The
Whittier Miscellany
Valentine’s Issue 2025 • Wilmington Friends School’s Community Newspaper • Wilmington, DE
Tatted Up the Quaker Way
Lucia Cericola ‘25 Editor-In-Chief
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arío Lizancos-Robles has his first name tattooed on his forearm in swirly letters. The IB Spanish professor faces no shortage of comments from his students, poking well-intentioned fun at the curious reasons behind his artistic choice. One WFS student remarks that “Darío must have chosen to tattoo his name on his arm in case he forgets it”. Gabe Fletcher ‘25 jokes, “Maybe he didn’t know what to put there, so he went with his name.” Despite an onset of light-hearted teasing, Darío has not shied away from allowing his tattoos to be seen by students. After all, he
was our age when he received his first tattoo at the pinnacle of early adulthood. Darío says, “I have three [tattoos]. The first I got was my name on my arm when I was 18.” The tattoo Lizancos-Robles speaks of is the student-renowned forearm tattoo, featuring his first name in a large, cursive-esque font. The reason behind tattooing his own name on his arm? A resolution to an identity crisis.
“Fue un momento de reconectar con mi identidad,” says Lizancos-Robles. “I had an identity crisis, where I didn’t like
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my name. Thanks to my mom, who explained to me the origins of my name, and why she named me that, and I came to like it a lot. And so, I tattooed it on my arm.” Daríos second and third tattoos also portray an expression of his identity. His second (and most painful) tattoo was a group tattoo decided on by a circle of tight-knit friends. It features the landscape of his home city in Granada, Spain. “We tattooed our city together in 2016,” says Lizancos-Robles. The third is of his dog, Willie, a “super chill greyhound”. Despite being ridiculed as a young adult, Lizancos-Robles believes that the stigma around having tattoos is changing.
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IB Spanish Professor Darío Lizancos-Robles. Photo: Lucia Cericola ‘25.
Red Means Love, and White Means...Friends? Lindsey Forman ‘28 Staff Writer
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Famous Self-Titled Tattoo. Photo: Lucia Cericola ‘25.
“A smackdown of all smackdowns,” says Logan Scott ‘25.
recent survey of upper school students at WFS revealed varying opinions on Valentine’s Day. Almost everyone ranked the holiday differently on a scale from one to ten. When students were asked who they received the most valentines from, the results were surprising. Despite Valentine’s Day being known as a holiday of romance, an overwhelming majority said they get valentines mostly from friends, then family members as a distant second, and finally crushes or partners as dead last. Continued on page 3
The Dangers of Political Apathy “Cabaret” and its Relevance Today
Paz Becker ‘28 Staff Writer
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Cartoon by Micah Davenport ‘27.
he musical “Cabaret” (based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin) tells the story of a society on the brink of chaos in 1930’s Berlin during the rise of Nazism. The narrative revolves around a group of hedonistic characters and the sleazy ‘Kit Kat Klub’. The majority of the story follows the American writer Clifford Bradshaw and his risque relationship with the English singer Salley Bowles. There is also a doomed side plot relationship between a Jewish fruit vendor, Herr Shultz, and a German boarding house owner, Fraulein Shneider, whose love is directly tested by antisemitic violence. Throughout the show, the Emcee (or
master of ceremonies) guides the story and the Kit Kat Klub, which serves as a metaphor for the growing political tension of the time, and the rise of Nazism. At its core, “Cabaret” is about the distraction and denial of dark political realities. The most prevalent example of this is the main female character, Sally, who lives in the moment, and denies the somber truth of Nazism. In opposition to Sally’s willful ignorance, Clifford, her romantic counterpart, is far more aware of the dangerous political landscape, and is rightfully concerned. This conflict of attitude is a direct reflection of the theme, how apathy in the face of fascism can be dangerous.
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