Teacher’s diversity through the ages
Vivien Sweet, Staff Writer
December 6, 2019
“I am a product of independent schools; I know how it feels to be isolated,” former English teacher Deborah Stanford said. The process of creating a body of educators who looked different from the traditional white, male demographic involved a gradual shift in the school’s attitude towards diversity....
The impact of asking questions…in the LGBTQ+ community
Natalie Sweet, Staff Writer
November 25, 2019
“People often ask ‘why do you act like that?’ and honestly there are just different ways for people to represent themselves, which some people who are not members of the LGBTQ+ community have a hard time understanding,” said Eli Bacon (11), who identifies as bisexual. To members of the LGBTQ+...
The impact of asking questions…in the Black community
Natalie Sweet, Staff Writer
November 25, 2019
“At Horace Mann, we don’t have as much engagement as we should with many minority communities, and I think because of that there is this gap in our understanding,” said Charles Simmons (12), co-President of The Union. “For a lot of the student body, what they know about a group of people really...
Connection to faith: students and faculty share about their religion
Vivien Sweet, Staff Writer
November 25, 2019
“My faith is a cultural identity; it’s something that ties me closer to my family, and it’s passed down to me, kind of like an heirloom,” Felix Brener (10) said. In a world that some find to have become increasingly secularized and filled with pressure to succeed in both school and the workplace,...
The impact of asking questions …in the Asian-American community
Natalie Sweet, Staff Writer
November 25, 2019
“By far, the question I’ve gotten the most often is ‘where are you from?’” said Tomoko Hida (10), a board member of East Wind West Wind (EWWW), an Asian identity and culture student led group. “Except when I answer New York City, the [other person’s] response is almost always ‘no, where...
Navigating gay relationships in high school
November 25, 2019
“There is definitely a different lens in which people view LGBTQ+ relationships in comparison to straight ones,” Aurora Grutman ‘18 said. “And fundamentally there is no difference between the interpersonal nature of [gay and straight] relationships, but there is a large difference in the way...
Codeswitching
Marina Kazarian and Liliana Greyf
November 25, 2019
Code switching is the act of someone modifying their language or demeanor based on their surrounding environment. It is often associated with the change of behavior in groups that are predominantly of a certain race, sexuality, religion, or gender. “We are all taught at a very young age that to be...
Traveling with a religious purpose
Julia Goldberg, Staff Writer
November 25, 2019
Though religion is often practiced in the comfort of one’s temple, church, or mosque, it can just as well be practiced thousands of miles away from home. During her travels to Spain this summer, Nina Gaither (11) left her host family for three full days to hike along the Camino...
Coming to America: Ms. Daisy Vasquez
Julia Goldberg and Talia Winiarsky
November 25, 2019
World Languages teacher Daisy Vazquez remembers the date November 4, 2008 as the first day she felt American. Six years after she immigrated to the United States from her native land of Cuba, the election of President Barack Obama marked a turning point in her life. In 2002, Vazquez immigrated to the...
All kidding aside, humor can be hurtful
Yesh Nikam and Hanna Hornfeld
November 25, 2019
Last year, English teacher Dr. Jonathan Kotchian taught a senior elective on satire, in which the issue of offensive jokes came up regularly. His classes unanimously deemed some jokes unacceptable, though others were far more controversial. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a good formula or algorithm...
Coming to America: Oleg Zvezdin
Claire Goldberg, Staff Writer
November 25, 2019
Science teacher Oleg Zvezdin’s cultural identity pulls from both his Russian-Jewish heritage and his American upbringing, he said. Zvezdin was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1985, and left the country with his family when he was just nine years old. Zvezdin’s family came to America in pursuit of a safer,...
To read or not to read: a look into the school’s four year English requirement
Julia Goldberg, Staff Writer
November 8, 2019
If you stepped foot into an Upper Division English classroom twenty years ago, students would not be invested in their copy of a modern novel like “Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; rather, each would be dutifully working their way through classics such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre...
