With COVID-19 restrictions being lifted and the St. Louis mask mandate being removed March 5, tours and concerts are open to the public once again. Trippie Redd's "Trip at Knight" tour at Saint Louis Music Park in Maryland Heights, Aug. 28, required no proof of vaccination or negative test due to the venue being outside. "I went to Trippie Redd on Aug. 28, and Playboi Carti on Nov. 27," senior Sarah Savio said. "The experience wasn't much different than pre-COVID-19 concerts. The venues I went to didn't require anything." Concerns of spreading and catching COVID-19 caused many venues to implement requirements for audience members, ranging from proof of vaccination, a recent negative test, or nothing at all. Feb. 18, Tyler, the Creator came to the Chaifetz Arena. "I went to the Tyler, the Creator concert," senior Annabelle Murdock said. "They required vaccination cards for entry into the building, but there weren't that many people wearing masks. I have more concerts coming up and I'm really excited they're coming back." Popular artists such as Rex Orange County will be performing at the Saint Louis Music Park June 18. The Olivia Rodrigo concert at The Factory, April 20, sold out all available tickets in the first 30 minutes.
Spotlight Francis Howell High School fhhstoday.com Vol. 51, Issue 5 March 2022
3 NEWS Concerts move forward
Tyler Rauser, staffwriter
The new web game, Wordle, has sparked much popularity these past few months. The puzzle-like game is simple to understand: the challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. It is free to play with no ads. There is one daily puzzle, and everyone has the same word. After each word guess, the game provides feedback in the form of colored tiles, indicating when letters are in the puzzle or occupy the correct position. A correct letter turns green, a correct letter in the wrong place turns yellow, and a wrong letter turns gray. The first word of each game has to be a guess. However, players have found ways to strategize it. "My first guess is always the word "audio" because of the four vowels," sophomore Anvitha Makkena said. Because of the thinking process Wordle requires, many note it has expanded their vocabulary. "Wordle sharpens the mind by challenging your knowledge of unique words," junior Hunter Hawkins said. This game can not only be educational, but it has also brought out peoples' competitive side. "My family and I play Wordle everyday and we compete with each other to see who gets the word with the least amount of guesses," junior Harper Downing said. Original creator Josh Wardle first made the game strictly for his wife, then eventually he introduced it to his relatives. He made Wordle a public game Oct. 2021, after his relatives became obsessed with playing it. The name Wordle is a pun on his last name. In late Dec. 2021, Wordle went viral after Wardle added a sharing element, letting users copy their results in the form of colored square emojis, to then send to others. Many post on social media. "We always send our scores in our family group chat in order to see who did the best," Downing said. Wordle decided that having one puzzle per day creates a sense of scarcity, leaving players wanting more; he also noted that it encourages players to spend only three minutes on the game each day. The New York Times, acquired Wordle from Wardle for "an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures." Feb. 10, the game was officially moved to The New York Times's website, with players' statistics carrying over. Following Wordle's sudden rise in popularity at the start of 2022, a number of clones appeared. Some of these clones revised Wordle into different formulas. In Absurdle, the target word changes with each guess, while still staying true to previously revealed hints. Other clones include one that uses only four-letter swear words as its vocabulary pool, and one that lets players change the word length. The New York Times filed a trademark for Wordle shortly after acquiring it to help protect the intellectual property. Because of the popularity among English-speaking users, Wordle was adapted into other languages. By the start of Feb. 2022, at least 350 different variants of Wordle had been documented on the website "Wordles of the World." These include at least 91 versions based on real languages. "I try to play the Spanish Wordle because it is even more challenging and helps me become more familiar with the Spanish language," junior Wyatt Sirimaturos said. "I have already learned a lot from it these past few weeks."
Wordle quickly becomes a normal part of daily life
Bea Schneider, staffwriter
Book banning is back. After the Wentzville School Board (WSD) banned
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison, two WSD students joined the ACLU in suing. While the board reinstated
The Bluest Eye
, Feb. 25, it also removed six other critically acclaimed books:
All Boys Aren't Blue
by George Johnson;
Fun Home
by Alison Bechdel;
Heavy
by Kiese Laymon;
Invisible Girl
by Lisa Jewell;
Lawn Boy
by Jonathan Evison and
Modern Romance
by Aziz Ansari. These books are by authors who are, or have protagonists who are, people of color, or people who identify as LGBTQ. According to Changing America, a newspaper branch of The Hill, the books disagreed with the "diversity of ideas and minority viewpoints, including with respect to race, gender, and sexual identity." "What some people think are controversial, others will not," librarian Sue Robison said. In November, the Francis Howell School District (FHSD) faced challenges concerning the memoir
All Boys Aren't Blue
, but the board voted on keeping the book in school libraries. In addition to that case, the Reconsideration Committee discussed
Monday's Not Coming
by Tiffany D. Jackson, Jan. 24, and decided that the book should be kept without restriction in the library. Other books that have been challenged include
The Bluest Eye
;
Looking for Alaska
by John Green; and
Crank
by Ellen Hopkins. Although several books have been challenged, no books have been banned in FHSD. If a book is challenged and kept, five years have to pass before it can be challenged again. "Parents have the right to decide what's right for their children, but not for other kids," librarian Michelle Stuerman said.
Book bans spark local controversy for the district
Harper Culbertson, staffwriter Abby Struble, staffwriter
DECA dominates at districts
DECA district competition occurred Feb. 9. at Mid Rivers Mall and ended with 48 award winners and state qualifiers out of the 15 schools and 472 students that completed overall. The students who earned first place in their individual category were seniors TJ Houston, Shea Scultz, Julie Steiger and Abby Struble as well as sophomores Laurel Jockish and Lauren Junghans. In team events, seniors Max Benenati and Jack Pipkins, Abby Ekstrom and Brooke Jacquin, and Ada Pipkins and Nathaniel Bahan placed first. "When it was time for my category, I was freaking out just hoping I could place in the top six. When the announcer finally called my name, it was kind of bittersweet. I felt relieved that I would be able to go to state, but also I wanted to have a good placement going into state," Houston said.
Modern Romance, one of the banned novels Photo by: Cooper Traluch Tyler, the Creator, Feb. 18 Photo by: Cooper Traluch
Ever since TikTok made its first appearance on the social media stage in 2018, the app quickly skyrocketed in popularity because of its appeal to members of Generation Z. According to TikTok's mission statement, "TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video and TikTok's mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. The platform is a home for creative expression through videos that create a genuine, inspiring, and joyful experience." "I like how TikTok is more collaborative than other social media apps," freshman Emelaine Foster said. "You can connect with people who have similar interests to you." According to a Nov. 14 2021 survey of 133 teenagers via Snapchat from the ages of 13-17 across the U.S., 98% said they had a TikTok account, and 85% reported they go at least once a day. "Students definitely talk about TikTok when in my office," counselor Lauren Ginn said. "The app provides relief from daily stressors. The videos are easy to watch and are a distraction when students need something "mindless" or not heavy to watch." Analytics from App Anime reported that TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media networks in the U.S. Within the last three years, the app has surpassed big-name corporations like Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest. According to a Nov. 14 survey, 67% reported that they use TikTok more than any other app on their device. "I used to use Snapchat and nstagram more, but lately I spend most of my time on TikTok," junior Kennedy Newman said. "I like how the app is more casual in what you can post."
TikTok becomes everyday constant
Clair Stewart, staffwriter
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