The Oracle (June 2010)

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

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Library renovates courtyard pg. 17

Fixie bikes become trend on campus pg. 27

Destinations for the summer pg. 21

Volume 46, Issue 8

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

http://gunn.pausd.org/oracle

PA I D

Permit #44 Palo Alto, Calif.

780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306

New passing period to accommodate portable relocation Annie Tran

Business Manager

The Instructional Council has decided to implement a new schedule with 58 minute class periods and nine minute passing periods starting next year. Lunch and brunch breaks will remain the same length,

as well as the start and end times of school. According to Principal Noreen Likins, this lack of two minutes from every class period will not add up and lengthen the school year or significantly affect classes timewise.

The decision to change the current bell schedule was made

to accommodate the student body since construction of the new twostory English building will be in the Village and the portables will have to move to the parking lots.

“We have already had teachers and students, such as [science teacher Laurie] Pennington, demonstrate how long it would take to walk from

one end of the school to another,” Likins said. “Five minutes is simply impossible to go from the new location of the portables to the science buildings.”

Originally, seven plans were presented to the Instructional Council by the staff, but they were narrowed down to four through compromises.

Villalobos named principal

“Out of the four plans, the second proposal [which was chosen] was actually the least popular,” Likins said. “However, we chose this because we felt like this was the one that covered all our needs and it was something that we could all live SCHEDULE—p.2

Campus responds to Code Red alert Emily Zheng

News Editor

High School, a Catholic all-girls school in Burlingame, and went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in political science from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and her masters in public administration from Notre Dame de Namur University. “Education was really at heart,” she said. “My mom calls me the eternal student.”

Gunn was commended for an “excellent job of following Code Red procedures” on Thursday, May 27, according to Palo Alto Police Department (PAPD). Two male students were taken into custody, and one was arrested for possessing an Airsoft gun, which is a municipal code violation. “We worked closely with the Palo Alto Police who did an excellent job of monitoring and managing the Code Red event,” Assistant Principal Kimberley Cowell said. “Fortunately, it was an Airsoft gun, but if it had been a lethal firearm, their action could have saved lives.”

Airsoft guns are replica firearms that propel plastic pellets and are used almost exclusively for recreational purposes.

The student will face potential disciplinary actions for violating the student handbook, which states on page 23 that “firearms, knives, explosives...BB, Pellet or look-alike guns, paint ball guns or any other dangerous objects may not be brought onto campus.”

The PAPD also found two face masks, a shovel, a hatchet with a removable saw and a military-style knife in the convertible, which according to student sources, were leftover from a recent camping trip. “He’s an Eagle Scout,” senior Matthew Stephens said. “He hardly empties his trunk. I’m pretty sure there also was a tent and a sleeping bag in the trunk.”

The campus was in lockdown for roughly 40 minutes and the Code Red was lifted when the PAPD found the students they were looking for.

“I am proud of our staff and students for working through this situation,” Assistant Principal Tom Jacoubowsky said. “While there is always room for improvement, the PAPD was extremely complimentary of our staff’s actions and had nothing negative to say.”

Though the overall incident was handled effectively, Jacoubowsky said there are still areas that need to be improved. According to senior Jessica Schroeder, the F period band substitute refused to barricade the doors and did not follow proper Code Red procedure. “Everyone in the class was just doing their own thing, and people came and go as they pleased,” she said.

VILLALOBOS—p.12

CODE RED—p.2

Melissa Sun

Incoming principal Katya Villalobos has previously held positions in both teaching and administration at various schools. She hopes to bring this experience to her new leadership position.

Mati Renaud & Emily Zheng Reporter & News Editor

Social studies teacher Katya Villalobos will replace retiring Principal Noreen Likins as the principal of Gunn.

“I think you have a great new principal,” Likins said. “She is obviously very familiar with Gunn since she’s been so involved. She’s an enormously confident person of great integrity and she really

has the interest of the students at heart.”

When Villalobos first received the news, she was stunned. “There was a moment of silence, then a cry of joy,” she said. “I called my mom and said, ‘Mom, you’re talking to the next principal of Gunn High School.’ It’s a total honor.

I’m very thankful and fortunate.”

Villalobos, born in El Salvador, moved to San Francisco when she was four years old. She attended Mercy

News

The Oracle

P.E. to be offered during zero period next year

Key Club hosts annual Fast for Awareness

YCS participates in Stanford’s Relay for Life

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NEWS BITES

On May 15, the Gunn Youth Community Service (YCS)/ Interact Club sent approximately 70 students to Stanford’s Relay For Life (RFL) an event which attracted 50 other teams in the fight against cancer.

According to sophomore YCS/Interact Underclassmen Representative Eddie Zhou, the purpose of RFL is to raise money and awareness for cancer. Each participant has to raise a hundred dollars to stay the full 24 hours at the event. “At least one person has to be walking the track for the entire 24 hours,” Zhou said. “However, since we have such a large team, there’s a lot of downtime for us, and we spend a lot of time hanging out with other team members.”

Last year, a student participant was arrested for trespassing and climbing a construction crane, an action that prematurely ended the event for the entire YCS/Interact team. “Although the incident was a disappointment, Relay for Life was still a major success as we managed to raise over $6000 for the American Cancer Society, the most of any team there,” senior Jillian Du said. “This milestone also led to many more improvements this year, especially with safety, so that we can ensure that everyone has an enjoyable and secure experience at Relay for Life.” These improvements included more chaperones and a higher student-to-adult ratio.

YCS was able to raise $8000, and according to Zhou, Gunn walked approximately 300 miles.

—Annie Tran On May 28, students participated in Fast for Awareness, an annual event hosted by Key Club. The purpose of the fast is to raise awareness and funds for global hunger.

The event involved a 30-hour fast, beginning 6 a.m.

Friday and ending at noon the next day. Participants were required to raise a minimum amount of $30, which was donated to Action Against Hunger, a non-profit organization that funds projects to fight global hunger. “Fasting for 30 hours helps me see what other people go through in third-world countries and how much I take food for granted,” Key Club Vice President junior Matthew Wen said.

Students who registered for Fast for Awareness stayed overnight in the school gym, where they were able to watch movies, and play board games, video games and sports. “I think it’s cool getting the whole school involved together,” Key Club President junior Connie Hsueh said. “Everyone sacrifices his food and his time for a really important cause.”

Despite the hunger students may feel during the event, most students enjoy the overall experience. “It was really fun, especially if you went with all your friends,” sophomore Dylan Djajaremadja said. “It was like a giant sleepover.”

At noon Saturday, students were provided with food donated by local restaurant sponsors, including Safeway, Hobees and Subway. According to Djajaremadja, the feast made fasting for 30 hours worth it. “Everything was really delicious, especially because we were hungry,” he said.

—Lisa Wu Students with schedules overflowing with classes and extracurriculars will have an option of zero period physical education (P.E.) next year to ease scheduling conflicts. “Zero period P.E. is something that could fit into many student’s lives,” Principal Noreen Likins said.

The idea of zero period P.E was brought up because of scheduling conflicts that occurred this year. “Students involved with student government or other classes had to make a choice between that class and something else,” Likins said.

Students in student government take Student Executive Class (SEC) during B period, the only period the class is available.

Also some freshmen and sophomores are not able to take P.E because of limited space in their schedules and are therefore forced to take P.E during their junior and senior years. According to Likins, some students, such as musicians and SEC members, have already signed up for zero period P.E. “You can get your exercise in the morning, which would help you wake up before classes and you can get P.E. over with early,” freshman Krystal Feri said. Junior SEC member Paula Jung agrees and states that zero period PE would be an innovative idea that would allow SEC members to stop worrying about fitting in another P.E. class.

Next year, P.E. teachers will take turns teaching the period on a voluntary basis. So far only P.E. teacher Matt McGinn has volunteered to teach the period.

Zero period P.E. will be held Tuesday through Friday, starting at 6:55 a.m. Students who want to take the class must talk to their guidance counselor. ­—Mia Howard

Code Red alert response evaluated

Victor Kwok

The Palo Alto Police Department arrived on campus around 2:03 p.m. Thursday May 27 and immediately began searching for the students they were looking for. n CODE RED from pg. 1

“The sub did not take the alert seriously.”

Jacoubowsky said that in the future, the administration will work on preparing substitutes for such events. “We may put more information in the substitute folders,” Jacoubowsky said. “Informing our substitutes of what to happen in situations such as the Code Red is very important.”

There were rumors of another incident on campus that students mistook for the reason of the lockdown. According to Jacoubowsky, a female student called her mother to notify her of the event, but the mother misunderstood and reported

to the police that her daughter was held at gunpoint. This brought up the reminder that teachers should discourage students from any outside communication, due to safety precautions.

Other concerns were raised, including the broken Public Address (PA) speaker in the Academic Center (AC). According to AC coordinator Alejandro Lira, a request was filed over year ago to fix the speaker. “At the beginning of the school year, I asked them to fix the intercom and they still haven’t fixed it,” Lira said. “The AC was not notified of the Code Red on Thursday over the PA system, and we didn’t know that we had to go into lock-

down until some students told us.”

The administration has already taken actions to fix the broken technology. In addition, Jacoubowsky said that future renovations may also include installing intercoms in the bathrooms, adding blinds to all the windows and fixing the doors to lock from the inside. The administration is also hoping to further improve Code Red procedure.

“Crisis response requires ongoing maintenance and training,” Cowell said. “We are always looking at ways we can improve and impress upon students the need to take these types of situations seriously and follow the Code Red procedures as expected.”

Passing period time extended n SCHEDULE from pg. 1

with, which was the main goal.”

When deciding on the proposal, the Instructional Council kept three priorities in mind.

First, a longer passing period was necessary due to the increased walking distance between both ends of campus. Secondly, lunch and brunch breaks had to remain the same length because student activities, such as club meetings, occur during lunch. Thirdly, the school start time could not be changed because pushing back Gunn’s start time would cause more traffic, since Terman Middle School starts at 8:05 a.m, and Juana Briones Elementary School starts at 8:15 a.m.

Despite the new times that students have to adjust to, the tardy policy will not be lenient. The bells will be pre-programmed to accommodate these times.

“A nine minute passing period is ample time for students to travel comfortably between classes,” Likins wrote in an e-mail.

“Teachers and students should be able to adjust to the new start and end times for classes.”

Some students find this new bell schedule a relief. “We already have such a hard time going from the gym to class,” sophomore Vincent Yang said.

“I know I’m late to chemistry by two minutes every time I have class in the village a period before. Plus, I don’t think the school would make a decision like this

if they didn’t know it’d be good for the students as a whole.”

According to math teacher Dave Deggeller, these lost two minutes will not affect his class that much.

“I think it’s a nice compromise, since some of the other plans were a little extreme,” Deggeller said. “I think the only reason people are upset with this schedule is because they hate change and the ending times aren’t in multiples of five.”

Although there are students and teachers who applaud this decision, there are others who find it unnecessary. “I recognize that the schedule needs change, but I think there are better alternatives to it and different ways we could have solved it,” sophomore Philip Liang said.

“Taking away class time means it takes away more from our AP classes, tests and labs.” Liang created a group on Facebook named “Gunn Students Against the New Bell Schedule,” in protest of this decision. The group currently has about 40 members.

Freshman Krystal Feri agrees somewhat with Liang. “I like that class time is a little bit less and that we have more time to get from one place to another,” Feri said. “But I think the times are a little unorganized. It’s kind of like repeating the beginning of freshman year all over again, except worse.”

According to Likins, this modified schedule will be in place for the next two to three and a half years, depending on how quickly construction will be completed.

Kimberly Han

However, the bell schedule is subject to change if it does not work well with the student body or staff. “This is a two-year [or more] solution to our campus until the new Village is built,” Director of Athletics Chris Horpel said. “This schedule will be looked at closely, and can be adjusted at [second] semester, if need be.”

News

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

3

Measure A parcel tax provides funding

Annie Shuey Managing Editor

On May 4, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters announced that Measure A, the parcel tax put on the ballot by the Palo Alto Unified School District’s (PAUSD) Support Our Schools Committee 2010, passed with 79.36 percent of voters supporting the measure.

Measure A will replace the current parcel tax with a $589 tax per parcel, a $96 dollar increase from the current parcel tax. The tax is expected to generate $9.4 million per year, which comprises approximately 6 percent of the PAUSD budget. “Since it passed, we won’t have to cut,” Principal Noreen Likins said.

“If it hadn’t passed we’d have to do a lot of things differently.”

Tracy Stevens, who cochaired the campaign to support Measure A, got involved because she believes public education is generally underfunded in California. “Despite promises from our political leaders, it is usually one of the first things to take a hit when attempting to balance the state budget,” she wrote in an e-mail message.

Stevens cited the recent ranking of California schools as 46th in the country in funding per pupil as evidence that education has fallen from the list of priorities.

“Passing a parcel tax is one of the very few ways that a school district can recoup and try to protect its funding,” she said.

According to Volunteer Coordinator Joan Jacobus, the campaign promoted the measure in a variety of ways. Vol-

unteers manned phone booths and delivered lawn signs and Jacobus sent e-mails to parents via the PTA and eNews. The campaign also cre- Election ated a website, mailed fliers Day on May and placed ads in newspapers. 4th. Over 50 per“Most people don’t like mak- cent of PAUSD voting phone calls, nor do voters ers mailed in ballots, like receiving them, but they well above the 44 percent work,” she wrote in an e-mail average for Santa Clara message. The campaign made County. “As it turned out, our a second round of phone calls voters liked the mail-in ballot,” after the ballots were mailed to Stevens said.

There was no organized opporemind supporters to mail them in.

Stevens attributed the high voter turnoutover “I can’t imagine having 50 percentto the fliers and phone banks. “I the parcel tax the district believe we had close to has been funded by for 700 people who helped with something from years now drop away spending three hours at a phone bank to placing and to have to try to lawn signs on a Saturday maintain the quality of morning to organizing an event,” Stevens said. education the district “Every volunteer made offers. It’s like expecting a difference, and when you put them all togeththe staff to pull a rabbit er you can be successful. As a community, out of a hat.” we should feel proud to —Parent Julie Cardillo have such a strong commitment to education and the willingness to support sition to Measure A, which was, according to Jacobus, very helpit with both deeds and dollars.”

As an all mail-in ballot elec- ful. “No one filed an argument tion, the volunteer staff had to against Measure A in the Official get the word to vote out early in Voter Information guide, which order to ensure that all ballots was huge,” she said. “Most Palo were mailed and received by Alto voters value education, it’s

j u s t that needing twothirds vote means getting everyone who supports it to actually vote,” she said. “Not having organized opposition allowed the campaign to focus on getting out the vote.” Stevens agrees. “The ballot statements, often the only thing many folks see and read, had no opposing arguments.”

Julie Cardillo, a Palo Alto resident with two children in the public school system, voted in support of Measure A. “Because the PAUSD is a basic aid district, Palo Alto has control over much of the funding,” she said. “I can't imagine having the parcel tax the district has been funded by for years now drop away and to have to try to maintain the quality of education the district offers. It's like expecting the staff to pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

As a result of the measure passing, the district hopes to minimize budget cuts. Jacobus

Bonnie Cardillo

stressed that this was not a campaign to add on but rather to maintain the current educational program, since district enrollment is projected to increase while funding from the state decreases and property tax revenues flatten.

Stevens agreed. “Where some districts are laying off teachers, eliminating programs and dramatically increasing class size, PAUSD should be able to move forward with what is currently in place or at least changes should be minimal,” she said.

According to Likins, PAUSD, too, would have needed to lay off teachers and increase class sizes had the measure not passed. “The implications of not passing it were huge,” Likins said. The measure includes a six-year sunset clause to protect against inflation, and senior citizens may exempt themselves from paying the tax.

Thirteen new members to join administration district-wide Sophia Jiang

Centerfold editor

For the 2010-2011 school year, there will be 13 incoming administration and staff members for the Palo Alto Unified School District. The positions are: four assistant principals, five principals at Gunn, Palo Alto High School, Terman Middle

School, Palo Verde Elementary School and Addison Elementary School, a director of secondary education, director of elementary education, director of special education and coordinator of Special Education.

For the new principals at the high schools, Superintendent Kevin Skelly has recommended Assistant Principal Phil Winston

for Palo Alto High School’s principal position and social studies teacher Katya Villalobos to fulfill the new principal position at Gunn. According to Assistant Superintendent of Human Relations Scott Bowers, there were multiple factors taken into account. “We were looking for candidates that we felt had a good understanding of second-

ary schools like the ones in Palo Alto and understood the factors that made up the Palo Alto community,” he said.

“The available principalships for the two schools were publicized both locally and nationally,” Bowers said. “The positions were advertised on EdJoin.

Anyone looking for an education job in California will go to the

EdJoin job site.”

All prospective candidates for the available administrative positions will go through the same process as the principal selection. The new administration members have yet to be announced to the public, but once the candidates have been selected, announcements will be sent throughout the community.

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Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Linda Yu Managing Editors Annie Shuey Sarah-Jean Zubair News Ashley Ngu Divya Shiv Emily Zheng Forum Regina Ahn Eugenah Chou Sam Hayward Features Kevin Gao Nicola Park Lydia Zhang Centerfold Sophia Jiang Yilin Liang Entertainment Samantha Donat Tiffany Hu Hannah Plank-Schwartz Sports Krishan Allen Monica Cai Alvin Man Copy Editors Sweta Bhattacharya Tara Golshan Mia Howard Eden Lauffer Photo Victor Kwok Henry Liu Graphics/Web Kimberly Han Tech Colin Chen Webmaster Charles Chen

Staff Reporters Colin Chen Jesse Klein Elise Lee Jennie Robinson Leon Sung Lisa Wong Lisa Wu May Wu Alice Yu Kevin Zhang Business/Circulation Managers Melissa Chan Elaine Liu Annie Tran Photographers Melissa Sun Jonathan Yong Graphics Artists Bonnie Cardillo Andrew Lee Adviser Kristy Blackburn The Oracle is published by and for the students of Henry M. Gunn Senior High School. The unsigned editorials that appear in this publication represent the majority opinion of the editorial staff and The Oracle's commitment to promoting students' rights. The Oracle strongly encourages and prints signed Letters to the Editor. Please include your name, grade and contact information should you choose to write one. Letters may be edited to meet space requirements and the writer is solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Letters to the editor and ideas for coverage may be sent to gunnoracle@yahoo.com.

These letters and ideas need not be from current students. The Oracle publishes 10 issues annually. Subscriptions are $40/year.

Titans qualify for international examinations to represent the United States at the IPO. Zhang says he has always Similar to sporting events, aca- been interested in math, but only demic competitions allow students took interest in physics after takto demonstrate their intellectual ing AP Physics C this year. “I skills in a variety of subjects. The think math and science are the International Science Olympiads most applicable subjects that you consist of 12 such competitions, learn in school because most of each with focuses on different as- the high-tech jobs today require pects of science. This year, junior knowledge in these areas,” he Brian Zhang was selected to be said. “I like physics because it is one of the 20 members on the U.S. more tangible than math, which is Physics Team with the possibility entirely abstract. Physics can help to participate in the International us understand how our universe Physics Olympiad (IPO) in Croa- works.” tia. Two Gunn T h i s ye a r, students, Zhang 60 US students a nd f r esh m a n were selected Jesse Kim, and to attend MOSP “I like physics betwo Palo Alto through a series cause it is more High School of three tests. students, senior The first test, tangible than math, Lynnelle Ye and which students which is entirely f resh ma n Jeftake part in evabstract. Physics can frey Yan, were ery year, was a lso selected the American help us understand to take part in Mathematics how our universe the MathematiCompetitions works.” c a l Oly m pia d (A MC) 10 or Su m m e r P r o 12. Those who —Junior Brian Zhang gram (MOSP), performed well a training proparticipated in gram designed the American to prepare promising U.S. students Invitational Mathematics Exam for possible participation at the (AIME) in March. The remainInternational Mathematical Olym- ing group of students was then piad (IMO). narrowed down further with the Zhang was accepted by the United States of America MathU.S. Physics Team after passing ematics Olympiad (USAMO), two exams, one formatted as where Zhang tied with 10 other multiple choice and another more students for 13th place nationwide. difficult one as free response. By Kim took the other qualifying test, passing both these exams, he was the United States of America Juaccepted both onto the team and nior Mathematics Olympiad (USa two-week U.S. Physics Team JAMO), the USAMO equivalent Training Camp at the University of for sophomores and below, and Maryland along with the 19 other placed 5th in the nation. Sixty high students. “Last year there was a scoring students from USAMO student from Paly who made the and USAJMO were then invited US Physics Team,” Zhang said. to MOSP. “When I was preparing for the Zhang and Kim will not make Physics Olympiad, it was motivat- it onto the traveling team destined ing to know that if someone from for the IMO this year. Only the Paly could make it, someone from top 12 USAMO scorers, mostly Gunn could too. I’m really proud seniors and juniors, have a chance to represent Gunn this year.” Five to secure a spot on the six-member students will be selected from the team participating at IMO. How20 students attending the camp ever, they both plan to keep trying Ashley Ngu

News Editor

until they graduate. According to Zhang, he is unlikely to make the US Physics traveling team. “In any case, it will be a great opportunity to meet a variety of students who are interested in the same fields as me and to take some math and physics classes that I probably wouldn’t have access to otherwise,” Zhang said.

Kim has long excelled at math and says the competition has greatly increased his interest in the subject. “The tests have made me enjoy math more because the problems on the Olympiad are much more challenging and interesting to figure than the problems we do in regular school classes,” he said.

Photos courtesy of Brian Zhang

Above: Junior Brian Zhang and other students take their daily two hour physics test at the U.S. Physics Team Training Camp.

Below: Zhang and another student from the camp meet Nobel prize-winning physicist John Mather after his lecture.

History students participate in state competition Elise Lee

Reporter

From May 7 to 9, 23 Gunn students went to Pasadena, Calif. to compete in the 2009-2010 State History Day competition, where they competed individually in one of five senior categories: paper, documentary, exhibit, website or performance. At the competition, freshman Noah Shenker won in the historical paper category and will move on to the national contest, which will be held at the University of Maryland from June 13 to 17.

Shenker applied the theme for this year, Innovation in History: Impact and Change, by writing a paper on Darwinism and its effect on the modern world. “I was always fascinated about how life on this level of complexity was possible,” Shenker said. In the national round, Shenker will participate in a report and an interview. “By the time I go

to the competition my paper will have already been read so I only need to study for the interview portion,” Shenker said. Each student is involved in a 20 minute question and answer session with judges to clarify parts of their project.

At the national competition, the final winners will be selected and the awards will be distributed.

“At the History Day competition, awards can go from scholarships, awards, papers being published, documentaries being shown on the History Channel and exhibits being shown at the Smithsonian,” Hilal said.

The topic for next year’s History Day competition is Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures and Consequences. Competitors are allowed to start researching for the next year’s competition at the end of Nationals. Each student is allowed to choose whatever topic they would like that follows

the theme and fits into one of the five categories. “Each category appeals differently to the i nt er est of ea ch person as they can present historical research in five different ways,” Hilal said. The History Day competition involves schools from across the country through a yearlong process, which includes resea rch, Alan Phan interviews, bibliFreshman Noah Shenker displays the ographies, finding medal he was awarded for winning the primary sources, compiling infor- historical paper category at the California mation into a final State History Day competition. product and more.

“I think History Day should be a peek into college research, somepromoted around Gunn since it is a thing that is useful in the future,” good experience and gives students Shenker said.

News

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

5

Palo Alto libraries undergo construction

City libraries close temporarily for renovation to improve basic facilities Eugenah Chou & Regina Ahn Forum Editors

Three Palo Alto libraries are scheduled to close for construction this year. The Mitchell Park Library and Community Center is set to close this summer. The Downtown Library closed in late April, and the Main Library will also close in 2011 for two years of renovation. All three projects are funded by a $76 million bond that was passed in 2008. Independent funding helped pay for a multi-million dollar renovation of the College Terrace Library and its daycare center, both scheduled to reopen in 2010.

Group 4, the architectural firm in charge of designing the new buildings, hosted a series of brainstorming sessions to include student input for the new Mitchell Park Library and Community Center building.

Students were able to select from carpet, chair and table samples. According to Palo Alto Youth Council (PAYC) member junior Noelle Jung, who attended a session, the new buildings will be more student-friendly. “Right now the Community Center is generally known as a hangout for middle schoolers, but PAYC and the City of Palo Alto hope that the renovations will make it more attractive to older kids,” Jung said.

“I think the renovation of the Community

Center is coming at a great time.”

According to Mitchell Park Library’s manager Ruth Ann Garcia, construction has long been anticipated. “I think it’s a bit overdue,” Garcia said. “We’re the busiest branch in Palo Alto.” The Mitchell Park Library and Community Center will close temporarily on June 5 to start construction on combining the two facilities into a two-story building. Although the Downtown Library’s collection of books will be available to the public during construction, Mitchell Park’s materials will be moved to a temporary library at the Cubberly Community Center, which will open on June 28. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

On top of the basic renovation, the new buildings will emphasize more concepts. “Green building” is integral to the design plan for the future Mitchell Park Library and Community Center. Recycled local building materials will be used during construction in order to meet the top environmental standards. According to the city’s website, solar energy, floor air conditioning, electric vehicle recharging stations in parking lots, reflective roofs and extensive green roofs (which contain certain species of plants to insulate and conserve run-off) will be also introduced to the new facilities.

Courtesy of the Palo Alto Library Foundation

Top: A 3D plan of the entrance of Mitchell Park Library. Bottom left: An elaborate computer graphic has been designed for the upcoming library’s main reading room. Bottom right: The second floor of the renovated Mitchell Park Library is revealed in a layout.

Cafeteria considers possibility of hiring student workers Divya Shiv

News Editor

Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) is exploring the possibility of allowing students to work in the cafeteria salad bar, where students would set up or clean the cafeteria in return for a free lunch or money.

All students and clubs would be eligible. Clubs may also be able to work in the cafeteria to raise money, eliminating the need for fundraising.

Interested clubs or students would need to fill out a special PAUSD employment form since they would be working for the

school district. According to Food Director Alva Spence, the details of who students should contact to sign up have not been discussed, but will likely be Student Activities Director Lisa Hall.

This program is based on a similar one in the Martinez Unified School District, where students are able to work during lunch in the cafeteria. “The students help us afford more points of sale,” Spence wrote in an e-mail. “For instance, we were able to install a Pasta Bar, a Deli Bar, an Asian Food Station and a Pizza Station.”

Student volunteers at Gunn

helped the cafeteria staff on May 18 for the one-time Exhibition Cooking Station, in which an executive chef cooked lunch. The students served food, helped the staff with the salad bar and received a free lunch in return. “We would not have been able to offer these services without their help,” Spence said.

However, according to Work Experience Counselor Meri Gyves, it may not be possible for the district to give students a free lunch in return for work because it would not be legal as a permanent program. “Students must be paid in money for any

work that they do,” Gyves said.

According to director of Human Relations David Johnson, this is a legal issue and therefore requires getting in touch with other district departments.

This program is currently in the beginning stages of development. However, there may be a conflict with the California School Employees Association (CSEA), which represents classified employees, due to the fact that students may be seen as taking away someone else’s job.

“You can’t replace someone who’s already working, especially with a student,” Gyves

said. “Even though I believe this program would benefit Gunn tremendously, the [CSEA] union must be protected.”

However, according to Spence, this program would not displace food service employees, as the cafeteria staff’s working hours remain the same. “We are only trying to use students in 15 to 20 minute slots to open more points of service,” Spence said.

By allowing students to work for a short amount of time, Spence hopes to avoid issues with the CSEA and begin working with Hall and new principal, Katya Villalobos, to begin the program.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Teacher salary post deserves explanation

7

Local newspaper publishes extensive list of PAUSD employees’ positions and salaries, causes controversy

O

n May 12, Palo Alto’s Daily Post published “an analysis of the district’s payroll that showed pay had increased 5.2 percent at a time where inflation was essentially flat.” The next day, the Daily Post published a document titled “Your Right to Know.” It consisted of lists categorizing each Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) employee by name, position and yearly salary from the 2008-2009 academic year. All 1,580 PAUSD employees were listed, from the superintendent to the food service workers.

School district employees are employees of the government and every single one of these salaries can be found on the Internet. However, this does not mean it should be published in a city newspaper.

Socially and culturally, salaries are regarded as personal information. One is not typically asked to disclose his or her yearly income, and in most cases, people sim-

ply don’t pry into the matter.

School district employees are state workers; therefore, their salaries are public information. Yet the Daily Post printed them without giving any context for doing so. Drawing unnecessary attention to a specific group of people’s salaries without a given reason subjects the Daily Post to critique.

No explanation, analysis or background information was presented with the matrix.

It simply read, “The taxpayers have a right to know how their dollars are spent.” But teachers and school district employees are certainly not the only government workers in the area.

There was no statement of the mayor’s yearly salary or a list of the Palo Alto Police Department members’ salaries.

Putting a spotlight on the city’s educators has a negative connotation directed at the PAUSD. Taxpayers pay for district employees’ salaries, but they are not the only recipients of tax revenue.

Repercussions have resulted from making publicizing this information. Students are now

more likely to know how much their teachers make. PAUSD employees can compare themselves to their peers. People have greater insight into the private lives of school staff, an insight that can create possible resentment and unnecessary tension within the workplace.

The Daily Post was correct in wanting to show where the taxes are going, but there is always more to the story. The Daily Post has the right to publish and circulate public information, but it should tell the public why they decided to publish the information at that particular point in time and where

the numbers are coming from.

They should not have isolated one group of public workers. If the Daily Post really wanted to educate the public about taxfunded systems, they should have included all local state workers in the list. Singling out PAUSD employees without explanation indicates a specific bias. In the future, the Daily

Post should note the difference between public information and publicizing information.

— Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the staff (assenting: 37; dissenting: 2)

Kimberly Han

Safety first: Legislation protecting student athletes should be passed Sarah-Jean Zubair

In May 2009, Washington governor Chris Gregroire passed a new law regarding concussions in high school athletes.

The legislation states that athletes suspected of receiving a concussion are not allowed to return to play unless approved by a licensed healthcare provider. This law

was a direct response to life-threatening concussion sustained by middle school football player Zackery Lystedt, who returned to play after receiving a blow to the head, but later suffered from a brain hemorrhage and fell into a coma for months afterward. Lystedt’s case is not unique; according to a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 41 percent of 1,300 athletes who experienced concussion-like symptoms returned to play too soon, putting them at risk for traumatic brain injuries. To prevent the potentially life-threatening consequences of a concussion, firm legislation such as the Lystedt Law should be implemented nationwide.

Kimberly Han

The symptoms of a concussion, which is essentially a bruise to the brain, have many manifestations that can include disorientation, inability to process information and even unconsciousness. The vast spectrum of symptoms can make it difficult to tell whether or not the person is suffering from a concussion. It is thus necessary to ensure that coaches, team staff and parents are well-educated in the symptoms so as to assess an injury to the head and make wise decisions as to whether or not the player should sit out. Unfortunately, the loose legal enforcement of regulations regarding coaching staff education in injuries often results in even further harm to the players in question. The Lystedt Law remedies that deficiency. In addition to preventing athletes from returning to play without medical approval, the law introduces specific requirements for standard education about concussions for high school coaches, athletes and their parents.

Knowing how to identify concussions would allow coaches and parents to ensure that their athletes receive appropriate medical attention. A provision such as this added to existing concussion laws would serve as an effective preventative measure for potentially fatal injuries such as comas, brain hemorrhaging and other severe forms of brain damage.

Stricter laws regarding concussions would also encourage more personal responsibility on the part of both coaches and parents. A coach can be so focused on winning a game that he is apathetic towards his players’ health. Even parents can be caught in a competitive frenzy and push their children to continue playing after sustaining serious injuries. A player who

has suffered a concussion might “tough it out” for his coach or parent’s sake and return to play, putting his health at extreme risk. Education about the dangers of concussions and how to identify them would discourage parents from making selfish decisions that put their children’s lives at risk. If there were legal consequences for such bad judgement, coaches would undoubtedly curb their irresponsible behavior. A coach must learn to care not just for the players’ abilities but also for the players themselves. A potential legal penalty directed at the coach himself would ensure a manifestation of greater vigilance in the form of more cautious play practices.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 3.5 million sports-related concussions occur in the United States each year. And with the right preventative steps, each of those 3.5 million concussions can be avoided. Use of updated protective pads and equipment protects players only to a certain extent. Coaches need to instill safe playing practices in their players, such as limiting head-to-head contact and keeping potentially dangerous contact between players of out of the playbook. Also, being able to identify concussions and take appropriate action following a potential concussion should be basic skills of all athletic coaching staff and athletes’ parents. But this is not guaranteed to occur without the presence of stricter legal enforcement. Looming legal penalties for irresponsible actions that can result in concussions or exacerbate concussion-related injuries are necessary to eliminate those unwise practices that put thousands of athletes at risk everyday.

–Zubair, a junior, is a Managing Editor.

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Forum

The Oracle

Joseph Lin The most defining point in education is its quality. People have tried many methods to raise overall literacy rates using programs like the No Child Left Behind Act. However, other schools across America have implemented a new method to encourage literacy and educational standards: the use of a monetary incentive.

For students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, certain schools have offered money as a reward to students. According to The New York Times, students of certain New York schools who were provided with the incentive performed better on Advanced Placement tests than students who were not provided the incentive. This incentive not only works, but is also a living part of the American economic system, with each individual working for his own benefit.

People have their own reasons for pursuing a particular career, and while it is not the only factor in selecting a job, a major reason is the salary. If a job has a poor salary, very few would sign up for it. Having this monetary incentive is not an issue because, in life, once students graduate, a salary is a variable when selecting a career.

Students who choose to go to school,would not be swayed by the presence of a monetary incentive. This is due to of the true reason why students attend classes. Currently, students go to school not because they love school and love to learn, but because they have built their own personal incentive. Perhaps it was candy in elementary school, peer recognition

in middle school or, maybe now in high school, the opportunity for a better education. Students who regularly attend school of their own accord are not swayed because they have a personal incentive.

While many critics don’t fear the actual incentive, they fear the effect it has on students psychologically. Despite the possible effects upon the student, for students whose only reason for going to school is the federal

law, a monetary incentive would provide a personal reason for students to attend school.

Opponents fear that money would become the inspiration of education. If monetary aid is the main reason why a student, who would usually not attend basic classes, would attend classes to learn essential material for life, then schools should provide this incentive anyway. The incentive is supposed to reduce the number of people who would cut classes, not force students to love to learn.

One of the biggest concerns about monetary incentives is the source of funding for the students. Providing monetary incentives would put a major strain on school budget.

Therefore, the monetary incentives should be used for only two primary criteria: for schools with students who lack the funds to educationally succeed or for students who lack the personal motivation to attend school.

If schools were filtered by these two specific criteria, then the funding for a monetary incentive would be greatly reduced.

Either way, the incentive still requires extra funding to support. The remaining burden for funds can be distributed to other organizations besides the government.

Schools implementing the incentive rely on already existing programs and non-profit organizations. Rewarding Achievement in New York and Advanced Placement Strategy in Texas have provided the funds for the monetary incentive. This way schools can construct a system to allow students to attend school past financial barriers and lost academic opportunities.

Although the opposition may state that schools lack funds or that this incentive would corrupt the true reason why students

would att e n d s ch o ol, the truth is “less successful” school systems that implement the incentives have improved in literacy and attendance rate. Removing such a useful tool would mean a step back in school structures. While monetary incentives are not meant to be student’s sole reason attending school, they are the next step towards a stronger school system.

—Lin, a junior, is a reporter.

CON

PRO

New cash incentive for good academics splits morals Nicola Park If a teacher told his students that he would pay them ten dollars for acing the next test, or if another teacher told her class she would reward perfect attendance with five bucks, how do you think the students would reply?

Some schools desperate for fast solutions to their dropout problems are relying on students’ affirmative answers to these questions and are experimenting with using money as an incentive for students. To combat the lack of student motivation, some schools in Chicago and New York City have implemented a system of paying students to do well in school. But in all of this, where is the love for learning?

Bribing students develops the unhealthy mindset that money is everything. One of the points of school is to start the process of lifelong learning—to light a fire within students, to make them hungry to know more. Adding money to this process destroys this ultimate goal of teachers and schools. If students as young as elementary school kids are taught that the reason for learning is money, they are encouraged to believe that money is the main motive for anything. But as the timeless adage states, “money can’t buy happiness.”

Bribery indirectly dissipates students’ interest in learning psychologically. In fact, a Stanford University study conducted in the 1970s showed that among 51 toddlers who were told to

Kimberly Han

draw a picture, those rewarded for their work spent half as much time drawing for fun as the other kids who hadn’t been rewarded. With incentives present, the rewards become the focus of doing something, not for the actual enjoyment of it. In the context of this study, if students do not have a real interest in what they learn, then how can they find something they are passionate about in college and career?

According to the Texas Education Agency’s 1994 to 1995 Report on Public School

Dropouts, 46.3 percent of students in Texas said they dropped out because of their own poor attendance. In addition, 58.6 percent of dropouts listed a school-related reason such as poor grades or low attendance. This data indicates most dropouts quit because they lack interest or are not doing well in classes.

Instead of motivating students with money, why don’t schools inspire in students a love for learning by helping them find a passion for it?

Teachers should, instead of showing them the glitter of gold, show the light of knowledge.

The foremost element of education is to foster mutual respect between teacher and student. Teachers should respect students by entrusting in them the responsibility of being eager to learn. Administrators should hold all students to a higher standard. Bribery shows how little respect schools have for their students in assuming that students will only cooperate with a material incentive. If teachers are successful in guiding and inspiring their students to succeed, this will do wonders for what students think of their own capabilities and how they’ll perform academically.

Instead of turning to an instant relief to ease the dropout rates, educators should turn to hiring passionate teachers to foster students’ growth in each subject area; there’s no use for bribing students when they aren’t getting a quality education. The more teachers care for subjects and show their dedication to their students’ education, the more students will be willing to make an equally determined effort.

Teachers who also care for their students’ welfare will make themselves more accessible and helpful to academic strugglers. Intelligent and capable teachers who respect and care about their students have the talents and resources to combat the truancy and performance problems that cause a vast portion of dropouts.

If schools implement a system of bribery and accept it as the norm, then this

i n stant solution will stick around to be a permanent part of education, long after the day when its goal, increased attendance and improved standardized test scores, is achieved. When the money is cut short, students will look to other means of money and livelihood. Once schools implement the system, it will be impossible to turn back.

—Park, a junior, is a Features editor.

Groupwork in school brings future job communication skills Alice Yu Homework. Ever y st udent dreads this word. To the students, homework means long hours of staring at a piece of paper, while the mind drifts between thoughts about reading a few wall-to-walls on Facebook and going to the beach. It is hard to focus alone at a

desk after enduring seven hours of teachers trying to cram information into our heads. The sad thing is that many teachers encourage all this individual work, thinking that it is the most efficient way of learning new information. However, groupwork is more efficient than individual work because it develops useful skills that can be used in the future.

Groupwork’s main obstacle is the amount of talking it involves.

Teachers may see this as a distraction, but in reality, communicating with others strengthens students’ communication skills. Doing

only individual work inhibits the development of interpersonal relationships, while communicating helps form relationships between individuals. Sometimes, group activities can lead to arguments and idea clashes, these clashes show insight into work in real life in a beneficial way. Arguing in real life is equivalent to selling a product or presenting one’s ideas, which helps to refine ideas and create a better product.

In addition to improving communication skills, groupwork teaches individuals to be more responsible. Group projects or

quizzes almost always come with shorter deadlines and more stringent time limits. Students are forced to adapt and become more efficient in order to accomplish a job cooperatively. This not only allows the end result to be of better quality, but also prepares students for professional jobs. The individuals must motivate each others, make sure everybody else is on task and still focus on their own work, which creates leadership skills. If students were working alone, they might lose focus, but in groups, each person receives pressure from others and learns

the importance of collaborating and fulfilling his responsibilities.

When petty arguments arise, team members can learn to compromise. Professions such as health care administration, business management and administrative support all require strong work ethics. Teamwork activities would help student after high school in their careers.

Teachers should help students by adding more teamwork activities because they will benefit the students in the future.

—Yu, a junior, is a reporter.

Forum

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

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Countywide McToy ban curbs child obesity Facebooking isn’t stalking Hannah Plank-Schwartz Last month, toys in “Happy Meals” were banned throughout Santa Clara County to help fight against childhood obesity. Toys can no longer be used as an incentive to buy high-calorie, salt-filled meals. The toy ban applies to all happy meals with over 485 calories, more than 600 milligrams of salt or high sugar or fat levels. According to Telegraph World News, 25 percent of children in Santa Clara County are obese, and officials have recognized the need to intervene and prevent an obesity epidemic. These continuously rising obesity levels are detrimental to the health of children and any small steps the government can take must be taken. The toy ban will hopefully help stop the widespread phenomenon where children link toys with unhealthy fast food. This measure is an essential step for the government to help curb the rising childhood obesity rates in Santa Clara County.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1976 and 2008, obesity rates in adolescents between ages 12 and 19 increased from five to 18 percent. These skyrocketing obesity statistics demonstrate the necessity of decreas-

ing any temptation associated with fast food.

This alarming rise in obesity rates brings an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and a shorter life expectancy. One McDonalds hamburger “Happy Meal” with fries and chocolate milk packs on 650 calories and more than 50 percent of recommended daily sodium and fat. The government is simply helping to keep young children from a future of obesity that could even lead to an early death.

Rising childhood obesity levels show the perception of Americans as fat pigs to be not far from the truth. If the government can help prevent this perception to some degree by simply banning a temptation to young children then why not do so? Some would argue that it is not the government’s place to control what people eat. Banning toys, however, is not banning foods. Fatrich fast food is still perfectly accessible if it is preferable.

The ban succeeds in ruling out additional temptation to buy happy meals.

Young children are easily influenced, and large corporations should not use this tractability to gain profit when it has lifelong consequences for the affected children.

According to the Campaign for a Commer-

Monica Cai

cial-Free Childhood Web site in 2006, more than 80 different media programs were Kimberly Han used to promote food to children through brand licensing or toy giveaways. In that year, fast food restaurants sold more than 1.2 billion kids meals with toys. Therefore, starting with Santa Clara County, preventive measures like these should continue to be passed to help children look at a meal instead of the plastic toy attached. Hopefully, our children will be looking at a healthier future.

—Plank-Schwartz, a junior, is an Entertainment Editor.

The Oracle would like to thank the following patrons and supporters: Supporter Jean-Marc Francois Blanchard David Khan & Pamela Grossman Kevin Skelly Maureen McNally Miller & Christensen James Healy Ro Mamone & Malcolm Smith Annabelle Musil Lee & Amy Christel

Patron Carissa Ratanaphanyarat Khawaja & Patricia Zubair Charles & Shirley Cheng The Perez Family Linda Neugass Sean Lee Rebecca Kah Kate Young & John Shuey Steve Kelem Hee Sook Yoon Park Wendy Kandasamy Utkash Dubey The Man Family

The Oracle would like to specially thank retiring Principal Noreen Likins for her support of the journalism program during her time at Gunn. The Oracle staff wishes you luck in your future endeavors!

Please subscribe to The Oracle for the 2010-2011 school year!

You can do so by:

• Looking for a summer mailing with the instructions • Going on the SAC Webstore (click on Webstore link from the Gunn Web site)

Thank you for your continued support!

Facebook is my addiction; I can’t even try to deny it. Every day I spend a good two to three hours on the site, clicking between its always present window and my homework. As a faithful, two-year addict, I couldn’t help but notice when Facebook unveiled new privacy settings in December of last year. While the company guaranteed users more control over their private information, within a few days we discovered it was quite the contrary. Facebook’s revamp actually pushed us to share more about ourselves than we had before, the most glaring change being the removal of the option to make wall posts private, which published our conversations with friends for the world to see.

Although Facebook recently revealed new, simpler privacy settings intended to keep more information about users hidden, the issue of public wall posts and how we deal with them will continue to exist. A nasty habit we’ve picked up is the accusation of Facebook stalking. People, it’s not stalking if it’s right in front of you.

I can’t help but notice while scrolling through the newsfeed some disclaimers people write in their wall posts. “Sorry if this is creeping,” one begins, and “I’m not stalking but…” another one starts. I’m sure that we’ve all been accused of Facebook stalking before, and while it may have started as a joke, the humor behind it has long since faded.

Reading is not stalking. Facebook’s homepage is its newsfeed, which consists of status updates, page likes, groups and, of course, wall-to-walls. By making all of these components public, Facebook is practically shoving our friends’ lives in our faces. It further entices us by providing us the options to “comment,” “like” or “view wall-to-wall.” “Liking” your post is not creeping; it means someone was trying to do homework, took a break, checked Facebook, read your post and thought it was funny. Take it as a compliment. Don’t hate on someone for appreciating what you wrote.

The same goes for comments on wall posts. We can’t be blamed for reading something that is right in front of us and taking an interest in it. By wall posting, you’re choosing to give up your privacy and to allow the world to see what’s on your mind. Don’t expect to post something and have no one read it. Facebook treats every wall post as a breaking news headline, updating its newsfeed every few seconds with new posts. If you write something, everyone is going to see it. Wall posting is not the way to go about keeping something private. Try messaging, or better yet, hit your friend up with a chat message. These two methods of communication are the only ways to keep what you want to say private on Facebook.

Most of us can agree on our dislike towards open wall conversations, but the way in which we handle them is up to us.

For now, we’re stuck with public sharing of our words. Try not to make it worse by calling it creeping.

—Cai, a sophomore, is a Sports Editor.

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Forum

The Oracle

The importance of losing “The Game”

Arizona immigration law discriminates Tiffany Hu

Bill Dunbar The rules of “The Game” are simple: 1) If you know about “The Game” you are playing it.

2) If you think about “The Game” you lose.

3) If you lose “The Game” you have to say so out loud.

“The Game” is as brilliant as it is dopey; once you hear about it you are doomed to lose it forever.

Say “I lost The Game” in a crowded place and you will hear a collective groan and cause a bunch of students to lose “The Game” too. It’s so simple that it took me years to realize that those people who are playing “The Game” are onto something, and many of us are playing “The Game” even though we don’t realize it.

Those students who play “The Game” consciously cope with the rules by approaching it with a sense of humor. Those who play “The Game” unconsciously may never get this perspective. Life seems serious. The climb is always uphill and the destination is always out of reach.

If you want to be in the highest math lane, you are playing “The Game.” Whenever you think about it, you will realize that there are people who are doing more math or better math than you. Those people are in a higher “lane,” and you are losing “The Game.” You could win the Nobel Prize in Mathematics and still lose “The Game.”

If you live in Palo Alto or Los Altos Hills and you think that you are not rich enough, you are playing “The Game.” No matter how much money or things you have, you will see that other people have more, and if you think about it you lose.

If you want the best phone or the best car, you are playing The Game and you lose. If you want to be the most popular or the best-looking or even the most deviant, you are playing “The Game.”

If you want to go to the best college, you are playing The Game. Once you are in a college you will see that there are students in other schools who are doing even more spectacular things than you are, and if you care about such things you lose “The Game.”

About college: every legitimate school is great if you approach it with the right attitude. Please don’t ask me what the best school is for engineering or for science or whatever. Best for whom? The best for snooty people who care more about prestige than learning? Those people are playing “The Game” and losing every day. I say go to any old school and make it the best for you. You do this by being focused, energetic and enthusiastic. The way to stop playing “The Game” is to change your attitude toward success.

It’s good to be ambitious. It’s good to strive for more and better things and it’s probably good to seek a higher income.

But if you measure your success (however unconsciously) by comparing yourself to other people, you are playing The Game and you are going to lose.

Good luck, you guys.

—Dunbar, a physics teacher, is a guest writer.

On April 23, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the Senate Bill SB 1070, instigating turmoil within the state and triggering nothing less than national controversy among minority, religious and political groups alike.

Section 2B, which enlists local police officers to act as federal immigration agents, is the main issue of the debate. Arizona passed this law, effective in July, to identify, prosecute and deport the rising number of illegal immigrants in the state. However, SB 1070 is seriously flawed and should be reviewed further. Not only does it fail to remedy the immigration issue, it also damages Arizona’s image, pocketbook and state morale.

Constructed by astute lawmakers, Section 2B’s vague wording is designed to evade the question of its constitutionality.

But the loose wording comes hand-in-hand with consequence, namely racial profiling.

The section requires local police officers to detain people of “reasonable suspicion,” but the phrase “reasonable suspicion” puts police between a rock and a hard place. According to a survey conducted by Colombia Broadcasting System (CBS), 85 percent of Americans believe certain racial or ethnic groups that will affect the law more than others. Even local police officers are requesting exemption from this law. Martin H. Escobar, a police officer in Tucson, Arizona who filed a lawsuit against in the federal court, says that the law will “seriously impede law enforcement investigations and facilitate the successful commission of crimes” because there are “no race-neutral criteria or basis to suspect or identify who is lawfully in the United States.” According to a Palo Alto police officer, they are supposed to serve the safety of all people irrespective of their race.

They have no way to distinguish among illegal immigrants, exchange students, travelers and natural-born citizens. Police officers are only human, and all humans are subject to bias. There is too much grey area in this law for a bigoted police officer to use his personal prejudices for discriminatory purposes.

Arizona’s illegal-immigrant population is estimated to be about 500,000 and with 54 percent of all United States illegal immigrants being of Hispanic origin, this bill targets the 1.8 million Latin Americans in Arizona. With this bill, thousands of legal, law-abiding Hispanics in Arizona will have their civil rights infringed upon simply due to the color of their skin. Thus SB 1070, whether intentionally or not, targets these legal Latinos. With this law, race isn’t just one factor that would be considered, it is the only factor that would be considered. The law infringes on civil liberties and makes racial profiling inevitable.

With the police force acting as a double agent for both immigration and local enforcement, the law will work against Arizona’s crime-fighting efforts. Suspicion of police officers among minorities could result in a lack of cooperation with law enforcement.

Fear of detainment might prevent crime scene witnesses from stepping forward, making unreported crimes skyrocket. Arizona is essentially diverting the attention of officers who already have a crucial all-consuming job to attend to and force a further divide between migrant and native-born communities.

Another demon Arizona will have to face is money woes. In Nov. 2007, Oklahoma passed HB 1805, a law similar to SB 1070 to combat illegal immigration. A study suggests that the bill led to an approximated 50,000 person emigration and a 1.3 percent drop in economic output statewide. It would not be unlikely for Arizona to experience similar consequences. In fact, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently banned city employees from visiting Arizona and cities across the country are following Newsom’s footsteps. In 2008 alone, Arizona tourism received an estimate $18.5 billion in revenue - the loss of this revenue would be devastating to Arizona’s already struggling economy.

Supporters have yet to give good reason for the ambiguity of the bill. Profes-

sor Kris Kobach, who helped draft the law, contends that “the most likely context where this law would come into play is a traffic stop.” However, Arizona already has a law that requires traffic violators to produce a driver’s license proving residency. Why then is there a need for this addition?

With all the consequences that come with the law, the pros hardly outweigh the cons. In fact, proponents say that SB 1070 is merely symbolic, that is to strike of fear in immigrant communities, and will rarely be enforced. If Arizona wants to put its image, pocketbook and the satisfaction of its own citizen on the line for an ineffective law, then so be it. Despite the obvious flaws, the steep price Arizona is paying and the media attention that it has received has brought to light the importance and necessity of comprehensive immigration reform. It is old-age wisdom that neglecting troubles only makes them grow worse. Immigration is under federal jurisdiction, yet the federal government has done little in recent years to even attempt to bring about reform. Immigration reform has to be brought to the forefront of our government’s priorities because only then will ridiculous laws like SB 1070 be abolished completely.

of performing random acts of kindness is called altruism. Animals, unlike humans, have altruism behind their action. Once individuals within human society regress to where individuals only help others for their own benefit, without care for others around them, we begin to push back to our most basic animal instincts. Individuals must form a healthy community for the benefit of society and to emerge, not as animals, but as human beings.

In order for humans to maintain their humanity, society must put an active effort to no longer live like animals. Just recently, Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, a homeless man in New York, was attempting to help another citizen within New York. The lady was being attacked by her boyfriend with a knife. Tale-Yax protected the women, but at the cost of his life. He was fatally stabbed and soon died. And most shocking part of it was the apathy of the people surrounding him. People walked right on by, even the woman he died to protect, ignoring the dead man. One man even dared to stare, take a picture and then leave. The civilians of New York City had become self-centered individuals, living for their own selfish desires, in spite of the dying

man on the side of the road. At that point, he needed a “good Samaritan”. He needed someone who would stop to come pick him up and take care of him, despite his appearance and their contrasting backgrounds.

People had become so impersonal with each other that they had no longer cared for other individuals within their society, whether the individual was a homeless man, or any other faceless individual in the crowd.

So what does this human society do?

People must seek their own honor and their own pride as human beings. An example of this includes the constant pursuit of materialistic items. Finding and keeping lost items is not necessarily the worst crime in the world, however, but every time someone keeps an item that does not belong to him, he lowers his integrity. Can a couple of dollars or a couple points of a test really equal to the value of a human being, a living soul’s, integrity? Can a human being live a life, not just for itself, but for the life of a community, a society and for one another? In order to progress as a humans, individuals must form a community.

—Hu, a junior, is an Entertainment editor.

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Eugenah Chou

Society deprived of good Samaritans Joseph Lin Society today has encountered the perversion of community more than ever before. People have become more and more distant from each other, and focused on themselves, both physically and mentally.

In relation to each household, the average American in 1950, had 292 square feet per person (sfpp). In 2006, the average American had 900 sfpp. With this physical distance increase between individuals, individuals have formed a mental separation between each other. People are more individualized, which has made them impersonal with one other, thus less likely to help one another out.

As this mental border is established between individuals, society as a whole becomes less of a community. People begin to view other individuals as another face in the crowd. In biology, the concept

—Lin, a junior, is a reporter.

Features

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

11

Speech and Debate team prepares for National tournament Yilin Liang

Centerfold Editor

Two Speech and Debate club teams will be competing in the National Speech and Debate Tournament from June 13 to June 18 in Kansas City, Missouri. Seniors Pamudh Kariyawasam and Kuleen Nimkar will compete as one team, and sophomores Clare Shuey and Wendy Wu will compete as the other.

The Speech and Debate club attends four to five League Tournaments and a few Invitational Tournaments each year. League Tournaments are open to and held at schools in Santa Clara County while Invitational Tournaments are hosted by colleges such as Stanford University and include a wider variety of competing schools. At League Tournaments, parents judge the debates, while in Invitational Tournaments, college students involved in Speech and Debate make up the panel of judges.

In order to qualify for the National Tournament, the two teams debated in the National Qualifiers Tournament, where Kariyawasam and Nimkar placed first, and Shuey and Wu placed second.

Both teams will be competing in Policy debate, one of four forms of debate that requires a large amount of research before tournaments. At the beginning of the year, the National Forensics League issued a resolution about increasing social services for people living in poverty. This resolution deals with a problem under the government and the teams must write a plan they believe will solve the issue. Before the tourna-

ment, the two teams must look for an existing social service program and find a way to reform it. They must also research reasons why their plan is the most efficient, and why a plan presented by an opposing team would be less efficient.

During the debate, the teams take turns promoting their plan to resolve the issue and try and refute their opponents’ plan.

The two teams have been preparing their cases and improving their speech technique. “We wrote our case at the beginning of the year,” Shuey said. “As other teams have been talking to each other and talking to us, my partner and I have been editing our case.” Throughout the year, Shuey and Wu have been learning a method of debating called “fast debate”, which involves learning how to speak quickly to allow as much information as possible in their allotted time. As a result, they are also learning how to write notes quickly in case their opponents use this tactic. Shuey and Wu have also been observing other teams at tournaments.

“We were sent as freshmen to National Qualifiers,” Wu said. “Since then, we’ve gained lots of new skills.”

However, despite their ongoing research, the weeks leading up to the Nationals Tournament will be busiest for the two teams. “Up until now, we’ve outlined what we need to do,” coach Hoon Ko said.

“Every week we meet at least once and go through our checklist.”

During the year, Kariyawasam and Nimkar split up the research and speaking during the tournament, but both contribute differently to the team. “We balance out

Victor Kwok

Finalists sophomores Clare Shuey, Wendy Wu and senior Pamudh Kariyawasam, who are preparing for an upcoming tournament, pose for a picture. Not pictured: Senior Kuleen Nimkar nicely because Pamudh appeals well to emotions, while I focus on logic,” Nimkar said. “Basically he takes the ethos and pathos, and I take the logos.” Shuey and Wu’s friendship is also useful to them during their debate. “We’re friends, so we understand how we normally are outside of debate,” Wu said. “We also set each other up for the next speech. For example, I will ask questions I know are addressed in Clare’s next speech.”

Shuey and Wu predict that the National Tournament will go in their favor. “We’re hoping to do really well,” Wu said. “But above all else, it will be a fun and educational experience and it will help us prep for next year.”

Kariyawasam also believes the school’s teams will do well.

“It will definitely be different because there’s people from across the nation and they’re not all Californians,” he said. “But I think my partner and I and the other team will do pretty well. Our league is by far the most competitive and at National Qualifiers; we beat out Bellarmine and Lealand, the two most competitive teams in our league. Since there’s a lower caliber of competition, I think we’ll do pretty well.” Ko agrees.

“We have a disadvantage because we don’t debate as much and attend as many tournaments, but we could do pretty well because we will be prepared,” he said.

For seniors Kariyawasam and Nimkar, the Nationals Tournament will be their last high school debate tournament. “It will be sad leaving Gunn, but I’ve had a good career so far and I did pretty okay for myself,” Kariyawasam said.

It is possible that Kariyawasam and Nimkar will continue Speech and Debate in college, though the commitment would most likely be costly. “It’s more money requiring since all the good tournaments are in the East Coast,” Kariyawasam said. “It’s quite a flight from Berkeley to Yale every weekend.”

Nimkar agrees. “College debate is different than high school debate,” he said. “It’s an even bigger time commitment.”

Q&A with

The Oracle:What are some things going on right now that you would like to change at Gunn?

Ting-Ting Liu: I’d love to up the intensity of all our events Ting-Ting Liu for next year. This year’s Powderpuff (11) football is a great success story, proof that a relatively small event can become huge with the right planning and determination. Now that we know it’s possible, I’m looking forward to introducing even more exciting events next year.

TO: What are some new things that you think you bring to the table?

TL: I’ve always felt that the students should know their Student Body President, not just as the figure behind the podium, but as a person, or even a friend.

That’s something I’d love to introduce next year, though it’s not something that can be forced. Still, I’m up for the challenge; I definitely want to be a Student Body President that personally knows the student body, and vice versa.

Student Body President Ting-Ting Liu

TO: Explain if you would rather have people love or fear you.

TL: Why not both? Granted, the word “fear” is a bit strong, but I think a certain amount of mutual respect is always necessary among peers, especially if you plan on working with them. As for love, I can’t see why you would refuse that, especially because it’s so much easier to cooperate with people you like rather than people you avoid as much as possible.

TO: How does being next year’s Student Body President empower you?

TL: The cool thing about leading SEC is that we’re the student voice, and we truly can effect change in the community. For example, this year, we talked to the food company that provides school lunches, and were able to campaign for, and actually obtain, a salad bar in the cafeteria. So SEC is able to get many things done that would normally be much more difficult.

TO: What has growing up with a name like “Ting-Ting” done for you?

TL: My nickname has always made me stand out, whether I liked it or not.

I chose to embrace it a while ago, and now I’m able to do a lot of really fun things with it...like my (TING) series!

TO: Would you rather go by “Madam Pres.” or “Commander-in-Chief”?

TL: Madam Prez, but if I were you, I wouldn’t call me that very often please—I think it’ll start to go to my head…

TO: What challenges do you foresee Gunn will have to face in the future?

TL: We’re going to be dealing with a variety of new changes next year, with our new principal, slightly strange bell schedule, construction and a two-laned Arastradero. It’s always a little hard to adapt at first, but I think we can handle it.

TO: List five adjectives you would use to describe yourself.

TL: Innova(ting), Coopera(ting), Participa(ting)…nah, just kidding!

Friendly, understanding, adventurous, easy-going and self-motivated.

TO: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and how would you use it as Student Body President?

TL: Time control, no doubt. I could

and would use it to pause/rewind time so SEC could spend more hours doing everything we wanted to get done for the school.

TO: What was the strategy which enabled you to win SBP? TL: Talk, talk, walk, then talk some more. I spent many lunches roaming the campus, breaking into circles and meeting a bunch of really cool people.

Instead of simply preaching, which is something I didn’t want to do anyway, I tried my best to build a connection with the people I was talking to, since I feel like the SBP needs to get along with the students he/she is representing. I took comfort in the fact that even if I didn’t win, I would’ve met some new potential friends, which is always a plus!

TO: How will your experience help you as SBP? TL: I’ve served on SEC for three years, so I’m already familiar with how leadership council works, voting procedures, the workings behind events like Homecoming, etc. Therefore, everything should run smoothly behind the scenes this year, which will be great.

—Compiled by Leon Sung

12

Features

The Oracle

Social studies teacher Katya Villalobos will lead Gunn department. She then trained for According to Villalobos, her par- the master schedule, and observed ents were her main source of sup- teachers through the 10 year proport. “My family was very close, gram as well. my parents were my first teachers,” Villalobos later applied to beshe said. come Assistant Principal of GuidAt first, Villalobos saw herself ance and Instruction, and helped working in government or attend- run all academic programs. “It ing law school, but one of her pro- was a great learning experience to fessors at Notre Dame suggested work with everyone,” she said. “It’s that she consider problem solving, t e a c h i n g. Sh e which I like the later entered an best.” Accord“I will carry on the afterschool proing to Villalobos, gram for the arts. much of her job tradition of being “I loved being was making sure there for teachers, with kids,” Vilthat the students kids and the lalobos said. “It’s got what they so energi zi ng, needed. “It was community. But I their vibes and making sure they guess I’ll also have everything about were provided to create shoes of them was enlivwith all the serening.” vices they were my own.”

A friend told accounted to.”

Villalobos about Villalobos — Katya Villalobos a n op en i ng at also helped inPalo Alto High troduce first time School (Paly) in teachers to the 1995, and she went as a student system and helped them get more teacher for Contemporary World plugged in to the community. “I History and United States Govern- also had incredible mentors and ment. The following year, she was colleagues,” Villalobos said. “They hired as a social studies teacher. weren’t just people you could talk At Paly, she realized that she to, they were people you could work wanted to teach high school. and learn from. You are a student “Teenagers aren’t afraid to ques- no matter what position you’re in.” tion, and they have radical minds As Assistant Principal at Paly, and all the extremes,” she said. Villalobos met Likins, who was “As a teacher, it keeps you on your at the time Assistant Principal of toes.”

Guidance at Gunn. “I got to know Later on, Villalobos decided to her very well,” Likins said. “We join the Site Council to become served on the same committees more involved in the community, at various points in our careers. and later, became the instructional Katya and I have known each other supervisor of the social studies for about 12 years.” Likins and n VILLALOBOS from pg. 1

Melissa Sun

Villalobos have worked together in multiple areas, including being involved in district efforts to try to improve achievements of underperforming students.

Villalobos was Assistant Principal at Paly for five years, and in 2002, became principal of Capuchino High School in, San Mateo for one year. But she later stepped down due to sickness. “I stepped down so people wouldn’t undermine my abilities and ideas because I was sick,” she said. “It was a paralyzing decision, work or life.”

Even when sick, Villalobos still wanted to remain in education.

“Going into education was the best decision I could have made,” she said. “I got better eventually, and I was energized enough to start working again. I wanted to get back into the classroom.” She returned to Gunn the following year as a social studies teacher, and was appointed Principal of Gunn on May 11.

Villalobos hopes for a smooth transition to principal. “My first job is to honestly get to know as many people as possible,” Villalobos said. “Get to know the formal and informal leadership and essentially everybody. I want to make this place as special as it can be. I mean, we rock.”

Villalobos will be in touch with Likins in order to gain words of advice and tips for the future. “You can’t fill her shoes, she’s a rock star,” Villalobos said. “I’ve known Noreen for a long time and she’s amazing. Ill carry on the tradition of being there for teachers, kids and the community. But I guess I’ll also have to create shoes of my own.”

Victor Kwok

Victor Kwok

Victor Kwok

Top Left: Incoming principal Katya Villalobos smiles for the camera in her office. Middle Left: Villalobos gives a helping hand to sophomore Wendy Qiu, in social studies. Bottom Left: Villalobos writes out the agenda for the day and finishes some paperwork at her desk. Bottom Right: Villalobos poses for a picture at the amphitheater during lunchtime.

Features

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

13

Assistant Principal Phil Winston to be principal of Paly Sam Hayward Forum Editor

Courtesy of Sterling Hancock

After four years of working at Gunn High School, Assistant Principal Phil Winston has accepted the Head Principal Position at Palo Alto High School (Paly). He says he will never forget the memories or the experiences he has had during his time at Gunn. “Gunn has been a very special place for me,” Winston said. “From the students to the staff, everyone here is fantastic. I will always have a big spot in my heart for these students and teachers.

“My whole life I have always wanted to work with kids especially at a school where there is range of students in both life and academics,” he said. After graduating from high school, Winston attended Mission College and then went to Cal State Hayward where he received his bachelor’s degree in psychology. After attending Cal State Hayward, he went to Santa Clara and received a masters degree in special education and educational administration.

After finishing school, Winston taught at Milipitas High School in Special Education and then came to Palo Alto where he was an Advancement Via Individual

Courtesy of Sterling Hancock

Melissa Sun

Determination (AVID) instructor and special education teacher at Jane Lathrop Stanford (JLS). After working there for three years, Winston was hired at Gunn as the Dean of Students and held that job for one year. The following year Winston was appointed to Assistant principalship of Gunn where his duties include school discipline, managing the school budget, attendance, managing the master schedule and overseeing the Advanced Placement test administration. Though his job description entails much more than disciplining, Winston is known best by students for his role in the school justice system.“Mr. Winson’s amazing; he’s nice, but if you have to go to him, you know you’re in trouble,” says senior Ketki Sood.

Winston is proud of the work that Gunn has accomplished over the past years and is thankful to have taken part in such a wonderful environment. “It is incredible how student-centered the school is and how the staff cares so deeply about the students and will do everything for them,” he said. “It is an accepting place for students and teachers of all backgrounds.

The community is dedicated to the success of all the students and

the people are willing to come together for important causes. It is collectively an awesome place to be.”

Even among his peers within administration, Winston has had only positive remarks. “Our administration is exceptional,” he said. “I have tremendous praise for our administration and the work that has been done here.”

With his days at Gunn numbered, Winston leaves some parting words of advice for students, “I encourage people to have fun at work and catch up on life with people,” he said. “Sometimes people forget that the personal connections we have with people is what we will always remember.”

Despite his serious demeanor towards some students, Winston makes an enjoyable co-worker.

“It was the ordinary times that got silly when we had the most fun,” current principal Noreen Likins said. “We often made each other crack up. As a group we work well together, and compliment each other well.”

To his family for the past four years, Winston has one final word of advice. “Be true to yourself, find a passion, and take care of people.”

Melissa Sun

Melissa Sun

Top: Assistant Principal Phil Winston takes a pie in the face for the sake of charity and goodwill. Middle left: Winston takes part in the lunchrally games by entering the sparring ring with another student. Middle right: Winston smiles for a portrait. Bottom left: Winston shows his humorous side in his office. Bottom right: Winston leans on the Gunn sign at the front of the school in reminiscence of his part at Gunn.

14

Cente

The Oracle

Modernization change

The Oracle takes a look into the evolution of gender roles between men and women and

History of gend

Dispelling the mysteries of the girl world Jennie Robinson

While being a girl is technically defined as having two X chromosomes, being a respectable girl in today’s world requires more effort than simply genetics. Just like boys, girls also have a code. In today’s society, girls must follow certain rules, which can cover anything from appearance to behavior to the complicated subject of love. Some of them seem pretty ridiculous to me, while others I follow daily. From best friends to boyfriends, this is my opinion on the most common girl rules.

Dress to Impress However a particular group chooses to define their own style, it’s definitely important. Wearing too little or too much clothing can be detrimental to a girl’s reputation. A girl’s style also tells people how she acts (think: skaters, athletes, scene kids) so clothing becomes a very important tool to fitting in. It’s important to remember that however unfair it may be, people judge others on appearance. If you take the time to wear clothes that flatter your figure and are reasonably fashionable, it’s safe to assume you are at least attempting to make a good impression and that you would like to be respected for dressing appropriately. There’s nothing wrong with looking good Wear makeup. Many girls choose to wear makeup because again, it is a way to improve your appearance. It can boost self-confidence.

Some girls think it’s more important than others, and that’s up to them to decide. To be completely honest, the only makeup I ever wear is mascara, and I’m fine with that.

Don’t be fake. At first it doesn’t sound like something that relates to appearance, yet once someone knows you, your level of fakeness

is how he or she sees you. An honest and trustworthy person makes a good friend. I wholeheartedly agree with this: pretending to like something you don’t to impress someone, pretending to be someone’s friend so you can look all the more popular, not being yourself in order to impress someone, these are all things that undermine the foundations of relationships as a whole.

Behavior Inside jokes will not be explained to outsiders. I don’t really like this one: what’s the harm with asking why something is funny? It has to do with being part of a group; some girls don’t like the idea that an “outsider” would share a piece of their little world. All I can say is grow up, girls; it’s really not a big deal.

It’s okay to lie to make someone feel better. However bad it may sound to some people, I honestly agree with this rule. How many times have you heard, “it’s going to be okay,” instead of the truth?

Even if you know it’s true, it calms you and can help you improve your situation. There is no harm in telling a girl her skirt looks nice if you personally don’t like it very much, and that way no one has his or her feelings hurt.

Don’t tell a friend’s secret. It causes a lot of bad feelings between friends. If a friend takes the time in private to share about their life, no one has the liberty to tell the secret to others. If this happens multiple times, the person will be deemed untrustworthy, a quality that doesn’t often go well with friendship.

The Complicated Subject of Love.

There are many times to say, “I love you” to other girls. It feels good when someone says it to you, because it’s supposed to signify the highest level of caring a person can give. But it can be said in any situation so it means something else; like, I had fun hanging out with you, I love you, thanks for helping me out, I love you. The lesson to learn: if a friend says, “I love you,” it’s a good idea to not take it too seriously.

–Robinson, a junior, is a reporter

“Ginger Rogers could do anything Fred As societies have evolved throughout history; som and some have faded into the dust of memory, b A brief glimpse at the past reveals that ma privilege in society, and only relatively recently been generally accepted to confront the overp While goddesses like the independent At women in Ancient Greece were servants to th had to keep peace in their households, and su the coin, men were generally raised to be the h Folklore provides another angle of gender nor first woman, Pandora, was created to punish m designed to be beautiful on the outside, but her misery for all men. Other myths that had wom as many philosophers (including Aristotle) en The one thing that did not change during t in arts and philosophy, was a woman’s role in to be a good housewife, to give birth to boys an few exceptions was a wealthy woman who be likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. man. Michelangelo and Da Vinci had a wide the arts and in the sciences. Like a Victorian m to take care of his relatives and his family.

In the Victorian age, a woman’s position di marry and raise children. She was supposed a budding flower. She needed a man’s suppo support of a trellis. In other words, women we on the other hand, received college education were still expected to provide for the ladies a be your typical knights in shining armor.

Despite the bonds of limitation and discrim their rights. In some cases, they faced oppositi supporters of their cause. Socioeconomic an with the passage of the 19th Amendment, whi For example, it was known that many Roman though women were prohibited from holding find women who owned property and helped But it was with the late 19th century and 20 sion of civil rights and opportunities for wome admit women. Many educated women would urban factory conditions where children and w companies’ demand for clerical workers drew look to the outside world for work. Lower clas During World War II, when men left to fig government started to encourage women to get their own softball leagues to replace men’s ba Both men and women have started breakin to ask men out on dates. They even ask men t Traditionally, men are also the breadwinners o Fathers have started to stay home and be the the house. Because women started to work ou children, families either had to hire a caregiver This has become increasingly common and t on jobs that require them to work longer hour Some male’s main fear in society is that feminine clothing, or showing submissive or physically strong, superior to the woman in sciences, and these messages are shown thro expected of them to earn bread for the table; “s 20th Century. However, gender lines are blur has been receiving more support across the b about people who are at odds with the traditio It goes without saying that America has chan society to a more affluent one. We have not h to become the democratic society that we prid fear being considered feminine when they cr affectionate behavior toward each other in sch who are reluctant to show their face in public w up” by make-up. Traces of anti-feminism and within our society that many of us hardly con collective freedom.

Gender roles were first created due to phy society, we gain insight on what each gender is of our forefathers’ rules on gender roles or rule ity must be approached from both ends of th discrimination, we must consider the fluid fra –C

erfold

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

15

es gender expectations

d discusses the opinions of the modern day perspectives of gender rules.

der roles explored

staire could do backwards, and in heels.” Western me have emerged as powerful spheres of influence but all have had foundations within gender roles. ales were primarily the figures of authority and y has the growth of women’s rights and feminism powering dominance of males. thena and Hera were feared and admired, real heir husbands and couldn’t divorce them. They uccessfully raise children. On the other side of heads of politics, trade, and warfare, and wealth. rms in that era. According to a Greek myth, the mankind for stealing fire from the gods. She was r true nature was to seduce and ultimately cause men take the shape of Sirens and nymphs as well nforced these roles of women. the Renaissance, a period renowned for rebirth n society. A woman was still bred for marriage, nd to be dependent on their husband. One of the ecame a patron of the arts. They supported the . These are examples of the perfect Renaissance variety of interests; they were accomplished in man, a renaissance man was supposed to be able

idn’t change much. Her career was to stay home, to be as delicate, weak, fragile and helpless as ort and help just as a climbing flower needs the ere typical damsels in distress. Many gentlemen, n to become successful bankers or lawyers, and and inherited property. They were supposed to

mination, women have always been struggling for ion from men, and in others, men were valuable nd political reforms for females didn’t just start ich granted female suffrage in the United States. politicians sought advice from their wives even g office. In early colonial days, it was possible to d their husband with household affairs.

0th century that technology allowed for an exploen. Colleges like Vassar in New York started to d become social reformers, working to improve women toiled. In other cases, new inventions’ and w in women by offering jobs. They finally started ss women worked in factories and tutor the rich. ght, women took over their jobs. In fact, even the t involved in the economy. They even established aseball. ng stereotypes. Nowadays, women have started to marry them, something men do traditionally. of the family. Today, this is not always the case. e housekeeper, taking care of the children and outside the home, and could not take care of the r or have the dad step into the caretaker position. therefore more acceptable as more women take rs. they become “woman-like,” such as wearing r emotional behavior. They are expected to be n many things, such as sports, mathematics or ough both implicit and explicit means. It is also stay-at-home” dads were an invention of the late rring in today’s society. The LGBT community board, as more people interact with and know onal gender roles of society. anged from the oxen pulling, farm-animal-raising however, truly changed culturally and socially de ourselves on being. Some male students still ry out just in time, “No homo!” in response to chool hallways. There are some female students without looking “good,” without it being “touched d gender inequality like these are so embedded nsider them worth questioning as a threat to our

ysiological differences, but as we progress as a s capable of and can contribute. Living by many es voids the meaning of democracy, since equalhe spectrum. Indeed, to truly transcend sexual ame of gender important, but not binding.

Compiled by Regina Ahn and Maya Ambody

Photos by Victor Kwok and Jonathan Young

Unraveling the different aspects of ‘Man Law’ Kevin Zhang

When males are born with a Y-chromosome, their lives often take a different course from their female counterparts. On top of physical differences, significant behavioral discrepancies identify men from women. These behavioral differences soon become fossilized into distinct codes, which I formally know as “Man Law.” These principles are the generally accepted principles of men.

Restroom Etiquette Male restrooms have a distinct etiquette that consists of rules regarding efficiency, urinal selection and behavior. When one is about to embark on a jaunt to the men’s room, the universal motto is get in, do your business, wash your hands, and get out. This excludes any eye contact. Any eye counter precipitates an unwanted awkward moment, which will ruin efficiency.

The overarching rule with urinal selection is to be as far away from another male as possible. You have got to be at least one urinal from the closest male. This will help eliminate any awkward eye contact.

In order to conserve water, flushing should be limited. However, when the urine has become a rich orange color, flushing is necessary.

Noise should also be limited while in the men’s room. Any talking will ruin the efficiency of the restroom system.

Girls One of the biggest mysteries of life is women. Several common laws are applied when treating females. Firstly, a man must respect a woman. This includes, but is not limited to, no hitting and no

verbal abuse. In other words, Chris Brown is a bad example and Drew Brees is a good example.

Secondly, a man shall not “inhibit another man’s game”. It is a terrible move for a man to interrupt another man flirting with another girl. The only possible results are: either you anger the man flirting and impress the girl or anger both the man flirting and the girl. Both scenarios lead to major issues.

In addition, strict rules are tacitly understood regarding dating girls who recently got out of a relationship. If this girl is your friend’s ex-girlfriend, six months is necessary. If this girl is the ex-girlfriend of someone you don’t know, two weeks is about enough time.

Vocabulary Men have created a plethora of new terms. These terms are ingrained in Man Law. These terms signify the presence of men.

Raw (adj.) ­­— something is so good that it is impossible to describe with ‘good’ or ‘incredible’. Ex: That dance led by Patrick Kim was raw.

Hoot (adj.)— bad. Ex: Paly is hoot.

Nair (adv.) ­­­— Hell no or denied. Ex: Patrick Kim is hoot...nair.

Koof (adj.) — any adjective you want it to mean. Ex: The dance was koof.

Patrick Kim (n.) — The coolest guy ever. Ex: Patrick Kim is my hero.

Brotherly Love or Lack Thereof Men have developed several underlying principles regarding greeting each other and dealing with stress. Handshakes and nods usually suffice and a hug is also looked well upon, but in most circumstances a barrier, such as an arm, is recommended.

If men are mad or upset, they find ways of dealing with it. These ways include many alternative methods such as physical exercise, real talk with close friends, or a talk with Patrick Kim. –Zhang, a junior, is a reporter

16

Features

The Oracle

Five staff members retire, share memories Jeanne Beck, math teacher

After forty years of teaching, Math Instructional Supervisor Jeanne Beck is retiring this year. She decided after recalling Denver Broncos’ quarterback John Elway’s retirement after winning the Super Bowl. “I’m retiring when I feel that I am at the top of my game, and not when I’m all tired and burnt out,” Beck said.

Beck entered t he Pa lo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) in 1970 and has taught

Victor Kwok

With her energetic disposition and enthusiasm for learning and teaching, English teacher Jenny Munro will be missed when she retires this year.

Though she will be off to new adventures, her time here at Gunn has been remarkable. “I’ll miss my wonderful colleagues, especially in the English Department, and my students,” Munro said. “I have been so lucky to have such interesting, enthusiastic young

at Gunn since 1991. Throughout her 19 years at Gunn, she has taught every math class offered from Algebra 1 to Advanced Placement BC Calculus.

Beck has changed as a person and as a teacher since she started teaching. “I have learned to embrace change and to not be afraid to learn something new,” Beck said. She has also learned from her students. “Students here at Gunn are so talented, knowledgeable and creative,” she said. “Every day

I became a little bit smarter as a result of my students.”

Beck has many good memories of her teaching career. “The best experience occurs every time I see a student have an ‘Aha!’ moment because I know that something I’ve said or done has helped them to understand a math concept,” she said.

She also saw former students such as social studies teacher Ronen Habib and Palo Alto High School science teacher Josh Bloom return to the PAUSD as educators.

Jenny Munro, English teacher

people to teach.”

Munro has also proven to be a proactive force on campus. “I remember when I was walking by the Bat Cave and saw two boys starting a really physical fight,” she said. “Both of them were considerably bigger than me, but I clearly had to do something so that neither student would get hurt. So I just stepped in the middle and yelled ‘Stop it,’ and amazingly, they did.”

Munro has always had a passion for English. “I became a teacher because I really love English, especially English literature, and I enjoy working with young people,” she said. “I have taught high school students for over thirty years and I still find them a joy to work with. I know that it’s hard being a teenager, and I just want to help make each day a good one for students.”

Munro is looking forward to a trip

abroad in September and plans to hold another job very different from the one she has now. “I am going to France for my son’s wedding and I will also go to England,” she said. “I will actually be doing some consulting work for the ‘Tassel’ division of M15. I will also be reading more, going to the Y more, taking classes, and having fun driving my cool, new Mini Cooper.”

Soo Chan, SAC accountant

Henry Liu

Student Activities Center (SAC) accountant Soo Chan is retiring after 13 years here. “The job made me respect teenagers,” she said. “When you respect them, they respect you.” Over the years, she has developed more meaningful relationships with many students. “There was this autistic young man who would always come in with a smile,” Chan said. “I’d give him a newspaper and he would read it and then leave. We did this every morning.” Another time, she noticed

Special Education teacher Karen Salzer has been in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) since 1971. “I was moved around the district a lot, but I’ve been at Gunn for the past five years,” she said.

The subject of Special Education sparked Salzer’s interest as a college graduate. “I learned about this program for teaching kids with learning disabilities, and I picked up a brochure,” she said.

Throughout her time at PAUSD, Salzer saw many changes in her department, including more students

that one boy, who had recently moved from Denmark, was having a hard time making friends. “He was quiet, and then I paid him a compliment and he would often come and visit me.”

Chan also keeps in touch with students. “A few [graduates] come here during break and visit,” she said. “At the end of the year, students give me letters and let me sign their yearbooks.” She receives a variety of presents from students. “The best present I ever got was a beautiful

thank you letter from a graduating student,” she said. “I have gotten a big skeleton head from a student, [and] a giant monkey for homecoming.”

Chan began volunteering at Palo Verde, the school her sons attended, when they started kindergarten. “I wanted to be active in my community and in my children’s lives and educations,” Chan said. “I love working with kids.” She was also active in the Parent Teacher Student Association.

“This job embraced a lot of my past

Melissa Sun

Melissa Sun

jobs, because it combines them into one,” she said. Chan has worked as an interior designer, run a party business and done inventory for several companies.

Chan has close ties to Gunn. “My two sons graduated from Gunn in 1991 and 1990,” she said.

Chan plans to make Zen Asian jewelry and try to get her pieces into the Smithsonian, Cleveland Museum, the Asian Art Museum and Bay Area stores.

Karen Salzer, Special Education teacher

and more test-driven requirements like the California High School Exit Exam, which was not previously required for special needs students.

“The most difficult part of teaching my students has been the unrealistic expectations that I know they must fulfill,” she said. Salzer hopes to see more curriculum for skill development in math and written language.

“There should be emphasis on meeting the needs of everyone,” she said.

Salzer has continually made efforts to keep the focus on her students. “This year I tried to have

more time set aside for classroom meetings and individual conferences,” she said. The most rewarding aspect of teaching has always been the students themselves, according to Salzer. “Being a teacher has both humbled me and given me hope,” she said. “It has given me hope in terms of witnessing the inner strength and perseverance that students with disabilities demonstrate when pursuing learning, which is often an intrinsically difficult endeavor for them.”

She has also impacted her Spe-

cial Education department coworkers in a positive way. “[Salzer] has always been an integral part of the department,” Special Education teacher Shivani Pulimamidi said. “Her calming presence brings out maturity and responsibility in students.”

Salzer has plans for her retirement. “My husband and I want to spend some time traveling,” she said.

She also hopes to follow up with former students. “It’s always very reassuring to know how students are doing in the long run,” she said.

Pat Conway, guidance counselor

Graphic by Andrew Lee

Beck and her husband plan to move near Denver, Colorado. Their house is in a private golf course community and Beck hopes to learn how to golf. She also plans to learn how to make a pie crust, how to play piano and how to speak Chinese.

Junior Ting-Ting Liu praises Beck as a teacher. “Beck has been an influential teacher that is caring and makes an effort to know her students,” she said. “Everybody will miss her greatly.”

Guidance counselor Pat Conway has counseled thousands of students in various schools for 19 years. “I want my students to enjoy their journey,” Conway said.

“I tell them, ‘Enjoy being 16 now because the next time you’ll be 16 is when you’re 116.’”

Conway values her own time and has encouraged students to do the same. “I like how no day is ever the same, and we just have great kids and parents and staff members,” Conway said. “I’m

going to miss the joy I get seeing students as they grow.”

According to Conway, being from the Midwest has shaped her perspective. “I have a different view of things so I bring other ideas when we’re trying to come up with solutions,” she said. Her views helped other counselors when they came to her for advice.

For instance, guidance counselor Lisa Kaye, who has been a counselor at Gunn for two years, said that Conway has mentored her by

giving information on past events.

“She always listens and it’s helpful to have someone who’s been here for a while,” Kaye said. “She has a lot of experience and wisdom.”

Conway shares many stories about her large family when students talk about their ambitions. “It’s good to have some real experiences that happened to people to draw upon, not just book learning,” Conway said. Freshman Emi Kong, who recently moved to Palo Alto, got valuable advice

Henry Liu

from her in adjusting to the new environment. “I went to her office several times during a short period of time but she was always really patient,” Kong said. “Ms. Conway just always seems so willing to help us, which makes students want to open up to her.”

Conway has plans for the future. “I’ll do some traveling with my husband, see my relatives and write some projects to help Haiti with my sister,” she said. “Change is always good.”

—Compiled by Maya Ambady, Sam Hayward, Lisa Wu, and Lisa Wong, and Alice Yu

17 Acorn Lounge renovated, open to students

Features

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Henry Liu

Top left: One of the four murals which decorates the walls of the Acorn Lounge, each mural depicting different picturesque scenes. Top right: Landscaper Kim Perlmutter and muralist Morgan Bricca prepare to cut the ribbon at the Acorn Lounge opening. Bottom right: A variety of greenery is planted in rows along the sides of the lounge. Bottom left: After four months of construction, the completed Acorn Lounge is open to the public.

Ashley Ngu News Editor

What was once just a simple courtyard outside the school library has been cleaned up and transformed to meet the expectations of its name, the Acorn Lounge. “I saw an opportunity to create a usable and inviting space for the school community,” librarian Meg Omainksy wrote in an e-mail. “The idea was to create a natural landscape that would complement the campus and provide

serenity in the courtyard.”

In March, Omainsky told Palo Alto Unified School District Operations Supervisor Chuck McDonnell of her desire for a makeover of the Acorn Lounge. She then remembered that landscaper Kim Perlmutter had wanted to help landscape a small area similar to the Juana Briones Reading Garden that she had worked on in 2007.

Omainsky was able to contact Permutter and the project soon took off.

Work on the Acorn Lounge be-

gan in April. Perlmutter decided to ask Morgan Bricca, a friend and local muralist, to paint four murals that were completed in early May. Perlmutter initially started landscaping as a way to survive the passing away of her four-yearold son’s. “I gardened to survive it, sort of as a mother of the earth,” she said. “It became a very passionate amazing, bigger than me, hobby.” The Juana Briones Reading Garden was dedicated to her son.

Perlmutter’s inspiration for

the murals and landscaping came from local areas like Shoreline and Foothill, and one of her son’s favorite books called The Water Hole by Graeme Base. “We wanted something peaceful and aesthetically pleasing,” Bricca wrote in an e-mail. “I was trying to think about what it was like in high school—it’s kind of rough.

There’s increasing pressure and demands. I wanted to create a safe place to explore, connect with the world and reflect.”

Perlmutter replaced the old

mulch with a variety of handpicked plants. Boulders and new benches will be added in the near future. Omainsky also hopes to add whiteboards so that the area can be used as a possible outdoor classroom. Additionally, Omainsky is planning on holding a music series in the lounge, featuring the Gunn Jazz Band.

With the completed renovation of the Acorn Lounge, students can look forward to visiting a new place on campus to study and relax.

Student designs, constructs a variety of handmade jewelry Lydia Zhang

Features Editor

Sophomore Delia Gratta doesn’t have to look in stores for original and unique jewelry. Instead, she can grab a pen and a piece of paper and design her very own bracelet, necklace or pair of earrings.

Gratta designs and creates handmade jewelry ranging from bracelets and rings to hair accessories.

Her hobby of making jewelry started at a young age with beading. “I’ve always been kind of artsy and good with my hands,” she said. Gratta says that she started getting more serious about the activity in middle school. “Slowly, I began to make stuff that I would actually wear to school,” she said.

With her brother, Giulio Gratta, who is a design major and her mother, Carla Gratta, who is an art teacher, Gratta has no shortage of help with her work either. “I am a Spectra Art teacher and I have always used Delia as a guinea pig while preparing my lessons,” Carla Gratta wrote in an e-mail. “This exposed her to all sort of materials that inspired her creativity and, as I did and do with her, she asks for my advice and Giulio’s too.”

Gratta says that she mainly asks her mother and brother for critiques on her jewelry because of their backgrounds in art. According to Carla Gratta, Giulio also helps with the technical aspects of Gratta’s work, like setting up her Web site and taking photographs to exhibit her products.

Gratta uses a variety of materials, including sheet metal, leather and tiles, to make her jewelry. She says her best work comes from when she plays around with different ideas and media. “It’s a lot of just experimenting with different shapes and different materials,” Gratta said.

While Gratta likes using different sorts of materials, wire remains a staple due to its flexibility and versatility. She also chooses to take a simpler approach with crafting tools, using mainly her hands, a pair of scissors and pliers.

For the future, Gratta is considering majoring in product design, though she says that she isn’t restricting herself to things involving jewelry. “My experience with making jewelry will help, but I may want to broaden my horizons,” Gratta said.

Her mother agrees with Gratta. “Being creative will help anybody in life and honing this skill now will ensure that her right side of the brain will always be ready for action when needed,” Carla Gratta wrote in an e-mail. “But, I suspect that it will not be the only thing she will do in her lifetime.”

As of now, Gratta says that she is just trying to sell her jewelry to a larger crowd, like the students at Gunn. “What I would hope for is that people my age will start buying my jewelry,” Gratta said.

For more of Delia Gratta’s work, go to her website: www.deliagratta.com

Courtesy of deliagratta.com

Victor Kwok

Top: Gratta’s handmade hair accessory is listed at $70 on her website. Bottom: Gratta poses with her jewelry.

18

Features

The Oracle

Academic Center enacts student-requested changes

Coordinator Alex Lira makes students more involved with the AC, transforms its atmosphere Kevin Gao Features Editor

Amidst the bustling crowds of students and the constant sound of a printer, Academic Center (AC) Coordinator Alex Lira has added his own personal touch to both policy and communication.

This year, the AC has seen the addition of a Facebook fan page which is used to send notifications out about upcoming events or to brew discussion amongst students. “The fan page was a way to communicate with students,” Lira said. “It was an outlet to use what students use a lot.” Lira regularly polls students to see what students want in the AC and also holds gift card competitions for morale.

The AC has also opened its doors to food and has even started selling snacks before and after school hours. However, Lira wants to expand on feeding his hungry students.

Usually, the AC would not be able to sell snacks during the school day because of cafeteria competitions. But Lira is trying to

go around it. “We’re going to start buying our snacks from them so students won’t be hungry during school,” he said. “But after school we will still sell different snacks.”

Lira has also spoken to admin about moving the cafeteria vending machines from the cafeteria to the AC. AC also sports cosmetic changes as well.

Along with jokes and movie ratings, the walls are covered with pictures of student regulars.

“I needed a way to talk to the students,” Lira said. “It’s like an icebreaker.” According to Lira, they incorporate his own personal touch and help him connect with students. He would also like to work on clearing away clutter.

Lira believes the AC atmosphere has changed as well. “Students come in to relax, eat, study and have fun at the same time,” he said. “I wanted to get the students to know it’s not so serious.” In doing so, the restriction on playing computer games has been lifted.

The majority of students have reacted positively to the changes this year. “It’s more of a relaxed atmosphere because last year there was just work and no fun,” junior Shan Caressi said. “[Lira] does as much as he can to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.”

Accord i ng to Lira, student appreciation fuels him to work harder. “I get positive feedback and it only

pushes me to do more,” he said. “It’s like a good grade on a test, it’s positive reinforcement.”

With all the new changes to the AC, students seem to have taken a shining to Lira.

“He tries to be a rebel and he has an interesting perspective on life.” Caressi said.

Sophomore Dylan Pak agrees. “I like Lira.

I think he’s chill and he knows the students’ point of view,” Pak said.

To address rumors about whether Lira will come back for another year at the AC, Lira says there is a 70 percent chance he will leave. Though he enjoys running the AC, he finds other aspects of his job overwhelming.

“The AC is really different from the rest of the school, and it’s always harder to deal

with office politics,” he said. Lira also must devote his time to his graduate school studies, which require time for student teaching or an internship.

Nevertheless, Lira has plans for improvements next year. He would like to work on advancing the AC even further through recognition. “I want the AC to become a brand name,” he said. The AC will also house two new printers and Lira is looking into purchasing new tables and chairs.

According to Lira, changes made this year and changes to be made in the future will always be made based on student feedback.

“All the changes made in the past few months have been from the students,” he said. “In the AC, the students count.”

Victor Kwok

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Top: Students move in and out of the Academic Center for printing, games, food and computers. Bottom: Students now know the AC as a place to work as well as a place to relax due to the enhanced atmosphere.

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Jeffrey Liu (9)

“The AC has changed my life because I can come here for help from the older students.

It’s a nice place and without Mr. Lira I wouldn’t be able to win candy for cleaning up.”

Joey Malzbender (10)

“It’s a really good place to come in and do homework and it would definitely not be as good of a hangout place without Mr. Lira.”

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“I now want to spend time in school and Mr. Lira is the lifeblood of the AC.” Howon Lee (11) 1003-7210

“Mr. Lira has filled my stomach with his amazing food policy.”

Saurabh Radhakrishnan (12) —Compiled by Elaine Liu

20

The Oracle

Summer Movies Karate Kid: It’s “wax on wax off” for the martial arts junkie in this remake of a classic karate film. (June 11) The A-Team: With an all-star cast of Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel, this summer film is sure to satisfy your craving for explosions. (June 11) Toy Story 3: Woody, Buzz and Jesse’s long awaited adventure finally begins after 10 years of waiting. (June 18) Jonah Hex: Two words: Megan Fox. If you need more convincing, there are guns, corsets and the Old West. (June 18) Knight and Day: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz team up for an action comedy that epitomizes the summer blockbuster.

(June 25) Eclipse: The vampire saga continues for your inner teenage girl. (June 30) The Last Airbender: If you know the show, then you will be excited. If you don’t you still should be because it combines nickelodeon humor with a good story.

(July 2) Inception: A sci-fi thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page about the dangers of “an idea” should do the trick.

(July 16) Dinner for Schmucks: Steve Carell is in his element as the lovable idiot that others exploit. (July 23) Eat Pray Love: Julia Roberts and James Franco in a movie about letting go and changing your life through travel. The perfect film for summer vacation. (Aug 13)

Summer Events June

Union Street Eco-Urban Festival (San Francisco, June 5) The festival is one of the largest free annual events held in San Francisco. Six blocks with 150 arts and crafts booths and 25 gourmet food booths will celebrate an eco-friendly green theme.

Free admission.

06/05: The Bamboozle Roadshow 06/06: Live 105 BFD

August

Summer Festival & Chili Cook-off (Palo Alto, July 4) The 29th Annual Celebration features live music, line dancing, children’s activities and a plenitude of food vendors. A chili cook-off is the main exhibit.

Free admission.

Renegade Craft Fair (San Francisco, August 1) The Renegade Craft fair houses hundreds of indie-craft art works. Exhibits feature everything from jewelry and clothing to comics and plush objects. Free admission.

56th Annual North Beach Festival (San Francisco, June 19 to 20) This festival houses over 100 booths dedicated to fine arts. There will be gourmet food and live entertainment. Free admission.

4th of July Waterfront Celebration (San Francisco, July 4) This celebration is held by the bay at Pier 39 full with food, family activities and much more. Attendees will enjoy live music and performances.

Free admission.

Comcast San Jose Jazz festival (San Jose, August 8 to 10): This festival features an all-night concert where over 1,000 musicians will perform jazz, blues, salsa, Latin and R&B music. Costs $10 per day.

Summer Sailstice Celebration & Bonfire (San Francisco, June 21) This bonfire is a celebration to commemorate the longest day of the year. The event is perfect for those that love wind, water and sailing.

There will also be onshore entertainment such as games and music. Free admission.

Connoisseur Market Place (Menlo Park, July 17 to 18) This event presents fine arts, food, music, home and garden exhibits, police and fire department exhibits and a green products showcase to the public. The ambiance is similar to that of a flea market. Free admission.

Nihhonmachi Street Fair (San Francisco, August 14 to 15) The fair celebrates the diversity of Asian and Pacific American communities in the Bay Area. It is staged in Japan Town. Free admission.

—Compiled Colin Chen

Cool down your day with virgin margaritas

Virgin Frozen Margarita:

Summer Concerts

July

Entertainment

1 can frozen limeade concentrate (thawed) 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tbsp Kosher salt 1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges 4 cups ice cubes

Put salt in a shallow dish and rub the rim of each margarita glass with a lime wedge. Dip the rims into the salt and set aside. Blend the orange juice, limeade and ice cubes on high speed for about 2 minutes till it is well blended.

Pour into the glasses, garnish with lime wedges and serve.

06/13: Wonder Girls with 2PM 06/18: Imogen Heap 06/26: 2010 Vans Warped Tour

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri

06/26: Brandi Carlile 06/30: The Black Crowes 07/10: Rihanna with Ke$ha

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri:

08/01: John Legend

1 oz fresh lime juice 3 oz fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries or strawberry syrup 1 teaspoon sugar cracked ice

08/15: Rob Thomas 08/16: Lady Gaga 08/20: John Mayer

Virgin Frozen Margarita

Sahana Kumar

ten ways to make the most of your summer

10. Make homemade ice cream.

9. Go camping and make s’ mores.

8. Learn the constellations and go star-gazing.

7. Take a boating trip.

6. Use a black-and-white film camera.

5. Hold a delicious Texas-style barbecue.

4. Have a movie marathon of just old films.

3. Play a city-wide game of Assassin.

2. Sit at a park and make daisy chains.

1. Spend a spontaneous day without a single pre-planned event.

–Compiled by Elaine Liu

Put lime juice, strawberries, and sugar into a blender. Blend until smooth, then add the cracked ice and blend again until smooth.

Pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with whole strawberry.

— Eden Lauffer

Summer Playlist 1. “Fader” — (The Temper Trap) 2. “A Light On a Hill” — (Margaret and the Nuclear So and So’s) 3. “Petal by Petal” — (Chase Coy) 4. “Smile” — (Uncle Kracker) 5. “Run” — (Vampire Weekend) 6. “Three Wishes” — (The Pierces) 7. “Got Your Number” — (Nadia Oh) 8. “Running Up the Hill” — (Placebo) 9. “Pollen and Salt” — (Daphne Loves Derby) —Compiled by Elaine Liu

Entertainment

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Natalie Tran: 23 year old Australian College Humor: The Comedic YouTube n at ive Nat a l ie Tr a n , b e t t e r k now n as communit ychannel on YouTube, is recognized for her humorous observational videos that often mock society and even herself. She posts videos following aspects of her daily life. In a recent video, she discussed carrying umbrellas and her trip to San Francisco’s WonderCon. Tran is widely acclaimed in Australia, and has earned the Most Subscribed YouTube Channel of all time in Australia and appeared on several of Australia’s media outlets.

channel CollegeHumor is a favorite among Gunn students. Its material ranges from spoofs to originals such as the “Jake and Amir” and “Hardly Working” episodes that follow the outrageous antics and love/ hate friendship between two CollegeHumor workers. According to fan junior Julia Puglisi, the best thing about CollegeHumor is the naturalness in which the characters act out their videos. “You can never tell if they’re kidding or if that’s actually how they act and I love that,” she said.

Teacher maintains music blog Eden Lauffer

Kimberly Han

Sean Lee: Freshman Sean Lee began Shane Dawson: 21 year old Dawson his YouTube channel, The Sean Lee Show, in July 2008. His self-described variety channel includes videos of him playing piano, traveling, discussing and perfoming music as well as comedic videos such as “Extreme Cops and Robbers.” His “Friday Night Live” segments, in which he and guests perform improvisational sketches, add the show-like element to his channel.

Lee makes his YouTube videos in his spare time. “My favorite part is working on the projects from start to finish,” Lee said.

began his channel, ShaneDawsonTV, in late 2008. Within the past few years, he has gained more than 1 million subscribers to his channel, earning him honors such as the fourth Most Subscribed YouTube Personality, Comedian and Partner of all time. He is famous for his spoofs and parodies which poke fun at and share his views on popular culture. Dawson is known for connecting with his many fans.

—Compiled by Sweta Bhattacharya

Visit Dr iversEd .com an d enter during th discoun t* code e online CAHS3 paymen t proces s.

Copy Editor

Of his many hobbies, graphic arts teacher and yearbook supervisor Mark Gleason’s most recent is his music blog.

He created the blog “What do we have for entertainment?” (markgleason.wordpress.com) this past January. “[The title is] a line from a song by The Clash,” Gleason said. “It’s about how music is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes you want to spit it out.”

Gleason launched his blog with the hope of inspiring others to explore new music outside of their comfort zone. Senior Juliet Simpson, who follows the blog. “I have music that I listen to, but I never really get into new music unless someone shows it to me,” Simpson said.

“Mr. Gleason puts up non-mainstream, very diverse music, so it’s a great way for me to find new music.”

Gleason believes that music means different things to different people.

“There’s some [music] I listen to because I can relate to and empathize with the artist; some is simply background music and some music really inspires me,” Gleason said. Heclectic music taste makes it hard for him to express what types of people he gears his blog toward. According to Gleason, “one day you might be into [the music I post] and the next, not so much.”

It is clear that for Gleason, music has always been a passion. He notes that he enjoys getting excited about and sharing music with others. “I suck at playing the guitar and such so I wish I was the one creating the music,” Gleason said. “[That] is probably why I became a D.J. in the past.”

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Gleason prepares to log on to his music blog, “What do we have for entertainment?”, which was launched this past January.

Discovering unfound gems is a hobby in its own for Gleason. “I have a really strong sense of curiosity for music,” Gleason said. “It’s almost like I have antenna or radar for upcoming music.” He also enjoys sharing music with people who would be interested in new tracks or albums. “[He] always tells me about new musical artists or concerts he’s been to,” senior Alex Yesian said. “I like going through his iTunes library and picking things out to play during yearbook deadline.”

When the search for a new hit seems endless, a new place to check might just be “What do we have for entertainment?”

19

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20

The Oracle

Summer Movies Karate Kid: It’s “wax on wax off” for the martial arts junkie in this remake of a classic karate film. (June 11) The A-Team: With an all-star cast of Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel, this summer film is sure to satisfy your craving for explosions. (June 11) Toy Story 3: Woody, Buzz and Jesse’s long awaited adventure finally begins after 10 years of waiting. (June 18) Jonah Hex: Two words: Megan Fox. If you need more convincing, there are guns, corsets and the Old West. (June 18) Knight and Day: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz team up for an action comedy that epitomizes the summer blockbuster.

(June 25) Eclipse: The vampire saga continues for your inner teenage girl. (June 30) The Last Airbender: If you know the show, then you will be excited. If you don’t you still should be because it combines nickelodeon humor with a good story.

(July 2) Inception: A sci-fi thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page about the dangers of “an idea” should do the trick.

(July 16) Dinner for Schmucks: Steve Carell is in his element as the lovable idiot that others exploit. (July 23) Eat Pray Love: Julia Roberts and James Franco in a movie about letting go and changing your life through travel. The perfect film for summer vacation. (Aug 13)

Summer Events June

Union Street Eco-Urban Festival (San Francisco, June 5) The festival is one of the largest free annual events held in San Francisco. Six blocks with 150 arts and crafts booths and 25 gourmet food booths will celebrate an eco-friendly green theme.

Free admission.

06/05: The Bamboozle Roadshow 06/06: Live 105 BFD

August

Summer Festival & Chili Cook-off (Palo Alto, July 4) The 29th Annual Celebration features live music, line dancing, children’s activities and a plenitude of food vendors. A chili cook-off is the main exhibit.

Free admission.

Renegade Craft Fair (San Francisco, August 1) The Renegade Craft fair houses hundreds of indie-craft art works. Exhibits feature everything from jewelry and clothing to comics and plush objects. Free admission.

56th Annual North Beach Festival (San Francisco, June 19 to 20) This festival houses over 100 booths dedicated to fine arts. There will be gourmet food and live entertainment. Free admission.

4th of July Waterfront Celebration (San Francisco, July 4) This celebration is held by the bay at Pier 39 full with food, family activities and much more. Attendees will enjoy live music and performances.

Free admission.

Comcast San Jose Jazz festival (San Jose, August 8 to 10): This festival features an all-night concert where over 1,000 musicians will perform jazz, blues, salsa, Latin and R&B music. Costs $10 per day.

Summer Sailstice Celebration & Bonfire (San Francisco, June 21) This bonfire is a celebration to commemorate the longest day of the year. The event is perfect for those that love wind, water and sailing.

There will also be onshore entertainment such as games and music. Free admission.

Connoisseur Market Place (Menlo Park, July 17 to 18) This event presents fine arts, food, music, home and garden exhibits, police and fire department exhibits and a green products showcase to the public. The ambiance is similar to that of a flea market. Free admission.

Nihhonmachi Street Fair (San Francisco, August 14 to 15) The fair celebrates the diversity of Asian and Pacific American communities in the Bay Area. It is staged in Japan Town. Free admission.

—Compiled Colin Chen

Cool down your day with virgin margaritas

Virgin Frozen Margarita:

Summer Concerts

July

Entertainment

1 can frozen limeade concentrate (thawed) 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tbsp Kosher salt 1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges 4 cups ice cubes

Put salt in a shallow dish and rub the rim of each margarita glass with a lime wedge. Dip the rims into the salt and set aside. Blend the orange juice, limeade and ice cubes on high speed for about 2 minutes till it is well blended.

Pour into the glasses, garnish with lime wedges and serve.

06/13: Wonder Girls with 2PM 06/18: Imogen Heap 06/26: 2010 Vans Warped Tour

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri

06/26: Brandi Carlile 06/30: The Black Crowes 07/10: Rihanna with Ke$ha

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri:

08/01: John Legend

1 oz fresh lime juice 3 oz fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries or strawberry syrup 1 teaspoon sugar cracked ice

08/15: Rob Thomas 08/16: Lady Gaga 08/20: John Mayer

Virgin Frozen Margarita

Sahana Kumar

ten ways to make the most of your summer

10. Make homemade ice cream.

9. Go camping and make s’ mores.

8. Learn the constellations and go star-gazing.

7. Take a boating trip.

6. Use a black-and-white film camera.

5. Hold a delicious Texas-style barbecue.

4. Have a movie marathon of just old films.

3. Play a city-wide game of Assassin.

2. Sit at a park and make daisy chains.

1. Spend a spontaneous day without a single pre-planned event.

–Compiled by Elaine Liu

Put lime juice, strawberries, and sugar into a blender. Blend until smooth, then add the cracked ice and blend again until smooth.

Pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with whole strawberry.

— Eden Lauffer

Summer Playlist 1. “Fader” — (The Temper Trap) 2. “A Light On a Hill” — (Margaret and the Nuclear So and So’s) 3. “Petal by Petal” — (Chase Coy) 4. “Smile” — (Uncle Kracker) 5. “Run” — (Vampire Weekend) 6. “Three Wishes” — (The Pierces) 7. “Got Your Number” — (Nadia Oh) 8. “Running Up the Hill” — (Placebo) 9. “Pollen and Salt” — (Daphne Loves Derby) —Compiled by Elaine Liu

Entertainment

Monday, April 26, 2010

21

Courtesy of Paul Barraza, Buddy Fesmire, Tom McAlister, Roger Hall, Lili Gaudreau

Top Left: The Kite Festival is held annually at the Berkeley Marina. Top Right: Capitola offers a panoramic bay view. Bottom Left: The Oakland Zoo houses diverse wildlife. Bottom Center: Berkeley Ironworks is home to a sprawling climbing terrain. Bottom Right: Trapeze artists perform on the Flying Trapeze.

Summer Destinations

The Oracle explores exciting summer attractions in three different cities that are close to home Tara Golshan & Mia Howard Copy editors Summer is the best time to explore hidden gems close to home.

Heading over to Berkeley, Capitola or Oakland for a day will create a fun-filled adventure that will have you up and moving. Make your summer memorable by visiting a unique beach, an indoor rock climbing terrain or a concert in an interesting architectural feat.

If running around towns guerilla style, having fun with your friends and family or just plain sightseeing is something that appeals to you, pin this article on your refrigerator as a guide for the best places to be this summer.

Berkeley: A unique fusion of a down-to-earth college town and vibrant city, Berkeley offers countless activities and attractions for the summer.

Overlooking the San Francisco Bay, the Berkeley Hills is a prime location for a nature hike. Trails weave through the slopes providing a spectacular view, an excellent workout and the perfect way to clear your mind.

Down at sea level, the Berkeley Marina offers a myriad of activi-

ties. Have a picnic by the bay, go on a weekend boat trip or take a look at the Shorebird Nature Center. The annual Fourth of July Fireworks at Cesar Chavez Park takes place the last weekend of July, and the Berkeley Kites Festival is held at the Marina as well.

On the University of California Berkeley campus, Student Union marks the start of Telegraph Avenue. Lined with funky street shops, good restaurants and people from all walks of life, Telegraph Avenue is an authentic taste of Berkeley culture. The campus is also home to the Berkeley Greek Theater, a traditional open amphitheater, which serves as a venue for campus activities and live music.

For those who are more inclined to the indoors, a summer trip to Berkeley Iron Works offers incredible rock climbing terrain. One of Touchstone Gym’s largest rock climbing terrains, Berkeley Ironworks holds an impressive innovative bouldering: a 45 foot High Lead Wall and 14,000 square feet of climbing.

Packed with sports adventures, wildlife and city flavor, Berkeley ley is a prime summer attraction.

Capitola: Just a few miles away from Santa Cruz, Capitola is the

perfect small town getaway for the summer. From strings of boutiques and restaurants to one of California’s prettiest city beaches, Capitola offers something for everyone.

New Brighton State Beach, one of the many beaches in Capitola, is the perfect place to relax, stroll along the coast and breathe in the salty ocean air. The waves are smooth enough for a swim but also strong enough for a day of boogie boarding.

Capitola City Beach, which is closer to the downtown area, has a more artsy scene. Often more crowded than New Brighton, this beach is next to Capitola Wharf, which is lined with shops, cafes and restaurants all providing a spectacular view of the Monterey Bay. As a national marine sanctuary, there are occasional views of migrating whales and dolphins at the Wharf. Rows of multicolored vacation homes border the waters, adding to the town’s magnificent panorama.

At the heart of the town, the Capitola Mercantile is reminiscent of an indoor European bazaar, offering a collection of unique oneof-a-kind trinkets. It is also home to a gourmet Italian restaurant and the Seaside Coffee Cafe.

All in all, Capitola captures the delightful flavor of Santa Cruz while retaining its own small town feel.

Oakland: Everyone has heard of Oakland but not everyone knows all the hidden gems of activities it offers.

For those wishing to connect with their inner child, try Fairyland, an enchanting park that can be considered every child’s dream.

At $7 per person, it features face painting stations, pirate ships, sand playgrounds, tunnels, a carousel and even live animals.

The Oakland Zoo is the place to go for those looking to avoid long lines and people traffic. Although small, it exhibits graceful gazelles, lumbering elephants and prowling tigers. The zoo is nationally recognized for its exemplary freerange elephant exhibit. Along with its exhibits, the zoo also contains several interactive activities and children’s play areas.

Paramount Theatre is best known for its intricate, ethereal architecture, but it also houses a plenitude of events. Concerts range from folk and gospel to jazz and classical. The Paramount Theatre also hosts ballets and classic movie

viewings, much like the Stanford Theatre in Downtown Palo Alto.

Trapeze Arts Inc. is perfect for fulfilling anyone’s craving for adventure and an adrenaline rush.

It’s professional and fun, complete with knowledgeable employees who walk their students through every step. The school features flying trapezes, tightropes and aerial hoops that one would probably only dream about in circuses.

Downtown, there is a busy Chinatown full of bustling activities and authentic Asian restaurants.

Overflowing with these restaurants whose smells promise good food, the town offers a wide range of treats from Hello Kitty products to chicken essence. Oakland’s Chinatown is the perfect blend of East and West.

Whether you visit with family and friends, or go on an adventure by yourself, Oakland is the perfect place to spend your free time this summer.

Summer, the time that everyone pines for during the school year, has arrived, and no one knows it better than Californians. Make the most of your summer by visiting one or all of these memorable attractions.

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Entertainment

The Oracle

For this summer fashion spread: The Oracle collected and pulled head-to-toe looks ranging from $10 to $200 for our four models. Despite the hype of expensive, designerbrand clothing, The Oracle believes that regardless of money, anyone can be “fashionable” and retain their own personal sense of style.

Our “deal” and “splurge” couples look almost identical yet the costs of their looks are on opposite sides of the price spectrum. The total prices are listed below:

Cumulative totals for outfits: Boys’ Inexpensive: $64 Girls’ Inexpensive: $70

Boat Shoes

Floral Blouses

summer Christina Gandolfo Sophomore

David Bell Freshman

Boys’ Expensive: $508 Girls’ Expensive: $388

Online sites make for good deals Although not all of us have the same relentless longing for newly bought designer clothes that Rebecca Bloomwood has in Confessions of a Shopaholic, we all occasionally succumb to the lure of shopping. When you’re unable to get to the nearest mall for an in-store shopping experience, your next best bet is online shopping. Admit it—it’s 8 p.m. on a school night and you’ve been avoiding that English paper due the next day, but your Facebook-stalking has reached its full extent.

Where do you turn to next? Your favorite online clothing store, of course. To help get you back on the track to writing that paper, here are some of the best online stores to satisfy your shopping craving without burning a hole in your wallet.

GoJane—gojane.com is a site that carries everything from swimwear and denim to formal wear and shoes. It can suit almost any style you may have, whether it be trendy or basic. Looking through the web site, it’s difficult to find a single item over $40. The average price of a skirt is around $20, while a T-shirt will cut you back about $14.

Moda Xpress—Looking for a great pair of cheap jeans? Then modaxpressonline. com is the best place to look. Styles range from distressed to dark-washed and rarely cost more than $40. A wide variety of tops, pants, dresses and accessories are also on sale at incredibly low prices.

Mandee—Although mandee.com showcases great deals on all types of clothing, the items’ appearances certainly don’t reveal their cheap prices. Well-tailored jackets, cute denim shorts and fashion-forward tank tops can all be found throughout the web site.

Scarves, sunglasses, cosmetics and many other kinds of accessories are featured as well.

21Men—Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the boys. 21Men, offered at www. forever21.com/21men, a subset of Forever 21, has a surprising variety of men’s clothing for low prices. Basic hoodies average around $23, while shirts and graphic tees rarely reach higher than $20. For the trend-setting guys out there, 21Men has a great selection of upto-date jackets and outerwear.

—Compiled by Samantha Donat

Purple Embellished Shirt Charlotte Russe, $15

Black Plastic Sunglasses Urban Outfitters, $10

Assorted Rings Forever 21, $10 Grey Cardigan 21Men, Forever 21, $14

Black Stretch Skirt Forever 21, $10

White Shirt Hanes, Walgreens, $3

Faded Jeans Mossimo Supply Co., Target, $25

Low Blazer Sneakers Nike, Nike Outlet, $12

White Purse New York City street vendor, $15

Brown Gladiator Sandals Madden Girl, Nordstrom Rack, $20 Photos by Victor Kwok, Melissa Sun, Jonathan Yong

Patterned Skirts

Embellished Rings

Entertainment

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

23

Affordable clothing is just as good Boys’ Military Jackets

Girls’ Military Jackets

FASHION Ioné Sterental

Junior

Enzo Cabili

Senior

Black Plastic Sunglasses Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, $10

Green Embellished Tank Ric Rac, Anthropologie, $78

White Tee

White Leather Bag

American Apparel,

$17

In Her Shoes, $120

Striped Cardigan Ambiguous, PacSun, $62 Assorted Rings Nordstrom, $40

Dark Wash Jeans Levi’s, Macy’s Men, $90

Black Stretch Skirt Express Studio, Express $80

Air Force 25 Sneakers Nike, Foot Locker, $200

Yellow Gladiator Sandals Franco Sarto, Bloomingdales, $70

­­­—Compiled by Samantha Donat, Tiffany Hu and Hannah Schwartz

Headbands

Side Braids

May Wu While a designer-brand article of clothing is like a diamond, a cute top from a clearance pile is like a cubic zirconium—it looks just as great, only it’s cheaper. I admit that I’ve done my share of drooling over pricey Juicy Couture jackets and costly Neiman Marcus dresses, but all materialistic preferences aside, expensive designer clothing is overrated.

High-end designer stores do not go easy on jobless high school students’ wallets. When there are alternatives such as Forever 21 that are home to inexpensive and versatile clothing, you don’t have to choose the overpriced route. Wet Seal is another prime example of affordability with its occasional 99-cent sales. Both of these stores exhibit designs similar to those found in stores of higher price ranges, but they keep their prices low and have clearance racks for even better deals.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not always true that affordable clothes are made poorly. Although designer pieces may be made from finer fabrics imported from around the world, synthetic cotton can last just as long, if not longer, than hand-woven Egyptian cotton. Also, my inexpensive clothes easily endure rough tossing in the laundry machine for a tumble or two. Unfortunately, I can’t say as much for the few articles of designer wear I have. Most of my “higher-quality” pieces are high maintenance and demand more work than just a ride in the laundry machine. They usually don’t get washed because of their difficulty. I end up not even wearing my expensive clothes, which just makes the whole cycle a waste of money.

Stores like Old Navy and Target are great because they have so many bargain buys. Even when you buy multiple items from a cheap store, you don’t have to worry about the bill you’ve racked up. The lower the numbers on the price tags, the more additional items you can purchase.

If original designs are your type of style, don’t resort to expensive brands just so no one else has it. The best solution is to go on a clothes hunt and find those unknown boutiques and stores that have surprisingly fashionable clothes. Most people don’t know the wonders of Target or Kohl’s, or the fact that famous designers like Vera Wang and Alice Temperley work together with these franchises to produce affordable designer-wear. In addition to their array of designer steals, Target and Kohl’s display a variety of cute clothing and accessories that can allow for a lot of creative matching.

A $5 tank top from Old Navy with a $15 destroyed skirt and $10 dollar bangles from Target can easily be mixed and give you the satisfaction of choosing your own style.

Expensive clothing isn’t necessary to create a unique, fashion-forward outfit.

Go for cheaper stuff, it’ll make your wallet feel better. However, if you really can’t stand a cubic zirconium and you want the real deal, get a job first. But trust me—in the end, no one will notice the difference.

—Wu, a junior, is a reporter

Sports 24 Spring sports finish up seasons with strong The Oracle

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Jonathan Yong

Henry Liu

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Diving:

Badminton:

Golf:

This year, the baseball team ended their season with an 11-14 overall record and 8-7 in leagues. The team tied for first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) El Camino Division with only three games left after five league wins in a row. Unfortunately, the team lost these last three games.

According to senior shortstop Jon Rea, new coach Troy DeVincentis brought a more aggressive style of play, which included more base stealing and bunting to help advance base runners. This new style, along with pulling two junior varsity players, sophomores Graham Fischer and Jake Verhulp, up to varsity in the middle of the season has helped the team tremendously. “When Graham was pitching, it freed up our infielders so they could play infield rather than pitch,” Rea said.

Through an outstanding badminton season, the team remains undefeated after the regular season.

All varsity one players locked top seeds in CCS (central coast section) after the SCVAL tournament. “Last season we had no seniors on our team because a good portion of varsity the season before that was filled entirely with seniors and some of our best players were playing for club teams,” junior Linda Zhang said. However, players stepped up and the team finished undefeated. Senior Brent Dano defeated one of the top players in the league and Zhang improved as a team player and a role player according to junior Lily Hao. At CCS, Gunn remained victorious, winning three out of the five titles. “16 teams from 4 to 5 leagues (from San Francisco to San Jose), were in CCS and we swept the tournament,” junior Stanley Hung said. Gunn entered CCS with the one seed in boys’ and girls’ doubles and mixed, and three seed in boys’ singles. “I was more focused than ever when I played against [Richard Jo], a guy I lost to last year,” Hung said. “I beat him.”

Despite starting off with no coach, the boys’ and girls’ diving teams still managed to pull through and finish with a great season. Based mostly on individual records, the team’s standings contributed points to swimming’s score in meets.

For that reason, the girls’ team maintained an undefeated league record and placed second in SCVAL, while the boys’ team finished with a league record of 4-3 and placed third in SCVAL. From the team, freshman Miko Mallari was the only diver to qualify for CCS. Mallari progressed to the finals, where he placed 10th.

The team won many of its one-on-one meets, which occurred once a week. “Overall, we did pretty well,” senior Jenny Anderson said. “We had a really good coach and she helped us improve a lot.”

According to coach Chris Redfield, the golf squad had a great season. Ending the season with a 7-2-3 record, the team finished fourth overall in SCVAL. Freshman Avi Sharma finished fourth individually in the League competition and qualified for CCS. The 10-member squad had four new players this year and three graduating seniors. With the relatively young team, Redfield is confident the squad will continue the streak in the future seasons. “Our young players, Avi Sharma and [sophomore] Vincent Yang played really well all season,” Redfield said.

Earlier this season Redfield had hoped to place either first or second at the leagues competition, but he was content with the team’s effort. “I was happy with our finish at leagues,” Redfield said. The team played a very competitive season this year against the top two squads in the league, Palo Alto High School and Los Altos High School.

Courtesy of Chrystal Chern

8

Jonathan Yong

Baseball:

3

Henry Liu

Boys’ Lacrosse:

Although 2010 was the boys’ lacrosse team’s inaugural season, the varsity team finished the season with their heads held high and with a respectable record under their belts. A final tough loss to Palo Alto sealed the team’s record at 6-40—an honorable finish for a team with such a wide range of skill levels. “We didn’t have too many expectations, except to improve and set down a solid base for a solid team,” senior attackman and co-captain Nick Ciesinski said. Defensive coach Ryan Tipping had high hopes for the new team. “I wanted them to try to win every game, and work hard to be the best,” Tipping said. “I wanted to see them compete well and really deliver in every game—and they absolutely met my expectations.”

Gymnastics:

The undefeated fever is catching onto Gunn sports teams, especially gymnastics. Coming off of a 9-0 record in leagues and 4-0 in SCVAL, gymnastics is ranked 4th coming into CCS. Despite a small team, they were able to understand their duty from the very start. “Both JV and varsity came to terms with how serious of a sport gymnastics is early in the season, and have only been improving since,” sophomore Chrystal Chern said. Not only that but the team includes strong individual performers. “Each one of us is a pretty strong competitor at meets, which contributed to our four first places (including Leagues) out of the six meets we competed,” Chern said.

Although the team completed leagues undefeated, they underwent a tough CCS. “One of our gymnasts rolled both her ankles on our first event, and many of us had a rocky day on beam,” Chern said. “We were seven-tenths of a point off from third.” However, they finished fourth and still received a trophy.

25 records, continue with postseason success

Sports

Wednesday, June, 2, 2010

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6

5

Henry Liu

10

Victor Kwok

Jonathan Yong

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Jonathan Yong

Courtesy of Tim Aiken

Tennis:

The boys’ tennis team finished the season on a high note, earning a sixth place ranking in CCS and a second place standing in SCVAL. “I think we did really well,” senior singles player Bharat Reddy said. “We exceeded expectations.”

With a final league record of 8-4 and overall record of 167, the team overcame difficulties in the beginning of the season to finish strong, ending an eleven match winning streak with a season finishing loss to Bellarmine. “Physically our team [might] look weak, but mentally we were really strong and weren’t intimidated by [other] teams,” Reddy said. “We stayed strong and fought through it, and that was really key to us having a good record.”

Over the course of the season, the team worked to improve aspects of their game.“We became more effective with our tactics and strategies,” sophomore doubles player Roy Peleg said. “We were able to win when we needed to.” Those key wins managed to earn the team one of their highest seedings in the team’s history.

Track and Field:

With five athletes who qualified to go onto the next round in CCS, track and field is looking to continue its tradition of strong performances. Girls’ track was undefeated during the regular season and placed third in SCVAL, with a final record of 5-1. Boys’ track placed fourth in SCVAL and finished with a record of 4-2. The team finished in the top eight for the third year in a row.

“We’ve had a lot of great talent this year,” junior hurdler Kiana Choroski said. “It was exciting to see how everyone progressed and how much every individual improved. I’m extremely proud of how the season turned out.” According to Choroski, focused and effective practices contributed to the team’s many wins. “We worked our hardest to improve and became better athletes,” Choroski said. “We did a really

1. Junior midfielder Ryan Griffiths fends off an attack from a Mountain View High School player. 2. Freshman Miko Mallari twists high in the air in the midst of performing an impressive dive. 3. Sophomore Chrystal Chern maintains her balance on the beam. 4. Sophomore Claire Collins winds up for a swing. 5. Senior Rajeev Herekar jumps for the ball. 6. Senior Jillian Du presents a formidable defense against Palo Alto High School. 7. Senior Jon Rea prepares to swing at a tough pitch 8. Sophomore Ashley Ngu sidesteps and reaches for the birdie. 9. Senior Thanh-Ha Nguyen freestyles her way down her lane. 10.

Senior Taimu Yamauchi sprints forward with the baton, trying to gain an edge on the Mountain View opponents.

good job in making it a point to give 110 percent effort in every race.”

Both teams’ successes proved that their hard work paid off in the end. “I was really proud of the effort and energy that the entire team displayed during our last dual meet against Paly and the league finals,” coach Ernie Lee said. “It was great to see the kids stepping it up at the end of the season.”

Swimming:

The girls’ and boys’ swimming teams have outdone themselves again and again, and this year was no exception. Following tradition, the team once again qualified for the CCS meet. The girls’ portion of the team continued its six year long stay in the top eight, and were undefeated in league with a record of 6-0. They finished the season 7-0 and earned second in SCVAL. The boys finished 3-3 in league and 4-3 overall, placing 4th in SCVAL. At the most recent championship meet, the team stepped it up and set several new records. “Our 200 freestyle relay broke the CCS record and our 400 freestyle relay broke the school record,” junior breaststroker Emily Watkins wrote in an e-mail. “We also had two of our girl athletes [sophomores Julia Ama and Casey Lincoln] break two other school records.”

According to junior freestyler Benjamin Hendricks, the team trained a lot more than last year, utilizing Gunn’s brand new facility. “We have the best facility in our league,” Hendricks said. “[That] gave us the ability to spread out and really have room to swim, and swim fast.” The swim team was able to enjoy the benefits of returning coaches Mark Hernandez and Melinda Mattes and three additional Gunn alums to help train the athletes.

Although the team will be losing a significant number of seniors this year, Hendricks has faith that the team will continue to dominate.

Girls’ Lacrosse:

The girls’ lacrosse team ended the season with a 1-11 record in league and a 1-16 overall record. However, winning was not necessarily the team’s main goal.

“My biggest expectation was to have fun and work well as a team,” senior attacker Mackenzie Ruehl said. “I’ve never had as much fun playing a sport before, and over the season [the team] became very close and worked very well on and off the field.” Ruehl cites teamwork as part of the reason for the team’s cohesiveness. “It was never one or two girls calling the shots,” she said. “Every goal made was a team effort.”

According to Ruehl, the overall effort was what the team valued the most. “We gave it our all and that [is] good enough for me,”she said.

Softball:

Although softball ended with a loss to Wilcox in the second round of CCS on Saturday, the team’s season was by no means disappointing. The team surpassed expectations and placed first in SCVAL, finishing with a league record of 10-2 and an overall record of 19-10.

“We’ve always been one of the weaker teams, so it was great to make it to CCS,” junior shortstop Nicole Grimwood said. “I’m really proud of the way we did.” The team beat Monta Vista High School to gain a CCS spot, and earned Gunn’s first playoff victory by defeating Santa Theresa 7-2.

Coach Stephanie Swinford has high hopes for next year’s team. “I predict we will be untouchable,” Swinford said. “We will be the team to beat next season, you just watch.”

—Compiled by Krishan Allen, Monica Cai, Samantha Donat, Tara Golshan, Alvin Man and Annie Tran

26

The Oracle

Sports

Q&A with Kevin Zhang

Sports Commissioner rent Twelfth man club. This includes, but is not limited to, speedy distribution of shirts, innovative chants, and more incentives. These incentives will be raffles and prizes given to attentive fans.

Kevin Zhang The Oracle:Can you explain the role of Sports Commissioner?

Kevin Zhang: My official role is to manage rallies, organize March Madness, and run the Sixth man club. On top of my roles, I look forward to actively communicate with varsity captains to figure out ways to help individual sports.

TO:What were your motivations to run for Sports Commissioner?

KZ: My motivations are to improve and help the athletic program at Gunn. I look forward to helping the overall public realize the successes of our program. I am a strong believer in the power of sports and believe that an improved athletic program will do so much to help Gunn.

TO:What are some changes you’d like to make?

KZ: I plan continue to facilitate the thriving Sixth man club and energize the cur-

TO: What are some of your new ideas for your role as Sports Commissioner?

KZ: I plan to be extremely open to ideas brought forth by the student body for contests. I believe that it is crucial to always consider the opinions of students.

TO:What do you plan to do in order to increase participations in school events?

KZ: In order to increase participation in sports, I plan on energizing the student body and really encouraging underclassmen to try out for sports. I plan on instilling several principles. Firstly, students need to realize that with hard work and persistence, so much can be accomplished in a season. Thus, students need to persevere [through] any tough stretches (this may mean, but not included to, not being treated fairly by coaches, not performing up to expectations, not getting enough playing time, etc.). We have such a great program and have to believe that with persistence and constant hard work, our program will find its way to sorting issues out. ­ —Compiled by Elise Lee

Baseball

Most Valuable Player (MVP) — Jonathan Rea (12) Most Improved Player (MIP)— Blake Johnson (12) Coach’s Award (CA)­—Travis Bowers(12)

Boys’ Tennis

Girls’ Swimming and Diving MVP—Grace Hamilton (12) & Teva Levens (12) & Alex Lincoln (12) CA—Audrey Buatois (12)

Boys’ Swimming and Diving

MVP—Rajeev Herekar (12) MIP—Bharat Reddy (12) CA­—Paul Wang (12)

MVP—Richard Yuan (12), Kevin Oyama (12) MI—Albert Deng (12) CA—Eugene Osher (12)

Badminton

Track & Field MVP—Taimu Yamauchi (11) & Paul Summers (12) MIP—Cody Carefoot (11)

Gymnastics

MVP—Brent Dano (12), Phoebe Lin (11) & Linda Zhang (11) MIP—Ken Tsurushita (12) CA—Boshaw Shu (11)

Lacrosse

MVP—Shelly Kousnetz (12) & Brent Paulson (11) MIP—Nicole Hemenway (12) & Nick Ciensinski (12) CA—Maddie Sabbag (10) & Edward Meyer (9)

MVP—Claire Reyes (12) MIP— Leslie Landers (11) CA­—Chrystal Chern (10)

Golf

Softball

MVP—Avinash Sharma (9) & Vincent Yang (10)

MVP—Claire Klausner (9) MIP—Casey Maltz (9) CA—Brooke Binkley (12)

COLLEGE ADMISSION ACADEMY For High School Juniors Saturday, May 15 and 22, 2010 At Menlo College www.collegematchus.com contact: david@collegematchus.com / (415) 601-6955

Sports

board. “I’ve been attempting to do a lot of tricks recently and it kind Business Manager of got to my joints like my knees

and my wrists,” Zhu said. “I hurt The fixie fixation has com- my wrist about a month ago trying menced. With the simplicity, free- to do a trick and it still hasn’t redom and speed that fixed gear ally healed.” bikes have to offer, they have reThe fixed gear bike was one of cently started to attract people of the first forms of a bike to be inall ages, especially the younger vented, and has slowly started to generation. “Fixed gear bikes [also make a comeback in the Bay Area known as fixies or track bikes] are in recent years. These fixie aficiomy passion,” senior Korhan Badir nados discovered the fixed gear said. “It’s probably something I’ll scene through YouTube channels, take with me through life itself friends and blogs. “I originally atand something I’ll enjoy no mat- tended [Palo Alto High School], ter what.” and fixed gear bikes are pretty big Without the ability to coast, there,” Castillo said. “I’ve learned the fixed gear bike sets a differ- a lot of things through the web ent standard for bikes since the and my brain is kind of like fixie pedals are always moving when mush because I know so much in motion. “The fixie is great to about this stuff.” Badir, Sun and ride, but it kind of tires you out,” Castillo have also competed in losophomore Rebecca Kah said. cal races in San Francisco and San “The good thing, though, is that Jose, where bikers race around obmy core and my stacles. Badir delegs are getting scribes racing as a lot of muscle being the purest from the conform of biking as “It’s probably somestant pedaling so one with his fixed it’s okay.” Fixed gear bike. “You thing I’ll take with gear bikes also are one with the me through life itallow the user bike, and after a self and something to bike backshort sprint, you wards, because can feel your I’ll enjoy no matter when the pedals heart almost what.” turn backwards beating out of the wheel moves — Senior Korhan Badir your chest,” Bawith them. “Fixdir said. “That is ies are [based the feeling that on] the concept of having a fixed arises when on a fixed gear.” Casback gear. It lets us do all types of tillo and Sun have participated tricks on it,” freshman Kyle Zhu in three races each, and Castillo said. placed second in one race.

Some fixed gear bikes lack Zhu picked up fixed gear biking brakes, which trades safety for from Badir and his brother senior lightness and speed. “My bike Kaan Badir and paid a little under didn’t have brakes on it, which $300 in total for his bike off of wasn’t exactly legal, so I biked Craigslist. However, since brandmostly at night,” Kah said. Ac- new fixed gear bikes cost approxicording to California law, a licit mately $200 to $1000, Zhu recomequipped bicycle must have a mends riding someone else’s fixed brake that permits the rider to gear bike first before buying one. make one braked wheel skid on “Fixies take some time to get used dry, level, clean pavement. To stop to so you have to play around with on a fixed gear bike, riders must it first,” he said. “Plus, if you buy skid on the bike and lean a bit for- one, I think you should get it off ward. This practice of braking is Craigslist or something instead of considered dangerous and should splurging. Unless you’re like the not be tried unless one is experi- Badir brothers that are like super enced. “If you’re going to ride a bike fanatics.” Sun, another fixie fixie, you better know how to stop fanatic, has recently listed his bike on your bike,” Zhu said. “Other- for sale for $7050. These expenwise, you’re screwed because cars sive prices are mainly due to the go fast on a lot of roads and you rare specific cut-out frames. could just end up scraping someKah, Badir and Zhu admit thing and landing on your face.” that the appearance of fixed gear Badir and juniors Michael bikes play a role in their love for Castillo and Aston Sun consider the bikes. “There is no real difthemselves well-seasoned bikers ference or gender for bikes, just with enough zeal and adventure different sizes,” Kah said. “That’s in them to complete complicat- also an additional reason to why I ed and dangerous tricks at a fast got the bike. It’s like getting new speed. “I learn a lot of my tricks clothes: buying pretty new clothes from friends, the web and a lot of makes me happy. The same feelrandom bikers I meet at races,” ing applies to the bike.” Zhu spent Castillo said. Some of the most several hours a week spray paintfundamental tricks that fixed gear ing and working out kinks on his riders learn first are track stands, bike, which he built piece by piece wheelies, and bunny hops. “These by himself. “My bike frame was tricks are all real basics that are originally orange and I bought oressential if you’re going to ride a ange wheels to go with it, but then fixie,” Zhu said. However, when I kind of got sick of how bright it doing these tricks, one must do was so I spray painted it purple,” it in moderation and not go over- Zhu said.

Wednesday, June, 2, 2010

27

Annie Tran

The Badir brothers have also customized their bikes to their own desires and needs, however they think “riders shouldn’t get a fixie just because of their looks, that’s not the right philosophy,” Badir said. “Fixies should be ridden for their purpose: Ride the fastest you can with the two wheels, chain, cog, seat and handlebars provided.”

Jonathan Yong

Top: Senior Kaan Badir attempts a trick called the endo. Middle Left: Senior Korhan Badir bunny hops his way across the quad. Middle Right: Junior Aston Sun has gone a long way to perfect his tricks. “The first few weeks I started biking with my fixie, I didn’t really know how to stop it yet,” Sun said. “So I ran a red light and crashed into a car. Luckily, no one was hurt and I left virtually damagefree.” Bottom: Sophomore Rebecca Kah’s first skill that she mastered on her fixed gear bike was the track stand.

Fixie Tricks

Track Stands— A track stand is a technique that riders use to stay balanced on their bikes while moving in only marginal distances.

Bunny Hops— Bunny hops are considered relatively simple to master. To perform a bunny hop, one has to lift the front wheel and start hopping, which causes the back wheel to rise off of the ground and suspend in the air.

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Sports

The Oracle

With 32 teams in the World Cup, The Oracle narrows it down for you from the 2006 World Cup squad have left. However, those shoes have been filled by more than capable replacements. Robinho and Luis Fabiano are both forwards that can wreak havoc on opposing defenses.

Look out for these guys: Chile—A stunning World Cup qualification campaign that saw the team finish second only to Brazil has given Chile a formidable international soccer reputation. Coach Marcelo Bielsa, nicknamed the “The Madman,” has helped develop a young team into a force to be reckoned with.

Their group draw is in the team’s favor as the only major power they will face in the group stages is Spain. If they can get crucial wins against Honduras and Switzerland, advancement past the group stages and possibly further will be well within their grasp.

their way through the qualifiers as they finished behind a less talented Danish side in the group stages.

Then, they inched their way past Bosnia-Herzegovina to make it into this year’s World Cup. Portugal will Krishan Allen not have the luxury of playing other teams with lower expectations in this Fans started counting down months tournament, and will need to rise to ago. South Africa has spent the past the occasion and find a momentum to years preparing. Soccer players have accomplish anything. They have also trained their entire lives for this mofound themselves in the “Group of ment. The 2010 World Cup is nearly Death” to start the tournament. From here, with the first game scheduled the get-go, they will face Brazil, Ivory on June 11. Everyone will have an Coast, and North Korea. It will be no opinion on how the tournament will easy feat for them to finish second in go down. You may believe your home a group filled with such quality teams. country will win it all or maybe the Big dates: team your favorite player plays for, or England vs. USA (June 12 at possibly the country your ethnicity 11:30 a.m.)—England once again connects with. Whichever way you see has put together a star-studded roster it, here is my take on how I think this and is expected to come out on top year’s World in this matchCup will end. up. The AmeriThey m ight cans will not go just go all the down without a way: fight, however Spain­—In as they were the almost every only team not to yea r of t he lose to Italy, the World C up, reigning chamthere seems pions, in t he to be at least last World Cup. one team that You’ll want to has incredibly mark this one talented playon your caleners filling the dar. All signs rost er f rom point to this beCourtesy of ESPN.com top to bottom. ing an unforgetSpain is that Landon Donovan will look to lead the U.S. past some tough opposition this table match. team this year. Four midfield maeIvory Coast­—A world-class strikPortugal vs. Brazil (June 25 at stros–who go by the names of Xavi, er in Didier Drogba, will lead this ris- 7:00 a.m.)­—It may be 7 in the mornAndrés Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, and Cesc ing team. They are also the consensus ing here in California while this match Fabregas–playing on the same team top African squad in the tournament, is going on live in South Africa, but as world-class strikers David Villa which will put the spotlight and ex- you can bet I’ll be awake. It’s a known and Fernando Torres, just seems like pectations upon them. The Ivory Coast fact that the teams in this group must an unfair combination to other teams. will need to deal with their nerves fight to make it out alive, and this is Brazil—Brazil, ranked first in the and focus on just playing the game a critical match in deciding who will international FIFA rankings, has only to advance past the group stages and advance. Both are great teams, but one goal this year, to win the World make it deeper into the tournament.

Brazil is greater and is expected to Cup. This year, the team features a Possible disappointment ahead: pull away with the win. different cast as many of their players Portugal—The team struggled

1. Brazil 2. Spain 3. Portugal 4. Netherlands 5. Italy 6. Germany 7. Argentina 8. England 9. France 10.Croatia

11. Russia 12. Egypt 13. Greece 14. USA 15. Serbia 16. Uruguay 17. Mexico 18. Chile 19. Cameroon 20. Australia

• Sports Jersey Wednesdays are a success • Badminton goes deep in the post-season, wins CCS • Football hopes to go far, starts spring training • Spring sports have a terrific regular season • Basketball begins rebuilding for the future • Track athletes make it to next round of CCS • Multiple Gunn teams go undefeated in leagues • Lebron, Wade, Johnson and Bosh meet up • Maradona will run naked if team wins Cup • Ron Artest’s shot doesn’t count, didn’t call bank

Faces in the Crowd: What team do you think will win the World Cup?

Bryson Runser (9) “Well, there’s no doubt it’s going to be the Netherlands.”

Alyssa Perreault (10) “I’d say definitely Spain or Brazil will be winning it this year.”

Ting Ting Liu (11) “Spain because that’s what Google told me.”

Enzo Cabili (12) “France because I’m French and they have Franck Ribery.

And they’re simply the best.”

—Compiled by Lisa Wong Graphic by Kimberly Han