Blogs – The Black and White

Christmas is more than just a holiday

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...

Sparkling water isn’t worth the hype

By Sam Mulford

December 8, 2019

It has to be said: sparkling water isn’t worth the hype. Over the last few years, sparkling water has blown up. Americans spent about $2 billion on sparkling water at restaurants in 2018, a proportionate amount compared with the $15 billion spent on all soft drinks combined. America is obsessively enamored with the fizzy bev...

Call me old fashioned, but I love the radio

By Eva Levy

December 7, 2019

A few years ago, my mom planted a mini-radio in the corner of our kitchen so that she could listen to National Public Radio while she cooked. I couldn’t stand it. I was never allowed to switch it off or turn down the volume, so the news was constantly on. And I mean constantly — I’d come do...

All I want for Christmas is predictable media center closing times

By Jocie Mintz

December 6, 2019

We’ve all been there. It’s your period lunch, your Lang essay is next period, and all you have on the page is a flimsy work cited page. It’s time to grind. You run to the library, looking for a safe refuge — a critical computer on which to craft your paper — only to find that horrible sign...

The NFL has little respect for women; increasing female leadership could change that

By Meera Dahiya

December 5, 2019

When I first opened the Bleacher Report app to read a headline of the Antonio Brown allegations, my stomach dropped. A former New England Patriots wide receiver had been accused of sexual assault, but he continued to play without consequence until the Patriots organization released him. When I found out ...

Kansas isn’t just buffalo and rolling hills

By Zara Ali

December 4, 2019

When I tell people I lived in a small rural town in Kansas for most of my childhood, I get a lot of different reactions. Some people repeat my statement in the form of a question; some wonder if I’m joking. They ask if I lived on a farm, if there were any other Asians and if everyone there was the s...

In defense of student government: an elected perspective

By Taylor Haber

December 3, 2019

I may not wear a pin of a miniature American flag, but I still consider myself a politician. For two years, I’ve served as a member of the Whitman SGA, first as sophomore class officer and now as student body secretary. Both positions have taught me what a significant role the organization plays in ...

MCPS: Stop building more turf fields like ours

By Ben Stricker

November 28, 2019

“And the field takes another victim!” For my soccer teammates and me, this joke has become all too colloquial at every home game. But as we waited two months for Whitman’s new turf field to open last fall, did we expect to be cracking that joke multiple times per game? Definitely not. �...

Why I’m in love with Kristoff and the writers of Frozen 2

By Dana Herrnstadt

November 27, 2019

I am in love with Kristoff from Frozen 2. No, that’s not fair; after all, Kristoff is just a collection of pixels on a screen. Instead, I’m in love with the writers of Frozen 2, who created Kristoff so that his persona subtly shouts “toxic masculinity, who?” and destroys the status quo with...