Op/Ed

Anouk Ghosh-Poulshock

Student Writer

Am I addicted to the games on my phone?

With almost every teen, you can take a glance at their phone and see that they have social media. One major thing when people talk about teens and their phones is their addiction to social media. But what about their addiction to phone games? What games are they even playing? Which is worse: playing games or scrolling through Instagram? There are many assumptions when it comes to phone games.

In my personal experience, I have never stuck with a game for too long. Every month or so, I would switch games. First it was Subway Surfers, then Sudoku, then the Smurfs, then My Mini Mart, then Wordle. 

With most games, I would obsess over them for a while and then eventually get bored of them. One of those games was Candy Crush. In September, I was obsessed with the game for a few weeks, then I eventually burned out of it. In all of my free time, all I wanted to do was play Candy Crush. I would close my eyes and envision swiping candy. 

But recently, however, I have gotten back into the game again. One reason that this game really works is how social it can be. When you have friends on the app, you can share lives, compete on levels, and work together to win rewards. Sometimes, I’ll get a text from a friend needing a life, and once I send it, I’m wound up in the app again. 

I feel like a lot of teens are addicted to their phones, but I think that being addicted to a game like Candy Crush is better than being addicted to social media. For example, when I’m deeply in a Candy Crush wormhole, I’m not sucked into social media.  With social media, you never leave an app feeling satisfied. Social media feels much more negative for me. But with phone games, the worst you could do is waste money. If there are two options for wasting time, I would go with the games. While they aren’t quite productive, they are entertaining and have less negative effects. 

Though Candy Crush is my favorite game, the options vary. Looking at the App Store charts, the #1 most grossing app game of all time is Candy Crush. The list follows with Roblox, Royal Match, Clash of Clans, and Coin Master. Other games such as Pokemon Go and Homescapes are also on the list. I think that most of these games are not super popular among me and my friends. 

So am I an addict? I think so. But is it that bad? I don’t believe so. I think that there are many worse things that could be consuming my time. While games aren’t the most productive thing, they entertain me and are better than many other things, and I think that’s enough.

Leticia Desouza

Staff Writer

SLA is one of many Philadelphia high schools who doesn’t have a uniform for their students. Though having the ability to wear any type of outfits can be a good opportunity for students to fully express themselves, how others react to our clothes can  be quite uncomfortable and even traumatic. 

During this current academic year of 2021-2022, students have been back in person where they share the building with Ben Franklin High School. A staircase is shared by both schools, and Throughout the year, many students from the SLA side have been harassed while using the staircase. Some students have reported they’ve been catcalled, others reported that they were verbally assaulted, and others have reported being touched inappropriately or even followed out of the stairwell and into the halls — cornered, blocked, and even grabbed. 

I don’t have comprehensive evidence about what the girls were wearing when they were harassed — but based on my conversations, there does seem to be a pattern of girls getting harassed when they are wearing more revealing clothes. However, I do personally have experience with how your clothes can impact how you are treated. There were a couple of times where the weather was warm so I chose to wear something more revealing to keep my cool during the school day, but when I went to use the shared stairwells, I got unwanted attention that felt uncomfortable. Weird looks and stares make up most of my experience. There weren’t any verbal harassing comments, just weird stares that often felt uncomfortable. I noticed that this only happens when I wear something more revealing than usual. When I dress more down and casual, I don’t get the unwanted attention.

Many girls at SLA also speculate that the reason why these events happen is due to what people are wearing, but in my eyes, I find this claim places the blame on the wrong party. As a very diverse society, people have different views and likes when it comes to how they like to express themselves with clothes. Some people enjoy dressing more formally, while others enjoy dressing more casually. Some like showing more skin while others don’t. This preference is up to the person who is going to wear it. In my eyes, this shows that the current harassment can happen to anyone no matter what they wear.

There is no problem with a specific style of dress. Someone’s preference of clothing shouldn’t affect how they are treated by individuals around them. If one is comfortable in their skin with what they are wearing, it shouldn’t be a problem as they are dressing the way they want for themselves.

The problem isn’t the clothes, but the people who judge others because of what they are wearing. In today’s time, we often see people who think it is necessary to make comments about what others are wearing. This is often present in social media like tiktok, instagram, snapchat, and many other big platforms that allow users to comment. It is clear that people are often treated differently or judged by what they are wearing which can often cause dangerous and uncomfortable situations.

Many have reported these instances to school staff but most cases go unheard of. Throughout this academic year, students have been constantly experiencing the harassment that comes with the outfit they chose to wear. To make students more comfortable, school staff should become more aware of these situations and take steps to reach a goal that will decrease the numbers of harassment. As of recently, nothing has been done to stop these harassments. If they continue throughout the next academic year and are more heavy, parents might have to step in to make sure their children are safe. Staff should also educate those who are the ones who are harassing as no one should be mistreated just because of what they are wearing.

Adrie Young

Staff Writer

On Friday, May 13, around 150 SLA students, including myself, walked out of school to protest the leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion to overturn Roe v Wade. 

Philly Socialist Alternative organized the walkout alongside students from Franklin Learning Center, Masterman, and Friends Select. When freshman Eliza Cucchiara and I heard about it on the Thursday before the event, we knew we wanted to get SLA involved.

There was a lot of work to be done, including reaching out to the organizers of the walkout, coordinating with students from other schools, and assisting them with planning. But the bulk of our effort was spent spreading the word about this event within SLA. While social media was helpful in the process, we talked to a lot of students face-to-face as well. And one question people kept asking Eliza and me was “how will a walkout actually help?”

This question gave me pause because at first, I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. I’d seen that other schools were organizing this walkout, and I’d been so excited to jump on board because it seemed like the right thing to do. 

But what would one school walkout do in the face of this national issue? We weren’t protesting anything going on in our school. We weren’t even marching to city hall to demand change from our government. So what were we doing?

Here’s how the event itself went. We marched down Broad street and met up with students from multiple other schools at Love Park. Many people carried signs saying things like “protect Roe” and “mi cuerpo es mio”. A microphone and speakers were set up at the front of the crowd and multiple students delivered speeches, including Eliza. People mostly talked about how Roe v Wade being overturned will affect us, and how it is up to us to call for change from our leaders. Some also called for better school funding, and for the school district to hire more nurses and counselors and create more inclusive sex education. 6abc covered the event in an article.

I think the most impactful part of a walkout is that it shows students that they can and do have the agency to make a difference and challenge people in positions of power. One of the goals of the walkout on Friday was to show people in power that we won’t participate in a society where we don’t have the right to our bodies, and to prove to people that we have the power to organize demonstrations like this, and that we can do it again. 

To me, this walkout feels like an excellent starting point. It gave students the chance to take immediate action against this issue, and hopefully, it made people aware that there are things that they can do individually to contribute to a larger movement for change. But student involvement shouldn’t end with the walkout. Before getting SLA involved in the walkout, Eliza and I had plans to work with our peers to raise money for the National Network of Abortion Funds, an organization that assists people who may not have the money or resources to get an abortion on their own. We also have plans to organize two bake sales and hope to help keep SLA students involved in this movement. 

No matter what happens with the Supreme Court ruling, we will work to make our voices heard and create change however we can, whether that be raising funds, educating people, or organizing walkouts.