The Lowell Newsmagazine March 2022

March 2022

Cuts to the Community

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

MARLENA ROHDE

MARLENA ROHDE

In-class creatures

By Marlena Rohde

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY ELISE MUCHOWSKI

LAUREN CALDWELL

PHOTO COURTESY OF JORDAN ACOSTA LEE

RAE WYMER

Jordan Acosta Lee: a student singer Teachers and students protest the tentative agreement at district headquarters success story

By Sierra Sun

By Rae Wymer

By Ashley Glancy

ELISE MUCHOWSKI

SPREAD DESIGN BY ISSAC FUKUMURA-WHITE

Culturally adrift: searching for multiracial acceptance

CONTENT

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Editorial

TikTok’s time is up

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Column

Taking off my rainbow colored glasses

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Cover

By Editorial Board

By Madeleine Johnston

By Chloe Chon, Kelcie Lee, Rae Wymer

Cuts to the community

18 Media Reviews

Books, movies, TV shows, and more

21 Multimedia

Painting my identity

24 Opinion

In defense of stan culture

By Ashley Glancy, Sarah Liu, Elise Muchowski, and Madeleine Johnston

By Marlena Rohde, Libby Bowie, Reina Lee, and Lauren Kim

By Karis Kotschnig

The Lowell is published by the journalism classes of Lowell High School. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes. All rights opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are opinions of the staff. The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related iss the editors to thelowellnews@gmail.com. Names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication.

The Lowell is a student-run publication distributed to thousands of readers including students, parents, teachers and alumni. All advertisement pr email thelowellads@yahoo.com. Contact us: Lowell High School 1101 Eucalyptus Drive San Francisco, CA 94132 415-759-2730 or at thelowellnew

We support holding tech companies legally accountable for their decision to put economic success over the wellbeing of millions of teenagers.

Editors-in-Chief | Sarah Liu • Rae Wymer News Editors | Layla Wallerstein • Walker Whalen • Rae Wymer Opinion Editors | Karis Kotschnig • Sarah Liu Column Editors | Issac Fukumura-White • Madeleine Johnston Sports Editor | Brandon Ng

If a child is taught by their parents that something is gross and immoral, and no one provides a correction to that mindset, you cannot expect that child to magically understand that thing on their own.

Multimedia Editors | Jaxi Cohen • Marlena Rohde

Lowell is slated to lose around 20 percent of its total budget for the 2022-2023 school year.

Photographers | Libby Bowie • Jaxi Cohen • Lauren Kim • Abigail Lin • Kimi Norway • Marlena Rohde • Yeshi-Wangmu Sherpa • Ryson Sun • Reina Lee

The best type of art is the type that makes the viewer take a hard look at themselves. Euphoria, a HBO TV LAURENdoes CALDWELL show about the highs and lows of adolescence, just that.

Art Manager | Mella Bettag Reporters | Ava Alberts • Angela Chen • Darren Chin • Chloe Chon • Sasha Fuetsch • Roman Fong • Ashley Glancy • Brooke Laur • Kelcie Lee • Ruby Shaw • Isaac Olson • Aaliyah Español-Rivas • Dylan Twyman • Sierra Sun • Victoria Pan • Maya Law • Laura Reyes

Illustrators | Mella Bettag • Elise Muchowski • Nicole Wong • Darixa Varela Medrano • Raymond Yuan • Denis Yabut • Charon Kong • Daniela Lopez • Kaixu Yu Business Managers | Yi Luo • Primo Pelczynski Web Managers | Audrey Lau • Joanne Zeng Social Media Managers | Sasha Fuetsch • Erin Guo • Gianna Ou • Madeleine Johnston Researcher | Saw Nwe

When something is beloved by teenage girls, it’s considered immature and undeserving of the hype, spoken about only if prefaced as a guilty pleasure.

. All rights reserved. The Lowell strives to inform the public and to use its l-related issues from students, faculty and community members. Send letters to

tisement profits fund our newsmagazine issues. To advertise online or in print, helowellnews@gmail.com

Advisor | Eric Gustafson

SPREAD DESIGN BY ISSAC FUKUMURA-WHITE

How do Lowellites express themselves? Through brushes of eyeshadow, swipes of lipstick, and carefully applied eyeliner, 8 Lowell students showcase their identity to the outside world.

EDITORIAL

O

Tiktok’s time is up

pen TikTok for 15 minutes, and you’ll be there for hours. Since its launch in 2016, this platform has been sinking its hooks into millions of teenagers worldwide. Then, for those who did not already fall prey to TikTok, came Instagram Reels – another distracting stream of videos.

We cannot stand by as these social media companies continue to develop strategies to keep us addicted.

A bill has been proposed by California legislators to hold these companies accountable. We all need to support this proposal. Change on the front is going to take a while, so in the meantime, there are simple, concrete steps us Lowellites can take to distance ourselves from TikTok, Instagram Reels, and similar platforms.

Noting the competitive culture at Lowell, where students are often seen comparing grades, AP classes, and test scores, some may argue that these platforms provide a much needed respite from everyday stresses. Lowellites have described scrolling on TikTok and Instagram Reels to be calming and “mind-numbing.” During finals week or other anxiety-inducing periods, these platforms can provide some relief for students on the brink of emotional collapse.

But a few minutes on TikTok can turn into an abundance of lost time due to its addictive nature. After all, TikTok has a secret weapon: a highly advanced algorithm that caters to your individual interests. TikTok is designed to keep users entertained and distracted for long periods of time with a nuanced recommendation system that determines which videos are presented to an individual on their For You page. Users have claimed that the algorithm is elaborate enough to read minds; the videos that appear seem to be exactly what they want to see, with uncanny accuracy. This can be overwhelmingly detrimental to students, as this individual tailoring eliminates effective time management and work efficiency.

Witnessing TikTok’s success, Instagram was quick to follow, launching Instagram Reels in 2020 — another stream of short video clips. Having access to multiple platforms offering infinite videos featuring personal interests, teenagers are exposed to powerful distractions at the click of a button. Ensnared by both

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TikTok and Instagram’s advanced algorithms, students lose qualities, such as a long attention span, that are essential to being academically successful. TikTok and Instagram Reels are home to trends that come and go daily, as well as unlimited new content that creates the need to see what comes next. Because the videos are usually only a few seconds long, users decide in an instant whether they want to continue watching or scroll down to something more interesting.

These platforms also harm other aspects of our lives. As we become more accustomed to the instant gratification TikTok videos offer, time-intensive pastimes that challenge and inspire the mind, such as reading, creating art, or even sitting through an entire movie could become obsolete.

In response to this issue, California State Assembly members Jordan Cunningham and Buffy Wicks introduced Assembly Bill 2408, or the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act, on March 15, 2022. If passed, this new bill will attack social media companies for deploying features and algorithms that addict young users. The bill would allow for social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to be sued for endangering us all. We support holding tech companies legally accountable for their decision to put economic success over the wellbeing of millions of teenagers.

Besides supporting new legislation, there are individual steps students can take to decrease their exposure to addictive video-sharing apps. Students can start using Instagram on a browser to avoid Reels, setting alarms on their phones as a reminder to manage their time wisely, or deleting the apps altogether. As the social media industry continues to evolve, it’s time to focus on activities that preserve our attention span.

These platforms may have started out as a way to connect with friends, but they have now become a source of entertainment that takes away from what’s important.

We urge Lowellites to consider the following question: Is the distraction and momentary gratification of scrolling worth the decrease in your ability to focus and put time into something you truly care about? Your lives within and beyond the classroom depend on your answer.

CARTOON

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE WONG

Freshman year vs. senior year FROM THE EDITORS Dear readers of The Lowell,

SPREAD DESIGN BY WALKER WHALEN

Rae Wymer first began investigating Lowell’s budget during her sophomore year. While doing so she discovered Lowell’s overreliance on AP funding — that these district funds were paying for more than just extra teacher preps; they were propping up a whole host of course offerings. Her extensive research revealed a budgetary house of cards.

Much has changed since Rae first initiated her research: a pandemic hit, Lowell got a new principal, and the house of cards is about to fall down. Our March cover story, “Cuts to the community,” by Rae, Kelcie Lee, and Chloe Chon highlights the projected impacts of cuts in Lowell’s funding on students and teachers. It also explores the long-term systemic issues that led up to this cut and what it will mean for Lowell’s future.

Writing and editing this newsmagazine’s cover story has been one of our most personal experiences as student journalists. Journalism is one of the programs at risk of disappearing due to the budget cuts. It’s been hard to report objectively on an issue that directly affects the future of a program that we all have poured ourselves into for years.

As co-Editors-in-Chief, Lowell’s journalism program has been the most fulfilling part of our high school experiences.

We have gotten to work with some of the most intelligent and thoughtful people at our school. The hours spent in the Journ room, laughing about spread design mishaps. The collaborative thrill of brainstorming sessions. Referencing old manuals from former generations of editors. The whole staff huddled in the editors’ room, copyediting our magazine together before we send it off to our publisher. These experiences are the reasons we get up and go to school each morning.

When we talk about these budget cuts, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers of the classes and teachers lost and see this as an issue that can be explained like an equation. But these are real lives and communities impacted. No student should be in a position where we lose the programs that make us empathetic people, that allow us to discover our passions and future ambitions. Whatever happens, the Lowell community needs to come together and support each other.

Editors-in-Chief, Sarah Liu and Rae Wymer The Lowell March 2022

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COLUMN Taking off my rainbow colored glasses

PHOTO BY JAXI COHEN

By Madeleine Johnston

E

ntering a sleepy, seventh grade, science class, a figure appeared in my view. I went to a small K-8 school, and by this eighth year, we all knew each other. The girl, Lila*, was someone I enjoyed being around when she was her funny and authentic self, but she and her friends had a vindictive, ignorant nature. They could torment people.

“I heard something about you,” she said. Then, lowering her voice so others wouldn’t hear — she was always the nicest of her friends — she asked, “Are you a lesbian?”

An immediate, “No!” slipped from my lips. I didn’t want to come out in this way. It was not necessarily a lie – I am not a lesbian. I was generally very comfortable with my bisexuality at this point. I grew up in a family where gay was more than okay, it was the family. Gay men raised me, they lived across the street and were my emergency contacts. The afterschool program at my school was run by lesbians and drag queens who regularly taught us about acceptance. When I had come out to close friends, I was only met with love and a few “I think I am too”s.

With this support system, I did not plan on hiding my sexuality from my peers. But when asked without warning, I was not prepared to confess. I didn’t realize how uncomfortable coming out could be when stripped of choice or when the receiving

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end didn’t grow up watching Rupaul’s Drag Race.

During second period, I was approached again, this time by both Lila and those less-nice friends. I knew I was back in the ring. Class became an interrogation as I was grilled with questions about my widely discussed sexual orientation. I denied each and every accusation. They believed me, and in the comfort of what they thought was a straight person, began firing off homophobic microagressions.

“I knew she couldn’t be gay, she wears all that makeup.”

“Oh, thank god, because if you were….”

“That’d be….”

Later in middle school, I debated the group who confronted me that day about the morals of homosexuality a few times, but to no real avail. My arguments did not seem to budge their opinions: “This is just how I was raised,” one said. “It’s nasty.”

When homophobia is encountered in San Francisco, it’s reasonably met with harsh resistance; no one has time for close-minded ideas about queerness in the gay capital of the world. Being queer myself, I have never been particularly patient with ignorance. Most of the times that it has faced me, I have fired back insults so mean they can only be described as poetic. But ignorance does not come from nowhere and really awesome comebacks ar-

ing substitute teachers, but we did not live similar lives.

Access to education about gay people is, unfortunately, not universal. We did not learn what it meant to be gay in our public school curriculum. The afterschool program that taught me so much about inclusivity was not cheap; not everyone could stay on campus and watch a 50-year-old butch queen sing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”

Kids are not given equal access to moral ideas. The people you grow up around are your teachers.

In middle school I felt a deep frustration and hopelessness after those debates about the morality of queerness. I felt like we were going nowhere, none of us were interested in learning from each other. But even if I might not have gotten through to them, those conversations did give me some insight. The girls talked about their God and their parents and their fear.

They explained what made them see things the way they did. I didn’t agree with those sentiments, I never will, but I realized that this hate does not come from nowhere. And when Lila responded so openly to an interview those few years after, she taught me that those mindsets aren’t set in stone. That growth is possible.

The way that I look at ignorance has shifted completely from that morning of seventh grade, from that ride from pride, from the anger that always poured out of me when someone didn’t understand something so clear to me. I now try to under-

“I have never had to transform my worldview against the opinions of those who I hold closest to me.” stand why people are how they are and what pushed them there. I try to forgive. If a child is taught by their parents that something is gross and immoral, and no one provides a correction to that mindset, you cannot expect that child to magically understand that thing on their own. I do not know what it is like to grow up in unrelenting ignorance. I have never had to transform my worldview against the opinions of those who I hold closest to me. For that, I could not remain angry. It wouldn’t help anyone.

SPREAD DESIGN BY KARIS KOTSCHNIG

en’t the tools to make it go away. By trying to understand where homophobia comes from and realizing that some people might not have been lucky enough to be taught the empathetic perspectives that I was, I’ve been able to address issues like homophobia in a more constructive and forgiving way.

A few years later, I sat on the annual train ride home from the pride, rainbow-colored clothing and glitter and family surrounding me as I scrolled through my phone. I clicked onto Lila’s Instagram story. She was at pride, dancing and wearing the same six shades I was. One of her posts read, “Some of y’all at pride don’t know how to act.”

My immediate reaction was anger. We don’t know how to act! Was this space not good enough for her? Not a good enough place to party? Her views couldn’t have changed that much, she just wanted a piece of the pie queer people baked ourselves when no one else would feed us. When gay kids slept on the streets and murdered trans girls were forgotten and middle schoolers were accused of lesbianism in first period. She can’t attack a community and then benefit from its safe havens. It’s not fair.

A few months after pride, Lila posted on her Instagram speaking out against homophobia in her community. Looking at her public rejection of what she had been taught to believe for so long, I realized that I needed to acknowledge that people can change.

At the time of her post, I was drafting an article about homophobia in public schools and lower income communities. I reached out to her for an interview to see if she would be open to talking about her mindset in middle school and what had changed since then.

She agreed and I was astonished at the openness from a girl who I had considered to be completely closed off to the unknown. The interview never ended up happening, but that interaction garnered my respect for her and the changes she had made in her outlook.

The students of my K-8 school entered from all directions. I grew up upper-middle class, white, with parents who loved me and taught me acceptance; I was cushioned. Other students grew up in families that didn’t talk about social issues or people who were different from them because they didn’t have time to do so or they didn’t know the words. Some students grew up in very religious households, with the idea that homosexuality wasn’t okay and the fear of how they would be percieved if they explored a different point of view.

We could find solidarity in sharing snacks and tortur-

*All people mentioned are referred to under pseudonyms The Lowell March 2022

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The recent districtwide cuts to school funding have left Lowell community members fearing ramifications to the school’s culture and identity.

By Chloe Chon, Kelcie Lee, and Rae Wymer

The Lowell March 2022

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SPREAD DESIGN BY MELLA BETTAG

Cuts to the Community

COVER

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thnic Studies teacher Carolina Samayoa stood in Room 219, trying not to cry for the third time that day as she dismissed her class. She hadn’t been anticipating the outpouring of dismay and disbelief from her students when she told them she would not be returning to Lowell next year. The mood was bleak as students packed up for their next class.

AP teachers to accommodate preparation for their more intensive curriculum. These periods have been funded by payments from the school district of $600 dollars for every AP test a student takes. AP money has given Lowell around $2.6 million dollars per year, according to principal Joe Dominguez. According to Superintendent Vincent Matthews, each school in the district will also receive a 10 percent cut to their total budget to offset the estimated $125 million dollar deficit the district is facing. Together, Lowell will be losing $3.6 million dollars in its budget for the 2022-2023 school year as a result of these two funding cuts, according to Dominguez.

These periods have been funded by payments from the school district of $600 dollars for every AP test a student takes. AP money has given Lowell around $2.6 million dollars per year, according to principal Joe Dominguez. According to Superintendent Vincent Matthews, each school in the district will also receive a 10 percent cut to their total budget to offset the estimated $125 million dollar deficit the district is facing.

Together, Lowell will be losing $3.6 million dollars in its budget for the 2022-2023 school year as a result of these two funding cuts, according to Dominguez.

As many as 29 Lowell teachers could be without a job next year, according to Dominguez.

Samayoa is one of nearly 30 teachers who will most likely not return to Lowell next school year due to an expected $3.6 million budget cut.

Lowell is slated to lose around 20 percent of its total budget for the 2022-2023 school year due to the San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) efforts to alleviate the $125 million deficit. All public schools in San Francisco are facing budget cuts — facing the prospect of losing teaching staff and student programs. However, Lowell remains uniquely impacted due to a reliance on AP program funding. In addition to the loss of teachers, there will be a decrease in the number of course offerings at Lowell — over 40 courses will be cut. Community members Most high schools in the district will not be worry that these budget cuts will have long-term ef- as impacted by the financial cuts because they are fects on Lowell’s culture, community, and identity. not as reliant on AP funding as Lowell is. According to Dominguez, 14% of Lowell’s budget comes from AP funding. Around 93 percent of Lowell’s budget Budget Breakdown In February of 2022, Lowell was notified by is allocated to teachers’ salaries the district that it would be losing around 24 percent and benefits, which means of its current funding as a result of two separate dis- that AP money is an importtrict initiatives to decrease overall spending. The first ant part of funding teacher was part of a February contract agreement between positions. Of Lowell’s $2.6 the teachers union and SFUSD that paused Advanced million received from the Placement (AP) funding for school sites, the intention district’s AP funding, only of which was to increase the salaries for paraprofes- around $1.5 million is sionals. Schools that offered AP classes and adminis- needed to cover AP tered AP tests have previously received major funding teachers’ prep periods. through the form of prep periods, which are given to This leaves $1.1 million ILLUSTRATION BY ## 10

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RAYMOND YUAN

available in Lowell’s general fund to pay for electives, non-graduation requirement courses, or any additional areas of the school that require funding.

ALL INFOGRAPHICS BY SAW NWE

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELA LOPEZ

Since the AP funding source was implemented, there has been controversy over its continuation. In 2008, SFUSD and the teacher’s union renegotiated the past funding system, causing Lowell to lose $400,000.

AP Environmental Science teacher Katherine Melvin was on the union negotiating committee for that particular agreement, and claims that the district wanted to cut the AP incentive funding from their contract with the union because they saw it as too much money going to one school.

“They show a graph with how much money every school gets, and they show how much money Lowell gets from APs and they say The loss of AP money will put Lowell at the it’s not fair.” Melvin said. bottom of the rank in terms of funding. “With the Many feel that this cuts to the AP funding, we are now the lowest funded issues public school in the district,” social sciences teacher budget cut is indicative of larger Rebecca Johnson said. According to SFUSD’s Weight- in the funding of public education. The district alloed Student Formula (WSF) allocations, Lowell’s per cates money to each specific school based on the WSF, pupil funding is currently $6,636 thousand dollars. which means that site funding is based on the needs Next year, without AP funding, it is projected to be of individual students (see definition table). Executive $5,781 thousand dollars. The average per pupil fund- Director of the Lowell Alumni Association Terence ing for a high school in SFUSD is $6,715 dollars. Abad and member of the School Site Council (SSC) The Lowell March 2022

SPREAD DESIGN BY RAE WYMER

These cuts will have personal impacts on the Lowell community. As many as 29 Lowell teachers could be without a job next year, according to Dominguez. He expects 22 staff members to be consolidated — as the district has stated that no teachers will be fired, simply relocated — and seven staff members to retire.

In addition, classes such as language programs (Latin, AP Japanese), Leadership, Visual and Performing Arts classes (Photography, Architecture, Musical Theatre), and electives (Journalism, Yearbook) may be cut, among many others. Community support systems like the African American and Latinx Student Support Liaisons, and the Black Student Union and Latinos Unidos sponsors will also be downsized or eliminated altogether. These cuts to these specific programs have not been finalized. Conversations with department chairs and stakeholders may alter these decisions, and additional funding from the Lowell Parent Teacher Student Association and Lowell Alumni Association may be able to support some programs at risk of getting cut. Dominguez has also asked for $2 million from the district to bring Lowell’s loss of funding closer to other schools’ losses in the district.

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COVER

class that provides a space for students to lead projects that improve the conditions of local communities. For Karam-Wijelath, cutting this means the loss of a class that has given her a sense of community at Lowell. “It’s been a very safe space to talk about everything,” she said. “Knowing that Peer Resources Due to the limited funds from the WSF, will probably get cut is disheartening because stuDominguez is facing the hard decisions of choosing dents have so many things they want to change, which programs to cut and of telling his teaching staff and Peer Resources is a really good platform for that they will be consolidated, and blames SFUSD for that.” And while Ethnic Studies will remain at Lowits lack of foresight.

“They should have been year-by-year sacrifices, instead of this massive pullingof-the-rug kind of thing,” he said. Currently, he feels that administrators need to play a more active role early on in the process so that the SSC can have more power in making school site ell, it’s likely that the current teacher who teaches it, changes. “If they want to make more informed deci- Samayoa, won’t return next year. Karam-Wijelath sions we should have been involved at the very begin- is sad about her dismissal because of how unique ning and not whenever we are let in,” Dominguez said. and valuable she feels Samayoa is as a teacher. Having a person of color teaching a history class made Karam-Wijelath feel more represented. Samayoa’s class had always been a safe space for her to learn and Student and Course Impact Senior Lavinie Karam-Wijelath is currently form connections with both her peers and teacher.

-- a group of community stakeholders responsible for determining Lowell’s budget -- feels that the WSF does not cover all the costs of a high school. “I don’t think any high school in the district could survive strictly on the weighted student formula,” Abad said.

“They should have been yearby-year sacrifices, instead of this massive pulling-of-the-rug kind of thing,” he said.

enrolled in two classes that are projected to be negThe entirety of the Peer Resources program, atively affected by the budget cuts: Ethnic Studies which has a portion dedicated to developing and runand Peer Resources. Peer Resources is an elective ning programs such as Peer Mentoring and California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Tutoring, is currently projected to be cut. Peer Resources is especially vulnerable because the class has a maximum enrollment of 18 students to allow for more communication among the student leaders. “It would be a heartbreaker for Lowell to not have Peer Mentoring and CSF Tutoring,” Adee Horn, the Peer Resources teacher, said. “I really don’t know what that would look like.” According to Thelma Ramirez, a Peer Mentoring leader enrolled in Peer Resources, the mentoring program played a big role in helping her transition to high school. “As a freshman, I was really shy, but having a mentor helped me a lot,” she said. Ramirez believes that losing the mentoring program would have profound impacts on Lowell students who would no longer be able to receive support.

“With the cuts to the AP funding, we are now the lowest funded public school in the district.”

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Language courses can also be hubs of community for students, but they may vanish under the budget cuts. Senior Amber Lau has taken Latin language classes since her freshman year at Lowell, and has found a relaxed community that allows for more student interaction with classmates and her teacher. “It’s just a place where you can have conversations and give everybody a chance to be themselves,” Lau said. If the Latin language program was cut, Lau believes that future students would miss out on the same close-knit connections that she has developed. “Latin would be a really good space for them to grow as a student and find [their] place in the school,” she said. Other language programs like Japanese have fostered com-

“Japanese is one of the only classes where I have known people consistently throughout the entire three years I’ve been here,” Walsh said. “I felt like there was a real community within the Japanese classes.” munities that students treasure. After taking Japanese 1, 2, and 3 Honors, junior Naomi Walsh was excited to take AP Japanese and continue to build relationships with her current classmates, before she found out that this course was on the chopping block. “Japanese is one of the only classes where I have known people consistently throughout the entire three years I’ve been here,” Walsh said. “I felt like there was a real community within the Japanese classes.”

For students like Fillon, VPA classes were a

SPREAD DESIGN BY RAE WYMER

major incentive to apply to Lowell. Fillon transferred into Lowell at the beginning of her sophomore year, excited about its architecture department and numerous VPA classes. However, with Lowell’s architecture and photography teacher retiring, the programs will not be renewed. Lowell’s architecture department opened up opportunities for Fillon to explore her passion for architecture and design, allowing her to apply her classroom knowledge to outside opportunities like competitions. Fillon’s time in Lowell’s architecture program helped her realize her desire to study architecture and design in college, build her portfolio, and even meet her girlfriend. This program has been the jewel of her high school experience. “It’s important to have your interests being expressed by the school, and being given the outlets necessary to further those interests,” Fillon said. She is worried about what the loss of this class and the consolidation of other VPAs ILLUSTRATION BY RAYMOND YUAN Story continued on page 16 13 The Lowell March 2022 ##

1975

INFOGRAPHIC

2000 2003- 2004 2005

2008

2010

INFOGRAPHICS BY SAW NWE, SPREAD DESIGN BY MELLA BETTAG

Prop 13 pa capping pr significantl for public e shifts respo education

1995

BUDGET CUT

PROP

1990

1988

Lowell loses $400,000 due to a renegotiation of the past funding system. SFUSD and teacher’s union renegotiate AP funding to be based on $600 dollars per test administered rather than giving each school enough to cover an additional prep period for each teacher teaching an AP class.

California enacts the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to standardize funding throughout the state, which bases funding for school districts off of Average Daily Attendance (ADA) and combines state categorical programs with a per-pupil base grant as well as supplemental funding for additional student resources (e.g. Special Education programs).

LCFF

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1985

PROP 98

1978

1980

Prop 98 passes, requiring spending on education to make up around 40% of the state budget. K-14 education must receive at least the same amount of state aid and local property tax dollars as received in the prior year.

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2013-2014

2015

2020

2020-202

COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic hits an switches to distance learni a year. Enrollment number 3,000 and SFUSD loses mo

CURRENTLY AT STAKE:

ROP 13

p 13 passes in California, ping property taxes, which ificantly reduces funding public education and s responsibility of funding cation to the state

WSF

SFUSD implements the Weighted Student Formula, which allocates funding to schools based on the needs of individual students.

Journalism 1 + 2 Yearbook Environmental Science (Non-AP) Physics Concept Principles of Biotech All Critical Thinking + Social Change Leadership 1 + 2 Native Spanish 2 Spanish 4 Honors All Latin Courses All Italian Courses AP Japanese French 3 Art 3 * Ceramics 2 + 3 * All photography classes ** Art in Architecture ** Architecture ** Drama 3 * Musical Theatre Theater Tech 2 + 3 * Band 3 Symphonic Band AP Music Theory Orchestra 3 Dance production A * Vocal Music 3 * * Combined with other sections ** Program closing due to staff retirement

2021

40

22 Teachers consolidated

020-2021

c hits and SFUSD e learning for over numbers drop by ses more funding.

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Courses cut

2022

Teachers retired

CURRENT CUTS

SFUSD announces a $125 million dollar structural deficit. Lowell is notified that 24% of its budget — $3.6 million dollars — will be cut in the next school year.

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COVER will mean for students looking to explore the arts in high school. “It’s honestly very sad because one of the special things about this school and public schools is that they have architecture classes,” Fillon said. “That’s not something that’s provided at very many schools.” As she graduates with the ambitions of studying architecture, she regrets that future students will not be able to have the opportunity she had.

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELA LOPEZ

With several AP courses on the chopping block, some students are concerned about the possibility of a changed academic culture and their futures beyond high school. Junior Cai Marcos believes that Lowell’s range of APs allows students to challenge themselves, which is something she believes her peers strive towards. “AP classes academically give students opportunities to push themselves to a higher level,” she said. Junior Cahn Hung also values the variety of AP classes that Lowell offers because they believe

According to Melvin, the original intent of giving money to schools that administered AP exams was to increase equity. “The idea was, we will put money on the program to encourage people to not only teach the AP classes, but also with the additional money, be able to support students who are struggling because we have more time,” she said. it boosts their GPA and makes their college application stronger.

“Obviously Lowell has a huge reputation for AP classes,” they said.

To Hung, a stronger college application will boost their chances at acceptance into a prestigious college, which is something she values as a first generation student. “It’s just been my standard ever since I was a child, so boosting my GPA is very important to me,” Hung said. “Which is why the cutting of AP classes scares me.”

The lack of funding may also impact the student incentive to attend Lowell, due to the loss of AP courses. If there is no financial gain from administering AP exams, Melvin does not see a reason for Lowell to offer as many AP classes, which will negatively affect the academic appeal of Lowell. “I think students are going to leave the district because a number of students and a number of families were choosing to come to Lowell because their students had an opportunity to take so many APs,” Melvin said. “I really do think the number of APs and the quality of APs are going to decline.” Some students agree that the changes to a variety of AP classes may change future students’ expectations of Lowell. “I think students will still want to come to Lowell,” Hung

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said, emphasizing how Lowell next year might not live up to expectations. “They’re taking away things that really make up what Lowell is and what the students really want.”

Teacher Impact

Teachers also face the brunt of these cuts, and many are grappling with changing the way they teach their classes, primarily any AP courses, as workloads shift and grow. With AP teachers teaching 5 blocks instead of 4 — losing an extra prep block — Johnson worries that she and other educators will be unable to dedicate the same amount of time and effort into their students, tarnishing the educational value of their course. “I think all teachers across the board are going to have less time to sit and talk with students,” Johnson said. “I feel like everything’s gonna tighten up. When there’s change, you’re not even gonna realize what’s missing until it’s gone.”

The projected loss of 29 teachers next year prompted the teacher’s union to announce that they would be consolidating departments and teachers based on tenure, or the length of time they’ve been teaching. Now, a number of Lowell teachers

are evaluating their next steps. “I will undoubtedly be affected by these [decisions],” said Alex, a first-year teacher at Lowell under a pseudonym. To Alex, the future is bleak; they could either be relocated to another school site or lose their job entirely. Although the daunting process of finding a new job worries Alex, they are more distressed about the loss of the impactful connections that they’ve formed at Lowell. “I’m not going to see my freshmen grow

because the loss of BIPOC students’ support systems and BIPOC teachers may discourage students of color from applying to Lowell.

“We’re harming kids. It’s ugly, and no one deserves it,” Samayoa said.

Tenured teachers personally affected by the predicted reduction in staff numbers have banded together to help support those who may be cut. According to Melvin, many Lowell teachers have felt a collective sense of grief about the recent news, and she’s been forced into the “horrible position” of reevaluating her own place at Lowell. She’s even considered giving her job up for her younger, untenured colleagues.

“Nobody should have to say, ‘I should really retire now so they can stay.’ No one should ever be in that position,” she said. “But that’s our reality.” A number of tenured and financially stable teachers have voiced considering teaching part-time next year in an effort to keep their colleagues employed.

“For every five of us to do that, we can save someone’s job,” Johnson said. Additionally, one outcome of the agreement between the district and teachers union had been the granting of monetary bonuses to teachers; Johnson and her colleagues have started a campaign to donate this amount, dubbed “blood money,” to the Lowell Alumni Association or Parent Teacher Student Association in hopes that the funds would be redistributed into the school budget.

“We’re harming kids. It’s ugly, and no one deserves it,” Samayoa said up and graduate,” Alex said. “I was really looking forward to that whole aspect of teaching, especially since I have 140 relationships with my students, and I’m sad I won’t get to see them grow up.” Samayoa echoes this sentiment – she had been hopeful that Lowell’s loss of funding would be reconsidered, but wasn’t surprised to be told that she wouldn’t be returning next year. “I love this district, I love this school, and it will hurt a lot to go,” she said.

ILLUSTRATION BY RAYMOND MENG YUAN As Samayoa stood in the Ethnic Studies classroom, she lamented how students and teachers will bear the brunt of these changes. Gray, plush couches, pushed together in a U-shape echoed the laughter and quiet conversations of her students. The room was dimmed with muted lighting from a string of fairy lights and a few stray lamps. As students filed out of the room, stopping to chat with Samayoa, she felt a surge of pride for her students, and a longing to stay in this community. “The one year that I was here, I feel like I impacted my students,” Samayoa said. “So if that’s all I did at this school, that is good enough for me. I am really proud of my students above anyone else.”

The Lowell March 2022

SPREAD DESIGN BY BRANDON NG AND LAYLA WALLERSTEIN

Besides the loss of staff, administrators and students worry about how these cuts will impact the racial diversity of Lowell’s teachers. In the last year, Lowell’s moves to diversify its staff had influenced the hiring of more representative teachers. Since these newly hired teachers all do not have tenure, this means that 22 Black and Indigenous people of color (BIPOC) teachers won’t return to Lowell at all next year. Dominguez is frustrated because the Lowell administration’s efforts to increase the diversity of faculty may have been wasted. “We’ve really been making it a focus to recruit and hire a diverse set of teachers,” Dominguez said. “It seems like we’re going to start from zero again and I hate that.” Samayoa is worried about what the loss of teachers of color will mean for minority students.

“We’re sending a very implicit message that these students don’t belong here because the adults also don’t belong here anymore,” she said. Samayoa fears these cuts will hurt diversity in the student body

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M

MEDIA REVIEWS

A warped mirror to adolescence

By Sarah Liu

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Look Deeper

By Ashley Glancy

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he best type of art is the type that makes the viewer take a hard look at themselves. Euphoria, a HBO TV show about the highs and lows of adolescence, does just that. Through dramatic portrayals of characters that fulfill high school stereotypes, teenage viewers are exposed to exaggerated versions of themselves. Being able to relate to the characters in small ways allows people to use what they see on the screen as a gateway to introspection.

HBO

Many Euphoria characters are high school archetypes. Nate, the football quarterback, is the classic jock with daddy issues and toxic masculinity.

Cassie embodies the internalized misogyny archetype, dependent on male validation and believing that her self worth is tied to her sex appeal. Rue uses drugs in part to escape the hardships of her reality.

Euphoria takes these tropes to the extreme, which can remind some viewers of their own lives.

Some boys watching Nate choke and hit multiple women might notice their own misogynistic tendencies or view the actions of other men in a different light.

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maddeningly arrogant commander in chief who is completely blind to the threat of an imminent global disaster, a first-world society that is distrustful of facts and eternally distracted by celebrity drama, and a divisive political scene. Don’t these themes sound familiar?

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S o m e girls watching Cassie see her bend over backwards to be the ideal, obedient girlfriend, and may remember the ways they have felt forced to cater to male desires at the expense of their own dignity.

Some teenagers do drugs, and may have revelations about their dependency on those drugs when they see Rue banging on her drug dealer’s door, begging for more. The emotions in these portrayals can hit a nerve, urging viewers towards introspection about their own relationships with vices, masculinity, social media, and need for approval. This self-analysis of viewers’ own experiences prompted by the show is essential; the first step towards remedying toxic tendencies is being aware of them.

HBO

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The underlying message in the controversial dark comedy film Don’t Look Up is nearly impossible to miss. A parody of American politics — the parallels drawn between the United States’ response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis are painfully obvious — the film portrays an extinction level event in which a 10-kilometer comet is rapidly approaching Earth. But despite effectively revealing some truths about our postmodern society, the film ultimately falls flat because it presents an overly simplistic view of American politics and debates around climate change.

President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep), an apparent stand-in for Donald Trump, seems to possess many of the former president’s qualities, exhibiting a lack of empathy and perspective. Upon discovering that the comet contains trillions of dollars worth of rare minerals, Orlean, along with her cult of non-believers, claims the comet does not pose any actual danger in order to reap the profits.

The subsequent clash between the campaign to “Just Look Up” and Orlean’s opposing campaign, “Don’t Look Up” creates a major political rift in American society. This scenario is supposed to mirror Trump’s refusal to address the seriousness of both glob-

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a far greater response than simply acknowledging that they do, in fact, exist. I both believe and desperately hope that, in reality, politicians and corporations would respond with much greater urgency if faced with a more immediate environmental threat.

000000The level of absurdity portrayed in the film isn’t constructive, and frankly, it isn’t funny either.

The least likely thing to sway an audience of climate change deniers is painting them as a gaggle of idiots.

So, if the film wasn’t amusing for the liberal viewer and yet failed to persuade the non-believers, then what was the point? I realize that this movie is meant to be a comedy and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. But still, I wasn’t laughing, and in the end, this overly simplistic film left me feeling disappointed, as watching the complete destruction of the earth was both predictable and more than a little disheartening.000000000

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The struggles of every character on this show seem outlandish, on the surface — your average high schoolers aren’t addicted to cocaine or stalking and assaulting their significant other’s side piece. But many teenagers have similar experiences on a smaller scale. This dramatization is a gentler way of making viewers see the reality of their experiences, inviting them to confront the most intrinsic parts of themselves. Ultimately, Euphoria is the chronicle of all our high school experiences, even if we don’t realize it.

Eu Do phor Ho n’t L ia On mes ook ce ick Up Tw for ice An Me oth lod er Wo y rl

SPREAD DESIGN BY JAXI COHEN

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al warming and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a comet hurtling towards Earth is a weak metaphor for climate change. A rapidly approaching comet poses an immediate danger, whereas the effects of climate change are felt much more slowly. And in reality, issues such as climate change and COVID-19 require

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The Lowell March 2022

19

Entering an enticing world of sadness

By Elise Muchowski

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reampop purveyors Beach House did not disappoint with their newest album, Once Twice Melody. Released in four parts over three months, Once Twice Melody follows Beach House’s signature sad genre with layered vocals, melodic guitar, and ambient synths. It’s not an exaggeration to say the band appeals to depressed teenagers, but why? Beach House’s music creates a temporary space of vulnerability for the listener. Their trance inducing music intensifies every emotion within you. Once Twice Melody proves the band’s ability to connect you with your emotions.

Beach House’s abstract lyrics gave me space to get in touch with my feelings.

The lyrics from the track “Through Me”, reads, “Sweet dreams inside me, Limits shifting, Colors living through me.” The lyric conveys the transcendental quality of love, how it evokes out-of-body experiences. Although I am not a romantic person, hearing these

It’s funny because it’s true: Ottessa Moshfegh’s mastery of satire

By Madeleine Johnston

T

KAIXU YU his review is extremely biased. I am a true sucker for pessimistic satire, I find solidarity in women who need lobotomies and relax by laughing at loser men. Above all of that, I love Ottessa Moshfegh and her habit of portraying those subjects with unrelenting grit and style. I finally picked up her book of short stories, Homesick for Another World, and was left feeling a perfect medley of homesick and sick of home. Moshfegh builds a disgustingly human world, one of ego, depravity, and selfishness, and forces her readers to live in it for 200 pages before reminding them that this horrifying world is their home, even when they close the book. And somehow, you feel better after reading it than you did before.

The land of Homesick for Another World is

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words still presented me with a world of raw, metaphysical aching. The track exposed me to unrecognizable pain, it was unknown to me music could induce these feelings. Only Beach House is able to compose albums that cause such intense reactions.

The most beautiful aspect of Beach House’s music is Victoria LeGrand’s voice, which balances both traditionally masculine and feminine tones. She showcases a lower voice in tracks like “Superstar” that emit a sense of warmth and comfort, and higher pitches in songs like “Only You Know” that feel magical and dainty. LeGrand’s operatic training matches perfectly with the dreamlike sounds of Beach House.

The combination of serene lyrics and androgynous vocals is what makes Once Twice Melody such emotionally heightening album.

With this record, Beach House creates a sphere of overwhelming pain and nostalgia that leaves me defenseless to my feelings. I feel melancholy, euphoric, and intoxicated when I listen to Once Twice Melody, and that’s what makes this album so enchanting.

Beach House has yet again successfully created a misery-inducing album, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

one of sickos and loners: an ever-hungover school teacher, a middle-class woman trying out meth for the hell of it in a poverty stricken town, a widower seeking out sex with the prostitute that his late wife cheated on him with. Examinations of humankind and its flaws often take the form of dramas or tragedies that leave you generally depressed, but Moshfegh lets you laugh. These people are lonely, they are desperate, and it’s hilarious!

That’s where the real purpose of these stories comes in. By getting you to laugh and cringe at the characters, Moshfegh almost lets you forget that it’s a mirror you’re looking at. You can criticize and see the ridiculousness of these strange creatures, but then remember they’re not aliens, they’re just humans. They are the byproducts of the world you currently inhabit.

The book never lets you like its characters, but you can pick up glimmers of yourself, your parents, or your best friend throughout it because it’s extremely human.

We’re all a little bizarre. That’s scary and sad, but isn’t it at least somewhat tolerable if you can laugh at it?

MULTIMEDIA

Painting my identity

By Jaxi Cohen, Lauren Kim, Reina Lee, and Marlena Rohde

The Lowell March 2022

SPREAD DESIGN BY JAXI COHEN

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ow do Lowellites express themselves?

To many, makeup is a form of self expression and exploration. We talked to eight Lowellites that use makeup as a creative outlet. Through brushes of eyeshadow, swipes of lipstick, and carefully applied eyeliner, these Lowell students showcase their identity to the outside world.

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MULTIMEDIA

PHOTO BY LAUREN KIM

“I like to draw and stuff like that so I sort of use makeup as an outlet.”

— Alessandra Palllange, Sophomore

Lois Mctrang

PHOTO BY MARLENA ROHDE

Mary Anastas “I also feel a sense of

PHOTO BY MARLENA ROHDE

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The Lowell March 2022

“Wearing makeup makes me feel more put together and confident, and that translates into my life.” — ­ Lois Mctrang, Sophomore

Naya Wu

pride whenever I complete a look, because I know that every line and sparkle added was done by my own hand.”

— Naya Wu, Junior PHOTO BY MARLENA ROHDE

Alessandra Pallange

“Makeup makes me feel like a brighter person ... It changes my persona.”

— Mia Mora, Mia Mora Junior

PHOTO BY REINA LEE

“Especially with like masks, I get to like kind of express my personality more” —Azalea Sanchez, Junior

Azalea Sanchez

PHOTO BY MARLENA ROHDE

Eva Ciobanu

Alexis Jenkins “I started using makeup to

PHOTO BY LAUREN KIM

blend in with people, but now I use it to figure out who I am and how I am feeling gender-wise that day.” ­— Alexis Jenkins, Sophomore

The Lowell March 2022

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SPREAD DESIGN BY MARELENA ROHDE

PHOTO BY MARLENA ROHDE

OPINION

IN DEFENSE OF STAN CUTURE

By Karis Kotschnig

The term “stan,” which has come to mean a hyper-devoted fan, is derived from an early 2000s Eminem song, in which he describes an obsessive fan trying to gain his attention. Over the past couple years, this idea has grown into an entity of its own: a subset of the internet, consisting of dedicated and zealous fans bonded by their love for TV shows, musicians, movie franchises, and other forms of media.

Unfortunately, stans are also often the butt of the joke.

The concept of a stan is frequently reduced to an archetype of a hysterical teenage girl, clad in expensive merchandise and consumed by celebrity gossip and Twitter notifications. This preconceived assumption, while not always inaccurate, has convinced the general public that to be a stan is to be senseless and juvenile, causing many fans to hide or undermine their interest in certain media. This is especially true for young women. When a particular artist or piece of media has a majority female fanbase, the quality of said media is regarded as unsophisticated. But why does screaming at a boy band concert carry a different connotation than yelling at a sports game? The widespread contempt towards stans is largely unjustified, and teenagers should not be looked down upon for sharing what they’re passionate about, especially when stan communities are more beneficial than most would believe.

I’m well familiar with feeling the need to con24

The Lowell March 2022

ceal my true enamorment for certain artists. Besides the occasional tour sweatshirt, there’s not much about me that outwardly reveals my self diagnosis as a stan.

Nobody would assume that at one point in my life, tucked away in the depths of my phone sat not one, but two fan accounts devoted to a certain celebrity.

And it would be unbelievable that said celebrity, upon stumbling across my fan accounts, invited someone like me to her house to listen to her new album before its release. But now, I’ll finally admit that international popstar Taylor Swift has influenced much of my life.

And why should I be ashamed of that? While I recognize that claims of stan culture’s pernicious nature are not unfounded, I contend many of these fan based o n l i n e communities are immens ely positive. Through social media, individuals across the globe have formed meaningful connections with those who share similar adorations, celebrating art, theories, and lyrical analyses amongst one another. This dedication isn’t always just a hobby

for being a fan of a boy band than a sports team?

The differentiating factor is the gender of the fans. When something is beloved by teenage girls, it’s considered immature and undeserving of the hype, spoken about only if prefaced as a guilty pleasure. For instance, most of the ALL PHOTOS BY JAXI COpeople in my life were HEN, GETTY IMAGES, WARunaware of my love for NER BROTHERS, MARVEL Taylor Swift until I posted our photo together from her house on social media, as I was abashed at the idea of being associated with a popstar that had such a feminine fanbase. The pressure that teenagers feel to maintain a certain image at the cost of consuming what they truly enjoy is disheartening.

“Why does screaming at a boy band concert carry a different connotation than yelling at a sports game?” play in today’s world should not be diminished.

I acknowledge that stan communities can become unhealthy when teens use it as a lifeline rather than a mere creative outlet. It’s not uncommon for individuals to get wrapped up in internet discourse, putting celebrities on a pedestal and taking personal offense when they are criticized. But this is only a small subsection of the inner workings of stan culture.

And nearly all sides of the internet consist of similar toxicity, yet stans are the ones that cannot seem to escape the unfortunate reputation of being irrational.

This can seem especially unfair when you recognize the double standard held for different kinds of fans. If someone were to attend a multitude of Tyler the Creator concerts, nobody rolls their eyes, as they would if it were a Harry Styles or BTS concert. Nobody feels ashamed to revel in their love for sports, even when sports followers incite riots and violence over the outcome of a game, as they did in England at the European Football Championship in 2020. So what’s the difference? Why are you more likely to be ridiculed

Being passionate and knowledgeable about a particular topic should never be cause for mockery.

Relatedly, the general opinion of an artist ought not to be based purely on the demographic of their fan base. Music and films are an integral part of all our lives. Expressing the ways in which they have moved or shaped us, whether through fanart, dis- cussion posts, or, yes, even memes, should not be considered embarrassing. Stan or not, I urge you to embrace what you love, and d o n’ t l o o k down on others for doing the same.

SPREAD DESIGN BY MADELEINE JOHNSTON AND SARAH LIU

either; some users pursue careers in graphic design or software engineering after discovering their passion for such endeavors through running a fan account.

Stans also play an influential role in advocating for causes through their sheer strength in numbers.

They were significantly involved in freeing Brittany Spears from conservatorship, and in 2020, K-pop fans inflated the expected attendance of a Trump rally in order to leave hundreds of seats empty at the venue. Collaborating with users across the globe can encourage teens to be informed and active in regards to social issues, and the role they

ALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY DENIS YABUT The Lowell March 2022

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CROSSWORD

ACROSS 5. T-Swizzle 6. Enjoys a blast from the past 9. Look for the person wearing as many clothes as possible 11. Peeved by slow walkers 12. Kachow.

13. R.I.P. Nina 16. Sun-y reporter 18. Survivor fan 19. Illustrator not pictured 20. Self proclaimed “hit or miss” writer 21. Cancer beach bum

Submit your completed crossword for a chance to win a free portable charger!

DOWN 1. Anti avocado 2. Curly-haired dark chocolate connoisseur 3. List maker 4. (in any country) 7. The New Yorker hoarder 8. Not a procrastinator 9. Illustrations by...

10. Listens to everything at x2 speed 14. #1 udon fan 15. ______ 17.Artist of doing nothing

CROSSWORD BY JAXI COHEN, ILLUSTRATIONS BY DARIXA VARELA MEDRANO, SPREAD DESIGN BY MELLA BETTAG

*hint: check staff bios on our website!