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Whenever you hear the word Apple, what do you think of? Perhaps a VR Headset, an IPhone, Airpods, or maybe just an actual apple. The company Apple has become the largest technology company, with their market cap being around $2.99 trillion dollars as of April 9 2025. However, Apple has and still continues to receive a lot of backlash from the community for a variety of reasons.
Let's take a step back to 2020, when Apple started to improve their carbon footstep by reducing their emissions. Along with this, they promised to start using less packaging to reduce waste and preserve the environment. To do this, they began to quit including multiple accessories with their products. For example, Apple IPhones used to come with both a charging cable and a wall socket adapter. They no longer come with these accessories, meaning the consumer must also purchase it separately, not to mention that it comes in its own individual package. Also, IPhones no longer have headphone jacks either. Because of this, a consumer who wishes to use wired headphones or buds must buy a separate adapter to be able to use their headphones, which also comes in its own packaging. People have wondered why the headphone jack was removed. What replaced it? Eventually, people opened up newer models of phones to find a singular useless piece of plastic in the place of the jack outlet. When questioned, Apple claimed that the plastic helped “protect the phone from falling”, however considering that IPhones have always been notorious for breaking by simply looking at them the wrong way, this seems like more of an excuse than a legit claim. It would also be important to mention that IPhone models are constantly changing what type of cable they need to charge, again making the consumer pay for more and waste more packaging. Besides chargers, the cases change to, as Apple is constantly changing the size of the phone along with the button and camera arraignments. Once again, the consumer must spend more and waste more to get a new case for their IPhones. Another point that's worth mentioning, Apple products aren’t cheap. Remember that headphone jack adapter previously mentioned? That thing by itself goes for nine dollars. Others that are arguably just as good are going for as low as $1.50. Also, whilst researching these prices I also found another product that's basically the same thing, but it’s an entire headphone cable rather than just the adapter. The offering from Apple was $39 dollars, while one from Insignia was only $9.99. I personally have used Insignia products before, and they work just fine, just as good as Apple ones in fact. Many more allegations have been made against Apple for various other reasons. However, as someone who has a couple of Apple products, I will admit the quality they have is very nice. However, I could just go to my local Best Buy and find a similar product from a different company that works just as good, if not better, for a much lower price. In conclusion, Apple products tend to be of very good quality, but for the price, they aren’t worth it.
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Once, somewhere in a local Kroger, buried deep behind rows of boxes of cookies, lay an ordinary bag of animal cookies. Nothing was special about this bag, one among dozens of others, but inside it, a vast ecosystem of cookies thrived in the wild space of what we know to be that ordinary bag. Rhinos, lions, tigers, bears, elephants, wolves, moles, birds, everything you could ever imagine lived within the confines of the plastic container. Among them, two friends, Clyde, a cookie camel, and Achilles, a cookie elephant, sat near a watering hole, talking amongst themselves.
“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it,” Achilles said. “Don’t you ever get tired of saying that?” replies Clyde. “No, why?” You see, Clyde was well aware of the fact they were trapped within the confines of the bag, whereas no other animal knew or understood. He had grown tired of being confined and wished he was free to explore the outside world. What it was like outside, Clyde had no way of knowing. All he knew is that the outside world promised new things, meanwhile he also kept in mind, “new things also means new challenges”. Nevertheless, he was certain it was something he could handle. “You know how I’ve told you about the ‘greater world’ right?” Clyde continued. “Yes, and?” responded Achilles. “Well, I for one am sick of this place. Look around you Achilles, there’s nothing new to do, no exciting new discoveries, no new people to meet, places to explore, nothing.” “Clyde, we have everything we could ever want here, and…” “We have everything you could ever want, Achilles,” Clyde interrupted. “I’ve set my eyes on a new prize! There’s so much to be had out there! So much to explore, so much to do!” “My friend, your judgement is clouded,” Achilles sighed. “You have everything you could ever want here. For the love of God man, just stay here.” “I refuse to stay any longer! I can’t take it anymore! So many simple-minded people, so many blind morons! They can’t see! But I…I can see clearly! My destiny lies elsewhere,” Clyde roared. “If you so wish, my misguided comrade,” Achilles said, clearly giving up upon convincing Clyde otherwise. That night, whilst everyone else slept, Clyde began to enact his escape. Glancing around, he spotted a large log lying near one of the corners of the bag. Without hesitation, he retrieved the log and began to ram the corner with all his might. After many failed attempts, the bag finally gave way, a pale blue light filtering in through the newly created crevice. Clyde tossed the log aside, glancing back at his home one last time. The dim eyes of Achilles greeted him. With a sad but determined expression on his smooth face, he waved back at Achilles. Achilles, in turn, waved back. Clyde then leapt through the hole and plummeted into the unknown depths of the outside world. After what felt like hours, Clyde regained his stance and peered around himself. All around, towering transparent structures, filled to the brim with labeled items, formed a passage, the pale blue light pouring out of them. Clyde, at a loss for words, decided to continue on his voyage. All night he ran through what we know to be a grocery store (Kroger to be specific), taking in everything around him. Rows upon rows of these towering structures were scattered all about. On the opposite side of the enclosure, rows of massive shelves, upon which a black stretch of road lay. Clyde soon learned that this path actually moved and carried whatever was placed upon it towards an area where large yet weird brown packages awaited. Eventually however, dawn soon broke through the transparent walls of the building, and Cylde realized that whoever or whatever populated this area would most likely return soon. As quickly as he could, Clyde began to make his way back to the bag where the rest of his friends awaited. Unfortunately, his journey was cut short, as a loud chime echoed through the halls of the store. Shortly after, loud thuds rumbled across the ground, as something massive was approaching. Clyde began to up his pace, but it was no use. A woman dressed in jeans, a blue shirt and apron to match began making her way down the aisle that Clyde was sat in. “Maybe if I remain absolutely still, she won’t notice me,” he thought in his panicked state. The woman glanced up and down the aisle, inspecting every single inch of it, making sure the store would be as neat as possible for the customers upon their arrival. As she continued her inspection, she noticed what looked to be a cookie sticking out from underneath one of the fridges. “Hmm,” she said, bending down to retrieve the item. As she picked it up, she noticed it was a camel, and thought, “Where did you come from, little guy?” “Unhand me you ruffian!” cried Clyde. “I command you, release me!” It was no use however, as the woman simply walked back to the front of the store, Clyde in hand, opened a trash bin, and tossed Clyde down into the dark realm of the trash bag. “There might be a broken bag somewhere,” she remarked and continued along with her inspection. Meanwhile, Clyde awoke to utter darkness surrounding him. “Where in blazes am I?!” he yelled. “What is all of this stuff? Hello?” he cried, but no answer came. “I suppose my curiosity got the better of me, and now here I am to face the consequences presented to me.” Not long after, though, did the sky brighten as the woman tossed a bag into the depths as well. It crashed down, ever so slightly away from Clyde. “What the devil?” he continued as he approached the fallen vessel. Peering inside, he was met with voices, voices that he recognized. It was his friends, the whole group, habitat and sh-bang had all been thrown away along with Clyde. “Why Clyde, is that you?” echoed the voice of Achilles. “Achilles! Yes, it’s me!” “Clyde my friend! I’m so glad to see you!” “Likewise brother, likewise.” “Now that that's out of the way, where are we exactly?” “I fear we are in what's called a ‘trash bin’,” replied Clyde. “Lord have mercy. I told you, this is what curiosity gets you, Clyde!” boomed Achilles. “Yes, I fear I was mistaken, and I offer my sincerest apologies,” said Clyde meekly. “Well, as long as you know you're wrong. Plus, you finally did get to see your ‘greater world’, did you not?” “Yes I did, and you won't believe what I saw!” Poor Clyde and Achilles, little did they know that Clyde’s arrogance had cost them their home, and soon, their fates. While he was able to identify a trash bin, he did not know where the contents inside it would end up. So, the moral of this story is that while some curiosity is natural and good, too much of it can have drastic consequences. Thus, one should not take what they have for granted and enjoy it to its finest. Try something new, but don’t entirely forget and dispose of the old ways.  South American dictators have always posed a huge problem for their countries. For this, I will heavily rely on Venezuela as an example.
In the late 1990’s to the early 2000’s, Venezuela was one of the most successful oil giants in the world. However, due to actions taken by Hugo Chavez during his rule, Venezuela’s oil production and profits have fallen dramatically. Its current dictator Nicolas Maduro has only worsened the economy ever since he first took power. Like many other corrupt rulers, Maduro seeks power. He wants to expand his reign as much as possible, silencing anyone who stands in his way. In my opinion, and I believe many others, the U.S. should most certainly do something to help people fight back against their dictators. However, while we all want this to happen, it won’t any time soon. To start, the U.S. has its own problems at the moment. They’re busy trying to pass new laws now that President Trump is back in office and also negotiate a peace talk (supposedly) between Russia and Ukraine. Moreover, if the U.S. did engage, it would only result in a war, distracting the government from more pressing matters. On top of that, the U.S would gain no practical benefits or advantages from doing this. It would only be a waste of resources resulting in a larger loss than win for the U.S. Furthermore, this might spark backlash from allies, thus prolonging the war and loss of resources and funds. Backlash could also stem from citizens of both the U.S. and Venezuela. While few, there are some citizens that support their dictators and fully endorse their plans.Citizens of the U.S would also protest, more than likely, due to the fact that it would again distract from other much more pressing matters. The U.S. doesn't have any technical reasons to invade a South American country at the moment, although President Trump has stated intentions on invading Panama to retake the Panama Canal. We can't just start a war just because we believe a country's leader is cruel and unjust. We must have some viable explanation and reason to launch and attack, which is currently absent. Maduro, for example, is unlikely to give us one. Although cruel, he is smart, and knows that launching any sort of offense against the U.S. could result in major consequences for his tyranny. Not just this, but many spies, news reporters, and other civilians have ventured to Venezuela and have “disappeared” under mysterious circumstances. I’m going to share a quick personal story. My mother was born and raised in Venezuela, but settled down and had a family in the U.S. Unfortunately, my grandparents were still stuck in Venezuela. One year, she had to go and get them to the U.S. when things were starting to look really bad there. She was lucky to get back, as it’s very hard for people to leave Venezuela once they enter, and this process took her over four months to accomplish. So, should the U.S do something about these dictators? How much I want to say yes is immeasurable, however I must say no. There are just far too many cons to outway the pros, so for now, we will just have to wait.  You should have a hobby! Yeah, that's right, I'm talking to you! What hobbies do you have? Maybe you play a sport, or read books, or even do art of some sort. These are all very good choices to pursue, but what if I told you that there was a specific hobby that could help you in more ways than you can count. This passion is rather common, but it is overlooked in modern times. I’m talking about playing a guitar. I’ll even go as far as saying HOT TAKE: GUITAR IS THE BEST HOBBY YOU CAN PURSUE! There, I said it, happy? Anyways, I say this from personal experience and here are some of the benefits I have observed and believe that everyone should get from playing a guitar: it's a stress reliever; it’s also a great hand-eye coordination trainer; and, it’s just an overall good time.
To start, it’s a stress reliever. Whenever I’m mad, I break out my guitar and just start strumming. It usually helps me out a lot. I always feel better after playing and can go back to chilling out. But don’t just take it from me. Recently, I asked Anderson Ratliff ‘26 why he plays guitar, and he shared my views, saying, “Well, I play guitar to help relieve stress, and so that’s kind of why I picked it up. And I’ve just, I’ve taught myself how to play guitar over the past two years.” So, as I believe many others can relate to, playing guitar is a good stress reliever. Daniel Levitin, an award winning neuroscientist, musician, record producer, and who is well known for his New York Times best seller This is your Brain on Music, worked with popular guitar brand Fender to write about this very concept. “"Playing an instrument has a meditative aspect that can release positive hormones in the brain and can reduce the stress hormone Cortisol, increase productivity, and create social bonding to combat loneliness in the digital age," Levitin said. "Playing music with other people produces the chemical oxytocin, a binding chemical that promotes trust and social bonding and makes you feel better." To continue, practicing guitar can greatly improve your hand-eye coordination. Learning how to do riffs takes a lot of training, especially complicated and fastly timed ones. This training can greatly improve other tasks you could have that require good coordination. For example, craftsmanship. Say you also do other art forms, like carving. That also takes a lot of practice to master, and playing guitar can greatly improve your dexterity and aid in the carving process. Or, you might play another instrument. Again, most instruments require good dexterity, guitar can help improve on that. Don’t just take it from me though, many sources agree with this claim. MJP Guitar Tuition claims quote, “Playing an instrument requires a certain level of hand-eye coordination, which is of course developed with practice. Reading guitar tablature and/or music involves your brain converting that information into specific motor patterns.” To finish it off, playing guitar is a good time passer. Back in the 1900’s, kids went outside and played games with each other when they were bored. Adults used to read the morning paper and listen to music on the radio. Occasionally, the family would gather around the television to watch their favorite shows, but technology was not as prominent as it is in modern times. Nowadays, kids and adults spend hours a day on their devices, either watching videos, playing video games or writing up business reports. It’s not a good thing, and that's another reason why I began playing guitar. Let me share a quick story for more context. When I was younger, I never had a device of my own. I would occasionally get to play games on my mom’s phone, but that was it. Then, Covid hit, and everything changed, not just for me, but for all of us. People's online presence grew and grew, and with that, consequences arose. I became addicted to screens, sometimes going hours at a time repeatedly without stopping. I grew lazy, and lost a lot of curiosity in anything that wasn’t on a screen. Eventually though, I snapped out of this trance-like state and realized it was a very bad thing that I needed to fix. I began looking for alternatives, and one thing I remembered I could do was to play guitar. From there, my online presence drastically decreased and I began to actually have energy and the willpower to do the things I loved again. But don’t just take it from me, ask your friends, family, or even yourself, because I guarantee that most of you reading this have experienced a similar time in your lives. My point here is that guitar is a great pastime. It keeps us occupied, entertained, and brings out the best in us. It’s a way for people to express their creativity through song, either by themselves or with their friends and family. In short, playing guitar is a great, if not the best hobby one can acquire. The benefits go farther than what I have covered, including joining Guitar Club at North Cross (every Friday in room 19, everyone is welcome!). Shameless self-plug aside, I hope you got something out of this read. So, stay happy out there, go down to your local Fret Mill, buy a good guitar, and just mess around, have fun, learn new things, and most importantly, enjoy yourself. The Strings Club is officially back and looking for anyone willing to come and join the fun every Friday in Mistie Dickenson’s room.
In the past, Dr. Timothy Naginey used to have a “guitar club” of sorts, where he would have a day every week in which students could bring their guitars to school, and Dr. Naginey would teach them some lessons to improve their skills. However, due to the rise in the amount of clubs available, the club was shut down and hasn’t been seen for a while.Recently, Dickenson and Dr. Naginey have been working together to bring back the club, however instead of a teaching session of sorts, students can bring any sort of stringed instrument and have a fun time fiddling around. The kicker is that it doesn't matter what skill level you are. From complete beginners to masters of their respective instruments, everyone is welcome to come have a fun time, work on songs they are learning, and even help each other improve together. This Friday, a good number of students turned up for the club meeting, bringing all electric guitars, and had some fun practicing. One of the students, Anderson Ratliff, brought two of his electric guitars, plugged in, and started playing a few riffs from popular songs. “I play guitar to help relieve stress, and so that’s kind of why I picked it up,” Anderson said. “And I’ve just taught myself how to play guitar over the past two years. It’s just really important to me to, sort of like, relieve stress, and it’s just, it’s just helpful. Like midway through the day like keeps me going, gets me energized.”  Hello Human!:
Zuhair Mirza and Luke Daniel work hard to try to attach an extendable arm to the base platform of the robotics’ teams robot. The team of 13 have been working for over two months now, and have run into a few problems along the way, but they have slowly overcome them. They will have a competition in early 2025 using their robot to collect small samples and use them to score. “I think it’s really good so far this year, and we got a good head start because we had the base already kind of built,” said Dr. Timothy Naginey, one of the leaders of the robotics team. As he said, the team did have a head start using a pre-built base from last year's competition, however the arm has been the major problem so far, as it is currently being held on by “a wish and a prayer,” as some might say, or as the rest of the group calls it “some zip ties and duct tape.” Despite this, the team still has high hopes and continues to work as the deadline for the competition nears, with the first on Jan. 18 in Harrisonburg and the second on Jan. 26 in Bassett.  YEET!:
Sander “Frog” Frogner steps up to the line to try his hand at pumpkin toss at the Fall Festivus of 2024. As an experienced shot put thrower, Frog has had his fair share of practice for the moment. He was not alone though, all of his fellow throwers, including Nate Hayes ‘26, Trace Pickard ‘27, and Daven Reed ‘28 are all experienced shot throwers as well. On his first attempt, Frog only threw the pumpkin straight up, but caught it, and tried again. The second try struck gold however, as the pumpkin flew 25-35 feet away, setting the mark to be broken. “Well, [on] my first throw, I slipped a little bit,” Frog said. “I had a pretty bad grip, so it just fell, and I just immediately thought, well, if it breaks, that counts. I had to catch it, but I did not think I was gonna win when I did my second throw, because I went, again, against Nate Hayes, Big Dev, and Trace, and I thought they were gonna throw much further than me. But when I did my throw, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a pretty good throw.’ And then it splattered quite far. And then I won. I was very happy and a little bit shocked that I was the one who won.” The others all did well, but none came close to beating Frog’s record. “I feel like I could have thrown it better,” ,” Nate Hayes said, “but I wasn’t expecting the pumpkin to feel that way. But I feel like I should have won that at the end of the day.”  Pura Vida:
DEI club members sell colorful bracelets and purses on a Thursday at lunch. The DEI club had been planning this event for weeks, dividing members into specific groups to run the table. All of the items were made through the Pulsera project in Guatemala, and all proceeds went back to benefit the members of those communities. Isabel Mendez ‘26 was one of the chosen members to run the table, helping to sell the products. “It’s important because everybody is different. So everybody has their like their own culture and traditions,” Mendez said during the event. “Coming from Costa Rica, I’m a native speaker, and moving to another country, I’m proud to represent my country here, and I just want to share my cultural traditions too for people to see what we do.” There were many remarks of the vibrant colors of the bracelets by other students. If you didn’t have a chance to buy one, don’t worry. The DEI members assured everyone that they would set up the table again next Thursday along with even more tables including a food table and a Dia de los Muertos table to further celebrate the month. Parker Britton ‘28 came to our school this past summer and has made a splash in our community, both through his impressive work in soccer and his kindness and positivity towards fellow students in class. .
Born on St. Patricks Day of 2010, Parker came from public school where , “kids were a bit rowdy,” he said. He went on to state that North Cross has much better standards than his previous school, Glenvar. When asked specifically what he enjoyed most about our school, he said, “Probably how nice the kids are and just the teachers being able to go, like, one on one, with students and classrooms being smaller.” Parker lives with his mom and dad, his brother Spencer ‘27, who also transferred to NCS this year and his dog named Baxter. His mom works as a teacher at Mason Cove Elementary while his father pursues a career in healthcare at Boston Scientific. Baxter meanwhile, can be a little bit of a menace. Parker enjoys playing soccer as a striker, or in other words, a person who attacks at the goal to score and assist other offensive players. To cap it off, Parker enjoys sushi as his favorite food and loves to listen to hip hop and rap music. He was later asked what he would be doing if he could do anything in the whole world, and simply replied, “I'd probably be fishing right now.”  John Lennon would be proud:
Students gather with DEI director Debbie. Taylor to help celebrate International Peace Day at North Cross. The DEI students had planned this day for a week. From left to right, Debbie Taylor, Dara Kerman ‘27, Nola Daninger ‘27, Caroline Welfare ‘27 and Associate Head of School for Academics Victor Lamas gather around a table filled with peace stickers, Lennon glasses, peace necklaces and more. The day started out with the DEI members coming to school at 7:15 a.m. to have a moment of silence gathered around the flagpole outside of Willis Hall. From there, they gathered signs and held them up as parents and students drove by on their way to drop off their kids, brothers and sisters. Lots of horns sounded out around the parking lot. Another activity involved pictures to be taken as students posed with their friends around a hippie van from the ‘60s. “I think the best part is being able to get the parents involved, where they get to honk on the carpool, which is always fun, and I think it helps them to be a little bit more peaceful throughout the day, because they get to get a little bit of frustration out on the horns,” Taylor remarked the next day. In short, lots of people turned out for International Peace Day. |
Joaquin DowneyHi everyone, my name is Joaquin Downey, '28, and I am a part of the Willis Hall Herald staff. You guys can call me Joaq for short. I love to write and personally love watching the news. I also love exercising and playing sports. When I joined Journalism this year, I thought to myself, "What kind of commitment am I making here?", and I got my answer pretty quickly. My commitment to you is to always bring facts and nothing but the truth through my writing. I also love dogs! Archives
May 2025
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