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Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Senior Year

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Image taken from: https://ahs.newtoncountyschools.org/
news/announcements_-_williams/class_of_2022_information

As we gear up for our final moments in high school, many of us are excited and nervous about the next chapters of our life whether we decide to go to college, take a gap year, or do other things. There is a lot to think about during your senior year in terms of classes, careers, and colleges. It’s also an important time to make memories and have fun. Here are some things to look forward to for your senior year.

  • Prom – Prom is the most exciting event that most high school seniors look forward to, after graduation. As prom comes around we are excited to show our friends what we are going to wear and the pictures we are excited to take with our friends. Prom allows us to celebrate and create memories with our friends.
  • Freedom – Senior year provides a lot of freedom, most seniors take easy classes during their final year and get the opportunity to leave early, or arrive at school late, if they are all caught up on their credits.
  • Senior skip day – Senior skip day is celebrated in most schools in America. It’s when seniors get to skip a day of school and do something with their friends.
  • Senior all night party – After graduation, and after you go out with your family to celebrate, you come back to school one last time and hang out with your friends all night at school.
  • Graduation day – Graduation day is what you have looked forward to since your freshman year. After working hard in your classes and applying to colleges, you’ll be able to graduate with a clear mind!

My senior year of high school was fun. It was great to make memories with my friends that may go their separate ways after graduation. I enjoyed all the fun things we did during the year and I look forward to walking across the stage to get my high school diploma and go on to the next chapter of my life. Congratulations class of 2022!

Events, Fashion/Make-Up

Met Gala 2022

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Image taken from: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.insider.com/blake-lively-met-gala-outfit-2022-5%3famp

The 2022 Met Gala is held every year, on the first Monday of May, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The theme this year was “The Gilded Glamour”. Celebrities were encouraged to wear something from the late 19th century with a modern spin on it. 

Kim Kardashian wore a Marilyn Monroe dress, the dress she wore in 1962 when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. Kim wore the dress with a white fur coat and walked the carpet with her new boyfriend, Pete Davidson, wearing a Dior suit. Even though this was an iconic dress it wasn’t on theme.

Jodie Turner-Smith wore a Gucci gown and Stuart Weitzman heels. She went full 1920s; she was dressed in a fringed leotard with a full skirt. Her makeup was on point, and it embraced the era, but her outfit wasn’t on theme. 

Gigi Hadid wore a Versace suit and Chopard jewelry. She wore a burgundy latex catsuit and paired it with a  huge, floor-length puffer coat. Her outfit was all about volumes which went with the theme of Gilded Glamour.

Khloe Kardashian made her first appearance ever at the Met Gala, she wore a Moschino floor-length glittering gold gown. She completed the look with gold sunglasses and a long-sleeve black coat with black gloves. Her look was okay. The gloves matched up with the theme, but the outfit and gloves didn’t pair well together. 

The best dress of the night was Blake Lively, she knows how to make an entrance. She went with one of her go-to brands for the red carpet Atelier Versace, in a design inspired by New York City. The star arrived in a shimmering, rose gold, gown with a bow attached to the side. This idea was based on Manhattan’s intricate architecture and the Empire State Building. Her second look was revealed halfway up the red carpet stairs when the bow on the skirt was untied to reveal a cascading blue train, which was designed to inspire the decor of Grand Central station. The crown she wore symbolized the Statue of Liberty, which has seven rays. When ask about her look she said that “Instead of looking to fashion to influence the dress, I looked to New York City architecture and the classic buildings.”

Movies/TV/Theaters

Netflix losing subscribers

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Image taken from: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/02/netflix-to-acquire-next-games-the-studio-behind-stranger-things-game.html

Since Netflix launched, it has had over 222 million subscribers in over 190 countries. It is one of the world’s leading entertainment services that includes: TV series, documentaries, and feature films. Subscribers can play, pause, and resume watching, all without commercials. 

Netflix has reported that they are losing subscribers for the first time in a decade, which brings their total subscriber total down to 221.64 million. It has also been reported that they will lose another 2 million subscribers before the end of June.

Due to losing subscribers, Netflix has begun firing employees that work on Tudum, a pop culture website that markets Netflix programs. The Tudum website launched last December 

 Experts have given reasons for why this is taking place. Netflix has increased its price, leaving subscribers to pay a third more than they were less than two years ago for the same service. For the people who share passwords with family members, Netflix has stricter controls with the hope that those sharing passwords will turn into subscribers. 

Netflix has released a letter that says, 

“Sharing passwords likely helped fuel our growth by getting more people using and enjoying Netflix. And we’ve always tried to make sharing within a member’s household easy, with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been very popular, they’ve created confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared with other households.”

But, Netflix continued in the letter, the free rides — the company estimates more than 30 million accounts are sharing their passwords in the U.S. and Canada — aren’t going to continue indefinitely. One solution currently being tested in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru is paid sharing plans.

“There’s a broad range of engagement when it comes to sharing households from high to occasional viewing,” the company said in the letter. “So while we won’t be able to monetize all of it right now, we believe it’s a large short- to mid-term opportunity.”

I feel that they have increased their price without upgrading it like adding new shows, and adding more features to it. Also, if they keep the shows people like on there they wouldn’t be losing so many members. For example, ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’ recently left Netflix for Peacock.

Netflix losing subscribers also contributes to them canceling shows and not renewing them for another season. ‘Julie and the Phantoms’ is one of the cancelled shows that upset many on TikTok. The fact that you often have to wait a year or more for a new season of a show, also doesn’t help.

The upcoming addition of commercials seems like just another reason why people will want to cancel their subscriptions. Overall, Netflix should stay away from commercials and keep shows people like.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Netflix shows to watch

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Image taken from: https://www.google.com/amp/s/filmschoolrejects.com/best-netflix-original-series-ranked/%3famp

Netflix has a wide variety of movies, TV-shows, documentaries, anime, and Netflix Originals. Here are some of my favorites that I recommend you watch: 

  1. ‘Bridgerton’- This series is created by Chris Van Dusen. The first season of the show follows Daphne Bridgerton, the daughter of the most powerful Bridgerton family. She makes her debut in front of the Queen of London hoping to find a marriage partner. The second season follows Lord Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest and the Viscount of the family who sets out to find a suitable wife.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpv7ayf_tyE

  1. ‘Ginny and Georgia’ – This is a Netflix Original about a family of three: Ginny, Georgia, and Austin Miller who move to a new town. Georgia is the mother of Ginny, who she had when she was a teenager, and then she had Austin a couple of years later. The series follows the secrets Georgia keeps, and how Ginny and Austin struggle to adjust to moving into a new town and school 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e34_mMhe4WQ

  1. ‘Dynasty’ – This show is about Fallon Carrington, a rich businesswoman who is hoping to take over her father’s company as COO. But instead of a promotion, she was surprised with a new stepmother, who works at her father’s company, and who her father gave the COO promotion to.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq0soWMpkv8

  1. ‘All American’ – The show is inspired by a true story of NFL Super Bowl Champion, Spencer Paysinger. The show is about a young high school football player named Spencer James, from Crenshaw, whose dreams are to play in the NFL. He got offered the opportunity of a lifetime by a Beverly Hill’s coach to come to play for him, and he will help him get to the NFL and become an All American.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIaujmoukqU

  1. ‘One Day at a Time’ – This show follows a Cuban family of a divorced military mom, her teenage daughter, and son, and their Grandma living  in the same house battling their daily life. This is one of the network shows that got cancelled and then then picked up by Netflix. It is now cancelled by Netflix though too.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vynbZLtqOiE

National

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

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Image taken from: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com
/2022/03/24/style/ketanji-brown-jackson-daughter-photo.amp.html

Justice Breyer has announced that he will be retiring from the Supreme Court and President Biden has nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace him. In a statement, Biden said, “I select a nominee worthy of Justice Breyer’s legacy of excellence and decency someone extremely qualified, with a brilliant legal mind, with the utmost character and integrity, which are equally as important.”

Ketanji Brown Jackson was born in Washington D.C. but grew up in Miami. During her childhood her father attended law school and her mom was a teacher. Her love for the law traced back to when she sat next to her father in their apartment as he tackled his law school homework – reading cases and preparing for Socratic questioning.

In high school, she was a speech and debate star. When she told her guidance counselor that she wanted to attend Harvard law school, they told her not to set her “Sights so high.” Despite their warning, she went to Harvard University, and then later attended Harvard Law School, where she graduated Cum Laude and was an editor of the ‘Harvard Law Review’.

After law school she served as a Judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Then, President Obama nominated her to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She again was nominated by President Obama to serve as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and she also served as a public defender for those who couldn’t pay for a lawyer. She also was a Supreme Court clerk under Justice Breyer.

Her confirmation hearing lasted four days; she was asked questions from Republicans and Democrats about her qualifications. Most Republicans questioned her on critical race theory, cultural issues, and children’s books. Few Republicans brought up her intelligence and qualifications for the job. Democrats brought up how she is making history. At the end of the hearing, Judge Jackson said that “She hopes to inspire people to try to follow this path.”

The Senate will vote on her confirmation, on April 4, and after that, the full Senate will hold a vote.

Almost all the students here at Highland that I talked to, feel that Kentaji Brown Jackson is the most qualified out of all the Supreme Court judges because of her outstanding resume of being a public defender, serving as vice-chair, and serving on the District Court. They also feel it is time for the African American community to be more represented on the Supreme court, and that by her being confirmed she would be historical and inspire young girls around the world to be whatever they want to be.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Anna Sorokin

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Image taken from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/anna-sorokin-delvey-scam-heiress-socialite-german-new-york-shonda-rhimes-a8907256.html?amp

Anna Sorokin is a Russian-born woman from Germany. Sorokin was born in Russia and moved to Germany when she was young. She later moved to Paris for an internship for the European art and culture magazine ‘Purple’, and relocated to New York in 2014.

Sorokin was sent to jail in 2019 for stealing over $200,000. Sorokin passed herself off as a German heiress by the name of Anna Delavey, with a net worth of 67 million dollars. She defrauded socialites, financial institutions, and hotels.

She was sentenced to jail on eight counts: three counts of grand larceny, and one count of attempted grand larceny. She was released in February 2021, on good behavior and six weeks later she was arrested again for overstaying her visa.

The Netflix series ‘Inventing Anna’ is a nine-part episode created by Shonda Rhimes. The episode starts with a disclaimer “This whole story is completely true. Except for all the parts that are made up.” The show follows the journalist Jessica Pressler, who worked for ‘New York Magazine’, as she investigates Sorokin’s story. The series attempts to tell her story through her friends, or people who thought they were. 

The show shows how Sorokin was able to scam everyone. Her character is portrayed as a visionary who wants to become a businesswoman. The series shows her as a smart woman and genius, but also a master manipulator, a liar, and a hustler who took advantage of others’ kindness.

After the release of the show, she was either loved or hated by the world. Some see her as a hero who felt that the rich got what they deserved, and for others, they felt sorry for the people she scammed. Despite being proven guilty, she said her Anna Delavey Foundation was legit, and that she is not a dumb socialite but a businesswoman.

To watch the Netflix trailer for ‘Inventing Anna’, please visit:

Getting To Know/History

Black History Month

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Image taken from: https://time.com/4197928/history-black-history-month/

Hope you had a great Black History Month. In February, we as a nation, celebrate African Americans for their contribution to society and their accomplishments. In 1964 author James Baldwin wrote about his time in school. He wrote: “I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that that history had been taught without cognizance of my presence.” His thoughts about the lack of the teaching of Black history spread. 

Nearly half a century earlier, the celebration of Black History Month began in the year 1926 as a week-long celebration created by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Woodson is referred to as the “Father of Black History” by many. 

While Woodson was earning his master’s degree he witnessed how underrepresented African Americans were in history books and how it was taught to students. 

In 1926, Woodson launched “Negro History Week.” He choose the second week in February to celebrate so he could include Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass’s birthdays. He wanted African Americans to be proud of where they came from and their heritage. 

After the launch of Negro History Week, schools worldwide organized local celebrations, established history clubs, and hosted performances and lectures. Decades after its creation, mayors in the country recognized Negro History Week.

During the Civil Rights movement, it evolved from Negro History Week to Black History Month. President Ford issued the first message on the observance of Black History Month. Presidents Carter and Reagan continued the tradition of celebrating African American contributions in their messages to the American people. In the month leading up to Black History Month, each president endorses a specific theme. This year’s theme was: “Black Health and Wellness,” which explored the legacy of Black scholars and medical practitioners.

According to BLS Educational Technology’s website, today we celebrate Black History Month by: supporting Black-owned businesses; learning about noteworthy Black figures and their contributions; donating to charities that support anti-racism, equity and equality; purchasing, reading, and sharing books by Black authors; supporting and learning about Black women; participating in online events, and attending Black History Month celebrations.

For more information, please visit:

News

Former Miss USA Chelsie Kryst died by suicide

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Image taken from: https://m.clclt.com/charlotte/charlotte-nc-7-things-to-know-about-miss-usa-cheslie-kryst/Content?oid=14656858

Former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst, died by suicide on January 30, 2022. Kryst was a lawyer who helped to reform America’s justice system. She was also a fashion blogger, and a host on Extra. The New York Police Department has reported she jumped from the top of her apartment building in Manhattan.

Her family has put out a statement saying: “In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our beloved Cheslie, her great light inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength. She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined.”

Kryst started her career as a teenager when she entered the Miss Northwestern Pageant, and in 2019 when she was crowned Miss North Carolina. She then competed in Miss USA and won, becoming the oldest contestant to ever win. Later that year, she represented the United States in the Miss Universe Pageant, where she finished in the top 10.

Kryst was an advocate for mental health and she shared that she talked with a counselor. “When I’m not talking to my counselor, I take time at the end of every single day to just decompress,” she said. “I unplugged. I shut my phone off. I don’t answer messages. I just sit and watch my favorite movie.”

In an interview with ‘The Hilltop’, she discussed the topic of mental health once again. She discussed her mental health. She shared three things she does for her self-care. One, “I try to set a regular schedule so my alarm rings every day at 6:45. Two, I try to set very clear boundaries, so even though I’m at home and I’ve got my computer, my phone with me, I’m done answering emails at 6 o’clock, I’m not responding to messages. It’s over.” Third, she said, “I have a regular workout schedule that keeps my body healthy and my mind sharp.”        

Kryst’s legacy will continue on, and inspire black girls after her. She was always one to turn down stereotypes, she shared that pageant girls aren’t supposed to be model-tall and slender, don bouffant hair, and have a killer walk. She was an advocate, she was involved in her community, and she was also vocal on black girl magic.

*If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis please call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, hours are 24/7

For more information, please visit:

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Bachelorette’ season finals

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Image taken from: https://hollywoodlife.com/2021/12/21/who-won-the-bachelorette-season-18-michelle-young-finale-recap/

Michelle’s season has come to an end, and so ended the story of the second Bachelorette of color.

The first person to have a date was Brandon. He met Michelle’s parents, and they instantly loved Brandon. They discussed his willingness to relocate to Minnesota and his ability to work remotely.

Nayte was up next. He met her parents and sister. Her family was not impressed with Nayte; he was struggling to communicate including his willingness to commit.

After each of the bachelor’s dates they each got a date with Michelle one last time.

Brandon and Michelle went jet skiing. Later in the day, he gave Michelle his favorite sweatshirt.

The next day Nayte and Michelle went on a date and their date was focused on sharing feelings. During their date, she pushed him to share his feelings and by the end of the date he shared those feelings. This comforted Michelle.

When their date was over, they each returned to their room. Michelle got a note from Brandon which included the lines: “A world without you is a world I fear to face,” “The kind of love where I will always place your happiness above mine,” and “I will love you forever.”

The next day each of the men went out to choose a ring for Michelle. Now it’s proposal time.

Brandon steps out to join Michelle on the beach first, and since he went first he’s going to get rejected. He gave a long speech to Michelle, but Michelle said, “My heart is pushing me in a different direction and I have to go with what I feel.” Brandon said he understood and he went home in tears.

Nayte was up and he vowed to never let Michelle go; he got down on one knee and proposed. Michelle said yes.

Personally, Nayte wasn’t my first choice. She should have gone with Brandon, as he seemed more open and communicative with feelings, whereas with Nayte, he seemed like a player and she had to push him to get him to share his feeling for her.

The proposal to her seemed forced; he seemed unsure of his decision to get down on one knee.

For more information, please visit:

Movies/TV/Theaters

The Bachelorette recap

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Image taken from: https://www.vulture.com/article/the-bachelorette-recap-season-18-episode-7-hometowns-week.html

In this episode, Michelle meets the families of her final four; Nayte Olukoya, Joe Coleman, Brandon Jones, and Rodney Mathews. She first meets Brandon’s family. Before meeting his family, they went on a little date. After she met Brandon’s mom, dad, and brother, they were all supportive of Brandon and Michelle’s journey to find love. 

Up next was Rodney. They were nice to Michelle, they asked a few questions, and talked about life after the show.

Next was Joe. His sisters-in-law were a little tough on Michelle but they eventually came around at the end.

The final date was with Nayte. His family were not fans of how the show works; they had concerns about if they end up together how they would make the relationship work in the real world.

After she met all four men’s families, she gave her three roses to Nayte, Joe, and Brandon, which means Rodney went home.

The next episode was the “Men Tell All” episode where Michelle comes face to face with 15 of the men she sent packing. The first feud that we didn’t see at the end of the show was with Will and Peter. The two still had their feud going, and they ended up working it out on the stage. 

Up next was Martin who explained all the controversial things he said while on the show. He then got accused of having a girlfriend while he was on the show. After all that drama, the guys got a chance to see Michelle and get closure on why she had to send them home. 

At the end of the episode, they announced Clayton, who Michelle sent home right before hometowns, was the new bachelor. They also showed a preview of his upcoming season. 

Michelle’s journey to find love continued on December 14, after the dramatic “Men Tell All” episode, as she headed with her three remaining men to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The first date of the episode went to Brandon. They went horseback riding, and during the dinner portion of the date Brandon told Michelle that he loved her and Michelle told him that she was falling in love with him. Their date ended the next morning with breakfast in bed. 

The second date went to Joe. They went zip lining but Michelle made it clear that she still needed to learn about him. The next morning, Michelle told him that she could see a future with him.

The last date was with Nayte. The two went on a ride on a catamaran, and during their dinner date, Nayte told Michelle that he was certain about her and that he was falling in love with her. 

Later, Michelle sends Joe home.

Next up, is the three-hour season finale of ‘The Bachelorette’. Who will she choose to propose to her?

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