Exams!SUBHA BANIYA (NEPAL ’15)

• • •

None of us like exams, do we? I believe that even ‘super geeks’ wouldn’t take exams if they were given the option. However, we have been obliged to do so since our childhood, and no matter how much we complain this is never going to change. All people in this world are different, and so are their abilities as well as their behaviors. Some never worry about their exams or at least they seem not to, while others freak out if you even mention the term around them. Also, some perform really well in exams, where as some of us never score as much as we expect despite our constant hard work. We all must understand where we stand and what works the best for us. Midterms are coming up and I am sure this phase is extremely stressful to every one of us. By the time this article gets published, it might already be over. But here are some general tips,

which you can follow to prepare at least for other exams.

Human nature is such that we always tend to delay our works till the end. This is one of the major causes of us not achieving desired results. The human brain is amazing, but unfortunately it is not amazing enough to store everything that we learn in one night. So, even if it might sound like a cliché it is true that we have to plan things well ahead of time. UWC-USA students might not think this is practical, but if we learn to manage our time well and... (continued on page 3)

Malaysian astronauts, the Day of the Dead in Mexico, and Coca. Our opinion page is full of interesting articles this week, take a look on page 10.

UWC - USA

CAMPUS NEWS WORLD NEWS OPINION

From the 2013 Nobel Prizes to the Premier League drama and the controversial Government Shutdown. Explore the latest current events issues on page 5!

0CTOBER 2013 - 1

Photo credit: Nadia Esham (Malaysia ’14)

A week of stressful mid-term exams and fun CEC bonding is coming to a close. Turn to page 3 for a refreshing insight into UWC life from our first year reporters!

A message from the Editors

LITERATI STAFF

Jessica AbramsonUSA -ME ‘15

Alexander AsanteGhana ‘15

Subha BaniyaNepal ‘15

Changhao ChenChina ‘15

Alexander KellogUSA - NC ‘15

Jimena Terrazas LozanoMexico - ‘15

Guyon BorgmannNetherlands - ‘15

Shobhit KumarUSA - MD ’14

Carlin RingUSA - IA ’14

Arissa Moreno RuizPeru - ’14

FACULTY SPONSORTHE EDITORS

Edgar JaramilloUSA -CA ’14

Emily VenturiItaly ’14

Parris Bushong

WRITERS

Dear Friends, Country-mates, Language-mates, Room-mates, Region-mates, Birthday-Mates, and Sophie,

After a busy and stress full week, the Literati offers you some interesting and thought-provoking articles to feed your intrinsic curiosity! The semester is reaching the peak of its interest and events, with Rainbow Week, the first cultural show of the year, and many important visitors

coming to campus. Stay tuned for more information, and if you are set on becoming an astronaut, don’t miss out on our feature article by our dedicated and creative writer Carlin Ring.

Have a wonderful read!

The Editors

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Photo Credit: Emily Venturi (Italy ’14)

CAMPUS NEWSUWC - USA OCTOBER 2013 - 3

(continued from page 1) ...do even a little bit of study each day, it is definitely possible to perform incredibly well in exams.

Even non-living things such as machines wear out if they are constantly used for a long period of time. Then, why wouldn’t our brain get tired? According to a recent study, for our brain to function well, it is necessary that we get at least seven hours of sleep. Especially during exam time the brain must get enough rest to be agile every day. Staying awake for whole night right before exam day, will worsen your performance even more.

Furthermore, it is important to be healthy. The clouds of tension and stress wrap the students in such a way that they even forget to eat and drink. Our body needs a constant supply of healthy food and water in order to work actively. As stated, “Health is wealth,” we must understand that nothing comes before health, and thus be always concerned in this matter.

Many people have a very low self-esteem. Confidence in itself plays an important role in determining how we do in our exams. It is really not possible to be completely prepared for exams. After all the best we can do is really what we can do. So, I wish all the best to every one of us for midterms. I hope we can all rock it!!! Source: http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2012/aug/22/gcse-results-exams-easier-impact. (continued on page 7)

CEC BondingJESSICA ABRAMSON (USA - ME ’15)

• • •

The first year CEC retreat was scheduled to take place during what was arguably the least convenient weekend this year, the one directly preceding midterms. Thus, the weekend began with much grumbling and high levels of stress. This negative energy first began to transform when we entered the building where the retreat was to take place, Warehouse 21. Gillian Welch (USA-ME '15) described the place as "teenager heaven". Most of the walls are covered in a variety of colorful graffiti-esque scenes.

Soon, midterms were being forgotten and stress levels were receding as the first years attended workshops on topics such as gender identity, power and privilege, and nonviolent communication. The abundance of snacks aided in the transformation from stress to contentment, and by 11 p.m. Saturday night, all were marveling at their classmates' talent at a hilarious and very entertaining first-years-only café led by Caroline Ayala (USA-CA '15). Sunday was similarly successful, including more workshops and delicious Indian food for lunch.

David Hatfield, one of the workshop facilitators, described the difference between UWC students and the other groups he has worked with by saying "it's a big difference. There's no resistance to the idea of being interested at UWC. People are at UWC because they are interested. It's cool to care.

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UWCers take themselves seriously, like 'hey, I've got something to offer'. There's less fear of being judged by your peers and more overt support for each other in public."

During the two days away from campus, the first years developed ideas about who they want to be as a class and constructed plans for topics to address upon returning to campus. Much was gained. "I learned that I could voice my opinion because, up until this weekend, I was really afraid of voicing my opinion in front of other people," Sara Drango (Macedonia, 15) explained.

By the end of the retreat, almost everyone except Cecilia Wallace (USA-MI '15) was in high spirits. Ceci was heard yelling "C-E-C retreat! Enunciate, you fools!" at her classmates. "I'm going crazy" she later explained, "CEC sounds really similar to Ceci and I've spent the last two days

turning around and saying 'yeah?' to people who aren't actually trying to get my attention. I'm losing my mind!"

But Ceci may have been the only one with negative sentiments by the end. Franziska Scheppach (Lugembourg '15) summed up the retreat best: "This weekend reminded me why I'm here. The discussions and experiences and this whole weekend were just totally UWC."

Photo Credit: Jessica Abramson (USA - ME ’15)

“Appropriate and Legal”OR

“A Breach of Sovereignty”ALEXANDER KELLOG

(USA - NC ’15) • • •

As mentioned in last weeks paper, the United States’ special forces captured a suspected member of al-Queda, Abu Anas al-Liby, on October 5th of this year from his home in Tripoli, Libya, and questioned him on board an American Navy vessel en route to New York City

for sentencing. This has caused outrage from the Libyan people and government, who believe that the United States has violated the sovereignty of their nation in dealing with matters of terrorism within their own borders. The Prime Minister of Libya, Ali Zeidan, said in a statement that the government is “keen on prosecuting any Libyan citizen within Libya” and has demanded that the United States explain the purpose of the raid. In response, American Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that Mr. Liby was an “appropriate and legal target.” Mr. Liby is accused by the United States government of not only being a member of al-Queda, but also of being involved in the 1998 attack on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed over 220 people.

Photo Credit:h t t p : / / w w w. c r o s s e d - f l a g -pins.com/Special-Offer/crossed-flag-pins-special-offer-USA-Libya-(1977-2011).php

GLOBE AT A GLANCEEND

NADAfter two weeks of government shutdown, Republicans and Democrats in the American Congress are still unable to agree on a budget for the country. Republicans insist that spending c u t s , e s p e c i a l l y t o w a r d s Obamacare, be made a part of the national budget in order to start reducing America’s soaring $17 trillion debt.

MAAD AND CLAD

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Two boats carrying migrants from North and East Africa sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa within one week of each other, resulting in the drowning deaths of 665 people. Most of the people on these boats were fleeing violence in Somalia, Eritrea, as well as Syria.

About 115 people were trampled to death this week in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh during a Hindu religious festival when 25,000 people attempted to cross a bridge over the Sindh river in order to get to a Hindu temple.

10,000 teachers protesting the Mexican government’s recent education reforms have slowed Mexico City’s bustling streets to a screeching halt, blocking major streets, the city’s airport terminal, and forcing police to cancel two football games.

Ethnic tensions erupted into mob violence in the Russian capital of Moscow on Sunday when a g roup of nat ive Russians attacked a vegetable warehouse run by Caucus na t ive s. T he a t t a ck wa s retaliation for the recent stabbing death of an ethnic Russian by a man from North Caucus, a region in southern Russia.

Government + Shutdown = ?SHOBHIT KUMAR (USA-MD ’14)

• • •

  The United States government entered a state of shutdown on October 1, 2013. No, President Obama was not fired because the government shut down. No, the United States is not going to become a parliamentary system. No, states will not be sold away to other countries to pay for a spending bill. So, what does this actually mean?

Let’s begin with a little about how this happened. In basic terms, the United States Congress, which is composed of the House and the Senate, failed to agree on a spending bill. Normally, a continuing resolution is passed before new fiscal years; however, this year there was a stalemate regarding the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Republicans didn’t want to defund the law because they believed it would be bad for their constituents. Democrats desired to fund it because it had stood the test of the political system; the law was passed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court. These partisan viewpoints in addition to the fact that compromise can often be scarce in Congress meant that no resolution was reached. No spending bill equaled this shutdown.

Let’s dive deep into a bit of the effects. First, it is necessary to note that all essential government employees and functions are active. Social security, the military, air traffic control, law enforcement including border patrol, the US Postal Service, and

Congress members are being paid for and are active. Still, there is much that is not functioning, and more than 800,000 employees have been furloughed. For example, all national parks are shut down to the public, the Environmental Protection Agency has been severely limited in its activities, and the NOAA, which engages in climate research, is barely being funded.

Naturally, most Americans do in fact blame Congress for this shutdown. With an approval rating at an all-time low, the House and the Senate are being castigated for bitter partisan politics. There are many groups that suffer from this shutdown. First are states that have national parks. The Grand Canyon and Yosemite, for example, both largely contribute to their respective state economies. Next, the non-essential employees that are furloughed may lose their pay for the length of the shutdown, which is a large burden in this time of economic stagnation. Last, it’s a bit of a shame for the United States as a country when viewed on an international level.

Shutdowns have happened seventeen times since 1976, and the last one lasted twenty-one days. At this point, the burden is on Congress to reach an agreement and end this shutdown. Oh, and the debt ceiling conversation is coming up this free. But that is another story…

WORLD NEWSUWC - USA OCTOBER 2013 - 6

http://www.wdsu.com/image/view/-/22204822/medRes/1/-/maxh/480/maxw/640/-/pwyw3iz/-/Government-shutdown.jpg

The 2013 Nobel PrizesCHANGAO CHEN (CHINA ’15)

• • •

Since October 7th, this year’s Nobel Prize

laureates have been revealed one after another. Who finally won the great honor among a lot of intelligent and competitive experts and masters, and become the symbol of human being’s wisdom? Let’s take a look at these bright academic stars of 2013.

Nobel Prize for Physiology or MedicineOn October 7th, The Nobel Prize in Physiology

or Medicine 2013 was awarded jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof "for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells".

James E. Rothman, born in 1950 in Massachusetts, became a doctor after graduating from Harvard Medicine School, and later focused on the study of cell vesicle. Randy W. Schekman, born in 1948 in Minnesota, once a student in California University and Stanford University, became a member of the national academy of science in 1992, specializing in cell biology. Thomas C. Südhof, born in 1955 in Gottingen, Germany, achieved doctorate of both medicine and neurochemistry in Gottingen University, came to U.S. for further study in 1983 and became a professor in Stanford University in 2008.

These three scientists contributed to the theory of how cell vesicles carry substances among cells in a precise way. This system is essential to make cells stable and safe.

Nobel Prize for Peace

Organizations to Prohibit Chemical Weapons, abbreviated to OPCW, won the Nobel Prize for Peace for its contribution to destroying chemical weapons. OPCW was founded in 1997. The main goal of OPCW is to prohibit any development, production, achieving, saving or exchanging of any chemical weapon.

Usually there would be many disputes towards the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace. However, the public barely reacted to this news this year. Some media claim that the committee of the peace prize intentionally tried to avoid arguments and finally chose OPCW instead of other popular candidates.

Nobel Prize for ChemistryOn October 9th, three American Scientists

shared this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Martin Karplus, a professor in Harvard University, Michael Levitt, a professor in Stanford University and Arieh Warshel, a professor in University of Southern California, "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems".

In the study of chemistry reaction, making a reliable model system is especially important. The three scientists successfully built a system which combines the advantage of classical physics theory, which is very easy to calculate, and of quantum physics theory, which can simulate chemistry reaction precisely.

Nobel Prize for PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded

jointly to François Englert and Peter W. Higgs "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider".

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Higgs particle, a basic particle that Peter W. Higgs predicted decades ago, also called “the god particle”, is the keystone to explain how substances gain mass. The recent discovery of this particle completes the physics theory which most scientists believe in and use to describe the origin of the universe.

Nobel Prize for LiteratureAlice Munro, 82 years old, a famous Canadian

author, considered as “master of contemporary short story” won Nobel Prize for Literature on October 10th, beating another popular Japanese author, Haruki Murakamiu.

Alice Munro has already written 11 short stories. Her first story Dance of the Happy Shades helped her achieve an instant fame when she was 37 years old. Her writing style is simple and plain, but perfectly shows the elaborate truth of detailed lives, which impresses readers all the time, demonstrating the power of literature.

A l i c e M u n r o h t t p : / / t 1 . b a i d u . c o m / i t /

u=3204649109,1459441727&fm=23&gp=0.jpg

Mourinho hails Torres Revival

ALEXANDER ASANTE (GHANA ’15)• • •

  Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has lauded Fernando Torres following the striker's sending off in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.Chelsea Football Club is an English football club based in Fulham, London. Founded in 1905, they play in the English Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Their home is the 41,837-seat Stamford Bridge stadium, where they have played since their establishment.

The 29-year-old Fernando Torres has endured a lot of criticism since moving to Stamford Bridge from Liverpool in January 2011, and when Mourinho signed Samuel Eto'o in the summer transfer window many assumed that Torres' days in the starting line-up for the Blues were well and truly over. However, the Spaniard has started in the London club's last two games, and the Portuguese manager has been impressed with his performances, even after his somewhat controversial sending off against Spurs. "He played a very good game [against Tottenham]," the former Real Madrid coach told the fans."He knows what I think, I don't have to tell him. He knows I'm very happy with his performances. He knows already."

The 50-year-old has also stated that Torres' physical conditioning has improved compared to seasons past when the Spain international struggled for both form and game time.

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Mourinho explained: "I was watching Fernando's matches for Chelsea in other seasons and it looked to me, a bit heavy, a little slow. Fernando now looks in fantastic shape. "Physically, I think he's living a very good moment," he concluded.

The English Premier league (EPL) has been very competitive this year. This is the statistics showing the positions of the first ten soccer team on the league table of the EPL.

POS CLUB P W D L PTS

1 Arsenal 7 5 1 1 162 Liverpool 7 5 1 1 163 Chelsea 7 4 2 1 144 Southampton 7 4 2 1 14

5 Manchester City

7 4 1 2 13

6 Tottenham Hotspur

7 4 1 2 13

7 Everton 7 3 3 1 128 Hull City 7 3 2 2 119 Manchester

United7 3 1 3 10

10 Aston Villa 7 3 1 3 10

Source:http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/league-table.html

Chelsea Player Fernando Torres

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http://www.football411.com/story/0,22162,20089_8949663,00.html?utm_medium=ad&utm_source=mgid&utm_campaign=football411.com&utm_term=10578&utm_content=1634084

Axe-tronautCARLIN RING(USA-IA ’14)

• • •

Exciting new fields of discovery! Space! Adventure! All of the wonders of the universe for you to explore! Join and become an Axe-tronaut! Astronaut. Axe?

Axe body spray, actually. The company, which is patronized by a number of students whom are easily identified from meters away by scent alone, sponsored a competition in Malaysia. The competition was for one lucky Malaysian to get a spot in the Apollo Space Academy Cadet program, and hopefully go to space in the near future. With admittedly very little of the world watching, the contestants were narrowed down to five individuals who had passed all of the extensive mental and physical trials. These five then went on to the voting round on Facebook, with the contestant who got the most support winning in the end. The only hitch in this plan was that one of those five contestants was a woman, Roshini Muniam. You see, there was no line in the fine print of the competition that said only men could compete. Axe, being a company who caters to a predominantly male customer base, assumed that only men would apply. After all, how many women could actually want to go to space? And if any did, they surely couldn’t pass the physical exams. Right? Wrong.

When the voting rounds went up, very few people actually voted. The competition was not very well known within Malaysia, and even less so outside of the country. That is, of course, until social media got ahold of it. A post about Roshini’s status as the

only woman began to circulate around Tumblr, a popular blogging website, and then a similar one around Facebook as well. Roshini’s gender had caused some rather unsavory comments on the voting polls, which were used as a call to arms. Within a week of the post’s origin, Roshini had gone from being 20,000 votes behind to being 20,000 votes in the lead.

On September 23rd, polls closed and Roshini was declared the winner, showing just how powerful social media can be. Social platforms have been used recently for all number of causes, many of which were huge in scale. You might remember the marriage equality movement that swept through Facebook, causing many to change their profile pictures to equal signs. This was not that kind of movement. It was relatively small scale. No large news source covered its spread. Even so, it made a difference. There are hundreds of such small scale movements and causes that need support, and social media is a way for people all over the world to get involved. It may seem like being an “armchair activist” isn’t a good thing.

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OPINION

Photo credit: Axe-Malaysia

After all, just clicking a button isn’t the same as going to a rally, but not everyone can pick up a picket sign, and if you get enough people to click it makes just as much of a difference. Just ask Roshini. only for her but for the entire community, to this day. She says, "Pen connects me with the world. Living without a pen might be possible, but not easy and natural at all. No more life for only self. I have to live for others. How long I live, I will live for my society, my nation and my world." She really stands as an inspiration to all, and not only motivates us to live our life, but also to make it meaningful.

Sources"Jhamak Ghimire - the Helen Keller from Dhankuta, Nepal." .

N. p. , 2 2 0 7 2 0 1 2 . We b. 7 O c t 2 0 1 3 . < h t t p : / /pakhribasupdates.blogspot.com/2012/07/jhamak-ghimire-

helen-keller-from.html>."Jhamk Kumari Ghimire." . N.p.. Web. 7 Oct 2013. <http://narinepal.com.np/jhamak-kumari-ghimire/>.

Proud of being a Coca chewer

ARISSA MORENO RUIZ (PERU ’14)• • •

We are now the number one producer of Coca in the whole planet. Peru overtook Colombia’s place as the world's largest producer of coca leaves. Even though we have reduced our coca crops for the first time in seven years from 62,500 hectares in 2011 to 60,400 in 2012, we have increased our world fame as Coca producers. This situation is a complex paradigm…we, our country, the peasants, everyone has benefited by the production of coca leaves. Coca brings economic development and helps many Peruvians improve their living standards. On the

other hand, the construction of big webs of drug trafficking and consumption are promoted not only inside our country, but also in an international level. The fact that we had 60,400 hectares of our land planted with coca in 2012 (in comparison with the 48,000 hectares in Colombia) may be alarming. The thing is that when we hear of Coca in the news, or read about it in the newspaper, we think of a drug, a substance that alters our organisms in ways that have negative connotations. Most people associate Coca with cocaine, and of course…they are related, but they are not the same thing.

The way I see, and thousand Peruvians, Coca is not as an alkaline component of the drug named cocaine, and a danger to human society but as a living demonstration of our culture. Chacchar coca leaves, or chew coca, is what maintains our culture together. There is a legend that my grandmother used to say… It was about the Inca Empire, in the times where Coca was valued as a blessing of nature, as a way of communicating with the Pacha Mama (Mother Earth), as a way of building reciprocity bonds within your community, as a motivator to work in the fields. They thought of Cocas as a different thing, but we often forget their worldview. When there are big conferences about the international war against drugs, we usually forget the cultural and social values that Coca leaves carry with them.

In 1961 the coca leaf was listed on Schedule I of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs together with cocaine and heroin, with a strict control level on medical and scientific use. This conflict does not only have any more economic implications; it also brings up social, cultural and political issues. There are lots of facets in this situation. I believe that measures to eradicate illicit cultivation and illicit demand should be taken into account, but at the same time, we should not forget the traditional licit use… and there is historic evidence of the use, rituals and practices that depend on Coca leaves. In 1994, the International Narcotics Control Board (the one in

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charge of implementing the UN international drug control conventions) declared that drinking coca tea was an illegal activity. The reality, as a Coca chewer and a drinker of Coca tea, is that chewing or drinking coca is harmless (and even beneficial for your health), and it is not surprising at all for me that it is a legal fact.

In the Coca leaves, I can see my far and close ancestors. There is nothing wrong with the Coca itself; the use human beings have given to it is the problem. Coca was originally used for social, spiritual, medicinal and nutritional purposes. Coca chewing has been a ritual in the Andes for thousands of years, and it is practiced by millions of people throughout Latin America today. Tourists to the highlands are offered coca tea to alleviate altitude sickness, and the plant’s mild stimulant properties have been known around the globe for centuries. Bolivia, Peru and other countries have embarked on an international mission to try to end the ban on chewing coca leaves. The United States, among other countries, is not so motivated about this. It is interesting that the US remains the world's largest market for cocaine, with 4.8 million users (according to the International Board for Narcotics Control), and at the same time, they are banning cultural consumption of Coca leaves. We plant coca leaves, we are not cocaine producers. However, the situation is much more complicated than the opposition between the look for vindication of an indigenous practice and the global war against drugs.

The Day of the DeadJIMENA TERRAZAS-LONZANO (MEXICO ’15)

• • •

A dinner with candles over the graves of a cemetery, thousands of skulls everywhere and a night in which the spirits of the dead are allowed to come back to Earth might sound like part of a horror movie. In almost all modern cultures around the world, people are afraid of death and usually assume a respectful and fearful point of view when they need to talk about this topic. However, in Mexico, we see death as something that should be celebrated and once a year we make a party in the cemetery to honor La Huesuda, better known as the Parcae.

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The first day of November, people get together in the cemetery during the night to make the Ofrenda. The Ofrenda is an artistic work made with candles (to light the way of the spirits back to our world), water (to calm the thirst of the spirits), salt (to purify the soul), cigarettes, Mexican food and tequila (to give pleasure to the dead), incense (to scare evil

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entities away), cempazuchitl flowers (to bring happiness to our dead relatives), the izcuincle (a blue dog that according to the Aztec myth, would help the dead souls to cross the river Chiconahuapan to get to Mictlan or the underworld), a cross (to let the spirits know that we forgive them for their sins), toys (for the dead kids to play), sugar skulls, and a picture of our beloved dead relatives, among many other elements.

tedIndex=7

Once the Ofrendas are ready, people eat Mexican food, drink tequila, mescal and other popular beverages, dance and listen to Mexican music, and sing the popular calaveritas, songs written to make fun of the dead relatives or of the Parcae, also known as La Flaca (the skinny), La Huesuda (the bony), La Pelona (the bald one), La Tilica and many other funny names invented by the Mexican people. Meanwhile, the spirits are believed to come and join the party and enjoy the Ofrenda that was made for them by their relatives.

This beautiful and rather strange tradition started in my country around three thousand years ago even before the Spanish came to conquer Mexico. The Aztec people living in Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), performed a ceremony once a year to honor to Mictencacihuatl, the Lady of the Death, and they would celebrate for a whole month. Later on, a famous Mexican painter, Jose Guadalupe Posada, represented death as a female skeleton dressed in an elegant, black dress and called her La Catrina, which became one of the most popular names for Mexicans to refer to death.Even though this tradition has changed a lot through the last three thousand years, we still conserve a lot of the original tradition. However, Mexico has mixed this tradition with the popular Halloween celebration in the United States. I personally believe that this celebration is one of the best examples of the diversity of the Mexican identity and I think is really sad that we are losing our tradition and changing it

for creepy costumes, candies and American horror movies.Meanwhile, the spirits are believed to come and join the party and enjoy the Ofrenda that was made for them by their relatives.

This beautiful and rather strange tradition started in my country around three thousand years ago even before the Spanish came to conquer Mexico. The Aztec people living in Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), performed a ceremony once a year to honor to Mictencacihuatl, the Lady of the Death, and they would celebrate for a whole month. Later on, a famous Mexican painter, Jose Guadalupe Posada, represented death as a female skeleton dressed in an elegant, black dress and called her La Catrina, which became one of the most popular names for Mexicans to refer to death.Even though this tradition has changed a lot through the last three thousand years, we still conserve a lot of the original tradition. However, Mexico has mixed this tradition with the popular Halloween celebration in the United States. I personally believe that this celebration is one of the best examples of the diversity of the Mexican identity and I think is really sad that we are losing our tradition and changing it for creepy costumes, candies and American horror movies.

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This is the Flipside, America’s top fake news publication,

Friends, Romans, countrymen, welcome to Flipside. After another tormenting week here in paradise, we here at the FlipSide are back and better than ever, with more breaking news updates and jokes involving people’s hair.

In local news, Mont Blanc resident Rohan Kumar (USA-Maryland, ’15) celebrated his 17th birthday last week. To commemorate this joyous occasion, his parents sent him two Chicago style pizzas in a very large box. I encourage you to not eat said pizzas unless you wish Rohan to carryout threats more malicious than any Post-it note Tupac would have stuck on Biggie’s fridge. Rohan was also treated by some first year girls “baking him cookies” and “throwing him a party” (neither of which would have sounded nearly as provocative if not for the quotation marks).

This past week also marked the much-anticipated first year CEC retreat. Some early polls are showing that while one third of the first year class is still not totally clear on what CEC actually stands for, the remaining two thirds who demonstrate slightly more knowledge as to why we do this said they had a pretty ok time. “It’s not like it was a life changing weekend or anything, but it was alright.” tells us a student who is clearly very honest, “No one really wanted to hear about my deep seeded self-loathing and insecurity, but we got to talk about power and privilege. Apparently, because I’m older, I have more power over others because I’m wiser… Well that’s cool I guess.” The student also went on to tell us that he mostly enjoyed the time as a chance to get off campus and that India House was “way better than caf food” though he would have preferred to use the weekend to study for the upcoming midterms which will have no tangible impact on the rest of his life.

That Saturday also marked two weeks until END. The FlipSide sat down with former UWC student and current Wilderness Guide, Calvin Klein model, and Austrian national Stefan Not-Harrigan to talk about his own cultural day show experience back in END ‘07. “I remember the two weeks leading up to the show were really stressful for me,” he told us. “I

had a lot of big plans for the show, I even lead and starred in half a dozen skits or so and, to my dismay everyone thought they were wonderful ideas. I went into those meetings totally psyched and ready to have a heated debate about what was best for the show and left totally deflated that everyone was of the same opinion.” He recalled, “I felt really empty inside and craved being able to yell at someone about how they didn’t know European culture at all, that I clearly had superior logic in regard to seating arrangements, and that if we went with their ideas we would not be living the UWC mission… somehow. I just hope that this year’s END’ers don’t run into similar problems.”

In other news, the head hunting agency has come to campus as we begin the first round of UWC Idol our well intentioned though misguided search for a new head of state. Some early party favorites include our current interim President Tom Bro-den running on a platform of “chill” and “free love.” However, Heidrick and Struggles (yes their name really is “struggles”) aren’t being paid an undisclosed amount of money to just roll over. No sir! The people who may be responsible for bringing you Lisa Darling are ready to bring a fight. Some early favorites in the primaries are 2008 democratic nominee Mike Gravel running under the slogan “Are you better off than you were 9 years ago?”

Our hearts and minds go out to the student body in what is sure to be a stressful week as we close out midterms and encourage everyone to look for support if they need help. Need a hug? Then call the number at the bottom of the page* for a chance to win free tickets to a taping of the FlipSide! And good luck with that hug.

Sincerely,

The FlipSide

*1-800-WAL-MART

the SIDEFLIPUWC - USA OCTOBER 2013 - 14