By Betelot Wondimu ’15 The passing of Freddie Gray marks the renewal of the mainstream media’s pseudo-analysis of a black man’s death at the hands of police. It begins by questioning the victim’s character, goes on to keep a close eye on protesters who demand police officers face appropriate consequences for their abuse of power and unnecessary violence, and finally … Read More
By Stacey Wells ’15 In wake of the recent Baltimore police scandal in which a 25 year old black male suffered a spinal cord injury while in police custody and died, many citizens have bypassed peaceful protests in exchange for violent riots. They shattered store-front windows, threw rocks and bottles, pummeled police cars, and attempted to sabotage firefighters putting out … Read More
By Zach Stubblefield ’15 We have been raised to see police as the pillars and protectors of our community. So it is pretty jarring when we see them killing unarmed people. How can one feel safe when the people who have been tasked with protecting them have been killing unarmed men? More so what should they do when their voices … Read More
By Meagan Barrett ‘15 In Philadelphia, a former Wall Street worker has left his wealthy life behind to start a pizza restaurant called Rosa’s. Aside from having unusually low prices (1 slice is only 1 dollar), Rosa’s has become famous for feeding the homeless. Because the prices are so low, it’s an option for people to buy a second piece, … Read More
By Steven Witkin ‘16 It is the same routine every time. You get a field trip form and have to go around to every teacher to get their signature as some sort of approval. The official purpose of this seems to be so that the teachers know in advance when a student is out for a field trip, but many … Read More
By Maya Koeppen ‘17 Over the years, everyone’s favorite personality emoticons have been criticized for being too limited in terms of choices. Apple offers a wide variety of Caucasian skin tone emojis, ranging from two girls dancing to a small family, but no other races. The only racial emojis include a dark skinned emoji with a supposedly religious headdress and … Read More
By Stacey Wells ’15 As many individuals recognize, our country needs a major renovation of its educational system. Unfortunately, the higher powers seem to believe that more testing will solve everything. The federal government has been pushing for an increase in testing for years and it has finally begun in MCPS. The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of College and Careers) … Read More
By Madison Dymond ‘16 When it comes to foreign language classes, most students are lazy. They have no real desire or motivation to speak anything other than English, and these classes are treated merely as obligations. Many students study a language for six years and are unable to hold a conversation in that language. They rarely take these classes seriously, … Read More
By Stacey Wells ’15 Americans often strongly voice their opinions about controversial issues, but it would be more beneficial if they would stop overreacting to every little thing. During the NFL Playoffs, McDonalds aired a commercial that depicted different towns and their local McDonald’s signs. The signs contained messages, such as ‘We Remember 9-11,’ ‘Boston Strong’ and even personal messages … Read More
By Julia Gajewski-Nemes ‘15 Over the past couple of years, anxiety disorders and depression have presumably impacted more teenagers nationwide than ever before. While these mental illnesses need to be taken seriously and awareness of them has spread rapidly, social media websites such as Twitter, with pages such as “@cuttingquotes” and “@depressingthoughts,” and Tumblr, with blogs such as “depressingquotesforyou,” have … Read More