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10 Things to Look Forward to in 2023

Mary Johnston-Medina

The news that has been released lately has been gloomy. Younger generations are becoming more aware of the lurking variables that come with inheriting this planet, and they are not good ones. The impact this has on the mental health of people our age is devastating, and the fact that there is not much we can do alone can be overwhelming. This is why the Green Revival Team has decided to compile a list of the top 10 things for us to look forward to in the coming year! This list features events, celebrations, and notable occurrences that you can look forward to in 2023. I hope this list can shed a positive light on a  year that may feel overbearing!! Starting off with…

Number One: Movies

There is an impressive list of movies lined up for 2023! Some of which include the live action Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel,  Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan, the heavily anticipated Barbie movie, the second installment of the Dune movies, Wonka the Musical, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse.  

Number Two: Supermoons

This year we are set to have four supermoons. A supermoon is when the moon’s orbit is at its closest point to Earth, making the moon look larger than usual. It also sometimes gives it an orange glow! One of these supermoons is also going to be a blue moon. Mark your calendars for July 3rd, August 1st, August 30th (the blue moon), and September 29th to catch them.

Number Three: Minimum Wage Increase

Starting this January the minimum wage in Massachusetts will go up from $14.75 to an even $15.00 an hour! This makes Massachusetts have the 4th highest minimum wage in all of the United States. The lowest minimum wage is in Wyoming and Georgia where it's $5.15 an hour. The highest minimum wage is in Washington D.C. at $16.50 an hour.

Number Four: FIFA Women’s World Cup

The 9th edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is this year. It will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and is planned to play out 64 different matches in 10 different stadiums. It is the first co-hosted Women’s World Cup, has 32 teams playing, and will start in July. 

Number Five: OSIRIS-REX Mission

This fall the OSIRIS-REX Mission to collect and return asteroid samples from space. The spacecraft, OSIRIS-REX, has successfully retrieved the samples and as of September 21st, 2022 it has been in trajectory of Earth. OSIRIS-REX was launched in 2016, arrived at the asteroid in 2018, and is returning in 2023, making this a seven year long mission. The asteroid samples returned will tell us more about the composition of asteroids, including what elements are found in space (which may give us answers to how certain things on Earth got here.) If you're interested, the countdown for OSIRIS-REX to land can be found here. 

Number Six: Taylor Swift Eras Tour

Taylor Swift will be going on her first tour since the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018. Rehearsals have already started, and the first show is March 17th in Arizona. She will be performing a variety of her songs throughout her musical career. 

Number Seven: Warner Bros turns 100!!

The film studio Warner Bros, launched in 1923 by Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, will be celebrating its 100 anniversary this year! They plan to celebrate by uniting all the different media they’ve produced over the years. Warner Bros is responsible for bringing to the screen a wide range of characters including Batman, Harry Potter, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Superman,  Jay Gatsby, and Sherlock Holmes. In this campaign they plan to be “Celebrating Every Story.” 

Number Eight: Super Bowl 57

This year will be the 57th Super Bowl. If you’re not much of a sports person then there is also Rihanna’s halftime show to look forward to. It’s not known who will be playing yet, as the playoffs are just starting, but with Rihanna there it will surely be something to tune into!!

Number Nine: The Return of Popular TV Shows

As well as movies there are also new TV releases to look forward to! There is the HBO show The Last of Us, based on the popular video games, season three of the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, season three of Ted Lasso, season two of Abbott Elementary, and season three of Stark Trek: Picard. These are only a few hand picked from a plethora of shows set to release this year. 

Number Ten: The Oscars

This March will be the 95th annual Academy Awards ceremony. There have been a lot of well-rounded movies with amazing acting, behind the scenes work, and production, making it hard to predict the outcomes for some of the bigger categories. Later this month, nominations will come out and that will give us a better look at who the biggest contenders are, but for now people have been using the outcomes of other film awards to try and predict what this year's Oscars will look like.


Kiara's Book Reviews:

Kiara Vincent

Book: Tweet Cute 

Author: Emma Lord

Rating: 3.5/5 

Summary: Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account. Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time. All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built. As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

Review: This is a book absolutely perfect for those of you in need for a cheesy meet cute romcom. Everything about this book screams fluffy and lighthearted. This was one of the fastest books I’ve read and one of my favorite books when I first got back into reading. Quite frankly as I’ve gotten older and my test in books has evolved I have gravitated away from overly cheesy romance books. But this book is one of my favorite re-reads to this day. Many authors struggle to write a romcom without overloading it with clichés or overused plot lines. However, Emma Lord really did a good job of avoiding this typical romcom curse and I think that says a lot about her as a writer. This book also does a great job of describing family relationships and struggles that both of the main characters have on a daily basis. I won’t give too much away but some of the characters are absolutely insufferable, however if you can get beyond that the book is a really great one. 

Animal of the Week: Aye-Aye

Jeremy Borges

Madagascar is home to many strange creatures that are found nowhere else in the world. Much like the Galapagos Islands, Madagascar’s isolation from the mainland has resulted in the animals living there evolving some very specific and unique adaptations. One of the more well known inhabitants of the island are the lemurs.

Ever since the discovery of Madagascar, we’ve struggled to properly classify lemurs. They have jumped around from family to family and have now tentatively settled into the primate classification. Lemurs vary greatly in size, coloration, and adaptations, but the strangest of all has to be the Aye-aye. 

Originally thought to be a type of squirrel or rat, the Aye-aye has an even more convoluted history of being difficult to classify due to how strange it is. It is generally agreed that the Aye-aye either evolved and split very early on from the common ancestor of lemurs, or that the Aye-aye reached Madagascar at a completely different time than other lemurs and evolved confluently with them. 

It’s easy to see how it could be mistaken as a rodent with its continually growing teeth and long tail, but it really ascends beyond all classifications as its own weird, messed-up thing. Sporting the appearance of a drowned rat, the Aye-aye is maybe the ugliest mammal to walk the Earth with creepy, disproportionate eyes and scraggly, uneven fur. They are around two feet long with a majority of this length being taken up by its tail, and sport brown and yellow coloring that is rarely ever uniform, with the ends of their hair being white. 

The most unnerving feature of the Aye-aye is the adaptation of their fingers. They have six in total, with three of them having specific use while foraging for food. The third finger is used to rapidly tap against the bark of trees, searching for hollow chambers beneath the wood. When they find a hollow chamber, they use their teeth to gnaw into it. This is where the horrifyingly long fourth finger comes into play.

This finger is unique by using ball and socket joints rather than cartilage that most other species have. This makes the finger incredibly flexible and maneuverable. It uses this finger to dig around the exposed chambers for insect larvae and grubs to eat, as the finger is long and thin and therefore capable of reaching places that would otherwise be completely unavailable to most other animals. 

Creepy finger aside, they also possess a sixth digit classified as a pseudo thumb that is used to assist in climbing. The Aye-aye lives a majority of its life up in the trees, leaping to and from branches much like a squirrel as it searches for good places to forage bugs. This lifestyle makes the pseudo thumb imperative for keeping a hold as it hunts. 

Another strange trait they possess are the ridges along the inner surface of their ear. These ridges help to focus sound, allowing them to better listen for hollow chambers in wood while passively listening to its surroundings in case of danger. The reason that this is considered strange is because no other primate has been known to utilize echolocation, making the Aye-aye even more isolated from the rest of the primate family.

The Aye-aye is not just physically unique, but socially as well. Many primates are highly social, participating in grooming and pack behaviors. The Aye-aye, on the other hand, are fairly solitary. Each Aye-aye has their own territory that they have marked using scent glands on their cheeks and neck. Male territories will overlap with multiple female territories and occasionally other male territories, while female territories will never overlap with each other. The distance makes it impossible for Aye-ayes to practice monogamy, and are therefore polygamous. The only social behaviors they exhibit are mating and occasionally foraging together should two Aye-ayes meet.

Aye-ayes may have more social interactions that we have failed to observe, especially since they currently hold an endangered status. Lemurs in general are struggling to survive against habitat loss with about a third of all lemur species being critically endangered while the rest are threatened. Madagascar is a highly profitable tourist location which has resulted in a lot of deforestation to make the island as tourist friendly as possible. The recent pandemic may have halted progress momentarily, but regardless, lemurs are on the decline and will likely go extinct should progress continue. 

We are already aware of several lemur species that have gone extinct, likely due to human meddling. All extinct lemurs died long before the modern day and thus were never truly cataloged. The only evidence we have of these ancestors are poorly preserved fossils. One interesting fossil is that of a possible ancestor to the Aye-aye, currently known as the Giant Aye-aye. 

Madagascar has incredibly poor conditions for the fossilization of skeletons to occur. The only evidence we have of this creature are four incisors, a tibia and other bits of the skull. We have no idea what it would have looked like, only that it died out around one thousand years ago and was at least related to the Aye-aye. It is likely that it looked similar to the Aye-aye we know and hate today, but was around two times the size of one.

Although Aye-ayes are creepy, they are perfectly harmless and rarely interact with humans due to being nocturnal. They will of course defend themselves if threatened but are more prone to hiding rather than fighting. Despite all this, Aye-ayes are considered bad omens by many locals of Madagascar. Some claim that if an Aye-aye points at you, you are doomed to die. Some others believe that it sneaks into homes at night and uses its long finger to pick out your heart. 

All of these superstitions have led to the Aye-aye often being killed with extreme prejudice. Locals will hang them up on the borders of villages to ward off evil spirits, or simply beat them to death on sight. This has created even more of a strain on the Aye-aye’s already declining population. It’s not as devastating as the near-constant deforestation, but the deaths are unnecessary regardless. 

I’ve spent a lot of this article making fun of the Aye-aye’s appearance, but I feel I should make it clear that even if an animal looks like an absolute goblin, that does not diminish the worth of its life nor does it make them inherently dangerous. They are insect eaters and berry gatherers that wish to be left alone to eat and sleep up in the trees. Aye-ayes are one of the most intelligent species of lemur, and we should do our best to preserve this unique creature. There is nothing quite like it and it would be a shame to lose such an interesting animal to superstition and greed.

Cirque du Soleil Comes to Worcester

Nicholas York

What does it take to put Cirque du Soleil’s “Corteo” on the road? With 110 performers representing 16 different countries, a team of designers, technicians, directors, and managers, a live band, and 21 semi trucks filled with the show’s intricately-crafted sets and props, it takes much more than meets the eye.

With about 20 shows performing under the Cirque du Soleil name at all times, Corteo claims the title of the largest touring performance on the road right now. It takes a village far beyond the artists we see on stage each night- in the hours before the show, the DCU Center is alive and buzzing with activity. Right out of Europe, Corteo’s cast and crew has brought their joy and passion to Worcester through the weekend.

The story follows Mauro, a clown who brings the audience through visions of his life and death, with the stage split into two worlds- the physical present, and the heavens and spirits. The stage is two-sided, splitting the room into two- an audience at the front, and another in the back. The most technically-advanced show in Cirque’s docket, six performers can fly across the stage at a time, bringing a heavenly, dream-like feeling to the show. 

Corteo’s name means a procession, and to bring this to life, the performers move directly from one side to the other, ducking under the stage and flying across the dollies underneath to get back to the start before their next entrance. Each performer has a main act along with numerous cues, giving them nine seconds to get across the stage, hidden right in plain sight. 

More than a show, Corteo is a true manifestation of joy and a celebration of life, made possible only by the hours and hours of work put into it by the cast and crew. “At 100 people, you need people who are willing to get the job done,” senior tour director Michael says. “Whatever it takes.”

Michael has been with the show since 2007. More than anyone else, he knows exactly what it takes to make a performance of that magnitude work. “Failure is not an option.”

As the lights go down on opening night of Corteo, it’s clear that this performance will be anything but a failure.

Corteo is playing through January 15th at the DCU Center in Worcester. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/usa/worcester/corteo/buy-tickets. 

Kiara's Book Reviews

Kiara Vincent

Book: Paper Towns

Author: John Green

Rating: 3/5

Summary: Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life–dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge–he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues–and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

Review: John Green books are kind of a hit or miss… you may disagree, but it is what it is. I do think Paper Towns is a good book. There are a lot of twists and turns and the plot lines are actually pretty good. John Green definitely doesn’t stray from his formula very often; another one of his books, “Looking For Alaska”, follows a very similar plot line. That book however is a lot more triggering (check the trigger warnings before you read, I don’t like to spoil books). If you’re a fan of John Green I would recommend reading Paper Towns, it’s probably something you will really enjoy. However if you’ve never read John Green books before I wouldn’t recommend this book. The main book I would recommend is “Looking For Alaska” because they do follow similar plot lines (and quite frankly it’s the better of the two). 

Peter/Wendy Cast and Crew, Photo by Mr. Woloski

The Importance of Doing What You Love

Mary Johnston-Medina

High school is a really tough time. Nothing can properly recreate the ups and downs that come with those four very long years. As my years here come to a close I am left to reflect- Is there anything I could have done differently? Were there any opportunities I missed? How did I get through it? There are many answers to that question. Some specific to me, and others anyone can do. That is why today I offer some advice to any underclassman (or junior) who is willing to listen. When it’s time for you to look back on high school, like I am now, you will notice a common factor of things you remember- they are all things you loved doing. Eventually, you forget about that wrong answer you gave so confidently sophomore year, or when you embarrassed yourself so badly freshman year that you thought the world was going to end. 

What sticks with you throughout these four years are the people, activities, and the clubs which you looked forward to and devoted yourself to after school. Extracurriculars aren’t just for college applications- they build communities which make high school easier to get through. You make friends that will support you through hardships and lift you up when you are in need.

As someone who has dabbled in many different clubs, I can assure you that there is no other place I’d rather be. The clubs at Burncoat are full of welcoming, passionate minds, who love what they do. I have been one of these people in the Legacy, Drama, and Journalism club. 

I implore anyone who has the time to commit to a club to have a look at what Burncoat has to offer. Not only will you get to explore new things, but you might also find something that makes high school more bearable- at least, that's what happened for me. 

Next time you hear about a club you're interested in, try and stay after. I promise you it will be worth your while.

Animal of the Week: Whales

Jeremy Borges

Of all the great beasts to have roamed this planet, none have been quite as large and strange as the whale. It’s a well known fact that the blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived, far surpassing the size of even the largest known dinosaurs. They are also some of the strangest mammals alive, being purely aquatic despite breathing air and having far more complex social structures than the surrounding fish. 

This week’s AOTW will dive into the history of the whale species as a whole, revealing the confusing evolutionary line of these gentle giants and how exactly they got to this point.

Before we go down the rabbit hole that is the fossil record of these great beasts, the clearest hint that they evolved from terrestrial mammals comes in the form of their skeletal structure. At the back of their skeleton, completely useless and hidden beneath thousands of pounds of fat and blubber, are bones that resemble the hind legs of mammals. These bones are leftovers from their time on land, having shrunk and nearly vanished overtime as they lost the need for them.

Another piece of evidence lies within the developing embryos of whales. During development, small whiskers will begin to grow before receding and vanishing by the time they are ready to be born- Another hint that they once had whiskers and perhaps even fur. They also give birth to live young that they then nurse with milk, a trait exclusive to mammals. They even move like a mammal would by moving their body up and down like a running animal rather than side to side like a fish.

This all makes it clear that they evolved from mammals, but it doesn’t exactly explain how, or what their ancestors would’ve looked like. Thankfully the evolution path of whales is fairly well documented with their earliest named ancestor being the Indohyus . 

After the extinction of the dinosaurs, mammals truly began to grow and diversify to fill the niches that the great lizards left behind. As competition on land grew, some mammals turned to the shores and swamps as a place of abundant food and safety. The Indohyus was theorized to have similar survival strategies to the modern day fanged deer, diving underwater for safety. The bones of the Indohyus are similar in density to a hippopotamus’, reducing its buoyancy to prolong its hiding. 

Being only about the size of a raccoon, it’s hard to imagine that they would someday evolve to be the biggest animal to ever roam the Earth, but 50 million years is more than enough time to make any species completely unrecognizable from its ancestors. 

The Indohyus either lived alongside or diverged into our next step in the evolutionary path, the Pakicetus. The Pakicetus was much larger, being around the size of a wolf with a long snout full of sharp teeth and living around 48 million years ago. Where the Indohyus used the water for safety, the Pakicetus used it as a food source. Although mostly terrestrial, this creature had eyes close to the top of its skull and dense bones, all of which would allow it to hunt similar to a crocodile if it pleased. 

And clearly it did, as a new species appeared with this exact method of hunting. Around 47 million years ago lived the Ambulocetus, the next member of the evolutionary line. Theorized to be about the size of a sea lion, this creature had fully committed to the crocodile hunting style. Its body was streamlined and its skull was flat, allowing for stealthy ambushes. While it could still walk on land, it was sluggish and kept to the water, swimming similar to an otter. This species, alongside the Kutchicetus, are the main transitionary forms of the modern whale.

Kutchicetus lived around 43 million years ago, and was very awkward as one might expect of something stuck between land and sea. It was smaller than previous cetaceans but showed the clear transition to relying on its tail for movement rather than its hindlegs. It once again swam similarly to an otter, and was now transitioning from fresh water to the open ocean.

Dorudon is the most likely final link. It lived about 33 million years ago and is the first of this line that can truly be labeled as a whale. It grew to 16 feet long and weighed 2 metric tons, beginning to reach the monstrous size of modern whales (Not including the blue whale). The hindlegs have shrunk and become vestigial limbs that vanish more and more as time goes on. After the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event that took out its main competition, the Basilosaurus, the Dorudon diversified further into the two distinct groups of baleen and toothed whales. 

Present day, there are a total of about ninety species of whale all descended from this one origin species: The Indohyus. Evolution has carried these cetaceans through a wild ride of changes, and it truly shows how the process is completely random. Going from small pig-deer things, to wolves with hooves, to an otter abomination before finally reaching something whale adjacent… It’s a miracle that these magnificent beasts exist at all, and I’m grateful we’ve gotten the chance to share this planet with them along with so many other strange creatures.

Peter/Wendy: Behind the Scenes

Brigid Keaney

A week ago, the Burncoat Theater program put on a production of Peter/Wendy, which is basically a non-copyrighted version of Peter Pan, with a slightly darker tone. This show was amazing to be a part of and I’m very grateful for it, especially since this was my last fall show here at Burncoat. I really could go on and on about how great the cast was to work with and how much fun the show was, but that’s not nearly as interesting as everything that went wrong during the show nights.

And just like every good show, things definitely went wrong.

To set the scene, near the end of the show, Tinkerbell drinks Peter’s poisoned medicine to save him and almost ends up dying before being saved by the Lost Boys and the audience’s reaffirmed belief in fairies. Right after that, they go to save Wendy from Hook and a huge sword fight breaks out, between Peter and the Lost Boys vs Hook and the pirates. 

In between Tinkerbell almost dying and the sword fight, there was a light cue to have the stage “black out,” meaning that all the lights turn off to allow for a set change or for actors to not awkwardly walk on or off stage. In stage management, I cue all the technical aspects of the show, such as lights and sound. I told the person who was operating the light board to go to the next cue after Tinkerbell was saved, which went from a “full stage '' in which all the lights were on and the highest intensity, to a black out. She clicked the spacebar to move the cue forward so the lights would change and they didn’t move at all.

The screen was frozen. The panic and shock and confusion that I felt at the words “uhh… it’s frozen” from the light board operator will never escape my mind. Suddenly, the five of us in the booth went into panic mode. I think I went through the five stages of grief in those last 20 minutes of the show. 

The computer that froze, which has all the lights programmed in, is what we were using for the show. However, we also have a light board with individual sliders. When we realized that it was frozen and there was nothing we could do, we had to pull out the light board. During scene changes, we switched the cable that connects the computer or light board to the actual lights, and then back, not knowing what would happen next. Would the computer reboot? Would it have to be a full stage for the rest of the show? Would we have to use the light board?

Not only that but I had to go completely blind for lighting cues, as my script had been pushed aside to make room for the light board. Stage management has always been stressful, but I think that experience took 5 years off my life. After the show, when I told the cast about the light board freezing, they asked “when did that happen?”, which was the best possible response I could get. That meant that we had not only successfully carried out the rest of the show with a huge lighting issue, but had done it without anyone knowing. 

Of course other things happened, such as multiple props breaking throughout the course of the three shows, but no matter what, it paid off in the end (to me, at least.) Despite all the stress and chaos, it was a ton of fun and an amazing fall show to be a part of. 


Thank You Readers!!


Just a quick editor's note to thank you all for tuning in. We appreciate you, and receive your comments!! We welcome any comments, critiques, or suggestions you all may have. They help us better our issues, and learn what you all like or don’t like. That’s all from us this week, thank you for reading. 





ANIMAL OF THE WEEK


Jeremy Borges

Research involving deep sea sharks is very limited due to their habitat and elusive natures. Because of this, it is very hard to write a full article on one. Instead of focusing on one deep sea shark, this week's AOTW will focus on three different species; The Goblin Shark (top picture), The Frilled Shark (middle picture), and The Cookiecutter Shark (bottom picture).

First up, we have the Goblin Shark. This strange, almost alien shark is the last living extant of an ancient family of sharks that existed around 125 million years ago, hence its primitive, almost alien appearance. The Goblin Shark is a fleshy, tainted uniform pink along its entire body, with short fins and flabby proportions. Its snout is elongated past its jaw with said jaw being filled with hundreds of nail-like teeth. It generally grows to be around 10-13 ft long when mature, but a 20 ft long female was supposedly fished up in the 2000’s, although the records of this are suspicious. We have reason to believe that they live up to 60 years old, though this is merely a theory rather than concrete fact.

Much of the information surrounding the shark is merely guesswork based upon its body structure and the few rare clips we have of it actively hunting. It is assumed that due to its flabby body and small fins, the Goblin shark is a slow ambush predator that neutrally floats towards prey with minimal movement so as to not alert the fish. Once it is in range, its specialized jaw will catapult forward and snatch the prey up in a matter of seconds, leaving little to no time for the unfortunate fish to react. It is believed to hunt along the seafloor, eating anything that dwells there. 

We know nothing about its social and mating habits due to how rare sightings of this shark are. We do know that they are very widespread, having been discovered in every major ocean. They have been observed at depths of 330 ft, but evidence suggests they may be capable of diving as far as 4270 ft. Despite the lack of sightings, they are not considered endangered as it can be assumed the lack of information is due to its habitat rather than the species being low in numbers. The only interactions with humans they have had is occasionally being caught in deepwater fisheries. They are otherwise no threat to people.

Next on the list is The Frilled Shark. The Frilled shark is even more prehistoric looking than the Goblin shark and is similarly considered a living fossil. Where the Goblin shark is ugly, the Frilled shark is simply unnerving. Their coloring is very uniform and bland, ranging from brown to gray. Their mouths contain very unique trident shaped teeth that curve backwards towards the throat, assisting in snagging and trapping prey between their jaws. Their gills look almost weathered, hence their name. These sharks can reach an average size of 5.6 ft long for the males, with the females reaching 6’6 ft. 

We thankfully know a bit more about Frilled sharks despite their habits of residing at the absolutely crushing depths of 3900 ft, occasionally reaching a maximum depth of 5150 ft. This is due to their habit of hunting near the surface at night, resulting in them being caught more often by fisheries. They otherwise stick to biologically productive areas of the seafloor, where food is abundant. Frilled sharks prey upon bony fish and smaller sharks during the day, turning to the surface at night to balance their diet with more nutritious meals. There is one unfortunate curse that the Frilled Shark has to deal with, being the length of the pregnancies. Frilled sharks have an average of 6 pups per litter and will spend 3.5 years with them gestating inside of her- Triple the time it takes for a human pregnancy to finish! 

The final shark we’ll be looking at today is the infamous Cookiecutter shark. Despite the cutesy name and tiny size, this shark is probably one of the most horrific on this list. The Cookiecutter shark, nicknamed the cigar shark, is a small creature only capable of growing to a maximum of 22 inches. Up close, they look like something straight out of a sci-fi movie with forward facing eyes, a bulbous snout, large lips and a strange ‘collar’ of darker brown skin around its throat. The underbelly is covered in photophores that glow a startling green in hopes of attracting larger predators.

This may seem counterproductive. Why would any smaller creature want to entice a bigger predator into eating them? They even swim in large schools, attracting even more attention. The reasoning for this is quite simple: Cookiecutter sharks are everything that piranhas wish they could be. When a large-medium aquatic predator approaches, the sharks will swarm them and attach to their sides. Their lips act like suction cups, securing them to the flesh. They will then use their bottom rows of teeth to carve into its would-be attacker, resulting in circular chunks being removed and earning them their name. 

Due to this method of hunting, Cookiecutter sharks are classified as parasites, and certainly live up to the name. A wide variety of aquatic life has been observed to bear their trademark circular scars, ranging from dolphins to whales to seals and even to other sharks. There have even been attacks on humans in the rare instances that the Cookiecutter shark strayed close to shore, or a diver was unlucky enough to encounter a school. They generally prefer to stay at depths of 12144 ft during the day, but will migrate upwards to 279 ft at night- An incredible distance to travel within a few hours.

You needn’t worry about ever coming into contact with any of these Deep Sea Sharks, regardless of how frightening they may sound. As implied by the name, they stick to deeper waters with little to no contact with humans, only getting close to the surface during the night if at all. Even Cookiecutter sharks are relatively harmless to humans with only two attacks ever reported. I may have been harsh in describing these sharks, but all of them hold a special place in my heart as my favorite animals. 

The SAT's New Look

Mary Johnston-Medina


The SATs have been around for nearly a hundred years, and since their release have undergone multiple needed changes. With the unraveling of the digital age, happening right before our eyes, another change may be just on the horizon. The College Board has been looking into new ways to improve SATs for incoming high school students. Starting as early as next year for international students, the SATs will be online, shorter, and easier to access. As for students in the United States, the earliest change will start the fall of 2023, with PSATS. The first class that is scheduled to take these new SATs is the class of 2025, or this year's freshman. 

This new digital test will include shorter reading passages, math sections which all include a calculator, and a shorter testing period from the previous three hour long test. It would be found online, making it easier for schools to organize, as well help with the supply problem which has plagued the College Board since the beginning of the pandemic. 

These new changes will allow more students to take the test at a lower price. Along with the test taking process being shorter, the grading process will also see a significant change with students being able to get their scores quicker. 

The digital test also comes with the opportunity to make it adaptable. This new form of the exam has recently been put into testing, with positive results being recorded so far. This adaptable SAT makes it so the test gets harder as the student gets more questions correct. This format would be able to give a more accurate description of a students abilities as well as go along with what they seem to be thriving on. 

From what has been released it seems The College Board is making this test more streamline. Students are able to go into and out of the testing process quicker, making it easier to get done, but also to retake. With the online accessibility the retake process is also much easier to undergo.

Despite what seems to be a reasonable upgrade into the digital era, the new SATs do bring up some concerns about its effects on students' health. SATs are a stressful time for students, and on top of these nerves they will be exposed to irritating blue light rays from a laptop screen which could affect their test taking abilities, or drain them more than the present SATs do. 

The overall goal of this test is to send scores to the colleges students intend to apply to, but with the new trend of test optional are SATs going to lose their purpose? Starting in 2015, and picking up popularity during the pandemic, colleges have made it a choice to send in these scores. Some of the more popular schools on this list are UMass Amherst, New York University, Hampshire College, Brown University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After all these changes will it be worth the hassle? Are these upgrades just the College Board’s way of trying to keep standardized testing relevant? If so, how long will it last?


Sources:



The Mola Mola


Jeremy Borges

The Ocean Sunfish, or, more commonly, the Mola Mola, is well known mostly for the viral facebook post made by Scout Burns. The rant paints them in a very negative light and is, unfortunately, highly misinformed. Rather than list information for you today, I will be debunking misinformation because god forbid someone trash talk my favorite dinner plate of a fish.

The first thing they get wrong is the Mola Mola’s mobility. It’s understandable how they came to the conclusion that the Sunfish just drifts along with no real direction considering their appearance, but it’s actually a surprisingly powerful swimmer for its size. Despite clocking in at an impressive 4,400 lbs as adults, they are capable of reaching speeds of 2 mph- But this is just their cruising speed. If threatened, the Mola Mola is capable of launching itself out of the water to escape predators. This massive bony fish with no tail fin to speak of can launch itself clear out of the water. Scout Burns even mentions this fact, yet remains under the impression that they are practically incapable of movement. The leaps of logic one would have to make is astounding.

Speaking of movement, the author of the post also claimed that the “little control other than minor wiggling” means that they are unable to hunt anything besides jellyfish when they drift into its open mouth. First of all, it uses the massive fins on the top and bottom of its body like oars on the boat- It swims in a unique way, it doesn’t wiggle. Second of all, what? I have no idea how they came to this conclusion because it only takes a few minutes of googling to find that they eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth- Small fish, crustaceans, squids- and jellyfish only make up about 15% of their diet. 

Even then, they treat this fact like it’s a bad thing. Due to overfishing and climate change, there is a lack of predators keeping the jellyfish population in check resulting in a boom of jellyfish. This abrupt rise in their numbers has resulted in numerous complications, including blocking the cooling filters of two nuclear power plants and causing blackouts. Any animal that makes a dent in that population should be praised and protected for it, and the Mola Mola falls into that category. 

They also make the claim that due to the fact that the Mola Mola lacks a swim bladder, if they are tipped over even slightly, they will be stuck on the surface of the water. This is actually something they do, but not because they were knocked off course. This is a purposeful strategy made by the fish. Sunbathing is helpful due to the depths they go to when hunting and when they are at the surface birds will land on them and clean them of parasites. They have no way of getting rid of the parasites themselves, so this is actually incredibly clever of them especially considering that these are just fish. 

Finally, there is the claim that the Ocean Sunfish is useless, a mistake of nature, a flaw of evolution and only survives due to overspawning. This shouldn’t have to be said, but no animal requires a use. They do not owe you an explanation of their right to exist. It’s amusing to poke fun at strange evolutionary features, and the Mola Mola is extremely unusual in both behavior and appearance, but there is never a reason to call an animal useless. 

Scout Burns defends their claim by explaining that they offer no nutritional value to anything due to being a bony fish with very little meat on it, yet fails to comprehend that this is a massive evolutionary advantage for the fish itself. If no one wants to or is capable of eating you, you survive longer and therefore produce more offspring. Not to mention, their eggs would provide plenty of food for other sea creatures since they are correct when they say that they overspawn. In fact, they produce the most eggs out of any vertebrate, releasing up to 300,000,000 eggs each time they go into season. 

My point is, the Mola Mola isn’t stupid, nor useless, nor a mistake. We have fossils dating back to the Aquitanian stage of this fish, making their species around 23 million years old. They have survived not by chance nor by being a freak of nature, but by being well adapted and capable. As funny as the rant is, it fails to give the Ocean Sunfish its proper due, and boy does this fish deserve some positive recognition.      



ANIMAL OF THE WEEK


Jeremy Borges

Not many people will hear the word "wildcat" and think of the subject of this week’s AOTW: the sand cat. Reaching a maximum of 20 inches long from head to back with a 12 inch tail, the sand cat isn’t exactly the kind of fierce feline that we associate with wild cats, being only slightly smaller than the average housecat. Despite its size, the sand cat is well equipped to survive in the desert, with long fur that protects its paws from the hot sands and pale sandy fur patterns that help it to camouflage with its environment. 

The sand cat is found in the deserts of North Africa, as well as the Central and Southwest regions of Asia. It inhabits both stony and sandy deserts, preferring areas with sparse shrubbery as these areas are home to much of their prey. 

Speaking of prey, sand cats primarily hunt small, burrowing rodents. Their low ears have wide canals that assist in listening for any critters hiding below the ground. Once a burrow is located, they will swiftly dig up the tunnels to claim their prize, burying anything they don’t immediately eat for later. Although this is their main method of acquiring food, they will hunt just about anything smaller than them- including highly dangerous venomous vipers. Sand cats are capable of surviving with no water at all, gaining all of their hydration from their prey. They will, however, drink water if it is available, and have been spotted stealing sips of camel milk from human settlements.

Sand cats are incredibly elusive and solitary, only really socializing with other sand cats when they are ready to mate. They are so solitary that new mothers will often accidentally neglect their own kittens, being used to surviving and hunting for only themselves. Sand cats are almost always on the move, traveling long distances overnight within a sort of home territory range. During the day, they will take shelter within one of the many dens within this territory. Sand cat dens are not made by the cat itself, but are rather taken over after being abandoned by larger predators, or being cleared of smaller prey. Some dens will be shared by two or more sand cats with overlapping home territory, but they will never reside in the same den at one time. 

Unfortunately, sand cat territory is shrinking everyday due to human interference. As humans clear shrubbery for homes and contribute to further desertification, sand cats are losing the few places they can find food in the already unforgiving desert landscape. Fenced in areas of human settlements often result in loss of land, or accidentally trapping sand cats. Worse than accidentally trapping or harming sand cats are the people who set traps and kill sand cats for hunting their poultry- something they only do when their original hunting grounds are destroyed. Humans also tend to bring invasive domesticated dogs and cats which will kill and spread diseases to the vulnerable sand cat. Thankfully this is not enough to mark them as endangered, but it is still sad to see any wild animal suffer.

There is also a problem relating to the illegal pet trade. Sand cats are wild exotic cats and are therefore illegal to own as a pet. This of course does not stop people from attempting to own them as pets, expecting them to be like the domestic house cat. While it is true that sand cats are very cute and are of similar size to house cats, they are not equipped to survive as a pet.

Many sand cats die due to uninformed pet owners who don’t view them as anything more than an interesting looking house cat. If housed in an environment that isn’t dry like their natural habitat, they will develop painful and life threatening respiratory infections. They are also extremely curious creatures and will make twice the mess the average cat would with their antics. Where a domestic cat would knock over a cup or two, a sand cat is likely to knock over your tv. 

Most of all, they are wild animals with extremely strong instincts, making them skittish and anxious in environments they were not designed to thrive in. It’s similar to trying to adopt a wild rabbit vs a domestic rabbit. A wild rabbit will only ever be stressed and terrified as every single one of its instincts tell it that it is in danger, while a domestic rabbit has been bred for interaction with humans. A sand cat will only ever be stressed if put into this situation. They are NOT house cats, no matter how similar they look or how cute they are, and it is cruel to try and force them into the role of one.

This applies to all wild animals. If you rescue a wild animal, please remember that they were not bred to live with humans and are likely terrified. Do not try to keep rescued animals in your home any longer than necessary. If the animal is unable to return to the wild, turn them over to a wildlife sanctuary or rehabilitation center so that they may have a chance to live a normal life. 

Thank you for reading, I will see you next week!

Burncoat's Wearing Pink!

Mary Johnston-Medina


Last Friday, October 26th, Burncoat had a pink out to commemorate all those battling breast cancer. This pink out was run by the Burncoat Legacy Club, who also raised $600 dollars which went to three different charities: Pawsitively for Pink, Ovations for a Cure, and Cervivor. Thank you to all who participated!! Make sure to follow their Instagram (@bhs.legacyclub) to stay tuned to find out what Legacy Club will do next.



Kiara's Book Reviews

Kiara Vincent

Book: Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating

Author: Lauren Christina 

Rating:4/5 

Summary: Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take— and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun. Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air. Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them...right?

Review: Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating is the perfect fluffy funny romance for whenever you are looking for a quick simple read . The will they/ won’t they dynamic between the two of them is both semi draining but entirely fascinating. This book includes the grumpy/sunshine trope that Josh and Hazel fit into perfectly. The best part of this book is the message Hazel comes to accept throughout the story. (No real spoilers I promise)

P.S: If you enjoy this book you should check out BHS’s Book Club. Meetings are 2-3 in the library. 

Stage Managing

Brigid Keaney

In my two years of stage management, I've worked on a variety of different shows. But no matter how much experience I gain or how prepared I am, the adrenaline rush I get when I'm sitting in the booth at the top of the theater is always the same. Whether it's the fear that everything is going to go horribly wrong or the excitement that people are finally able to see what I’ve been working so hard on, I can’t relax until it’s over. 

During shows, this feeling is stressful, yes. I spend hours and hours working to make a show all it can be. Imagine it all just fell apart in front of my eyes: those hours and hours of work, with the directors and the actors and the crew, all for nothing. It is a huge commitment, involving a lot of organization and coordination. On top of being a student, it was incredibly draining to balance it all. 

But, I believe the reward pays off. I’m endlessly grateful for the opportunities and connections it’s given me. It has given me confidence I didn’t think possible in myself and a passion I never thought I would have. Although I’ve only been stage managing for a year now, the growth I’ve seen in my abilities is insane. I see it in my old scripts and documents, I see it in how I carry myself when leading or speaking to others, and I see it reflected in the show that I watch from the booth.


Happy Halloween!

Seniors were allowed to dress up for the holiday. Take a look at who everyone dressed up as! 

Kiara's Book Reviews

Kiara Vincent

Book: Good Girls Guide to Murder

Author: Holly Jackson

Rating: 5/5 

Summary: Everyone in Fairview knows the story. Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town. But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer? Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

Review: Originally I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book because of how hyped up it was (I have found that if a book is talked about a ton it is either really good or really average). However I was hooked within the first 10 pages. Holly Jackson managed to encapsulate everything that a murder mystery should be in her book without having a dull moment. Pip’s journey in trying to prove Sal’s innocence is both incredibly interesting but also dangerous and thrilling. She puts her life on the line and uses her killer detective skills to find the truth. I would recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of YA and is trying to get into murder mysteries. This book is the first in a three part series that centers the mysteries hidden after Sal’s death and Pip’s path to uncovering them. The whole series does a phenomenal job at keeping you interested with the added logs, emails, interviews, and text messages in between chapters. 

P.S: If you enjoy this book you should check out BHS’s Book Club. Meetings are 2-3 in the library. 

Note from the Editor

Nicholas York

Welcome back to Burncoat, everyone! We hope you’ve all had a relaxing summer and a great start to the school year. As Journalism Club kicks off for the year, we are always looking for new members! Find the “Interested in Joining” button on our homepage or reach out to Nicholas York or Mary Johnston-Medina for more information.

 This issue, we’re featuring some of our great student work, from articles to book reviews to original artwork. If you’re interested in submitting for a future issue, don’t hesitate to reach out! We can’t wait to spend this school year with all of you!

Jeremy Borges

Death of a Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II dies at 96

Mary Johnston-Medina

Thursday, September 8th, will be marked in history as a day of mourning, of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reining ruler of the United Kingdom. The death of Queen Elizabeth II came as a shock to many people both in the United Kingdom, and around the world. Although when we go to remember her rein it's important to remember all aspects of her rein, not just the good parts.

Her rule began in 1952 when she was 25 years old. She started her 70 year reign by being the first monarch to televise her coronation. Throughout her time on the throne she and her advisers were very active in the media. She utilized television and radios as forms of communication to address her subjects directly. Creating a closeness with her subjects. She was also very active when it came to visiting her people, with her regular tours to the other countries where she reigned or had good relations. Although, the idea of a monarchy was one that was quickly dying out. Many people spoke out against the monarchy and her rule, resenting what the Queen stood for. 

The British monarchy stood through many indescribable horrors of history, and supported many of them including the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, colonization* of many countries around the world, and  delay of important acts such as the Equality and Diversity Act. All while holding itself above The United Kingdom's laws. Queen Elizabeth II was no exception.

Throughout her lifetime she held a position which was a part of a system put into place hundreds of years ago to keep the working class distracted from the harsh realities of their lives. Her influence on the people of the world was also what allowed her to keep her “international privilege”.  Then, of course, there is the fact of her wealth that many people believe is just irrational. At the time of her death the Queen owned six residences, a jewelry collection worth 5 billion pounds, and a personal wealth of 420 million pounds. More recently, there was the scandal in 2021 regarding the inappropriate comments made by the royal family to Meghan Markle regarding her race.

Queen Elizabeth II was a historic ruler for mixed reasons. She did many important things for the world, and there will always be people supportive of her life and her accomplishments, but in honoring her we must not cherry pick what we remember.

Colonization: taking/settling on land which belongs to other people and claiming it your own

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/world/europe/queen-elizabeth-dead.html 

https://www.history.com/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-key-moments 

https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-monarchy-has-benefited-from-colonialism-and-slavery-179911 

Man holding a large coconut crab.

ANIMAL OF THE WEEK

Jeremy Borges

Content Warning: Arachnophobia

The coconut crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, reaching a maximum length of 3 ft, and weighing up to 9 lb. These colossal creatures have existed as early as the Miocene era and were first recorded by Francis Drake in 1580. They are capable of living past 60 years and inhabit islands on the Indian and Pacific Ocean exclusively. They have earned many names such as robber crab or the palm thief due to their habits of dragging things off to their dens, and are scientifically known as Birgus Latro.

Despite its name, the coconut crab is not a crab at all, and is in fact a hermit crab. When they are young, they will use the discarded shells of snails as protection. This is the only period of time that the crab is in the water- In fact, adult coconut crabs will drown after an hour of being underwater. Once they outgrow smaller shells, they move to land and use coconut shells until their carapace has hardened enough to protect them. They grow very slowly, reaching sexual maturity at 5 years and continuing to grow for another 60.

The diet of a coconut crab is varied as they are known to eat just about anything they can get their claws on. While preferring to feed on fruits, nuts, seeds and pith, they will happily devour any turtle hatchlings and dead animals they come across. They also eat coconuts, as the name suggests. Their powerful claws are capable of cracking the shell, with their smaller claws pulling the flesh through the cracks. While not known for hunting, they will occasionally go after vulnerable sea birds or cannibalize smaller coconut crabs.

While they have no natural predators, the coconut crab is considered a vulnerable species due to humans hunting them excessively. The meat is prized and considered a delicacy and aphrodisiac by hunters, and it is rare to find coconut crabs on any island inhabited by humans. Killing and eating this crab is a dangerous habit however, as depending on the crab’s diet, its meat can be highly toxic to humans. 

There is a rather morbid theory surrounding the coconut crabs in relation to Amelia Earheart. It suggests that after her plane crashed, coconut crabs found and devoured her body before carrying the bones to their dens after mistaking them for coconuts. The only evidence for this theory is a crashed plane on a remote island that happens to be inhabited by coconut crabs. 

Despite this tale, coconut crabs are relatively harmless. While their claws are powerful and their appearance intimidating, they do not pick fights with humans unless threatened as any wild animal would. It is best to keep pets away from them however, as there are many reports of them killing small dogs and cats.