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The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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What is a Shared Economy?

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By Jeremy Cheng, World Traveler

 

A Shared Economy is sharing your resources that you don’t need immediately and improving the resource utilization rate and getting a return.

 

The advantages of a Shared Economy are that it is low in cost, it builds up a good business relationship, and it is considered a sustainable development. Let’s look at China’s Shared Economy.

 

Firstly,

in China, there is an app called DiDi which is essentially the same as Uber in the sense that you are able to call a car in order to travel somewhere. Like Uber, they don’t provide cars for the drivers. Drivers are expected to use their own car to pick up and drop off passengers. Therefore, there are no parking lot fees, and it reduces the expense one would have to pay if one were to drive one’s own car. Drivers are required to sign a contract with the DiDi company that ensures the safety of the passenger. Calling DiDi is superior to calling a taxi because with taxis there are more expenses for both the company and the passenger (taxi companies need to buy cars for their drivers and also take parking fees into account). DiDi’s passengers can pay a lower price, and this attracts many users in China.

 

Secondly,

DiDi builds up a good business relationship. For instance, for those who may travel alone, drivers are able to provide conversation with their passengers. It is another way to make new friends and acquaintances. Drivers and passengers are able to talk about the books they read, the places they have been, and the hobbies they like. The possibilities are endless. Airbnb conducted research that showed that people like their drivers to share the same or similar hobbies.

 

Finally,

Shared Economy encourages sustainable development.

China is universally acknowledged for having the largest world population. Unfortunately, the population is becoming too large for the amount of land that the country owns. Shenzhen, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai are some of the biggest, most overpopulated cities in China. With a larger population comes more people who want to own their own car, and usually each person’s car only has one to two people, which dramatically inflates the amount of traffic on the streets. In each car, there are multiple seats available that aren’t being used. This is a waste of a great carpooling opportunity. If people start to use those seats, commuters can have more methods to get to and from work, and the numbers of the cars on the road will decrease. This is a way that recycles resources without opening new land in order to make and sell more cars.

 

Here are few examples of the Shared Economy in China.

 

  1. DiDi offers a more convenient travel mode for everyone whether they’re just getting off work, school, or just living their normal lives.

2. LaiDian PowerBank is a power station for your phone. When your phone doesn’t have battery, users are able to rent one and charge their “dead” phone.

3. OFO Bicycle, another sustainable company,  provides bikes for people who only want to travel a short distance or don’t own a car.

 

Editor: Bella Bier

Top 5 Most Extreme Powerful Anime Heroes of All Time

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By James Zheng

Hey guys, today I bring you all a different sort of post. I‘ve made a character review/ranking based on my own opinion, and maybe it’s not what you may have expected, but there are still some great new characters to become acquainted with. For all of you guys who like or are interested in these anime figures, make sure to check them out after you read my review!   

 

No. 5 Sakamaki Izayoi, from “Problem Children are Coming from Another World, aren’t they?”(Mondaiji Tachi Ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sō Desu Yo?) Produced by Diamedea.

Izayoi was invited to Another World (a fanciful world that is trapped in a parallel universe) by a secret letter. Said letter was sent to a select few individuals who harbor unmatched psychological powers (Izayoi included). In this world, these powers are referred to as “gifts.” From the time he got there, his gift was so powerful he could not even be identified as a human being (his gift is classified as “Unknown”). Not only is he physically strong, but he is also incredibly knowledgeable.

 

No. 4 Touya Mochizuki, from “In Another World With My Smartphone” (Isekai wa Sumātofon to Tomo ni) Produced by Production Reed.

Touya’s experience sounds quite ridiculous to anyone first hearing about it. To be honest, one would never imagine how a single smartphone could be used to dominate an entire world. Since he was accidentally eliminated by God while living on Earth, as an apology he was given immense strength and sent to another world. He then goes on to become an extremely powerful fighter and conjurer of all kinds of magic. The only equipment that he relies on is… his smartphone.

 

No. 3  Kirigaya Kazuto, usually known as Kirito, from “Sword Art Online” produced by A-1 Pictures.

Sword Art Online is about a new and popular virtual reality (VR) game. However, during the game launch, it turns into a much more “real” situation. Very quickly, players begin to realize that the “logout” button has disappeared, and there is no way to leave the game. On top of that, if a player dies in-game, the VR headset sends out shocks of electricity and fries the player’s brain. The game is set inside of a tower with 100 floors, and to get to the next floor, player’s must defeat the “main boss” of that level. In order to survive and leave the game, one must either reach the top of the tower or defeat the game’s creator. It becomes an arena of death in which if you don’t fight and get your level up, you will be stuck on floor one forever.

As one of the victims, Kirito has to survive in this game. He was known as a “beta tester” (known later to other players as a “beater”: beta + cheater), a player who had played the game since the early access phase. Therefore, in the game, he starts at an insanely high level. He can easily beat up a ”main boss” which would usually require at least 20 players to defeat. He even obtains one of the most powerful special abilities to which only he has access.   

 

Note: “Sword Art Online” is recommended for those who are fifteen or older.

 

No. 2 Diablo/Takuma Sakamoto, from “How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord” (Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu) produced  by Ajia-do Animation Works.

Takuma is a master at playing RPG games (Role Playing Game) as an undeniably powerful Demon Lord. Takuma never imagined that he would be summoned into the RPG world by two mages. He is confused and questioning until he realizes that he has become his character (Demon Lord) in this world. Before he figures out how to get back, he uses Diablo as his new name and learns everything there is to know about this new world. Shockingly, his level is… MAXED OUT! He specializes in casting any kind of magic, which means he could easily obliterate a medium-sized city-state (which is like an independent country). He also has the ability to rebound any kinds of magic. He is able to defeat any monsters or even a a city-state’s Lord without harm to himself. His powers are so strong that he himself can be referred to as a large army!

 

Note: “How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord” is recommended for those who are sixteen or older.

 

HERE COMES NO. 1! Saitama, usually known as Saitama Sensei (means master or teacher) from “One-Punch Man” produced by MADHOUSE.

Saitama used to be a vagrant who had lost everything. Despairingly, he was forced to live in an area full of monsters (nobody wants to live there, so it’s very cheap…. aka, it’s free). He almost got killed by one of the monsters, and, on the edge of death, he recalled his childhood dream to become a hero. He hated being weak and useless. After fighting and defeating the monster, he became determined to train himself into a hero. By exercising in an “insane” (according to him it’s insane. He should not have become as powerful as he did by just exercising) way; he did 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10 miles of running everyday. He persists in this crazy exercise for 3 years. Finally, he becomes a… bald superhero (he became so powerful that he lost his hair). Ahem… actually, I mean: He became a superhero who has immeasurable power above all else…. even if he is bald.

Here is a little about his ability. Try not to be too shocked while reading this part! Saitama usually remains in a “normal” state, and when he becomes irritated or focused, he enters his “serious” state. Saitama can make an ENORMOUS hole in the middle of a mountain without even touching it! To be more specific, when he punches in front of a mountain, the wind from his punch is so powerful that it can create a hole of considerable size. If he actually touches it with his powerful fist, the mountain would be devastated to dust. His physical structure is so far beyond the limits of any normal human that there is literally nothing that could ever damage him.

Unfortunately, as a result of being invincible, he never has any challenges, and thus, he’s always terribly bored. He does not fear anything anymore, and doesn’t need to take any fight seriously. He lost his passion for fighting because he only needs one punch to win any fight.

Note: “One-Punch Man” is recommended for those who are sixteen or older.

 

I hope you enjoyed reading my character reviews!! You may think, “Hey, I’ve seen some of those guys before,” but you may not know all of them! And, if any of them catch you eye, you’ve got to check them out!

 

Editor: Bella Bier

Mock Trial: EXPLAINED!

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By Luke Langlois, The Mock Trial Guy

Whether it be through assembly announcements, student chatter, or blog posts, I’m sure you’ve heard of Mock Trial. As the new season approaches, I’d like to answer the following question: what exactly is Mock Trial? As a member of the Mock Trial team, I am obliged to write this post so more people appreciate us and the extracurricular in general.

At its heart, Mock Trial is a mock trial. Each year, a criminal case is written by the higher-ups of the program. The case is built to be flexible, so that it can be argued in favor of the defense or the prosecution with no intentional bias. The case is the center of all Mock Trial matches. A match is comprised of two teams (schools). One team is the defense; one team is the prosecution. In one Mock Trial season, teams compete in four different matches, two as the defense and two as the prosecution. If a team makes the playoffs, they are part of the “elite 8” and play some extra matches, depending on how well they do. Here’s a little known fact: last year’s Palm Valley Mock Trial team was the best in the Coachella Valley, and we placed #9 out of 27 in the Riverside County (one spot out of a playoff berth).

So, just like any competition, there are winners and there are losers. Here’s a bit of a twist. The winner of the verdict in court will not necessarily be the winner of the match. The judge of the trial determines the verdict in court, while the scoring attorneys are the ones who determine the winner of the match. The winner of the competition is the team with the higher number of total points. Each competing member of the team is scored according to how effective they are at their job. For example, part of a prosecution or defense attorney’s score would be based on one of their cross examinations. The score would be gauged by how well they can tear down the witness, and therefore the opposing argument, during the cross examination. Part of a witness’s score would be based on how well they can defend against the opposing attorney’s attempt to tear down their evidence. The winner is determined by the cumulative number of points earned by each member. Mock Trial teams are not told who wins and who loses in the courthouse. The total score and results of the match are released a day or two after the trial. If you ever hear a Mock Trial member screaming “THE SCORE’S OUT!!!!” this is why.

I briefly mentioned scoring attorneys last paragraph. What is a scoring attorney? A scorer is an actual attorney. In Mock Trial, the officials aren’t just any old referees (no offense referees).  The scoring attorneys ARE attorneys. The judge IS a judge. This is definitely one of the best parts of Mock Trial. It gives it some authenticity. When playing varsity basketball, unless you are LeBron James Jr, you aren’t talking with LeBron after the game. After a Mock Trial match, you are welcome to speak to the scoring attorneys. In fact, the scoring attorneys would approach me after a match more often than not.

Each person plays a role. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What kind of role am I talking about? Is it a theater role? Is it role-ing the dice? Surprise! It’s neither. A Mock Trial participant can compete as an attorney, witness, bailiff, or clerk. I’ll start with explaining the positions of the clerk and bailiff. A bailiff keeps the order in a court of law and is responsible for swearing in witnesses. The clerk is the timekeeper of the competition, making sure teams are each given an equal amount of time to present their case. The defense team provides the bailiff, and the prosecution provides the clerk. Attorneys can either be pretrial, defense, or prosecution. A pretrial attorney argues over the pretrial motion, which is usually an argument over an interpretation of the law. Last year, the argument was over whether or not a piece of GPS evidence was collected lawfully or if it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Defense and prosecution attorneys are in charge of conducting the trial and, of course, doing it in a way that favors their side. The tasks of defense and prosecution attorneys include the following: opening statements, closing statements, and examinations of witnesses. That leads me to the final role, WITNESSES!

Each team brings the witnesses that contribute evidence to their side of the argument. It would be an ill-advised move to call a witness from the other team to the witness stand, to say the least. A witness can find their information from their witness statement in the case packet, the lovely packet that holds all the information on the case for the season. The witness statement encompasses what a witness knows. A witness is responsible for knowing the information in their witness statement; they should know what they should and should not say in order to help their team. In a mock trial, a witness is not a person who simply says that they saw something happen. A witness can be an expert medical analyst who is brought in to explain the wounds found on a victim, the defendant,  or someone who simply believes they saw something happen. Nevertheless, witnesses make or break every Mock Trial match. Every role in Mock Trial is important, and each competitor has the ability to swing the match to their favor.

Finally, I’ll give a brief rundown of what actually goes on during a match. The teams are ushered in the courtroom and wait for the judge. Introductions are done, and then everyone moves to their proper seat position in the courtroom. Before the case presentations begin, the pretrial motion is argued. The judges give their rulings on the pretrial motion. Then, the prosecution gives its opening statement, and the defense may give its opening statement. After the opening statements, the prosecution presents its case. Cases are presented in the form of questioning your own team’s witnesses in the direct examinations. After a prosecuting attorney finishes the direct examination of a witness, the defense has the chance to conduct a cross examination on the same witness. Once the prosecution presents all its evidence, calls up all of its witnesses, or runs out of time, its case is rested and the defense gets to present its case. The process is the same. They call witnesses, conduct direct examinations, and the prosecution will cross examine the witnesses of the defense. After both arguments have been fully presented, the closing statements are given, which is pretty self-explanatory. After the closing statements, the judge calls the verdict, the court is adjourned, and the mock trial teams begin to look back at their performance.  

That just about covers the basics of a match. Now, you may find it easier to follow what’s going on with our team and what any of the jargon means. If there are any questions that are floating around in your noggin, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll probably answer.

 

Editor: Bella Bier

Review of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands

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By James Zheng, Game and Anime Review Expert

 

Nowadays, to fulfill a variety of demands from gamers, the realm of games has been developing rapidly in many different aspects. There are many factors that determine the quality of a game and its reputation. One of the most important factors is having an open-world, which refers to a massively sized virtual world that players can openly explore and do whatever they want. An example of this is Minecraft. Minecraft was definitely an incredible product and showed the world that many people are interested in an open-world game. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands is one of the best examples of a successful open-world game.

 

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, which is usually known as Wildlands, was produced by Ubisoft Paris (one of the subsidiary branches of Ubisoft) and published by Ubisoft. Ubisoft is an international game company which has already released plenty of outstanding games such as the series of Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, and Watch Dogs. The title says Tom Clancy because Wildlands is adapted from the novel written by Clancy. A majority of the games produced by Ubisoft are adapted from Clancy’s novels.

 

Basically, Wildlands is a tactical third-person game. Unlike first-person games, you have a third-person perspective in Wildlands. The game also has high quality graphics. Sometimes you feel like the images in the game are reality. Wildlands is a game that supports single-player and multiplayer. You could play against other players, or you could cooperate with other players to fight computer-controlled enemies. It depends on your preference. You could also choose single-player and explore the land with other 3 NPCs (non-player-characters, characters not controlled by players). I  strongly suggest that you play with your friends! It is way more fun than playing alone.

 

Wildlands is set in Bolivia, South America, which is absolutely not like the Bolivia in real life. The “Bolivia”  has been given a special background in the game. Here, players are carrying out several missions with their team, Ghost. You are here to save Bolivia from total control by drug cartels. The player must find out who is behind all these cartels and stop them. In the battlefield,  the player has to make every decision in a split second. Players can go straight into drug-cartel nest and have a war with them. Or, you could be more strategic by using your drone to detect the position of enemies, and then be a sniper to eliminate enemies from far distance. The best part about the game is that players can come up with so many different options to attack; it’s a tactical game. And again, whether to be aggressive or strategic depends upon the player.

 

There are not many examples of game producers adding an open-world to a shooting game. Although some of them tried to make it work, they have failed in the overall quality and playability. Wildlands is an exception for that. I have played Wildlands with my friends for at least 50 hours.

 

You can play Wildlands on XBOX, PS4, and PC. If any of these details about Wildlands attract you, you should give it a shot! The classic version is $49.99. If you want to enjoy extra content, you should look into buying the advanced version.

 

Note: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands is recommended for people who are seventeen or older.        

 

Editor: Luke Langlois

The Diversity of Food in China: Hong Kong Early Tea

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By Jeremy Cheng, Food and Fashion Critic

 

If you like to eat delicious food, you may like to follow some creators who introduce foods of various flavors from different areas.

 

Hong Kong Early Tea usually starts at 5-6 a.m and goes to 11 a.m every morning which is a traditional custom. Some restaurants will serve it during lunch. Hong Kong Early Tea is mainly made up of Chinese dim sum and tea. In Guangdong Province and Hong Kong, people have the habit of having Early Tea; therefore, Hong Kong Early Tea was born, which is the same as the Guangdong Early Tea.

 

The top ranking Dim Sum in Hong Kong style Early Tea

 

Due to the exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong, Hong Kong-style Early Tea has begun to develop in the mainland. After the return of Hong Kong to mainland China, Hong Kong-style Early Tea sprung up like mushrooms in the mainland.

 

Most of the restaurants use a big round table. Customers are able to sit together even though they don’t know each other at all. This is called the “Combine table” 搭台(Da Tai). Then, there will be a waiter/waitress who will ask you what tea you would like to drink. The common teas are TieGuanYin (one of the oolong teas), Pu‘er, scented tea, Chrysanthemum tea, etc.

Chao Mein

 

The server needs to pour half a cup of tea for the customers before the customers drink it. Customers can use this water to wash their bowl, spoon, and chopsticks. Nowadays, because of the cleaning measures being promoted, fewer people wash their dishes with tea before eating. Early tea is supposed to come out of a “dim sum” cart with a white towel on the server’s shoulder and the server shouts out the different dim sum types as they move. Every customer has a dim sum card which is divided into “small, medium, large, super large, and ultra large.” The server would put a sticker on the card depending on what you are ordering.

 

Steam Pork Ribs

 

Scallop Juice Small Steamed Bun

 

King Crab Shumai is the most popular dim sum among Hong Kong citizens. The outside of the Shumai is made of  flour, and the inside of the Shumai has a huge amount of juicy pork.

King Crab Shumai

 

Editor: Luke Langlois

Short Halloween Horror Story Competition Winners

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By Harlow Berny

BOO! Tonight is the 13th annual Scarefest, and as promised, the winners of the Halloween Horror competition will now be released!* The 1st place winner of the 12 oz Hershey’s Kiss is…

The Masked Rabbit!

Congratulations! The 2nd place winner is Marianne Capetz, 3rd place is Erik Bearman, and the two honorable mentions are Jane White/Mr. Griffin and Amelia Lockwell! Thank you to everyone who chose to participate in this competition. It was tons of fun to read them all, and I hope to read even more of these in the future! You all have amazing potential to hone your skills and become expert writers, and I hope that one day you may join the Journalism class.

To honor our first place winner, we will now reveal their amazing story for all to behold!

 

The Darkness

By The Masked Rabbit

It was the family’s first night in their new home. Boxes still filled the house, some empty and some not. The child had a room all to himself. It was big and fit to be a child’s playroom. The pine trees outside shielded the moonlight from entering through the window. Toys were scattered about, clothes were still crammed in the boxes, and it was long past his bedtime. The child crawled into his bed. While getting under the covers, his mother walked in. “Can you check the closet for monsters?” asked the child. The mother opened the closet door and saw nothing. “What about under the bed?” She went down and searched underneath the bed. Nothing again. She tucked him in, “Have sweet dreams.” She left and closed the door, cutting off the last bit of light that could enter the room. The child was now satisfied, for his mother was right, there was no monster in the closet or under the bed. Instead, it was above him. It clung to the ceiling with its long, sharp fingers and its pitch black eyes glaring down at the child’s tired, limp body. The darkness of the room made it invisible. The crooked teeth were just eager to be let loose. It waits there, motionless, for the child to fall asleep…

Editor: Leo Milmet

*The other stories will be posted throughout next week.

I’m a Polar Bear in a Snowstorm

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By Leo Milmet

 

For Ms. McGrew

 

I’m a polar bear in a snowstorm.

I blend in well with all the snow.

Or with a whiteboard.

Or whatever.

My red eyes and green nose, however,

drawn by an obnoxious sixth-grader

on Mrs. McGrew’s whiteboard, don’t really blend in as well.

What, am I a damn Christmas tree?

I hate my red eyes.

I look like a vampire in those god-awful

Twilight movies, or books, or whatever they are.

Y’know what I mean, right?

I want blue eyes.

My best friend Emily — the

Polar bear in a snowstorm to my left — has blue eyes. And she has a gold nose,

regally created for the Hanukkah season.

She’s so much prettier than I am.

She was just drawn yesterday.

I guess our job is to get people in the holiday spirit no matter what holiday we celebrate,

but it’s kinda hard to be in a celebratory mood when you look like a sad, tiny, disjointed wreath.

Whatever though. It’s fine — I,

born of two markers and a Satanic sixth-grader,

am a polar bear in a snowstorm, and a polar bear in a snowstorm I will stay.

I still want Emily’s eyes, though.

I mean, seriously, how hard is it to erase my eyes and redraw them blue? That hard? Really?

Really? Okay, fine. Whatever. You win.

 

Editor: Luke Langlois

Review of the Anime Steins;Gate

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By James Zheng, Anime Reviewer

Today I have a new type of anime for you guys. Steins;Gate is a slow rhythm anime, an anime with a story that moves step by step. But, don’t be disappointed immediately, as this anime achieves an outstanding rating–about 9 out of 10 or even higher on the majority of websites, and it definitely deserves that reputation. Regardless of the rating, it has a really logical storyline even if some of the elements of Steins;Gate are fantastical.

Steins;Gate is an anime that was adapted from a visual novel game of the same name that was developed by 5pb and Nitroplus (a visual novel game is a type of computer game that has a story that is told to you in the form of a graphic novel, but it is online, and you can make decisions within the novel, which is more like a video game; therefore, it is a visual novel game) . The game had overwhelmingly positive reviews. Then, the anime adaptation of the visual novel game was produced by Mika Nomura and Yoshinao Doi while White Fox, an animation company, was working on the anime’s various episodes. Finally, Steins;Gate was released in 2011; it was distributed by Frontier Works.  

In the crazy world of anime, there is so much content released that is absolutely terrible. In fact, we are totally inundated with anime that is god-awful. Unfortunately, there’s so much anime out there, bad and good, that eventually, even really incredible animes can become “old” and lose their influence on the anime community after three to four years. But that is not always the case, and I’m happy to say that Steins;Gate is an exception to the rule. So, how can an anime that was published a full 7 years ago still influence plenty of animes nowadays? If I could only explain one reason as to why this is an exception to the rule, I would say that it is because most science fiction anime is absolutely ridiculous, and this one is absolutely plausible. Honestly, there is much more ridiculous and implausible science fiction anime than there is good anime. Usually, when you are watching a science-fiction anime, most of its content is ridiculous and only very little of its content seems to be plausible. Again, that is not the case with Steins;Gate. Anime is not reality; however, it could fill with realistic matters, and when you are trying to add something realistic in anime in science-fiction, it becomes so boring. Well, Steins;Gate avoids that completely so that the story is fused with science-fiction and reality, and it also keeps balance in both so as not to ruin this anime.

As I mentioned earlier, Steins;Gate has a logical storyline. And before I get into that, there is one thing important I need to tell you: Steins;Gate has twenty-five episodes in total, but the real story begins at the thirteenth episode. The previous twelve episodes set the stage for the main plot ahead, but that plot only really begins to show its true colors in episode thirteen. You might think it is meaningless to watch twelve episodes and wait for the “real show” to start, but I don’t suggest that you skip those 12 episodes since all of the plot threads introduced in the first twelve episodes are later paid off in the last thirteen episodes, making for a much richer experience. So, fair warning: you might be totally confused at the beginning, but, wait; everything will make sense after the thirteenth episode.

The story is set in Akihabara, Tokyo. In it, Okabe Rintarou, a college student who believes so strongly in himself as to believe he is the best scientist in the world, dreams of building a time machine. He sets up a lab, calling it the “Future Gadget Laboratory,” to conduct research that is necessary in order to achieve his seemingly impossible goal of time travel. One day, by pure accident, he takes a huge leap forward towards his goal, and eventually even builds the time machine. When built, the time machine causes many miserable tragedies that would have otherwise been avoided.

What makes Steins;Gate brilliant is how the plot logically turns around and how the main story at the end links with the first twelve episodes in an unexpected way. For anyone interested in anime, it will be very astonishing to watch!

 

Note: Steins;Gate is recommended for those who are fifteen or older.

 

Editor: Leo Milmet

Teachers and Students

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By Charles Schnell, Self-Proclaimed King of Mediocrity, Controversy, and Unavailability

 

Is it better to be the teacher or the student? Neither, if you still do not have a significant other.

When all is said and done, there is not much of a difference between teachers and students. We are all human, and that means on our best days, we are all imperfect. (Albeit, some more than others.)

Teachers and students are more similar than the teachers would like to admit. For one thing, we all fall in love. Teachers fall in love with Lincoln, the Ti-84, the government, and the College Board. And students, well, we fall in love with each other–for better or worse.

Additionally, we all have favorite foods. I am sure all my teachers are craving an In-N-Out burger as much as I am. The difference here is students have the metabolism to handle the burger, the shakes, and the fries that find themselves tossed around in the bag.

Sure, metabolism is great, but being a student certainly is not free of its own disadvantages; teachers have a “leg-up” on us in many things. They cannot be grounded by their parents, only the law; they get to correct the homework instead of doing it; they can drink. As a lover of freedoms like these, I would rather be a teacher than a student. However, if you were to ask teachers, I’m sure they’d rather be students again.

To sum it up, teachers and students have one key similarity trumping all other similarities: our humanity. We are all human, so maybe we can reach an understanding and compromise. Teachers, if you stop giving us homework, we will stop giving you homework to grade. Imagine how many outings to Applebee’s we could make.

 

Editor: Luke Langlois

Is Dance a Sport?

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By Holden Hartle, Blog Arguer and Definition Enthusiast

Is dance a sport? Is sport an art? This is something that my girlfriend and I argue about frequently. She, being a dancer, argues that dance is a sport, due to the physical exertion required in dance. I argue that sports require a competitive aspect, meaning that dance is not a sport. With all of this in mind, I do, however, believe that a dance competition is a sport.

I did the very cheesy thing to do in an argument like this, and I brought in the ol’ Merriam Webster (dictionary). He defines a sport as, “a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other.” Now, take a sport like baseball and apply these guidelines to it. Baseball is a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities, like running through the bases, according to a set of rules. Something like a ballet show has plenty of physical activities, but it isn’t a contest, and thus people aren’t directly competing against each other.

But, let’s look at the other aforementioned question: is sport an art? Kyrie Irving, a basketball player for the Boston Celtics, once said, “Basketball isn’t a game. It’s an art form.” He explains that things like putting responsibility in your teammates and turning that into plays on the court is its own “masterpiece.” So, how do we define art? Well, if we refer back to good ol’ Merriam Webster, he says that art is, “an occupation requiring knowledge or skill,” such as the art of making cabinets. I think everyone can agree on the fact that sports require both knowledge and skill.

So, sports are an art, but classical dance isn’t a sport. I want to make something very clear: I am not here to say that dancers aren’t talented. Being a dancer takes much of the same, if not more, athleticism than most sports, and, in my opinion, a dancer has much more skill than a darts player or a pool player, both of which are technically sports.  

Beyond dance and sports, the idea of fudging around with definitions to make them mean different things is a fun thing to do. For example, a pizza is defined as, “a flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese.” Now, wait a minute, does that mean that if your sauce isn’t tomato based, like a white pizza, then it is no longer a pizza? And, what if your bread layer isn’t thin, is it still a pizza? Most people would agree that a pizza with a white sauce is still a pizza, but Merriam Webster has something to say about that.

Editor: Luke Langlois