Valentine’s Day is said to be the sweetest and the most romantic day of the year, but history says otherwise. While people these days are celebrating the day of romance, the Romans may have celebrated a bloody and ¨jumbled day¨.
From around February 13-15, the Romans celebrated the feast of ¨Lupercalia¨(which was a festival/feast to purify the city). On this day the men supposedly sacrificed a goat and a dog, and then they would whip and slash the women with parts of the animals they had just killed. It was also said that ¨Young women would line up for the men to hit them because they thought it would make them fertile.¨ It was true that Valentine’s Day doesn’t only get jumbled, but also bloody.
Not only did all the craziness of the Lupercalia festival happen on that day when the Romans lived, but young men would also draw the names of women out of jars, and they would be ¨coupled up¨ for the duration of the Lupercalia or longer if the match was right.
The ancient Romans were also responsible for the name of our modern-day love. Emperor Claudius II executed two people on February 14 who were both named Valentine. Other stories suggest that one of the Valentines may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. What a coincidence! Pope Gelasuis wanted to put off the Lupercalia, which was a great idea. But the festival was more of a conceptual interpretation of what it had once been. Noel Lenski, now a religious studies professor at Yale University, told NPR in 2011.”It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn’t stop it from being a day of fertility and love.”
Around the same time as the Lupercalia festival, the Normans celebrated what was called ¨Galatin’s Day¨. Gallatin was meant to be a ¨Lover of women¨. As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter just like it is now.
Now, Cupid is often portrayed on Valentine’s Day as a naked baby launching arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers. But the Roman God, Cupid, has his roots in Greek mythology as the Greek god of love, Eros. Eros eventually did turn into the naked baby that launches arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers during these days!
Today this holiday is celebrated worldwide and very big in business! However, the day is a spoiled day for many. The celebration of Valentine’s goes on and it can be a holiday for getting flowers, and chocolate, and spending the day with your loved ones. But it can also be celebrated as a SAD (Single Awareness Day) by others.
Is Valentines day too dark for all the sweetness?
Starting the Seasons With a Kick
Soccer is a known sport around the world with millions of fans from many countries. It is a team sport that requires communication skills and hard work.
Our school has two girls’ soccer teams, JV and Varsity. Both teams have put so much effort and hard work into this season. We are about halfway through the season, and many improvements have been made throughout the season.
I, myself, am on the JV soccer team and get to experience the team firsthand. To be successful as a team, all players on the team need to be comfortable with each other and be able to communicate on the field properly.
One thing that helps with the chemistry on the field is working on the chemistry off of the field. As a team, we all get together before home games or once a week and have pasta dinners to get to know each other. It truly helps us come together as a team which helps us come together on the field and, ultimately, become successful during our games.
We also connect by participating in a secret sister gift exchange every away game or once a week. It is almost like a Secret Santa gift exchange but throughout the season. Each girl would draw a name along with what the person likes and whose name they pick, which is who they buy a small gift for every week. Participating in this allows the girls to get to know each other and to participate in something fun and surprising.
This season both teams have played eight games against Dana Hills, Trabuco Hills, and El Toro. The varsity team has won four and tied five, and the JV team has lost five, tied three, and won one. The season has officially ended and varsity did make it to CIF, but unfortunately lost to Rancho Cucamonga in penalty kicks.
Everything that has happened this season is because of the hard work and dedication our team has put on the field. We are so incredibly proud of these teams and are incredibly sad to say goodbye to our seniors, but there is definitely bright future ahead of us. I know that our soccer team will be undeniably successful in the upcoming years, just as they were this season.
Strike that, repair it: Nurses formed picket lines in front of major NYC hospitals—and they deserved to be heard!
“On strike for better patient care,” “More nurses, less millionaire execs!”, “Fair contract for patients and nurses!”, read the signs at the picket lines in front of two major NYC medical facilities.
NYC Nurses Begin Three-Day Strike
January 9th marks the first day of a major labor strike in New York City. More than 7,000 nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital and the Montefiore Medical Center walked out to protest the unfair conditions that they have been working with, especially in recent years.
The main concern behind the movement seems to be the understaffing of the hospitals. According to The Washington Post, “Nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx say they want management to increase hiring to relieve on-the-job stress and agree to pay penalties to nurses who work understaffed shifts.”
Especially after the coronavirus pandemic, nurses are having to work very long and very busy shifts. In an interview with CNN, Montefiore nurse Naniaka Camara says “she’s often late providing medication or other services that patients need due to staffing shortages that can stretch her shifts to 12 or 14 hours.”
In terms of what the nurses’ goals were for the strike, the president of the American Nurses Association Jennifer Mensik Kennedy explained in an interview with NPR, “The American Nurses Association shares the nurses’ frustration with a lack of solutions. And we’ve really worked together with decision-makers in organizations and nationally to say, you know, we really do need to work through and address safe staffing issues. We need to look at how we can address getting more nurses to be faculty and address the faculty shortage. And we also need to look at the work environment and encourage nurses to stay nurses and not to leave the profession. And we want nurses to be nurses for their entire career. So those are the three areas I think we could really focus in on in order to make a sustainable change.”
As of January 11th, negotiations with the hospitals have ended and the nurses have returned to work. The negotiations included a deal to increase pay and the opening of many more nursing positions. Nurse-patient ratios were also introduced to make the nurses’ workload more manageable. Tentative contracts were drawn and the nurses and unions will vote soon.
Labor Strikes and Their Purpose
Labor strikes have been occurring in this country ever since the Industrial Revolution. Terrible working conditions for factory workers in the first years of mass manufacturing were extremely common. Because of this, workers began to come together and form what were some of the first labor unions in the United States. Large groups of workers would assemble protests, or strikes, demanding things like higher wages, shorter hours, safer working conditions, and more.
So, the purpose of a strike is ultimately to demand a better working situation for laborers or to protest against employers for unfair conditions.
There is a lot of planning that goes into organizing a labor strike. It involves contacting union members, reading bargaining agreements to see if a strike would be legal, collecting funds for picketers, and trying to convince the public that it is a worthy cause.
That is why it is a really big deal when a major strike occurs, especially with a count of more than 7,000 people as in the recent NYC nurse strike.
There is, as with many things, controversy surrounding labor strikes. In terms of the NYC nurse strike, some are asking, “Why are the nurses abandoning their patients for this?” Actually, the patients in both hospitals were taken care of by a supply of temporary workers who filled the roles of the nurses who were out picketing. They prepared well in advance to ensure that the patients were covered and everything would be safe.
A lot of the opposition to labor strikes and unions comes from people with a pro-business ideology. The business or employer to whom the strike is directed finds them disruptive. In a business setting, a strike can seriously decrease the daily profit due to the formation of picket lines in front of and around the building. As for the hospitals, they had trouble staying organized and were, of course, in opposition to the strike and the disruption that it caused.
How to Show Support
There are many ways to show support for workers on strike. According to a TeenVogue article by Jacqui Germain, some supportive actions include: publicly supporting the strike, visiting the picket line to help in any way, sharing information about the strike with friends, and pushing politicians and leaders to show their support for the workers as well.
I strongly believe that people should never cross a picket line, even though, of course, it is entirely up to each individual. Crossing the picket line is considered very disrespectful and even demeaning to those who are participating in the strike. Going on strike is a big deal- so if a group of workers decides that there is an issue important enough to form a picket line over it, their voices should be respected, even if you do not agree with what they are saying.
Our workers, especially our nurses, keep the world going around. They were heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. They continue to save lives every day. Their voices deserve to be heard. Don’t you think it’s the least we could do?
I guess a coherent plot wasn’t on The Menu
The Menu had potential. With a star-studded cast, the film received a 7.3/10 from IMDb and an 89% score from Rotten Tomatoes (the audience score was 76%). Main actors Ralph Fiennes, who plays an extremely obsessive celebrity chef, and Anya Taylor-Joy who plays a guest unused to the luxury dining lifestyle both received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor and Actress.
The movie was generally very well-received, and yet I cannot seem to understand why. If I had to personally provide it a score, I would give it a 4/10.
Directed by Mark Mylod, The Menu focused on the experience of two young people going to dine in one of the most exclusive, world-renowned restaurants located on a secluded private island. With a cast of eccentric and uniquely troubled characters joining in on the dining experience as well, the night progresses only to reveal that there is something deeply amiss.
The menu started as any other luxury menu would: drinks, an amuse-bouche, and a plethora of accompanying courses. With the presentation of each course, their meals become less and less luxurious. Secrets, blood, gore, and the guests’ utter hopelessness is what comes next in the sequence of events.
In between the chaos of trying to figure out what was going on, we get to hear Chef Julian Slowik’s story: and yet nothing about why he is now a homicidal maniac. He has a background in working at a fast-food burger restaurant, and it is implied that he worked his way up to be the profound chef he is today. He confronts the night’s guests by telling how each of them, in some way or another, contributed to him losing his passion for cooking and exploiting workers quite like himself. Which is great, but it doesn’t explain anything as to why the gory events occurred.
Sure, the film had plenty to say about the divisions between class and obsession and of course, the whole art-versus-the-artist debate. And yet, it wasn’t presented as a philosophical commentary: it was a thriller, trying desperately to be an astute take on the problems in modern society, specifically those leading a luxurious life. While these are all very important topics that our society needs to learn about, I was definitely not expecting them to appear in the thriller movie that I was eager to see.
The whole movie felt as if it could not decide whether the message or the thrill was more important: leading to a rough combination that most certainly did not mix well.
And then there was the ending. It was an incredibly unsophisticated ending for a seemingly sophisticated film, and it initially made me wonder if they wrote it in for a comedic factor. I ultimately decided that even if it was, it greatly missed the mark. The movie lacked so much closure, I felt that the whole point was wasted. As if the writers thought a movie about the problems with class divisions and the respect of artisans would not be appealing to the public, so they threw in a couple of intense, bloody scenes at the last minute and crossed their fingers that their message would get across.
After I first viewed the trailer, I went into the theater expecting an edge-of-your-seat, spill-your-popcorn-everywhere, punch-the-person-in-the-seat-to-your-left kind of movie. I was expecting a thriller, teetering on the edge of horror, maybe even with some cannibalism sprinkled in here and there. I never thought I would say it, but by the end of the movie, I found myself wishing that cannibalism was involved.
I only wish each scene in The Menu was as carefully crafted as each of Chef Slowik’s courses. As I said, the movie had great potential, but the plot was too choppy and barely even coherent. It had a lot to say, but did not know how to properly say it, leaving me wanting both more and less at the same time. Which is why The Menu left me hungry.
Review on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
On October 16, 2011 many people went to the movie theaters to go see a movie about a cat in boots fighting the fairy tale characters Jack and Jill over three magic beans with a sword, while wearing a sombrero. Nobody expected this side character with whiskers to get his own movie.
This movie is none other than Puss in Boots but where did this cat come from? And why was this movie so well received?
The Puss made his first debut in the movie Shrek 2, but this character was so well liked that Dreamworks made him his own movie. The main character is a talking cat who wears a hat, cape, belt, and boots whilst also wielding a sword, also steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
Personally I think Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was better than the first one. I think this due to the animation, the animation was so slick and smooth especially the combat scenes. I have no doubt the animators took their time with every sense because it most definitely paid off. Puss in Boots really was worth the eleven year wait.
Antonio Banderas aka the voice a Puss came back for the second movie, so did Salma Hayek for the role of Kitty Softpaws. One character that I really enjoyed the voice acting was from Wagner Moura who played the Wolf. Each line he said really did bring chills up my spine.
Now comparing imdb scores from the first movie to the second, the second movie did relatively better from the first movie, the first movie received a 6.6/10 rating. The second movie got a 7.9/10 rating.
But surprisingly the first Puss in Boots made a tad bit more money than the second one according to boxofficemojo.com, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish made $394,119,970 worldwide while the first Puss in Boots made $554,987,477. I think too soon to count the profits but up to right now the original is dominating.
The Last of Us makes it’s Debut
After its release in 2013, the video game The Last of Us has gained a massive following of dedicated fans. The beautiful graphics combined with a heart wrenching story made it an instant classic. Then in 2020 fans of the game got amazing news from HBO: an adaptation was on its way. Being a huge fan of the games, I was ecstatic, and after years of waiting, this show does not disappoint.
Created by Neil Druckmann, writer of the video game franchise, and Craig Mazin, most known for his Chernobyl miniseries, this show is a faithful recreation of the game down to a tee. The gist of the show is that a fungal infection without a cure is spread to the entire world, kickstarting a classic zombie apocalypse. Our protagonist is Joel Miller, a brooding, jaded man making his way through the post-apocalyptic world after suffering a great tragedy.
Pedro Pascal does a wonderful job playing him, bringing grit and a stalwart nature to the character. He manages to show a multitude of emotions in a single glance. His character is a true survivor, willing to do whatever it takes to protect the few people he loves, and Pascal portrays this perfectly.
Our other lead is a snarky, witty, and brave young girl named Ellie. Being born into an apocalyptic world molded her into a survivor, but the curiosity of a child still managed to survive in her. BAFTA winner Bella Ramsey has perfected the duality of the character, keeping the fire in her alive, while still revealing the playful nature of her character underneath.
The show is a master at including its audience in every scene. Everything from set design, to costumes, to SFX absorbs you into this dilapidated world, engrossing you in the broken environment. While watching the show, a feeling of constant fear seeps into viewers through every scene. Everything about the setting is threatening, and it creates an amazing experience for those watching.
Speaking of SFX, let’s discuss the clickers. These zombies can’t see, but have impeccable hearing. The recreation of these creatures is a carbon copy from the game. From the noises the creatures make to the looks of them, they are terrifying and utterly gorgeous. For previous players, the stress of fighting these creatures stays well and alive during the show, and the difficulty of killing them makes every scene with the clickers a tense adventure.
This show has received outstanding reviews, some calling it the best video game adaptation of all time. And, while the show has barely even started, so far I have to agree. The show has stayed incredibly loyal to the source material, some scenes being exact replicas from the game. Whenever beloved media is being adapted, there are always concerns from previous fans, but the pilot of this show has shown that there is nothing to worry about. The story is in good hands, and if nothing else, HBO is loyal to the game.
The problem with many video game adaptations is how much they stray from the source material. I’m a big fan of if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, and The Last of Us story-line is an amazing one. HBO made the best decision they could have by sticking to what they were given, instead of trying to change a beloved story.
Bella Ramsey especially has done an amazing job bringing Ellie to life, her personality, sarcasm, and presence is a perfect match for the character. Ramsey clearly did her homework, as even her voice is almost eerily similar to that of the original character. Along with this, Pedro Pascal is wonderful as Joel, fitting the archetype of the lone survivor like a puzzle piece.
Overall, whether you are a new to the story or a dedicated fan of the games, this show is something all viewers can enjoy. While I’m usually hesitant to call anything perfect, so far this show has only failed at one thing, and that’s disappointing me. I’m not-so-patiently waiting for the next episodes to air, and if you have the chance I would highly recommend giving The Last of Us a try. It’s not your average zombie story, and it’s filled with adventure, heartache, and tense situations that will keep you on the edge of your seat. At the end of the day, it’s a story about family, and one everybody should check out.
The Last of Us is streaming on HBO Max now.
China’s Golden Covid Rule
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic China has had one big policy in place, the 0 covid policy. With this policy China had the lowest death toll at the beginning of the pandemic compared to other countries. China accomplished this with large scale lockdowns, mass testing, and lots of quarantining for those who were sick. All these protocols kept the deadly virus away. But with veriants of the virus such as delta, and omicron popping up, really challenged the policy.
This policy sounds great for China, but in 2022 there will be a lot of lockdowns. Without people being able to get near each other causes no one to be able to do their job. China has suffered food shortages and other deprivations. Local officials were given the nearly impossible task of controlling all of the outbreaks with as least social and economic disruption as possible.
The worst part is that the local officials are going to face punishment if they fail to meet these outrageous standards. Right now there are no real options because opening up now would lead to millions if not thousands of deaths, because China has no herd immunity. Herd immunity is when a population is immune to spreading a infectious disease due to the whole population already being infected in some way shape or form, either they got a vaccine, or they got sick
Vaccines are not an option either due to the fact that China’s local vaccines are not as effective against the virus as foreign-made vaccines, which Beijing refuses to allow into China. The reason is still unknown but some speculate that it is a matter of national pride.
Finally Coming Home: Egypt
“Salam.” Translated to English it means hello. These were the first words that came out of my parents’ mouths when they returned home.
I went to Egypt with my family for the first time this Winter break, which is odd since I am Egyption America. I was born in America, but both my parents and my whole family are from Egypt. For the first time I got to meet over half my family. However, I have always been connected to Egyption culture from the music all the way to the language.
Egypt is full of fun surprises, whether it be seeing the difference between old Egypt or new Egypt, the food, the amount of languages spoken, or driving. The weather in Egypt during the winter varies from city to city, however, most of the time it remains in the high 60’s.
Definitely the most popular locations were the sphinx and the pyramids, mainly because the Great Pyramids in Giza are one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. Something about the pyramids that not everyone knows is they used to be painted white with a solid gold tip at the top. Over the years this gold tip has been stolen. There are plenty of pyramids in Egypt but these “Great” pyramids are the largest. However, since the pandemic, the entrance to these pyramids was closed due to the pandemic, but they recently allowed people to go inside the pyramids again. When you’re there, I recommend you go camel riding. There are many people who offer camel rides at a low cost near the pyramids. Riding across the desert on a camel with your sight full of pyramids is just awestrucking, definitely one of the highlights of my trip.
These pyramids were built to be graves to the pharaohs, but after countless grave robberies these pharaohs’ graves were moved to the Valley of the Kings, which are underground chambers where the kings were buried. Each cave began excavation when a pharaoh went into power and stopped when the pharaoh died.
An attraction near this monument is the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. In this museum, they have found many ancient artifacts and the mummies of old pharaohs. In the exhibit they don’t allow photography and much noise to preserve the mummies, which are so preserved that they still have hair, which was an odd sight to see. The museum also features a scavenger hunt that you can access off your phone.
One thing I would definitely say to know if you go is if you have never driven in Egypt before, don’t try. The rules for driving in Egypt are completely different then the ones in America. The lines on the roads don’t really matter to them, and to cross the street as a pedestrian you can either play crossy road in real life (what most people do) or go underground through the stairs. The schools in Egypt are also more rigorous. There are different kinds of schools like French, German, American, and British schools. In each of these schools they learn the language, but at the bare minimum they take English and Arabic. Most kids start their new languages from as little as 3rd grade. So when walking around street vendors I heard so many different languages, especially the tour guides at the temples.
The atmosphere of the culture was really fun to be around, and they had the best food ever. There are many dishes that I love but we don’t have here like shawarma (good shawarma, that is) and balah el sham (this is a dessert.) But overall I had a great time and I can’t wait to go again.
Six-year-old shoots teacher; Sparks massive firearm debate
Six days into the new year, Abigail Zwerner, a twenty-five year old resident of Newport News, Virginia, attended her job as a first grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School. The events of that day made national headlines, as Zwerner was shot by one of her students.
According to a witness of the events, Zwerner was about to start an art lesson in her classroom when an altercation occurred between her and a student, a six-year-old boy. The child pulled a 9mm Taurus pistol out of his backpack, and his teacher immediately tried to confiscate it. There was no physical quarrel between Zwerner and the student, yet when she tried to take the gun, he allegedly fired a bullet at her. He did not miss. The bullet traveled through her hand and abdomen, causing a serious wound.
Despite her injury, Zwerner rushed her students to safety, out of the classroom and away from the firearm. She is currently being hailed as a hero. After the authorities arrived, so did the reporters, and the story gained national attention, and with that, national outrage.
The blame of the events was set unto the parents, as the gun was owned by his mother, and many questioned her ability to parent a child, if that child is within accessibility to a firearm.
Within a public statement, the family stated gratitude and sympathy toward the educator and amply apologized for the turn of the events. The family’s statement also said that the boy has an ‘acute disability,’ which resonated with some as an attempt to avoid fault themselves, and shift blame onto the child’s disability.
The family’s attorney says that the gun was out of reach of the child, secured with a trigger lock. The gun was reportedly located atop a shelf inside of the mother’s closet. The family and police are unsure of how the boy came into possession of the gun, but authorities are still in an early stage of investigation. The police are also still undetermined whether or not someone in the family will be charged with unsafe storage of a firearm.
Along with accusations of blame towards the child’s parents, the school is also facing scrutiny because of a supposed ignorance towards previous complaints about the child. One staff member of the school claimed that Zwerner had sought help from school administration with the child, as he had claimed he wanted to “light a teacher on fire and watch her die.”
The claims were allegedly downplayed, as made clear during a three hour school board meeting regarding the incident. According to highschool librarian Nicole Cooke, “Every day, [teachers are] hit. They’re bitten. They’re beaten. And [the students doing so] are allowed to stay so that our numbers look good.”
Many teachers and faculty workers are using this event as a prime example of the result of ignoring the relentless abuse that teachers endure at the hands of their unpunished students.
Zwerner was not fatally injured, and as of January 20th, two weeks after the shooting, the educator was released from the hospital. The day will go down in history, as an attempted murder took place at the hands of a child who cannot even spell the crime he committed.