Blogs – The Black and White

I tried solving a Rubik’s cube in one week — and failed

March 26, 2020

When my brother was in middle school, he loved solving Rubik’s Cubes — he’d spend hours on the computer watching videos about how to manipulate the colorful squares. At his fastest, he could complete one in under a minute. Sometimes, when I was bored, I’d try my hand, but thirteen-year-old me never ha...

Injured athletes: You can still find yourselves outside of sports

By Holly Adams

March 18, 2020

Prince blasted through my earbuds and my heart pounded in anticipation and anxiety as I sat on the bus to a cross country meet last September. I’ve always had extreme pre-race nerves but I’d put extra pressure on this race because I knew it was a flat course, and I was finally feeling ready to get...

My experiences with Dyslexia

By Ella Adams

March 17, 2020

When I tell people I’m dyslexic, they expect that when I see an “m,” it flips into “w,” and that “b’s” swirl into “d”s.” But, when I open a book, I see the same letters as you. There are seven different types of dyslexia. I have the type of dyslexia where I can encode information,...

A Viking in France, part 2

By Audrey Feledy

March 13, 2020

It’s been about six months since my plane from the U.S. took off. Forty other students and I have traveled together, studied for the same tests together and eaten lunch together every day. It’s a change coming from Whitman, where it might have been days before I saw the same person twice. One of t...

Can I steal for you a sec?

By Bella Grumet

March 11, 2020

When I asked my parents if I could watch “The Bachelor” during my freshman year, their answer was an immediate and definitive no. They believed the show promoted promiscuity and toxic masculinity; they wanted to shelter me from that kind of negative influence. Little did they know, I didn't need to...

A blog about my dog

By Ethan Wagner

March 5, 2020

I’ve been used to having only one dog in my house. I knew my dog’s daily routine like the back of my hand; I knew down to the detail of what time she likes to sleep at night. But when my family introduced a second dog into our life, everything changed. About a month ago, my family decided to fost...

Small acts make a big difference in mental health

By Bella Grumet

February 24, 2020

My heart drops every time I hear the PA system come on at school. I get nauseous at the sound of sirens at night. I can’t listen to “Party in the USA” without being flooded with memories. Some days I can’t even walk down certain hallways without feeling like something, or someone, is missing. Two ...

Nineties sitcoms are outdated — that’s no reason to “cancel” them

By Holly Adams

February 13, 2020

Whether I’m complimenting someone’s Rachel Green-esque outfit or giving my friends Ron Swanson life advice to fix their problems, I constantly reference sitcoms in my daily conversations. Sometimes, my friends don’t understand my references, but since Netflix added “Friends” to its lengthy...

Power to the people: don’t overlook local politics

By Jocie Mintz

February 11, 2020

When I was writing an article about an environmental town hall, I knew I’d have to sit through three hours of political schmooze between the old people in local government. I headed to the town hall ready to endure monotony and boredom for the sake of journalism. But as I sat through the meeting, I b...

I used to want cable. Now? Not so much.

By James Marzolf-Miller

February 9, 2020

When I was younger, Fridays were special for me; my friends and I would bring our beyblades — those spinny, metal tops that can cut your fingers if you’re not careful — and battle each other near the playground’s classic yellow slide in front of our elementary school in College Park. Every...

The lasting impact of the Armenian Genocide

By Jack McGuire

February 6, 2020

For most of my life, I saw my Armenian background as a trivial part of my family history. My family and I often joked about how our very white family technically originated from Asia, and we loosely connected ourselves to celebrities with Armenian origins like the Kardashians, Cher and Food Network Chef Geof...

52 years after “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” aired, we still remember its message

By Eleanor Taylor

February 3, 2020

When I was little, lunch at my grandma’s house was nearly always the same: the smell of pasta cooking on her gas stove, the glowing screen of her 10-by-10 inch antenna TV and Mister Rogers’ timeless query: “Won’t you be my neighbor?” “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” first aired in 1968, so whil...