Volume 38 Issue 2 October 25 2006

pg 10-11 // centerspread

October 25, 2006

Head of Scotland visits ‘wild west’ On quest to reform education in home country, First Minister makes trip to MVHS

preview pg 6 // news

Newly enforced library policies help some, annoy others

by Steffi Lau editor in chief

T

he excitement is almost tangible as students, a mass of cowboy hats and leather boots, mingle just before school begins. The student body that would typically be straggling to school in sweatpants has put on a burst of spirit for Homecoming Week’s Wild Wild West Day. However, amongst this annual tradition, a different level of excitement is brewing in the Main Office for an even rarer occasion. As the bell rings, conspicuous among the cowboys who flock to class outside, Principal April Scott sits in her office, clad in a red plaid tartan.

pg 7// perspectives

Forced blogging, internet usage a policy worth logging on to

It’s slightly unfitting for a principal who usually takes part in the spirit days of the school she governs. But her Scottish attire is no mistake. As she and the assistant principals step outside, the reason is made clear when two boys saunter up and ask, “Is it true? Is the Prime Minister of Scotland coming?”

On Oct. 18, a very unusual morning in MVHS’ history began to unfold as Administration waited by the bus circle, craning their necks to look for cars coming down McClellan Road.

In fact, they were waiting for the First Minister of Scotland, second only to U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. First Minister Jack McConnell was to visit with the goal of looking at MVHS’

see MINISTER on page 3

One golden ticket, one golden time Additions to Homecoming give week a storybook ending

by Radhika Chandrasekhar staff writer

pg 15 // entertainment

Comedy, on the stage and off, in final rehearsals of “On the Razzle”

pg 17 // sports

Forget Vaughn and Stiller: staff plays dodgeball in new league

T

he announcer stated, “And the first ever Monta Vista High School Homecoming king is…”

The princesses glanced over at the princes, who kept their gazes on the floor. The trumpets ceased, and the crowd was silent in anticipation.

As the name ‘Hong Zhang’ was heard through the speakers, cheers filled the stands, and MVHS’ first Homecoming king stood shocked on the podium as former Homecoming Queen Danielle Fabrizio placed the crown on his head.

“If you saw me standing there, I was shocked and didn’t move for like a minute. But I guess you could say that [I was excited],” said Zhang. “[When they announced it] I thought, ‘Are you sure they didn’t read the wrong name?’”

Zhang never expected to make Homecoming Court, let alone win the title of Homecoming King. Though at the time he felt as though the entire experience was a little surreal, Zhang said, “It was fun to just hang

out with all the people on the court, and we didn’t really talk about who would win. In retrospect, it was pretty fun.”

The story Austin Cheng | photography editor of HomeTHE CANDY MAN Senior Vivien Pillet, as Willy Wonka, greets the crowd as the senior float follows coming was behind during the halftime show of the Homecoming game on Oct. 20. rewritten this Still, some traditions remain the citement, and senior class President year, with Leadership passing new traditions same. Following Zhang’s naming senior Alicia Kim shed tears of relief.

“I was thinking of how much it was such as naming a Homecoming king as king came senior Alex Gatley’s and holding a Senior date raffle. crowning as Homecoming queen. worth it, all those tears, no sleep and Class colors were introduced and the An hour later, the Class of 2007 meetings we had,” said Kim. “It was first powderpuff football tournament won the floatbuilding competition, worth it in the end. But it wasn’t just us. There are so many members of 07 that helped us out. With our lack of experience the class really helped us and led the way as well.”

The last revision to an already between all four classes had its cham- which meant it came first in the entire great storybook? MVHS students, pionship game during the week. The Homecoming competition after be- parents, and staff all drove home notion of an inter-class powderpuff ing neck and neck with the juniors with a reason to be proud, as they football competition quickly gained the entire week. The seniors that witnessed the Varsity Football team popularity, and the concept of having were previously huddled together in win their first Homecoming game in silence were now screaming with ex- five years with a score of 48-34. a king was also welcomed by most.

Behind the scenes of Homecoming

Student rep speaks out

by Jordan Kolb

editor in chief

A Forum Five Is Schoolloop invasive? page 8 Movie Review “The Prestige” page 14 Sport Swap Water polo / colorguard back page

see page 4

s the Nov. 7 elections get closer, FUHSD Board members continue to argue over details regarding the investigation of ex-MVHS teacher Tim Krieger’s resignation. It is still uncertain whether or not what attorney Thomas Sharpe comes up with will be available before elections as originally planned, and give voters possible information on controversial Board member actions. The delay was bothersome to some of the Board members at the Oct. 17 Board meeting.

“He’s had a month,” said Board member Barbara Nunez. “I don’t’ want to cut the investigation short or not have it conclusive, but it surprises me that it didn’t get started quickly, and that disappoints me.”

“I would like to see this over before the election, for obvious reasons,” Board president Avie Katz said, referring to allegations that he was involved in Krieger’s decision to leave Monta Vista.

Over the past months, Student Board Representative and Monta Vista senior Peter Lu had made the decision to keep quiet about the controversial issues, not wanting to run the risk of no longer remaining impartial. However, Lu commented on the Board’s inability to make decisions.

“I think during the last few months, I’ve been playing it safe not wanting to offend anyone, but I think I have lost the respect of everyone in this process,” Lu said. “So, I really need to start utilizing my position... by ask- Student Board ing the obvious questions that need to Rep. Peter Lu be asked.” He wanted the Board to agree on what exactly they were asking from Sharpe, and what will happen after Sharpe finishes the investigation.

“What further steps will we take to make sure it doesn’t happen again?”

Lu was stuck in the middle of opposing sides. Katz supported more than a timeline, and differentiated between “knowing what he-said, she-said” and “knowing what was actually said” but Board member Nancy Newton said she felt a timeline that solely gave who, when, and what was discussed will give the board “a lot.”

The back and forth discussion between Lu and the five Board members was interrupted by Acting Superintendent Polly Bove, who reminded the Board that the over twenty minute discussion was not even on the agenda for the night. The decision to have a timeline will stay because it was in the original motion, but it remains unclear how detailed it will be or when it will be presented.

APUSH cheaters confronted

by Daniel Yang centerspread editor

I

t’s 2 a.m. A student types away at his computer in a coffee-induced stupor. Despite of having worked nearly non-stop for the past four hours, he still has three more assignments to finish in two more subjects.

He wants to sleep, badly. Suddenly, a friendly IM box pops up: “Check online, someone posted homework answers!” Pausing briefly to rub his tired eyes, the student clicks accept.

Like other high schools, MVHS has had its share of cheating. Although cheating remains a subject that most students avoid when asked to discuss

see CHEATING on page 6

flashback From our vault of El Estoque archives...

October 2,

1987

Top Story: “Careless Students Create Problems”

“Float parties” back in 1987, did not consist of diligent work on a float. “They have become targets for water balloons and eggs by other classes,” the article reads. Yes, the maturity levels of high school students had regressed to that of elementary kids. Those students that participated in such juvenile acts thought it was harmless at first and just another way to have fun. “The main problem deals with water balloons. Students feel that if they bomb another class float party, then they are superior to that class,” the articles reads. Despite class competition during spirit week, the idea of superiority jumped to the next level in terms of destroying other classes’ “float parties.” These water balloon and egg attacks not only damaged student clothing but also caused other dangerous accidents. “A Monta Vista junior was driving by a sophomore float party. Suddenly, a water balloon was thrown at his car. He swerved to avoid hitting it and crashed into a parked car,” the article reads.

Due to such carelessness, many MVHS parents and students asked that the school cancel floats for that year. Sergeant Medlin of the Santa Clara County Sheriff Department said, “It is no longer fun and games. People don’t realize it, but someone could be killed by these clashes of superiority.” Thankfully, Homecoming at MVHS is still fun and games minus the sticky egg yolk and wet water balloons.

MVHS Catches Up With Kennedy MVHS has finally caught up with its neighboring middle school with the newly instated video announcement system, a part of what will hopefully be a mass media center on campus. Senior Peter Lu, head of the program, explained how the intent of introducing a central video system at MVHS is to encompass video clips of campus activities. Administration, Leadership, and technology director Art Hernandez are hopeful that the school will be more attentive and responsive to the third period announcements displayed visually.

Hernandez developed a program using all existing equipment. where any television in the school can turn on a specific channel and will be able to see a broadcast from one location. “We want people to pay more attention to announcements like they did at Kenney [Middle School],” said Lu. “Most students do not listen to important announcements.” Cables have been installed through the roof into LCD projectors in select classes that do not have a television. Although the new system has had certain setbacks including audio transmision, Administration is convinced that this program will be successful with regular checks. Depending on the effectiveness of the system, it may be repeated in schools across the District.

highlights Fair Gets Support From Students MVHS’s new Community Leadership class held a fair on Sept. 29 at lunch in the rally court to raise awareness of their goals for the year. The group played loud, energizing music and offered exciting games and prizes that attracted crowds of students to their five different commissions: community, global, youth services, environmental, and health. The activities, pertaining to the specific commissions, helped students publicize the role of the class on campus. Games included a health wheel, a blindfolded search for countries, fishing for recycling, a largescale bowling alley, and a Frisbee toss. Proceeds from the games will be used later in the year to support the group’s projects to benefit the school and local community.

Dysfunctional PA System Repaired Ever wonder why the PA system fails to convey clear announcements majority of the time? According to technician Steve Dotty, many of the circuits were mislabeled.

The electrical room in the library houses columns of circuits and wiring equipment where Dotty worked for two days to clean up the clutter and get the system back into shape. Dotty went classroom by classroom, trying to see if the PA system was working by talking to the class or teacher through a phone in Assistant Principal Dennis Plaza’s office, and waiting to see if he could hear a reply. Thanks to Dotty, the A, B, and C buildings are all rewired.

HP’s Philanthropy Aids School MVHS is the fortunate target of Hewlett Packard’s most recent philanthropic fit, receiving about $16,000 in computer equipment, hardware, cameras, and tablet PCs. Alice Wang who is already an active member of the music boosters, coordinated the donation as a part of the company’s outreach program to support schools that were affected by the recent budget cuts.

In previous years, MVHS parents who worked at HP were instrumental in providing 30 tablet PCs to the new MVHS library through a matching donation program.

MVHS has been subject to many donations over the past few years including a generous $4,000 from the PTA. The Administration and department chairs are currently planning the allocation of the newly received technology to classes and facilities within the school.

New Resource On Campus During the week of Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, a newsletter, el recurso¸ was issued, offering more information about Homecoming court for those who were eager to know who they would be voting for. The newsletter is the product of a new Leadership focus committee, which is aiming to publish el recurso not only for Homecoming but once a month.

Its aim is to inform students specifically about occurrences within Leadership that affect the student body.

The newsletter also contains a calendar of on-campus events for the month, as well as the minutes from the latest Leadership council meeting. Minutes were available online last year, but the staff of el recurso hopes to reach a wider audience this year with their publication.

Lockerless Students Still Suffer After the Registration Safari took 150 less-than-conventionally obtained lockers and redistributed them in a lottery, Administration has finished with the issue. Since the last surge in population, the student body outnumbers available lockers by about 1,100.

Fortunately, a “waiting list” was created for some of the luckless who have failed to obtain a locker and since have, either through the new locker sharing policy or the lottery, managed to obtain storage space. A parent-lead group is currently trying to raise money for new sets of metal cages, which come at a distasteful $190 apiece. New lockers would be installed along the spaces along the sides of the A or B building; the D building will not be used. Administration has no plans to charge money or use other methods to control the distribution of lockers. For now, the rest of the locker-less will have to add backpacks to their list of educational burdens.

Road Renovation People with less than satisfactory qualities are often recommended for rehabilitation; roads are no different.

McClellan Road, Orange Ave. and Bryne Ave were all selected for road therapy as a part of a federal project.

The renovation included removing the pavement surface of the road, re-compacting it, and adding a new standard of pavement fabric on top. The under pavement was dug out only in areas where the road structure was failing. It was funded by both city and federal support; MVHS was not directly involved in any way. Construction was scheduled to avoid rush hours, but ended up detouring traffic when it went past the expected 2 pm finish time. The new layer is expected to last for seven to eight years; the roads are expected to behave themselves until then.

Two More Clubs Flock to Nest Welcome the Constitutionalist Club and the MVHS Myth-Busters to Monta Vista’s ever diverse array of interest groups on campus. Under the new club system, they are not yet official clubs since they must complete a probationary trial period before they may attain full-time status. The MVHS Myth-Busters, headed by advisor science teacher Jim Birdsong, seek to verify or debunk urban legends, similar to the popular Discovery Channel show. The club claimed around 30 members two weeks after its conception. Their current project involves determining whether medieval trebuchets could really hit the same spot repeatedly by building their own miniature trebuchette armed with Jello. The Constitutionalist club, with advisor social studies teacher Pete Pelkey, meets weekly on Mondays, advocating a third party which seeks to improve on the shortcomings of the Democrats and Republicans. They do not identify with either side; rather, they seek to expose the faults of the other two dominating political parties.

Not just words: making a connection

by Steffi Lau editor in chief

I

remember having to go out in 7th grade for the middle school newspaper to interview people. One boy, one girl—that was the requirement for each article. Talking to strangers was terrifying enough…but having to interview BOYS? Now, that was the hardest part.

It wasn’t that I was afraid of cooties. I’d given myself enough cootie shots in elementary school to last me for a lifetime. No, my fear of boys was something far greater. Frankly, I was timid. I had signed up for Journalism to write, not talk.

Wasn’t that what journalism was all about?

Reflecting back, I think I got through that year by bribing friends to interview boys for me. It’s been five years since then and thankfully, I’ve gotten over that stage. I have grown to love interviewing and making those personal connections. So why bring this up now?

Looking at these pages of endless print, readers often think that journalism is an entirely literary art. But behind our cleverly punned headlines, artful leads, and eloquent endings, lies a very personal and human element.

As journalists, we don’t simply sit down at our computers as soon as we are assigned a story. We track people down like guerillas through a network of friends, and the infamous SASI. We love it when someone says

a juicy quote (similes and colorful adjectives are essential). It’s a thrilling challenge for us to coax those inclined to give on word answers to talk.

I once interviewed someone about a controversial subject she’d been accused for. I could tell she was nervous, so I asked her a question that I already knew the answer to. Seemingly pointless, but she relaxed and opened up. It may seem that there’s nothing to simply talking, but believe me, there’s a lot more thought that goes into interviewing than goes into a daily conversation. The interview is a subtle art of detecting when our interviewees feel defensive, laughing and making eye contact, and probing with the keenest sense the right question to ask. The best interviews take an hour or longer.

And when we finally write, it’s a meticulous struggle to pick the best gems of quotes from among the messy scrawl. We want to translate the stories of our people to paper and for readers to understand them as we did in that space of time. Cutting quotes for me is like cutting off my own hand—I become that protective of my subjects.

In my short career as a high school journalist, I’ve talked to an architect and the First Minister of Scotland. I’ve sat in the principal’s office more times than I can count. And yes, I have talked to boys, thank you very much. So please keep in mind as you flip through these pages over which we’ve shed tears and sweat, that there lies a lot of talking and a grown up 7th grade girl overcoming a fear of cooties.

EDITOR’S LETTER

elestoque

2006-2007

Editors in Chief Jordan Kolb Steffi Lau Managing Editors Aniqa Hasan Anagha Vaidhyanathan News Editor Samika Savanur Perspectives Editor Nandini Dasarathy Centerspread Editor Daniel Yang Entertainment Editor Symrin Chawla Sports Editor Carolyn Chuang Design and Layout Editor Cheryl Ho Photo Editor Austin Cheng Staff Writers Janhavi Athavale Ellen Casavant Radhika Chandrasekhar Audrey Feldman John Ho June Kim Cameron Lee Eric Lu Ishita Mitra Chris Moe Shibi Murali Ahmed Naguib Harold Pan Militza Petranovic Kevin Ragothaman Bilwa Ravikiran Pooja Shah Shawn Shah Jenny Sun Casey Wong Cindy Yeh Adviser Michelle Balmeo Disclaimer 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.

Mission Statement El Estoque is an open forum created for and by students of Monta Vista High School. The staff of El Estoque seeks to recognize individuals, events, and ideas and bring news to the Monta Vista community in a manner that is professional, unbiased, and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately, and 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 e-mail or mail. They become the sole property of El Estoque and can be edited for length, clarity, or accuracy.

Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion. El Estoque also reserves 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.

Contact Us El Estoque 21840 McClellan Rd. Cupertino, CA 95014 Attn: Michelle Balmeo, C210 elestoque07@gmail.com

,

MINISTER: Scottish visit an honor for MVHS Continued from page 1 top-ranked math and science programs as part of his plan to improve science education at Scottish schools.

The anticipation seemed to buzz in the air as last minute preparations like “Should we move colorguard practice?” were radioed through Assistant Principal Brad Metheany’s walkie talkie.

The day was made more unusual by Wild Wild West Day. Assistant Principal Dennis Plaza laughed and said, “What I’m afraid is that he’ll think Americans are really cowboys. Like when I imagine Scotland, I imagine kilts and bagpipes. I guess it’s better than Rockstar Day though.”

The moment arrived when a black car pulled up at 10:15 am. McConnell along with Chief Inspector of Schools Graham Donaldson, First Secretary of Affairs Michael Kellet, Director of CBI (Confederation of British Industry) Scotland Iain McMillan and a few personal secretaries stepped out. Scott stepped forward to shake McConnell’s hand. He remarked in surprise, “You’ve got a tartan.” She returned, “It’s the Scott family plaid, of course.”

The group laughed, setting the mood for a whirlwind and very surreal hour and a half.

The group proceeded to tour classrooms. The first stop was science teacher Michael Hicks’ Biology class in which they were conducting an osmosis lab.

Though they only stayed for ten minutes, McConnell, a former math teacher, didn’t wait long to immerse himself. He immediately mingled with students, asking specific questions about the lab’s concepts.

“I really liked his accent,” freshman Pooja Kundargi said.

“He seemed really down to earth, not powerful and mean.”

The group proceeded to math teacher Scott Deruiter’s Calculus BC class. McConnell was intrigued by Deruiter’s contraption that allowed

Our greatest “Foley”

T

Steffi Lau | staff photographer

EXPERIMENT During the tour of the classes, director of CBI (Confederation of British Industry) Scotland Iain McMillan looks on as students conduct a science experiment in a freshman Biology class. him to hang his laptop from his shoulders. “That idea I will definitely take back to Scotland with me,” he joked.

As the group passed by the drama room, they met sophomore Angel Yamsangsung who was painting chairs for a drama production. “My friends had passed by earlier and told me they were going to see him speak and I was so jealous,” she said. “But then he walked by and I was holding this paintbrush and wearing short shorts and boots so it was awkward. But I shook his hand and suddenly I’m surrounded by his entourage.

He wanted to talk to me instead of just standing and watching.”

After the tour, the Scottish group and the Administration went to the auditorium where McConnell gave a brief speech.

He then allowed students to question him on topics ranging from “What do you think of the situation in South Korea?” to more lighthearted ones like “Have you met J.K. Rowling?” (yes, it turned out). The charismatic McConnell captured the audience with his

jokes, saying “Did I give the wrong answer?” when the bell rang and answering “Snow Patrol” when asked what music he liked, much to the pleasure of the cheering students.

The entourage then headed to a round table discussion in the library that included math teachers Van Hoy and I-Heng McComb, science teachers Birdsong and Travis Hambleton, seniors Anshul Bhagi, Katherine Maslyn, ASB President Kim Ang, and Student District Board Representative Peter Lu. After unwrapping his gift of a staff shirt, McConnell posed the question, “What’s special about this school?”

Bhagi, chosen to participate for his interest in science, answered, “A lot of it is the students who want to pursue their passions outside of class.

We have so many math and science clubs and teachers who support us.” Each student and teacher had a chance to speak, giving answers that drew many appreciative comments from the group.

Variations came in to sing as a farewell at the end as McConnell presented Scott with a gift in a green plaid bag.

Reflecting back, McConnell said, “In Scotland we have some schools like this, but I want to have more schools with the same level of motivation.”

Scott thinks the visit went exceptionally well, saying, “Even when Al Gore came in 1996, it wasn’t like this. So few students saw him. It didn’t have the warmth, the interactive feel that today had. It’s something I’ll never forget.” Though the visit was for the sake of McConnell, it was a blessing for MVHS as well. “This was a wakeup call that reminded us that Monta Vista is a special place,” Scott said. “One of them commented, ‘It’s so beautiful, the hills.’ And how often do we come to school and look at the hills? They were able to see things we don’t see everyday.”

As for the cowboy getups, McConnell said, “If only I had known, I would have come in an outfit.”

Junior takes Clubnest idea to next level

Dhruv Garg implements club communication tool with own knowledge and initiative

by Jenny Sun

“

staff writer

I like to make my ideas a reality all the time. You’ll never see me just have an idea and not go or follow through with it and achieve it.”

What is now known as Clubnest started off as one of those “ideas” for junior Dhruv Garg. Last year, as Garg attended MV DECA meetings, he noticed that they were “pretty much the same old thing,”. Much of the time was spent on talking about “boring stuff” rather than actually doing anything engaging. Garg, who was serving

as the website developed. He spent a month and half of the summer, 2-3 hours a day, working on the site, and finished the current version in the beginning of August.

Though Clubnest started out as an idea simply for DECA, Garg soon decided to expand it to all the clubs at MVHS and other high schools. By networking with many students, he managed to get in contact with ASB officers from other schools and proposed Clubnest. However, while 10 other high schools and one college have accepted and joined Clubnest, the arrangements are generally premature.

“It’s not just having the idea. it’s also having to

promote and market the idea.” ­­— as Director of Web Communications at the time, decided to do something about it.

“Meetings are supposed to be for having fun, interacting with members, building a community type of environment,” said Garg.

He figured that the “boring stuff,” like activities and updates, could be transferred to the web. So Garg started Clubnest about a month before school ended, laying out the template and getting the basics down.

Though he knew very little about computer science, he bought a few books and learned

junior dhruv garg

“It’s not just about having the idea,” Garg said. “It’s also about promote it and marketing the idea.”

Clubnest is currently a site where clubs can keep track of their members and activities, and members can keep track of their various clubs. Features for clubs include online sign ups, a personal forum, mailing lists and promotional tools. “[Clubnest’s] features are helpful,” said Indian Club officer junior Akash Gupta.

“Especially the way you can register and

accept people… and it’s a lot easier to send messages to members.” “[Clubnest] makes our job easy, it makes the clubs’ jobs easier,” said club commissioner junior Vini Man. When asked about Garg, Mani replied that “he’s really creative, outgoing, and takes initiative.”

Garg hopes to implement an efficient system where clubs with similar purposes can hold discussions among the hundreds of chapters in the nation. While he admits that he would do a few things differently the second time around, for Garg, the creation of Clubnest has been a great learning experience not only in computer science, but from a business perspective as well. He plans to charge clubs starting January 2007 with monthly fees. But he has even greater ambitions for the site.

“Now my goal,” said Garg, “is to start expanding to the whole of the United States. All the high school clubs.”

here’s something mildly hilarious about sheer, real-life paradox. Paradox like when people profess to represent something which in reality they utterly reject. Paradox like on Sept. 29, when Representative Mark Foley of Florida, head of the congressional caucus for missing and exploited children, resigned from the House of Representatives after ABC published a few lewd instant messages that Foley exchanged with a 16-year-old intern. The national media had a field day, as it makes a pretty good show when an influential man leads a double life, penning legislation intended to protect minors from internet predators and turning around to tell his teenage pages that he would “love to slip [your clothes] off you.” Sigh. Makes you nostalgic for the sweet, familiar scent of irony, no?

But Foley isn’t the only one in trouble. House Speaker Dennis Hastert also came under fire when he conceded that he had known about Foley’s “overly friendly” (you know, just like Watergate was “slightly insincere”) emails as early as 2003. But then again, he also claimed that he didn’t really know. Scratch that, he half knew. He knew, but he didn’t. He was briefed, but maybe he forgot. Whatever.

As drastic as the implications of this scandal may be, though, Hastert’s behavior is mind-numbingly primitive. The Republican leadership had known about this problem at least for months, maybe even years. They ohso-tactfully opted to ignore the scandal. They swept their problems under the rug instead of addressing them at the outset.

And of course, it’s great fun to ridicule the unabashed hypocrisy, have a good laugh and proceed to self-righteously denounce Hastert and claim that if we were the House Speaker, we would have handled this situation with twenty times more class. But really, how is the GOP leadership’s behavior any different from that time when you were three years old and stole an oreo from the cookie jar? You lied to your parents about it, and then they found crumbs on the carpet where you had been playing. You were in even more trouble simply because you had fibbed in the first place.

Admit it. Something like this happened to you.

But maybe now. in high school, there’s been a time when you’ve backstabbed a friend and then lied to them about it; it probably ended up ten times worse once they called your bluff. Perhaps there’s been a time when you felt compelled to hide or even alter your progress report to keep your parents from finding out about your D in math, and only comprehended once report cards were mailed home that you might have wound up better off had your parents known you were struggling in the first place. Maybe you’ve even lied to your parents about a party you threw without their permission, and found yourself in an even bigger rut later because of your attempted cover-up.

Foley’s behavior, similarly, has done a potentially huge amount of damage to the Republican Party in the midst of its campaign for the coming elections. Foley’s Democratic opposition candidate now has a virtual free ride into the House, and the already vulnerable Republican Party now finds itself amidst immense political fallout due to Hastert’s apparent knowledge of the scandal beforehand. After all, seeing as Hastert was supposedly in charge, Foley’s discussions should have ended with Hastert’s discretion, not with the words “I have to finish reading and notating a book for AP English.”

Simply because we are human, we will unavoidably goof off and make unfortunate decisions. When confronted with such a problem, we have two options: to acknowledge the problem and address it directly, or to thrust yet another skeleton into our closet and hope that there isn’t any fallout. Hastert’s conduct is nothing novel; it’s a rash yet simple reaction.

As far as our own lives go, we should be lucky enough learn from Hastert, and no matter how much we may dread it, tackle our problems before they get out of hand. So…what are you going to divulge today?

Homecoming:

A Puzzle Worth 8 Pieces Mark of Each October, the Monta Vista student body looks forward to one Friday night in particular, the Homecoming game at Cupertino High School. With so much happening in one place, it can be hard to keep track of at times. Nine reporters were sent to follow the different groups from 7 pm to 9 pm in hopes Graffitists of piecing together the puzzle of this year’s homecoming game.

by Cindy Yeh

1.

Underclass Floats 7:00 Freshmen are not present to make last minute touches on their float because it was finished after school at MV. Sophomores scramble to set up lighting fixtures at the front edge of the float and exclaim their stress regarding the time limit.

7:33 Worries about having the last back panel of the float not set up spread through the group.

9:00 Freshman class cheers as they are awarded the PTA award for Best Use of Light, meanwhile the Sophmores listen eagerly to see what they had been awarded.

11

5

2

6 6

3

7

4

8

2

2. The Crowd

7:00 Game was supposed to have started as the crowd moves around saving seats for friends.

7:33 A few alumni from the class of ‘76 chat about the current football team, which they still keep tabs on, and discuss memories of when Coach Jeff Mueller was quarterback of the MVHS football team 8:34 The crowd stands to watch the floats, as each class cheers respectively for its float.

9:00 Two Lynbrook players crash into each other. There is an uproar of laughter in the crowd.

3. MV Marquesas

3

Compiled by Radhika Chandrasekhar, Symrin Chawla, Audrey Feldman, Ishita Mitra, Shibi Murali, Pooja Shah, Shawn Shah, and Casey Wong

7:00 Performs pregame show, the fight song and “All Right Now,” with marching band and MV Spirit.

“It’s a way to pump up the crowd before the game starts,” stated senior Marissa Maple.

7:25 Yael Avinun hugs dance mascot as she awaits the begin of the second quarter. The mascot is a giant purple egg named Bob and bearing the signatures of veteran dance team members.

8:20 Dance team performs during half time to the accompaniment of marching band. The routine is full of twirls, rib cages, and kicklines.

As the floats pass by, members clap for senior team captain and princess Becky Yen as she walks onto the stage.

9:00 Dance team finishes performing and is free to change out of costume and sit with friends to watch the rest of the game.

4. Varsity Football Team

7:00 Team warms up behind bleachers as the JV football team ends their game. They stretch for about 15 to 20 minutes.

7:30 On the first offensive play, Quarterback and senior Alex Atkins is sacked and loses the ball to the Lynbrook defense. This causes some tension on the sideline. Defense needs to step up or offense needs to regain momentum.

8:36 Football players run through the “Homecoming 2006” sign made by the cheerleaders. Purple and gold balloons are released into the air.

9:00 The MV defense holds Lynbrook, causing them to have to punt the ball away. Marcus Woo, the punt returner, catches the ball and runs past the Lynbrook kicking team for a touchdown. This is the first carry by Woo, boosting team morale.

5.

Upperclass Floats 7:00 While senior Jessica May secures the Willy Wonka character, junior Tomasz Kula fixes the floating ‘08 keys.

7:35 Junior class IDC representative Hermes Huang fixes the mechanics under the chess board.

Suddenly Senior Sante Kotturi yells,”We’ve got a waterfall!” and the entire senior class cheers in excitement.

8:05 Senior Vivien Pillet,dressed up as Willy Wonka, practices his routine with the Oompa Loompas.

Similarly, juniors Dustin Brown, Crystal Shei, and Neri Lubomirsky are dressed up as the characters from Harry Potter, ready to act out their skit.

9:00 Seniors push class president Alicia Kim to the center to sing her Happy Birthday. ‘08 officers take group pictures in front of their float.

6.

7. Homecoming Court

7:00 Homecoming court arrives at Cupertino High School after their dinner. They mingle between the classes and look at all the different floats.

7:55 Court loads into their respective Thunderbirds, beginning to make the long journey across the bleachers.

8:42 2005 Queen Danielle Fabrizio crowns Monta Vista’s first Homecoming King senior Hong Zhang. The princesses open their rose boxes.

Senior Alex Gatley squeals as she gets her first glimpse of the white rose in her designated box.

9:00 Court filters into bleachers to chat and hug friends.

8. MV Spirit

7:00 Spirit team performs pre-game show on the track, while dance team performs on the field.

7:40 Spirit team jokingly does the robot as band plays a tune from Star Wars.

8:48 Song Captainand senior Sophia Lu kneels down to adjust senior Erin Donahoe’s Matador costume shoe. The cheerleaders step off their boxes and do the wave as Donahoe runs past them.

9:00 As a touchdown is scored, Spirit Team yells in unison “MV Go MV Hey!”

Band and Color Guard 7:00 Color Guard forms three rows to begin flag warm up as Instructor Daniella Johnston begins clapping counts.

8:00 Junior Naomi Yu asks Johnston to “help think of a pose to start the routine with!” Guard members begin to practice various poses, eventually picking three to start their routine with.

8:36 Band plays and marches to “Hey Baby” while color guard performs routine behind them. As the announcement of Homecoming King draws near, band breaks out in a fanfare.

9:00 While color guard meets with instructors for an after performance debrief, band forms a congratulatory circle and gives three cheers to 2006 Homecoming King Hong Zhang. “You guys should be proud,” says Guard Instructor Dario Ramos.

C

staff writer

reeping around Monta Vista on the night of Sept.

27, a lone graffitist made his or her mark. Choosing the library wall and the bleachers, he or she wrote “Crips”, the name of a notorious gang, along with other profane words on the wall with his or her spray-can. The following day, Administration came across the graffiti and immediately tried to cover it up.

Throughout this year, there have been numerous incidents in which various areas of the school were tagged by graffitists, or in the words of the student conduct specialist Rubin Delgado, “kids that need to grow up.”

This incident was not the first case of graffiti for this school. “In the past,” said Delgado, “we’ve had graffiti, but nothing really gang related.”

The increased numbers of tags on this school campus also troubles others in Administration.

“It worries me because this might become the fun thing to do, and it’s very destructive and quite disgusting. It’s unfortunate that other students have to see it or patches of paint covering it,” said Assistant Principal Brad Metheany.

Normally graffiti would be a trivial matter, but recently the cases have been more and more frequent. “Tagging comes in cycles,” said Metheany. “It’s such a foreign thing, but once it is sprayed on, it’s so difficult to take it off bricks. Especially concrete, since it absorbs the paint.

In past years, the colors chosen for class shirts have not been regulated, but this year, each class had to choose one specific color. The colors blue and red, gang colors, were omitted from the selection. Purple, gold, and white were also forbidden.

“I feel that it’s unfortunate red and blue were restricted,” said junior class officer Ram Sachs, ”but this shouldn’t stop the success of the class colors.”

Many feel that the new restrictions on class shirt colors are linked to the recent grafitti infecting the MVHS campus.

Students may think that assumptions were made regarding the gang colors. Administration feels that this decision is justifiable.

“We worry about their safety. If they are wearing their red or blue class shirts and go into a bad area, who knows what might happen” said Assistant Principal Dennis Plaza.

Gangs may not exist yet in Cupertino, but the fear of gangs does. “It takes one person to pick up that spray-can to inflict destruction on the school.” said Methany.

Let’s hope that as the year goes on, the cycle of tagging ends.

On R amadan From Dawn to Dusk

Cheryl Ho | Design Editor

PREP FOR FOOD Cooks at Muslim Community Associaion prepare dinner for hungry Muslims in preparation to break the day’s fasting.

Fasting, feasting and finding friends

by Cheryl Ho

I

staff writer

’ll be completely honest. I don’t think I’ve ever had a greater appreciation of food.

My task was simple: for one day, I’d follow a Muslim around and in essence, celebrate the holiday of Ramadan with them. Couldn’t be too hard, right? I figured that since Muslims all around, including freshman Nausheen Mahmood, are required to celebrate for a lunar month each year once they reach puberty, it should be bearable. Besides, Mahmood has been celebrating it in its entirety since the age of seven.

Being a complete foreigner to anything Ramadan related, I simplified my task even more. I would fully undergo one of three aspects of Ramadan: fasting.

My journey started at around 4:45 am, when I arrived at Nausheen’s household.

Given that the rules of fasting include not ingesting anything, whether it be food, medication, or fluids from sun up to sun down, it was necessary to eat ridiculously early in the morning.

“I normally get up around 4:30 or 4:45 to help my mother cook,” Mahmood said.

“By the time we finish, we have maybe 10 minutes before 5:30 to eat as much food as we can before sun up.”

After watching Nausheen, her sister, and mother cook delicious food, it was finally time to eat. The only problem was that there really were only 10 minutes left to eat.

So, literally eating with my hands, I started scarfing as much food as I possibly could.

I think I had about three rotis (friend dough, kind of like a pancake), two servings of rice, and 2 pieces of chicken, and later chugged down four glasses of water. I felt like one of those marathon hot dog eaters.

At that point, I felt so bloated; I thought I was going to be sick.

“During Ramadan fasting you feel two of the extremes,” Nausheen said, “being extremely full, and then extremely hungry.”

At that point, I was almost certain I wouldn’t feel the latter portion.

The mind set quickly disappeared around 10 am. After spending three hours cooking and serving food at a soup kitchen to the homeless, I began to hear stomach grumblings of my own. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before – having food in my face, but being unable to eat it. What I learned is that people like Nausheen face obstacles like these every day.

“In seventh grade, my friend would be mean about it,” she said. “They’d show me food and wave it in my face, like cake and stuff.”

When I got back home, being an avid float builder, I thought it would be cool to shake off the hunger by biking around to float building houses. I soon realized how lucky I was to be fasting on a weekend; if I had to go through this while practicing water polo, I’m not sure if I’d survive, for fasting 13 hours at a time for 30 full days can be quite strenuous on the body.

“You learn that you must conserve energy to last you through the day,” Nausheen said. “Things like PE, especially when we run, are kind of difficult for me. I’ve started to do a sort of fast walk when we have to run long distance. If not, I can get extremely dehydrated, or I’ll just feel like lying down for the rest of the day.”

“my friends would be mean about it. They’d show me Cheryl Ho | Design Editor

ALMOST TIME Muslims prepare to break thier fast with a traditional fruit, dates, and milk.

Cheryl Ho | Design Editor

TIME TO EAT The evening feast, served on paper plates, begins after a long day of fasting, at sunset

food and wave

it in my face.” -Nausheen Mahmood

Around 3 pm, I was so determined to give up – I was thinking of secretly sneaking a strawberry Twizzler from the food table because they were suddenly looking rather scrumptious. It took quite a bit of willpower to overcome the temptation.

“You can’t eat or randomly stop fasting in the middle of the day, unless it’s an emergency,” said Tanveer Mahmood, Nausheen’s mother.

At around 6 pm, Mahmood took me to the mosque, where she regularly volunteers during Ramadan. We organized food into separate containers for those celebrating Ramadan to break their fast. The dates and milk were set out for the breaking of the fast, and a feast of naan, rice, chicken, and daal was split up into containers for visitors to grab.

“The purpose of fasting is to feel how the poor and starving feel,” said Nausheen.

“It’s kind of like a double role – we experience the same things they do, but we eventually are required to donate a certain percentage of income to charity.”

Ramadan as a whole requires a few things other than fasting. Included are five prayers a day, and constantly being careful not to sin.

“I try to follow all of my prayers,” Nausheen said, “but sometimes during school, it becomes hard. Luckily, there are make-up prayer times, and I try to stick with them.”

“There are three reasons why we celebrate Ramadan,” said Tanveer. “One is obviously because of our religion, to feel spiritually whole, and also the scientific aspect of it. Some say that fasting actually gives the digestive system a kind of break.”

Ramadan Facts

1

“Ramadan shifts about ten to twelve days every year because it is based on the lunar calendar. Participants fast from sunrise until sunset every day during Ramadan. This means that in about 9 years, participants of Ramadan will be fasting for up to 12 hours a day, as there is sunlight for a much greater amount of time during the summer months. Fasting implies no food, water, etc.” said jounior Marukh Khan.

2

At sunset, participants of Ramadan eat a light meal called Iftar which usually consists of dates and water. The meal is followed by an evening prayer.

3

For the past few years, the U.S. Department of State has hosted an Iftar dinner for prominent American Muslim leaders. In addition, Muslim prayers have been offered in the Congressional House of Representatives.

4

A few years ago, the US issued the first-ever postal stamp to commemorate an Islamic holiday, Eid. This stamp is a symbol of the prominence of Muslims in America. American Muslims worked fervently to achieve the issuing of the Eid stamp. Their efforts included more than 5,000 Muslim children writing letters to the Postmaster General, and American Muslim groups lobbying in the U.S. Congress.

5

President George W. Bush, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld all hosted separate Iftar dinners.

6

The month-long celebration of Ramadan ended on Oct. 24 this year, and is marked with the festival of Eid al-Fitr. To celebrate this occasion, Muslims traditionally dress in their finest clothes and decorate their homes. Children receive treats and Muslims visit with family and friends to celebrate the festive occastion.

Adjustment period necessary for library patrons

MVHS students divided over whether or not stricter policies regulating noise levels and printing are justifiable

by Jordan Kolb

T

editor in chief

hose who enter the library at lunch could care less about eating. Some cram for tests with friends, while others sit reading quietly near the windows, hold group meetings at the tables in the back, or sneak sips of soda near the computers.

Meanwhile students’ opinions on the newly enforced policies are as varied as their reasons for using the facility.

“I think it’s fair… I do think it should be a quiet environment,” senior Juliet Weintraub said.

“The library rules are just getting out of hand,” junior Tara Raam said.

This kind of division is not what a new librarian hopes for in her first year. Jennifer Berube, an English teacher last year, made the transition to media specialist this year after Megan Birdsong went on maternity leave. She brought with her a hope to make the library “the place it was created for—a place for research and study.”

“When we first opened, I let kids do what they wanted to do. Right away, kids came up to me and said, ‘It’s too noisy in here’… I asked students, ‘Why aren’t you working?’ And they told me it was too noisy for them to work, so they thought they would just sit and talk to their friends... so we got approval of Administration to make this a quiet study area,” Berube said.

Complaints about noise decibel come from not only students, but parents as well, fueled by the eye-catching library signs originally. Tables deemed too noisy by the library staff were given a warning sign to quiet down.

If the students sitting there did not comply, they were asked to leave through means of a red “leave the library immediately” sign.

“The signs are new—the policies are not. It’s the level of enforcement which is just stepped up a bit,” Assistant Principal Marianne Hew said.

The sign policy slowly disappeared, however. Students soon found a way around the policy by moving to different tables when signs were placed on their table. Berube and fellow librarian Jodi Mitchell have had to revert back to walking around, asking individuals to leave or announcing to the entire library that it is getting too loud.

“I know it’s supposed to be quiet, but they’re too strict.

It’s like a dictatorship,” sophomore Varun Pai said.

“But,” Berube said, “there’s a difference between

Jordan Kolb | editor in chief

FULL HOUSE Students line up outside the library during tutorial period on a Oct. 19 unable to enter because the library was at maximum capacity, as is often the case on tutorial days working and just hanging out. When people start coming in here to find friends, then it’s like we’re in the rally court.”

Plenty of students agree with Berube’s thinking.

“There are fewer distractions. It’s better this way,” senior Gretchen Lam said.

“A quieter library is definitely good. When too many kids come in, it is difficult to read and study,” sophomore Xina Jenny said.

Luckily, other library changes have not caused as much debate. A new printer was purchased for the library, but with it had to come stricter regulations to prevent wasted paper, like the six reams of waste found the first weeks of school. Last year, students were allowed 10 prints a day; now, the limit is 50 pages for the year, and students must pay 10 cents for every copy afterward.

“Why 50 pages? We figured that would be a reasonable amount to give students time to adjust to the policy and allow them to print necessities but not give them free reign,” said Hew. “[Ten cents is] what colleges charge, so it’s standard practice.” She also added that printing is a privilege, not a right. “The school does not have to provide printers and printing for all students. We have to provide an

education.” For kids who need financial help, aide will be available. Notices at the bottom of computer screens will inform students how many copies are left in their accounts so they can plan ahead.

With a bigger population every year, getting to use the printer may be a challenge and having enough space is an obstacle the library must constantly face. With a 150 person maximum capacity that serves less than 10 percent of the school, Berube is looking to get the cafeteria to be a social hangout “student union” type area to alleviate more noise from the library. Assistant Principal Brad Metheany said there are plans to get tables there this year, but he is unsure when they will be ready.

“The problem is we spend so much money on this library and it’s not sufficient. It’s not big enough for our school,” Raam said.

In just one tutorial period, over 30 students were turned down due to the lack of space, only allowed inside when other students left. Many couldn’t get in and gave up trying.

As school gets closer to finals exams and with rainy season on its way, a whole new space and noise problem may be just around the bookshelf.

CHEATING: Students and teachers don’t see eye to eye continued from page 1 it openly, one student admits to having cheated his way through the tough AP U.S. History (APUSH) course. “[I cheat] because I am defying institution,” the student said. “If there is a choice between studying and not studying and still getting the same grade, what would you choose?”

Although APUSH teachers Margaret Platt and Maria Carter-Giannini have always known that certain students were cheating in their classes, they are uncertain of just how much cheating actually goes on at MVHS. Giannini recalls that she was particularly alarmed when, at the end of last year, her past students informed her that some students had cheated their way through APUSH. The students also hinted that online tests and essay prompts very similar to those offered in class are readily available. Giannini did some of her own web surfing and confirmed their claims. Disturbed by such findings, the APUSH teachers decided to discuss cheating with their classes to make sure that their students are aware of what is acceptable conduct and what is not.

“Cheating is not uncommon, but it’s not acceptable,” Platt said. “We have standards [here at Monta Vista]. And we have to meet… not even meet, but to exceed those standards.”

Giannini added, “We need to make sure the course is still what it needs to be, that the students are still prepared. We try to put it on them, but if you really wanted to take short

cuts, you can. But you’re going to have to look at yourself in the mirror.”

In fact, the cheating student believes that cheating is almost a skill—an advantage to have over people who lack the capability to cheat effectively. He said, “Cheating is also a form of art. I’m not even kidding. There are bad cheaters and there are good cheaters. If you are a bad cheater, you will be caught. It’s inevitable.”

Giannini tries to empathize with the students who load up on AP and honors classes who often do not have the time to fully complete their assignments. Platt also considers cheating a mistake that students sometimes make when they are under stressful conditions and are given the right incentives. Both teachers try not to doubt the ethics of their students.

Certainly, most students at MVHS do not view cheating in the same the-ends-justify-themeans manner as the previously mentioned student does.

Some students seem to feel that things like sharing homework and copying notes should not be defined as cheating. Rather, they see it as a form of collaboration to enhance their learning. While teachers want to encourage collaboration and the sharing knowledge, Giannini and Platt agree that this creates a gray area in which cheating is not clearly defined.

“I think what I want the kids to understand is that if they want to be good students, they need to create for themselves firewalls, questions that they would ask themselves,” said Platt. “‘Would I do this?’ ‘Is this the right thing to do or is this not the right thing to do?’ And if there’s some doubt, it probably isn’t the right thing to do and you might not want to do it.”

Unfounded exclusivity practice

How do you feel about the library policies?

Unearned job secuirty freely granted to students enrolled in exclusive classes

“[The librarians] usually kick you out before giving you warnings anyway. What’s the point of the sign?”

junior Divya Kaliswamy

“I think a lot of people want quiet and it’s hard to concentrate when there is a lot of noise.” sophomore Michelle Young

“I think it’s not fair to kick out the whole table. It’s probably only one person who’s talking.”

Nandini Dasarathy | staff artist

I

remember turning in my Leadership application at the end of sophomore year.

As I nervously placed my packet in the box labeled ‘Krieger, Tim’, I considered my chances at getting in. There were 50 slots - 10 commissions, with the majority having five members each. Having reasonable grades, a few involved activities, I figured, I should have in the very least a chance at getting in. Little did I know that only about 20 students were graduating – and exactly that many slots were open to prospective Leadership commission applicants like me.

Tenure – a word that draws a large portion of the working force to education – is normally associated with the working world. Yet little to our knowledge, this issue plagues the MVHS campus. In the majority of the exclusive “tryout” courses, open slots rarely consist of more than those students graduating or backing out. Applicants are continually victimized by a system not critical of students with existing enrollment.

Tenure last came to the mass media in late 2005, when proposition 74 of California was proposed under Governor Schwarzenegger’s special election. The proposition was created on the basis of improving the quality of teaching in our public schools, by requiring extended years of teaching before tenure was granted. The tenure granted currently takes only 2 years of a probationary period for teachers – after which it is nearly impossible to remove an unfit teacher. Worry was that students

could be victims of low-quality teaching because of teachers slacking off without having to worry about their job security.

At Monta Vista, the perceived tenure is not a literal benefit granted to students.

There is simply a common assumption that students that have already made it into the exclusive group need not reapply.

Such a culture creates opportunity for undesirable circumstances to arise. For example – take the freshman year class officer elections. In the past four years at MVHS, no class office group has been subject to more change than that between freshmen and sophomore year. Why? Well, the elections are held just two weeks into the class time of all of the new students, without the advisement of guidelines of what a class officer should embody. Such an election results in strange selections, all of which are ceremoniously dumped into the fifth period Leadership class.

No matter the quality of work, expression of character, or development as an individual, in the past 4 years, all applicants have been accepted, without fail, for their second year. The tenure that goes along with, perhaps, “experience,” grants a free pass into the class in which many wish to enroll. Perhaps the anonymity of the applications is not as true as we are led to believe,

Staff Editorial

for this system has displayed no lapses.

This problem extends to a further extreme with the Journalism class. Enrollment as a junior in this class responsible for producing the newspaper El Estoque guarantees entry as a senior – a student need not even reapply. With junior year being the academic-laden year for many students, many qualified writers do not apply. This creates a rush of eligible seniors applying for a small quantity of open spots. It should be expected that because of the typically academic nature of the junior year, the senior applicant pool would be of higher quality because of more students willing to take on this class of responsibility. However, the tenure of the junior journalists protects them from competition with other writers, regardless of ability. The result? A lower quality publication that does not necessarily utilize the best resources of MVHS. This all being said, there is definite value to a year or more of experience in such rigorous programs as these. However, this should be provided for with the reselection of only those applicants who have proved themselves as assets to the program – not guaranteed acceptance for the entire pool.

An issue relevant to Yearbook, Variations, Jazz Band, and Ariosas as well, it should seem logical that students should expect a potential rejection in their returning year.

For the betterment of the elite of Monta Vista, reapplication should definitely be necessary, while reentry equally uncertain.

freshman Arun Kuchibhotla

“It’s pretty harsh. You can’t help to talk when you’re studying in groups. It’s worse than last year’s [policy enforcement].”

junior Lulu Wong “It’s kind of fair because people can be too loud for others. For others who want to study together, it doesn’t work.

They should make a loud room.”

sophomore Doug Hasegawa

“Why didn’t they just make the library two stories? It’s so big and tall, and they wouldn’t have to kick us out.”

junior Theresa Du

Classroom technology use enriches curriculum

Struggle with demanding high-tech teacher requirements worth the difficulty, a valuable part of education

by Nandini Dasarathy

W

staff writer

hile growing up, children are acquainted with the ever-famous myth that staring into the computer screen for extended periods of time will lead to their eyes being glued to the screen. For some parents, this myth has become a reality as more students use technological devices to enhance their performance in school. Nowadays, teachers enforce the use of technology through typed essays, Internet research, and web logs, all of which have enhanced student understanding and performance in day-to-day tasks and should continue in the future.

Teachers are aware that in this new age, technology is constantly being improved to satisfy the needs of society.

Similarly, when schools are provided with multiple tools in order to augment student performance, it is best that the teacher takes advantage and forces their use. Students are already accustomed to computer and Internet use, and giving

matador ((vibe))

assignments that should be completed through these devices is considered normal. Technology does not complicate academics -- it eases the workload while instigating creative thinking on how to approach a particular assignment.

Teachers also enforce technology use to broaden the student’s scope while completing certain assignments. For example, MVHS Chinese 4 classes must use web logs once a week in documenting their assignments. Usually, the teacher gives them a topic to type about in Chinese. Students will grow to enjoy this unorthodox method because like any other “fun” learning method, technology assists in a positive experience learning the material, while contributing to good study habits in the future. The more a student enjoys what they do, the more they are likely to continue doing it. By making education addictive, teachers who force technology increase the capacity for learning in each student.

In an increasingly urbanized environment, students must learn important skills that they will use in further education

To the tasty cinnamon buns recently offered for the first time in the cafeteria.

To the playing of rap and hip hop music on “Rockstar Day”.

as well as in the workforce. Many corporations today require the use of computers, specifically word processing, programming, and Internet usage. In fact, in the 1st Century Workforce Commission in June 2000, the U.S. Department of Labor stated, “By 2007, nearly half of all U.S. workers will be employed in industries that produce or intensively use information technology and services”. Forcing students to accept and use the Internet allows them to conduct proper research and to improve both academic and study skills.

With all the benefits technology offers, it is imperative that teachers enforce technology use for the good of each student. The given resources aid in a positive learning experience and will allow students to enjoy what they learn while still providing them the skills they need later on in life. The next time parents have something to say about their child’s eyes being glued to the computer screen, they must restrain themselves and realize that the child is getting something out of it all the more.

To the opening of the gym for the Homecoming rally on Oct. 20.

To obnoxious drivers who rev their engines in the student parking lot.

moderated by Nandini Dasarathy perspectives editor

School Loop, a facility created in order to maximize communication between teachers, students, and parents, is lately being seen as an invasion of student privacy. The effectiveness of school loop is currently in question: is it really bridging the gap in communication, or increasing it? Students Lei Gong, Anisha Chikarmane, Derrick Liu, Kat Rodriguez, and Patrice Lin voiced their opinions.

me in a lot of difficult classes that I’m taking this year. I realize what I need to focus on a lot in order to grasp the material. Even if my parents knew about my grades through School Loop, they wouldn’t really care because they know that I know what I have to do and they trust me to be responsible and get it done.

Do daily grade updates tell parents whether their child is truly learning in the classroom environment?

Kudos to El Estoque for the new layout Hi Team El Estoque!

I just wanted to say how great this edition of El Estoque is! Not only are the articles really interesting and well written, but it’s colored! I’m always excited when I see a force of Monta Vistans in that very distinctive orange!

I have a very close friend that would have gone to Monta Vista, but she moved to London. Her school is really different, and she’s fascinated by all things Monta Vistan. I send her packages every once in awhile, in which I include issues of El Estoque. She really enjoys them and spends whole days reading about MVHS. So, thanks for making them so great and helping me keep my ties with her. You guys rock! Keep up the good work!

---- sophomore Matisse Yoshihara

Suggestions for future issues of El Estoque Hey El Estoque!

I was eating lunch the other day and I thought it would be really cool if you guys did an article/survey about “Where do you go during lunch?” You can survey 100 or more students and make a graph that shows where the Monta Vista High School population hangs out at lunch (rally court, classroom, academic quad, basketball, 7/11, etc.) I think it would be neat to see the breakdown of students “lunch hangouts.” It would be a fun and interesting addition to the next paper. Thanks for considering my article idea!

--- sophomore Annie Wu Hi, I think it would be great if in your next newspaper you have an article about the integrity of the Homecoming week spirit games, and the uselessness of the Veredera.

--- sophomore Chris Chang Dear Annie and Chris, Thank you very much for your suggestions. El Estoque is always glad to have input from our readers on what they like to see published. We will be discussing these ideas at our next article planning meeting. Should any other reader have suggestions, email elestoque07@ gmail.com.

--- El Estoque

Is School Loop an invasion of student privacy?

LG: School Loop feeds into the conception that it’s all about the points and grades when it really is about how much material you know. It bypasses the importance of education and takes the secondary, more passive route.

AC: It’s not just school loop but overall this system of grades that devalues the importance of going to school, which is to learn.

Neither parents nor students really places value on learning anymore when it’s all about the grades.

Nandini Dasarathy | staff artist

What is a positive or negative experience you have had with school loop?

PL: When finals come around, it really helps the student to see how they’ve been doing all semester and what they need to do to get a certain grade.

AC: Last year, my World Lit teacher was a religious user of School Loop and she put on assignments constantly, and that way I was able to calculate the weights in each category and see how well I had to do on my final. It’s not like I wouldn’t have tried that hard anyway, but it was just a better indicator of what I needed to do.

KR: I think School Loop has helped

Is School Loop helpful to teachers who want to increase communication between themselves and parents?

LG: No, because teachers don’t like being bugged through email or otherwise, especially if it is some small assignment. Teachers will only take so many e-mails before they become fed up. Usually, it’s trivial things parents will email teachers about that teachers will likely ignore or politely shake off.

KR: I think it opens communication between teachers and parents so both can see what exactly the student is being bothered about, but often

Patrice Lin (10)

Deerick Liu (9)

Dear Journalism, Your editorials focus on important school issues that ought to be resolved, but the effectiveness of these editorials would be improved if you presented specific steps to better the situation. Specifically, the recent editorial on the leadership class was valid in its call for greater civic participation lead by student leaders but lacked a clear solution.

Furthermore, the editorial failed to mention that the class has already begun tackling this issue through the Civic Outreach focus group. We hope to raise awareness of local issues and elections among students and are always looking for suggestions. The impact of El Estoque’s editorials would be significantly greater by presenting strong solutions to guide changes.

--- junior Ram Sachs

Lei Gong (12)

Editorials need to provide solutions to addressed problems instead of simply attacking

Anisha Chikarmane (11)

Letters of any length should be submitted via e-mail or mail. They become the sole property of El Estoque and can be edited for length, clarity, and accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion.

Please submit letters to elestoque07@gmail.com.

Kat Rodriguez (11)

readrespond

the parent starts bothering their child because they think they’re not working hard enough, but really it’s hard to understand because I see my friends who go to other schools and they don’t even understand how hard it is here.

It’s difficult.

Does School Loop help or hinder the learning process? Does it increase a student’s stress level?

LG: I never told my parents anything about these progress reports or grades.

It definitely increases the stress level.

People have their own schedules.

There’ll be a clash between students and parents and you’ll be wasting time arguing instead of spending time doing work.

AC: If my parents know I have a test coming up in a class, they’ll keep bugging me about it and they think it’ll help, but it actually doesn’t because it’s not like I just have that one class.

I have six other classes that I have to work for.

KR: I think it’s sort of unfair because at Monta Vista it’s so rigorous that we don’t need that extra pressure from parents.

PL: Sometimes when every single grade is listed and maybe you have one ‘F’ on an assignment, then your parents assume that you don’t know the material and start worrying even though it’s one small part of the entire grade. I think it’s also helpful for students to know how they’re doing so that it makes them feel like they know what they have to do before their parents can track down everything.

DL: Personally, looking at school loop I can track the things I need to change like my study habits or trying to remember what I need to do. The problem is, since I’m a freshman, my parents know about School Loop and signed up, breathing down my back.

PL: I don’t think grades connect parents to teachers because they are basically letters, and if the parents really wanted to be connected, they should talk to the teacher about what their child is doing and how they can improve.

But otherwise, it prevents them from accomplishing what they need to.

If you would like to be a part of the next Forum Five, email your name and grade to elestoque07@gmail.com.

Homecoming Court no longer reflective of the deserving

Change needed in current nomination process in order to honor worthy students

by Ahmed Naguib

T

staff writer

hough the Homecoming Court is a yearly tradition at Monta Vista, it seems that it continuously fails to reflect our school. People have not taken it seriously, and the process itself is full with flaws. Students have no idea what standards they should look for in a nominee and who to vote for. Does Administration truly expect a process with minimal teacher input to work? It’s like asking a bunch of divas who their favorite person is. Everyone will say themselves.

Our nomination process constantly produces a court of people all closely connected with Leadership and ASB, with one or two exceptions. This group is a group of friends inside and outside the school. How does this represent our whole school? Homecoming is supposed to be a nomination of those who have given the most to this school, not a clique of the most well-known seniors.

Senior Akshay Mani, said that six or seven students on court “are really good friends outside of school. Their clique all got [onto] Homecoming Court.”

The few that are from odd groups in school are usually not expected to be on court. Year after year students complain that the same tye of students are on Court, but this year, when the “underdog” won the tile of King, students were upset. Students don’t know what they want. Homecoming Court is about recognizing the lasting impressions people have made on our campus, but why are people judged by their social circles and not by their accomplishments?.

The ballot is created in two steps: seniors vote from the field of their entire class, and then from a narrowed down field of 12. As it is, our nomination process does not include enough staff input. Although teachers are given the opportunity to nominate one prince and one princess, most do not take advantage of this opportunity, although they know better than anyone who is, and isn’t, a prime candidate for Court.

Our nomination process also ignores members of the football team, a niche with many dedicated seniors. With a large extent of the spirit week, game and rally focused on those who carry the spirit of purple and gold, it is unfair to

kick out a group of students solely for needing to be in the locker room at halftime.

We should also have those who are nominated for Homecoming Court to say why they think they deserve it.

Otherwise, students know absolutely nothing of a person’s accomplishments and vote blindly. While the senior class knows the candidates, the underclassmen use only peer pressure, looks, and who has the coolest sounding name to make their decision. The rally video and rally court board does not adequatly tell us about the candidates. Hopefully, having students submit more of a complete picture of who they are would get rid of having one clique as part of court.

Also, it would give those who don’t know anything about their nominees some perspective and view of them, and ensure that no one would be put on as a joke.

As much as one awaits Homecoming each year, excited for the glamour of the floats, spirit week, and Court, he or she must recognize that the selection process needs to be modified. If not, Homecoming will continue to be disgraced by the flaws within our system.

9

p o i n t for p o i n t con

pro Seniors volunteer their time for a good cause

Senior class sells others’ lives to cure cancer

by Shawn Shah

by Cameron Lee

staff writer

staff writer

TALLY TA llY UP

•The Senior Date Raffle is not unethical. It is a fundraiser that is just like any other.

Prostitution. Human trafficking. These harsh phrases are just a few words that have been thrown around to describe this year’s Senior Date Raffle. Instead, half of the proceeds obtained from the raffle will go toward helping the senior class fund various activities throughout the year, while the other half will be donated to the American Cancer Society. If the raffle is considered to be “human trafficking,” then wouldn’t marathons, in which runners are sponsored for every lap they walk, also be considered a violation of human rights?

•“Looks” and “popularity” were not factors in determining which students would participate in the Senior Date Raffle.

The volunteers were chosen specifically because of their friendly, outgoing personalities. The senior class officers knew that if this was going to be a success, they would have to find volunteers who would not feel shy or awkward on their dinner date. In addition, they took care to ensure that the dates were not all Leadership students. When the senior class officers picked the volunteers, they tried to pick from different social circles, with different personalities, hobbies and interests. They also opened up the raffle to all classes so that people could chose which person matched them the best. Because the raffle tickets were up for sale to all classes, the raffle will also increase intra-class unity, something that every class strives for.

•The Senior Date Raffle is in no way embarrassing for the volunteers.

First and foremost, the students volunteered for the event. They knew exactly what being a volunteer entailed, and accepted it.

Critics of the raffle suggest that it will be embarrassing for the volunteers if they only sold a few tickets.

However, the senior class officers assured the dates that no one would know how many tickets each had sold. The tickets were kept in a closed box, and because only one was selected, the rest of the school had no way of knowing how many tickets each date received. Thus they were not compared to each other of how desired they are.

•The raffle is a way to get the funds in a fun and unique way.

In the end, the Senior Date Raffle is simply a clever way to raise money. Rather than sending monotonous, impersonal donation letters home to parents, the seniors came up with an innovative and fun solution to their problem. It is not meant to be degrading, unethical, or embarrassing to either the dates or the raffle winners.

And it wasn’t. The Senior Date Raffle is everything it claims to be- a fun way for seniors to make new friends, make some extra money, and enjoy their last Homecoming at Monta Vista. So the end does justify the means.

Did you buy a ticket?

A. Yes B. No

97

A 58

•Putting people for up sale, even as a fundraiser, cannot be justified.

Although slavery was abolished about 150 years ago, it seems that a small form of this degrading trade is now condoned on our campus. Buyers debate whether someone is good enough for their money, putting someone’s life to test against the value of the dollar. Even though the participants volunteer themselves to be “prizes,” the simple truth is that they are merchandise to be bought. Putting someone in a position where he or she is compared to another cannot be called ethical.

• The Senior Date Raffle is a popularity contest based on a shallow judgment of attractiveness.

People buy their tickets based on one thing: a picture of the “prize.” There is no description of their character or personality.

The raffle then takes the form of a shallow competition. There is also the popularity factor. One look at the list of “prizes” reveals that they are all class and ASB officers, athletic members, and club leaders. A second glance at the raffle winners yields an almost identical group of people who are— surprise, surprise, not a varied group of people, but friends of the dates and similarly, well-known upperclassmen. In fact, four out of six ASB officers attended the dinner. So much for appealing to customers of all classes and social groups, which was the original goal.

•The Senior Date Raffle is potentially embarrassing to the participants.

The truth of the matter is that some of the “prizes” will have more tickets bought for them than others. This could be embarrassing for those who did not receive many tickets, leading to a comparison of their “merit.” The end result of the raffle could also be Nandini Dasarathy | staff srtist incredibly awkward. Since typically, dates are based upon mutual agreement (one does not simply drag an unwilling partner to dinner), a date in which one partner is bought would probably be less than normal. What does the winner say? “I bought you, now let’s go out?”

•The fact that the date raffle is fun does not justify its flaws.

Shoplifting from jewelry stores can be “fun” for some people, but that does not make it ethical. Even if someone broke into several jewelry stores and donated all the money made to a cancer research program, that would still not make it ethical. The same thing goes on with the Senior Date Raffle: the money is donated for a good cause, but received through less than ethical means. Even if buying people or being sold is “fun” for some, it does not make this program any less unethical. The ends does not justify the means.

C 14

Do you think it is a good fundrasing idea?

A. Yes, I think it will make lots of money.

B. No, I think ‘07 should stick to more conventional fundraisers

B 28

75 97 3 A

*taken from a random poll of 100 students

B

Do you want this to become a tradition?

A. Yes B. No C. I don’t really care

26 A

B

Student Justice, Student Laws

I

t requires an extraordinarily bored state of mind to resort to opening the student planner for entertainment. Coincidentally, there are no such shortages of prolonged boredom in the typical day of a student; and on a particularly dull block day in a class which I shall refrain from identifying, I proceeded to educate myself on Monta Vista’s “Behavioral Expectations and School Policies.” It is a dull and witless list of rules, evidently designed to humanely hand all student liberties to more mature figures that will be so kind as to use them for the mutual benefit of mankind. And for reasons that will be clearer to some more than others, I am suddenly reminded of the school library.

Convicts and prisoners aside, I am inclined to believe more rules and laws govern the student than any other category of the American population. We are subject to the same regulations as all other residents of the nation, and then, are, in the infinite wisdom of adult legislators, granted age restrictions, curfews, limitations on both behavior and actions. It is only fitting that other authorities (particularly of schools) follow their celebrated footsteps and grace students with their own ingeniously constructed rules, including the some twenty pages of school “expectations” staring rudely back at me (which must be, I am sure, further elaborated in some official document of a more respectable length).

The library serves as an ever admirable illustration of excessive regulation of students. Certain authority figures have seen it fit to institute rules to silence the room. Their solution would seem almost logical – throw out those too ungrateful to maintain a quiet studying environment should they fail to take advantage of their eternal grace and ignore the first warning. Unfortunately, the majority of students, who prefer the company of each other over that of the furniture, find its crude efficiency despicable.

There is nothing loathsome about the quiet library itself; students do not hate order and reason. But they do find it rather unnecessary to have authority flung in their faces, paraded in “their” library in such an elaborate manner. The student (that is, the majority) is not so ignorant as to not already know that he is obliged to be quiet; the colorful bulletins so thoughtfully placed around the library are highly excessive. If anyone were to not know of such a rule, I would certainly applaud their removal, forceful or otherwise.

I am not obliged to thank the creative genius who contrived such a rude plan when it could be accomplished silently with rules that were already long established. Some measures are admittedly necessary, such as laws that forbid students from consuming of all manner of nourishment in classrooms, carrying certain otherwise harmless objects, existing at certain locations at certain times.

Strange rules must govern any place with many adolescents so unnaturally clumped together. Yet rules, as with all things, must eventually reach a limit beyond which all students are inclined to sneer. When a simple quiet rule must adopt so formal a manner, so final a punishment, I do believe that a certain limit has been reached.

Authority should find no reason to stop here. Restrict entry to those with a minimum GPA (and are hence more likely to be studying), remove those with mouths beyond a certain diameter. Silence is not a measure of learning; should it be so, I would think all teachers ought to be required to shut their mouths. There is the remote possibility, after all, that learning can follow talking.

And abruptly the bell rings, the class ends, and my philosophical reverie brought to its elegant conclusion. I tossed the planner into my backpack, congratulating myself for having successfully endured another block day.

this month

by Austin Cheng, photography editor

through the lens

OCT. 19: ARE BIKERS SAFE? Administration waits for an ambulance and sheriffs to arrive after an accident between junior Amar Chatterjee and a seventh grade biker from Kennedy Middle School.

Neither party was at fault.

SEPT. 29: FLOOD FOOD The cement foundation holding a tree in the academic court is being flooded with a hose until the water spills over. Once a week, the custodians water the trees in this manner.

OCT 20: LETS GO, ONE OH! Freshman Jocelyn Ou along, with the officer team and others, cheers on the crowd as their float passes by during halftime. They, as well as other classes, ran beyond their float, caught up in the moment.

OCT. 5: WHITE WATER Sophomore Rebecca Wagner, goalie of the varsity girls water polo team, places two fingers under the ball to divert Homestead’s shot at the goal before the buzzer. The team is currently 11-2.

OCT. 6: DODGING TEACHERS Members of the staff dodgeball team scramble to the middle line of the dodgeball court in the beginning of games played during practice, held every Friday during lunch in the field house.

OCT 17: QUIDDITCH PURSUIT Jennifer Iguchi fights for control over the ball with a player from Saint Francis. The girls lost 0-2 OCT. 12: ESCAPE ROUTE Students and teachers return to their classes from the student parking lot after briefly leaving for a that game, bringing their record to 4-8. planned fire drill. Last year, the new location was chosen for students to escape to because the rally court posed a safety issue, being located in the interior of the school.

He’s No

RO O K I E

by Audrey Feldman

staff writer

I

t’s around the middle of lunch, and sophomore Greg Bodwin is setting up a game of chess while casually chatting with his friend and opponent, junior Daniel Quan.

Suddenly, the game begins and Bodwin and Quan abruptly engage in a flurry of confident moves with such swiftness that they are nearly indiscernible. At this rate, chess may well be a sport. Suddenly, Bodwin and Quan simultaneously freeze, and look at the chess board quizzically. Bodwin declares that “this is one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played,” and Quan decides on his move. Bodwin immediately moves his knight, and the lightning-paced play continues.

There’s a common saying that the best chess players are always thinking ten moves ahead of the game. However, Bodwin, a champion chess player who has been playing since he was six years old, begs to differ. Although his brisk and confident moves may suggest preconceived strategies, Bodwin believes that the game is often too complicated to be thinking so far in advance.

“It depends a lot on the situation because in a lot of cases there are a billion different moves a player can do, and you can’t think far ahead,” said Bodwin. Even though Bodwin may be an adept chess player now, the game hasn’t always come so easily to him.

“I remember the first game I played was against my sister and I had just learned to play; I thought I was going to do really well and I got killed. The reason I kept playing was because I kept getting beaten really badly by everyone I played,” he said.

However, Bodwin’s family members aren’t the only ones who have guided him along the path to success.

“My fourth grade teacher was big on chess and he actually taught me how to be good. He would play against his students and try to get them to play chess a lot,” said Bodwin.

Because of all the help he had from his teachers and friends, Bodwin started winning games against his parents when he was nine and won first place in the California chess state tournament in fourth grade.

He even bought the chess board that he won the tournament with as a memento, and the tallest amongst a plethora of chess trophies in his room stands as a tribute to his elementary-school victory.

One key chess strategy that Bodwin employs into his play as much as possible is called a “fork”, in which one piece is po-

Photo Illustration by Symrin Chawla, Militza Petranovic | entertainment editor, staff photographer

FAST MOVES Sophomore Greg Bodwin moves his chess pieces quickly in a strategic manner, making it seem like one swift movement. sitioned to threaten two of the opponent’s some “good matches” on the MVHS chess ranked player on the other team, and so on. team, chess team advisor and math teacher Whichever school wins the most matches of pieces at once.

“Once I learned to use one of my pieces Carolyn McNabb notes that Bodwin’s ex- seven wins the tournament. Despite some difficulties with maintaining membership, to attack two of [my opponent’s] at the same ceptional skill makes him stand out.

“He’s the top board, or strongest play- the Monta Vista chess team has so far done time, I stopped just moving pieces around and really looking for things to do,” Bodwin er, on our team. He’s a darn good chess very well this year.

For now, Bodwin continues to work on player, and he hasn’t lost a match so far this said. refining his skills with the help and encourBodwin continues to compete and excel year,” McNabb said.

School chess tournaments work a little agement of his teammates. As the lunchtime in chess through high school. Last year, he placed sixteenth in the state championship, differently from regular chess tournaments match against Quan continued, each player was left with only a king, a castle, and he competes and a spattering of pawns. Quan locally both in priThere are a different moves a player can do, commented that it would have to be vate tournaments a draw. Instead of calling it quits, and with the MVHS . —sophomore Greg Bodwin though, they moved their pieces chess team. “I enjoy and you can’t think far back to previous positions to look competing because it gives you the chance to get better and you because of the way the matches are orga- for possible ways that either player could don’t screw around as much. It’s more seri- nized. Instead of a multi-round tournament have won, discussing alternate moves and in which players are eliminated in each strategies. Bodwin’s resolve to go back and ous,” Bodwin said.

As president of the MVHS chess team, round, a school tournament consists of assess the moves of his opponent is what Bodwin has made some close friends both seven games all played at the same time. separates him and his teammates from the competing in school tournaments and play- Each school has seven players, and they casual chess player. “The main strategy is ing friendly matches against his fellow chess are ranked according to skill level. The top understanding why [your opponent] moved team members. While Bodwin has found ranked player on one team plays the top how they did,” said Bodwin.

“

BILLION AHEAD ”

Masking the Differences: SoCal celebrates athletes MVHS students lend helping hand in planning of third annual Halloween dance for Special Olympic participants

by Ishita Mitra

A

Ishita Mitra | staff photographer

EMBRACING DIFFERENCES SoCal President, senior Christine Whitehill, dressed as a police woman, greets an athlete dressed as a vampire at the Special Olympic Northern California Halloween Dance.

staff writer

s the ‘80s music pulses through the gym, a motley crew steps in sync to the DJ’s commands. A red-haired mermaid makes her way through the sea of costumes. A wand wielding wizard is cast under the spell of the song. All the while, blue clad police officer senior Christine Whitehill forms her arms into the letter Y at the direction of the Village People. Nearby, senior Laura Worsham shares a laugh among the circle of dancers that encompass the gym floor, shaking their heads in unison. This was the atmosphere on Oct. 14 at the Special Olympic Northern California Halloween Dance.

The dance was arranged as a night of entertainment for the athletes in Special Olympic sports in the Bay Area. A haunted house and games were set up as well. More than 150 and their families showed up, from age six to age 50.

“I was so impressed with the thought that was put into everything. Going into the night I expected something way less organized, but the music, decorations and snacks were amazing,” stated Whitehill, president of the Special Olympics California club who volunteered at the dance.

Music was provided for by DJ Crazeek, a group of three sophomore boys from Bellarmine, Homestead, and Saint Francis High schools. The event itself was organized by the Bay Area chapter of SONC, an organization that allows mentally and physically disabled individuals to participate in various sports that include bowling and skiing.

“This is the third year that we have been organizing this event. It’s just an exceptional night. The minute [the athletes] have those flyers in their hands, they’re ready to come,”stated Valerie Liberty, social events organizer for SONC. MVHS’s SOCAL club lended a helping hand...or six.Whitehill, Worsham, and senior Laurel West spent their Saturday afternoon helping to set up and keep the energy level high.

The girls danced and chatted with the athletes, embracing their disabilities and creating friendships. At one point, a girl in leather attire with Down’s Syndrome approached the three girls, effervescently complimenting their outfits. “Thank you,” Whitehill returned enthusiastically. “I love yours too.”

“We actually ended up meeting someone who went to Monta Vista and graduated in 2002,”stated Worsham.

see DANCE on page 15

it’s

ON

it’s

IN

click

10/27-11/4

Gofugyourself.com This sharp-tongued fashion blog dissects the hideous (fugly, to be exact) outfits of celebrities and wannabe celebs (ahem, Haylie Duff). From Britney Spears’ post-pregnancy and Mischa Barton’s diaper-like creations to faux pas caught by the Breast Police, this site combines wit and paparazzi for a good laugh.

“The Meaning of Tingo” by Adam Jacot de Boinod This hilarious book explores peculiar words in foreign languages for which we have no equivalent in English. For example, ever pulled a “tingo”? In the Pascuense language of Easter Island: “to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by borrowing them.”

eat

Pink ribbon bagels at Panera Bread Chock-full with cranberries, cherry chips and real pieces of Bing cherries, these pink ribbon-shaped bagels are a scrumptious way to support foundations during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

watch

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ynSF4WwHZP4 Watch the antics of a two-legged dog who walks full-time on her two legs in an eerily human-like manner.

it’s

OUT

Numerical <3 (hearts)s

Now scattered all over AIM profiles to express affection (ex. “I <3 you!”) these mathematical symbols turned hearts are now sickeningly overused to the point of losing their meaning.

Next time, go for a more heartfelt “love.”

drama performance, tickets on sale by the black box

10/28

halloween spooktacular overnight laser quest from 11:45 pm-6am, $40 per person

Cinema magic at its best

by Casey Wong

I

staff writer

magine Batman versus Wolverine. But first, stick them in turn-of-the-century London. Then take away Wolverine’s claws and Batman’s “wonderful toys.” Instead, give them magic powers. That’s right: Wizard Batman versus Wizard Wolverine. Did I mention that David Bowie and Gollum are in this picture too? In respect to Christian Bale’s role as Batman in “Batman Begins” and Hugh Jackman’s part as Wolverine in the recent “X-Men” movies, such is the plot of the new mind bending film “The Prestige.”

Directed by Christopher Nolan, who brought us “Batman Begins,” “The Prestige” tells the story of two magicians (not really wizards then, I guess) Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) who are initially fellow performers. After an on-stage accident leaves a co-worker killed with Angier blaming Borden, the two engage in a brutal rivalry for fame. Rivalry is an understatement when treachery leads to legs snapped in half and fingers shot off with sabotaged trick pistols.

The plot gains a true focus when Borden finally decides to perform his ultimate trick where he steps behind a door, and appears instantly behind another door on the opposite side of the stage. Disturbed that he cannot discover Borden’s secret to the apparent teleportation and assured that Borden does not use a double, Angier grows dangerously obsessed with discovering Borden’s secret to his feat. Borden himself faces a different breed of conflict, as he falls in love with his stage assistant though he’s married.

What makes “The Prestige” uniquely enjoyable is its format of story telling, where the film shifts from the perspectives of each character’s past and present. On paper, this sounds horribly messy, but its execution is

exactly what makes the movie such an accomplishment, for the transitions between each perspective are essentially flawless, allowing the audience to experience the full awe each unexpected plot development.

The acting in this film is superb, and effectively supports the traits of obsession in each character. Jackman’s expressions of anger toward sabotage after sabotage as masked grief is admirably portrayed. The love-interests in the plot are neither excessive nor boring, but rather essential to discovering what motivates each magician’s seemingly unexplainable decisions. However, Bale’s overall performance can be seen as the best in the movie, especially in his struggle to balance fatherhood and the stage-life.

The variety of renowned celebrities in this movie also contribute to the maintained interest in the plot aside from the action itself, as the scientist Nikola Tesla is played by David Bowie, with his assistant played by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings.” It was actually quite difficult suppressing the desire to hear Serkis say “my prrreciousss” after any of his lines. Michael Caine, who played Batman’s butler Alfred in “Batman Begins,” also plays a prominent role as the manager of Angier’s career.

The best feature of “The Prestige” is undoubtedly its plot twist revealing how Borden’s trick worked and how Angier’s emulation of it worked as well. This is the most well-implemented turn of events since Vader told Luke he was his father. It is a symbol of a magic trick itself; it comes out of nowhere, completely unpredicted, but fits in the plot perfectly once it surfaces. The conclusion is so morbid it draws the final stroke of each magician’s true natures and concludes the film so inexpressibly well that it itself is a reason to see the movie. Plus, who wouldn’t pay to see Batman and Wolverine hexing each other in top hats.

[hallways]

in the

read

on the razzle

With the oncoming fall chill, girls are extending the lives of summer’s flirty dresses by wearing them over pants or leggings. It seems that these ruffles won’t see the closet for a long time.

11/4

lyfe jennings concert at

the Fillmore in San Francisco. Tickets on sale now

11/21

the doors

cd release of “The Perception,” a 12 disc box set of the rock band’s best hits

Tear You Apart by She Wants

>>Revenge

“ This song has a different beat than most others. It’s catchy and unusual.” —Michael Aldenbrook (10)

Call >> The enade

by

Secondhand Ser-

“This song is my lullaby. It has the cutest story.” —Laura Aguila (11)

>>Les Os by The Unicorns “I love it because simply put, they are Unicorns.”

—Toni Bartellos (10)

>>Bring me Flowers by Hope

“The song has really sweet lyrics.”

—Jane Kim (9)

Mystery scares

I

by Symrin Chawla entertainment editor

A

Symrin Chawla | staff photographer

fter receiving their parts and going through endless readthroughs and run-throughs to perfect their roles, the student actors now face what some feel is the toughest part of the production experience. These days consist of building sets, blocking scenes, preparing costumes and memorizing lines. Tirelessly spending almost every afternoon until 6pm in the niche between the black box and the auditorium, the actors get the ins and outs of “On the Razzle” embedded into their minds.

Sep. 25, 27, 28

Throughout the week, rehearsals are scheduled from 3:30 - 6pm. Each day, the cast rehearses the play piece by piece from beginning to end. Monday marked the ON STAGE Seniors Thomas Harstmann, Andrew Segal, and Thomas Keating rehearse one of the day when all cast members scenes in act two on Oct. 20 in preparation for the opening night of the production on Oct. 27. had to be “off the book,” meaning they had Miller if he would be comfortable removing paint” to provide for a smoother surface and to have all of their lines completely memo- his long locks for the play. Miller, along with save money. rized. But of course, that isn’t always the freshman Reese Clement, were two of sev- Oct. 13 eral cast members who had to get haircuts reality of things.

With blocking done and the set pieces “[Drama advisor Holly Cornelison] will and shaves to prepare for their roles. finished, it is finally time to load the set into “We do it a couple weeks early to allow the auditorium. When the set comes in, the be eating us if we don’t actually have our lines memorized by next week though,” stat- time to grow into the hair, otherwise it will bright colored blocking tape comes off. The ed sophomore Brian Miller while running his look unnatural for the show.” said Miller. actors use the tape as reference marks for fingers through his new short hair. During Oct. 2, 4, 5 where they should be standing or move to at auditions, Cornelison had made sure to ask As the cycle of rehearsals continues from specific points during the play. page to page, students with smaller roles in Oct. 16 the play and members of the tech team conMonday kicks off the first day of tech gregate in the black box to work on build- week. Regular rehearsals are put aside to ing the production sets which had been de- finish moving in set pieces, work on scene signed by a professional. changes, and adjust the lights. When the set Dealing with such things as saws and moves in, the bright colored tape used for nail guns, there is a certain amount of insur- stage blocking is peeled off. ance which the District provides the drama Oct. 17 department with, however according to juPassing by the auditorium on the way to nior Susan Oldfield, “there is a certain point the parking lot, one might hear sophomore where it is like, ‘it’s your own fault.’ Guys Devina Khanna ask, “Does anyone have don’t try and cut your hand off with a hack- access to Holly’s freezer? I think my script saw. It doesn’t work.” might be in there.”

Once sets are built, they will begin to Oct. 18 coat them with Oops paint, the equivalent Senior Laura Bryson and junior Alejanof restaurant cups chocked full of leftover dro Schuler get dressed in full 1890 style food and backwashed drinks found at the costumes. Sporting a red and white striped end of a meal. tuxedo, Schuler poses next to Bryson to take Because the drama department puts on the picture which will be featured on the flimany productions each year, they have a ers for Drama’s latest production, “On the huge amount of extra materials left after Razzle.” The show premiers on Oct. 27 and each production. Instead of using priming runs until Nov. 4. With the speed with which Symrin Chawla | staff photographer paint, the student actors mix all the old, the proccess went by and the many memoBEHIND THE SCENES On Oct. 16, freshleftover paint into a much less pleasurable ries that were made, those nine days are men Christian Lei and Reese Clement peel color. They then coat their sets in this “oops sure to go by fast. tape and take measurements on the set.

DANCE: Halloween hugs spread the love continued from page 13

spirited ‘80s hits that got the crowd raving.

While they weren’t rocking their bodies on the dance floor, athFor the girls, dancing with the athletes at the Special Olympic dance was an entirely different experience from dancing with letes could participate in a number of activities, such as a much friends at a typical MVHS dance. It was an experience that gave acclaimed costume contest. As each contestant walked up to claim their prize, the supporting audience clapped and shouted. A bomthem insight into a unique social environment.

“The Special Olympic community is much more accepting than, bastic Elvis Presley broke out into a disco fever when Whitehill ansay, the community of a high school. People didn’t care about how nounced him as the winner of Funniest Costume.

“They all had other people a good danced; they just PEOPLE ABOUT HOW OTHER PEOPLE DANCED; THEY time.really [On] the Sundid what they wanted to do to JUST DID WHAT THEY WANTED TO HAVE .” —senior Christine Whitehill day afterward, a couple volunteers have fun. In high school there are so many cliques, you just don’t get to dance with from our club said the athletes were talking about how much fun anyone outside of your social group really. At this dance, I got to it was. There was a good buzz about it,” stated Worsham, who meet more people in one night than I probably would have [met] feels that she and the other volunteers may have had more fun than the athletes themselves. In the future, SOCAL hopes to attract more going through a normal day of school,” Whitehill said.

The girls agreed that the night was actually more fun than some members to volunteer at the event.

“We want everyone to see how fun something like this could of the past school dances. Rather than the monotony of an MV dance with one mainstream chart topper after another, the Special Olympic be,” Whitehill said. ”It’s not just another volunteer [opportunity], but dance was similar to the dances depicted in old movies, with free really it’s a night to enjoy yourself and let yourself free.”

“

DIDN’T CARE

FUN

’m a chicken. There, I said it. I can’t watch LOST to save the life of me. It’s too unpredictable, too cliff hanging, too mysterious and it leaves too much up to my imagination. I really can’t watch any show that has anything to do with suspense or eerie music. Well, I can watch that stuff if closing my eyes, turning away, and gripping the person closest to me until their circulation is surely cut off counts as watching. But it doesn’t.

It’s not my fault, I swear. It’s my imagination that should be blamed. LOST is a creepy show. Composed of voices in the forest, hostages with teddy bears, and puffs of black smoke that only the shaman character can face, the show is any flavor but mild. After a particularly freaky episode that consisted of a quarantine sign and a belt buckle magnetized to the suspicious sign, I left the couch with goose bumps all over my arms. That very same night my family was asleep and I had to go from my room to the bathroom. The thing that separated me from my destination was a staircase. Seemingly innocent, but I knew what lay at the bottom of the stairs. A robber. I was certain that somebody would be at the bottom of the staircase and would see me (he had night vision) and he would shoot me with some fabricated gun that was invented by a crazy scientist on the uncharted island.

It’s not a joke. I was petrified! There was nothing disproving this theory, as unlikely as it was. Anything could be at the bottom of the stairs. Anything. Convinced by my fabricated story my heart began to pump and the situation was reaching a climax: I was going to make a move. I sprinted across the hall and into the bathroom and after shutting (and locking) the door, I allowed myself to think. While in the conclusion I had beaten my imagination, it was quite a tragedy that I had worked up such a story. My imagination had turned me into a victim in one of Agatha Christie’s novels. After watching LOST, my imagination took the show to heart and fabricated events that could only happen in a far off world. And that’s why I can’t watch those shows anymore.

While imagination was the culprit, he surely had an accomplice. The fact of the matter was that the real murderer wasn’t a person; rather it was the mystery that shrouded the bottom of the staircase. I didn’t know what was down there and it was pitch-black; the setting was the picture perfect definition of mystery. Mystery was the one that had forced me to become so scared, so uncomfortable, perhaps mystery was the puppeteer of imagination itself.

After all, if I had known what truly camped out at the bottom of the staircase, my imagination certainly would not have been jump started. The opening scene of LOST gave my imagination an empty palette and it took its opportunity and promptly started finger painting. It was becoming clearer: imagination was truly a pawn in the game of mystery, and mystery was simply a game of the unknown.

Mystery is a crazy thing. It makes our legs wobble and our hearts pump. Mystery itself is baffling. It forces us to find answers.

Be the solutions tangible or pulled from rainbows—answers are our only defense against this omnipotent noun. However, mystery is the spice of life. Sure, it may make us tremble in our booties, but it forces us to take risks. And while mystery may scare the living daylights out of me, it makes things all the more satisfying when I flick on the switch and stare at a comfortingly empty stairwell.

Mystery makes our mind reel, our imagination churn. After all, mystery was the answer to finding electricity and surely the muse to the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

And that’s the fact of the matter. I can’t possibly know or see everything. And while I wish I knew what really lurks under my bed at night, I’ll have to leave that to my imagination. But from now on, I’ll refrain from feeding my imagination with any resemblance to LOST.

Students sport ‘Perfect!’ moves on the dance pad Dance Dance Revolution tournament displays quick moves and extreme skill, drawing large turnout in audience

by Harold Pan

T

“If I were Jeff, I’d pull a Max 300 on Colin right now. It’s more likely that [McKinlay] won’t be able to keep up.”

Like any other sport, Liu has become accustomed to determining playing ability through the naked eye from years of practice and observation. Furthermore, the recent advent of the MVHS DDR club has given way for Liu to enhance his own ability as well as aiding others in doing the same, such as Jeffrey Chen. Though Liu believes that DDR has turned from a game to a more competitive sport, he still attests to playing and starting the club simply for fun and recreation.

“It’s pretty big this year. We’re planning to split into two [and have] separate meetings a week since we only have one TV and we want everyone to play.” When asked if there has ever been too difficult of a song, Liu thought for a moment and replied, “No... there’s probably not too hard of a song but

staff writer

he beads of sweat crawl down the side of senior Jason Liu’s concentrating face where they coalesce into big droplets on the tip of his chin. The key of the song suddenly switches. A row of up arrows rapidly shoot up. Liu twists his body to match the rhythm and the sweat flings off in an arc.

Beside him, his opponent, junior Alex Lu, follows simultaneously, flinging his own perspiration at the cheering audience, hopping to the beat of Max 300. Both competitors move with such fluidity that their legs are a blur, twisting, tangling, and untangling at 300 beats per minute. The screen blings out “Perfect!” after “Perfect!” after “Perfect!” And then everything freezes. Both Liu and Lu stop in their tracks; everybody’s eyes turn to the screen to see the arrows freeze. In perfect synchronicity, both players resume pounding on the pads as the I PLAY ONCE OR TWICE DURING THE WEEKENDS. IT’S song swings back into . —senior Jason Liu tempo.

T h e blurping screen winds down and both play- that depends on what you’d consider a bad ers do a final jump as the song ends. Af- score.”

As Chen and McKinlay danced off to the ter the match, Liu, the apparent victor, in a sportsmanlike manner clasped Lu’s hand 300 beat per minute song, spectators could only stare in awe at the intent concentration and said, “Good game, keep practicing.”

Such was the atmosphere at MVHS’ first and the ‘Perfect!’s scrolling down the screen Dance Dance Revolution tournament hosted as each arrow is attuned with each step.

“I need a bar for stamina,” Chen said in the field house from Oct. 2-5. The game Dance Dance Revolution has become a during his match when a spectator commentpopular hit to a widespread population at ed about his everlasting stamina during a MVHS - so much that MVHS’ DDR club might particularly vigorous song. As the two competitors struggled to maintain high energy as well be its own intramural sport.

The tournament, hosted by the Student to finish the round, Chen collapsed from exAcademics Commission, consisted primar- haustion after finishing.

The competitors were asked to share ily of members of the club as well as various other DDR experts and beginners alike. the field house with members of the staff Regardless of skill level, the same crew of dodgeball team as the gym was still under quick-footed gamers and spectators would construction. Amidst the flying purple and flock over to the field house every lunch, yellow rubber balls, the whooping and yelling from the teachers, and the split attention poised for fun and burned calories.

“I play once or twice during the week- from spectators, the competitors were able ends for exercise,” Liu explained. He sees to stay focused on the game.

While it seems that DDR caters only to the it as “not a game, but a sport.” While Liu discusses the basic game concepts after his experts, Liu proved otherwise while teachround, spectator senior Andrew Chen rushes ing senior Amy Young the basics of playing. outside with a half-eaten pizza reporting the When Young frantically struggled to plant score status of the current match between se- her foot on one arrow, she lost her balance nior Jeffrey Chen and junior Colin McKinlay. and prematurely stepped before the beat

“

NOT A GAME, BUT A SPORT ”

Austin Cheng | photography editor

FAST FEET Intensity of participants and audience members rises as seniors Jason Liu and Vincent Woo battle off in the final round. The tournament took place in the field house during the week of Oct. 2 and attracted students of various skill levels. while Liu patiently explained, “Once you get where the arrows are going, then you get where to put your feet.”

When Young seemingly did not understand the concepts of the game still, Liu added with a mischievous smile, “With the be-

ginners, I tell them ‘If you don’t use your left foot, I hit it.” The methodology for teaching might be unorthodox, but so long as beginners like Young improve from these methods, there is no reason why they shouldn’t keep on dancing.

Photo illustration by Ellen Casavant, Anagha Vaidhyanathan | staff artist, staff photographer

dodge

THIS MVHS dodgeball team Murderous Matadors dip, dive, and duck on the line of fire

by Ellen Casavant, Anagha Vaidhyanathan

READY AIM FIRE At the homestead game on Oct. 17, math teacher Skip Meuller blasts a ball at his Mustang opponents.

“Y

ou’re not so tough now are you, Belshe,” yelled Spanish teacher Molly Guadiamos from across the court. As the 21 social science, math, English, science, and modern language teachers lined up on either side of the court in the MVHS field house, challenging each other with their fiercest looks, they knew it was time. Legs flexed, hearts racing, all they had to wait for was a whistle before a whirlwind of yellow balls would hit the floors of the courts. And this was only practice.

At the beginning of the year, the MVHS staff created the first teacher dodgeball team in MVHS history. It all began when Guadiamos saw a website for creating personalized uniforms. The dodgeball team snowballed from there.

“This website had cool customizable [MVHS] shirts that didn’t need to be bought in bulk,” said history teacher and dodgeball captain Bonnie Belshe. “They were cheap and had crazy sports like ski jumping and ultimate frisbee. And then I saw dodgeball and told my lunch group that we had to have these for Purple Fridays.”

“We didn’t want to leave anyone out,” said Guadiamos, “so I put fliers in all of the teachers’ boxes showing them how to order from the site and put on the letter ‘No Dodgeball Playing Required.’”

However, math teachers Colin Anderson and Brian Dong responded to the emails refusing to order the jerseys unless they could play the game. Curious about this proposal, Guadiamos and Belshe considered the idea of creating a dodgeball team.

“We stumbled over a site called NADA: National Amatuer Dodgeball Association,” said Belshe. “There we ordered all sorts of things like the official purple amateur dodge-

staff writer, managing editor

balls and the official rule book.” Now the only problem the budding team faced was to find opponents.

“Assistant Principal Brad Metheany said no students,” Guadiamos said, “I then thought of teachers and contacted Byron Lee from Homestead, the FBLA advisor. He was into the idea.”

While NADA equipped the team with spirited dodge balls, Belshe also purchased balls with skulls at a local Target. “Trash talk balls,” said Belshe with a snicker. “Once we knew there was another school that wanted to [play] dodgeball, we sent around trash talk balls. To Cupertino, we sent a ball that said ‘Peon-eers,’ to Fremont we wrote ‘Firenerds,’ Homestead was the ‘Musty-nags,’ and to Lynbrook ‘Lame-brook.’”

The MVHS staff hand-delivered each of the balls to the four schools in the District.

“At first, the other schools’ teachers weren’t too excited about creating a Dodgeball team,” said Guadiamos, “but once they saw we were dissing them, they wanted to take us down. Cupertino, Homestead, and Fremont have joined the league, but Lynbrook is yet to confirm their spot.

When asked about game rules, Belshe replied, “Oh, we’re following the rule book.

Well, we couldn’t follow all of them. There’s one rule that states both teams shall have good sportsmanship. We dropped that rule.

Not only is taunting allowed, trash talk is encouraged.”

The Murderous Matadors, the designated name for the MVHS dodgeball team, aren’t all talk and no play. Regular practices held in the field house or wrestling room help this team to hone their skills. “We practice with moving targets,” said Belshe. While she insisted strategy was used in the game, she

DUCK AND COVER Math teacher Ed Puccinelli tries to avoid an incoming dodgeball thrown by Homestead on Oct. 17.

apologized saying she could not divulge the secret information before the tournament took place.

All the practice and strategy has paid off for the Murderous Matadors. However, with a 1:1 win-loss ratio, the Matadors still have room for improvement. Put to their first test against Cupertino’s dodgeball team, The Cobras, the Matadors were able to come out victorious after an overtime shoot out.

Additionally, an immense student force was at Cupertino rooting the teachers on, including numerous members of MVHS Bull Spirit.

“Teachers don’t get to interact that often aside from on a curriculum basis or within the classroom,” said Assistant Principal Dennis Plaza. “It’s nice to see them in a friendly rivalry with teachers from other schools. The trash talking is fun too!”

History teacher Robyn Brushett cheered the team on from the sidelines with a #1 foam finger, excited that students were cheering teachers on for a change.

Homestead High School plans to host the first dodgeball tournament on Nov. 2 as a fundraiser for the Sunnyvale library.

“It’s all fun and games until we’re not playing anymore,” said social studies teacher Ben Recktenwald, who was unable to attend the first game. “We walk out of practice rubbing our soulders and icing our sore knees screaming ‘OOH.’ We’re too old, but I guess we still have spirit left in us.”

With the MVHS dodgeball team in matching jerseys, shorts, sweatbands, and even customized socks, the other schools won’t know what hit them. The MVHS dodgeball team will be in full force for the tournament scheduled for Nov. 2 at Homestead. As the slogan for the Murderous Matadors goes, the other schools will have to “Dodge This!”

by the

NUMBERS

65 30 21 6 5 4 -1

minutes of grueling dodgeball practice two days a week

teachers on the dodgeball team

members who actively play

foam dodgeballs per game

seconds a team can control all six balls before facing a penalty

schools in FUHSD that have joined the dodgeball league

is the jersey number of math teacher Scott Deruiter, D(root)r

A Juggling Act: Volleying between two sports Senior Emily Rubin plays soccer and volleyball, spiking and kicking all in one day

by Bilwa Ravikiran

A

audrey feldman | staff phtographer

REACHING HIGH On Oct 16 senior Emily Rubin sets the ball for her first practices of the day

staff writer

s the cleats come off, the spandex shorts and black kneepads come on. While senior Emily Rubin hurriedly gets ready for the varsity girls volleyball game, the sound of the ball being spiked over the net echoes throughout the field house. She’s in such a hurry because she’s an hour late to the game. But, not to worry, this is all a part of Rubin’s weekly routine.

Rubin plays both club soccer and volleyball. She is on the varsity girls volleyball team at MVHS and is also a part of the MVLA Menace, a team in the Mountain View Los Altos soccer club. Unfortunately, both teams have Rubin going frantically from one sport to another every day.

“I’ve been playing soccer since I was five years old. I was on the middle school team every year, and I’ve played on varsity here at MVHS ever since freshman year. As for volleyball, I played in middle school, but it never clashed with club soccer because volleyball games were always later than other games,” Rubin explains.

As club soccer became more demanding over the years, she was

forced to stop playing volleyball altogether her junior year because of the time commitment.

But this year being her senior and final year at MVHS, Rubin knew that she had to play volleyball this year, because she missed out last year. Due to the club soccer practices on both Tuesdays and Thursdays, the same days as volleyball games, Rubin always arrives late, usually after one game is over.

“Coming late to the games does have its downsides sometimes,” Rubin said. “For instance, if I come to the game, [varsity coach Colin Anderson] may just tell me to ‘Go in,’ even if I’m not stretched out.

Another big thing I miss is the team warm up, but everyone understands my dilemma, and usually when I arrive, they all yell, ‘Hey, it’s Emily!’”

Numerous coaches would not have allowed one of their players to do both sports because of the time commitment, but Anderson said, “I let Emily play because she was able to find a balance that didn’t interfere too much with volleyball. She shows up to all of the practices and is always the first one when it comes to sprints.

see RUBIN on page 18

Hooking up new bonds on the field

Girls field hockey team goes out of the norm when it comes to team bonding activities

By Militza Petranovic

O

staff writer

n the sunny morning of Sept. 30, the girls field hockey team prepared for a Saturday game on the MVHS field. This was no ordinary game. It was the sixth annual Parent-Player play day. On this morning parents did not merely drop off their kids or go sit comfortably in the bleachers to watch. During this game, the parents were out on the field with the players.

A feeling of excitement and anxiety could be felt on the freshly cut, crisp field grass.

The bonding slowly commenced as a group of girls huddled in a corner and began to imagine the destined embarrassment that would soon surround their parents.

The parents, on the other hand, were not as uniform in opinion. While some were prepared to show off their veteran moves, others, with instruction manuals at hand, were shy and worried about playing in a real, brutal game of field hockey.

The field hockey girls love to play the game, and they love it even more when family and friends cheer them on.

“One thing that bonds [all the players] is the energy from the crowd while we’re playing. Sometimes when parents watch the game they judge us. They judge what they consider is an ‘easy shot’ and take our judgment on the field for granted,” said senior and varsity player Prina Patel.

Many have experienced games where sidelines turn from positive to ugly, when spectators begin to criticize and even complain all game long, about the refs, the other team, even their own team.

“I see no better way to get the parents to understand what it’s like on the field than to literally put them on the field,” said sophomore JV player Ashley Vernazza.

The day started off slowly with an introduction leading up to a basic warm up and stretch sequence. The players wanted to show their parents a mini version of the

Austin Cheng | Photography Editor

BONDING TIME Sophomore field hockey players Lauren Parcel and Amy Bour hook their sticks together as they run in a circle as a expression of fun and friendship as teammates. practices they take part in every week.

The parents were first split into groups and then paired off with individual players who showed them the basic routines and drills, including dribbling, passing, receiving and shooting the ball.

Half the bonding activity was spent teaching the parents how to play. The dreaded moment when the parents had to remember the rules, work as a team, play fairly, and hold a stick in their hands while running about the field in a strategic manner quickly approached in many of the parents’ first ever scrimmage.

Luckily for the parents, the scrimmage was not players versus parents but two mixed teams, each composed of an equal number of players and parents alike.

“Most parents felt pretty comfortable

LOOKING BEHIND

Cake’s not for eating in cross oct country

3

passing and dribbling individually but when they actually had to apply it to the game, they tended to smack at the ground a lot,” said senior varsity player Rosie Wright.

The appreciation of their kids’ dedication, work ethic, teamwork and talent was evident during the half time as the parents gladly sat down to rest and dry up their sweat.

Their view changed dramatically from the sidelines to the field.

Not only did the parents grow to understand the amount of work being put into the team but also formed relationships with other parents and students.

“My parents aren’t hesitant to let me spend time with my team so much anymore” said sophomore and junior varsity player Rockxanna Garajehdaghi. “They know I’m around good people.”

8

The cheer and song teams both took first place at the Great America competition in the ir categories.

This is the first time the teams have done so well in several years, and their performance has qualified the teams for nationals.

Youngsters keep team on top

19

14

Party at practice oct

oct

The JV girls volleyball team spent practice eating pizza, playing DDR, and trying on each other’s homecoming dresses for a fashion show. The frosh/soph teams playing a game had quite a view.

Without several of its top upperclassmen players because of the SAT, the younger members of the girls tennis team still took seventh in the Newport tournament. These girls proved themselves as the strong future of the MVHS tennis.

continued from page 17 the practices and is always the first one when it comes to sprints. She’s willing to even come an hour late to the games just to be on the team. Her attitude on the court is there, and that’s the kind of person you make an exception for.”

Since Rubin has had this frenzied routine for quite some time now, she is used to it.

She has volleyball practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and has games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are the same days as her soccer practices. So after her soccer practice is over, she drives to the volleyball game. On top of the Wednesday volleyball practice, Rubin goes to her soccer team’s trainer for an hour to prevent injury.

Rubin finishes off her week with a soccer game on the weekend.

As for the players on the volleyball team, Rubin said, “The girls are just awesome!

They want me on the team and are willing to put up with my crazy schedule. I am definitely still part of a team, despite club soccer commitment, because I still go to practices and also play in the games, even if it’s only for one hour. The girls are glad that I’m playing period. They’ll care for me even if I don’t play.”

Senior Alex Gatley, volleyball teammate, can relate to Rubin’s tight schedule. She said, “I kind of understand what Emily’s going through because I play club soccer, too, and I know how much time it can take up. But, I’m really happy that she has found a way to make it work, and it’s going well.”

Fortunately, Rubin is playing volleyball this year, but she said, “If I were not on the team, I would still go to their games because I would still feel like a part of team, but not exactly. They truly are understanding and supportive.”

where we’ve been

Cheer and song go, oct fight and win!

The cross country team ended practice by continuing the tradition of smearing and throwing cake on each other to celebrate retired coach Loretta Morris’ birthday.

RUBIN: Two sports, one busy day

that was then.

13

Painful pyramid oct running

The field hockey girls ran a tough pyramid workout, where they jog for two minutes, then sprint for two, jog two, sprint three, until peaking at five minutes; then they do the same down to a two-minute sprint.

20

Homecoming Victory oct

For the first time in five years, the Matadors brought home a win at Homecoming. This highscoring game brings them one step closer to CCS playoffs.

this is now.

12

Gearing into winter sports

Fired up in nov Fremont

Tryouts for winter sports are now beginnng! Boys and girls basketball and soccer began selection for their squads on Oct 24.

The cheer and song teams travel to Washington High School in Fremont to participate in their second United Spirit Association regional competition.

2

nov

The Murderous Matadors plays at a tournament at Homestead High to see which team can come out on top in the FUHSD.

where we’re going

oct-nov

Upcoming senior games: Field Hockey: Oct 25 at 4pm vs. St. Ignatius Boys Water Polo: Oct. 25 at 7pm vs. Los Gatos Girls Water Polo: Oct. 26 at 5:30pm vs. Cupertino Girls Volleyball: Oct 30 at 6:45pm vs. Lynbrook Football: Nov. 9 at 7pm vs. Los Altos All games are at home. Home football games are played at Cupertino High School.

District-wide dodgeball showdown

Seniors in the spotlight

RUNNING AHEAD

SCORE BOARD FOOTBALL Varsity 6-1 Junior Varsity 7-0

FIELD HOCKEY Varsity 1-7 Junior Varsity 0-7-1

WATER POLO Girls Varsity 9-2 Girls Frosh/Soph 1-10 Boys Varsity 2-3 Boys Frosh/Soph 3-2

CROSS COUNTRY 9/30 Monterey Bay Invite Junior Varsity Girls - 1st Varsity Boys - 3rd

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL Varsity 8-0 Junior Varsity 6-2 Frosh/Soph 8-0

GIRLS TENNIS

Varsity 12-0 Junior Varsity 12-0 scores updated on 10/23/06

New flavor spices up Homecoming Addition of powderpuff tradition breaks gender stereotypes for MVHS students

by Kevin Ragothaman, Samika Savanur

T

Kevin Ragothaman |staff photographer

he crowd unleashed a fury of cheers as senior running back Emily Rubin made a mad dash for the end zone, sealing the senior team’s victory over the juniors in the final game of the 2006 Powderpuff Football Tournament. Alongside the track, the senior male cheerleaders shouted, “All right, Emily!”

ASB Vice President senior Jessica Lau initiated the plan to bring back powderpuff football, an event that proved to be a hit amongst the student body and Administration. Each class had their own girls football team, who were coached by members of the MVHS boys football team. There was also a boys cheerleading squad, who were trained by members of the MVHS spirit team.

Two preliminary games were held the week prior to Homecoming, leading to the championship game between the juniors and seniors. Participants of this event found it to be a learning experience as they had the opportunity to break the traditional gender stereotypes that are inherent in our society by switching roles and engaging in an activity they may have never tried before.

“Powderpuff football lets the girls play a sport they usually don’t get to play,” said sophomore coach David Orvick, stating exactly what Lau intended for the event to be about. This was the overall spirit that each class possessed throughout the event.

Though practices got off to a somewhat shaky start for the freshman, they were able to get organized before the preliminaries began, putting up a good fight against the seniors. “Once we were on the field, we wanted to beat them,” said freshman quarterback Michelle Pao. Many of the coaches were surprised by how quickly the girls were able to understand the terms and execute the plays.

“They were really fast learners and were very coachable because they listened to us,” said junior coach John Garcia.

The girls were able to break the boundary that separated them from the “men,” just like the boys were able abolish the general belief that cheerleading is only for girls.

“The guys get to let out their true selves,”

SMOOTH MOVE (top) freshman Jocelyn Ou barely avoids the hands of senior Katherine Yu at the preliminary powderpuff game on Oct. 13. SHOWING OFF (bottom right) junior Max Rickman demonstrates his new moves at last Wednesday’s final game as the crowd cheers (bottom left). said sophomore player Jamie Fung. The opportunity for the boys to bust out their new moves, however, came at a price. They trained under lamentable conditions for days until they finally learned to “shake their booty,” as the class of 2010 cheer squad captain Sandra Cukic puts it.

Sophomore cheer team co-captain Jenny Zhang admits that it was not an easy task to teach these average boys to transition into what is generally considered to be the untrodden realm of femininity.

“They are like wild animals,” said a flustered Zhang. “They get the stuff, but they are super rowdy.”

“At first it was awkward and scary,” said junior cheerleader Mark Chew. “However, the experience was exhilarating. I felt like I was flying.” That feeling was reflected throughout the half-time show filled with entertaining stunts and routines where they stripped of their shirts and hurled them into the air.

Powderpuff was an event that brought together a diverse group of students and showed MVHS that football and cheerleading are not reserved for any specific gender.

“Powderpuff is amazing,” exclaimed senior cheerleader Kevin Schroeder. “Now I can really appreciate the cheerleaders who have to hold up their teammates.”

Fantasy comes closer to reality

Stereotypical notion that cyber-hobby requires no skill broken by fantasy sports club

by Eric Lu

J

Secret Lives

O

staff writer, news editor

staff writer

unior Yuan Cai watches the Chicago Bears football game attentively, studying game plans and stats. Cai pumps his fists furiously as the Bears wreak havoc upon their opponents but sinks into his chair dejectedly when the ball is turned over. He then turns toward his computer, his fingers flying to analyze the statistics of other football teams. Cai is neither a football player nor is he even a Bears fan, but he continues to watch intensely. Cai follows the Bears and the rest of the NFL for a much larger reason: fantasy sports.

Fantasy sports is noted for allowing players to “earn” points based on statstics or game results of professional sports and athletes. The game lets players become mock team managers, and pick out specific players to match against other teams chosen in the same fashion. Another form of fantasy sports is “pick ‘ems,” where winning teams in headliner events, such as March Madness, can be predicted.

Describing his experience with fantasy sports, junior Karthik Bwaraj said, “It makes you feel like a head coach instead of a fan. It is highly involving.”

The once “geeky” version of watching sports now has turned a corner. No longer is the “sports nerd” degraded; he or she is now highly respected for analysis. Sports networks such as ESPN have begun catering to the recent interests in fantasy sports with magazine subscriptions with detailed scout reports.

MVHS’ own club reflects an example of the popularity of fantasy sports. Fantasy Sports Club senior president Raju Hansra spoke about the history of the club.

“In the beginning, we started with only two members,” said Hansra. “Now we have over 20 members and it’s growing.”

The stiff competition in fantasy sports has marked a significant growth in the group. During the club meetings, members trash talk about their opponent’s recent losses or debate recent sports. Even on special occasions, the club plays a game called “Around the Horn” where each person receives one minute to argue a question. Sample

questions include “Will the 49ers reach a winning record?” or “Will the Raiders reach three wins” and “Will the Mets falter due to recent injuries?” In the mock debate, members snickered at seemingly frivolous points such as how the “A’s would crush the Detroit Tigers” while cheering boisterously for agreeable opinions.

The Fantasy Sports Club also extends itself outside the computer.

For instance, “Stump the Schwab,” a popular game show on sports channels, was played at a meeting. The game allows club members to challenge presidents Hansra and senior Peter Lu in daunting sports trivia. Various sports trivia questions that would have received blank stares from the general public were answered with swift confidence.

Beside them, other members watched in disbelief as some displayed their startling knowledge of sports.

Moreover, what unite each and every one of the members are the formal leagues established for MVHS students.

While some leagues offer money prizes, people tend junior Yuan Cai to overlook the awards that arrive from victories in fantasy sports: the pride that arrives from every win.

“I got started by my older brother. I just love crushing him and other players,” said social studies teacher Bonnie Belshe who plays fantasy sports.

However, disparagement for the hobby still exists.

“Some people think it’s geeky and tell me to go outside to play the real sport,” said Cai. However, Cai continues to play because he loves the sport but doesn’t have time to play it. Despite the criticism some fantasy players face, many continue to feel that the passion to the game is too great to ignore. In fact, fantasy sports have become an addiction for some leaguers.

Junior Justin Bui said, “I spend about seven hours a week reading and researching scout reports to improve my success in leagues.”

There’s a new definition of avid sports watching. Besides following the game on TV, there’s a competitive aspect involved. To participants like Cai, fantasy sports allow him to become part of the professional sports world in the comfort of his bedroom.

“SOME PEOPLE THINK IT’S GEEKY AND TELL ME TO GO

OUTSIDE AND PLAY THE REAL SPORT.” —

ctober 9, 2006. Columbus Day and more notably, SAT studying day for some juniors and seniors. Fear not, because my column won’t be about endurance for those long tests, but rather, it’ll be about something much more meaningful: dodgeball. When I still wore Pokemon boxers, the only thing I talked about was dodgeball. My binders were filled with etched plans of dodgeball team positions and all day, I cackled at the thoughts of beaning others in the sweet spot, but I won’t go into too much depth about it.

When I heard MVHS had a dodgeball team, I was pumped but I didn’t expect a teacher team to be really quite so serious about it. Stowed in the cabinets of many teachers lie official team uniforms, but the backs aren’t stamped with mere last names.

Fixed are names only imaginable in games like CounterStrike, names like Jensonator and KillerB and the Wrench.

On to the game against the Cupertino Cobras, much like the evil team in the movie. I volunteered beforehand to be a REAL water boy. Nothing would be better than getting a first hand look at teachers in a frenzy mode. Instead, I was thwarted by MVHS’ commitment to their uniforms. High socks, headbands, and 70’s clothes were all rampant among the team. I had expected to carefully wipe gigantic beads of sweat from teachers and auction them to strange students. However, the classic apparel stole my job. I was inclined to sit behind the team bench, but the action that soon followed made me forget.

The MVHS women team went up first.

Arm power and diving catches made the match look easy. The team quickly pummeled the other team. Their can of … whoopage spilled out as Bull Spirit went berserk.

I looked across from me. Assistant Principal Brad Metheany aka “Punisher” had taken math teacher Jon Stark’s wrenches and was viciously pounding them like Will Ferrell in his cowbell SNL skit. My friends beside me were worried. I had a feva, and the only prescription was more wrenches. The only thing that the “Punisher” was missing was The Blue Oyster Cult playing behind him.

Then something stirred among the MVHS crowd and me. A ref had not caught the other team going out of bounds. Stark and physical education teacher Ron Freeman took the matter at heart too. Stark whipped out the blue rule book in a hand normally reserved for his calculator, adjusted his sporty glasses like Steve Erkel, and marched to protest. Suddenly this wasn’t just a friendly game. Teachers I normally thought were composed were yelling, cheeks flushed.

Math teacher Ed Puccinelli 26 hours earlier was telling jokes for the ultimate joke Friday days. Now, he was drenched in sweat screaming a battle cry. The teacher’s complaints were so loud, it would have made a great run against Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. Later on, the female teachers swept Cupertino for an easy win.

Then the male teachers came up. Many fell victim to Cupertino’s vicious throwing, and only D(root)R was left standing. A friend once told me about how Scott Deruiter used Calculus, minutes before death, to achieve help. Would math save this teacher? I unfortunately did not think so.

The co-ed match up began with a tense moment both for the dodgeball team and myself. I was tempted to cry out as I watched Freeman take a blow for math teacher Skip Mueller in slow-mo. Both teams were too strong and ended in a sudden death.

MVHS won the sudden death to the delights of the crowd. There’s something bitter sweet about having one third of your teachers on the dodgeball team. They can, should I incur their wrath, throw dodgeballs at my head. Yet, there’s something fascinating about the secret lives my educators lead.

After the game, the teachers strode to their cars, champions of the game. They went from players to teachers the minute the game ended, but the only thing that mattered was how their grins spelled their fun.

senior Ben Ha colorguard

Rain always comes at the worst times, like before your Chemistry test. It’s important to stay dry and keep yourself clean. Here are some helpful hints that will help you keep pneumonia at bay.

• Carry a poncho. No more than 8-10 inches in size when packaged, a poncho can be a savior when the rain begins to pour. They are easy to store and aren’t a hassle to use. Pull it out and throw it on.

Senior Mazyar Kahali Sport: Football Position: Linebacker

• Carpool with a friend. Find a friend to help you find your way home. Don’t try to walk. It’s better to find a ride or just hang out at school.

gold pants

“In 1970, the varsity team played with gold pants, and they were very successful.

Last year, we brought the gold pants back [from purple pants], and now we have five wins and one loss only. “

• Just wait. Rain doesn’t always pour down forever, so it’s a good idea to wait for 15 or 20 minutes until the rain dims.

senior Christine Whitehill waterpolo

• Have a Plan B. Carry a cell phone, or find a buddy you can talk to for help. Don’t be stranded alone on a wet day. photo illustration by Aniqa Hasan | staff photographer

Pawkit the gnome has gone hiking at MVHS, but where is he on campus? The first person to reach the location shown will find instructions to claim a fabulous prize.

Congratulations to junior Tom Cavey for finding Pawkit’s location on the rock in the student parking lot last month!

Ha sat on the pool deck waiting for his soon-to-be-first water polo lesson from Whitehill. “I can’t wait to do this! I went to sleep early last night because I wanted today to come even faster,” said Ha. Soon enough, Ha and Whitehill were in the water swimming two laps of freestyle. “I can swim, but not that fast. I have no endurance. This is so tiring,” said Ha. Whitehill laughed; this was nothing compared to the 50 laps the girls have to regularly swim during practice.

Most people are comfortable with throwing and passing with one hand only without worrying about sinking; however, water polo players need to be proficient with both limbs. “I thought this was the hardest part,” said Ha. “I’m usually not used to doing anything this strenuous on my left hand.” Whitehill also taught Ha how to defend the ball, watching him struggling to pass her.

“There are just so many different aspects of water polo that you don’t know where to start with someone who has never played or someone who doesn’t even swim regularly,” said Whitehill.

Ha was given the upper hand in his sport of choice. Whitehill was given a light blue flag and was taught how to spin to counts, spin at a double-time count, and execute different kinds of tosses with a five-and-a-half foot flag.

“This is so heavy; how do you even spin this?” asked Whitehill, to which Ha replied, “Do you know how heavy mine is? Imagine having to toss this in the air, having it make two revolutions, and then dancing with it!”

After practicing a couple spins, Whitehill had a taste of what marching with the rest of the colorguard was like, something the team does both at competitions and at football games. They walked together to the upper field, where Ha started teaching more complicated maneuvers, such as tossing the flag in the air while marching.

“You have to do it to the counts, Whitehill! Let’s do it again: 5, 6 … 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1!” Whitehill resolved to catch the flag “no matter what,” but the idea of having it hit her over the head or any other part of her body scared her. “I basically failed at everything!” said Whitehill, laughing.

shoulder pads “We need a total of five pads: knee pads, hip pads, waist pads, and butt pads. The pads on the upper body are for bulk while tackling.”

helmet “The other day I was playing tackle football, and I got hit in the head, and it hurt for three days.

Thank God I have a helmet.”

gloves “Different positions wear different types of gloves.

I’m a linebacker so I wear these with extra padding. The offensive lineup have gloves with better grip to make catching easier.”

Cross Country