11 | February | 2025 | Plaid Line + PRIZM + Scottie News

By: Maggie Hong

‘As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow’ is a historical fiction novel by Zoulfa Katouh. It takes place during the Syrian Revolution, following the main character Salama as she fights for love, peace, and a way out of her wartorn country.

Salama is 18 years old and has only one year of pharmacy training, but she works every day as a surgeon at the hospital in Old Homs. She treats bombing victims, people caught in sniper fire, and children who had the misfortune of playing on a street set to be the next site of revolution. As these experiences shape Salama’s worldview, they also skew her perception of reality. She wants to escape Syria, but can’t bring herself to abandon her family, her history, and her country.

Katouh’s writing is lyrical and vivid, lacing the story with the scents of lemons and smoke on every page. Characters are strong and nuanced, speaking with unique voices and formed by pasts which are slowly revealed throughout the novel. As Salama survives war and tragedy, her relationships with Layla, her best friend, and Kenan, a boy she was almost engaged to, deepen and twist in expert form.

I cried, laughed, and learned as I read this book. Its final plot twist left me at a loss for words, and the book as a whole renewed my hope in the world and the ability of humans to survive.

This book is especially relevant now, as Syria enters a new phase of its revolution. With the fall of the Assad regime in December, the world is watching a victory for freedom.

‘As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow’ is an enthralling and beautiful reminder of how far we’ve come, and why it matters.

This book is definitely a favorite of mine, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction or a chance to slip into a new world. I would give this book a 9/10.

By: Ian Larson

Fast food companies have had their fair share of controversies. They have had problems with their food, leaders, ads, and more. Controversy can ruin companies completely, but these chains are still popular today.

McDonald’s had a controversy once because their coffee was too hot. A woman sued McDonald’s for almost 3 million dollars over their hot coffee being too hot. This case actually became pretty popular because of how ridiculous it sounds. It turns out that multiple people were actually injured because of how hot the coffee was. Stella Liebeck, the woman who was suing McDonald’s got 3rd degree burns from spilling the coffee and actually got hospitalized. McDonald’s decided to lower how hot their coffee is served to prevent future injuries.

There were people claiming that Taco Bell’s beef was only 35% meat. This would mean that their beef wouldn’t actually be beef according to USDA standards. However, Taco Bell quickly disproved these claims in their marketing, but this didn’t erase what people thought and they still have a reputation for fake meat.

Papa John’s is a fast food chain loved by many, but it turns out that “Papa John” wasn’t such a great guy after all. John Schnatter, AKA Papa John, was confirmed to have used the N-word on a conference call. John Schnatter decided to resign because of all of the hate coming towards him. This event scarred Papa John’s and made a lot of people think negatively about the chain.

One of the craziest controversies in fast food history was Krispy Kreme making poor choices with the letters they used. The donut shop Krispy Kreme decided to create a donut decorating club in the UK that they called the “Krispy Kreme Klub”. They promoted it to people calling it “KKK Wednesdays”. The abbreviation “KKK” is more often used to refer to the Ku Klux Klan, a hate group in the US. This promotion was made in the UK and was definitely unintentional but still was a very bad look for the company.