Redding, CAVolume 5, Issue 2 Winter Edition 2016

WHY ARE MOVIE TICKETS SO EXPENSIVE?

By Sara Quenzer

“Back in my day, gas was free, kids could ride in cars without those pesky seatbelts, and movie tickets only cost fifty cents,” he says, shaking a cane at

the sky and nearly choking on his dentures. But seriously, why is it that on your typical Friday night, when all you want to do is go to a theater to see a movie with your friends, you have to pay nine dollars? Nine. This doesn’t include popcorn and soda, which cost an additional ten dollars! My question then is why are movie tickets so expensive? Even a matinee ticket for a movie that has been out for a good two months costs a solid six bucks. I sim-ply don’t understand. So, I did a bit of research, and I stumbled across a pretty extensive study detailing feedback people gave regarding rising prices as well as the reasons for these increases in prices. Here are the findings: I’m not the only one who’s been put out by the through-the-roof ticket prices. According to nearly every website I checked, including Cinema Blend, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Time, and Consumer Affairs, 53% of the people in a study conducted in the summer of 2014 by PWC (PriceWaterhouseCoo-pers) said they stayed away from movie theaters because of overpriced tickets. However, 48% say that they went to the movies the same number of times in 2014 as they did in 2013. The frequency, then, hasn’t neces-sarily changed with the rising ticket prices. Does that mean that movie theaters shouldn’t lower their prices from the average cost of $8.08? I DON’T THINK SO! That very same study also says that “consumers of all ages agree that lowering prices will get them to the movies more often.” If theaters lower their prices,

then a greater number of people may see movies more often. If someone only sees a movie three times a year and their ticket costs $9 (yes, Cinemark 14, I am definitely referring to you), that’s $27 for the movie theater/studio that makes the profit. If they lower the cost by even $3 and that same someone sees two more movies than they initially would have (that’s five movies for those of you who can’t do the math), that’s $30, AKA, more money. In this indus-try, every penny counts. A whopping 81% of people said they preferred watching movies in a theater. With a willing audience, they’d make more money if they lowered the ticket price. Right? Maybe. I learned from Chris Campbell (courtesy of filmschoolrejects.com) that studios often dictate that movies remain exempt from discounts, though according to Alyssa Rosenberg (thinkprogress.org) the movie theaters (or their corporate higher-ups) set the ticket prices. Perhaps the theaters aren’t the problem here. Still, with movies becoming more ex-pensive to make, with more special effects requiring more staff members and thus more salaries to pay, can we blame the studios either? According to the

PWC study, audiences love action/adventure movies most, and I imagine those just happen to be the most costly. Campbell also mentioned a comment he came across that said some people want ticket prices to be high to keep out the “riffraff.” This fired me up. The content of my wallet does not dictate the content of my character, nor anyone else’s. But, I digress. I emailed a Cinemark official, was told that my email was forwarded to “the correct department,” and received no other reply. This prompted me to call our own Cinemark 14’s manager, who informed me that he knew nothing about the ticket-pricing process. Likewise, I’ve had difficulty finding a way to contact some of the corporate higher-ups, though our local manager did verify the well-known fact that ticket sales go to the studios and theaters primarily make money off of concessions, so there’s the explanation for the sky-high prices of popcorn. In conclusion, I can’t give you a very solid con-clusion. The answer to the question, “why are movie tickets so expensive?” is an ambiguous one. I don’t know the details of ticket-pricing or have much more than some logical speculation as to why prices are raised. Sorry. Since I don’t know exactly whom I should blame—studios, movie theater corporate officials, the economy, or all of them—I suppose I wish the studios and theaters would save money by nixing 3D and lower ticket prices. Most people don’t give a frickle-frack about 3D anyway. In the PWC study, only 14% reported wanting to see a film in 3D. Personally, I’m among the other 86% and couldn’t handle watching a 3D movie even if I wanted to because they give me headaches. Admittedly, this makes me biased. Anyways, I hope you can afford a few movies at the theater. As for the rest of us, I suppose we can just stay at home and rely on Netflix, Cable, or the ancient DVD.

Illustration by: Grace Cooper

My first instinct was that the principal was being held at gunpoint, coerced to congregate all students and staff into one centralized location. Next, my

mind wandered to a possible outcome only outward-ly less morbid: is Obama here? Unfortunately, the only reason they would keep this visit a secret from students and teachers alike are security concerns for the President, for the threat of actual violence against a figure with whom some have ideological differ-ences is all too real in contemporary society. While in this case it is the regretful truth that a macabre scenario did, in fact, arise in my mind, my immedi-ate descent into sullen predilections of doom and disaster are less a reflection of my own, admittedly cynical, nature and more so an embodiment of the precarious reality in which we live. If this situation were written into a novel or portrayed in a movie, the scene would undoubtedly be much more dramatic than the bomb-threat themed rally that we underwent: instead of push up contests there would be hugging, instead of handstands there would be crying, and instead of emcees there would be police on bullhorns. Why, then, is it the case that the nearly unanimous sentiment amongst staff and students was one of complete confidence in their

Bomb Threat ‘16By Rebeckah Rubanowitz security? One

short answer, denial. The United States hasn’t experienced a war on its soil since the 1860s. This means that present Ameri-cans have had the luxury of psycho-geographically categorizing combat outside of the self, in the ‘other’ category. For most American civilians, war is a mere abstraction, a concept, something that exists in the mind but cannot truly be imagined. But, for those societies whose violent national conflict manifests not oceans away but in their own backyards, no one is spared from firsthand experience of the atrocities. However, the fact that the large scale warfare seen in other countries has always been “over there” in the minds of the public, doesn’t mean the threat of violence on American soil is any less real than it is overseas. Ask Newtown, Connecticut. Ask Charles-ton, North Carolina. Ask San Bernardino, California.

Whether it is a result of domestic or international affairs, vicious and disturbing violence is tangible in the United States. Our denial of this unsettlingly genuine possibility leads us to neglect a modern moral responsibility: the active promotion of interpersonal and interna-tional harmony, diplomacy, and cohesion. Insti-tutional warfare doesn’t have to be a universal. To degrade such a deeply engrained social and historical construct, each and every individual must relinquish his or her denial and accept accountability for the personal and worldwide implementation of peace as the primary, driving convention of social life.

Comic by Riain Biehle

Why Are Environmental Issues Ignored?

By Zachary Thompson

Last November the larg-est algae bloom ever recorded covered Lake Erie. The scum left by the mass covered at least 300

square miles, an area visible from space and larger than New York City. This paint-like residue floats on the surface of the water and impacts much more than the view: algae can pro-duce toxins that pose a health risk to people and animals. While they are hardly lethal, common symptoms of exposure include nausea, vomiting, and liver damage. Further-more, the toxins can manifest themselves in physical contact, inhaled vapor, and consumed fish. Good news, the

There has been enough rain in California to merit flood warnings in the past few weeks! However, despite the incessant downpour, as of Jan 18, Shasta Lake is still at fifty-eight percent of its normal capac-ity. This is still a decrease from the depth recorded last year at the same time. The storm system driving this change in weather, El Niño, has only made a dent in this drought. The drought is even worse than one might think: data extrapolated from University researchers ana-lyzing tree rings provides evidence that this is the worst drought California has seen in 1,200 years. Furthermore, the percent of Californian cities in the most severe category of drought is still 45%, and this number has only come down 1% in the last three months. Most concerning, however, is the implica-tion that current climate trends, such as the deserti-fication of California, worsen as the climate of the earth changes. In light of this data, conservation still matters. Here are four ways you can conserve water (and how many gallons you’d save!):

1. Time your showers to music. (Showers use two to five gallons per minute.)

2. Turn off the sink when you are brushing your teeth. (Two gallons.)

3. Wash larger loads of laundry. (Each use takes thirty-two gallons.)

4. Stop pouring water down the sink! Toss it onto a plant or something. (Countless gallons can be saved.)

Current Drought Conditions

bloom was far enough from the coastline so it did not disrupt boaters and it spared drinking water and wildlife. Bad news, next time it most likely will be close enough to disrupt boaters, taint drinking water, and suffocate wildlife. In response to the 2014 algae bloom, new regula-tions were put into place to combat algae growth,

which resulted from the phosphoric conrtibutions of soil fertilizers. Because this approach proved inef-fective, experts are hard-pressed to devise a new solution. Are you surprised you never heard of such an alarming disaster? Actu-ally, many stories like this are left unreported, because media outlets do not see issues of environmental awareness as appealing to their audience. You can make a difference to muted environmental concerns by showing your interest!

Photograph via NASA

by Zachary Thompson

HEADER

Illustration by Grace Cooper

By Amanda Hartt

Illustration by Grace Cooper

Technology Obsession Think about the last time you were without some form of technology for a day. Can’t remember? Neither can I. At

school, at home, in restaurants, in malls, in town, at the movie theater, and even on hiking trails, it isn’t difficult to find at least one person with his or her face in a smartphone. Through observation, I have learned that many people seem worryingly dependent on their cell phones. This leads to some interesting problems. For example, you know that sinking feeling when you reach into your pocket and your phone is gone? The standing-on-the-edge-of-a-black-hole sinking feeling? That’s what I am talking about. Now some may say that it is just because of the cost of the phone, but I think otherwise. Even the Cinemark Ad at the movie theater has to tell us to put away our phones. But even then, there is always that one person who has to text her boyfriend throughout the movie, subsequently leaving us blinded by their screens. The mere fact that we can’t take ourselves away from the lure of one technology to see a different form of technology astounds me. Most would argue that sometimes you need to get on your phone during a movie because of an emergency, or because someone texted you and you had to turn your phone off. I get that. That’s not what I mean. I am talking about the people who just sit there staring at their phone for the entire movie. That makes absolutely no sense. It says to me that

people are taking technology for granted. I mean, who in their right mind would be on their phone while Thomas is running from a crank, or Thor is raiding Hydra? If the movie is so boring that you feel the need to check your snapchat story, just leave. What does this say about our society? Are we so dependent on our phones that without them we would be lost? According to Global Research, “a 2010 sur-vey found that 61 percent of Americans (even higher among young people) say they are addicted to the Internet.” Another survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to de-scribe their relationship to technology. Another, more recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that 44 percent of cell phone owners had slept with their phone next to their bed. Worse, 67 percent had experienced “phantom rings, checking their phone even when it was not ring-ing or vibrating.” Now, I don’t know about you, but that study’s results seem pretty unsurprising to me, and yet, that’s what worries me. Has it really come so far to say that this obsession has become a normal and accepted part of life in our culture? This leads to an interesting question that I believe has a simple, yet complex answer. Are we letting technology run our lives? I would probably say “yes.” We are changing learning in schools to accommodate technology, setting up Wi-Fi towers everywhere we go, and generally going out of our way to leave room for technology. Why? Because it is entertainment. We

find joy in our pocket-sized boxes of magic, and have begun to rely on them as our sources for everything. They wake us up in the morning, they give us advice, they solve our math problems, they help us shop, they sing to us, and they are always there for us. They are like constant nannies, giving us the care we need for everyday life. Most of the time, people enjoy their “nannies” over social interaction. Once, I was shar-ing a hotel room with a few of my friends and every single one of us, including me, were on our phones. At one point, one of my friends got up and took the phones away so that we could all talk, but only after a lot of protest and whining. This shows that some people are noticing the effect this technology is hav-ing on us and wish to change it. Twenty minutes later, however, all of us were right back on our phones, including my friend who had taken them away in the first place. Now technology, of course, has many benefits and is very useful in our society. It is used for quick research and problem solving, interaction between people across the world, keeping people in touch with each other, and entertainment in boring situations. These are all positive things that have gotten our society to where it is today. My point is, technology is useful and entertaining but should be used in modera-tion at appropriate times. Now I’m not saying that this is something I do well, (because I don’t) but it should be something to consider. Think about this the next time you refresh your feed. Happy scrolling!

Winter Word Search

BLANKET

CLOUDY

COCOA

DRIPPING

DRIZZLE

FIREPLACE

by Ella Hebrard

FREEZING

ICICLE

MOUNTAIN

POWDERPUDDLE

RAINDROP

SHASTA

SKIS

SLEET

SNOWBOARD

SNOWMAN

Winter Fash ion Trends

By Grace Cooper

As winter approaches and the temperature outside drops, fashion trends change. Whether your style is comfy and casual or trendy and cute, or a combination of both, you

have many options this season! The infinity scarf, for example, is popular right now. Not only are infinity scarves adorable and perfect for accessorizing the simplest of winter outfits, they are also very warm and comfortable. Try pairing an infinity scarf with a cardi-gan and a cute dress or a plain shirt and jeans. I don’t think I need to explain jeans, but I’ll do it anyway. They are very cute, very comfortable, and they never go out of style. Almost everybody has worn jeans at least once in their life, because they are so versatile that they work for anybody regardless of their personal style and body type. You can basically wear any type of shoes with them. Sandals, boots, sneakers, heels – you name it. Jeans are amazing. Plaid shirts are another popular item this year. They are simple, laid back, and surprisingly easy to pull off without looking like a lumberjack. You can wear plaid shirts with jeans and maybe boots or sneakers. They also look nice with a cardigan, or you can just tie them around your waist. Speaking of boots, they are also popular. They are really cute, and they are good for rainy days because, unlike sneakers, they will keep the water from soak-ing through to your feet. Walking around all day with wet and freezing feet is not fun. However, sneakers can be a good choice of footwear in dry weather. Black and white sneakers are popular because they are super modern and they go well with literally ev-erything. When in doubt, wear black and white. That said, don’t be afraid to mix and match colors. Your outfit doesn’t have to be completely color coor-dinated. After all, the most important rules of fashion are to be yourself, be confident, and have fun! Wear whatever makes you feel beautiful. If someone makes fun of your outfit, they’re probably just jealous. Have fun looking cute and staying warm!

SNOWY

SPRINKLING

UMBRELLA

We began our Webkinz journey with low expecta-tions. We were ready to bash this addicting site more ferociously than a Zingo bashes a Wacky with a club. We’re ashamed to say that we don’t have as many criticisms or as much aggression as we should have being mature, young adults. Sure, we have the usual complaints about membership-required goodsand services, but we also had a lot of fun re-exploring the virtual society we grew up with. We found ourselves reciting the all-too-familiar words of wisdom from our good friends Arte the Curio Shop ownerand Prin-cipal Cowoline, esteemed head of Kinz Academy. We’ll get our still-hefty list of complaints out of the way before we begin praising this shockingly marvelous website designed for children (even though the trivia game does go up to ages 13 and higher).Ah, the excuses we’ll dig up to justify our pathetic love for Webkinz, but we digress. Now, the membership system. There are three types of membership: free membership, where you get one virtual pet and can only pick from a selection of nine animals; silver membership, where you pur-chase a stuffed animal and use its code to adopt the pet online; and gold membership, where you adopt a stuffed animal and pay an annual fee of $44.99. Yikes. While it’s an improvement that all kids can now play on the website without having to pay $20 for a stuffed animal, the ones who did not buy the stuffed animal are stuck in the middle Kinz class. We made a similar complaint inthe Club Penguin article. At that time, itwas phrased in a joking manner, but this time the frustration is real. Maybe because we were more fondof Webkinz than Club Penguin as kids, the monetary segregation of players hits us harder.

Adventures in Internet Nosalgia:Webkinz Sinz?

What’s more frustrating than having limits on certain awesome items (decor, clothes, even certain foods) is that certain activities and games are off limits, too. Alright, now we’re ‘bout to get fired up. Guess what game they reserved for members? Go on, guess.“No, it’s not possible, IT CAN’T BE!”you say. BUT IT IS MY FRIENDS. THE OLD-EST GAME IN THE BOOK, POLAR PLUNGE IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SILVER AND GOLD MEM-BERS. But that’s not all, oh-ho-ho-ho no, light your torches and mount your pitchforks because Webkinz had the audacity to dump salt on this fresh wound. They also took away Bananza, the game with the monkey and the bananas and the scary jungle spi-ders; GoGo Googles, the weird pear ducks that get thrown into a purple tree; and Candy Bash,where there was a Chihuahua and candy rained from the sky or something. And. Worst. Of. All. They won’t let Plebeian Webkinz play HUNGRY HOG. When Kaila found out about this, she yelled in an oppressed, disgruntled voice, “what else will they take away from me?!” Earlier we mentioned the room decor, but what about the Webkinz houses? Everyone is given asingle room — no backyard, no bathroom — just a bedroom with some ugly furniture, all in primary colors. We decided to add some more rooms with our hard-earned money, starting with the backyard, but when trying to add a bathroom, we were notified that free members can only have two rooms. We had already purchased a bathroom set! It had to be put outside under a tree! (Sara was livid). Another infuriating aspect of the game was the nonstop talking from the website character guides.Amanda Panda is a good example; she speaks for a good minute or so. There’s no way to skip over thetalking so we just had to suffer. So this is where we hit the positive notes. First, children’s safety seems to be Webkinz’s main priority. Even though they have now opened it up (somewhat) to the whole public, they have put public safety and innocence first. While naming your free pet, they are very specific about what qualifies as

an appropriate name. Next, once you log in, it loads relatively fast, and we didn’t seem to have the same slow loading for the tournament arena or for the trip home that we remembered as children. There’s also a duck in the Adventure Park that looks exactly like a bowling pin. How fun is that? While many games have been denied, the daily gambles, like Jumble-berry Fields, Wishing Well 2, and Wheel of Woware still open to all. Furthermore, you can still hunt for gems and constellations in order to trade for money or collect towards a grand prize. Speaking of saving or spending, Jumbleberry Fields offers the choice to eat jumbleberries and get immediate grati-fication with small prizes or the chance to preserve the berries and save towards a large prize. It seems that such a system is made for the mature Webkinz connoisseur, since as we age we understand the im-portance of saving rather than splurging. ( Kaila still splurged.) They also offer free prizes, which float across your screen in the form of suspicious fruit. When clicked on, these levitating edibles unleash clothes, secret dishes, and possibly even furniture. Don’t like what you received? You can still sell it in the store for extra Kinzcash. Another way to make money is the logout screen, which offers three games (unfortunately, they are more luck-based than skill) to try and make some last minute money before you leave your pets for the day.We would list more pros, but we got so sucked into the experience that we stopped taking notes. This newspaper series began as a funny critique of our favorite childhood sites, as well as an excuseto play on the immature, naive parts of the web, but it has turned into a fun remembrance of our child-hoodpastimes. While we wouldn’t necessarily play Webkinz alone, but playing it together has recreated the magical experience we once loved and reminded us of why this was such a desirable phase we un-derwent in our elementary years. Sara and Kaila, signing out.

By Kaila Smith and Sara Quenzer

better developed. Numerous seniors are leading the team through practices and games. The big man in the middle thisyear is senior Ben Bell. Standing at an intimidat-ing 6’6, 210 lbs, Bell is one of the most dominant big men in the section. His previous honors include first team all-section and an all-Record Searchlight choice. He has been working effortlessly to improve his game in the post and beyond. “I go to the gym every day. I get in 300-400 shots a day. I do a lot of running to raise my conditioning and improve my speed,” Bell said. He feels primed to take a bigger leadership role this season: “It takes doing every-thing, from the locker room to the court. It takes being that vocal leader and setting the example for other players both on and off the court. We, as a team, must do this in order to get that W.” Another noteworthy senior is point guard Nick Rodriguez, who is serving as a floor general in theWolves’ backcourt. Rodriguez has been facilitating the ball for Shasta since the beginning of last season.“I’ve been playing with most of these kids since freshman year. This builds our overall team chem-istry. We’ve created a great bond to put towards the goal of winning,”Rodriguez said. He also made a very clear point about how the seniors must help foster the development of the juniors: “We can’t be too harsh on them. The seniors need to provide positive feedback and become a big impact as they step up through the season.”The transition from junior varsity to varsity takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Kyle Neal, a

Full Court Press: SHS BasketballBy Desi Carrassco

If there’s one thing Shasta High Basketball knows how to do, it’s win, but last year’s NSCIFBoys Basketball Champion-

ship brought a halt to Shasta’s success. The Foothill Cougars overcame the solid defense that the Wolves established to accomplish a 42-38 win and the sec-tion championship. A proud viewer and member of the SHS passion pit, listening to Foothill’s chants, “We Are the Champions,” I thought to myself,“Next season, without a doubt, will be our season.” As the 2015-16 regular season emerges, so will this team ascend from their fall and exceed allexpectations. Head coach Bill Callaway enters his eigth season coaching the boy’s varsity team. Each team Callaway coaches he makes sure to imple-ment his major concepts to in order to mold a good team into a great team.“Working hard is one of our main goals. We make sure to keep our fundamentals sharp,” Callaway said. The goals for this season range both physically and mentally, but Callaway made it clear that the primary goal is to win. The players carry these concepts that Coach Callaway preaches.“We have really great coaches. They do all they can to make us better every day. This makes each one of us the best we can be,”said senior Hayden Auckland. Auckland provides a lot of the sharpshooting for theWolves, and due to the coach-ing at Shasta, this facet of his game can be even

SHS Student-Athlete

Our student athlete for this issue is Benjamin Bell. Many of you know him as the varsity basket-ball star. He first started playing

basketball when he was about six or seven. When his mother took him to the park and he saw some hoops, he started to throw, and it was history from there. His academic history is also stellar. For his senior year, he attends college prep and honors classes, and after high school, he plans to attend a four-year university and major in business. Ben has a strong feeling about the upcoming season because he feels he has a strong team. Last year, in one game Shasta played against Pleasant Valley, he scored 24 out of 42 points. His favorite thing to do is basketball, and his height certainlyhelps because he is 6’6”tall. Get to know Ben! He likes to go on adventures and enjoy his senior year with his friends. Whether you see him onthe court or in the hallways, make sure to say hello!

By Lulu Grewal

junior playing his first season on the Shasta varsity, was able to shed some light on this subject: “It’s a big step up, both mentally and physically. It includes a lot of the same standards as before, but thisteam executes a lot faster.” All the key elements to make a great team are evident in this Wolfpack team. The Wolves make sure to provide effective offense and relentless de-fense against all the competitors they face. This team is very fortunate to play for some of the best fans, especially evident in the student passion pit. Make sure to jointhe passion pit and cheer them on with the utmost pride and spirit in the renovated Harlan Carter Gym.The hardwood may be new, but the es-sence of glory stays the same. The past is by no means a time forregret; it is a time where downfall fuels the fires of greatness. These Wolves aren’t beaten; they’re hungry.

Photo by: Sara QuenzerFeatured: Nick Rodriugez ‘16, Ben Bell ‘16, and Hayden Aukland ‘16

The PAW PRINT

Editors in Chief: Becca Lehmann Hailee Huskey

Advisor: Mr. Jordan

Miley Hu Noelani del Rosario-SabetRebeckah RubanowitzZachary ThompsonSara QuenzerKaila Smith

Logo Design: Josh Rodrigues

Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

On November 13th, the world experienced an attack on human-ity. In the heart of France, onehun-dred and twenty-nine people were murdered in unexpected gun fire

and suicide bombings. The attacks began on a Friday evening with explosions both outside and inside a sports arena where President François Hollande was enjoying a soccer match. The assault continued at four restaurants and a concert hall. Amidst the chaos and horror, millions stood in solidarity and shared their love with the distraught nation. Facebook users every-where shared their condolences by placing a filter of the French flag on their profile picture. Other social media websites featured thousands of posts with the hashtag #PrayForParis. Many brought an air of famil-iarity by writing“Je suis Paris,”meaning “I am Paris” — a statement similar to “Je suis Charlie,” the slogan created after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January of 2015. These gestures reveal not only support for France’s welfare, but the oneness and unity our world is capable of. The beauty of compassion and support continue to unfold from the turmoil; however, this is not evident for every tragedy. In April of this year, one hundred and forty-seven people were killed in a deadly attack byAl-Shabab in Kenya. While this event is of tremen-dous significance, it is unfamiliar to most. Al-Shabab is an Islamist militant group with ties to al-Qaeda and other jihadists. This group terrorized Kenya’s uni-versity in the springtime, resulting in its most deadly attack. After being asked to identify their religion, students were shot in the ir classrooms. Although this massacre was as horrific as the onslaught of Paris, it received minimal media attention and recognition.Only recently has it gained some social media recog-nition; however, this is still miniscule compared to the awareness of the Paris attacks. What isthe reason for this? The death toll certainly was not lower. Perhaps we can sympathize with France because they are long standing allies. Perhaps we can only relate to trag-edies in first-world countries. Perhaps ordeals like these seem so com-monplace in develop-ing nations that they do not seem out of the ordinary. Becauseeach conjecture is based on opinion, no true cause can be determined; however, acknowledging the horror in both events should not be a mat-ter of opinion. Almost anyone who hears this story would agree that measures should be taken to com-memorate the lives lost in this tragedy.Unfortunately, the quick moving media

JE SUIS LE MONDEcycle did not allow them to do so. Good heartedindividuals are often unable to take action because of how the media presents a situation.Because the media did not place great focus on the massacre in Kenya, it undermined thesignificance of the atrocity. This dilution of the truthis not only evident with the Al-Shabab attack. News reports on the Paris attacks have done an excellent job of emphasizing that one of theISIS assailants was admitted into the country under the guise of being a refugee. Politicians haveused fear-mongering to dissuade the public from opening their armsto Syrian with the dread thatthey may let in ISIS terrorists. What many fail to acknowledge is the deplorable conditions of therefugees themselves. The Syrians are people, like us, who are trying to escape the wrath of ISIS.More importantly, they are directly affected by ISIS in a violent and life-threatening manner.Over four million people have been displaced from their homes in search of safety. Over twohundred thousand have died in the civil war, and civil-ians onlywish to escape mass shootings,rocket attacks, gas attacks, kidnapping, torture, or starvation. With a death toll 1,550 times aslarge as the Paris attacks, the media should be con-stantly reporting the situation. Admittedly,there has been an influx in attention, and that can be attributed to the current debate of whetherwe should allow refugees in America. The media has provided sufficient evidence from bothsides of the argument; however, they are still focusing on the holistic issue, ignoring theindividual lives of those who will be affected. Tragic images have been revealed of a dead 3-year-old boy who washed up on the Turkish shore who had drowned in his escape. Anotherpicture taken depicts a 4-year-old girl with her hands raised to the sky, mistaking the photographer’s camera for a gun. Any sensible human being would agree thatthese children, among many, deserve safety and sanctum. Similarly, there are millions of innocent people who are simply searching for safety. While any rational person would agree that these people must be

helped, there will always be a fear of national secu-rity. The media, unfortunately, has done apoor job in the abeyance of these fears. America is not known to treat terror threats lightly. Our nation exceeds in precautionarymeasures when approving refugees. The screening of each individual is meticulous, completedby several agencies such as the Department of De-fense and the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center.Consequently, the vetting process is lengthy and can take up to four years. Most people areunaware of this, and while this is once again the fault of the media, we should take a moment tostop and reflect to realize thatwe are the media. In this progressive nation, the development of technology has transformed the role of the aver-age individual. Through social networking, we have become the media. One click of a button can share a thought with thousands. #PrayforParis and #JeSuis-Paris ignited a chain reaction of love and compassion for a city in need. By simply creating awareness, we can involve the entire nation. This action will not only affect our peers, but this country’s leaders. They respond to the concerns of public opinion, and we can manipulate that with the click of a button. In the same way we shared our concern for France, we have the power to do the same for Africa or Syria. Share the truth of the situation so they understand that that “wewe ni Kenya”—you are Kenya—and “تنك you are Syria. What you express exceeds— ”ايروسthe power of any news network, and by treating each situation with the same love we shared for Paris, we will learn to love the world. Because we are the world.

By Noe del Rosario-Sabet

Grace CooperDesi CarrascoLulu Grewal Amanda HarttRiain Biehle

Photograph via World News