Op/Ed

Spongebob Sicko mode

February 21, 2019 by Sanaa Scott-Wheeler Leave a Comment

Photo provided by Billboard

Lauren Nicolella Staff Writer

The Eagles weren’t in the Superbowl this year, so by default I wasn’t interested in watching the game. I texted my friend Sadie to let me know when it was coming on, because based on my Twitter timeline there was no action throughout the first two quarters.

Earlier in the day I had seen a post saying how Maroon 5 were going to be singing Sweet Victory, the song featured in the Spongebob episode Band Geeks. It’s where a dysfunctional band group pulls together a last minute performance for Squidward to show off against his rival Squilliam Fancyson. I was interested to see how it would be translated into a full performance of the song, and didn’t keep my hopes up too high.

I heard the notification buzz on my phone and clicked to Facetime so I didn’t waste any time trying to text out my response. The second quarter ended, the commercials came to a close, and it began with Maroon 5’s lead singer Adam Levine performing their hit songs. I wasn’t into the performance that much, it seemed a bit boring, but I will admit that they have a lot of long-term hits that will always make me sing along.

Suddenly, it started. “Shut up, everyone be quiet!” I yelled out of instinct.

Three minutes into the performance, and Squidward shows up on the screen and I let out the biggest gasp. The quality was amazing and I greatly appreciate the time to make a special part just for the halftime show. I stared at my tv screen in awe, and felt everything come crashing down once I started hearing Sicko Mode playing after the 15 second tribute.

The Bikini Bottom Grand Orchestra was shown, with the famous red and gold outfits from that episode. It quickly moves into a meteor shooting down onto the earth with the starting instrumentals of Sicko Mode.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so confused, yet satisfied. I’m glad that they acknowledged that fans wanted this to happen, although it wasn’t what everyone expected. I think when there is such a big fanbase for football, it seems almost impossible to have a creative input like that and it’s impressive that Spongebob fans were able to get something.

Was it what we wished for? Not exactly. It’s just hilarious that it transitioned into one of the most popular songs of 2018 by Travis Scott. I hope that this power of the people can translate into bigger and better things for the NFL, because it seems like it is a step forward to push some new ideas for future halftime shows.

Ambivalence Towards Asian Alliance Club

January 15, 2019 by Taylor Green Leave a Comment

Taylor Green

A&E Editor

I tilt my head and scrunch my nose up in confusion as I read the advisory memo. It consisted of its normal informative senior announcements, information about mini-courses, and other opportunities for students to take part in. Then I read about the newly rising Asian Alliance Club, ran by Senior Zahira Tucker.

My first impression of the club, similar to most students is that it would be something like the Black Student Union, just for students who were Asian.

I thought it would be a club for Asian students to come together to talk about the issues that they face in SLA. That is why I was confused when I heard that it would be led by Tucker since she isn’t Asian.

This is what caused hostility amongst the student body. There were some students (both Asian and not) who were offended that Tucker would start a club like this. Due to some preconceived notions, many students gave Tucker negative backlash.

However, I decided to give the club the benefit of the doubt and talked to Tucker personally.

Tucker explains that she didn’t start the club with ill intent. She shares, “I started it because I am very interested in learning about different Asian cultures. Also, because in college I want Asian studies to be one of my majors and therefore I want to get ahead start now and talk to people who may also want to learn about it.”

Tucker not only had a meeting to explain the club’s real agenda on educating people about different countries within Asia, but she decided to change the name of the club too since this was a primary concern and was the main cause of confusion.

“As of now we have officially changed our name Asian Cultures Club,” Tucker says.

Due to the misconceptions, many people Tucker considered supporters proved to be not as partisan as she once thought. She explains, “It affected how I saw a lot of people and how they acted towards me. I realized who was going to be there and support me and who wasn’t,”

She even shares, “it showed me who would be willing to talk to me about how they felt and give feedback. A lot of people just made assumptions and didn’t know what the club was about.”

She explains that now that the name change has taken effect, it has made students less critical of the club. “People have more or so relaxed on their negative comments and some people have even asked me what the club was about to get a better understanding.” Says Tucker.

Throughout all of the controversy, Tucker has managed to stay above it all thanks to the people who pushed her to continue.

“I want to just say that thank you to everyone that has been there and have supported me throughout this entire process. At one point I even thought about giving up my capstone and they helped me to decide that since I was passionate about it, I should continue to do it.”

Tucker ends off by saying that she’s always open to criticism and to answer questions about the club. ”I want to say that if there is ever a misunderstanding have no hesitation to ask because I’m always open to suggestions.”

Tucker is excited to learn more about Asian cultures and see the progression of her club throughout the school year.

Image courtesy of Prodigious Talents Wikia

My Declassified Wisdom Teeth Removal Guide

January 15, 2019 by Jayla Wright Leave a Comment

Eric Valenti

A&E Editor

On January 4, at 9 am sharp I had four teeth brutally ripped from my face.

Okay, It sounds harsher then what happened. But if you ’re planning to get your wisdom teeth out soon, might I recommend a few things?

Delete Instagram and Snapchat

Yes I know, I can’t go a day without at least swiping through Instagram at least once either but trust me on this one. If you enjoy making posts and even recording the occasional live video, this is a danger zone. Not even after fifteen minutes of getting my teeth removed, I was brought to the CVS parking lot where my Dad picked up my medication and left me alone in the car. Big mistake. I filmed a ten-minute live video which consisted of me trying to read comments and explain what it felt like to get my wisdom teeth removed. I was drooling and laughing, too high to realize where I even was. I was forced to remember, though, when I read the comments from my friends later: “How ya doin buddy? and “Are you a little high?”

Pain and Medication

Moving on. A big warning: the pain is unbearable for the first forty-eight hours. When I originally got home I was mostly numb and talking about a bunch of crazy stuff because of the drugs they administered during the surgery. But when I was done resting and forcing myself to eat mashed potatoes and other flavorless mushy foods, I began to feel a small pain on both sides of my face. I knew that the pain was inevitable but I wasn’t expecting to feel like two drills were digging their way through my tooth scars. What I’m trying to say is, make sure you get your medication as soon as you can — and get ready to scream from the pain anyway.

Get your food together and get used to eating mush

For the first days after the surgery, my food options were limited. You can’t chew anything or suck on any straws. Chewing can open your stitches and so can sucking. My food for the first five days consisted of mashed potatoes, smoothies, lentil soup, smaller sized pasta, and rice. Get used to never really feeling like your filled and wanting so many other things to eat besides what’s in front of you. Now that I’m healed, I never realized how much I missed seasoning and being able to chew my food. One thing that was fun to eat, though, was ice cream. Whenever I wanted just a bit of flavor, I would grab my phone and ten dollars from my Christmas money, order a pint of cookie dough from Grubhub, more specifically the restaurant Millie’s, answer the door in boxers and with blood in my mouth (no judgements when your dying) and just enjoy what I could.

Let yourself rest and don’t worry about what you can’t do

At the time of my surgery, I still had projects and other miscellaneous homework. I tried to push myself to get my work done and inevitably failed because of how horrible the pain was. So this advice is a little bit shorter but all I have to say is: just let yourself rest. It ’s hard to restrain yourself and letting yourself fail but you have to do it. If you push yourself too much after critical surgery you could be in bed way longer than you want to be. I tried to get my work done as well as trying to talk to my family… and I ended up making my mouth bleed two hours longer than it’s supposed to.

Get used to your new temporary lumps and bruises

By day three of my recovery, I was finally lucid and had enough strength to leave the house. I hadn’t even looked in the mirror for those two days but all I expected was a bruise or two. WRONG!!! It looked like I had two watermelons in my mouth, that’s how swelled up I was. These lumps were complimented by two huge yellow bruises on my cheeks and the lack of sunlight from those two days made me look like some sort of chubby yellow ghost. Only suggestion for this is trying to sleep with an ice pack on your face and pray that your lumps go away. Luckily, I only had to go to school for one day with my new lumps and was able to hide it by sitting with my hand on my face so no one noticed, by which I mean everyone noticed.

Cleaning Mouth Routine

My final piece of preparation advice is the cleanest piece of advice. When brushing your teeth, go extremely slow when close to your wisdom teeth holes. If you brush too hard you could make them bleed. So be careful. Your new friend is known as salt water rinse. Step one get a teaspoon of salt. Step two, get a cup of water. Step three, combine the two together in the cup. Finally, drink up and swish the water around your mouth and spit. Voilá, your mouth is pure. Enjoy doing this after every meal for one month!

It’s been ten days since my wisdom teeth were removed, and I actually feel pretty great. It honestly does feel like some sort of weight was removed from my gums or something. I’m back to eating normal food and back to my weird awkward self. When it’s your turn, just follow this guide and things should be fine. Remember: Take your meds, clean your mouth properly enjoy the mushy food and for heaven’s sake don’t film an Instagram live video. You’ll regret it!

Presidents in the Same Room Together

January 14, 2019 by Avi Cantor Leave a Comment

Sukainah Hasan

Staff Writer

On a typical afternoon a few weeks ago, I was going through my Instagram explore page when I came across a video that included President Trump, his wife Melania, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton at George H. W. Bush’s funeral. The 41st president died on November 30th, and the services were held on December 5th where lots of people came to show their respects.

I watched the video several times.

After President Trump and his wife showed their respect for the former President, they greeted the Obamas in the pews, but not the Clintons. This was unusual because Trump has said many terrible things about Barack Obama but when Trump sees Obama in person, he shows respect for him. When Trump was first elected as president, he visited Obama at the White House and everything was great, but when Trump was explaining to people why he should be president, he was bashing Obama about the way he runs America. If Trump can have respect for Obama when they are in the same room together, why can’t he have respect for him when they aren’t face to face?

Another ominous thing about this scene was that Trump didn’t greet the Clintons. The snub appeared to be mutual — the Clintons paid no attention to him. Bill Clinton was the 42nd president and served 8 years. When Barack Obama was running for President, Hillary Clinton was also seeking the nomination for president. She didn’t get enough votes to become the Democratic candidate, and then Obama became the 44th president. Hillary decided to run again in 2018 against Donald Trump. She did with the Democratic nomination but lost in the general election and Donald Trump became the president. Since Donald Trump won, does this mean that she is mad that she didn’t? Did this lead to why she didn’t say anything to Donald Trump? According to The Guardian, a website that talks about what Hillary Clinton said after she found out that Trump won, it says, “We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president.” This shows that when Donald Trump won the presidency, she didn’t have much to say about it except that this is what will look forward to in the future.

There were even more former presidents in the picture. When George W. Bush arrived at his father’s funeral with his wife Laura, they went to the Obamas to greet them all while ignoring the Trumps. George W. Bush was the 43rd president and served 8 years. Since Bush ignored the Trumps, I think this shows that he doesn’t respect the Trumps. If he did, they would have greeted them. Did Trump know that Bush didn’t like him? If he did know, why did he come to the funeral?

Then it got even stranger. While Bush was greeting the Obama’s, he reached in his pocket and gave Michelle Obama a handful of candy. All Michelle could do was smile and thank him. After the Bushs greeted the Obamas, they greeted the Clinton’s by giving them hugs and smiles.

To me, the situation is clear. The Clintons, Bushes, and Obamas all have a close bond with each other, while the Trumps are left out. Since Donald Trump is left out of this bond, it shows that as a leader, people don’t respect him. As a president, it shows that people don’t like what he is for the United States. Donald Trump’s saying is “Make America great again,” but do people really think he is making it better?

Intimidation of Journalists

December 17, 2018 by Amelia Benamara Leave a Comment

Faryn Heffer

Staff Writer

Journalism is a very important part of our lives, and while it is a big factor it can also have many sides to it. Journalists give us the most information about what is going on in our world. Different news sources may all tell the same story but told a different way.

From Washington D.C. to Florida and from New York to Los Angeles, at least 14 pipe bombs had been addressed to CNN headquarters, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and many more influential people. The fact that the bombs were planted only 5 hours after Trump tweeted “fake news” was very suspicious. The pipe bombs were targeted at people who Donald Trump had mostly criticized. A southern man called CNN headquarters saying 5 bombs had been placed through CNN headquarters. CNN was then evacuated and hours later was given the all clear.

Another incident including Jamal Khashoggi, a missing journalist who was interrogated, tortured, and then dismembered. Khashoggi was in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul when this happened. Khashoggi was a frequent contributor in Washington Post’s global opinions section. Khashoggi was killed by a team of Saudi agents with orders from the highest levels.

These Khashoggi and journalists at CNN are being targeted. But why? Is it because of what they say that upset people? Do they hold information they shouldn’t be? Some of you might be asking, what’s the big deal. There is no reason for violence in any situation. Especially towards people who are just doing their job.

Journalism has begun to turn into a scary thing. Journalists should not have to hold back information because they are frightened of what may happen. Journalists report breaking news to us and give us the information about the world we need to know. Without them, we would all be in the dark.

The world would fall apart without journalism. No information about any events around the world would be reported. We would not be able to communicate with other countries. People would not be able to get their opinions out about events or tragedies that take place around the world. Countries all over the world would not be able to communicate with each other and that would lead to not knowing if countries were allies or not.

Threats have been made and people are worried. Some people are angry because they believe journalists lie to them and twist the truth. The intimidation of journalists has not gotten any better, and may only get worse.