The Little Hawk

Iowa City, IA

THE LITTLE HAWK Vol. 75

Friday, February 16th, 2018

Issue 4

thelittlehawk.com

CHS Wins Black History Game Show

By Olivia Lusala and Theo Prineas Editors

T

ABOVE: Students and community members participate in the Women’s March on January 20th PHOTOS BY LINDY RUBLAITUS

Marching for an Equal Vote Fueled by the #MeToo movement, hundreds of protesters marched in downtown Iowa City on the anniversary of the Women’s March

By Lindy Rublaitus Reporter

sexual assault allegations against elected officials. Women around the world participated in voter registrations in till yearning for change, commu- hopes to create a healthier place where nity members joined together for women can be commonly found in the one-year anniversary of the congress.

Arm in arm, women stood together Iowa City Women’s March on January 20th, 2018–one of hundreds hap- to push their opinions into office, parpening around the US. This year, the ents marched with their children as goals were to get women involved with good examples, LGBTQ+ community voting by providing resources where members supported the diverse group of Iowa City, and students cheered to they could register to prove that they are the vote in Johnson County during the event and “My job as a citizen next powerful force that to patronize businesses is to fight for those will change society. Together they all marched downtown that have who are unable six blocks chanting and committed to the $10.10 to fight or can’t holding up homemade minimum wage. After the march, participants express themselves signs speaking their minds on current politiwere encouraged to dine or just need cal issues. at restaurants that recog“I feel like as a white nize the minimum wage someone to fight women in the United efforts. alongside them.” States I have a lot of The main goal of privilege. I think with these marches, according to the official WomJILLIAN BOLTON my platform my job as en’s March website, is SENIOR a citizen is to fight for those who are unable “to harness the political to fight or can’t express power of diverse women themselves or just need and their communities to create transformative social change.” someone to fight alongside them,” JilOrganizing more than 250 marches in lian Bolton ‘18 said.

Beth Hollar Gier, one of the several the US and 120 international marches in 34 countries, Women’s March gath- women who helped organize this event, ered in Las Vegas to recognize recent believes that holding this march again

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will strengthen the sense of community in Iowa City because this march is all-inclusive. She hopes that they will be able to reach elected leaders and show them the unity of the community as it returns to the Women’s March.

“I hope that this event will remind us of the strength and encouragement that being in a community can provide, [and] of the importance and power of every vote,” said Gier People of all genders, ages, and races showed up to listen to keynote speakers, including Mazahir Salih, a newly elected member of the Iowa City Council.

Salih expressed her experience being the first Sudanese-American to hold office in the US in front of hundreds of supporters as they prepared to walk the half-mile march route.

“I am a woman, an immigrant, I

am Muslim, and I am American and Iowan…I have been told I am the first Sudanese-American to hold office in the whole United States,” Salih said.

“I have been told I’m the first, but I’m not going to be the last.”

H ig h - s c ho ol students from around Iowa City walked arm in arm waving homemade signs. Maya Durham ‘19 and Addy Smith ‘18 led the way. Students of all ages were encouraged to come in order to learn what it means to be a strong force in the community.

“I think it’s really important that I came to the march today because it’s showing your awareness and that you’re conscious of what is happening in the world,” said Sasha Tyler ‘18, one of the many high school students who chose to march.

“It shows that you support people of other races and sexes—women being the most important today.”

wo teams of six sat anxiously, itching to begin, as a panel of judges prepared the next question. In the final round against West High in the Black History Month Game Show, there was no room to blink or lose focus.

But West blinked at the last minute, during the speed trivia round, and City High finally won back the title of state champion back after three long years.

“I’ve been [participating in the Black History Game Show] since the 7th grade. Honestly, it was an outlet that allowed me to find an identity that I hadn’t been able to connect to before,” Mariam Keita ‘20 said. “I am a first-generation Gambian-American and I never really felt like I had a place in the black community.”

The team met every advisory in Frederick Newell’s room, taking a class period to play against each other.

Occasionally the team worked with Theodore Roosevelt Education Center or South East Junior High to study, scrimmage, and recruit students for the future.

Over the course of a week, the team studied African-American history, including Africa: Salute To The Motherland; Brains, Brawn and Business: African-American Achievers; Dramatic Significance: TV & Cinematic Influences; Innovators and Dreamers: African-American Inventors; and Iowa African-American History and Civil Rights.

“We need to take large steps to integrate those stories into our classroom and our day to day curriculum because these aren’t just pages of a textbook, they’re people’s lives,” Keita said.

Continued on A11

LH Video: Teachers Guess Slang Words Find the video using the QR code below

2A NEWS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Section A 3 6 13 14 17 18

Magazine 4 20 24

3 6 13

Up and Out Robert Strang

14 17 18

Something in the Water

Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin and Lottie Gidal

Coded

Mira Bohannan Kumar and Eden Knoop

Nope-Rah Lottie Gidal

Stand Up Speak Out

4 20 24

Zoë Miller and Theo Prineas

F R E O D M I T O R S

Lottie Gidal

Won’t You Celebrate With Me?

Home Again, Home Again Zoë Miller L E T T E T R H E

Click. Share.

Mmmm.

Dearest Readers, Just like that, the infamous second trimester is practically over.

Wild, right? What’s been more wild?

Raising our three children (you probably can tell which one was the problem child). They’ve grown a lot. We call em Zo, Mi, and Sh. Sh was collicky sooo her name is what we would always tell her. Then we figured long names are overrated so two letter names came to be. Coming soon to BuzzFeed: “Top Ten Two-Letter Names You Never Knew You Wished You Had.” In this issue, our lovely children, the editors, have put together a plethora of important stories—in News, we have high-rises, pigs & cows, a constitution, and a Valen-

Eden Knoop

Buoyant Zoë Butler and Olivia Lusala

tine’s quiz; Opinion is packed full of thoughts on censorship, dress codes, and movies; A&E looks at City’s speech team and the hottest new food trends in Iowa City; Sports goes in depth about the recruiting problem in high school sports; and Features looks at different experiences in the modern age (technology, fashion, you name it).

We hope you enjoy this penultimate issue, from our family to yours <3.

Tchau tchau for now, Momma Maya and Daddy Victor

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

NEWS 3A

Up and Out Rapid economic growth has spurred the growth of entrepreneurship in Iowa City

By Robert Strang Reporter From a bird’s-eye view, a city is almost like a single, vast organism. Countless arteries, or roads, circulate a continuous supply of people to the towering new apartment buildings on the ped mall. Everything works together to help small businesses grow and to facilitate the development of the local economy.

Iowa City is currently in the middle of a major transition period. The University of Iowa and the Iowa City community have drawn in new crowds and businesses over the years, increasing the need for expansion. More recently, the addition of massive complexes and office buildings casting their shadows over the community calls to mind a

“THE CHAUNCEY WILL CONTAIN SEVERAL MOVIE THEATERS CONTAINING 225 SEATS, A 12LANE BOWLING ALLEY, AND A RESTAURANT WITH A LOUNGE.” bustling metropolis instead of the quiet college town with which Iowa City’s citizens have previously been familiar.

In order to keep up with the growing downtown area in Iowa City, wealthy real estate investors have increasingly been commissioning the construction of newer, larger buildings.

In the fall of 2017, construction crews finished work on a 12-story Hilton Garden Inn hotel on Clinton Street that boasted a rooftop lounge, a ballroom, and multiple restaurants and bars. Several other high-rises are set to come up within the next few years.

Mark Moen, a prominent Iowa City developer, is constructing one high-rise, the Chauncey, on the corner of Gilbert Street and College Street. Moen has constructed high-rise buildings in Iowa City before, such as the Plaza Towers and the Park@201.

The Chauncey is named after Iowa City founding father Chauncey Swan. The 15-story high-rise will be used as a multipurpose building open to use by the public. It will feature a boutique hotel, 14 studio apartments, 50 condominium units, and 40,000 square feet of office space.

However, the Chauncey is not just comprised of living quarters and office space. The high-rise will also contain several movie theaters with a total of 225 seats, a 12-lane bowling alley, and a restaurant with a lounge.

The Chauncey, like other large-scale projects, will attract businesses and aim to provide new sources of revenue to the community as a whole.

“It will contribute financially to the tax base in Iowa City and will bring amenities and entertainment downtown which are not currently available,” Moen said of the building. “Property taxes are estimated to initially be in the range of $1.3 million per year.”

Moen believes that the Chauncey, much like the similar Plaza Towers project that his business, the Moen Group, completed a decade before, will become a hub in Iowa City.

“We opened Plaza Towers in 2006. Prior to

ABOVE: The Chauncey construction site PHOTO BY ROBERT STRANG

ABOVE: The Chauncey is currently under construction downtown PHOTO BY ROBERT STRANG that, the site on which Plaza Towers was built time during the fall of 2018. was a parking lot for over 40 years,” Moen said.

Despite the aforementioned urbanization of “Now it is a hub of Iowa City and over one milthe Iowa City community, the city’s expanlion people per year come through the building. sion is not just limited to the sky. It has also This type of activity is critical to been growing out, as Iowa City the survival of downtowns.” continues to develop into a hub In addition, Moen said, the startups and small businesses.

“ONE OF THE GREAT for Chauncey will aim to keep its In the past few years, several new THINGS ABOUT carbon footprint as small as restaurants, such as Dumpling possible in order to reduce the DOWNTOWN DENSE Darling, Estela’s, Blaze Pizza, possible negative environmental Vue, and Bao Chow, opened.

DEVELOPMENT IS TheOne impact of an undertaking of that of these establishments THAT THE CARBON is Cortado. Calling itself “metscale.

“We are utilizing geothermal ropolitan-inspired, fast-paced, FOOTPRINT OF systems for heating and cooling. [and] European style” on its THE BUILDING IS The building is energy-efficient website, the new cafe opened its and we have worked with the doors in January 2017. Like other MINIMAL.” Weidt Group on energy-efficiennew businesses in the area, it cy analysis,” said Moen. seeks to fill a perceived space in Mark Moen the community. The cafe, which Another way the Chauncey is reducing its environmental specializes in non-Americanized impact is by building downtown. coffee drinks, is thriving, accordThe proximity of the site to different, preexisting ing to its owner Yochai Harel. centers of commerce and other important loca“Business has been going really good. We are tions in the area means less need for transportagetting more and more longer-term customers. tion, and as only a small portion of land will be Lots of people come in to try us out and end up needed for the property, the city’s infrastructure coming back,” said Harel. “We have lots of cusand the surrounding area will not be disturbed. tomers that come in every single day, sometimes “One of the great things about downtown multiple times. That is my favorite part, just getdense development is that the carbon footprint ting to know people and recognizing their face.” of the building is minimal,” Moen said. “We do Among the various businesses that have not need to build roads or take acres of ground opened recently is the the independent movie for the building because we are building up.” theater known as FilmScene. Since the theater The $55-million project is set to open towards opened in 2013, it has become an important the end of next summer, during the August of place in the movie-watching community.

2019.

FilmScene will soon be increasing its screen Another new high-rise that began its count with several new theaters opening in the construction recently is the Rise, an apartment Chauncey. complex at Riverfront Crossing. The 12-story “Business has been great due to the turn out complex will be located on the previously empty and support from the community,” said Joe lot at the corner. The building offers high-end Tiefentaler, the executive director of FilmScene. off-campus apartments, a club lounge with a “Iowa City has a really active population for art media room, a pool, and a state-of-the-art fitness and other media.” center. The building is planned to open some-

NEWS A4

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Dancing for a Cause

By Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin

I

News Editor

n 2015, City High Dance Marathon was a small dance where the money raised from tickets went to the University of Iowa Dance Marathon (UIDM) organization.

Until this year, the dance was planned by a committee made up of members from the City High Ambassadors Club. This year, students formed a committee to plan the Dance Marathon, which was open to every student at City High. Over twenty students worked for months to plan an event and to raise money for kids with cancer.

Because Iowa City is home to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Dance Marathon affects members of the City High community on a personal or family level. Students attended this dance not only to have fun, but also to help raise money for a cause they deemed important.

Veronica Abreu ‘19, along with numerous students across the different grades, helped sell tickets and set up for the dance.

“My mom works at the university hospital and when I was younger I would always go to work with her and see other kids my age and wonder why I wasn’t allowed to play with them, until my mom explained that they were sick and had to be there all the time,” Abreu said. “That’s when I became aware of cancer affecting people my age and I think it’s awesome that kids are coming together to help other kids.”

The club collaborated with members of the University of Iowa Dance Marathon who helped make the event a success. One member of UIDM, Erika Harvey, was particularly impressed and inspired by City High’s efforts. “[The event] just blew my mind,” Harvey said. “It was really cool to see high schoolers understand that mission and execute it the way you guys did.”

The City High Dance Marathon (CHSDM) has its foundation in a collection of events from around the country. The first Dance Marathon was hosted by students at Indiana University in 1991 in honor of one of their peers who passed away from

National Honors Society Induction 153 of City High’s top students were inducted into the National Honors Society in early January

By Henry Mildenstein

T ABOVE: Brady Vanlo ‘18 DJs for Dance Marathon PHOTO BY JACOB STRATHEARN HIV/AIDS. Since then, the program has developed and expanded across North America. Every year, various Dance Marathon programs benefit hundreds of hospitals and countless children.

Pam Codd, a former City High student and a mother, has been involved in the UIDM since her youngest son was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and passed away in 2013. She has also been involved in CHSDM since the beginning. Codd said she has enjoyed watching her oldest son, Orson Codd ‘18, find his place at City High through Dance Marathon.

“The first year that we were involved in City High Dance Marathon, they were really trying to get their footing and there was maybe only a handful of people. Watching the kiddos...take real control over it and get more involved in it...I think that it helped for Orson to bridge that relationship between being a dancer and a participant and being a family member,” Codd said of the event. “It was really cool to see him share that experience with [other students].”

The 2018 City High Dance Marathon raised over 150 percent of the amount earned at the event in 2017.

“It’s been really fun to watch [CHSDM] grow,” Codd said. “It was really small when it first started and just the progression of watching the students take more control over it and just watching the students learn more about the program has been amazing.”

The students’ learning experience was facilitated partly by people like Harvey who aided them in imitating the work that the UIDM did. Harvey originally started coming to City High to help the CHSDM committee learn a dance to perform at the winter pep assembly. After her first time working with City High students, she continued coming back to every meeting.

“Every time I left City High, I realized why I love Dance Marathon so much. [The students] reminded me about how cool it is to get involved in Dance Marathon,” Harvey said.

Members of Dance Marathon club had weekly meetings in addition to

ABOVE: Students wear T-shirts to represent City High Dance Marathon Club PHOTO BY JACOB STRATHEARN

fundraising and planning on their own time.

At the beginning of the school year, the club sold shirts to raise money for the cause, as well as to advertise the event. In the months leading up to the dance, students used different fundraising strategies to continue to earn money. In addition to these methods of fundraising, students volunteered their time to produce decorations which would be put around the school and at the dance.

Many schools across Iowa host mini Dance Marathon events, but CHSDM stood out to members of the university’s organization. Cole Schuchard is the mini co-chair of UIDM, and worked with City students to help make their event a success.

“In the full range of schools throughout the state, City is up there with the best,” Schuchard said.

Schuchard was particularly impressed by the increase in participation and funds raised compared to the 2017 event.

“Seeing something like this is unbelievable,” Schuchard said. “I think that by...sharing our passion and our organization’s successes with these students...some of those successes translate well in the City High program in years to come.”

The executive board of UIDM monitored City High’s Dance Marathon over the course of its development and noticed its growth over time.

“I can tell you, having spoken to the executive director team and leadership team at the University, they have really loved watching [City High’s program] grow over the past few years,” said Codd.

Even with the success of the 2018 event, City High students are still looking to expand the event in future years. Next year, they hope to host more smaller events leading up to the big dance.

The City High Dance Marathon Club will be hosting a hair drive on March 3. The club hopes to both raise more money for its cause and to collect hair that can be used to make wigs.

“I’m really happy how much we’ve grown this year, and I can’t wait to see how much better we can do next year,” Kaylee Paulsen ‘19 said.

Reporter

he National Honors Society, also known as the NHS, is an organization sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, or NASSP. 153 students were honored on Monday, January 22nd, at the National Honors Society induction ceremony.

“Many of our students are very busy with the many activities provided here at City High, so for the NHS we chose to make it an honorary chapter rather than an active chapter. In an active chapter you have additional activities and work,” said Linda Hoel, one of the guidance counselors and supervisor of the City High chapter of the NHS. “We wanted students to be recognized for their achievements without adding more to their already busy lives.”

To be inducted into the NHS, a student has to have a 3.5 cumulative GPA by the end of the first trimester of their junior year. In addition to having high grades, one must also be on track to finish three years of math, science, English, and social studies, as well as two years of a foreign language.

Charlie Maxwell ‘19 was one of the students inducted into the NHS this year.

“It felt really good to be inducted,” said Maxwell. “I put a lot of work into getting good grades and trying to be a good student. It felt really nice to get recognition for my hard work.”

Faculty members Ali BorgerGermann and Michael Ayers were the two keynote speakers at the induction ceremony.

“Dr. Ayers and I were working together on this speech and we wanted to say something that would be meaningful for City High’s most diligent students. It really came from our hearts,” Borger-Germann said. “We just said what we wanted the students to know going from this point.”

“The speeches were very inspiring,” Maxwell said. “I really liked how [Mrs. Borger-Germann] talked about curiosity being her main motivation while trying to publish her book.”

After the ceremony, many hugs were exchanged between the students and their family members and then families made the journey to the cafeteria for the post-induction celebration.

“The [ceremony] was beautiful,” Borger-Germann said. “Ms. Hoel is an expert at making really nice events.”

NEWS 5A

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

H U M A N S O F C I T Y H I G H

By Lindy Rublaitus Reporter

“My favorite memory of theater was being completely sleep-deprived during tech week and just running around like crazy with everyone and having actors look at us like we are crazy.

Everyone who does theater is just so nice and it’s such a great environment. Also just because it’s something creative and fun that I enjoy.”

“I love anime and manga. It’s like reading children’s books except it can be for little kids or mature adults. There is a range in age but it’s still fun because it’s cartoons and normal T.V. shows combining into one. You can just get lost.

I also love learning about people’s different personalities. You can learn about an entire culture just by talking to one person.”

“Spiders are the scariest things in the world to me. I went to therapy for spiders— arachnophobia—for two years. I think I’ve definitely improved. However, I had to stop going to therapy because we would talk about spiders so much during the therapy that when I would get home I would be very scared and I’d be very nauseous and I would puke. No, I wouldn’t puke but it was kind of gross. I felt like I wanted to puke.

So I got out of spider therapy quickly.”

“I’m really interested in medicine. I have a lot of interest in the CDC and the study of diseases. My mom got me interested in it and how it all works. My mom was going through getting her paramedics license while I was in junior high. She would come home and study and I would hear some of the stuff she was talking about, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s really interesting.’ I would sometimes be her dummy. It was then when I got really interested in it.”

“In fifth grade we tried out all of the instruments. Trumpet was the only one I didn’t play and I chose that one. I should have chosen trombone. My trumpet teacher told me that if I played trombone I’d be a lot better than what I am now. I wanted to be a part of something because all I really had as a fifth grader was Cub Scouts. I joined band and ever since then I’ve wanted to get better. On Saturday, we had our Jazz Showcase. That second show was the most confident I have ever been.”

SDEC Visits Lemme

By Badra Kalil Reporter

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n January 24th, members of City High’s Student Diversity and Equity Council gathered at Lemme Elementary for a cultural celebration. This event is held at Lemme every year to celebrate different cultures from all over the world.

The Student Diversity and Equity Council (SDEC) is a student-led organization that started last year. One of these members is Michelle TranDuong ‘19.

“I believe the overall thing we are trying to accomplish is to spread diversity and bring peoples of different cultures and backgrounds together,” Tran-Duong said.

For the SDEC’s first task, they focused on spreading awareness of serious topics, such as stereotyping and social media, to elementary schools.

“SDEC wanted to focus on elementary schools primarily because we thought that it would be a good idea to educate younger kids and introduce certain serious ideas so that they would have some kind of understanding before entering high school,” Tran-Duong said.

For Lemme’s cultural night, members of the SDEC set up a booth to increase awareness of stereotypes and their effects. The booth included interactive activities for kids to fill out with their parents, as well as a poster that read “I am not _______.”

Members of the SDEC encouraged kids and parents to write down an unfair stereotype on a sticky note, and add it to the poster. By the end of the night, the poster read things such as, “[I am not] just Chinese because I’m Asian,” as well as “[I am not] against pink and purple even though I’m a boy,”.

As for the future, Tran-Duong says that SDEC’s next move is to focus on City High.

“However, if while planning our events, time allows us to go to a school and talk, we will definitely try to be a part of that,” Tran-Duong said.

Abstract Art in Best Buddies

By Bihotza James-Lejarcegui and Alfredo Filerio

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ity High Best Buddies participants use art to showcase the diversity within the club.

In the summer of 2017, seniors Sarah Nuñez and Molly Brennon attended the Best Buddies Leadership Conference based in Indiana. They attended workshops with other Best Buddies members from various states, and came up with the idea of using art projects to spread awareness of the Best Buddies program.

Brennon and Nuñez approached Mr. Bacon with the idea of creating a mural within City High. With Bacon’s approval, Nuñez then invited

Best Buddies participants Kawther Rouabhi ‘18 and Jameson Reineke ‘18 to help her design and create the mural. Bacon gave them $100-600 for art supplies. They also enlisted help from City High art teacher Dan Peterson, who provided them with further supplies and assistance.

“We decided to go with an abstract theme for the mural because Best Buddies is so diverse with so many different types of people involved. The faces are unique just like the club, and it brings so many different kinds of people together that you wouldn’t see in a typical classroom setting,” said

Nuñez. “We figure with an abstract mural people will be able to interpret the design however they want depending on what they think Best Buddies represents.”

“Each face has a different color to show how fun and exciting and different Best Buddies is,” said Reineke.

It took about a month to decide what the design would be, trying to keep the mural as professional as possible with help from Peterson.

“He’s been a great help artistically, just helping us figure out what we wanted and how to make it happen,” Rouabhi said. “We appreciate his help

very much.”

The girls decided to paint the mural on the wall leading into the cafeteria. They started painting the picture over winter break, and have since made it a goal to have at least one of them working on it every day.

“The whole space we’re using gives lots of opportunity for people and clubs to put more murals and designs up. It’s a colorful entrance into the cafeteria and people can see all the different clubs that are open at City High,” said Reineke.

“This project and club as a whole is about showcasing the beauty within

all of our students,” said Rouabhi.

“The students who are a part of Best Buddies make it such a powerful force in our student body.”

They don’t have any plans yet for future art projects once they finish the mural, but Best Buddies is hosting a friendship walk in April where buddies are paired up to create art that is then sold into the community.

“It’s a fun way to spend time with the buddies, and with the little time school gives us to do things we enjoy, this project is a nice way to incorporate art into Best Buddies,” said Nuñez.

6A NEWS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Iowa is the country’s largest producer of pork with 21 million pigs, seven times the number of humans

There’s Something in the Water Governor Reynolds just signed a law that will spend $238 million to stop agricultural runoff from polluting Iowa’s water. But in the biggest pork and egg producing state in the U.S., will that be enough?

The total toxic discharge in Iowa’s waterways is 6,602,493 pounds

By Lottie Gidal and Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin News Editors

The problem of agricultural runoff in Iowa is spurred by the concentration of CAFOs, or Confined Animal Feeding Operations, in the state. Iowa is the largest producer of both pork and eggs in the country, and while this provides an important base for the state’s economy, it also causes several types of pollution.

CAFOs and other large scale farming operations send millions of Due to runoff from crops and livestock, over half of all Iowa pounds of waste and toxins down the Mississippi each year. When bodies of water are polluted. In an attempt to fix this problem, these wastes reach the Gulf of Mexico, they create vast dead zones on January 24th Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that will on the ocean floor. spend $282 million in an effort to clean up Iowa’s waters. It’s still But these environmental impacts can also hit much closer to unclear if that will be enough. home than the Atlantic. In 2015, the Des Moines Water Works Supporters of the bill say that this is a necessary step in the effort to fight water pollution, but many environmental groups are filed a lawsuit against farmers in three different counties, whose collective stock totaled three million pigs and one million turkeys. concerned that the spending requirements associated with the bill The company no longer wanted to spend millions of dollars every are far too vague and leave little room for accountability. year to run two central Iowa water sources through a system in orThere are two main components to the bill. The der to strip out high levels of nitrates and bacteria. first provides $156 million to help fund watershed “WHAT WE SEE IS, In March of 2017, it lost that lawsuit. projects as well as encourage farmers to plant cover “Perhaps the state legislature should now crops and saturated buffers in order to prevent WE SEE THE FISH spend its time addressing meaningful, long-term, excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous KILLS, WE SEE THE sustainably-funded policy solutions to our serious from flowing into Iowa’s lakes and streams. The DEAD ZONE, WE water problems instead of meddling in affairs best second part of the bill will give $126 million to to local communities,” said Water Works CEO cities and communities across the state to fix their SEE THE ALGAE left Bill Stowe. drinking-water facilities. Forty percent will be given BLOOM, BUT WE The state has formed a Nutrient Reduction Stratto programs that seek to protect sources of drinkegy to help overcome the problem, but environmenDON’T SEE THE ing water and 45% to a loan program focused on talists have pointed out that this strategy does not ground and surface water improvement projects.

LINK WITH WHAT cover bacteria, which are the leading cause of water The remaining 15% will go towards decreasing erodamage in Iowa. These bacteria come from manure, IS HAPPENING sion and stormwater discharge. which is frequently applied to fields, and livestock Starting with $2 million in 2018, the money will UPSTREAM” facilities such as CAFOs. be portioned out slowly at first and will increase An issue that arises regarding the high number over the next 15 years. However, it will fall far short SILVIA SECCHI of CAFOs in Iowa is the question of what to do of the $4 billion experts say is required if the state wants to meet its goal of reducing nitrogen and PROFESSOR OF with manure and other animal waste products.

When large amounts of waste are produced, farmers phosphate levels by 45%.

ENVIRONMENTAL are supposed to spread it throughout their crops.

STUDIES However, because artificial fertilizers are often more effective, farmers end up refraining from that man-

dated p is not p in place was firs were in the law activitie circum perpetr Silv studyin ability, laws to “We [larger terms o CAFO Secchi laws are “Co they do try to fi the nex court a Secc ing wit the Env Agr two gro be refer attribut exampl contam expansi it is im In o require size. Be many f but not amoun ment fr CAFOs unless a

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

NEWS 7A

The state’s pig residents create an average of 9 billion gallons of manure annually

practice. Instead, they apply the chemicals and the manure that can be sourced to a particular location. properly disposed of. Although the state has regulations “Even though the technology is getting better with such things e, they work side by side with the Clean Water Act, which as precision farming, so you only apply the nutrients where they st introduced in the 1970s. When these pieces of legislation need to be, or you have better technology to build the pits that nitially put in place, these large facilities did not exist, and store the manure, we don’t have the means to determine whether ws have not been altered to better provide for the expanded people are doing the best,” Secchi said. “What we see is, we see ies of farmers today. As a result, many CAFOs are able to the fish kills, we see the dead zone, we see the algae bloom, but we mvent the regulations that should be preventing them from don’t see the link with what is happening upstream.” rating illegalities.

The environmental impacts of CAFOs make the issue of via Secchi is a professor at the University of Iowa who is regulating them all the more pressing. The usage of antibiotics ng the environmental impacts of agriculture, water sustainon animals is another point of concern with CAFOs. Although and conservation policy. Secchi thinks it is time for new there are regulations on use—it must stop at a certain point before be put in place. slaughter—antibiotic resistance is still present. Antibiotics make e need to pass a new law that has different rules about those up a small portion of the many pollutants that are used at low, operations], those thresholds that is maybe smarter in regulation-compliant levels, but that over time can impact the of how these are,” Secchi said. “You know, if you have one environment. CAFOs use antibiotics to prevent their animals per county it’s very different than if you have 100.” from getting sick, but in reality antibiotics use can cause more believes that there is a very simple reason to why no new problems. e being passed.

Because they are nonpoint sources, there is little to no moniongress cannot agree,” Secchi said. “What toring of farmers’ or CAFOs’ activities. This makes o is they take what is out there and they very difficult to determine whether or not they are “PASSING THIS itimplementing fit a square peg in a round hole and then environmentally friendly policies. SecLONG-AWAITED chi believes that the biggest problem in past legislaxt step is litigation, you know, people go to and say, ‘Nope.’”

LEGISLATION DOES tion is that while they may set requirements, there are chi pointed out that this is what is happenor means of enforcing them.

NOT MEAN THE no checks th the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and “I am a firm believer in monitoring,” Secchi said.

WATER QUALITY “Monitoring is not exciting. You don’t discover anyvironmental Protection Act. ricultural pollution can be categorized into thing new. You just go and do the same thing over DISCUSSION oups; point and nonpoint. Point sources can and over again, but it’s fundamental to understand IS OVER. IT rred to whether the pollution can be directly where we are going and the trends.” ted to a specific location or cause. For In the recent state house bill, environmental SHOULD IGNITE le, with a large pipe, it is possible to trace groups took up Secchi’s concerns. Josh Mandelbaum, A CONTINUING an attorney at the Environmental Law and Policy minants back to the source, whereas with DEBATE AS ive bodies of water such as the Mississippi, Center, believes that the lack of specific goals and a mpossible to trace. timeline is hugely problematic.

WE BEGIN TO order to be considered a point source, which “To understand if we’re actually making progress, IMPLEMENT It THE we need to monitor water quality,” Mandelbaum es a permit, CAFOs need to be a certain ecause of the flexibility of this regulation, PRACTICES THAT told the Des Moines Register. “Once you have that farms have multiple units close to this limit, then you need specific goals. You need WILL CONTINEU baseline, t quite reaching it. This produces the same timelines associated with those goals. And you need TO MAKE AN nt of pollution, but it prevents the governbenchmarks to see if you’re meeting those goals. If rom regulating those corporations. These IMPACT ON WATER you don’t have any of those pieces, how can you say s can avoid permits required by the state serious about improving water quality?”

QUALITY IN IOWA.” you’re an accident, such as a large fish kill, occurs But Governor Kim Reynolds says this is only the beginning of the effort to improve water quality.

KIM REYNOLDS “Passing this long-awaited legislation does not GOVERNOR OF IOWA mean the water quality discussion is over,” Reynolds said in a statement after the passage of the bill. “It should ignite a continuing conversation as we begin to implement the practices that will continue to make an impact on water quality in Iowa.”

ABOVE: The Iowa River, one of the most polluted in the country PHOTO BY Lottie Gidal ART BY Azzurra Sartini-Rideout

8A NEWS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Student Senate Preambles Through Constitutional Convention

Spurred on by debate about the attendance policy, Student Senate made a series of constitutional rewrites

Best Buddies Educates Students on Disabilities

By Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin News Editor

C

ABOVE: Student Senate poses for a picture after the Constitutional Convention PHOTO BY VICTOR KALIL

By Victor Kalil Executive Editor

R

ewriting the constitution has always kind of been on the back of my mind,” said Teagan Roeder ‘18, Student Senate president. “I now have that mountaintop view of everything that goes on within the school and the Student Senate and there are several areas we could make improvements in to make the operation of the Senate more simplified or better.

The revision of the Student Senate Constitution was finally passed on January 31st. Changes included an attendance requirement for juniors planning on running for presidency and vice presidency, along with a clause on keeping Executive Board members (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) in check.

“I think the main thing that the constitution was reformed for was to try to give to give a def fix the the attendance policy that people were having some probs with last year.” said Patrick McMillan ‘18, Student Senate Vice President. “It was unclear what the actual rules were and how late you needed to come before you wanted to try to run for office.”

Rules for running were especially important last year, when rules were not clear and advertised enough for prospective candidates. Ultimately, Principal John Bacon had to intervene to set the bar for the rest of last year’s election period.

“In past years this hadn’t really been well publicized so people were prevented from running for office because they were unaware of the requirements to do so.” said Liza Sarsfield ‘19.

Roeder agreed.

“Honestly, last year was just a learning experience of how not to implement an attendance policy,” said Roeder.

Naturally, this issue came to the fore again during the revision process. Two sides of the attendance de-

bate emerged during discussions. The vice president—but there is definitely debate was over the proportion of a need for someone to attend at least meetings that cana few meetings of “WE JUST WANTED TO the Student Senate didates should be required to atBE SURE THAT WHOEVER so that they undertend—either onehow it works DID RUN FOR OFFICE WAS stand third or one-half because it’s a vital ACTUALLY DEDICATED institution for each year. The rule would also be set TO THE GROUP AND NOT getting stuff done for the remainder around here,” said of the year post- RUNNING AS A JOKE AS IN Roeder. ratification.

Although PREVIOUS YEARS.” Roeder hoped some students the requirement preferred an open MAYA DURHAM policy, others would either be lowered or re- JUNIOR CLASS REPRESENTATIVE who had been moved completely. attending Student “I do agree Senate for a longer with the inclusivity aspect—anyone can amount of time preferred a higher bar. be the president, anybody can be the “A group of us just wanted to be

INFOGRAPHIC BY OLIVIA LUSALA

sure that whoever did run for office was actually dedicated to the group and not running as a joke as we’ve seen in previous years,” said Maya Durham ‘19.

After weeks of debate and advisory meetings, senators voted for the requirement to be one-third of all meetings.

“It acts as a way to make sure that someone who is running for office knows what they are getting into and that they will be dedicated to the Senate,” said Liza Sarsfield, a student senator in favor of the one-third rule.

“It also helps to make sure that they get a feel for how meetings run so they don’t come in with no clue at all how things operate.”

Another change is a more plannedout budget, along with designated committees, including the dance, fundraising, Homecoming, Can Drive, and election committees.

“It’s good to designate ongoing committees, although I think we all knew that those were the functions before.” said Chip Hardesty, a Student Senate adviser.

One of the final changes was creating a clause named “Termination of the Executive Office.” These rules set a standard for removing a member from theireExecutive position if they are not fulfilling their roles.

“In the past [the position] has just been given to them and they’ve kept it whether they’ve performed well or not.” said McMillan. “I think some of the standards put in place for current executive members was necessary so we could hold the people accountable for whether they wanted to be class rep or an Executive Board member like secretary or treasurer.”

However, McMillan is glad that the revision process is over with. The next revision is scheduled to take place in two years.

“Revising the constitution was quite a bit of work.” said McMillan.

“I’m glad it’s finally over because we have some projects I’m really looking forward to.”

ity High has one of the most prominent highschool Best Buddies programs in the country. The leaders of this club work tirelessly to make students with disabilities feel loved and included.

Beatrice Kearns ‘19 has been an active member of Best Buddies since her freshman year, and she now serves as a peer buddy and on the officer team.

Working with people with disabilities has always been an important part of her life.

“I have two disabled siblings and my whole life the inclusion of people with disabilities has been really important to me,” Kearns said.

The youngest of Kearns’ siblings, Leo Kearns ‘21, is attending City High this year as a freshman.

Although Kearns was excited for Leo to participate in Best Buddies, she was nervous about him finding his place.

Despite these worries, Leo has found a lot of things he loves at City High, including Best Buddies.

“Watching my brother form a relationship with his buddy has been incredible,” Kearns said. “[Leo’s] buddy has changed his life. Even though he hasn’t known [his buddy]

“THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT EVERYONE IS A PERSON AND HAS THEIR ABILITIES. SEEING HOW YOU CAN MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT THAN YOU IS ONE OF THE MAIN POINTS OF BEST BUDDIES.” BEATRICE KEARNS JUNIOR

for that long, he will impact Leo for the rest of his life.”

Each month Best Buddies throws a party, the most recent of which was geared toward informing students about common disabilities. There were five different presentations.

Many of them were personal, such as Kearns’ presentation about Leo’s disability, brain injury.

“There are a lot of people with a lot of different special needs,” said Kearns. “A disability isn’t just a label and I think seeing past that and seeing into a personality and educating the rest of the school on people’s abilities and limits is really important.”

Best Buddies serves as an important part of life for many City High students, with and without disabilities. Kearns says that by informing students of common disabilities, Best Buddies members are hoping to create an even more inclusive environment at City High.

“The bottom line is that everyone is a person and everyone has their abilities,” said Kearns. “Seeing how you can make connections with people who are different than you is one of the main points of Best Buddies and we try to incorporate that into our parties the best that we can.”

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Student Senate Recap

By Mira Bohannan Kumar Copy & Opinion Editor

1/10

The meeting began with Senate secretary Bihotza James-Lejarcegui ’18’s presentation on developments in the possibility of a self-defense class at City High. Eric Thomas ’18 spoke about the Open Mic Night to be held tentatively on Friday, February 16. The Senate discussed the challenges facing transgender individuals who want to join sports teams.

The Senate held a vote concerning the committee for a special upperclassman event later in the year. The Senate voted to keep the committee on in order to discuss this hypothetical event.

April Wilson ’18 and Cole Milder ’19 came to the Senate from Dance Marathon to ask for funds from Senate coffers to help Dance Marathon.

The Senate voted to aid the event.

The Senate discussed the current attendance requirement to run for office and the conflict that occurred in the 2017 election–the change in attendance standards and the lack of communication about them. The Senate voted to open it up for revisions.

To learn more about the revision process and changes, see A10.

1/17 The Student Senate meeting on Wednesday, January 17 began with President Teagan Roeder ’18 proposing to have an Advisory meeting concerning the revision of the Constitution.

Eric Thomas ’18 reported on the status of the Open Mic Night. Posters will be put up to advertise the event, the tentative date of which is February 16. Vice President Patrick McMillan ’18 put forth an idea for a dodgeball tournament as a fundraiser. McMillan planned to form a committee for the

Black History Trivia

NEWS 9A

event.

The Senate initiated discussions on prom themes. Several themes were proposed and the Senate discoursed on voting methods, as well as on the afterprom. Maya Durham ’19 proposed forming a committee to reinstate the Food Pantry and find alternate locations.

Chip Hardesty soliloquized on the Senior Picnic, pointing out the high costs of such an event and questioning the significance of it to seniors.

1/24 The Student Senate meeting on Wednesday, January 24 focused on the constitution revision, and began with a debate over the attendance quota necessary for running for school office.

To learn more about the revision process and the changes, see A10.

The election, which is now scheduled for May 11, will be preceded by a roughly three-week election period.

Exact dates for this period have not yet been specified.

After this discussion, Secretary Bihotza James-Lejarcegui ’18 presented on a self-defense class to take place at City High in February.

The Senate determined that the prom theme must be selected by the beginning of February, so theme proposals will be presented next meeting, which will take place Wednesday, January 31.

1/31 The meeting began with a roll-call vote on the proposed revisions to the constitution. It passed by majority.

“It’s a great achievement for the school that we finally have a ratified constitution,” President Teagan Roeder ’18 said.

Treasurer Gabby McCormick ’18 discussed the budget for the remainder of the year.

“Something we want to keep in Continued from 1A The Black History Game Show was on the second of a three-day conference called Education Day. “You get to hear about all these powerful black men and women who have accomplished and achieved so

ABOVE: Xeniphilius Tyne ‘20 listens before the revised constitution is passed PHOTO BY VICTOR KALIL mind…[is] the sustainability of Stu“We’re going to change the the prom theme, such as putting out dent Senate,” McCormick said. “We structure of Student Senate as far as a list to the public, voting within the should be thinking about…benefitthe sponsors go,” Tygrett said. “We are Senate, and forming a committee to ing the school while we increase our going to expand to four sponsors of decide on the theme. intakes.”

Student Senate.”

“Usually themes are decided as a McCormick also discussed exThe Senate began to propose prom large group,”President Teagan Roeder penditures and intakes for the spring themes and look for more ideas, but it ‘18 said. semester. resolved that the issue would need to The Senate eventually selected “There’s not anything significant be decided the next week, as there was “Great Gatsby” as the theme for the were going to be intaking for next not sufficient time to deliberate and 2018 prom. year,” McCormick said. “This should settle on a theme at that meeting.

The Senate moved on to discussing be something we’re thinking about for Secretary Bihotza James-Lejarcegui how it could publicize the harassment the underclassmen.” ’18 set the date for a co-ed self-defense hotlines available to students.

The Senate mentioned club grants class for February 24th from 12-4 “I had a report…where someone and rationing funding based on need. p.m. The class will be capped at thirty didn’t know where to file a harass“The two clubs that got the most people, and tickets will be $5 per ment complaint,” Roeder said. “I money last year were Mock Trial and person. think it would be very important if Best Buddies,” Junior Class RepreEric Thomas ’18 set the date for we could put up posters saying, ‘This sentative Maya Durham said on club the Open Mic Night for February is where you can make an anonymous funding. “On average clubs get about 16th just after school in the Little report.’” $50-100, but those two clubs got a lot Theater.

Vice President Patrick McMillan more.”

The Student Senate meeting began presented the preparations for the “When we gave $4,000 last year upcoming student dodgeball tourna[to clubs], that was double what we’ve ment, which will be co-ed and has no ever given away,” Steve Tygrett, faculty with a discussion of prom themes. set date as yet. Sign-up sheets for the adviser, said. “Next year we’ve got to “The last three have been ‘Space self-defense class on the afternoon of start out with more money.”

Odyssey,’ ‘An Evening in Paris,’ and February 24th are located in the main In fact, the entire sponsorship of ‘Music of the Night,’” Steve Tygrett, office and around the school. the Senate will be altered for the 2018the faculty adviser for Student Senate, Lottie Gidal ’18 asked for funds 19 school year. Tygrett said that the said a few moments before vetoing the for Recycling Club to put in a dumpbudget and sponsor of the junior class suggestion of a Kylie Jenner-themed ster behind the cafeteria in which the will be combined with the Student prom. custodial staff can place recycling.

Senate funds.

Several methods for deciding on “Right now the janitors throw away all the recycling from the cafetemuch. It goes directly against that team and West High B team were sitria because they say they have nowhere slavery narrative that black kids hear ting down. There was a lot of tension. to put it and there isn’t room for a so often,” Keita said.

We’d already beaten West A Team dumpster,” Gidal said. “There is room The team walked in aiming for the and we were going against the West B for a dumpster.” title of state champion, the prize of Team,” Cecile Bendera ‘20 said. “We The Senate voted unanimously to $300, and a trophy. were a little bit close, but we heard the grant Recycling Club $50.

“In the final round City High A last buzzer, and it was done.”

2/7

NEWS 10A

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

More Than a Face Two reporters get to know the people students see everyday

By Samiya Batie and Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos Reporters

Joyce McCann Lunch Staff

Q A Q A

What’s the best part of your job on the lunch staff?

The cookies are great; the monster bars are great—we get the broken ones. And just working with a bunch of fun girls!

What can students do to make your job easier?

Say hello, I guess, or when we have run out of something you were counting on if you could be more forgiving. That’s the biggest thing, to be more understanding if we mess up.

Q A

What’s the best experience you’ve had on the job?

Interacting with students is just so fun.

One student came up to me and I said, ‘Put in your number.’ And so this one young man came to put in his number and and he goes, ‘You know, you always ask me for my number but you never call me up for a date.’

And, me being an older lady and him being a younger student, I just laughed. It was so cute. So I think joking with the kids is the best.

Mart Mellecker

Q A Q A

Custodian

What is it like working at City High?

I’ve met a lot of nice people and students and it’s just been fantastic. It’s just a great place to work.

What is the hardest part of the job?

The clean-up. Some of the kids leave messes, and sports are by far the hardest to clean up after. Other than that, it’s really just a piece of cake. I really enjoy it and have a good time.

Q A

What is the best part of the job?

Seeing a lot of people. Interacting with everybody. I can say I’ve met a lot of nice people here and good friends and I consider them part of the family. I’ve met a lot of students that I’ve crossed paths with either here or playing softball.

Elizabeth Bernal

Q A Q A

Lunch Staff

What is it like working at City High and being a part of the lunch staff?

It’s really hard work in the kitchen, but it’s good to see all of the happy faces after they come to get lunch and eat and go to class.

How long does it take to prepare lunch for all the students?

We prepare for other schools too, which is like seven or six other schools—elementary schools—so we start at seven o’clock and go until ten o’clock. We have three hours to get everything ready.

Q A

How do you like working here at City?

Pretty good. Every single school day we’re missing people, so they send us people from City High to other schools and the principal sends the manager to get students to help in the pizza line, which is really good because they can have a little experience. It was fun to have Bob today in the pizza line.

Arthur Connel

Q A

Custodian

What is the best experience you’ve had on the job?

Dealing with people, dealing with stuff.

There are so many different people who come through this building every day and every year and it’s just amazing that I don’t have a problem with any of them no matter what race, no matter what color, none of this. It’s just amazing.

Q A Q A

What’s the best part of the job?

Payday.

What is the most satisfying part of your job?

When I see students take advantage of opportunities if they have them. And if it worked for them and when I see them later on in life and I see that they took advantage of it, proper advantage for opportunities and it worked, I feel like no matter how much hard work I’m doing, I figure it’s worth it.

Celebrating Diversity for MLK Day

By Lindy Rublaitus and Cecile Bendera Reporters

G

athered in the Little Theater and Opstad auditorium, students listened to speakers talk about their life and how it relates to Martin Luther King Jr. as everyone prepares to celebrate MLK Day on Monday, January 15th. Speakers joined together to give input on poetry and storytelling. Topics ranged from being an adult to parenting, all relating to the problems we face in modern society Akwi Nji, a writer, artist, producer, and poet located in Cedar Rapids, told her story to students during first period. She spoke about the struggles of being a person of color who was surrounded by Caucasians as a child.

“Everybody is creative and I think that there is a lot of power to be explored in the context of art,” Nji said. “I think it’s important that we share the personal stories that are within us and shape who we are. I think the only way to build a stronger, more positive community is if we do more of that.”

To promote sharing stories, Nji invited students to come up to the stage to say what they stood for. Responses ranged from family to fashion, showing the diversity in the halls of City. Students were also invited to share any

stories that they had made and wanted to share.

Destanie Gibson ‘20 shared her poem about stereotypes in the colored community, as well as the superiority of whites and the struggle of police brutality.

“I was inspired to go up there because she inspired me,” Gibson said. “She is a woman of color and women of color inspire me.”

During 2nd period, Raquisha Harrington expanded on the idea of finding your own path and not giving up on yourself. Harrington, at the age of 15, was a teen parent but persisted through the stereotypes of young mothers and people of color. She repeated the phrase “I want to be the author of my own story” to show her desire to step away from what was bringing her down, and not fitting the failing figure of young parents—all while showing pictures of her happy family.

“When you are faced with challenges, or when people tell you that you can’t accomplish things, or you want to reach certain goals and you’re faced with a lot of challenges, you should never give up,” Harrington said. “Continue to be the first version of yourself and not the second version of somebody else.”

Harrington is also part of a MLK-Day celebration on Saturday, January 13th from noon to 6:00 pm at the Robert E. Lee Recreation Center for students in grades 5-12. This event includes student activities including listening to speakers,

ABOVE: Aki Nji speaks to students in the Little Theater PHOTO BY LINDY RUBLAITUS that “failure is not final unless you quit,” Newell participating in group activities, and bonding shared outlets in Iowa City for people in need of over food.

In Opstad, hundreds of students filed in support.

“There were many times [Martin Luther King to listen to Fred Newell, City High’s Student Jr.] ran into obstacles, but the reason why he Advisory Director. He shared his experiences became such a big influence in our community of growing up without a supportive father, as is because he didn’t allow those failures to stop well as his goals of making City High more of a community and creating safe places to turn to him,” Newell said. “He used it as fuel to help us to get to where we are now.” in the community. Focusing on the sentiment

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

NEWS 11A

Sports Transportation Problematic for Some Athletes Limited accessibility of opportunities for athletic achievement may keep students from success

By Henry Mildenstein Reporter

C

ity High offers many options for extracurriculars. Whether it be in sports, or in activities such as debate and mock trial, most students participate in some sort of extracurricular activities at City High.

Many of the aforementioned students are able to easily commute home after extracurriculars or to an extracurricular in the morning.

However, this is not the case for everyone. For a portion of students, it can be more difficult to get to or from whichever activity they are attending.

“AS OF NOW IT IS A STUDENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND A WAY TO GET HOME. THERE HAVE BEEN COUNTLESS EXAMPLES OF KIDS OVER THE YEARS WHO HAVE COME UP WITH CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO THAT PROBLEM.” JOHN BACON

CITY HIGH PRINCIPAL

Currently, there is no official method for these students to get home from extracurricular activities, but of those who live too far away from school have found their own unique ways to get home.

John Bacon, the principal of City High, believes that although there can occasionally be issues with transportation to and from clubs and sports, most students are able to find a way to get home at the end of the day.

“As of now it is a student’s responsibility to find a way to get home,” Bacon said. “There have been countless examples of kids over the years who have come up with creative solutions to that problem.”

Kaleba Jack ‘20 lives relatively far away from City High, but he doesn’t have an issue getting

PHOTO BY HENRY MILDENSTEIN to and from basketball.

“My teammate and I live near each other, so he can always give me a ride,” Jack said.

Evan McElroy ‘21 is an active participant in extracurriculars, including multiple sports: McElroy participated in cross-country in the fall, and is planning on running track in the spring season.

“I live far enough away from City High that transportation to practices in the morning can often be difficult. For most of the year I am able to ride my bike to these morning practices.

However during the winter, it becomes too cold and dark to bike,” said McElroy. “It is too early for my parents to be able to give me a ride to the school, so for winter running I am unable to run with the team. Winter running is a key part of our track team’s pre-season and missing it will hurt the start of my track season.”

Like McElroy, Aidan Spurgetis ‘21 is involved with City High’s running program and has encountered issues regarding transportation for practices.

GLOW Club Hosts “Love Is Love” Dance

By Mira Bohannan Kumar Copy & Opinion Editor

C

ity High’s regular annual dances– Homecoming, prom, the winter formal–are well-known to the student body. But this spring, a new dance has been initiated by the GLOW club, City High’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance. “[The theme is] ‘Love Is Love,’ to represent that everyone is welcome,” said GLOW president Xeniphilius Tyne ‘20.

The proceeds from the dance, which will take place around Valentine’s Day, will go to efforts to aid LGBTQ youth.

“A lot of is just the opportunity to raise money for the Trevor Project,” Tyne said on the motivation for the event.

The Trevor Project, a nonprofit which has been active for two decades as of this year, is “an organization that helps LGBTQ youth with suicide and provides a suicide hotline and education and volunteer opportunities for allies or other members wanting to help LGBTQ youth,” Tyne said.

Tyne said that it’s easy for LGBTQ individuals to feel underrepresented or marginalized at most events.

“Homecoming and prom, with different

kings and queens and all that, can cause a lot of issues,” Tyne said. “Transgender students sometimes get listed as the wrong gender and there’s never two kings or two queens or something.”

Tony Balcaen, a City High French teacher and the sponsor of the GLOW club, said that the dance is a revamped effort by the club to create things that the entire student body can recognize and experience, regardless of how studente personally identify.

“It was something that we used to have and it...wasn’t very well-publicized,” Balcaen said of the dance. “I think it’s important for all the kids in the school to know that we as a club exist and we’re important too and we do things that are not just for ourselves and can benefit the whole school.”

However, the GLOW club’s most important objective for this event “isn’t raising awareness of students in the school who are LGBTQ and making them feel more accepted,” Tyne clarified.

“It’s more of actual organization.”

The dance will be held on Saturday, February 24 from 7-10 pm in the City High cafeteria.

“It’s open to any student in the school and any partner they have,” Balcaen said. “It’s just you and your friends or significant others.”

“I have had a difficult time getting to prac-

“I HAVE HAD A DIFFICULT TIME GETTING TO PRACTICES FOR CROSS-COUNTRY ON THE WEEKENDS...SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I AM MISSING OUT ON WHAT A PRACTICE OFFERS.” AIDAN SPURGETIS

STUDENT ATHLETE

tices for cross-country on the weekends because I live in Cedar Rapids during that time. The biggest issue that is keeping me from getting to practice is the time it takes to go from my home to practice. 40 minutes to practice and back in the morning is often not doable for me. Especial-

ly since I am not able to drive myself and I can’t always rely on my parents to drive me,” Spurgetis said. “This frustrates me, as sometimes I feel like I am missing out on what a practice offers.

With some of our most crucial practices being on Saturdays, missing it is pretty disappointing to me.”

Despite barriers of transportation, City High tries to make sure all students can participate in the activities they want to.

Bacon stressed how important it is that students who are having trouble with transportation to and from extracurriculars communicate with their adviser and with the administration to find a solution.

“I strongly believe that if there is a transportation barrier, that that kid should come forward and talk to either the coaches or me,” Bacon said. “If anyone reading this article has issues with transportation, it is important that they come forward.”

12A NEWS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Which Early-2000's Song Is Your Love Life?

What is your favorite pizza topping?

What is your dream pair of glasses?

What is your preferred color of sheep?

A) Olives B) Barenaked: no toppings C) Pineapple D) Whatever my crush likes

A) My hair covers my eyes B) Tortoiseshell C) Sunglasses worn at night D) Big, nerdy frames

A) Black B) Spotted C) Newly shorn D) Blonde

What is your favorite movie?

What is your go-to style of shoe?

A) Shrek 3 B) Monty P ython and the Holy Grail C) The Bee Movie D) The Princess Bride What is your favorite CHS elective?

A) Expressive Drawing B) Personal Finance C) Creative Fabrics 2 D) Relationships 101

Mostly A's You are "I Don't Love You"

by My Chemical Romance.

You are angr y, and you are uncertain, but you are also strong and not afraid to walk this world alone this Valentine's Day.

A) Lasagna, but not in lasagna B) Farfalle (bowtie) C) Capellini (angel hair) D) Mac and Cheese

With which LH editors are you tight?

A) The opinion section B) The art and A&E editors C) The feature editors D) The news and sports crew

Mostly B's You are "Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears.

You are confident and a catch and you know how to get what you wantâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including, perhaps, that special someone.

A) Screaming B) Hairf lip C) Twerking D) Air guitar

What is your favorite pasta shape?

A) Doc Martens B) Adidas Superstars C) Stilettos D) Converse

What is your signature dance move?

How would you die in Napoleonic France?

A) Too many leeches B) Court rivalries C) Tr ying to invade Russia D) Smallpox

What is your most-used filter?

A) Black and white B) Old-school sepia C) Noir D) #nofilter Which platform do you like best?

A) MySpace B) Instagram C) Twitter D) Pinterest

Mostly C 's

Mostly D's

You are "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake. You're mysterious and probably a little bit pretentious, but talented and lovable nonetheless.

You'll have no shortage of sweethearts this V-Day.

You are "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. While your dedication to the ones you love is admirable, you also love yourself no matter who you're with. SOs come and go, but you stay you.

QUIZ BY PHOEBE CHAPNICK-SOROKIN & MIRA BOHANNAN KUMAR

COMIC BY OLIVIA LUSALA &AVERY SHRADER

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

OPINION A13

LH Executive Editors

Maya Durham & Victor Kalil

News Editors Lottie Gidal & Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin

Opinion Editors Eden Knoop & Mira Bohannan Kumar

Feature Editor Mina Takahashi

Sports Editor Addy Smith

A&E Editors Zoë Miller & Theo Prineas

Video Editor Shayna Jaskolka

Photo Editor Jacob Strathearn

Web Editor Zoë Butler

Copy Editors Theo Prineas & Mira Bohannan Kumar

Art Editor Olivia Lusala

Staff

Jack Bacon, Gabriel Baird, Olivia Baird, Samiya Batie, Cecile Bendera, Landon Clay, Orson Codd, Quincy Coghill-Behrends, Alexis DuBrava, Alfredo Filero, Forrest Frazier, Paris Fuller, Sylvia Gidal, Anshul Gowda, Allyson Guyer, Reese Hill, Madelyn Hix, Bihotza James-Lejarcegui, Alyse Lacina, Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos, Olivia Lusala, Liam McComas, Henry Mildenstein, Emmelene Perencevich, Julia Powers, Teagan Roeder, Lindy Rublaitus, Abbott Ruhinda, Dylan Ryfe, Egan Smith, Escalade Smith, Robert Strang, Eric Thomas, Griffin Vogelgesang-Maurer, Rika Yahashiri.

Mission Statement The Little Hawk, the student newspaper of City High School, aims to inform, educate and entertain readers; to provide an educational opportunity for the students who produce it; and to provide a medium for commercial advertising.

Equity Statements It is the policy of the Iowa City Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices.

If you believe you have (or your child has) been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the Equity Director, Ross Wilburn, at 509 S. Dubuque Street, 319-688-1000.

Despite purporting to protect the learning environment, dress codes harm more than they help

W

hen student Eric Thomas ‘18 won the annual ugly sweater contest in December, sporting a homemade contraption comprised of several pairs of socks and gold shorts, the City High gymnasium erupted into applause. Thomas got a handshake from Principal Bacon and a Pancheros gift card from the administration. But behind that celebration was a truth uglier than his makeshift sweater: No female student could have ever gotten away with what he did.

To be fair, this is not a criticism of Thomas. The energy and dedication he brings to the spirit assemblies deserves recognition.

Rather, this is evidence of the inherent flaws of the system that rewards him and punishes girls for walking around school halls with a bra strap showing.

“As a white male I’m probably a lot more privileged than the average person,” Thomas agreed. “I heard that there was a couple of people that got dress-coded right after I was basically naked in the gym. It’s really stupid that that happens, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

Like Thomas, Beatrice Kearns ‘19 is no stranger to dress code enforcement. “[In junior high] I was sent to the office because I refused to change because I said that it was sexist,” Kearns said. “There was a boy sitting right next to me in a very similar tank top and the teacher said nothing.”

In recent years, dress codes have been the subject of heightened scrutiny due to the perception that they unfairly target female students. Not only are these codes disproportionately enforced upon girls, but they are also written to target female students.

Take City High’s dress code: While most rules are applicable to all students, several rules pertain specifically to female students, who are required to limit “excessive cleavage” and “inappropriately short skirts.”

There are no corresponding rules for male students.

Like many students, Kearns feels that the difference in these standards could be damaging to the women and girls at school.

“At Southeast, I found the dress code to be extremely sexist and oppressive,” Kearns said. “It reinforced the idea that women and girls are objects—and sexual objects, at that.”

Kearns described a specific incident

when she pointed out problems in the school dress code and was punished for it.

“I said that I thought the teacher was being sexist and she sent me to the office,” Kearns said. “I actually almost got suspended because of this.”

School officials often defend dress codes as a way to create a proper learning environment. They cite the bare shoulders or midriffs of female students, usually underage, as ‘distracting’ to men in the vicinity. Not only is this a view that holds women accountable for the actions of men, it prioritizes men over women. In order to supposedly protect male students’ educations, women are forced to change clothes, miss classes, or even get sent home altogether. This system criticizes girls for ‘taking away’ from male learning while simultaneously disallowing them from the safe, productive learning environment it purports to defend. In this way, dress codes hurt young women by prioritizing their

“DRESS CODES HURT YOUNG WOMEN BY PRIORITIZING THEIR BODIES OVER THEIR MINDS.” bodies—and men’s reactions to them—over their minds.

Furthermore, the positive impact these codes have on the learning environment is debatable. When Thomas was asked about whether he found it hard to concentrate because of the way that female students dress, he laughed.

“Not really, no,” he said. “It’s not distracting at all.”

Kearns is already working to change the dress code system. Following her near suspension, she and Maya Durham ‘19 spearheaded a protest at South East.

“At the end of eighth grade, we all went to school wearing tank tops. We figured that there was strength in numbers and that they weren’t going to send all of us home,” Kearns said. “The year after we left, they actually ended up changing the dress code, so I’d say that we made a positive impact.”

Often, the brunt of these issues falls on specific categories of women. Because

dress-codes establish a narrow standard for how women express themselves, they target any student who doesn’t conform to ‘normal’ femininity. That traditionalist femininity often means being ‘modest,’ thin, and white.

Plus-size women, who are more likely to be showing cleavage or larger amounts of skin while wearing similar clothing to others, are more likely to be dress-coded because of their body shape. This stigma can disproportionately target students who, because of the beauty standards they see in our culture, may already be less comfortable in their own skins.

In addition to plus-size women, dress codes are often more heavily enforced on young women of color. A 2017 report from Georgetown University found that black girls ages 5-14 are perceived as older and more sexually mature than their white peers. This discrepancy is partially responsible for the discipline gap between white and minority students, especially in terms of dress code enforcement. Likewise, trans* students face a similar burden, limited by the sex on their birth certificates and perceived as non-conforming even when they follow the code to the letter.

Schools may feel that they have a responsibility to police the way students dress, but they also pledge themselves to protecting and providing a safe learning environments for all students no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they identify. City High’s nondiscrimination policy states that they shall not “discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, creed, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices.” In its current form and enforcement, the dress code violates that pledge. No code that explicitly targets certain students and implicitly harms them though biased enforcement can hold up to that promise. For that reason, the district should reevaluate the code or at the very least its enforcement.

City High is a place where students should feel secure. It is a place where students should be able to express themselves in the best and truest ways they can. That’s what we’re told. That’s what it says on the tin.

How long until we hold ourselves to it?

14A OPINION

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Nope-rah ART BY ZOË BUTLER

This is something that, because of her lack of experience, Oprah would not be able to do. If there is anything we have learned from Trump, it is that a lack of experience can prove disastrous. Yet in the days following her announcement, the Internet went wild with ideas of President Oprah.

She was given glowing endorsements by “AMERICANS NO several prominent LONGER RELY ON (and equally politTHE FACTS A PERSON ically unqualified) celebrities, including PRESENTS, BUT Steven Spielberg.

“I think Oprah INSTEAD ON HOW THEY Winfrey would PRESENT THEM.” make an absolutely brilliant president,” Spielberg told The Guardian. “I think she’ll learn on the job the same way Bill Clinton learned, a former governor of Arkansas, or Barack Obama, a junior senator, learned on the job. I’d much rather go for someone like Oprah Winfrey than a career politician.”

This willingness to turn to a person with no legislative or governing experience to lead our country is frankly quite worrisome. It shows exactly how much Americans no longer rely on the facts that a person presents, but instead on who they are, and how they present them.

The emphasis we as a society place on presentation, on pure rhetoric, on the judgement we made off a 30-second clip means that we are not truly thinking through the impacts our decisions will make.

The willingness to have another television star president makes perfect sense. In a world dominated by Snapchat streaks, messages compressed into 280 characters, and short attention spans, the long term just doesn’t have quite the same importance it once did.

Qualifications don’t have as much bearing on our decisions as they once did, it seems. In the 2016 election, we disregarded them entirely when we elected Trump.

Looking back on that decision and its widespread ramifications, we must ask ourselves whether we want to make it again.

So Oprah, I know it’s tempting, and given your influence it probably would not even be that difficult, but please do not run for president.

By Lottie Gidal

I

n 2011, when Seth Meyers hosted the White House Correspondents’ dinner, he made a bunch of jokes about how unqualified Donald Trump was to be president. Well, looks like the joke’s on him now.

Fast forward to 2018. Meyers is hosting the Golden Globes. He references the aforementioned event before making a joke about how Oprah should run for president in 2020 with Tom Hanks as her VP—a joke which, many seem to think, launched Oprah’s bid for the White House.

It’s a funny (or terrifying, depending on who you are) prospect: Oprah Winfrey, billionaire, philanthropist, beloved by all, as president of the United States. A stretch, certainly, but maybe not as big of one as you might automatically assume. I mean, our incumbent president was involved with several reality TV shows and was widely regarded as a joke before he ran. In contrast, Oprah can actually articulate her ideas quite well, has the widespread respect and love of millions of people across the nation, and has broken ground on many social issues as an advocate.

But here’s the “IF THERE’S ANYTHING catch. Never, not once in her life, WE HAVE LEARNED has Oprah attemptFROM TRUMP, IT ed to govern. She’s IS THAT A LACK OF never run for any kind of elected ofEXPERIENCE CAN PROVE fice. And she’s nevDISASTROUS.” er taken any kind of position that would prepare her for this incredibly important role.

People like to complain that Washington is corrupt, and that it is full of back-room deals, shady characters, and petty partisan politics. I’m sure it is, but at least all those senators and representatives and lobbyists know what they’re doing. Even the presidents that used to be governors in other states, and may have never set foot in D.C. have an idea of how to govern. They all understand how legislation starts, how it gets passed, how to get the right people on their side.

Admit One We all have biases. So how do we change?

By Eden Knoop

H

ere’s a controversial statement: bias and privilege are nothing to be ashamed of.

We all have biases that we, consciously or unconsciously, rely on to make quick judgements of people with limited information available. These stereotypes are usually based on appearance or other immediately apparent characteristics. Each person has their own biases. Some people see a black man in a hoodie and assume that he is dangerous. Some men (and some women) see a woman in an office and assume that she is a secretary. Others automatically assume that any Latinx person immigrated here illegally.

Other biases are seemingly more palatable. For example, we often unintentionally assume that authors, doctors, and certain other figures are male when only given their last name. When I see a man walking down the street at night, I cross to the other side. Do I really think that I am in any danger? No, not really.

The vast majority of men that I have met have been wonderful people and I have no reason to assume that any one stranger will be any different. And yet, I cross the street.

Because of the ubiquity of biases, shaming people for them

is not only hypocritical, but counterproductive. Being biased against groups of people is undeniably wrong, but social pressure only serves to further ingrain stereotypes, where they will continue to operate on an unconscious level. Worse, shaming can often lead to denial or rationalization of stereotypes, which can end up strengthening the bias through the justification that the individual provides to themselves or others.

Before we can deal with bias, we have to accept it without shame. If we don’t acknowledge it, we cannot recognize when our actions are caused by it and subsequently and we cannot begin to change. To correct bias, there must be acknowledgement, awareness, and a willingness to consciously police our thoughts and behavior. We cannot do this if we are too ashamed to admit any fault.

The same holds true for privilege. People do not ask to be born into privilege any more than they ask to born disadvantaged. And, while we as a society we should work to address inequality in all the ways that we can, there will always be people born more privileged than others, based on the advantages afforded to them by their race, their parents’ wealth, and their natural talents. No one can say that they truly deserve any of these things. After all, these privileges are all a matter of birth, a

matter of chance.

But privilege itself is not always a bad thing, especially when it comes to natural talent. Privilege allows people to succeed where others wouldn’t. It allows society to function. So while we should fight societal privilege as much as possible, the key is that people with privilege not only acknowledge it, but work to give back to the society that allowed them to succeed. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to make a difference in society have an obligation to do so. A person whose wealth allowed them to attend medical school can work to provide medical services to people from low-income areas. If that person went to law school, they can and should work to right injustice and provide legal service to those who can’t afford a lawyer, let alone law school. We could all learn from Jessica Chastain, a white actress who listened to her black co-star Octavia Spencer and used her own privilege to negotiate Spencer’s salary so that it was equal to her own, raising it five times over. We can give back by donating, innovating, and improving society so that, even if we cannot eliminate privilege, we can all benefit from its power.

Ultimately, privilege and bias are inherent in all of us. We shouldn’t be shaming people for their privilege. Instead, we should be shaming them for their silence and for their inaction.

OPINION 15A

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

The Prodigal Government Returns

By Theo Prineas

L

et’s get one thing straight: Congress is entirely ineffective.

When Trump won the election, there was a (not-so-tacit) agreement among Democrats to resist his agenda until he finally left office. At the same time, the Republicans planned to ram through their agenda as quickly as they could before the midterm elections threatened their majority. Congress was locked, the goals of the parties were in direct opposition, and the proverbial stage was set for a showdown. Or rather, a shutdown.

During the shutdown itself, there was a rapid scramble among politicians to pin blame on the other party. Trump called it the “Schumer Shutdown” and claimed it was caused by Democratic obstructionism, while the Democrats branded it the “Trump Shutdown” and said it was because of Mitch McConnell’s stubborn refusal to work across the aisle on DACA, a bill that Trump himself supported at some point. Each party was aiming below the belt, trying to hurt the other’s reputation.

In the days of the Obama administration, the Democratic party was branded as the “apologist” party because of their tolerance for others and their willingness to work across the aisle.

Republicans, on the other hand, became known as the nationalist party with a strong focus on home security and defense. In other words, many voters, mainly the poor, rural white demographic that elected Trump, came to see the Democrats as weak, and the Republicans as strong. The result was the far-right surge of 2016 and the Republican majority in all three branches of government. This recent government shutdown was a Democratic attempt to shake the image of weakness and rebrand themselves as the stronger party.

It all came down to the night of January 20th. Congress was in a standoff along party lines. If the Republicans blinked first, they would look weaker than the Democrats. If the Democrats blinked, their image would stay the same and the shutdown could be pinned on the Republicans. Since the Republicans have the majority in Congress and the presidency their inability to keep the government running showed that they were failing to lead and work with the opposing party.

And then, at a critical juncture, the Democrats blinked. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi allowed the two-week spending bill through after McConnell agreed to talk about DACA at some point in the future.

The recent shutdowns were the twin children of extreme partisanship and political branding.

This wasn’t the “Schumer Shutdown” or the “Trump Shutdown.” It was a bipartisan failure.

And it will have bipartisan consequences.

By Olivia Lusala One of the biggest mistakes someone can make in their relationship is expecting everything to work out wonderfully and go without a hitch. People often forget that relationships take a lot of hard work, practice, and good communication. The truth is that relationships aren’t always going to be great for you—especially not in high school. But with just a few tips, your relationship will be much better prepared to withstand the stress of high school dating.

E

mojis don’t speak louder than words. Imagine that you text someone, “I love you,” and they respond with an emoji. No matter what that emoji is, you have to know they don’t love you back. Yes, there are a few very creative emoji love stories out there, but cute micro-images generally aren’t nearly as versatile as written words.

If you want to tell someone how you feel, emojis are not the way to go.

ART BY ZOË BUTLER

The Light A guest column by Kawther Rouabhi Our country was built by immigrants, the people who took this land from its original owners by force. And now, half a millennium later, those same immigrants are condemning the people who, carefully, lovingly, are building themselves a life here. Donald Trump declared that America doesn’t need immigrants from “shithole countries,” ignoring the fact that the people he is denouncing and rejecting are hard workers, families, and DREAMers. Cutting foreign-born workers out of the workforce would remove 16.9% of the total United States labor force. Immigrants’ stories are being built by, with, and alongside this country’s. Natural-born citizens cannot deport those lives from this land any more than they can remove their own.

C

ourage cannot be taken or stolen. It cannot be bought or earned. Being a symbol is no small act. Neither is standing up to an oppressor. An oppressor, a symbol...both are skin, both breathing.

Breathing until they cannot breathe anymore.

Being human is no small act.

Tiny fingers wrap around his thumb.

Beautiful screams come out of a room filled with love. Never have three souls been more synced. The sweat of a mother and the tears of a father, tears that know of what lies outside the doors of the hospital. A face that knows the darkness that comes from a world of menace looks down at her droopy brown eyes. As long as he breathes, she will never open them to darkness.

Her tired mother is reluctant. She cries for the life she is to leave behind, for loving brothers and an aunt, likely to never be seen again. All this for an unforgiving journey to a country she’s never known. He kisses her forehead. “La luz.” A reminder of the light that sleeps next to them. The three depart early the next morning.

Their eyes are on their feet as they walk.

His shoulders ache from the cradle, but she warms his heart. His wife shivers, and he grasps her trembling fingers. She says she is cold, but he feels her horror like a deep thumping within his body. Muffled screams ring in the distance. Neither can draw a breath.

Five long years of looking forward. Five long years of not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

It is her first day of kindergarten. Her mother gives her two kisses, one for her father who left for work at dawn. He arrives after dark, but as he peeks into his daughter’s bedroom, she is only pretending to sleep. She pulls out a folded piece of paper. Turning it over, he sees the three of them, herself in the middle, under a bright yellow sun. He smiles.

“La luz.”

Just one week before her thirteenth birthday, she received an unfathomable gift.

The federal government announced it would begin to allow certain young immigrants without papers to live and work in the States.

Her mother fell to her knees thanking God. She held onto her father, who said, “Ahora estás viviendo.” Now you are living.

Nearly a month after her high school graduation, she comes home to her mother weeping near the telephone. She stares at her trembling hands as they cover her face, unable to say what she knows will break her. Her daughter sheds a tear. “Papá,” she mutters.

Since his traffic stop, she has seen her father twice. Her mother rarely speaks. Her plans of attending college disappeared when she began to support the two of them, as her father did for so long. To her, he took with him the only life she’s ever wanted to know.

D

on’t stay with someone who puts you down or belittles you.

You can’t determine your love off of the way someone treats you if they always act like they are upset with you. Don’t stay with someone who doesn’t hold much regard for your feelings.

In the end it will just feel lonely, and if you feel lonely you’re better off being alone. It’s important to know when to walk away.

R

emember that nothing lasts forever. This doesn’t have to be a sad thing at all. Just know that since nothing lasts forever, you should enjoy the time you do have together.

Live it up, laugh it off, and take some chances, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

H

ave some confidence. You can’t expect someone to love you if you don’t love yourself already. If you want to start talking to someone, have some confidence and go up to them. But remember, confidence isn’t thinking, “I know they totally like me.” Confidence is knowing you’ll be okay, whether they like you or not.

J

ust because you like someone in a friendship does not mean you like them in a relationship. Being friends with someone you like can be frustrating, but there are very valid reasons why you should shut down your romantic feelings. Because most high school friendships are stronger and last longer than romantic relationships, it’s important to be careful when making these judgments. Dating a friend can ruin your friendship if it doesn’t go well, so be cautious and always weigh your feelings with care before entering into a relationship with someone.

A

lways be honest. Keep no secrets, tell no lies. The quicker you can settle your issues, the happier and more secure you’ll be in your relationship. It’s incredibly important to maintain your privacy and personal space in a relationship, but you have to learn to balance that with allowing yourself to open up to another person.

Although these tips are here to help you with your relationship, don’t feel bad if you end up breaking up with someone you thought you’d be with forever. There are a multitude of other people out there for you. There will always be someone with whom you can spend time and build a strong, healthy relationship in the future. And it will only be a matter of time until that happens for you.

16A OPINION

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Between the Lines On freedom of speech in an age free of accountability The New Big Brother

By Eden Knoop In the aftermath of Logan Paul’s buffoonish video of a dead body in Japan’s suicide forest, YouTube and other social media platforms have been forced to reckon with the disturbing materials they distribute. This reckoning comes after scrutiny beginning with outrage over monetized channels that exploited children. Paul was not social media’s first controversy, but he pushed YouTube to change the way it handles content.

Although censorship may seem like an easy solution, it’s not an effective one. Censorship leads to little improvement at the expense of free speech. Previous attempts to regulate content led YouTube to demonetize some LGBT-related videos and Facebook to remove photos of breast-feeding moms and the historically important Napalm Girl. However, YouTube’s most recent regulation is its worst.

In an effort to regulate monetized channels, the platform demonetized small channels, hurting their visibility and growth. They are now paying for Paul’s actions—literally.

Censorship hurts the most vulnerable. Restrictions of speech usually come at the behest of governments using platforms to control information.

At the Indian government’s request, Twitter banned users sympathetic to Kashmiri independence. Facebook blocked the co-author of the Panama Papers for criticizing the Maltese government. In Israel, the government pressures platforms to censor Palestinians. In the case of Tamara Abu Laban, posting the words “Forgive me” in Arabic was enough to have her arrested, fined, and given five days of house arrest.

Platforms also often put the tools of censorship in the hands of users, who target speech that they dislike.

In particular, Twitter has a problem with users seeking to prevent speech they oppose by mass reporting, typically targeting minorities, women, and journalists. Ukrainian news site Liga was blocked from Facebook following false reports of its content.

Rose McGowan was suspended from Twitter during her campaign against Harvey Weinstein. More damaging is the apparent selectivity of these rules, with white supremacist accounts remaining up and harassment reports often going unanswered.

But what may simply be political speech to some may be offensive to others. The distinction isn’t always clear, such as in the case of Alex Zaragova, whose article was removed from Facebook for its opening line: “Dear dudes, you’re all trash.” Was it humor? An attempt to draw awareness to the complicity of many men in harassment? Or was it sexism? Where do we draw the line? Can we tell the political from the hateful, the opinion from the propaganda?

This is why increased censorship is an ineffective solution. Instead, platforms must enforce the rules they already have in place and practice transparency. Twitter must start taking harassment reports seriously. Facebook must recommit itself to warning users of fake content. Users need to know that the rules are applied consistently and fairly. Likewise, platforms need to take responsibility for their decisions, both good and bad. Only then can the dream of a free and safe Internet be realized for everyone.

Keeping the Internet Ecosystem Green

By Reese Hill Social media is a way of life for us in this day and age. Most teens have social media accounts. Platforms like Twitter and YouTube are frequented by millions. Internet stars have developed on these platforms, gathering followers, fame, fortune, and influence. It’s time the content they post is evaluated and properly regulated.

Recently, many platforms have faced problems with censorship, particularly YouTube. The platform’s biggest star, PewDiePie, was attacked for posting anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi imagery. Later came the discovery of channels dedicated to videos featuring exploited children in revealing clothing, which had managed to dodge YouTube’s child safety guidelines.

Most recently, vlogger Logan Paul faced backlash after posting a video in which he filmed the body of a suicide victim in Japan.

That this content can be uploaded and seen by millions is unacceptable, especially since the majority of subscribers to these channels are young people. (Logan Paul’s 15 million subscribers are mainly white females from age 11 onward.) Our society is powered by the Internet. It is our primary source of news, entertainment, and communication. But, as the old saying goes, “you are what you eat.” By this logic, the content that is allowed on the Internet should not be hateful or insensitive. An onslaught of harmful media will desensitize us to hate and promote a world of indifference. In other media, regulations are already in place. The FCC has a policy prohibiting profanity on public television. This offensive content could not be aired on television, so there is no reason it should be put online.

Freedom of speech is a critical part of our Constitution. But it’s common sense that freedom of speech means the freedom to express oneself, not the freedom to be a bigot or instigate hate with volatile opinions. Freedom of speech is not an invitation to be a public menace, and too often we let hate slide online.

The problem is, YouTube does have protections and regulations set up, such as child restriction, flags, and “strikes” against users who post harmful content. So why did Logan Paul’s video, which was reportedly reviewed before it was posted, get 6 million views before it was taken down? The answer is the critical flaw in artificial intelligence. An algorithm can distinguish offensive words or images, but lacks a moral code or any ability to judge using ethics. YouTube hosts 1 billion active users each month, and with 300 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute, it does seem that artificial intelligence is the only realistic or feasible method of regulation. Still, heavier guidelines must be set. Some videos could be reviewed by real people before being posted. Stricter punishments against users who abuse the terms of agreement could help as well.

In the end, the Internet is the primary way we connect, learn, and grow. Like our natural environment, it should be a healthy, civilized place where rules and freedom do not contradict each other, but maintain order.

And just as the Internet has dark corners and harmful content, real life isn’t perfect. But we can, and always should, try to do better.

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM |FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

A&E 17A

ART BY OLIVIA LUSALA

A diverse group of panelists guided students from around the Iowa City community in discussion of race and of diversity–and what they can do

By Zoë Miller and Theo Prineas

T

hough the afternoon began hushed, the discussion that followed was anything but quiet. One by one, teenagers trickled into the library meeting room. They were offered a composition notebook at the door.

Stand Up, Speak Out: Teens Talk Race is a workshop hosted by the Iowa Youth Writing Project geared towards stimulating discussion of race and contemporary issues between teenagers.

“If you give young adults the time and space to practice conversations about race and shape their vocabulary around it, then I think we can see young adults from a place of strength. They know a lot,” Rossina Liu, a graduate of the University of Iowa nonfiction writing program, said.

The discussion was led by a diverse panel made up by Kingsley Botchway, Liu, and Jason Daniel-Ulloa. Students were able to ask questions as well as reflect upon what they want to see in the future.

“I want to see change. More change in our schools and our community. Where our community is now, things could be better,

and where America is right now could be better,” Destanie Gibson Danez Smith and then encouraged to write their own letter.

‘20 said. “Our world is going downhill when it should be going “Writing is a human right. I think the way we teach it in a up.” classroom, it’s not often as a human right, but as a skill set that The IYWP focuses on enfolding youth you need to get through high school, rather into the dialogue of Iowa City. The Stand Up than as a form of expression and exploraSpeak Out workshop is the first of its kind tion,” Liu said. offered to high school students. The IYWP Liu, along with other panelists, guided “I HAVE TO FOCUS ON has offered previous workshops for junior this discussion to help students brainstorm WHAT I CAN DO TO MAKE solutions in their lives. high and elementary school students.

THIS WORLD A BETTER “[In the past] we didn’t want to step on “[Fighting racism] has to start on a sysany toes. We wanted to make [these worktemic level,” Liu said. “It has to start in the PLACE AND WHAT I CAN shops] a gentle experience for everyone, but place where people have power, where they DO TO MAKE MYSELF A it didn’t map as cleanly onto [students’] real can create a curriculum that reflects a range lives as they wanted it to,” Mallory Hellman, of diversity in terms of talents, diversity of BETTER PERSON.” director of the IYWP, said. “The first thing race, intersexual identities.” that came to my mind was to talk about By using the wide range of their writing MAYA DJALALI-GOMEZ ‘20 and artistic talents, these students are trying actual issues.”

The program uses writing as a way to help to propagate diversity in the Iowa City comyouth spread their voices. Writing prompts munity. from the workshop included, “When was the first time you “I have to focus on what I can do to make this world a better noticed race and how has race affected your life?” The students at place and what can I do to make myself a better person,” Maya the event were also shown “Dear White America,” a slam poem by Djalali-Gomez ‘20 said.

18A A&E

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Home Again, Home Again

ABOVE: David Keffala-Gerhard ‘18 and Emma Hartwig ‘18 share their improvisation skill. RIGHT: The seniors in speech kick off the evening with a skit BOTTOM RIGHT: Veronica Abreu ‘19 acts in “Fun Home” PHOTOS BY LINDY RUBLAITUS

The City High Speech Home Show gives students a chance to perform for their friends and families

Scandrett ‘18, a participant for all four years of her high-school career, said. “This year I was in ensemble acting in a piece that was more First came Ariel, next was Katniss, then intimate than others I’d been in. We had some Cookie Monster peeked out from behind the challenging work, but we also had a great time curtain, expressing confusion as to where they were supposed to be. Soon the stage was crowded onstage. You get more and more acting and musical experience the more you are in it.” with clamoring, costumed characters, and it was Not only does the speech team put on a only the beginning. show for the City High community, it also has Each year City High Large Group Speech the chance to compete at Districts, State, and puts on a home show, hosted by the seniors. The All-State. performance is completely set up and run by the “I love getting to see all the speech shows class. To begin they kicked off the show with from our team and other teams. It’s so fun to a skit where each senior played a well known see your friends do what they like to do and do character and said one of it well,” Veronica Abreu their iconic lines.

‘19 said.

“Home show is always “I CRIED WHEN I FOUND Speech groups receive great. It’s people we know OUT. THIS IS MY FIRST TIME verbal or written critiques and we want to impress. at every competition MAKING ALL-STATE. I’VE The students always help them prepare bring more confidence DONE MIME EVERY YEAR, SO which for their later performancand their performances IT’S BEEN A BIG PART OF MY es. There are about 2,000 are always a little crisper vying for Allbecause they’ve gotten LIFE. I’M HAPPY TO FINALLY students State spots, which makes the judges’ feedback from MAKE IT.” the events competitive. districts,” Jennifer BrinkThis year, City High meyer, one of the speech had two groups make Allcoaches, said. “It’s just LIZ TORNBLOM ‘18 State, one performing and a great way to keep them the other nonperforming: on their toes between Group Mime (“Honey Districts and State.”

I Summoned a Demon”) and Musical Theater Year after year, the speech teams deliver mul(“Fun Home”), respectively. Liz Tornblom ‘18 tiple different kinds of acts, including one-act reflected on learning that she made All-State. plays, musical theater, ensemble acting, improvi“I was crying. This is my first time making sation, group mime, and many more. Students All-State,” Tornblom said. “I’ve done mime every can participate in more than one show. year, so it’s been a big part of my life. I’m happy “Each different section of speech gives to finally make it.” you different skills and experiences,” Keaton

By Zoë Miller

19A A&E

v e

u p S e : r i w or e i

By Reese Hill

Two toppled tables, a broken door window, and obscenity plastered in red on the wall set the stage as the lights come up. A moment of silence as the audience takes in the pitiful, vandalized donut shop. “A real f*cking shame,” a brawny Russian man tells the two cops surveying the disarray. And so begins Superior Donuts.

Iowa City Community Theater performed its most recent production over the weekends of January 19th and 26th at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. A comedy with serious undertones, Superior Donuts is a play that orbits around 59-year-old Arthur Przybyszewski (p.

Sheb-ur-shefski), the

passive owner of a tumbledown donut shop in Uptown Chicago, and his relationship with his young African-American assistant Franco Wicks. Franco, despite his troubled history, dreams of revitalizing the donut shop and one day publishing what he claims to be “the great American novel.” Arthur and Franco forge a friendship that ultimately changes the course of their lives.

Amadou Sanogo ‘18, a City High actor, starred as the energetic Franco.

Sanogo’s natural comedic demeanor was fitting to navigate thewitticisms and woes of the character. Arthur P. observes, “You’re an optimist, Franco,” to which Franco replies, “I wouldn’t say that. I’m intrepid.” The majority of laughs from the show were generated by Sanogo’s sassy performance, and the majority of tears from the unfortunate consequences of his actions.

Superior Donuts was relevant and engaging because of the frequent discussions of immigration and racism. Arthur, whose parents were Polish immigrants, was a draft evader as a young man and reflects on the rift that caused between him and his parents and his experience with society. He also faces frequent bombardment from his Russian neighbor Max, who is insistent on buying the store—he claims he is “guilty only of living the American Dream…

I came to this country to make a mark, not to fade away.”

The topic of racism was brought up bluntly, honestly, and sometimes made the audience laugh at the same time. Max is guilty of claiming black delinquents in the neighborhood are threatening the store’s security, while in contrast, Franco goes out of his way to bring

up

D

ts onu

Play R

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

racism in conversation with Arthur.

After a brief, heated discussion on whether or not Arthur is racist, Franco challenges him to a “racist test”: he must name nine black poets besides Langston Hughes. Spoiler alert: Arthur does.

Superior Donuts granted viewers a refuge from the current political climate to appreciate how far we have come. Set in 2010, it offered a reflective view on what has and hasn’t changed in the urban biome of our diverse nation, forged of hard-working minorities and immigrants. Superior Donuts was funny, unpredictable, humble, and charmingly human—and hey—“it ain’t horsefat.”

PHOTO BY REESE HILL

LH Book Reviews: A Wizard of Earthsea

By Theo Prineas Ursula K. Le Guin passed away on January 22nd, 2018, almost exactly 40 years after her first novel “A Wizard of Earthsea” was published from then-small press Parnassus Publishing.

Though it was initially not expected to sell well, this book has become one of the most popular fantasy novels in the last century alongside its predecessors, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Fortunately, it breaks from the all-encompassing mainstream fantasy precedent set by the aforementioned novels, offering much-needed new material to high fantasy. For example, “A Wizard of Earthsea” is considerably more inclusive to non-white, non-male characters; it offers early dialogue on literary conventions such as environmentalism, psychology, and philosophy; the world, supported by Le

Guin’s stellar writing style, is carefully fleshed-out and doesn’t get in the way of getting to know the main character. At its most fundamental, this book is not about wizards, hobbits, or magical rings; it’s a coming-of-age story about Ged. Ged is the son of a bronzesmith on Gont, a small island in the vast archipelago making up Earthsea. After displaying tremendous magical talent, he is sent to join the school of wizardry on the isle of Roke, where he is a top student. Unfortunately his argumentative nature drives him into a wizard duel after one of his classmates mocks him. One of his spells goes awry and he summons a shadow creature that attacks and scars him beyond recognition. The rest of the book follows his quest to hunt it down and banish it.

Ged himself is arguably one of the best character transformations in science fiction and fantasy. At the beginning of the

book, he is proud, quick to anger, and fundamentally dislikable.

As time goes on, spurred on by the realization that the shadow creature is a physical manifestation of his own past evils, he gradually changes into a sagacious and powerful wizard known by the alias Sparrowhawk. The binary portrayal of good and evil, as opposed to greater forces on a larger continuum, was a bit on-the-nose and preachy, but it plays into a central theme of the book that I did enjoy: balance. Everything in Earthsea is at odds with an equal and opposite force: good and evil; nature and humanity; earth and sea (hence the name “Earthsea”).

Whether or not this tradeoff is worth it is up for the individual reader to decide.

Ultimately, “A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin is an intimate portrayal of international themes portrayed in a nontraditional fantasy realm.

20A A&E

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Q&A: El l

en F i

e

s ld

By Theo Prineas LH: How long have you been writing?

What spurred you to begin writing?

EF: I honestly don’t know. For my entire life I’ve made up stories. As soon as I was old enough to talk I narrated them to my parents. Before I could write I would draw them. Before I could type I scribbled them out in notebooks.

Somewhere there is a giant closet filled with notebooks full of my alien stories from first grade.

LH: How do you prepare to write? Do you write every day, or just when the inspiration hits?

EF: During the summer I religiously write 1,000 words every single day. During the school year that is much harder to maintain because I like to sleep. I can’t write without gum or music. Background noise is essential; if it’s too quiet, I can’t think.

LH: Do you want to be a writer when you grow up? If so, which genre/for which age group would you like to write?

EF: I’m a writer now. I finished my

first novel when I was 15. I currently have three others in progress. I’ve coauthored three episodes of the Elderland Chronicles, a freelance fantasy podcast.

I’m also one of the actors. I also write terrible poetry and less terrible music.

I’ve dabbled in most genres except nonfiction. My first novel is a work of post-apocalyptic science fiction. I am currently working on a sequel, as well as a work of realistic fiction and another science-fiction novel.

LH: What work(s) or activities do you draw inspiration from?

EF: Like all writers, I draw on my own experiences a fair amount, because I am a narcissist. I also get a lot of ideas from my dreams — yes, I realize how weird that sounds. Sometimes I’ll get bored and just sort of start wondering “what if?” or “what could?” The idea that would eventually become my first book I came up with in a hardware store when I was thirteen and started wondering “What would happen if you piled all the stuff in this room on top of each other?”

LH: What’s your favorite part of the writing process? Your least favorite part?

EF: My favorite is probably coming up with the ideas and dreaming up the characters, deciding on their personalities and what they look like and how they feel. I love to think about things that are happening in other people’s heads. That's probably why most of my books are told in the first person past-tense. My least favorite is a little harder to say. Editing isn’t fun. I also have a bit of a problem with procrastination. It’s sometimes hard to get away from the distractions of the modern world and actually sit down and write a story.

LH: Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

EF: Make your characters flawed. As much as we love ripped abs that sparkle in the sunshine, a character is made interesting by the flaws in their personality. People make mistakes and have faults.

Characters should as well. Everyone has a light and a dark side. A reader wants to see both, even if they don’t know it.

Ellen Fields '18 has been creating stories for as long as she can remember. Now, she shares her writing habits and where she finds inspiration

PHOTOS BY EDEN KNOOP

Sports

February 16th, 2018

PHOTO COURTESY OF KRYSTAL FISHER

MUD QUEEN

By Addy Smith

W

hat first began as a youthful affinity for mud would later lead to a more serious passion for Krystal Fisher ‘18.

“I love the mud. Mud’s the best. I’d rather go play in the mud than go shopping with my friends, it’s just my thing to do,” Fisher said. “I’ve always had a passion for motorsports, cars, and trucks, and as I got older and bigger, the toys got bigger [too].”

Although Fisher’s been riding farm-utility fourwheelers since she was four, her love for racing fourwheelers didn’t come until more recently.

“Two or three years ago I was out at the practice track just riding around, when I saw people on these race quads jumping them and I turned to my dad and said, ‘I want to do that.’ So then the next day we went to the dealership and got one,” Fisher said.

Little did she know how much that decision would affect her life. While she was adopting a new passion, a new family would soon adopt her.

“The motocross family is very close to each other.

If someone breaks something, but someone else has the part, they’re like, ‘Here.’ If one of us breaks down, we’ll all swarm and try and help to get them into the next race.”

To prepare for her eight-month competition season, Fisher practices about twice a week depending on the weather. She uses her racing friends’ practice tracks in either Solon or Cedar Rapids. These practices are especially crucial for the endurance aspect of her sport.

“A motocross race is 20 minutes of very active, high energy work of muscling around a 200-pound bike for 20 minutes,” Fisher said. “It’s a combination of man and machine, so you gotta work together.”

When Fisher says “man,” she means quite literally.

According to her, the sport is “basically male-dominated.” Fisher is one of just a few female racers in the state, and one of the only females in the surrounding states to race on a four-wheeler. Fisher flaunts her unique role by wearing pink— a color stereotypically associated with females. To match her pink gear, Fisher rides a pink 2012 Honda 250 quad custom-made for her by a racing friend.

“Racing against all guys… I’m just like, ‘Pink’s not my color— I’m not a pink person, but I’m just like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go pink so I can be ‘girly,’” Fisher said. “I want the crowd to know that it’s a girl out there beating the boys.’”

Fisher’s out putting her skills to the test most weekends during the summer. District 22 is responsible for motocross events across Iowa. Each competitor races two times per weekend, the scores of which eventually add up for an overall score tallied at the end of the season.

Placing within the district is based on these cumulative scores. “[During a race] the course is the same for everybody. [However,] there’s different classes like beginners, medium, and other classes based on skill level,” Fisher said. “There’s also age classes and classes for different sizes of bikes, like a little four-year-old can ride a little one, or a forty-year-old can ride a big one, just not in

the same class. I used to be in Quad450C in Women’s at Nationals, but this year I’m moving towards dirt bikes so I kind of have to start all over again in the classes.

This year I’ll be in 250C in Women’s.”

Although Fisher is considered a late starter among her peers, she would one day like to take her passion to the professional level. Due to the increased level of safety, she is considering trading her dirt-bike wheels in for a larger set.

“I hope to be a monster truck driver,” Fisher said.

“Roll cages are safer and you can be in there a lot longer.”

One of Fisher’s personal mottos is “Work until your idols become your rivals,” and she has already begun to mingle with her potential future competitors.

“I really like the ATV pros like Thomas Brown, Joel Hedrick, and Chad Wienen— the top three guys in the nation,” she said. “I’ve ridden with them a few times over the years, doing riding schools with them and stuff.

I look up to them and we keep up with each other on Facebook and Instagram.”

There are sure to be more than a few bumps on the many dirt courses that lie ahead of Fisher, but facing adversity won’t be new for her. In October of 2016 Fisher shattered her femur and was forced to stay on the sidelines. However, her “Get knocked down, get right back up” mentality guided her recovery.

“I was in the hospital for six days when I broke my femur, but two weeks after I went to the sign-up shed with crutches, almost in a wheelchair, and I raced the race just to finish out the points.”

2B SPORTS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

table of contents

5

4 REC LEAGUE RETURNS The highly anticipated activity is back at the Alexander Gym for another season of elite competition

PLAYING FOR THE NAME The Joens name has long been in the basketball spotlight page, but how do the girls with the name feel about being responsible for it?

SEVEN ATHLETES SIGN THE NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT

?

6 ATHLEISURE Jonah Dancer ‘18 and Jae Dancer ‘21 model a popular new fashion trend that repurposes workout wear for everyday occasions

upcoming events Feb. 16

8

7

STATE WRESTLING Quarter-finals TBD 9:00am-1:00pm Wells FargoArena

Feb. 19

THE TRANSFER TOSS-UP The gap between private and public schools has been widening in recent years, so what seems to be responsible?

SNEAKERHEADS The trend of “shoe flipping” has grown to become a billion-dollar industry in the last decade and juniors Michael Santoro and Brady Herzic have joined in on its success

Feb. GIRLS Feb. BOYS GIRLS 27 TRACK 20 BASKETBALL BASKETBALL Regional QuarterFinals @ CR Washington 7:00 pm

Regional Finals vs.TBD 7:00 pm City High Gym

Rock Island Indoor Invitational 3:45 pm Augustana College

Feb. BOYS TRACK 27 & FIELD Duhawk Indoor Invitational 4:45 pm Loras College

a letter from your editor

By Addy Smith My loves, I sincerely hope your Valentine’s cOnSuMeRiSt PlOy Day was filled with all of the assorted chocolates, easy-tear snoopy cards, and over-priced bouquets that this world has to offer. If it wasn’t, well consider the Little Hawk sport section my two-day overdue, yet extremely genuine, Valentine’s Day card to you. I meant it when I say this issue is packed with LOVE...and the remaining evidence of multiple caffeine-assisted 4am nights, Wanda and Cosmo’s handy dental work, and the leftover of a Snapchat before total self-annihilation… but I digress.

In my Valentine’s Day card I made sure to include some pretty user-friendly

content. Right off the bat I gave you a nice and consolidated page of season recaps where all you have to do is glance at the bottom to find out what’s been happening in/on the courts, lanes, and pools of City High. Admire each one of the 133 squares especially. Next up will be the fellas in my grade’s favorite—Recreational Basketball has returned! Now, I’m sure you’ve heard the name “Joens”, in some way paired with basketball, but what’s the story behind the name?

How did it get to be as revered as it is today? After a page of quality words, you can relax with some easy-going athlete-inspired fashion modelled by the lovely Jonah and Jae Dancer. Thanks to folks like them, Michael Santoro ‘19

and Brady Herzic ’19 are able to make a pretty penny off of the shoe-reselling market— you can read all about their ingenuity in “Sneakerheads”. And finally, I had the pleasure of taking an in-depth look at the current high school sporting situation in Iowa, from multiple perspectives, to explore how the gap is widening between certain schools and how we can attempt to re-level the playing field.

Now go and take the love I’ve given you out into the world. Mwah! Cha girl,

This one’s for you, Mirabelle!

SPORTS 3B

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

SEASON RECAPS

BY THE NUMBERS

Wrestling Dominates District Meet

Forrest Frazier Leads Swim Team to 7th Place at State

By Jack Bacon

By Rika Yahashiri and Eric Thomas

T

he City High Wrestling championship train keeps on rolling. Already Mississippi Valley Conference regular season and tournament champs, the Little Hawks added a District title last Saturday in Mount Pleasant.

City finished an impressive 35 points better than second place Iowa City West as eight wrestlers advanced to the State Tournament in Des Moines.

Ethan Wood-Finley, Joey Harney, Jacob Dykes and Jacob Murry won individual titles, while Lance Bormann, Kyle Hefley, Wilfred Kadohou and Brandon Lalla finished second, qualifying them individually for State. This strong performance sets up the Little Hawks for success this weekend.

Perhaps the Little Hawks’ biggest surprise on Saturday was 170-pounder Brandon Lalla’s second-place finish. By securing a spot at State, Lalla now is in position to grab City some much-needed extra team points.

“I feel like I wrestled pretty well today,” said Lalla of his performance. “I set the goal of qualifying for State last year at the end of the season...the extra hours, the extra effort, it all paid off. With hard work and good partners, I made it through.”

Lalla believes that his team’s collective hard work will pay off for them this weekend at State.

“We need to try and go win the State Dual Tournament,” said Lalla. “Then after that we will go on to win State.”

To some on the outside, Lalla’s appraisal of the situation might seem a bit optimistic.

But for a team that has so far won every title in its path, there’s really no reason to expect anything but confidence.

One thing is for certain: as the season nears the end of the line, the Little Hawk Express is right on track.

WRESTLING

F

ROSE NKUMU ‘20

Wilfred Kadohou ‘18

ANDREW FRANZ ‘18

bowling

8 wrestlers to state

District Champions

4

GIRLS BASKETBALL

6

12 Years since LAST qualifying for the State Dual tournament

ANTONIO TURNER ‘19

YEARS SINCE CITY LAST BEAT WEST FOR the king pin trophy

2223 POints bowled ON FEBRUARY 2nd AGAINST CR WASHINGTON for new school record

FORREST FRAZIER ‘20

or the past 13 years the Boys State Swim Meet has been held at the Marshalltown YMCA. This year, the event was moved to Iowa City’s own Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, giving high school swimmers from across the state an unprecedented level of opportunity.

“Now that State is at the fastest pool in Iowa,” said Head Coach Zane Hugo. “We’re gonna be seeing a lot of breaking records.”

Forrest Frazier ‘20 proved Hugo right.

Just a sophomore, Frazier has already demonstrated his prowess in the pool by holding four City High records and being a staple of City’s state team last year.

This year, however, he proved he’s on another level.

As an individual alone he captured two first place finishes in the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter breaststroke, earning All-American status, and set the new state record for the 100-meter breaststroke, earning him the title of Athlete of the Year.

“I mean I did really well in all of my individual events, [getting] two ‘dubs’ but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team behind me, I’m really happy with what happened in the medley relay,” Frazier said.

After just the first three events City had scored more points than they had last year at State. This was due in part to the second place finish of the 200-meter medley relay of Forrest Frazier ‘20, Louis Stephan ‘20, Eric Thomas ‘18, and Mickale Sadecky ‘18. The team also broke their own school record set just last week by almost three seconds.

This improvement from last season gives Hugo great excitement for next season.

“The next couple years are gonna be fast for City with the State team [being] mainly underclassmen, and our freshman who didn’t make it to State all have potential.”

BOYS BASKETBALL

21

35

19

points scored by antonio turner ‘18 against waterloo East

Perfect 21-0 Regular season

Ashley Joens BECOMES 19th player in Iowa history with 2,000 career points RANKED #1 IN THE STATE

1

END OF GAME SECONDS TAKEN TO BEAT LIBERTY BY 2 POINTS

4

BOYS SWIMMING 7 Highest PLACE THat an MVC TEAM FinishED at State

5

SCHOOL RECORDS BROKEN THIS SEASON

2

STATE TITLES CAPTURED BY FORREST FRAZIER, one of which is a state record

4B SPORTS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

REC LEAGUE RETURNS The highly anticipated activity is back at the Alexander Gym for another season of elite competition ABOVE: Nolan Cochran ‘18 attacks the basket while Jonah Dancer ‘18 tries to swat him BELOW: Caleb Buckman ‘18 shows off his dribbling skills

By Addy Smith

O

n Wednesday nights, the youth physical education students that typically fill the Alexander Elementary Gymnasium with games of dodgeball and PIG are replaced.

Athletes, donning makeshift jerseys, trash-talk their competitors. Known as Rec League, this night brings together some of the area’s most inexperienced—yet most egotistical—athletes for arguably one of the most anticipated seasons of the entire athletic year.

This season’s line-up includes the Spag Bois, Literally Trash, Big Bois, GBFC, Tate Warriors, and the Big Bender Brand. One team, GBFC, reigns above the rest. The currently undefeated team, which is comprised mainly of senior exbasketball players, is looking to take home the coveted championship medals.

The secret to GBFC’s success remains under wraps, considering they put in little to no work outside of Wednesday night games.

“Besides our normal athletic ability and lift-

ing and stuff, nah we don’t even practice. I know some teams practice, but we don’t,” unofficial team captain Witt Harberts ’18 said.

Although Harberts’ team doesn’t practice, he believes that a potential factor in its success so far may be chalked up to the fact that he and his teammates “all have at least a general idea of what [they’re] doing, as opposed to some of the other teams.”

In addition to finishing the season off as undefeated champion, GBFC is also aiming to cream, for lack of better terms, any team—with or without cheap white tank tops—that tries to stand in its way.

“We played Patrick’s team this week and we were gonna try to score 100 [points], but everybody was either sick or at the choir concert,” Harberts said. “So the second half really just turned into me trying to score a basket.”

Judging by an ungodly number of uncalled travels and airballs, Harberts, like many of the other rec-league players, is navigating the challenges of puberty that are presented on the

basketball court.

“Since I’ve grown I haven’t really shot much, so it’s different, obviously. Now when I shoot, I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s gonna go in’, but then [the ball] sails like five feet over. So it’s like, I’m just trying to figure out how to adjust to my new body, and that takes some time.”

With puberty comes increased levels of testosterone, evident in inflamed tempers and ego-motivated trash talk. Last season, two athletes were asked not to return to the league after a post-game altercation with the officials. This season, in order to be proactive about any issues that may arise, the league has hired one to three (depending on the night) referees.

“I’m surprised they even agree to do it, to be honest. It’s just a bunch of kids complaining when they think they’re fouled,” Harberts said. “I mean, I’m sure they’re not getting paid enough to do this job, so they do a pretty good job considering. I kind of feel bad for them sometimes, but generally speaking I think they actually enjoy us goofing around.”

Seven Athletes Sign the National Letter of Intent Davonte Foster Waldorf Football

Bryce Hunger Minnesota State-Mankato Football

Sydney DePrenger Minnesota State-Mankato Soccer

MARQUEL POOLE Jackson meyer WILLIAM PENN drake FOOTBALL CLARA FROESCHNER Soccer CHRISTINA HORA DRAKE LORAS ROWING BASKETBALL

PHOTO BY ADDY SMITH

5B SPORTS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

PLAYING WITH THE NAME JOENS JOENS

JOENS

JOENS

ABOVE: L-R Bailey Joens, Aubrey Joens, Kelsey Joens, and Ashley Joens pose for a shot with their jerseys

The Joens name has long been in the basketball spotlight, but how do the girls with the name feel about being responsible for it?

By Addy Smith

T

he Joens name has been in the headlines for over six years, and is sure to be for at least 13 years to come—Bailey, the youngest, is five. When asked what they assume people think of upon hearing the name “Joens,” Ashley, Aubrey, Kelsey, and Bailey respond with, “Basketball players, probably.”

And they’re okay with that.

After all, they will each admit that “[Basketball is] our life. It’s either we’re in the gym or we’re at work.”

Their parents, Brian and Lisa, met at Kirkwood Community College when both of them were basketball players there. Since their five children were little, it seems it has been their destiny to adopt the same passion as their parents.

“When we were babies Mom and Dad would roll a ball back and forth to us,” Ashley said.

Ever since Courtney Joens ‘16 arrived at the doorsteps of City High in 2012, the name Joens has had a perpetual place in the mouths of fans across the state. Courtney, who’s now playing D1 ball at Illinois, has since passed on the responsibility of representing her family to her younger sisters Ashley ‘18 and Aubrey ‘20.

Aubrey has at times felt the darkness of her sisters’ shadows.

“I’m honored [to wear the name ‘Joens’ on the back of my jersey], but I feel pressure to live up to my sisters.”

Aubrey also experiences people expecting her to be a certain way because of her last name “all the time.”

“People say I don’t need to go to class because I’m a Joens, they think teachers will just give me an A,” Aubrey said. “They always say, ‘Oh, you’re a Joens you can get away with a lot.’”

Ashley sees being a Joens girl as an opportunity for a source of motivation. “[I see it] as a challenge and something to motivate you to be better than what they were, to try and outdo them,” she said.

It seems the younger sisters have held up their end of the bargain, however, leading their City High team through 21 games of mostly uncontested wins. Ashley and Aubrey both plan to continue their win-streak all the way through

the state championship game on March 3rd.

Heightened levels of composure and focus are two things Ashley attributes to her team’s ability to beat team after team without being phased. Ashley says her team has taken their season one game at a time, and never takes a team for granted. Although she hasn’t had to deal with a loss in over 12 weeks, Ashley says she usually takes losses the hardest out of all of her teammates.

“I don’t get nervous before the games but if we were to lose I’d think about it for awhile. I don’t move on as fast as others might,” Ashley said. “I deal with it by going to the gym and working on it. Watching film and see what we need to do differently and then working on it.”

Aside from Joens, Ashley holds another name on the team. Because her role is to maintain her team’s focus, she is known as “Mom” to her teammates—er, children?

“SINCE PEOPLE KNEW MY SISTERS, MY COACHES EXPECT MORE FROM ME, BUT I’M OKAY WITH THAT BECAUSE I CAN LIVE UP TO THEM.”

role on the team.”

Perhaps one of the greatest reasons why the court is big enough for both Ashley and Aubrey is the fact that each use their time on the court differently.

“We are different players in a lot of ways.

She’s way bigger than me and does different stuff than me so we have different roles,” Aubrey said.

“I think Kelsey and Ashley are similar players. I don’t take charge as much as Ashley does. She’s more around the basket and she attacks and drives, whereas I’m more of a shooter.”

Kelsey’s arrival is sure to reinvigorate the Joens era of basketball at City High. Just a seventh grader, Kelsey recently broke Ashley’s previous single game scoring record of 43 by scoring 47 points in a game. “[Like my sisters], I hope to make it to State [in high school], but I’m focusing on improving myself in the present. People knew my siblings and I’m okay with my coaches having higher expectations of me, because I can deal with it,” Kelsey said.

Ashley has set several more records this season for Kelsey to chase, including becoming only the 19th player ever in the state to score over 2,000 points, breaking her single game record several times to end with 45 points (the

most scored in Iowa this season), and capturing the single season scoring record with a current amount of 642.

Although her accomplishments are unprecedented, the only accomplishment Ashley is interested in right now is winning a state championship.

“It’s an honor but I don’t really pay as much attention to it since I only have the one goal right now which is the state championship,” she said. “[These records are] nice to have—like, when I look back on them in 20 years it’ll be cool—but right now I don’t really think much about that.”

Aubrey agrees with her older sister.

“I’m kind of the same way. It’d be cool to get the records but I just go out and keep playing,” she said. “If I get them then I get them.”

For Ashley Joens, three of the most important weeks of her young basketball career are ahead of her. She doesn’t so much as care about people remembering her name, as much her team’s performance at State.

“Everyone remembers who wins State. It means you’re the best,” Ashley said. “It’s a lot of work trying to be the best, you always have to come ready to play and you can’t take anything for granted because they could beat you.”

KELSEY JOENS ‘23 “She acts like a mom. She’s in charge of everything and keeps everybody in line,” Aubrey said. “She’s always focused and never really gets off-track. But at the same time she can have fun, but she knows when to do it.”

When Ashley graduates next year, Aubrey will be the Joens holding the fort at City High until Kelsey arrives in two years.

“I’ll definitely have to rebound more [next year], because she’s our main rebounder. Most of time now, even if I do get a rebound, she just rips it out of my hands,” Aubrey said. “I’ll have to be more of a leader on and off the court by keeping everybody focused, because that’s her

ABOVE: The Joens girls team up to tease their youngest sister, Bailey, at their house during a snow day

6B SPORTS

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

Athleisure This popular fashion trend is comprised of comfortable clothing designed to be suitable both for exercise and everyday wear

Crewnecks like this one from Staple Pigeon ($47.60) are perfect to throw on when leaving the gym

Patterned leggings are a chance for you to express yourself in a trend dominated by dark tones, Lululemon Align Pant II ($118)

Cover your head for a comfy night on the town with this New Era Panama Beanie Tan Cuff Knit ($20.00) Shoes are the most important part of the look.

Choose wisely like these “Flax” Air Force 1 Lows ($103-$112)

Sweatpants and joggers are a staple of Athleisure. Adidas Tiro 17 ($45)

Jonah Dancer ‘18 Denim and leather jackets, and sporty windbreakers like this one are some of the best ways to implement practical layers into your look

This graphic tee

by ASAP Rocky and Guess Jeans ($80) is the perfect example of the versatility that Athleisure promotes

JAE Dancer ‘21

Socks are a necessity for any athletic pursuit, so why not make it fun with these pink Adidas tube socks ($15)?

PHOTOS BY OLIVIA LUSALA AND ZOE BUTLER

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

SPORTS 7B

$NEAKERHEAD$ The trend of “shoe flipping” has grown to become a billion-dollar industry in the last decade and juniors Michael Santoro and Brady Herzic have joined in on its success

By Addy Smith

W

hat may look solely like a pair of shoes to one person, looks like dollar signs to another. For years the trend of sneaker-reselling has been on the rise. But something that was once limited to eBay and message boards has become a billion-dollar industry thanks to social media.

The shoe game has changed and juniors Michael Santoro and Brady Herzic are some of the many “Sneakerheads” that have enjoyed the large profit that can be made from foot fashion.

Michael Santoro’s has grown up in a family that owns a business and says he has always had an entrepreneur’s mind. When he first learned of the art of shoe-flipping over a year and half ago, he knew had to get into it.

“I think I had seen an article online once that said a pair of 245 dollar shoes flipped for like 7 or 800 dollars,” Santoro said. “From there I just bought the shoes that I hoped would sell for more than what they go for and then I just kind of learned more as I went.”

Santoro has noticed the industry evolve even over the past year and half.

“Releases are more often now because it’s a more competitive market between Nike and Adidas so they have to release more to keep up.

When I first started selling shoes, it was only Nike shoes. Then last year it was only Adidas

shoes. So they’ve both had to ramp up what they wanting the shoes he re-sells, he doesn’t actually both do to keep up with the markets and supply care for the shoes themselves. and demand.”

“I don’t see the need to wear an expensive Because of the demand for their shoes, shoe when I can just sell it for more.” these companies have had to put restrictions on Santoro’s successes have not gone unnoticed. the number of pairs one buyer can get. SanWhen Brady Herzic ‘18 found out about the toro’s typical regimen involves the use of some behind-the-scenes business of a pair of Yeezy’s, technology that allows him to weave around the he too, was intrigued. restrictions “I’ve always liked “If it was a week of shoes, I’ve just always releases, most releases been into them,” Herzic “I DON’T SEE THE NEED TO are on Saturday, I’d set said. “When Michael WEAR EXPENSIVE SHOES up for that depending told me how much he on what [shoe] it was,” was making from selling WHEN I CAN JUST SELL he said. “Depending on them, I was like ‘I wanna THEM FOR MORE.” what the brand is that’s get into this’ and that’s dropping it I set up how it pretty much all the software so it goes started.”

MICHAEL SANTORO ‘19 through the site and Like Santoro, Herthen buy proxies and a zic’s parents own their server for it so it can go own restaurant, Orchard through that and mass Green. Herzic believes the IP, and that hopefully guarantees multiple shoe flipping is something he has been destined pairs.” for after many years of listening to and working Santoro has noticed that Yeezy’s are the easiest with his parents on their business. shoe to sell. He’s also identified concepts that “[Shoe flipping] is an easy way to make he’s learned about in Mr. Leman’s classes. money without having a job and having to do “If you’re buying them from the direct comactual work, like hands-on stuff.” pany, you’re buying them for retail. If there’s Herzic first began selling Jordan’s, but soon only 40,000 pairs and there’s 3 million people realized that they were difficult to sell. Since going for all of those pairs, those extra people then he’s decided that he’s never going to buy a want the same pair so they’ll have to pay more.” pair of Jordan’s unless he’ll wear them and has Although Santoro benefits off other people shifted his focus to a highly sought after brand.

“Adidas is the easiest to sell because everybody wants Adidas right now. Everyone has them, everyone wants them.”

Although Herzic doesn’t buy shoes in as large of a quantity as Santoro does, he has learned what works for him.

“I buy some shoes strictly to sell, so if I see them and they’re worth 500 bucks, I’ll offer the [seller] like 350 [dollars]. If they want to sell them right away they’ll sell them to me for that much,” he said. “People just want to get rid of them right away and don’t get as much as they could get, so that’s when I buy them. If I buy them for a 150 dollars less than what they’re worth then I’ll sell them right away, or else no one else will buy them since there are many other places to buy shoes from, so [the buyers] know how much they’re worth.”

Because Herzic invests so much in buying shoes, purchasing a fake pair is something he has to be cautious of.

“Now it’s hard to tell if a shoe is legit or not, but there’s some fakes that are obvious, like you can just look at them and tell. Plus I have decent knowledge so I can look at them and tell if they’re fake,” he said. “There’s certain ways to tell, like on the bottom of Yeezy’s, there’s a white triangle called the boost and that’s a really easy way to tell.”

Both Santoro and Herzic just have one piece of advice for anybody interested in doing what they do.

“Just don’t lose money.”

ART BY OLIVIA LUSALA

SPORTS 8B

THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

I

A R N T S F E E H T TOSS-UP R

n October, after a crushing defeat in the state championship football game, West High players took to Twitter to criticize the opposing team, Dowling Catholic Not because of the refs, or poor sportsmanship, but because of the number of Dowling’s transfers, who the West players believed had had their tuition paid by the school so that they could play sports.

“You’re talking like your recruits didn’t win you the game...

If every team in the state could pull in players by throwing their wallet at them, the story might be different. Stay humble famo. #homegrownvshandpicked,” Austin Geasland ‘18, West High Wide Receiver, said.

Dowling head football coach and athletic director Tom Wilson said that his school does not give out athletic scholarships.

“I will never reach out to someone first, nor will I meet with them off campus,” Wilson said. “If they have an interest in us, then they need to reach out to us and come to our campus to meet.”

However, although Dowling and other private schools may not officially sponsor their athletes financially, the athletic dominance of private schools in Iowa has only increased in recent years, and with no signs of a change in pace. Dowling Catholic’s state football win was their sixth trip to the final in eight years, and their fifth win. This past summer, the 1A, 2A, and 3A baseball state champions were all private Catholic schools. The nine Catholic schools that qualified for the state baseball tournament went 13-2 against public schools. Last volleyball season, a private school was in the finals in every class except one.

These trends are evident within every sport, every class, every conference, and every district across the state of Iowa, which has led people to ask themselves how they may be changed and question if the playing field is level.

Although private schools may not be officially recruiting athletes, Wilson suggests that the practice may not be entirely nonexistent.

“Do we have parents, alumni, students possibly trying to convince friends from other schools to come to Dowling? No doubt, and this happens everywhere,” Wilson said. “However, it is not something led by our school.”

Jeff Linder, a sports writer

The gap between private and public schools has been widening in recent years with transfers and socioeconomics driving champtionship teams across Iowa

?

By Addy Smith

for the Gazette who focuses on high school athletics, has noticed this trend as well.

“I think there may be some parental recruiting [along the lines of], “Hey, you play with my kid in club ball, why don’t you come play high school ball with us too?’” he said. “‘We are better than the program you are currently at. Maybe you would be better or be seen better if we form a superteam.’”

No matter how it happens, or who’s responsible for it, people like Witt Harberts ‘18 believe that any form of recruiting is unfair.

“I think it’s completely unfair to be able to just go and pluck the athletes that you want that go to a public school because you want them to come to your school, since it makes your school look better and you might win a state championship,” Harberts said.

“Then you have to play against the public schools who are at a severe disadvantage.”

Natalie Niemeyer, softball coach at Des Moines East High School, has long been disconcerted by another advantage she deems private schools have over public ones. In her experience, she has seen schools like Xavier be able to play Class 5A MVC teams throughout the regular season and then move down to class 4A or even 3A during the playoffs.

“That’s something that I’ve always thought was really unfair because they’ve played this really great competition all season,

so no wonder they go to State all the time,” Niemeyer said.

Harberts has noticed the same tendency of private schools to fluctuate in classes, something that he presumes they are purposefully manipulating in order to increases their chances of athletic success.

“When [private schools] start losing in 4A, they can ‘cook the books’ to make their enrollment rates look different and then they’re like, ‘Oh, now we’re 3A,’ so then they’re still performing and making to the state championship because they’re in 3A.” Wilson believes that the largest factor to his team’s consistent success is its talent and hard work. He also thinks that private-school domination doesn’t exist because “success isn’t disproportionately experienced by private schools in the state.”

“I think it is important to dig in the history and I think you will see an ebb and flow of success between public and private. I had this conversation with the girls’ union a few years ago,” Wilson said. “I know we have had talented kids that work hard, plus we have had some fortunate breaks.”

Linder believes that there’s more to the perpetual success of private schools in athletics than that. He has concluded that private school athletic domination is a reflection of the associated socio-economic environments

in which their players dwell.

“I think the correlation is more socioeconomic than public versus private,” he said. “Valley, Waukee, Linn-Mar are some of the more affluent school districts [and they are very successful in sports], so I think it’s more that, than the public-private thing.”

Niemeyer teaches at Des Moines East. She says most of her students play a sport for the first time when it’s offered in middle school. She sees the gap between public and private school athletics continuing to widen because a larger percentage of families at private schools are able to afford club athletics for their children.

“When you start that young and you’re playing on these competitive teams that are a priority for you and your family, you have an advantage for sure,” she said. “If all those kids funnel into the same school, then obviously they’re going to be very good.”

Linder agrees that not all inequities lie on the borders of public and private schools. Athletes who openenroll in order to transfer between school districts is something he sees quite often, and he doesn’t agree with it.

“I don’t like open enrollment at all. If you want to move to another school that’s your business, but as far as open enrollment I’m not a big advocate of that at all,” Linder said.

“I think if an open enrollment deal was made in which [an open-enrolling athlete] would be ineligible for a full year instead of 90 days and made ineligible immediately that might alleviate some of that. I don’t think that would be a bad idea.”

The IGHSAU and IAHSAA General Transfer rule states that “a student who transfers ...from a school to another school…shall be ineligible to compete in varsity interscholastic athletics for a period of 90 consecutive school days.” Additionally, the ICCSD has instituted a rule that states that varsity athletes must sit out a year if they transfer within the district.

No matter how many regulations the unions put in place in their ongoing attempt to control unfair advantages, Linder believes that there’s “nothing the association can do about it.” So, for now at least, he thinks that schools that haven’t been seeing success will just have to “hang in there” for the time being.

“I think some schools are just going to have to try harder to keep the field at a reasonable level,” he said.

“The Cedar Rapids schools, Waterloo schools, et cetera, are just going to have to keep plugging away and doing the best with what they’ve got.”