Auden Svoboda

A Year of Virtual Learning Reveals What to Preserve for In-Person School

Opinion

To read the first part of this series on transitioning to in-person school, click here. Distance learning sucks. Nobody likes enduring the boredom, awkwardness, and discomfort that comes with virtual schooling.

Instagram Should Remove Like and Follower Numbers to Improve Users’ Mental Health

Opinion

Many Instagram users became dismayed when the number of likes on others’ posts disappeared on March 2. Instagram’s PR team rushed to Twitter to announce that this was an unintentional consequence of “testing a new experience to hide likes on Feed posts.” The numbers were restored and the world heaved a collective sigh of relief.

The San Francisco Moscone Center, located in the South of Market neighborhood, was recently converted into a vaccination site.

Vaccination Guide: What You Need to Know

Features

Alameda County and the City of Berkeley are both administering COVID-19 vaccines free-of-charge to certain groups of people. These vaccines can greatly reduce the chances of recipients from becoming infected with COVID-19, and as a result, make those around them safer as well.  Combating misinformation: Vaccines do not make their recipients sick with COVID-19, nor

At Albany High School, students take half of their seven classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the rest on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

How Are Students at Neighboring High Schools Navigating Distance Learning?

Features

All high schools in the Bay Area have recently been saddled with the same challenge: to continue providing education to thousands of students over virtual platforms.

Early Decision Process Proves Tedious, Yet Extremely Rewarding

Features

Senior year is a stressful time, and one of the defining features that makes it that way are college applications. From finances to one’s field of study, it’s a lot to figure out.

Parasocial Relationships: Helpful or Harmful? It’s Complicated

Entertainment

Relationships, by-and-large, are two-sided: a mutual exchange of energy and support between individuals. But what happens when they’re not? Parasocial relationships are defined by Wikipedia as relationships where “viewers or listeners [of mass media] come to consider media personalities as friends, despite having limited interactions with them.” The term “parasocial relationship” was coined by sociologists

Disney’s New Advisory on Racist Films: A Good Marketing Decision Fails to Make Real Change

Entertainment

The capitalist conglomerate Disney is known for many things, but racial sensitivity is not one of them. Many of the company’s older films contain racist content in one way or another, including Dumbo, The Aristocats, and Lady and the Tramp.

‘A Life On Our Planet’ Sends Message of Urgency and Hope about Climate Crisis

Entertainment

Climate change is old news at this point. Greenhouse gases are thickening the atmosphere, causing a myriad of environmental problems and an impending apocalypse, we’re doomed if we don’t act now, blah blah blah.

Identity-Based Support Groups Would Benefit the Broader Student Body

Features

High school can feel really lonely. Though you would think that more people would result in more potential friends, it can be challenging to find community and solidarity in the vast sea of students that is Berkeley High School.

Wildfires leave the SkyDeck building on Shattuck surrounded by a dark and orange sky.

Fires and Smoke Will Have a Long Term Impact on BHS

Features

When the smoky haze that we have all come to know too well appears over the Berkeley Hills and the same apocalyptic feeling consumes us, many Berkeley citizens come to think the same thing: “Not again.” While the Bay Area has mostly remained unscathed, smoke blown in from nearby fires in other areas has repeatedly

Berkeley residents pass by the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), which is now offering virtual programs.

Arts Institutions Devise Creative Ways to Stay Afloat Amid Financial Hardship

Features

As anyone who has spent a good amount of time in Berkeley knows, the city is a hub for the arts. In regular times, there is never a shortage of diverse shows and exhibitions to enjoy.

BHS students perform in Dance Production show in January 2020.

The Future of Performing Arts Classes at BHS is Virtual

Features

Several students stomping in sync, their vibrant costumes lighting up the stage. A sea of young instrumentalists coming to a crescendo as the conductor gestures emphatically.