By: Yumna Abajebel

The Oromo people are a native ethnic group from a region in Ethiopia called Oromia. They speak the language Oromo and are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia. The majority of the people are Muslim and the other half is either Waaqeffannaa or Christians. Waaqeffannaa is an ethnic religion, they believe in Waaqa Gurr’ach. Which means ‘the black god’, meaning that their god is dark and mysterious and you cannot reach or see him.

The Oromo people also use a democratic system of governance. How it works is every eight nights, the Oromo people choose nine leaders that will remain in power for the next eight years.

The Oromo people are divided into two branches called Borana Oromo and Barento Oromo. Oromia contains 22 zones with different tribes.

The most common ones are Arsi zones and Bale zones. The Arsi zone is made up of 25 smaller cities and is bordered on the south by the Bale Zone. The Bale zone also contains 13 smaller cities within.

Oromo people are known for their coffee, food and dances. Their coffee comes from a city called Jimma. Their most popular and delicious food is the injera platter with cooked collard greens, red and yellow lentils, and spicy stew called doro wat.

The Oromo people are a unique and special ethnic group that is underrated and overlooked.

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/