By Aarna Mishra, Libertyville High School

Infographic by Hayden Ries, Henderson County High School

There’s a stranger in my bed / There’s a pounding in my head / Glitter all over the room / Pink flamingos in the pool…

Since its release in 2010, Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)” has been streamed over 1 billion times on Spotify. Whether in the car, at parties or alone in the comfort of one’s room—myself included—this fun, catchy anthem has been a cultural staple. But while Perry succeeds in capturing the thrill of letting loose at the end of the week, each stream contributes to the romanticization of the “hookup” culture, as portrayed in this song.

Casual sexual encounters have existed for generations. As birth control progressed, feelings of attraction without emotional intimacy became more common; however, psychologists like Dr. Mark Travers, who holds degrees from …
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By Samantha Franco, Park Vista Community High School

Infographics by Danielle Ashby, Floyd Central and Emlyn McKinney Clarke, Central High School

I am my own ruler. I am not meant for a dictator. My skin is my own, my language is not yours to call uncivilized. This country is a land of freedom and democracy, or so you say. So, why is it that you will vacation to my native land, my country, you will eat my food and take in my culture as if it is some party for display? You will respect what you can gain, but you will not respect me or my family, everything that makes me, me. Why are you so scared of diversity?

I was in Arlington, VA on ‘No Kings’ Day. I saw protesters filling streets and my godfather honked at protesters as we passed bridges. …
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By Robby Temprano

At Indiana University Bloomington, Professor Benjamin Robinson describes being arrested during the Palestinian rights protest. He explains that the police’s response was harsh and disproportionate given that the protest was peaceful and did not violate any policies.

Robinson mentioned his involvement in social justice causes over many years. He was present to support the student protesters, many of whom he knew from classes and civil rights trips. When police moved in to break up the protest, Benjamin Robinson tried to reason with officers but saw the police commander giving orders to push forward aggressively into the protesters.

Robinson and others were subsequently arrested and spent 6-7 hours being processed before release. Soon after, Robinson found he had been banned from his very own campus, despite having tenure and 20 years of service at the university. He sued the university for …
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By Emerson Romans

Clothes sorted, displays set, customer ready.

Since 2017, the U.S. secondhand market has grown by 95%, with 1.4 billion secondhand apparel items purchased in 2022, up 40% from 2021 according to Capital One’s yearly shopping statistics. “Thrifting” or the act of shopping at a thrift store, garage store, or charity shop, significantly grew in popularity during the pandemic. The TikTok subculture coined “#ThriftTok” has gained over 1.6 billion views online.

The rise of thrifting acts as a cheaper way for individuals to participate in pop culture’s renaissance of several iconic fashion trends from the past, including flared pants, which rose to fame in the early 70s, high-waisted pants, infamously coined “mom jeans” in the 80s, and slip dresses, widely worn in the 90s. The rising appeal towards secondhand clothing has connected many youth with older generations. 18-year-old Bloomington native Minette …
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By Daniella Lainez

In efforts to sustain more safety following nine severe and fatal cycling accidents in the past five years, the city of Bloomington has begun to develop more bike lanes with a 15-year goal of eliminating all cycling accidents and increasing the presence of safety on roads in Bloomington.

Following this project, the level of involvement from cyclists of using these new bike lanes as opposed to the main road or sidewalk has been hit or miss. Residents of Bloomington expressed varying opinions on the matter.

Bloomington resident and Co-Director of SustainCollins and Sustainability Program Tanjimul Alam said, “I have definitely seen a decent amount of people using the bikes lanes but they are a little confusing and we need more signs to distinguish the bikes lanes, a lot of cars and bus tend to park and …
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By Kayla Kiszka, Joelle Serbenta, and Anna Herr

The state of Indiana is mostly known for their dunes and corn fields, but in reality, Indiana has been supplying the country with an underground material, limestone, and Polly Sturgeon is one of the experts.

After nine years full of limestone tours at Indiana University, which she still gives to this day, Sturgeon has become very familiar with the material that fills Indiana University’s beautiful campus. Her passion for the history of limestone is shown through her work in frequent presentations on topics related to Indiana geology in local schools and for the general public through her tours.

“I took over the campus limestone walking tours when Brian Keith, former geologist at the IGWS, retired. I have experience in giving public tours and was interested in expanding the tour to include more campus history,” says …
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by Molly Mullen

When it comes to the causes of mental illness in today’s age, social media is the first thing that gets blamed. Yes, it can lead to illness due to the effects of comparison, editing apps, and more, however there are even more causes right in our backyard.

Senior Maya Collins at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy stresses over a summer assignment in the Indiana University commons area. Photo by Molly Mullen.

High schools have been persistently adding more and more pressure on students, sometimes without even realizing it. Advisors push resume building, perfect grades, volunteering and extracurriculars, which is helpful to some students. However, these constant suggestions can add on to already full schedules for students. Especially with the environment commonly referred to as a “pressure cooker” at Holy Trinity, there is constant stress on every student to attend …
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by Frank Messina

A trendy social media page.

Trends and social media capture and shine light on aspects of fashion people are unfamiliar with. Without a doubt, social media and trends influence fashion in many ways from bringing unique creators onto various platforms to voice their opinions and show off their styles, to multi-billion dollar corporations such as SHEIN, H&M, Fashion Nova, and Forever 21 showing off their latest collection of clothes.

While trends on social media can help people find and grow their personal style, many corporations promote unhealthy ways to consume and find style. An example of this is promoting fast fashion, which is cheap mass produced clothing that is focused on trends seen on social media or other places such as television. Social media has also generated a term known as micro-trends, which is a trend cycle that …
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