Austin Lamb - Co-Editor in Chief
Senior Column: Pain and the natural world
I’ve dealt with suicidal ideation, as have many, many people on this Earth, especially in this day and age. I think that, in a way, all of these people belong together in some form or another. We are all connected through some sort of invisible string that dangles us above a creeping urge to disappear. Yet somehow, I have constructed a will to move forward on the foundation of a truth that I find to be universal, which so far has kept me firmly grounded in reality and yearning for life and experience.
IL heavy bands shred the competition
Hardcore and heavy music have had a strong and thriving underground scene throughout Illinois since the late 1980s. Venues like the Metro and the now closed Medusa’s hosted shows during the early days of punk before the scene expanded outwards to the suburbs and beyond. Some of the most notable bands to emerge from the Illinois heavy music scene include Chevelle and Rise Against, but five (mostly) lesser-known modern bands are making solid tunes and representing the Land of Lincoln well.
[[SATIRE]] New workout pitched to board
The parents of Oswego students have worked their hardest to incorporate different wellness routines into Kinetic Wellness courses. After the overwhelming success of the 9/11 workout experience, a local Facebook group, We the Grandparents, immediately put it upon themselves to create a second, better workout. After weeks of research, a workout based on the events of the January 6th insurrection was modeled and pitched to the school board.
Opinion: Younger generations drive two-party discontent
Both dominant political parties in the US have been observably shifting away from their core ideology for decades, yet the years following the 2016 elections have brought even further political polarization and discontent for America’s deeply ingrained two-party political system. In a 2023 survey conducted by Pew Research, 28% of Americans reported holding negative views regarding both major political parties in the US, a percentage that has continued to rise since the 90s. The study additionally found that younger age groups hold more discontent for both parties than older groups, with 35% of 18 to 49-year-olds holding negative views for both Democrats and Republicans. “[[The two-party political system]] worked for what it was for a while, but now we’re getting to a point where we’re seeing how it’s not working anymore, with two very drastic sides that the two-party system is taking. Rather than just differing on values, it’s now completely skewed to hatred,” said OH senior and SD308 school board student ambassador Luke Lockwood.
A Dedication to Kai
On Aug. 25, 2023, a 17-year-old named Kai released an EP titled “Today I Laid Down.” He submitted the project to a YouTube livestream by Brad Taste in Music, to which it was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback and praise by both Brad and the stream chat. Only a few months following this, Kai tragically took his own life. Since then, “Today I Laid Down” has received even more praise and is now a beloved staple of the online music community.