Never Have I Ever Been More Horrified by a Show
There’s nothing more infuriating than watching a show, hating it, and then listening to everyone else rave about how amazing it is. Nothing more annoying than listening to people talk about how they binged it all in a day, or how they excused the absurdity of the show because it was too “addicting,” or even how they wished there were more seasons of the dreadful “masterpiece,” as they called it. And this is exactly how I felt about Never Have I Ever--the only show I have ever watched in a day, and hated with a burning passion.
Photo Credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com
By Sonya Surapaneni
There’s nothing more infuriating than watching a show, hating it, and then listening to everyone else rave about how amazing it is. Nothing more annoying than listening to people talk about how they binged it all in a day, or how they excused the absurdity of the show because it was too “addicting,” or even how they wished there were more seasons of the dreadful “masterpiece,” as they called it. And this is exactly how I felt about Never Have I Ever--the only show I have ever watched in a day, and hated with a burning passion.
Although I strongly oppose watching the show, of course, it has its supporters and fans rooting for the show till the end. Found on Netflix and various other streaming sites, the show focuses on an Indian girl, Devi, getting through high school with the highest GPA she can acquire, accumulating her extracurriculars on the way. As she balances her over-exaggerated Indian family, perfectly weird friends, and absurd crushes through the years, she continues to try to assimilate—hoping to fit in with the crowd at her school. Comedic and goofy on the surface, the show may look like a classic, but when looking deeper, we explore the problematic faults that the show reeks of—simply bringing us back years to before progress was ever made for the South Asian community.
As a first generation Indian teen, Devi begins the show with the great loss of her dad. As she continues to attend school, she battles all of her pent-up trauma and emotions, as she’s unable to talk to anyone about it except her therapist. Since South Asians don’t get a lot of representation in the media for getting aid for their mental health, this is seemingly progressive in the show, as many viewers (including me) thought, but led to a massive let-down. Nalini begins the episode (Season 1 Episode 11) with an extreme face of disgust towards therapy, claiming that she doesn’t believe in it. She further says “therapy is only for white people” directly to the therapist, but still continues to take advantage of the therapy session. This is problematic in so many ways, pushing Indian stereotypes through the show—reinforcing that Indian women (or Indian people in general) should not be able to access therapy.
Another problematic moment in the show is when Devi is forced into Ganesh Puja—an important event that is celebrated on Ganesh Chathurthi. It’s considered one of the most significant traditions in India and throughout America, with many throwing their own pujas at home. In episode 4, the puja is celebrated in the show—much to Devi’s frustration. As she throws a fit when her mom wraps a sari for her and grumbles all the way to the car, she’s immediately isolating herself from her culture, portraying it in a negative light. On the way to the puja, she becomes increasingly frustrated when she learns it is at her high school, embarrassed that someone might see her in her cultural clothes. Through the whole puja, she isolates herself and remains judgmental of the activities proceeding in front of her. As she comes into conflict with two of her friends who explain the culture to her—with one saying that the Bollywood dance that proceeds is cool, opposing her own thoughts, and another saying that he learned to love his culture after he met someone at the dorms who taught him to embrace his culture, Devi stands her ground, still being embarrassed by her roots. Encountering Paxton (her white-passing fling/hookup/crush) later in the episode, she thinks and talks down upon her culture, surprised when she learns that he likes her outfit. This whole episode reveals Devi’s internalized racism about her own culture, painting Indian pujas and activities as undesirable—showcasing it in a negative light. With the diversified demographic of the show, this could potentially influence many Indians to feel the same, which can be extremely harmful to South-Asians in the community.
Furthermore, stereotypes about the South-Asian community are prevalent through the show—with barely any representation in the community. The three lead Indian women reinforce the model minority myth, with Nalini being a successful doctor, Kamala (Devi’s cousin) being enrolled in a prestigious school, and of course, Devi being star student, aiming for the Ivy League. The other Indian aunties we meet seem to gossip constantly, another stereotype that is presented about Indians and Indian-Americans today. They talk about prestige, class, and exhibit Islamophobia through the conversation. The arranged marriage trope is also extremely prevalent through the show, portraying anyone who marries through love as unsuccessful, unhappy, and ultimately unmarried as through societal standards.
Apart from all the disrespect to South Asians today, the show continues to be ableist—presenting Devi with sudden paralysis at the beginning of the show. With paralysis being one of the most severe disabilities around the world, you’d think it would be regarded as a big deal in the show. However, the show displays an absurd act of ableism in the first episode, with Devi’s best friend, Eleanor, regarding disability as a problem. She dramatically falls to the floor (extremely problematic on its own), and remarks “in protest, I shan't use my legs either.” This raises so many questions—why is she pretending to be disabled? Why is she portraying disability as a problem in society? Why is she acting like disability is a choice? How is she not totally, and utterly, ashamed of doing that? This horrifying representation of ableism continues, when Devi miraculously regains her ability to walk—but not after the same pain many people go through. Instead, she reaches up to see her (white-passing) crush at a store, and can suddenly walk again. Although surprising, the show turns her disability into a joke, regarding it as funny throughout the show—again, blatant ableism.
Further, anti-Semitism and Jewish stereotypes are prevalent through the story, introducing Ben, another main character in the show. From her worst enemy to her lover (spoiler alert), Ben is subject to many of Devi’s harsh jokes, including her off-putting comments in class that begins with the second episode. While early in the show, Devi isn’t afraid to make vile remarks to Ben, muttering to herself that she wishes pain on him—bringing in the Nazis. Being asked to speak up, she firmly repeats herself to the class, saying that she wishes the “Nazis would kill Ben.” She doesn’t seem to be shamed of her anti-Semitism, which is clearly reflected here, and continues to repeat many of those jokes throughout the show. Devi and her mom also reinforce the anti-Semitic myth that Jews are “greedy” or “rich” through the show, stereotyping Ben’s dad as a well-off lawyer who has no trouble making his own money. In Episode 5, while Devi continues to complain about her Indian heritage, she compares her Indian function to Ben’s bar mitzvah—asking why she can’t have her party at a rich place like Ben did. Her mom, Nalini, replies, saying “Jewish people know how to save.” As a stereotype that has been around for many years, dating back to the Middle Ages, the show continues to reinforce harmful stereotypes that apply to a population at whole. However, these aren’t the only times in which the show has been anti-Semitic—there’s almost a micro-aggression in every episode. Do better Mindy Kaling!
The Shocking Truth About the Inner Workings of the Wool Industry
Wool has been used throughout human history—in fact, people have been weaving and wearing it since 10,000 BCE! Despite its long history, wool is not an outdated material and is still used to make a wide range of products. The natural fiber has many incredible properties and characteristics: it is breathable, odor resistant, renewable, stain resistant, UV resistant.
Photo Credit: Kira Volkov / Shutterstock.com
By Pavika Vachirajindakul
TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains graphic descriptions of animal abuse.
Wool has been used throughout human history—in fact, people have been weaving and wearing it since 10,000 BCE! Despite its long history, wool is not an outdated material and is still used to make a wide range of products. The natural fiber has many incredible properties and characteristics: it is breathable, odor resistant, renewable, stain resistant, UV resistant. Unlike synthetics, wool actively responds to changes in body temperature, which means it keeps the wearer warm on cold days, and cool on the hot days. Because of wool’s various properties, its fibers are made into socks, sweaters, headwear, scarfs, gloves, blankets, and even sportswear.
In fact, wool plays a very important role in many industries. According to Textile School, “the majority of wool (72.8%) is used in apparel; home furnishing accounts for 15-45%, industrial uses 6 to 7% and exports 5%, wool accounts for 3.3% of all fibres for apparel.”
Because of consumer demands, harvesting wool has become a competitive business. Australia is the world’s leading producer of wool. According to Woolmarks, Australia produces 345 million kilograms of wool every year. Australia is followed by China, Russia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, the UK and Uruguay. In comparison, 25 million pounds of wool are produced annually in the United States (according to Farm Flavor) from 101,387 sheep farms in the nation.
However, while people usually think that the wool industry is not as cruel as the fur and animal skin industry, hoping that sheep are left peacefully to be given a haircut, shearing can be a traumatic process for sheep if not done properly and carefully.
Shearing is not just a haircut for sheep when done on an industrial scale where shearers work against the clock. In many of these industries across the world, according to PETA, an animal rights organization, shearers are typically paid by the volume of wool being sheared, not by the hour, which leads to fast, careless work that leaves sheep with gaping wounds and missing parts of ears and teats. When time is precious and shearing becomes a business, animal welfare is neglected.
In 2014, PETA released a video about the cruelty in the wool industry in Australia, which acted as a wake up call for many people. The footage shows the shearers hurriedly and roughly shearing sheep, leaving many with bad cuts and bleeding. Oftentimes, a piece of their skin is still attached to the fleece. Afterward, the workers use needles to sew the wound shut without a pain reliever on the dirty floor. When the fearful sheep showed signs of resistance, shearers felt tempered, they punched, kicked them, slammed their head on the floor, and sometimes beat them up with metal clippers until the animals bled.
PETA revealed the same cruelty in 43 farms across South Australia, and New South Wales in 2017.
Such cruel, abusive acts toward sheep are not only found in Australia, but also in many of the world’s other leading wool-producing countries: Argentina, South Africa, England as well as others. Until now, PETA has produced 12 exposés of 100 sheep operations on four continents.
Life is no better for sheep in the U.S. According to PETA, eyewitnesses have recorded abuse of sheep from 14 farms across Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. This video shows a shearer who forcefully bent and twisted the sheep’s neck until it broke. With a careless voice, he said to other workers, “I might have killed it.” Then he went on and kicked the dead sheep down the vent. Moreover, Shearers poked their fingers into the sheep's eyes, kneeling down on its body to hold the sheep in place. The video includes the moment when workers throw and kick sheep while sharing their opinion about them, “I got all permission to pound the f*** out of them”. Another worker said, “I want to choke that sheep.”
To protest against this cruelty, PETA encourages people to never wear wool products, while calling out clothing companies in many countries to eliminate all wool products completely.
However, many sheep farmers question if this is the best solution. In fact, sheep farm owners reveal that shearing is important for sheeps.
“Sheep have been bred for thousands of years to grow wool, therefore shearing is not just about harvesting wool - it's also about keeping the animals comfortable, relieving them from having to endure the hot summer months with a heavy fleece,” remarks ZQ, a wool certified organization.
Moreover, the Farmhouse guide reported that unsheared sheep can lead to tangling and matting of overgrown wool, which can strangle blood flow, cause painful sores and prevent sheep from moving properly.
“It is true that their wool is sold to make money, but that money helps to feed the sheep, keep them happy, and provide some of the money needed to have the sheep sheared regularly,” one farmer told Farmhouse Guide.
As wool shearing is essential for sheep’s health and wool is an important and unique fiber, however, inhuman treatment to animals in the wool industry is utterly unacceptable.
Therefore, the real question is: how can we continue using wool products without unknowingly supporting practices that are harmful to animals?
This is what we as individuals can do to help!
There are many sources of cruelty-free wool.
Wool certified by ZQ
ZQ is a certification organization that works to provide 5 freedoms for sheep:
Free from thirst
Ensure their sheep always have access to clean water and adequate nutrition.
Free to live naturally
ZQ sheep are free range, free to roam in vast open pastures, with typically more than an acre of space each.
Free from discomfort
protect sheep from distress and ensure they have adequate shade and shelter available at all times, especially during the winter months.
Free from distress
Shearing process is done by highly trained shearers.
Free from disease
ZQ growers regularly monitor their flock to prevent disease and illness, as well as to rapidly diagnose animal health issues.
What brands follow ZQ wool guidelines?
Best wool
Smarter Wool
Aclima
Woolyarns
The fabric store
Swanndri
Rewoolution
Reda
Neem
Kilt
Kowtow
Ice breaker
John Smely
49+ more brands (Check out more at ZQ webpage)
Wool certified by Animal Welfare Approved(AWA)
AWA’s sheep standards include the following:
Shearing of sheep must be carried out by a competent person who can minimize stress and avoid injury.
Any sick or injured animals on the farm must be treated immediately to minimize pain and distress. This must include veterinary treatment if required.
The discovery of untreated injured or ill animals may be grounds for removal from the program.
Animals must have access to pasture areas that are well drained and clean
Prohibit the use of chemicals that would cause the cessation of wool growth.
Where extenuating circumstances requires shearing in colder weather, bedding and shelter must be provided for at least seven days.
You can buy AWA certified wool from the following farms:
Wool/Clothing brand certified by RWS
Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) is a global standard that “provide[s] the industry with a tool to recognize the best practices of farmers, ensure the wool comes from farms that have a progressive approach to managing their land, and practice holistic respect for animal welfare of the sheep.”
The manufacturing process of wool is a long process. To avoid the animal’s cruelty, RWS works to ensure the animal's welfare and wool quality throughout the entire process before it reaches retailer stores.
Picture from Textile exchange webpage(https://textileexchange.org/standards/responsible-wool)
Clothing brand that follow RWS standard are :
H&M
William-Sonoma
Tchibo, Varner
Coyuchi
Mountain Equipment
Deckers
Knowledge Cotton Apparel.
How has the World Responded to COVID-19?
As the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic die down here in the United States, in other countries, the surge is just beginning. In India, the daily case rate for the virus has risen from 15,000 new positives a day to over 400,000 in just two months, while the once newsworthy reports of China’s case count have been nearly eradicated.
The differing leadership stances under autocratic, authoritarian, and federal governments of India, China and the United States have led to completely different timeframes for the coronavirus outbreaks and contrasting plans of control and immunization.
Photo Credit: Manoej Paateel / Shutterstock.com
By Noelle Woodward
As the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic die down here in the United States, in other countries, the surge is just beginning. In India, the daily case rate for the virus has risen from 15,000 new positives a day to over 400,000 in just two months, while the once newsworthy reports of China’s case count have been nearly eradicated.
The differing leadership stances under autocratic, authoritarian, and federal governments of India, China and the United States have led to completely different timeframes for the coronavirus outbreaks and contrasting plans of control and immunization.
In China, the origin of the outbreak, the government worked quickly in an attempt to lessen the impact, although with scarce knowledge early on, limiting the spread became increasingly difficult.
The Chinese government is largely centralized and authoritarian, creating a system in which, once restrictions were put in place, they were efficiently enacted everywhere and the government was able to impose onto its citizens' lives.
One restrictive feature, put in place in late 2020, is a QR code tracker. “You scan it and then you can get into places but if you aren't out of quarantine, or if you've been to suspicious areas or areas of danger, then your code will turn yellow or red, and then you won't be able to go anywhere,” says Kitty Zhan ‘21.
While the tracker has been largely successful and Covid cases have plummeted in China, the feature can frequently feel like an extreme invasion of privacy to some.
“It's scary, I can't say if it's worth it but I definitely know I would be super uncomfortable to wear that around,” says Zhan. “You just feel like there's a danger. Knowing that a government basically can track whatever you do, that's scary to me and it doesn't feel right. But it's effective. So, you know, up for debate.”
However, the tracker is just the tip of the iceberg for the Chinese government’s drastic measures taken to prevent COVID-19 for its citizens.
“They cut everything, [travel, transportation] off, because they didn't want it to expand to the country,” says Zhan. “That's good, big picture wise, but if you were someone in that moment, it definitely felt really desperate; you would feel like nobody has cared for you and nobody respects you as an individual. In a democratic government, it's harder to handle because of their respect for individual rights, but also, that doesn't allow them to uniformly issue one law that [puts] the entire country under control.”
The response differences between the United States and China are drastically different, proving how directly the governing styles impact both the autonomy and safety of its citizens and the cost of prioritizing one or the other.
“The Chinese government has way more control over the cities and just over each person than they do in the US,” Zhan adds. “So they were able to just kind of [eliminate Covid in China] because of how much control they had, but here you had to deal with it, you had to tell people to wear masks. In China, you could have been arrested if you didn't wear a mask right. So, it really is two sides.”
On the other side of the spectrum is India. Similar to China, India faced the pandemic with strict safety measures and drastic protocols early on, causing a complete shutdown of the Indian economy and consequently leaving many citizens stranded in crowded cities, far from their families with only a few hours notice. However, unlike China, India’s safety protocols were able to prevent a big spread early on and have lasted effectively up until a few months ago when everything seemed to fall apart.
“[In India they] don't have the same health system resources that European nations do,” says Marty Rubio, a world cultures and economics teacher at Athenian.
So when, Indian Covid guidelines were eventually lifted a few months ago and various COVID-19 variants made their way into the country, everything took a turn for the worse.
“There are so many people in India and the potential for that really growing and growing, is huge,” says Rubio.
Unlike both China and India, where there have been large outbreaks at either the beginning or the most current parts of the pandemic, the United States seems to have had a steady amount of cases both increasing and decreasing over the course of the last 14 months.
“In the United States we have a federal system where the states get to decide for themselves, and you have two political parties with generally different philosophical approaches to dealing with [Covid],” says Rubio. “We are just so politically divided, one side doesn't trust what the other side says no matter what it is, and so I think there's unfortunately just these decisions which should be really scientific, that have become politicized”
Some of these decisions, such as vaccinations, have fallen completely to the public’s individual choices, where despite the United States’ relative success in distributing vaccines, there is a large amount of variation in who is willing to accept it.
“It's sad because it's a failure of us to think collectively about each other, how do we take care of each other by our own personal choices,” adds Rubio. “The United States is a metaphor for internationalism, if you think of the individual states who have a lot of their own power what to do, that you have a whole lab that has all these different policies and responses that produce different outcomes.”
The almost consecutive peaks of the outbreaks in each country overlap just slightly, signaling how certain efforts to curtail the virus have achieved either success, both temporary and long lasting, as well as distinct failure. These differences ultimately raise the question: what is the government’s role in protecting its citizens from the COVID-19 outbreak and where is the line between too much involvement and not enough?
Hear these South Asian Parents’ Perspectives on Athenian
The Athenian School has a rigorous academic program. Not only does the curriculum entail a variety of challenging classes, but it also offers many unique opportunities such as Town Meeting, Round Square, AWE, March Term, and a lot of other exciting programs. At its core, Athenian is an excellent school that prioritizes equity and inclusion among their student body and faculty; however, South Asian representation is lacking in the student body as well as the administration. Interviewing some South Asian Athenian students’ parents gives valuable insight into their perspectives on the Athenian curriculum. It is important to see the ways in which they comprehend the way Athenian’s educational system is designed and understand how they view the school.
Graphic Credit: Alekhya Maram
By Rishi Reddy
The Athenian School has a rigorous academic program. Not only does the curriculum entail a variety of challenging classes, but it also offers many unique opportunities such as Town Meeting, Round Square, AWE, March Term, and a lot of other exciting programs. At its core, Athenian is an excellent school that prioritizes equity and inclusion among their student body and faculty; however, South Asian representation is lacking in the student body as well as the administration. Interviewing some South Asian Athenian students’ parents gives valuable insight into their perspectives on the Athenian curriculum. It is important to see the ways in which they comprehend the way Athenian’s educational system is designed and understand how they view the school.
Classes
Athenian is one of the top schools in the nation, so it's academic curriculum is undoubtedly rigorous. The school offers a wide selection of difficult classes, ranging from demanding math and science options to challenging humanities courses. What do the parents have to say about that?
Deepak Chichili, father of 10th grader Tanvi Chichili, says, “Athenian offers a good depth and breadth of classes, especially in humanities and languages. Athenian provides the freedom for students to pick the courses they like which gives a lot of flexibility to students. My opinion, however, is that Athenian should offer more stem classes.”
The amount of stem classes are rather limited compared to how many are offered at public schools and other locations. However, as one always says, quality is more important than quantity.
Prathibha Koduru, mother of sophomore Rishi Reddy, shares, “Athenian classes definitely drive my children to work really hard. The courses encourage them to think outside the box, form new ideas, and mold their own perspectives of the given subject.”
The courses at Athenian always help students better themselves continuously. Students always rise to the occasion and push themselves to become better and better at different subjects.
Srikanth Surapaneni, father of sophomore Sonya Surapaneni, discloses, “Athenian classes are super competitive; however, my daughter seems like she’s learning and growing a lot from them. She’s becoming more culturally competent which is something that they focus on healthily. The classes are pretty difficult, especially the humanities classes, but I think it is definitely helping my daughter to become a better writer.”
This is really true. By the end of senior year, students turn out a completely different writer than when they started. The Athenian humanities department really hones in on analytical thinking and persuasive writing, a skill that is gradually drawn out of students as they engage in more literature and history courses.
Town Meeting
In a school like Athenian, where democracy is a critical Pillar, Town Meeting is a must. It’s a form of community meeting that the Athenian student body holds weekly for when students have a proposal regarding a change in the way the school is run or discuss what to do with the Town Meeting money. A lot of parents did not even know about this part of the Athenian program; however, once their kids explained it to them, they fell in love with the concept.
Shanti Surapaneni, mother of Sonya, expresses: “I don’t really know much about Town Meeting; nevertheless, I think it is really great that Athenian has a democracy at school. It is a sort of student government because it provides a way for students to make change. I would really like for my daughter and her friends to get involved in it, because I think it’s a great opportunity and experience.” That’s good to know! Students can definitely get involved in Town Meeting, for there are town meeting officers who lead the discussions and manage the proposals.
Sudheer Sreerangapalle, father of Rishi, articulates, “It seems like a great way for students to have their voices heard. I can’t believe the entire upper-school gathers together in one location just to discuss how they can improve the school and change the way things work. To give students such a major responsibility at such a young age--it’s amazing that Athenian offers this. Students would be able to take initiative and truly understand the power of democracy. I love it.”
Sudhathi Chichili, mother of Tanvi, carries a similar opinion. She shares: “I think that it’s great that students would have a voice in the school and could propose changes.”
Round Square
Athenian’s Round Square program is really quite special. Not many schools have it, so it is a real privilege for Athenian students. Students are able to build cross-cultural skills that will greatly benefit them going forward in life and enhance their global competence in general.
Prathibha shares, “It’s an excellent way for my kids to meet new people and understand foregin cultures. It’s a great exposure to kids.” It is indeed! Round Square really hones in on the idea of making international connections and allows a student to grow in several facets. They learn how to work with people from all across the world and bond over their differences. The collaborative environment leaves an endless room for growth.
Deepak repeats, “I think that round square pillars and ideals are a very great approach to education.”
Shanti adds: “Round Square is fantastic. Sonya has already been on one virtual exchange, she has hosted a virtual exchange. She has even coordinated two different round square conferences. All the exposure she gets from multiple people across the world--I think it’s really a great program.”
March Term
March Terms provide students with the opportunity to focus on one subject area and delve deeper into it. Students are able to choose a field of interest and learn about it with hands-on activities and an interactive learning experience for a whole month.
Deepak says, “March term is very unique to Athenian. Though my children have never actually done a March term before, I know that it would allow students to explore their passion sometimes other than academics. I think that is really advantageous to a student.”
Sudheer states: “My kids never experienced it, but I think it’s a good program. Students can concentrate and learn a lot about one subject area. It’s important and helps build life skills.”
Srikanth shares: “March Term is really cool, although Sonya hasn’t really had an opportunity to participate in it yet. All the classes look really interesting, especially the Spanish immersion one. I think it’s really cool that students can practice their spanish constantly in an environment that fosters mistakes. It would really allow a kid to grow from all the mistakes they make and the Spanish setting would be perfect for my daughter to develop her Spanish-speaking skills. Yeah, it is really a cool program.”
AWE
The Athenian Wilderness Experience is a program that is completely, 100%, unique and authentic to Athenian. In AWE, juniors are sent on a 26-day backpacking trip in the wilderness with nothing but a small group of their peers, instructors, and a few supplies. More than any of the other programs at Athenian, AWE promotes students’ life skills and establishes a bond between students like no other.
Prathibha shares, “It develops confidence in kids. They come back knowing they can do so much more than what they ever really thought they could do. They learn how to face challenges and make solutions for their problems.”
Sudhathi Chichili shares, “AWE is awesome! I think that students mature a lot during AWE, and I think that it’s a very unique experience.”
Shanti says: “AWE seems really challenging to me. I don’t know how my children or other students are doing it. My daughter is rather apprehensive towards it just because it’s a lot of hiking and she hasn’t really done that before, but I think it’s a great experience for students to bond with one another.”
In Conclusion
It’s evident that The Athenian School has a great program; the South Asian parents, who are usually a tough group to impress, seem to love every aspect of it and are fully satisfied with sending their kids to such an incredible institution. Way to go Athenian!
International Cooking: Zephyr
Zephyr is a marshmallow-like sweet popular in many of the countries that formed the Soviet Union. It takes its name from the Greek god of the west wind thanks to its exceptionally light and fluffy texture, which is similar to marshmallows, but softer. Zephyr also includes eggs in its recipe, while marshmallows do not. It can be made with a variety of fruit flavors, including apple, blackberry, and cherry.
Graphic By Alekhya Maram
By Gianna Beltramo
Zephyr is a marshmallow-like sweet popular in many of the countries that formed the Soviet Union. It takes its name from the Greek god of the west wind thanks to its exceptionally light and fluffy texture, which is similar to marshmallows, but softer. Zephyr also includes eggs in its recipe, while marshmallows do not. It can be made with a variety of fruit flavors, including apple, blackberry, and cherry. Though its shape, achieved by a piping bag, closely resembles that of meringue, zephyr is not baked, nor does it have a crispy texture. Zephyr originates from pastila, a Russian dessert reportedly dating back to the 14th-century made from fruit paste. It was extremely popular in the Soviet Union, available in the majority of grocery stores. Fortunately, its popularity continues today, which means I get to try it!
When I say that this project was a mess, I mean it both literally and figuratively. (But mostly literally.) There was pink goop in places pink goop had never been. I had to wash kitchen tools that hadn’t even been used, because guess what? There was pink goop on them.
I gathered my tools, almost dropping a stand mixer on my foot in the process. There were two reasons for my decision to make blackberry-flavored zephyr: 1) apple-flavored things taste horrible, and 2) I wanted to eat the extra blackberries. I added the prescribed ½ cup of sugar to a saucepan, only to realize that I didn’t have enough for the rest of the recipe. When I’d looked over the ingredients list to see if I would need to buy anything, I glossed over the bits that listed “sugar,” because why wouldn’t we have sugar? I’m not exaggerating when I say that there is always at least one bag of it in the pantry, so of course today was the day that was not true.
And that is the story of how I sent my parents on a second grocery trip that day. Technically speaking, it was the third, because it turns out that agar-agar is not something available at even the fancy grocery stores.
The blackberry liquid smelled amazing, but since I was planning on giving these to people, I unfortunately couldn’t quadruple-dip like I normally do. (If you’re reading this and you’ve ever eaten my cooking, don’t worry. I swear I only do that with things I’m making for myself.) I put the bits that didn’t pass through the strainer in a separate bowl and ended up with a delightful bonus blackberry spread. That alone was a solid A in my books.
When it had finally (emphasis on finally) cooled, it was time to progress to the next step. This was when I discovered that there was a single egg in the fridge.
(See, this is what I’m talking about when I said that this endeavor was figuratively a mess.)
Fortunately, the recipe only called for one egg white. My family, newly returned from the grocery store, teased me, warning me not to mess it up. I hyped myself up, as the youngsters say: “Come on, I’ve got this. I can count the amount of yolks I’ve ever broken on one hand. Yeeeeeee HAWWWW! *flexes muscles*”
Naturally, I broke the yolk. (At least I was able to fish most of it out!)
You may be wondering if my non-school cooking experiences are this chaotic. I would answer that with a hard “no,” because (cliché warning) those ones are worse. And the sad thing? I’m not even joking. It’s horrible.
When I finally thought the worst of it was over, I immediately disproved that theory by once again proving to myself that I have no concept at all of how time works. The egg white and blackberry mixture were supposed to mix together for 8-10 minutes, but at the same time I was somehow expected to manage the preparation of an agar-agar (or rather, gelatin, because I couldn’t find the actual ingredient anywhere) syrup. I thought I’d allotted a reasonable amount of time to allow the mixture to boil, but apparently not, because that thing simply refused to boil. I cranked the burner up to speed the process, but then the saucepan was way too hot. I noted the smell of roasting marshmallows, which turned out to be the burning syrup attempting to permanently adhere itself to the side of the pan! Oh boy! (Doing the dishes was certainly not a pleasant experience.) I ended up passing off a couple of 30-second switches between “COOK, gosh darn it” and “oh my GOD STOP FROTHING OVER ALREADY” as “a low boil for five minutes.”
As someone who prides themself on their whipped cream, I was petrified of the idea of the egg-blackberry...thing...breaking (where it gets really clumpy, weird, and generally unappetizing). I was too stressed to even verify that meringue (or at least meringue-adjacent food items) could break, but post-cooking research has led me to believe that it’s a cream-specific phenomenon.
I should have whipped it for longer before adding the syrup, both because it would have given me more time to actually cook it, and because they ended up a little bit...melty...in comparison to the ones in the recipe. But then again, my mom was already really annoyed by how long the mixer had been on, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.
I should not be trusted with a piping bag. This is where the more literal use of the word “mess” comes into play; my hands were, quite frankly, coated in wretched pink goop. The amount of respect I have for cake decorators cannot be conveyed in words, because the things I managed to pipe out did not look terribly edible. The first ones more closely resembled Peeps than my reference photos, in all honesty. Even the simple act of refilling the bag was a disaster. So...sticky...I shudder even to recall it.
Even after all of that, the dishes were still the most unfortunate part. 20 minutes of soaking in hot, soapy water was still not enough to loosen the burnt-on wannabe marshmallow juice. No, I sat there and scrubbed. The bright side: at least I finally got to lick the whisk!
I’m never doing this again, I adamantly refuse. I think that if I had to, I would cry. It doesn’t matter how good they were, I shall not.
I later discovered that I had committed at least two major meringue(-adjacent) sins, with more up for debate: getting even the slightest hint of a yolk mixed in with the white, and not letting the egg come up to room temperature before incorporating it—in my defense, I already knew about this one and used it straight out of the fridge anyway because I do not fear the consequences of my actions, but the flavor was still impeccable. Heavenly, if I am to reference the mythological origins of their name.
All who sampled them bore words of praise. The blackberry flavor strengthened with time, and the insides remained very soft and vaguely sticky despite the leftovers having spent several days sitting uncovered on the counter. The powdered sugar coating resembles the firmer outside of a marshmallow, but better. They’re so much softer and lighter, and fruit flavored to boot! They are, however, quite sweet, something I didn’t pick up on as much as other people because for some reason I’m desensitized to sweet things. In my mind, the sugar level was perfect. I mean, if you’re going to eat something that is very definitely a dessert, it may as well be sweet.
Don’t do this if you hate scrubbing things for extended periods of time. Or just make someone else do the dishes and tell them they can have some zephyr as a reward.
International Cooking: Kue Lapis
Kue lapis is an Indonesian steamed layer cake, which it is also prepared in other Southeast Asian countries under various names. Unlike its baked form, kue lapis legit, the steamed version has a sticky, jelly-like texture and its numerous thin layers are often colorful as opposed to lapis legit’s more “natural” shades. The dish has its roots in 19th-century Dutch colonialism, with kue lapis legit being known as Spekkoek in the Netherlands (“spek” meaning bacon, and “koek” meaning cake, in reference to its brown-and-tan striped appearance)
Photo Taken By Gianna Beltramo
By Gianna Beltramo
Kue lapis is an Indonesian steamed layer cake, which it is also prepared in other Southeast Asian countries under various names. Unlike its baked form, kue lapis legit, the steamed version has a sticky, jelly-like texture and its numerous thin layers are often colorful as opposed to lapis legit’s more “natural” shades. The dish has its roots in 19th-century Dutch colonialism, with kue lapis legit being known as Spekkoek in the Netherlands (“spek” meaning bacon, and “koek” meaning cake, in reference to its brown-and-tan striped appearance). Kue lapis and kue lapis legit translate literally to “layer cake” and “sweet layer cake” respectively, though my mid-summer dabbling into the language of Indonesia is only enough to recognize the word “kue.” The faintly-sweet layers are peeled apart and eaten one at a time, made possible by the unique texture. Kue lapis is sold in shops and bakeries throughout the country, though it is also quite simple to prepare at home.
My cooking experience began with the mental gymnastics of trying to figure out how many tablespoons is equivalent to 0.268 cups—4.288, by the way—and other fun metric conversions. A split second after I’d poured the coconut milk, I realized that the measuring cup had a handy 300mL mark on the other side which would have proven much more efficient.
Still relatively unfazed by such measurements as “1 cup, 4 tablespoons, and ~1 teaspoon,” I added an amount of sugar that was nothing short of baffling, especially considering how not-sweet the final product is. Perhaps it says something about the world, that we are so used to heaps of sugar being a key component in every sort of food we eat that we don’t even taste it anymore. Or maybe I just don’t know how much sugar constitutes “a lot.” At any rate, the stirring-in of the tapioca starch created an unanticipated non-Newtonian fluid situation which required me to set aside my faithful plastic spoon in favor of the electric mixer. However, the resulting mixture of water, sugar, coconut milk, vanilla, and tapioca starch was a beige color that can only be described as “comforting.” (Something I seldom say about any shade of beige.) Both the starch and rice flour were extremely fine, and in closing the bags I caused quite the explosion.
The batter being mostly complete, I put more water than I thought I would need in the steamer I wasn’t sure we owned until 30 seconds before I started cooking, wrapped a towel around the lid (to prevent condensation dripping back onto the cake!), and turned the burner on high. Having never used a steamer before, I probably should have googled, or at least asked someone, how much water I was supposed to put in, but I guess I was more out of sorts than I thought I was: it didn’t so much as cross my mind to do either of those things.
For the entirety of the hour-and-a-half cooking time, I had no idea how much water was in the steamer, because all the holes were covered by the cake pan, but it wouldn’t have really changed much since I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing it right anyway. There was also the age-old question of how high the burner was supposed to be, another very easily answered question that I didn’t even think to look up. Cooking activates my fight-or-flight response, it would seem, except I don’t fight or flee, I just run around silently screaming pretending everything is fine.
I’d read that red, white, and green were typical layer colors for kue lapis, though I’d seen a vast number of color combinations, which is a good thing considering the “red” food coloring turned out to be purple. Oops.
The cooking process was very stressful and hands-on, since I had to pour in a new layer every couple of minutes and was pretty much constantly stirring, measuring, or rinsing something. I was so focused on not trying to mess something up that I kept forgetting to take pictures, but naturally things managed to go wrong anyway. While the previous layers had all cooked in the amount of time dictated by the recipe, layer four was still too sticky. I let it cook for several minutes, to no avail. I added water! I turned up the burner! Eventually I just poured in the next layer, which was still pure liquid after ten minutes. In retrospect, I was definitely way too exhausted to be cooking, because for some reason I thought it would be a cool idea to add layer 6 despite layer 5 being little more than colorful lukewarm milk water. So...they mixed together. As liquid does. However, I sorted things out with an award-worthy amount of improvisation which really only amounted to me sitting in the kitchen and waiting for it to solidify while my mother gave me a worried look every couple of seconds. By the last layer (7, because that’s all I could fit in the pan), things were back to normal.
When I took it out of the pan, it was incredibly sticky—so much so that the side got stuck to the plate I was trying to put it on and I had to rip off a chunk to get it to unstick—but a night in the refrigerator helped that. The layers also became much more vibrant and distinguishable, and while it’s certainly not perfect as any of the images on the internet, it’s a passable first attempt.
When you first bite into it, it doesn’t taste like much; the first noticeable thing is the texture, which is similar to Jello from an alternate dimension. The “cake” part is more noticeable in the later layers, when bits of flour and starch have started to settle at the bottom of the mixing bowl. After a couple of seconds, the vanilla flavor becomes more apparent, though it is still quite subtle compared to the more typical baked vanilla cakes most of us are familiar with. There is also a hint of something else that might be the coconut milk, though that could just be because I knew there was coconut milk in the recipe and was therefore that flavor. Ambiguously-psychosomatic coconut. The sugar, as I mentioned previously, was extremely subtle.
It is stretchy without being chewy; many recipes I read recommended peeling back the layers and eating them one by one, which I was able to do without breaking any layers even though they were a bit hard to separate due to how very sticky they were. I tried cutting it into a “cake” slice and into strips which made it look like colorful rainbow cake bacon, and the bacon style was definitely the superior of the two. It was much easier to peel and a lot of fun to do so.
Was it stressful? Yes. Was eating it fun? Yes. Did it take forever? It depends on one’s definition of “forever,” but for me that’s anywhere longer than an hour and a half, so: yes. I liked the texture a lot, and the layers were gorgeous, but I prefer my desserts with more flavor. I probably wouldn’t do it again, but it was an interesting way to spend an evening at home.
Leaving Athenian — Our Hopes for the Future Pillar
Real journalism is uncomfortable, messy, and often exhausting––it forces us to reckon with all sides of the issue at hand. A good piece will never leave everyone feeling happy. Rather, it engenders a diversity of opinions, sparking discourse and maybe even conflict. On a school campus that strives to prioritize equity and egalitarianism, it is imperative that we protect student voice and never shy away from hard topics, even in the face of backlash or pressure.
Ultimately, The Pillar is crucial not only as a space to hone one’s writing abilities, but allows passionate and enterprising students to push the boundaries of what we consider “safe,” while simultaneously striving to uphold the truth.
Graphic Credit: Alekhya Maram
By Alekhya Maram and Anna Ravid
For the past year, we have had the incredible pleasure to helm The Pillar as Editor in Chief and Managing Editor. In an unconventional year, despite many limitations, we hope to have left our mark on the journalism community here at Athenian.
Assuming the mantle of Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor during this unprecedented time (as it is oft-described in the news) was overwhelming. Due to coronavirus, our formerly print paper had to transition to an online format. We had to design a new publishing schedule to accommodate the online format, set up a website, offer office hours, plan lessons on journalistic writing and current events, and try to foster a sense of community over Zoom.
While we knew that this transition would pose enormous challenges, we also saw an opportunity for change. We were happy to introduce new opportunities for flexibility and discretion within the class. The online format allowed our team to experiment with a wide range of mediums and styles: we had weekly cooking columns, digital concert reviews, and podcasts centered around everything from sustainability to mental health.
Our greatest challenge was realizing a longstanding goal of The Pillar, creating our own website. We began the year as novices at web-design; our many painstaking hours learning how to feature posts, credit photography and organize the sections yielded a modest result for our first edition. But as time passed, and we continued to experiment, the website took shape and has now become an essential component of the Journalism program. In future years, we hope that this year’s website will be a foundation on which The Pillar’s online presence can grow.
As underclassmen, serving as staff writers on The Pillar was entirely different. Our first project together was in sophmore year, writing a series of articles investigating Athenian’s old community garden. Speaking to John Harvey, we learned about Athenian’s hydroponics systems, and chickens that had disappeared from campus during the masterplan construction. Furthermore, we went on to interview Amy Wintermeyer to get an administrative perspective on student efforts to revive the garden. While Athenian has yet to install a sexy garden, we hope our series made the community aware of a little known, yet fascinating corner of Athenian history.
Rather than sitting stagnantly in our Zoom boxes, during layout week, the entire staff would pile into the David-Ruenzel room in the library: a small, dusty room crowded with monitors and papered with old Pillar editions. Armed with an abundance of highlighters and red pens, the entire staff would proofread and initial each sheet of the paper. Each edition, the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor would take on the dreaded task of arranging the ‘jumps’ page, containing the continuations of articles from every section. We can safely say that we were very glad to escape editing the jumps this year.
Though the two of us are leaving Athenian, we want to ensure that The Pillar remains a platform dedicated to uplifting student voices. We hope students are encouraged to explore their passions, whether they be about environmental justice, space travel, racial equality, or international cooking. We also encourage them to delve into unknown topics, and to ensure their articles are balanced, truthful, and uphold journalistic integrity. In our time on The Pillar, we hope we pushed students to consider how journalism can be used to truthfully and transparently highlight the things that they care about.
Real journalism is uncomfortable, messy, and often exhausting––it forces us to reckon with all sides of the issue at hand. A good piece will never leave everyone feeling happy. Rather, it engenders a diversity of opinions, sparking discourse and maybe even conflict. On a school campus that strives to prioritize equity and egalitarianism, it is imperative that we protect student voice and never shy away from hard topics, even in the face of backlash or pressure.
Ultimately, The Pillar is crucial not only as a space to hone one’s writing abilities, but allows passionate and enterprising students to push the boundaries of what we consider “safe,” while simultaneously striving to uphold the truth.
Reflections On a Pre-pandemic Athenian
During the 2020-2021 school year, a typical day on the Athenian campus consists of masked students wearing name tags which are subtly tucked under sweatshirts or into dark pockets of backpacks, conversations attempted (and many sentences repeated) from six feet apart, and the breathtaking view of the new modular classes placed haphazardly on East Lawn, as well as the mountains obscured behind them.
Graphic By Alekhya Maram
By Ilah Ross
During the 2020-2021 school year, a typical day on the Athenian campus consists of masked students wearing name tags which are subtly tucked under sweatshirts or into dark pockets of backpacks, conversations attempted (and many sentences repeated) from six feet apart, and the breathtaking view of the new modular classes placed haphazardly on East Lawn, as well as the mountains obscured behind them.
Though this picture of in-person learning may sound grim, I am the last person to complain about the immense privilege we have as Athenians to be back in person while most California high school students remain online. However, as this unusual and unprecedented school year comes to a close, I feel that it would be fitting to reflect on all that the community misses about our school.
Whether it’s a favorite meal, a staple Athenian tradition, or a class rite-of-passage, most students have an opinion on the topic of what they miss about our school. For Milan Boga, a sophomore at Athenian, it’s the regular sports seasons that he misses most.
“I really miss the normal basketball season,” Boga said. “I miss going to away games on the bus with the whole team and also bonding with my teammates at the practices.”
Although Athenian was able to offer sports clinics throughout the school year, and in some cases, a short competitive season, Boga’s account confirms that many students miss their full density sports team, and the community that comes along with it.
For the freshman class, however, many students feel the loss of much more than their favorite sports season at Athenian.
“Since my first day at Athenian in sixth grade, the Point Reyes trip, a rite of passage in the Athenian community, was something we all looked forward to,” noted Miriam Moyes, a freshman at Athenian. “When I found out it was cancelled I was so sad that I wouldn’t get the chance to meet my new classmates, but I was even more sorry that the new kids wouldn’t have a chance to meet anybody before they were sent into an entirely new environment.”
Bella Vukelich, an Athenian junior, recalls a simpler time at Athenian, where advisory meetings were not held online and sandwiched between countless Zoom calls, but rather, in an in-person and informal format.
“One thing I really miss is how advisory used to be,” Vukelich said. “We would all sit in a circle, eat snacks, and just talk about the week. Although we still do have advisory now, I really miss being able to have those fun weekly meetings.”
Another student, Allie Girzadas (class of ‘23), reflected on what, for her, is an incredibly meaningful aspect of Athenian: the performances in the CFTA.
“After only getting to perform once in the CFTA last year, I really miss the excitement in the hallway before performing, the pre-show dinners in the main hall, and supporting all my friends while they perform,” Girzadas explained.
Many students at Athenian miss the comfortable and community-based atmosphere which normally meets us as we walk into school, but as this bizarre school year comes to an end and we prepare for the next, the overall sentiment among students is hopeful.
“Obviously with COVID this year, it has been challenging to connect as a community,” Girzadas said, “but I am hopeful that next year we will get to experience the old Athenian again.”
Risks Posed by Extreme Consumption of Matcha
Matcha and green tea are often advertised as health beverages with many benefits including the following: weight loss, fighting cancer, protecting the liver, eliminating fat from the body, etc. But how much of this information is accurate?
Photo Credit: Anna Pustynnikova / Shutterstock.com
By Savonnah Wong
Matcha and green tea are often advertised as health beverages with many benefits including the following: weight loss, fighting cancer, protecting the liver, eliminating fat from the body, etc. But how much of this information is accurate?
Few consumers are aware of the health risks posed by aluminum, fluoride, fluoroacetate, and many other contents in tea. For example, a simple switch between drinking matcha or green tea results in a drastic change in fluoride intake. Because green tea is usually imbibed in the form of brewed tea leaves in a teabag and matcha consists of ground tea leaves in a powdered form, it is far less concentrated than matcha. Thus, the amount of fluoride in matcha is about triple the amount of fluoride in brewed tea. Given the rise in the consumption of black tea, green tea, and matcha, it is important to be conscious of the possible negatives that come from overconsumption, especially considering the fluoride concentration in these drinks.
“There are two types of fluorosis,” explained Katherine Papastephanou, anatomy and physiology teacher at The Athenian School. “Dental fluorosis, which affects the teeth, and then skeletal fluorosis which affects the bones. In both cases, it is caused by higher levels of fluoride, and if they are just a little bit higher, it again causes visual differences on the teeth, and then if they get higher and higher, then it can cause more damage.”
If a person consumes more than the adequate intake recommended by age, “which is typically between 0.4 to about 0.7 mg per day” they can suffer from various illnesses such as fluorosis or endemic fluorosis, osteofluorosis, Papastephanou noted.
Black tea and green tea leaves have been reported to have the highest fluoride concentration of any vegetation. Fluoride is a Schedule 6 Poison according to the Australian Government’s Department of Health and can be lethal if consumed at more than 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
However, there are some possible pros to fluoride if consumed in moderation.
“Fluoride works to reduce the prevalence and severity of dental caries that require restorative dental care, in pre-eruptive, posteruptive, systemic, and topical situations,” explained Dr. Howard Pollick, a full-time clinical professor in the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences of the School of Dentistry at the University of California San Francisco.
“Most people in the U.S. show no signs of fluorosis. There are varying degrees of dental (enamel) fluorosis, ranging from none (most persons in the U.S.) to very mild, mild, moderate and severe. Dental fluorosis occurs from the exposure of high levels of fluoride during tooth development and is apparent by the way teeth look when they come into the mouth [...] Swallowing too much fluoride toothpaste by young children on a regular basis may also contribute to lesser forms of dental fluorosis, so parents/guardians are recommended to supervise their young children when toothbrushing and apply small amounts of toothpaste,” added Pollick.
“Fluoride is present in nearly all foods and beverages to a varying extent. Usually, most fluoride is consumed in water depending on the fluoride concentration of the drinking water,” says Pollick.
In green tea, the tea leaves absorb fluoride present in the soil. As matcha is ground-up tea leaves, the fluoride level in a serving of matcha is much higher than that of the same serving of green tea.
“The National Fluoride Database shows the different concentrations of fluoride in different teas, which varies from 0.13 ppm(mg/L) (herbal, chamomile, brewed tea) to about 900 ppm (instant, powder, unsweetened unbrewed tea),” noted Pollick. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends about 0.7 ppm of fluoride daily.
It is also important to keep in mind that water facilities fluoridate our drinking water “to adjust the already existing fluoride level to 0.7 mg/L or parts per million, which is the current recommendation by the US Public Health Service for prevention of tooth decay on a community-wide basis.” Thus, it is very easy to consume excessive amounts of fluoride per day since “fluoride is a naturally occurring ion of the element fluorine that is ubiquitous and fluoride is present in nearly all foods and beverages to a varying extent. [And] usually, most fluoride is consumed in water depending on the fluoride concentration of the drinking water,” stated Pollick.
For daily tea consumers, the key is to “drink in moderation and not to excess,” advised Pollick, for “there have been reports of individuals who have consumed excessive amounts of tea over many years who developed skeletal fluorosis. One person drank 10 to 16 cups of black tea daily, with an estimated fluoride intake of 13 mg/day; another admitted to consuming excessive amounts of iced tea (30 to 40 eight-ounce glasses of tea/day) for about 30 years, with an estimated daily fluoride intake of 14 mg/day.”
Because tea contains high levels of fluoride, it’s best to drink brewed black or green tea and to avoid tea powder altogether. Although five cups of tea per day would still be within the bounds of the concentration of daily fluoride intake, it is important to consider these facts the next time you brew a cup of tea.
The United States in Afghanistan: A Historical Perspective
On September 11, 2001, grief and despair swept the United States following the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. Unfortunately, the tragedy would not end there; after this devastating disaster, the United States would engage in conflicts within Afghanistan that would span over two decades. However, the United States long-waged war against terrorism in the Middle East may soon come to a close, with President Biden announcing plans to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021— the twentieth anniversary of the catastrophe that shook the world.
Photo Credit: GoodAndy45/Shutterstock.com
By Adam Tufts
On September 11, 2001, grief and despair swept the United States following the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. Unfortunately, the tragedy would not end there; after this devastating disaster, the United States would engage in conflicts within Afghanistan that would span over two decades. However, the United States long-waged war against terrorism in the Middle East may soon come to a close, with President Biden announcing plans to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021— the twentieth anniversary of the catastrophe that shook the world.
After the two commercial airliners struck the Twin Towers in New York City and killed almost 3,000 individuals, Americans were enraged and sought justice. The United States directed this unifying feeling of anguish and frustration towards combating the perpetrators of the attack. These assailants operated under the name of Al-Qaeda, a terrorist group led by Osama Bin Laden who was protected by the Taliban, Afghanistan’s ruling faction. Less than a month after the attack, the United States began bombing raids in Afghanistan.
“These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime,” said President Bush in an October 7, 2001 address following several strikes against military installations and communication centers in Afghanistan.
By the end of 2001, the Taliban had largely been driven from power, despite Osama bin Laden having managed to evade capture. For the next two years an interim government was established, prominently led by the Northern Alliance, a group of major Afghan factions. President Bush and the United Nations Security Council spearheaded efforts to instill governmental order in Afghan society.
“By helping to build an Afghanistan that is free from this evil and is a better place in which to live, we are working in the best traditions of George Marshall,” said President Bush in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute, evoking the post-World War II Marshall Plan that revived Western Europe.
Then, in January of 2004 a delegation of 502 Afghans drafted a new constitution for Afghanistan, creating a strong presidential system intended to unite the country’s diverse ethnic groups. In the period between 2004 and 2006 a series of elections were conducted to concretize the democratic advancements made in the Afghani political sphere.
Despite a string of successful elections, in the summer of 2006 the Taliban waged a violent resurgence, periodically bombing and creating chaos in the otherwise peaceful society. In the face of this national strife that pervaded Afghanistan, Bush pushed an interventionist agenda until the final days of his presidency, characterizing the United States as an international disciplinarian.
2008 brought regime change in Washington D.C., with newly elected President Barack Obama promising to bring American troops home from Afghanistan. Despite his campaign promise to retract most American soldiers from Afghanistan by 2011, he instead recommits to the anti-terrorism efforts being led in Afghanistan. As of January 2009, the Pentagon had 37,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. Particularly in his first term, Obama continued developing the United States’ reputation as a global humanitarian, in a strikingly similar manner to Bush.
In May 2011, almost a decade into the Afghanistan war, American troops managed to assassinate Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in a Pakistani compound. Osama bin Laden’s death fueled a long-simmering debate about continuing the Afghanistan war. As tensions climaxed in both the United States and in Afghanistan, Obama prepared to announce the withdrawal of most, if not all, of the thirty-thousand surge troops positioned in Afghanistan in July. His efforts, however, were questioned by congressional lawmakers who continued to puzzle over whether or not military engagement in the Middle East should be continued.
Periodic and violent outbreaks led by Taliban militants influenced Obama to maintain the American military presence in Afghanistan. On May 27, 2014 Obama finally announced an official timetable for withdrawing most U.S. forces from Afghanistan by 2016. The plan failed to come to full fruition and most troops remained in Afghanistan, with a few thousand managing to return to the United States.
President Trump’s election in 2016 ushered in a new era of international policy. Differentiating his policy from Obama’s, Trump said decisions about withdrawal will be based on “conditions on the ground,” rather than arbitrary timelines. He hoped to remove as many Americans from Afghanistan as possible, while still preventing a vacuum of governmental control, in which terrorist operations thrive.
Throughout his presidency Trump more or less kept true to his campaign promises, at least in regards to international policy, and retracted most of the surge troops stationed in Afghanistan. By 2020 only a few thousand Americans were still deployed in Afghanistan. Trump invigorated nationalist and isolationist sentiments that had largely been dormant over the past two presidencies. He advocated for “America first” policies that disincentivized international humanitarian aid, in favor of promoting the American economy.
Now, as the United States readjusts to a Biden presidency, Americans are left wondering: what does this mean for the Afghanistan conflicts? Fortunately, Biden has explicitly expressed how he hopes to withdraw all American surge troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. The details of his plan remain unclear; however, considering the United States’ heavy involvement in Afghani politics since 2001, this policy move is likely to mark a momentous transition in American international affairs. While Biden’s agenda is littered with both interventionist and isolationist elements, his main goal is to reframe the United States’ image on the geopolitical stage. Thus, while the American public and presidencies have difficulties compromising on specific international policy moves, one thing remains certain: Americans are eager for violence to end, no matter where the violence takes place.
Short Stories to Keep You Occupied this Summer
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not the biggest fan of Hemingway as a person, but you can’t deny that he sure knew how to write a good story. I initially encountered “The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio” while reading through a copy of The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and Other Stories. The story itself wasn’t what drew me to the collection, but it sure ended up being the most enjoyable read of the entire book
Photo Credit: vipman / Shutterstock.com
By Kati Wilkes
The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio by Ernest Hemingway (1933):
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not the biggest fan of Hemingway as a person, but you can’t deny that he sure knew how to write a good story. I initially encountered “The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio” while reading through a copy of The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and Other Stories. The story itself wasn’t what drew me to the collection, but it sure ended up being the most enjoyable read of the entire book. “The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio” follows a gambler named Cayetano who, after being shot, is recovering alone in a hospital. As the title suggests, during his stay at said hospital he crosses paths with a slew of nuns, as well as a small group of musicians who are brought in to lift his spirits. The story itself is told mainly through rather simplistic dialogue and doesn’t, at least on a surface level, seem to be all too complex. While I’m not usually the biggest fan of straight forward dialogue, Hemingway manages to weave in not only humor but also thought-provoking questions that make this read both digestible and, if I do say so myself, rather fun. If you aren’t necessarily an avid reader and don’t want to be bogged down by the minutiae of overly-complex storytelling and character development, this short story is certainly for you!
Track by Nicole Flattery (2017):
This short story ended up winning the White Review short story prize back in 2017, so it came as no surprise to me that I enjoyed this seemingly deadpan narrative about a young woman struggling through an abusive relationship and working, albeit failing, to stay afloat in a big city. What really set this story apart for me was the writing style itself and how it managed to convey both humor and this strong sense of pain that the main character was dealing with. I’d certainly suggest this to someone looking for something a bit longer (and more serious) to read that has a modern and more familiar setting.
Three Thanksgivings by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1909):
If the name Charlotte Perkins Gilman rings a bell, there’s a good chance you may have encountered her immensely popular short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. While I’m certainly a fan of Gilman’s brilliant feminist work in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” I thought I might also plug one of her lesser known works: “Three Thanksgivings”. The story follows Delia, the daughter of a late senator and the widow of a minister, who is faced with a dilemma. She is unable to pay the mortgage on her family home, so she either needs to sell it, find a way to pay it herself, or marry Mr. Peter Butts, who holds the home mortgage. Her solution is to open a women's club at the home and charge a membership fee in order to make a profit, and hopefully keep possession of the house. Much like “The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio,” this story has a fairly straightforward plot and narration style, which makes it a great read for anyone who doesn’t feel up to the challenge of a more traditional (and most likely convoluted) read.
The Veldt by Ray Bradbury (1950):
Veldt is defined by Miriam Webster dictionary as, “a grassland especially of Southern Africa usually with scattered shrubs or trees.” A logical next thought would be that this short story takes place in just that, a veldt. Without spoiling all too much, let me just tell you that this story does in fact take place in a veldt, just not at all in the way you think it will!
The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank Stockton (1882):
“The Lady, or the Tiger” is certainly the oldest (and least enjoyed by me) story on this list, hence its placement at the bottom. Don’t get me wrong, this story is a classic for a reason, it just personally wasn’t to my liking. “The Lady, or the Tiger” follows a man accused of a crime against the mythical king. He must choose between two doors in a public area as his form of punishment; behind one door is a beautiful woman and behind the other is a tiger ready to kill the man. Though this story does have a rather whimsical undertone because of the time period and style it’s written in, the narrative itself isn’t all that interesting and is more along the lines of a moral dilemma or thought experiment that is meant to provoke thought or spark conversation. If you do end up reading this short story, I’d suggest partnering up with a friend and tackling it together so that you’ll have someone to bounce ideas off and discuss the story with!
Sexual Assault Allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo
In recent months, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has faced several sexual harassment allegations, notably from employees from his office, including Alyssa McGrath. She is one of five current and former aides of Cuomo to accuse him of sexual harassment. Although disturbing, accusations of sexual misconduct among people in the government and people who wield immense influence in general is far from unprecedented.
Photo Credit: lev radin/shutterstock.com
By Allison Chabala
In recent months, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has faced several sexual harassment allegations, notably from employees from his office, including Alyssa McGrath. She is one of five current and former aides of Cuomo to accuse him of sexual harassment. Although disturbing, accusations of sexual misconduct among people in the government and people who wield immense influence in general is far from unprecedented.
McGrath elaborated her experiences with Gov. Cuomo, and shared reports of his behavior, which included remarks about her looks, as well as suggestive comments and nicknames. Contributions from other employees regarding their experiences suggest that this behavior is ubiquitous in the workplace.
According to a Siena College Research Institute survey of 801 New York voters that was cited in an article by The Wall Street Journal, 51% of participants said that Cuomo shouldn’t resign, while 35% responded with an opinion to the contrary. However, 57% of respondents said that they would not vote for him in the next election. Another reason that this latter statistic was not in Cuomo’s favor may be because he has already been the governor of New York since 2011, and although there is no limit in the State of New York as to how many terms a governor may serve, the citizens of New York may desire a new voice.
Additionally, another poll from Data for Progress of 484 New York voters showed that 58% of respondents expressed that Cuomo should resign. These two polls indicate the immense contentious nature of this topic.
Do Governor Cuomo’s actions justify the calls for his resignation?
According to The Nation, which calls for his resignation, over 120 lawmakers in the State of New York have called for his resignation. The Nation argues that Cuomo has abused his power multiple times, lost the trust of the citizens and the government, and states that his actions of incompetence have preceded the numerous claims of sexual harassment against him.
In January, New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, claimed that Cuomo had intentionally falsely reported the number of deaths due to COVID-19. In March of 2020, Cuomo enforced a policy that “ordered nursing homes to take back residents who had been discharged from hospitals after being treated for Covid-19,” according to The New York Times. The intention was to prevent hospitals from being overcrowded. However, at the time, the coronavirus death toll for nursing home patients in New York only included patients who died inside of the nursing home establishments. This led to an undercounting of coronavirus deaths of nursing home patients. A report that was later published by the Health Department stated that the undercounting was by about 50%.
Cuomo soon corrected the number, and attempted to justify his actions by saying that he was trying to avoid scrutiny of the Trump Administration. This is yet another example of the politicization of the coronavirus by political officials
Rolling out the Vaccine: Athenian Employees and Bay Area Residents Become Immunized
As well as state guidelines, numerous individuals experience the same desires to continue safety protocols even after vaccination as well. One participant in the Pfizer stage 3 vaccination trial, Jamie Jefferson, shared her hesitations: “I felt a huge amount of relief when I got the second vaccine. I felt like we were turning a corner. But I haven't changed my behavior at all. You get used to being a certain way and having certain fears it's sort of hard to [change that now]. So even though it felt really good psychologically I don't feel fully protected yet.”
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/BaLL LunLa
By Noelle Woodward
As COVID-19 vaccines have begun to be consistently distributed in the surrounding community, many local Bay Area residents and Athenian faculty are left asking when they will receive the vaccine themselves, and how it will affect current safety protocols.
California counties have begun the transition from phase 1A, which includes vaccinating health care workers and nursing home residents, to phase 1B. In addition to residents 65 and over, as well as certain essential workers and first responders, educators are now amongst those that are eligible to receive the vaccine.
While this means many Athenian faculty and teachers have begun to receive vaccinations already, the wait for students to be vaccinated will last at least through Summer 2021, likely causing current safety protocols to remain in place throughout the extent of the school year.
For the Athenian school, this means continued use of “five principal areas: distancing, personal hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, medical screening, and ventilation assessment,” said Madeleine Rebullida, an industrial hygienist and health and safety consultant for the Athenian school.
And while some risks may begin to alleviate as vaccinations are distributed, the most important COVID-19 dangers to combat include, “people being unmasked eating indoors, having unsupportive ventilation, or mechanical ventilation, [and] people wearing their mask down below their nose,” said Rebullida. However, these risks can be easily avoided through masking, social distancing, and proper ventilation.
Until the state reaches herd immunity, (vaccinations for around 70-80 percent of the population), many of these guidelines, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, will remain in place throughout the state of California, as well.
As well as state guidelines, numerous individuals experience the same desires to continue safety protocols even after vaccination as well. One participant in the Pfizer stage 3 vaccination trial, Jamie Jefferson, shared her hesitations: “I felt a huge amount of relief when I got the second vaccine. I felt like we were turning a corner. But I haven't changed my behavior at all. You get used to being a certain way and having certain fears it's sort of hard to [change that now]. So even though it felt really good psychologically I don't feel fully protected yet.”
Although both the Pfizer and Moderna trials yielded promising 95 percent effectivity results, the dividing line between implementing and ceasing safety guidelines in response to immunity levels is still a murky one, with many experts still unsure when and how to effectively transition into a post-COVID-19 life.
Gamestop and Social Media’s Powerful Influence on the Stock Market
From early January to early February of 2021, top hedge funds including Melvin Capital and Maplelane capital lost more than three and a half billion dollars shorting Gamestop stock. The world of finance was not only shocked by the downfall of these major hedge funds, but who was behind them: an army of recreational Reddit investors. Historically, trading stocks in WallStreet was only available to the richest in America, but with the rise of technology and the internet trading stocks became accessible to the average person. Reddit investors are investors on the social media platform Reddit. On average, Reddit users have very little money compared to investors working on WallStreet.
Photo Credit: shutterstock.com/TY Lim
By Zachary McGraw
From early January to early February of 2021, top hedge funds including Melvin Capital and Maplelane capital lost more than three and a half billion dollars shorting Gamestop stock. The world of finance was not only shocked by the downfall of these major hedge funds, but who was behind them: an army of recreational Reddit investors. Historically, trading stocks in WallStreet was only available to the richest in America, but with the rise of technology and the internet trading stocks became accessible to the average person. Reddit investors are investors on the social media platform Reddit. On average, Reddit users have very little money compared to investors working on WallStreet.
In early 2020 major hedge funds started shorting Gamestop, which is essentially betting against a company in hopes that it fails. When a hedge fund shorts a stock they lend a stock from a broker, sell it to someone else and buy back the stock when it's at a lower price, gaining money in the difference from which they sold the stock to another person. The hedge funds believed Gamestop, an electronic and video game retail company, was overvalued. Amateur day traders and members of the WallStreetBets Reddit community saw how much hedge funds were betting against Gamestop and came to the conclusion that it had become undervalued. The strength of the Reddit investors together turned out to be too powerful for the hedge funds as the stock did not lose value and many Reddit users cashed in thousands, and millions of dollars for investing against the hedge funds shorting game stop.
Many see this as a turning point in Wall Street as investing is finally going mainstream for the common people; Jason Holt, a tech venture capitalist said, “the rise of social media has changed Wall Street because now the average person has access to the tools of the top investors and can play the same game as the investors that they would not have been able to twenty or thirty years ago.” Melvin Capital and Mapalene ended up getting out of the stock, a win for the “little guys” who usually end up paying for the risky and often corrupt moves made by these elite corporations. Yet, this situation still proved that the game was stacked against the common man, as Robinhood, an investing platform, closed buying Gamestop in an attempt to help the hedge funds that invest in them.
Bennet Leary an Athenian student said, “It's ironic that these hedge funds have been doing this type of stuff forever but when regular people band up and play by the same rules they complain and say it's unfair and the whole system shuts down.”
The facts back up Bennet Leary’s claim; in the past the government has consistently bailed out top banks in times of financial crises started by those same banks. Many Reddit investors grew up during the 2008 recession and were exposed to the crimes committed by Wall Street banks and the clear revolving door between top members of the government and Wall Street. Biden’s Treasury Secretary Jannet Yellen is even on the hedge fund Citadel’s payroll.
Others believe that we are diving into a dangerous territory where amateur investors are getting into areas that they do not fully understand. Jack Lucas, student at Athenian and a member of the Reddit community pointed out, “While I think it is refreshing that normal people finally won, I think it is dangerous to artificially inflate stocks no matter who you are.”
While some made millions investing in Gamestop, there were just as many losers; many amateur investors who followed the crowd lost their entire life savings. The stock market wasn’t supposed to behave like this and now many avid investors will be looking to the government to see how they respond to this. The government might choose to put more regulations on the stock market to ensure no one can do this again or they will take regulations down in hope of a more equal playing field.
How Much Do You Know About Thai Cuisine?
When it comes to Thai food, it’s hard not to think about its fresh herbal and spicy flavors. Unlike other foods that may only consist of a few flavors, Thai food consists of four flavors: salty, spicy, sour, and sweet. All of these flavors add more dimension to your meal and make it more interesting.
By Pow Vachirajindakul
Balance
When it comes to Thai food, it’s hard not to think about its fresh herbal and spicy flavors. Unlike other foods that may only consist of a few flavors, Thai food consists of four flavors: salty, spicy, sour, and sweet. All of these flavors add more dimension to your meal and make it more interesting.
More than what you see at the restaurants
After having been to many Thai restaurants around the Bay Area, I realized that the food served in Thai restaurants here comprises only a small fraction of Thai cuisine. Most of these dishes, such as Tom Yum soup (spicy and sour soup), Pad Thai (Thai style stir-fried noodle), and Tom Kha Soup (Thai spicy and sour coconut soup), come from the central region.
In fact, in Thailand, food is divided into four regions based on different geography and climates. I would like to introduce you to three other regional Thai cuisines that you may be less familiar with: northern, southern, and north-eastern.
The Northern Cuisine
Let’s start with my home region, northern Thailand. Being in a mountainous area, the rainy climate is suitable for growing herbs and vegetables. Thus, Thai northern cuisine includes a lot of vegetables in their dishes and on the side.
People in this region eat a lot of Nam Prik—a small bowl of dip that is served alongside the main dish, usually for boiled and uncooked vegetables like pumpkin, carrots, and cucumber. The most renowned kind of Nam Prik is Nam Prik Noom, a green chili dip sauce made from pounded roasted green chili and garlic. Another one, my favorite, is Nam Prik Ong, a mild sweet and spicy tomato-based sauce, stir-fried with minced pork. If you come to Northern Thailand, you must also try Sai Oua, a grilled Thai Northern sausage that is made from pork and packed with herbal flavors and scent. Another regional favorite is Khao Soi, which is a Thai coconut curry noodle soup, topped with a sprinkle of fried crispy noodles.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock - Nam Prik Noom
In North-Eastern Cuisine
In the north-eastern region of Thailand, the taste of food is primarily sour and spicy. People in this region usually eat sticky rice instead of jasmine rice. The most famous dishes in this region are Som Tum (shredded green papaya salad), Larb (Thai meat salad flavored with fish sauce, chili flakes, lime juice, and toasted rice flakes, which add the crunchy texture to the dish), and Sai krok Isan (pork and rice sausage).
Photo Credit: Shutterstock - Larb
Southern Cuisine
Heading down from Bangkok is the Southern part of Thailand, the location of some of the most beautiful and famous beaches in the world. Food in this region is the most flavorful and hottest compared to other regions. The most renowned dishes in this region are Pad Sataw stir-fried with a stink bean(a local plant) and Khao Mok Gai (turmeric rice with chicken). Another dish you can’t miss out is Kaeng Tai pla, a thick fish curry consisting of eggplants, bamboo shoots, and string beans.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock - Kaeng Tai Pla
No Fixed Rules
In Thailand, there is no fixed rule when it comes to food. Not all Thai food is 100% Thai. Thai food has always been influenced and developed through the emergence of new ingredients and spices over time, since colonization. Even today, Thai food still continues to develop, which is part of its glamor. Thai food is not limited to the dishes themselves, but is instead the combination of a balance of four flavors(sweet, salty, spicy, and sour), Thai herbs, and cooking techniques including Tom(boiling), Yum(mixing), Tum(pounded), Geang(currying).
If you visit Thailand, you’ll be surprised to see interesting Thai fusion dishes that you won’t see elsewhere. Having grown up in Thailand, one of my all-time favorites is Tom Yum noodles, Chinese noodles soup with Thai Tom Yum soup. Unlike clear soup broth, Tom Yum noodles include all flavors: spicy, salty, sour, and sweet, as well as a herbal scent and taste to it. Another a Thai fusion dish is Pad Kee Mao (also known as drunken noodle), influenced by a Chinese stir-fried noodle. However, in this dish, Thai people added chili, Thai sweet basil, and pepper to make it more compatible with Thai taste.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock - Tom Yum noodle
Meet Francine Shirvani
“I love to teach, I love French, and the kids,” Shirvani said. “I love teenagers, which, some of my friends, they say, ‘you’re crazy’—no! They’re great!”
Despite this, before coming to Athenian, Shirvani had actually retired from teaching.
Photo Credit: Zoey Patterson
By Zoey Patterson
Francine Shirvani is the second of two new French teachers at Athenian to be reported on here. She’s teaching French 3 and AP French. While she speaks French natively, she began teaching it out of pure happenstance.
“To become a citizen, they said...they needed language teachers,” Shirvani said. “So I decided, okay, I’ll teach French for a year until I get my green card.”
However, Shirvani wound up teaching French for much longer than a year.
“I love to teach, I love French, and the kids,” Shirvani said. “I love teenagers, which, some of my friends, they say, ‘you’re crazy’—no! They’re great!”
Despite this, before coming to Athenian, Shirvani had actually retired from teaching.
“I did College Board stuff, you know, corrected APs, taught teachers, and I thought, you know, I miss the classroom, I miss the kids,” Shirvani said.
Distance learning has thrown a bit of a wrench in Shirvani’s plans to return to teaching.
“I’m completely new to this Zoom thing and all this technology, although I do love technology,” Shirvani said.
In addition to technology and teaching, Shirvani has a multitude of other interests.
“I love to swim, so if I don’t swim, I am a basket case,” Shirvani said. “I love to sew...I love French music, French TV, anything French.”
Shirvani is not exclusively French, though.
“I love this country, but I’ve kept a lot of my culture, and my father was Iranian, Persian, my mother French, so I’m tri-cultural,” Shirvani said.
American culture is one Shirvani is still being exposed to and learning more about.
“Obviously, my English is not perfect yet, but at least I have lost the French accent,” Shirvani said. “But my daughter always makes fun of me, because she was American-born, and she’ll correct me all the time, and I love to be corrected because that’s how I improve my English.”
Improving her English is one of many tasks and goals of Shirvani’s.
“There’s 24 hours in a day, and you get up, and you have so much to do, and you go to bed, and there’s still 15 other things you wanted to do, but you need to sleep,” Shirvani said.
This is Shirvani’s justification for a core trait of hers.
“I never get bored,” Shirvani said. “I’m a little prejudiced that way—it’s boring people who get bored. That’s terrible for me to say, but it’s true. I mean, how could you get bored?”
Meet the Round Square Exchanges!
As we all know The Round Square Program is a huge part of Athenian and its community. This year with everything that has been going on in the world, it’s been harder to connect internationally. This quarter we are welcoming 10 virtual exchange students. Over the next few weeks, you will be introduced to them. Our goal is to make them feel welcome and comfortable at Athenian as they can’t actually be on campus. Each student’s contact information will be linked below their profile and we urge you to contact them and make a new friend.
By Sahana Garg
As we all know The Round Square Program is a huge part of Athenian and its community. This year with everything that has been going on in the world, it’s been harder to connect internationally. This quarter we are welcoming 10 virtual exchange students. Over the next few weeks, you will be introduced to them. Our goal is to make them feel welcome and comfortable at Athenian as they can’t actually be on campus. Each student’s contact information will be linked below their profile and we urge you to contact them and make a new friend.
Photo Credit: Saumya Agrawal
Name: Saumya Agrawal
Age: 17, birthday’s on 26th September 2003
Grade: 11th grade
Where from: Chandigarh, India
Hobbies: I enjoy contemporary dancing and have performed in our school’s annual founders’ day celebrations many times. I do cycling almost daily and sometimes I like to go with some friends. Our favorite place to cycle to is the city lake, which is about a 45-minute bike ride away from my home. I quite like reading. The last book I read was ‘Many Lives Many Masters.’ It gave me a completely new and different perspective on life. Lastly, I like to cook! I mostly make savory food items and I am way better at cooking than I am at baking.
Host: Sydney Alveda. She was very warm and welcoming. I would’ve loved to meet her in person!
Fav food: Alfredo Pasta
A little about your school: My school offers a lot of activities like sports (basketball, football, cricket, lawn tennis, kickboxing taekwondo, and karate), art and craft activities like needlework fabric painting wall painting food craft, etc.) and music (guitar, keyboard, tabla which is an Indian instrument and singing.) We also organize fundraisers every now and then. We get to choose the subject we wish to pursue in 11th grade.
Unlike Athenian, in our school we wear uniforms. We have a very well-defined dress code that even asks us to braid our hair. At my school we don’t call teachers by their first name, we only either call them sir or ma’am. Most of our teachers are very friendly and warm.
Sports: I’ve tried my hand at basketball, soccer, and some track events, but I don’t enjoy them a lot. I do like yoga and focus on flexible fitness.
A little about yourself: I’m currently studying Economics, Political Science, Sociology, English Lit and Land and Psychology. Psychology is my favorite subject at school, and I aspire to be a rehabilitation therapist. I love music and could listen to it all day long. My favorite artists are Halsey and Taylor Swift, and I also enjoy listening to rap songs occasionally. I’ve been part of my school council for 2 years now and currently hold the position of vice-house captain. I am also the vice president of the Round Square Committee at my school.
What classes you will be taking at Athenian: I couldn’t take many classes because of a 12-hour time difference, but I did take up yoga with Ms. Jenny Day.
Anything else you want to say: I would like to thank all the teachers and students. All of them have been very warm and welcoming. I have had a great time here at Athenian
Photo Credit: Bianca Alacron
Name: Bianca Alarcon
Age: 14 years
Grade: 9th
Where from: Lima, Peru
Hobbies : I love to do sports, baking desserts, and traveling around Peru.
Host : Chloe Burrows
Fav food : Pasta
A little about your school : I go to San Silvestre School. San Silvestre School is an all-girls school located in Lima, Peru.
Sports : I play field hockey and enjoy making youtube workouts
A little about yourself : I consider myself a very fun and creative person. I am definitely an animal lover, especially with dogs. Also, I enjoy learning new languages and currently, I am learning Italian.
What classes you will be taking at Athenian : I am taking ESL World History and Speech and Debate.
Anything else you want to say: I am really happy and thankful for this opportunity!
Photo Credit: Olivia Samassa
Name : Olivia Samassa
Age : 15
Grade : 10
Where from : Cape Town, South Africa
Hobbies : A few hobbies of mine are spending time with friends, nature, and listening to music.
Host : Sahana Garg. She is in 9th grade.
Fav food : Sushi
A little about your school : I go to a private all-girls school called St. Cyprian’s for short SCS, in the center of Cape Town. It is right under Table Mountain. My favorite part about my school is either its beautiful campus/location or the sisterhood among students.
Sports : A few sports that I do are ballet, modern dancing, and athletics - track.
A little about yourself : I have 2 dogs, a Ridgeback named Hunter and a Westie named Tilly. I’d say I am a mix between an introvert and an extrovert. I’m quite a talkative person. I have one brother who is 14 and he goes to my brother school called Bishops.
What classes you will be taking at Athenian : I will be taking Dance and hopefully Speech and Debate.
Anything else you want to say: I really like The Athenian School. It has such a different way of teaching than my school which is very interesting and everyone is really friendly.
Rolling out the Vaccine: How will Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines be Distributed across the US?
Pfizer and Moderna, two medically-advancing biotechnological companies have successfully produced a vaccine to combat COVID-19, one that is 95% effective, unheard of in vaccines ever before. However, the quest to immunize the public and put this pandemic behind us is a little more complicated than simply discovering new medical technologies. To reach an end to this pandemic in America, the vaccines must be effectively distributed across all fifty states, a feat that is more difficult than it appears.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Viacheslav Lopatin
By Noelle Woodward
Through all the ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic, one hope has remained strong and steadfast in the eyes of fear-filled Americans: the eventual discovery and distribution of life-saving, mRNA COVID vaccines.
Pfizer and Moderna, two medically-advancing biotechnological companies have successfully produced a vaccine to combat COVID-19, one that is 95% effective, unheard of in vaccines ever before. However, the quest to immunize the public and put this pandemic behind us is a little more complicated than simply discovering new medical technologies. To reach an end to this pandemic in America, the vaccines must be effectively distributed across all fifty states, a feat that is more difficult than it appears.
Originally, the U.S. had set high expectations of the administration of vaccines, even hoping to have 20 million vaccines administered by the end of 2020. Needless to say, the U.S. didn’t reach their quota; with a measly 4.8 million doses administered out of the 17 million distributed, America had a long way to go.
The problem began with a denial to produce an additional 500 million Pfizer vaccines this past summer from the federally-funded program WarpSpeed, an operation designed to produce and deliver vaccines with an accelerated process for development.
Starting off with fewer than expected vaccines, the federal government ineffectively planned shipping, and millions of doses lay waiting in warehouses before eventually being delivered to states who already had decreased funding for administration. In comparison between federal funding, $12 billion were set out for development, while only $390 million were allocated for distribution.
Along with troubles in the federal government’s original apportioning, the individual states have been given so much leeway that the lack of coordination between them has grown into drastic inequity. While some states administer vaccines on a first-come-first-serve basis, others such as New York, have been given such strict guidelines of distribution prioritization that many vaccines end up expired and discarded.
Each state makes their own choices on quantities of vaccines to be delivered as well. “When they first started rolling the vaccine out, it was supposed to be a reliable amount that you got each week,” said Dr. Jill Marek, an emergency room doctor who has been collaborating with the
Athenian school on vaccine distribution information. “But since the vaccine distribution was so poor and so irregular, one week Marin County got 3,000 shots, one week they got 0.”
The distribution of vaccines hasn’t been aligned with population sizes either, leaving larger states such as California fearful of not being able to deliver their second dose, and thus saving half of their received vaccines to be used later, giving an appearance of a low distribution rate. Others, such as “North Dakota that doesn’t have as many people, got proportionally more vaccines than California, just because they can get fewer vials and still have a higher percentage,” said Marek, referring to the immense 8% of North Dakota residents that have already been fully vaccinated.
Regardless of the rocky start, the future of vaccine administration across the country is looking up, especially in regard to President Biden’s new plan to vaccinate 100 million Americans in 100 days. Despite the discouraging appearances, the country should eventually reach herd immunity, likely within the year.
National Rife Association Declares Bankruptcy
On January 15, the National Rifle Association declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a press release. The NRA, a gun rights organization, has a controversial image, especially in the wake of increasing gun violence.
By Allison Chabala
On January 15, the National Rifle Association declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a press release. The NRA, a gun rights organization, has a controversial image, especially in the wake of increasing gun violence. Declaring a Chapter 11 bankruptcy means that it is a reorganization bankruptcy, as opposed to a Chapter 7, or liquidation bankruptcy, which entails that the business/organization must distribute their assets, or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which allows individuals to repay their debts.
The NRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that endeavors to protect the second amendment of the Constitution. The organization also raises money to fund other organizations such as the Boy Scouts.
The NRA was founded in 1872 by Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate. The organization is based in New York, but as of recently, is going to move to Texas, claiming that New York is a “toxic political environment.”
The NRA did not always have the reputation that it holds today. Initially, it centered on improving the marksmanship of shooters after the Civil War, after a dismayed speculation that American soldiers would not fare well in a war against Europe. But in the last century, the organization has become known for vehemently protecting gun rights.
According to Frank Smyth, the author of The NRA: The Unauthorized History (in an Interview with Vox), “hunters began to dominate the ranks of the NRA after WWII, so that changed the character of the organization, but the real shift occurred when the NRA embraced gun rights as its unyielding and absolute beacon for everything it does.” According to Smyth, the major shift came as a result of the Gun Control Act of 1968.
As a result of pervasive criticism of defense of the Second Amendment, the NRA created the Legislative Affairs Division in 1934.
Today, the NRA boasts about 5 million members. According to the organization, “this move (to Texas) comes at a time when the NRA is in its strongest financial condition in years.”
So why did the NRA declare bankruptcy?
Letitia James, the Attorney General of the state of New York, is attempting to shut down the organization through a lawsuit because of alleged corruption within the NRA. In an interview with USA Today, Melissa Jacoby, a University of North Carolina bankruptcy law professor asserted that “the NRA has made no effort to categorize itself that way. In terms of whether it’s paying its bills and any definition of insolvency – it doesn’t meet it.”
Additionally, the New York Attorney General’s office claimed that the NRA was “fleeing or seeking an end run around a pending regulatory enforcement action in New York,” which reinforces speculation that the declaration of bankruptcy is simply an attempt to avoid the lawsuit. Adam Levitin, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, says that the organization has nothing to lose with the declaration, as they are “out of ammo.”
Fortunately for them, Texas may provide a more welcoming environment, but that does not mean that they have completely evaded the lawsuit from New York’s Attorney General.
Magnum Non-dairy Frozen Dessert Sea Salt Caramel
When it comes to ice cream brands Magnum is a fan-favorite. So it comes as no surprise that they too decided to dive into the world of non-dairy ice cream alternatives. This exciting new option is available anywhere you look for ice cream and comes in the classic Magnum bar form covered in a delicious (vegan) milk chocolate shell!
Photo Credit: MAHATHIR MOHD YASIN / Shutterstock.com
When it comes to ice cream brands Magnum is a fan-favorite. So it comes as no surprise that they too decided to dive into the world of non-dairy ice cream alternatives. This exciting new option is available anywhere you look for ice cream and comes in the classic Magnum bar form covered in a delicious (vegan) milk chocolate shell!
If you are looking for the perfect emulation of “real” ice cream but are looking for a non-dairy option, Magnum’s Non-dairy Sea Salt Caramel Frozen Dessert is one of the top options, hands down. With a cocoa butter base, the consistency of this treat is able to replicate the smooth and creamy texture of regular ice cream. The decadent dark chocolate casing adds the perfect crunch to the savory, velvety sea salt caramel base.
This non-dairy alternative is available in quite a few different flavor options, but sea salt caramel seems to be the most popular among consumers, and for good reason! This sweet treat tastes just like any other dairy ice cream product and has a rich, yet not overpowering, sea salt caramel flavor. The slight savory hints of the sea salt counteract the general sweetness of the dessert and make for a well-crafted and diverse flavor combination. If you are a big fan of classic ice cream flavors but are looking for a non-dairy option, look no further than the Magnum Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts!
Although this dessert is an amazing dairy-free alternative, if you are not a fan of chunky ice cream, this may not be the one for you. To some, the dollops of caramel and chunks of dark chocolate are the perfect blend; however, to others, this may result in a strange texture that is not all too enjoyable. Overall, this treat is great to try out, but one factor to consider is that it leaves a bizarre aftertaste, and to some may be overly sweet. While this dessert is one that many applaud, there are some factors that would make it a hit-or-miss.
Taste: 🍦🍦🍦🍦/5
Consistency:🍦🍦🍦 /5
Similarity to Ice-Cream: 🍦🍦🍦🍦/5
Overall: 🍦🍦🍦🍦/5