and will continue to win more and more national offices if the EU does not find effective ways of reorienting its labor force towards sectors that thrive under globalization— IT, wink, wink—and reforming Schengen and the common market. The threat of demagogues rising to rule European states and pulling said states out of the EU has never been more real. Nonetheless, I would be willing to accept the opinion of Jan Techau, director of the Carnegie Europe foreign policy think-tank: “there is no such thing as finalité politique: the EU serves a purpose, and its workings and its setup will be adapted as this purpose changes.” It is not so much a question of whether the EU will exist but rather what form it will acquire in the nearest future.

In fact, realizing Europe’s shifting political landscape, the European Commission released a report in March, delineating five quite distinct future scenarios for the EU. That being said, some of these projections are more likely to happen than others. For instance, the first possible future plan— to simply “carry on” with the status quo and see how it plays out—is absolutely nonsensical. In my opinion, it undermines the purpose of having future projections in the first place.

Many European nations are mandating Schengen reform in order to adequately protect themselves from the perceived threat of terrorism in the context of refugee influx. While the accuracy of this perception is questionable and the economic repercussions of restricting free cross-border movement could be severe, this question cannot be simply ignored. Political debate has to take place and compromises need to be made…those are simply the rules of the political game.

The second potential model—to reduce the EU to “nothing more than a single market”—is

more realistic, but would undercut a great deal of progress that has been achieved in the last decades: the EU would no longer be perceived as a single entity in the international political arena and would consequently lose its status as a superpower. Furthermore, there would be less diplomatic cooperation between member states, which would hinder resolving international disputes and crises. Finally, having open borders and standardized environmental regulations has induced market stability in the EU and has promoted economic growth. If anything, the common European market needs further integration so that member states could not only freely trade coal and steel but also have integrated energy grids, for instance.

The third and most realistic scenario is that there will ultimately be a so-called multi-speed EU. In essence, this means that member states will come into separate and independent coalitions to work on certain designated issues. These “coalitions of the willing” will be voluntary and could work towards further integration in areas such as defense, taxation, environmental or social regulation. A model like this would hopefully appease those member states afraid that the current EU structure is infringing on their national sovereignty while also benefit those countries that actually understand contemporary, globalized economics. Nonetheless, there are drawbacks to

such a system. The biggest issue is that it would create EU citizens with different rights. As a result, the governance of such a legally heterogeneous system would be very complicated. Another possible scenario is somewhat of a hybrid between scenarios two and three: further integration in a “reduced number of areas”. Specifically, this calls for stronger cooperation in innovation, trade, and security. Finally, there is always the option of federalization. Primarily, this would enable the EU to raise revenue through tax collection and to have common fiscal as well as foreign policy.

Whatever shape the EU acquires in the upcoming years, it is absolutely clear that carrying on with the status quo is unsustainable. Europeans need to be reminded that it was the EU that helped them avoid warfare for over half a century in addition to dramatically boosting the continent’s economic development. Once again, in the words of Jan Techau, “the EU serves a purpose, and its workings and its setup will be adapted as this purpose changes.” It is up to the democratic community of EU nations to discuss and decide how to pursue future development. Perhaps this will even mean acquiring a slightly more real-politik nature and focusing more on concrete practical and pragmatic objectives rather than the preservation of ambiguous values.

Neale Clarke / Robert Harding World Imagery / Universal Images Group

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Reaching Out To Those Out of Reach

by Peem Lerdputtipongporn '17

“If anyone wishes to volunteer this Spring Break at Nicaragua, shoot me an e-mail,” said Ms. Monti during one Morning Meeting. That day, I remembered myself feeling awestruck; however, this amazement was not a result of any any sudden desire I possessed to do service, but rather the unfortunate consequence of my own geographical ignorance. Where on earth is Nicaragua? I wondered to myself.

The possibility that Nicaragua could be as impoverished as it was when I arrived never crossed my mind.

Therefore, when Mr. Clifford announced that Taft would cover some of the travel expense, I signed up for the trip with a simple thought: Why not? Here’s my chance to visit a Central American country.

My first day in Nicaragua was rough. Arriving in Managua, Nicaragua around midnight Sunday, my Outreach360 peers and I were exhausted because of jetlag. After I got to my hotel room, I immediately fell asleep, only to wake up three hours later to travel to the volunteering center, which was three hours away from that hotel. Awaiting our arrival to the camp were students from Southern New Hampshire University and Canadian High School, all of whom were super cheerful and welcoming. Soon, we met the Outreach360 volunteer leaders who explained the program’s background, its goals, and its core principles. Admittedly, two months later, I cannot remember most of this information. The only detail I remember was how the founder of Outreach360 became inspired to help impoverished children. He saw kids struggling to draw with crayons. To him, it was apparent those kids had never handled any stationary before.

Therefore, Outreach360 aimed to teach English to these impoverished children whose primary language is Spanish so that they would have more success finding good opportunities in life. They do this every year—amazing, isn’t it? After the presentation, all the volunteers had a chance to explore the town of Jinotega, where we would be staying for the rest of our time in Nicaragua. Surrounded by moun-

tains, the town was serene and beautiful. Its inhabitants lead a rather slow-paced, less-structured lifestyle compared to what we find at Taft. Due to the country’s scorching climate, Nicaraguans would take an afternoon nap, or siesta, almost every day. Here’s my everyday schedule in Nicaragua: 8:15 - 9AM: Trivia questions + Breakfast. Taft and SNHU students separated into three groups and play trivia questions about Nicaragua (i.e. Name two political parties in Nicaragua). The first group that answers correctly can dine first. Because the food was tasty either way, I did not mind going first or last.

9 - 11AM: Before the classes began, Nicaraguan children (usually 7-12 years old) would pick some storybooks to read with the volunteers for 10-15 minutes. Afterwards, volunteers had to lead some dance like Get Loose, Get Funky or What’s the weather? Among these, my favorite is Shark-doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo-doo. There were four classes: Recreation, Review, English, and Arts. Teachers were asked to “communicate love” by giving students some high-fives, smiling at them, and saying positive phrases like “Good Job!” and “Yes, you got it.” According to our volunteer leaders, some Nicaraguan kids encounter many obstacles every day (i.e. family problems, financial constraint, limit access to education).

Some quit schools because they feel “they cannot make it.” Consequently, Outreach360 aspires to boost self-confidence among these kids through education and positive reinforcement.

11AM - Noon: Free time. I always used this free time to stroll various attractions in Jinotega, buy some smoothies, or walk to Jinotega park for Free Wifi.

Noon - 2PM: Lunch and siesta.

2PM - 4PM: Classes for another group of student. School in Nicaragua have two sessions, and students need to attend one. Because some of these students either have regular school to attend or have other obligations (working for a part-time job, selling tacos), they need to work around schedule just to attend Outreach360 class.

4PM - 6PM: Dinner, lesson planning (daily), Latin Dance, Coffee Shop visit

This schedule might look plain. How could conducting English lesson be fascinating? The thing is, as much as I taught those children, they had taught me so many important lessons. For instance, a girl named H always picked a storybook in Spanish with English translation. One time I got paired up with her, she would ask that I label each illustration in the book she chose in English so that she could learn new words. Sometimes, she even tried to teach me some Spanish words! Tragically, in Nicaragua, more than half of women population is a single mother; due to the culture of machismo, many men rape women yet refuse to take any responsibility. The fact that she could maintain such level of inquisitivity despite all the obstacles (few learning resources, erratic classes, the chance of getting sexually assaulted, poverty) allowed me to realize how much I have taken education for granted. Many Outreach360 kids shared similar background to H’s.

I would like to end this piece with a conversation I had with Alma, one of the volunteer leaders from Nicaragua. We discussed how stark the difference between the US and Nicaragua is and how we could change this unequal world. Alma’s solution was simple—stay positive. Her reasoning? My world uniquely belongs to me. Your world uniquely belongs to you. Everyone has a distinctive version of their world. All it takes is to change one’s perception, and you can change the world.

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Finding My Words Have you ever had trouble articulating your feelings, expressing your opinions, or talking to people about random things? I have. Coming to the United States was the biggest turning point in my life. Thousands of miles away from my family, friends, culture and language, I was out of my comfort zone for the first time. When I stepped into one of the fanciest hotels in Istanbul to be interviewed by Mr. Frew, I was very confident. I

by Ali Sinan Kaya '18

thought I was prepared for all the possible admissions questions such as, “What is your favorite book?” or “What are your hobbies?” I was even ready to tell Mr. Frew his graduation year if he asked (it is 1975). However, while sipping Turkish coffee and rejoicing at the glamorous view of the Bosphorus, Mr. Frew asked me a question that I had never thought about before—“So, ‘Siinean,’ which grade are you applying to?”— sending the well-dressed kid with meticulously combed hair into confusion. At the time, I was already a junior and it was my fourth year in high school because of the additional prep year I chose to take. It took twenty seconds of mulling-over for me to say that I wanted to repeat the junior year. What guided my thinking in those twenty seconds was my fear of adjusting to a different culture and applying to colleges at the same time.

Today, as I look back at my first Taft year, I congratulate myself on the decision well made; as I predicted, my adjustment wasn’t the smoothest.

A spacious single greeted me when I climbed the isolated tower of CPT. It felt like the dormitory became even more isolated as I ascended to the top. At first, being assigned to a single seemed nice. However, day by day I realized the social consequences of having a single.

After 10:15 pm everyday it was just me, myself and I; when, in fact, all I needed was a company of a newcomer.

Communication was the hardest part.

Having to engage in conversations in English in and out of the classroom was the main challenge.

Although I had been immersed in the English language since the age of 8, it was my first time speaking English with native speakers. I had a hard time figuring out how daily small talks work since it seemed strange to me to just say “hi” to random people and then keep walking without actually engaging in conversations. Actually, it

24 felt very welcoming at first, since I was new to Taft community, but soon I started to realize that I had to partake in those small talks to build lasting relationships. However, things didn’t go as I planned because I was wandering around trying to communicate with people while having a dictionary inside my head. I was literally trying to translate every single feeling from Turkish to English and, inevitably, things got lost in translation quite often.

There is this one conversation that I had with a friend and a random lady that I cannot forget.

It was a Saturday night and I was at Bingham watching Shrek, the student-led musical I really enjoyed, even though I couldn’t catch all the lines. My friend was a purple dragon (which I had never seen in my life before), and she was wearing a fancy costume along with some high heels. At the end of the show I went downstairs to congratulate her. She came over with her high heels off, which was totally reasonable because, man, those heels must have hurt. We talked about the show and she thanked me for coming. Then, I asked the random lady to take a picture of us to eternalize the moment because I thought I would never see a purple dragon in my life again. I gave the lady my phone and she took a picture of us from waist up. Given my height and the natural shortness of anyone standing right next to me, the frame had funny proportions of our bodies and failed to capture the moment I was fishing for. I also wanted a full-body shot to capture my friend’s entire costume. So I made an effort to ask the lady to take another picture of us following the directions I gave. But, because of the ever-present dictionary in my head, things didn’t go as planned.

In Turkish, if you want to have a full-body shot you just ask the photographer to include the feet in the frame. The thought in Turkish went through the dictionary in my head and came out as, “Can you take a photo of her feet too?” The lady seemed a little puzzled, almost uneasy, but I couldn’t figure out why. I also did not really care. Well, I should have asked what was wrong

Encyclopaedia Britannica / Universal Images Group

because the phone did not get back to me. She zoomed in on the screen, took a screenshot and returning the phone, said, “I think he has a foot fetish.”

Utterly lost and abashed, I looked at the phone screen to see a big close-up of my friend’s bare feet. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life! I stood still for a couple seconds… I later tried to explain myself, but I was shocked and words just couldn’t make it out of my mouth.

In order to convince her that I wasn’t going around collecting pictures for my (non-existent) foot fetish, I tried to use my body language and deleted the photo in front of her. Yet, she didn’t really care and went back to the backstage.

All I can say at this point is that I think I at least proved Confucius right. Like this great mind once said, “If language is not correct then what is said is not what is meant.” I figured that the language is the tool that connects us—it is an institution created to facilitate the daily life.

You are all about the language you speak: you might be the smartest guy on earth, you might be the most romantic person on this planet, or you might have the most innovative solutions to the many issues facing humanity. However, all these attributes are worth nothing if you cannot articulate your feelings, ideas, and opinions.

Dear friend, if you ever read this, here is the truth.

Dear random lady, you’re so random.

Dear readers, this is my story!

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Justė Simanauskaitė: During the second semester of my senior year, I had a chance to be a part of the Short Story English elective class with my fellow classmates. Every single day our reading assignment introduced a new story, a new plot twist, a new author’s perspective. Each story presented its own unique character and style—which always kept me wanting for more. The beauty of short stories is hidden in their concise and elaborate snapshots of the natural or supernatural. Over the past 3 years Global Journal has become another fascinating outlet of short stories that combines the splendor of the genre and the idiosyncratic narratives of students and faculty at Taft. Letter by letter, word by word, as an editor of the Global Journal I have been fortunate to be the first one to read and experience those stories. My library of short stories expanded beyond the texts of known authors—it became the special connection between me and other Tafties that no other experience could replace. Biggest thanks to all the editors, faculty, and everyone else who contributed to the vitality of Global Journal! Let the Short Stories of Taft spread!

Marisa Mission: I first heard about Global Journal at the Club Fair in my freshman year as a magazine/ business model of sorts. I unwittingly signed up, but for my first two years at Taft, the “club” was eerily silent, sporadically publishing with little fanfare. Thus, when I was tapped to join the editors in the fall of my junior year, I was surprised, to say the least, but excited to contribute. Since then, GJ has grown in so many ways, from expanding our readership, to including more student submissions, to emphasizing service in ways that no other publications at Taft have done. So far, GJ has been a student-run, student-written, and student-funded magazine, and I am immensely proud of all the hard work put in from the previous Editors, current Editors, and new Editors. Although this will be the last issue I work on, I am honored to have been part of a team working to highlight the beauty of the world, even in these controversial times. Thank you to everyone who has ever supported and read the Global Journal—together, we have made GJ the beautiful, colorful, unique magazine in your hands now. Enjoy!

Nick Morgoshia: With 43 different countries represented among our student body, Taft is one of the most global institutions in the nation. Yet, our greatest strength lies not in the diversity of demographics but in the diversity of perspectives: the idiosyncratic life experiences of Tafties and the ideas and ideals that those experiences engender. One of the highlights of my Taft career has been serving on the editorial board of the Global Journal—a one-of-a-kind outlet for all of those willing to spill ink sharing their views. This year’s issues were a unique literary brew of creativity, humor, and resourcefulness; whether through words uttered by a pen mightier than the sword or pictures that eternalize moments, our writers have transported their audience to taciturn hills of Europe, imparted wisdom of indigenous cultures, and offered solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. Moving forward, I would like to see the Journal shed light upon some of the more controversial issues percolating on the global stage. In these turbulent times for the freedom of expression across halls of academia, Global Journal—as well as its parent institution—have the opportunity to demonstrate that controversy ought to be remedied by discussion, not avoided. Thank you to our ever-loyal advisors, writers, and readers. You keep the global sparkle at Taft alive.

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Žygimantas Jievaltas: Serving as editor-in-chief of the Global Journal (GJ) has enabled me to expose fellow Tafties to intellectual heterogeneity. Although we live in extraordinary times—where global interconnectivity has transcended physical barriers and people have theoretically become empowered to exchange educational, cultural, or entrepreneurial knowhow with each other—we still frequently face mental barriers to engage with people who don’t look, talk, or think like us. Our subconscious skepticism and fear of the abstract “other” precludes us from taking advantage of the world’s collective riches.

Hence, watching the GJ grow into a periodical, which by enabling students to share their cultural experiences or insights consequently catalyzes thoughtful discussions or even inspires students to go on exciting global quests, has made me very happy. Throughout the years, the GJ team has taught Tafties to look beyond their skepticisms, to disregard all reservations, and to explore the world around them. We have slowly expanded our reader base and have truly become a publication by the students, for the students. I am confident that the GJ’s student-driven organic synthesis of thought will continue to burst intellectual and cultural bubbles for years to come. Thank you to all who have contributed to the development of this great publication.

Lauren Fadiman: What a funny thing it is, to create—as a student—a publication in any capacity, to devote to student work the care and attention so often reserved for experts—or, at least, adults. Here at Global Journal, we try—twice a year—to make stories and experiences come alive through words, to create a printed venue in which the Taft community can share its unshared stories: tales of trips that occur over extended vacations spent far from Taft's campus, descriptions of pivotal experiences to which few have previously been privy, glimpses into the deeply-held political beliefs of those who share this community, and so on. In many ways, we gave gained as much from other students as we have tried to give; we have had the unequivocal privilege of reading each article submitted to us, of sifting through beautiful pictures, of working with writers from all across Taft. Especially as we end our year with the Global Journal, I am acutely aware of my gratitude: what a wonderful year we have shared at Taft, and what a wonderful time I have had helping to spread the year's stories.

editors-in-chief Marisa Mission ‘17

Žygimantas Jievaltas ‘17

editors

Justė Simanauskaitė '17 Nick Morgoshia '17 Lauren Fadiman '17

photo by Rob Falcetti

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