Antlerette Volume 5

The Antlerette January 2019 Volume 93 Issue 5

Trump vs Government Quynh Tran, Staff

In previous years our government has been shut down multiple times. However, currently, we are in the longest government shutdown ever seen before. All because of the United States president, Donald Trump, who has pleaded to the government for funding for the building of the border to separate Mexico and the U.S., but the government won’t fund for the construction of the wall. So Trump has successfully shutdown the government until he gets the funds that he needs to start the wall.

The shutdown has affected many people in and out of the government. Most U.S. citizens don’t realize that many of their foods are checked for bacteria and disease that could be spread from food to humans.

Without the employees of the government getting paid, most people can’t work to check for disease, which could lead to another E. coli outbreak. The government employees are also being affected because they aren’t getting paid. Most government employees can’t feed their families and are fighting to keep their houses because of the extension of the shutdown and without any pay.

This current shutdown has been going on for 25 days, making it the longest

government shutdown in the United States.

There are ways to reopen the government, but sadly, Donald Trump will not agree to any of the options so the government will continue to be shut down, causing fear and chaos in America. Most of the options given to Trump do not allow funding, which he has been denying, and will shut down current attempts to create a border. Many people have started to question the intentions the president has for the United States that don’t involve the building of the wall. Many believe he isn’t putting the citizens of America as his first priority since this has been the longest shut down in history. There is a high probability that the president will be impeached due to the amount of chaos he has created because the democrats and republicans were debating whether they could join together to create a way so they could open the government without the president’s consent. If the democrats and republicans were able to come together to achieve this plan, Donald Trump will be more like to be impeached.

https://www.vox.com/2017-inreview/2017/12/27/16810186/trump-2017foreign-policy-russia-twitter

“Backstreet’s Back?” They Never Left!

Jordan Ritchie, Business Manager

“What do you do when you’re a fullgrown man in a boy band?” This is the question Backstreet Boy, Brian Littrell, asks in the 2015 documentary, Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of, named after the Backstreet Boys’ song of the same title. At the end of the film, the question remains rhetorical, but actions speak louder than words. Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, and Kevin Richardson, also known as the Backstreet Boys, answer this question by means of their numerous accomplishments from the past few years and this year to come.

In 2013, the Backstreet Boys, or BSB, were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, they began a residency in Vegas and it became the fastest-selling residency in Las Vegas history. In 2018, they released their hit single, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” which peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and they even won a Country Music Award for their collaboration with Florida Georgia Line. This year, 2019, however, is even more monumental. Not only did they release their newest album on January 25th, they’re going on a world tour– making a stop at our own Golden 1 Center, but they’ve been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Very few boy bands over time have won Grammys, including BSB, who’ve received 8 nominations, so this could be their lucky year. However, one misconception many people have is thinking that their comeback is so remarkable because they’re reuniting. “Backstreet’s back!”...but that would imply that they left in the first place, which they didn’t. That’s right, folks.

The Backstreet Boys have been together for

over 25 years and to this day— Have. Never.

Broken. Up. They’ve lasted over three times as long as the average American marriage!

So how do they do it? How have they managed to stay together and continue making exceptional music after all these years?

The story of the Backstreet Boys is one of perseverance. The group officially formed on April 20, 1993, under the management of Lou Pearlman. For years, they were not popular in America. Even Kevin Richardson, the band’s oldest member, said that the music they were making at the time was “sub-par”. Finally, in 1995, they got a deal with Jive Records and worked with big-shot producers, Denniz Pop and Max Martin. However, at that time, America’s mainstream music consisted of artists like Nirvana and Snoop Dogg, meaning, as AJ McLean remarked, “There was no room for ‘boys like us’.” The Boys even used to call America “No Fan Land”. It wasn’t until they performed in Europe that they made a lasting impression in mainstream music. Not too long after, their fame spread to America. Their hit single, “Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)” released in the U.S. in 1997 and claimed the #2 spot on Billboard Hot 100. The Backstreet Boys had reached ultimate stardom...yet something wasn’t quite right.

They were only earning $12,000 a year, when they should have been making millions. Their own manager, Lou Pearlman, was stealing money from them. Not only was he taking one-sixth of what BSB was making–which is illegal to do, as a manager– but he was orchestrating one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history. For those who don’t know, a Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which the belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors. Basically, the schemer fools investors into funding projects that don’t really exist and they believe that they are

profiting from sales, when in truth, the money is coming from other investors. In Pearlman’s case, he swindled investors to invest in airline companies that only existed on paper, and he later paid those investors with money he stole from the Backstreet Boys’ profits. BSB filed a lawsuit against Pearlman after finding out about his betrayal, and soon, split ties with him.

However, BSB’s obstacles did not remain financial from AJ McLean’s battle with addiction, Kevin Richardson temporarily leaving the band, the passing of Howie Dorough’s sister, to Nick Carter’s family troubles, and Brian Littrell’s struggle with vocal tension dysphonia–which is the tightening of the muscles around the vocal chords, causing them to not work properly.

But by the grace of God and more perseverance, the Boys manage to stay strong and optimistic through it all. They’ve stuck together through thick and thin, not just as a group, but as a family. Carter–the youngest member of the group–has even said that the Boys practically raised him, as they were more of a family to him than his own.

Though BSB went through various struggles, it wasn’t all for naught. Today, the Backstreet Boys are all happily married with kids, and as a band, they’re bigger than ever.

Especially with their new album, DNA, which has spectacular songs, including some written by artists Shawn Mendes, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, Lauv, and Andy Grammer. I’ll be honest, the Backstreet Boys’ main demographic is moms who grew up listening to them in the 90s, but if today’s generation takes a listen to their music, I think they’ll find themselves wanting to be transported back to those “I Want it That Way” days and become instant fans. Even now, BSB has managed to adapt to these modern times, but still be themselves and that shows through their music. They’ve proved that they truly are timeless. Brian Littrell said in an ET interview, “Guess what. Backstreet Boys–we’ve been around

forever. We’re just getting started, ladies and gentlemen.”

So give their new album, DNA–and the rest of their repertoire–a listen and get tickets to their DNA World Tour. As a loyal soldier of the Backstreet Army, I wish the Boys the best of wishes for the future.

Because as they promised us all those years ago…

“As long as there’ll be music, we’ll be comin’ back again!”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/ musicblog/2015/jan/29/why-backstreetboys-have-little-to-teach-one-direction

Pee & Pedophilia Azariah Martinez, Staff

“My mind’s tellin’ me no! But my body! My body’s tellin’ me yes!” This is perhaps the most notorious Robert Kelly lyric of all time. For years, Kelly has been associated with his infamous “Pee Case,” which was the trial involving Kelly urinating on an underage girl while filming.

TV shows such as The Simpsons and The Boondocks have poked fun at his allegations in which he was found not guilty, despite video evidence. Recently, due to the emergence of the documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, his pedophilia and luring of young women has been put in front of the spotlight that is the public eye. Moreover, Kelly has been shown once more that he likes underage women.

He, at the age of 27, initially revealed his pedophilia through his marriage to the late Aaliyah Haughton, who was

fifteen years old at the time of their illegal marriage. Furthermore, Kelly again showcased his lust after the accusation of sex with a minor. Throughout his career, Kelly’s pattern of sexual assault has been swept under the rug, but after all these years, time has finally caught up to him. Kelly’s reputation has once again been tainted with the #MeToo trend, which has shed light on his leadership of a sex cult. It has been said that Kelly has been living with several younger woman, which he controlled by taking their phone and limiting family contact. In addition, Carey Kelly, his baby brother, just recently spoke out on an interview accusing his brother of, “sexually assaulting and impregnating his at the time 14 year old cousin.” This accusation, furthermore, showcases his attraction towards minors.

R. Kelly’s music has been put on hold by his record label due to the recent spotlight on him. However, the bigger question is why have his pedophilia and sexual assault cases been covered up for so long? Why is it that he has inherently been protected for being a sex offender? Why has Robert Kelly been enabled to prey on young woman for so long and didn’t anybody try to stop it sooner? Although he has been sheltered for long, he is finally being exposed as the pedophile he has been ever since his marriage with the fifteen year-old Aaliyah Haughton.

https://heavy.com/entertainment/2017/07/rkelly-aaliyah-relationship-were-theymarried-underage-annulment-music/

Tik Tok Trends That Must Stop Tess Sommer, Design Manager

Tik Tok, released on September 2016, is a fun app where anyone can make a sketch while lip syncing to their favorite song or line from a movie or musical. Trends soon started to develop over the app and became widely popular. Though some trends are hilarious and enjoyable, most trends on Tik Tok need to stop right now. Here are top 3 trends that need to be diminished: Tik Tok Trend #1: Brother and Sister Challenge. The Brother and Sister Challenge is a trend that involves a brother and sister lip-syncing and dancing to their favorite song. This trend wouldn’t be so bad if it contained just dancing and lip syncing, but some siblings have gone to the extent of kissing their siblings at the end of the video.

This trend needs to be stopped because it displays incest, showing little kids and teenagers that kissing one’s sibling is okay, which misleads their values and normalizes unacceptable behavior.

Tik Tok Trend #2: Karma is a B**** challenge. The Karma is a B**** challenge is where one person is seen as what they call ‘ugly’ and then they say, “Karma is a B****” and flip the blanket over the screen, remove it, and portray themselves as beautiful as if to say they’re pretty now that they’re grown up. This challenge needs to stop because it plagiarized the Don’t Judge Me Challenge, which is the exact same thing. The other reason it needs to end is because the people that portray themselves as ugly might use some object that might offend a person. For instance, someone might’ve used glasses to look ugly, but the person watching the video could have glasses on. This portrays people with glasses as ugly, suggesting that in order to become beautiful, they have to lose the glasses. The challenge compares different types of people and lowers their self-esteem with the ugly side and tells them how to become pretty

when they remove the blanket and show their “beautiful” side.

Tik Tok Trend #3: Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover challenge. The challenge usually shows one person holding something, whether it be soap, a hair curler, razor, over their face, hair, mouth, and they put the object down and ask the camera if they believed they would go through with their actions, then end the sentence with “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This challenge should bring awareness to not judging someone by how they look, but it doesn’t because the person, for instance, holds a razor close to their eyebrow, stops and ask the camera the questions, but then puts the razor up to their eyebrow anyway and shaves it off. This challenge makes the meaning pointless and the people doing the challenge look ridiculous.

In my opinion, these three trends have to stop because they are misleading and cringey, if a trend is popular, it should be original and creative, not using the same concept with a different title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF2A5ICZ6w

The Gift of Giving David Roots, Staff

Valentine’s Day is one of the most romantic holidays of the year. The second most stressful one too, right behind Christmas. It is the perfect time to ask your crush to be your valentine or find out who your secret admirer is. When you do, you

need to show them just how much they mean to you and that is usually very expensive.

Even though a true Valentine’s gift is more about the thought and effort put into it than the item itself, it is hard to tell the difference in today’s society. However, it is very easy to see when people put in little to no effort into their Valentine gift. Obviously, you don’t want to be that person and avoid it at all costs. So if this is your first Valentine’s Day in a relationship or you don’t know what to do, then read and take notes.

When you plan on what to give your valentine, think: how much effort did you put inside of it, how long did you think about it, how much of her/his thought did you put in it, and why did you think it was the one and only PERFECT gift. Don’t get your valentine something that you think is okay and never just grab the first cheap thing you see because when they ask why you got it, you need to have a very good reason why.

One good tactic is to find something they like that is rare or hard to find. That is because when it is Valentine’s Day and you are showing them their gift, it will be very unique since few/no other people will have the same thing. Another good tactic to use is to get a gift that clearly shows you put a lot of time into it. For example, if your gift was a handmade necklace with colorful beads and flowers with a beautiful lapis lazuli in the center, it will show that you prepared for Valentine’s Day and didn’t wait last minute procrastinating.

Relationships are hard to get and are even harder to maintain, especially if you are in high school. It is important to show your date that your care about them, but not so much to where you creep them out. The big question is, what is the best way to show your date how much you like them in a way they can understand or relate to? There is no direct answer to that question, but some answers are a lot more right than others.

https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/frenchculture/joyeuse-saint-valentin

Cable’s Been Cut Joshua Omoruyi, Staff

Remember not too long ago when we would wait for that certain time to watch our favorite show. Now we open Netflix, or one of the many other streaming services and providers or watch on demand whenever we want for hours on end. For the past few years, cable services have noticed a decline in the use of cable. The cause is the arrival of streaming services.

Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Disney, ABC, DC, and many more companies offer different shows, movies, music, and much more. These, for a usually small price, let you pick what you want to watch when you want to watch it. People can now watch a whole show or marathon without buying the DVD or Blu-ray. Since there is no schedule, people are free to watch when convenient without the stress of having to record. It is easier than ever to watch outside of the home as well. Many people now don’t even see the need to have cable anymore.

Cable has many channels, but each person can only watch a few, but they still pay for it all. With streaming services, you still pay for it all, but you have more that you are interested in. Cable companies are learning to adjust by adding a streaming service with their regular programs such as On Demand. This was a smart choice because even the stocks for the cable companies lowered by 7%-15% and the number of users lowered by 4%,which is still

thousands in 2017. This is more than in 2015 and ‘16 combined. Complaints increase with each year and many of the cable companies are voted as most hated companies by their customers. People were also tired of the steadily rising fees attached with cable and cut it completely.

This is a commonality during technological change. The same happened with house phones and overheads. When a more convenient or efficient piece of technology or service is introduced, the lesser one is almost disregarded. That is just how technology is and should be. Cable isn’t bad persé, but the streaming services are more efficient. When something better presents itself, we take the opportunity to seize it and make life better for ourselves.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/03/01 /canada-tests-a-la-carte-cable-tv-rates/

The Importance of Boredom Emily Kennedy, Editor in Chief

As a millennial, I am constantly being inundated with comments criticizing the society associated with my generation. The phrase “The problem with today’s society…” seems to have become nearly as popular in the Adult-to-Teen Conversation Starter Pack as the classic “What are your plans for the future?” inquiry. Well, nameless adult looking to have an obligatory conversation with a young person, have I got some opinions for you!

I would first like to address why I, at the ripe young age of seventeen, feel completely lacking in the department of

time. Isn’t this supposed to be an affliction of the older generations? Yet when I go to bed at night, I feel exhausted, like my day has been sucked ruthlessly dry until I have no time left for myself. I would like time to read, paint, draw, think, or write. Please, anything of significance! I often ask myself, in regards to this pattern, why I am feeling this way. After a considerable amount of self-evaluation, I believe I have found the culprit responsible for my inner turmoil and absence of fulfillment.

Hear me out, nameless adult, I think you’ll like this one. I think you are correct: technology is to blame.

Don’t misunderstand me. I do not think the iPhone is bad, persé. I think it is a nifty little gadget that we have unintentionally taken down a harmful avenue. I think today’s technological advancement is remarkable, but I do not believe that the personal devices being manufactured are beneficial to our well-being. Social media platforms do not care about the content they are feeding young people. These companies are designed specifically to make money, which is done by capturing consumer attention. This is not really at the fault of those companies, though; you can’t really blame them for seeking profit in a capitalist market, since that is sort of the defining element of our economic system. The problem is we seem to forget the underlying motivation of these platforms. We consider them an acceptable way to spend all of our free time, pouring all of our consciousness into the images of Instagram models on our screens. We scroll, and we scroll, and we don’t care what we’re seeing. They don’t either. We subconsciously waste our lives online as a means of occupying our spare time, and end each day feeling more miserable and meaningless than the last.

In my personal experience, I have found that the main consequence of my scrolling is an utter absence of boredom, which has been quietly driving me insane. This may sound unconventional, but I think boredom is one

of the most important human emotions. It is amidst boredom that we have our best ideas, our most pivotal moments of self-reflection, and our most brilliant bursts of creativity.

The most valuable products of the human mind are born from boredom. I feel like I haven’t had any time to myself because I truly haven’t! The first thing I do in the morning is check my social media, and the last thing I do before bed is plug in my phone. Of course I’m exhausted. I never get to be bored.

I also believe one of the fundamental characteristics of human nature is the need for connection with one another, for genuine communication. Nowadays young people have developed this compulsive need to be on their phones at all times. It has become a form of background noise, necessary for all forms of interaction. We use it as a defense mechanism of sorts, so as never to sit alone or look bored, to be perceived as awkward or unpopular. This limits our ability to interact with our peers, reducing our conversation to rubble. It also forges an intense sense of disconnect between young people and adults, as we do not understand one another and often have no desire to. I find this profoundly sad, but who am I to criticize? I participate in this phenomenon every day.

So why don’t I stop? It seems to be so ingrained in my mannerisms, I don’t know how to function without it. This level of dependency would be very concerning if I was addicted to, say, cocaine, wouldn’t it?

However, it is safe to say I am not addicted to cocaine. I am addicted to something everyone is addicted to, something society itself has become reliant on. Quitting my iPhone would build a wall between me and my relationships. So, nameless adult, what am I to do in this situation? I can’t possibly feel so strongly about the matter and do nothing about it, can I? We both know the inevitable. I am quick to criticize, but slow to act. I suppose that is another problem with today’s society. We’re hypocrites.

https://www.reposetherapy.com/blog/theimportance-of-boredom

and that there will never be another time like this in your life. Appreciate the last few months of childhood before you enter the real world. Try and plan activities in your free time and hang out with all of your friends before everyone prepares to head off to college and start their own lives separate from everyone now. The last semester is an emotional time so try and reflect back on the years of high school and appreciate the experiences you’ve accumulated over time.

High school is an interesting time, but be sure to stay positive and remember that we’re almost there!

How to Survive the Last Semester with Senioritis Esmée Teresi, Staff

As graduation approaches, more and more seniors suffer from the dreaded “Senioritis”; that feeling when you’re losing motivation as the last semester of the year continues and you continue to feel burnt out in school in general. Waking up in the morning to come to school becomes even more of a chore than actual chores or work, and trying to get any homework done at all seems impossible. But the important thing is to try and stay motivated! Graduation is right around the corner, and finals and AP tests will be here before we know it.

The most important thing about trying to keep up with your workload, despite having zero motivation to do it, is time management. Being able to set aside time to go out and have fun and celebrate the last semester of high school is crucial, but so is setting aside time to get all your homework done so you’re not too stressed or overworked. Also, if you don’t have a planner, maybe buy one to stay organized with assignments and any school events that you need to remember. Another important thing is to try and enjoy this exciting time!

Keep in mind that this is the last semester

http://www.inklingsnews.com/opinions/2015 /03/06/surviving-severe-second-semestersenioritis/