Cultural Criticism
Understanding friendship
Madeleine Farnkoff
Photo by Teens in Print
One time there were tears running down my face, and my friend Jayleen saw me crying. I was standing near the front door of the bus about to get on. She asked if I was okay and let me sit next to her on the bus ride home. Her being there made me feel much better. You have to be there for your friend. If your friends don't treat you right, then they don't deserve you. It is okay to let your friends go sometimes. It doesn't mean you are a bad person at all. Some people aren't cut out to be your friend. Think about it, do you have good friends or not? 
Did you know it's good to have friends in preschool? Both girls and boys form strong attachments to others, and both need social and emotional support. Good friends can be anyone: big or small, strong or weak. If they have your back and have a big heart, they’ll be a good friend. They can also make you a better person, and a good friend will challenge you to do new things. If you need advice, friends give good advice. 
A good friend is someone who won't judge you based on your appearance, and won’t want you to change who you are just to be their friend. If they are a good friend they will learn to accept you for who you are. A good friend will be there for you if you need a shoulder to lean on or a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to support you when you are not feeling your best. A good friend will listen to you, and won't push you into something you don't want to do. They will support you and help you reach your full potential. And they will help you be your best self. Even if all else fails and you feel like the world is ending, they won't give up on you or let you down. A really good friend is someone who will come running to see what’s wrong when you shout their name—just like a superhero! My best friend is my own superhero and has always been there for me when I needed her. Even when we get into arguments we always end up making up in the end. I don't know of any BFFs that don't fight—do you? 
If you have a real friend, a true friend, then they won’t get you in trouble. And the real ones keep in touch with you throughout your life. However, the fake friends will leave when they don't need you anymore. They will use you to get what they want from you because they know you’re an easy target or you’re just vulnerable and emotional. Fake friends will try to use your vulnerability to manipulate you to get what they want. Your real friends would never blackmail you. Your real friends are like family and they will fight for you. The point is, fake friends cannot be trusted and are toxic. If you have a fake friend, do me a favor and please get rid of them. They’re a waste of time and you do not need them in your life. Fake friends are like poison. All they do is cause drama and make your life worse.   
I don't think people realize that we have the power as a civilization to make other people feel good. We can make a huge difference if we just ask someone to sit with us if they look lonely. It wouldn't kill you to be nice, and you’d probably make that lonely kid’s day. It will also make you feel good to do something nice for someone else. You can make the world a better place by being nice and making sure that there’s one less kid who doesn't have a friend. Our choices, good or bad, have consequences on other people's lives, and could influence others to make bad choices in the world. Just because you see someone doing something bad doesn't mean you have to do it too. Don't be a follower. Be who you want be—not who someone else wants you to be.
You might think people are not watching, but they are. Kids or adults will start to notice how you treat your friends, and even your friends will start to notice too. If you’re lucky, they will stick around. Friendship is about understanding. You need to understand the other person to have conversations, and you need to understand their feelings, too. A lot of people take other people’s feelings for granted, and that can cause problems in your friendship. Friendship can sometimes be complicated, but once you establish a good friendship, you will figure out how to make it work along the way.
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Cultural Criticism
The Afrofuture is here
Makayla Robinson
Afrofuturism: familiar to some, confusing to others. Afrofuturism is a concept used in a lot of books and African American artists’ music videos. It uses magical realism, Afrocentricity and elements of science fiction to emphasize the importance of black excellence.  Some examples of this include Janelle Monae’s visual album “Dirty Computer” and Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade.” 
I took a black history class at school and  participated in a program called Birthright Birmingham, where students go to Alabama and Georgia about black history and go on a civil rights tour. Seeing black-owned places is impactful for me because it speaks to the importance of black excellence in the modern world. Afrofuturism speaks to this same idea only set in the future where this level of black excellence will continue to thrive. 
The most common Afrofuturistic elements in media are strong, powerful black Americans working hard to inspire others to achieve as well as make the world a better place for everyone. “Black Panther” is a great example of afrofuturism because it is about a successful, strong, thriving African civilization which maintained its independence. Even though Black Panther is a great example, there is no uniform understanding of what Afrofuturistic media is. “A Wrinkle In Time” doesn’t feature a thriving civilization that is very successful and Lil Nas X is not a fictional character in his music videos, but they both feature very successful people of color who have influenced others and helped make a better world for themselves and everyone else.   
The holiday Kwanzaa is also an example of Afrofuturism because it is rooted in seven different African values. The holiday is seven days long, starting the day after Christmas and ending on New Year’s Day. Kwanzaa speaks to African-American people reclaiming their identity and taking pride in it. It ties into Afrofuturism because it is people using part of their past as a way to influence their future; a plan for them that takes all the good pieces of their culture and identity from the past and makes the future even better.
Afrofuturism can influence minority student groups in schools because it provides students with an opportunity to see and understand the aspects of their culture that are interesting and directly related to themselves. 
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Science & Health
Plastic and water shouldn't mix
Cristian Dubon Solis
You’re shopping at a local convenience store and grab a cold Poland Springs plastic water bottle. You chug the water ‘till your heart's content and casually throw the bottle  into a trash bin. You may not have realized it, but you have likely just contributed to groundwater pollution, which is the contamination of underground water by outside waste. “How?” you may ask. I’ll explain. 
According to PBS NewsHour, humans have created over 8.3 billion tons of plastic waste, as of 2017. Even today, 60% of the plastic we make is still on our planet somewhere. Boston alone produces about 1.2 million tons of waste every year, according to WBUR. The waste production is expected to keep increasing year by year as the population increases, but Boston Mayor Marty Walsh wants to cut that amount to 20% by 2035.
Items like plastic water bottles, disposable coffee cups, tea bags and even clothes made from nylon or polyester — all of which contain plastic — are thrown away by the thousands every day in Boston. When plastic waste is thrown in a trash bin, it may get dumped in a landfill, and since plastic takes hundreds of years to break down naturally, the plastic will remain in the landfill. However, as the plastic degrades over years of weathering, elements like carbon, nitrogen and sulfur start to seep into the ground and pollute the natural reservoir of groundwater beneath the landfill. 
Boston, as well as cities like New York and Chicago, use these groundwater sources as drinking water. I don’t think anyone would want to drink trash water, at least not me. Contaminated water can result in serious health problems often causing the spread of diseases such as typhoid. According to a study conducted by The Lancet, contaminated water caused 1.8 million deaths in 2015 alone worldwide. In addition, plastic also harms the environment around us. It is evident that plastic is a leading environmental problem, particularly in the oceans where unimaginable mountains of trash harm marine wildlife such as turtles, fish and local birds like seagulls. According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, over 1 million marine animals, including mammals, fish, sharks, turtles and birds, are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean.
Nicolette Pocius, environmental science teacher at the John D. O’Bryant School explained that plastic waste produces microplastics that easily escape through water treatment plants and enter the ocean.
“These microplastics can be ingested by animals that are lower on the food chain and then go through something called biomagnification so that they’re in small amounts in small animals and then larger animals eat the smaller animals and get more,” she said. “So by the time we eat those large animals we’re actually eating a greater amount of the plastic than the small animals.”
Essentially, we are not only drinking trash water, we’re eating trash as well! 
So now that we get why plastic is a problem, what do we do? Jahlisse Bruton and Felix Yanes, seniors at the O’Bryant and co-presidents of the O’Bryant Recycling Club, say there are many things someone can do. “I’ve seen a lot of people with Hydro Flasks or reusable cups and bottles,”  Bruton said.  “Since a lot of students go to Dunkin’ Donuts in the morning, rather than ordering on the go you can ask if you can put this in my cup instead of getting a plastic cup.” Something so small can really help. A standard 18-ounce Hydro Flask sells for around $30 each, so instead of buying non-reusable plastic bottles, invest in a Hydro Flask or other reusable water bottle to be more eco-friendly!
If everyone in Boston used reusable straws or bottles, we would produce far less plastic waste. The thousands of pounds of plastic that would have been used to make those straws and bottles could instead be used to develop Boston infrastructure or provide more insulation to homes that may not have it. There is so much we can do. However, with modern culture emphasizing luxury and comfort, getting everyone to use reusable straws and bottles is highly unlikely. That doesn't mean people shouldn’t try. Maybe limit your plastic use for a week, or just use a reusable straw on certain days. 
So the next time you’re walking in the market aisle, you may want to consider where that plastic bottle will end up and get a reusable water bottle instead. Get a personalized one if you want, so you’ll be looking stylish and being eco-friendly!
And remember what Ms. Pocius said: “No action is too small!”
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Science & Health
We should expect wildfires until we take our climate more seriously
Richia Jean-Baptiste
Photo by Marcus Kauffman of Unsplash
You’re walking down the street and see big chimneys attached to a working factory. You look up to see the beautiful blue sky being rapidly consumed by thick plumes of smoke turning it a midnight black. Your chest tightens up, then you start coughing, violently. As you cough, you suddenly realize how the word has changed. You see dead trees and animals, people wearing face masks while looking down at their phones watching videos on YouTube. Nobody is paying attention to what is happening around them. You didn't notice what was happening around you either, until now. 
The Earth has warned us about our doom many times. This is important to realize this because someday we'll look back and regret not doing something about it. It’s not too late, we can still do something about it now. 
Some recent warnings are the 2018 California wildfire, The Camp Fire, which started in Butte County, California. According to the Washington Post, it lasted two to three weeks destroying over 150,000 acres of land and around 18,800 buildings. It caused $16.5 billion of damage, forcing 52,000 people to evacuate, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless and a total of 85 casualties. 
The Camp Fire was caused by a faulty electric transmission line by company PG&E and lasted weeks because California was facing a drought caused by climate change. Since the fire burnt for so long, a bunch of carbon dioxide was released into the air, which will make climate change and global warming worse. The 150 thousand acres destroyed means that there are fewer trees to help us breathe. This fire felt predictable because electric company PG&E is responsible for 10 fires in 2019, according to the Los Angeles Times. 
Then, there were the Australian bushfires which started in September 2019. According to Time Magazine, the fires scorched millions of acres, killed two dozen people, and killed an estimated half a billion animals in the country in only a few months. Again, these fires create a lot of carbon dioxide that is heating up the Earth more and that, on top of all of our bad habits, will lead to the destruction of our planet with us on it.
If you’re unaware, let me tell you, climate change is a real thing and it isn't pretty. Climate change comes in different forms, but it all results in destroying our earth. For example, the global average surface temperature has increased by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit, according to National Geographic. Our daily habits contribute to global warming, such as driving to school or work or just throwing trash on the ground when you can’t find the nearest trash or recycling bin.
According to NASA’s website, the increase in temperature is “a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.” Global warming then leads to extreme weather events and natural disasters. According to NASA, the number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950.
It’s important to discuss these warnings so that action can take place. In the past, we started using more fossil fuels to create things, focusing on how bright and lovely our future will be with a bunch of new technology. But if we keep treating our Earth like this, the only one we have, we won’t be able to replace it like we can replace a broken iPhone. We should work together and help fix it by doing little things like throwing your waste in the trash can, using more reusable items and only driving a car when necessary. It would make our world a much better place to live with cleaner streets that we are proud to walk across, better air to breathe and less trash in the ocean.
When people ask if we understand what's happening to the planet we say yes, but we often don't do anything to help make the world better. Let me be the pair of glasses you need to see the world, because before you know it there won’t be anything else to see. I know this is scary to think about, but it needs to be said before it's too late. And it's almost too late.
Another thing we can do to address fires is advocate for post-fire seeding. According to National Geographic, it helps suppress and put out fires before they become big. It happens often in North America, but is rare in other parts of the world like Australia. Planting forests with non-native, fire-resistant vegetation can help with land management, as those new plants will be much less likely to burn and therefore spread fire.
Let’s make a commitment to actually doing something about the climate. After reading this, reflect on how your own behavior contributes to climate change, and try and dial it down. It’s the only way to help our planet.
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Science & Health
Lessons learned from Australia's wildfires
Madelin Sanchez
The forest fires in Australia have tremendously affected people, animals and their homes over these past several months. Millions of animals have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed. Due to these scary statistics, I want to share some tips on what we can do to help out those affected and protect ourselves if there is ever a fire here.
While Australia's wildfires became much more severe in January 2020, the bushfires started in June 2019. In a BBC News article, a reported 1,600 firefighters were needed to put out the fires. This is something people should care about because people and animals are getting hurt. Animals are affected more drastically because their habitat is in the forest, and they cannot all relocate on their own. Houses were also destroyed by fire, which spread faster and faster throughout the country. 
We might not have experienced a wildfire, but we can still help others that are in need. Even though we might not live in hot climates, knowing what to do if you are ever in a fire or near a fire can be helpful.
“I just watched a show over the weekend about wildfires in Africa,” Keith Magni, a science teacher at Fenway High said. “It's less of a problem for the humans than it is for the animals.”
In some parts of the world, planned and controlled fires are used to reduce the risk of a bigger fire.  
“I've heard of controlled fires...every couple of years [they] are done to make sure things don’t build up to the point where there’s a lot of fires,” Magni said. Unfortunately, Australia’s wildfires were not controlled and put many lives in jeopardy.
People that live near the wildfires are affected differently than animals, but the impact is still negative. Humans have cars to distance themselves from fire and masks to help them breathe better. Even with these quick solutions, some people are left homeless from the fires. They may sleep at a hotel if they have the money or stay with friends and family that have not been directly affected. Oftentimes, they need to take advantage of resources that will help them stay safe and supported long after the fire takes their homes away.
The government in Victoria, Australia established a fundraiser for families and communities who have been affected by the fires. You can donate directly to the State Fire Authority or to the Australian Red Cross, which has already helped over 18,600 people stay safe after the fire. People can also donate to fundraisers that support healthcare and rehousing for animals. To find more information, visit the websites of the Australian Red Cross, Pray for Australia, About Australia and the Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors. 
Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors:
Finally, here are some ways you can stay safe when you are near a wildfire, according to Little Things magazine:
  1. Prepare your home before wildfire season. You want to have your garden hose as close to you as possible. Regularly clean your gutters and roof, move any stacked wood or newspaper away from your house.
  2. Make an evacuation plan
  3. Prepare for evacuation by having a bag or a suitcase that contains the important things that you’d need to stay safe
  4. Limit your exposure to smoke
  5. Leave immediately when evacuation is ordered
  6. Don’t go home unless you’re told to by the authorities 
  7. Clean your home safely after the fire 
  8. Help others when you finished cleaning your home and you know that you and your family are safe
  9. Call 911 if anyone got injured during the evacuation
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