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Album Review: “Arizona Baby” by Kevin Abstract

May 16, 2019 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Brendan Hall

Staff Writer

Singer & Rapper Kevin Abstract made a name for himself within the Hip-Hop “boyband” Brockhampton as their vocal leader and the embodiment of their outsider perspective. Within interviews, Abstract makes it transparent that he desires to inspire younger audiences to not conform towards societal standards both in terms of social identity (especially race & sexuality) and their life goals.

Aside from his personal endeavors, Abstract has also been apart of several acclaimed projects. Most notably the Brockhampton Saturation trilogy and his 2016 pop album American Boyfriend. On Kevin Abstract’s 2019 release, Arizona Baby, gives the listener a sense of intimacy, rare to come across within music.

While Kevin Abstract’s sexuality is often discussed in his music (and for good reason), he explores this topic in a nuanced way that deals with an overall theme of searching reassurance from himself and other people. The most notable moment of this is on the Album’s 4th track “Corpus Christi” where addresses drug abuse, identity crisis, and homophobia all within 3 bars stating, “We was on tour in Europe, I tried coke with this kid. See I need anything that make me feel less lonely. I get called a snake, a liar, a faggot, and a phony”.

In other instances, Abstract is confident when addressing his sexuality in the track “Big Wheels” when he raps, “They think I’m a bitch, just queerbaitin’. Quit bein’ a bitch and quit hatin’ Y’all pump fakin’. I’m a power bottom like a Freemason,”. This creates an intriguing juxtaposition illustrating the complexity of own self-image.

Other themes such as helpless romantic ventures are referenced on the album. A stand out includes “Baby Boy” which has few yet poetic lyrics from Abstract where he sings, “Every time I find myself I feel so lost. And every truth that I discover feels so false. And every mountain that I climb that seemed so tall. It only felt that way ’cause the valley was so small”. “Baby Boy” also features an excellent hook from the guest singer Ryan Beatty, which helps keep the song properly structured.

While Kevin Abstract may have a unique perspective let’s not forget the reason why he has a platform in the first place, his incredible talent for crafting melodies. His vocals within this album are well done from start to finish. Abstract has found the talent to use his voice as an instrument and give a greater understanding of his emotions.

Throughout Arizona Baby, Abstract experiments with instrumentals that range from indie rock, such as “Peach” and booming 808s on tracks such as “Big Wheels”. The instrumentals display Abstract’s varied inspiration of genres which all cumulate into crafting his own original sound and dig deep into creating a world surrounding his musical persona.

Kevin Abstract’s strong effort on this project highlight the bright future he has with making introspective music and the social movement it attracts.

Does SLA have a Bias Against Community College?

May 16, 2019 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Brendan Hall

Staff Writer

High schoolers around the country get the same message starting freshman year: the paths they choose after they graduate are crucial The seniors at SLA are no exception and prepare to make a life-defining commitment to a post-graduate program.

Aside from programs, location, and cost another important part of making the college decision is the type of college/university to attend. Varieties of these include private colleges, public colleges, trade schools, or community college. Knowing how to decipher between these types for the best possible result may be more difficult than it appears due to the benefits and shortcomings of each type of schools.

As a citywide admissions school, SLA prides itself on helping students get into elite schools with competitive admissions. But does this focus overlook the value of less prestigious, but more affordable schools?

“SLA college counselors and other teachers recommended me liberal arts school and I think that’s because a liberal arts school is most similar to SLA,” Senior Messele Asfaw said in response to what types of post high school education SLA recommended.

Asfaw furthered this claim by saying he believes those who chose a liberal arts school did it because they wanted a similar learning environment to SLA. In a follow up he believed that a problem could occur from a formulaic recommendation.

“There’s a stigma against community college that certain students and faculty members have against it despite that option being a reasonable choice for certain people,” Asfaw critiqued about the college counseling students receive. In the end, Asfaw decided to attend SUNY Stony Brook because of the quality of its engineering and film program.

Another student confirmed Asfaw’s perception.

“In general I think SLA gives recommendations based on types of schools that resemble [where the teachers went],” Senior Majd Bostani stated. Bostani believes school faculty do this to inform students about an opportunity to learn in a manner that replicates project-based material. However he also expressed there was an inconvenience with this method because they tend to favor institutions which mirror SLA’s style.

“A student looking for guidance would likely find conflict with the type of schools recommended because it’s rare for them to recommend schools outside of a university,” Bostani claimed.

“I knew where I wanted to go based on my own research and parental guidance,” Sean DeSilva explained. DeSilva progressed his statement and said this tactic allowed to look aside from educational institutions which mirrored SLA’s ideals. DeSilva furthered this implying SLA had bias towards certain types of colleges.

“I think that looking over community colleges could potentially waste a reliable option due to the stigma around it,” DeSilva stated. In the end, DeSilva decided to attend LaSalle.

Another anonymous student described a past incident where her brother had an unpleasant confrontation about his choice to attend Community College of Philadelphia. This incident lead to her deciding to not ask the college counselor for guidance because of how attending community college was taboo for her brother.

Some seniors at SLA believe Community College is looked down upon by faculty members, and even their own peers. This could result in a lack of motivation for students who know they cannot attend a university due to cost or other factors.

“My job is to let students know about a wide range of schools,” Mrs. Hirschfield the college counselor asserted. She also explained that despite the stigma against community college a significant portion of SLA students have attended each of the past 4 years (10%).

“I think that there is a stigma, but I don’t think it’s exclusive to SLA,” she stated. This point was proceeded with her opinion, which is people do this because selective schools are valued more in a professional setting. For instance, a Bachelor’s degree is more prestigious than an associate’s degree, but applicants overlook the option of transferring to a university.

Furthermore, she stated this stigma could result in a negative college experience for future students due to chasing prestigious validations. However, Ms. Hirschfield countered the claim that SLA has a practice of automatically overlooking community options.

“If a student said they wanted to go to CCP I’d support the choice, it’s just I want students to be aware of all their options…maybe that’s where the misunderstanding comes from,” she addressed when asked about a student not coming to college counseling.

TV Review: The Haunting of Hill House

November 19, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lily Bromley

Staff Writer

On October 12th, a new show on Netflix aired called, “The Haunting of Hill House”. The show follows the Craine family and their ghostly encounters over the course of twenty-six years. Over the first few days of the show’s release, articles started popping up on the internet about how the show was so terrifying that it had caused people to throw up.

When I read a snippet of one of these stomach-churning reviews on Instagram, I knew I had to watch the show. The idea of throwing up from fear didn’t really appeal to me, but I can never resist an outrageous review or reaction. I was just too curious.

As far as Netflix originals go, my favorites have been Big Mouth, Stranger Things, and Atypical. But all of these shows are more comedic, whereas Hill House is definitely more of a drama. So I was curious to see how Netflix would interpret a show like this. The show follows Olivia and Hugh Craine, along with their seven children, (Steven, Shirley, Theo, Nellie, and Luke) while they renovate a haunted mansion during the summer of 1992.

The first episode drew me in immediately with the unique format it uses. The storyline of each episode switches from present day to the past and isn’t in chronological order. In the show, a scene will be shown without context, and then episodes later you will figure what was going on in the scene. Throughout the show, Nellie is haunted by a ghost she calls “The Bent Neck Lady”, later Nellie hangs herself, and we find out that Nellie was “The Bent Neck Lady” all along.

This format makes the big reveals and twists super satisfying. Watching the show is like fitting together a puzzle, and it keeps you interested because you are waiting to see how the pieces will fit together in the end.

So, the big question: is the show is really that scary?

I would say no. As a high schooler with not much experience with horror movies, I found the show creepy, but not terrifying. There are few gory scenes, which I think might explain why some people felt sick from watching it, however, these scenes were not very graphic and were also quite brief. There are a few several jumps scares in the show, so keep that in mind before you watch it.

Overall, I think that The Haunting of Hill House is one of my favorite shows on Netflix.. I liked guessing what was going to happen next, and once I finished the show, I was left thinking about family relationships and how they affect you.

Plus, I didn’t throw up.

Seniors Host Second SLA Spirit Week

June 1, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Rasa Watson

Staff Writer

From April 23rd to April 27th, Seniors Nadya Negron and Deja Harrison hosted SLA’s second spirit week of this school year. They wanted to do this as they felt senior year coming to an end and wanted to do something fun for the whole school and help get the school involved.

Spirit week is a time for students at SLA to feel school spirit that many say SLA lacks when compared to so many other schools. This year for spirit week, each day consisted of a different theme. The first day was Battle of the Grades which consisted of various competitions between the grades. Each grade would wear one color and compete together in competitions that are inspired by the TV show Wild N’ Out.

The next day, a Tuesday, it was International Day where everyone was invited to represent their own cultures and heritage. Negron and Harrison wanted to do this to embrace the diversity of SLA.

On that Wednesday, it was twin day where students were encouraged to match outfits with their friends. That Thursday was Pajama Day which Negron thought would be fun for everyone as it would help everyone relax. And finally, on Friday, it was Freaky Friday where everyone was encouraged to switch a whole outfit and if possible life with someone else for the day.

Negron is involved in the spirit week as her capstone was creating and organizing a school spirit week. She said that one of the hard parts of it was organizing the whole thing and making sure that the community at SLA was involved in it and was going to participate.

The school spirit week received lots of good reviews, including from sophomore Jeremiah Butler who said that he thought that school spirit week was a great thing for SLA and for strengthening the community, “It was really a lot of fun to see everyone being involved.” However, the fall spirit week had greater participation than the spring one, as it had themes that inspired more people to get involved, such as meme day.

Negron and Harrison both felt very similar to Butler as they said that it felt good to see everyone involved and enjoying it, especially knowing that they helped make it happen and it was the fruits of their labor.

Last year, the week was sponsored by a larger committee. Harrison became a part of organizing the school spirit week as she already had experience in school spirit due to her participation in SLA cheerleading team. She said she really liked helping create a school spirit at SLA in the cheerleading team and wanting to spread that to the rest of the school.

Ms. Hull leaves Center City, but not SLA

May 25, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Matthew Milligan

Staff Writer

Art Teacher and Technology Coordinator Marcie Hull has remained a stable pillar in the SLA Center City community since its beginnings. This year, however, will be her last at the Center City Campus.

Why is she leaving? Currently, she has a lot of responsibilities within her positions at the school, and wanted things to be less complicated professionally.

“The easy answer is I’m simplifying my life. There’s a lot that goes on here, we built an awesome thing and now that I’m getting my EDD [a doctorate on policy and administration] over at West Chester, I need to simplify stuff a little bit and have one job at my job.”

However, she’ll be staying within the school family. As of next year, Ms. Hull will teach Art at the SLA Middle School in West Philadelphia.

Part of why Ms. Hull is making more time for her graduate studies is because she hopes to make more schools like SLA.

“My real hope and one of the reasons that I’m getting my doctoral work done is to make more schools like this in Philly, where kids have a chance to be who they are and get what they need out of the school instead of being told what to do and being pushed through a system.”

Ms. Hull feels as though she has created the layout for how technology is integrated into SLA Center City, and that it is now time to allow someone else to build off of her work.

“There’s a lot of back-end work that goes into making sure that everything that plugs into the building is up and running,” she explained.

“Every time you guys walk into the building, and 12 years of doing that I’ve set up the systems and structures in such a way that it’s now time to pass that torch.”

While she may be ready to leave the operational parts of her job behind, Ms. Hull will sincerely miss her students and colleagues.

“I think the thing that makes it difficult though is that I really love my colleagues and I really love the students here, like we all take care of each other, and it’s going to be hard to leave. It will be like leaving home.”

The feeling is mutual for other members within the community. Junior Ethan Larrabee, one her art students, is sad to see Ms. Hull go.

“Aside from her teaching style, she relates to the students a lot more than most teachers and is definitely just a good person to talk to about kind of anything. She’s fun as well.”

What stuck out to Larrabee about Ms. Hull was her unique teaching style. Her approach to teaching art clicked well with Larrabee.

“She’s kind of lenient with what you hand in for an assignment. She’s really kind of hands off and sort of lets you do your own thing and I think . . . for an art class since self expression is so important being hands off is the better way to go.”

In addition, her empathy towards the differing situations that students had was a key part of what made her so likeable to Larrabee.

“ . . . I personally have issues with getting work in on time as a result of various learning disability type stuff, and she was really accommodating about that sort of thing. I think she really gets mental illness,” Larrabee explained.

Principal Chris Lehmann, who has been working with Ms. Hull since the founding of SLA, will miss her dearly as well.

“On a personal level Ms. Hull is one of the founding teachers of the school and someone who I really love working with on a day to day basis, so I’m gonna miss having her here . . . She is a dear friend in addition to a colleague. She’s one of the biggest personalities we have on campus.”

Although it is sad that Ms. Hull is leaving, her departure does come with a silver lining. For one, Mr. Lehmann believes that Ms. Hull will be a valuable asset to the SLA Middle School.

“I also think for SLA middle school to get someone who has such a deep understanding of and development of the SLA model is such a wonderful thing for SLA middle school, so I think it’s a really good thing for the SLA family of schools.”

In addition, Mr. Lehmann is excited to see what her successor, Ms. Alvarez, will bring to the school, as she takes on both the roles of Art Teacher and Technology Coordinator.

“She comes with a wonderful variety of experiences from high school teaching to university teaching . . . She brings an artistic background, she brings a design background, she brings a tech background, so I think all of that is really exciting . . . She’s gonna reimagine that role in ways that allow us to grow.”

“It is ok to both be sad to lose such a stalwart member of our community while excited to see what the new person brings . . . Communities continue to grow and evolve, and you can miss the people that aren’t with you everyday anymore while also being excited for the people who are,” Mr. Lehmann added.

Though Ms. Hull is physically leaving SLA Center City, she still plans on having a presence in the school.

“I’m not going anywhere. I plan to keep my email address, I know people will probably ping me when they need help. And just because of the nature of my job I’m in everything, so it’s gonna take a good year for me to fully step out of the position, and I’ll probably be sending people different documents and helping with some tech stuff here and there, but I’m never gonna truly be gone.”

According to Mr. Lehmann, Ms. Hull will continue to have a standing not only with SLA Center City, but with the entire school of SLA families, both current and future.

“She’s gonna continue to have a hand in the sort of big thinking around the way all of the SLA schools think about technology. She’s not going away . . . And I think for kids who might wanna do their ILP in the art program at SLA middle school we’ve got a natural connection.”

Though Ms. Hull is leaving the SLA Center City campus, she remains touched by the impact it had on her.

“I guess my favorite thing is that this school realized a childhood feeling in me. I went to a school where it was like a family, and you just felt at home in the building, and I didn’t ever think that I would ever feel that way again,” she said.

“I think that is one of my favorite things that really fulfills an innate part of just being a human being where you have community and people. I never thought that that would happen again and it happened in this school.”