***Happy Together***

*Written by Maya Wood*

“Let’s start over.”

Named after the popular song from The Turtles, Wong Kar-Wai’s “Happy Together” (1997) follows the relationship between Lai Yiu-Fai (played by Tony Leung) and Ho Po- Wing (played by Leslie Cheung). Having had an on-and- off relationship for a long time, the two find themselves lost in Argentina while searching for the other-worldly beautiful Iguazu Falls. Frustrated and sick of each other, they go their separate ways. Eventually, they both end up in Buenos Aires and find each other again, leading to an emotional and complicated reunion.

Wong Kar-Wai, the creator of “In The Mood For Love” (2000) and “Fallen Angels” (1995), brings back his incredible artistic vision using light and color to shape the emotional evolution of this story. The shifting color palettes reflect the fluctuating dynamics of the relationship between Fai and Po-Wing: warm and vibrant reds and oranges when the characters are experiencing overwhelming love or grief; bright and sunny yellow when they feel contentedness; cold blues and greens when they feel depression
and loneliness; and black and white when they completely hate each other, capturing the realistic and raw emotions of difficult situations.

This movie was made only six years after the legal recognition of homosexual couples in Hong Kong (though same-sex marriage was not legalized), and was very influential in attaining more visibility for the LGBTQ+ community. Even today, same-sex couples in Hong Kong have no legal protections from discrimination or for marriage. This story mostly took place in Argentina, which in the 1990s was more accepting of the gay community, and now has many legal protections in place for LGBTQ+ individuals.

This is one of my favorite movies from Wong Kar-Wai and I think that he does a great job of going below the surface in terms of emotion, which can add a layer of relatability and representation to some members of the audience. The themes in this film are raw and moving, but not for everyone. It deals with topics surrounding a toxic relationship, so viewers’ discretion is advised.

***Far From Heaven***

*Written by Chloe Lam*

I’ve tried, I’ve tried to be like other people.”

Many recent movies have displayed honor and respect towards individuals who have had an impact on Pride Month. “Far From Heaven,” released in 2002, is a drama which takes place in the 1950s. It is a stunning and emotional movie which delivers a powerful message regarding race, gender, sexuality, and escapism during that time period.

The protagonist, Cathy Whitaker, highlights many of the oppressions and expectations women faced during the 1950s, such prioritizing family needs over her own desires. She marries Frank, who is similarly struggling with living a double life, since he’s secretly gay. He is forced to hide his identity, which leads to psychological distress.

Frank decided to marry Cathy because it would adhere to societal expectations. Through his marriage, Frank has conversations with his psychiatrist regarding homosexuality, and he realizes that there is a widespread belief that homosexuality is a mental illness that could be cured.

This untrue belief led to the harm of many LGBTQ+ individuals in real life, in addition to Frank in this movie. The film highlights the homophobia and prejudice in the 1950s, where gender roles took precedence over understanding and acceptance, allowing the audience to be aware of the problem, therefore leading the audience to strive for a greater change in the future.

Soon after, Frank has the courage to move out and decides to find his own happiness. He was able to embrace his own identity despite societal expectations and was able to live authentically in a repressive society. The positive ending to the film highlights the importance of finding the right but painful steps to self acceptance and happiness, despite facing difficult situations.

***Brokeback Mountain***

*Written by Rebecca Zhang*

“I wish I knew how to quit you sometimes.”

On the goldens of the lush plains, thousands of meters above the smokes of life — with rain, with snow, with him — “Brokeback Mountain” tells of the tragic love story when Ennis Del Mar (played by Heath Ledger) meets a rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) in a small town of Wyoming in 1963. Introverted Ennis and extroverted Jack soon become good friends as sheep herders on Brokeback Mountain. While both try to avoid it, they notice that they have slowly gone beyond the point of friendship, when one freezing night spent together seals their fate. However, after the job ends, they go their separate ways, longing after their memory of Brokeback Mountain, and only having infrequent, secretive reunions
which makes them miserable.

“Brokeback Mountain” shows how the inequalities that LGBTQ+ people face in this world can frighten them because of the risk that they might be physically attacked or publicly shamed by people with homophobic views, especially at that time. Ennis and Jack’s decisions to marry women while having an illicit affair outside of their marriages demonstrates the fragile balance of striving to appeal to the public’s expectations while attempting to understand
their own differences.

However, their hesitancy to be together throughout the film makes for a tragic end. They wanted to express themselves, but the need to protect themselves from danger ended up reigning over their decisions. Although the world is now changing, gay love is still widely restricted in many places and many beliefs. Jack and Ennis’ relationship in “Brokeback Mountain” depicts a love which is raw but heartfelt, violent but fragile, emotional but persevering, and desirous but forbidden. The film has not only strong convincing elements for people to accept all differences, but it also puts in so much humanity and vulnerability that reveals the truth behind common yet undercoveraged encounters with prejudice.

Finding pride in film: three LGBTQ+ movies to watch

With another exciting school year coming to an end, we all have one word in our minds: VACATION! Luckily, for those who are going on road trips by themselves, or with their friends or family, we have created a perfect playlist for long drives.

“Drive By” is a song by American pop rock band Train from their sixth studio album, “California 37,” released in 2012. This song does a good job keeping the mood upbeat and ensuring that your road trip won’t be a boring one. The song describes the story of how the lead singer, Pat Monahan, met his wife. While she thinks their meetup was just a “one night stand,” hence “drive by,” Monahan tries his best to convince her otherwise. Train does an amazing job describing the feelings of Monahan, explaining how his “love for [the girl] went viral / And [he] loved [her] every mile [she] drove away ... Because [he] really fell for [her].” I think that this song is incredibly endearing, especially because Monahan develops his feelings simply through a one night stand. Not only does this song bring back nostalgia of the early 2010s, it is incredibly catchy as well, and great for a road trip.

Similar to “Drive By,” in “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz, the artist also sings about his love towards a girl, opening up about his feelings towards her, and overcoming the hesitation he has while trying to pursue the girl. With the lyrics, “So I won’t hesitate no more, no more,” Mraz makes it clear he no longer wants to bottle up his feelings about this girl. I think that aside from the endearing message that this song has, the music is catchy yet not overwhelming. The instrumentals are clean; while there are quite a few instruments used, such as the bass guitar, ukulele, and keyboard, the song still has a calm vibe. So, even if you just listen to the music for its vibes, or if you enjoy deciphering messages written by artists, “I’m Yours” will definitely catch your attention.

As for a more recent song, “Espresso” is a trending pop song written by American singer Sabrina Carpenter in 2024. Similarly to the other two songs, this tune is also upbeat. However, the lyrics in “Espresso” are rather humorous. Carpenter begins her song by saying how “he’s thinkin’ ‘bout [her] every night ... say[ing] [he] can’t sleep” because she’s like an espresso to him: addicting. While many artists sing about serious themes, such as love, pain, and breakups, Carpenter deals with more light-hearted subjects. I think that despite this song being repetitive, the catchy chorus makes up for the shortcomings.

“Cruel Summer,” a 2019 tune by international pop star Taylor Swift, is a song that begs to be sung at the top of your lungs on a hot summer day. In it, Swift conveys the feeling of a forbidden summer romance. At one point in the song, she sings, “And I snuck in through the garden gate / Every night that summer just to seal my fate / And I screamed for whatever it’s worth / ‘I love you,’ ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” As the highlight of the song, if the previous parts didn’t already, this grabs my attention and convinces me to sing along. For fans of 1980s music, the synth-heavy instrumental contains elements of retro music and gives a sense of nostalgia. Whether you’re a Swiftie or not, this song will get you singing “it’s a cruel summer” along with Swift.

“Curls in the Wind’’ was released last year by Mark Ambor, an American singer-songwriter mainly focused on indie-pop music. Despite echoing sentiments of romance like “Cruel Summer,” Ambor’s lyrics portray pursuing love as something that is exciting and comforting. The song depicts a more carefree impulsiveness of new romance that gives the listener a sense of freedom when Ambor sings, “Getting lost in a beautiful place / Open fields when I look at your face.” The pace of the song and the clarity of the lyrics make it easy for me to sing along with anyone I’m traveling with in the car. The sensory depictions embedded in the phrases lets the listener imagine a perfect setting with their loved one and gives a sense of escapism.

Performed by K-pop girl group NewJeans, who is known for hits such as “Super Shy” and “Hype Boy,” the song “ETA” will get you and your friends or family hyped up for summer fun. The refreshing, rhythmic pop sound of “ETA” with its addictive chorus is sure to be a favorite for teens. The chorus is “We can go wherever you like / Baby say the words and I’m down / All I need is you on my side ... what’s your ETA, what’s your ETA.” The lyrical style of this song is similar to conversing with a close friend, inviting the listener to be part of their inner circle. I especially love the meaning of the lyrics and how it comes to symbolize navigating young love with the help of close friends. Even though the song is mostly in Korean, the main parts of the song are in English, allowing people to sing along to the most important parts.

Hopefully these summer bops give you a sense of cheerfulness and spirit no matter what destination you’re headed towards. After a stressful school year, we deserve good music to kick back and relax to. Feel free to explore other songs from the playlist to listen to over your summer vacation!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4uXYlVzPAYt8UpU2M97B3s

Summer vibes for the summer drives: a playlist

   Can you name one detail about Unit 731, the WWII research program with thousands of casualties? Probably not, but unfamiliarity with this tragedy isn’t your fault. Rather, the surprising lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in the outreach programs at PHS is to blame. 
   In order to understand why we don’t often learn about these topics, it is important to acknowledge the root cause: the marginalization of AAPI individuals in the United States. One source of this oppression is sinophobia, the fear or hatred of China, which spiked to an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic. The branding of the disease as primarily the fault of Chinese people caused a rise in racist name-calling and violent hate crimes against millions of Asian Americans, including those who weren’t of Chinese descent. One of the most horrific attacks was the 2021 Atlanta spa shooting, in which eight women, six of them Asian, were killed. This tragedy rattled AAPI communities across the country, serving as a stark reminder that they could be the target of a prejudiced hate crime. The Princeton community held a vigil honoring these victims and acknowledging anti-Asian racism, but initiatives like this do little to combat structural ignorance of AAPI people and history. 
   Historical programs at PHS often commemorate tragedies within western countries, such as the Holocaust, but overlook the suffering that people in Asian countries have faced throughout history. We have never once had an assembly or event about Unit 731, a Japanese research program during World War II that performed unsedated vivisections and purposely gave victims frostbite and the plague. It is estimated that Unit 731 killed up to half a million people, but United States authorities provided operation officials with legal immunity from these crimes in exchange for research information. Due to Japan’s destruction of evidence, the United States’ compliance, and its exclusion from our history awareness initiatives, few people in the United States learn of this brutal mass murder. To state another event that is overlooked by educational outreach programs at PHS is the Manila massacre, also known as the Rape of Manila, which took place during WWII. During the Manila massacre, the Imperial Japanese Army brutally murdered at least 100,000 Filipino civilians and raped hundreds of young girls and women. Though both of the above events undoubtedly caused significant trauma to the groups targeted, these cruel violations of human rights may become hidden away and slowly forgotten one day. Worsening this situation, PHS has failed to even acknowledge these horrific war crimes in Asian history during AAPI history month. 
   In defense of our school’s curriculum, there is only so much our teachers can show us in the vast expanse of history. However, that is exactly why we should be supplementing these parts of AAPI history through speaker events, much like the assembly for Jewish Heritage Month. When we invite knowledgable scholars to share information about Unit 731, they commemorate and pass down this important piece of world history down to future generations. After all, if we don’t know about the past, how can we stop ourselves from repeating it in the present? 
   Education, in the face of discrimination and political tensions, is crucial in the fight for AAPI representation. As an already marginalized group, AAPI communities need to see their history portrayed in outreach programs to both teach AAPI individuals about their ancestors and promote understanding within the broader student body. Through awareness, we acknowledge the struggles faced by cultural groups, work to prevent such atrocities from happening again, and celebrate the AAPI individuals within our community. It is time for PHS to take steps towards shedding light on the important topics ignored by our current outreach programs and fostering a greater culture of empathy and understanding of AAPI history in our school community.

We should have had an AAPI month assembly

   “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and as a people,” wrote the authors of the 1983 report “A Nation at Risk.” 
   Since the report’s publication revealed the extent of the United States’ far from exceptional public education, there has been an emphasis on the need to increase rigor in our curriculum and provide for STEM courses to compete with other knowledge economies. With it came an influx of standardized curriculum, like the Common Core and testing in public schools; it also seems more than coincidental that the popularity of AP tests has grown significantly almost every year since the 1980s. While these courses were originally created to challenge high-performing students further, it seems rare to find a student at PHS not taking these Advanced Placement “university-level courses.” On the surface level, we see tremendous progress in the effort and expectation for students at PHS and around the country. But we don’t seem to be better as a nation. 
   The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is universally recognized as a benchmark to assess and compare national education systems in different countries, testing 15-year-olds on essential math, reading, and science knowledge and skills. Despite funding for education increasing per pupil every year, the United States’ PISA scores have stagnated or even decreased the past decade. This doesn’t seem to match the fact that alongside millions of students nationwide, PHS students pushed themselves to take a record amount of 1660 AP exams in total this year. 
   Recently, there has been an avalanche of disappointing decisions by College Board, which is continuing to decrease benchmarks in multiple avenues of standardized testing such as the AP, PSAT, and SAT exams. Under the convoluted mess of positive statistics seems to lie an opposite reality, a downward trend in expectation that seems oddly similar to the fears that led to the publication of “A Nation at Risk.” For example, to be considered “extremely well qualified” in the AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Exam, students need to score just above 50 percent of the total points available. Other more subtle changes show up in the difficulty of texts in the AP Language Arts and Composition exam or the complexity of questions given in history exams (not to mention the changes to the rubric). Are we stooping to a lower standard in education? With the powerful influence that College Board wields today in curriculum, it seems undeniable. Considering these developments, the very ideals that define American exceptionalism seem at odds with the direction of our schools. 
   In some ways, the changes are a result of public pressure. The push for self-contentment, relaxation, and work-life boundaries leads us to the conclusion that mediocrity is a far better fate than misery. However, although the US is facing a mental health crisis, especially among young adults, decreasing the expectations and benchmarks of what we can achieve is only further detrimental to education and the self-confidence of the generation most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
   Simply put, students are confused. This confusion is felt frequently on social media, where students are swayed to believe they can prioritize their mental health, half-committing to learning, while working arduously to be somewhat comparable to other students in the “How I got into *insert university*” videos plaguing their screens. The rise of satisficing in education reflects America’s shifting priorities, exacerbated by the “dumbing down” of expectations that were seemingly achievable just a few years ago. One can’t help to feel as if the United States’ education system is shying away from difficult experimentation and implementation to improve education, and instead deciding to acquiesce in a whirlwind of damaged attention spans and complaints. 
   It is human nature to want things to stay easy. But for developing teens, when we ignore the growth that can come from pressure, the successive appeasement in the name of overbearing stress removes conviction when surmounting future obstacles. The comfort we feel in mediocrity right now is only temporary. 
   By definition, only a few are exceptional. But for each individual and as a society, the intense drive to improve upon the previous generation is necessary in order to exceed the stagnation that we currently face. Everyone wants to be the best version of themselves, so let’s put that idea into practice.

A transition to mediocrity

“I’m really excited to watch the gymnastics one because the tricks they do are pretty cool ... I am very lazy, so seeing people who are not lazy do cool stuff ... [makes me] feel [motivated].” - Ashaz Rizvi '25

“I’m looking forward to the triathlon because I find it really impressive that they are able to do three sports in one competition. Also, I know people who do traithlons so it’s fun to talk about it with them.” - Shaya Bhatia ’27

“For the Olympics this year, I’m looking forward to sprinting ... and high jumping because both of these competitions were last won by Italians, and I’m trying to see if we can pull off [another win].” - Enea Meloni ’24

PHS TAKES: Which Olympic sport are you looking forward to watch the most this year and why?

Holding the discus, Isabella Posada ’24 spins on one leg, generating power, before releasing and letting it fly far.

Posada was introduced to discus through her friend at Cranbury Middle School. Joining the track and field team with her friend at middle school was very important in Posada’s process of getting accustomed to the track team, and the sport of discus at PHS.

“[I] started off [with] shotput but then I began to move to discus, and [I] just [kept competing in discus from then on],” Posada said.

Posada attributes much of her success to the work she did with her coaches, from their emphasis on intense training to their ability to counsel and mentor.

“Most of my coaches have been very supportive and have treated me as a daughter of their own, making me love the sport and listen to their advice,” said Posada. “I believe a good coach shouldn’t have favorites
and should push their athletes in the right way and get to know them personally in order for them to achieve their full potential.”

Brandon Williams is the coach of the discus team at PHS, and has seen Posada’s progress throughout the
years; her development is a major source of pride for Williams.

“Isabella has been on our team for about four years now,” said Williams. “She’s a senior and she’s gone through everything. She has been a county champion, and that has been a great inspiration to younger throwers to accomplish what she has.”

Transitioning from Cranbury Middle School to PHS, Posada discovered that the community of discus throwers was small in comparison to the sprinters and long distance runners, but soon found herself appreciating this close-knit group.

“My relationship with other discus throwers can be very personal. I feel more connected to some of them because we have grown [together] not just as throwers but as people,” said Posada. “If it was a larger sport [with] more people, it would most likely not feel the same.”

Osbaldo Morales ’25 has been Posada’s teammate for the past couple of years, and has seen how her emphasis on team morale has allowed for stronger unity in the long run.

“When I was a freshman, I was a little scared of my upper classmates,” said Morales. “As time passed on, and as I got to know [Isabella], I realized that she was someone who was easy to communicate [with]; she is a really easy going person.”

Along with being a great person and friend, Posada stresses the significance of team bonding experiences, as she feels that it can help improve results on the field. Morales fondly remembers a moment where Posada sang “Let It Go” in a car ride while the team was bonding over ice cream. Moraless feels that this encompasses Posada’s spirit.

“It was ... just a really fun time and everyone [was] singing along, because that was the vibe,” said Morales. “She was really singing her whole heart out.”

While Posada is committed to making sure that the team environment is friendly and cohesive, she is able to employ a competitive mindset when needed. Posada believes that focusing on winning involves several factors.

“I usually try to mentally prepare myself before throwing, by calming myself down and going through my throwing routine,” said Posada. “I usually like to think of anything but throwing because it helps me not get in my head [too] much.”

Williams feels that Posada’s competitive drive is a perfect example of what his athletes should aspire to have, and that such ambition allows them to impact on the field.

“Having athletes that compete with each other on a day-in-day-out basis helps to push each other to make them better, so they can be at their highest level of competition on meet day,” Williams said.

Now close to graduation, Posada feels that she has a good understanding of the PHS track team, and has some good advice for freshmen who are beginning their high school careers.

“It’s all about mentality and keeping yourself together,” said Posada. “A lot of great athletes can easily get in their [own] heads which negatively impacts their performance, especially when they are throwing a discus.”

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