February 2020
VOLUME 6, ISSUE 5
PIN TREE POS BREXIT:
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW (Pg.7)
BLACK HISTORY MONTH:
THE UNFAMILIAR HEROES (Pg.6)
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS: HOW HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING UP? (Pg.4)
F E B R U A RY
2 FIRST GLANCE P.4: WORLD
P.6: WORLD (CONT.)
The Pinetree Post
STAFF
FOUNDERS Russell Kim, Felix Guo EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Briana Ho, Raymond Gao ARTICLE EDITOR Briana Ho CONTRIBUTORS Peter Peng, Sophie Zhao, Harim Chang, Kaleigh Morrow, Florin Lee, Julia Ye, Bryan Chen, Alex Zhou Stanley Yu, Amy Lee, Zoe Li, Jon Gough, Esther Kim, Aaron Kan, Yoon Choi GRAPHIC DESIGN Raymond Gao ONLINE CONTENT Raymond Gao SPECIAL THANKS TO The Pinetree Administration, Rachael Pan, Mr. Lau, Ms. Hopkin, Ms. Browne
New Year’s Resolutions
P.9: SCHOOL
???
Black History Month and Brexit
P.12: OTHER
Comic of February
GET INVOLVED IN THE PT POST! Although we at the Pinetree Post try our best to represent the voice of the everyone at Pinetree, we are only a small group of students. To find the most pressing topics and interesting avenues to explore, we rely on input from readers to curate relevant content only. Anyone is welcome to suggest a topic or provide an opinion for Pinetree Post writers and contributors to look into further. Do you have something to
say that needs your voice? The Pinetree Post also welcomes guest content, any time, of any kind. Feel free to submit an article on a topic you are passionate for, a comic you think everyone deserves to see, maybe even a letter to the editor! You can submit your original content to us at thepinetreepost@gmail.com.
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First Glance EDITOR’S NOTE
More Like Cold-en Sunshine (send help)
Can we pretend it’s spring? Briana Ho, Raymond Gao Editors-in-Chief
Hello Pinetree! The temperature has officially reached a scorching 9°C, yet the sunshine seems unable to regrow my lost brain cells... Anyhoo, we hope you all enjoyed the fourday weeks the district gifted us. With February being the month of love, both romantic and otherwise, we’ve put together an issue that features the most important part of any relationship: communication. This could be simply checking up on how your friends are doing (New Year’s Resolutions FollowUp, page 4) or in the relationships of the political world (News About Brexit, page 7). Sometimes showing you care about someone manifests itself into material things (Capitalism and Holidays, page 8). On the other hand, if there is something important that should be talked about more, we may go out of our way to make sure it’s heard (Black History Month, page 6). Or, maybe you’re feeling a little down about love? Don’t worry, we’ve got an article that’s just right for you (Things to think about after you spent all of Valentines eating a tub of ice cream while binge watching a TV series in bed for the entire day, page 9)! Unfortunately, we do not have an “Ask Tommy” advice column this month, as he hasn’t received any questions to answer! If you miss Tommy, and you want to keep him safely locked up in our basement, send in some questions to pinetreepost.asktommy@gmail.com. They can be about anything, from life to love to why watching Parasite sent me through all five stages of grief ! We also have our monthly calendar to let you know how to get involved with the school and the community (2020 March Calendar, page 11).
What’s up fellow boomers
Hope you enjoy this issue of the Pinetree Post! Remember to like us on Facebook and check out our website (https://pinetreepost. wordpress.com/). Missed the last issues? Read them (in colour) at https://issuu.com/ thepinetreepost . Find us in your local supermarket, Briana Ho and Raymond Gao Editors-in-Chief
4 WORLD NATIONAL INTEREST
New Year’s Resolution Follow-Up
Are you keeping up with your goals?
Sophie Zhao Writer
Making New Year’s Resolutions is common and generally easy to do. However, keeping up with those resolutions are what people may struggle with. We asked students at Pinetree about their New Year’s Resolutions last month and checked in with some of them one month later. Read on to find out how they did! Name:
New Year’s Resolution:
Result:
Anonymous
Become more active. Going to accomplish this by going for a run every Saturday :^)
Injured ankle at the end of January but went for a run every Saturday before that.
Anonymous
Get into a good university. Study hard.
Studies hard. No obvious progress but will continue to work on resolution.
Egg
Swim every day! (Weekdays)
Stays active and swims about three to four times a week.
Millennial
Not procrastinate by learning how to manage my time better.
Stopped gaming as much, which freed up more time. Otherwise, not too much of a difference.
5
WORLD Rachel Song
To eat less junk Started sleeping food at night and earlier at eight sleep earlier. pm or nine pm. Eats less junk food at night because of this.
Sherry
Have fun with Still working on friends and do making progress well in school . in school. Enjoying time with friends.
đ&#x;˜Š
Goal setting is a process that not only involves coming up with the goal itself, but also considering how to get there. To do this, reflection, optimism, and determination play a big role. The last New Year’s resolution we followed up on is an amazing example of all three: Sun Sur New Year’s Resolution: “I would like to get at least an 80% in Chemistry 11 and also get a 1380 in my SAT in March.� Result: “One point of history does not define a person.�said a Math teacher. Unfortunately, I have not accomplished either of my resolutions, but I know my ambitions will let me do so. I have always known that Chemistry has never been my field of study, but quite ironically, I have always wanted to become a doctor, scientist, etc. With my childhood motivations, I have regurgitated many formulas and concepts without knowing what they meant. Consequently, I have never done so well on any of the examinations. Honestly, there have been so many days and nights, thinking about just renouncing my childhood dreams and my desire. However, one day, one of my science teachers and I had a little chit-chat, regarding my current status, post-secondary, the world, you name it. So, I spilled out what had been going on in Chemistry. She said “there are kids who skip classes when they give up, but you have never skipped classes, and you have tried your best to absorb as much
knowledge as possible. High school is a time when one can explore and relinquish.� Her words have stuck in my head to this day. Taking her words, I am determined to retake it as a new fresh start. Some people may argue that retaking a course can critically affect one’s application status for university or college. But everything is my decision from the beginning to the end. I am just making up for my mistake, and besides, there is no additional fee. Therefore, I am not giving up on Chemistry, and I will make sure I become a pediatrician as it has always been a dream of mine. My other resolution for 2020 has been getting over 1380 on the SAT. I am not sure what to expect with it as I haven’t written it yet. However, there has been a significant change in my score of my mock examination, and I am determined to take the official one in June. Wish me the best of luck! Thank you.� It may not always be easy to keep up with the goals we often set in the beginning of a new year, or a new decade. Although some might make more progress than others, goals in general are ways to motivate us and remind us of what we want to aim for in our lives. Finally, goals don’t have to be created on Jan. 1; it’s never too late to set up your resolutions for the year.
6 WORLD NATIONAL INTEREST
Black History Month
The Unfamiliar Heroes Florin Lee Writer
The theme of this year’s Black History Month is “Canadians of African Descent: Going forward, guided by the past.” It was inspired by the U.N.’s International Decade for People of African Descent, which will last from 2015 to 2024. The beginnings of Black History Month date back to 1926, with Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard graduate African American historian. His proposition of a time period designated to honour African Americans led to the creation of Negro History Week in the same year. This week dedicated to remembering African history in America changed names in the early 1970s, to become Black History Week, and in 1976, the week expanded to a full month. The adaptation of this month in Canada was much more recent, with the House of Commons formally recognizing February as Black History
Month in 1995. One notable person of African descent in Canada is The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander. Born in Toronto in 1922, he fought in World War Two in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He studied Arts at McMaster University, and in 1965, passed the bar exam at Osgoode Hall School of Law. In 1968, Alexander became the first person of African descent elected to the House of Commons, and continued to serve as a Member of Parliament until 1980. During his last year in Parliament, he also served as the federal Minister of Labour. Five years later, in 1985, he became the first person of colour to serve as a Canadian Lieutenant Governor. As the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, he focused on youth and education. After his term as the Queen’s representative in Canada, the year 1992, Lincoln Alexander became a Companion of the Order of Canada, and was awarded the Order of Ontario. He was appointed the chair of
From left to right: Harriet Tubman, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Frederick Douglass.
Source: © Pete Souza
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WORLD the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the Honorary Commissioner for the International Year of Older Persons Ontario celebrations in 1996.
NATIONAL INTEREST
News about Brexit
Bryan Chen, Alex Zhou Writers
The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander served as the twenty fourth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
© Government of Ontario
This amazing person helped our world in many different ways, but the reason we should be disappointed in ourselves, is that for all the positive changes he made in our lives, few outside of Ontario even recognize his name. Whereas most educated individuals are familiar with American activists, many Canadians do not know the faces of the people who advanced African Canadian rights in their own community. In 2013, Ontario designated Lincoln Alexander’s birthday, January 21, as “Lincoln Alexander Day.” This February, can we, as people who benefit from the actions of these courageous individuals, take the time to learn more about their lives and legacies?
Very recently, on 31 January 2020 at 11:00 p.m. GMT, the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union in the process known as “Brexit”, ending 47 years of British participation in the European Union. So, you may be wondering, what is the European Union? It was originally established to integrate the independent economies of European nations so that it would promote peace and put an end to the centuries of war and quarrel that plagued Europe. There are pros and cons to the EU, nations within will experience a boost in their economy as trade and travel between EU nations are made extremely convenient, and countries can get support for infrastructure if needed. However, introducing common measures to implicate upon the diverse political and economic landscapes of European Nations (such as implicating the Euro) can prove inconvenient and even disastrous for some countries, take Greece’s economic troubles for example. Some nations simply feel a disconnect between their country’s values and the collective outlook of the EU, which brings up the case for Britain. Following the United Kingdom’s plans for secession from the European Union, Eurosceptic elements within some constituent nations involved in the European Union have begun to express their ideas, in nations such as France, Denmark, and others, styling themselves as “Frexit” and “Danexit” respectively, and others of the sort. Historically, many politicians with the Conservatives were critical of the European Union, most notably Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron. These politicians utilised Eurosceptic standpoints in their political programmes. Meanwhile, politicians from the Labour Party were in oppo-
8 SCHOOL sition to Brexit, attempting to run a second referendum, but agreed to have a “soft Brexit” if they came to power. After a referendum held on 23 June 2016, the votes, 52 per cent of which voted in favour of secession from the E.U., resulted in the initiation of the process in March of 2017, when the British government invoked these plans (Article 50 of the EU treaty). Initially, those opposed to Brexit were outraged by this development and even took to the streets to protest this decision, the last notable of which happening in October 2019. The day after the referendum passed, David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister, resulting in Theresa May’s rise to power on 13 July 2016. However, by 24 May 2019, Theresa May resigned from her position in the Conservative Party after several unsuccessful attempts to get Brexit passed, resulting in Boris Johnson to become Prime Minister on 24 July, and finally on 31 January 2020 the United Kingdom finally left the European Union.
British flag lowered from European Parliament in Brussels, 2020
Although it’s highly unlikely it will affect countries outside Europe/United Kingdom on a large scale, this recent development in the world will prove its impact in the future as a butterfly effect takes place.
EDITORIAL
Capitalism & Holidays
How Your Next Christmas Present Is Just Capitalist Santa Being Greedy Harim Chang Writer
I hate to break it to you, but Santa doesn’t exist. Neither does Cupid. Nor the Easter Bunny anyways, my point is that these fictional characters don’t serve a purpose except to promote mass consumption of products all to satisfy our need to feel a sense of fulfillment from receiving other people’s “thanks”. I’ve been there. And now I only have $20 left in my bank account from splurging on my family and friends’ Christmas presents. So how exactly do companies make this work without us actually consciously considering the consequences of our spendings? Marketing. The holiday sales are one of the most vicious times of the year, despite what most people think. As people scramble for a TV that’s 10% off, the holiday season gets more and more stressful as you grow older. One prime example of this is Black Friday. I’ve always thought to myself, “What’s the use of Black Friday and Boxing Day? Why have a couple days just dedicated to sales?” Well, the logical reason for sales is to increase the number of customers that’ll become dedicated shoppers. Everything that these companies do is to increase their profit, which is understandable because that’s why they exist. However, these holidays are taken advantage of for the gullibility of the consumers. Companies can make sales seem like you’re having a great deal, when in reality, you aren’t. For Christmas, parents go out and buy their children gifts ranging from all kinds of price points. For Easter, people buy candy and plastic eggs. For Halloween, families buy packs and packs of candy to hand out for one night. For Valentine’s Day, peo-
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School ple buy each other extravagant gifts to validate their love for another person. It’s a constant buying and giving just to validate feelings into a tangible object. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to buy things for others, but it is good to take caution when looking at the price tags. The scary part about this whole “holiday capitalism” ordeal is when people take it too far. According to fee.org, when Starbucks failed to redesign its iconic coffee cups for the Christmas season, thousands of people decided to “start a movement”, demanding that Starbucks give them their annual Christmas coffee cups. Not only that, but one person even posted on Facebook that Starbucks “removed Christmas from their cups because they hate Jesus”. Ok, well… hm. There’s a lot wrong with that sentence, which I won’t delve into, but it’s hard to deny that people felt some sort of expectation and privilege regarding their precious Christmas Starbucks cups. It feels a bit like receiving a gift when grabbing a cup of holiday coffee, so I’m assuming that people wanted to feel the same kind of happiness again. In conclusion, although these holidays have evolved into a huge capitalist scheme, it doesn’t necessarily mean that buying gifts for others is inherently bad. As Valentine’s Day just passed, take a moment to reconsider the price tag of a gift and its impact on your recipient. It’s cliche to think of it like this, but it really is the thought that counts. Just because you want to show your love for someone doesn’t really mean you have to buy thousands of dollars of roses (unless they really love roses - go for it). P.S. What in the world is St. Patrick’s Day for?
STUDENTS
Things to think about after you spent all of Valentines eating a tub of ice cream while binge watching a TV series in bed for the entire day. Peter Peng Writer, Experiencer of bruh moments
Despite being several weeks ago, it doesn’t have to be Valentines day for relationship advice, does it? Whether you’re apart of the single gang or not, advice is supposed to help nonetheless. “But Peter,” you may be asking, “if you’re single yourself, what qualifies you to be telling us what to do?” Fair point. The answer is simple: one time, scaled the whole of the Himalayas, and spoke to a wise man on the top. “Coaches don’t play the game, do they?” is all he needed to say. Relationships are a lot like the de Havilland Comet. Pretty obscure to any one of us zoomers today, the Comet was the first ever commercial jetliner. Jets had previously existed, but not as a passenger plane. We’ll skim over some fun facts about this plane, and why it all relates. When the Comet was first introduced, compared to all the previous propeller driven aircraft, the Comet was faster, could fly higher, and was overall more efficient. Naturally, it was hailed as the second coming of Jesus Christ in the aviation world. While it lasted, it was a technological wonder for the time. The people who flew it loved it, and so did the people that flew inside of it. At one point, one of the big selling points were these big, square windows that allowed passengers to gaze out into the blue, open sky, as they cruised far above the clouds. Life was good. That was, until the cracks began to show. Literally. Take one look
10 SCHOOL at any modern jet, and one will notice that none of them have square windows. As previously mentioned, the Comet could fly higher. The higher up something goes, the lower the air pressure. To keep people inside the plane from fainting from oxygen deprivation, de Havilland kept the innards of the aircraft pressurized like the ground. With more pressure on the inside of the plane than the outside, much of the air began to build up at the corners of the square windows, which stressed the absolute hell out of them. The raw force of the stress caused the metal around the windows to crack, and eventually burst midair. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that plane windows just disappearing 25,000 feet in the air isn’t exactly ideal. After about a year in service, two Comets simply disintegrated midair. Realizing their fatal flaw, de Havilland pulled all Comets out of service until the issue could be resolved. Learning their lesson, since the Comet incident, no modern jetliner has had square windows since. Okay, so what does some ancient plane exploding midair have to do with high school relationship drama? Well, sometimes, not everything goes to plan. Some things simply don’t last forever. Maybe stress causes things to fall apart. But most times, it’s better to just realize the mistakes made, and to keep them from repeating in the future again. Life is relatively long. You’ll get over it. Hopefully. Again, there’s plenty of fish in the ocean (for now, at least. Fish populations really do be dwindling), and everything will be alright. Also, don’t simp. Don’t be like Mordecai from Regular Show. Just go and vibe.
God really don’t like people vibing at 25,000 feet in the air huh
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Other Calender by Julia Ye
SCHOOL
TRI-CITIES
TRACK SCHOOL EVENTS AND TRI-CITIES ACTIVITIES
SFU SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION
POTATO SALE
7-8 2020
SPRING BREAK
NORTH MODEL UNITED NATIONS
@ BCIT: British Columbia Institute of Technology
HOT POTATO INITIATIVE
21
HARUMATSURI 2020
10:00 A.M. – 6:30 P.M.
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BUBBLE TEA SALE MPOWER WORKSHOP
8:00 A.M. – 5:00 PM
GAME CREATION CLUB 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
@ Riverside Community Church
VANCOUVER TEA FESTIVAL
10:00 A.M. – 4:00 PM
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@ Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre
2:00 P.M. – 4:30 P.M.
FOREST THERAPY
@ 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver
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WOMENS DAY AT CYPRESS
9:00 A.M. – 9:00 PM @ Cypress Mountain
MEDX VANCOUVER 2020 8:45 A.M. – 4:45 P.M. @ VanDusen Botanical Garden
SPIRITED AWAY 1:30 P.M. – 3:30 P.M. @ The Rio Theatre
@ Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre
23-27 GIRLS SPRING BREAK EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM @ 1009 Salsbury Dr, Vancouver
BUBBLE TEA SALE
DEBATE CLUB
12 OTHER Comic by Zoe Li
Other
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