Category: Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture

Racism is Built into Facial Recognition Technology

The caption “Black Women Against Tech,” is featured on a TikTok video capturing an automatic sink unable to detect the hand of a black woman but perfectly capable of detecting a paper towel and dispensing water. This phrase at first encounter may seem like people trying to make a problem out of nothing. However, racism in technology is a very real issue with dangerous implications … Continue reading Racism is Built into Facial Recognition Technology

Unknown's avatarTiyya Geiger
Arts & Culture

Welcome to the Attention Economy

What is the most valuable commodity? Google produced 39,000,000 answers to this question in 0.44 seconds. That eye-popping number of results reveals that the most valuable commodity isn’t gold or oil – it’s our attention.  One of the greatest challenges of the Digital Age is navigating the oversaturation of information. How do we objectively determine whether or not information is true when companies capitalize on … Continue reading Welcome to the Attention Economy

Unknown's avatarFrances Brogan
Arts & Culture

The Benefits of Healthy Coping: Inside My Sister’s Head

Growing up with a sister who is close in age to me means we do a lot of things together. We hang out with the same group of friends, go shopping together, talk to each other about what goes on in our lives in great detail, and so on. It also means we know almost everything about each other, big or small.  Putting all this … Continue reading The Benefits of Healthy Coping: Inside My Sister’s Head

Unknown's avatarellerycravey
Arts & Culture

Chat Pile: The Band Born from Disaster

For decades, the outskirts of Oklahoma City served as a dumping ground for “chat”, toxic residue left over from long forgotten limestone and dolomite mining expeditions. Today, those very “chat piles” gradually damage the buildings and air, creating a slow moving ecological disaster. In the past couple years, the dirty, damaged, and warehouse infested slums of Oklahoma City has birthed a growing experimental music scene, … Continue reading Chat Pile: The Band Born from Disaster

Unknown's avatarWyatt Potter
Arts & Culture, Opinion

Road to Ruin: America’s National Parks

We, the American people, under the encouragement of ceaseless expansion (capitalism) have destroyed or attempted to tame every wild corner of the United States.  Thankfully, this condition of creation, this endless development, was recognized early. President Woodrow Wilson created the National Park Service with the intention of protecting America’s most sensitive and beautiful landscapes. His predecessors, particularly Teddy Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant, paved the … Continue reading Road to Ruin: America’s National Parks

Unknown's avatarmiriamlester
Arts & Culture, Opinion

The Lost Art of Reading Books

It’s no secret that people are reading less; books and articles have become passe and unstimulating amidst the overwhelming barrage of content that is invariably at our fingertips. Teens and even young children are opting for more short-form online content that can be consumed passively, rather than actively reading books for fun.  The decline in reading has left children and young adults with smaller vocabularies, … Continue reading The Lost Art of Reading Books

Unknown's avatarSidney Brant
Arts & Culture, Opinion

How ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Changed the Game in Children’s Animation

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, has been the must watch film of 2023 ever since its release in December of 2022— Tiktoks, tweets, and overall hype centered around the fearless, adorable cat known from the loved film series “Shrek” due to it’s storyline, characters, and overall message in the film.  Many animated children’s films had a popular debut in 2022, like Turning Red, Minions: … Continue reading How ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Changed the Game in Children’s Animation

Unknown's avatarMariana Martinez
Arts & Culture, Campus Life

From Burundi to Lancaster: Rene Ruhigita’s Story

Rene Ruhigita came to the US in the spring of 2019.  His family flew from Burundi, Africa, to Ethiopia, and from there to Alabama and then Washington D.C., before coming to Lancaster. The move “wasn’t a surprise,” Rene said. “I’ve been a refugee all my life, and I knew that I’m going to be leaving the country, but we just didn’t know which country we … Continue reading From Burundi to Lancaster: Rene Ruhigita’s Story

Unknown's avatarRose CarlsonLeave a comment
Arts & Culture, Campus Life

Chef Turned Historian: The Story of a McCaskey Grad

As a Senior at McCaskey Oliver Saye had no idea what he was going to do with his life. When given the opportunity to sign up for CTC he browsed through the options; Carpentry, Masonry, Nursing, the list went on. Nothing caught Saye’s eye until he saw Culinary Services. “I cooked in the home growing up, I didn’t know anything about carpentry or masonry, but … Continue reading Chef Turned Historian: The Story of a McCaskey Grad

Unknown's avatarmiriamlester
Arts & Culture, Campus Life

Mrs. Brumbach Has the Best Job in the World

After an arduous trek to the D floor from the humanities hallway of JP, I come to room D115 to meet Mrs. Brumbach, a kindly middle-aged language arts teacher. She is standing outside her room already chatting with a student, so I head into her room and take a seat by her desk, on which is propped a light-up “Brumby Loves You” sign. Rachel Brumbach, … Continue reading Mrs. Brumbach Has the Best Job in the World

Unknown's avatarGabriel Brogan
Arts & Culture

Wakanda Forever is More Than Just a Movie

The release of the movie Black Panther cultivated a legacy as more than a box office record-breaking film. For young black children everywhere, seeing their culture represented on the big screen not only as the center of a movie, but as the hero, was a revolution that at times seemed unfathomable. To be able to see not only your people, but such a large diaspora … Continue reading Wakanda Forever is More Than Just a Movie

Unknown's avatarTiyya Geiger
Arts & Culture

Which is Better: Spotify or Apple Music?

Spotify and Apple Music. Both are extremely popular music streaming services that function on a similar basis of pay-to access, granting the entire world of music for a monthly price. There’s been a significant increase in discussion about the two streaming services, given the Spotify Wrapped and Apple Replay. Both of these streaming services have obvious benefits to them, being in demand access to music … Continue reading Which is Better: Spotify or Apple Music?

Unknown's avatarWyatt Potter
Arts & Culture

“Midnights” Conceals More Than It Reveals

Taylor Swift is not known for being a master of subtlety. Much of her charm lies in her audacity, her refusal to let anything go. She transforms the details of her past relationships into devastating digs at her exes. But part of what made folklore and evermore, Swift’s indie-folk pandemic releases, so wonderful, was their nuance and introspection. Instead of lashing out, she looked in.  … Continue reading “Midnights” Conceals More Than It Reveals

Unknown's avatarFrances Brogan
Arts & Culture

Transcending the Joke Status: Bladee and the Power of Online Music

In a hazily shot YouTube video, Brandon MaCartney sits at a table after shooting footage for an upcoming project. “My music is love, man”, he says to the camera, as two scantily clad women duck in and out of the room. The music video for “Wonton Soup” may have been recorded over 10 years ago, but it is an important example. It reminds us that … Continue reading Transcending the Joke Status: Bladee and the Power of Online Music

Unknown's avatarWyatt Potter
Arts & Culture

The Impact of Black Representation in Cartoons

As a young child, I only enjoyed watching television shows with characters that weren’t human – Yo Gabba Gabba, SpongeBob, etc.  I was never able to really watch shows with humans, as I could never relate to the characters. It was always a mainly white cast with one or two stereotypical black characters: either a black female of a lighter skin tone, or a black … Continue reading The Impact of Black Representation in Cartoons

Unknown's avatarLayla Morales