Crimson Nov. 2010

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Paso Robles, CA

Volume 71 / 11.10.10 / Issue 2

The Student Newsmagazine of Paso Robles High School

801 Niblick Rd. Paso Robles, California

Bearcat polo sinks AGHS dynasty The boys varsity water polo team celebrated their senior night along with a triumphant victory against Arroyo Grande High School on Oct. 27. This is the first time the Bearcats have destroyed the Eagles in more than 15 years. They became third in league from this win. Along with water polo, the varsity football team and girls varsity volleyball also defeated the Eagles this fall season.

The first quarter started out with the boys 0-4, but they came back with four goals by senior Chris Vinson; three by senior and team captain Spencer Silva; two by senior Austin McCall; and one by seniors Will Hix and Zane Harvey, junior Marco Gut, and sophomore Devon Nicklas. Bearcats showed their excitement by throwing coach Duane McRoy into the pool.

“They pulled themselves together and good things were happening. And we depended on everyone to do their job, and they sure did,” McRoy said, according to a Paso Robles Press article.

—Josh Orcutt, Sports Co-Editor Photo by Carly McCall

In-Depth 8-9 >> Oxycotin Investigation

Feature 13 >> Blind Date is back

World 20-21 >> Sustainable cities

T.O.C.

Crimson Volume 71, Issue 2

N O V E M B E R 10, 2010

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07 Brown's letter to the editor 14 Life of an illegal immigrant 18-19 Education evaluation 20-21 A tale of two green cities 22 Hindu celebration

Crimson 11.10.10

Paso Robles High School

www.crimsonnews.org

News

Walking for awareness

Photo by Emily Cone

Photo by Emily Cone

ARRANGEMENTS FOR CANCER: Kelly Clark’s floral classes arranged flower arrangements during Oct. for Breast Cancer Awareness. Above three students pose with their arrangements.

Two clubs aren’t only talking the talk; they are walking the walk—literally. In early November, the International Club and Interact Club took part in charity walks to raise awareness of AIDS and orphans around the world.

The International Club participated in the 19th annual “Walk for Life” on Nov. 6, organized by the San Luis Obispo County AIDS Support Network. This is the club’s eighth year partaking in this, according to club advisor Gregg Williams’s assistant Kathy Myers. Volunteers met at Santa Rosa Park in SLO at 9 a.m. and walked for six miles through downtown SLO, the Cal Poly campus, neighborhoods, and ended back at the park where a BBQ was set up. The organization took pledges from volunteers and used them to help those in the county with HIV disease and AIDS. “The most important aspect of this walk is the representation and fellowship of such diverse groups and individuals who all come together to support our local citizens living with the presence of AIDS…The AIDS ‘Walk for Life’ is a positive, family-oriented, fun, and very worthwhile event. I hope we continue to participate for another eight years or more!” Myers said, who has helped with International club for 12 years.

Interact Club is a service club sponsored by Rotary Club which aims to help others whether locally or internationally. Their sponsored walk is through One Thing for One Orphan’s “Walk for Orphans.” The march started at Mission San Luis Obispo on Nov. 7, also National Orphan Day, at 3 p.m.

One Thing for One Orphan’s goal is to get people to care about those 500,000 orphans nationwide that cannot care for themselves, according to onethingforoneorphan.org.

“I believe it is a good cause. The ‘Walk for Orphans’ is not only supporting them [orphans] by raising money but [is] educating others about the issue that so many children don’t have home and people that love them,” senior and Interact Club member Colby Yarborough said.

For more information about these charities, check out their website: onethingforoneorphan.org or asn.org.

Sick

—Alicia Canales, Managing Editor

Student Resource Center Williams’ health on the rise sent packing

With budget cuts escalating to their worst at $7 million for the Paso Robles School District in 2009, Paso Robles School Board had to cut teachers, programs and resources such as the Student Resource Center (SRC) from the budget.

The SRC helped students who dealt with homelessness, lack of food, domestic problems, counseling, conflicts with teachers or peers, and students who dealt with mental issues. If regular, more personal attention was needed, then the SRC referenced students to other specialized counselors or have had counselors visit the students on campus.

Without such resources, students have no where to go at school if they are struggling.

“You feel sorry for the [students]. They have to come to school and keep up in their classes, while trying to deal with their grief as well,” Sylvia Archibald said, former family advocate for the Student Resource Center.

With the recent death of PRHS alumni Jacob Keller, who died on Oct. 3, in a drunk-driving accident, “students had nowhere at school to deal with and talk about their grief,” according to counselor Xelina Rojas. Mike Moore, an counselor at PRHS, called in a hospice group led by Tony Hunsaker to counsel the kids dealing with the loss. “The students were very responsive, we were very thankful they were here,” Moore said.

Despite an increased work load on PRHS teachers and faculty members due to the budget cuts, they are still open to aiding students in their struggles.

“We’re referring as much as we can,” Rojas said, “We refer people to places like Loaves and Fishes, different counselors in the area and whatever else they need that used to be provided by the Center.”

PRHS staff member Terry Lassiter is devoted to counseling students from Lewis Middle School, PRHS, and Liberty High School and heads a program called “STRIVE.” This group focuses on helping young mothers who still want to finish their education.

With the center gone, students are at a loss with hardly anywhere to turn to.

“It would be good for students to voice their opinions and find a solution together about the problem,” Archibald said.

—Lindsay Reed, Reporter

www.crimsonnews.org

... students egaP txeN

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Six months after he was first informed he had stage 4 colon cancer, history teacher and International Club advisor Gregg Williams is on the road to recovery.

After doing a second Positron Emission Tomography on Oct. 7 to get an update on his fight with cancer’s progress, Williams was surprised by what the images showed.

“We compared the June scan with [the new] scan. The differences were absolutely amazing. We have frozen or shrunk all of the cancer cells,” Williams said.

With this news in his pocket, Williams can look ahead enthusiastically as he prepares to endure a few more months of what his long time friend and fellow teacher Wally Ohles refers to as “Kemo-Sabi.” “[The chemotherapy] will still be a part of my daily life…but I am sensing a rebirth of hope that will make these treatments much easier to endure,” Williams said.

Further chemo treatments will keep Williams from returning to room 111 for the second trimester. He is constantly receiving encouraging letters and emails from students and staff reminding him of how much he is missed on campus.

“His energetic, fun way of teaching kept me excited to go to history every day. Hopefully he’ll be able to come back and start teaching again soon so that other students can benefit from him,” senior Lauren Varian said.

—Sheridan Cook, Fun and Games Editor

Bearcats come marching in The PRHS band has proven itself worthy of recognition. In the three competitions the band competed in, they took six top ranking positions. At the Colony Day Parade in Atascadero, they took first place in Parade, first place in Field Show, first place in Field Show Auxiliary, and second place in Drum Line. At the Central Coast Classic, they received Lemoore High Percussion, High Auxiliary, and Sweepstakes. They received fourth place at the Tiger Classic.

“I am really happy about the fact that we worked so hard and managed to get fourth [place] in Lemoore, because they have a reputation of being really good,” senior Whitney Adams said. Adams is upper woodwind captain in the band and expects the group to do even better next year.

“I think since this is sort of a transition year between new teachers, we will do even better next year, and I’m sad that I’m going to have to miss it,” Adams said.

Another event the PRHS band will be involved in is the annual Paderewski Festival, along with both the Concert Choir and Las Voces Celestiales choir. It will take place Nov. 11 at the San Miguel Mission. Junior Aisha Hernandez, a Las Voces Celestiales choir member, said she’s happy to be a part of the opening concert.

“Paderewski was a large supporter of music in schools, so hopefully the exposure to people that care about our programs will help support us,” Hernandez explained.

The festival is for piano players that took top places in a competition last month, and the band and choirs are a large part of the opening concert of this event.

—Chelsea Farrer and Clarisse Dart, Health Editors Paso Robles High School

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What may start for most students as the simple decision of getting some rest to recover from a cough may end up snowballing into a mountain of make-up work, phone calls home, and other consequences.

Sickness in the district brings issues such as low budgets, pressure from teachers, absent policies, and public health into the light. Amid these factors, it’s easy for 87 percent of high school students to choose to come to school sick more often than not.

90 percent of PRHS students come to school with the common cold. Despite this, 22 million days of school are missed per year due to colds alone, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The “90 percent Rule” stated in the K-12 Absent Policy warns students they can miss no more than 18 days out of the school year in order to receive course credit. The thinking behind the new and stricter regulations was partly, “due to changes in California Education Code, the school does not receive funding if a student misses school for any reason other than a school sponsored event or field trip,” as explained in the policy. Even though all students surveyed confirmed they believed it was a better idea if students stayed home when they’re sick, 93 percent also said they felt like they should stay home less because of the new absent policy.

Another risk low budgets have created for our district is the lack of school nurses. Currently, only four school nurses and two health aids serve the 11 schools in the Paso Robles Public School District.

They must divide their time between each of the schools and are not able to be on every campus at all times. This can create difficulties for students with chronic conditions that require regular assistance. Such as asthma, diabetes, and mental health problems.

“It’s impossible. It’s more than difficult,” district nurse Ashley Alello said.

Paso Robles pediatrician Dr. Laura Herzberg agrees.

“Ideally it would be best to have one school nurse per school as well as one school counselor. More would be better,” Herzberg said.

She also pointed out the lack of nurses was also a risk for the well being of the students. “Not having a qualified person on site leaves that responsibility to others who may not have adequate training,” Herzberg explained. In a perfect world, this problem may never arise. But when dealing with thousands of students, sickness is inevitable.

A tool to help avoid sickness, is to make sure to receive regular vaccinations according to Herzberg.

“Vaccines are a critical tool in keeping healthy,” she pointed out. “Vaccinating our kids not only protects them, it also protects our families and our community.”

Sickness may also be easily spread in the classroom by pressure from teachers. With the switch to trimesters, time is of great importance in each class period, and even one missed day could become

Crimson 11.10.10

a lot for a student to make up. This is why many teachers make it clear that it is not a good idea to be absent at anytime during the trimester. If the teacher’s advice doesn’t convince the student, then the large packet of make up work they receive after the average missed day does. Ninety- three percent of students surveyed stay home less for these reasons.

Math teacher Clark Kerr believes that missing class is more consequential then attending class while sick.

“Students are expected to complete notes, class work, and homework for the day they miss. Missing class, particularly with the fast pace of the trimester, can be detrimental to the students’ understanding of the concepts. Students who are conscientious about making up work typically do fine; habitually absent students don’t usually survive,” Kerr said.

In contrast, Spanish teacher Jennifer Fuller thinks that both can be a problem, but she personally worries more about kids spreading their sickness to others at school.

“I often find that students that are sick come to school anyway,” Fuller said “If they try to power through, then sometimes they end up sicker and missing more.”

Fuller encourages her students to stay home if they are sick, but also acknowledges the fact that being in class is the best for understanding lessons and class work.

“Obviously being well and in class is the best circumstance, but … that cannot always be the case.

Unfortunately there is no substitute for being in class,” Fuller said.

Both teachers encourage students to contact their teacher as well as a reliable fellow student for missing assignments and make up work when missing a day of class.

From the absent policy to school nurses to teacher pressure, it’s becoming more of a serious issue when students get sick.

Paso Robles High School

Habitually absent students don’t usually survive.

—Math teacher Clark Kerr

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Senior’s PSAT leads to scholarships

Austin Ehrhardt is a National Merit semi-finalist

by Alicia Canales, Managing Editor

One in 16,000 is less than 1 percent, but for senior Austin Ehrhardt it’s a chance to win a 100 percent full paid scholarship for college. Because of his Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) scores in October 2009, Ehrhardt is one of the approximately 16,000 National Merit Semi-finalists for the 2011 National Merit Scholarship.

Juniors who took the PSAT/NMSQT and ranked in the top two thirds were named Commended Students. Students in this category who were above the cutoff score for their state continued on to be semi-finalist. California’s cutoff score was 218. Ehrhardt, who scored a 220, was the only PRHS semi-finalist to continue out of Commended Students and seniors Madison Butz, Whitney Adams, and Kellie Kennan.

“I wasn’t sure what to put in the awards and achievements box for my [college] applications, and now I have something to put in there, so that’s cool. It’s not so empty now,” Ehrhardt said.

Last year PRHS alumni Matthew Pridgeon and Allison Hutchinson ranked and were named Commended Students in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship. Two years ago, alumni Rebecca Horne was a National Merit Scholar and won $2500 from the College and University Sponsorship of Merit Scholar Awards, one of the three scholarships finalists can receive. Along with that, Fordham University also paid for her four undergraduate years because she was a scholar. Ehrhardt’s counselor Sandy Buck-Moyer stated she’s very excited for Ehrhardt whether or not he becomes a National Merit Scholar.

“The counseling department is kind of like the cheerleading section for the football team.

When a kid gets into a really good school or gets a really good score like that, we’re jumping up and down like crazy people. So yeah, we were excited [for Ehrhardt],” Buck-Moyer said, who filled out the application with him.

The National Merit Scholarship is partnered with approximately 80 schools who offer full scholarships to the finalists. Ehrhardt stated if he’s a finalist, his first two choices would be UC Berkley and Stanford University, and his third choice is between University of San Francisco, University of Southern California, and New York University. Although he decided on the colleges, he hasn’t thought of what career to pursue.

“I’m undecided…I want to be a hero. I want to not use petroleum when I grow up,” Ehrhardt Photo by Emily Cone said.

Ehrhardt’s acceptance as a finalist will be determined by a combination of his grades, SAT score (2340), and an essay. He will be notified in February 2011 whether he advanced to the finalist round.

Teachers step up Step Program More teachers enforcing disciplinary program

by Erin Joseph, Business Team

New staff, new administration, new buildings in progress, and new rules were all in effect for the 2010-2011 school year, with the step program becoming a more promptly used tool. Students are put on the step program if they break a rule or regulation of the schools.

This program has been in effect since last year; however the boom in teacher use has increased this year.

by Shanna Dowling, Reporter “With more knowledge and help from staff, teachers are using and enforcing the step program more and more,” secretary Theresa Chavez said.

The step program has two branches, major and minor for different levels of implications. If students are tardy for any reason other than illness, doctor verification, death in immediate family, jury duty, or religious holiday or ceremony, they can not be excused. They are also put on the step program under the after-school intervention log which entitles that first they will have a teacher/student conference. If problems keeps occurring, step two is another warning accompanied by a phone call home. In steps three through five they must attend a one day after school detention and the teacher will personally contact the student’s parent. If the problem still exists and the student hasn’t learned, the student is placed on the classroom discipline log and the student is in potential danger of suspension from the class.

But what happens if your car breaks down, you have to take your sibling to school unexpectedly, or there was a car accident that caused traffic? Numerous events could threaten your risk of getting a tardy. www.crimsonnews.org

With more teachers enforcing the step program, it can be plausible that it can harm some student’s chance of walking during graduation or going to prom but also raises the question: should I even go to class at all?

“Often if I am going to be late I find myself walking off campus instead because they will both affect my attendance the same way, and I can’t excuse a tardy,” senior Rachel Maloney said.

However, Assistant principal Chris Jones justifies that the school and district realize that life happens and so do these complications, and gives the student two freebees and the third tardy results in the equivalence of a one period truancy.

“The step program has actually instilled a little fear in me. I don’t want to be tardy because it leads to worse consequences than last year when I could just stroll in late and would get a mere slap on the wrist” said junior Chris Haag.

Out of 70 students, 45 agreed the step program has worked in decreasing problems such as their number of tardies. When asked teachers if they thought the step program worked in decreasing the problems in their classroom, 66 percent believed it has, and 80 percent said that they use the step program for tardies more than anything else.

Numbers show that the step program has proved itself here at PRHS and will likely be here to stay.

Paso Robles High School

News

Cyber-bullying splashes into wake-up call

A student’s suicide after a homosexual scandal

by Nicolette Jolicoeur, Culture Co-Editor

What started as a “funny” joke got out of hand. And what one student thought was funny clearly hurt someone else.

In Piscataway, New Jersey on Sept. 19, Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers freshman and accomplished violinist, asked his roommate Dharun Ravi, also a Rutgers freshman, to leave the room from 9 to 12 p.m.

Ravi questioned Clementi’s sexual orientation, so he acted upon his hunch and set up a webcam in their college dorm room. Then Ravi preceded to his friend, Rutgers freshman, Molly Wei’s, , room.

“Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into Molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude.

Yay,” Ravi said on his Twitter page on Sep. 19 at 6:17 p.m.

The event is close to home, in some ways. In a recent survey of 100 PRHS students, 40 percent have been cyber-bullied. Even worse is that 20 percent say they have been the one doing the cyber bullying. “Cyber bullying is a straight up crime” assistant principal Ed Brown said.

Two days later, Ravi went to his Twitter again and directed his 150 followers to an iChat of his roommate and his roommate’s male partner. “Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it’s happening again,” Ravi wrote in a Sept. 21 post.

Jake Supposedly the second screening of Clementi’s sexual Keller ... egaP txeN encounters went unsuccessfully broadcasted. Clementi posted on his Facebook page “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry,” on Sept. 22 at 8:42 p.m.

Following up on his post, Clementi plunged to his death in the Hudson River off of the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 23. The cause of his suicidal jump is unknown, he didn’t leave any notes or clues behind, but information indicates it’s because of what Ravi and Wei did. Ravi and Wei were both charged with invasion of privacy.

It is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person’s consent, under New Jersey’s invasion-of-privacy laws, which has a maximum sentence of five years. Wei was prosecuted because she was an accomplice to a crime, but she was released on her own recognizance, meaning she declared herself a good citizen.

Ravi was released on $25,000 bail, one day after Wei was released.

Despite being released, there are discussions that Wei’s and Ravi’s charges may be raised to a hate crime, which is a maximum sentence of 10 years.

“Being cyberbullied is probably one of the worst feelings I have ever felt,” said an anonymous student who has been cyberbullied many times. “It hurts because someone is intentionally trying to hurt you and make you cry.”

If you’re being cyber bullied, certain steps exist to make sure it stops. Brown encouraged students to save all text messages. If the bullying is over Facebook or Myspace, print out the messages and bring the information to Brown’s office. Make sure you report to Brown right away before the situation gets worse. Brown will either talk to a police officer or bring the bully in.

Brown says usually the bully will fess up and apologize.

But if the bullying continues, he said to file a police report. If you feel the need to press charges, talk to the police, he said.

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One dead, two injured in DUI car accident Death of a PRHS alumni sends shockwave through the campus

by Serina Lewis, Feature Editor and Torey Wise, Sports Co-Editor On Oct. 3 at about 8:17 p.m., 20 year old PRHS alumni, Jake Keller and 19 year old PRHS alumni, Nolan Martinez were driving down Serenade Drive while 45 year old Jennifer Chill crossed into the opposing lane and collided fatally with Keller’s truck head on.

In a police report, a single vehicle was stated to have rolled numerous times and a victim was claimed to be trapped under the vehicle. Keller and Martinez were both ejected from their vehicle. Tragically, Keller was pronounced dead on the scene of the crime. Martinez was transported to Twin Cities Hospital for an unknown head injury. Chill was arrested and accused of felony driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs. She was also charged with vehicular manslaughter.

Keller graduated from PRHS in 2008 and Martinez was in the graduating class of2009. “[He was] someone who was so kind to everyone. If you were having a bad day, he would always be the one to ask what was wrong and give the biggest, comforting hug. [He was] always making everyone around him have a good time,” Kassidy Abbott, PRHS senior and close friend to Jake Keller, said.

Chill, the 45-year-old woman accused of causing a deadly DUI crash, pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter at her arraignment in a San Luis Obispo County Courtroom Thursday, Oct. 7, according to KSBY news. Chill is out on $100,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court again on October 21, according to the district attorney’s office.

The memorial mass that was held at Mission San Miguel at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 8 with a graveside burial at the Paso Robles District Cemetery on Monday, Oct. 11 at 9 a.m. The room was packed, with people standing up in the back, according to Abbott.

“It was amazing to see how many lives he touched,” Abbott said after going to his memorial on Friday, Oct. 8.

Austin Cooking was his passion. Keller was a talented chef and won a bronze medal in a state cooking Ehrhardt Next Page ... competition several years ago. He studied at the Culinary Arts Academy in Paso Robles for four years.

STEP His passions included rodeo, his motorcycle, and his truck, according to KSBY. His family moved to Program Paso Robles when Keller was a junior in high school. Jake flourished in self-confidence in the culinary arts, auto and motorcycle mechanics. Jake embraced the rural life living on a small ranch and riding horses. He loved camping, wake boarding, dirt biking, mudding, cooking, mechanical projects and just being outside doing anything. He made friends easily, respected adults and had a smile for everyone. Before this tragic collision happened, he was pursuing a career in law enforcement, soon to be the fourth generation in his family in law enforcement. With just two classes to go for his AA degree, he was planning to enter the Sheriff’s academy, according to his obituary.

Many organizations in the Paso Robles area are raising money to help the victim of this accident. 15 degrees C, a local wine shop and bar, is having their annual Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 7 with Nature’s Touch providing all fresh produce to the event. Ali Carscaden, owner of 15 degrees C, and Melanie Martinez, owner of Nature’s Touch and cousin to Nolan Martinez, came up with their idea for donating all proceeds to Nolan Martinez after the accident happened and Melanie Martinez realized she “has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving,” because she, “would not be where she’s at today without Nolan.”

Also on Oct. 17, people came together at Rotta Winery, a tasting room, for a benefit barbeque in honor of Jake Keller. $3,100 gained from the barbeque lunch was split between Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), receiving $1,100 and the Culinary Arts Academy, Keller’s alma mater, receiving $2,000. Jen Chavez started the event because Peggy Keller, Jake Keller’s mom, works for Rotta Winery and the company wanted to “help the fam- IN LOVING MEMORY: Friends and family of Keller place sentimental objects at his memorial sight on Serenade Dr. ily and honor Jake’s life in a special way,” according to Chavez.

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Photo by Serina Lewis

PRHS remembers Jake Keller “R.I.P. Jake you’re gonna be missed by all. You left a huge mark in all our hearts with your jokes and your goofy personality. Tickets to the gun show are over here, let me take you to the gym hop on my arms haha. Love you bro. We know you’re watching over us. You may have left us here on earth, but you will never leave our hearts.”

“Rest in peace Jake, everyone loves and misses you so much! You were one of the rarest sweetest guys out there. I wish I could have seen you one more time. I’ll see you again one day.”

“Jake....I hope you knew how much we all loved you. Our lives will never be the same without you. I will miss you more than you ever could have known.”

“The laughter, the love, and the caring you brought to everyone you touched will live in all our hearts forever. You will very much and forever be missed. God bless you, Jake.”

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Paso Robles High School

—(anonymous comments)

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Words matter

Perspectives

A letter from Assistant Principal Ed Brown

Imagine you had a word limit and life ends with your last word. Would you choose your words carefully?

Imagine the world if EVERYONE chose their words carefully. Imagine our school if EVERYONE understood every word mattered. Words hurt, heal, or hinder a life. Words start fights, ruin lives, or make someone’s day. Our words define us. Words Matter. Choose wisely.

I learned this the hard way. I was a problem child in high school. Fortunately, my counselor took a risk and taught me my words and actions defined who I am.

When I got in trouble, I was sent to the security office. I was there so often, I was on a first name basis with Officer Mauro. The Vice Principal thought I was an angry delinquent. After verbally abusing a punk and his girlfriend, the Vice Principal sent me to Mr. Arnold, my counselor. I would soon find out, was the administration was getting ready to expel me.

Mr. Arnold was about 55 years old. He was a soft spoken man who wore cardigans. He always called me Mr. Brown. We’d spoken about my behavior before, and he occasionally called my house.

I was a hater, and most kids hated me except for a few close friends and some teammates from football, wrestling, and track. I didn’t like sports, but I didn’t want to be at home. My alcoholic dad could verbally and physically tear a person down. He was a master at inflicting pain with words, and I learned to do the same. Mr. Arnold helped me understand I carried the weight of abuse with me to school and looked to unload it.

He asked what’d happened. I told him the little maggot looked at me. When he asked if I thought I was better, I told him, of course: they were dirt bags. He stared at me and leaned back in his chair deep in thought. Mr. Arnold told me to meet him tomorrow outside the wrestling room or he would call my dad. I hated him for that. He knew my dad would beat me if he got a call. I agreed to Mr. Arnold’s request.

The next day, I waited outside the wrestling room until Mr. Arnold showed up. He unlocked the room, and I walked in. When I turned around, he was taking off his sweater. Underneath, he had on a black wrestling singlet, black tights, and black, well worn, wrestling shoes. I was stunned. He looked like a body builder. He warmed up by dancing lightly on this feet and did a couple of double leg shot drills unnaturally fast.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded, dumbfounded.

“What I like to do is grab a single leg.” Lightning fast he grabbed my right leg leaving me hopping on my left leg like a fool. “Once I have that leg, I like to move my opponent around the mat then drop him where I

please.” He moved me around then threw me down like a dog.

He danced backward like a professional boxer as I jumped up. Angry, I shot in for a double leg, but suddenly I was upside down being choked and pinned in some strange wrestling hold. I tried every move in the book and nothing worked, and I was a varsity wrestler and a brown belt in Judo. Eventually, I staggered to my feet exhausted. He stopped dancing and wasn’t sweating. He told me to be in his office the next day and left.

Needless to say, I was in his office wide eyed and ready to listen. He sat quietly behind his desk. I asked how he beat me.

“Mr. Brown, sometimes things are not what they seem. You see an old man in a sweater, but I am much more than that.”

He reached inside his desk and pulled out a picture of a muscular wrestler in all black with a leather mask on.

“I’m a professional wrestler, Mr. Brown. My wrestling name is Dr. Death. I’ve been wrestling for 30 years.”

He flipped to the next page with a picture of the same wrestler unmasked. It was Mr. Arnold.

“I’d appreciate it if you keep my wrestling identity to yourself, Mr. Brown. I shared this with you to impress upon that people are not maggots or dirt bags; all people deserve your respect not your disdain. You need to c h a n g e your perception, Mr. Brown, for perception is reality. You need to cOxyhoose txeN your words carefully. As you well know, words can be used as weapons to Contin ... egaP cause people pain. You need to break the cycle of pain in your life.

Yo u ’r e not this person you pretend to be. Your father’s words do not have to be yours.

You must be yourself,” he said, looking intensely into my eyes.

I sat back in my chair. He blasted me with the shotgun of truth square in the chest. He was right. I was a hater because it was easy, because it was all I knew. I wondered how he “pegged” me so perfectly. I later learned he was working on his PhD in Human Behavior. Mr. Arnold told me I could transfer to Mira Mesa High School or be expelled. I switched.

I graduated with no problems. I maintained my “B” average, dropped my hater attitude, and “found” myself. I respected others, chose my words carefully, and forgave my dad. I joined the Marines, received two college degrees, and became a teacher and Vice Principal. None of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for Dr. Death’s impact on my life.

Letter to the Editor by junior Allan Kelso Monica Patel Editor-in-Chief Center Co-Editor

Ethan Baietti Managing Editor Web Manager

Alicia Canales Maddison Coons Managing Editor Front Page Editor

Managing Editor Center Co-Editor

www.crimsonnews.org 801 Niblick Rd. Paso Robles, CA 93446 Paso Robles High School (805) 237-3315 EXT. 5601 Room 601

Crimson is an independently funded, monthly publication of the journalism class at Paso Robles High School. We publish monthly newsmagazines free to students and teachers. Subscriptions are available for US mail delivery for $15. Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the staff and do not necessarily t reflect the views of Paso Robles High School, its faculty, administration, or students. Crimson is an open forum for the exchange of Special thanks ideas. We welcome feedback in form of letters or e-mails. to the contributions of Letters must be signed but names can be withheld upon Reilly Newman, Carly McCall request. All stories, graphics, typesetting, and layouts are completed by Paso Robles High School students.The staff actively pursues advertisement accounts but reserves the right to refuse those deemed overly controversial or aimed at illegal behavior. Crimson is designed using Adobe In-Design and Photoshop and prints with Atascadero News Co.

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Paso Robles High School

Sometimes we need to understand ourselves before we could understand anyone else. Which, it takes our whole life to understand ourselves.

So I’m never going to understand you while you’ll never understand me. But why do people always judge one another? They judge me for who I am, what I am, the way I dress, the way I look, what I listen to. Your music is the same as what I listen to.

They never tend to understand that people judge then, gossip about them. The top #1 reason why people attempt suicide is because all of the gossip that goes around or why people bring a gun to school and start a rampage. Why most people lie, cheat, and steal, to show and make people think they are cool or that they’ve been through rough times. I hope one day someone will understand what I’m talking about. People that have been judged don’t worry you are not alone. So look what I said let it sink in and remember before you judge somebody think that that person has been through or maybe they’re gossiping about you.

Crimson 11.10.10 |

7

In-Depth

P r e s c r i p t i o n National OxyContin epidemic reaches Paso

by Caitlyn Curran, Business Team and Austin Ehrhardt, Business Team

Pop it, crush it, snort it, smoke it, shoot it … It’s no catchy techno song; it’s oxycodone, and it’s quickly becoming the nation’s largest drug epidemic.

More Americans are now abusing prescription drugs than heroine, ecstasy, and cocaine combined, according to Current TV’s Peabody award-winning documentary “The OxyContin Express.” The most popular of these pharmaceuticals is oxycodone, otherwise referred to under the brand names OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan.

The synthetic opioid, a severe pain medication used by cancer patients and those recovering from extensive surgeries, is essentially heroin made legal via doctors’ prescriptions. This reputation has earned oxy the nickname “hillbilly heroin,” a reference to the drug’s original popularity in the South, particularly Florida, where pain clinics operate like convenient stores.

Florida, home to all 50 of the nation’s top oxycodone prescribing clinics, prescribes oxy at five times the national average. This imbalance is largely due to the state’s Brown’s letter to the massive deregulation of prescription drug distribution Next Page ... editor that allows users—with symptoms not severe enough to be prescribed children’s Tylenol—to “doctor shop” for the highly addictive pain medication. In Florida, there were a reported 890 deaths from OxyContin alone in six months, compared to 39 for meth. That relates to a 14.4 percent increase in oxy related deaths compared to a 29 percent decrease in meth related deaths.

Clinics have even gone as far as to offer “bring a friend” discounts, “half off” days, and “buy one, get one free” specials.

Doctors prescribe and in turn readily accept cash from their unsolicited walk-in clients.

Unlike Florida, prescriptions in California are linked to a database where distribution is monitored for abuse. However, this doesn’t stop

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8

dealers smuggling pills from out of state.

One third of kids 12-17 believe prescription drugs are not dangerous or addictive and 30 million used prescription drugs in 2009, making it just as abused as marijuana, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. In 2005, the amount of oxy produced was was 807 percent higher than just six years ago in 1999, according to the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

“Pharmaceuticals like oxy, xanax, hydrocodone, demerol, adderall and robitussin are the new hipster drugs,” according to the Associated Press.

“For five years I was practically comatose. There are no emotions— that is why a lot of people get on it. They don’t want to feel,” a PRHS alumni said, who tried oxy for the first time her junior year of high school.

She obtained a couple pills, innocently at first, through a family friend to alleviate chronic, intense “For five years I was practically comatose. stomach There are no emotions—that is why a lot of cra mpi ng people get on it. They don’t want to feel.” due to an —Former PRHS student ovarian cysts.

Soon she became addicted and started to snort the pills with her friends. Because OxyContin, or Oxycodone Continuous release, contains a time release coating, users typically soak or scrape the outer layer, enabling them to snort the pills and receive an intense and nearly instant high. The coating allows the drug to be released continuously over a period of 12 hours. Scraping the outer layer allows for 12 hours of medication to be ingested instantly.

“First we’d snort them, then others went to smoking the pills off of aluminum foil. Some of the younger kids even shoot it up now,” the alumni said, who, now 23, has seen and used it with a wide range of

Graphic illustration by Reilly Newman

addicts.

“I look back on my life when it was like that and it was just a hazy dream world,” she said. After she quit OxyContin, she attended a Methadone clinic in Atascadero daily for doses to quell withdrawals for three years. Methadone, however, comes with its side effects as well, including dependence. She celebrated a year sober from methadone on Aug. 31 and has been off of both methadone and oxy since.

A PRHS junior saw her cousin struggle with the same addiction.

Addicted for a few years, she finally hit rock bottom and began attending the Atascadero Methadone clinic through the arduous journey, her family could only look on with anguish.

“It got to the point where money started disappearing and she got really skinny. The whole family was really worried,” the PRHS junior said.

It effects of this growing trend can be observed by surveys and death statistics, but crime rates are a good measure as well. On April 14, a 21 year old man named Joseph Hyde robbed 3 atascadero homes within 25 minutes, looking for prescription drugs. There were 29 robberies in Paso Robles between Dec. and Jan. and 17 arrests, one as young as 13. It was suspected prescription drugs were involved. Throughout the country, pharmacies have been robbed for OxyContin, Percodan, and Xanax.

“I’ve only been doing juvenile for a year, but there is significant prescription abuse,” Sandy Mitchel said, a deputy discrict attorney for SLO county. The youngest case Mitchel has overseen is 14, and she’s dealt with juvenile prescription overdoses in our county as well.

Purdue, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures OxyContin, is aware of the trend and has made a new pill stamped with ‘OP’ rather than ‘OC’ on the front. It is considered tamper proof, making them nearly impossible to melt or crush. Addicts and enforcers alike are worried that this will only enhance the amount of oxy users switching to heroin, which is a cheaper and more intense high.

$1:the street value per milligram of OxyContin 1: percent of 8th graders who reported to have abused OxyContin 3.6: percent of 10th graders who reported to have abused OxyContin 4.7: percent of 12th graders who reported to have abused OxyContin 152: the percent increase in California emergency room visits for abuse of OxyContin between 2004 and 2008 30 million: the number of Americans over 12 who have abused OxyContin within a month period $1.3 billion: the annual profit Purdue Pharma rakes in for OxyContin sales *All statistics from Salem News and the New York Times

—Austin Erhardt, Buisness Team Crimson 11.10.10

Paso Robles High School

www.crimsonnews.org

In-Depth

...OVERLOAD q&

Prescription for Problems

with

Officer Wells

Ray Wells is a retired veteran officer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He served for 30 years and educated thousands of California officers in drug enforcement. Wells received the POALAC Lifetime Achievement Award for his development of the Photo used with permission of Ray Wells narcotics field test kit in 2005.

Q: What age group or demographic do you see involved most often?

A: “At first we saw it as a trend in older teens and young adults, but now we’re seeing it all across the board — even kids as young as 12. We never thought this would be an issue for middle school students.”

Q: How long has this been an issue?

A: “People don’t realize oxy has been an issue for years. It really came to the spotlight though when the time-release pills were first manufactured. Rather than 20 mg, they became 40 or 80, making them much easier to abuse. At one point Purdue was manufacturing 160 mg pills, but they stopped after pressure from the medical community.”

Q: Has the trend been increasing?

A: “Definitely between ’08 and ’09. There was a drastic increase in use. It’s now the most rampant drug in the state. We haven’t seen the figures for this year, though I doubt it’ll be much different.”

Q: What conditions are allowing for prescription drug abuse?

A: “Unlike states such as Florida, California monitors prescription drug distribution. A doctor in Monrovia was arrested recently for ‘misprescribing,’ but incidents like this have been pretty isolated. Generally, our state policies have been effective.”

Q: What steps do you think could be taken to reduce prescription drug abuse?

A: “Purdue, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures oxy, is changing the formula for their pills so that they will no longer be smokeable or crushable. This new formula will be coming out in November. The fear is that as oxy becomes less desirable, addicts will move on to heroin.”

Q: What are police doing to prevent this trend?

A: “Our main tool is education. We’re training our officers to look for signs of oxy use, paraphernalia and the like.”

Q: What should the community know about oxy and prescription drug abuse?

A: “Our goal is to inform, not to appeal to sensationalism or scare tactics. Kids tend to become disenchanted with law enforcement when they resort to that. The truth is [oxy]’s addictive and often deadly. Users often end up committing other crimes.”

—by Austin Ehrhardt, Business Team

Oxy Pressures*

“It seemed that everyone was doing it, the kids who played sports, the kids everyone looked up to.” www.crimsonnews.org

... MariegaP txeN PILES OF PILLS: Pharmacy raids have been on the decline, since the release of Oxy OP’s.

Photo by Olivia Musial

Oxy Confession

juana legalization

>>

An anonymous account of the effects of OxyContin

by Caitlyn Curran, Business Team “It started with ovarian cysts. Doctors prescribed me high milligram ibuprofen, and I was taking more than I should have a day because it wasn’t working. At 15, a friend had an OxyContin pill and said it would cut out all pain. Sure enough, it did, and I liked the feeling of numbness. I got heavily into it sophomore year, and it was just a foggy haze after that. It was like the walking dead because that’s what it does to you.

Before I knew it, everyone around me was doing it. Everyone knew something was wrong when I’d fall asleep in the middle of the day drooling on myself. The thought of addiction crossed my mind, but I never thought it would happen to me, that is until I was out of oxy. By then it was already too late. I was spending every last dime I had on it just to chase the feeling of being normal again. Without oxy I couldn’t sleep, eat, or stop sweating. That I could actually handle, but along with the physical withdrawals there were also mental instabilities. My mind was numb for so long that to actually feel kind of drove me a little nuts.

To keep up my habit, I began to sell OxyContin. You’ll never realize how easy it is to get when half the seniors in this town know how much money they can get for it. I got hooked up with an old lady, my first supplier. As time went on I made $3000 off of other addicts who I thought were my friends but never were. Fiends tend to get greedy and needy and there went my $3000, stolen by a customer.

Basically I hit rock bottom and got so depressed that I couldn’t go on anymore. I checked myself into the Aegis Methadone Clinic and I stayed there for three years. The methadone just sustained my drug habit; it didn’t get any better or any worse. I became highly addicted to methadone, more than even oxy. I spent the last eight months at the clinic tapering down milligram by milligram until I was finally at three milligrams. Three years and $260 a month later, I lost my insurance.

I finally had to stop. I’ve been proudly sober now for a year and two months and have the chip to show it. Still, I’m 23 years old and nothing quite works right due to opiate abuse. My stomach, my back, and my stamina has all been worn down from the five year addiction. Be aware of any young or old person ingesting OxyContin into their body because it will just grab you by the ba**s and not let you go.”

Oxy Pressures*

“It wasn’t who was doing it, it was the who wasn’t doing it?”

Oxy Pressures*

“All the popular kids were doing it.” *all quotes are annoymous

Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 |

9

Opinion

Marijuana Legalization

The can-do’s of cannabis

Morals over money

Legalization: an innocuous benefit to taxpayers

Legalization an unhealthy, immoral solution to growing issue

by Caitlyn Curran, Business Team

by Kim Boswell, Photo Essay Editor

Cannabis can do more than you’d think, despite the effect on a user’s productivity.

Gumming up the judicial system with hundreds of thousands of Americans incarcerated for marijuana annually is counter productive. Legalization would mean fewer prisoners and thus a higher state revenue. Weed was accepted and legal in America until 1937, when sensational slander, mostly that of William Randolph Hearst and Harry J. Anslinger, caused its illegality. Just four years later, Anslinger recounted his claims that marijuana drives users insane and leads them to criminality, yet marijuana is still illegal.

With $67.55 per prisoner per day, states spent approximately $2,660,498,428.35 in 2007 to imprison marijuana offenders. Legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana would mean this tax payer money transferred into a more reasonable budget area. Money is needed greatly in other areas of the state, such as education, as OxyContin seen in our very own PRHS budget cuts.

Next Page ... Decriminalization would mean more time spent on serious drug and overall crime offenses. The judicial system is busy enough and it would do better to focus on more severe crimes.

Even with the impressive number of marijuana arrests tallied, the availability hasn’t changed much since the ‘70s. One hundred percent of 100 PRHS students surveyed were reported to be able to obtain marijuana within a day.

These PRHS students would be obtaining the marijuana illegally through street dealers. Legalizing marijuana would make street dealers obsolete, as the profit they once made would benefit the state.

Medical marijuana in California makes marijuana legal for a portion of Californians who use the herb to alleviate chronic pain from cancer or other illnesses. Rather than the “reefer madness” viewpoint that weed makes you psychotic, users report pain loss and relaxation. In fact, the study that claimed to find brain cell damage in marijuana users was so poorly conducted and biased, the study was recanted.

“People die so often from alcohol abuse and drunk driving, and yet it is legal. I’ve never known any one to die from smoking too much pot. I’ve known people that go to this high school that have had to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning,” junior Tyler Isaacs said.

During colonial times, marijuana was not only legal, it was often mandatory to grow. America’s first marijuana law, which ordered all farmers t o

Pro

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10 Crimson 11.10.10

grow the plant, was enacted in the JameAstro turf, dissatisfied with the high and searches for stown Colony of Virginia. reefer, Mary stronger narcotics like heroin, cocaine, and The smear campaign on weed that has Jane, dope. It even meth. When trying to wean off of weed, left many scandalized by the idea of the goes by many the body goes into withdrawal and experiplant was set up in the 1930s and funded, names but is ences sleeplessness, irritability, decreased at first, by William Randolph Hearst. Havmore commonly known as weed, for- appetite, and cravings. These symptoms can ing been legal since the 1600s, hemp was mally known as marijuana. On Nov. begin within one day following abstinence driving out Hearst’s timber business with 2, California voters decided whether and can last one or two weeks. it’s cheap and environmentally friendly or not criminal penalties will be taken “Not surprisingly, marijuana can cause dispaper. Hearst, ever the capitalist, saw a away from people 21 or older for posses- torted perceptions, impaired coordination, threat and brought down his opponent sion of one ounce or less of weed. This difficulty in thinking and problem solving, with every driving force he could use. He herb, though not addictive for a first- and problems with learning and memory,” started the reefer madness movement time user, should not be endorsed and Moore said. with yellow journalism advertisements allowed to infect the lives and minds of Approximately 6,600,000 ounces were and, eventually, bills passed to illegalize young or old Californians alike. seized by the government in California alone marijuana.

The long-term physical and mental in 2009. Passing the bill would reward those Race was a factor in slandering marijuaeffects of the drug should be enough offenders with their weapon of choice. In na, too. A new faction of government was to keep self-conserving people at bay, fact, the new law, if passed, would only allow created - the Federal Beareau of Narcotand yet 41 percent of seniors admitted those 21 or over to possess marijuana but the ics - with Harry J. Anslinger as the to smoking “weed” in their lifetimes, majority of those abusing the drug are 18 director in 1930. He began the according to the 2007 Monitoring the Fu- and younger. In 2006, approximately 6,000 ‘Gore Files’, a sensational ture survey. people a day admitted to using marijuana for biased production “A number of studies have shown an asso- the first time (2.2 million a year), and 63.3 that printed racciation between chronic marijuana use and percent of those were under the age of 18, ist and ridiculous increased rates of anxiety, depres- according to the National Institute of Drug claims about marijuana. sion, suicidal ideation, Abuse.

Excerpts from the “Gore Files” and schizophrenia,” “I’d rather have our country be morally include: Zammit S. Moore said, strong than have economic strength,” said “[M]ost [marijuana smokers] are Negroes, author of “Cannabis Use Noah Erwin said.

Hispanics, Filipinos, or entertainers. Their and Risk of Psychotic or Though legalizing marijuana would bring Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from Affective Mental Health Out- tax revenue to the state, how can we build our marijuana use. This marijuana comes.” economy on a drug-induced foundation? It causes white women to It is a common myth that marijuana would crumble due to a society where drugseek sexual relations with is not addictive when in fact, long-term us- use is condoned and promoted, leading to Negroes, entertainers, and age can lead to compulsive drug seeking underage drug abuse and long-term depenany others.” and abuse, otherwise known as dence on the herb. Ultimately, we must de“Reefer makes darkies think a gateway drug. The user cide: morals or money? they’re as good as white men” eventually becomes How are we to believe that smoking marijuana causes “insanity, criminality, and death,” as stated in the “Gore Files”, when the same publication calls African Americans “darkies” and jazz music “satanic”?

It’s old world thinking and I urge our generation to begin to look On Nov. 2, California Prop 19, the legalization of marijuana, anew on the medicinal herb. I’m not lost 53 percent “No” to 47 percent “Yes.” Despite its loss, the saying try it out, but give it a chance narrow margin by which it failed to pass revealed how unwilling to help those thousands of Americans the majority of California citizens are to change. This historic that feel they need it and don’t need to be event, the first time the legalization of marijuana has ever been on thrown in jail. Although prop. 19 was not passed, the California voting ballot, shows the prominence of the drug’s we’re moving toward decriminilization. Possessing an influence on society. “When it comes to socially controversial, hotounce of weed is considered an infraction and offenders are button issues, the default position becomes ‘no’,” Jessica Levinson, only charged $100, rather than being incarcerated.

Con

The State Decides

political reform director for the Center for Governmental Studies, said according to csmonitor.com

All photos used with permission by an anonymous source.

Paso Robles High School

www.crimsonnews.org

Opinion

No Tongue, no problem Public displays of affection are a problem at PRHS

by Ethan Baietti, Managing Editor

Street Talk >> PDA

“I was walking over by the 800 building on my way to class and their was a young man sitting on one of the walls, and he had his head buried in his girlfriends chest. Basically he was motor boating her. I took the young lady aside and talked to her about respecting herself.” —Denise Conte, Speech Communications teacher “I was standing in the lunch line and these two people in front of us just started ‘macking’ and it was really awkward.” —Akasha Greff, 9

by

During nutrition or lunch I often see one couple making out. One of them is my student in one of my classes and the other day I said to him, “What’s going on?” And he said, “It’s fun. We just like to do it.”

—Linda Bernhardt, Spanish teacher

“Everyday I walk by a couple by the lockers who make out and moan and groan all the time.” ­—Kiley Minser, 10

Over 500 PRHS students piled into the Flamson Middle School gym for a night of lights, pop music, and lasers on Oct. 1. Their personal rave would end a half hour earlier than planned due to promiscuous dancing and lack of clothing.

“The dance was scheduled to go to 12:30 a.m., and it was shut down at 12 a.m. because administration witnessed a number of inappropriate dancing that they believed were getting out of hand,” leadership teacher Geof Land said, who chaperoned the dance. “It was not just brushing up against each other. It was rubbing and grinding, basically ordinarily seen as sexual behavior.”

Dances aren’t the only scenes of scandalous behavior.

Scenes of groping and snogging are all around campus. A kiss goodbye has turned in to tongue wrestling for 15 minutes during nutrition. These scenes are distracting and nauseating.

Seventy-three percent of the 100 students surveyed believe that making out and/or fondling is inappropriate at school.

Even though this is by far the majority, over a quarter of kids surveyed condone this scandalous behavior.

“It is just a way to show affection,” was the majority response by students who stated that making out/fondling was okay at school in the survey. Other responses included “Get it on!” and “It’s the season of love.”

Really? Is this the only way this generation knows how to show affection? To force your tongue down each other’s throats? Come on. Remove your tongues for a couple minutes to have an intelligent conversation, or maybe talk to your other friends.

“I think that it is extremely awkward sitting next to a group of friends where four of them are macking it, especially when there are five us of there, and I’m the only one not sitting on a guy’s lap or standing in between his legs. It is also really awesome when they’re holding hands facing each other’ and I’m outside their little love circle. Makes a great lunch,” senior Tori Sepulveda said.

Showing affection isn’t bad. A little kiss before class: cute.

Holding hands: adorable. Seeing a guy having his hands on his girlfriend’s chest-hopefully his girlfriend—while on your way to third period: foul.

Not only is this grossly inappropriate, it is can seen as sexual harassment.

“The conduct [intense PDA] has the purpose or effect of having a negative impact upon the individual’s work or academic performance, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or educational environment,” according to California Education Code Section 212.5, article C. In laymen terms, if everyone has to see you and your significant other fondling each other, it is creating and uncomfortable “educational environment” for us all.

Rutgers ... suicide egaP txeN

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“I think that it is extremely awkward sitting next to a group of friends where four of them are macking it...” -Tori Sepulveda

“I think private things should be kept private,” senior advisor and PRHS teacher Denise Conte said. “Groping, making out, no go. Anywhere, by the way, I don’t like going to the park and seeing it. I don’t like seeing it in adults. I don’t like seeing it in teenagers.”

PDA is not bad, molesting each other is. Be respectful to the people around you and mostly to yourselves. People in the real world aren’t going to think so highly of the guy who has his hands down a girl’s pants in public and will think even less of the girl. It’s time to grow up and start controlling ourselves.

Also, stop the gazing into each other’s eyes for five minutes straight. Although it is a better alternative to making out, you look ridiculous.

Photos by Ethan Baietti and Lindsay Reed

www.crimsonnews.org

Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 |

11

Button

Opinion

‘That’s so gay’

Taking today’s hot and controversial issues, “Hot Button” rates the current flammability of odd discoveries, political incorrectness, and just plain slip-ups.

The death of one brings light on the bullying of others

WHITE HOT

Rand Paul supporters stomp on head of woman representing opposing liberal organization MoveOn, woman intended to sarcastically congratulate Paul for merging corporate America with the Republican Party.

—Fox News Family Research Council president Tony Perkins recognized National Coming Out Day by

str ati on b Gr ap hic

Illu

by Olivia Musial, In-Depth Editor

yR

eil ly

Ne w

ma n

blaming recent youth suicides on gay community.

—Washington Post

On Sept. 22 Tyler Clementi,18, of Rutgers University jumped off the George Washington Bridge, taking his last breaths in the deep cold waters of the Hudson River. This tragedy can be accounted to the recent postings of a secretly filmed video of Clementi, a Rutgers freshman, kissing a male friend. Clementi’s roommate Dharun Ravi, 18, also a freshman, hid a webcam in their room and secretly filmed Clementi and then proceeded to air the video on a live feed through his Twitter i-Chat. A day after discovering the videos of himself, Clementi jumped off the bridge.

More than just cyberbullying, Clementi’s death puts a spotlight on judgments, homophobia, and the abuses of the internet and privacy.

Clementi’s death brings light on the recent rise in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender bullying and suicide deaths. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than there heterosexual peers, according to a Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey. These results are simply unacceptable in a society where equality and kindness have been taught since kindergarten. We have been taught these moral values and ethics for so long, and yet it seems they don’t apply to people of a different sexuality? In the 1960s AfricanAmericans were beaten, pushed down, and silenced for years for being of a different race. More than 50 years later, discrimination still happens in current “free” America.

“Prejudice is prejudice. We need to embrace our diversity, not enforce conformity through bullying. If every flower in nature was the same color and shape, flowers would not be as beautiful in a mixed bouquet,” art teacher Joshua Gwiazda said, who is the advisor for the Gay Straight Alliance, club that unites gays and straight students that believe who love and tolerance is better than PDA

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hate and prejudice.

As the breach of privacy goes, Ravi and another Rutgers freshman Molly Wei, 18, reportedly watched Clementi from Wei’s room and uploaded the encounter to a live video feed. Both Ravi and Wei are being charged with two counts of invasion of privacy, which has a maximum sentence of five years. There are discussions of the charge also being raised to a hate crime which can carry a sentence of 10 years in prison.

“Anything beyond holding hands/linking arms while walking should generally be reserved for private settings,” said Clementi himself on the chat site, JustUsBoys.com after seeing the video.

The words to describe homosexuals are used so generally and so rashly that their meanings seemed to be thrown around without any real context. Have you ever said, “That’s so gay?” These words offend people. No matter what your personal or religious beliefs are, suicide is a serious issue, and no life should be taken away because of the harmful words of others. People may say “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me,” but simply stated, words hurt, words break people, your words matter.

This incident also calls to the surface the judgments we face throughout the day. Just by first glance people judge based on appearance, social acceptance, and popularity. We all judge and yet so few of us take the time to get to know the person behind the face.

We go throughout the day judging when really we should be accepting each other for who we all are. We are all people with dreams, hopes, goals, wishes, and loves. No matter what that love is for or who that love is for, we each should have the right to live our dreams, goals, hopes, and lives.

Australia’s airports scan passengers for porn in attempt to appease Christian fundamentalists.

—Daily Mail

Navajo tribe calls to “wean ourselves off coal,” advocate solar power, wind power and “sustainable development.”

—NY Times

SLO County Sheriff’s Department warns public of pedobear image, decision chastised internationally by bloggers and newspapers alike.

—KSBY

Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is Too Damn High Party unexpectedly steals New York Governor Debate.

—NY Times

BLACK COLD Photos used with permission of AP Images.

Crimson 11.10.10

Paso Robles High School

—Austin Ehrhardt, Business Team www.crimsonnews.org

Pizza and Pandemonium Blind daters found themselves in a world of terror

by Sheridan Cook, Fun and Games Editor Blood, gore, and spine-tingling screams: not exactly what most people want on a first date, but for this month’s blind daters that is exactly what they got. They weren’t attacked by Jack the Ripper or Michael Meyers, but on Saturday, Oct. 23, seniors Maggie Hernandez and Travis Martinus found themselves lost in The Ravine’s Halloween Scare Park—a pitch black maze where they confronted by terrifying creatures.

But before they could get down to the bone-chilling business of facing masked monsters, the daters sat down for a bite to eat at Red Brick Pizza in Paso Robles.

On the drive from PRHS to the restaurant, Hernandez broke the ice by warning Martinus of what was in store for him when it came time to go to The Ravine later that evening.

“I really hope you aren’t afraid to have your arm held super tight because I get scared really easily,” a nervous Hernandez said, to which an even more nervous Martinus replied with laughter.

After the daters sat down at their secluded table in the back of the restaurant, Martinus Reporter stood back up and took off his sweatshirt, sigBy Shanna Dowling, naling his getting comfortable with the date’s atmosphere.

As Martinus re seated himself, Hernandez again broke the silence, bringing up one topic they both know relatively well: football.

“So how’d you guys play this past week,” Hernandez asked, a three year athletic trainer, trying to get the conversation rolling. Martinus was happy to oblige.

The daters talked for over an hour before ordering their pizza, discussing everything from Powder Puff to living on a farm.

When their gluten-free pizza arrived, the daters took a break from talking about the joys of farm life to note the taste of the specialty dish.

“I wasn’t sure if it would be good, but it really was,” Martinus said after they had consumed two nine inchers. His date agreed.

“I haven’t had pizza in over three years,” Hernandez said, whose gluten-intolerance had kept her away from the popular dish. “I was so excited, and it was delicious.”

Forty five minutes later, nearly two hours after they had arrived at Red Brick, the couple was filled up on laughs and pizza and was ready www.crimsonnews.org

to depart for the second part of their late night date.

As the clock ticked to 9:05 p.m., the moon was obscured by a low incoming fog layer, and the daters walked toward the entrance to the scare park. Hernandez politely listened to Martinus, who was bragging about how he didn’t think the park would be scary.

“It’s not that bad,” he said, remembering his experience from last year. “I won’t be scared at all.”

However, like in every classic horror movie, Martinus’ preconception was proved terrifyingly wrong as the duo entered the second haunted passage. Even before shadows consumed them, Hernandez latched onto Martinus, who chivalrously took the lead as the pair traversed the dark hallways. But when the first creature jumped out from its hiding place, Hernandez’s terrified screams couldn’t mask the shocked fear in Martinus’ voice.

“Oh, SH**!” Martinus exclaimed.

But that was only the beginning. After passing a sobbing maid and gloomy butler, the daters thought they were in the clear as they entered a room staged to look like an alien test center. Thinking the alien beings were statues, Martinus made a rather bold step to try and get around them. As he did so, he realized his grave mistake. One by

Rate the date: 1-10 Martinus: 9 Hernandez: 9 What was your favorite part of the date?

Hernandez: “I loved having pizza for the first time in like, forever! That was really cool, and the scare park was good. Scary, but good.”

Martinus: “I wasn’t sure how the pizza was going to be, but it was pretty good. And the scare park was awesome. I can’t believe I actually got scared!”

Would you go out again?

Hernandez: “I had a great time, but I think I’d only go out with him as a friend.”

Martinus: “Maybe, but more as like to hang out as friends—especially if there’s pizza, that was good. I was surprised how much we had in common.”

Paso Robles High School

Photo by Sheridan Cook

Feature

Life of

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one the three masked creatures came to life and quietly immicrept up behind the couple. Simultaneously, the two teens grant turned back to take one last look, only to find giant bug eyes peering silently at them in the dark half light of the room.

As long alien fingers reached towards them, Hernandez screamed and Martinus, dropping a layer of his “tough guy” act, jumped and bolted for the door, leaving his date behind to fend for herself.

“This place is scary,” Hernandez whispered, who kept true to her claim that she would hang onto Martinus the entire time. As the daters passed through each of the Scare Park’s mazes, the teens shared screams and continuous conversation as demons and monsters alike frightened them.

When the daters entered the Zombie passageway, Martinus reassumed the lead, escorting Hernandez through a maze of bars as a blood red light cast an eerie glow over the smoke filled chamber. Suddenly, the couple was surrounded gory zombies, reaching through the bars trying to get at the teens who were jumping and screaming as adrenaline rushed through their veins. This time, however, Martinus made sure not to leave his date behind as he rushed towards the exit.

“Come on,” he said, as he pulled her toward the end; Hernandez wasn’t complaining.

After escaping from the final maze, Hernandez breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she was free of scary creatures—until she turned around. As they walked shakily toward the exit, she found herself followed by a silent dark-haired girl. Hernandez jumped, screamed, and tried to escape by running away, but to no avail. For five minutes the girl followed Hernandez—as Martinus watched on, laughing.

“That was great,” Martinus said as they left the park and headed back to the high school.

“It was scary,” Hernandez countered, who was still recovering from the multiple scares that night. “It was really fun though.”

As the rain began to fall, no romantic kiss was exchanged between the daters, just a “see ya later,” and a wave goodbye before going their separate ways.

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Crimson 11.10.10

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Feature

Blind DatePage ...

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Crossing the Border

Photo illustration by Kim Boswell & Serina Lewis

A journey in the eyes of an illegal immigrant

by Lindsay Reed, Reporter, and Kim Boswell, Reporter

The following story serves as an account of a student’s experience while crossing into California. All names have been changed.

During the first seven years of his childhood, Emilio lived with his mother and sisters in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He went to school from 9 a.m. to12 p.m. during the day and upon coming home from school played with his neighborhood friends until it was time for dinner and bed. Due to his normal boyish antics, Emilio seemed like any other typical youngster. Unfortunately, that was far from the truth.

Being the only “man of the house,” his mother depended on him to provide for the family; aside from occasional support checks from Emilio’s father, his tiny hands held the only spoons that kept his mother and sisters’ bellies full. At 6 years old, earning $10 a day, he packaged food two to three hours daily at a local market, La Soriana. At age 7, his mother kicked him out of the house.

He recalled a moment when, at 6 years old, a car hit him with a force that knocked him flat on his back; fortunately there were no serious injuries. When his mother found out, her reaction was minimal: “My mother didn’t want me. I was free to do whatever I wanted.

I would leave her alone, and she would leave me alone,” said Emilio, “she just didn’t care.”

At nine, Emilio left his hometown, friends, and family in Nuevo Laredo and traveled to Tijuana to live with his father, Abrám. His father would travel to America and work as a landscaper in San Diego from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. During this time, Emilio attended Crimson 11.10.10

school, came home, played with his friends and later, when it became darker, went to bed; there was no need for him to work. Their regular routine continued for a year and a half until Dec.12, 2005.

As 5pm came and went, his father was nowhere to be found.

That night, Emilio’s neighbors received a phone call explaining that Abrám had been laying tar down on a roof when suddenly the hot tar burned through his boot to his foot, causing him to develop Gangrene (a hideous infection that rots away the flesh). He was rushed to the hospital where he received an emergency amputation of one of his toes. After making a call that same day to his neighbors in Tijuana, Abrám made it clear that he was not going to return and that his son had to come to America on his own. That night, Emilio slept alone.

Two weeks later, on Dec. 25, 2005 at around 8 a.m., Emilio set out to find a way over the border that would lead him to his dad.

He walked to the beach where the U.S.-Mexico border fence divides the sandy shore into Sand Diego, CA and Tijuana, MX. He approached a group of men who looked like they were preparing to cross. After quick introductions, Emilio and the rest of the men waded into the Pacific Ocean.

“The rest of the group had to swim all the way around [the fence]; I swam through the bars because I was small enough,” Emilio said.

From Emilio’s 4’9 point of view, the border fence was about a half-mile of rusty metal bars jutting out to sea, with 12-foot high Paso Robles High School

poles 28 inches in diameter. Between each pole there was a space just big enough for a 70-pound boy to fit through once he waded into the chest-level water.

“There were cameras all around. We didn’t get caught, so we just kept going,” said Emilio.

Exhausted, the group finally arrived at the San Diego beach. After sharing what little food and water they had, everyone went in separate directions, leaving Emilio alone, once again.

“When my dad had called [in Mexico], he left a phone number of an aunt who lives in San Diego,” he said.

At 5 p.m., after he had called his aunt from a payphone, he crawled into her car and they drove to her house so Emilio could eat, rest and get cleaned up before he went to the hospital.

It wasn’t until nine in the evening on Christmas day that father and son were finally reunited in the privacy of a hospital room.

“There were some strong emotions,” said Emilio, gently remembering that bittersweet Christmas night.

Three days later, after Abrám’s foot had fully healed, the duo made their way to Paso Robles where they lived with another aunt until they finally were able to find a place of their own where they both now live. Now that Abrám has retired, he is working toward obtaining Emilio’s legalization papers. In the meanwhile, Emilio does his best to obtain an education in hopes that one day, he will achieve his dreams of a better future. www.crimsonnews.org

Going the distance

Feature

From California to Indiana, Junior Leah Gibson leads FFA full force

by Megan Rodrigues, News Co-Editor

Forensics

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>> FFA NATIONAL CONVENTION: PRHS FFA President leads in meeting at the 83 National FFA Convention in Indiana.

As she took a step forward onto the stage, current junior Leah Gibson was on a roller coaster of emotions on April 19, 2009. With every step she took, she could only hear her heart beat getting louder and louder as she slowly walked forward. Inhaling deeply, Gibson opened her eyes and looked at the hundreds of faces staring straight back at her. Opening her mouth, Gibson then started to recite the National FFA Organization (FFA) creed to the audience; and with every word she spoke, the nervousness that engulfed her body seconds earlier was replaced with adrenaline. Hours later, Gibson was told she won second place in the state of California for the FFA Creed Reciting competition. She was only a freshbyman.

Shanna Dowling, Reporter Gibson has been involved with FFA since her freshman year when she took Ag Biology taught by former Ag teacher Gabe Ponce.

“His energy was awesome in class, and he spoke so highly about FFA and his experiences and one day he encouraged me to participate in the FFA Creed Recitation contest,” Gibson said.

The Creed Recitation Contest is where freshman students from FFA up and down the California coast recite the FFA Creed written by E.M. Tiffany. Other than winning second in California for that competition, Gibson has won outstanding chair in Parliamentary Procedure Contest, which is a debate team in the FFA society and the Opening and Closing competitions, which is where the officers recite the opening and closing ceremony of an official meeting.

The winning of these competitions led Gibson from being just a participant to becoming vice president of PRHS’s FFA program.

“I had learned more about myself and created so many awesome memories than I thought was even possible in one year; and I wanted to get involved with the service aspect of FFA,” Gibson said.

This year, Gibson is the South Coast Region Vice President representing the SLO section and President of PRHS’s FFA. To become the South Coast Region Vice President, Gibson sent an application in January and went through numerous interviews with former regional officers and judges. She was judged on her interaction with students to see how she reacted with face to face contact and how she would deal with potential issues that might arise as a vice president. Gibson also recited a prepared speech in front www.crimsonnews.org

Photos used with permission of Leah Gibson

of the past regional officers and South Coast Region delegates and was voted as South Coast Regional Vice President. “[Gibson] was elected because everyone gets along with her. She genuinely wants to make our FFA chapter better and wants to improve everybody’s high school experience,” FFA Vice President Hannah Testerman said.

In America, Gibson is one of 51 delegates from California and one of seven PRHS FFA students who flew 2,202 miles to the National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana from Oct. 23 through Oct. 26. Gibson arrived at the convention as a national delegate three days earlier to go prepare the convention for the 53,000 FFA students attending. To become a delegate, Gibson had sent an application answering questions along with hundreds of other hopeful applicants to the California State Association FFA. The state officers go through all the applications and choose the 51 delegates. “[As California delegates] we served as the voices of the members in FFA. We are the voice of the entire organization since FFA is a student run organization,” Gibson said.

At this convention, she was a part veterinary science development crew and attended meetings and seminars during her 144 hours in Indiana. This convention allowed Gibson to have a greater appreciation for California FFA. “Leah being a delegate at the 2010 National FFA Convention has opened her eyes to a whole new future for her chapter, and I’m sure this experience has made her a greater president for our chapter than she already was,” FFA Treasurer Branson Medeiros said.

With more than 750 students in PRHS FFA alone, and hundreds in the South Coast Region, Gibson is a part of a club that has led her to truly discover who she really is, according the Gibson.

“There have been times where I questioned my abilities, especially my freshman year, and FFA helped me get through that and gain confidence in myself. Being a part of something bigger than you is super humbling…And serving thousands of members and helping people grow is such an honor,” Gibson said.

Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 |

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Feature

Arguing transformed into art One senior’s passion leads to self-discovery

by Alicia Canales, Managing Editor Senior Arthur Patterson, decked out in slacks, a collared shirt, and a tie, gave a power point presentation to 10 students in the first Paso Robles National Forensics League (PR-NFL) on Oct. 13 in the computer lab after school. He educated students about how debate and speech are tools to fine tune skills from academic studies to social situations.

None of the students present would have guessed that a 2007 scheduling error at North High School in Oildale, Bakersfield would have led Patterson to lead them now.

Forensics—or formal, competitive debate—has become a passion that shapes his personality, expands his ability to contemplate religion and world issues, and defines his desired career.

“Imagine a 25 year old business person but eight years younger and that’s kind of like what Arthur would be,” senior Kyler Olson said, Chancellor of the Paso Robles Forensics Honor Society.

Patterson remembers, “I was an ignorant, self-righteous, extremely left-winged individual who made arguments without knowing the evidence behind it. I didn’t think, I didn’t critically analyze; I was straight-up a bad student.

The problem was I had no direction; and I feel whole heartedly if you don’t know what direction you should take, you don’t Leah know where you are. Forensics gave me Gibson that direction of where I should go; this and FFA lead to my foundation for who I am now.”

He eventually raised his 1.6 GPA to a 4.0 after enrolling in Forensics.

In his freshman year, Patterson accidentally signed up for the Forensics in Bakersfield. Debating at first disinterested him, yet as he learned, he started to enjoy its art.

“The battle of comprehension, psychology, and academic research against another person gives me butterflies. It’s the idea of defending or opposing a community or national problem being it’s on a philosophical level or an evidence based argument is the thrill I get high on! Arguing not in ignorance but in pure knowledge is the most fulfilling emotion I know someone can experience,” Patterson said, who has competed in tournaments across the region such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, San Diego, Brigham Young, Stanford, and Sacramento.

“I was ecstatic, I never win anything! Being a friendly game of Bingo or Scrabble or the high stakes gamble of the lottery, I just simply don’t win; looking back at my accomplishments gives me an immense amount of fulfillment; winning an award in front of your competitors, or getting your name posted somewhere at a school or university, and having the ability to say ‘you did this is,’ I don’t think a feeling like that will come around very often in my adult life. I think it’s time San Luis Obispo County students feel that experience as well!” Patterson said.

Patterson stated he has opened up to accepting the opinions and different backgrounds of other individuals when he used to shut out anyone that thought differently from himself. He’s participated in the political left and right during his high school career and found comfort and logic reasoning in the Libertarian ideology.

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Crimson 11.10.10

NFL: A distinguished organization The honor society Patterson is a part of has enrolled over 1.3 million members in the U.S. since its founding in 1925, according to NFLOnline.org. Top students at the national tournaments receive more than $200,000 in college scholarships.

Patterson has taken his fair share by placing in various events during his Forensics career: • CA Public Forum (2nd Place) • UC Berkeley Most Distinguished Presiding Officer • Dramatic Interpretation State Finalist • National Qualifier in Congressional Debate Even though he grew up as a “Crusading Lutheran,” Patterson practiced Hinduism and vegetarianism, under the guidance of Krishna for two years; then he followed in the path of Islam for about a year; He has now been exploring Scientology for the past couple of months.

“By living a different lifestyle, we are able to better appreciate and understand the culture and history of those people; this understanding makes us better debaters, and thus better people,” Patterson said.

Forensics also led Patterson to analyze the solidarity and defense of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a subject Patterson “will defend to the grave.”

“They’re the only country that will stand up and say, ‘We’ve had enough, we’re not going to sit back while the Imperialist Yankees try to take over our borders.’

American imperialism has gone on long enough; we are exterminating those who oppose our global interest and have no regard for the common man any longer. North Korea is the last true country that has been able to stand up to our CIA funded propaganda, the high interest loans from our International Monetary Fund, and our hypocritical democracy. DPR-Korea is not the best country in the world, but they are a perfect example of what solidarity means against the aggressors,” Patterson said.

Patterson joined the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and became the United States Delegation Officer about five months ago due to his participation in DPRKorea events. He will be traveling to North Korea in 2012 with the KFA International Delegation, representing the United States and experiencing the “People’s Celebration” of the 100th anniversary of the birth of DPR-Korea’s former President Kim Il Sung.

“He’s really excited about [going to North Korea].

Before I had this view of North Korea and after I talked to him about it, he opened up more view points about it to me. It’s definitely impressive,” senior and debate member Ana Torres said, who is partnered with Nick Olsen for the Public Forum Debate.

Until then, Patterson will take a class with the NFL to get his coaching credential. Patterson plans on attending Cuesta College and Cal Poly to study Psychology, History, and Forensics Art while helping out with the PR-NFL. He hopes to become a teacher and an official debate coach and eventually create a Forensics League in SLO County.

HE CAN FLY TOO: Senior Arthur Patterson is a licensed pilot as well as the founder of the Paso Robles National Forensics League. As a club on campus, it is on hold as he tries to find an advisor to supervise meetings. Photo used with permission by Arthur Patterson

PRHS Forensics Club: On a mission Currently, the PR-NFL as a club on campus has been put on a temporary hold while they find an advisor to help supervise the Honor Society’s after school meetings.

The group plans to meet after school and at a minimum of two hours to three times a week.

Patterson founded the first Forensics Society to help PRHS students because debate teaches students how to critically think and absorb information quickly. After presenting to AP English teachers, the organization went from two to approximately 20 participants.

Junior Connor Kingman, who is partnered with junior Levi Le, joined the team.

Paso Robles High School

Photo used with permission by Arthur Patterson

“I love engaging in logical arguments. It’s more appealing than little kiddy fights that have no reason involved in it. It’s one of my interests,” said Kingman.

Patterson stated he hopes students gain confidence to speak in front of a large audience through this class. “Fear of public speaking is something we need to conquer one student at a time,” he said.

During this academic year, PR-NFL members focus on Public Forum Debate. The first of six competitions will be available Dec. 3-5 at their first tournament, La Costa Canyon HS Speech and Debate Winter Classics Tournament. www.crimsonnews.org

Cookin’ with Cook

Food

Berry pumpkin cheesecake

by Sheridan Cook, Fun & Games Editor

As a person who managed to catch a croissant on fire in a microwave, I haven’t exactly been living up to my “Cook” heritage. I don’t profess to be a food connoisseur of any sort, but this column is my attempt to reconnect with my more kitchen and food savvy ancestors.

Every year on Thanksgiving, the same foods are cooked and placed on the table, with the most notable variety being perhaps the type of bread rolls. It is because of this monotony that I have brought to you amateur bakers out there a cheesecake recipe that will bring new flavor to your holiday meals.

The dish is a variation of your standard Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, but we here at Crimson prefer to call it by its full name: the double layer pumpkin berry cheesecake. A sensory overload in every bite, this purple-pink dessert bursts with the tastes of pumpkin, berries, the actual cheesecake layer, as well as graham crackers, and is the perfect finish to any Thanksgiving dinner.

Cheesecakes are notorious for being a pain to make and having only one distinct taste, but I found that with this recipe, that was not the case.

Rather than stick with the basics, fellow Crimson member Emily Cone and I went for an abstract, unconventional twist on the same old, same old. As we patted down our graham cracker crust, we considered different foods that would compliment the pumpkin’s distinctive taste. Fun fact: the pumpkin is actually a fruit! Upon learning this, we decided that the best thing to add would be more fruit.

After laying down our cream cheese layer, Cone and I mixed our pumpkin puree, spices, and 1 cup of frozen mixed berries. The berries were a gamble, but as their purple juices swirled around and mixed with the creamy orange of the pumpkin batter, we could tell it would be a success. Responses from fellow PRHS students verified that much.

“This is so amazing! And I don’t even like cheesecake,” senior Audra McCue said. McCue found both cheesecakes, with and without the fruit, extremely satisfying.

Photo by Emily Cone

Vegans welcome A different look on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner

by Erin Joseph, Business Team The smells of various aromas are intoxicating on the morning of Thanksgiving – turkey in the oven, mashed potatoes on the stove, casseroles galore, and various other traditional items ready to be devoured. An unusual twist had a surprisingly great reaction on me this year: an all vegan Thanksgiving dinner.

I walked into senior and fellow Crimson member Ethan Baietti’s house Saturday afternoon to find myself surrounded by friends and foods. The smells were a little hard to decipher than normal. I have never smelled nor tasted a tofu turkey but was open to the new food. I received my plate filled with tofu turkey stuffed with wild rice; white rice with apples, raisins, and curry powder; sweet potatoes; and a dessert of pumpkin bread made vegan by replacing flour with two tablespoons of flax seed and six tablespoons of water. I didn’t www.crimsonnews.org

Education quite know how to react to the evaluation . . . egaP txeN unknown foods subsidizing as my “Thanksgiving dinner.”

I sat there contemplating if I was actually going to go through with it. The thought quickly vanished, as I tasted the first bite of tofu turkey.

It was a little tough to cut but my taste buds were overwhelmed with the unctuous tastes of parsley, a bit salty rice, and the substitute turkey, however delicious. I was now ready to fully indulge in the entire meal.

I went to the rice next; it has so EAT YOUR HEART OUT: These unctuous treats are berry delicious. Photo by Emily Cone many different flavors from sweet and spicy to mellow and refreshing. package of cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is With two dishes down, I felt confident in Ingredients: smooth. Then blend in the eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter the other dishes. I was pleasantly enjoying and spread over the bottom of crust; and set it as aside as you prepare Graham cracker crust: the second layer. this unconventional vegan Thanksgiving.

1¾ graham cracker crumbs 4.Add the pumpkin mix, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remain¼ cup butter, melted The sweet potatoes were, to say the least, as ing batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread it over the ¼ cup sugar batter in the crust. sweet as can be. Biting into the fry shaped Cheesecake: Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes (in a deep dish, 35 to 40 if potatoes, I immediately fell in love with 1 deep dish spring form pan (if its not deep dish, you will have left overs!) you are using a shallow 9 inch pan), or until the center is almost set. Al2½ (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened low the cheesecake to cool, then refrigerate it for 3 hours and serve. them. But the best dish by far of the whole ½ cup white sugar Don’t worry if it looks extremely inflated while in the oven, this is because it had been whipped so meal was the dessert. Vegan pumpkin ½ teaspoon vanilla extract extremely that the airiness of the batter caused it to rise.

2 eggs bread hit it out of the park for me. It was ½ cup pumpkin puree moist and seemed to just melt in my mouth.

Makes: 8 servings (Although pie can actually be ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 pinch ground cloves I definitely came back for seconds on that. divided into as many pieces as you want!)

1 pinch ground nutmeg By the end of the meal, my stomach and ½ cup frozen whipped topping, thawed Prep Time: 30 min To make it easier: I were feeling very satisfied. I was feeling Cook time: 40 min Try ¾ cup of pumpkin pie filling in place of the pumpkin puree and the pretty relaxed and ready to nod off due to spices.

Ready in: approx 4hrs the high level of L-tryptophan from the Also, you can opt to buy a graham cracker crust rather than make your own—just make sure the Cook’s Rating: Five out of five stars! crust you buy isn’t cracked or it won’t hold the cheesecake very well. soybean. I recommend being open minded Directions: to different diets of foods; it can even lead to 1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. a new discovery of a favorite food!

2.Make the graham cracker crust by mixing the sugar and graham cracker

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crumbs together and then adding the melted butter. Then press the solution firmly into your pan, making sure to keep a pretty even spread.

3.Then in a large bowl, combine 1 package, and an extra fourth of a

Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 |

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On Sep. 3, the presented the world with their editorial “Good teachers, good students” about the evaluations of teachers through their California Standardized Test Scores. The process of “grading” teachers has come to be known as “value-added,” or whether the teacher adds value to their students’ learning experience. While the L.A. Times focused on statistics, assessing L.A. County teachers, Crimson chose to conduct an experiment focusing on three PRHS teachers in the English, math, and science departments, zooming in on multiple facets that contribute to a teacher’s success.

2 Ted Wagner

Prelab

1Crimson experiments

by Alicia Canales, Managing Editor

Like the L.A. Times, Crimson stuck with the three main departments—English, math, and science. From there, it was decided to only have one teacher from each department.

Freshman English teacher Mike Woods, Pre-calculus and AVID teacher Ted Wagner, and AP and non AP Chemistry and Physics teacher Mark Fairbank agreed to be the test subjects for this experiment.

Test scores are not the only way to measure the value of a teacher. We decided more variables were involved. Test scores are still included as that shows how a teacher measures compared to other fellow teachers in the state.

Yet, Crimson conducted a survey for students to fill out.

Students are the ones facing the teachers for 180 days in the year, if they have perfect attendance. The ideal teacher should be approachable and make the students feel comfortable in the classroom.

Along with student opinions, we also talked to other teacher in their departments. Co-workers see each other as much, if not more, than students do and can assess their peer’s teaching ability as well. In fact, fellow teachers can

evaluate each other better because they are in the same department and know proper teaching technique for those subjects.

Another aspect we focused on were lurking variables in the teacher’s personal life that could have some impact on their teaching ability.

Finally the three subjects were given a self assessment. It wouldn’t be fair to evaluate them without hearing their own judgment on their teaching abilities.

The process proved to be more complex than expected.

Throughout this project, we faced some refusal from educators about the release of CST scores or an objection of talking to students. Crimson determined it is possible the reason the L.A. Times did not ask for teacher permission of their value-added project was because of teacher’s fears of not adding up. At the end of this educator experimentation, we decided it is difficult to organize a curriculum to judge all teachers by since every teacher is different.

Hypothesis Crimson believes that there is not one single factor that proves a teacher adds value. It is a multifaceted topic that has been avoided for a while because there is no way to fully calculate a “value-added” score for a teacher.

Data Collection

by Serina Lewis, Feature Editor

math

Ted Wagner attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo where he majored in mathematics.

He started at PRHS in 1997 and spread his knowledge all the way down to Peru where he worked with Wyclef Bible Studies teaching math and science to junior high and high school kids. He then came back to teach at Flamson Middle School and then back to where he started at PRHS where he’s been teaching since 2004—all in his 13 year teaching career.

Wagner hopes to teach life lessons alongside guiding his students to grasp the concepts of Pre-Calculus and Algebra 2. He also teaches an AVID class, which is a program to help first generation college students get into college and be successful in studies.

What do you think your biggest weakness is as a teacher?

My willingness to work with students until they understand the material.

I am not satisfied when students don’t comprehend a subject, especially if they really want to understand.

Managing class time effectively. I have a tendency to spend too much time going over material to achieve understanding, rather than moving on to new material to assure that I cover all the standards adequately.

09-10

Cal Wood

by Ethan Baietti, Managing Editor

english

The comedic Cal Wood, hailing from Cal-State Northridge, has been teaching English for 27 years. He is known by his department for his humorous personality that keeps them lively at the dry times. He uses his humor to keep his students interested in his class and tries to tie the themes and lessons from his curriculum to their lives.

“

the dept.

self evaluation What do you think your biggest strength is as a teacher?

Do you think your students’ test scores reflect your capabilities as a teacher?

Somewhat, but certainly not perfectly.

The CST exams happen only one time, and it’s highly likely that some students will have significant issues that interfere with their performance on that particular day.

My students’ scores also depend heavily on their prerequisite knowledge. If they come into my course without adequate understanding of some basic mathematical ideas, then even with my best efforts, they will not perform well.

The CST can be a useful measure for diagnosing general strengths and weaknesses in my teaching, and I certainly use it for that purpose.

Pre-Calculus/Trig (37 students)

He’s a very organized teacher, nothing gets by him. When you have a department chair like him you know everything’s going to get done.

He just does a lot at our school and I don’t know if people realize how much he does. He had a very tough year with his premature baby and I can’t imagine going through that. I watched how he handled that and he handled his job. You never noticed anything at work other than every now and then he would be extra tired.

He never complained at all. avid & algebra 1 & 2 teacher Jim Steaffens

external factors Along with being a soccer coach, Wagner is a father of two daughters, Sadie, 4, and Eva, 8 months. He enjoys hiking, camping, and music which has been a part of his life since ge was a little kid. He played the violin since he was 5 and the guitar since he was 18.

“I think certainly that if you have issues with my baby being born four months early who had to be in the hospital, it definitely affected my teaching. It affected my time to create lessons the way I wanted to or grade.”

Mark Fairbank

science

Science teacher Mark Fairbank is a finalist of the 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Fairbank has been an educator for 30 years, 27 of which have been spent in Paso Robles. Besides his current chemistry and physics courses, his range of interests have led him to teach “biology (14 years), earth science (seven years), and one year of trigonometry, algebra 1 and 2, and typing.”

Being dyslexic and failing the third grade, school was hard for Fairbank.

His mother would read textbooks to him and type his papers. But throughout college, he found supportive people who assisted him with his studies and he began to see education in a new light.

“If I could make it through, I should be able to help others,” Fairbank said.

“The student is the same way, if they have those kinds of lurking variables then it’s going to be difficult to focus.”

Advanced: 11 students Proficient: 15 students Basic: 6 students Below Basic: 5 students Far Below Basic: 0 students

self evaluation

“

the dept.

What do you think your biggest strength is as a teacher?

What do you think your biggest weakness is as a teacher?

Do you think your students’ test scores reflect your capabilities as a teacher?

Teaching is organized communication, and I’d like to think I communicate well with my students within an organized set of goals. I also believe I am a teacher who constantly analyzes his efficiency. Finally, I perceive myself as a creative mind applying myself into my class/ course work.

One of my key weaknesses as a teacher is that my personality and sense of humor is such that students may find it difficult to differentiate between me as a teacher and as an authority figure. The rapport between a student and a teacher is pivotal to a successful educational experience.

I am not convinced test scores reflect my capabilities as a teacher. Aren’t they intended to reflect the capabilities of the student?

He is frequently the faculty member that makes us all laugh. If we are in a meeting and things are really serious, it’s a really serious topic, he’ll have something that will make us all smile, some sort of comment that will make the moment light, and just make us all laugh….when I really think of Mr. Wood he always brings a smile to my face. english teacher Carrie Baldovin

external factors In 2009/2010 school year PRHS was declared under program improvement due to low standardized test scores. Wood feels these restrictive rules have taken away curriculm that its is focused primarily on the students.

“At this point, through this transition, it’s not my curriculum. I feel as if I am teaching someone else’s curriculum. I feel as if I am teaching some sort of predetermined curriculum that governs me.”

“I can no longer adjust curriculum to meet the variable personalities and level of abilities in my students. It’s hard to adjust a predetermined curriculum.”

“ “

the dept.

self evaluation What do you think your biggest strength is as a teacher?

My efforts to know the students and how they learn. I find that the more I know about how they learn and who they are the better I am able to teach them and the better they can learn. Each morning I spend half an hour studying my students—their grades, what assignments are missing, who’s having a birthday, who has been in the newspaper, their personalities.

In order to teach, you have to know your students.

What do you think your biggest weakness is as a teacher?

I feel rushed and I do not find that there is enough time to get to all of the students in class since the regular physics classes are so large. I would love to slow down the pace so that the students are better able to master the content.

Do you think your students’ test scores reflect your capabilities as a teacher?

I believe that the test scores are one means through which students’ learning is shown, but is not the only. I know some students struggle with standardized tests since I had a difficult time with the tests as well because of my struggle with reading and comprehension. I know that my test scores did not show what I had learned.

Mr. Fairbank is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. His teaching methods are tr ied and true as well as new and innovative.

I learn something new about teaching every time I walk through his class. chemistry & biology teacher Dave Boicourt

His teaching methods are very effective because he has high student engagement. People who can’t focus struggle and he does a good job of increasing student engagement. chemistry teacher & fairbank’s former student teacher Anthony Overton

external factors

Fairbank takes pride in creating a healthy symmetry between his priorities, devoting the maximum amount of time he can to each of the things he deems essential.

“I’m very active. I don’t know if it takes away from my teaching or adds to it—I think it adds.”

“I like to stay physically fit, I play basketball at lunch with the teachers about once a week.”

“Number one for me is my spiritual relationship with God, number two is family, and three is work. I think keeping priorities is what makes a life.”

Photos by Monica Patel

Read “Fairbank’s take on standardized testing” at www.crimsonnews.org.

18 |

Crimson 11.10.10

3 Paso Robles High School

student survey Does Wagner do a great job of explaining the material you are learning?

algebra 1 yes: 20 no: 4

pre-calculus yes: 63 no: 6

avid yes: 36 no: 2 Does Wagner give enough individual attention when they need/want it?

algebra 1 yes: 17 no: 5

pre-calculus yes: 57 no: 3

avid yes: 12 no: 2 Does Wagner add value to your learning experience?

algebra 1 yes: 17 no: 3

pre-calculus yes: 54 no: 4

avid yes: 19 no: 1

curriculum “I use humor. I try to let them see the passion I have for literature and the impact it has on my life. I try just to make it pertinent to their lives, pertinent to whom they become, who they hope to be.”

“When former students from a long time ago come back to me and they say ‘Mr. Wood, I remember doing this in your class and it was really helpful,’ and it really helped them. They are forty year old people, and they come talk to me about stuff they have done that I helped with in some small way.”

student survey Does Wood do a great job of explaining the material you are learning? english language learners yes: 13 no: 0 english 3 yes: 60 no: 7 Does Wood give enough individual attention when they need/want it? english language learners yes: 13 no: 1 english 3 yes: 59 no: 12 Does Wood add value to your learning experience? english language learners yes: 11 no: 2 english 3 yes: 50 no: 16

Wood wishes not to dislcose his CST scores with Crimson.

by Shanna Dowling, World Co-Editor

Graphics by Reilly Newman

curriculum “In the current schedule, I don’t know if my past teaching styles have come out in my classes. I just feel like I’m a little restricted and am on some kind of regiment. The style I like to have is very interactive, gets kids involved with the learning and one where I get to show my personality a little more. Now it seems like I’m just getting through the basics. That’s what I like to do, I don’t know if I’m doing it. I really like to have class competitions with math just to get them more involved and excited.”

Conclusion

09-10 AP Physics (16 students) 09-10 AP Chemistry (14 students) 09-10 Chemistry (45 students)

curriculum

Along with his regular courses, Fairbank teaches two AP classes. While some educators teach solely based upon the established state standards pertaining to their respective subjects, Fairbank feels that they are merely “there as guides,” and it is his job to “move beyond them.” >> Preparing students for state testing and AP exams >> Preparing students to receive a college education >> Understanding how things work “After the AP test we do labs, the students select an activity they want to explore. State standards are written poorly with just what facts the students need to know.

That’s not how kids learn—that’s not how anyone learns. You learn through exploring and discovering,” Fairbank said. “The state doesn’t say we have to teach it, but I do anyway.”

student survey Does Fairbank do a great job of explaining the material you are learning? ap chemistry yes: 15 no: 0 ap physics yes: 17 no: 0 physics yes: 36 no: 0 Does Fairbank give enough individual attention when they need/want it? ap chemistry yes: 14 no: 0 ap physics yes: 16 no: 0 physics yes: 33 no: 3 Does Fairbank add value to your learning experience? ap chemistry yes: 14 no: 0 ap physics yes: 16 no: 0 physics yes: 34 no: 1

Advanced: 10 students Proficient: 5 students Basic: 1 students Below Basic: 0 students Far Below Basic: 0 students Advanced: 6 students

Proficient: 6 students Basic: 2 students Below Basic: 0 students Far Below Basic: 0 students

Advanced: 2 students Proficient: 7 students Basic: 24 students Below Basic: 7 students Far Below Basic: 5 students

Through our experiment, Crimson has come to the conclusion that measuring a teacher’s value is an intricate task—our hypothesis was correct. Each teacher is valuable in their own way to their students. All three teachers share a common goal in that they desire to empower their students. Whether it be through patience, comedy, or overall dedication, these teachers strive to be make a greater impact on the lives of their students. They are more than just their students’ CST scores. www.crimsonnews.org

Crimson 11.10.10

| 19

World

Graphic by Reilly Newman

Cities for sustainability

Attempting to protect resources and reduce carbon footprints

PlanIT Valley, Portugal

by Shanna Dowling, World Co-Editor Sustainable living, like most issues, is composed of two fractions: advantages and disadvantages. “The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages,” according to BCASE president and senior Devon Lambert.

It’s no secret non-renewable resources that are relied upon daily are depleting as a result of human behaviors and a reluctance to transition into eco-friendly lifestyles. Sustainable living in a nutshell is a way of life that works to protect these resources and reduce carbon footprints, which are records of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by a community or organization.

Locations around the world such as Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and PlanIT Valley, Portugal are making huge steps in the development of these resource-saving ways through their use of new technology and innovative expansion.

Education evaluation Next Page ...

Our environment is on the brink of devastation and anything we can do to help is a step in the right direction.”

>> 20

Masdar City, UAE

Photo by Jessica Vaughn

— BCASE President The two biggest Devon Lambert, 12 threats to the development of Photo by Lindsay Reed sustainability are “the second law of thermodynamics stating that matter is constantly moving toward a state of disorganization, and the fact that humans have a positive discount rate for any values in the future,” according to Cal Poly professor Dr. Richard Thompson, who specializes in Natural Resource Management.

“Most of what we hear about sustainable initiatives is more rhetoric than substance,” Thompson said. “Recently it seems that to most people if my carbon footprint is neutral, then I’m living sustainably. What about their water, food, and many other footprints?”

However, it is not impossible that such cities can exist outside works of science fiction and elaborate pipe-dreams. The slews of underground driver-less vehicles and logic bending cities with minds of their own in Masdar City and PlanIT Valley are proof that sustainability is not an impossible feat, but a very realistic goal for the future.

Easy help for those in need

What you can do for the world Though seemingly a grand and complicated task, donating to aid others around the world can be quite easy, simple, and quick.

Numerous websites only require the click of a mouse several times in order to help a cause thousands of miles away. Not all of these websites need your money to help others, just your time.

Crimson 11.10.10

FreeRice.org Run by the United Nations World Food Programme, FreeRice’s goal is to provide

Starving education and to help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. This is done through playing an easy game which donates 10 grains of rice per Countries correct answer. When you play the game, sponsor banners appear on the bottom

of your screen for every correct answer that you choose. The money generated by these banners is used to buy the rice. The questions asked can be on art, English, math, language learning, geography, and chemistry, depending on what the player chooses.

The recipients of the donated rice can be anywhere in the world, depending on where chronic hunger continues unchecked.

Paso Robles High School

Your Time

www.crimsonnews.org

World

Portugal plans to transplant humanity into city

by Jessica Vaughn, World Co-Editor All the proficiencies of the human brain are packed into the core of PlanIT Valley, Portugal. The planned city attempts to duplicate the human brain, to a certain extent, and create a city with the power to monitor itself and respond to situations based on its observations.

The company Living PlanIT, the brainchild of previous Microsoft employee Steve Lewis, has developed two key elements of the technology of this ideal eco-city. The first is the eyes and ears of the city: a ubiquitous set of sensor technologies. The second, an “Urban Operating System,” is the imitation brain of the city.

“This isn’t a science park, it’s a real city,” Steve Lewis, CEO of Living PlanIT, told iCON in an interview on Oct. 14.

A city like this is a breakthrough in infor-

mation technology (IT). It is a one-of-a-kind attempt at implementing technologies which were previously only ideas drawn on blackboards.

Living PlanIT’s first strategy, the sensors, take information gathered from the environment. For example, they might monitor traffic conditions and weather patterns, but they would also record an individual’s habits as pertaining to their home or transportation.

Then the sensors will send the information gathered to the Urban Operating System.

This new technology will respond to the information given to it by making real changes to different factors in the city, as personalized as the lighting preferences in one’s home.

“But more importantly [Living PlanIT] is not building a city for its own purpose. . . [The world has] this huge social disparity. And if

[Living PlanIT] can provide places that [are] not subject to the same global pressures as some manufacturing and agricultural industries, if we can help in that process then we create not just environmental sustainability, but economic, social, and technological development sustainability,” Lewis said, according to a July 8 video on the Business News Network.

The reason that PlanIT Valley would not be “subject to the same global pressures” is because it aims to be sustainable. The company’s ultimate goal for the city is that it would be able to support itself using renewable energy resources, and not be reliant on global sources to power it, according to Lewis.

Living PlanIT hopes to finish construction of PlanIT Valley by 2015.

The renewable metropolis of the middle east

by Jessica Vaughn, World Co-Editor A labyrinth of tunnels and passageways is being constructed in a city being created in the blistering expanse of desert in the Middle East. Fast forward 20 years: a fleet of self-driving electric cars swarms through this underground maze, servicing waiting civilians with transportation anywhere in the city. No, this is not the flight of a fanciful imagination—this armada of futuristic taxicabs is one of the many features planned for Masdar City, in the United Arab Emirates.

The city, named after Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is a prime example of the dream-turned-reality of sustainable cities. No longer must science fiction writers fantasize about carbon-neutral, fully renewable, waste-less cities.

The city is scheduled to be completed dur-

ing 2020-2025, however phase one should be finished as early as 2015. “[Masdar] is committed to the optimal use of natural and human resources so that Abu Dhabi can develop into a global center of excellence for renewable energy research, development, and innovation,” Ahmed Ali Al Sagyeh, chairman of the company said, according to their official website, masdarcity.ae.

Developing innovative and renewable energy resources is the main focus of this planned city. Such innovations include concentrated solar power,

which allows solar energy to be stored, even when the sun is not shining. All waste products that are not recyclable will be converted into energy that can be used to power the city. Buildings will be positioned in such a way that they optimize shade and wind and the humidity in the air will be used to supply the drinking water in public fountains.

“The construction of Masdar City is underway. The Masdar Institute is on site, our investment funds are already fuelling future energy inventions and innovations, and we are working with long established industries to reduce carbon emissions. This is a long term initiative,” Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the Chief Executive officer of Masdar said, according to masdarcity.ae.

UNICEF

Car-less and carefree

It is difficult to envision a world devoid of congested automobile traffic and swirling exhaust poisoning our skies, but indeed a life exists without televised geckos selling car insurance and without four-wheeled transportation.

Photo by Kimberly Boswell Because of the fact that “the average person driving a two-year old car will emit around 11,000 pounds of pollutants into the air in just one year,” according to bicyclecity.com, cities around the world are eliminating cars and boosting bike use.

Bicycle City, located in Lexington County, South Carolina is a city with zero cars inside its city limits. While it is rare to come across a successful bicycle city or even a bicycle city that has made developments beyond the planning stage, cities around the world have been moving closer. Amsterdam, Netherlands—also known as the bike capital of the world, “has 40 percent of all traffic movements by bicycle,” according to virgin-vacations.com. Because of the popularity of this mode of transportation, Central Station is home to a bike ramp that allows upwards of 7,000 bikes to be parked there at once.

Growing green

Buildings and houses across the world, particularly in Copenhagen, Denmark are livening up with the implementation of Green Roofs, roofs that are built from plants and soil rather than traditional Hindu materials. Their popularity has begun to peak in recent years, although the Green Roof concept existed in the seventh century B.C. ... celebration egaP txeN with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They combat the issue of storm water collection eliminating the need for sewer systems, they provide insulation reducing energy usage normally spent on heating and air conditioning, and most significantly, “[the] plants breathe in the greenhouse gas like we breathe in oxygen,” according to an msnbc article by Emily Sohn.

The city of Copenhagen passed legislation which requires vegetation to be implemented on all new roofs that have a pitch less than 30 degrees, according the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Cities like this set the bar for the progression of green living.

>>

IT’S ALIVE: Spectators observe the green roof at the San Fransisco Academy of Sciences Photo by Shanna Dowling

by Shanna Dowling, World Co-Editor

SocialVibe With 54 causes and 46 sponsors, SocialVibe is quickly

Third World The United Nations Children’s Fund Citizens (UNICEF) “is a global humanitarian relief organization providing children with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more,” according to unicefusa.org. By selecting the “DONATE” option, one can choose to donate to specific regions, programs, or initiatives. There’s even an option to donate an “Inspired Gift” which can range from soccer balls to Water Purification Tablets. The closest UNICEF center is in Los Angeles, however one can go to their website and sign up for one of their campaigns.

Time &

Donations

www.crimsonnews.org

BOX OF TREATS Trick-or-treaters give up candy to earn money for UNICEF with their special anniversary boxes

Photo used with permission by Dave Cook

growing to be a leading force in its mission to help others.

SocialVibe is the leading social media utility connecting members with international brands to earn charitable donations using other websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, and many other social media sites. To become a member, one must simply make an account on SocialVibe’s website.

To earn points, members must complete and share branded activities through their choice of social media site. Donation dollars are accumulated by ad revenue from sponsors and are divided amongst SocialVibe’s charity partners based on the earned points of each cause’s supporters. SocialVibe’s members have already earned over $700,000 for their numerous causes.

Time

You Choose

SHOWING SUPPORT SocialVibe bracelets let users promote their website Photo by Shanna Dowling

by Paul Cleland, Opinion Co-Editor Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10

21

Culture

You dance differently with dandiya sticks in your hands

by Monica Patel, Editor-in-Chief

Swaying and weaving our way around the epicenter, we orbited the Goddess Durga (Maa). In-sync as we danced, we immersed ourselves in rich East Indian culture. It’s a time when we escape from our daily American lives and celebrate our roots that hail from the state of Gujarat, Northwestern India.

For nine nights we enjoyed each other’s friendship, laughter, and pain—pain from the exhausting dancing, that is.

In Hinduism, the beginning of

1 Garba

spring and autumn are two very important crossroads of climatic and solar influence. They are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother, Maa. The festival of Navaratri celebrates Maa and Shakti (sacred cosmic energy) which represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism.

The dates of Navaratri are determined according to the lunar calendar. The festival lasts nine days (nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights). It becomes 10 nights with the addition of

Garba, which originated in Gujarat, Northwestern India, is similar to Western folk dance. Habitually, it is performed during Navaratri but can be held at various auspicious occasions. During Navaratri, a murti (representation of a God/Goddess made of stone, wood, metal) of

Maa is placed in the middle of concentric rings of dancers as an object of respect.

The orbiting dancers represent the Hindu view of cyclical time. As the cycle of time revolves from birth, to life, to death and repeats, the only thing that is constant is Maa, the one unmoving figure in the midst of all the infinite movement. Garba symbolizes that God is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe.

People dance around the center, bending sideways at every

the last night, which is its culmination. This year Navaratri fell on Oct. 8-17 and the culmination was on Oct. 22.

It is celebrated with the famous Garba and Dandiya-Raas dance where it’s performed on each night of Navaratri. It’s trendy throughout India and among Indian communities around the world including those in the U.K. and U.S. A typical night of Navaratri begins with Garba, followed by Dandiya-Raas, and ends with the worshipping ritual, Aarti.

step; their arms make sweeping motions with each movement ending in a clap.

In addition to the dancing, people dress quite ornately to reflect their merriment.

Garba interests the youth of the Indian and in particular Gujarati diaspora (any group that has been dispersed outside its traditional homeland). Garba and Dandiya-Raas are popular in the U.S. where more than 20 universities have Garba-Raas competitions every year with expert choreography.

LET ME SEE YOUR HIPS SWING: One round of Garba can last up to 25 minutes.

During Navaratri, three or four rounds of Garba are played each of the nine nights. Although mostly women do it, a few men will occasionally join in.

A tale of

two cities Next Page ...

Dandiya-Raas 2 Once Garba is over, people of all ages begin Dandiya-Raas.

Modern Garba is heavily influenced by Dandiya-Raas, an energetic dance traditionally performed by men.

It stages a mock-fight between Maa and the mighty demon-king, Mahishasura. Nicknamed “The Sword Dance,” dancers heartily whirl and move their feet and arms in a complicated, choreographed manner while holding a stick (dandiya) about 18 inches long in each hand that represents the sword of Maa. Men and women dance in two circles (one circle inside turning clockwise and the other outside turning counterclockwise), generally in a four beat rhythm. A person on the opposite side of another will hit the opposing person’s sticks—everyone at the same time to create a fused sound.

Sometimes, people that lack coordination may accidentally whack one of the opposing person’s fingers.

>> Photos by Monica Patel

“It [Garba] brings people in the community together, and it’s a great way to meet people. We all get to wear pretty outfits and show off our culture. Too bad it only occurs once a year.”

—Nawka Soni, freshman at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo

“I enjoy Garba because I get to dress up and show off my sexy body! I also enjoy dancing around and doing Raas—it’s a dance party for four hours straight.”

—Jayna Patel, senior at St. Joseph High School, Santa Maria

22 Crimson 11.10.10

“I love the happy and energetic environment where everyone is able to bond by dancing and just having fun!

But at the same time, I don’t like getting hit by dandiya sticks [on accident].”

—Vishwa Patel, senior at Arroyo Grande High School, Arroyo Grande

“I love that Navaratri always brings our Indian community together. For nine days we see each other, socialize with each other, worship together, and have fun together. It’s a place where you can see your friends and just be goofy and have fun while being able to pull together and be a part of your community.”

DANDIYAS ARE DANDY: Finally some men join the women to hit some sticks. But younger boys and girls are the ones that seem to enjoy more as they enthusiastically attempt to follow the choreography of Dandiya-Raas.

—Divya Patel, freshman at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Paso Robles High School

3 Aarti

Aarti is the worshipping ritual usually performed at the end of religious occasions in honor of the God/Goddess being worshipped for that specific holiday. In this case, Aarti gives tribute to Maa. Light from wicks soaked in camphor is offered to the Goddess. The performer faces and concentrates on Maa by looking into her eyes since it is said that eyes are the windows to the soul.

Aarti is waved in a circular fashion, clockwise around the Goddess. This represents our daily activities which revolve around Maa, a center of our life. Looking at Maa while performing Aarti reminds the performer to keep Maa in the center of all of his activities and understand that routine activities are peripheral and should not take priority over God.

www.crimsonnews.org

q&a with Em Boonnithi

C: What do you do for fun in Thailand?

E: I go to the big mall and hang out with friends, talk on the phone. Thailand is much harder than here and we have a lot more homework.

C: What’s the biggest difference between America and Thailand?

E: The language is really different here compared to Thailand. At this school we don’t have to wear uniforms but in Thailand we do. I like not wearing uniforms and wearing what I want.

C: What’s the coolest thing you’ve done since you’ve been here?

E: A lot. I run on Saturdays around town. I really C: What’s your favorite thing about dancing? have nothing to do on Saturdays so I run to the park E: My favorite dance is breakdance. I don’t have to think and back. My choir class is cool too. I can sing and dance. a lot, just move myself and my body with the music.

Just being free.

Culture

Em Boonnithi is an eccentric foreign exchange student from Thailand. You most likely didn’t miss his outstanding dance moves at the homecoming assembly and dance with his ability to woo a crowd. And he loves to sing as well. Look out for him around school, because you never know when he’s just going to break it down.

Crimson: How’d you learn to dance so well?

Em: I got it from the Internet. I watched it on Youtube and just learned from there.

C: Do people dance like that home in Thailand?

E: Not really but my friend Por can do it.

— Nicolette Jolicoeur, Editorial Co-Editor

Photo by Nicolette Jolicoeur

Honoring those who came before us and are still here November is Native American Heritage Month for a reason

by Jessica Vaughn, World Co-Editor

The Wal-Mart Shopping Center in Paso Robles is the home of all races and individuals rights, and this is not what of an Indian burial mound. When you drive into the shopping Wal-Mart has shown. It is our opinion that we need to center, past McDonald’s and towards Staples, you will pass by send a message to Wal-Mart that their ethnic cleansing a grassy green hill, directly in front of the Kohl’s parking lot. ways will not be tolerated in San Luis Obispo County or Bubble This is the resting place of Indian ancestors said to be over the city of Atascadero.” ... Talk egaP txeN 5,000 years old.

Students are first introduced to the word “Chumash” My mom has an Indian November is National Native American Heritage Month. in elementary school. They are then taught that these name; we have a bunch of The preservation of American Indian heritage is an issue Native Americans were the original inhabitants of this handmade dream catchers, that is continually being brought up by Native Americans in area, and that their culture was based on thousands of my grandfather’s bow and arrow, a dictionary California. For example, when the shopping center was being years of customs and traditions. Some students then had that translates from Sioux to English.” built in Paso in the early 1990s, Wal-Mart proposed bulldozing the opportunity to traverse to Rancho El Chorro in San —Kelsie Slow, 11 the Indian burial site, after protests from local American Luis Obispo and learn firsthand about this culture.

Photo by Jenna Wookey Indian leaders, they left it untouched.

But for other students, the connection to the American This national holiday was created in 1990 and approved by President George H.W. Bush, of Indian heritage is much more personal. bringing recognition to the struggle of Native Americans to protect their culture, according to “We have artifacts; my mom has an Indian name; we have a bunch of handmade dream catchers, my nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov. This year’s theme is “Pride in our heritage. Honor to our ancestors.” grandfather’s bow and arrow, a dictionary that translates from Sioux to English,” junior Kelsie Slow said, The people of this culture originally numbered over 10,000,000 in what would become the United States. who is part Sioux and part Lakota. These things make her feel like a part of her family’s past, according to Now they have been reduced to 1 percent of the population of San Luis Obispo County. Their culture and Slow. their heritage have been robbed by those seeking a quick buck. And their sacred lands have been ripped One of the main focuses of the course is the history of Native Americans post-pilgrims. open by construction workers and land developers.

“It is one of the least understood people groups in the US,” Stanley Cooper said. “This is because over half The Northern Chumash Tribal Council spokesperson, Fred Collins, was incensed by proposed plans to of the 4.5 million Indians live on reservations. Unless you’re raised around them there is very little contact build a Wal-Mart in Atascadero. with them.”

“It is the opinion of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council that Wal-Mart is not the type of company we Native American Heritage Month was created in order to remedy the ambiguity surrounding this want in the city of Atascadero,” said Collins, in a letter to city leaders in May 2010, “they have committed culture. Its purpose is to bring notice to the 1 percent of Indians in SLO county. But more than that, it was unbelievable atrocities against the Native American communities across the U.S. and around the world. As established in order to instill, as this year’s theme says, “Pride in our heritage. Honor to our ancestors,” in leaders of the community we need to show the next generation how greed will not overcome the protection American Indians in the US.

>>

Significant Native Americans When it comes to American Indian heritage and culture, a different standard for “famous” prevails. It is those few who step outside of the stereotypical Indianon-the-rez lifestyle, and bat for the honor and respect of their culture, who get the unheard applause of Americans Indians in the U.S.

—Jessica Vaughn, World Co-Editor

Russell Means: Russell Means delivers his impassioned speeches on Native American heritage in a strangely familiar voice. This American Indian activist was the voice of Pocahontas’ father in Disney’s classic movie. But Means is known for more than that: he first arrived on the public stage in the early 1960s. He led a 71-day armed takeover of Wounded Knee and participated in the Longest Walk in 1978, protesting the forced sterilization of American Indian women.

He is also one of the leaders of AIM (the American Indian Movement), which aims to protect and preserve American Indian culture and heritage.

Photo used with permission of AP Images

www.crimsonnews.org

Paso Robles High School

Sherman Alexie: Sherman Alexie was born on the Spokane Indian Reservation, in Wellpinit, WA—but he did not stay there for long. At a young age, he began going to a public school nearby and soon acclimated himself into the stereotypical “American” way of life. The collision between Indian culture and his modern lifestyle inspired him to share the true story of the struggles Native Americans face.

“Yes, I am Irish and Indian, which would be the coolest blend in the world if my parents were around to teach me how to be Irish and Indian. But they’re not here and haven’t been for years, so I’m not really Irish or Indian. I am a blank sky, a human solar eclipse,” “Zits” said, a character in one of Alexie’s novels, Flight.

Crimson 11.10.10 |

23

Health

Finding the fit

PRHS students try to find the right gym that fits their own workout style What was the best part of the club?

by Jenna Wookey, Culture Co-Editor

From rock climbing to “zumba” dance classes, to cooling off in a 50 meter swimming pool, Kenedy Club Fitness (KCF) does everything they can to personalize your workout style.

Across town, Planet Fitness, has a completely different approach to working out that equally appeals to their Native members.

Planet Fitness does not have classes or a swimAmerican Month ming pool, but for people who just want a quick and simple workout Planet Fitness has enough machines and workout areas to get in and out without hassle while also getting a satisfying workout.

KCF Activities Director Sandy Casper, however, believes one of the hardest things about working out is obtaining motivation, and that with many choices it helps inspire people to work out.

As far as variety goes, KCF offers 15 different workout classes that specialize in cardio, cycling, strength, specialty, and mind/ body.

The advantage of these classes, some open only to members and some open to even non members for a separate charge, is that you “walk into the studio and you have someone encouraging you to work out” according to Casper.

Casper also highly recommends their currently popular class called “zumba” which is a Latin and Spanish inspired dance workout.

SUPER CYBEX WORKOUT: Members of Other activities held at Planet Fitness are able to workout on treadmills and many more machines at the club. KCF are swim programs/ lessons, a volleyball and basketball league, personal trainers and weight loss centers.

Planet Fitness, respectably, offers personal training programs, tan-

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Crimson 11.10.10

ning, and personal massages.

To find out what it is really like to work out at KCF, sophomores Natalie Evenson, Vrij Patel, Conner Jorgenson, and junior, Stace Beatie agreed to be the review panel.

Evenson and Beatie went to Kennedy on Oct. 20, which was also the 29th anniversary for the club. While they were there, they worked out on the Bicycles, the Stair Master, and the Elliptical. They also lifted weights.

“It was well rounded, it was a perfect amount where I had fun yet still felt the burn,” Beatie said. Evenson agreed, adding that she was very satisfied by the intensity of their workout but not to the point where she couldn’t function after.

Although Kennedy has close to 4,500 members, both Beatie and Evenson said they had the ability to work out on any machine they wanted without problem and that it was not overcrowded.

As Casper pointed out before, one of the hardest things about working out is finding the motivation to. If you aren’t having fun, you won’t be motivated to just get up and go work out there. Your workout has to be the right balance of fun and hard work to really be worth while.

“Kennedy that day was a great day. It made me want to get a membership there,” Beatie said.

Both Patel and Jorgenson also have a membership at Planet Fitness so they agreed to be the reviewers for that club.

Although Planet Fitness does not have the kind of variety that KCF has, there are many reasons why this club appeals to their members.

“The best part of Planet Fitness is the simplicity of the whole gym.

No distractions like all the features of Kennedy,” Jorgensen said.

The most convinient part about Kennedy is “the many options, such as swimming, racquetball, basketball gym, and rock climbing,” Patel said.

If variety is the selling point for Kennedy Club Fitness, what would be the selling point for Planet Fitness?

Jorgensen stated the price would actually be the biggest selling point for Planet Fitness.

“Planet Fitness is extremely cheaper and I wouldn’t use a lot of the extra features at Kennedy,” Jorgensen said.

So whether you want to dance your way into shape with a “zumba” dance class, or just go for a quick run on the treadmill, to find the gym that best fits you just ask yourself what you want out of your workout and what price you are willing to sacrifice for it.

“The best part of Planet Fitness is the simplicity of the whole gym. No distractions like all the features of Kennedy.”

—Conner Jorgensen, 10

“The settings and atmostsphere of Kennedy was way at ease and I felt comfortable.”

—Natalie Evenson, 10

“The best part was the many options, such as swimming, racquetball, basketball gym, and rock climbing.”

—Vrij Patel, 10

“I liked that my work out was pretty well paced.

It felt good to work out because Kennedy [had] a wonderful environment.” —Stacie Beatie, 11

Photos by Emily Cone

Paso Robles High School

www.crimsonnews.org

Carcinogens in your car

Health

How to make sure you stay out of their way

by Emily Cone, Opinion Co-Editor

We all know cigarettes cause cancer. But now so does your car?

Every time you turn on your car after it’s been sitting in the sun a toxic chemical called Benzene spills out through the air conditioning, according to chemicallyspeaking.com.

This occurs because Benzene is found in many plastic products—like the ones inside a car’s air conditioning.

“Research conducted since the 1980s by the National Cancer Institute has found that workers exposed to Benzene, even at relatively low levels, have lower levels of white blood cells.

Low counts of white blood cells can be devastating to the human body. Because they are responsible for fighting off disease and

infection, a low count makes you more susceptible to disease, and can even cause leukemia. Currently, the National Cancer Institute states that exposure to Benzene may increase the risk of developing Leukemia,” Allison Tannis, author of “Probiotic Rescue: How You can use Probiotics to Fight Cholesterol, Cancer, Superbugs, Digestive Complaints and More,” said.

Benzene is known to be a “Class A Carcinogen,” and can be found in an assortment of every day products such as detergents, dyes, rubber, paint, etc., according to Clear Water Partners, Environmental Law Experts. If exposed to high levels of the chemical or small amounts over a prolonged time, Benzene can cause headaches, dizziness, rapid heart rates, confusion, drowsiness,

vomiting, convulsions, and unconsciousness.

Benzene is also found in cigarette smoke and gas vapors, two things not particularly known for being healthy. Just one whiff of Benzene won’t kill you, but low amounts of it over a prolonged period of time can cause Leukemia.

The answer is simple though. To stump the spilling of (a bad word that starts with an “s”) chemicals, just turn off your air conditioning when you first get into the car and roll down the windows. This lets the car ventilate, and makes you less at risk of those pesky carcinogens.

Sanitary at school:

Questionable results follow our tests

by Jessica Vaughn, World Co-Editor

Jessica tests for germs on the phone.

y Shanna Dowling, Reporter

Jessica collects more samples, including on the locker (above) and keyboard (below).

Science tells us there are millions of germs crawling on every surface, and there is no way to escape their presence. But surely there are some things you just don’t want to get near. What does science have to say about things at school? Are they just your run-of-the-mill germs, or should we have hand sanitizer with us at all times?

And just how hazardous is PRHS to a person’s health?

Using a sterilized cutip, Crimson collected samples from common places in the school: a cell phone, the handle of the girls’ bathroom door, the handrails in front of Bearcat Café, a keyboard in the computer lab, a locker handle, and a library book. Each of the samples was placed in a sterilized petri dish with agar (a substance to help the germs grow) in it. All six of

Germ e Scal

1: Not Bad

the petri dishes were then placed under a lamp, in order to accelerate the growing process.

The levels of germs found in each dish are rated below on a scale of zero through five. Zero represents a petri dish in which no germs grew at all and five represents a dish covered in germs.

Our findings appear below.

Biology teacher Melissa Wedmore suggests common sense about germs at PRHS or anywhere.

“If students are concerned, I would tell them to just take precautions. The reason people get sick is because they allow the germs to infect them,” she said.

Germs are any bacteria, fungus, virus, or protozoa. Many do not cause illnesses because the immune system has learned how to combat them.

A germ causes an illness because it gets into

2: A Little Germy

3: Kinda Germy

your body and damages or destroys healthy cells. Germs also release toxins which cause most of the symptoms of flu and cold sicknesses.

Thus, the advice we’ve heard from doctors and parents alike still holds true.

Don’t touch your mouth or nose.

Eat with a fork and not your hands.

And especially, wash your hands with warm water and soap.

All of these are practical precautions to take in order to prevent an invasion of germs from overrunning your immune system this winter.

4: Pretty Germy

Art ... Colleges egaP txeN

>>

5: Really Germy

PRHS Germs: RATED Photos by Nick Van Wiggerin

Handrail in Front of Bearcat Cafe: 5

Keyboard in Computer Lab: 3

Handle of Girls Bathroom Door: 5

Library Book: 1

Cell-Phone: 1

Locker Handle: 4 www.crimsonnews.org

Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 |

25

A&E

Art Colleges

College isn’t just for math and English, it’s for art too. The schools mentioned below are just some of the art colleges in America. For more information on art colleges go to crimsonnews.org.

California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts): Keegan Mullin California Institute of the Arts was founded with the intent to bring different art forms together and allow them to cross-pollinate, fostering collaboration and sparking innovation in the process.

As an internationally recognized school for the performing and visual arts—film, theater, art, dance, music, and writing—the CalArts artistic philosophy places an emphasis on an exploration of new paths beyond conventional boundaries.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) programs take four years, or eight semesters, and a minimum of 120 semester units to complete.

To obtain the BFA degree, candidates must fulfill all of the course requirements of their programs, including 48 Critical Studies units, and pass faculty reviews of their work. In some programs, BFA candidates are required to complete a final project.

Carcinogens in cars Next Page ...

TheMaster of Fine Arts (MFA) programs take either two or three years to complete, depending on the individual program. To receive the MFA degree, students must fulfill all program unit requirements and pass at least two faculty reviews of their work—once at midresidency and again prior to graduation. MFA students are further required to spend their final semester in residence at CalArts and complete a final project of professional quality.

The School of Critical Studies offers a 30 semester/unit Master of Arts (MA) in Aesthetics in Politics. The MA is a one-year, full-time year program of study. To receive the MA degree, students must fulfill all program unit requirements and complete a thesis which may assume a plurality of forms.

“They have the best program in the country for music education today.

It’s so small and it is a more intimate learning program. Also I have worked with alumni of the school and they really know what they are talking about.

A few years ago I got to sing with their choir, and it was an incredible expirience. They are so professional and listening to their choir was one of the best expiriences of my life. I would recommend Westminster to anyone wanting to go into a music related field.”

“I was there for a month over the summer for an arts convention and got to enjoy the benefits of its campus and the joys it had to offer. I love their campus; it’s one main building so all the arts programs are together: animators, film makers, actors. So it allows all the different artists to collide and work together, and it’s great for film majors like me because I need music for films and actors so its all together and you’re forced to be with everything.

Also I know it’s animation department is phenomenal. A lot of pixar animators come from CalArts. I feel its program will give me a good artistic view on my film style. I don’t know how great it will be production wise, but I know it’s a great program.”

Westminster Choir College & Barry University: Brandon Ellsworth Senior Brandon Ellsworth applied to Westminster Choir College in New Jersey on the Princeton University Campus.

The Choir College is a division of the Westminster College of the Arts. This residential college of music is found in the heart of Princeton, New Jersey on 23 acres of campus. This four year music college and graduate school prepares men and woman for careers as performers and music leaders in schools, universities, churches, and professional community organizations, according to Westminster College website.

Ellsworth stated there is a 100 percent job opportunity for graduates of this college.

Ellsworth also has a $60,000 scholarship to Barry University located on the shores of Miami. Ellsworth plans on double majoring in Music Education and Musical Theatre and minor in Sociology. Barry University is a Catholic institution of higher education founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Grounded in the liberal arts tradition, the community is committed to the highest academic standards in undergraduate, graduate and professional education. In the Catholic tradition, integration of study, reflection and action form the intellectual life, according to Barry.edu.

>>

— Serina Lewis, Feature Editor and Aryn Fields, A&E Editor Photos by Aryn Fields

Over 500 million friends, but none of his own A Crimson review of ‘The Social Network’

by Dakota Cleland, Sci-Tech Co-Editor and C.J. Prusi, Food Editor

On a brisk fall night in 2003 at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg, after being dumped by his girlfriend, created in a drunken stupor the building blocks of what would eventually be the largest social networking website on Earth. The movie “The Social Network” tells how Facebook conquered the relatively small social networking ring and spread like wildfire worldwide. The movie, directed by David Fincher, who has directed “Fight Club” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” enchants the viewer with its wellwritten script and superb cinematography.

Zuckerberg, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg of “Zombieland,”

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creates the social phenomenon with the help of his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Zuckerberg was the heart and soul of “The facebook” as it was known then while Saverin, aided by his wealthy family, was the financial benefactor.

But with “The facebook” came issues over who originated its concept. Fighting with Zuckerberg and Saverin are the brawny and overbearing Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron (played with the help of special effects by Armie Hammer) and their Indian friend, Divya Narendra (Max Minghella). What soon follows after this is the escalation of Facebook itself, a friendship involving Zuckerberg and Napster founder and hotshot playboy Sean Parker (played by Paso Robles High School

Justin Timberlake to perfection). Multi-million dollar lawsuits turn involving the best of friends into the bitterest of enemies.

While we feel the movie had an excellent plot, brilliant cinematography, and superb acting, we have to question the timing of this movie. We think they should have waited until Zuckerberg is a little bit older if the movie is about his life. We’re also left with the feeling that we have absolutely no sympathy for anyone at all because they’ve all done something very detestable and cutthroat. So because of this inability to sympathize with the characters and the time period the movie itself takes place in, this movie deserves a four out of five.

www.crimsonnews.org

A&E PRAYER CIRCLE:(Left to right) Brandon Ellsworth, Joseph Whittington, Aryn Fields and Brandon Harris perform a scene from “Dracula.” They are in the middle of a prayer circle after they discover Mina was bitten by Dracula. Photo by Laura Callahan

Crimson’s review of the annual fall play

by Laura Callahan, News Co-Editor Cue the red spotlight, smoke, and thunder. The PRHS Theatre Company have done it again, and this time they’re dead serious! The smell of garlic filled the air when lead actors and seniors Aryn Fields and Brandon Ellsworth, junior Brandon Harris, and senior Joseph Whittington fought to keep Dracula, played by junior Jason Moscato, from literally having them for dinner.

The PRHS Theatre Company presents Steven Dietz’ “Dracula” on Nov. 4-14. Director and drama teacher Marcy Goodnow pushed the envelope by using major technical and special effects for the fall play. Effects such as strobe lighting, fog, continuous sound effects, and live mice make the

play all the more vivid, and frightening.

“It’s a pretty big play for the little stage we have, but Goodnow is actually making progress here and we’re coping with it,” sophomore JD Maciel said, who is playing an attendant in the show.

However, what really raises a goose-bump or two are the actors. After seeing this play you will hide under the covers with fear as scenes of the Gollum-like Renfield, played by junior Monty Renfrow.

“I found it was a really hard and tormented role to play,” Renfrow said. Renfield is a mental patient, corrupted by the evil Dracula.

With the help of Mina, Van Helsing, and Harker,

Seward is able to track down Dracula as he bites off his victims, one by one.

With every killing scene, Dracula appeared as if by magic and a Transylvanian accent was heard, and the audience jumped in their seats.

Although Dracula seems heartless, his hunger for blood will keep him praying on the love-sick.

Lucy, played by Trinity Smith, first caught the love bug, but is soon another victim of the Count. Soon after, Mina is had for dinner. Both female leads are the beloved of Harker and Seward.

Finally the vampire is condemned to the coffin by way of the cross. In a classic tale of good and evil, good triumphs and all odds are defied.

The cast and crew are very compatible on and off the stage, and their passion for theatre is evident throughout the play.

“It’s really just how well every one is interacting, it’s all the little interpersonal scenes that we have and the moments we share on stage. It’s all those little moments that happen that are really my favorite,” Moscato said,.

“Dracula” is well worth the ticket-price, Klean egaP txeN so whether you’re a fan of vampires or not ... Kanteen make your way to see the original vampire tale, in action on stage at PRHS.

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Artist of the Month: Adam White

Senior shows his personality and hardships through rapping

by Aryn Fields, A&E Editor

PRHS has its own Kanye West—senior Adam White. There is no rap class, rap club or rap group on campus, so White keeps his talent alive with personal drive.

White has been rapping since sixth grade and at first it started out as a joke between his family, but then it spread. White’s friends and family thought he was so good that they convinced him to write songs. Since then White has written over 70 songs and performs in front of friends on a regular basis.

“I really like doing it. It’s a hobby of mine for sure. I had a show my freshman year at the park in SLO,” White said. “But besides that I’ve never performed for a large crowd, I normally rap when I’m hanging out with all of my friends. If they ask me to rap then I will.”

White’s songs mostly consist of memories, people he has met and overall fun times with his friends. But some times White slows it down and writes mostly writes about change and how it’s inevitable. www.crimsonnews.org

“My favorite song is called ‘Slow Down’ it’s a song I wrote in seventh grade but my favorite line of a song is ‘denying change is irrelevant’ from my song ‘Lost Cause,’” White said.

The concept of change is very close to his heart, according to White. White has been through a lot of change, which has shown him to expect the unexpected. However, most of his really intimate feelings are written down in his poetry, and his songs are meant for fun entertainment. When White needs to get something off his chest, he creates a poem.

“I write about how things change a lot because I’ve moved around a lot and my parents split up, then my younger sister got brain cancer…so I realize that things always change,” White said. “I write poems about the harder stuff I go through. My rap songs are mostly about friends and stories. But my poems are about difficult times I’ve gone through.”

White plans on rapping for the rest of his

Paso Robles High School

life, maybe not as a life profession, but as something he does for his children one day.

JUMP LIKE A ROCKSTAR: (Left) Senior Adam White strikes a rapper pose. He has been rapping since sixth grade. (Below) White leaps of a railing in the P-Buildings to show his love for athletics and spontaneous personality-which he needs for rapping. White takes his rapping very seriously. Photos

by Aryn Fields

Crimson 11.10.10 |

27

Sci-Tech

What’s

N

the bottle?

Next ArtistPage of ...

the Month

The controversy over selling Klean Kanteen water bottles

by Chelsea Farrer, Health Co-Editor

>>

Screw, twist, sip, ahhh. This is the refreshing burst that commonly follows after quenching the thirst that commonly meets teens But what bottle are you drinking out of? Clear plastic or stainless steel?

In the past, the stress over water bottle preference had not been a problem. As the need for an eco-friendly environment increased, Klean Kanteen’s “green” water bottles have become more prominent.

Throughout classrooms these water bottles have shown controversy among teachers. Some teachers believe some students might not always be bringing water in the mysterious, steel water bottles. In a teacher poll of 23 teachers, 70 percent said they were advocate Klean Kanteen water bottles at school and 30 percent said they were opposed.

“Around Christmas time last year, we had some situations where students had brought bottles filled with vodka,” assistant principal Ed Brown said. “Flamson prohibited the use of water bottles that weren’t clear, and I fully support that.”

Many students enjoy the thought of bringing steel water bottles to save the environment and prevent cancer-promoting chemicals, but some might be bringing something other than pure water.

Currently, BCASE club has future prospects of possibly selling Klean Kanteens or other environmentally friendly water bottles. They would like to place purified drinking fountains in school to refill their water bottles and hopefully get rid of plastic bottles entirely.

“I have never personally come across a situation where a teacher has asked a student in my class to stop drinking out of their water bottle, but I definitely understand the suspicion,” BCASE secretary, Georgia Binkele said.

However, some teachers are opposed to students bringing Klean Kanteen, or other shaded water bottles, in class.

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Crimson 11.10.10

“I do not allow water bottles that are not clear. If I cannot easily see the liquid in the bottle, it becomes a management nightmare. It would disrupt the flow of the lesson to check every bottle to see if it is clear water,” geometry teacher Clark Kerr said. “The only way I can prevent a spill is to allow only clear water in a clear bottle. The other alternative is to allow no liquids at all. [However] I fully support the club promoting the use of Klean Kanteens for all drinks outside of class.”

BCASE club advisor Mark DiMaggio stated he had not come across the thought of some teachers being opposed to the water bottle idea.

“It is impossible to know what a student has in his or her drink bottle, regardless of whether or not the bottle is clear. Gin, vodka, tequila, and some other forms of alcohol are all as clear as water, and unless teachers are to examine every bottle or to prohibit any type of water bottle in their classrooms ­— which would be absurd — we will not know what students are drinking.” DiMaggio said. Also, he argues that students could spike any other colored drink without teachers’ knowledge. Just because the bottle’s are not clear does not give students more opportunities to break rules.

“The benefits of replacing throw-away bottles for our campus, our community, and the oceans where many of these plastic bottles end up, far outweighs any reason to keep them. Let’s get with the program and make the switch to reusable drink bottles,” DiMaggio said.

With this new fad erupting through campus, teachers are pondering a solution. Students are muddled into the equation; some bring the bottles for eco-friendly reasons and some for other not as heroic reasons.

Although teachers may have different views on the questionable subject about “green” water bottles, selling Klean Kanteens could be a possibility for PRHS.

Paso Robles High School

SunChips lost their crinkle

by Maddison Coons, Managing Editor and Monica Patel, Editor-in-Chief

WORLD’S LOUDEST BAG: One of the Original brand SunChips bags, the only brand that’s still 100 percent biodegradable and 100 percent noise. Photo by Maddison Coons.

“We dream of a world with less waste,” SunChips states on their website. But did they realize that once their 100 percent compostable bags hit the market that consumers may be dreaming of a world with less noise?

It’s the packaging that 29.3 percent of 41 PRHS students notice before even considering the product inside the packaging. While 70.7 percent of students who buy chips for the actual taste as opposed to the bag the snacks are packaged in, sales for Frito-Lay are slowly dwindling because of the unappealing bag.

The 19 year old SunChips brand introduced their compostable bag, the only one of its kind, back in April 2009 but their sales were reduced by 11 percent over the course of 52 weeks as of Oct. 5, according to usatoday.com.

PRHS sells small packages of SunChips for 75 cents to students—but not the noisy kind. In fact, the school has never sold any of the compostable bags, according to Ellen Osman who has been working as a lunch lady for roughly 20 years. SunChips sells just as much as the other chips offered at the Bearcat Café, but out of the variety of flavors SunChips presents, Garden Salsa sells more than the others. Approximately 25 SunChips are sold a day at the Bearcat Cafe.

SunChips’ biodegradable bags will disintegrate after 14 weeks of being placed in a hot, active compost bin or pile. However, the earth friendly packaging wasn’t enough to keep consumers from complaining. They couldn’t handle the noise of the thinner bag, according to a representative of Frito Lay. It was estimated that when individuals were eating chips out of the bag it created noise up to 95 decibels, or about 5 decibels louder than what experts warn you to avoid in order to prevent hearing loss. A video demonstration called “Potato Chip Technology That Destroys Your Hearing” by Air Force Pilot J. Scot Heathman showed that when intentionally crinkling the 100 percent compostable SunChips bag, levels reached nearly 20 decibels higher than the conventional chip packaging.

A Facebook fan page called “Sorry, but I can’t hear you over this SunChips bag” has 52,648 fans as of Nov. 3. But SunChips is aware of the raucous their bags produce.

“Truth be told, our compostable bag sounds a bit different than our other bags. That’s because the plant-based materials used to make our compostable bag have different sound qualities than the materials used to make our other bags. Although our compostable bag is a bit louder, we hope you’ll appreciate its environmental benefits,” sunchips.com said.

In the response to these complaints, SunChips has stopped the production of the compostable bag of all flavors, except for their highest selling flavor, Original, in the 10.5 ounce size package. They are crinkling up the old bags, making sure the noise is away from consumers and are currently developing a biodegradable bag that won’t disturb the neighbors or the birds.

www.crimsonnews.org

www.crimsonnews.org

Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 | 29

Fun & Games

Kleen Canteen Next Page ...

Sunchips

Bubble Talk

What are these guys thinking? You decide! Turn in a funny response to room 601 by Nov. 17 and you could win a $5 gift card to Jamba Juice or Starbucks. Just make sure to keep it appropriate!

—Jenna Wookey, Editorial Editor Photo by Sara Miller

>>

Pranks-giving k This Thanksgiving, be grateful that these pranks didn’t happen to you!

Reptile Resurrection “My friend, Weston Headley, [and I] were going to pull a prank with a lizard in the principal’s office in elementary school. So we found a dead lizard and stuck it in his lunch. When he found it, he stood outside in the heat thinking it was still alive and waited for it to run away. The next day, he called us in saying it was a funny prank and gave us funny looking cookies. We ate them, and he told us not to share with anybody. The next day he told us they were dog treats.”

—sophomore Travis Robinson

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Crimson 11.10.10

Classroom Scare

“During third period in Mr. Mount’s room, we were reading the story, “The Scarlet Ibis.” Collin [kept] falling asleep in the back, so I asked [Mr. Mount] to get everyone to get up quietly and leave the room. When we all left, [Mr. Mount] got the next class to go in all at once and yell at him to wake up. He jumped up and looked around, freaked out, then ran to his next class.”

—freshman Reid Phillips

Blushing Beauty “ I drew on my brother and his friends with a bunch of makeup, painted their nails, and handcuffed one of them to their cot while they were sleeping.

Most of them laughed it off, but the guy in the cot freaked out.”

—senior Amy Bourgault

“Water” you thinking?

“On April Fool’s Day, I put a rubber band around the button that makes [the faucet] spray. My mom went to turn on the sink and got sprayed in the face. That day my whole family was around and we were all laughing. Later on she made me think I broke the TV because when I turned it on the screen went black, but really she just used the remote.”

—sophomore Julianna Gularte Paso Robles High School

—Laura Callahan, News Co-Edtior Photos by Emily Cone and Nick Van Wiggeren

www.crimsonnews.org

Two for One

Cuesta’s Enrichment Program allows high school students

to enroll part time and get college credit while satisfying high school graduation requirements. It’s a 2-for-1 deal.

Sweet!

follow us on

Cuesta Cougar

Cuesta_College

cuesta.edu Or you can always call Cuesta at (805) 546-3100

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Paso Robles High School

Crimson 11.10.10 |

31

Sports

WELCOME

to the

JUNGLE

This season PRHS Bearcats have surprised many with a first place title in league. Reviewing this season, players, and positions Crimson takes a deeper look into the varsity football team.

CATS TAKING CHARGE: (Left to right) Seniors Peter Ravera, Aleksander Koch, Bo Bonnheim, Matt Sepulveda, and Hunter Gay gather after school for weight training before practice later. Photo

by Torey Wise

Ads Page ...

Next

>>

Hot History

2010’s season eclipses past four years

Friday nights at War Memorial Stadium have been a long-standing tradition in the world of Bearcat football.

Thousands of Paso Roblans come out to cheer on the one and only Bearcat football team. Through the tensions of close games and the cheers of touchdowns, the fans have stuck by through the years for the best of Friday Night Lights.

• Over the past seven years, Bearcat varsity football has won 43 games total out of a total 86 games played and 22 league games to date out of 30 played.

• Of the past 12 years, the Bearcat varsity football team have been league champs eight times.

• Varsity football has won seven total CIF championships. They won two CIF championships in the 1950s, two in the 1970s, and three in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Past class Rankings: Class: League Games: League Rankings: 10-11 09-10 08-09 07-08

4-0-0 3-2-0 4-1-0 4-1-0

Schedule and >> final scores 32

Crimson 11.10.10

1 4 2 2

Cat Fight:Junior Mac Stuart runs the ball toward the bearcat endzone missing a tackle against Centennial HS. Photo by Emily Cone

—by Olivia Musial,

In-Depth Editor

Central (Fresno) 25-54 L

Santa Ynez

Centennial (Bako) San Luis Obispo

32-13 W Paso Robles High School

28-62 L

41-21 W

St. Francis 42-28 W www.crimsonnews.org

Sports

Its highest finish in four years positions PRHS football as an area power and CIF contender.

CAPTAINS BO BONNHEIM

#70

“It’s a coach’s vote for team captain and it’s an honor to be picked. You have to be a leader on the team and be a positive role model. We have done really well this season and I am proud of our team.”

—Bo Bonnheim, 12

Defensive Lineman, 6’2 “ 250 lbs.

JACOB SEARCY

COLE THOMPSON

SCOTT PLESCIA

PLAYER PROFILES Elias Stokes Wide Receiver

Number five for varsity football stands at 5’10” and 160 pounds. A crimson jersey flashes the number five when he enters the end zone and the announcer calls “and the touchdown caught by Stokes.” Junior Elias stokes, one PRHS’s top Receivers, has had a total of 18 touchdowns or 108 points for this season, so far averaging 13 points per game. He has 745 receiving yards and is currently ranked 48 for receiving In California. Stokes has been on varsity football for three years. Through all the plays and points received, Stokes feels the best moment in the game is “celebrating with my Offensive Line, Quarter Back, fellow Receivers and Running Back.”

—Torey Wise, Sports Co-Editor

Scott Plescia Safety, Kick Returner

#3

Quarter Back, 5’11” 180 lbs.

#61

Center, 6’1 “ 250 lbs.

#32

Safety, 5’11” 180 lbs.

OFFENSE & DEFENSE O Veterans keep the TDs coming :

Bright lights hit War Memorial Stadium on Friday night as the PRHS offensive starting lineup takes its position and gets ready to score the Bearcat football team some touchdowns. They’ve averaged 30 points per game. Offensive Line Coach Rich Schimke believes the line’s wins are due to the fact that there’s a solid starting offensive line. “We also have a lot of veteran players like Elias, Jake, Jesse, and Aleksander that are diversified in what they can do,” Schimke said. The offense has an average of 174.4 rushing and 203.3 passing yards per game, according to maxpreps.com.

D : Giving it their all

Once a player has been tackled in a dog pile of football players and the pig skin been taken away from the Offensive Lineup, 11 new players run onto the field to defend the goal from the opposing team. “The emotion we play with going 100 percent every single play, because all we have to do is win one play,” junior Alec Flynn, Safety for the varsity football team, said. Defensive line coach Tim Alvord believes the defensive line is an intelligent group of guys to perform complicated plays. “We only have two weaknesses: one—we’re not big; and two—we’re not as fast as we’d like to be,” Alvord said.

— Megan Rodrigues, News Co- Editor

RIVAL GAME: A-town Nov. 12 This year the annual battle between Bearcat and Hound is being held in the dog cage at the Greyhound’s home turf on Nov. 12 at 7p.m. A tie die of orange and crimson will squeeze into what once looked like a large stadium but for a rival game, fans might as well be a lion stuck in a cat carrier. PRHS so far this season has 4-0 and is first in league . AHS has 3-1 and is currently second in league. State rankings has PRHS at 86 in state and AHS at 61 in state. If PRHS were to beat the hounds, it would mean a jump to the 50s in state rankings and a victory in the Hounds’ domain.

—Torey Wise, Sports Co-Editor

Senior Scott Plescia, one of four team captains, and safety on the field, has proved to be an essential player, with three interceptions. Wearing number 32 and standing at 5’10,” Plescia focuses his energy in the fall on football and baseball in spring. As a Safety, his job is to help the Corner Backs on Defense and cover the Recievers. For this job a player needs speed and intimidation. As a Kick Returner, he has proven himself worthy, returning two kicks for touchdowns this season. His favorite moment on the field so far was “the clutch stop versus St. Joe on fourth down to win the game.”

—Josh Orcutt, Sports Co-Editor

Volleyball

Travis Martinus Offensive Lineman

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Martinus, one of varsity ’s starting Offensive Lineman, intimidates most opponents by sheer size alone. Being strong enough to squat over twice the average teenager's weight-500 lbs to be exact-doesn't mean the 6’0” senior is not smart.

Participating in football, wrestling and track and field as well, Martinus, number 65, still manages to maintain over a 4.0 GPA. As an Offensive Lineman Martinus’ job on the field is to make sure his teammate with the football does not get hit.

Essentially, Martinus’ goal on the field is to “Pancake Block” and drive the defensive lineman back and open up a hole for the running back to go through. Martinus’ favorite moment this season was in the game against Pioneer Valley. He and fellow teammate junior Colby Kearns pushed forward and landed atop a 5’5” PV player. ”His head bounced off of my chest and the ground a couple times. I felt like I had just killed a boy,” Martinus said.

—Paul Cleland, Opinion Co-Editor

GAME SPOTLIGHT: Bearcats plucked Eagles 10/28

The varsity football team traveled to Arroyo Grande High School to play against the AG Eagles Friday, Oct. 28. Bearcats led in the first half with a total of 14 points while the Eagles only possessed 10 TDs. After half time, the Eagles tried to gain more touchdowns. As the Eagles’ Offensive Line sped down the field towards their goal, they were met by the Bearcat’s Defensive Line. With 20 seconds left on the clock and four downs on the fifth yard line, AG Eagles threw the ball into the end zone. If the TD was made, Eagles would have won, but Bearcat’s sophomore safety Kevin Garcia batted the ball down in to end the game. Bearcats won 14-10.

—Megan Rodrigues, News Co- Editor

Photos by Torey Wise.

St. Joseph

Pioneer Valley

Arroyo Grande

Righetti

Atascadero

21-20 W

35-10 W

14-10 W

November 5

November 12

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Paso Robles High School

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Bearcats show spirit on and off the court

Sports

Girls varsity volleyball team is tied for first in league

by Alicia Canales, Managing Editor

ACE!: Senior Tess Roundtree looks to ace the serve in a 3-0 win vs. Pioneer Valley on Oct. 14.

Photo by Alicia Canales

Football Next Page ...

Sweat dripped down the PRHS girls varsity volleyball players’ faces as the third match started against San Luis Obispo High School Tigers for the first position in league on Thursday, Oct. 21. Bearcats needed this win as they had lost 22-25 and 21-25 in the first two matches.

Fans, ranging from the shirtless PRHS boys varsity water polo team to the varsity football team to supportive Bearcat and Tiger parents, overflowed t h e PRHS gym bleachers. Both teams played hard, transforming the ball into a white blur zooming across the court; they tied on 4, 6, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, and 24.

While the players battled on the court, the two groups of fans clashed against each other in spirit.

During a time out, an elderly tiger mascot jogged across the gym to be met by yelling on the crimson side. Not to be outmatched, senior and varsity football player Devon Lambert took a Crimson jersey and ran across also. As Bearcats had the lead 24-22, the polo boys chanted “uno mas!” while parents yelled for the girls to stay focused. Bearcats won 26-24.

However, the lady Bearcats lost the fourth match 1725 and took second in league—until they annihilated Arroyo Grande High School (again) on Thursday, Oct. 28. Triumphant victories against rival schools such as Atascadero High School and AGHS, a high league position, supportive fans, and lots of laughter composed the overall volleyball season.

The lady Bearcats have had an 10-2 league season as.

They lost to SLOHS 0-3 on Sept. 28 and 1-3 on Oct. 21.

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The glittery gridiron

League Champs!!!

The girls varsity volleyball team beat Righetti on Nov. 4, solidifing their standing as co-league champions with San Luis Obispo High School.

Schools they defeated include Righetti 3-0 twice; Pioneer Valley 3-0 twice; Morro Bay 3-0; Atascadero 3-0 and 3-1; St. Joseph 3-0 and 3-1; Arroyo Grande 3-1 and 3-0; and Mission Prep 3-1 and 3-2.

Bearcats creamed the AHS Greyhounds on Sept. 23 at PRHS and on Oct. 19 at the Greyhounds’ home court. Beating the Eagles on their court “was a huge milestone,” according to varsity coach Terry Gutierrez. Bearcats were the second team to beat AGHS, who had an undefeated league record since 2005. “[My reaction] was ‘Hell yes! We beat AG! Suck it AG!’” senior and back row player Paige Dana said, whose serving percentage was 86.7.

Their second game against each other determined who would tie for first in league with SLOHS. Bearcats crushed the Eagles again 25-22, 25-23, and 25-19 on Oct. 28. This knocked AGHS down to third in league.

“I was really pleased with the girls. They seemed motivated and excited because they knew what was on the line. We just came out and served well and passed well. We had really good offense and made AGHS work hard and they’re a good team,” Gutierrez said.

However, this season wasn’t just focused on becoming first in league—although that was the main goal. The girls also made memories whether it was building friendships, supporting each other at games, or having pasta lunches with the boys varsity water polo team on game days.

In the beginning of the season, the girls did bonding activities such as laid back swimming competitions and team

lunches, according to Dana. Senior and team captain Krista Broderick stated the team is very close now.

“We’re all best friends. We’re a very weird team… but it’s funny. And it’s something to look forward to every day in practice or games. [It’s] just a good atmosphere to be around,” Broderick said, who had 122 digs and has played on varsity since her freshman year.

Keeping that positive atmosphere on the court is crucial, according to senior and team captain Tess Rountree.

“If one person is down, the rest of the team slowly follows and is ‘Oh I don’t want to play.’ But if someone is ‘Yeah! Let’s go!’ everyone will be in that mood and play better,” Rountree said, who had 679 attacks and 266 kills this season.

The boys varsity water polo team, who’ve had a 8-3 season thus far, helped maintain that positive energy. Continuing the three year tradition, they showed up at five home volleyball games with their chests painted spelling out “Let’s go Bearcats!”

Volleyball players also went to four polo games to cheer on the boys.

“They come to support us so we come to support them. It’s fun to cheer for them, and it’s fun to watch,” sophomore and varsity water polo player Sam Grocott said.

Senior and team captain Spencer Silva, who made 53 goals in the season, led the polo team’s chants like “Come on Cats!” and “Paso! You know!” The liveliness level stayed up at every game they attended. “[The water polo team coming] pumps me up. When they walk in, everyone’s just like ‘Yes!’ Everyone’s pumped and [thinking] ‘I can’t screw up now, the water polo team is here,’” junior and two year varsity player Kellie Reynolds said.

Reynolds had 428 assists.

At the last game of the season, PRHS crushed RHS 3-0 and became league champs along with San Luis Obispo High School.

“They’ve put a lot of hard work, time, and effort this season,” Gutierrez said.

Formerly flagged-down by district, Powder Puff is back

by Emily Cone, Opinion Co-Editor

READY? BREAK!: The team huddles to call a play. The first game was on Nov. 8.

Photo by Emily Cone

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Powder Puff football is back after taking a year off Yes, the glitter, the girls, and the grabbing of flags has been reinstated at PRHS. Powder Puff football consists of a single flag-football game where the women of PRHS play against each other. Classes compete for bragging rights and, of course, for fun.

Senior Torey Wise, who played Powder Puff her sophomore year, noticed its absence, and decided to try and bring the tradtiton back.

“I was really disappointed that nobody was continuing it, so I took things into my own hands and decided to organize a team for this year,” Wise said, one of the approximately 50 senior girls signed up to play.

The one-day Powder Puff palooza proved harder to get started than first expected, though. The district was afraid of a

female flag-athlete injury, because of a girl getting injured in 1996. They backed away from the event last year, and weren’t quite ready to jump back into the ring.

Wise cleared all things with Leadership, Athletic Director Mark Rose, and finally got the seal of approval from Randy Nelson and the district.

Powder Puff is more than just a game to many female PRHS students. It’s a ritual that, promotes unity and school spirit, according to Wise “It’s just a lot of fun, and everyone gets really into it. I think we really missed out on not having last year,” junior Kellie Reynolds said, who is doing her second year of Powder Puff.

“I’m looking forward to seeing everybody having fun, hyping up the game and saying ‘we’re gonna beat you.’ I don’t want anyone’s feelings to be hurt, but I want it to be competitive, and definitely bragging Paso Robles High School

rights are fun. Keep it big, I want a lot of people to come.”

The football team is just as eager to get into the action. “I think we’re a little too excited; I think we’re gonna have too much fun with this,” said junior David Katz, who is helping coach the junior girls.

Wise said approximately 140 girls signed up to play, 30 per class, with the senior class having 50 girls signed up. Currently 81 girls are still signed up but Wise feels that’s still a “pretty strong number.”

Whoosh!: Junior Stacey Beattie winds up and looks for her reciever during practice Photo by Emily Cone

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Fun and Gangs

Don’t mix blue and red An in-depth look into the Sureno and Norteno gang conflict

by Aryn Fields,

A&E Editor

*The names have been changed.

Everyone knows the Bloods, the Crypts, and the KKK. However a more local gang conflict looms over PRHS: the Surenos, who affiliate with the South, and the Nortenos, who affiliate with the North. Paso Robles lies in Sureno territory; so when one student started claiming Norteno, it stirred up some trouble.

The faculty is aware Sureno colors are blue and Norteno colors are red. When counselor Xelina Rojas drove to PRHS in early October and saw two boys flying Norteno colors, she knew that something was going to happen that day.

“I saw two boys with red shirts, red caps, and red tennis shoes. Later that day I heard those boys were Norteno affiliated and they came onto campus to intimidate students wearing blue which is the opposing gang Sureno’s color,” Rojas said.

After this incident the Norteno and Sureno conflict only began to grow. The recent gang activity was reportedly caused by a transferred student who’s a known Norteno [Kent]. The student showed up the first day of school flying the northern gang colors and when a Sureno student [Andre] approached him, their two friends got involved.

Two of them were claiming Norteno and the other two claiming Sureno according to head of discipline Ed Brown.

Before a fight could ensue Brown came onto the scene and removed all four students. Throughout the week of Oct 5-8 Kent and Andre kept trying to fight. But Brown was always one step ahead.

“No fights occurred; it was the two boys coming at each other from different angles. But I got to them every time before a fight started,” Brown said. “ The kid claimed Norteno but there’s no way he was a real gang member, but if a real one came onto campus that would cause some serious trouble. Once we had a couple of real Norteno kids come onto campus and beat up a Sureno student.”

Members of a gang or even students, who affiliate with a known gang, keep quiet, according to Brown. Some students on campus are involved or claim to be a part of a gang. What happened between Kent and Andre into the light brought the Norteno and Sureno affiliates.

“I was wearing red and the other kid wanted to fight because I was wearing Norteno colors. He was claiming Sureno, but I was friends with all of his friends so he knew that I wasn’t really in Norteno,” Kent said. “But he kept saying ‘Do you want to go? I’ll mess you up!’ so I started yelling at him but then Brown came and pulled away one of the kids claiming Sureno. Then I was in his office and started cussing him out. I got suspended.”

However, Andre recalls the opposite happening. He reported that Kent was claiming San Jose and the North territories, and that Kent started the conflict over his blue shirt. Both student pins the blame on the rivaling gang; the only matching part to

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Snap... shots egaP txeN

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I saw two boys with red shirts, red caps, and red tennis shoes. Later that day I heard those boys were Norteno affiliated and they came onto campus to intimidate students wearing blue which is the opposing gang Sureno’s color.” each of their testimonies is that Brown pulled a student out of the ensuing fight.

Even though the students weren’t real Nortenos and Surenos it doesn’t belittle the fact that gang members do attend PRHS. Being a member in a gang is not only dangerous to others—but to each member of the gang, according to Brown.

“Once you’re in the gang, they do what’s called ‘jumping in.’ Most students here have never been ‘jumped in’. But some students here have definitely been ‘jumped in.’ Being jumped in is when the whole gang beats the snot out of you to test if you’re tough,” said Brown. “And if a kid realizes he doesn’t want to be in a gang, then you have to be ‘jumped out.’ That’s where it gets seriously dangerous; some times kids are beaten to death when they ‘jump out.’”

The Sureno and Norteno student both agreed this problem is now long behind them and that the “gang activity” at PRHS will be put to an end—at least for awhile.

Rojas and Brown are committed to making sure gang activity and bullying in general is put to a stop at PRHS. Rojas is currently in collaboration with YWAP and Peer Communications to create another Week of Welcome that occurred three years ago. Also the clubs are trying to create a “challenge day” to bring the campus closer together. But whether or not challenge day will happen is still up in the air, according to the YWAP president.

Now that the most current Norteno and Sureno issue was put to rest, the Students Against Violence [SAVE] club are focusing on putting all school bullying to rest.

November 12 Paso Robles High School

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A look into the lives of PRHS Bearcats Red Ribbon Week: (left): Jeanne Neely’s Advanced Peer students went to Bauer Speck Elementary School to inform students on the perils of drug-abuse.

Bittersweet Farewell (below): PRHS varsity girls volleyball seniors Krista Brodrick, Alyssa Torres, Tess Rountree, Jennifer Hernandez, Paige Dana, and Sheridan Cook were recognized before their victory against Arroyo Grande High School.

Breathe Easy Friday (bottom right): On Oct. 29, BCASE and other students rode their bicycles to school and ate free pizza at lunch, a step toward a green Earth.

RAW CRAZE (above): Macey Goodnow, PRHS Drama teacher, worked the runway at the costume fashion show in celebration of Halloween.

POLO FURY (right): Senior Austin McCall, along with the varsity boys water polo team, beat Arroyo Grande High School for the first time in Coach McRoy’s fifteen-year career.

COMMANDER BEARKITTEN (middle): Young Bearcats went trick-or-treating to classrooms throughout school campus on Oct 29, visiting many of their future classes.

-Kim Boswell, photo essay editor photos by Emily Cone, Erin Joseph, Nick Van Wiggeren , Carly McCall, Monica Patel, and Kim Boswell

Crimson 11.10.10

Paso Robles High School

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