在启动周，我们将表彰从 634 位青少年投稿中选出的两段视频和两篇短文。
Our Four Winners
First up, Kylie Zhang’s video on “Forget the A.I. Apocalypse. Memes Have Already Nuked Our Culture.”
视频链接：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSje6zq4p0&t=3s
Next, Skanda Sankar, 13, from Cumming, Ga., on a Style piece, “Handsome at Any Cost”:
I used to think my most useless asset was my algebra grade. I guess the internet thought it was my skeleton. TikTok taught me that because my clavicles didn’t measure a majestic 20 inches, I was biologically obsolete. I got mogged.
This article on Braden Peters (known as Clavicular or Clav), the world’s premier “mogger”, hit me right in my scoliosis-inflicted chest.
Pursuing Joseph Bernstein’s article left me with a myriad of unanswered questions. Why is “looksmaxxing” jargon as cryptic as Joyce’s in Ulysses? Is “looksmaxxing” really as much of a “cheat code” as Clav claims?
We live in a hypocritical society that promotes body positivity and “inner beauty,” while judging us based on infraorbital visibility. I’m supposed to be practicing mindfulness while my left shoulder rests 5 millimeters above my right.
The article made me chuckle. Yet, it invoked some sort of anger inside me.
Teens and pre-teens are the victims of Clavicular’s content. Yet, growing up should be about figuring out your personality, not obsessing over narrow clavicles. This exposé led me to challenge the way I let “mogging” affect my body image.
The obsession with looks could antagonize our bodies, and in Clavicular’s dystopian world, we managed to achieve exactly that.
P.S: Clavicular won’t be on my for-you page anytime soon. I’m living life outside the “Darwinian nightclub.”
Third, Grant Bagga’s video on what he took away from “A Family Secret No More"
视频链接：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbX61LLk2x4
And finally, Nayoon Lee on “Trump, Mamdani and the Knicks: A Manic Monday Awaits New York”:
How come everyone is a Knicks fan now?
I can confidently say that just a few years ago, it was quite the opposite. The Knicks were a mediocre team and everyone agreed they were irrelevant.
Truly, it used to be my family versus the world. My dad would wear Knicks jerseys to my concerts, my brother would deck out in merch for AP tests, and I would root for them in playoff season (even though they were usually already eliminated). My family was there even before they got Karl-Anthony Towns, the team’s NBA All-Star and potential Finals MVP.
But now, the Knicks are two wins away from becoming champions. Suddenly everyone supports them. Excuse me? What happened to everyone who once dissed me for being a Knicks fan? And who are these new people reposting Knicks content on social media?
They’re the same people.
One successful playoff run transformed them into Knicks fans. Talk about jumping on the bandwagon!
Although I thought I would be happy to see the Knicks’ fanbase grow, I can’t exactly describe how I feel about it. On one hand, I am glad to finally have some company after years of being a minority. But I also feel somewhat annoyed that I am no longer the one-of-a-kind Knicks fan; there definitely was some satisfaction in being different.
It feels bittersweet to reminisce about the old days when I used to get bullied for supporting a “terrible” team… but at least now, it should be easier to find Knicks merch.
Runners-Up
Aven Simko on “Neanderthal Dentistry, and the Scientist Glad Not to Have Experienced It”
Esther Zhang on “What I Learned About Loss While Skateboarding at Costco”
Isabelle Zhao on “Freedom With a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery Is Reshaping Mealtime”
Jacqueline Lee on “Dance Gets a League of Its Own: ‘This Is Our Sport’"
Leran (Laurel) Xu on “‘Whimsy,’ a New Trend, May Be a Life Raft for Zillennials”
Ryna Chakrabarty on “They’ve Heard the Warnings. Gen Z Is Tanning Anyway"
Honorable Mentions
Chloe N. on “He Climbed a Cliff in ‘Free Solo.’ Now He’ll Try a Skyscraper.”
Ditya Viral Dave on “Week 1 of the Well Challenge: Manage Your ‘Ultraprocessed Time’”
Ella Zhang on “Baboon Sibling Rivalry Suggests Monkeys Feel Jealousy Like People"
Emma Dan on “Shop Owner Who Killed 14-Year-Old He Wrongly Accused of Theft Is Found Not Guilty”
Erin Jia on “Dean Buntrock, Maestro of Waste Management, Dies at 94"
Joshua Jung on “In Defense of Sad Plays”
Morgan Cole on “How Microbes Got Their Crawl”
Senna Hwang on “Not Every Language Has Spelling Bees. Here’s Why English Is Perfect for Them.”
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