By Quincy Fulton

Strikes, skipped paychecks, overnight protests, and calls to action were the result of SFUSD’s implementation of a disastrous paycheck system in 2022. With the switch to this year’s system, teachers desire a more straight-forward approach to their wages. For some, those needs still haven’t been met.

Three years ago, the $34 million EMPowerSF system was notoriously unreliable, largely-protested, and full of errors. Thousands of dollars were ‘lost’ or voided in the transition to it, and throughout its multi-year span it hardly ever seemed to run smoother. The structure was a buggy-programming catastrophe which resulted in incomplete or even missing pay stubs for hundreds of teachers. Benefits, salary, and insurance were all affected.

SFUSD staff had to unnecessarily and manually clock in and out their hours and pore over their checks for errors.

Recalling her management of the infuriating system, Eliza Russo, Abraham Lincoln English teacher and head of the English department, notes, “It left a lot to be desired. It didn’t feel so much like a system as it felt like another thing on our to-do lists.” 

Russo remembers that she wasn’t told by the district about errors regarding deferred net pay—chunks taken out of checks to pay teachers during summer—she was told by her union. 

These faults of the system, and the people in charge of it, were ruinous for SFUSD’s reputation, with scores of teachers leaving the district simply to find jobs that paid them.

At the beginning of the 2025 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District unveiled the new Frontline and Red Rover systems, spending at least $10 million in the implementation of the new department to oversee them. These systems and departments covered the same ground as EMPower did, but were meant to focus more on staff needs and complaints, as well as streamlining the process of leave and payment. They were meant to fix the mistakes that EMPower made and make the changes necessary to satisfy teachers.

There are optimistic differences; Frontline and Red Rover are tried and tested throughout California—whereas EMPower was partially built for SFUSD—and the district already boasts a 97 percent payment accuracy rate with the new systems. 

However, some issues are beginning to emerge, and some complaints are being issued; the Teacher’s Union has filed a state labor complaint, and even some Lincoln teachers are reporting missing thousands from their pay stubs.

Antonio Esparza, an ALHS Spanish teacher, details his recent issues with unpaid prep time: “I had to go to the district payroll office five different times, and several of those times they told me ‘Oh, [your money] will be ready next time you show up,’ [yet] it took them three weeks to get part of my missing pay on one check, and then to put my remainder of missing pay on [next month’s] check… in total my missing pay was around  $3,500.” 

Esparza notes that in all of the five districts he has taught at, San Francisco is the only one he has had any sort of pay issue in; even before EMPower was implemented, and now, even after the hopeful Frontline and Red Rover software systems were.

“In my five years [teaching at SFUSD], I’ve counted 17 different times that my pay was either inaccurate or not paid on time,” Esparza critiques.

Inaccuracies in salary, whether it be underpayment, overpayment, or no payment at all are exactly what incited the staff protests during the era of EMPower. Now, even with trusted software and commitments to compensation, checks are being blundered. Staff are still inconvenienced and teachers still don’t have the reassurance to trust their payroll fully, and whether they ever will remains to be seen. Amidst countless other pitfalls committed by district administration, resolving around contracts, support, workload, turnover, and pay, these errors seem to just add to the list of discrepancies between what teachers need and what they’re receiving.

By Anya Golden

On October 24th, ten Lincoln Youth Vs. Apocalypse club members walked out of third period in support of the Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, a statewide climate bill that would make fossil fuel companies—coal, crude oil, and fuel gases—pay for their environmental damage. The walkout was a part of a campaign called the "Youth Walkout Polluters Pay," started by a coalition of California youth climate activists. 

The goal of the bill is to collect a tax from big environmental polluters to fund initiatives for improving climate conditions and projects, but it will not regulate any company emissions like past climate initiatives. The California Environmental Protection Agency would be directed to complete a climate cost study in order to quantify total damages to California caused by fossil fuel emissions in order to identify responsible parties and assess compensation. Fees will be proportional to companies’ fossil fuel emissions from 1990 through 2024. Money collected will fund projects and programs to “mitigate, remedy, or prevent climate change costs and harms,” according to a flier created by California Senator Caroline Menjivar and Assembly member Dawn Addis, who introduced core legislation for the bill. 

According to the United States Congress, out of the $100 billion dollars planned to be collected from fossil fuel companies, at least 40 percent of the funds will be used to benefit communities hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution. 

The other 60 percent collected is fairly flexible. The United States Congress website says that it will be used for initiatives for critical climate solutions such as investments in clean energy transition and environmental restoration.

Two weeks before the walkout, Lincoln YVA Vice President Russell Deiner signed up the club to participate. After attending a Bay Area organization meeting for the campaign, he and Vincent Lee-Imhof volunteered to be speakers for the walkout, with Dalton Brown and Riley Huang as MCs. 

Once Lincoln's YVA walked out of school, they took the 45 minute journey to Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza—the central public plaza for Oakland located in front of City Hall—to accompany local schools in chants, speeches, and all around support for the bill. 

Accompanying the youth speakers were two Hip-Hop artists and one resident from the local area who led a sing-along. 

“I am compelled [to fight for our climate] because it is our futures, and it is important that the people causing the issues are held accountable and that it doesn’t fall on other people. And, plus, I find it kind of fun,” said Deiner while reflecting on his commitment to environmental justice. 

In the days following the statewide walkout, the The Elected Officials to Protect America Code Blue campaign announced that Berkeley, along with ten other city councils, formally endorsed the bill. 

“What we did absolutely had an impact because around two weeks later, on November 5th, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution in support of Polluters Pay Climate Superfund, and they listed our walkout as part of the reason,” said Brown, one of the MCs. 

As of November 17th, the bill must still be passed by the Senate and Governor in order for it to go into effect.

By Abigail Park

On June 30th, 2025, San Francisco Unified School District teachers’ work contracts expired, leading to new requests to better support both the district teachers and students. 

According to the United Educators of San Francisco President, Cassondra Curiel, the UESF demands for over 6000 SFUSD teachers, paraeducators, and substitutes work contracts include improving special education programs, teacher and paraeducator workload, dependent and healthcare coverage, competitive wages, sanctuary schools, and housing and shelter for homeless families. On the other hand, SFUSD has been insistent on continuing stable staffing and budgeting.

After ongoing mediation from the state of California to oversee negotiations, the district offered a 2% pay raise, which was quickly struck down by UESF. This resulted in the October 14th, 2025 and November 12th, 2025 UESF practice pickets. 

Despite continuous mediation, practice pickets across 133 school sites, and the upcoming fact checking process, SFUSD continued to refuse further negotiations, and UESF has begun to prepare, with a scheduled authorization vote for December 3rd, 2025, for a possible strike.

“We agree with you in spirit and share your values but will not put it in the contract…” Curiel recaps the districts’ claims from recent meetings. She responds, “But we [UESF] would be open to negotiating around our shared values.” 

Even before the work contracts expired, as mentioned in “Payday Loans and Pumpkin Patches, A History of Fiscal Management in SFUSD” 2023 research by UESF, Curiel explains that there has been “trackable behavior patterns of exaggeration and untruthful expenses” which SFUSD uses to justify refusal to meet UESF’s demands. 

Although SFUSD claims they do not have enough funds for everyone’s demands, the report describes how SFUSD exercises “unnecessary borrowing practices, avoiding bloated central office spending, generating new revenue from existing assets and heeding warning signs before contracting with expensive consultants,” resulting in an ongoing district-wide financial predicament.

“We know the district has a budgeting crisis, but they have to do things differently; things need to change,” Curiel states.

Since the end of their contract, frustrations have been building. Teachers are concerned that their worries fighting for improved contracts could bleed into their attention to work. Such worries include caretaking for themselves and their dependents while offering student support.

“The bargaining stuff is a second unpaid job,” says Charles Lin, Lincoln Ethnic Studies and AP United States History teacher, Union Building Community member, and UESF Bargaining Team member. “I'm taking time out of my day to take on meetings with the union and the district itself to help out the schools. I’m paying attention to these negotiations instead of being at home, resting, taking care of my own business. [UESF is] covering for me, but it's still a lot of work I have to do. [Lincoln students] ask ‘Where were you’ and ‘We didn't do this and that,’ it's exhausting.”

Even some Lincoln students are concerned for their teachers, who are working especially hard to improve each student’s education despite the drawn out negotiation process.

“It sucks that they're not getting the contract they want because I feel like my teachers especially go above and beyond in what they have to do,” says Kevin Hu, Lincoln senior. 

“Ms. Espinoza [Algebra 1 and AP Calculus AB teacher] and Mr. Marestaing [AP United States History and AP United States Government and Politics teacher], for example: their classrooms are often open during lunch or after school if students have questions on homework or want to retake a test.” 

The goal of UESF and their members is ultimately to assert all focus on students’ learning, safety, and welfare. If SFUSD remains adamant on district terms, UESF is actively taking new steps to reach this goal by preparing for the possible strike to be authorized on December 3, 2025.

“The motivation for doing this work […] is to fight to make the schools to be the way you believe it should be […] We have a lot on the line […] The many, many students that come through our classroom doors each day is one of the many reasons why we fight so hard in our contract,” Curiel states.

By Xavier Malizia

Abraham Lincoln High School is home to dozens of sports, clubs, and teams, with few more notable than the Lincoln Dragonboat team. The team has been a part of ALHSfor over two decades, even winning the world championships in Hungary in 2018. The team currently has over 20 athletes, all of whom have created a dedicated and strong atmosphere around the sport.

In August of this year, however, SFUSD created a new code that poses limitations on non-district sponsored sports such as Dragonboat. These sports, commonly referred to as club sports, don't have the same insurance and liability as California Interscholastic Federation sports, like baseball or football. The new policy was instated once the district became aware that teams have been practicing on SFUSD property without following the regulations and protocols set by the district.

The policy was sent via email to all principals across the district from SFUSD’s Compliance and Risk Manager, Jamie C. Parkin. 

“Each school site must notify any non-league/club sport teams that are using school property that such use will immediately cease until the following protocols are completed and approved,” wrote Parkin. 

The protocols include permits and when school staff can coach, among other things.

“[The club sports] don't have access to our personal trainers, or facilities, or things like that,” explained Marisol Arkin, principal of ALHS.

Club sports also cannot use the Lincoln name, mascot, or colors. This poses an issue for the athletes, who have built a footing with the team and now face uncertainty on the road ahead. Senior Justin Zeng joined the team in his freshman year as a way to build community. He said that Dragonboat was the first club he joined at ALHS, building a foundation for his four years at the school.

This fall, Lincoln Dragonboat won the 2025 Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival for the first time in two years, defeating other public schools like Lowell and Galileo. SFUSD’s new policy came right after the successful campaign, forcing the Dragonboat team to scramble for a way to continue practicing. 

“We’re planning to, like, distribute our workout machines to homes around the city,” explained Zeng.

This is a way for the team to keep up with their workouts, at least temporarily, while the legal issues between the district and schools are sorted out.

Currently, the Dragonboat team is working to obtain an SFUSD facilities use permit from the district that would allow them to practice on campus once again, but the process is certainly slowing down the team. 

Zeng also stated that some issues came before the SFUSD policy was enforced, with the new ALHS administration enforcing strict rules about when the team could practice on campus. They were required to have an adult supervising them while they used their rowing machines, despite practicing independently for years.

Despite the issues, the hardworking team is still keeping their spirits high, hoping to continue their recent success.

“[Our spirit] hasn’t wavered at all,” ensured Zeng, reflecting on how the team is focused on the future, despite the roadblocks placed from the new district policy.

This issue is not limited to just Dragonboat, with other club sports like lacrosse struggling to see a clear future. The district, schools, and parents are exploring possibilities, such as competing in the Oakland School District as a way for students to keep competing in athletics, despite the new policy.

“[Moving the lacrosse team to Oakland is] what the families and the kids want to do, because they really want to play,” said Arkin.

The new district policy, aimed at making club athletics safer, is one of many new changes affecting Lincoln. 

By Ariana Lopez

The new school year brought a new administration. As they get to know the school, the school community gets to know them as well. As Lincoln welcomes the new administration, members of the admin team share their influences on becoming an educator and their thoughts about Lincoln as a community. Assistant principal Joey Eckstrom has been an educator for 15 years, and this is his ninth year as an assistant principal. Eckstrom mentioned that he didn't always want to become an educator. 

“I did not go to college to become an educator. I decided to become an educator during my last year of college.” Eckstrom said. “I think we live in a democracy and democracy only works if voters are informed and participate.” Eckstrom wanted to teach history at first. His U.S. history teacher, English teacher, and calculus teacher inspired him to pursue education. Eckstrom's first impression of Lincoln was seeing how big our campus is, Eckstrom stated, “I like that it is a big campus. I appreciate how students are involved on campus”. 

He also noted, “I worked at smaller schools so having or working with a bigger administration was important. I also appreciate the rich history of Lincoln.” 

Eckstrom cites Lincoln's alumni car show as an example of how much alumni care for the school and for current students in our community. He notes our school is full of student leaders and advocates. 

Assistant principal Laura Rashidi has been an educator for nine years, and an assistant principal for three years. Rashidi previously was a special education teacher at Burton High School. She received a call asking if she wanted to work at Lincoln while being on maternity leave. She said she chose to work at this school because of work life balance and the fact that she just had a baby. Rashidi mentioned the importance of leadership, decision making, and authenticity as factors that she has learned about herself in her career as an educator. 

“ I learned that what is most important is to be authentic, and as a leader sometimes I have to make hard decisions. I can't make everyone happy. I have to make decisions that are best for students. People expect you to act a certain way. but really it is more important to be yourself,” stated Rashidi. She has always been told that she should be a teacher because of her patience and altruism. Rashidi’s inspiration as an educator was her high school art teacher. Her art teacher was her support when her father passed away in high school. She would let Rashidi stay in the teacher's classroom for any kind of support. Rashidi took on the role as an assistant principal after her former principal offered her the job. “I had a big social emotional focus as a teacher and then I became a department sharer. I worked very hard with my department in addressing issues like why are we failing students? What can we do to improve things?”

 Rashidi has addressed these issues by being part of a culture climate group, a team with students, teachers, support staff, parents at Burton High school. Later on she formed a smaller team with staff. She and other staff did empathy interviews with students who were struggling academically to figure out what was going on, where the school could intervene and partner up with families. These interviews led to the team deciding that they needed to have a case management program. The case management program started last year at Burton. The program works with students who are struggling in school by building a relationship with them and keeping track of their academic progress.

 Rashidi’s first impression of Lincoln was that it is a big school and, in general, students are ready to learn, It has a lot of activities. Rashidi stated, ¨I see a thriving community. You know, there is so much that people can invest in here other than academics, and I think that is really special.¨ 

Rashidi mentioned that working here is an opportunity for personal growth, something that is really important for her in her career as an educator. Rashidi also mentioned how“Lincoln has a really thriving academic environment.” 

The school has a lot of offerings like AP,Honors, and art courses. Lincoln offers a lot of activities like sports in things that students can be involved in. What Lincoln has to work on as a community is how they are supporting students that maybe aren't doing well academically here. 

Photo by Phoebe Siegel 

In 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 101, requiring that all California public high school students take at least a semester-long Ethnic Studies course in order to graduate, beginning with the class of 2030. 

SFUSD was a step ahead of AB 101, as Ethnic Studies has been offered, through a pilot program at five high schools, since 2010. In the 2015-2016 school year, Ethnic Studies began to be offered at all SFUSD high schools, but was not required for graduation until the class of 2028. Right before the 2025-2026 school year, though, SFUSD switched their current curriculum to one used by other school districts, a decision some alleged was made in order to comply with complaints from parents. Still, the class has remained a graduation requirement, according to an SFUSD article from July 30th of this year. 

Over this past summer, however, Lincoln Ethnic Studies teacher Charles Lin claims that “SFUSD tried to cancel ethnic studies. [It] caught everyone by surprise.” 

Though Ethnic Studies was never actually canceled as a class, Lin still believes the subject is under scrutiny. 

“I think right now, what’s happening is, the Ethnic Studies program is getting audited,” he says.

What Lin was referring to is the close reevaluation of SFUSD's old curriculum that is still ongoing. But at Lincoln, at least, Ethnic Studies has stuck around.

 Lin’s classroom is full of mostly freshmen, including Ingrid Lee, who says she was placed into the class automatically. Despite her automatic placement, Lee has enjoyed the class, and feels what she learns there will benefit her in later social studies classes. 

“I think it would [be helpful], because people say history is written by the victor, but you don’t really see the other side of things,” Lee says. 

Ethnic Studies has helped Lee to see that other side. Lin also emphasizes the similarities Ethnic Studies has to more commonplace history classes. 

“How I see Ethnic Studies as a class, I see it as another social studies and history class. So I’ve been teaching it very much as, ‘Let’s talk about the past; how do people use power?’ How do people challenge those things, and the various ways that people’s lives have been impacted in America,” Lin says.

Some students, like Lee, have never taken an Ethnic Studies class before, but others have already done so in middle school. Still, Lee says that Ethnic Studies is similar to social studies classes she took in earlier years.

“I think they just maybe did the same curriculum, but just didn’t change the name,” she says.

Ethnic Studies and the nuances that surround it involve more than the class at Lincoln. Ruben Diaz, the vice president of the Second District PTA, or SFUSD’s district wide PTA, had been impressed with the material his son was learning in his Ethnic Studies class at school. 

“The information was in agreement with what I learned in high school, college and as an adult,” he says. Diaz also pointed out the fact that when surveyed, students and staff consistently rated Ethnic Studies highly. Despite high ratings, many groups still had issues with the curriculum, and the Board of Education eventually held hearings on Ethnic Studies at SFUSD.  Diaz specifically cited the Friends of Lowell as one of the groups that spoke out against the material, and prompted SFUSD to change their curriculum. Diaz felt that the points made at the Board of Education hearings were insufficient in discussing the entirety of Ethnic Studies in SFUSD as a whole.

“At the Board of Education meetings, many of the people not happy with Ethnic Studies made remarks stating they were not against Ethnic Studies, but they spent their speaking time on what they oppose, instead of trying to understand why students rate this class highly and why this class has been taught for decades. I believe the Ethnic Studies curriculum that was used last year 2024-2025 is of high quality and taught important concepts in power and identity.  I am saddened by the removal of this content in 2025-2026,” states Diaz. 

Diaz also felt that the switch to a new curriculum and the publishing of the new Ethnic Studies textbook Voices left things out from previous years, saying, “I reviewed the [new] Voices textbook prior to the beginning of this school year.  It is a general overview of Ethnic Studies and is of good quality; yet, compared to the previous year’s Ethnic Studies material, I found that it didn’t cover Ethnic Studies in depth.”

Parents seemed to be at the forefront of opposition to Ethnic Studies, taking issue with it being made a full year long class instead of it staying as just a single-semester class, as they worried it would limit students’ ability to take more advanced courses. 

To Diaz, this signaled “...that Ethnic Studies are not valued as a year long course.”

Other parents worried that their students were being taught what to think instead of just being taught content, as would normally happen in a more traditional history class. Still, Diaz emphasized that that is not what the goal of Ethnic Studies is. 

“I don’t believe that is what is being taught in Ethnic Studies. Ethnic Studies is important because it faces difficult topics of power structures and past and current injustices upon people of color. The class helps students learn and discuss these issues,” he says. 

Lincoln’s social studies department, which Ethnic Studies is a part of, has managed to avoid most of the controversy that has arisen surrounding the course. Daniel Ruelas, Lincoln’s social studies department head, says that most of the questions he gets from parents about Ethnic Studies are about what the course actually entails. 

Ruelas answers them by saying, “Ethnic studies is the study of typically underrepresented communities in American history, and how those communities have been impacted and impact the United States. Interwoven into that are the ideas of culture, and identity, and how people occupy and are perceived in a place.”

Issues within modern day society have proven to be challenging and controversial to discuss such as politics, racial injustice and economic imbalances. For Lincoln High School's debate team however, this has not been the case, as they spend each week building compelling arguments around different issues listed above. This year the debate team is the largest it has ever been in Lincoln’s history. 

AP World History and AP psychology teacher, Brendan Furey, utilizes his classroom as the hub for the debate team every Monday during lunch and Thursday after school. Despite his sponsorship of the club, he merely is the supervisor of this student-run foundation. 

“In the past I’ve had clubs which I have led and organized, but [debate club] is the opposite of that,” says Furey. “All I do is submit the paperwork, and cheer them on”. 

Current juniors, Zuleyma Sarceno Bravo and Carson Lofti, run this club independently and entirely without a coach. Having both joined their freshman year, Sarceno Bravo and Lofti have had plenty of experience with parliamentary debate, a fast paced legislative session. Every lunch, these captains walk around encouraging, supporting and helping members reach their fullest potential on and off the stage.

According to novice debater Camille Chew, these two captains provide advice, directions and guidance when preparing for a debate round. They help guide team members towards finding the answers when it comes to questions regarding topics they argue. Varsity members like Sarceno-Bravo and Lofti help novice members like Chew during tournaments as well. 

The amount of debaters from last year compared to this year may seem small to some but are mighty in the eyes of the debate team. One goal emphasized by both Sarceno Bravo and Lofti was an increase in club members and the turnout for their most recent tournament exceeded their expectations. 

“I know that we could easily measure [success] in terms of trophies won or awards and medals. But I think to me, success is seeing the numbers go up.” says Sarceno Bravo, “It was so successful to see us go from 4 members to 13 of them.” 

Though having conquered higher numbers and successes, this team has faced challenges with funding for their tournaments and establishment of their team. Registration fees for tournaments cost more than simply entering debaters according to Sarceno Bravo. With competition from schools that have larger teams and funding, Lincoln is disadvantaged. Committing to a team as much as Lofti and Sarceno-Bravo do is time consuming and challenging whilst juggling homework and outside of school activities. 

According to Sarceno-Bravo, attending a weekend out-of-town competition can be difficult compared to attending a lunchtime club meeting. The problem is not necessarily recruitment but commitment for tournaments and competitions.

However, despite setbacks the debate team faces when it comes to finances and fundraising, this team has support from outside sources, most notably Lowell's team. Lowell may have more members yet they show support for members from Lincoln. Their coach, Terry Abad, has shown countless support for the team by opening up Lowell's afterschool practices for Lincoln debaters.

Lincoln’s debaters also hold a positive outlook of the future.

Lotfi looks forward to having more debaters on the team, stating, “Maybe after this year we can have more [debaters] in leadership [positions].”

By Ella Lal

In the past few weeks, many students who regularly get lunch from the school cafeteria noticed that the cafeteria has been exclusively serving prepackaged food. The switch over to prepackaged food has led to students speculating that the cafeteria was infested with rats and that they were forced to switch over to prepackaged food. While these rumors were just speculation and not the whole truth, it didn’t stop people from spreading the rumor anyways.

Ivan Tan, a Lincoln senior explains, “I think they like found rats in the food or something, and they had to switch over instead of having it like out in the open and stuff.”

It’s unclear where exactly the rumors stem from as everybody claims they heard it from a friend.

According to Ana Briseño, another Lincoln senior, “I heard about it from my friend who had mentioned it, and I didn’t really believe it at the start [of the rumors], but then I also ended up hearing it from teachers as they were speaking amongst each other.” 

While these rumors may be based on the truth, they are greatly exaggerated. According to Ismeta Velic, a cafeteria helper, the health inspector did come to school and found a rat in the storage area, but not in the cafeteria where the food is actually prepared. 

“We had a health inspection and they found one rat but it was not in the kitchen, it was all the way in the back and our office immediately stopped doing cooking, they switched over to ‘Revolution Foods’.” 

Students may recognize that the ‘Revolution Foods’ is the name printed on the packaging of the food they have been receiving as of late. A common complaint that students have is that the portions of the prepackaged food is too small. 

Tan states, “Ever since they’ve started giving us packaged food like the portions have gotten significantly decreased, you know? [...]Yesterday they just gave us like five snacks and they just like put them in a tray. It was kinda tragic.” 

These students will be happy to know that the switch to pre-packaged food is only temporary, and on December 8th the cafeteria should begin to serve its regularly prepared food. 

By Angela Gin

In October, Lincoln said goodbye to one of its longest standing student-run stores, the JROTC store, due to state code violations. It has sold snacks and drinks like soda, instant noodles, and chips for six years. However it conflicted with the state policy that food could not be sold on campus during times when the cafeteria was operating. This includes passing periods, before school, after school, and lunch.

But the JROTC department decided to try creating an appeal to reopen the store.

The appeal is completely student-run and highlights the argument that reopening the store benefits the community. In their argument, they state, “By removing the store, vital aspects were stripped from a multitude of communities: the program, students, sports teams, coaches and teachers. The JROTC store is fundamental to promoting welfare for all Lincoln students and continues to build upon its community.” 

In addition to this, student signatures from all grades are being collected to show student support for this. They have no specific demands of the administration; they just hope to show the administration the student support for the store and come to a compromise.

“Even though it is a state policy, it was very sudden to us. We have a lot of food left in stock. We want to negotiate with admin if there’s any way we can come to an agreement so that we can continue fundraising,” says JROTC Battalion Commander, senior, Abigail Park.

Since the JROTC store’s untimely shutdown, the department has been scrambling to get sufficient funding. 

Most of their funds go towards class curriculum, uniforms for students, and food and transportation for parades. 

In recent years, the department has experienced a boom in students. 

“There used to be around 100 [students] in my freshman year; now it’s 236,” Park says .

Amidst struggles to provide the necessary materials and equipment for their classes, the department is now unable to provide food for their monthly after-school battalion reviews.

While some of their funds come from the SFUSD Brigade, who receive that money through government-appropriated funds. From there it is distributed to battalions and school branches across the school district. Typically these funds are reserved for transportation to district events like parades and competitions. 

However when the government shutdown happened in October, Brigade did not receive any funds because they were not a priority department. They attempted to have their own fundraiser but were unsuccessful, according to Park. 

Park says, “Since we’re a high school program, we’re the least priority.”

While the department has attempted to use other fundraising strategies, like starting a GoFundMe, the amount of money received isn’t sufficient.  

The department plans to submit their appeal to the administration by the end of the semester. 

By Yasmine El Hattab 

American Sign Language, initially offered during the 2024-25 school year, is now in its second year as a world language at Lincoln, offering only ASL 2, unlike last year when the introductory course, ASL 1, which is currently not being taught, was offered.

 The class has lacked an official instructor both years, and students receive online instruction under the in-person supervision of a substitute teacher. Full time Japanese 2, Japanese 3 Honors instructor and World Language Department Head, Arisa Hiroi, spends her Sundays preparing an online curriculum for the students based on an ASL 2 textbook and its complimentary workbook despite not receiving any extra pay.

 Online work is provided to students through  Google Classroom and evaluated through Google Forms and occasional Seesaw assignments on a weekly basis. 

Even with online curriculum, students are still on track and learning their way through ASL 2, earning language credits toward graduation. Since ASL 1 is no longer being offered as a class, all ASL students are on their final lap of world language credits, missing transition here Denise Mai, a junior in the class.

Despite lacking a teacher, Mai states, “ People get their work done. I feel like my ability in ASL is definitely changing, even if I'm only really doing Google Sheets and Seesaws.”

ASL 2 student Layla Mahboob is on their 4th World Language credit, having taken Spanish 1 through/and 2, and ASL 1 and now 2. For them, taking the class was to be safe for college admission, achieving an advised 4 years of language, and to build up their ability in language.

“If you asked me to hold a conversation in ASL the way I hold one in Spanish 2, I’d be just as confident; the online curriculum doesn't seem to be hindering my ability. Even if the material is moving slower and some of it feels like an ASL 1 review, I still feel like I'm learning.”, Mahboob claims.

Language wise, ASL 2’s semester final evaluation will be more relaxed when compared to other World Language classes due to its cirriculum. 

“ I don't think it's fair to have a final assessment that is high stakes when students haven't been given the opportunity to really learn like they would in a regular course,” Hiroi says about her choice to give students in the class a future assessment on par with their current curriculum.

As for the future of the class, when asked if the class will continue into the future school years,  Hiroi states, “ From what I know, so far, we are not going to offer it next year because it has been too challenging to get a full time teacher on board.”

With the future of ASL at Lincoln uncertain, with ALS students in pursuit of higher fluency and hopeful ASL students left in mystery, and with the class’ future at the hands of the district and administration.

By Kenny Lin

College application deadlines are looming, as millions of seniors spend hours huddling over their computers, struggling to put their accomplishments over the last four years on paper. Applicants often feel anxious and doubt their ability to get into their desired school because of growing insecurity about their self-worth.

“I’ve been procrastinating and stressing. I don’t know what to put on my college application,” says senior student Kaylee Zhu.

Zhu, a hardworking student, is involved in multiple extracurricular activities, such as serving as an ambassador for a blood cancer organization that raised $10,000 for research. She stays academically rigorous, earning high grades and enrolling in multiple AP classes. However, she still feels too inadequate to get into her desired school.

It is well known that college is competitive, and according to the IVY Coach, top school acceptance rates are declining, making it increasingly difficult to gain acceptance.

“I'm involved in stuff, but I'm not, like, the best,” senior Abigail Park says.

Because extracurricular activities, grades, and classes can’t improve much during the application process, applicants who want to attend a top college rely heavily on well-written essays in the hope of catching a college administrator's attention.

Additionally, the process can be messy. Researching and choosing the school, managing and filing multiple college applications, and applying for financial aid all stack up. More importantly, applicants need to find time to write while maintaining school, work, and hobbies,  increasing tension as the looming deadline gets closer each day.

Financial pressure adds another tension. According to the College Board, the average cost of an in-state public college per year, before financial aid, and including tuition, fees, housing, and food, is $25,850. This causes applicants to consider campus proximity to home alongside the college environment and culture.

“I want to get into a school I’m proud of because college is expensive,” Zhu said.

College counselor Kayden Wong recommends that students start thinking about college early by taking dual enrollment courses, internships, or volunteering during their sophomore and junior years. He also recommends starting early on the college application.

“Exhaust all of the resources that you have, use the college resource room that we have at Lincoln, or talk to your counselors to get you better prepared,” says Wong.

Even with the stress of applying, Zhu is excited to start fresh, in a new environment with more independence and freedom.

By Sophie Ng and Phoebe Seigel

On the evening of October 25th, students and guests poured into Lincoln for a night of celebration and community. They anticipated a fulfilling dance with food, music, and photobooths. With a high volume of ticket sales, ALHS expected a successful homecoming dance. However, the event abruptly ended around 30 minutes prematurely with ASB director Grant Wong’s instructions for students to leave the event.

With no clear explanation, rumors began swirling around. Attendees exchanged confused and disappointed remarks, and commotion ensued as students flocked towards the doors at the counselor’s office on Quintara. However, a safety issue outside this exit made it unavailable—but since the coat check was in the same area, a cluster continued to form.

“By the time I was getting close to the desk, […] [the chaperones] were forcing me to […] walk down the hall and go to the end of the line [that they had just formed] to get my bag,” says El Lal, a Lincoln senior who attended the event.

Chaperones directed students to leave near 22nd Avenue. 

“There was no information about why Homecoming had ended early,” Lal adds. “Everybody was just saying, ‘Get out, get out, go.’”

However, some students continued loitering around the area several minutes after closure. As a result, staff turned off the lights to urge them to exit. 

“People were still lingering by the time I left, [which was around 9:30 p.m.]  I was like, ‘Am I leaving too early? Is the party still going?’ [...] Nobody could believe we had to leave so early,” Lal says.

Up until then, the dance had been going mostly smoothly–a record number of attendees forced the dance’s location to be moved from the usual Hino Gardens into the New Building courtyard. 

“[This year] had the biggest turnout since COVID. The school spirit was there,” Wong, the ASB director, says.

In spite of these successes, attendees were confused by a discrepancy between the dance contract and an email sent out the night before homecoming. The dance contract is the same one used in previous years by former ASB director Julian Byrns. The document states, “Students and guests are not allowed to go in and out of the premises during dance hours,” implying students are not allowed to re-enter after leaving. 

Zoё Hsu Doo, a Lincoln senior who has attended every homecoming dance since her freshman year, specifically remembers being allowed to leave before the official end of the dance. 

“In past years, at the homecoming dances hosted at the school, students were able to leave early after everyone had gotten into the venue,” says Hsu Doo. 

 However, the email sent the night before homecoming stated,  “Students must remain on campus until the dance ends at 9:30.” 

 Jen Fried, one of Lincoln’s assistant principals, states that this was not a new rule. 

“I was not aware that students could exit the dance before the end in previous years. From our conversations with previous admin, we were told that students were not allowed to leave as standard practice. This is standard practice across other school sites,” she says. 

This inconsistency persisted during the actual dance. Unlike what the email stated, students were actually allowed to leave early, but only under a certain condition.

“[Chaperones] needed [attendees]to get their parents to pick them up [in order to leave early], which I thought was really strange,” says senior Kevine Liang, who was trying to leave the dance early.

Xavier Malizia, another Lincoln senior, had been trying to return to his car right before homecoming’s sudden end. As a driver, Malizia was placed in a strange predicament—particularly with homecoming’s sudden end.

He recalls, “Mr. Wong said, ‘I can’t let you leave.’ [...] I don’t remember exactly what he said, but [he said] it wasn’t [in] his control.” 

Malizia then remembers seeing a student enter the lobby in front of the counselor’s office and physically attack a chaperone. 

He stated, “I saw the student in an altercation with Tumua [Lincoln dean]. It looked like there were punches thrown at her.”

Event organizers also ran into issues when people tried sneaking into the dance by hopping the fence. 

“It was the most people we’d ever seen [try to sneak in],” Lincoln dean Tumua Fa’asua remarks.

Fa’asua and Wong declined to comment on the specific factor that led to homecoming’s early end.

“[Ending early] was a last resort. It was a call that had to be made regarding safety,” says Tammy Yan, another one of Lincoln’s deans.

Still, Fried believes the dance was an overall success. Though she admits to issues surrounding the oversell of tickets to meet student demand, she emphasizes that the overall experience only deepened her appreciation of the Lincoln community. 

“Just like with all of our school events, this experience made me appreciate even more how much our students, staff, and families care about our community. Seeing the dedication, enthusiasm, and pride that everyone brings to events like this reminds me why I love being part of Lincoln. It reinforced how special our school is and how meaningful it is to work with people who truly value and support one another,” she says. 

Anya Golden

On June 6th to 12th, around fifteen Lincoln students who took Japanese as a language for at least one year went on a 12 day trip to Japan that takes place every other summer. They traveled from Kyoto, to Hiroshima, to Tokyo, with Koichi Sano and Arisa Hiroi as chaperones.

After leaving San Francisco International Airport, the group landed in Osaka Kansai International Airport where they caught a connecting flight to Kyoto. While in Kyoto for four days they stayed at the Ryokan Hotel and visited ancient temples every day, including; Kinakuji, Ryoanji, Sanjusangendo, and Kiyoizudera. Once arriving at a temple, they were allowed to walk around to their discretion in groups, exploring the architecture and artifacts, learning about history, and observing or participating in rituals.

 In order to travel between cities the students and chaperones took the bullet train, with an hour and a half commute from Kyoto to Hiroshima and four hours to Tokyo. On the train, students talked with locals, caught up on sleep, and practiced their card tricks. 

While in Hiroshima for two days, they visited Peace Park and The Atomic Bomb Museum. At Peace Park they viewed a memorial dedicated to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing. 

“A lot of people were crying, but it was important,” said Autumn Pritchard about visiting the memorial museum. 

The next day they visited the Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrines; a “floating” Torri Gate dedicated to goddesses of the sea and storm. 

The last five days of the trip were spent in Tokyo. The students and chaperones enjoyed a picnic at Toyosu Park, where they had a view of Tokyo’s downtown. 

According to Lucy Standford, the TeamLab Planets Tokyo was one of the most popular parts of the trip. Lincoln students enjoyed an immersive digital art museum, walking barefoot through water and other large-scale installations, featuring multiple sensory experiences.

Throughout the three cities the Lincoln students visited they had a lot of freedom to walk around and explore when they weren’t doing a planned activity.

“[It was] really interesting, [and] very fun to see all the differences and get to talk to people,” said Pritchard after talking about the amount of freedom they had to walk around the cities. 

After a quick visit with the Mayor of Minamiboo, they went to Rena Junior Highschool and elementary school. At the schools, they met with the host families who they stayed with the following night. Some students stayed in Tokyo city, and some stayed in the countryside. 

“Establishing cross cultural bonds, practicing Japanese, [and] learning cultures,” said Pritchard when talking about the highlights of her experience staying with a host family.

The next day was spent at Rena Highschool, attending the school's science fair and making friends with students that some Lincoln students are still in touch with. 

By Martin Situ

The sound of marching and groaning on the Blacktop late after school in November was Lincoln’s JROTC practicing in hopes of achieving first place at the 79th Annual JROTC Fall Competition on November 15th.  However, their hopes were left empty as the placements were announced.

The JROTC Fall Competition is an annual event held in November, where JROTC cadets from various schools compete against one another in performing complex marching sequences. The competition is divided into Color Guard, Guidon, Platoon Drill, and Squad Drill. Each of these teams consists of a range of four to 13 members, who conduct specific marching sequences. 

 In the past ten years, Lincoln has had much success in the Fall Competition, consistently placing in the top three, with last year yielding only second and first-place finishes.

Lincoln’s Color Guard has long been a part of the Lincoln community, having performed at football games, parades, graduation, and many other events. They protect and take care of the colors, or the flags which they carry at events. Performance-wise, they’ve placed second, sixth, and second the last three years.

Squad Drill is made up of six members and a commander. The commander leads team practices where they teach the required marching sequence for Fall Competition. This year’s Squad Drill Commander, Aidan Yu, has changed up how the team was led in an effort to improve from last year. Yu feels like the team was all over the place last year.

  “[This year we] focus on one thing for one practice and the other for the other practice,”  Yu states.  

Yu hopes to beat Lowell and Washington to win the Squad Drill portion .

“They’ve been better than us […] and we lost [to Washington by] 0.3 points last year, so I want to beat them this year.”

Yu also helps with another team called Guidon. Guidon consists of an individual who bears a swallow-tailed flag which represents the entirety of Lincoln JROTC. This school year, that person is Anddy Wu Feng. Yu feels confident in Wu Feng’s abilities and hopes to continue Lincoln’s two-year win streak in Guidon.

The final team is Drill Platoon. DP is led by Aidan Bolosan and consists of three squads of four. Similar to Squad Drill, DP practices the required marching sequence that they perform at Fall Competition. One difference between the two though, is that DP has to practice more advanced marching compared to Squad Drill. Bolosan has been a part of DP since his freshman year and has placed second all three years with the team. Bolosan believes there wasn’t much to improve on from the previous year.

“One of the only things we got deducted on was command voice […] I’m fairly loud and […] commanding, so […] we won’t lose points in that [this year],” Bolosan states.

One thing Bolosan is concerned about though, is the competition grounds.  

“Our biggest [opposition] […] is the uneven grounds of Balboa,” Bolosan expresses.

Bolosan is confident in his team, as he feels like they’ve done all they can and just need to trust in their practice and skills.

Even with all the effort the four teams put in, including practicing until 7 p.m. sometimes, their hopes of placing first were met in vain. Producing similar results as the previous year’s Fall Competition, Lincoln placed second in Color Guard, second in Squad Drill, third in Drill Platoon, and tied first with Washington in Guidon. Washington took first place in all the events.

However, Lincoln isn’t done yet. Bolosan has told me that Color Guard and Drill Platoon  both understand the faults that brought them second place, and will come back stronger next year.

By Christine Kang

Every year, new brainrot, absurd online material that has little to no value, arises and people take part in spreading the meme, and the content becomes globally popular for no logical reason.

Recently, a popular trend known as "6 7” emerged as a ‘brainrot’ where people would wave their arms up and down while saying “6 7”. This meme originated from a song by Lord Skrilla, a singer that referred to 67th Pennsylvania street as “6 7”. Then, it further blew up due to edits made about a professional basketball player, LaMelo Ball, who is six foot seven. 

Furthermore, an incident during a basketball game uploaded by a Youtuber called Cam Wilder led to a kid in the audience, Maverick Trevillai, screaming out “6 7”. These events exploded in popularity on social media platforms such as Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube Shorts and more with tons of views, entirely changing the vocabulary of people in the younger generations. 

Many people in the older generations dislike the trendy meme and believe it is negatively affecting our society. Despite its widespread popularity, the people are beginning to dislike this meme and are wishing for a “great meme reset” or the desire to turn back time and rewatch and enjoy the old memes. Many people seem to avoid watching the meme due to its repetitiveness and annoyance. 

One of the few reasons that the meme is so popular is due to the many celebrities that have said it featuring professional basketball players and singers. This led to a boom on media platforms which led to it appearing everywhere on the internet because of all the people talking about it.

As its popularity grew far beyond what one can imagine, most people around the world heard this term at least once from friends or family. 

Caitlin Hilt, a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, said, “I heard this term from my annoying brother. ... I also see it on Instagram.” She has experienced torment due to the constant repetition of people saying “6 7.” 

A friend of Caitlin said, “...[social media] is a bad influence because kids are really gullible,  and [they] don’t know what the online content means, yet still enjoy them..youth follow trends because they look fun and everyone they know likes it…” 

From other views, there is definitely a negative impact on adolescents due to their lack of knowledge. Comments on Instagram would mention how the more current generations are doomed to fail because of constant repetitiveness of absolutely meaningless content.

 However, not all say it's bad.

Yuhang, a middle school student, says, “my friends and I usually say ‘6 7’ because everyone around me knows this term so it’s silly ... [‘6 7’] is so common in my school. I don’t feel left out either.”

Plus, famous celebrities garner millions of views which feeds the algorithm to show “6-7” more. Furthermore, many people will copy it for the sake of popularity and views which eventually will flood the internet with that meme.

Social media is the main influence of this trend, and many people with or without an electronic device have come to know this phrase due to young peoples’ influence. Many memes spread outwards rapidly using social media because practically everyone has an app related to social media on their devices and this allows for funny, quirky memes to spread because many algorithms pick up on topics many people have seen. Due to this, terms like “6 7” become well liked by many young children. These are common recurring themes in many memes, but all eventually die down from their peak.

By Lola Snopkowski

Flag

Last year, Lincoln girls flag football made history by winning the very first Flag Football Turkey Bowl, as the sport was in its first official season in SFUSD. 

This year, girls flag football fell short in their attempts to defend their Turkey Bowl title, finishing with a 4-5 overall record. 

This record was not a good reflection of the effort and heart this team had. Most of their losses were within one touchdown and were very close games. 

Junior Ramya Reeves states, “Even though our records don't show us doing as well as last year, I feel like the way we played defense was really strong.” 

One of their really tight games was against Lowell, when they lost in overtime 0-6 after being tied 0-0 for the entirety of the game. 

Junior Mishell Cardona remains optimistic, stating, “We ended up losing in overtime by a touchdown, but it was a great loss; we only get better from now on.”

This positivity was another reason this team was able to have such close games. They never gave up and always put up a good fight, no matter what.

One of the major differences between this team and last year's team was the players. Most of the people from the previous year had been playing the sport for a while, whereas this year, there were many new players. 

They also had a lot more interest in the sport last year and even had to make many cuts to get to a 30-girl roster, whereas this year, they could only afford to make one cut because they only had 24 people.

They also lost their senior quarterback, so the team often switched quarterbacks throughout the season, struggling to find one that worked well with their offense. 

Team dynamics is something often overlooked, but it plays a huge role in a team's success. This team was like family and was always there for each other on and off the field. 

One highlight of their season was team bonding activities like their team candy salad and the fall rally.

Despite the season's conclusion, the team's spirit remained unbroken. They fought until the final whistle and continue to work hard with determination and strength for next season, ready to reclaim their Turkey Bowl title.

JV

The JV football team had a very successful season, finishing with an 8-3 overall record and a 4-1 league record.

 JV lost to Balboa in their only regular season meeting, 21-25, but came back strong for the city championship, going up 12-6 at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Balboa ended up scoring a touchdown, tying the score 12-12.  JV could not score to end the game, so it went to overtime. 

After a tough back-and-forth battle for about 30 minutes, Balboa intercepted a Lincoln pass, taking it all the way to their endzone. The crowd erupted, thinking the game was over, but confusion quickly spread as the referees began to line the ball up again. A special overtime rule caused the interception not to count. The JV team was crushed, thinking it was over, but after the confusion was cleared, they managed to come back and fight hard. At this point, Lincoln fans flooded the track, cheering with unwavering support and encouragement, pushing them until the very end. Unfortunately, Balboa scored on a subsequent possession, ending the game with a final score of 18-12.

One of the reasons that JV was able to have such a good season and keep fighting in every game was their discipline and commitment to the game. 

They were out practicing after varsity almost every day, even once it began to get dark earlier. 

Captain and sophomore Kardae Pettway stated, “Varsity didn’t want it like we did, and they didn't have leaders.” 

JV had four captains: Kardae Pettway, LaDonte Jones, Anthony Figueroa, and Timothy Ahoia, who always made sure everyone was focused and putting in the work. 

Next year, many of these leaders will move up to varsity, taking their discipline and heart with them, as they strive to bring the Turkey Bowl title back into Lincoln's grasp. 

Varsity

Lincoln’s varsity football, a consistent contender in the city championship, just fell short in the semifinals against Washington.

Despite losing to Washington in their regular season match up, Lincoln boys football came into the semifinals with complete confidence, with head coach Jojo Serrano stating, “I feel confident that we’ll put up a good game.” 

And that they did, going up 7-21 at halftime. 

With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, they were down 21-29. Mikey Washington scored a touchdown, making the score 27-29. The only way to stay in the game was a risky two point conversion, which was accomplished again by Mikey Washington, sending them to overtime.

Lincoln had possession first, gaining ten yards on the first play. Due to a ref mistake, they were called back and ended up not scoring, making it the Eagles' ball. Washington ended up scoring and winning the game 42-35, ending Lincoln's season with a final record of 3-8. 

Disappointed faces throughout the crowd were overshadowed by those of the players and coaches. From the players who battled hard all the way through that game and countless others before. From the majority new coaching staff who put everything into their season, from the late night practices to helping with homework to ensure every player would make grades. But mainly from the seniors who had been with this program from day one, had their final high school season cut short after being so close to overcoming their losses. 

Injuries were a huge setback for their season, so severe that they had to cancel a preseason game to ensure they stayed healthy for the regular season. At one point, there were five injuries at once, and trainer Elise Hammond was constantly working every game.

Grades were also a big challenge for this team. To play for SFUSD, you have to have at least a 2.0 GPA. Football is at the beginning of the year, and since many players didn’t make that 2.0 from last year's grades, each grading period became a stressful time for the team.

Despite the challenges this season, Serrano remains optimistic for next season, excited to put up a fight and bring back yet another Turkey Bowl title to Lincoln Football.

By Camille Chew

Lincoln’s girls varsity golf team secured yet another series of wins this season, taking them to second place in San Francisco’s section of the Academic Athletic Association, a competition among all of San Francisco’s schools—private and public alike. 

 In the past three years, Lincoln’s girls varsity golf team has placed first in the AAA twice. But this year, Lowell stopped them in their tracks.  

Lincoln lost to Lowell, who went undefeated this season, on two separate occasions. These were the only losses Lincoln faced in the entire season. 

Lincoln’s first loss to Lowell occurred before the playoffs on October 15th. Lincoln took 241 swings while Lowell took a mere 197 on a nine-hole course. 

Lowell proceeded to beat Lincoln once again on an 18-hole course, going 411-502 on the 27th, and marking the end of the season for Lincoln’s girls varsity golfers. 

Freshman varsity golfer Rita Zuo felt compelled to improve her skills after watching Lowell’s golfers’ performance.

“It was a new experience playing against [Lowell] because it was more of a challenge. With other schools [we] would always come close [in] scores, but with Lowell it was different,” claims Zuo. 

Besides the team’s games against Lowell, their game against Washington on October 8th–the match that would determine whether or not the team would reach the season’s playoffs–was also especially memorable for Zuo. 

Initially, Zuo felt intimidated by the presence of Washington’s golfers, describing them as exceptionally put-together and confident.

Despite this, Lincoln came out on top. Washington lost, taking 251 swings compared to Lincoln’s 231 swings to complete the nine-hole course. Still, Zuo hopes to model the spirit and outstanding teamwork of Washington’s team. 

Coach Edmond Sullivan commends Zuo for stepping up from JV to varsity golf in her first year on the team, and believes she embodies the mindset he hopes for all the golfers he oversees to have. 

“My philosophy, it’s not about winning. It’s about your effort and focus, and simply trying to improve as an individual [while] playing golf,” states Sullivan. 

He knows closing the gap between Lowell and Lincoln’s golfers may not be possible, since Lowell has a far larger team with more experienced golfers, but he chooses to strive for team and personal growth rather than tangible wins. 

“I tried [...] to make things a little [more lighthearted] [...] to not put a lot of pressure on the team,” says coach Sullivan. 

During matches, two golfers of the same team partner up for the entire duration of the game and play alongside each other. This makes good teamwork imperative during golf matches. 

Zuo and coach Sullivan both describe the preparation for games as a mental battle–one where your mindset can make or break your playing.

“Sometimes when you play a hole, you play really badly […] a lot of people think, ‘Oh my god, I’m playing really badly,’ and that [affects] their overall game,” states Zuo. 

Coach Sullivan adds on to this, emphasizing the importance of teamwork. “When you have trust in your partner [and] that they’re going to be there and help you through your round when you’re struggling […] that [means] a lot.”

In aims of fostering a close-knit team, coach Sullivan holds frequent practices as well as occasional team dinners. But he notes that the team’s post-game boba runs and spontaneous bonding sessions are just as important.

Zuo and fellow varsity golfer, Cassie Lau, believe one team member is crucial to the team. 

“I feel like we wouldn’t have gotten into championships without [Nico Bautista],” claims Zuo.

Ex-golf coach, NorCal golf finalist, and role model to the team, Bautista is vital to Lincoln’s girls golfers. Bautista has been playing golf since they were seven, and is now imparting their years of knowledge to their teammates. 

            “When I notice that I can actually help fix their swing I do it,” Bautista exclaims.

Lau recalls these moments, stating, “[Bautista] would help me line up [my swing] and look at the ball, [and also taught] me ways to swing back [correctly].”

             Despite the team’s loss to Lowell, their placement this season proves to be yet another example of the Lincoln girls varsity golf team’s excellence.

             Zuo asserts, “It was a very memorable experience […] there was [solid] teamwork and we built a lot of skills.”

By Lola Snopkowski

On Wednesday, November 5th, at Kezar Pavilion for the city championship, Lincoln was down two sets to Lowell. Lincoln battled back to win a 25-19 set, keeping them alive. They went on to win another nail biting set 25-23, taking them to the fifth set, a tie-breaker decided by the first to reach 15 points. The score was tied at game point, both teams fighting back and forth, needing to win by two points. Senior Katherine Chan scored the final point, ending the intense three-hour battle with a final score of 19-17 and a Mustang win. The team collapsed into each other on the court, overtaken with pure joy and emotion.

Junior and captain Kylah Kaywood expressed, “It felt like all the long practices, the hard moments, and the times we pushed each other finally paid off.”

The Mustangs had an undefeated league season and a 36-9 overall record, adding the 2025 AAA city championship to their long list of wins. This year’s season marked the first back-to-back city championships victory since 2010, breaking Lowell's streak of four back-to-back wins.

Lincoln dominated both regular season games against Lowell, so being down two sets was unusual for this normally unbeatable team. 

Head Coach Vincent Tang, with six city titles for Lincoln girls volleyball states, “Going into the game, I knew we had the better team. Our girls proved it throughout the season, beating them twice in league and once at a tournament. I think we had more weapons offensively, and our blocking and defense were better as well.”

Kaywood noted, “They came out with a lot of energy, and everything they were doing seemed to be working. It [just] took us a little bit to settle in and adjust, but once we did, the game started to feel more like our pace.”

The city championship led them to place second in Division Three and to host San Marin—15th place—on November 11th, in the first of a five-round win- win-or-go-home state championship bracket.

They swept San Marin in an easy three sets, sending them to the second round against Riordan High School on November 13th. 

Riordan started strong, winning the first set 25-18, but Lincoln fought back to dominate the next two sets. Riordan didn't go without a fight, winning the fourth set 25-20, sending them to yet another fifth set tiebreaker, which Lincoln ended up winning 15-11. After his team scored the game point, Coach Tang ran to his team, shouting out in pure joy and pride. 

Coach Tang stated, “I was so proud of them.”

Winning the second round of states advanced Lincoln to the regional semifinals against Foothill High School on November 15th. Foothill’s crowd supported them throughout the game with loud cheers and colorful signs, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Lincoln. They won three sets to one, securing a spot at the regional finals in Redwood City at Sequoia High School.

Lincoln girls volleyball's successful season ended there with a 3-2 set loss in the Regional Finals, one game away from the State Championship. This matchup was one of the closest they’ve ever had, with each loss within five points or less. 

If they were to win that game and go to the state championship, they would’ve been the second team in Lincoln Volleyball history to go to a state championship game. The first was in 2017, when they became the first San Francisco public school to reach a state championship game in any sport. 

Nonetheless, this team has gone the furthest into states since 2017 due to hard work and teamwork. 

Kaywood stated, “We didn’t let tough games break our momentum.”

The team has been practicing since the middle of summer, and once school started, they put in about two hours of work every day after school, putting in the effort to have their victorious season.

Tang stated, “I think what helped us a lot this year was that this was one of the deepest teams I've had talent-wise. We have players who could play multiple positions, and everyone was able to contribute throughout the season.”

Team dynamics also played a significant role in the Mustang team's success, giving them the edge against tough opponents. After every missed ball or mistake, there was always someone to pick them up and keep each other in the game. Even in games they lost, they put up a good fight. 

Senior and captain, Mina Reyes states, “I think our [team] dynamic is what ultimately allowed us to do so well. We’ve become a family, so we did everything we could to win for each other.”

By Xavier Malizia

Being a high school athlete is undoubtedly difficult; missing class to attend games, staying late for practice, and maintaining both strong physical health and good grades. For siblings Angelina (Angie) and Aiden Tse, all of this is true, yet much more grueling. The two fence competitively, flying across the world for tournaments, commuting to practices in Sacramento, and missing weeks of school in the pursuit of becoming the best fencers in the world.

Fencing is a combat sport with multiple different styles of competition: saber, foil, and épée, each named after their respective weapons. Each weapon can be competed individually, or with a team. Angie and Aiden compete in sabre, which is not supported by the Lincoln Fencing team, so the siblings compete for team USA, completely separate from Lincoln. 

In international competitions, the levels are organized by age and skill level, with youth levels leading into Cadet and Junior, with the ability to join Division I, II, and III depending on skill.

The two got into fencing just by exploring different sports as kids, with Angie, the oldest, competing first, and Aiden following in her footsteps. 

“I got into fencing from watching her fence, and, like, truly enjoying the sport,” said Aiden. 

Currently, Angie is a senior at Lincoln, and last season she ranked 13th in the United States cadet level, while her brother, a sophomore, ranks first in the United States, also as a cadet.

Competing in any sport at such a high level is never easy, and the sacrifices the Tses have had to make in order to reach the pinnacle of youth fencing are tremendous.

To Angie, fencing means everything. She has competed for close to a decade and claims that the sport has been one of the most consequential aspects of her life.

“2026 will be my tenth year in the sport,” said Angie, recalling close to a decade of hard work she has dedicated to fencing. 

The two siblings have a close relationship, pushing and building off each other to reach their full potential. 

“I think I take a lot of inspiration from my brother, actually, who is both younger than me, and also very, very good,” explained Angie.

“Growing up, she was my role model,” explained Aiden, reinforcing the siblings’ strong relationship, which is one of the reasons for their remarkable success.

Despite undeniable success, Angie has struggled to understand her relationship with the sport. She undoubtedly loves it, yet sacrificing as much as she does comes with a myriad of challenges. When she was younger, she was a prodigy, winning the national championship at ages eleven and thirteen. Her successes pushed her to continue, but as she transitioned into high school, she felt a disconnect between her love for the sport and the other aspects of her life. Angie felt forced to compete and did not know whether fencing was worth the hours of time she spent at practice, limiting her social and academic life. 

“Summertime, winter break: I was always at practice, and, like, it was just becoming a bigger and bigger sacrifice,” stated Angie, reflecting on how pouring hours into practice and training—which got her to the level she is now—limited her social life. 

As for Aiden: he is currently the best in the country, with three national titles and one international title under his belt, across both team and individual competitions. Aiden attributes his success to not only his strong work ethic, practicing two to four days a week, but also the incredible support he has around him, provided by his coaches, club, family, and friends which he says condition him not only physically, but mentally as well. 

“It takes a group effort,” remarked Aiden. 

More than just socially, the Tses also have to keep up with schoolwork like normal students, despite the international travels and weeks away from school that international fencing requires. When traveling internationally, it is difficult to access SFUSD emails and Google Classroom, explained Angie, forcing her to download PDFs of classwork.

“[The screens were] probably really bad for my eyesight, and I was really tired, but, like, that's kinda how I did it,” described Angie.

Brendan Furey, an AP World History and AP Psychology teacher at Lincoln, taught both of the siblings throughout their time at the school. He says that public high schools like ALHSare not well-equipped for students like Angie and Aidan, and that it is inspiring to see such specialized athletes these days, contrasting the large numbers of students who spread their skillsets thin across many subjects.

“[They are] excelling on the highest level, against private school students and on the international stage,” explained Furey. 

Aside from fencing, Angie is the club coordinator for Lincoln’s Associated Student Body, and both of the siblings are members of JROTC and the mock trial team. 

Overcoming the issues she faced coming into high school, Angie found her place in the sport; enjoying the team competitions brought her closer to her fellow fencers. Angie admits that fencing is an elitist sport, with most of her teammates attending private schools and living a different life than her. Competing as a group for team USA brought her together with fellow fencers, uniting them through a love for the sport. 

Now, Angie is a recruited National Collegiate Athletic Association athlete, committed to Johns Hopkins University, something she is very excited for due to the organization of collegiate fencing, which is also team-based. 

“One of my goals is to make it to the NCAA Championships,” stated Angie, on her dream of making it to the highest collegiate level, where the top 25 fencers in the nation compete against each other. 

Aiden is currently chasing qualification to the US World Team for Cadet, composed of only the top three fencers in the nation. The World Championships are in Rio, Brazil, next year. Since he is currently the best in the nation, Aiden has a high likelihood of making it to Rio. He also aspires to fence collegiately in the future, hoping to get recruited like his sister.  

To Abraham Lincoln High School’s Administration Team,

For the first time in decades, our school is experiencing a complete change in leadership, with an entirely new administration team. With new leadership comes fresh perspectives, especially to address prevalent issues at the school. Since our founding in 1940, Lincoln’s administration, faculty, teachers, students, and alumni have built a well-rounded culture oriented to the learning, community identity, and student advocacy over the years. These long-lasting systems and traditions ultimately make Lincoln Lincoln. 

We, the people of the “Lincoln Log” come together to celebrate this historic moment. We want Lincoln to continue being the place so many have loved, and the place future students will be proud to inherit.

With the new administration’s arrival, students and staff were optimistic. The initial outreach, encouraging students and teachers to greet each other in the halls and inviting student input, suggested a promising start. Through an open-door policy that encourages multiple perspectives and collaborative leadership style, principal Marisol Arkin’s goal is to lead a trustworthy community with opportunities for everyone. 

Many students were hopeful to hear the willingness to hear students' concerns and encouragement of student advocacy through clubs, leadership, and feedback. Students are calling for improvements in security, counseling, and teaching, all in the hopes of creating a better school.

Anya Golden, senior class Creative Director, recalls an early interaction she had with the principal, saying, “[Ms. Arkin] came up to us [ASB] and introduced herself. She asked for our name and all that stuff.” 

The district has been trying to stop club sports like lacrosse and Dragonboat, which are not considered part of the Lincoln athletics department, from using school resources. The administration intends to help support efforts to continue competing through meetings with lacrosse and Dragonboat, the latter of which is starting negotiations with the California Dragon Boat Association. 

Compared to the past years, there have been far fewer fire alarms which has directly improved the safety and wellbeing of all students, especially those in the special education program.

All of this promises a positive shift, but as the first semester comes to a close, many in our community feel the values that define Lincoln have been slipping. The main concern is not about a single decision or action but a growing sense of miscommunication, lack of transparency, and  loss of Lincoln’s identity.

While we value the administration’s proactivity in addressing long-standing problems, revitalizing school spirit, and improving campus safety, we are concerned that feedback, historical school traditions, and values that have built our school culture are not being fully acknowledged, which in turn hurts the community.

Many teachers entered the school year hopeful, eager to offer suggestions to improve classrooms, culture, and support. Yet, some have become hesitant to share feedback, fearing repercussions.  One staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, admitted that this was one of the most stressful back to school experiences of their career due to the treatment from the administration. Their fear of retaliation has stopped them from speaking more into detail of their experiences. A school cannot improve when its educators feel unheard or intimidated.

Teachers are not the only ones feeling the impact; students, too, are experiencing gaps in communication, from unclear Fall Fest regulations to conflicting instructions about subsidized Homecoming tickets. This results in a pattern of miscommunication and  unclear processes.

Leading up to Fall Fest, clubs were told homemade goods were banned, forcing many to spend extra money on pre-made goods. Hours before, a few students learned the rule had been reversed, leaving most clubs unprepared. 

A second example of miscommunication was between ASB and administration over the distribution of subsidized tickets for Homecoming. In the past, ASB handled selling and informing students how to access subsidized tickets, with administration verifying who was applicable for a subsidized price. This year, ASB was instructed to not be involved, and many assumed administration would handle the entire process. 

Despite this, when eligible students like senior Lina Pierce went to the main office, the administrators seemed unaware of the plan. 

“They kind of started getting an attitude, being kind of annoyed that I was there asking about it,” Pierce said, recalling the administrators assumed ASB was still responsible. 

Although students eventually got tickets, senior Alisa Kryan noted, “I feel like, ultimately, the subsidized tickets ended up being inaccessible.” 

The pattern extends beyond events and into school programs. At the beginning of the school year, administrators were very enthusiastic about the “Lincoln Log,” extending the previous administration's arrangement of paying for three issues per school year. We were excited to see the new leaders of our school eager to help keep one of Lincoln’s oldest traditions alive and thriving. However, we were later informed that this promised cost coverage hadn’t been accounted for in their budget, instead only two of the issues were covered, which left us confused but ultimately frustrated with the conflicting information.

Instances like this erode trust between students and administration, creating barriers for those that depend on communication.

These communication challenges exist alongside significant academic and cultural shifts. According to the California Department of Education, Lincoln’s graduation rates have declined from 94.5 percent in 2022 to 89.7 percent in 2024. To combat this, administrators have implemented new policies, like the passport system, to encourage students to stay in class.

The blue passport sheets were introduced to minimize the amount of students in the halls, yet enforcement has been inconsistent. Students can still be found wandering the halls during class time.

Meanwhile the locked bathroom policy even during passing periods has made it difficult for students to meet basic bodily functions.

Since COVID, school spirit has been on a downward trend. Students feel judged or embarrassed to participate in spirit week themes or going to sporting events. The school culture is dependent on student participation; pride in our school is crucial in fostering participation. 

The shutdown of the JROTC store, which for six years has helped fund a program connected to leadership and community service, has left the program struggling financially. Currently, the students within the program are gathering signatures to appeal to the administration about reopening the JROTC student store.

The declining graduation rate, lack of school participation, and closing of the JROTC store are only a couple of examples of how the traditions instilled in our school’s well-rounded culture are being replaced by a vacancy of community identity. 

At its best, Lincoln is defined by connection; between students and teachers, between cultures, and between traditions and new perspectives. School improvements are the responsibility of the admin and the student body. Both groups need to work and communicate concerns effectively, weighing how decisions will harm or help the school community. This connection starts with administration and the student body working together to improve the school. The decisions that affect the community should be made with the community, guided by the values that make Lincoln special; unity, student voices, school, spirit, and history.

We, the students of the Lincoln Log and the voice of the student body, care deeply about this school because we have seen the pride and the history come alive in teams, classrooms, events, and even everyday life. That is why we write this letter, not out of complaint, but commitment. Students and staff want to be part of this opportunity; we have with an entirely new administration, the chance to rebuild. In order to do so efficiently and sustainably, communication and making students and staff feel heard is of utmost cruciality. Only through collaboration can we achieve Lincoln’s full potential.

By Zoë Hsu Doo

Every season brings a new fashion trend cycle, flooding social media and stores with endless iterations of the same patterned fabric, doomed to the landfill within a couple of months. In recent years, this rampant cycle has increased, driven by social media and fast fashion. The result is the micro-trend, a short-lived, specific trend in fashion, beauty, or culture that gains rapid popularity on social media and declines just as quickly. 

Influencer culture and overconsumption keep those affected by social media in a constant state of buying trendy new clothes instead of developing a personal style. 

Trends have always existed in fashion, but traditionally they lasted the entire season and followed a top-down trajectory starting from major fashion houses and trickling down to mass-market stores. With micro-trends, the fashion industry is now experiencing a bottom-up cycle. The micro-trends emerge online from social media and niche communities, then fast fashion brands mass-produce them before high-end fashion houses even respond. 

In fact, many high-fashion houses have started adopting micro-trends. Pharrell Williams’ Louis Vuitton Spring 2025 collection—featuring “sports-core” football jerseys—is evidence of how                     micro-trends are reshaping the fashion industry. 

“I have definitely bought certain clothing items,  after influencers styled them, like from Victoria’s Secret after Twice wore [the brand]” remarks Isabella Zhang, a fashion-inclined senior at Lincoln.

The main differences between trends now versus before COVID-19 are virality and duration. Influencers post themselves wearing a piece, catching attention online; the Internet then coins “‘something’-core.” Fast fashion retailers mimic the trend almost overnight, with celebrities and regular media taking notice, reaching the trend's peak. When the cycle ends, people return to basics, and a new trend takes over. Eventually, these micro-trends have a resurgence, like the “coastal grandmother” aesthetic—think relaxed seaside living, like a sophisticated grandmother—returning every summer; but, more often than not, these trends end up in the landfill. 

Since the popularity of the trend depends on social media longevity, the lifecycle of these trends is as short as a couple of weeks, like the “mob wife” aesthetic. Following the long-standing “clean girl” aesthetic, the “mob wife” aesthetic brought back blowouts, furs, and heavy makeup, yet within a couple of weeks, “mob wife” was out, returning to the “clean girl” aesthetic, a minimalistic style that spotlights the “no-makeup makeup” look, slicked-back hair, and a neutral color palette.

"In the halls, I often notice Lululemon paired with slick-back pony tails, and a Longchamp bag,” says Zhang.

Social media constantly pushes the next “must-have shirt” or “cutest shoes,” encouraging people to dress like their favorite influencers and celebrities, rather than themselves. The result is a sea of carbon-copy outfits and a generation unsure of what they actually like. 

This is not about shaming people who enjoy micro-trends; I participate in them too, but it is about shaming the fast-paced cycle of trends set by social media and fast fashion. During 2024, bows dominated the Internet, from the runway to people tying bows on their toilet handles. Bows are a timeless motif both historically and in certain subcultures, but for the general public, when coquette and “girl-core” stopped trending, bows died when the trend died.

To be transparent, I’m also guilty of wearing the same pieces as everyone else at school. However, I am making a bigger effort to be more thoughtful of my shopping habits, prioritizing pieces that fit my personal style that I will wear even after TikTok moves on.

Oversaturation of the fashion industry pressures people to conform and limits opportunities for self-expression. Although, some argue that fashion trends help people discover new styles they were otherwise unaware of. 

“I feel like[micro-trends] are a way to experiment with something new, and you can piece different trends together,” Nico Bautista, a senior, comments.

While exposure can help foster personal styles, the fast pace of micro-trends doesn’t allow meaningful exploration of subcultures or niche fashions. The environmental cost—textile waste, pollution, and microplastic contamination—is not worth a couple months of spotlight. 

Instead of relying on whatever goes viral, people can benefit from slowing down and reconnecting with their own styles. Exploring personal style doesn’t require constant consumption: it can start with experimenting with pieces already in your closet. Try shopping secondhand to buy new items that add individuality without adding to landfills. Be mindful about what is being bought and why; fashion should be self expression, not a reaction to others.

Micro-trends disguise conformity as individuality, undermining people’s ability to create their own personal style. They encourage people to dress not for themselves, but for algorithms. Fashion should be individual, expressive, and intentional, not dictated by whatever goes viral. Personal style reflects who you are and how the world sees you; it deserves to be more than a two-week trend cycle.

By Mikayla Chew

There are video after video of people sipping on an overpriced, iced matcha latte with a feminist book in hand. These people are  known as performative males. Regardless of the intent of the content being posted about the trend, it directly overemphasizes—in the digital world—and leads to mens having an ingenuine interest, that is deemed as performative, in reading feminist literature, owning Popmart keychains, and listening to female indie artists. 

If you are not chronically online, the social media phrase “performative male” was coined in 2020 but popularized in 2025. The concept evolved from similar concepts of “male manipulator” and “soft boy” trends on social media platforms. According to Google, a “performative male” is “a man who adopts certain interests, aesthetics, and behaviors to be perceived as sensitive, progressive, or likable, rather than out of genuine interest.”This aesthetic involves specific items as the key characterizations: matchas, tote bags, and the internet-crazed Labubus

Videos of “performative males” are usually men showing themselves as this perfect, curated male image, slightly satirically, and mocking other males for being “too performative” or, in a sense, too fake to be real. They start to get repetitive and mind-numbing. In every corner of the digital world, male influencers or content creators take part in the trend, leading to the homogenous look of baggy jeans and a plaid top, paired with a tote bag and matcha in hand. There’s no sense of their personal identity attached to it, just a curated image based on trends. The hyper-focus on curated fictional personas of these “performative males,” offered as the “perfect man”, can lead to inauthentic partners who can’t be themselves. 

Early on, around the mid-to-late 20th century, after World War II, the traditional American male sterotype—strong, independent, and unemotional—was solidified. Now, we not only see the traditional view, but see more of soft masculinity. The concept of a “performative male” has always been around in each generation, just rebranded and packaged differently. Even before different social media archetypes, there were other labels such as SNAGS or posers. A SNAG is an acronym for Sensitive New-Age Guy, a stereotype that emerged around 1970-1990. They were characterized as a guy who takes interest in spiritual growth and practiced yoga or meditation. Similarly, both stereotypes share the non-traditional masculinity that society in the past has consistently mocked. 

Some may argue that “performative men” are able to be the opposite of what the original society’s standard of men appeared to be: masculine and tough. Through this trend, guys are able to appear more sensitive and express themselves in a different light. However,  they have to put on a mere performance to start appearing as this guy who is well-educated, cares about feminism, and takes interest in matcha or indie music. 

That leads to the point that it’s essentially ironic how society praised men for having a tough, aggressive attitude and ridiculed guys who show emotion and read books under trees, yet now progressively moves towards males taking on that same role of those specific ‘feminine’ traits. The “performative male” trend encourages males to curate a picture-perfect image of themselves, but they aren’t gaining those said traits and are only using them as an advantage in securing a woman.  But it doesn’t work that way: I believe that instead of  putting their energy into buying into the consumerism of Labubus, overpriced matcha lattes, and vinyl records of the latest female indie artist, they should shift that energy into valuing what the “performative males” actually stand for. For example, feminist concerns in our society of wage gaps. 

The “performative male” should come to its end, not because males shouldn’t be the opposite of masculinity, but because the values of a “performative male” should align with their own.  Ultimately, men should stop conforming to the internet box they are put in and start becoming the person they genuinely want to be. 

By Sophie Ng

Tuesday night, 10 p.m: Your planner is sprawled across from you on your desk, a seemingly endless to-do list waiting to be checked off. It feels like you’ve been working forever, but you still have to answer a set of comprehension questions due tomorrow first period. At this point, you are restless. You resort to feeding the assignment into ChatGPT.

Okay, so you’re not necessarily plagiarizing because you’re paraphrasing what the bot says, so it’s not really all that bad, and you’re not going to use any of what you learn in the real world, and AI is going to take over anyways, so might as well just use it to make your life easier. 

However, convenience comes with a price. What students are really exchanging for those quick paragraphs goes beyond their academic performance. The price we pay whenever we turn to generative AI for academic help is an erosion of our ability to think for ourselves. 

Watching ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI assistants craft a personalized answer almost seamlessly is impressive—all the more magical when several AI companies incorporate sparkles into their logos. But what you are really looking at is a Frankenstein of data and writing molded together into what seems most plausible.

However, it is impossible for these data sets to cover all forms of writing. AI companies tend to favor academic and professional writing for their bots to come off as more refined. As a result, AI gravitates towards certain terms and phrases. Words like “delve,” “tapestry,” and “robust” have become associated with these large language models—even em dashes are being treated as red flags.  

Writing does not exist in a vacuum. Our diction is influenced by the culture around us. With platforms like Instagram, X, and YouTube pushing their own AI tools, it is undeniable these models are beginning to bleed into our culture. We unconsciously pick up on AI biases, overriding our own unique voice for a monotonous writing style. The words listed above have all recently hiked up in usage thanks to their prevalence in AI responses. 

AI has become ubiquitous because you can bend its purpose; ask for recipes, you’ll get recipes. Ask for help with budgeting; you will receive. But these bots are programmed to sound as correct as possible while still being helpful to the user. Thus, AI chatbots tend to act as a yes-man and constantly reaffirm our views. 

I believe that to be a better thinker, you must grapple with a diverse set of opinions. AI does not demonstrate the same nuance or range that human work has. Chatbots instead create an echo chamber where our opinions are never challenged.

Similarly, the limitless possibilities make AI fatal for our autonomy. Being able to ask ChatGPT whatever you want about ionic bonds or literary classics makes it so easy to rely on the bot for every little task.

AI has also become integrated into learning platforms like Duolingo and Quizlet. New study tools powered on AI have emerged, such as Quillbot, Turbo AI, and Knowt. Several of these platforms offer condensed versions of any text you upload. It seems almost natural to acquiesce to these conveniences.

But these quick alternatives can’t capture the nuance of engaging with the actual material. You could argue that you still absorb some kind of knowledge from using AI as a tool, but you are also reinforcing that artificial intelligence is the primary source of human knowledge and language. Doesn’t that just sound so inane?

I find this dilemma mirrors Ray Bradbury’s "Fahrenheit 451.” In the novel, longform content is condensed into more digestible forms of entertainment; or as the character Captain Beatty says, “Everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending. Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume.”

We laugh at our parents and grandparents for believing absurd AI-generated content on Facebook. We poke fun at children for laughing at AI slop and brainrot. Yet, we are also falling for the trap. The only difference is instead of paying with our trust, we are paying with our autonomy.

By Michael Lai

Winter break is soon, and the feeling of freedom is unmatched. But does it always feel productive? Doomscrolling often takes up the whole break, and no homework or studying gets done.

Everyone works differently, but, in my opinion, the best way to maximize your winter break revolves around three daily wins, consisting of a physical, mental, and spiritual , along with a couple of fun things. 

Physical win: Every day, do something that gets your body working. A bit of exercise every day may seem insignificant, but it can keep your body functional and in shape. Just raising your heartbeat or activating your muscles can lead to better overall health. You could go for a nature walk, a run, a bike ride, or hit the gym. 

Some places you can do these cardio activities are Golden Gate Park and McLaren Park. I enjoy exploring around the city, doing long runs and bike rides. For hitting the gym, memberships can be expensive. A free alternative is to start with calisthenics; this form of exercise uses your bodyweight and the force of gravity as resistance.

When starting out, I had difficulty working out at home because I lacked the discipline or motivation. I recommend taking time out of your day to go outside and workout. This way, you trick your mind into thinking: “I’m here already, I may as well workout.”

You can simply go to your local park. If you want to take it more seriously, there are calisthenics parks around the city. Search up “outside gyms” on Google Maps, and you can find dozens of them around the city. If you think calisthenics is fun or helpful, try to implement them in your everyday life, not just during your break.

 Productive win: Dedicate one or two hours to doing something productive. Do some homework; you can spread it out across the winter break so you do not have to do it all at the end. Another thing you could do is study for your classes; self-studying is a great way to get ahead of your class and make it easier. Especially for AP classes, starting to study for your AP exam at this time can make you more prepared. Something else you can do is just to try learning something new, such as how to solve a rubik’s cube, play an instrument, or paint. Another way can be to develop a new hobby; it is a great way to spend time while being productive, instead of just doomscrolling.

Mental win: Start your day with meditation, deep breaths in and out, maybe affirmations  too. Write down any significant thoughts you have at the time. This process is a great way to start the day on a good note; it sets the tone for the rest of your day. Reach a state of peace, and spend some time by yourself. Speak out loud to yourself about your problems, even though it sounds silly. It decompresses and releases the stress that you have been feeling. Journaling during your break is also great; looking back on your progress makes you feel good about yourself.

In addition to these three wins, it is also good to connect. Either go out with family or friends. The three daily wins revolve around self-improvement, but connecting with family and friends takes your mind off yourself for some time.

When you spend time with others, it distracts you from your personal thoughts. To spend time with your family, you can do anything, for example, sitting by the fireplace or watching a movie. You can also just go on a short vacation with them, traveling, going to the mountains to snowboard or ski, anything.

By committing to these daily wins and small activities, you can transform your winter break. From a boring, wasteful experience to a productive and fun time.

By Leo Le

Throughout the halls of Abraham Lincoln High School, students are met with the strong stench of weed and vape drifting from the bathroom and stairwells. This drug use problem here at Lincoln negatively affects everybody on campus.

Beneath this problem lies the most important concern: the safety and well-being of everyone in the building. This issue affects far more than the students choosing to use substances on campus. Students walking to class, the bathroom, or past the bathroom could be exposed to secondhand smoke simply because they need to use the bathroom or their walking routes are nearby.

Secondhand smoke can cause harmful health effects such as increased risk of cancer, lung problems, and cardiovascular diseases, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Drug use among teenagers often stems from struggles with mental health, peer pressure, or a cruel home environment, according to the Mayo Clinic. What may start off as a coping mechanism can transform into an addiction. Because drug use impacts everyone on campus, school policies and enforcement become crucial in not only addressing problems, but also preventing them.

Another concern stemming from the issue with drug use on campus involves policies and enforcing them. Many students, including myself, have never been asked to show a bathroom pass. This inconsistency raises questions about whether enforcement could help reduce drug use on campus.

Jen Fried, the new assistant principal at ALHS, acknowledges, "What's challenging is that unless I physically see it happening, I don't want to accuse students of doing something that they may not be doing.”

Because of that, Fried emphasizes the importance of “active supervision […] working hard with the security guards to keep them moving around campus.”

Aidan Bolosan, a senior, states, “Bathroom passes aren’t enforced. Not a single security guard cares to check it.”

Judging from my own experiences, too, I usually go to the bathroom or get water during class and have never been asked to show my bathroom passport. The enforcement of this new bathroom pass policy could likely reduce the occurrences of drug abuse here at school.

I also try my best to avoid walking near the first floor, even if it means taking a longer walk to use a bathroom that doesn't smell horrible.

Students should not have to worry about these problems in order to have a better experience at school.

By Denise Mai

Waymo's self-driving cars are being rapidly integrated into daily life around San Francisco and the Bay Area, transforming the transportation industry. Nevertheless, I believe that Waymo should remove their cars from the road and improve their vehicles before allowing them back. 

These thoughts transpired due to the incident at Randa’s Market, after a Waymo struck and killed beloved bodega cat, KitKat. This raised outrage from the community and introduced questions concerning Waymo’s safety toward young children, small animals, and even emergency service vehicles.

This recent tragedy occurred on October 27th on 16th Street at night. 

Waymo stated, “the cat darted under our vehicle as it was pulling away," in an interview with the TV station KRON4. 

However, the owner of Randa’s Market's son, Mike Zeidan, said “Waymo's statement included that KitKat darted in front of the car as it was driving away. There are eyewitness testimonies that don't align with that statement.”

Adding to concern, people can also find videos on the internet of Waymos driving on the wrong side of the road and not being able to avoid emergency vehicles. One viral video features a Waymo blocking a fire truck at a San Francisco intersection on Bryant St and 2nd St. This raises concerns about how these cars will affect fires, medical emergencies, and other emergencies. Issues like these have sparked outrage and criticism toward self-driving cars. 

While self-driving cars can be a great benefit in the future, these issues must not be overlooked and should be taken into consideration. 

Zeidan emphasized that “Safety should be the number one priority for Waymo and all self-driving cars.” This statement should be emphasized since Waymo should always consider the safety of people and animals. 

Others might argue, “Human drivers are equally as dangerous and hit animals all the time, so why is it such a big deal if a robot does it?” Does have a fair point, but one key difference between robots and humans is they can not take accountability, unlike humans, who can take responsibility for their actions. For this reason, robots should be held to higher standards to prevent this from ever happening again.

When I tried reaching out to a Waymo representative, hoping to make sense of events and safety concerns, the representative Anjelica Rocha responded with “We won't be able to provide a response, but pointing you to the below link elaborates on our safety performance,” connecting me to a link to Waymo's safety page. 

As years go by, self-driving cars can be a great driving option, but based on recent events, technology still needs many improvements before they can be safely allowed on the streets. The first improvement that needs to be made is improving safety for people and animals, and to ensure these safety measures, further testing should also be done to avoid any further accidents.

By Elise Dunn

Support. Assistance. Help. These are words that describe the jobs done by members of the  SOAR program, otherwise known as, Success, Opportunity, Achievement, Resiliency, is made up of paraprofessionals, and various speech and occupational therapists. This program is part of Lincoln's special education department. Teachers in this department work daily with students seeking extra support or guidance to ensure a comfortable learning experience, a core goal in school atmospheres. 

The special education program at Lincoln is felt throughout the whole school community, but students are not receiving the full support from staff because of absences of support staff, lack of space, and only having one IEP counselor.

Vice principal Laura Langlois Rashidi oversees the special education department here at Lincoln and provides the department with resources and support. Recently a large amount of staff in the department have been absent due to illness. 

“One issue we face is when staff call out sick, especially with our paraprofessionals,” states Rashidi, “it makes it tricky because I have to shift around schedules and make that decision of what teachers are working with what students and what students are going to have more support in their class and what students are not”.

This is the ongoing issue, and according to Rashidi, even with a school as large as Lincoln and a support staff of almost 40 paraeducators, support for students in various classrooms schoolwide are still not being met. The lack of support staff in classrooms puts a dent on students receiving the necessary guidance for them to be comfortable and successful in school learning environments. 

Decisions for student support should not be based on availability but on student need. Support for students is not only from paraprofessionals, but also from counselors. Here at Lincoln, the programs are only managed by one counselor, Ian Enriquez. IEPs otherwise known as Individualized Education Programs are legal documents provided to support and help students be successful in education. Individualized Education Programs can be diverse depending on what the student needs. Some students require help from paraprofessionals in classroom environments or in SDC, otherwise known as Separate Day or Special Day Classes, whereas others simply have a study skills period. IEPs require legal action and management which must be monitored by a case manager. With almost 2,000 students here at Lincoln, one teacher dealing with legal paperwork and accommodations for every student shows a clear example of lack of support for students.   

Comfort in a school environment can be essential for students with IEPs, it is essential when it comes to giving each and every student a space in which they have enough room to have functionality and be at ease. In the high-functioning, semi-stressful environment found in schools and classrooms, physical space is necessary but limited for the special education department. This is not ideal. 

Department chair Devin Walker, an IEP case manager and SCD teacher who runs the special education department here at Lincoln has emphasized the lack of space for the students. In previous years, according to Walker, the administration prior to the 2025-2026 school year allowed “more real estate room” for the department when it came to classroom space. Now with the current administration, this battle continues and contributes to the issues within the special education department. 

By Zoe Hong

With complex dialogue and a mint green set that shakes with the anger of ghosts, the Lincoln theater department has worked and practiced late into the night, after school, and during the weekends for the past two months in preparation for the fall play, “Blithe Spirit” by Noël Coward. “Blithe Spirit” explores the life of Charles Condomine, played by Taigh Quarles and Marcus Boyden, after the spirit medium, Madame Arcati, played by Roselani Leremia, accidentally summons his first wife, Elvira, played by Kennedy Byrne who terrorizes Condomine and his second wife, Ruth, played by Angela Gin.

After Elaine Walenta, the director of the school play and Lincoln's theater teacher, picks the show and actors from auditions, the Lincoln theater program begins practicing while the theater tech class begins to build the elaborate set. For four weeks, students are expected to stay until seven after school, even while dealing with school work and college applications, and the hours only increase as opening day approaches. Two weeks before the show, the actors and stage crew start staying until eight. Three days before the show, everyone stays until nine for dress rehearsals in preparation for their first performance on November sixth.

To manage work, Teagan Baer, a freshman who played Mrs. Bradman in “Blithe Spirit” says “I just get done what I need to get done in class, and then if I have homework I need to stay up late.”

“You have to really prioritize things well,” adds Bella Speckhard, senior and prop manager for “Blithe Spirit.”

“Blithe Spirit" not only requires commitment and practice from the actors, but also lots of effort from stage crew, Walenta's Theater Tech class, and volunteers to manage special effects and bring the Condomines’, now haunted, mint green living room to life as picture frames fall, the walls rattle, and glass breaks. 

According to Speckhard, “ We look at the script and we think about what our set is, and what we can do building strings and levers.”

Throughout the play, Condomine and Elvira smash glass cups and vases on the floor startling the audiences. This is thanks to Walenta managing the theater programs finances, buying breakable glasses online, and mixing them in with normal whiskey glasses so they could both amaze the audience and save props for following years.

Under the watch of Tara Hang, the stage manager, stage crew worked to prepare other effects such as mist through fog machines and  books flipping off the shelf, a trick designed by Michael Topham, a theater volunteer and previous Lincoln teacher. 

The “Blithe Spirit" set designed by Scott Cox, an SFUSD district volunteer, required lots of planning, installing holes in the walls for picture frames to drop and preparing extra glasses for Condomine and the ghosts to drop.

Finally after months of planning and practicing, theater tech, actors, stage crew, volunteers, Walenta, and Cox all get to see the fruits of their labor performed in the auditorium in front of parents, teachers, and students. 

By Ariana Lopez

Since the release of the “Black Phone 2” trailer, it was known that this sequel was going to be full of mystery and terror. Released nationwide on October 17th, 2025, with a run time of 1 hour and fifty-four minutes, the film is a sequel to “The Black Phone” directed by Scott Derrickson. “The Black Phone” is a sinister and evil franchise. The first movie in “The Black Phone” franchise tells the story of a thirteen year old boy named Finney played by Mason Thames, who was abducted by a twisted serial killer called the Grabber, who is played by Ethan Hawke. The sequel continues by telling the story from the point of view of Finney’s fifteen-year-old sister Gwen played by Madelin McGraw. She receives calls from a black phone and starts to see disturbing and graphic images of three little boys being stalked at a winter camp called Alpine Lake in Colorado, where Gwen and Finney’s deceased mother worked when she was younger. Alongside her brother Finn and her boyfriend Ernesto, they head to the camp to solve this disturbing and terrifying mystery of three missing little boys. 

The first film set itself in the horror/mystery genre following with “Black Phone 2”. The movie continues to tell the story on how the Grabber not only continues to torment Finney by popping out in his nightmares but continues to haunt his sister, Gwen’s, dreams. In “Black Phone 2,” the Grabber comes back more powerful even after death, with the purpose of getting revenge on Finney after he killed the Grabber in the first movie. The Grabber’s sinister plan for revenge is killing Gwen to hurt Finney and mess with him mentally. 

The second movie was no disappointment. “Black Phone 2” delivered mystery, suspense and what was most expected, thrill. Creepy images of the missing children, the hidden messages in Gwen’s nightmare, and of course, the appearance of the Grabber are what made the movie so spine chilling. Besides the film being horrifying it was in some sense heartwarming. Gwen’s dreams were not only clues about the children that went missing in Alpine Lake but it got her to have more closure with her mother named Hope, played by Anna Lore, and connect with her mother’s death. The dreams reveal that Hope was murdered by the Grabber. A heartwarming feel was not expected from this movie, however, the film still had an emotional touch. Gwen talking to her mother through the black phone was a beautiful yet questioning part of the movie; was she actually talking to her mother or was it some sort of mimic?

By Kevine Liang

Trends are constantly cycling, and the 2010s are back. This year, maximalist styles like indie sleaze, boho chic, and polka dots made a comeback. 

Maximalism is an aesthetic characterized by excessive colors, patterns, and textures. Indie sleaze combines this aesthetic with leather jackets, skinny jeans, and chaotic, grunge inspired garments, while boho chic draws on more tailored maxi dresses and flared jeans, with bohemian and hippie influences. 

Looking back on the trends of 2025 and the new runway cycle of Spring/Summer 2026 during this year’s fashion week, v-necklines, plaid, and slimmer pants are coming back into style—trends that I am looking forward to. 

Many fashion houses have used v-necklines in their collections, including Jonathan Anderson’s debut Dior collection. Anderson has accentuated the shape by deepening the v-necks to the torso, while pairing the neckline with nun-style cornettes—a cap with a soft, rounded crown, typically made of lightweight fabric—, 18th century-inspired sculpted silhouettes, and large bows on the bodice. Anderson mixes lace layered dresses with wired wings on the back, where the v-necks seamlessly blend into the eloquent doll-like prettiness and the ultra-feminine look of Christian Dior that Anderson’s debut draws from. 

On the contrary to Dior’s fantastical showcase, Stefano Gallici at Ann Demuleemester adds a bit of edge to the v-necks with soft romantic Victorian garments. Overcoats are buttoned to make a V that is worn over ruffle shirts and sporty shorts. Satin robes are worn over striped suits, with sheer nightgowns paired with boxing shorts and feathered crowns—a signature of Ann Demuleemester’s ode to free spirit. The v-neck mashes itself with the gothic avant garde pieces that Demuleemester is known for. 

The contrasting spirits of these two brands shows the versatility of the neckline that has left its mark on many other collections, and even on me. The rise of v-necks will hopefully be apparent and I am ecstatic to see it happen. 

With new patterns and prints always trending, I believe that plaid deserves to be next. Plaid has had a spotlight in the western fashion world ever since the nineteenth century, influenced by Scottish culture. Vivenne Westwood is known for her tartan, a type of plaid which is known for horizontal and vertical lines of different colors, which was featured in Andreas Kronthaler’s Westwood. One of the looks has a leopard print t-shirt clashing with an off the shoulder brown tartan top, another has a blue plaid bikini top underneath a deconstructed satin and sheer dress that takes after the late Westwood’s modern punk fashion. 

Even in Coach’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, the plaid is everywhere. Beige plaid ties contrast a white denim jacket and white slouchy pants with frayed ends, while a coin pouch pendant is slung across the chest. Others wore three-toned plaid pants with distressed sweaters, plaid suits, and a signature neck scarf for the collection. The Coach collection brings a new era of 70s sophistication, yet with a roughed-up vibe. 

Coach and Vivenne Westwood are just some of the few fashion houses using plaid during the S/S 2026 collection. They bring viewers to see the timeless use of plaid is taking place in fashion. And with the rise of maximalism and distinct styles that people look for to express themselves, plaid is the perfect choice for matching personal style. 

As indie sleaze and avant-garde styles are popping up in social media, people have taken a liking to bootcut, flare pants, and even the skinny jeans that were deemed unwearable are now being brought back. 

Much of Maison Margiela Spring/Summer 2026 has more wearable, deconstructive tailoring compared to more theatrical works from the past, and Glenn Martens took imperfection as the center of this collection. While many models were dressed in baggier pants, there were sprinkles of slim leather capris paired under a leather skirt with an elongated buttoned v-neck halter top. Models walk down the runway with Marigela’s signature four diagonal stitches in a rectangle as a mouth piece—a unsettling theme of silence and submission—alongside a vintage-inspired white suit with an undone tie top underneath, black flare jeans, and a classic button up v-neck with a pair of straight pants that perform subtle rebellion and provocation. 

By Kevin Hu

It’s hard not to call “Superman” (2025) successful. This action packed movie was released in theaters this past summer. Directed by James Gunn, the same director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and The Suicide Squad, it has received praise from both critics and fans alike. But is it really deserving of all its praise? Spoilers ahead.

The plot follows Superman as he is defeated by a metahuman known as the "Hammer of Boravia," who is later revealed to be Ultraman—Lex Luthor’s engineered clone of Superman. Badly injured, Superman retreats to the Fortress of Solitude with Krypto, where he watches a partially damaged holographic message from his Kryptonian parents that comforts him. Earlier offscreen, Superman prevents the U.S. allied nation of Boravia from invading Jarhanpur, giving Luthor authorization from the U.S. government to kill him.

Luthor and his ally, the Engineer, sneak into the Fortress, restore the damaged message, and discover its shocking second half: a directive from Jor-El and Lara encouraging Superman, their son, to conquer Earth and repopulate Krypton. Luthor broadcasts the message publicly, turning the world against Superman. Amid growing suspicion by the public, Superman surrenders to the U.S. government, only to be handed over to Luthor and imprisoned in a secret pocket universe.

With Metamorpho’s help, Superman escapes along with Krypto and Metamorpho’s son. Lois Lane and Mister Terrific rescue the group, and Superman recovers with guidance from Jonathan Kent, who reminds him that his choices—not his origins—define him.

Meanwhile, Luthor’s girlfriend Eve Teschmacher exposes his plot to manipulate the Boravia–Jarhanpur conflict for territorial gain. Luthor then triggers a catastrophic rift in Metropolis to lure Superman back. As the Justice Gang stops Boravia’s renewed invasion, Superman battles and defeats the Engineer and Ultraman, sending the clone into a black hole. Mister Terrific seals the rift, while Superman confronts and subdues Luthor.

Lois and photojournalist Jimmy Olsen reveal Luthor’s crimes, exonerating Superman. Luthor and his allies are arrested, and all captives from the pocket universe are freed.

James Gunn is unafraid to put a new spin on the Kryptonian. Gunn’s Superman brings the whimsy and naivety lacking in Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” (2013). David Corenswet absolutely killed his role as Superman. Although some may argue that this movie isn’t worth watching because Corenswet is not masculine, is immature, and even has a slight temper, I would argue that this gives Superman the humanity and emotions lacking in Henry Cavill’s stoic portrayal of Superman in “Man of Steel.”

The casting for the main cast was also incredible. Rachel Brosnahan, acting as Lois Lane, was no damsel in distress, and had a crucial role in the film. Her chemistry with Corenswet’s Clark Kent was undeniable. The main villain was no slouch either. Nicholas Hoult embodied the hatred towards Superman in his portrayal of Lex Luthor. From his monologues to him glaring daggers at Superman when Superman spoils his plans, I could just feel his seething hatred through the screen.

In contrast, the side cast was very shallow. It’s pretty clear that the “Justice Gang,” consisting of Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabella Merced), only serves the purpose of expediting the creation of the DC Universe, a shared universe of heroes and villains under the DC branding. If Gunn was really insistent on having the Justice Gang in the movie, I would’ve loved to see them have more character development than just serving as a bailout when Superman is getting his butt kicked.

Additionally, the movie is filled with snarky one-liners that kill all the tension it builds up.  In the scene where the pocket universe begins to engulf Metropolis, Mister Terrific manages to find the time to complain to Superman for bringing his superdog, Krypto.

While Superman and Mister Terrific were busy with the pocket universe, halfway across the world, the Boravian military stands ready to massacre the citizens of Jarhanpur. Luckily, the Justice Gang and Metamorpho arrived just in time to save the day. As soon as Green Lantern arrives, what do you think he should do? Should he immediately start evacuating civilians, immediately engage with the hostile nation, or project an image of casualness in front of a kid saying some nonsense like “Superman couldn’t make it, so you got an upgrade?”

Overall, I give this movie a 7/10 rating. Despite its shallow characters and snarky one liners that ruin the pacing of the movie, it’s ultimately a light-hearted superhero movie where you can turn off your brain and enjoy. I’m excited to see what Gunn has planned next for the DCU. Superman is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Hulu, and YouTube TV.

By Sylvia Liu

After a three year wait, a disappointing adaptation of the Korean web-comic, “Who Made Me a Princess” was finally released this year in September after being announced in May of 2023. The name of the adaptation is “Fated Magical Princess : Who Made Me a Princess.” A Japanese voice over version was also released alongside the Chinese adaptation. It’s a disgrace to the korean web-comic, and the studio responsible for creating it is Colored Pencil Animation. It can be seen on Crunchyroll, iQIYI and Muse Asia on YouTube. It follows the character Athanasia de Alger Obelia, the only princess of the Obelian Empire, who is abandoned by her father, Clade de Alger Obelia, after her mother dies in childbirth. Through hardships and countless close calls with death, she gains her father’s affection.

The Chinese adaptation brings to life what readers imagine it will look like, a fantasy world full of luxury and many father daughter moments.  The backgrounds are very detailed, along with the clothing of each character. During the episodes they change into many outfits and each and every outfit is detailed to the point where every single petal of a flower is drawn.

While I enjoy the animation, it leaves out key details due to China's censorship rules. Some changes include the status for Anthansia’s mother from a dancer to empress consort, and the sanitization of characters, especially Clade de Alger Obelia, Athansia’s father, the emperor. Colored pencil Animation made his personality less cruel which is a bit frustrating, since it plays a big part in his character development and how Athanisa grows as a character in the Korean web-comic.

It’s disappointing that this is how they decided to do the adaptation. The original genre for the manhwa includes  fantasy, romance, and reincarnation, but after the changes they didn't focus on the romance with the male lead and sub male lead. It also removes the rebirth aspect that makes it a reincarnation web-comic, leaving only the fantasy genre. It deviates from the original too much.

The main difference in the first episode is that it doesn’t follow the story plot fully. In the Korean web-comic, Athanasia was reborn into a book she was reading in her previous life; in the anime, they don't show that. It’s a bit disappointing since that is a big part of the character, and it shows how she struggles to survive in her new world after knowing she will be killed by her father when she turns 18.

Throughout the webcomic we follow Athanasia through the challenges she faces, but in the adaptation they change the challenges that she faces so she will have an easier time.  An example is the lake scene, where Athanasia falls into the lake while trying to pick a flower. Originally she had to struggle to survive while drowning and we don't know who saved her until the later chapters. In the animation Athanasia struggled but we were allowed to see who saved her and it was less intense than the web-comic

After the first three episodes the adaptation becomes a whole different story and it’s nothing like the original. It’s nothing like how I imagined it. At this point it’s not even an adaptation, it’s a whole different story.

Throughout the anime, they make small changes through each episode that feel like a lot when added up. Overall the chinese adaptation is good, but doesn't follow the plot of the webcomic and it feels like it’s not the same story.

By Zoe Hong

Despite the anticipatory build up over six years for season three of “One Punch Man,” fans compare watching the season to watching a slide show, rather than an animation. “One Punch Man” is a comedy action show that follows Saitama, an overpowered super hero that can defeat any monster with just one punch as he struggles through finding meaning in life. 

For a show that features many fight scenes, it is instrumental for the action to be animated well, and the first season of “One Punch Man,” released in 2015, lived up to the excitement. However, when season two released in 2019, there was a notable drop in quality with inconsistencies in animation style and a lack of action even while being based around a fighting tournament. Season three continues this downward spiral with the few animated scenes featured being highly inconsistent and animated often without proper rendering.

It's disappointing to see a lack of care put into the animation for season three. Eager fans waited with high hopes for this season to return to the former glory of season one, only to be let down.

The first episode of “One Punch Man” launched on Adult Swim and ended with a fight scene between Saitama and a species of monsters called the Subterraneans. This first fight scene shows the dedication the animators had to bringing a loved manga series to the screen and the difference of how much effort was put into the animation in season one in comparison with season three.

Season one, episode one, still utilizes action lines, camera panning across stills, and cutting away from the mouth when characters are talking–all common tactics to avoid animating to save money. But unlike season three, season one doesn't rely on these tactics to distract the viewers. Season one animates consistently with shots in which the camera pans around multiple characters during fights and actually makes the jaw move when characters talk, unlike season three.

Many fans were hoping the animation quality would improve in the new season during fight scenes, but they were mistaken. 

In Season three,  episode six, the heroes all sit around planning their invasion of a monster hideout. The criticism that the new season is more akin to a slide show than an animation shines through as neon color stills are shown with the characters inner monologue in the background. The fight scenes in this reuse images for explosions,highlighting the lack of quality and care put into the new season, disappointing many fans. 

As the season continues to release every Sunday on Hulu and Disney+, fans can only hope the animation will improve. But with every episode being more of a disappointment, it seems unlikely this season will live to up any expectations. 

By Orin Yu

After a string of Marvel movies consistently falling short of expectations, “Thunderbolts*” delivers a much-needed jolt of electricity (almost like a thunderbolt) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As of late, Marvel has been trying too hard to hang on to their old stories, with countless sequels and crossovers, reusing characters and storylines, but “Thunderbolts*” breaks this pattern. With “Thunderbolts*”, it feels like Marvel has finally remembered how to make a good movie: with solid action, high emotional stakes, and fresh characters who make you excited for the inevitable sequels. 

Directed by Jake Schreier, “Thunderbolts*” brings together a group of anti-heroes, who all have various mistakes weighing on them. Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) becomes the unofficial leader of the team, joined by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and John Walker (Wyatt Russell). 

This ragtag group of mercenaries are forced to work together, despite animosity, when their shared employer finds them to be a liability and tries to get them to take each other out. 

What’s so great is that these aren’t perfect people; they’re messy, haunted, and all trying to do something good for once. As the asterisk in the title indicates, they are the “New Avengers,” filling the void left by “The Avengers,” after their story ended, but grittier and more personal.

All of these characters have appeared in other Marvel Studios works before: Yelena in “Hawkeye” and “Black Widow,” Ghost in “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” Walker in “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” and Bucky in a multitude of films. 

Even though these characters are not completely new, their appearance in “Thunderbolts*” gives them their first real opportunity to step out of secondary or antagonistic roles and take center stage. This shift gives the movie a unique edge because the team isn’t made up of the usual perfect superheroes—it’s made up of flawed, complicated people trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for.

Another thing “Thunderbolts*” does really well is explore some surprisingly heavy themes. Yelena is still grieving the loss of her sister Natasha, and the movie doesn’t pretend she’s fully healed. Instead, it shows how she hides her pain behind sarcasm and bravado, making her moments of honesty hit even harder. 

Walker, on the other hand, is wrestling with his own guilt after everything that happened in “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” as well as how his actions have affected his family life. You can tell he wants to prove he’s more than his past mistakes, even if he doesn’t always know how. 

Florence Pugh, as Yelena, absolutely steals the show. She’s funny, fierce, and vulnerable all at once. Her chemistry with the whole team gives the movie real emotional weight. 

The banter between the characters is sharp, the action scenes are intense, and there’s a sense of rawness that’s been missing from recent Marvel films.

Visually, “Thunderbolts*” looks amazing. It trades bright, over-the-top effects for darker, more grounded action that feels real. The fight scenes are tight and fast. And, unlike some of the recent MCU movies, the humor doesn’t undercut the serious moments; rather, it adds to them.

Even more impactful is the story behind the villain, whose struggle with depression is handled with way more seriousness than I expected from a Marvel film. Even with his massive power, he feels fragile, scared of losing control, and disconnected from the world around him. The way the movie shows the vulnerability of the characters adds a lot of heart to the story. It reminds me that being a hero in the MCU isn’t just about powers or fighting skills, it’s about trying to get back up when everything inside is telling them not to.

While I don’t expect “Thunderbolts*” to have the same culture-shaping legacy as “Iron Man” or “Guardians of the Galaxy,” I can easily see it bringing back fans to the MCU after dismal misfires like “The Marvels,” or “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” 

“Thunderbolts*” reminds me of the early MCU films, before they got too reliant on multiverses and cameos. I am excited to see where these “New Avengers” go. Maybe they really are the heroes that the MCU needs.