ENGAGE • ENLIGHTEN • INFORM
ISSUE 6. WINTER 2024
Is Society an Illusion?
Julia Hristov '24
I didn’t mean to overhear the mayor's conversation last week, but ever since I did I couldn’t get it out of my head. The dark secret followed me everywhere I went. As I looked around the crowded streets of New York, I didn't understand how I could be the only one who knew the truth.
By Sophia Charania '27
The word society conjures up an image of any group of people connected by common threads of geographical or social demographics, politics, sports, interests, or even wealth in today’s modern world.
By Rhea Prakash '30
SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE
By Ximena López 24'
When you hear the word ideology, the first thing that comes to mind is ideas. To an extent, that is correct, but the concept of ideologies is a bit more complicated than a simple idea. Ideologies are ideas, yes. However, they are also ideas that shape entire belief systems and societies. This seems like common sense, but trust me, it goes deeper than you might think...
By Zoë Johnson '24
“Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me” (181), writes Haruki Murakami in Kafka on the Shore. Although the story of Kafka on the Shore is captivating, I will leave you to read it on your own.
By Coralie Ahrenskeaff '24
Heading 6
Dear seven-year-old self:
Sometimes I sit and stare blankly at something only my eyes can see
Sometimes I like to lose myself in nostalgia, in the old me
Sometimes I wonder if you would like who I am
A girl double in age but with the same core
Did you think that I would be doing much more?
Sometimes I try to remember all the things I swore I would never do
By Gia Defortuna '27
By Julia Hristov '24
Edifices made of marble embellish the sandy sea cliff known to be the city of Atlantis. Streams of color trail behind torsos as they snake around the marble pillars that adorn the city. The coral reef that occupies the ledge underneath it teems with life. Seashells litter the floor of their flourishing aquatic sanctuary. Tides of water wax and wane as plants sway in the brine. Silky sirenic voices infiltrate the tranquil blue depths as wind bubbles ascend upwards. The glow of the heavens illuminates the flawless paradise.
By Ximena López '24
By River Ramesh '26
As the Editor and the Art Editor of The Network, we are excited to share with you our winter issue.
Each issue we create focuses on a theme developed from current events. We want to inform our readers about relevant events, provoke them to think, and move them to act.
As we discussed current events–the increasingly widespread use of artificial intelligence; the changing demographics of the world society with India’s population of 1.43 billion becoming the world’s most populous nation; the October 7, 2024 attack on Israel by Hamas leading Israel to declare war for the first time in fifty years; and NASA declaring the summer of 2023 to be the warmest on record since 1880–we started asking questions.
Will AI help solve societal problems by supporting scientific breakthroughs or will AI increase social inequities through mass unemployment? How does demography affect society? Is there a demographic dividend or a payment? How are societies defined by borders? How do societies defend themselves? And are human actions making society unlivable?
This discussion and these questions lead us to see that the world’s current events are all linked by the theme of societies and lead us to ask “Is society an illusion?”
HEALTH
Henrietta Lacks has contributed to more discoveries in modern medicine than anyone else. She is often referred to as the “mother of virology, cell and tissue culture, and biotechnology” (del Carpio 2). She has helped scientists better understand Parkinson’s disease, AIDS, influenza, leukemia, hemophilia, tuberculosis, and some cancers. She has helped develop methods for cell freezing and storage and the methods used for in vitro fertilization. She has been referenced in more than 110,000 published scientific studies (“Significant Research Advances”).