Serene Tarabishi, Media Director
Hello all, this is Serene Tarabishi, a constantly-in-need-of-caffeine senior and returning writer for the Leaf. This is officially my third year here at the Leaf and I am currently in the position of Media Director. As a cynical political enthusiast, I have always had a passion for writing about and debating various political issues. And two years ago I joined the Leaf to do just that. Feel free to check out my writing to find out what sort of political debate I have found myself consumed with for the moment. I have spent my time here writing about varying international and domestic crises along with a healthy dose of art and baking to lighten an unfortunately serious mood. With politics being a major passion of mine, I can confidently say that I am aiming toward a career involved in government and international affairs, hopefully in the realm of diplomacy or foreign policy. While I do spend a great deal of my time debating varyingly dumb or serious topics, I also like to supplement this oftentimes depressing diet with comedy and satire, typically in the form of late-night to lighten my mood. You can often find me laughing at John Oliver’s new shenanigans while learning about some new obscure new subject on a weekly basis. When I’m not watching or writing about political satire you can often find me binging some new historical fiction drama series, playing with swords in fencing club, listening to some gruesome psychological horror podcasts while taking pleasant evening walks, or throwing myself into some new artistic project. All in all, I’d consider myself a pretty chill human being who’s curious about anything and everything pertaining to the world around me and more than willing to learn more. Hopefully, this will be another intriguing (and hopefully not disastrous) year of watching and discussing the world and its many issues around me and finding new ways to do my part to hopefully change it for the better.
![A rather infamous part of Australia’s bizarre fauna, the koala population of Australia is at grave risk during these fires. The creatures are slow-moving and find it hard to escape from oncoming flames. In New South Wales, the home of thousands of koalas, an estimated 8,000 bears have been lost to the blaze. Australia’s environmental minister, Sussan Ley explains that “It may well be up to 30 percent of the population in that region [was killed], because up to 30 percent of their habitat has been destroyed.”](https://shsleaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tarabishi_jan15_australiaisburning_creativecommons-900x595.png)
![COFFEE ADDICT. This coffee cup may look innocent enough, but one 8 ounce cup like this contains almost 200 milligrams of caffeine, double the amount of caffeine a teen should be consuming daily. This addictive drink has become the vice of countless teenagers over the years, and only more are joining the group. “I rely on it [coffee] to sustain me and it’s just a part of my schedule now, as it’s been since the sixth grade,” says Hager Hamed, a senior who admits to being an avid coffee lover.](https://shsleaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/tarabishi_nov13_coffee_beat.png)
