Claire Kunzier, Editor 

Being my summer baby, gemini self, I love summer and just want to be on the beach. Now, most of you will agree with me, but with the few of you that aren’t, just stop. We’re in a pandemic, we’ve had TWO MONTHS OF THE COLD AND SNOW, WE’RE DONE. It’s over, pack your bags for winter because it’s time to party in the warmth. “SUMMERTIME! I don’t practice santeria. I ain’t got no crystal ball.” – Riff Raff

Claire Kunzier, Editor 

The mid-semester slump is a thing, and I am suffering from it. The month of March, right before everything warms up weather wise and midterms slap you across the face, students tend to mentally and physically hit a bump in their energy levels, causing a slump. The pandemic hasn’t made this slump any better, if anything, it’s elongated the slump from two weeks to a whole month or longer. This, on top of seasonal depression, sucks! But there are things that I do to help push through my mid-semester slump. Feel free to try them out!

Online shopping (or just browsing)

By online shopping, I am creating something to look forward to, literally. Whether it’s a cooler for your 21 summer or a new video game or whatever you want, if it makes you happy and gives you something to look forward to, do it. 

Go shopping or browsing 

Being in a pandemic limits our socialization by a whole lot more compared to pre-pandemic, so leave your house and go walk around the grocery store for 20 minutes. You can pick up a craft or something to make while you’re there, but leave your house and make yourself change out of your pjs.

Bring back the quarantine walks 

With friends and family or alone, go for a walk, stretch your legs, get some fresh air for five minutes or three hours. You can even just go outside and sit in the sun and breathe some fresh air. 

The whole thing about the mid-semester slump is you’ve gotten stuck in the same spot, so make yourself do something else. I am the first person to not want to do anything, but by doing things to make myself move or give myself something to look forward to it makes the slump go away faster. Just think, it’ll be summer soon enough. 

Claire Kunzier, Editor 

The alternative universe David Dobirk, Cody Ko is, personally, a YouTube god. His content in general is always great, but his “That’s Cringe” series with Noel Miller and or his girlfriend Kelsey Kreppel is always spot-on, real humor. Basically, they react to videos or posts that are cringy and make fun of them frame by frame. This has been my humor for the past month and I wouldn’t want it any other way. The one everyone should watch is “That’s Cringe: You” which is about a weird couple of two months acting as if they are soulmates who found one another at WHOLE FOODS. Some other good ones are “Vape Hotbox” and “Girl Defined” in the sense that they are absurdly funny on their own and just as funny with the commentary. IDK if you need anything to watch highly suggest it, especially if you are not easily offended. 

Claire Kunzier, Editor

Ello luvs, today we will be discussing the TV show category of teen dramas and how problematic they are. Let’s be honest, there is not one teen show that isn’t some amount of problematic, half of them include some weird sexual storyline with a teacher or toxic masculinity. I am going to show you a list of the general top ten most to least problematic shows, one being the most and ten being the least. There are many other shows that fit into this list and I will call out as many as I can and the reasons why. 

Starting off with number ten, “Outer Banks,” the 2020 show came out at the beginning of quarantine and it’s basically just too unrealistic to not be problematic. All the actors are 20+, the oldest being 28, giving unrealistic body standards for real-life teenagers. Overall, this show, along with “Teen Wolf” and “Gilmore Girls,” isn’t bad; they just aren’t the most realistic and have little things that aren’t the best to include in a show geared towards teens. 

Continuing to number nine, the early 2000s show “One Tree Hill” again doesn’t involve any real teenagers (this is a reoccurring theme), the plot is more realistic than the prior show, but certain plot points are real head scratchers. A number nine show isn’t the worst, there are just small pieces that should’ve been thought about, like the number of times each character cheats on their significant other and just how unrealistic Dan Scott’s storyline post season three is. Other shows in the nine spot include “Sex Education” and “Dawsons Creek” for the little things that just don’t make sense or shouldn’t be a major part of the plot aimed at teens. 

Number eight is “The Vampire Diaries.” This is where things are starting to heat up in why they are problematic. First everyone looks 30, not one character beyond the pilot episode looks their character’s age, second the show is oversexualising people in general and uses topics such as relationship and substance abuse willy nilly. For example, they had an emotionally abused character who used drugs to cope, turn into a crazy killer vampire and whose death no one  really cared about. Shows like the “Vampire Diaries,” “That 70s Show” (I know a fav) and “90210” all have some wild plot parts that just are a bit problematic.

So ranks seven and six are just like eight, they just increase in more drama and issues. “Gossip Girl” just has a bit more problematic plot points such as sexual assault that is ignored and a teen/young adults getting involved with grown women. In turn, “Pretty Little Liars” has issues that both prior ranks have, but normalized a teacher-student relationship and dating someone that tried to kill you. MULTIPLE CHARACTERS DO THIS. Other shows within these two ranks include “Switched at Birth,” “The OC” and “Awkward” because they just kind of are wild, but not horrible. Now that we’ve made it to the top five, I will say that these are favorites, but also people hate them sooooooooooooooo if you don’t like my list then oops.

Number five, starting out strong, “13 Reasons Why,” the book Selena Gomez endorsed as a show. I will say the first season, A+, very tasteful, BUT the later seasons are just not it and do not handle their serious topics of sexual assault, suicide, drug abuse and mental health well all the time. The first season saved this show from being ranked worse and two other shows in this rank are “Skins” and “Euphoria” for the same reasons of not handling their serious topics the best and romanticizing drug abuse and relationship abuse.

Jumping down to number four, “Degrassi,” the Canadian show that introduced the world to Drake is just something else. This is Kicks writer Jessie Brain’s favorite show and I feel bad saying this, but the plot has such deep issues and treats them not right. Is it the worst? No. Could it be better? Yes. And to prevent beefing with JBrain I’m gonna leave it at that.

TOP THREE! “Riverdale” takes the third spot on this list for pretty obvious reasons, season one involves a teacher-student relationship and other than it was honestly good. But, it did go down from there because not only did the writing get worse, it also involved more serious plot lines and they were laughable. The prison plot line, excuse my language, fucking funny, but a real issue that is faced with kids who fall into the wrong life path. In general, the writing is so bad that the serious plot lines that are done well are looked over and ignored because they had characters say some weird shit.

The second problematic show is often forgotten by many, but not me. A personal favorite show just because of how insane it is, “The Secret Life of an American Teenager” is just so problematic for so many reasons, I don’t know why my mother let me and my friend Ryen watch this in elementary school. Basically, it’s a Christian values fueled show to promote saving sex till marriage, but everyone on the show has sex and has a pregnancy scare or gets pregnant. The writing, HORRIBLE, so bad it’s funny, on top of important topics of teen pregnancy, one of them resulting in a traumatic stillbirth. Overall, promoted teen pregnancy and didn’t handle the tough  topics well at all and it’s landing at number two because of its carelessness and the religious undertones that didn’t work.

DRUMROLL PLEASE……….the number one spot goes tooooooo “Glee” the show that took the world by storm for being the first of its kind, but now is actually the most problematic. From having a non handicapped person playing a person in a wheelchair, to the main adult character being extremely inappropriate with his students, things just aren’t cool on “Glee.” As much as it was one of the first most inclusive shows at the time, the plot just has too many issues within it and I could go on for hours about it. I’m going to put a problematic compilation that you can watch for a more in-depth look at why this show is number one. Wow. This was really a lot, but also brings up the issue of teen shows and maybe we should do better about them. I do have an honorable mention of a teen show that is overall unproblematic, “Stranger Things” has accurate ages, doesn’t sexulaize them and overall, besides the supernatural plot, is normal. Yeah so that’s what you missed on Glee.

The Rundown 

1. Glee
2. The Secret life of an American Teenager 
3. Riverdale
4. Degrassi 
5. 13 Reasons Why 
6. Pretty Little Liars 
7. Gossip Girl 
8. The Vampire Diaries 
9. One Tree Hill
10. Outer Banks

Claire Kunzier, Editor

In June of 2015, the Norwegian TV show “SKAM” aired and lowkey took the world by storm. Americans, as well as other countries, couldn’t watch the show anywhere so in the 2015-2016 school year, people had google drives of illegally downloaded episodes in order to watch the Norwegian teen drama. The underground mass streaming of this series was insane for all four seasons and there were multiple remakes in various countries, including America. BUT, I think that the OG “SKAM” deserves better, it deserves more hype. Is it in Norwegian, do you have to read subtitles to understand it, couldn’t you just watch an English show? Yes, yes and yes, but they don’t have the flair that this show has. It tackles sexism, LGBTQ+, sexual assault and many more topics in a way that’s not only tasteful, but mostly realistic. In addition, it’s a female director and producer, which, while not long ago, was not as common in 2015 and still isn’t as common as it should be. You know my sophomore in high school self watched it, got hooked and started to accidentally learn Norwegian. Compared to the American shows most teens watch this is a major step up and we should all watch it and wish we were Norwegian as well as friends with these characters. I’m not saying to illegally stream this show, but you should attempt to watch it at some point in your life because it’s good. *WHISPERS* If you email me I’ll send you the links *WHISPERS*. What’s your fave teen show? 

Claire Kunzier, Editor 

Um, so, we’re coming up on a year of the COVID-19 pandemic and people are at the end of their ropes. I get it, there’s very little to do and what you can do you kind of have to do alone because like I said we’re in a pandemic. I can get behind expanding your bubble to include more people or getting a bubble hookup buddy, what I can’t get behind is zoom dating. Don’t go on a dating app and set up a Zoom meeting for you and a stranger to have a “date” just talk to them and maybe facetime them. I don’t see the point in setting up a whole ass meeting just so you and another person can awkwardly stare at one another. Anyway you do you and wear a mask because the European strain is coming to America in full force. 

Claire Kunzier, Editor 

If you have been living under a rock since the new year, you might’ve missed Olivia Rodrigo’s release of her song “Driver’s License” on Jan. 8, 2021. Since its release date, the song has been at the top of every chart, streaming service and on everyone’s playlists. The critically acclaimed song is supposedly about Rodrigo’s relationship with Joshua Bassett, her “High School Musical the Musical the Series” co-star. The pair reportedly dated/had a fling for a bit in late 2019 to early/mid 2020, Bassett reportedly teaching Rodrigo to drive in an In-N-Out parking lot. (This is where my lack of social life, scary deep dive into this drama starts so get ready for it.) Now, Bassett has been reportedly dating fellow Disney actor Sabrina Carpenter and they were first spotted during July 2020. In relation to their first spotting, Rodrigo posted a sad song she had written on Instagram on July 11, 2020 around the same time the other two were spotted. Jump forward to July 14 where Rodrigo posted on her Instagram that she had gotten her drivers license and captioned it, “happy girl in the dmv parking lot because I (finally) got my drivers license!!!!! also @gracieabrams ep. came out today so now I can drive around the suburbs alone and cry to I miss you I’m sorry like a true American!!!!!” SHE GOT HER DRIVERS LICENSE AND IS PLANNING ON DRIVING AROUND LISTENING TO SAD MUSIC, foreshadowing. Jump forward to July 30 when Rodrigo posted her first draft or whatever you call it of her future hit, little did she know what type of drama she was going to cause for herself. From here on not much happened so here’s a quick rundown: Rodrigo posted a pic of herself and Iris Apatow on Aug. 16 wearing dump him shirts, Bassett and Carpenter were spotted getting lunch and hanging out, then the two dressed up as Sharkboy and Lavagirl for Halloween 2020 and Rodrigo had a pretty chill time perfecting her song. 

Before Jan. 8, 2021, there wasn’t much talk of the trio to the general public since they are all upper c or lower b level celebrities. After American democracy went to shit with the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, Rodrigo released the chart topper “Driver License” on Jan. 8 and caused social media and every and anyone who heard the single to combust. Quickly, everyone wanted to know who the song was about, maybe Rodrigo’s ex Ethan Wacker? No, Wacker shot down those rumors with a comment on a TikTok saying that he treated her right, SO fans pointed the finger at Bassett. Basically everything mentioned prior was unraveled a day after the song was released and people began to choose sides. Many were on Rodrigo’s side, some were on Josh’s side and most people said “that blonde girl,” Carpenter, was not to blame because Bassett did the heart breaking. A week later on Jan. 14, Bassett released his own song “Lie Lie Lie” and said the song is about a prior relationship from years ago, whatever that means. No one really cared about his song and people were still riding the “Drivers License” train. THEN a week after that on Jan. 22, Carpenter released her own song “Skin” and lemme tell you, WACK. Throughout Rodrigo’s single, she focuses on how heartbroken she is and only mentions another girl during the first verse of the song, “And you’re probably with that blonde girl who always made me doubt she’s so much older than me she’s everything I’m insecure about” By no means insulting or pointing the finger just the classic “girl you told me not to worry about” trope. Within Carpenter’s song, she basically says “Hey. This is my dude, you can be sad all you want, but he’s mine and fuck you for writing a song about him and trying to get under my skin.” Very much an aggressive attack on Rodrigo’s song where she legit calls Carpenter pretty, blonde and older than her. Should people have attacked Carpenter over Rodrigo’s song? No, but just because she could doesn’t mean Carpenter should have made a diss track about Rodrigo. 

In my opinion, Rodrigo wrote a Taylor Swift tier song, Swift even agrees with that because she reposted “Drivers License ” on her Instagram story. Carpenter and Bassett can release all the songs they want and be petty, but never reach the T-Swift status of Rodrigo. This drama has been great for those of us with no life and need a distraction from all the death, COVID-19 and impeachment drama going on, but these are just teenagers. They’re heartbroken and sad or annoyed and angry, releasing music and making their private life public, but they’re allowed to not give the details. So just remember that we can get wrapped up in this drama, but it’s not our lives and we don’t know so don’t publicly say anything on social media that you wouldn’t say to their face. Listen to “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo for some Taylor Swift break up vibes, if you haven’t already driven around crying to it on repeat. 

Claire Kunizer, Editor 

So when you live with people, especially when you live with people and can’t leave your house and only see those people, you learn things. Weird things at that, but they also can be very helpful like who likes what, who doesn’t like what, what pisses each other off, etc. Now, I’ve known all of these things about my siblings, but I have perfected a certain skill that comes with living with people. I know the sound of each of my family members footsteps and so does my younger sister. Each of our brothers walks a certain way down the stairs, in the hall, a floor above, you name it we can probably tell you who’s walking where. I just want to know if anyone else has this skill, so shoot me an email at kunzierc1@lasalle.edu. That’ll be my socialization with people outside of my bubble for the week.

Claire Kunizer, Editor 

Chocolate, flowers and gross couples showing ten times the PDA they normally do. Sounds a lot like Valentines day, the holiday where some couples show just how single everyone else is. While the sales and deals as well as the massive Feb.15 chocolate sale at grocery stores are definitely perks, we as a society should look at this holiday for what it truly is: stupid. First off, it’s just a ploy to make rich people richer and single people feel worse about themselves. The pressure to buy your significant others at least flowers and or chocolate is so immense that it’s worth all the jacked up prices. All the single people have no one to buy them expensive chocolate, so they make their friends do a galentine’s day party or present swap and spend money on one another. Second, couples get extra gross and obnoxious about the fact that they’re a couple and its Valentine’s Day. Nasty. Normal couples just get their partner a present, maybe do a nice dinner and keep it low key, but there are those couples, you know the ones, that ruin it for everyone. They post everything they do on social media to prove that they aren’t alone for this stupid holiday AND that their relationship is the best. NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOU KISS IN A BOOMERANG ON YOUR INSTA STORY IN FRONT OF A SHIT TON OF CANDLES. That’s a fire hazard. Basically, a holiday where a naked, fat baby flies around and shoots people with arrows making them fall madly in love. BULL SHIT. Anyway, I’m free Feb. 14 if anyone else is free on Feb. 14 and wants to do anything on Feb. 14.