All posts by HPSH Plaid Line

COVID-19, Science/Nature

What is RSV, the third disease in the rumored “triple-pandemic?”

Leave a comment

By: Ann McMullen

RSV refers to respiratory syncytial virus. This illness shares some similarities with the flu: they both affect the respiratory system (nose, throat, and lungs) and generally occur during late fall through early spring.

Who does this virus affect?

Anyone can be infected, but RSV is the most common and dangerous in children under two years old.

How do I know if I have RSV? Is there a cure?

The virus often presents itself as a cold, with symptoms such as fever, cough, and congestion. However, it can lead to more severe conditions. In fact, RSV is the leading cause in young children of pneumonia and bronchiolitis – a lung inflammation disease quite similar to bronchitis.

Patients can be tested for RSV, but there is no cure for it and antibiotics do not help treat the virus. Thankfully, it tends to clear up by itself within a week or so.

And, what is this “triple-pandemic?”

Americans are referring to influenza, COVID-19, and RSV as a “tripledemic,” as all three of them are quite prevalent in the United States right now. Flu cases always spike in the fall, but they’re even higher than usual this year. With COVID restrictions now greatly loosened, cases are expected to rise in the coming months. RSV wasn’t much of an issue for the past two years because a large portion of people still wore masks. This year, however, cases are greatly increasing, which is more than likely also a result of the lifting of COVID restrictions and people using less caution towards viruses overall.

To best protect yourself from RSV, the CDC advises that you should thoroughly wash your hands, cover your cough, and avoid close contact with people who appear to be ill.

For more information on RSV and the triple-pandemic, please visit

Books/Art

‘Chalice of the Gods’, let’s talk about it

Leave a comment

By: Abisola Dosunmu

On October 18, 2022, Rick Riordan posted on his blog the new book he’s planning on releasing sometime next year, ‘Chalice of the Gods’. The book plans on following the original trio (for the first time since 2010) from Percy’s POV, and Percy’s quest to get into college. This plot only makes sense when Rick Riordan writes it.

As many PJO fans know,  there’s an upcoming live action adaptation to the Percy Jackson series (featuring Walker Scobell as Percy, Leah Jeffries as Annabeth, and Aryan Simhadri as Grover). This book release is a direct tie to that, as Rick himself admitted to.

Many readers have varying opinions about this new book. Some fans are excited about this new book. PJO fan always-reading-fantasy wrote: I’m so glad we’re getting another book from Percy’s point of view because I’ve really missed seeing the random things that go through his head sometimes lol.

Some are more skeptical about it. Another PJO fan olympusrox wrote: Riordan. I love you. But please stop blasting out books in the pjo universe unless it’s either a continuation of the Daughter of the Deep book, a short mcga novel or a short kane chronicles novel. Stop putting Percy in unnecessary situations. We have fan fiction for that.

Some fans would claim it’s a publicity grab, and they would be right as Rick himself confirmed it. Over a decade later, however, he writes, I figured such a book would not only be fun to write once again — it would promote the show and vice versa. Everybody would win!  He finished on his blog with news Chalice will be coming out shortly before the PJO adaptation starts.

This isn’t the only book Rick plans on releasing. This spring, ‘The Sun and the Star’, a Nico di Angelo and Will Solace novella, will be released.

I get where a lot of fans come from with being mad about the “publicity grab” and that’s valid, but I don’t think it’s that bad. I mean, it happens a lot in the media when there’s an on screen adaptation about to be released, and it’s a good idea since it catches the attention of the fans and makes them more excited to watch the show. Rick isn’t the first to do it. He won’t be the last.

For more PJO related news, please visit:

Editorials/Student Voice

How many conspiracy theories are rooted in anti-semitism

Leave a comment

By: Irene Cohen

Anti-semitic hate crimes have almost tripled since 2015 after being on the decline for 15 years up until 2016. Even though these anti-semitic conspiracies have been around for hundreds of years, the hate being millenia old, something has popularized them so much, so the Jews in America, and all over the world, are being directly affected by this rhetoric.

The most prevalent trope among these conspiracies are that a tiny portion of the population, Jews, run the world. Antisemites believe that Jews are controlling the media, economy, government, and politics overall. In broad strokes, they believe Jewish people have gained money by being greedy and only interacting/doing business with other Jews. A large example of this is the Rothschild conspiracy. This conspiracy says that the wealthy Rothschild family, and Ashkenazi banking family, runs the global economy and manipulates politics into whatever they want it to be.

These conspiracies have not only originated in modern day times. In the 14th century, the conspiracy of Jewish people poisoning water wells to cause the Black Death was spread. Jewish people are often blamed for world tragedies as a scapegoat.

A phrase that is often used when describing this so called power that Jews have over the world is “hidden hand”. This is a phrase that more or less states that Jewish people are the puppetmasters of world events. This is one of the main rhetorics that allowed the Nazi party to take control of Germany. Antisemites believe that Jewish people are above them in a social/economic place in the world, yet they also believe them to be subhuman. This attitude allows them to think they are being righteous when punching down on Jewish people.

Be careful when looking into conspiracy theories. It’s easier to fall down that rabbit-hole of anti-semitism than you think.

For more information, please visit:

Movies/TV/Theaters

HYBE: New girl group NewJeans

Leave a comment

By: Stephanie Caballero Benitez

K-pop, is a music genre that has gained lots of attention and popularity. In this article I will be discussing the newest group of HYBE: NewJeans. 

HYBE is currently one of the biggest ruling companies in the K-pop industry. HYBE was founded in 2005 by the current chairman Bang Si-Hyuk. HYBE, back then known as “Big Hit Entertainment” was a very unsuccessful company. The company only started gaining popularity in the year 2015 with their K-pop group BTS which is a worldwide known boy group. Since then the company has taken many talented people and turned them into what are called “K-pop group Idols”. 

The group NewJeans debuted on July 22, 2022. This girl group began their pre-debut around October of the year 2019. After 3 years of training, HYBE began to announce the debut of their new group. Their debut song “Attention”, for the album ‘New Jeans’, came out on the same day as their debut, July 22. 

The song “Attention” gained popularity quickly just as the group did. Some people believe that this is because of the company they are under. Others believe that they have talent and gained their platform by their own talent. With people stating their opinions online on the group it had begun to gain more popularity.

Later on, more songs for their debut album ‘New Jeans’ came out. It consisted of 4 songs: 

  • Attention
  • Hype boy
  • Cookie
  • Hurt 

Out of all of the songs in the album “Hybe Boy” and “Attention” have done the best as they were used by K-pop fans on ‘Tik Tok’ which made them well known. Their songs made it to the Billboard Global chart with “Attention” at No. 82 and “Hype Boy” at No. 116. 

NewJeans consists of 5 members: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein. This group is made out of girls with a wide range of age, with their youngest member being 14 and their oldest 18. 

Just as other K-pop groups, NewJeans sold a physical album. Theirs was a little different as it didn’t come in a box but instead in a bag that came in colors red, white, and black. Their album bag consists of the bag, a pin-up book, a CD, and photo cards. 

Overall, this girl group has done very well in the K-pop industry considering their age and how short of time their pre-debut was.

For more information, please visit: 

Volleyball

Overview of the Highland Park Volleyball season

Leave a comment

By: Grace Blumer-LaMotte

Image taken from: HPSH Volleyball Instagram

The Highland Park volleyball season started on August 22nd, 2022. It continued until October 18th, 2022, when they lost in the semi-finals against Two Rivers High School. 

Varsity consisted of these players: Grace Blumer-LaMotte (Senior, #10), Grace Adrian (Senior #12), Sunshine Vang (Senior #3)), Bella Kottke (Senior #18), Ayana Bougie (Senior #13), Leila Hagedorn (Senior #27), Kate Reubish (Junior #11), Alyssa Ramos (Junior #2), Molly Hanley (Junior #9), Ella Johnson (Junior 1), Mary Koch (Sophomore #14), Ella Sutherland (Sophomore #6). Varsity is coached by Sonje Odegard (Head).

The Two Rivers game was the end of the great season that Highland had. They lost the match 3-1. 

Highland went the season with 14 wins and 11 losses. 

Team Attack Stats: Highland got a combined total of 722 kills throughout the whole season. They had 432 attack errors, 2,330 total attack attempts, hit a .124 hitting percentage, and had 6.4 kills per set.

Team Serve Stats: Highland had a total of 217 service aces, 129 service errors, 1.9 service aces per set, and a .917 service percentage.

Team Defensive Stats: Highland got a combined total of 1,121 digs, averaging 9.9 digs per set.

General Team Stats: Highland had 12 ball-handling errors and played 113 sets.

Bella Kottke, the starting middle hitter, had a total of 233 kills this year, the highest number of kills on the team. Kottke also had 81 attack errors. She hit a .303 attack percentage and averaged 3.1 kills per set. She also had 21 service aces.

Kate Reubish, a right-side hitter, had a total of 130 kills this year, 104 attack errors, a .059 hitting percentage, and averaged 1.8 kills her set. She also had 17 service aces.

Molly Hanley, a right-side hitter, had a total of 121 kills this year, 104 attack errors, a .038 hitting percentage, and averaged 1.6 kills per set. She also had 41 service aces.

Mary Koch, another middle hitter, had a total of 95 kills this year, 48 attack errors, a .164 hitting percentage, and averaged 1.3 kills per set. She also had 3 service aces.

Ella Sutherland, an outside hitter, had a total of 59 kills this year, 43 attack errors, a .054 hitting percentage, and averaged 1.1 kills per set. She also had 3 service aces.

Ayana Bougie, the setter, had a total of 46 kills this year, 10 attack errors, a .228 hitting percentage, and averaged 0.6 kills per set. She also had 41 service aces.

Ella Johnson, another outside hitter, had a total of 27 kills this year, 31 attack errors, and averaged 1.0 kills per set.

Grace Adrian, another outside hitter, had a total of 8 kills this year, 6 attack errors, a .061 hitting percentage, and averaged 1.0 kills per set.

Leila Hagedorn, another right-side hitter, had a total of 3 kills this year, 5 attack errors, and averaged 0.4 kills per set.

Grace Blumer-LaMotte was unfortunately out for the season due to a season-ending injury to her shins.

Fashion/Make-Up

Iris Van Herpen’s debut couture collection

Leave a comment

By: Emilia Moberg

Iris Van Herpen is a Dutch designer, born in 1984, in the small town of Wamel, Netherlands. In her youth, she enjoyed painting and dance before being introduced to fashion as an art form in high school. During those formative years, Van Herpen learned the building blocks of fashion design, which inspired her to pursue an education at the Artez Institute of the Arts Arnhem. Her influences include Alexander McQueen and Claudy Jongstra, whom she interned for before starting her own brand in 2007. 

Since then, Van Herpen’s style has been defined by a futuristic, fantastical, sci-fi use of non-conventional materials, including 3-D printed garments. She has collaborated with a variety of other designers, artists and choreographers whom have further inspired her unique sensibility. Her work has been featured in the MET in New York City and the Royal Museum in Toronto, and has received various other accolades. 

One of the notable collections out of her repertoire is her debut couture collection, Capriole. It was presented during Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2011. The show contains highlights from previous collections, but the heart of the show revolves around 5 new designs. These designs are intended to convey the feeling one experiences “Just before and during a free-fall parachute jump”. 

The first of these designs is a tangled knot of black plastic tentacles formed into a the shape of a mini dress. According to Van Herpen, the piece is a representation of one’s state of mind before skydiving. The three dresses to follow utilize geometric shards of black and translucent plastic material, which sculpt and expand from the models body. The collection’s final dress, called “The Skeleton Dress”, was created through 3-D printing technology. The dress loosely follows the structure of a human skeleton, with abstract ribs, spine and hip bones. Van Herpen likens the garment to the feeling of being “turned inside out” while falling through the air. 

Advice/How To

What type of guitar should you buy?

Leave a comment

By: Domingo Basso

Okay, so you might be planning to buy a guitar at some point in the future but you have no idea what to buy because of the sheer variety of them. Well, hopefully after reading this you’ll at least have a little bit of a better Idea of what you might buy. 

First things first, we gotta start from the beginning, that being: what type of guitar you even want. Whether that is an acoustic, electric, bass, there’s a bit to unpack here. So, let’s go over what each of these different types of guitars even are and what separates them from each other.

The main types of guitar are: Classical guitar, Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, and Bass guitar.

A quick disclaimer beforehand: all of these instruments can be modified and can vastly vary in sound and shape due to the sheer variety of them, but I’ll tell you what each instrument ‘typically’ is like.

The Acoustic guitar is a guitar that typically has 6 metal strings. It is known for being unlike most other guitars in the sense that it requires no electricity or power of any sort to play properly. This also makes it one of the cheapest and least maintenance options for a guitar due to you not needing to worry about as many parts to keep the guitar functioning properly.

The Classical guitar is very similar to the acoustic guitar in many ways including the fact that it too requires no external power in order to operate properly. But, what separates this from the acoustic guitar is the fact that the strings are generally made of nylon (a type of plastic) giving it its own unique sound from the acoustic.

Right from the get go, you’ll probably be able to tell that the bass guitar is the oddest out of the bunch, even from just its appearance alone. Bass guitars typically have only 4 thick strings and are noticeably lengthier than other guitars. But, what truly differentiates them from the other guitars is the type of sound that they produce and how you typically play them. Bass guitars are known for having a lower end sound like a WAY lower pitched sound, hence why the strings are so much thicker than those of other guitars. You also play bass guitars a little differently from other guitars in the sense that you usually play individual notes rather than multiple at once. This allows the bass to be a pretty solid instrument to start off with from a difficulty standpoint, but trust me when I say that mastering this instrument will still be just as challenging as the others.

Finally, the electric guitar. The electric guitar is the guitar with the most reputation and it deserves most of the credit that it gets. The electric guitar is one of the most versatile instruments on the planet due to the fact that it is built similarly to the acoustic but because of its electronic properties, it can create a much more assertive sound. It also has the ability to play mellower sounds giving it a very dynamic range. The only drawback really, for this instrument, is the monetary cost of maintaining it and purchasing the necessary parts.

I hope that my insight on each of these instruments will help you at least a little bit in deciding what to buy (and as a bass player I’m not telling you to buy the bass guitar buuuut I totally am telling you to do that so go buy a bass ASAP).

For more information, please visit:

Advice/How To

Date places in St. Paul and Minneapolis

Leave a comment

By: Ayamei Her

Here in Minnesota, I always find it hard to find places to go for dates that would be fun, affordable, and a good place to take good photos. Here are a couple of great places to take someone out on a date that are not only fun, but affordable and accessible. 

The first place is Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, yes the art center with the giant spoon and cherry. Not only is it perfect to look at beautiful art with the person you like, but they also have an interactive room which they change every now and then.

The art center also has a 360 experience where a quartet plays that you can also watch along with films including music, sensory mini golf, short film showings, and so much more.

The prices for tickets are affordable ranging from $0-$15. Adults being $15, seniors (62+) being $13, students being $10, active military being $7.50, and EBT cardholders being $2.

The statues outside are beautiful to look at and a good walk near the center to talk and take pictures. The price to go to look at the statues are free! You get to walk around to look at the unique structures and read about who made them and what they symbolize.

If you want to take great pictures and still have a good time, I would recommend going to the Como Conservatory and Zoo. Not only is it free but the conservatory has beautiful plants to see and it has beautiful scenery for photos.

During the summer the conservatory has a beautiful and amazing Japanese garden where you can walk through and read all about the plants and their origins. The zoo has many animals with interactive activities to do while you’re there.

The zoo also holds events like animal shows or showing off their famous sloth which people love to see with other animals as the sloth sometimes gets moved around to peacefully hangout with other animals in their exhibits.

The center itself has held many events like Gardener Talks, The Spire Sparky show, Adventure Day, Bonfires, Winter carnivals and so much more.

At the Como Conservatory and Zoo, they also have a Como Town which includes rides and games kind of like a county fair, which unfortunately, like the conservatory and zoo, is not free. Ticket prices are as follows: Unlimited Ride Wristband (Includes one Soaring Eagle Zip Ride) — $27.95

Little Tykes Unlimited Ride Wristband (under 42 inches tall) (does not include Soaring Eagle Zip Ride) – $21.95

Star Light Saver Wristband (after 4 p.m.) — $19.95

Adult Unlimited Ride Wristband (18 yrs+) — $13.95

Season Pass (Includes two Soaring Eagle Zip Rides) —  Unlimited $82.95

Season Pass (under 40 inches tall) — Unlimited $69.95

Individual Points

 Point  $0.50

Tiger: 40 Points $19.98

Sparky: 55 Points  $25

Giraffe: 80 Points $35

Polar Bear: 115 Points $50

Books/Art

‘Until They Bring the Streetcars Back’

Leave a comment

By: Leticia Buggs-Sam

‘Until They Bring the Streetcars Back’ serves up a nostalgic journey through the streets of post war, 1949, Saint Paul, those wistful days of sodas, big band music, and burning leaves.

A harmless prank, a chance conversation, and Cal Gant stumbles onto cruelty, incest, and murder when he attempts to save a girl, named Gretchen, from her abusive home.

‘Until They Bring the Streetcars Back’ is about teenagers and how their lives are in and out of school, and what they go through on a daily basis.

Gretchen is one of the characters where she’s so not social with people at school or anywhere, and where she has a very abusive home and a strict dad. Her dad does not let her talk to boys. And when she met Cal, she was afraid that she would get in trouble from her dad.

Gretchen also had a crush on Cal but Cal had a crush on somebody else at the time. Gretchen and Cal talk to each other everyday. At first it was hard because Cal was popular and Gretchen wasn’t. People started to say that Cal and Gretchen were together and they started to make fun of their relationship/friendship. The people in school are like that because they know that Cal can do better and find a better girl, and they just think that Gretchen is weird.

While I was reading this book, I had the following questions:

I thought she was not allowed to talk to boys?
Yes, she’s not allowed to, that’s what made their friendship/relationship so secret from her dad because she was afraid of what her dad would do to her. So, Gretchen and Cal started to make a plan to meet in secret on when to do it, how, and where. And from there, friendship started.

Who was the girl he liked if not Gretchen?
He liked a girl named Lola. In the book you can see that for homecoming he did not take Gretchen out to homecoming but instead he took someone else. And in the begging of the book he claims that he does not like Gretchen, he likes Lola and that’a what he told his friends.

Cal is another character that struggles with things from home and school, his parents fight but they’re still together. Cal is an athlete that plays football and basketball. He was having some difficult times because he got caught up in Gretchen’s problems at home.

Another difficult time is where he tries to get his dad to come to his games. His dad always says “Yes” or “I don’t know” or “Just no, I’m too busy with work”. He never ends up going, and it shows that how much Cal wants to hang out with his dad more and make memories with his him.

And another difficult time is when his mom said stay out of people’a business it’a not your problem and their’s. Well, he had a difficult time with that when he met Gretchen and got sucked into her problems at home.

In the end, it was a good book and I would give it 4/5.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Scream Queens’ season 2 review

Leave a comment

By: Semaj Carter

‘Scream Queens’ is a show about sorority girls named Chanel Oberlin, Chanel #3, and Chanel #5 They were named this because Chanel couldn’t remember their names. I also think it’s a sense of ownership and an example of how Chanel sees the world.

*Warning: spoilers ahead*

Season 2 opens up as a recap of season 1. The season was about the “Red Devil Killer”, who chased down the sorority girls and killed their “friends”. One of them, was Hester Ulrich, who was behind the Red Devil Killings, and framed the Chanel’s, who then were sent to a mental hospital.

I think the first season shows the privilege of the Channels as white women because Chanel murdered the housemaid for the sorority house and got bailed out immediately without questions or punishments. The Chanel’s get a job as doctors and get to have their TV show even though they’ve never studied or majored in a medical university. A quote from one of the characters named Wes Gardner, kind of explains it all “Even if they fail they succeed”.

One thing I would like to address is that they treat Chanel #5 like she is not logical or she’s so weird and crazy, which I know is just for comedic relief, but I just find it so entertaining how she’s the only person that’s the closest to normal and everyone treats her like she’s not.

A mystery about this show that has been bothering me for a while is that Chanel #3 hides her ears with earmuffs and I have always wondered what is so bad about her ears that she has to hide them.

I think this show should’ve gotten a season 3. I might be wrong, but I heard many people say that it got canceled yet when I research it online it says a season 3 is coming out. I can agree with people when they say that Chanel is a very horrible person, she’s racist, ableist, and very self-centered, the only reason I like her as a character is that she’s the most authentic and interesting one besides Kathy Munch, A.K.A Dean Munch, one very underrated character. I also think another character that deserved a lot more screen time is Zayday Williams, played by Keke Palmer. I fell in love with her character ever since she first appeared on the show.

You could tell the writers didn’t care much about Zayday and when they got tired of writing for her character they just kidnapped her. In the first season, she was kidnapped by the Red Devil Killer, and in the second season, she is kidnapped by the Green Meanie who was just a copycat of the iconic Red Devil.

Anyways, this is my quick opinion the ‘Scream Queen’ characters in season 2. I hope this article made sense and helped you form your own opinion of the characters and such. Overall, I would give it a 6/10. If you want to watch ‘Scream Queens’ it is available on Hulu.