Boasting thin, contorted bodies and platefuls of salad, fitness influencers garner hundreds of thousands of likes by promoting an unrealistic, unhealthy lifestyle to an audience of impressionable teenagers. Food transparency, popularized on social media, triggers body dysmorphia, insecurity and a plethora...

PAUSD has spent the better part of the last couple of decades lurching from one leadership crisis to the next. Former superintendent Don Austin’s tenure was defined by top-down decision making and a persistent disconnect from the community he was hired to serve. Trent Bahadursingh’s brief, turbulent...

Collecting is an activity humans have been doing since the beginning of our existence. Before currency, certain items were an indication of power and were cherished as opposed to being thrown away. Fast-forward to today, the trending hashtags #Minimalism and #DeclutterYourLife seem to challenge the hobby...

A substitute teacher in my ninth grade biology class once paused our documentary screening of Food Inc., to say that “Eating meat is not as bad as these people are making it seem.” I’ll be honest: As a vegetarian, I was disappointed. Reducing meat consumption isn’t some impossible, unrealistic...

Knowledge has the power and potential to advance technology and medicine while simultaneously addressing global issues, yet it is often treated as a commodity rather than a shared resource. Research is meant to spread ideas and rapidly drive progress, yet it has become a restricted asset that limits...

Following the surge of social media platforms in the early 2000s, the internet popularized memes. British evolutionary biologist Richard Hawkins coined the phrase, meme, in his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene." In it, memes refer to units of cultural transmission, a contemporary equivalent to genes. Today,...

In a world as polarized as it is today, members of opposite political parties tend to radically approach debates with a competitive mindset. Individuals often focus on defending their personal beliefs in these political debates. In reality, listening with intention is more beneficial in conversations....

Standing in the front of the classroom with thirty pairs of eyes on me, I could feel the sweat slowly dripping down my neck and my heart pounding hardly against my chest. The night before, I had spent maybe ten minutes in my bed, whispering Shakespeare lines to my ceiling. I convinced myself that I was...

Choosing a new elective can feel like both a personal and academic gamble before the course selection deadline, a decision compounded by pressures of doubling down on the same subject year after year to build a cohesive resume. However, specializing early often shuts the wide-open door to new, truer...

Empathy was a pillar of my elementary education. The concept wove throughout my classes, from the fictional cautionary tales during read-alouds on the rug to the lived experiences of injustice I learned about in history lessons. We were taught to imagine ourselves in someone else’s place. In a place...

Something has shifted in how people think about their place in the world. More and more, a simple philosophy has taken hold: “You don’t owe anyone anything.” “Look out for yourself.” “Invest time only where there’s a clear payoff.” It sounds liberating, even empowering. But this mindset...