A Sea of Ink

The free press is the fourth estate, equally important to the fabric of any democracy as a nation's legislature, executives, and judiciaries. Journalists protect the citizens by holding accountable those in power. Without journalism checking up on the actions and motives of the higher-ups, investigating and exposing covered-up wrongs and sinister plots, society would fall into chaos, deception, and become everything George Orwell feared. Without the dissemination of news, without the education of the people-- censorship and ignorance leads inevitably to oppression and blind loyalty. Just look back at Nazi Germany, look at the Soviet Union, and then look at today. To me, reporters represent what superheroes would look like in the real world, Robin Hoods in real life. To me, Clark Kent's vocation as a reporter represents no coincidence. This current trend of vilifying the press is scary. In fact, it feels apocalyptic. "Fake news" is not a pair of words to toss out...

On May 5, 1865 in Pennsylvania, a girl named Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born. She would become known, however, by a different name: Nellie Bly, a pen name which would soon be plastered across the front pages of newspapers from sea to shining sea. Cochran got her start in 1880 with an angry letter to the editor of The Pittsburgh Dispatch , arguing against traditional gender roles on the behalf of unmarried women in her society. She was daring, she was fierce, she was ambitious, and she was full of fire. Her passionate letter resulted in employment at the paper and Elizabeth's transformation into the reporter Nellie Bly. Nellie's first work was an article entitled "The Girl Puzzle," and then she was assigned to investigate the plight of girls working in factories. After this series of investigative articles, she was pushed to write for the "women's pages." Bly rejected this and instead undertook a six month foreign correspondence job, living in Mexico ...

                 Few people besides foodies understand the consequential differences which separate hot cocoa from the class of hot chocolate. This widespread ignorance only serves to hurt the consumers themselves and damage the reputation of hot chocolate everywhere, resulting in mislabeling wintertime drinks and an absence of the true joy which could be felt in wisdom.             Contrary to popular belief, hot chocolate and hot cocoa are not synonymous titles. Hot chocolate has a long and noble past, one of hard work and effort leading to the creation of the drink of kings and princes, while hot cocoa is a watery substitute for the poorer masses of society, a con’s tool, one used to dupe the unaware into accepting less than they could have if they only knew better.             The fundamental difference: hot chocolate is a wo...

Feminism is a dirty word. Kicking men like puppies, belittling mothers who have chosen the family path, burning bras—feminists the world over have become a symbol for man-hatred and aggression. But this is not and need not be the case. Feminism: a word symbolizing unity, a word embodying peace and equality, an idea of possibilities for strength and harmony. Feminism should mean women and men standing together, working together for equality—not women working together against men, standing together to belittle the opposite gender. Feminism—equal pay, equal representation, equal standards. Equal opportunity. The first feminists did not fight for the right to shun the domestic sphere; rather, they fought for the right to choose the domestic sphere. Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton—these women were not anti-family, anti-marriage, or anti-man, only anti-injustice. The traditionalism they opposed boxed them into one corner—cleaning, cooking, caring for c...

At first, it’s just one piece She sticks across her bleeding heart. A fine and bendy bandage— Temporary, at the start. The picture of her arm But then a beetle cast becomes. She tries to mask the current Stronger, stronger as it hums. ’Tween her calm and hard reality Soon the casing’s all that stands. She’s shifting foot to foot as Friction’s sparking from her hands. Plastic darling, tape wrapped thrice, She cannot open up to say Beneath it she’s a livewire, Into darkness fades away.

*No part of this article is meant to be offensive or taken as truth.* Kelly Walsh Cures Obesity Epidemic                 Kelly Walsh High School has begun implementing multiple different ways to resolve the obesity epidemic which plagues America. Because healthier food would cost extra money, the school has created new, money-saving ways to keep kids healthy and in shape.                 Kelly Walsh provides the students daily exercise by letting them walk five to ten minutes from their cars to the school every day. This is an ingenious way to get the blood flowing early in the morning, and the below-zero air is great for stimulating the brain. Some claim that this parking distance is a pain, but the truth is that the KW faculty is implementing tough love purely for the benefit of their students. In fact, much of the faculty goes w...

When I walked into my first ballet class, I was expecting it to be easy. I was not expecting the workout I received and I did not anticipate the sore muscles which followed. I was surprised at how something that looked so effortless could be so demanding on one’s body. I quickly learned otherwise. Although dance is not categorized as a sport but rather as an art form, ballerinas and their male counterparts are athletes. Few non-dancers understand the level of athleticism required to be a professional ballet dancer. Multiple myths suggesting simplicity surround ballet, perhaps as a result of the glittery costumes, stage makeup, and tights. However, a normal workday for a professional dancer, occurring 6 days per week, includes 10 hours of intense exercise, including evening performances. Outside work hours, dancers still make time to go to the gym and work on their upper body strength or do yoga and cardiovascular exercises to keep up their flexibility, strength, and endurance. It ta...

Eastern Europeans Flock to UK Number of immigrants working in the UK increases following Brexit decision.            After June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, the number of Eastern European migrants working in the UK has increased, due to concerns that immigrants will be barred from the country post-break.            According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of Eastern European migrants employed in Britain grew by almost 50,000 in the months between July and September alone. These figures show that, since the Brexit referendum, the total number of non-UK workers has increased by 241,000 to 3.4 million.            “This is yet another large increase in the labor force driven by an increase in foreign workers,” said the chairman of Migration Watch UK, Lord Green of Deddington. “This continuing in...

Creating a Holiday Classic The Moscow Ballet Nutcracker Behind the Scenes “I remember when I was little, really little, I would watch the NYC ballet every Christmas. I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” said 15-year-old Sophie Pickett, a dancer at Rising Star Tumbling and Dance Studio. “My mom had these pointe shoes for decoration in our house and they totally fit me at the time so I partied around in those during the Nutcracker, and that’s when I was like ‘I want to do this. This is cool!’” 29 Casper ballet students joined 40 professional dancers onstage December 7 th for a performance of the Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker. Following auditions with Moscow Ballet dancer Olena Nalyvaiko on October 17 th at host dance studio Beautiful Feet, the selected dancers were taught their choreography by Nalyvaiko herself, and then given seven weeks to rehearse. “It’s not just like one practice and its perfect, it takes so much work and time and dedication to this for...

Disney Presenting Pro-Feminist Females: What Do People Think of This Shift in Pop Culture? Disney’s princesses are not usually known for their strength of character. In the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty , title character Princess Aurora has only 18 lines of dialogue, and other early princesses spent the majority of their films doing housework, singing for the entertainment of passing suitors, and marrying whatever man had the inclination to rescue them from ill-meaning older women. Over the past few years, however, Disney has begun a new trend: the company has been incorporating more and more contemporary values into their so-called “princess movies.” “I think that it's admirable of the Disney company to be revisiting their former ideas of how women should act and how women should think,” said long-time Disney fan Abigail Chamb ers. Since the first Disney princess movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves premiered in 1939, the princesses have slowly evolved from secondary c...

Mentally Ill Afraid to Speak Out Negative tradition attached to mental illness deters those affected. Stigma surrounding mental illnesses and those who suffer from them persists around the world today, due to false media and negative connotations, but can be reduced through education and a spread of awareness. “What you really fear the most isn’t the suffering inside of you, it’s the stigma inside of others,” said mental health activist Kevin Breel, “It’s the shame and embarrassment. We live in a world where when you break your arm everyone runs over to sign your cast, but if you tell people you’re depressed everyone runs the other way.” The stigma associated with mental illness in the United States and other countries across the globe is a predominant problem even in this day and age. Stigma causes “shame, blame, hopelessness, distress, misrepresentation in the media, reluctance to seek and/or accept necessary help,” stated the Government of Western Australia Mental Health Co...