Antlerette Volume 94 Issue 4

The Antlerette November 19, 2019 Volume 94 Issue 4

Adulting as a Teenager Kyle Williams, Staff Growing up as a little kid, we all wanted to be able to have a job and get our license along with a car. All these fun things we thought would be great to have and looked forward to them. But in reality, your parents start to expect a lot from you by the age of 16. They expect you to get a job and work hard while maintaining your school work. To those who say they want to grow up early and become an adult, it’s not as great as you think. Paying bills; working around 20 hours a week-while still trying to keep up passing grades; buying your own clothes, food, and other assorted things; it starts to become too much and then you wish that you could be a kid again.

The day I officially turned 16, I was eligible to get my first real job. I started off at a slower rate, as the first few days is mostly doing paperwork and training on the computer, but as a few months went by, I was put on the schedule more often and started working more and more. The first few paychecks were barely reaching $100, so my parents let me enjoy those paychecks however I pleased, but as I got more than 10 hours a week and paychecks started to get over $200, I was told that I needed to pay for some of my responsibilities. It started out as just paying for my car insurance, but as I worked more and more over summer, I was then responsible to pay for my own gas, saving up for a future car, and when I got a new phone, I had to pay for that too. Next thing I know, half of my paychecks were gone the same day I got them. I understand

that I am paying for things that I use and need to live my life, but I am still a minor living under my parent’s roof. Aren’t they responsible for my necesary expenses? I only got a job so I wouldn’t have to ask for money when I went out with friends because I was starting to feel like a burden asking for $20 to last me a week. Truth be told, it really didn’t last me that long-maybe 3 of those 7 days, just to go to Dutch Bros and get a drink, but that was $6 right there.

This past summer, I was a reoccuring face at this place and they asked how old I was and if I was looking for a job. I said, “Yes, I would love a job but I am still only 15.” He proceeded to tell me that when it was my 16th birthday, I could come in with a work permit and he would then sign it off saying that I was offically an employee. And on my 16th birthday, I walked back in with a huge smile on my face with a work permit in my hand saying, “Today’s the day! I am officially 16 and I am ready to work!” He signed it off and I started working the next week. I felt like I was living my best life and making my own money until I started to work more and more so my job really felt like work. Then, once those numbers grew, that’s when the adulting came into play. My parent’s income was so bad one month that I had to help pay for some of bills around the house, and it kind of ruined my summer. So if you are still young and want a job, I strongly suggest that you wait as long as possible. Please, put all of your focus on high school. If you still want a job, try doing a summer job or work somewhere as a seasonal employee, but trust me, having an actual job is not worth it, at all.

https://www.prima.co.uk/family/teenagers/ad vice/a35392/why-your-teenager-will-benefitfrom-a-part-time-job/

point of going to college and working for degrees in areas that they are passionate about. Now, adults are getting stuck in deadend jobs they do not care about all because they chose to dump a large quantity of money into a degree in which they’ll never use.

We can see that there is an issue with college degrees in this nation today. We will witnees multiple problems arise in the near future due to this crisis we are faced with.

The conflict with college degrees is growing in America and if we don’t act fast we will see many problems come into effect.

The Problem with College Degrees Ryan O’Sullivan, Staff We hear about it every day. The importance of college degrees and why it is heavily encouraged we pay thousands of dollars so that we can one day receive a degree to assist us with our future pursuits, supposedly. First, we all should be able to understand the reason that getting a good education is so vital. We need this schooling so that we can become informed and skilled at whatever field we choose to pursue.

However, the issue that our nation faces with degrees right now is that they are too expensive for people to afford, yet losing their value at the same time.

Although the value of your standard degree is going down, the master’s degree is still extremely helpful when trying to get a job in this day in age. According to Median.com, “(In the U.S.) 17 million graduates have jobs that do not require a college degree. This is over 30 percent of all graduates.” This evidence shows that many of these kids who are spending valuable time and money are wasting those resources going to college just to get a job that does not require a degree. Some of these young adults get jobs that are completely unrelated to their major. This is a monumental problem because it takes away from the

https://time.com/4088600/college-degreemake-the-most/

Free the Pee! Lorelai Paige, Staff I was talking to a fellow Antlerette staff member recently wherein he was complaining about how there weren’t enough stalls in the men’s bathrooms. I asked him, “How many stalls are there?” because I knew that girls’ bathrooms were infamously crowded and wanted to know if boys’ bathrooms had the same problem. He replied, “There are six urinals, but there are only two stalls in every bathroom!” I was appalled and stared blankly at him for a second, then asked, “You have eight places to pee in your bathrooms?” I’ve never been

into a men’s restroom (for obvious reasons), so this information is news to me.

We have to solve this inequality of women’s and men’s restrooms at our school, because it’s causing women at our school to have more stress and a lower quality of education.

Most women’s restrooms at EGHS have either two or three stalls, and this is simply not enough for our entire female student body. Every woman at this school has had the same experience, where we have to pee so bad and then we open a bathroom door to see a bathroom packed with girls waiting to do the same thing. You look at the chaos inside and wonder, “Is this even worth it?”

The worst part is, this is an entirely female experience; men at EGHS never have to worry that they won’t get to pee when they want to.

This also impacts the school experience for women at our school, since we have to weigh being late to class against holding in our pee. Both are bad for academics, since the former involves missing at least the first few minutes of class or getting caught in a tardy sweep, and the latter involves being distracted during class from the sometimes painful effort of holding in pee.

Other schools in our district have entire hallways of bathrooms, so this isn’t even a crazy request to make. Hopefully, we as a student body can come together to convince our administration to solve this everyday sexism.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/ 2019/01/women-men-bathroom-lineswait/580993/

Patron Saints of Nothing: This One’s For the Fil-Ams Jordan Ritchie, Editor-in-Chief Not too long ago, if you’d asked me if I’d read or even heard of a book starring Filipino characters, I’d have denied its existence completely. I asked around my handful of Fil-Am (Filipino-American) friends and they too had never heard of a book published in America that featured Filipinos front and center. We all agreed that we suffer from lack of representation in our melting pot country, and that we’ve never encountered such a story that gives us that representation, so you can only imagine how ecstatic I was to find that such a story did exist.

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay–published this 2019–takes on the perspective of a Filipino-American teen who travels to the Philippines where his cousin was shot and killed in the war on drugs. I started and finished the novel in a mere weekend, impressed and enthralled by how well it captured the Philippines’ culture and history–and the Filipino-American experience in general. Not only did I find it an extremely enjoyable read, but also an enlightening experience that taught me so much about the country and myself. This has probably been my favorite read of 2019; pick up the book and you’ll see why.

When I first started reading Patron Saints of Nothing, I’ll admit, I was a bit underwhelmed. I couldn’t connect to Jay, the protagonist and narrator, and I didn’t really enjoy reading through his perspective.

However, as the story progressed and the main character became more enlightened by his new experiences and discovered new truths about his family and culture, I realized what I had initially gravely mistaken for mediocre writing was actually one of the best character developments I’ve ever read.

By the end of the book, you can see how much the protagonist has grown and evolved from the experiences he had to undergo. And

not only that, the author successfully captures characters’ emotions and sets each scene in a way that gives the reader a fully detailed image without all the boredom that sometimes occurs when writers attempt to provide a fully fleshed out description. That is the first compliment I’ll give to Randy Ribay, but not the last.

This novel also does a great job of educating and enlightening readers. As the protagonist, Jay, explores the Philippines, he learns more about his country and culture and relays what he learned to the reader in a way that is both informative and enjoyable.

For example, at one point in the novel, Jay visits a Filipino museum, where he learns some of his country’s history, but the scene also serves as a turning point in the plot and an important moment in his journey as the hero of the story. The author, Ribay, also scatters pieces of Tagalog–the Filipino language–in the novel, and–through the protagonist’s experiences–teaches readers about the Filipino culture. He even includes usages of humorous Filipino stereotypes– come on, we all know who it is in our family that hogs the karaoke machine–that both educate and amuse readers. But most importantly, Ribay highlights major life lessons. He emphasizes the importance of family, both near and far, learning to accept them for who they are, and to not take them for granted. These themes may seem a bit cliché and unoriginal, but so underrated, and this story perfectly exemplifies them in a way that is refreshing, relevant, and effective.

However, what I appreciate most about this book is how it almost flawlessly depicts the Fil-Am experience. There were so many instances in this book where I related to the protagonist and found that I shared many of the same feelings and experiences he did.

One of them, being disappointed at the lack of representation of Filipinos in America, especially in its history books. I remember going into the index of my AP World History textbook once to see how many

times the Philippines were mentioned. They showed up on 12 pages and I took the time to flip to each one, my disappointment growing as I realized each mention was only a mere reference, mostly in accordance with whichever famous explorer or European country conquered or colonized them. As Filipino-Americans, we’re stuck. We so badly want to connect to our culture, but the means are always just out of reach; we are always out of touch.

I applaud the author for drawing attention to the barrier that separates Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. One of the main struggles the protagonist faces is coming to terms with his identity as a Filipino-American, which many of us can relate with. It comes to a point when we try to find the balance between two identities and end up with none at all. As Jay endures this struggle on his trip in the Philippines, he often feels torn as he realizes that his different upbringing makes him “not Filipino enough”, but what he’s experienced and learned about his culture doesn’t make him feel as American as he used to. The author’s dedication at the beginning of the book reads, “For the hyphenated”: MexicanAmericans, Indian-Americans, ChineseAmericans, Filipino-Americans. Those of us who share two cultures and struggle to find the balance between the two. I’d like to add a few disclaimers: this novel didn’t help me overcome my Filipino-American struggle so that I came to fully understand the Philippines and its culture. It didn’t leave me with a sense of immaculate love for the country. Because if it did, I would not have truly understood and learned from it. This story was not a fairytale. There’s a quote in the book that says, “You Americans and your stories. Always looking for a hero. And if you don’t have one, you create one.” This story–though having a very brave and admirable protagonist–has no real hero, at least not the kind most people envision: no shiny armor or flowy cape. But that is what makes this story stand out. It’s gritty,

brutally honest, truthful, and real. The Philippines is not a perfect country; one in 5 people live in abject poverty, the death rate is gradually increasing each year, hundreds of thousands of children have been lost to human trafficking, and drugs are running rampant. Many people outside of the Philippines know almost nothing about President Duterte’s war on drugs, in which he encouraged the public to kill any suspected drug criminals or addicts. The aim is to reduce crime, which is a noble goal, but it’s also resulted in thousands of deaths; many of them innocents, some of them children. This war on drugs is one of the parts of the Philippines the protagonist, Jay, has a hard time understanding and accepting.

Many Americans believe these extrajudicial killings to be murder and morally wrong, and some Filipinos share the same thoughts as well, but many also believe that considering the terrible circumstances, these actions are necessary. Americans judge the Philippines’ methods, claiming to have superior knowledge of what is right and wrong for a country that is not even theirs.

And that is where the problem lies. Are Filipino-Americans allowed to call these necessary measures murder? Where is the line drawn? How can we stay true to our Filipino identity when we hold on to our American mentality? These are the kinds of questions Jay considers. These are the kinds of questions Randy Ribay leaves for his readers. So no, this novel didn’t help me overcome my hyphenated struggle, but it helped me understand it. Randy Ribay has made a great contribution to the Fil-Am community, so every Filipino-American should read this book, if not to better understand their culture, but to support the rise of Filipino representation in America.

But once and for all, is this war on drugs really the right way to go about improving the country? I don’t think I’m entitled to say so because as much as I love the Philippines, my life isn’t there. Because no matter how much of the blood running through my veins

is Filipino, I breathe American air. My hyphenated status aims to keep me from ever being able to fully understand what it means to be “isang tunay na pilipino”, or a “true Filipino”. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try.

That doesn’t mean that I abandon my culture for all the things I cannot understand or approve of. It means that I keep in mind the ugly truths of the Philippine history and culture, but keep in my heart our values and spirit. I take with me the bests and worsts of my culture. Maybe that is how I embrace my hyphenated status. Maybe that is what it means to be a true Filipino.

https://coconuts.co/manila/lifestyle/incoming -new-ya-novel-patron-saints-nothingcoming-age-story-set-dutertes-drug-war/

Cults Explained Dayana Ruiz, Staff When we think of cults, most of us imagine living in the middle of nowhere, or satanic practices, like sacrifices. However, not all cults are sinister. Most cults in the world are more peaceful and tranquil, not at all horrific. A cult is a group or a social movement primarily led by a charismatic leader. This being said, the meaning of a cult can range from a Christian church to a Satanism group. Political movements can also be a form of a cult, for example “The Cult of Trump”. Trump is compared to a famous cult leader, Jim Jones, a man who created his own town named Jamestown and in that town, were people who wanted to get away from a racist society. Later on, in Jamestown, residents comitted the world’s

largest mass suicide “for the cause”. They compare Trump to him because the men who work as staff in the White House are, in a way, brainwashed, creating a physiological condition called Stockholm Syndrome. Not only did Jim Jones brainwash them, but he also didn't treat them fairly even though they supported him. Trump also shows this with his supporters.

There are three characteristics a group must have to be considered a cult: Must have a charismatic leader who demands to be viewed as a God-like figure; mind controlling practices; and exploitation of its members–meaning that no matter what their followers do, they will always be viewed as less and are not allowed to consider their value. Most of the time, when people get involved in a cult, they don’t realize that they have. Cults are able to manipulate people into doing horrible things, like killing others.

One recent and well known cult was NXIUM, lead by Keith Raniere, which took place in Mexico. He knew that people would join because of their struggles: he viewed the struggles of Mexican people as a metaphor for the world. He hoped to inspire the possibility for peace. The ones who praised him the most were students; they would mount his picture on school walls and pray to him believing he had “the highest IQ in the world”. Even creating an organization called DOS: Dominus Obsequious Sororium, which is Latin for “master over slave women”. In this organization, he would brand women with his initials, unknowingly to them, making it part of the initiation.

Cults don't always have to be evil in order to be considered a cult; they can simply just be a small religious group in a backyard.

https://www.mylifetime.com/movies/escapin g-the-nxivm-cult-a-mothers-fight-to-saveher-daughter

The Genius of ClownC0re Calvin Wilber, Staff I often go on YouTube in search of strange new music to listen to. I have heard a variety of music from soothing lo-fi indie music to brutal ear hurting death metal, but none of it could prepare me for ClownC0re. I never would have expected the brilliant mixture of death metal, jazz, and dubstep that this band seamlessly pulls off in usually under two minutes.

The ClownC0re YouTube channel was made on November 23rd, 2008. Their first videos were taken in what appears to be garages and cafeterias. They wore their clown masks and played their iconic instruments (saxophone, drums, and assorted keyboards). Their weird titles that have nothing to do with the song were established in these early videos too. The videos had little to no editing and were rather low quality overall. On May 12th, 2011, they posted “Get To Know Me” and then were silent for six years.

Their newer videos have spiked in quality.

The current setting of their music videos is in a porta potty that floats through time and space. The quality and editing of their videos now is interesting and engaging. The videos hint at something more than just a music video, but aren’t revealing anything yet.

They have also gained better control of their instruments and work together excellently.

And now for what is appealing about the sound. At first you will only notice how abrasive and crude every song is and it will seem funny. But as you listen to more and more, the music becomes enjoyable. The strangeness of the music is appealing as you will hear musical sounds you may have never thought of, and their randomness makes every song a different experience.

Whether you are interested in strange music, like clowns, or just want a weird experience you should definitely give this wild band a listen.

suppressed in order to keep the general populace’s character from being infected.

The most dangerous type of the weaboo is the one closest to you. I have a friend who seemed like a fairly functional member of society. Unfortunately, he was consumed by the weeaboo culture around him. Now, his existence is limited to bragging about his knowledge in Japanese and his current waifu (anime girlfriend) of the month. This variety of weaboo can remain unchallenged due to its less obvious moral degradation, giving them the ability to spread their degeneracy across school and possibly the world. If weeaboos persist unhindered, the whole of society may collapse and the very soul of humanity will be threatened. Remain in constant vigilance throughout the school year to repel these weeaboos, or risk losing the sanity of your mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27k7w0t RUM4

Weaboos: A Multiplying Species Mitchell Schrader, Staff Elk Grove High School is an idyllic campus where one can listen to the sonnet of our famous fire alarm daily. However, discord has begun to blossom in our magnificent school. This development is due to the intensifying migration of weeaboos to our school.These weaboos could be defined as watchers of Japanese animation who are perhaps a little too invested in the series they watch. Some weeaboos are easy to spot, as they wear anime character shirts that expose their depravity. Others can be identified in how they run with their arms parallel to their bodies, believing that their arm placement will lead to increased speed. These types of weeaboos are the least dangerous variety, as they can be identified and quickly

https://www.otakujournalist.com/you-arethe-only-male-character-in-love-live/

Cancel Culture Benjamin Carrillo, Staff If you spend time on the internet, you’ve probably heard of the term “You’re cancelled!”. Even though many of us don’t think twice about it, the term is very controversial because many people who are cancelled are completely shunned by the internet when other celebrities do the same thing and are not held accountable. This is called Cancel Culture. Cancel Culture today is a “picking and choosing” toxic mindset, and it is best for all of us to stop. Not only can celebrities be cancelled, but companies,

brands, food chains, etc can all be “cancelled”. But of course, the picking and choosing is still prevalent and must be stopped.

A popular example of someone being cancelled for something another chain or person does is Kevin Hart and his homophobia situation from earlier in 2019.

Some of Kevin Hart's old tweets resurfaced after he announced he would be hosting the Oscars. These tweets included homophobic remarks and generally ignorant posts about the LGBTQ+ community. While I’m not excusing what Kevin Hart did, cancelling him and not Chick Fil-A is hypocritical and a perfect example of “picking and choosing”.

Chick Fil-A has donated to charities and funds with anti-gay politics, with some even promoting conversion therapy. Yet we only cancelled Kevin Hart? Kevin Hart, although clearly and blatantly in the wrong, should not be held any more accountable than a food chain that has hundreds of restaurants around the nation, raking in millions of dollars in revenue-which, by previous actions-that money goes into organizations that degrades human beings for whom they love.

The other recent example is the infamous and chaotic beauty community. For about the past year, the once peaceful makeup loving community has been in shambles. Many tweets on all ends have resurfaced showing millions of these gurus viewers racist remarks from their past. While some have decided to just not support anyone in the beauty community, most of the world has decided to choose which beauty gurus they will support. Some names to bring up are Jeffree Star, James Charles, Laura Lee, and Manny Gutierrez (commonly known as Manny MUA). All four of these people have done equally heinous things and have said horribly racist things on Twitter. Yet we only cancelled three of them? Of course it was in a different time, but why don’t we hold all of them accountable for the things that they did, instead only cancelling three of

them for the things that they said. Just an apology does not prove sincerity nor does pretending that their actions do not exist.

Pretending it never happened is acknowledging that you were in the wrong (and being unable to apologize) and expresses your lack of care for your misconduct and your inability to let go of your own ego for once.

I digress. The real issue on the table is that the cancel culture benefits no one at all. And by desensitizing people’s actions, we are slowly starting to think that these actions are okay, giving people the freedom to say offensive things and commit offensive acts. We should not excuse these people, nor let these things pass, but hold all people accountable for their actions.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/GMA_Day/vi deo/kevin-hart-steps-hosting-oscars59681344

Today’s Trends Victoria Swan, Staff A trend can be defined as a fad that comes and goes. When you think about trends, people typically think about some crazy or unique article of clothing. Most trends are deemed as unfashionable within about two to three months.

In some cases, trends come back...like the 80s!

We are bringing back trends from when our parents were teenagers too!

Some of these trends include scrunchies, mom jeans, and butterfly clips. Some people believe that they are creating a trend, when in reality...they are taking them from the past and claiming them as their own. These current trends are mostly coming from the eighties and nineties.

Trends come and go, and it’s all of our jobs to make the best of them. Trends happen then pass, and they become memories of our youth. They help us remember who we were and what things were like during the time of those trends. Memories are the core of our lives, without them, what are we?

https://stylesage.co/blog/5-trends-youshould-be-watching/

Appreciate the Art: Not the Artist!!!

Tess Sommer, Design Manager Lately, a song made by Gary Glitter a long time ago was recently put into Joker. It was a good song. Now people aren’t appreciating his song because he is a pedophile, but there is a way where we can appreciate the art without liking the artist.

People aren’t listening to music because of the artist; they’re listening to music because it’s a good song! If we stop listening to music because of the artist, then people would have to take down Michael Jackson’s songs from the radio because he was a huge pedophile; and people like Adam Levine, a man that rejected giving a girl his autograph because he “doesn’t give autographs to ugly girls”, Rihanna who makes fun of people for copying her style because they were inspired by her or something along those lines, or Arianna Grande, a woman that has many compilations on YouTube for being rude to people that work with her or people that adore her as fans, and are you even surprised with Nicki Minaj? A woman that practically roasts people for a living with her rap songs.

She recently roasted Cardi B because she was trying to take her spot as the number #1 woman rapper and called her out on a bunch of things.

What I’m trying to say is most people don’t listen to the song because of the artist, they listen to the song because they either like the meaning behind the lyrics, enjoy the beat of the music, or both! I don’t agree with the fact that Gary is getting royalties while he’s in jail, but if that were taken away, then we can just listen to the song because it’s an interesting song.

Even if they’re not taking it away, people can separate the art from the artist and while they may be a bad person, appreciate the person’s. While it sucks that they aren’t the nicest person ever when it comes to their fans or people that they are working with, etc. people can still not support their actions while enjoying the art that they made for the world to enjoy. All I’m saying is, we can still appreciate the art and take away the artist.

https://people.com/movies/gary-glitter-wontreceive-royalties-joker-song/