Blogs – The Black and White

Small acts make a big difference in mental health

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Nineties sitcoms are outdated — that’s no reason to “cancel” them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

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...

High school books, ranked

By Jesse Rider

January 23, 2020

It’s no secret that many high school students find reading to be a nuisance, but when teachers force them to read a book, that nuisance turns into an outright dislike for reading. Even if it’s a good book, forced reading becomes a burden on top of other homework and extracurriculars. Nonetheless, r...

A viking in France

By Audrey Feledy

January 22, 2020

When I stepped off of the plane on September 4, I couldn’t believe where I was. After all those months of telling people I would be living in France for a year, I was finally here — albeit in the airport, but it still counted. The program I chose to attend is called School Year Abroad. I’d been...

Christmas is more than just a holiday

By Matt Mande

December 24, 2019

I’m Jewish. I’ve spent countless hours in Hebrew school, and countless more at three-hour long holiday services. I’ve read from the Torah and Haftorah, I’ve had a Bar Mitzvah and I’ve attended the Bar and Bat Mitzvahs of my peers and family, muttering prayers under my breath at services whi...

I tried to write a 50,000-word novel in one month — and it wasn’t easy

By Meera Shroff

December 18, 2019

On the first day of November, I wrote 800 words. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? It wasn’t even half of my daily goal. Every night of November, I planned on writing 1,667 words a day. For someone who hadn’t tackled a creative writing project in what felt like forever, my goal seemed insane, but...

Depersonalization and Derealization: A common symptom of anxiety or PTSD

By Anonymous

December 16, 2019

Content warning: This story contains language that pertains to mental health and suicide. My mind keeps jumping to different places right now, and I don’t feel normal. I tried to search it up online, and I looked at my medication manual, but I couldn’t find anything about what’s wr...

In the media center, don’t just look, take a book!

By Taylor Haber

December 9, 2019

I’m genuinely surprised when I see someone check out a book from the media center. I’ve only checked out two books in my time at Whitman, and I’ve never had to wait in line. In fact, the books seem like a sideshow to the library’s main attraction: the computers. Ironically, in a place designed...