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Students, Staff, Half of Pennsylvania Celebrate Eagles Superbowl Win

March 9, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Senior Nathan Little poses with several SLA students — and thousands of Eagles fans — during the victory parade in February.

Autumn Lor

Staff Writer

If you didn’t already know — because you’ve been living under a rock — the Philadelphia Eagles won their first ever Super Bowl on Sunday, February 4th. Fans from across the Philadelphia area were extremely excited throughout the whole week after the win. After the Birds’ triumph over the Patriots, two huge celebrations erupted throughout the city. The first was on the night of the win where students came out just to have fun. The following Thursday, over a million people came to watch the team ride on top of buses and dance around to celebrate their victory.

The School District of Philadelphia gave all schools the day off because the transportation for students would be differefult with everyone coming in and out the streets. Students were grateful for this because they’re weren’t planning on going to school on the day of the parade. This allowed students to go without it having to mess up students’ attendance.

In 2008, the Phillies won the World Series where, Counselor Intern Tess Lieberson came home from college for one night just for the Phillies’ parade. She said that she is a bigger baseball fan than football but because the Eagles are a hometown team, she had to celebrate it and enjoy the city’s victory.

The night of the victory, Lieberson went out on Broad Street. She was able to be in a safe place throughout the whole parade, but there were times where the crowd got hectic. However, it never got to the point where anyone was able to hurt her. The biggest problem that she had was walking home because the trolleys were packed. She didn’t live far so she was able to walk home.

For others, it wasn’t that simple. Junior Sharron Norton stated that on the day of the parade, she had trouble knowing which stop to get off and which way to go. This was her first time getting off at Race-Vine on Broad Street Line and Norton ended up walking the wrong way. She and her friend needed to walk towards City Hall but ended up walking to the Spring Garden. Despite the benefits of free train rides, trying to walk anywhere was nearly impossible.

After the parade, Norton went to Chinatown to find something to eat. People were waiting outside of Jefferson Station for the regional rail trains.

On the night of the Super Bowl, Senior Jhazzelle Majarucon threw a party for friends to come over and watch the game. Majarucon lives in Center City, so at the end of the game, her and her friends came outside and danced alongside with other fans, blew air horns, and screamed, “F– Tom Brady!” This chant echoed throughout the night and even made its way to Tess Lieberson.

Lieberson admitted to participating in the chant but stated that. they only pointed out to Brady and not the whole team was because Brady being the main man of the team makes him a very easy person to hate so for the fact that he was the reason why the we lost the Superbowl in 2004.

Not only did the city glow with green lights everywhere, the other Philadelphia teams have been experiencing a lot of victories as well. The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t lost a game since the Super Bowl. The 76ers are 8 win and 2 losses since the Super Bowl, and the Phillies are ready to get back on the diamond with a new team.

Overall, students and teachers all had a good time at the celebration and it didn’t affect the students the next day for school.

Column: How to Deal with Third Quarter Stress

March 9, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

As all students know, high school can be super stressful. I know that my amount of stress may not compare to others, but recently I have felt that I am stuck in some kind of weird rut, both mentally and emotionally. It’s gotten to a point where I break down and lose a significant amount of motivation to perform well in school.

This breakdown tends to happen for me in the third quarter due to the due to the rising workload. At SLA, students will do anything to be 100% on our work grind in order to finish benchmarks in a timely manner.

It’s not all bad news, though. I’ve been trying out different things that have allowed me to relax. Although some of these strategies are pretty self-explanatory, I think it’s good to be reminded of or learn about new tips on relaxing during stressful times. This is what I know works for me– but I can only hope that it can help at least one person out too.

Listening to music.

Music has become such a vital part of my life and I absolutely love diving into different genres and artists. There’s no better feeling than discovering someone new, and really putting your time and effort into focusing on what each song means and sounds like. A few months ago I was fortunate enough to get Spotify Premium, which opened up a whole new unlimited access to songs that I never had before. Some artists that have been able to help me relax have been Pink Floyd, Niall Horan, and Billie Eilish. Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon which has become one of my favorite albums so far this year. Spotify also provides a cool feature where curated playlists are created to give new musicians a broader audience, as well as new songs that may come out that you’ve probably never listened to before.

Having a paper planner.

I’ll be honest, it’s been tough for me to keep up with filling out my assignments in a planner each day, but it’s worth it in the long run. Coming to SLA had the benefit of being able to use one booklet that had a daily schedule in it, with each subject listed. If you are forgetful, coming home with a completed planner of a set amount of duties may save you if an assignment isn’t shown on Canvas. I’ve never done this, but you could also customize your planner in a way that you want, to make it more personal and interesting.

Using the reminder app on your phone.

This is quite simple, but it has definitely saved small things I had on my mind earlier in a day. It is especially useful when you did not have a chance to write your idea down somewhere, and it’s almost guaranteed that your phone is always with you. I constantly make reminders for myself to ask people questions. For example, last week I wanted to go out driving, so I made it a point to remind myself to ask my dad to go out, using the app. It is a couple of clicks away, and it has the potential to make a lot more things easier for you while you deal with stress and work that has been piling up.

Surrounding yourself with productive and supportive people.

It is crucial for people to realize that you need others who are willing to support you no matter what you are going through. Cutting out toxic friendships will be the most important decision you have ever made. There’s no point to add extra stress on your shoulders, and having someone there who can help you rather than hurt you is needed in stressful situations.Even though I do like my alone time to recover from being so social, encouragement and motivation from your friends and having positive energy flying around can be very uplifting.

This is just a small list of things that I think are the most essential when it comes down to dealing with school and stress. We as students have a massive amount of pressure, anxiety, worry, and difficulties daily. You name it, we’ve done it, we’ve been through it.

The Weaknesses – And Strengths – Of The Women’s March

February 16, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Kai Bradley Guitierrez De Teran

Seniors Emily Stephens and Ella Burrows pose in front of participants at the Women’s March on the Parkway. Photo courtesy of Emily Stephens.

Staff Writer

On Saturday, January 20, 2018, The Women’s March took place in Philadelphia as it did in many cities in the US and around the world.

The Women’s March was first started as an act of disobedience against President Donald Trump and his administration on the day of his inauguration 2017. The march set out to to bring attention to the sexism and misogyny present in this administration. This year, organizers created a repeat to make it clear that these problems had not gone away.

I attended the march with my mothers, father and exchange-student brother, and saw several of the speakers on the Ben Franklin Parkway, including Nedia Ralston, Governor Tom Wolf’s deputy chief of staff, and Salima Suswell, one of the march organizers . Throughout the speeches, I noticed a pattern. The speakers would have a solid speech and then start mentioning some other issues, such as the hurricane and relief effort, or lack of by the Trump Administration, in Puerto Rico, sexual assault in the military and the problems women soldiers and veterans face and healthcare. I think these issues were valid and are connected to feminism, the problem I saw was that the speakers would go on to forget or fail to mention the connection to the reason this march was occurring: Women’s Rights. I think leaving this out was a mistake because it didn’t enforce the purpose of the march as strongly as it should have.

At school the following week, I asked multiple students what they thought of the march themselves. Did the messages presented by the speakers hit the mark?

Senior Lukas Alexander Hoffman, an exchange student from Germany, said that he felt as if there were many ‘feminists’ who were using the march for other issues. While he believes that many of the issues are valid, such as how most of Puerto Rico was and has been left without power and water by the Trump Administration after it was hit by two hurricanes, he felt they were distractions from the main topic, which is the discrimination against women in this society, and divided the audience instead of uniting them.

Hoffman also said “There were people holding up signs between [connecting] feminism and veganism, or people [were] talking about Puerto Rico, and you can talk about those issues but overall they don’t have to do with feminism. And in times where we talk about women getting harassed, about women being able to confront their harassers, it’s not fair and it’s totally wrong to misuse the Women’s March as a platform for your own non-related agenda.”

There’s a term for what these speakers were attempting: intersectional feminism. According to a report in USA TODAY, intersectional feminism is taking into account the different types of discrimination that women, and everyone, faces because of there sex or gender and their race, class, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

I do believe that what is happening in Puerto Rico is a feminist issue because discrimination is occuring; poverty, lack of resources, etc. However, the problem is that the organizers and speakers did not effectively to relate it to Women’s Rights.

On the other hand, march attendee Paula Gutierrez de Teran Prado — better known as my mother — pointed out how conversations such as these, that may seem off-topic, only happen at marches about Women’s Rights.

“In the US, you would never go to a march against racism and hear a speaker, or one of the organizers, talk about the oppression that is specific to women. While both are important issues it’s important to differentiate and focus on the one problem that the march is about. They should talk about racism in this society but they need to relate it to how this affects women and girls specifically.”

Can intersectional feminism successfully take on politics as well? At the march, I felt it was wrong how many just anti-Trump signs there were because I wanted the march to explicitly advocate for Women’s Rights, not to compare Trump to Stalin or Hitler. As I looked around the march, at one point, I felt it was more anti-Trump than pro-Women’s Rights or about feminism. I found it quite ironic how a march for women’s rights and feminism ended up being so centered on a white, heterosexual, upper- class man.

Now, I want to make it should be clear that this is all coming from the perspective of a 15 year old young white man who was raised in a feminist household. And

However, I didn’t only have negative impressions the Women’s March. It was truly moving to see thousands of people come out on a Saturday morning with their signs to support women’s rights or be anti-Trump when they could be sleeping.

Senior Emily Stephens said that she went to the march because she felt it is an important movement and an important time to show support, “I feel like it was really important for women to come together and really support each other.”

Stephens also commented on the speakers saying she felt it was important to recognize those women who have been making many changes in their community.

Hoffman pointed out how it was very good and motivating to see so many people show up. While to him it was much smaller compared to marches in Germany, he thought it was very good for what he has seen and heard of marches the US.

The Women’s March as a whole was great a way to notice all the organization and momentum that has gone into the fight for equal rights.

Movie Review: I, Tonya

February 16, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Eric Valenti

Staff Writer

A few weeks ago I saw the critically acclaimed sport drama, “I, Tonya.” I had been watching the trailers for the movie for weeks and wanting to watch and understand the story of the complicated Tonya Harding.

If you don’t already know, Tonya Harding was one of the best American ice skaters of all time. She broke barriers by being the first american woman to land a triple axel, an incredibly difficult skating move. However, her skilled skating was overshadowed by her involvement in a scandal where she was accused of hiring a man to hit a fellow ice skater, Nancy Kerrigan, in the knee a few days before the Olympics.

The film opens with a young Tonya and her mother, Lavona Harding (Allison Janney), who is trying to get Tonya on the ice at the age of four. Lavona is a bit of a rough character, she does what she wants, she’s bossy as well as extremely abusive towards Tonya. Tonya makes her life all about skating, even dropping out of high school just to pursue her dream of skating in the Olympics. Tonya gets married to Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), where Tonya continues her life of abuse. Through a series of events, Jeff’s words get misconstrued and Tonya’s bodyguard plans an attack on Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver) which comes to fruition.

I already knew a bit about her, but the trailers inspired me to research the whole scandal, and I knew that the film would offer something new. The movie made you feel like you had a deep connection for Tonya.

The movie is an emotional rollercoaster as you try to figure out whether or not Tonya is guilty of the charges against her. I was always thinking “She obviously did it,” or “How could she have done it, she was too focused on the Olympics.” Tonya’s life before the incident was just a cesspool of abuse, when she landed the triple axel she was on top, everyone loved her and she had made history. When the incident happened she went back to the abuse, not only from her family but the whole world. Her historic move, her courage and her talent was repaid with her being banned from the U.S. figure skating association, which meant that she could never skate competitively again.

After the film, I felt this gnawing hole in myself. How do you deal with the fact that you can even try for your dreams and then someone just tells you: “You’ve failed, and you can’t try again.”

If you’re looking for a film that will mess with all of your emotions and take you on a ride of beauty and violence, making you question your destiny as well as your morals, I, Tonya is a must see! Also, the soundtrack is an 80’s filled masterpiece. Overall, the film is one of truest and most honest film about the real world and the competition and hardships that life hands us.. I, Tonya has brought something new to the movies: something real.

Movie Review: Insidious 4, The Last Key

January 29, 2018 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Autumn Lor

Staff Writer

The Insidious series started in 2011. The first movie was about a little boy who falls off ladder and haunts people. In the fourth movie there is a little clip of that same little boy of what happened to him but he doesn’t really matter to this movie. Somehow when the little boy showed up, the whole setting of the movie changes. The movie is called The Last Key and I think it’s a great title because the monster, she’s looking for, holds all the keys to each door and this also has this power on locking people behind these door.

The Last Key isn’t the scariest movie out of the four, but it definitely still gave some heart to heart feelings with certain characters. The movies focus more on the main character from the series, Elise Rainier, finally reveals her story about where she’s from and how she got her power. Shockingly enough, there is someone else who shares the same abilities.

The story takes place in the old house that Rainier lived in as a young child. She was not happy with going back to that house but she does anyways and discovers more things about herself that she didn’t know. She also comes to an understand of what happened to her parents and it wasn’t her fault. But if you haven’t seen the first three movies of Insidious, you don’t need to. Just watch the fourth movie and you just might think something is really wrong with this lady.

I’m not a fan of scary movies because I don’t like going to sleep knowing there’s a scary monster hiding in my closet or under the bed. In general, horror movies do not appeal to me, yet my friend still dragged me to the theatre. I was put on a double date with my cousin and for her it was a plus because she was able to become closer to her date. As for me, I wanted to leave due to the fact that he kept getting scared.

I expected to be frightened myself, but instead I just kept thinking: when did scary movies get boring? This movie was not scary at all. If I ever jumped, it because they’re “jumpscares” where random things came up. I did like the red door — but I won’t tell you when it happens or what it means.

I enjoyed learning more about where Rainier came and this story helps me and other understand the other stories that were hidden in the other.

If you like quiet dates and just watching a movie, I suggest you go watch this movie with someone who talks too much so you don’t have to listen to their voice. But it’s also a good date if you want to pretend to be scared to be held.

If you really want to be scared, though, I recommend renting the second Insidious because they have more monsters that create more plot twists. I also prefer the Conjuring over Insidious.