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Back to Articles Art & Culture Back to Sections A Year Around the World in Four Fairs By Kashmiraa Pandit Volume 1 Issue 8 June 8, 2021 Original photos by Kashmiraa Pandit A bracelet for clean water, an origami Ox, a precious set of bangles, and a rose syrup. What could these four different objects have in common? Though initially a mere amalgamation of independent items, each present immense value in the context of a cultural celebration. As we travel through this past year to discover their relationship, please allow me to share the significance of each. The Beaded Bracelet: November, Nairobi, Kenya Earlier this year, The Culture Society held our first virtual school-wide event featuring our first national guest speaker, Ms. Christina, of the Georgia-based organization Just One Africa . A nonprofit which works directly with local Kenyan leaders, Just One Africa helps provide water filters to the local communities. Each filter distribution brings the people together, as they learn about its use, the process of water filtration and the importance in regard to greater health. In effect, many children, often young girls, who would spend hours retrieving water from contaminated water sources, could now study in schools built by partner organizations of Just One Africa . This past November, the Culture Society had the chance to partner with Just One Africa ’s member, Ms. Christina, to learn about how we could help. Through hosting a Beads-for-Water fundraiser, in which participants crafted bracelets made from recycled paper beads - each hand made by the Maasai women - the funds raised contributed to the new water filters. More importantly, we each learned the simplicity of kindness and making a difference to foster unity in diversity across myriad communities. On a personal note, having the chance to bring JOA to North and work with them to help children, both within North and abroad, realize their potential has proven among one of the many impactful, heartwarming, and fulfilling experiences offered by The Culture Society since its inception. [Please feel free to see JOA’s latest updates from Georgia and Kenya at: @justoneafrica on Instagram, and Facebook.] The Origami Ox: January, Shanghai, China As icy January winds blew outside our windows, the students of The Culture Society kindled the flame of curiosity as our presenters shared the symbolic meanings of Chinese New Year traditions, from the significance of the ancient Chinese zodiac to red envelopes (for luck and money), the historic lion dance, and bursts of firecrackers. As our presenters explained, the lion dance originated in the Tang Dynasty and continues to represent prosperity for the New Year. Following the guidance of our presenters, we each had the chance to create traditional Chinese lanterns and the origami Ox, symbolic of the Chinese zodiac this year. From our presenters, it was also interesting to learn the origins of the common phrases used today. A Blossom and a Bangle: March, Punjab, India With the start of spring blossoms, one student shared a presentation about Indian weddings, explaining the series of vibrant traditional events, including the jovial Sangeet ceremony celebrating the union of the two families, a memorable Mehndi or Shringaar night filled with henna for the bride, and the importance of prayer to begin the week of wedding ceremonies. Among these events, the bangles given to the bride, known as “Chooda”, serve as a memento from her parents, siblings, cousins, and family. Additionally, the color of the bangles varies throughout each state of India to represent different qualities, such as red in Punjab to symbolize vigor or green in Maharashtra for creativity. As our presenter described and displayed through personal photos and videos, the family, friends, relatives, and guests all donned in colorful attire, enjoy the week of wedding ceremonies as they celebrate the familial union. A Rose Syrup: May, Jakarta, Indonesia As the year came to a close, we had the chance to attend a presentation about Eid and Ramadan, learning of its origins, practices, and vast cuisine. The presenters explained the various routines observed during the period, from morning and evening processes to begin and break each daily fast. Among the traditional dishes, a drink made primarily from rose syrup is often used to break the fast with others during each evening, as the syrup is known for its qualities in reducing dehydration and fatigue to increase energy. Finally, our group learned of the various pilgrimages made in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Over this past year, the Culture Society grew to host a plethora of events, with each of the four focusing on a new culture, complete with presentations by speakers focused on ethnic traditions, cuisines, and handmade creations. From the Kenyan Water Crisis, to the Chinese New Year, Sikh weddings, and Eid and Ramadan practices, we had the chance to learn and experience the rich vibrancy of each nationality’s unique celebration. As each presentation progressed, interwoven similarities between nationalities became clearer. Bearing much resemblance to the practice of bestowing red envelopes during the Chinese New Year and the blessings of gift ceremonies in Indian weddings, children are given packets and presents on Eid in a manner similar to that of Christmas, for each ethnicity presented their own form of gift-giving, in effect further fostering the intertwined similarities in nature amongst various cultures. Most of all, we learned that although stemming from various regions spanned across the world, through each of the four items from each of the four fairs, a common theme of love for family, friends, and life weaved through each, bringing people together in the same way we had come together for the joy of exploring a new culture. In the end, through each of the four fairs, we enjoyed and explored the rich traditions, ancient origins, and vivid diversity of every community. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Entertainment & Media Back to Sections VSN Drama’s Production of The Addams Family By Lia Frederique Volume 3 Issue 3 February 24, 2023 Image provided by Vanity Fair With the second semester underway, Valley Stream North’s Drama Club has begun preparing their production of The Addams Family musical. The release of Netflix’s Wednesday brought attention to the Drama Club and influenced the decision of the VSN Spring musical. The new directors, Kyra Lamberti and Anya Hixon, are looking forward to their first musical in a unique fashion. Specifically, the directors are implementing dynamic choreography, engaging dialogue, and nuanced crowd-interaction to create an ambient environment for the seniors’ last show. Additionally, new props will be employ, underscoring a captivating production. While casting, the directors carefully chose the correct actors for roles which best suited their vocal range and acting ability. In terms of leads, Alain Deen and Marco Alvarez are dually cast as Gomez. Gianna Perlaza will play Morticia, with supporting roles such as Quinn O’Connor as Wednesday, Augustine Magapan as Lucas Beineke, and Rachel Ezeadichie and Isabella Mascetti dually cast as Uncle Fester. The Addams Family is the first musical since Once On This Island held here at North. In contrast to the last musical , The Addams Family presents a more macabre, ghastly vibe. Buy tickets for the show being performed here at North on March 31st and April 1st. The tickets are available on MySchoolBucks from opening night to the final performance. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Editorial Back to Sections Proud By Eva Grace Martinez Volume 1 Issue 8 June 8, 2021 No Image available at this time It’s October 3rd, 2015; you are sitting in your room taking an “Am I Gay?” quiz from Buzzfeed . You are crying. Your lips tremble, and your voice has been lost to sobs. It’s something close to three in the morning. You are not crying because of the results; you are crying because there are none. Like some magic 8-ball from Lucifer himself, the test has told you that it is up to you to determine your identity. You are someone who lives in a world of memorizing answers and rote learning. Your parents taught you how to think critically about art, music, religion, and politics, and all the other big words adults like to use. Still, they never taught you how to think critically about this part of you. You suspect they never had to. You’re too scared to Google anything. You don’t want your mom to see your search history. So you let the questions fester. They burn into your soul with a fervor you never knew was possible. You would like to say that the burning hurts you. That the pain shapes memories and decisions, or it informs some greater understanding of the universe around you. It doesn’t. Instead, it sinks down into the shade of who you are becoming. If your eyes linger too long on the pretty woman on the magazine cover, who would blame you? You try to convince yourself that it’s just because you don’t know her name. This will not be the last time you fail to convince yourself. You know that there are words for people like you. You watch the Obgerfell V. Hodges’s decision live on TV. Your mother smiles and says, “good for them,” and that is that. You do not tell her that you feel like crying; she does not ask why you are smiling so strangely. You wonder what it must feel like to dance in the sea of colors you see on the streets of DC. Your dad smiles and then changes the channel; he wants to catch up on the Mets game. The images of rainbows large enough to swallow the capitol building are tattooed onto your synapses. Later, you see the first gay couple to be married in New York on “Say Yes to the Dress”. You sit quietly, waiting for a comment from your grandma. The comment never comes. Once, you will creep up to your parent’s bedroom door. It is 6:30 on a Saturday evening, and you will open your mouth to speak. The air around you will still for a moment; this is the first time in your life silence slips its greedy hands over your lips. It will not be the last. It will take you two years to find a space where thoughts like yours seem normal. You know better than to discuss it with your friends at the time, so you turn to the internet. Suddenly there is an explosion of life. There are words to refer to every type of person you could ever meet, and someone is always making more. The words scare you. There are too many, and they all hold so much weight. You are lost in a sea of language, of prefixes and suffixes that make your head spin. The riptide pulls you out to sea, and you are assaulted by a barrage of letters, all jumbled to become one infinite black ocean. You know nothing of who you are and where you will go. Here, you cannot breathe water or air. Sink or swim, you will not survive. Until you do. You survive because the water is only as lonely as you make it out to be. If you sink, you will find mermaids with tails that glitter like oil slicks. If you swim, you see ships with stories of every place you could ever know. Survival is ingrained in you, so you continue to survive. When you are done visiting mermaids, and the sailors have run out of stories. They may ask you a question or two. They simply wonder how it is precisely that you define you. You still don’t have an answer to that question. You expect the worst; you have visions of teeth and talons. You expect to be sent off the plank. Instead, you are granted kindness. They don’t know who they are either. They tell you that this ocean is for all of us who don’t know. You are shocked that the “us” includes you; it doesn’t feel wrong, so you stay. You learn to tie knots, and you learn to navigate using the stars. You know how to grow your own tail now, and the murky waters, once terrifying, now feel like home. With joy, you tell a sailor this. You see the sadness in his eyes when he tells you, “that means it’s time to leave.” You don’t want to leave. You have just found warmth in a murky black ocean. You had just learned to sail this ship, and now you are forced to chart a new course. You wave goodbye to the friends you made. You don’t know if you’ll ever see them again. One of them shouts your name, but just as you turn to face them, a wave crashes in your vision. There is no time to be sentimental now; you must keep yourself afloat. You take your map and plan your route. It is only when your boat touches land that you realize where you are. You are home. You are home with new scars and new memories, but this is still home. You ask your dad if the Mets won last night and your mom if she wants to go book shopping. For a second, everything is normal. You did not just walk off a boat from a magical sea. Your hair has not grown, and you have not changed. As the seconds pass, though, any sense of normalcy shatters. Your mother squints and asks about the strange flag on your ship. Your dad tells you not to move. Your parents have always been good with words, and the confession they drag from you is sharp and messy like broken shells washed too far onto the shore. Yet, they collect these broken shells and press them together in their palms. They tell you that you are loved, no matter who you happen to be in love with. Just like that, the cracks in the shell begin to fade. They are not fixed, they are still brittle, but they begin to heal. Oh, what healing will do. No longer will you drown in waves of words too niche for how you feel, nor will you struggle to explain why your gaze lingers on the pride displays at Target. You will still be awkward and messy, and you will cry too much over silly things, but that’s growing up. You are happy now with who you have become. You would like to think that 10-year-old you would be satisfied too. She deserves to be happy. She deserves to love herself in the way you do now. You are so far away from where this story began and yet still so far away from its ending. You no longer strain against the weight of your own fear. You are strong. You are one drop of water in a sea of color, but here, you are home. You have survived through four long years of inner turmoil for this day. It has been exactly four years and four days since the Obgerfell V Hodges decision. In that second, you realize how light you feel, no longer bogged down by the heavy questions in your soul. You have grown up, and you are no longer worried about precise definitions. You are loved by your family and friends, and you might just love someone too. Nobody cares who exactly that is. Your friend is next to you; you giggle as he smacks a rainbow heart sticker onto your forehead. It is June 30th, 2019; you are somewhere in downtown Manhattan, and you are laughing. You are waving a rainbow flag that your parents bought for you amongst a crowd of others. You hear music start playing, and then you are dancing. You don’t have to wonder anymore how those people in DC felt four years ago. You know it now too. You stand with your shoulders back, laughing and dancing. You smile at the sea of color surrounding you, and your mom catches a photo of you dancing, flag in hand. You are strong here. You are safe here. You are a part of an “us” larger than yourself. You are crying again, but this time you are happy. You are proud. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Feature Back to Sections SADD Club’s Contribution to the Island Harvest By Jeselys Vazquez Volume 3 Issue 2 December 23, 2022 Image provided by Island Harvest The SADD club (Students Against Destructive Decision) once again has contributed to promoting and working with the Island Harvest Food Drive. For those who do not know what that is, the Island Harvest Food Drive is an organization that works to help end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island, especially when Thanksgiving and Christmas come around. Our high school has donated 900+ food items to Long Island Harvest, and this year we planned to donate even more, but we could not have done it without your help. Did you know how many people have suffered just on Long Island from hunger at some point this year? 283,700 people. As a matter of fact, 182,000 people will go hungry on Long Island tonight, and 72,980 of those people will be children. It is crazy to hear how many people are affected by this hunger crisis, and 316,000 people in need rely on the Long Island Harvest food bank and other local pantries. This number of people has been increasing since the pandemic due to mortgages and taxes our parents and adults must pay, as well as inflation. Even though we have provided so many resources, Long Island is still struggling to meet the demands of living in Nassau and Suffolk County. A donation could’ve been as little as one can of food, but with everyone contributing, it certainly has added up. I hope we can have another successful donation season next year! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Art & Culture Back to Sections Creating a Kinder World Through Art By Alena Moreira Volume 1 Issue 6 March 18, 2021 Original artwork by Alena Moreira This is the goal of the Memory Project, a nonprofit organization with the simple purpose of promoting intercultural insight and kindness between children of different social backgrounds around the world through art. Their main program, sharing the same name as the organization, involves the creation of photographic or realistic portraits of children involved in the program. These children are often in orphanages, refugee camps, or similar situations, so the Memory Projects seeks to gift the children a little keepsake – a little memory – to give them something beautiful and personal to hold onto despite the difficulties they face in their lives. One could argue that the money and effort put into making these portraits would be better spent on living necessities, such as food and water, rather than marks on paper, and they might be right. However, we cannot underestimate the power of a simple act of kindness, even something as small as a drawing made with the happiness of only one person in mind. The process of making a memory project portrait is simple and straightforward. Teachers who reach out to The Memory Project organization are shown the children and countries that are involved and can choose a group based on if its timeframe works well with the teacher’s and their students’ schedules. Once a country is chosen, The Memory Project emails (postal mail, before covid) individual photos of the children, which include their name, age, and favorite color. Students then choose one (or more) of the children to make a portrait of. These portraits are all 2D media, including pencil, pastel, and even painting, and must be on 9”x12” paper or unstretched canvas. When finished, the art students write the child’s ID code and name, attach a photo of themselves and write their name with little message to the back of their drawing, along with an outline of their hand to symbolically touch the hand of the child who receives the portrait. These portraits are then sent off with a requested $15 per portrait; however, classes who cannot afford this contribution are still accommodated so they can participate, as the organization’s goal is to include as many artists as possible despite the financial struggles they may face. Started in 2004, The Memory Project portraits are a high level or advanced project, meaning the students who participate must be talented enough to make highly realistic portraits. While art is accepting to people of all styles and abilities, the reality of the program is that the children involved wouldn’t like to receive a beginner-level drawing of themselves or an abstract interpretation of what they look like while their friend receives a photorealistic and expertly drawn portrait. However, The Memory Project offers another program for artists K-12 and of all artistic levels. Called the Art Exchange, this peacebuilding program involves a one-to-one exchange between American students and kids from culturally different countries, including Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Nigeria. Check out our North Star Gallery (the Artwork tab at the top of the page) to see past and current submissions to the Memory Project. North’s Art Honor Society has sent portraits to Malaysia and Venezuela, and is currently sending portraits to kids in Cameroon, a country in Central and West Africa. BACK TO TOP

Back to Artwork Portrait Back to Sections Obedson Renelus - Portrait By Obedson Renelus January 20, 2021 Graphite Volume 1 Issue 4

Back to Articles Entertainment & Media Back to Sections Your Local Film Nerd Reviews - The Wizard of Oz (1939) Jasmine Roberts Volume 4 Issue 2 January 16, 2024 Image provided by Pinterest The 1939 musical film, The Wizard of Oz , is complete and utter craftsmanship at work, creating a lovely movie that has transcended time and still finds space within our hearts. Through whimsy and spectacle, this film was able to tastefully use Technicolor, beautiful costuming, and intelligent, yet playful original songs, to create a deeply magical film that details some of the most heartfelt truths, innate to all of us, while continuing to breathe life into the absurd. Starring the late Judy Garland and directed by Victor Flemming of Gone with the Wind , this movie wonderfully crafts a childlike glee that continues to thrive, even through the hardest of conflicts. Flemming uses the book and his imagination to curate a film worthy of all its accolades. As this was my first time watching T he Wizard Of Oz, (In fact the only reason I was going to review this movie, was because of the behest of my mother, which I am greatly thankful for... Thanks, Mom! ) this was my first impression of the film that I hope will promote your own playful, colorful whimsy and help you realize the true magic within. Dorothy, a farm girl from Kansas, and her Cairn Terrier, Toto, find themselves transported to a new land, with the help of an ever-foreboding tornado. After killing the sister of the Wicked Witch of the West, Dorothy is tasked by the Good Witch of the North, Glinda (my favorite character), to journey across the land in search of the Wizard of Oz, who will take her back home to Kansas, and keep her from certain death due to her possession of the magical ruby shoes coveted by the Wicked Witch. On her way, she meets three eccentrics, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and The Cowardly Lion. Together, they leave for The Emerald City, wanting to find not only the wizard but also happiness for themselves. From the beginning, this film grants us the pleasure of viewing such a beautiful piece of art. Each color is fully saturated and vibrant, and care is expressed in each stroke of paint brushed upon a canvas for the scenery, in ways modern-day CGI can never fully emulate. From the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City fortress, this film used great creativity to portray such a fantasy without the help of modern technologies. The costumes of characters, such as Glinda, were such a divine presence in the movie. I was beginning to wonder if replicas could be bought for my own closet. It was obvious that every button and stitch of the Munchkins’ or Eccentrics’ costumes were scrutinized meticulously, which is shown in the way the backdrops and dressings promote a sort of escapism, similar to that of Dorothy. I have a great affinity for actors. From the beginners who struggle to express strong emotion without punching a wall, to thespians who have dominated the Hollywood scene even post-mortem, I have always believed that a bad script, does not inherently ruin a film, but instead, it can be elevated with the help of talented actors. I am happy to say that the actors in this movie are wonderful in all the best ways. I have seen, time and time again, how some actors can be when playing whimsical roles. Unnatural and frigid are the usual descriptors I use, but this movie shows how the fantastical can be masterfully played, with the right actors. Judy Garland was sixteen when filming this film, and you can feel it. She is so free and careless, yet stubborn, confident, and courageous, it is not hard to understand why she is so apt to follow the rules of the land. Billie Burke, who played Glinda, allowed herself to freely connect to a character who I believe is hilariously detached from the environment around her, as she is completely unfazed by the Wicked Witch threatening Dorothy. This woman is utterly done with everyone’s madness and finds contentment in sending little girls off to harrowing quests, a psychopath indeed. These two are not the only ones that have attracted my attention, either. The three eccentrics were also gleeful in their performances and greatly contributed to this fantastical epic. The ideas in this film are very complex once one has peeked through the mystical veil and has found themselves genuinely inspecting each frame. I have watched many dissections of this film, as anti-capitalist, and as an honest criticism of the government, and to that I agree, but this is not the brick road we will be departing on today, instead I found the concept of the hero’s journey and the great escape, to be prominent themes. As humans, we find ourselves living like rats in our society, forced to follow a race where nobody hears us and nobody cares, so we are stuck with the voice in our head of self-hatred and doubt. To live such a boring life leaves you to be consumed by pain and anguish, but to have the ability to escape into a world of magic and mystery, so those terrifying hurdles meant to faced in the real world are filtered into a reality where everything makes little to no sense, with a few gumdrops on the side, is refreshing. A universe like the one in the film allows struggles to be faced head-on and rebirth to arise from those ashes. The opening song of this musical, “Over the Rainbow”, fully encapsulates the meaning, as Dorothy imagines a world away from her black and white origins in Kansas. This film was based on a child’s book, and in that vein, I realized how remarkably it illustrates how children process trauma. As Dorothy finds herself in a dilemma, in which her cruel neighbor wants to take Toto away, the adults around her seem too to care little about the situation, a tornado comes into her town and destroys all she knows. The girl full of life has consumed and processed these strong feelings into a separate world, one where all the people of her reality are turned into characters, embodying what they mean to her in the real world. Such delicate minds, like those of children, need time and patience to comprehend such pain and agony, and thus the brain turns to a concept that is a bit comprehensible, like good and evil, and dancing people, a place where there is more gratification than pain. Even adults do this. Running away from home for Dorothy is like running away from the gruesome realities of adulthood for adults. It’s the only way we stay sane in such an insane civilization. As Dorothy travels closer and closer toward the Emerald City, we join her in meeting three of the eccentrics and comrades on her journey, depicted as, the Scarecrow without a brain, the Tin Man without a heart, and the adorable, opera-singing Lion, who is without courage. These faults of the characters are universal. We all feel these ideas about ourselves, whether truthful or not. We put so much blame on ourselves that it is hard to see humanity inside ourselves. We find it hard to understand that perfection has long been eaten out of existence. We can only change from within and not from how we want to portray ourselves to those who might shame us for existing. The Scarecrow considers himself without a mind yet is clever enough to find a way to get apples from the angry talking trees. The Tin Man says he has no heart, yet frequently cries when a situation becomes distressing, and the Lion had the courage to come on such a dangerous way-worn trip in the first place. These characters say they don’t have certain traits, but their eyes have been so blinded by the fog of society, that they have ignored these attributes within themselves. This is amplified even more at the end of the film, but for anyone who desires to watch the film due to my review, I will leave it be and hope the themes are discovered personally, especially those I have not thought of myself. Overall, this movie was brilliant, and I am deeply grateful to my mom for requesting I watch it and review it! This one is for you. 10/10 Horribly Singing Jasmines BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles News Back to Sections The Truth About Vaccination By Aleeza Dhillon Volume 1 Issue 8 June 8, 2021 Image provided by USA Today Chances are you know someone who has gotten Covid within the past year because the deadly virus has infected approximately 166,761,227 people worldwide. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supplied the first Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a Covid-19 prevention vaccine on December 11, 2020. The vaccine was initially approved for people 18 years or older, but the Pfizer vaccine was permitted to be injected into citizens ranging from 12-16 years old on May 10, 2021. Although the vaccine does not entirely prevent Covid infections, it limits symptoms’ severities and the likelihood of infection. Many people were thrilled to have a chance at lowering their risk of contagion, but others were skeptical of the vaccine. There is a growing fear and distrust of vaccines, which can lead to dire consequences. Many people are concerned about how quickly the Covid vaccine was created. Most vaccines take years to develop, and although scientists have been working on SARS vaccines for decades, this one seemed to have taken less than a year to be tested and accepted. Kelly Elterman, MD, shares that the vaccine was developed quickly by using 20 year-old technology. So, doubting the vaccine based on timelines does not tell the whole story. Still, others are concerned about the unknown side effects of the vaccine. People believe there are life-threatening outcomes of getting vaccinated, and some of this concern comes from reports in the media. Joyce Ann Kraner, a citizen of Tennessee, says, "We don't know the long-term effects. We don't know what it's going to do." Much misinformation had been spread through social media and the internet, causing certain people to believe in false side effects, even possible infertility, and creating further media distrust. One in four Americans refuse the vaccine, and 5% are unsure if they would take it given a chance. Experts are becoming concerned that refusal of the vaccine, or “vaccine hesitancy” by that substantial number will prevent the U.S. from reaching herd immunity (when Corona cannot spread throughout the population quickly and transmission disappears). On the other hand, approximately 41.6% of the U.S. population is vaccinated. Many people flew at the chance to limit the possibility of spreading Covid to their friends and families. Once citizens are fully vaccinated (two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna and two weeks after one dose of Johnson & Johnson), they should still take precautions, such as wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, and staying six feet apart. However, people can start having small gatherings with others who are vaccinated. Many people took the shot for their protection too. It is impossible to predict how COVID will affect you, so many people believe it is best to stay on the safe side and take all defenses to make sure you stay alive. The vaccine has shown it is safe and effective for the vast majority. Chances of infection are low, and even if a vaccinated person is infected, symptoms are limited with the vaccine. It is crucial to stay educated on the Covid vaccine. Check multiple reliable sources to make sure the information you have is correct and current because vaccination could be the difference between life and death. The CDC has ensured that vaccine is reliable and effective, and safety is their first goal. It is predicted that in January 2022, the total vaccinated population for the U.S. will reach 64%. Works Cited Barczyk, H. (2020, October 12). Why So Many Americans Are Skeptical of a Coronavirus Vaccine . Retrieved from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-so-many-americans-are-skeptical-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine/ Brumfiel, G. (2021). Vaccine Refusal May Put Herd Immunity At Risk, Researchers Warn . Retrieved from NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/07/984697573/vaccine-refusal-may-put-herd-immunity-at-risk-researchers-warn Elternam, K. (2021, February 9). COVID-19 Vaccine Distrust: Why It’s High, and How to Respond to It . Retrieved from Good Rx: https://www.goodrx.com/blog/distrust-of-the-covid-19-vaccine/ Gu, Y. (2021, April 26). Path to Herd Immunity Normality : 2021 Outlook of COVID-19 in the US . Retrieved from covid19-projections: https://covid19-projections.com/path-to-herd-immunity/ Sauer, L. M. (2021, May 19). What Is Coronavirus? Retrieved from Hopkins Medicine: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus BACK TO TOP

Back to Artwork Black American Artists Back to Sections No World By Kara Walker February 12, 2021 Volume 1 Issue 5 Medium: Color Etching, Drypoint, and Aquatint with Sugarlift and SPitbite on Hahnemühle Copperplate Wove Paper, Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Sahar Ali NEWS SECTION EDITOR Hey guys! My name is Sahar Ali and I’m editor for the news section. You can see that my articles range from political news to current world events, and you may occasionally find me in the feature section too. Along with writing articles, I do winter track and badminton in the spring. I can’t wait to read all your submissions and if you ever have any questions or concerns, feel free to send me an email anytime! TikTok Ban in the United States Sahar Ali News Read More California Wildfires Sahar Ali News Read More The 2024 Presidential Election - Part 2 Sahar Ali News Read More The 2024 Presidential Election Sahar Ali News Read More Former President Donald Trump's Conviction Sahar Ali News Read More History of Badminton Sahar Ali Sports Read More Donald Trump’s Indictments and Court Case Sahar Ali News Read More Summer Festivals Celebrated Throughout the World Sahar Ali Feature Read More The History of Valentine's Day By Sahar Ali Feature Read More Christmas Traditions from Around the World By Sahar Ali Feature Read More Advice From a Senior Sahar Ali Advice Read More 2024 News Recap Sahar Ali News Read More College Application Advice Sahar Ali Advice Read More VSCHSD"s Newest Position Sahar Ali News Read More Attacks on Women Sahar Ali News Read More 2024 Presidential Candidates Sahar Ali News Read More Farmingdale Bus Accident Sahar Ali, Javier Cael, and Navrosedip Kundlas News Read More Turkey and Syria’s Earthquakes By Sahar Ali News Read More What is Racewalking? By Sahar Ali Sports Read More Pakistan’s Devastating Floods By Sahar Ali News Read More