Taylor Green

Trials and Tribulations of TikTok

May 17, 2019 by Taylor Green Leave a Comment

Taylor Green

A&E Editor

From Instagram, the success of the late and great app Vine, and the rise of Snapchat, social media has been an outlet for people to express themselves as freely as they want in a video sharing format.

Recently, a new app for creating and sharing short videos has been surging on all platforms. This app is called TikTok. People enjoy these clips so much that they save them and upload them to other outlets like Twitter and YouTube compilations.

TikTok allows you to create a one minute video with your own audio or an audio clip from another video. This is common when people are doing trends/challenges. You can also use face and background filters and even add certain transitions to the videos you create.

Although it is just now making its mark TikTok was originally released in September of 2016. However, due to the success of a similar app titled Musically, it didn’t receive as much attention. Yet, with the official shut down of the Musically app in August of 2018, Tik Tok has been on a steady incline ever since.

Senior Meeghan Kersten has been an avid TikTok user since its release. She’s seen almost every challenge and trend and even makes her own content with her friends.

“I’ve had the app since Musically was around,” Kersten admits. “I enjoy making dance videos with my friends and I think that the app is filled with a lot of interesting people. Everyone has their own content unique to them.”

This quote reigns true, and it is evident with accounts like @lilhuddy and @kevboyperry. Although they’re not the most followed, they have accumulated a good amount of fans by making videos based on their aesthetic, following trends/challenges and comedy videos.

On the other side of TikTok, there are people whose content is strictly lipsynching and dance videos. With accounts like @babyariel, @lorengray, and @camerondallas who are in the top list of Tik Tokers, people can watch content that

However, a lot of these stars can attribute their success on TikTok to its predecessors. Cameron Dallas started his career on Vine while Baby Ariel and Loren Gray owe their success to Musically.

There’s a vast community on TikTok, and you might find the next big star on the #ForYou page or even if they don’t make it big, you might like their clever and quick-witted videos and give them a follow. If you’re more interested in popular content, you can easily search through a hashtag for specific videos.

Trending challenges and sounds on TikTok have made their own impact on culture. For instance, the popular country song “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X made a big debut on the app. It was used in videos tagged #yeehawjuice, where a person drinks water and it is later revealed that it is “yeehaw juice”, turning them into a cowboy. There are over 786.5 thousand videos in this hashtag.

Senior Catherine Long mentions other ways that the application has made an impact on society. She sees that the app has a big influence on not only music but fashion as well. There has been a rise of new styles and aesthetics that have taken over TikTok and have transferred over to the real world.

“I think it has impacted culture like fashion and music in a way. Fashion is definitely a big one as the eboy, egirl, and softboy trends are now super popular. Music is a different thing, it impacts the memes floating around and not so much the radio. Though a lot of radio played songs are often heard on TikTok.” Long explains.

Eboy/girl refers to the term “Internet boy/girl”. They’re someone who tends to wear dark clothing and layer their outfits and have an angsty or brooding attitude. They tend to be more dark and unique but without actually being in the alternative or punk subculture.

Just like any social media platform, TikTok has caused some worries among certain masses. Parents and even certain countries are worried about the subject matter of some videos. Recently, India lifted its ban on TikTok and have allowed people to use it within their country. The reason it was originally banned was that it “spread explicit content and cultural degradation”.

Long understands this concern of inappropriate videos being created as she explains how she has seen some troubling content posted by younger users of the app.

“A while back young kids were on the app doing things that children shouldn’t be doing in my opinion. It was weird and uncomfortable to see so I always skip those, now TikTok has an age limit on it.” Long says, “Some content can be explicit but it depends on viewpoints, mainly it’s okay and just funny.”

In regards to cultural degradation, there have been some videos that make fun of people from specific races/cultures. However, TikTok tends to delete those videos and ban the creator of them quickly if reported enough.

“On my ‘For You’ page I don’t see stuff like culture degradation, but there is a big possibility it is there. I know sometimes content can be seen as racist or something of that nature. One of them would be this video that I’ve seen, the music was an upbeat song with Asian things, these white girls were on a bus and pulling their eyes back to give them what people want to call the chinky Asian look.” Long shares.

This isn’t anything unique to TikTok though. With the rise of new social media platforms and an ever-changing political climate, many people are given the chance to spread messages of hate and are given the opportunity to bully others. It is up to other people on the app to continue to make it a safe and welcoming place for everyone.

Overall, TikTok is an application that will only continue to grow and prosper. Although it has its flaws, it appeals to many different people and allows them to make a community for themselves. With content from creators who cosplay, people who are gamers, and even some who are furries, TikTok allows everyone to express who they are in a fast and fun video format.

It’s Not Cuul to Juul in Schuul

May 13, 2019 by Taylor Green Leave a Comment

Taylor Green, Mo Kelly & Zoe Kwasnicki

Staff Writers

What’s the story with vaping?

SLA is no stranger to this new-ish trend. There have been multiple incidents of SLA students vaping in bathrooms or other parts of school. As the teachers and staff started to catch student in the act, a warning was sent out via email in March to all students and parents about the consequences of vaping in school.

But what exactly is vaping? And why has it become popular?

The Basics

Vaping is a constant in modern teen culture with certain statistics claiming that 1 in 5 of high school students in the United States vape.

According to the Center on Addiction, vaping is defined as “the act of inhaling and exhaling the aerosol, often referred to as vapor, which is produced by an e-cigarette or similar device.” There are multiple types of vape pens that are popular including the Juul and NJoy.

Similar to vaping, there has been a recent popularization of dab pens. Dabs are a form of concentrated THC that is in an oil form instead of the standard herb marijuana form. A dab pen has all of the components of a vape pen and works in the same way.

Student Opinions

SLAMedia issued a survey to students to get general opinions and statistics on the matter. Out of 41 people who answered the poll, 26.8% said that they have vaped, and 70.7% said that they have friends who vape.

As for opinions on the practice, student viewpoints vary widely. There are some students who are fine with it completely while there are others who are adamantly against it.

However, there are also some people caught in a gray area when it comes to their thoughts on vaping and the usage of e-cigs.

“I think without nicotine then it’s fine for people to do for fun, but I think it’s really stupid when people who aren’t already addicted to / don’t already use nicotine vape with nicotine.” One student shares.

Others realize the properties of vaping can help someone quit cigarette smoking. They’d much rather have a friend vape than smoke an actual cigarette.

“I think if people are going to have a vice, vaping isn’t such a bad vice to have as opposed to actual smoke which can cause all kinds of long-term health issues. My mom even quit smoking real cigarettes because of vaping.” One student wrote.

People within the SLA community who are against vaping as a whole tend to view it the same as cigarettes or any form of drug use. From descriptions like “disgustingly abusive” to “hella lame”, it seems like more students are firmly against vaping due to health and safety reasons.

When it comes to dab pens, many students don’t know what they are and have no interest in using them. A few of them don’t equate it to regular e-cigs simply because they have THC and not nicotine.

“Dab pens are essentially still inebriating yourself, just with vapor as opposed to actual weed.” One student explains.

Effect on the SLA Community

According to the Food and Drug Administration, from 2017 to 2018, there was a 78 percent increase of e-cigarette usage among high school students and a 48 percent increase among middle schoolers.

On March 11th, staff member Jeremy Spry sent out an advisory memo stating the concern of vaping in the school bathrooms. According to the School District of Philadelphia policy, having vaping paraphernalia in school counts as having a controlled substance and it can result in suspension.

Following the email, there has been a lot of backlash from students within the community. Many students surveyed admit that there has been a lot of tension not only between grades but for students and teachers as well because it has ruined the system of trust.

“I do think that vaping has affected the relationship between students and teachers. It’s made teachers more untrusting of students, and students feel as though they don’t have an adult to go to in the building.” One student shares.

Another issue that was brought up is the invasion of privacy. Many teachers and staff members have made rounds throughout the bathrooms in school to get kids to stop hanging out in there or to try to catch them in the act.

“It’s uncomfortable when you’re trying to go to the bathroom and teachers/staff burst in searching for students.” One student admits.

A few students feel as though this approach is very counterproductive and is not the way to go about the vaping issue within the school. Students would like to see more information on the health effects and why they shouldn’t smoke rather than a hunt for students vaping.

“The teachers are not responding well at all. Instead of teaching about the dangers of vaping, they are simply attacking and stalking the students and it is NOT okay. This is supposed to be a safe space but certain teachers have turned it into a cat and mouse chase.” Another student shares.

Some students bring up the inequality that they’re facing when it comes to vaping. Many feel as though freshmen and sophomores are less targeted when it comes to vaping, however they do it just as often as upperclassmen.

“I think that teachers think that seniors are the main ones (vaping) because they’re 18 but a lot of underclassmen have approached me about buying pods and stuff for them because I’m of age.” Another student shares.

Math teacher Brad Latimer shares his feelings on SLA’s vaping issue. Contrary to the beliefs of some students, Latimer hasn’t noticed any inequalities in how students are treated when it comes to vaping in school.

“I haven’t observed any difference in how each grade is treated and I don’t necessarily think that the seniors are targeted.” Latimer shares.

Latimer goes on to explain how harrowing the vaping epidemic is due to lack of knowledge. Since it is a pretty recent trend, the long term consequences aren’t as well known.

“There’s tons of facts on smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco but not on vaping which is kinda nerve racking. The problem is so new that there isn’t any long term studies on it’s health effects so you don’t know what vaping for 25 years will do to you.” Latimer explains.

Latimer goes on to share that he has caught a few students vaping. He explains that there are repercussions but for the student’s identity he doesn’t want to go into specifics. He shares that a student getting caught vaping is similar to them smoking a cigarette in the bathroom. However when it comes to dab pens, it is treated like a regular drug issue. It can result in suspension or expulsion.

Latimer explains how he thinks the vaping situation in SLA has made the community less trustworthy.

“I don’t like being in an environment where there is such a broken trust between people. I think that’s one of the cornerstones of our school is that there is a certain level of trust between students and teachers,” he explained.

“I think that there is a very small subsection of students who abuse that trust and are vaping often times in the bathroom and I think that it actively eroded at the trust that exists in this school.”

Assistant Principal Ann Leaness explained that the patrolling It isn’t to ambush students but to enforce why they shouldn’t do it.

“I think that it happens at every school. I don’t think vaping is isolated to our high school. It’s something that’s not supposed to be happening and we need to keep an eye on it so that we make sure it’s not happening.” Leaness explained.

Leaness goes on to explain that the hostility between students and staff arises because the kids know that they shouldn’t be vaping in school. She rationalizes that teachers are trying to keep the community safe for the students.

“If there’s tension, it’s because kids are doing things they’re not supposed to be doing. And that always creates tension between faculty and students because our main concern is to always make sure kids are safe and not hurting themselves or doing things that could cause them harm,” Leaness stated. “And sometimes we have to do things that students don’t like because of that and sometimes teachers have to be a little bit more vigilant and that’s what’s happening.”

Overall, both students and staff agree that due to recent vaping incidents within the school it has affected the dynamic of trust that SLA has built. If students were to minimize vaping overall, it would put the school back on track to being the trusting environment it once was. But is that possible?

Students also cited nicotine addiction as part of their want and need to use vape pens: “I vape because I used to smoke cigarettes and it helped me quit.” And nicotine addiction is extremely difficult to quit. To quit smoking takes medicine and therapy and even then nicotine patches and gum are used regularly.

Perhaps acknowledging that ending vaping in school is not a realistic possibility, the school has also sought to provide medical and emotional support to students – a step that has already been partly taken by the administration. Recently organized was an informational meeting for parents titled “How to Talk to Your Teen About Drugs” with guest speakers Robert Niczyporowicz & Frank McCartney from the Drug Enforcement Administration Community Outreach Specialists.

Picture of flavored Juul pods courtesy of Civilized.life

The Bachelor: Why I Watched It

March 25, 2019 by Taylor Green Leave a Comment

Zoe Kwasnicki

Staff Writer

It’s finally over.

After weeks of intense glares, random crying, and glittery cocktail dresses, the 23rd season of The Bachelor has come to a close!

This was my first experience with the infamous reality series. I started watching it for the same two reasons that anyone starts watching a show: 1) you just finished another show or 2) the continuous onslaught of ads and commercials eventually gets the better of your curiosity.

Here’s the story of my experience.

The first episode was….strange. I mean, how couldn’t it be? You get introduced to 30 women, or at least half of them, as they desperately attempt to make a good impression on Colton, some random man they’ve never met. Then they run around like headless, blond chickens, and make awful jokes – my favorite of which was when Onyeka appeared while Colton was talking to another woman and yelled, while wearing a snorkel, “I heard you were drowning in some b*tches!” Not to mention the sacred roses that, according to Tracy, can’t be touched by anyone other than Colton, and the dramatic testimonials every 5 seconds.

My first reaction was, “Why am I watching this? This is so archaic and strange. It’s like some middle-aged heterosexual man’s fantasy. And I’m pretty sure I’m not middle-aged nor a man.”

But then my second reaction was, “It’s genius.”

Like young adult novels flying off the shelves, reality TV shows like The Bachelor are repetitive but effective. They use the same tropes of romance and drama with the same plots and the same characters – they just switch around the actors and their backstories. For drama to keep you on your toes, you have matchups every week. First it was Caelynn versus Hannah B., two pageant queens who were once close friends but their rivalry turned bitter in the heat of competition. Then it was Demi and Tracy, the young against the old, calling each other “immature” or “bitter hag” you know, because if you’re 23 you’re practically a baby and over 30 qualifies you to be a grandma? But Demi kept getting into conflicts left and right and next she was up against Courtney! Their fight was more boring with just a lot of crying and catty comments but it was enough to make Colton cry too so the producers kept it.

And then for romance, well it’s the basis of the entire show. Colton leaves every girl with an intense makeout session, and by the hometown episode, you’ve heard “I’m falling in love with you” four hundred times. You root for the quiet, down-to-earth girl and he continues to choose one of the twenty blonde barbies, simply because they can cry on cue.

The list goes on and on and as you watch the show you can spot each and every manipulative moment. You know how it’s going to end but you watch anyway – why?

Because you want to know how it ends. Or, you want to know why you keep watching it in the first place.

You know that Chris Harrison and those faceless producers are pulling the strings, coaxing women to share extremely sensitive stories of sexual assault and divorce, advertising Colton’s virginity as a thing to be won, and calling the season “the most dramatic season of The Bachelor yet!”.

Like the rest of America, you wonder who’s going to be sent off next, who’s going to fight over a rose, and how many more shots they can show of Colton showering before he buys a curtain.

And that’s the key – you wonder. You keep thinking about what could happen and end up becoming so engulfed that, before you know it, you’re watching the next episode.

It doesn’t matter if all that happens in that episode is a few catty remarks about a woman’s age and a one-on-one that’s hilariously awkward – as long as they can make you question the ending, you’ll keep watching.

Either ironically or wholeheartedly, you’ll watch out of pure curiosity.

SLA Reacts to Pokemon Sword and Shield

March 12, 2019 by Taylor Green Leave a Comment

Lauren Nicolella

Features Editor

On February 27th, the Nintendo Switch Twitter account released a video releasing the new and highly anticipated Pokemon games titled Sword and Shield. The franchise is famous for releasing two versions of each game, giving the players a slight twist of specific pokemon and legendaries throughout with specific storylines to go along with each.

Pokemon has been around since the mid 90’s release of the first games, Red and Blue along with the special Yellow version. They were first playable on the Gameboy, and have adapted their games to each new device Nintendo decides to release every few years. The company Game Freak who has developed the games and other Nintendo merchandise has continuously released new games every couple of years in the fall and makes fans interested in what will be done next.

In every game, your player has the option to choose from a water, grass, or fire type. The starter Pokemon were announced in the video, with opinions of how they will perform based on how they look so far in their first stage of evolution. They always begin with the choice of a monkey-looking grass type, a frog-like water type, or a bunny fire type.

Senior Sean DeSilva has been playing the games for about ten years now and is thrilled to play the newly announced game.

“I think the new starters look pretty cool. Nothing can replace the original starters of course, but I am excited to see their final evolutions. I am definitely going to pick Sobble for my starter, I love water type Pokemon.” DeSilva shares.

The new region, Galar, is the newest place to call home as a trainer. It is said to have influences from the U.K., but nothing is confirmed yet. The video showcases spectacular visuals of industrial brick buildings and blossoming fields and forests.

Senior Eric Valenti hopes that the Pokemon Company decides to change their usual playthrough of instantly pushing through each gym in the span of a few days. In the gyms, you have to challenge a type-specific leader, and you obtain a badge after completing the task.

“I hope the gyms are harder, and more challenging overall. I really want an open world game, but it seemed like that’s what they were hinting at in the video.”

One major aspect that has been implemented into every game is rivalry and a “bad guy” you have you defeat. There has been less emphasis on those teams in recent releases because according to Senior Amado Alfaro-Allah, nothing can compare to the older games. Team Rocket is the most well-known rival, with the leaders Jesse and James having greater personalities as they were introduced in the Pokemon television shows.

“I miss playing Pokemon in my room and getting excited or scared when Team Rocket or other guys came at the end of the game.”

There have been no updates yet on other gameplay specifics, as there was even a disclaimer in the video itself that not all of what we were seeing are finalized visuals. Pokemon fans have a lot of built up excitement. The reboot of the first games brought to the Nintendo Switch was such a huge success, and they expected a fresh game to come out with a new console.

It will be interesting to see the slow addition of news until the release of fall 2019, and what this new game will have in store for those who have been playing since they were children.

“Some Rap Songs” Review

January 17, 2019 by Taylor Green Leave a Comment

Brendan Hall

Staff Writer

With a pop culture landscape era dominated by maximist production and in your face themes, Earl Sweatshirt’s return to the spotlight is the antithesis to the mainstream spotlight. Some Rap Songs is Earl Sweatshirt’s rawest album to date that contains subtly and lofi mixing where he is trying to find silver linings within his life.

This album is a testament to one of the more interesting evolutions of a Hip-Hop artist. Over the course of his 8-year career Sweatshirt has effortlessly transitioned from being a rebellious lyrical mastermind to the voice of lost souls.

The opening track “Shattered Dreams” features a soul vocal sample, that is louder than Earl’s rapping. This is an unusual decision, but Earl’s mellow delivery makes it sound fitting. Aside from this,, he has lyrics that detail references to trying to get out of a dark state of mind, “Why Nobody Tell me I was sinkin’? Ain’t nobody tell me I could leave”

Earl’s most revealing line may have come from the single “Nowhere2go::” “I spent most of my life depressed only thing on my life was death. Didn’t know if my time was next, tryna refine this shit. I redefined myself.” This line reveals Sweatshirt’s intentions with this project was, he addressed his innermost conflicts and implied that there was a way out of his damaged soul.

The short run time of the album makes it clear that he intended to have the songs connect. At just 22 minutes, the 15 tracks feel more like one continuous song than an overblown album that is all over the place. While most artists could fall short with this concept Some Rap Songs succeeds because Earl eliminates all filler and strictly focuses on being transparent with his new-found musical persona that speaks directly towards anyone drowning in their sorrows. Despite this Earl never plays the victim card and offers words of encouragement that are authentic instead of scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Some Rap Songs contains almost no guest appearances, and Earl himself handles most of the production. The only guest verse in the album belongs to fellow rapper Navy Blue on the “The Mint”. However, the guest appearance that turned the most eyebrows came from “Playing Possum,” which included spoken dialogue from both his mother and poetry from his recently deceased father.

Earlier in his career, Sweatshirt’s mother was demonized by Odd Future fans for sending him to a boarding school during the beginning of the collective’s growing popularity. This led to the “Free Earl” campaign and fans harassing his mother in person. More recently, however, Sweatshirt has admitted that his mother was right to send him to the Samoa boarding school. . He also had a complicated relationship with his father, who was often away participating in political activism and the poetry scene in South Africa. Earl admitted on his song “Chum” that he had not opened up about missing him and used to say he “hated him in dishonest jest”. Having them on one of the later tracks shows the growth he had as a person reflecting within his art, and shows he was able to see eye to eye with his father before he died.

Other noteworthy moments include: “December 24” which details him trying to stay calm despite having a paranoia that causes a cycle of substance abuse which backfires on him, “Bad apple clashin’ with my kinfolk, bad acid did damage to my mental,”. The second track “Red Water” serves as essentially an interlude that reveals grim detail stating, “Blood in the water I was walkin’ in my sleep, blood on my father I forgot another dream,”. Which is a reference to Earl losing sleep after losing his father. “The Bends” and “Azucar” are both heartfelt tributes to his friends and family that have helped during his darkest days.

Overall, this album doesn’t pretend that Earl has found all the answers. Instead, it acts more like a journal that shows the trials and tribulations of someone soul searching and trying to become the best version of themselves. This makes the narrative enjoyable, and the execution of jazz/soul sample beats match the tone perfectly making it an excellent listen.

Courtesy: FACT Magazine