October & November 2014

Falconer The Torrey Pines High School

Thursday, October 30, 2014 | Vol. 40, Issue 3, 32 pages | San Diego | www.tphsfalconer.com

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A28 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MILES ARNOLD/FALCONER

DRESS CODE COMMITTEE FORMED

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By Katie Mulkowsky and Caroline Rutten

In response to a “lack of awareness” about appropriate dress on campus, the TPHS administration created a studentled committee to address collective concerns early this year, according to Assistant Principal Garry Thornton. The first meeting was held on Oct. 3 in the college and career center and was attended by 35 students. According to counselor Jayme Cambra, the second meeting had 15 students and was held on Oct. 21 with the central purpose of “brainstorming and having a conversation about what people feel, and then [going] from there.”

Principal David Jaffe said the committee’s goal is “to define and write a manifesto of who we are and how we want to represent ourselves,” and that students’ final decisions will not be subject to administrative review. However, Thornton said that though students are participants in the conversation, they are not the sole authoritative voice. According to Cambra,

the administrative role is to “facilitate the student-led program.”

“We are trying to teach you to be advocates for yourself and to be productive members in society, and teach you that you have a voice and practice that at school,” Jaffe said.

Jaffe said that the committee is open to any student who wants to be involved. According to Cambra, teachers were originally encouraged to nominate students based on no specific criteria — administration just sought “kids that would have a voice in it,” according to Jaffe.

“Our teachers know our students so well, so they gave us names and we invited all of those students to the initial meeting,” Cambra said. “We gave brief information about the vision, and then the students have the choice to participate or not — it’s nothing anyone’s being forced to do. It’s more of a conversation about what is going on: Is this something that the society is

overreacting to, or is this something that needs to be addressed, and if it does, how do we do that? We’re really looking for student guidance in this.”

Cambra said that the committee’s intentions are far-reaching — no specific style of dress or gender is to be targeted in discussion, and administration is open to facilitating conversations about any of the code’s implications.

“We’re not a legalistic institution; that’s not who we are,” Thornton said. “We believe that we owe our students respect, and we believe that we need to support you in shaping the culture of our school.

Culture, far more than code, is the way that we do things around here, and I hope that never changes.”

According to Thornton, the biggest problem with the existing dress code is the fact that it is a code.

see CODE, A4

“

Athletes, at least in this country, have been placed on an insurmountable pedestal.

Maya Rao See Athletes, A9

opinion.......................A6 feature.....................A11 a&e..........................A17 sports......................A23 backpage.................A28 focus.........................B1

“Neon Nights” Homecoming Mock Trial meets Supreme Court justice

By Maya Parella dance successful and colorful STAFF WRITER

By Maya Kota STAFF WRITER The “Neon Nights” Homecoming dance, inspired by the 5K Color Run, was held on Oct. 11 at TPHS. The Associated Student Body provided each ticket-holder with a white T-shirt that would be sprayed with colored powder by attending faculty upon students’ arrival at the event.

In addition to the colored shirts, the dance carried out the theme of “Neon Nights” by featuring fluorescent strobe lights on the open-air dance floor and florescent photo booths.

There were also poker tables and a Baked Bear ice cream truck at the dance, neither of which had a direct connection to the dance’s theme, but “added variation and fun,” according to ASB president Erica Lewis (12).

However, according to attendee Sara Shoushtari (10), spraying colored powder on shirts and having poker tables at the dance did not correlate strongly with the evening’s theme.

“I don’t think a lot of kids really [connected] with the games, like poker,

see HOMECOMING, A5

The TPHS Mock Trial team heard Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speak at the University of San Diego on Oct. 18 after placing second at last year’s San Diego County Mock Trial Competition.

The Mock Trial team had advanced to the final round during the 2014 competition, but lost to Bishops High School. Their noteworthy placement during the qualifying rounds, however, was rewarded with a table at Sotomayor’s lecture.

Sotomayor, who has served on the High Court since 2009, spoke to high school and college students about her experiences as a judge.

“It was really interesting and a lot of fun,” said Rocky Maas (12), prosecuting attorney and team president. “She was a really engaging speaker.”

According to Maas, Sotomayor’s lecture was somewhat informal and centered around her

personal life, including her childhood, and gave insight into the inner workings of the Supreme Court. She focused on her difficult experience with education, as she is a part of two minority groups: She is a woman and she is Hispanic.

“She presented a lot of information that was geared toward us,” Maas said. “It was inspiring to the generations wanting to pursue [law].”

Students had the opportunity to ask questions following her lecture, and Sotomayor gave her full attention to each one, according to Maas.

“It was really inspiring [to listen to her] since she came from a difficult background,” pretrial attorney Jessica Williams (12) said. “She taught me not to let other’s judgments stop me.”

According to Williams, the TPHS Mock Trial team is focused on winning first place in the finals of the 2015 San Diego County Mock Trial Competiton on Feb. 19-28.

Jackie Niddrie, Introduction to Law teacher and supervisor of the TPHS Mock Trial team, was unavailable for comment.

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Global Update Virginia An Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket carrying its Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station exploded 6 seconds after launch at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

Texas Nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, who contracted Ebola when they cared for Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, who later died, at a Dallas hospital, are both free of the disease and have returned home. A NY doctor is the only current U.S. Ebola patient.

by Maya Rao

Oslo, Norway The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Kailash Satyarthi for his work in advocating for child rights in India and 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever Nobel Prize winner, for her work in furthering accessibility to education for girls.

Jakarta, Indonesia Joko Widodo, known throughout Indonesia as “Jokowi,” was sworn in as Indonesian president on Oct. 20. Despite concerns that Widodo, who had a financially difficult childhood, would not be fit as president, his election and subsequent inauguration have sparked excitement across the country.

Pretoria, South Africa Olympian Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in jail for the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after being acquitted on charges of premeditated murder.

ART BY SOPHIE YOU

Active shooter training Student and parent cars conducted on campus vandalized in TPHS staff lot

By Lily Nilipour & Austin Zhang STAFF WRITER & COPY EDITOR

TPHS teachers and other staff members attended a training and information session concerning active on-campus shooter scenarios, held by the SDUHSD and the San Diego Sheriff’s Department on Sept. 24 in the lecture hall.

“An active shooter situation can happen anywhere,” Assistant Principal Robert Coppo said. “The particular point that was new for us … was the difference in the tactical response, the way the police responded before and the way they respond now.”

Following incidents of school shootings, law enforcement officers have revised their strategies for dealing with armed intruders on school campuses.

“The police used to set up a perimeter outside the school, and the commotion would take place, and they would wait to go in,” Principal David Jaffe said. “Now, they actually go right in, and hunt down whoever’s doing it.”

According to Coppo, the district has begun extending instruction to teachers and other staff members, though administrators received training last year, and “all the schools were asked to have this kind of training at the beginning of the school year.”

History teacher Lisa Hendricks organized a simulation of an active shooter confrontation to help her students understand the reality of such events.

“To actually model it … is important because it makes the situation more real,” Hendricks said. “Rather than just talk about it and say: ‘Hey kids, this is what you do when an active shooter comes in,’ we actually demonstrated it and had the kids by the doors on both sides of the

room just to prepare to know what to do if that did take place.”

Matthew Tarasen (10) was selected to play the role of the intruder in Hendricks’ simulation. According to Tarasen, his classmates had to react by devising ways to bring him down.

“If we didn’t have prior knowledge for [this kind of incident], we wouldn’t know what to do,” Tarasen said.

Hendricks believes that basic self-defense techniques are important beyond on-campus incidents.

“Not only does that type of [self-defense] training make sense for something like an active shooter training, but more so for just protecting yourself on a daily basis,” Hendricks said. “I think kids need to realize the severity.”

According to Coppo, conducting simulations was “up to the discretion of the teacher.” However, he said that it is important for students and staff to be “aware of the things [they] could do when confronted, regardless of where [they] are.”

According to Jaffe, the SDUHSD has taken districtwide surveys to determine the ways school campuses can improve safety. However, he believes that connectivity can also be a powerful countermeasure to potential violence on campus.

“The only way to keep a campus safe ... is if the students are connected to each other, and the staff’s connected to the students, because that’s where you learn if something’s going to happen,” Jaffe said. “Having armed guards and fences up around and metal detectors and all that stuff is not going to protect [us]. It’s knowing one another.”

The administration will continue to spread information about new police responses and procedures.

By Amanda Chen & Anna Lee

STAFF WRITER & OPINION EDITOR

Six cars in the TPHS staff parking lot were broken into by unknown perpetrators on Oct. 28, sometime between 6:30 and 7 p.m.

One car belongs to TPHS parent Dana Smith, while the other five cars belong to volleyball players Nicole Anderson (11), Brynn Buechler (11), Cassie Knutson (12), Hannah Miller (12) and Cailin Onosko (11).

According to Onosko, they arrived in the parking lot around 7 p.m. to find that most of the girls who owned the damaged cars had car windows smashed

and purses stolen, though nothing of Knutson’s was taken.

“Insurance is going to cover [damages], so I’m okay,” Knutson said. “But it’s just kind of scary that someone would do that [at TPHS].”

Smith was also surprised to “encounter this kind of destructive behavior at a school that’s really positive.”

“It’s disconcerting and disheartening,” Smith said. “I’m surprised that this [happened] this early in the evening and [that] it was in a window of about 20 minutes.”

Anderson believes the theft and destruction might have been avoided through “school security,” like cameras installed in the parking lot.

“We probably could have caught who was behind this,” Anderson said.

The local police department took reports over the phone, but did not show up to the scene because no suspect was seen, according to Nina Johnson, mother of Daisy Johnson (11), both of whom were at school for a meeting at the time of the incident.

“This happened on a prominent school campus,” Johnson said. “You’ve got upset students, and you won’t send one uniformed officer here to show some support? That’s ridiculous.”

The San Diego Police Department Northwestern Division could not be reached for comment.

PHOTO BY GRACE BRUTON/FALCONER

BREAKING NEWS: Nicole Anderson’s (11) car was broken into and had its windows smashed.

Five other vehicles were vandalized by unknown perpetrators a little after 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 28.

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SDUHSD club rules Challenge Days change to Falcon Fest more strictly enforced

By Kevin Chih STAFF WRITER

By Irene Yu STAFF WRITER At the beginning of the 20142015 school year, the SDUHSD revised club regulations in order to prevent health code violations and ensure the presence of a faculty adviser at all club meetings.

The new regulations limit clubs to only four events with food per year, and all food must by approved by TPHS food services. “[The school board] decided to make the rules stricter, especially about food,” ASB club commissioner Delaney Baril (12) said. “There have been no problems with the food rules in the past, but there could be a health issue.”

Culture club board members find the rule overly strict. “[The new regulations are] really inconvenient for our club,” Michelle Hsiao (10), president of Taiwanese culture club. “We eat food to have people get to know the culture.”

Korean club president Grace Lee (10) believes that the inclusion of cultural food helps to attract new members — something they no longer can do.

“Not being able to bring in food is a disadvantage because people come to the club for food,” Lee said.

Erik Zhang (12), president of Share The Music club, does not mind the regulation. “[The rule] is a good thing because often people would go to clubs like [National Honor Society] just to have pizza,”

Zhang said. “Now there will be more of a community feel and people will attend the club not only for the food.”

In addition to the new food regulation, school-sponsored clubs are now required to have a faculty adviser with them at all times, even at off-campus activities.

“We’ve had problems with clubs meeting without their faculty advisors in the past,” Baril said. “There weren’t major issues, but hopefully this year we can get a handle on that.”

Faculty availability is a major setback to clubs.

“The club advisors have other things to do, so it’s hard to get them to come to every event,” Laila Voss (10) said.

Voss attempted to start a club focusing on women’s rights and gender equality at the beginning of the year but was hindered by the strictness of the new regulations.

“The regulations are difficult to follow,” Voss said. “They’re not stricter, but ... much more enforced this year than they were last year.”

Even though some students are against the increased enforcement of club regulations, others believe the regulations are not strict, but necessary. Zhang and Principal David Jaffe both said that rules should be strict to keep the clubs in check.

“Clubs have the opportunity to fix [elements] that don’t meet the requirements,” Jaffe said. “But that doesn’t mean the regulations don’t need to be enforced.”

Falcon Fest, a four-day event starting Nov. 4, will allow TPHS students to share personal experiences and cope with issues addressed at Challenge Days in previous years. The goal of Falcon Fest remains to help students connect more with the school and each other.

“As a result [of Falcon Fest], the TPHS Foundation did not contact the Challenge Day company to run Challenge Day this year,” said Don Collins, director of Peer Assistant Listeners.

Falcon Fest, unlike Challenge Day, will include activities that address issues like stress and will provide a safe environment for students to overcome social and academic barriers.

“The main difference is that we can tailor the program to include aspects of issues that were brought up and are special to the school,” Collins said.

According to Collins, “major transformations” can happen at Falcon Fest, including learning to be supportive of others and realizing how one’s behavior can affect others.

“I feel like [Challenge Day] changed the way I felt toward the student body as a whole,” Laila Voss (10) said. “It also reconciled me with a close friend.”

Challenge Day has helped students deal with pressure from both peers and parents.

“You’re not the only one dealing with stress,” Voss said.

“You’re not alone and feel more connected to everyone else.”

Many students who attended Challenge Day expect Falcon Fest to be even better.

“Falcon Fest will be better this year because it is led by TPHS,” said Eric Yu (10). “And we know more clearly what kind of issues the students are dealing with.”

With 700 freshmen and 200 transfer students, more than one-third of TPHS students are new to the school this year. These students are encouraged to participate in Falcon Fest, which can “develop real connections that can serve to be friendly faces,” according to Collins.

Thomas Parker (10), who attended La Costa Canyon High School his freshman year, believes Falcon Fest will help him engage with TPHS. “It’s going to help me to get to know more people and not feel alone,” Parker said.

This week students have received notices informing them they will attend Falcon Fest and on which day.

PALS PROMOTION: Posters have been placed around campus promoting Falcon Fest, the school-run replacement for Challenge Days. The four-day event will begin on Nov. 4.

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A4 the falconer CODE continued from A1 He said that “codes don’t work,” and that TPHS staff members are not code enforcers; establishing a dress “culture” instead will centralize student and staff adherence.

“When people see something as being a part of the culture, for the most part, they conform,” Thornton said. “What we need to do is try to create culture, which is not easy to do, but I think it begins with conversations.”

For instance, female students have voiced concerns regarding the gender implications of dress code. According to Lila Flowers (11), who was previously dress coded for a sheer tank top that she did not consider “revealing,” the dress code is conceptually “corrupt.”

“I think there are a lot of regulations on what girls can wear,” Flowers said. “They are making girls cover up so they don’t distract other people, but I don’t think what girls wear should be [considered] distracting.”

Speaking from her sociological background, Cambra said that dress codes have historically targeted women.

Currently, the regulations on the TPHS website state that “students are expected to exercise good judgement, safety, good taste and modesty regarding their dress and grooming.” Garments may not display profane or obscene language or pictures; vulgar gestures; racial, ethnic or sexist slurs or messages about drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Additionally, the administration states that it interprets “modesty” as the coverage of bellies, undergarments and cleavage, and also does not permit strapless shirts, spaghetti straps or halter tops.

“The problem with females is that they have more gender specific parts, so a dress code by default will deal with girls more than it will impact [boys],” history teacher Lars Trupe said.

Trupe said that, as a male teacher, he feels “harassed” by female students’ inappropriate clothing choices.

“I think that if I can’t look at a student or if I have to look away from a student to have a conversation with them, the relationship I have with that student suffers,” Trupe said. “It causes me to keep a wider distance from that student.”

Trupe also said that “the purpose of school is to educate,” and that because there is a code of appropriate dress in every aspect of life, school regulations on dress are “a legitimate function.”

“Whether it is in work or in sports, you have uniforms [that dictate] what’s acceptable or not acceptable,” Trupe said. “[The school dress code] is a minimum standard of what is acceptable. The district has a rather liberal definition of it; it’s not quite as extensive as I think it should be.”

However, according to Sheyda Khonji (11), it is “ridiculous” for girls to “dress a

news certain way because men react a certain way to how they’re dressing.”

“My mom is from Iran, and after the revolution [in 1979] there was a huge difference in how women were forced to dress,” Khonji said. “Before the revolution, women wore their hair down, and they didn’t wear anything to cover up; they looked like people in Western cultures.

After the revolution, people had to cover up because it ‘tempted’ men to see women’s hair or faces. My mom was like, ‘If it tempted men so much, why didn’t men just wear blindfolds?’ Why are women forced to compensate for men’s issues?”

With respect to the dress code, Khonji said that she would like to see an equal number of rules pertaining to male students’ attire as those pertaining to female students’ clothing. Committee member Jacqueline Fisher (10) agrees with Khonji that female students should not be held responsible for preventing the “distraction” of their male counterparts, but Fisher does not find sexualized female attire appropriate because “male students do not sexualize their clothing.”

“People are distracted by many different

october 30, 2014

things,” Fisher said. “I could be distracted by the clock on the wall. If [a female’s] cleavage is accidentally showing, or if she chooses to show cleavage, it is not [her] responsibility to cover up — the boys should be respectful.”

Fisher, however, said that she finds exposed cleavage inappropriate, and also wishes to address offensive T-shirt slogans, and finds shirts with profane statements to be “the most disturbing of all.”

“There is a lot of sexualism in the way girls dress at school, particularly because they want to perceive themselves as appealing to men, which is not appropriate in my opinion,” Fisher said. “And I just don’t want people to wear shirts that advertise something that you shouldn’t necessarily promote.”

Conversely, Simon Ilko (12) was issued a dress code violation by teacher Dexter Harvey for wearing a T-shirt that bore a small Hundreds logo, which depicts an exploding bomb.

“I had to turn it inside out and he ended up giving me a referral for the dress code,” Ilko said. “I thought it was ridiculous.”

Ilko said he sees “a lot of controversy”

over the topic of dress code, because some of his teachers have claimed that “girls shouldn’t be wearing” offensive clothing, and others have said that “guys shouldn’t be distracted by it.”

“I think girls wear clothes that are more revealing, but it’s their decision to wear it; no one is forcing them,” Ilko said. “To me, it’s not a distraction. I can just not look at it, but it depends on the guy. There are perverts who just stare. If you’re truly committed to what you’re learning, you don’t have to be distracted by it, so I guess you can look at it both ways.”

Hoping to synthesize student opinions, Jaffe said that “having a conversation about how you carry yourself is an important conversation to have with young men and women.”

“For me, involving students in the dress code discussion is important in the democratic process,” Jaffe said.

Though there is no definite goal for the “culture” statement, Cambra said that administrators are “putting ownership on students” to fix problems they recognize.

The next meeting date has yet to be announced.

CRACKING THE CODE TPHS dress code violations include, but are not limited to:

spaghetti straps violent imagery revealing top exposed underwear

exposed cleavage exposed stomach bottoms too short

INFOGRAPHIC BY ANNA LEE AND KATIE MULKOWSKY/FALCONER

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HOMECOMING continued from A1 especially since it didn’t really go with the theme,” Shoushtari said.

“Also having so much powder in the air could pose a potential threat to kids.”

However, the powder used at the dance, which was similar to cornstarch and of cosmetic grade, was both nontoxic and biodegradable, according to Lewis. It was also extremely easy to wash off clothing and completely harmless.

“We didn’t have problems with the powder not washing off clothes,” Lewis said. “But we did get complaints about the powder getting into people’s eyes.

The material is just powder and shouldn’t have caused any actual harm.”

According to Lewis, there was discussion about the issue after the dance, though it was not a large enough concern to merit further conversation.

There was also controversy with profane songs played at the dance, which included the uncensored versions of “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj and “Dance (A$$)” by Big Sean. Both songs included profane language that is prohibited at school, according to school policies.

ASB members were unaware

that the uncensored versions of the songs were going to be played at the dance. “[Having uncensored songs] was completely unintentional,” Lewis said. “It was an accident, and it was not school appropriate.”

ASB activities director Kate Betts (11) agreed, saying that ASB had no say in the music being played.

“That was all on the DJ,” Betts said. “Although uncensored music gets kids more excited to dance with their friends and sing along, I’m not sure it was entirely appropriate.”

Shoushtari said the censored versions of songs have been played at past Winter Formal and Homecoming dances.

“I don’t recall profane language in songs last year at Homecoming, and there definitely were no uncensored songs at last year’s Winter Formal, so I’m not sure what happened this year,” Shoustari said.

ASB adviser Scott Chodorow was unavailable for further comment on the issue.

However, other ASB members and Lewis believe the dance was successful because “everything turned out the way we wanted.”

According to Shoushtari, Homecoming “was an experience to remember” and she looks forward to attending it next year.

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PHOTO BY GRACE BRUTON/FALCONER

BRIGHT LIGHTS: TPHS students dance under the light structure by the dance floor just outside the gym. The Oct. 11 Homecoming dance’s “Neon Nights” theme was inspired by the 5K Color Run.

Enrollment study group created by SDUHSD

By Alice Qu ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR The High School Enrollment Study Group, headed by Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Michael Grove, was created on Oct. 10 by the SDUHSD to examine and suggest changes to current high school enrollment policies in response to complaints from parents in the community.

According to Grove, a group of parents with “kids as young as fifth graders” approached the SDUHSD to ask for a reexamination of the high school enrollment process. “[The parents] were not fans of the whole lottery process — this group was particular about San Dieguito Academy — primarily because of fears that their kids would not be able to get into what they consider to be their neighborhood school,” Grove said.

Parents of students looking to attend Canyon Crest Academy also have approached the district with similar concerns in past years.

“The school board and district staff had a conversation and decided it was probably time to examine [the current enrollment policy], not because we feel like we have to make a change, but because we haven’t examined it in well over 10 years,” Grove said.

“We have to see whether [the current enrollment policy] is still the best way to enroll students at our high schools, and quite honestly, we’ve never asked our community if they like the way we’re doing it.”

According to Grove, the group is comprised of two teachers and two students from each of the four high schools in the district — TPHS, CCA, SDA and La Costa Canyon High School — along with two people from the district office and 15 parents. TPHS Principal David Jaffe and SDA Principal Tim Hornig represent their schools in the group.

“If we were to change [anything], that [change] needs to be based upon the input of the community,” Grove said.

“Our district is not here to serve administrators, but to serve our community because we’re a public school district.”

The group’s tasks include compiling and evaluating different options for high school enrollment, looking at the longterm enrollment projections, and speaking to students, parents and staff members about the various options in order to provide feedback to the school board, which will then either make changes or keep policies the same.

Grove said “there are a lot of rumors and misconceptions” about the way students are enrolled, so the group’s first goal is making sure that group members understand current policies and state laws regarding school enrollment.

The SDUHSD’s current enrollment policy states that all students within district boundaries are eligible to enroll at any of the four high schools in the district.

“If you live in Encinitas, your default boundary school is LCC,” Grove said. “For Del Mar, it’s TPHS, and then you have the choice to go to SDA or CCA. Every middle school has a boundary, and which middle school you go to is determined by where you live.”

The group will look at enrollment projections and future student demographics to predict how the area will look in five years, 10 years and 15 years.

“When they build all of the remaining properties — about 1,500 single family units — we’re projected to have about 5,400 high school students in this area,” Jaffe said. “CCA is building one more wing to the school, and they’ll build it in the next two years, so they will have the capacity for 2,400, and if they are at 2,400, I guess [TPHS] will be at 3,000.”

SDA and CCA each currently

have a limited student capacity, and if enrollment to either school exceeds that capacity, the schools have a lottery system to decide which students get in.

“If there are 500 seats open and only 490 students want to go to that school, everyone gets in,” Grove said. “If we have 500 seats and there are 510 students who want to go to that school, then we do a lottery to select 500 of them.

That’s a very simplified version of the way it works right now.”

The lottery system was put into effect in the ‘90s at SDA, but there was no lottery at CCA for the 2011-2012 or 2012-2013 school year because there was space for all students who enrolled.

Montserrat Quintana (12), one of two TPHS student representatives in the group, conceded that the lottery system

is “the fairest way to ensure that only a certain number of students go to a school.”

“I don’t think a public institution should deny anyone who wants to go there,” Quintana said.

According to Jaffe, over the past 10 years, more than 98 percent of students have gotten into their schools of choice.

“There was a lottery for CCA [my freshman year], and my reasoning was if I didn’t get in, I could go to TPHS, but if I did get in, I could go to CCA and switch to TPHS if I wanted to,” said Jessica Choi (12), who got into CCA through lottery, but transferred to TPHS shortly after the start of her freshman year.

Grove anticipates that enrollment policies will stay the same for the 2015-2016 school

year, and his goal is for the group to report to the school board in the early spring of 2016. If the school board decides to make changes, they will be made for the 2016-17 school year and will only apply to incoming freshmen.

“If the school board says the best thing to do is draw boundaries, it wouldn’t impact any students currently attending any of our high schools,” Grove said.

“They’re not going to take kids who are currently attending CCA who don’t live in the boundary and kick them out. Those kids will stay and graduate.”

Grove said there is no “predetermined outcome” and that the group plans to only “explore the options” for high school enrollment right now. The group will have its first meeting on Nov. 12.

High School Selection Process

1

Selection Window Opens

4

Enrollment Deadline

2

Selection Window Closes

3

Lottery (If Necessary)

5

Email Notification to Parents

6

Enrollment for Students Begins

INFOGRAPHIC BY ALICE QU/FALCONER

ART BY TERESA CHEN/FALCON ARTIST

PRO

By Varun Bhave NEWS EDITOR

It would be coercive if the law forced people to perform the right actions, but it should still shape their choices. Although people who engage in smoking, drinking or unhealthy eating bear most of the consequences for their own choices, sin taxes maintain accountability for the negative externalities associated with self-destructive behavior.

Even if the taxes were ineffective, they at least promote a choice architecture that penalizes people for indirectly hurting others. Smokers might pay for their own medical problems, but are rarely responsible for the harm inflicted by secondhand smoke. In addition, the examples people set undoubtedly influence the behavior of others. People who make poor dietary choices often instill unhealthy habits in their children, which can be viewed as a public rather than private wrong, since children are especially impressionable.

Such taxes also prevent free riding on the public medical system, whether or not they actually promote healthier behavior, since they hold people more responsible for the costs of their decisions; while a liberal state must allow freedom to be self-restricting, it should ensure that a free rider bears a reciprocal cost. Opponents of sin taxes claim they disproportionately affect the poor and minorities, but these are the segments of the population that typically use some form of public health assistance, and consequently the segments that will benefit most from kicking damaging and expensive habits.

Whether sin taxes can effectively change behavior is disputed. The

A sin tax is levied on products and services seen as vices. Voters in San Francisco will vote on Proposition E, which calls for a tax on sugary drinks. broadest set of evidence comes from federal cigarette taxes, which shot up from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack in 2009. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that the number of smokers in the United States had decreased by about 3 million by 2012. According to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, teenage smoking alone fell 10 to 13 percent over the same time period. Alternatively, sin taxes can be manipulated to minimize cost to the consumer while still facilitating healthier choices. For example, economists Helen Jensen and John Beghin of Iowa State University argue charging soda manufacturers extra for using certain sweeteners would allow companies to distribute the new cost more flexibly in the manufacturing and marketing chain rather than imposing it entirely at the consumer end. Such a system might also penalize the real culprits: soda companies that vend and advertise products devoid of any nutritional value.

Sin taxes seem less objectionable than other taxes, since people have more control over whether they must pay them. But broader sin taxes could raise substantial revenue for cashstrapped states and municipalities.

Denmark and France have already experimented successfully with taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food, and the Danish tax raised over $200 million in one year. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic projected a national 1 cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages could raise up to $20 billion per year in the United States.

Opponents of sin taxes view them as coercive restrictions. However, the framing issue is that “sinful” choices impose costs on public institutions or other people the law should correct for to maintain a fair division of benefits and burdens. The choice infrastructure the government creates will inevitably influence people’s behavior one way or the other — the question is whether the government should start with a strong presumption that we would do is in our rational self-interest.

We asked you...

Is it acceptable to levy sin taxes on items such as soda?

40%

60%

YES

NO

said

said

San Francisco is not the first city in California to attempt to tax sugary beverages: In 2012, Richmond and El Monte failed to implement similar measures; New York City overturned former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2013 initiative, which banned large servings of soda. Proposition E would implement a sin tax of 2 cents per ounce on sugary beverages. Under the legislation, distributors of the drinks are meant to cover the taxes, but that cost will likely be passed on to retailers; ultimately, consumers would be forced to suffer increased soda prices.

San Francisco would use the money generated by the tax — an estimated $35 million to $54 million a year — for nutrition education at schools and other forms of promoting awareness. However, the idea that the money would be reserved for obesity education and similar health programs is dubious at best. After all, the government is not known for delivering on its promises of where tax money will go. Witness the distribution of lottery funds.

Besides soda, athletic drinks, juices and coconut water will be taxed. Once the tax on sugary drinks is in place, the next step logically would be to tax all foods containing similar sugars. So the tax on sugary drinks seems arbitrary — why should Sprite be taxed more than Sour Patch Kids? Today it might be soda, but soon it could be ice cream, coffee or French fries. A sin tax on sugary drinks might easily extend to any and all products that are supposedly a threat to public health. But too much of anything is dangerous; thus, sin taxes are inconsistent.

In fact, there is no correlation between taxing sugary drinks and improving public health. According to a 2014 study conducted by the University of Wisconsin, an increase in taxes does correlate to less soda consumption, but not a reduction in caloric intake. In a particular group examined in Ohio, which has already implemented a statewide soda tax, obesity actually increased. People were denied sugar in one form, so they simply found another source.

CON

By Sarah Brown

ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Proponents of the tax argue that the tax is beneficial in helping prevent childhood obesity. However, until the government includes exercise programs as part of solving the obesity equation, blaming one sugary product among many other causes is naive at best. If the government is trying to reduce obesity, a variety of behavioral changes is necessary. Individuals from other countries consume sugary drinks, but still maintain healthy lifestyles, suggesting that the drinks themselves are not a major health concern on their own.

Sodas and juices, though high in sugar content, are completely safe and legal to consume. Taxes should be imposed on directly detrimental commondities like cigarettes and alcohol, which are far less safe to consume than a product like soda.

There is no evidence that a soda tax would work like a cigarette tax.

And despite the general decrease of smoking over the years, thousands of people still smoke cigarettes every year, aware of the resulting ailments and deaths it may cause. Most Americans who consume soda will continue to do so, no matter what the tax or the consequences — especially since soda is not quite as lethal.

The lack of restraint practiced by a portion of the population does not justify the government enforcing a tax on every citizen. In today’s economy, with many people struggling to put food on the table, any tax would be unwelcome, especially an unnecessary one. Individuals should be free to either reap the benefits of moderation or suffer the consequences of overindulgence.

opinion

tphsfalconer.com

the falconer

A7

STAFF EDITORIAL: BALANCED FINANCIAL AID aid only brings in people that are not academically ready to compete at the college level, taking spots from people who actually earned a chance at a college education, regardless of their socioeconomic standing.

When taking socioeconomic stratification into consideration, it is clear that favoring one system over the other does not necessarily produce the best results. Often, the gray area between rich and poor gets left out of the argument, creating difficulties for the middle class, because members often do not qualify for need-based aid. Also, while members of the middle and lower classes can have the academic or athletic requirements to qualify for merit-based aid, they are at a disadvantage because they do not have the same financial resources of their upper class counterparts.

Colleges and the government should therefore combine the two

“

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Sean Circosta (9)

Evan Pasko (10)

It’s harder for low-income families, so their children should at least have a chance to be able to go to school.

Uh, yeah.

systems, creating a new system in which merit-based aid would be integrated with a localized needbased aid process that looks at each social class separately and on different terms. People who belong to lower classes should have lower qualification requirements for meritbased aid, so that the disparities in the quality of high school education between classes will be negated.

Solving the problem by focusing on educational reform rather than financial aid is impractical. While fixing the problem from its roots by reforming educational systems in lower socioeconomic environments would be ideal, actually doing so would be extremely difficult. Many previous attempts at educational reform have shown little success and counterproductively wasted federal dollars. While we wait for Common Core to level the educational playing field, the current issue of

financial aid needs to be dealt with now.

Things are not always black or white in the real world. Both the merit-based and need-based financial aid systems are not mutually exclusive and need to be considered not as two separate entities, but rather as a combined system that is beneficial to all.

ART BY CAROLYN CHU/FALCONER

With college tuition prices constantly rising, families seek the best education for their children at the lowest possible cost. Prioritizing either need-based or merit-based aid has come to the forefront of the debate, with diverging opinions on the validity of the two programs.

It is important to note that needbased aid and merit-based aid are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Instead, socioeconomic status must be taken into account when determining the recipients of both types of financial aid.

The number of merit-based college grants given to students has increased significantly in recent years, causing complaints among need-based aid proponents, who argue that financial aid should be given to students who qualify for college but cannot afford to go.

Proponents of merit-based aid, on the other hand, argue that need-based

STUDENT VOICES

I think those who struggle and don’t get enough money ... [should receive] financial aid ... as long as they’re working.

Do you think financial aid should be based on need or merit?

”

Both are fine ... we don’t know exactly what [a student’s] situation is, so we can’t determine if they truly need it.

Ellese Nguyen (11)

Teresa Chen (12)

Are you going out?

Don’t you have Ebola?

Bye!

the strip

the strip by carolyn chu

Falconer

The Torrey Pines High School

We, the Falconer staff, are dedicated to creating a monthly newspaper with the intent of encouraging independent thinking, expanding our knowledge of journalism, and providing the TPHS student body and community with a truthful, unbiased news source, in accordance with our First Amendment rights.

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Advertisements do not necessarily represent the newspaper’s viewpoint. The Falconer, an open forum, welcomes signed letters on pertinent issues from the TPHS community, which may be submitted to room 102, via e-mail at falconer. ads@gmail.com or to Mia Smith’s mailbox in the administration building. Letters may be edited for length and grammar.

”

People who do well should be rewarded ... but those who need it should have the opportunity to go to school.

Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Public Relations Copy Editors News Editor Assistant News Editor Opinion Editor Feature Editors Focus Editors Entertainment Editors Sports Editor Sports Design Editor Backpage Editor Polls Manager Photo Editor Adviser

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Okay, well, have fun!

by Carolyn Chu

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Artists: Tori Austin Marisa Chang Grace Chen Kelsey Chen Teresa Chen Carolyn Chu Anna Huang Jacki Li Ellese Nguyen Russell Reed Micaela Roy Grace Yang

A8 the falconer

opinion

october 30, 2014

Ebola quarantine is ineffective and unconstitutional

Following the death of Thomas Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States, three major protocols have been proposed by public health officials to prevent the entry and transmission of the deadly virus throughout the nation. All three strategies involve some form of quarantine, an archaic and harsh medical practice that not only severely infringes upon basic civil liberties, but also is demonstrably ineffectual at preventing the spread of disease.

The first strategy establishes drastic restrictions on incoming flights from Ebola-affected nations.

The second, which has already been implemented in several airports across the country, proposes that each traveler coming from an Ebola-affected area be screened and involuntarily detained if their temperature surpasses a certain threshold. The third and harshest strategy mandates that all “suspected symptomatic patients” be forcibly isolated, along with any

persons who came into contact with them. These strategies all involve some sort of involuntary quarantine, a practice that has become the goto protocol for infectious disease, but whose ethicality and practicality has justifiably been called into question in the wake of Duncan’s death.

Quarantine policy varies from state-to-state, but the right of the federal government to quarantine is constitutionally protected, and it has become increasingly easy for federal officials to quarantine individuals with virtually no judicial process involved.

Under the 10th Amendment, states are granted the right to isolate a person, property or common carrier.

However, as health officials are quick to point out, citizens are provided with due process before being quarantined, a constitutional right which prevents the indiscriminate and unlawful detaining of individuals suspected to be sick.

Despite these emphatic assurances, the indiscriminate isolation of those only suspected of being sick is exactly what has happened — and more often than not, the quarantines are entirely unwarranted, like the one imposed on passengers on a United Airlines flight from Brussels in New Jersey’s Newark Airport that turned out to be a complete “false alarm” according to Reuters. The reason this practice is legal is that the definition of “due process” in the context of quarantine is decidedly fluid, allowing the state to detain essentially anyone. In Texas, for instance, “due process” is simply

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE MAYA PARELLA One of the Falconer’s newest staffers learns what it means to be truly extraordinary.

a matter of obtaining an order — not one from a federal judge nor the product of a similar democratic or judicial process, but from any health official who only has to suspect a person of being a public danger, making it absurdly easy for the state to obtain what are essentially arrest warrants for people who have not committed any crime.

Kaci Hickox, a nurse from New Jersey who was quarantined following her return from West Africa, told CNN that quarantine “is an extreme that is really unacceptable,” and that her “basic human rights have been violated.” Critics in the medical community were swift with their condemnation of quarantine policies, arguing that they are greatly hurting the livelihoods of health care workers and are largely political, designed to calm a paranoid public, rather than rooted in medical fact. Doctors Without Borders released a statement saying that forced quarantine “is not grounded on scientific evidence and could undermine efforts to curb the epidemic at its source.”

While it is the government’s duty to protect the welfare of the masses, sometimes at the cost of fundamental personal liberties, the fact that is becoming increasingly clear is that quarantining is not even medically effectual, much less a protocol for which citizens should have to sacrifice their individual rights.

On a medical level,

quarantine is not a practical strategy of containment. The temperaturescreening protocol currently in place assumes that fever is a definitive indication of the Ebola virus, but fevers can easily be concealed with antipyretics like Tylenol. Testing for fever is the baseline prerequisite for all three protocols, but this strategy has been proven profoundly ineffective. According to The New York Times, New York City’s health department received 57 calls reporting suspected infections based on fevers over the summer. Of the 57 patients, only six qualified for further testing. Ebola was not found in any of the cases. This is only one city over the span of only six weeks — if this strategy were to be implemented across the country, the medical inefficacy and breach of rights would be magnified to a frightening degree.

Quarantine promotes a climate of paranoia and hysteria that could potentially lead to both misdiagnosis of the healthy and mishandling of individuals actually infected with the disease. The knee-jerk reaction to a threat to national security in this country is to declare war on it — whether it be drugs or terror — but waging a war against a disease through the reactionary and aggressive quarantine policies is not only medically unsuccessful, but constitutionally unjust. A fourth, more humane and proactive method of treatment must be evaluated and deployed before we declare “War on Ebola.”

I have always dreamt of being extraordinary, of creating an aura of mystery around myself that entices people. I suppose I’ve fulfilled the latter part of my wish, with my sometimes inexplicable actions, but lately I’ve begun to wonder whether I am simply another ordinary person with pathetic, ordinary dreams.

Quite honestly, I’m not entirely sure what it means to be extraordinary. Knowing your place seems to be the first step toward achieving greatness, but I am not even positive of that. I know I’m far too young to have reached my full potential, but there is a vast world outside of high school, and I want to know who I am and what I can do before I’m thrust into its grasp.

Am I merely a carbon copy of other people, fabricated by the horrid mold of society, or have I broken free and created my own identity?

I fear that I will succumb to being a puppet and let the insignificant opinions of others control who I am and how I act. Yet as I ponder this, I think of those who have impacted my life. I see these people not as faces, but as passions; it’s almost as if their dedication and emotion toward their hobbies cast a luminous glow around them. I’m almost envious of how sure they seem to be of themselves, and I yearn to express myself as freely as they do.

myself because I wasn’t dainty, quiet or mysterious like her. After months of this destructive thinking, however, I finally had an epiphany: I cannot expect to be truly extraordinary if I’m subjecting myself to a superficial definition of perfection.

Now I think of all the times I’ve felt ashamed for acting too weird, for saying things I shouldn’t and essentially being too “me.” For a short while, my ethnicity frustrated me to no end because it set me apart from others in what seemed like a negative way. I wanted people to think I was admirable and beautiful and enchanting — someone worth remembering, yet I felt so restrained by my Asian heritage that I didn’t believe I was worthy. Just looking different from others was enough to make me feel inadequate. I felt as though I stood out for all the wrong reasons, and I especially detested the Asian stereotype thrust upon me.

I was brainwashed into thinking intelligence was the only way of achieving greatness as an Asian, that without topnotch grades in AP classes I would be nothing. Years ago, I was an avid reader, a girl who had dreams too big for her small existence, but my obsession with academic success diminished them.

Or rather, I allowed myself to be consumed with reaching a false idea of remarkability. I don’t know why this was so important to me, or even why I believed being Asian was such a negative thing. Surprisingly, however, coming to TPHS is what changed my mindset. After experiencing the horror that is a high school homework load — and we’re talking about five hours a night, here — I’m no longer interested in dragging myself through five AP classes for a college resume.

Instead, I want to leave high school knowing I tried my best in all that I did, perfect GPA or not, and took care of myself physically, mentally and emotionally. Being surrounded by so many people of my heritage was extremely comforting, too. It’s strange, really, but I began to see my Asian heritage as something

beautiful. Slanted eyes were no longer detested characteristics, but defining, appreciated ones.

Reflecting on all of this, I suppose I am extraordinary in my own unique way. Small as I am in this world — barely clearing 5-foot-1-inch — I have so much to offer if I just speak loudly enough. I see the world in words and poetry and quotes, but perhaps that’s just because I’m a writer. I want to move mountains with my words, travel the world and delve into new cultures. I want to write grand adventures that will be read for hundreds of years, inspiring others to go out into the world and see what it’s made of. I don’t want to be in extraordinary in what I do, but rather in who I am.

I have come a long way to get to

I’ve spent far too many years bending and twisting my personality to fit an unspoken mold of perfection.

PHOTO BY GRACE BRUTON/FALCONER

Maybe the key to being extraordinary is just being who I am.

I’ve spent far too many years bending and twisting my personality to fit an unspoken mold of perfection, and I am ready to break free. I can still recall the “dream girl” I once created for myself — Luce. She was a just a figment of my imagination, a vision of what I wanted to be. I revered her with my entire being, spent months hating

ART BY RUSSELL REED/FALCON ARTIST

By Charu Sinha BACKPAGE EDITOR

I want to move mountains with my words, travel the world and delve into new cultures. where I am. No longer do I let the idea of “perfection” dictate the way I present myself. Instead, I journey through life with the knowledge that I am enough; I am worthy. It’s such a relief to feel comfortable in my own skin and pursue my own hobbies without the fear of being judged.

I will never be a varsity athlete or a dance team star. That is not the plan life has in store for me, but I’m okay with it. Being extraordinary does not come from subjecting myself to the narrow limits of society, but rather from breaking past those defining expectations.

Of course, I’m still just a bumbling teenager who fawns over attractive boys in flannels, still years away from reaching the peak of my being.

Maybe I won’t change the lives of everyone around me. Maybe I’ll live out my life in the background of great events, but I won’t ever stop striving for my greatness. I want my voice to be heard. The world better prepare itself, because I am coming.

opinion

tphsfalconer.com

the falconer

A9

School board should not rewrite history

On Oct. 3, the Jefferson County School District Board of Education in Denver voted 3-2 to revise procedures for reviewing curriculum.

Although no specific courses were discussed during the meeting, previous meetings included plans to revise AP U.S. History classes in a manner that promotes “citizenship, patriotism [and] respect for authority.” These revisions could include discouraging acts of civil disobedience and painting the United States in a more positive light. Not only would these changes undermine a comprehensive education, but they also would contradict one of this nation’s fundamental principles — that a productive society is an educated one. Students are meant to use their education to make informed choices, like voting for political representatives, many of which affect their community and nation as a whole. Revising history changes the angle of such education. On public education, President James Madison wrote that “a popular government, without popular information, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both,” and the board members are looking to make a mockery of themselves.

These changes were proposed by newly-elected board member Julie Williams, who called herself “the

conservative choice” during her campaign. She wrote on her website that she values inspiring children to be “creative free thinkers who take personal responsibility.” What she is proposing to do, however, takes that responsibility away from the students and hands it to herself and the four other members of the board.

According to a historiography book by Western Michigan University professor Takashi Yoshida, in 1982, Japan’s Ministry of Education began to reframe the presentation of World War II in history textbooks. Although the Nanjing Massacre, and similar events were not totally omitted from high school textbooks, the Nanjing Massacre was characterized as a minor incident sparked by frustration at Chinese resistance. In textbooks for elementary and middle school students, the number of people killed was usually omitted, and in some textbooks the massacre was not mentioned at all. This is what Williams wants to do for U.S. history. It is quite possible that huge tragedies like the genocide of Native Americans could be erased entirely.

In an interview with the Fox News local affiliate in Denver, Williams said that schools “shouldn’t be encouraging our kids to disobey the law,” using student protests and walk-outs as examples of acts to discourage. It is currently taught in U.S. history classes that civil disobedience is a right citizens have when their liberties are violated or their conscience compromised. By discouraging civil disobedience, she dismisses famous acts of protest like the Boston Tea Party and Susan B. Anthony’s illegal vote in 1872. And though Williams says her idea is merely a proposal, it is very poorly founded — she claims lessons on events such as the Boston Tea Party

and the Gettysburg Address were omitted, though they were found in all 10 U.S. history textbooks approved by the board.

CollegeBoard AP Redesign Commission member Fred Anderson said to the Fox Denver affiliate that if the district chose to modify the

curriculum, they should abandon the AP course entirely, since AP is a brand that he claims should not be affiliated with a course that is not taught with the provided AP curriculum. Even Anderson’s radical idea seems more reasonable than Williams’, because a biased history

class cannot truly be called a history class. The Jeffco Board should leave the teaching to the teachers, rather than using an AP course to erase the negative aspects of U.S. history and thus encourage ignorance, all under the guise of promoting civic virtue and the patriotic spirit.

ART BY JACKI LI/FALCONER

By Anna Li MANAGING EDITOR

Athletes must be aware of role model status COPY EDITOR

It has been an ugly couple of months for sports. Ray Rice, a talented running back for the Baltimore Ravens, beat his thenfiancée unconscious within the confines of an elevator. Soccer veteran Hope Solo was convicted on multiple counts of fourthdegree domestic abuse. Olympian Michael Phelps was arrested for DUI, endangering lives, including his own. Athletes’ lives are heavily covered by the media, and they can turn into celebrities with one good performance. And with that fame comes a platform of adoring fans, looking to those athletes as sources of inspiration. People may insist that athletes should not be responsible to their fans for their behavior, but with the amount of media attention athletes get, it is impossible for them to avoid becoming role models. It is time for athletes to stop running and step up to the proverbial plate.

When athletes are criticized for behavior that influences fans, they often deflect responsibility. Former NBA star Charles Barkley argues children should not be encouraged to look to athletes as role models; that is not the duty of athletes, Barkley

says. Children should emulate their parents. With the publicity that athletes get through various sports networks and social media, however, it is impossible to stop people from looking up to athletes. Children and teenagers have more access to technology and information today than they have had at any other time in history. They often aspire to be professional athletes; parents are powerless to restrict access to any kind of information.

Athletes who play competitively beyond the high school level are entertainers as well as sportspeople.

Instead of competing for trophies, teams compete for television broadcasting, fan viewership, movie and video game deals — any form of entertainment imaginable. Athletes gain so much exposure that any form of parental censorship would be impossible. Children are more likely to look up to Phelps, who is rich, physically fit and successful, than “Dad,” who is middle-aged and works a middle-class job, despite what Barkley encourages. When athletes choose to compete either professionally or at a collegiate level, they choose media exposure, and they choose to be role models.

It is hard not to like athletes.

They are famous, wealthy, hardworking people who have sometimes risen from difficult circumstances to achieve success. Running back Adrian Peterson, for instance, came from a family in which discipline involved a stick or a belt. Phelps was diagnosed with attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder, a condition that makes concentration difficult

and is frequently linked to alcohol and drug abuse. Neither family had a lot of money, yet the two, quite literally in Phelps’ case, kicked adversity away.

They are the embodiment of the American dream. When athletes slip up, it makes their fans think it is all right to make those same mistakes, because athletes, at least in this country, have been placed on an insurmountable pedestal. Athletes think that no one can touch them because they hold such a respected place in society. Sports and fame, athletes come to know, are mutually inclusive. So are fame and fans.

Professional sports organizations are to blame for not stopping these grievous errors. The NFL, especially, has proven extremely irresponsible in handling Rice’s case — he was given only a two-game suspension initially, and, after the video was made public, he was put on indefinite suspension, a punishment he should have received earlier. The NFL’s ruling is just a pathetic attempt to regain public favor. Lenient policies for domestic abuse, among other crimes, show that the NFL is more concerned about profit than it is about the safety of its players and

their families. Violence is seen as a public relations issue, not a security or legal concern.

Athletes may not want to accept that they are role models, but they have a responsibility to their fans.

Without them, athletes would have no money, no power, no fame. Giving up reckless behavior seems like a small sacrifice, especially since athletes have the money to hire financial planners, bodyguards and other professionals to help them maintain their image and safety. People will not stop looking up to athletes, so next time, Phelps, just call a cab.

ART BY TERESA CHEN/FALCON ARTIST

By Maya Rao

A10 the falconer

opinion

october 30, 2014

Schools need comprehensive sex education

By Anna Lee OPINION EDITOR

In some states, the topic of sex may be introduced in the classroom as early as elementary school.

Young, wide-eyed children, for the most part, have little idea what their teachers are talking about; the topic may be revisited in middle school and again in high school. The responses vary from age to age — childish laughter, mild discomfort, a dismissive roll of the eyes — but most students walk away with the overwhelming impression that sex is wrong. Students are lectured about abstinence, the horrific dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, the function of gametes, the processes of meiosis and fertilization, and they walk out of the classroom having learned virtually nothing of value.

The education system teaches young people that sex at their age is shameful, that abstinence is the only way to go, that birth control apparently does not exist. Sex education needs major revision; keeping students ignorant is an unreasonable policy.

The ultimate goal of sex education is to educate students — the mission may seem obvious, but the existence of abstinence-only curriculum indicates otherwise. Often, this type

of sex education excludes important information regarding safe sex, such as the use of protective measures like condoms and other forms of birth control. Promoting such spotty information is unwise; keeping teenagers uneducated about the proper way to practice safe sex only results in a higher rate of teen pregnancy and diseases.

According to a report by the Council of State Governments, a nonpartisan organization that exchanges ideas with state government leaders, Missouri, a state that uses abstinence-only curriculum, has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the United States. Meanwhile, a 2002 study by the University of Washington found that teenagers who received comprehensive sex education are 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or get someone else pregnant. Abstinence-only education only harms students, doing the exact opposite of its goal.

In fact, there is very little evidence that abstinence-only education does anything to dissuade teens from having sex. A 2007 report

by Mathematica Policy Research, an organization that collects and analyzes data for clients like the federal government, found that abstinence-only programs had “no impact on rates of sexual abstinence.”

Teens are going to engage in sexual activity — it is biology — and it is far better to educate them on safe sex than make any more well-intentioned but misguided attempts to keep them in the dark.

The opt-out policy that allows parents to withdraw their children

from sex education classes and thus censor certain information about sex — like condoms and birth control — is as ridiculous as abstinenceonly education. It is understandable that parents want to shelter their children, but this type of “protection” is not the best way to approach sex education. Young children may not have to learn the details just yet, but teens should receive important information whether their guardians approve or not. It is highly likely that a teenager who does not learn a single thing about sex in school will simply find out what he or she wants to know either on the Internet or through experimentation, and that information is not always reliable. Or, the teen will go on knowing nothing about protection, which may result in bad decisions and teen pregnancy. In the vast majority of cases, withholding proper sex education is counterproductive.

Increased teen pregnancy rates are not the only consequence of the woefully lacking sex education system.

The support for abstinence and the blatant shaming of sexual activity creates an unnecessarily hostile, overwhelmingly negative environment for many students.

Despite the fact that sex is commonly glorified in the media and among teens, an

enormous stigma still surrounds the act, evidenced by cruel phenomena like slut-shaming: making a person feel guilty for “improper” sexual behavior. The current system leaves teens with the impression that sex is shameful, and that carries over to a tense social atmosphere. By having a more open curriculum — which means not only teaching about safe sex, but “forbidden” topics like sexual pleasure — teens can learn about safety and rest easy in a more positive atmosphere.

The reality is that teens are not ignorant. Information is easily accessible, even if it often is not entirely accurate. But if schools do not bother to educate teens about safe sex, why should teems bother taking the time to educate themselves? For that matter, why should they practice safe sex in the first place? It cannot be that important if schools do not see fit to mention it. It is time for abstinence-only curriculum to be supplanted by comprehensive and beneficial sex education.

ART BY CAROLYN CHU/FALCON ARTIST

Common Core system proves to be flawed

By Austin Zhang COPY EDITOR

Education has always been a cornerstone of American values. The Founding Fathers understood the importance of an informed public, and since the establishment of our country, the methods by which we equips its young minds for the future has undergone much review and reform. Common Core is a relatively new program introduced by Achieve, which defines itself as a “an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization,” in conjunction with the National Governor’s Association and state commissioners of education, among others.

Common Core, in its current form, is designed to improve education by fostering critical thinking skills and self-reliance. It attempts to alter the classroom environment from a lecture-to-worksheet routine to a more hands-off approach by teachers, in which students are assigned open-ended classwork to figure out with guidance. It is also supposed to ensure that students across the country graduate with the same skills and readiness for college or career. Although this new system claims lofty goals, it does not adequately deliver on them; thus far, it has been poorly carried out.

Common Core supporters claim

that the initiative was born out of a call to action from the states and that it originated from people asking for comprehensive educational change. This, however, is not the case. Achieve used millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop standards that were individually voted on in neither Congress nor state or local legislatures, and were also never approved by the Department of Education. States began adopting the new system in 2010. On the surface, it appears that states voluntarily agreed to sign on to Common Core.

In reality, however, states were given the choice of either accepting the new standards or losing federal Race to the Top funding for schools, which amounts to about $4.35 billion dollars across the nation.

Common Core is inadequately developed and tested for widespread implementation.

California, for example, adopted the Common Core standards in August 2010, but these standards were not actually tested in classrooms until after the state committed to adopting the curriculum. This pattern of adoption before trial has been repeated in many states, and is an unfortunate example of the backwards execution of this new system.

Furthermore, the training sessions for teachers have appeared to be ineffective. Common Core supposedly strives to encourage open classroom interactions and independent thinking over conventional method — yet, according to the Boston Globe, the very instructional meetings Boston teachers attended looked exactly like classroom lectures: An instructor stood up in front of the room and gave information on

Common Core while the teachers sat and listened. These workshops and short-term training sessions cannot prepare the teachers for what constitutes an extensive overhaul of existing education infrastructure in favor of an untested framework.

Of course, some states and districts have created more involved and interactive forms of teacher training, but not all have. More importantly, this emphasizes the inherent contradiction of Common Core. The program aims to help bring a measure of equal leveling for education across the nation, and yet with varying methods of implementation,

ART BY TERESA CHEN/FALCONER

teachers and districts in various states are left at different levels of readiness.

The concept of Common Core being a broad set of standards for all states undermines states’ rights to determine their own educational goals. Different states have different populations to cater to, and thus should reserve the right to establish their own standards.

Common Core, despite all of these problems, does have some good qualities. It is definitely true that the United States needs education reform and perhaps alterations to or complete replacement of its system

of education standards. Common Core is an attempt at such reform and it is grounded in good ideas, like conceptual understanding over formulaic application, that are worth considering. Perhaps, for example, it is a good idea to focus language arts instruction more on evidence-based texts and professional vocabulary.

But without definitive testing, there is no benchmark for the efficacy of the system.

Change needs to happen. The United States is slipping in the international education competition.

But this change needs to originate from the people and from educators, not from private groups with dubious interests. States should adopt policies effective for their specific needs, not be pressured into a national system by threat of budget cuts.

While Common Core may have some merit, it is not the answer to our education problems.

a world without silence

In order to better understand the experience, the Falconer Editor spent a week listening to simulations of voices heard by those with schizophrenia.

It was hardest at the beach. The ocean, for me, is an incredibly centering, personal space, but the voices were indiscriminate and relentless; they dared to challenge the sea and won. They swelled with fierce wrath, as if they knew that they were entering the single territory where I could possibly battle them, composing the most invasive cacophony of senseless sound I have ever endured — and it hurt that no one else could hear it. I wanted to scream at the happy people around me; I wanted to force them to understand the horror that some must withstand for large portions of their lives and that I could barely grapple with for a week. Observing my surroundings, I imagined that I was the only person experiencing such overwhelming mental noise, and I had never felt more isolated.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, schizophrenia is a chronic, severe and disabling brain disorder that affects about one percent of the American population. Experts attribute its cause to both genetic factors and physical imbalances in the brain complex. Symptoms include hallucinations, such as the voices I experienced during the auditory simulation, and illogical delusions, such as the notion that radio stations are broadcasting one’s thoughts to others.

When the Falconer Feature editors proposed the idea of approaching the topic of schizophrenia in a personal way — that is, allowing a staffer to experience an auditory simulation of the disorder, found on YouTube, and then reflect upon it, I was certainly intrigued but also admittedly skeptical. I did not know if it would be feasible to try and capture the essence or enormity of the disorder with a simple audio file, and I did not believe that wearing headphones for a few days would allow me to even vaguely understand the burden of a person with schizophrenia.

When I volunteered for the story, I understood that the audio file’s degree of accuracy was not the point and that comprehensive understanding of the disorder from firsthand experience was not the goal. Instead, I simply sought a glimpse into the way others are forced to navigate the world.

Orchestrating the experiment was, in itself, an exercise in self-reflection.

Since the entire simulation was to be done on my own terms, I approached my research with the question of how to best represent the daily circumstances of a person with schizophrenia. I ultimately decided that the most “human” way to conduct the simulation would be to listen to the recordings in 20 isolated situations and settings in which people regularly find themselves and then document my resulting experiences — both with and without headphones.

I had no definitive predictions or expectations, but I did correctly assume that the impact of the voices’ prevalence would be situation-specific. Hearing them taunt me about my “stupid worthlessness” was, for example, more affecting when I was scrutinizing my body in front of a mirror than it was when I was eating a meal. At some points, the voices were aggressive, telling me to jump in front of a car, or to quickly look at and then look away from a woman who was not there. At other times, they were eerily soothing, babbling nonsensical phrases in quieter tones.

When I most needed them to quiet for a moment, they did the exact opposite. Trying to read was nearly impossible; I stalled on my book’s 84th page for 17 minutes before giving up and rubbing my temple. While I re-read the same paragraph for what was probably the sixth time, the voices attacked every one of my frustrations, swelling mechanically and maniacally about “corporate coffee futures” and my perceived incompetencies. If I had not been able to physically touch the headphones in my ears, I would have thought that the cutting words were addressing me personally.

My week with the voices was a constant battle between resisting my disembodied tormentors and giving in to them. I wanted to prove to myself that I had the endurance to truly exercise empathy by overcoming the voices, but at moments of heightened stress, the pause button and volume controls were dangerously seductive. The knowledge that I had a way to separate the sound in my head from reality was always there; I had a way to turn off the noise — and I desperately wanted to. The incessant overload of sound made me feel less human. Exhausted by the throbbing in my head, I was unable to focus on a single thought or sight for more than a few seconds at a time. The phenomenon was horrifically isolating and equally difficult to separate myself from: when the voices commanded me to look away from people, I did. I would be entirely incapacitated if the simulation I experienced was a reality that I had to endure each day.

According to the NIMH, treatment, like antipsychotic medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, helps manage symptoms, but most people cope with the disorder throughout their everyday lives. If nothing else, I want to stress just how real schizophrenic hallucinations and delusions are: Though they seem invisible or purely psychological, they are felt physically, both by the diagnosed individual and by those around him or her. According to the Mayo Clinic, people with schizophrenia often lack awareness that their symptoms stem from an illness that requires medical attention, so it may fall on others to get them help.

The stigma of mental illness can be attacked by starting a dialogue, recognizing that those with “invisible illnesses” are people whose identities are not tied to their diseases, and acknowledging the irrefutable existence and reality of their symptoms.

If you or anyone you know are experiencing abnormal psychological behaviors or hallucinations, know that you are not alone, and seek help.

There are people who are willing to listen.

by katie mulkowsky ART BY SARAH CHAN/FALCONER

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october 30, 2014

occurs when a person is transitioning from a deep stage of sleep to a lighter stage more common in children than adults can be caused by sleep deprivation, stress, stimulants or alcohol or drug abuse

the concious awareness and ability to control dreams

the inability to move and a sense of an evil presence

of people only dream in

ask yourself “am I awake?” and count your fingers

write down dreams immediately after waking up

repeat “I’m going to lucid dream tonight” *Information provided by Sleep Foundation Website

INFOGRAPHIC BY SARAH KIM, MAYA PARELLA AND IRENE YU/FALCONER

tphsfalconer.com

feature

Weighing in at nearly 30 tons and occupying over 1800 square feet, the first computer could perform only 10-digit mathematical operations. Today, a 140-gram smartphone can not only instantly solve complex arithmetic expressions, but can also act as a virtual Einstein, all at the touch or swipe of a screen.

“The overarching main goal of technology is to make things easier [and create] faster access to information,” said Abishek Chozhan (11), founder of the technology review website Hawaiian Toast Network. “Technology focuses on connecting people across the world and communication has been a major goal, making things easier, maybe even too easy.”

June Clarke, head teacher at The League of Amazing Programmers, a local nonprofit that teaches students to write computer software, believes that the residual effects of widespread access to a database of human knowledge are reflected in changing political structures.

“I think technology has been in the process of decentralizing information for millennia that used to be the in the hands of a few powerful elite and is being distributed down to everyone,” Clarke said. “I feel like we’re in the middle of this process right now. Current systems of government are still in the form of centralized power, which will change, and not everyone, [like] people in Third World countries, [currently] has access to the information.”

Access to information and communication forums has increased in recent years, mainly due to mobile technology, as more than 90 percent of adults in the U.S. own cell phones, according to the Pew Research Center.

Smartphones have thus developed from an accessory to a necessity in modern life, no longer an extension of cultural awareness, but rather the culmination of it—which makes the recent foray of technology companies into hands-free devices less than surprising. Deemed the forerunner of what is known as “wearable technology,” Google Glass relays information, takes photos and sends messages using only voice commands.

“Things like Google Glass and smart watches seem a bit out there and odd now, but cell phones and TVs and radios seemed odd and out of place years ago,” said APUSH teacher Jim Harrah.

Google also has made technological strides with other inventions like Google Wallet, which aims to replace credit cards and cash entirely. In 2012, the company issued its first prototypes of driverless cars, capable of navigating streets without human control. Features like cruise control and parking cameras have already become ubiquitous in newer vehicles; technology in the 2014 Infiniti Q50 luxury sedan, for example, helps the car stay within lanes and manage speed. One test driver said he could “sit back and simply watch, even on mildly curving highways, for three or more miles at a stretch,” according to the New York Times.

“In my lifetime technology is going to progress to a point I never thought of,” Chozhan said. “In older [generations, people] would never be able to foresee that we have computers in our pockets. Innovation happens out of creative mind — it happens from out-of-the-box minds that you cannot predict.”

Massive strides in technology and innovation have rippled outwards to transform institutions that were previously thought to be unchangeable, such as public schooling. Sebastian Thrun, founder of Google X, the subdivision of Google responsible for Google Glass and the self-driving car prototypes, also launched Udacity, one of several “massive open online courses,” or MOOCs. The courses, also offered by other companies including edX and Coursera, often include instructional videos intended to emulate a classroom setting.

The rise of MOOCs is transforming what it means to have access to free, topquality education as learning moves beyond the four walls of a classrooms.

“Computers create an easy way to access and learn stuff, and I think they will [play] a major role in education,” Chozhan said. “EdX teaches a lot of subjects online for free in areas where [students] don’t have access to college education. Even at my sister’s [elementary] school, they all have iPads. At TPHS we have Chrome books so [society is] moving towards that pace and it’s

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going to get there soon.”

According to a study on U.S. undergraduate students done by the Educause Center for Analysis and Research, as of 2012, 74 percent of students had taken at least one class that required online components and 54 percent were in an active technology course. Online courses cover not only core subjects, but also more unconventional studies through programs such as edX’s lecture on “Responsible Innovation” or Udacity’s class on “How to Build a Startup.”

Other platforms of online education, like Khan Academy, whose YouTube channel has garnered over 458 million views, have become popular resources for students looking to review material or learn something entirely new.

“Curriculum-wise, I hope the classes will be getting more diverse at schools and the education system realizes the potential of not only the core subjects that it has been focusing on, but on electives and other less notable subjects,” said policy debate captain Edwin Li. “Instead of science classes that we have right now, we might be seeing things like a robotics class, and instead of only 2D and 3D studio art, we might have courses like architecture.”

Expanded technology has afforded students a more hands-on approach to their educations that has not been fostered in the restrictive, financially strained chokehold of the public education system.

“In the very near term, I’m part of a school that operates outside the standard school system that uses volunteer industry professionals to train new programmers - something that schools are not able to do because of the high cost of employing programmers,” programming teacher Clarke said. “I see much more of this grass-roots, vocational schooling in the future.”

I know that in my lifetime technology is going to progress to a point where I never thought of ...

Innovation happens out of creative mind — it happens from out of the box minds that you cannot predict.

Abishek Chozhan (11) STUDENT

Although such specialized classes are yet to be the standard in high school curriculums, many schools already utilize technology to streamline learning.

“Some schools put all their textbooks online, have online quizzes and are really moving away from tradition. Teachers and classes have to adapt to that,” Harrah said. “[The internet is a] good tool for learning, but with that comes consequences, like easier ways to cheat.”

Despite the benefits of open education and global connectivity that arise from innovation, issues like identity theft and online privacy have emerged as rapidly as the technologies that allow for them. A 2010 study by Norton anti-virus and anti-spyware software provider Symantec Corp. revealed that almost 73 percent of U.S Internet users were victims of cyber-crimes, including identity theft, credit card fraud and computer virus infections.

“With every single thing that innovators implement, especially privacy concerns, there are new threats,” Li said. “If you try to digitize something, you can hack it.”

As technology becomes more a part of our daily lives, the only thing certain about its effects is that they are utterly unprecedented.

“In the more distant future, I see a more thorough distribution of collective intelligence and the human race getting much smarter as a result,” Clarke said. “I think we will end up in some kind of hive mind that we can’t imagine right now, but will be enabled by future technologies.”

by Sarah Brown and Anna Li

ART BY SARAH CHAN/FALCONER

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History teacher Jim Harrah describes the government as important and necessary to maintaining a functioning and orderly society. However, the first thoughts that come to parliamentary debate captain Ryan Hund’s (12) mind when he hears the word “government” are “misuse [and] abuse of power, [and] general uselessness and ineptitude.”

Skepticism and distrust toward established institutions have been on the rise in younger generations, according to a study by San Diego State University psychologist Jean Twenge.

“It takes a lot of bad to change our fundamental outlook as Americans, but it’s happening,” Hund said. “First, we were lied to about the Iraq War, then we were lied to about our mortgages, and then we were lied to about the government not spying on us, and over time [that] has taken a toll on our collective psyche.”

According to Charles Thorpe, professor of sociology at University of California, San Diego, the 2003 invasion of Iraq was fueled by 9/11 and justified by the George W. Bush administration’s lie that Iraq was holding weapons of mass destruction.

In Oct. 2004, over a year after the start of the Iraq War, the CIA confirmed that Iraq never had possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq’s weapons program ended in 1991, according to CNN. In the early 2000s, Bush often contradicted and brushed off reports from various intelligence organizations, including the warnings by the CIA of possible civil war in Iraq.

“When you look at the current instability in the Middle East, when you look at the rise of [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria], and when you look at the return to war in Iraq by America today, the chaos in the Middle East is a product of the invasion of Iraq in 2003,” Thorpe said. “The American people were misled by the government, and we’re living with the fallout of that.”

Former TPHS social science teacher and current candidate for the SDUHSD school board, Simeon Greenstein, also believes that current events can result in public skepticism and political disengagement.

“There’s a visceral, gut-wrenching combination of responses to horrible beheadings, to a mysterious and deadly disease, and a wide range of other news stories,” Greenstein said. “The truth is, its hard [for the government] to predict how the American people are going to respond to what is going on.”

According to social studies teacher Michael Montgomery, whistleblowers have also exposed government misconduct on many occasions, which has led to increased skepticism toward the government and questions about whether the actions of government officials are made in the best interests of the people.

Montgomery showed his class the documentary “United States of Secrets,” which delves into the formation and secrecy of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program, so that his students are “aware and know what [the government is] doing.”

“Most people in society are like sheep, just minding their own business, and when the government comes along and says ‘We’ve got to do this,’ they follow because most people don’t pay attention,” Montgomery said.

Government skepticism does not just apply to younger generations, as many people believe. Older generations have

october 30, 2014

also lived through times in which the government acted in ways that incurred mistrust by the people.

“With Watergate, for example, a lot of Americans wanted to believe that Nixon, as president, was being truthful and honest and living up to his oath of office, defending the constitution,” Harrah said. “When we realized he was lying, we [started to think] that when a president of the United States lies, anybody can lie.”

There’s very good reason for young people to be skeptical about the institutions which are not serving them. It’s important to recognize the fact that skepticism reflects reality.

Charles Thorpe

���� ��������� ��������� Millenials, those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, are skeptical of the government also because politicians ignore issues relevant to their generation, according to Thorpe.

“One key problem facing all of us, and particularly young people, is climate change,” Thorpe said. “And has climate change come up in the discourse of the candidates running for election? No. There’s pretty much an overwhelming silence on climate change. So that’s a fundamental problem facing [people] that the prevailing institutions like the government, [mainly] Congress, have nothing to say about.”

When public opinion of the government is low, voter turnout is also affected, according to the Gotham Gazette.

Both Harrah and Thorpe agree that voter apathy is a major problem in younger generations, who need to be more active in expressing their ideas.

“Once the people lead, leaders will follow, and the leaders follow when they believe somebody puts a fire under their tails,” Harrah said. “They respond to the voters when [the voters are] in [large] numbers, and once they realize the voters can make a difference in their future, they will start responding, so I think getting people to vote is huge, especially millennials.”

According to the United States Census Bureau, voter apathy is greatest among 18 to 24 year olds, and since the 1964 presidential election, voter turnout among young people has dropped from 50.9 percent to 38 percent.

“Americans are very detached from [the November 2014] election,” Thorpe said. “There’s a great deal of alienation from the political system. The fundamental issues that young people see in the world are not reflected by the dominant institutions.”

According to Harrah, a reason for this lack of connection is that politicians are “more concerned about being re-elected than [they are about reforming] public policy,” despite what they claim.

The evasion of controversial topics has led to a disconnection between the government and those who are governed, according to Thorpe.

“The political system is paralyzed, and young people see that,” Thorpe said. “So there’s very good reason for young

an infographic

The Falconer explores the mannerisms that deďŹ ne how we act, eat, speak and live. Use the following tips to help you bridge the gap between people and their cultures.

A comprehensive guide on what to do and what not to do when eating in another country.

Enjoy your meal — bon appétit, buon appetito, mas-issge deuseyo and thān hi xixy na!

thailand

france

portugal

italy

In a rice-based meal, only use your fork to push food onto your spoon; don’t use the fork to put food in your mouth.

Eat your bread only with your main course, never as an appetizer. Place the bread on the table rather than on your plate.

Don’t ask for salt and pepper if they are not on the table because it is considered extremely offensive to the chef.

Don’t ask for cheese unless it is offered. You can leave a small amount of food on your plate when you are finished.

japan

colombia

Slurp your soup! It shows the chef that you appreciate the food. It is rude to eat while walking around or in public.

When you are not using your silverware, place them horizontally across the plate, rather than vertically as in America.

saudi arabia

korea

Even if you normally do not drink coffee, accept offers of coffee and dates.

If the meal is served on the floor, sit cross-legged.

Don’t pour your own alcohol. When an elder offers to pour your drink, lift your glass with both hands to receive it.

*Information provided by The Huffington Post, CNN and Chefworks

Table etiquette varies from culture to culture. Make sure to follow these rules when dining abroad!

India: Wasting food is considered extremely disrespectful and you must only eat with your right hand.

Russia: Don’t keep your hands under the table.

Instead, rest your wrists on the edge of the table when not eating.

Chile: Don’t use your hands when eating a meal.

Instead, make use of the silverware provided.

Ethiopia: Food is shared from a single plate because individual plates are considered wasteful. Use your hands!

*Information provided by The Huffington Post, CNN and Chefworks

& Russia: Greetings involve giving strong handshakes while maintaining direct eye contact and using the appropriate greeting for time of day.

India: The traditional Indian greeting is “namaste,” which means, “I bow to the divine in you,” and it is used in most formal meetings.

Netherlands: Meetings tend to be formal, direct, and to-the-point with very few pleasantries.

Jamaica: People are addressed by their honorific titles and last names until personal relationships are developed.

South Korea: Smiling and waving without any physical contact is the basis of greetings between strangers in South Korea.

Australia: Even when meeting for the first time, Australians prefer to use first names over last names and honorific titles.

*Information provided by Kwintessential Country Profiles, Great Big Scary World and Dummies: How-to Help

When visiting a home in Venezuela, make sure to arrive 1015 minutes later than the time given, lest you appear eager and greedy by arriving early or on time.

In Lebanon, guests are immediately served tea or coffee upon entering the home. When it comes to greeting friends and family of different cultures, the rules vary widely.

Men shake hands with other men in France, but kiss women’s cheeks, and women kiss both men’s and women’s cheeks in greeting.

In Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, the usual greeting is a three-time alternating kiss, starting on their right or your left side.

ART BY MYLES HAMILTON/FALCONER

*Information provided by Reader’s Digest, Kwintessential Country Profiles, eDiplomat, How to Live in France, Master Russian, About: Travel and DoChara

Greece: An open hand thrust forward is an offensive gesture.

China: Pointing with a forefinger in public in China is rude.

Turkey: Nodding your head up and down signifies “no.”

India: A slightly tilted head signifies agreement.

Iran: A “thumbs up” sign is the equivalent of a middle finger.

Spain: The “OK” hand gesture is seen as a vulgar insult.

Brazil: The “fig sign” is a friendly symbol of good luck.

China: Bow to signify an apology, greeting or respect, in a variety of contexts. Also applicable in Japan and Korea.

Japan: Seiza, or “correct sitting,” is the traditional and formal way to sit in Japan. It involves kneeling on one’s calves, with toes pointed backwards and heels positioned under the hip.

Turkey: Firm handshakes are considered aggressive.

Thailand: One must remove his or her shoes before entering someone else’s home, or a temple.

*Information provided by The Telegraph UK and Body Language Expert

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people to be skeptical about the institutions which are not serving them. It’s important to recognize the fact that skepticism reflects reality.”

However, according to Harrah, there is an inherent danger in being skeptical all the time, as pessimism and negativity can “breed bad energy.”

“For example, I know the president has done some things that people disagree with, and I think there are responsible ways of handling those problems, but I don’t think calling him out publicly and humiliating him at every opportunity is healthy because it breeds more negativity,” Harrah said. “Yes, it holds him accountable and yes, it makes people aware of what he’s doing or should be doing, but we can’t disrespect the institution of the presidency too much.”

While parliamentary debate captain Andrew Tao (11) also thinks too much negativity can be detrimental to society, he believes some criticism is needed to initiate change. Skepticism can force revision in government institutions in response to complaints, according to Tao. “There are still good aspects of the government,” Tao said.

“It’s just that you don’t want the [bad] to outweigh the benefits of [the good].”

Greenstein believes people should understand the importance of their participation in government, keep up with the news, and put aside partisan differences.

“As people, we have a responsibility to pay attention to what is going on around us,” Greenstein said. “We have a responsibility not to be partisan, not to [solely] be Republican or Democrat [or] Independent but to know what is going on in society, and have some sort of conceptual understanding of how the political world affects you and how you affect the political world.”

I have more faith in the younger generations because [the youth] have open minds and [are] open to rational, logical thinking. I don’t think that they’re just sponges absorbing everything they hear.

Jim Harrah

����� ������� According to a 2010 Gallup Poll, 81 percent of people trust the government to do what is right “only some of the time” or “never.”

“That really suggests a kind of fragmentation in society, a weakening in social solidarity, togetherness [and] community,” Thorpe said. “It’s a very bad combination if you have dysfunctional political institutions and a society that is unable … to act.”

However, Harrah thinks young people will be able to come together to improve society and the government.

“I believe younger generations have higher expectations of their government and leaders,” Harrah said. “I have confidence and faith that younger generations will put their feet down and say, ‘Wait a minute ... We’re not going to follow you anymore.

We’re going to make you do your job,’ and I think they will start voting.”

While the government is undoubtedly a factor of the skepticism among younger generations, the media is responsible as well, according to Harrah.

“There’s a lot of money behind media, whether it’s liberal or conservative,” Harrah said. “I think with social media and news on 24/7, people are hit with news all the time. So media and Hollywood play a huge role, for better or for worse.”

Hund believes that the media are “fear mongers” who sell advertisements so they can find ways to manipulate the general population. Still, Harrah is optimistic about the impact it will have on future generations.

“People tend to have their opinions molded more by what they hear than by what they read, and certainly the media tries to bias opinion,” Harrah said. “But I have more faith in the younger generation because [the youth] have open minds and [are] open to rational, logical thinking. I don’t think that they’re just sponges absorbing everything they hear.”

Thorpe also attributes skepticism to a lack of community among modern people, mainly due to the rise of social media.

“The Internet is paradoxical, because … you’re able to engage with other people, but it’s a very one-dimensional sort of engagement,” Thorpe said. “You could have hundreds of Facebook friends and be very lonely, and that’s often the case.

It’s not a very strong form of social solidarity that’s fostered through social media. We’re together online but fundamentally alone.”

Greenstein believes that the Internet breeds partisanship since most people only visit websites and news sources that please and align with the views they already hold. However, he thinks that technology has the ability to empower people to be better.

“Social media, if it is used at its best, can help people become informed, and hopefully, instead of pushing people apart, [can pull] people more together,” Greenstein said.

Thorpe thinks the most important thing for fostering trust between people is a sense of public solidarity. However, he says that inequality between social classes hinders the formation of community and public cohesion.

“In a society that is very unequal, people feel that there’s winners and losers, there’s them and us, that we don’t share the same interests in terms of what’s good for us,” Thorpe said.

“There’s less of a sense that there’s a common good, there’s less of a sense that we’re working together, there’s less of a sense that we’re all in the same boat.”

According to Thorpe, the top 10 percent of the American population owns about half of the total income, while the median wage has decreased 5 percent since 2010, creating “a lot of social anxiety” regarding social status and competition. “[Inequality] undermines the sense that there’s a common good, that we’re all fundamentally similar,” Thorpe said.

“Instead, a society based on status competition is one in which people are trying to differentiate themselves from each other.

They’re trying to show how different they are from everybody else, and all of that undermines social trust.”

Whether it arises from political scandals, the media or social factors, and whether the true motivations of the government are closer to Harrah’s or Hund’s interpretation, skepticism has become a cornerstone of the citizen’s worldview, and no truth is safe from the scrutiny of the masses.

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PEER ASSISTANT LISTENERS Read the personal stories of TPHS PALs. Although it may seem some households are harmonious and bereft of conflict, people have different family situations. It is naïve to assume that anyone escapes stressful circumstances.

Some events may be more serious than others, but everyone deals with challenges within their families to some degree.

Whether you deal with parental confrontation, sibling conflict or other stress-inducing situations, it is important to know that there are people to support you.

Many TPHS students feel pressured by their parents to perform well in academics and extracurricular activities. This is a part of the competitive atmosphere and expectations of success at TPHS. Many students are expected to not only take five AP classes, but also be the star of a varsity sport and play an instrument. And even then, parents expect more from you because older siblings did the same while interning at a biology laboratory. Sometimes it feels like you just cannot win, but it is important to remember that other students feel the same way. That is why it is important to reach out and talk to others.

Talking can relieve stress and develop a connection between friends and family that can provide great emotional support when it is needed.

Family issues, such as parental separation, can add even more stress to a student’s already chaotic life. “[Divorce] can make you feel very alone, angry and responsible,” a fellow PAL said.

“What helped me were my close friends who provided support.

Even then, I wish I had talked to an adult or peer who has gone through a similar situation to help me realize that I am not alone, that this is not my fault, and that there are people here for me.”

Divorce, like many other family problems, is never easy for anyone involved, especially children, but the right support can help you get through it.

It is important to note that TPHS is made up of people with different experiences who are ready to listen and help, especially the PALs.

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ONE 2,870

After coming from the Gifted and Talented Institution in South Korea to San Diego, Gha Young Lee has continued to pursue her early career in science.

in

While high school scientists often conduct experiments that do not seem applicable to everyday life, Gha Young Lee (12) invented a special plastic that changes color when dropped into a drugged drink.

“My whole scientific attitude started from spending hours on questions that I could not solve and it [angered] me so much,” Lee said. “In the end, it was really rewarding to go deeply into a problem and understand the hard concepts.”

Lee’s ability to work through difficult problems originated during her time at the Gifted and Talented Institution in South Korea, where she lived before moving to San Diego in 2008.

“I learned a lot of math and physics at the institution,” Lee said. “It really fostered this attitude of trying to go deeper into formulas and why the formulas exist and how they came into being, not just memorizing them. Being interested in these fundamentals really helped me be able to understand and love these concepts.”

Once in San Diego, Lee applied her knowledge by interning at the University of California, San Diego Sailor Research Group. She participated and later won the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair and writes for the Journal of Youths in Science, more commonly known as JOURNYS, at TPHS. Lee first realized what her research had the potential to accomplish after seeing scientists use nanotechnology in a UCSD lab to target cancerous cells in the human body.

“A lot of the people in the lab are actually working on a medicine that, instead of hurting everything in your body [including] the cancer, would just use nanotechnology [to] specifically target the cancer,” Lee said.

Lee wanted to make her own contribution.

After identifying another field that could greatly benefit from research and development, Lee got an idea for a revolutionary kind

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plastic, which she developed in a lab.

“I developed a plastic, which changes color when it touches alcohol or drugs, so people would know, for example, if their drink had a drug in it,” Lee said. “The idea of developing that plastic into a necklace or jewelry is when I first thought, ‘Oh my gosh, with the right resources I am able to make these products and make a difference in people’s lives.’”

Lee also founded the TPHS Synthetic Biology club, where students prepare for the annual International Genetically Engineered Machine, or iGEM, competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The club won an award for “Best Experimental Measurement” last year, and is working toward another title.

“At first no one really knew about [the Synthetic Biology club], so people were really uncertain to do it, but ... I liked the club because it [involved] research with people I knew,” Lee said. “I really got involved in it and became the team captain this year ... We are trying to tackle world hunger problems as well as liver cancer. We were able to show some significant progress in the project and we hope to bring this further.”

Despite all of Lee’s extracurricular activities, she still likes to relax with friends away from her rigorous academic schedule.

“I truly enjoy [my activities], so it isn’t stressful, but I do need time to take breaks from academics,” Lee said.

Lee’s interests range from bioengineering to material science, but nanotechnology is her pet project.

“It’s still not safe, and there is a lot of uncertainty with nanotechnology,” Lee said.

“I want to solve that problem, make it more applicable to people’s lives, make everything easier and make everything healthier.”

Lee may find personal success in science, but her real goal is to improve people’s lives through science, possibly with her own company.

by Fernando Stepensky

Gha Young Lee (12)

In 1992, Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” surprised readers when it tackled the Holocaust in what seemed like an extended comic strip — and won a Pulitzer as a result. But “comic” was not the right word for this new type of storytelling — “comic” brought to mind a stereotypical, action-packed superhero plotline. “Maus” was not a comic; it was a graphic novel, a precedent for a new genre that could convey serious and lengthy narrative through words and illustrations. In 2006, Gene Luen Yang set another milestone with “American Born Chinese,” the first graphic novel to be a National Book Award finalist. On Oct. 28 at the Solana Beach County Library, Yang talked about his work amid a “graphic novel Renaissance.”

According to Yang, the graphic novel was legitimized when “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi and “In the Shadow of No Towers,” again by Spiegelman, made the New York Times’ Bestseller List in 2003.

“When these two books hit the New York Times Bestseller List, people flipped out, [and] publishers in New York flipped out because up until this point, nobody had expected that comics and graphic novels could sell that well,” Yang said.

With “American Born Chinese,” Yang tried something different. According to Yang, Asian-American protagonists had appeared in his earlier works, but “their cultural heritage never played a part in the story.”

“Because my own cultural heritage is such an important part of how I’ve found my place in the world, I wanted to do a project that had that kind of focus,” Yang said.

“American Born Chinese” tells the story of protagonist Jin Wang, who deals with perpetuating racial stereotypes at his new school. Yang rewrites the stories of traditional Chinese mythical characters like Sun Wukong, and the work became a fulsome reflection of growing up Chinese in the United States.

With insightful stories and an intriguing medium, it is no wonder that graphic novels have been integrated into the TPHS curriculum.

“I think graphic novels have come a long way [and] that they are a wonderful genre to study in school,” English teacher Lisa-Marie Callender said.

Callender, who teaches “Maus” in her English 10 Honors class, believes that images give a work more depth, and draw attention to particular aspects of the story. In “Maus,” for example, Spiegelman is able to “[cover] so many more things that perhaps would take a much longer period of time with writing, and so people

can visually see [it],” according to Callender.

“In my opinion, a graphic novel can be just as deep and compelling as any normal book or novel can be,” Hanrui Zhang (11) said. According to Zhang, the portrayal of character dynamics and facial expressions in comic books and graphic novels elevates their depth. Zhang believes that while comic books are generally associated with superheroes or fantasy characters, “they can be very effectively used to tackle topics that are much deeper.”

Callender agrees, and said that graphic novels are gaining credibility with regard to literary merit.

“I definitely think [graphic novels] are becoming more accepted,” Callender said.

“And I think that we will see more of them, perhaps even in our own core curriculum as the years go on.”

Comic book enthusiast Alexandra Kiselyov (12) said it was “surprising” to have studied “Maus” in school.

“I didn’t think that the English department would ever view a graphic novel as literary art, but the fact that they did is a step forward,” Kiselyov said.

According to Kiselyov, the images in graphic novels require interpretation and thought just as the words in text novels do.

“There is a certain way [the artist] wanted you to see it, so you need to interpret what that is, whereas with books it’s not so concrete,” Kiselyov said.

Yang said that graphic novels offer room for interpretation from the readers, not only in the images but also in the text and spaces on the page. The story transcends what is directly read, and is allowed some free interpretation on the readers’ part.

“In graphic novels, there’s this thing called the ‘gutter,’ which is the space between one panel and another, and in that gutter, the reader is invited to use his or her imagination to fill in the space,” Yang said. “I do think that best graphic novels really play with both the gutter and the space between the words and the pictures. I think a lot of the best graphic novels will create this tension between the words and the pictures, and that’s where the strength of the medium lies.”

Kiselyov said that graphic novels offer a lot in terms of literary art and literary genius, and that they emphasize that “writers can also be great artists.”

The graphic novel has become more than a plotline with accompanying pictures;.

It’s allowed for a new way of telling a story with pictures, a new art worthy of it’s own Renaissance.

By Austin Zhang

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ART BY GRACE BRUTON, AMANDA CHEN, LILY NILIPOUR, ALICE QU AND IRENE YU/FALCONER

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arts & entertainment

I have always been fascinated with Greek culture and history, but never had the chance to actually try authentic Greek cuisine: My knowledge of Greek food was limited to pita chips, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” and Daphne’s California Greek kids combo meals. Fortunately, when my friends and I dined at Taverna Blu, a casual neighborhood eatery with amiable staff and a laid-back atmosphere, we learned that Greek cuisine is remarkably diverse and delicious.

The restaurant was quite empty, in a slight lull between lunch and dinner, so we were served very quickly. We started the meal with two $5 appetizers, yogurt tzatziki and Mama Ganoush. At first, the tzatziki dish seemed too bland to be significant in Greek cuisine, but the pita bread, pita chips and a few celery and carrot sticks dipped in the mild yogurt sauce were surprisingly refreshing. However, the Mama Ganoush, a spice-filled roasted eggplant and tomato spread with pieces of pita bread, contrasted with the plain tzatziki sauce. The combination of spices and

PHOTO BY KENNETH LIN/FALCONER

Gee-roh? Gy-roh? Mercifully, the owner of the Greek American Family Restaurant did not comment on my atrocious pronunciation, casually repeating something close to “yee-roh” and sparing me further embarrassment.

And she seemed genuinely interested in our dining experience as the meal went on, checking in several times and cracking jokes. At 3 p.m., the restaurant was conspicuously devoid of any patrons, but the charming white and blue color scheme, upbeat Greek music and terrifically friendly service created a cozy, comfortable dining atmosphere.

I started off the meal with avgolemono soup ($4.95), a chicken and rice soup combined with lemon juice and eggs.

The soup had a creamy thickness like hot butter, though the taste wasn’t particularly outstanding.

After the soup, I went with a classic gyro sandwich ($8.95), having heard that their gyro dishes are some of the best in town, and though I cannot vouch for the truth

october 30, 2014

eggplant created a refreshing, tingling sensation, making the Mama Ganoush a much more flavorful appetizer.

For the main course, I ordered the ka-bob plate with one large skewer of chicken and grilled vegetables along with pita, tahini sauce and a side of pesto couscous ($10).

The ka-bob plate was extremely satisfying; however, the side of pesto couscous was poorly prepared. It was far too chewy and slathered with too much pesto sauce. I also sampled the dishes of my dining companions. The Green Egg and Gyros ($8), despite being only a medium entrée, entirely filled up the plate. With a sunny-side up egg and gyro meat on top of crostini and drizzled with pesto sauce, the dish was a Greek version of Dr. Seuss’ “green eggs and ham.” The dish was a prime example of the fusion of Greek and American styles in Taverna Blu’s cuisine.

We also ordered the Falafel Greek Pita Wrap ($11), with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olive, red onion and feta cheese. My friend assured me that the falafel was of great quality, but I was not impressed — the texture and taste of the falafel was overwhelming. Thankfully, the tender pita bread and fresh vegetables somewhat tempered the strong taste.

Although Taverna Blu is nothing like Dancing Zorba’s from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” it was an excellent restaurant for me to experience my first true Greek meal.

By Tasia Mochernak

When it was announced that this month’s food reviews would be Greek cuisine, my hand shot into the air almost as fast as you can say “tzatziki” — well, maybe a bit faster than that.

Two summers ago, I had the luxury of traveling to Greece and experiencing everything the country had to offer. Needless to say, my standards for Greek food have risen ever since — but to my surprise, Apollonia Greek Bistro did not disappoint.

Coming in for a late Sunday lunch, I was warmly greeted and seated immediately by the hostess. The service staff was friendly and attentive, and my water glass was filled faster than I could empty it.

After a somewhat curious 20-minute wait — the restaurant was nearly empty — I started my meal with tzatziki ($5.69), a traditional Greek dip combining Kefir cheese with grated cucumbers, fresh garlic and dill. I was worried the cheese might be too overpowering, but the garlic and dill gave it an extra kick of flavor to balance the cheese taste. The light and refreshing choice perfectly complemented the warm, soft pita bread and was a promising start for my meal.

PHOTOS BY GRACE BRUTON/FALCONER

For my entrée, I ordered a quintessential Greek gyro ($6.99). The blend of beef and lamb was perfectly seasoned, accompanied by fresh lettuce, tomatoes and onion wrapped together neatly with pita bread and served with more tzatziki sauce. The warm meat and crunchy, fresh vegetables went hand-in-hand.

For dessert, I ordered baklava, a blend of walnuts, cinnamon and cloves, baked between layers of filo pasty and topped with syrup. Although it was too rich for my taste, it was something that dessert lovers would certainly enjoy.

Apollonia Greek Bistro is definitely my new go-to place when in need of a sit-and-beserved Greek restaurant — far different from the numerous grab-and-go gyro places I have come to know. The food was tasty enough for me to want to return at any hour of the day, and its location directly across the street from Westfield UTC mall makes it all the more convenient. Although the food does not entirely match up to the authentic food I had in Greece that summer, Apollonia Bistro is probably the closest I can get.

By Sarah Chan

of that statement, since I have not been to many Greek restaurants, I certainly was not disappointed. The gyros were excellently spiced, their sharp flavor tempered by the warm, fluffy pita bread, though the only vegetables served were red onions. On the other hand, the homemade fries on the side rivaled even those from In-N-Out. I also sampled some arni youvetsi ($13.95), lamb shank served with orzo pasta. The lamb shank was too gamey, which ruined the normally tantalizing flavor of baked onions, tomatoes and garlic. The accompanying pasta, on the other hand, was tasty — rich and cheesy without being over-the-top — though it was a bit overcooked.

Thankfully, the dessert was more satisfying. The baklava ($4.95) was sweet and delectable, sprinkled with cinnamon and an agreeable combination of flaky and tender layers. It was probably the most outstanding point of the experience, aside from the excellent service, but the tiny portion left me wondering whether it was worth the price.

The Greek American Family Restaurant is nothing extraordinary — certainly not worth a trip to Encinitas if you do not live in the immediate area. Nonetheless, it possesses a certain charm typical of family-owned restaurants, which makes the dining experience quite enjoyable.

By Anna Lee

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL LEE/FALCONER

tphsfalconer.com

arts & entertainment

For TPHS alumni Rob Robbins (‘05) and Shane Stanger (‘05), their high school plan of opening a restaurant was more than just a pipe dream — it was a risk, challenge and opportunity.

Now, with the success of their custom ice cream sandwich shop Baked Bear, their idea is a reality.

“We always wanted to open a restaurant together,” Robbins said. “We were at the point in our careers where we wanted to do something different. [After college,] Shane was in Los Angeles and I was up in Newport, so we came down to San Diego. ” Both Robbins and Stanger had experience in the restaurant industry before starting their own. Robbins “grew up” in the restaurant industry and spent summers working for his father, Barry Robbins, owner of Milton’s Restaurant in Del Mar, when he was in middle school and high school. Meanwhile, Stanger had produced a movie on running a business while he was in the film industry. “[The film] was sort of like a mini crash course on running a business,” Stanger said.

Founding Baked Bear was a speedy process; according to Robbins, they “moved pretty quick” once both were in town. A couple weeks after Stanger came to San Diego, the two found their current shop location on Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach. Then, they decided on the concept for the restaurant.

“We were playing around with a few different concepts,” Robbins said. “And we went with cookies and ice cream because we just felt like people would get excited about cookies and ice cream.”

Baked Bear’s popularity has grown significantly since the shop opened on May 4, 2013.

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“We always had confidence in ourselves that we would be successful, but I think it surpassed our expectations for sure,” Robbins said.

Due to its great popularity, Baked Bear will open two new locations: one in Carlsbad across from La Costa Canyon High School in December 2014 and another in Carmel Valley across from Canyon Crest Academy in April 2015.

“We wanted to expand when we had success our first summer,” Stanger said.

“The Carmel Valley [and] Torrey Pines area — that’s where we grew up, so we really wanted to make our next location back home.”

Their ultimate plan is to have a national brand in three to five years, according to Robbins, though with the franchise business, “it’s tough to say.” Still, they remain committed to their goal.

“If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, it could be scary and risky, but if you have an idea and you’re passionate about it, just do it,” Robbins said. “Do it with all you can, and don’t give up.”

According to Stanger, the first step in entrepreneurship is simply being willing to take risks. And, having graduated from college at a time when job opportunities were somewhat scarce, they had to look outside of the standard path and think “outside the box.”

“After that, it’s just making it happen, not being complacent, and always making the best use of your time,” Stanger said. “[Carve out] that couple hours a day to think about these things.”

For Robbins and Stanger, those hours made the difference between a dream and an achievement — and each day, Baked Bear continues to grow from a mere high school fantasy into a national brand, with polar bears grinning in every city.

By Sarah Kim and Anna Lee

PHOTO BY MYLES HAMILTON/FALCONER

If you took Passion Pit’s vocals and Vampire Weekend’s instrumentation, you’d have part of Inspired and the Sleep’s sound, but you’d still be missing the “psychedelic” element — their atmospheric sound effects, sampled from ‘60s television and looping in everything from piccolos to ukuleles. Lead singer/bassist Max Greenhalgh and guitarist/keyboardist Bryce Outcault started the band at Carlsbad High School in 2006.

“It started out as a joke, more for fun. All the girls were going for the seniors, they wouldn’t talk to us,” Outcault said. “We’d have sleepovers like you do when you’re freshmen, and we would make silly songs [and] make recordings.”

Now, with drummer Zachary Elliot, the group has left on a one month, 27-city U.S. tour, and has released an EP to complement it.

Inspired and the Sleep is a three-man band, but they produce the sound of a sixinstrument group — thanks to Outcault, who pushes and selects various looping pedals with his feet while performing.

“I step on the pedal and loop something and play the keyboard while the guitar part is still going,” Outcault said. “Or, I’ll loop a guitar riff and play the guitar so it sounds like two guitars.”

In “Smiles for Adoption” from the “Teenager.” album, a game of rhythmic patty-cake starts the track, soon followed by some background conversation, bass drum and kazoo, up until synthesizer and keyboard tones lead into Greenhalgh’s ethereal vocals.

PHOTO BY ERIC CUNNINGHAM/FALCONER

Though it’s easy to get lost in the band’s sound, its lyrics are worth noting as well. After suffering from insomnia, Greenhalgh wrote “Take Pills (Instructed Bliss)” as a “sarcastic anthem to the pharmaceuticals people take to get by or have fun.”

“Overdose on vitamins/ Holding close to feel nothing at all” Greenhalgh croons, over a bass guitar melody and a monotone narration from a 1956 television program in which volunteers were dosed with LSD. “The song talks about how s----y the pharmaceutical industry is, but at the same time it helps people function and it helped me fall asleep as much as I didn’t believe in the values of it,” Greenhalgh said. “It’s sarcastic because it’s in a major key, with a pop tune.”

The group sounds distinct in their recordings, but seen live, they’re almost another band entirely. According to Outcault, each member is tied up with his own instruments and there’s no one to clap, play the flute or make the sounds that define Inspired and the Sleep, so they have to get creative. “While We’re Young” starts with a looped riff on the ukulele followed by some piccolo, but on stage, Greenhalgh starts the song with a “flurry of random notes.” You’ll never see a song performed the same way twice live.

“I’m a guitarist, so I’ll try to recreate the effect on the guitar,” Outcault said. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll jump to the keyboard, turn on some distortions and try to see what works.”

When it comes to performing, Outcault feels a connection with the audience that inspires him to keep playing show after show.

“Seeing the people we’re playing for dance and not take their eyes off us until the end because they love the tunes, it’s exciting,” Outcault said.

The band will return to San Diego after the tour ends on Nov. 16. Until then, its music is available at inspiredandthesleep. bandcamp.com.

By Alex Jen

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october 30, 2014

THE LAYERED-SELF LOCATION: TPHS ART ROOM

PHOTO BY AVERY SPICKER/FALCONER

Construction paper typically generates fond memories of Elmer’s glue and kindergarten arts and crafts, but art teacher Emily Moran’s Drawing and Design class has taken construction paper to new levels with the “Layered-Self.” The collaborative installation is based on contemporary artist Beatrice Coron’s Identity Project, according to Moran. It is on exhibit until Nov. 21 in the art building.

“The idea was for the students to think about a surface layer and a deeper layer that is of our genuine selves,” Moran said. “We mimicked [Coron’s] paper cutting technique for the top layer of the project.”

Similar to Coron’s Identity Project, black construction paper with intricate cutouts make up the first “surface level” layer, while the layer underneath, which varies from colorful collages to a

blank paper, symbolizes the artist’s true self.

“The project does a great job showing the differences [between] the surface layer and the true personality,” Drawing and Design student Declan Sullivan (12) said. “In public I’m shy and I don’t really show my personality, which is why my project has a brick wall as the first layer. The cracks in the wall allow people to see through the surface layer to my personality, which is fun, bright and much more than just a blank page.”

Moran brought the project to the San Diego County Art Education Association’s Arts Empower Conference in Balboa Park on Oct. 11 to share the project with other teachers, who were “inspired by the work on a conceptual and technical level.”

By Irene Yu

RITA MCBRIDE: PUBLIC TILT LOCATION: MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO

PHOTO BY ROBBIE JOHNSON/FALCONER

At first glance, Rita McBride’s show at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego looks like a whole lot of nothing. The pieces in “Public Tilt” are made with rough, almost industrial materials: aluminum, rattan and wood. But McBride typically works with the rough, her previous pieces having been made of copper or shards of found Tiffany glass.

McBride’s show at MCASD, on view until Feb. 8, has pieces that are meant to both change the space of the museum and invite the public to interact rather than just look.

The show is big in the most literal sense; three pieces take up three entire galleries. Pictured is “National Chain,” a piece in which McBride has dropped and suspended a grid of metallic units from

the rafters. The same type of grid may be seen if you look up toward the ceiling in a classroom at TPHS. In order to navigate the gallery, visitors are forced to duck under the grid and pop up and down through the squares. In this sense, McBride has challenged museum-goers not only to look at the piece, but also to think about how it was made and to examine the architectural elements of the building in which it is housed.

“Toyota” is a giant car made of rattan, typically found in lounge chairs. “Arena” places a giant, stadium-like structure in the museum’s largest gallery, allowing visitors to get a bird’s eye view of the space.

By Alex Jen

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The Falconer has you covered for a night — or three — right here in San Diego!

Famous for museums, fountains and gardens, Balboa Park also has its very own spooky nature walk in October.

Monsters, ghosts and ghouls lie in wait along the mile-long trail and in the maze for the perfect, unsuspecting victim — oh, did we say victim? We meant visitor.

Just in case, prepare yourself by wearing warm clothes!

Drop by the Del Mar Fairgrounds for a night at Scream Zone, which includes three returning attractions — the Haunted Hayride, the Chamber, and the House of Horror — and one new attraction, Zombie Paintball Safari, where you have to defend yourself using only a paintball gun. Be sure to try the funnel cake while you’re there!

Nestled between buildings in the Gaslamp Quarter is the Haunted Hotel, voted the Top 31 Winner of America’s Best Haunted Houses. Its doors are open to all those who seek a thrill. If you really like dolls and clowns, this is the place for you. Wear your Halloween costume and you might just fit in with the rest of the spooks!

INFOGRAPHIC BY ALICE QU/FALCONER

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Laura— Next stop, Cal State.

Where can we take you?

After completing their studies at MiraCosta College, students transfer to great four-year institutions like Cornell, MIT, various Cal State campuses and UC San Diego. At just $46/credit, you can’t afford not to enroll at MiraCosta College!

Learn more at miracosta.edu/nextstop.

Connect with us.

Football shuts out El Camino

By Fernando Stepensky

By Varun Bhave NEWS EDITOR The TPHS football team (4-4) overpowered El Camino High School (5-3) on Oct. 24, shutting out the home team 14-0 with a dominant defensive front.

After stopping the Wildcats’ opening drive, the Falcons advanced into El Camino territory, helped by a 15-yard Oceanside face mask penalty. However, the Falcons failed to capitalize, going three-and-out on their next two possessions and “strugg[ling] to run the football,” according to head coach Ron Gladnick.

“We were trying to put together drives all through the first half, but just couldn’t finish,” quarterback Sandy Plashkes (12) said.

Despite their slow offensive start, the Falcons defense successfully bottled up the PHOTOS BY ERIC CUNNINGHAM/FALCONER El Camino running game and applied “a PUSH: Running back Brandon Nahum (28) looks downfi eld after getting past the line of lot of pressure on [El Camino] quarterback scrimmage (TOP).

Linebacker Roland Wheeler intercepts a misthrown pass (BOTTOM).

[Sergio Lopez] and made sure his throws were rushed,”according to Falcon linebacker Two plays later, Morimoto scored on a 10(12) nearly intercepting a stray third-down Roland Wheeler (12). The pressure got the pass. With just over a minute left in the first yard run to widen the lead to 14-0. better of Lopez throughout the game, with “I took the handoff, but I didn’t get my half, the Falcons offense finally put points defensive end Joey DeMarco (12) sacking on the board. Runs by Quinn Morimoto (12) usual hold, so I had to bounce it outside,” Lopez four times.

“There were a couple of guys we could not and Tristen Alesi (11), a first-down grab by Morimoto said. “I knew all I had to do was match up with,” El Camino head coach John receiver and running back Christian Gange beat the strong safety, and I beat him on the Roberts said. “The [TPHS] defensive line (12), and a pass interference call against outside and scored. But I also got help from a the Wildcats left the Falcons big block by Christian [Gange].” caused issues with After punts from both teams, Wheeler at the El Camino 5-yard line. our play up front and made a diving interception of Oceanside QB With 20 seconds left, Plashkes disrupted everything Sergio Lopez with nine minutes left in the lofted a touchdown pass to wide we wanted to do We’ve played the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach receiver Lukas Braun (11). offensively.” hardest schedule you “Previously we’d seen they for the Wildcats.

With six minutes “I just broke on the ball and went for it,” weren’t covering the inside remaining in the can possibly play [but] receivers very well,” Plashkes Wheeler said. “The other receiver and I both second quarter, the we’re a team built for said. “So [the throw] was a great had it in our hands, but I ended up with it.”

Falcons offense was Although the ensuing Falcon drive ended call by the coaches … We able to establish the long haul. play with a botched snap on a field goal attempt by knew they were good against a rhythm, moving -Ron Gladnick the run, and so we decided to kicker Brandon Hong (12), the Wildcats only downfield with had four minutes to score two touchdowns Head coach pressure the defensive backs.” a couple of key The Falcons opened the and points after just to pull even with the completions from second half with a quick three- Falcons, but after a turnover on downs the Plashkes.

The possession, however, ended after a run was and-out, but then broke up a promising Falcons ran out the clock to win the game.

“We knew [El Camino] was a good football called back for holding, and then a pass from Wildcat drive by stopping a quarterback Plashkes sailed long, despite calls from the sneak on fourth down. On the following drive, team,” Gladnick said. “But we’re a good wide receiver Jack Bailey (12) and Morimoto football team. We’ve played the hardest TPHS sideline for a pass interference call.

“There were penalties, but there were also picked up first downs for TPHS before play schedule you can possibly play [but] we’re a team built for the long haul.” a lot of bad calls,” Gladnick said. “We can’t was stopped due to a serious injury to Alesi.

TPHS will play their senior night game “When a teammate goes down, it fires control what the officials do.”

The Falcons held off the Wildcats on their us up,” Morimoto said. “We want to do tomorrow against Mount Carmel High School (5-3) at 7 p.m. in Ed Burke Stadium. next drive, with linebacker Mason O’Rosky something about it.”

“

As the NFL season reaches its midpoint this week, so does fantasy football, and as NFL teams realize the uphill battle they may be facing, fantasy team owners are realizing they may be out of the Super Bowl race as well.

It is important to explain how fantasy football works before delving any further into the topic, because an alarmingly large amount of people have no idea how the billion-dollar industry functions.

Fantasy football is usually played in a league of 10 or 12 teams competing against one another to make the playoffs, and although it may sound like the NFL, with all players and points correlating to NFL games, it is completely different. There are many different ways to play fantasy football, but all leagues must start with a draft. Most leagues conduct a live draft where participants join an online draft room with a list of available players and take turns picking their teams. Most leagues have a lineup that consists of one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a flex position which can be either a running back or wide receiver, one tight end, one kicker, one defensive player and five bench players.

After the free market of unpicked players is set, the games can actually begin. Quarterbacks score four points for their team per touchdown, while all other positions receive six points per touchdown. There are also points for how many yards players gain in a game and the team with the most accumulated points based on their lineup’s performance wins.

While the basics of the game are important for success, I have finally discovered after years of playing fantasy football that the key to winning is your lineup.

It sounds so obvious, yet it is often overlooked. Many people get caught up in the draft and compare teams before the season begins, but much like the NFL, nothing really matters until the whistle is blown.

While a lot of planning needs to happen before a draft to evaluate which players are most likely to succeed, I believe even more planning must go into the starting lineup. I sometimes check my lineup Sunday morning, make a couple changes based on experts’ rankings, and click submit. This was my undoing last week when I didn’t play San Diego’s Keenan Allen scored over 20 points and would have won me the game.

The true work in fantasy football doesn’t begin until the teams are already drafted.

Picking up availble players, offering trades, looking into matchups, and setting a good lineup is the only true way to win.

A24 the falconer

sports

october 30, 2014

Girls volleyball dominates in straight sets

and middle blockers Carly Kutschke (11) and Chiara Spain (11) continued their STAFF WRITER strong defensive play.

By the middle of the third set, the Girls volleyball won all three sets Falcons once again maintained a strong against the Rancho Bernardo High School lead, according to Kutschke.

“There was high energy [throughout Broncos on Oct. 23 at RB, beating the the entire game],” Kutschke said. “It was Broncos 25-16, 25-23 and 25-12.

“I felt super confident [going into the a Friday game, and the team was amped.”

The Falcons continued to play game] because we’ve beaten Rancho Bernardo before,” defensive specialist and defensively throughout the third set and libero Hannah Schraeger (11) said. “We ended with strong serves and offensive output, winning the set 25-12. practiced very well this week, too.” “[The Broncos] had a really good defense Both teams scored quickly in the beginning of the first set before Falcon ... but I have seen both our team and the offense took control. The Falcons protected Broncos play stronger,” Frager said.

The Falcons ended their large lead over the game powerfully, the Broncos during the with 11 kills by outside latter part of the first set, pulling away with a nineMy goal for [the team] Savvy Simo (11) and 13 digs and three aces by point win. is for them to improve libero Skye Chandler The second set was more varied, with both and for us to win the (12).Coach Brennan teams countering each league, CIF, and State Dean said he is other at different points of the team’s during the set. According championships. proud performance and to Shraeger, the Broncos both had an “excellent” defense -Brennan Dean achievements and “good blocks,” but the Head Coach during the game and throughout the entire Falcons were still able to fall season. hold their lead and win “I think that [the Falcons] by two points. Although the second set getting better and playing proved more challenging than the first, the are a higher level,” Dean said. team kept its focus and positive attitude at together, according to opposite Mollie “I definitely have high expectations for the rest of the season.”

Frager (10).

He said the team as a whole “played “One of our star players [opposite Savannah Rennie (12)] was injured so well” and that he had expected to win.

“My goal for is for them to improve and we had a couple bumps in the road, but we started cheering and having better for us to win the league, CIF, and state championships.” Dean said. attitudes,” Frager said.

The Falcons played the Mt. Carmel The Falcons began the third set with two quick points over the Broncos, gaining High School Sundevils at MCHS on Oct. 29 an early lead. Despite a few missed serves after the Falconer went to press, and will by the Falcons, libero Cailin Onosko (11) play Poway High School Titans at home on was able to salvage some points with digs, Nov. 5.

By Maya Parella

“

PHOTOS BY ROBBIE JOHNSON/FALCONER

SLAM: Savvy Simo (11) tries to put the ball away for a kill (TOP). Chiara Spain (10) hits a hard spike past the fingertips of a Poway defender (BOTTOM).

tphsfalconer.com

DAY IN THE

sports

the falconer

RUGBY

LIFE

By Anna Li MANAGING EDITOR

The Falconer looks into Falcon wide receiver Jack Bailey’s (12) rise from freshman to SDSU prospect.

When 6-foot-3-inch 186 lb. wide receiver Jack Bailey (12) was taken away on a stretcher after a hit during the Sept. 12 game at Cathedral Catholic High School, he thought nothing of it. To Bailey, “nothing measures up” to the concussion he incurred last year — and even that was not enough to keep him off the field for long.

“A big part of the sport is injuries, and that’s something you just have to overcome,” Bailey said. “You have to get the mindset that that’s never going to happen again. I’m still going to go out there and play to the best of my ability.”

Bailey was given precautionary medical attention after the CCHS hit, but knows from experience that his injury could have been far more serious. According to the NFL website, interscholastic football has the highest concussion rate of any sport, and high school players are almost twice as likely to suffer brain injuries as college players.

Given such dangers, and wanting their son to concentrate on other sports like basketball, Bailey’s parents did not let him play football until his freshman year at TPHS. But during his first season of football Bailey “fell in love with the game,” and decided to pursue it full-time.

“I felt that I could really strive at football rather than basketball — I could see it in my future,” Bailey said. “I felt that I had the potential to play further than the high school level.”

After a successful first season, the wide receiver chose to tackle the sport — and its rigorous practice schedule — with full force.

According to Bailey, the Falcons spend their fall season training for two to three hours daily, working on offensive and defensive tactics.

During the last month of school, the team regroups for “spring ball,” which helps them go over passing skills in preparation for the next season. Summer brings a whole new practice regimen.

“School practices are pretty tough,” Bailey said. “In my [offseason] cross training, we don’t use pads or anything, so it’s a lot more toneddown before the actual season.”

Bailey describes the time he dedicates to cross-training as something he “just [has] to do to be good at the sport.” He tries to fit in an hour of weightlifting with a trainer every day, in addition to team workouts and position-specific practice on the field.

A25

“My favorite part of the sport is just running around, working on my reps, working on my speed, and getting better at my position,” Bailey said.

Bailey was pulled up to varsity during the summer of his sophomore year when he began to seriously regard the sport as something he could pursue at the collegiate level. In a home game against the La Costa Canyon High School Mavericks during that season, he scored a touchdown in the third quarter that he remembers as one of the biggest plays of his high school career — one that he had to “jump over two guys to get.” That’s when Bailey decided to work in earnest to realize his dream.

“You always have to try hard [because] you don’t know who’s watching you,” Bailey said. “Somebody could be there at any point in the game. That’s how you get a scholarship — the coach will be up in the stands just as a regular person. So if you go out there and [mess] around, you’re not going to be offered, but if you go out there and work hard every Friday, the chances of you getting to the next level are pretty [high].”

Bailey was offered a full ride to San Diego State University during the summer of his junior year, while training at a passing camp that the Falcons attend annually.

“For a while, [being recruited so early] made me not want to [work] as hard,” Bailey said. “But a couple of days after, I was just like, ‘That’s messed up — I need to play harder and get myself out there even more.’”

Bailey works out with former SDSU wide receivers, Brett Swain and Roberto Wallace, two to three times each week. He looks forward to starting as a freshman and getting the most out of his collegiate training experience.

“I’m just going to go in working my butt off on the field to try to get as much practice as possible,” Bailey said.

Bailey focuses on keeping his body at maximum-performance capacity, concentrating on warm-up regimes and other methods of injury prevention before he dons a new shade of red next fall at SDSU and, hopefully, the NFL after that.

By Katie Mulkowsky

PHOTOS BY ROBBIE JOHNSON/FALCONER

BAIL OUT : Jack Bailey completes a drill during practice, jumping to catch the ball from a pass by a teammate behind him. Despite his recent injury during the Cathedral Catholic High School game several weeks ago, Bailey has maintained his high standard of performance.

After applying last year, rugby is an official TPHS varsity sport as of this winter season, according to head coach Matty Sandoval.

Becoming an official TPHS sport requires that coaches become employees of the SDUHSD, games will be played on campus and athletes will be held to TPHS, SDUHSD and CIF athletic and scholastic eligibility requirements.

Sandoval said that “most importantly,” the players will also be able to win varsity letters. “[Rugby has] been a club sport since 2009,” Sandoval said. “We compete in the Southern California Youth Rugby high school division, and we’ve had great success.”

According to varsity captain Omar Rodriguez (12), varsity rugby won its first title last year, and JV has won the championship in its division for the past four years.

Though the athletes were not required to meet any attendance or academic requirements, he said that the team members “stay on top of [their] academics.”

At the end of the season last year, the La Costa Canyon High School and TPHS club teams approached their respective school administrations and applied to become varsity sports. Other schools in the county with varsity rugby programs include Cathedral Catholic High School, Del Norte High School, Fallbrook High School and Poway High School.

According to Sandoval, the next step for rugby is becoming a CIF sport, but he acknowledged that the change will not be immediate. There are currently 31 schools with rugby programs in San Diego County, but there must be 40 to apply for CIF recognition. The application process can also be very time-consuming — Principal David Jaffe said that lacrosse, the most recent sport to be recognized, was not accepted until five years after applying to CIF. “We definitely want to be a CIF sport,” Rodriguez said. “We placed fourth in the nation last year, and it would be really cool to have the banners.”

Rugby’s first official game will be against St. Augustine High School at home on Dec. 12.

A26 the falconer

sports

f/stop agostina waisfeld varsity girls tennis oct. 27, 3:12:03 p.m.

camera: canon eos 5d mark iii lens: canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM iso: 500 exp: 1/8000 seconds f/stop: f/4.0 by grace bruton

Congratulations to the varsity girls tennis team for their 25th consecutive CIF qualiďŹ cation.

october 30, 2014

sports

tphsfalconer.com

the falconer

A27

The Falconer Public Relations Manager soars over Escondido at Trapeze High, conquering not only the trapeze, but also her fear of heights, in the bargain.

FALCON TRIES: TRAPEZE

BY CAROLINE RUTTEN I am game for pretty much any situation.

From a last-minute decision to attempt a 10-mile hike to an impromptu expedition of Imperial County’s Superstition Hills with my uncle, I have always been eager to participate in new activities and put myself in unfamiliar situations. Heights, however, are another story.

Since joining the Falconer, I have eagerly awaited the opportunity to write the “Falcon Tries” column. Ecstatic when I was finally chosen for the story, I was hoping to try a sport like football or lacrosse — honestly, anything that would require my 5-foot-1-inch frame to be encased in padding, and use the few athletic skills I possess. Then, someone proposed I try trapeze. While the room immediately filled with “oh”s of agreement; my only thought was, “Oh s---.”

After doing five years of gymnastics, two years of dance and a year of cheer, I knew that I could master the flexibility of the sport. My only fear was the elevation.

Hoping my love for adventure would trump my debilitating fear of heights, I convinced

myself that, with a photographer as my witness, I could attempt to conquer this long-standing anxiety.

I arrived at the dirt parking lot behind Trapeze High in the-middle-of-nowhere Escondido and was immediately greeted by the screech of a circling hawk that surely foreshadowed my upcoming experience.

Adrenaline and a newfound sense of confidence overwhelmed me, leaving my fear of heights on the ground.

After introducing myself to the instructors, my lesson began. They attached a harness around my waist, crushing the butterflies in my stomach.

Looking up at the height from which I would jump, I was thankful the instructors

started my lesson in the safety of “ground school.” In ground school, I learned basic trapeze terms and the starting position — feet at the edge of the ledge, hips and pelvis uncomfortably forward, one hand back on a pole and the other hand holding the bar that I would use to fly. Next, with the instructor on the platform holding my harness for stability, knees bent and both hands on the raised bar, I would leap off the edge. After watching a number of 8-yearold girls do successful flips in the air, I felt slightly daunted by their effortless success, but they made me even more determined to master this sport.

My fear of heights intensified with each rung of the seemingly never-ending ladder.

At the top, I got in to the starting position I had just learned in ground school. With hips awkwardly thrust forward and both hands on the bar, I was overwhelmed by vertigo and a fear of falling. Acting on my small internal voice of courage, I closed my eyes and jumped off the edge. Opening my eyes, I realized I was still swinging — not dead, not falling to the net. The instructor

called for me to do the “banana position” in which my back was arched and legs together as far back as they could go, using my acrobatic muscle memory. Despite the initial difficulty of the sport, I started to have fun. I let go of the bar when the instructor told me and fell softly to the net.

As I clumsily exited the net, Adrenaline and a newfound sense of confidence quickly overwhelmed me, leaving my fear of heights on the ground. From there, I was doing splits and hanging from my knees, all leading to the final stunt when I flew off the bar and the instructor caught me from an adjacent bar. While I was not graceful — as confirmed by photographic evidence — I am proud I did not succumb to my long-standing fear of heights, which would have stolen this experience.

While the next three days were filled with Advil to combat my seriously aching body (I guess my muscle memory was not as strong as I thought), I can confirm that I am now down to undertake in even more scary challenges, no longer restricted by fears of falling.

SPLIT: Public Relations Manager Caroline Rutten tries out acrobatics and highflying stunts at Trapeze High in Escondido (LEFT). Rutten said that approaching her experience was challenging, but it helped her overcome fears that previously inhibited her adventurous nature.

PHOTOS BY ERIC CUNNINGHAM/FALCONER

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The Falconer understands that we lost about 95 percent of our readers last issue due to the lack of Swirls coupons, but please, won’t you give us a second chance? We won’t make the same mistake twice, we swear!

A MESSAGE FROM THE TPHS ADMINISTRATION Happy Halloween, Falcons! Remember, the water fountain in the gym is haunted with ghosts of basketball seasons past, and also traces of mercury! Drink if you dare! (No, but really, we’re legally required to tell you not to drink that freaking water).

Halloween can and should be safe, clean, sugar-free fun

By Sharon McWasp GUEST COLUMNIST

Note to Readers: We usually don’t publish editorials written by our readers for one reason: Our readership is comprised wholly of our parents (who would like to let us know that they are very, very proud of us and we should keep up the hard work but be home by 7:00 p.m. because we’re having spaghetti tonight!) In fact, if you’re reading this and aren’t genetically linked to one of our staffers, we’d like to thank you for making it this far — you’re a trooper, and frankly, a living miracle.

This is why we were so surprised when Sharon McWasp, who is unrelated to anyone on our staff and seems to have just sprung, khaki-clad, from the suburban ether, demanded that we publish the following guest column, her response to what she calls “the corruption of America’s youth.” We would like to stress that the opinions expressed here do not reflect the opinions of the Falconer staff, nor, we hope, the opinions of any human being

other than Sharon McWasp.

Hello, Falcons!

First, some introductions: My name is Sharon. I am a proud Virgo; I love arts and crafts and driving several miles per hour under the speed limit. But most of all, I am a concerned parent.

With Halloween upon us, it is my responsibility to inform you impressionable young’uns that the truly spooky situations do not involve ghouls or ghosts, but the smoking of the pots and the posting of “selfys” in the nude.

Boo, indeed! Here are a few tips for putting together a safe, familyfriendly, wholesome Halloween celebration, as God intended: •All of the food you provide must be gluten-free, dairyfree, peanut-and-shellfish-free, sugar-free, and free from any discernible taste. You may consider simply sticking a fork in a pumpkin and calling it a day (make sure the pumpkin is cagefree!). Instructions for making “Fork in a Pumpkin” are as follows: 1. Cut a 5-inch-by-5-inch square into the pumpkin. 2. Stick a fork in it (bedazzling the fork is a wonderful option). 3. Force the whole pumpkin into a mason jar.

Delicious! Check my Pinterest for further details.

•Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to purchase a nurse costume from your local Halloween store.

Instead of the four-part, corseted, hoop skirted and bonneted Florence Nightingale period piece

you were hoping for, you will find a strip of red spandex labeled “Cardiac Arrest” that apparently is to be worn as a dress (!) Take my word for it, store management will be less than understanding when you insist that there has been a mistake, since this is clearly a jezebel or harlot costume for chippies who post “selfys” in the nude. Rather than bothering with all of this, simply make your own 18th century nurse costume with the following household goods: tarp, raw cotton, underruffles, authentic tricornes and beaver fur. Check my blog, sharondoesitherself.blogspot. com, for further details.

•No Halloween party is complete without some spooky tunes! But not too spooky. In fact, you must not play any of the songs usually considered Halloween classics by the pagan and misinformed, such as “Monster Mash,” which is proven to cause nightmares among children and dogs. You should consider instead playing “The Best of Bing Crosby,” an album with 6 hours worth of Bing Crosby’s vocal stylings, the musical equivalent of a tall, white glass of whole soy milk.

There you have it, my tips for having the safest and healthiest Halloween possible! Check back next month for my thoughts on how to raise and slaughter your very own Thanksgiving turkey (Editor’s Note: We will not be having Sharon McWasp back next month, or any month).

A little much for us.

-ISIS Spokesman On SoulCycle