The United States is currently in the third year of Donald Trump’s presidency. This means that next year 2020) is the next election for United State’s president. So far, there are a handful of candidates running for office.
Today, I will be listing a couple candidates and their backgrounds from both of the political parties.
Elizabeth Warren is one of the democratic candidates for the next presidency. She was formerly a Harvard law professor in Massachusetts. She is specifically known for advocating for more regulations on Wall Street and other big corporations.
Another candidate for office is democratic, New Jersey, U.S. Senator, Cory Booker. He was a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. He was elected as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, in 2006, serving until he was elected to the Senate, and assumed office, in 2013.
One of the republican candidates running for office in 2020 is the former governor of Massachusetts, Bill Weld. His beliefs are very libertarian based (he was a libertarian nominee for Vice president in 2016). Even though he is running on the republican side of the political spectrum, he believes in LGBTQ rights along with being pro-choice.
Another one of the republican candidates running is the President, Donald Trump, himself. He will try to be re-elected for office in 2020. According to the Washington Post, he was spending money on 2020 efforts as early as Nov. 24, 2016. Trump is also confident he will be re-elected, depsite his constant low approval ratings.
The Govie Leadership Summit was Friday, March 1, at Johnson Senior High. With 20 sessions and over 37 presenters, this year’s summit focused on three categories: social justice and racial equity, developing your leadership style, and building healthy communities.
The summit began with an amazing and hilarious improv show by a group called Blackout Improv. After the breakout sessions, we discussed in small groups the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of our schools and student voice. At the end of the day, Mayor Carter spoke and challenged us to make Saint Paul a better place.
Highland’s own Dare 2 Be Real group presented on “Stereotype Promises vs. Stereotype Threat.” They covered different types of stereotypes and how to combat the problems they raise. D2BR believes this is important, because stereotypes are everywhere, even at schools, where everyone should be treated equal and fairly. For example, teachers may look at an Asian kid, see the smart Asian stereotype, and offer them more help, whereas they perceive another kid as less smart. Teachers may do this without even knowing. This affects the students in the support they receive and their self-esteem. When a minority is faced with a stereotype threat, it is harder for them to succeed and puts more pressure on them.
My first session was “Boss Up,” led by Talea Plata. We began by describing ourselves in the future, beyond just jobs, but also hobbies, how we look, and so on. Then we had a conversation on self-love, the little ways in which we can do it, and why it is important.
My second session, “No One Can Say It Like You Can” empowered us to speak our personal truths. Presenter Annie Humphrey performed songs about their own personal truths. Annie told us not to let others stifle our voice, to not judge others, and to not let our lives be ruled by fear.
My third session, “Screen Scholar — Rethinking How We Watch and Read Stories” led by Tri Vo, was about why diversity in media matters. We started with looking at the basics of storytelling: background, characters, plot, and production value. Then we talked about how we need to have diversity because representation is power. We see people in media and expect others to be like them. We need to be able to see ourselves in media. We can’t not think about representation, because so much of our lives revolves around media.
The summit was enjoyable, and I can only see it getting better and better over time.
This year’s Oscars was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. The Oscars have been going on since 1929. What happened this year? Keep reading to get all the tea!
This year’s Oscars had no host. They originally were going to have Kevin Hart host this year’s Oscars, but after old homophobic jokes he made resurfaced, he stepped down claiming that he didn’t want any drama during the Oscars, according to Vox. This was the first time since 1989 that the Oscars haven’t had a host.
The awards ceremony opened with Adam Lambert and Queen playing some of their hits.
Here are the winners of big awards from the Oscars.
This year’s winner of the Best Actress Award was Olivia Colman. She won for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite.
The winner of Best Supporting Actor was Mahershala Ali in Green Book for his role as Don Shirley.
Regina King won Best Supporting Actress in If Beale Street Could Talk as Sharon Rivers.
This year’s Best Picture award went to Green Book. Best Animated Feature went to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Best Director went to Alfonso Cuarón for Roma. He also won Foreign Language Film for Roma, and Best Cinematography for Roma.
Best Original Music Score went to Black Panther with Ludwig Göransson. Black Panther also won Best Costume Design with Ruth E. Carter, and Best Production Design with Jay R. Hart and Hannah Beachler.
Best Original song went to “Shallow” written by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.
Best Adapted Screenplay (which is a screenplay based on a book) went to Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, Charlie Wachtel, and David Rabinowitz for BlacKKlansman.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 24: (EDITORS NOTE: Retransmission with alternate crop.) Rami Malek attends the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Speaking of winners, the winner of the Best Actor Award, Rami Malek, accidentally ended the awards ceremony with a bang. Or rather, a thud. According to People, Malek fell off of the stage shortly after finishing his acceptance speech. By that time, the televised production had finished, so the incident did not appear on TV. However, there are pictures circulating the internet. They show a startled Malek on the ground, having just stumbled into the crowd.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper also gave an impressive performance of the song “Shallow” from the movie A Star Is Born. “Shallow” won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Before Gaga and Cooper even got on stage, the crowd applauded them. Many news sources are calling the performance iconic and amazing, and they’re not wrong. It was packed with emotion and the song is beautifully written.
Overall, we are sure this year’s Oscars are going to be remembered for quite some time.
Have you ever wondered how much plastic is actually in the ocean?
Plastic doesn’t decompose, like other wastes, and according to theoceancleanup.com, there are 5 different offshore areas that have accumulated 1.15 to 2.41 million tons of plastic. These areas of plastic are called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). These patches are the largest accumulated areas ranging from Hawaii and California. The GPGP covers 1.6 million square kilometers. That’s about twice the size of Texas and three times the size of France.
You may be asking why we should care; well according to the National Ocean Service website, 700 different marine species encounter debris. Sadly, 92% of the debris these species come across are plastic. Only 17% of the debris are on the list of threatened animals. There is 180x more plastic than marine life. Also, marine life can get entangled.
Some ways that debris enter water are from the rain and winds. For example, when you leave a water bottle on the ground and it rains, the rain water will carry it to the sewer, and it ends up in our rivers, streams, and lakes.
Some ways you can help with this issue is by using less plastic, recycling more, and helping with cleaning/volunteering or participating in shore cleanups.
Some other ways that you can help with this issue is by putting trash into designated areas. You can also help by using no plastic straws or plastic cups.
Starbucks was the business that first announced they were moving from plastic straws, to more compostable straws. You may be wondering why, well 4% of the plastic in the ocean is made up of straws. An average person uses 1.6 straw a day. This mean that 25,000 people have stopped using straws. For more information about plastic straws, please visit: https://squareup.com/townsquare/why-plastic-straws-are-being-banned
The Official Online Newspaper of the Highland Park Scots
Plaid Line 