The Cardinal Times Spring 2021 Issue

CULTURE The Cardinal Times, SPRING, 2021 • PAGE 9
Cardinal Times staff reviews Sputnik Sweethart and Two Can
Keep a Secret
By MEI XU
Title: Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki
Murakami
Pages: 210
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Cultural (work
in translation)
Release Date: 1999
Favorite Quote: “So that’s how we live
our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the
loss, no matter how important the thing
that’s stolen from us… even if we are left
completely changed, with only the outer
layer of skin from before, we continue to
play out our lives this way, in silence.”
Synopsis: Sumire, a recent college dropout,
finds herself in love for the first time
with Miu, a woman 17 years older than her.
The narrator, K, is good friends with Sumire
from college, and together, they bond
over phone calls in the early mornings in
which Sumire pines K for advice on love,
writing and making sense of the world.
explores the intense, yet unrequited, love
triangle between Sumire, Miu and K, and
delves into themes such as the complexity
of relationships, longing, isolation and the
forever incompleteness attached with human
desire.
Why I like it: Haruki Murakami is one of
my favorite authors, and this is one of my
favorite books by Murakami. The way that
he writes is deeply personal, as if each sentence
is like a warm hug. I love , as it yields
Sputnik Sweetheart is a book written in 1999 by
Haruki Murakami.
Courtesy of BARNES AND NOBLE
inevitable self-reflection. The book itself
is centered around a “shell of our former
selves” perspective and provokes an innate
awareness of the internal loneliness of life,
while questioning the futile attempts that
humans make to conceal this devouring
feeling. Oh, and it’s also filled with literary
techniques, such as symbolism and metaphors,
which only add to the excitement.
By DEVYN MCMILLEN
Title: Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M.
McManus
Pages: 327
Genre: Murder Mystery
Release date: Jan. 11, 2019
Favorite Quote: “Welcome to life in a
small town. You’re only as good as the best
thing your family’s done. Or the worst.”
Synopsis: Twin high school students,
Ellery and Ezra, are forced to move to their
mother’s hometown, Echo Ridge, to live
with their grandmother while their mother
is in rehab. When they arrive, they come
to find out why their mother refused to tell
them about her childhood growing up in
Echo Ridge: her sister, the homecoming
queen, went missing and was never found
when they were only teenagers. Though
their aunt was the first homecoming queen
to go missing in Echo Ridge, she certainly
wasn’t the last….
Why I like it: I like it because the outcome
is not predictable, but it’s not out of the blue
or random either. In my opinion, McManus
does a very good job of making sure you
don’t know until the very end what is going
to happen, which can be hard to find in a
murder mystery. The writing is disturbing
and scary without being unnecessarily violent
or graphic. And, best of all, it’s the kind
Two Can Keep a Secret is a book written in
2019 by Karen M. McManus.
Courtesy of AMAZON
of book you can re-read over and over, and
still be able to experience the thrill of the
mystery each time.
Readers Respond: Arguments for and against school
reopening, vaccination availability, mental health
In response to Cardinal Times article
“It’s too early to return students en
masse to Portland high schools”
As a freshman in high school I have
been taking classes at Lincoln for about six
months, but I have never set foot inside a
Lincoln classroom. I have been able to keep
up with my classes. However, many other
students in Oregon and across the country
have not been as fortunate.
According to an article from The Washington
Post and an article from Greenville
News, class failure rates have skyrocketed
since online school started in school
systems from Fairfax County, Virginia, to
Greenville, South Carolina.
Many less privileged students rely on
school for meals, physical activity and
healthcare. Also, online school is especially
challenging for students who cannot get
help with mental health problems. Additionally,
being social and making friends is
a big part of school for freshman and new
students like myself. This is taken away by
online school.
I acknowledge the people pushing for
school to stay online, and that they believe
it is unsafe for students and staff to return
because of COVID-19. But as vaccines are
distributed, daily cases in Oregon continue
to drop. According to an article from NPR,
research found that there is no evidence
that reopening schools causes cases to rise.
When schools in Oregon do re-open it will
be with many precautions. But it is important
that they do sooner rather than later as
students’ struggles with online school could
affect their future.
Declan McCurdy is a student at Lincoln
High School
In response to increased vaccine
availability and inevitable reopenings
Due to the rollout of vaccines, through
the next few months and hopefully by
the end of the year, we are hoping to get
COVID-19 under control so our society can
return to the normal state it once was in.
What is this going to look like? How quickly
will our society return to “normal” again?
Vaccines are slowly becoming more
available to the public— first to elders,
healthcare workers and other first responders
and soon to all adults. When my mom
went to get her vaccine recently, she went
to the Moda Center where the US Army Reserves
were helping organize the event and
all of the details. This can go on to show
how much people care about others and
how they are willing to devote a lot of effort
to helping everyone get one step closer to
getting rid of this disease. We are all in this
together and it’s going to take some time.
How is society going to change? I feel
like some things are going to feel different
forever. What is happening right now is
history that people are going to be reading
about for a long time. I think people will
be wearing masks even after the pandemic
ends because it’s now a routine in our daily
lives to wear a mask. A lot of businesses and
people will be more cautious about safety
and distancing, and I think for a while it’s
just going to feel weird being out in society
again, with other people, interacting with
the world.
As we are around the corner for summer,
please do your part by wearing a mask
and socially distancing appropriately when
you’re around other people. You can start
making a change that will be a part of the
difference for when we as a society can end
this pandemic.
Jonas Brodsky is a student at Lincoln High
School
In response to increasing mental
health issues during online school
Online school has taken a toll on my
mental health, and I’m sure I’m not the
only one. Constant assignments and to-do
lists make the days feel like a constant loop;
it’s hard to break that pattern and take time
for myself. Students need to focus on their
mental health and work on taking care of
themselves during this rough time.
According to the National Association of
School Psychologists, “Left unmet, mental
health problems are linked to costly negative
outcomes such as academic and behavior
problems.”
I have found that exercise allows me to
release energy and be more productive
when I return to doing school work. Experts
have found that exercise relieves tension
and stress and boosts overall wellbeing
through the release of endorphins. Exercise
is easy to do at home, and I suggest that
students who need a break should try and
find twenty minutes to fit in a workout.
With online school, people aren’t very
motivated to reach out, but by giving friends
or family members a call, you are strengthening
your own mental health. The Mental
Health Foundation says, “Strong family ties
and supportive friends can help you deal
with the stresses of life.” Having good mental
health helps keep you focused in school
and having someone to talk to gives you a
person to share your feelings with. Being
productive can be hard, but after taking a
break and talking to someone, it is much
easier to focus on the task at hand.
Overall, I know online school has been
rough and we are all anxious to get life back
to “normal,” but normalizing taking a little
time for ourselves and focusing on our
mental health will help make the last few
months of online school a little more bearable.
Isabella Hartman is a student at Lincoln
High School