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Social Media and the internet are resources we all use. The question is, are they dangerous? Many specialists are beginning to think they are. Many tech industry insiders are beginning to think so. A group of industry insiders came together for the new Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma.”
The documentary consists of experts explaining the dangers of the internet and a weird side plot. Let’s start with the fictional side plot. The side plot is mostly about a teenager named Ben who eventually falls into political extremism, however his “extreme” is extreme centrism where his group believes he shouldn’t vote at all. The documentary illustrates how impactful the internet can be on young minds. Obviously it’s a reference to how the internet can influence consumers’ ideologies, but it was just a weird angle that I’ve never seen taken before on the idea of internet extremism. There’s also a part where he tries to give up his phone for a week but fails when he sees a notification about his ex-girlfriend getting a new boyfriend. This escalation happens at an alarming rate. There’s also a section about his pre-teen sister experiencing depression. It shows his younger sister as a struggling pre-teen, but it doesn’t really follow up on that important topic that needs to be discussed. Now for the actual documentary part, it was overall good. At times it felt slow but overall it’s well worth a watch. The experts are very well spoken and obviously knowledgeable. Some of the stuff they mention is freaky, like for example, one of the experts mentions that, depending on the city you live in, if you Googled “Climate change is-” you’ll get either something like “Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity” or “Climate change is a hoax.” It’s freaky to think that we’re all getting different news on our social media feeds. Some of the experts attribute the different feeds to the “heavy polarization” in modern American politics. sThe companies do this because that kind of news that they’ve aligned with consumer beliefs keep them clicking and scrolling on their site. To the companies, consumers are pretty much a product that advertisers bid on. According to the documentary, the internet and everything you see online is made to pretty much sell consumers’ time to advertisers. It’s been shown that social media is having a drastic impact on the mental health of pre-teen and teenage girls. The rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide spiked in the early 2010s when social media became more prevalent in society. The documentary discusses that the algorithms aren’t to make us happy but to make the companies money. The experts say that all the bad things created for the internet were never developed with evil intent. For example, the “like” button was made to spread love and positivity. No one expected that likes would help feed a social media addiction or help cause depression in people if their picture didn’t do well enough. The goal was never to hurt anyone or cause harm to society at large. All the bad side effects were unknown and unintended by the engineers, it was just something that happened, and now we’re all experiencing its consequences. The experts on the documentary really do believe that we all can turn the internet into a more human friendly and positive place if we use “collective thought” to influence the companies in Silicon Valley. This documentary is something that I believe that everyone should watch despite it not being the most entertaining. The information in it is too valuable to pass up, especially in a growing society that has more people using the internet and a growing number of technophiles. Experts believe that if we don’t fix the digital society, democracies will crumble. Overall, “The Social Dilemma” is informative and I would rate it a 7/10 if it wasn’t for the important information in it, however the information in it is so important that I’ll give it a 10/10. So go watch it because everyone should. On week two of “Dancing With the Stars,” Carole Baskin avoids elimination by being saved by the judges.
During the second episode on Tuesday, September 22, Carole Baskin provided a heartfelt look into her life. She explained how it felt to become infamous from her inclusion in the Netflix series “Tiger King,” saying that “[her] family was struggling to the point where [her] daughter doesn’t hardly read any of the news anymore.” She continued that she wants to make her family proud with her appearance on “Dancing with the Stars.” However, she failed to accomplish anything, as she was still tied for last place following her second dance. Continuing with her cat theme, Baskin performed to “What’s New Pussycat” by Tom Jones. While the gimmick continued to be fun, Baskin did not dance well, and looked clunky and out of place. The judges seemed to agree, as she only received a score of 16/30, which tied her for last place. Following all of the performances, the fans voted to save all but two dancers from elimination. Sadly, the two not saved were Baskin and former NBA star Charles Oakley. After Baskin and Oakley were put in risk of elimination, the three judges were given the decision on which dancer to send home and which to keep. The first two judges split scores, with one choosing each person. Coming down to Derek Hough, he made the choice to save Baskin, sending Oakley home. While Baskin may not be anywhere near as skilled of a dancer as her competitors, she is by far the most enjoyable contestant. Her cat gimmick and constant reminders of her past are highly entertaining, and I hope that she can have a along tenure on this show. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play a team sport during a global pandemic? Well, Castle student Hailee Gerth is doing just that.
Even though we are going through a pandemic, Gerth wasn't going to let that stop her from playing the games she loves. Gerth is the right side hitter on the varsity team. Her “job” in this position is to block the outside hitter and swing for terminations. For people who don’t know volleyball terms here are a few definitions: “Swing for terminations” means “kill” or getting a point; blocking the outside hitter means blocking the hit from the other side of the net with your outside hands. Her best game was against Reitz. “I had several kills and I had a few serve receive passes that were good,” said Gerth. “The team had some ups and downs but our energy overall was high and this makes everyone play at a high level.” Gerth has been playing high school volleyball since freshman year. The speed of the game has changed significantly; sets have gotten faster and the power behind each swing has increased. Due to the pandemic, the team must wear masks anytime they are not playing, the fans must social distance and wear masks, and they have fewer matches. “I will miss having a group of people I know I can count on,” said Gerth when asked what she will miss about playing high school volleyball. “I will also miss all of the fun memories from bus rides, to practices, to games.” The only thing Gerth will not miss is listening to the same 10 songs everyday at practice. In college, Gerth plans on focusing on her major rather than her sport. Even though she plans on not playing volleyball in college she does want to play in recreational games for fun. When asked what the best advice she has received from her coach she said, “Our coach emphasized the quote, ‘If you knew you couldn’t play tomorrow, how would you play today?’” With the pandemic they know their season could be in danger at any point in time so they have to work their hardest all the time. “I have really been focused on growing as a player and a person because this quote makes me realize you can’t take anything for granted,” said Gerth. On Sunday, September 20th, the Patriots and Seahawks faced off for the weekly Sunday Night Football (SNF) game. With both teams coming off of a week one victory, fans across the country were watching to see which team would come out on top. In the end, the Russell Wilson led Seahawks got the better of New England this week with a 35-30 win.
A huge part of what made this game great was the back and forth of these teams’ quarterbacks. With Cam Newton not having played healthy since nearly three years ago, a lot of fans had to have wondered how he would perform. Senior Castle student, Cole Simmons reflects, “Cam proved a lot of people wrong. His arm looked great--throwing for almost 400 yards. SuperCam is back.” On the opposite sideline, Russell Wilson put together his second stellar performance in two weeks. Shekhar Shah, a 15 year old aspiring journalist refers to Wilson as “the MVP through two weeks. He’s been nothing short of spectacular--looking sharp as ever.” Things came full circle on SNF as a few years ago the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots on the goal line. History repeats itself as the Seahawks made the final stop on the goal line to win this game. With three seconds left in the game, New England called a quarterback draw for their signal caller. Unfortunately for Patriots fans, he came up just short. This call has received a lot of scrutiny from people across the internet. Despite this, 18 year old social media influencer Jacob Singleton thinks it was the right call, saying, “There was no reason for the Patriots to not believe in Cam. They had success with the same play all game. Poor execution cost them the game, not playcalling.” With both teams looking sharp two weeks into the year, playoffs are more than a dream. Manny King infers that “both teams have Super Bowl hopes,” saying, “Seattle is a top team in the NFC, and while the Patriots aren’t on that level, their coaching and QB play could propel them into the championship game.” On September 14, season 29 of the hit television show “Dancing with the Stars” premiered on ABC, with a new group of celebrity dancers.
For this new season, longtime judge Len Goodman was unable to safely travel to America, and has been replaced by former “Dancing with the Stars” champion Derek Hough. Another change in the cast of the show includes the new host, Tyra Banks. Banks has taken over the hosting position from longtime host Tom Bergman, who left the show following season 28. During the premiere episode, all of the new celebrities met their dance partners and performed for the first time. Some of the more well-known celebrities include the rapper Nelly, actor Jesse Metcalfe, “Cheer” coach Monica Aldama, and “Tiger King” star Carole Baskin. Starting off the night was Backstreet Boys member AJ McLean, dancing to a remix of The Weeknd’s hit song “Blinding Lights.” He began the performance by launching out of a mini-cannon, which led into an exciting dance. Later in the show, Jesse Metcalfe began his performance alongside professional dancer Sharna Burgess, earning a solid score of 18/30. Nelly performed near the end, doing a thrilling dance to his own hit song “Ride Wit Me,” earning himself a 16/30. The best dancers were former Disney Channel star Skai Jackson, as well as former “The Bachelorette” star Kaitlyn Bristowe. Both women did remarkably well, tying for first place with scores of 20/30. While she may not have done the best, Carole Baskin was definitely the most anticipated celebrity to watch Embracing her tiger and cat background, Baskin danced to the song “Eye of the Tiger,” while wearing cheetah print clothing. Sadly, it appeared to be just a gimmick, as Baskin’s dancing was subpar compared to some of the other contestants. Finishing with an 11/30 score, she is in last place. There was some controversy surrounding Baskin’s appearance on the show however. During the premiere, the family of Baskin’s deceased husband Don Lewis aired a commercial publicizing their efforts to uncover the truth about his 1997 disappearance. While no arrests have been made, some believe that Baskin was involved. While the new celebrities have received much of the attention, the new crew members in Hough and Banks made their marks on the series. Hough, who has formerly won “Dancing with the Stars” a record six times, replaced Len Goodman as one of the three judges. Energetic and exciting, Hough was a very enjoyable judge to watch. Banks carried on the legacy started by former host Tom Bergman, and kept the show fresh. Time will tell how all of these new faces fare on the series, as some such as Baskin and Nelly hope to improve and make a bigger impact next week. “Dancing with the Stars” will return on September 21, at 7:00 pm on ABC. On Friday, September 11, the Castle Marching Knights beat the odds of COVID and performed a live, free performance at Friedman Park for hundreds of people, socially distanced and outside, of course.
However, the concert included much more than just this year’s marching band set. There was a 9/11 Tribute, as the show was held on the anniversary of the tragic day, with many patriotic moments at the start of the show. Following that, the 12 O’Clock Jazz Band gave two performances, including songs “Self Help is Needed” by Oliver Nelson and “The Song is You” by Jerome Kern. Their set included many soloists including junior Sara Reel and senior Cade Porter. The park production also featured many solo and ensemble performances by various members of the Castle Band Department. Solo performances included Senior Gavin Paul on the Marimba, junior flutist Ally Donelly, and senior dancer and color guard member Maggie Phelps. Ensembles included a snare drum trio and a group of featured marimbas and xylophonists who performed a percussion arrangement of “Log Cabin Blues”. To conclude the evening, the Castle Marching Knights performed their long awaited 2020 set, “Broken Symmetry.” The Knights had been working through heat and COVID, with no promise of competitions this year and shorter practices. But, according to senior flutist Michelli Horton, this is exactly what drove them to work and play like champions. “In my opinion, COVID made everyone want to perform and put in much more energy because we did not know if we would be able to perform at all,” said Horton. “Broken Symmetry” is based off of songs from the famous music group ABBA and features hits like “The Winner Takes it All” and “Lay All Your Love On Me.” The show is separated into three parts: a gripping introduction, a slow ballad, and a show stopping conclusion. “My favorite part of the show this year was the ballad,” said Horton. “It was smooth, flowing, and at the end we all came together.” Surprisingly, the show's title has nothing to do with the current circumstances of the year. “It was not meant to be a play on what’s happening right now, but, in a sense, it is,” said aid member of the CHS Band Booster Board Todd Glass in a video on the group’s Facebook page. The message of the show was left up to the interpretation of the audience and members, as there was no one intentional meaning or message. “The show means something different to everyone,” said Horton. “To me the show this year highlighted the message of unity.” Sadly, this mutated year is the last run for many of our marching Knights. Although they are unable to attend competitions, their goal is to perform as much as possible for the community, just like they did last Friday. They can only achieve this through their unity and strength. “I really enjoyed playing the flute and marching band is ultimately a family,” said Horton. “I hope that the friendships that I have made will continue for years to come. Tuesday, September 1st was a fun day for basketball fans as Game 7 of the first round matchup between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets took place. Going into the series, fans were not expecting such an exciting matchup, but after a game one where Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell dropped a historic 57 points, spectators knew the series would be a scoring clinic.
After a 4-3 series win for the Nuggets, Denver had a leg up this year. In spectator, Jon Tokad’s view, “The win wouldn’t have been possible without the downpour of scoring from up and coming star, Jamal Murray.” The Jazz didn’t go down without a fight. After being down 21 in the 2nd quarter and trailing by 16 at halftime, they fought back and took a shot as time expired that could have won them the game had it gone in. Castle High School senior, Joseph Clark was pulling for Utah, as he expected “the Jazz to move on, but Mitchell needed more help from his team.” Fans anticipated a showdown between the teams’ big men as the Jazz’ Rudy Gobert is one of the best defensive bigs in the league and the Nuggets’ Jokic has one of the best offensive repertoires in today’s game. However, as I mentioned earlier, the young guards took over. Despite the devastating end to their season, the play of Donovan Mitchell has fans around the league excited as he averaged 36.3 points per game including a 57 point outing which is the third most points scored in a playoff game. The future looks bright for both players. As for the future of the rivalry, Clark expects the up and coming stars to “look to take over the league in the coming years. I’m very excited to see what they have to show us.” The world was a very different place 75 years ago. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII. It was divided between liberal democracies, marxism, and fascism, and people feared the Axis powers led by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, and Japanese Emperor Hirohito. The second world war was one of the only times that the capitalist democracies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) worked together. In the years after World War II, the world saw the start of the United Nations. The Cold War, Space Race, and Nuclear Arms Race all occurred as well.
The war ended on September 2nd, 1945 with an Allied victory after the United States attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the deaths of over 405,000 Americans. After that the rebuilding of Japan and Europe began, while the US and USSR became the global superpowers. Then the Cold War happened and the rest is history. The second world war has had many long lasting effects on the country. Seven presidents served in the war: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. The destruction of Europe made the country a global superpower in industry and military. Post-WW2 has defined American foreign policy for the last 75 years. General Douglas MacArthur’s rebuilding of Japan has given the US a strong and prosperous ally out of a former enemy. Many places held ceremonies for the anniversary and some are still coming up. From August 29 - September 2, there were many events to honor Pearl Harbor at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On September 24 - 27 there will be events held in Washington D.C.. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans will be putting out many digital programs to pay tribute to the people who fought. They will be releasing articles, featuring artifacts, a podcast, and videos. On September 2nd President Donald J. Trump gave a speech in Wilmington, North Carolina to designate the town as the nation’s first World War Two Heritage City. Many members of Generation Z know somebody who served in the war, whether it be a great-grandparent, a great-uncle, or even just a family friend. While war veterans are still alive to this day, they’re becoming few and far between. With the current pandemic going on, it’s hard for these veterans to get out and other events such as the Honor Flight have been cancelled. The war is one of the most significant turning points in human history. The ideological clash of liberal democracy, marxism, and fascism turned into the destruction of the fascist powers and proxy wars between the capitalists and socialists in a conquest of controlling the way the global economy works. After 1945, the only major fascist leader was Caudillo Francisco Franco of Spain. The post war years saw the decolonization of Africa and Asia. Many of the survivors of the Holocaust moved to the country of Palestine and created the country of Isreal. Israel has formed a strong partnership with the United States. The United Nations was established to prevent another world war, outline the definition of a war crime, and outline basic human rights. On August 15th, 1945 Emperor Hirohito addressed his nation where he famously said “The war has not necessarily developed to Japan’s advantage.” On September 2nd the Emperor signed the official surrender documents at Tokyo Bay on the USS Missouri. A quote that stands out to many Americans regarding the war is from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." That one speech brought the United States into the war. Many sacrifices were made, some gave some and some gave all. On this anniversary Americans remember 407,316 American soldiers who gave their lives, the 671,278 wounded, and the men who returned home to their families unscathed but forever changed Downtown Newburgh has been longing for a great restaurant with a view of the water. Luckily, after Edgewater Grill closed their doors, The Landing jumped at the opportunity.
The Landing, known for their classic dishes like shrimp and grits, has recently been the hot spot in Newburgh. Families and friends pile in the restaurant in hopes to try the new restaurant. Downtown Newburgh is known for its antique, old-fashioned aesthetic. Therefore, when news about The Landing began to spread, people were not too happy. It’s modern feel and newly renovated environment threw locals a curveball. Despite this, Newburgh welcomed the restaurant and its success with wide arms. Their menu consists of nine different categories. These range from appetizers and flatbreads to entrees and items straight from the grill. The Landing also offers kids meals and desserts to cure your sweet tooth. Kate Mcatee, a sophomore at Castle High School, says that she “loves being able to have a great meal while enjoying the view of downtown.” The Landing has done many renovations since buying their property. They have created an atmosphere that not only allows adults to have fun, but kids of all ages. You can choose to sit riverside, indoors near lounge areas and fireplaces, or at the bar. The next time you are in downtown Newburgh, be sure to stop by The Landing. It’s the perfect dinner spot on a Saturday night, or even a brunch on Sunday. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have! |