A high school student receives their first vaccine dose in Boston. Jessica Hill/Associated Press via The Boston Globe. 

Your Summit Weekly Briefing

By Alex Tananbaum and Ashwath Vimal

 

 Disclaimer: Though the Weekly Briefings are no longer tagged in the Opinions section of Summit News and we try to remain as unbiased as possible, our opinions may show through in this article, especially in the “Actions” section.  

 

1. Summit: Graffiti and Bay Area culture

In the article “Graffiti Is An Important Aspect Of Contemporary Culture In The Bay Area”, staff writer Sarai Au-Carpio examines the history of graffiti, in particular in the Bay Area, as well as influential artists and their signature styles, from lettering to horses. I already knew a certain amount about graffiti history through the book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop : A History of the Hip-hop Generation by Jeff Chang, but what I did knew was very much from a New York perspective. It was interesting learning the history, culture and effects of graffiti on the place I grew up. This article was fascinating, and I highly recommend it. 

 

2. General News: Area School Bombed in Afghanistan, at least 85 dead

On Saturday afternoon, the neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, an area near all girls high school in the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, was bombed. At least one hundred were wounded and 50 dead, states the original report, with the numbers rising to 147 wounded and 85 deaths in a new article by CNN. The cause of the explosion was a car bomb, with two subsequent bombs detonating as well while the children were leaving the school. The person(s) responsible have not come forth as of now, with the Taliban (group who wants to overthrow the Afghan government) refuting that it was them. 

 

An Afghan official stated that the explosion was so powerful that some of the children could not be found. Numerous families are still looking for their kids in hospitals, while many are still being collected from morgues.

 

 A relative of one of the injured weighed in on the situation, saying that he and his family “totally blame the government” for not properly protecting their country as their enemies, namely the Taliban, become stronger, despite them denying that they are involved. They have also denounced the attack and offered their sympathies to the families of the victims. The U.S., Pope Francis, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Afghanistan’s Chinese ambassador Wang Yu have all condemned this atrocity. 

3. Covid-19: Pfizer vaccine approved for children 12-15

The Food and Drug Administration officially approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12-15 on Monday, stating that the expansion “brings us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy.” However, the vaccine still needs to go through the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee, which will meet Weds to decide whether to recommend the CDC administer the vaccine to the age groups in question. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will then ultimately decide whether or not to advise the vaccine’s usage on 12-15 year olds. Pfizer also stated last week that they are on track to submit an emergency use authorization application for its vaccine usage on children two to 11 years old as soon as September. 

 

Novavax, a biotech company, wants to apply for emergency use authorizations for its COVID-19 vaccine in the third quarter of this year. They plan to do this in the US and UK around the same time. As of now, the company has said that they have made “tens of millions of doses” of their vaccine. Like Pfizer and Moderna, two doses are required per person with 21 days in between each dose. Novavax’s Phase 3 trial of their vaccine will include 30,000 volunteers and is supposed to see results from the phase in a couple of weeks. This data from the test run of this vaccine is expected to show efficacy levels against the typical COVID-19 virus and its variants that were spreading around at the time of the trial. Furthermore, the company has stated that their vaccine could act as a booster shot for people who have already taken the vaccine if it is needed to. 

 

Stay Informed: CNN reports live, bite-sized updates on Coronavirus here.

 

4. Politics: Bipartisanship in Biden’s infrastructure plan, Rep. Liz Cheney

 With the majority of Republicans considering President Biden’s infrastructure plan a nonstarter, Democrats and Republicans alike are reaching across the aisle to see if an agreement can be made on whether or not the infrastructure plan should go forwards in its current form. Because some Republican senators feel that President Biden is not making enough of an effort to negotiate certain elements of the bill, they are weighing the option of creating a counter proposal. Additionally, a bipartisan group of 20 senators will meet Thursday to try and reach an agreement. President Biden has requested that any proposals or policy issues be submitted to his senior team for consideration. Bipartisan agreement is an important aspect in the passage of this bill, as the Senate would need full support from all Democrats for it to pass, an amount of support they may not be able to muster. 

 

Read more about President Biden’s proposed plan in 5/3/21’s Weekly Briefing.

 

The Republican vote on whether or not to remove Rep. Cheney comes after she refused to endorse “the big lie”—that the presidential election was somehow stolen through illegal votes—as soon as Wednesday. In a Washington Post op-ed, Rep. Cheney also mentioned the Jan. 6th insurrection and accused Republican congress members of “changing their stories”, in particular originally acknowledging former-President Donald Trump’s role in inciting the incident, then later stating that they did not believe his words caused it. Rep. Cheney is expected to be replaced by Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who, while arguably less conservative than Rep. Cheney, has defended former President Trump in the past, especially during his impeachment trial. 

5. Sports: Jaylen Brown Injured

Boston Celtics shooting guard Jaylen Brown will be out for the remaining of the NBA season due to a torn ligament in his left wrist. Playing his best year yet, averaging 25 points and six rebounds per game, the Celtics will definitely be missing his presence on the court. This season, even with four-time All-Star Kemba Walker, the young talent they have in Brown and Jayson Tatum, and defensive star Marcus Smart, they have had a rather lackluster season. The Celtics are in the seventh seed, barely qualifying for the play-in tournament to determine whether or not they advance to the playoffs. Many have cast doubt upon the teams capability to do well in the near future with their current roster. As the playoffs approach, the Celtics still have time to prove them wrong, with their next game being against the Miami heat, who are in the seed above them. 

 

6. Entertainment: Stranger Things Season 4 Teaser

After a fifteen month hiatus of no teasers, Stranger Things 4 released a video giving us a short peek into what we might see in the upcoming season. In this sneak peek, we see the return of Dr. Martin Brenner, who raised and experimented on children with special powers. One of them being Eleven, one of the main characters of the show played by Millie Bobby Brown. The teaser takes place at the facility where the children were housed, and we see them playing with different toys. Dr. Brenner then enters the room and greets them, with the children greeting them back in sync, creating an eerie effect. As this is happening, we start to hear the frightened, irregular breathing of Eleven. The camera slowly pans to a door with the number “eleven”. Then, an ominous whisper from Dr. Brenner says, “Eleven, are you listening?” as the screen goes black, with a scene of Eleven quickly opening her eyes occurring right after. This teaser could either be a flashback of Eleven’s time under Dr. Brenner, a depiction of the possibility of Eleven being recaptured by him, or even Eleven using her mind powers trying to find Dr. Brenner in present day. Any of these paths would definitely make for an interesting story, nevertheless.  

Click here to watch the video. 

 

7. Weather

Atlas (West Seattle): Highs this week will remain mostly in the mid 60’s, with today-Weds’ being 66-67℉, then up to 69-70℉ Thurs-Fri, back to 66-67℉ Sat-Sun and finally 64℉ Mon. Lows will remain in the 48-49℉ range the majority of the week (today-Sat), then fall to 47℉ Sun-Mon. The entirety of the week, meanwhile, will be partially cloudy. Find some sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the mid-high 60’s, lows in the high 40’s, partial clouds. 

 

Olympus (Tacoma): Highs this week will rise then fall, starting at 69℉ today, then up to 71-72℉ Weds-Fri and finally down to 68℉ Sat and 65-66℉ Sun-Mon. Lows will sit in the 47-48℉ Tues-Sat, then drop to 45-46℉ Sun-Mon. Meanwhile, the entirety of the week will be partially cloudy. Find some sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the mid-high 60’s, lows in the mid-high 40’s, partial clouds. 

 

Sierra (Seattle): Highs this week will range throughout the 60’s, beginning with a 67-68℉ Tues-Weds, then up to 69-70℉ Thurs-Fri and down to 65-66℉ Sat-Sun and finally 63℉ Mon. Lows will start at 48-49℉ Tues-Sat and end at 47℉ Sun-Mon. The entirety of the week will be partially cloudy. Find some sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the mid-high 60’s, lows in the high 40’s, partial clouds. 

 

Denali (Sunnyvale): Highs this week will fall overall with today’s being 89℉, falling to 84℉ Weds, 82℉ Thurs, then 75℉ Fri, 71℉ Sat, 77℉ Sun and down to 75℉ Mon. Lows will start at 54℉ Tues, 52℉ Weds-Thurs and 49-50℉ Fri-Mon. Meanwhile, today-Thurs will be fully sunny, Fri-Sat partially cloudy, Sun back to sunny and Mon partially cloudy again. Enjoy that sun, wear a mask, and have a good week.

Summary: Highs in the high 80’s-mid 70’s, lows in the low-mid 50’s, full sun and partial clouds. 

 

Everest and Prep (Redwood City): Highs this week will start at 85℉ today, then fall to 79℉ Weds, 72℉ Thurs, down again to 65-66℉ Fri-Sat, then finally up again to 70℉ Sun and 68℉ Mon. Lows today will be around 52℉, then remain in the 47-48℉ range for the rest of the week. Today-Thurs will be fully sunny, Fri-Sat partially cloudy, Sun sunny again and Mon back to partially cloudy. Enjoy that sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the mid 80’s-mid 60’s, lows in the high 40’s, full sun and partial clouds. 

 

K2 (El Cerrito): Highs this week will remain mostly in the 70’s with a few exceptions, with today’s starting at 74℉, down to 68-69℉ Weds-Thurs, then back up to 72℉ Fri-Sat and 74℉ again Sun-Mon. Today’s low will be 49℉, then remain in the 50-51℉ range for the remainder of the week. Meanwhile, today-Weds will be fully sunny, Thurs-Sat partially cloudy, Sun back to fully sunny and Mon partially cloudy. Enjoy that sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the high 60’s-mid 70’s, lows in the high 40’s-low 50’s, full sun and partial clouds. 

 

Tam (Richmond): Highs this week will start in the 60’s, with today’s being 68℉, then down to 64-65℉ Weds-Thurs, up again to 69℉ Fri-Sat and ending at 71℉ Sun-Mon. Lows today-Weds will range from 48-49℉, then remain in the 50-51℉ range for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, today will be fully sunny, Weds-Sat partially cloudy, Sun fully sunny again and Mon back to partially cloudy. Enjoy that sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the mid 60’s-low 70’s, lows in the high 40’s-low 50’s, full sun and partial clouds. 

 

Shasta (Daly City): Highs this week will eventually rise, starting with a 59-60℉ range Tues-Weds, 58℉ Thurs-Fri and finally up to 60-61℉ Sat-Mon. Lows today-Weds will be 48℉, then rise to 49-50℉, holding there for the remainder of the week. Meanwhile, today will be fully sunny, Weds-Sat partially cloudy, Sun fully sunny again and Mon back to partially cloudy. Enjoy that sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the high 50’s-low 60’s, lows in the high 40’s-low 50’s, full sun and partial clouds. 

 

Tahoma (San Jose): Highs this week will fall overall, with today’s being 89℉, then down to 85℉ Weds, 83℉ Thurs, 77℉ Fri, 72℉ Sat and back up to 78℉ Sun, then down again to 76℉ Mon. Lows will start at 54℉ Tues-Thurs, then transition to 50℉ Fri, 51-52℉ Sat-Sun and back to 50℉ Mon. Meanwhile, today-Thurs will be fully sunny, Fri-Sat partially cloudy, Sun fully sunny again and Mon back to partially cloudy. Enjoy that sun, wear a mask, and have a good week. 

Summary: Highs in the high 80’s-mid 70’s, lows in the low-mid 50’s, full sun and partial clouds. 

 

8. Cooking: Sweet cornbread

The first meal I ever made all by myself was chili, caesar salad and cornbread. Here is the recipe I used, with a twist: the original recipe called for cornmeal, while I use masa harina (corn flour) because… that’s what was what was available at the time and it turned out good. 

 

From allrecipes. 

 

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 cup masa harina

⅔ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 egg 

1 cup milk

⅓ cup vegetable oil

 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, masa harina, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

 

9. Actions: List from SURJ

 

Editor’s note: The “Actions” section includes petitions to sign, prompts and scripts to write officials with as well as other opportunities to engage in your local, national and global communities.

 

• Complete actions from this list, pulled from a Showing Up for Racial Justice Action Hour.

 

And, as always:

• Watch or listen or listen to this playlist. All advertisement revenue goes to Black Lives Matter. I currently have it on in the background as I am writing this brief. Do not skip the ads, the donations will not go through otherwise.

 

• Watch or listen to this video. All advertisement revenue goes to various aid organizations easing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Please note it is blocked on school Chromebooks due to being in the “Entertainment” category
  • Learn more about the crisis at www.monareliefye.org/.