February 5, 2010

Page 6: Students face the pressure to partitcipate in a sport.

High Tide

Redondo Union High School

XC Number 7

631 Vincent Park, Redondo Beach, CA 90277

focus

There will be a boys’ basketball game tonight at Mira Costa. Go out and support your fellow Sea Hawks.

go green

general

Information

by Emily Sutton

The ASB Finance Office is open for student business at the following times only: before school, after school, snack, and lunch.

the Detention

The College and Career Center student visit times are before and after school, at snack and at lunch. The center is closed during class hours except by appointment.

Dilemma

Club

Information

by Josh Hillsburg and Anthony Leong

Auto Club-10 California Scholarship Federation- 301 Chess Club- 64 Fellowship of Christian Athletes- 823 French Club- 808

info for

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to be more organized? If so, Planners are now only $2.00 each while supplies last! Get one now and be organized for your new semester assignments.

Purchase in room 202.

Sign-up for Grad Night 2010! Forms are in the Administration hallway or at redondounion.org under links. Cost $80 until April 30th, $100 after.

Turn in completed forms and payment to Michaelle Obear in the Administration building. This event is separate from the senior class Disneyland allnighter.

A wedding band has been found and turned in to the attendance office.

Singing valentines are here! Show that special someone how much you care by sending them a Singing Valentine in their third period class.

Send a card and a song for $3, and add a flower for just $1 more. Singing Valentines will be on sale all this week and next week during lunch in the Freshman Circle, and will be delivered on February 12th.

Students : The profile sheets from Mexico are in room 404! If you are interested in hosting a student from Mexico April 19-May 2 stop by and pick up this week.

The High Tide is now available online. See: www.hightideonline.org

weekend

weather

Saturday: Rain 58˚/46˚ Sunday: Sunny 61˚/45˚ Source: www.weather.com

High Tide What’s Inside...

Pages 2......................News Page 3...................Opinion Page 4,5,6..............Features Pages 7,8..................Sports

February 5, 2010

LEED enables campus to

Friday

Students

Page 5: What is love? Students experience love, hooking up, and long-distance relationships.

ILLUSTRATION BY MOLLY SIMON

Administration seeks to change detention policy due to lack of effective punishment Due to budget constraints, detentions are now only held at lunch and snack on Fridays.

“We used to have a full-time detention supervisor,” Assistant Principal Megan Cassette said. “However, we lost funding for that position, so we had to reduce [detentions] to only once a week.”

In past years, detentions were held daily and students were able to choose between serving at lunch and snack or after school by a certain date. As a result of California’s budget crisis, the administration can no longer afford supervised detentions everyday.

“Because of [the budget cuts], we’ve lost a counseling position, a secretarial position, and an assistant principal position,” Cassette said.

“We’ve even lost a couple teaching positions.

When we have to make big cuts, it’s usually the staff members that get caught.”

The previous full-time detention supervisor had her position cut halfway through the last school year and was temporarily replaced by former secretary, Julie Bassine.

“Mrs. Bassine filled in during snack and lunch everyday out of the goodness of her heart,” Newman said.

Bassine left at the end of the year, however, to pursue a promotion as secretary at Adams Middle School.

Limited detention supervision has had its

share of shortcomings, according to biology teacher Ann Bhare.

“Detentions used to be served after school,” Bhare said. “It put the student out more.”

Even students feel the old method was

“It doesn’t appear to be working.Not everyone is showing up to their detentions. Students are forgetting.”

–– John Newman more effective.

“It’s not that bad to just have time taken out of my school day,” sophomore Eric Emdee said.

Now, the administration is facing problems with unserved detentions.

“It doesn’t appear to be working,“ Newman said. “Not everyone is showing up to their detentions. Students are forgetting.”

Math teacher Daniel Prinkey feels that the detention system is ineffective in disciplining students.

“It’s supposed to hinder future rule breaking. But in reality, I don’t think it does,” Prin-

key said.

Despite this view, Prinkey continues to utilize the detention system.

“But there’s nothing else I can do; teachers are sort of limited with what they can do,” Prinkey said. “I’m just following protocol.”

In an attempt to reform, the administration is considering methods that would allow detentions to be held more frequently.

“We’d like to have it more often. We’re looking at different options, possibly holding it daily after school,” Cassette said.

Newman is certain that the switch to daily after school detentions will occur soon, if not in the next year.

“Part of the reason we’re switching to the daily detentions is to deal with the issue of student attendance,” he said. “We’ve been pulling kids in and telling them that they need to go [serve their detentions].”

Cassette believes that a more effective method of punishing students would be having the students serve the detentions the same day they committed the violation.

“If we ever got the positions back that we had lost, I think it would be better for students to serve the detention the same day they broke the rule,” she said. “The whole purpose of consequences is to change behavior.

The consequences have to be uncomfortable enough to change student behavior.”

With construction underway, the school is aiming for a more environmentally friendly campus by participating in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a program that rewards the school for making environmentally friendly changes.

“Every time we do something that is ecofriendly, whether it is involved with our construction or our school’s everyday lifestyle, we get a certain amount of points,” John Newman, Assistant Principal, said.

The LEED program has influenced the construction plans greatly, providing ideas and rewards for a more environmentally conscious campus.

The construction is giving Redondo the opportunity to maximize its use of the resources already available through recycling.

“We’re recycling just about everything as we demolish it,” Newman said. “We’re recycling parts of the gym building, the pool, the field house, and other buildings around campus.”

The LEED program has encouraged the school to use old materials that would have normally been thrown out.

“We broke the benches off one by one on the away side [of Sea Hawk Bowl] and are going to be able to reuse and sell all of the metal used to make them,” Newman said.

The concrete and re-bar of buildings that are being torn down is being recycled for various purposes such as filling drainage basins in and around the school.

“We are trying to either reuse everything being demolished for our campus directly or to sell it to companies who can reuse it,” Newman said.

The program was created by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998, which provides a set of standards for construction that is environmentally sustainable. LEED certified buildings use their resources more efficiently and are also more environmentally friendly.

In addition, the school will be saving money by conserving energy.

“We’re installing solar panels in both the small gym and the big gym as well as powering 70 to 80 percent of the pool’s heating system by solar energy. The solar panels will save the school a lot of money in the long run,” Newman said.

While many of the construction innovations aim to save money, some are simply to create a healthier and more Eco-friendly environment at school.

“We are attempting to go green with the new construction, and the LEED program is helping us achieve that goal,” Newman said.

School aims to raise thousands for Haiti

by Emily Vavrek

The history department and ASB have teamed up to donate money and supplies to help Haiti after the 7.0 earthquake.

Donations of blankets, clothes, food, medical supplies, baby supplies, and money are being collected to aid the people. The teachers will send the money donations through Red Cross and the other donations through the Help the Children Organization.

“I think that it’s really good that high school students are stepping up to help those in need,” sophomore Brooke Rocha said.

While collecting donations, history teachers Amber Keller and Lani Sarachild ran into some obstacles. At first, Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Goodwill said they would take supplies, but then changed to only cash.

“Luckily I was able to find a few organizations that would take supplies not just cash, which helped out a lot.” Keller said So far, the teachers and ASB have

collected a little under $500 and many provisions for the Haitians. They are accepting donations of either money or supplies until Feb. 10, when the Help the Children organization will pick them up.

The two organizations were thinking of how they could help more, when the Rotary club presented the idea of sending Shelter Boxes to Principal Mary Little, who passed the idea along to ASB Adviser Sheri Gross.

Each Shelter Box is 110 pounds, waterproof, and is used for food storage or as a cot. Items put into the shelter box are selected for durability, practicality, and sustainability. What goes into the box depends on the type of situation that the people are experiencing.

The Shelter Box contains two tents that can hold 10 people with multipurpose blankets and sleeping mats, a children’s kit with school supplies, a coloring book, a multi-fueled cooking stove, and eating utensiles (www.shelterbox. org.)

A school wide fundraiser will take place on Tuesday Feb. 9 in fourth period. A representative from ASB will be in every classroom to collect the money, and run it back to ASB. “Depending on how much money we provide on Feb. 9, we will be able to provide shelter for the people of Haiti,” Gross said One Shelter Box costs $1,000. Little’s goal is to raise $3,00 and send three shelter boxes to Haiti. “I’m going to risk saying that we’ll exceed that goal,” Little said, “Let’s make this event a proud moment for the Sea Hawks.”

Little is confident that the students will come together to help with the relief efforts and is proud of the school’s generosity.

“I am proud of the compassion of our teachers and students, and their efforts to reach out to the people of Haiti,” Little said. “The collection of supplies and money to help in the relief efforts will make a difference in the lives of the people in Haiti.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN BECK

Students learn in a Haitian classroom. Before the earthquake, Haiti was the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere. The school’s contribution will shelter displaced citizens.

Page

News

2

February 5, 2010

Save the

Date Following the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, the RBUSD is considering adding Jewish holidays to the designated days off.

by Camille Duong

Following the Manhattan Beach Unified School District (MBUSD), the Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education is contemplating adding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to the calendar as non-school days.

According to city councilman Matthew Kilroy, these days fall in the middle of the week, so the school board would only really be adding one day instead of getting both days of separately.

This is what the MBUSD has done, according to Kilroy.

“I favor combining all the three-day weekends in January and February and simply have one week off,” he said.

Another reason for this change is to save the district money from the absences that occur to observe the holidays.

“It is pretty easy to tell when there is an unusually high absence rate and I feel confident that the district has analyzed the numbers,” Kilroy said.

They lose approximately $7,500 in average daily attendance from the state for those additional absences. According to Kilroy, there are also other times during the

Whatabout students?

education,” Furmansky said.

But there is also the concern of a disruption in teaching and understanding for students who are not there to learn the information necessary due to religious reasons.

“Of greater concern than just the dollars and cents though is how these changes affect teaching and student learning,” Kilroy said. “It is difficult for students to catch up on concepts they missed and work that was completed in class.”

Furmansky agrees with this because it can be difficult for her to complete the necessary work.

“Sometimes it is hard to make up the homework and class work because I was not there to learn the information,” Furmansky said.

The way the teachers actually teach has no effect because of this change, according to Kilroy. Contract and

“I think it would be better to get these holidays off because people who do practice Judaism are allowed to practice their faith without having to compromise their education.”

—Alex Furmansky

The RBUSD is considering adding more holidays to the school calendar, but to what extent will it serve students’ needs?

How frequently have you been taken you taken out of school for travel purposes?

1-3 days (30%)

year where there are unusually high absences.

“It is not unusual to have students extend a three day holiday weekend to four days, taking an extra day off school,” he said. “Recognizing this and making certain days local holidays makes sense from an educational point of view.”

Being Jewish herself, sophomore Alex Furmansky agrees because she can now practice her religion and still maintain her grades.

“I think it would be better to get these holidays off because the people who do practice Judaism are allowed to practice their faith without having to compromise their

For what reasons have you been taken out of school other than illness?

Did you ever leave school for travelrelated purposes when you were younger (middle/elementary school)?

Yes (73%)

I have never been out of school for traveling purposes (40%) 4-6 days (6%) over 7 days (7%)

No answer (3%) educational purposes (3%)

Yes (8%) family reasons (18%)

Never (57%)

Have you ever been taken out of school for religious purposes (Yom Kippur, Good Friday, etc.)?

the state law govern the number of school days. The number of school days will remain the same despite the new free days.

“In short we will just begin school sooner in September or get out of school later in June,” he said.

Furmansky agrees with this reasoning for the reason that the beginning and or ending of the school year do not affect her .

“I do not actually oppose this change because it allows me to go to Temple with my family and to not fall behind with my school work,” Furmansky said. “ Because of that I am allowed to follow my faith and keep up the grades I have in school.”

According to Kilroy, he would rather keep church and state separate stating that the “purist” in him would rather not recognize any particular religion or group.

“However the practical side of me sees the benefit in this case and the minimal negative impact,” Kilroy said.

“Keeping in mind that nothing is permanent and what has been changed can always be changed again depending upon circumstance.”

vacation/recreation (29%)

No (24%) No answer (3%)

Based on a survey of 157 students.

Dance Guard plans for success with formal

by Melissa Rosero and Brianna Egan

Dance Guard expects its winter formal, Bright Lights, Big City to be more successful than last year, due to certain modifications.

Unlike last year’s winter formal which was held in the school gym, this year’s will be held at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Feb. 27.

“Even though the dance will be held on off-school grounds, the Crowne Plaza is giving us a really good deal,” co-assistant captain, Savannah Irving, said.

The Dance Guard team, which plans the Winter Formal as their yearly fundraiser, hopes that the change in location, aside from being beneficial to their budget, will change students’ minds about the dance.

“We are trying to change people’s views of the winter formal and make them realize how enjoyable it is, especially since the dance will be held in a ballroom where you can wear semi-formal clothing,” said co-assistant captain Gianna Esposito.

The semi-formal dance will include a dessert bar, music provided by a live DJ with student-requested songs, and a photography package - with everything included at a lower price than last year.

Dance Guard anticipates a larger turnout due to the reduced price which is currently $26 with an ASB sticker and $31 without an ASB sticker. They declined to state last year’s price, which was substantially higher.

“Because [the ticket price] is cheaper this year, more people will be willing to come,” Nicole Alexander, Dance Guard captain, said.

Despite being held in a hotel, the Dance Guard captains stated that the cost of the preparations for this year’s formal is significantly lower than the cost of last year’s

No (89%)

PHOTO BY ERIKA GAVITT

Dance Guard members cut a rug at last year’s winter formal. The team hopes to increase turnout this year by changing the venue and price of the dance.

profitless formal.

“We were in debt last year because the cost of the party planner company was outrageously expensive,” Irving said.

However, the decor for Bright Lights, Big City will still be appropriate to the theme, though they will be hand made.

“We spent more [money] last year because of the DJ and decorations, so this year there are still going to be good decorations but we are making them on our own instead of buying expensive ones,” Esposito said.

Among other hand crafted items, this year’s decorations feature a black-and-white color scheme and will include a city skyline with hanging string lights.

Dance Guard is looking forward to the event and has been advertising with posters and verbal recommendations in the expectation that the dance will be a success.

“I hope to see more people come this year, because it will be a lot of fun,” Alexander said.

Opinion

February 5, 2010

Page

Letters to the Editor

3

sonya speaks

by Sonya Egan

#topic: twitter

If you have an opinion about one of the articles published in the High Tide, we welcome letters to the editor.

We reserve the right to edit them for content, grammar and space constraints. Letters must be signed, and are not guaranteed to be printed.

Please bring signed letters to room 209.

High Tide Editor-in-Chief: Sonya Egan Managing Editors: Danielle Lew; Austin Pritzkat News Editors: Molly Simon; Claire Simon Opinion Editor: Jackson Greer Features Editors: Julia Uriarte; Sophia Lykke; Ashley Pournamdari; Dylan Futrell; Jonathan Martin; Jake Collins Sports Editor: Jessica Cascio Photo Editors: Daniel Fallon; Erika Gavitt Copy Editors: Josh Hillsburg; Joey Hoy; Brittney Madera; Adam Ammerntorp; Mark Rieth Cartoonists: Josh Hillsburg; Jake Collins Staff Writers: Vanessa Alarcon; Cody Anderson; Ramya Bhaskar; Shannon Bowman; Claire Chiara; Kelsey Chung; Alexis Curtis-Olson; Michael Cross; Ciara Diaz; Kaelee Epstein; Daniel Garzon; Allie Goldberg; Ulises Gonzalez; Garrett Gutierrez; Meglyn Huber; Bethany Kawa; David Kawa; Steven King;Anthony Leong; Elisa Martinez; Cammille Mitchell; Asad Nazif; Alexandra O’Hagan; Joy Ohiomoba; Alison Peet-Lukes; Madeline Perrault; Alix Politanoff; Melissa Rosero; Allison Salazar; Derek Sarno; Katie Scheyer; Laura Shodall; Casey Smith; Shelby Stitch; Shayna Stuart; Emily Sutton; Emily Vavrek; Anneliese Wilson; Alyssa Wolf Adviser: Mitch Ziegler The High Tide dedicates itself to producing a high-quality publication that both informs and entertains the entire student body.

This newspaper is a wholly student managed, designed and written newspaper that focuses on school and community events.

The High Tide is published by the journalism class at Redondo Union High School, 631 Vincent Park, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.

Advertising is $7.50 per column inch, $6.00 if paid in advance. For information call (310)798-8665 ext. 2210.

Signed commentaries and editorial cartoons represent the opinions of the writer or cartoonist and in no way reflect the opinions of the High Tide staff.

Going green is worth the green It seems that everyone is going green today.

From businesses to car companies to restaurants to schools, it has become common in today’s society to be environmentally healthy—and Redondo is no different.

The question is, are the benefits of going green really worth the cost and effort?

Many have been put into inconvenient situations since construction at the school started this year.

Classrooms have been moved, swimmers and water polo players have had to trek to Mira Costa to use its pool, and practice fields and former gyms have been held captive by work crews and tractors.

Most who are suffering now from the pains of construction will not even be able to enjoy the benefits of its completion.

If students can get past minor inconveniences like driving to Costa for practice and chang-

Editorial

ing in the T-buildings for P.E., then it will be easier to understand that construction will help the school and future students in the long run.

The cost of going green is not as big of a concern when looked at, after first glance. Even though solar panels to heat the new pool and other related accommodations may sound expensive, they will actually save the school money in the long run.

The school is recycling virtually everything it can in the construction process so it can be environmentally friendly and save money at the same time.

This concept of recycling during construction was presented to the school by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which rewards schools for making eco-friendly accommodations to their campuses.

As a result, the school is recycling such things as the benches from the old football stands to make the solar panels for the pool and using the concrete and re-bar of demol-

ished buildings to fill drainage basins around the school.

Since most of the new resources come from recycling during construction, the school is actually saving more money than one may think.

With the cost and effort relatively low, the benefits of going green significantly outweigh the detriments.

Even though the recycling saves the school money, it is also saving the environment.

By recycling and using solar energy, the school is making a much smaller biological foot print that it has in the past.

By carrying out these small steps to make a big difference in the posterity for our school and community Redondo will have hopefully set a precedent for other schools to follow.

This shows that the school and district are not just trying to save as much money as possible, but they are making the ethical decision to improve the environment of our local community.

Organic foods benefit health, environment

Alex Curtis-Olson

What we eat gives us energy and substance to grow as well as affect the world around us.

The scary thing is that little of the food we eat is in any way good for us or the environment, even excluding junk foods.

Meat is a wonderful place

to start.

Many vegetarians choose not to eat meat because of cruelty to animals, but the way the industry handles its business doesn’t affect just the animals.

Picture the hamburger you’re eating living its whole life standing in its own manure with hundreds of other cows.

When the cows are processed into storeready meat, they are still caked in manure.

The industry’s solution is to bathe the meat

in ammonia.

Anyone who has taken science should know that you are not supposed to eat ammonia.

This is not true of all the meat industry. Organic foods are required to pass several inspections before becoming certifiably organic, according to OCIA International.

Only 2 percent of our meat is organic, less than every other type of food.

Part of the reason for this is the that the demand for meat is so high.

People are demanding more meat, more often, and larger than is physically able to be produced by natural means.

The food pyramid taught to us in elementary school is misleading and tells us to eat two to three-ounce servings a day for a balanced meal.

A more official version of the pyramid offered by the United States Department of Agriculture suggests to eat less meat and to substitute beans as a source of protein.

According to Virginia Sole-Smith, author of an article in Real Simple Magazine, eating one vegetarian meal a week significantly reduces your risk of heart disease and some cancers, can save you about $360 a year, and has the same effect on the environment as “trading in a standard sedan for an ultra-efficient Prius hybrid.”

Eating organic is not easy with what the majority of grocery stores and supermarkets have to offer.

Nearly all grocery stores carry one or two organic brands, but since they are more expensive they sell less organic food and keep less in stock.

Shopping at the local farmers market not only makes it easy to find healthy food that’s good for the environment, but also supports local farms.

Eating organic is not only better for you, but tastes better, promotes weight loss, and fights against global warming, one meal at a time.

The six degrees of separation between me and Anderson Cooper has just gotten smaller. That, you say, is because he is old. And only older people have Twitters.

I was a skeptic too at first: birdlike imagery had never been appealing, and I used to cringe when people used the word “tweet” as a verb and not as an onomatopoetic adjective. What’s the point of Twitter when you can just text/call/email people to talk to them, and use facebook to stalk them?

My Twitter experience started when I set up an account for all the High Tide editors.

After resisting for so long, I finally decided to give Twitter a chance. Instead of texting 12 different people about this week’s deadline or calling each one about our weekend multimedia workshop, I simply “tweeted” (“twit?” I’m still getting used to the jargon) them the information. In half the time it would have taken to call them and with half the distractions of going on facebook, I was able to convey my 140-words-or-less message to the editors quickly and efficiently.

And when it comes to the fast-paced world of journalism, efficiency is everything.

For a New York Times-reading, tenniswatching, column-writing girl like me, Twitter functions outside of my extracurricular too. It’s become a new medium by which to get the news on Haiti, Serena’s latest results at the Australian Open, and even ideas for this column.

As for me, I probably have about four followers on my personal account. That is because no one cares about what I have to say, most likely because A) I am not a twitterati (famous, A-list tweeter), B) I’ve only had my Twitter for a week, and C) high school students generally don’t have Twitters. While twitter can be an awesome resource for realtime news or celebrity obsessions, I don’t use it to give play-by-plays of my trip to the zoo.

Although I don’t mind if Ashton Kutcher does.

True, there is something inherently lame about using the word “tweet” in any of its verb (or adjective) forms and I still maintain that face-to-face communication is best, but Twitter doesn’t seem all that pointless anymore. It definitely deserves more credit than high schoolers give it.

After all, Twitter is quickly becoming the future of communication. The world has gone from receiving news the day after it happens (newspapers), hours after it happens (TV), minutes after it happens (internet) and, now, seconds (Twitter). The High Tide, too, is trying to embrace the technology and media that is available to keep up with changing times and provide news in a timely and efficient matter––keep posted for updates.

To conclude, I think a “tweet” will suffice: Twitter=instant gratification. News and celebrity updates all in real-time, it’s the news medium of tmrw. And even Anderson Cooper has one.

Girls’ basketball fans lack spirit They both fly by the opposing team, sweat dripping from their foreheads, palms tired from dribbling. He shoots, scores, and the Flock jumps up roaring with applause. She shoots, scores, but no sound. The Flock isn’t even there.

Redondo has decent boys and Alix Politanoff girls basketball teams, but it is clear that the boys have a much larger audience and more support than the girls’ team does. At every boys’ game the Flock is present, but the Flock is never or rarely present at a girls’ game.

The boys’ games are faster paced and more intense than the girls’, which might explain why they have a larger audience and more enthusiasm and support. If the Flock made an effort to show up to a girls’ game, more people would come.

In general, women’s sports tend to be less interesting than men’s, but the girls’ team has done well this season. The girls just haven’t received as much recognition for their wins as the guys have.

At the boys’ basketball games there are always a large group of Flock members, and they are constantly cheering for the boys.

At the West game last Tuesday there was continuous cheering for the boys from the audience, Flock, and cheerleaders. One of the cheers that the Flock kept using to antagonize the other side was “Why so quiet?”

Also at halftime, the West High dance team, the Flock, and the cheerleaders would put on their own show.

The boys’ game has a great atmosphere and is much more competitive due to the competitive spirits of each team’s fans. People respect the boys’ team and they enjoy watching their games because they always have a good time.

But the girls’ game had me wondering “Why so quiet?” At the girls’ game there was much less energy and competitive spirit. The cheerleaders were present but it was dissapointing to see how they didn’t have as much enthusiasm for this game compared to the boys.’

Most of the time during girls’ games the audience is generally quiet and they only get really excited or start cheering when the game is about to end. The Flock was not present at the West game and many other games, which is probably why not many people show up to girls’ games.

The Flock should make more of an effort to show up to girls’ games. It would help to bring more people to the game and would make the girls’ basketball team feel better knowing that it has support.

During the West game it was also annoying to see how many people would just walk out inconsiderately in the middle of a free point by the girls’ team.

Girls’ basketball games are just not as entertaining as a boys’ game, due to the lack of people and support.

It’s great that the cheerleaders were present for the girls basketball game, but if they were more enthusiastic at the game it would help in attracting more people to

come watch the game.

The boys’ basketball games are far more exciting than the girls games due to the large number of people who come and the high-intensity game they play, but if the Flock and the cheerleaders and even some of the members of the girls basketball team made an effort to get more people out to the game and maybe assemble a halftime show of their own or add more entertainment, more people would probably show up.

Many people including the Flock might not want to

sit back to back for four hours watching both the boys and girls basketball games, but they should come to at least a couple of the girls’ games, or have a few Flock members split up to attend the boys’ game and a few come to the girls’.

The girls’ basketball team is decent and deserves the same amount of attention as the boys.’ People should give the girls a chance and attend more of their games, and bring as much enthusiasm to their games as they do for the boys.

Page

Features

4

February 5, 2010

Bald but not broken nSenior

Shannon Ketting comes to grips with her disease and gains self confidence

by Kelsey Chung

The hair clipper buzzed loudly near her ear and the vibrations tickled her head. Soon, the hair that was once attached to her head was covering the floor. After her boyfriend accidentally cut her hair too short, senior Shannon Ketting had decided to shave it off completely.

Although it was out of spontaneity, Ketting had wanted to shave her head since last year April. Ketting has lived with alopecia areata since birth. Alopecia areata is an auto immune disorder that attacks the hair follicles which causes round patches of hair to fall out.

“I just got really tired of having hair.

It was a hassle,” Ketting said. “I guess I was just letting the world know that I could care less about how I look and that I accept myself for who I am.”

Even though she feels confident today, that was not the case before. Having been ridiculed and teased in elementary school, Ketting felt ashamed, bothered, and even embarrased by her condition.

“Some kids were so mean. In fourth grade, they would try to pull my hat off and call me names like Baldy,” Ketting said.

“I wished I could be normal and have normal hair. I never went anywhere without [my hat]. I would always try to cover it up.”

The ridiculing traumatized Ketting and made her feel ashamed of her condition.

“I wished I could be normal and have normal hair. I never went anywhere without [my hat]. I would always try to cover it up.”

Before shaving her head, her disease made her feel self-

conscious.

“Earlier in my life I was extremely embarrassed about the disease. It was hard for me to be confident. I didn’t like when people stared and wondered why I was missing hair. It was hard to feel comfortable with myself,” Ketting said.

Nowadays, Ketting has a boyfriend and friends who fully support her.

Then on Jan. 10, while walking around the house in pajamas in boredome, Ketting suddenly felt a strong urge to cut her hair shorter. When her boyfriend accidentally cut it past her ears, she cried because, according to her, it looked awful. But instead of freaking out about it, she decided to buzz it since she had wanted

“Earlier in my life I was extremely embarassed about the disease. It was hard for me to be confident. I didnt like when people stared and wondered why I was missing hair.”

— Shannon Ketting to do shave it since last spring.

“Surprisingly, I felt nothing while doing that. I wasn’t worried or upset. It was a bit relieving,” Ketting said.

Ketting feels happier and more confident now that she has shaved her head.

“I figured if I shaved it, there was no possible way to cover it up. I saw it as a confidence boost. I don’t really see it as an issue anymore,” Ketting said. “I accept it. I love it actually” It has only been a little under one month since she shaved her head on Jan. 10 and so far, she has no regrets whatsoever and even finds life easier at times.

“If I don’t feel like dealing with hair, I don’t have to. Showering is less of a hassle. It’s [also] cool because I can make my hair match my clothes,” Ketting said.

Having experienced ridicule and support from her peers, Ketting feels that the “you can be confident if you let yourself.”

“I’m not being conceited or anything, but currently, I feel more beautiful than I ever have in my entire life. And now I can honestly say I am completely comfortable with myself and my disease,” Ketting said.

ALL PHOTOS BY JONATHAN MARTIN

Schonberg uses literature to teach about depression

by Asad Nazif

A sophomore wades through a line of his peers; outstretched arms guide him through the maze of elongated legs and shrieking classmates from the start, depression, to the end, relief from depression.

After sophomore classes read The Catcher in the Rye, counselor Arond Schonberg visits them to instruct them on depression, an idea built with Keith Fulthorp as a way to more directly speak with the students.

“It helps [the kids] understand depression,” Schonberg said.

Schonberg uses the novel and connects its main themes and events with depression, hoping to improve both the understanding of the book as well as the students’ take on depression.

The talk correlates with the novel by taking Holden, the main character, and analyzing and finding the warning signs of depression in his actions and words. Schonberg takes this correlation one step further by incorporating it as a classroom activity. The students are asked about how they would react to these warning signs and what types of techniques they would use to help Holden.

Resources and trust are the most important

elements, according to Schonberg. “[I want to] be more open and honest and give universality to [the concept of depression] and remove the stigma attached to it.” Schonberg said.

The responses to the lectures have been positive, stating that it was “funny yet serious” and a “great” form of learning.

But on a deeper note, Schonberg wants the kids to understand the problems associated with it. Focus and concentration loss can be present to people suffering from depression that can affect performance in school, according to Schonberg.

“Some of these kids notice the warning signs. Kids see it and say ‘I have a friend like that’ or ‘I know someone like that,’” Schonberg said.

Students have already approached Schonberg, telling him about their bouts with depression or another’s bouts with depression.

“These kids are in the middle ground, they’re not a child but they’re not an adult. It tears [them] apart,” Schonberg said.

The lecture is meant to help students learn not only of ways to notice and acknowledge the presence of depression but also of ways to combat it.

Iose plays in female football league

by Casey Smith

“[They] become more efficient, use resources [to their advantage] and trust,” Schonberg said.

According to Schonberg, this year alone, about 10 kids have come forward about their depression to counselors. Schonberg understands that deep depression is hard to deal with, almost impossible, but he continues forward.

“I wouldn’t say it necessarily saved people, but it definitely helped,” Schonberg said.

Schonberg has already incorporated other novels and concepts into his classroom guidance curriculum such as tolerance and diversity with Huckleberry Finn and To Kill

a Mockingbird.

However he hopes to expand beyond the scope of these novels into bullying with Lord of the Flies, dating and relationships with Romeo and Juliet, and strategies and study tactics that will help students become more efficient in other classes.

“I want to improve it and make it a little bit better,” Schonberg said.

Schonberg believes that the lecture has at least made an impact on the students.

“It shows counselors in a different light, we’re a resource for students not just someone you go to for schedule changes,” Schonberg said.

Students work to overcome problems posed by dyslexia

by Steven King

At the end of a typical school day, senior Zach Owens arrives puzzled at his locker.

The book that he needs to complete his homework is right on the tip of his tongue, but no matter how hard he tries, the name just doesn’t come to him. Owens looks down at his right hand where the word “Psychology” is scribbled. Owens puts the book into his pack and walks away.

Defined by The World Federation of neurology, dyslexia is a disorder manifested by difficulty learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and adequate sociocultural opportunity.

“I never realized until recently how much dyslexia affects my life,” Owens said. “I thought I only flipped numbers and letters around occasionally until I researched the full extent of the disorder.”

As a result of his disorder, Owens was held back in the second grade and tested

positive for dyslexia at the Torrance Reading Center at age seven.

To prevent daily life from becoming chaotic, Owens takes steps to counter dyslexia such as writing an assignment down on his hand, or programming it into his phone.

“There are tools that can be used to help suppress the symptoms of dyslexia,” Special Education Department Chair Marie Koorsen said.

“Students often study phonics, are taught coping skills, or try reading from colored paper which sometimes helps minimize mistakes.”

Owens, who plans to follow a career in music, has found that his disorder prevents

him from doing simple tasks.

“Dyslexia makes it hard to remember groups of things such as pitches, it also does not help that many of them sound similar.”

Owens said. “Also, some dyslexics find it very hard to sight read, so some actually make up their own way of writing down notes, others color code the staff and notes.”

Although dyslexia primarily affects reading skills, dyslexia also makes writing, sequencing, and spelling difficult as well.

“Dyslexia greatly effects reading level,” Koorsen said. “Typically, people living with dyslexia do not get beyond a fourth grade reading level.”

It is estimated that about 5-17 percent of people in the United States are dyslexic,

“I thought I only flipped numbers and letters around occasionally, until I researched the full extent of the disorder.”

— Zach Owens

but testing for the disorder is not always clear-cut.

“Its difficult to know the exact percentage of students with dyslexia,” Koorsen said.

“Students often do not self-identify the problem, unless they’re tested specifically for dyslexia.”

Because there are many variations and symptoms that accompany dyslexia, Owens does not believe that many people fully understand the disorder.

“I don’t believe many people truly understand dyslexia,” Owens said. “I believe that, in order to completely understand dyslexia, you have to experience it.”

Owens tries to remain optimistic in the face of his disorder because he knows he has to work harder to reach his goals than the people around him.

“Though dyslexia takes certain things away, it also gives things back,” Owens said.

“I believe dyslexics have an easy tome when it comes to being creative, like in music.”

A chant and stomping of feet fill the room. As the Pacific Warriors perform Haka, it wants to make its presence known.

As senior Ashley Iose gets pumped for the game, there is only one thought on her mind: “We’re gonna kill this.”

In spring of 2008, Iose was invited to try out for Women’s International Football League with her sister Selah. The coach had been searching for recruits and came upon the girls while the two were working.

Although Iose had never thought of playing football, she felt that it was a great opportunity and that it wasn’t worth passing up and quickly grew to love it.

“Football became an escape for me.

Instead of taking my frustration out on my family and friends, I could work out my problems in a positive way,” Iose said.

According to Iose, when she gets on the field in a game, she becomes a different person.

“Right here right now I’m nice and easy going, but when I’m out on the field I turn into another person. I bring it, my whole team does,” she said.

According to Iose, The Pacific Warriors dominated every team that it played, inspiring fear in it’s competitors.

“People were intimidated. They had only heard stories about how good we were, and now they were experiencing it first hand,” she said.

Iose’s team had been undefeated in the South Bay and made it all the way to the playoffs. The team’s first real challenge was the Vegas Showgirls.

“The Vegas Showgirls knew how to work the field. They were undefeated in their region and we knew it would be a challenge, but we were up for it,” Iose said.

Although they did not win against the Vegas Showgirls, it was a close game with an ending score of 24-21.

The Pacific Warriors is not only a team, but an actual family as many of the teammates are blood-related.

“It has turned into great bonding time, not only with those who are blood-related to me, but my other teammates as well,” Iose said.

As she prepares for the upcoming season, Iose aims to help her team keep their title.

“I’m excited to get out there and prove once again that we can be the best in the South Bay,” Iosesaid.

Features

February 5, 2010

Page

The trials and tribulations of teen love

5

What is

love?

What do you think high school students look for in a relationship?

“They are looking for a companion. Someone that will make them happy.”

–Keely Gaylord, English teacher

Students maintain long-distance relationships

by Cammille Mitchell

As the captain turns off the seat belt sign and junior Danielle Vezina gathers her bags, anticipation floods her senses. She carries her heavy belongings towards the terminal where her boyfriend Landon awaits. She runs to embrace him for the first time in two months and is overcome with tremendous joy.

Vezina visits her boyfriend, Landon Johnson, in Washington for a few days every two months. The couple met at a community center in Ridgefield, Washington and have been dating for 14 months.

Though they live over 1,000 miles apart, they still manage to maintain a strong and healthy bond.

“At first I was kind of like, I don’t know if this is going to work because of the distance. Then going and seeing him as much as I do reassures me that we can make it through,” Vezina said.

Due to the great distance between Vezina and her boyfriend, challenges like jealousy have to be dealt with over the phone and handled with strong reassurance.

“We have to make more of an effort to keep the relationship together because if we don’t it’ll end up falling apart because we don’t live close enough to each other where we can talk in person like a normal relationship,” Vezina said.

Like Vezina, junior Tyler Salerno’s relationship is also long-distance with his girlfriend of six months, Nicole Johnson.

The two met on a cruise to Mexico and formed a friendship over things they had in common such, as band, and remained close friends for a year before committing to a relationship.

“Being in a long distance relationship isn’t easy, you have to have a strong bond with the person to

keep it strong and honest. I also was skeptical about it because I previously had a long distance relationship that ended with me getting cheated on,” he said.

“After a year of talking she came and visited me during summer; that’s when it all came clear to me that I didn’t care if a thousand miles separated us, I wanted to be with her.”

Because Johnson lives in Loveland, Colorado, Salerno only visits about once every three months for random occassions. Despite the distance and conflicting schedules Salerno and Johnson still plan to spend Valentine’s Day together as well as attend prom with each other.

“It gets really expensive to go visit, it becomes alot of birthday and christmas presents. Another thing that is hard to manage is finding times where we both have breaks so we can spend time together which is difficult when our school systems are so different,” Salerno said.

Though some may find the space of a long distance relationship to be comfortable, Salerno doesn’t share the same feelings.

“The only struggles I can think of is just the mental burden it is to miss someone so bad that it hurts me.

After visits is the worst because I still feel like I can just go hang with her but I can’t and for about a week after a visit I just feel like crap and can’t stop thinking about her,” she said. “The easiest way to overcome this is just to talk on the phone and stuff but its never the same.”

Regardless of the great distance that sets these two apart, and their longing to see each other more, Salerno and his girlfriend plan to work through their struggles and come out together.

“I see this relationship heading for alot of things, I love her alot and want to spend a long time with

her. We want to go to college together and see where it goes from there. We believe that getting through college and the rest of high school will be a breeze,” he said.

Along with Salerno and Vezina, junior Katelyn Smith is involved in a long distance relationship with her boyfriend of three and a half years, George De La Torre. The two met back in middle school when Smith lived in Costa Mesa.

Smith feels that the distance is healthy and appreciates the benefits it provides.

“The benefits are not getting sick of him like most people do in a relationship, and that we don’t go to the same school so that there is no drama with friends or any body else,” Smith said.

Like Vezina, Smith and her boyfriend have to work out their problems over the phone instead of in person.

“In the beginning there was a lot of jealousy and it was hard to overcome but when we started reassuring each other that nothing was going on with other people so I got over it and so did he,” Smith said.

Since Smith and De La Torre only see each other on the weekend, they make up for it by talking on the phone during all their breaks at school and before they go to sleep each night.

“I don’t get to see him like I would if I had a boyfriend up here so it’s hard when I see couples at school but I don’t mind because he is worth it.” Smith said.

Smith is hopeful about the success and future of her relationship and sees it maturing into a life-long committment.

“I see it going far. I mean, if we can get through high school together and all our tough times until now I see it going longer. Long distance relationships aren’t any harder than other ones. Everyone is different but long

–Chloe Martin, 10

“They want to be with someone who will comfort them, so they won’t feel lonely.”

–Rio Anderson, 11

“People want honor and commitment.”

–Zachary Hamraz, 12

“In a high school relationship people are looking for someone to support them in life and all of life’s problems. ”

–Eric Emdee, 10 distance works for me,” she said.

Vezina, Salerno, and Smith all consider their relationships to be healthy, and they hope that their relationships will continue to grow and last into the future.

Leetch supports romantic relationships within teams

Some students keep it casual

by Mark Rieth

Drama, broken hearts, and emotional lows were all associated with relationships gone wrong to senior Kelsey Wayne. Emotionally scarred from these experiences, Wayne abandoned her attempts to find the perfect boyfriend and decided to become a more independent individual.

“I’m not blaming other people for how I am,” Wayne said. “It’s just from past experiences, I would get really hurt.”

While Wayne used to like being in committed relationships, after being rejected her thoughts have changed.

“I have more of a pessimistic view now and it sucks,” Wayne said.

According to Wayne, her friends were able to offer her support when she was going through tough times.

“Even though I had great friends who would tell me it wasn’t my fault, I started to think something was wrong with me and that no one would ever like me,” Wayne said.

Fed up with relationships, Wayne stayed single for a while.

“Last year was my big turn around year,” Wayne said. “Near the end of junior year, I started to focus on me and me alone. I took the opportunity to become more confident and care more about myself.”

According to Wayne, “hooking up”, or casually engaging in physical relations, is a less serious alternative to committing to any one person.

“It’s meaningless and casual,” Wayne said. “I like being single because then you can be your own individual. There are no attachments and less stress.”

Wayne believes that relationships can be completely pointless.

“I think people make the excuse to be in a relationship with someone in order to get physical,” Wayne said. “This is because people don’t want the reputation of being promiscuous.”

Senior Daniel Fallon agrees with Wayne about the shallowness of high school relationships.

“For the most part, teenagers in high school are just horny,” Fallon said. “I know

“People want commitment, they want a companion.”

by Ramya Bhaskar

nCross country and track coach Bob Leetch believes that intra-team relationships aid to the team’s success .

from for a fact that nearly all guys join relationships for the physical part of relationships; it’s not for the illusion of love, which some girls are led to believe.”

Ths opinion is explained by AP Psychology teacher Chris Hyduke, who says that “puppy love” or “lust” is based on “hormones and sex drive”. Senior Steven Strelka is against relationships in high school because, like Fallon, he thinks that they are based on shallow and superficial feelings.

“Relationships are shallow and meaningless in high school because most people lack the maturity to understand the true meaning of a deep relationship,” Strelka said.

Instead of attempting to find the true love high school, Strelka sticks to casual relationships without any sort of long-term commitment. He believes that hooking up is much less serious than having a girlfriend.

“It’s just something to do for fun, like any other pastime,” Strelka said.

Fallon believes that committing to some-

one can be hard and that often times it isn’t worth the trouble.

“People take high school relationships way too seriously. Broken hearts, fights, and grudges? The fact is that you are not going to marry your girlfriend from high school,” Fallon said.

While Fallon sees problems with relationships, he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with hooking up.

“By some standards, you shouldn’t engage in any physical relationship without being married,” Fallon said. “But I think hooking up is perfectly fine. All I’m saying is the line of right and wrong is very indefinite and it depends entirely on where you draw your lines and what you feel is right and wrong.”

Wayne doesn’t see anything wrong with physical intimacy either.

“To some it’s immoral, but to me it’s not,” Wayne said. “As long as you’re safe and clean.”

Team chemistry can vary greatly between each sport, from lax and loose, to committed and close, the Cross Country’s team reputation precedes them.

With such a tightly knit atmosphere, Coach Bob Leetch believes that relationships are beneficial in such a challenging sport.

“I actually do approve of team relationships. I think that it’s very healthy for the team,” Leetch said. “I’m for it. I think it’s great, with such such a close group of kids participating in such a hard sport, these relationships are bound to happen.”

Though in the past, the sport has generally disapproved of intra-team relationships, Leetch disagrees and finds this illogical.

Many of the misconceptions were based on the idea that intra-team relationships hinder, or even weaken the athlete in some way.

“It is just ridiculous to me,” Leetch said.

Often, within the team, Leetch has observed the motivational side effect intrateam relationships have on the runners, contrary to what many other coaches of the co-ed sport believe.

“If they’re interested in someone on the team, they’ll run a little harder, try to impress them,” Leetch said. “If there is a girl on the team that a boy wants to impress, or vice versa, he’ll run fast at the next race.

It allows for them to almost show off their feathers a bit.”

The “feathers”, or qualities, often help foster a cohesive atmosphere, simply through the demonstration.

When dedication is a valued characteristic, it naturally becomes more prevalent. While this is true for relationships, it

also holds friendships and bonds formed throughout the team.

“If it’s a positive characteristic, if someone has high aspirations, and aspires to achieve, and if people are in witness of that and if the person is showing it off, it’s favorable without a doubt,” Leetch said.

However, with such a close-knit team, Leetch acknowledges that there are disadvantages to intra-team relationships– such as loss of focus or competitive edge.

“In some cases with a couple of my really

“If there is a girl on the team that a boy wants to impress, or vice versa, he’ll run fast at the next race.

It allows them to show off their feathers a bit.”—Bob Leetch hard competitors- who really work hard and are aggressive in their races- they suddenly turn into almost like a soft toast when their girls come around,” Leetch said.

When this happens, Leetch decides to intervene becasue it is no longer a positive influence on the team.

“At that point we need to sit down and have a talk about how it’s affecting their performance and figure something out,” he said.

Relationships and friendships arise becasue of the highly sociable atmosphere.

Many relationships have developed and do have a positive effect on the team due to the individual desire to impress another.

“When we have an atmosphere of people with similar mindsets, goals and high aspirations, they can develop a strong connection with each other,” Leetch said.

Page

Features The physical and mental tolls of sports

6

February 5, 2010

Athletes find club necessary for success

Dr. Brown and various athletes share their insight on both the physical and mental problems with participating in rigorous high school sports.

Facts about physical injuries

- Overuse injury, which occurs over time from repeated motion, is reponsible for nearly half of all sports

injuries to high school students

- Most organized sports related injuries (62 percent) occur during practices rather than during games,

because of the more preventative measures taken during games.

by Allie Goldberg

Oftentimes the high school sports season is just a small portion of an athlete’dstime put into his or her sport.

Many high school athletes play club sports year round, with the exception of the high school season.

Junior Alex Marin, soccer player, believes that club makes an athlete’s future.

“Club is ultimately what makes you a better player and gets you to college. High school is just for fun and to represent your school,” Marin said.

According to Marin, “club is a lot more intense than [playing a sport at your highschool]” and the coach recommends that each girl plays club during the off-season.

“Almost all the girls on varsity play club, so if you don’t [play club] then it’s really hard to keep up with the level that the rest of us are at,” she said.

Junior Lara Dykstra, volleyball player, echoes Marin’s statement.

“I would say that club is better competition because you travel around the country going to qualifiers for the national tournament at the end of the year,” she said.

According to Dykstra, coach Tom Chaffins recommends that the girls do play for a club team.

Austin Moore, junior, who plays both basketball and volleyball, has more diffi-

“Club is ultimately what makes you better and gets you into college [to play your sport.”

—Alex Marin culty balancing his high school and club schedules.

“I stopped playing club volleyball because the schedule conflicts with high school basketball which I feel is more important,” he said.

Moore would love to play for both his club and high school teams.

“It was hard because in order to do both [sports] you have to be fully committed, so sometimes I would be having three or four practices in one day,” Moore said.

Although most athletes enjoy club, the burden often falls in the hands of the parents.

Club can be expensive and often times it puts financial pressure on the parents.

Alicia Washington, parent, believes that club is expensive, but worth the money.

“I pay for my daughter’s club primarily because i think it gives her exposure to colleges that she wouldn’t get through high school,” she said.

Washington explained that the financial burden can be beneficial in the long run.

“To me, if any partial scholarship results from club, then my money was well spent,” she said.

Washington believes that club has “contributed to [her daughter’s] success.”

Girls’ basketball coach Marcelo Enriquez believes that club is beneficial if a player is “playing for a good program and good coach.”

“It’s not the number of games, but the quality of training and skill development,” he said.

Enriquez also explains that club could “interfere with the program philosophy at times.”

Enriquez is pro-club as long as the game is being played correctly, and improvements are being made.

“Anytime a player has the opportunity to develop her skills, she should take the opportunity,” he said.

Lacrosse coach Tom Borgia believes that club is extremely beneficial to players.

“Club is much better competition,” he said. “It’s a better caliber of players, pushing themselves a little bit harder.”

Borgia explained that club gives athletes more insight into his or her sport.

“Club gives opportunity for players to experience a different coach with different perspectives and new drills,” he said.

­­­ Safe Kids USA ­— ­

Brown discusses the pressures of playing sports

by Joy Ohiomoba

The pressure of sports can often be damaging to the health of young adults.

According to physiology teacher Dr. Steve Brown, the rigor and pressure of sports can create physical and psychological damages to young people.

In cases in which a student is forced to play a sport by an authority figure, such as a parent, the student will most likely grow up hating that sport and, in extreme cases, will end up resenting the parent.

“When parents push kids into playing a sport and the kids don’t want to because they want to play for fun, then it is damaging to their psychological state,” he said.

Pressure from sports can also take a physical toll on the bodies of high school athletes.

For teenage students, the extreme physical pressure on the body can often lead to injuries. Injuries range from pulled muscles to torn ACLs. According to helium.com, the teenage years are a time when the body becomes structured and more developed. However, with long hours spent practicing and strenuous training, the body is not given proper allowance to develop.

It is not to say that playing sports has only negative effects. Sports are a key factor in the physical and social development of young people.

In addition, exercise has several health

benefits. Sports are excellent for cardiovascular health, preventions of various diseases such as cancer and type II diabetes, and weight maintenance. Studies have also shown that exercise improves a person’s overall mental state (annecollins.com).

However, when sports are taken to extreme levels and high school athletes are forced to push their bodies to unreasonable limits, then injuries are more likely to occur. Other students may feel “burned out” from trying to balance grades and sports.

Junior Ashiana Antar feels pressure to excel both athletically and academically.

“It’s really hard to take challenging classes because we have practice everyday, Saturdays, and we must fulfill obligations for the program,” she said. “It’s really difficult to get all our schoolwork completed sometimes.”

Students’ bodies become worn down and exhausted. They begin to suffer from poor health as they are more prone to illnesses. They become ill-tempered and sometimes depressed.

Moreover, their school work will suffer because the students either have no time to commit to the school work, or are too tired or too sick to pay attention to it (sportsinjuries.suite101.com).

Among teenagers, there is an assumption that because of their young ages, their bodies have time to recuperate and

injured muscles or joints will heal at a faster rate than an adult’s.

While this is true, as studies show, because athletes are not often given the opportunity to let their muscles relax for long periods of time, the injury may worsen leading to muscle tearing and fractures.

Brown does not think that teenagers should not play sports; after all, sports have many benefits both physically and emotionally that are helpful to teenagers.

Brown wants parents and coaches to be conscious of how far they push their children or athletes.

While it can be good to push them to achieve desirable results, the opposite may just occur.

As a former high school football coach, Brown knows that pushing to the extremes can lead to getting undesirable results.

“I’m not saying ‘don’t play.’ I’m just saying that how much pressure that you put on a kid can be damaging,” he said.

He also believes that the same ideology regarding sports also pertains to real life as authority figures need to know when not to cross the fine line between pushing kids to improve and applying too much pressure.

“This can also apply to everyday life,” he said. “Parents and coaches need to push kids, but if it’s psychologically damaging, stop it!’”

PHOTO BY ERIKA GAVITT

Senior Erica Heperlee plays in a game against Mira Costa.

The phyisical pressures of basketbell lead her to tear her ACL last year. After one year of recovery, Heperlee is now playing again, but has to wear a leg brace.

Athletes feel pressures from coaches help them improve

by Meglyn Huber

Your chest is throbbing. Sweat drips down your forehead. Your throat is dry as you gasp for air. You continue running, a painful 4 miles left to go. Is it really all worth it?

According to some, grueling practices can make a player stronger. But many athletes, such as freshman water polo player Sarah Logan, are questioning if the difficulty is too much for many high school students.

“Mentally, being on any varsity high school sport is tough, but I think that practices are getting more demanding because the coaches want you to do better in games.

Even though the players do as well, it can be very stressful,” Logan said.

Junior basketball player, Nadia Basich agrees but thinks that although her coaches can be tough, it is usually for the better.

“He just wants us to be the best we can be.

I think him pushing us hard makes us better ball players and we all understand the game more,” she said.

Basketball player, Annie Park, believes that the pressure is needed on the team.

“Coaches might push players hard and some might think they’re too hard on them, but I take it as constructive criticism,” she said.

For Logan, the coach’s anger is what makes it so difficult to participate.

“Basically, it is tough to be yelled at when you have worked so hard in the first place. Just getting negative feedback makes you only focus on the bad things you did,” she said.

Although Park thinks the difficulty can

strengthen the team, she also thinks it can bring conflict to players who cannot keep up.

“I think [working us too hard] puts us in a dilemma of whether we want to stay in a sport because we have a passion for it or just give up and quit,” she said.

Basich has recently gone through a practice where the mental stress was too much for her.

“A few weeks ago I was super frustrated because we were running so much and I wasn’t making any of the times,” she said.

“Coaches might push players hard and some might think they’re too hard on them, but I take it as construcive criticism. ” —Annie Park “My teammates were telling me to push myself harder and they were also frustrated with me because we kept running, so I walked out of practice and into my team room. Then my teammates came in and we talked about it and we finished practice strong.”

Although the mental intensity had beem high, now that Basich looks back at the event, she could have solved her problem better.

“I handled the situation very poorly by walking out on my teammates who were running hard. I just let everyone get to me and

my frustration took over. One of our core covenants is selflessness, and I was totally acting selfish,” she said.

For girls’ water polo coach, Danielle Berger, finding an athlete’s mental limit is difficult.

“Sometimes, for me, it is hard to determine where that boundary is, especially since each player is different, but I feel like I have not pushed any of my players past their limits,” she said To Park, a coach’s pressure can also influence the team negatively.

“Basketball involves a ton of focus to meet the certain standards of what our coaches want and sometimes we lose that focus because our coaches push us too hard,” she said.

Park adds that the stresse of practice influence the rest of her responsibilities.

“It is hard for basketball because we get tired from school and we have to practice on top of that and finish your homework after-

wards, especially during finals week and during season,” she said.

According to Berger, keeping up with academics and dealing with the pressures of being on a sport is not an excuse.

“Balancing sports and school is part of being a high school athlete. Throughout my four years as a student at Redondo, I balanced two to three varsity sports each year, being yearbook editor-in-chief, and taking eight APs,” she said. “I know what it is like to have to balance. If you can’t handle it then you should not play sports.”

Basich believes that even though practices can be difficult due to stress from coaches, it can benefit the team in the long run. “[The stresses of practice] build mental strength and character which is important when games go down to the wire,” she said.

“We could never finish the game in the fourth quarter but now we’re more mentally prepared.”

Sports

February 5, 2010

Page

Ponce and Diaz accept full rides

Water polo works towards CIF

by Adam Ammentorp

After losing 10-3 on Wednesday against rival Mira Costa, the girls’ water polo team still believes it has a chance for CIF play-offs.

“We’re hoping for a possible spot in CIF,” captain Kambria Diers, senior, said. “Next week will be the decider.”

With a record of 2-3 in League, the team needs a win against both West and Peninsula next week to keep their play-off hopes alive.

“We’ve always managed to pull it off in the end,” Diers said.

Although in the past the girls have managed to pull off the late season wins, without “star player” Shelby Haroldson (last year’s captain), it will be difficult for them to pull off the win, according to Diers.

“Shelby was a strong leader and player,” Diers said. “It’ll be tough without her, but I’m confident that we can get it done.”

While playing against “powerhouse” Costa, the team was

excited for the chance to play against their rivals.

“It was a little intimidating and nerve racking just because we wanted to win so badly,” junior Brianna Newman said. “But in the end we just couldn’t get it done.”

Even after losing Wednesday, the girls still believe they put up a good fight.

“Our effort was definitely there, but none of our shots were going in,” Newman said.

According to Diers, the team’s fundamentals fell apart, causing it the majority of its issues.

“It seemed like a close game, but Costa just has so many strong players that we can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Diers said.

Even though Diers is unhappy with the loss, she believes it showed the girls that they have a fighting chance.

“We never gave up, which is something we can be proud of,” Diers said.

Both Diers and Newman are happy with the improvement

that the team has made over the season.

“Compared to the beginning of the year, we’ve greatly improved our communication skills and executing our plays,” Newman said.

Lately in practices, the team has been emphasizing the importance of these upcoming games to their CIF chances.

“We all recognize how big of a deal next week is for us and have been working hard on in-game situations during practices,” Diers said.

Last time the team played Peninsula, the girls won in overtime, 12-10.

“That game was definitely tough.

Peninsula is on the same level as us.

We have to play really well to pull off the win next Wednesday,” Diers said.

With the team all focused on the same goal, they have come together and have “never been this close.”

“Basically we’re going for it. Our intensity is their, we just have to follow through,” Diers said.

by Brittney Madera

PHOTO BY JAKE COLLINS

Captain Kambria Diers, senior, steps out to the ball in the game against West Torrance.

Soccer beats Costa after six seasons

by Madeline Perrault

Girls’ soccer beat Costa two weeks ago for the first time in six seasons.

“We played really hard because everyone wanted to beat them. We knew that they were a very good team and we didn’t let up,” senior Daniela Mattucci said.

Senior Jazmin Ponce scored off of a free kick in the second half, giving the team a 1-0 victory.

“In the first half we dominated and had several scoring attacks putting one away on Jazmin’s amazing free kick,” coach Shelly Marsden said. “Just prior Alex Marin went on a great run in the box and was fouled from behind which should have resulted in a PK but did not. But we weathered their second half storm and held on for the victory.”

After the goal, the team had to maintain the one goal lead throughout the second half.

“The key was scoring first.

After we scored we played really hard, but really defensively. We didn’t want to give anything up,” Mattucci said.

The team had to train in rain or shine to prepare for the game.

“We continued to train through the wet weather and that may have given us a mental edge knowing we had pushed our fitness,” Marsden said.

The last time the team beat Costa was in 2004. Then, in 2005 the League championship came down to the wire and Redondo lost by one point. Since then Costa has been on a roll according to Marsden.

The team will play Costa again today at home.

“We are going to have to battle them for 50-50s and play solid on defense. We are going to need to

PHOTO BY JAKE COLLINS

Senior Jazmin Ponce dribbles past three defenders in a game against Torrance. The team is 5-2 in League and faces Costa again today at home.

outwork them in creating options around the ball on offense and swarming intelligently behind the ball on defense. It's basically going

to be a lot of work and we have to be up for that,” Marsden said.

The girls were scheduled to play Leuzinger on Jan. 22, but instead

the JV team played them for some practice at a higher level.

The JV team managed to beat the Leuzinger varsity team 8-0.

“It was a good experience for our team to play a varsity team to get us prepared for the rest of our season, and it was a good chance to play a higher level team,” sophomore Amanda Johnson said.

Last Tuesday, varsity beat West 6-0 at home.

“We expect a much tougher game against West next time. They have a lot to play for to restore their pride and we absolutely have to take that into consideration,” Marsden said.

The team lost to PV 2-1 later that week.

“We scored first and we thought it would stay that way, and then they scored and we put our heads down and then they scored again, and we were really discouraged,” Mattucci said.

This was the first time all season that PV had trailed in a game, even though PV came back to win it.

The team came back from the loss and adapted their game to beat Peninsula 2-0 on Tuesday.

“We started playing the way we usually do, playing long balls to our forwards, but in order to beat the really fast, really tall central defender we had to pass the ball around them, and that’s just what we did to score those goals. After we scored we never let up the intensity,” Mattucci said.

With only three more games left in the season, the team hopes to keep winning to ensure a playoff spot.

“With our second win against Peninsula, and a West win over Peninsula, I have to believe that we are a lock for second or third.

But we want to be playing our best soccer going into CIF and not just limping into it, so we will need to continue to push ourselves to get good results,” Marsden said.

Wrestling loses by six

by Kaitee Scheyer

PHOTO BY DANIEL FALLON

Junior Brennan Abramowitz goes a takedown, holding a Peninsula wrestler in a head and arm pinning combination.

7

The wrestling team lost to Culver City last night by six points.

“Even though we lost overall ,the team did pretty well,” junior Brennan Abramowitz said.

Sophomore Ramen Gandara, junior Devon robinson, junior Brennan Abramowitz, sophomore Jake and senior Blake Harris all won their matches with pins. Harris had the fastest pin of the night at 17 seconds.

Last Saturday seniors Kendall Abramowitz and Nicki Hatherley participated in an all girls state tournament at Hanford West high school. “[The tournament] was the first time I have ever wrestled at a meet.

It was amazing just to see the great wrestlers,” said Hatherley.

Although she lost her match at the tournament, according to Hatherley it was a great experience.

“I’m a pretty competitive person and I usually don’t like losing but the experience was the best part,” she said.

Tomorrow’s Bay League tournament will determine which of the team players will go on to CIF’s.

“We really have nothing to lose tomorrow. We can put it all on the line,” Abramowitz said.

Other schools that will be participating in the Bay League tournament are Peninsula, Mira Costa, and West.

“We have a few guys who should go on to CIF’s but we have a pretty young team,” he said.

As the season ends Abramowitz believes that the team had a great season and progressed a lot.

“The team developed a lot more than I thought they would,.

Some guys went from not knowing anything to winning matches,” Abramowitz said.

After being on the girls’ soccer team and both of the National and Olympic soccer teams for her age group, senior Jazmin Ponce caught the eyes of many college scouts for women’s soccer.

Although she received full scholarship offers from many schools, including Texas Christian University, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, and Lousiana State University, Ponce chose the University of Arizona.

Even though Arizona is unranked as opposed to the other schools that recruited her, such as the 16thranked Louisiana State, Ponce still believes that Arizona is the school for her.

“I always like picking the underdogs because I feel like I can help them out,” Ponce said. “I don’t want to go to a school where every good player is at because then no one would get to play.”

Among other reasons, Ponce chose Arizona for the coaches and her future teammates, whom she met during her visit in October.

She felt that Arizona’s coaches Lisa Oyen and John Galas were the only coaches that were completely honest with her and wanted the unique approach and flair that Ponce would bring to the team. “[Arizona] was the only school that said I could do whatever I wanted on the field,” she said. “They gave me an opportunity to have fun and do what I need to do.”

She also believes that her observations of the team members’ interactions with one other convinced her to become a Wildcat. “[The team is] always together.

They know everyone [on campus],” Ponce said. “It’s like a family.”

The location of the school was also a factor that played into her decision-making.

Being a Pacific-10 Conference school, Arizona is in one of the more competitive conferences in the country, according to Ponce, and is close to home.

Ponce verbally committed herself to Arizona in November of her junior year and has already signed her contract with the school.

Ponce, however, is not the only Redondo athlete that plans to accept an athletic scholarship this month.

Senior Nick Diaz was offered a full ride athletic scholarship from Utah State University, where he plans on joining the football team as a kicker and majoring in business.

During his visit in January, Diaz felt that the Utah State community was a factor in his decision, as the area and community are very different from that of California.

“The community is small but not too small. Everything pretty much revolves around Utah State,” Diaz said.

Diaz met with the Utah State football coaches, who told him that his mentality on the field and kicking abilities made him an appealing student athlete.

He felt that working with them in the future would be beneficial for him, as they were very personal and open with their players.

“They focused on developing players, students, and people,” he said. “Utah State is just a great place to go to school, to live, and to develop as a person.”

Both Diaz and Ponce signed contracts with their respective universities on Feb. 3, and they believe that their full rides have relieved them of stress.

“It feels amazing since I signed [the contract and accepted the scholarship]. I just know, thanks to soccer and the University of Arizona, I can start my career and not worry about payments,” Ponce said.

JV/Frosh

Page

8

fast stats

BASKETBALL

JV

Score vs Penninsula: 56-48 W League Record: 3-4 Key Player: Brian Frew

FROSH

Boys’

Score vs Penninsula: 57-46 L League Record: 5-2, tied for first with Costa Key Player: Thomas Stevens

JV

Score vs Penninsula: 52-39 W Overall Record: 7-1

FROSH

Girls’

Score vs Penninsula: 40-23 L Record: N/A

SOCCER JV

Score vs Penninsula: 1-0 W League Record: 2-1-4

FROSH

Boys’

Score vs PV: 2-1 W League Record: 2-4

JV

Score vs Penninsula: 1-0 W League Record: 5-1-1

FROSH

Girls’

Score vs Penninsula: 6-0 W Overall Record: 14-1-1

WATER POLO

JV

Girls’

Score vs Costa: 8-0 L League Record: 2-3 Key Players: Alex Niebergall and Lydia Lopez

JV/Frosh

sports shorts

by Shannon Bowman

This season, the JV soccer team welcomed coach Daniel Williams from England.

Williams has been playing soccer since he was four years old. He got into playing soccer because his father was a professional soccer player at the time.

“I wanted to be just like him,” Williams explained.

He played all through high school, and joined a professional team called Leeds United at the age of 14. From there he continued to play and got into a top university in Leeds, England where he continued to play for 3 years.

“I was lucky enough to be involved with a successful team every season.

We picked up silver wear every year,” Williams said.

Williams has been coaching for five years now.

“I came out of college and decided I wanted to give something back to my community,” said Williams.

So far, he enjoys living here.

“I’m a massive fan of Redondo Beach,” he said. “I love the beaches, the people and just how different it is than England.”

Williams finds the school fascinating.

“The facilities they have for a high school are unbelievable. I still find it funny that a school can have a surf team, only in LA I guess,” Williams said.

As for plans for the JV soccer team, Williams hopes to “improve every player and give them a greater chance of achieving a spot on the varsity squad next season.”

Williams has big plans for the team.

“Obviously I would like to win the League and have the title of champions. But more importantly, if my players can learn have to play the game properly and improve as a team, then I’m happy.”

So far, Williams is pleased with his experience.

“It has been a big learning curve for me working with an American high school and finding out how to relate to the players. I just want to thank all the lads for everything they have done so far,” said Williams.

Sports Boys’ soccer loses to Penninsula, 1-0

by David Kawa

Boys’ soccer lost 1 – 0 to Peninsula on Tuesday but is focusing on its game against rivals Mira Costa, tonight.

Junior Kevin Tom feels the team underestimated the opponent and was not completely focused on winning.

“I think we came in overconfident and weren’t focused. We just never got into our game,” Tom said.

Junior Baron Abramowitz is frustrated by the results.

“We should have destroyed them.

We just couldn’t finish,” he said

Senior Michael Lunny is disappointed by the team’s performance.

“We just messed up completely,” he said.

Tom feels that the score does not accurately portray the effort invested in the game.

“The score showed a close game but in reality they wanted it more than we did,” he said.

Abramowitz attributes the loss to problems with finishing.

“We were so close. We had at least 15 opportunities [to score],” he said.

According to Tom, the team

did not step up the intensity in the second half.

“Both halves were pretty identical.

We just weren’t thinking today,” he said.

Lunny finds a silver lining to the loss. He feels the loss has motivated the team to step up and focus.

“I feel more motivated to win.

That was Peninsula’s first win in League, and that is embarrassing. I feel we have to win the next game,” he said.

The team has been improving by dealing with problem areas such as finishing, however, they failed to pull it together against Peninsula.

“We definitely have improved since the beginning of the year but we just didnt step up today when we needed to,” Tom said.

The game against Costa holds great weight for Lunny. He hopes to break Redondo’s losing tradition.

“As a senior, this is the last time I play Costa. We haven’t beaten them at their home in a long time. I really want to beat Coast this year,” he said The team is determined to redeem themselves against Mira Costa.

“We have to work on finishing because today was unacceptable,” Lunny said.

Winning streak ends

PHOTO BY JAKE COLLINS

Junior Rachel Scarlett shoot the ball between three Penninsula defenders in Tuesday’s game.

Girls’ B-ball wins, 55-46

by Claire Chiara

by Kaelee Epstein

After losing a close game 50-49 on Tuesday night against Peninsula High School, the basketball team plays Mira Coast tomorrow night needing a win.

Tuesday night’s game was important because winning it would have secured the team second place in Bay League.

Going into the game, the team knew Peninsula would be a tough opponent and began to face problems immediately.

“We weren’t shooting well in the first quarter, and [Peninsula] came out shooting strong,” assistant coach Ron Riggs said.

According to senior Jamar Cannon the team could have made better shots from the beginning.

“We came out very flat and off balance,” he said.

After being down the entire first half the boys picked it up in the second half, according to Riggs.

“At half time, [the coaches] told the team to pick up the intensity and communicate more on the court,” he said.

The players also knew that they had to change the way they were playing entering the third quarter in order to get the win.

“We needed to play better defense so our offense could come in sync,” Cannon said.

At the start of the third quarter, the team picked up the tempo of the game.

“We came into the second half with more confidence. We figured out how to break through [Peninsula’s] defense and our shots began falling better,” junior Brandon Boyd said.

Despite top scorer Cannon having 15 points, junior Brandon Boyd with eight, and junior Austin Moore with ten, the team couldn’t pull out a win.

“Even with improvements after half time, our game was still off. We were giving up rebounds that should have been ours which was giving them the chance for easy points,”

February 5, 2010

PHOTO BY JAKE COLLINS

Senior Brandon Trias shoots the ball in front of a Penninsula defender in Tuesday’s game against Penninsula. Redondo lost 50-49.

Boyd said.

The referees also had an impact on the outcome of the game.

According to Riggs they were making unfair calls.

“The referees are the big deciding factor of the game. They made unfair calls for a home game and basically gave [Peninsula] the game,” Riggs said.

Cannon agrees with Riggs and thinks that some of the key calls were called late, contributing to the loss.

Throughout the game the score stayed close ultimately resulting in a loss.

“We needed to play hungrier.

We didn’t have that fire we needed,” Cannon said.

After Tuesday’s loss the team

needs a win against Costa to have a chance at second place in League.

“We have a definite chance at winning. The whole team knows how important this game is and we’re going to come out playing really hard,” Boyd said.

The coaches are confident that the team will be successful.

“We beat [Costa] last time, we know that we can do it again,” Riggs said.

The two teams both have a 4-3 record, therefore it is expected to be a close game.

According to Riggs, Mira Costa has two big guys who the team will have to play hard against and out rebound.

The team also needs to keep up a fast tempo and make faster

transitions than Costa.

“We need to push the ball on offense and play an up tempo game,” he said.

In preparation for tomorrow night’s game, the team has been focusing more in practice.

“We practiced our shooting on Wednesday. On Thursday, we focused more on specific defensive improvements. We should be fully prepared for the game against Costa,” Boyd said.

Even after a loss, the team keeps a positive attitude for their next game.

“Our guys played very well, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. We have to look forward to the next game and keep improving,” Riggs said.

The girls’ basketball team beat Peninsula High School, 55-46, on Tuesday.

“We did some really good things,” Alex Washington, senior, said. “But we also had a lot of mistakes.”

According to senior Jessyca Kamel, the team started the first quarter slowly but continued into the second quarter intensely.

The team attributes its success to good passing and completing shots.

“The biggest thing, though, was that we beat them in rebounds,” Kamel said.

According to sophomore Annie Park, the team was motivated by its desire to win Bay League.

“If we wanted to have a chance to place first or second in Bay League, we had to beat Peninsula,” she said.

“That pushed us forward.”

Despite everything the girls did well, they also made several errors.

According to Washington, the team gave up the ball too often, and Peninsula took the opportunity to capitalize on the turnovers.

For the most part, however, the team was doing all the right things.

According to Kamel, the team finished the game strong and proud.

One of the team’s main players, junior Rachel Scarlett, was injured during the game.

She was elbowed in the face, and it split her lip open.

This helped push the team even more, according to Kamel.

“We have each other’s backs, so we went harder and played more aggressively after it happened,” she said.

The girls will face Mira Costa High School tonight.

“It’s definitely going to be a good, tough game,” Park said. “We just need to focus on not making silly mistakes.”

They are also working on their defense and rebounds.

“If we can shut them out on defense, I think that game will be ours,” Kamel said.

The team has high expectations for tonight’s game because of their consistently difficult practices and overall determined mind set.

The team has won the past two games, reinforcing its belief in itself.

Surf members continue to qualify in finals

by Alex O’Hagen

Six more members of the surf team qualified for the League finals in the longboard, body-board, and girls team preliminaries.

“We kind of expected that we’d do pretty well. There was big surf and we do really well with big waves,” said junior Ben Fortune.

All three of the longboarders that competed in the preliminaries qualified to proceed to the finals.

Junior Ben Fortun, freshman David Fillman and sophomore Devin Nathan will make up the advancing longboard team.

The body-board team also advanced all three of their competitors. Seniors Jeremy Gross, Josh Williams, and Bobby Vos all scored high enough to move onto the finals.

The body-boarders have had a successful season, repeatedly placing first or second in their meets.

“We have a strong team,” said Gross. “I expected all of us to make it [to finals].”

None of the girls scored high enough to advance.

“This is the first year [the girls] have surfed competitively,” said coach Les Congelliere. He is certain that the girls team will improve with experience. Junior Brittany Barden will return next season, and Congelliere predicts that she will be a strong contender.

This totals 13 surfers that will be competing in the finals on Saturday.

“This is the most [surfers advancing] that we’ve had in a while,” said Congelliere.

According to Congelliere, the results of the preliminaries performance is “way above normal” in comparison to previous years.

The team feels that they have a strong chance of doing well on Saturday.

“We have a really solid team this year,” said Fortune. “We’ve been doing really good, and there is a lot of support between everyone on the team. We practiced with bad waves and it showed when we ended up getting good waves.”

Because this sport is so dependant on the condition of the waves, the team is hoping for favorable surf for the finals.

“We need big waves to compete well,” said Gross. “It makes it easier to surf.”

The advancing surfers are looking forward to going far in the finals.

Gross is especially eager to surf on Saturday.

“I am super excited for the finals since last year I couldn’t compete because I had the ACT test on the same day. So this year I get to compete and I’m going to do my best and whether I win or lose, I just want to have fun out there. ”

PHOTO BY JAKE COLLINS

Junior Benjamin Fortun competes in the longboard preliminaries in Hermosa Beach, CA.

Features Magazine

High

Exp sure

by Sonya Egan and Jonathan Martin

Schreider finds profit and excitement in photography, selling photos and furthering his career 2.

3.

1.

5.

1. Shreider sold this photo to Frame and Art in Hermosa for $800. "My family really helps because my grandpa lets me put my photos in his frame shop."

2-5. Shreider explores multiple styles. "I enjoy all types of styles, but my favorite are landscapes."

COURTESY OF CORY SCHREIDER

4.

range, violet, pink, indigo, and red, the sun sets over the pier on what appears to be yet another tranquil Redondo dusk.

Senior Cory Schreider, racing down Catalina on his skateboard, captures the moment in his mind. In the next moment, he captures it, forever, through the lense of his Canon XSi. The resulting photograph is now hanging on the walls of Frame and Art in Hermosa after Schreider sold it for $800 at the Power of Art show last year.

This was a turning point in Schreider’s photography career.

“I took a bunch of pictures with the XSi, sold my art piece and said, okay I’ll take this more seriously and I bought the 7D,” he said.

Photography had always been in Schreider’s life, even before he sold his first photo. His mother a custom-framer and his grandfather a frame shop owner, Schreider has

the

been exposed to art and photography for most of his life.

“My mom has an eye for my good stuff. She picks out what she likes and she frames them and puts them in my grandpa’s shop and people buy them. It’s really my family because my grandpa lets me put my photos in his frame shop,” he said.

His friends, many of whom also share his passion for photography, are also supportive of his work.

“Most of my friends are pretty stoked on my photography. I have some friends who are also in it I guess. So we’re always checking each others stuff out,” he said.

Schreider travels around California, photographing such places as Downtown LA, San Diego, Sacramento, and Santa Barbara with his friends.

“Learning new stuff keeps me entertained. I get bored of shooting one kind of thing so I try something new, macro or conceptual. Plus I go on a lot of trips with my friends so I take my camera everywhere and take lots of

pictures,” Schreider said.

Photography has changed the way Schreider looks at the world.

“People wonder what I’m looking at and they don’t realize it’s something that they won’t see.”

Quiet and laid back, Schreider often fuses his passion for skating with his photography.

“Skating helped me to learn how to compose images and get the right angle for tricks and learning how to use the camera to get a crisp, clear image,” he said.

Schreider has come a long way since receiving his first camera, his mother’s old Nikon FM, and hopes to make a career of photography.

“I like the satisfaction other people get from my work. That just drives me to take better pictures for more people,” Schreider said. “[Photography] has set my life in a concrete direction. I’m going to the Art Center after El Camino and trying to make a life out of it.”

Anchor

February 5, 2010 [High Tide]

B2

n

February 5, 2010

The Anchor

n

Entertainment

Extreme Devastation nLykke recounts her mother’s time in Haiti and her ties to it.

by Sophia Lykke

When people learn that my mother lived in Haiti for three years as a young adult, the reaction is mixed. Now more than ever, Haiti has an overwhelming image of absolute poverty, desperation, and corruption. However, according to my mother Linda Lykke and her friend Toni Monnin, who still lives in the mountains just above Port-au-Prince, the first independent black nation has inherent qualities of beauty and resilience.

My mother has always based her life on travel as a means of self-discovery. The fact that she moved to Haiti to escape a rising conflict in central Africa where she was working for the U.S Department of State in the U.S. Embassy is therefore no surprise to me. After being evacuated from Chad by the French Foreign Legion along with other expatriates in Africa to Cameroon, she moved to Haiti in 1979 to work on a private sector of a project initiated by the United States Agency for International Development.

“Two months later, all evacuees dispersed to other countries because returning to Chad was not feasible at the time due to the ongoing war,” she said.

My mother and Monnin lived in Haiti under the reign of Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the reluctant successor of his dictatorial father, François “Papa Doc” Duvalier.

She says that the years she spent there were during a rare time of small-scale economic development for the country, though not for the laborers themselves. Her work involved incentives for Americans to invest in textile manufacturing and offshore assembly operation in Haiti. However, her work with this project also prompted her to leave, as she began to organize laborers and “jeopardize her personal safety.”

“I worked to stimulate the Haitian economy at a time when there was a small window of economic prosperity under Baby Doc Duvalier, who was less a tyrant than his infamous father, Papa Doc,” she said.

“I soon realized that these Americans were made multi millionaires at the expense of the Haitian laborers, earning a mere dollar a day in sweatshop conditions.”

After being “cautioned to leave the country,” my mother left Haiti, only to return three months later for another year. Her experiences can only speak for the past. Only those that are living there, like Monnin, can speak of the desperate situation that is pervading the most populous areas of Haiti. These days, she

2.

1.

1,2,5- Toni Monnin’s step daughter, Pascale Monnin, painted and drew pictures to depict the horrors of the earthquake. 3- A group of fisherman in Haiti. 4- Linda Lykke, left, with her friend Toni Monnin.

is sporadically available by telephone.

She came to Haiti for different reasons than my mother did. Originally planning to go to Guatemala, she ironically decided to go to Haiti instead because of the earthquake of 1976 that killed “some 25,000 people.”

Monnin “came to Haiti because of an earthquake” and never left. She now lives above Port-au-Prince, in the mountains of La Boule. Her husband’s family, the Monnins who are originally from Switzerland, now has four generations that have either lived or are currently living in Haiti. The family owns and operates an art gallery through which local and poor Haitian artists are able to make a living by selling their work on an international market; however, their business and their entire life have been turned upside down due to the recent 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12.

“We were in an altered state. The first days the people were walking around like zombies., I mean, the look in their eyes,” she said. A 7.0 earthquake is not the end of the world, but it is in a place like Haiti.”

According to Monnin, it is complete chaos near the epicenters and in the densely populated capitol. They have been delivering supplies and offering whatever help they can.

“They started torching buildings in town because the smell of the cadavers was so terrible. Helicopters are making the buildings shake, and people think they are aftershocks,” she said. “I don’t know anyone that doesn’t know someone who has died.”

Inclusive of this is one of her friends who was searching for his brother-in-law amongst the rubble of the Hotel Montana. She stresses that Haiti is in need of foreign intervention

3.

4. at this critical time, since the government has been more or less inept to run the country for many years. She believes that they well “have a chance” if the Haitian government stays out f it.

Since the Monnins live about 2,400 feet above sea level, their home and gallery faced no damage, unlike areas at sea level, like Portau-Prince and Karrefour.

“The ground is rock, it’s very solid and the structures built many years ago had a deepened amount of cement to sand ratio, unlike the buildings built more recently. You go maybe one mile and there is total devastation.

Down there the buildings were built with bad materials and land that was not strong enough. There’s no zoning, no urbanization, and no government,” she said.

For example, all of the artists that the family works with have lost their homes. Under their current foundation for island reforestation, “Fondam,” they have set up a fund based on donations to financially support the artists in this critical time. More can be found on www.fondam-haiti.org. “[The artists] all lived at the center area in Karrefour, every one of them. It’s the most densely populated area, you can’t even see any trees there,” she said. “Their only living is from their art, they depend on us.”

5.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF LINDA LYKKE AND TONI MONNIN

When I asked Monnin about the status of the Haitian people, she affirmed that they were amazingly filled with hope.

“Two nights ago downtown in the main plaza in Port-au-Prince, there was singing and dancing and people were selling Haitian beer. They were all saying that things will get better,” she said. “People don’t realize that since this was such a horribly poor country before, they’re used to horrible things happening to them, and horrible circumstances.

Therefore they have this resilience. They are the most resilient people I’ve ever seen, they will bounce right back.”

Though Haiti was beginning to see a glimmer of hope for internal improvement and self-sufficiency, Monnin believes that it can still have a bright future that reflects the bright spirit of its people.

“Nobody ever pays attention to Haiti, but this outpouring of love, aid, compassion, and help, I don’t think the world has ever seen that,” she said.

Despite it all, my mother has reconnected with her love for Haiti. As a resident in a country of turmoil, Monnin still loves her home for the beauty and resilience that it displays in its people. Upon asking her if she planned to stay there until her dying day, she replied, “of course.”

The Anchor

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Entertainment

February 5, 2010

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B3

Facesthe Working of

by Garrett Gutierrez

The Getty’s two newest exhibits include both an exhibit on American workers and an in-depth exhibit on Rembrandt’s art. In Focus:The Worker high lights the lives of the everyday people that were are not seen otherwise.

© 2010 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

© 2010 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

© 2010 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

© 2010 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

nThe Getty’s newest exhibit highlights the unknown faces of the American workforce.

As we enter a decade in which most young Americans will never have to grow up and work 58 hours for 15 dollars a week (the average wage in 1910), it’s easy to forget how far American technology and labor laws have come in 100 years.

Throughout the last 171 years, photographs have documented the lives of wealthy bourgeois and workers alike.

In the Getty’s recent exhibition hosted in the West Pavilion on the Terrace level of the Getty Center, In Focus: The Worker, centers on the portrayal of working people and society’s attitudes towards workers through photographs taken from across the globe, spanning a time period from 1847 to 1991.

These photographs present a striking and startling insight into the lives that Americans and other workers around the world once lived.

The oldest photograph on display captures a moment during an operation in 1847. To look at the old photographs is to enter a time machine that transports one back to view things as they were, in a way that paintings simply can’t capture.

Film has a quality of truth about it, and it creates an image that is often closer to the truth than a painting or drawing.

When one looks into the eyes of the woman in the famous 1936 photograph Migrant Mother, taken by Dorothea Lange, one feels an immediate connection and a sense of awe. One can clearly see the sense of despair and uncertainty in the mother’s

© 2010 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

face, and no one can deny the solemnity that emanates from the photograph.

Film also has a way of relating the past and present to each other in a way that canvas artwork simply cannot do. When one gazes at Henry P. Moore’s civil warera photograph Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton, from 1862, the idea of using another human being for slave labor seems strange and foreign, and altogether disgusting.

To think that the same wretched institution that had been a part of the ancient Egyptian and Roman civilizations still existed during the dawn of photography is awe-inducing.

The fact that technology often progresses faster than humanity’s capacity for compassion and egalitarianism is a fact that the photographs of workers demonstrate clearly.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing and horrifying photographs on display is

Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s 1934 photograph Striking Worker Murdered, which depicts a man whose head was bashed in or penetrated, for he lies dead on the floor, with his head surrounded by a pool of blood.

The entire collection of photographs is entertaining and presents a new perspective on what kinds of lives the workers lived during a time not too long ago.

The newest photograph is Sebastião Salgado’s image depicting a firefighter at an oil-well fire in Kuwait, from 1991.

In Focus: The Worker is on display daily through Mar. 21, so there are plenty of opportunities left to examine the powerful depictions of workers from all around the world that come together in this one exhibit.

The photographs are powerful and moving, and a fantastic opportunity to put a little perspective on the lives of conve-

nience many people today take for granted.

If photographs aren’t exactly your cup of tea, then the exhibit Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference, may be exactly what’s needed to satisfy your craving for fine art.

The exhibit displays many drawings by Rembrandt and 15 of his pupils and shows the subtle and not so subtle differences between the drawings. Many of the drawings on display were at one time attributed to Rembrandt, however in the last 30 years, scholars have found that many of the drawings previously thought to be drawn by Rembrandt were actually drawn by Rembrandt’s pupils.

Rembrandt trained more than 50 students in his workshop between 1625 and 1665, and because one of the popular methods to become a better artist was to copy the master, many of Rembrandt’s sketches ended up being copied by his pupils, creating a problem for scholars who have tried to determine which drawings were actually drawn by Rembrandt.

The exhibit holds some intriuging sketches and various signs posted throughout the exhibit help the onlooker to develop an eye for distinguishing between actual drawings by Rembrandt and the sketches of his students.

Although many may not develop the same keen eye for observation that highly trained Rembrandt scholars might possess, playing detective for a little while is fun, as is viewing the entire exhibit.

The exhibit is well worth checking out.

Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference is on display daily through Feb. 28, so be sure to check out the drawings soon, because they won’t be on available for your viewing pleasure forever.

B4

The Anchor

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B5

In-Depth

Some with condition choose to go without medication

by Alison Peet-Lukes

The asterisk (*) in the story below indicates that the name of a speaker has been changed to protect his/her identity.

DI SS TR RAA C C T ED

For many with ADD, the medications that are supposed to make life easier actually make life more difficult.

When sophomore Max Pittman is off his medication, he finds it harder to stay focused, but he thinks it helps him socially and likes it more.

“I’m a lot less relaxed, but I’m more personable and friendly [when I am off my medication]. I’m carefree, but I would tend to do something stupider when I’m off my medication,” he said.

Students learn to look past distractions and overcome their ADHD. DEFINING

A WHAT DIAGNOSIS

ADHD

COMMON BEHAVIORS

TERMS

THE

is a condition resulting in symptoms of inability to maintain attention, impulsive behaviors and/ or motor restlessness.

ADD

although the term is no longer used by the American Psychological Association, the term is commonly used to desribe a form of ADHD without hyperactivity.

Information according to add.org

MEANS

People with ADHD may do the following: –have a hard time paying attention –daydream a lot –be easily distracted from schoolwork or play –talk too much –be in constant motion – act and speak without thinking

Information according to cdc.gov

According to Pittman, when he is on his medication, he feels anti-social.

“They made me calm and I was not able to laugh as much [and I did not] want to go out and have fun,” Pittman said.

Though Pittman does not believe that the medication makes him smarter, he does believe it makes him more worried about school.

“I was always worried about school, so I would go to the library at lunch and snack and work on schoolwork,” he said.

According to Pittman, some other side effects from the medication were suppressed appetite, which caused him to become lethargic.

“The medication made me a lot more wor-

Adderall abuse proves to be too much for some students

ried, that was the biggest side effect. And they also made me germphobic because I was worried all the time. Because of my lack of appetite it stunted my growth for a couple years,” he said.

Junior Mary* is attempting to go off the ADD medication because she dislikes how they make her feel.

“They make me feel unemotional and unsocial when I am on them,” she said.

According to Mary, the medication affects her alertness and she uses the medication to stay ahead in school.

“The only consequence to not taking my medicine is that I am very unfocused. When I am on my medicine I feel focused and therefore, I get good grades,” she said.

by Laura Shodall

The asterisks (*) in the story below indicate that the names of the speakers have been changed to protect their identity.

Adderall does help some manage their ADD symptoms

by Allison Salazar

The asterisk (*) in the story below indicates that the name of a speaker has been changed to protect his/her identity.

Adderall. Although this common prescription drug is often associated with drug abuse among teens, when used properly, the drug allows people with ADD to focus.

“Students tell me [Adderall] really changed their lives for the better [and] that they are so much more focused and organized,” psychiatrist Dr. Robert Herman said.

Many students who suffer from ADD use Adderall to help them focus in school. The drug leads to improved concentration and alertness. Senior Susan* concentration increased after being prescribed Adderall.

“When I first started taking Adderall, I was able to focus on what I was reading and

actually understand it. Before I started taking it, I would get distracted easily and it would take me hours to finish my homework. Now I get everything completed on time and my AP classes are not as hard as they use to be,” she said.

Aside from a better performance in school, Adderall has also influenced her physically.

“During the first week I took Adderall, I noticed that my clothes were not as tight and that I had lost a bit of weight. It wasn’t a drastic change, and it didn’t last long, I guess my body was just getting use to the pills,” she said.

Adderall also increases her alertness.

“Adderall won’t increase your intelligence, it just increases your diligence. Essentially, the drug delays the onset of sleep so you can stay up all night and cram,” clinical psychiatrist Dr. Laurence Greenhill said.

This increased alertness helps Susan deal with the stress from her AP classes and other activities.

“Time management was always a major problem for me [before taking Adderall]. Being able to stay awake until two in the morning is definitely a plus. I study all night long and instead of feeling drowsy the next day, I am alert and able to do my best on tests,” she said.

Although Adderall benefits Susan, she believes people who are not diagnosed with ADD should not take the drug.

“If a person is abusing the drug to do better in school, they are cheating. People with ADD have a hard time doing simple tasks and when someone who has the ability to study on their own is taking pills to help improve their grades. It is just as if they were cheating,” she said.

Medicine administered through a patch ended some of the problems of ADHD

by Elisa Martinez

Behind him is a tapping pencil. To his left, someone is texting. Outside, the clouds are becoming a strange shape. Small things distract people with ADD and ADHD. For senior Kyle Kinsinger, who has been dealing with ADHD since elementary school, ADHD can be troublesome.

“Not a lot of people know,” Kinsinger said. “They think ‘Oh that’s just Kyle being crazy.’”

According to his mother Polly Kinsinger, Kinsinger fits the definition of a person with ADHD. He has every possible symptom: problems with paying attention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

These symptoms often get him into trouble with teachers. He admits to being thrown out of class more than a few times because of his tendency to talk.

Despite his reputation for being a trouble-

maker, Kinsinger tries to always take his medicine. According to him, the ability to concentrate in class outweighs some of the minor annoyances that come with taking the pills. “[Taking the medication] is always a choice,” Kinsinger said. “It’s not imposed on you.”

In the past, he has had to deal with harsh side effects from some medication. When he was first diagnosed in the fourth grade, he was prescribed Adderall. The medication was on a timed release and caused him to go into withdrawals between doses, in other words he “rebound[ed]”.

“It was like a roller coaster,” Kinsinger said.

“Up and down all day.”

One particular withdrawal caused him a lot of trouble. There was a misunderstanding with his principal and rumors spread that he attacked the principal. According to his mother this wasn’t the case.

“There was nothing malicious about it.

He was just reacting to the medicine,” Mrs.

Kinsinger said. “The symptoms the medicine was supposed to fix, they morphed into something worse.”

According to Mrs. Kinsinger, medication affects every individual differently.

“It’s never that you take the medication and it immediately solves everything. It’s always a work in progress. We knew within a week it wasn’t the right medicine for Kyle,” she said.

Now she feels that they have been able to find a good balance in his medication: a transdermal patch called Daytrana. Some of the negative side effects of the patch include a loss of appetite and sometimes it affects his ability to sleep soundly.

Kinsinger doesn’t take the medication everyday, instead he goes without it during vacations and weekends, reserving it specifically for class.

“It just helps you to put your mind to things,” he said.

Mrs. Kinsinger agrees that medication helps.

“Off medication he has trouble staying in line. He’s still funny and crazy and Kyle, but the medication helps him assimilate,” Mrs. Kinsinger said.

She also believes that the medication doesn’t have an affect on his personality so much as his behavior and his ability to calmly think things through.

“Things that are emotionally charged he can think through rationally [on medication],” she said. “The process to get from one place to another [mentally] and emotionally is smoother, easier for him.”

The challenge of growing up with ADHD has been difficult according to his mother, but it has made Kinsinger a stronger person in the end and her as well.

“Anyone who knows him knows he’s fun but challenging and that’s what parenting him has been [like],” she said. “It’s sometimes been completely overwhelming, but it’s also been gratifying to be with someone who is able to enjoy life.”

For those with ADD or ADHD, Adderall can help minimize some symptoms and help them focus. However, there are people without the conditions who abuse the medication.

Thomas* and Rachel*, both admit to using Adderall, even though neither of them suffer from ADHD or ADD. Thomas began abusing Adderall his freshman year.

“I [believed] that you should experience things at least once in your life. So my best friend introduced it to me, [and] I did it,” he said.

According to Thomas, Adderall caused him to be awake for almost 24 hours straight.

“I didn’t even blink and I didn’t have an appetite,” he said. “I pretty much went a whole day without eating or sleeping.”

Thomas used Adderall on and off for four months; but only when he “needed” it.

“When I had homework that required me to work most of the night, I took it,” Thomas said. “It kept me surprisingly alert. It’s a little frightening because it gave me chills and horrible dry mouth.”

Thomas doesn’t regret taking the drug, but he won’t do it again.

“Nothing terrible happens to you when you use it, but [I felt] completely useless. I don’t recommend it,” he said.

Unlike Thomas, Rachel didn’t take Adderall for an extended period of time.

“The first time I used it, I knew that I would never want to relive the situation ever again,” she said.

Rachel was first introduced to the drug through a friend.

“I kept telling [my friend] how I was so stressed and lacking sleep because finals were coming up,” she said. “When he told me about Adderall and how it kept you alert and focused, I didn’t think twice and bought it off his friend.”

Rachel described her first time taking Adderall as “frightening” and an overall “horrible” experience.

“My mouth got really dry,” she said. “I was awake all that first night. I grew disoriented and forgot where I was sometimes, but the worst thing was being so awake. It was so odd.”

Rachel regrets taking the drug and insists that there are better options for late homework nights.

“You could start [your homework] right when you get home, or the day before,” she said. “Just Adderall isn’t a good solution.”

B6

n

February 5, 2010

The Anchor n Entertainment

Beach House’s new album provides calming music

by Ulises Gonzalez

WWW.BEACHHOUSETHEBAND.COM

The release of Beach House’s third studio album, Teen Dream, gives the band a more vocal sound, which contrasts with its earlier albums.

Bring together the subtle charm of indie rock, the boldness of experimental music, the edge of electronic synth-based music, all floating together in a calm and dream-like sea of sound.

The result of this strange and interesting blend of sounds is the “dream pop” duo, Beach House, made up of keyboardist and guitarist, Alex Scally, and vocalist Victoria Legrand. Although using the term “dream pop” to describe the genre of Beach House seems strange, it is very self-explanatory once you listen to any of its songs, due to the very mellow and dream-like, almost spacial, ambiance of the melodies and the vocals. Beach House’s third and latest album Teen Dream continues to explore the band’s signature.

The opening track on the album, “Zebra,” is one of the more upbeat songs compared to the rest of the album but is still fairly mellow and slow. Legrand’s softly wailing voice adds a dream-like element to the song.

Where this album most differs from Beach House’s previous albums is its more vocal-based sound. This album is not so much of an instrumental one as were Devotion and the band’s self-titled album, which takes away the classical music influence in the guitar playing of earlier songs.

However the change ultimately works out for the better because more vocalbased songs resulted in songs such as “Zebra“ and “Walk In The Park,” which are easier to listen to and do not sound nearly as bizarre as some earlier Beach House songs. Even though Teen Dream can be considered an easy listen, it does have its bizarre moments. The strangest of these being the track, “Norway.”

Now, Beach House has been known to use note bending on guitar and even using out of tune notes at times, but “Norway” takes it to a new level. The track begins in tune and sounding fairly normal when all of a sudden the guitar notes start phasing in and out of tune.

This creates an effect that may be interesting to some but definitely requires some getting used to and can be a bit difficult to listen to at first. Overall, Beach House has made sort of a background music album. It is calming music and sets a very serene and light atmosphere, but it can still be an album that you can sit down and listen to and enjoy.

For those looking to find something to listen to outside of their usual playlist of stale monotonous songs, or even if you are stressed out and need a way to relax, Beach House’s Teen Dream might be for you.

Edge of Darkness overshadowed by high expectations

WWW.EDGE-OF-DARKNESS.WARNERBROS.COM

by Garrett Gutierrez

Mel Gibson stars as renegade cop searching for his daughter’s murderer in Martin Campbell’s new film, Edge of Darkness.

Gibson plays the role of Thomas Craven, a homicide detective for the Boston police, who is a loving father but has a severed relationship with his daughter due to their long amount of time apart.

Shortly after his daughter Emma Craven (Bojana Novakovic) comes to visit and the father-daughter bond seems to be rekindled, Emma vomits while entering her father’s car. Although this leads Gibson’s character to first assume that his daughter is pregnant, Emma’s nose begins to bleed at her father’s house, and she vomits profusely over her dinner plate.

As Emma and her father rush out the

door to get to a hospital, a masked man yells “Craven,” both Emma and her father turn, and the man blasts Emma with a shot-gun.

As Detective Craven further investigates his daughter’s death, he uncovers a conspiracy broader than he could have ever imagined. Full of action, Gibson’s performance doesn’t disappoint.

Edge of Darkness offers surprises and unexpected twists. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat. While the action and suspense are impressive components of the film, one’s expectations of the film may be higher due to the fact that it is directed by the same man responsible for Casino Royale, so it’s difficult to judge the film for its own merit.

Although it has some superb surprises, the film jumps right into the action too quickly to adequately demonstrate the amount of love that Craven holds for his daughter and the connection be-

tween the two.

At the same time, the film is filled with emotions of anger, hate, sadness, and love. Overall, the film is too emotional to be a decent action flick, too action-oriented to be a drama, and presents itself as only an adequate thriller.

After watching the film, one leaves the theater with a heavy heart and an unsettled mind. The film ultimately presents the audience with an unrealistic portrayal of justice. If the film were to end realistically, a righteous outcome would be impossible. The fact that true justice is often unattainable in the real world lingers in the back of one’s mind, causing one to ask the question, “What’s the point?” The film’s meaning is vague and obscured by the film’s dark tone.

The movie has good actors and a good director, but the plot and performances just didn’t fully click. Three out of five stars.

The Anchor

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Entertainment

February 5, 2010

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// Lightning Reviews // 1

Two

B7

Never Shout Never’s What is Love?

The title What is Love? immediately brings to mind sappy songs about finding love and coming of age. While a few of the songs on Nevershoutnever!’s first full length album are just that, the song that gives the album its name was far from it. It was about a family breaking up. What is Love? explores a range of emotion familiar and easily relatable to teenagers.

The songs sound youthful, similar to Death Cab for When In Rome, starring Kristen Bell and Josh Cutie, and are Duhamel is another failed romantic comedy. The ageabout old plot of the workaholic woman and the charming guy who tries to convince her of true love is really getting old.

The other big star names such as Dax Shepard, Jon Heder, and Danny DeVito attempt to create a comedy with stupid and irrelated topics. Although it is pretty entertaining to see Dax Shepard in a woman’s jogging suit, he soon becomes annoying.

The main characters fail to convince viewers of their love and relationship. Kristen Bell plays the all-too-familiar workaholic who cannot keep a relationship and does not believe in true love while Duhamel plays the all-too-familiar charming guy who suddenly can’t seem to get anything right after falling in love. The characters have become way too cliché.

The “funny” scenes are cheesy and only successfully make you gag while eating your popcorn.

The directors and writers have no clue about comedic timing and, in the end, make Bell and Duhamel appear dull.

When In Rome won’t be the last of the cheesy romatic comedies but it was still one of the worst romantic comedies.

–Garrett Gutierrez

When in Rome

things that teenagers experience.

The only complaint is the short length of the album, standing at eight tracks in just under 21 minutes.

Overall, the young man’s new album is worth the money. even if the buyers are paying more money per second than most of his albums.

–Alex Curtis

WWW.NEVERSHOUTNEVER.COM

Spoon’s Tranference

3

Every now and then when my headphones become too cluttered with the electronic noise I’ve started listening to, I like to take a break and revert to the simplistic songs created by bands like Spoon. Transference, Spoon’s latest album, was exactly the sobering album that I needed to hear. With songs that sound unpolished and gritty, the band is able to display their natural talent, and provide an album that compliments the winter season.

The album as a whole is not significantly different from any other album that the band has released, execpt for perhaps, the mood that is slightly more melancholy.

With several rhetorical questions thrown into lyrics and song titles like “Is Love Forever?” Spoon has traded in carefree lyrics for ones with deeper meaning. Even the album title Transference, alludes to a shift in thought, and perhaps a shift in the band’s music altogether.

Think of The White Stripes with a thesaurus, and slightly less attitude, and you have the basic idea of what Transference WWW.EXTRAORDINARYMEASURES.COM sounds like. Personally, I would rather listen to the lighthearted and rather ridiculous songs off of Contra to help melt the winter away.

However, Transference is definitely Extraorinary Measures is the sort of movie that is expected in January. After the from the popular Fox show, with worth a long listen, if not a outpour of Oscar nominees, there is a lull in cinemas for about a month. his prevailing sarcasm and unyeildpurchase.

Extraordinary Measures was basically a TV movie on the big screen: a good ing intelligence. Crowley’s wife Aileen – Erika Gavitt story, boiled down into a decent plot with underdeveloped characters.

(Keri Russell) spends the majority of her screen John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) is trying to find a cure for Pompe disease time crying at appropriate times. before his children die; the movie focuses on the drama his family faces as they Extraordinary Measures had all the makings of a great film, work with Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) to find a cure. but it lacked the solid characters to support the plot.

The first character that comes to mind when watching Stonehill is Dr. House,

–Alex Curtis

Extraordinary Measures

Four

THE ANCHOR [ENTERTAINMENT]

B8 [February 5, 2010]

Amelino helps aspiring models, explores styles

by Alyssa Wolf

Senior Matt Amelino and junior Brina Moreno arrive at the wetlands. Amelino pulls out his camera and begins instructing her on how to pose.

Amelino has been taking pictures since he was in the eighth grade, but only in the last year has he started taking pictures of models.

“I thought they were really good but [Amelino] even said shooting people isn’t his profession,” Moreno said.

“But for what he took of me, he did a really, really good job.”

Amelino mostly takes pictures of surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding.

“I like those sports,” Amelino said. “They are fun for me.”

Amelino’s favorite picture is of a surfer at sunset riding a wave with the tail of the board in the air.

“It has really cool colors,” he said. “It’s just a really cool picture.”

Modeling was not Amelino’s initial focus with photography, but he was open to trying it.

“My friend asked me to so it was just kind of yeah sure I’ll do it and I just kept going with it,” Amelino said.

To improve his talents he took a Photoshop class at SCROC and

he is currently taking a photography class at school.

“I like to consider it an art,” Amelino said. “Some people don’t, but all of my friends and I do.”

Since Amelino and Moreno have been friends since elementary school, Moreno had no problem when her sister suggested she do the shoot with him.

It’s fun getting out there and shooting [photos]. - Matt Amelino

When Amelino takes pictures of models he prefers to take them in black and white.

“I think it captures more mood,” he said.

Unlike with models, Amelino prefers to take pictures of sports in color.

“You get the full effect of what is going on,” he said.

His parents support his photography.

“They love what I do,” he said. “My mom used to [take pictures] and she gave me her camera.”

Amelino hopes to have his pictures in a Transworld Magazines one day.

“I’ve always had a thing for [photography],” he said. “I love looking at pictures, and its fun getting out there and shooting [pictures] and finding new stuff.”

“We are really close friends so I was pretty comfortable with him being behind the camera,” Moreno said.

Both Amelino and Moreno have had benefits form their shoot together.

“Ever since people saw his pictures, people want to start taking more [pictures] because they really like his photos,” Moreno said. “I’ve gotten more photo shoot opportunities and then a lot of people saw his pictures and want to get pictures taken by him.”

3.

1. Amelino's favorite photograph. "It has really cool colors," he said. 2. Modeling shot of Brina Moreno.

"He did a really, really good job," she said. 3-5.

Amelino enjoys taking pictures of sport and music events.

5.

COURTESY OF MATT AMELINO

4.

Lowery assissts sister’s photography career

by Annica Stitch

Even since junior Michelle Lowery was a child, she has been going with her sister to concerts and celebrity photo shoots.

“My sister took me to a Britney Spears concert and sat me in the first row. I was about 4 or 5 years old, and as I’m sitting there some guys walk up and all these people are going crazy. I didn’t know who it was but people were asking me if he was my uncle or cousin or if I was related to him.

My sister comes up to me and says to take a picture with him: it’s Kobe Bryant… I did and then my sister sent the picture to him and he signed it,” Lowery said.

When Jennifer was 13, she was friends with Mark McGrath form Sugar Ray and started taking pictures of them. She found out that she could get into concerts by being a photographer and selling the pictures to agencies that would put them into the magazines including, Ok Magazine, Teen Bop and People.

Lowery was just 4 years old when she started going to photo shoots with her sister.

“She just brought me along and I would carry her small-

er bags. But now I go with her and I help her set up photo shoots for celebrities. Sometimes when I’m bored I will call/ text her and she will tell me that she is going somewhere and invite me to go along with her,” Lowery said.

I get to meet famous people.

- Michelle Lowery Now that Lowery is older she, “[she] basically [does] whatever [her sister tells her to do like,] help her set up backdrops [and] get different lenses for her cameras,” Lowery said.

Although Lowery has not taken any of the photos herself, she hopes to take them in the future. Lowery has helped her sister photograph Ashley Argota from True Jack-

son VP, Mitchell Musso from Hannah Montana, Jennifer Stone from Wizards of Waverly Place and Debby Rian from Suite Life on Deck.

“Even when I am not helping my sister I still get to meet famous people. Like one time I was at home with my mom and my god sister, and my sister calls me and was like ‘here talk to Jordin Sparks’ and so we did,” Lowery said.

Lowery does not mind that she does not get paid for helping her sister with photo shoots.

“I enjoy going to concerts that I don’t have to pay for to see my favorite singers and bands. Oh, and food back stage is so good …I don’t get paid and I like helping her...

It’s probably because I have helped her so long that I don’t really think about money. Plus she takes me to a lot of concerts so I can’t complain,” Lowery said.

Despite having good experiences with her sister, Lowery does not consider photography as her first choice for a career.

“I would consider photography as a job if I don’t obtain my current dreams because it is fun,” Lowery said.