Issue 02 2020

THE

TOWER Issue 02

DETAILS

PHILOSOPHY The Tower is a student-run publication at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, CA. Writers and editors work together under the guidance of a faculty advisor to enhance the Bishop’s community and stimulate meaningful conversation through the collection and distribution of news. The Tower aims to educate the Bishop’s community about issues and events that pertain to the experience of young adults. Sections of The Tower include Sports, Arts, Culture, Campus, Local & Beyond, Opinion, and The Bell. The Tower prints six issues each academic year, in addition to continuous online content.

POLICY The Tower refrains from prior review of its issues and maintains the right to publish anonymous quotes when the privacy of the individual is a concern. All quotes are subject to editing for clarity and length. Opinions expressed in The Tower do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or of The Bishop’s School.

COLOPHON The Tower is printed by Streeter Printing Company in Mira Mesa, CA. Due to COVID-19, Issue 06 was published online and sent out to the Bishop’s community via email. The Staff uses Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator to arrange photographs and graphics. Typefaces include Didot for the cover, headlines, and subheadings; Minion Pro is used for bylines and body text. Issue 06 and previous issues of The Tower are available digitally on issuu.com.

THE BELL The Bell is a section of The Tower that intends to serve as a relief from the depth of the magazine. Satire, puzzles, quizzes, and the like are frequent inside The Bell.

02 DETAILS | Issue o2

CONTRIBUTORS Editor-in-Chief Daniel White

OUR COVER Art by - Lucie Edwards (‘21)

Online Editor Sariah Hossain

Inspired by the potential downsides to in-person instruction and the politicised issue of mask-wearing, the cover depicts the cover depicts a brain wearing a mask, symbolizing the impacts of the pandemic on education. In our cover stories, Caroline Schafer (‘21) and Tate Vaccaro (‘22) discuss both of these topics, highlighting the ways in which COVID-19 continues to impact our daily lives.

Social Media Manager Maya Buckley

NOTE

Graphics Editor - Print Lucie Edwards Assistant Graphics Editor Kyle Berlage

Managing Editor Alex Cotton Copy Editors Crystal Li Clare Malhotra Staff Writers Isadora Blatt Leila Feldman Katherine Ge Lily Gover Caroline Schafer Max Stone Tate Vaccaro Faculty Advisor Ms. Laine Remignanti CONTACT The Tower c/o The Bishop’s School 7607 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037 www.thebishopstower.com thetower@bishops.com IG @thebishopstower TW @thebishopstower All members of the Bishop’s community are invited to submit letters to the Editor-in-Chief by visiting our website, www.thebishopstower.com, and clicking on the ‘Submit Letter’ tab.

Apology for Instagram Content

The Tower would like to formally apologize for posting a photo of alumni socializing without masks and standing within six feet of one another. We as a publication do not condone breaking CDC guidelines and did not post this photo with the intention of promoting such behavior. If you have any questions or concerns, please email thetower@bishops.com or reach out to us through any of our social media (listed below).

SOCIAL MEDIA Follow us!

Instagram: @thebishopstower

Website:

www.thebishopstower.com

Twitter: @thebishopstower

D L

ike many people, my thoughts this week have been with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The passing of the long-time associate Supreme Court Justice has rocked the worlds of many people, both locally and all across the country. People have mourned her loss on both a personal and political level as we step back and consider all that she did for this country in the wake of her passing.

When I think about figures such as her, there is always this feeling of disconnect, in a way. I am a seventeen-year-old high schooler whose greatest accomplishment to date is a strong tie between how fast I can binge-watch the entirety of Parks and Recreation and the fact that I still have yet to fully succumb to senioritis; Ginsburg was a Supreme Court Justice who did untold amounts for gender equality within this country and whose legacy has impacted the lives of millions—quite literally.

And it can be hard to humanize that. It can be hard to separate the legend from the source, so to speak. And it can be even harder to feel that being someone like her—even emulating her a little—is something that’s possible.

But I think there is one thing about Ginsburg that does not feel out of reach—or should not, at least—and that is her toughness. From battling cancer not once but five times—and continuing to work nearly full-time all the way through treatment—to being the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, operating in one of the most heavily male-dominated spaces in United States politics, there is no denying that she had an undeniable strength. And, as the year around us unfolds into something very different from what we expected out of 2020, I hope that is something we are all able to connect with on a level.

In this issue, we once again find ourselves confronted with COVID-19 and how it continues to rewrite the world around us. This time, however, writers on The Tower have taken a more critical look at some of the effects of the pandemic: Tate Vaccaro (‘22) writes about the debate over masks, digging into the absurdity that surrounds the refusal to wear one, and Caroline Schafer (‘21) asks some difficult questions regarding the school’s current hybrid system. They bring to light the question of what is right in these times—the right plan, the right mandate, the right nationwide decision—and will force the readers to confront how their own choices and actions line up with this, or so I hope.

Here is where I turn to Ginsburg as a model. Because it has become more and more apparent as this situation evolves that the right thing is not always easy—it comes with protest and backlash and personal inconvenience. And I am more than certain that, during her life and especially during the time she spent carving out a path for gender equality in America in a space that was still so vehemently and inherently sexist, Ginsburg was presented with a choice: the easy one or the right one. This is not to say she chose the latter one hundred percent of the time, but it is to say that the times she did choose it certainly won out; this is more than easy to ascertain when looking back at all she achieved.

And if she did it, I cannot help but think, if she time and time again made the hard choice and did the right thing, why can’t I? After all, wearing a mask and keeping six feet from my friends when I see them on campus is nothing compared to the work she put in during her lifetime when you think about it.

So that is my challenge to you all as we move through this month, this year, this ever-evolving and ever-complicating situation: make the right choice. Even, and sometimes especially, if it is the hard one, too.

Love,

Daniel White, Editor-in-Chief

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | Issue 02

03

04 CONTENTS | Issue 02

Contents [campus]

06

Playing Through a Pandemic

08

Voter Volunteering

10

Golden Opportunity for Music

12

Futures Past

Leila Feldman

Lucie Edwards

Senior Community Service Initiative begins working on new voter project

Crystal Li

How stay-at-home musicians continue to express their sensational passions

Daniel White

A look into Mr. Adam Davis’ debut poetry collection Index of Haunted Houses

[local & beyond]

14

How this year will look through the eyes of three varsity seniors

Craziest Year Ever

Clare Malhotra

[cover story]

16

Done with Distance

18

Mask On, Mask Off

Caroline Schafer

Tate Vaccaro

A look back at some of the craziest, most dangerous years to be alive

Why the partial return to campus may not be worth it

How public health has become a political illness

[the bell]

20 22

Editor Aesthetics & On Repeat

Top Ten Rejected Top Tens

CONTENTS | Issue 02

05

PLAYING THROUGH A PANDEMIC How this year will look through the eyes of three varsity seniors Leila Feldman

W

hat makes you happy? For these three Bishop’s seniors, it’s the sports they play–even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seniors Jack Martin, Maggie Keefe, and Raquel Aguirre of the Boys Varsity Water Polo, Girls Varsity Field Hockey, and Girls Varsity Volleyball teams respectively are three of this year’s senior captains. They sat down to talk to The Tower to give us a greater understanding of what this year means to players, practice, and the upcoming events of the season.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, every plan—regardless of how far in advance—was canceled, from sports tournaments to spring break trips.

When California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) announced in July that sports could resume on December 12, it gave hope to athletes, but also presented a new set of challenges for them.

When asked about how they were going to practice, Raquel admitted that “hopefully we’ll be able to social distance” and went on to say that they will be wearing masks “even though they are hard to breathe in.” Volleyball is an indoor sport and seeing as it involves

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six players on the court per team each game, it will present new challenges, such as effective drilling and practicing. Additionally, because of the way the seasons have been laid out, they will share the gym with Boys Volleyball. However, Coach Todd Mattox, the team coach, has a plan in place and will continue to practice with his top tier athletes while maintaining safety.

Maggie explained that it is “really difficult when you can’t have that face-to-face contact” and that there is a “prevention to how close we can get.” She went on to explain some of the current challenges, including being unable to scrimmage or share equipment while having to maintain the players’ skills. However, she remained confident that they would do their best to try to follow the rules.

At the beginning of every season, every young nervous freshman who has committed countless years to a sport they love gets put to the ultimate test when they try out for their high school varsity team. At Bishop’s, a range of freshmen can make the team, but this year it will be challenging to measure talent when you can’t go head-to-head with other players.

Senior Rocky Aguirre serving a ball at one of last year’s home games.

This year’s varisty field hockey seniors Avery Zolfagrahi, Madeline Meyer, P Keefe, Lauren Whitlock, Carol

The Tower

Senior Jack Martin throwing a water polo ball to a teammate.

s posing for a photo from left to right: Piper Holthus, Daniel White, Maggie line Kellogg, and Lila Chitayat

Jack explained that he thought the freshmen and sophomores may be put at a great disadvantage because “they aren’t able to learn what they would in their first or second season in highschool.” Jack continued to share some of his concerns that because “they aren’t with each other everyday, you don’t have the same amount of time together to bond for team chemistry,” which proves to be so crucial in the success of this team. In general, the water polo programs at Bishop’s have developed reputations for being particularly strong, and the inability to train the younger members in the same way could create challenges in years to come.

When asked about freshmen and field hockey Maggie said excitedly “I know a lot of these freshmen have played in middle school, so I think we know what they’re like, what they play like.” She proceeded to verbalize her high expectations by saying “I’m excited for the freshmen because I’ve heard really promising things from both Coach Carr and [her co-captain] Piper [Holthus (‘21)]” as well as “hearing good things” from Lila Browne’s (‘20) field hockey training over the summer.

These seniors have learned about how your high school team be-

comes your family. The Volleyball, Field Hockey, and Water Polo teams each hold their own traditions close.

Each team holds its own rituals and ways of bonding, whether that be hair ribbons, listening to the iconic blonde with the red lipstick, or just the sense of family and belonging amongst teammates. According to Raquel, the volleyball girls before every game sing “Lil Sally Walker” in a circle “and do a little chant.” Before games start, “some girls braid their hair. We usually wear ribbons—someone will bring a ribbon and we’ll all wear the same one.” For Field Hockey, it is listening to Taylor Swift (which started because of “Lila’s) obsession’’ with the pop singer) the team sleepover, and senior night.

Playing a sport at Bishop’s is about much more than winning or losing, more than who is the best or the most skilled. It creates a second family, a place where everyone shares a common goal. These three Bishop’s seniors helped give The Tower a prediction to this upcoming season in regards to; recruitment of new players, practice layouts, the way this season will compare to seasons in the past, and what this means for their athletic season.

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07

VOTER VOLUNTEERING

Senior Community Service Initiative begins working on new voter project Lucie Edwards

I

n previous years, Bishop’s had two main service learning groups: the Rady Children’s Hospital Committee and Community Service Initiative (CSI).

However, at the end of the 2019-20 school year, Rady Children’s Hospital Committee was dissolved. Many students who were part of the group last year were left without an on-campus service outlet, motivating them to apply to CSI. One such student was senior Brooke Waite. Brooke reflected on her year in the group, saying, “Of course I’m disappointed that Rady’s is over, but I’m so excited to be a part of CSI.”

Last year, this influx of applicants left Director of Service Learning Mrs. Jackie Gomez and the four CSI Chairs (Elizabeth Stuart-Chaffoo (‘20), Sarina Krishnan (‘20), Meghan Behr (‘20), and Lucie Edwards (‘21)) with a decision to make. In the past, there had been a fairly strict limit on the number of members in the group, and all senior spots were filled.

However, a number of the applicants were rising seniors, which gave Mrs. Gomez and the chairs the idea to split CSI into two groups: Community Service Initiative and Senior Community Service Initiative.

A decision of this magnitude didn’t come without a number of additional changes. Both clubs were scheduled to

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meet during the Upper School club lunch period, which meant that one group would be required to function without Mrs. Gomez present. There was also the problem of the chairs themselves—would the four chairs split up between the two groups?

After much deliberation, they decided that the four chairs would run Senior CSI, and Mrs. Gomez and two members from the Class of 2022 would head up CSI.

Having a group whose sole focus was the Senior Class would allow senior-specific service projects. These initiatives would help secure a devotion to service in students who will soon be in the real world, where there is no hour requirement to hold them accountable. As Senior CSI Chair Jasmine Dabbas put it, “We want to spark a passion for service that seniors will take with them to college and beyond.”

Early into this school year, History teacher John Nagler reached out to Mrs. Gomez with an idea for a Senior CSI project. “Young people, especially those in marginalized communities, have voted at lower rates historically than other groups,” explained Mr. Nagler. “We can help address that now in a small but meaningful way.” And thus the ballot project was born.

The Tower

complex Today is National Voters Registration Day! Have you registered?

You can register online, by mail or in-person. Don’t miss your opportunity to vote in the 2020 elections. LINK IN BIO for a state-by-state list of voting registration deadlines. #PullUpAndVote September 22

This photo, posted by @complex on Instagram, was sent by Jackie Gomez to the Senior Community Service Initiative groupchat, reminding the students of their ultimate goal this fall.

The goal of the ballot project is to educate high school seniors who will be of legal voting age for the upcoming election. These students must register to vote, familiarize themselves with the ballot, and understand their voting rights all before Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Senior CSI is working on creating a comprehensive source for first-time voters both on and off-campus. Senior CSI Chair Austin Yang hopes that this project will make Generation Z better recognize “the power that [their] ability to vote holds to make tangible change within [their] community.” As of right now, Senior CSI is still in the preliminary stages of the initiative, but they plan to create a website with tips on how to register, an in-depth breakdown of the different measures on the ballot, and an explanation of the power one citizen’s vote holds in the election.

When the website is complete, they will send the link out to schools in the San Diego Unified School District in hopes of educating young voters across the county.

While Senior CSI started this project with the goal of educating others, members have found that this project will be personally beneficial as well. Jasmine anticipates the positive implications of this program within the group: “This project is going to help us become more politically aware.”

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09

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR MUSIC How stay-at-home musicians continue to express their sensational passions Crystal Li

“C

OVID-19 has affected many of my friends and colleagues in the music and theater industries,” said Dr. Christine Micu, the Performing Arts Department Chair and Director of Choral Music. “It has caused people to try to reinvent themselves, to try to find ways to hold performances virtually, and to create content that people can enjoy through the internet.”

When you first think of musicians—whether it’s classical performers, choir-singers, or musical groups—you might imagine a performance at a hollow auditorium where the air seems everlastingly refreshing. When you think about how they practice, your mind travels to schools, studios, even concert halls. However, all of that is gone with the wind as the COVID-19 pandemic strikes the dearest corners of people’s lives all around the world.

But despite the challenges, classical musicians and artists have still found ways to stay active during quarantine.

Locally, the San Diego Symphony emphasized the need for consistent social distancing by canceling and delaying in-person concerts all the way through December 31 of this year. “All of us had hoped that we could resume live performances earlier,” said Chief Executive Officer Martha Gilmer, “but the reality is that we must wait to once again hear our orchestra and present

live music until it is safe for us to gather together.” Nevertheless, they continue to connect with their audience through a diverse spectrum of digital programs and performances through their official website. Some of their individual musicians even share snippets of their socially distanced concerts. In April, they launched an accessible webpage, called the Symphony Stream, compiling all of their available virtual content. As you click around the site, there is a wide range of distinctive content,

Once the audiotape of the designated arrangement is uploaded, it will be mixed and edited in addition to adding a visual montage of the student musicians. “This worked well with our jazz bands, chamber ensembles, Boyband, and Bishop’s Symphony in the spring, and is what we’re doing this semester as well,” said Mr. Rob Anderson, the Instrumental Music Director.

For choir singers, the distance learning format means that students will be learning their music via Zoom meetings, with Dr. Micu playing and singing parts with them.

Students can then record themselves singing their parts, as well as listen to each other’s work and provide helpful feedback. Like the orchestral performers, the singers, Dr. Micu, and the accompanist Mr. Adam Ferrara worked together in creating the video. “We discuss the message of the song and what message we want our audience to take away from a performance,” explained Dr. Micu. “Then we brainstorm about how we can convey that message not only through singing, but visually, and figure out what kind of video we want to make, what scenes we want to shoot, and how we can make that happen.”

“I try to utilize this time to make the best of my musical ability and possibly create more opportunities for myself.”

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– Grace Sun (‘23)

from broadcasts to fun music clips.

For the performing artists of Bishop’s, a semester of unicity and excitement awaits. Musicians that play an instrument—those enrolled in Chamber Music or Jazz Band—will mainly work independently, with each student responsible for practicing and recording at least one ensemble piece. In the Bishop’s Symphony, progress follows an online asynchronous model that emphasizes producing recordings with students and recording parts independently with one-on-one coaching.

The Tower

Inevitably, there are a variety of challenges navigating music through online platforms; the most prominent ones being glitching, lagging, or sound quality. When asked about the biggest digital problems, Dr. Micu responded: “In many ways, it is much more complicated than when we could just have a concert that people could come to and listen to us sing. There is always a new technological problem to solve every day.” However, invigorated by the role of technology within music, many students believe that this style of learning has some benefits. “Even though it’s not the same feeling as being in the same room with other singers, I still get to see my friends and I feel like we are a lot more productive over Zoom sessions,” said Laurel Daly (‘23), a sophomore participating in choir.

Towards the end of last school year, Grace Sun (‘23) founded the Melodies for Remedies service club to support musicians like her in times of isolation. “I try to utilize this time to make the best of my musical ability and possibly create more opportunities for myself,” Grace said. Their goal is to bring remedial music to seniors and patients residing in elderly care or hospitals who are unable to see their families and friends on a regular basis.

Through digital platforms like YouTube and Zoom, students from this club help others experience a sense of comfort and endearment similar to when they are with others. “It is definitely more challenging than usual when navigating music through online platforms,” explained Grace. “The most import-

ant part of the music that reaches the audience is the sound quality, and unfortunately it is very hard to retain the same musical quality of our performers when we give online concerts.” But, just through the months of summer break, Melodies for Remedies have already hosted four online concerts, compiled a number of recordings that are around 45 minutes long, and expanded greatly in terms of membership.

Undoubtedly, nothing is in the ordinary throughout this difficult but special time. Yet creativity is flowing in the air while all sorts of musicians explore the depth of technology in regards to social distancing. As performers take out their instruments, warm-up their voices, and check the Wi-Fi, the future is looking bright for everyone willing to try.

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11

FUTURES PAST

A look into Mr. Adam Davis’ debut poetry collection Index of Haunted Houses Daniel White

I

ndex of Haunted Houses started, as all books do, with a crisis.

In 2007, housing prices within the United States hit an economic phenomenon known as the United States housing bubble, as it would later be called. This event set off a chain reaction of sorts: stock prices plummeted, real estate trusts went bankrupt, and banks all across the country were forced to shut down.

This series of events set the stage for a new era of financial insecurity. By 2008, mere months after the United States housing bubble, the entire world would be knocked sideways into the worst economic recession it had seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s: the Great Recession.

It was against this backdrop of turmoil, loss, and change that English teacher Mr. Adam Davis began to sketch out the bare bones of his first book, the poetry collection Index of Haunted Houses. Indeed, the financial crisis served a greater role than that of a simple backdrop to the early days of the book; for Mr. Davis, it also helped to shape one of the major thematic elements of the book. “The epicenter of the crisis was up close to where I went to undergrad in Riverside so I was thinking a lot about that at the time,” Mr. Davis explained. And it was through the effects this crisis had on the land and the people living on it—namely the tract homes people were either abandoning being evicted from—that the key theme of Index of Haunted Houses was born: in Mr. Davis’s words, “this idea

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of a haunted American landscape.”

As persistent as the notion of hauntedness throughout the collection may be, it is not the only overarching theme. “I think the recession is the main impetus and I’ve been pushing on that pretty hard, but there’s a number of things going on here,” Mr. Davis explained.

Throughout the writing process— aided and abetted by the number of more gothically-inclined potential readers gravitating towards the book with the impression that it was something akin to a ghost horror story—Mr. Davis found himself returning to the notion of terror. “I’m not interested in horror so much as I am in terror,” he explained. “Horror is usually something that’s kind of passive, whereas terror is an act of feeling that doesn’t necessarily go away, and I think that relates to so many themes of the book.”

Index of Haunted Houses

also touches on the theme of abandonment and communication, and how the two have more intrinsic links than we might initially assume. “It deals with the ways in which we communicate with people,” Mr. Davis explained, “and the sort of want to communicate with people who might not be there anymore, and the kind of abandonment that comes along with that.”

But, interestingly enough, it is not the thematic concerns that Mr. Davis chose to direct his focus towards during the making of Index of Haunted Houses; it is, of course, the language. “I’m always worried

about poets or writers who have something to say. I don’t want to be a polemical writer, I don’t want to be a politician,” Mr. Davis admitted. “I think my foremost concern is just that people will find delight in the language.” This sentiment has vastly affected Mr. Davis’ writing process itself—“For me, I’m not thinking about an idea so much as I’m thinking about a word that intrigues me and where that will take me,” he explained. “If things are going really well, I find myself surprised by what I’m writing on the page and that’s when I feel like I might be doing some interesting work.”

Though the idea for the collection itself began taking shape by 2007, the enclosed poems have creation dates spanning from as early as 2004—Polaroid Utopia—to as late as just last year—Stetson in Retrograde.

Mr. Davis explained that the amount of time it took to see the collection to its end did have a significant impact on the work. “I think one of the big fears that come with working on a project for this long is that your style is going to change so much that the book won’t work anymore,” he said, “so one of the challenges was to try and keep the collection consistent on some level.” This process was mainly achieved through the laborious and extensive—though genuinely enjoyed, too—editing process that Index of Haunted Houses underwent. For Mr. Davis, a lot of this was inherent on some level—he based his metric for refining the work on “what feels right.”

The Tower

“I’m not interested in horror so much as I am in terror. Horror is usually something that’s kind of passive, whereas terror is an act of feeling that doesn’t necessarily go away, and I think that relates to so many themes of the book.”

English teacher Mr. Adam Davis

The front cover design for Index of Haunted Houses. Described in the introduction as “epigrammatic, apocalyptic, an downright scary at times,” Index of Haunted Houses seeks primarily to tell us “ghost stories” — tales of the both the past and the present.

This sense of newness also connects with what Mr. Davis wants the readers of Index of Haunted Houses to learn from it. “Poetry is never there to tell us something new,” he explained. “I think it’s always there to communicate things to us that are forgotten, so my hope is that this book reminds people of what their lives were like in perhaps more analog times.” Conversely, though, there is also the hope that the book serves as something of a nod to the present-day situation we all find ourselves wrapped up in.

Though the recent events regarding events such as the COVID-19 outbreak and the Black Lives Matter protests—and the cultural reckoning that has come with both those series of events—largely took place after the book was finished, their significance throws a lot of the themes within Index of Haunted Houses into a very different light. “One

of the things that the book explores a lot of is the history of America and, at certain points, it suggests that the past isn’t the past—it’s still the present,” Mr. Davis explained. “It suggests we don’t exist in this straight line, but rather everything is playing out on repeat. There is that theory about ghosts almost being like recordings, where they go through the same motions as before and they’re sort of trapped in this limbo and I think history operates in that way too.” He brought our own country to light, contrasting the material within Index of Haunted Houses with the situations we see unfolding around us today. “When you look at history— particularly the history of this country—I think we like to imagine we’ve come a long way,” he said, “and in some ways we have, but really we see the same things being repeated again and again and again.”

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13

CRAZIEST YEAR EVER

A look back at some of the craziest, most dangerous years to be alive Clare Malhotra

A

sentiment frequently thrown about throughout the past year has been that 2020 is the worst year ever. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, World War Three memes circulated in response to the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, wildfires consumed California and Australia, legendary basketball player Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash, murderous hornets arrived in North America, Kanye West announced his run for president, and the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor catapulted a police brutality discussion across the country.

The widespread denouncement of 2020 likely has to do with the direct social impacts—quarantine has a more direct effect on a teenager than a distant war, no matter the casualties. People also tend to ignore any problems they didn’t experience, losing perspective on the debate over the worst year ever. While 2020 is one for the history books, numerous years in history had similar or more disastrous circumstances: series of events and unrelated simultaneous catastrophes.

536

Historians have dubbed 536 the “worst year to be alive.” After a volcanic eruption in Iceland, a strange fog plunged much of the earth into darkness for eighteen months. This led to the coldest year on record, with temperatures plummeting around 30ºF. That summer, snow fell in China. Crop failure sparked rampant famine and led to the spread of a plague five years later.

The bubonic plague, also known as Black Death, surged across Europe, killing about a third of the continent’s population. Devastatingly contagious and made all the more worse by the fact that doctors at the time lacked the necessary medical information to treat it, the disease was so severe that most people died within a few days of contraction.

1492

The most famous event of 1492, was, of course, Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas. He brought a throng of European diseases to the New World, where the native peoples had not developed the same natural immunity as Europeans. It was the beginning of the end for the Native Americans; disease would wipe out approximately 90 percent of the indigenous population in the next year. On the other side of the world, monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella exiled, enslaved, or killed 500,000 Muslims after conquering Moorish Granada.

1619

1348

Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492.

A year recently made well-known by a New York Times project and podcast, 1619 was the year that a Dutch ship brought the first African slaves to present-day Virginia in the New World. This gave rise to American slavery, such that eighty years later, six or seven million slaves would reside in the colonies. It was not until the Thirteenth Amendment, passed in 1865, that slavery was officially abolished, meaning slavery has been legal in America for longer than it has been illegal.

While 1919 should have been a joyful year as the world recovered from World War I and ushered in a new era of peace, the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1919 infected a third of the world’s population and killed more than 50 million people, targeting children and young adults. As well as this, Russia’s Civil War began and the Middle East began to redraw its borders after WWI—a source of conflict for many. Survivors in the United States could not even drown their sorrows in alcohol, as 1919 ushered in the era of prohibition.

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1919

The Tower

Nominated by two History teachers, Mr. Kamal Assaf and Dr. Nicole Holland, 1933 had an unemployment rate of 25 percent that affected everyone in the United States, no matter their prior socioeconomic status. “Banks and financial institutions closed their doors,” explained Mr. Assaf, “taking people’s wealth and life savings with them.” Hitler was legally elected to power in Germany; China was engaged in civil war; the Soviet Union, under Stalin, saw a second year of famine.

1943

1933

In 1942-43, the Holocaust reached its peak. Throughout the first few months, 1.3 million Jewish people were deported or killed from countries occupied by the Nazis. In addition, three million people died of a famine in the Bengali province when Britain increased food orders for its troops.

1968 Mr. Assaf nominated 1968, noting that “the United States was probably even more divided than it is today.” Americans learned of Lyndon B. Johnson’s deceptions regarding the Vietnam War, causing the “loss of trust and respect for the President” and government. The assassinations of two symbols of hope, Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, followed. This led to riots across the country, advocating for civil rights, and against the war.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968.

The 2001 attacks signified a change in American society and culture that would never be reversed.

2001 The 9/11 attacks ended the period of stability with almost 3,000 deaths. They led to the consequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, kickstarting much of the still-ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The tion turn ever

conclusion of 2020 may continue the craziness or ease up on the craziness. With an elecand supreme court nomination up in the air, as well as the idea of a COVID-19 vaccine, or a reto in person learning, there are several directions the final months of the year could lead. Whatthe results, it’s clear that the tragedies of 2020 tend to pale in comparison to other years in history.

LOCAL & BEYOND | Issue 02

15

DONE WITH DISTANCE Why the partial return to campus may not be worth it Caroline Schafer

T

hroughout the last month, student faces have returned to the Bishop’s campus after around 7 months of quarantine.

On Wednesday, August 26, Head of School Mr. Ron Kim and Assistant Head of School for Internal Affairs Mr. Michael Beamer emailed the senior class about the return to campus under the hybrid schedule after months of online learning.

“Our highest priority is the safety and well-being of everyone in our community,” read the email.

Every student and teacher has the choice to either stay at home or go to school on their assigned days.

Some students stayed home for convenience or personal reasons.

Students and their families had to ask themselves some important questions: is it worth going to school when you are getting half of a school experience? And would you be okay with being one of the COVID-19 spreaders that led to somebody’s death?

Senior Michael Abagyan said, “My mom told me she didn’t see it as worth it even with the small chance I would be exposed to the virus, but yeah, I thought the half experience wasn’t worth it.” He further explained that the whole point of going to school in person would be to be “able to pick up on subtle details in the classroom and little dynamics.” Over Zoom, students often accidentally talk at the same time be-

cause it’s harder to pick up on cues that suggest they’re about to talk.

Michael explained how “it’s even harder to pick up on those nonverbal cues with masks and social distancing, which makes discussion-based classes particularly difficult.”

Senior Vanessa Yang also chose not to come to school to be fair to her family. Vanessa said “the rest of my family has been really cautious about going out since the pandemic started, and they still are today, so it wouldn’t have felt fair to them if I had gone out to a space with a relatively large number of people while they’re still following social distancing and staying home as much as possible.”

Seniors (left to right) Nick Arrowsmith, Zach Fales, and Ben Kyrillos on the senior lawn taking a social distancing picture on September 4th, the first day of the hybrid schedule since Bishop’s went online due to COVID-19.

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“I did think about the morality of coming back to campus.”

- Mark Stone (‘22)

She also pointed out that staying home did not bother her because by going to school she wouldn’t be getting the same experience anyway: painting or enjoying the senior rec room or playing ping pong, a final year of highschool dances, grad night at California Adventure, and using the open campus form to get food off campus with friends, and many other senior traditions that are not possible due to the pandemic. She ultimately decided it was not worth risking getting her family sick for the abnormal circumstances of the class of 2021’s senior year.

While there are some students who chose to stay home, most attended school and plan to continue to do so. Senior Dylan Hunt explains that he still thinks it’s worth going to school. “With all the precautions, the odds are pretty low of it spreading,” he said. “I also think the school has an obligation to provide the best education possible to people who pay a lot of money to get that education.”

Senior Katherine Savchuk also had her own reasons for choosing to return to school in-person.

“In-person learning was better because the blue light from the computer gave me headaches to the point I had to take Advil, and the amount of screen time was bad for me,” she explained. “It was super nice to have that face-to-face class without having to stare at my

screen. Social distancing and wearing masks was a bit difficult at first, but I would definitely take sweating over my mask than headaches from my screen.”

Katherine explained that she is regularly tested for the virus, so she would not be putting anyone at risk.

Of course, not everyone is able to get tested often, and it can often be expensive, so this is an exception.

For the perspective of a student who has not yet been on campus, but plans on coming, Mark Stone (‘22) said “I did think about the morality of coming back to campus. After helping make PSA videos and really getting to know the precautions that Bishop’s is taking, I think they are returning to campus as safely as possible. Knowing this, I feel comfortable and am excited to get back to campus safely.” He went on to explain,“I do think that we need to come back to campus at some point, and with everything Bishop’s is doing, I think we should all be safe.”

Mark’s discussion of all the precautions shows that he put thought into it, but then again, he assumes the students will strictly follow all of the precautions.

This raises the question: if our priority is the safety and wellbeing of others, shouldn’t we stay home and not test whether it’s worth it at the cost of others’ lives?

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MASK ON, MASK OFF How public health has become a political illness Tate Vaccaro

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n April 8, New Jersey became the first state to require customers and employees to wear face coverings in business settings, enforcing the first ever mask mandate in the United States. No more than a month later, video footage of George Floyd pleading, “I can’t breathe,” as Minneapolis police officers detained him and pressed his face into the ground. The reaction among Americans was monumental, setting off a mass media revolution, widespread protests across the country, and a renewed focus on the abuses of law enforcement in the United States.

What the media also birthed was an ever-growing socio-political divide that split the nation in various ways. Activists, influencers, and political figures turned to social media platforms to demand justice for Floyd and other victims of police brutality, encouraging the general public to follow suit. What followed this was a slew of social media activism. The more people who started to voice their opinions online, the more tangible this divide became. Throw a global pandemic into the mix and sprinkle in an upcoming presidential election and it’s no wonder the nation is on fire—literally. Among one of the most controversial topics to arise in recent media feuds, however, has been the argument of mask mandates.

As of today, 34 of 50 states have legally enforced mask mandates. Surprisingly enough, or maybe not so surprisingly at all, masks are not required on a national level,

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even though the United States currently holds the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world—a total which only continues to rise.

The general argument against mask mandates is that wearing one is a personal choice. What’s not surprising, however, is the fact that, like many other things, the decision whether to wear a mask or not wear a mask has largely become a political issue withinin America.

In a July interview, President Donald Trump said that he did not support a national mask mandate, claiming that he wanted, “people to have a certain freedom,” even though studies have shown that masks help slow the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, the President has also claimed that he is, in fact, a “believer” in masks, sending mixed messages regarding the topic. The President’s murky understanding of masks has had a huge impact on the general public’s response to COVID-19, creating a rigid polarity among United States citizens that is reflective of the current political climate, if nothing else.

On one hand, according to data based on 2,200 surveys of United States adults conducted in late August, adults who identified themselves as strong supporters of President Trump said masks were “less likely” to be effective.

On the other, those who identified themselves in opposition to the President said masks are “more likely” to be effective. In sum, Democrats are more likely to wear face masks while Republicans aren’t.

The March 2020 magazine co The New Yorker depicts Presid a mask over

over by Francoise Mouly for dent Donald Trump wearing r his eyes.

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Former Vice President and current presidential candidate for the Democratic party Joe Biden claimed that if he were in the White House, he would, “do everything possible to make it required that people wear masks in public.” President Trump’s response to this was to mock Biden for wearing a mask in public, implying that doing so was Biden’s feeble attempt at making a “political statement” against him. When the public hears the words “political statement” being associated with wearing a mask, the stigma around it wearing one or not becomes one not ofaround preventing the transmission of COVID-19, but one of appealing to the ideologies of a certain political party. And this is only a fragment of the larger problem. This immense divide regarding the usage of masks is problematic for many different reasons. Perhaps most apparent, however, is the issue of enforcing mask mandates as schools reopen in the coming months.

Over the last four weeks, there has been a 90 percent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among children in the United States. Most notably, a spike in cases was seen in schools in the states of Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. As of August 4, Governor Tate Reeves issued a national mask mandate for the state of Mississippi, blaming the rise in COVID-19 cases on “protestors marching virtually every city around this country.” Florida and Georgia have yet to enforce statewide mask mandates.

After a student from North Paulding High School posted a photo on Twitter showing a crowded school hallway

with few students wearing face masks, the school received extensive media coverage and backlash online. The high school allegedly closed after 35 new cases were reported following the school’s opening. In Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, health directors reported at least 230 new cases of COVID-19 linked to various schools reopening. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state of Mississippi’s health director, said that 22 schools in the state reported cases of COVID-19 among educators, staff, and students.

The relationship between schools reopening and the political attitudes of state governors regarding mask mandates is clear: states that have not stressed the importance of wearing masks or disapproved of them have generally seen spikes in COVID-19 cases. Some school districts have even rejected their state’s guidance when it comes to reopening schools.

For example, the Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa announced that it was only offering virtual classes despite an order signed by Republican Kim Reynolds, governor of Iowa, requiring all schools to teach a minimum of half of all classes in person.

The bottom line is; wearing a mask is not a political statement.

The fact that one’s decision to wear a mask is largely dictated by their political party is telling of the United States we live in today. Pandemics are not supposed to be handled by politicians—they are supposed to be handled by scientists. Listen to the experts and wear a piece of cloth over your face, it’s really not that hard.

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HETICS EDITOR AESTHETICSEDITOR AESTHETICS EDITOR AES DITOR AESTHETICS EDITOR AESTHETICSEDITOR AESTHETIC HETICS EDITOR AESTHETICSEDITOR AESTHETICS EDITOR AES

Daniel White

Crystal Li

Lucie Edwards

Maya Buckley Sariah Hossain Clare Malhotra

All images sourced from Pinterest

Alex Cotton Kyle Berlage 20 THE BELL | Issue 02

(www.pinterest.com)

Apricot Princess Rex Orange County Eventually, Darling Declan McKenna Paper Planes M.I.A. Feeling Whitney Post Malone Beige Yoke Lore

Can you guess which most listened to track belongs to which editor?

Editors: Daniel White Alex Cotton Lucie Edwards

Sariah Hossain Crystal Li Kyle Berlage

Clare Malhotra Maya Buckley

august Taylor Swift Claudia FINNEAS Crocodile Rock Elton John

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Top Ten Rejected Top Tens

1.

Top Ten History Class Debates that Ended Poorly

6.

Top Ten Ways Faculty Reminds Us to Stay Six Feet Apart

2.

Top Ten Excuses for Being Tardy to Online School

7.

Top Ten Bishop’s Scandals

3.

Top Ten Ways to Bring Up Your Teacher’s Personal Life to Distract Them From Teaching

8.

Top Ten Excuses For When You Accidentally Start Playing TikToks Out Loud in Online Class

4.

Top Ten Times The Tower Got in Trouble

9.

Top Ten SHEIN Items that Don’t Use Child Labor

5.

Top Ten Signs that 2020 Really Really Has Not Been Your Year

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10.

Top Ten Ways to Win Ron Kim’s Heart

Photo Credits [campus]

06

Playing Through a Pandemic

08

Voter Volunteering

10

Golden Opportunity for Music

12

Futures Past

Photos courtesy of Jack Martin (‘21), Rocky Aguirre (‘21), and Maggie Keefe (‘21) Photo courtesy of @complex on Instagram

Art by Crystal Li (‘22), Photo Courtesy of Jing.fm

Art by Lucie Edwards (‘21)

[local & beyond]

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Craziest Year Ever

[cover story]

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Done with Distance

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Mask On, Mask Off

Photos courtesy of @truthserumhistory, @cultura_personale, and @twin.towers.2001 on Instagram

Photos courtesy of Ryan Hemerick (‘21)

Photo courtesy of The New Yorker, Françoise Mouly

[the bell]

22 24

Editor Aesthetics & On Repeat

Top Ten Rejected Top Tens

Photos sourced from Pinterest, Art by Lucie Edwards (‘21) Art by Lucie Edwards (‘21)

Front and back cover thanks to Lucie Edwards (‘21)

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