Megan Fox, please don’t do that

Please don’t partner with Boohoo. On Tuesday, Oct. 19, Boohoo released their biggest ever celebrity collaboration to date. This time around, Megan Fox’s line aims to “celebrate female sensuality,” according to Boohoo’s website. If I were Megan Fox, I would’ve preferred to craft a celebration of womanhood with another brand — one whose garments don’t fall apart almost as soon as they’re purchased; one that seeks to fix rather than destroy the environment; and one that doesn’t have slavery allegations.

Megan Fox and Boohoo teamed up to create the brand’s largest celebrity collaboration to date.

Every now and then, I search for news related to Boohoo. I’m currently doing my capstone on fast fashion and Buddhism and I’m using Boohoo as a case study. Recently, I discovered this collaboration with Megan Fox and immediately wished I had gotten the chance to talk her out of this despicable deal. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t return my calls, so here we are.

I worked for fashion week this past summer and spent most of my week working directly with Boohoo for their big debut. The Boohoo team arrived in Miami from LA with suitcases of garments for fittings before the show. I remember one influencer, Cindy Prado, came in to try on her swimsuit. I handed her the suit, she put it on, they took some photos, and Prado handed it back to us for safekeeping. It sat in a bag for a couple of days, and when it came time to dress the influencer for the runway, the garment was somehow already broken. Literally all it did was sit in a plastic bag, untouched — yet it was somehow unwearable. That’s because Boohoo deals in fast fashion, which is mutually exclusive to quality fashion. After all, there was once a time when fashion designers were responsible for crafting collections four times a year, in line with the seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall.

Now? There are 52 seasons. That’s not an exaggeration. Companies like Boohoo churn out new collections, on average, every single week, all year round. No wonder that garment was broken before it even got to the runway — it was built to fall apart. Once again, that is not a euphemism or exaggeration; fast fashion garments are literally built to fall apart so that you are forced to shop again, sooner rather than later.

How do brands like Boohoo accomplish such efficient capitalist modes of production? By slave labor, of course. I say that not to make light of the situation, but rather to elucidate the almost unfathomable allegation that slavery still exists today. Unfortunately, it’s not unfathomable — it’s reality. According to Livia Firth, 1 in 6 people work in the global fashion industry, making it the most labor-dependent industry on earth. There have been multiple investigations into Jaswal Fashions, a factory in Leicester, United Kingdom, which supplies up to 80 percent of its production to Boohoo alone. Some sources say that workers are paid as little as £3.50 an hour, according to an investigation from the Sunday Times. Other sources say that workers were forced to come in during COVID-19 lockdowns to keep pace with the increased demand for clothing as people stayed home and shopped online. It is unclear whether all workers at this factory are paid at all for their labor, and Boohoo has done little to redress the situation since it came to light.

I remember reading somewhere that Fox sends her kids to a “vegan school” (whatever that means). Thank you for caring at least a little about the environment and the meat industry’s impact on it, Ms. Fox. But has she thought about how many of her garments, manufactured by Boohoo, will end up in landfills? According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the equivalent of one garbage truck of clothes are burned or landfilled every second. Our environment can’t sustain this rate of waste, so if we want to be able to celebrate female sensuality and send our kids to vegan schools, we should make sure that we have a planet where we can do those things first.

This article isn’t to shame anyone who shops fast fashion, especially because it is (unfortunately) all most of us can afford. It is, however, meant to raise eyebrows at celebrities like Fox who continue to validate and support such harmful business practices. Ms. Fox, if you’re reading this, it’s not too late — ditch Boohoo in favor of sustainability.

Social media: building up society and breaking down mental health

Commentary

Meghan Cain, Staff

Social media has become a dominating force in our society and is being introduced at increasingly younger ages. Knowing the influence that social media has over its users, it is no surprise to me that overuse of social media was rated number one on the 2020 Top 10 Child Health Concerns During the Pandemic List. Especially following the pandemic, which allowed for an overwhelming amount of free time for a lot of kids and adolescents, social media use is continuously growing.

In my opinion, the most harmful aspect of social media is its effects on the mental health of kids and adolescents, negatively affecting their confidence. I am currently working on an independent research study seeking to find the correlation between social media use and adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction, social comparison and internalization of the thin ideal. The findings have shown so far that there is a positive correlation between social media use and negative self-feelings, which is worrisome considering the age at which social media is being introduced nowadays.

Social media robs children of their youth, and for adolescents, who are already experiencing a confusing period in their lives due to puberty, social media increases exposure to unrealistic idealized bodies and pressures them to change their appearances. A previous study of social media use and adolescent body image has found that “time spent using social media… is associated with greater preoccupation with how the body looks, which is, in turn, associated with more negative feelings about the body.” This finding supports the idea that social media has a negative influence on youth and their self-satisfaction, which is critical during such a vulnerable stage in their life.

While there are many arguments against social media that expose the harms associated with it, there are also positives that come from social media, which leads this to be a controversial topic. One study that I have found supports social media in stating that it has “been used by adolescents to increase social connectivity, broaden social relationships and for entertainment… social media is a potentially inexpensive way to have conversations about mental health, important information and challenge stigma… to promote help-seeking for mental health difficulties.” There are clearly benefits of social media as it increases access to mental health awareness and information on coping, as well as increasing socialization and maintaining friendships. Through the interviews with young users in this same study, it was found that social media can be a way to promote mental health, but also to decrease it. Adolescent users had stated that “social media can fuel cyber-bullying and that could lead to problems like suicide, anger and depression.”

This theme leads me to a second study which found that “adolescents who spent more time on screen activities were significantly more likely to have high depressive symptoms or have at least one suicide-related outcome.” Additionally, electronic device use was significantly correlated to all four suicide-related outcomes, which are feeling sad or hopeless, seriously considering suicide, making a suicide plan and attempting suicide. There is an abundance of information that supports either side of the social media argument, which leads to a bit of controversy.

Social media is such a common aspect of our everyday lives that youths being on electronics or social media is normalized overall — a community-based issue, as social media has become ingrained into our society and would be difficult to remove.

As far as addressing this issue goes, spreading awareness of the harms of social media may provide some benefits. In terms of solving the issue, I do not think that much can be done on an individual level to decrease the detrimental effects of social media as a whole, but steps can be taken to ensure that one is using social media in healthy ways, as well as monitoring children and adolescents’ use. To solve the issue from the root, social media should not be introduced at elementary age, and when it is introduced it should be monitored. In other ways, the issue can to be addressed by the platforms’ corporations. One great strategy that I have seen in the news recently is actually from Facebook. The corporation is introducing features that promote wellbeing on the Instagram app, which is a branch of Facebook, such as prompting young users to take breaks. Another feature will be to “nudge” young users when they are looking at photos that may harm their well-being. There will also be optional parental controls that allow guardians to supervise what their children are doing online, which may be a bit controversial. In my opinion, these controls can be a great way to promote healthy social media use, but it also depends on what exactly the guardians will be able to see. The best way to monitor would be to make sure the children are not spending too much time on social media, and putting parental control locks on certain media to ensure they aren’t being exposed to harmful content.

In conclusion, social media use amongst our youth is an issue that I find to be important, and is one that I feel is only just beginning to gain traction. While we are slowly making advances in the promotion of healthy media use, we have a long way to go as a society. There are numerous arguments regarding the negative impacts of social media use on youth, but there are many to support it as well, so this issue must continue to be explored. I am trying to do my part in addressing the issue by conducting my independent study, and hope to use the results to make an impact.

Nicki Minaj featured on a new song that has a “Little Mix” of drama

Commentary

Claire Kunzier, Editor

_{Header image: meaww.com}

The era of 2014 girl groups continues to crumble as former “Little Mix” member Jesy Nelson released her first solo track after leaving the group. Featuring Nicki Minaj, “Boyz” has reached Twitter fame due to the controversy surrounding Jesy singularly and her beef with her former band mates Pierre, Leigh-Anne and Jade. The song itself is not a slap nor a banger, although you could say its hits a little because of Nicki. Drama surrounds this song, particularly involving Jesy’s music video.

Jesy, a white British woman, is being accused of blackfishing due to the fact that her skin tone matches and in some instances is darker than Nicki’s, who is indeed a Black woman. Some of this distaste comes from “Little Mix” fans who just want to ruin Jesy’s career, very similar to the “Fifth Harmony” Camila Cabello situation, but also the genuine increase in white women tanning their skin to the point where they appear to be Black. While Nicki herself finds no issues as stated within this Tweet, “Jesy! We got all these #Jelly btchs actin real MESSY!!!!! Stop it miss gorl going live in one hour on IG to get into sum thangz,” there is still a large population of Twitter trying to start beef.

As referenced earlier, there is also just “Little Mix” deep rooted drama stemming from the other allegations of Jesy being a toxic member within the group. During her time in the girl group, Jesy has been accused of being a bully to her fellow members, specifically about their struggles with eating disorders, as well as being racist. I am talking about the vine of hers, please check it out.

Overall, the issue with Jesy is with her blackfishing as well as the accusations from her former bandmates. We are watching the demise of the final early 2010s girl bands as well as the recognition that sometimes tanning can become more than excessive.

My life as a college age android user

Commentary

Jake Eiseman, Editor-in-Chief

Header Image: nrkbeta.no via Flickr

Apple Inc. ruined my life.

Okay it’s definitely not that bad, but I am reminded far too often how it’s a dog eat dog world and I’m wearing milkbone underwear when I expose myself as an Android user. Everywhere I look on La Salle’s campus I see people on their iPhone, with their AirPods in and using Apple music, and what do I do? Nothing. I do nothing because I am respectful and understand that it’s just a phone, it really does not matter. But, the moment someone asks to AirDrop something to me, or God forbid I turn an iMessage group chat green, I am targeted and chastised like I’m the problem.

_{The OverAnalyzed}

Wake up, people. It’s not me that you should be targeting, I just sit here with my Galaxy S9+, talking to Bixby, customizing my home screens with all the freedom in the world, while Apple users didn’t even get the freedom to add widgets until iOS 14. Apple is an extremely predatory company. They lock you in early by acquiring good deals with the popular wireless plans they know will have teenagers and their parents on them like Verizon or AT&T, and once you’re in, good luck getting out.

Take into consideration that your Apple ID literally contains your entire life. All of the photos you’ve ever taken, all of your contacts, wireless payments, passwords, facial scans, personal data, analytics and so much more. What happens if you try to take all of that out of the Apple ecosystem? Well, for some things like pictures and contacts it is doable, but Apple makes the process as difficult as possible by forcing users to either hard transfer everything from the phone to a computer or to another phone slowly, or by downloading a replacement app like Google Photos and backing everything up manually. Lots of other things, though, are almost entirely locked behind Apple’s ecosystem. For example, all of the apps and in-app purchases made since you got “Angry Birds” when you were twelve until now will not transfer over. Some of them you can replace, but a lot of your digital footprint will be completely uprooted.

I won’t get into the actual politics and ethics of Apple’s production, as I am certain that companies like Samsung and Google are just as bad in other or even worse ways. But come on. Can we talk about how everyone found out last year that Apple uses planned obsolescence in the creation of their batteries and Apple users just said “cool,” and then bought an iPhone 12 Pro? I’m not shilling for the Google Pixel because it’s better than the iPhone, I’m shilling because people deserve to be treated better by the company that basically rules their whole life at this point.

You deserve better than to pay hundreds of dollars every year for a slightly better camera to a company that keeps you in a loop of constant disappointment, predatory technology practices and that is looking more and more every day to be like the villain from a shockingly familiar episode of “Black Mirror.” I just ask that before you go and buy into the iPhone 14,000,000 when it drops next month, just take some time to think about why you love Apple so much and if you really do, or if you just feel like you have to.

Seed Oils: A Hidden Danger in the American Diet

Commentary

David O’Brien, Editor

Seed oil is an overarching term used to describe industrially produced cooking oils. These oils are produced through a 70-minute wash in the chemical solvent hexane and refined in lye. Hexane is also used to extract oils and grease along with other contaminants in water. Lye, also referred to as sodium-hydroxide, is used for making soap. Both are chemical substances that I personally would not consciously choose to consume. Afterwards, this substance is bleached and dyed to remove the smell and the less-than-appealing color. Not only is vegetable oil clearly manufactured to meet price needs for massive restaurant chains rather than public health needs, but the ingredients used to produce it are incredibly bad for the environment. Crops used for the production of seed oils are soy, corn and cotton; some of the issues with these crops being used as oil vegetables rather than more traditional and healthier crops (an example of safe crops to be used for oil are avocado and olives) are oversaturation of the food supply leading to nutritional deficiencies due to lack of variety and displacement of nutrient dense crops that are needed for the average diet. Along with the dietary concerns of these oils are environmental issues ranging from destroyed water systems, depleted soil and heavily sprayed with chemicals and GMOs being used more often due to the current methods of producing these crops.

Seed oils are the primary sources of omega-6 fatty acids in the average American’s diet. To maintain the balance of inflammation one needs a proper ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 acids, which should be 1:1. However, since vegetable oils are used in the majority of recipes ranging from the average household to chain restaurants, the average person, especially one living on a budget, cannot avoid having a massive imbalance which leads to inflammatory issues. The average ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in Americans is 20:1. While the majority of people promote seed oils as a natural substance that are healthier ingredients to use while cooking than, say, butter or lard, they may be just as bad if not worse, seeing as inflammatory disease leads to eight of the top ten causes of death in the U.S.

The dangers of seed oils in the American diet have gone unnoticed for far too long. As dietary fads come and go, the damage of chemical products being used in foods that are supposed to be good for us will not leave any time soon. This situation is yet another public health crisis that plagues the American public that has not been addressed. While the majority of college students are bound to be unable to avoid seed oils due to the fact we’re stuck eating B and G, fast food and are almost all on pretty low budgets for groceries. If possible, try to substitute seed oils with healthier oils to cook with, like olive or avocado oil.

Lack of communication takes the safety out of public safety

Commentary

Meghan Cain, Staff

My friends and I went downtown for restaurant week recently and decided to make a night of it, walking around the city, browsing stores and taking in the night life rather than just eating dinner and coming straight back to campus. We checked the La Salle app to see when the shuttle would be coming and the app said the shuttle comes to the Septa stop each hour at :15 :55 and :35, and that on Fridays and Saturdays it runs until 3:00 am. We were under the impression that it didn’t matter how late we got back, knowing that we could take a shuttle back to our townhouse, so we took our time and enjoyed the night rather than trying to rush back to make sure we got home safe.

We got to the stop at 8:50 and waited the five minutes for the shuttle to get there. La Salle took the shuttle tracker service off of the app, which we were disappointed to see, as we couldn’t tell if the shuttle was running on time or late and we didn’t want to be standing around in the dark waiting for it, especially not knowing how long it would take. A shuttle came at around 9:00 and unloaded a van full of students, then we got on. The driver told us we were lucky that that group had asked to be taken to the Septa stop, or else we would have been waiting for a long time before needing to just walk back in the dark. He informed us that La Salle had changed the shuttle hours and the shuttle now only runs until 9:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but that it actually stops at the 8:15 p.m. cycle so that it can be finished its trip on time to get gas and make it back before 9:00 p.m. We told him that La Salle didn’t have that posted on the shuttle service page, and that we weren’t informed that the schedule changed. If this information was posted anywhere, it wasn’t made known. The driver informed us that communication hasn’t been clear between La Salle and public safety either, and that he wasn’t informed right away when the schedule had changed. He seemed disappointed in La Salle’s lack of communication.

I find this to be irresponsible on La Salle’s behalf, knowing that weekends are when students plan on staying out later, and that it is dangerous for them to be standing around waiting for the shuttle in our neighborhoods, which are often receiving reports of violence. I am disappointed in La Salle for the lack of communication about important information such as this, and for the lack of care given to its students that are relying on the shuttle system for safety. We pay a lot of money to attend this school, so I think that at the very least we deserve proper communication.

The world according to the Collegian’s readers

Commentary

Alina Snopkowski, Editor

While La Salle is pretty much entirely back in person, the Collegian is not just yet. The wire baskets that used to hold copies of the week’s (and week before’s…and week before’s…) Collegians are now empty, and if you’re reading this article, it means you’ve been able to find us online.

When we were publishing physical copies of the newspaper, the only way to guess how many people were reading was to see how many copies were left over in the little baskets in the Union, B and G, library and other areas we deemed high-traffic enough to abandon stacks of papers. We also had no way of knowing which articles or sections were the most popular, or when people were reading the paper. For example, I was the one who delivered the papers to Benilde every Thursday, and it was always a guessing game of how many papers would be left over from the week before. Sometimes there were only a few copies remaining, other weeks there’d be dozens still stacked up in the basket. How many people grabbed a paper and only read the sports section or did the sudoku puzzle? How many people leafed through the Collegian while waiting for a friend in the Union or between classes in the library and then put the paper back in the basket or abandoned it on a table?

Ever since we began publishing the Collegian online, I have been (a bit obsessively) checking the statistics page that the website provides. Apparently, early Wednesday afternoons are when most people visit the site, the News category is the most popular and the most views we ever had was earlier this year in February. The traffic to the website falls after Wednesday, the day when we publish the articles, but there’s still at least a few views each day throughout the week.

Of course there’s drawbacks to not having a physical paper. To access the paper, a reader has to have the link to the page (or be willing to Google search for the paper and find the correct site). People who might have picked up the Collegian while walking through Holroyd or on their way out of B and G now might not even know the paper still exists if they’ve never been sent the link to our page.

I think the most interesting information the WordPress site gives is their report of all the different countries someone has read a website from. On that page, it shows that people have read the Collegian from over thirty countries besides the United States. Many of these countries are home to various Lasallian-affiliated educational institutions, but many are not.

_{Image created on mapchart.com by Alina Snopkowski}

Lasallian educational institutions and Collegian readers.

This map shows the world according to the Collegian’s readers — many are reading the paper from countries with Lasallian schools, colored in dark blue on the map, but there are also several countries with Lasallian schools, shown in yellow, that haven’t had anyone reading the Collegian. Then there’s the ones I’m most interested in — the countries without Lasallian schools, but somehow someone from them still found the Collegian. Seeing those light blue countries raises some questions — who is reading our paper in Norway? How did someone in Saudi Arabia find the Collegian? — but also shows that people who have probably never set foot on campus can now access the paper. That says something about the reach of the internet in general, but also something about the reach of La Salle, and the connection we on this campus have with those learning in Brazil or Egypt or the Philippines, united through the values of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle — and, in a tiny way, through the Collegian.

Why you shouldn’t sleep in the same room as your phone

Commentary

Elizabeth McLaughlin, Editor

How do you feel when you leave something unfinished? Some may say just a little anxious, others may experience downright despair. A lucky few of us simply feel neutral: “I’ll get to it tomorrow, no need to fret.” But most of us probably don’t feel good when we go to bed knowing that we didn’t finish all that we needed to do.

What’s worse than that feeling? Seeing it manifested in tiny, red, numbered bubbles plastered all over our phone screens. You have: 3 unread emails, 65 unread texts, 18 Snapchats, 7 Canvas announcements, and a whole lot of dread…or at least I do at the moment. Never has there been a time in human history in which we have been more consciously made aware of our unfinished business. That fact alone is anxiety inducing, even for those of us who are quick to clean up our inboxes at the earliest opportunity. Many of us have an obsessive relationship with clearing our notifications; I have an unwritten rule for myself that my Outlook inbox has to be attended to as quickly as possible, at any hour of the day. The other day, I found myself performing the mundane, rote ritual of clearing out my Gmail of all the quotidian branded messages I get from various companies. I took a moment to recognize the anxiety attached to my habits, and took an oath to change for the better.

_{Office Sign Company}

It is worthwhile to establish a cell phone-free zone in your daily life.

In a sense, we are slaves to our notifications. They demand our attention and remain in the corners of our minds, begging to be resolved, ad nauseam. I can’t think of anything more tiring than going to bed with the knowledge that I have so many unfinished tasks; tasks which await my attention as soon as I wake up. That is why I no longer sleep with my phone in my room. By eliminating the opportunity to be reminded of messages which require my attention, I’ve created a more peaceful space for myself.

In fact, I’ve modified my relationship with my phone in more ways than one. I don’t bring my phone with me to the dinner table (I never did, shoutout to mom and dad for that one), but I also don’t bring it to my desk when I’m doing work, or sometimes when I’m hanging with friends. I prefer to maintain a much bigger distance from my phone than I had in the past and it has served me well. These days, I wake up and begin to lean into my day alone, without the presence of pesky notifications or posts from others. Then, I make the choice to go downstairs and check my phone when I’m ready. If, overnight, a friend or family member texted me, I’m much more eager to respond than I would have been had I been consciously aware of their message for hours on end.

By cutting the leash between my phone and me, I’ve significantly reduced my anxiety. I no longer feel like I need to lug around this hunk of junk with me wherever I go. When I do decide to take my phone out, it’s for a purpose that serves me and enhances my day. By breaking up with listless scrolling, I’ve crafted a more meaningful life. By leaving my phone downstairs when I go to bed, I can blissfully pretend, at least for a few hours, that I exist in an era untouched by smart-phone-induced anxiety. By choosing when to use my phone and when to leave it at home, I’m choosing a more enjoyable life.

So tonight, I invite you to leave your phone alone; be alone with your thoughts. There is no rule that you have to check every notification, every app, all the time. A smartphone is only smart after you examine your relationship with it; after you unlearn codependence in favor of balance. I promise, those little red bubbles (unfortunately) aren’t going anywhere.

Ties and dressing for the inner you

Commentary

James LeVan, Staff

I do not regard myself as a particularly fashionable person. I do not read GQ or follow any specific fashion blogs on the Internet. Despite that, I do like to put in the effort in the morning to dress nicely. So much so that I will get up at 5 a.m. so that I can put some minimal effort in. I like to wear a tie, a nice pair of pants and a button-down shirt. Sometimes I wear a belt, other times I put on suspenders (which I prefer to be honest). It really depends on my mood in the morning. Before I moved to Philly, I used to put on a tie and would go to my local Barnes and Noble and sit in the café reading political magazines and books I purchased. My parents always wondered why I got dressed to sit in a bookstore and my reasoning was simple: after a year of only wearing work clothes or pajamas, I wanted to look nice and dress like a human being.

When I was a young man, I did not have a lot of confidence in myself or my ability to do anything. I was angry, uninterested, unmotivated, and all I wanted to do was get through the school days and go home and hide in my room. My wardrobe was mostly blue jeans and dark shirts with a camo hoodie. Things were not particularly better as I grew older. In my first two years of community college, I would work as a dishwasher and was forced to wear these ugly wool shirts and blue jeans. They were uncomfortable to wear and they developed a strange smell. I hated that job for several reasons. The one that comes to mind now is that every time I would come home from my shift, it was because I would look at myself in the mirror and feel exhausted and disgusted. Insecurity is a strong feeling and not one a person can overcome easily, and my work did not help. The restaurant I worked at was toxic and not exactly a healthy work environment (in every sense of the word).

The one advantage about it was that it was located right across from my bank and Marshalls. One day after my check was cashed, I decided to march over there and start looking through the clothing racks. Going to Marshalls to try and make myself presentable was a new experience. Determining what to wear and purchase was like trying to figure out a new language with minimal experience in speaking it. I am a proud product of public schools; uniforms were never required. My family were not church-goers and the churches we did attend were not big on fancy dress. My experience in fashion was not minimal, it was nonexistent, and I was starting from nothing. So, I did what any 20-year-old would do in this situation, I looked up pictures of James Bond and worked from there. I bought myself a solid white shirt and a red tie and when I got home and tried them on a transformation had occurred. For the first time, I felt like a man and was confident and proud of myself. It was though I was looking at someone I could aspire to, an ideal version of myself made real that had existed in my head but was now present in the physical world. I walked around my house that day playing “Stayin Alive” by the Bee Gees and “You Know my Name” by Chris Cornell. The only thing I did not do was buy dress shoes, relying instead on a nice pair of sneakers since I walked and took public transportation everywhere. Even now, I struggle with dress shoes and prefer to pull a Gary Johnson.

Former 2016 Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (center) prefers to wear sneakers with his suits.

Over time, I began to piece together a wardrobe that I can customize depending on the day of the week. The tie became a banner representing my mood and frame of mind for the day. The pants and shirt are a stylish way to present myself and occasionally turn heads. Fashion is about confidence, finding the style of dress that suits you and appeals to your confidence. For me, it was not just that I was dressing nicely, I was dressing towards an idea, a version of myself that I could be proud of and aspire to. That is what fashion is more about me — attempting to bring out the inner version of you that you are most proud of and comfortable in.

Do I think everyone on campus (undergraduate, graduate, staff, faculty, etc.) should dress like me? Should we have a dress code? Hell no — I dress the way I want to because it is how I want to and it appeals to my personal aesthetic. This is my style, and I do not want to force others to dress my way and have them risk losing their own sense of self-confidence no more than I would want someone else to try and tell me how to dress and destroy my own sense of self-esteem.

Opinions on the final six in this season of “Big Brother”

Commentary

Rayna Patel, Staff

Header Image: screenrant.com

Now that summer has come to an end, the “Big Brother” Season 23 finale is only a few weeks away. There has been a lot of controversy and differing opinions about this year’s season based solely on one alliance called The Cookout. The Cookout consists of six individuals: Azah Awasum, Xavier Prather, Kyland Young, Derek Frazier, Tiffany Mitchell and Hannah Chaddha, who are all Black.

The controversy surrounds a plan that Mitchell hatched within days of being in the “Big Brother” house. In all twenty-three seasons, there has never been an all Black final six.. Knowing this, Mitchell suggested each member in their alliance pair up with another houseguest outside of their alliance and sit on the block with them each week.

In all of my years of watching “Big Brother,” I have never seen a plan executed so well. The Cookout has worked together for months now and sent home every other houseguest this summer without being suspected as an alliance, which would surely prompt the other players to send their members home.

This week, The Cookout has succeeded in making “Big Brother” history as the first time the final six were all Black. Some have said that this is “reverse racism” towards majority groups; however, I do not see it that way. In the past, the final six have been all white, but no one ever suggests those houseguests are guilty of racism. Groups of individuals who share similar experiences often couple up with other people like them. I see this as an alliance of people from similar backgrounds relating and working together just like people have in the past. I think this is a pretty neat display of unity, and I am so happy that I got to watch it unfold from ideas, to a plan, to reality throughout the show this summer.