Oracle February 2015

Gunn students survive the battle against cancer

The Oracle explores beauty standards

PG.12-13 CENTERFOLD

PG. 14-15 FEATURES

NON-PROFIT ORG

Palo Alto Unified School District Henry M. Gunn High School 780 Arastradero Rd Palo Alto, CA 94306

U.S. Postage

PA I D

Permit #44 Palo Alto, Calif.

THEORACLE Henry M. Gunn High School

http://gunnoracle.com/

Follow us on Twitter @GunnOracle and on Instagram @GunnOracle

Friday, February 6, 2015

Volume 52, Issue 5

780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306

Supervisors, City Council intervene in Buena Vista case Emma Chiao Reporter

On Jan. 27, the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors voted to give $8 million from an affordable housing fund to Buena Vista in order to allow the residents to remain in the mobile park.

Initially, the Jisser family, the owner of Buena Vista, filed an application to close down the trailer park in Nov. 2012

and sell it to Prometheus Real Estate in order to develop it into luxury apartments. However, the company backed out of the deal in June 2014.

In October of 2014, the Jisser family was granted permission by Administrative Law Judge Craig Labadie to continue closure. On Jan. 12, the Palo Alto City Counci l u na ni-

mously voted to give residents of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park the right to appeal the park’s closure. Although the $8 million might not prevent the family from selling the park, another hearing has been scheduled in April to determine the future of Buena Vista. Nine coun-

Elizabeth Zu

cil members will be present to make a decision based on testimonies and evidence from both residents and the Jisser family.

The Residents’ Association and their attorneys will be preparing their side of the case and the issues that still have to be discussed. One major controversy is the compensation that must be paid to residents if the park closes.

The Jisser family is willing to pay compensation, three months rent a nd moving costs and feel that it is enough as supported

by Judge Labadie’s ruling in 2014.

However, residents complain that the relocation package is not sufficient and is not compatible to the actual price as required by law.

Mary Kear, who has lived in

UC plans delayed, record high applicant pool Shawna Chen

Forum Editor

In early January, the University of California (UC) found itself omitted from Gov. Jerry Brown’s new budget proposal. The UC system was not given the funds necessary to increase in-state enrollment. As a result, the UC’s expansion plans will be delayed and it is uncertain how the limited budget will affect admissions rates.

According to the UC, the number of California high school students that applied to UC campuses rose by 3 percent this year. Furthermore, in-state minority applications hit a record high for the graduating class of 2015. However, admission rates for in-state students have declined steadily while the number of accepted students from other states and countries has risen by nearly 14 percent for some UC schools.

In the spring of 2014, San Jose Mercury News conducted an analysis and found that between 2009 and

2013, the UC saw a 2 percent increase in California freshman enrollment while out-of-state freshman enrollment increased by 273 percent. Nonetheless, UC officials argue that they would be forced to make even more in-state cuts without the extra money obtained from out-of-state students.

A s s i s t a nt P r i nc ip a l Tom Jacoubowsky discusses the financial aspects to consider when applying to UCs. “The access that my generation had to UCs is not the same as [the current] generation has,” he said.

“It’s tough to see that it’s getting harder to get into the UCs because of economics.”

Like many, Jacoubowsky is troubled about what the lack of funding will mean for future college students.

“You hope that everyone who gets accepted and has a good standing will be able to get in, so that would be concerning if funding isn’t there as far as a place for next year,” he said.

Regardless of what UC officials have said, Jacoubowsky believes that the

disparity between tuition for in- and out-of-state students will affect future admissions. “Because they have to open up spots to people who pay more, it’s beginning to feel like you have to pay your way in,” he said.

Although Jacoubowsky acknowledges that there is no way to know for certain how limited funding will impact admissions rates for the class of 2015, it is highly possible that outof-state students will be considered over California residents when it comes down to final decisions. “If you have to choose between an instate and out-of-state student, the out-of-state student pays about three times more,” he said. “The odds are probably good that the out-of-state person will get the preference. That can be very frustrating because the state that you are resident of, that you believed in, that you worked toward, won’t give you the same opportunity that previous residents had.”

Senior Aren Raisinghani underUC’s—p.2

the Buena Vista Park for 11 years and is an employee of Palo Alto Unified, voiced her concerns. “The compensation won’t be enough for Palo Alto, or even nearby,” she said.

“The compensation isn’t as much as what we paid for our homes. It just doesn’t help enough.”

Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) board member Ken Dauber supported the residents’ views. “From my perspective, the fact that the hearing officer didn’t consider the value of Palo Alto schools before setting the level of compensation was a mistake that the City Council should correct in the appeal,” he said.

The Jisser family had formally rejected an offer made by the residents to buy the park last year.

However many residents aim to be granted permission to buy the mobile park at the appeal if the compensation can not be raised. $25 million to $30 million are needed to accomplish this; with the money from Santa Clara County, they could be closer to reaching their goal. The $8 million plan was proposed by Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who had wished to encourage more groups to donate BUENA VISTA—p.5

Editorial:

Community response to recent tragedy rash, divisive —Forum p. 6

2

News

THEORACLE

UC system overwhelmed UC’s—p.1

-stands the difficulty of the situation but believes that the UC’s priority should be its in-state students. “If they were to limit the number of students taken in, since it’s a University of California public school, I think the first kind of group of students that they should start limiting is outof-state,” he said. “They should really try to provide for their own state, but I definitely see where they’re coming from; they need that funding. It’s kind of a conflict between doing the right thing for California residents or doing the one that gives them the money that they need.”

Nonetheless, Raisinghani encourages students not to worry about the possibility of lower admission rates. “There are nine UC schools, and they’re all relatively large public schools,” he said.

“Besides, UCs aren’t the only ones out there. There are a ton of great schools: California State Universities, Cal Poly, Pomona and they’re all really good options.

The UCs aren’t the end-all, be-all.”

Jacoubowsky also reiterates the fact the college is only a part of life, not life itself. “The vast majority of students when they go off to college, wherever it may be, make it a great experience for themselves and enjoy it immensely. For most people, the friendships they make, wherever they end up at school, create a positive, wonderful experience,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of stress and pressure about needing to get into a specific college, but the college experience is just going to be one part of many great events in your life, regardless of where you may go.”

While the college process can be stressful, Jacoubowsky hopes students will focus on the memories they’ll make in college. “The vast majority of students, wherever they may be, make it a great ex perience for t hemselves and enjoy it immensely,” he said.

SNAPSHOTS YCS Open Mic

“[It] was super fun and amazing.

Everyone is super supportive and really attentive to the people who are performing. It’s also a really fun way to find out everyone’s secret hidden talents.”

—Natalie Perrault, 12 “It was great seeing new faces stop by our table to sign up, because we’re focusing on expanding the club’s presence on campus and giving more students the opportunity to participate in meaningful community service.”

—Sandie Luo, 12

Photos by Alexandra Ting

—Compiled by Sam Acker

Andrew Shen

Source: University of California Office of the President

Spring Club Day

Q&A with newly-elected Palo Alto Mayor Karen Holman The Oracle: What are some of the ways you plan to improve the school system?

Karen Holman: One of the things I would like to do, which has to do with Paly and Gunn both, is to get the Youth Council more involved.

We meet once a year with the Youth Council but we don’t really utilize that body enough, and I think we would be better informed and better directed if we were to communicate and engage with the Youth Council, for instance. That is something that is important to me.

TO: What are you looking forward to most as Palo Alto mayor?

KH: One of the things is changing the tone of discourse in the community in any way I might be able to affect in a positive way. Being able to present some recommendations, along with colleagues, on how to improve our architectural review process to deliver better built projects to the community. Being able to take steps to preserve our local independent businesses and to be able to take steps to ensure that we do the best we can to make sure that we’re doing due diligence to deliver good projects, good services and good plans for the future of Palo Alto.

TO: How do you want to bring this community together?

KH: Communication is a large piece of that. When I ran for Council, my slogan was “Your voice matters.”

That’s always and continues to be my view and focus during this year as mayor. It goes back to the word “respect” once again. It’s listening to people and being respectful in our communications. For people to be the most effective, we have to communicate in ways that don’t alienate the other person.

TO: How have you seen the city of Palo Alto council develop?

KH: I’d say in the last five years, while I served eight years on the Planning Commission prior to City Council, even with my background, I was surprised at how much work it is. The biggest change I’ve seen is probably how devoted and hard-working council members are.

Palo Alto Mayor Karen Holman Elected on Jan. 5, 2015 Courtesy of Palo Alto Online

TO: Is there anything you’d like to change in Palo Alto schools?

KH: Again, setting the tone of how we treat each other, examples that we set, those are things that we definitely can set for all Palo Alto schools, not just the high schools. I think that maybe another way the Council, and I as Mayor, can set some kind of example is making clear that we are not all alike.

We need to express to the whole community that they just need to do the best that they can and that not everybody is going to achieve to the same goal in the same areas.

TO: Do you feel any pressure being the 13th female mayor?

KH: I don’t look at it as pressure. I look at it as an opportunity. And as it so happens this is also my 13th year combined as an appointed or elected official for Public Service so I really look at it as an opportunity more than pressure. It’s also an opportunity to encourage other women to get involved and to be involved.

—Compiled by Janet Wang

News THEORACLE 780 Arastradero Rd Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 354-8238 www.gunnoracle.com

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Danielle Yacobson Managing Editors Pooja Belur Klaire Tan News Lawrence Chen Kush Dubey Forum Shawna Chen Esther Kozakevich Kathleen Xue Features Lisa Hao Yuki Klotz-Burwell Ryeri Lim Centerfold Emily Kvitko Naina Murthy Sports Matthew Hamilton Hayley Krolik Arjun Sahdev Lifestyle Sam Acker Noa Livneh Justin Wenig Photo Anthony Tran Graphics Dave Zhu

Staff Business/Circulation Matt Niksa

Friday, February 6, 2015

Senior reaches semi-finals of science competition Isaac Wang

used to develop a manned iteration of its Dragon capsule space taxi, which in its final state will seat up Senior Quinn Wu recently com- to seven passengers. peted against 1,700 of the United For Wu, the competition was both States’ top student researchers in a confidence-boosting and humbling the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search, experience. Wu believes the validawidely regarded to be the most pres- tion in submitting the project went tigious science competition in the far beyond the monetary benefits. “It nation. Wu’s work in aeronautics and served as a validation of my research astronautics, funded by NASA and experience and my performance in conducted at Stanford University, it,” he said. “The school and I received ranged from developing autonomous $1,000 a piece, but what you take systems to optimizing spacecraft away from it really isn’t the money, motion-planning algorithms. His it’s the experience and the knowledge research qualified him as one of 300 that you can write a paper of actual semifinalists in the Intel event, the importance to leading scientists in only representative from Gunn. the field, and the respect you gain for Wu’s paper, “A the other researchFast Marching Trees ers.”

Motion Planning Wu’s passion for Approach to the engineering began Autonomous Space at a young age. “My Taxi: Algorithmic interest in engineerExperiments for ing started when I Proximity Maneuwas five years old, ver and Docking,” pl ay i n g a r ou nd details his unique w it h legos,” Wu Quinn Wu approach to autonosaid. “The process mous rendezvous. The FMT algo- of building is amazing.” Since then, rithm he constructed was proven Wu’s engineering pursuits have beto be more efficient and dependable come increasingly ambitious. than competing methods. With His motivation to pursue science state-of-the-art technology, includ- is derived from his desire to better the ing a free-flying spacecraft equipped world. “What interests me in scienwith eight thrusters for propulsion tific research and engineering is the and a momentum wheel to enhance whole concept that you can engineer stabilization, Wu simulated maneu- projects and create things that not vers likely to be executed in the future only further our scientific advanceby the commercial space transporters ment, but actually make a difference currently being developed by NASA. in the community and solve real Wu believes his experimentation world problems,” Wu said. “In the and research brings the space tech- future I hope to use my talents in nology industry one step closer to the engineering to help society, in issues space taxi, a concept that is quickly such as sustainability or health care.” gaining traction in the scientific With the Intel Science Talent community. Last September, Elon Search judges’ vote of confidence, Musk signed a $2.6 billion dollar Wu can continue his journey in scicontract with NASA to pursue the ence reassured that he will be able to SpaceX program. This money will be maneuver around any obstacle.

Oracle/TBN Liaison

Oracle/TBN Liaison Isaac Wang

The Oracle strongly encourages and prints signed Letters to the Editor and Comments. Comments are generally shorter responses, while Letters are longer pieces of writing.

Please include your name, grade and contact information should you choose to write one.

Tech Aayush Dubey Adviser Kristy Blackburn

Letters and Comments may be edited to meet space requirements and the writer is solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Letters to the Editor and Comments and ideas for coverage may be sent to oraclegunn@gmail.com or posted on our Facebook page.

These letters need not be from current students.

This issue was well organized and well written. I would like to see an article about how the school is taking steps to improve stress levels at Gunn.

Victor Kao, 12

Photographers Lisa Cheong Josh Spain Alexandra Ting Reporters Stina Chang, Sabrina Chen, Michael Chen, Anyi Cheng, Emma Chiao, Grace Ding, Lucy Fan, Deiana Hristov, Shagun Khare, Jenna Marvet, Helen Nguyen, Ariel Pan, Katie Russell, Tim Sun, Janet Wang, Erica Watkins, Shannon Yang, Lena Ye, Barrett Zhang

Courtesy of Stanford Autonomous Systems Laboratory

Top: Four views (clockwise from top left: bird’s eye view, point of view, software visualization, eye-level angle) of an autonomous spacecraft algorithmically planning paths to dock onto another spacecraft while avoiding several small floating spacecrafts.

Middle: Close-up view from spacecraft of dodged stationary obstacle with real-time visualization on the bottom right.

Bottom: Free-flying spacecraft in motion (right), powered by compressed air with eight gas thrusters and a momentum wheel, about to maneuver around space obstructions.

INBOX

Copy Elinor Aspegren Prachi Kale Graphics Artists Anton Oyung Elizabeth Zu

3

I’d like a story on a friendly competition between Gunn’s media: TBN, The Oracle and the Yearbook.

Dylan Huang, 12

December 5, 2014

I thought the graphics were very interesting and appealing. Also, I thought the layout was very organized and easy to read.

Christine Luo, 10

I really enjoyed Mr. O’Connell’s story about his risky behavior during his teenage years.

Kelly Poon, 10

I thought that, along with other people, that The Oracle was super opinionated this cycle— not just in their forum articles. The front page article was very biased in my opinion.

Alessandra Valdivia, 9

I’d like to see more articles about the reality or actual statistics about college admissions.

Ellaine Chou, 11

I’d like to see a spread on drugs or academic stress.

Ellie Campbell, 11

I would like to see a story or quiz on what type of crop top you are.

Nico Poux, 11 I like when more students are featured in the articles. It really opens our eyes to the diverse Gunn community.

Eleanor Su, 11 I would like to see a more diverse population written about. There are a lot of people that don’t get on features or sports that would be really cool to read about.

Sioned Hughes, 12

The Oracle is a 2014 NSPA Pacemaker Award finalist.

4

News

THEORACLE

Students orchestrate Gunn’s fourth annual TEDx event Aayush Dubey

things on a daily basis.”

The club gathered adult speakers by sending out forms over the summer.

On Fri. Jan. 16, Gunn organized the They also had 15 competitive auditions fourth annual TEDx conference. The for the student speakers, a process which event was hosted in the Gunn Span- Alon felt was necessary to find students genberg Theatre and featured 12 pre- with the most relevant stories. After narsentations with 14 rowing down their spea kers , f ive of decisions, the club whom were Gunn ed ited a nd gave “TED events are unique in their feedback for each students. own way. The idea of TEDx at speaker on their According to t hei r website , Gunn High School is to bring speeches over the Te c h nolog y, E nnext few months. this event to our school for the t er t a i n ment a nd Ac cord i ng to benefit of all students.”

Design (TED) is a Ledgerwood, this non-profit organiyear’s conference —Senior Gabriel Alon zation devoted to managed to show spreading various ideas in the form of presentations for 700 people, which is short and powerful talks coming from the largest audience Gunn TEDx has had volunteer speakers. Senior co-president since it began four years ago. “It was a of TEDx Gabriel Alon says that the con- rare opportunity for a small group of stuference theme for the event at Gunn this dents to put up an event for 700 people,” year was “realizing the vision.”

Ledgerwood said. “To have an audience Co-advisor Eric Ledgerwood says that that size and to have it essentially be the TEDx speakers presented on their solely student led is a not-to-be-missed work in different fields and shared many opportunity.” human-interest stories. “The presentaAc c ord i ng to c o -a d v i s or Je s sic a tions drew the audience by connecting Hexsel, the average TEDx event costs people and the world around you,” Led- $8,000, so organizing a free event is rare. gerwood said.

Co-president Junior Justin Kim believed Senior Soumithri Bala was one of the that having the event at Gunn was imspeakers at the event. He presented his portant. “Bringing the TEDx experience experience with 3-dimensional printers, to Gunn because not everybody has the their impact on the future and their cur- opportunity to go to a TEDx conference. rent applications. According to Bala, he It costs a lot of money.” Kim said. “We signed up to speak because he wanted to tried to make it more local so that high spread awareness on the importance of school students can have that same ex3D printers. “3D printers are very cool perience.” and have an awesome application,” Bala According to Alon, a lot of work went said. “They change the way we look at into planning the event. In addition to Tech Editor

learning new camera and videography techniques from professional videographers, there was a big investment into both the time and responsibility for the event. “It’s a huge time commitment on both of our parts and for members that joined [the club],” Kim agreed. “It’s definitely not a responsibility we had last year.”

Alon felt that Gunn students had a similar experience that an audience at a TEDx event would receive. He explained that a student could watch a TED video online easily from “such charismatic people,” but there is a mix between the message and the seriousness into looking at what that person discovered. “There is a gap between what you can find on the Internet and the quality of professionals that you can interact with at school,” Alon said. “TED events are unique in their own way. The idea of TEDx at Gunn High School is to bring this event to our school for the benefit of all students.”

Photos by Alexandra Ting

From top left: Seniors Aren Raisinghani and Josh Kaplan introduce the next speaker. Seniors Calvin Wang and Brendan Wong interview senior Josh Wilson. Ronnie Shaw talks about an organization utilizing African dance and music as a tool for education on sexually transmitted diseases.

News

Friday, February 6, 2015

5

AltSchool opens in Palo Alto Gunn hosts trivia hunt Ryeri Lim

ests, abilities and progress to date, including standardized test results. “Every student is different not only in the way they learn but AltSchool, a private primary education also in their interests and their affinities,” school founded by entrepreneur Max Ven- Cole said. Such differences may ask students tilla, is establishing its fifth campus in Palo to learn alongside peers slightly older or Alto at 930 Emerson Street. younger than they are, for some or all of The Palo Alto site will have space for their classes. “Everyone might be working nearly 90 students, although a cap of ap- on math, but on different levels and types proximately 75 is expected. “With our new math instruction based on their abilities and locations including Palo Alto and Brooklyn, interests,” Kelson said. partially we chose them and partially they Once a learner portrait is established, chose us,” Head of Marketing Deborah Kel- educators throughout the four San Francisson said. Accordco campuses, ing to Kelson, the and soon the small learning newest sites “Every student is different not only env i ron ment in Palo Alto in the way they learn but also in was expected to and Brookattract educalyn, may their interests and their affinities.” tionally progresshare and —Head of Parent Satisfaction Peter Cole sive Palo Altans. develop poIn addition, much tential teaching of the current staff have studied or resided methods through the school’s teacher in Palo Alto, making the town a natural communication network. Instructors can candidate. Applications for the 2015-2016 collaborate on unique learning approaches school year closed on Jan. 15. for students who share characteristics in “Our number one goal is a personalized their learner portraits. approach to education,” Head of Parent Parent involvement in education is also Satisfaction Peter Cole said. For this reason, prioritized through tools like a weekly to-do core classes are divided not into grades kin- list unique to each child, called a “student’s dergarten through eight, but into lower and playlist.” Complementary to this is the upper elementary programs and a middle “learning update,” a summary of student school program. “There’s no such thing as a accomplishments and teacher commentary third grader,” Cole said. “Two nine-year-olds that is sent home several times a month and may be at different ability levels or places in includes samples of completed student work. their socio-emotional development.”

“We aspire to be different by providing a AltSchool implements small stu- highly personalized and flexible education dent-to-teacher ratios through “teacher experience for AltSchool families,” Lee said teams” of two or three instructors per of AltSchool’s technological innovations, classroom. Head of Educator Recruitment such as the mobile application that commuAlison Lee seeks not only past personal nicates a student’s after-school activities with achievement in teacher applicants, but also a their teacher. With visibility into a student’s work ethic that is required in an atmosphere daily schedule, teachers can release students like that of AltSchool. “It’s really important for pick-up at the convenience of parents. that they want to work in a startup environ“[Despite its innovations,] we’re not ment,” Lee said. “The most difficult thing marketing the school in any special way,” [about my job] is to figure out who would be Cole said. “We just want to make sure we’re most at home at AltSchool and really help answering all the questions specific to this us move the model forward.” area.” After completion of its multi-step According to Cole, AltSchool itself is application process, AltSchool will hold highly progressive, heavily utilizing unique summer events for families of soon-to-be teaching tools and technology. One tool is classmates to make connections. “The Palo the “learner portrait,” a profile of the stu- Alto site will develop its own community dent: basic traits, learning attributes, inter- and personality,” Cole said.

Michael Chen

Features Editor

Reporter

This past weekend, Gunn students participated in the annual Millard Fillmore Trivia Hunt. This competition took place between Gunn, Castilleja, Carlmont and Woodside. It involved students researching trivia questions and finding written sources to back answers.

Science teacher Dr. Heather Mellows, the organizer of the event at Gunn, says it was a particularly hard year for the Gunn team. “This year was a difficult year,” Dr. Mellows said. “Last year’s team was principally led by seniors, and now that they’ve graduated student involvement is down.”

Despite the decrease in participation, junior Vaidehi Srinivas enjoyed the event.

“Even though the Gunn team didn’t place too well, the event was actually a lot of fun,” Srinivas said. “We still got a lot of questions done and found a lot of answers.”

Trivia questions ranged from classic research questions to bring-ins. According to Srinivas, this year one of the bringin questions involved students finding a packaged food item for every letter of the alphabet. None of these items could contain any high fructose corn syrup.

T he e vent it s el f wa s c re ated by Carlmont history teacher Dr. Robert Hunter 45 years ago in an attempt to give students research experience. “Millard Fillmore was designed to promote research skills in Dr. Hunter’s American

History class,” Dr. Mellows said. “It focuses on Americana, which is the pop culture, music, movies and history of America.”

The hunt consists of approximately 30 trivia questions, many of which have several parts and are all based on American trivia. Students are required to find the answers, which can be found using any available resources. Then, they find a citation for their answer. In past years, students were required to find printed citations in the form of books, newspaper articles, or magazines. This year, however, the competition allows for a total of five Google Book citations.

After a weekend of intensive searching, participating schools then meet up to debate each other’s answers. Different schools point out problems with opponents’ solutions while defending their own answers. This debate determines the winning school through teacher judgment of answers. This school has its name and the year added to a trophy.

“Apparently one of the schools was extremely nitpicky this year,” Srinivas said.

“The debate went so late that they had to stop and let teachers judge the remaining questions.”

Each school has a team captain. However, any student is welcome to take part.

“There were no specified positions, aside from a team captain,” Srinivas said. “I happened to go and take some pictures, because part of the questions required us to go and take pictures with certain things or at certain places.”

Alexandra Ting

Junior Ellaine Chou researches a topic at Gunn’s annual trivia hunt in the library.

Residents fight against closure of mobile park BUENA VISTA—p.1

money to preserve Buena Vista.

Founder of “Friends of Buena Vista” and community advocate, Winter Dellenbach hopes the result of the hearing with the $8 million put into consideration, will benefit both Buena Vista and the Jisser family. “The property owners want money and the residents of Buena Vista want to stay in Palo Alto,” she said.

“That means that the land should be purchased and a deal should be worked out with the family. Over the next few months this effort to resolve the issue by buying out the owner will go on.”

There are currently 400 mostly low-income residents living on the 4.5 acres of land on El Camino Real. Closure of the trailer park residents could mean having the residents move out of Palo Alto and giving up their jobs.

Kear worries that relocation will negatively impact many residents’ jobs. “They are going to have to move 30 miles away, there’s nothing in the area,” she said. “A lot of the people living in the park work in restaurants in the area or they’re nannies and different things. So they’ll lose a lot workers.”

Kear adds that many students would

be forced out of their education. Of the 129 children, about 80 percent of them are enrolled in the PAUSD schools.

“They’ll lose a really good education,” she said. When people buy homes in Palo Alto, they buy it for the schools too.”

As a PAUSD member, Dauber feels t he need to help as many students in the community to remain in the schools as possible. “The 400 residents of Buena Vista are working hard to live here and send their children to Palo Alto schools. We should be getting to keep them in the community,” he said.

Additionally, many members of the Palo Alto community are showing their support by stressing the benefits of keeping Buena Vista and its residents. Dellenbach explains the potential negative economic and racial effects of losing the mobile park. “The whole community’s going to suffer. All that affordable housing is result of years and years of work,” Dellenbach said. “If this town of 65,000 people lose that much affordable housing, replaced by expensive housing, that is a heck of a loss.”

Dellenbach also believes that the Palo Alto community will experience a significant decrease in diversity. “Buena Vista

is the location where the largest amount of our town’s ethnic and economic diversity resides,” she said. “Communities that aren’t diverse are not healthy communities- they’re much less reflective of reality. We need a good, diverse population which brings tremendous richness to the community of Palo Alto.”

1986

The Jisser family buys the 4.5 acres of land of Buena Vista Mobile Park.

Aug 19, 2013

Buena Vista Residents’ Association expresses will to pay $14.5 million for the property to be redeveloped and not sold.

July 18, 2014

Prometheus Real Estate company backs out of the luxury apartment deal with the Jisser family.

Anthony Tran

Anthony Tran

Top: Main entrance to the Buena Vista Park on El Camino Real.

Bottom: One of the many trailers that house 400 low income residents of Buena Vista park.

6 Forum EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Oracle

Palo Alto’s reactions to suicide have negative impacts Last week, Gunn students expressed outrage at the reactions of certain community members to the recent suicides.

Comments made by Paly students and parents on the Palo Alto Online forum and at the school board meeting last Tuesday criticized almost all aspects of Gunn, from its academic rigor to its supposed culture of stress. Others, including former teacher Marc Vincenti and Paly journalism advisor Esther Wojcicki, used the recent tragedy as a platform to push their agendas.

Vincenti used the meeting to advocate for his “Save the 2,008” program, which does not reflect the opinion of most students.

Wojcicki published a controversial article on Huffington Post blog, where she stated that the victim “took his life because he was stressed about life,” despite not contacting the victim’s family nor having substantial information. In this article she also inserted a letter, which implied that the victim’s family was to blame, from a Paly teen directed towards Palo Alto parents, These inappropriate responses have assumed blame, exploited a sensitive issue to push for various agendas and have divided a community that needs now more than ever to stand as one.

Immediate reactions to the suicide tried to heap blame on one specific subject. Wojcicki and the Paly student accused Palo Alto parents of being “tiger parents,” or parents overly focused on their children’s success to the point of exerting excessive pressure, and implied that depression develops because of such overbearing parents. Other people attempted to point fingers at Gunn itself for assigning too much homework and refusing to restrict the number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes students can take. However, trying to find one sole source of depression is nearly impossible; according to the Child Development Institute, no single cause can be identified because the development of depression arises from the amalgamation of multiple stresses. Only the victims will ever fully

know and understand the situation and any other pretense is hurtful to the latest victim and his family. Wojcicki’s article upset many because it insinuated that the victim’s parents had not cared for their son’s well-being and instead forced unhappiness on him by inflicting unattainable demands. In reality, the family had issued a statement saying that the parents knew about the victim’s depression and that it had not been caused by academic pressure at Gunn. The majority of the community will never know why the suicide occurred, and we should accept that lack of knowledge. Making uninformed accusations does not lead toward recovery but rather opens more wounds by falsely indicting those considered “guilty.”

These pointed fingers and personal agendas have done nothing but tear our community apart during a period when students and community members were grieving. Instead of listening to the students, adults have pretended to know what we want and need. Tensions have risen between these adults and students. At a time when Palo Alto should be coming together to support students, controversial actions have only made us believe that we, as a town, aren’t all in this together.

While many appreciate the sentiment for change and recognize its need, the way which people have tried to facilitate it ignores the students’ well-being. Instead of speculating, Palo Alto needs to realize the importance of caring for grieving students and assisting other students struggling with depression as well.

Although many suggestions to possible changes at Gunn have been raised, few actually reflect how students feel. While The Oracle is not composed of the whole student body, we believe that certain propositions may benefit Gunn. Many students have expressed that the difficulty of switching between lanes for classes causes students to feel like they must stay in more stressful lanes. Mak-ing it easier for students to

drop down a lane if their current class is too difficult would be a relatively small change that could result in a large impact.

Another solution, which other high schools like Harker School currently implement, is the elimination of senior finals. First semester finals fall on the same dates as deadlines for many college applications and second semester finals may cause unnecessary stress to students who should be preparing for post high school life. A final suggestion would be to move away from the more Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) focused view of success and intelligence and incorporate more advanced humanities courses into Gunn’s curriculum. Students who are not as STEM-oriented deserve the same diversity of classes to pursue their passions. We as a staff believe that these changes would be effective, and address many aspects of the situation, as opposed to placing the blame solely on one aspect of Gunn.

While all reactions to the recent events have had positive intentions, many failed to convey their arguments in a respectful manner. By making generalizations, expressing viewpoints that do not necessarily reflect those of the community and making conflict-inciting statements, select responses have instead created a rift within Palo Alto and may have caused unnecessary grief. During this difficult time, we must be mindful of those who are truly suffering and when discussing possible actions, keep in mind that the deaths of students is not a statistic or a spectacle to be gawked at. Hopefully in the future, those who wish to create change will do so in a civil way that is mindful of others and genuinely reflects the attitudes as well as the best wishes of the community.

—Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the staff (assenting: 44; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 2)

Elizabeth Zu

A message from Student Body President Aren Raisinghani Aren Raisinghani In this opinion piece, I discuss recent events candidly in the hope that you, the reader, will understand my insights and proposals. Please feel free to reach out to me. I, along with the entirety of Gunn’s Student Executive Council, am here to serve and represent you.

Last week, we received tragic news—another Titan’s life was lost. This is the third time in the span of a few months in which we have received news of a Titan—past or present—who will no longer be with us. These heart-wrenching events have taken a toll on us as friends, students, staff, and members of the external community. Although our sadness is pervasive, our response to the events has made me even prouder to be a Titan. Over the last week, Titans have come together and united to spread positivity and serve as pillars of support for not only their friends, but anyone in the community. The notion that we stand united regardless of circumstance truly demonstrates what it means to be a Titan, and the fact that we spread positivity and unity in times of such adversity proves our resilience and sets our school—and community—apart. Over the past week, the Palo Alto community has mobilized, striving toward action. Students, parents, faculty, administration and various Palo Altans participated in formal and informal meetings to voice opinions on how to prevent further loss.

While many of the discussions were productive, there was a noticeable amount of fingerpointing. Gunn—and, by extension, the district—once more came under fire for its academic policy and rigorous curriculum. Many seem to believe that if the school were to alleviate student stress through policy changes, suicide would no longer occur.

What some consider a toxic educational atmosphere is not fueled by pure academia, but a consuming, competitive mindset that seems to be shared by much of the community. The school doesn’t need any more changes in policy; its constituents need a culture revitalization.

This shift in perspective is a collective responsibility, but those who can make the greatest impact are often the most overlooked—the students. The Gunn Student Body has the greatest impact on the school social climate; it can (and should) maintain a supportive environment in which each individual thrives. Furthermore, although academic pressure is prevalent at Gunn, it is not the sole—or main—reason for teen suicide. According to Dr. Shashank Joshi, a psychiatrist at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, 80 to 90 percent of students who take their own lives have mental health issues. At the senior parent meeting on January 26, Dr. Joshi

stated that suicide is more of a mental health issue than an academic stress issue. Combating academic pressure may reduce stress, but not necessarily contribute to suicide prevention.

Gunn’s current efforts are primarily geared toward achieving mental health wellness and awareness at the high school level. The school offers numerous peer-to-peer counseling and wellness groups, on-hand counselors and a supportive network of faculty and students. It is one of few high schools with an entire section of its website dedicated to “Crisis Resources.” These initiatives have been effective; however, moving forward, it is imperative that Gunn continues to consider new, different approaches (in addition to approaches already established) when addressing topics as complex as suicide and mental health. The most important change in Gunn’s approach should be to ensure that all students have the opportunity to be included in any pertinent discussions at the school and district level. Because numerous PAUSD students participated at the School Board meeting on January 27, officials and the extended community were able to more easily gauge and understand the students’ perspective—insight that ultimately helped foster proactive discussions. Setting an informed community dialogue is pivotal, as it leads to deliberation of new effective, implementable programs and initiatives dedicated to suicide prevention and promotion of mental wellness.

Of the many ideas discussed last week, I found a potential Middle School Program and Gunn Buddy Program the most intriguing—I hope to implement them in the near future.

They were discussed (and well-received) by Gunn’s Student Executive Council and brought to the attention of the School Board. The Middle School Program will be targeted at all PAUSD middle schools, as the Gunn Student Body is predominantly composed of students who have attended a middle school in the district. The mandatory program will take place during advisory period, teaching students about mental illness and helping de-stigmatize it (stigma surrounding mental illness is one of the main reasons why those afflicted are hesitant to seek help). The program will also drive the message to middle schoolers that suicide is not—ever—a viable option. Reaching out to middle school students is ideal, as, compared to high school students, they are relatively more impressionable. Influencing one’s mindset early on has potential benefits. The Buddy Program will be a mandatory program that pairs each underclassman with an upperclassman buddy. The pairings could be Freshman-Junior, Sophomore-Senior. The program’s primary goal is to give students a sense of security that they always have at least one individual looking out for them, so that students never feel isolated or alone. A curriculum would be established for the Buddy Program to ensure that students could bond during structured time in a classroom environment as well as outside of that environment.

While the ideas for new programs are still in their infancy, it’s awesome that they were conceived so rapidly due to progressive, open discussions. That’s what I love about this—our spirit is unwavering, even in times of hardship.

We are Titans; we are indomitable; we will get through this.

Friday, February 6, 2015

7

Global Spotlight ‘The Interview’ is dangerous to oppressed North Koreans Ryeri Lim From a movie that finds humor in the sexualization of powerful women, the sensationalism of homosexuality and what Variety.com calls “gay panic,” an inaccurate representation of the situation in North Korea is expected. Yet many do not realize that the flaws of “The Interview” (2014), directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, are deeply dangerous to the continued oppression in North Korea.

In December, “The Interview” gained massive public support when its production studio Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked and threatened by the anonymous group Guardians of Peace, as well as by North Korean representatives and journalists. Many in the United States and in the world called for preservation of free speech.

Yet these dialogues between the so-called free world and this foreign, faraway police state are highly influenced by ignorance on our part and strategic manipulation on North Korea’s. In The New York Times movie review, Mike Hale wrote that “the only sensible reaction [to the movie] is amazement at the disconnect between the innocuousness of the film and the viciousness of the response.” This statement is incorrect on both counts: first on the unanticipated viciousness of North Korea’s response and second on the contextual innocuousness of the film.

First, few realize that North Korea and its leaders are not stupid. In fact, their reputation of ridiculousness is purposefully engineered and maintained, and this may be one of the key reasons why North Korea has lasted longer than Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and communist USSR. Information about this terrifying empire is readily available, yet little has been done to relieve an oppressed population of almost 25 million. Those who have it best—the wealthy and politically relevant families— enjoy something akin to Western middle-class society, with the exception of a government radio, which cannot be turned off or removed, installed in every home. They annually attend the almost 50-day Mass Games, a lavishly elaborate light and talent show that’s difficult to reconcile with the dirty concrete tenement buildings in which their less fortunate fellow citizens reside. In the movie, a single shot of the TV-watching North Korean family, huddling in close, cold, cluttered quarters,

decidedly downplay the conditions in which many “normal” North Koreans live.

“The Interview” does not depict at all the goings-on in numerous labor camps across the country either. Crime of virtually any severity can be punished by public execution or three-generation imprisonment; this imprisonment transports the offender’s entire extended family to one of six known concentration camps for containment past the births of two

Elizabeth Zu

subsequent generations. According to defector Kim Hyuk (NBC News), the only way to psychologically survive the exhausting labor and subhuman treatment is by giving up hope of escape.

According to Express.co.uk, many prisoners are forced to dig their own graves before death by torture, starvation or execution. As reported by Channel 4 News, guards frequently relieve stress by physically and sexually abusing prisoners, but women who become pregnant are usually tortured and executed.

Finally, there are those dying in the mountains. About a year ago, my friend’s family adopted a teenage North Korean defect. He and three others had been smuggled across the border

to China in a Christian missionary’s van; one was caught and taken back. The story of my friend’s adoptive brother is similar to that of the families of defectors Park Yeonmi and Shin Dong-hyuk: motivated by unknowable hunger and desperation.

Plastic fruit, used by Kim Jong-un in “The Interview” to uphold a facade of affluence, is the least of it all.

If all of these facts about a real place on earth have been yearly reported by the United Nations, confessed time and time again by traumatized defects, and witnessed by my three friends, why does this place still exist?

One reason is that, at this point in time, it is no country’s favor to intervene. Although in 2002, former president George W. Bush named North Korea part of the Axis of Evil, the United States only ever invaded oil-rich Iraq. In fact, only 3 percent of Americans believe we should invade North Korea with ground troops, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll in 2006. 61 percent of Americans said they would oppose going to war to unseat the present Kim regime, according to an ABC News/ Washington Post poll in 2003.

Despite the abundant information about the regime’s cruelty, these opinions stand because we would rather laugh at a silly dictator’s newest antics than register the critical situation of a quarter million people 5605 miles away. Every time the North Korean administration does something as silly as threaten a third World War because of a movie, our misconception of such unashamed human rights violations is reinforced. And for that reason, “The Interview” is far from “innocuous.”

Contrary to his portrayal in the movie, Kim Jong-un does not enforce his regime to soothe feelings of effeminate inferiority. He would not risk his position by exploding nations on his whim. His wealth and luxury are not to be admired or envied.

He would not have mourned the death of a longtime bodyguard, as he did in “The Interview.” To a god of his nature, citizens are expendable. The West must understand this.

Some believe that free speech must be preserved above all.

While free speech is undoubtedly important, we must be aware of what we protect with marches and protests. In truth, satire has always been the weapon of the oppressed—a voice for the voiceless. From their place of racial and economic privilege, the producers of “The Interview,” have misinformed the democratic public and misrepresented a gross violation of human rights.

Sometimes we Americans, in our zeal for the protection of our freedoms, forget about those who lack the most fundamental of freedoms.

—Lim, a junior, is a Features Editor.

Many world leaders at Charlie Hebdo march are hypocrites condemn the unfortunate silencing of the press have repressed the right of freedom of speech themselves.

Jailed 16 journalists in Twitter user Daniel Wickham pointed out this hy2014 for “spreading false news” pocrisy. In a series of 21 tweets, Wickham named ministers, generals and leaders who have a history of censoring content or punishing various journalists Helen Nguyen Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for their work.

The international movement of “Je Suis Charlie” gained a lot of attention and with that, the public critiRegulates media About 3.7 million people took to the streets of Paris and cized how the world leaders publicly stated their support through harassment & press cities across France on Jan. 11 to rally in defense of free for free speech, but did not value these rights in their own suspension speech and against terrorism in the wake of the deadly at- countries. For example, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet tack on Charlie Hebdo. Among the millions, 40 world leaders Davutoglu participated in the march, yet Turkey was named President Ali Bongo marched arm-in -arm with French President Francois Hol- the world’s biggest jailer of journalists in 2012 and 2013. In lande during a unity march in Paris. What most people don’t 2014, Turkey also detained a number of journalists, including the importance of freedom of speech and cease censoring know is that many of these leaders who appeared to publicly one who had ties with the moderate Islamic Gulen movement. the press.

Another notable example of hypocrisy is Egyptian As of now, Charlie Hebdo is still left reeling and weary—as Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s involvement in the is the rest of the world—but recovering. “Humor doesn’t kill march. Last year, an Egyptian court sentenced three anyone. We can’t be prisoners of the sense of humor of others,” Al Jazeera journalists to 10 years in jail on “terror- Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Renald Luzier said in an interview Maintains restrictions on ism” charges. Not only that, but five journalists were for England’s Daily Mail. freedom of expression & often killed during the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood Hopefully, the world can look forward to a change in heart prosecutes journalists protests, which were part of Egypt’s attempt to shape and mind on the subject of censoring the press. It would be the media to their liking. unacceptable if the heads of the countries that silenced jourPresident Mahmoud Abbas The irony of the situation is disappointing, but it nalists in the past only marched to improve their international is a step closer to change. The attendance of these leaders image. Although the fact that these leaders marched in the at the march serves as an important symbol of the world protest is ironic and hypocritical, the event of the attacks will regularly uses coming together to address the issue of not only this free hopefully lead them to realize the error of their ways and national television to “smear speech violation but also the general infringement of this truly respect free speech as opposed to simply advocating government critics” right. With the gathering of these world figures, change for it in times of crisis. will hopefully come about. Each country is built on the voice of its people and their right to freedom of speech. In —Nguyen, a sophomore, is a reporter.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Info & photos taken from Guardian.com light of the Charlie Hebdo attack, leaders should recognize

Egypt:

Gabon:

Palestinian Authority:

Russia:

Forum

8

TMedia h perpetuates e H a rape r culture s h inRsociety ealit y Katie Russell Over the last few years, as stories about sexual assault hit the headlines, the term “rape culture” has become commonplace.

Rape culture refers to the normalization of rape that cultural and societal attitudes. It is in the media that rape culture does the most damage; on average, teenagers experience 14 hours of media per day. From music to movies and news channels, it presents a dangerous portrayal of rape by blaming or shaming victims and forgiving or excusing those accused or convicted of rape.

Media comes in many forms and has the power to convey powerful messages. Oftentimes, however, these messages can be extraordinarily negative, even going so far as to condone or trivialize rape. For example, the infamous song “Blurred Lines”

by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams normalizes rape culture with lyrics such as “you know you want it” and a music video featuring topless women being paraded around. The tune is catchy but the fact that a song with such degrading lyrics is one of the best-selling singles of all time is troubling. Many other songs also make casual references to rape, including “Timber”

by Pitbull and Ke$ha featuring the line, “she says she won’t but I bet she will” and the music video of “Animals” by Maroon 5, which consists of the lead singer’s actions escalating from stalking a woman to literally viewing her as a piece of meat. Many movies follow suit in this practice of trivializing rape. Romantic comedies tend to use clichés in which men pursue women until the women finally concede. Recent movies such as “Gone Girl” show the lead female character making false rape accusations.

This portrayal endangers rape victims by discrediting their

• • • • • •

voices and experiences.

Media also tends to take the stance that rape is never okay unless the person accused of it is a celebrity. A multitude of male celebrities have been accused of rape, including Bill Cosby, Woody Allen and Prince Andrew of Britain. In all three cases, news outlets have neglected to extensively cover the accusations or have excused the celebrities outright. No matter how beloved or critically acclaimed a celebrity is, fame or talent should never be a justification for excusing or completely ignoring accusations of rape. Although it is certainly necessary to respect the concept of innocent until proven guilty, dismissive statements such as, “He never would have raped anyone,” are dangerous and harmful as they promote victim blaming and denial of sexual assault even 68 percent of rapes are not reported to the police. in cases where the perpetrator is clearly guilty.

98 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail.

Another sphere in which rape 38 percent of rapists are a friend or acquaintance to the culture is consistently perpetuated is in media coverage of court cases victim. such as the infamous Steubenville case in 2012, in which a high Seven percent of reported rapes lead to arrests. school girl in Ohio was raped Two percent of reported rapes lead to a felony conviction. by two football players. In the ensuing court case, the students 50 percent of rape allegations are false. were convicted and sentenced to Source: RAINN a minimum of only one year in

Rape statistics

juvenile detention. CNN commentators sympathized with the convicted criminals, stating that it was a shame “to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures had their lives ruined”. These media personalities, even when faced with evidence that clearly was enough to incriminate the students in a criminal court, chose to side with the perpetrators of sexual violence rather than with the victim.

However, some people may claim that the media doesn’t really affect our perspectives and opinions. But teenagers experience around 14 hours of media per day and when these 14 hours are made up of slut shaming, victim blaming and perpetration of rape culture, it can have a real, dangerous effect whether we realize it or not. According to a study performed by the University of Iowa, teenagers exposed to sexist jokes and rape jokes are more likely to agree with statements that promote rape culture. To combat these negative effects, schools should offer courses in media literacy. Although the current Living Skills curriculum includes a discussion of the portrayal of women and sexual violence in the media, its emphasis should be standardized across the nation or state. However, media literacy in schools should not stop only at Living Skills; rather, it should be emphasized in social sciences classes such as psychology, English and social studies electives. As difficult as it may be, it is necessary for everyone to become conscious of his or her own possible trivialization of sexual violence, in casual jokes or conversation.

—Russell, a junior, is a reporter.

Men should take larger role in rape culture conversation Naina Murthy

Late Dec. 5, a 26-year-old women was allegedly raped by her Uber driver in New Delhi when she dozed off in the car on her way home. Unfortunately, incidents of rape happen often but only about 32 percent of cases are actually reported to the police and even fewer are investigated. This Uber incident is just one of 700,000 rape cases that take place each year in the world. Sadly, rape culture has turned into a concept where sexual violence and rape are a cultural norm and the act is often belittled.

While women do need to be more aware for their safety, it is important for the threat of rape to not always be treated as a woman’s responsibility. All too often, rape is thought to be something that just happens and that women need be trying

harder to prevent it from happening. But what about the men who commit these acts? Society needs to stop telling women to “cover up” and start teaching young men that alcohol is never an excuse to rape, as well the importance of the word “no.” While no parent could imagine their child someday sexually assaulting another human, rape still happens and parents have to open this conversation up. This is necessary because the “don’t get raped” angle is perpetuating a society where rapists don’t feel responsible and women are put on trial with questions of “Were you drinking?” and “What were you wearing?”

Sexual violence affects all parts of our society. As a result, many initiatives to prevent sexual violence have surfaced.

One program is The Men’s Program, also known as the One in Four program. This program focuses on increasing empathy towards rape survivors. It also motivates men to intervene as bystanders in sexual assault situations. Several studies have shown that high-risk men who participated in The Men’s Program committed 40 percent fewer acts of sexually coercive behavior and showed an increased willingness to intervene as a bystander.

Rape stereotypes have also provided rapists justification for their actions. These stereotypes excuse the offender’s ac-

tions and move the blame to the victims. Nowadays, women are criticized for dressing in appealing clothing when instead society should be criticizing the assaulters for their actions.

The way someone dresses is being interpreted as “asking for it” and flirting with someone is regarded as consent to have sex.

Sadly, many have sympathized with the rapists creating an environment where rape victims are often afraid to come forward. They fear getting judged by those close to them which forces them to not speak out and makes them deal with the effects alone. According to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, out of 100 rapes, only 32 get reported. And of the reported, only seven get arrested and two actually lead to a felony conviction, with the other 98 walking free.

Rape culture has produced a society that teaches women how to not get raped when it should be teaching men not to rape. Many people like to reject the notion that rape and sexual violence is such a norm. They like to believe these kind of unfortunate events aren’t real. They deny the obvious and continue to let rapists go free while leaving survivors silenced.

—Murthy, a junior, is a Centerfold Editor.

Forum

Friday, February 6, 2015

9

Of Rape in Socie t y Unfair rape laws

Z ve Da

hu

• Illinois ruled that if sex starts off as consensual and ends up as assault, the victim cannot bring charges against the assailant.

• In Virginia rape reports are classified invalid by default.

• New York classifies only vaginal penetration as rape; everything else is only considered “sexual assault” which ensues a lighter punishment.

• There is no national standard in the US for defining and reporting malemale or female-perpetuated rapes.

• In 31 states a man who impregnates a woman through rape can successfully sue her for child custody.

Source: Global Grind

Rape case procedures, policies should be reformed

ineffectiveness in dealing with rape in general. The average rape trial lasts 18 months, which is an extremely long time given that rape is such a sensitive crime that harms the victim so drastically. Even worse, not only do rape cases take an excruciatingly long time in court but, according to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), only two out of every 100 rapes will end up with cases that convict the perpetrator. Given these inefficiencies of the court, the result is that victims are less likely to report these acts—in fact, only 32 percent of rapes actually get reported.

Not only does the average trial take 18 long months, but courts are often incompetent at dealing with rape cases. Rape, though much like every other type of crime that contains a criminal and a victim, is on the other hand not as clear cut as the typical crime. The victim often feels partly guilty in the rape, as a 67 percent majority of victims knew their rapists prior to the incident. A popular mindset among rape victims

that prevents them from reporting is the mentality that the issue is personal or that it is partly their own fault and therefore a trial would not convict the rapist anyway. Even when rape victims overcome all of these inhibitions and do report to the court they are still faced with insensitive procedures.

First, courts use the same methods in rape as they do in other Esther Kozakevich and Kathleen Xue crimes—they look for evidence supporting both sides and start by looking at hard facts without taking into consideration the victim’s emotional state. Victim confidentiality is Rape is one of the most psychologically damaging crimes not preserved either, which causes both victim instability and in the world. Despite this, however, a majority of victims mob justice making absolving the convicted much more difnever report the act, allowing the crime and the perpetrator ficult as well. Moreover, the laws on rape are often vague and to remain largely hidden. There are several reasons victims idealistic; in the case that both parties are under influence are unwilling to bring rape cases to court. The major reason during the incident, for example, the male is still responsible is that courts are ineffective at handling rape on many levels, for consent of both parties and can be convicted of rape, even and thus they should revise their procedures. if he as well is too drunk to register the act.

One of the current issues with reporting rape is the courts’ Finally, courts are ineffective at preserving the dignities of both parties involved. This is another issue with its confidentiality policies. The Supreme Court requires states to show compelling interest to override the First Amendment protection given to publication of truthful information, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for rape victims to win privacy suits • When women who come forward are asked about what they were wearing at the time of the against media that identify the victims. As a assault. result, both sides of the act have their records soiled, even if they were the victims or wrongly • When survivors who come forward are asked if they were drinking at the time of the assault. accused. This complete transparency to the • When people say “she was asking for it”. public buffets misogynist stigmas on the female and predatorial assumptions on the male.

• The education system teaching women how to prevent getting raped rather than teaching men Though many circumstances of rape are in fact complicated and convoluted with no clear to stop raping. answer as to whether the perpetrator is truly • When college campus advisors shame survivors who report their rapes instead of helping them guilty, one thing that courts across the board can do to improve the experiences of both parcope and recover. ties and preserve their dignities is to tighten • When songs perpetuate rape and taking advantage of women. up on privacy of the trial. By not releasing information to the public until the decision is • When advertisements show women being forcibly put in subordinating positions by men. made, the court saves itself from the influence • When films depict one sex completely objectifying and taking advantage of another sex against of the public and the reputational ruin of its trial members which would be likely otherwise. the victim’s will.

Though rape itself is extremely sensitive on the emotional level, this aspect of it cannot be as• Trivializing sexual assault and downplay its physical and psychological effects. suaged. Rather, courts must look into what they • Inflating false rape report statistics. can do to expedite and ease the trial process, which will make dealing with rape in the future • Refusing to take rape accusations seriously. much less daunting.

Rape culture is...

• When college administration is more concerned about getting sued by the perpetrators than supporting the victims.

Source: TIME Magazine

—Kozakevich, a senior, and Xue, a junior, are Forum Editors.

Features 10 Campus clubs star t of f third quar ter THEORACLE

Pandora’s Box Kush Dubey

News Editor

Literary magazine Pandora’s Box—which publishes studentproduced creative writing pieces, photography and art—sold out their winter issue last Dec. and hopes to attain similar success with their spring 2015 issue in May. According to junior club president Elise Most, the club’s recent success can be attributed to the copy’s higher definition display, as well as the use of a different publishing company. “This year we had enough funds to print in color, so our magazine was a lot higher quality than the last few issues,” she said.

In addition, Pandora’s Box has experienced an increase in membership. Most believes that this expansion has resulted in more dedicated participants. Whether it was getting people to work on club posters or collaborating on a creative writing project, members proved to be more committed to the club’s activities. Most adds that the environment of the club has also improved since last year.

“I was a member last year, and I feel like Pandora’s Box got more engaging and people were more into the activities we were doing.”

Despite numerous accomplishments, the club still plans on

moving forward in a number of ways. Most plans to print and sell more than the traditional 60 copies produced each semester. “This semester we’re going to print more copies of our Spring 2015 issue and try to gain more readers,” she said. Furthermore, Most believes that increasing the student body’s recognition of the publication is critical in boosting sales. “A big issue the club has had is publicity so we want to be more inclusive to get more students’ compositions in and make sure that we get more copies out to the school.”

Most attributes much of the club’s success to the high level of integrity. “My officers have been really supportive and cooperative with me,” she said. “Also all of the club’s members have been really committed throughout the process.”

Most is especially excited to look at submitted works for the next issue. “I’m always surprised by seeing the name of a club member or a friend, and it always astonishes me how beautiful [the piece] is,” she said.

Students should send work to pandorasbox.gunn@gmail.com

by Feb. 27 for their spring 2015 issue. Photos and artwork should be in JPEG format.

Alexandra Ting

Top: “The Art of Fishing” by Jessica Shing is the cover of the winter issue of Pandora’s Box. Bottom: Juniors Elise Most and Lina Karamali create posters asking for Spring issue submissions.

Acts of Random Kindness Hayley Krolik

Sports Editor

Photos courtesy of ARK Club

Top: Students sign up to join ARK club at the club fair.

Bottom: ARK’s finals week care packages for students.

Kindness is natural human virtue, so seniors Jessie Lwi and Amy Chen and junior Jonathan Zhang decided to create an entire club to showcase our community’s compassion: the Acts of Random Kindness (ARK) Club.

They developed the idea for club at a camp, where a speaker talked about expressing love to others. This speaker specifically mentioned the ARK club from San Jose’s Independence High School as an example. As soon as Lwi and Chen heard this, they knew they had to start ARK at Gunn. While they recognized that there were already clubs that reached out on campus, they felt there was a lack of clubs that were going directly to the community to express kindness rather than expecting the community to come to them. “Personally, we felt that the small and unexpected little things can create a big difference in people’s lives and I wanted to see those gestures in what people often think of as an overly competitive school,” Zhang said.

ARK has been thriving for about two years on campus. For the past two semesters, they’ve created care packages that members pass out to people they see in the halls during finals week. This semester, they made 400 bags that consisted of goodies, such as fruit snacks and granola bars, as well as encouraging notes. Junior Yui Sasajima received one of these packages. “For me it wasn’t about the candy inside; the idea of people taking time out of their busy lives to do something for other people is what made me feel so thankful for our community,” Sasajima said. “It’s so easy to take these little things for granted but I hope we recognize how fortunate we are to be in a community where kindness is not only present but celebrated as well.” Another project ARK has taken on was teacher appreciation letters.

They’ve gone through three departments so far, handwriting thank you notes to teachers for their hard work.

Despite their many accomplishments, Chen, Lwi and Zhang agree that their biggest achievement so far is the ARK hotline. This hotline is a Google form that anyone can fill out if they have someone they want to appreciate.

ARK then makes a goodie bag for the person and writes them a letter. “We express how much we care and thank them for their existence,” Lwi said.

ARK’s newest project is a Kindness Scavenger Hunt that they’ll be putting on later this semester. Participants will have a kindness checklist that they must complete to their best of their ability. Items include “sweeping someone off their feet,” and “paying for the person in line behind you.” In response to the recent suicides, the club is putting an event together in a few weeks to create continued support and kindness so that compassionate atmosphere does not dissipate. “Right now so many people are looking out for each other and supporting each other actively, but that usually dies down,” Chen said.

The founders hope that this sparks a new, impactful wave of kindness across campus. “I made this club because I wanted to inspire other people to go out of their way to show kindness,” Chen said. “A lot of people say, ‘my faith in humanity is lost,’ and I was hoping we could have something more positive at school to look forward to. Instead of waiting for that positivity, we could make it happen.”

Lwi’s personal experiences inspired her to stick with ARK. While she was tackling the worst of her depression, an anonymous person sent her a package.

“Someone left a bag of gifts and a ‘Frozen’ soundtrack at my doorstep with a letter and it said how much they appreciated me,” Lwi said. “From that gift, I realized how important the club is. What we do, no matter how small it is, makes a huge impact.”

11 w it h impressive accompl ishments Features

Friday, February 6, 2015

Model United Nations Aayush Dubey Tech Editor

The Model United Nations (MUN) club has taken recent success in attending the Stanford conference and hosting their own conference at Gunn in October.

According to club president senior Varun Narayan, the club faced delegates coming from schools around California and schools across the nation at the Stanford conference, and still managed to win the Best Delegation award. Additionally, students from Gunn received Best Delegate awards from their respective committees at the Stanford conference, some of whom include juniors Michelle Klets and Ben Lee, sophomore Isha Gupta and senior Esther Kozakevich. Many more student delegates from Gunn captured other prizes and research awards.

Narayan talked to other leaders from the Santa Clara Valley MUN conference to find a way to organize the Gunn conference. “I thought that it would be really interesting and fun,” Narayan said. “The members were definitely enthusiastic about it.” According to Narayan and Undersecretary General of Fundraising senior Julian Moran, hosting the Gunn conference was important for giving students a greater

opportunity. Moran said that the conference allowed high school students to expose themselves to attending an event usually meant for college students.

In addition, the leaders felt that the conference allowed Gunn MUN to become more popular. “Once you start to put your name out and your conference gets a good [reputation] then you can build it more and more each year,” Narayan said. “Santa Clara Valley [High School] doubled from 350 to 700 students only over the last five or six years; it definitely shows how rapidly our conferences are able to grow.”

The two leaders felt that the big issue with MUN over the years has been accessibility. Moran felt that members didn’t attend many conferences in the past years specifically because of the cost, but believes that the Gunn conference opened up more ways to allow more members to attend. “Having a sustainable revenue from the conference opens up the possibility of lowering the cost for students: in turn making MUN more accessible.” Moran said. “The best thing for Gunn MUN is to make it more accessible because there’s certainly lots of talent at this school.”

Photos courtesy of Gunn MUN.

Top: Gunn MUN club awarded best delegation at Stanford MUN .

Middle: Senior Varun Narayan presents delegation awards.

Bottom: Junior Grace Park awards junior Michelle Klets “Best Delegate”.

Far left: Members show awards at East Bay Conference.

Left: Country placards set up for Gunn conference in October.

GunnBrand4U Prachi Kale

Copy Editor

Courtesy of GunnBrand4U

Anthony Tran

Top: Club members pose for a photo at the September club fair.

Bottom: Club officers present information at the weekly meeting.

Though GunnBrand4U is a new club on campus, it already has quite a few accomplishments under its belt. The club, where students can learn and develop business skills from professional speakers, has been putting its skills to use by working with non-profit organization, Deborah’s Palm, a support organization for women. Chief Marketing Officer senior Paula Kyin believes that working with Deborah’s Palm has been one of the club’s most prominent successes. “I think our greatest achievement so far is being able to keep up with a real life business,” she said. “It’s so impressive to see all the members’ work being applied to a real cause.”

Chief Executive Officer junior Jordana Siegel also agrees that working with Deborah’s Palm has been a noteworthy accomplishment for the club. “We are treated as equals in innovating and improving Deborah’s Palm while working incredibly closely with their leadership body,” she said. “This offers an opportunity for our club members to apply their skills to an actual business and see their hard work in action.”

Chief Operating Officer senior Noah Krigel believes that the club has come far from where they started. “We started the club with five members with only the idea that we wanted to

help a non-profit,” he said. “I think it’s amazing that we now are paired with a non-profit, our club has expanded to over 30 active members and, best yet, we now have a clear-cut idea of how we will help.”

Kyin also believes that the club couldn’t have gotten this far without the work and effort put in by all of its members. “We’re really lucky to have a great club advisor, Cristina Florea, who’s incredibly passionate about the club and its purpose,” she said. “We have hard-working club members and enthusiastic board members who all really want to see the club succeed.”

According to Siegel, the club has achieved its success due to the work ethic of its members.

“We learn the most through applying our business knowledge and the students in the club recognize that without their hard work, we would not be able to make any real change,” she said. “They are the ones who are extremely motivated to help Deborah’s Palm and are putting their all into the club. Another big part of our success is Deborah’s Palm’s trust in us to create change in their organization and their belief in our competency and potential to succeed.”

GunnBrand4U is currently planning and hosting a black-tie gala in May to raise money and awareness for Deborah’s Palm.

12

Portraits of survival:

Cente Leukemia [loo-kee-mee-uh], n. 1. is a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system.

A look into the lives of students who have been affected by cancer.

A first-person account: cancer is not a simple story Nico Poux First of all, it's impossible to generalize cancer. Not only are the types of cancer and their treatments extremely diverse and completely different, but everyone's experience with cancer is completely different. That being said, I'm going to try to do the impossible.

You've got to remember that you're talking about seven years of my life. I mean, it'd be hard for anyone to generalize seven years of their life, so how am I supposed to explain away the most tumultuous and difficult seven years that I'll ever experience? What I can say is that I'll never be the same. I believe that I've changed for the better, but who can say?

I can't really explain what I've suffered during my treatments. It's the kind of thing that unless you've experienced it for yourself (which is something I don't really recommend by the way) you'll

never get it. Something that is true for all cancers is that the treatments are more painful, damaging and outright maddening than the cancer itself. Invariably throughout the treatment, cancer patients will always ask themselves why they're enduring those treatments. The only difference is that the cancer will kill you, and the treatments will (hopefully) save you.

About that, uncertainty is one of the worst parts of cancer. You never know if you'll live. Everything can be going well and in the span of a week, or even a couple days, you could end up in the ER knowing that you only have a couple hours left to live. Even when you're in remission, or even declare cured (which, by the way, are COMPLETELY different even though the media likes to act as if they're the same) you will never know for sure if you're cured.

The only way to know for sure whether or not there's any cancer left in your body is for the cancer to come back.

Also, about the media, just don't listen to it. When it comes to cancer, the media does much more harm than good. Not only do they spread misinformation about cancer–No, there is no quick or easy cure for cancer. You can't go the hospital to be treated for cancer and come out cured in a week. For most cancers you have to spend months in and out of hospitals and the treatments will likely bring you closer to death before they start helping you–but some of the nonsense they spread actually do tangible harm to the cancer community. I remember talking with a person from the Joanne Pang Foundation (a nonprofit that helps collect umbilical stem cells for transplants such as the one I received) who said that a single episode of a medical drama led to a huge drop in life-saving bone marrow donations. The episode portrayed bone marrow donations as being extremely painful, and as a result of their desire to increase drama in their show,

actual donations dropped and have never recovered from it. The script writers indirectly killed a great many cancer patients. When it comes to cancer in the media, the best thing you can do is to turn off the TV and go look it up for yourself from trusted sources (places like Mayoclinic or Stanford health or actual doctors, preferably oncologists or cancer specialists.

I don't think my cancer experience was all bad. I'd never want to go through it again, but the lessons and experiences that I learned from my battles with cancer are invaluable to me. I'm still weak, and have a bunch of health issues due to side effects from my treatments, but cancer also made me who I am today. It helped me have confidence that no matter what happens next, I'll already have conquered the hardest part of my life. I made lifelong friends who really understand me, and whom I really understand. A sort of "fellowship of suffering" as Andy Stanley puts it. And cancer shaped the way I view the world. You never appreciate how valuable your life is, how beautiful everyday experiences are, until they’re almost ripped away from your hands. I never want to forget how lucky I am that I can just go to school, or even that I am able to leave my house to go for a walk.

—Poux, a junior, is a guest columnist.

Q&A with leukemia survivor junior Crystal Trevillion Q: Tell us how it began.

Crystal Trevillion: Toward the end of 2012, I was in pain a lot. It would be like continuous pain, and I would take pain medicine. It’d go away for a little bit, but over time, it got worse, and I started getting a headache, which became a migraine and lasted forever. So I went to the doctor, and they thought it was due to stress because I couldn’t tell them the specific spots of pain. It was all over my body, but they said to just up the medicine for pain.

So I do that, and I’m still in pain for a long period of time.

I started to sleep for long periods of time, and I don’t have time for homework or anything. I push through finals, and there are days where I couldn’t even physically get up in the morning.

Then, the chronic pain was everywhere, and the headaches were getting worse and worse, and I was just suffering. I hated my winter break. I sat in a dark room the whole time. But I started to get chest pains, and my mom said that wasn’t good, so we scheduled another appointment. In the second appointment, they said, “Oh, you should see a psychiatrist because the stress is getting worse.” Nobody’s really noticing that I’m losing color in my skin because my skin is dark.

I had unfinished blood work from a couple years back, so my mom said, “We might as well do that while we’re here.” Then in the middle of the night, they’re calling from the emergency room saying, “You have to come in right now, right away. Pack a bag.” We rush to the emergency room, there’s more testing, poking, and we’re waiting for hours for the results. Finally, they come back, and they’re like, “You have leukemia, you’re going to be admitted, and we have to do a bone marrow biopsy to find out what type.”

Q: What was the chemotherapy process like?

CT: At that time, I was mainly getting IV chemo; unless it was the one my mom gave at home, I had to go to the hospital to get chemo. The peripherally inserted central catheter line at home was the same, but you had to do it every day at certain times, and we didn’t want to go the hospital every day. I also had a lot of blood transfusions because chemo drops your blood level. When I was diagnosed, I found out that my hemoglobin levels (hemoglobin are the red blood cells with the oxygen) were really low, at around four point five grams per deciliter (g/dL) when the normal is 12-13 g/dL. Chemo

was dropping my hemoglobin count. In certain cases, they’ll give you medicine to boost your blood count so you won’t get sick, but in mine, the chemo was killing my white and red blood cells, which was the stuff I need.

Q: How do you think cancer will impact your life?

CT: In the future, I’ll know I’ve gone through worse.

I don’t see certain things as big problems anymore.

Sometimes, I forget and I stress over the little things, but it’s not important. They always tell me to put my health first. If I’m tired, I can’t stay awake. If I’m trying to do a homework assignment, it’s not important.

I need my sleep.

Q: Is there anything you’d say to people about your fight with cancer?

CT: It’s something I would not wish upon anybody, but in the end, for me, it was a life experience, and it’s a big chunk of my life. It’s a part of me now. I am extremely open to talking about it if anybody has questions. And just don’t take life for granted.

—Compiled by Shawna Chen

erfold

Friday, February 6, 2015

13

Graphics and photos by Anton Oyung and Anthony Tran.

Photos courtesy of Erica Watkins, Nico Poux and Crystal Trevillion.

The Oracle staffer gives advice on coping with a relative’s cancer Erica Watkins Cancer sucks, and cancer is stupid. Despite the fact that I wouldn’t wish cancer upon anyone, having a sister who had cancer has proved to me that cancer teaches us much more about life than it does about death. Living with a family member who has experienced cancer has taught me four things: find support, say what you are feeling, treat everyone equally and appreciate that you are alive.

Pain is not meant to be experienced alone. Find people who have similar experiences to you. When I was nine, I started attending Camp Okizu. The word “Okizu” comes from the Sioux language and means unity. Camp Okizu is a week-long sleep-away camp for patients of cancer or their family members. As its meaning suggests, Okizu has allowed

me to find people who are going through the same struggles.

My cabin-mates always become my family and life-long friends, and Okizu has become my home away from home.

When someone close to you has cancer, it is hard not to feel a plethora of emotions and have a million questions. Often, people feel bad expressing these emotions to their loved ones because they are afraid of making them sad or hurting their feelings. What I have learned is that you should say whatever is on your mind because you will be surprised how people will react. People are more compassionate and loving than we tend to believe. It is okay to feel angry, it is okay to feel like your experience is unfair, it is okay to feel abandoned, it is okay to feel happy and it is okay to not know how you are feeling. What is most important is that you say how you are feeling, because the worst thing in the world is to one day not have the opportunity to say anything anymore.

People with cancer do not need to be treated differently than anyone else you know. Everyone fights their battles, and cancer is just one of those battles. Some people shy away from people with cancer, or only know how to talk to the patient about cancer, but if you know anyone with cancer, please try

your best to remember that cancer is not their whole life, it is just a part of it. Ask them who their newest crush is, or what they want to do when they grow up, or what the funniest joke they know is. Tell them about your day. Treat them as just another one of your friends. If you know someone who has a family member with cancer, don’t ask them how their relative is, because they get asked that too much. Instead ask your friend how they are doing. People have cancer, cancer doesn’t have people.

Lastly, appreciate the life that you have been given. Having a sister in remission, I know that life is beautifully fragile.

Everything could be taken away from you in a matter of moments. But cancer should not force us to fear death, it should force us to live life to its fullest. Ask yourself every morning: am I doing something that makes me happy? Ask yourself: is this how I want to live for the rest of my life? Ask yourself: if I died today, would I be satisfied with the impact I have made? Life is worth living, and cancer is simply a way to make us appreciate that we are alive.

—Watkins, a senior, is a reporter.

14

Features

THEORACLE

It’s not a Barbie world: impossible Student speaks out on experience with eating disorder, in-progress recovery Klaire Tan and Danielle Yacobson

Managing Editor and Editor-In-Chief

dra Tin A lexan g

Looking into the mirror, junior Sophia Jackson (name has been changed) could only see flaws. The way the skin on her arms folded. Ugly. The way her thighs stood. Undesirable. The way her bones stuck through skin. Worthless. “The mirror was just made of various magnifying glasses,” she said, her mind picking at every flaw. “Everything was ridiculously amplified.”

For Jackson, self-worth and beaut y were intertwined. If she was ugly, then she was worthless.

“I was obsessed w it h the idea that I had to do something to earn the right to be loved,” Jackson said. “I had to be perfect. To be perfect, you had to be beautiful. And beautiful and skinny were synonymous for me.”

During the teenage years, bodyimage becomes a particularly sensitive issue.

95 percent of those with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.8, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. A study on the dynamics of self-esteem found that female self-esteem drops dramatically at age 12, only to improve in the 20s.

Jackson’s obsession with becoming “perfect”—and thus becoming skinny—started out harmlessly, or so it seemed. First, there was caloriecounting. Then smaller meals. And finally, barely eating at all. “When I didn’t eat something or when I said no to something, I felt very proud of myself,” she said. “I did a good job. I was a good girl.”

Before she knew it, Jackson had spiraled down the rabbit hole. Even though she knew a girl her size and age should

What can people

be eating 1800-2000 calories a day, do to maintain Jackson had cut her calorie intake to 300 a day. healthy bodies All the pamphlets, brochures without becoming and articles she had read said she would feel a decline in endangerously obergy, a weakness, but before it sessed? got really bad, she felt just fine.

Actually, even better than fine—invincible. Speeding down black asphalt on her bike with the wind rushing through Keep a gratitude her hair, Jackson felt like all the warnings journal. Daily record and horror stories somehow didn’t apply to things that you are her. None of this is affecting me, she thought, grateful for. pedaling faster and faster. I have freed myself from having to eat.

But the high never lasted. “The first day I weighed less than 100 pounds, I loved looking in the mirror,” Jackson said. “For about 10 minutes, I thought it was great. I loved every moment of it. But after those Stay positive. Instead first 10 minutes it was horrible to look at Exercise 30 to 45 of putting yourself the mirror because I could [still] see every minutes every down, remember your single flaw.” day. It releases good qualities.

Eventually, the horror stories that the endorphins and articles and brochures preached began coming helps you sleep true. Simple, everyday tasks became a burden and better.

Jackson found herself in constant haze of dizziness. “I er teenage girl would have to stop and catch my breath halfway through with an eating disorder. “She the stairs to the math building,” she said. “When I got out was on the verge of dying of heart of bed in the morning, if I wasn’t careful and I stood up failure. Her liver was messed up. She’d too fast, I’d just fall back down.” lost a ton of bone density. She’d “It became incredibly intense incredibly fast,” Jackson damaged her reproductive system,” said as she recalls February of 2014, when her eating dis- Jackson said. “And she was still a order landed her in the hospital. It was surreal. She didn’t perfectly healthy weight.” understand why she was there because to her, none of it was Jackson walked out of the necessary. “I felt very much like I was in a cloud. I had some hospital with two things: first, sort of thick protective cloud around me and everything they overwhelming proof of the dangers were saying and doing wasn’t really touching me.” of anorexia, and second, a first-hand It was there in the hospital that Jackson began to will- look at the stereotypes surrounding ingly learn about her anorexia and body-image issues. The eating disorders. “Skinny doesn’t mean healthy. Eating cause could be biological, genetic even. Individuals could disorders don’t mean skinny,” Jackson said. “The idea actually be predisposed to developing eating disorders, the that you don’t have an eating disorder if you don’t weigh a doctors told her. certain amount makes me furious because [even without According to Dr. Mary Sanders, who has treated ado- validation] it’s just as hard, just as dangerous and just as lescents with eating disorders for over 30 years, affected debilitating.” adolescents’ cognitive functioning can quantifiably differ February marks a year since Jackson was discharged from from that of healthy individuals. “They may have more the hospital. It’s been months since she stepped on the scale, cognitive rigidity, so they may get stuck on a thought, and a measure taken as part of her long road to recovery. “It’s it becomes difficult to shake that thought loose,” Sanders so worth it,” she said. “Trust me, life is so much better than said. you can believe. Sometimes you may not feel strong enough As an example, Jackson points to her own personal- to do it, but you can. It will get so much better.” ity. “I’m incredibly inflexible,” she said. “I have really Though the destructive thoughts still plague her reguhigh standards. Things have to be perfect or they can’t larly, Jackson now understands that a world wider than be at all.” her pain exists. She works daily to replace her negative However, the most impactful revelation Jackson made reasoning with a realization that gives her hope: “I’ll feel in the hospital came not from a doctor but from anoth- better tomorrow.”­

Faces in the Crowd Do you feel pressured to be attractive?

“People want to be friends with you if you are more presentable, and [they] judge you [by] their first impressions.”

“Not much pressure, but the little pressure that is there is probably from sports or seeing other athletes.”

“Sometimes trying to feel accepted can influence me, but it’s important to express yourself.”

“I feel pressured to have an attractive body by the media, as an obvious choice, but also my friends.”

Rachel Barkin (9)

Vidur Thurkal (10)

Cory Gong (11)

Miriam Laws (12) —Compiled by Jenna Marvet

15

Features

Friday, February 6, 2015

standards affect students’ self-image Media manipulates male image

Q&A with Physician Christina Ng, M.D.

The Oracle: How would you describe the relationship between fitness and mental/physical health?

Christina Ng: Being physically fit is not only good for your body but also benefits your emotional health as well. Exercise releases endorphins, a morphine-like substance in your brain that creates a sense of euphoria similar to opiate drugs like heroin and opium.

Thus, exercise makes you feel happy, relaxed and optimistic. I recommend that everyone try to fit in at least 30 to 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day, which can include brisk walking, biking, running, team sports or just dancing in your room. The good thing is that you can split up the exercise throughout the day and still reap the same benefits.

TO: At what point does healthy eating/exercising bring more harm than good to an individual’s health?

CN: When it becomes a chore or an obsession, especially if you lose sleep or sacrifice spending quality time with family or friends just to fit in an extra work-out. Ideally, each family should sit down and eat something together everyday. By spending time to catch up with each other, you can hear about the highs and lows of your parents’ day and realize that everything does not go perfectly for them either. If you are worried that one of your friends is exercising or dieting more than a healthy amount, ask about what is going on in his or her life, not necessarily about the worrisome actions.

Just the act of reaching out can make a big difference.

TO: What kind of body-image or fitness disorders can result from excessive emphasis on fitness and dieting?

Volunteer. It can help you realize both your blessings as well as how much you have to offer.

Eat in moderation.

Keep a balanced diet by eating all the colors of the rainbow daily.

CN: Some people develop eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, which is distorted body image, where one restricts one’s food intake or performs excessive exercise due to a fear of gaining weight despite being underweight or wasting away. Another eating disorder is bulimia, which is a cycle of binge eating followed by purging through induced vomiting or use of laxatives.

Nevertheless, I don’t think that these disorders are caused by the overemphasis on fitness or dieting but rather by stressful situations occurring in one’s life, which in turn lead a person to develop these disorders. Two novels that shed light on this issue are “45 Pounds”

by Kelly Barson and “Perfect” by Natasha Friend.

Stay hydrated.

Aim for 64 ounces of water per day. Add lemon or cucumber for taste.

TO: How do you think society as a whole can work toward lowering

adolescents’ emphasis on maintaining a specific body shape seemingly preferred by society?

CN: Sex sells, so advertisements via all media, from billboards and magazines to television and the Internet, will feature Photoshop-enhanced, scantily-clad men and women because it’s an easy way to capture one’s attention. Frequently seeing these images which do not represent real people nor the majority of our society can subconsciously lead us to believe that those are the body shapes we should strive for. Thus, one way to counteract this would be for television shows and movies to feature a wide range of body types and create characters which deviate from the often stereotypical roles assigned to each one.

TO: What is your opinion about the self-image issues that adolescents

TO: What would you recommend to adolescents who are currently suffering from self-image issues or eating disorders?

Ant h ony T ra

CN: Adolescence is a challenging time in one’s life, since that is when our bodies change the fastest, and often at different rates than our peers. Compounded by the constant bombardment of unrealistic images from advertisements, adolescents may be led to feel bad or overly self-conscious of their outward appearance. However, a large part of one’s self-image derives from one’s self-esteem. A person may have the most beautiful face or body type as defined by society and yet may still have a poor self-image if he or she feels that he or she is not meeting a perfectionistic and unrealistic goal set for oneself.

n

must deal with as a result of society’s beauty values?

CN: Reach out to your parents, friends, teachers, counselors, siblings, doctor or therapist.

Once you start to talk about your feelings and problems, however, you will realize and be comforted by the fact that you are not alone in having struggles. Find people who accept you for who you are instead of trying to change yourself into something that you are not.

Arjun Sahdev We are all victims to the stereotype. Inaccurate advertisements depict flawless models setting impossible body standards for normal, average people. This is true for both men and women but the issues regarding male body image are not as exposed as they should be. The media has painted a picture, redefining the standards of beauty. Sculpted models with picture perfect bodies have become the norm. Not only has the media’s distortion of male image affected how females perceive males, but it has also altered how males think and act.

Stereotyping is detrimental to everyone. The belief that a large group of people should be based upon the characteristics of a narrow few is baffling. When a Calvin Klein ad is aired, the image is deeply imbedded within our minds. It surreptitiously raises this standard of beauty, consequently manifesting into a stereotype. All men should be 6’3”, have blue incandescent eyes and a chiseled jaw line. Women believe this is what men should look like and unfortunately men believe they should aim to imitate that.

The means of achieving these unreachable, inconceivable body types is harmful, unhealthy and unnecessary. The harsh reality of it is, men are as affected by these stereotypes as women are. The desire to build one’s body, pack on the gainz and resemble the model stems from the stereotype, which serves as no exception to men.

Unfortunately male body image is not the only product of these grossly depicted ads. Guys everywhere often aspire to be men, but what is the media’s definition of a man? According to the media, the quintessential man is rugged, emotionless, reserved and enigmatic. This masculinity is accompanied with a sense of control, stability and independence. Every boy aspires to be James Bond: classy, suave and bold. But it is impossible to always stay composed. There are moments in our lives when we lose control; we lose this equilibrium and our poise evaporates.

It’s natural. But that is not what we’re taught.

We are taught to put up this emotionless, hard exterior in order to block any flow of emotion.

We are numb and confused. We are not meant to feel; we are meant to conceal. We are meant to stay strong. Showing emotion is weak. That is what the media has taught us: big boys don’t cry.

The problem is males do not fit into this compartmentalized box forged by the media. Males do not fall under that category. We come with vulnerabilities, despite our lack of exhibition.

Sensitivity is not something to be ashamed of and being affected by these stereotypes is not anyone’s fault. In addition to the massive impact these crude portrayals have on our self esteem, they also inflict harm upon our health. Males all over the world suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating.

This should not be overlooked. Both genders should feel comfortable in their own bodies and should not feel the need to change. But in times like these when media is pervasive, it is normal to be exposed to stereotypes.

In order to fix this problem and take one step closer to a safer world, we should remember to stay aware. This does not excuse the intolerable pain many victims face but it shines a light upon those who face it. The media has made it impossible to scope out true beauty: the beauty found within. Regardless of weight, height, size, color or gender, perfection comes in forms of imperfection. Real men have curves.

—Sahdev, a junior, is a Sports Editor.

—Compiled by Grace Ding

16

THEORACLE

Sports

Athlete of the Month Sophomore Aurora Vaughan: PRIMA Ballerina The Oracle: How and when did you start dancing?

Aurora Vaughan: I started dancing when I was three years old, mostly because my sister was in dance and I wanted to be exactly like her. I got asked to be on my studio’s competition team when I was seven years old and I’ve been dancing since then.

TO: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from dancing?

AV: I have learned that in order for you to get something you want, you really have to work for it. In dance, you will never be the best. There are so many people with the same passion and drive as you and there are some with more. Not only do you have to accept that but you have to embrace it. I think dance has helped me stop trying to copy other people and it has helped me find my own style of movement.

TO: What is the most challenging part of dance?

AV: Personally, I think it was very hard for me to get over the fact that dance takes up my life. I can’t hang out with my school friends as much as I’d like, but I think that I’ve become okay with that. I love my friends, and I love dance. Both are part of my life, and I’ve just had to find the balance between the two.

TO: What is a challenge that you’ve overcome?

AV: I was at a studio where the environment and the people weren’t right for me. I was probably about two weeks away from quitting, but my old teacher emailed me and said, “I want you to come take some classes at my new studio.” I was like, “Of course not.

I’m about to quit,” but she convinced me. And I don’t know how, but I fell in love with it again. I’m happy now—new studio, new people. It’s awesome.

TO: Why is emotion important in dance?

AV: If you have emotion and the audience feels something, I think that counts as a successful performance. There are three walls on a stage: there’s the back, the left and the right. The fourth wall is technically the wall in front of the audience. If you can break that fourth wall with your emotions and your acting, I’d consider it a successful performance.

TO: What do you have to say to people who think that dance isn’t a real sport?

GM: I’ve heard that a lot. I would say, “What do almost all NFL players do to improve agility? They take ballet. Come to a class and see how you do.” I dance 15 to 20 hours a week. It’s great cardio exercise and I feel like an athlete when I’m practicing.

TO: How is dance different from other sports?

AV: If in soccer or football people take action pictures of you and your face is all twisted and you have your tongue sticking out, then people are like, “Oh, you’re so cool.” But if you do that in dance, people usually say, “What are you doing?” You have to be athletic and strong but look good at the same time.

TO: What are your future plans regarding dance?

AV: I’ve been auditioning for many summer programs this month. As far as college goes, I’d like to go to college. Some professional dancers don’t, but you’d have to be a prodigy. I’m considering a Bachelor in Fine Arts in commercial dance, which is what my sister is doing right now, or just a ballet major. It really depends. I’m open to options. ­—Compiled by Anyi Cheng

­Courtesy of Aurora Vaughan

ISAAC'S top 10 reactions

Top 10 reactions when the soccer team shaves the newbies’ heads...

1. “All right, listen up team...when I said we needed to clear our heads, this is not what I had in mind.”

2. “Do you play goalie? Because you sure can pull off a close shave.”

3. “What a bald—I mean, bold—

Dave Zhu

choice.”

4. “Let me guess...did you bet on the Seahawks?”

5. “I have as many words as you have hairs on your head.”

6. “Well, I guess this way we can avoid getting into hairy situations out on the field.”

7. “The ball called, it wants its haircut back.”

8. “I loved you in X-Men.” 9. “Be still, I’m checking my reflection.”

10. “Whoa, there’s no need to glare at me. The back of your head already did.”

—Compiled by Isaac Wang

Sports

Friday, February 6, 2015

17

Sports teams finish strong, ready for final matches Varsity Wrestling team

What are your team’s traditions?

Wrestling (4-4)

Josh Spain

“As a team we often go to Pho Vi Hoa after wrestling. We also do something we call ‘primal yell’ where before the game, we yell as loud as we can.” —senior Ian Cramer

Junior Kristen Butner

Senior Lukas Dorward

Josh Spain

Boys’ Basketball (13-2)

“After the games, we like to play the song, ‘I’m in Love With The Coco’ by O.T. Genasis. It’s our team theme song in a way. On road trips sometimes we play FunRun, an iPhone game.”—senior Chris Russell

Freshman Chloe Gong

Alexandra Ting

Girls’ Soccer (7-5-1)

“We had a pasta feed this season. I think it’s great how I’ve gotten a chance to get to know my teammates on and off the field.”—junior Sara Zhang

Junior Jacob Sheinman

Alexandra Ting

Girls’ Basketball (6-8)

“During practice, even though we’re supposed to be serious, we always joke around a lot. Just playing basketball with them is really fun. When someone makes a mistake or does something well, we always laugh.”—freshman Chloe Gong

Boys’ Soccer (9-2-2)

Josh Spain

“A wacky tradition we have is we wear our compression shorts over our shorts for team talk before we go out on the field.”—senior Joffy Frett ­—Compiled by Sabrina Chen, Janet Wang and Barrett Zhang

18

THEORACLE

Fitness center available after school for student use Tim Sun

Reporter

Recently, as a part of the athletic program, the PE department has opened Titan Gym’s fitness center to individual students looking to work out. The area is entirely new and is furnished with a variety of equipment. There is a full weight rack, bench press and squat racks, as well as treadmills and ellipticals.

Many sports teams use the new facility, as well as athletes during their offseason. Senior Noah Riley is a regular visitor of the fitness center and believes it is a great resource. “It’s really nice. There’s a lot of good stuff and there’re all the benches I need,” Riley said. “I think it’s better than most of the gyms around.”

The fitness center can be used for many activities such as weight lifting and aerobics. Fitness center supervisor Sara Jackson thinks the range of equipment can benefit anyone.

“There’s something for everyone to do,” she said.

Working out obviously has its positive physical effects, but Jackson believes that the benefits of exercise extend beyond

just muscular gain. “Exercise is not only good for you physically, it’s good for you mentally,” Jackson said. “It’s going to make you feel good about yourself.”

Junior Kinley Wangchuk shares this sentiment, as using the fitness center has boosted his morale. “I feel better about myself and more confident,” he said.

Despite the reputation of gyms as a place for athletes or bodybuilders, Jackson believes that all students can utilize the fitness center. “If kids don’t feel ready to go out for sports, they could feel around to get comfortable,” Jackson said. “It’s for all Gunn students. [It] doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete or not, male or female.”

After school, many students, either individually or part of a team, use the fitness center and Jackson says she can get as many as 25 kids at a time. Together, they create a positive atmosphere and the students all agree that the environment is very encouraging. Junior Maya Miklos enjoys using the facility and likes the friendliness of the area. “There’s a great sense of camaraderie,” she said.

In addition to being great sources of inspiration, friends

can make workouts more enjoyable. Wangchuk thinks that buddies are an essential part of the fitness center experience.

“Working out with friends is the best part,” he said.

The fitness center also serves as a necessary distraction from schoolwork, as exercise is a great way to de-stress. Jackson notices this common trend where students use the gym to alleviate their minds. “This facility gives them something else to think about,” she said.

Wangchuk agrees and uses the fitness center daily to focus on something other than homework. “It’ll help you get your mind off of school,” he said.

On top of the various mental benefits, working out definitely improves the body, as all students have noticed a significant increase in athleticism. Sophomore Quinn Hamilton says he has built a lot of muscle and gives a simple reason to work out. “Mad gains, that’s why. Get massive, get the ladies,” Hamilton said. “You can aspire to look like me.”

The fitness center is open and supervised from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. after school every day and is free for all students.

Proper athletic attire and footwear are required.

Alexandra Ting

Left: An overview of the fitness center. Center: Sophomores Carlos Cardenas and Elvis Atayde use the bench press. Right: Sophomore Chris Galeana uses the TRX machine.

Fans in the Crowd

Do you watch the Super Bowl because of the game or because of the commercials?

“I watch the Super Bowl because of the commercials. Some of them are hilarious, especially the Doritos commercials.”

Amy Llewellyn (9)

“I watch the Super Bowl for the game because it occurs only once a year. Plus, you can always watch the commercials on Youtube.”

Aidan Lilani (10)

“I watch the Super Bowl because of the game. Football is an interesting sport. Also, I’ve been a Patriots fan since birth.”

Amy Best (10)

“I watch the Super Bowl just for the game. The game is part of our culture. Commercials degrade it a little bit.”

Cole McFaul (11)

“I watch the Super Bowl because I’m a huge football fan. I follow the teams because of fantasy football, and it’s exciting to see the best of the best play each other at the end of the year.”

Monica Boerger (11)

“I watch the Super Bowl for the advertisements because they have to pay millions of dollars for just thirty seconds so they have to be great and it’s interesting to see the controversy.”

Alex Kim (11)

“I watch the Super Bowl for the game because it’s fun to watch but I also like the commercials. They’re a good break from the intensity of the game.

I think they’re both important.”

Sean MacPherson (12)

“I watch the Super Bowl because of the game. The game is more exciting than most of the commercials. The commercials are definitely a fun part of the viewing experience.”

Anjali Herekar (12)

—Compiled by Matt Niksa

Sports

Friday, February 6, 2015

Quick Workouts Duration: 3 Minutes Target Area: Core

Duration: 5 Minutes Target Area: Full Body

Duration: 4 MINUTES Target Area: Lower body

• Spider lunges for 30 seconds • Rest for 10 seconds • Side lunges for 30 seconds • Rest for 10 seconds • Plank for 30 seconds • Rest one minute then repeat

• 10 pushups • Jumping jacks until one minute mark • 10 spider lunges • Jumping jacks until two minute mark • 10 jumping lunges • Jumping jacks until three minute mark • 10 walkouts • Rest one minute then repeat

• • • • • • • • •

Duration: 5 MINUTES Target Area: Upper body

Photos by Alexandra Ting Graphics by Anton Oyung

10 reverse lunges Jumping jacks until one minute mark 10 side lunges Jumping jacks until two minute mark 10 squats Jumping jacks until three minute mark 10 single-leg deadlifts Rest one minute then repeat

• Pushups for 1 minute • Rest 10 seconds • Plank taps for 1 minute • Rest 10 seconds • Walkouts for 1 minute • Rest 10 seconds • Dumbbell presses for 1 minute • Rest 10 seconds • Jumping jacks for 1 minute • Rest 20 seconds then repeat —Compiled by Ariel Pan

19

Staffer begins fitness routine for new year

Emily Kvitko

Thirty-seven percent of Americans made a New Year’s resolution to stay fit in 2015, and I was one of them. Beginning Jan. 1, I would eat healthier, exercise more and get in shape. Life would be better. At least those were the things I told myself, even though, my routine did not actually start until Jan. 13.

Before the commencement of my “better life,” I sat around the house, lazy, anxious and uncomfortable in my body. Occasionally, my eyes made contact with my eclectic collection of clothing—favorite pieces that, ever since I stopped dancing, did not fit. I knew that physical activity would cure my constant dissatisfaction, and so a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) pass moved into my wallet alongside a ballroom dance timetable.

My week begins with a day off, but not by choice—a weekly piano lesson knocks out any available workout time. On Tuesday, I venture over to the Cher yl Burke dance studio for two 45—minute drop-in classes. Sore hips on Wednesday persuade me to walk to the gym and stretch. Thursday calls me back to dance rehearsal, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday are dreaded running days at the gym. At first, I was anxious: the “G” word pops into my schedule more times than I go to math class, but as I adapted a different mindset, the sweat-filled room became a place of opportunity. Now, I exercise because I can, not because I have to.

Twelve years of ballet training made stepping into the gym feel like trying to speak a language I knew two words of: treadmill and elliptical. Here and there, I nearly fell on the treadmill, and after ten minutes of exercise, I noticed my heart rate was abnormally at 200 beats per minute. I sent panicked texts to my parents, which caused me to lose my balance even more. Eventually, I tried the bike, the erg—which sounds like “urgh” for a reason—and expanded my fitness vocabulary.

Twenty stressful leg lifts and two traumatic 30-second planks concluded my routine; ballet has taught me to suck in my stomach, and so I find the feeling of tighter abdominal muscles extremely satisfying.

My New Year’s resolution, however, was not confined to the walls of a gymnasium. As my body adjusted to the rhythm of my weekly routine, my hips gyrated to the rhythm of the rumba and cha cha. Much like ballet was escapism for me, I find ballroom therapeutic. I am able to not only let go and reveal how I feel, but have confidence in my body. I did not get that from ballet. “Graceful” and “long“ were common words I aspired to be as a ballerina, but “sharp,” “fierce” and “sexy” are the most important in ballroom, at least according to my instructor who yells them almost every class.

Ninety-two percent of Americans failed to keep their New Year’s resolutions and achieve their goals, but I was not one of them. When I made my pledge, while having a stare-down with my slightly too-small plaid pants and white dress, I hoped for a physical benefit. Although that aspect is still shaping into place, fitness has helped instill in me a mental peace; as I run and dance, my heart beats quickly and my brain focuses on my breath. Clouds of other thoughts and stories clear, and my anxiety is reduced.

Satisfaction is a commonly sought after feeling, and my routine gives me that. At home, my heels stand next to my Nikes, and whether I am jogging or cha cha-ing, I am sure I am doing my body good, and that, in return, adds a positive element to my daily life.

—Kvitko, a senior, is a Centerfold Editor

20

Lifestyle

THEORACLE

Mini IQ Test: Stanford-Binet style questions The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is an intelligence test that was initially created by French psychologist Alfred Binet and later revised by Lewis M. Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University.

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is a cognitive ability and intelligence test that measures five factors: knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, working memory and fluid reasoning. The following test questions are from an IQ test website and are for entertainment purposes.

1. John, 12 years old, is three times as old as his brother. How old will John be when he is twice as old as his brother?

A. 15

B. 16

C. 18

D. 20

E. 21

2. Which one of the five is least like the other four?

A. Stocking B. Dress C. Shoe D. Purse E. Hat 3. Which one of the five is least like the other four?

A. Copper B. Iron C. Brass D. Tin

E. Lead

4. If you rearrange the letters “RAPIS,” you will have the name of a: A. Ocean B. Country C. State D. City

E. Animal

Dave Zhu

5. Which one of the five letters is least like the other four?

A. A B. Z C. F D. N E. E Questions from http://www.mistupid.com/iq

Correct Answers: 1. B, 2. D, 3.C, 4D, 5.E

Elizabeth Zu

0 correct:

Nice try, but this was a little too difficult for you. At least you didn’t get a negative score!

Try doing more practice problems and reading books (refer to page 22 of The Oracle). Better luck next time.

1 correct:

As your mother told you, it’s not about how you do but how hard you try. At least that’s what we hope. Maybe IQ tests just aren’t your “thing.”

2 correct:

You have some intelligence and it’s a good start.

You still are not a genius, but you will be able get by.

There is always room for improvement, especially in your case.

3 correct:

We’ve got a little Einstein over here. You have definitely got some potential but you need to hit the gym of books, otherwise known as the library. Then you will reach true smartness.

4+ correct:

This is very impressive. If you took a full length IQ exam it is more likely than not that you would score near the top. You, my friend, have got a bright future in answering meaningless questions.

—Compiled by Justin Wenig

Lifestyle

Friday, February 6, 2015

Valentine’s Day traditions around the world In most Latin American countries, Valentine’s Day is known as Día del Amor y la Amistad. It’s also a day when many people will perform acts of appreciation for their friends.

In Brazil, it is celebrated on June 12, the Day before Saint Anthony’s Day (the marriage saint). The traditions of Día del Amor y la Amistad are very similar to Valentine’s Day with couples exchanging gifts, cards, chocolate and flowers. In Brazil, the February 14th Valentine’s Day isn’t celebrated at all because it typically falls on the Brazilian Carnival.

Romania has only recently started to celebrate Valentine’s Day. There has been a backlash from groups who believe that the holiday is superficial. Romania has a spring festival known as Dragobete that has been reinvented in order to compete with Valentine’s Day. The date varies from region to region but typically takes place on Feb. 24.

Latin America

China

In India, before the Middle Ages, the tradition of adoring Kamadeva, the Lord of Love, was extremely popular. This custom was lost when Kamadeva was no longer celebrated, and public displays of affection became taboo until the early 1990s. Western Valentine’s Day reached India in the early 1990s through TV programs and channels such as MTV. Although modern Hindu and Islamic traditionalists consider the holiday to be “cultural contamination” from the West, the day has become increasingly popular in India.

India

Romania

South Korea celebrates its Valentine’s Day on February 14.

Women give men chocolate while the men give women nonchocolate candies on March 14. On April 14, those who didn’t receive any candy go to a Chinese-Korean restaurant to eat black noodles. In South Korea, the 14th of every month marks a love-related day.

Spending Valentine’s Day single

Stina Chang

In China, Valentine’s Day is called Lovers’ Festival. It takes place on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Originally, its purpose was to bring together the cow-herder and the weaving maid,characters from a classic folktale. According to the legend, the Cow Herd star and the Weaver Maid star are separated by the Milky Way (also known as the Silvery River), but on Lovers’ Festival they are allowed to meet.

In Israel, Valentine’s Day is known as Tu B’Av. It’s celebrated on the 15th day of the Jewish month known as Av, which typically falls in August. Traditionally, women wear white and dance in vineyards where the men wait for Israel them. Today, Tu B’Av shares many customs with Valentine’s Day including the pronouncing of love, proposing of marriage and giving of cards or flowers.

21

South Korea

—Compiled by Noa Livneh

Graphics by Dave Zhu

Valentine’s Day is almost here. Love is in the air, and couples are everywhere. It happens to be the one day of the year when public display of affection (PDA) is acceptable. However, if you’re single, like me, you probably dread this day as much as I do. Feb. 14 should be called Singles Awareness Day instead, a reminder for single people to stock up on chocolates and tissue boxes because the feeling of loneliness is inevitable.

Therefore, you should not spend your Valentine’s Day crying over something as meaningless as not having a boyfriend or girlfriend. Make yourself feel better by buying yourself chocolate and flowers. Write a card and sign it “secret admirer.”

Despite these seemingly sad efforts, I’ve spent sixteen years of Valentine’s Day without a boyfriend, and I’m perfectly fine. To me, it’s just another day where I devour a box of chocolate and throw it toward the couple who lives happily ever after at the end of the movie. Okay, maybe I’m not perfectly fine.

I have come up with some tips to help you survive Valentine’s Day. Instead of ravaging a tub of ice cream while watching a romantic-comedy on Valentine’s day, do something active. Friends and family are a good resource to help get your mind distracted. Call some friends who are also single and go out to a movie or dinner. Throw a party if you want.

Honestly, there is so much more to do with friends than with a partner. For example, when a girl is with a guy on a date, she always try her best to show her prettiest and most attractive side. She’ll purposely order a salad during dinner when the truth is she really want that juicy cheeseburger.

However, if we are with our friends, we are not ashamed to order those delicious high-calorie combo meals. We can eat what we want and as much as we want, and we don’t have to care how we look while doing it. This is one of the perks of being single.

Often, I choose to spend time by myself rather than with company. If you are going to spend Valentine’s Day alone, there are also a lot of activities to do. For me, I really enjoy a relaxing quiet night. This is mostly where I find the time to pamper myself. I paint my nails or listen to music while enjoying a facial. You could also do this, but if you aren’t into beauty like I am, find something you enjoy doing that makes you happy.

As you can see, there are endless ways to spend your Valentine’s Day alone. A boyfriend or girlfriend is not needed to have a fun time. A few friends and pizza can revamp an ordinary day into something unforgettable. Surrounding yourself with people you love and who love you unconditionally is the best way to omit any depressing thoughts.

You shouldn’t feel ashamed to go out by yourself on Valentine’s Day. A boyfriend or girlfriend shouldn’t be the reason to feel good about yourself. Valentine’s Day is about loving yourself as well as others.

You should enjoy your single life while you still have it. Whether you’re spending this Valentine’s Day alone or not, just remember to find something to do that makes you happy. Most importantly, remember to keep your friends close but keep your chocolate closer.

—Chang, a sophomore, is a reporter.

22

Famous reading lists by famous people

Read the books that inspired some of the most creative, successful entrepreneurs

Steve Jobs:

Apple Inc. founder

Bill Gates: Microsoft Corp. founder

Mark Cuban: Investor, “Shark Tank”

1. “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand

1. “For the Love of Physics” by Walter Lewin

1. “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand

2. “The Innovator’s Dilemma”

by Clayton M. Christensen

2. “The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language” by Steven Pinker

2. “The Gospel of Wealth” by Andrew Carnegie

3. “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass 4. “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki 5. “The Autobiography of Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda

3. “Life Is What You Make It” by Peter Buffett 4. “The Ten Commandments for Business Failure” by Donald R. Keough 5. “Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street” by John Brooks

3. “Rework” by Jason Fried 4. “Cold Calling Techniques”

by Stephan Schiffman 5. “The Innovator’s Dilemma”

by Clayton M. Christensen

—Compiled by Justin Wenig http://favobooks.com/index.php

Top 8 reasons you should read more 1. Instead of Facebook stalking, challenge yourself to read a book.

2. Once you find a great book you won't want to put it down, and you’ll forget that Snapchat eliminated best friends.

3. You can read books on anything you want. Like anything.

4. It's a great way to learn about someone else's point of view.

5. If you read for fifteen minutes a day, you can be exposed to a million words a year.

6. Reading improves your writing.

7. Being well-read makes you sound smarter. If you can allude to different books in conversation, people will be impressed.

8. Reading helps you sleep. Try reading a few pages of “War and Peace” and you’ll be peacefully dreaming in minutes.

—Compiled by Matthew Hamilton

Lifestyle

Friday, February 6, 2015

23

Short Story: Make a choice to be an upstander and speak out Deiana Hristov I didn’t recognize her at first.

It was only after Chris nudged me and said, “Watch this,” when I looked up and saw her walking with her friends, singing a song from some musical about a witch or a lion or the French revolution. While her friends were setting up harmonies and holding the high notes with perfect ease, she bulldozed through the melody in a croaky voice. Her skirt snapped from her hips in a way that made your eyes wander to it when she walked. Her necklace jangled, her earrings swung this way and that, and her shirt was immaculately tucked in.

Chris put two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing wolf whistle, and the footprints in front of us stopped. He nudged me again.

“Nice skirt, sweetheart,” he said. Though the skirt was stylish, it wasn’t a compliment and he knew it and she knew it.

She whirled around, a formidable tigress, and looked at Chris with eyes like flint, drawing herself up to her full height, shoulders back, chin up, staring at him like she could make him burst into flames if she thought he was worth the trouble.

“Excuse me?”

She was giving him one final chance before she tore into him and debunked him piece by piece. I prayed he would take it. Instead he stepped forward, looked her straight in the eye and then slowly raked his gaze up and down her body, pausing deliberately to stare at her chest and her hips before flitting his gaze up to meet hers.

She drew her shoulders back, her hair tossing itself over one shoulder as she shifted her weight and placed a hand on her hip, her head cocked to one side. Every inch of her oozed contempt.

“Are you serious? Can I not even walk down a street without being objectified? You’re disgusting. Women aren’t playthings.

We deserve to be respected.” Every movement she made and every shake of her head infused even more venom into her words. Chris, who had flunked English twice in the past two years, and whose vocabulary consisted of nothing but the ideas instilled into him by a generations of sexism, reeled back at “objectified,” used to women who would slink back to the kitchen and take it.

He threw a desperate look over his shoulder at me and I pretended not to notice, focusing intently on a Subway wrapper blowing across the street.

The corners of her mouth quirked up, Elizabeth Zu but it wasn’t a smile. She had him, she knew that. She could just turn back around and prance away, and he would be shaken to the core: he never expected a woman to toss him around and fling him in the dust. She was just toying with him now, making up for all of the other times she’d been too innocent and cowardly to see a catcall for what it was: an insult. She was angry at a world of double standards, of dress codes and policies, a world where women were punished because men couldn’t keep it in their pants.

She was sick of pepper spray on key chains, of sprinting in the dark with a drawn pocket knife in one hand and her finger over the emergency call button of her phone, of drugs in drinks, of excuses made, of a world when a woman’s body was in the hand of men.

Chris wasn’t having it. He wasn’t going to be invalidated by some weak, inferior female. With as much dignity as he could muster, he threw down his trump card.

“Go make me a sandwich.”

She wasn’t impressed.

“Try again.”

Chris blinked. He had expected her to fly to pieces; he had expected her to stomp off in tears as he turned around and told me that “women were hysterical” with the cued eye roll. Instead, she regarded him with one eyebrow raised.

He started to mumble something, trying to salvage his cracked and broken ego.

“Shut up,” she said. “Do you know how pathetic you are right now? You know what, I feel sorry for you, I really do. If you need to put women down to feel good about yourself, you must have some major self-esteem issues.

Chris looked at the ground, blinking furiously.

She pursued her lips, about to hurl another retort, but stopped. She looked at him as he cowered before her on the sidewalk. He raised his eyes slightly from the spot they were staring at on the ground, preparing for another attack.

Instead, she to settled her glance on me.

“Nice company you keep,” she said with that glare I knew so well, and then she turned around and walked away, with her friends trailing behind her, leaving us both in the dust, Chris trying to look unfazed when it was obvious he was about to cry, and me, staring.

We walked to our bikes and unlocked them in silence. Chris put on his helmet and pedaled off with a hushed “Bye,” not looking me in the eyes.

The next time I saw the girl she was alone, sitting on a bench in the park with her headphones in, a sign I knew meant “leave me alone.” I wanted to talk to her, ask her how her day was and tell her a joke I had found online, like we did in middle school. I wanted to tell her how I’d stopped hanging out with Chris and how I no longer laughed at misogynistic jokes. I wanted to see her smile one more time. I walked up to her.

“Hi,” I said.

She looked up and her face went stony. I didn’t blame her. She shook one earphone out of her ear. “What do you want?”

“I just-” I stuttered. This was a bad idea. It was obvious that the last thing she wanted to do was talk to me, but there was no backing out now. “I wanted to apologize. For that day with Chris.”

Her features slackened, and she leaned back. “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

She started to put her earphones back in, but I wasn’t done.

“No. I am really sorry. I just stood there and I should have stuck up for you and I just wanted you to know that I wish I could do it over.”

We stood there for a heartbeat, grinning at each other, when her phone rang breaking the spell .

“So I’ll see you around?”

S he no d d e d , peering up from her screen to smile at me one more time.

“Yeah, definitely.”

As I left, the sun started to peek out behind the overcast. The sky got bluer. In the trees, a bird chirped.

The laughter and yelling from the kids at the playground permeated the air.

And inside me, I felt something lift and soar.

Elizabeth Zu

Students and staff perform in 50s-themed choir musical Shagun Khare Reporter

On Feb. 4 and 5, the 18th annual Gunn choir-staff musical took place. This year, the staff and students performed “Heavenly Bandstand,” a 1950s musical where a girl, Annette, takes a fictitious trip to heaven to watch a song contest and falls in love with an angel named Johnny Angel.

Performing “Heavenly Bandstand” this year in particular was special because it was the same musical performed in 1997, when the very first choir-staff musical took place.

The decision to do it again this year was an easy one for choir teacher Bill Liberatore. “I could just see this group of kids being wonderful in this style of performing,” Liberatore said. “They have great energy, and they’re a really ‘up’ group.”

The choir-staff musical is arguably the most highlyanticipated show at Gunn. But, being so unique from conventional musicals, the initial reaction to the show in 1997 was not the same as it is now. “The first year it was just a shock,” Liberatore said. “No one knew what it was or what it would be like, but then, since the first year was so fun, the next year people became more excited about it, and then eventually, it became so popular that we started doing two performances instead of one.”

Now after almost two decades, the choir-staff show has become a signature feature that helps highlight the

diversity and spirit rooted in Gunn culture. “It is definitely something that can’t be pulled off at a lot of schools, and I think in that way it’s a really unique event that can be looked at as a celebration of the ‘Gunn way’,” English teacher Justin Brown said.

However, behind the scenes, the choir-staff show is more than just a fun night. According to Brown, who has been participating in the show for nine years, the students are able to see their teachers in a new light while working with them. “The filters just come off a little bit, and everyone’s just having fun, being themselves,” he said. “I think that seeing teachers making fools of themselves, being willing to look a little stupid or silly in front of everybody, can be a sort of morale builder for our community, one that helps add to the feeling that ‘We’re All in This Together.’”

The main purpose of the shows each year is that it helps fundraise for choir students who can’t pay the full price of the trips that Gunn choir participates in. This year, over $50,000 was raised, allowing every choir family to send their children on a trip to Italy this summer.

“So, [the show] is a party and it is really fun, but it’s also doing something important for our school,” Liberatore said. “That’s why a lot of us take the time and do it over and over again, because we know that on top of creating a fun evening for people, we are making our school an equal opportunity kind of place, which is what everyone wants to see.”

Anthony Tran

Above: Seniors Sondrine Bontemps and Justin Cooper and Sophomore Sam Hyrkin perform th e so ng “ Ea r th A ng e l “ i n th e musi ca l.

24

Backpage Annie Shuey Gunn Class of 2011

W

hoever said that high school is the best four years of your life sure didn’t spend their weekday evenings in grueling, three-hour-long SAT prep classes. They didn’t spend an anxiety-ridden senior year applying to 19 colleges, only to be rejected by a solid majority. And they certainly didn’t see their teachers in tears, struggling to explain yet another loss of a precious, young life.

I graduated from Gunn High School in 2011, and while I was in high school, I lost several friends and experienced the same emotions as many of you. I know the feelings of grief, of raw loss, of dreading the next letter from the district superintendent. Despite the countless times my parents told me that everything would eventually get better, I didn’t believe them. Why would I? I knew nothing different, and they didn’t understand the burdens we were shouldering. I’m here to promise you, from one Gunn student to another, that it gets better.

I graduated from Gunn fewer than four years ago, but many details of high school have faded away. I liked my teachers, but looking back, I can only remember the names and attributes of a handful. I can’t remember what classes I took, and I have absolutely no clue what my grades were.

What do I remember from high school? I remember skipping class with friends to go up to the City for the San Francisco Giants’ 2010 World Series victory parade. I remember scaling down a steep incline to camp

out on Tunitas Beach with nearly the entire senior class. I remember attending student journalism conventions in Washington, D.C. and Anaheim, Calif. I remember the relationships and the bonds that were tacitly strengthened by this tragic and difficult shared experience.

There were times I hated being a product of Gunn and Palo Alto. But I know I went to high school with some of the most brilliant, driven, innovative and talented young minds in the nation. I also know that they happen to be some of the most empathetic, compassionate and inclusive people I’ve ever met.

I didn’t believe that Palo Alto was a bubble until I left it. After graduating from Gunn, I landed at Marquette University, a Jesuit institution in the faraway, snowy state of Wisconsin. Marquette is based on the ideal of cura personalis, a Latin phrase meaning “care for the whole person” that is the cornerstone of Jesuit education philosophy. At Marquette, an equal emphasis is placed on academic achievement and supporting students’ endeavors and personal development outside of the classroom. It’s a fresh approach that has transformed my confidence, leadership abilities and outlook on life. Until I came to Marquette, I had forgotten it was possible to be so happy at school.

There is no doubt in my mind that Gunn High School students will graduate as more resilient individuals who deeply value human life. It is my every hope that each Gunn student will find a supportive community where they will begin to put these experiences behind them, which is what I have found at Marquette. But first, I challenge you to break down. Because after you break down, you can begin the process of rebuilding with a stronger foundation—together.

Hug your friends. Tell your family you love them. Reach out to your community.

Lean on each other. And in the words of a beloved Jesuit priest from Marquette, “See written on the forehead of everyone you meet today, ‘Make me feel important.’” Hang in there, Titans. It will get better.

“See written on the forehead of everyone you meet today, ‘Make me feel important.’”

– Father Naus, Marquette icon

Courtesy of Annie Shuey

It gets better.

Gunn alumni on overcoming loss and depression Maddy Atmore

Julia Maggioncalda

Gunn Class of 2014

Gunn Class of 2012

I

t’s hard to say exactly how long I carried darkness with me. It came and went throughout my adolescence but it never strayed far­—my most disagreeable and most constant companion. It hovered on the edges of my consciousness and waited for a lull before jumping in to consume me in big, greedy bites. It was there to nudge me awake in the morning. It was heaviness and emptiness all at once. A life lived in grayscale. The most terrifying thing is I thought it would be with me forever.

I’m writing this because I want to give you another true, raw testimonial to the empty promise that “it gets better.” Depression is incredibly difficult to talk about. I confided in only a few of my friends in high school about my darkest thoughts, and even with them, I often held back. I remember how vulnerable and wrong it felt to tell them what I was feeling, how the words would catch in the back of my throat, warning me not to let them out. Even now, it feels strange to be bearing this part of myself for my old high school to see. But the truth is I really don’t mind. Because when I think about how I got better, I think of the people who were brave enough to share with me the darkness that they experienced, and in doing so, proved that I was not alone.

I once read something that clung to my brain even through my lowest points.

I can’t remember the exact phrasing, but it essentially urged me not to commit suicide so that one day I could think to myself, “Wow, I’m so glad I didn’t kill myself, otherwise I never would have [insert incredible experience here]!”. When I read it, I scoffed.

I thought it a painful cliché. I thought it irrelevant because I never thought I would get to such a point. But for whatever reason, it stuck with me. And a few months ago, I came to the realization that I finally understand the value of that statement. I can finally complete that sentence. I’m so glad I didn’t kill myself, otherwise I never would have been swimming in the ocean at midnight, or filled that journal with thoughts and drawings, or navigated my way through public transport in the Netherlands, or watched the sun rise over that mountain. It doesn’t have to be monumental things that complete the sentence. It can be the perfect crescent of the moon, or the feeling of your blood pounding in your veins after a run or the freckles on the shoulders of the person you love. It’s everything that makes us feel alive and makes life worth living. I stuck around to complete my sentence. Please stick around to complete yours.

“It can be the perfect crescent of the moon, or the feeling of your blood pounding in your veins after a run or the freckles on the shoulders of the person you love.”

Courtesy of Maddy Atmore

F

or those of you who feel sad, scared, worthless, or hopeless, I want you to know that you are not alone, and there is hope. I know this because I’ve lived through it, and things got better.

As many of you may know from the Titan 101 video, I spiraled into a state of severe depression during November of my senior year at Gunn. I made the mistake of rushing through my four years at Gunn thinking only about my future.

I was consumed by the homework, the tests, and the scores, thinking that these were the only path to a happy future.

Depression is devastating. I physically could not get up from the little bed I made on the ground next to the fireplace in my family room for two days. But I got better.

It’s okay to take a time-out if you need Courtesy of Julia Maggioncalda to. You can press pause—your homework, tests, grades and college apps can wait if you need to just stop for awhile to rest and take care of yourself. If you need a day, a week, a month, a quarter or a year, you can take it. I took a month off of school to get better. After that, I put my future on hold and took a year off before going to college. I learned to enjoy the present. I woke up each morning looking no further than just the day ahead. By slowing down my life, I have realized that I am so much more than a letter on a piece of paper. Reflect on what’s going well in your life and what’s not going so well in your life and make some tangible changes.

I now live a very different life because I have redefined what success means for me.

I got sucked into society’s definition of success: grades, awards, achievements, money, college, etc. But now I consider myself successful if I am focusing on the things that make me happy and healthy. I have a little journal, and every night I write down three things: one thing that day that made me happy, one thing that I’m looking forward to the next day and one thing that I love/appreciate about myself. I’m training my brain to focus on the positives. When reflecting back on a day, it’s so easy to pick it apart and think of only the bad things. I can already feel myself unconsciously thinking of the positives rather than the negatives. I text a friend to get dinner with them, I go get a froyo and eat it in the sunshine, I listen to a song that makes me happy, I write down three things that I am grateful for. I feel mentally well when I feel connected to people, so relationships have become a high priority for me. Challenge what success will look like for you: Don’t just chase the expectations others might have for you. Define success on your own terms and proudly pursue a path that might lead to it.

I promise you, if you are suffering, that it will get better. Back during senior year I felt like there was no point in waking up each day, but the pain has disappeared and most days now feel good and are filled with love and joy. You are loved, and your future will be full of love and happiness regardless of your test scores, grades, and college applications. It might be hard to believe, but trust me. I’ve been there, I’ve lived it and I know. Things get better. So live now. Share deeply.