FRONT PAGE: Conservative underrepresentation persists as 2016 dialogue intensifies

Story by Zach Horowitz ’19 and Fritz Schemel ’17 |  Graphic by Channing Smith ’17

As the 2016 election barrels towards the finish line, political dialogue surrounding it has grown increasingly tense at Staples. Of 200 Staples students who were surveyed, just 17 percent of liberal students felt their views were underrepresented, compared to 88 percent of conservatives who felt their views were underrepresented at Staples. The poll did not include an option for independents.

Christine Taylor ’18, who considers herself conservative, said that this underrepresentation can have an effect in the classroom.

“Sometimes, like in class, most people will be supporting one side and since my views are different, I think I can’t contribute,” Taylor said. “If I say something, I’m like, ‘OK, well the majority of the class agrees on this one point, and I’m kind of…out. I don’t know who else agrees with me.”

However, Drew Coyne, an A.P. social studies teacher, said that all teachers attempt to create a fair playing field in their classes.

“I think it’s about creating an equal platform for all kids to hear [different views], because some kids may be feeling quiet,” he said.  “They may be feeling uncomfortable whether they’re conservative or liberal, depends on the classroom, but it’s about me creating a community where ideas are welcome.”

Despite the effort of teachers to maintain an unbiased position in the classroom, many teacher unions, including the American Federation of Teachers, have endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president, and have supported Democratic candidates for many years. Some students believe that national endorsements by teacher unions indicate bias.

“I have had certain teachers that teach with a liberal bias,” James Allott ’17, a Libertarian, said. “I believe a teacher would challenge [a liberal] kid less than they would a conservative kid who openly voiced their views.”

Some conservatives feel they have been challenged and pressed on their beliefs. At the end of the 2015-16 school year, Allott shared a pro-gun rights message on Facebook by posting a link to an article written by the Huffington Post and expressing his opposition to it.

“I was sworn at, called names,” Allott said. “I definitely faced harsh and critical backlash from the student body. With that being said, they were definitely people who supported and agreed with that view.”

Moreover, liberal students are aware of the possible underrepresentation of conservative students at school. Maddie Baildon ’19 identifies as liberal and has noticed dismissals of alternative viewpoints.

“One of the kids in my pottery class last year is a Republican, and he talked about [how] whenever he tried to talk about his views in his social studies class, he would be shut down almost immediately,” Baildon said.

Ultimately, with over 25 percent of the Staples population expressing in the survey that they feel their political views are judged in the class, the divided political climate plagues many.“People hear what we’re saying,” Noah Lomnitz ’17, a conservative, said. “But they’re not really listening.”

While conservatives felt vastly more judged, 36 percent liberals believed they were judged too.

“I feel judged about issues that are highly controversial such as guns, healthcare and abortions,” Emily Porter ’17, a liberal student, said. “I think that conservative students must feel the same way about extremely stubborn liberal students.”

This hostile political climate can have a negative consequence for all students when they leave Staples and Westport, A.P. Government and Politics teacher Rob Shamberg says.

“You’re not just going to stay here your entire lives,” Shamberg said. “I don’t believe your mind is made up yet as 16, 17, 18-year old kids. And if it is, you haven’t done enough thinking about the issues. I’ve met very few people, adults or children, who are entirely left or entirely right.”

CENTERSPREAD: Xanax permeates through Staples

Story by Molly Liebergall ’17

*Names have been changed

The introduction

Sarah* hesitated before accepting the white tablet offered to her.  Standing there in a friend’s apartment, with Kygo playing in the background and crowd chatter fading to white noise, she broke off one quarter of a two milligram bar of Xanax and palmed the small, “X”-labeled drug, pausing before swallowing it like a pill and chasing with Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey — straight from the bottle.

“Yeah, I don’t remember that night,” Sarah said.  She furrowed her eyebrows and turned to her friend, Emma*, seeking restoration of the memories that had escaped her.  “What am I usually like?” she asked.  “Am I happy?”

Emma looked up and contemplated Xanax, the drug responsible for the numerous nights that Sarah has “blacked out” or not remembered.

“I don’t think anyone I’ve ever watched take it has been in a good place,” she said.  “Your worst nights have been when you combine Xanax and alcohol.”

Because of the increasing popularity of this drug, Sarah is not alone in her experience. In a recent anonymous survey sent to the entire student body, almost 10 percent of 312 respondents reported taking Xanax recreationally, while 40 percent know someone who does.

What is it?

Xanax, an antianxiety, is the brand name of alprazolam, a benzodiazepine belonging to a group of medicines known as central nervous system (CNS) depressants.  When used properly, it can help those suffering from anxiety with their symptoms.  When used improperly, however, the repercussions can range anywhere from drug-induced stupor to death.

“You can have respiratory depression and die,” Village Pediatrics physician, Dr. Carol Nicole Gorman, said.  “You are so numb that you don’t even realize that your respiratory rate is going down.”

The numbness Gorman refers to is a perversion of Xanax’s intended effect, which is to relieve the user of the symptoms of anxiety disorder: shakiness, accelerated heart rate and fatigue, to name a few.  However, when non-prescribed users ingest the drug in a social setting, devoid of precautions and guidelines, Xanax transforms from a “life changing” medication, as described by Thomas*, a prescribed user, into a life-threatening narcotic.

“You’re completely depressing your central nervous system, so you’re slowing down your breathing,” health teacher Nicole Comerford said.  “Your blood flow is going to slow down; everything could potentially stop.”

Despite the fact that Thomas’ severe anxiety has legally obtained him a prescription for Xanax, many of his other interactions with drugs are illicit.

Before seeing a doctor, he self-diagnosed and self-medicated with his dad’s and grandparents’ Xanax “scripts” that otherwise went mostly unused, and such actions are not unique only to him.

Westport child psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Lopez Cohen wondered if teens without prescriptions might access Xanax through their parents, since many doctors and psychiatrists actually try to avoid prescribing it to teens, “unless a patient has tried and failed other benzodiazepines and is not yet stable on long standing anti-anxiety medication,” Cohen said.

Getting it

Colonial Druggist & Surgical Supplies pharmacist Russell Levine has privately owned his store, located on a main stretch of the Post Road, since Sept. 15, 1968, and has witnessed countless drug trends throughout the years, including the abuse of pills like Xanax.

At the pharmacy, 250 to 300 prescriptions are filled every day and 10 to 15 of those prescriptions are often Xanax intended for adults, according to Levine.  The facts that Xanax is most often prescribed to adults while Xanax abuse has increased in teens led Levine to conclude that teens are stealing the drugs from their families.

“The prescription is made out to one of the parents or someone in the family, and if it’s in the medicine cabinet, it’s not locked up,” Levine said.  “If someone wants to experiment, it’s available.”

As a prescribed user and someone who has received specific pharmaceutical instruction from a medical professional, Thomas is aware of the health risks accompanying recreational Xanax use.  However, as a self-proclaimed drug dealer motivated by money, Thomas still sold customers the drug.

Among his variety of narcotics, both prescription and otherwise, Thomas used to sell some of his “stockpile” of nearly 100 alprazolam pills for five dollars per milligram.  However, after one of his previous customers was hospitalized for combining Xanax and alcohol, Thomas admits to only selling rarely now.

“I realized people could die from what I’m selling, and I can’t control how they’re gonna use it,” Thomas said.

Nevertheless, between 2002 and 2016, the number of Xanax prescriptions written per year jumped by almost 10 million in the United States, a trend Comerford believes is “unfortunately” responsible for more “readily available” prescriptions to abuse.

“It’s going to be whatever’s out there, whatever’s in people’s medicine cabinets that they can easily get,” she said.

And even if Xanax is not accessible at home, Sarah and Emma acknowledged that the drug is effortlessly attainable in the Staples social scene.  Several months ago, for example, the friends attended a party where a miscommunication resulted in dozens of people unknowingly ingesting jungle juice — mixes of different alcohol and chasers like Gatorade — spiked with Xanax.

“I walked into the kitchen and they were crushing up [pills] and putting it in the cooler,” Sarah recalled.  Although the orange Gatorade jug being filled was supposed to remain upstairs and away from the party, one attendee mistook the contents for regular alcohol and toted it to the center of the festivities.

“I remember suddenly looking around and I was like, ‘Why is that here? Why is everyone drinking that?” Sarah said.

“I remember freaking out,” Emma added.  “Jungle juice in general is something to be wary of, but once you start mixing drugs…if you get that much put in your drink you can blackout.”

For Levine, after almost 50 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Xanax abuse is another dangerous tendency in a long line of dangerous tendencies.

“I’ve been in this business a long time, and you see different trends of drug experimentation,” he said.  “Drugs are a problem, it’s as simple as that.  If they’re used correctly, it’s fine, but if they’re not used correctly, then we have an issue.

BACK PAGE: Fall sports quick hits

Story by Cooper Boardman ’17 |  Multimedia by Cooper Boardman ’17

Field hockey on fire

The best story thus far has been the field hockey team. Entering its third week of play, the Perhaps the best story of this fall season has been the field hockey team. Entering its third week of play, Staples was 7-0 and had yet to allow a goal, outscoring opponents 50-0 in that span. The team’s dominance has been staggering, highlighted by 14-0 and 8-0 rompings of St. Joseph and Stamford respectively. And that 50 goal total is already eight more than last year’s squad scored in its entire season a year ago. While the team has faced the FCIAC’s bottomfeeders thus far, a six-game stretch against the league’s heavyweights—New Canaan, Wilton, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Darien and Warde—will determine if the Wreckers are truly title contenders.

Soccer struggles… Or not?

The boys’ soccer team got off to a rough start in its 2016 campaign, opening 1-2-2 with losses to Stamford and Danbury. In Connecticut’s deepest soccer league, the Wreckers looked to be in challenging territory as it attempted to climb up the FCIAC standings. However the team responded with a strong performance, tying an undefeated Greenwich side, in part due to goalie Ziggy Hallgarten ’17 who dyed his hair bright blonde after the team’s slow start to the season, citing the fact “something needed to change.” The senior captain came up with a game-high six saves, preserving the shutout and keeping the Wreckers’ playoff hopes alive. On the girls’ side, Staples entered week three with a record of 4-1-1, but the team suffered a huge blow to its postseason hopes with the loss of captain and Yale commit Lydia Shaw ’17, who tore her ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. Nonetheless, the Wreckers will still be a contender in the FCIAC with opportunities against the league’s best in Greenwich and St. Joseph still ahead, and will look for Fordham-bound Charlotte Rossi ’17 and Bucknell commit Tia Zajec ’17 to shoulder the load in Shaw’s absence.

Too early to tell

On the gridiron, the football team is off to a 3-0 start. The parallels to field hockey are evident— they have dominated opponents, outscoring Brien McMahon, Danbury and Wilton by a combined score of 116-26, but the toughest part of the schedule is ahead for the Wreckers. Two easier league games remain on the docket in Fairfield Warde and Stamford. But the team’s first true test comes on the road against Norwich Free Academy on Oct. 8. If the Wreckers can survive the hour-plus bus ride and state power and defeat Ridgefield two weeks later, they could conceivably be 7-0 entering week eight against an undefeated defending state champion in Darien. To be fair, it’s early on, and Staples still has to run the gauntlet with all of its next four games on the road, including a trip to a hostile environment at Tiger Hollow.

What else you need to know

Overall, it’s been a successful campaign thus far for Wrecker teams. Staples fall sports began the year a combined 16-3-2 over the first two weeks—a cumulative winning percentage of .809. Girls’ volleyball is back on the rise after a couple of tough seasons, including a 3-0 sweep of defending state champion Fairfield Ludlowe. The boys’ cross country team has continued its dominance on the course, winning the Stratton Brook invitational on Sept. 17, led by Zak Ahmad ’17’s performance.