October 2018

Vol. 44, Issue 2, 24 pages

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infographic by farhan hossain/falconer

Friday, October 26, 2018

With an opportunity to end 17 years of Republican control, Democratic candidate Mike Levin has raised $4.9 million dollars for California’s 49th congressional district race against Republican Diane Harkey, a crucial matchup with national implications control of the House of Representatives.

The seat currently held by retiring Republican Congressman Darrell Issa represents Encinitas, Del Mar and Solana Beach in the south and extends to and includes San Juan Capistrano in the north.

According to campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission website, Issa outraised his opponents in each of his eight campaigns. However, Levin has raised almost four times as much as Harkey. Harkey currently sits on the State Board of Equalization and previously served as a state assemblywoman and mayor of Dana Point.

Levin agreed to a phone interview with the Falconer, and although Harkey’s team responded to initial communications about an interview date, Harkey ultimately did not respond to requests for comment.

Campaign finance data on the Federal Election Commission website shows that Levin has raised $4.9 million versus the $1.3 million raised by Harkey. While 76 percent of Levin’s contributions are from out-of-district donors, 87 percent is from California. The second biggest source of donations is donors in New York, from whom Levin has received $103,136 in donations.

“I am running a local campaign first. I’m running to be a representative for local communities in the 49th district, and ultimately to represent our values in Washington, D.C.,” Levin said.

On Oct. 8, the United Nations published a report warning that the world has only 12 years, or until 2030, to stop the worst effects of climate change. According to Harkey’s campaign website Harkey for Congress, she believes that government and businesses must cooperate to curb climate change while respecting science, the job market and the economy. Levin, a former environmental attorney, said he would support a carbon tax or a cap and trade policy to limit emissions.

“I’m deeply disturbed that this administration has abdicated our responsibility under the Paris Climate Accord,” Levin said. “We were leaders under President Obama as it pertained to global climate change; now we are a laughingstock.”

Relying on

The TPHS Falconer and the Canyon Crest Academy Pulse Magazine hosted a SDUHSD school board candidates’ forum for Area 5 candidates Kristin Gibson, Cheryl James-Ward and Lea Wolf on Oct. 16 in the TPHS lecture hall.

Candidates were given three minutes to introduce themselves through opening statements before being asked both general and individualized questions by the Falconer’s Editors-in-Chief Farhan Hossain (12) and Angela Liu (12) and the Pulse Magazine’s staff writer Dom Stearn. The forum ended with audience questions, which were either submitted in written form or voiced. Based on the candidates’ personal statements and impromptu responses, the approximately 20 attendees of the forum were able to meet the candidates and learn about their perspectives.

“I wanted to come to see how the candidates would answer the questions from the students,” Heather Dugdale, mother of three SDUHSD students, said. “The student questions are really eye-opening ... [because they] get to the heart of the issue and don’t mess around.”

The forum also provided an opportunity for the candidates to develop a personal connection with voters, establish themselves as qualified candidates and learn from other candidates, while also allowing them to voice their own opinions on district issues.

anonymous sources on Capitol Hill, news outlet Axios claims that if Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives, their legislative priorities would be healthcare, infrastructure and investigations into President Donald Trump. Levin says that climate change is “certainly” a priority for him.

“There’s no question that it’s important,” Levin said.

The Harvard Institute of Politics’ 2018 Youth Poll found that the economy and gun control were the most important priorities among 18 to 29-year-olds. For 77 percent of respondents, gun control will be important in determining how they vote, and 47 percent support amending the Second Amendment in the wake of recent shootings.

“I, myself, am most interested in the economics of California,” Del Mar resident Patty Prouty said. “I’m really hoping I can believe what [Diane Harkey] says about lowering taxes and stabilizing the economy and making sure that she fights in Congress for the welfare of all California.”

Voters’ concerns are many and diverse.

“I’m voting for Levin strictly on the strength of the fact that Harkey has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA,” Solana Beach resident Cynthia Howard said. “There are probably lots of reasons I’d like him anyway because I’m typically a Democratic voter, but that was enough for me. How can you be aligned with the NRA in 2018?”

Harkey described herself as “not a gun control supporter” to the San Diego Union Tribune. Levin has called for increased regulation and supports the recent decision by the Del Mar Fairgrounds to stop hosting gun shows.

“This is a deeply concerning situation to me. I have two young children, one is six years old and the other is four years old,” Levin said. “I want to see universal background checks [and] a ban on military-style assault weapons, high capacity magazines and ammunition.”

Given Trump’s goal to “protect” the Second Amendment, gun control legislation will probably not be signed. However, Levin sees an opportunity to work with Republicans on infrastructure.

“That should not be a partisan issue,” Levin said. “I feel as though Republicans and Democrats alike want to see a revived federal infrastructure program, and I think that, if elected, we could work towards making that happen.”

Throughout 2018, Republicans have criticized current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as an out of touch coastal elite, and some Democrats, including others in surrounding districts, have been ambivalent about their support for Pelosi if she

were to run for Speaker of the House. Other prominent Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have also criticized Pelosi, believing that she has served for too long and become out of touch with a Democratic Party that has become increasingly progressive. According to Vox, 42 current Democratic candidates have said they would not support Pelosi’s speakership. While some articles have characterized Levin as a sure supporter of Pelosi’s speakership, he clarified his position.

“Just to be clear on that, I did say that I was a fan of hers, [but] I don’t know what the race will look like for Speaker, so that’s a hypothetical,” Levin said. “I think that there is a need for a new generation of people to emerge, and I’d be happy to see many younger candidates and new and fresh faces elected as part of the 116th Congress.”

Pelosi recently addressed these concerns by suggesting she may retire in 2020 and serve as a “transitional” speaker.

“There has to be a transition at some point in all of this,” Pelosi said on CNN on Oct. 22.

Other older, establishment Democrats, such as 85-yearold California Senate incumbent Dianne Feinstein, who has served in the Senate since 1992 also concern some Democrats. Her opponent, 51-year-old Kevin de León, also a Democrat, currently serves in the California State Legislature. At the state convention, neither candidate was able to get the 60 percent vote necessary to secure the party endorsement, with de León winning 54 percent of the attendees, while Feinstein only received 37 percent.

Both de León and Feinstein have endorsed Levin, who declined to share which of the two he will vote for.

“I know and like Senator de León; I think his work on SP 100, which was the clean energy legislation, was extraordinarily important to moving our state forward,” Levin said. “I also have deep respect for Senator Feinstein and her long track record of service to our state.”

Levin’s campaign has attracted the attention of other progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders, who is coming to San Diego to campaign for him. Levin, unlike Sanders, does not identify as a democratic socialist.

“I consider many of the ideas that Senator Sanders has to be very positive, particularly around the income inequality that we face, but I also would call myself a capitalist.” Levin said. “I’ve been involved in multiple businesses, growing jobs, helping to make payroll, and I do believe in the free market.”

Currently, congressional Democrats have been accused of wanting to impeach Trump if they win back the House.

Harkey and other congressional Republican candidates have attacked special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election collusion with the Trump campaign during 2016 presidential campaign.

“You support impeachment,” Harkey said to Levin during a televised debate on NBC 7.

Levin disagreed.

“I am not running on an impeachment platform,” Levin said.

Harkey accused Levin of covering up his true intentions about impeachment.

“They are all trying to keep it quiet,” Harkey said of congressional Democrats. “Because they want to get there and create chaos.”

Continued on A3.

“I don’t want to get elected unless people want me to get elected, so they need to know everything about me,” Gibson said. “If they disagree with certain things, I appreciate that as well. More than getting elected, I really just want people to have the right information. If people have the right information, and they choose not to vote for

Wolf said. “Here I see there is not enough training that goes on to train students and teachers. I see they close the doors, they cover up in the classroom, and often that’s not the most effective [way to respond to threats].”

Gibson discussed how extensive training for possible dangerous situations could negatively impact students, such as causing them unnecessary stress.

“I disagree slightly with Ms. Wolf into the degree with which our students should be practiced in these things; I do think we need drills, but I also think students do not need to be constantly concerned about their safety. Primarily, that sort of training should be happening mostly among our adults [that work at the various schools],” Gibson said.

“But I believe Lea did mention something I agree with: we’ve had these traditional practices, such as shelter in place [and] lock-downs, [but] we know there are other more effective ways to perhaps react to an active shooter situation.”

James-Ward said her experience as the principal of e3 Civic High School helps her recognize the emotional and social health of her students and the steps educators should take to develop personal connections with students.

“Where I’m principal, I see every child every morning and I know how they’re feeling when they walk on campus,” James-Ward said. “I greet them every morning, I look in every set pair of eyes to see how kiddos are doing when they start the day, and it’s important for them to feel good.”

Continued on A3.

me, that’s fine.”

Topics discussed at the forum included school safety, class size, sexual assault and special education funding. In their responses to the students’ questions, the candidates agreed on many points, but also differed on several. For one, the candidates had differing opinions on new methods the district should implement to improve school safety.

“I grew up in Israel and there are a lot of terrorist attacks, and one thing that Israel does the best with its schools is train students how to respond to those threats,”

Levin reaffirmed his stance on impeachment.

“I’m not running on an impeachment platform, but what I am adamant about is that we get to the truth,” Levin said. “It’s premature to make an assessment right now until that has been done.”

Prouty does not support the notion of impeachment, but also believes that Harkey, if elected, should first focus on her own job before supporting the president.

“I believe she’s gonna have a learning curve and get comfortable in her own skin,” Prouty said. “Maybe Donald Trump won’t even be president in two years, but that doesn’t really mean anything to me in regards to Diane Harkey.”

In August, a state appeals court reaffirmed a lower court’s ruling against Harkey’s husband for a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme in which he scammed seniors through his now-defunct lending service. The court found him guilty of 11 counts of various financial misconduct.

While Harkey and her husband divorced, they continue to live in the same home, drawing accusations that the divorce was a tactic to transfer her husband’s assets to her to protect them in the face of investigations and lawsuits.

In an article for The Coast News, Harkey’s campaign manager, Bryan Shoyer, responded.

“Sometime after their divorce, Diane and Dan made the decision to reside together in order to better take care of a close relative who is in need of constant care,” Shoyer said.

The money Harkey’s husband made through defrauding the elderly went into the couple’s bank accounts. Harkey self funded her congressional run with $102,000.

A spokesperson from the San Diego County Republicans declined to comment, saying via email that the organization was “focused on getting out the vote for [their] candidates.”

Republicans have had control of both houses of Congress since the 2014 midterms, but the unpopularity of Trump in some quarters has unleashed a flurry of voter energy and spending among Democrats, who have raised $1.3 trillion for congressional midterm races to try to turn more seats blue, versus $929 billion by Republicans, making the 2018 midterm cycle the most expensive in U.S. history.

“In my opinion, Trump seems to upset [liberals] and they’re anti-Republican, which is why I believe a lot of people will choose to vote Democrat,” Prouty said.

Forty-four current congressional Republicans have announced their retirement, which, according to a CNN analysis, is a number of retirements that is both larger than and has accumulated faster than any other previous session of Congress.Trump’s low approval rating, currently 43.1 percent according to FiveThirtyEight, has led to speculation that the retirees are avoiding a difficult reelection from an electorate opposed to them.

Darrell Issa, who announced his retirement in January 2018, won the 49th in 2016 by less than a percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton won the district by over 7 percent.

On Sept. 28, the Trump administration nominated Issa to be the next director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

Issa’s office did not respond to a request to comment.

Polling by the New York Times gives Levin a 14 percent lead over Harkey.

If kids get in trouble [or] if kids do something, they’ll come and say something — they’ll let us know what’s happening on that campus … and that’s because they’re connected.”

Many of the attendees came to the forum with prior opinions of the candidates, but hearing the candidates’ different perspectives on important issues that affect the school district allowed them to solidify or rethink their candidate choices.

“I’ve learned a lot about the candidates. They are all exceptional and qualified,” said Julian Telesnikov, a Lea Wolf campaign volunteer. “However, I am still supporting Lea Wolf as an independent candidate.”

The Falconer and Pulse Magazine began planning for the forum after receiving inspiration from a forum for Area 1 and 3 candidates that was hosted

by San Dieguito Academy on Oct. 18.

The forum was entirely student-run: the

ASB held the annual Mardi Gras themed homecoming dance in the TPHS quad on Saturday, Oct. 6 from 8 to 11 p.m.

ASB was inspired by the bright lights, colors and traditional dress of the celebrations in New Orleans and wanted to recreate something similar at TPHS. “It’s almost Halloween, so I thought the whole [Mardi Gras] costume type of thing would’ve been cool,” Samaya Patel (11), ASB Commissioner of Activities, said.

White string lights adorned the trees and the pergola above the lunch tables which is also where drinks were served. Green and yellow streamers were wrapped around black street signs, reminiscent of the roads of New

Orleans. Candles brightened the tables serving food and overall the decor was gold, green and glittery.

Students danced in front of the gym, which was illuminated by neon tables and platforms to stand on.

The DJ played top hits, to which almost all the attendees spent their night away on the dance floor.

“I like the DJ. The music’s really good. They’re actually playing … good songs,” Madeline Neylan (10) said.

Students also had the choice of taking photos with props and friends behind a sparkly gold backdrop near the B Building, which is also where the food was served; watching Pixar’s “Monsters University” in the quad, and tasting the bite sized appetizers that were offered. “[The dance] was really fun because it’s an opportunity to hang out with friends and there was a bunch of different stuff like the photo booth,” Zoe Canipe (9) said. “The pictures were honestly really good and the DJ was really good too, because it was fun and everybody was dancing.”

Students also dressed to the theme of Mardi Gras.

“I thought of Mardi Gras, so I picked purple … and I wore sparkly shoes,” Neylan said.

ASB hosted the dance to finish off spirit week and the homecoming football game traditions.

“The spirit week is designed to, number one: break up the monotony of the school day… Every week it’s the same thing, and it’s back to school. Let’s make a special week where we get to have fun and have different themes,” Matt Livingston, the ASB advisor said.

While the main goal of Homecoming is to celebrate and keep the traditions, ASB also wants to give attending students an opportunity to socialize with each other.

“The goal of Homecoming is primarily just to get the school together to have people meet new friends and have a good time,” Patel said.

TPHS and CCA students collaborated to write the questions, create the background presentation projected in the lecture hall and ensure that the forum progressed smoothly, which included having a student hold up signs with the time remaining for candidates to plan their responses accordingly and directing adults to the lecture hall.

The forum was publicized through a story in the Del Mar Times and the Falconer’s social media profiles; however, some attendees felt that more could be done to inform the community about the forum.

“I heard about it, actually, through word of mouth. I didn’t receive emails,” Dugdale said.

“I did not hear about it through any of the regular parent communication means, so that, maybe, we could have tried to do a little better.”

Since the forum was not a schoolsponsored event, regular parent communication channels like a district -wide or principal’s email blast or telephone all-call could not be used to publicize the event.

The election will take place on Nov. 6.

On one table ASB laid out candy like lollipops and Starbursts. Snacks like bagel bites, fried macaroni and cookies were also there.

“Our [ASB] experience is that the dance is at 8:00; a lot of students don’t come until nine and some of them have gone out to eat before so we don’t want to spend too much on food because in years past if we did, there was a lot leftover and some students don’t eat that much,” Livingston said.

Planning for Homecoming starts as early as five months in advance, in May, when the ASB activities commissioners are elected. First, ASB plans the dance’s biggest aspects, such as the DJ, security and food. Then, they leave the smaller things like decor for later.

ASB wants as many students possible to attend their events, which is why the ticket prices for Homecoming was relatively inexpensive this year. The dance costs $20 with an ASB sticker and $25 without during the first week of sales, and $30 with the ASB sticker and $35 without during the second week of sales. The profit made from ticket sales helps ASB balance the books. ASB sets their ticket prices based off the projected total cost of the dance.

To calculate the budget, ASB multiplies the number of students by the cost of each admission ticket. This year, the total came out to be $12,000 for the 700 students who came and the $20 to $35 they paid for their tickets.

The next dance is Winter Formal in January, hosted by the TPHS cheerleaders.

photos by alexei serguienko/falconer

Student special free fountain drink and chips with purchase of burrito when student id presented

Catering for offices, schools, and homes (619) 952-7468

While training at the CA Training Facility, used by some skaters headed for the 2020 Olympics, Xander Newell (9) received a sudden, life-changing offer from the facility’s owner: an invitation to one of the largest extreme sports competitions of 2018 — X Games Sydney.

Since his father is an avid surfer, Newell has been exposed to extreme sports all his life. One day, when Newell was eight years old, his dad suggested he try out his skateboard, and Newell immediately took to the sport.

“He wanted to skate all the time, and his passion just hasn’t waned. It just seems to be getting bigger and bigger all the time,” Juliana Newell, Xander’s mother and an AP Biology teacher at TPHS, said.

In order to take skating to the next level, Xander had to devote a huge amount of time to practice. During his free seventh period and his sixth period ISPE, he gets additional practice time at skate parks in Clairemont and Vista. As a result, Xander is not the only one investing the time; his parents are, too. “[We do] lots of driving, all over the place. Pretty much every day he skates after school.

We also have to take him to competitions. Obviously, we’re going to Australia,” Juliana said. “[His skating requires] a lot of time and effort on my part, driving him around and making sure that he’s taking care of himself.”

In addition to the big time commitment to driving, Juliana and her husband also live with the anxiety of watching their son perform flips and tricks with huge air, susceptible to injury if he makes the tiniest mistake.

“He wears pads and body armor and stuff when he skates [on the] mega [ramp], but getting your body hurt or getting a concussion is always a concern,” Juliana said. “He had a pretty bad concussion a couple years ago, so he goes to acupuncture regularly. I send him to a chiropractor, or try to keep him hydrated, have him get enough sleep, eat super well and work out with the trainer to try and keep his body super strong and healthy.”

After years of practice, Xander began to enter competitions, like the Tim Brauch Memorial and Am Combi Pool Classic. He ended up winning in the 14 and under category at Tim Brauch and finished fifth at the Amateur Combi. Once he began competing, Xander’s passion for skateboarding only increased.

“I just go and skate whenever. There are a lot of

Since the end of the 2017-18 school year, changes have been made to the TPHS back parking lot, including the addition of extra access between select rows, a new entrance on Torrington Road and stop signs by the new entry. The changes follow closure of the drop-off circle by the old art buildings and addition of multiple speed bumps by the student parking lot in the front of the school during the previous school year.

The removal of the parent drop-off point has caused increased congestion.

Despite clear “Pick-Up/Drop-Off Tips” on the TPHS website stipulating that the “drop-off/pick-up area for parents and students [is] (on the south side of school on Del Mar Heights Road),” parents continue to drop students off in the rear parking lot, which is designated for student drivers only. Instead of using the drop-off circle, currently being used for construction, parents drop their children either near Ed Burke Field, in rows designated for student parking, in the staff parking lot or on Torrington Road.

In addition to complaints about parents dropping off children in the parking lot, students also said parking spaces should be larger.

“They should make the [parking spaces] bigger in the back,” Rose Wu* (12) said.

The size of the spaces is one of the factors students credit for accidents in the parking lot.

“I turned too early [to avoid hitting a trash can] … and I turned into Adam’s* car instead of an empty parking space,” Wu said.

However, students are not the only ones hitting parked vehicles during the school day.

“I was walking to my car after class when … my friend heard a clashing noise … and then I saw a mom and her kid checking the bumper of [my friend’s] car to see if there was any damage,” Vivian DeMarco* (12) said.

Students also have concerns about the lack of striping in the lower parking lots.

different parks in San Diego, so I just make sure to go all the time. It’s just really fun, and I love being able to travel with my friends,” Xander said.

After spending considerable time perfecting his skateboard runs, Xander’s opportunity to compete at the highest international level arrived in Vista.

“Going to the X Games is a really big opportunity for me, and it’s something I‘ve wanted to do since I first started skating, so I’m really excited,” Xander said.

Xander is competing in the Skateboard Big Air event, which includes a slope about 12 or more meters high, a gap ranging from 7.5 to 21 meters wide and a quarter pipe 5.4 or more meters tall. Competitors start at the top of the slope and perform their tricks in the air while passing over the gap and quarter pipe.

As one of the youngest competitors in the event, Xander has to outscore 14 other skaters to win, including X Games 2017 champion Elliot Sloan.

Despite knowing his competition, Xander feels the pressure of being the new kid on the block. X Games Sydney is also his first tournament outside the country.

“He might be the only one at this competition that hasn’t skated an X Games before, and the ramp is different than the ramp he’s been on,” Juliana said. “So he’s competing against men who have been doing it for a really long time.”

Xander is a competitor, so he’s going with the goal of winning gold.

“I just want to try to land a run — we have four attempts — and maybe I’ll make the finals, which is the top eight,” Xander said.

The preliminary rounds of the Big Air Event took place on Oct. 19 at Spotless Stadium in Sydney National Park to determine the eight finalists who will compete for the gold medal.

“Four [finalists] are already predetermined. There are going to be ten guys competing for those other four slots,” Juliana said.

In the qualifying round, Xander completed two successful runs out of four attempts and finished with a high score of 58.33, fifth of ten competitors, barely missing the top four cut to qualify for the finals.

Despite finishing out of the top eight in his X Games debut, Xander is proud of his rookie performance and will continue to pursue his skating career. Next stop: mid-air over the mega ramp at his next competition.

“The expense is not really the issue because parking lots need to be striped for legal reasons,” Principal Rob Coppo said. “It may just be a logistical issue at this point.

So whatever the cost, we have to do it.”

According to Coppo, both students and parents need to drive safely and adhere to the speed limits.

“We get emails about [student drivers] all the time,” Coppo said. “[Messages like] why don’t we do a better

job teaching the kids how to drive, but I don’t remember seeing that in our course selection. So in all of our safety communications, we remind people about driving safely.”

Another safety concern is that parents heading west on Del Mar Heights Road drop off or pick up kids in the bike lane instead of turning right and entering the designated drop off area.

“We remind parents again that all laws are applicable,” Coppo said. “We inform parents as much as we can, and then what happens is SDPD goes out there every so often and tickets [violators].”

According to Coppo, this is all administrators can do to discourage parents from stopping in the bike lane — the rest is up to the parents.

If students see parents or other students driving recklessly, Coppo suggests taking pictures of their license plates and sending him or one of the assistant principals an email. “[If] it’s a white Nissan or whatever, let us know and we’ll keep an eye out for it,” Coppo said.

With about 2,600 people trying to get on and off campus

daily, including bikes and pedestrians, the best way to avoid traffic is to plan ahead, according to Coppo.

Coppo also advises parents to use the designated drop off areas instead of the student or staff parking lots to drop off students to decrease congestion, since each of these areas was “designed for a specific purpose.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 23, the day the Falconer went to press, the new Torrington Road entrance gates were open, and cars were able to enter the parking lot from there. *Name changed to protect identity.

2 feet wide

art by neilah soliday/falcon artist

On Nov. 6, voters throughout the state will officially decide whether or not they support Proposition 12, also known as the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative. If passed, farmers will have to provide more space on their farms for breeding pigs, egg-laying hens and calves raised for veal. The proposition also bans the sale of animal products if the new space requirements are not met.

Considering the direct benefits that the proposal provides to the animals, the choice to vote in its favor should not be a difficult one.

Currently, people who are not concerned about the poor living environments of livestock that are born, raised and killed on factory farms either choose to ignore them or are simply unaware of them. These factory farms — which resemble industrial factories far more than they do traditional farms — are home to between 95 and 99 percent of farm animals raised in the U.S., according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

At the plants, farm animals must endure terrible conditions like serious overpopulation, including living in tightly packed cages, and abuse from workers.

While these facts are representative of factory farms around the country, some of the most surprising statistics stem from California, a major offender of overcrowding. According to Food & Water Watch, a non-governmental organization devoted to promoting healthy food through a clean environment, as of 2014, California was the fifth largest state for egg production in the nation, with 18 million laying hens; the average factory farm houses over 530,000 hens.

If Proposition 12 goes into effect,

it will build upon the guidelines of Proposition 2 — passed in 2008 and effective as of 2015 — which prohibits farmers from keeping pregnant pigs, egg-laying hens and calves raised for veal in cages that do not allow them to move around freely. Proposition 12 further improves animals’ living conditions by requiring, after 2021, that egg producers keep all hens in a cage-free environment.

However, unlike Proposition 12, the original regulation does not prohibit the sale of products from livestock raised in illegal conditions, which is a misdemeanor under Proposition 12.

The main feature of Proposition 12 is the introduction of rules giving animals a certain amount of space to themselves in each plant. For example, breeding pigs that are destined to become pork will each get 24 square feet to themselves, egg-laying hens will get one square foot each and calves raised for veal will get 43 square feet each. Currently, however, hens live in spaces as little as 0.6 square feet, according to the National Center of Biotechnology. But because farmers will be required by law to follow these new regulations if they wish to continue to sell their products in supermarkets, they will either need to increase the physical size of their plants or decrease the size of their output — one of these would need to be done just to collect the same amount of revenue as before.

Naturally, any increased expense to the farmer will be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices at the supermarket, but that would be a small price to pay for improvement.

Even so, companies that have been abusing animals in less than ideal conditions for years should be investing in bettering the situations of the livestock, regardless of the amount of money they have to allocate. If Proposition 12 passes, it will be a step in the right direction for companies to finally begin making amends with both the general public and their public image.

With the opportunity to improve the unfortunate lives of animals who were born just to become part of someone’s next meal, it is only logical to support Proposition 12.

Proposition 12, which will be on the Nov. 6 California ballot, bans the sale of veal, eggs from egg-laying hens and pork from breeding pigs that live in spaces under 43 square feet for cows, 24 square feet for pigs and one square foot for egg-laying hens. The current law is the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, passed in 2008 as Proposition 2 on the California ballot.

If Proposition 12 is passed, violations would count as misdemeanors and would draw fines of up to $1,000.

Californians should vote against Proposition 12 because it could potentially decrease tax revenues, falsely claims that California will be a cage-free state and doesn’t end animal suffering.

Since Proposition 12 limits which types of meat and eggs can be sold, the factory farming industry will bring in less revenue from sales taxes, which means less revenue for our local and state governments. The loss won’t be drastic but is still a considerable size.

The California legislature analyst and director of finance said in their fiscal impacts statement that “potential decrease in state and local tax revenues from farm businesses [are] likely not to exceed the low millions of dollars annually.”

The supporters of Proposition 12 believe that the PFAC Act did not go far enough. However, a “yes” vote wouldn’t eliminate the inhumane practices conducted in factory farms.

Under Proposition 12’s guidelines, animals could suffer even more than under the current law. Proposition 12 limits young domesticated cows to 43 square feet, breeding pigs and their offspring to 24 square feet per pig and egg-laying hens to one square foot.

In contrast, the PFAC Act gives more general guidelines to farmers by banning the confinement of pregnant pigs, egg-laying hens and veal in a way that keeps them from extending their wings, lying down or moving freely.

Generally speaking, by giving farmers the minimum measurements for livestock living space, Proposition 12 could cause farmers to pay even less attention to animals or be stingier about providing them with space, because they no longer have to check for the non-quantifiable signs

of animal discomfort, i.e. not being able to spread their wings, lie down or move freely. Farmers would still be able to be negligent of the well-being of their animals.

In fact, according to A Well-Fed World, a charity that protects farm animals and promotes plant-based diets, currently, cows are confined and unprotected from the weather, 20 percent of pigs deprived of their mothers milk die prematurely and egg-laying hens are starved and live in the dark for weeks, only to lay more eggs. Those sad and disappointing facts prove how little farmers care about their livestock at this moment, and that isn’t likely to change.

Additionally, animals’ rights groups, including Friends of Animals, Humane Farming Association and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also want Californians to vote “no” on Proposition 12 because they think the Humane Society is conspiring with the United Egg Producers to contain the birds in “horrific multi-level ‘cage-free’ factory systems”.

Proposition 12 seems to promote a healthier environment for egglaying hens, when in reality there would be too long a space between the implementation of the law and hens going cage-free. If Proposition 12 is passed, farmers won’t have to go cage-free (meaning not confined to a cage, not necessarily giving the birds access to the outdoors) until Jan. 1, 2022, so hens will have to suffer in their tightly confined living spaces (or cages) for another three years and two months.

Proposition 12 is not the work of champions for animal rights that it claims to be and is yet another diversion from the creation of a truly cage-free state.

motivation on any given day probably wouldn’t be significantly different from the numbers of absent seniors on Senior Ditch Day. In addition, Senior Ditch Day can constitute a break from the stress of school and conduce better mental health.

Academic worries, such as the fluctuating grades of a particular class or managing homework, put additional and unnecessary pressure on students, and, according to the New York Times, “doctors and educators also worry that stress tied to academic achievement can lead to depression, eating disorders and other mental health problems.”

Seniors also have to contend with the extra stress of the college admissions process in the fall semester.

According to the World Health Organization, “worldwide, 10 to 20 percent of children and adolescents experience mental disorders. If untreated, these conditions severely influence children’s development, their educational attainments and their potential to live fulfilling and productive lives.” A momentary hiatus from academic responsibilities could provide students with the opportunity to recharge and recover. Senior Ditch Day is, in addition to being a tradition, also a way for students to relax and catch up on their social lives. “[People can be] struggling to handle stress, regulate their thoughts, or manage their emotions. And a day or two away from the office [or school] might give them an opportunity to practice the self-care they need to get back on track,” Amy Morin, author of “How To Know When You Need a Mental Health Day” in Psychology Today, said.

Establishing Senior Ditch Day as an official holiday for the seniors, with excused absences, would reward increased student participation and be more beneficial for the school district, teachers and students, and would be preferable to penalties.

Although the school would lose money on that day, students would be encouraged to attend classes more often in exchange for Senior Ditch Day. Using the senior tradition as an incentive and even benefiting from it would be more favorable for the school, because the increased student attendance would make up for the loss of money. The practice of unfairly penalizing students for taking part in a decades-old tradition would stop, as it should.

art by kristen ching/falcon artist

A senior tradition and unofficial holiday, Senior Ditch Day occurs every year at TPHS on the first day of November. However, because the SDUHSD loses money when students don’t go to their classes, some teachers have been known to enforce student attendance by assigning tests or projects on the same day, which is unfair for the seniors who want to relax and participate in a tradition.

The tradition, which goes back as far as the 1970s in the U.S., according to an Los Angeles Times article on the California Institute of Technology’s Senior Ditch Day in 1979, has been a nightmare for teachers and administrators and fun for the seniors participating. Although some schools encourage the tradition, TPHS does not.

Most public schools in California, unlike schools in other states, receive money based on average daily student attendance rather than the total number of students attending the school.

Therefore, TPHS loses money — about $46 per day per student, according to the SDUHSD — with every student absence. And when about a quarter of the school is absent on Senior Ditch Day, in addition to students missing school due to illnesses or other reasons, the school loses massive amounts of money, roughly $29,900 for one day, to be exact.

Due to those financial realities, TPHS encourages students to stay on campus and teachers to motivate their students to attend their classes, especially on Senior Ditch Day. Teachers who typically enforce student attendance on Senior Ditch Day do so by holding tests or making a projects due on the same day, which would be detrimental to the grades of the students who skipped school. Students concerned for their academic success attend class for those tests or projects, but those who don’t have academic incentive are more likely to skip.

On the other hand, Senior Ditch Day only occurs one day per semester. The absence of about a fourth of the school may seem large, but such absences on only two days in the school year couldn’t be excessively harmful, because then the school would have taken more serious action.

Furthermore, the number of seniors absent due to “senioritis” or a perpetual lack of

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We seemed aliens that dwelled in two separate worlds: me, the outsider inside the circle, and them, the insiders lining its circumference.

June 21, 2018. Ahmadbass Village.

I am stuck in a staring contest with India’s poorest children. Children who, despite their dirtied clothes and calloused feet, represent the fortunate few of their village youth who are digitally literate or educated.

Namaste — Hello, Ahmadbass. I come in peace.

On the drive from Ahmadbass back to Sehgal Foundation, where I’ve been chosen by the World Food Prize Foundation to intern for the next eight weeks, Shipra — my mentor — asked me if there was anything surprising about the day’s village visit.

“I felt guilty, listening to that girl who said her lifelong dream is to walk among the mountains when raindrops fall,” I answered.

Hearing my response, Shipra gently chided me, “You can be upset, that’s perfectly fine. But you can’t keep on being sad; use your frustration as a motivator to instill positive change.”

Throughout the one-on-one interviews and Focus Group Discussions I have conducted with the digital literacy students since then, I stopped alienating myself from my interviewees.

Rather than the slightly distant and reserved tone I’d normally use when interviewing or writing stories for my high school paper (which I have so much to thank for), I developed a new style, or a new image, when working “out in the field,” a popular jargon coolly tossed back and

is far more likely that they believe her but don’t Ford’s account, to minimizing the situation in care about what happened to her, because Puerto Rico, to keeping children in cages at whether or not Kavanaugh committed the acts the border, the leaders of this country have he has been accused of won’t interfere with his demonstrated little ability to empathize with ability to rule conservatively and in President anyone but white males like themselves. It’s Donald Trump’s favor on the court. According to time we restored human decency. a CNN poll, 89 percent of Republicans supported Kavanaugh’s confirmation after hearing from Blasey Ford, compared to 74 percent prior to the hearing. Those who align themselves with a political ideology that denies women their right to reproductive freedom don’t care about women, and the past month’s events have only reinforced that notion.

So how do we bring morals back to the U.S.? By instilling them in younger generations and by voting for people who represent them.

A study conducted by the Center for American Progress concluded that only eight states, including California, and the District of Columbia require that consent or sexual assault be covered in public school sex education programs. That study makes the rampant sexual assaults on college campuses a little easier to understand.

By the time that college students go through the consent education programs put on by their schools, it’s often too late. All 50 states should be teaching consent, starting with nonsexual situations, from a young age.

From blatantly art by amrita moturi/falcon artist disregarding Blasey

forth among the other interns that really only translates to collecting data from the village.

Also, in the process of undergoing such experiences I slowly started to perceive journalism, a subject I have literally spent every day of my middle and high school days exploring, as a creative art form, without even realizing it. Although I have always been an avid writer and that aggravating “Grammar Nazi” who would lash out at a friend’s incorrect use of an idiomatic expression, never before had I tested or fine-tuned my journalistic style as passionately as I did in India.

For these children, whose voices fail to reach beyond their own village, I wanted to be the first outsider to listen to and spark meaningful change through their tragic stories of scarcity and injustice.

And, in return, Ahmadbass and its people have changed me for the better: global hunger fighter, human rights activist and better world citizen are all titles I can confidently take on now — each accompanied by a warm tingle of energy. Beyond that, Ahmadbass has carved within me a fascination for all of the human experience — like my newfound appreciation for the subtle power of body language, which I relied on more than ever due to oppressive language barriers.

Finally, rural India has given me keener eyes.

I am now able to trace Ahmadbass’ patriarchy in the way its daughters creep the schoolyard in small clusters like little ghosts, and in the way they timidly dip their heads in the presence of Satvik — another intern at Sehgal — thanks to

his “superior” sex.

From pioneering four projects — which included creating digital presentations on the Indian governance system, developing a literature review on the Gender Digital Divide and devising ways to impart creative storytelling skills on uneducated village children — to penning an intensive, 60-page report about society’s impact on girls’ access to technology in rural Mewat, I have accomplished and matured since June 21.

There are times, though, when the same sadness I was warned not to dwell on too much bleeds into my conscience, like the other day at Target when I spotted a shining saree (traditional garment) in a noisy crowd of wool and denim.

Memories of the Anganwadi (child care) workers and lactating mothers of Ahmadbass came flooding back, and the 13,063-kilometer distance between my interviewees — my new friends — and me was reaffirmed.

In an air-conditioned room later that afternoon, I began journaling about the story of

photo courtesy of kahyun koh

A few weeks ago, my math class completed a classwork assignment involving Barbies. Once everyone had finished the activity, many of us played with the dolls until we received further instruction. I flinched when I turned around and saw one boy take a Barbie and, in front of his friends, put the doll on his crotch and thrust.

I wanted to say something; I should have said something; I didn’t say anything. It was two seconds, I don’t know him, and I had a feeling that my “Don’t do that” or “That’s not ok” would be met with a blank “What are you talking about?” look, even with three friends watching, who probably also would have said nothing and continued laughing.

The issue with this situation is that if Barbie had been a woman — with a life and feelings and maybe even a family and goals — instead of an inanimate doll, it likely would have ended the same way.

I’m not saying they should have asked for the Barbie’s consent, nor am I insinuating that those boys committed a sexual assault or that the incident means that they will in the future.

What I saw was disgusting and inappropriate, but I, like many others, am tempted to brush it off as “teenage boy behavior.” That should not be the case.

If Barbie sex pantomime jokes were where

it stopped, women would rejoice because right now even more heinous behavior is regarded as acceptable. A Montana woman, on the topic of one of three sexual assault allegations made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said that groping is fair game.

“Groping a woman … at 18, how many guys do you know who think that’s no big deal?” she says in a video, turning to her teenage daughters who nod in agreement. “It’s not a big deal; it doesn’t take away from his character.”

Am I surprised? How could I be, when the current president was elected after the entire nation heard a recording of him flaunting his power to do whatever he wants to women because of his status? After 20 women accused him of sexual assault, harassment and attempted rape?

It’s not fair. I, a 17-year-old girl, deserve to be surprised. I deserve to be surprised when I hear that a man creating, interpreting or enforcing the laws in my country — the one that I’m supposed to think is the greatest in the world — has been accused of sexual assault. I deserve to be surprised when I hear that mothers are teaching their daughters that it’s ok for boys to grope them and that it is not a reflection of their characters. But time and time again I come downstairs in the morning, I see the news, and I feel nothing. For a split second, I feel angry, but my anger has evolved into a slowly constricting knot in my stomach because this problem is one of opposing values. The United States is trying to calibrate a moral compass to two contending settings simultaneously, and right now the wrong one has a stronger magnetic field.

The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh’s appointment to the highest court in the nation after witnessing Christine Blasey Ford’s compelling testimony of her alleged assault by Kavanaugh when the two were in high school.

While the senators claimed that the lack of evidence suggests that no assault took place, it

the insiders — now divided into blog posts that have since attracted hopeful views, “likes” and comments from hundreds of internet users all over the world. I hope my village friends are as proud of our blog, my portion of which is yet to be completed, as I am.

In the end, that single saree taught me it’s okay to be openly grateful for — but certainly not complacent about — my life, which to me appears strikingly more simple than the villagers’. I’ve also learned that it takes steps seemingly small in size yet really boundless in influence, like our blog, to fulfill my dreams of eradicating worldwide poverty and famine.

Above all, I learned how two aliens can somehow find a way to love and understand one another through universal commonalities that are as beautiful as they are ancient and everlasting. While I may remain an eternal outsider to my special friends, I now stand in a smaller circle — or a smaller chasm cutting in between our lives — and that in itself is more than I could ever wish for.

Over the National Football League’s nearly 100-year lifespan, it’s had its fair share of controversial rules. Just in the past decade, there’s been a controversial catch rule, causing football fans to second guess every single catch their favorite team makes that involves a player going to the ground or the ball shifting even a centimeter in a player’s hands. Now comes another overreaction by the NFL, this time regarding the most important player on the field: the quarterback.

The “Roughing the Passer” penalty has existed for decades and pertains to any situation where a defender either hits a quarterback a few seconds after he’s thrown a pass or the quarterback is hit in the head by the defender.

It’s a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. Up until this season, roughing the passer calls were scarce and correct in the eyes of fans.

Now, halfway into the season, fans, critics and players are outraged at roughing the passer calls.

During the off-season the NFL added a clause to the roughing the passer rule in the NFL Official 2018 Rulebook that states “a rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as ‘stuffing’ a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball.”

In layman’s terms, defenders can no longer hit a quarterback and land on them with their

As Democrats vie for a blue wave in November, the race for California’s 50th district is being closely watched. Incumbent Duncan Hunter was expected to win, but new developments have garnered more support for his Democratic opponent, Ammar CampaNajjar. While Hunter’s indictment, racism and Islamophobia make him a horrible choice, Campa-Najjar is not the lesser of two evils, but actually a great candidate himself.

Duncan Hunter bluntly said in a campaign attack ad that Campa-Najjar is attempting to infiltrate Congress and that it is risky to elect Campa-Najjar due to his Islamic roots and radical Islamist beliefs. Hunter implied that CampaNajjar changed his name to hide his “family ties to terrorism” because his grandfather is accused of being the mastermind behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

“Ammar Campa-Najjar: A risk we can’t ignore … he changed his name from Ammar Yasser Najjar to Ammar Campa-Najjar so he sounds Hispanic ... that is how hard, by the way, that the radical Muslims are trying to infiltrate the U.S. government,” Hunter said in the ad.

It is unfair to judge or blame Campa-Najjar for the actions of his grandfather, who was killed 16 years before Campa-Najjar’s birth.

Campa-Najjar was raised mostly by his mother and uncle, who are Hispanic and Christian like him. Even if Campa-Najjar were Muslim, to say that he poses a threat to our country is malicious, especially considering the amount of law-abiding Muslims who reside in the U.S. The fact that someone is Muslim

“body weight.” On paper, the rule change didn’t seem unreasonable, but then the season began.

To put things into perspective, there were a total of 107 roughing the passer calls made during the 2017 season. After five weeks of this season, the number of calls made was already 48. As with most rule-change controversies, the problem stems from how inconsistent referees are in calling the foul. In one scrappy game, when the Green Bay Packers hosted their division rival Minnesota Vikings, both quarterbacks took hits throughout the contest with no roughing the passer calls. Then, with less than two minutes to go and down by eight, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was hit by Packers defensive end Clay Matthews after throwing the ball. The pass ended up being picked off, which would have won the game for the Packers. Instead, the referee called roughing the passer, because Matthews used his “body weight” to slam Cousins to the ground, ultimately ending the game in a tie.

In reality, Matthews hit Cousins not even a second after he released the ball, negating the call that it was a late hit, and he even used his arm to avoid landing on Cousins with his whole body. Matthews did not escape these calls in later games either, getting called for the same foul the next week on an actual sack. Not a hit after the quarterback threw it, but a sack where the quarterback still had the ball on him. Never had a sack been flagged for roughing the passer, until this year.

The calls are costing teams games, and the premise of it all doesn’t make sense. Most of these hits occur within a second of the ball being thrown or even without it being thrown at all. The defensive players usually dive out to hit

the quarterback, yet they are expected to be able to catch themselves at full speed, in the air, and not land on top of the player, which goes directly against the form tackling they use for everyone else.

I understand what the NFL is trying to do.

After Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone last year when a defender landed on him awkwardly, the NFL wants to protect quarterbacks against seasonending injuries on somewhat meaningless hits. The season is less exciting with injured quarterbacks, which means less viewers and less money for the NFL. But that doesn’t justify their creation of a rule that goes against the nature of the sport and the way players have been taught to tackle. It is a sport full of people knocking each other down, and quarterbacks aren’t exempt from that. Just this year, a Miami Dolphins defender, William Hayes, suffered a season-ending ACL tear while attempting to avoid a roughing the passer call.

does not make them any less faithful to this country.

When working in Barack Obama’s administration, Campa-Najjar received security clearance in the White House and the Labor Department, and passed an FBI background check. The Bureau is more than qualified to perform security checks.

It is ironic that Hunter says, even after the

security check, that Campa-Najjar is a risk, since Hunter himself is incapable of obtaining security clearance due to his indictment. On Aug. 21, Hunter and his wife were indicted on 60 counts of wire fraud, falsifying records and campaign finance violations issued by the federal grand jury of the Southern District of California Court. According to the San Diego U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Hunters had planned to misuse $250,000 in campaign funds for personal purchases, including a plane ticket for a family pet, dentist and water bills, and their children’s school lunches.

“I’m working to ... hold government accountable for how it spends our money,” Hunter said.

What he says and what he does are two different things. He says he wants to hold the government accountable to taxpayers but he was indicted for spending taxpayer money on himself

I’m not upset with touching up the roughing the passer rule. But the way the rule was drafted gives too much power to referees to interpret it how they want, causing inconsistencies and bad calls that even the NFL has come out against.

The bottom line is that this new addition to the roughing the passer penalty needs to be changed. At the very least, the NFL should provide clarity regarding what is considered roughing the passer and what is not. Otherwise, more games will be decided by bad penalties, more defenders will get hurt trying to avoid the foul, and many more players, coaches and analysts will speak out against an organization that’s already on thin ice.

art by sam mathe/falcon artist

art by eve gross-sable/falcon artist

and his family. Duncan Hunter is a hypocrite, and he and his wife are incredibly corrupt.

Beyond his xenophobia and misuse of campaign money, Hunter’s policies and stances are wrong for San Diego Hunter does not believe in climate change, wants to allow open oil drilling in the United States to lower gas prices and is firmly against the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission to lower greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, he has voted against carbon dioxide pollution limits.

“Maybe we should ... stop breathing to stop the CO2… The Earth can take care of itself,” Hunter said.

While Hunter’s corruptness makes his candidacy beyond unattractive, Campa-Najjar would shine next to Hunter with or without the indictment. His policies and stances are appropriate for California’s 50th district.

His stance on climate change has never been more vital. The United Nations said that by 2030, catastrophic events on Earth will occur if precautions aren’t taken. That’s why Hunter, who is against cutting greenhouse gas emissions, is not fit to represent our district.

Campa-Najjar supports immediate actions needed to prevent catastrophe.

Furthermore, Campa-Najjar’s experience makes him qualified for the job. He was the Deputy Regional Field Director of Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012. Shortly after, he joined the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, while also being a part of the Office of Public Affairs of the Employment and Training Administration.

According to his campaign website, “he doubled and diversified the number of Registered Apprenticeships in America.”

He is also dedicated to helping America’s small business, demonstrated by his founding of ACN Strategies, a consulting firm which helps small businesses and nonprofits with small budgets.

Campa-Najjar is far from a xenophobic, constituent-defrauding climate change denier and is exactly the person that San Diegans need representing them in Congress.

bub¡ ble a noun used to refer to a good or fortunate situation /’b b( )l/ that is isolated from reality or unlikely to last e e

It is no surprise that people live in isolating bubbles or are blithely existing inside places where their lives are vastly different from those in other areas. Whatever the reason is for their differences, living inside a sheltered environment, like the suburbs around TPHS, can have a vast range of effects on how students view themselves and the rest of the world. The bubble can have benefits, like safety and security, but can also create the mistaken impression that everyone leads happy, comfortable lives. In doing so, bubbles give rise to culture shock as graduating Falcons venture out from their restrictive bubbles and into the real world. The Falconer explores how our environment and religion affect the bubble we live in and what steps we can take to minimize the ill effects.

surroundings

I will never forget that day I was sitting in an office in downtown San Diego with a girl from Rancho Bernardo High School named Rachel* as we discussed our schools.

“So, what school do you go to?” Rachel asked.

“Torrey Pines,” I replied.

“Oh, you mean the rich kid school,” she said.

I was shocked, but not very surprised.

Staring at the Land Rovers and Mercedes that cover the parking lot like a blanket of superficial wealth, I have thought to myself that TPHS was a rich school, but never before had thought other people perceived us as such.

My surprise is the result of “the bubble,” a term popularized by Charles Murray, a political scientist who argues that the super wealthy live in superZIPs: “areas cloistered together, with little to no exposure to American culture at large.”

Because the middle and lower classes constitute such a large percentage of the American population, Murray claims that their culture defines the American culture.

Those who live in upper-middle class or upper class communities lack exposure to the lives of those in the middle and lower classes and, therefore, are shielded from the realties of most American lives.

Carmel Valley, Solana Beach, Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe are all clustered in the middle of San Diego County in a bubble that becomes evident in a 20- or 30-minute drive south on the I-5.

“You can take a 20-minute drive to certain places, and you just see the difference between what is common for you and what is common [for the people who live there],” Channing Magee (11) said. “You then realize that what’s shocking to you is their everyday life.”

These other areas — Lemon Grove, El Cajon, National City and Imperial Beach — have extremely different socio-economic profiles from the TPHS community.

“Whenever I go to Convoy [south of TPHS], my parents always want me to stay safe because they’re so wary of the things that go on there,” Amrita Moturi (11) said.

While areas such as Solana Beach have a median annual household income of about $100,000 and median home prices of $1,000,000 according to the U.S. census, Lemon Grove’s median home value is around $450,000, while their median income is about $51,496.

A $50,000 median gap in income and $500,000 gap in home prices is manifested in a 20-mile radius, and that’s in Southern California, where all home values are inflated compared to most other areas of the country. “[Going to these places], I would definitely say you may find yourself in a situation where your environment truly has totally flipped, and you’re on the opposite side of things,” Magee said.

Even being exposed to the life of those in a different economic class, though, does not necessarily signify that one is escaping the bubble.

“If your parents made you help out in a soup kitchen during high school, and you volunteered for Habitat for Humanity during college, you might have had brief exposure to some of the most downtrodden people and disorganized neighborhoods,” Murray said in an interview with NPR. “But you still have little idea what life is like in an ordinary working-class or middle-class neighborhood.”

For TPHS kids who have lived in less-developed countries, differences in environment are much more apparent.

“When I moved to India, I attended an international school,” Moturi said.

“There, schools weren’t segregated based on economic status; we had kids from every walk of life.”

Moturi’s classes at the International School of Hyderabad consisted of students who lived in mansions, small houses and even the less affluent areas of her town of Hyderabad, India.

“It was a bit of a shock coming from the U.S. where I had attended school with kids who all lived very similar, upper-class lives. I wasn’t exposed to as much diversity, and that lack of diversity really constricts the worldview of the kids who live in the TPHS area,” Moturi said.

The shock doesn’t only impact those coming to TPHS, but those leaving the school as well.

Sammy Hallal (‘18), a freshman at Tulane University in New Orleans, has experienced firsthand how the bubble of affluence impacts new college students.

“All the differences become apparent,” Hallal said. “[Moving] to a city so drastically different definitely takes some getting used to coming from TPHS, where everybody comes from the same place. [People] come here and it’s a shock. You see all this poverty everywhere, and you’re like, ‘What the hell? I didn’t know people were living like this.’”

Sara Shoushtari (‘17), a sophomore at Boston University, did not realize the characteristics that defined Carmel Valley until she left.

“I think it’s just less quiet, really in Carmel Valley nothing ever happens,” Shoushtari said.

“The kind of biggest shock is like, oh, people don’t disappear into their house at like, 8 p.m.

People can walk around and go out.”

But even then, the bubble never completely dissipates even after college.

“I think post-graduation I’d still like to live in urban areas as an young adult,” Shoushtari said. “But I think long term wise, San Diego and areas like it have its benefits because it is such a stable environment ... I understand why my parents decided to live in San Diego and raise me there.”

California doesn’t have an estate tax. With no estate tax, which allows states to levy a tax on a deceased person’s estate before their estate is dispersed to their heirs, money is further concentrated in the hands of already wealthy families. If you are the only child of a rich family living in California, with no estate tax, all your family money will likely continue to be safely placed in your possession. The federal “death tax,” as it has come to be known, is now only imposed on estates of more than $11 million, further concentrating wealth in the hands of a relative few.

“Much of the transmission of wealth to [future] generations goes through earlier life processes, such as supporting children’s education, supporting their ability to purchase a home, or to get married,” said Fabian Pfeffer, a sociologist from the University of Michigan, in his study “How Wealth Inequality Shapes our Future.” “All of these — education, homeownership, marriage — in turn, help you accumulate wealth.”

“The kind of programs that we offer, like AP or in the math department or through extracurriculars, are definitely on par with private schools across the country,” Shoushtari said.

The bubble seems to then transform into not only an environmental one, but also one that floats into the future.

“People in [the TPHS] area tend to go on to be the rich, influential people in life,” Samuel Jafek (11) said. “It influences whatever jobs and whatever else they’re going to do. It leads to more benefits.”

The rich kid school label may be one that we can never get rid of. Soon, we’ll go off to college and become adults living in another bubble. The labels we wear do not fully leave, but change.

by Bea De Oliveira *Name changed for anonymity

religion

Laura Walton (‘18) was eight years old when she was baptized — a small, blonde child, too young to understand what being baptized meant. Raised in a Mormon family, she was used to going to church regularly but began doubting her religion as she got older.

“When I was in middle school, I wished I wasn’t religious because I felt so out of place and felt like I was missing out on [other things],” Walton said.

Rhea Gandhi (11), who practices Hinduism, shares this sentiment.

“Sometimes it is hard to divide my time between attending religious functions and other activities that may seem fun,” Gandhi said. “I’ve had to prioritize religious events, even if they take more effort.”

Because of her religion, Walton often felt like she didn’t fit in during those years, as most kids didn’t “take the time to really understand each other and their backgrounds,” according to Walton.

Unlike Mormon communities in Utah, where over 62 percent of the population is Mormon and people of all ages share similar values and beliefs, this is not the case in Carmel Valley.

While Walton thought Carmel Valley was “a place of acceptance that has a variety of people from different backgrounds,” she said residents don’t talk openly about their religious beliefs, and a single religion does not unite the community as a whole.

“I think people are too concerned about being politically correct,” Walton said. “And most people just don’t really care to talk about [religion].”

Gandhi cites a variety of factors for why people don’t openly discuss religion in Carmel Valley.

“Many people don’t make their religion a big deal, as [Carmel Valley is] a generally diverse area,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi also believes that the affluence of the community may lead many to place a higher emphasis on education than religion.

On the other hand, Walton does not believe that wealth and religion are correlated, but that people’s religious practices depend on how they were raised — one prime example being her own family.

Despite undergoing a brief period in middle school when she was hesitant to identify with the church in her largely non-religious community, Walton began to feel a stronger connection to her church during her junior year.

“I had to really decide for myself if being a member of the church was something I wanted to continue throughout my life,” Walton said.

Since she had other struggles going on in her life at the time, religion helped her get through “hard times and come out a better person.” Having the church by her side not only during difficult times, but also on a daily basis, Walton now feels a stronger connection to it.

“As a whole, Carmel Valley is less religious than other areas,” Walton said. “[But my differences] made me value religion a lot more. A lot of my friends who weren’t religious seemed kind of lost.”

She, however, was given a relationship with God and found answers to philosophical questions, such as “what happens after death,” through religion.

“My religion has instilled values and faith in me,” Walton said. “It has allowed me to view the world differently and has given me a sense of purpose in life, which I believe a lot of youth don’t have.”

Jesse Jacobs, a Christian pastor at Grace Church located in North Park, understands Walton’s views on religion. “[During] my senior year at UCSD, I realized what was more important to me are things that last for eternity: family and helping people,” Jacobs said.

“So my values shifted; that’s why I ended up deciding to become a pastor and help people understand who God is.”

When he turned to the church, Jacobs was an economics major and had just been released from jail due to drug abuse; since then he has been a pastor for seven years.

“All of my family members realized that it actually was a really, really great thing,” Jacobs said. “We, the leaders of the church and I, have grown because of God in our life, and then we teach about that.”

For Nabeeha Zobair (11), Islam is more than just a religion: it’s a way of life.

“It’s being kind to others and giving back to the community,” Zobair said.

Born into Islam, Zobair has always loved her religion, despite “there being fewer Muslims in [Carmel Valley]” and strict religious rules to follow, like wearing certain clothes, praying five times a day and abstaining from pork.

“There are probably fewer Muslims in this area,” Zobair said. “I know more than 10 Muslim people who go to our school, [but] there are probably more.”

Despite the few Muslims she knows at school, Zobair “goes to a mosque every weekend” and often interacts with other Muslims in the greater community.

Similarly, Walton attended church weekly, and, as her recently-earned driver’s license increased her freedom to decide what to do with her Sundays, the choice to grab her car keys and continue attending church was obvious.

Now, as a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Mormonism continues to play a role in Walton’s life, but in different ways than before. For instance, she enjoys staying close to her relatives who live in Utah and having an abundance of classmates who share similar values with her. In those ways, Walton’s campus life at BYU widely differs from her life at TPHS. “We have to take at least one religion class every semester,” Walton said.

“It’s also very different because it is a religious school, and a lot of what happens here is centered around our church.”

Another place where church is integrated into programs at school is Chattanooga, Tennessee, named the most Bible-minded city, according to the American Bible Society. With around 59 percent of residents reporting attending church at least once a week compared to 38 percent nationwide, there are churches “everywhere you go” in this city of 180,000 people. Located in the Bible Belt, Chattanooga also has integrated religious programs, such as the Bible in Schools program, into some of its schools.

“Bible in Schools is an elective course for middle schoolers and up; it focuses on the Bible as history and literature only, and is not used to proselytize,” said Danny Hesterly, the executive pastor at the Chattanooga City Church.

According to Hesterly, the average person in the southern U.S. goes to church more often because of pre-existing religious traditions in those places.

“There is a strong church history within the founding of Chattanooga and its early leaders,” Hesterly said. “The majority of churches still meet more than a Sunday service.”

Hesterly wants to eliminate the notion that everyone in the Bible Belt is religious. In fact, 41 percent of the city is “unchurched.”

“Church is important,” Hesterly said. “But so is my son’s soccer game. [I’m] a normal dad who goes to church, hangs with other people and loves my family.”

Hesterly also wants others to realize that the goal of most churchgoers, including himself, is “to live out their faith wherever their feet take them and to express the love of God in a way that shows them a different way of life,” not just to be more holy or to convene with others to worship God at church.

For Zobair, world history classes and opportunities to learn about different religions have exposed her to new ideas and taught her “more than she thought she knew” about her classmates’ beliefs. According to her, such exposure can reduce religious stereotypes and help others feel more open to religion talks.

According to Zobair, learning about Islam can also help prevent misunderstandings, such as the idea that women are forced to wear hijabs to cover their hair, when “it’s [actually] a choice.”

While such misconceptions may stem from a lack of exposure to Muslims, Carmel Valley makes Zobair feel welcome, especially during Ramadan.

“I can’t eat or drink the whole day, but my friends are very supporting of that,” Zobair said.

This is a view shared by all three girls: Carmel Valley’s diversity is a large reason why residents are so welcoming to all religions.

“If I had lived in an area where there was less religious diversity, I wouldn’t have had as great an understanding of other people’s beliefs,” Gandhi said.

Exposure to these beliefs is crucial to avoiding a bubble of misconception and stereotype, especially those fueled by conflicts around the world or lack of exposure to different belief systems, according to Zobair.

“There are conflicts going around in the world related to Islam,” Zobair said.

“Carmel Valley views Muslims well; they don’t think anything bad of them, which I’m grateful for.”

by Colette Chiang

When faced with the daunting prospect of applying to colleges and the hyper-competitive process of getting into them, students tend to manipulate their class schedules and daily lives to fit universities’ expectations of the ideal student. While there are students who participate in activities for the sake of another footnote on their extensive résumés, genuine interest in extracurricular activities still exists.

An active participant in Academic Team, Math Club and Science Olympiad, Saeji Hong (10) enjoys playing the piano and violin, as well as soccer and track.

Because each activity demands its own personal responsibilities, it may be difficult for students to commit to each one. However, depth of involvement and genuine interest is precisely what college admission officers look for in students who pursue a wide variety of extracurriculars.

“There might be a student that’s in five activities and really dedicated to those five activities, but that’s not to say that a student who’s doing just two activities isn’t just as dedicated,” said Annie Weilson, a college admissions officer from NYU. “We’re looking more closely at the amount of hours students spend as part of an activity [and] the years they spend to see their involvement over time.”

According to Weilson, being a productive participant in an activity is indicative of a student’s character; colleges search for students’ passion for extracurricular organizations, not just superficial involvement. Finding this passion may be easier than it seems in a supposedly résume-driven student population for dedicated students like Hong, who believes his passion drives him to excel in his activities.

“I push myself further and practice intensively leading up to a [music] competition to do better than what I personally thought [I could achieve],” Hong said. “I need this mentality to lead to good results or else I might start to lose motivation to try as hard over an extended period of time, after many bad results.”

Alina Ho (11), a member of the TPHS Water Polo Team, Science Olympiad and Speech and Debate, also has a busy schedule due to the many extracurricular activities she’s in.

“As I started doing stuff, I figured out what I like and what I don’t like doing, and I don’t think it’s worth doing extracurriculars and not being committed to them or not doing your best in them if you’re just gonna do it to put on some [college] application,” Ho said. “You might as well do it and love it rather than just BS it.”

However, Ho does feel pressured to attend college, and, more specifically, a top-tier college, which she says is common among TPHS students.

“Definitely, I feel pressure from my peers, because here at Torrey Pines [the students are] all amazing.

But to each their own,” Ho said.

Matt Chess, a teacher who oversees two volunteerbased clubs, National Honor Society and California

Scholarship Federation, feels that some students participate in the clubs he advises in order to add to their college applications.

“In a hyper-competitive school like this, there’s a cultural understanding that [the students] are all going off to college,” said Chess.

Nevertheless, a significant portion of the students in his clubs still appear to have a genuine passion for volunteering.

“I think there are people who look to pad their resumes. [But] I will tell you this: I don’t think I would be 15 years into running those two clubs if [it] wasn’t so amazing to watch the kids who aren’t there for [college applications],” Chess said. “So I don’t just discount that there are some kids that just want to represent themselves that way. I just see a ton of kids actively giving their time.”

Colleges also tend to view students and their extracurricular activities in a positive light, believing in the validity of the activities they put on their application and those students’ participation. “[We can] tell if a student is really involved if they have leadership or they’re working on certain projects as part of that activity,” Weilson said. “But it’s really hard to determine from what we’re seeing on our end when a student’s level of participation is outside of the amount of hours he or she puts down.”

Although Ho was initially reluctant to take up so many activities for fear of time management conflicts, she developed a true passion for each activity over the years. Like Hong, her passion inspired her to excel in those activities, and she has found that involvement in a wide range of activities has allowed her become a more well-rounded person.

“I choose a wide array of extracurriculars … [to] develop as a person and also have a wide foundation of interests that I can build upon,” Ho said. “That’s why I value them, rather than valuing them for the sake of getting into college.”

However, there are repercussions that come with dedication to so many activities as well. Committed students often have to spread themselves thin, which can cause emotional and physical consequences.

Stress becomes an everyday part of life, for example.

“Stress is a big thing; you’re always working,” Hong said. “I don’t have any free time besides [when I’m] sleeping. Stress mounts up.”

With a full schedule, it can also be difficult to find time for stress outlets; time spent with family and friends becomes precious. While Hong still prioritizes and sets aside time for his friends, he believes his emotional health would benefit from an even greater social life.

“My stress relieves [itself] either from going out with my friends or just having time to myself,” Hong said. “If I could ask for one thing, I would ask for more time with my friends.”

To find time for school, friends and activities, Ho and Hong find themselves cutting into their already limited sleep time. Accustomed to the lack of sleep, they feel value after enduring a long day’s worth of work because it ultimately gives them more time to chase after their passions.

“I don’t have a sleep schedule … I definitely get a lot less sleep,” Ho said. “[Sleeping less] brings a sense of satisfaction when you do a lot of stuff.”

In the long run, the enjoyment derived from students’ many activities can alleviate some of their anxiety, which is something Ho and Hong agree on.

In fact, Ho considers herself fortunate for being able to pursue her goals without too much parental stress, which is a common source of anxiety for teens.

“It’s mostly me just putting pressure on myself because I always know that I can do better,” Ho said.

“I’m kind of lucky in that regard. [My parents] know that my best I can [do] is a higher standard.”

Despite the lack of sleep and pressure Ho and Hong face, they, like many other students, continue to participate and excel in their respective extracurriculars out of genuine passion and ambition.

by Esther Choi and Kevin Song

Accounting Engineering Technology Business Administration Dramatic Arts Biotechnology Nursing Mechanical Design Media Arts Automotive Technology Marketing Entrepreneurship Child Development Computer Science Horticulture Kinesiology Cybersecurity Music Technology Administration of Justice Surgical Technology

LEARN MORE. EARN MORE. miracosta.edu

As a freshman, Ryan Li’s (11) rap songs and music videos were merely a joke. Three years later, he stepped out onto the stage at The Ryan Center in Rhode Island, opening as Yung Chrome for popular rapper Rich the Kid. With over 12,000 views on his YouTube channel, 2,000 plays on his Soundcloud and 7,000 Instagram followers, Li has gained quite a fandom since his humble beginning.

“I make music that’s in the genre of rap,” Li said.

“It’s more like the new style of rap, not that old school, record-type stuff.”

His music is inspired by artists Lil Uzi Vert, Juice WRLD and Lil Mosey. However, there is “no real definition to [his] style.”

“It’s just something unique, something that’s different from everyone else,” Li said.

Li writes all of his own songs.

“My lyrics are based off the life that I’m living and based on the life that I want to live,” Li said. “My whole life I’ve been surrounded by music.”

Li plays piano, clarinet and cello. He also learned how to create hip-hop music on a professional level by taking music-making courses at studios. “[The songwriting process] depends on if I have a producer or not, but I always go for the instrumental or beat first, and then I just flow on the beat,” Li said.

“After I find a certain flow that is catchy, I write my lyrics to that.”

But the music is not the only major aspect of Li’s art, as his music videos have received thousands of views on YouTube.

“My first music video is no longer on YouTube. It was [called] “Who Am I” and the style of rapping was completely different from the style [I do] right now,” Li said. “It was really bad quality as well. My brother filmed it on the family camera.”

He has come a long way since then. His most recent music video, “New Beamer,” was produced professionally by Wet Visuals, a video production company. The other video on his channel, “Up Next,” was made by Li with his friends, but it was also of high quality and received over 3,000 views.

More than just visual appeal, it is important for Li to represent his Chinese culture in his art.

“In my ‘New Beamer’ video, I wore this traditional Chinese top, and I had Chinese words on it … to show my culture because rap right now is incorporating multiple cultures into it, and the Asian culture is starting to be a big part of it,” Li said. “So I felt like incorporating [something] that reflects myself and the Asian influence in rap.”

Li looks at Indonesian artist Rich Brian and

Asian hip-hop label 88rising as role models for Asian representation in the hip-hop music industry.

For musicians, it’s can be hard to balance their musical career and other responsibilities; Li devotes a significant amount of his time to music creation.

“Each song used to take me about a whole day to create, but now, since I’ve got more professional and have gotten used to it, it takes me about two to three hours to make a full song so I can probably grind out a few songs everyday,” Li said.

Li’s music career is backed by his loved ones.

“My friends really support me,” Li said. “They supported me ever since day one. When I was bad, they still supported me.”

His parents also support his creative efforts and dedication to music.

After three years of creating music and videos, Li had that first show at The Ryan Center, sharing the bill for Rich the Kid. “It was my first performance ever,” Li said. “It was [an] overall nice experience, and I met a lot of people — famous people as well — so I got a lot of connections.”

Unlike other high schoolers, who might feel nervous performing for the first time in front of 3,000 people, Li was fully confident in himself.

“I knew I was going to perform well — I just didn’t know if the crowd would like it,” Li said. “The crowd actually loved my music, they [were] all vibing with it.”

Li got the gig through Dee Gomes, a Rhode Island rapper who was to open the show.

“Dee Gomes’ manager [contacted] me on Instagram.

He really liked my style and really liked my music and saw a lot of potential, so he invited me to perform,” Li said.

However, Li doesn’t plan to stop there. He has another show in the works with another big name artist — PnB Rock. “[PnB Rock] hit me [up on Instagram]. He really liked my new song, ‘New Beamer.’” Li said. “He followed me … and he wants to help me get my name out there even more.”

For now, Li thinks that he will continue to pursue musical career in the future.

“I feel like music is going to be my main career,” Li said, “because that’s what I’m most interested in and I have a lot of motivation in it.”

For Li, what used to be a way to have a little fun grew into a serious career. After his first performance, it seems like that the Rich the Kid concert is only the first step on his journey as Yung Chrome.

As Li said in one of his songs, “[I’m] blowing up so fast breaking all the banks, yeah.”

NE THE SCREAM ZONE THE SCREA Trapped by metal fences on all sides, the four friends eyed each other uneasily, their hair glinting ghostly silver in sync with an ear splitting crack, followed immediately by fat raindrops pelting down from a lightning-struck sky. My three friends and I couldn’t have asked for better weather to suffer through the Triple Haunt — a package deal that includes the Haunted Hayride, Karnevil and the Haunted House — at the The Scream Zone at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Thanks to the lightning on the night we went, the lines, each of which took between an hour or two in the last two years, were relatively short.

As an appetizer to rev up our taste for horror, my friends and I raced to the Haunted Hayride, arguably the most popular attraction at the Scaregrounds and, not surprisingly, the one with the longest line.

After some waiting, we were ushered into a wagon, attached to an ancient truck carpeted with a prickly blanket of straw, that started with a sudden jolt and soon glided off with ghostly swiftness into quiet darkness.

Out of the artificial fog that permeated the area staggered unconvincing zombies, whose faces were smattered with ketchupred lipstick, who were supposedly locked in a quarantined zombie zone. After a tranquil minute or so, the truck made its way into a high school prom party blaring upbeat music that petered off into a chilling melody, as a dark hooded figure crouched over a girl’s lifeless body comes into view; in the figure’s hands was a mallet.

Some of the later scenes pay homage to a handful of America’s most famous horror films, as they present fun cameos of protagonists like Freddy Krueger from “Nightmare on Elm Street,” Michael from “Halloween” and Jason from “Friday the 13th.”

The actors were definitely a large reason why the majority of the ride seemed like a walk in the park — especially when they, for all their attempts of scary antics, were few in number and tended to flock to the back of the wagon, rather than spreading out evenly in all directions. It was obvious that the

roaring chainsaw and painful sound of crowbars striking metal were horrifying, as these drew the most screams from the flinching audience, who huddled increasingly closer together until the ride’s end.

Karnevil, a dizzying maze, gets the prize for the most time consuming and confusing attraction among the three: the majority of our time in the maze was clumsily spent trying to navigate through pitch darkness and distracting strobe lights that seriously compromised vision.

The rowdy bunch of zombies and clowns leftover from the Hayride, including well-known fictional characters such as the Three Little Pigs and the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, and their sporadic entrances don’t help much either. In short, by the time I stumbled into the last room of the maze, an Alice-in-Wonderland-themed room flaunting optical illusions, I had stepped on at least ten strangers’ shoes, walked into wall and emerged from the same emergency exit three times.

Last but not least was the Haunted House. I know a generous swath of the crowd, including me, had high expectations for the attraction because of its new Pennywise exhibition, dedicated to Stephen King’s hit horror movie “It.” Let me just warn Pennywise fans to lower their expectations in advance.

Like the maze and the Hayride, the Haunted House featured a rustic, old West vibe with its worn-down appearance that closely resembles an abandoned barnyard and orange lanterns. From a butcher shop adorned with body bags swaying from the ceiling to a haunted dinner table dating back to the Middle Ages, the House boasts an array of colorful concepts; the technical effects with lightning and audio in particular deserve special praise, as they set an eerie mood throughout the attraction.

Overall, the Haunted Hayride proved unremarkable, the Karnevil remarkably confusing and the Haunted House engaging yet disappointing in its Pennywise exhibition, which appeared hastily put together.

Compared to the last two years I went to The Scream Zone, nothing much has changed, though the stormy weather was honestly more overwhelming than anything else there. While the Triple Haunt is by no means for everyone, I think I’ll stick to my personal opinion that the Scaregrounds is a better place for socializing than for screaming in horror.

by Kahyun Koh

Balboa Park, typically beautiful gardens and thoughtful museum exhibits, transforms into a horror attraction with flashing lights, masked murderers and hundreds of teens during October, the month of scares. The Haunted Trail is welcomed annually as the season of haunted h o u s e s and scary movies approaches. The attraction, however, incorporates both haunted houses and famous horror movie characters. A projector displaying scenes of murders and pictures of disgusting creatures throughout horror greets guests before they enter and foreshadows what lays ahead on the trail. The worst creatures seen throughout the experience are those the guests should already be acquainted with.

Initially, the worst thing my friends and I faced was the long line that wrapped around in front of the attraction. The wait time was around 45 minutes, and while not unreasonable, the fact that I was there late on a Sunday made it seem all the more strenuous. It was as though I was falling asleep from exhaustion while also being scared awake over and over by what was waiting for me. As the line inched forward, actors came around and attempted to scare the waiting patrons by screaming or jumping at them; I myself flinched a few times as an actor dressed as a demon breathed strangely in my ear, which was not very pleasant. Others fully jolted and screamed as intimidating clowns and axe murderers got into their personal space. Admittedly, creating a pleasant environment did not seem to be the intent of The Haunted Trail, as flashing lights, smoke and the occasional scream were implemented to keep guests on their toes. In fact, the last thing we saw before entering the attraction was a giant, animatronic figure of Pennywise from “It,” complemented with a robot Georgie that screamed for help as it thrashed around in the clown’s grip. By then, we could tell what we had gotten ourselves into.

Upon entering the first half of the trails, dubbed the Experiment Maze, we were thrown into a building of dark tunnels that conveniently hid dozens of actors that came out to whisper something unnerving or close in on those walking through. It worked to feed the innate fear of what lurks in the shadows — creatures you likely won’t even see as you try to pace out of the maze as fast as possible. In an odd way, a sense of camaraderie was developed between us and complete strangers, as it often is at these places. As we walked through the

mazes, we clung onto the group of girls walking in front of us, who thanked us for being behind them. A sense of danger and fear was thoroughly instilled in us, despite us knowing the actors could not legally touch us, making this attraction all the more effective in scaring us. We were able to find the exit after several dead ends and encounters with Jason from “Friday the 13th” and quickly entered the much longer and more intricate part of the trails.

We were then partially outdoors, and as our group trekked in and out of different sets, actors became more creative in their tactics. Some would scream catchphrases like “Help me!” or “you’ll never get out” to really boost our morale. Others liked to get in our personal space and whisper single words in our ears; one clown whispered “boop” to me, which worked in scaring me, as I quickly rushed away from him. My least favorite of their approaches by far was pretending they were statues by not moving and then running toward our group suddenly. Through my several heart attacks, I was able to identify different movies that were used in the sets, specifically “Halloween,” “Psycho,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” I thought it was clever to incorporate well-known figures in the trail, as their sadistic reputation was very effective. While I can truly say I was scared by the attraction, I also found a way to have fun.

Actors talked to the guests and picked up on who were the best targets out of a group, which further intensified the experience but also had a strangely reassuring effect. Our group of friends and strangers joked about the horrifying scenes around us, ultimately bringing a sense of fun to the otherwise scarring experience.

The finale was an actor with a fake chainsaw that jumped out at us when we thought we were finally in the clear, and while some screamed, we were able to laugh it off at that point. Generally, this was the sentiment that reflected the journey: in part terrifying, yet overwhelmingly entertaining — at least for people like me, who enjoy the scares the Halloween season provide. The Haunted Trails was something I would gladly return to next year, as the sense of fun mixed with fear is hard to replicate.

by Vlada Demenko

ed trail THE HAUNTED TRAIL TH

infographic by dhathry doppalapudi/falconer

“The Hate U Give,” the critically acclaimed film adapted from Angie Thomas’s novel that has spent more than 80 weeks near the top of The New York Times bestseller list, opened on October 19th. I had the opportunity to attend a pre-release showing of the film, and from the first gripping scene of the film until the end, my eyes and heart were glued to the screen.

The film follows the life of Starr Carter, played by Amandla Stenberg, who navigates between the workingclass, African-American community where she lives, and the wealthy, predominantly white prep school that she attends. Starr has to code-switch between both worlds, without somehow being “too black” for Williamson Prep and being “too white” in her neighborhood. While it’s considered cool for white kids at her school to listen to rap music and use slang, Starr knows: if she does the same, she will not be viewed as “cool,” but “ghetto.”

The story opens with Starr’s life starting to shake. She is riding home from a party with her childhood friend Khalil and watches him get shot and killed in front of her disbelieving eyes during a routine traffic stop. The nervous young white cop sees Khalil reach for his hairbrush and shoots him, mistakenly thinking he was reaching for a gun. This horrifying event — which is terrifying to watch even if the viewer knows it is coming — turns both of Starr’s worlds upside-down, as she has to figure out how to stand up for her friend even if doing so threatens her carefully cultivated image at school and her, along with her family’s, safety in her neighborhood.

The casting of the film is stellar, with Amandla Stenberg in a break-through role as Starr, and with strong and authentic performances from an A-list group of actors including: rapper Common playing Starr’s Uncle Carlos, Issa Rae as an activist attorney, Regina Hall and Russell Hornsby as Starr’s supportive parents, Anthony Mackie who plays King, the drug leader in the area, and Algee Smith who plays Khalil. The cast also includes KJ Apa as Chris, Starr’s white boyfriend, as well as Sabrina Carpenter as one of Starr’s friends from school, Hailey.

The subject matter of this film – police brutality, the challenges faced by members of the working-class black community and the code-switching for kids of color — are all of critical importance, especially during this time in America. However, in order for this extraordinary film to reach as large an audience as possible, it is vital that people who might be white or Asian or Latino, and who might live in small towns or in the suburbs, feel like these issues are their issues as well. Yes, as a black girl myself, I might be expected to be moved by this film.

But I believe that the issues this film raises should be ones that all Americans, regardless of ethnicity or income, should own as their concerns as well. If the casting of KJ Apa and Sabrina Carpenter help bring their predominantly white fans to watch this film, then their inclusion in this film brings even more value than their skills as amazing actors or singers.

I believe that this film does an outstanding job treating issues that can be controversial and easily misunderstood with care and respect, and challenges all of its viewers to view the problems it portrays with that same kind of respect and concern. The viewer can see that the young white cop is afraid of Khalil and jumps to the wrong and deadly conclusion. The viewer can see that even Uncle Carlos, a black cop, admits to treating a white man different from a black man at a traffic stop. The viewer can see that if a young man might consider dealing drugs, it just might be because his grandmother has cancer. The viewer can see that black parents are so worried about what might happen if a policeman were to stop their children that they have to give “The Talk” to their nine and ten year olds — even as they have to make sure that their children understand to be proud that they are African-Americans.

The issue of police brutality and violence in the black community goes from a headline in a newspaper article to something that impacts the lives of people portrayed in all of their three-dimensional humanity, especially teenagers, who, regardless of race and class, might have silly younger brothers, spend too much time on their phones and get excited about prom.

“The Hate U Give” brings the audience – no matter who they are – into Starr’s neighborhood, into her family. It does not sugarcoat challenges: Khalil’s mom is a crack addict, Starr’s halfbrother’s mom is dating a drug lord and a local teenage party can be broken up by gunshots.

But it is also a place where grandmothers hold families together with wisdom and love, where parents work hard to give their children a good education, where the whole community rallies around a young man’s tragic death and where little kids can dream of becoming wizards – just like kids everywhere who love the Harry Potter books.

In other words, as Maya Angelou said, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike,” and “The Hate U Give” brings the audience into Starr’s neighborhood to show us that despite differences of race and class, all of us bleed the same color and we are all human.

And as humans, we are all in this together. If one of us is cut, we all bleed, as a society. If there is injustice in one part of America, all Americans – no matter where we live and no matter what our heritage is – are affected.

by Maya Satchell

as of oct. 1

788 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SHOT AND KILLED

BY POLICE IN 2O18, AT LEAST

139

of whom were black compared to

789 deaths in 2017 807 deaths in 2016 829 deaths in 2015 as of 2015, black people comprised 13% of the population

but they are 32% of shooting victims

29.12

vs

2.1

the number of black compared to white gun fatalities (per 100,000 people)

the last reported shooting of a black man in san diego occurred on

aug. 8

california has 32.27 black deaths per 100,000 people

INFOGRAPHIC BY ALEXEI SERGUIENKO INFORMATION FROM CNN, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE GUARDIAN

The TPHS Falcons (8-0) defeated the Oceanside Pirates (4-5) handily in a 71-41 blowout.

The game started fast, with the Falcons charging down the field and scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run from Mac Bingham (12). Oceanside would bounce back with a 71-yard touchdown pass, tying it up at 7-7.

The Falcons offense came back fast with Bingham’s second touchdown of the night from 20 yards out. With a missed extra point, the Falcons would take the lead 137.

After a defensive stop on fourth down by the Falcons, the offense drove the ball down field with more great designed runs, ending in Bingham’s third touchdown of the night from four yards out.

After a 2-point conversion from Luke Mikolajewski (12), the Falcons held a commanding 21-7 lead.

The Falcons continued to dominate on both sides of the ball, as the defense capped off a crazy first quarter with a fumble recovery heading into the second quarter.

The Falcons started right where they left off with a 40-yard pass from Jason Heine (12) to Jackson, putting them on Oceanside’s 10-yard line. The next play would see Heine run it in on a quarterback keeper to extend the Falcons lead 29-7 after another 2-point conversion.

The defense didn’t waver their relentless aggression in the second quarter either, blocking and recovering a punt in Pirates territory.

The offense capitalized with Bingham’s fourth touchdown on the night, extending the lead to 36-7, and Mac was only getting started.

“Mac is a very unique athlete,” head coach Ron Gladnick said. “You may see one Mac every 10 years.”

The Pirates attempted to get back into the game with big runs late in the second quarter, scoring on a 2-yard touchdown with 4:23 left to make it 36-14.

The Falcons got the ball back in no time, and used the unstoppable combo of Bingham and the Falcons offensive line to score again, going up 43-14 with less than four minutes until halftime.

Oceanside would get the ball back and try unorthodox methods to get the offense going, this time utilizing a fake punt that failed, giving the Falcons yet another short field.

The Falcons offense used the remaining three minutes to cap off their unbelievable half with a 2-yard touchdown run from Mikolajewski to end the half 50-14.

Despite their astonishing first half, the Falcons started the second half rough, completely stalling on offense and giving up two big touchdowns to the Pirates on the ground and through the air, setting the score at 50-27.

The offense continued to struggle, even turning the ball over on a Pirates strip sack and recovery. Oceanside would score on the next play with a 60-yard flea flicker pass to bring the game closer at 50-33 to end the third quarter.

“As a defense we struggled at the beginning of the second half,” said Leopoldo Speidel (12), “but the offense put us on their back.”

As the fourth quarter began, the Falcon offense gathered its composure, putting together a great drive capped off by an eye-popping 50-yard touchdown run from Bingham to get the Falcons back on track 57-33.

The defense fed off the offense, forcing the Pirates three and out on their next drive with an exclamation point, thanks to a Dewey Egan (10) sack.

The offense continued rolling midway through the fourth quarter, with Bingham cashing in his seventh touchdown on the night, putting the Falcons up 64-33.

The Pirates would catch the defense off guard again, scoring in a minute with a two point conversion to inch closer to the lead 64-41.

After one final stop, the Falcon’s offense put together another flawless drive and put the nail in the coffin with Bingham’s eighth touchdown, putting him in the record books for fifty points on the night.

“It was a long game, it was an exciting game,”Bingham said, “It was just nice to get the win. That’s all that mattered.”

After a nearly 3-hour game, the final score was a Falcon victory, 71-41..

Tonight the Falcons (8-0) travel to take on La Costa Canyon High School (6-2).

With the 2018 League of Legends World Championships, one of the biggest gaming events of the year, upon us, it seems timely enough to recognize eSports as real sports.

The first thing that comes to mind when people think of “sports” is probably not a bunch of people clicking away on computers. Believe it or not, eSports impose just as much physical strain as any other sport. According to a study conducted by Professor Ingo Frobose from the German Sports University in Cologne, the hand-eye coordination required in eSports is more straining than any other sport. ESports athletes perform about 400 movements per minute on a computer and while both hands are moving vigorously, several centers of the brain are being used simultaneously.

The levels of cortisol, the hormone that fuels the body’s adrenaline, eSports athletes’ bodies reach are about the same as a race car driver’s. Their heart rates often reach about 160-180 beats per minute, on par with an athlete running fast sprints or marathons.

Although media have often portrayed gamers as slackers, professional gamers spend countless hours daily to keep up consistent performance.

ESports athletes are often required to exercise regularly and also depend on performance psychology professionals to exercise and improve their focus, strategic thinking and reaction time.

Over the last decade, eSports tournaments have steadily attracted a huge audience. Twitch, the most popular streaming service for gamers, has garnered more viewers than mainstream sports media. For example, over 360 million viewers watched the 2017 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, according to the official League of Legends website. Compare that to about 154 million people who watched the most watched Super Bowl (LI) internationally, and only about 30 million people watched the NBA finals, according to Nielsen, a global information, data and measurement company.

Even ESPN recognizes the popularity of eSports, broadcasting the finals of popular tournaments and keeping the gaming community updated on results.

“ESports has got to be a priority of ours,” ESPN president James Pitaro said.

In 2016, the University of California, Irvine was the first public university to launch a League of Legends eSports scholarship program. Since then, the number of universities that have added eSports to their curriculum has increased significantly.

Just like the NCAA overseeing college athletics in the U.S., the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE) brings college eSports to schools across the nation. So far, the NACE includes 102 schools that have eSports programs.

They even offer scholarships to students with exceptional gaming skills.

ESports had its breakthrough at the 2018 Asian Games in August. Among the events at the competition, eSports made its first-ever appearance at a major, multisport event. ESports’ debut at an event of that magnitude is exactly the boost needed by the industry to gain even more international attention.

At this point, it is only a matter of time before eSports are recognized as legitimate by both the general public and other international sports competitions.

With only a few minutes left in the game, Brian Driscoll (12) was exhausted but confident that the Falcons would beat San Clemente High School after watching Evan Gullazi’s (12) touchdown pass that made the score 45-44. The Falcons then attempted, but failed, a two-point conversion, causing flashbacks of their losses against San Marcos High School and Mission Hills High School during Driscoll’s sophomore and junior years.

Driscoll’s experience on the varsity football team began in his sophomore year, but he started his journey in Torrey Pines Pop Warner 12 years ago.

“My whole family has played football, my brother has played football, my dad has played football, so I just kind of started naturally,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll also played baseball and basketball until eighth grade before deciding to specialize in football in high school.

His decision was influenced by the aspects of football he enjoys most, like teamwork.

“I think [football is] the greatest team sport,” Driscoll said. “I think what makes it fun is to rely on everybody else on the field.”

Driscoll has noticed being active actually enhances his organizational skills.

“You might think it’s tougher to get all your schoolwork done, but having practice and having that schedule makes me stay on top of things, like making sure my homework is done before practice,” Driscoll said.

With 40 seconds left to move the ball 40 yards and get into field goal position, Driscoll’s mind is racing. He reminds himself to keep his body weight low and sturdy so that he will be unmovable and able to protect his quarterback.

Driscoll is an offensive and defensive tackle, which requires intense training both in the gym and on the field. During the season, he has daily, twohour practices with some twoa-days in the morning and the afternoon. Each practice includes an hour of offensive work, an hour of defense and 30 minutes of specialized practice when each player can work on his

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specific goals.

When it is not football season, Driscoll still trains four times a week — an hour of lifting and an hour of conditioning.

“There isn’t really an off-season [in football],” Driscoll said.

“You need to really get stronger and conditioned every year,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll works to keep his nerves in check as he steps onto the field for his last long drive. This game saw Driscoll on all of the Falcon’s offensive plays, giving him only short breaks between intense periods of hustling on the field. Driscoll is exhausted, but he keeps his head down and tells himself to focus.

Driscoll’s determination in each game, along with his physical skills, led to offers from many schools in the PAC-12 Conference, including Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State and UC Berkeley. On June 12, he verbally committed to Berkeley.

Driscoll started talking to Berkeley’s offensive line coach in January, and they stayed in contact throughout the spring.

“After we had a few phone calls back and forth and he saw my films, he offered me [the opportunity to play there],” Driscoll said. “I was talking to a couple of other schools, but I got to visit Berkeley … it’s an awesome campus and they have a really good football program. For me, there wasn’t really a better option [and] it was a perfect fit as well.”

While Driscoll was focused on protecting his friend and quarterback, Jason Heine (12), Heine passed to Luke Mikolajewski (12), putting the Falcons in perfect range for a field goal. Driscoll was elated, knowing his efforts that night helped bring the team just one kick away from a win.

Driscoll recognizes his tenacity as one of his strengths.

“I guess my best factor is that I am a pretty relentless player; I just play through the whistle,” Driscoll said. “I think I have pretty good movement for an offense lineman, so I’m able to get down the field and make some blocks that would be tougher for other people my size; I think that really helps me.”

Despite his high school success and his prospective college playing career, Driscoll knows there are things he can work on.

“I think you can always improve,” Driscoll said. “I think the biggest thing [I am focusing on] as I go play in college is just technique – just making sure I’m taking the right steps, especially with pass blocking for an offensive lineman. After I talked to a lot of coaches, it’s one of the toughest things to do in sports in general, because it’s such an awkward and unnatural position to be in and … you have to be strong in that position.”

For now, Driscoll’s main goal is to win the Avocado League and to win the CIF championship. At Berkeley, he also wants to do as much as he can to help his team win.

Football has “had a huge impact” on Driscoll’s life, and he can apply the lessons off the field too.

“I think just dealing with adversity, dealing with things not going your way, football, and just sports in general, really, help you with that because you know you’re not going to always have a perfect season; you’re not always going to have a perfect game,” Driscoll said.

With his heart in his throat, Driscoll watched as Ted Merrifield’s (12) kick sent the ball straight through the goal post. Celebrating the Falcons’ win with his teammates, he knew this game would stand out not only among his memories of high school, but among those of his life.

by Maggie Choy and Angela Liu

legacy It’s Tuesday afternoon, and radiating from the TPHS tennis courts is the rhythmic sound of ball hitting racket, ball hitting the ground and ball hitting racket again, interspersed with the screech of shoes squeaking against the pavement and encouraging cheers of “You got this!”

Members of the girls varsity tennis team are spread throughout the area — some on their breaks between sets and others playing — during a match against San Marcos High School, which they would go on to win 13-5. As it turns out, this team is no stranger to winning; they’ve done so at the CIF San Diego Section first and, starting in 2014, open division championship for 28 consecutive years.

“I grew up playing junior tennis, and I always had known the reputation that Torrey Pines had for being very dominant in tennis, specifically in CIFs,” third-year varsity player Heidi Shen (11) said. “I really wanted to go to a winning school and contribute to a legacy.”

While their CIF streak is the longest standing record of any TPHS team, the team’s success generally receives little recognition. “[The streak] is incredibly impressive, and it tells you how strong our girls’ tennis program has been since pretty much the school’s opening,” said TPHS Athletic Director Charlenne Falcis-Stevens. “I think that earlier on in their streak, girls’ tennis garnered more support, but I think the streak is going on for so long that it has become almost expected.”

So expected, in fact, that a recent story in the Del Mar Times titled “Canyon Crest aims to end Torrey Pines tennis reign” opens with “There’s death, there’s taxes, and there’s Torrey Pines winning CIF Tennis Championships.” That article is one of just a few published on girls tennis’ streak — the other being a brief San Diego Union Tribune piece announcing the team’s 25th title in 2014.

“It has been tradition for us to win every single year, it’s like routine,” Shen said. “I think especially coming from Torrey Pines we’re a little bit underappreciated and disregarded almost … people just expect it.”

With that kind of expectation, co-captain Mackenzie Miller (12) said, comes pressure not to deviate from the norm.

“Because it’s an individual sport and we’re playing as a team sport, I feel like our individual pressure transfers to everyone,” Miller said. “So everyone’s holding each other’s pressure.”

With CIFs coming up on Oct. 23 and #1 seed Canyon Crest Academy widely predicted to win it all, the TPHS team is aware that title number 29 is not guaranteed. The Falcons’ record for the 2018 season, as of Oct. 20, was 14-4 — not as strong as their 2017 record of 19-2 — and includes two losses to CCA. “There is a very high possibility that we may not take the CIF title this year,”

co-captain Kendall Drapeau (12) said. “We’re obviously going to try our best, but this is a transition year. One of our competitors has gained one of our former players this year, along with some of the top players in California. We’ll work hard to make other teams fight for the title.”

This year the team has three seniors and is mostly made up of underclasswomen — a stark difference from last year’s team, which had six seniors. Carol Tu (9) is one of those new players and said the streak is daunting in a different way for her as a freshman than it might be for team veterans.

“I think [upperclassmen are] more worried about it cause they’ve gone through the process of winning,” Tu said.

“But, there’s also, in a way, more pressure on me because when the seniors graduate, new freshmen come in and they’re expected to be good players if they make varsity.

So they’re expected to win, but it’s hard because we haven’t had as much experience.”

Despite the level of intensity that the

girls endure, they said they are able to stay focused by reminding each other to put things into perspective.

“We all have to remember that the reason we are on this team is for an experience and not a CIF title year after year,” Drapeau said. “We have put in a lot of work and that’s all we can control.”

Drapeau also said the tradition of having a close-knit team, or having “a family of girls by your side,” contributes to their success on the court and maintaining high morale amid the pressure.

Coach Don Chu, who is new to the team this year, said that whatever happens in the post-season, the team will have succeeded.

“History is not destiny — whatever they do is what they can do,” Chu said. “As long as they play up to their potential, I’m satisfied, and they should be too.”

As the Falconer was going to press, the girls varsity tennis team lost to The Bishops School 11-7 in the CIF quarterfinals.

by Eve Gross-Sable and Brandon Raimo