AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION
THELOWELL.ORG ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
GRAY GARDINER: ADVOCATING FOR QUEER LITERATURE AT LOWELL BY AMÁLIE
CIMALA
THE IMPORTANCE OF HOBBIES BY KATE SCHOELLER
GAINING CONFIDENCE AND COMMUNITY THROUGH ORIGAMI BY HERSCHEL DIAMOND
@THE LOWELL
YUE YI PENG
HERSCHEL DIAMOND
YUE YI PENG
TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 EDITORIAL STANDING UP FOR THE LOWELL COVER AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION
MULTIMEDIA UNSUNG HEROES AT LOWELL NEWS FEATURE PICTURE PERFECT
COLUMN LIVING WITH TOURETTES
OPINION CONFRONTING HARMFUL LANGUAGE TRENDS MEDIA
Editors-in-Chief
Thomas Harrison
Ramona Jacobson
Katharine Kasperski
News Editors
Maren Brooks
Kai Lyddan
Multimedia Editors
Imaan Ansari
Katharine Kasperski
Yue Yi Peng
Art Manager
Yue Yi Peng
Reporters
Danya Bayer
Miles Bernson
Audrey Brogno
Cecilia Choi
Amálie Cimala
Herschel Diamond
Kai Dohrmann
Aida Donahue
Milena Garrone
Nisha Halfen
Jenny Kwan
Stephanie Li
Serena Miller
Jeremiah Moses Skyler
Sophie Murphy
Kate Schoeller
Stella Schulte
Mehreen Shaikh
Charlie Steinberg
Uma Van Yserloo
Accolades
Ethan Win
Kristin Woo
Nicholas Xie
Faye Yang
Jada Zeng
Photographers
Christopher Hernandez
Dakota Colussi
Alex Hohn
Sydney Lee
Alex Mangot
Hannah Tandoc
Illustrators
Jeffrey Chen
Sarah Cuaresma
Cayce Hewitt
Noelle Mak
May San
Business Managers
Isabella Chan
Dena Nguyen
Web Manager
Katharine Kasperski
Social Media Manager
Anita Luo
Researchers
Maren Brooks
Anita Luo
Advisor
Eric Gustafson
Best of the West; Third Place
STANDING UP FOR THE LOWELL
We, the sta of e Lowell, condemn the Lowell administration’s decision to remove Eric Gustafson as our journalism teacher and adviser. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article published on April 23, Mr. Gustafson said that he was noti ed of this act in late March. He said that the administration cited concerns about his management of e Lowell’s October 2024 article featuring students who allegedly experienced verbal harassment from teachers, as well as a student-proposed story regarding a rumor about teachers using arti cial intelligence to grade student work, which was ultimately not written or published. In a statement provided to e Lowell, principal Jan Bautista said that Mr. Gustafson’s reassignment was unrelated to any content published under his leadership. “ e change of the journalism teacher is not related to any form of censorship nor is it disciplinary or retaliatory,” Bautista said in the statement. “Our hope is to bring new opportunities and instructional guidance from a highly quali ed teacher to our journalism courses.”
e administration’s decision has garnered frustration and disappointment not only from our publication, but also from other students, parents, and Lowell alumni. On May 6, San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar introduced a non-binding resolution to show support for student journalism at Lowell and in San Francisco in the face of the reassignment. Six other supervisors co-sponsored the resolution: Joel Engardio, Jackie Fielder, Chyanne Chen, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, and Bilal Mahmood. We feel that the removal of Mr. Gustafson as our teacher and adviser brings no bene t to the journalism program and, we believe, signi es a step towards limiting student voices in our publication.
Since 2017, Mr. Gustafson has served as Lowell’s journalism teacher and the adviser for e Lowell. He trains and requires us to do detailed research, data collection, and interviews in advance of reporting on any issue, making sure we present a well-researched, objective, and in-depth discussion of those topics. We are deeply grateful for the mentorship and motivation that he has provided us for all these years, and he has helped us grow both as students and as journalists. Because of him, e Lowell has remained truly student-run, and losing him as our journalism adviser would be devastating to our publication. Above all, Mr. Gustafson has taught us that as student journalists, we have the right and the responsibility to exercise our freedom of speech.
California Education Code Section 48907 states that, “Students of the public schools shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press including, but not limited to, the use of
bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia, and the right of expression in o cial publications...except that expression shall be prohibited which is obscene, libelous, or slanderous.” Under this law, we are able to publish what we choose to report on within reasonable limits as outlined by the law. is is a privilege that 32 other states in the country do not have, as their school administrations have the power to limit what student journalists can publish beyond the limitations outlined in Section 48907.
Section 48907, however, does not only protect student journalists. e law also protects student media advisers from all forms of administrative retaliation — including being removed from their adviser position — when they stand up for their students’ rights under the law. Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel with the Student Press Law Center, said the law was speci cally amended in 2008 to include legal protection for student media advisers because administrators regularly targeted them when their students published or sought to publish stories school o cials didn’t like. at, he said, seems to be what is happening now at Lowell.
e sta of e Lowell strives to report on issues that are relevant and impactful for students at Lowell, and we cover di cult topics in order to bring attention to them. While these issues are o en challenging to address, the guidance that we receive from Mr. Gustafson helps us fully realize these ideas in our articles while holding our work to high standards. e hardest stories to write are o en the most important. ough these topics may be seen as uncomfortable, we feel it is important to shine a light on these o en overlooked issues to generate conversations and move towards nding solutions and understanding.
e removal of Mr. Gustafson from his position as our journalism teacher and adviser would be deeply harmful not only to e Lowell, but to the wider Lowell community as well. In our current political climate, we believe it is important, now more than ever, to support a free and robust student press. Our ability to raise awareness about issues a ecting the Lowell community is crucial to keeping students and sta informed, and without Mr. Gustafson as our adviser, e Lowell would lose an invaluable source of support and expertise.
is editorial was not reviewed by Eric Gustafson prior to publication, and was instead edited by senior legal counsel Mike Hiestand of the Student Press Law Center and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov.
e Lowell is published by the journalism classes of Lowell High School. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes. All rights reserved. e Lowell strives to inform the public and to use its opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are opinions of the sta e Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty and community members. Send letters to the editors to thelowellnews@gmail.com. Names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication.
e Lowell is a student-run publication distributed to thousands of readers including students, parents, teachers, and alumni. All advertisement pro ts fund our newsmagazine issues. To advertise online or in print, email thelowellmanagement@gmail.com. Contact us: Lowell High School 1101 Eucalyptus Drive San Francisco, CA 94132, 415-759-2730, or at thelowellnews@gmail.com.
PROCRASTINATION STATION
From the editorS
Dear readers of e Lowell,
With just a few weeks le of high school, we are re ecting not only on this past year, but on all our time at e Lowell. Working on this publication has been an integral part of our high school experiences, and now it is nally coming to a close. We published ve magazines this year, with our October issue winning third place for Best News Magazine in the Journalism Education Association of Northern California’s annual contest. Sophomore Aida Donahue, a reporter who joined our sta this semester, won second place in the review writing category for her article on the lm Arrival. It feels good to continue the publication’s award-winning tradition.
We are particularly proud of our sta ’s work on this nal magazine of the year. At the start of the spring semester, our publication gained an in ux of talented new reporters who have eagerly committed their time and e ort, whether that be through Instagram posts, online content, or within our magazines. Sophomores and new reporters Stella Schulte and Uma Van Yserloo took initiative by co-writing this magazine’s cover and feature article, respectively, and a number of other new reporters also contributed to this issue.
Many Lowell students love San Francisco and see it as their home, but some students struggle, for nancial or housing-related reasons, to remain living in the city. is magazine’s cover article, “An Impossible Situation,” features students who feel they are detrimentally a ected by San Francisco’s high cost of living. is causes housing insecurity for some, while others are forced to leave San Francisco entirely — these students, if they continue to attend Lowell, are doing so illegally. We recognize the controversial nature of their circumstances, and are grateful to these students for sharing their experiences with us. In covering this story, we hope to uphold e Lowell’s tradition of reporting on di cult topics, illustrating the gravity of this issue and its impact on students.
ough we are moving on, we could not be more con dent in the sta members who will remain. We have no doubt in their ability to uphold the high standard of quality that e Lowell is known for. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to watch our newly trained peers grow into their roles, and we trust them completely in continuing to advance e Lowell’s mission of amplifying student voices through in-depth and impactful reporting.
With pride,
Editors-in-Chief,
omas Harrison, Ramona Jacobson, and Katharine Kasperski
ILLUSTRATION BY
JEFFREY CHEN
AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION
By Serena Miller and Stella Schulte
San Francisco’s affordable housing crisis and high cost of living is creating financial and housing insecurity for students.
Paige, a junior under a pseudonym, sits at her home in Glen Park waiting in anticipation, as her mom had told her that she had an exciting surprise to share. Her mom enters the room and announces some unexpected news: Paige’s family will be leaving San Francisco and moving to a house in Antioch. Paige’s heart drops and her mind races as she grapples with the prospects of this news. How could this be happening? Her mom had been discussing moving out of their rented home to a house that could accommodate Paige’s growing family at a more a ordable cost, but she never imagined leaving San Francisco. Moving would mean leaving her friends, her sports team, her school community, and her life in San Francisco.
ough Paige continues to attend Lowell, which is illegal as she no longer lives in San Francisco, her everyday life is now completely altered. Her move is the result of the overwhelming cost of living in San Francisco. She, like many other Lowell students, is struggling to deal with the increasing costs of housing and daily life in the city.
San Francisco is known for its high housing prices; the average San Francisco house costs $1.4 million dollars, which is more than triple the price
of the average American house. e lack of a ordable housing in the city can force students and their families to move out of their homes in search of housing that they are able to a ord out-
e Lowell, 25 percent of respondents said that their family struggles to pay monthly bills sometimes or constantly. Additionally, 14 percent of respondents said that they felt anxious or uncertain
“It makes me feel really anxious for my future, my fnancial stability, how I will be able to survive once I’m on my own, how my family will do. I’ve defnitely cried about it multiple times. It brings me a lot of worry.”
side of the city, defying the law if they choose to continue attending Lowell while living outside of San Francisco. is can pose a signi cant disruption to students’ education, social lives, and wellbeing. Meanwhile, students that stay in San Francisco are met with high rent costs and increasing prices of food, gas, and other basic necessities, which can lead to nancial insecurity and, often, uncomfortable or unstable living conditions.
e high cost of living in the Bay Area makes nding a ordable housing a challenge for residents, o en resulting in housing insecurity and nancial struggles. According to Charmaine Curtis, the principal at Curtis Development, a San Francisco-based real estate development company focusing on market-rate and a ordable housing, the lack of a ordable housing in the city deeply impacts low-income residents. “We have such a huge housing shortage in California. e biggest shortage is for people who are lower income,” Curtis said. In an April 2025 survey of 128 students conducted by
about their housing stability o en or all the time. “Having stable, a ordable housing is really the basis for being able to have a decent life,” Curtis said. “Housing is a basic human right.”
Over half of California’s households cannot a ord the cost of their homes. Tenants that cannot a ord high rent prices are o en pushed out by their landlords. Families who are unable to a ord the cost of living in San Francisco may relocate to more a ordable areas outside of the city. In order to attend San Francisco Uni ed School District (SFUSD) public schools, students must be residents within city limits, as stated in 3.8.7 Residency Requirement for Students of the SFUSD handbook. For some SFUSD schools, students who meet certain criteria can apply for an Interdistrict Permit, which would allow them to continue attending an SFUSD school a er leaving San Francisco. However, Interdistrict Permits are not allowed for Lowell, as it is an SFUSD school with high demand and high enrollment. SFUSD schools such as Lowell o en o er a greater variety of opportunities and resources than many schools in other districts, and these opportunities encourage some students to evade the law, attending SFUSD schools despite living outside of San Francisco. In 2023, the state of California declared that San Francisco needs an additional 82,000 housing units — more than triple the city’s annual housing
production average. So far, only 50,000 units have been approved. at means that the city has to plan to zone another 32,000 units to be built throughout the next 10 years, Curtis said. “At this moment in time, the problem is not a lack of a pipeline. e problem is the larger economy, interest rates, and construction costs,” she said. According to Curtis, California as a whole is short millions of housing units. A study conducted by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting rm, found that California needs to build around 3.5 million homes by the end of the year to combat its growing population. Construction on these units has become more expensive because of in ation, which is the rate of an increase in prices over a period of time. In ation also raises interest rates, further increasing the price of purchasing and owning a house. According to the California Housing Partnership, median rent in California has increased 40 percent since 2000, while median renter household income has increased only nine percent. In ation and raised rent prices can leave families that are unable to pay the rent of their home struggling.
“ ere’d be times in classes where I just wasn’t totally there,” she said. “It added unnecessary stress when I should be prioritizing my education, because that was my number one job.”
Makenna, a junior under a pseudonym and a resident of an a ordable housing complex in the Fillmore district, notices the rising cost of living all around her. According to Makenna, recent changes in her neighborhood, like the closing of the local Safeway and an increase in high-priced stores, cause her to worry that she may be dis-
Financial instability has a wide impact, a ecting students’ educations and creating prolonged distress and di culties. According to e Lowell’s survey, 30.5 percent of respondents said that they feel regular anxiety about their and their family’s cost of living.
Ellen, a 2022 Lowell alumni under a pseudonym, recalls the constant stress of having to make sure her parents were able to pay their monthly bills. When Ellen attended Lowell, she frequently worried about mortgage payments, and had to host family members that were having nancial struggles of their own. is anxiety overtook her mind, and the inability to focus in class resulted in her doing poorly on tests.
placed by an increased cost of rent and other necessities in her neighborhood. In addition to the damage that she believes these price increases are causing to her community, Makenna also fears for her family’s own nancial stability. Her building needs signi cant repairs, which will raise the cost of monthly maintenance they pay. Makenna’s family relies solely on her mother’s income, as her grandmother recently stopped receiving retirement checks. e rise in rent may force them out of the building entirely. “It makes me feel really anxious for my future, my nancial stability, how I will be able to survive once I’m on my own, how my family will do,” Makenna said. “I’ve de nitely cried about it mul-
tiple times. It brings me a lot of worry.” Senior Ilya Shuster’s family must vacate their current home by the end of June. e owner of Shuster’s home presented his family with an impossible choice: moving out of the space, or buying it. Shuster’s family, like many other San Francisco residents, cannot a ord the cost of purchasing the house. “ e mortgage and down payment is a crazy amount of money that, even if we tried some alternatives, we can’t even get close to a ording,” Shuster said. is is his fourth time moving because of high rent, but Shuster feels that this instance is more signi cant than the rest. He’s been in his current home since sixth grade, and losing it means leaving behind a big part of his adolescence. According to Shuster, he would like to revisit his past homes in the future and be able to reminisce on his formative years, but due to his frequent relocation, he is unable to return to the homes he once lived in. “I feel sad that I’m never going to see those places again,” Shuster said. Like Shuster, Paige frequently moves and feels that she struggles to make memories in the various houses that she has lived in. “Some of my friends tell me about the houses they’ve lived in since they were kids, and the memories they have there,” Paige said. “It’s pretty rough moving every year. I don’t remember the last time I had memories in a house.”
Atticus, a junior under a pseudonym, moved to a house in Vallejo at the beginning of the school year. His family needed more space, and wanted to buy a house amid rising rent costs. Atticus debated going to school in Vallejo, but the nearby school was small and, he felt, limiting, only o ering ve AP courses, little access to jobs and internships, and a largely non-competitive environment. ese conditions were the opposite of the aspects of Lowell that Atticus values. “ ere’s not a lot of opportunities for anything. At Lowell, you can nd resources for internships, jobs, everything,” Atticus said. For Paige, Lowell is where her community is, and uprooting
her entire education and social life, as well as her athletics, in her junior year of high school would have presented a signi cant personal challenge.
Atticus’ family initially searched for housing within the city, but had di culty nding a house they could a ord in addition to the high cost of daily living in San Francisco. Atticus feels that his family is signi cantly affected by the recent increase in food and gas prices, which have been highly impacted by in ation. “ ose types of expenses, concurrent and just happening every single month, are really easy to notice how they increase over time,” Atticus said. ese expenses, coupled with the tuition his family pays for his sister’s education, place a nancial strain on his family.
Paige’s education and social life su er under the living conditions she experiences. Her daily commute to school takes two hours on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train, causing her to frequently miss her rst two classes of the day. “My grades dropped a lot because I can’t make it to rst period, or I can’t make it to second period, at all,” she said. “I’m not doing too good in my rst two classes, because the commute is just so long.” Paige’s younger siblings have also been detrimentally impacted by the family’s distance from San Fran-
cisco, missing days of school as Paige’s mother struggles to a ord the gas required for the daily commute from Antioch to San Francisco and back. Additionally, Paige’s commute adds strain to her extracurriculars and social life. Being on a sports team, practice times go late into the evening, past the point
“It’s de nitely something that makes me uncomfortable because it’s not a fun experience, and you never want to talk about the bad things that happen to you,” Shuster says. He feels that most of his peers either own their house or don’t have to constantly move houses. Junior Evelina Temple has a similar outlook.
“It’s pretty rough moving every year. I don't remember the last time I had memories in a house.”
when her mother is able to pick her up. According to Paige, she is only able to begin her schoolwork a her sport practice and her two hour commute home on BART, nega tively impacting her schoolwork and sleep. Paige’s desire to spend time with friends is also impact ed by her lengthy journey, as she must plan well in advance. Prom, for example, is an event where Paige’s long commute con icts with her wish to at tend school activities and so cial gatherings. If Paige were to use BART to travel to prom and back, she would need to take BART late at night, and would not return home un
at home rather than make the e ort of commuting to San Francisco for social activities.
Students dealing with housing insecurity often feel alienated from their peers. is topic is something students can be unwilling to discuss with others, and some feel that they negatively compare themselves to peers in more comfortable living situations.
“I always catch myself comparing myself to other people that have houses or bigger bedrooms, who are not worrying about how they’re going to pay for rent,” she said. is comparison can create further distress in an already isolating sitere are not enough a ordable housing units in San Francisco. According to Curtis, the city’s housing and zoning department is pushing to build tall and dense apartments in low-density neighborhoods. However, Curtis said, this is harder than it sounds. She said that the current economic crisis in America, couordable housing movement, is slowing the development of additional housing construction in San Francisco, as well as the passage of laws that would allow this construction. NIMBY, or “not in my backyard”, is a term commonly associated with wealthier individuals who are resistant to new construction in their neighborhoods, particularly high-density a ordable housing. Although proponents of high-density a ordable housing claim that this construction o en bene ts homeless or otherwise under-privileged people, NIMBYs see the addition of new housing units as a disruption to
their communities, and o en campaign against them.
Five Year Report from 2018-2023, the program has provided over 150 million dollars for a ordable housing development, down payment assistance loans, housing stabilization programs, and more. Curtis believes that various sectors of construction and development must collaborate in order to build the a ordable housing that San Francisco currently lacks. “We need more private developers building a ordable housing,” Curtis said. “We need the government supporting more housing nancially and through rules and regulations. Basically, we need all hands on deck.”
Despite pushback from some San Francisco residents, there are also pro-a ordable housing movements forming in the city, Curtis said. e “yes height limits and taking away density limits. Instead of saying you can build one unit per 400 square foot of lot area, it’s saying you can build as many units as you can t in this building.” e only way to end the a ord-
able housing crisis in San Francisco is to build more a ordable housing units, Curtis said, but this won’t be easy. e construction of these units would require immense amounts of money and resources, as well as cooperation from San Francisco residents. San Francisco is implementing policies that make this construction easier, such as Governor Brown’s Streamline ordable Housing Proposal, which aims to accelerate the permitting process for certain projects. Permitting is the stage of construction when building plans are approved, and this step must be completed before construction begins. According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, an additional 6,224 units could be constructed if permitting times were reduced by one-third, and this would decrease the cost of these units by nearly six percent. Additionally, Proposition C, passed in 2012, authorized the creation of a San Francisco Housing Trust Fund consisting of millions of dollars set aside for a ordable housing creation and preservation. According to the Housing Trust Fund
Lowell students who aren’t able to a ord adequate and a ordable housing in the city face severe disruption to their livelihoods and education. Students who experience housing instability or di culty a ording the cost of living o en feel anxious and uncertain about these issues. However, many still have hope for a future in San Francisco amidst their nancial insecurity. Shuster loves San Francisco, even though its high prices have made living here more di cult. “When I have a stable income
“I always catch myself comparing myself to other people that have houses or bigger bedrooms, who are not worrying about how they’re going to pay for rent.”
to support myself, I’d like to move back to San Francisco,” Shuster said. “ ere’s places that I have fond memories attached to, and I would like to stay here for the rest of my life.”
UNSUNG HEROES OF LOWELL
Lowell thrives thanks to the sta beyond the classroom—people we see every day but o en overlook. is multimedia piece spotlights their essential work here.
PAM DAVIS SECURITY
GUARD
Pam Davis has been a security guard at Lowell since 2011. Her main responsibility is keeping Lowell secure by checking students’ IDs and authorizing visitors at the front of the school. Interacting with students every day is her favorite aspect of her job. Davis wants more people at Lowell to recognize the role they play in making school events and activities possible.
CECILE LADERINTO
LEAD DINING MANAGER
Cecile Laderinto is the Lead Dining Manager of Lowell’s cafeteria. She loves cooking and has worked within SFUSD schools for almost 10 years. Because Lowell’s cafeteria team makes some meals from scratch, Laderinto arrives at 6:30 a.m. every morning to start preparing for the day. She works hard to ensure the meals meet the USDA’s nutritional guidelines.
Right: Anita Zeng
Left: Huy Thang
JEFF BRANNER JANITOR
Je Branner has been a janitor at Lowell since 2023. Every day, he maintains the school by sweeping oors and taking out trash. He is also responsible for keeping Lowell secure by locking doors and clearing the campus of students before closing. His favorite thing about his job is his role in ensuring students have a clean learning environment. Branner hopes more students will respect what he, and all the other janitorial sta , do for their school. “I wouldn’t want them to know more about what I do, but rather, respect what I do,” he said.
DANA MAE
NURSE
Dana Mae is a nurse at Lowell. She is a registered nurse and works bedside at a hospital four days out of the week. Outside of her work, she takes care of her two dogs and enjoys Pilates. At Lowell, she keeps students safe by treating their injuries and illnesses. “We need more nurses. It’s hard, it’s a tough job, but it’s very rewarding,” Mae said. “I don’t think I’d do anything else.”
PICTURE
Many Lowell students have been negatively impacted by the relationship advice and content they consume online. Students often develop warped perceptions of real-life relationships, which can make them feel inadequate.
PERFECT
By Amálie Cimala and Uma Van Yserloo
BY JEFFREY
Aer an upsetting breakup with her boyfriend, Lia, a sophomore under a pseudonym, went to his sports practice to humiliate him in front of his friends and teammates. Feeling confused and distraught because of the relationship ending, she had hoped that doing this would help provide her closure. is was unlike Lia’s normal approach to relationships; normally, she would have texted her ex-boyfriend and dealt with the situation between the two of them. However, Lia was in uenced by a TikTok video she saw while she was still in the relationship. e video featured a girl unexpectedly showing up at her ex-boyfriend’s sports practice to embarrass him by yelling at him in front of his teammates. Lia, being in a relationship at the time, was shocked by this content and could not imagine herself in the same situation as this girl. However, she found herself acting almost identically to the girl in the video
cent of respondents reported that they see relationship advice on TikTok, and 71.5 percent see it on Instagram, according to an April 2025 survey of 161 students conducted by e Lowell. Some students nd that even though they might not believe the relationship advice they see online at rst, the advice sticks with them, and they unintentionally apply it to their own lives. “I remembered the video [giving relationship advice] and thought to do the same thing,” Lia said. “ e advice has stuck, even though it wasn’t good.”
According to Elisabeth Schriber, a licensed marriage and family therapist, most online relationship content advice is not from therapists or other relationship specialists. “Postings on TikTok mostly appear to be expert advice, but a lot of it is really pseudoscience,” she said. “It’s mostly from people who are not trained.” Furthermore, Dr. Fleur Gabriel, who does research in ar-
pseudonym, feels that many online relationship trends propagate unrealistic beauty standards, and this content is consumed by vulnerable teens who are already insecure. “ e expectation that you have to be extremely physically desirable to be in a relationship is something that’s been around for a while, and it has been exacerbated by social media,” Corey said. Kristen, a junior under a pseudonym, perceives most of the people in relationships she sees on her Instagram Reels as being conventionally attractive. Constantly seeing these couples causes her to feel insecure about her own appearance and relationship prospects. “I’ll see all these beautiful people being like, ‘this is how to get in a relationship,’ and I’ll be like, ‘I can never do that,’” Kristen said.
Content regarding relationships on social media is o en exaggerated for entertainment value and not re ective of a real-world relationship.
“Postings on TikTok mostly appear to be expert advice, but a lot of it is really pseudoscience.”
a er she broke up with her boyfriend. And, ultimately, she ended up feeling worse instead of better.
is experience is not unique to Lia. Many Lowell students have been negatively impacted by the relationship advice and content they consume online. is online advice ranges from how to approach your crush to how to reach unattainable physical goals in order to attract a partner. As a result, students o en develop warped perceptions of real-life relationships, which can make them feel too inadequate to be in a relationship, damage an existing one or ruin it altogether in addition to impairing a student’s self esteem and con dence.
Lowell students o en see relationship advice online. e majority of it comes from social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram; 84 per-
Lowell
eas of youth media and cultural studies at Federation University, explains that most creators give advice that is unprofessional and heavily in uenced by their own experiences. It is also delivered in a short-form format that teens nd desirable. As a result, they are at a higher risk of being exposed to untrustworthy information about relationships, according to Gabriel. “ e risk here – what teens are ‘vulnerable’ to – is accessing fringe or extremist content or content that promotes dangerous, abusive, or dysfunctional conduct in relationships,” Gabriel said.
In an April 2025 survey of 161 students conducted by e Lowell, 64.7 percent of respondents said that they do not feel attractive enough to date because of relationship content they’ve seen online regarding physical appearance. Corey, a sophomore under a
they’re gonna show the grandiosity [of the relationship],” Schriber said. Due to the prevalence of these idealized relationships on the internet, some Lowell students nd themselves overthinking their own personal relationships. “I think that relationships are de nitely overcomplicated now due to social me-
bly doesn’t love you as much’,” Lia said. She believes that this can cause students to assume that when a relationship gets more comfortable and communication is not as persistent, this lack of constant texting means that the relationship will end. “It de nitely causes fear,” she said. One issue with seeking advice
o en grown men targeting young teen boys. “I’m comparing myself to 28-yearolds with tech jobs and a [gym] membership, so I would say that these trends started by adults can seep into the target audience for Instagram and stu like that, which [I believe] is children,” Corey said.
“Listen to somebody whose profession it is to deal with dating advice, like a relationship counselor or a relationship therapist, or somebody who has done a [large] amount of research.”
dia and the feeling of the need to perform,” Kristen said. “Relationships were a lot more simple when my parents were in high school.” ere is o en a large focus placed on material gi s in online relationship videos. Many videos show one partner — usually the boyfriend — constantly buying expensive things for their signi cant other. According to Lia,
on the internet is that many posts are overly simplistic, causing some viewers to develop a shallow or false idea of relationships. Lia reported that the online advice regarding relationships she sees on a daily basis o en categorizes a person’s actions as good or bad using labels with harsh connotations, such as “toxic,” when in reality, these are behaviors that couples can work past. She feels that this labeling encourages people to break up with their partner if their partner falls into these categories. Lia recalls seeing advice sharing statements like, “If your boyfriend does this, he’s toxic, if your relationship does this, it’s toxic.” is causes many teenagers to believe that all relationships should look and behave a certain way. However, applying such generalizations to real life relationships can be harmful, as no person is the same. “Generalizations can be really dangerous, especially when you’re talking about emotional connection that matters a lot to you,” Luke, a senior under a pseudonym, said.
For teen boys, social media en promotes hypermasculinity in relationships. Content creators promote traditionally masculine stereotypes, such as having the male partner be the breadwinner of the relationship and being very physically strong. Corey believes that this creates unrealistic standards for teen boys and makes them feel that, without having these attributes, they are undesirable. ese creators are
While teens will continue to see relationship advice online, many are beginning to avoid it, instead attempting to seek advice from more reliable sources. Luke nds relationship content online to be biased, revolving around the content creator’s own experiences. Now, he nds himself consuming relationship content more cautiously, or turning to experts when seeking relationship advice from the internet. “Listen to somebody whose profession it is to deal with dating advice, like a relationship counselor or a relationship therapist, or somebody who has done a [large] amount of research,” Luke said. Gabriel said that students should prioritize nding reliable sources for online advice. “Ensuring teens have strong community connection and support — including in the online space — as well as good media and critical information literacy are ways we can support teens in developing healthy relationship habits,” Gabriel said. Furthermore, recognizing that social media is a highly curated version of someone’s life can help prevent teens from forming false perceptions of other people’s lives. “Real life is a range of di erent experiences,” Schriber said. Corey encourages students to look beyond the aspects that relationship advice emphasizes, such as physical attractiveness, when thinking about their own high school relationships. “Value who the person is in reality, as opposed
to super cial attributes,” Corey said.
LIVING WITH TOURETTE’S
BY KAI DOHRMANN
PHOTO BY ALEX HOHN
When I was 12, there was a girl in my grade who pretended to have Tourette syndrome. She would laugh and shout out a word in the middle of class, or jerk her head and call someone a slur. I had begun having tics near the start of that year, and watching her and her friends purposefully turn a disability into a form of entertainment hurt me deeply. Oftentimes, people would laugh when I had a twitch, or glare at me and tell me to “stop pretending.” I felt that, due to my tics, I was either seen as a “faker” or singled out for being di erent. To this day, I am detrimentally a ected by others’ perceptions of what tics should and should not look like.
Tourette syndrome (TS) has been becoming an increasingly popular discussion topic online. Around the same time that TS was becoming more widely discussed on social media, I started to experience neck twitches. ese have since grown to a variety of small tongue clicks, body movements, and even whole spoken phrases. I also began to curse involuntarily. With years of invalidation and hurtful interactions behind me, I wish to clear up some misconceptions and biases and, hopefully, aid in making Lowell a more inclusive space.
can temporarily suppress them. However, this is o en uncomfortable and di cult to maintain. Having tics is a bit like needing to sneeze. Sometimes you can plug your nose and hold it in for a few seconds, and other times it surprises you in the middle of silent study hall. In either case, it’s much harder for me to suppress a tic than it is for people to deal with a small disruption.
Not only can I not control when and where I tic, I can’t control what they contain. Sometimes, similar to an annoying song getting stuck in your head, certain words or phrases can get stuck with me. ese may be curse words, niche meme references, or ran-
without experiencing them. My tics are o en worse early in the morning and late in the a ernoon, as I tend to tic more when I’m tired or stressed. is means that in certain classes, you may not notice me tic at all, whereas in others, it’s one of the rst things you’ll notice about me.
ere is currently no cure for TS. However, I take medication that helps me manage anxiety, which in turn causes me to have fewer tics. I started taking meds in middle school, and have continued ever since. Although they can o en be helpful, meds also come with side e ects that make me tired and unable to focus at times.
“All I ask from you is not to pretend my tics are invisible and understand that they don’t define me.”
A common misconception is that most people with TS swear or say slurs. is is entirely false. Although some share these symptoms, coprolalia — involuntary and uncontrolled obscene words or gestures — a ects less than 10 percent of people with TS. While I do not say slurs, I do sometimes curse or make rude gestures. ese are completely out of my control, and are never meant to be o ensive or hurtful. ey usually cause more harm to me than to others. ere have been instances where I’ve cursed in the middle of class on days substitute teachers were present. Too many times, I have had to frantically explain that I didn’t really mean to tell them to F- o , and that it was 100 percent involuntary. While I can’t control my tics, I
dom sounds. ey can also be entirely unaligned with my actual opinion or thoughts on a situation, and sometimes I say or do things that I don’t agree with. When I tic, most of the time people think I’m just messing around, making random movements and sounds as the punchline to some unspoken joke. Alternatively, when I haven’t ticked in a while, some people have come up to me accusing me of pretending to have a disorder that I do not possess. is, I believe, is caused by the misconception that people with TS tic constantly. It ultimately just makes me feel hurt, invalidated and exhausted.
Like Autism Spectrum Disorder and other neurodivergent conditions, TS is a spectrum. While some people tic all day, every day, others have short bouts of tics that can cease for a few days at a time. I fall into a middle category, meaning that I tic almost every day, but I can go hours at a time
I can’t make my tics go away but there are factors that increase and aggravate my symptoms. ese stressors include being around many people, or when people purposely trigger my tic response. Sometimes, people think it’s funny to copy my tics by repeating them in the same tone. is can lead me to tic again and again, not only stressing me out but causing a much bigger disruption. What helps me the most is staying calm and not overreacting to my tics, even if I say something strange.
Everyone with TS is di erent, and will have di erent levels of comfort discussing their disorder. I personally enjoy answering questions about my tics, and welcome respectful curiosity. It gives me a chance to educate others about the syndrome, and hopefully clear things up for them if they meet someone with tics in the future. Most importantly, while having TS is a part of my life, it is by far not the biggest part of me, or the rst thing I would share if someone asks who I am. I love writing short stories and poetry, own a pet lizard, started my own club, and enjoy studying psychology. If you get to know me as a person, you’ll soon come to realize that tics make up only a small part of who I am. All I ask from you is not to pretend my tics are invisible and understand that they don’t de ne me.
CONFRONTING HARMFUL LANGUAGE TRENDS
BY MAREN BROOKS
It’s a Sunday a ernoon and I’m absentmindedly scrolling through Instagram stories when an image of two smiling girls pops onto my screen. I squint to read the text: “Happy birthday fatty, can’t wait to be big with you again next year!” e caption, though obviously a joke, is so absurdly offensive I almost laugh. But as I contemplate with unease all of the times I’ve teased my friends or dismissed my own eating choices with similar language, it starts to seem less humorous and more sinister. Like other language trends originating from social media, the words have crossed the threshold of good intentions into decidedly more insidious territory. e Internet has always been a place where trends change quickly, even when it comes to the treatment of critical topics like self-worth and issues of social rights. While social media platforms of the mid-2010s were densely populated by reposted slogans like “ is is what a feminist looks like” or “Every body is a bikini body,” these sentiments have been banished to the same cultural graveyard where the millennial mustache nger tattoo went to die. is retaliation was not unwarranted: the Internetization of movements like feminism and body positivity had led them to become exclusionary and overly policed, de ned by an insincerity which removed them entirely from their good-faith origins. How-
ti-feminists,” but allowed it to bleed into mainstream language anyway, losing its irony along the way. In an increasingly divided online sphere, hating women is one of the few topics where Internet users seem to nd common understanding. e shi away from socially progressive ideas online is exempli ed in the complete erosion, and twisted resurrection, of the body positivity movement. In the 2010s, users of social media balked at the undisguised, dangerous messaging perpetuated by 1990s-2000s diet culture, forming a new movement to emphasize self-love and acceptance. As it evolved, however, the body positivity movement became tiring for many, forcing unrealistic expectations of con dence that alienated followers from the authenticity they were seeking. Rather than attempting to address the inherent issues within the movement, Internet users abandoned it like rats eeing a sinking ship, chasing the ever-elusive ideal of exclusivity away from body acceptance and back towards the heavily restrictive food culture they had originally sought to escape. Social media now perpetuates interactions between young people, especially girls, which constitute body shaming and judgemental food policing thinly veiled in irony, like the birthday tribute post that rst caught my attention. What began as lighthearted teasing and self-deprecation became
In an increasingly divided online sphere, hating women is one of the few topics where Internet users seem to find common understanding.
ever, the swi and utter retaliation against an era de ned by values like “wellness” and “self-love” has led to a harmful shi towards intentionally edgy or o ensive language which, while written o as ironic and unserious, promotes dangerous attitudes and ideologies.
Despite the Internet’s role in improving widespread awareness and understanding of various social issues, it has also provided a new cesspool in which fringe ideas can gain concerning traction. Whether it’s the safety of anonymity behind a computer screen, or the peer pressure that encourages us to laugh at “jokes” whose humor lies solely in their wild o ensiveness, social media has a unique way of encouraging us to be our worst selves online. Take the treatment of women, for example: it was just a few years ago that messages of female empowerment had so fully saturated the Internet that they were inescapable. But the explosion of this new form of feminism became its downfall, as the movement’s arguments became sloganized, corporate, and utterly inauthentic. As online audiences tired of overused Internet feminist rhetoric, they shi ed in the polar opposite direction, becoming receptive to increasingly misogynistic ideas. We laughed at the blatantly sexist rhetoric spewed by male podcasters and “an-
tiring, overused, and harmful, blatantly disregarding the real consequences of disordered eating and body image issues, and exposing impressionable young people to dangerous rhetoric under the pretext of humor.
It’s unrealistic to try to convince anyone to completely refrain from making jokes that could be classi ed as offensive. But as our society becomes more heavily informed by the whims of Internet trends, we have a responsibility to stay aware of the ways we have enabled each other to adopt humorless cruelty. Harmful online language trends have reached issues beyond feminism and diet culture. Much of the content that goes viral on social media relies on horrendously o ensive punchlines to elicit shock and amusement for an increasingly desensitized audience, robbing important social issues of the seriousness they deserve to be treated with. We should all make an e ort to be more mindful and compassionate with the words we use and the ideas we give attention to, and to learn from the mistakes of our online past rather than using them to fuel more toxic discourse. In the process, maybe we can move towards a more empathetic society, while maintaining a newfound sense of authenticity that eluded the performatively progressive movements of yesterday.
ADOLESCENCE DÍDI
BY AIDA DONAHUE
This year, a newly premiered Net ix original, Adolescence, rapidly ascended the streaming service’s ranks as its number one most watched show. is ranking is justi ed by its exceptionally raw and unsettling depiction of the dangers associated with toxic masculinity.
e four-part British drama follows young Jamie (played by the debuting Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a female classmate. e vulnerability and terror of each actor’s performance unveils the complexities of their characters, breaking free from the impersonal style adopted by so many crime dramas and making for an emotionally harrowing watch. e series has earned plenty of recent praise for its portrayal of a problem too o en overlooked within online spaces: misogyny. It portrays the issue as a disturbing yet necessary consideration in the social media consumption of young users, and its relevance to our current times contributes to its urgency and stirring qualities.
As a teenage boy who lacks self-con dence, Jamie nds comfort in consuming internet bigotry. Adolescence presents the matter as a kind of trend which feeds o of male insecurity — a er all, the promotion of online violence against women is, without a doubt, marketable. e growing popularity of content advertising the alpha-male mindset, which o en illustrates women as weak and exploitable, has contributed to an online narrative that claims women are depriving men of their right to sexual grati cation and respect. One episode of Adolescence directly references the popular self-proclaimed misogynist and social media personality Andrew Tate, whose audience is overwhelmingly made up of young men and boys and whose content o en errs toward blatant sexism.
Jamie seeks solace from his feelings of weakness in the power he nds in his own cruelty, a pattern commonly echoed in these male-dominated online spaces. Jamie’s crime resulted from the vice he relied on to dilute his unhappiness. Adolescence reminds its audience of the ease with which harmful rhetoric in ltrates the minds of teens and children, acting simultaneously as a reality check and a triumph of media.
BY KRISTIN
WOO
If you asked me what it’s like to have a sibling, I’d say it’s di cult to explain — one day they are the most annoying person on the planet, and the next, they’re your best friend. From rivalry and disputes to growth and appreciation, Sean Wang’s 2024 lm Dídi captures the unpredictable, ever-changing, but ultimately resilient nature of the sibling dynamic. Dídi’s portrayal of this tumultuous yet heartwarming relationship inspires me to re ect on the bond that I have with my own older brother.
Dídi chronicles the summer of 13-year-old Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) — called dídi (Mandarin for “younger brother”) by his family, and “Wang Wang” by his friends — as he struggles to nd people who will accept him for being himself. At home, he feels nagged by his mother, whom he has di culty appreciating, and his college-bound sister is constantly getting on his nerves. As Chris grows and changes, so does his social life. Chris begins to grapple with feelings of isolation and a fear of standing out. His best friend begins to exclude him, and Chris tries to become someone he’s not in an e ort to make new friends and to get a girlfriend. Chris is unsure who to rely on, but in the midst of it all, someone unexpected is there to support him — his older sister, Vivian. Chris and Vivian do not get along. He sneaks into her room to steal her things, sends embarrassing texts from her AIM account, and bickers with her at the dinner table.
But as the time before Vivian leaves for college begins to wind down, Chris grows closer to his sister. ey start spending more time together, and she becomes someone Chris can rely on for support.
As a younger sibling, seeing Chris and Vivian’s relationship throughout the lm lled me with a sense of nostalgia. My brother and I didn’t argue as much as Chris and Vivian growing up, but we had disputes like any siblings would. However, as we got older, we grew closer together and my brother became someone I could rely on. While watching Dídi, I couldn’t help but think about my older brother, who is also leaving for college soon. In one scene, Chris sits in Vivian’s empty room a er she leaves and looks around, engulfed in its strange stillness. Chris’ melancholic state resonated with me, and I began to think about just how di erent my home would feel without my brother there. Dídi portrays the complicated feelings that come with growing up with a sibling, and captures a bittersweet moment that many younger siblings experience.
HEREDITARY HOT TAKE: CREATIVITY OVER CASH
BY MILENA GARRONE BY KAI LYDDAN
Ari Aster’s brilliant directorial debut Hereditary shows just how e ective genre-blending can be if done correctly. e 2018 masterpiece merges terrifying supernatural horror with heartbreaking family drama to create a deeply a ecting lm.
Toni Collette plays Annie Graham, a parent of two grappling with the recent passing of her own mother. Her grieving seethes throughout the lm. When dark secrets are revealed and the horri c truth about Annie’s late mother is exposed, emotions boil over and strife ensues. Annie’s heartache over a shocking death in the family causes her to lash
out at Peter, and his deep resentment and intense teenage attitude lead to vicious arguments between the two. Arguably the most horri c scene from the movie is a sequence in which Annie screams at Peter.
Hereditary makes the viewer feel as though they are experiencing everything themselves, emphasizing the lm’s sense of twisted family normalcy. e last 30 minutes of the movie depart entirely from the realm of family drama, as it descends into supernatural horror involving possession and cults — and plenty of jump scares.
While certainly not for the faint of heart, Hereditary manages to combine expert performances with a dread- lled atmosphere to cra one of the darkest, most depressing lms of all time. Although general movie audiences may be turned o by the disturbing nature of the lm, true horror and drama lovers will be compelled to watch it again and again.
If you’ve kept up with recent movie releases, you’ve probably noticed an increase in the number of animated lms, like Snow White, How to Train Your Dragon, and e Lion King, being adapted into live-action remakes. is is an attempt by greedy movie companies to pro t o of nostalgia that many feel for classic animated movies, but it is ultimately harmful to both the movie industry and viewers because it leads to a glaring lack of originality and creativity in new releases.
ese companies are banking on the fact that people will watch the new movies to revisit fond memories, but the new live action movies are nearly identical to their animated predecessors, making them exceedingly boring to watch. Do you really want to go to the theaters to watch the exact same story over again, albeit in a di erent medium? Or would you rather see something novel and interesting, and nd new favorite movies among new releases?
Not only are the new releases unoriginal, they’re also bad movies. ere’s a reason that the lmmakers chose animation as the medium in the rst place: certain fantastical aspects of these movies tend to work better in animation. Talking lions, dwarves, and dragons are hard to depict believably in live action, which o en uses CGI in an attempt to do so. Filmmakers for animated movies have more creative freedom, and can rely more on a suspension of disbelief when using animation. Most of the time, that just doesn’t work in live action.
ere is an easy way to solve all of these problems—big movie companies should create new universes and tell new stories instead of reusing old ones. Film is an art, and a central function of art is to explore new ideas in creative and novel ways. ey should not forgo this artistic mission to grasp at pro t.
SF’s Best Scoops
Photographer and Multimedia Editor Imaan Ansari ranks and reviews the city’s best ice cream spots.
1. MARCO POLO ITALIAN ICE CREAM
Despite moving from their iconic Parkside neighborhood location to Noriega St. last year, ice cream lovers everywhere will be happy to know Marco Polo’s delicate avor and authenticity to its roots has remained. e shop mixes Italian gelato with a variety of classic and Asian avors, like durian, mangosteen, taro, and more. is allows customers to experiment with some wacky combinations, like mixing scoops of sesame with mint chocolate chip. e gelato itself is dense, stretchy in texture, and absolutely delicious. e avors in each bite stand out, but still manage to be subtle and not overwhelming, making for a refreshing treat. Marco Polo earns rst place on my list for its uniqueness, exquisite avors, and dedication to the community. e shop has been serving San Francisco residents, speci cally the Sunset, since 1982, and is my go-to spot!
FLAVOR RECOMMENDATION: ai Tea and Chocolate ( ai Tea scoop on top!)
2. SALT & STRAW
Similarly to Marco Polo, the Hayes Valley shop offers a mix of classic avors, like Double Fold Vanilla or Salted Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, as well as some peculiar ones, like Pear and Blue Cheese or Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper. eir friendly sta are never hesitant to o er multiple samples for customers to try every desired avor. e names of their avors are quite the mouthful, but so is the actual avor of their ice cream. ere isn’t anything I hate more than when my cookie dough ice cream doesn’t have enough cookie dough, but I’ve never faced that problem at Salt & Straw. eir scoops are brimming with rich avors and their serving sizes are incredibly generous. I’d never imagine that a mix of that many di erent tastes could be so delicious, but Salt & Straw pulls it o beautifully.
FLAVOR RECOMMENDATION: Salted Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in a wa e cone
3. MITCHELL’S ICE CREAM
Mitchell’s is the only shop in the city where you can expect there to be a line out the door at any time of the day, and to be something like 56th in line while they’re still serving number seven. e iconic Mission District shop has been serving the city since 1953 and is a classic part of living and growing up in the city. ey o er a very wide range of avors, including many classic avors like Rocky Road, as well as several Filipino specialties like Ube (purple yam). For me, its appeal comes from the ’50s style storefront and for the diverse community you can nd surrounding the shop. Its atmosphere is lively and welcoming, e ectively drawing people in and always convincing me to stop for a scoop. e reason it’s not higher on this list is because the ice cream is frankly overrated. Yes, it’s delicious, but is it better than the Mint Chip I can pick up from the grocery store? I’d say no. However, the creamery’s tropical avors, like Coconut and Mango, do stand out in their refreshing taste and light texture. Mitchell’s earns its rightful place on this list for its tasty ice cream, distinct atmosphere, and for the iconic role it has played in my and many other SF residents’, childhoods.
FLAVOR RECOMMENDATION: Mexican Chocolate and Coconut
4. HUMPHREY SLOCOMBE
I’ve heard about a million di erent variations in how people pronounce Slocombe, but what Humphrey Slocombe is consistent in is its creamy ice cream and funky avors, like their San Francisco-themed sourdough avor or their corn ake avored Secret Breakfast avor. I fell in love with their Malted Milk Chocolate about two years ago, when I was on the hunt for something restorative to indulge in. Imagine the best hot chocolate you’ve ever had, but morphed into rich and revitalizing ice cream. at is how I’d describe its delectable avor. Aside from ice cream, the service and employees at every location I’ve been to have been engaging and incredibly welcoming. ey take the time to get to know their customers and give suggestions about their own personal favorite avors. I’ll never forget the employee who always knew and remembered I wanted Malted Milk Chocolate before I could even order it. is shop — with two locations, at the Embarcadero and in the Dogpatch — earns its place on this list for their rich avors and welcoming aura.
FLAVOR RECOMMENDATION: Malted Milk Chocolate
LOWELL LORE
Across
7. A Series of Unfortunate Events author, Lowell alum
10. Oldest high school west of the ____.
13. Earthquake that damaged Lowell’s old campus.
14. Superintendent who ordered mascot name change
15. First US science Nobel Prize winner, Lowell alum
16. Newest, greenest building on campus
17. Documentary about Lowell
Down
1. Lowell alum whose books will make you Smile
2. Singer, actress, comedian, and namesake of the theater
3. The “Old Lowell” location
4. National award for academic excellence (Won 4x)
5. Original name of Lowell
6. Legal settlement that changed admissions policies in 1983
8. First President of the World Bank and namesake of a room in the library
9. Rapper who returned to perform in 2024
11. Inventor of an over-engineered machine, Lowell alum
12. First name of school’s namesake
Come by room S107 with your correctly completed crossword to get a baked good during blocks 4 and 5! First come, first serve for each block!
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