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Amelia Benamara

Column: How Far is Too Far in Comedy?

October 26, 2018 by Amelia Benamara Leave a Comment

Lily Bromley

Staff Writer

Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson, 2018 VMA Awards.

Last week, my friend and I were reeling from the latest celebrity gossip: The breakup of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson. The breakup came as a shock to many fans, including us, and people flooded the internet with theories on why the couple called it quits. Many people believe that the breakup was caused by Pete Davidson’s controversial jokes. Pete has been known to joke about 9-11 and the Manchester Bomb attack at Ariana’s concert. In one controversial joke, he made recently, he stated that he was switching Ariana’s birth control pills with Tic Tacs in order to “make sure she doesn’t go anywhere”.

Are comedians like Davidson in the right when they joke about sensitive topics?

In my opinion, comedy can be used as a powerful tool to poke fun at certain people and situations. Many people love Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression, but no one actually thinks Alec believes the bigoted things he is saying. That is because he is playing a character. Impressions of politicians can help to point out the problems with the person, by exaggerating their personalities. Another reason that many people love impressions of politicians, is because it reinforces their notion that the politician is someone to laugh at. So while the actors may be saying offensive things, the audience knows that it is just part of the act, and not how the comedian really feels.

This is the problem with Pete Davidson. He has made his most controversial jokes while not in character. Does his offensive humor stand up?

In my opinion, context is the main thing to consider. Who made the joke? When was the joke made? Where was the joke made? A joke about race made by a person of color would be read completely differently than one made by a white person. As a queer person, I am a lot more likely to laugh at a queer joke made by someone from the LGBTQ community, than one made by a straight person. Why is that? This is because the joke would come from a place of knowledge and bonding instead of a place of misunderstandings and assumptions. For example, a coming out joke made by Hannah Gadsby — a famous lesbian comedian — reads a lot funnier to me than the straight comedian, Louis C.K spitting out gay jokes and using “f**” casually on his show (which is a word that many gay people don’t even feel comfortable using).

Another thing to consider: Does the joke heal or hurt? When Pete Davidson made a mockery on the Manchester bomb attack that occurred at one of Ariana Grande ’s concerts, many people were upset and offended, as 22 people were killed. For the families that were affected, this joke would be very upsetting and hurtful, especially because of how soon it was.

By contrast, Saturday Night Live did a sketch in which they reenacted the Brett Kavanaugh hearing, airing only days after. So how is this different? Pete’s joke was made simply to shock people, while the SNL skit was made to shed light on how crazy the hearing was. The SNL skit was defending Doctor Ford, not putting her down, or belittling her problems like Davidson’s joke did.

Thinking about intent, did the comedian mean to offend or shock the audience? Or did they simply make a mistake? When comedians step out of line with a joke and apologize, some people may choose not to forgive them. This is something that the comedian has to live with.

In my opinion, the comedic line comes when a comedian makes a joke that offends the people who are the subject of that joke. But I recognize that this definition is vague because that line varies for each person. When looking at a joke keep in mind the reactions of the people that it was targetted at. Do they think it was funny? If not, the joke has probably gone too far.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

Column: Transferring to SLA

October 25, 2018 by Amelia Benamara Leave a Comment

Criminal Justice Academy at PPHS, Google. 

Faryn Heffner

Staff Writer 

I walked into a school in the middle of a big city I had never been to. It was pretty intimidating since I was coming from Florida. I thought the city I lived in before was big, but it was nothing compared to Philadelphia. I lived in St. Petersburg, Florida the place I called and will always call home. I’m used to going to the beach every weekend, driving everywhere, and going to football games on Friday nights. I never thought I’d be walking everywhere, taking public transportation, and sitting home on the weekends.

Transferring from St. Pete to Philly is definitely one of the most challenging things I’ve experienced. I left my best friend, my friends, my boyfriend, and most importantly, my dad. I left the one place I never thought I’d leave.

Last October my mom got a job working for the School District of Philadelphia. She told me that my brother and I had to move up after we finished our school year. My world shattered, it felt like everything was crashing down around me. I was nowhere near ready to say goodbye to everyone I’d known my whole life. The months soon seemed to turn into days, but in reality, I had 10 months left which felt like 10 days. I chose to put the thought of leaving everything behind out of my mind and started to live in the moment with everyone.

Soon it was time to leave and it was the most emotional day of my life. I spent it with my best friend and my boyfriend joined. I reassured myself that it was not a “goodbye”; it was a “see you soon”.

SLA is very different from what I was used to. I went to Pinellas Park High School (PPHS) and I was in the Criminal Justice Academy, where we learned about the legal system and law-related careers. My old school was much bigger with over 2,500 students. Almost everyone at SLA knows each other, at my old school it was not like that. Being the new girl in a new school is not always easy, but the students and staff were very welcoming. They did not just sit back and wonder who the new girl was. They would introduce themselves and ask me questions about myself. Because of this, making friends came easier than I anticipated.  I fit in pretty easily in a short amount of time.

The teaching style in both schools is completely different. SLA is very interactive and project based. At Pinellas Park, we learned out of textbooks and the classes were not very interactive. At SLA we don’t have tests every two weeks like at my old school.

Comparing the two by sports is very different. At PPHS we had all sorts of sports such as; football, tennis, soccer, baseball, swimming, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, flag football, and many more. SLA has a very limited option for sports. Ever since freshman year, I have always been on the varsity soccer team. I felt as if my freshman and sophomore years there was a lot of competition between some of the girls on the team. When I joined the soccer team here and started to get to know everyone better we were all so nice to each other. No one was competing and nobody thought they were better than the other girls.

My favorite thing about SLA is the support from everyone you meet. Students and teachers are very involved in your life. It feels like one big happy family helping each other to make it through the school year. The overall atmosphere is inspiring and friendly.

The positive portion of this transfer is that it really gives me an opportunity to focus on myself and my school work. It will help me soar in my junior year. I go down to visit all of my friends and my dad every couple month which is also a plus. Even though I miss them the majority of my time, I have come to terms to understand that this is a conclusive experience for me and I know that they will always be there for me no matter where I end up.

Filed Under: Op/Ed

Enrollment Expectations at SLA

October 25, 2018 by Amelia Benamara Leave a Comment

Amelia Benamara

Staff Writer 

Daniele Fiorenza, 2018 senior transfer.
Photo by: Amelia Benamara

 

For the 2018-2019 school year, SLA accepted 15 transfer students, including individuals from Florida and even from the opposite end of the planet from Italy.

Much like the other applicants, transfer students go through the similar interview process in order to get accepted into the community. Counselor Zoe Siswick explains potential last resorts for some children.

Faryn Heffner, 2018 junior transfer. Photo by: Amelia Benamara

 

“Even after the fall interviews for transfer students, others still reach out which is when we try our best to interview them to see if they’d be a good fit for the spots we have available.”

Since it’s so competitive for students to get into SLA during the regular admissions process, why is SLA willing to accept students at the last minute like this?

Siswick explained that, due to the School District’s budgeting system, schools are required to have a certain number of students in order to keep their budgets and staff levels at the same level when they started the year.

A few weeks into the start of every school year, the School District performs what they call leveling. This process examines the number of students enrolled compared to the number of projected enrollment. The outcomes can include a number of students taken away or even at times added to the school.

SLA is always looking to keep the student population right around 500 students. Generally, 95% to 97% of the students who start at SLA, finish at SLA. That percentage has stayed consistent for many years.

SLA will be relocating in the next 2019 school year to The Ben Franklin High School Campus, Spring Garden which raised questions of whether or not the move will affect the number of students enrolled in the future.

“We also base our transfers on open spaces. Given the positive energy around the move, I don’t think it is going to cause much mobility in our student body, so I anticipate that we’ll have a similar number of transfers as previous years,” Chris Lehmann expands on his thoughts.

When students leave and aren’t replaced, that does affect SLA’s budget — which is the “leveling” process that was written about in the Philadelphia Inquirer. SLA is subjected to the same leveling budget process as every other school. It is good for the school to keep their numbers at the budgeted amount, but that’s not the only reason transfers are taken.

Senior Lauren Nicolella noticed an abnormal amount of disappearances with students who I used to always have classes with.

“This past week, September the 26th, the senior breakfast event was held where many students mentioned a few friends who no longer go here, it was a very emotional moment for the grade as a whole,” Nicolella expressed.

When asked about the reasoning behind this, Nicolella mentioned expulsion as well as students having to relocate for personal reasons. This gives SLA, and many other schools, several open spots to fill in every year.

Most transfers come to SLA becuase of personal relocation reasonings such as Junior Faryn Heffner who transferred from her former high school Pinellas Park high school in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“Transfering for the first time is my most changing event, although, I did not choose SLA. My mom was looking for a good school to send me to. My mom discovered SLA by looking at schools based on their performance and behavior,” Heffner indicated.

However, Principal Lehmann reminds the community of the real importance of welcoming transfers no matter how much the number differs yearly.

“The most important reason is that we get emails and calls all the time about kids who are interested in the kind of education we provide at SLA, and when we have space and can accommodate a student, I think it’s important that we do so.”

The students who have had the most profound experience at our school are often kids who started at a different high school and came to SLA. Their experiences can be invaluable to the community because they are able to frame their experience at SLA through a different lens.

Filed Under: News

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