Issue 02 2021

Tower THE

ISSUE 02 – MMXXI

ABORT

THE LAW?

In This Issue Yearbook 06 DEIJ

18

Fall Sports 24 Electric Bikes

30

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 Campus, Arts, Sports, Culture, Local & Beyond, Opinion, and The Bell. The Tower prints multiple 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. The Staff uses Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator to arrange photographs and graphics, and distributed 400 copies of Issue 02 to the Bishop’s community. Typefaces include Saonara for the cover; Public Sans for the headlines, bylines, and subtitles; Minion Pro for the body text. Issue 02 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.

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DETAILS | ISSUE 02

CONTRIBUTORS Editors-in-Chief Sariah Hossain Clare Malhotra

Graphics Editor-in-Chief Kyle Berlage Copy Editors Crystal Li Tate Vaccaro Staff Writers Mihir Bhagatwala Isadora Blatt Ben Brown Sydney Chan Leila Feldman Bella Gallus Lily Gover Shyla Gupta Summer Hu Lucy Marek Spencer Ralph Sofi Verma Graham Walker Kayden Wang Joyce Wu Shirley Xu

Faculty Advisor Ms. Laine Remignanti

Cover Art by Sariah Hossain (‘22) and Kyle Berlage (‘22)

This issue’s cover and cover story are in reference to Texas’s new ban on abortions performed after six weeks of conception. The passage and enforcement of this bill has sparked debate across the nation on women’s rights and whether abortion rights are encompassed under bodily autonomy. Lucy Marek (‘25) dives deep into the issue in our cover story.

Social Media Follow us!

Instagram: @thebishopstower Website:

www.thebishopstower.com 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

Twitter: @thebishopstower All members of the Bishop’s community are invited to submit letters to the Editors-in-Chief by visiting our website, www.thebishopstower.com, and clicking on the ‘Submit Letter’ tab.

I had the realization,

a few days ago, that this is the last fall season I’ll spend in San Diego, at least before I move away for college. I know, I know, we don’t get ‘real’ seasons here and we’re spoiled by the temperature middling around 60º or 70º for most of the year, but the fall months are still my favorite. In my life, fall looks like starting to layer up uniform combinations every day (crewneck and puffy vest, long sleeve under polo, you know the look). It signals the start of my mom’s and my annual rewatch of Gilmore Girls, the ultimate comfort show. For me, it means the NHL season starting up again, and for my friends, this means I won’t be normal again until next June. And every fall, without fail, I add the entirety of Taylor Swift’s Red to my monthly Spotify playlist. This fragment of the year is warm and pumpkin-cinnamon-smelling and safe, and fall, or autumn if I want to be a little more poetic about it, is imbued with some amount of magic for all these reasons and one more: fall means we put Issue 02 out.

Issue 02 of The Tower is always a special one because it’s the first issue we put together with a full staff (and I mean a full staff, look how long that list on the details page is!). Journalism is such a uniquely communal phenomenon–every step in our publication cycle, from pitching to researching to editing to ‘layouting’ (trademark Clare for that word) is entirely a group effort, and it has been just the greatest pleasure for me and the editors to see our staff come together these past weeks. We were able to reinstate the Tower fall-time tradition of holding our Issue 02 layout meeting on Back to School Knight, our first proper layout since before the pandemic, and it was just as hectic and laughter-filled as I remember layouts being. It finally, really and truly, felt like fall to me.

As I realize every year when we get our whole team together for Issue 02, it’s the people of The Tower that make it so special. It’s the people of the greater Bishop’s community that make it special, too, and I think you’ll find that this issue reflects that. All of our stories here have their hearts in the issues Bishop’s cares about, from a reformed DEIJ program to the football team to climate change. Our cover story by Lucy Marek (‘25) highlights Bishop’s voices alongside clear and cogent explanations of Senate Bill 8’s impacts, expanding on similar conversations taking place on our campus. I’m so proud of the excellent reporting our staff has put into this issue.

Take a look, read it carefully, and happy fall.

Love,

Sariah Hossain

PC: Maya Buckley (‘22), Adelaide Kessler (‘25)

Editor-in-Chief

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PC: Christie Linnard (‘20)

CAMPUS

06 New Miradero 08 Scheduling: Debunked 10 Right Below Your Nose 12 Honing in on Honors 14 Participation, Not Pom-Poms 16 The Great Revival 18 DEI... and J

Kyle Berlage

How the yearbook is bouncing back from the pandemic Sariah Hossain

A behind-the-scenes look at how schedules are put together Crystal Li

Why we need to continue adhering to mask mandates as a community Shirley Xu

How students and teachers feel about the shift away from the AP curriculum Isadora Blatt

The cause and effect of Bishop’s not having cheerleaders Sydney Chan

Lunch is breaking out of the box

Lily Gover

How DEIJ is working to resolve last year’s issues

ARTS

20 Activism Through Art

Clare Malhotra

A look inside Sharisa You’s senior art exhibition

CONTENTS

SPORTS

24 Meet the Captains!

26 One Season, Three Mindsets

The fall sports captains sit down with The Tower

Leila Feldman Ben Brown

Fall seasons are starting: three different sport levels approach a new season

LOCAL & BEYOND

28 Pedal Assist to the Metal 30 Almost Ousted 32 Pitfalls of Perception

Isadora Blatt

A look into the recent rise in electric biking in La Jolla Kyle Berlage

The failed recall of Governor Newsom

Tate Vaccaro

Why our brains are so quick to ignore climate change

COVER STORY

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Abort the Law?

Lucy Marek

A look at Texas’s new abortion ban

THE BELL

36 Book Recs 38 Autumn Playlist 39 First Layout Photos!

40 Diabolical, Devious Licks 41 The Best Blended Bowls 42 No One Asked, Kyle 43 Top Ten Things We Forgot While Online

Leila Feldman & Sariah Hossain The Staff

Spencer Ralph

Isadora Blatt

Kyle Berlage

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How the yearbook is bouncing back from the pandemic

n a world shaken by a global pandemic where our only outlook was through the lens of a webcam, the longing for collective memories was immense. As we awaited the yearbook in the 2020-2021 school year—after a year full of social isolation and distance—the yearbook struggled to keep up with the demand.

Previous staff member and current Co-Editor-in-Chief Charlie Johnson (‘22) explained some of the adversity in creating a typical yearbook in a year full of atypical experiences and circumstances. “Last year, we were expected to put together a totally normal yearbook with totally normal things.We were supposed to have sports spreads while knowing that most sports didn’t end up happening last year,” she said. COVID-19 took away the community, and the yearbook team was asked to create a community book. What a conundrum.

El Miradero, translated as “The Lookout” in Spanish, is the one historical record of student involvement at our school over the course of the year. “The yearbook is a great way to look back on the past school year and activities,” detailed Will Keefe (‘23). However, creating that historical record proved very difficult in the pandemic era. In hybrid mode, many school events were postponed or did not happen at all. Consequently, the quality of the yearbook decreased, at least according to Charlie and Co-Editor-in-Chief Maddie Keck (‘22). However, the new editors of the yearbook believe they can create a better yearbook with the new opportunities provided to them by the 2021-2022 school year.

Maddie added that as COVID-19 forced the yearbook’s staff to remain at home, they were given fewer opportunities to take meaningful photos. “Last year’s yearbook was most definitely not up to our expected

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quality standards,” she explained, fur- possible,” Charlie said. ther detailing that “the photographers Now that inclusion is parahad to work within the parameters of mount to the mission of the new yearboth Bishop’s and the Centers for Dis- book, Maddie and Charlie also believe ease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)’s that they can improve the accuracy of guidelines, meaning that for a majority community tagging. The staff makes of the school year, they were only able an effort to place names next to photos to hangout with, and therefore take for identification purposes, making it photos of, people within their ‘bub- easier for community members to find ble.’” photos of themselves and their friends.

The difficulties posed to the Unfortunately, those tags can often be yearbook team meant that only 29.9% inaccurate or spelled incorrectly, as of the community were featured in Nat Sierra-Vargas (‘22) can attest to tagged pictures other than their offi- after being confused for Natalie Goldcial school portrait. This year, though, Maddie and Charlie plan on reaching out to all grades, especially middle schoolers that they recognised were previously underrepresented in the book. It’s especially important to do so now, according to Elise Watson (‘22). “We have been through a pandemic, this is the first year of normalcy, and on top of that we are planning the rest of our lives. A yearbook recognizes all that effort and struggle and helps us see the positive moments that we didn’t get time to Without the challenges of “Reconnecting...” appreciate or did not get to celebrate for other people,” during COVID-19, the yearbook this year she said. is making major changes.

The effort to pictured: Annecy Crockett (‘22) reach out and compile a more diverse range of perspectives represents a shift from wasser (‘22) in the previous yearbook. last year’s norm of texting friends for “It made me laugh but I don’t know photos, which—according to Mad- how they confused us,” Nat said. Tagdie—was perpetuated by inaction and ging teachers and students correctly ease of access. “Because Maddie and can be challenging for such a small I recognize that there was not a very yearbook staff, especially when masks diverse and inclusive representation of block the bottom half of faces. the student body in the yearbook last In an effort to solve this year, we want to make sure that we can problem, the editors plan on inviting get as many people in it this year as representatives from each grade lev-

PC: Kyle Berlage (‘22)

Kyle Berlage

M I R A D E R O -

el to come to a yearbook meeting and tag members of their grades in photos that the yearbook staff can’t determine on their own.

“While in my personal spreads, I know that I made sure to [tag people] on my own time, it is a necessity for the whole yearbook team to make sure that we are using our resources to label people correctly,” Charlie said.

Additionally, some of the yearbook staff had some difficulty getting their spreads in on time. Because the staff was unable to put together enough photos in time for the deadline to send the book to print, the yearbook was delayed and printed later on in the year. The finished version didn’t arrive to students until August. Although understandable with COVID-19 challenges, the new editors believe they can prevent such delays for this year’s copy of the yearbook.

“We want to have the pages done prior to the deadlines so that each page has sufficient time to be looked over and that the yearbook can be distributed on time,” Maddie said. To her and Charlie, keeping up with deadlines on quality photos and spreads is crucial to creating a quality yearbook, because it allows for the staff to gather better photos over the year.

As the student editors bring in new methods to improve the publication from last year, the yearbook continues. With a new cycle, a new record of a year at Bishop’s is in the works, showing how our lives progress. The copies of the yearbook found at the bottom floor of the library still serve as both a memory for those who attended

Bishop’s when they were produced, and as a looking glass into the past. History classes decades from now will copy the classes of today, descending into the reading room of the library and watching us live through one of the epochal events of the 21st century: the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions of the yearbook staff today will teach the students at Bishop’s tomorrow.

Only time can tell whether the yearbook we receive this year will improve in its quality. However, with new policies and leadership, there are reasons to hope.

The importance, of a quality yearbook cannot be overstated: both to the school at large and especially to the seniors, of whom this yearbook will be the accumulation of their last memories on this campus. “As seniors, we are too stressed right now to see it, but good things in life are happening and a yearbook gives us a chance to not miss those moments,” Elise explained. Let’s hope this Miradero has many windows to see our living community at work.

“As seniors, we are too stressed right now to see it, but good things in life are happening and a yearbook gives us a chance to not miss those moments.”

–Elise Watson (‘22)

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Scheduling: DEBUNKED A behind-the-scenes look at how schedules are put together Sariah Hossain

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very year, like clockwork, an email from Academic Dean Ms. Janice Murabayashi appears in our inboxes with a ding and a New email! notification.

Students’ phones flood with texts from friends: “Schedules are out!” and just like that, the foundation of our academic lives for the next year is set–whether they got the classes they requested or, disastrously, did not. The behind-the-scenes work of putting these schedules together can be a mystery to students. “I had no idea how they manage to make everything work out for most of us,” Joseph Aguilar (‘22) said.

So let’s pull back the curtain.

At Bishop’s, there isn’t a Wizard-ofOz-like man sitting bumbling and alone behind the curtain. Rather, it’s a team of administrators and faculty who work on courses and scheduling, led largely by Ms. Murabayashi and our college counselors: Director of College Counseling Ms. Wendy Chang, Ms. Noor Haddad, Mr. AJ Jezierski, and Ms. Marsha Setzer.

“People play different roles at different times in the process,” Ms. Murabayashi said. For example, she continued, Academic Assistant to Head of Upper School Ms. Marianne Kullback and Registrar Ms. Rachael Garcia contribute greatly to the early days before a given school year ends, sifting through course recommendations from teachers and making the course catalog accessible to students.

Once all our course requests are

received, the scheduling program builds a ‘matrix,’ or a massive grid with teachers and periods all laid out to determine what classes are offered at which times, according to Ms. Setzer.

According to Ms. Murabayashi, it needs to be told what courses are being offered and how many sections of each there should be. “We’re very student-driven from year to year,” she said, “so we don’t just say there’s only going to be one period of

al)–and electives like Journalism or Bishop’s Singers. These aren’t able to be split into multiple sections at all.

“Once we have [the data] cleaned up and set up, I ‘push the button,’ and what the program tries to do is get as many students into as many classes as it can,” Ms. Murabayashi said.

From there follow several iterations of this “button-pushing” where the scheduling program attempts to populate as many students into as many requested classes as it can, keeping in mind evenness of class size and gender balance in sections, Ms. Murabayashi said. And, of course, graduation requirements are prioritized. After any given round, the team will comb through the computer’s output and manually switch around a period or two to try to get matches for the greatest possible number of students and the least number of conflicts.

“You may not feel like this, but there is a lot of work done on the back end to avoid as many of those conflicts as possible,” Ms. Setzer said. “It’s impossible to offer every class in every period, so decisions have to be made to put classes in certain periods.”

With the most widely offered, grade-level classes, scheduling conflicts are few and far between since there’s usually numerous sections of, say, Precalculus or Honors Biology, which are both classes taken by the majority of juniors. Trouble with conflicts most often arises with, naturally, the classes that are only offered one period,

“ ” It’s impossible to offer every class in every period, so decisions have to be made to put classes in certain periods.

-College Counselor Ms. Marsha Setzer

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[a certain class]: we see what the requests are.” This means there may be four sections of Honors European History one year and three the next, if rising sophomores of the next grade are, for whatever reason, less drawn to European History. This year, for example, saw an unprecedented number of students sign up for Honors Psychology, leading to the splitting of six sections between History and Social Sciences teachers Mrs. Emily Smith and Ms. Karri Woods.

The exceptions to this rule are some advanced classes that require applications– say, Advanced Honors English or Honors U.S. Government and Politics (Mock Tri-

Putting together students’ schedules can be like a puzzle or sudoku-type game.

PC: Sariah Hossain (‘22)

like those electives or higher-level courses requiring prerequisites or applications.

“Any class that has multiple grades in it, it’s never going to find one period that works for everyone,” Ms. Murabayashi said, “So, there’s always going to be somebody who’s kind of left out, which is a bummer, but that’s the tricky thing about a single class that has four grades in its span.”

Joseph was faced with one such scheduling dilemma at the beginning of this school year, when he found out he wouldn’t be able to enroll in Acting Workshop or Bishop’s Singers, two high-level arts extracurriculars that he’d been partaking in for years. “It was a bummer, at first,” he said.

“I was looking forward to all the senior projects, to being a senior in those classes and getting the privileges of doing that, and then it didn’t pan out because of scheduling gods and luck.”

He did learn to make the best of it, taking part in choir when he can and be-

ginning an Independent Study in directing with Performing Arts teacher Mrs. Samantha Howard. “I’m learning more about directing and I’m going to be able to direct my own show at the end of the year, and I don’t think I would’ve been able to do that if I’d been in [Acting Workshop] from the start,” he said. “I’m partially bummed about it, but I’m partially thankful that it happened.”

Acting Workshop is one of those tricky classes that are only offered one period, all dubbed ‘singletons’ by Ms. Murabayashi. “From what I’ve seen, [conflicts] also ends up mostly being kids who take performing arts classes, because most are singletons,” corroborated Sophia Gleeson (‘24), who was admitted to the School’s most advanced dance class, Performing Dance Group, but wasn’t able to take the class due to a conflict with a chemistry lab.

When a situation like Joseph’s arises, Ms. Murabayashi and our college

counselors work closely with students to try for the best possible outcome. “When a student has a conflict, I find it important to be upfront in explaining what the situation actually is,” Mr. Jezierski told The Tower.

“If it is course X vs. course Y, and there is no way to fit both, the student will have to make a choice. Sometimes, other things can be moved around to make everything fit, but this isn’t always the case.”

According to Ms. Murabayashi, as students move up in grade level and more electives or advanced courses become available to them, the more mentally prepared they should be for a conflict. “The great thing is that you get more opportunities, and as a result of those opportunities, you also have to make more choices,” she said.

Such is the great burden of the Bishop’s high schooler.

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RIGHTBELOW

Why we need to continue adhering to mask mandates as a community

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t feels almost surreal. Being back on campus, mingling among your friends, lining up at the cafeteria… Although the fall of 2019 feels like a distant dream, what you’re seeing tugs at your heartstrings.

Everything looks almost the same—except for those masks.

According to the California Department of Public Health, San Diego County currently recommends and requires masking in certain settings such as on public transit, campus indoors, and healthcare facilities. “Numerous studies have shown that masking actually protects people from getting the infection,” explained Dr. Anthony Pelletier, Science teacher and experienced virologist. “But it’s probably most effective at preventing people from giving the infection.”

Bishop’s has consistently made it clear that our community is committed to offering on-campus learning in a pandemic-conscious environment. “Students are much better at following the rules this year than last spring,” said Dr. Leo Landrey, a Latin teacher who strictly adheres to masking policies. “So I think we are doing better as a community.”

Though the beginning of this school year has improved significantly from the uncertainty that dominated the last school year, we as a community should continue to hold ourselves up to the original standards—especially following pandemic guidelines such as mask mandates.

However, by just taking a quick walk around the indoor spaces on our campus, it is hard to ignore the countless masks carelessly hanging below students’ noses.

“Mask compliance has been spotty,” Dr. Pelletier observed. “The biggest problem I have seen is in casual settings… what has troubled me in places like lunch or chapel is people not wearing

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Crystal Li

YOUR NOSE

t heir masks properly and the adults around them not correcting them.”

As the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant sweeps across the country—and many people remain unvaccinated—some experts are advising people to go back to the basics of prevention. For many of us, that now means wearing a mask again even if we’ve had the vaccine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there has been a significant increase in new cases as of late August, contrasting what had been a steady decline since January of this year.

Towards the end of June, the seven-day moving average of reported cases was approximately 12,000; on July 27, however, the seven-day moving average of cases reached over 60,000. “I remember the days when the number of new cases in San Diego was very low,” Ms. Julianne Zedalis, a Biology and Forensic Science teacher known for her enthusiasm in maintaining classroom sanitation, recalled. “I think the Delta variant came out of the left field, and it took a lot of people by surprise.” This case rate resembled life before the vaccine was widely available.

This increase in cases is not exactly surprising as this new variant causes more infections and spreads faster than early forms of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. In two different studies from Canada and Scotland, patients infected with the Delta variant were more likely to be hospitalized than patients infected with Alpha or the original virus. Even so, the vast majority of hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 are in unvaccinated people.

It’s clear that unvaccinated indi-

viduals remain the greatest concern. Fully vaccinated people get COVID-19 less often—referred to as breakthrough infections—than unvaccinated people. People infected with the Delta variant, including fully vaccinated people with symptomatic breakthrough infections, can transmit the virus to others. The CDC continues to assess data on whether fully vaccinated people with asymptomatic breakthrough infections can transmit the virus. Given what we know about the Delta variant, vaccine effectiveness, and current vaccine coverage, layered prevention strategies, including wearing masks, are needed to reduce the transmission of this variant.

“What we’re seeing now is extremely concerning,” said Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, associate professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. A record-high 2,396 children were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of September 7, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. And the school year has just started.

According to Bishop’s Knights News, of the school’s staff and faculty who have shared their vaccination status, more than 95% are fully vaccinated.

Of the 74% of students who have shared their vaccination information, approximately 85% are fully vaccinated. It is important to note that the majority of the student body that are unvaccinated are in sixth grade—most are ineligible because vaccines still have not been approved for children under 12.

To be clear, there’s no evidence that the Delta variant is targeting chil-

“As inconvenient as it is, it is a minor thing to do. It has to be done and it’s not going to be forever.”

- Ms. Julianne Zedalis we dren more than other age groups, but since the vaccines are still unavailable for youths in contrast to adolescents and adults, the cause is clear. Thinking closer to home, we have more than 150 sixth and seventh graders on our campus this year. With the Delta variant, the CDC recommends students from kindergarten through grade 12, along with teachers and visitors, to wear masks in school. In Mississippi and Florida, thousands of students just starting their school year have already had to quarantine. And it doesn’t take much for COVID-19 to shut down a school again.

Even one case can have a ripple effect on students, faculty, and staff.

The science department is one group of faculty members who takes indoor classroom safety to another level. “My understanding is that you are supposed to wear a mask inside all the time in classes. The only exception is that you can take off your mask to drink… or to eat,” said Dr. Pelletier, who has a classroom in the basement of the science building. “But, for example, for my advisory,

don’t eat in here. When we have snacks, we go outside. It has proven very hard to catch this disease outside.”

Ms. Zedalis, who expressed that she feels extremely lucky to have a classroom filled with opened windows, also keeps strict watch over the adherence to mask mandates during school hours. All of her students appreciate the care she puts into placing sanitizers and sanitary wipes on each of the desks in the room for wiping commonly-used surfaces. Besides maintaining this COVID-safe environment in her room, she also observes the entrance to the building, which is close to her workspace. “If I were to sit out there, I do see students going into the science building… without masks, arguing with me that only a [physical] classroom is really indoors,” she told me. “And I said no, since once you go through those doors, even if they’re open, you need your masks on.” Just as she finished her sentence, we observed a group of girls walking into the building unmasked.

“I think the policies we have are good,” said Juni Raisinghani (‘23), who has a sibling in 7th grade. “We just need people to take them more seriously, and in general, realize that this pandemic is far from over.

We need to be more cautious.” James Hou

(‘23), who also has a sibling in middle school, added, “I’d tell everyone to think less selfishly and think about how others can be affected by our own actions.”

So please, pull those masks above your nose.

Let’s make this a collective norm.

Many faculties and students have used the word “community” repeatedly to emphasize what we need to do together as a school.

“COVID-19 is a pretty scary disease, and mask-wearing is a simple thing we can do to keep each other safe and keep ourselves as a community learning in person healthy and strong,” Dr. Landrey remarked. It’s a little sacrifice to make to keep learning in-person safely and healthily.

PC: Crystal Li (‘23)

The cafeteria is one of the places where on-campus COVID-19 guidelines have changed drastically compared to the last school year.

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HONING IN

ON HONORS

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each class to better fit the students’ needs and provide more time to cover other topics, the change also allows teachers to improve, too.

“It also makes you a better teacher—to be able to design your own curriculum,” Mr. Ruiz added. I think to implement an exact curriculum is always going to ignore the people who are in the room.” However, Mr. Valji noted, “With great freedom, comes great responsibility.”

While teachers are provided more wiggle room in what they teach, students feel the effect when taking these Honors courses as well. Emma Hong (‘22) is happy that she now has more freedom to learn things she wants to learn. In contrast, taking a course for the AP test is “all about learning it how College Board wants you to learn it,” according to Emma. “It just saps the life out

here matters on its own terms,” said English teacher Mr. Adam Davis. In Issue 5 of The Tower in 2017, Collin Douglas (‘18) covered the school’s English department taking the first revolutionary stride away from AP classes in his article “Advanced Erasement: No More English AP’s.” Mr. Davis was one of the voices featured in the article. For Mr. Davis, a big part of the move to Honors is how it may impact the way students decide their course selections for the year. “Now that the school has dropped the AP,” he said, “my hope is that the grade bump will also be dropped as it tends to have a negative impact on student interest in courses.” Mr. Davis questioned, “Are students following their passions or just the desire for a boost when applying to honors courses?”

For English teacher Dr. Clara Boyle, who was also featured in the 2017

“With great freedom, comes great responsibility.”

- Mr. Matthew Valji of learning, because it just turns into machines memorizing formulas and facts, just so you can get a 5 on the test,” she said.

Latin and Greek teacher Dr. David Banta expressed that, “The College Board is not a very flexible beast or an innovator in circular matters.” As a member of the College Board AP Latin Board, Dr. Banta said he looks forward to grading student responses for the AP Latin Exam each June.

However, he is also grateful for the school’s separation from the exam. “There needs to be room for innovation separate from the College Board,” he says.

“We may be a college-preparatory school, but I believe we’re more than a pipeline to college: the education we offer

Tower article, the shift to Honors has been liberating. “What I appreciate about the Honors classes is that there’s not some external measure,” she mentioned. In 2017, Dr. Boyle recalled helping students understand “what the College Board wants.” In contrast, she thinks the new Honors English courses feel “more authentic.”

Science Department Chair Mr. Ben Heldt viewed the school’s move towards Honors as “not a one, two, or threeyear process.” Mr. Valji agreed with this notion. “The decision made by the school is about the future [of Bishops], and what it would mean for Bishop’s not just right now, but also in 5 or 10 years,” he said.

While Emma Hong is an avid Art by Shirley Xu (‘23)

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e’re conscious that it’s… a transition year,” reflected History teacher Mr. Raul Ruiz on The Bishop’s School’s shift away from Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered by the College Board. This change impacts many upper school teachers and students, as Bishop’s joins over a dozen other elite private schools such as Phillips Exeter Academy in abolishing the AP curriculum.

Mr. Ruiz is one of the School’s Honors European History teachers. The course may be more recognizable by its previous beloved name, AP Euro. In 2017, the English department became the first to move away from Advanced Placement exams and courses in favor of their “Honors” counterparts, a transition that would soon become school-wide as other departments followed. In the modern post-pandemic 2021, many upper school courses are completing this switch, complete with a spanking new name to top it off. What does this change mean for students and faculty?

What impact does this make on Bishop’s future?

In a 2019 letter to Bishop’s students and families, Academic Dean Ms. Janice Murabayashi announced that the school’s Science and History departments would continue in the English department’s footsteps. Among other advantages, Ms. Murabayashi discussed the freedom the school’s decision would bring to teachers.

According to Honors European History teacher Mr. Matthew Valji, “moving away from the AP means we don’t have to treat the material as quickly… or as superficially as we might have in the past.”

Mr. Ruiz shared this sentiment.

He brought up the fact that the strengths of students vary each year. In his opinion, a class is “supposed to be a dialogue between what the teacher sees and what the students are interested in, or what you think they need the most.” Not only does the absence of an AP assessment allow teachers to adapt

Shirley Xu

How students and teachers feel about the shift away from the AP curriculum

supporter of the school’s transition away from APs, she admits that for her, the transition period is frustrating and feels awkward; “I’m taking them anyways, but the school’s moving away from it, which means more studying for me outside of school.” It’s hard for her to move away from, because she’s so used to taking the AP exams.

Andrew Chang (‘22) shares a similar viewpoint. “Although preparation for AP exams became more tiring,” he reflected, “I am still largely in favor of the school’s decision.” Andrew said it’s important to note the importance AP exams hold in terms of college—and not only during the application process. “AP exams are helpful in reducing the number of courses you’ll have to take in college, and can give you more freedom in picking courses or the ability to graduate early/on time,” he said.

For Andrew, “the factors that lead up to taking an AP exam are a mix of parental pressure, a want for future college credit, and what I felt colleges wanted to see.” From his perspective, “the Bishop’s environment definitely has an impact.”

According to him, “AP exams are almost seen as a status symbol. When people discovered how many AP exams I was taking last year (6), it became attributed to who I was.”

Although it does not play a role

in deciding whether or not she personally takes an AP exam, Emma acknowledged the influence the nature of Bishop’s has on AP exams. “For some… there is a pressure to take more AP tests when they see their friends are all doing it,” she said.

She mentions that because Bishop’s is an environment where everyone is “good,” it is sometimes difficult not to get competitive. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Such an environment “pushes you to study for it too.”

Kasie Leung (‘23) supports the school’s transition like Andrew and Emma. She also agrees that the circumstances at Bishop’s impact the nature of APs. She reflected, “challenging oneself is seen as a positive trait [at Bishop’s].”

However, Kasie admits that “sometimes the changes feel very superficial.” She brings up math courses Honors Calculus AB and Honors Calculus BC, “I guarantee that a lot of people taking Honors Calc AB and Honors Calc BC will still take the AP test for college credit.” Kasie wonders, “if Bishop’s wanted to give teachers more freedom, why would they still have the classes named ‘AB’

and ‘BC,’ a College Board convention?”.

Both Kasie and Emma will continue to take AP exams for the time being.

“But in the future,” Emma pondered, “if nobody took AP exams, I would consider not taking them either.” At the end of the day, Bishop’s is very much in the process of fully transitioning towards Honors courses. “Change can be challenging and difficult,” said Mr. Valji. While many support the school’s move away from APs, it may take several more years for students to fully embrace the Honors life at Bishop’s.

Emma Hong (‘22) describes that many Bishop’s students may be pressured into taking more AP tests because they “see their friends are all doing it.”

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PARTICIPATION, NOT

POM-POMS

The cause and effect of Bishop’s not having cheerleaders Isadora Blatt

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In 1971, Bishop’s merged with a nearby all-boys school called San Miguel. Girls’ athletic teams had already been established long before.

Mrs. Crawford presumed that since there had never been cheerleaders, there was a general agreement that a cheer team was unnecessary. “There was simply never that dynamic where the boys were the athletes, and the girls were cheering them on,” she explained.

Some might consider The Dungeon to be Bishops’ equivalent to cheer. Senior Angie Robles, a head member of the group this year, expressed her opinion that The Dungeon is superior to cheerleaders due to its inclusiveness and spirit. “With cheerleaders, you have this preppy, girly persona, but anyone can join The Dungeon,” she said. “I think The Dungeon is a lot more hype.

We get the crowd much more involved.”

Another student, Lexi Black (‘24), reflected on the multiple football games she’s attended this year. “I think it makes our games seem different than the average high school, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.” She agreed with Angie’s standpoint, saying, “This way, everyone has the opportunity to be in The Dungeon their senior year.”

On the other hand, Tani Guiterez, a sophomore at Point Loma High, has been doing cheer for multiple years now. She loves the bond that she and the other cheerleaders have built with each other, explaining that she first joined the team to branch out and meet new people. “I definitely think that being a part of cheer has opened my world,” she said.

However, the stereotype that people tend to have surrounding cheerleaders has made Tani frustrated in the past. “It’s especially due to the fact that in movies, cheerleaders

are portrayed as unathletic girls who have beauty but no brains,” she elaborated, referring to popular series such as Bring It On. These misconceptions frequently generalize the community of people who participate in cheer.

In fact, the debate over whether or not cheer is a sport is a prominent one – especially referring to competitive cheer, as opposed to sideline cheer. The cheer community has expressed that it’s a rigorous physical activity requiring intensive training, contrary to popular stereotypes.

In August 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognized cheerleading as an olympic sport, potentially starting in 2028.

International Cheer Union President Jeff Webb told NBC that this was a major turning point in the cheer world. “This decision will greatly assist us as we strive to create opportunities for healthy participation and competition for millions of cheer athletes worldwide,” he said.

Having no cheer program at all means Bishop’s avoids the issue of cheerleader stereotypes altogether, and many people feel as if there isn’t anything missing at all. As usual, Director of Athletics Meghan Carr had a positive outlook on this topic. She felt that when The Dungeon is done right, there’s never a lack of spirit due to our not having cheerleaders. “This year, I think our senior class has a really cool vibe,” she said enthusiastically. “If our school community buys into that spirit, there should never feel like there’s something missing.”

Head of School Mr. Ron Kim agreed, saying rather simply, “let’s just all be cheerleaders together.”

PC: Kyle Berlage (‘22), Charlie Johnson (‘22)

W

hat actually makes Bishop’s a “different kind of cool”? The phrase is constantly tossed around, but never truly discussed.

Maybe it has to do with our super cool daily “milk break,” or the iconic bell tower that never actually rings? Perhaps, another important aspect is that our school has never had cheerleaders.

Naturally, their absence is most significant at our home football games.

At some point throughout the game, new crowd members will likely notice the line of cheerleaders on the opposite side of the field: sporting their school colors, doing stunts, and waving pompoms. Subsequently, they might notice the lack of cheerleaders on our side.

Then comes halftime, and as the football players trickle off onto the sidelines to guzzle water and regroup, the field is left empty. The home team has no cheerleaders to entertain the crowd during the break. That is, unless you consider the football teams’ midgame warm-ups as a halftime show.

For those wondering where the no-cheerleaders tradition originated, English teacher Mrs. Kara Crawford, who has taught at Bishop’s for 23 years, had answers. In 1909, Bishop’s was originally established as an all-girls boarding school. Though she started teaching well after Bishop’s was no longer only girls, Mrs. Crawford said that as an allgirls school, “Bishop’s was much more forward-thinking for young women than others at the time.” Back in the day, finishing schools were much more common, where girls were taught social graces in preparation for entry into society. Mrs. Crawford explained that on the contrary, from early on, a stated goal of the school was to prepare young women for entrance into top colleges.

Despite not having cheerleaders, the Bishop’s crowd always brings school spirit with fun clothing themes. For example, on September 4, the home football game against Rancho Christian was western-themed, so the Knights came dressed for the occasion.

“I think The Dungeon is a lot more hype.”

– ANGIE ROBLES (‘22)

Angie Robles (‘22) is pictured among fellow seniors, cheering on the Knights at a Hawaiian–themed football game against Maranatha Christian on August 28.

Contrasting against the crowd from the opposing team, the only people present on the field from Bishop’s are the players and coaches themselves. No cheerleaders in sight.

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T H E G R E AT REVIVAL REVIVAL

“W

e are here for you guys. That’s the most important thing.

We’re here for you,” said Ms. Sara Sweet, Director of Food Services. She and her team are dedicated to making a smooth transition from the COVID-19 lunch system of last year to the current system, which is closer to the days before the pandemic, and others are noticing. “I really love Sara and her team and everything that they do,” English teacher Mr. Adam Davis shared. They have the “hardest job on campus, and [are doing] a fantastic job.”

The kitchen staff serves lunch to almost everyone who studies or works on campus. They are in charge of creating the menu, which not only is delicious and nutritious, but also accommodates all kinds of dietary needs and restrictions, such as lactose free, gluten free, and vegetarian.

The lunch system before COVID-19 hit has always involved multiple self-serve stations such as pasta, salad, tacos, and sandwiches, which did not require much manpower from the staff members and were generally popular, according to Senior Ellie Hodges. In particular, Ellie really misses the salad bar. She continued to mention, “[that bar] was so solid.”

During the pandemic-ridden

2020-2021 school year, Ms. Sweet and her team had to resort to prepackaged utensils and lunches in individually-portioned boxes. This not only was labor-intensive, but it also greatly reduced the culinary variety for lunch. Instead of freshly cooked gourmet food plus self-serving stations, the focus largely switched to safety. While the options were limited last year, it was certainly safe, and some were even able to find a silver lining. Emi Ayala-Sekiguchi (‘24) thought the lunches were “easy to transport, especially if you had a club meeting.”

By the time the 2021-2022 year rolled around, with the new CDC guidelines in place, Ms. Sweet and her team were ready to open up the cafeteria a bit more.

She said the transition is “going pretty well,” but noticed some serious roadblocks.

To begin, this lunch system in our “new normal” remains very labor-intensive. Due to the fact that there are no self-serving stations anymore, the kitchen staff now have to go back and forth between cooking and serving. In fact, Ms. Sweet had to step away multiple times during our interview to serve more pasta to the hungry students.

Although the number of kitchen staff has “increased by one position to help clean and serve,” Ms. Sweet continued to stress over other COVID-induced challenges that she has little control over. Many students and faculty may have noticed that some days, pasta is served in disposable paper bowls, and plastic utensils are provided, whereas on other days, reusable bowls and silverware are used.

Ms. Sweet shared that, this is, in fact, due to the School having “a hard time finding dishwashers.” Additionally, the new plates which the School ordered will not arrive for awhile. This is because the

pandemic is affecting productivity all over the world, and it is difficult to predict if and when supplies will arrive. Therefore, Ms. Sweet encourages the students to do their part, and take their dishes to dish drop instead of leaving them all over the campus.

This will help reduce the workload of the staff and minimize misplacement of the dishes that we currently have.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Ms. Sweet was informed that the location which was supposed to deliver 300 lbs of meat to be used for lunch a couple of days

“It was so time consuming to fill the boxes, manage to keep them hot, and cross our fingers that the food wasn’t too wet which would soften the box,” Ms. Sweet expressed.

“We are here for you guys.

That’s the most important thing. We’re here for you.”

- Ms. Sara Sweet

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Lunch is breaking out of the box Sydney Chan

later, did not have enough to fill the order. Fortunately, she was able to find another 100 lbs somewhere else to make up for the shortage, but things like that just happen nowadays. Although the kitchen staff “[has] limitations just like [students] do,” Ms. Sweet said passionately, “we feel we are still just trying to make good food that you guys like, and do the best we can.” She continued, “When you like something, don’t like something, [or] see a problem, talk to me.”

Overall, the newly adapted system is well received. Ellie expressed that even though many students miss the freedom and variety of self-serve stations, the quality of the main courses currently is way better.

Wendy Gonzalez (‘24) also applauded the kitchen staff for their continued efforts to find ways to cut down on waste. This is all good news, given the current lunch system may have to remain for the unforeseeable future due

Students are excited to use real plates to eat lunch on, served by Ms. Maria Moreno and Ms. Sondra Lara (pictured). Like Emeraude Westlake (‘24), many enjoy going through the lunch lines that are towards one side of the cafeteria.

PC: Sara Sweet, Sydney Chan (‘24)

The kitchen staff, like Mr. Fernando Figueroa and Ms. Laura Rivas (pictured), work hard and are continuing to make sure to feed us delicious and nutritious meals by incorporating different vegetables into our lunches.

to the ongoing pandemic.

While there are some obvious downsides to the current lunch serving system, such as the higher cost of extra manpower, and potentially longer lines, there are also elements which, to some, are definitely improvements from the old system. During our interview, Mr. Davis shared a hilarious experience that involved a hungry middle schooler who dug his most likely unwashed bare hands into the cheese bowl on a taco Tuesday. Mr. Davis laughed as he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever had cheese since.”

Though self-serve stations will probably come back by necessity, Mr. Davis reflected, he doesn’t think they’ll come back anytime soon. “Though I have faith in students’ ability to take the safety precautions needed, past experience and example of behavior otherwise haunts me,” he said. He questioned if there needed to be more people policing in order to make sure that we’re staying extra cautious as a community, and chuckled when questioning if the School needed to pledge allegiance to our community health and those guidelines.

Food for thought; maybe this new system should stay for good?

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I

t is no secret that DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice), or “JEDI” as some advisors like to call it now, received some negative feedback last year.

This year, the program is going through some changes, the most obvious being the addition of Justice to its title. Hopefully, these new changes will resolve some of the challenges that students and advisors experienced.

The original intent of DEI was to increase attention to racial justice in the midst of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement by creating a space to talk about issues that affect the community outside of chapel talks. According to the Bishop’s website’s section on DEIJ, “In the upper school, we hope students navigate difficult conversations and engage in thoughtful discussion about the world they will inherit.”

To help align this with the mission of the school, the DEIJ team decided to add a J, for justice. Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, Mr. David Thompson noted that, “Two of our school’s core values are inclusion and justice. Adding the ‘J’ aligns this work with the purpose of our school; there’s no question, no doubt that we’re gonna do this work, and there’s no question, no doubt that this work is a part of our identity as a school. We want to do so in a way that is fair, in a way that is thoughtful, so the J roots diversity and equity in our founding as an institution.”

Last year, many students complained to advisors and each other about spending time on lectures outside of class, or talking about important conversations while not actually having those conversations. From the students’ perspective, the idea of the program was great, but some found fault with the implementation. “There is value in the concept of DEIJ, but the execution needs to be better,” Raphael Delgado (‘24) said.

One major issue that arose in the attempt to have these conversations was student participation. A central cause of students not contributing to discussions, along with lack of interest, was fear or discomfort. “These were very deep discussions to have when you are not comfortable with either your advisor or the group as a whole,” observed Ms. Rikke Sommer, World Languages teacher and advisor. “Students often felt that they knew what we wanted them to say, and they were not comfortable saying something that wasn’t in line with the

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accepted, politically correct answer.”

Mr. Thompson summed up the challenges of running DEIJ: “It’s really hard to please everyone.” Not all students are uncomfortable sharing their voices, such as Raphael, who describes himself as “an abnormally political person, I am not afraid to voice my opinions.” He recognized, however, that “a lot of people didn’t enjoy engaging in them, or didn’t engage in them at all.” Adding to this, Lilian Franqui (‘25) commented about her experience so far that “A lot of people don’t like to expand, so we’ll get one-word answers, like ‘good’.”

Mr. Thompson described that different people within the Bishop’s community have very different levels of understanding, knowledge, and participation in subjects surrounding DEIJ. There are people who discuss these issues regularly, and there are people who are learning that these issues exist for the first time. “We have people in our community who think this program moves too fast, and people who think that we should move slower. The biggest challenge is trying to figure out how in the course of 25 minutes we create opportunities that hope to meet students on both ends of that spectrum. The hope is that we do this work thoughtfully, and we meet students where they are,” he explained.

It has been recognized by the DEIJ team that students are going to have different levels of comfort with DEIJ conversations, but as of right now there appears to be more of an effort to reform the structure of the lessons rather than addressing the lack of trust and discomfort. However, changing the structure could help the issue by allowing more flexibility with lesson plans, which is one of the changes implemented this year.

Some advisors found an easy fix for student participation: change the topic to something the students are interested in. When students care about a certain issue or event and are expressing more opinions on that than the planned lesson, sometimes advisors would let that conversation play out instead of forcing the planned one. For example, Science teacher and advisor Ms. Rachel Ching remembered that “We did have a specific case where the shootings in Atlanta happened so we changed the topic in response to what was actually happening in real time around us.”

The ASBC room is now the DEIJ room, where many affinity groups such as LASO meet.

DEI.................

PC: Lily Gover (‘24)

and J

.........

How DEIJ is working to resolve last year’s issues Lily Gover

Addressing the question of flexibility, Mr. Thompson explained that this year topics and questions will be more open ended. The point will be more on the conversation than the actual question or topic—geared towards student participation and voices rather than and sticking to set lesson plans.

With this new lens, it seems that the DEIJ experience is now heavily dependent on the advisors. Each advisor will have a different level of flexibility, a different ability to make sure everyone is participating, and find that spark that turns the conversation into a fruitful one.

Advisors this year will face the challenge of finding a balance for students on both ends of the experience spectrum. “The hope is that we do this work thoughtfully, and meet students where they are,” explained Mr. Thompson.

Another major change to DEIJ is the involvement of students in the planning process.

You might remember receiving an email about applying for DEIJ student programming, one

year’s. The email declared that “this year’s theme throughout the school is compassion. Everything we do will attempt to connect a topic or discussion to that theme.”

To address the spectrum of students’ levels of experiences that Mr. Thompson described, the email states that “We want to build a structure that engages grades 6-12 through skills and content, so that the entire school can address similar topics at the same time, but in ways that get deeper and more challenging as students get older. We do not want students to feel like they’re repeating lessons, beyond the introductory conversations each year that reinforce guidelines for discussion to all who are new and returning, alike.”

Finally, to connect back to the purpose of DEIJ, the email defines that “The purpose of the DEIJ Advisory is in part to share information about topics, terms, and social justice issues, however, the real crux of the program is for you and your peers to practice difficult con-

“There’s no doubt that this work is a part of our identity as a school.”

— Mr. David Thompson of the opportunities being to “help design and lead some DEIJ advisory activities.” This student group has now been formed and will give their input and lead lessons for adult advisors.

These students recently received an email from Mr. Thompson and mathematics teacher and member of the DEIJ team Ms. Seymour about the structure and changes to DEIJ. According to the email, every four lessons will be grouped as a sequence: an introduction to the topic, content, depth and understanding, and developing ideas on how to take action. In total, these lessons will add up to four or five hours over the school year, in sixteen 25 minute sessions.

One student who is involved in DEIJ planning, Lilian Franqui (‘25), when asked if she thinks that 25 minutes is sufficient, laughed, “Definitely not. The first ten minutes are the teachers trying to just get their content out, and there’s 10 minutes of discussion, and five minutes of lecture but it’s really not enough time to talk about real-world issues.”

These lessons hope to include the themes and values of the school, specifically this

versations so in your lives outside of DEIJ you can become more informed and engaged.” Many advisors found that some conversations last year were not very successful in any way, such as Ms. Sommer, who shared, “While these were very important topics, I don’t think they generated an equally as important and fruitful discussion.”

This year, the goal of simply having these conversations has been clarified and refocused towards.

The creation of DEIJ was a whirlwind last year, taking off quickly without enough time to carefully prepare and thoroughly plan out the structure and plan of the program. Ms. Ching, empathizing with the creators of DEIJ, appreciates that “This is only the second year in its current form and it’s a challenging thing to put together.” So far, we have yet to experience any major changes to DEIJ, but as the addition of the J shows, they will be coming.

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A C T I V I S M T H R O U G H This painting, called Among the Ashes, was inspired by the California wildfires and society’s obsession with material goods.

“When people hear evacuation, the first thing they think of is all the stuff they have to pack up,” Sharisa explained.

Refuge was originally a photo Sharisa took from the steps of the Bishop’s front office. She filled in the inside, hoping to convey the solitary nature of an immigrant’s journey, particularly the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean Sea common to the European migrant crisis.

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Art by Sharisa You (‘22)

In 2019, Sharisa did a sewing internship in Shanghai, where she worked with several women who had spent their childhoods working in factories. She named the piece Unseen Hands to enforce the idea that child labor is involved in every aspect of our lives.

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A look inside Sharisa You’s senior art exhibition

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ou might have seen the vibrant artwork of Senior Sharisa You gracing the stairwell on your way to the library’s bottom floor. A solitary brown canoe. A horse laden with rainbow packages. A charcoal-drawn woman shrouded in COVID headlines.

“I wanted to showcase a lot of the different styles I’ve tried over the years,” she explained.

Sharisa has spent a significant portion of her life on art and has been working on her portfolio throughout high school.

She’s attended art classes since the age of

much drawing in color pencil.”

Sharisa joined Bishop’s in sixth grade, and, as she grew up and had elective abilities, began to take art classes in school.

In middle school and freshman year, she took Drawing and Painting I and II, then did an independent study freshman and sophomore years, working on her AP Art Portfolio. She had a significant amount of technical experience with art at that point, due to all her lessons, but grappled with expressing creativity.

“I don’t think it was that I wasn’t creative,” Sharisa said. “I was taught in a

T

Clare Malhotra

the water.

“That’s something I’ve been trying to do—experiment with a lot of different styles, not just focus on one and try to get better at it,” she said. “I feel like this diversifies your portfolio and it diversifies how you use media, even if that’s not the media you’re practicing.”

Sharisa explained that she has always understood that art is not simply about looking pretty; rather, it’s about telling a story. One of her first memorable experiences with art was looking at Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork and marveling at how such simple

“There’s so much work in museums that, as an artist, leaves me thinking, and I feel like that’s the captivating part of art that no other medium on this earth can hold.”

— Sharisa You (‘22) three and has worked her way up to her vivid and diverse art exhibition in the library.

The guiding question of her AP portfolio and exhibit: how can art spread awareness about social or political issues?

While she started lessons outside of school at a barely-toddling age, she still had to work diligently to produce art she was proud of. “I think that art came relatively naturally to me,” she said. “But I’ve had my fair share of struggles.”

Sharisa explained that she has trouble portraying faces and human body proportions, as well as just pencil sketching.

“People might think this is weird because it seems easier than painting since there’s no color balancing involved, but I don’t know,” she said. “I guess [graphite sketching] was challenging because I grew up doing so

way that all my art that I was doing, up until middle school was some form of replication. When I came into [Chair of Visual Arts] Ms. [Elizabeth] Wepsic’s class, none of the kids around me had art learning experience, but their creativity was so much more vibrant than mine.” She said that sparked something in her, as she realized that art was not about repetition, but rather self-expression and trying new techniques. “My work started to become more original and creative.”

She has a natural inclination towards paint, but several of her pieces include other techniques, such as her COVID-19 news headline piece, which was pencil and colored pencil. In the painting, Refuge, a tale of immigration, she used dry brush technique—one of her favorites—on

brush strokes could be so evocative. O’Keeffe is known for her paintings of flowers and the New York skyline, and is often called the Mother of American modernism. “There’s something so simple about the paintings and the color tone of them that makes them so smooth and flat—but in an appealing way,” Sharisa explained. “That really stood out to me.”

So when Sharisa began planning her AP Art portfolio several years ago—the majority of which is displayed in her exhibition—she knew she had to tell a story. “I don’t do just any global issues,” she said, explaining that it had to stand out to her or have some special significance.

She has covered topics from COVID-19, to rights to education, to obsession with superficial items, to child la-

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bor, to refugees, to women’s rights. It might be hard to glean which topic a piece of artwork is covering without reading the title and artist statement, or thinking about it in depth.

For example, Among the Ashes may look like just a landscape at first glance, but Sharisa was portraying the sense of intense materialism during the California wildfires.

“I think that Sharisa’s painting of the woman with the horse and the purses is incredibly creative and impactful,” Ms. Wepsic explained. “[She combines] her expertise in acrylic paint, with realism and detail...with her awareness of social issues and imagination.”

Sharisa’s favorite of all of them has been homelessness (as shown in The Untold Truth). When writing a research article about homelessness in the United States in comparison to other countries, she discovered that San Diego has the fourth highest homeless population in the country: a fact that shocked her.

She then participated in an activity with Community Service Initiative (CSI) that involved handing out meals in downtown San Diego. “Getting to have conversations with [the homeless] and actually getting to know them on a personal level was a completely different experience to me,” she reflected. She knew immediately that she wanted to create art about it.

Sharisa draws on both her artist’s eye and her perspective as a human being. “There’s so much work in museums that—as an artist—leaves me thinking. I just keep wanting to go back there and absorb every single detail, and I feel like that’s the captivating part of art that no other medium on this earth can hold.”

Sharisa You (‘22), who has attended art classes since the age of three, is ready to show the world the work she’s made over her entire high school career.

“[She combines] her expertise in acrylic paint with realism and detail... with her awareness of social issues and imagination.”

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PC: Sharisa You (‘22)

— Chair of Visual Arts Ms. Elizabeth Wepsic

In Behind the Light of Silence, Sharisa shed light on the fact that, in many countries, joining a monastery or another religious organization is the only path to education. “We take education for granted in the US,” she explained.

Art by Sharisa You (‘22)

Sharisa began this artwork, XIX, in 2019, drawing the woman in the center to work on her pencil technique. Months later she ran out of paper and started layering colored pencil on top, drawing a face mask and a floral wreath—a nod to the Latin root of corona: crown. With the newspaper headlines in the background, she hoped to convey the overwhelming feeling of statistics.

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MEET THE CAPTAINS! The fall sports captains sit down with The Tower Leila Feldman

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t the beginning of each season, ple you might not talk to during the day, etc. It’s always a fun thing to do and captains are assigned to each day. Co-Captain of Varsity Girls’ Field brings our team together,” said Mark. varsity team. This trimester sev- Hockey Maddie Keck (‘22) agreed with For field hockey, Maddie exen of them want to give you the details this. “I really do enjoy being surround- plained, “After pictures at the beach we on what they are most amped up about. ed by people that I don’t spend the all swim in our uniforms and have a

Coming off the heels of such a whole day with, because it’s a nice break team bonding breakfast at Harry’s,” said strange year, students are buzzing to get from my ordinary routine,” she said. Maddie. For girls’ volleyball, the team out and play or cheer on their friends— Others, like Co-Captain of chants “Lil Sally Walker” before every some of the sports include girls’ volleyball, Girls’ Golf Andrea Rix (‘22), picked up game and takes a yearly out-of-state trip girls’ golf, girls’ tennis, girls’ field hockey, their sport freshman year and are now where they drive to their destination toboys’ water polo, and co-ed cross country. going into their fourth year on the team. gether. Clare said her favorite traditions

Varsity Boys’ Water Polo “I couldn’t have asked for a better team are “either eating Wheat Thins and cream Co-Captain Mark Stone (‘22) referenced to share that experience with,” Andrea cheese at every match (it’s a required the last 18 months of irregular activities, said. She spoke more to the bond of her snack) or singing Timber in the car on saying that after COVID-19 took every- team, saying, “I feel like by getting close the way to matches against Country Day.” thing away, he appreciated water polo to one another, we have developed such At Bishop’s, much more. “I’m looking you are always expectforward to bringing home ed to give your best — “I feel incredibly grateful to have been another championship in doing everything and front of a packed house!” anything to your full a part of such a Girls’ Volleyball Co-Cappotential. “I feel incredtain Brynne Faltinsky (‘22) ibly grateful to have athletics environment agreed with Mark’s point, been a part of such a during high school.” saying, “Because our last positive and supportive season was so unpredictathletics environment

– Mark Stone (‘22) able, this season [we’re] during high school,” never taking any moment said Mark when asked for granted. The team is just grateful for a positive and fun energy on the course about his experience of being a Bishop’s the opportunity to play,” she said. “It’s a that helps us perform our best.” She em- athlete. “I think the sports community privilege to play and be on this team, win phasized how close the girls are and even at Bishop’s is a great unifying factor of together, lose together, whatever it is… though they practice a lot, they still man- grades. It’s so much easier to get to know With my last year, I’m excited to appre- age to squeeze in a lot of time for fun. people when you’re doing something ciate the little moments,” Brynne added.

At times, sports can also be in- not related to academics,” Clare said.

After last year, most athletes are credibly stressful with a lot of pressure, es- Andrea agreed with this, saying, stoked to reunite with their teammates. pecially after a bad game or a scorching hot “From our three powerhouse sophomores Varsity Cross Country Co-Captain Mad- day. In order to overcome hardships, main- Lucy Yuan, Renee Wang, and Sophia die Cramer (‘22) said that this year she is, taining fun traditions to keep teams close Guan, our two amazing new freshmen “really looking forward to team bonding!” is super important. For the cross country Joyce Wu and Ashlyn Garrigan, and my Girls’ Varsity Tennis Co-Captain Clare team, one of their most beloved traditions Co-Captain Grace Sun (‘23), our team Malhotra (‘22) said she is most thrilled is “chocolate milk in the cafeteria after is stacked with such a high level of dedabout “getting to know all of our new young hard workouts,” according to Maddie. ication and ability in the sport.I am seriteam members this year, and passing Andrea’s favorite team traditions ously so excited about the direction that along all the traditions before [she] leaves.” of girls golf include, “raiding the Ladies’ our team is going in.” Maddie Cramer

Sports teams provide a sort of es- Lounge at the Grand Del Mar for snacks, said that she has met some truly amazing, cape from the day-to-day stresses of being [giving] food reviews, pretending to ‘quit “teammates and coaches along the way.” a student. Brynne explained that, “After golf ’ after every bad match, and posting “Everyone is different,” a long school day, everyone is still moti- low-quality vlogs on our team’s Insta- Maddie added “We are all a part vated and ready to get better.I think just gram account @brummiegolf.” Others, of different clubs or take different that atmosphere makes it really special.” such as Boys’ Water Polo, bond over the languages, and everyone is super sup These environments foster first week of preseason training. “We do portive of each other no matter what.” an opportunity to bond with new peo- spirit days like jersey day, band t-shirt

supportive supportive

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positiveand and positive

Andrea Rix (‘22) (pictured) posed for a photoshoot for the Golf team. Her favorite things from the team include “raiding the Ladies Lounge at the Grand Del Mar for snacks, food reviews, pretending to ‘quit golf ’ after every bad match, and finally posting low-quality vlogs on our team’s Instagram account @brummiegolf.”

PC: Maddie Keck (‘22), Brynne Faltinsky (‘22), Andrea Rix (‘22)

On August 31st, Varsity Girls’ Volleyball dominated Scripps Ranch in a 3-1 win; Brynne Faltinsky (‘22) is pictured going in for her signature kill.

On September 10, the Girls’ Varisty Field Hockey team beat Point Loma 7-0, starting strong as the football team went on to win their games later that day.

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Tower 25

One Season, Fall seasons are starting: three different sport levels approach a new season

Ben Brown

S

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printing into battle, shoving opposition to the turf, and leaping to grab the leather ball spiralling towards you, then... BAM! The full force of a 200 pound linebacker tackles you to the ground, where you lay numb for a few moments before getting back up. Still gasping for air, you feel the sweat drip down your face and let out a slight smile: fall sports are back.

Fall sports have begun for the 57% of high school athletes that play according to the CDC, not only for Bishops, but for high school, college, and professional alike. All levels of athletics bring different intensities and pressures, but does the mindset stay the same throughout, or do the different variables change the mindsets? Bishop’s sophomore and elite golfer Lucy Yuan, former Bishop’s quarterback and Notre Dame athlete Tyler Buchner (‘20), and former Bishop and NFL athlete Shane Walton (‘98) all explained their experiences with pressure and mindsets, to help provide a clear answer to this question.

Lucy Yuan (‘24), who is nationally ranked #21 in the girls under 18 division for golf, faces lots of pressure. First, sophomore and junior year in highschool are major recruiting years for college professional athletes. Lucy, though, says “I’m not worried about recruitment—more the steps I have to take academically to get to college.” Lucy is a believer in balance, and finding a middle ground between the academic and the extracurricular.

Lucy explained the mindset a student athlete has expertly. She understands that to be a successful student and golfer being focused and persevering is a key attribute.

SPORTS | ISSUE 02

“Time management is very important,” Lucy explained, so of course “staying focused” and “trying to the best of your ability is important.”

Another part of her mindset is being intentional with practice. Lucy explained, “when I was younger, I had more time on my hands; now I have to be more intentional when I practice.” According to The MetLife Survey, the time spent doing homework grew by at least 10 minutes per year, and over 58% of highschoolers spend more than an hour on homework per night. These statistics and Lucy’s statement can highlight the importance of intentional practice; a mindset all high school athletes have because of the diminishing free time.

Lucy is currently ranked top nationally, and with that comes pressure to perform. She said, “There is a lot of pressure holding your ranking—All it takes is one really good or really bad tournament to affect [it].” Lucy must stay focused in practice in order to sustain her ranking, a common theme between successful athletes.

Former Bishop’s Knight and Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner started his freshman season this fall, kicking off his college football debut with a touchdown pass versus University of Toledo. This success brings pressures and challenges. Tyler believes that “There are two different types of pressure: external and internal.” He explained that “External pressure is not a good thing, because you care what people think about you” and “If you’re internally motivated it’s for yourself.”

Tyler thinks that “in college, there’s a lot of external pressure and motivation; the media’s on you, more

THREE MINDSETS students [are] talking to you.” This can be true for anyone—more attention can bring more pressure to you and affect your playing, but it’s something he learned to shield. Buchner’s mindset in this demanding college sport is to “work every day to compete against the guy next to you...it’s a business in college; they play the better player, so be the better player.”

Buchner has already put up impressive stats since week two and is enjoying the new season. And though Buchner appreciates the competition, he explained that “the fall season is more mentally challenging, more exhausting...the offseason is more physically challenging because you’re building your body for the regular season.”

In most sports, football being included, there is a season and off-season. In the off-season, one works physically hard to build stamina and muscle for the season.

Buchner’s mindset to fully utilize the season and off-season is to always “keep the work ethic the same.”

He added that “the off-season is when you improve yourself, make yourself valuable...during the season you help the team.” Buchner, as any college athlete at his level, understands that success takes year-round focus and hard work.

Finally, in terms of the future, Tyler explained, “As a freshman, I’m getting used to everything, like learning the playbook.” He said, “I hope I can get to a point where I’m not worried about the plays or what the coaches think about me, I can have that edge.” That edge indeed is what

brought him to his successful skill today, and will continue to drive him in his next steps towards greatness.

Coach and Associate Dean of Students Shane Walton has many past experiences with pressure and mindsets, playing for Bishop’s, Notre Dame, and multiple NFL teams as a safety.

Walton talked about the pressure to perform, playing in the NFL. He said, “You’re not on scholarship anymore” so you must perform. “In the NFL they can cut you at any moment.” As a professional athlete, it’s your job to be good, Walton explained. “There’s pressure every day; I remember the coaches saying ‘we’re always trying to replace you because that means we got better’—that’s pressure.” At the professional level, the mindset is different because it’s a job. Walton says the mindset is simple: “you come to work, you are focused, attentive, and do what you are told.”

At the professional level, the vast pressure faced is simply combated with focus and listening. Another important part of Walton’s mindset was “turning [his] body off so that I stopped listening to [his] body; it’s why [he] ended up getting hurt.” Walton’s back injury, which led to the end of his NFL career in his second year, is common among much of the NFL. According to Pro Football Logic, 38% of NFL players miss at least one game because of an injury that forced them to leave the game. This stat displays that over 600 players get injured in a single season, highlighting the danger of the professional mindset. Professionals push themselves to their limits physi-

cally, because of the common mindset to stay focused and work hard. Walton explained that “[In the] NFL, you’re talking about being the top 1600 people in the world at this one sport. You better come prepared, you better be focused, that’s the mindset.”

Three athletes, all brought up by the same school, with the same ethics, and the same passion. What separates their mindsets? As Tyler explained, it’s really external pressure, the level of skill, intensity, and coaches to push them has changed as they’ve gotten older. In high school, it’s about being more focused and intentional with practice, because of the less time you have. In college it’s about competing to be better than all the talent around you, coming in ready to work hard. At a professional level, it’s about coming prepared, listening, and working hard, being driven, because it’s your job too, and it’s how you become the best. The overlap at all three levels, is the focus they all bring to every practice to get better. After all, as Tyler Buchner believes, “Your work ethic and focus has to always stay the same.”

PC: Lucy Yuan (‘24), Tyler Buchner (‘20), Shane Walton (‘98)

“There’s pressure everyday, I remember my coaches saying:

‘We’re always trying to replace you,’ because that means we got better.”

- Mr. Shane Walton THE

Tower 27

PEDAL ASSIST TO THE METAL Y ou’re driving up Torrey Pines Road, and it’s one of those days where traffic is so backed up it’s almost stopped.

Everyone on the road is in a bad mood, just trying to get home for the afternoon. You’re looking up at the sea of brake lights ahead, wondering why everyone has to be driving somewhere today, but you know you’re also adding to the problem.

Subconsciously, you’re thinking about global warming and how much gas these cars are guzzling.

That’s when you see some kid whiz past in the bike lane, riding up the hill past all the stopped traffic without any signs of exertion. He’s got an electric bike, you realize, suddenly wishing you had one for yourself.

Electric bike sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic, especially after stores were allowed to re-open. Richard Thorpe is the founder of Gocycle, an e-bike company specializing in their “GX” folding model. In May 2020, he told The Verge that sales of the GX were up 65% compared to a year ago then.

“COVID is pulling the [e-bike] adoption curve forward,” Thorpe said.

Rad Power Bikes, a company based in Seattle, stated that their sales were up by a whopping 297% in April of 2020 compared to April of 2019. Additionally, starting in March of 2020, Google Trends reported a spike in the search “best electric bike” globally. Why have e-bikes gained so much popularity recently?

And is La Jolla ready for this change?

Many Bishop’s students are now avid electric bikers. For instance, James Farrell (‘24) uses

his e-bike almost every day. “I use it to get around anywhere remotely close to my house, and to go on adventures as well,” he said, thinking of an e-bike as “a motorcycle that allows you to get some exercise in.”

For Emeraude Westlake (‘24), it’s a matter of convenience.

“I use my bike every day to go to school,” she said.“My parents both work, so it’s easier for all of us if I get to school on my own.” Since she isn’t old enough to drive, an e-bike was the most practical second option. Similarly, Max Stone (‘22) used his dad’s e-bike frequently before he could drive. “Now, it’s a little more impractical given that I have a car, but I did use it to get around before,” he said.

Although these Bishop’s students’ experiences reflect the growing popularity of e-bikes in La Jolla, many European cities are much further ahead. According to World Economic Forum, growth forecasts indicate that the number of e-bikes sold annually in Europe “could go from 3.7 million in 2019 to 17 million by 2030.”

Copenhagen, for example, is ranked by WIRED as the number one most bike-friendly city in the world. There, bikers outnumber drivers, with over 62% of commuters biking to work or school. The city contains 675,000 bicycles and only 120,000 cars, reports World Economic Forum. Additionally, these impressive statistics pertain mostly to non-electric bikes, further demonstrating the city’s forward-thinking as regular bikes truly have no negative effect on the environment. Amsterdam

A look into the recent rise of electric biking in La Jolla Isadora Blatt

is ranked a close second, followed

by Utrecht (a largely populated city in the Netherlands) in third.

Tate Vaccaro (‘22), Copy Editor for The Tower, visited Copenhagen this past August and loved experiencing the city’s progressiveness regarding transportation. “There are designated bike lanes on every street, and even little bike traffic lights,” she described. “The infrastructure there makes it super efficient and easy.”

Biking in Copenhagen felt much safer to Tate than it does here, due to larger bike lanes and better separation between bikers and drivers on the road. “There were fewer people using cars, so it was certainly safer to bike in general,” she added.

With the rise of electric biking, many have concerns about safety for bikers in La Jolla. “There could definitely be more bike lanes in La Jolla,” said James, adding that Torrey Pines is “crazy dangerous.”

Emeraude agreed, explaining that she avoids biking on Torrey Pines for that reason. For her daily commute to and from school, the area where it feels the most treacherous is Pearl Street. “Cars go so quickly on that street, and there’s no bike lane,” she elaborated. “Also, sometimes there are cars parked on the curb, so you have to swerve into the road.” After the school year started up again, Emeraude noted an increase in traffic, worsening these safety issues. Max had the same view, saying, “There are definitely certain areas in La Jolla where there should be more bike lanes, to make it safer for both bikes and cars.”

In order to get on track with

297%

In April 2020, Rad Power Bikes reported that their sales were up by

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LOCAL & BEYOND | ISSUE 02

compared to 2019.

Star Cykel is a bike rental store on Norrebrogade, the main shopping street of Copenhagen.

“THE INFRASTRUCTURE [IN COPENHAGEN] MAKES [BIKING] SU-

EFFICIENT AND EASY.” PER

PC: Tate Vaccaro (‘22)

cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam, major updates will need to be made to La Jolla’s traffic infrastructure. With such temperate weather that makes it ideal for biking year round, one would wonder why we have not made these changes already.

Seventh grade math teacher Mr. David Johnston is known to be seen around campus with his bike by his side. “I try to ride every day to school. I’m fortunate enough to live in Mission Beach, so it’s about a four mile ride,” he said. Although he wouldn’t consider using an electric bike himself due to his mostly flat commute (“the rigors associated with my ride are pretty minimal,” he said, laughing), he appreciates the environmental aspect. “My sense with electric bikes is, if it encourages people to get out of cars, then I think that’s a great thing.

Being able to be outside, in this beautiful place we’re lucky enough to call home – it’s pretty spoiling.”

–TATE VACCARO (‘22)

European cities like Copenhagen (pictured) are leading the world towards more sustainable transportation methods with their increasingly biike-friendly infrastructure.

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ALMOST OUSTED 30

LOCAL & BEYOND | ISSUE 02

The failed recall of Governor Newsom Kyle Berlage

W

hile America sat stable, California was electorally fired up. Almost a year into the Biden Administration, and with the 2022 midterm elections over a year away in November, the effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has defined the political sphere in the state. Yet despite the charged environment surrounding Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was victorious in the vote held on September 14.

Ever since the 2018 gubernatorial election—the election for Governor—where Newsom prevailed over opponent John Cox (R) by a vote share of 61.9%, the policies Newsom has enacted have prompted multiple efforts to remove him from office. In 2019, there was a different initiative to remove him from office nearly immediately after he began his term, however, without popular reason for removal, it lacked momentum and failed shortly after being proposed due to a lack of support.

In fact, since 1913’s Progressive Era reforms to the California electoral system, there have been 55 attempted recall efforts across the time period’s 17 California Governors and all of California’s governors since 1960 have faced at least one recall effort across their term. Because of California’s unique tradition of direct democracy, with a streamlined system to get propositions put on the ballot and bypass the legislature, California is the easiest state to recall a governor in.

However, any recall effort must gain a substantial number of signatures to be placed on the ballot: 12% of the number of voters in the previous gubernatorial election, gathered across the designated 160 days. If the recall organizers are not able to obtain enough signatories, the effort fails— the fate of the 2019 Newsom recall effort, as well the 52 other recall efforts from the establishment of the system. The 2020-2021 attempt was only one out of two recalls to ever be placed on the ballot.

With social distancing and pandemic restrictions, one might assume that it would be difficult to obtain the necessary signatures to be placed on the ballot, however, Newsom’s pandemic restrictions became the main motivator for signatories.

While his pandemic policies, like his first stay-at-home order, were initially popular, the public approval of his policies gradually declined, presenting an opportunity for grassroots Republican organizations to seize anti-Newsom momentum. Many people in California lost their allegiance to Newsom after public schools stayed closed for the entire 2020-2021 school year—while his own children attended in-person at private schools—and the countless scandals involving his administration’s own restrictions.

One of the most scathing incidents was at The French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley, where Newsom broke his own restrictions imposed on Californians to attend a birthday party for a lobbyist friend, at an extremely expensive restaurant where some meals cost $450. He and his entire party, which included the chief executive for the California Medical Association, broke restrictions and ate without masks, prompting fury from voters.

However, despite these setbacks, Newsom was able to emerge from the election with his office intact. The Democrats were able to win, according to NBC News, because they were able to nationalize the race by vilifying the Republican opponents and their association to Donald Trump. In conjunction, they gained fundraising from around the nation and pulled in advertisements from national Democratic figures like Senator Elizabeth Warren and former President Barack Obama. Given the scope of the election, taxpayers were left to foot an estimated $450 billion dollars.

Some students on the Mock Trial team see the election as a waste. Maddie Cayer (‘22) explained that she believed

important money was lost in the election process. “We should have used that money elsewhere, especially for COVID-related issues,” she said, and Alexandra Milder (‘22) agreed. However, Ellie Hodges (‘22) believed that “the special circumstances that led to [the vote], like the extension given to the recall effort to obtain signatures were frustrating, but the result may be beneficial for Newsom in the long run.”

With a newly emboldened first term, Newsom and the Democrats have their eyes set on 2022. One year until Newsom has a ballot to face, but the Democratic Party nationwide is using their newly victorious tactics across the country and the Republicans are also gearing up for the fight. Though, our Class of 2022 ought to start preparing too, most of whom will be able to vote by the time the polling places open once again.

PC: Kyle Berlage (‘22), NBC 7 San Diego

Every registered voter in California was mailed a ballot to participate in the California Gubernatorial Recall Election on September 14, however polling places were open for those who wished to vote in-person.

Due to the pandemic, more places to drop off mail-in ballots were spread across our county. Gavin Newsom ended victorious as the majority of voters voted No on the recall.

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Tower 31

Pitfalls of Perception

Why our brains are so quick to ignore climate change Tate Vaccaro

“2

021 is a make-or-break year for climate action,” wrote the World Meteorological Organization in June. “The window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change—which include ever more frequent and more intense droughts, floods, and storms—is closing rapidly.” In September, editors from over 200 health journals published a joint editorial stating, “the science is unequivocal; a global increase of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse.”

We know how bad it is. Yet when scientists lay out the evidence, the intensity of the message seems to paralyze us. What goes on in the human brain that makes it so difficult for us to act against climate change?

“I think so many people find it difficult because the problem is not on our doorstep just yet,” explained leader of the Go Green Club, Sarah Kaplan (‘23). “It’s hard t o

wrap our heads around something so complex and distant. I think, psychologically, it’s easier for people to exist in their daily lives by ignoring the issue completely.”

Abby Lin (‘23), a member of the Go Green Club, expressed a similar outlook. ”Climate change seems like such an abstract issue that doesn’t affect our present,” she said. “It’s hard to get people to care when human action is so reward-driven.”

What Sarah and Abby both touch upon here is the psychology behind climate change denial, a very real phenomenon.

Hidden Brain’s Shankar Vedantam discussed this concept further in a podcast titled, Why Our Brains Weren’t Made to Deal with Climate Change.

While visiting the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska—which has retreated over one and a half miles in the last half-century— Ve dantam interviewed John Neary, a forest service official a t

the reserve where the glacier is located.

“I think that for too many people, the issue [climate change] is some Micronesian island that’s having an extra inch of water this year on their shorelines, or it’s some polar bears far up in the Arctic that they’re really not connected with,” he said. “But when they [visitors] realize, they come here and they start to think about this glacier melting and why it’s receding, why it’s disappearing, why it doesn’t look like that photo just 30 years ago up in the visitor’s center, it becomes real for them, and they have to start grapple with the issues behind it.”

As Sarah and Abby noted, there’s a neglect to grasp the reality of climate change because it feels so distant from us. If we cannot tangibly understand its effects in a way that is personal and meaningful to our lives, why should we care? George Marshall, environmentalist and founder of Climate Outreach calls this, ‘the tragedy of the commons.’

“The tragedy of the commons is an idea that every individual has an incentive to do something if it’s in their own self-interest, even if it harms the overall population,” explained History and Social Sciences Chair Ms. Karri Woods. “Someone thinks, ‘If you aren’t going to do it, why should I?’ And that inaction leads to worse outcomes for everyone.” The tendency to fall into these patterns of thinking poses a real challenge to combating climate change as a society. “Dealing with climate change requires vast levels of coordination,” Ms. Woods continued. “It requires the individual to make decisions that are more sustain-

“Scientific data, although undoubtedly vital for alerting our rational brain to the existence of a threat, does not galvanize our emotional brain into action,” George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network, wrote in his book, Don’t Even Think About It.

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“It’s hard to get people to care when human action is so reward-driven.”

— Abby Lin (‘23)

Art by Tate Vaccaro (‘22)

able, which can be less comfortable—more expensive, more annoying. You also have to rely on billions of other people to make similar choices. When you see people not complying with a particular cultural norm, like trying to be more sustainable, it becomes harder to stay motivated. You think, ‘Why do I have to do this if others won’t?’”

However, people aren’t solely motivated by their own personal interests. It’s human nature to crave a sense of belonging—to share a common identity and be a part of something larger. This need to belong is why many of us orient ourselves politically and cling so strongly to hierarchical structures. Interestingly, there is a correlation between the acceptance of hierarchical power structures and climate change denial.

Kirsti Jylhä, a psychologist at Uppsala University, found that people who are more accepting of hierarchical structures are, in turn, more accepting of human dominance over nature. As a result, people are less willing to sacrifice conveniences that are seemingly essential to their daily lives, especially when those sacrifices fail to yield an instantaneous personal reward. “In psychology, there are heuristic questions and target questions.” Ms. Woods elaborated.

“Target questions often require a more difficult and complex response, so we automatically devise simpler heuristic questions that are easier to answer but don’t actually address the complexities of the target question. Instead of saying, ‘What steps could humans take to combat climate change?’ we ask, “What policies does my

political party advocate for?” Since climate change is such an abstract concept with so many discrepancies, such as the degree to which it can be managed or stopped, debates surrounding the issue often become greatly politicized. It’s much easier for us to fall in line with our political constituencies rather than deviate from the cultural norm and seek information for ourselves. This lack of base knowledge poses another challenge.

“Many people are also skeptical about climate change because they can’t differentiate between daily weather and rising global temperature,” Sarah continued. “Just because there is a super cold day in the summer does not mean the global temperatures aren’t rising and climate change is fake. I do believe that people being skeptical or even in denial about climate change is a major issue because education and awareness are the first steps to substantial change.” Education informs the basis of how we view and process information. But how can we educate others when it feels like no one is listening?

Sarah looks to youth climate change activist Greta Thunberg as a beacon of hope. “I really do respect climate change activists such as Greta Thunberg,” she said.

“From my experience trying to have administrators make climate-conscious decisions on campus, I can only imagine what it must be like to stand up to global leaders and big corporations as a sixteen-year-old.

It’s so important to speak loudly and boldly because if we don’t, our case for climate change will just get washed over. Activism is a super important way to demand change.”

Another salient factor that diminishes our desire to fight climate change is the perceived insignificance of our actions stacked against those of corporations. “In order to curb emissions, corporations would have to make major, and likely costly, changes to how they do business,” Ms. Woods pointed out.

“As an individual, it feels like I’m doing very little. Many feel that they don’t have enough agency to make a huge difference.”

But any action is better than none at all. “Our actions and choices do matter,” Abby stated. “Widespread change begins with individual action.” Instead of treating the issue as a far-off abstraction to be dealt with in the future, we need to look at climate change more holistically—as a real human problem unfolding every day, not a shapeless sociopolitical dispute. Sarah summarized it best: “Human problems like climate change can be fixed, if only we change the way we think about them.”

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Tower 33

O

n September 1, cries of triumph and despair alike broke out in households across the country.

Texas’s new abortion law, Senate Bill 8, had just gone into effect and is now the United States’ most restrictive law regarding abortion. According to CNN Politics, it will prevent approximately 85% of abortions in the Lone Star State, and will drastically alter the lives of people living there.

“Heartbeat bills,” as laws similar to Senate Bill 8 have been dubbed, make terminating a pregnancy illegal after six weeks, which is when officials say a heartbeat is detectable in the embryo. This is extremely problematic for those seeking to obtain an abortion, as most are unaware that they are even pregnant at this

Termination of a pregnancy is only permitted in cases of medical emergencies, such as a situation in which it is the only way to save the person’s life. “The law also doesn’t make exceptions for women who have been raped. If the woman doesn’t find out she’s pregnant before the sixweek mark, she will not have an option to terminate the pregnancy, even if she was impregnated through rape,” explained Karina. Texans can also travel out of state to reach a clinic, but this is costly and difficult for most people.

The expenses don’t stop at just travel; if someone is caught providing another person with or helping them access an abortion, they may be brought to court, and the method used for enforcing this is another distinguishing feature of the law. “When you think of something being restricted, especially something like abortion, these are usually criminal laws, which would mean that the government is saying ‘this is illegal, and we will come after you,’” stated History and Government teacher Mr. Raul Ruiz, who teaches Mock Trial. In the case of Texas Senate Bill 8, the system is very different.

Instead of the government imposing criminal punishments, individuals will be allowed to sue people they know who were involved in another person’s abortion. They are not permitted to sue the individual who actually received it, however. This could be anything from loaning money to driving to a clinic, and the plaintiff does not need to know the person they are bringing the lawsuit against. These cases could potentially award the litigant with $10,000 in damages, in addition to attorney’s fees.

This brand of vigilante justice has the potential to create a state filled with people set on severely affecting, or even ruining, others’ lives in exchange for a large cash reward.

This law will also be difficult to challenge in court; since it is enforced by millions of individuals, there is no one person or organiza-

ABORT T H E L AW ?

A look at Texas’s new abortion ban Lucy Marek time, NPR claims. “What this means is that by the time women find out they are pregnant, they don’t even have an option to terminate the pregnancy,” said Karina Kadia (‘22), a student leader of FEM Club.

This will significantly alter the number of people able to access safe, legal, and affordable reproductive healthcare, but it is not a complete ban on abortions after six weeks; exceptions can be made, although the criteria are extremely strict.

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tion to sue. As Mr. Ruiz put it, “Because of the way this law was written, we don’t know who we’re blocking from doing what.” This doesn’t mean that people haven’t tried: before the law was implemented, a group of abortion providers, activists, and private citizens filed a lawsuit, hoping to issue an injunction to block Senate Bill 8. But the Fifth Circuit, a court that has jurisdiction over Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, jumped in before it was decided on by the district court and ordered them not to rule on the case. The plaintiffs then went to the Supreme Court, asking for the case to be heard anyway, but that request was denied. Hence, the courts ruled on a technical issue, not on whether Senate Bill 8 was constitutional or not.

Even if the constitutionality of the bill has not been confirmed, millions of people still have to live with its consequences, and this number could grow if other states pass

x 94

similar laws. Outlawing abortion is an important tenet in the Republican party, so it is likely that red states will propose these same sorts of bills. As for the left, “blue states are not likely to pass laws like this at all,” according to Mr. Ruiz, but many lawsuits are in progress on behalf of the abortion-rights movement.

Under the claims that Senate Bill 8 violates the 14th Amendment and invalidates Roe v. Wade, advocates and clinics hope to block the law as soon as possible.

In the meantime, though, the people of Texas will have to live with this monumental change, and many will not stand for it. It will alter peoples’ lives in both predictable and unforeseen ways, and in most cases, not for the better.

“By the time women find out they are pregnant, they don’t even have an option to terminate the pregnancy.”

– Karina Kadia (‘22)

Our Court System: Courts of Appeals: Take appeals from the district courts across multiple states.

District Courts: Original jursidiction on most cases.

Supreme Court: The highest court in the U.S.

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We don’t care if you don’t “like to read”, you will love it after each of these books.

Leila: Most of my friends know that I have an obsession with reading. It got worse over the summer when I had unlimited time to sit outside and read. So here I am to walk you through some of my favorite books and why you should read them. Also, I have so many more books to recommend so you might just get a part two?

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

(TW: Eating Disorder)

Big Summer follows Daphne Berg, a plus-size micro-influencer/babysitter, as she is invited to her ex-high school best friend’s wedding. Daphne and Drue—said ex—haven’t spoken in years due to a humiliating incident, but Daphne still decides to go. She has always been hypnotized by Drue’s glamorous and affluent lifestyle, but in a shocking twist, Drue’s life is dramatically altered. Daphne takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her friend, and during her hunt she meets some pretty sensational people and uncovers some shivering truths.

The book is a new perspective on what it means to live and what you will do to make yourself happy. Most importantly, is it worth it?

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

This book was amazing! I read it in, like, two days flat, and that’s saying something.

Dannie Kohan is a corporate lawyer in NYC. Just when everything starts to go right for her, she wakes up five years later with a totally different life than what she imagined. As she attempts to weave around the inevitable, she discovers more about herself and what it means to do what she loves. This heart-wrenching story of friendship, love, and serendipity pulls you in, and it will most certainly make you cry.

The Hating Game by Sally Throne

This was by far my favorite book of 2021. This book will make you maybe believe in love. I would live this book. There are some pretty advanced romantic scenes so please just be aware and if you are immature, stop here. However, if you are a hopeless romantic like some of us, then this book will go beyond your wildest dreams. The story follows two assistants working for a book publishing company who go neck-and-neck trying to beat the other one out.

However, as time passes, it becomes clear that they can’t just avoid each other or they will tear each other to shreds. The plot is a classic enemies-to-lovers story with a twist that you won’t see coming.

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Book covers courtesy of Amazon, Art by Shirley Xu (‘23)

Book Recs!

Leila Feldman and Sariah Hossain

And now it’s Sariah’s turn!

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

I’m sure this recommendation is just a shocker for anyone who knows me, but, for the rest of you, Sally Rooney (of Normal People and Conversations With Friends fame) is my absolute favorite author. Beautiful World is her much-anticipated third novel, just released this past September, and I may or may not have run to Warwick’s during my free period to get myself a copy the first day it came out (#opencampus). It follows Alice, Eileen, Felix, and Simon, four twenty-somethings living in Ireland, navigating uncertain relationships that blur between friendship and romance, while surrounded by a world of, frankly, pessimism. The book is incredibly character-driven, which I know isn’t for everyone, but I find I get the most out of Rooney’s work when I lean in to exploring the dynamics that exist between the characters and think of that as the center of the text. Now, I know how pretentious that sounds. But this one really makes you think, and it stays with you days after you finish the last page, and to me, that’s the mark of something special.

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

This is the most perfect October read to ever exist. If We Were Villains is dark academia, it’s boarding school, it’s Shakespeare, it’s mystery and tragedy and romance. Everything you could ever want, really. In a sentence—and without spoilers, promise—this book is about a group of college drama students who find themselves committing murder and dealing with the fallout. I can’t stress enough how masterful this book is at gripping its reader, at making you care. So many insane twists, and so many insights to the human soul. I just love it. If you’re craving a dark, moody, autumnal read, pick this one up. You absolutely will not regret it.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

I was this close to making my last recommendation Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins-Reid, but I thought I’d leave you with a book that made me happy-cry instead of, well, regular-sad-cry like Daisy Jones did. Anxious People is a story about the human spirit—about how good humanity can be. I might sound a little dramatic but this book made me believe in people again. It is, on the surface, about an apartment viewing turned hostage situation, but Backman has a way of imbuing this comedy-of-errors-type narrative with unbelievable depth and love. Any one of you can borrow my copy (as long as you come back and tell me how much you loved it).

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autumn playlist BEGIN AGAIN

A sample of our superior music...

Taylor Swift

YOU SPIN ME ROUND Dead Or Alive

WHITE FERRARI Frank Ocean

A-O-K Tai Verdes

THE A TEAM Ed Sheeran

AMOEBA

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Photos courtesy of their respective artists and labels

Clairo

Our First Layout!

It truly is a beautiful thing, when a group of new staff writers get together and make an entire magazine out of nothing. One of the most cherished traditions here at The Tower, Layout Night, is an occasion where editors and staff alike burrow in Ms. Rem’s Upper Bentham room to grind out the first draft of that month’s new issue. Those who joined staff in 2018 or 2019 will distinctly remember the crazy atmosphere and fast food platters on the table. The editors would sit around on their computers with InDesign and Google Docs crowding their screens, busily trying to pull the new issue together.

COVID-19 took that experience away last year, which makes us editors appreciate the experience that much more. Now I, once just a tiny freshman entering the crazy environment, am the one yelling about images and crowding my screen with InDesign windows. What a full circle moment, huh?

- Kyle Berlage

PC: Sariah Hossain (‘22), Spencer Ralph (‘24)

Graphics Editor-in-Chief

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Diabolical...

DEVIOUS LICKS

Seriously, why has this become a TikTok trend...

Spencer Ralph

F

or some odd reason, TikTok users thought it would be a great idea to start stealing items from school property. Yes, when we saw the first video of that guy taking the microscope, we all chuckled. Now people are stealing bathroom doors, making privacy in a restroom is the latest victim of cancel culture. Some people have even stolen WHOLE TOILETS! How? How can one manage to get a whole toilet out of a bathroom, through their campus, and into a car without anyone snitching? The collaboration between students to accomplish these near impossible tasks should go down as one of humanity’s most impressive moments.

Face it, we have all considered stealing those hand sanitizer dispensers from advisory.

In all seriousness, do not do this.

Public and private schools are charging the high school culprits with vandalism and theft. We gotta be squeaky clean to get a rejection letter from Harvard. One thing TikTok has done was remove all posts that have “#deviouslick” or any captions that

refer to it.

As a punishment for some students, or kids who didn’t want to be arrested, a new trend has been circulating: ‘the most angelic yield.’ In this trend, we see soap being returned to their dispensers, bathroom doors being re-installed, clocks being hung back up, and our cafeteria food making a comeback! (probably not that last one but hasn’t it been improving a lot?!)

The consequences are extremely high. Bathrooms at many public schools are either being shut down or heavily monitored. By shutting down all of their bathrooms, portable toilets have been put into play. Well played. I’ve even seen schools supplying students with clear backpacks so they can’t sneak anything off campus.

But Gen Z can do anything. Remember that Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma? Anyways, I’m interested to see if anything happened at our campus?

All I know is that Mr. Kim hasn’t sent an email out, so I’m praying we don’t have to have porta-potties delivered.

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PC: Spencer Ralph (‘24)

Obscure items like fire alarms and pencils are new victims to the recent theft trend popularized by TikTok.

Fruittitude:

$11.00

SO expensive, but after all, what else would you expect from Fruittitude? They thrive off of scamming Bishop’s students every day. At least the bowl is pretty big, and they go heavy on the fruit toppings.

Froglanders:

$8.50

THE BEST BLENDED

Photos courtesy of Fresheria, Juice Kaboose, Isadora Blatt (‘24)

The açai bowl from Froglanders is okay, but just basic. It only comes with the essential strawberries, bananas, and granola, and any other toppings are EXTRA CHARGE. They do use that satisfying crispy rice granola… there’s no better way to describe it, but iykyk. However, it always takes them forever to make it. Froglanders, stick to your froyo – you do a great job with that.

Brick & Bell:

$8.95

It checks the boxes. It gets the job done. The granola SLAPS. But does it go above and beyond? No.

Fresheria:

$8.95

Fresheria’s açai bowl is everything you could ask for and more. The açai is gorgeously thick and creamy, probably because they just use açai ice cream – which could be considered cheating, but I’m giving them a pass.

For the same price as all the others, it comes with coconut flakes and honey on top of the basic strawberries, bananas, and granola. Bonus points for being right across the street from Bishop’s. (#notsponsored, I promise)

Juice Kaboose:

$8.95

It’s a generous portion, but it just doesn’t meet my standards in terms of the thickness of the açai – it’s way too watery. If you want an açai smoothie for the price of a bowl and with some fruit on top, Juice Kaboose is the place for you. Good soup!

BOWLS

A series of reviews by a certified açai expert Isadora Blatt

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NO ONE ASKED,

K

Y

A feeble attempt to resurrect Ask Liv

L

E

Kyle Berlage

When will Homecoming be?

I can’t really be bothered to dig through the ASBC Instagram’s story highlights, so I’m just going to rely on my senses. My usual early warning sign for the Homecoming season is when all the freshmen start buying signs that say “HOCO 21?” combined with some pun about a relationship. I’d love to help out in 9th grade romantic endeavours, so feel free to use some of these ideas!

Model vibes only!

– Make some lamb chops and a sign that says “I’m a sheep for you!

HOCO 21?” Ominous but sort of cute!

– Buy a Nordstrom gift card with a sign that says, “You need new clothes for HOCO 21!” Maybe it comes off a little strong, but nothing is too much for that special someone!

– Create a voodoo doll and reenact your partner saying yes to “HOCO 21?” NOTE: Only works for Scorpios.

If you were President, what would you do?

Easy! I would deport all slow talkers. I can live with almost anyone as long as they can convey ideas in a prompt manner. I could be roommates with a homophobe, just make sure that they are a very succinct homophobe. If you can’t speak at a normal pace, you clearly are the weak link in society. After working a customer service job for two years, I have a zero tolerance policy for people who drag on their sentences to the extent that I feel the need to hit them.

Where will all these slow talkers go? Maybe the moon. There’s plenty of rocks there to talk to, and I’m sure the rocks won’t mind if a horde of inferior people start wasting their time.

Is MONTERO good?

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NO ONE can strut better!

PC: Sariah Hossain (‘22), Spencer Ralph (‘24)

Whoever asked this question (me) deserves life in Montero State Prison (featuring Jack Harlow), because it shouldn’t even be a debate. MONTERO is the album of the year. TALES OF DOMINICA serves unclockable pirate fantasy, THATS WHAT I WANT serves very clockable fruity, and DOLLA SIGN SLIME serves Megan Thee Stallion.

TOP TEN TOP TEN TOP TEN

THINGS WE FORGOT WHILE ONLINE

1. middle schoolers 2. “I was up until 3 am” 3. PDA 4. tests 5. dish drop 6. the snack bar cookies 7. walking 8. lunch duty 9. water fountains existing? pulling down your 10. skirt when you walk

i know they were all saying it but at least they were muted. not a flex guys!

that one couple that sits on top of each other in class...

oh wait we have those?

i better not get a detention

y’all know which one...

past that one teacher

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