Article snippet: A high school yearbook is a keepsake. Like an Instagram filter, it’s meant to bathe recent memories in the warm, soft-focus glow of nostalgia. As an object, it evokes affection and community; you hope to show it to your children and grandchildren someday. A yearbook isn’t supposed to be divisive. So how to commemorate a school year that coincided with a meltdown in decorum in American politics? That was the question high school yearbook editors and their advisers had to ask themselves while they were busy gathering up mug shots of the seniors, quotes, and group photographs of the football team, the cheerleading squad and the chess club. The challenge of how to capture this raucous political moment was especially pressing in America’s purple places, like the Kansas City region, where Trump supporters and women’s marchers live and learn in proximity. Some of their yearbooks celebrated President Trump’s challenge to the political order, while also debating the fairness of the Electoral College and arguing over the role that race and gender played in the outcome. Students used sharp graphics to compare actual vote counts with the schools’ own mock election results, which often mirrored the leanings of the local communities. There were spreads devoted to students’ formal introduction to politics — registering to vote and interning with campaigns — and to their unvarnished opinions of the candidates. One disappointed junior at Mill Valley High School in Shawnee, Kan., ... Link to the full article to read more
It Was Hard This Year to Keep Politics Out of High School Yearbooks - The New York Times
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