November 2016 Volume 16, Issue 2

continued on p. 3

SEE INSIDE

-Myles Davis-Mrs. Barge-Teacher contract-Horoscope

aw rintYou may have seen her ten

years ago, performing at street fes-tivals with her dad. Or as Cinder-ella in Payton’s “Into the Woods.” Or maybe at the Illinois all-state performance of “Rent,” as Mimi Marquez. Or at that small event known as Chance the Rapper’s Magnificent Coloring day, singing backup for the up and coming Chi-cago rapper. Regardless of where you came across her, you probably already know—Alexa Moster has a big voice.

Alexa started with violin les-sons and a little piano around the age of four, and began singing around age five. Her dad, a music major, recruited her nascent voice to perform with him at their local block parties.

A neighbor who owned a small coffee shop, Savor the Flavor, asked the Mosters to bring their act to her shop. They then moved up to being Potbelly musicians, and eventually, one summer, had their own set at the Summer on Southport street festival. Alexa, at this point, knew singing was part of who she was.

When asked how high school really brought theater into the pic-ture, Alexa said, “Because I want to go into college for theater now, a lot of people assume that it was my primary focus from the begin-ning, whereas in actuality, it was music for most of my life.”

Coming into high school, Al-exa never even considered the-ater as something she would end up loving. However, after seeing potential in Alexa in choir class freshman year, Mrs. Johnston rec-ommended she try out for Broad-way Gems, the student-staged and choreographed musical theatre re-vue that happens every other year. She quickly came to love it.

“Mrs. Johnston introduced me to how the intersection of music and theater could really create friendships as a freshman, because that was honestly why I joined in the first place... I was really un-comfortable, as most freshmen were. But Mrs. Johnston, my choir teacher who I was close with from the beginning, told me I have a great voice and that I should come audition for Broadway Gems. I fell in love with that community be-cause that’s where all my friends were. They really went hand in hand,” said Moster.

But the “Into the Woods” Cin-derella role accounts for the other essential part of her growing love for theater through her two direc-tors, Mr. Wasielewski and Ms. Catlin.

In “39 Steps,” the Payton Players 2015 production, Alexa learned that she could stand alone as an actor without relying on her voice. She called it her “mini iden-tity crisis,” that Mr. Wasielewski, a professional actor himself, helped her through. Mr. Wasielewski and Mrs. Johnston also aided Alexa with one of the more important au-ditions she’s had so far, with her “Rent” audition.

“Rent” was 2016’s all-state show for the Illinois High School Theater Festival, the largest and oldest non-competitive high school theatre festival in the world. “Rent” tells the story of a group of friends’ bohemian lifestyle, deal-ing with love, loss, and AIDS in East Village, New York City. Al-exa, one of the several hundreds of auditioning high schoolers from all over the state, got the lead role of Mimi: a 19 year-old, HIV-posi-tive, heroin addicted, stripper and prostitute.

With “Rent,” Alexa said, “I

was dropped into a tiny miracle… Every time I was in that rehears-al room, or down-state, or with that company in general, I felt so lucky to be in the presence of so many people who were more ex-perienced than I was. I really got to soak up all of what they were good at, and try to learn more about myself as an actor by being around people who were so talent-ed…They really took a chance on me as someone who really hadn’t done all that much theater before; I was so grateful to have that expe-rience. I was like a sponge; it was amazing.”

All the while, Alexa’s singing career was taking up a larger and larger role in her life as well. Ever since Alexa was recruited to the Chicago Children’s Choir (CCC) when performing in a coffee shop at age eight, she has been work-ing her way up the ranks of the renowned non-profit children’s choir.

Alexa is now a part of the choir’s premier mixed-voice en-semble, which is known as The Voice of Chicago. Typically, Al-exa has choir every day of the week. That can range from perfor-mances to all-calls, dress rehears-als, or practices for the different groups within Voice of Chicago that she’s a part of— Encore, a smaller group that performs at pri-vate events, and Encore Groove, an even smaller dance/show choir.

Although the Voice of Chicago has performed everywhere from Chicago Ideas Week to Cuba, one of the highlighted recent perfor-mances was at Chance the Rap-per’s Magnificent Coloring Day Festival, which took place on Sep-tember 24.

Chance, debatably Chicago’s most quickly emerging artist of

Senior Alexa Moster journeys to center stageBy SAMUEL ALGASStaff Writer

Slime Soccer sparks scandal among studentsBy GRANT HAUSKINS and JOE WALSHStaff Writers

Gambling by students is tak-ing place across Payton, and many students are placing bets on a popular web game, Super Slime Soccer. This game was created in 2008, and is hosted on Mollerhoj.com and frequently on Clay.io for competitive play. Super Slime Soccer has long been a staple of Payton students, but has recently been twisted and corrupted into a game of skill-based gambling.

Super Slime Soccer is a 2D online soccer game made unique by special powers of 27 different slimes. It is the brainchild of Jens Dahl Mollerhoj, a Danish citizen who is a self-described “wannabe hacker.” The game is played by two opponents who each control a unique slime with a special and

individual ability. It is most com-monly played until one opponent scores five goals.

A recent poll conducted by Paw Print through an email survey of all students showed that more than 26% of Payton students play or have played Super Slime Soccer.

In an email interview with the Paw Print, Mr. Mollerhoj was asked about the competitive and high-risk gambling scene around Slime Soccer, and he gave his wholehearted approval of the scene saying, “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

Mr. Mollerhoj also said that “the monk, the cosmos, and the fisher slime” are inappropriate for competitive play.

Evidence of underground gam-

bling where up to hundreds of dol-lars change hands daily stretches as far back as spring 2016. One player, who goes by the name Kent Murphy ‘20, claims to have made a “small fortune” from playing in Slime Soccer games.

However, only a small fraction of winnings are bet by the players themselves. In fact, most of the money is bet by spectators on the results of the matchups.

A junior, who wished to re-main anonymous, and who is one of the most prominent figures in the group is a frequent, high dol-lar, and important spectator in the game. He has frequently won large bets on games, to which he attri-butes his book and record keeping, saying “I’ve put ten, twenty, fifty

on a single game before. I’ll even have a side bet or two going on things like who finna score first or who finna get a hat trick. Only rea-

the past couple years, featured CCC on his actual album in sever-al tracks and asked a small group of the Chicago’s Children’s Choir to perform in about seven numbers at his festival. The group actually had several other Payton students from CCC, but Chance only had them come out for his last song, “Blessings.”

The festival featured several other big artists such as Skrillex, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Tyler the Creator, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Young Thug, and Lil Uzi Vert.

Alexa and five other high schoolers from CCC were also called into the studio to record a backup track for Chance’s Color-ing Book tour, which is already selling out nationwide. When asked about Magnificent Coloring Day, Alexa said, “It was chaotic because originally we thought we were gonna be in more numbers than we were actually in, but in the end it was a great experience... We were just called in for what he wanted us to be on—the last song, which was great… That’s just kin-

da how the industry works. You have to prepare, and at the end of the day, if the artist or the produc-tion team makes a change, then you just go on for what you’re needed for.”

In her future, Alexa wants to major in drama ideally at Univer-sity of Michigan, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, or NYU. She’s looking for a program that has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama, while still offering a specialization in musical theater. Classical acting training is something she hasn’t been able to focus on before, and a degree would provide the con-centration. Alexa said, “Trying to go into this as a profession, I think that you want to be as marketable as possible so you can play more roles and be a jack-of-all-trades.”

For any actor, Broadway is the dream, but Alexa says that it’s not her end-all-be-all. “I would just say for myself, my goal would just be to create good art, with good people. It doesn’t really matter where it’s gonna be or how much acclaim I’ll receive.”

Graphic by Grant Hauskins

Alexa Moster ‘17 (right of Chance) and other Chicago Childrens Choir members performed with Chicago artist Chance the Rapper. Photo courtesy of Alexa Moster ‘17

2 NEWS PAW PRINT November 2016

PRINCIPALTim Devine ASSISTANT PRINCIPALDavid AdamjiDIR. OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENTErica Bauer

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Allison ChoCamille Grandjean Grace McDermott

PHOTO EDITORS Lesly Castro Annel Lopez LAYOUT EDITORS Ashley BradyTaylor CarrollJack KnabeTristan Rinholm

STAFF WRITERS Samuel Algas Ethan Bernard Caroline Bernet Isabel Constantino Evelyn Deveyra Sarah Force Jessica Fuller Darwin Garay Grant Hauskins Abigail Jakus Ciera Johnson Sean Mazurkiewicz Zemerluan Meehan Anthony Mercado Omar PashaJulianna Ritzu Filip Slusarczyk Connor SteelCole Robbins Joseph Walsh FACULTY ADVISOR Michelle Mowery mlmowery@cps.edu

1034 North Wells Street Chicago, IL 60610

phone: 773.534.0034 fax: 773.534.0035 www.wpcp.org

paytonpawprint.com @PaytonNews

Walter Payton College Preparatory

High School

In a pickle: Students make tough choices when applying to collegeBy LESLY CASTRO and ANNEL LOPEZStaff Writers

It’s December, and as all of our seniors know, December means college applications are in full swing. However, this time of the year can take on different mean-ings depending on the application type a senior selects, given that different decision types denote dif-ferent deadlines.

If students are set on attending a certain institution, they can ap-ply Early Decision (ED). If they do so, students will submit their application early – usually around the start of November – and will be either accepted or declined early.

If applying ED, the applicant signs a “binding” contract, which states that the student can only ap-ply ED to one institution and, if accepted, must withdraw all other applications to attend that one school.

This is helpful to some stu-dents. Aby Rivera ‘17, applying ED to Scripps, said, “At first, I was positive I didn’t want to do ED. The thought of being binded to a school scared me.”

Once she visited the school, her perspective changed completely, and she was sure of her decision to apply ED: “I could picture myself going there and knew it was the right school for me. I wanted to be binded,” said Rivera.

Applying ED also helps some

students’ chances of being accept-ed. If a student’s admission to an institution is on the fence, show-ing a strong commitment for the school can push them into the ac-cepted pile.

This type of application is not very common because a bind-ing contract could be too final for some students.When asked if a binding contract affected his de-cisions in applications, Nicholas Timms ‘17 said, “In my current situation ‘yes,’ because even if I choose that, I might not be able to switch programs. Even if you get accepted earlier, I still want more options.”

Another option is applying Ear-ly Action (EA). This differs from ED only in the binding contract aspect. EA applicants are allowed to apply early to multiple schools and are not required to attend if accepted. This option tends to be more preferable to students as they have more leeway. Timms said, “you can apply EA to more schools. And even if you have to get it done earlier, it’s a relief to have it done. It’s less stress later.”

Some students feel as though Early Action should only be used in certain cases. Jamyah Hawkins ‘17, who is applying EA to MIT, advises that, “You should only do schools you know you want to go

Nicholas Timms ‘17 works on his Common Application right before November 1 deadlines.

Photo By Annel Lopezto. You should pick your top two schools.” If you know you are ac-cepted earlier, you then could de-cide whether or not to submit other applications to other colleges or universities.

A student could also choose to complete an application as Regu-lar Decision means that the appli-cant has until around December or January to submit their application and are told if they are accepted at the same time as all other ap-plicants, around March or April of 2016. Most applicants choose this option.

There are definite perks that

come with choosing Regular Deci-sion. “You have more time to re-fine your application, to look at fi-nancial aid packages and compare, and you aren’t bound,” said Noella Homer ‘17.

There is also “more time to learn about yourself,” Hawkins ‘17 adds. This is helpful when writing personal statements and supplemental essays that dictate admission.

No matter which application process seniors choose, they have many other decisions to make and applications to submit.

New school year incorporates gender neutral bathrooms for all of PaytonBy CAROLINE BERNETStaff Writer

All students can use the gender neutral bathrooms in the east wing. Photo By Caroline Bernet

While it was exciting to get a new gym this year, gender neutral bathrooms are much more monu-mental. The newly-signed school bathrooms used to say “Faculty Only.” At the beginning of this school year, the sign changed to “All-Gender.”

The debate over access to pub-lic bathrooms for people who identify as transgender has been a

hot topic in the news recently. A person who identifies as

transgender means that the gender on their birth certificate and the gender they identify as are not the same.

The current issue our country faces is how to support persons who identify as transgender.

When people need to use the bathroom, they are forced to make a decision about their gender iden-tity that they may not be comfort-able with.

The new bathroom signs do more than just give options to peo-ple, but have the ability to validate a person’s identity.

Last year, the Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) and Payton’s Organization of Women (POW) worked together with administra-tion to add these bathrooms as an option for non-binary students. These two clubs brought it up with administration and pushed for change.

“We wanted to ensure that all students had a place where they could use the facilities, without having to ask an adult for a key to have special permission to use that space,” said Principal Tim Devine.

“We think that bodily func-

tions are just that -- they are bodily functions.

Because our world is so large-ly binary, we didn’t feel that it was right that students that don’t fit into a certain binary modality should have to go through differ-ent processes than binary persons would need to go through.”

The new bathrooms add to the environment Payton looks to in-spire in its acceptance of all stu-dents regardless of their identity.

Despite the common mental-ity that forces people to use the bathrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificate, Payton will continue to push its students to validate the identities of others.

There is another perspective that some have on the addition of new all-gender bathrooms – a lack of awareness of their existence.

Maddie Beirne ‘17, a PAL, says that her freshmen are not fully aware that the bathrooms are op-tions for non-binary persons.

“I think the gender-neutral bathrooms show freshmen that the environment is tolerant and accepting no matter what,” said Beirne.

“But I also think that there

definitely needs to be a larger push towards the gender-neutral bath-rooms and talking about them. The freshmen may be aware of them but they may not understand why or for whom.”

While the new bathrooms are a great step in an accepting direc-tion, the student body looks to fur-ther that push through publicizing it to the population.

Read the Paw Print

online!

Go topaytonpaw-print.com

for the latest news.

PAW PRINT November 2016 NEWS 3

This election year has been unexpected. Amidst the accusa-tions of Donald Trump commit-ting sexual assault, Hillary Clinton deleting classified emails, and Ted Cruz being the zodiac killer, 2016 had many people seriously think-ing about moving to Canada de-pending on which candidate was elected.

And, if the preceding events of this year weren’t enough, this catastrophe of a presidential race culminated on November 8 with the General Election, an event that decided the 45th president of the United States.

While the election has made Americans from all walks of life uneasy and fearful about the future of our country and the man who has been chosen to govern it, one other fact has made this decision a particularly pivotal one: the whole world is watching.

The two major party candi-dates, Hillary Clinton and Don-ald Trump, of the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, represented two opposite sides of the spectrum in American politics. One is a career politician, a mod-erate liberal, and a proponent of pro-choice legislation, as well as stricter gun control regulations and increased taxes on the upper-class. The other is a businessman and re-ality TV star, a conservative, and a candidate who supports extreme immigration laws, including build-ing a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, advocating for bringing jobs back to our country, and push-ing pro-life policies.

These two candidates had prov-en to be two of the most polariz-ing political figures ever seen in a presidential election, as their rhet-oric and individual histories cre-ated deep divides among voters.

This led to, in Trump’s case, numerous instances of violence to erupt at his rallies between sup-porters and protesters, causing members of both groups to be ar-rested. While the three nationally televised debates offered a chance for the candidates to better articu-late their policies to the millions of potential voters, many people, spe-cifically younger, undecided vot-ers, were left only more confused about each of the candidates.

As Katherine Skiba ‘18 ex-plains, “I thought that the debates were more confusing because in-stead of explaining their policies, which Donald Trump hasn’t talked about, the candidates talked about personality and temperament. We don’t care about your emails or releasing your tax returns, please just talk about policy.”

The opinions of younger voters became increasingly relevant in this presidential race, supported by a number of surveys that cited the millennial vote as potentially be-ing the deciding factor in a number of states, including Iowa, Virginia, Ohio and Florida.

Voting was not the only way youth wer influential in the 2016 election and its aftermath. In fact, youth got involved even if they weren’t old enough to vote.

On November 8, young people from across the country, a number of which were from Payton, served as election judges. Election judges operate the polling place on elec-tion day, which includes opening and closing the precinct, answer-ing questions and helping voters operate the voting equipment, and counting the votes for each candi-date before reporting them to Elec-tion Central after the polls close.

“I chose to be an election judge because I’m interested in this elec-

tion,” said Ella Altamirano ‘18. “There is so much at stake this year, and as people who benefit from democracy, we have to give back. Being an election judge was a way that I could individually get involved.”

Ella adds that youth participa-tion in the election process is espe-cially important. “There are a lot of people who don’t know how the voting process works, and this is a great way to educate young people and increase awareness about how to vote. It helps youth understand the responsibility of voting, which will lead to them being more like-ly to vote and becoming more in-volved in future elections, which strengthens our democracy as a whole.”

In addition to serving as elec-tion judges, many Payton students were involved in the election in a different way, as first time voters. When reflecting on how her first time voting went, Aaliyah Willing-ham Pierce ‘17 said, “It was pretty quick, actually. The lines at the place I voted went pretty quick. My parents voted there too.”

This year’s election promised a massive voter turnout, with early voting numbers that already ex-ceeded those received in 2012 in many states, which reflects the significance of this election and the huge impact the result of this election has on the futures of every single person in the United States, and many who don’t live here too.

The candidates’ close poll num-bers and unsuccessful appeal to undecided voters have shown that this election has deeply divided Americans, so deeply that Donald Trump, the 45th president elect, will not be representing a larger number of people when he takes office on January 20.

Grudge match 2016: Electoral college votes win over popular vote as country is divided By JULIANNA RITZUStaff Writer

Many students were up late on the night of October 10 anx-iously awaiting the announcement of the teacher strike decision. To most students’ surprise, it was announced at midnight that there would be no strike, as the Board of Education and Chicago Teachers Union finally came to a tentative contract agreement, granting pub-lic school teachers more rights and fairer pay.

The Chicago Teacher Union re-cently met to ratify this contract. Mr. Barge is Payton’s Chicago Teachers Union representative, and he broke down the new con-tent of the agreement.

“The board agreed to cap the amount of charter schools and the number of students that can be in charter schools, which is reassur-ing for a lot of public school teach-ers. Essentially, they won’t be al-lowed to move every public school student to a charter school,” said

Both Trump and Clinton built their campaigns on appealing to their core voter base rather than reaching out to undecided vot-ers or to those who would usually support the other candidate, and in doing so left many voters alienated and angry at both candidates, and unwilling to vote for either.

This rift is an enormous prob-lem, and the response to this shocking election, including pro-tests in every major city across the nation, petitions to elect Hill-ary Clinton instead, and calls to abolish the electoral college, have shown that this conflict isn’t going away anytime soon.

The very nature of democracy and the role of the president is to make decisions through com-promises that act on behalf of all Americans, not just the voters who specifically voted for whoever is serving as president.

Because the American public has become so divided, the task of representing everyone has become nearly impossible. This prompts one overwhelming question: Will true democracy and compromise

be able to be achieved under the leadership of Donald Trump?

The release of Trump’s 100-day plan, highlighting his desire to build a border wall with Mexico, defund projects related to conser-vation and climate change, and withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership, as well as the ap-pointment of numerous cabinet members, including Steve Ban-non, a conservative whose views have dubbed him an “alt-right conservative” and a “neo-Nazi,” have many questioning the future of the United States under a Trump administration.

Trump has shown to be un-apologetic to the views of those who do not agree with him and unwilling to make concessions to anyone.

America has spoken, and the result leaves us at a crossroads in regards to our progress as a nation.

But one thing is certain; for bet-ter or for worse, the decision we have made will define the next four or potentially eight years in this country.

Mr. Barge.Additionally, overcrowding in

primary school classrooms was addressed with new policies writ-ten into the contract. “There’s a new provision for class size limits for kindergarten through second grade where if they have over 31 students, they get an extra adult in the room, a PSRP, to assist the teacher. In the best case there will be pressure to make those classes smaller, and in the worst case they’ll at least have an extra per-son to help,” Barge explained.

Much of what the CTU was fighting for was about keeping some parts of their contracts the same and maintaining past gains. The current CPS pay structure that grants teachers small pay raises over the years was upheld with CTU negotiations. Pensions were a large point of the agreement, as Barge described.

“The Board is maintaining the

pension pick up which they’d been really pushing hard to cut, which would have effectively cut our pay by 7%. Some of the wins were keeping the things we had in place and gains from previous negotia-tions. Those are the big things the CTU got.”

The CPS schools’ delegates decided with a two thirds vote to recommend this new contract to the Chicago Teachers Union mem-bers, which was just a measure to assure the rest of CTU that this contract had teacher approval.

On October 31 and Novem-ber 1, the Chicago Teacher Union voted “yes” with a 70% majority to ratify this new contract.

The contract was officially ap-proved by the Board of Education on December 7, however, there is a $215 million hole because of Governor Rauner’s veto of the CPS pension bill.

Teacher contract approvedBy SARAH FORCEStaff Writer

Many Payton students served as election judges during the presi-dential election. Photo by Julianna Ritzu

Slime soccer (cont. from p. 1)By GRANT HAUSKINS and JOE WALSHStaff Writersson I’m winnin’ is because of the stats I keep.”

With his books, the results of every game are recorded and analyzed. The statistics that are recorded are on the same level as baseball, where numbers of goals in a row, abilities used, goals saved, tip offs won, are all crucial facts in deciding who the favorite in a match is. The result is a com-plex gambling system with setup odds, records, and results of every player’s games.

During our research we found many frequent players who have commented negatively on the names associated with each slime and their ability. Calling a Native American slime “Indian Slime” and giving it the power of “rain dance” is inappropriate, according to some.

Similar comments have also been noted with regards to “Fe-male Slime” whose ability is “at-

traction.” The Female Slime is also pink-

colored and has animated hearts surrounding her opponent when-ever her ability is used. Users such as Matthew Marchbanks ’18 have labeled this as “close-minded” and “ignorant” ways of characterizing a female character in the game.

According to the CPS Code of Conduct (SCC), gambling is a Class 3 offense. A gambling of-fense can result in multiple deten-tions or an in-school suspension. It also violates a Class 2 offense in the SCC, which is “use of the CPS network for the purposes of distributing or downloading non-educational material.”

Despite its recent negative evo-lution into a gambling outlet for Payton students, Super Slime Soc-cer is returning to its original, fun purpose, according to some of the avid players.

4 Features/News PAW PRINT November 2016

PP: What drove you to come to Payton and teach?Julia Newcomer: “I first de-cided to study infectious diseases and immunology at Loyola, after my first year in the master's pro-gram. While I enjoyed it, I felt like something was missing. I was in the lab all the time, and I talked to a very small amount of people. So after realizing this I made the hard choice to leave and switch programs to DePaul’s for science education. I haven’t regretted it since. One of the teachers at De-Paul actually talked to Ms.Hassan and got me the job here, so I was extremely lucky.”PP: Was it hard for you to leave Germany?JN: “Yes, it was hard; every day is very hard for me. When you hear a certain type of music you start crying, it’s that type of hard. My whole family is there and my twin sister recently moved back to Germany, so I’m kind of all alone now. However, with all the tech-nology now with Skype and Face-time make it a lot easier because I just don't hear their voice I get to see them and all the things they do. I also visit twice a year in the summer and winter, and my mom and sister are coming to visit next week so that’s good.”

PP: What were your initial thoughts of Payton?JN: “My first day here I thought I was going to be super anxious. I wasn’t sure if I was going to cry if someone said something mean to me. It actually turned out to be great. I was very calm throughout the whole day. Of course I was scared about my performance, but I was still very calm about the experience because I know that teachers too make mistakes and that will only help me improve as a teacher.”PP: What were some of the pres-sures you felt as a first year teach-er?JN: “Yes, the first half of the year when I was teaching Anatomy and AP Environmental Science, I had to go through a TPA process. It is basically some out-of-state person decided if I was able to become a teacher or not based on videos I had submitted, and that was a very scary notion to me. That I didn’t even get to talk to the person about what I did, it was just the ten min-ute video that decided my fate.”PP: What were some of your most memorable moments from your first year at Payton?JN: “There were many memorable moments. I taught Anatomy and Physiology so for me there were

many memorable dissections for me that I had to lead. I thought that those were very fun because it was fun to see the kids and how they treated the dissection. Many kids were super scared, but many kids were also very excited for them. My most memorable memory was seeing the kids’ reaction to lesson plans because sometimes I thought I had created a really cool lesson, but the kids didn’t like it at all, and other times it was magical.”PP: Did an teachers scare you when you first got to Payton? Why?JN: “I didn’t really know anyone else besides the science depart-ment, and even until now I only re-ally know the people from the sci-ence department well. Out of the science department I wouldn’t say I was scared but more intimidated of Mr.Kinderman just because he always spoke his mind, and he was so truthfully honest. I wasn’t sure if he meant it in a sarcastic, mean, or just in an honest way. Now I have learned to love what I realize is his sarcasm.”PP: Is there anything in particular you look forward to in this year?JN: “A goal I have is to have a very memorable year, especially with my APES kids, because last year I was in the footsteps of Ms.Hassan,

and this year I have adapted the curriculum and improved it so that it fits my teaching style more. I re-ally want my students to feel like I’m teaching towards the test, but that they have enjoyed the course and had fun. I also want them to really take away something from my course. I am also excited as we are in the middle of making a com-posting program, and I’m looking forward to that.”PP: In your spare time what do you enjoy doing?JN: “I definitely love spending time with my husband and dog, and often times we go to the sub-urbs to visit my husband's family. I’m a big family person so even if my husband wants to relax if they are around I drag him to the fam-ily. So we spend as much as our time with family, and when they are not around, we like to travel a lot. We have many travel spaces because of our family and where they live. So we get to travel a lot and visit family which are my two favorite things combined so that’s awesome.”PP: What is your favorite part of Payton?JN: “I love the community feel, and the support I get and the sup-port I see students give each other. I also believe there are things to

be improved in the community, but that is not to say there is not a good base of community already. I really love the school’s spirit and pep rallies since that is something that is new to me since in Germa-ny these things were outside of the school and not really within the schools.”PP: Lastly anything you want to mention about Payton that you en-joy?JN: “I really enjoy that we have seminar days. It breaks it up nice-ly, since sometimes there’s a lot of stress in the school and it helps ev-eryone relax including the teachers themselves.”

Ms. Newcomer joins science department

Payton’s brightest star: Mrs. Barge nationally honored for astronomy education contributions

By DARWIN GARAYStaff Writer

She’s the star-loving half of the Barge duo, but interest in outer space isn’t where her astronomy experience stops. Mrs. Jackie Barge, who teaches Honors Biolo-gy and Honors Astronomy at Pay-ton, recently received the Thomas J. Brennan Award from the As-tronomical Society of the Pacific. This award annually recognizes one high school astronomy teacher for their outstanding contributions.

Paw Print: What is the Thomas J. Brennan award, and what process did you go through for your nomi-nation?Jackie Barge: “It is awarded for exceptional achievement related to the teaching of astronomy at the high school level. I actually didn’t know [that I was nominated] until I was awarded last spring, and they called me. As far as I can tell – I work with the University of Chica-go, with teacher development and student projects in the summer, I did several summers of this with astronomy projects – I believe that it was the people at the university, and the teachers I was working with then, and the students from Payton that were there. I believe the university person knew about it, and she got everyone else to do it. We’re nominated by people, and then people have to send in sup-porting statements and letters. So

there were some Payton students that wrote and some teachers that wrote.”PP: What did you do after receiv-ing the award?JB: “I had to go out to San Fran-cisco, and there was an awards banquet on October 22. I was pre-sented the award, and I had to give a speech. I was part of a group of ten awardees that night.”PP: What was your most interest-ing experience while there?JB: “It might have been meeting Katherine Johnson’s family. She got one of the awards, and she also got the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama last year. She is in her nineties. [She was part of] a group of Af-rican American women who were mathematicians for NASA, for the Apollo program, and nobody knew about them, but they were calculating the orbits for these people. So it was really interesting talking to her family – she was too old to travel there, but her family came. The other really cool thing I got to see was a first edition Gali-leo book from the 1600s, the one that got him in trouble.”PP: When did you first know you were interested in astronomy? JB: “I never had any classes [in school]. Back in the 90s, I was teaching elementary school, and nobody was using the Internet

yet. I saw a workshop at Adler Planetarium that said ‘Are you in-terested in the Internet? Are you interested in astronomy? Do you want to learn how to use these two in a classroom?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know anything about astron-omy, I should go learn! And yeah, I like the Internet!’ I was using it at home, and I said, ‘I’d like to use that in class, I’m going to go to this workshop!’ It really opened my eyes to astronomy. We were there learning about how we could find supernovas in a classroom – real supernovas.”PP:What do you think are the most important recent advance-ments made in astronomy?JB: “Probably the one that has the biggest impact are the findings of the exoplanets that are like Earth, because people are really look-ing for life on other planets. And just the ability to make better and better telescopes to be able to de-cipher information from light, be-cause light is what we get from these things, and being able to fig-ure out what this light is telling us [is an important advancement.]”PP: What do you consider the most interesting part about astron-omy?JB: “For me, I look up in the sky and see stars, maybe the moon, but there’s so much up there that we are missing because of our eyes.

First, we can’t see all the light that there is, we can only pick out vis-ible light, so we miss three quar-ters of the spectrum. Because the retina refreshes automatically by itself, we can’t gather light like a telescope or camera can. So when we look at Andromeda, we just see a little smudge. But if we could keep our eyes open without re-freshing those rods and cones, and we just kept gathering light, that would appear three times the size of the moon in the sky. It’s there, but we’re missing it. So just real-izing what we’re not seeing, to me, is exciting.”PP: How do you teach astronomy at Payton?JB: “I like students to do as-tronomy. So we get our hands on telescopes and learn how to oper-ate them. We learn how to operate the planetarium. We do lots of re-search projects looking at real as-tronomical data. So we’re not just reading about it, we’re doing it.”PP: What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as an as-tronomy teacher?JB: “Sometimes you say, ‘Oh, it’s those kids who are majoring in astronomy.’ But I honestly think it’s the people that hated science, and now love it. In fact, this award kind of brought out people through Facebook and things like that, old students, and some of them are

four, five, six years graduated, and it was fun to hear them saying, ‘I still love astronomy!’ I’m meet-ing some people who are teach-ers in CPS now, who are saying, ‘I’m teaching my kids science in elementary school because I went through your class.’ So that’s cool.”PP: What do you do with astrono-my outside of the classroom?JB: “I do a lot of work with teachers – professional develop-ment, and some community stuff sometimes. And just for myself, just walking from the car to the house, I always look up to see the moon. Looking at the moon and that bright light reflecting off of it, it makes me just right away in my head just zoom out, and say, ‘Okay, so the sun has to be over here to be shining that way,’ and it just makes me think about that big picture out there in space.

Astronomy teacher Mrs. Barge is Payton’s own star teacher.

Photo by Grace McDermott

By GRACE MCDERMOTTStaff Writer

Ms. Newcomer teaches AP Environmental Science (APES).

Photo by staff

PAW PRINT November 2016 FEATURES/NEWS 5

With U.S. split by race, Payton stands in solidarityBy CIERA JOHNSONStaff Writer

Philando Castille. Rekia Boyd. Alton Sterling. Korryn Gaines. Paul O’Neal. Laquan McDonald. These are just a few names of the victims to gun violence by police brutality. In 2016, there have been increased incidents of police bru-tality murders, but also increased acts of activism to promote social change.

Despite all of the division and chaos that plagues our country today, many Americans have re-tained solidarity, peace, and cour-age.

One of Payton’s seniors, Eva Lewis, has organized acts of soli-darity, peace, and courage through what can be simply called “soli-darity circles.”

Payton thrives upon the 4Cs and encourages students to em-body the principles of Curiosity, Courage, Compassion, and Char-acter.

Eva has done just that by orga-nizing these solidarity circles here at Payton. Eva’s act of courage and character has inspired many stu-dents and has been supported by many teachers and administration.

Paw Print: What are the solidarity circles?Eva Lewis ‘17: “They are not called solidarity circles. I made that name up. I came up with soli-darity circles because I believed that the act of touching and saying united things is very powerful be-cause it is connecting, and it’s like you’re passing the solidarity to the other person. I organized two pro-tests over the summer, and I ended those protests in a circle citing the Assata’s Daughter’s chant which

states: ‘It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and sup-port each other. We have nothing to lose by our chains.’ And so I just brought it to school as a way to show solidarity and peace among Payton students.”PP: Are these solidarity circles only here at Payton or have they spread to other schools across the city?EL: “Our organization [Black Lives Matter Youth] does it. I initi-ate them, and I lead them but the chant comes from Assata’s Daugh-ters. And our organization adopted that chant, and people from the organization did it at Jones, and so we said that it would be a good idea to hold these solidarity circles at two places. And hopefully, it should catch on because they are really empowering.”Paw Print: What events have led you to start the chants?EL: “That week [September 21] there were five police brutality deaths. There was a disabled guy, there was a man whose car broke down, and in response to that there was someone who died at a pro-test. There were a lot. And you know there is a lot when you can’t remember the hashtags. It was re-ally traumatizing.There was also a healing circle for students who were affected by these issues that were happening, and that’s really what got people’s blood boiling. It was like, we got it off of our chest but it was also like we felt help-less, and that’s when I asked the black community if they would like to do the circles, and they said yeah. The circles are done in

a space where there is a protest in response to police brutality, which is also done in a space where ev-eryone has the same ideals. I went to Freedom Square this summer to volunteer, and there are people who have been camping there for two months, imagining a world without police. So it’s like a per-manent sit-in or semi-permanent sit-in. And at Freedom Square they have a town hall every night, and we come together and talk about how we can fix things, and they ended it with the circle. And so the circle applies to all situations where you are evoking change.”PP: How supportive has the stu-dent body here at Payton been?EL: “The second circle we did, we welcomed allies to do it too, and it was very nice to see people of different backgrounds and skin colors joining hands, and sup-porting the community. I didn’t get any administration or teacher backlash. In fact, I got a lot of support. The administration was very supportive of the ideas, and they definitely cultivate everyone to use their voices. There was an incident where someone walked through the circle, which is really disrespectful, and painful for a lot of people, but that was the only backlash. And people are going to say ignorant things; they just are. That’s not really the focus of it. When you’re trying to do some-thing to help yourself and help your people, sometimes you just have to kick the ignorance to the side.”PP: Will these solidarity circles continue?EL: “They’ll continue in smaller

spaces for sure. I have a non-for-profit, ‘The I-Project,’ and I am hosting enrichments here [at Pay-ton] every other Wednesday, and I’m definitely ending those with a chant. And we’re talking about things like social justice with those things heavy on our minds. Some-times you have to wonder, like, why am I putting myself through this? The bigger circles will prob-ably happen again, but they are not an everyday thing. When tensions are high, we need that power, we need to draw that power. Then I am happy to organize and work with other people in the school who are also making efforts to or-ganize.”PP: Are there any misconceptions about the circles that you want to address?EL: “People thought the first cir-cle was a protest, and it wasn’t. It was just that people were in pain. I was upset on the bus, and my heart was in pain, like my heart was in Charlotte, and I was like I

don’t know how to deal with this. So I texted people about it...like people were not trying to come to school. And so I was like, I wanna do a thing...and they were like, we don’t know what it is, but we support you, and we did it for our-selves. And people watched it like it was a protest and people talked about it like it was a protest, like ‘What are they doing?’ But it was for us because we needed that re-minder that we are not alone, and that we are powerful. And the sec-ond one was a demonstration.In response to the recent events of police shootings, students here at Payton are still evoking change and working to achieve social justice. The solidarity circles are meant to bring peace, union, and strength to our student body in the wake of these horrific events. Until there is justice, there will continue to be strong activism and acts of courage in our school as we embody the 4Cs.”

The False Perception By ANTHONY MERCADO Staff Writer

The blurred conversations at varied distances, replicating the adult’s voices in Charlie Brown. Each conversation rejoicing in the VICTORY of the Home team. Distantly, two figures as small as the cuticle on a pinky; growing in size after every passing millisecond finally standing at only 5’4” and 5’6”. Each one having only experienced their first week of the next four years; memorizing lesson plans in claustrophobic spaces about subjects that they may never be interested in. Each figure growing up in a generation where their exposure to the rest of the world is confined into a box that had only one purpose over 100 years ago. The shorter figure begins the interaction,

“Mom, this is Lalo. Lalo, my mom and brother.” Palms grasping together and biceps and triceps controlling movement for the societal way of greeting. Mom in a calming tone, “Hi Lalo, I’m Palo.” “Hi.”Lalo responding and suddenly pivoting their heels and pointing their toes to the shorter figure echoing with an odd question, “What’s his name….”Time stopping, everyone freezing in their steps, and a bitter taste on the taste buds of Aalo’s brain all accompany the final phoneme of the simple

three worded cringeful investigation. The shorter figure acting on the moment of awkwardness,“His name is Aalo.”Palo, whose voice box responded with passive aggressive decibels,“He CAN talk…”The blinding sound of the wind during the mosh pit of summer and fall graces the top layers of the ear drums of the occupants in the 2013 Dodge

Grand Caravan with a rusted back opening from the compilation of hits by subpar “licensed” drivers whose eyes were chained to the latest vine. Aalo investigating to himself,

Why didn’t Lalo just ask me what my name was?How could they assume that I can’t talk?Every second passing by…Every question comes to mind...Looking for an answer... Could it be because they don’t know me?However, they never met my mom,And everyone else they’ve never met before. Intricately searching every crevice of the situation Realizing…

Payton students offer support and stand in solidarity against injus-tice in the first floor atrium.

Photo by Ms. Mowery

6 FEATURES PAW PRINT November 2016

We are thankful during the holidays at PaytonBy HAMZA OIS Staff Writer

Russia trip success Czeck out these czill CzechsBy SEAN MAZURKIEWICZStaff Writer

“We are grateful for our friendship.” -Tomer and Jasmin ‘18

“I am very grateful for being healthy after a suc-cessful surgery last summer.” -Officer Watkins

“I am grateful for my fried chicken.” -David Kaplan ‘17 “I am grateful for the World Series.” -Henry Persons ‘19

“I am grateful for being able to wake up every morning.” -Ms. Batiste

“I am grateful for Ms. Batiste’s class.” -Adam Isaacs ‘17

One of the many perks of at-tending Payton is the wide array of exchange programs and trips of-fered. Students have the opportu-nity to explore places like France, Australia, China, Costa Rica, and many more. But one of the most popular programs through the school is the Prague exchange pro-gram.

Payton students are given the opportunity to host a student from Prague for two weeks during the fall, then visit the capitol of the Czech Republic during the spring.

“It’s an experience that I’m grateful I can be a part of,” said David Kaplan ‘17. “The opportu-nity to meet new people and ex-plore a place I otherwise probably wouldn’t travel to, I think, is really cool and exciting. I also have to give credit to our chaperones for the trip, Ms. Russell and Mr. Hy-man. They have been such great help with everything, and I can’t wait to go on the trip with them.”

While the Prague students visit-ed, they got a chance to tour down-town Chicago and go shopping on Michigan Avenue.

“The city is more than what you see in the movies,” said ex-change student Jonas Vejmelka, hosted by senior Joseph Li. “There are so many people and shopping is expensive, which is similar in

Prague. But the buildings are so tall and very nice. We don’t really have a lot of tall buildings, so it’s cool to see how many [buildings] you have here.”

Their favorite thing to do while they visited was head into Macy’s and buy all the clothes that they could. In the first four days of their visit, they managed to make a Ma-cy’s visit every one of those days.

In the spring, Payton students will travel to Prague to stay with the students they hosted in the fall. They will have the chance to explore Prague, and experience a lifestyle different than their own.

“I’m curious to see how differ-ently they live and just how they live their everyday lives,” said Joseph Li. “I expect that they live similarly to us, but I look forward to being exposed to the different culture. I look forward to seeing their museums, stores, and other fascinating buildings and areas.”

The Prague exchange trip has always been a popular trip. The students on the trip all have similar feelings about it: They are excited to host a student and visit Prague during an unforgettable school trip.

Travel is a staple in many people’s lives. The idea of study-ing, volunteering, or even sim-ply vacationing in a new place is exciting. Everyone knows there are many opportunities to travel abroad at Payton, and this year, a handful of students were picked to participate in a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, an exchange with students from Russia.

Payton students were hosted in a Russian home near Moscow for almost two weeks, then the host family’s student came to Chicago to live with the Payton student for almost two weeks.

While in Russia, Adia Ra-decka ‘18, recalls that Payton students traveled to Moscow, “visited all the main tourist at-tractions, like cathedrals [and] fortresses,” as well as attended classes that the host student was taking in school.

“We went to Peterhof, which is a palace built by Peter the Great,” Jorge Zhang’18 said. “[Then] we went back to school and went to school-arranged events, like we watched Swan Lake.”

Here in Chicago, Russian stu-dents visited the Shedd Aquari-um, the Field Museum, and the Sears tower.

On October 25, Payton held a welcome party for the Rus-sian Exchange students. Get-to-know-you games were played among the Payton students and Russian exchange students.

Food was presented so that the Russian students were able to get an idea of what American food is like.

Members of the WPCP Poms team even performed and taught the Russian students a portion of the dance, giving them a chance to learn an American dance.

The Russian students then participated in certain classes that their Payton hosts were tak-ing.

For example, Russian ex-change students had fun partici-pating in a dance class, and see-ing the inner workings of the AP photo class.

In Russia, Payton students immersed themselves in a new culture. “It was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, and I’m really glad I did it,” said Adia.

Jorge remembers his favor-ite part of the trip was “being in Russia and being able to experi-ence another culture, and [it was] especially cool because we view Russia so different than the U.S., but it is very much alike.”

Bartolomeo Rondelli ‘17 enjoys churros with a few Prague students in Pilsen during their recent visit.

Photo by Irena Cajkova

By JESSICA FULLER Staff Writer

PAW PRINT November 2016 SPORTS 7

Payton bowling revitalizedMany view bowling as just an

ordinary way to spend some time with friends and compete for the sole purpose of beating their bud-dies. This is not the case for all.

Ten Payton men come together a few times a week to bowl. They do it to bond, they do it to improve their technique, and most of all, they do it to represent Payton.

Coached by James Kurotsuchi for the last four years, the Payton bowling team has not added many new players to their roster since the 2014-2015 season.

Despite the lack of new play-ers in previous years, the team has now added four new bowlers to its ranks: Jonathan Howell ‘20, Zach Gee ’20, Justin Negash ‘18 and Gabe Woszczak ‘18.

Coach Jim has praised the depth of athleticism and talent that each of these bowlers possess, especial-ly that of Jonathan Howell, who can compete with the best bowlers on the team.

When asked about how it feels to join the team, Justin Negash ‘18 replied, “I came out to bowl with my friends not really expecting much. But once we started bowl-ing more and more, I improved

and now feel like I come out to get better, not just be with friends.”

When asked the same question, Gabe Woszczak ‘18 had a different motive behind coming out. “I oc-casionally would go bowling with family or friends, and I was aver-age at best, so I decided to show up to get better,” he said.

“Through all the summer prac-tices I attended, I feel like my teammates and the coach really made me better, and I hope to re-

Run away with it By FILIP SLUSARCZYKStaff Writer

By DARWIN GARAYStaff Writer

turn the favor during our season by bowling the best I can.”

While it is great that the team now has more players, one uncer-tainty lies with the team: who will fill the leadership role left behind by Brandon Taylor, a Payton leg-end, who graduated in 2016.

It’s just the beginning for these young bowlers, and only time can tell what will happen this season.

Cross country season is in full swing, as daily practices become a part of life for many Payton students. This season, in particu-lar, the girls cross country team’s performance has been very im-pressive, as they started off their training in summer and are now competing in meets against other schools.

Payton girls have proven to that they are the team to beat. The team has been very successful, and much of its success can be attrib-uted to the leadership and experi-ence displayed by the nine senior cross country members who have been part of the team.

Payton has also been very com-petitive against their rivals, North-side, their biggest competition in the city.

So far this season the team has been led by Molly Crotteau ‘17, Claire Goldman ‘17, and Alana Chandler ‘18. Under their leader-ship the team is competing at a very high level, winning a major-ity of their meets, and bringing great pride to the school.

As Molly Crotteau ‘17 said, “We are competing very well, especially against rival school

Northside and hope to continue.”In her final year as a member

of the team, Claire Goldman ran a personal best 11:57.7 at the Mather Invitational Meet #2 for the two-mile run.

This performance was good enough for her to place first in that race. As the season progresses she hopes to improve even more. The Payton team was very successful at this meet as Alana Chandler fin-ished in second place with a time of 12:04.15, and Molly Crotteau finished in third with a time of 12:21.29.

When asked about how how it felt to break her personal record, Claire Goldman ‘17 said, “It felt great not only for myself, but to be able to help the team succeed. It was a great meet for the entire team.”

The girls cross country team seems poised to continue their great performances at their follow-ing meets as they continue to work hard and strive to become better.

They hope to endure the rest of the tiring season with the end goal of winning city championships against rival Northside College Prep.

Andrew Jackson ‘17 bowls in the first meet of the season at Wave-land Bowl.

Photo by Tristan Rinholm

From Grizzly to Lion: Payton sends first Division I football player to Columbia University By CAMI GRANDJEANStaff Writer

For the first time in Payton his-tory, a football player will be play-ing Division I football in the com-ing fall. Myles Davis ‘17 recently committed to Columbia University in New York City to play football for the next four years.

Paw Print: When did you start playing football? Myles Davis: “I started playing football in fourth grade on a Park District team.” PP: Who got you into football?MD: “I got myself into football by watching it, but my parents didn’t let me play until fourth grade. In-teresting actually, I played basket-ball since I was five because my dad put me in a league, but I never really liked basketball, and so I played basketball and then played football.”PP: At Payton, what do you love about football the most?MD: “The high school atmo-sphere. In grade school, you’re kinda just playing because you like playing, and you’re playing with your friends, but I think in high school the added element of the crowd, the magnitude of the games is bigger, you’re kind of playing for city pride.”PP: If you could change one thing about the way you play, what would it be?MD: “I wish I was more aggres-sive; I wish I liked to hit people more, but I moreso just like to run around people.”

PP: What motivates you to get out of bed and go to practice every day?MD: “That’s a great question (laughs). I think the one thing that motivates me the most is not wanting to be average. I feel like I would let people down if I was just like, ‘Oh, you played football at Columbia.’ I’d rather say I was a beast at Columbia and have people know me. The fear of mediocrity––I just came up with that, that’s kind of beast. (laughs)”PP: Looking back on your four years of Payton football, what is one of your best memories?MD: “Well, I don’t really remem-ber too much from before this year, but one memory was from the Simeon game. It was an option play so Zach [Wang, quarterback,] can choose to give me the ball or he can keep it, and so during the game he asks me ‘Yo, Myles do you want to take the ball or do you want me to keep it?’ and then I see the other team all blitzing, and so I know if I get the ball I’m gonna get crushed so I was like ‘Nah, you can keep it.’ So Zach keeps it, and gets smacked and then looks up at me as soon as he goes down. It was so funny.”PP: And your worst memory?MD: “There aren’t many of them. Probably just conditioning.” PP: Who is your number one fan?MD: “I don’t want to out anybody. (laughs) Honestly, it’s probably ei-ther my dad or Joey Li. Joey is the

biggest cheerleader.”PP: When you were younger, did you think that you would want to play in college or that you would play in college? MD: “I think I always wanted to and then when I came into high school I was like ‘maybe I don’t have to,’ but then junior year once it started to become a reality, I just kind of accepted it.”PP: So, how does it feel to be al-ready into college?MD: “It feels nice. (laughs)”PP: What did the college applica-tion process look like for you?MD: “Basically I wrote my per-sonal essay, and that was just like everyone else writing their person-al essay. But for supplementals, I literally just wrote what my initial answer to the question was, kind of put it into an essay form, sent it to their English teacher review people or whatever, they edited it and then I just pretty much put that in.”PP: How did you get discovered by Columbia? And can you de-scribe the recruitment process? MD: “So it was right after junior year, I got my junior film together, I gave it to Coach [Klupchak],.Coach sent it to pretty much all the Ivy Leagues just because that’s what he does. They liked it and contacted me. Then over the sum-mer, I went to a camp at North-western, and they were there. They pretty much talked to me the entire time, and I talked to them before

and after. But schools actually of-fered later.” PP: What were the factors that made you choose Columbia over the other schools you had offers from?MD: “Going to Payton, obviously education is pretty important, so I knew if I had the opportunity to go to an Ivy League that’s probably what I would do. And then, Co-lumbia just had the best opportu-nity for me to both to play and to play for a good team. Their team, it’s not good now, but they have pieces in place to become really good when I’m there, so it was that, and then of course there’s no city better than New York.”PP: Are you excited to be playing with a brand new team and at a completely different level? MD: “Yeah, I think Payton, it’s not like low-tier, but you’re not contending for a championship. But I think to be playing with peo-ple who are just as good as you is pretty exciting.” PP: Are you nervous at all?MD: “No, I’m pretty excited.” PP: What are some goals you have for yourself as far as football in college?MD: “I don’t think I have any specific goals. I definitely want to play in at least three or four games and then hopefully start by junior year.” PP: Are you nervous at all about balancing football and school?MD: “Yeah, it’s going to be diffi-

cult, but you know, so is Payton. I like challenges.” PP: As of this moment, what are you most excited about for playing in college?MD: “Getting to play on TV.”PP: How do you feel about liv-ing in New York for the next four years? MD: “I actually haven’t really thought about that. I think it’ll be kind of like Chicago. I’ve been to the campus which is right in the city, so that’ll be fun. I always wanted to go to an urban campus because I didn’t want to grow up in Chicago and then go to like Pig-town.” PP: What do you plan on studying at Columbia? Why?MD: “Neuroscience. I think it combines my two interests: psy-chology and biology.”

Myles Davis ‘17 committed to Columbia University recently.

Photo by M. Mowery

8 FUN PAW PRINT November 2016

What IKEA furniture piece are you this month?By CONNOR STEELStaff WriterARIES - GERTON TableMarch 21 - April 19

You are lively, energetic, and like to get stuff done. The GER-TON Table is dynamic, just like you, which lets it double as a desk to help you toil away at whatever you please. Its four sturdy legs fea-ture the ability to hold up to 110 lbs., just like you hold the weight of the world on your shoulders.

TAURUS - RENS Sheepskin RugApril 20 - May 20

We all like to have nice things, but your taste is truly exquisite. You are the most reliable among the zodiac, and we can always rely on the RENS Sheepskin Rug to give off an aura of dependence, elegance, and practicality, all for only $29.99 a pop.

GEMINI - KRABB Mirror SetMay 21 - June 20

While some might call the presence of two personalities the

symptom of a chronic mental health issue, you need not worry if you are a bearer of this outgoing air sign. The KRABB Mirror Set is a dual set of beautiful mirrors per-fectly encapsulating the two sides to your personality, and just like you, they’re versatile enough to be in the forefront of any home.

CANCER - HAMPDÅN PillowJune 21 - July 22

Cancer is compassionate and emotional, and you are the most complex of the zodiac. That’s why you are the HAMPDÅN pil-low, whose elegant facade can be dressed with a myriad of unique pillowcases. This sleek, economi-cal pillow will have you crying yourself to sleep in style.

LEO - GULDLÖK PotholdersJuly 23 - August 22

You are dramatic, and outgo-ing. Your symbol is the lion, mak-ing you so passionate that you are sometimes too hot to handle,

which is why we think you’d find use in the GULDLÖK Pothold-ers. With designs that are just as creative as you are, they may also come in handy when handling my mixtape.

VIRGO - SELJE NightstandAugust 23 - September 22

Your deep intuitiveness and maternal instincts often lead you to think ahead, which is why the SELJE Nightstand is perfect for you. Its built in wireless char-ger gives you the opportunity to charge your phone for the next day without any wires or plugs.

LIBRA - NORSBORG LoveseatSeptember 23 - October 22

The NORSBORG Loveseat is perfect for those who love being around people, a defining quality for this partnership-loving sign. Balance is key for Libras, and this loveseat can balance about three people if you really squeeze to-gether.

SCORPIO - POANG ChairOctober 23 - November 21

Scorpio’s symbol is the scor-pion, animals that are widely rec-ognized as always being calm and cool. This water sign is intense and contemplative, so we chose the POANG Chair whose dark and re-fined form can accompany you in your daily brooding sessions.

SAGITTARIUS - BILLY Book-shelfNovember 22 - December 21

Sagittarius, the archer, is de-fined by its lust for adventure, and what greater adventure is there than the pages of a good book? The BILLY Bookshelf is an iconic IKEA piece whose generous stor-age space reflects your generous personality.

CAPRICORN - LACK TableDecember 22 - January 19

You like to do everything by the books, and your conventional-ism is one reason why Capricorns

are successful in the professional world. By design, the LACK table is as by the books as it can get, ex-cept for the fact that it’s made of cardboard, a material just as excit-ing as you are.

AQUARIUS - AINA CurtainsJanuary 20 - February 18

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Music Review: Yes Lawd! By COLE ROBBINSStaff Writer

“Yes Lawd!” is the first full length studio album from the duo known as NxWorries, comprised of vocalist Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge.

Distributed by famed indie la-bel Stones Throw Records, the project spans nineteen tracks, clocking in at forty-eight minutes in length.

NxWorries broke onto the scene in 2015 with the release of the “Link Up & Suede EP,” a soul-ful, eccentric project that created significant buzz among critics and fans alike.

Individually, both artists have been around for quite a bit longer. .Paak has been heavily involved in the music industry in California since 2010, and exploded in popu-larity with the release of his debut album, “Venice,” in 2014.

The project showcased the art-ist’s impressive versatility as a singer, rapper, and instrumental musician. Standout tracks “Milk n’ Honey,” “Drugs,” and “Miss Right” are instantly recognizable, in no small part to .Paak’s unique, raspy voice.

In January of 2016, Anderson released his second studio album, “Malibu,” to critical acclaim. “Malibu” is a gorgeous album, si-multaneously ethereal and intense-ly lush, gushing with soulful jazz, old hip-hop influences, and catchy R&B.

Tracks like “Room in Here” and “The Season / Carry Me” con-tinue to explore .Paak’s own sound as an artist, while songs like “The Dreamer” show his knack for ex-perimentation by combining the contributions of hip-hop legend Talib Kweli and the Timan Fam-ily Choir.

It adeptly defies genres and was absolutely one of my favorite mu-

sical releases of the year.Knxwledge tends to fly under

the radar, as is so common in to-day’s music industry; the name of the artist on the cover of an album often overshadows the many hours of labor exerted by the producers to craft perfect instrumentals for a project.

.Paak has a tendency to cel-ebrate the efforts of his collabora-tors, most notably by pushing the name of the live band that travels on tour with him (The Free Na-

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tionals), placing their name in a prominent position on his posters and consistently calling them to take a bow with him on his various television appearances.

This trend continues on “Yes Lawd!,” as the distinctive sounds of .Paak and Knxwledge mesh perfectly on all nineteen tracks on their newest effort, each art-ist’s contribution providing ample space for the other’s to be savored by the listener.

Indeed, the best songs in the tracklist highlight the strengths of each individual artist in Nx-Worries: “Livvin” reverberates with triumphant horns and jazzy samples provided by Knxwledge, while .Paak manages to sound nearly hoarse with excitement while carrying an impressive vo-cal range throughout the entirety of the track.

In “Lyk Dis,” .Paak’s R&B in-fluences with sensual lyrics rein-forced by equally sensual delivery, while Knxwledge’s production is incredibly slick, synths and elec-

tronic samples carefully interwo-ven with .Paak’s voice.

“Suede” is perhaps the best lis-ten on the entire album, as .Paak flows seamlessly from a half-rap to a slow croon, up into high pitched exclamations, then back down again, held aloft by joyful production and a heavy drum kick that provides real substance to the instrumentation.

If I had a bone to pick with NxWorries’ artistic choices on “Yes Lawd!,” it would be with the clipped nature of many of the nineteen songs.

For a tracklist of such length, a time of forty-eight minutes is quite short. Many of the tracks on the al-bum seem deserving of further ex-ploration, and a longer recording would likely provide space for the instrumentals and lyrical content to fully flourish.

Perhaps the truncated time of the recording is a nod to the fa-mous hip-hop album “Madvil-lainy,” an iconic collaboration between producer Madlib and underground legend MF DOOM, released in 2003 by the same re-cord label that was responsible for the release of “Yes Lawd!,” Stones Throw Records.

If this is the case, then the in-tentionally short songs simply do not come off as well as they did on “Madvillainy.”

Madlib and MF DOOM execut-ed on that choice brilliantly; had NxWorries done a comparable job on this project, it would have been a truly incredible achievement.

The short run time of the album does not significantly detract from the many successes that .Paak and Knxwledge have created on “Yes Lawd!”: this is an excellent album from one of the most impressive duos in the music industry.