Hello loyal readers!
We have come to the end of another school year!
We have seen much growth in readership this year and hope to continue to bring you interesting content next year, and years after.
Please feel free to search our back catalogue of articles, but know that we will be on hiatus until next September.
Thanks for all your support!
By: Reed Morris
What’s going on?
Over the past few years, the world has been fueling the growth of massive and extremely valuable bubbles. Much like the dot com bubble back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s people started pouring a mass amount of money into the .com space. Unsurprisingly however, the bubble could only get so big and it eventually burst, causing a lot of economic troubles and loss of money. What we are seeing now is similar to the bursting of the .com bubble, but our current bubble is everything.
In the graph below you can see some crashes throughout recent history. The spike above the 2000’s represents the dot com bubble bursting, the smaller spike after, and the subsequent drop, shows the housing bubble popping, and on the far right, we can see where our economy is now, and the absurdly large bubble we are on the cusp of bursting.
What’s Bursting?
If you are currently investing and/or you’re like me and follow the stock market out of interest, you will know that everything is going down. Companies like Amazon, Shopify, Carvana, Netflix, and Alphabet are all hard down right now. The trend to notice however is that most of the stocks that are heavily down are tech stocks, but in our current world tech stocks are the most important. The stock market is taking a hit and barely hanging on by the skin of its teeth, and as such, we need to be prepared for an all out economic crash in the coming months.
On the more questionable side of investing, the crypto and NFT markets are down exponentially. When the crypto and NFT markets peaked in November of 2021, the WEB3 world was in paradise, there were new opportunities, absurd amounts of cash flow, and there was always someone willing to buy the next NFT.
Since November however, the market has taken a slight downturn. Some coins and NFT’s stayed up; some even grew, but most started slipping. In the spring of ‘22, the crypto market took the hardest hit in its history. So-called “stablecoins” plummeted, spreading fear through the economy and causing a lot of people to sell, which in turn caused the rest of the market to collapse.
‘Bitcoin’, one of the first and longest lasting cryptocurrencies, has lost over 600 billion dollars in market value since November, and on top of that, the rest of the crypto market as a whole has lost over 1 trillion dollars since this fall. This amount of money being lost is unfathomable.
On the NFT side of things, sales are also down an extreme amount. Since its peak in November, sales of NFT’s on major trading platforms has gone down around 92%. The collapse of the WEB3 space will truly test the strength of the community around it and we will see where it goes from here.
Why is everything popping?
The main cause of this bubble pop is a problem our country is facing and a problem that needs to be addressed. Inflation. Inflation is going up and showing no signs of stopping. The main cause for inflation was the fact that over the past two years, money has essentially been free to borrow. During the pandemic, interest rates were slammed through the floor and people started taking advantage of that. People were borrowing money to help run their businesses, and other people were borrowing even more money to invest in those businesses. This unsustainable cycle can go on for a while but it eventually needs to be stopped.
The only tool the government has in its economic toolbox is this big scary sledgehammer called “Raising interest rates”. When people hear that the government is going to raise interest rates, they get scared and scramble. These people don’t want to have to pay interest on their borrowed tubs of money, so the first thing they turn to is selling stock.
The reason these companies are now collapsing is because when a company is growing, people don’t really care if it’s making much money, they just care about the growth. The thing about raising interest rates is that people don’t want to invest anymore, and these companies stop growing, so people finally decide to think, “Hey, is this company actually worth anything and will I actually make money long term?” And in most of these bubble situations, the answer is absolutely not.
Is this the worst it will get?
I wish. Truly I wish it was the worst that this is going to get. The government knows the only way to stop inflation is by heavily raising interest rates, but that is the last thing it wants to do. If it suddenly and greatly raised interest rates to stop inflation, the economy would collapse, the bubbles would all pop, and the country would be facing another deep recession. Instead of stomping its foot and stopping inflation, the government has been skirting the idea.
At first the government just SAID it were going to raise rates. This had almost no effect and inflation kept on growing. So they finally raised interest rates but on an extremely minuscule scale, nowhere near enough to fix inflation. Inflation continued to grow and so the government did it again, and once again, no effect.
The scary thing is, the amount that interest rates have been raised is nowhere near enough to reverse inflation, but the two super small bumps in interest rates that the government has hit the economy with are already causing a ton of things to implode. Inflation is going up, the economy is going down quickly, and we’re just getting started. Buckle your seats everyone. We’re in for a ride.
By: Caelyn Hippen
Does education affect the economy?
Does the amount of homework we get every night affect how well we do?
What determines the success of an education program?
These are questions you may ask yourself about your education, and the economy of the city, state, country, and world you live in.
Research states that education boosts and raises productivity. Education also stimulates productivity. I think that education can either make or break someone. It could impact an individual by making them more independent, help them have better time management, and help them have more drive and motivation towards their goals.
But, it could also break someone. Education, especially during a global pandemic, can cause anxiety, and lots of stress. The amount of concentration and focus class and homework combined require is already a lot, but then to have the social pressures of high school is insane.
In my head, the economy impacts education as much as education impacts the economy. If the economy is bad and there isn’t much money to spend on education, chances are the education system won’t be as good as a school in a city with a good economy and more money to spend on education.
An interesting thing I learned about education while researching is that levels of education vary around the world as a result of the countries varying development priorities. For example, if you lived in a country where farming is very important, chances are you will learn lots about agriculture and the environment. Whereas, if someone else lives in an industrialized city/state, they may learn more about large company things such as finance and building businesses.
I also learned that the culture and history of a country can play a huge part in what schooling means to them.
These are some of the ways that education can affect and impact the economy.
By: Ava Bleifus
Madeline Island is part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is located in the northern part of Wisconsin. Madeline Island is 14 miles long and 3 miles wide; there are many paved and unpaved roads that lead you around the island.
You have to take a ferry boat from Bayfield, WI to La Pointe, the only town on the island. La Pointe is a very small town that has restaurants, a candle shop, a grocery store, an ice cream shop, a convenience store, a golf course, and a marina.
Madeline Island is known for many things like kayaking, camping, and swimming in Lake Superior. The average temperature of Lake Superior is 54 degrees fahrenheit which makes swimming very cold but still enjoyable.
A popular place to visit on Madeline Island is called Eagle’s Nest, which is part of Big Bay State Park. There are many different cliffs, at different heights, that people can jump off of into Lake Superior where the water is deep enough to make it safe.
Every August, Madeline Island sponsors a swimming race called “Point to La Pointe Swim.” It started in 2006 with 24 people and now over 500 swimmers participate every year. It is a two mile course that goes between Bayfield and La Pointe. Most people wear wet suits because the lake is so cold.
Another celebration is the Fourth of July parade that goes down the main street of La Pointe. People can create their own floats and be part of the parade, and also throw candy at the spectators. There is also a marching band made up of the island residents. The parade is followed by a celebration in town and a fireworks display that night.
There is also an inline skate marathon, and a running marathon every summer that visitors and residents can participate in.
While visiting Madeline Island you can also learn about the history at the island’s museum. The island was named after Madeleine Cadotte, an Anishinaabe woman who was the daughter of Chief White Crane and married to a fur trader named Micheal Cadotte. Before the fur traders arrived the island was home to the Anishinaabe people who spoke the Ojibwe language. The Anishinaabe people called this island Mooningwanekaaning. That name came from the bird called mooningwaneg, which is called a flicker in English. In 2015, the town of La Pointe started to place bilingual signs in both English and Ojibwe as a way to honor the Anishinaabe people.
Madeline Island is a great place to visit in the summer because there are so many things to do. There are about 2500 people that live on the island during the summer, and year-round there are only 250 people. It takes about 5 hours to get there from Saint Paul and it’s worth a visit.
By: Eva Olson
‘Stranger Things’ came out with a fourth season on June 1st this year. It has 7 episodes currently, but there are two more coming on July 1st because they couldn’t fit the whole storyline into 7 episodes. Episode 8 will be 1 hour and 25 minutes and episode nine will be 2 hours and 30 minutes long. In total, these two episodes will have a running time of almost 4 hours.
There was a new character introduced this season; Eddie Munson. Eddie is played by Joseph Quinn. He is a stereotypical 80’s metal head with an electric guitar and long hair. He’s the leader of the Hellfire Club that Dustin, Lucas, and Mike are all a part of and play Dungeons and Dragons in. He’s very funny and it’s entertaining to see him and the rest of the main cast together. I really like him so far and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the next two episodes.
This season felt more eerie and creepy than all of the previous seasons. It had many scenes that looked like they were straight from a horror movie. The season also felt darker not just in the sense that it was scary but also just in the brightness of some of the nighttime scenes. I kept having to readjust my brightness to see what was going on.
This season was very interesting because I got to see more of Eleven’s past in the lab and the rainbow room. All of the scenes in the lab were super creepy, especially the character played by Jamie Campbell Bower. I got to see more of the other kids who were in the lab, as well as more detail on how Eleven got out.
Overall, I enjoyed this season a lot and I can’t wait to see the final two episodes of it. I’m currently rewatching it because I loved it so much. It kept me on my toes the entire time and was constantly freaking me out. I would recommend this show to anyone except for people who get scared easily. I would give this season a 5/5 star rating. “Stranger Things’ can be found on Netflix.
By: Abby Altman
*Note: This article was originally written May 20th, so obviously things have happened since
In 2021, the starting shortstop for the Minnesota Twins was Andrelton Simmons. Simmons was a previous gold glove winner, but his bat was nothing exciting, and he often brought down the Twins lineup in important games.
In 2022, the Twins now face a complete opposite issue.
After the MLB lockout, the Twins signed All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa from the Houston Astros for 3 years, with an opt-out option after each year. Correa, excluding a brief stint on the 10 day-IL (as of mid May), was batting .255, with a .721 OPS. Correa’s glove has been exceptional at shortstop, and he has been a very valuable addition to the team.
While Correa was on the IL, someone needed to fill in at the shortstop position. This is where the Twins brought in rookie shortstop Royce Lewis from AAA. Lewis was the number 1 overall draft pick in 2017. In the 11 games Lewis played with the Twins, he hit .308, with 4 doubles, 2 home runs, one of which was a grand slam, 11 RBI, and 12 runs scored.
Lewis still has a lot to learn in the big leagues, and that showed in the few mistakes he made at shortstop in his big league appearance.
Many fans are upset, however, that the Twins sent Lewis back to St. Paul and AAA upon the return of Correa.
The Twins organization stated that Lewis would be spending time at other positions, as well as shortstop while he was in AAA, to see where Lewis would fit in the Twins lineup, without having to bench Correa.
“We’re going to move him around the field a little bit, to get him a little bit of exposure at some different spots,” Baldelli said, via The Athletic. “The last thing we would want to do is start sending him all around the field to play in places where he’s literally never played a game…But he was fantastic for us.”
In his professional baseball career, Lewis has played 308 games at shortstop, 13 games at third base, 6 games in center field, and 5 games at second base.
There are not many places where the Twins are looking to replace the current fielder. Jorge Polanco has been heating up at the plate and holding second base steady.
Luis Arraez is in the most similar situation as Lewis defensively. Arraez has played third base, first base, second base, shortstop and left field since he joined the Twins. Lewis replacing Arraez is not a solution on anybody’s roster, however, as Arraez has been batting .354, with only 7 strikeouts in 113 at bats.
In his first at bat back in AAA, Lewis blasted a home run, showing once again that he does belong in the major leagues.
Since Correas’ return from the IL, he has batted .300 in the 6 games he played in. Lewis down in AAA has been batting .346 in his last 7 games.
After an apparent leg injury for right fielder Max Kepler, Lewis was once again called up to the big leagues, this time as a center fielder. Lewis played just 1 game at center field in his time in Saint Paul.
This center field debut did not last long. In the top of the 3rd inning, Emmanuel Rivera flew out sharply to deep center field. Lewis made the leaping catch at the wall, but this resulted in Lewis crashing into the wall, and leaving the game early with apparent “right knee soreness”.
The last 2 years, Lewis has been plagued with injuries, most prominent including an ACL tear on the same knee he was experiencing soreness in. More tests will be run to evaluate the degree of Lewis’s condition.
Less worrisome, but still concerning, Carlos Correa has contracted COVID and finds himself on the COVID IL.
By: Christina C
There are many different types of cookies, but I’m going to talk about why these are my favorite and why I think they are good.
My top 5 different types of cookies are: the basic chocolate chip, molasses, white chocolate macadamia nut, red velvet, salted caramel, and Oreo cheesecake.
Regular chocolate chip cookies were an accidental invention. In 1930 Ruth Graves Wakefield, ran out of baker’s chocolate and substituted it for a piece of Nestle semi sweet chocolate. I love these because they are a classic and you can never go wrong with a simple chocolate chip cookie.
Molasses are just like gingerbread cookies, and sometimes molasses is sweeter in the middle or made with sugar and molasses. They can come soft, cake form, or chewy.
White chocolate macadamia nuts are my go to when I don’t see any regular chocolate chip cookies. White chocolate chips and macadamia nuts just go together.
I feel red velvet cookies are just as good as a piece of red velvet cake, but just in cookie form and taste so much better when warm. There’s no way I can really describe them but just know that they are really good. They are kind of like chocolate chip cookies except its red velvet with white chocolate chips.
Salted caramel cookies are really good especially if you like cookies and caramel. It’s a mix of sweet, salty, and chewy. The one time I had a salted caramel cookie was at Crumble Cookies and it was pretty good to me; definitely would recommend.
Oreo cheesecake is a soft and chewy cookie filled with Oreos. These cookies can be served chilled or warm. I only had them once, and it was warm, and was very good. I love Oreo stuff like the regular cookies, Oreo ice cream, and Oreo cheesecake, so this cookie is a 10/10 for me because I like Oreo.
Overall, my favorite out of these six choices are the Oreo ones because I love Oreo flavored things, and I love cookies, so that’s my two favorite things.
For more information on types of cookies, please visit:
By: Musab Mohamud
Brief Overview:
Nike’s basketball line is a wildly successful and popular part of Nike’s global brand. With world-famous athletes such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving being the face of their brand, Nike was destined to succeed in the basketball world.
Nike has not always been the leader of the basketball shoe industry, however, that changed when they began to focus on marketing through athletes, actors, and influencers of the time.
Due to the lack of social media, these were the best ways to introduce their shoes, athletic or lifestyle apparel, and other products to the masses. Nike always found success in marketing physically and generally being an iconic brand, however, they continue to pass up a golden opportunity in social media marketing.
Rarely do you see Nike ads for their basketball products, the exception seems to be 3rd party reseller apps that advertise their own stock. Apps such as StockX, GOAT, and Stadium Goods have blown up by advertising on social media; their ads are prominent on apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Nike, while formerly miles ahead of its competitors in the aspect of basketball products; they are coming under the risk of being caught by competitors like Adidas and Puma. These two brands share the idea of signing glamorous young athletes, letting them promote themselves on their own social media platforms, and reaping the benefits. Adidas and Puma followed the Nike route to success by letting their signature athletes design their own shoes, thus making the shoe more desirable and marketable.
Nike fails to release new lines and market them on social media, which renders them vulnerable to the rising popularity of their direct competitors. Nike could solve their issues by allowing more creative freedom for their young superstars; this could convince more prospects to sign with them, and more shoe sales, which would ultimately lead to more consumer satisfaction.
Target Market and its importance.
A target market will not be difficult to find for a Nike basketball shoe. With such a widely watched and played sport, many people of different backgrounds can enjoy a wide range of Nike products. People who value performance shoes should be the main target audience, with their insistence on progress, Nike can always create new lines of shoes and further sales.
Nike continues to enjoy success at the top of the basketball shoe industry, however, their underutilization of social media could boost their competition past them. If Nike targets young people who are prominent on apps such as Instagram and YouTube, they could potentially secure them, along with their followers as customers. Nike would massively boost sales if they promoted their basketball shoes not only in their stores and on their website, but also on social media apps for impressionable, young, and trendy teens.
By: Carla Tizcareno
On Friday, May 27th, Highland Park Senior High hosted Agriculture Day. The weather was lovely but the sun was strong. There was a nice breeze too.
At the event there were so many stands, like a spot where you could make a tiny flower bouquet and many different stands to learn about nature and wildlife.
Even our lovely club Union Latina had a stand with different Latino snacks and drinks. They had chicharrones, bags of chips, and Valentina and lime to add to the snacks. They were also playing some great music on a loudspeaker.
There was also a mini petting zoo with chickens, a lamb, three snakes, two horses, and lots of adorable dogs. One of the horses was wearing a cute little unicorn horn. At one point, one of the chickens escaped, but thankfully they got it back in the cage. The snakes were circling around on peoples shoulders and passing them around to the high schoolers, it was really cool. The lamb was really calm and super friendly to everyone. The dogs were very well behaved and so lovely.
There were lots of students running the stands and telling lots of info about their nature topic.
We also welcomed the middle schoolers and elementary schoolers to join for a bit to see all of the cool sites. Some of the high school students were helping keep track of the younger kids. I had a lot of fun and I ended up going with almost all of my classes. Ultimately, the whole event was a lot of fun and I think many people really enjoyed it.
If you are interested in participating in Ag day in the future, Ms. Wedger is the teacher in charge. She helps manage the students organize the event and planning took place in her Ag leadership class.
By: Ella Sutherland & Lauren Kottke
Dwight D. Eisenhower was known as one of the most masterful army generals of his time. He was a major contributor to WW2 and the Allied victory. He never gave up on his troops and always gave them credit for all of the fighting they endured. He was also known for being very strategic. After the war, when he went home, he was proclaimed a hero.
Dwight Eisenhower became involved in the war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December, and the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, made Eisenhower go to Washington D.C. to work as a planning officer. He was already listed in the army because in WW1, he served as a military aide to General John J. Pershing. He was stationed in the Philippines at the end of WW1 and stayed there until WW2 began. He then left the Philippines after Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
Throughout the war he had many accomplishments. Eisenhower got a general star in September 1941, and was promoted to brigadier general. In November 1942 Eisenhower led Operation Torch, it was a successful Allied invasion of North Africa. The operation began on November 8, and ended on November 16, 1942. The reason for the attack was to try to relieve the pressure on the Soviet Union.
Then, in February 1943, he led his troops to face the Germans in Tunisia. His troops were getting destroyed in the battle of the Kasserine Pass, before he surrendered. There were over 6,000 casualties. The Kasserine war was the start of an attack against an Allied defensive line in Tunisia, North Africa. The loss of this battle was one of the Allies worst moments, and they suffered a major loss.
After that extreme loss he started becoming very strategic. He figured out that the problem was that the troops were not working together and that he wasn’t being a good leader. He figured his way of going about these battles was wrong in the sense that he was treating it like every man for themselves, so he changed his way of leading and they started winning more battles.
After that, he directed the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland in 1943, that led to the fall of the Italian regime and the fall of Mussolini in June 1944. In this battle, the U.S. and Great Britain successfully attacked and made German and Italian troops leave Sicily, and then planned to attack the Italian mainland.
Later, in 1943, Eisenhower was made Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and he was in charge of leading U.S. troops into Europe for the battle of D-Day. D-Day took place on June 6, 1944, when many U.S. troops landed in Normandy, France trying to free Western Europe from Nazi Germany.
After the war ended Eisenhower became president of the United States of America, and while he was serving as president he prevented America from going into any more wars. Also, while he was president he worked on making peace with Korea and ended up making a truce with them. He started trying to ease the after effects of the Cold War and was for the most part, successful.
All throughout the war Eisenhower led the U.S. through many battles and won a great amount of them. In the end, his contribution to the war, and the U.S., helped the Allied powers win the war. Every battle he helped lead, that won, put the Allied side at an advantage and helped lead to the end of the war when the Allied powers won.
Plaid Line 