Op/Ed

Lily Bromley

Staff Writer

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.

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.

Mo Kelly

Staff Writer

September, freshman year. The first day of African American History class I wasn’t expecting much. As I walked into Ms. Jonas’ classroom, I saw something truly horrifying. My brother was on the window sill, staring right into my eyes.

Okay, okay. So technically, it was a picture of my brother, left over from a class project completed a few years ago. It was still pretty scary. I sighed out loud and slumped in my chair. For four days a week for the rest of the school year, my ¨brother¨ would be watching my every move.

My brother Eamon Kelly graduated from SLA Center City in 2016, just one year before I started in 2017. Thanks in large part to his influence on me, I have known that I wanted to go to SLA since I was in the 5th grade. The idea of project-based learning seemed perfect for me. I dreamt of going to a school as cool as SLA. Only a few years later, I was accepted. I was esatic and I couldn’t wait to go.

There was just one nagging question that appeared in the back of my mind: Did I only get in because of my brother?

I pushed it away. There was no way. I was smart, I had a great interview, and I’m a great kid. It was all me. But now matter how often I reminded myself of this, it always stayed in the back of my mind.

I remember telling my two english SATs who my brother was, not realizing they knew who he was. How many people would remember a random senior in their freshman year? Apparently, they did .

“Oh my god! The kid with the hat! I love him!” I instantly regretted telling them. Now, for the rest of the year, I would be the “Kid with the Hat’s” little sister.

One day, as I was writing notes in engineering class, Mr. Kamal noticed I was writing with my left hand.

“Does Eamon do that?” He asked, as he peered over my shoulder.

“You never even had him,” I thought to myself. I quickly replied with a no and went back to my notes. I thought about this interaction for the rest of the day.

Realistically, this shouldn’t make me as angry as it should. It’s not like my brother is a horrible person. I would never say it to his face, but I actually really look up to him. People comparing me to him should be a compliment, not an insult. So, why does this make me so frustrated?

Well, for one thing, I’m my own person. I’ve spent so much of my life dodging questions like “Are you going to be a filmmaker like your brother? Or a musician like your parents?” For some reason, it’s hard to explain to people that just because your family does something, doesn’t mean you have to do it, too.

I’ve tried so hard to make a name for myself in my family. I wanted to be Mo, the one who’s really funny — but nope. That’s my brother’s thing. Mo, the actor. Nope, my brother was doing that long before me. Mo, the artist. But, did you see that new thing Eamon just drew? Frankly, I’m just tired of it. No matter what I do, I’m overshadowed by my brother.

Maybe it sounds like i’m overreacting. I probably am. But, when you’ve spent 15 years of your life trying to pull yourself out of the shadow of someone, you can get pretty angry about it.

I can’t say it’s all bad, though. The first day I met my advisor, the wonderful Ms. Giknis, she told me that she was never going to think of me as “Eamon’s little sister” and that I was my own person. I can’t even begin to explain how happy this made me. And if I’m being honest, Eamon isn’t the worst person in the world to be compared to. He’s well liked, smart, and really creative. I would rather be compared to him than someone who was a terror in my teacher’s lives.

Life is hard as the youngest sibling of three.  But, overall, I got pretty lucky with my family. Maybe it makes me frustrated. But, truthfully, I wouldn’t change it for the world.