Publications Club

Women in Film By Christine Almadjian Mass media, especially that of the film industry, has grown immensely. Various genres intrigue viewers, inspire them to pursue similar careers in similar fields, and allow for an “escape” from reality and submergence into another world. Due to similar generational struggles and applied stereotypes, females and the film industry have been controversial and sadly, unappreciated. Even in modern day society, when feminist waves are potent in belief and activism, the female does not receive equal representation in media. Actresses are objectified, disregarded, and seen as inferior to the man at most. People may hardly ever see a woman represented in the film industry, whether that be a known screenwriter, director, producer, or costume designer. What I call the “trend of inferiority” has been established from the boom of cinematography in the 1920’s, and is still attempting to be resolved today. With events like the “Women in Film” festivals, where the w...

Makeup and skin care product industries have gradually turned towards becoming “Cruelty Free,” signifying that no animals were harmed or tested upon for the specific item to be released to the public. In order to ensure that a certain company follows the cruelty-free guidelines, it must be registered and certified by the Leaping Bunny Program, which requires that no animal testing must be done for product development. Products which are not under the cruelty-free guidelines test potentially toxic materials on animals which end their lives. The following list has a few of the many skin or makeup products which are cruelty free. If you are unsure whether or not a specific company tests on animals, you can easily check out the cruelty-free company search located on the PETA website.  Writte by: Aelita Arshakyan Source: https://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/ Cruelty Free Makeup Products: -Anastasia Beverly Hills -Kat Von D -Hourglass -Too Faced -Urban Decay -Charlotte Tilbury -Tart...

“YouTube Shooting: Woman Wounds 3 Before Killing Herself, Police Say” By: Maggie Astor and Maya Salam Source: Apple News The shooting at Youtube’s headquarters located in San Bruno, California, injured three people by gunfire, one of them critically, on April 3, 2018. The attacker, Nasim Najafi Aghdam, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was in her late 30s. Social media posts which involved her name included a video in which she had previously criticized Youtube. According to Business Insider, Aghdam’s anger and paranoia were presented in a series of violent threats to the employees over at Youtube Headquarters. Employees interviewed said that they had previously received multiple threats from multiple other users, however, none of them had tried to physically harm the employees. Source accessed by Aelita Arshakyan

Harry Potter Flies to The Americas While Hamilton Shakes The United Kingdom By Veronica Mkhsi-Gevorkian It is hard to say that show business is easy. Well, it is also hard to be considered a hit sensation. For JK Rowling and Lin Manuel-Miranda, show business is clearly smooth sailing. Joanne Rowling, who goes by JK Rowling, never thought she would write a play on the sequel to her 7 book and 8 movies series on the story of Harry Potter, the boy who lived to serve justice to his parents’ death, and the introduction of a whole new world of wizardry. The Harry Potter author later in 2016 wrote a play which is the sequel to the series called: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Rowling teams up with Jack Thorne(screenwriter) and John Tiffany(theatre director), and it is split in two parts. The play is based off Harry Potter’s child, Albus Severus Potter’s years in Hogwarts, a wizarding school. As stated in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione Granger (one of the main ...

Weekly Zodiacs  By Veronica Mkhsi-Gevorkian and Nayiri Artounians Aries - The Aries symbol is the ram. Their polarity is positive. The spirit color is red. The lucky gem is the diamond. The flowers are thistle and honeysuckle. Their key traits are ambitious, independent, and impatient. Taurus - The Taurus symbol is a bull. Their polarity is negative. The spirit color is pink. The lucky gem is emerald. The flowers are rose, poppy, and Foxglove. Their key traits are dependable, musical, and practical. Gemini - The Gemini symbol is the twins. The polarity is positive. The spirit is yellow. The lucky gems are emerald and tiger’s eye. The flowers are the lily of the Valley and Lavender. Their key traits are curiosity, affection, and kindness. Cancer - The Cancer symbol is a crab. The polarity is negative. The spirit color is violet. The lucky gems are ruby and pearl. The flowers orchid and white rose. Their key traits are intuitive, emotional, intelligence, and passion. Leo - The Le...

#NEVERAGAIN : Gun Control Reform Taken From Christine Aladjian’s Blogspot Last week, when classes at Stoneman Douglas High School had resumed and news trucks had left, two boys sat in their kitchen trying to launch a movement. Adam and his friend Zach had known two of the fourteen victims and wanted to provoke change through action.They knew their friends had marched in Tallahassee and read the posts concerning the #NeverAgain movement, but the boys wanted to provide change regarding the electoral decisions of future candidates and their stance to protecting the youth. They decided to call their movement Parents Promise To Kids or #PPTK. It was composed of a contract. The contract itself was brief and consisted of one sentence which read, "I/We [parent(s) name(s)] promise to [child name(s)] that I/We will vote for legislative leaders who support your children's safety over guns!" Since then, over one hundred contacts ranging coast to coast have been signed, posed with, an...

One decision can alter the ripples of time. One decision can radically change the lives of millions of people for generations to come. This was the case almost a century ago when a petty exchange led to the physical and spiritual displacement of individuals who had lived on their fatherland for decades. This historic blunder was a clause of the Treaty of Lausanne now dubbed as “The Great Population Exchange”. In this agreement, Greece and Turkey agreed to exchange two million of their own people under horrifying conditions. One survivor recalls that the soldiers “threw my younger sister into the sea”. Why did these exchanges occur in the first place? The situation after World War I was choleric and volatile. The Triple Alliance (including the Ottomans) had lost the war to the Triple Entente. As a result, the countries attempted to take advantage and divide the Ottoman Empire amongst themselves. This was a movement that was heavily resisted by Ataturk nationalists who wanted to keep ...

My Top 25 Movie List Written by Aaron Azizian  Here are a few of my absolute favorite movies: 1. Parental Guidance 2. Psycho 3. Forrest Gump 4. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 5. Titanic 6. Saving Private Ryan 7. Sully 8. King Kong 9. Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift 10. Rocky 11. Borat 12. The Heat 13. Hot Pursuit 14. Jaws 15. Jurassic Park 16. Black Panther 17. Mrs. Doubtfire 18. Wizard of Oz 19. Jumanji 20. Rush Hour 21. Kidnapped 22. Harry Potter Movie Series 23. Grown Up’s 24. End of War 25. Back to the Future Movies are at different ratings raging from Rating PG - R. Please watch at your own discretion.

Congratulations to our middle school Spring Poetry Contest winners! Shant Ispendjian won first place for his poem, "My Pilibos." Our runners up are Daron Simitian for "Goal!!" and Victoria Shamiryan for "Spring." Great job students! My Pilibos By: Shant Ispendjian Have you ever known a school to be, A home away from your family, Where everyone you see each day Embrace you ever so lovingly! I know of this place in Hollywood, Where faces smile all day in grace, Where happily we enter their gates, To start each day our learning race. Always striving, no time to rest, Our growing minds they only Wonder, What lies ahead & around the corner, So much knowledge chasing us like thunder. In footsteps of our Armenian people, My school stands beautiful, proud & strong, Each day I thank to have this chance, My home my school where I belong GOAL!! By: Daron Simitian ...

    The student run organization JSA, or Junior State of America, is a safe place where high school students across the country can passionately express themselves through speech and debate on topics they deem interesting and significant. On March 3rd, Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School hosted its very own JSA One Day, a day in which students in the Los Angeles Region visited the Pilibos campus for a single day to take part in controversial debates and creative discussions. One Days are incredibly important, since they allow JSA members to practice and debate their beliefs outside of the standard conventions, which take place seasonally. The day was introduced by Councilwoman Nury Martinez of the 6th District on her works to solve the ongoing problems of human trafficking, and Anna Menedjian, who explained her life in the legal world. The Pilibos One Day’s agenda included important and relevant subject matter such as the significance of standardized testing on the...

Congratulations to our  high school Spring Poetry Contest winners!  Areen Bedoyan won first place for her poem, "Young Poem."  Our runners up were Nicole Mikailian for "Parts of a Whole" and Hagop Sarkis for "Burning Forest."  Your entries were amazing! Please see them below and feel free to congratulate them by leaving a message on the blog.  Check out tomorrow's blog for entries by the middle school winners. Young Poem By: Areen Bedoyan You’re young, she said You do not know yet “How do I live life?” I asked. You’re young, she said When you grow up, you will mature “How do I love?” I asked. You’re young, she said Make mistakes today but be honest tomorrow “How do I speak?” I asked. You’re young, she said You will not comprehend “How do I understand?” I asked. You’re young, she said There is no cure Let your voice go to soon explore the world. Parts of a Whole By: Nicole Mi...

Books to Read: Top 25 List By Veronica Mkhsi-Gevorkian I have been a bookworm most of my life. It began with a book series which changed my perspective of reading. Here are 25 books/series that I have enjoyed reading. There is a drive in me to always top the number of books I read and to never judge a book by its title or cover. Harry Potter Series By JK Rowling Narnia Series By CS Lewis Diary Of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Outsiders By SE Hinton Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare Ordinary People by Judith Guest And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Complete collection of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Original Screen...

The chief of the United States Olympics Committee, Scott Blackmun, recently retired from his position. His reasons have to do with health issues, particularly his battle with prostate cancer. His retirement, however, had some controversy as it happened to be around the same time as the wake of the abuse scandal with Olympic doctor, Larry Nassar. Two U.S. Senators commented that Blackmun knew about the scandal back in 2015, yet the organization responded that he will be investigated. However, he resigned a few days later instead. The organization found it better to have a new leadership to address the situation, as well as to protect the athletes. Many investigations have since started now that Nassar’s story is out. The committee even gave USA Gymnastics an ultimatum to either resign or lose its recognition. Michigan State University, where Nassar worked, also stood down. Written By: Sebou Ourfalian

SOURCE: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2018/01/nagorno-karabakh-armenia-azerbaijan-border-photographs/ “These Teens Are Fighting a War Older Than They Are”  As we all may have previously heard, along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border exists a military limbo containing 150,000 who are living in an unrecognized republic. In the April of 2016, Armenia and Azerbaijan battled for four days over the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, land that belongs to the Armenians, yet is claimed by Azerbaijan. A cease fire had taken place in 1996, however, as both sides slowly violated each other's territories, war broke out in 2016. Soldiers as young as 13 trained to fight in the battle and photographer Emanuele Amighetti from National Geographic visited the region last year to capture the aftermath of the conflict, including analyzing the psychological effects that stemmed from the war. “Their dedication and profoundness was something I had never seen before,” stated Amighetti. “I...

The weekend of February 24th-25th was quite important in Pilibos JSA history. One by one, people rolled into the hotel, Marriott, Warren Center, ready to start the congress. They quickly settled down and started the convention. People spread throughout the halls of the hotel, listening and voting for bills. After a full day of proposing bills to other JSA go-ers everyone danced it out or sang at an open mic night. The night ended with laughter and fun, but it was back to the grind the next morning. Anyone whose bill was voted for had to once again propose their bills to a greater audience. Pilibos was lucky enough to get three of the four bills proposed, voted for. After a long session, all three of those bills were passed. Many of our Pilibos scholars also received gavels, that represent best speakers, including Ani Ghazarian, Ara Yacoubian, Arek Der-Sarkissian, as well as others. However, the biggest accomplishment this week was that Pilibos received the Best Chapter Sweepstakes awa...

Aries - Element is fire. Color is Red. Their day is Tuesdays. They are compatible with Leo and Libra. Their lucky numbers are 1, 18, and 17. Their strengths are courageous, determined, honesty, passionate, confidence, and optimism. Their weakness is impatience, being moody, short-tempered, and aggressiveness. Aries like comfortable clothes, taking leadership roles, and individual sports. Aries dislikes delays and inactivity. Taurus - Element is Earth. Color is Pink and Green. Their day is Friday and Monday. They are compatible with Scorpio and Cancer. Their lucky numbers are 2, 6, 9, 12, and 24. Their strengths are reliable, practical, devoted, and stable. Weaknesses are stubbornness and possessiveness. Taurus likes gardening, cooking, music, romance, high quality clothes, and working with hands. Taurus dislikes are complications and insecurity. Gemini - Element is Air. Color is light-green and yellow. Their day is Wednesday. They are compatible with Sagittarius and Aquarius. Their l...