the antlerette // may 2017

THE ANTLERETTE

Issue 9

the antlerette

may 2017 IN THIS ISSUE

Tips On How To Study For Finals!

by Tess Sommer, Staff

We all have that huge, stressful final coming up before summer starts, but what should we do to study correctly for it? These tips should come in handy, if you want a good grade on these tests.

Tip #1: Give yourself enough time to study.

Don’t cram it all last minute, or else you will end up forgetting everything you studied about and will completely fail the test. Plan out the days properly to give yourself a balance on what you are studying.

Tip #2: Organize study groups with friends.

This is helpful because you can ask questions and compare answers with the group around you. It also helps your social skills as well simply because you are studying with your friends.

Tip #3: Discuss your answers with others.

This can help you get the answer clear in your head and to know exactly what you are going to write on the answer sheet. This can also assist you in finding areas to improve on if necessary.

Tip #4: Take regular breaks every now and then. Taking breaks helps the brain to refresh itself when it needs to. Plan out a routine that works for you. For instance, someone might be studying in the morning, then taking a break at noon, then going back to studying at night; or someone might take a long break until nighttime comes around and then start studying. Whatever fits you is the best routine to follow.

Tip #5: Snack on ‘Brain Food’: Eat food that is healthy for you. If you eat healthy food, then it helps the brain remain focused and can aid the brain in concentrating on what you are studying.

http://www.ninjamarshmallow.com/2016/07/23/justice-league-official-movie-trailer-2017/

This Summer’s Must See Movies Summer means multiple things: no school, family vacation, fun with your friends, and the year’s biggest movies. This summer has almost every kind of movie coming out: action-packed adventures, comedies that makes you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, reboots that will redefine beloved characters, romances that cause your heart to swoon, new additions to already loved series, and thrillers that will give you chills.

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Tip #6: Drink plenty of water. If you drink a lot of water, then your brain will function at its best every single time you study. So, remain hydrated as much as possible.

In conclusion, if you use these tips to help you study for your exams, then you will be able to get a good grade on your tests and become an organized person who knows how to study.

https://calendar.fiu.edu/index.php/event/release-week-day-of-silence/

Day of Silence The Day of Silence is a student organized event that is designed to help prevent the bullying of the LGBTQ community.

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THE ANTLERETTE

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Black Light Rally

by Shelley Gouveia, Staff

It is that time again, BLACKLIGHT SEASON!!! For those who don’t know, the Black Light Rally is the school’s end of the year rally where Drill Team performs several different types of routines that vary from creepy to fun. For example, in the past the Drill Team has done routines such as hip-hop, Grease, dollhouse, Disney, birthday, and circus. All of the routines always has popular music; for example, you might hear “Rack City” by Tyga and maybe even “Congratulations” by Post Malone. This rally is not only meant to be tons of fun, it is also to say goodbye to the seniors as it is their last day of school. Another tradition of the Black Light Rally is to have a routine dedicated to the seniors called “wings”. The black light rally is always on the seniors’ last day of school; this year it will be held on May 18th, 2017.

This year the Drill Team is performing nine routines. Those routines include Hands, Hip

Hop, Insane Asylum, Stick, Beyoncé, Jazz, Burlesque/ Cell Block Tango, Military, and of course, Wings. The Drill Team is super excited to get to perform these routines for the school. It has taken the captains several months to choreograph and teach these routines.

The team has been doing a wonderful job with learning nine routines in such limited amount of time. The Drill Team does have

some suggestions. Please do not wear bright colors to the rally, when the lights are off and the black lights get turned on we want the performances to really pop with color.

Another is that we want to respect the performers, they have put a lot of time and effort into making the last rally one to remember. I hope you are all attending the rally, especially the seniors.

To Describe, Not to Erase

by Kamran Fardanesh, Design Manager

Starting in the 1990s, the worldwide Latino community generated a new, powerful, yet controversial word: “Latinx”. This word was invented due to the abundance of gender exclusive diction present within their language. This word began to popularize in 2014 in hopes of gaining recognition by the Latino community and creating a genderinclusive word that would benefit this community and the people in it who might not necessarily conform to one certain gender.

Take Ramiro Gonzalez, for example. He grew up with his mother, grandmother, and four sisters, all of which were very expressive in their femininity. In addition, he lived with his brother and father, both living up to stereotypical, masculine lifestyles. Gonzalez asserts that neither of these qualities applied to him while growing up. He falls into a category between the two genders, one who

is non-conforming. The use of the word “Latinx” is beneficial to people like Gonzalez who believe people do not necessarily have to fit into these gender molds produced by society. In fact, 6 out of 10 people ages 14 to

http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a38249/latinx-activists-roundtable/

34 say that men and women do not need to conform to traditional gender roles or behaviors anymore.

Gender roles have become something of the past. Women are not always the ones

cleaning the dishes and folding the laundry anymore. Men are not always the ones doing construction work and bringing home a majority of the money earned anymore.

Society is beginning to realize that these traditional gender roles are simply too difficult to maintain; and society is proving this realization through the invention of these new, gender-inclusive terms.

Utilizing gender-inclusive words like “Latinx” within our language is how society can advance and begin to improve the lives of people like Ramiro Gonzalez. Even though “Latinx” has not yet become fully utilized by the Latino community, nor has it been completely accepted by all members of the Latino community, it’s without a doubt a start in the right direction. And for people like Ramiro Gonzalez, “knowing that there’s words to describe us, rather than erase us, is very powerful.”

THE ANTLERETTE

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To Cover or To Cover Not…The Toilet Seat

by Landon Parkinson, Editor Less bacteria on the seat than the bathroom floor

TOILET STATISTICS

15 FEET How high toilet plume can shoot.

http://www.homecareessentials.co.uk/blog/how-clean-is-your-bathroom-this-will-shock-you/

2,000,000

You’re probably thinking, “come on man, there can’t possibly be a debate on whether to cover the porcelain throne, not in a public bathroom at least.” You’ll be surprised to hear I thought the same thing when I was ignorant like you. We like to think we’re keeping our bottoms beautiful with that toilet seat cover we threw on, but it turns out that’s just a bunch of potty talk engrained in our puzzlers by fearful mothers. So, as Dr. Seuss would say, I want you to puzzle and puzzle till your puzzler is sore if it’s true that tissue thin paper protects your back door.

Lucky for us, health and wood chopping professionals like Dr. Reynolds have done some of the puzzling for us in the form of pretty crappy, yet enlightening, research.

Reynolds tells USA Today that “toilet seat covers are absorbent and bacteria and viruses are tiny, able to pass through the relatively large holes in the cover's paper.” These covers, and quickly thrown together toilet paper covers as well, are most likely covered with germs from a phenomenon called “toilet plume” anyway. Toilet plume happens every time a toilet flushes-it sprays bacteria and fecal flecks into the air and straight onto the seat covers and the toilet paper. As you can see, if there were anything to fear on a toilet seat, a cover would not help much anyway.

Randomly enough, however, a toilet seat is nothing to fear. Dr. William Schaffner, M.D., explained to the Huffington Post that, “because toilet seats are not a vehicle for the transmission of any infectious agents-you won’t catch anything.” Still don’t believe it?

http://www.sun-gazing.com/reason-shouldnt-cover-toilet-seat-toilet-paper-public-bathroom/

The study of one bathroom by Dr. Gerba showed that the toilet seat passed the sanitation test used in kitchens to determine if a surface is safe to eat on, much less sit on.

“Ya, but no matter how clean, I just can’t put my skin on a surface so many other rears have been on.” So you’ll just pull the old hovering over the seat trick, right? I used to think the same way. The problem with the squat method? Simple physics. The higher you drop a log over a lake, the bigger the splash. Same thing with your logs. The chances of you sullying your sphincter is much higher from that splash than just sucking it up and sitting on the bare toilet.

That’s why there’s such a problem with pee on the seat too; bad aim+hoverage is a nasty combination.

In fact, hovering is so much worse for both the person doing their biz and the next unlucky visitor that Reynolds, who explained how useless seat covers are, takes back these comments. She tells USA Today that actually, “The seat covers can keep things cleaner... They make people more likely to sit on toilets rather than hover over them, reducing general splatter. That makes them a ‘net benefit.’”

So the next time you go to drop your kids off at a public pool and you are doing your frantic potty dance, trying to get that darn seat cover to stay on the seat, remember that you are just increasing the chance of having someone else’s fecal matter on (and possibly in) your tush. But if you just have to have that layer of protection, at least have the decency to shun the hover technique and make public bathrooms a little cleaner for everyone.

THE ANTLERETTE

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Day of Silence by

Katie Goldman, Staff

The Day of Silence is a student-organized event that is designed to help prevent the bullying of the LGBTQ community. Multiple schools join in on this event to help defend a community that feels that it has been silenced. The Day of Silence has taken place in April every year since 1996; this year the event took place on April 21, 2017.

The first Day of Silence took place in Virginia at the University of Virginia in 1996.

Throughout the past years, this event has swept the nation with many different schools joining the cause. Of course along with the popularity of this event taking off, so did many complaints. One of these wound up being a group that formed a counter protest called the Day of Truth; the argument being

that The Day of Silence created a hostile environment for students of faith. Even here at Elk Grove, there was a protest with picket signs and news teams in 2005. Despite this argument, many students still sign up for the Day of Silence and provide support for the many students that have kept who they really are quiet for years.

The students who participate wear a lanyard around their neck stating their cause and that they are taking a daylong vow of silence.

Many times these students even wear clothing that is meant to represent their cause. This includes: tie-dye, slogans, or even the actual words Day of Silence.

This event has taken place for a long time now and is meant to show support for the LGBTQ community. The Gay Straight Alliance hosts it at Elk Grove High school so students at our school are invited to sign up and show support each year.

We Have Friends

by Mauriana Raye, Editor-In-Chief

I worked in retail for one year. I learned what went on behind the scenes in retail stores. I never knew how hard people in retail worked until I became one. I'm not going to say where I worked, but I worked in a local clothing store. I started working in May because I was initially only going to be a seasonal employee. I started working part time after the Christmas holiday rush and I started to notice that they had a real problem with theft. If there is a suspicious character in the store then one of us alerts the other by saying, “We have a friend in the so and so department”. I knew that as an employee, it was part of my responsibility to help prevent stolen items, but we weren't supposed to act unless told by a manager or our security. In order to prevent loss, each employee is told to “customer service” the suspect by paying careful attention towards them and being “extra” helpful.

The first time I called out a suspicious character, I was petrified because it was a tall, scary man and his wife. He watched me with his hand on his hip and I thought he had a gun so I waited until I was out of sight before I called it in. Unfortunately, I was too late and they got away. I didn't get in trouble, but I felt guilty. I didn't have any run-ins after that, but if there were any “friends” for some

reason I would be sent to go and customer service them. I noticed a trend very soon. I realized that the stigma of “shopping while black” is a real thing. They would tell me to go follow black people around the store to make sure they weren't stealing. They didn't phrase it like that of course, but nine times out of ten, the person who was “suspicious” was black.

My worst experience was when I had to follow a black girl who wasn't that much older than I am and “customer service” her. I went beyond asking her if she needed any help and asked her if she would like me to help her pick out some nice tops that would go with the jeans she picked out. She did need help finding outfits, so I helped her and the more I talked to her the friendlier she was. She wasn't suspicious at all. I went back to what I was doing, but then a manager told me to quickly go to the dressing room and count how many items our “friend” had, even though there was someone already assigned to the dressing room who was perfectly capable of doing it. I couldn't tell my manager no, so I went and did it. I counted her items before she went into the dressing room then reported back how many she had.

When she came out, I did the same thing and she came out with the same number of items

that she went in with. She thanked me for being such a big help and then proceeded to walk up to the register and purchase those items. I was so disgusted. They actually made me follow around this girl when I could've been doing my job.

As a black girl myself, I wondered how many times store employees have thought that I was going to steal when I was just perusing. I feel that whenever I go to a store, I'll have to flaunt my cash so they know that I'm here to buy. I never thought that black people were targeted until I was on the other side. No one should feel unsafe when they're just trying to shop or browse for clothes, but unfortunately that's not how many retail stores see it. I'll never forget that day. It always makes me wonder, when will I be approached? Has it already happened to me, but I just didn't realize it? Racism is so internalized that people don't even realize when it's happening. I'm glad that I am now aware of retail employees and their actions because now I know which stores to shop at and which ones to avoid.

THE ANTLERETTE

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Meme or Hate

By Sheralyn Laron, Staff

It is no surprise to anyone how popular internet memes have become in the past few years. As their popularity grows, the attention from different groups of people grows as well. One meme in particular, the famous Pepe the Frog, has recently garnered up a lot of talk due to its usage in a very shocking light.

Recently, the clothing brand Zara was under fire, specifically on social media, for its new clothing line. One piece was a denim skirt with what was clearly Pepe the Frog meme embroidered on the bottom of it. This was called out by several people on the internet due to its association with racist and bigoted themes.

This controversy initiated in a predictable fashion. Internet users eventually utilized the innocent Frog meme in situations that depict and relate to racism, Nazis, and the KKK. The meme stemmed from a children's show and was initially used to describe unfortunate happenings.

However, it turned into a hate crime that made many people feel uncomfortable as it grew more popular and reached broader audiences. The Pepe meme’s relation to hate crimes has reached past the hands of internet users and has even been recognized by the Anti-Defamation League, which fights against many forms of hate.

They have started a campaign project as an

attempt to stop the use of the meme in harsh and sensitive scenarios with“#SavePepe”.

Due to the many negative responses to this line, Zara has withdrawn the design. The meme that has turned into a hate symbol has greatly affected how people view things from clothing brands to people. Hopefully this has served as a lesson for some people to watch what they say, especially on the internet.

Memes like this and many others are useful for people like me so that we can display our misfortunes through funny pictures. So, will you help #SavePepe and the backlash from its negative use by spreading more positivity surrounding it, or will you continue to contribute to the problems things like this always seem to cause?

Patriots at the White House

by Zach Madsen, Staff

It’s tradition for a major sports team to visit the White House and hand the president a jersey with their name on the back. The New England Patriots were the first major sports team in the Trump presidency to visit the White House. A number of players declined to attend due to President Donald Trump's political views.

Apparently, Mr. Trump was unsure as to who was there and who wasn’t as he called out Danny Amendola who had chosen not to attend. As Trump continued to go down a list of players there and congratulate them, he left out one key person, Tom Brady who led the Patriots comeback from down 25 points with 466 passing yards and 2 touchdowns as well as some clutch passes.

Brady and Amendola were not the only ones to not attend. Also on that list were running back LeGarrette Blount, defensive end Chris Long, defensive tackle Alan Branch, linebacker Dont’a Hightower, tight-end Martellus Bennett, and safety Devin McCourty. Blount and McCourty both had statements stating that they didn’t “feel welcome” at the White House. Bennett took to Twitter during the election saying he

might move to outer space if Donald Trump was elected president. Defensive tackle Alan Branch cited the sexist comment Trump made in a video released by “Access Hollywood.” This isn’t the first political stand taken by some of the players. Earlier last fall both Bennett and McCourty raised their fists during the national anthem to protest racial oppression throughout the country.

Trump’s presidency has caused a lot of uproar. For example, the Berkeley riots. Now some athletes are standing up to him as well as the way society treats people, which is good. These athletes have so much say and influence in our everyday life and how we view certain things.

With this much influence on today's society, athletes must be conscientious about what stands they take and how it will affect them and their fan base.

THE ANTLERETTE

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#BoycottBLR17

by Kamran Fardanesh, Design Manager

Within this article are the reasons why I, Kamran Fardanesh, Drumline Captain of Elk Grove High School, believe this year’s Black Light Rally is severely flawed. After reading this I hope that you, the reader, understands why, as it is important that the entire student body is aware of what exactly is going on.

This controversy has been tiptoed around and swept under the rug the past several months. However, it is time to bring this to your attention. It is time to expose what has been kept a secret for quite a while.

Let us start with some background information. The Black Light Rally is EGHS’ last rally hosted every year by our Drill Team.

When this rally was first created, it was solely their performance. As the years progressed, they began to add other performing arts groups to the rally’s set list, such as Rhythmical Madness, Color Guard, Cheer, and Drumline. The students loved to see all

of the different groups come together and perform for the senior class, as it is the last rally that concludes the school year. I love performing in the rally with Drumline and the other performers, for it is by far my favorite rally. No one wants to miss this rally filled with bright, neon lights in our dark gym that echoes with music, talent, and art.

Now, what or who is it that I am aiming to expose? Black Light Rally 2017 has now become the Drill Team Rally. Their coaches have kicked out all of the other performing arts groups. This year, you will not be seeing RM, Color Guard, Cheer, or even Drumline; just Drill Team. The Drill Team and their coaches have negatively impacted the spirit and pride that was once present when all of the different groups performed.

cannot perform. BLR 2017 is my last rally as a senior and as Drumline Captain, and they’re about to tell me that I have to sit this one out? Something I’ve been a part of for the past three years? News flash Drill Team: the student body is more powerful than you think. If Drill Team and their coaches are not going to understand what they have done to such an amazing thing, they can find out for themselves from the entire student body. It is up to you whether or not you plan to attend this year’s “Drill Team Rally” on May 18th, 2017. However, after reading this, I hope your mind has been made up. Please, students of EGHS, and especially the Class of 2017, ask yourselves this question: if Drill Team is not going to support the other amazing performing arts groups, then why should we, as the student body, support them?

It is honestly sad that the Senior Class’ last rally is the way it is. And I, personally, am very upset knowing that my Drumline and I

From Europe to America

by Hannah Faith Villareal, Editor

It was March 27 when Nikki arrived from Schwaebisch Hall, Germany. Until April 24, she spent most of her time in Elk Grove, California with her host family. Before leaving, she agreed to be interviewed for the Antlerette.

Q: Why did you want to be an exchange student to America in particular?

A: I wanted to be an exchange student because since I was 10 years old I’ve always wanted to travel to America so this exchange was the perfect opportunity.

Q: Was there anything you were worried about before coming?

A: To be honest, there is nothing I was worried about Q: What did you enjoy the most?

A: The things I enjoyed the most was definitely the language because I just love English and it’s my favorite subject in school. And of course my exchange student and my host family because we came along so well. I miss them so much. And also the places I went to with my host family.

Q: What’s your favorite American food that you’ve had?

A: My favorite American food are French fries.

A: To be honest, there was nothing I didn’t like.

Q: What are your plans after high school?

A: After high school I want to travel and work for one year and after this I want to go to a university.

Q: Any hobbies or activities you enjoy doing?

A: I love swimming and cheer.

Q: What did you discover as different between German high school and American high school?

Q: Is there anything you would like to tell the rest of EGHS?

A: The school system and the relationships between students and teachers.

all are!

Q: Is there anything you didn’t like about America?

A: Just keep being amazing as you

THE ANTLERETTE

Issue 9

And the Oscar Goes To…

by Chelsea Planesi, Staff

On February 26th, 2017, Disney’s 55th animated movie won an Oscar for Best Feature Film. Zootopia smashed box office records in March 2016 and is continuing to be a success, thanks to the amazing crew behind it. I had the chance to interview one of the storyboard artists that worked on this critically acclaimed film, as well as many other beloved Disney movies.

Jeremy Spears is a part of the crew of artists that worked on Zootopia for four years leading up to its release. He also graduated from Elk Grove High School in 2000, making his Oscar win even more significant to all EGHS students.

For those of you less familiar with what a storyboard is, Mr. Spears explained it. Storyboarding, as he put it, is receiving a portion of a script, an idea, or even a small paragraph that details what the characters are doing in a specific scene. It is the job of the storyboard artists to determine where the camera will be, draw the characters according to the script, and set up the scene. In a crew of about ten storyboard artists, each are assigned a type of scene-such as drama, comedy, or action. In the process of creating the stories, the artists do not simply do visual-they also incorporate temporary sounds and audio into their scenes. They place all of the storyboards together and watch them as they play, as if it was the finished movie.

This happens about ten times before the film is done. In Zootopia’s case, it took three years to finish the storyboards.

Spears was motivated to become a storyboard artist because he was imaginative as a child. He still loves to tell stories, whether it be through writing or drawing. He also loves Disney movies and draws inspiration from the classic films, like 101 Dalmatians, Dumbo, The Jungle Book, and Robin Hood. He described it as a “dream come true” to work with Disney. He explained that he became a part of Disney’s

team by joining a new training program for artists about ten years ago. He had just graduated from Long Beach University and headed straight into being a storyboard artist.

tickets. The day he had to pitch his storyboard, he stopped to get a donut from a shop just down the street. He ended up getting a parking ticket for parking in the wrong spot and decided that it would be perfect for the scene. That is how the small mouse with a box of donuts in Zootopia got his parking ticket, which promptly blew off his tiny car.

The most rewarding part, in his opinion, is making a story good enough that people love it and watch it more than once. He reveals how satisfying it was to sit in a theater, knowing when something will happen, and hearing the unaware audience gasp or laugh because it proves that his hard work and effort paid off. He also discussed how he was really excited when he heard the news that Zootopia had been nominated for an Oscar. It was the moment where he realized that his work for the past four years was appreciated. When Zootopia won Best Animated Feature Film, he described it as an honor to win because art is not just one person winning, it’s everyone who worked hard on the project. He also recounted that the Oscar award itself is a very heavy award that makes you feel proud.

https://fanart.tv/movie/269149/zootopia/

Spears enjoys putting his own experiences in his work. For instance, while working on Zootopia, he put his own story into the montage of Judy issuing parking tickets. He told me that he had gotten a paragraph describing the sequence as Judy being excited for her first day as part of the police department, but is given the duty of meter maid. He explained Judy’s attitude as “I’m going to be the best meter maid” and uses her rabbit abilities to her advantage. Spears came up with a few gags of her issuing

Spears encourages aspiring artists at EGHS to go to a good arts college, take advantage of internship, bring your sketchbook everywhere, and just draw, draw, draw. He says that Disney really appreciates artists who have gone through college, so young artists should definitely stick with school.

At the moment, Spears is working on the storyboard for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2. Since the first movie had so much critical and commercial success, we can only expect the best from Jeremy Spears and the rest of Disney’s crew.

THE ANTLERETTE

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This Summer’s Must-See Movies

by Chelsea Planesi, Staff

Summer means multiple things: no school, family vacation, fun with your friends, and the year’s biggest movies. This summer has almost every kind of movie coming out: action-packed adventures, comedies that makes you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, reboots that will redefine beloved characters, romances that cause your heart to swoon, new additions to already loved series, and thrillers that will give you chills. As the weather heats up, it’s time to seriously get pumped for these flicks.

May is the month in which school ends and everyone is rejoicing after suffering through AP tests and finals. At the end of the month, you really just want to laze around, but, instead, you should go see the two big films coming out on the 28th of May. The tale of Captain Jack Sparrow continues in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth installment of the series. The film not only features Johnny Depp as the famous pirate, but also sees the return of Geoffery Rush, Kevin McNally, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley. It has been ten years since Bloom and Knightley were in an installment of the series. Coming out the same day as this film is Baywatch, based upon the television series of the same name. The movie features Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron as two totally opposite, but totally hilarious lifeguards.

June is filled with major movies being released. One of the most anticipated movies is Wonder Woman, featuring Gal Gadot reprising her role as Diana Prince from last year’s movie, Batman VS. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Coming out in the first weekend in June, this movie is said to become one of summer’s greatest.

On June 16th, we can all return to our childhood with the release of the third Cars movie. Cars 3 will answer the question of what the future holds for Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson. Also releasing on the same day is the Book of Henry, another drama featuring Naomi Watts as a single mother whose son witnessed his crush be abused by her stepfather. Rough Night, a comedy following five best friends from college who accidentally kill a man during a wild weekend in Miami, is also releasing that day. Transformers: The Last Knight is another highly anticipated movie releasing in June. Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, and Josh Duhamel are among the many reprising their roles from earlier films in this installment. It has been three years since Ansel Elgort stole our hearts in The Fault in Our Stars and, now, he has returned as the best getaway driver in the business in his latest work, Baby Driver. The last big movie to be released in June is the third film of the Despicable Me franchise, simply titled

Despicable Me 3, and, in it, the audience will meet Gru’s evil twin brother Dru. Summer is a big time for reboots and superhero releases, so it’s no surprise that we find a combination of the two in this list.

Spiderman: Homecoming, releasing on July 7th and starring British actor Tom Holland, will go more in depth to the character of Peter Parker that we first met in Captain America: Civil War last May. War for the Planet of the Apes is the third installment of the Planet of the Apes reboot series and will star Andy Serkis and Woody Harrelson. On the 21st of July, we will travel back to World War II in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, which will follow the stories of the men during the Dunkirk evacuation. The main star of the movie is Tom Hardy, but Harry Styles will make his acting debut.

This summer is sure to be a great one with such a wide array of films opening. Every weekend, a new, incredible film will hit theaters. If, for whatever reason, you are bored this summer, check out the show times for these movies.

THE ANTLERETTE

Issue 9

The Problem with Fast Fashion

by Olivia Ali, Business Manager

Fast fashion is an overwhelming trend in the never-ending phenomenon of capitalism.

Whether you know it or not, there is a great chance you've participated in fast fashion at some point in your life. And while it's not the most terrible thing in the world to choose to take part in, your opinion on the matter may change when you find out what you're actually putting your hard earned money towards.

Some of the largest contributors to fast fashion are some of your favorite clothing and accessory stores: Forever 21, Zara, Topshop, H&M, and many more. The term fast fashion was first coined due to tendencies of these companies to move clothing styles from the runway to their display windows quickly. The cycle of taking clothing styles from runway to retail is about 2-3 weeks, meaning sacrifices are made in the production of the clothing. This sacrifice is intentional and takes place not only in the materials of the garments, but the means of production themselves. If they are going to bring out 12-24 collections per year, cuts are made everywhere possible. These sacrifices that companies are making result in something we don't usually associate with our cute new highwaisted jeans. When we think of stores that blast pop music and sell

trendy styles to middle class first-world teenagers, we don't think of the consequences these cheap-to-buy and cheaper-to-make clothes carry.

The first fashion sacrifice is the design process itself. Many designs that we see in these types of affordable stores are from premade designs that are easy to make in mass quantities. The second, and most likely the one with the most devastating effects, is the means of productions. In order to get items made quickly and in large quantities, items are made in countries with a need for jobs.

Since there are a need for jobs, people of these nations will work for cheap wages.

These countries include Bangladesh, China, India, Cambodia, and several others.

Laborers in these countries earn next to nothing and work long hours in dangerous jobs with a low standard for workers.

These workers are heavily exploited in the cycles of these retailers. The wages they work for are nowhere near the margin of profit these retailers receive on the garments they sell. More often than not items receive a 200-300% markup on their value, giving the retailers much more money than they actually pay the people that make

them. But since the labor laws in their countries of production don't place a high minimum wage or give workers standard employee rights, these companies are getting away with the exploitation of laborers to make themselves mass amounts of money without breaking any laws.

As consumers living in first world countries, it may seem like there are bigger problems to consider than the clothes we wear. However, unethical fast fashion companies are getting worse as years go on in terms of how many people get exploited and how many people are cheated into thinking they're getting a great deal on clothes when in reality, the standards are low and the quality is poor. The fabrics aren’t as great of quality as we think they are, and the people exploited in the process are worth much more than $2 an hour. While that $20 pair of jeans may seem like a great deal, is it really worth the negative effects forced onto the workers and our environment?