By: Caden Kipfmueller

“Where’s Waldo?”

This question has plagued many of mankind’s greatest scientific and philosophical minds for generations.

“Where’s Waldo?” is the name of a series of timeless children’s puzzle books created by Londoner Martin Handford in the late 1980s. Originally called “Where’s Wally?”, Handford’s books were a global success, finding their way to libraries, schools, and homes around the world. Where’s Waldo was known for its intricate drawings, charm, and, of course, Waldo’s signature red and white striped outfit and glasses.

Waldo is set apart from his puzzle book competitors because of author Martin Handford’s unique, extensively detailed illustrations. He takes up to 8 weeks to finish each drawing, and he describes them as “full of both activity and entertainment.” Handford also fills his pictures with visual puns and other Easter eggs. Each drawing feels alive and rich with life, which makes it all the more exciting to search through exhaustively. Even if you can’t find Waldo, you’re bound to find plenty of secrets that will keep you occupied.

The reason why “Where’s Waldo?” was so successful around the globe was the series’ accessibility. While it was translated into 26 different languages, reading wasn’t necessary to understand that the point of “Where’s Waldo?” was to find Waldo. Martin Handford made that abundantly clear with his illustrations, as he believed that Waldo should be shared with all.

The final reason behind Waldo’s success lies in the elusive, bespectacled man for which the series is named. Waldo’s character design is so unique that he is instantly recognizable. Even his silhouette can be pointed out by the casual viewer, and he is drawn to be friendly and non-confrontational. Waldo’s character design undoubtedly contributes to the success of the series, as it is easily marketable. In addition to the standard line of books, two TV shows have been made about him (one in 1991 and one in 2019), as well as a video game for the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System).

Where’s Waldo remains an incredibly successful franchise to this day, finding popularity even in the modern age. The question still remains, however:

“Where’s Waldo?”

By: Biftu Osmon

The Arab Spring was a series of protests and revolutions that spread throughout Northern African countries as well as Middle Eastern countries.

It all began in Tunisia when an unemployed man selling goods was stopped by police because he didn’t have a license for selling things and instead of getting a fine, they stole his goods and didn’t return them.

He filed for harassment but they refused to listen to him. This drove him to protest by setting himself on fire. Less than a week later the whole country was protesting against the government because of the realization of how poorly the working class was treated.

This spread on social media quickly and inspired other nearby countries, whose government was corrupt, to protest against them as well. “The Arab Spring is kind of a perfect model for how people are going to use technology to act collectively in their own interest in the future. There’s never been a revolution that was coordinated by social media to the degree that the Arab Spring was.”

Tunisia and Syria are similar in terms of the Arab Spring in numerous ways. Both countries had corrupt governments which didn’t provide them basic human necessities, as well as not serving the citizens justice where it was needed, which was one of the main reasons why both countries began to protest.

Both countries also began their revolutions with peaceful protests and due to the circumstances of their situation, even citizens who steered clear of politics came to the streets to protest which was a sign of unity among the countries. The number of protests that sparked across the entirety of both countries was a shockingly large amount, showing what’s possible when citizens unite under one cause.

Although both Syria and Tunisia had several similarities in terms of the Arab spring, there were also a good amount of differences. One of the biggest differences is the fact that Syria’s peaceful protests escalated into a civil war but Tunisia’s protests didn’t. The government’s response to the protests were also different.

Syria’s government responded to the protests with weapons and violence even though the protests were all peaceful. Tunisia on the other hand had successful protests and the government responded in a more orderly fashion. “I believe democracy will succeed in Tunisia, but I also believe that it will succeed in the other Arab Spring countries.”

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2021/jan/25/how-the-arab-spring-unfolded-a-visualisation

By: Violet Hirman & Ren King

During World War II, many war atrocities occurred between the United States and Japan, those of which killed thousands of innocent citizens on both sides. Despite this, Japan is now an indispensable ally to the United States, strengthening the security of the economy, human rights, and trade relations between both countries. How did the two go from mortal enemies to close allies? The short answer: Hello Kitty.

First, a little background. During the Second World War, Japan and the United States were on opposite sides. Their specific relationship was tense, to say the least, but the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 solidified the animosity between them.

As the war ramped up and the German Nazis were defeated, Japan refused to back down. By this time, the US had been finalizing their plans for nuclear weapons, and decided to end the war and exact revenge simultaneously. But in doing so, they flattened two cities in Japan full of innocent people. During the dates of August 6th and August 9th of 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki became dust.

But how did the relationship between these two recover from this bloodshed?

It actually happened only a few years after; during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. Japan and the US were no longer enemies, but instead had something in common: they did not want communism to enter their countries.

They formed an alliance, but this didn’t stop the remaining fear from WWII to plague the citizens of both nations. The question is, how did the two governments resolve this issue? How could they possibly erase years of history from their hands?

A uniting force was implemented: consumerism.

The Hello Kitty brand was launched on storefronts in America in hopes to have Americans associate Japan with the cute cat while also making the Japanese feel like they had something in common with Americans. It also helped that at the time Hello Kitty was launched, foreign countries were “trendy”.

The first Hello Kitty store in America was opened on the coast of San Francisco, California and quickly expanded across the shoreline as it gained popularity. Soon, a store was opened in Pearl Harbor with exclusive merchandise from Japan to advertise to tourists the new friendship between the two countries.

While originally marketed towards young girls, as the brand spread, they found that there was a large audience of adults as well. As the 90’s approached, the popularity of Hello Kitty declined in Japan, yet increased almost tenfold internationally. The faster the consumers of other countries picked up, the more Japan became a hot tourist spot just for this brand, especially so with Americans. As a result, Japan became Hello-Kitty-centered.

In 2010, the New York Times called Hello Kitty a “global marketing phenomenon”, and it has not stopped speeding up since. Today, you can find almost every kind of Hello Kitty attraction in Japan, and over 100 thousand Americans travel to Japan with no hesitancy despite the relatively-recent war.

The brand, now “Sanrio” has expanded from just Hello Kitty. There are many different characters to appeal to more people, including Keroppi, My Melody, Kuromi, Badtz Maru, Pochacco, Cinnamoroll, Tuxedo Sam, and Chococat. There are hundreds if not thousands of Sanrio-themed buildings, amusement parks, stores, and more over the world at this moment. Most of the biggest being in Japan and the United States.

The two countries have come a very long way since the Second World War, and although not very well known, a lot of this is due to the genius marketing project called Hello Kitty.

For more information, please visit:

• https://pacifichistoricparksbookstore.org/collections/hello-kitty

By: Hoaseng Thao

You may remember the US Army’s digital camo pattern known as the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), which, despite its name, was not a camo pattern that could be universally used anywhere. Despite the camouflage being ineffective anywhere around the globe, unless it was a modern urban environment, or your grandmother’s couch, it was able to remain in service from 2004-2019 before it was replaced by the more universal camouflage pattern known as the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP).

In the year 2004, The US Army announced the adoption of this brand new digital camo pattern the Universal Camouflage Pattern, which had a sparklingly resemblance to the US Marine Corps’ own digital camouflage pattern known as MARPAT (Marine Pattern), which was actually a copy of the Canadian military’s own digital camouflage pattern known as CADPAT.

The reasoning behind the UCP’s adoption was to eliminate the need of having two separate camouflage patterns for desert and woodland environments. Before the adoption of the UCP, members of the US Army were wearing the famous M81 Woodland Camouflage Pattern for woodland environments, and for desert environments they wore the Desert Battle Dress Uniform (DBCU). To make a good universal camouflage, you would have to have it blend in both desert and woodland environments, but the UCP on the other hand, had a weird color palette of gray and greenish colors that did not blend in any environment the US army was currently fighting in.

The UCP saw combat in many wars but are most commonly associated with the 2003 Iraq War and the Afghanistan War (2001-2021), but something that may surprise you is that the camo saw service in many other nations such as: India, Serbia, and Malaysia.

In the year 2010, some US army soldiers were given the opportunity to wear a different camo pattern known as Multicam by the Crye Precision Company. The reasoning for this was because the US army wanted to replace the UCP for a better alternative. By 2015, they would announce the Operational Camo Pattern (OCP) to replace the old and ineffective UCP camouflage pattern.

Despite the ineffectiveness of UCP, it remained as an icon of American soldiers serving in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as the infamous photo of the “Grandma Couch”.

For more information about the UCP camo pattern, please visit this website:

• https://www.camopedia.org/index.php/USA https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/01/history-camouflage-military-united -states/13485491/

By: Isabelle Baidoo and Greta Johnson

Over the years, women in sports have been constantly underestimated. So, for women’s history month we wanted to talk about 2 influential women who were dominant in their respective sports. We chose Megan Rapinoe who plays soccer on the US Women’s National Team and Mikaela Shiffrin, who is a successful alpine racer.

Mikaela Shiffrin

At the age of 15, Mikaela started racing on the World Cup circuit. She was the youngest ski racer in American history to compete on the FIS circuit. This came after she had been skiing for most of her life, and had also attended Burke Mountain Academy, which is a ski racing academy in Vermont.

Just a few weeks after her 16th birthday, Mikeala won her first World Cup race. It was only her first season racing the circuit.

After 2 more seasons of competing in the World Cup she went to her first Olympics and ended up winning a gold medal in slalom making her the youngest slalom gold medal winner in American history.

After 13 seasons racing in the World Cup, Mikeala has 88 wins combined. That makes her the most decorated racer in the world at only 28. She’s been to 3 Olympics, has 3 Olympic medals, and is the most successful racer in American history.

Sadly, in February of 2020, Mikeala’s father Jeff unexpectedly passed. He suffered a severe head injury in the family’s home in Colorado. He was 65. This devastated the Shiffrin family.

“My family is heartbroken beyond comprehension about the unexpected passing of my kindhearted, loving, caring, patient, wonderful father. Our mountains, our ocean our sunrise, our heart, our soul, our everything. He taught us so many valuable lessons,” Shiffrin tweeted. “But above everything else, he taught us the golden rule: Be nice, think first. This is something I will carry with me forever. He was the firm foundation of our family and we miss him terribly.”

Soon after his death, Mikaela and her family started the Jeff Shiffren Athlete Resiliency Fund to help US Ski Team athletes through the COVID-19 pandemic, and honor Jeff Shiffren’s legacy of kindness.

After a couple hard seasons, and a very rough 2022 Olympic Games, Mikaela is back on top. This season she broke the record for the most ski racing wins ever which was previously held by Ingemar Stenmark for 34 years.

Mikaela is one of the most influential ski racers of our time; she broke barriers and overcame many setbacks and influenced a new generation of female skiers today.

Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe is a professional American soccer player. Since 2006, she has played winger and midfield for the United States Women’s National Team. Before she played nationally, she played for the Portland Pilots, during her college career, from 2005-2008. Rapinoe also currently plays for the OL Reign, a professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington.

Throughout her career she has numerous accomplishments in soccer. Rapinoe is a three time Olympic Champion. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games she won bronze, in the 2016 Rio games she took the team to 5th place, and finally, in 2012 of the London games she won gold.

Throughout her 197 national appearances, she has scored a total of 63 goals making her the 10th highest goal scorer on the Women’s National Team.

Rapinoe is also a strong activist for the LGBTQ community. She is the latest openly LGBTQ American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022.

She was among 17 others to receive this honor, she was the first soccer player to get this award, and was one of only six female athletes.

She is an advocate for many LGBTQ organizations such as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Athlete Ally.

She’s received awards for her contributions to the LGBTQ community as well. For example, in 2013, she was awarded the Board of Directors Award from the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Then in 2020 she was one of ‘Time Magazine’s’ 100 Most Influential People.

Women in sports are frequently overlooked and pushed aside. Whether it be that they are underpaid, get less TV footage than male athletes, or receive less sponsorships than their male counterparts. These women are idols to many young girls, and they are extremely crucial to the future of the sports. Representation is important in sports because it shows the next generation of athletes that their dreams are possible.

For more information, please visit:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikaela_Shiffrin?scrlybrkr=e729f453
• https://www.vaildaily.com/sports/mikaela-shiffrins-father-jeff-shiffrin-dies-unexpectedly/

By: Nagad Omar

The Bigfoot legend first hit newspapers in 1958 when Andrew Gonzali wrote what was supposed to be a funny article on hikers in California finding unusually large footprint tracks in the snow.

Although it was not supposed to be taken seriously, the article startled the Pacific Northwest which gave Bigfoot his name: Bigfoot. Readers became very fascinated with the idea of Bigfoot; although, this isn’t the first time everyone has heard about the legend. Native American nations have records of Bigfoot 10 years before Gonzalis’ article. They gave him the name Sasquatch.

As the years passed, Bigfoot’s reputation grew and continued to change; he became known as an environmentalist and was used for commercials on keeping our forests clean in the 80s, but as sightings grew Bigfoot came back as this big scary creature.

As Americans continue to push into untouched forests the legend of Bigfoot grows.

One sighting of Bigfoot was when one night in the backroads of Oregon police got a call about a massive hairy creature running across the highway yelling in agony. At first police thought they were being pranked, but as over 20 calls came, police went out to investigate, but by the time they came the creature had already ran back into the forest.

Bigfoot has now come back to be the environmental justice staple he once was because of the lack of recent sightings. He sort’ve lost this scary, unknown demeanor he had 20 years ago. We haven’t had a real investigated Bigfoot sighting in almost 10 years, so it’s expected that the persona of Bigfoot will change.

So, as the legend of Bigfoot lives on, the speculations will continue, and maybe we’ll get some hardcore evidence. But as of right now, Bigfoot is just a fairytale myth.

By: Ren King & Violet Hirman

*Warning: This article contains descriptions of murder and rape.

He who strikes in broad daylight.

It was a seemingly normal day, a woman after having just stepped out of the shower heard a knock on her apartment door. The plumber, though a bit early, she let him in quickly with a smile saying:

“I do hope you forgive my appearance, wait here and I’ll change quickly.”

She closed the front door, turning her back to the man in a heedless ignorance to his dangers. Her neighbors heard nothing of what came next, not of the screams, the terror in her voice as she pleaded for mercy, nor the strangled sounds of a woman dying.

In a few minutes, she was dead.

In a few hours, she was found with her bathrobe tied around her neck in a bow. So tight, that when they touched her head, it fell off.

Anna Slesers, 55 years old. The first victim of the Boston Strangler.

From June 14, 1962 to January 4, 1964, this serial killer plagued the streets of Boston. It was like a curse had been cast over the city, people lived in fear. The streets were silent, eyes turning to every stranger one would see on the street. Women locked their doors, hid their children.

Yet, this didn’t stop the murders from happening.

13 women of the police’s knowledge, many more that were unconfirmed to have been the Boston Strangler’s victims. Most were sexually assaulted, some had been stabbed or shot before they were strangled. Nonetheless, they all had one feature in common. They were found with a meticulously done bow wrapped around their neck.

Always so tight that if not handled properly, the head would fall off.

Over ten years later, a man of the name Albert DeSalvo was arrested for charges of sexual assault and breaking and entering. While he was in custody, another inmate, George Nasser recalled their conversations.

“He’s mad is what he is, sick and twisted beyond my own belief. Which is hard to believe since I shot a man, but true all the more. He says that he wishes to be as famous as the Boston Strangler himself, but a lot of the time I’m afraid that he actually is.” The exact words, according to the locals of Boston.

DeSalvo was taken into questioning about the crimes of the Boston Strangler. At first, he denied having any ties with the serial killer other than adoring remarks about his good work.

F. Lee Bailey, after two full days of interrogation, emerged with a tape of recordings from DeSalvo. Words that the police insisted were those only the Boston Strangler would know.

So, they had finally caught the Boston Strangler.

Or so they thought.

Dr. Robey was skeptical of DeSalvo’s complete guilt. He knew that the man had photographic memory, and had a track record for breaking and entering. He suspected that DeSalvo had come to the crime scenes days after the events occured to study them. That he confessed to the crimes of the Strangler in order to be sentenced to a mental hospital instead of a prison.

Alas, the evidence was too strong in DeSalvo’s favor and all investigations of the Boston Strangler were shut down.

Not before they discovered, from an eyewitness, from one of the murders, that she did not recognize DeSalvo, but instead George Nasser. Along with this, testimony that several people were seen coming out of the apartment.

Though they studied the scenes thoroughly, there was no other sign that it was a case involving multiple people other than the witness statement. Therefore, they had to believe that DeSalvo truly was the Boston Strangler.

DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison, but not for the crimes of the Strangler. He was never actually tried for the serial killer’s crimes, only named it.

On November 26, 1973, DeSalvo told his psychiatrist that it was finally time to reveal the true crimes of the Boston Strangler.

The same day, he was found stabbed to death in his prison cell before he could say a word.

Through more recent DNA testing and closer scrutiny into the case, it was shown that unidentified DNA was found at several of the crime scenes. None of it matching to DeSalvo’s. Along with that, a painting crew was seen at the site of the first victim’s house. Two weeks later, the same crew was seen at the third victim’s.

Was it a coincidence? Or was it a clue?

To this day, no one knows the true story of the Boston Strangler. Despite countless reasons that the real killer, or killers, are still out there, further investigation cannot be taken due to DeSalvo’s confession.

So, if you’re home alone and you hear a small clicking sound. You turn around, but nothing is behind you. It may very well be…the sound of the Strangler’s walker because if they were still alive right now they would be well into old age.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/us/dna-evidence-identified-in-boston-stra ngler-case.html

By: Hoaseng Thao

If there was ever a comedic spy movie to be made in the future, then it must be about Juan Pujol García, or known by the British Intelligence Agency known as MI5, as “Agent Garbo.” Juan Pujol García is credited with not only deceiving the Germans, but also receiving medals from both sides of the Second World War, an Iron Cross from the German Dictator Adolf Hitler himself, and the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from Security Service’s Director General, Sir David Petrie.

Juan Pujol García was born in the year 1912, in Barcelona, Spain. He was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War where surprisingly, he found himself fighting on both sides of the Civil War but never firing a single bullet. After the Civil War ended, Juan Pujol García grew a hatred for totalitarianism and nazism due to Nazi Germany supporting the Fascist Spanish Leader Francisco Franco.

In 1939, when the Second World War was just beginning, Juan Pujol García decided that he needed to help stop the German war machine by offering to be a double agent to British authorities in Spain, to which they refused. Despite not being accepted by British authorities on multiple occasions, Juan Pujol García decided it was best to contact German officials in Madrid, where he posed as a Spanish Official who was willing to go to Britain as a spy on their behalf. The Germans, wanting to build a spy network in Britain, happily agreed to his offer and made him an official spy for the Third Reich.

Juan Pujol García was expected to go to London and collect intelligence about the British, but in reality Juan Pujol García moved to Lisbon where he fed the Germans information gathered from magazines, guide books, and travel brochures from a local library. Surprisingly, his information from his local library was able to fool the Germans.

In April of 1942, Juan Pujol García was finally accepted by British officials because they too were fooled as they had received reports about a spy from Spain who kept on giving information to Germany. Brought to London to work for the MI5, where Juan Pujol García, now known as “Garbo”, would work with an intelligence officer, Tomás Harris. The two would create fictional agents and stories to fool the Germans.

In 1944, Garbo participated in Operation FORTITUDE, an operation that would help deceive the Germans while the Allies prepared for the D-Day landings. On June 5th, 1944, Garbo sent his usual scheduled message to a German Radio Operator where he would send information about the D-Day landings as requested by his superiors in MI5.

Despite being on his scheduled radio message to the German Radio Operator, the latter would not even show up and would fail to receive the information Garbo had given to them, so when the D-Day landings did occur, it gave Garbo an opportunity to show how reliable he was to the German High Command.

“I cannot accept excuses or negligence. Were it not for my ideals I would abandon the work,” Garbo said to his German contacts to give the impression that he was serious about being a spy for the Germans.

On July 29th, 1944, Garbo would receive news that the Führer himself was awarding him the Iron Cross for his service in the German Intelligence against the British. Garbo had fooled Adolf Hitler, an achievement that many had wished to have during that time period.

Due to his efforts in deceiving the Germans, Garbo would then receive the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in December of 1944, from Security Service’s Director General, Sir David Petrie.

After the war ended, Garbo contacted his handler and friend Tomás Harris about his plan of faking his own death, to which Harris would then spread this news about his “death” within MI5. Garbo would move to Venezuela and would live under a different name until 1988, when he was discovered by a British writer, Nigel West, who had tracked him down and asked him to come back to Europe to which he accepted.

On the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landings, 1984, Garbo would return to Europe to visit Normandy, France, to tour the beaches in which the allies landed to liberate France before paying his respects to the fallen.

In 1988, Garbo passed away in Caracas, Venezuela, forever known as the greatest spy to participate in the second world war.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.history.com/news/spy-double-agent-death-hoax-world-war-2 https://www.mi5.gov.uk/agent-garbo
• ‘Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Spy of World War II’ by Juan Pujol and Nigel West