highlights
February 21, 2014 Volume 87, Issue Nine Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills, Calif. beverlyhighlights.com
Brentwood hosts forum for women
Guide advises early looking for students
Marguerite Alberts spotlight editor Dami Kim culture editor
Dami Kim culture editor
Over 90 schools attended the second annual Young Women’s Conference at Brentwood School on Saturday, Feb. 8. The day featured many celebrity keynote speakers addressing three main topics related to the year’s theme, “It’s Our Turn”: identity, advocacy and passion. Geena Davis, actress and founder and chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a research institute that conducts the largest amount of research on gender depictions in media, opened the conference. While watching television with her daughter, Davis noticed that there were far fewer female characters than male characters in children’s shows. “We always want to think that things are moving along or that things are improving at a natural pace, but it’s not true,” Davis said. “The ratio of male to female characters has not changed since 1946.” Later in the day, two speakers, Keli Lee, Executive Vice President of Casting for ABC, and Jess Weiner, author and Dove Global Ambassador, spoke on the importance of advocacy. Weiner described the impact of social media in defining true beauty. She presented Dove’s new short film, titled “Selfies,” which documents how mothers deflect their insecurities onto their daughters. “When we can see it, we can be it,” Weiner said. The day concluded with an inperson interview with Former First Lady of Calif. Maria Shriver. Under Shriver’s direction, the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women became the leading forum for women, thus inspiring the Young Women’s Conference. In relation to the theme of the last keynote session, Shriver spoke of having compassion for others. “The word care is in the word career,” Shriver said. “It’s important to focus on the people in your life and care about them. I think we can elect leaders who talk about the caring economy.” Continued on Page 8
ARMAN ZADEH
Hello Norman Nation
Point guard Siavash Yektafar flies past Culver City defenders the team’s final league match last week. More on Page 12.
Rep. Waxman retires after 40 years Max Stahl comment editor For Henry Waxman, Democratic representative of California’s 33rd district, which contains Beverly Hills, it has always been policy over politics. One of Washington’s most productive statesmen, Mr. Waxman has amassed over his 40 years in the House a substantial list of legislative achievements ranging from environmental protection to public health. He’s an unwavering liberal, but he’s never been afraid to compromise. Even many of his political opponents agree that Mr. Waxman has played the game right. On Jan. 30, Mr. Waxman, 74, announced that he would retire at the end of this congressional term, his 20th. He will join more than 30 other House members choosing not to seek reelection in 2014. “I’ve been in Congress for 40 years, and it seemed to me that this was the time to move on if I’m going to have a life after Congress and to give somebody newer and younger a chance to carry on the job,” Mr. Waxman said in an exclusive interview with Highlights. Mr. Waxman served from 2007 to 2009 as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and from 2009 to 2011 as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Currently, in the Republican-controlled House, he is the Democrats’ ranking member on the latter. For the remainder of his term,
news
Metro Update Construction in preparation of the first phase of the Metro Purple Line extension broke ground last week on Wilshire and La Brea, where a station is scheduled to be built. page 4
which will last until Jan. 3, 2015, Mr. Waxman intends to investigate the connection between hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and earthquakes, and assist constituents with the Obamacare rollout, among other services. Mr. Waxman does not yet have any specific plans for his retirement, but he is certain of one thing: “I will not be a lobbyist,” he said. “But I want to be in both Los Angeles and in Washington, and I’ll try to figure out a combination of different things that I might do that will allow me to be in both places.” According to a 2012 ranking published in the magazine National Journal, Mr. Waxman stands among the most liberal members of the House of Representatives. He does not shy away from that reputation. “I strongly believe that government has an essential role to help people,” Mr. Waxman said. “If we believe that there ought to be an opportunity for every child to succeed to the full extent that an individual would be able to do, I believe we’ve got to assure them good health care from the beginning, an education, a good starting point. And for those people in our society that have nowhere else to turn, because the private markets don’t succeed in doing what they need to do for a societal purpose, then government has to step in.” Mr. Waxman elaborated on his argument with an example from his fight against pollution. “There’s no reason why any busi-
culture
Mr. Horowitz, Traveler Mr. Horowitz traveled to Western Europe while he was “still young.” page 5
ness would want to pay to reduce their pollution, whether it’s into the air or the water or anywhere else. If they have to do it and pay for it, and their competitors aren’t doing the same thing, then we need to put common restrictions on all sources of pollution to have it be part of the cost of doing business, not a cost that other people have to bear when they get sick from the pollution that a business or industry generates,” he said. Mr. Waxman made good on his promise to reduce pollution in 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed into law amendments to the Clean Air Act that Mr. Waxman had authored. Of his contributions to the welfare of his district, Mr. Waxman is proudest of this one. “The Clean Air Act had very strong provisions to clean up areas where the air pollution exceeded the standards for protecting health, and we set in place a requirement that all the different sources of pollution be monitored and a plan be developed by the state and South Coast Air Quality Management District to reduce those pollutants over time; it’s not done overnight. But the air in Los Angeles has been getting much cleaner. At the same time, our economy has improved,” Mr. Waxman said. Mr. Waxman’s efforts in implementing environmental reform lend credence to his reputation as a patient and persistent legislator. Continued on Page 2
Like most first-year students at Beverly, new college counselor intern Erika Larson was “completely lost” when she first stepped onto campus. Having graduated from a small high school, Larson did not know what to expect on her first day of work. “[When I first walked into the school,] I expected, ‘Oh if I just walk around I will find that building,’ but no. [The school] was kind of a big maze,” she recalled. “But, I knew I was going to like being here. I’m too old to do what I don’t like.” In order to complete the UCLA College Counseling Certificate Program, Larson contacted head counselor Diane Hale to do fieldwork in counseling on campus. Due to the high demand of work for guidance counselors during the seniors’ college application season, the school needed a separate counselor to help support the underclassmen. In a “lucky coincidence,” Larson was able to start her 10 week practicum with
DAMI KIM
the juniors. “It’s very interesting to see the way a large school functions, and I’m really impressed with all the work the counseling department has to do,” Larson said. “I recently moved to the area from Manhattan Beach, so I had to do some research to see which high schools were available. I wanted to work at a public school because I knew that a lot of the private schools have their own college counselors who don’t always necessarily need or want more help.” Larson has been primarily helping the juniors use college match tools on the Naviance website and other available resources at the College Center. Her main goal is to help the prospective students decide on an appropriate range of schools to apply to next year.
comment
sports
Rather than defend victims of slutshaming, we’ve come to think of the practice as normal and even morally righteous.
The Normans stormed their way out of league play last Thursday with a blowout victory over Culver City to complete yet another sweep of an Ocean League rival this season. page 12
Slut-Shaming
Boys Basketball CIF
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