How Streaming Transformed the Way We Watch Television

Technology has had a huge impact on television as it evolved throughout the years: from moving towards streaming platforms and away from cable, to binge watching becoming favored over the norm of weekly releases. Many have been left to question whether these changes are good or bad, or whether they’ll stick around.   Originally, when watching a TV show on cable it’d be found easily through … Continue reading How Streaming Transformed the Way We Watch Television

We’re All Addicted to Our Phones-Now What?

The ‘cell phone’ or mobile phone using cellular data, was invented in 1973. However, the cell phone that we all know and love, the high speed mobile computer with internet access, was invented in 2007. The very first ‘smartphone.’ Today, 97% of America’s population owns a smartphone. Since their rapid rise in popularity over the course of the early 2010s, the smartphone has boasted convenience, … Continue reading We’re All Addicted to Our Phones-Now What?

How Industrialized Food Production Harms Us All

“Everything is made of corn!” This thought has pervaded my brain ever since my class read Michael Pollan’s middle-grade edition of The Omnivore’s Dilemma in the 7th grade. The book explores different food production methods and diets, most of which ultimately end up being majorly inconvenient or unhealthy, to highlight the impact that industrialization has had on the food we eat. Deciding what to eat … Continue reading How Industrialized Food Production Harms Us All

How Being “Chronically Online” Impacts Teens Today

From an early age, you’re driven to stay away from social media. “You never know who you’re talking to” or how behind the screen it can be an eighty year old man waiting to kidnap you, so you should never talk to strangers online. The dangers of the internet have always been categorized by its anonymity, although that should not always be the focus of … Continue reading How Being “Chronically Online” Impacts Teens Today

How Streamers Wield Their Influence Online

Nearly two decades after its conception, the internet brought the creation of YouTube and several other platforms that served as video creation sites. But it wasn’t until 2011 when Twitch and the live-streaming fad gripped the online culture. Twitch was a near instant success, providing a more intimate experience and connection with content creators. In addition, it provided opportunities for live engagement–and more dedicated fans. … Continue reading How Streamers Wield Their Influence Online

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

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

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

Abdiel Ferrer Rivera: McCaskey’s Jack-of-all Video Games

This article was written by Staff Writer Angel Quintana. For centuries, many a friend group told stories about that one friend whose existence on this mortal plane is a scientific anomaly, but yet for some reason they defy all laws of this known universe, and exist anyway, for they simply don’t care. They are people whose stories about them sound like great Greek myths of … Continue reading Abdiel Ferrer Rivera: McCaskey’s Jack-of-all Video Games

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

Shooting at McDonald’s near McCaskey Impacts Students

On Thursday, January 26, four people were non-fatally shot at the McDonald’s just next to McCaskey campus.  “I didn’t really believe it at first,” said McCaskey sophomore Mini Brigatti, who was in a car in the McDonald’s drive-through when the shooting happened. “The whole thing felt like a movie… I was super scared, and when I heard the first shot my heart dropped so fast. … Continue reading Shooting at McDonald’s near McCaskey Impacts Students

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

Engagement and Courtesy: What Gen Z Has Sent to the Grave

Every day, like most students here, I traverse the halls and stairways of McCaskey East and JP. On one particular morning I was bumped into 6 times on my way to homeroom, and got only a single muttered “sorry.”  That same day, as I traveled from 6th to 7th period, my shoes were stepped on twice, I was walked into by a young gent on … Continue reading Engagement and Courtesy: What Gen Z Has Sent to the Grave

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

AP African American Studies: Timeline, Controversy, and Perspective

The United States is no stranger to censorship. The horrifying attempts to discard any progress made in America’s education system are becoming bolder and more alarming. The legality of attacks on race-based discussions such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE Act,” signed last year are gaining media traction as the arguments regarding censorship circulate courts nationwide. Perfectly phrased by Dean Pernell of Florida A&M … Continue reading AP African American Studies: Timeline, Controversy, and Perspective