Volume 49, Issue 7, April 10, 2019

Volume XLIX Issue VII Monta Vista High School

!"#$%&'(# April 2019

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7#1%(.#$ 86 The stories teachers don’t tell you )#*$ +, FUHS Foundation hosts annual spring fundraiser for FUHSD schools

&-5)5&) +6 How we can change our social interactions for the better

12# 34 The MVHS students with unorthodox pets: chickens

$-&.%$ /0 How sneaker culture has influenced sports at MVHS

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NEWS MONEY TALKS THE VETERAN TALK RECENT AWARDS FOR MVHS

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OPINION THE BIGGER PICTURE THE FRIENDS WE OVERLOOK AUTHENTIC APPRECIATION WE ONLY MAKE SMALL TALK

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“CLIMATE” CHANGE DUMMY DIALOGUE

FEATURES JESSICA KAUFMAN: TURNING HIM DOWN NORMA ABARCA: A QUICK FLASH JULIE CHOI: A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE MELISSA WRIGHT: THE TWILIGHT PARTY DAVID CLARKE: SPIRALING IN LOVE

A&E DEAR HAPPINESS MARVEL VS. DC

SPORTS DON’T QUIT ON ME CONFLICTING COMMITMENT

PLAYING IN STYLE ATHLETE OF THE MONTH: EVELYN HOW

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THE FOUNDATION

10 38 ‘INTO THE WOODS’ 34 FEATHERED FRIENDS

28 554-MILE JOURNEY

ONE LAST RUN

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!"#$%&'(# 21840 McClellan Road Cupertino, CA 95014 mv.el.estoque@gmail.com

Editors-in-chief: Rana Aghababazadeh, Roshan Fernandez Managing editors: Helen Chao, Ruth Feng, Gauri Kaushik Copy editors: Charlotte Chui, Robert Liu, Claire Wen News editors: Sunjin Chang, Lakshanyaa Ganesh, Jasmine Lee, Andrea Perng Sports editors: Ankit Gupta, Rajas Habbu, Sreya Kumar, Anish Vasudevan Entertainment editors: Alyssa Hui, Hannah Lee, Jahan Razavi, Emily Xia Opinion editors: Zara Iqbal, Stuti Upadhyay, Brian Xu, Claire Yang Features editors: Claire Chang, Shuvi Jha, Swara Tewari, Jai Uparkar Beats editors: Oishee Misra, Chelsea Wong Design editor: Sara Entezar Business manager: Zara Iqbal PR editor: Sunjin Chang Graphics editor: Sarah Young Visuals editors: Justine Ha, Rajas Habbu, Herman Saini, Rucha Soman Web editor: Collin Qian Staff writers: Ayah Ali-Ahmad, Tyler Cho, Shivani Gupta, Elena Khan, Laasya Koduru, Tina Low, Iman Malik, Tabitha Mendez, Kamyar Moradi, Brandon Ng, Flora Peng, Dhruvika Randad, Keshav Taneja, Ishani Singh, Julia Yang, Annie Zhang Adviser: Julia Satterthwaite Mission Statement El Estoque is an open forum created for and by students of Monta Vista High School.

Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and not of MVHS or the Fremont Union High School District.

The staff seeks to recognize individuals, events and ideas and bring news to the MVHS community in a manner that is professional, unbiased and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately, and we will correct any significant error. If you believe such an error has been made, please contact us. Letters of any length should be submitted via email or mail. They may be edited for length or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion. We also reserve the right to reject advertising due to space limitations or decision of the Editorial Board that content of the advertisement conflicts with the mission of the publication.

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

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hree years ago when we first met our new El Estoque adviser, we asked her if she had a nickname that was easier to say than Mrs. Sat-earth-wait.

“Well, the kids at my old school called me JSatt,” she said. We laughed because “JSatt” sounded like “PSAT” or “LSAT” — the name of another daunting standardized test.

Though she is a Michigander at heart, we took it upon ourselves to immerse her in Cupertino culture within her first few months in California. During our summer journalism camp, we decided to introduce her to boba, or so we thought. She was, and still is, revolted by boba.

But it was with her first taste of boba and our time with her in as part of the journalism program that we started to think of her as more than just our teacher who provides grades — but rather as a friend who we feel comfortable around.

We feel comfortable ranting about our struggles to stay awake during our history class or disappointment at a failed math test. We feel comfortable telling her about arguments with our parents or asking her for relationship advice, and even what it was like to have kids. And because of this, it wasn’t long before she started to share with us as well.

During our infamous late nights, she occasionally brings her husband (a.k.a.

RSatt), and her two boys, Micah and Jonah, who we even babysat once. We know about Jonah’s obsession with Imagine Dragons and how Micah got kicked out of daycare. For journalism bonding over February break, the outgoing and incoming managing teams planned a LaserQuest trip. To our surprise, and her own, JSatt placed 14th out of 30 people, beating several of our staff members on her first LaserQuest trip ever.

As student journalists, we inevitably have issues with dissatisfied or concerned sources, readers and administrators. She stands by our side when we have problems, and it is with JSatt’s guidance and persistence that we are able to solve them. Her personality meets at the corner of professionalism, understanding and sympathy for each individual she interacts with, especially teenagers. The combination of these qualities allows us to include her in every debate and problem we encounter, knowing that we’ll be heard and that we’d receive the advice we needed — or just have someone who’ll listen.

Three years later, we not only see her as a friend, but as a real person with real experiences and real compassion.

That’s not to say that we think of every teacher the way we think of JSatt. But teachers are more than just educators — they’re people too. Starting on page 25, reporters Claire Chang, Sara Entezar, Ruth Feng, Kamyar Moradi, Jai Uparkar and Julia Yang explore the human stories of six MVHS teachers, particularly some of their craziest experiences.

We’re programmed to think teachers are dull people, but they go home each day, just as we do, to their families, roommates, loved ones, pets. One thing we’ve learned about JSatt is how much she values time with her family — both her biological one and her EE family.

After the last day of school, and after the door of A111 closes behind us, we’ll finally be able to friend JSatt on Facebook and continue to share our experiences with our teacher and friend.

COVER ILLUSTRATION | SARA ENTEZAR

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EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

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THe VETERAn TALK American Studies project features interviews with veterans STORY AND PHOTOS BY ROSHAN FERNANDEZ AND ANISH VASUDEVAN

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very year towards the end of February, the American Studies class, comprised of roughly 50 juniors, creates a video on a certain veteran’s war stories. On the day of their interviews, the students have a breakfast with the veterans where they introduce themselves and the veterans share scrapbooks or artifacts they have from their time in the war (bottom center). After this short meeting the students head over to classrooms with their veterans to conduct interviews. In the videos veterans reflected on their exprience in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Junior Shreya Ganapathy explains that interviewing veterans helps students see war in a different light since they hear about real life experiences. “[The project] was really interesting because we got to hear about experiences from the war from someone who actually experienced it verses hearing about it from a video of someone who is talking about the topic or from a book where it’s probably exaggerated,” Ganapathy said.

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According to American Studies teacher Cody Owens, who organized the event along with Vennessa Nava and Diana Goularte, another benefit of the project is that students gain insightful experience on military life. Since most students with immigrant parents don’t have family in the armed forces, he describes it as a unique opportunity.

“For me, I have a bunch of uncles that served, brothers served, cousins served, so I get a little bit more of that connection,” Owens said. “[The students] probably never interact with veterans or people who served in the armed forces..T his is the one project that we probably have the most positive response to. I’ve had two students who enlisted in the armed forces and they talked to me about how it impacted them, so I think it’s nice to see a long-term impact by a project instead of just something that just gets forgotten.”

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RECENT AWARDS FOR MVHS 2019 CALIFORNIA DISTINGUISHED SCHOOL

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VHS received the 2019 California Distinguished School award on Feb. 25, which, according to the California Department of Education, is only given to a select number of schools whose “outstanding education programs and practices” have been recognized. The award holds prestige, and also comes with an intriguing background. In the past, the award alternated between high schools one year and middle or elementary schools the following year. However, with the FUHSD curriculum transition to Common Core, the award was temporarily put on hold because there was no longer a significant amount of data that was common to all schools.

Recently, with the return of statewide assessments such as the the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) and California Science Test (CAST) tests, schools once again have enough data to become eligible for the award. This is the first year that the award has returned — MVHS received it in 2014 and was ineligible until now. The criteria spans test scores, suspension rates, expulsion rates, truancy and chronic absenteeism.

MVHS was selected as one of the schools eligible to apply for the California Distinguished School Award in February 2019, after which schools are given a couple weeks to fill out a one-page application that explains what distinguishes it from others in the district. The MVHS application focused on one main idea: FUHSD’s belief in a culture of collaboration and making decisions together as a team. Most prominently, this

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was clear through the Professional Learning Community’s (PLC) meetings that take place on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

MVHS’ application included three main points about extensive collaboration: staff teamwork, assisting struggling students and student wellness.

Staff teamwork: MVHS provided an example where all staff — not just teachers — are invited to work on implementing new changes together and do an activity known as “fist of five.” Here, before coming to a consensus on a particular plan, everyone votes. Their vote would be either a fist, symbolizing disagreement, or one to five fingers, symbolizing the degree to which they support the idea. The people with fists are given priority to voice their opinions and after further discussion, another vote is taken. This strategy has proven quite successful, as the percentage of final agreement is generally around 90 percent.

Assisting struggling students: For MVHS staff, the term “struggling students” was used to define students who were earning D’s and F’s, causing both graduation and A through G course eligibility concerns. To combat this issue, teachers agreed to be very direct with students while assisting with their learning, as well as contact parents to make sure they are informed. Additionally, the three tutorials implemented this year have been beneficial, providing more time for staff to interact with these students oneon-one.

Student Wellness: This year, in addition to previous policies such as no homework

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California Distinguished School

National Blue Ribbon School

MVHS is recognized as a California Distinguished School by the Calfornia Department of Education for the first time. Awards were based on student academic success and school culture

MVHS is recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2008 due to overall student academic excellence.

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

over breaks, staff agreed to be more explicit about homework. Hypothetically, making a conscious effort to let students know what the homework is and when it’s due would help with time management issues. Also, although yet to be implemented, some staff members have displayed interest in creating a wellness center for students to go to during their free time or for planned wellness activities.

MVHS representatives will be heading down to Anaheim, Calif., at the beginning of April to receive its award from the state superintendent. Clausnitzer says that this award is high praise of everyone in the MVHS community because it illustrates the strong, foundational knowledge of students, as well as the teachers’ willingness to design learning experiences that supplement it.

This year, only three high schools in Santa Clara County — Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy, MVHS and LHS — were awarded the Distinguished School award, and this is an achievement Clausnitzer hopes everyone in the community is proud of. “[The Distinguished School Award] also speaks to our culture in terms of we don’t have high suspension rates, we have students making good decisions, feeling comfortable in terms of coming to school,” Clausnitzer said. “Chronic absenteeism, we have low rates of [that]. When you put it all together, I think it speaks highly [of] students, parents and staff.”

2012 California Distinguished School MVHS recieves its second California Distinguished School award by the California Department of Education.

MVHS receives California Distinguished School and APCSP Female Diversity awards

BY LAASYA KODURU AND OISHEE MISRA

APCSP FEMALE DIVERSITY AWARD

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or the first time in 10 years, MVHS received the College Board’s AP Computer Science Female Diversity award for its high female student representation in 2018. MVHS was one of 685 high schools nationwide to receive this prestigious honor.

AP Computer Science Principles teacher Debbie Frazier says this is an incredible achievement, given the award’s reputation and uniqueness. She believes the award is a stepping stone to an increase in female representation, in not only the school’s computer science electives, but also the realworld computer science workforce.

“I am just so impressed that they were noticing,” Frazier said. “This is something [I’ve] personally [strived] for ever since I’ve been teaching at MVHS. It’s nice to be recognized by a huge organization like that.”

For many years, the CS courses at MVHS have had an extensive focus on programming, but Frazier believes programming encompasses only a part of computer science. This view is shared by sophomore Anokhi Shah, who is currently in AP CSP and took Java her freshman year.

“I took Java last year, but I didn’t really like the whole syntax part of it and I wanted to go beyond just Java,” Shah said. “I didn’t want to just code — I wanted to learn more than coding. [In APCSP], most of the time, we are just focusing on logic, though it is a lot of how to implement logic and algorithms in real life and software.”

Before implementing the course at MVHS, Frazier worked extensively with the

school district in order to design the APCSP curriculum, as well as another course called Digital Innovations, which is now offered at other high schools.

“We really did design it with an eye towards diversity,” Frazier said. “We were thinking about different genders, different ethnic backgrounds, different educational backgrounds too, so it was a challenge.”

Through these classes, Frazier hopes to show the student body that computer science is not based solely on programming, but also on art, design and applications.

Ever since the course was implemented on campus, there has been an increase in female involvement in CS electives.

Previously, the sole AP CS course was called AP CS Applications, which emphasizes programming, and there was low gender diversity — Frazier estimates that it was approximately a three to one male to female ratio. In contrast, APCSP is more female dominated, and has the opposite ratio — around a three to one female to male ratio.

The transition from a male-dominated course to one with greater female representation can change one’s perspective.

For Shah, her experiences in Java and AP CSP have differed greatly, owing to what she says was the segregation of genders in Java versus an emphasis on diverse collaboration in AP CSP. “I did expect there to be more boys [in AP CSP],” Shah said. “In AP CS A, there were more boys and I thought it was going to be the same for AP CSP. It did surprise me that there were an equal amount of boys

and girls.”

Frazier believes that a factor that led to more female recruits for this course was her change in promotion strategies.

Beginning last year, during the Course Information Fair, Frazier requested that current APCSP students talk to other students about their experience. In addition, she recruited some students to give a short presentation in other teachers’ classes. She believes that this personalized strategy was less anxiety-provoking for everyone since it emphasized student-tostudent interactions and as a result, led to higher enrollment rates.

As far as to why a female-dominated environment works well for her class, Frazier believes it has something to do with the altruistic nature most females tend to have.

“I think females tend to be outspoken about societal impact as we talk about it a lot in class,” Frazier said. “[But] I have seen females rock at programming and males rock at designing social solutions, so I think it is dangerous to stereotype, but I think it is awesome that many people are interested in the class.” e

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National Blue Ribbon School

US News Gold Medal Award

California Distinguished School

MVHS is recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2014 due to overall student academic excellence. This year, only three high schools in the state of California were given this award.

MVHS ranked #13 in California, #121 nationally and #7 in the National STEM rankings, according to a report published by U.S... News.

MVHS recieves a California Distinguished School award from the California Department of Education.

This award is given to only a select number of schools with outstanding achievement.

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THE FOUNDATION District-wide organization hosts annual fundraising event STORY AND PHOTOS BY RANA AGHABABAZADEH

THE FOUNDATION

At the dawn of senior year and constantly throughout the college application process, many seniors use Naviance to estimate their chances of getting into a college. This scavenging often consists of zooming in on scatter plots that show results of decisions from previous years. But there’s a reason that students have access to this online tool that allows them to view the reported acceptances, rejections and waitlists of their favorite schools.

The Fremont Union High School (FUHS) Foundation aims to support more than 11,000 students who attend FUHSD schools. Independent of the district itself, the organization raises funds and distributes them among the five schools, catering to different activities, classes, departments and clubs, including Naviance. The STEM class, for example, provides opportunities for students to compete in science fairs and is also partially funded by the Foundation.

Other campus funding includes Robotics competition fees, which range from $3,000 to $4,000 per year, supplies for Theater Arts and an Injury Cooling Unit that provides active cold and compression therapy for athletes in the athletic trainer’s room.

Teachers are also invited to submit grant requests for certain activities they’d like in

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their classrooms or for a club they advise.

At the district level, the Foundation funds services like Schoolloop, as well as the Annual FUHSD Spring Art Show, which will be held at Vallco Mall from April 15-17 this year.

Such funding comes from various sources, but according to co-president of the Foundation Loy Oppus-Moe, most of it comes from parent donations. Parents are asked to donate $400 per student, usually at the start of the school year. However, OppusMoe understands that not all families are in the position or have the incentive to donate, and so one of the Foundation’s challenges is to communicate its values to the community to persuade more families to donate.

For Oppus-Moe, part of that value is supporting the enhancement of quality education. One of her motivations for joining the Foundation was the benefit her own kids received from their school. Her son was involved in track, so she sought to donate to Athletic Boosters. Starting out as a member of the Parent Teacher Student Association, Oppus-Moe decided to join the Foundation as a way to contribute to the educational community after her children graduated from MVHS. “It’s a nice way to still continue to be

involved with the community because I have four kids, and they’ve all benefited from the great education as MVHS,” Oppus-Moe said. “It’s a nice way to give back.”

Aside from parent donations, the Foundation hosts fundraising events, such as the crab feed, co-sponsored by and held at De Anza College. Though the crab feed was successful for nearly 10 years, OppusMoe felt that it was not the most practical way to fundraise, given the large number of vegetarians in the area and the difficult nature of eating crab. As an alternative this year, the Foundation decided to host an 80’s-themed Spring Fling.

THE SPRING FLING

On March 29, Cupertino residents, parents, school administrators and students gathered at the new De Anza Campus center for a night of watching performances, dancing, auctioning and learning about the local schools’ programs. Co-sponsored

by De Anza College, the purpose of the event was to showcase district projects and programs. Members of clubs and programs that the Foundation sponsors spoke at booths, informing the public about their programs. These programs included Bay Area Youth Career Opportunities (BAYCO),

MVHS assistant principal Mike White and Vice President of the Foundation Hung Wei host the donation admistration, offering wine to donors of $500.

Part of the fundraising efforts at the Spring Fling involved live and silent auctions. Prizes included wine packages as well as vacation packages.

Homestead HS’ Bhangra team performs at the Spring Fling. Other performances included Lynbrook HS’ Deewani, LHS theater and MV Song.

Lynbrook HS’ robotics team (also known as the Funky Monkeys), journalism, MVHS STEM and FUHSD athletics.

At the Spring Fling, MVHS STEM student and sophomore Jordan Naddaf spoke about her project involving the effects of an increased zinc concentration in the air on the sense of smell of fruit flies. The Foundation provides a base of $50 for each student.

Naddaf says that this amount sufficiently covered basic materials such as beakers and petri dishes. The Foundation also provides the teacher’s salary, science teacher Renee Fallon, for the STEM period. Despite her initial worries of succeeding in the STEM class, Naddaf is grateful to be able to learn the steps to create her own project through the class, as well as being able to share her experience at the event.

“It feels pretty nice to be able to represent STEM in general,” Naddaf said. “You have an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into something like this.”

In addition, construction activities

at each of the five FUHSD schools were showcased. Each school underwent some level of construction in the last few years, such as a new library at Homestead HS and a two-story building with state-of-the-art science classrooms at Cupertino HS. For entertainment, various student groups, not funded by the Foundation, performed at the event, including Homestead Bhangra, LHS Deewani and MV song. LHS’ theater arts group performed “Be Our Guest” from their musical “Beauty and the Beast.”

The Spring Fling held live and silent auctions, offering exquisite prizes such as trips to Hawaii, Lake Tahoe and Carmel, a Star One Helicopter Ride and tickets to a Golden State Warriors game. Oppus-Moe hoped that people would simply enjoy the event but also learn about the activities of the Foundation and the clubs and organizations across the five high schools. For further fundraising, MVHS assistant principal Mike White and Foundation Vice President Hung

Wei asked for donations up to $15,000. Many silent auctions were also being held for wine packages and other items.

Oppus-Moe hoped that the event would spark engagement with the Foundation’s mission, not just from potential donors, but students who can also volunteer and be part of the Foundation’s marketing team, invite stores and restaurants to donate to auctions or become sponsors, or simply volunteer at events like the Spring Fling. She also believes that companies want their employees to be involved with their community and are potential sponsors for communal activities their employees care about.

“You’re involved with the whole community — not just your child but other people’s children,” Oppus-Moe said. “At the district-level, you go even broader, so now we’re supporting FUHSD kids, all kids, not just MVHS. We are all one community and we elevate everybody that way.” e

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MVHS students reflect on increasing trends of desensitivity to gun violence

BY SUNJIN CHANG AND LAKSHANYAA GANESH

PHOTO | SUNJIN CHANG

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WE’VE STARTED TO ADJUST OURSELVES TO TOLERATE, [AND] THIS IS OUR REALITY. Senior Catherine Hou

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early 1,995 mass shootings have occured in America between the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in December of 2014 and April 1, 2019, Vox reports. America’s rate of mass shootings has been on the rise as many believe that the level of interest and response in the American population towards these events is declining as the years tick by. This same catastrophe fatigue can be reflected in the MVHS community as well.

Senior Catherine Hou credits the decreasing student interest to a lack of action and change from legislators and people with federal power. Due to the frequency of these shootings, she believes that the conversation has begun to die down, and change at the grassroots level isn’t amounting to any kind of substantial progress. Hou relates this to a quote she remembers reading: “What was once intolerable becomes tolerable, once there is the promise of an escape.”

“I think right now, we don’t think there’s going to be any change,” Hou said. “Because of that, we’ve started to adjust ourselves to tolerate, [and] this is our reality.”

English teacher Vennessa Nava also notes the role that violence in forms of entertainment and fiction play in this desensitivity to gun violence. She believes that guns have long been a symbol of American power, and throughout history many forms of entertainment have relied on the archetype of cowboys and powerful, masculine energies that tote guns as a symbol of dominance, and thus glorifies the act of violence.

“We love gangster movies and all these American traditions of guns being central to the kinds of power exercised,” Nava said.

“Because of this, you can’t divorce this sense of guns being glorified in fictional depictions and the way people decide to use them.”

In regards to the most recent publicized mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, senior Esther Jeong has noticed a

shift in discussions about shootings, whether it be the media’s portrayal of the event or normal, everyday discussions.

“Before, there was more of a focus on legislation we should enact to limit gun right laws and stuff like that,” Jeong said.

“For the more recent one, since the shooter seemed to be so focused on getting his name known through the shooting, there’s more talk about how we can cover this event respectfully and not talk about the shooter’s name.”

Junior Elvis Lang also credits the lack of active interest to the amount of coverage acts of violence have on the news. He reflects on the acts of active protests that occured at MVHS just last year after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, and the shift to just a year later, where he notes that shootings don’t play as large of a part in discussions anymore.

“When we had the walkout, that had a huge reaction, and we got a lot of people being active and trying to eliminate mass shootings,” Lang said. “But then [the shootings] keep happening, and people stopped caring, and the momentum and following of the movement got lost.”

With the large number of shootings occurring in the United States, a shooting outside of the boundaries of the U.S. may have caused the rise of shocked discussions, both in the school community and the global arena. Like many others, junior Sam Ward believes that the desensitization towards shootings is typically toward those that occur in the U.S., purely because of the high frequency of gun violence.

“When something doesn’t happen a lot, there’s a lot more emphasis,” Ward said.

“Like the New Zealand one, the prime minister wanted to put more laws in place regarding assault rifles, and that’s because that doesn’t really happen there so there’s more of an emphasis. In America, it’s more of just an argument, where there’s two sides, you’re either on this side or that side.”

Lang agrees that gun violence has become a hot topic for debate among a variety of politicians to push agendas and campaigns. He notes that once people actually get elected, no progressive legislation is passed, and thus, no tangible progress has been made.

“We already have a lot of laws regarding guns but this violence still happens,” Lang said. “I don’t know what we could do without restricting freedoms in the Constitution.”

Though finding out about the attacks and incidents is discouraging, Ward believes that people are also desensitized to the problem because they find it hard to empathize with the victims. While Ward sympathizes for the victims and their families, she finds herself quickly moving on from the tragedy. To her, the true gravity of the situation and pain is hard to feel and visualize, as she says she has never had personal experience with any tragedy even close to a shooting.

“You can sympathize, but you can’t really do anything — it’s more about empathy,” Ward said. “Because I can’t really empathize, I’ve never been in that situation, people around me haven’t been shot and dropped dead right in front of me, so I can’t really relate.”

Hou understands the mindset of people who are desensitized to these attacks.

However, she doesn’t believe that just because someone is desensitized, they are also insensitive. People respond first with emotion, but once people become jaded to the realities of the shootings and acts of terrorism because of the sheer frequency of the events, they experience a hollowness that leads to desensitivity.

“I think less and less of us are taking action to stop it because we don’t think it’s within our power to change anything,” Hou said. “But I think that it’s the concept of being the change you want to see, the concept that I think that if enough of us find it within ourselves to care again, we could weave a better world.” e

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Taking too many photos prevents us from fully enjoying life

BY ROSHAN FERNANDEZ

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annot take photo. There is not enough available storage. You can manage your storage in Settings.

Many of us have seen this or a similar message pop-up on our phones.

Even for those of us who still have storage left because our camera rolls haven’t quite overflowed, the issue remains the same — in the modern age, we take too many pictures.

When we were younger, it used to be our mom telling all our friends to stand in a line and smile so she could take what felt like 86 photos. Whenever we went to a

new destination, whether it be the Golden Gate Bridge or the Empire State Building, we would spend at least 10 minutes, if not more, snapping photos of that iconic spot from every possible angle. Now that we’re older, we take out our phones at concerts, just like everyone else, to Snapchat 34 videos of the performers singing today’s top hits as the crowd goes wild. At sports events, we spend two-thirds of the game trying to film an incredible play so we can post it online.

The bottom line is that there’s no reason for us to take so many photos. We can

47% OF MVHS STUDENTS HAVE MORE THAN 1,000 PHOTOS IN THEIR CAMERA ROLL* *BASED ON A SURVEY OF 358 MVHS STUDENTS

OPINION

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Google pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State Building that were taken by professional photographers, which are likely far better than the ones we sporadically snapped. We can find videos from the concert on YouTube, in addition to the best plays of the game, carefully filmed by professionals. Obviously, the quality of their photos and videos will be better than anything we can possibly capture. Yet we still become engulfed in the prospect of trying to capture every moment — so much so that we’re missing the point. We are no longer living in the moment.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t take any pictures whatsoever — pictures are completely acceptable, but only in moderation. Of course, it’s easier to justify taking a photo of a special moment, like your friend blowing out the candles on their 18th birthday. Events like these aren’t possible to replicate after they pass, and it’s great to be able to look back on good memories. There’s no denying that re-visiting the past can bring us happiness.

But we shouldn’t go overboard. We don’t need that random picture of the whiteboard from math class, which we know we’ll never look back at, or 12 identical photos of the landscape from the time we went to Santa Cruz. We don’t need 53 pictures from a spontaneous photoshoot with our friends. Taking photos on our phone should be saved for special occasions, or meaningful moments which we know we will look back on to reminisce.

Ironically, we spend so much time taking photos, but 48% of MVHS students admit that they have no use for more than 50% of the photos in their camera roll, based on a survey of 359 students.

Instead, we should learn to soak in the moments — in real time. We should learn to appreciate what is in front of us. We should learn to understand that nothing, not even a photo, will allow us to fully relive the experience that is right in front of us. There’s no simple formula to make sure we savor every moment that life presents us with, but one thing is certain — if we’re seeing our life through a phone’s camera, we should take a hint and put the phone away. e

18%

48%

OF MVHS STUDENTS HAVE MORE THAN 3,000 PHOTOS IN THEIR CAMERA ROLL*

OF MVHS STUDENTS SAY MORE THAN HALF THEIR PHOTOS ARE ‘USELESS’ *

*BASED ON A SURVEY OF 359 MVHS STUDENTS

*BASED ON A SURVEY OF 358 MVHS STUDENTS

OPINION | APRIL 2019

15

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THE FRIENDS WE OVERLOOK

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

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16

The role of superficial friends in our day to day interactions

BY ROBERT LIU AND ANNIE ZHANG

C

an I see what you wrote for that?”

“There was so much homework last night. I barely finished. You?” “Did you have chemistry yet? Was the lab hard?”

We often find these inquiries tumbling from our lips. Classroom friends — the people who slump between the spectrum of passive strangers and friends. We think we’re close to these people, but in reality, we’re detached from their struggles. To us, these people serve as facets for us to pass our time.

When we thirst for companionship, needbased friends dart into our lives to fill our void of solitude. In the MVHS culture where people take what they want, need and don’t have — consolation, approval and affection — need-based friends are the perfect solution for catering to a person’s needs.

Need-based friends are there for us to talk to, especially when we’re alone. But these people are mere flings — they flicker on and off through our lives, never leaving lasting impact. We don’t showcase our raw self to these people as our relationship with them is often strictly need-based. Because we never sculpt genuine relationships with such “friends,” neither party is truly comfortable beyond a surface-level conversation. We often resort to meaningless small talk and avoid mentioning our personal matters.

Whether it be comparing a jumble of scores or a clutter of point markings, we’re always seeking for these people to satisfy our emotional complexes.

Examples of these “friends,” especially common at MVHS, are the flurry of students we get to know from our classes. In class, they’re our closest friends. We constantly rely on them for help when we’re confused or for humor when we’re bored. But beyond the scope of the classroom, these people are insignificant in our interpersonal lives

— these “friends,” whom we barely bat investing in relationships isn’t worth the an eye at in the hallways, are the equivalent hassle. Ultimately, the people we meet now of outsiders. From a homework helper to a will inevitably fade into blurred lines, all but gossip confidant, these acquaintances exist a muted memory. to fulfill the needs of both parties. They’re Re-inventing and preserving our the friends we overlook, the friends we dub friendships starts with expressing sympathy as “Plan B,” the friends we know but don’t and thoughtfulness for others. While say out loud: superficial friends. making lasting and authentic friendships This may lead with our needus to wonder based friends why a rift exists is achievable, between time we must take killers and priority the initiative of friends, or why being attentive to we’re unable their feelings and to treat every concerns beyond acquaintance with just academics. similar intimacy.

Authenticity is, Many of us don’t in essence, care of students believe allow ourselves — caring for need-based friends are to sidestep that their well being, important in their lives* emotional barrier; their personal instead, we tiptoe problems and *According to a survey of 344 MVHS students around discrete their happiness. wants and needs.

Investing a For students, our academic instincts sliver of ourselves in somebody else is an drive us to initiate these noncommittal embodiment of consideration; through “friendships,” whether in class or outside rebuilding emotional relations, we can begin of school. However, such a dynamic extends to unveil a person’s true persona rather than beyond educational purposes, as we breathe the shell of themselves they exhibit. each other in to satiate our asthma-like fuel While investing in lasting friendships may of need. We need someone to hold our seem difficult amid the ambitious academic hands as we’re wading into unchartered culture at MVHS, it doesn’t take much effort waters — new settings, group dynamics for us to look past our short-term stress and experiences. We need someone to and interact with our classmates as genuine relentlessly converse with. Need, need, friends through small, incremental actions to need – in a relationship like this, there may show that we care. Even small gestures like be nothing more than tugging and pulling remembering a friend’s birthday or wishing catered to our needs. them luck on a test are effective ways that The reason is simple: we care, but we we can develop deeper intimacy with them. don’t care enough. We’re too absorbed in These investments may seem costly and farour academic welfare that meddling in any fetched, but in time these sacrifices will build troubling affair which doesn’t concern our healthier relationships and can contribute to academic well-being is burdensome. To us, detoxifying MVHS culture. e

69%

OPINION | APRIL 2019

17

AUTHENTIC APPRECIATION We should give more genuine compliments

BY STUTI UPADHYAY

Y

our hair looks great. You’re so nice. You’re amazing at basketball. You’re hilarious.

Your shoes are dope.

There are an infinite number of compliments we can give — an infinite number of ways to communicate appreciation, to point out what you like or to voice your support — most of which require just a few words.

But for some reason, we don’t compliment others enough, especially not in meaningful ways. Undeniably, nobody is perfect. But there is so much to appreciate in every person we interact with.

Our chemistry seat partner has an especially bright smile. Our best friend works incredibly hard. Our parents never fail to look on the positive side of every difficult situation that arises.

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EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

No matter how odd or insignificant they may be, there are special strengths in everyone that we often overlook.

And if we do notice, we don’t acknowledge it. Maybe we have always admired our brother for remembering to ask how our tests went. Maybe we have always respected our teammate for giving their 100% at every practice. But what does it matter if we don’t let them know?

Giving compliments is as simple as understanding what you appreciate about the people around you — and communicating it.

Still, as a whole, we don’t compliment others enough. In a survey of 360 MVHS students, 60% of students give compliments only occasionally. For 40% of the students, giving compliments can seem too awkward or uncomfortable. For 32%, complimenting isn’t an action that jumps to their minds.

A lot of the times, we tend to assume that the people we love already know we appreciate them, forgetting that they deserve to be formally recognized.

And even if we do compliment others, just giving a compliment isn’t enough; our compliments mean nothing if they aren’t genuine. Sure, it may be nice to tell someone they’re smart or pretty. But these are meaningless compliments. They require no real thought and can be applied to practically anyone.

Tell people specifically what you actually appreciate about them, tell them what you respect about them, tell them how they make your life better. It may feel uncomfortable or awkward to be so candid, but these types of raw comments are the ones that actually stick with people. Mark Twain once said he could “live for two months on a good compliment.” And he’s not alone. Compliments that are genuine can

make a difference in how someone feels about their self worth.

In a story published in “Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul,” Helen P. Mrosla wrote about an experience in which she told each student in a class to write the nicest thing they could think of for every other person in the class. After compiling each student’s list of compliments, Mrosla handed them out and watched as the “entire class [gradually began] smiling . . . happy with themselves and one another again.”

Mrosla thought that was the end of the exercise, until years later, when she attended the funeral for one of her former students, Mark, after he died in the line of duty. At the funeral, Mark’s parents walked up to Mrosla and pulled out “two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.”

Mark’s parents informed Mrosla that “they found the paper on Mark when he was killed” and told her Mark truly treasured the list of compliments. At the funeral, several more students came up to Mrosla, showing her their lists or informing her about the various places they kept the list, such as in a wedding album or on their dresser. One student even claimed, “I think we all saved our lists.”

Mark’s story is just one example of how powerful compliments can be and how little they require from each person.

We choose to surround ourselves with people we appreciate. Because we respect them. Because we like them. Especially for the people we know best, like our family and friends, we should strive to make every compliment as heartfelt as possible.

Granted, there’s no recipe for how to give a genuine compliment. But it’s something instantly recognizable by both the giver and the receiver.

From the countless positive remarks we give and receive daily, whether it be telling someone their hair looks nice or their jokes are hilarious, it’s amazing how few of these actually mean anything. According to a survey of 359 MVHS students, 52% of students believe that only a handful of the comments they receive are actually meaningful. Take some time to reflect on the compliments you’ve received. Which ones can you still remember? Which ones actually made you feel better about

yourself? Try to emulate comments like these.

Sure, we can give compliments like ‘you’re so smart’ or ‘you’re so pretty,” but find something to appreciate about people beyond their perfect A’s or their symmetrical face.

A specific compliment shows true thought and appreciation. That’s not to say that every compliment you give must be incredibly deep; it can be a simple, “Mom, dinner was great today; thank you so much.” But being genuine is something that cannot be faked.

According to Psychological Sciences Professor Nick Haslam from the University of Melbourne, “receiving a compliment can enhance performance, social interaction, positivity in relationships and increase general happiness … Giving a compliment can make interactions more enjoyable, bring out reciprocating warmth from others and create a favourable impression in their eyes.” On the other hand, “faux compliments,” or ingenuine complimenting, “are likely to have the opposite effect [as] people who receive them will often feel they are insincere and not well-intentioned, and that undermines any positive effects they might feel about being praised.”

Furthermore, when we receive a meaningful compliment, we need to respond in an equally genuine way. Undeniably, people receive compliments differently, whether it be accepting the compliment graciously, denying the compliment to appear modest or complimenting in return. Even culturally, there are various social norms when giving and receiving compliments. For example, it is considered rude and arrogant to accept compliments in certain Asian cultures without first denying them.

No matter how you’re accustomed to accepting compliments, if you hear a compliment that stands out and makes you feel special, let the person know. Smile, thank them and explain how the compliment made you feel. Or politely decline the compliment, but say you appreciate the remark nonetheless. Whatever it is, it’s difficult to openly voice compliments, and we should show the giver the respect and appreciation they have shown us.

At the end of the day, a genuine compliment doesn’t require an outstanding effort or a special occasion. A few words can go a long way in terms of spreading positivity, happiness and appreciation. So the next time you’re hanging out with a friend, around the family dinner table or getting some help from a teacher, don’t be afraid to voice your appreciation for the people in your life. e

A FEW WORDS CAN GO A LONG WAY IN TERMS OF SPREADING POSITIVITY, HAPPNIESS AND APPRECIATION.

59% OF PEOPLE GIVE COMPLIMENTS OCCASIONALLY *BASED ON A SURVEY OF 360 MVHS STUDENTS

40% OF PEOPLE BELIEVE GIVING COMPLIMENTS IS UNCOMFORTABLE OR AWKWARD *BASED ON A SURVEY OF 340 MVHS STUDENTS

52% OF PEOPLE SAY ONLY A HANDFUL OF THE COMPLIMENTS THEY RECIEVE ARE MEANINGFUL *BASED ON A SURVEY OF 359 MVHS STUDENTS

OPINION | APRIL 2019

19

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WE ONLY MAKE SMALL TALK

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

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20

Why we should be more open to conversing freely with strangers

BY TYLER CHO AND BRIAN XU

I

nteracting with strangers can be skill since he joined Boy Scouts in sixth relationships, but many of us find it difficult terrifying. We’re rarely in physical danger grade, and it has allowed him to meet many to introduce ourselves and open up to new when meeting someone new, but our new people. people. And even if we are able to begin the dignity is on the line.

“When you’re able to meet new people, conversation, it is extremely easy to fall into In many cases, interacting with someone you’re able to practice with different styles awkward silence and let the conversation new can feel like we’re following a set of of socializing,” Richardson said. “When come to a grinding halt. procedures, progressing from one stage I started getting out of my typical friend Many times, we fall short of comfortable to the next as we gradually become more group zone, I learned more skills about how conversation due to our lack of investment comfortable. We start with a collection of to interact with people.” in getting to know pre-written social scripts shaped by what Additionally, conversing new people.

We others have said and done countless times with new people force ourselves into before us. Awkward handshakes, accidental throughout the day can introductions and focus eye contact and prolonged silence can make lift our mood and make mostly on small talk, conversation with new people scary, and our day more positive. tiptoeing around more even the smallest mistake can make it feel Two University of Chicago personal details and of students like the whole world is falling on us. scientists found that when rushing to goodbyes as consider We break the ice with someone unfamiliar Chicago train commuters fast as we can. Or we themselves by commenting on the weather, asking about interacted with a stranger might overthink our selfextroverts* school or talking about weekend plans. rather than riding in introductions, imagining When with strangers, this is about the depth solitude, their commute dozens of ways our *According to a survey of 359 MVHS students that our conversations reach. But if we want was much more engaging conversation could to move beyond that level, conversations and positive. go wrong before even continue until we eventually cement our Richardson agrees, recalling how an attempting to hold it, eventually dissuading friendship and become comfortable enough unexpected introduction from a new ourselves from engaging with others to share inside jokes and spend time outside classmate led to one of his strongest altogether. of school together. friendships. He met sophomore Nishanth But imagine the possibilities if we ditched But something we rarely consider is that Arumugan in sixth grade after Arumugan the small talk and instead talked openly we can cut out all the time it takes to go from approached him during a break in class. with new people. If we dropped our façade, talking about school to laughing together and He simply walked up to Richardson and deciding to comfortably converse with one sharing an intimate, personal conversation. introduced himself: “Hi, my name’s Nish.” another, we could avoid painful minutes We don’t need to follow a linear progression Despite the straightforward introduction, of awkward conversation and make more of our interactions. Instead, we should Arumugan left a lasting impression on friends. Connecting with people could be view interactions as a Richardson.

When easier — and if we don’t click with someone, group of doors, a set Richardson returned home, we would know that right away and save our of options to choose he told his mother he made time from pointless small talk, and if we hit from. There’s nothing a new friend. it off with someone, a relationship could wrong with including “I feel like that form and strengthen rapidly. someone we don’t [conversation] has made an It may be awkward at first. Richardson know in a conversation impact on me,” Richardson acknowledges that certain conversation of students with our friends. said. “I still remember it topics or inside jokes require a certain commonly Few people actually to this day and it’s shaped comfort level to bring up, and mentioning converse about try to achieve this, some of the ways I’ve tried them in certain situations may be personal or but for those who to learn to talk to people inappropriate. But he believes the shift in the do, there are more emotional issues* and open up conversations way we approach conversations is necessary opportunities to form because I remember back to work towards. *According to a survey of 360 MVHS students lasting relationships. then it was a great feeling “If everyone could start off [at a Sophomore Andrew to have someone come comfortable level], I think the world would Richardson has adopted a mindset of always up and take the lead and just introduce be a great place for everyone to live,” trying to get to know new people, often themselves.”

Richardson said. “But you know, reality isn’t inviting them to join conversations with Starting a conversation can be as simple perfect, and we all have to start somewhere.” e friends. Richardson has been honing this as saying hello and can lead to life-changing

18%

8%

OPINION | APRIL 2019

21

“CLIMATE” CHANGE MVHS still has work to do after its 2019 Distinguished School honor

M

VHS was named a 2019 California look at our school. Every day, students can Distinguished School in February be heard describing the school environment among 162 middle and high schools with a single word: toxic. across the state. Of the 10 schools in Academic performance among different Santa Clara County who were honored, only subgroups varies drastically at our school, three were high schools, two of which came with a majority-Asian student body masking from FUHSD — MVHS and Lynbrook HS. many of the challenges we need to address According to a news release by the California in other groups: racial minorities, English Department of Education, schools are named Learners and the socioeconomically California Distinguished Schools by “achieving disadvantaged. MVHS is making progress exceptional student in racist undertones performance for two that have plagued consecutive school the school for years, years or closing but our problems the achievement aren’t solved. In OPINION OF THE EL ESTOQUE gap between two particular, our school years” Latino population EDITORIAL BOARD and represent is among the more “examples of not just excellent teaching, disenfranchised and we could do more to learning, and collaboration, but also highly directly address these issues. successful school climate efforts.”

The emphasis on overachiement at The level of academic achievement at MVHS has also spawned a toxic culture this school is undeniably high. According of comparing grades and achievements. to education-based nonprofit organization Cutthroat competition drives us away GreatSchools, MVHS students achieved from healthy friendships, as every test 90% proficiency for math and 89% for or extracurricular achievement becomes English compared to state averages of 39% a chance for our peers to outperform us and 50%, respectively, in 2018. in the perpetual race to college. Families But despite the California Department of around Cupertino often have the financial Education’s commendation, MVHS does not ability to hire tutors and college counselors truly promote a healthy environment for its for academic support, widening the gap students. in academic performance between high While it is nice that our school is being and low income students as well as raising recognized for its excellence, the truth is we standards for the entire city. still have lots of room for improvement. And This culture leads students to fall into a the first step to achieving a truly healthy mindset of determining their worth by the school environment is by taking an honest grades and test scores they earn instead of

STAFF EDITORIAL

who they are as people. Anyone who fails to buy into the academic focus at MVHS is viewed as incapable and unsuccessful, and peer pressure causes many students initially unaccustomed to the rigorous culture to adopt the same over-competitive mindset.

This isn’t to say that MVHS doesn’t have good qualities. Most of us have the privilege to focus on our education, rather than having to battle harsh addictions or struggling to make ends meet financially. College graduates often return to MVHS grateful for how well the school prepared them for college. But hidden beneath a host of awards and high academic test scores are a slew of problems which MVHS fails to address.

Part of the solution is to change our mindset when receiving awards like the California Distinguished School honor.

Becoming complacent is the easiest way for us to ignore our school’s problems. With each accolade we receive, it’s easier to accept that we truly are better than the rest and that no immediate changes are necessary.

As students, we should try to expand our focus beyond grades or a future of goals laid out strictly before us — instead, we should work on adapting and thriving regardless of our environment and try to place more emphasis on things like empathy for one another and mental wellbeing. As a school, we need to face our problems head on, from supporting underperforming groups to setting reasonable expectations for students. Only then we can reach a truly highly successful school climate. e

83%

49%

99%

of English learner students in the class of 2017 met all high school graduation requirements*

Of all MVHS students were enrolled in at least one AP course in the 2017-2018 school year*

of MVHS students met all four year graduation requirements in the 2016-2017 school year*

*According to the MVHS School Accountability Report Card

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EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

DUMMY DIALOGUE

How my excessive phone usage hinders meaningful conversation

I

t was the week before the eighth grade Yosemite trip. A whole week spent outdoors, rooming with best friends and living without parents. The classrooms were buzzing with anticipation. It seemed as if all anyone could talk about was the upcoming trip.

I walked out of my fourth period class, talking to a friend, when she began worrying about the long bus ride.

“It’s going to be so boring.”

I was quick to respond, listing all the different games and activities we could do on the bus.

“We can chat,” I added, excited for the hours of conversation on the bus.

“Chat?” she responded. “How are we going to do that without our phones?”

My immediate reaction was to laugh. She had become so accustomed to online chatting that the word “chat” was synonymous with social media use. Soon, she cracked up too, quickly realizing her misinterpretation. After a few minutes, the conversation was behind us and we resumed our enthusiasm.

That interaction happened three years ago, and I haven’t been able to forget it. At the time, I thought her reaction was so ridiculous it was funny, but now it makes me a little wistful. Her comment was the first direct and obvious exposure I had to the overbearing presence that social media was beginning to have in my life.

I have to admit, there are many positive aspects to online chatting. You can talk to anyone at

ILLUS

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ILY X IA

any time, reach out to more people and save your conversations as memories to refer back to in the future.

Social media isn’t inherently a problem.

But when I’m sitting at a restaurant with my friends and we’re all scrolling through our phones looking at memes, we have a problem.

When I see my friend crying and I’m able to comfort her over text more effectively than in person, we have a problem. When my family is right in front of me and I’m messaging someone else, we have a problem.

We’re far too reliant on our phones and devices to uphold normal conversation, and Houston, we have a problem.

It’s gotten to the EMILY XIA point where a lot of our friendships are almost entirely digital. When we meet someone for the first time, we ask for their Instagram handle and scan them on

Snapchat. We keep streaks with people we haven’t talked to in years, and we become hung up on our follower to following ratio.

We apologize over text rather than inperson, because it’s easier not to look people in the eye. We panic when we forget our phones at home for a few hours because apparently, having to spend an entire day at school actually talking to people is emotionally devastating.

Phones are supposed to be an accessory, not a crutch. And it took me way too long to figure that out. Instead of hiding behind my screen during a gathering or checking Instagram at the dinner table, it’s time to go out and interact with real people, not just see their photos.

There are so many things I haven’t discovered about the people closest to me.

Their goals and aspirations, their darkest fears. And I suppose you could ask these things through online messaging, but when you can’t see someone while you talk to them, you miss out on the most important aspect: body language.

I once heard that 90% of human interaction is perceived from body language.

The raw emotions, the tone behind someone’s voice, their facial expressions and hand gestures — we’d never replicate that in a simple text message or emoji.

In person, there’s no turning back; there’s no reading a notification and ignoring it and there’s no using “lol” or “k” to mask emotions or avoid real conversation. That can be daunting to attempt, but it allows us to have more genuine conversations. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like something I could benefit from.

Because in a world full of façades, full of charlatans and frauds, I think we all need a bit more authenticity in our lives.

So hi there! How are you?

Let’s chat. e

COMING OUT OF MY SHELL

OPINION | APRIL 2019

23

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FEATURES

THE STORIES THEY DON'T TELL We walk into class everyday and hear them lecture. Rarely do we think about their lives beyond these walls — the part where they found love, got busted for throwing parties or had a near-death experience.

Keep reading to find out another side of your teachers you never may have known.

FEATURES | APRIL 2019

25

I

t was just another day in her 15-person seminar, studying the work of Thomas Pynchon — and English teacher Jessica Kaufman did not realize what had transpired until after it happened. That ‘it’ happened to be a day she will never forget.

The story begins at Kaufman’s alma mater, UCLA, where she was in her last quarter to earn her English degree. James Franco, film creator, actor and college instructor, happened to be in three of her classes during this time, including the small discussion-based seminar.

“Then he was in, and this is the one where I actually spoke to him, my senior seminar, which as an English major at UCLA required to take a 10 to 15 person class, and it’s very, very small,” Kaufman described. “He was one of them.”

In terms of her first impressions, Kaufman had nothing negative to say about James Franco.

“He seemed nice,” she said. “Kind of a little spacey, but in that really smart way, you know. But he was, almost too smart.”

In the same class, Franco approached her and asked Kaufman if she would like to go out for coffee some time, to which her response was, “No, I’m okay.” Not thinking much of Franco’s request, Kaufman later told one of her male friends about what had happened to her.

“It wasn’t until later, when I was telling a friend that I talked to James Franco when he was in one of my classes that I realized, or that my friend, my male friend was like, ‘you know he was asking you out?’ and I was like, ‘No. I did not know,’” Kaufman said.

To this day, Kaufman sees this as a missed oppor tunity, a l t h o u g h ult imately she was not

attracted to him. She had no real regrets of rejecting him, despite Franco’s high profile status.

Now with every new set of students, they learn about how Kaufman had the opportunity to have a cup of coffee with James Franco. Last year in her class, former student and junior Manish Malempati asked, “Hey Ms. Kaufman, what’s with the James Franco pictures on your wall?” To which Ms. Kaufman replied, “There’s always o n e student every year that asks me about those.”

In terms of the impact this story had on the class, there was a positive response from her students and it was something that many of them never expected. Former student and junior Annie Yang had changed her perspective on the strict teacher. She started the year off with an opinion something entirely different .

“Oh, yeah, but after she kept going on her story, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s actually kind of cool,” Yang admitted. “She seemed intimidating, but she’s actually a really chill teacher … and if James Franco approached her, then she must be a really down to Earth person.”

Malempati described how stories like these helped him and many of his classmates grow closer to Kaufman and made her much more approachable. “ T h r o ug h o u t that year, it was her giving us ways and the tools for

us to bond with her, and not just through literature, but through her stories as well,” Malempati said. “When the teacher memes around, that’s when you know [they are] god tier.”

With that being said, Franco is no longer considered to be the high profile superstar that everyone once idolized. In January of 2018, fresh off of a Golden Globe award win, five women came forward on social media to report multiple a c c o u n t s of sexual misconduc t a g a i n s t Franco.

When asked about the scandal, Kaufman described her initial reactions when the story first broke.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Kaufman said. “I wasn’t, not because it was him per se. It could have been anybody in that particular scenario because I felt like, a lot of stuff now is coming to the surface about sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior, especially with men and power.”

At the same time, Kaufman is of the mindset that she just does not know whether she would have experienced something like if she had gone out on a date with Franco.

“It’s really hard for me personally to say that,” Kaufman explained. “I feel like this makes a lot of assumptions about a person that you don’t have anything to base that off of. But it reinforced my decision a little bit, but in a way that wasn’t relevant to it. I didn’t say no because I thought that of him at the time.” e

cher a e t he t’s t a h n t e , “Wh und o r a es ow n mem k you r.” e i n t e wh god ] e r ’ [they

M I H G N I N R TU DO WN ish te

26 EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

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e would open up his jacket and he wasn’t wearing anything. He flashed me. [...] I didn’t know what to do. I [just] laughed.”

Spanish teacher Norma Abarca recalls her college years in Barcelona fondly.

An exchange program at University of California, Berkeley allowed her to study Spanish Literature and Art History in the Spanish city. Alongside her two new friends from University of California, Santa Barbara, Abarca indulged in Barcelona nightlife.

“We would go out to the dance clubs ‘cause that’s what they did [in Barcelona],” Abarca said. “We would hang out with our friends and we would stay [in the city] until around five or six in the morning, sometimes later.”

Living in the nearby city of Tarragona, Abarca’s commute to and from Barcelona took place on the Renfe, public transportation similar to BART. The Renfe back from Barcelona quickly presented Abarca with more than just a means to get to and from home — that is, when another passenger had different intentions for the ride.

“There was this guy that would walk up to us — I was the only one awake though — and he was wearing this black long trench coat,” Abarca said. “I thought it was kind of weird. I guess he would just stand there and look at me multiple times. He would open up his jacket and he wasn’t wearing anything.”

Abarca remembers countering the indecent act with a laugh, a reaction that stemmed from her surprise. To that, the man reacted nervously, closed his trenchcoat, and took off from that section of the train.

However, that didn’t stop him from returning weekend after weekend to flash Abarca and her sleeping friends.

Abarca later moved from Tarragona to Barcelona after picking up a job teaching English to businesspeople. No longer aboard

her

c ish tea n a p S When flasher e d u n a

the Renfe, Abarca expected to leave the exchanges with the flasher in her past.

Wildly enough, that wasn’t the case.

“I was in the city and I was going to catch the metro and I see this guy and he looks so familiar,” Abarca said. “So it was about to walk up and say hello to him. Like, ‘Where do I know y o u from?’

And I realized it was the flasher guy at the metro station with his clothes on.”

Relieved that she realized the man’s identity before her approach, Abarca fled the scene and finally left the man in her past, only fondly recounting the memory as a staple of her exciting college years abroad.

As far as Abarca’s classes go, the Spanish 1 and 2 teacher doesn’t find the opportunity to present the story often, especially to her freshmen students. As a result, students like senior Ishaan Kavoori view Abarca solely as an educator in her classroom environment.

“I only knew her when she was teaching the class,” Kavoori said. “[My biggest impression was that] she was professional.”

However, guidance counselor Monique Balentine wishes to encourage closer student-teacher relationships, understanding the value of teachers sharing personal stories. But she understands

why some teachers are on the fence about doing so.

“I think that teachers probably want to share more or feel like they could,” Balentine said. “At the same time, what is that student going to glean from the conversation in? Are they going to take away all the bad things that we don’t want them to necessarily do?”

W h i l e A b a r c a ’ s outlandish experience with the man on the Renfe mainly stays between her and her friends, the professional figure presented in class is far from being the sole chapter of Abarca’s story. Her thrilling college years stick with her until this day — even her memory of a laughably persistent flasher. e

“ He would open up

his jacket an d he wasn ‘t wearing a nything. “

tered

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a th teacher David Greenstein rode a total of 3,815 miles on his bike between San Francisco and Los Angeles for the AIDS/Lifecycle. This bike ride through California was organized by the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) in order to advance their shared interest in improving the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS. Greenstein was inspired to participate in this week-long ride by his friend who had cont r ac t e d AIDS after v isit ing the dentist.

Having AIDS during this time period was almost equivalent to a death sentence and there was much political turbulence surrounding this topic from the Reagan administration’s crackdown on the virus, Queen’s member Freddie Mercury’s AIDS diagnosis and the Civil Rights movement. SFAF helped Greenstein’s friend live with the disease and Greenstein decided to participate in the AIDS/Lifecycle bike ride after seeing how SFAF had contributed to his friend’s welfare.

Greenstein’s passion for biking and his desire to help his friend motivated him to complete this ride six times, in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Greenstein hadn’t been fond of athletic activity as a child, but when another one of his friends dared him to run in the college’s gym, Greenstein was inspired to lead a fitter lifestyle.

prepare for the competition, Greenstein rode his bike a lot on different terrains.

“You just have to ride a lot. You don’t have to be fast,” Greenstein said. “You just have to do a lot of it. The people on the ride are wonderful because everybody is giving.

When somebody gets a flat [tire], two or three people will stop and help out.”

iles m 5 1 f 38 o l a t o DS/ I t A a e e h d he ro bike for t s H i s on hi le. close friend and c y c colleague of 10 years, math teacher e f Li Scott DeRuiter acknowledges the difficulty

T

of Greenstein’s physical feat. When Greenstein told him about his experience, DeRuiter was amazed.

“It’s not something I think I could train for and be able to do,” DeRuiter said. “But it shows dedication to have a goal. He can dedicate himself to it and follow through on it.”

DeRuiter has seen evidence of Greenstein’s dedication to his goals not only on the 545 mile bike trip, but also through the innovative and time-consuming ideas Greenstein developed for the APCS class.

“One thing that I’ll say about working with Mr. Greenstein is that I am sure that [he] has made me a better teacher, just because he’s so knowledgeable in the subject matter that we share,”

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DeRuiter said. “So if he weren’t around, I know that I would be poor for it and I know that my students would be poor for it too.”

One of Greenstein’s students, sophomore Siddhant Patel, mentions that Greenstein’s bike rides also show his adventurous personality. Greenstein’s school website boasts pictures of him sitting with a panda in China and posing with his family in Cambodia and Israel.

“I do think he is a bit underrated — people only really know him for being [the] APCS teacher, but … he’s had tons of years of experience outside of teaching,” Patel said. “Inside the classroom though, many students love him. I love him.”

According to Patel, another facet of his personality includes Greenstein’s positive energy to the learning environment. For Patel, Greenstein’s happiness is infectious.

Biking not only positively impacts his health about also impacts his teaching as it gave him more time to develop ideas.

“After the ride I was totally exhausted and I couldn’t see myself doing this again,” Greenstein said. “All I thought about was, [that] it was a great experience.” e

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BY J A

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PHOTO | CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION OF DAVID GREENSTEIN

D

uring her sophomore year of college at the University of California, San Diego, science teacher Julie Choi decided to visit her hometown, Cupertino, during winter break along with three friends, Gerry Chen, Masa and Suzy.

The four took Choi’s Toyota Camry, and though their drive to Cupertino was smooth, their drive back to San Diego took 18 hours.

On the way back, when Choi and her friends were near Bakersfield region, they faced an unusual weather condition — snow. Because this is something that rarely happens in this part of California, Choi and her friends faced many complications such as snow-covered road signs and closed gas stations. By the time they refueled their car and were about to continue their drive back, fatigue hit Choi, so she decided to let Chen drive, but due to power outage in the area, Chen had taken a detour road that Choi described to be “sketchy.”

“It was one of those farm roads,” Choi said. “It’s almost like where you would imagine rice fields to grow and it was just weird. It was almost like one lane only for [cars driving both directions], and we basically couldn’t see anything.”

Shortly after, they approached the aftermath of a car accident on the side of the road, but nobody was there. The group felt it was unsafe to continue driving down the road c o n s i d e r i ng the unsafe conditions, so decided to do a U-turn and drive back to the gas station.

However, what came next had Choi’s life f la sh ing before her

eyes. While in the middle of their U-turn, another car that had been driving very fast in the same direction as them was approaching with no signs of slowing down. The other car skidded and “miraculously stopped” in a per pendicular p osit ion directly in front of Choi’s car.

A f t e r each party acknowledged that the other was alive and unharmed, they shared a sense of relief and continued their own ways. “[The moment] definitely felt slow. I saw pictures flashing by, like a reel of my entire life, just watching that,” Choi said. “But I think I just didn’t have time to process everything because I kind of knew what was coming, and I was too absorbed in the world of all my life flashing before my eyes to absorb [my surroundings].”

Choi’s reaction in this situation didn’t come as a surprise to her student junior Jiani Tian.

Tian believes that based on her experiences with Choi, as both her friend and her student, Choi would handle stressful situations like these in a very calm manner.

“I think she would definitely stay calm and collected until she figures out a proper solution to the situation at hand,” Tian said. “I think it’s normal [she reacted this way], since her brain chemicals probably were kicking in and putting her into a state of shock.”

On the other hand, though Chen claims that both he and Choi would say that he is a very calm and collected individual, while this incident brought out another side of him she had never seen.

“Almost getting hit was quite scary, [and I even] yelled out some profane curses,” Chen said. “I had to react quite quickly or we would’ve been hit. Not to toot my own horn, but I clearly was the MVP, the hero, whatever you want to call it. But at that point enough was enough. I became worried about liability and insurance and let Julie take back over .”

In their group of friends, Chen is supposedly the type of person that the rest like to blame for everything — it’s a “joke” that exists amongst the group. In this particular situation, Chen was jokingly blamed for the incident, but they all understood that it was merely a circumstantial issue.

Chen agrees that in their group dynamic has always been this way.

“In this case we were all more frustrated at the situation and not necessarily at each other,” Chen said. “And in regards to me blaming myself, that seldom occurs. But that’s when I really acknowledge that I’ve made a really egregious mistake. Julie loves blaming me though, FYI.” Choi developed a small fear of driving after the incident, but her friends felt rather excited since the news had spread among their fellow UCSD students. Choi admits that she didn’t like driving to begin with, but the incident taught her a lesson about lending her car to other people. “[It was] definitely scary, a little eerie,” Choi said. “I don’t know if life changing is the right word, but it’s kind of interesting to be at the brink of almost dying and kind of coming back, so you’re given a second chance to do something. I didn’t really look at that and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, like I’m gonna turn my life around.’ But I think it was interesting to be in that perspective.” e

HER LAS Tw W O UL D'V ords EB sh*t I'M EEN:"OH GONNA D IE”

A NEAR D E A EXPERIE TH NCE Science teacher Julie Ch experie oi’s nce on a colleg near-death

BY JULIA e road t YANG rip

FEATURES | APRIL 2019

29

I

n 2008, “Twilight” blew up as a cultural Before they could get everything back in campuses. However, she and her friends phenomenon. The love story between order, the security guards were knocking were deterred from partying after this. a high school girl, Bella Swan, and on the door. At this point, Wright knew that “We definitely didn’t throw any parties immortal vampire, Edward Cullen, she could not hide. As the hosts of the party, after that,” Wright said. “We did not want swept through the country, with the movie Wright and her roommates opened the door to get caught. It wasn’t like this huge rager grossing $393 million in the U.S. alone. while the others hid in the bedroom to avoid party. It was just our close friends and Where Edward Cullen enters this story is a being written up. we just got too loud and bit more complicated.

As a penalty for having a party with attracted In the same year, English teacher Melissa illegal substances, Wright and too much Wright started her sophomore year at her roommates each attention.”

University of California, Santa Cruz. In r e c e i v e d As a September, Wright and her roommates tickets, teacher, threw a party at their on-campus apartment w e r e it can be about a week before classes began. Wright placed hard for wanted to have one more chance to hang out o n students with all her friends before classes began. to see a About 20 people came to her apartment — academic side of them outside not a high budget party or anything crazy. probation, of school. Senior Sureena Hukkoo, She doesn’t recall if rap or alternative music had to who is in her Mythology and Folklore class, was playing, but she knows her roommate talk to the provost believes that Wright’s personality shines must’ve been in charge of selecting it. and were required to attend an alcohol through even in the classroom.

Wright lived with five of her best friends, awareness class.

“I can tell she has a very big personality and one of whom, Tina, had a life-size cutout of “It made us much more cautious with that she has very strong beliefs,” Hukkoo Edward Cullen that she would periodically what we did the rest of the year as we were said. move around the apartment. certainly under a microscope,” Murphy-Kern As a girl who never got detention or in Another roommate, Keely Murphy-Kern, said. any sort of trouble at school, being caught who is now also a teacher, did not think The class was filled with other for throwing a small-scale party was a fondly of the cutout. college kids, and while Wright new experience for Wright, and a valuable “Oh man, I hated that thing,” acknowledges attending memory at that. The group of friends Murphy-Kern said. “It freaked me the class was a logical believe that the experience, which seemed out every time I walked down the punishment, it felt devastating at the time, ended up bringing stairs.” futile since drinking a lot of people closer together.

By the end of the night, Tina and is such a common “It’s a valuable memory,” another girl ended up talking to occurrence on Wright said. “I don’t regret strangers from the balcony, using college it. It’s a valuable lesson.” e Edward Cullen to try to coax people to come inside. “[The party] was going great.

And then two of my roommates drank a little bit too much and started yelling at people outside,” Wright said. “She was talking behind Edward Cullen and doing all these ridiculous things and my other friend was yelling at the other window, just asking people, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing?’”

Their voices caught the attention of the security guards, who had been patrolling the Knoll, a large field where people h ce wit often went to smoke n e i r e xp marijuana.

Since ht’s e arty g i r school hadn’t started W elissa a college p yet, Wright thought M r e h t they would be safe h teac sted a H FENG Englis getting bu

BY RUT from those watchful eyes, but her friends’ screaming gave the otherwise low-key party away.

en l l u C rd a w sa d i E y e r r to s Whe s i h d. t e s t r a c e pli ent m o c ore m t i b

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I

s my girlfriend worth it? of resonance or import [to me],” Johnston her family.

At the bottom of a spiral staircase said. “It was only really later when he was “I learned that he cared very much about of scaffolding 150 feet high, English telling other people that I heard more of me — that he was willing to go through teacher David Clarke thought about the tests that he had to endure by going these things that were incredibly foreign to what he was being asked to do by his future up. I knew he had to save face and do the him,” Johnston said. “Part of what I learned father-in-law. thing of impressing t h e was how courageous he was, of even going “It’s like, ‘What the heck do I do?’” girlfriend’s father.” and living with them. And what he did, Clarke said. “Because I have a horrible fear The experience climbing up and working of heights. This was one of those moments, was very different for with iron like ‘Are you man enough to do this?’ So I Clarke, who had been w o r ke r s , did it. I went up there, and it was one of the raised upper middle[it’s] a very most frightening experiences of my life. And class in California by two different everyday we would drive in there and get to college professors. This contrasts with kind of the base of that thing and I would continue Johnston’s background, whose w o r l d than David to have to do that and it didn’t get any easier father didn’t graduate was used to. I was ner vous — ever.” high school. about him seeing that world and judging me For the next three months, in the J o h n s t o n about it, but he didn’t. If anything, it seemed middle of a massive car factory, Ford rememb er s to help broaden his understanding of the River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, b e i n g world.”

Mich., Clarke would work with ner vous Clarke echoes this sentiment, fellow ironworkers to sheet the about this remembering how most of the iron workers roof by standing on 12 to 18 inch d i f f e r e n c e , at the plant didn’t have high school wide beams with no protection. and about educations. He said the experience served To Clarke, the steel complex — what Clarke to humble him, and that he learned from the whose only living inhabitants would think people around him. were humans and rats — felt living with “I was a complete outsider,” Clarke said. like a “dystopia.”

“You just gotta shut up. You can’t act like But the story starts you’re superior because you’re not, and [the in Yosemite, where he iron workers are] kind of defensive because was working over the they expect you to act that way. I learned summer of 1984. It a lot culturally. I think I kind of gained the was there that he respect of my future father-in-law, at least met his future wife, they didn’t kick me out of the house. But it Maureen Johnston. was a strange experience, being up there.”

They worked together Sometimes, Clarke will tell his classes and backpacked Half these stories and the lessons he learned Dome, courting for from them. Senior Anjali Thontakudi, who about a month and had Clarke for both sophomore World a half before Clarke Core and senior AP Literature, says that followed her to upstate these short anecdotes from his life provide Pennsylvania, where she interesting perspectives she’s not normally was finishing graduate exposed to. school.

“They’re pretty insightful and they’re fun Johnston said that the to listen to because growing up in the Bay small town they lived in had Area, we don’t experience most of these little opportunity for work, things, like living as a steelworker — so her father stepped a low paying job that’s mostly hard in, saying, “Send him labor — most of us would not do out here, I’ll put him that or could not even imagine to work.” And with doing that,” Thontakudi his then-girlfriend said. “But the fact that still at school in he’s done it and he’s Pennsylvania, and here teaching us after dating for only about it, I think a couple months, that’s pretty Clarke moved to live amazing.” e with her family in Michigan, working for her father at the River English Rouge plant. t and ex eacher David “My father had perien been [iron-working] ce wor Clarke reco

BY C L un king as since before I was AIRE an iron ts his whirlw CHAN born and my brother in worke G r in Mic d romance was doing it, so it was h igan just something that guys did. It didn’t have the same kind EC OM MO NS

BU T TH E start stoRY s In y osEmit e

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FEATURES | APRIL 2019

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A letter to my fickle friend

A&E

DEAR HAPPINESS,

ILLUSTRATION | SARAH YOUNG

I

usually start out these letters reflecting on the first times I’ve ever encountered my loves, but with you, I feel like I need to reflect on when you left me.

There isn’t really an exact moment I can point to and exclaim “Yes! That’s when I started feeling cold, dark and empty everyday!”

Rather, you left in small doses. As I grew from toddler to adolescent to teenager, you slowly stepped out of my life. I never really noticed you were gone, until I came to the realization that the world wasn’t as colorful or as fun or as wonderful. Most of all, I didn’t realize you were gone until I realized I wasn’t making myself proud anymore.

For a while, I’d get angry. I’d throw my hands up at God, at Hogwarts, at the world, at whoever was responsible for taking you away from me, just looking for someone to blame. I’d yell at my parents for hauling me, my brother and a van full of all our stuff across the country so many times. I’d stop talking to my friends for not empathizing enough. I was so busy getting mad at my teachers and the kids playing on the street and a random passerby at Starbucks and literally every LAKSHANYAA GANESH single person in my life — that I never stopped and considered the possibility that maybe, just maybe, you were never really gone, but I just made it harder for myself to find you.

Of course, being the kind of person that I am, I immediately shoved this thought down. For years, I’ve shied away from my most important truth: the only person responsible for my happiness is me.

I’d get angry (shocker) at people who tried to tell me this because, obviously, I can’t change the way my brain is wired. I can’t change the chemicals (or lack thereof) that are responsible for keeping you with me.

But there are two variables in that equation: you — and me. Yes, I can’t control the chemicals or wiring in my brain, but I can do my best to control the way that I view myself. I’ve realized that I was never really angry at everyone else — I was angry at myself. I was angry with the way I looked, the way I acted, the way I worked.

Every single part of me I could find fault in, I did. Because of that, you decided to leave. I guess you and anger don’t really work well together. So, from that point on, I decided I didn’t want to be angry anymore. I wasn’t sure how or when or even if I could do it, but I knew that if I truly wanted you back, that was the first step.

And slowly, but surely, I’ve grown more comfortable in my skin.

It didn’t happen overnight, and it surely didn’t happen without a couple of slip-ups and tears along the way, but I’ve learned how to forgive myself. I’ve learned to love the random black spots on my face and the giant birthmark on my foot that looks like a splatter of paint. I’ve learned to be proud of my stubborn nature, though at times it can lead to harm, and my brain somehow figures out how to not cringe at every single decision I make.

When you started coming back to me, I almost didn’t notice. To be completely honest, I was so busy learning how to love myself, that I almost forgot that you were my end goal. And you came back to me in the most unexpected places.

I lose all track of time in the library taking notes from my history readings, stressed as can be, and suddenly I look up and there you are, sitting across from me with a soft smile and a cup of iced tea.

I’m channeling my inner cat, listening to music and sitting in the one corner of my backyard where the sun is especially bright when I hear my phone ring and hear your voice through my headphones.

I walk to my local coffee shop after a particularly exhausting day, and see you walk in and sit next to me, following a guy who’s just rolled out of bed and thought it would be a good idea to bring his pet lizard to get coffee with him.

In each of these scenarios, I wasn’t trying to force you to be with me. Much like a shy cat (I need to emphasize my love for cats), I’ve realized that if I try too hard, if I get angry at you, you retreat back into your hiding place. You only started coming back to me after I found peace, not just with my situation and the people around me, but also with myself.

So yes, I do love you for all the times that you’ve been with me.

I love you for the warmth and light and radiance you bring into my life, and also for the times you haven’t been with me. Because of your absence, I was forced to appreciate myself, to grow into my skin and eventually, to love myself. That’s not to say I don’t have my moments or my days or my months where I retreat back into my cycle of hating everything I do or say, but I’ve learned how to pick myself back up, and I always find my way back to you.

LOVE, LAKSHANYAA

Love, Lakshanyaa e

A & E | APRIL 2019

33

‘Into the woods’

[5] Math teacher Martin Jennings, junior Isabelle Dingli and math teacher Sushma Bana sell $15 tickets at the door.

[5]

[3] After escaping the Witch (played by senior Elika Hashemi), Rapunzel (played by senior Savannah Stevens) sobs as she holds her twin babies.

Her tears held magic that cured her prince’s (played by Antoni Kalkowski) blindness.

[4] The princes (played by senior Bryce Nevitt and junior Antoni Kalkowski) joke around on stage, performing silly tricks with the plungers during their dress rehearsal.

Behind the scenes of MVHS Drama’s spring musical PHOTOS BY HELEN CHAO, ALYSSA HUI AND CHELSEA WONG

[2]

[1] Junior Shaurya Arora and senior Alex Bokovikova prepare themselves before the show starts.

[2] Prince Charming’s steward (played by senior Andy Chen), exaggeratedly shushes the mysterious man (played by junior Daniel Schie). Senior Bryce Nevitt watches and laughs at their antics.

[1] [3]

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EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

[4]

[6] [6] Little Red Riding Hood (played by sophomore Ritu Karivaradasamy) follows the path to her grandma’s house with a basket full of loaves of bread from the baker (played by senior Alex Logie).

[7] Freshman Arnav Rathee and sophomore Katherine Nguyen control lighting and sound from the back of the auditorium.

[8] Junior Adrienne Nevitt, who played Cinderella’s mother, listens to music while she puts the finishing touches on her stage makeup.

[8] [7]

A & E | APRIL 2019

35

Marvel V

MVHS community debates between Marvel vs. DC

SELENA DING

M

PHOTO | SARAH YOUNG

PATRICK NGUYEN

ajor Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was in need of cash. It was 1937, and he was writing for pulp magazines, another name for inexpensive fiction magazines.

Partnering with magazine distributors Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz to get money, he founded Detective Comics, which, after a series of mergers and changes in ownership, eventually became the company it is known as today: DC Comics.

After witnessing the success of the hugely popular comic book industry and the appearance of superheroes in them, pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman created Timely Comics in 1939, which eventually became Marvel Comics. Thus, the rivalry between DC and Marvel began.

Characters of all varieties came to life across the vivid pages that appear on sophomore Patrick Nguyen’s phone. Nguyen began reading comics when he was 13.

While he has less time now to read them, his love for comics has never diminished.

Nguyen first got into Marvel and DC comics because he wanted to learn more about the rivalry between them.

Currently, Nguyen prefers Marvel and has seen every Marvel movie.

“It’s easier to go out and watch a movie with your friends or just go on a marathon watching all of the movies than it is to sit down and read a bunch of comic books,” Nguyen said. “So I’d have to say Marvel because it’s just easier to share that sort of knowledge and experience.”

Sophomore Selena Ding agrees that the movies are typically what introduces viewers into the comic book franchises and are easier to get involved in due to how widespread they are. Ding enjoys watching the movie adaptations; however, she prefers reading the comics because of the unique art style.

The first superhero movie Ding watched was “Iron Man,” and ever since, she has become more involved with the Marvel universe. She admits to being slightly biased towards Marvel, accounting it to

the fact that she was introduced to Marvel first. Out of a survey of 334 students, 70% were introduced to Marvel first and 30% were DC Comics. “I would assume that Marvel movies are more popular than DC since they’re more kid friendly,” Ding said.

“They’re not as dark, so then they would allow more kids to watch it and then more kids would get introduced and then comic books would also get introduced also.”

Junior Ashvin Irrinki, on the other hand, was first exposed to the superhero universe through video games and TV shows, establishing his preference for DC. In eighth and ninth grade, he watched shows from The CW Television Network and Netflix, with many of them being adaptations of comic books, such as “The Flash.”

Irrinki believes that Marvel and DC have primarily the same type of stories and archetypal characters, and similar movies, although he admits that Marvel movies are typically more popular. He attributes that to their development of a cinematic universe, which quickly gained popularity, leading to other companies mimicking this pattern by creating shared universes.

“In the past, the Batman trilogy, for instance, was just set in its own universe, but then after that, they didn’t develop anything more,” Irrinki said. “[But] they’re trying to make the DCEU [DC Extended Universe] now. And I think that’s the only thing that differentiates Marvel and DC, just the success of their movies.”

Irrinki also believes that it is the tone of the movies that dictates success. One of the trends he has noticed is a growing popularity of incorporating comedic or more light-hearted elements into action movies, something that Marvel is leading and popularizing in the industry. This tone is also becoming more common as Irrinki notes that the DC movie “Aquaman” contains more humorous aspects in comparison to past movies like “Batman vs.

Superman,” which further minimizes the

Marvel MOVIES Hulk 2003

36

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

PHOTO | CLAIRE WEN

Thor 2011

Iron Man 2008

The Avengers 2012

Captain America 2011

Dr. Strange 2016

Ant-Man 2015

Captain Marvel 2019

Black Panther 2018

VS.DC Comics

BY CLAIRE WEN AND SARAH YOUNG

HRUSHIKESHA ATHREYA

differences between the two companies. to Marvel comics, DC comics are a For long-time comic fan and junior lot darker. They’re just more mature.”

Hrushikesha Athreya, while DC comics According to Ding, DC comics go more may seem darker and not have as many in-depth into morality: how superheroes iconic characters, having fewer characters waver between making the right decision allow for more depth to them. Athreya and turning to the wrong side. Meanwhile, believes that a part of why Marvel Marvel has more clear-cut lines between characters have become so iconic is due superheroes being on the good side and to funding towards their movie industry. villains on the bad. However in making “The way they’re portrayed in Marvel, it more clear cut they haven’t built up there’s not really much backstory to the classic rivalries comparable to DC Comics. characters,” Athreya said. “They kind of just “I would say DC kind of invented a sort show up in the middle but for DC, they really of more classic rivalry between Batman work on character and Superman,” Ding development and said. “While Marvel it’s DC REALLY [WORKS] intimacy with the generally kind of just like ON CHARACTER readers, so whenever more iconic superheroes DEVELOPMENT something happens like Captain America to the character, the [and] Spider Man, because AND INTIMACY readers feel it too.” everyone knows these WITH THE READERS, English teacher kinds of superheroes.”

SO WHENEVER Mark Carpenter The difference in SOMETHING HAPPENS also feels that there approach to characters TO THE CHARACTER, isn’t a particular and plot development THE READERS FEEL IT distinguishing trait is something Athreya TOO. between the two believes is linked to the brands. He believes historical background that they use of both companies. similar techniques DC Comics started in repeatedly, offering a darker time, during a lot of hype without the Great Depression. payoffs and creating On the other hand overly complicated mythologies. However, he Marvel started later when Americans is optimistic that the films are bringing people had more jobs and opportunities due into reading comics more, and delving further to WWII, which in turn influenced beneath the surface of superhero stories. the content they projected to readers.

Nguyen, however, believes that there is a “With Marvel, they don’t really portray difference between the two companies, as morals because that was like a big scene in the tone of DC Comics is darker. Although the 1920s-1930s when they really wanted to dabbling in darker themes narrows their push morals and ethics into war,” Athreya appeal, Nguyen believes that in doing so, said. “Batman was really representing the the comics can express more intricate dark side of war, but the moral aspects details of a character and their motives. like one of Batman’s quotes was, ‘If you “Marvel tends to censor things more, kill a murderer, the number of murders making them slightly more appealing in the world stays the same.’ When they to younger people,” Nguyen said. “If really try to push moral decency as well you read through DC comics, compared as hard justice, which I think is perfect.” e

JUNIOR HRUSHIKESHA ATHREYA

PHOTO | CLAIRE WEN PHOTO | CLAIRE WEN

ASHVIN IRRINKI

DC ComiCS MOVIES Superman Green Lantern Suicide Squad 1978 2011 2016

Batman 1989

The Flash 2014

Justice League 2017

Wonder Woman 2017

Shazam!

2019

Aquaman 2018

A&E | APRIL 2019

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STRUGGLES

“I got you chickens” was all it took for senior Jessica Ji to spring up in bed early in the morning. Her father’s attempt to wake her had become a running joke between the two of them, always teasing her with the possibility of owning her most desired pets: chickens.

Ji had always had a strange connection to chickens, and she called her basketball teammates her ‘chickens.’ So a few years later, she was presented with four baby chickens for her birthday — Evil, Regular, Normal and Hungry — and they’ve lived in her backyard ever since. They had stayed in a backyard of a daycare that Ji’s mother had run and owned until a student’s parents were concerned about health issues. At that point, they had to move the chickens to a property in Los Altos Hills, which had a larger space for the chickens could roam.

“Now they’re at the other house, they have a tennis court that’s gated,” Ji said. “So sometimes when I go over with my parents, we put them out on the tennis court and let them run free and we just stand there and I feed them.”

But one day, when Ji’s mother had finished feeding them, she had accidentally left the door of the coop unlocked. It was then that Hungry escaped and was likely killed by a coyote. Ji continued to raise the remaining three chickens until they were full grown hens, to the point where they lay an abundance of eggs every day.

This year, her mom surprised her again with another brood of chicks, adding four more chickens to her flock. As Ji begins to raise them, she emphasizes that she wants to handle them more when they are young to make the chicks more familiar and comfortable with her presence and develop to be more friendly.

“If you make your hands warm, and you cup them, they’ll fall asleep in your hand,” Ji said. “It so cute and they curl up and it’s so adorable.”

FEATHERED FRIENDS

Three MVHS students share the stories behind their pet chickens

BY JAHAN RAZAVI AND CHELSEA WONG

38

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION OF JESSICA JI

PERSONALITIES

Right: Junior Caitlin Wang with Barack Lower: Wang’s chickens, Bean and Barack

PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION OF SKYLAR PLOSHAY

There have always been a plethora of animals in the Ploshay household.

But for sophomore Skylar Ploshay’s mother, except for a bird, none of the pets of the house were ever truly hers. So when her family visited her aunt’s pet chickens, everything changed.

“Actually my aunt got chickens first, little chicks, and my mom fell in love with them and of course so did I,” Ploshay said. “And so we tried to convince my dad and we actually surprised [my mother] on her birthday and we got her three little chicks and so the chickens that we got, my dad did a ton of research on.”

The family had looked into specificities of different breeds of chickens, ensuring that they chose breeds that produce the most amount of eggs.

Ploshay’s chickens, Buffy, Dixie and Esther, were chosen selectively to fit the characteristics that her family wanted. The three differ in their egg colors, with Buffy, a Buff Orpington, laying a dark brown egg, Dixie, possibly a Plymouth Rock, laying a light brown egg and Esther, an Easter egger, laying a green egg. Similar to their egg color, they also differ in their personalities. “[Buffy is] the fattest,” Ploshay said. “She is food hungry. So whenever you put food out there, she is knocking down the other [chickens] to get there first.”

When the family first received the chicks, they wanted to make sure they grew up to be more social and less reticent than her aunt’s chickens, who they had visited multiple times before.

“We [handled] them so much when they [were] younger, [especially when] they had to stay inside [the house],” Ploshay said. “And so they lived in our house for the first couple of months. And every time we’re just sitting, playing with them. And they all let you pick them up. And Buffy — she’s by far the sweetest.”

Upper: Sophomore Skylar Ploshay’s chickens, Esther, Buffy, Dixie, from left to right Lower: Ploshay and Buffy

LOSS

e

While junior Caitlin Wang was working on a literature essay, she heard squawking coming from the backyard. Thinking that her chickens were laying eggs, she paid little attention. However, she turned her head and saw a raccoon on her fence and a chicken with no head.

In fifth grade, she had bought a flock of four chickens, which she named Victor, Forest, Barack and Larry.

“Barack was really nice and polite,” Wang said. “Victor and Forest, they were very greedy and they stole all the food. Chickens have a pecking order, where the leaders of the flock would eat first, and the other chickens would eat later. Larry was the runt, so she’d eat last.”

However, of these original four, only Victor survived.

“Barack was killed by the raccoon,” Wang said. “A few years later, Larry had Marek’s Disease, where she stopped moving. Forest, I thought she was just sick, because she had signs that she had a cold. She was attacked by some animal and then the vet said that it ripped into her gastrointestinal tract and we had her euthanized.”

Nevertheless, Wang bought a new chicken, Bean, in 2018. And the future is looking bright for her.

“The younger chicken, Bean, she started laying eggs a few weeks ago,” Wang said. “They’re blue eggs, which is really cool.”

PHOTOS PHOTOSUSED USEDWITH WITHPERMISSION PERMISSIONOF OFMEGAN CAITLINCHENG WANG

A&E | APRIL 2019

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SPORTS

DON’T QUIT ON ME How an experience with my tennis coach negatively affected my confidence

BY JAI UPARKAR

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION | JAI UPARKAR AND MAX GOELTNER

SPORTS | APRIL 2019

41

ONE LAST RUN

Track and field honors its seniors during their last home meet

BY GAURI KAUSHIK AND ISHANI SINGH

1 PHOTO | ROSHAN FERNANDEZ

2

3

PHOTO | ANISH VASUDEVAN

PHOTO | ANISH VASUDEVAN

5

PHOTO | ROSHAN FERNANDEZ

42

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

4

PHOTO | RAJAS HABBU

6

Senior Derek Zheng runs the 400m event at the MVHS track and field team’s last home meet against Saratoga HS on March 21.

1

The underclassmen honor their senior teammates, like senior Lauren Ling (pictured), with pink roses and candy garlands.

2

PHOTO | RAJAS HABBU

7

3

Senior Evelyn How warms up before the 400m relay with Cupertino HS and Saratoga HS.

PHOTO | KAMYAR MORADI

Senior Cynthia Gong emerges from the tunnel made up of her teammates during the short senior ceremony that took place before the meet.

4

Senior Alisha Gao runs towards a tunnel made by her underclassmen teammates as supporters cheer in the bleachers.

5

Team members write on posters put up along the front of the bleachers. Each senior got a poster filled with messages written by the underclassmen.

6

8 PHOTO | ANISH VASUDEVAN

Senior Jessica Ji participates in the triple jump event, placing second against Saratoga HS and CHS.

7

PHOTO | KAMYAR MORADI

9

8

Ji performs in the high jump event, placing third.

9

How begins her heat for the 400m relay, carrying MVHS’ golden baton.

SPORTS | APRIL 2019

43

CONFLICTING COMMITMENT For some MVHS athletes, conflicting seasons means choosing one sport over another

BY RAJAS HABBU AND GAURI KAUSHIK

“BEING FAST, BEING AGILE, BEING ABLE TO JUMP, BEING STRONG. [THOSE ARE] USEFUL IN ANY OTHER SPORT YOU CAN NAME.” ~ TRACK AND FIELD COACH KIRK FLATOW

F

or sophomore Henry Zhai, the summer before his freshman year was filled with going back and forth between practices. He played the summer season for his club volleyball team while also attending the MVHS color guard team’s summer workshop. It was only after summer ended and school began that he realized he had to make a tough choice between the two sports.

Although he had already made the decision to stop playing club volleyball, Zhai also chose not to try out for the MVHS volleyball team, despite the fact that he had played for his middle school team for three years. As a year-round commitment, color guard practice never stopped and often coincided with volleyball games or practices. As it became evident to him that balancing the two would be impossible, Zhai chose to drop volleyball in order to continue with color guard, which he thought he would be better at.

“I just thought about it for a while and then I realized ... well volleyball — yes it’s really fun and I’ve been playing it for a couple of years, but I thought that I’m more naturally skilled in color guard in my opinion and for volleyball, it’s kind of hard for me to play in the future,” Zhai said.

Just like he used to play both club and school volleyball, Zhai’s commitment to color guard extends to outside of being part of the school guard as well.

Zhai is part of Drum Corps, which he describes as a “high level marching band and color guard.” Because of Drum Corps, if he chooses to, Zhai can continue to participate in color guard after high school, perhaps even after college, something that he considered before choosing to continue with color guard.

Senior Kaitlyn Zou faced the same conflict when she had to choose between track and field and softball — two sports she had been involved in and both of which took place in spring season. During her sophomore year, Zou attempted to do both, starting out with track and also joining a few softball practices. Although she had played softball since third grade, only taking a break from the sport in middle school, she chose to continue with track and field for the year.

“The [softball] team dynamic and the attitude towards the sport was just really different from football and the other sports I did,” Zou said. “It wasn’t as disciplined. It was kind of you do whatever you want and there was a lot more joking around, so then I went back to track because you need a lot more discipline.”

In junior year Zou chose to come back to softball, because her football coach also coached softball.

According to Zou, her coach told her that if she

played softball for him, he would run through agility drills for football after practice. For her, this made the difficult decision of choosing between the two sports much easier. While the promise of improving in football through more time with her coach is what drew her back to softball, Zou explains that participating in track and field also helped with her other commitments.

“Definitely for track, it was just a lot of conditioning that kind of carried over into football season,” Zou said. “It definitely helped me keep in shape.”

As many track and field athletes play multiple sports, some of them coinciding in the same season, track and field coach Kirk Flatow has often worked with students and other coaches to resolve issues and help the athlete continue to participate in multiple sports. He says communication is the most important factor when trying to balance two sports in the same season. While the time commitment it takes to participate in two sports simultaneously isn’t something everyone is able to do, Flatow tries to be as accommodating as possible when students want to play another sport while also doing track and field.

Flatow believes that participating in a sport like track and field can greatly improve an athlete’s abilities in their other sports. “[Track and field] is about being athletic,” Flatow said. “Being fast, being agile, being able to jump, being strong. And that is useful in any other sport you can name.”

He cites athletes like San Francisco 49ers defensive back Richard Sherman, who was a triple jumper for Stanford while also playing football for the school, along with 2018 alumna Nanda Nayak. Nayak, a soccer player, joined track for the first time her senior year, ending the season as a CCS champion, and shaving a second off of her 100 meter, which also helped her on the soccer field.

“That happens all the time. Yet, for some reason kids think, ‘Oh well, I’ve got to focus on my sport,’” Flatow said. “They don’t realize trying something new, like joining track and field, can actually help them do that.”

Although both him and Zou find value in playing multiple sports, Flatow cautions against trying to take on too much. For him, students who attempt to to participate in two sports, especially during the same season must be able to balance their time and communicate well.

“It depends a lot on the person,” Flatow said. “They have to be really responsible about communicating between their coaches [and they] have to want to [play both sports].” e

SPORTS | APRIL 2019

45

PLAYING WITH STYLE How the sporting landscape has embraced sneaker culture at MVHS

BY ANISH VASUDEVAN

I

46

t was 7:59 a.m. on a Thursday morning.

The second bell for school was just about to ring, and freshman Ronit Ramchandani was on his phone in the back of class.

As the clock hit 8 a.m., he slid his thumbs down the screen, glancing up to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking. He refreshed the official Supreme application, a platform for the newest releases of hypebeast apparel, and tried to place an order for the new Supreme Air Force Ones. Suddenly, the application timed out and Ramchandani had to restart his ventures. At 8:03, the sneakers were sold out.

At MVHS sneakers are an integral aspect of fashion with many students using applications like Ramchandani.

“When you’re wearing a fit, one of the first things that people notice is the shoes, which makes [them] really important,” junior Sanjay Gollapudi said. “Also, sneakers can have a lot sentimental value for certain people. For example, people hold Jordans to a lot of emotional value because of the prestige of the sneaker.”

However, sneakers have also started to impact a different landscape — sportswear.

According to the Los Angeles Times, in 2018, Nike and Adidas sold approximately 400 million pairs of sneakers, and in 2015, American sales for performance basketball shoes clocked in at $1.3 billion. Currently, the most prominent sports brand is Jordan, the signature shoe of former basketball star Michael Jordan; Jordan sales earned $3.1 billion in 2018 alone. Ramchandani explains

that recently, typical brands like Jordan have stepped into the athletic scene.

Even though fashion has partially infiltrated the sports industry, Gollapudi disagrees with Ramchandani and instead believes that there is a long way to go before fashion plays a prominent part of sports.

“I don’t believe that fashion has taken over the sports world,” Gollapudi said. “The only person I really consider as a fashion icon in the sports industry is Jordan — other than him there’s no one else as famous.

Supreme is [an example of a] very popular brand and their stuff is very fashionable, but it’s something one would wear casually and not something someone would play in.”

Contrary to Gollapudi, junior Christian Dulay believes that even though fashion has not merged completely into sports, it will in the future.

“Nowadays, a lot more people have been buying shoes just [for casual] wear, but I still think that there are certain shoes that are regularly functional like Jordan ones which [can be used] while playing basketball,” Dulay said. “It’s important to see how Jordan brand shoes can still be used in athletics and not just for style which is an aspect that [I feel many people] don’t realize today.”

According to Dulay, this new fad is mostly embraced by teenagers, including students at MVHS. Ramchandani says the rise in sneaker culture is not surprising because name brands like Nike have dominated the industry.

“Brands have an impact on the sporting and clothing landscape since customers are more likely to choose brands that they know are popular,” Ramchandani said. “Also, if some celebrities wear certain brands they becomes popular and the hype around their product keeps increasing.”

In the 2018-19 season, the NBA removed restrictions on the colors of player’s shoes, allowing players to express themselves through extravagant colors. Even though these changes are taking place on the professional level, Gollapudi explains that these changes are hard to make in high school since students are not as financially sound as professional athletes. Gollapudi says that high school players have only a few sneakers since they can’t get endorsements from brands.

Gollapudi also acknowledges that many high school players don’t wear sneakers in order to preserve the rare or expensive pairs they have. Nevertheless, Gollapudi believes the future for sneakers in high school sports is bright because sneakers help players stand out on the court.

“In recreational play, if I see a guy that pulls up to a park I’m playing at and he’s wearing cool basketball shoes you automatically assume that this guy can play,” Gollapudi said. “If you see a guy in Asics running shoes or sneakers, you won’t want to play with that guy because he looks like a bum. Sneakers make a person stand out and add to their game.” e

67%

79%

78%

believe that sneakers are an integral part of fashion for teenagers according to survey of 356 MVHS students

believe that wearing nice sneakers can increase self esteem according to survey of 357 MVHS students

EL ESTOQUE | APRIL 2019

believe that play an imporant role in sports like basketball and football, according to survey of 353 MVHS students

ATHLETE OF THE MONTH EVELYN HOW

BY RUCHA SOMAN

A

s he observed during the PE track and field unit, Kennedy Middle School teacher Wade Nakamura told then sixth grader, now senior, Evelyn How, that she should join track and field. However, How didn’t initially find running to be fun. Her track journey started a year later, in seventh grade, when she found a renewed interest in the sport. Since then, How has continued her pursuit in track and field, running for MVHS in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints and the 4x100-meter and 4x400meter relays.

For How, track has helped improve her mental stamina through the pereservering mindset that is required for the sport. The feeling of accomplishment How feels after finishing an intense workout makes her feel like she can take on anything else in her life. Next fall, How will be continuing her career in running, attending the University of San Francisco for Division I track.

12.24 sec 100-meter

25.78 sec 200-meter

59.94 sec 400-meter

*2017-2018 season

PHOTO COURTESYW EVELYN HOW

SPORTS | APRIL 2019

47

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