THE LIGHT

Writing a book takes time and effort, and the process behind it brings more than the readers might think. For today, we’ll go behind the scenes of Zachary Hacker’s book, Cut Reality: A Novel, about Jason Debord, who tries to find what really happened to a TV co-star from competing in a show called Beached. Mr. Hacker is a well-known teacher at Saint Ursula, teaching Literature Genres, British Literature, and even the elective Creative Writing. And one day, he decided to write

For over 20 years, math teacher Ms. Depoe has been a constant, well-known figure on SUA’s staff. No student can attend our school for long without hearing of, or experiencing, Ms. Depoe’s famous ‘algerobics’ (math-based aerobics) or her infamous tests. But Ms. Depoe is a lot more than just her impressive teaching record: she’s a mother, soup kitchen worker, feminist, and an all-around awesome person. Ms. Depoe was born in Dayton, Ohio, and lived there for most of her childhoo

In Issue 3 of The Light, I asked members of the Saint Ursula Academy faculty some pressing questions, including “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”, “What were you scared of as a child?”, and “What’s your Starbucks order?”, all posed with the intention of learning more about them outside of an academic setting. Although these prompts are decidedly the pinnacle of high-caliber, game-changing journalism, I felt pressed to go beyond. Among the innocuous, low-stakes question

If you thought Ms. Nordmeyer was just another social studies teacher… psych. Ms. Nordmeyer was born in Maryland, but actually grew up in a few different places. Her family moved to New Jersey when she was seven, and moved again to Norway (the country! In Europe!) when she was ten. “My dad’s job had us moving a lot,” she explains. “He works in shipping, so we moved around a ton.” When Ms. Nordmeyer was in seventh grade, her family moved back to Maryland. From a young age, Ms.

On June 19th, 2019, The New York Times published an article titled “18 Questions. 21 Democrats. Here’s What They Said.” The team of journalists asked 21 of the Democratic Presidential candidates 18 questions - some serious ("Do you think it's possible for the next President to stop climate change?") and some more personal ("What do you do to relax?") - in an attempt to familiarize voters with their temperaments as well as their campaign platforms. Amid a list of campaign-rela

Music has a great impact on society, and every day, millions of students listen to vocal or instrumental sounds. But does music actually help you focus when studying or doing homework? Many researchers like Carolina Kuepper-Teztel say that “it depends if the task seems to play a crucial role and studying complex material requires you to engage all your focus.” Ms. Williams, Saint Ursula's health teacher can back up the information. "If it is something like music, what genre o