Back to Artwork Prism Back to Sections Erika Carranza - Prism By Erika Carranza November 24, 2020 Volume 1 Issue 2

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Cool Creatures: Episode 2, The Axolotl By Matteo Somma Volume 2 Issue 2 November 19, 2021 Image provided by BBC At first glance, the axolotl ( ak ·suh·laa·tl) may look like a scene from a nightmare, but it actually is a mystical and mysterious creature about which scientists don’t know much. Indigenous to only Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in Mexico, the axolotl inhabited the regions for the last 10,000 years. However, they are now critically endangered. Being a type of salamander, the axolotl is an amphibian, spending most of its time in the water. Recently, axolotls have been forced into the pet trade, as more are bred in captivity due to more people wanting this mysterious creature as a pet. Unfortunately, this does mean multiple accounts of severe animal neglect occur both in pet stores and at people's homes. What many don’t realize before buying these animals is how large they grow and how complex their diet is. Similar to other amphibians, axolotls are carnivores. They require a large variety of foods such as mollusks, different kinds of worms, insect larvae, crustaceans, and even small fish. However, many of these dietary items can be difficult to find. Axolotls are not just “fish,” they are complex creatures that need adequate care to thrive, let alone survive. In the wild, as well as in captivity, axolotls are known to be tough and healthy. They can survive in waters as cold as 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Considering they are from the warm climate of Mexico, that’s pretty impressive! Axolotls are often described as forts stuck in their tadpole phase, due in large part to them having both long tails and legs. Furthermore, axolotls are much larger than normal-sized amphibians, growing up to 18 inches long. Overall, the axolotl is a super cool, mysterious, and mystical creature. Unfortunately, due to large amounts of pollution, water diversion, and an expanding human population, their habitats are slowly disappearing. However, there is hope for the future, with many captive breeding projects for the species in the works. Thanks for tuning in for Cool Creatures Episode 2! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Entertainment & Media Back to Sections A Meaningful Musical Experience By Manal Layachi and Marco Alavrez Volume 3 Issue 2 December 23, 2022 Image provided by Rebecca Hayden The Breakfast Club is North’s own select string ensemble, composed of sophomores, juniors and seniors. Throughout the year, we play at the Winter and Spring concerts, the VSCHSD offices, the district’s tenure dinner, and more. Lead by Mrs. Rebecca Hayden, we get together twice a week at 7am to continue to improve as a group. We work hard and strive toward our goal of playing well as a group. At the end of the day, we play for fun and for others to enjoy! On Friday, December 9th, the Breakfast Club, North’s string ensemble, travelled to PS266Q in Queens to perform holiday songs for students with disabilities. Teachers and aids told us how excited they were to see us perform. They said students would always ask them “When is the Breakfast Club coming to perform for us again?!” These kids look forward to our program as it is the only ‘musical program’ they have a change to enjoy through the school year. After the we got settled at the school, they performed songs on stage. To conclude the concert, Jingle Bells was played while walking around the auditorium. Many teachers and students wore festive, holiday clothes. The students were overfilled with joy, sang along, and shook little maraca eggs to the music. I remember seeing this boy give us a heart and it filled me with pride and joy. After the concert, we taught the students how to play our instruments. It was fun and a wonderful way to interact with and teach the students about our instruments, especially exciting for the ones who have never gotten to try. For our social event, the students wrote down how music makes them feel. This was a heartwarming and interesting experience that was devoted to entertaining and giving the students an opportunity to embrace musical talents they never thought they had. After this event, I felt proud of the Breakfast Club for helping the kids and nicely interacting with them. It was an event that I will never forget and cannot wait to do next year! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Feature Back to Sections The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg By Craig Papajohn-Shaw Volume 1 Issue 6 March 18, 2021 Image provided by The New Yorker Notorious Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG): unstoppable, strategic, dissenting, iconic. The death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came to a shock to many in late September after losing her battle with pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg, beloved by many, was notable for fighting for gender equality and for her feminist qualities prior and during her tenure on the Supreme Court. Prior to her term on the court, she overcame adversities to her gender. When she attended Harvard Law, she was one of nine women in classes consisting of 500 students. However, Ginsburg would not graduate from Harvard Law. Her husband, Martin, graduated from Harvard a year sooner and was offered a job at a law firm in New York City. With Ginsburg still having a year yet to receive her degree, she requested her credits be transferred to Columbia University, which would allow her to graduate with a Harvard Degree. The request was not granted, but she would still graduate top of her class from Colombia. Her past experiences defined her and contributed to the role she would play as both a lawyer and a judge. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter (D-GA) appointed Ginsburg to the United State Appeals for the District of Columbia. Serving for 13 years, President Bill Clinton (D-AR) would then appoint her to the Supreme Court as only the second female Justice (after Sandra Day O’Connor). President Joe Biden (D-DE) chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time of Justice Ginsburg’s nomination, rallying his colleagues to support her nomination to the Supreme Court. When she joined the court, she was known as the “consensus builder,” having a moderate ideology. However, as time progressed and the political landscape of the country changed, she became known as one of the most, if not the most, liberal Justices on the court, even though her views on the law did not change. Ginsburg did not let her liberal ideologies stand in the way of her relationship with conservative Justices such as Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Scalia. In Ginsburg’s and Scalia’s joint appearance in 2015, Scalia jokingly stated, “Call us the odd couple. She likes opera, and she is a very nice person. What is not to like? Except her views on the law.” The ideological opposites attracted and contributed to the civil dynamic on the most prestigious court in the country. Ginsburg’s career epitomizes the idea of equality for all citizens and her views on the law played a crucial role in several landmark decisions. First displayed in her majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, Ginsburg stated the decision that the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional in 1996. Furthering on her views of equal treatment and opportunity for all, the 2015 Supreme Court Case Obergefell v. Hodges decided the fate of legalizing gay marriage on a federal level; she joined the majority opinion of the court. In the controversial 5-4 decision, the opinion of the court claimed that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right to marry as one of the foundational liberties it protects. In memory of Ginsburg, a six-foot bronze statue was unveiled on March 15th outside 445 Albee Square in Downtown Brooklyn's City Point in New York City. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams (D-NY) tweeted on that day: “Ruth Bader Ginsburg dedicated her life to breaking down barriers and making our country a more equitable place. Her powerful example has inspired New Yorkers of all generations, and this new statue will ensure her legacy lives on for generations.” Ginsburg challenged laws that discriminated on the basis of sex, and while the door to her composing decisions on the court has closed, the precedents Ginsburg set have changed the course of history, and those doors will forever remain open. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Feature Back to Sections The Obesity of Squirrels By Manal Layachi Volume 1 Issue 5 February 12, 2021 Original photos by Manal Layachi You might think that all squirrels eat is natural like acorns and berries. Well, think again. One day, I was at the park celebrating my uncle’s birthday. I was playing soccer with my cousins, and a squirrel tried to eat some of the dessert when we weren’t looking. This thing was much bigger than the regular size of a squirrel. I got a bit interested in how squirrels are now interested in what humans eat. Another time, I saw a squirrel eating fries and pizza. The question is: why are squirrels suddenly having an interest in human’s junk food? My prediction is squirrels are craving junk food because they want to get ready hibernation in the winter. In the future, I think squirrels are going to be very big if they keep eating human junk foods. Scientists will study the way the squirrels think during this pandemic and why they are craving these foods. This would be a very interesting thing to study and do research on because squirrels are getting bigger by the year. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Feature Back to Sections I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka, Liz Welch, and Martin Ganda By Manal Layachi Volume 2 Issue 2 November 19, 2021 Image provided by I Will Always Write Back I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka, Liz Welch, and Martin Ganda is an inspiring true story about a girl from the United States who writes to a boy in Zimbabwe, in Africa. Caitlin and Martin are very different. Martin comes from a poor family. He can barely afford basic necessities, let alone school. On the other hand, Caitlin comes from a wealthy family. She can afford basic necessities and go to school. For example, she has plenty of food, clothes, shoes, and clean water. In the book, Caitlin is supporting Martin by sending him money for school and necessities. At first, she sent money to Martin by mail, but that wasn’t a good idea because the money kept getting stolen. Caitlin and her mom made Martin a bank account so that it would be easier to send money to him. There are many themes that are shown in the story. First, we should not judge a book by its cover. We don’t know what people are going through or what their life is like, so we should not judge them very quickly. Second, a little bit of kindness and generosity can go a long way in changing someone’s life forever. Caitlin helped Martin turn his life around and now he is successful. Third, we should not take what we have for granted. When Caitlin found out that Martin was poor, she realized that she was lucky that she had all these things. It is important to be grateful for what we have. Finally, friendship is forever. Caitlin and Martin’s friendship stayed strong for their whole lives. That is a magnificent example of a long-lasting relationship. Caitlin felt like Martin was her “brother”. Martin felt like Caitlin was his “sister”. This book would be interesting and memorable for people who have liked books like Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper. I would recommend this book to people who like non-fiction and reading about true stories. The authors did an amazing job describing what their characters’ lives were like and how writing to each other changed both of their lives forever. I like how they included real pictures because it added a nice touch to the story. As I was reading, I felt happy, upset, concerned, cheerful, nervous, amazed, inspired, hopeful, and motivated. All in all, I loved most everything about this book, and it changed my perspective of life and relationships. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Sports Back to Sections Winners and Losers – An Overview of Double Elimination Brackets By Garrick Neuner Volume 1 Issue 4 January 20, 2021 Image provided by Wikipedia The single elimination bracket pairs opponents by predetermined seed in a cutthroat competition, where one loss brings the end of a competitor or team’s run. The NCAA March Madness tournament demonstrates the volatility of the system year after year, often losing some of its most highly ranked teams early on due to a single loss. Despite its flaws, the system is simple and understandable, helping cement March Madness as a household name to sports fans across the nation. Double elimination, though, requires a thorough explanation to detail its nuances. As the name suggests, a double elimination bracket ejects competitors after two losses, not one. At the onset of a traditional double elimination tournament, all competitors are seeded into the “winners' bracket,” much like in March Madness. The winners of each match move on to face the winner of a different match, repeating the process until the contest’s finals. Following a competitor’s first loss though, they are sent to the purgatory unique to double elimination: the “losers' bracket.” In this bracket, competitors play matches in a field that grows with the passing of each round as more players fall out of the winners’ bracket. Thus, to keep the size of the losers’ bracket stable, more matches are played. Losing your first match early is not a death sentence, but a grueling challenge. Competitors who succeed in the slog of losers' bracket are said to have a great “loser’s run,” commending their extra effort for staying in the tourney. The pattern of a shrinking winners’ and slowly dwindling losers continues until the apex of the tournament: the finals matches. While March Madness has a rapid one-game determination of a winner, a double elimination bracket has three matches to declare a champion. The first of these is “winner’s finals,” wherein the remaining two perfect players battle for a spot in the grand finals. The winner of that match enters grand finals undefeated on the “winners' side,” while the loser is sent to “loser’s finals.” This match pairs the latest loser with the last competitor battling through the loser's bracket. The loser of this game is eliminated at 3rd place, while the victor enters grand finals on the “loser’s side”. Now for the final twist. Remember how a competitor must be eliminated twice to exit the tournament? This law still holds true in the grand finals. For the combatant on the loser's side, this means beating the undefeated player in the tournament twice ! That player can “reset the bracket” by defeating the winner’s side champion, thus setting both players to one loss in the tournament. At this point the second grand finals match determines the first-place finisher. If the winner remains undefeated through match one of the grand finals, though, they win the tournament with a perfect record. Through all this explanation, you may ask, why bother? Why use such a complicated system when single elimination is so much easier to understand? You see, the kinds of games that hold double elimination tournaments rely on at least one of two key factors of their brackets: more matches and more drama. One major group of double elimination brackets is children’s sports leagues such as the Little League. For players so young, the experience of playing more matches and continuing on after a loss provides valuable experience, strengthening skills and having more fun on the field. The other major group, my personal favorite, are fighting game competitions. In these convention-style events, hundreds of competitors meet and pay considerable cash to battle for glory. For the brand new to average players, double elimination gives more tournament experience for their dollar, once again providing invaluable teachings. For spectators, though, the double elimination bracket provides drama . Watching your favorite player lose a heartbreaking set early on, only to climb their way to grand finals is a sensation unparalleled by single elimination. The mythos of the winner’s bracket puts palpable pressure onto the best of the best, urging them to win or be sent to a much more difficult loser’s run. The grand finals most importantly supports a built-in underdog story, making the conclusion of every tournament a heart-racing brawl. In these settings, the confusion of the bracket is outweighed by aspects of the sports themselves, breathing a new life into these already fascinating games. Click to view the table summary here Winners’ Bracket - for undefeated players, similar to a single elimination bracket Losers’ Bracket - for players who have lost a game in winners and are on the brink of exiting the tournament. Winners’ Finals - the last match in the winner’s bracket, with the winner exiting on “winner’s side.” Loser’s Finals - the match following winner’s finals, pitting the loser of that match against the champion of the loser’s bracket. The winner is sent to grands on the “loser’s side” Grand Finals - the last match(es) of a double elimination bracket Bracket Reset - when the loser’s side competitor defeats the winner’s side entrant in match one of grand finals, triggering a second and final match where both competitors each have one loss. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Polaris, Fiction Back to Sections Petals By Navrosedip Kundlas Volume 3 Issue 4 May 18, 2023 Image provided by Elaine Ching Glistening raindrops fall, On purple petals they rest, Nature's beauty shines BACK TO TOP

Back to Artwork Pop Art Back to Sections Doodlee Louis - Pop Art By Doodlee Louis January 14, 2022 Acrylic Volume 2 Issue 3

Back to Artwork Pop Art Back to Sections Angelina Gonzalez - Pop Art By Angelina Gonzalez January 14, 2022 Acrylic Volume 2 Issue 3