Madison Chandler: General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Immigration

Payton Daniels: General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Opinion

Spencer DuMontier: General Assignment, Sports, International News

Jim Lanier: General Assignment, Opinion, Cartoons & Graphic Art

Ali LeJeune: General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Sports

Mia Mayo: Editor, General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Environment

Will McLain: General Assignment, Sports, Political/International

Camden Pierce: General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Opinion, Sports

James Rumbley: General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Sports

Audrey Thrower: Editor, General Assignment, Sports

Olivia Vance: General Assignment, Arts & Culture, Opinion

Behind the Scenes of Acclaimed Prison Documentary The Alabama Solution

By Madison Chandler

The Alabama Solution is a 2025 Oscar-nominated documentary that highlights exploitation, abuse, and other problems in our state’s prisons. In 2019, directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman visited Easterling Correctional Facility in Clio, Alabama to document what they were told would be a revival meeting and barbecue. They soon realized, however, that it was a ploy to portray the prison in a positive light. Inmates eventually told them about horrific abuse. The barbecue visit led to a six-year investigation that became the subject of the film. The Acta Diurna interviewed writer, podcaster, former news anchor, award-winning journalist, and The Alabama Solution co-producer Beth Shelburne. Read More

History Matters: The Iran War Did Not Come Out of Nowhere

Iran is the hottest international relations issue of the last decade. The United States hasn’t directly been involved in a conflict of this scale since the War on Terror. The geopolitical situation between Iran and the United States has never been as hostile and chaotic as it is today. But U.S and Iranian relations haven’t always been this unstable; there were decades of high tensions, but there were also forgotten decades of peace since overshadowed by conflict. The history of U.S-Iranian relations has never before been so important. So, let’s wind back the clock and look through the decades of history that led to today’s conflict.  Read More

Why Do We Distrust “The Media”?

By Spencer Dumontier

Politics have been dominating American conversations for centuries. Millions of families today tune into presidential debates (or should I say roasting matches), argue about upcoming elections at the Thanksgiving table, and have long, deep discussions about why the president is listed tens of thousands of times in some rather … “interesting” files. It seems like nowadays, the only thing everyone can really agree on is that we are all divided. Partisan politics are present in nearly all adults' lives. Read More

How Elon Musk Vandalized the “Digital Town Square”

By Jim Lanier

On October 27, 2022, Elon Musk acquired the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion. Before the acquisition, Twitter was primarily known as a microblogging and social networking site where users could follow and message each other and post short-form ideas. Yet, Musk believed the app had potential for more. In one post that same month, he wrote that he would transform Twitter into the “everything app." Read More

Opinion: Flock Cameras Causing Understandable Constitutional Controversy

By James Rumbley

The Constitution is supposed to be the final authority over what you can and cannot do in the United States. But over the past year or so, there have been multiple accusations that Flock Safety, a company that makes cameras that function as hyper-powerful automated license plate readers (ALPRs), has been violating the Fourth Amendment. Flock serves more than 5,000 police departments across the country, including Birmingham’s.

Read More

Stop Your Stress, Stay Informed: How to Start the Hunt for College

By Camden Pierce

As Altamont welcomes the end of the school year and summertime, the battle is not over for rising sophomores and juniors. It is just beginning. Major exam scores, GPAs, and extracurriculars all weigh on the consciences of high-schoolers approaching their senior years. With the pressure of pursuing academic excellence, especially at a school like Altamont, where success is expected, an uninformed student’s mental health can take a turn for the worse. So The Acta Diurna interviewed Altamont college counselor Cindy Bond to help students understand and manage the journey toward the next level of education. Read More

Senior Eden Moody’s Journey to Authorship

By Payton Daniels

Over the last half-century, The Altamont School has nurtured and encouraged countless young leaders who have made great strides and achievements despite still being in high school. One of them is senior Eden Moody.

Moody wrote a recently published book titled Bold, Black, and Beautiful, full of encouraging words, powerful affirmations, and thoughtful prompts that, according to the Amazon.com book page, “encourage confidence, self-love, and pride in one’s identity.” Read More

Full Summers: Relaxation or Preparation?

By Ali LeJeune

I have always prided myself on my ability to stay busy. For my entire life, I have typically had something to do in my free time after school, and my summer has been filled with fun camps and trips that made me feel satisfied at the end of each day. These fun experiences also make me cherish my summers between school years because of the personal time and relaxation they provide. Recently though, while talking to one of my friends, I came to the realization that filling your summer now feels like an obligation. Read More

Best (K)Night Ever, Vol. 2: Let’s Eat!

By Liv Vance

Birmingham, Alabama, is a city that tells stories through food. Once defined by its iron and steel industry, the Magic City has evolved into one of the South’s most exciting culinary destinations. Birmingham chefs blend southern cooking, global influences and family recipes. As a result, Birmingham’s dining scene simultaneously feels like home and a world tour. Inspired by the polished and curated feel of Condé Nast Traveler’s “Best Of” lists, Altamont Knights share their local, go-to spots across Birmingham. Read More

There’s a Lot Going On Behind the Counters: Altamont’s New Food Service

By Payton Daniels

Altamont had the same in-house dining service for decades, with the school’s own employees providing food under the leadership of Mrs. Jennifer Grissom, but this year is the first under a completely new team from FLIK Independent School Dining. On the company website, FLIK describes itself as a premier dining service provided for private and independent schools, focusing on nutritious meals made from scratch, sustainability, and nutrition education. Read More

Dear Class of 2027: Graduating Seniors’ Thoughts for Juniors (and the Rest of Us)

By Liv Vance

As the 2025-26 school year comes to a close, for the Class of 2027, senior year no longer feels distant. And with that, college talk is no longer hypothetical. The steady build of anxiety among the junior class is hard to ignore, with everyone trying to answer the “simple” yet convoluted question: what’s next? Read More

Featured Photo

The price of victory? Coach Jamie Rediker and his assistants have helped motivate athletes in many ways. One is the chance to dye his hair blue if they win state, which the girls’ Indoor Track team did this past winter.