The Oracle November 2019

Students explore artistic pursuits.

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

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PG. 10 FEATURES

THEORACLE Henry M. Gunn High School

http://gunnoracle.com/

Friday, November 1, 2019 Volume 57, Issue 3

780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306

State brings changes to blended class attendance, release policy Nikki Suzani Features Editor

basically are, and treats them more like four-year-olds.” essarily there in college so it’s a chance for you to find Some students, especially those who had blended out about yourself. It’s essentially an ability to classes last year, agree and have felt the difference in take a risk, when there’s still support.”

As a result of a change in Infinite Campus codes, stu- the new system. “Having a D period blended class, I’d Unfortunately, the changes to blended have dents and teachers coming to blended learning classes typically sleep in on Tuesdays, but I had to wake up made it difficult for the program to in this school year found that classes would be operated still and go to the class because I wasn’t allowed to go fulfill its initial goal. “What’s differently; at first, release days were entirely prohib- anywhere else, and I had ited and, as of Sept. 30, 2019, they have been changed to stay on campus even if I to require students to remain in a supervised area in had no work or I wanted to the school. This new practice, referred to colloquially go to things or I was tired,” “Students don’t feel the same freedom to be able to use their time the way they want to. It’s much more as “in-house blended,” also mandates that students fill junior Sachait Arun said. restricted to either being in the library or classroom. out a form at the end of the period to demonstrate what “It was really annoying, the It doesn’t feel as much like a real release day.” they were working on and how productive they’ve been. entire process they are putSpecifically, Infinite Campus removed the Did Not ting us through. I had AP —Art teacher Deanna Messinger Meet (DNM) code from its database, the code that [computer science] last year blended classes had been using to take attendance. and that was blended and This change was due to the code being used in different I signed up for English knowing it would be [blended happened is, now, on days that ways throughout schools, but made implementing the as well], but now I have to do the blended form and be are supposedly release days you either have to be in blended program again far more difficult. in school.” the classroom, which defeats the point of it being a “A code that we were using for our blended release When it comes to its origins, blended learning at release day, or you have to be in some sort of adminperiods is not available on Infinite Campus anymore, Gunn started with the goal of rewarding hardworking istered classroom by somebody on staff, whether it’s a so we have to go through a new approval process students and allowing them to take control of their own library or some other teacher agrees to it, but that also learning. “The thinking defeats the point of a release day,” Paley said. “There’s behind it, at least in talk- nobody being released from anything. So, I don’t know, ing to Kevin Skelly, who to me the only meaning of blended nowadays is that “It’s important to have blended learning to give was the superintendent at some of the stuff is online. The meaning of blended students the chance to take control over their own the time, was that parents has just been lost.” learning, be more flexible in what’s going to work for used to be working nine to Wells wants students to know that while this might them and also figure out what works for them in a five, or thereabouts, and be hard, the changes to blended are currently in the safe environment.” therefore students going hands of the state. “The release days are a privilege, to school when they went not a right, and we are legally responsible for students—Gunn Blended Coordinator Jordan Wells to school made sense,” student safety comes first, making sure that everyone Paley said. “The problem is held accountable and being taken care of is the most t hrough t he state,” English teacher and Gunn is, now what do you do when there are lots of parents important,” she said. “We have to get the state’s apBlended Coordinator Jordan Wells said. “The end goal who don’t work nine to five? Why in the world should proval to be accredited, we have to do the right things is to be back to our blended release periods.” students have to follow the same kind of schedule? And to make sure we are operating as a school As for the forms, the goal has been to provide ad- in particular, along those lines, sort of tangentially, if correctly.” ministrators with information about the purpose of they don’t need to be in the classroom in order to learn Paley hopes the situation blended periods, and requires students to rank their the material why should productivity. The forms also count for attendance and they have to be in the must be filled out by the end of the period for students classroom?” to not receive a cut.

Wells echoed that sen- “As a first year blended teacher, the changes caused Still, some might argue that the changes requiring timent, agreeing that the a lot of disruptions to my intentions for my class and students to stay on a supervised area of campus de- goal of blended classes the routines I wanted to set.” feat the purpose of the program. “I’ll be blunt: there’s was to allow students to —Psychology teacher Warren Collier value in having online content, but there’s also value in be able to make their own treating students like adults,” computer science teacher decisions about learning Joshua Paley, who has taught blended classes for 10 in a conducive environment. “It’s important to blended will be resolved soon, and that blend- ed w ill go years, said. “I know there are legal rules about how learning to give students that chance to have control back to the way it was originally set up. “I think it’d be much time students have to be in the classroom and over their own learning and be more flexible in what’s neat motivation to be a good student if you knew you so on, and I get that. But it seems like every time we going to work for them and also figure out what works wouldn’t have to go to classes much,” he said. “More implement some new rule, it moves away from treating for them in a safe environment,” she said. “In high than anything, I wish we’d treat students more like students like adults, which they school we still have a lot of things to make sure peo- adults. I mean, if a student proves to us that they don’t ple don’t fall to the deserve to be treated like an adult, okay then treat them ground. We still have like a four-year-old.” t hat face -to -face The ultimate goal for Wells, as well, is to get back “With more students who are keeping up with the class time, I’m checking in to the way blended has been set up. “As soon as we get and who are up to date being in the classroom during with you on at least a approval, everybody in the program is ‘chomping at the blended days, it leaves us with less time for those who weekly basis, so there’s bit’ to get back to it because that’s what we’re all about need more one-on-one time.” that kind of safety net. and we’re excited for it and we planned for it over the We have those safety summer; we’re ready for it,” she said. “Unfortunately, —Environmental science teacher Eric Ledgerwood nets in place in high it’s kind of out of our hands at this point.” school that aren’t necPhotos by Melissa Ding and Sophia Lu

2

News

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

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Liza Kolbasov Managing Editors Jennifer Gao Ryan Li News Elisa Moraes-Liu Angela Wong Forum Jessica Wang Joshua Yang Features Madison Nguyen Nikki Suzani Centerfold Annika Bereny Calvin Cai Sports Devon Li Ryan Manesh Lifestyle Charlie Bush Kate Mallery Online Sophia Stern Photo Editor Melissa Ding Graphics Editor Grace Liu

Staff Business/Circulation Ryan Manesh Copy Editor Genna Bishop Oracle/SEC Liaison Grace Liu

Santa Clara County takes next steps with teacher housing project Elisa Moraes-Liu news editor

Alto housing. “I live in San Jose and I’ve been thinking of moving here for the longest time, but I haven’t gotten any opportunities,” she said. “I The proposed Santa Clara County teacher can’t by myself sustain that and try to live here as housing project was given a funding boost after a teacher.” While happy with her current housing a $25 million donation from Facebook on Oct. situation in San Jose, Paronable believes closer 17. The project was proposed in Jan. 2018 by housing would allow her to play a more active the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors role in the school and community. “I would be President Joe Simitian and aims to provide more willing to do more things if I lived close workforce housing for teachers in the five North by because I constantly know it will take me an County school districts, including hour to get home,” she said.

Palo Alto Unified School District English teacher Tarn Wilson ex(PAUSD). The development will be presses excitement regarding the conducted by the non-profit Mercy project. “More and more teachers are Housing and Management group. moving farther and farther away,” The planned site for construction Wilson said. “It's much harder to is 231 Grant Ave, Palo Alto, Calif., understand the community.” an acre and a half of county-owned Wilson has faced trouble with housproperty. “The county is going to ing in the past. “I have been teaching put the property into the deal and at Gunn for a long time,” she said. retain ownership,” Simitian said.

“When I started teaching here I lived “We don’t have the land costs that in Mountain View. It was a 10 to 15 would typically make a project like minute drive so it was really easy for this much more expensive.” The me to go to evening events, stay after current plan estimates 60 to 120 school to tutor, do clubs [and] all units of housing through this projthat kind of stuff.” As Wilson's rent ect. “We have refined the planning continued to rise, she began having Audrey Tseng for the project and it looks more to move farther from Gunn. “I went and more like somewhere in the vicinity to Sunnyvale and that was okay. Then my of 90,” Simitian said. “I am hoping the rent went up [by] $500 a month, so than school districts will weigh in on which I had to move to San Jose. We were able to employees they would like to see helped “I would be more willing to do more things if I lived buy a place, I was really happy about that.” close by because I constantly know it will take me an by the project.”

The long commute from San Jose has The Facebook grant provides a benefi- hour to get home.” made it hard for Wilson to stay after school.

—English teacher Tarn Wilson “The longer I stay after school, the worse cial boost that allows the project to move forward. “It’s a big, big help,” Simitian the traffic gets,” she said. “I teach after said. “It’s a $25 million grant and I should un- extracurriculars,” he said. “That’s so tough now schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can’t leave derscore that it’s a grant. It’s a gift, not a loan for people who are driving long distances from at five because it's really bad traffic, so I just stay and what that means is that we have an anchor other parts of the Bay Area and beyond.” until seven on those days. A lot of times when funder, or somebody that really helps ensure The project also plans to improve teacher re- there are evening events that I used to come to that we can move forward with the projects.” tention and recruitment in local school districts. I do not come just because it's hard navigating According to Palo Alto Vice Mayor Andrew “A project like this can help attract and retain top traffic and the distance.”

Fine, the project requires collaboration from a quality staff,” Simitian said. “It’s so expensive While the Facebook grant gives the project a variety of entities. “This is a multi-jurisdiction now to live in our area that a lot of folks who solid funding base, there are still many steps project,” Fine said. “The county has the land, would like to teach in our area just can’t make left to go. “What we need to do now is design the city has the zoning and building approvals it work because of the high cost of housing. If the project, cost it out and then get a mortgage and the school districts are involved in terms of we can help local school districts provide this for the remaining project costs,” Simitian said. providing some funding for it. So that’s some- additional benefit, we can help make sure that “There’s still a lot of work to do but we are very what more complicated than a normal project.” our local school districts continue to retain top well positioned now.”

In June 2018, the Palo Alto City Council set aside talent.”

Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri $3 million for the project.

English teacher Marjorie Paronable agrees Baldwin believes that more needs to be done Fine, who has a master’s degree in city plan- with this sentiment. “How will Palo Alto get to address the problem of affordable housing. ning from the University of Pennsylvania, points more teachers if they don’t give options to young- “Educator housing is a starting point to help out that affordable housing is a widespread er teachers on where they can live?” she said. some teachers stay in the Palo Alto area and issue. “I’m totally supportive of almost any “Newer teachers are constantly being pushed remain at PAUSD,” Baldwin wrote in an email housing project but it’s worth noting that the out of the community. I think that [housing] is to The Oracle. “Other remedies are needed, such housing crisis is really affecting everyone in the a great way for the district to think about the as middle-income rental rates and home buying Bay Area,” Fine said. “We are never going to be future because in the future, I don’t think a lot assistance programs. This problem is not just able to subsidize our way out of the problem. We of new teachers are going to come over here and affecting teachers; it affects our classified staff simply just have to build more housing. While stay in Palo Alto if they cannot live in the area.” and many other middle-income professionals.” it’s great to build housing for teachers, I really Paronable is one of the many teachers who wish we lived in a community where there was have been affected by the steep prices of Palo

INBOX

Graphics Artists Shannon Lin Audrey Tseng Jamie Wang Jocelyn Wang Photographers Mia Knezevic Sophia Lu Wendy Xiong Reporter Shannon Lin

enough housing for people and we didn’t have to go picking and choosing winners and losers.”

The project has a variety of goals. By reducing commute times, Simitian hopes this project will allow teachers to dedicate more time to their craft. “We will also be in a position where local school teachers can spend the time that would otherwise be on the road on campus with students playing an even more integral role in working with their students and helping with

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

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

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

Letters to the Editor, Comments and ideas for coverage may be sent to oraclegunn@gmail.com or posted on our Facebook page. These letters need not be from current students.

“I would like to see better quality articles “I really like the new issue of The Oracle. I did not read many focusing on mental health. I understand issues my freshman year, this is a cool new media source I can that it is a difficult subject to broach, but look at.”

I think to ask readers for anonymous sub—Ananya Madabhushi, 9 missions about something as elementary as 'how they are doing/feeling?' can be eye-opening to the student body. Last month there was an article on self-help that had good intentions, but it was unable to actually foster any change simply because it was skimming the surface of a topic that cannot be fixed so easily.”

Adviser Kristy Blackburn

—Oct. 4, 2019—

—Aditya Dhir, 11

The Oracle won sixth place in Best of Show at the 2018 National Scholastic Press Association Conference on Nov. 1-3.

Forum

Friday, November 1, 2019

3

YES

Should cellphones be banned in classrooms?

Nikki Suzani

NO

On June 29, 2007, Apple released the iPhone, sparking a universal technological revolution. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of United States high schoolers have access to a smartphone and, according to the Atlantic, 94% of them use their cellphones in class. Gunn should require every classroom to set up cellphone pockets to decrease distractions and cyberbullying, while ensuring that cellphones are only used for educational purposes.

Cellphones have become a major distraction in classrooms, not only to the students using them, but to those around them. Due to their small size, smartphones are very easy to hide and use during lectures. According to the Journal of Media Education, students use their phones an average of 11 times each school day.

Twenty percent of this time goes toward unrelated activities, which might include sending texts, checking Instagram or making memes about their history teachers. This distracts students from listening, which hinders their ability to learn. Further, according to the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, even a silent, powered-off cellphone can cause distractions. Cellphone notifications lead to a burst of dopamine, the “happy chemical,” which your brain perceives as a reward. This can have pernicious effects by creating a dependence. Dopamine makes the brain reliant upon the phone to the point that its presence impacts concentration on the lecture. Students are more likely to miss or not properly absorb material when their smartphones are closer to them. Finally, removing smartphones increases test scores

by 6.4%, according to the London School of Economics. At Gunn, we need to focus on the success of all students, and a cellphone ban would help ensure not only that students aren’t distracted, but also that they are academically successful.

Beyond distractions, cellphones can be used to maliciously hurt peers. Pictures can be taken of students in compromising positions, such as sleeping in class and then posted on the internet to humiliate them. This often happens without their consent and can cause severe damage to their self-confidence. Further, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), schools with bullying like this tended to have test scores that were 3% to 6% lower than those without. The problem of cyberbullying can also extend to teachers: in 2013, the APA reported that 9% of teachers felt disrespected by their students. This can hurt their ability to effectively teach. Thus, due to cellphones’ potential to take compromising photos, teachers must ban them from the classroom to create safe, inclusive learning environments.

Some might argue that cellphones will be prevalent in adult life and can be used for educational purposes, but there are ways to allow for these benefits without the drawbacks. Cellphone pockets allow teachers to instruct their students to use cellphones when necessary. Further, constant access allows students to cheat on exams by finding answers online. US News reported in 2009 that one third of teens have used cellphones to cheat in school. This is independently a reason to ban cellphones as they give dishonest students a leg up in the classroom. Not only does this disincentivize other stu-

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Elisa Moraes-Liu For students attending a school located in the heart of Silicon Valley, technology is an integral part of their lives—after all, it’s 2019. Classrooms are equipped with SmartBoards, Apple TVs and Macbooks. Students all have Chromebooks, and Schoology plays a large role in most classes. Phones, too, are valuable tools that allow for facilitated communications as they are alternative approaches to learning and access to a wide variety of resources. Despite recent debates over banning cellphones in classrooms, doing so would hinder progress in schools.

Cellphones serve as valuable tools for communication.

dents from learning the material, but it also gives high grades to students who don’t deserve them and instills bad studying habits. If one can always just look up the answer, why bother learning at all?

Overall, the negative effects of cellphones necessitates a ban on them, while taking them out of the cellphone pockets on occasion provides access to any necessary tools.

As technology changes and grows, we need to update our learning environments to account for it. Smartphone use in classrooms has become increasingly prevalent; however, the use of smartphones diminishes student learning and makes school a hostile environment for many individuals. It gives an advantage to academically dishonest students who don’t want to put their best foot forward, and leaves behind those who follow school rules. A cellphone pocket is the perfect solution to this issue. It makes it easy to take cellphones out when necessary, while letting the teacher control who has access and who does not. For Gunn to create the best possible learning environment, teachers throughout school need to require students to keep their cellphones stowed away during class. It’s time to focus on the lecture.

–Suzani, a junior, is a Features Editor.

Schoology, where classroom reminders are frequently posted, can be easily accessed with only a few swipes. School-wide posts, such as student activities updates, provide students with valuable information that they might otherwise miss. Banning phones will reduce access to these posts during school hours, and students might forget that they need to pick up their homecoming shirts or that the library will be closed for a staff meeting.

Students who prefer to use apps such as Reminders or Google Calendar to track their assignments and commitments would consequently be severely disadvantaged through the institution of a cellphone ban.

In a school as large as Gunn, phones play an important role in communication with friends. If students want to find each other during lunch or ask for a ride after school, they can simply dial up a friend. Without phones, this communication is greatly limited, and students won’t be able to contact acquaintances across campus as easily.

Cellphones are also important to keep track of the school schedule. With the notorious “alternate schedule” appearing

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a less forgiving real world environment, such as future places of employment.

Phones cannot simply be replaced by Chromebooks or personal computers. While students can also access features such as Kahoot, Google Calendar or Schoology on a computer, doing so is much less convenient.

Phones are hand-held devices that are created for convenient usage of these features; banning them forces us to backtrack technologically. Additionally, if we are banning phones in order to remove distractions, we can not ignore that computers can similarly distract students. Students can just as easily access social media or virtual games using their computers.

While cellphones can be distracting, it should be up to the teachers to decide the cellphone policy in their classrooms. Requiring school-wide limitations on cellphone use only serves to reduce the independence of teaching styles in classrooms.

As technology move forward, schools cannot stay with the old ways. Banning cellphones keeps us in the past. It is impossible to prevent students from being distracted and while phones are potential distractions, they are a valuable tool that students rely on. Schools must embrace the fact that phones have become an important part of students’ daily lives, and should work to integrate phones into the learning system.

periodically, it can be confusing for students to know the schedule. Even seniors frequently do not have a grasp on the schedule and need to check the legendary “Gunn App” to figure out if they have Spanish or math class next.

The frequent use of alternate schedules prevents us from having a set schedule written down.

Interactive activities, such as Kahoot or Quizlet Live, also rely on access to cellphones. These tools allow for hands-on learning, where students are able to apply their knowledge in a fun activity that can enhance their engagement and motivation.

Without cellphones, the ability to effectively use tools that have been designed for interactive classroom experiences is limited.

Allowing phones in schools helps to prepare students for the future. Upon graduation, students will be left to navigate the world on their own. They must use high school years to develop skills needed to succeed, which includes the self-control to not be distracted by cellphones. By banning phones, schools hinder valuable development which occurs during the teenage years; high school is a time for students to build their real world skills, and self-control is a major one.

Schools must help teach students responsibility, and this includes the appropriate usage of phones.

If schools do not help students –Moraes-Liu, a senior, is a News learn responsibility, it is likely Editor. they will not know what to do in

4

Forum

Superficial Instagram activism deters action

Faces in the Crowd: What is your perspective on student activism?

Annika Bereny It all began in 8th grade, when my friends and I organized the March 14 walkout for gun violence at our middle school.

When we heard about the nationwide walkouts students were planning, we knew we had to join in. Together, our we went to a few student council meetings, bargained with admin on the specific details and tried to spread awareness on social media and the school announcements.

When the day finally came, it seemed like such a dream: a couple hundred middle schoolers parading around the school, with my friends and me at the front yelling chants through a megaphone.

After that experience, I thought I knew everything about activism; I thought I was a big fish in the small Palo Alto activist pond. But then, the March 24 gun violence protest came, and I was out of town; the Women’s March came, and I slept through it. I missed every protest I actually had to make an effort for. During the recent Climate Strike, I sat in class throughout the march, tapping through Instagram stories, liking and retweeting pictures from the strike. There I was, the self-titled “activist kid,” watching the world pass me by.

After the Climate Strike, I met up with my friends who had skipped class to go to the event in San Jose. They made signs, took the train and stood up for what they believed in. The spontaneity that seemed to flow through their veins had hit a dam in mine. The event was cool, they said.

They made friends and felt like a part of the movement.

Sounds dope, I told them. I wish I could have come, since I’m feeling like such an Instagram activist lately.

Silence. I looked around. “I’m not an Instagram activist, am I?” I asked them. One of my friends looked down. “You kind of are,” she said.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t be an Instagram activist.

I couldn’t be one of those people who followed @feminist on Instagram, but stayed silent when faced with injustice. I couldn’t be one of those people who sees everyone putting one specific post on their Instagram story and rushes to put it on theirs too in support. I was different; I posted screenshots of tweets where you could see that I retweeted it and then filled up the rest of the page with text explaining just how bad this issue actually was. I always found a different post from the one everyone was posting just to show that I was different. I was a “real” activist.

Yet slowly, I realized that I was an Instagram activist after all; all I did was post about issues without actually doing anything. I had a sense of moral superiority because I had organized a protest once. But I can’t call myself an activist unless I actually make an effort to be one.

Look, I get that not everyone can just drop everything and go to a protest, but there are other ways to get involved.

If you truly care about these issues, there are ways to help beyond donating: get involved with a campaign, knock on doors and work for your cause. You have to fight for the future that you believe in.

–Bereny, a sophomore, is a Centerfold Editor.

“Since most students are unable to participate in the election process, it's a good way for their voices to be heard.”

Diane Ichikawa, English teacher

“It’s really good that people stand up for what they believe in and bring these topics to light, because it’s important to talk about them.”

Kevin Fan, 12

“I think it’s a good thing that students can speak out about what they are passionate about.”

Justin Brown, English teacher

“It’s good that people are aware of the good and bad things that are happening in today’s society.

Sometimes their methods aren’t the greatest, but I think it’s good that people are educated.”

Vishnu Srinivas, 12 —Compiled by Sophia Stern

Jocelyn Wang

Students call for a Vietnam War Awareness Week, 1973.

Students march in the San Leandro protest to speak out against increased funding for prisons and decreased funding for schools, 1998.

In the af te rmath of the Columbine shooting, students band together in solidarity against gun violence, 1999.

Grace Liu and Jamie Wang Photos by Melissa Ding

Students gather at City Hall to protest hate and discrimination, calling for unity, 2016.

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Forum

Friday, November 1, 2019

Audrey Tseng and Jamie Wang

Student activism, advocacy must expand beyond social media to education, discussion of issues can come together as a community of survivors for the rest of the year. source? People seem to think that to bring light to things happening all According to Gun Violence Archive, reposting or following will make a over the world. However, while the there were 343 mass shootings in 2018, difference, when really no matter how internet has been a great resource for and just this year, there have been many times a post is spread throughout petitioning and gaining thousands 288 as of Sept. 1. Although there have the internet, it’s nowhere near as of signatures, it really doesn’t cause been more mass shootings in America powerful as going out and speaking to Madison Nguyen any change. As a society, we can’t this year than there have been days, inform others about the issue. forget the power of actually seeing very few have raised awareness for A s st udent s, it ’s d i f f icu lt to thousands or even millions of people this fact.

It seems as if after determine how exactly one It’s the second week of the 2019 all over the world fight for a common everyone stopped posting could voice concer ns to 2020 school year. You open the Social media isn’t cause in moving influential people to about it the first time, about the unjust and Instagram app and begin to flip through also believe in the cause and make a t he problem d id n’t hor r i f y i ng ac t ion s stories but only see one type of post: a bad way to relay permanent change.

The face-to-face exist anymore and t h at o c c u r d a i l y.

“Repost on your story and we’ll donate information to contact, the combined passion no one even cared Social media seems one dollar to stop the fires.” thousands or millions of people, the yelling and that this is still such like it’s t he easy Chile, Hong Kong, the posters are all worth a prevalent issue in w ay out—it on ly L e b a non , s i ng le - u s e of people; however, so much more than a our country today. takes clicking two Countless students pla st ic, A ma zon it’s not where activism number on a screen.

T h i s m o v e m e n t , buttons to get your rainforest fire and raise awareness should end, but where Before the internet a n d m a n y o t h e r voice out there. But police br uta lit y: by flooding their and social media m o v e m e n t s w h i c h if one truly believes in these are just a few it should start. even existed, those mainly take place online a cause and is willing to of the events that Instagram stories, but w h o d e m a n d e d burn out so quickly that fight for it, demanding have damaged or are very few get involved change brought many tend to forget they even change shouldn’t just stop currently damaging together rallies of happened.

However, campaigns that put at that.

Students don’t need to actively in protests outside of our world today. After people to protest on hours and months into planning are protest everyday about what is going news of events that the internet. t he st re et s of t hei r able to forge human, rather than digital on, but they should speak to their fellow infringe on human rights cit y; t he C iv i l R ig ht s connection.

Furthermore, just earlier classmates about issues that they are or raise controversy come movement involved 14 this year, the Amazon Rainforest passionate about.

Many seem to confuse out, countless students raise years of organized protest f ires caused many people fighting for something with simply awareness by flooding their Instagram b e f o r e g o v e r n m e n t a l to donate to charities making a big scene, but it only takes one stories, but very few get involved in officials heard the voices a nd upload pic t ure s person to gather followers and create a protests outside of the internet. While The face-to-face o f p r o t e s t o r s a n d a nd v id e o s o f t h e community where common knowledge many people in today’s society believe contact, the combined racial discrimination fires to the internet. and interests are shared. Social media that just posting about protests online is passion of people, the became illegal However, the most isn’t a bad way to relay information to equivalent to “doing their part,” it raises yelling and the posters under the law. common reposted millions of people; however, it’s not the question of whether what they’re In comparison image stated: “For where activism should end, but where are all worth so much doing is truly effective or will cause to that, how is one e ver y fol low a nd it should start. Students should post any change. Students should partake in more than simply singular post going to repost, we’ll donate about what concerns them on social raising awareness by not only posting seeing a number on a change the world? $1 to the Amazon aid media, but they should also tr uly about it on social media, but actually screen.

In March 2018, after foundation.”

In reality, educate themselves about these issues spreading their opinions to their peers a plethora of shootings many of these promises and discuss them with their community. and community offline. rocked A merica, students, ended up being fake, and were Students need to educate themselves Activ ism is essentially actively teachers and parents raced to the just ploys to get more followers.

If with the injustices in our community campaigning or protesting to make a streets of their cities to advocate for students really cared about this cause and world in order to help make the political or social change. However, g un cont rol a nd dema nd cha nge. and how damaging it would be to the world a better place. on many platforms of social media, it These protests continued on, and env ironment, why didn’t they just is unclear whether posting will have organizations such as March For Our donate to reliable charities themselves, a positive influence. Social media has –Nguyen, a junior, is a Features Editor.

Lives continued to share the stories instead of going through an unreliable provided a platform where many people

Photos from Oracle and Catamount archives

Following the Parkland school shooting, students protest across the street from Gunn and advocate for gun control, 2018.

Over 70 students participate in a walkout to promote gun safety on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, 2018.

As part of a series of nationwide stri ke s fo r c l i m ate c h a n g e action, protestors march through University Avenue, 2019.

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Features

Titan Tales: students share their Life stoRies, experiences Senior Robin Lee Badminton Player

Sports play a central role in the lives of many students. Spending several hours a week practicing these activities can create lasting friendships and memories with other team members. Senior Robin Lee first joined the badminton team as a freshman and now plays on the varsity team. “My brother introduced me to badminton,” he said. “I started straight into tryouts. It was a rough week.”

Lee believes badminton helped him grow and challenge himself. “To me, it’s not just a sport,” he said. “It’s more of a part of me. I’m a different person because of it.”

One practice Lee will never forget was a summer training that pushed him to the limit and opened his eyes to the value of teamwork. “One day, it was really hard,” he said. “They made us do three push-ups after a lot of repetitive exercises, and I couldn’t do three pushups so we had to run a mile. This was a group of people, so they all hated me for it.” Practices like these, while rough, are what make badminton such a valuable and memorable part of Lee’s life.

Badminton has taught Lee important lessons in perseverance. Through hard work, he has been able to improve his skills. “My freshman year I was weak,” he said. “I was kind of bad. Over time, little by little, as I learned more and more, I got stronger and more fit. If you believe in what you can do, then you can do it.” Through his hard work, Lee was able to become team captain in his sophomore year and an integral part of the team junior year, but is no longer a captain since last year the badminton team abolished the position.

Teammates are one of the most valuable aspects of sports, and Lee believes that friendships from badminton will stick with him for the rest of his life. “Your friends can really motivate you to do stuff,” he said. “That’s one of my biggest inspirations for continuing.”

Our extracurriculars help us shape our identities, and Lee views badminton as having transformed him, both physically and spiritually. “I used to be weak and a chub-chub when I was a freshman,” he said. “Over time, I gained confidence and became a leader.” Without badminton, he does not believe he would be who he is today. “I learned many life skills such as sympathy, humility and having grit,” he said.

—Written by Elisa Moraes-Liu

Editor’s Note To create this spread, The Oracle randomly selected five students from the student body. Our goal was to demonstrate one of the primary ideals of journalism—that everyone, no matter what path of life they come from, has an important story to share. We are pleased to showcase some of those stories on these pages.

Ever since he joined the program his junior year, the Gunn Robotics Team (GRT) has been an essential part of senior Quinn Arbolante’s life. As a veteran team member, Arbolante has had unwavering commitment, working for the team for the past two years. Through GRT, his passion for robotics has grown. His previous experience with GRT advisor Kristina Granlund Moyer, who taught his Introduction to Engineering and Design (IED) class, led him to decide to apply.

Over the course of his two years on the team, Arbolante has risen through the ranks, starting as a rookie and eventually becoming one of the team leaders. As the current Computer Numerical Control (CNC) lead for GRT, Arbolante has gained countless positive experiences from participating in robotics. “I can get stuck in my own head sometimes,” Arbolante said.

“So it’s nice to be able to go somewhere and work hands-on and see what I’m doing and make something.”

Arbolante and the team have been able to build a community of support, working together with preciseness, dexterity and great chemistry. Together, they have been able to achieve success in their final projects.“It’s significantly harder to continue and succeed without support from others,” Arbolante said. “So in GRT, you get a lot of that support to work on things and you learn a lot about how to communicate with others.”

The team has also been able to move forward together through the common goal of succeeding in tournaments. “Last year we went to two regionals,” Arbolante said. “There were a lot of team bonding and spirit experiences going out for a couple days, seeing this robot that you’ve been working on for months now in action.”

The process to build a robot for GRT is long but rewarding. It starts at the beginning of the year, when the tasks that the robot must complete are announced. This leads to brainstorming, coming up with a design, building a prototype, planning out the building for the final robot and the long-awaited build season.

Through his involvement on the robotics team, Arbolante has received multiple takeaways, each one preparing him for more machinery involvement to come. Looking at the future, he acknowledges the presence GRT will have in his life. “I want to keep building things [in the future],” Arbolante said. “I really like the idea of creating something that stays and impacts other people.”

—Written by Calvin Cai

Senior Quinn Arbolante Gunn Robotics Team Member

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Features

Friday, November 1, 2019

Freshman Paul Kramer Bilingual Boy Scout

If you met freshman Paul Kramer, you would be surprised to learn that he is not a native English speaker, has interests in law enforcement and owns a bookselling company that has donated hundreds of dollars.

Kramer’s experiences have been shaped by his nationality. Kramer is from Germany and moved to the United States when he was in sixth grade. In order to assimilate into American life, Kramer taught himself English in just one short year, studying two or three hours a day. “I had a social brick wall built in front of me,” he said. “Of course, not knowing English, it’s hard to make friends.”

Kramer found a lot of solace in returning home. “When I came to visit some friends during the summer in Germany, they threw this huge party with all of my previous teachers, friends and family which was kind of awesome,” he said. “It just showed me how much people appreciated me.”

Despite having to learn English in only one year, Kramer believes that his toughest life experience has come in backpacking with Boy Scouts. “We had to carry 14 days of food with us, 14 days of rain gear, clothes, paper and water,” he said. “It was crazy.

Basically we did the 14 days of backpacking and there was a physical and mental challenge, being stuck with the same people for 14 days.”

Kramer says that his passion for Boy Scouts has fed into his interests in law enforcement. “It is sort of close to Boy Scouts and the general things I like to do in my free time,” he said. “Sports, academics and, yeah, law enforcement in general is a cool job to have. It requires critical thinking which is what I am good at.”

In addition to being bilingual and a Boy Scout, Kramer also runs his own business. One summer, while in Germany, Kramer and his friend challenged themselves to make money in an unorthodox way. That’s when they came up with 4book, a company that buys and resells books. “We thought a book company would be great and we’ve been able to grow a whole business plan and sell lots of books,” he said. “Actually, just less than a month ago, we made over a thousand dollars of profit for ourselves in addition to a thousand that we’ve donated to the synagogue.”

Kramer’s mentor, Stanford professor Scott Atlas, has helped him grow and operate the business. “I’ve met with him a couple of times for my business that I run and he sort of helped me get into the whole market of running the business and how to do it,” he said.

Atlas’s philosophy has helped inspire Kramer to stand by his beliefs, no matter what others around him may think. “Another thing is he’s Republican,” he said. “I’m surprised there are Republicans at Stanford, but it’s just kind of awesome to see someone like him sort of speak out too. He just shows me to be myself and not worry about what other people think.”

Apart from Boy Scouts and his business ventures, Kramer enjoys playing the trumpet. “I was on a television show playing trumpet when I was about 10,” he said. “It was a kid’s talent show and I played trumpet and I ended up getting third out of a couple hundred participants, which was cool.”

—Written by Devon Lee

Graphic by Grace Liu and Jamie Wang

Junior Cate Schmoller Supportive Sister

Outwardly, junior Cate Schmoller resembles a typical teenager; she’s a gregarious, positive person who values her social life and her cat. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she attended Barron Park Elementary School and Fletcher Middle School. But since coming to Gunn, something in her life unexpectedly and gradually changed.

Enter freshman Bridget Schmoller: similar to her sister in interests, sense of humor and looks.

Despite a two-year age difference, she’s been one of her sister’s closest confidants.

It was around the time when Cate Schmoller became a high schooler that she found she could trust and rely on her only sibling. Since then, she has been glad to have a supportive sisterhood.

“We are able to talk to each other about things that are going on in our lives that we wouldn’t normally be able to talk to other people about,” she said.

This past summer, she faced an intimidating landmark in her path to autonomy: traveling without her parents. For a week, she lived a continent away, in Costa Rica, participating in a turtle conservation project.

Even without parental guidance, she was not completely alone. She had her sister to accompany her into the foreign world.

From the start, Cate Schmoller found herself in awe of the country. Its scenery and environment made it memorable; she was surrounded by Spanish, a language that she had always wanted to learn. To help the country’s turtle population, she and her sister helped aerate sand, move eggs to safer locations and clean up the beaches. The definite benefits for nature made the hard work both wholesome and rewarding. “By cleaning up the beaches, we were doing a lot of good things for wildlife, for the turtles but also for the rest of the animals that were there,” Cate Schmoller said.

The trip was both a step toward independence and a bonding experience for the sisters, who shared a living space while navigating a strange new world. A few months later, Cate Schmoller still looks back on her time in Costa Rica with fondness. “I definitely would return and go there for a longer amount of time,” she said. “It was really pretty, and it just seems like a good place to be.”

From traveling to foreign countries to everyday life at school, the sisters remain close. This year, Cate Schmoller faced the tough decision to discontinue participation in volleyball at Gunn due to an increased workload. Despite the difficulty of dropping a sport she had played for seven years, she knew her sister supported her choice.

Now, with Bridget Schmoller joining Gunn’s community, their reliance on each other comes full circle. Just as the two bonded during Cate Schmoller’s introduction to high school, this time, it’s the older sibling who gets to offer advice for her younger sister. As Bridget Schmoller starts her journey navigating through high school, the two can surely look forward to achieving new milestones together. As before, the two of them are in it together.

—Written by Jessica Wang

To find more random generator stories, check out gunnoracle. com or go to the following QR Code.

Photos by Melissa Ding

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Cente

Remake vs. Original: The Oracl

The Lion King (1994) vs. (2019)

Sherlock (2010) vs. Elementary (2016)

“The Lion King” (2019) is literally just a worse version of the same movie. The creators copied many of the shots exactly, and the only things that they added were pointless backstory or unnecessary bits of humor. The only actual difference in the films is the graphics. With modern-day technology and advancements in the film industry, computer-generated imaging (CGI) has improved massively.

So, with the remake, Disney practically copied and pasted the 1994 story into a 2019 look, with animated fur, realistic animals and more aesthetic sunsets. But here’s the thing: the original’s graphics were not even bad, especially for the time of release. If anything, the new, hyper-realistic CGI will only distract you from the ultimate purpose of the film.

The only major change besides the visuals was the all-star cast. Interesting, yes, but the cast’s performance was a disappointment at best. When I first saw the movie’s trailer, I was intrigued by the cast, including insanely popular names like Beyoncé and Donald Glover (known musically as Childish Gambino), as well as comedy legends such as Seth Rogen and Keegan-Michael Key. However, the familiarity of the voices from the original was taken away, and it just seemed weird watching these well-known animals having different voices. They copied four of the songs exactly, and to be honest the original soundtrack had much better performances (sorry, Beyoncé). The new version doesn’t give the same energy or impact to the audience that I recall from earlier.

Look at the reviews. The 1994 film was very well received, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93% and a Metacritic score of 88. In comparison, you can clearly see what a disaster the 2019 film was. It got 53% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 55% on Metacritic. Clearly, audiences greatly favored the original.

Even with its poor ratings, however, the new movie raked in a lot of money.

This establishes the fact that the remake was a simple cash-grab: Disney attracted people’s attention by making it look cool and trying to reboot an amazing, nostalgic animation, and didn’t care about the story or the filmmaking. “The Lion King” (2019) generated a box office total of $1.629 billion while the original made just under 1 billion. However, a dollar in 1994 was obviously worth more than a dollar today. According to Box Office Mojo, when adjusted for inflation, the original made upwards of $800 million, while the remake made around $540 million. It’s frustrating that such a bad movie was able to generate such high revenue, but considering the changes in the value of the dollar reveals much about the qualities of both films. This also shows that Disney was solely focused on making money and that the public fell for it, making the remake the seventh highest grossing film of all time.

There was no point in remaking “The Lion King.” There was virtually no fan demand for this, and Disney did more harm than good.

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published “A Study in Scarlet” in 1887, he could have never anticipated the cultural phenomenon that his main character, Sherlock Holmes, would one day become. The book has spawned multiple TV shows and movies, including “Sherlock” (2010) and “Elementary” (2012). Although Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock remains a classic, its remake, Elementary, provides a unique take on an old story.

The characters of Elementary are more representative of diversity in the modern world and have concrete character arcs that depict both their flaws and their strengths to a far greater extent than “Sherlock.” One thing that’s always been known about Sherlock Holmes through every adaptation, is that he trades off being a genius for lower social skills. This is explored in “Sherlock,” with Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the main character, using his physicality and frantic, unexplained movements to explore Sherlock’s quick thinking, but also his inability to work with others or pick up on social cues. “Elementary” follows that same example. Sherlock, played by Jonny Lee Miller, isn’t perfect at solving crimes; he often makes mistakes and beats himself up about it, his partner can be the person to solve the mystery and, especially when it comes to Moriarty/ Irene Adler, Sherlock can be completely dead wrong. This is what makes him far more likable than Cumberbatch’s interpretation. Miller portrays Sherlock as just another human. It’s these sorts of fully explored character arcs that allow each character to really suck at times that make the show so watchable. Yes, Cumberbatch’s Sherlock may inspire watchers to feel bad for him, but Miller’s Sherlock has human issues and explores them effectively.

In terms of plot, “Sherlock” episodes are longer and fewer in number, so it becomes easier to follow one story while “Elementary” focuses more on everyday lives. In “Sherlock,” the length of the episodes means one story becomes a big deal, and it is easy to leave the watcher on edge in suspense. The perpetrators of the crimes often aren’t obvious either, and can come out of the blue. Also, Sherlock isn’t afraid to “go there” and even ends a season on a huge cliffhanger, leaving the audience unsure of what just occurred. On the other hand, “Elementary” episodes are shorter but cover interesting and innovative cases. They can explore everything from snake venom in a chef’s food to the dangers of being in a gang.

One does end up with a sort of “Spidey sense” for who the killer is. Still, it’s a good thing that the person who committed the crimes is often involved early, since it eliminates the frustration that accompanies the surprises in “Sherlock.”

Both shows follow interesting crimes and have good plots, but the biggest difference is whether or not the watcher can figure out who committed the crime before Sherlock does.

Overall, both shows have their bright moments and their downfalls. “Sherlock” is exactly what one would expect after reading “A Study in Scarlet” and stays true to its foundations. “Elementary’s” modern take introduces diversity and explores characters to a new level. When it comes to the best of the best? I’d have to cast my vote for “Elementary”.

—Written by Nikki Suzani

—Written by Charlie Bush

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Friday, November 1, 2019

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le revives the lifelong debate

Westworld (1973) vs. (2016)

The Karate Kid (1984) vs. (2010)

Watching the 1973 movie “Westworld” and its 2016 television series remake is akin to watching two completely different works: while both begin with the same premise, what each adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel chooses to do with this premise is radically different.

In the near future, humanity has constructed a series of amusement parks designed to resemble specific times and places—Westworld aims to be a perfect replica of the Wild West. Life-like robots, known as hosts, serve as actors in the park, and guests are allowed to freely abuse the hosts without suffering consequences. Each night, the robots are repaired and their memories are cleared, looping them into a day-by-day existence.

Both versions of “Westworld” begin by revealing that there have been increasing numbers of malfunctions among the robots. Spoilers—the hosts aren’t breaking down, but are in fact gaining sentience and seek revenge for the abuse they’ve suffered. By the third act, the hosts are in active rebellion, throwing the park into chaos.

Where the show and film differ is the time it takes to reach this point. It should be pointed out that some episodes of the 2016 show are longer than the entirety of the 1973 film (which runs just under 90 minutes). As such, it takes about an hour for the movie to show the robots in all-out revolution. It takes the show— spoilers!—an entire season.

Another trade-off for the extremely short length of the 1973 film is the simplicity of the plot. In essence, two protagonists are followed as they visit Westworld, hosts start malfunctioning, protagonists escape from evil robots, protagonists kill evil robots, roll credits.

Yet the storyline of the 2016 “Westworld” is nothing like that of its predecessor.

To start, the story is told from the perspective of both the hosts and the guests, and neither side is portrayed as explicitly good or evil. The show also takes the idea of the hosts living in loops and expands upon the concept: multiple episodes feature the same scenes, with just enough difference to let the audience know something is changing, even if they can’t quite place their finger on it.

And that’s just the start of the mental focus required to enjoy this show. The question of what consciousness is exactly is raised frequently, and philosophical commentary is delivered with convincing gravity in monologues by Anthony Hopkins’ character. Confusion abounds: viewers can never be sure which characters are hosts and which are humans, because that’s the point of several plot twists.

Oh, and did I mention the show’s narrative jumps between different timelines?

At times, it feels like all the elements that define this show shouldn’t be possible, but they are, and are utilized well to pay off in a satisfying, and revelatory climax.

These two adaptations of Michael Crichton’s classic sci-fi novel are nearly unrecognizable as the same story save for the premise. The 1973 film shines through as a mindless, action-packed romp of an adventure. The 2016 show, though, is a masterpiece that forces viewers to keep up with a plot that always seems to be two steps ahead until the resoundingly brilliant conclusion.

In “The Karate Kid” (1984), Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) kept audiences at the edge of their seats as his momentous crane kick led the young martial artist to victory. Audiences were able to relive the somewhat nostalgic magic of karate kicks and roaring cheers from the crowd 26 years later in its 2010 remake. “The Karate Kid” (2010), starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, while integrating various differences into a similarly structured plotline, managed to offer viewers an exciting take on the beloved story of overcoming hardships.

The original film follows LaRusso as he moves from New Jersey to Southern California with his mother. He soon becomes the target of a group of bullies from his high school; with the help of martial arts master Mr. Miyagi, LaRusso trains to compete against them. In its remake, it’s 12-year-old Dre Parker that is training alongside Mr. Han in an attempt to improve his kung fu to defeat his school bully, Cheng. While there is a considerable age difference between LaRusso and Parker, the stakes are high for both, and there is the same amount of physical violence shown on screen.

While the framework of the two films is similar, even down to the title, the remake’s plot takes on a few variations: for one, Parker learns kung fu to defend himself, contrary to the title, thus resulting in the change from a Japanese to Chinese martial arts master. Furthermore, Parker does not move across the country; rather, he and his mother experience a cultural and linguistic shift as they leave the U.S. for China. “The Karate Kid” undergoes a cultural shift of its own: the 1984 film featured a heavily white cast and was fully in English; in 2010, the film stemmed out from this original plotline to offer bilingual dialogue and more cultural representation behind kung fu. While “jacket on, jacket off” can’t replace “wax on, wax off,” the landscape shots of China pull the remake together and truly captivate the audience with more high-quality filming than what was available in the original.

This top-tier filming comes into play in the most famous scene of the movie: the last moments of the tournament where the bully loses to the now empowered karate kid. The crane kick is surely iconic and leads LaRusso to victory as his mother and schoolmates rush to him, ending the film with a sweet happily ever after. Yet, the moment audiences have been waiting for is exactly that: short and sweet. The scene lacks close-ups of the kid who has everything to lose or the worried parent on the sidelines, thus lacking in complexity. This is where the remake wins: the camera focuses in on Parker and the mental anguish he experiences as he stands face-to-face with his enemy, Cheng, who faces extreme pressure from his kung fu teacher and from his own determination to defeat Parker, Mr. Han, who, unlike Mr. Miyagi’s glare at the Cobra Kai teacher, wears a face of caution and worry for his student and Mrs. Parker, who’s uncertain over her sons’ safety in the tournament. While the 1984 film is indeed a classic, the remake successfully offers a varying outlook on a similar plot and added touches of complexity that audiences will cherish.

—Written by Angela Wong

—Written by Joshua Yang Graphics by Shannon Lin

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Features

STudents find creative outlet Senior Nina Chen Fashion Designing

Sophomore Alex Gu Drawing The dexterity of art is one not many are able to conquer, but those who do are able to truly turn a piece of paper into a masterpiece. With charcoal as his weapon of choice, sophomore Alex Gu has been drawing since he was very young, allowing him to better his craft one day at a time, every day working towards his artistic goals. Through his journey as an charcoalist, his passion for art has been able to flourish as he has matured.

Beginning at a young age, his zeal has grown through his dedication, consistency and enthusiasm. “I started drawing when I was five years old,” he said. “My mom sent me to an art teacher and I’m still his student today.”

Gu’s hyperrealistic art is displayed on his Instagram account @_artgu_.

Gu says his sources for inspiration can be anything and everything he sees around him. Because of that, he must always make sure to keep an attentive eye out wherever he goes. “I draw my inspiration from my observations of the behavior of people around me,” Gu said.

Art has surrounded Gu throughout his life, and he enters his art in a variety of competitions. “I’m most proud of a piece I did in the spring that won first place in a competition in Los Angeles,” Gu said. “The

Late at night past her bedtime, when the only noises that could be heard were the snoring of her brothers deep in sleep and the chirping of the crickets outside, nine-year-old Nina Chen sat cross-legged in front of her mother’s sewing machine. Without the internet’s help, Chen was left with only one option: fiddle with the machine until she could make shirts with fixed buttons come out from the other end. Chen would soon learn that the power to create clothing was not contained in the machine itself, but within her own hands.

Chen, who is now a senior, has always been naturally drawn to admire different fashion styles as she passed store windows. “I used to be into really high-end fashion and how people designed and embroidered those elaborate pieces of clothing,” she said. “So, I would look at the clothing and break them down in my head to figure out how each piece was created. Then, I would test it out with some materials, and I’d be like, ‘Oh, I want to try to make that with this piece of fabric.”

In second grade, Chen attended a colonial fair where where students were able to work with embroidery and needle work. “I just really liked sticking my needle through the fabric and making nice designs,” she said. “I officially started sewing when I was in late elementary to middle school when I got a decent sewing machine. I would start to make small clothing for my dolls, and then I upgraded to a bigger sewing machine.”

Chen’s lifelong interest in fashion may seem like destiny, but the combination of cultural stigma and gender biases had often dissuaded her from pursuing it further. “There’s this Asian pressure that you shouldn’t do anything artsy, and that you should do business or [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] instead,” she said. “I thought it’d be cool if I could do fashion design. But then I thought, ‘I’m probably going to get disowned by my parents if I do fashion design.’ So, I went on and off of wanting to do fashion but also not wanting to do fashion.” Chen’s uncertainty was highlighted by her own siblings. “I was very much a tomboy when I was younger because I grew up with two brothers, so I didn’t want to be different from them,” she said. “Fashion design was out of the question if I wanted to fit in with them.”

Chen now sees her passion as self-sustaining. “Now, I don’t really care,” Chen said. “I do what I want. If it makes me happy, then I’m going to go do it.”

Her dedication and persistence in expanding her skills will continue into Chen’s college life, where she plans to major in fashion design. Later, she hopes to start her own fashion line and create affordable, sustainable clothing in order to help the environment.

In the meantime, Chen spends her summers teaching elementary and middle schoolers how to sew clothing to donate to charity.

Chen has indeed come full circle in her fashion design journey. She is no longer the second grader that was completely clueless about how to make simple pieces of clothing. Now, Chen spends her hours unveiling to current second graders the exact magic that she once found when tinkering with her mother’s sewing machine in the second grade. “It’s really cool to have little kids look up to me and be like, ‘Oh, my gosh. She made that.’ I say, ‘Yes, I did make that. And so can you.’”

—Written by Angela Wong

piece took me 30 hours, and I spent most of my spring break working on [it].” The prompt for the competition instructed competitors to portray some jobs they saw Chinese Americans working in. With his dedication and showcasing of many occupations, Gu’s piece was able to impress the judges and win the competition.

Gu struggles with fitting art into his everyday schedule. “The hardest part is definitely balancing art and schoolwork,” Gu said. “I spend close to 12 hours a week on art, which can rise to 20 hours a week before the deadline for big competitions such as Young Arts [competition] or [the] Scholastic [Art and Writing Awards].” But because he has been drawing since he was five years old, along the way, he has learned how to deal with that burden. “I have learned to plan my time for all of my extracurriculars and schoolwork,” he said.

Gu has discovered that the key to persevering in his art is having intrinsic motivation. “You should make art you enjoy, so you’re motivated to keep on practicing,” he said.

Gu treats art as a form of expression, sending a message to the audience.

“Art is a way for me to add my opinion to the table and express my ideas,” Gu said.

Looking to his future and how art plays into it, Gu is unsure of any wishes to pursue it. “I’m going to create an art portfolio to apply for college, but it is unlikely I will continue art in college,” he said. “After college, I doubt I’ll have time for art, which is why I try to make the most of the free time I have in the present.”

At the end of the day, art pays off for those who are committed to it. To Gu, it is a window to the human psyche, a way to express oneself creatively and, most importantly, a way to bring people together. “I’ve met a lot of my close friends through my art teacher,” Gu said. “Art is just who I am.”

—Written by Annika Bereny

Features

Friday, November 1, 2019

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through passion for art, design Sophomore Anna Toksvig Photography “I looked really stupid.” That was the first thought sophomore Anna Toksvig had while sifting through the photos on her old Nikon camera, viewing her old childhood selfies that were taken with manual focus. That moment, however, marked the beginning of a flourishing passion.

Toksvig started her photography journey in seventh grade, when she found her dad’s camera while digging through her family’s old belongings.

Intrigued by the relic, she began taking photos of flowers in farmer’s markets, and soon took her camera everywhere she went.

One of Toksvig’s favorite works was from a photoshoot done with her friend, Lara Botto. In the photo, her friend is shown skateboarding while wearing a dress, which represents female empowerment. Another memorable photo was taken on a visit to Buenos Aires for a language and culture immersion trip. The photo depicts profiles with striking eyes, “enhanced” by the delicacy of butterflies landing on the models’ faces.

Toksvig gets most of her inspiration from in-the-moment photos. “There was just this one photo of an African male in South Africa,” she said. “The theme was party and protest and he was flipping the camera off. [He] seemed mad, but his face [was in] pure ecstasy. He was in this party. He was angry, but he was in the moment. And I was really in awe of that photo.”

These photos inspired Toksvig to embark on her own activist journey.

“I’m planning on attending the Women’s March and trying to get pictures of people who, you know, are ‘there,’” she said. “They’re part of the group, but they’re also not because they’re fighting for something that they feel has been neglected. And I think that’s really inspiring. Just capturing those moments that your brain will eventually forget, I just love it.”

Another difficult part of being a photographer is the audience surrounding the subject. “Everyone’s like, ‘If you take too many selfies, you’re kind of vain—you think too highly of yourself,’” Toksvig said. She feels that during photoshoots, onlookers sometimes emit a judgemental or hostile atmosphere. She cited her skateboarding piece as an example, recalling the other skaters’ hostility towards her friend skating in a dress. “It’s not just me that environment [is affecting] but [also] the person that I’m taking photos of, and I don’t like people to be distracted when I’m taking photos of them.”

Nevertheless, Toksvig admits that photography has played a massive role

Senior Will Hardison Videography

From a young age, filmmaker senior Will Hardison would film his life, uploading the footage to his YouTube channel. These videos are still there, showcasing his evolution as an artist.

Hardison’s passion for filmmaking was sparked by a class that he took in school. “I got into filmmaking in seventh grade because I took the video production course at JLS Middle School [taught by Jamie] Buddle, and I just fell in love with the idea of filmmaking. The next year, I encouraged all my friends to take the class,” he said. “They all did, and we started making videos together as a group, which definitely made me have a lot more fun with everything.”

Hardison credits his enjoyment of the activity to his friends. “I guess that’s what made it fun for me. It became something that I was able to do with my friends or something I could do in my free time, rather than doing a chore or something along those lines,” he said.

Editing is Hardison’s favorite part of filmmaking, especially because it’s often underlooked. “I like editing the most because that’s where you make the whole movie your own. You know you could have a good story and stuff, but the editing really makes the movie flow and makes the scenes work. It differentiates a good movie from an average one,” he said. “I love to add random stuff in there and just mess around.”

Like many artists, Hardison is ready to continue working with his passion in college and in his future careers. “I’m applying to schools that all have film departments. I’m planning on either pursuing a minor or major in film along with another major probably in the sciences, like biology,” he said. “In the future, I would love to pursue film as a career or something along the lines of film or photography.”

Throughout his young career in cinematography, Hardison has made many films. However, when asked what his favorite was, Hardison decided that for now, it was a film called “Deface” that he made with several classmates. “I put a lot of effort into the movie and we made ‘Deface’ in school,” he said. “It was our capstone project for the advanced video production class.

Sadly, we didn’t get to spend enough time on it, but we put a lot of effort into it, we’d shot a lot and the cinematography is good.”

Hardison has learned that he needs to think on his feet when he encounters a plethora of setbacks in his film-making. “You know, it’s really hard to manage people when you’re directing because filming takes in a bunch of components. For example, you have filmmakers, actors and others. You usually have like six or seven people, and there are confusing online chats.

You also need to conform to other people’s schedules to be able to get a lot of people together on one day.”

Hardison believes students don’t realize the time, expenses and effort required for cinematography. “It’s expensive. It’s hard to do. I feel like people kind of underestimate the time that goes into making a movie,” he said. “I don’t know if you know the movie ‘Moonlight,’ but they spent like six or seven years making that movie.”

Hardison also believes his passion for cinematography has changed the way he watches movies. “I’m always looking at movies and I’m thinking about how they got the shot or the editing, or like, the pacing might feel slow or too fast,” he said. “You kind of get to notice, especially as time goes on, how movies have evolved.”

—Written by Ryan Manesh

in her current interests and passions.

“It’s like physically seeing things through a lens,” Toksvig said. “Everything just moves so fast in your life. And when you’re able to capture those really cool moments that you [don’t] think you’ll ever seen again, you can keep looking back on it and think ‘wow, that’s crazy.’” She hopes that in the future, she’ll have the opportunity to study film, despite the challenge of manually setting everything.

For aspiring photographers, Toksvig recommends using YouTube tutorials and the internet to start off. According to Toksvig, although fiddling with the camera by yourself does provide an entertaining experience, it falls short on efficiency. She also recommends finding a theme to work towards.

“You could have two styles like I have two styles. I have that dreamy style, and then I have that activism-like intense, raw emotion style,” she said. “Get those things that really inspire you, and then use those to further impact how you want to do things.”

—Written by Shannon Lin

Photos by Mia Knezevic and Melissa Ding

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Sports

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Friday, November 1, 2019

Tips, tricks To fake sports expertise Elisa Moraes-Liu As a former The Oracle Sports Editor, one may expect that I am knowledgeable about athletics. The truth is, however, I’m still not sure what sport is being played in the World Series or what month March Madness starts in.

Last year, after seeing the disappointment in former Sports Editor Eric Epstein’s face when I asked for the third time, “What is the Super Bowl?” I realized that in order to fit in, I must embrace the culture of “sports-loving.”

The best trick technique to use when pretending to like sports is simply nodding along and smiling. If you’re not an actual sports fan, you probably have no idea what your teacher is saying when they lead the class discussion in the direction of how “Kwame Brown was the worst draft pick.” The best strategy in these situations is to laugh along with the rest of the class, pretending you understand what’s going on. If you simply go along with the crowd, no one will stop and question if you even know what sport is played in the “National Basketball Association.”

Another thing to remember when pretending to like sports is to be casual about it. If you don’t actually know anything about baseball, you should not show up to school wearing San Francisco Giants merchandise. This is a novice mistake. While to an outside observer it may look like you are an avid baseball fan, the risks are far too great. If you are wearing sports merchandise, there is a high probability that somebody will ask you what you thought of the “game last night.” In this situation, it is likely you will be exposed as a fraud. If you want to pretend you like baseball, the best strategy is quickly googling “World Series” and skimming the headlines to give yourself fast conversation starters.

Sports culture dominates conversations and Snapchat stories, and it can be difficult to embrace if you are not an avid sports fan. While pretending to like sports is easy on a small scale, it is important to not get too wrapped up in it. You risk ending up watching a three-hour baseball game without knowing what’s going on when you could be at home catching up on “Cake Boss.” The majority of people won’t actually care if you do not know anything about the World Series or the Tour-de-France.

Oftentimes the best strategy is simply saying, “I do not follow sports.”

— Moraes-Liu, a senior, is a News Editor.

Jocelyn Wang To read a story on how to get into sports, check out our website at gunnoracle.com

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Sports

Athletes share past Students sidelined by various injuries injury experiences Titan athletes experience range of injuries and recovery times during their respective seasons

Injuries are a common part of playing a sport. They can break careers or force athletes to come back even stronger. Senior Theo Makler, who has been swimming for 12 years, started developing a shoulder injury during his freshman year of high school. The injury began flaring up sophomore year, when it took a dramatic turn. “At that point, I wasn’t able to swim as much as I would have liked to and I kept going through high school season,” he said.

“As soon as the high school season ended, I started taking more drastic action and at that point I was very much out of the pool.”

Last May, Makler received shoulder surgery that kept him away from the sport. Makler says he is still not completely recovered but has been working extremely hard to get there. “At this point I am increasing the yardage daily and increasing the amount of physical therapy that I am doing,” Makler said.

Staying out of the pool has been a challenge. The hardest part for Makler has been not being able to spend time with his team.

“I had been swimming for 12 years and it’s like a second home.

Not being able to participate in that community has been very difficult,” Makler said. “That along with not being able to do the sport that I love to do, it’s hard to wrap my head around and it took awhile but I’m working on it.”

Senior water polo player Isobel Taylor has also struggled with an injury. “I started having problems with my elbow around sophomore year, which kept me out of the pool,” Taylor said. She tried to push through her injury but it made things worse and she had to stay out of the pool for longer. Taylor struggled with not being able to play water polo and bond with her team. “I felt like I couldn’t really help them, which was really frustrating,” she said.

Ever since Taylor started playing in sixth grade at Fletcher Middle School, water polo has become a big part of her life.

Taylor says she feels weird not playing, missing the adrenaline rush she experiences from competing. But after hard work and physical therapy Taylor was able to get back in the pool. Taylor thinks that the injury improved her mental toughness and made her an overall better water polo player. “The injury really taught me how to appreciate my team and the sport because it can just be taken away so quickly,” Taylor said.

—Written by Kate Mallery

Senior Erica Margheschu Ski Racer Injury: Torn Knee Ligament Recovery Time: One year

Senior Jimmy Hahn Soccer Player Injury: Stress Fracture in Back Recovery Time: Two months

Freshman Pooja Bucklin Water Polo Player Injury: UCL Sprain Recovery Time: Two weeks

Senior Haaken Pedersen Track and Field Runner Injury: Displaced and Shattered Fibula Recovery Time: Eight months

Photos by Melissa Ding

Senior Will Hardison Soccer Player Injury: Torn ACL Recovery Time: Seven months

Senior Claire Fiorentino Volleyball Player Injury: Torn MCL and Dislocated Right Knee Recovery Time: One year

—Compiled by Ryan Manesh

Lifestyle

Friday, November 1, 2019

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HALLOWEEN AFTERMATH: WHAT TO DO WITH EXTRA ITEMS Leftover Candy It’s the day after Halloween, and you’re in possession of the unthinkable: too much candy. Perhaps you’re starting to realize that you were overzealous in ringing doorbells the night before, and you’re staring at your mountainous trick-or-treating haul in astonishment. Perhaps there was a surprising deficiency of callers at your house and you’re left with a giant bowl of candy and unopened super-sized bags. Either way, Halloween left you with an abundance of treats, and if you don’t have the biggest sweet tooth, no worries. There are plenty of uses for your leftover Halloween candy.

The obvious choice is to save it. That doesn’t mean hoarding it for years until it becomes stale and crumbly. Saving is a calculated waiting game. Around Halloween, candy is Grace Liu ubiquitous and undervalued, but after a few months, it’ll be a hot commodity. Clever savers can then use sweets as an incentive to spice up a game or even as currency for favors. Alternatively, if you have good self-control, ration your candy out or pack a few pieces for lunch to reward yourself after a particularly difficult test. As a last resort, you can always keep it to distribute next Halloween. Happily oblivious trick-or-treaters won’t be able to tell that it’s recycled candy . . . hopefully.

To turn something common into something unique, try baking dessert with your extra candy. You can even invite friends or family members to help out and have fun.

Extra candy corn can become the nose of an Oreo snowman or the feathers of an Oreo turkey, right on time for the seasonal holidays. Transforming Oreos doesn’t require an oven at all—just melted chocolate chips and decorative candy. Stained glass cookies are another example of candy-based treats; they use crushed, melted hard candy to create a smooth, stained glass effect in the center of a cut-out cookie.

For those feeling generous, it’s always nice to share extra candy. If you have younger relatives attending a Thanksgiving dinner, keep in mind

that candy means the world to most kids.

Who knows? Candy handouts just might earn you a promotion to “Favorite Relative.”

Other occasions like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Va lent ine’s Day and birthdays are perfect opportunities to make a thoughtful gift out of someone’s favorite sweet.

Consider bringing your generosity to the school community.

Distribute extra candy at your lunch club or among your friends.

You can give candy to your teachers with a suggestion that they use it as a prize for a future class activity.

Want to make a larger impact? National programs such as Soldier’s Angels, Operation Gratitude and Halloween Candy Buy Back will take your surplus Halloween candy and distribute it in care packages for veterans and deployed troops. Donors can offload extra candy at drop-off locations or ship them in the mail with the satisfaction of knowing they’ll make someone’s day. Two drop-off sites within ten miles of Gunn are Fenwick & West LLP in Mountain View, an Operation Gratitude location, and Safari Run in Sunnyvale, a Soldier’s Angels location.

Visit the organizations’ websites for more information.

With these options in mind, please don’t let your leftover Halloween candy languish in a stash for years. It has value, whether as a saved reward, a creative baked good or a meaningful gift. So go ahead, take something sweet and make someone smile.

—Written by Jessica Wang

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Leftover Costumes If you’ve ever dressed up for Halloween, you know the struggle of the aftermath. Costumes from past years pile up and soon turn into a graveyard of forgotten ensembles. Have you ever wondered what you could do with them? Well, here are a few solutions.

Donating to Goodwill, the Salvation Army or any other thrift store is a great way to put your old costumes to good use. These stores are also great places to shop for a costume, or parts of one. You can drop your old costumes, clothes, toys and furniture off at any store, or find a drop-off location that is more convenient for you, such as drop-off boxes located at gas stations and various stores, Goodwill trucks that stop at Palo Alto High School and many more.

An alternative to donating costumes is lending or giving them to others. This is a great solution if you can’t bear to completely let go of your favorite costume.

It is also an excellent way to help others in need of a costume for the next year. Swapping costumes with friends and letting others use them (especially if you’ve outgrown them) is a great way to help those around you.

There are many websites or groups on which you can sell old costumes. For example, Gunn has a Facebook group called “New Clothes,” where people can sell old clothes, books and even costumes. It is especially helpful during spirit weeks like homecoming week because many people sell their costumes from the year before.

For many people, this saves them a lot of stress because it is a

cheaper and more accessible way to fulfill their dress-up desires.

It is also a great idea to save and use your old costumes for future spirit events.

As we all know, dressing up for spirit events like homec oming week require s fairly expensive and elaborate costumes. One of the best feelings is already knowing that you have the materials for a day of dress-up. Chances are, if you’ve ever dressed up in a basic Halloween costume, you’ll have at least one of the days covered.

Repurposing your Halloween costume is a great and environmentally friendly way to expand your wardrobe. You could turn a shirt into a tank top or even crop the bottom and make the scraps of fabric into a headband. Not only do you get a new shirt that has great memories attached to it, but you also save money and make an environmentally friendly decision by not buying more fast fashion.

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—Written by Genna Bishop

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Lifestyle

Gunn theater presents fall play: “The Importance of Being Earnest ” Entering the Studio Theater, you can feel the electricity in the air as actors and tech crew members scurry across the stage, getting into costume, laying out props and devouring cucumber sandwiches. This is the scene that accompanies the creation of this year’s fall play, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” The show opens on Friday, Nov. 8 and closes on Saturday, Nov. 16; students can watch various combinations of actors from two dual casts throughout the performances.

A typical rehearsal for the cast begins with meditation. After getting into the right headspace for their roles, the actors go over the director’s notes and get into their appropriate costumes to be ready and adjusted for the play. “Then we’re up and out and sometimes we’ll do a bonding exercise or a trust game to get people warmed up,” Shelby said. “And sometimes we’ll go right into their stage movements. Now we’re into running the play.”

Student director senior Katie Brown is responsible for staging scenes and taking notes. “We usually have rehearsals every single day and usually how we do it is we run different scenes and we nitpick on each scene,” she said. “Especially with the actors, there’s a lot of dialogue in this play so they have to memorize a lot of lines and they have to go over and over that every day.”

The theme for this year’s play is heavily influenced by previous years’ shows. Last year, theater ran the fall play “Metamorphoses” and performed its biannual musical production “In the Heights.” According to Shelby, the tone of this year’s play is a nice refresher from last year’s. “I try to shake things up so that I don’t do a whole year of dark or two years,” he said. “This is just the opposite. It is a perfect example of a farce, meaning [something] written to delight people.”

One unique trait of this play is that the dialogue is spoken in an upper class British dialect. Due to the time setting of the play, actors have to practice performing as if they were in Victorian England.

Shelby believes that this aspect adds to the overall charm of the play.

“One butler has a lower class Cockney accent, but the others, even the servants, have upper-class,” he said. “And it makes people happy to speak British dialect, I think. I don’t know why, but it’s really fun.”

The tech crew has also been hard at work ensuring that the stage resembles Victorian England, according to stage manager senior Nelea Fong. “We really want to make sure that the audience is actually put into the time,” Fong said. “I think that the costumes, the props and the set are a really important part of that.”

The play will take place on three sets: a receiving room in a London apartment, a garden in a country house and the library of that country

house. In order to accommodate minimal What's yo space in the wings, the stage tech class has u built sets that have moving parts. “We don’t of workin r favorite part g with th have a lot of wing space to bring in whole eatre? different sets,” Shelby said. “So, things turn and slide and come on and go off in a really funny way to change the set for us.”

One challenge this year’s production team faced is the cast itself. There are two cast members to play each character, with different combinations of actors performing nightly. This allows for more roles and opportunities for students who want to perform. “That “I li k e adds extra complications, because we how st u d e n ts pected a r e e xto have to make sure that everyone gets super vis work without much “ The best io n o r the chance to play against everybody, guidan —Yonata the sho par t of being p ce.” n Maor ar t w , 12 and that everyone is comfortable in la s t in g is ma k ing stro of n ge r bond s a c n lo whatever cast they’re playing with,” d g e t t in ser to ev e g r y o n e — Quinc Fong said. “But it’s been fun to figure y Rosen in the cast.” z weig, 1 0 out. It’s always interesting to see how different people play the same character.”

Brown also believes that this year’s double cast created some unique challenges they had to accomodate for during rehearsals.

“We put a timer for 15 minutes and every 15 minutes we switch “I like b eing par actors,” she said. “So they have t of munit y and bein the cast comto be taking notes and paying w it h so g able to many a work “ It ’s we —Isabe attention to their counterpart l Fer rell some people.” fr ie a n e a s y w a y to m a k , 12 nds.” e when they’re not on stage.”

—Nomi R a n, 9 In Shelby’s eyes, Wilde’s description of the play is what sums it up best. “Oscar Wilde —Comp iled by called it a trivial comedy for Melissa Ding serious people and I think that’s a nice little line,” he said. “It’s a farce, so there’s nothing very heavy about it but there’s a Photos by Melissa Ding lot of joy.”

Graphics by Jamie Wang —Written by Devon Lee

Members of the tech crew discuss construction plans with mentors.

Senior Annabel Lee dresses the set.

Senior Joey Best lounges in a chair for his role as Algernon Moncreiff.

Freshman Nomi Ran assembles set pieces.

Photos by Melissa Ding

Senior Isabel Stewart enters onto the stage.

Costumes hang on rack in preparation for the show.

Juniors Jennifer Guzman and Sarah Emberling relax in the green room.

Senior Sofia Rakicevic-More sips a cup of tea.