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Volume 32, Issue 1 140 Brandeis Road Newton Centre, MA 02459
Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper · Newton, MA · Established 1984 · June 4, 2015
‘IT’S JUST A JOKE’ By Sophia Fisher
‘‘You’re really f*cking hot,”
read a message in senior Victoria Rust’s Facebook inbox last year. “When I went to your house a month ago … I really wanted to squeeze your ass right there. I want to f*ck you.” The message came from a sophomore boy whose friends, according to Rust, also sent threatening sexual messages to several other girls at South. Rust later confronted them in person. “And they actually ... took a step back,” she said. “Maybe what they need is a confrontation. Maybe what they need is to realize that in a society where rape culture is so perpetualized now, that kind of stuff is a huge deal.
You can’t just go around telling people [that].” While Rust described the boys’ actions as examples of rape culture, the concept remains amorphous to many at South. Some described rape culture as sexual assault itself, while others cited victimblaming, a failure to punish assaulters or the objectification of women. The Roar defines rape culture as a culture in which dominant ideologies, media portrayals and social practices and institutions normalize or trivialize sexual assault, often by objectifying women. While most students interviewed agreed that these factors exist in modern culture, opinions are divided
photo illustrations by Hyunnew Choi
Gay athletes still battle locker room culture Nathaniel Bolter
shouted, “You guys are a bunch of queer motherf*ckers!” The outburst provoked little response from the students in the locker room It was Wednesday, May 20, and a group of juniors had gathered after J block preparing for their practices and games. in what is recognized as the “track section” Several of the students posing for the photo of the boys locker room to pose for a photo laughed, recognizing the irony of the situato accompany this article. Halfway through tion; most simply ignored the remark. In Volume 25, Issue 5, The Roar the shoot, two other juniors walked by, published an article entitled “Homophobia likely en route to the weight room. They holds on in athletics” describing a relucpaused for a moment at the scene, grintance throughout South sports to embrace ning slightly, and after a moment one Editor-in-Chief
gay students the same way the rest of the school had. Six years later, while openly gay athletes exist, athletics — boys sports in particular — remain a refuge for the gratuitous slur or derogatory remark, and both closeted and out gay athletes face old attitudes that stubbornly refuse to die.
***
“I mean, being a guy, how many times do we hear the word faggot thrown around? Like every day. I hear it a lot,”
junior Guy Stein, a wrestler, said. Most athletes interviewed for this article agreed that homophobic language is an ever-present fixture of boys athletics. Despite its prevalence, though, this kind of language is most often used casually, in jokes or friendly jibes that at least do not intend to convey real malice. “‘That’s so gay, dude, what are you doing? Oh, you wanna see my dick? Why GAY ATHLETES, 20-21
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
One book, two names “The Other Wes Moore” aims to address race and privilege in the wake of Ferguson and Baltimore.
4
3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Action!
Student and teacher YouTubers discuss their experiences with making videos.
16
TOURNAMENT BOUND
The girls lacrosse team is headed to the playoffs for the first time in team history.
22
NEWS 2 fun page 5 EDITORIALS 6 OPINIONS 8 CENTERFOLD 12 FEATURES 16 SPORTS 20
NEWS page 2|June 4, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
News@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 1
SOUTH
PARCC Problems
5 million students nationwide will participate in the PARCC tests
SPOTS information on school events compiled by Roar editors
Holi
June 7 at 12 p.m. at the senior lot
Holi is the Indian festival of colors celebration organized by the South Asian Student Organization
$10 Admission
PARCC in 2014-15:
graphic by Sophie Galowitz
PARCC will assess students in grades 3-11
The PARCC tests were administered in 11 states and the District of Columbia during the 2014-15 school year Source of information: parcconline.org
infographic by David Li
Sports Awards Night One year after the School Committee voted to adopt the PARCC tests in lower grades, concerns about the assessments persist
June 9 at 7 p.m. in the Field House
Coaches will present student athletes with awards for their achievements during the spring sports season
Some teams will announce next year’s captains
Underclass Awards Night
June 11, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Lecture Hall
Underclassmen will be acknowleged for their achievements throughout the year
Step Up Day
June 12 Incoming freshmen will visit the school before their first day South students will have an early release and leave at 11 a.m.
Bhavik Nagda News Editor
As the first year of testing draws to a close, the new standardized PARCC tests still pose technical challenges as Newton schools adjust to the Common Core standards. After a pilot program in the spring of 2014, the School Committee voted to implement the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests in grades three through eight, while still administrating MCAS at the high schools. Although South has begun adjusting to the Common Core standards, it has yet to officially implement the PARCC tests. The PARCC tests, which were written in accordance with Common Core standards, have recently encountered a wave of national scrutiny for lengthiness and poor implementation. Both the tests and the standards stem from the national Race to the Top initiative of 2009. In the 2014-15 academic year, school districts around Massachusetts were given the choice of continuing to administer MCAS or switching to PARCC. According to Principal Joel Stembridge, South has easily been able to integrate the new standards given that the Common Core standards overlap with much of South’s current curriculum. While the Common Core standards may have been a simple adjustment, some, like Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Mary Eich, wonder whether PARCC tests can efficiently and effectively test the Common Core. “If we find that the PARCC exam is not a good measure of the Common Core standards, then we’ll have one set of things that we do as a result,” she said. “If we find that it is a good measure, but the technical pieces of it got in the way for
students to actually demonstrate what they know, then we’ll have a different response.” Indeed, the PARCC tests have posed problems for the millions of students around the nation who have taken them the past few years. Many, including a large contingent of parents and teachers in New York and New Jersey, believe that the PARCC tests are too lengthy and in fact detract from potential learning time. The PARCC tests are split up into two testing periods: the performance-based assessments that take place in the middle of the year, and end-of-year assessments. Combined, the testing sessions for high school students are intended to last about 11 hours, which Eich said is excessive. Others cite the technological challenges that arise with a test like PARCC that is often administered online. Freshman Valerie Dubinsky, a student who took the pilot test last year, found that typing impaired her ability to work in a timely manner. “If I could change one thing, I would not make it computerized just because I’m not fast with typing, so it took me quite a while to finish everything,” she said. The PARCC tests, Eich said, expect a certain level of computer literacy. “We’re asking the third graders to manage several different scroll bars on the same screen and know a lot about how a computer looks and works,” she said. “To assume that a third grader would have the same technical knowledge that an eighth grader would have – I don’t think that’s a fair assumption.” Stembridge said he is unsure whether South will have the resources necessary to implement the test. “To have all of our students do a computer-based test would present some difficulties for us,” he said. “I also imagine that schools across Massachusetts
are going to be having difficulty thinking about how to do that.” Dubinsky said she hopes South will not alter standardized testing anytime soon. “I like the MCAS more because it’s more comfortable. I’ve been doing it since third grade so it’s much easier for me, and making a big change is more difficult than keeping up to the usual,” she said. The Newton Teachers Association (NTA) has shown continued opposition to the PARCC tests as well. In a statement made at a School Committee meeting in May 2014, member of NTA leadership and history teacher Jamie Rinaldi said that it is critical to ensure that the PARCC tests are actually effective. “Before we rush to implement PARCC to assess our student’s performance, shouldn’t we do the careful work to study whether or not this test actually assesses the skills and understandings we value? We believe we should and we believe we have not done this work,” he said. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will vote this fall on whether to replace MCAS with PARCC as the statewide student competency test.“If we had a choice, we would stay with MCAS in the high schools until we have to switch because at the high schools it’s so high stakes,” Eich said. Stembridge agreed that South should not rush to embrace the new test. “I just think there are certain initiatives in education that it’s really important … we anticipate and we prepare [for] and we get it right the first time, and there are other initiatives in education where you kind of walk slowly towards the problem and you kind of let some other schools figure it out first,” he said. “The PARCC for me is kind of in that second category.”
June 4, 2015|page 3
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|NEWS
Wellness, math curriculums revised
Reflecting on a Productive Year
Carina Ramos & Michelle Cheng
PETER KLAPES
senate president
Sr. News Editor, News Reporter In order to better conform to new national and state standards, the math and wellness departments are restructuring freshman honors math (601) and sophomore wellness (773) curriculums for the 2015-16 school year. The 601 curriculum will narrow its focus, while also adding in some new topics to align with the national Common Core standards, according to mathematics department head Steven Rattendi. The Council of Chief State School Officers and National Governors Association began developing these standards in 2009 to regulate national education requirements. The Newton Public Schools, however, have regularly covered more material than these requirements entail. Going forward, the curriculum will be forced to include specific new topics, such as probability and statistics. The revised 601 course will align with national standards as well as North’s freshman honors curriculum. Teachers from both schools have been meeting to rewrite the curriculum for the upcoming school year. One of these teachers, Chrysolite Fitzgerald, said that the updated curriculum will likely cover less content, but in greater depth. “Hopefully in applying this deeper knowledge of content, [students] will, in general, grasp how math connects to [their] daily lives more, and also see how it can relate to the STEM professions,” she said. Reducing content breadth may provide much-needed relief to next years’ students, according to freshman Sophia Swidey, who said that she has often stayed up late trying to finish assignments. Rattendi agreed that many students struggle with the course’s lengthy homework assignments. “Ninth grade honors is some-
I photo illustration by Nathaniel Bolter
times notorious for the amount of homework that’s involved in the course, and I think we can do as good a job in terms of learning the content and understanding it, but not have to make it such a stressful experience,” he said. In addition to reformatting 601, the administration is altering the wellness 773 curriculum to emphasize the fitness and nutrition units. The emphasis on fitness and nutrition reflects a more modern focus, wellness teacher Alan Rotatori said. “If you look at the top 10 concerns across the country, potentially the world, about health issues ... a lot of it’s based on nutrition and fitness,” he said. “We felt like we were not servicing the kids in that area strongly enough.” Freshman Victoria Huang agreed that the course should cover topics that will benefit students once they graduate. “In the long run, it would be better if they taught us about nutrition and fitness and how to take care of your body in the future,” she said. Wellness teacher Todd Elwell said that the curriculum changes are necessary to keep up with current trends and new state requirements. “I think that change is inevitable,” he said. “You’re always going to
Changes to...
make adjustments to take care of what you need today, so our curriculum from 20 years ago may not be as relevant today.” Although South is primarily altering its wellness curriculums because of new state requirements, some units were dropped simply because of a lack of time and teachers, according to Rotatori and Elwell. Some other aspects of 773 are simply moving to other courses. Elwell said he noticed that many activities taught to sophomores, such as badminton and Ultimate Frisbee, could be incorporated into junior and senior wellness tracks. “We just realized there was some redundancy to what we were offering and that we could package it a little bit better,” he said. According to athletic director Patricia Gonzalez, teachers have been working on curriculum changes since September and hope to evaluate wellness curriculums at the end of each year in the future. “It’s important to [teachers] that the students have an opportunity to develop not only academically, but physically and emotionally,” she said.
Changes to...
Wellness 773
Math 601
WHAT:
Adopting a new focus on fitness and nutrition
WHAT:
Adding more depth while covering fewer topics
WHY:
To keep the course modern, with emphasis on current health issues
WHY:
To align with North as well as the national Common Core standards infographic by Carina Ramos
Rubin named new guidance director Sophie Lu News Editor
Following Shelley Borg’s decision to step down as guidance director, South alumnus and current Canton High School director of guidance Dan Rubin said he is looking forward to joining the Newton community at the start of the 2015-16 school year. South’s involved student body attracted Rubin to this position in parphoto courtesy of Canton High School
ticular, he said. “I’m drawn to South because I know that it is a highly intellectual and engaged community where students have countless opportunities to realize their potential and get involved in activities in an enormous number of interest areas,” he said. Borg, who next year will remain a guidance counselor, declined to comment for this article. Rubin has been Canton High School’s director of guidance for the past eight years. Principal Joel Stembridge said that Rubin, who was involved in the creation of the master schedule at Canton, will also help Vice Principal Candice Beermann create South’s schedule. Former Vice Principal Mary Scott,
who played an outsized role in building South’s schedule for 20 years, retired after the 2013-14 school year.. “I think he also knows Newton and the suburbs really well. He knows South in particular, having gone to school here, and I think that part of the transition is not going to be challenging for him,” Stembridge said. Rubin said he is happy to return to his alma mater. “I couldn’t be more excited to be returning to a school that meant so much to me and my own development. When I graduated from Newton South, I could not possibly have imagined that someday I would be working there, and to return as the director of guidance is really exciting,” Rubin said. “I’m really eager to get started.”
South senate update
t has been my sincerest pleasure to serve as your South Senate President this past year. Last year, we worked to reinvigorate the Senate after a period of inactivity. This year, we devoted our time to representing student voices in critical dialogues with the administration, the Faculty Council, the School Council and other groups here at South. One of this year’s largest projects was the production of a 32-page handbook that features descriptions of approximately 25 school clubs and other important information regarding academic and athletic opportunities. As I wrote in the handbook’s introduction, some of my fellow senators and I have coined a term — the “first-born syndrome” — to describe how students who are the first in their families to attend South often find themselves overwhelmed by the vastness of the school. To address this issue, the book will be aimed at increasing involvement and awareness among freshmen and new students. I am grateful to the PTSO Grants Committee, which provided us a grant to print and distribute the book around the school. I would also like to express my thanks to Jeremy Freudberg for assisting with the layout and design of the project. Please be sure to check it out! It will also be posted to the online South homepage in the coming weeks. Much of the year has been devoted to combatting stress. Most recently, we have been discussing the possibility of eliminating the weighted GPA as well as limiting the number of honors classes students can take as two possible ways to reduce stress. Following these proposals, the Senate passed two resolutions opposing each proposal. It is important that South’s system of GPAs reflects the amount of work and devotion that students put in. Yet, more importantly — and I speak personally here — I believe that our school, known for its academic superiority, ought never to restrict learning. By restricting students’ learning with this proposition— or even limiting rewards for hard work — we might fail to reap the lessons of resilience and of sacrifice — of staying focused despite the temptation of going to a party down the street or of finishing a difficult homework assignment after 5½ hours of struggle. Rather, I would like to propose that South offer seminars, scheduled conferences with guidance counselors and other enrichment and social events to alleviate the chaos of our school day. It is my greatest hope that South continues to be one of the best high schools in the nation. Before I sign off, I would like to give kudos to the following people who have helped the Senate: Principal Joel Stembridge, Faculty Council head Alan Reinstein, our faculty advisor Steven Rattendi, former Senate President Jack Lovett (class of 2014), former Senate President Nicholas Hurney (class of 2013) and everyone in the Classes of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
page 4|june 4, 2015
News|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
photo illustration by Bailey Kroner
1S1B choice ‘Wes Moore’ tackles race, privilege Michelle Cheng & Anisha Dam thought it presented a really interesting look case is enough,” he said. News Reporters
In a departure from last year’s oftmaligned teen romance novel, the One School One Book selection committee has chosen the self-titled memoir “The Other Wes Moore” for South’s annual tradition. The memoir describes the lives of two black men from Baltimore, both named Wes Moore. One of them, the author, becomes a Rhodes Scholar, while the other is sentenced to life in prison for mudering a police officer. The two eventually become friends as they explore the disparities between their experiences. According to committee members, the book was selected because of its potential to inspire conversations about privilege and race. English department head Brian Baron said that students on the committee were drawn to the book because it addresses issues of race, privilege and socioeconomic background — issues from which Newton students may be sheltered. “The kids that are on our panel really responded well to it and liked it a lot. We
at a different aspect of life,” he said. “ The novel was chosen because it differs significantly from past choices, such as 2014’s “Eleanor and Park.” “It’s not talking about falling in love, and it’s written for an adult audience and not a young adult audience,” Baron said. While the book introduces new ideas, it is still relatable to students, English teacher and committee chair David Weintraub said. “The conversations that emerge from the reading will definitely touch on those real life issues.” According to Weintraub, the committee preferred a serious book over a lighthearted one. “I heard a lot of criticisms about ‘Eleanor and Park,’ that it was sort of light and fluffy and not very serious. This is very serious and it’s also a very strong story, a very strong narrative,” he said. The book ought to make students examine their own lives, Weintraub added. “It asks us to think about the role that race and class have in the course of our lives, and it does not offer any clear answer to those questions, but asking these questions in this
Junior Anjali Shankar agreed that the book will encourage discussion about different lifestyles. “A lot of people here are on the track to success and I think this book will give people perspectives on what we have and what people don’t have in terms of opportunities and resources,” Shankar said. Student reactions to the book will depend on the ability to connect with the ideas presented, METCO counselor Katani Sumner said. “I think there’s going to be a variety of responses depending on how [students] connect with the book. I think particularly for students of color, they might be able to relate on different levels than students who are not of ethnic or African American or Latino backgrounds who might live in Newton, [who] might not have had to think about some of these issues or concepts,” she said. Race-related events in the U.S. this past year can also relate to topics brought up by the book, according to junior Hallie Kruh-Needleman. “I think this year’s One School One
Book will enforce a lot of discussion because this book can relate to what happened in Ferguson and Baltimore. [The book] will give students knowledge about what happens outside of school,” she said. Like Kruh-Needleman, Weintraub said the book offers a method of approaching these important issues. “After the year that we had with Ferguson and Eric Garner and now Baltimore and way too many more, this is exactly the kind of conversation starter that we need … It doesn’t directly touch on those, but it touches closely enough that we can definitely have those conversations in a controlled and positive way.” In addition to the conversations provoked, Weintraub hopes that the book will broaden students’ perspectives and challenge their assumptions. “I hope they get a better sense of empathy for people whose lives are different from them. I hope that they gain a better sense of what life is like, people whose lives are not as privileged,” he said. “I hope that they get a book experience where they put it down and they can’t wait to pick it up.”
One School, Seven Books
photos by Bailey Kroner
2015
2014
2013
2012
Eleanor & Park Rainbow Rowell
Outliers Malcolm Gladwell
The Fault in Our Stars John Green
2009
2010
2011
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi
This I Believe II Various Authors
Zeitoun Dave Eggers
June 4, 2015|page 5
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|fun page
What You’ll Miss About High School
South Crime Watch
COREY DAVISON & SAM LEE
Editors’ Note: Individuals are presumed guilty until proven innocent.
TRESPASSING May 28, Wheeler House Graduating seniors reported that a group of “arrogant juniors” had run whooping into the Wheeler Commons 20 minutes before the last bell rang on Friday.
Public Domain
LAUNDERING June 2, Goldrick House The history department has been illegally funneling Bernie Sanders landyards to APUSH students, South’s resident conservative reported. The history department, having contributed nearly $95, is currently Sanders’ biggest donor. MANSLAUGHTER May 29, Front Office In an event redolent of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, several administrators drowned in maple syrup after a senior prank went awry.
ELWELL-GATE June 1, Newton North At the instruction of acclaimed rapper and New England hero Brendan Duggan, the boys volleyball team systematically deflated Barnstable’s volleyballs before the playoff match on Monday night. ASSAULT AND BATTERY June 3, Newtonville In another sign that the campaign for higher wages has turned militant, Newton residents reported seeing teachers using a T-shirt cannon to bombard School Committee members.
Overheard at SOUTH Yes, we heard you say that.
sr. fun editors
bffls & bad puns Five Things You’ll Miss 1. Passing Time, Tertulia and other organized school events that celebrate your talent and gleefully recognize mediocrity. 2. Free. Laundry. 3. The first time you learn of a new band that the world has actually known about for years. Yes, Simon and Garfunkel are good — we know. 4. The excitement of getting that call from David Fleishman that begins, “Due to the severity and duration of the storm …” 5. In a weird way, Shakespeare. Four Things You Won’t Miss 1. Hanging out with hundreds of fourteen-year-olds in the same building 180 days a year, for four years. 2. Poor-quality graffiti in the bathrooms. Really, “#FreeBrady?” That’s what you want your fecallycaptive audience to see?
Perceptive senior girl: “I feel like all white people were blonde at one point.”
3. Publicly funded, intermittent Wi-Fi. For the love of God.
APUSH student #1: “Thank you, majestic eagle, for protecting our freedom.” APUSH student #2: “That’s a hawk, you dumbass.”
4. Your boy Shakespeare. Seriously, why is he even good?
Frustrated junior girl: “I’m a woman, you idiot!” Grammatical junior boy: “I didn’t use a pronoun!”
1. Taylor Swift’s song “Bad Blood.” That song is awful. (While we’re at it, so is most of the music made in the years since we graduated high school.)
English student #1: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” English student #2: “It’s also the sincerest form of plagiarism.”
2. IHOP at midnight. One day, you will realize that this place is where dreams go to die slow, blueberrysyrup-filled deaths.
Embarrassing Roar Staff Photo of the Month:
Adviser Throwback of the Month:
Three Things You Will Miss but Shouldn’t
3. The way your heart pounded, your soul pined, your bones ached for your first love. Most times, dramatic teenage flings are meant only for Disney Channel movies inspired by Shakespeare. (Also, Shakespeare.) Two Things You Won’t Miss but Should 1. The way your teachers insisted that you actually think during class, harped on you to turn in that late paper, called your parents when you were missing your homework and even *sometimes* updated their Engrade, just because they wanted to see you succeed. 2. Class at 7:40, class at 8:40, class at 9:50 and then lunch not a minute earlier than 10:50 in the morning — the perfect mix of structure and freedom so that you never have a question as to what you have to do at any given moment of your day. (Don’t forget Shakespeare.) One of Many Things You Have to Look Forward to
Ramos struggles to name all the presidents.
Elpern channels her inner gypsy for Halloween.
1. The week of Thanksgiving, when all of your friends come back and meet at someone’s house to talk for hours ... but not about high school anymore. They actually talk about Shakespeare, and — finally — it almost makes sense.
EDITORIALS page 6|june 4, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
editorials@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 1
Middle school dress codes teach the CAT’S harmful lessons, degrade girls
MEOW All the news that’s fit to print ... and then some!
‘Twilight’ Named 1S1B In a dramatic shift from past selections, “Twilight” has been chosen for next fall’s One School One Book event. “We’ve touched upon themes of teen romance before,” English department head Teem J. Cobb said, “but after the dual traumas of Wiz-Amber and Zayn-1D, we felt that we needed to revisit the issue.” Although some have complained that the novel is too similar to 2014’s “Eleanor & Park” or 2012’s “Fault in Our Stars,” One School One Book selection committee chair Roy G. Biv disagreed. “‘The Fault in Our Stars’ was teen romance with a dash of existential terror. ‘Eleanor & Park’ added all the classic cliches,” Biv said. “‘Twilight’ is all of the above, but with vampires.” Sophomore Bray King Don, however, expressed concern that the choice could set off tensions between the werewolf and vampire populations at South. “I just don’t want this to ruin our riveting One School One Book discussion sections,” said junior Noone Evar. “Those are always my favorite part.”
New Republican Candidates In the latest additions to the already crowded Republican field vying for their party’s nomination in 2016, all junior class officers officially announced their candidacies for the presidency of the United States on Monday. Junior class officer Jason Pa, a former neurosurgeon who rose to fame after successfully attaching two unconjoined twins at the head, said he has already faced criticism from rivals about his age. “Listen,” Pa said, “I have two free blocks next term. I can make this job work.”
South has no official dress code, but both public middle schools that feed into South do. Although some guidelines on appropriate school attire are necessary, many regulations apply only to girls and are inherently subjective. It is in this message to girls — that they owe it to those around them to dress “modestly” and cover their bodies — that objectification of women prevails. This objectification contributes to rape culture, as detailed in The Roar’s reporting on the front page and continued in Centerfold. At the Brown and Oak Hill Middle Schools, girls are routinely singled out for wearing “inappropriate” attire. One Roar reporter recalled his friend being scolded for a revealing shirt in the middle of the hallway, causing the student to feel deeply embarrassed. Dress codes for younger students are especially damaging, as they suggest to middle school students that their bodies are weapons of dangerous sexuality. Students of middle school age should not be sexualized in this way, nor should they be made to feel ashamed of their changing bodies. Attempting to restrict what female students wear under the guise of maintaining what is “ap-
propriate,” in effect, serves only to objectify. At the beginning of spring at both middle schools, administrators talk to all the girls — but not the boys — about guidelines for appropriate attire. The lack of consistency between guidlines for males and females divides a community that administrators consistently claim they are trying to unite. Dress codes force teachers to single out students not dressed
by the sight of skimpy clothing. This justification unfairly places the onus on the girls — that they must sacrifice their comfort for their male counterparts to be able to learn. Boys, not girls, should be required to change their behavior by keeping their urges under control. In light of that reasoning, though, some aspects of the dress code simply feel arbitrary. What boy has ever been unable to focus because he was consumed with
What boy has ever been unable to focus because he was consumed with admiring a girl’s shoulders? “appropriately,” but being criticized for one’s clothing in a public setting is especially humiliating and can incite slut-shaming. The girls who are called out become easy targets for ridicule, and again, are made to feel ashamed of their bodies. This vendetta against “inappropriate” attire is a double standard: While girls are frequently called “sluts” for wearing skimpy clothing, if a guy were to wear an equally revealing outfit, his clothing might simply be called “weird.” This phenomenon is rampant in student conversations at South. Many schools with dress codes say that they are in place to prevent boys from being distracted
admiring a girl’s shoulders? Although some students do purposely wear revealing clothing to get attention, the other students are mature enough to not give them that attention if they so choose. On Halloween, for example, some students dress up in costumes, but classes continue without interruption; students clearly have enough self-control to stay focused even around “distracting” clothing. In many ways, dress codes seem to be a vestige of our culture’s historical fear of female sexuality. In a progressive city like Newton, we must not cave to such blatant prejudice; dress codes ought to be made a thing of the past.
Editorial Policy The Lion’s Roar, founded in 1984, is the student newspaper of Newton South High School, acting as a public forum for student views and attitudes. The Lion’s Roar’s right to freedom of expression is protected by the Massachusetts Student Free Expression Law (Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 71, Section 82). All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Lion’s Roar in no way reflects the official policy of Newton South, its faculty or its administration. Editorials are the official opinion of The Lion’s Roar, while opinions and letters are the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lion’s Roar. The Lion’s Roar reserves the right to edit all submitted content, to reject advertising copy for resubmission of new copy that is deemed acceptable by student editors and to make decisions regarding the submission of letters to the editors, which are welcomed. The Lion’s Roar is printed by Seacoast Newspapers and published every four weeks by Newton South students. All funding comes from advertisers and subscriptions. In-school distribution of The Lion’s Roar is free, but each copy of the paper shall cost one dollar for each copy more than ten (10) that is taken by any individual or by many individuals on behalf of a single individual. Violation of this policy shall constitute theft.
Correction
North West Enrolls Daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and budding celebutante North West has enrolled in the South preschool program for the upcoming 2015-16 school year. The couple moved to Newton after trying a Rosenfeld’s bagel as the Yeezus tour was moving through the Greater Boston area. When asked to comment for this article, Kanye responded, “They be ballin’ in the DLeague; I be speakin’ Swag-hili.” Kim Kardashian tweeted a revealing image at us in response to an interview request.
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An article in Volume 31, Issue 7 of The Roar entitled “Changing the Focus” incorrectly suggested that the freshman world history curriculum covers 8,000 years. The course focuses on a span of 1,200 years. The Roar regrets this error.
june 4, 2015|page 7
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|DESK
Editor stresses the importance of EDITOR’S recognizing life’s innate unfairness DESK from the
Veronica Podolny Editor-in-Chief
You have three people of different heights and a fence that they all need to get over. You want the challenge to be fair. So what do you do? Do you give them all fences of equal heights or make the fences proportional to their heights? The answer is not as simple as it may seem, especially because different answers will seem so obvious to different people. Most of my friends would insist on giving fences proportional to the people’s heights. My dad, on the other hand, would insist that all three people be faced with the same exact challenge. Intuitively, some might say that the fences should be proportional to give everyone an equal opportunity. Shorter people should not be penalized for a factor as arbitrary as height and should have the same shot at success that the other two have. Others, however, will point out that reality does not scale challenges; at the end of the day, we all have to deal with the same thing. I’m not sure how well scaling things would work anyway — would a lawyer who had trouble in his classes and thus took an easier bar exam get as many clients as a lawyer who took the standard version? This dilemma can be seen in the
political disputes of our two-party system be met with a stern “Nobody ever said it — whether we deserve advantages based had to be.” on our achievements or whether the less Now, he wasn’t saying these things to fortunate should receive support from be unsympathetic. I get a lot of help from the more fortunate. Socialism versus wild my father, and this was his way of teaching capitalism, at the debate’s most extreme me a lesson. and simplified level. So I grew up not expecting fairness, The point of this article isn’t to debate but hoping for it. At one point I quit comthe two, though. There are people who plaining when things didn’t go my way, can and will do but I would still that much better pick up a piece than I. Something of litter off of “If I was ever silly enough I do wonder a lot the sidewalk in about, however, is hopes that some to begin a sentence with ‘It fairness. good karma isn’t fair that …,’ I would be My dad is would come my from Bill Gates’ way from it. met with a stern ‘Nobody school of thought: This ever said it had to be.’” “Life isn’t fair; deal February, in with it.” Time and Philadelphia, time again my I dropped the complaints have been met with the same phrase “Life isn’t fair” for good. I was at a response. debate tournament, arguing for the fourth I didn’t get a big role in my camp’s time that month about globalization and rendition of The Wizard of Oz. its impact on poverty. I had high hopes “Life is not fair; maybe next time” because of my familiarity with the topic, (read in Russian accent). but that proved not to be enough. The kid who sat next to me in math Teams are expected to bring profiand dozed off received an A while my late cient judges for the general pool, but not nights that turned into early mornings of all teams are honest in meeting this restudying barely got me a B. quirement. My partner and I, for example, “Life is not fair.” ended up debating in front of judges who If I was ever silly enough to begin a obviously had no clue what they were sentence with “It isn’t fair that …,” I would doing, and as a result we were out on the
first day. While I was moping, trying to find some way to fix the situation, I noticed some fitting words in the newspaper I was reading. (A word to the wise: Read newspapers!) “Life is fair in that it is unfair to everyone,” it said. What struck me was how relevant that little string of words was to my situation — to any situation, really. I wasn’t the only person affected by poor judges; they would continue to judge five rounds after mine, possibly ruining the outcome for other teams, too. Until then, I had thought that some sort of bad karma in the world was out to get me personally, trying to test me and put me in difficult situations. But for the first time, I considered that maybe this same force is out to get us all. We all face adversity in some way, and that makes life unfair for everyone. Sure, you can argue that our problems and challenges come in different forms or degrees of severity. But that is the beauty of misfortune — it happens to us all. And if we are all covered by the same suffocating blanket of unfairness, can anyone really complain about it? That’s why I’m leaning toward giving everyone the same-sized fences. The shorter people will maybe get an advantage with the next challenge — or maybe not. Life is unfair, after all.
Volume XXXII The Lion’s Roar Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper 140 Brandeis Road Newton, MA 02459 srstaff@thelionsroar.com
Editors-in-Chief Nathaniel Bolter
Veronica Podolny
Managing Editors Sophia Fisher
Shelley Friedland
Section Editors Opinions
Features
Maia Fefer Andrea Lirio Karin Alsop Emily Belt Nicole Yu
Centerfold
Mona Baloch
Business Manager Andrew Fu
Graphics Managers Sophie Galowitz Celine Yung
News
David Li Carina Ramos Jake Rong Ange Lu Sophie Lu
Bhavik Nagda
Distribution Manager Daniel Morris
Faculty Advisers Ashley Elpern Ryan Normandin
Aidan Bassett Clare Martin Ben Rabin
Sports
Noah Shelton
Webmaster Sasha Badov
Photo Managers Alexa Rhynd Bailey Kroner
OPINIONS page 8|June 4, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
Opinions@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 1
Perspectives:
Can long-distance dating work?
graphic by Melanie Wu
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yes, it can
no, it cannot
by ben rabin
by vivian li
eenagers often picture long-distance relationships as desperate, hopeless affairs that lack meaning. These types of relationships are risky and frequently end in heartbreak. The question of whether to engage in long-distance dating is almost always greeted with a resounding “No.” The upcoming graduation season will force leaving seniors to face this question and address the future of their relationships. I used to vehemently oppose longdistance relationships. I have always believed that seeing my girlfriend in person and hearing her voice fosters a more worthwhile connection than a keyboard and wires could possibly replicate. All of that changed this year, when I developed a crush on a senior girl. Since she will leave soon for an out-of-state college, my only hope for maintaining a connection with her would be to start a long-distance relationship. The extra distance complicates ordinary dating activities, but it also challenges couples to prove the strength of their relationships. Long-distance dating is now more achievable than ever. With the invention of social media, two people living miles
apart can still engage in each other’s life. Couples may communicate through Facebook, see each other on Snapchat and hear each other’s voices via Skype. Although electronic communication cannot replace physical presence, love will weather any distance. Long-distance relationships can also promote greater honesty, because sharing sentiments across a screen is easier than in face-to-face confrontation. At the same time, long-distance relationships allow couples to maintain desired levels of privacy. While too much confidentiality harms a relationship, distance prevents obsession from developing. Long-distance relationships do not mean that couples can never see each other. Visits may be infrequent, but each one helps cement the relationship’s foundation and prepares the couple for a transition to a traditional relationship. Long-distance dating, while imperfect, can allow couples to maintain healthy, positive and loving relationships. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, even physically separated couples can achieve happiness. So, if you are currently contemplating a long-distance relationship, I advise you to go for it.
I
t’s simple: long-distance relationships are rarely successful. Although there are a handful of exceptions that work out well, I advise against long-distance dating. While long-distance relationships feel real enough, they are ultimately hollow. Relationships require personal connection, passion and love, all of which are weakened by distance and separation. Long-distance relationships demand far more effort and commitment than do normal relationships. Due to the distance, every face-toface encounter becomes a bigger deal. Couples dress up fancier than usual, spend excessive money on dates and get together alone, away from friends or family. They end up passing their few moments together lost in a fantasy world with no sense of reality, seeing one another through the distorted lenses of “perfect” dates. Often when couples finally do spend more time together, they discover characteristics or habits of the other that they dislike, or they find that their relationship is actually too flimsy to endure the winds of hardship. A relationship quickly deteriorates when two people expect to always feel unconditionally happy together.
All relationships require prioritization and commitment. Balancing a social life with the demands of high school academics is already difficult; separate a couple by many miles, and the challenge becomes even more daunting. Seniors attending colleges in different states might find it difficult to adjust to a new lifestyle while trying to keep in touch with their partners. A long-distance relationship also requires a lot of planning — not just planning for time together, but also planning for the future when the long-distance period of the relationship is over. If a couple is disorganized or is not ready for the next step, the relationship might not last. In the end, though, long-distance relationships come down to trust. Without trust, suspicion about the other person’s faithfulness will inevitably arise. Although some long-distance relationships end happily, those that end in cheating are far more devastating than other types of breakups. Successful long-distance relationships require thought, preparation and commitment, which are not easy for anyone to maintain, much less for high school and college students with many other responsiblities.
June 4, 2015|page 9
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|OpinionS
GAME OF LOAN$
Legalizing Marijuana AIDAN BASSETT
sr. opinions editor
Political positions
T Debt University
Senior argues that high student debt unfairly burdens recent graduates
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graphic by Celine Yung
By Ariel Neumann
s this year’s seniors graduate, the future looks good. I have a hard time looking beyond the next four years, rolling away like a perfectly manicured college green over the horizon. But for many students, there’s a huge catch right over the edge of this glowing picture: paying off student loans. In this area, I’m lucky. My parents are relatively well-off, and I probably will not have to worry about crippling debt when I graduate. But high student debt doesn’t just hurt the people who pay it off; high student debt affects everyone. Whether we go to college or not, whether we take out large student loans or not, this issue is hurting us all in the end. Simply put, too much debt is bad for the economy. If people dedicate large portions of their money toward paying off loans, they will not consume as much. This obviously harms the economy, which hinges on the consumption and trade of goods. If citizens consume fewer goods, the job market shrinks, and there are fewer opportunities available for everyone. Student debt, however, has consequences outside of the regular economic
woes that other kinds of debt bring. Because student debt most directly affects individuals just out of college, most put their lives on hold — neither buying homes and cars nor starting families as early. Moreover, if people are struggling to make high monthly payments, they are discouraged from choosing important but less lucrative occupations like teaching or art. We need to encourage choices like these, not discourage them. Young people can be im-
instead of saving for retirement, which is a huge drain to the Medicare system, adversely impacting future generations. We need to find ways to make student loans more manageable and less burdensome. A lower interest rate on student loans would help, as would decreasing the amount due each month. These changes would give people a little more freedom to take risks. A more radical solution, however, would be to address the core of the problem. We need to make college itself more affordable. This is obviously a complicated problem, one about which I admittedly do not know enough to recommend a specific solution. But it is not impossible to fix this situation; college in this country has been more affordable in the past, and tuition rates are much lower in Europe and Canada, which are not experiencing student debt crises. It is paramount that we meaningfully mitigate the impact of college debt now. Otherwise, that which a college education is supposed to provide — social mobility, new ideas and a higher quality of life — will be in jeopardy.
When most new graduates must find highpaying jobs after graduation to repay huge college debt, the kind of experimentation that produces a world-changing startup or a groundbreaking artistic career is impossible. portant agents of change and innovation in every sector from politics to technology. We consistently bring optimism and fresh ideas to the table. But when most new graduates must find high paying jobs after graduation to repay huge college debt, the kind of experimentation that produces a worldchanging startup or a groundbreaking artistic career is impossible. Even worse, people can end up paying off their loans
he conversation regarding the legalization of marijuana is a relatively old one as political fads go – one that has lasted decades. Due to recent legislation in Colorado, Washington and Oregon, however, recreational marijuana is finally legal in parts of the western U.S. These states are not alone: All of New England and much of the Southwest has legalized medicinal marijuana. Up until a couple of years ago, I was a staunch supporter of criminalizing the possession, use and distribution of drugs. Such criminal behavior had to be stopped, and punishing those involved with illegal drugs seemed the only solution. I knew that drug abuse was linked to poverty, various criminal behaviors, domestic violence and a litany of other social ills, and thus it had to be eradicated. But how? When I examined the criminalization of marijuana more closely, I found that law enforcement, sentencing guidelines, usage demographics and the economics of criminalization all combined to make American drug policy not only racist but also elitist and highly destructive. So let me offer a couple of key points. The first critical aspect is race: Sentencing guidelines for various drugs have a bias against African-American men. Human Rights Watch has reported that blacks were arrested for drug possession (often marijuana) at almost four times the rate of whites in recent years. If marijuana policy remains the same, we will be complicit in structurally racist law enforcement. The other important element involves fiscal incentives for those involved in drug production or distribution. In most cases, those convicted on drug-related offenses come from impoverished backgrounds with few employment opportunities. If legislators were to acknowledge that 20 years to life in prison does not discourage most convicted offenders from distributing drugs, then new policy could focus more on rehabilitating offenders and their communities rather than punishing them with a vicious cycle of self-destruction. At the same time, it is worth acknowledging the legitimate dangers of any drug abuse. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S., and the Caron Foundation reports that over 50 percent of new illicit drug users begin with marijuana. But despite these reasonable concerns, there are more just, effective policies that states may pursue to resolve the “War on Drugs.” The first step after decriminalizing marijuana would be to heavily tax its production and distribution; using these funds, the state could closely regulate the drug. Punishments would still include extra fines or jail time for violent crimes linked to any illegal marijuana, but mandatory minimums for possession of marijuana should be eliminated. Most abstractly, but importantly, the aura of glamour associated with illegal substances would fade from marijuana. I still believe all drugs are fundamentally wrong in all circumstances, but we as a nation cannot in good conscience endorse structural racism, sentencing bias and poor public policy. America deserves better than a broken system.
page 10|June 4, 2015
opinions|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
A Choice, Not a Coronation By Cassandra Luca
gr hi ap liv yO cb ia s ro La a
As of today, there are nine Republican candidates (with many more waiting in the wings), and three Democratic candidates (with a handful of others shying away from the spotlight) officially running for president. It has become strikingly clear, however, that this handful of Democrats, which includes Jim Webb of Virginia and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, has been scared away from the race by the Hillary Clinton Machine. Unfortunately, both Clinton and the general electorate will pay for this political oversight. The problem of Clinton’s dominance is multifaceted. At the most basic level, Democrats should not blindly support Clinton for the nomination so early in the election season — yes, we’re still 17
months away! — especially since Bernie Sanders recently declared his decision to run. His presence in the race is admirable; a self-proclaimed socialist, Sanders may force Clinton to take a more liberal and courageous stance than she would have otherwise. More importantly, he will get her talking, giving voters the opportunity to see whether she will truly follow through with the more liberal policies she seems to be embracing. Yet realistically, neither Sanders nor Martin O’Malley of Maryland has much of a chance of becoming the Democratic nominee, leaving the primary tinged with a sense of inevitability. Despite the many negative aspects of the Republican candidates, at the very least their field is full of dissenting voices that give voters an opportunity to fully engage in the political discourse and the electoral process. If Clinton wins the primary by a landslide because there is no one to truly challenge her, what does that say about the progress of democracy? The purpose of an election is to give airtime to those
with different visions and approaches. When it’s simply Clinton shouting into the void, there’s no opportunity for Democratic politicians and voters to engage in an important conversation. Hopefully, now that Sanders and O’Malley have assumed the daunting task of challenging her, some meaningful debates will take place. The exchange of ideas is at the heart of every presidential election. If no formidable Democratic candidate challenges Clinton on issues like campaign finances or economic regulation, the Democratic electorate will be less informed, and Clinton will have little incentive to express her true beliefs. The slow, deliberate process of the primaries should give the public an opportunity to choose which party member best represents them, not which beliefs they want Hillary Clinton to pretend to hold. This is not to say that I vehemently oppose Clinton’s nomination. She has more than enough political experience to qualify her for the job, despite some hiccups along the way. Clinton’s nomination on the
Democratic ticket would obviously be a milestone for the U.S., which would bring us one step closer to electing the our first female president. And according to The Wall Street Journal, 76 percent of Democrats view Clinton favorably. But none of these factors ought to secure her an easy path to the nomination. When potential candidates refrain from entering the race for fear of political ramifications, something has gone awry with the democratic process. Indeed, according to Politico, due to the widespread organization of Clinton’s campaign and the perceived inevitability of her success, candidates do not want to pursue the presidency only to face certain and devastating defeat. It is the job of the Democratic electorate to demand that more candidates rise to the challenge of jousting with Hillary Clinton. Otherwise, we — the voters — will lose our fundamental freedom to choose the candidate whom we feel is most fit to assume the role of the presidency. After all, one choice is not a choice at all.
7:40 is Too Early to Start School BY bryan hysenaj
It’s 6:30 a.m., and the screech of the alarm clock cuts into my slumbers. I wake up, drowsily eat breakfast and head toward the bus stop. At school, I fall asleep during A block and can barely function during B block. Six hours later when finally I get home, I stay up all night dealing with homework, extracurriculars and family matters, all while trying to maintain a social life. In the end, it is 11:30 p.m. when I finally go to bed. This process repeats itself day after day, to the point where I usually get an average of only seven hours of sleep each night. My story is one of many. Countless other students at South are even more sleep deprived and juggle even more extracurriculars and honors courses than I do. The National Sleep Foundation says that teenagers require an average of nine to 10 hours of sleep each night, a requirement that many students are unfortunately not meeting. The biggest contributor to this problem is South’s unrealistically early start time. It is both impractical and unhelpful to start school at 7:40 a.m., and most students would benefit greatly if school started at 8:30 a.m. instead, a very reasonable solution to an increasingly pressing concern. This change would not only afford teenagers the opportunity to get
the amount of sleep we need, but could also greatly reduce stress levels, attention deficit rates and a whole litany of other sleep-related problems. This is not to say that this solution is without flaw — those who disagree with pushing back South’s start time bring up valid points that doing so could potentially cause excessive traffic (as a result of opening at the same time as other schools in the area) and would conflict with students’ schedules. While these arguments should be
sleep period frequently increases teenagers’ overall attentiveness, productivity and willingness to work. Those who are opposed to delaying the start time contend that a new schedule would conflict with extracurricular activities such as sports and other schools’ opening times. The flaw in this argument, is that of the four middle schools in Newton, only Brown opens at 8:30 a.m., so excessive traffic would not be as much of a concern. Sports practices do not pose a huge
A longer sleep period frequently increases teenagers’ overall attentiveness, productivity and willingness to work. considered when determining a new start time, the issue of sleep deprivation should take precedence over these other concerns — most of which are merely matters of convenience, while sleep is a matter of necessity. Failure to get the necessary amount of sleep often leads to drowsiness in classes, an inability to focus and increased stress. These claims are bolstered by a recent study by the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that a longer
problem either, since those would likewise get pushed to later times. Additionally, teams could hold practice from 7:30-8:30 a.m. if a later time poses a significant problem, thereby impacting only individual student athletes instead of the entire student body. Another argument against starting school at 8:30 a.m. is the claim that it would inconvenience teachers and other South staff, many of whom live a considerable distance away from school. This argument is also fundamen-
tally flawed; a later start time would also afford many teachers a longer sleep period, since they would not need to wake up at the crack of dawn just to make it to work. It would also give teachers who arrive to school early the opportunity to set up the classroom or make a lesson plan before school starts. But most importantly, I believe that the reason a later start time has not been implemented — and probably will not be implemented — is because those who support it hold no power, while those against it run the school system. Pushing back South’s start time would require an extraordinary amount of effort and activism from South’s student body, as virtually everyone in our community who supports this initiative is a teenager. Since we teenagers hold an unfortunately meager influence over important administrative decisions, if we wanted to actually implement our desired changes, we would need to be unquestionably united and dedicated. We are not, but we should be. At this critical stage in our development, the issue of how much sleep we get is paramount, and sleep deprivation is worse than the petty concerns of the opposition. While delaying South’s start time until 8:30 a.m. is obviously not a perfect fix, it is the first step toward a comprehensive solution to this contentious issue.
June 4, 2015|page 11
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
UPGRADE
9 Longest days of the year AP exams over Late starts for MCAS Prom Beach trips
campus chatter The Lion’s Roar asked...
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? “I’d like to live in Dubai because I think it’s a beautiful city and there are a lot of modern buildings, and I’m really into modern architecture.”
- Jack Sinclair, Class of 2018 “I would live in Japan because I’ve never been there, and I’m really interested in Asian culture, and it sounds really interesting to be there.”
- Matt Nurnberger, Class of 2017
Cookouts FIFA arrests Volleyball streak Less than three weeks of school left
“I would probably want to live in Arizona because it’s warm and I would have the space to have a horse, and that’s kind of my goal in life.”
- Mikayla Kass, Class of 2016 “Tokyo — that would be my dream place mainly because I’m into a lot of their culture, like animated manga.”
- Ariel Ervin, Class of 2015
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DOWNGRADE
photos by Bailey Kroner
“Mad Max: Fury Road” by bruno ferreira
“Mad Men” over “Late Show With David Letterman” over Seniors gone Allergies/pollen Humid classrooms Baseball team eliminated End-of-year cramming Zayn-Louis Twitter feud
R-rated action movies tend to be bland. For years, lazy directors have assumed that obscene language, bloody violence and onedimensional characters will generate quick cash at the box office. Some action movies, however, don’t fit the mold: take “Terminator 2” or “Speed,” two captivating films with unforgettable villains, amazing plots and classic action sequences. In the same vein, “Mad Max: Fury Road” offers dazzling visual effects and bold characters in one of the spring’s best movies. Filmed in a desert, “Mad Max: Fury Road” depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which two rebels get the unlikely chance to restore order. Max (Tom Hardy), is a takecharge man, while his companion, Furiosa (Charlize Theron), is a woman of action in search of her childhood home. From the beginning, the movie’s images are spectacular. Director George Miller builds a world of destruction and chaos so beautiful that it is impossible to take your eyes off the screen. The stunts, visual effects and action sequences certainly justify the $150 million budget. While the film focuses on a dystopian wasteland, it also addresses sexual politics. Screenwriters Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris deliver poignant dialogue that confronts feminism and its essential relevance
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
Max (Tom Hardy) struggles to free himself from the back of an enemy War Boy vehicle in combat.
in today’s world. If screenwriters are going to develop the issue of feminism in an action blockbuster, they need a strong female actress. Theron comes in, giving one of the best performances of her career. She commands the screen as Furiosa and makes your palms sweat in every action sequence. Hardy is disappointing as Max. It’s Theron who steals the show. The film is not only action-packed, but
is also full of humor. At moments, I found myself also laughing at the over-the-top villains. Unlike some movies, “Mad Max” successfully blends together humor and action. It’s been only 30 years since the last “Mad Max” film, starring Mel Gibson, was released, yet with George Miller, the franchise vigorously roars back to life. Does it deserve to be called an action classic? I can confidently say yes.
Continued from page 1
‘IT’S JUST A JOKE’ 1
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as to whether South students sexualize women or trivialize rape. Many agree, however, that dress codes and the portrayal of women in the media and music do promote sexualization and, in turn, a larger rape culture. To protect against the sexual assault — especially on college campuses — that rape culture can normalize, some female students have changed their behavior at night or taken self-defense classes. “It’s unfortunately a culture we live in,” sophomore Lily Borak said. “This culture that perpetuates a lot of the objectification and negative ideas and outlooks on sexuality and the way people choose to express their sexuality.”
RAPE CULTURE AT SOUTH Slut-shaming and jokes about rape are fairly prevalent in Newton, according to Borak. “Those are definitely factors to a rape culture, and those are definitely warnings that we are living in one,” she said. “I’ve heard people say ‘I had a soccer game, and we totally raped that team’ to mean like, ‘Oh, we beat them,’ ... subtly diminishing the importance of rape,” she said. While sophomore Samuel Burnham has not heard many South students trivialize rape, he said that slutshaming is prominent. “How many people a girl has been with is different from how many people a guy has been with,” he said. “With girls it’s seen as tarnishing the purity; with guys it’s like an accomplishment — like, ‘You get with girls; you’re doing well.’” Rust, too, has heard students of both genders demean women for the clothes they wear, which she said justifies sexual assault. “There’s this idea behind rape culture that … ‘She’s a slut. It’s ok. She likes to have sex,’” Rust said. “But ... you can’t use terms like slut and whore in order to justify the fact that you can have sex with a woman whenever you want.” Sophomore Hunter Gawande said she has not heard students joke about rape, but has heard boys talking about girls who wear skimpy clothing, saying they are “totally asking for sex.” Senior Andy Miller, however, said he was surprised that students at South have not tackled the issue of rape culture, especially because it has garnered so much media coverage recently. “I think a lot of students don’t really know that much about this issue, and so therefore would be more willing to express their ideas if they don’t know which way the popular opinion is going at South,” he said. Though terrible, rape culture is a sad reality of the society we live in, Rust said. “At the end of the day, no matter how we demonize this rape culture, it’s something that’s not going to go away. And that’s an unfortunate aspect of it, but that’s just the way it is,” Rust said.
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DRESS CODES Several college professors and South students identified dress codes as a factor that promotes rape culture and slut-shaming. Many South students said they are glad that the school has no dress code. Both Brown and Oak Hill, however, have either explicit or de facto dress codes that some say perpetuate rape culture by implying that women must cover up their bodies. Borak said that enforcing dress codes for middleschool-age students can have especially harmful consequences. “By giving kids the idea that there are certain ways you should dress, from a young age ... when people are most awkward and people are most uncomfortable with their bodies — I just think that’s what’s setting them up for this natural tendency that high schoolers have towards rape culture now,” she said. Brown has no official dress code, according to assistant principal Kimberly Lysaght. She wrote in an email that the school asks students only to dress in school-appropriate attire, saying that inappropriate attire can make both adults and students embarassed or
house, or to the movies.” To freshman Gregory Basistiy, South’s lack of a dress code is beneficial because it allows students to express themselves through their clothing. He said that he is has no problem with dress codes in middle school because they are not “a big deal”. Both Borak and Gravlin were given warnings for their clothing at Brown — Borak for wearing leggings that were deemed too tight, Gravlin for shorts that were called distracting and revealing. Borak said she felt “Scarlet Letter-y”; Gravlin was told to “cover up more,” which she said made her feel ashamed of herself. “The classic defense for sexually assaulting a woman is based on her outfit. Like, ‘Her outfit’s asking for it,’” she said. “By telling girls to cover up, that’s saying that you have something to hide and that if you don’t cover up, something negative will probably come as a consequence, which is probably you being sexually assaulted.” Sophomore Gali Golan added that her middle school’s dress code “seems kind of screwed up” in retrospect. “They would say [clothing] would distract the boys. I didn’t think that was a good reason,” she said. On the other hand, Basistiy said he does not believe dress codes are at all related to rape culture or the sexualization of women. Also, freshman Victoria Huang said criticizing dress
- Victoria Rust, Class of 2015 uncomfortable. Sixth grader Tess Sullivan, however, who attends Brown, said that teachers require students’ shorts to be at least fingertip length and their shirt straps to be at least two fingers in width. While school authorities enforce the rules fairly among girls, Sullivan said, she wishes the school would establish a dress code for boys as well. “They can’t just do it to girls,” she said. Oak Hill’s student handbook specifies several requirements for “suitable attire” at school; clothing banned at school includes tops that show open midriffs or backs, visible undergarments and dresses or shorts that are shorter than fingertip length. Oak Hill Principal John Harutunian said that administrators, guidance counselors and the school nurse have been working over the past year to change some aspects of this dress code and enforce it in a more discreet, consistent fashion. Due to changing clothing styles, Harutunian said, the administration is also replacing the fingertip-length rule with a more flexible ban on shorts deemed too short for a school environment. “The point of a dress code is not to cause distress or anxiety or concern for girls or boys,” he said. “In this school, there’s expectations around dress that we just think are appropriate for school versus if you’re going to a friend’s
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codes for targeting women can itself perpetuate the belief that women are targets.. “The only way you think they’re being targeted is because you actually think they can be sex objects,” she said. Huang, who attended Oak Hill, added that her teachers enforced the dress code more strictly on some students than on others, which bothered her more than the dress code itself. The subjectivity of the middle school dress codes can be a problem in itself, Miller agreed. “[Girls] felt that it was kind of an arbitrary test that was not the same for everybody. It just feels like it’s being pulled out of a hat for no reason,” he said. Miller added that women are targeted more for their clothing both because some women’s clothing is simply designed to be more revealing than men’s, and because society has sexualized women more than men. He agreed that regardless, dress codes can contribute to rape culture. “Once you bring that into the discussion, it becomes a question of ideological versus actual physical response,” he said. “Because if you don’t have a dress code then you’re assuming that men are going to be staring down women the whole day. But if you do have a dress code, then you’re assuming that men want to stare down women, and as soon as they get the opportunity, they’ll do that, and more.”
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Some students said they would be fine with a moderate dress code at South. If students were involved with the decision, a dress code could have a positive effect, sophomore Jessica Sherman said. “If it’s done in a nice and controlled manner, I think it could be beneficial,” she said. According to Sherman, some clothing can distract others or encourage bullying. Other students also disagreed with the idea that dress codes exist to prevent boys from getting distracted. “If you feel the need to change a female because you can’t control your genitalia or your urges, then that is your problem,” Rust said. “That is something you need to seek help for, not me.” Professor Laurie Essig, director of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies at Middlebury College, said she believes that dress codes do not necessarily contribute to rape culture, but she agreed that they can contribute to social problems. Essig said that dress codes can cause women to feel ashamed of their bodies “at a time [when] I don’t think that’s a really productive thing.” Dress codes can affect boys, too. “It teaches boys that they can’t control themselves, that they can’t focus, that the way girls look is their concern, which it’s not — so I think it teaches boys really damaging lessons too,” Essig said. “To have these gender dress codes, or to make girls responsible for boys’ inability to concentrate, I think, is clearly not good for anyone.” Borak, who does not support dress codes at any age, acknowledged that eliminating dress codes cannot fully solve the problem. “That still doesn’t alleviate any stigma that people will have,” she said. “People are still going to be judged for the way that they dress.”
MUSIC AND MEDIA According to Borak, sex — including rape — sells. “There are so many television shows where they just throw in rape as an interesting plotline, like a fun plot twist,” she said. “Because that’s so fun for people to see, which I think is the most twisted thing ever, it’s totally undermining the significance of it. Unfortunately, that’s drama to people, which I think is an issue there of itself.” Bastistiy agreed that the music and media industry might show women in skimpy clothing to attract viewers and attention. Although most agreed that sexualization mainly affects women, Burnham acknowledged that the media can portray men’s bodies in overly sexual ways as well. Miller said that if music tried to tackle the issue of sexual assault more seriously, it might lose listeners. “When you treat an issue like that with respect, and really try and give it the attention it deserves, it’s tedious, and people don’t like to think about really tough things if they don’t have to,” he said. “You’re not listening to music to think about how we should address rape.” Miller added that hearing songs that play down sexual assault, such as “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, Continued on next page
page 14|June 4, 2015 Continued from pages 12-13
can subconsciously give rape culture validity. “You want to trust institutionalized things, and this song is being played on the radio,” he said. “So you hear that in your head and you think ‘Wow, [if] I’m in a “blurred lines” situation, what do they do in this song?” Popular culture often portrays sex in an unrealistic way, Borak said, which in turn can encourage rape culture. “When you have such twisted perceptions of such a natural act, it can really distort the way we see women. Just when you have songs on the radio talking about booties and strippers, obviously that’s going to give some really objectifying pictures to kids,” she said. Similarly, some media portrayals of women can promote demeaning attitudes, Essig said. “In the same way that using racial slurs can perpetuate racists attitudes, I think it does perpetuate these attitudes whether or not it actually perpetuates the physical act of assault,” she said.
ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES What happens after South
While many students said they generally feel safe in Newton, seniors Hannah King and Caroline Dellheim both took a self-defense class this spring run by the Newton Police Department (NPD). The class taught a group of about 30 women and high school students how to defend themselves, and included moves specifically designed to fend off assault in college dorm rooms. King and Dellheim both recommended that other girls take the course, especially before college. “They talked to us about how common it is that girls are attacked, particularly in college,” Dellheim said. “I think it’s definitely an important, useful thing to know — how to handle yourself. I think it made me feel better, because it made me realize that I know what to do if something like that happens.” Although NPD offers coed classes as well, this particular class was created for females only. The women who take the class were told never to share the moves they learned with any men because “there is a countermove to every move,” King said. But it is inherently unfair that society teaches women to protect themselves instead of teaching men to respect women, Delheim said. “While taking it, I was sort of going over in my head how frustrating it is that we have to take it. Especially the fact that I was spending four hours for three weeks on a school night after track practice. No boy has to do this,” she said. “Of course, that doesn’t mean that no boys are attacked — that does happen, but it’s much more common for girls. That definitely made me mad.” According to Dellheim, most men do not understand or experience the same fear of attack that women do. “I think that any girl that you would talk to would have [some experience], maybe like a night out when nothing happened, but they just felt a little unsafe or a little uneasy, and they wished that somebody was with them,” she said. “I don’t think [men] experience that fear.” While Huang said she does not feel afraid in Newton, Rust said she often holds her keys between her fingers when she walks to her car at night. Borak is not even allowed to walk alone at night. Miller, on the other hand, has never felt the need to take a defense class and has heard little about women taking them, but he said he will be more conscious of sexual assault in college, as he thinks the issue is more prevalent there. Essig and Associate Dean for Equity and Title IX Coordinator at Barnard College Amy Zavadil both acknowledged that sexual assault is a large topic of discussion on the Middlebury and Barnard campuses, respectively. “It’s something we talk about a lot. … Our students are definitely grappling with it, and the institution itself is grappling with it,” Essig said. “Obviously it’s a problem on all campuses.” The recent spike in campus assault is terrifying to Gravlin, whose sister had an experience with sexual assault in college. “That’s definitely something I would take into account when looking at schools, looking at what their policies are, how their administration handles things,” she
Centerfold|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM said.
While men do not experience the same fear of being assaulted that women do, she said rape culture does involve men, too. “That shouldn’t be ignored. Because I feel like for men it’s even harder to talk about being raped or being sexually assaulted because we don’t shed any light on that,” she said. “I know that rape is something that happens on both ends of the spectrum for females and males,” Rust agreed. “I don’t think we hear about it nearly as much as far as guys go. ... Society — and I know media has a big play in this — deemed guys to be the predators and females to be the prey.” At parties, Rust always keeps an eye on her friends. But, she acknowledged, she will not be able to do that in college. “The minute you get to college you’re ... going to be going to parties with strangers every single time you go to parties,” she said. “So you have to take it upon yourself to make sure that you’re doing everything in your means to stay safe.”
CHANGING VIEWS Why social media matters
Essig said that while the sexualization of women is not a new phenomenon, criticism of it is. She attributed this shift in culture to the ability of the Internet to spread feminist literature and ideas. “What’s changed is our ability to talk back to it,” she said. “The Internet allows previously extremely marginalized voices to become much more searchable, and you can find them and have conversations.” Zavadil credited the new national dialogue with sparking criticism of both rape culture and sexualization in the media. She contended that while the phrase “sex sells” has been historically widely accepted, increasing numbers of people are now questioning this concept. “I think that the research is still young on how best to educate and shift culture,” she said, “But more people are willing to speak up as they see others agree with them.” “There’s been a lot of popular support of not following what the media says in recent times,” Burnham agreed. “But [sexualization] is definitely still there.” According to Rust, new social media platforms helped spark the increased coverage of sexual assault on campuses. “The media is becoming more of an avenue of posting pictures and videos,” she said. “There’s more conduits for media to document such cultures and instances of rape that just makes it a hard thing to avoid now.” Essig said that even if the number of assaults has not increased, stricter federal criteria on how colleges report sexual assault has led to an increase of reports in recent years. Basistiy and Miller agreed that the South administration should try to address the issue of rape culture and sexual assault. While students might initially be uncomfortable discussing these topics, Miller said they might become more comfortable as they hear their peers speak. While it is important for staff to understand the causes and consequences of rape culture and sexual assault, Zavadil said that discussion must stem from the students as well as the faculty. “Certainly the feedback I frequently get from students is that I’m not relatable as an adult in talking about the issue,” she said. “And what we’re talking about is community change, and that’s not something that an individual or just an institution can impose.” Miller, for one, said he is surprised that the administration has not done anything to address about the issue of rape culture. “It’s gaining more and more popularity in the media, and South kind of seems to ride that cycle pretty well,” he said. “I guess it’s a little easier to play it down than to tackle such a large issue. … It’s hard to look around and see and think that that’s something that could happen at South. “It’s much easier to just push it away.” Additional reporting by Mona Baloch and Shelley Friedland
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graphics by Sophie Galowitz
June 4, 2015|page 15
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Centerfold
‘I Know You Want It’ The sexualization of women in music and media|by Mona Baloch
Public Domain
Anaconda
God Made Girls
Blurred Lines
“My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns hun … He said he don’t like ‘em boney, he want something he can grab”
“Somebody’s gotta wear a pretty skirt Somebody’s gotta be the one to flirt Somebody’s gotta wanna hold his hand, so God made girls”
“I know you want it But you’re a good girl The way you grab me Must wanna get nasty”
Nicki Minaj is not known for having a good-girl reputation. After her song “Anaconda” was released in 2014, Minaj faced heavy criticism for both the song’s controversal lyrics and the overt sexuality of the music video. A “Today” show host said that Minaj’s song and video were inappropriate, especially given the pop star’s status as a role model for children and teenagers. Minaj said she believed she accomplished her goals with the song. “I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual, but be playful with it,” she said in an interview with Complex Magazine. In response to the debate surrounding the song, Minaj posted pictures on Instagram of models wearing bikinis, captioning each of the pictures with “acceptable.”
RaeLynn, a former contestant on The Voice, debuted this country single in 2014. According to RaeLynn, the song was written to empower young girls. “There’s just something so special about ‘God Made Girls.’ It comes from a girl’s perspective, and there’s nothing like that on the radio right now,” she said in an interview with Taste of Country. Yet following its release, others said they believed the song’s message is a sexist portrayal of women. “‘God Made Girls’ is a sexist song, even though it’s performed and penned by a woman,” Grady Smith wrote in The Guardian. He suggested that the song went beyond prejudice against women. “Underlying most of the song’s insipid lines there exists a pretty unsavory assumption about men, too.”
After its 2013 release, “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I. was an enormous Billboard success. The lyrics and music video of the pop song, however, immediately ignited controversy. Online bloggers and news sites like The Huffington Post wrote that the song promotes rape culture and misogyny. The unrated music video, which features Thicke, Williams and T.I. singing alongside topless female models, was banned from YouTube. In an interview, Thicke said that the song was intended as a joke and was not meant to cause controversy. “For us, we were just trying to make a funny song and sometimes the lyrics can get misconstrued when you’re just trying to put people on the dance floor and have a good time,” he told the “Today” show.
Nicki Minaj
RaeLynn
Robin Thicke
Women in Hollywood 3x 4x 5x more likely than men to appear partially naked on screen
more likely than men to wear sexualized clothing on screen
more likely than men to receive appearance based comments
Sources of information: Women’s Media Center, United Nations
FEATURES page 16|June 4, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
FEATURES@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 1
photo illustration by Alexa Rhynd
YouTube: Behind the Scenes By Emily Belt
YouTube
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South YouTubers discuss how and why they use the video-sharing website Brendan Duggan (No Trace)
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Since eighth grade, senior Brendan Duggan and his friend Michael Garfinkle have been producing videos for their original music in an effort to build an online fanbase for their rap duo, known by the moniker “No Trace.” The YouTube channel currently boasts 20 videos and almost 3,000 subscribers. Duggan tries not just to create good songs, but also to produce music videos that provide context for the lyrics and hint at deeper messages, like J.Cole, one of his role models, does. “There are clever ideas that [J. Cole] is able to use to create a bigger picture effect [in] his music,” he said. “We do our best to incorporate that into our music videos so that it’s not just what you see on the surface, but when we plan out our music videos there are deeper messages in them.” Duggan encourages others to start a YouTube channel, but suggests that aspiring YouTubers not get too caught up on online popularity. “Don’t worry too much about gaining views or subscribers or any of that stuff. Just worry about the content,” he said. Still, Duggan said that YouTube is
undoubtedly the best platform to spread his music. “We knew there were other music platforms, but YouTube is probably the most popular one,” he said. “It’s international. Everyone knows about YouTube all over the world, and it’s free.” Suzie Na (Suzie Andrea) Alongside her friend Andrea Lirio, sophomore Suzie Na has produced 26 videos over the past year, including Q&As, fun music videos and just about anything else she enjoys. After years of watching other popular YouTubers create videos, Na decided to start her own channel as a way to join that creative community. “I’ve always been watching [YouTubers] since eighth grade and watching them got me really inspired,” she said. “[I] decided that why don’t [I] just start a YouTube channel because it’s summer, and it’s something fun.” In order to attract viewers to her content, Na also takes advantage of social media. “We tweet and say there’s a new link to our video and try to get people to click on it. We try to keep updated on social media because that’s where everyone goes,” she said. “Technology is such a big thing
in our world now.” Like Duggan, Na encourages other students to take the leap to start their own channel, as it is not just a hobby, but an amusing diversion. “If you feel really stressed and like watching YouTube it might help you release some of that stress,” she said. “I use YouTube to film and to watch when I’m really stressed and need a distraction.” For students just getting started on the platform, Na shared some words of wisdom. “Be yourself, because if you’re fake over the internet people aren’t going to like you,” she said. “If you put yourself out there, you’re going to find people who like you for you.” Ryan Normandin (NormandinEdu) Over the past three years, physics teacher Ryan Normandin has used YouTube as a platform to help students who have missed class by redoing the lesson in front of the camera. The 62 videos on his channel have proven to be a useful resource for students and even people from other places who wish to learn more about physics. “I’ve heard that from my students that a lot of them go home and will just
(From top to bottom) Seniors Brendan Duggan and Michael Garfinkle rap. Sophomores Suzie Na and Andrea Lirio give back-toschool advice. Physics teacher Ryan Normandin talks about wavelength. Sophomore Justin Cheong explains how to destroy objects with scissors.
watch the videos several times. It’s great because you can basically see what was in class but you can slow it down, you can watch it again, you can rewind it, you can go back, and you have all these options that you don’t have in real life and in a textbook,” he said. The videos have been such a hit, Normandin said, that he has not always been able to keep up with student demand. “There was one unit where I didn’t have time to upload videos for it, and students were asking videos for it ... and I wasn’t able to create it,” he said. “Creating those expectations but not being able to live up to that is frustrating.” YouTube has its rewards for the teacher as well as the students, according to Normandin. “It has helped me to hone my presentation a little bit and say, ‘I like that I did this and I’m going to continue to do this,’ or ‘I don’t like how I looked when I did this,’” he said. Although labor-intensive, YouTube videos are worth the extra effort, he said. “It’s time consuming when you’re first learning how to do it, but the return in the investment for a YouTube channel is huge and I recommend it to other teachers,” he said. “You can reach many students you wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise. I think it’s a great platform.”
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|FEATURES
WISE projects expand horizons Nighat Ansari Features Reporter
Building a boat. Creating a graphic novel. Writing a food blog. Making glass. Taking a weeklong hike on the Appalachian Trail. All these projects and more have counted for academic credit for seniors participating in the Wise Individualized Senior Experience (WISE). Each year around 120 out of 450 seniors participate in WISE, allowing them to design their own projects and explore their own areas of interest independently. In the 2001-02 school year, Spanish teacher Marla Wiener created WISE as a pathway for students to pursue their interests, while still receiving academic credit. Although participating seniors are exempt from some classes, WISE does not come without its own workload and challenges. According to participants, it requires motivated students willing to work on selforganized projects. Co-coordinator and family and consumer science teacher Tonya Londino said the program is an effective way to battle senior slump. “When seniors are slumping and have one foot out the door, [WISE] gives them a chance to do something they’re passionate about,” she said. “[They can] explore a career ... or do something that keeps them interested in school.” Even though participants have complete freedom over their projects, WISE is a pass-fail class and students must complete several requirements to pass the course including blogging, going to the WISE class once a week and demonstrating what they have learned in a final oral presentation. Although these requirements can appear intimidating, they do not limit participants’ freedom, senior Oliver Kahveci said. “Sometimes I will get some insight from other people … but what I really like about [WISE] is the freedom to basically do whatever you want with the project,” he said. Since its creation, WISE has inspired
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or her WISE project, senior Haley Eagle interned at the State House with Senator Cindy Creem. She performed basic office procedures like answering phones and emails and filing constituents into the computer system. Eagle said she enjoyed learning about what legislators do through firsthand experience. “I really like to hear about the people that come in and the whole process of what they want from their legislators,” she said. Eagle was able to structure an
Eagle Interns
photo by Alexa Rhynd
June 4, 2015|page 17
Defining the Relationship Relationships EDITOR’S NOTE: Every issue, The Roar publishes a different anonymous student’s perspective on relationships. The views expressed in the “Relationships Column” do not reflect the official views of The Lion’s Roar, nor are they intended as a guide or source of advice for others.
photo by Sophia Fisher
Senior Rachel Linsky speaks about her business internship at The Dance Academy. many unique projects, including students “I am cooking my way through a who had recreated Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” cookbook and then writing recipes of my out of bottle caps, written a requiem and own,” she said. “I picked this [project] beproduced a score for a silent film. cause I love cooking, but never have time “[South] doesn’t really give you any to learn any cooking techniques.” insight to the outside world,” senior Natalie For his project, Kahveci is painting Shammay said. “I think [WISE] gives you an a graffiti mural. “Hopefully [it] makes the opportunity to really see what’s out there.” school a little less bland, and [will show] my Senior Haley Eagle agreed. “I love the mark even after I leave,” he said. transition into the real world WISE gives me While some WISE projects are more before college,” she said. relaxing, Shammay said WISE requires hard Shammay, who is interested in busi- work and focus. ness, said that her internship at the Village “People definitely love the idea of Bank has taught her a lot about a potential dropping a class, [and] it may start out as career. an excuse, but people end up working re“I’ve learned so much about the back- ally hard on their WISE project,” she said. ground in a bank, and how the security ... WISE is not for everyone, Wiener works.” said. Eagle, who interned at the State House “This is really helping you work on with Senator Cindy Creem, said she has also your own in a different kind of way, so for been able to explore a possible career. some people, that’s not a good model,” she “I’m really interested in entering said. politics,” she said. “I’m learning about the Despite the challenges, Cooke said process of legislation and the everyday life she is glad she chose to participate. of a politician.” “I love the freedom of creativity WISE Senior Frances Cooke, on the other gives and the ability for students to pursue hand, has used WISE to pursue a more what they love or want to learn more about,” relaxing activity. she said. internship around one of her passions. “I knew that internships [with] political officers were a possibility ... that was what I wanted to do,” she said. “I’m learning about the process of legislation and the everyday life of a politician.” Aside from the legislative process, Eagle said she also learned about realworld situations.“When I first got there, I was learning how a bill becomes a law, ... everything that we hear about in school or on the news,” she said. “Actually being a part of it ... was really cool.”
Cooke Cooks
By Karin Alsop
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enior Frances Cooke took a different approach to the WISE program; instead of an internship, Cooke decided to hone one of her hobbies: cooking. Cooke said she chose this project because she enjoys cooking, but has limited time to cook. Cooke is working through a cookbook by Michael Ruhlman called “Ruhlman’s Twenty” as well as forming her own recipes. “I made pan-seared snap peas, caramel sauce for ice cream, mayonnaise — it’s kind of like the basic recipe
photo by Alexa Rhynd
to show the skills of a chef,” she said. Although Cooke has a busy schedule, she finds time to cook during the week. “I only have one class on Friday, so I go home and cook,” she said. “I cook two to three recipes at a time — I try to multitask.” Cooke said that her WISE project will yield practical applications. “I love being able to eat the food that I cooked,” she said. “I also like having those recipes under my belt, and just having a basic set of skills that can help me eat healthier and cheaper.”
I’m a big believer in the song “Say You Like Me” by We The Kings. The lines “If you like me, / say you like me” completely resonate with my relationship motto: define your relationship. It’s a cliché, but that’s because it works. I bet every person reading these words can think back to a time when they had an unclear “thing” that ended poorly because of a misunderstanding about the intentions or expectations that one partner had for the other. Earlier this year I had a “thing” with this boy I really liked. Despite our initial awesome connection, he had his personal reasons for not wanting to be my boyfriend, and I tried very hard to respect them while also hoping that he would change. Whenever I brought up the proposition of being his girlfriend, a cloud of excuses swallowed my suggestion. I backed down because, at the time, clarifying the label wasn’t worth jeopardizing whatever it was that we had. I found myself waiting for this boy to want to be in a real relationship with me. Finally, I realized that there was no way that he would ever want to be my boyfriend because he was pretty comfortable with things as they were. He and I were on different wavelengths. I wanted a commitment, a confidant, a romance. He wanted to keep it light and casual. Both were valid, but the combination didn’t work. What’s really tricky about failing to define your relationship is the lack of accountability the other person faces If you don’t define yourself as dating, then are you exclusive? Is hooking up with someone else cheating? And what happens when you end the relationship? You can’t break up because you were never dating in the first place, right? Despite the fact that breakups are really hard to deal with emotionally, nothing is more difficult than going from being with someone every second to not really knowing what changed except that something did change. For me, it was really hard to stop talking to this person. Nothing really happened — there was no fall-out, no Taylor Swift song, not even a real discussion. It basically turned into complete silence. He went from being my almost-boyfriend to being someone who sits behind me in one of my classes. Defining the relationship is a truly uncomfortable topic to bring up in conversation; there is something very unsettling about asking someone else how much he or she wants to be with you. But I’m writing this because it is an important step to take. If for no other purpose, define your relationship to escape the heartache that inevitably comes from the confusion of not doing so.
page 18|JUNE 4, 2015
FEATURES|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
LearNing funny
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To be
Candy Corn blurs lines between theater, comedy By Alex Dobin and Nicole Yu
When I say Candy, you say Corn,” senior Max Cooper shouted to the audience as he and the other Children of the Candy Corn members danced onto the stage in matching black t-shirts, each bearing a cartoonish illustration of their candy namesake. The call-and-response icebreaker marked the start of Candy Corn’s latest performance, a two-hour event on the night of May 9. Unlike traditional theater productions, Children of the Candy Corn, South’s student-run improv troupe, encourages this kind of call-and-response and relies on audience participation to set the parameters for the scenes and games they perform. The interaction with audience members is one of several ways that members of the improv troupe must learn to adapt to a type of performance that — though an amalgamation of the two — remains distinct from both conventional comedy and conventional theater. Candy Corn members meet twice a week to learn and practice improv techniques, according to sophomore and member Naomi Honig. The atmosphere at practices is both collaborative and constructive, sophomore Jane Orlando said. “People go up. They try [games] out. We can tell each other what we’re doing well and what we can work on,” she said. Candy Corn practices, like their shows, do not have a strict agenda, senior
THE
Adam DeAngelo, who leads the troupe along with senior Ellie Yorke, said. “We occasionally learn things on improv, like creating certain characters or creating a setting, or progressing a story forward, but in terms of just games, we usually don’t plan ahead; we’ll figure it out there,” he said. “It’s fairly casual.” The May 9 show was characteristically offbeat, with edgy, bordering on uncomfortable riffs, like a scene lampooning disgraced Penn State football coach
“[We have to] ... to lower the voices in our heads that say ... ‘You’ll fail if you do that.’ When you turn those voices off, you become a much better improv actor.” - Jeff Knoedler, theater teacher Joe Paterno for his involvement in a child molestation scandal. Another scene included a lengthy bit about nuns struggling to keep warm in a chilly canned food factory. In one of their signature exercises, the members compared sex with them to sex with shoes, a vacuum and a potato. (“It’s best when I’m baked,” junior Sam Adams quipped.) These jokes do not always come easily, even to those who are naturally
funny, according to theater teacher Jeff Knoedler. For example, he said, improv actors must learn to limit selfcensorship. “[We have to] react purely to what our scene partner is doing and saying, to lower the voices in our heads that say ... ‘You’ll fail if you do that.’ When you turn those voices off, you become a much better improv actor,” he said. Another important technique developed in rehearsal is the “A-toC” rule, by which an actor takes a train of thought through three steps in his or her head, Knoedler said, but only reveals the first and last points, photo by Alexa Rhynd surprising
the audience. “An improv artist who can do that keeps the audience guessing, and it becomes almost like magic,” he said. “[The audience] can’t understand how you got from A to C, because the B is invisible in your head.” Candy Corn differs from South Stage in leadership as well as performance style, Knoedler said. “[Members] have to show the initiative to want to be there, to want to work hard for the sake of the group,” he said. “I think there’s more student ownership of their shows, and I think there’s more of a respect for [it].” The result is a fluidity that productions sometimes lack, senior and avid Candy Corn fan Nadav Furgang said. “There’s not a single thing that’s forced about Candy Corn performances,” he said. “When you’re [watching] a play, it’s very obvious a person was told to walk across the stage. It looks a little forced.” “[Candy Corn looks] like they’re just having fun with each other, except you are invited to be a part of it,” Furgang said.
COMMON APPLICATION
The Roar unveils the remaining two students profiled throughout the year
By Shelley Friedland
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photo by Suzie Na
enior Ashley Wasilewski, previously referred to as “Elizabeth,” will attend Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She said she loved the positive community vibe when she visited the school. “When I went, everyone was just really nice and all the work that I saw was good and everyone had really good things to say about it,” she said. “Everyone there is just really different in the best possible way. Nobody’s scared of expressing themselves or anything.” Wasilewski said that while she looks forward to taking advantage of new opportunities in college, she will miss the art community at South. “I’m going to miss being so close to the friends that I do have at South. … I’ll also really, really, really miss my art teachers. I will miss Ms. Crist and Ms. Choi more than anything,” she said. “They … are just incredible people and they’ve always been there for me, so I’m definitely going to keep in touch with them.”
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photo by Suzie Na
enior Colin MacGinnitie, previously referred to as “Gregory,” has decided to attend the University of Chicago. He was also accepted to Case Western Reserve University in the early application process. He said that while he looks forward to pursuing his interests and getting involved at UChicago, he will miss the community he has made at South. “Since I’m going somewhat farther away, … I can’t just come back and visit whenever I want, so [I will miss my] friends and the community of people I’ve been with for the past four years,” he said. MacGinnitie said he would advise students starting college applications to be attentive, but not feel too pressured much about the process. “Don’t worry too much because you will get into a college eventually, and you will be ok,” he said. “You’ll get into college. You will survive. Don’t stress that much, but do stress enough so that you actually do the work.”
June 4, 2015|page 19
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Features
For Lee, teaching calculus is play, not work Andrea Lirio Sr. Features Editor
Ninety-three students and not a single one who dropped. In his past three years teaching AP BC calculus, math teacher Thomas Lee has never had a student drop his class. Although Lee had no formal teaching experience when he began working at South in 2003, students and staff said that through his passion for teaching he has developed a teaching style that has allowed students to succeed in one of South’s most rigorous math courses. “Nobody ever taught me how to teach. I used my own instincts, and I think it works,” he said. Lee retired at the age of 46 and teaches not for a salary, but for his own enjoyment. Before teaching, he worked at an insurance company as an actuary, a business professional who evaluates the financial consequences of risk. Although he enjoyed retirement, Lee decided to intern at an elementary school, later teaching as a substitute at South, hoping to receive a part-time position. “I wasn’t burned down in the corporate world, but I was able to retire, so I was wanted to challenge myself and try something different,” he said. Lee teaches only one class, which he said allows him to devote all his energy to the students so that he can get to know them well and help them better prepare for the AP exam. His class is large, with 32 students. Lee said he keeps them engaged by treating them like adults. By treating his students with respect, he said, he can expect to receive the same in return. “I get to work with these lovely young kids … I get to know them all,” he said. “I treat them well because they are adults, and they are great learners.”
photos courtesy of Thomas Lee
Lee poses for photos at 2014 graduation (top-left). Lee at last year’s prom at Gillette Stadium (bottom-left). While in class, Lee takes a seat at a desk to talk with his students (right). Sophomore Ayush Upneja said that Lee’s teaching style helps the class stay engaged. “He has more of an interactive class so he will ask a lot more questions … as opposed to lecturing for the entire block, which is really nice because people can actually clarify stuff,” he said. According to math department head Steven Rattendi, Lee’s commitment to teaching, as well as his expansive knowledge of math, has earned him the respect of his students. In another quirk of character, if Lee is not receiving the proper respect, students meet Mr. Sluggo, an alter ego that he uses to discipline unruly students.
“In general, they are treated like the great adults that they are and so there are no rules. They do not get a lot of homework,” Lee said, “But if they overstep their boundaries, they know Mr. Sluggo.” Despite the occasional appearance of Mr. Sluggo, Upneja said he enjoys the difficult course, which he said Lee manages to teach in an easygoing, low-stress environment. “It’s more interactive, and he is not afraid of making fun of people, which makes the class a lot more fun,” he said. Math teacher Amanda Bastien said that Lee’s students consistently earn fours and fives on the AP exam because Lee approaches the class with a positive attitude.
“He thinks every single kid can learn and … get a five on the AP. He does not want anyone to drop; he makes sure that they will pass,” she said. “His attitude is just amazing.” “He is really invested in his kids,” Upneja agreed, “And helping them learn to understand the material. He has a very good track record of people getting fives on the AP.” His devotion, junior Ben Silvian said, sets Lee apart. “I think he is the most unique teacher I have ever had, because his passion for actually getting us to learn stuff and actually having us succeed is more than I have ever had in any teacher,” he said.
Words of Wisdom from the Senior Class: The Roar’s Ilana Zeldin asks seniors what they wish they had known entering South In high school, you learn as you go along. “You do you” because you’re going to make a lot of mistakes, but it all ends up working out in the end.
High school can be very stressful and overwhelming at times, so try to manage your time well. Don’t stay up too late.
- Najiye Honca
- Arturo Kuang
Enjoy South for what it is and know that it is a unique experience. It isn’t like most high schools and you should appreciate the education.
Join clubs earlier because it’s a good opportunity to start fresh and meet new people and learn to love something that you don’t know much about.
- Charles Goodfriend
- Aubrey Adamczyk photos by Bailey Kroner and Alexa Rhynd
SPORTS page 20|June 4, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
Sports@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 1
Faggot. I think to them that’s just like a word. ... I don’t think they get it. Because they didn’t have the same experiences I had. photo illustration by Nathaniel Bolter
June 4, 2015|page 21
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Sports GAY ATHLETES, from 1 you looking down there?’ That type of stuff,” junior Anthony DeNitto, who plays football, basketball and runs track, said. What gets lost in the repetition is often the significance, junior Alex Kiritsy — soccer and basketball — said. Senior Jeremy Knight, a football player and baseball captain, mentioned several times that, to many athletes, a slur like “fag” is “just one of those words.” Junior Phil Batler, who is openly gay and runs track, agreed. “I think to them that’s just like a word. I don’t think they get that it has a lot of weight,” he said. “To someone who was, when they were younger, bullied and called that word and they didn’t like it, it just has a weird effect to hear someone joking around saying it. I don’t think they get it. Because they didn’t have the same experiences I had.”
***
While ubiquitous, homophobic language afflicts some sports more than others. Athletes said that this language is far more prevalent in sports like football and wrestling where a “huge masculine presence,” as Batler said, dominates the atmosphere. Knight, for example, said that on the football field, words like “fag” and “gay” are “thrown around almost every play,” mixed up in the tough-guy crusade against being “soft.” “People use these terms to kind of bring down people or try and get them to man up,” he said. “On a play, let’s say you’re not hitting a guy hard enough — ‘Don’t be a fag,” or, “Don’t be a pussy,’ you know.” Senior Corey Friedman, a runner and lacrosse captain, said he believes his teams this year have been respectful, though he has seen the “soft” stigma on the lacrosse team, when players would call each other “fag” for shying away from a hit. Friedman, Kiritsy and Stein all agreed that their teammates would accept a gay athlete, though Kiritsy and Stein admitted there would be some initial hesitation. Knight, though, was not as definitive. “Personally, if I was homosexual, then I don’t know how I would be able to play football, honestly. In my head it would [be like] they’re all out to get me. It’s horrible,” he said. “When it comes to football, the culture I feel like is just very unaccepting of it — to be gay. So I don’t know if there are some guys who would treat gays differently on the field.” The football team has long struggled with a hyper-masculine culture. Head football coach and assistant lacrosse coach Ted Dalicandro said that years ago, a football player took to calling one of his teammates “cupcake.” The player continued despite warnings, forcing Dalicandro to threaten to kick him off the team. “It’s a coach’s job to make sure that that is dealt with right away and that all your players, like all your students in a classroom, feel comfortable,” he said. “You can’t ignore it.” While in part a product of the pressure to be masculine, homophobic language is also one aspect of a larger, looser and sometimes more aggressive culture in which many male athletes feel that rules and filters do not apply. Stein said that this culture involves everything from abundant profanity to borderline racist comments. “There’s more emotion and intensity in sports than in other places,” Kiritsy said. This atmosphere contrasts sharply with that of girls sports, where testosterone does not run quite so high, according
to female athletes. Madeline*, a gay female athlete who is out to close friends, said that she has never heard a homophobic slur in the girls locker room. The difference between the two cultures, she said, traces back to the cult of masculinity. “Girls never really feel the need to talk about whatever things that happened that day that like proved how much of a girl they are,” she said. “We’re not like getting into the locker room and trying to prove who we are.” But senior Morgan Woods, a hockey and softball player who is openly gay, said she did encounter homophobic language on the girls hockey team. Woods, who did not come out until after this past hockey season ended, said that after physical plays, some players would make comments like “Oh, she must be a lesbian.” “Just from hearing that, I kind of made a decision on my own not to just broach the subject with anyone,” she said. While Woods did not run into any problems with South’s softball team — a tight-knit group of friends, she said — her old regional team was not as accepting. “There was one girl who was out and very proud and talked about it all the time, and then she left the team. And we had our first practice for the next season, and they were like, ‘Oh, thank god we’re not the dyke team anymore,’” she said. “They would talk about like, ‘Oh I didn’t want to change in front of her because it would make me feel uncomfortable.’ And it was just really rough because I had never known that girls were like that to begin with. I had never experienced something like that. And then once that one girl left, it just kind of all came out.”
***
Even if there were a gay football player, Knight said, he might not be very happy. “I feel like [a gay athlete] would definitely have to lay low. You’re going to want to not be as outgoing, I feel, because you don’t want to bring attention to yourself, so you’re going to be the last kid to shower. You’re going to be the first kid to change, or the last kid to change. You’re never going to change around kids,” he said. “It would be hard, very hard.” Isaac*, a gay male athlete, cited these same concerns about changing and drawing unwanted attention as some of the reasons that he has not yet come out. “I feel like it would make people pretty uncomfortable,” he said. “I feel like I wouldn’t be able to [come out] while I was still on the team.” Madeline agreed that changing can be a source of awkwardness. When she is in the locker room with someone who is aware of her sexual orientation, she said, she needs to “take extra special care to make sure that I’m not obviously like checking someone out.” Even for an athlete like Batler who is out to all his teammates, changing can be somewhat of a barrier between him and the rest of the team. “In the track area, if someone needs to change [from] some underwear into spandex, you’ll just walk behind one of the lockers and do that, but it has happened before that people will double check if I’m [there],” he said. “Or if I go behind to change — most people have to say ‘get out of here, I’m changing’ — but for me, I just walk behind and everyone just goes away.” Out athletes face other barriers, too. For example, Batler said, in the hypermasculine environment of boys sports, “it is like ‘just the boys,’ in the sense that they
just feel really comfortable to talk about ‘guy stuff.’” “A lot of the times the conversation will be about relationships and their feelings toward girls,” he said, “and then when that comes up, I really don’t have that much to contribute to the conversation.” At a generally progressive school like South, the gay athletes interviewed said, they do not fear anti-gay attacks or hate; rather, it is these moments of awkwardness or exclusion that frustrate openly gay athletes and discourage closeted athletes from coming out at all. “[If I come out to everyone], things that are somewhat easier for me right now might get a little less easy,” Madeline said. “With people I don’t know as well — not that they would feel, like, bad towards me — I just feel like they might feel a little bit awkward.” Even after close to a year of being out to his team, Batler said, “there is still a little bit of awkwardness with some people, just like having me in there.” While Batler said his presence has made teammates more conscious of what they say, he still hears homophobic language. “Someone behind me ... will say something, and I’ll notice people to my side look over at me and check to see if I’m ‘okay’ with the comment or not,” he said. Even this self-censorship can sometimes contribute to the feeling of exclusion, Steven*, a gay male athlete at St. Sebastian’s school in Needham, said. “As far as there being a group of friends that I’d be comfortable coming out to, I don’t think I have any because it would suddenly be like, ‘Oh, you can’t say that because [Steven] is gay,’” he said. “It would definitely change people’s perceptions of me, which is not the way that I think it should be.”
HOMOPHOBIA IN AMERICAN SPORTS
{
{
An international study on homohpobia in sports called “Out on the Fields,” released on May 10, surveyed both gay and straight men and women in six English-speaking countries, including the U.S.
(Types of harassment experienced)
Verbal Threats
gay men
Physical Assault
*Names changed to protect students’ identities Additional reporting by Josh Goldenberg
19% gay men
89%
Verbal Slurs gay men
***
In context, though, South’s athletics program might be more tolerant than others. The occasional uncomfortable exchange notwithstanding, the three out or partially out athletes interviewed reported mostly positive experiences playing South sports. No one described ever feeling targeted for his or her sexual orientation. “If there’s a school that I think an athlete could come out in, I think this would be it,” Stein, who is straight, said. At St. Sebastian’s, Steven’s experience has been markedly different. Of St. Sebastian’s, an all-boys Catholic school, Steven said that “homophobia doesn’t really happen because ‘no one’s gay.’” The atmosphere at St. Sebastian’s might seem foreign to South students. When asked if he thought his school was accepting, Steven responded “No, not even remotely.” “We’ve never had a same-sex couple at any of our proms or formal events, ever. And for the past 12 years, we’ve had one or two kids in every grade come out after graduation,” he said. But in Newton, Woods said, things are moving in the right direction. “I think that that’s one reason for people to come out, is to help the people who are still not confident, if they’re still kind of in the closet or not sure. Just to raise that awareness and make sure that people are trying to really think about what they’re saying,” she said. “I’m very fortunate to be in New England, and Massachusetts, and especially a place like Newton, but I think we can still improve.”
29%
19% lesbian women
8% lesbian women
82%
lesbian women
Gym classes are the second most likely locations for homophobia to occur, after spectator stands
84%
of people have witnessed or experenced homophobia in sports
RANKINGS OF COUNTRIES (Most inclusive to least inclusive, out of the six countries surveyed)
1. Canada
2. Australia 3. New Zealand 4. United Kingdon 5. Ireland 6. United States
page 22|June 4, 2015
sports|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM
Girls lacrosse secures first tournament berth
Sophomore Estelle Cadrain, midfield, fires a shot on Waltham’s goal on May 12 (above). Senior Elizabeth Barry, attack, tussles over control of the ball and the game (right). Freshman Jordan Briney, midfield, searches for an opening in the defense (bottom-right).
Jack McElduff & Darren Trementozzi Sr. Sports Editors Emeriti
After a string of consecutive losing seasons, the girls lacrosse team finished this season with a winning record, clinching its first state tournament berth in team history with a win over Cambridge Rindge & Latin on May 16. Despite previous losing seasons, this year’s senior class felt they were well-positioned to change the team’s fortunes, senior Emily Silverman said. “There’s a really different dynamic on the team because last year, our skillset wasn’t as great.” According to head coach Erica Shapiro, now in her third season at South, the Lions always had the ability to advance, but needed a change in offensive mentality. “We have the ability now to pass and to play more as a team rather than individual players,” Silverman agreed. “We can pass the ball up the field. We can run plays. We’re able to do more than just be individual players playing at the same time.” Along with the change in the offensive playbook, the Lions saw a change in personnel, with new members bringing fresh skills to the team. “The skill is more spread out amongst the team,” senior captain Sonja Klumpp said. “It’s not like one all-star, and everyone else kind of follows in their footsteps.” The incoming talent complemented the more experienced senior players.
the more experienced senior players. Freshman Jordan Briney, for example, was one of the highest-scoring players on the team. “It’s been a lot of fun with the older girls,” Briney said. Shapiro cited teamwork as the biggest reason for the team’s newfound success in all aspects of the game. “We’re getting good at being very talkative on the field,” she said. Even this season, the team came a long way from its slow start.“The first game of the season, we lost 17-1, but we didn’t let that get us down,” Shapiro said. “We came to every game wanting to fight.” Shapiro first started coaching the Lions after a winless season, and the team finished the next two seasons with losing records. “[The players] kind of accepted that Newton South lacrosse wasn’t that great of a team,” she said. “Most of the work we did in the beginning was convincing them that they could win.” In their first round playoff game on Monday, the team was eliminated from the tournament, losing 15-5 to fifth-seeded Framingham. But now that the Lions have made the tournament once, the underclassmen hope to go even further in future seasons. “Anytime you experience winning ... you want more of it. … Each win builds [hope] on top of the other,” Shapiro said. “Once you get the whole team believing, that’s when it’s really powerful.”
photos by Alexa Rhynd
Volleyball notches second undefeated season Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
headed into the South Sectionals as the number one seed looking to run the table for the second Following up on its state year in a row. championship run last season, the The Lions have relied upon boys volleyball team has finished their 10 seniors during their jourthis season undefeated, winners ney to a second-straight 20-0 reof their last 45 games. cord. Statistical tracking by head Now, all that remains is the coach Todd Elwell has allowed state tournament, which began the team to become aware of its Monday night when the Lions strengths and weaknesses. Under squared off against ninth-seeded this syetem, both Elwell and his Barnstable, beating them in players noted that this year’s team straight sets. might be better than last year’s, at The defending state champs least on paper. Editor-in-Chief, Denebola
“The team is 10 to 15 percent more efficient this year than last year in six categories,” Elwell said. “[Our] biggest strength would be consistency,” senior captain Jared Chin said. “We’re more consistent on every part of the game.” Though the team has often beaten its opponents in straight sets, there is one game that stands out in Chin’s mind. “Our biggest win would be Cambridge because it was the last
[regular season] game and it was a good way to go into tournament and end the regular season on a high note,” Chin said. The team won that match 3-0, but it was also a day for more than just the game of volleyball, as both South and Cambridge raised money to help a paralyzed Agawam volleyball player who was hit by a car early in the season. Looking ahead, if North defeats Brockton, South could potentially host a cross-town matchup in the field house on
Friday. The team, however, is just trying to stay focused on one set at a time. “We’ve been working hard all season, and we’re definitely ready for the playoffs,” junior Eli Braginsky said. “Every team we play is going to be formidable, but we’ve been playing well all season, and we’re feeling good going into playoff time.” South’s outlook heading into the playoffs is simple, according to senior captain Brendan Duggan: “Work hard and win.”
June 4, 2015|page 23
THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Sports
Angry Corn split over recognition Ethan Krop
ing and transportation issues. “That has, overall, taken away from the experience a bit,” freshman Andrew D’Annolfo said. D’Annolfo said he hopes that by his As Angry Corn, the boys unofficial junior year, ultimate will be listed alongside ultimate Frisbee team, pushes for recogbaseball, track, lacrosse and others as an nition as an official school sport, some members resist the transition, citing a loss official spring sport. “Pretty much all of Angry Corn, after of freedom. According to sophomore co-captain this year, wants this to be a team,” he said. But senior co-captain Jonathan KirJared Goodfriend, remaining separate from the athletic program allows for increased freedom in scheduling practices, designing jerseys and creating a mascot. “[We are seen] as a couple The independence, however, also creates logistical challenges. of kids messing around with The team practices at Nahanton Park, discs instead of people playwhich is not within walking distance of ing a sport that requires real South. “It’s harder to find field space, [and] athleticism and skill.” we have to get our own transportation,” Goodfriend said. - Jared Goodfriend, Class of 2017 Unlike Angry Corn, official sports have designated practice schedules and rights to fields during their allotted time slots. They also have school buses to trans- shenbaum, who opposes recognition, cited a divide within the team. port them to and from practices and away “Some guys want to come and play games. for a laid-back team that isn’t necessarily as Angry Corn, as a club, must rely on demanding as a school-sanctioned sport,” carpooling and upperclassmen for rides, he said, “and other guys come out ready to which can create scheduling difficulties. play competitive ultimate and really put the “There is little to no structure since work in to make a successful squad.” it’s separate from the school, which preAccording to Jared, remaining a vents us from having the highest number club could perpetuate the perception that of games that we can play,” senior co-capultimate is not a “real sport.” tain Charles Goodfriend, Jared’s brother, “[We are seen] as a couple of kids said. Angry Corn’s only three home games messing around with discs instead of people playing a sport that requires real this season were canceled due to schedulSports Reporter
athleticism and skill,” he said. Many Angry Corn members played pick-up ultimate prior to joining the team, and D’Annolfo attended the National Ultimate Training Camp last summer. “The team is very clear on their position in the debate as to if [ultimate] is a ‘real sport,’” Charles said. “Make no mistake, we still train just as hard and are just as competitive as the other schoolaffiliated sports.” Those who want Angry Corn to become an official school sport, Charles said, argue that recognition will bring Angry Corn new respect. Kishenbaum, however, said that as long as a MIAA ultimate Frisbee league does not exist, it is best for the team to remain unaffiliated. On student-run teams like ultimate, Kishenbaum said, players must rely entirely on each other, which he said builds trust. Independence also means flexibility, he said. For example the students were able to hire the captain of Boston’s professional ultimate team, Jon Hirschberger, as the coach for the current season and future seasons. “We catch a lot of jokes from the varsity sports and sometimes that can deter some potential players from joining, but that’s something every experienced ultimate player is familiar with, so we kind of embrace it now,” Kirshenbaum said. “All in all, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Coach’s Corner: Boys Lacrosse
Q A
Coach David McCallum
How would you describe this season? We knew that it was going to be a rebuilding year because we lost a lot of guys. We wound up finding a lot of good talent for the upcoming years. We had some seniors come out of nowhere, and they were actually a lot of fun.
South Scoreboard
***All information is as of 9:00 p.m. on Monday, June 1, 2015***
Team
Next Game/Meet
Record (W/L/T)
Boys Volleyball
June 5 vs North or Brockton
20 - 0
Boys Track
3-2
Girls Track
June 6 at Fitchberg June 6 at Fitchberg
Baseball
N/A
9 - 11
Softball Boys Tennis
TBD TBD
12 - 8 10 - 4
Girls Tennis
TBD
12 - 6
Boys Lacrosse
N/A
4 - 16
Girls Lacrosse
N/A
10 - 8
4-3
The Best Ever? NATHAN ELBAUM & NOAH SHELTON
sports columnist, sr. sports editor
I
Stealing Second
n the days following Floyd Mayweather’s unanimous victory over Manny Pacquiao, the world learned that Pacquiao fought with a severely torn shoulder and will require surgery. Two fans even filed a lawsuit against Pacquiao for his performance, which they claim did not live up to the price of the fight. The bigger problem that fans now face, however, is that the two best fighters of their generation fought while neither was in his prime — and one was severely injured. For Mayweather to be considered one of the greatest fighters ever, he needed to have fought the best competition at his best. He faced Oscar De La Hoya, who started his career 31-0, but not until De La Hoya had lost five fights and most of his titles. Mayweather also needs to be open to rematches to prove that he can be consistently great. He has said that he will fight a rematch with Pacquiao when he recovers, but by that time both will be well past their prime and Mayweather will have lost his chance to definitively prove his status as one of the greatest boxers ever. Muhammad Ali, known as the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time), fought George Foreman for the World Championship once, Sonny Liston twice and Joe Frazier three times, winning two out of those three matches. Ali is rightly called the G.O.A.T. because he consistently fought the best in the world and returned several times to prove his continued dominance. Boxing is not the only sport that encounters controversy when the best players lack real competition. College football experienced this problem for a long time, as its bowl system allowed only two teams to play for the National Championship, leaving fans to wonder whether other teams could have won if given the chance. Last year, the system changed, and now four teams duke it out in the playoffs. But while the new system removes ambiguity about which team is best, the question of which college football player is the best remains unresolved. Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston, the two top picks in the NFL draft this year, went head-to-head in the semifinal last year with Mariota came out on top, yet many people still view Winston as the better player. Winston led the Florida State Seminoles to a perfect 13-0 season and the number three seed in the playoffs, propelling him to the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft. In the playoffs, however, Famous Jameis and Florida State University’s weaknesses were exposed by the Oregon Ducks. Winston had five total turnovers (four fumbles and one interception), leading his team to a crushing 59-20 defeat. The self-proclaimed Hall of Famer was embarrassed on the largest of college football stages, proving once again that if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.
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