Volume 44, Issue 5, February 5, 2014

7 NEWS

14 OPINION

18 ENTERTAINMENT

36 SPORTS

Replacing cigarettes

Stay awake, stay ahead

Myths about milennials

Boss with a black belt

el

MONTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL elestoque.org FEBRUARY 5, 2014 Issue V, Volume XLIV

ESTOQUE MACBOOK PRO based on 945 reviews on Amazon

RISe RANKINGS from the

Discovering our true interests in a world defined by ratings 26 SPECIAL REPORT

VERDE PMT based on 913 reviews on Yelp

RATATOUILLE 96% based on 223 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

pride and prejudice based on 1,186,050 reviews on Goodreads

Contents NEWS 4 Our apathy toward the NSA 6 Busted myths 7

4

Smoking 2.0

11

Used with permission of Jon Stark

COLUMN: Little Lessons

OPINION 12 Reviews inhibit free thought 14 Benefits of staying awake 15 Amending drug education 16

COLUMN: No Monkey Business

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 18 Millenials changing the world 20

40

25

%

of students stay up past midnight regularly Colin Ni | El Estoque

14 32

Amol Pande | El Estoque

Cost of Valentine’s Day

21 22 Vlogging for self-confidence 23 Preventing senioritis

COLUMN: Out of the Blue

SPORTS 32 Overlooked officials 34 Athletes after high school 36

A Karate athlete’s journey

38 39

Fast facts about the Sochi Olympics

SPORTSFLASH

SPECIAL REPORT

starts on pg. 25

Kathleen Yuan | El Estoque

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21840 McClellan Road Cupertino, CA 95014 mv.el.estoque@gmail.com Editor-in-Chief: Amrutha Dorai Managing Editors: Karen Feng, Jennifer Lee, Athira Penghat, Yashashree Pisolkar Photo Editors: Catherine Lockwood, Colin Ni Copy Editors: Tanisha Dasmunshi, Pranav Parthasarthy Webmaster: Ashish Samaddar News Editors: Maya Murthy, Joyce Varma, Varsha Venkat Sports Editors: Nathan Desai, Mihir Joshi, Sarah Ramos Entertainment Editors: Anjali Bhat, Neesha Venkatesan, Kathleen Yuan Opinion Editors: Ambika Dubey, Daniel Fernandez, Eva Spitzen Special Report Editors: Yuna Lee, Namrata Ramani, Yifei Wu Design Editor: Rhonda Mak Graphics Editor: Shuyi Qi Business Editors: Elia Chen, Robert Sulgit Public Relations Editor: Claire Lu Staff Writers: Alina Abidi, Rochish Ambati, Ashmita Chakraborty, Kristin Chang, Elliot Ki, Colin Kim, Christine Liang, Steven Lim, Alaina Lui, Gabriella Monico, Amol Pande, Neha Ramchandani, Manasa Sanka, Lydia Seo, Ruba Shaik, Harini Shyamsundar, Sophia Tao, Joshua Tsuei, Jady Wei Adviser: Michelle Balmeo Credits Some images in this publication were taken from the stock photography website sxc.hu.

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 Monta Vista High School 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.

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Letter from the editor LIKE.

LOVE.

OBSESSED.

REVIEW YOUR CHOICES I n my family, day trips are always structured around food. While most people decide what attractions to visit and then search for restaurants nearby, we decide what restaurants to eat at and then search for attractions nearby. We have our priorities straight.

Anyway, in January, my family visited Monterey. The day before, my brother and I scoped out the food sitation on Yelp. I discovered one promising Italian place and pointed it out to him.

“No,” he scoffed, “it has less than four stars.”

“Three and a half,” I said. “That’s basically the same thing as four.”

“No,” he said, adding — and I’m not kidding, this is something he actually said — “I don’t allow sub-four-star experiences into my life.”

Admit it: You, too, have a filter. It may not be quite as explicit as my brother’s, but you have one. Maybe you refuse to watch movies that score less than 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe you don’t buy items that have fewer than 15 reviews on Amazon. Or maybe you won’t even consider applying to colleges that aren’t in the US News & World Report Top 50.

Ratings and rankings permeate every aspect of our lives, to the point where it starts to become impossible to distinguish our real opinions from the opinions advocated by complete strangers on the Internet. Our opinions constitute a vital role in our identities — I think, therefore I am, and what I think is what I am. The proliferation of review culture threatens our individuality, our sense of self.

And that’s exactly the issue we wanted to tackle in our Special Report, which starts on page 25.

In a world with limitless options, why do we allow ourselves to be confined to a preapproved set of choices? And how do we break out of that selfinflicted confinement?

In the midst of ratings, rankings and reviews, how do we explore our choices? Flip to page 12 to discover the benefits of rising above the rankings.

We discussed literary merit with sophomore Samantha Shieh, who is among that rare species that still browses for unre com mended AMRUTHA DORAI books at the library. We talked to senior Lilac Cadouri, who is straying far off the beaten path: After graduating, she plans to join the Israeli army. We used random website generators to discover what’s hiding on the Internet.

And what did we find? The stuff that gets lost due to our tunnel vision.

In order to have any richness in your life, you have to let those subfour-star experiences in. Because everybody else’s four-star experience could be your one-star experience, and everybody else’s one-star experience could be your four-star experience. You can’t use other people’s opinions to define your own. Well, you can — but what a silly way to live.

My family ended up choosing a Mexican restaurant that scored four stars based on 310 reviews. We couldn’t find space on the street in front of it, so we parked in a lot a few blocks away. As we were walking, we ran across a hip-looking cafe. My parents suggested eating there instead — and the irony hit me hard, that we have somehow become far less spontaneous than our supposedly stodgy parents — so I let go and went in.

The restaurant was small and unassuming. The food was delicious. I did not look it up on Yelp, either before or after.

I give spontaneity five stars.

YOU CAN’T USE OTHER PEOPLE’S OPINIONS TO DEFINE YOUR OWN. WELL, YOU CAN — BUT WHAT A SILLY WAY TO LIVE.

a.dorai@elestoque.org

3

NEWS

why we're letting them listen ‘Is it recording?’ is not the question teens are asking about NSA surveillance, it’s ‘Do we care?’

STORY AND PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SHUYI QI

S

enior Kristen Vrionis isn’t on Facebook. She isn’t on Twitter either. Or Tumblr, or Snapchat or any other social networking site. In fact, the only “social media” she’s on is Gmail. “[My parents] didn’t see the point behind it… letting people know what you’re doing all the time,” she said.

And yet, she still doesn’t feel any safer from the National Security Agency surveillance program, which has come under fire for their controversial social media and phone tracking.

“They can still track your text [messages] if they really want to find someone without a Facebook,” Vrionis said, disapproving of government surveillance. “They can still find my last phone call if they really, really wanted to.”

According to Gallup, that’s how 53 percent of Americans felt when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked a series of sensitive documents pertaining to NSA surveillance programs like PRISM, XKeyscore and Tempora to The Guardian and The Washington Post starting from June 5, 2013.

Since then, anti-NSA “Stop Watching Us” rallies have taken place in Washington D.C. as President Obama called for reforms to the NSA surveillance program while federal court judges debate the programs’ constitutionality.

Meanwhile, teenagers at MVHS have been mostly silent. Despite being the demographic that uses social networking sites the most, according to the Pew Research Center, teens and young adults have been generally passive about the issue, whether they have an opinion or not.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Let’s take a look at the area we live in: according to the California State Depart-

4

56%

ment, 36 percent of registered California voters are Democrats and 30.4 percent are Republican.

In the 2012 MVHS mock of Americans view NSA election conducted by phone call tracking as El Estoque, 71 percent an acceptable method of of students voted for the terrorism prevention Democratic party candiSource: Pew Research Center dates — a landslide.

Pew also found that only 36 percent of Democrats nationwide disapprove of the NSA surveillance programs, compared to 50 percent of MV HS students are of Republicans. somewhat concerned “I would agree with the [Democrats] because with online privacy I trust my government 19% are very a lot,” said senior Arjun concerned Krishna, who is active on 13% are not concerned Facebook. “Obviously I at all wouldn’t want a govern*297 respondents ment that has complete control over your life, [but] I don’t mind giving up a few rights.”

According to a poll conducted by the Huffington Post, the “more-educated and “[The government] is doing the best affluent Americans were less likely to be concerned about surveillance.” Cuper- they can,” sophomore Justin Chan said, tino, with a median household income of when asked about whether he approved of $127,534 in 2012, according to the U.S. the surveillance programs.

Census Bureau, fits the bill perfectly.

“The wealthy people might feel that A LOWER EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY In 2013, Pew Internet & American Life they can protect the right to privacy in their own means [and] in their own way,” Project and Harvard’s Berkman Center AP U.S. Government teacher Ben Reckt- report found that 81 percent of teens use enwald said. “Or they feel that they have social networks — and Krishna is one of them, posting photos and internet memes enough resources to get out of trouble.”

Thus, with the majority of the popula- on Facebook.

“The government is just another person tion in Cupertino siding with the party that heads the White House, the lack of debate looking at [your photo],” Krishna said. “If you intended it to be looked at, then I don’t among teens would be expected.

68%

EL ESTOQUE

get what’s wrong with the government looking at it.”

Recktenwald says that there is a shift in today’s culture where people have a lower sense of privacy since they’re already posting their information on Facebook.

“I’m not scared of them tracking me down,” Krishna said. “I’m not doing anything illegal… I think it’s good to have an official police making surveillance over the Internet.”

Both Krishna and Vrionis disagree, stating that they think students in MVHS are generally informed of the issue.

Still, others have a different impression.

“I talked to some of my friends about this issue too, and they literally asked me, ‘What is the NSA?’” Chan said. “As Americans, most of us don’t really take a lot of time to study politics and how these events really matter to us and how they really affect us.”

THE AMBIGUITY OF THE ISSUE “I have to agree that some of the public doesn’t understand situations and methods that the government uses,” Chan said.

According to Huffingof mvHS students have ton Post contributor and their privacy setting former attorney Lauren on their social media Cahn, “those who oppose account(s) as 'Friends the NSA’s data-collection can see' activities tend to do so 25% have it as 'mutual friends can see' on the basis of what they 7% have it as 'anyone can see' believe to be a constitu*297 respondents tionally based ‘right to privacy.’”

Although Recktenwald agrees that there is no specific reference to the of MVHS students “right to privacy” in the have no opinion on Constitution, he says that the 1965 Supreme Court the nsa surveillance case Griswold v. Connectprograms icut does in its ruling on 39% approves reproductive privacy.

11% dissaproves *297 respondents “There are some constitutional arguments that are vague and unclear that really don’t make any sense if you analyze the INFORMED OR NOT INFORMED? Constitution and some historical facts,” According to a June 2013 Pew poll, 56 Chan said. percent of Americans view NSA phone On Jan. 23, the Privacy and Civil Libtracking as an acceptable method of ter- erties Oversight Board released a report rorism prevention. However, “overall, stating the illegality of the NSA’s phone those who disagree with the government’s tracking program. However, two out of the data monitoring are following the reports five member panel, which began its work somewhat more closely than those who in 2012, disagreed with this conclusion. support them.” While only one in four With both the judicial and popular opinAmericans follow the news about the NSA ion split, it is not surprising that teens have “very closely,” young people follow the re- trouble sticking with a definite opinion, let ports the least at 12 percent. alone a definite action; although Krishna “If you don’t ask [teens] specific parts maintained that the government shouldn’t of the right to privacy and what it actu- take any action the majority doesn’t want, ally means, I think a lot of teenagers and he later added: people in general kind of go, ‘Oh, I’m not “[The people] probably don’t know worried about it,’” Recktenwald said. what needs to be done because they are

68%

59%

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

very sure of what they want from the government, but don’t know what the government should do in order to keep them safe.”

With ambiguous judicial facts and the multitude of pedantic policies, teens are often unsure of what they want the government to do with the programs and therefore have little regard for an issue that’s more complex than their average history FRQ. NOTHING TO HIDE Like many others, one of the main reasons why Vrionis doesn’t support the NSA programs is the extent of surveillance.

“I think it’s excessive what they’re doing,” Vrionis said. “Having everyone’s information accessible all the time just doesn’t feel right.”

Other teens have opted for the “nothing to hide” and necessity argument.

“If the U.S. announced officially that they were going to kill Osama Bin Laden and released every single bit of intelligence out into the news, they wouldn’t have [got him],” Krishna said. “For the people, as long as they’re not doing anything illegal, what should they be scared of?”

Chan concurs, saying that the government doesn’t need to examine every single activity on Facebook, at least for the purposes of the anti-terrorism effort.

Chan also referred to the social contract, a political philosophy developed by Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The social contract is an agreement in which individuals give up some of their rights to the government in exchange for protection and welfare. Thus, most teens agree with the government on surveillance programs’ necessity.

A REGULAR ‘BIG BROTHER’ Regardless of their opinion, teens in MV seemed to have already grown accustomed to the omnipresence of the government. Instead of seeing it as the Orwellian “Big Brother,” they brush the issue off, like they would with a pesky brother, resigning to the permanent companionship.

“Teens aren’t worried about having terrorist connections,” Vrionis said. “I have friends that deactivated accounts because it was a distraction or not useful, not because of the [NSA] issue.”

s.qi@elestoque.org 5

NEWS Used with permission of Jon Stark

Gadge Skidmore | Creative Commons by Wikimedia

Visit elestoque.org to read about more myths and to submit one you’ve heard.

‘The Cheerleaders’ Trailer | Screenshot

El Valedor 1973

BUSTED.

BY CATHERINE LOCKWOOD, MAYA MURTHY AND HARINI SHYAMSUNDAR

Examining some of MVHS’ widespread myths MYTH #1: STARK’S HELICOPTER THE MYTH: Math teacher Jon Stark allows his current students to ride in his helicopter if they get a full score on his final.

STUDENTS SAY In Stark’s BC Calculus class last year, rumors spread that current students who received a full score on either semester’s final would be given rides in Stark’s helicoper rides. According to senior Molly Vora, Stark’s website included images of him with his helicopter and students, which led her to believe they would get rides.

“He never explicitly told us anything, but I think the fact that there is a rumor out there makes it a little more interesting,” Vora said.

STARK SAYS Stark confirmed the myth to be

MYTH #2: AARON ECKHART

false: He does not give rides to current students even if they do receive a full score on his final. However, several alumni have visited Stark over the summer or during holiday breaks to get a helicopter ride, including 2011 alumnus Alex Chen (above), who now works at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

When preparing to fly the helicopter, Stark, who is also a professional flight instructor, teaches his passengers the safety procedures and the logistics of the aircraft. He looks forward to every flight with a student and hopes that more students come ask him in the future.

“If someone manages to get a full score on my final,” Stark said, “I’d be happy to give them a ride once they have graduated.”

THE MYTH: Actor Aaron Eckhart, known for his work in “The Dark Knight,” “Olympus Has Fallen” and “Battle Los Angeles,” attended MVHS.

THE VERDICT: Busted.

THE VERDICT: Busted.

STUDENTS SAY Sophomore Ashika Koganti first heard that Eckhart had attended MVHS from her father, and later from art teacher Jay Shelton. Skeptical, she looked online to see if the rumor was true, finding that Eckhart had moved to England at 13, before he could have been a student at MVHS. “I was like, ‘Finally a Monta Vista person in Hollywood ... oh wait, never mind,’” Koganti said.

THE DISTRICT SAYS In an email to El Estoque, FUHSD Executive Assistant of Teaching and Learning Ellie Johnson said that the district database has no record of Eckhart’s attendance.

c.lockwood@elestoque.org

m.murthy@elestoque.org

MYTH #3: ‘THE CHEERLEADERS’ THE MYTH: According to a review posted for the movie “The Cheerleaders” on IMDb by 1973 alumnus Roy Wells, the raunchy comedy film was filmed in part at MVHS. By comparing a 1973 MVHS yearbook photo and stills from the trailer, El Estoque believes that the tamer portions of the “The Cheerleaders” were indeed filmed on campus.

THE VERDICT: Likely.

6

Doesn’t this look like the MVHS gym? We sure think so!

‘The Cheerleaders’ Trailer | Screenshot

h.shyamsundar@elestoque.org EL ESTOQUE

Catherine Lockwood | El Estoque

new drugs for a

new age Cigarettes are fading into the past thanks to anti-drug education, but that doesn’t mean students have stopped smoking altogether

by Joyce Varma

R

ecalling anti-drug education from middle school, a senior girl remembers what her teacher explained to her.

“It was in our P.E. classes. I remember because Mr. Robinson was like ‘Don’t do [cigarettes] or you’ll die!’” she said, laughing. “And I was like ‘Okay! Whatever you say, Mr. Robinson.’”

Most students have grown up learning from Red Ribbon Weeks that cigarettes deposit tar in lungs and can cause diseases like cancer and emphysema and as a result, attitudes toward cigarettes have changed. According to a University of Michigan study in 1998, 35.1 percent of American high school

MARCH 13, 2013 FEBRUARY 5, 2014

seniors had smoked a cigarette in the last 30 days. In 2013, that number had dropped to nearly half at 16.1 percent. But why do we have anti-drug education at all?

In what was known as the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement in 1998, 46 states filed a lawsuit against the four largest tobacco companies of the U.S. and they reached a settlement of $206 billion to be paid over the following 25 years. As a part of the agreement, these four companies had to create and fund the National Public Education Foundation, which in turn funds anti-smoking campaigns for public schools across the nation. Essentially, big tobacco

was forced to pay for the anti-smoking education that we received in elementary and middle school.

At MVHS, of the 297 students surveyed, 2 percent said that they had tried a cigarette once, and only 1 percent said that they smoked cigarettes regularly. Seven percent of respondents, on the other hand, have tried marijuana at least once.

With a growing awareness of the negative health effects of cigarettes, cigarette consumption among students has decreased.

However, if students have not stopped drug use altogether, have they have simply moved on to to other, seemingly healthier drugs?

57

NEWS Starting with cigarettes A junior boy who spoke to El Estoque on the condition of anonymity first tried a cigarette when he was 11 years old and began smoking regularly when he was 15. Both of his parents smoked and his father owned a smoke shop. Now he smokes cigarettes about once a week.

“They always said [cigarettes] made them feel really relaxed, and they would just use it every time after they seemed like they had a stressful incident,” he said. “So I wanted to try it, just to see what happened.”

He went to an elementary school that participated in Red Ribbon Week and had anti-drug abuse education, but because he was exposed to cigarettes from his parents growing up, this education had less of an impact on his decision to smoke cigarettes. He is aware of the harmful effects of smoking, like tar and cancer, but he does not believe he will be affected.

“I just think I’m too young for anything to happen to me and I’m not like a pack-a-day kind of person, you know, I’d be like five a day,” he said.

However, he is now trying to cut down on his consumption.

“Switching to vape pens, I would rather do that than smoke cigarettes,” he said. “It’s awesome. You can make tricks with it and it tastes good. It tastes delicious, they smell good and they’re not bad for your lungs; they’re magical.”

Vape pens have recently become popular at MVHS, and 9 percent of respondents to our survey say they have used a vape pen at least once. Vape pens are battery-powered electronic devices, similar to e-cigarettes in that they heat liquid to produce vapor instead of smoke. However, instead of just nicotine, users have choices for what they put in the vape pen, including a drugless flavored liquid, varying concentrations of flavored nicotine liquid and even hash oils from marijuana. Because vape pens do not burn something to produce smoke, students see them as a less harmful option to smoking cigarettes or marijuana. A person must be 18 years old to purchase a vape pen, but the junior explained that students can illegally buy vape pens online.

General practitioner Dr. Juan Posada explained to El Estoque that the smoke that comes from inhaling something burning, like a cigarette or a joint, is unhealthy.

“The smoke is unhealthy because when you inhale smoke, you inhale carbon dioxide and that carbon dioxide competes with the oxygen you need for your metabolic processes and cells. The body will compensate by making more red blood cells, which could

8

Percent of American 12th grade students that have smoked at least one cigarette in the past 30 days from 1998 to 2013

35.1 34.6 31.4 29.5 26.7 25.0 24.4 23.2 21.6 21.6 20.4 20.1 19.2 18.7 17.1 16.3 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01‘02 ‘03‘04‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10‘11 ‘12 ‘13 *Data taken from the Monitoring the Future study, the University of Michigan.

cause clotting and as a result, a heart attack or stroke,” Posada said. “Smoke also causes inflammation and irritation in the airways so if smoke inhalation is continued, it can lead to emphysema, bronchitis, and possibly cancer.”

Posada said that if he were recommending medical marijuana to a patient, he would recommend marijuana tablets or eating it rather than any kind of inhalation, but if the patient’s only two options were to smoke the marijuana or use the vape pen to consume the marijuana, he would recommend the vape pen.

Cigarettes to vape pens The previously mentioned senior girl who recalled her experiences with anti-drug education in middle school had her first cigarette in the summer after sophomore year, when she also tried hookah and marijuana.

When she went abroad last summer with friends, some of whom smoked cigarettes, she smoked more. She says she continues to smoke cigarettes “recreationally” occasionally now, about once every month or so.

“For the four weeks we were there, I think we smoked like a couple packs! But it was me and my friend,” she said. “It was funny because we had to teach other people how to smoke them right…. We had this one little sophomore boy and he was like [mimes inhaling smoke from a cigarette, coughs], and we were like ‘No!’ like ‘Get out!’ [laughs] It was funny.”

She remembers having Red Ribbon Week in elementary school, and anti-drug abuse education in middle school, and she is aware of the harm from smoking cigarettes.

“For vape, you can have nicotine in it, so it’s like, essentially you get the same feeling,” she said. “But you’re not putting all of that tar and [expletive] into your lungs, which is why I kind of want to get a [vape] pen.”

She wants to switch from cigarettes to vape pens because she believes they are relatively healthier.

“Everyone knows that cigarettes aren’t good for your lungs, and I don’t want to get addicted to nicotine,” she said. “If I had a choice between vape and a cigarette, I’d probably go vape.”

Health risks Though students see them as healthy alternatives to traditional drugs, none of the liquids used in vape pens have been regulated by the FDA, and it is illegal for minors to buy either a vape pen or liquid. According to Tim Chrystal, an employee of the smoke shop Monsters of Rock on De Anza Blvd, the liquid his store sells is an equal blend of vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol, and has added flavors and nicotine. Because the FDA has not regulated any of the liquids used in vape pens, the liquids’ effects on health have not been researched conclusively, but Chrystal noticed some short-term effects of using a vape pen.

EL ESTOQUE

VAPE PENS: Battery-powered electronic devices that heat liquids that may contain drugs, to produce vapor instead of smoke.

Catherine Lockwood | El Estoque

“I’m fairly certain from my own experiences that inhaling a lot of that juice really decreases your lung capacity still,” Chrystal said. “I get all wheezy if I do it too much.

I think that’s just like short term effect of using it.”

According to the New York Daily News, the hash oils used with vape pens come in a much more concentrated form than traditional forms of marijuana, so these oils induce a more intense high faster. And according to a study by Northwestern University, teens who smoked marijuana daily for around three years had abnormalities in their brain structures responsible for working memory. The younger the teen started using the drug, the more abnormal their brain structure was, and these abnormalities have been linked with “poor academic performance and everyday functioning.” Using hash oils with a vape pen would only intensify these effects.

However, according to our survey, 40 percent of respondents believe that consuming marijuana in any form is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, and 7 percent of respondents have tried marijuana at least once.

Similarly, according to the same University of Michigan study, in 2003, 54.9 percent of high school seniors perceived consuming marijuana regularly as a harmful risk, while 10 years later in 2013, that number was 39.5 percent. From 2003 to 2013, the percent of FEBRUARY 5, 2014

high school seniors who had consumed marijuana in the past 30 days went up by 2 percent. The perceived harm of marijuana on health has dropped over recent years, and at the same time, marijuana consumption has gone up.

Social smoking Both the vape pen and marijuana are considered to be less harmful than cigarettes, and so students like a different senior girl have opted for these seemingly healthier options.

Last summer, upon her request, her 18 year-old friend bought her a pen from a smoke shop on De Anza Blvd.

She participates in what she calls “social smoking,” in which she and other friends use their vape pens to practice smoke tricks such as rings and tornados when they are bored, while using a drugless, flavored liquid. She uses her vape pen about once a week on weekends and has a couple different flavors including watermelon, strawberry and molly water, which tastes like the drug Molly, a form of ecstasy. She occasionally smokes marijuana as well. However, she said she has not smoked a cigarette.

“I would never smoke [cigarettes],” she said. “I don’t use the vape pen to get high or smoke cigarettes because I don’t do them by myself; I’m not the type to be addicted and end up getting high by myself just for the feeling. I just do it when I’m with friends.”

The University of Michigan survey detailing the rise in marijuana consumption and decline in perceived harm of marijuana would agree with what she said, showing that the harm associated with a drug is not merely a concern amongst students when choosing drugs, but a deciding factor.

Looking ahead As the cigarette is falling out of favor because of its well-known side effects, other drugs perceived to have fewer health risks are becoming more popular. With Red Ribbon Weeks from elementary school staying in students’ minds well into high school, students and teens are growing to be more health-conscious about the drugs they consume.

Currently it is legal to use a vape pen anywhere in California, but Chrystal expects this to change.

“My opinion is that it’s going to be banned [in certain locations] just like cigarettes are: You can’t vape indoors, you can’t vape 10 feet from a building,” Chrystal said. “People come in here and just blow that in my face and I work in a smoke shop; it doesn’t bother me that much. But if you’re just, like, walking around the town doing that? That’s annoying. But yeah, I think it’s going to be illegal.

Well not illegal, but just like cigarettes.” j.varma@elestoque.com 9

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WALKING ON EGGSHELLS A pop star and politician fall back to Earth

I

’ve got an egg-celent story for you. If you thought my past stories were egg-citing, you’re in for an egg-stravagant surprise. I’m not trying to scramble your brains, so I’m going to take a hard-boiled approach while I explain to you the egg-sotic life and times of Justin Bieber.

Even before his DUI and absurdly gleeful mugshot a few weeks ago, Bieber did something egg-ceptionally stupid. If you don’t know, the police investigated the (former?) pop star of egging someone’s house, because apparently that’s something that little lessons people still do. I’ve always had a problem with egging because it’s just a one-way food fight. It’s an attack with the sole aim of causing hostility or retaliation. Egging doesn’t display dominance or prove anything, like NFL cornerback Richard Sherman’s rant.

Bieber has had a strange career — he went from a heartthrob with a feminine voice to an adult with an immature personality. He evolved from Shirley Temple into Britney Spears. Bieber has done so many absurd things that we don’t even have to tell jokes about him anymore — he is the joke.

The biggest reason for his personality change is that he’s worn out his shtick. Doesn’t it seem like he aged from 12 to 19 in about four years? Bieber stretched his pre-teen phase for long enough and once his fans grew up, he had to do the same. It was never a question of if he would falter; the real question was when it would happen. If he could have held onto the “Baby” era for his whole career, he probably would be gaining fans instead of spitting on them.

Following the death of that era of his life, he tried something else: being a gangster. His recent spree of committing crimes, disrespecting others and hanging out with rappers are his attempt to resurrect his popularity. Unfortunately for him, the personality doesn’t fit him, and instead of accepting his new identity, I’m making egg puns about him. That golden pre-puberty age of his career is long gone now, as it was destined to collapse at some point. And his attempted transformation into a gangster has met more negative criticism than “Mickey Blue Eyes.” Popularity, fame, “Community,” the 49ers’ season — everything must go.

But Bieber is not the only one who has recently learned that nothing good can last forever.

Popular New Jersey Governor and Hu r ue

NATHAN DESAI

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ricane Sandy hero Chris Christie saw his popularity decline recently because of an incident that happened last year. Some of Christie’s officials and staff members were involved with a traffic jam that occurred on the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to New York, in the beginning of September 2013. This angered many New Yorkers (which is shocking since they never get pissed off about anything) because there is clearly never traffic in New York City. Now, the Republican (yes, Republicans can be popular) Governor has been thrown into the circle of conspiracy right in between Jay-Z’s Illuminati and The Philadelphia Experiment because of some traffic in New York. Then, he fired a bunch of his staff members and tried to push the blame onto them. Note that Bieber tried to evade the egging accusations by pegging it on someone else.

But since it was a New York traffic jam, some very New York-type things happened.

The aftermath of the lane closure blew up even more because Christie is considered by many to be the potential Republican can-

POPULARITY, FAME, ‘COMMUNITY’, THE 49ERS SEASON — EVERYTHING MUST GO. didate for the 2016 Presidential Election. And I think we all know it’s impossible to be an effective president if you have ever done anything wrong. If you’ve smoked weed, gotten a DUI or cheated on your wife, you might as well count out your chances before you even reach the Oval Office.

If something like this were to happen in San Francisco, I doubt that it would be as big as the Christie scandal is. And I know this is true because I didn’t hear anyone talking about Ed Lee’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” campaign video.

Unfortunately for Christie, the worldwide appeal of New York would have caught up to him at some point. Just like how Bieber learned that he couldn’t be a pre-teen forever, Christie realized that his heroic persona would eventually fade.

Both Christie and Bieber were destined to sputter at some point and that’s the case for anything that seems too good to be true, like the credibility of the Academy Awards.

As Robert Frost said, “Nothing gold can stay.” n.desai@elestoque.org

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

11

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THE DEATH OF FREE THINKING

Fixation on reviews discourages free-thought, represses individuality

D

uring the 1950s, Solomon Asch, a pro- practical major, we can find ourselves a high fessor of Sociology at Swarthmore Col- paying job. But how often do these options lege, organized some of the earliest data reflect our own desires, and can they really on humanity’s habit to conform. In his most guarantee us a life of happiness and meaning?

In our pursuit of the easiest and quickfamous experiment, Asch used a group of five people, four of whom were actors, and a est way to achieve “success” we are hurtsingle individual who was the actual partici- ing ourselves. And our formulaic approach pant. Asch then showed a group of three lines to academic achievement is only one and asked the participants to select the line component of a much greater problem. of the longest length.

We have become obEvery test, the four sessed with spending our actors would all select time more efficiently, and the same line, which we are paranoid about was not the shortest. ever wasting or misusing Despite any risk, the sinit. It is the reason why gle participant selected we gravitate to the most the wrong answer along efficient computers and with the group close to the quickest fixes to our 40 percent of the time, daily problems. It is why effectively illustrating reviews, a simple filter OPINION OF THE EL ESTOQUE a striking human willfor quality, have come to EDITORIAL BOARD ingness to conform. dominate our everyday As high school studecision-making process. dents, we are often And while we may faced with our own set think that these reviews of three lines. We are told that by following have an insignificant impact on what we the tried and true formula of scoring well on are doing in our day to-day life, the effects standardized tests and earning good grades, on our buying habits are astounding – only we will achieve something great. We are told 3 percent of MVHS students ignore prodthat by following a checklist given by a college uct ratings when purchasing an item online. counselor, we will be accepted into the school Even though the occasional reliance on of our choice. We are told that by picking a reviews is not harmful, our dependence on

STAFF EDITORIAL

12

filtered information is. Even with the variety of reviews available on the internet, we are often drawn to aggregated data — the star rating on a Yelp restaurant, rather than the reviews which make up the rating.

Unfortunately, when we determine our purchases based on star rating, we fail to take into account the individual parts which make up a review. Rather than knowing whether the service at a restaurant is slow, or the bathrooms revolting, we only are given a rigid and relative evaluation of quality. By following just this evaluation, we unknowingly adhere to public opinion, rather than considering an individual’s opinion. In essence, we conform to what society believes is best.

This willingness to suppress our individual opinion in favor of those of a group is called social mimicry. Shankar Vedantam, author of “The Hidden Brain,” explains that social mimicry has profound effect on our actions, from determining how much to tip a waiter at a restaurant, to affecting the tendency to cheat and steal.

It should be clear that the opinions of those around us have a profound effect on our decision making. In a world that is constantly telling us what the best course of conduct is, it is undeniably difficult to break from the mold.

However, if we take the time to experience both the good and bad in the world around us, we actually enhance our ability to find activiEL ESTOQUE

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ties we enjoy. Although going out to a subpar meal or a mediocre movie is often viewed as a waste of time, we should still actively seek out new experiences. Junior Samantha Shieh, who was featured in this issue’s Special Report, was only able to discover what books she enjoyed through a profound amount of experimentation. However, more than just finding what she enjoyed, Shieh was able to see a tremendous amount of both good and mediocre writing, allowing her to evaluate life with a unique perspective. Even more importantly, exposure to new ideas and beliefs allows us to become well-rounded people, able to adapt to the ever-changing world around us.

Despite all the obstacles that our review-based culture poses, there are solutions.

Most importantly, we must depart from our objective-based mindset. Viewing life as a series of steps in a formula is a dangerous and narrow-minded way to live life. In order to think freely once again, we have to stop worrying so much about objectives and goals and focus on experiencing life as a journey. In order to experience all the good that the world has to offer, we may need to slug through our fair share of mediocrity, but we will experience so much more in forging our own path than filling in the footprints of those who preceded us.

February 5 , 2014

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OPINION

To learn more about different ways students stay awake visit elestoque.org/ news/stayingawake

BETTER LATE THAN EVER

Who knew staying up late could be beneficial for high school students?

BY JADY WEI

B

enjamin Franklin said, “Early to bed, years have an IQ of less than 75 (“very dull”) the morning. According to Dr. John J. “Jack” early to rise makes a man healthy, in their early adulthood, whereas those who Merendino Jr., assistant clinical professor at wealthy, and wise.” go to bed at around 12:29 a.m. have an IQ of the George Washington University School Well, three centuries ago, this statement over 125 (“very bright”). This phenomenon of Medicine, blood glucose level is lowest may have been widely adhered to, but it is is not hard to understand. Commonly, those in the morning. This would decrease the surely not what most people live by in mod- who stay up late to study and do other edu- students’ ability to concentrate during this ern society, especially high school students. cational activities will spend more time en- time of the day. On top of this, the level of Take MVHS students for example — on grossed in acquiring new knowledge. Night melatonin — a hormone in the body that top of finishing homework, most students owls typically experience a feeling of height- controls circadian rhythms — is at its peak have many extracurricular commitat around 5:30 a.m., which, accordments, such as practicing hours for ing to a study by the National Sleep sports each day, attending club meetFoundation, causes extreme drowsiings or partaking in community serness. In such cases, it is much more vice. As long as there is time left before effective to stay up late and finish the break of dawn, they continue solthe work at night instead of waking diering on. According to an El Estoque up early to complete the previous survey, 30 percent of 297 students day’s assignments. stay up until 2 a.m. regularly on school In the long run, staying up late nights. Naturally, there are drawbacks in high school can also prepare stuof students use to sleeping late, such as decreased condents very well for the imminent centration, mood swings and health college and adulthood years. The energy drinks issues, according to specialized neurofact is, high schoolers can expect to ,/ ,ƛ"" 1, 01 6 surgeon Dr. Harold Gladwell. But here work even harder at college, a time 4 (" is the question: Is it smarter for high to prepare them for the rest of life. school students to stay up late to finish No matter which path a student will work, or should they just go to bed and choose to take, it is fair to say that leave it to the next morning? sleeping eight hours a day will likely Of course, most students have probnot be a guarantee. Learning to stay ably grown up listening to the popular up late now can help students adapt adage that they should sleep at a deto many circumstances in the years *Based on a survey of 297 students cent hour and the idea that getting at yet to come. least eight hours of sleep is optimal. Howev- ened focus while the rest of the world sleeps, Is there value for high school students in er, recent studies in the medical and psychol- with no distraction and disruptions waking sleeping at a decent hour? Of course. Howogy fields have shown that going to bed at 10 up all around them, unlike in the morning. ever, staying up late to study can also be p.m. is not necessary for all teens.

So why not wake up early the next morn- plausible. Besides, the best part about goAccording to a May 2010 article written ing to tie up loose ends rather than stay up ing to bed late to finish all your work is that

by Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa, psychologist at the late to work? The truth is, going to bed with you can go to sleep at peace, knowing that London School of Economics, those who incomplete work and solely relying on the you will not have to wake up the next mornare more intelligent generally tend to go to next morning to cram is almost impossible. ing trying desperately to complete what you bed later. This is corroborated by his analysis In physiological terms, the body of a chose not to finish. showing that those who go to bed at around typical high school student is better adapted j.wei@elestoque.org 9:41 p.m. on weeknights during their teenage to studying late in the night than any time in

HOW DO WE STAY AWAKE?

20%

60% of students have pulled allnighters

40% of students stay up past midnight regularly

12:00

4 WAYS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR EFFICIENCY AT NIGHT

EXERCISE PERIODICALLY 14

EAT PROTEIN, NOT SUGAR

TURN OFF ALL DISTRACTIONS

DON’T DRINK CAFFEINE

Ambika Dubey | El Estoque Illustrations

EL ESTOQUE

Red Ribbon Revival By reforming drug education to engage students, we can more effectively prevent drug use

BY ELLIOT KI

S

ome of you may remember going through Drug Abuse Resistance Education — better known as D.A.R.E. — during elementary school. You may remember being taught the phrase “Just say no to drugs.” You may also remember being taught that cigarettes contain addictive nicotine, and that drinking too much impairs your judgment and causes you to make decisions you would not normally make. The question, though, is did you learn?

In separate studies, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Surgeon General, and the American Academy of Sciences independently concluded that D.A.R.E. is an ineffective program because officers fail to connect with students and as a result cannot create a safe place to discuss complex issues like drug and alcohol abuse. In fact, D.A.R.E. can actually increase students’ chances of joining gangs and becoming involved with alcohol, according to a study conducted by David Hanson, a professor at The State University of New York at Potsdam.

However, the program still remains popular; D.A.R.E. is employed by about three in four school districts in the U.S., according to the official D.A.R.E. website.

A common reason for D.A.R.E.’s continued use is the fact that many parents feel uncomfortable discussing drug abuse with their children, according to research conducted by the National Crime Prevention Council. However, parental involvement is essential to ensuring that teenagers avoid drugs and alcohol — research conducted by Amelia Arria, a professor of health at John Hopkins University, found that children’s likelihood of using drugs decreases by more than 50 percent when parents educate their children on the danger of using controlled substances.

Besides lack of parental interaction, D.A.R.E.’s core curriculum is severely flawed — it contains only 17 hour long lessons which focus on students learning how to “say no to drugs.” These boring, lecture based presentations contain little room for discussion and as a result fail to adequately discuss the complex topics of drug abuse with both young and old students.

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Instead of lecturing to the students, instructors should engage with the students and dialogue with them to create a long-term solution. That is exactly what the program UpFront does.

UpFront, which has been implemented throughout the Oakland Unified School District, relies on a discussion-based format and focuses on honestly discussing drug abuse.

A pilot program similar to UpFront used in a Pennsylvania high school reduced disruptive behavior, with suspensions dropping more than 50 percent in the first year of the program.

D.A.R.E. needs to be amended so it will leave a lasting impact not just through grade school, but throughout middle and high school. Studies conducted by Dennis Rosenbaum at the University of Chicago found that the positive effects of D.A.R.E. only last for an average of one to two years following the end of the curriculum. With students’ likelihood of drug contact increasing as they enter college and the professional world, it is incredibly important that the lessons instilled by D.A.R.E last in the long term.

An improved D.A.R.E. program must engage students in interactive discussions in a non-judgmental, trusting and respectful environment. At the same time, it must promote personal involvement and accountability. By mobilizing school personnel, parents and older students instead of law enforcement, not only can the program save precious resources, D.A.R.E. strengths the connection among students, parents and school in the war against drugs. e.ki@elestoque.org

*About 1 in every 5 deaths in the US can be attributed to cigarette smoking

*For every cigarette-related death, about 20 more are diagnosed with "at least one serious tobaccorelated illness." *From cdc.gov/tobacco

**Prescription drugs are the second most abused substances by Americans 14 years old and above.

**Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are only safer than illicit substances when taken exactly as prescribed by a physician.

**"A large long-term study in New Zealand showed that people who began smoking marijuana heavily in their teens lost an average of 8 points in IQ between age 13 and age 38." **From drugabuse.gov

Did you know?

Ambik a Dub

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OPINION

I CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH A tale that takes me back 12 years ...

I sometimes see what I want to believe and I believe in the things that are easiest to believe.

When I was in kindergarten, there was this girl named Koko who was the complete opposite of me -‐ and she was my nemesis.

She was always such a goody-‐two shoes ...

WhaT’s your favorite color?

Yellow.

no monkey business

SHUYI QI

... which bothered me.

What’s your favorite animal?

One day when the class was doing arts and crafts, we were given, among other things, stickers to help decorate.

I loved stickers and free ones were so hard to come by.

Panda.

So i thought it wouldn’t hurt to take a few home ...

Are you o.k.?

YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSE TO TAKE THOSE! THOSE ARE FOR CLASS ONLY!

Take this to your parents.

I hated Koko for the rest of the year ... until the last day of school.

I’m moving to Japan this Summer and I wanted to give everyone a gift.

Class, we have an announcement to make.

Here you go.

She was suppose to be my enemy, and it was hard to believe otherwise.

seeing her as my foe made being angry at her easier. It made everything easier. But she was a good person and i just couldn’t take it.

s.qi@elestoque.org FEBRUARY 5, 2014

16

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OCT 26 contact

artclass70@gmail.com or 408-234-6933

for registration or more information

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A&E

CAN WE

CHANGE

THE WORLD? Or are we just narcissistic for thinking we can?

BY JENNIFER LEE

I

f you’ve ever heard someone grumbling about your generation (Hi, Grandpa!), they’re probably saying something along the lines of “lazy, self-absorbed brats.” These are the myths surrounding our particular generation, infamously known as the “Millennials.” We’re generally considered to be the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. So you and I are Millennials. And we have a reputation for being narcissistic and entitled.

But never fear: reporter Joel Stein refutes these points in his 2013 TIME article “The Me Me Me Generation,” noting that much of the bad publicity Millennials receive can be attributed more to changing technology and social media than a particular flaw within our generation.

As Scott Hess, senior vice president of human intelligence for media agency SparkSMG, points out in the TIME article: “Can you imagine if the [baby] boomers had YouTube, how narcissistic they would’ve seemed?”

Which begs the question — if we’re not the narcissistic civilization-destroyers we’ve been said to be, what are we?

Sophomores Allyson Guo and Miloni Vora believe we’re progress-makers. So do the approximately forty percent of Millennials worldwide who believe they can make a global difference, according to the 2013 Telefonica Global Millennial Survey.

18

“It might be some minor changes, but it can affect a lot of people,” said Guo, who is working with Vora and a few others on a TED Talk project for English teacher Mikki McMillion’s World Literature class. Their project proposes a school-wide online study group with teacher regulation, so that any student can receive study help in a productive setting. “Our website is basically wanting to make a change to help people study, and it might not be that big of a step — but we are working toward it.”

“I think we can do better than what people before have done — but I also think it has to be a group effort,” Vora said. “I think that a lot of people need to come together and try to make a change.”

The mainstream Millennial The mainstream media stance seems to be that Millennials seek to change the world because we’ve been raised to believe we’re unique enough to. We’re the Self-Esteem generation, the special snowflakes whose input is treated as invaluable, and not just when it comes to changing the world: 74 percent of Millennials think they influence the purchase decisions of peers and those in other generations, according to a 2012 survey conducted by Edelman Insights. Seven in 10 believe it’s their responsibility to share

feedback with companies after experiencing its brand. “‘Just follow your purpose and live your dreams’ is the mantra parents ingrained in their kids … Gen Y sees it as their birth-right to sort out the mess now so clearly apparent to them in all aspects of society,” write Giles Hutchins and Martina Mangelsdorf in their book “Social Entrepreneurship and Gen Y – A Match Made in Heaven?” Simon Graj of branding firm Graj + Gustavsen concurs, noting that “the Millennial focus on self is also matched if not surpassed by an equally strong commitment to social responsibility” in a 2013 Forbes article.

And it seems that this commitment to social responsibility ends up manifesting in a desire to bring about change — as stated earlier, 40 percent of Millennials believe they can make a global difference. That might seem low at first, but consider just how big the Millennial population is: 80 million people, according to the Barkley advertising agency. Forty percent of that brings us to a whopping 32 million Millennials who think they can change the world.

That’s a very high number, especially when it comes to having the ability to change the world — a noble pursuit, but a lofty one. So what exactly gives us the confidence to say that we can catalyze a global change?

“We can access more things,”

SOPHOMORE ALLYSON GUO

ENGLISH teacher David Clarke

ENGLISH teacher VENNESSA NAVA

EL ESTOQUE

“The Me Me Me Generation” by Joel Stein debunks misconceptions about Millennials. Stein says that our supposedly distinctive narcissism is not generational so much as it is a product of expanding technology.

“

We can access more things, so we can think wider or outside of the box.

“

I think the thing that is true with every young generation ... is that younger people are willing to revisit ideas in novel and creative ways.

“

It seems idealistic, but I think the only people that make changes are idealistic. And then for all the cynicism that goes around, like ‘Oh, you can’t change the world,’ well — some people do!

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Guo said, “so we can think wider or outside of the box.”

“We have more technology, and we have more ideas about what’s going on around the world,” Vora added. “I think that makes us more motivated to do something about it than the older generation.”

Perhaps it’s not all that implausible. We’ve seen Millennial-guided revolutions take the world by storm in recent years — look no further than the Arab Spring social media revolutions of 2011, in which people in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt took to the Internet to organize protests and spread awareness of the political climates in their regions. And they succeeded: Each of them managed to topple the dictators in their respective countries, largely because they were able to facilitate strong coordination within the country and communication with the outside world. The revolution was so pervasive that even army generals in their seventies — a different generation! — were posting announcements online.

On the other end of the spectrum lies the notorious Kony 2012 campaign, launched by the organization Invisible Children. Kony 2012 went so viral amongst young people it prompted Congress to pass a resolution that channeled more resources into going after Kony.

However, as of 2014, Kony still has not been found. Instead, the campaign has left a trail of controversy in its wake, amidst accusations of money fraud and misrepresentation of the actual issue. Where the Arab Spring social media revolutions showed the potential we have for making great waves of change, Kony 2012 is an example of Millennial enthusiasm gone astray.

Or just youthful idealism?

But let’s take a look at the other side as well: Though our generation did propel these revolutions forward, was it really our Millennial uniqueness that inspired them? English teacher Vennessa Nava, who strives to

bring increased awareness of social issues into the classroom, doesn’t think so. Rather, she finds that the desire to change the world is a characteristic shared by all younger generations.

“It’s problematic to, based on this issue, say that there’s a whole lot of distinction between Millennials and the generations that have come [before],” she said. “It seems like activism is primarily a youthful enterprise, but those are the people that make up activism because that idealism hasn’t been ripped away from you yet by your experiences.”

English teacher David Clarke believes that, while ideas are always changing, no one generation is necessarily more advanced than those before it.

Moreover, there’s an intellectual maturation required to understand more nuanced concepts, and that process hasn’t become easier or quicker in recent years.

“I got a book from an exstudent, and it was a series of essays that were pretty radical, [that she felt were] very valuable for her and really exciting to her and really novel in a sense, or new, for her, and I thought that was a great thing,” Clarke said.

“I’m actually reading the essays now and one of the things I noticed is yeah, I recall those ideas being very exciting and very new for me. 30 years later, they’re still exciting, but they’re not new.”

He took some lessons away from this experience: one, that while such ideas are always exciting, perhaps especially so when we’re younger, their novelty wears off as we grow older.

Two, that sometimes the younger generation may believe it’s covering ground that has never been covered before — when in actuality a lot of people have covered said ground before.

“It’s just that we’re in different stages of that process,” Clarke said. “I think the thing that is true with every young generation — which isn’t necessarily true as you get older, it’s very hard to do — is that younger people are willing to revisit ideas in novel and creative ways

… which is one of the great things, I think, about working with younger people.”

Final verdict Millennial uniqueness or not, however, the most pressing question stays the same: Can we change the world? Is it realistic of us to expect that we can?

“It seems idealistic, but I think the only people that make changes are idealistic,” Nava said. “And then for all the cynicism that goes around, like ‘Oh, you can’t change the world,’ well — some people do! So it’s not really helpful to tear apart people’s idealism because I think you might discourage people from trying, and that’s not good either.”

And while the desire to change the world may reflect an element of grandiosity on our part — well, we’re still making waves on a global level. Kony 2012 showed us that our efforts can result in missteps, but even that yielded some positive impacts. After all, it brought awareness of Kony’s crimes to a global audience. That’s thousands of people who now have cause to fight against him, who can donate to organizations seeking to bring Kony to justice (just maybe not Invisible Children).

“There’s an element even of altruism that is about the self.

When you do good, it makes you feel good, so maybe that’s part of what’s driving you to keep doing it — because it does give you a sense of self-satisfaction,” Nava said. “Maybe it’s unfair to criticize that self-serving center to altruism, because if it is effecting good, then why criticize it?”

Maybe we’ve got the unique ability as Millennials to unlock a wave of global change. Maybe we don’t. Whether it’s because we’re special, or simply because we’re young folk, the consensus is clear: We have a great deal of the idealism necessary to make waves, a great deal of power in our grasp to effect change.

Yes, you and I can change the world. So let’s make it happen. j.lee@elestoque.org 19

A&E

SURVIVING SENIORITIS

Three remedies to avoid the worst situations

BY NEESHA VENKATESAN

According to urbandictionary.com, senioritis is defined as “a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors,” and “the only known cure is a phenomenon known as graduation.” But we’re not so sure. We found

1

THE SYMPTOMS

2

YOU’RE TARDY

n.venkatesan@elestoque.org

THE MEDICS

THE CURES

“

Make sure you leave your house at a specific time every day and that your alarm is far away from your bed. Also, set your alarm five or 10 minutes before you have to get up so you have some time to properly wake up and show up to school on time.

Kathleen Yuan | El Estoque Illustration

YOU’RE UNINVOLVED

3

20

these cures from students who claim they’re beating senioritis. If you have diagnosed yourself and you’re ready for the cure, keep reading.

“

”

SENIOR SREEJA STHOTHRA BHASHYAM

[Working on a group project] has to be the first thing you do instead of the last thing you do.

You have to do it early when you get home because a body at rest tends to stay in rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

YOU’RE DISTRACTED

“

”

I just have to discipline myself to finish my work because if I have fun without doing my work, there’s a thing in the back of my mind that doesn’t go away, and I know I have to do my work. I would just have to make a change in myself and change my work ethic.

”

SENIOR ZACHARY PATTI

SENIOR VIRAJ PANDE EL ESTOQUE

POWER SHOT

Year-long vlogging project empowers junior

BY ANJALI BHAT

Kathleen Yuan | El Estoque

J

unior RJ Siu always carries a sleek black camera — the Canon PowerShot — in his pocket. He keeps a Flip camera in his backpack, just in case he needs a back-up.

Why? Because as a daily vlogger, he’s got to keep a tab on his surroundings, just in case anything interesting comes up. He would hate to miss something important or the perfect moment to broadcast his thoughts to the world.

He would not have done that a year ago.

In his sophomore year, RJ found it especially difficult to speak up during the Socratic seminars in in world literature and history classes. He was shy and kept to himself in class — even if participation was mandatory.

“I was scared of what others would think of me if I said something wrong,” RJ said.

“If someone asked, ‘RJ, what do you think of this?’ and I had to talk, my heart would beat really fast, and my hands would start sweating.”

His inhibitions began to slip away in the summer, when he vacationed in Hawaii and documented his experience in short vlogs for two weeks. It was easy to speak into a camera because it was “just a little metal, cube-shaped thing” that could not judge what he said.

When August rolled around, RJ made up his mind to continue vlogging. Knowing it

was going to be a crazy year in high school, and planned to vlog every single day of his junior year — without fail.

For members of RJ’ family, this would mean getting used to having a camera in their faces, and at first, they were not ready.

“We were kind of shocked, because he wanted us to be a part of his videos too,” RJ’s brother, freshman Cory Siu said. “[RJ] had started watching another vlogging family, the Shaytards, and I guess he was inspired by that. We watched some of those videos, and we saw that their family was weird and fun. But we didn’t know how to act in front of a camera.”

Over time, however, RJ has noticed that his parents and siblings have grown more enthusiastic in front of the camera. His younger sisters in particular love to giggle and lipsync to popular songs whenever they are in the spotlight. But the person who changed the most? Definitely RJ. “This is a building process for myself, my self-improvement and my confidence,” RJ said. “When I first started vlogging, I would be so shaky with the camera and have nothing to say. Before, I had zero confidence …

I would be so shy talking to other people.

After holding a camera in front of a whole crowd of people, I can say, ‘I don’t care about you guys. I’m doing this for me.’”

Whoever he is making the vlogs for, he has gained a small fanbase by doing what he loves. Junior Bryan Nguyen, RJ’s best friend, appears in several vlogs that feature a crowd of RJ’s closest friends at school. In “Gummy Bear Problems?” they attempt to pull apart a five-pound gummy bear in a lunch period.

These same friends — and more — continue to support RJ on his YouTube channel: TheDailyRJ, which now has over 200 videos and a following of nearly 150 subscribers.

“Every time he pulls out the camera, it is pretty exciting,” Nguyen said. “When [RJ] first started, he was different around the camera, but now it has become much more natural. He didn’t know what to say at first, but now he can spill out his ideas easily.”

RJ now aspires to become a filmmaker in the future, and has even created a new channel for short films. According to RJ, he is still learning — and he believes that he continues to articulate his thoughts differently in camera and in person. But for him, the change is unmistakable.

“The other day, there was a Socratic seminar, and it was really silent in class, but I wasn’t afraid. I thought, this is my time to shine.” a.bhat@elestoque.org

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

New to RJ’s channel? Search for these videos on TheDailyRJ for a glimpse into his life.

Used with permission from RJ Siu

“Halloween is coming...”

Day 63 - 10/02/13 FEBRUARY 5, 2014

“SHOTS!” Day 94 - 11/02/13

“Finals be ending soon...”

Day 139 - 12/18/13 21

A&E

the fight for

friendship How I lost the battle but won the war

Rhonda Mak | El Estoque Illustration

T

he last time I was brave, I was telling a brave man is one who confronts the bad the school delinquent that I was going guy head on, I shouted that if he tried to kill to break every single bone in his body. me, I would break every bone in his body.

I was seven and had just spent six months Silence. as a bottom-feeder in the ocean of public For a moment, I thought I could see a school, not realizing that bragging about little admiration on the faces of my peers –– one’s ability to recite the times table wasn’t for a moment, I thought I might have actually exactly how one made friends. The only made a friend. person less popular than But of course our teacher caught me in Room 6 was Brian, the entire exchange. And well, we whose bad words (stupid!) went to a school with a zero-tolerance and tendency to verbally policy, so both of us had to be sent to harass any of the brave the principal’s office for punishment, souls who tried to be his the entire playground witnessing our friend left him just as walk of shame across campus. alone on the playground.

And no one wants to be friends out of the blue Eventually, I managed with a delinquent... to find happiness at the ...as it happened, the one person swing set –– you don’t who did end up accepting me was really have to talk while Brian himself, for whom I had apparpumping your legs, and if I pretended really ently passed a test with flying colors. The hard, I could imagine that the person on the next time I saw him, instead of the fury I had swing next to me was my friend rather than prepared myself for, I got a smile and a consome kid who probably (hopefully) didn’t versation. By the end of the year I’d had a even know my name. lovely talk with him and his mother on the So you can imagine my fury when I ran way back from the first grade picnic, and out of the classroom one warm March morn- gave him a hug when I saw him in my second ing only to find my beloved left swing al- grade class. ready occupied. And by Brian, no less. AnySpeaking of the second grade, that was one else, and the infraction might have been the year I made my very first friend at Linturned into my 5,672nd attempt at making a coln Elementary — a girl who stood next to new friend. Brian, on the other hand, had to me on the very first day of class, who somebe removed. Immediately. how hadn’t heard of my reputation through He didn’t exactly react well when I told the grapevine. Unlike Brian, this friend actuhim that. If I remember correctly, his re- ally does still attend this school, so if you’re sponse went something like “Oh yeah? Well reading this, I’d like to thank you from the I’m going to kill you!” very bottom of my heart.

For a seven year old with no brain to Unfortunately, I also made two new enmouth filter and really nothing left to lose, emies — hey, the spot was open. But for the the normal response of storming away angri- first time in my life, instead of speaking the ly in tears was inapplicable. No. Emboldened first thing on my mind, I actually stopped by the 300 mythological comics that told me and thought about my words. I reasoned that

maybe the satisfaction of reducing my foes to tears might not be worth the friend I’d lose from the inevitable trip to the principal’s office.

In other words, I wasn’t brave anymore.

I lost my sword, handed in my Gryffindor membership, and decided to flee from trouble in hopes to live to fight another day — with my new (and only) friend beside me.

And you know what? That might just have been the bravest thing I ever did.

m.murthy@elestoque.org

MAYA MURTHY

Rhonda Mak & Kathleen Yuan| El Estoque Illustration

22

EL ESTOQUE

money, it’s all about the

H O N E Y A quick look at the calculated cupid

BY ROCHISH AMBATI

9

PERCENT OF M V H S ST UDENT S W HO ARE W ILLING TO SPEND M O NEY SAID T H EY WOULD SPEND M ORE T HAN $ 5 0 FOR VALENT INE’ S DAY

DI N I N G I N DU ST RY RE VENUE

“Couples present their love in the form of a gift, but it’s the thought that counts.” junior Phillip Lam FEBRUARY 5, 2014

senior Sameera Vemulapalli

= $9.21 Kathleen Yuan | El Estoque Illustration

FLOWE R IN DUSTRY REVENUE

+

“[Valentine’s Day] is honestly the easiest way to show affection for someone.”

B I L L I O N

48

PE RCE NT OF M VHS STUDE NTS SA I D THEY WOU L D B UY CHOCOL ATE FO R VALE NTIN E ’ S DAY *From an online survey of 297 students r.ambati@elestoque.org 23

ADVERTISEMENT

We Suggest you read this story that was liked, favorited, shared 2682 times, +1’d, rated 4.8 stars, and ranked #1 by others who

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

25

SPECIAL

hard

WIRED

Thanks to the Internet, we’re constantly connected to limitless options and opinions. But in an effort to choose convenience, do we sacrifice discovery?

BY YUNA LEE AND ATHIRA PENGHAT

O

26

minutes. Quick and easy.

With the rise of the Internet and new media, the desire for speed and efficiency has had an increasingly significant impact on the various day-to-day decisions people make.

Amazon calculated that it could potentially lose up to $1.6 billion in sales each year if its pages took a single second longer to load, and according to the Google Research Blog, slowing search results by just four-tenths of a second would reduce the number of searches by 8 million a day. It’s undeniable — we want to save time.

In our search for the funniest movie, the best restaurant, the perfect college, we use countless time-savers like Rotten Tomatoes and Goodreads to help us make what we perceive to be the “best decisions.” Despite the fact that ratings and reviews occasionally act as helpful funnels, filtering the countless options down to the few that will most likely match our interests, they pose a weighty risk: the loss of individuality and self-exploration in the midst of conformity.

Rankings, ratings, reviews

ue Photo Illustration Athira Penghat | El Estoq

n a Saturday afternoon at the Cupertino library, a literary war breaks out in the Children’s Center. Kids haul books off of shelves, filling the muslin bags their parents brought just for the occasion.

Abandoned books lay on the floor and pile up in the trolleys used by volunteers and employees. Lines form at the self-checkout machines, and kids sit and begin to eagerly read on the floor as they wait for their turn.

A father scans the books his son compiled and prints a receipt that is as tall as his child.

Upstairs, however, the atmosphere is different. The Teen Center is crowded, but not a single person is browsing the bookshelves.

A girl searches for a book on the library’s online catalog and places it on hold. Many high school students and adults similarly seem to prefer this Internet-based approach; the Holds section houses multiple copies of young adult bestsellers such as “The Book Thief,” “Divergent” and various John Green novels. Teenagers walk in, grab their books, check them out and walk away — all in a few

Senior Beverly Yu “always Yelps it first.” In her selection process, a restaurant’s rating and number of reviews are of utmost importance.

Throughout her years of experience as an avid Yelper, she has found that the numbers accurately reflect the quality of the restaurant.

However, Yu has also experienced the cons of paying too much attention to outside advice. When Yu’s friends first asked her which colleges she would apply to, she simply chose from the top 10 on a rankings list. Although guidance counselors encourage students to disregard the rankings and to focus on finding the “right fit,” Yu’s situation is common. According to an El Estoque online survey of 297 students, 46 percent answered that a college’s ranking significantly im-

EL ESTOQUE

pacted their choice to apply there, and another 30 percent responded that rankings influenced them at least somewhat. Furthermore, a study published by the American Educational Research Association found that if a university appears on the US News and World Report’s Best Colleges list, the number of applications received by that institution that year increases by 6 to 10 percent.

“People asked me why [I chose the schools I did], and I couldn’t really come up with a reason — a good reason — other than [the rankings],” Yu said.

“After I thought about why I actually wanted to go to these colleges, I began to do research.”

literature. And if nothing else, Shieh thinks it’s worth her time to read so much because she loves being asked for recommendations — she knows so many books that other people have probably never even heard of.

Shieh does, however, understand that most people use bestseller lists because they aren’t willing to read less popular books, fearing that they’ll invest hours into a mediocre work. Michael Korda, author of “Making the List: A Cultural History of the American Bestseller,” argues that the reason millions of readers check the New York Times bestseller list each week is to assess the value in read1. It’s your best friend’s birthing a book and to gauge what day. Your gift is something...

Filtering our the rest of the options a) you found on their wish list. nation finds inChoosing from teresting. Nevb) you DIY’d. a seemingly infinite ertheless, Shieh 2. You’re lost and hungry. number of possiargues that albilities can seem You... though most of daunting. According the suggested a) search for restaurants on Yelp. to Margie Warrell, books are genb) visit a diner you always drive by. author of “Stop erally good, Playing Safe,” this there seems 3.

You’re on Netflix.

You watch intimidation factor to be a certain a movie that... stems from not only slant to them, our fear of wasting a) has at least a 4-star rating. especially in time but also the young adult ficb) you found by browsing. lack of confidence tion. we feel in our abil“[The books ity to distinguish on these lists] good from bad in an reflect our inunfamiliar field; this terest in more a) You prefer convenience. in turn contributes immediate meb) You take risks. to our reliance on dia like videos, bestseller lists and TV shows, acre commendat ions tion movies,” when it comes to Shieh said. “The browsing for books. books that reHowever, some people actively challenge quire a little more from you probably aren’t themselves to take risks with their readings. the books that make it onto the bestseller When asked about her reading habits, lists because … nowadays, people just want sophomore Samantha Shieh immediately to read a book and enjoy it. You don’t really pointed to the stack of books in her room want to think too much about it.” that she recently checked out from the library. Shieh is part of the 21 percent of survey respondents who still browse for random Privacy or convenience?

Like ratings and rankings, advertisements books. Instead of searching for the perfect push us to make certain decisions. Comread, Shieh grabs as much reading material panies take advantage of publicly available as she can, trusting that she’ll enjoy at least a few of her picks. She also acknowledges that demographic information as well as private for each good book she finds off a random research to make their advertising more efshelf, she’s probably been through at least fective — these days, marketing is all about 10 subpar ones. But this method of trial-and- personal data.

A Wall Street Journal investigation found error has helped her develop her own taste in

HOW DO YOU

CHOOSE?

You chose more

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

that companies’ tracking of consumers is “far more pervasive and far more intrusive than is realized by all but a handful of people in the vanguard of the industry”: 64 pieces of tracking technology are installed into each computer upon visiting one of the Internet’s 50 most popular websites. The data is then shared and sold. This makes it convenient to find what we’re looking for but at the expense of our sense of privacy.

According to the New York Times, Target knows when you’re pregnant. In the article “How Companies Learn Your Secrets,” Charles Duhigg told the story of how Target, with the aid of statistician Andrew Pole, figured out how to identify whether a customer is pregnant by analyzing her buying habits.

Pregnant customers would then mysteriously find themselves “barraged with offers and incentives and advertisements.”

“If you use a credit card or a coupon, or fill out a survey, or mail in a refund, or call the customer help line, or open an e-mail we’ve sent you or visit our website, we’ll record it and link it to your Guest ID,” Pole said in the article. “We want to know everything we can.”

Take a risk

In her book, Warrell goes on to say that “we have an innate tendency to misjudge four core elements in assessing risk” that keep us satisfied with the status quo. Three of these consist of overestimating the likelihood of failure, exaggerating the consequences and underestimating our ability to handle risk.

The fourth deals with denying the costs of playing it safe.

“You don’t get to explore things for yourself anymore,” Yu said. “You have this preconceived notion that something is either going to be good or bad, and I feel like that takes away from [our ability to] form our own opinions.”

As the Cupertino library was about to close that Saturday evening, a young boy searched through the DVD collection as he tugged at his mother’s jeans. Peculiarly though, in the aisle with him was a teenage girl and two adults — both browsing as well.

Perhaps it was because a 90-minute movie seemed like an easier investment than a 300page novel, but by putting aside the influence of ratings and reviews, exploration seemed to be happening here. And whether or not these people will enjoy the random movies they may or may not borrow, well, that’s for them to find out.

y.lee@elestoque.org | a.penghat@elestoque.org 27

SPECIAL SPECIAL

Finding the

PERFECT FIT MVHS students draw on a college’s rank and rating before applying

BY CLAIRE LU AND PRANAV PARTHASARATHY

C

ome college application season, seniors feel pressured to choose colleges based on personal fit while dealing with the influence of US News and World Report rankings. Only 4 percent of MVHS students believe that college rankings do not influence their college choices. 46 percent believe these rankings affect their decisions “a great deal,” corroborating this point. While our consideration of a college is a holistic process — we apply to colleges based on a multitude of factors, ranging from quality to convenience to cost — rankings play a significant role in our decision-making process. How significant? Consider the fact that the most popular schools among MVHS students are within the US News and World Report top 50.

*Numbers refer to rankings on US News and World Report. Ties did occur and are intentional. Popularity based on total applications on Naviance from 2009-2014.

The non-UC’s in order of popularity

#23 #5 #23

Stanford University

#16

Cornell University

#32

New York University

#41

Boston University

#41

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Southern California

Carnegie Mellon

c.lu@elestoque.org | p.parthasarathy@elestoque.org

Math & Chemistry Tutor Math Courses

Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus AB/BC

Chemistry Courses

Regular / Honors / AP Chemistry, Chemistry Olympiad

SAT Courses

SAT I: Critical Reading, Writing, Math SAT II (Subject Test): Math, Chemistry

Private & Small Group Dr. Sang Park, (408) 996-0354 28

EL ESTOQUE

OFF TO THE IS

BY GABRIELLA MONICO El Estoque: What appeals to you about joining the Israeli army that doesn’t appeal to you about going to college?

Lilac Cadouri: I’ve always grown up with so much Israeli culture and all my friends are going to the army. I see it, and I know I want to go, too. I don’t really want to go to college now; I want to do something impactful and important. My mindset is [ready for college], but am I there? Emotionally, mentally, maybe not.

EE: Are your family and friends supportive of your decision?

Cadouri: My dad hates the idea. He was [in the army] for five years instead of the re-

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

WORLD

W

hile other students applied to top 10 colleges senior Lilac Cadouri, made an unconventional choice — joining the Israeli army before attending college. Being involved with Tzofim, the Israeli Scouts, sincce fourth grade influenced her choice, and now, as head of the local chapter, Cardouri sees joining the army not only as the right choice, but also an obligation to her nation.

quired three for males. He saw people die, and he saw so many tragedies. My mom’s uncle died in the army, but my mom is the one who’s supportive. I think she understands that I’ll learn much more in the army than at college — life experiences, not [academics].

EE: Has your dad’s influence made the decision harder for you?

Cadouri: Yes, definitely. If my dad was on board with it, I wouldn’t even be applying to colleges.

EE: How did your Israeli and American friends react to your decision?

Cadouri: My Israeli friends are

really supportive about it. They understand.

They know where I’m coming from. My American friends thought I was going off to kill myself. I’m not going there to kill myself; I’m doing this for me. I’m not going to Israel to fight a war.

EE: Does going to MVHS, where students usually go to college right out of high school, influence your decision?

Cadouri: Not at all. I don’t feel like I’m really a part of this school. I don’t [believe] that grades are the only things that are important. I do strive to be a good student and I don’t like getting C’s and B’s, but I do get those grades … My friends are going to college after this, but that isn’t right for me. g.monico@elestoque.org

29

SPECIAL

BREAKINg THE WEB How to DIY unfiltered discovery on the Internet

BY MANASA SANKA, SOPHIA TAO AND JOSHUA TSUEI

T

here’s no such thing as discovery anymore — it seems we often find ourselves reading the same books (“The Hunger Games”), only watching movies based on suggestions (Rotten Tomatoes) and revisiting sites that we’ve already seen (Facebook and Schoolloop).

After briefly shopping online (read: hours spent reading customer reviews and clicking through recommended products), the products we viewed show up on a side advertisement on a completely unrelated website, like a personal web history stalker.

When all the information and entertainment we view, hear and absorb is handed to us based on what we’re familiar with, our chances of actively searching and finding new ideas are minimized. We’re stuck living in the same narrow-minded bubble without even realizing it.

It’s not enough to simply surf the web incognito or close your browser when you finish using the Internet; whatever you search will be stored and will have a lasting effect on your browsing experience. Here’s how to unfilter yourself and discover something new, by getting rid of your personal web history stalker.

4. Use a random website generator.

If you want to explore the world wide web right now, you can try by using random website generators. We decided to try this more experimental method to discover new Internet sites; here are the steps we took and what we found.

1. Burn your cookies.

No, not the crunchy, chocolate ones baking in your oven. Think of your internet “cookies” like getting lunch. Let’s say one day you go out to get pizza with your friends. It’s your first time, so you order the first thing you see on the menu — a pepperoni pizza — and you love it. So you go back to the restaurant every week. After a couple weeks, the cashier notices that you come every week and order the same pizza, so every time you go to the restaurant, he or she already has your pepperoni pizza ready. Similarly, websites create cookies that save your preferences for you whenever you visit their website. After a while, they learn what you like and show you the same ads and recommendations every time you visit, even if you decide you want a new topping someday.

30

2. Clear your web history.

Your web history is saved into the browser you use to surf the internet and it includes all the websites you visit, what you typed into the search bar and the ads you’ve clicked, among other things. Like cookies, search history is used to create personalized ads and recommendations.

Luckily, search engines like Google allow you to turn off this type of customization with only two simple steps: First, log out of your Google account and go to google. com/history/optout. Then click “Disable customizations based on search activity.”

3. Go anonymous.

While it’s pretty easy to erase your internet footprints after the fact, it’s possible to never even create them in the first place. Sites like Torproject.org and Anonymizer. com allow you to browse the Internet through secure servers that websites can’t track.

EL ESTOQUE

How to use a random website generator 1.

2.

Search “random website generator” on Google.

3.

We found another random website generator from our Google search: http://www.whatsmyip.org/random-website-machine/, which we used to find the last two websites.

The first result, randomwebsite.com, does not use previous search history and is uninfluenced by preferences. Instead, it randomly generates websites at the click of a button. Using randomwebsite.com, we found the first two of the following sites.

MIND craft

BY NAMRATA RAMANI AND YIFEI WU Expert research explains the psychology behind why we accept filtered information

W

hat draws us to the highest-rated, most-commented and so called “best” forms of everything? While we may not know the answer to this question, advertising tools often decide for us — they personalize the information presented to us based on our search history and top hits, determining our preferences before we have the chance to explore for ourselves. The following psychological theories answer this question.

Cognitive Dissonance Definition: Cognitive dissonance, according to Leon

www.juggernautjugband.com

www.magicsculp.com

We’ve heard of pop and rock but never a mix of jazz, swing and ragtime with hardware sounds of washboards, kazoos and jugs. The Juggernaut Jug Band composes original, idiosyncratic music. Try it, it’s not half bad.

Magic Sculp is a versatile epoxy putty used by crafters. This features impressive realistic models — even life-sized ones — made with it. Perhaps we can create our own figures — after some ceramics classes, of course.

Festinger, a pioneer of the theory, refers to the pressure caused by unfamiliar things.

What it really means: We don’t like unfamiliar things.

Why we fall for the filtered information: Websites target our tendency to avoid unfamiliarity and base their suggested lists on our search history and top hits. This way, we are unlikely to reject these choices because they will not cause cognitive dissonance.

How to escape the filter: Be aware of this tendency.

Hierarchy of Human Needs Definition: According to psychologist Abraham

www.metmuseum.org/toah

disneylandvacationtips.com

Have you ever wondered how art has transformed over the years thematically? We never wondered either. But when we stumbled on this page dedicate to art history, our unasked questions were answered.

How to get the most out of visiting the happiest place on earth? Here’s advice on every imaginable aspect from best visiting time to fastest lines. If we had found this earlier, we would have saved ourselves the frustration.

We successfully navigated the World Wide Web without outside influence and made some interesting discoveries. If we can accomplish such a simple undertaking, you should be able to, too. m.sanka@elestoque.org|s.tao@elestoque.org|j.tsuei@elestoque.org FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Maslow, when we have already met physiological needs such as food and shelter, we seek belonging.

What it really means: After we fill our bellies, we seek a sense of belonging.

Why we fall for the filtered information: Suggested lists often include phrases such as “most popular,” “top 10 favorites” and “see what other users buy.”

This targets our habit of staying with the majority.

How to escape the filter: Recognize that the opinion of the majority doesn’t necessarily match your own.

Self-perception Definition: Self-perception can be explained by five words: We are what we do.

What it really means: Our actions define who we are.

Why we fall for the filtered information: Once we have developed a set of preferences, we refuse to look beyond them and attempt to discover things.

How to escape the filter: Venture out of your comfort zone. Explore. *source: Psychology Today n.ramani@elestoque.org | y.wu@elestoque.org 31

SPORTS

Amol Pande | El Estoque

STRIPED SPOTTED but not

5

GAME MANAGER Referee Don Queyrel steps back to avoid interfering in a boys basketball game against Fremont High School on Jan. 24. In a close game like the 44-45 Matador loss to the Firebirds, the slightest mistake can affect the outcome.

Understanding sports’ most invisible participant ­— the referee BY NATHAN DESAI AND LYDIA SEO

+5=11. The math doesn’t add up, but a quick head count reveals that along with each team’s five active players, there is an extra body on the court. The eleventh person is not an errant fan. It’s not a coach. It’s not El Toro. Though unrecognized and mostly unnoticed, that eleventh person possesses the most control and power over the result of the contest.

Despite being unseen, some referees feel like not being spotted is an indicator of the quality of their work. A referee who does not unnecessarily intervene with a game does not go noticed as the sport is being played as intended. However, if an official makes errant calls and disrupts the passage of play, their errors steal the game’s spotlight.

“Whenever I have my captains meetings, [I] say, ‘If I can go to the grocery store and your parents don’t recognize me, I’ve done my job,’” referee, coach and physical education teacher Brian Sullivan said.

32

Sullivan has been a referee for 25 years, officiating for baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball. In addition, to officiating he has coached boys golf and girls basketball, among other sports, at MVHS. As a referee, Sullivan has worked to maintain justice on the courts and ensure that the players adhere to the rules.

Although referees and coaches may have differing opinions of who is in charge of the game, he believes that the referee’s primary responsibility is to the players.

“The officials should be out there to facilitate the game, make sure the game is safe, and stay out of the way as much as possible,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan admits that, at times, the right call may not always be the popular one. However, referees must perform their duty, regardless of the occasional negative spotlight they are placed in. One controversial call that has stuck with him was one that he made during a CCS boys volley ba ll championship match between Saint Francis High School and Bellarmine High referee Tom Emery School.

On the verge of victory, SFHS found themselves one point away from being crowned champions. On the vital rally that followed, the Bells had a prime opportunity to keep their season alive. A hit from BHS soared over the net and beyond the SFHS

There’s something that good referees learn: that the rewards are more intrinsic than extrinsic.

EL ESTOQUE

SPORTS confidence, decisiveness, patience, timeliplayers as it hit the ground. ness and presentability. Having served as a Out of bounds.

The SFHS players peered at Sullivan’s co- referee for 15 years, he knows firsthand the officials, spotted the out call and commenced difficulty of epitomizing those traits.

“The responsibility lies on [the officials] their championship celebration. However, Sullivan’s view of the play revealed that the because they can’t play the game without ball grazed the fingers of one of the SFHS referees,” he said. “So there’s a tremendous players before hitting the court. The Lanc- amount of pressure to be all those things that ers’ celebration was abruptly canceled as an ideal referee is expected to be.”

Despite his knowledge of the job’s diffiSullivan awarded the point to BHS. Though the SFHS coach became irate at the altered culty, Emery believes that referees should be call, his players admitted that Sullivan made unacknowledged — going unnoticed is just the correct choice. When the match ended part of the job.

“Just by nature of the fact of what the and it came time to celebrate victory, the Bells were the ones lifting the trophy, having come back partially because of Sullivan’s decision.

“It was a difficult position to be in, but ... I did my job,” he said. “You’re not going to make everybody happy, but your In a football game, the visiting team’s jerseys job is to call what must be primarily white. you see and do the best job you can.”

The associations If a coach goes onto the field to assist an responsible for selecting referees uninjured player during a soccer match, the derstand the imporplayer can stay in the game. tance of exceptional work and therefore attempt to find the highest quality offiCoaches are allowed to use a phone during a cials, even at a high water polo game. school level. Peninsula Sports Inc. is the organization which hires referees for Bleeding basketball players are allowed to various high school continue playing. sports in the Bay Area and sends officials for most Matador sports.

A batter in baseball must keep two feet in the Though “How to become an official” box during an at-bat. is the first link listed on PSI’s referee website, their hiring process is thorough.

Following the completion of a sign-up form and registration referee does, they’re not supposed to be for the game assignment website, applicants someone who gets accolades,” he said. “The must attend training before being assigned referees have to understand that before they to a game. Throughout the season, officials even go in to do the game.”

Another pressure of refereeing is the must also attend weekly meetings for even double standard that players, coaches and more training sessions.

When selecting new referees, PSI looks spectators hold the officials to. Emery has for specific traits in applicants. PSI Vice learned that referees are rarely congratulatPresident Tom Emery believes that the pro- ed for positive work but often receive negafile of the ideal referee includes passion, tive criticism due to errors.

YOU MAKE THE CALL FALSE? TRUETRUE oror FALSE

1 2 3 4 5

1. True 2. False 3. True 4. False 5. False

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

In order to counteract the negative feedback, Emery thinks the best way for a referee to stay focused is to ignore the judgment and concentrate on oneself.

“There’s something that good referees learn: that the rewards are more intrinsic than extrinsic,” he said. “You have to internalize and appreciate the small little subtle things that come up and as you work over the years, you begin to appreciate those things.”

These dual expectations can be attributed to the referee’s role in a game. According to Emery, an official’s job is to allow the game to be played as designed. An affinity to permit fair play without unwarranted stoppages can greatly benefit the players as well as the referee.

The players at the mercy of the referees’ judgment comprehend the respective roles that they and the referees play in a game.

Junior Brad Ohadi, who is a captain on the boys soccer team and also a soccer referee for younger players, recalls numerous calls made against his team that he disagreed with, as well as fair performances by experienced referees.

In a boys soccer match against Gunn High School on Jan. 22, a GHS player fell in the MVHS penalty box. Ohadi and the rest of the Matadors believed that the player fell without contact but the referee viewed the play differently as he pointed his finger right at the penalty spot. Confused, Ohadi asked the official about the call.

“What is the call for?” Ohadi remembered inquiring.

“I don’t know,” the official responded. “I saw a push.”

“On who?”

“I didn’t see.”

The Matadors lost 3-1 but Ohadi still recalls the decision. In order to avoid making mistakes like the one he experienced in the match against the Titans, Ohadi strives to be professional as a referee.

“I believe referees play a big part of the game, but they shouldn’t be able to decide a game,” Ohadi said. “[Their role is] to keep the game clean, and keep it under control so it doesn’t get out of hand.”

Over his years officiating, Sullivan has determined that he can avoid incorrect calls by following two fundamental rules: “One is, ‘Be in the right place to make the wrong call,’ because you’re going to make mistakes, but make sure you’re hustling when you do make those mistakes. Number two: ‘If you don’t want your mom or your girlfriend or your wife to be treated like that, it’s probably a foul.’” n.desai@elestoque.org | l.seo@elestoque.org 33

SPORTS

SHOOTING AHEAD MAKING THE CUT Junior Janaye Sakkas

T

Ashish Samm

adar |El Est oque

he maximum number of school sports a high school athlete can play is three.

Sakkas played five in middle school and had to narrow her options down to soccer, softball and field hockey at MVHS. The decision was relatively easy for Sakkas — though she enjoyed all of her sports, she was too short for basketball and bored by track.

She picked up field hockey in eighth grade, and it quickly became her predominant sport. She signed up for clubs, camps and programs, and hopes to play in college.

“I like softball and soccer, but I couldn’t play them for the rest of my life,” Sakkas said. Now, she mainly plays the other two to keep in shape and improve her field hockey skills since softball improves her hand eye coordination and swings while soccer improves her positioning.

“Not many people play [field hockey] or know what it is, so it’s interesting,” Sakkas said. “And I’m good at it. So I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I can do this in college.’”

Sakkas was voted a junior varsity captain her first season and a varsity captain her sophomore and junior year.

34

Our student athletes strive to improve their game and be their best. They go to hours of after school practice, dedicate themselves to eating right and sleeping early and when their season is over, they play outside of school to better their skills Some of these athletes are not ready to stop, even after their final season at MVHS.

BY ALINA ABIDI AND SARAH RAMOS

Before games, Sakkas brings iPod speakers and a warmup playlist to motivate her team, and after an especially well-played game, she baked everyone purple and gold cupcakes.

Sophomore Jaya Kumari recalls that after a late night captain’s dinner, Sakkas needed to study for an important test the next day, but still offered to drive Kumari home.

“She always looks out for her teammates,” Kumari said. During six-lap runs, Sakkas finishes first, but she stays by the finish line to cheer until everyone is done.

This year, among other awards, including CCS first-team, Sakkas received the golden stick, a miniature metal field hockey stick passed down from a senior to one junior each year that is accompanied with a list of its recipients dating back to when the program first started.

In the winter and spring, Sakkas plays club field hockey, and believes that playing outside of school vastly aids in the recruitment process. She feels that colleges look for club recommendations because in her programs — Futures and San Jose Fly — there are so many members that to stand out, they must be dedicated and show improvement,

as Sakkas has. When teaching a new drill, the coaches often ask Sakkas to demonstrate for the group and help out the other players.

Club also provides Sakkas with opportunities to meet potential college coaches so they can see her play, which can be more beneficial than making a recruitment video.

“I’m going to [a tournament] in Florida, and I have to email [about a] hundred coaches my schedule so they can watch me,” Sakkas said. Now, as a junior, coaches are permitted to email her back and answer phone calls. During her senior year, she will be able to sign a contract accepting a coach’s offer, committing to their school.

Sakkas wants to stay in California for college and the only field hockey schools are UC Berkeley, UC Davis, University of the Pacific and Stanford. UCB and UCD have showed interest, so Sakkas plans to stick with them.

This year, Sakkas shadowed field hockey players at both UCB and UCD, following them around from their classes to practice.

“I got to go behind the scenes and be in their huddles right next to them and watch them play,” Sakkas said. “I saw how it was to play in college. The only bad part was sleeping on the ground.”

Though playing in college requires time and devotion, Sakkas feels it it will be worth it. She explained that there are perks to being a college athlete — such as first pick at room selection and priority classes — but she mainly wants to continue playing because of the self-discipline sports have taught her and her familiarity with being on a team.

“Sports have always been a part of my life,” Sakkas said. “The thought of not having a sport is scary.”

EL ESTOQUE

COLLEGE CONFIDENT Senior Aravind Sivakumar

E Ashish Sammadar |El Estoque

ven at a high school level, athletes can make recruitment seem easy. Sivakumar was recruited for soccer during his junior year.

Currently, Sivakumar is verbally committed to UC Berkeley and will be signing his letter of intent in February.

Like many serious athletes, Sivakumar put soccer before everything else when he was choosing a college. He also considered academics to ensure a balance between the two, but when making his decision, he leaned toward the school that was better for soccer.

For the recruitment process, he first emailed colleges he was interested in, and some of the schools sent scouts to watch him play with the De Anza Force Academy club team. While his coaches had connections with some colleges, Sivakumar prefered contacting the teams himself and talking directly to potential colleges.

Schools that were impressed wrote back, which helped Sivakumar narrow his list down to about three or four schools, including Stanford, UCLA and Berkeley.

“I felt Berkeley was the best fit for me,” he said. “I was interested in them, they were interested in me, they made a good offer.”

BALANCING ACT

Senior Ramana Keerthi

H

USC, UCLA and University of Illinois as potential schools. Even though he may not play for his future college’s team, Keerthi still wants to continue playing intramurally or with a club team.

“I definitely want to keep playing,” he said. “I’m not going to stop.”

Ashish Sammadar

|El Estoque

igh school athletes who perform well both athletically and academically can find it difficult to find a university that suits the dual aspects. Keerthi copes with these challenges just as he deals simula.abidi@elestoque.org | s.ramos@elestoque.org taneously with college applications and the 2013-2014 MVHS basketball season.

Keerthi sees academics as a higher priority over basketball because his major, electrical engineering, requires high amounts of time and energy to be successful. For Keerthi, finding a school that meets his academic standards with an accessible basketball team was almost impossible. Unlike other talented high school athletes, Keerthi was not recruited.

Keerthi’s club team, the Titans, has connections with some colleges, but the schools do not offer areas of study he is interested in.

“The colleges I’m looking at for academics have Division I teams,” Keerthi said. “It’s going to be tough to play there. But, the schools I have potential to play for don’t have great academics.”

“Academics comes first and sports is more of a privilege,” he said. “I feel like joining a team in college might detract away from my studies.”

As of now, Keerthi is focused on the academic side of college, considering the University of Michigan,

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

RECRUITMENT YEAR BY YEAR FRESHMAN YEAR:

Make sure your classes fit scholarship requirements Make a list of your reach, realistic and safety schools

SOPHOMORE YEAR:

Get involved and take on a leadership role on your school and club teams Plan unoffical college visits

JUNIOR YEAR: Sign up with the NCAA Make a simple recruitment video to send to coaches Attend camps at different colleges Get recommendation letters from club coaches

SENIOR YEAR:

This year, coaches are permitted to call you, so organize official visits to your top schools Sign a letter of intent with your school of choice in spring — field hockey and soccer sign on Feb. 5, basketball signs on April 16 35

SPORTS she had done the routine extremely fast, but the truth was Giselle had skipped over an entire section of the routine. Despite all of this, she still won the silver medal.

“That’s not memorable, that’s

BY CHRISTINE LIANG AND just depressing!”

Giselle said as RHONDA MAK her mother continued to laugh.

According to Stephania, karate is different from sports like football or soccer in that colour gallon Ziploc bags full of sopho- parents who wanted her to be able to protect leges do not offer scholarships or scout for it. more Giselle Kaneda’s medals from herself in the future. Her father, who had also “There’s no grand plan to let her go competitions big and small sat on her competed in karate, was her coach in the beto college for free,” Stephania said. Defamily’s counter one Sunday afternoon. ginning, and before long, it was her own passpite this, Giselle pushes herself anyway.

“And that’s not even all of it!” sion for the sport that drove her to improve.

Training for and participating in compeAfter winning the second competition her father David Kaneda said. titions takes up much of Kaneda’s time, Standing at a mere five foot three inches, she entered, Giselle and her parents noticed so much that balancing sport and school sophomore Giselle weighs a little her potential. Like any kid with extracurricuis a challenge even when motivated. over a hundred pounds. lars, Giselle resisted at first but became more “It’s worth it, though,” Giselle said. “It’s She has h ig h l ig h t e d willing to attend practices as she improved. fun when you make friends — you see the “It’s not the parstreaks in her same people at tourhair and en- ents pushing them naments. It’s like anjoys science that is going to make other social circle.” and history. them good,” David During breaks She can also said. “Ultimately, it’s from school, Giselle fight — and win. the kids themselves.” trains every day for Now that Giselle started six to eight hours, she rekarate at age five, ending the day so alizes encouraged by exhausted that she how accan’t do much more complished than eat and sleep. she is at karate, She missed a week Giselle’s parof school to repents need not resent the United push her to improve.

States in the World STAND READY Kaneda “I saw other peoJunior Karate Champerforms the ‘unsu’ kata ple compete, and I Used with permission of David Kaneda pionships in Madrid at the 2012 thought, ‘Wow, that’s this past November.

Regional Championships. really cool. I wanna IN THEIR BLOOD Sophomore Giselle Kaneda and her Each day leading Unsu is one of the most do that,’” Giselle brother, Aaron, show off the awards they won at the up to the competiadvanced katas.

2012 US Open. said. So she did. tion was the same: Since she first wake up, have a made the U.S. junior team at 12 years old in team meeting, practice, break, practhe two categories she competes in — kutice, eat a team dinner and go to bed. mite, a form of sparring and kata, where “That’s not something someone can she performs routines — Kaneda has been make themselves do if they don’t have competing at an extremely high level and the self-motivation,” Stephania said. trains for hours every day to get to the And self-motivation is something Giselle next one. Just this past November, she has in abundance. Without parental preswas part of the 28-member team that sure or the promise of college scholarships, represented the United States in the Giselle’s impetus is her own, genuine pasWorld Junior Karate Championships. sion for karate. Starting at such an early age Giselle’s journey was not withand being coached by her own father inout fault. Her mother, Stephania stilled a love that their whole family shares.

Kaneda, recalls a particular competiEven their pet Shiba Inu is named after a tion in Las Vegas with a laugh. Giselle karate term: Kachi. It means “victory.” had to perform a kata routine that was normally very long, but she had c.liang@elestoque.org | r.mak@elestoque.org finished rather quickly. Everyone, including the referee, had thought

International karate athelete fueled by personal passion

F

Used with permission of David Kaneda

36

EL ESTOQUE

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SPORTS

Of Olympic proportions

By Ruba Shaik and Robert Sulgit

14 facts about one of the most controversial Olympics to date For years the Olympics have served to bring our world together to compete in the largest athletic competition known to man. But with bomb threats, terrorism, boycotts and worldwide protests, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics — to be held in Sochi, Russia starting Feb. 7 — have garnered more fame for their controversy then they have for their half-pipes. Here are 14 numbers you need to know the most controversial Olympics (apart from the one Hitler hosted in 1936) to date.

47 °F

34

Average temperature in Sochi during February.

Sochi is actually among the warmest cities in Russia, with a humid, subtropical climate.

Years since the USSR hosted the Olympics. This will be the first Olympics hosted in Russia since the breakup of the USSR.

$50 billion

1539+ hours

12

New winter sports events that will make their debut.

Of media coverage planned by NBC over 6 different platforms for the 17 days of competition.

2018

Next winter Olympics will be hosted by PyeongChang, South Korea.

404,139 Signatures on a petition to eliminate an anti-gay law. In June 2013, Russian parliament passed an anti-gay propaganda law. Because of this, protests have risen all around the world calling for an Olympic boycott.

150th Anniversary of Circassian Genocide that happened in Sochi coincides with Winter games.

300,000

$150 Average price of an Olympic ticket.

Unsold tickets with two weeks to go.

“

freshman Shilika Gehlot

There are a lot of different types of skiing. There’s downhill and free style skiing...

There’s a new one to look out for, Michaela Shriffin.”

38

Local time the opening ceremony will begin.

6,000

25,000 miles

MVHS COMMUNITY’S FAVORITE WINTER OLYMPIC SPORTS

SKIING

Cost of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, making it the most expensive Olympics to date.

20:14

Traveled by the Olympic torch. This is the first year the Olympic torch has traveled to space.

Athletes participating from 85 different countries in the Winter games. *Source: CNN, TIme

Confirmed countries who have received terrorism threats for their participation in the Olympics

4

ICE SKATING ICE HOCKEY CURLING “ “ “ senior Sanika Joshi

It’s beautiful. Partner skating, single skaters, the planned routines. I love watching their emotions.

history teacher Nick Bonacorsi math teacher Joe Kim

I like it because of the whole It makes me laugh, a bunch of miracle on Ice versus the grown men using brooms to Soviets. Also because a lot of push around a giant rock on an the Sharks are on the Olympic ice rink” r.shaik@elestoque.org | r.sulgit@elestoque.org team.”

EL ESTOQUE

SPORTS FLASH

Winter season recap as of Jan. 29

For more information on Matador athletics, such as Sports Smarts, Video Game Reviews and Game of the Week, visit elestoque.org/category/sports

BY MIHIR JOSHI

Forward Progress

Junior Casey Parsay goes for a layup against Santa Clara High School on Jan. 17. After losing the game 52-66, the team went on to convincingly win a rival away game against Lynbrook 50-36 and currently has a 7-10 overall record.

Co-captain senior Ramana Keerthi has been dominant at the post and has led the team with 12.9 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game. On Jan. 29, Keerthi made the game-winning shot against Gunn High School. His play is accompanied well by the other co-captain, senior Aditya Raju, the second leading scorer who leads the team in assists and averages 11.2 points per game.

Mihir Joshi | El Estoque

ColinColin Ni |Ni| El Estoque El Estoque

Throwdown

Iron Leg

Senior co-captain Amelia Strom boots the ball downfield after recovering possession against Sacred Heart Preparatory on Jan. 14. The team went on to lose 0-5, the fourth in a string of seven consecutive losses. The team is struggling to communicate on field and finish offensive drives with scores.

No frontrunner has been established in the team’s scoring, with three players equal at one goal each in league play. Play on the defensive side has been bright, with sophomore Monica Polgar’s speed coming to use in her work as goalkeeper. Junior Janaye Sakkas’ versatility has strengthened midfield as well.

Mihir Joshi | El Estoque

Senior co-captains Faris Karaborni and Aaron Wu warm up during practice on Jan 29. They, along with senior Tijani Karaborni, the third co-captain, have garnered praise from their teammates, and led the team in a multitude of strong performances thus far in the wrestling season. Coach Kevin Klemm has implemented a year round wrestling club at MVHS, enabling the team to practice more regularly.

Klemm, in his third year, has also brought in collegiate wrestlers for the team to learn from and has introduced a more regulated approach to the team’s practices. This year, MVHS will host the SVCAL tournament on Feb. 16 and 17.

m.joshi@elestoque.org FEBRUARY 5, 2014

39

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