The Year in Review

Budget cuts, arson, eliminated electives, new vending machines, juniors winning Sing! and a glaring neon sign. These are just some of the events that come to mind when looking back on the past school year, which has clearly set itself apart.

Many students, and the occasional faculty member, have voiced the opinion that this past year has represented a general decline in …

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News-in-Brief: Three Students Receive First Place in National Japanese Exam

The scores of freshman Margaret Como and sophomores Joseph Frankel and Bobby Zhou on the National Japanese Examination, administered on Monday, March 15, ranked first place in the country, with each getting 55 out of 56 questions correct on the exam.

Thirty Stuyvesant students took the exam. Eighteen of the 30 students scored in the 90th percentile or higher. Three students’ scores ranked in the 98th percentile, earning each of the students a …

Ethical Cutting

‘Tis the season of Advanced Placement (AP) exams, bringing panic to students who clutch their red and white prep books, sift through flash cards and attempt to cram in as much review as they can in what little time they have left. In a generally stressed out student body, this is the apex. Naturally, most of us strive to maintain the best habits in the days before our exams: eating right, …

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Vending Machine Vexation

“I’M NOT PAYING $1.25 FOR WATER!! I WANT MY SNAPPLE BACK!” This aggressive statement was the first thing that popped up on my minified as I checked my Facebook one recent night. Intrigued, I decided to click on it and see more. The page itself was adorned with nothing more than a photo-shopped picture depicting the Snapple logo and the Aquafina logo side by side, with a hastily scrawled …

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A Funny Thing Happened at the Black Box Theater

… and Philia. After the two’s awkward and sudden kiss, the slave-in-chief, Hysterium (sophomore Joseph Frankel), hears of the affair and is determined to separate the lovers by alerting Hero’s parents of the nature of their relationship. Frankel was able to portray the clichéd role of an over-reactive worrier in a refreshing way and used a dryly-amused tone to gain laughs from the audience.

The story became somewhat hard to follow as Psuedolus prepared for the Captain’s …

Sugar Tax Won’t Sweeten the Problem

Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Snapple, Dr. Pepper. After school or during meals, these drinks are a constant and cheap source of comfort, caffeine and refreshment in our lives. But that’s not how New York City health commissioner, Thomas Farley, views the situation. He, along with Governor Patterson and Mayor Bloomberg, is pulling for a penny per ounce tax on “sugary drinks,” an umbrella term that …

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A Resolution Solution

            Study harder, sleep more, stop setting so many fires, procrastinate less. These are just a few of the promises students made to themselves a few weeks ago. While it might seem like an eternity since winter vacation, in the short time between now and then, most of us have forgotten the resolutions we made to better ourselves at the start of the New Year.

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Writhing Across the Ridiculum

The headline of this article is the rather unaffectionate nickname ascribed, by a few, to the Writing Across the Curriculum policy, which was implemented last year to improve the writing ability of the student body. Essays should no longer be reserved for English class, and math and science teachers should now begin assigning short in-class writing assignments—supposedly .

Although last year …

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Speech & Debate Team Wins Big at States

… States […] and traveling with a team is always fun,” freshman and Oral Interpretation speaker Joseph Frankel said. At States, Frankel performed in the preliminary rounds, but did not advance to semi-finals.

The topic for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate was, “Resolved: Vigilantism is justified when the government has failed to enforce the law,” and the topic for Public Forum was, “Resolved: That the Employee Free Choice Act serves the best interests of the American people.” Speech …

A Vegetarian’s Food Festival

… attractive and tasty. “I did not feel limited at the Indian table,” freshman and vegetarian Joseph Frankel said. “It was not like there were vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. The food was for everyone.”

The German and French tables were dessert-heavy and thus very vegetarian-friendly. The German table offered cookies and cake, which were consistently good. The French table sold amazing crepes, which were surprisingly neat and easy to serve. The Madeleines-delectable soft …