Category Archives: Opinions
Barbie Movie Encapsulates Our Lives
Lola Karimi ’25
EE Managing Editor
Juniors Maddy Tibbs, Grace Crespo, Alexa Colombo, and Sadie Rappa walk to the movie theater to see the Barbie movie for the first time.
One thing I can tell you for certain, as long as there have been little girls, there have been dolls. However, until the 1950’s, they were limited to baby dolls. While these are still popular today, they limit the aspirations that a young female can have. It molds you into what society wants you to be — a nurturer. Whether it be motherhood or a teacher, women have always been bonded to a small assortment of careers that allow men to pursue their dreams. That is, until Barbie was born.
Barbie has been around for generations and was an extremely popular toy for young girls. Barbie was a fashion doll created by Ruth Handler and manufactured by American Toy company Mattel. The first Barbie doll launched at the New York toy fair in March 1959 where 300,000 Barbie dolls were sold. Barbie’s success had only just begun.
Approximately 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide since its creation. Throughout the many years that Barbie has and will continue to be around, she’s had over 250 careers. Barbie gives women the opportunity to not only be a stay at home housewife but also a lady on the town, fashionably dressed to express, and to impress.
You’d think that growing up a teenage girl would be just what it’s cracked up to be –makeup, slumber parties, and crushes on boys –but you’d be wrong. You’d be wrong if you thought we had even figured out equal pay. You’d be wrong if you said women have a choice in becoming a mother or not, in deciding what is beautiful or not. If you got the chance to live in our shoes, for even just a moment, you would see just how wrong you really are. Dead wrong.
I still remember crying in my bed, so utterly confused why the world seemed to be against me. From the moment I turned 13, something inside me had changed, my innocence was lost and I was no longer stuck in an everlasting childhood; I wasn’t a kid anymore and everyone made sure to treat me like it. I started feeling ways about myself I had never felt before: I now sucked in my stomach every time I passed a mirror, stopped raising my hand in class, and realized no matter how hard I try, the boy is always going to beat me in the race. Now, not only did the world around me damper my light, but my own mind served as a constant reminder of my inferiority.
While Barbie is much more than a toy today, it was not always so. Barbie has had a long history of problematic incidents in the past that have “set the feminist movement back fifty years” (says Sasha in the Barbie Movie). Obviously, Barbie has been known to promote unattainable beauty standards in young girls, which can lead to eating disorders and overall bad feelings of self worth. While having a thinner frame is never a bad thing- for a long time Barbie had limited their dolls to only being skinny white blonde girls –the lack of variation led the other 90% of the population to do things such as plastic surgery and use photoshop which worsens the cycle. The cycle we as a society have been stuck in for years.
Initial Reactions to the New Bell Schedule
Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Staff Writer
With every new school year, comes new changes. Some changes are well received, while others receive backlash from the students. In the case of the 2023-2024 school year, one of the biggest changes made at Trumbull High was the institution of a new schedule.
Previously, the school ran on an eight period schedule. The classes were about 48 minutes long, and for most people their classes were the exact same every day. In an attempt to spice things up, Trumbull High introduced a modified block schedule for 2023-2024. It allows students to take extra classes over the school year, and mixes things up by dropping two periods every day.
Now, every schedule does have some flaws. For starters, many students have complained about the longer periods. In order to only have 6 periods in a day, classes were shifted to almost an hour long. It can also be rough for teachers who need to catch their classes up on work, then are unable to see them on a particular day.
“The new schedule is stupid”, according to sophomore Isaac Gramse. “It is confusing as heck and classes are longer for no reason”.
Clearly, some students have had a rough time adjusting to the new system. However, most students have actually been happy with how the new schedule has impacted their academics (especially their homework). Students can receive extra days for homework they would have previously had to do in a day.
Keep the Mall for Community
Luke Bartolo ‘27
EE Staff Writer
Online shopping has become the norm. What does this mean for Trumbull’s iconic center, the Trumbull Mall?.
You may have heard rumors such as, “the mall is closing”, or “the mall is getting turned into housing!”. This is the talk of the town.
Nowadays, people just sit at their computers, click a button, and a package arrives at their doorsteps. This may be convenient, but it takes away the fun of walking through the mall, trying clothes on, little kids picking out toys, and the wonderful hot buttery pretzel aroma. It is the experience of getting out of your house and going to the mall.
The Trumbull Mall, formerly known as Westfield Trumbull, is an iconic building in town. We are a small town, so Trumbull Mall is like the “center” of town. Many people feel that this mall should be torn down and filled with apartments, but I disagree. I feel that because it is such an important part of the town, they should keep it, but add more. For example, there should be more entertainment.
The mall is now owned by Namdar Realty Group, which is a group that purchases malls for investment, but doesn’t make much change. So far, Namdar has removed the mall’s police station, which makes the building less safe.
At a recent meeting regarding mall updates, News 12 has reported that First Selectman Vicki Tesoro said, “We want to keep the Trumbull mall in this community. It’s very important to our community, it’s been the fabric of this community for many, many years, for decades. We’re hoping that people want this type of shopping experience, a ‘work, live, play’ experience”.
I agree with her, and I feel that there should be more high end stores, interactive experiences, and possibly a museum. This way, it wouldn’t just be shopping: people could assemble at Trumbull Mall as a place to build community.
Rangers VS. D-Backs: Who Wins?
Jude Magnotti ‘26
Isaac Gramse ‘26
EE Sports Columnists
It is finally here! Every game, every pitch, and every hit this entire season has all culminated to the single most important event in baseball: The World Series. Coming into the year everyone had their own predictions on what team would be left standing at the end of October. However, no one could have ever predicted the teams that actually made it there: The Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. If you told someone just two years ago that this would be the world series matchup, they would laugh right in your face. But it’s a big sigh of relief to baseball fans everywhere to not have to witness again the dreaded Houston Astros in the fall classic. Now, both of these teams just had an electrifying game 7 and pulled off a massive upset in their respective LCS, but who will manage to keep their cool and emerge as World Series champions?
Isaac:
The Arizona Diamondbacks have had one of, if not the best postseason run I have ever seen; I have already written an article about their shocking upset against the Phillies, but I believe that they can manage to win their second World Series title in the history of their franchise. Arizona has a lot of young talent, Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Zac Gallen, and Alek Thomas all come to mind. They have had a rough couple of seasons winning 74 games last year and only 52 games in 2021. But they have been banking on the success of their prospects, and it’s finally paying off.
This is their first postseason appearance since 2017 and their first World Series appearance since 2001 (In which they beat the New York Yankees Dynasty in 7 games), and they look hungry for another title. They have had hot bats all postseason and decent pitching. While their opponent did beat one of the “best” teams in baseball, I don’t think that means an automatic win for the Rangers. They’re going to have quite a challenge facing the Diamondbacks (Or as I like to call them, the Answerbacks) who will put up a fight. And not to mention the Rangers had zero wins at home in the ALCS, so I believe it’s possible for the Snakes to take to first two games.
Jude:
The Texas Rangers have had one of the strangest seasons in recent memory. After losing 94 games last year(and over a 100 the year before) the Rangers came into the season with little to no expectation of playoff success. They did possess one of the more talented rosters in the league with players like Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver, and, of course, the phenomenal Corey Seager. However, Texas had still yet to prove anything since their back-to-back trips to the world series in 2010 and 2011.
Despite the doubters, Texas had a surprise season winning 92 games to finish second in the division and punching their ticket to the playoffs. It is important to note that Texas has been very up an down this entire season. When they get hot, they are absolutely on fire; when they get cold, they look like the Oakland Athletics. Luckily for Rangers fans, Texas is yet to get cold this entire postseason. They beat the Rays in the wild card and swept the top-seeded Orioles.
Arizona Answerbacks
Isaac Gramse ‘26
EE Staff Writer
The Arizona Diamondbacks scored one of the biggest upsets in baseball and one of the biggest comeback since the 2004 Boston Red Sox, officially marking their second World Series appearance after beating the reigning National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies.
The Diamondbacks, have had a tough past few years, as they finished above .500 this year for the first time since 2019. They finished 84-78 this year making the Wild Card and positioned to play the Brewers.
While no one was surprised by their sweep of the Brewers, the entire MLB was dumbfounded when they swept the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers to make their first NLCS appearance since 2007. Everyone was thinking, “Ok, that was fun but they definitely won’t beat the Phillies”.
Well, it looked like that was going to be the case, with Philadelphia taking a 2-0 lead over Arizona. It looked like the run was about to end, until the series went to Phoenix, where the Dbacks took the next two games to even the series and then winning again in Game 6 to force a game 7. This upset has shocked MLB fans across the country as many had poised the Phillies to win the World Series.
Their opponent is going to be tough (Texas Rangers), but they have more of chance as the Houston Astros lost the ALCS in Game 7 (Not so easy when you’re not playing the Yankees, huh?) Which is a completely different article for later.
The Diamondbacks, have certainly made the playoffs entertaining to watch in the National League, and even if they don’t win it all (but from the show they’ve given us, they might actually win the whole thing), they have certainly proved everyone wrong. Not to mention their squad is pretty young, so this could possibly be the start of a future dynasty.
2023 NFL Cursed With Injuries
Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Sports Columnist
Nick Chubb suffers a knee injury on Monday Night Football.
Why? Just why? Why does this keep happening!? We were only 5 weeks into the 2023 NFL season and there have already been an extensive list of major injuries. While there is no question that football is known for injuries, the first 5 weeks of this season have been a different universe entirely.
In week 1 we saw Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers go down with a season-ending achilles injury. In week 2 we saw a possible career-ending knee injury to Nick Chubb. Trevon Diggs tore his ACL in a simple practice drill!
In addition to the names I have just noted there have also been major injuries to star players Justin Jefferson, Cooper Kupp, and Devon Achane. While not season ending, the absence of these players still greatly affects their respective team. This massive amount of injuries to star players through only 5 weeks has left NFL teams and fans alike completely bamboozled. How could so many players be getting hurt in such a short time?
Could these injuries be just pure bad luck, or could there possibly be something else contributing to it? I am here to tell you that the answer has been staring you in the face all along. As the NFL has evolved as a league, they have slowly started to change the way they manage stadiums. They have added far more seats, activities, and concession stands. However, only one of these changes has been able to actually affect how the game is played– artificial turf.
The NFL has, over time, converted more and more fields from plain grass to artificial turf with over 15 stadiums utilizing it. They believe that players can run faster on artificial turf. In theory, this idea makes sense. If players can run faster on artificial turf it will mean more highlight plays which results in higher ratings for the NFL.
Unfortunately, the addition of artificial turf has come with many unforeseen consequences. Because of the increased friction of the turf, players’ feet have become more and more prone to getting caught in it. As a result of this, there is a much higher percentage that a player can sustain an ACL or achilles injury on any given play.
Why DVDs are Undervalued
Isaac Gramse ‘26
EE Staff Writer
We are in a time that is always changing and looking forward to the future. It seems that everything is going digital nowadays. Money, pictures, games, and chatting with your friends are all examples of this. But one piece of media that is a mainly digital now, is movies.
Now, everyone has a streaming service, at a glance they seem much more convenient than standard DVDs. For an oftentimes low price a month, you can get hundreds of movies and TV shows to watch whenever and wherever you want. However, I believe that there is a problem with streaming services.
While yes, it is easier to use a streaming service when you’re on the road or on vacation or just whenever you are somewhere that isn’t home, they are troublesome in my opinion. What are you going to do when you want to watch a movie but your WiFi goes out in the middle of the film? What if you were watching a movie, saved it for later, and when you want to come back to it, it’s not there anymore?
These problems have often left me very frustrated when using streaming services. There is also a problem with the sheer amount of streaming services now. If you want to watch a specific movie, but don’t know which service it’s on, you have to go through each and every one of the services you have and hope it is on one of them.
With DVDs, that is not a problem. You buy them once, and never again. If the internet shuts off in your home, you’ll have no idea, and (if you take good care of your DVDs) you can watch them for years without worrying about losing it.
While I admit, there are problems with DVDs, I’ve also found that there are easy solutions to them.
Problem 1: DVDs are too expensive, you have to spend $15-$20 to get one brand new.
Atta Boy Harper!
Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Sports Columnist
Throughout Bryce Harper’s decade long career in the MLB, he has given us a multitude of iconic moments. Whether it was his grand-slam walk against the Cubs, or his two run home run to send the Phillies to the world series just last year. However, Bryce Harper may have just had arguably the most savage moment of his career against the Braves and another iconic game against the Diamondbacks.
Now, Bryce Harper has already been on a historic postseason run. Through 8 games he is batting .385 with 4 Home runs and 7 runs driven in. He and the Phillies dismantled the Marlins in the wild card and got right down to business taking game 1 against the Braves in the NLDS.
However, in game 2 of the NLDS Bryce Harper was embarrassed. In the 9th inning down by 1, Bryce Harper drew a walk with one out. The Braves were hoping to possibly double him off to end the inning, but definitely not in the way that actually happened. Nick Castellanos hit a bomb to right field that was pulled in by Michael Harris. Harper had gone way past second base and had to run back to avoid the double play. Unfortunately for him, the Braves got there first to double him off and end the game.
As Harper walked back to the dugout, the Braves shortstop screamed at him, “Atta-Boy Harper!” THIS…was a big mistake. Bryce Harper took it personally and proceeded to hit two bombs in game 3, staring down Arcia after each one on the Phillies way to a 10-2 thrashing of the Braves.
The Phillies would close the series out the next game moving on to their second consecutive NLCS. If that wasn’t bad enough for Arcia, Phillies fans across the nation started to print t-shirts with “Atta-Boy Harper!” on them and mailed them to the Braves stadium and Arcia’s house!
Now, Harper had already proved his dominance to the world, but he would take it a step further in the NLCS. Game 1 was set on Harper’s birthday: October 16th. While birthdays are normally a time to give gifts, Bryce Harper decided to take the time to give some of his own out to Phillies fans. Harper crushed a fastball in the first inning to extend the Phillies lead to 2-0 against the Diamondbacks. He added an RBI single in the third and the Phillies would take game 1 5-3.
Advice for Student-Athletes
Ria Beri ‘27
EE Staff Writer
As someone who is currently playing two sports in one season, I understand just how hectic the student-athlete life can get. I often get home late, worried about all of the studying and homework that I have to do. As this is the case for many of our athletes here at Trumbull High, I have compiled some of the best advice on managing sports and school and listed them below.
#1: Make the Most of Class Time
When you are given class time to work on an assignment, make sure that you utilize every minute. At the time, it may seem easy to goof off and ignore your work, but ultimately you have to get it done, whether at school or home. Volleyball player Taleeda Hantash advises also utilizing study hall. “As a student-athlete, I like to measure out my time evenly,” says Hantash. “I use my study hall for homework so that I don’t have too much to do when I get back from practice. This helps out a lot, especially when I get home from games late.”
Of course, utilizing school time does not mean rushing through the assignment so that you don’t have to do it at home. What I like to do is try and finish the assignment during class so that I can go home and double-check my answers. This way, I have minimal work to do at home while ensuring that I am still doing a good job.
#2: Plan Ahead
Whenever I know that I have a tournament or meet the day before an important test or assignment, I try to study during the days leading up to the sporting event. I do this not only because it ensures that I study well and get my work out of the way, but also because it prevents me from being distracted during the event. While competing, if I know that I have a lot of work to do after I’m done, I lose focus and become stressed. My performance suffers, and once I get home, I become frustrated over the results of the event, causing the quality of my work to suffer as well. Planning and studying ahead not only boosts your academic performance but your athletic one too, making it an ideal system for student-athletes.
#3: Study the Easiest Subjects First
Although other sources may disagree, I find that studying the easiest subject first is best as I often need some time for my mind to adjust from practice to homework. I cannot dive straight into hard math problems that require full focus because I am still thinking about things that happened at practice. Because of this, I like to start off by doing Spanish, one of my better subjects, and then working my way up to math and science so that, by the time I reach those subjects, I am fully focused and no longer thinking about practice. I recommend that you do this too. Start off by doing homework for subjects that you find easier, and end with the subject that you feel is hardest and requires the most focus. Doing so will ensure that, by the time the hardest assignment comes around, you are fully engaged and can do your best.
Lillard Trade: It Is Finally Over
Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Sports Columnist
Impossible”…these were the first words of every Trail Blazer fan alive when on Thursday September 28th, after 3 straight months of endless trade drama, franchise icon Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
However, before we can even begin to break down this trade, we must retrace how we got here. On July 1st 2023, Damian Lillard officially requested a trade out of the Portland Trail Blazers. Lillard was drafted by the Blazers 6th overall in the 2012 and went on to become the all time leading scorer for the franchise. Lillard was just coming off a season in which he put up the best statistical numbers of his career averaging 32.2 points and 7.3 assists a game. However, despite Lillard’s individual success the Blazers only won 33 games and finished 13th in the west.
Entering this season at age 33, Lillard knew that he was running out of time to win a championship in Portland. As a result, he gave the Blazers a choice. Trade the number 3 overall pick for a player who could help the team, or keep it and trade him to another team.
The Blazers ultimately decided to draft Scoot Henderson 3rd overall and, as promised, Lillard demanded a trade a week later. However, Lillard demanded to be traded to one team and one team only: the Miami Heat. Reports indicated that the Blazers and Heat were involved in trade talks, but it seemed like every week another report would come out that they were unable to find a middle ground.
The Heat were offering Tyler Herro and multiple picks, but the Blazers were not going to trade their franchise icon for nothing and they demanded more. Despite Dame wanting Miami and Miami wanting Dame, the Damian Lillard trade saga was stuck on repeat for months on end.
Reports would indicate that the discussion was gaining traction just for ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian “Woj” Wojnarowski to come out and give a “BIG ” update that there was no deal close to being done. Little did the world know while everyone was focusing on Miami, there was another team lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce–the Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee had been floated around as a possible destination early on, but was little more than an afterthought at this point in the process. People believed that the Bucks simply did not have the assets to pull off a trade for a player of Damian Lillard’s caliber. However, out of completely nowhere the Bucks came in and stole Lillard away from Miami. In a three team trade involving the Bucks, Blazers, and Suns, Damian Lillard was traded to the Bucks in exchange for Deandre Ayton, Jrue Holiday, and a first round pick.
