From the Editor's Desk: "Choosing aardvarks over princesses and embracing your differences"Published October 21, 2016 (33-3) — by Mona Baloch
First place Best of Show at NSPA 2016 |
Writing the Editor's Desk has been the most difficult task I've been faced with this year — Desks are expected to be intellectual, relevant and relatable all at the same time. I am particularly proud of this desk because I was able to maintain my voice and also connect my message to real-world happenings.
I didn’t spend last Saturday afternoon doing math homework, studying for an upcoming test or even working on this newspaper. Instead, I was at a party — a tea party, to be precise. Surrounded by mini cupcakes, cheese cubes and floral teacups, I found myself in the company of eight hyperactive first-graders, each clad in a poofy princess dress in celebration of my cousin Syma’s seventh birthday.
My jolting transition from textbooks to tiaras was confusing enough to blur my memories of the Disney princesses, much to the girls’ chagrin. With too much amusement for my liking, they declared me the Beast to Syma’s Belle. Read more
My jolting transition from textbooks to tiaras was confusing enough to blur my memories of the Disney princesses, much to the girls’ chagrin. With too much amusement for my liking, they declared me the Beast to Syma’s Belle. Read more
Feature: "I Know You Want It"Published June 4, 2015 (32-1) — by Mona Baloch
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This article accompanied a Centerfold piece about rape culture. I wanted to connect the article's messages to something relevant and tangible — music was the perfect choice. After writing this piece, I found myself noticing the sexualization of women in nearly every song I heard on the radio.
ANACONDA by Nicki Minaj
“My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns hun …
He said he don’t like ‘em boney, he want something he can grab”
Nicki Minaj is not known for having a good-girl reputation. After her song “Anaconda” was released in 2014, Minaj faced heavy criticism for both the song’s controversial lyrics and the overt sexuality of the music video. A “Today” show host said that Minaj’s song and video were inappropriate, especially given the pop star’s status as a role model for children and teenagers. Minaj said she believed she accomplished her goals with the song. “I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual, but be playful with it,” she said in an interview with Complex Magazine. In response to the debate surrounding the song, Minaj posted pictures on Instagram of models wearing bikinis, captioning each of the pictures with “acceptable.” Read more
“My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns hun …
He said he don’t like ‘em boney, he want something he can grab”
Nicki Minaj is not known for having a good-girl reputation. After her song “Anaconda” was released in 2014, Minaj faced heavy criticism for both the song’s controversial lyrics and the overt sexuality of the music video. A “Today” show host said that Minaj’s song and video were inappropriate, especially given the pop star’s status as a role model for children and teenagers. Minaj said she believed she accomplished her goals with the song. “I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual, but be playful with it,” she said in an interview with Complex Magazine. In response to the debate surrounding the song, Minaj posted pictures on Instagram of models wearing bikinis, captioning each of the pictures with “acceptable.” Read more
Feature: Round TablePublished January 8, 2016 (33-5)
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The goal of this round table, which followed an article about conservatism, was to include as many voices as possible in our paper. The best part about this project was our collaboration with my school's online newspaper, Denebola. We were able to include a multimedia aspect to our content that we don't often pursue.
Should the United States put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS?
Matthew Gubenko: I think the strategy of inaction and trying to fund other rebel militants on the ground by giving them arms has proved to be an incredibly harmful strategy in that it almost single-handedly created — coupled with the void left by U.S. troops on the ground — the rise of ISIS. Now we have a bunch of rebel militants armed with U.S. weapons. I think it’s imperative that instead of funding other factions, the U.S. actually get on the ground.
Michael Ryter: I don’t doubt our military capability, and I don’t doubt that we are militarily capable of defeating and virtually eradicating ISIS. However, last time we were in Iraq and we withdrew, that almost instantly led to the destabilization of the Iraqi government, which we supported, and led to ISIS. I don’t see how that is any different this time, unless we have a more cohesive endgame strategy, and perhaps work with our allies to institute that. Read more
Matthew Gubenko: I think the strategy of inaction and trying to fund other rebel militants on the ground by giving them arms has proved to be an incredibly harmful strategy in that it almost single-handedly created — coupled with the void left by U.S. troops on the ground — the rise of ISIS. Now we have a bunch of rebel militants armed with U.S. weapons. I think it’s imperative that instead of funding other factions, the U.S. actually get on the ground.
Michael Ryter: I don’t doubt our military capability, and I don’t doubt that we are militarily capable of defeating and virtually eradicating ISIS. However, last time we were in Iraq and we withdrew, that almost instantly led to the destabilization of the Iraqi government, which we supported, and led to ISIS. I don’t see how that is any different this time, unless we have a more cohesive endgame strategy, and perhaps work with our allies to institute that. Read more