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highlights 4 5 0 B i r d R o a d , C o r a l G a b l e s , F L 3 314 6
Drug bust:
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A u g u s t 2 014 , V o l . 5 5
MDCPS implements random drug tests By Sabrina Fiske
performance enhancing drugs by our youth.” It has not yet been decided who will be administering the drug tests. MDCPS will Miami-Dade County Public Schools conduct a formal proposal process that will allow (MDCPS) will begin a pilot program outside institutions to bid on the opportunity to this school year to randomly drug test provide the drug-testing services. The process for students who participate in sports and randomly selecting the students to be drug tested other extracurricular activities. has not been devised yet either. The drug tests This program— in light of seven will require parental consent and are considered individuals being indicted with charges to be non-invasive exams. of selling illegal steroids to sports According to Assistant Superintendent of figures (including New York Yankees School Operations Marcos Moran, Carvalho star Alex Rodriguez) and to high school students, has also indicated to his as mentioned in advisors that he will seek a media advisory This pilot program will provide an private funds for the drugdistributed by testing program, as he is additional safety net against the MDCPS— is fully dedicated to putting use of performance enhancing specifically tailored the program in action. drugs by our youth. toward high school It is still unclear where athletes who use these private funds will Alberto Carvalho, performance come from and how much Superintendent enhancing drugs. money will be needed Although to start the program and this incident continue it throughout the involved students from private high schools, school year. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho stated in an While the program will focus on high school interview with CBS Miami that he still wants students this school year, it could potentially “to be proactive in Miami-Dade County Public expand into MDCPS middle schools in the future, Schools.” according to CBS Miami. Carvalho said in the same interview that Athletic Director Louis Romero said he the program’s primary goal is to stop the use of believes that parent involvement is key when steroids in the district, and to eventually find the dealing with the issue of performance enhancing dealers who are preying on MDCPS students. drug use by adolescents. “The district is committed to the safety “It’s a very touchy subject. I understand the of our children. The charges brought against reaction by a lot of groups; parents understanding these individuals were a positive move by the and trying to figure out what’s going on and how federal government,” Carvalho said in the same to control it,” Romero said. “But at the same time, MDCPS media advisory. “This pilot program will I think we are overstepping our bounds a little. provide an additional safety net against the use of Why just pick on athletes?”
sports
STAFF WRITER
‘‘
Maggie Rivers/highlights
Students SPEAK UP
-Neila McNally, sophomore
“It is kind of an invasion of privacy. I think that it’s okay when you have a reason to drug test [students], not just because you want to drug test them, because that’s not fair,” -Isabella Izquierdo, junior
Compiled by Sabrina Fiske
Sabrina Fiske/highlights
“I don’t think the program will make the school better at all. Because kids will do whatever,”
“[Using drugs] disrespects yourself and the school because as a student athlete you should be able to keep your body in a certain way so that you can run and move,” -Mek’Lange Nicols, freshman
School’s disallowance of honor cords leaves student accomplishments unrecognized at graduation Commentary by Maggie Rivers
opinion
MANAGING EDITOR
Home to a wide variety of clubs, programs, and activities, Gables prides itself on hosting an accomplished student body. However, the students who are involved in honor societies and are recognized nationally, fail to be recognized by the school at graduation. Currently, graduation rules only allow for three groups of students to be recognized with special graduation accessories. Students who are in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and students honored with summa cum laude (top 5 percent of the graduating class) are allowed to wear cords representing these honors. Additionally, students in National Honor Society (NHS) can wear a special tassel on their graduation cap.
According to Activities Director Ana Suarez and Principal Adolfo Costa, these rules have always been tradition at the school and that is why they continue to be followed. Suarez also added that she does not believe “there is anything dignified about a rainbow of colors.” Yet, this policy fails to account for those students who are not in the IB program, not summa cum laude, and not in NHS. NHS should carry the same honor as any of the other nationally recognized honor societies at the school, such as Mu Alpha Theta or Tri-M Music Honor Society. Students in the school’s other honor societies do not only excel in those subjects that their club represents, but they also devote a lot of time to compete, win awards, and organize community service projects. These students deserve to show off their accomplishments in these clubs and share their pride with family members at their graduation. Suarez asserts that most students who are in honor societies already fall under the three recognized groups at graduation, so further cords are not really necessary.
“I challenge you to do the research and find out how many kids in those honor societies that win those competitions are not, in fact, the IB kids themselves,” Suarez said when asked about students in honor societies who are not in the three recognized groups. However, the fact that those students exist is enough reason to honor them. Simply disregarding them because they are not the majority is noninclusive. Understanding that there are some concerns that students with too many different cords might look tacky, perhaps allowing students to wear a limited number of honor society cords could provide a solution that would allow the school’s other students to celebrate their achievements. For example, students could be asked to wear no more than three cords. This solution would help in making students that are not in IB or NHS feel less ostracized and provide positive reinforcement, so students would feel better about achieving things for the school, all while not giving up the aesthetics of a good-looking commencement ceremony.
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Old room numbers are written above new room numbers, and the New Building (not pictured) is now the 9000 building.
news
highlights August 2014
3
Ban on gay marriage declared Florida unconstitutional in Florida counties demographics By Ali Band STAFF WRITER
For the third time in less than a month, a judge ruled Florida’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional. Broward County Circuit Judge, Dale Cohen, on Aug. 4, struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as a result of a woman’s petition to end her civil union with her partner in Vermont. This Broward County ruling followed two similar rulings by judges in Florida’s Monroe and Miami-Dade counties last month. “The Court believes that the issue here is not whether there is a right to same-sex marriage but instead whether there is a right to marriage from which same-sex couples can be excluded,” Cohen said in the Miami Herald. Heather Brassner, an art dealer who identifies as a lesbian, is seeking to dissolve her Vermont civil union with her estranged partner, Megan Lade. She and Lade entered into a civil union in 2002 in Vermont-two years before the first gay and lesbian couples were allowed to marry in Massachusetts, and seven years before gay marriage became legal in the state of Vermont. According to Brassner, Lade cheated on her and then disappeared soon after, leaving Brassner caught in a marriage, unable to divorce because Florida law does not recognize Vermont civil union and Vermont law will not permit a divorce without consent from Lade. “A judge’s job is to protect the citizens. The way the law is written,
they are not allowed to do their job,” Brassner said in the Miami Herald. In 2008, the majority of Florida voters supported a constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage and civil unions in the state, which stated that “in as much as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.” The gay-marriage battle is being waged in many states across the nation. According to Marc Solomon, the National Campaign Director for Freedom to Marry, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) advocates have won more than 30 cases in federal and state courts since June 2013 when the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Edith Windsor, and disregarded a portion of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Windsor was a lesbian widow who wished to receive the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses. However, she was prevented from doing so by a section of DOMA, stating that the term “spouse” only applied to marriages between a man and a woman. Cohen referred to Windsor’s case in his own ruling by stating that the Florida gay marriage ban violates certain rights. “It violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the states cannot deny any person the equal protection of the laws,” said Cohen in the Miami Herald. Additionally, on July 17, Monroe
Chief Circuit Judge Luis Garcia ruled the ban on same-sex marriage in Florida unconstitutional and eight days later, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel announced that six same sex couples had the right to marry. The Broward ruling was the first in Florida to concern the recognition of same sex marriage or civil union performed in another state. Officials in Monroe and Miami-Dade counties have asked that their cases be merged and appealed directly to the Florida Supreme Court. In regard to how this issue is affecting students at the school, there is a highly positive reaction from the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). GSA President Camilo Bacca shared his perspective. “We rejoice in diversity and equality and the fact that the government is granting us protection. That is a huge step forward for us,” Bacca said. Additionally, College Assistance Program Advisor Elizabeth Stack said sbe is passionate about the matter and openly discusses her thoughts on the issue. She expressed her longing for equality in the Sunshine State. “I think it’s fantastic. We can hope that the appellate courts uphold this movement. I look forward to us moving forward and being progressive like other states before us. I hope that everyone knows that my office is a safe place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population. I would hope that these court rulings would give this group reason for hope and optimism for their future as equal citizens in our state,” Stack said.
Iconic Miami landmark funded for renovation
of same sex couples
Same sex couples in Florida 14%
do not identify unmarried as spouses
identify as spouses
86%
Same sex couples by county 1%
11% 16%
Monroe Miami-Dade Broward
72%
Other counties
Source: The Williams Institute School of Law.
Parent drop off system changes By Susana Rudin STAFF WRITER
Laura Acosta/highlights GRAFFITI GROUNDS: The Key Biscayne Marine Stadium is currently a place for teenagers and young adults to hang out and a place for graffiti artists to do their work. It will soon be transformed back into a stadium for concerts and events.
By Savannah Payne STAFF WRITER
Once a venue for power boat races and Jimmy Buffett concerts, the Miami Marine Stadium has been abandoned, over time and is now in need of restoration. An organization titled Friends of Miami Marine Stadium (FMMS) has formed in the hopes of raising funds to repair the historic site. After Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1992, the Miami Marine Stadium was declared “unsafe.” Since then, it has become a home for teenagers and graffiti artists. Some refer to the landmark as “being alive” because the graffiti is constantly changing. In 2008, FMMS, an all-volunteer organization, began its journey of advocating for the renovation of the Marine Stadium. Without asking for or receiving any grants from the City of Miami, they have raised over $600,000. In 2009, the Miami Marine Stadium was named by the National Trust for Historic Preservation onto the National Trust’s 11 Most Endangered List. FMMS’s initial goal was to support and promote the landmark’s repair. As of December 2010 they became prepared to lead the restoration. This past June, Gloria Estefan, a famous Cuban singer, announced that she would be donating $500,000 to the cause. She hopes to raise $3 million by January. Estefan told the Miami Herald that she feels a personal connection with the Miami Marine Stadium, as the architect of the Stadium is also Cuban. “It’s almost a symbol of our community and how much we are a part of Miami,” Estefan said in the Miami Herald. Built in 1963, the Miami Marine Stadium was home to many speed boat races, and popular concerts. “Clambake,” a movie starring Elvis Presley, was shot at the Stadium. In addition, Jimmy Buffett, among other famous musicians sang in the stadium where hundreds of boats filled with thousands of people went to watch. Once renovated FMMS hopes that the stadium can be used for concerts, sailing and boat races, and community events that the venue hosted in it’s earlier days.
Due to the lack of an official and fixed parent-student drop off system, the administration has collectively come up with a new arrangement that they are hoping will minimize the traffic and unsafe crossing occurring at all entrances and exits of the school. Last school year there were several problems with illegal crossing on the LeJeune entrance to the school. On the opposite end there were several traffic jams occurring because there was no official drop off system. “Parents tend to drop their children off wherever they want and it’s especially bad on LeJeune because you can get a ticket but it’s also bad on the Riviera side because it causes traffic,” Athletic Director Louis Romero said. The new system will take place on the Riviera side of the school. Parents will now enter through the main entrance of the student parking lot and exit by the track. This will change the direction of the parking spots and the traffic flow. The administration said it chose this method because it would solve the traffic jams by the New Building that had been an often occurance. The new system will go into effect on the first day of school. Students and parents will also be debriefed on the new procedure and how the system will work.
Congrats The Gablettes received a “Gold Elite Team Dance” title, a technical excellence award, a bid to National Dance Alliance (NDA) Nationals, and more at NDA camp.
Blah blah blah was recruited by hdhdhdhshsjf university at Senior football player Shaquery football camp to the University Wilson committed of Georgia while attending a summer football camp at the University.
news
highlights August 2014
Introducing the new staff of Gables By Amanda-Victoria Gonzalez STAFF WRITER
CHEMISTRY:
NEWS
4
BRIEFS
Morrow takes over band By Ali Band STAFF WRITER
Elizabeth Kiely
Gables and highlights alumna Elizabeth Kiely previously worked as a researcher and middle school teacher and will now be teaching chemistry to replace David Lawrence. Kiely said that.she has a massive passion for chemistry and science in general and she enjoys talking about science at a higher level, one that high school students would be able to understand. She is looking forward to performing labs and fun aspects of chemistry with students. “I get really excited about science; the kind of excitement that would make people think I’m a crazy cat lady or something, but I think it translates very well and I hope it will open the minds of kids who don’t currently like science, especially chemistry,” Kiely said.
Due to a vacancy in the band director position, fine arts vocal instructor and Visual and Performing Arts Academy Leader Mary Morrow is taking over. She was requested to take over the position by Principal Adolfo Costa after former band director Kevin Muncy left the school for another job. As the new leader, her goals for the band are to continue to set the bar even higher in performance, practice and rehearsals. “We seek to maintain a strong sense of discipline and rigor to make the band better,” Morrow said. She said that this year will be a balancing act, maintaining both her choral program and growing the band. As there are not enough hours in the day for one person to manage both programs, Morrow will have Kathleen Morrow, her daughter, helping as an assistant band director, working part-time once the school year begins. “All I can say is that it will be an incredible ride this year with both chorus and band,” Morrow said.
FLVS policy changes By Kasandra Scholz
HISTORY:
STAFF WRITER
Aaron Miller
Beginning this year Florida will no longer be funding public schools’ Florida Virtual School (FLVS) courses. While in the past the state has provided funding for students to take FLVS courses, this modification to the FLVS program means that it will be up to each individual school to cover the cost of virtual classes. The new policy will have no effect on the students who are required to take virtual courses to graduate or to get ahead, as the district will fund in-school online classes as it always has. “We’re still going to offer the virtual classes that we need to offer for graduation during the school day,” Principal Adolfo Costa said. Florida has furthermore approved several other virtual school vendors for sale, including the K12 program. This means that FLVS will no longer have exclusive rights to sell online courses, which will bring about changes in the future. According to Assistant Principal Nestor Diaz, the end of the FLVS monopoly in Florida schools could change the prices of virtual school, as there will soon be more competition in the market for online courses.
This Gables graduate was a social studies teacher at Coral Reef High School and will be a social studies teacher at the school this year. He will not only be teaching Advanced Placement (AP) World History, but he said he will be coaching the school’s football team to victory. “It’s like coming home, you know? My parents met here at 15, still married and my brother and I came here. We all kind of followed the same path,” Miller said. Looking for a chance to coach football, Miller was contacted by current Gables football coaches who asked him to be an offensive line coach — the position he played as a student that took him to college. “As a coach I bring a wealth of experience to hopefully help this team which is already headed in the right direction,” Miller said.
COUNSELOR:
Patricia Gans
Patricia Gans will be joining the 2014-15 Gables staff as the newest member of the school’s counselors. Gans previously held a position at Coral Way K-8 Center as a counselor. She will be a counselor at the school for ninth grade International Baccalaureate program students and for the Communications Arts, Film, and Digital Media academy students. Gans has always been interested in working with high school students because of their level of education and maturity, which will be a big change from working with elementary and middle school students. She said she is mostly excited that this job will give her an opportunity to work at her alma mater. “I’m happy to be learning and expanding my knowledge again after so many years of working at the same school,” Gans said.
ACADEMY OF FINANCE LEADER:
Ann Carranza Amanda-Victoria Gonzalez/highlights
Ann Carranza, will be this year’s Finance Academy Leader. Carranza will also teach both Personal Finance and a Dual Enrollment course in conjunction with Florida International University called Intro to Entrepreneurship. “I hope to motivate all the students I encounter by presenting myself as a positive role model who loves business and teaching. I genuinely care for my students and quickly become their number one advocate. So in terms of qualities, I feel all these qualities will allow me to attain my goals for this upcoming year,” Carranza said. Carranza said she hopes to bring the academy to a new level and earn National Academy Foundation (NAF) recognition as well as more visibility throughout the community, provide internships, and ensure that students are well supported while in the school and beyond.
Cav Crash Auditions are September 3rd through 5th! Print out your form from CavsConnect.com, and turn it in to Room 9207 by September 2nd!
highlights August 2014
Classes get technical
5
Gables gears up for 2015 By Susana Rudin
By Vanessa Vazquez
STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
For all the “green” students who choose the noble alternative of trekking through Miami’s blazing heat to get to and from school on their bikes, there is now a safe place to store bikes. The school is now home to a silver bike rack, located directly in front of the auditorium. The bike rack has 10 slots, where students can store their bikes. It is advised that students use a bike lock or chain to secure their bikes, as the school is not responsible for anything that happens or is missing from the bikes. A major concern of the school was the previous places students were choosing to chain up their bikes due to the lack of a bike rack. Several students chose to link their bikes to the fence which raised alarm due to the potential danger this could cause with the cars coming in and out of the parking lot. “Kids were leaving bikes everywhere so it’s a safety issue too,” Gables Earth sponsor Kelli Fraga said. The bike rack will be made available to all students when school starts. However, it is a first come first serve situation due to the limited amount of slots, therefore in order to secure a spot students are advised to arrive at school earlier. This new bike rack, which is named the Gables Bike Rack, is the result of a two year long effort. The project was originally senior Nicolas Viglucci’s idea, and in conjunction with Gables Earth has become a reality. This whole project cost approximately $3,500, however, Gables Earth did receive the help of former Coral Gables Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, who donated $600 to the cause. The family of Gables Earth vice president Alexa Alcalay donated the rest of the money needed to purchase and install the bike rack. “The purpose of the Gables Earth bike rack is to conserve energy by making bike riding a viable and safe option to get to and from school which in turn will lessen the amount of people driving to school and wasting energy,” Alcalay. Gables Earth will be having an unveiling of the rack on Aug. 27. Among the invited is Cabrera whose generous donation helped make the rack possible.
Susana Rudin/highlights
Beginning this school year, all students will be permitted to bring their own laptops or tablets to school. Freshmen who do not have access to these technological devices will be given Windows tablets for use in their world history classes. Tablets have features, such as highlighting and underlining, that can accompany the students’ work and the teachers’ classroom material. Work can be turned in electronically, a convinience for teachers. “The tablet includes the resources, book information, and the history book. It includes an interactive software that the teacher can receive papers and work from the students via tablets,” social studies teacher Lauren Noval said. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) has integrated technology into almost half of its schools, including some charter schools. In hopes of enhancing students’ learning experience, MDCPS is bringing newer technologies to all schools. Currently, 170 schools take part in the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program, excluding charter schools. “Times are changing, it’ll give them [teachers and students] another tool to enhance their curriculum, to interact with the text,” Principal Adolfo Costa said. In the past, highlighting, underlining, and making notes on the text were not possible, but now that textbooks will be accessed through tablets that have these features built into them, note taking will be possible. Teachers were given tablets this past May to begin to test out the equipment, and Promethean Smart Boards have been installed in every classroom. “The teachers were given the tabets at the end of the school year, in May, because they had professional development that they attended during the summer, so they can start planning their lessons with the tablets,” Costa said. All the schools participating in the integration of modern tecnology have given students access to wireless internet. All devices connected to MDCPS wireless internet, whether a personal or district owned device, will have filtered internet access, as required by the Children’s Interest Protection Act. “I think it’ll help in regards to student excuses. That they can’t do something because they don’t have the technology,” Noval said. “It’s good and it’s bad because it helps, it connects students all the time, so there’s no way they can get around it, but then it’s bad because they’re hooked on it all the time and they don’t get a break.” BYOD allows students to bring their own devices to school for learning purposes only. Students may not use devices connected to a personal data usage plan. Tecnology such as Windows tablets, Mac laptops and iPads may be brought to school. Students who do not have their own device or can not bring their device can borrow one from the school. Devices brought must reach the MDCPS minimum specifications regarding size, storage capacity, memory, and operating system. Students must agree to downloading certain applications for school use. It should be kept in mind that not all district applications run on devices that may be brought to school. Examples of commonly used district applications include Edmodo, Reading Plus and FCAT Explorer. All of the devices mentioned must also be able to connect to Wi-Fi and have an eight hour battery life. Headphones are required and a keyboard is recommended.
Vanessa Vazquez/highlights TECHNOLOGY TAKEOVER: Social studies teacher Lauren Noval reads over the Advanced Placement (AP) World History textbook on her Windows tablet. Noval highlights and makes notes on important parts of the text that she will be using with her students this upcoming year.
ROLLING INTO GABLES: (Top) The newly installed Gables Bike Rack, located in front of the auditorium, will provide students a safe place to lock up their bicycles. (Bottom) Gables Earth president Nicholas Viglucci parks his bike on the rack.
Club Update: Spanish Honor Society By Amanda-Victoria Gonzalez STAFF WRITER
Araceli Sanchez/highlights
National Spanish Honor Society (NSHS) will be making a comeback this 2014-15 school year. Founded by junior and president Maria Estrada, NSHS strives to enlighten students by teaching them about Hispanic culture, language, and heritage and encourages students to join no matter what their ethnicity may be. They aim to be reinstated in to the Gables community after being discontinued in 2007 due to a lack of participation. “Spanish is my first language and I had [Mercedes]Verazain last year and she talked a lot about the club and it seemed like a good opportunity. I feel like every other language has a club: the Chinese Club, The French Club and Hispanic people are the majority of the school. Why shouldn’t we have a club to represent them?” Estrada said. The NSHS board members are aspiring to head towards the direction of service. “We’re going to try to do a hospital supply drive for Cuba, we’re trying to help the Hispanic community,” said Estrada. The supplies will be going to a hospital for people with medical disabilities. NSHS will be pairing up with other clubs from the school and asking for help in contributing more to the cause.
“In the end it’s not about the club, but what we’re doing for the community by trying to help people live better lives,” Estrada said. The first club meeting will involve a piñata and “croquettas” to incorporate the Hispanic culture, as it hopes to do all throughout the year, and to entice members. The club will also offer an abundance of community service hour opportunities. Estrada hopes to make the club members feel like a part of the community. To make sure that members are involved, there will be one requirement for members of the club and that is for each member to partake in at least two community service projects that the club offers each nine weeks. According to Estrada, the club aims to motivate its members to join, not only because they want to make their college application look better, but because they are interested in the opportunities that the club offers and feel that they have something to add to the club’s dynamic. “We want creative people to join, but at the same time we want to make sure that people are a part of the community service projects. We also want people to understand the purpose of the society, and not just join because of the community service hours; we want people to genuinely enjoy what they’re doing,” Estrada said. According to Estrada, the club’s board members expect to expose its members to the excitement of Hispanic culture. You can sign up for National Spanish Honor Society at the club fair on Sept. 16.
MAKING A COMEBACK: Junior and president Maria Estrada discusses plans for meetings and events for the National Spanish Honor Society for this upcoming school year with fellow board member Karla Santoyo.
opinion highlights
highlights August 2014
Tenure should become more exclusive
STAFF
Editorial
Editor-in-Chief: Brooke Donner
Managing Editor: Maggie Rivers
Copy Editor: Cyrus Zeledon
6
As high school students, most of us can attest to having teachers who we feel don’t do an adequate job of educating their students. However, dismissing those same teachers who do not demonstrate effective teaching practices is difficult because many of them have acquired tenure. To prevent sub-par teachers from acquiring this kind of protection, the tenure policy must be reformed. Currently, teachers in Miami-Dade County are being hired on a year by year basis, but in the past they benefited from extensive job security. They are still defended legally by teacher unions. Tenure makes it essentially impossible to dismiss inadequate teachers, except in extreme circumstances or with extensive procedures. Even then, dismissing tenured teachers
involves working against any union that they may be involved in, in addition to shelling out thousands of dollars to cover legal fees and the cost of hiring substitute teachers. Although it is no longer active in Miami-Dade, the tenure system in other areas is bent out of shape and difficult to work around. It is too easy to achieve tenured status, with some counties requiring that a teacher work for as little as three years while scoring successfully on administratively run evaluations. These evaluations can be inaccurate, oftentimes done hurriedly and sometimes even run by teachers’ colleagues. Teachers are also aware that they are being observed, and some may act differently in front of examiners than they would normally. This country is in dire need of reform in its school system, but there is no clear-cut solution. Tenure needs to be more difficult to achieve, and should be granted only to exemplary teachers who truly deserve it. The current system that decides which
teacher becomes tenured doesn’t do a good enough job of making the distinction between a good or bad teacher. This is the flaw of the current tenure system. Students need to be given a say in who their instructors are, and should have a way to safely give input on teachers anonymously to get the most honest feedback. This is not to say, however, that students alone should decide their instructors’ fates. Teachers should additionally be evaluated on their students’ academic performance and test scores. This added precaution would take into account the subjective nature of student opinion. The idea of tenure is one that was, initially, a sound proposal. It was originally intended to provide job security in case a teacher’s job position was eliminated; when a job ceased being necessary, tenured teachers were transferred rather than fired. This application is still valid, and tenure need not necessarily be abolished. It is, however, in need of serious reform in the way that it is granted and practiced.
Dade needs to fix sex offender loophole Business Manager: Maria Ovalle
News Editor: Camila Lupi
Opinion Editor:
Insight Editor:
Features Editor:
Sports Editor:
Stephan Chamberlin
Bianca Mangravite
Raquel Braun
Francis Pérez
Commentary by Avery Budin STAFF WRITER
Keep your children close, and the local sex offender registry updated. A recently discovered loophole in the registry reveals that “transient” or homeless sexual offenders are untraceable. Individuals listed as transient are manipulating the system to avoid monitoring and neighborhood residency restrictions. If any action could be considered eminent, fixing the laws incredulous mistake regarding such revolting criminals ought to be. “As a kid living in a child populated neighborhood, it freaks me out to think that I really have no idea who my neighbors are,” senior Steven Stallings said. According to a California news site, at any one time approximately 350 offenders are registered as homeless. Unlike in Miami though, California requires all registered offenders wear a GPS tracking device to keep an eye on the growing number of child violators, a practice that could easily be adopted by Florida but has yet to considered amongst lawmakers. Giving criminals a legal “way out” of law enforcements’ watch has resulted in level three offenders going back on the prowl. Offenders that are considered dangerous and likely to hurt other children are walking the streets as if they were average citizens. Despite having identified the issue,
improperly registered offenders appear to be a growing trend in several states. Parents can’t be sure their neighborhoods are safe or schools are well protected if they don’t know who might be squatting in the house next door. “Hearing that police are unable to keep track of these sick individuals worries me. It puts all of my students in danger as well as my own children; we shouldn’t be waiting for a solution, we should have found one,” science teacher Eric Molina said. Grave danger has been posed for families of young children, leaving whole communities un-notified of offender residency because of improper documentation. With only three or four officers in charge of over 50 criminals, keeping up with the listed registry has proven too difficult. By circumventing federal law, local police departments are unable to find listed offenders and are unaware of their whereabouts. Individuals claiming to live under a bridge or on the side of a road are nowhere in sight when checked up on by local officers. “The loophole needs to be addressed as soon as possible for the safety of our citizens, and especially our children,” History teacher Kathryn Landsea said. Solutions are being considered but no official resolution has been proposed. With so few news stations covering the issue, Miami officials appear to show a lack of concern for child safety and blatant disregard for immediate action. If bypassing criminal registry is as simple as lying about where one lives, not only is the current system monitoring these felons outdated, but public awareness of the issue needs to be improved.
Private prisons only lock up profits Commentary by Danny Delgado
The Scene Editor: Laura Acosta
Adviser:
Melissa Gonzalez
Staff Members:
Ali Band, Eleonor Bauwens, Avery Budin, Octavio Castro, Marko Ciklovan, Daniel Delgado, Rachel Ellis, Olivia Field, Sabrina Fiske, Amanda-Victoria Gonzalez, Leila Iskandarani, Maya Iskandarani, Joey Lancaster, Angelika Menendez, Jordan Payne, Savannah Payne, Susana Rudin, Araceli Sanchez, Sydney Scanlon, Kasandra Scholz, Howard Senior, Mia Tolpin, Vanessa Vazquez, Natalie Viglucci, Sofia Viglucci
Contributors: Patty Shillington, Isabella Gonzalez, Cavaleon
highlights is the official student-produced newspaper at Coral Gables Senior High School published and produced by highlights staff members. highlights has been established as a designated public forum for student journalists to educate and inform their readers of issues of concern to their audience and dissemination of news and ideas to the entire school community. As the producer of a scholastic publication, highlights subscribes to the responsibilities set forth in the National Scholastic Press Association Code of Ethics for scholastic journalists and advisers. According to Miami-Dade County Public School policy, student media is not subject to priorreview by administration or district personnel and as such, all content is determined by, and reflects the views of student staff members only. highlights welcomes reader feedback. All letters should be addressed to melissa_gonzalez@dadeschools.net
Press Affiliations: Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press Association, NSPA Hall of Fame, Florida Scholastic Press Association, Quill and Scroll
STAFF WRITER
The prison system in the United States is often considered the backwater of political discourse, mainly because it has been created to house and punish the most marginalized and disenfranchised group of people: convicted criminals. However, the privatization of prisons is a dilemma that currently antagonizes the nation’s correctional system and it is perpetuating high recidivism among convicts due to the creation of unsafe environments that fail to prepare criminals to re-enter society. There has been a recent surge of for-profit prisons due to claims that they will save states’ money. Academic and state-funded studies, however, have concluded that private prisons tend to keep low-cost inmates and send high-cost inmates back to state operated prisons. A study by the US Bureau of Statistics has also found that promises by for-profit-prisons “have simply not materialized.” The reason being that private prisons have one thing in mind: saving money for themselves in order to make a profit. The fact that they make money out of having as many people in prison as possible highlights how high recidivism is something that they profit out of and how it is in their best interest to keep strict laws that punish people harshly. Prisons should not only be able to make sure that convicted criminals aren’t a danger to society while serving their sentence, but also that once released they are able to become productive
353.7
Percent growth of private prisons in the last 15 years Source: Justice Policy Institute
members of society. Private prisons fail to provide these necessities due to their preoccupation with reducing costs rather than reducing the rate of repeat offenders. This task is imperative in the reduction of crime and in, subsequently, lowering prison spending. If states feel inclined to permit private prisons they should rigorously evaluate cost and quality to ensure that the standards are adequate and that the money-saving promises are being kept. If they aren’t, which studies show they haven’t, then they should do away with them. A prominent company which supplies private prisons, Aramark, boasts that it will save states tons of money but doesn’t mention its failure to provide inmates food on 65 instances and the five cases where maggots have been found in food. The GEO Group, another private prison corporation, cut pay and staffing ratios by so much in one of their youth facilities that they had two officers overseeing between 128 and 256 youth, according to the US Department of Justice. All of this epitomizes the inefficiency of private prisons to properly oversee and house inmates in a way that will be safe, and above all, humane. It might be hard to sympathize with convicted criminals, but don’t forget that private prisons are making profits with money that comes from taxpayers. With occupancy guarantees in the form of quotas or required payments for empty prison cells, for-profit prisons put taxpayers on the hook for guaranteeing profits. Running a prison like a business doesn’t work, and is just another problem in our currently disastrous penal system.
3 billion
by the numbers
Dollars in combined revenues between Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group
6,092,331
Dollars donated by private prison companies to state level campaigns since 2000 Compiled by Danny Delgado
highlights
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August 2014
Perpetual War: Israel vs. Gaza
These two ethnically, religiously, and culturally diverse groups have been fighting for thousands of years, but the recent trend of attacks has elevated the death toll in both countries. How should the region go about resolving this conflict? Commentary by Danny Delgado
Commentary by Howard Senior
STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
With a strong Israel
With compromise
The current conflict that is taking place in Israel and the Gaza Strip traces back many decades. It is a perpetual war where there has been a lack of courage on both sides to propose anything other than weak cease-fire agreements. This is not what will lead to a stable situation in the region and while Hamas and their firing of rockets towards Israel is clearly not the solution and should be condemned, it is also important that the United States take a strong stand against Israel’s action in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza stands at more than 1,800, with nearly 10,000 wounded, and more than 300 children dead according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. These casualties result from Israel’s “pinpoint” operations; but according to Israel’s supporters, Hamas is using civilians as human shields. Just the other day, however, Israel fired at a school that was being used by the United Nations as a refugee camp after repeatedly being told, 17 times to be exact, to not fire at the area. The underlying fact remains that neither side has created an image for the international community to support, but it is also true that Israel has broken all rules of proportionality in their response to the situation. Hamas must stop sending rockets, but Israel must also stop the blockade that continues to brew anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine. That is what has been stalling progress in the region, and it is time for Israel to accept the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state that can act as one. It is in the best interest of Israel and the United States to seek a sovereign state for Palestinians as long as it supports a government that disavows violence and recognizes Israel. It is the only solution that offers a reasonable and peaceful outcome for both sides and ensures for more durable peace to be built. One obstacle however, lies in the accusatory rhetoric being used to victimize Israel. The word “terrorism” is being thrown around with quite a bit of nonchalance in the midst of this situation. It is dangerous to equate those who feel empathy for broken and marginalized Palestinian families with Hamas. This type of language and stubbornness by Israel and their supporters epitomizes why it has been impossible for Palestinians to form a working democracy and why it is easy for Israel to boast about their “civility” and pro-western values. Israel must agree to honor an agreement dating back to 2012 to lift the siege that has turned Gaza into an open-air prison. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must discontinue the approval of settlement construction in Palestinian land, and the United States must come out as a strong proponent of a solution other than just a cease-fire with an expiration date. It’s time to stop calling this a war about “rockets and tunnels,” when in reality it’s about occupation. More must be done than just stopping the rockets.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel has drawn a profusion of recent international criticism over Israel’s controversial retaliatory invasion of Palestine to search for and destroy Hamas’s smuggling tunnels. Consequently, the Jewish state is completely justified in the deployment of troops and the launching of rockets into Gaza by virtue of the fact that the maneuvers are already subsequent to Hamas’s blatant aggression and smuggling of arms across the border. Since a little over a month ago, rockets have been trained at Tel Aviv and launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza, inefficaciously so, as the US-sponsored Iron Dome missile defense system has deflected all rockets en route. Regardless of this fact, it is important that Netanyahu continue sanctioning the development and settlement of Palestinian land. It promotes Palestine’s faltering economy by putting the residents to work and introducing much-needed capital into their burgeoning construction industry. Truthfully, even beginning to consider the government in Palestine legitimate after the Fatah-Hamas merger into a single Palestinian Authority is wrong. Hamas has terrorized the Gazan populace since 2006, and their unification with Fatah would do no good to the Palestinians. Even the US Department of Defense considers Hamas to be a foreign terrorist group, and any government that incorporates the likes of Hamas is a government of terrorists. Not only that, Hamas has breached international law, according to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. By placing military equipment in and firing rockets from highly populated areas, namely the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) facilities in the Gaza strip, they’ve managed to transgress against the laws of war. Essentially, they’re using the citizens of Gaza as veritable human shields, and manipulating public opinion by lambasting Israel for the collateral damage occurring as a result. Mass media has completely pandered to Hamas’s egregious anti-Semitic sociopolitical propaganda, while ignoring the jihadi group’s lack of respect for international law. The United States should not abandon Israel. It is paramount for our allies to believe that they can count on us in times of crisis, and rejecting Israel for Palestine would only add salt to the gaping wound inflicted over six years of President Obama’s flippant foreign policy. In this post-World War II era, after the obliteration of the National Socialists and the demolition of Festung Europa, this country has been content to protect those of the Jewish faith; it would be extremely unsavory for the US to renege on its 60-year-old commitment and allow the likes of anti-Semitism to make a reemergence.
TWO VIEWS
The President must act despite a stagnant Congress Commentary by Stephan Chamberlin OPINION EDITOR
Source: The American Presidency Project Enacted laws 2% 400
200 150 100 50
Passed Resolutions 6% 800
Other Legislation 88%
600 500 400 300 200 100
0
President
700
Laws Enacted
250
Barack Obama
300
Compiled by Danny Delgado
Got a vote 4%
George W. Bush
350
Ronald Reagan
Number of executive orders
Just a few weeks ago, Speaker of the House John Boehner and all but four of his fellow Republican congressmen in the House voted to file a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, claiming that his use of executive orders has crossed the extra-constitutional line. If this demonstrates anything about Congress, it’s that they will stop at nothing to cast this president in a negative light, regardless of how or why. This time they aim to make him answer for doing his job in the only way Congress has allowed him to do so. There seems to be one underlying theme in all the rhetoric used against President Obama in the past month with regards to the lawsuit. A couple of recurring words include, but are not limited to, “tyrant” and “dictator.” These kinds of totalitarian accusations are thrown around because the President has issued executive orders to resolve issues on things like Mexican border immigration and student loan reform, which normally are done through Congress. The representatives in the House are up in arms about being circumvented; they feel like it’s the place of Congress to write a bill and pass a law about these issues, not for the president to issue a decree on them. However, there seems to be one glaring problem with the usual congressional oversight. If you’ve heard anything about the herd of legislators that currently hold office up on Capitol Hill, it’s this: cooperation isn’t their strong suit. They can’t agree with each other long enough to pass legislation on anything from education, to immigration, to corporate taxation, to foreign policy negotiation. They are by far the least productive bunch in all of
Congressional history; without exaggeration, the 2013-14 congressional session saw the least amount of lawmaking by a large margin when compared to any other year in United States history. With that fact in mind, it’s no wonder Obama has been so reluctant to run these issues through a feuding huddle of career politicians before taking action. The reality is, if he were to attempt to get Congress to pass a bill on anything, let alone on a large, complicated, messy issue like immigration, nothing would get done. From a purely constitutional standpoint, Boehner and the majority of his cohort have a point. It isn’t the place or the duty of the president to issue executive orders on things which Congress usually deals with. That said, Obama has had to make these decisions under pressure, knowing that if he left it up to the members of the House, the issue would go on unresolved and he will end up taking the blame. Deliberate sabotage of this president is almost incentivized. The self-appointed objective of the senate minority leader was to “make Obama a one term president.” How can the Commander in Chief leave it up to people like that to help him deal with an issue, especially when they care more about having him fail than having the matter resolved? In truth, Obama isn’t the democracy destroying, republic wrecking tyrant some have painted him to be. George W. Bush issued 291 of such orders, Ronald Reagan issued 381, and Barack Obama, despite being called a dictator, only has 183 orders to show for it. His average number of executive orders per year at 33.27 has been lower than every other past president since Grover Cleveland’s first term in 1885. To call him anything other than a moderate would be to ignore both history and a sputtering, dysfunctional congress, neither of which can be easily neglected.
Productivity of 113th Congress
Congressional History: 106th to 113th
Opposable
THUMBS
New Room Numbers “I’m a senior, and I don’t know where I’m going.” -Francis Pérez, Sports Editor
Kim Kardashian’s game “It’s ruining my life.” -Raquel Braun, Insight Editor
Summer workouts “I don’t like moving.” -Maggie Rivers, Managing Editor
Screenshotting Snapchats “It’s 21st century blackmail.” -Avery Budin, Staff Writer
opinion
highlights August 2014
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Charity trips lacking focus on meaningful work Commentary by Olivia Field STAFF WRITER
In an ideal world, the benefits of charity trips that are sanctioned by your school or community are a mixture of hard work to help those in need, to obtain cultural enrichment (as you immerse yourself in another way of life), and to experience that bubbly feeling you get when you realize you have helped shaped a person’s life for the better. But, like I said, that is only the idea. Mission trips have become more beneficial for the people helping than for the unfortunate that are supposed to be assisted. A large portion of the time spent in these foreign countries are usually dedicated to excursions rather than the actual task at hand; usually the job the group must complete is very simple like painting a mural or helping clean a community center after a natural disaster of some sort. Sophomore Laura Stieghorst took part in a trip to Washington, Ill. to help aid in the rebuilding of a playground after a tornado hit. “I don’t feel like we really helped people there because swing sets aren’t a necessity after a natural disaster strikes. Not only that, but we were doing this for an upper middle class community that lived in a nicer neighborhood than most of the people in our group,” Stieghorst said. Of course these activities are making some sort of a difference and there are indeed humanitarian trips that leave a substantial mark, but it is unnecessary to travel all that way to only paint a couple of flowers on a wall.
Another important component of a charity trip is merging into the culture and being able to gain some knowledge on life in that area of the world. Yet, during a majority of the trip, you would probably spend the most time getting to know your bunkmate and advisor; the housing is usually somewhat Americanized and protected from the outside world, and thus secluded from the actual locals. The motivation for under planning these trips could be anything from trying to avoid accident, which could eventually lead to legal issues, or trying to create some sort of appeal for the trip. It is understandable to see teenagers deciding not to go on these types of trips because the sight-seeing portion of the itinerary is unexciting and generally boring. Even so, these concerns are still no excuse for the absence of a concrete mission when going on these voyages. “If I had a more important task to do I guess it would have been a better experience because I would have felt more successful and I mean we all knew building a swing set wasn’t worth all the money, time, and effort, so my group could have been of better use in general,” Stieghorst said. Humanitarian aid trips need to have a balance between work time and free time for them to be valid. This means that there can be extra activities and fun things on the side, but these outings cannot suppress the main goal. They need to not only provide a worthy task that can truly leave a lasting effect on the community, but also needs to include some sort of cultural enrichment. The whole point of these of trips is to provide something tangible for those in need and for participants to gain knowledge on another way of life. If charity trips do not possess these qualities, then participants are basically paying money to go along with a preset itinerary that will not give them much more than a tourist’s view of the area and a severe case of jet lag.
Florida must fight for gay rights
Six Californias is a bad idea
Commentary by Avery Budin
Commentary by Joey Lancaster
STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
The floodgates are open and gay rights activists are ready for legal action. After having declared Florida’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, violating equal protection and due process clauses, many citizens believe immediate change is only weeks away; they are wrong. Despite overcoming the first hurdle, Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties’ judges are far from allowing gay and lesbian couples an easy stroll down the aisle. Most lawyers expect the matter to be resolved after a US Supreme Court settlement in 2016. Unfortunately, gay marriage opponents are willing to fight every legal appeal in order to prevent it from ever becoming legal. “If it’s possible in other states, it’s possible here. It isn’t fair that gay couples have to travel to other states to get married, especially when it isn’t even recognized in their home state,” senior Alexa Alcalay said. By waiting out pending appeals the courts are giving lawmakers time to file more court challenges. As a result, activists’ determination to receive daily Social Security, adoption, and retirement benefits are growing farther from fruition. State judges have an obligation to abide by the constitution, and because banning gay marriage has already been deemed unconstitutional, it’s questionable as to why the rest of Florida’s judicial system has yet to get on the bandwagon. “If lawmakers actually stood by the practice of separation of church and state, gay marriage wouldn’t be an issue,” sophomore Bhargavi Pochi said. The group Equality Florida has organized countless celebrations spanning from Key West to Tallahassee broadcasting their “Love Wins in Florida” slogan. Leaders are raising money, lobbying Tallahassee representatives, and attending school-board meetings, commission meeting, etc. to rally pro-marriage supporters. While LGBT protestors appear stronger than ever, public opinion remains inconsistent. The everpresent controversy that has plagued gay rights for decades isn’t dwindling because of the recent ruling. In order to make gay marriage official, the LGBT community needs support beyond their own people. “Gay rights advocates need to widen their support system, they need to rely more on influential members of the community and look to well-respected representatives to relay their message of equality, it cant be done without them,” sophomore Bryce Scanlon said. If we call ourselves a free nation, we should be guaranteed our civil rights.
It happens to every Silicon Valley billionaire eventually. Their daddy makes enough money from lucky investments and inevitably dies, leaving everything to them. Which brings us to Timothy Draper, a mild-mannered capitalist who felt compelled to lead California out of its recession without, of course, holding office in the state’s government. All this while endeavoring to make California whole again... by breaking it apart. In December 2013, Draper proposed the “Six Californias” measure in order to get California out of it’s recession. It would split California into six separate states named North California, South California, West California, Jefferson, Silicon Valley, which will presumably be the richest state in the nation per capita, and Central California, which will inevitably be the poorest state in the nation per capita. I think Stephen Colbert illustrated it best when he said “you can’t go wrong naming states after technology; it’s timeless, just ask the residents of CB Radio and Beta Max.” What’s even sadder than this idea being proposed in the first place is that 1.3 million Californians actually signed the petition agreeing that this movement should be passed, but who wouldn’t? The Six Californias Initiative has obviously done a superb amount of thinking when it came to proposing this idea and made a first rate point when they said “it can be overwhelming. California is just too big and complicated to be run by one executive.” Bankruptcy, an educational downfall, convoluting the entire Californian water and roadway infrastructure, all of this is a worthy price to pay to have a personal relationship with your state governor. What scares me most is that more than a million Californians haven’t caught on. They don’t see this as the disaster waiting to happen that it actually is. This is a bill proposed by a rich venture capitalist in an attempt to isolate Silicon Valley from the rest of the state. The legislation comes from a shady source who has never held public office. They should’ve killed the bill the moment they even heard of it.
Intervention with ISIS must not come militarily Commentary by Howard Senior STAFF WRITER
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, or the Islamic State), which currently occupies large swathes of both northern Iraq and the Levant, has been thrust into the international spotlight after driving several thousand citizens of the Yazidi faith out of the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and onto a nearby mountain. Facing desolation, the displaced Yazidis have been dying by the hundreds due to starvation and dehydration. This, incontrovertibly, is genocide, and should never be tolerated, as dictated both morally and in international law. In addition, those who identified with a faith other than ISIS’s strictly fundamentalist persuasion of Islam were driven from their homes and disenfranchised of their property-holding rights, as was the case in the city of Mosul. President Obama and the State Department, as usual, have remained totally ambivalent over ISIS’s blatant contravention of basic human rights. Instead, the President has elected to dither, understandably so; the ISIS crisis has proven to be a morass of sociopolitical contention, with some supporting direct intervention and others pointing to isolationism. Although it is apparent that the United States should work actively to ease and mitigate the threat ISIS poses to the Middle East, it is imperative that the Armed Forces not intercede. One need not look further than the Iraqi War conceived in 2003 under former President George W. Bush. The conflict, according to Reuters, will cost the US upwards of $4 trillion, not to mention the lives of over 4,000 soldiers. Not only would it be completely irresponsible and arguably unscrupulous of the
Obama administration to repeat this debacle, the gratuitously thoughtless accruement of the debt that would result from increasing the nation’s military expenditures could significantly tarnish the economy and further leave the US at the mercy of its debtors. In addition, such a hypothetical war against ISIS would inevitably be extremely unpopular with the international community. With the growing prevalence of right-wing individualistic sentiments and unabashed xenophobia across the European Union, formerly loyal allies, specifically the United Kingdom (UK) and France have recently demonstrated their newfound predisposition to chronic perfidy. The decision of France to opt out of the 2003 invasion of Iraq demonstrated the French populace’s general disregard of the Middle East’s seemingly interminable sociocultural turbulence, and the UK, which previously supported the US-led coalition, has recently suffered a substantial decrease in staunchness, presumably due to the rise of populist leaders like Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). When President Obama threatened military intervention in 2013 to controvert war crimes allegedly perpetrated by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Britain remained quite unforthcoming. Similarly, one may discover just how superficial the international relationship between the US and its allies has become, and how Europe is
2 billion 30,000 Dollars in assets ISIS has at its disposal
Militants fighting for ISIS
totally content to revel in its hesitance and dismiss the Islamic State as irrelevant; evidently, de minimis non curat praetor: the governor doesn’t concern himself with trivialities. Furthermore, it is not the exclusive responsibility of the United States to police planet Earth. This country has contributed significantly more than its fair share to the betterment of the global sociopolitical environment. Therefore, if a military coalition is to be formed, it should be under neither the flag of the United States nor the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as the US contributes over 70 percent of the latter’s budget and consequentially would render the organization an American proxy. Instead, the United Nations should be tasked in the mitigation of the threat ISIS poses to international law, and the militaristic facet of said attenuation should incorporate the armed forces of a plethora of member nations in lieu of a select few. If anything, the mutually Shia governments of Iraq and Iran should be coordinating more closely with each other to combat the Sunni Islamic State, and the Russian Federation should abide by its obligations as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and assist militarily in the Levant to defend international law.
by the numbers
10,000
13,000
Barrels of oil produced by ISIS per day
Square miles under ISIS control
insight
Google Sex ed Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex
ed ed ed ed ed ed
in Miami Dade is outdated and inadequate is currently abstinence-based is necessary among the LGBTQ community is about more than the birds and the bees should be mandated in all schools should be expanded and improved
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insight
10
highlights August 2014
AMERICAN SEX ED FALLS SHORT Commentary by Maggie Rivers MANAGING EDITOR
Sexual education has been a cultural institution in the United States for over half a century, promising to teach kids about their bodies and the changes they are experiencing, including the development of sexuality. However, since the 60s, sex education has seen few developments. Today, it still fails to address the growing acceptance of teenagers having sex lives and it fails to inform students about the spectrums of gender, sex, and sexuality. The majority of American sex education is centered on advocating abstinence. Many students are taught that abstaining from sex is not only the most effective birth control method, that also helps in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This abstinence-centric curriculum is backed up with fear-based educational methods in order to convince students with budding sex drives not to have sex. It is not unusual for students to be shown various pictures of genitals affected by STDs with the warning that abstinence would have prevented such ailments. Generally, in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS), sex education is taught throughout middle school, just as students start to go through puberty. This current system, however, is not sufficient. The way sex education currently works is with the assumption that teens will not have sex. Unfortunately, just telling kids not to have sex does not solve the problem, because there will always be a number of teens with active sex lives. Preaching abstinence and only abstinence does not properly educate students who do choose to have sex. Tons of misconceptions exist among teens that pregnancy can be avoided by doing things such as “pulling out” before ejaculation or having sex while a female is on her period. These types of misconceptions are often not talked about in sex education, making them widespread among teens who usually do not have a safe or comfortable space to ask questions about sex. Also, putting an emphasis on abstinence has conditioned teens to think that if they are not having penetrative sex, they are having sex safe from pregnancy and STDs, which is simply not true. In current classes, very little reference is made to oral sex and the risk it carries of
catching diseases like herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, and human papilloma virus, among others. By discouraging sexual activity, American sex education has created a culture where teens are ashamed of their sexuality, and often feel “dirty” or regretful of their urges for and indulgences in activities such as masturbation. As a result, many teens do not understand their own bodies before they have sexual interactions with others, making them unprepared for or dissatisfied with their sex lives. Without a proper and comprehensive sex education, most kids will derive their knowledge of sex from representations of it in movies, media, and porn. These resources often display sex in a very narrow way, leading teens to have skewed and unhealthy perceptions of what sex is and what it can be. Student efforts to try to find more resources for sex education, such as online resources, are actively discouraged by schools, leaving kids with very few options for sex education. MDCPS’s web filter, for example, blocks online searches including the word “sex” and most websites that would provide students with information about sex. Also, by ignoring the fact that gender, sex, and sexuality are not simply binary, schools are perpetuating current gender norms and confusion in kids that are not cisgendered or cissexual. Despite increased awareness and acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer community, these kids can not find many safe spaces to ask questions and learn about their bodies, especially at the most formative times for non-cisgender kids, which is elementary school. Most of the time, these kids only get exposure to harmful, offensive, and untrue media portrayals of what it is to not be cisgendered or cissexual. Including topics on gender, sex, and sexuality in the sex education curriculum would also advocate for greater acceptance of people on all points of the spectrums. A complete revamp of sex education curriculum and teaching methods needs to occur. Schools need to make sure that these classes create a safe space for teenagers to get informed and ask questions about all forms of sex and that students revisit these topics every few years to ensure they have up to date knowledge. Inviting doctors or other professionals to talk to students would create an unbiased and open environment for students and would ensure that students have a chance to hear all options when it comes to their sex lives, whether or not they choose to have sex.
gables students speak up about sex ed
“
“
I think that there is not enough sex education provided in school and it is counterproductive for schools to try to shield us away from education because they don’t want to put it in our minds, but obviously [sex] is something we already have in our mind because of the pop-culture we are surrounded by today.
“
“
Geneva Smith, senior
I think they really should talk about sex more in school because there are many students that don’t really get ‘the talk’ or aren’t comfortable with their parents and I think school is a safe place where you can learn about those things.
“
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Maybel Cerrato, sophomore
I think [sex education] is a bit insufficient. Most people are taught in 5th grade, like are you really going to remember that when you are sexually active? I feel like we do have things like P.E., which personally I find totally useless, like we could use that space for sex ed because honestly most people hit freshman year and start [dealing with sex].
Ann Marie Bracho, senior
Compiled by Olivia Field/highlights
highlights
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11
the birds and bees by the numbers:
out of 100 students
compiled by Raquel Braun/online survey
30%
74%
of students have had sex
61% 80% 13%
of those students have had a pregnancy scare
of those students have had an STD scare
of students are ashamed of their sexual past
porn
of students never got the “sex talk” from their parents
Resources used by students for personal sex education
28%
counselor
reputable internet site
14% 12%
of students did not receive any form of sex ed in high school
17%
yahoo answers
self-help book
21%
15%
other
doctor
3%
3%
Resource Box: Go Ask Alice! Columbia University Laci Green
the university’s health education program offers answers to questions on many topics “with a health focus.”
is an American YouTube blogger who runs Sex+, a weekly show covering topics related to sexuality, relationships, body image, and gender.
Planned Parenthood
vistit 3119 Coral Way, Coral Gables, FL 33145 or call: 305-285-5535
SEX EDUCATION IN MIAMI DADE
By Marko Ciklovan STAFF WRITER
According to the Florida Department of Health throughout the United States, MiamiDade County has the largest growing rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS) cases. This may be due to the lack of sex education in Florida, which ranks third in the nation for people living with AIDS. People living with the HIV or AIDS make up roughly 11.7 percent of the population in Florida. Twenty-five percent of new HIV cases in Miami-Dade County consist of people between the ages of 13 and 24, and HIV symptoms are the seventh leading cause of death in teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19. The Center for Disease Control has concluded that 80 percent of teens from the ages of 15-19 have sex without receiving any form of sex education. Sexual activity shared between teenagers continues to rise. According to the official internet site of the Florida legislature, the policy for sex education in Florida is to promote abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage, while also teaching the benefits of a heterosexual marriage. “We do follow the policy, but we cannot control [the students’] choices,” Principal Adolfo Costa said. “The school used to have a sex education class and if we had to, we would promote safe
sex,” Department Chair Person Theresa Alvarado said. Budget cuts have forced the class to cease and the requirements have been delegated to the biology department. Due to this policy, teachers must promote abstinence before marriage; the teachers in the biology department, such as biology teacher Eric Molina must answer any question about sex with that answer. “Whenever a student asks me about sex, I tell them no sex till marriage. I went to Catholic school for 12 years, so it is what I truly believe,” Molina said. The Future of Sex Education Initiative (FSEI) has proposed a new way of teaching sex education in which the teachers speak to the students in a more relaxed, understanding manner. Miami-Dade county Public Schools has agreed to FSEI’s proposal of educating students in all schools, from Pre-K to Grade 12. Even though there is no official guidance counselor, it is recommended to speak to your counselor, a close teacher, or the nurse at the school. Students are allowed to ask their teachers questions, but in an appropriate manner and timing. The FSEI hopes this is a more effective way that will reduce the amount of unsafe sex taking place in the young population.
features GABLES: Compiled by Sydney Scanlon STAFF WRITER
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Then and now Olivia Field /highlights
Courtesty of The Cavaleon
PREVIOUS AND PRESENT: As the world around the school changes and develops, the school’s architecture remains almost the same. The front of the school in ‘69 (left) closely resembles how the school looks in the twentyfirst century (right).
CLASS OF '69
CLASS OF '01
CLASS OF '02
CLASS OF '06
Daniel Blackmon Natalie De La Vega Maureen Marmesh Michelle Zaldivar Courtesty of The Cavaleon
Q: What was your favorite thing about your high school experience? A: I was fortunate to be on two national championship football teams. That 1967 team was declared the team of the century by the Florida High School Athletic Association Q: What was your least favorite part about your high school experience? A: I enjoyed everyday of my time here at Gables. Every single day. And the good news is I knew that I was enjoying it. Q: What has changed the most about Gables? A: Demographics. When I was here the school was largely middle class ... The kind of wealthy people or wealthier people who used to go here are now going to private schools which I think is ridiculous. Q: How have the students changed? A: Integration happened here smoothly. The year 1996 was the first year that the school was integrated. We had Cubans who came here from the revolution to African Americans who were now coming to Gables. Q: Did you have any hangouts? A: A lot of the hangouts are no longer here. There was a place across the street called Don’s Den where a lot of guys hung out but it hasn’t been there for 25 years or longer.
Q: What was your favorite thing about your high school experience? A: I’d say the sports atmosphere. How the athletes were treated. Q: What was your least favorite part about your high school experience? A: I didn’t have anything I didn’t like about high school. Q: What has remained the same? A: The building. The new building is new but the old building looks exactly how it did when I was in high school. Q: What has changed? A: I would say back in the days we were allowed to flaunt that we were athletes. We got away with a little more. Nowadays, they are much more regulated on the athletes. They have to follow the same rules as the students. Q: What do you miss the most? A: What I miss most is probably the people I hung out with. My best friend in highschool passed away during college so I would say my cliques. Q: What makes Gables special? A: I feel Gables is like a family; you form great bonds with both teaches and students.
Q: What was your favorite thing about your high school experience? A: My favorite thing was Gablettes. I did it all four years so I kind of don’t know what high school is without it. I did IB as well and I think [Gablettes] definitely balanced out the academic stress. Q: What was your least favorite part about your high school experience? A: I had a pretty good time in high school. I can’t complain really about anything. I just wish I could’ve gotten more sleep; that would’ve been great. Q: What is special to you about Gables? A: Because it’s an older school it has a lot of traditions and I think that especially with a lot of alumni coming back and teaching, those traditions have been carried through ... that’s something you can’t get elsewhere. Q: Did you have any hangouts? A: We would go to Casola’s after football games. Q: What has changed the most at Gables? A: All the numbers have changed and the hallways have changed…this will always be the 800 hall to me. The new building wasn’t there. That used to be Drivers Ed. That stuff is kind of weird.
Q: What was your favorite thing about your high school experience? A: The experiences I had through extracurricular activities: Chorus and water polo mainly. Q: What was your least favorite part about your high school experience? A: Drama ... Everyone figuring themselves out at the same time and in the same space can get messy and a little dangerous honestly. These are some especially formative years, especially socially and intelectually ... petty things get blown out of proportion. Q: What has remained the same? A: A lot of the teachers are the same. The emphasis on testing is the same, which makes education itself really stagnant really. Q: How do you think your high school experience differs from current high schoolers? A: Technology, specifically social media ... Information moves so freely and quickly, which accelerates both the best and worst things of high school. Q: What at Gables has changed? A: As far as the types of students, not much. I still see some of the kids I knew in some of the kids now.
Looking to place an ad in highlights ? To buy one:
Contact Adviser Melissa Gonzalez Melissa_Gonzalez@dadeschools.net
highlights August 2014
Ultimate Cav Bucket list By Eleonor Bauwens STAFF WRITER
13
Spotlight:
Isabella Gonzalez
1. Ask a random person to sign your yearbook. This should not be difficult seeing as there are over 3000 students in the school. You are welcome in advance for all your new friends. 2. Bike to school. You are saving gas while exercising. You even get to use the new bike rack by the auditorium.
4. Dye your hair red for spirit week. If you have ever felt the need to really express your Cav pride, now is your chance. Dye your hair red for spirit week (If you are looking for a less permanent option spray paint it.) 5. Successfully make it from the new building to the main office during lunch. If you have ever had to speak to a science, math or English teacher during lunch chances are you have found yourself standing in front of a locked door or being kicked out of the old 300 hallway by our trusted security guards. How about attempting to actually get through this year? 8. Actually do an epic Promposal. Do it like they do in the movies, or if you are a girl embrace your feminist side and ask a guy? 7. Go to Homecoming. Every year the amount of students who go to Homecoming is disappointing when you take into account the amount of students in the school. Just go. 6. Go a week with no sweater. If you have ever made the mistake of leaving your comfy sweater at home then you understand the torture of sitting through a science class where the temperature is comparable to winter in Antarctica. Try to make it a week without one.
10. Wear a crazy outfit. Just make sure it follows the dress code or we will be seeing you and your crazy outfit afterschool … in detention. 11. Eat a school lunch. I respect all those who have eaten school lunch more than once in high school. Between the mystery meat and the soggy pizza, eating the school lunch is definitely an experience. 12. Walk through the hallways with a “Free Hug” sign. As long as you are in uniform this should not be a problem. You are just trying to make friends!
15. Go swimming in the pool on the roof of the new building. Good luck trying to find it! 16. Stand in the boys locker room for more than five minutes. Congrats if you are able to last that long. I wish you luck and I sincerely hope your nose does not burn off from the stench. 17. Go to a golf tournament. Yes! There is a golf team and they are good! You should cheer them on and think about joining the team as well. 18. Appreciate SWA. Sistas with Attitude (SWA) can be found performing at pep rallies, Fall Frolics, and the Black History Month show, among other events. Definitely do not miss their greatness.
HOW TO: highlights hat By Vanessa Vazquez and Olivia Field STAFF WRITER
Olivia Field/highlights
REPURPOSING PAPER: Created by multiple sequences of different folds and creases, the highlights hat is an environmentally savvy fashion piece that can be easily constructed and worn by anyone.
THE COOL TEAHCER: In this cartoon, substitute George Gino tells the world his famous stories about his prosperous life.
By Eleonor Bauwens STAFF WRITER
13. Sit with random people at lunch. Read highlights with them too. 14. Walk into Blackmon’s classroom to sell food. Many students through the years have made this deadly mistake. Now it is your turn to attempt to overcome this great challenge. At your own risk.
Instead of chucking this copy of highlights into the air and letting it fall to the ground to become a pile of useless paper (this would be after you read it, of course), you can easily fashion it into a stylish and trendy repurposed hat. Much simpler than origami birds or flowers, an origami highlights hat can be completed in four simple steps.
Step 1 Choose your favorite section of highlights, which could even be the front page, and separate it from the rest of the copy. Make sure to have it placed so that its natural fold is on top. If you choose the News section for your hat, for example, page five should be in the front and page 16 on the back. Turn the paper horizontally so the opening is facing in your direction. Step 2 Now you are ready to begin folding. Grab the top corners and bring them inwards so they meet the fold in the middle while facing you. Press down on the edges of the folds to create a crease and secure it. Your section of the paper should now resemble a triangle shape. Step 3 There should be a margin left on the bottom of your hatin-progress. Separate the top piece of the margin and fold it upward so it covers the bottom of the triangle fold you made during step two. Press the fold down so it stays in place. Flip your hat over, and once again, fold the margin up on the other side and press it down. Step 4 Finally, reach inside the hat and gently pull it apart to open it so it will be wide enough to fit your head. Be careful not to pull too hard so that the hat does not fall apart or rip into pieces. Step 5 Place the hat on your head. Congratulations, your hat is complete! Now make sure that you proudly walk down the halls and show off your innovative earth-friendly fashion sense to all your peers.
Courtesty of Isabella Gonzalez
3. Wear pink on Wednesday. Take Karen Smith’s rule seriously this year and wear pink on Wednesdays. #plastic
9. Go to a football game. Do not be that person who never went to a football game. It is not going to kill you to cheer on the Cavaliers.
Thalia Herrera/contributor
Whether your high school years are winding to a close or if you are just starting the journey, there is always time to take the chance to make your memories at Gables unforgettable. Do not let high school fly by without having some fun. Below is a bucket list made for a true Cavalier to attempt along with friends.
SINGING SAVIOR: Freshman Isabella Gonzalez and the Give Me 5 band members performed at the Cancer Relay for Life in Key Biscayne this past May.
By Vanessa Vazquez STAFF WRITER
From performing on Broadway to being a contestant on the X Factor, freshman Isabella Gonzalez has been singing, dancing, and acting since the age of three. Performing is a very important part of her life. “My favorite part of performing is being able to transmit my passion for singing to an audience, no matter how big or small, and truly connect to them,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez is a member of the girl group Give Me 5, along with two of her friends. She takes dance, vocal, and acting lessons to perform better. While Gonzalez mostly sings in Spanish, she sings just as well in English. Her musical background came from joining a local musical theater group. Now, at the age of 14, she has achieved many accomplishments, including like performing on Broadway and reaching the semi-finals of The X-Factor. At the age of three, Gonzalez joined the Broadway Musical Theather (BMT) group in Key Biscayne. BMT offers dancing, acting, and vocal lessons, all which help young performers improve their skills to better suit a Broadway style. Some Broadway shows she has been in include The Lion King, Hairspray, Annie and The Little Mermaid, totaling approximately 22 Broadway shows. Gonzalez is in Give Me 5 with Giselle Torres and Dominique Nino, and has been for a long time now. All three girls are a part of a BMT group in Key Biscayne. The group went on as contestants on the popular show “El Factor X” in Mexico, a version of the original British show we all know as “The X Factor,” and made it to fifth place. The group was eliminated at the judge’s house, which according to Gonzalez was “extremely sad.” One of the judges surprised the girls at Gonzalez’s house and told them they were back in the competition. The group made it to the semifinals before being eliminated. “X Factor was completely different from Broadway because it’s not only in front of a lot of people, it’s in front of millions and it’s a competition,” Gonzalez said. Being the oldest in the group, Gonzalez definetly stood out. The girls have made videos of themselves singing and dancing to covers of diverse songs on YouTube. The group has three original songs, “Glass Slippers,” “Late Mi Corazon,” and “Give Me 5,” with music videos. “Performing, just by a little, comes first before any hobbies because its what I’ve done my whole life. Performing gives me a feeling of satisfaction and adrenaline that I love... when I step on a stage, I feel like it’s my second home and do anything my heart desires,” Gonzalez said. Apart from performing, Gonzalez is also very athletic and dedicated to sports. She plays right midfield for the Key Biscayne Soccer Club, rides horses, and plays tennis. “For the future, I really don’t have anything planned out exactly because the future could change any second. However, for now I am preparing myself for anything that comes my way, studying extremely hard in school so I can succeed in life. And for the artistic side, I’m taking lessons like I always do so I am sure I can be 100 percent for any competition I might find,” Gonzalez said.
features
highlights August 2014
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Education and Technology >> In Sync School: There’s an app for that In the busy life of a student, it is often difficult to find a way to organize school before it even begins. The new school year brings different teachers, foreign classes, unfamiliar faces and some new stresses. Whether you are starting high school as a freshman or ending high school as a senior, everyone experiences the never-ending chaos of tests, quizzes and homework. However, with these five organizational and educational applications, this school year might go more smoothly than expected.
Olivia Field/highlights
APPS IN ACTION: For a generation overwhelmed with technology there are smartphone applications useful for school. Virtual flashcards, algebra calculators, and daily agendas help make everyday tasks slightly less grueling and easily accessible.
By Sabrina Fiske STAFF WRITER
MyScript Calculator Instead of simply typing a problem into a typical calculator, the MyScript Calculator recognizes your handwriting, then converts and calculates the solution as a mathematical expression. For example, a simple algebraic expression of 2x=10 will be solved in an instant giving you the answer x=5. Even if this calculator does solve the problem for you, it does not explain how it arrived at the solution, so it is only useful when checking answers. MyScript Calculator is free and is available on all platforms.
iStudiez Pro The times of writing in an agenda are a thing of the past. iStudiez Pro performs as a task manager that can schedule the school day by class. The app allows you to assign each class with its own color, and determine the start and end of each semester. When your classes are already assigned their colors, assignments can then be written down. These assignments show up on the calendar on the main dashboard and remain as a notification on your device. Although iStudiez Pro costs $2.99 and is only available for Apple products, this app will be helpful for keeping deadlines. It is a good tool for students who have their phones with them at all times.
Quizlet Quizlet will be your simple and easy vocabulary lifesaver. By inputting information, such as vocabulary words with their correspondent definitions, historical events, or anything else you need to remember into the app, users can create online flashcards. For auditory learners, these flash cards can be read to you when you are studying the material. Visual learners can use the app’s game, which times you while you match the corresponding cards. Lastly, for kinesthetic learners, the “learn” application on Quizlet allows you to put your spelling skills to the test. Quizlet is a free app and it can be downloaded on all platforms.
SAT Vocab by MindSnacks Even though SAT vocabulary is not the most fun thing to learn, you still have to know it. Now with this app, instead of spending numerous hours studying from extensive SAT vocabulary lists, you can have fun while learning and play one of the nine games this app offers. The addicting games will help you learn more than 500 PSAT and SAT words. Each person gets his or her own personal learning algorithm, which tailors the learning to you and adjusts the speed to your preference. SAT Vocab by MindSnacks is free, but in order to get more words to study in the app, purchases are required. The app is available to play on Apple products.
Google Docs One time or another, the dreaded group project will come around during the school year. With Google Docs, sharing and editting documents with others is easy. Others can add or respond to comments on documents or edit the current document in real time. Even if you are not doing a group project, the app is still useful. Google Docs can password-protect your documents and automatically saves your document when typing. It also allows a user to access and edit documents from various devices. The app acts like a digital flash drive that can hold up to 15 gigabytes of data. Google Docs is a free app and is available on all platforms.
College at the click of a button By Ali Band
another and to unlock college and life’s collective experiences. It provides a network of high school students, college students, and alumni to connect and share advice. Users can reach out users from colleges that interest them through features such as messaging, blogs, and an advice As you embark on the journey of the college admissions, the process can get hectic. page. Student users emphasize that Chalky is much more personal than other college websites, as highlights has compiled some helpful websites that you can utilize to narrow you prospects and it does not focus so much on the data and statistics but instead on the user at a personal level. hopefully make the process a little easier and less stressful. CollegeMajors101.com “Many of these websites consolidate useful information This website allows students to learn about college majors by exploring Many of these websites that would take seniors too much time to compile university profiles and videos on each subject, seeing the student and professional consolidate useful information individually. I urge all seniors to use them,” College associations in each major, reading industry publications to understand the daily that would take seniors Assistance Program (CAP) Advisor Elizabeth Stack said. news of your major, and to link to future employers to see the real professional too much time to compile Parchment.com nature of your major. CollegeMajors101 showcases different majors and provides individually. As you look forward to college, you are constantly tons of information on each one and helps you make educated decisions based on working towards obtaining credentials, certificates, in-depth knowledge and understanding. It also can direct you to contact featured Elizabeth Stack, transcripts, and diplomas and when they only exist as hard schools that offer the majors that interest you and help you get recruited by those copies, it is difficult to organize and access them to share. CAP Advisor colleges and universities. Parchment.com allows you to electronically send your Zinch.com transcripts to the website so the website can send it to any Zinch is a college student destination for scholarships that are creative, easy and destination in the world– to a college, an employer, or yourself. With your personal statistics and fun to apply for and win. Based on a comprehensive student profile, Zinch can match you to over data, the website can quantify everything and make correlations and predictions in regards to what $1 billion in scholarships and merit aid awards. It also connects students up with colleges and colleges may be realistic for you. graduate schools by allowing students to learn about, get recruited by, and interact with more than Chalky.com 850 colleges and universities from all over the world. The vision of this website is to empower This website is the perfect way to establish connections with people who have been in your all students to better view their options and present themselves, as most students lack control and shoes. The ultimate goal of this website is to offer personal mentorship by matching users to one visibility in the stress of the college admissions process. STAFF WRITER
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sports
highlights August 2014
15
Diminishing the pain with athletic trainers By Rachel Ellis STAFF WRITER
A student athlete with a busy training schedule and the desperate need to recover quickly may find him or herself in the athletic training room on a regular basis. These athletes come face to face with a group of eight students who work alongside Patrick Miller, the school’s head athletic trainer for two years now. These students volunteer their time throughout all sports seasons while getting some hands-on experience in the sports medicine career field. Located next to the gym, the schools training room is open for service from 3-7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The elite group of students who “run the show” are responsible for caring for different injuries, except broken bones.
In order to participate in the school’s sports medicine program, one must maintain a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.51 and must demonstrate a strong interest in investing a large amount of time after school to the training program, as well as to the student athletes. The trainers must also attend every football game of the year at both home and away fields. “After having worked in the training room these past couple of years, dealing with so many different athletes and injuries, I have decided that I would really like to be an athletic trainer for a professional soccer team. It’s really great being able to interact with all of the different players,” senior athletic trainer Madelin Pascual said. The student trainers are constantly at work, learning how to properly use stem machines, wrap and tape ankles, as well as
how to use different techniques to identify injuries in order to prevent them from happening again in the future. “I have had a knee injury for the past two seasons and the trainers were pretty helpful because they were able to care for my injury and give me ice whenever I needed it,” senior varsity soccer player Teague Scanlon said. Typically busiest during football season, and quieter during the off-season, the trainers are always ready for any injury that could be of concern at all times of the school year. “We mostly deal with football injuries over any other sport, even though the injuries we do see tend to not be very serious. However, the student athletes that come in [the training room], can sometimes just have a pulled muscle, but on other occasions they may be suffering from a concussion,” senior athletic trainer Mara Cora said.
Rachel Ellis/highlights THE TEAM BEHIND THE TEAM: After being instructed to examine several football players, senior trainer Madelin Pascual (Left) checks out football player Daemon Fuller’s hip alignment, (Middle) as well as examining another football player’s swolen ankle. (Right) Senior Jocelyn Heras also helps by laying a heating pad on aching football player Andres Casas’s back.
An excuse to exercise By Angelika Menendez and Olivia Field STAFF WRITERS
Ransom repairs track By Rachel Ellis STAFF WRITER
In everyday life, the challenge of getting fit is even harder as most classes, gyms, and programs can cost hundreds of dollars. To make exercising a little bit less intimidating, highlights has found three different free activities that are fairly close to home and offer an all around enjoyable experience. Bayfront Park, along with its beautiful view, offers free yoga classes three times a week. These classes span up to an hour and 15 minutes and take place at student friendly times. On Mondays and Wednesdays the classes start at 6 p.m. and on Saturdays they begin at 9 a.m., the perfect timing for busy teenagers. Burning up to 525 calories a session, this “Yoga in the Park” program is perfect for a workout and a form of relaxation. For those who want to exercise on their own, the county has several fitness zones set up at different parks. These fitness zones have their own versions of different machines, like the lat pull station, which can be found at most gyms. Available from dawn to dusk, the machines are used to keep the community healthy and fit. The closest locations include A.D. ‘Doug’ Barnes Park and Concord Park. “Fitness zones are helpful because they offer you a space where you can exercise and it is like a gym, because of all the equipment it has, but it is free which makes it even better,” Junior Paula Castaños said. Baptist Health South Florida also helps communities stay in shape with the multiple exercise programs they offer in different locations across the district. From aerobics to Zumba, Baptist offers 19 different classes to keep healthy. They also have walking groups that are set up at Coral Square Mall, Dadeland Mall, and West Kendall Baptist Hospital. Coral Reef Park offers the most programs, having different classes Mondays through Thursdays from 9-10 a.m., 11 a.m.-12 p.m., and 5-6 p.m. For more information, the schedule is up on their website, baptisthealth.net, under community exercise programs.
Two weeks after the completion of the 2013-14 school year, major renovations to the track on campus took place which will help decrease the amount of injuries that occur. The new track has been fully funded by Ransom Everglades School as a result of an agreement between the school and Ransom’s athletic departments. Due to Ransom’s location and lack of space to build a track, and Gables not having a pool on campus, the partnership between the two schools worked naturally. This year, Ransom’s track and field team will practice at the school’s track and the school’s swimming and water polo teams will continue to use their pool for two and a half hour practices, Monday through Friday, throughout the school year. The thirty-year-old concrete track was beginning to cause severe injuries to many of the school’s athletes, forcing many of them to leave the team. “The [old] track was outdated and broken down. There are much better products now that will greatly benefit the runners at our school, as well as Ransom,” Athletic Director Louis Romero said. The new track has been restored with a fresh layer of asphalt, a substitution for the concrete from the previous track, as well as a coat of rubber that will prevent further injuries. The drainage system around the track has also been redone to prevent any damage or flooding to the new track. “[The new track] will definitely help the team improve because it will help us prepare for the meets where the tracks are rubber, opposed to concrete like the one we previously had. Also, the new track will help prevent injuries like shin splints that the runners commonly had after running on the track for long periods of time,” junior long distance runner Kady Boylan said. The track will be painted with the school colors, crimson and gray, and will be ready for use on Aug. 29.
Getting away with crime: athletes go unpunished
Fans of professional athletes, and sports fans in general, hold their beloved players to a certain degree of responsibility and esteem. However, with the recent occurrence of domestic abuse, murder, and rape within the professional sports community, anyone who has a speck of good sense must, at least, agree that the sentencing given to professional athletes for their crass behavior does not match their actions. It has become common among sports organizations to harshly punish players who have been charged with using performance enhancing drugs, including star-athletes such as cyclist Lance Armstrong and baseball player Sammy Sosa; they literally strip the players of all of their awards, trophies, and achievements for a mere whiff of an illegal substance. Yet, when it comes to punishing a player who has abused, violated, or raped another human being emotionally or physically, the organizations seem to turn a blind eye to the star-athlete and give them little to no punishment, which does not reflect their nasty behavior off the field. For instance, America’s beloved soccer superstar Hope Solo was arrested on the basis of domestic violence against her underage cousin. Of course, the charges were dropped and neither the U.S. women’s soccer team nor the WLS punished Solo for her crude actions.
More recently, Super Bowl champion Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens was caught dragging his fiancée out of an elevator, and his punishment? A two game suspension. This is no surprise from the league notoriously known for saying that “domestic violence is not acceptable,” only to go back on its words by not disciplining their brutish and violent players. It is also no help that fans of Rice cheered him on at a practice after he received his relatively small sentence. Nevertheless, it is the greed of the commissioners of each organization, especially the NFL, that allows such players to continue on with their off the field violence (mostly towards women). Then again, why would a commissioner bite the hand that feeds him? Now, it is easy to say that the players are being justifiably punished because there is some money coming off of their payroll on top of the money that they will not receive from those missed games; however, the money that they are missing out on and are paying is nothing in comparison to the millions that they earn. Instead, why not ban the player for life in the league for any harmful charges? Yes, it is the players who make the leagues so much money and give them so much hype, but why not have civilized and good-sensed people in the league over tactless, talented players who tarnish each league’s reputation? If a league can ban a manager for racist remarks (e.g. Donald Sterling), why can’t all leagues do the same to players for their crude off field behavior? At the end of the day, the leagues should take action against their breadwinners, so that we will not see them on television flaunting their achievement.
>> Speak up!
How do students feel about athletes getting minimal punishment for crimes?
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I don’t think it’s fair because sometimes they’re seen as if they’re higher up and can’t be touched -Zoe Redmond, senior
It’s not right. Just because they’re more well known than normal people, [doesn’t mean] they shouldn’t be punished the same -Amanda Noguel, sophomore Compiled by Angelika Menendez
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COPY EDITOR
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Commentary by Cyrus Zeledon
sports
highlights August 2014
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Women score on a losing game >> Speak up! Women’s rights and equality have certainly made great progress in contemporary society and its sports. A key example is Becky Hammon, who recently became the first full-time female assistant coach in NBA history. Despite this, it is clear that women are still greatly undervalued in the NBA and other sport organizations. The San Antonio Spurs distinguished themselves first when they defeated the Miami Heat, in the 2014 NBA championship, and then again when they hired Hammon, making her the first full-time female coach for an NBA team. Thirty-seven year old Hammon, former San Antonio Silver Stars player, will be an assistant coach for the Spurs during the 2014-15 season. As a six-time WNBA All-Star and with 16 years of experience as a starter, Hammon is certainly qualified to be an NBA coach. The problem stands in the underrepresentation of women in the NBA and other professional sports leagues. There have been women before Hammon who were not talked about as much and who served as assistant coaches in the NBA. First was Lisa Boyer, who was a volunteer assistant coach during the 2001-02 season, without the official title, for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After Boyer, Natalie Nakase became the first paid female assistant coach, working for the Los Angeles Clippers, though it was during the off-season and only for two weeks. Some would argue that news of female coaches being hired should not be emphasized and should be treated as men being hired for the same position. This would imply that women and men have reached equality and it would be normal for a female to be hired. However the problem still stands that there have only been three female assistant coaches, and for a woman to get hired for this position is a huge accomplishment and should be emphasized to encourage more women that it can happen. Still, if there are people who continuously motivate and promote traditional gender roles, women will continue to feel discouraged about going into male dominated careers, like professional coaching. However, there are women who still challenge and break these traditional ideas. The key to getting rid of the idea that women are being subpar to men in sports is to stop imposing societal gender roles on boys and girls from an early age, and by teaching them that women are able to do what men can do and vice versa. The trailblazers (Boyer, Nakase, and Hammon) have helped to promote the idea of equality in sports organizations, but they alone cannot break down the barriers of this male-dominant career. Society, as a whole, has to stop perpetuating these barriers and start promoting equality.
FALL SPORTS
How do students feel about having women coach male sports?
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I feel like they’re not experienced to handle the man aspect of sports. -Bradley Lee, senior
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Compiled by Octavio Castro
I think as long as she knows what she’s doing, she stays on top of them, and really demands their respect, then she’ll be fine. -Laura Steighorst, sophomore
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STAFF WRITER
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Commentary by Octavio Castro
season previews
By Angelika Menendez STAFF WRITER
The school’s volleyball team has been practicing since Aug. 4 in the gym in preparation for the fall season. Players have been conditioning, doing passing, basic, and hitting drills as well as serving drills since the team “is always weak,” as head coach Monica De La Vega said, when it comes to serving. They also attended a camp offered by Miami Select Volleyball that helped players practice skills repetitively. “Summer practice helps us build up our strength for the season because we have a pretty difficult season ahead of us,” senior captain Sofia Toche said. De La Vega said that she has “high expectations” for this
season. Some important factors that De La Vega says will help the team are the new freshmen and Toche. According to De La Vega, the overall goal is to win more games than the team won last year. “I want to compete for districts and get first or second. I really want to go past districts which has not been done in the school’s history in the past six or seven years,” De La Vega said. The team has been practicing in the gym daily from 8-10 a.m. Their first game will be in the school’s gym on Aug. 26 against the Coral Park Rams.
Angelika Menendez/highlights
Volleyball reaches for Gables history
SUMMER SET: The girls varsity volleyball team practices in the gym during the summer to perfect their techniques.
New swim coach, new swim season
The school’s football team is preparing to defend their title as district champions. The team has been practicing and adding more intensity in the weight room for the upcoming fall season since January. According to third year head coach Roger Pollard, the number one goal for the team is winning the district championship, which would be the third time in the school’s history that the football team has won districts back to back. Never in the school’s history has the team won it three times in a row. Pollard said that there are new faces that “add spunk to our
punch,” and that the seniors are pushing the team. According to Pollard, they are working hard to get to state championships. “This is going to be my third year and this is going to be my favorite team right now, but who knows what the fourth year is going to bring,” Pollard said. The players began to use pads in practice on Aug. 3 as they get ready for the fall season at hand, practicing daily from 11 a.m to noon and 3-6 p.m. The Cavaliers play the Champagnat Catholic Lions for their first pre-season game on Aug. 22 on the school’s field.
Angelika Menendez/highlights SUCCESSFUL STROKE: Senior Dominique DiSalvo works on her front crawl in the Randsom Everglades swimming pool.
After being away from the swim team for two years and becoming a temporary badminton coach for the school, head coach Kelli Fraga is back to coaching the swim team. Fraga is returning to something she knows about and has past experience in, and she said she is ready for the team to do their best. The team has been practicing daily at Ransom Everglades High School’s pool since Aug. 4 from 3-5 p.m. for the fall season. “Summer practice gives us the foundation we need in order to improve our swimming throughout the season,” senior captain Jesitt Perez said. The girls’ team is back in the pool after having a strong season and winning the district championship. Fraga hopes that they can do just as well this season. “Our goal is to win districts as a team and get as many
swimmers into regionals and states as possible,” Fraga said. The team consists of new freshmen with experience, a lot of returners, and some students from other schools who have experience. According to Fraga, the senior girls are very strong so she is expecting a lot out of them. Individually, some of the swimmers Fraga says she is expecting a lot out of are senior Hanna Payne, sophomore Hannah Cordes, and Perez. “If we train hard and stay focused we will be able to do amazing at districts and even bring back the title of district champions again,” Perez said. The first opponents the team will face are Ransom Everglades Upper School, TERRA Environmental Research Institute, and Coral Shores High School. The competition will take place on Sept. 5 at 4 p.m. in Ransom Everglades’s pool.
August
MARK THE DATE Varsity
Angelika Menendez/highlights
Football's state championship effort
SHAPING UP: Junior Mitscher Gajardo is building up muscle by bench pressing for the new fall football season.
to watch our athletic teams rack up the points! Varsity
Girls Varsity
Varsity
22 26 26 29 Football
vs. Champagnat Catholic School
Fri. at 4 p.m. at Tropical Park
Bowling
vs. Columbus Tues. at 3 p.m. at Bird Bowl
Volleyball
Football
Tues. at 7 p.m. at Coral Gables Senior High
Fri. at 7:30 p.m. at Curtis Park
vs. Coral Park
vs. Southridge
highlights August 2014
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The school's gym welcomes others By Maria Ovalle BUSINESS MANAGER
Maria Ovalle/highlights Olivia Field/highlights
Maria Ovalle/highlights BUSY GYM: Advertisements occupy the gym’s walls and floors while athletic organizations, such as Miami Pro League and Erik Spoelstra Basketball Academy, practice their skills during the summer.
Fall sports tryout contacts Gables is home to a wide variety of sports teams. To participate in a sport, student athletes are required to pay a $30 insurance fee and complete a full physical form. Interested athletes must see Athletic Director Louis Romero in the Attendance Office. Most fall sports have already started practice, so if you have missed the tryout date contact the respective coach listed below:
By Joey Lancaster
Pikachu and they have a tradition where, before a match, the competing players and coaches must touch these “good luck charms” with hope that it will help them win. The minutes before a sports game can definitely “Pre-game traditions are really important in any sport be nerve wrecking, and the pressure to win can be if you personally believe in them because they can help overwhelming. Some Cavalier give you the confidence you athletes and coaches have may need and help calm the Pre-game traditions...can help come up with unique pre-game nerves,” junior girls doubles give you the confidence you practices that they think will help badminton player Gaitana may need. them perform better. Jaramillo said. “I’m very superstitious. Once, The varsity girls soccer Gaitana Jaramillo, on our way to a game, we got lost team also has a superstition but ended up winning the game so it follows before every game. junior now before every game we make Though they call it a prayer sure to go down the same path. We also eat the same circle, the players said that it is not a religiously based pre-game meals as we did for games we have won in the practice. past,” softball coach Monica De La Vega said. “The starting players form a circle, palm to palm, and The softball players and coaches are not the only ones we start by saying the date, then the captains say some who believe in this phenomenon. The school’s badminton encourgaing words, and we always say ‘no injuries’,” team owns two stuffed animals named Chompy and senior mid-fielder Marianna Babboni said. STAFF WRITER
‘‘
Laura Acosta/highlights
Roger Pollard Stephen Campagna Monica De La Vega Tracy Watkins Kelli Fraga Scott Nelson Mo Marmesh Mercy Monzon
Calling to sports spirits
Courtesy of Patty Shillington
Football Bowling Volleyball Golf Swimming Cross Country Gablettes Cheerleading
This year, the school has allowed various businesses and athletic organizations to rent space in the gym to promote themselves or practice their sport. The gym advertisements help raise money for the boys’ basketball team, while the athletic organizations welcomed to the gym help provide equipment and train the sports’ teams and coaches to improve their skills. The advertisements displayed on the walls and floors of the gym such as Chili’s, State Farm, Casola’s Pizza, and Brothers Jimmy’s BBQ, help the boys’ basketball team fund their expenses. Head coach Gaston “Chachi” Rodriguez, said that because sports teams do not get money, they should be encouraged to raise their own money with advertisements in order to provide better equipment and pre-game meals. The Erik Spoelstra Basketball Academy used the gym during the day for a camp that taught young local players the fundamentals of basketball and about sportsmanship. The Miami Semi Pro Basketball League used the gym on Tuesday and Thursday nights during summer so semi pro players and sometimes pro NBA players could hold a free basketball event for the community. Miami Select Volleyball Club has also used the gym during the summer and will continue to use it during the year depending on availability. Miami-Dade County Public Schools takes care of the process of allowing organizations to use other gyms, which involves detailed paper work and sometimes fees. Since our school is not the one that organizes such arrangements, the school does not get any of the money involved in the process. “All we basically tell them is yes you can or no you can’t [use our gym depending on availability],” Athletic Director Louis Romero said. In the future, the school will have other organizations and advertisements occupy the field, gym, and track.
RAISING UP SPIRIT: (Left) The school’s girls soccer team pray together in preparation for their upcoming game. (Right) Senior Andrea Avila carries pillow-pet Chompy and Pikachu, the badminton team’s good luck charms.
Perez tackles down his high school years By Sydney Scanlon STAFF WRITER
Sydney Scanlon/highlights SHABLUUU: Senior Nadir Perez sits on his car which he bought after hours of working at Chipotle while keeping up his grades and long hours of football training.
Senior Nadir Perez insisted that I “hug him out” upon concluding our interview. He reeked of sweat from the hours of football practice and burritos from his lunch break. Perez juggles football, the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and a job at Chipotle on a daily basis. “[Football] teaches you how to be a man,” said Perez. Perez played basketball freshman year but then decided to pursue a spot on the Gables football team and has been playing since spring season freshman year. He has played defensive line in the past but is now a starter on the varsity offensive line. Perez’s playful nature comes out when he is asked about his teammates. He refers to them as “idiots,” but “the good kind” and does not sugarcoat things. He openly speaks of the segregation he witnesses on the football team but rather than focus on the negativity attached to such behaviors, he highlights the team’s unity and its common goal of winning. “The good thing about football is it brings people that normally wouldn’t mix, together,” Perez said. When he is not at school or football practice, Perez is busy serving customers burritos and bowls at Chipotle. Perez loves his job but not because he has a passion for low-priced, mexican
food chains. “Everybody goes there and everybody wants me to give them free [guacamole] and I say no and I feel powerful,” said Perez. Perez has tried to make work more fun by bringing friends of his in to work there. But his true motivator was his car. He saved up for five months to afford his $3,500 Nissan Sentra, which he paid for by himself. “It’s not a Camaro, but it moves,” Perez said. He is in the IB program, NHS and 5000 Role Models. He reflects on his first all-nighter junior year with disdain, but also with some thankfulness. Perez feels his school experience has prepared him for life. He owes his easy-going attitude to the mindset that everything is manageable. “When I’m not doing something I’m still doing something,” Perez said. ‘Shabluuu’ is the made-up term Perez would use to describe himself. It came to him during the South Dade football game and means anything and everything. It appears to be the only term that can describe Perez, a 17-year-old who has dedicated his time to sports and receiving pay. He has taken on the most responsibilities and manages those with the least amount of stress of anyone known. We should all aim to be a little bit more ‘Shabluuu.’
the scene
highlights August 2014
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The best and worst of el Palacio de los Jugos By Laura Acosta THE SCENE EDITOR
With their plethora of fresh fruit juices and endless offerings of greasy yet satisfying Cuban food served in massive portions overflowing from their Styrofoam containers, El Palacio de los Jugos appeals to nearly anyone with a stomach. The local chain has seven locations scattered around the Miami area, with two more locations on the way, but these locations are not all the same. In order to assist you in making the right decision on which location to go, highlights has created a ranking of the locations closest to the school. Flagler location Opened in 1977, the original Palacio de los Jugos is located at 5721 W Flagler St, a favorite among long-time fans. This location makes for a great people watching spot, as Miamians from all around the city flock here
around lunchtime for a “batido” and a chance to chat with friends. Even motorcycle gangs congregate in this location when passing through Miami for authentic Cuban food. However, this location is not equipped to handle the busy lunch rush. Expect to have trouble finding parking and having to wait in line to order in the outdoor establishment. Coral Way location One of the newest additions to the chain, the Palacio de los Jugos located at 7085 Coral Way is far larger than the original location. The added space eases parking dilemmas and allows more space for even more food choices. The location even has a drive thru, fulfilling all your Cuban comfort food needs without ever having to leave your car. Even though this location, like the majority of the
Palacio de los Jugos locations, has no air conditioning, giant fans cool down the massive eating pavilion in the front of the building. However, the cool air and massive amounts of food do attract pigeons, so be sure to guard your food from aerial attackers if you choose to eat there. Bird Road location As the newest Palacio de los Jugos opened about a month ago, this location at 9095 SW 40th St Bird Rd is a little underwhelming. Although it has air conditioning, there are extremely few tables inside the actual airconditioned area, as the majority are placed outside. While the food is the same quality as the other locations, the limited space does not allow for much variety, especially in fresh fruit and juices. However, the air conditioned space includes a little marketplace, where you can purchase Cuban remedies with questionable results and cans of Russian meat.
Laura Acosta/highlights CUBAN CUISINE: (Left) some of Palacio de los Jugos’s staple offerings, “carne de puerco”, “congris”, and “tostones”. (Middle) The Bird Road location of Palacio de los Jugos is one of the only locations with air conditioning, but it also has an outdoor seating area under a red and yellow awning. (Right) A giant “lomo ahumado” sits in potatoes.
Tea time all the time: Ticety Iced Tea By Olivia Field STAFF WRITER
Olivia Field/highlights
The bustling life of a Miamian is often in need of a slowdown, the perfect one being a glass of organic iced tea. Ticety Iced Tea Bar, located on Miracle Mile, is the place to truly experience tea time at almost any time of day (open 7 a.m.–7 p.m.), while also incorporating a relaxing environment and local healthy eats. Eight different iced teas are featured at the bar, ranging from the popular “Pure Mango” to the light “Jasmine Bunch.” Served in glasses and pitchers specially handcrafted in France for the eatery, the tea can be shared between multiple people and is sold for only $6. Hot white, black, and green teas are also steaming and ready to sip. “We don’t see ourselves as a French restaurant because we are not a restaurant, [we’ve been a tea bar since the beginning], but [most of the food on the menu] comes from around the world,” co-founder Damien Ceulemans said. The food menu contains salads, sandwiches, pastries, and other dishes that take inspiration from different cuisines. The “Croque-Monsieur,” for example, is the only menu on the item that takes inspiration from France. These items are more on the pricey side of the spectrum considering their small size, but they do incorporate quality ingredients and flavors that can be worth the price. Despite the fact that the bar has only been open for a few weeks, the idea has been in the works since Ceulemans visited the United States from France two years ago. He found it a challenge to find a place in America that would not only serve him a quality cup of tea, but also make him feel comfortable and calm. When researching the market for tea in the Americas, Ceulemans found that the Starbucks franchise had bought out the Teavana chain, meaning that tea was becoming more popular. “[My partner and I] fell in love with Coral Gables, as it reminded us of a small European Village,” Ceulemans said. As if the bar was not already a refreshing new experience in the Gables, its seating space is complimented with two wall spaces full of live luscious plant life. The multiple species of plants that line both sides of the bar are inspired by the relaxing feeling Ceulemans got when observing a “green wall” in Spain, a creation by French botanist Patrick Blanc. With innovative flavors and a unique environment, Ticety Iced Tea Bar is bringing a new name to tea in Miami.
STEEPING SUCCESS: (Top) The view from the sidewalk of Miracle Mile shows off the spacious seating area and vivid green wall of the eatery. (Bottom) The eight different varieties of iced tea served at Ticety sit at the bar.
highlights August 2014
Miami on a BUDGE T By Sydney Scanlon STAFF WRITER
Vapiano: Italian on the go By Eleonor Bauwens STAFF WRITER
Nestled amongst the tall buildings of Brickell, Vapiano is a unique Italian restaurant where you can choose from a wide variety of pasta, salads, paninis and pizza. The restaurant is set up so customers can watch their food being prepared and give their order directly to the chef, allowing them to personalize their dish to their satisfaction. Fresh herbs placed on every table are not only for decoration but also for customers to use to season their meals. The pizza dough, pasta, sauces, dressings and pesto are all prepared in each individual restaurant. Due to the fact that Vapiano does not have a central production facility, every Vapiano around the world produces their own food. As a result, the menus of each Vapiano can change according to where they are located. What truly sets this Italian restaurant apart is its
unusual payment method. As customers walk in, each is given a chip card that is swiped at each food station. At the end of their meals, the cashier, who is located near the exit, will swipe the card. This makes splitting the bill between large parties effortless. A huge jar of gummy bears is placed near the exit for customers to help themselves to on the way out. The first Vapiano location opened in Germany in 2002 and since then the international chain has grown to over 150 restaurants in 29 countries, with only one in the southern United States. Located on 1221 Brickell Ave., Vapiano is perfect for lunch or dinner, as their menu is not only delicious, but also reasonably priced. “I really like Vapiano. I’ve only been there twice with my family and both times everyone loved it. The food is yummy and the service is exceptional. It has a really family-friendly atmosphere and the free gummy bears on the way out are definitely the best part though,” junior Cassandra Gil said.
Eleonor Bauwens/highlights
Miami is notorious for big money spenders and activities that break the bank, but as broke high school students, we cannot afford that lifestyle. For this reason highlights will bring you fun, reoccurring and most importantly, free things to do in Miami every issue. Every first Sunday of the month is Bluegrass Jam. Bluegrass music is played on stringed, acoustic instruments that come together to create a twangy sound with hints of country, jazz and jam. It has roots dating back to the 1600s and was adapted in the Appalchia region during the 1900s as a significant post-war genre. Bluegrass artists meet at Greynolds Park in North Miami beach with banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and upright basses to perform. Some of the performers play part-time while others have dedicated their entire lives to the perseverance and purity of bluegrass. People bring their own blankets and chairs to lounge out in the grass while they listen to the culturerich music. “The Bluegrass genre has a lot of jam bands which are a blast to dance to. I would love to bring a blanket and spend the day in a park listening to music,” junior Isabella Izquierdo said. Bluegrass jam is a free event because it is sponsored by the South Florida Bluegrass Association. Parking costs $6, but carpooling with a few friends will reduce the cost. The monthly event, held from 12:30–5 p.m., has food, drink and merchandise for sale. “It sounds like a really cool event. It is difficult to find exciting events in Miami that are affordable,” senior Carla Steighorst said. Next time you find yourself with an empty wallet and a free Sunday, go to Bluegrass Jam for a full day of dancing, music and refreshments.
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PASTA PICKUP: At Brickell’s Italian restaurant Vapiano, customers can directly tell the chefs in the open kitchen what fresh sauces and herbs they want in their pasta, and watch it come to life from behind the glass.
Bread+Butter: A new spin on tradition By Araceli Sanchez STAFF WRITER
Araceli Sanchez/highlights ECLECTICLY CHIC: Nestled in an inconspicuous building off of Miracle Mile, Bread + Butter features innovative decor as well as an innovative menu, using metal mugs and butcher paper to line the tables. Exposed bulbs hang from the ceiling, illuminating the restaurant.
Just off the hustle of Miracle Mile, Bread + Butter stands, decorated with vintage black and white pictures of the owners’ family and a handwritten excerpt from a Jose Marti poem painted on the wall, saluting the Cuban culture in Miami. Located on 2330 Salzedo St, Bread + Butter, also known as Pan Con Mantequilla, stands among many other Cuban restaurants in Coral Gables. However, this restaurant is different from all the others. The restaurant offers a cozy atmosphere and is described as an urban rustic mash. The decorations are vintage yet simple and make customers feel right at home. Chef Albert Cabrera, staying true to his heritage, creates Cuban food but adds a modern American twist and tries to bring the two cultures together. His goal is to fuse a Cuban cafeteria with a gastropub. He also aims to tie in his family recipes and traditions to the restaurant as much as possible because of its huge impact on his childhood. The menu is small and is composed of common Cuban dishes, but the chef incorporates
modern cooking techniques. Cabrera tries to keep the restaurant very family oriented and open to anyone. As an appetizer, try bacon wrapped plantains or “platano en tentacion”, served with sour cream and chives. This richly prepared dish is a great start to your visit at Bread + Butter. The pan con lechon is topped with mojo sauce and scallions, and is served on a delicate bau bun. For dessert, the restaurant serves many cultural delicacies with a twist, like flan, made with goat cheese and “arroz con leche” prepared with smoked rice and served with green apple. The lunch menu offers liquid nitrogen shakes but in flavors such as “trigo” (puffed wheat) and hot chocolate with churro crumble. Bread + Butter is open from 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. and from 5:30 – 10 p.m. from Monday through Friday and Sunday and on Saturday it is open from 5:30 – 10 p.m. They also have a brunch menu available on Sundays from 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. For brunch, lunch, or dinner, Bread + Butter is a perfect place to escape the typical Cuban food while still getting a fix of your favorite Cuban meal.
the scene Micro Theater:
highlights August 2014
20
how shipping containers became entertainment
By Angelika Menendez
their prime time feature. Each show runs approximately 10-15 minutes, and when it is finished, there are more shows going on for Hidden on Biscayne Boulevard, audience members to see. For each season seven containers streamed with there are at least six shows up and running in splashes of blue, purple, and red the different containers. emblazoned with the words “Micro Jorge Monje and Francisco Tardio had the Theater Miami” lay in an open idea for the company in Spain and brought the courtyard, adorned with twinking idea to Miami two years ago. Now, audiences lights and sculptures. Inside, actors flock to Micro Theater Miami to experience a preform 15 minute plays for audiences rarely seen style of theater. to enjoy. There is a section with No tickets are given, but a receipt is given tables underneath an awning where to the patron that states the amount of shows that customers can sit and wait for their they paid for. Each show costs $5, so if a client show, and smoking is allowed in the wanted to watch all six shows being shown in terrace. the prime time feature, it would cost $30. A worker announces they Along with paying for the show, the price beginning of each play from the back includes taquitos for each customer that are of the containers. When they see every freshly made next to the bar. customer’s receipt, they takes the crowd Performances in English are on Wednesdays around to the entrance of the container. and Thursdays from 8-11 p.m. and in Spanish on The container door opens to a dimly Fridays and Saturdays at the same time, as well as lit room with 15 stools ,and a small stage on Sundays from 7-10 p.m. at the front. The room feels homey and Micro Theater Miami also offers late night comfortable as performances are held up shows from 11 p.m.-1 a.m., which they call close on the stage, and some shows are “golfa”. The “golfa” shows are seven different even interactive. plays that are performed on Fridays and Saturdays In each container, a different play is for any night owls that are looking for something performed in English or Spanish, each to do when they find themselves awake in the late written by unknown playwrights from hours of the night. Miami. Before a play can be performed, the For more information, visit their Facebook script must be submitted to a team at Micro page or Twitter at Micro Theater Miami or call Theater Miami. them at (305) 448 9677. The shipping containers The plays are mostly comedic, but there are located across from the Adrienne Arsht Center are a few dramatic plays that are shown, on 1490 Biscayne Blvd. such as “Suerte y Arena,” which is part of STAFF WRITER
Angelika Menendez/highlights CONTAINERS OF TALENT: Inside the Micro Theater containers, actors perform plays every 15 minutes for different crowds of people.
Boyhood:
A movie review By Octavio Castro STAFF WRITER Sydney
Recorded over the span of 12 years and maintaining the same cast throughout, “Boyhood” is unique and captivating, an original take on the coming-of-age story definitely worth seeing. The 164 minute, rated R film follows the life of Mason and his disintegrating family over the span of 12 years, from age six until the time he leaves for college. The movie starts with Mason Jr. being picked up by his mother from school. Shortly after, Mason, his sister Samantha, and his mom Olivia, move to Houston, and it becomes evident that Olivia and the children’s father, Mason Sr., are divorced SAVVY SKATERS: Bayfront Park’s Pepper Fountain will soon host Bay Skate Mondays, where skaters will zoom and no longer live together. Mason and Samantha follow around the fountain and the spacious park to music played by DJ Irie every second Monday of the month. their mother, moving from home to home, as their mother goes from one abusive relationship to another. Mason Sr. visits the children intermittently, providing Mason with life advice and guidance. The film is definitely long, maybe a little too long, lasting almost three hours. It is understandably difficult to capture 12 years within a few hours, but there were By Savannah Payne and Octavio Castro definitely scenes that were not necessary. rent a pair to use for the night. There will also be STAFF WRITERS However, in between the awkward or heavy food trucks prepared to feed hungry skaters as the scenes was comedic relief that will keep you evening progresses. Join a diverse culture of people as they roller skate entertained and interested, like the unforgettable The Miami foundation created a Public Space their way to Pepper Fountain to take part in Bay Skate scene where Mason receives a Bible and a rifle from Challenge in March for citizens to propose ideas on Mondays. Bayfront Park is now hosting a family-friendly, his zealous Christian step-grandparents for his 16th how to utilize public places. While there were over monthly skate night, to bring back the flamboyant 70s. birthday. 400 submissions, brothers Alex and Marcos Macias Opening soon for 6 months, skate night will be The film will also make you do some selfproposed the concept of an outdoor roller- skating attracting everyone from first-time roller skaters to those reflecting after unforgettable lines like when in Bayfront for all ages and were declared one of who will feel like they are returning back to their high Mason Sr. said, “life doesn’t come with bumpers,” the 18 winners. school years. while bowling with his kids, and the closing line Offering a beautiful view of the bay, this Every second Monday of the month, Bayfront Park :“the moment seizes us.” project promotes exercise and a way to enjoy will be open for all to wheel around the fountain that will be All in all, the film was a 4 out of 5, and is physical activity. The Macias brothers also wanted modeled after the Hot Wheel’s Roller Rink from the early definitely unique, appealing to both the young to promote regular utilization of Bayfront Park, as 90s. With plenty of seating and smooth surfaces for skating, and old. “Boyhood” captures the awkwardness it is usually just used for big evemts, such as Ultra, other components will make these Bay Skate Mondays a night of adolescence, the difficult process of finding and it is empty for the remainder of the year. Local to remember. your identity, the uncertainty of students in their businesses will also benefit from Bay Skate Mondays The roller-skating will be the main attraction, but make senior year with the looming responsibilities of as the crowds gather in the park and surround their sure you do not overlook DJ Irie, the official disc jockey of the going to college, and the struggles of a parent companies. Miami Heat, as he pumps some free style jams for you to skate and what it means to be an adult. For those who enjoy skating or want to try to along with. The film was featured at the Coral Gables learn how, Bay Skate Mondays at Bayfront Park will If you do not own a pair of four-wheeled shoes, you can Art Cinema as well as O Cinema, but is be the ideal backdrop for a night of entertainment. currently only playing at Sunset Place. hts
/highlig Scanlon
roller skating on the bay