February 2023

8 opinions/westerner
EDITORIAL POLICY
The student-produced newspaper
of Maine West High School, the Westerner,
is dedicated to maintaining the
values of truth, integrity, and courage
in reporting. The Westerner provides
an open public forum for free and
responsible expression of student
opinion, as well as balanced coverage
of issues of student interest. The
staff encourages discussion and free
expression between all members of
the school and community and maintains
its responsibility to inform and
educate the student body.
Unsigned editorials represent the
majority viewpoint of the editorial
board. Letters to the editor, which
are subject to editing for length and
clarity, must be signed by name and
may be published upon approval
from the editorial board. Opinions
in letters are not necessarily those of
the Westerner, nor should any opinion
expressed in the Westerner be construed
as the opinion or policy of the
adviser, the Westerner staff as a whole,
the school staff, the school administration,
or District 207 school board.
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Editors-in-Chief:
Sabrina Bukvarevic, Caitlyn Claussen
News Editors:
Carlos Hernandez-Hernandez,
Mohnish Soni
Features Editor:
Michelle Kaner
In-Depth Editor:
Sabrina Bukvarevic
Entertainment Editor:
Karolina Glowa
Opinions Editors:
Salma Hassab, Timea Matavova
Sports Editors:
Daniel Solomon, Caitlyn Claussen
Photo/Art Editor:
Gabby Szewczyk
Digital Editor:
Andrei Badulescu
Assistant Editors:
Aleksandra Majewski,
Caiden Claussen, Teagan O’Connor,
Tom Noonan, Zonna Todorovska
STAFF MEMBERS
Ysabela Ang, Damira Beganovic
Joey Bruno, Brooke Capper, Jris dela
Cruz, Cynthia Del Rio Martinez,
Rohan Doma, Emilia Ezlakowski,
Gabriela Febus, Paige Foster, Bethsy
Galvan Acevedo, Alexandra Kania,
Weronika Kmiec, Evlin Mathew,
Taryn McGannon, Emma McGreevy,
Nikhil Nair, Emma Penumaka,
Addison Stutheit, Anna Tooley,
Emily Wojnicki, Bruktawit Yigzaw
ADVISER: Laurie McGowan
VIEW FROM THE BOARD OF EDITORS
Dear Couples,
Public displays of affection are
quite the sloppy spectacles, many
of which are most audaciously performed
in the hallways of Maine
West. Who wants to examine such an
act? The answer is, nobody. And yet,
these immature children disguised
as teenagers care nothing for what
the civil student population wants
or does not want. As a result, countless
students have fallen victim to the
viewings of such overt face-sucking
and groping.
Affectionate teenagers, we kindly
ask, could you calm your hormones?
Your significant other will make it
out alive from their math class; there
is no need to pat them down like a
security guard searching for contraband
at the airport. As unlikely as it
seems, you will survive one hour of
not having your hands all over another
human being. Amazingly, your
partner’s heart will continue to pump
blood -- you can continue to expect
to get your daily kissy face selfie and
heart emojis during class – but we all
don’t need to be part of the experience.
And even more mind-blowingly,
you can simply save all the loveydovey
affection for times
when you’re not in public.
We’d like you to consider
these two words: innocent
bystander. That is
what the rest of the Maine
West population is. We are
innocent bystanders, constantly
being traumatized
by relationships that likely
won’t last longer than a
month – no, a week. Still,
these couples, ones that
will inevitably disappear
faster than the blink of an
eye, leave a lasting psychological effect
on those of us that are just trying
to get from class to class. Trust
we aren’t “jealous” of you and your
two-week-long relationship. We just
want to save ourselves from the trauma
of seeing our unrestrained emotions
in action.
We would also like to introduce
you to another wonderful word: privacy.
Privacy is defined as “the state
of being free from being observed
or disturbed by other people.” Except
the people that would now be
free from being disturbed would be
Annoyingly Simple
or
Simply Annoying?
As you surf the web, drive down
the street, or turn into a store aisle,
you may notice that there has been a
recent influx of logo redesigns over
the past decade. It’s a pattern of rebranding
with a rather minimalistic
style that makes them “fit in” with
the modern times. The simplification
of the design makes the logo
easier for consumers to process and
digest, an ideal choice for redesigns,
but to what extent should companies
go to modernize their logo?
Minimalism itself isn’t the issue.
The problem is that certain companies
are focusing too much on jumping
onto the minimalist bandwagon
that they forget to hint at their company’s
purpose, which is supposed
to be reflected in their logo.
Petco is an example of a redesign
gone wrong. The positive connections
made by consumers that are
associated with the iconic but now
retired blue cat and red dog are now
gone. Instead they are replaced with
lifeless purple letters that fail to convey
the same level of familiarity and
dependability. There was a flood of
outrage across Petco’s social media
when this change occurred. Now,
instead of standing out, Petco joins
the thousands of other companies
with effortless lowercase letters as
their logo.
Despite the unavoidable disapproval
that follows a redesign, there
are certain companies that have had
smoother transitions with minimalist
logos, thanks to their attention to
stay true to their name. Take for example,
Olive Garden. Their current
logo is less detailed than the previous
one, but the addition of the olive
February 15, 2023
‘Could you
not?’
WERONIKA
KMIEC
us innocent bystanders. It’s unlikely
that the eyes of other Maine West
students ever bothered you while
you’re trying to perform a mid-hallway
tonsillectomy. When we say privacy,
however, we do not mean the
E-wing stairwell or a random conspicuous
corner. Newsflash: we can
still see and hear you.
If the question you are asking
yourself right now is: Where are
we allowed to “hang out” if during
school isn’t an option? Then relationships
are probably not for you yet,
friends.
BY BETHSY GALVAN
columnist
branch reflects the restaurant’s name
more effectively than the grapes in
the older versions. They not only
modernized their logo, but enhanced
its original features rather than hide
them away behind dull letters.
If a company decides to utilize
a minimalist style in their logo redesigns,
they should focus on preserving
the original authenticity and
distinctive characteristics that made
them unique, instead of attempting
to fit a mold that would drown in
a monotonous sea of bland, uninspired
logos. Otherwise minimalist
logos will slowly become another
mass-manufactured product of corporate
companies: dull, soulless, and
easy to make.