​Off Topic

This Amazing Mineral Can Change Your Life. Click Here to Learn How!
BY SOPHIE ZHANG '22
Crystals. We’ve all taken a bag of them home from the science museum or noticed them lying around our house. By their scientific definition, crystals, also referred to as minerals, are extremely well-organized molecular structures with their atoms arranged in a regular grid pattern. Exciting! But what’s even more interesting is their healing properties. Wikipedia may...
Indoor Plant Review
BY NAKISA RAZBAN '23
Do you need some encourage-mint to get through these tough thymes? Become a plant parent, my friend! A plant will always root for you and provide good chives for your space. Now that I have gotten those puns out of my system, let's talk about why you should trust my plant opinions. My living room is turning into a jungle at an alarmingly rapid pace: there are TWENTY-THREE plants here, and more are being...
Holiday Playlist
BY JOE MAFFA '21​​
Winter 2020… Can you believe we made it? While I’m not really sure how I kept my sanity throughout the 28 years that were the spring and summer months, my Spotify Wrapped seems to indicate that music was quite the crucial factor in my daily routine...
Holiday Recipes
BY PRIYANKA CHIDAMBARAM '24
T​he holiday season is right around the corner, and you know what that means—it’s time for holiday baking! To begin, we are going to start off with a viral TikTok recipe: The Hot Chocolate Bomb. As someone who spends 90% of my time cooking and eating, believe...
​Online shopping vs. Shopping out: Which is Better?
BY KERA MATTHEWS '24​​
I’m sure we can all agree that, undoubtedly, 2020 has been a whirlwind. Not only have jobs suffered, but some forms of entertainment have too!  I’m sure that my introverts are doing just fine, but what about...
The Purple Diary (An Among Us Narrative)
BY ALICIA GU '23
January 21: It was still warm, still June, when the eight of us boarded that ship. We cast aside our faces, our names, and our grief for thick suits of urethane-coated nylon and the title of saviors. Find a new planet to inhabit. Overcome your fear of the unknown, and embrace the fragile hope that rests on your shoulders. Should be simple, right? Still, it has been three weeks, and I have yet to overcome my loathing for the cafeteria’s cheese pizza. I was under the impression that our ship was light years away from the death and decay of Earth, but it consumes us even now. Maintaining the ship has been grueling. We go to sleep with gas stains and grit underneath our fingernails. I envy White, who has been napping in the security room for days now, though I doubt the cameras are able to catch anything interesting; the eight of us are a simple crew. As instructed by HQ, we follow our itinerary of tasks and daydream about the magenta stars and cyan sunsets that await us on the planets we will one day discover...
Picture
Comic by Emily Hiltunen
Love Doc: Quarantine Edition🧚
BY JULIA KUANG '22
Helloooo everyone...THE LOVE DOC IS BACK!!!!! To my beloved (and probably nonexistent) readers, I hope you’re ready for the GREATEST edition of Love Doc yet! But first, let me find my eye drops and script for a Youtube-worthy apology: Guys, I am so incredibly *sniff* sorry that I didn’t write in the last issue….I had a lot going on...and I’ll never do it again. I promise...
The Perfect Study Playlist
BY MAY HONG '23 & KATHERINE LEE '23
Are you "studying" for the SAT but still on the second chapter of your prep book? Well, boy do we have the solution for you! With our dopamine-boosting, award-winning playlists, you are 100% guaranteed to stay motivated (not actually, guaranteed, please don't sue us). In this article, we proudly present the best of the mood-lifting songs we love. There are five categories...
​Freshmen (and Sophomore) Advice
​I walked through the crowded double doors, carrying a backpack bursting with books, unsure what my first day of high school would look like, let alone the next four years. As I prepare for my senior year though, I’m truly amazed at how memorable...
Guide to Extracurriculars and Clubs
​Extracurriculars, more than anything else, are responsible for the omnipresent sense of community at AB. Whether you’re an incoming freshman looking to get involved or an upperclassmen looking to beef up your resume, extracurriculars are a great way to spend a...
Debunking High School Myths
​For me, high school seemed to be a completely different realm, one I had glimpsed from a distance but would never enter or get used to. The teachers seemed austere, and the students unapproachable. The clubs and sports seemed exclusive and unwelcoming...
Picture
Comic by Emily Hiltunen
Quaranmemes; Entertainment in the Digital Age
Yes, we are all sad, lonely, and slowly losing our minds. But what is there to possibly get us through these unprecedented times? That’s right! An unprecedented amount of memes! COVID-19 memes—they are inescapable. A quick scroll through the Instagram explore page, or a short browse of your Reddit feed, will garner at least a dozen memes. Not to mention that the topics that range from building up your body, to building up your toilet paper stockpile, and everything in between! Whether the...
The Animal Crossing Craze
Do you crave a relaxing vacation on a remote island where you can make friends with a variety of talking animals without any real burdens to hold you back? As it turns out, so do millions of people across the globe! You can find all these things and more in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the newest installment in Nintendo’s classic video game franchise. Many players find solace in the relaxing atmosphere of the game, especially in the aforementioned virtual lack of responsibility (minus the...
Zoom University
The very first time I ever used Zoom, I had three mental breakdowns. Seriously. After typing in the username and password that my teacher had sent, I remained locked out of the conference call. Imagine my surprise later when I FaceTimed my friend and was told that I shouldn’t have needed a username and password in the first place. I entered the next conference call by dialing in. My teacher utterly exposed me because, of course, I was the only person dialing in. However, I quickly realized that my Zoom struggles would complicate my learning experience as it became the go-to platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies, schools, and institutions have started to host meetings solely on Zoom. Further, the platform is also used for casual settings. Amid the increasing chaos around the world, Zoom has maintained a sense of normalcy for many people. Whether it be through college “Zoom parties,” birthday parties, or blind dates, Zoom creates stability and excitement in the lives of all age groups. Despite the...
Picture
Comic by Emily Hiltunen
The Problem with Projects by Emily Hiltunen
Top 10 Pop Culture Moments of the 2010’s
Well this has been quite a decade. From the feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West to the end of Game of Thrones, here are the most eventful moments of our childhood.

2009-2010: The decade-long feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West began after Kanye interrupted Taylor’s speech at the VMA’s. The start of a new decade seems to have laid the feud to rest though...
AB Overheard
As Spectrum staff members sat in their classes, walked through the high school halls, and participated in district events, they overheard bits and pieces of the community’s wildest conversations. Here are some of those quotes, all compiled for our readers’ viewing pleasure:
The Evolution of Memes
From grumpy cat memes to those deep-fried pictures of Markiplier’s face photoshopped onto Lord Farquaad featured on the front of “What’s Wrong With Gen Z Humor?” articles, we all know what memes are. Whether you’re an avid Reddit user, or you occasionally double-tap a two-month-old meme on your Instagram explore page, everyone has shared a laugh over a funny image on the internet. But how have memes evolved into the hilarious and relatable images we know today? It started back in 2001, before a lot of you readers were born (yes, memes are older...
​Love Nest: Another One!
Hey guys, it’s Dr. Kuang back at it again with another...dun DUN! Love Nest!! (if you get this reference ily haha) It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written one of these, and it’s honestly such a relief to be writing something that won’t be graded/make me super stressed since the last few weeks/MONTHS have been kinda like a non-stop bulldozer overloading my brain with school. So to all of you stressed out kids out there (I know there’s a lot of you lol), take a chill pill and maYbe reAD the lOve neSt or maybe…..tAlk to yOur cruSh?!?!?!?! jk…..unless? Q: My bf and I have been dating...
“Wrong Answers Only”​
“Wrong Answers Only”: what is it? To all of you uncultured snoozers out there, it’s a classic meme. You will somehow be presented with a question, prompting you to reply with the “perfect” answer. HOWEVER, there is a twist! Alas, my love, this is the twenty-first century, and the meme masters of Planet Earth have realized that the correct answer is, simply put, lame and boring. Instead, these acclaimed geniuses sought to find a way to spice up life—so they did. By now, you probably get what I’m hinting at, but I find that examples often help teaching. For example, if I were to... ​