Monthly Archives: October 2020

Getting To Know/History

Differences between bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder

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By: Kayla Madison

*Note, this article may have material that could trigger individuals (suicide), therefore, we present a trigger warning here.

Mental health is a big deal, always has been. There are a variety of mental disorders, and while most can seem very similar, the two I’m going to talk about today are almost twins.

Borderline Personality Disorder not only affects your moods, it affects your personality, hence ‘Personality Disorder.’ Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder are both characterized, in part, by major mood swings. The similarity of the two mood shifts having extremely high highs, to very low lows, causes people and clinicians to confuse the two disorders.

Borderline is said to be characterized by: rejection-sensitivity, chaotic relationships, and difficulty in managing emotions. Most people think the stressor is a bad childhood, which can be it, but it could also be other things. If your spouse leaves you, you’ll tend to get depressed and that’s normal, with borderlines though, they are more reactive to relatively minor events and demonstrate contradictory emotions.

Borderline Personality signs:

  • Fear of abandonment; they’re terrified of being abandoned or left alone.
  • Unstable relationships; relationships get intense very quickly and are very short lived.
  • Unclear or shifting self image; there is no clear idea of who you are or what you want. You may frequently change everything about yourself from jobs to even your sexual identity or religion.
  • Impulsive/ self-destructive behaviors; you may start engaging in harmful, sensation-seeking behaviors such as spending money recklessly, doing drugs or drinking alcohol to ‘feel better.’
  • Self harm; suicidal behavior and deliberate self harm is a common factor with mental illnesses.
  • Extreme emotional swings; unstable emotions and moods these moods are intense but tend to pass very quickly.
  • Chronic feelings of emptiness; you feel empty, as if there’s a void you have to fill, you may feel like you’re nothing or nobody.
  • Explosive anger; you may struggle with intense anger and a short temper.
  • Feeling suspicious or out of touch with reality; you lose touch with reality- dissociation. You struggle with paranoia.

Everybody has a mood swing or two but with Bipolar Disorder these are more severe. These cycles can last days, weeks, or even months. These mood changes can interfere with your everyday life such as your job or school performance. During a manic episode you may quit your job or spend huge amounts of money on useless items. During a depressive episode you might be too tired to do anything most days or be full of self-loathing and feel hopeless.

Bipolar Disorder Causes:

  • Stress; stressful life events can be very triggering in someone with genetic vulnerability. These events tend to have drastic or sudden changes.
  • Substance abuse; this doesn’t cause bipolar, it can bring on an episode or worsen the course of the disease.
  • Medication; certain medications, notably antidepressants, can trigger mania, most over the counter medications can as well.
  • Seasonal changes; episodes of mania and depression are sometimes caused by the seasons changing.
  • Sleep deprivation; loss of sleep can trigger a manic episode even skipping a few hours of sleep.

So, what’s the difference? Well, BPD is a personality disorder that causes you to think, feel, act, and relate differently than those without it. Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder, which is a category of illnesses that causes severe mood changes.

For more information, please visit:

  • medicalnewstoday.com
  • helpguide.org
  • healthmatters.nyp.org
Tech/Games

The switch to the Switch: How the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly increased and continues to increase the sales of the Nintendo Switch

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By: David Meyer

Nearly four years ago, the Nintendo Switch was released and received amazing reviews immediately, and within the first six months the console had sold over 20 million units. The console has continued to grow since then and has accumulated over 60 million units sold, with nearly half of the sales being within the past fiscal year. And although about 10 million of these sales were within the holiday season, the overall rate of the sales of the Switch has increased on average by over 200 percent: the best year of sales, of the Nintendo Switch, over three years after its release.

A large part of the Switch that attracts many customers is the wide range of games you can play on the console, with popular titles such as ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ and ‘Super Mario Odyssey.’

However, as quarantine started to become a necessity to slow the spread of COVID-19, a new game from a series nearly 20 years old was released: ‘Animal Crossing (New Horizons).’ For many casual gamers, this was a big deal because the previous main series title was released almost a decade earlier. However, this game significantly started to attract newcomers as well, being a sandbox style game that has a very small learning curve with nearly endless hours of playtime. This, coupled with the fact that many people would be staying in their homes for long periods of time, made both the sales of the game, the Nintendo Switch, and the Nintendo Switch Lite skyrocket.

The Nintendo Switch Lite was released by Nintendo in late 2019 as a way to get more customers interested in the Switch and the games that come with the console (although, many people that ended up buying the new console already had a Nintendo Switch). But, with the lowered price of the newer console, and many people eager to try out ‘Animal Crossing’ during quarantine, this console’s popularity grew and its sales followed suit.

Going forward, the Switch announced some very large titles recently, including ‘Super Mario 3D All-Stars’; a collection of the three first 3D Mario games to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros’ initial release. This collection includes three of the highest rated games of all time, all having a score of 97 or above out of 100 on Metacritic which is a very respected source on the popularity of video games.

Additionally, these games are all dated, and especially with one of them, ‘Super Mario Sunshine,’ being nearly two decades old. This made many Mario fans ecstatic, and resulted in the game being sold out for pre-orders within the first three days worldwide. And although the limited time release of the game is partly to blame for this rush, the dramatic sales of this series of nostalgic games for so many will no doubt continue to increase the sales of the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite in the near future.

Books/Art, Editorials/Student Voice

Mental illnesses expressed through art

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By: Grace Blummer-Lamotte

There are many different mental illnesses in the world. This can include depression, anxiety, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), Schizophrenia, ADHD, and many others.

Some choose to show their feelings through journaling, painting, drawing, sketching, charcoal, and other mediums. Usually many different artworks have a bigger meaning behind the actual art: it could be a personal connection or a traumatic experience. 

Around the end of June, in summer 2020, I struggled a lot with my mental health. I went through many different programs and I still am. I like showing my feelings of my mental illnesses through art. I do not like talking about it because I feel like I can’t find the words, but I can draw pictures of it. I currently have a sketchbook full of many of my paintings of my feelings throughout the past 4 months. 

To other people, they just see a simple painting. They don’t see the big picture behind it. One of my paintings has a human head profile that appears to be drowning, with their mouth stitched up. Many people just see an amazing painting and don’t ask about the story behind it. My story behind this specific drawing is when I was at the lowest point in my life I felt like I was drowning. I was drowning but I couldn’t say anything because my mouth was stitched up. The water represented my thoughts and feelings. I just had to sit there in my thoughts and feelings and not say anything about it; drowning silently while having no one notice, no one care, no one supporting me. 

According to the Western Journal of Medicine, the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh had evidence of manic depression and alcohol abuse. Much of his artwork could suggest a bigger story behind them. He uses the color yellow a lot in all of his art; that could be because of his alcohol abuse, as he drank absinthe that contains thujone. “Excessive consumption of this liqueur may cause the consumer to see all objects with a yellow hue.” Another explanation of this theory was Van Gogh using overmedication with digitalis. When people receive large doses of this medication they often see the world with a yellow/green-tint. In his most famous painting, “The Starry Night”, he produces a bit of the color yellow around the painting. Sadly in 1890 he committed suicide.

Editorials/Student Voice

Why Bob Woodward’s Trump interview should concern everyone

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By: Quentin Miller.

Many may already be aware of the recently leaked interviews between Trump and the famous reporter Bob Woodward. But for those who have not heard of it, to build anticipation for his upcoming book, Bob Woodward leaked parts of interviews between him and Trump regarding his presidency. 

One specific part of this interview, conducted on Feb 7th according to The Washington Post, contained Trump saying “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”, implying that he was very aware that COVID-19 was much more deadly than he let on.                                                          

Speaking of what he let on, here’s what he had to say on Feb 28th at his South Carolina rally, 21 days after admitting COVID-19 was a serious threat, “Whoever thought of this two weeks ago? Who would’ve thought this could be going on four weeks ago?”. You, you did Trump.

Now, why should this concern you? Well under UN definition, a decision is considered genocide if it has the intention to destroy part of/the entirety of an ethnic or religious group based off of their ethnicity or religion, and one of the following acts associated with it:

  • Killing members of the group
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

So, theoretically, if Trump knew that poorer people can’t get proper medical treatment and that poorer areas in the U.S. are normally made of minorities, and he showed a clear motive for wanting to commit genocide, that would make a very clear case for the hundreds of thousands of deaths due to corona to be genocide. According to PBS, on Jun 11th, 2016, Trump claimed, “You live in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs” while referring to African Americans. This clearly shows he is aware African American people, or as he likes to say “The Blacks,” face clear financial disadvantages. 

Also, according to The New York Times, Trump, during April 2020, said this when referring to a plan to cover uninsured treatments of COVID-19, “This should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment.” This shows that he is aware people who can’t afford/don’t own an insurance policy need aid in paying for treatment. 

But what could the motive be? As has been reported on by PBS’ NewsHour, there are many possibilities.

Maybe the idea that Mexico is the enemy to the United States, and implying many Hispanics are rapist is his motive. But if blatant racism and harsh language towards Mexico and its people wasn’t evidence enough that he has disdain towards minorities, just take the words of Rep. Elijah Cummings who claimed Trump’s words and actions are hurtful and offensive to the black community.

So, maybe it’s the fact that he constantly voiced support and thanks to African American’s during Black History Month, only to completely ignore them almost directly after Black History Month was over.

Or maybe it’s when he openly supported “Stop and Frisk” laws which have been proven to discriminate against minorities.

Maybe his claim that the reason black youth have a hard time is because of their lack of spirit is his motive. Or when he called people protesting the very suspicious death of Freddie Gray “thugs,” aware of the fact that the majority of them were black. 

So, Trump has a motive for genocide, let a pandemic he knew was deadly devastate poor areas, and knew that demographics he was clearly racist towards would be hit hard by his actions. In short, he committed genocide in the opinion of this writer. And any world leader who is genocidal against minorities should concern you. 

For more information, please check out the following:

  1. ‘Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was ‘deadly’ and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans’ by: Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, at The Washington Post
  2. ‘Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally Transcript – February 28, 2020’ on rev.com
  3. ‘What exactly Trump has said about race’ by:Lisa Desjardins, at PBS NewsHour
Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Parasite’: Truly the Best Picture

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By: Hayden Fitzsimons

Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ was a revolutionary movie for the world of film, as it may have changed the award system forever.

The release of ‘Parasite’ in 2019 was met with immediate fanfare, as many critics claimed it was the best of the year. Once ‘Parasite’ hit Western consumers, the general consensus of the public aligned with that of the critics, for once.

In Korea, prior to ‘Parasite’ being internationally released, the film was a blockbuster which grossed around 70 million dollars, making it one of the most successful films in Korean history. Internationally (including Korea), ‘Parasite’ grossed 211 million dollars, but in America & Canada it grossed only around 50 million.

‘Parasite’ was an instant hit, however many still didn’t see it despite rave reviews. So, for those who didn’t see it, was ‘Parasite’ really the Best Picture?

The likelihood of ‘Parasite’ winning, or even getting nominated, for Best Picture was low from the start. The Oscars’ track record of best picture nominations hasn’t been the best, as ‘Parasite’ was the first foreign language film to ever win Best Picture. So, despite the sheer quality of ‘Parasite’ being so high, the belief in the film getting any recognition was low. Fortunately, for the movie-going audience, the Oscars didn’t mess up for once.

‘Parasite’ was nominated, which was enough for some who had become cynics towards the seemingly inept Oscars Academy. Yet, to many’s surprise, ‘Parasite’ actually won. If ‘Parasite’ seemingly deserved the Best Picture win so much, what was it about?

‘Parasite’ follows the Kim family, who are a lower class family struggling to survive. The son of the family, Ki-woo, manages to get a job as the tutor to the daughter of the Park family, an extremely rich family, and he eventually manages to get all of the other workers fired and replaced by his family. This leads to a meteoric rise in wealth for the Kim family. However, the fired employees are not all out of the Kims’ lives, leading to a karma-filled struggle to keep their lies and their new life from unraveling.

The story on it’s own is compelling enough, but Bong Joon-ho brings out the best of his performers and their acting transforms the film to another level. Not to mention the constant messages layered into the dialog, cinematography, and nearly every detail of the film. Without a doubt, ‘Parasite’ is a once-in-a-lifetime film which undoubtedly deserved the award for Best Picture.

Fashion/Make-Up

Fast fashion is bad and here’s why

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By Anna Hisle

If you’re like me, you love to shop. But do you really take the time to think about where and how that cute American Eagle top was made? While that shirt may be cute, it is being made in sweatshops who hire underpaid workers (sometimes even children) to make hundreds or even thousands of the same clothes.

So, you may be asking yourself what is fast fashion? Fast fashion is cheap trendy clothing.

These clothes are produced quickly while they are still in style and sold to shoppers who snatch them up right away. While these clothes are sold at the height of their popularity, they are quickly discarded once they are no longer in style. Sometimes these clothes are even only worn 1 or 2 times.

Impacts

Fast fashion has a very bad impact on the environment; there is a lot of pressure to speed up production and make costs lower.

Producers also use very cheap and toxic textile dyes. According to “Good On You,” using these cheap dyes makes the fashion industry one of the largest polluters of clean water globally.

According to “Mamoq,” it takes 2.70 liters of water to produce one cotton t-shirt. Now think about how much those t-shirts cost.

Because there is so much clothing being produced, and so quickly, there are overwhelming amounts of CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions distributed polluting the air. The microfibres in polyester also shed and contribute to ocean pollution.

Alternatives

Instead of buying clothes from fast fashion brands start buying sustainable clothing, going thrifting, or even just buying from small or local businesses.

By buying from sustainable clothing brands, you are not only helping the environment but you are also not supporting the employment of underpaid workers.

When you buy clothes from small or local businesses, you are supporting the people who are trying to make a name for themselves as well as just helping out a business that is not horrible for the environment.

By thrifting, you are buying people’s used clothes. This means that you are not buying directly from fast fashion brands but from second hand stores.

Sustainable clothing brands VS. fast fashion brands

While you’ve read this article and learned what fast fashion is, you probably still don’t know what brands are sustainable and which are bad for the environment.

Some fast fashion clothing brands include:

  • Forever 21
  • Zara
  • Fashion Nova
  • Urban Outfitters
  • Topshop
  • Gap
  • And many more.

To start shopping sustainable, check out some of these shops:

  • Patagonia
  • TOMS
  • Free People
  • SKIIM
  • Veja
  • And many more.

Reading this article, I hope you thought about your clothes and whether they are sustainable or not.

So, maybe next time, drop the brand name and go for something more sustainable!