6. Schnitzel 2025

The annotations we did in class were on a really personal topic, the article with its express title “Not by Math A one” hit a bit too close to home. I will always be a stem student for all of my life, the boons of mathematics will be ingrained inherently throughout my core, but I’ve also come to understand that STEM is not the only way to success. The article is clearly a well thought out and effectively persuasive argument for the salutary effects of the arts. Yet, I felt attacked personally while reading the article. This is because I never thought that I would never be on the side against mathematics in any issue. Therefore to play the devil's argument, I will express my belief that mathematical knowledge is hated by wider society because it is misrepresented society. Mathematics is treated as a subject of express rigidity and inherent limits of prognosis, yet if you were to ask a mathematician I believe that they would answer that Mathematics is a tool for creativity. Mathe...

Promotional poster for Season 2 of Dance Moms. Source: Dance Moms Wiki In all eight drama-filled seasons of Dance Moms , only one episode has been deleted. Season 2, episode 9: “Topless Showgirls.” For those unaware of the trashy masterpiece that Dance Moms is, the show revolves around competitive dancers from the Abby Lee Dance Company and follows them (and their mothers’ clashes with creative director and head choreographer Abby Lee Miller) as they prepare for the national competition. In season 2, most of the girls’ ages ranged from seven to thirteen years old. The oldest dancer hadn’t even reached high school; what business did S2E9 have for topless showgirls? As it turns out, Miller had choreographed a routine for the girls to act as Las Vegas showgirls, giving them flesh-colored tops as costumes. Obviously, the episode was soon taken down, but the damage had already been done. There are still images and even videos of the routine circulating online, some with camera quality so p...

  “A 400-meter run can’t be that bad, trust me,” my friend told me in my freshman year . We’ve all been influenced before, in one way or another; through family, friends, teachers, coaches, and popular figures we look up to. Influence can be good or bad, depending on the result of our actions. Branching off of my last blog, I briefly mentioned how external factors play a role in shaping our decisions. For instance, I would not take my daily walk outside if it is raining at the time; I would either walk later or do some physical activity from home during that period of time. I talked about time and weather, but I never talked about people. So allow me to introduce (arguably) the most influential external factor of them all: humans.  The closer someone is to you, the greater influence they have on you. Why? I’m not a psychologist, but I assume it is because you would trust someone’s advice more if you’re close to them, whether you’ve known them for a long time or recently starte...

I knew the concert was going to change me. The date was marked on every calendar I had, the setlist was memorized, and my outfit was decided weeks in advance. Cigarettes After Sex, my favorite band ever, was finally touring, making a stop in Oakland, and I was going to listen to their music in a way that I had dreamed about. Even before my friends and I arrived, it was a battle. We spent hours on calls trying to get the perfect seats, not too far in the back but not too expensive either. After constantly refreshing pages, jumping between ticket sites, and nearly giving up, we managed to secure our tickets. From there, the countdown started. What I didn’t know was how much the concert would really affect me. Their music is sad, but I never anticipated crying 9 times in 90 minutes. Cigarettes After Sex’s music isn’t exactly the type you would imagine at a concert, it’s soft, dreamlike, almost hypnotic. Somehow, that made the experience more intense. Every note lingered in the air, sweepi...

I don’t hold in my tears well; I’ve been told many times that I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve cried everywhere. By everywhere, I mean everywhere. In my house, at school, even at a crossing stop on the road. I know that I’m sensitive and vulnerable, but isn’t everyone? Don’t our tears make us human? There’s been a large shift in culture to look nonchalant and effortless. From “natural” makeup (can makeup ever really be natural?), “natural” success (is it success if no effort was made?), to “natural” love—we prioritize the aesthetic of not trying. Source: Pinterest When I say “natural love,” I mean love as something passive, something to “fall into” rather than diving headfirst; this video essay details exactly what I mean. I agree that love is active; perhaps it is not a choice, but love is seen through actions and the clear execution of intentions. I feel like an old lady whining about how back in the good old days, people still cared—but I don...

  I do not have a Social Security Number. Don’t worry, it’s not what you think. A person dependent on someone with a work visa (H-1) gets a dependency visa (H-4) which makes you ineligible for a SSN. I was born in India and do not have a green card yet, so I get to have an ITIN . Lengthy introduction for a single point, but I was born in India. Even though I only lived in India for the first 3 years of my life, Hindi was still my first language. It's my mother tongue, the language I use to converse with my family. This language places me in a position where I feel like I am in a tug-of-war, a push and pull where I lack the control to feel accepted in either culture. First, let me address the culture behind speaking Hindi. We underestimate the influence language has on your life. I never was viewed as an “American child” by my classmates, but to Indian uncles and aunties, I was a typical “American child.” Expecting me to be an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi), five-year-old Ruhika...

Capitalization is such a powerful tool (or at least I think so).  I do not know if it's because I am Chinese so I find capitalization to be such a fancy thing. In Chinese, there is no capitalization, when I look at Chinese text it is just flat ( Important things need to be said three times in chinese ). I think written Chinese is so so boring, and it will never be the same as English. Especially when in English, I CAN EMPHASIS something through capitalized letters.  For example, imagine receiving a text. Would you rather see ‘omg’ or ‘OMG’? In my opinion I would prefer the latter, OMG is just so much more fun and dramatic then ‘omg.’ Capitalization of it added so much more drama and excitement into the word as opposed to its uncapitalized form. I think this rule goes for so many more words too.  I particularly really like how capitalization can act as a megaphone and create an illusion of SHOUTING. It can make certain statements so much more impactful and memorable. Like,...

Do you know your name, your age, race, family, or your history, do you believe in it? How do you know that it has been like this for all your life? The horror of forgetting lies in the fact that you don’t truly remember what … you don't remember. We live our lives with an unjust assumption that our memories would never lie to us, and that we can trust them. But that is wrong on so many levels, firstly your brain makes a continuum of errors while making memories, from making false memories to simply wrong ones, neuroscientists have even found a way to efficiently create false memories into someone else's brain .  Yet the actual horror may come to at least 1 in 3 of us, when our grey matter starts to fade, and so do our memories and one day we wake up and we can not remember our past. Just imagine how you may feel when you wake in a random body, with no memory of being there, surrounded by people you don't know and care for. You're alone in a prison of your mind, abando...

  A timeline of mass data breaches of healthcare companies. Source: Trend Micro Today in FLEX, my robotics teammate Julia excitedly pointed out that our robotics team’s Instagram Reel had reached 500 likes. The short video clip showed our robot scoring five specimens during the autonomous portion and garnered over 19,000 views. Yippee! However, as we searched through the comment section, we noticed two comments criticizing the video. One was a valid comment pointing out how one sample had missed the observation zone and thus didn’t count, but the other falsely claimed that our hand was on the specimen when it came in contact with the claw—which is a penalty .  I noticed that one user had liked both comments, so I avenged my team by searching the user’s full name online. Within five minutes, I had found his Pinterest account, FRC Robotics team, the region of the Netherlands he lives in, and narrowed down the list of potential schools he could attend to just four.  I’m no...

There truly is a power in reading, and it’s devastating to see that it often goes unnoticed, especially in our country. The truth is, humanities studies are present in every aspect of our lives, even if we’re not sitting in AP English class; and yet, there seems to be an ever-growing war against literature, history, and art.  Book Burnings in Germany (1933):   Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia Reading and interacting with art is shown to directly improve critical thinking skills, creativity, and emotional intelligence —all of which are necessary parts of life. Critical thinking is essential to making positive impacts on society, as well as recognizing the dangers of a failing society (ex. my previous blog post); creative thinking is needed for a multitude of situations and is the driving force behind innovation and proper self-expression. Emotional intelligence seems to be the most overlooked in my opinion—everyone wants to have a high IQ and brag about it, but being able to empa...

(A screenshot of a conversation I had, over text, with my friend) I can’t believe how desperate I looked after seeing that message. There I was, texting like I had absolutely nothing to lose, acting all giddy over text, caught up in excitement alone. And then came that one, horrible letter: “ k .” I stared at it, re-reading the message over and over, even waiting for another reply to pop up underneath, yet nothing came. Did I mess up? Was it my excitement that seemed like too much? Or was it something else? Maybe they were just busy, maybe it was just nothing. But at that moment, “K” became the most loaded letter in the alphabet. It made me question everything about my tone, my excitement, my words. Was I overthinking it? (Probably). But could it mean more than it seemed? Maybe. It’s funny how one letter, so simple and small, could send me into a spiral of self-doubt. I thought about it for way too long. I started to think about every other text I’d ever sent or received. “Okayy...

Learn history so we don’t repeat it. I hear this over and over again, but still, why do we have a habit of punishing women for the actions of men? From past to present scandals, women who are exploited or manipulated by men face harsh judgement rather than sympathy or support. Take Maria Reynolds, who was caught in the very first major sex scandal in America, or Bianca Censori, whose high-profile relationship with controversial figure Kanye West. Both women represent the same story in a different font—women facing the harshest judgment, while the men get out almost scot-free. Let’s begin with Maria Reynolds.  Her name became infamous due to her extramarital affair in 1797 with Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s Founding Fathers. He was my person of significance, and despite the undoubtable contributions he made to America, I do not believe he was a good person. Here are the full details of the scandal.  Maria Reynolds was trapped in an abusive marriage with James Reynolds, a...

  The value diversity brings us has never been clearer in today’s world. From workplaces to schools to communities to global networks, diversity is a powerful tool that strengthens us, by fostering new perspectives, creative development and a deeper understanding of one another.  Diversity can be defined as the differences in culture , race, religion, abilities and perspective. By recognizing and encouraging these different perspectives we support creativity, and the differences that all make us our own person. And these differences are something that should be embraced and used to our collective advantage.  One of the biggest things diversity brings to us is the drive of innovation and creativity. People from different backgrounds collaborate and they bring together a different variety of ideas and perspectives. This diversity helps create creative problem solving which leads to new solutions and groundbreaking ideas. Think of the numerous innovations in technology, medi...

Have you ever thought, what if you could change one event in history? What if some people never existed within history? Adolf Hitler? Martin Luther King? Albert Einstein? Or certain places never existed on the map? What if the United States did not exist?  What if George Washington was never born? Would the United States still have won the revolutionary way? Would the country be able to break away from Britain? If the country never declared independence from Britain, then would everyone here call a french fry a "chip" instead of a “fry?”   Or What if an entire country never existed? For example, China, if China never existed on the map we would have never witnessed the birth of Tiktok. China also created toilet paper, so if China never existed people would have continued using "rocks, leaves, grass, moss, animal fur, corn cobs, coconut husks, sticks, sand, and sea shell."   One thing I would be interested in changing is: what if California never joined the United S...