The Talon | Issue 1 | September 26, 2011 by The Talon

from the MVLA district. How will this affect students?

opinions pg. 6

ENTERTAINMENT pg.

API

score

Soars

845 830

Raising the bar to

853

815 800 785 770

higher students are doing better,

it’s all students who

are doing better.”

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

— Principal Wynne Satterwhite

For two years in a row, the school has seen double-digit growth in its API score. Academic Performance Index (API) scores released by the state last week indicate LAHS has risen 28 points to a score of 853. The school’s improvement follows last year’s 30-point overall increase. “To go up two years in a row double digits doesn’t really happen,” Principal Wynne Satterwhite said. “[We are] absolutely blown away.” Satterwhite said she believes that the scores have risen because of aprovements across the board. “When students who are doing

Talon he

201 Almond Ave. Los Altos, CA 94022 Los ALtos high school VOLUME XXVI, Issue 1 September 22, 2010

860

“It’s not just that the

Max Wiederholt Opinions Editor

INDEPTH, pg. 10-11

Late-night Munchies

api sCore

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well do better, your scores don’t improve,” Satterwhite said. “It’s when you can take your students who are struggling and move them up. … It’s not just that the higher students are doing better, it’s all students who are doing better.” HigherAPIscoresbenefitstudents in multiple ways, both directly and indirectly. Colleges look at API scores when deciding whether to admit an applicant. Satterwhite said that scores increased partially because students began to realize the weight of academic testing. “People started saying, ‘Oh, I should pay a little more attention instead of drawing butterflies,’” Satterwhite said. API scores also play a role in a residential area’s housing prices, as good public school options are a selling point for realtors.

Satterwhite said she believes that Measure A might not have passed without successful API scores. Satterwhite said API scores are determined by many factors, with “fairly major” weight on STAR testing in an equation that also takes into account census 10th grade CAHSEE results and the rigor of course loads, plus many other aspects. Satterwhite gives heavy credit to the school’s teachers. Social studies teacher Robert Freeman said that “a new ethic among the faculty about collaboration” has had a dramatically beneficial effect. “Before, it was completely stove-piped,” Freeman said. “I may have god’s own gift to an activity on the French Revolution and it used to be

STARTING STRONG Linebacker senior Tyler Stout flies in to complete the sack of Mills’ quarterback. season total:

Los Altos 84 Opponents 7 See Weighing in, page 20

sports stats

FOOTBALL

nIKI MOSHIRI

Martin Aycott, 12 Edwin Zuniga, 12 (RB/s) (WR/s) 13 car, 144 yds, 2 tD 4 TD, 79 Total yds Steven Mclean, 10 (QB) 4/7, 1 TD, 109 YDS Tyler Stout, 12 (FB/LB) 14 tackles (8 solo)

Total Offense:

309 YDS

nobody would know about it, nobody would care about it, I wouldn’t care to share it. But now we sit and work all the time on, ‘What’s working for you on the Industrial Revolution, what’s working for you on the Cold War,’ and share.” English Department Coordinator Keren Robertson said that the department has spent “quite a bit of time” analyzing the test questions to access how to weave more specific test preparation into classes. “The English part is a little tough because there’s not specific content,” Robertson said. “Some of the questions are weaving across the curriculum.” Robertson said that the department is combating this by incorporating test prep in a

way that won’t bore students, with special emphasis on what teachers have found to reoccur over years of the STAR test— literary terms, charts, graphs and grammar, for example. Science Department Chair Greg Stoehr said that an API increase is “good for the school, good for morale,” and that this positive attitude “builds on itself.” “Now that we’ve seen it higher, we want to improve it more,” Stoehr said. Satterwhite honors the teachers and the school’s faculty. “Teachers care,” Satterwhite said. “It’s what they do in the classroom day in and day out. They are passionate people and they are wonderful to work with.”

Evans’ son turns tables DJ group white panda makes it big Sparsha Saxena Staff Writer Listening to an iPod while the radio’s on in the background would make any pair of ears bleed, as two otherwise flawless songs are reduced to noise. However, The White Panda has found a way to take two entirely unique songs and make them sing. The White Panda is a bay-areanative mash-up and remix duo made up of Tom Evans (known as Procrast) and Dan Griffith (known as DJ Griffi) that was formed in the summer of last year. Tom and his mother, math teacher Carol Evans, have seen the group’s popularity skyrocket in a short period of time. A central component of The White Panda’s act, mash-ups are songs composed of previously existing songs that are layered over each other to work together. Tom said that there is no secret to how The White Panda composes its tunes, which usually fall under the dance genre, but

incorporate a variety of styles. “There's no cookie cutter process,” Tom said. “Sometimes you hear a beat or a riff and can just put lyrics on top of it in your head and see it working. Other times, I'll spend hours of trial and error trying to find something that works. It's usually some combination of finding music that I really enjoy, and music that works harmonically and melodically together.” According to Evans, Tom displayed a passion for music at a young age. He began composing his own music at 17, and taught himself to play the guitar. “He also took piano lessons through junior year in high school and his lessons included a lot of music theory which I know he uses now,” Evans said. “His piano teacher is very proud.” Tom and Daniel met in second grade at Montclaire Elementary School in Cupertino and they

See White Panda, page 12

News

District reduces budget, uses Measure A bond for energy efficient upgrades Curran Mahowald Copy/Content Editor

JASON HU

The MVLA District ﬁnalized budget reductions of a total of about $3.3 million for the current school year last spring. District Superintendent Dr. Barry Groves met with a Budget Advisory Committee of about 20 parents, students, staff and administrators to decide which programs to cut down. Although the state budget has not yet been ﬁnalized, the board operated based on the governor’s May revision in which he outlined the general idea of what needs to be done. The Art and Music Block Grant, a sum of extra money received from the state in 2008, has been cut by $30,000 at LAHS. The school administration and leadership team made the decisions about how this plays out on campus. As far as staffing, some staff members were laid off, but no credentialed faculty members were dismissed. One clerical position was reduced, but the number of teachers at the school remained the same from year to year. Also on the list of reductions are removing half of the eight extra summer counseling days and eliminating the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) English preparation classes. Principal Wynne Satterwhite

said that the tutorial center will serve as a substitute for those classes. According to White, since the district retained class size reduction, certain classes still have around 20 students. “I doubt that you would notice a difference,” White said. “Even though obviously all those cuts have value to the overall running of the district, you don’t see it in the teacher and the 30 students they’re teaching.” Satterwhite conﬁrms that substantial changes should not be perceptible in classrooms or anywhere on campus. “Nobody took a hit,” Satterwhite said. Groves also said that despite the considerable monetary value of the cutbacks, the changes in day-to-day school life will not be dramatic. “In many school districts, extracurricular programs are being reduced, [like] sports, activities, newspaper,” Groves said. “I think compared to many school districts our budget cuts aren’t as severe.” The district saved money on deferred maintenance, one of the items reduced in budget cuts, since it is part of the Measure A projects. The $48.3 million Measure A bond, which voters approved by a 78 percent majority on June 8, provides $7.1 million to install solar panels on shade structures in the student parking lot. This

construction will take place five days a week for four months. “Some of the things that we would do in deferred maintenance are going to be a by-product of putting in solar,” White said. “Instead of us redoing the parking lots, then putting in solar and then having to redo the parking lots again, we’re going to have to do it as part of the overall project, so we saved money in the current year.” Many of the projects supported by Measure A funds focus on energy efficient upgrades which save money and protect the environment. “Over the next year or so we’re going to look at a bunch of small projects that look like they can gain the biggest bang for the buck,” White said. One of these projects is constructing new “zero net buildings,” which are classrooms whose electricity costs are almost completely offset by solar panels. Additionally, the district is looking into new blind systems to maximize the use of natural instead of artificial light. Windows in the gym and library, skylights in the administration office and thermal pool covers are further advancements that the district is considering. “This district has a reputation for being thoughtful, proactive and [for] keeping a very stable financial environment,” White said.

Solar panels to be constructed in parking lot Megan Davis Staff Writer

This year the student parking lot is experiencing several major changes. As a part of Measure A, the district’s recently passed general obligation bond, the school will be installing solar panel canopies over the parking lot. According to Superintendent Dr. Barry Groves, construction is scheduled to last from the beginning of November until April of next year. For the duration of the construction, the city is allowing the school to create 42 additional angled spaces for students to park on Jardin Drive to prevent students from parking illegally. Finishing the construction by the end of next school year will earn the district a $1.7 million rebate from the state. “The school will save money,” Green team adviser Greg Stoehr said. “We pay $40,000 a year in electricity bills and the solar panels will cut that in half.” The district is purchasing the solar panels directly with the money granted from Measure A. This means that sole ownership of the panels and the energy created belongs to the district and all of the money will feed directly back into the school.

“[It’s] the right thing to do, our goal is to become a more sustainable district, a model for the community and reduce the amount of carbon being released,” Groves said. Measure A states that the environmental benefits of the solar panel canopies are the equivalent of removing 217 cars from the road. Because of the proposed orientation of the solar canopies, the orientation of the parking spaces has changed as well. The parking slots are now vertical and there are 32 additional spaces. Some students feel this new orientation causes some visibility difﬁculties. “I almost crashed the other day because you can’t see people driving down the aisles because [the parking spaces are] vertical,” senior Paul Fomenko said. However, the school had to issue 40 fewer parking permits than last year and juniors were only able to purchase temporary permits, which will be invalid during the construction period from November 2010 through April 2011. Several affected students feel negatively about the temporary parking system and the changes being made this year. Junior Margo Sargent suggested that priorities other than seniority

JENNA LOUIE

Solar panels like these, which were built at Homestead High School, will be constructed at LAHS. Work on the solar panels will begin in November and last until next April. be considered when distributing the parking permits. “It’s annoying because I know that seniors get priority, but some people need it more; I have sports practice after school everyday,” Margo said. Other students feel that the changes will not affect them in such a drastic manner. “When we have to park in the back it will be faster for me,

so it’s not a big deal,” junior Sophia Steffens said. For some students, parking in the back of the school is more convenient and prevents them from getting caught up in the rush to get out of the parking lot following at the end of the school day. According to Stoehr, the school also plans to build a meter in the parking lot to

demonstrate the money being saved by the solar panels. “Students will get a sense of the system and the money being saved,” Stoehr said. The school hopes that students will see the positive difference that these changes are making in the community, as well as the example that the school is setting for surrounding communities.

September 22, 2010

News

English teachers explore drama, bond at staff retreat Katie Gonsalves Staff Writer

The English Department went on a two-day annual retreat to the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove on Friday, September 10. The teachers sought new ways to teach and discuss drama, and addressed how to read plays and better teach their students about drama. The teachers have held the retreat for the past 10 years and have found it helpful every time. Selecting a certain aspect or topic as a focus helped the teachers get specific information and focus on aiding the students in that area. The English teachers left after school for the conference, heading to the beach right away for bonding and appetizers. Department Chair Keren Robertson always puts a lot of effort into the event and has always looked forward to the trip.

“It’s like a camp for teachers,” Robertson said. “It builds relationships and we always have a good time.” English teacher Galen Rosenberg was excited as well. “I don’t get to spend much time with my colleagues and it’s really nice to get a chunk of time like this,” Rosenberg said. In addition to promoting teacher bonding, the trip was helpful in providing the English Department with an opportunity to work on its teaching methods. “We work together to make all English classes as good as they can be,” Rosenberg said. “We do the work we ask the students to do at the retreat and this helps us to see more clearly the challenges the students face, helping us to be more creative [with teaching].” The teachers focused on increasing their understanding of the chosen material and

ﬁnding new ways to teach it. They also spent much of their time constructing grading rubrics for this year and the following year. Before the group left for the trip, the department divided into separate groups. Each group was assigned different acts to perform in front of one another. The purpose of this activity was to learn about teaching drama through the performances in front of their colleagues. “We [performed] our plays on Friday night and later talked about it and analyzed what happened to better teach the students,” Robertson said. The teachers got the inside perspective on how the students learn and the most efficient way to increase learning capabilities. “The quality of work from freshmen to senior year is impressive,” Rosenberg said. “I think a large product of that is due to the work we do together at the retreat.”

COURTESY KEREN ROBERTSON

The English Department staff play an improv game called “The Machine” while on the retreat.

ALEX KENT

Junior Esther Park, seniors Jordan Hamel and Brett Carr show off their new Marching Band uniforms.

Marching band updates uniforms after 24 years Julia Son-Bell Staff Writer

After 24 years of wearing the same uniform, the Eagle Marching Band has purchased new uniforms. They will be showcased at the band’s performance at the Mountain View Community Thank You on October 2 at 4 p.m. Music Director Ted Ferrucci and the Music Boosters group decided about a year ago that the uniforms needed the upgrade. “They’re a more contemporary look, moving our look into the 21st century, a new way to represent Los Altos High,” Ferrucci said. “The old uniforms were very traditional, [but] the new uniforms are deﬁnitely on the cutting edge.” The new uniforms are blue on the right side and black on the left side, with crossing white lines in the middle which separate the colors. The lines form the letters L and A, with the L crossing the A. The new uniforms are also made out of polyester, while the old uniforms were made out of wool, which means that the uniforms are lighter

and better protect against heat. Parents as well as students involved in the leadership staff played a role in choosing the design for the new uniforms. Marching band members were even given the opportunity to try on the different ideas presented during the process of deciding a uniform design. The new uniforms cost around $40,000, but 15 years of fundraising minimalized the expense. Students agree that the investment was worth the cost and are pleased by the new design. “The new uniforms are really modern and cool,” junior David Kay said. “But they still conjure the spirit of Marching Band, of its tradition. I bet they will look a little intimidating too.” Students who liked the old uniforms are happy with the upgraded uniforms. “I liked the old uniforms because we were the only ones with traditional uniforms, [however] the new uniforms are really awesome,” sophomore Willem Van Eck said. “They represent how our band is changing.”

ASB discusses dance activities Zero period offers several honors, AP classes Rachel Grate Staff Writer This year ASB is considering incorporating new activities such as photo booths and bouncy houses in school dances. “We were trying to think of ways to raise more revenue for dances since they’re hosted by classes,” Senior Class President Libby Strichartz said. “We’re thinking of bar mitzvah type activities: henna, face painting, a photo booth.” Other activities being discussed include caricatures, dance classes such as salsa and line dancing, and bouncy houses or slides, according to Assistant Principal Cristy

Dawson. The ﬁrst dance to showcase such activities will be the Winter Dance. The idea ﬁrst came up during ASB core camp this summer, where numerous schools shared their stories of success with dance activities. “Dances are pretty much the same every time,” Dawson said. “This is a way to make the winter dance and Sadies [dance] more distinctive.” Libby also hopes that new activities will make dances more exciting and will give students something else to do if the DJ is a disappointment. “These are just thoughts being investigated,” Dawson said, emphasizing that no details are confirmed yet.

period class. He believes m o r e This year the students school is offering dropped ChemistryHonors, than usual. Spanish Lit AP But the and AP European students that History during remain are zero period, which “committed” begins at 7:20 a.m., and “alert,” in order to allow he said. more students to Students fit the classes they said that want to take into they’ve their schedules. generally The classes gotten used are taught by to waking Carl Babb, Kim up early and Hanley and are grateful Robert Freeman. AMELIA EVARD for the free A s s i s t a n t Sophomore Jonathon Yu takes a zero period history class. time that Principal Cristy they can use Dawson said that the decisions the students’ wishes.” later in the day for about which classes to offer “They were trying to fit it into homework and studying. during zero period are based on the schedule and at the end of last “I looked at my schedule “the ability to load the class.” year they weren’t able to put it in and I was scared at first,” Certain classes are only one through seven,” Hanley said. sophomore Steven Dittmer said. offered during one period. These Carl Babb asked the “But, I realized that I get out “singletons” can block students administration to make every day pretty much at two.” from taking other courses that Chemistry Honors a zero period. Studentsinzeroperiodshavebeen aren’t offered as frequently, so “It gives people a nice adjusting their sleeping schedules to “zero is a place that you would option,” Babb said. “But the compensate for waking up earlier. have to go,” Dawson said. main reason we’re doing it is “Before the school year Hanley said that the school is because we’re out of rooms.” started I was definitely dreading offering Spanish Literature AP According to social studies [having a zero period], but it during zero period because “they teacher Robert Freeman, there are hasn’t been too bad so far,” were trying to accommodate currently 21 students in his zero sophomore Julia Chmyz said.

Libbie Katsev Staff Writer

News

Cheer team’s talented new coach encourages members to compete

JENNA LOUIE

The cheer team practices its routine under the guidance of new coach, Nikia Crawley, who has brought several changes to the program.

Alice Hau Curran Mahowald Staff Writer and Copy Editor The arrival of new coach Nikia Crawley has brought several modifications to the school’s cheerleading program. This year, the cheer team will be attending cheer competitions in addition to school football games. Crawley said she wants to bring the team to competitions in order to get the school recognized and encourage the cheerleaders to challenge themselves. Team members look forward to this change, which is something that they have never tried before. “To be in this competitive league is a whole new experience,” cheer captain

senior Randy Jimenez said. The management style and the way practices are run have also changed, as Crawley’s past experience with cheerleading and gymnastics have contributed to her arsenal of coaching skills and knowledge. Crawley coached for Branham High School in San Jose before coming to LAHS. She took her previous team to a USA National Cheer Competition where it won ﬁrst place after an undefeated season. This led Crawley to take the job at LAHS. “With Branham’s program flourishing, I felt that being able to take another team to the top of their potential would be a new challenge for me,” Crawley said. Under Coach Crawley’s leadership, the cheer team is held to higher expectations

than it was last year. The team completes six hours of “consistent and productive” weekly practices, according to Crawley. “I have challenged the team members to give it their all every practice, and I push them because I know how talented everyone is,” Crawley said. “Knowledge is power, and I want the team to know every rule and aspect of cheerleading.” In addition to her athletic expectations for the team, Crawley demands that all team members be good influences on and off campus. Although the team’s training is more physically and mentally demanding of its members this year, the cheerleaders trust their new coach’s methods. “She is over-the-top fabulous

and so much more experienced [than our previous coach],” cheer team member junior Annie Frates said. “It used to take us an hour to learn how to do [certain cheer maneuvers]. Now it only takes us 20 minutes.” Crawley affirms that she directs practices with the improvement of the team as her ultimate goal. “I am an extremely demanding coach,” Crawley said, “I know at times I might seem like the pickiest coach that is never satisfied, but deep down after every practice I know that the team has grown leaps and bounds from where it started because of the stringent program that is run.” The team’s first competition will be on Sunday, November 7, at Washington High School in Fremont.

Naviance online counseling system introduced Drew Eller Staff Writer

A new addition to the school’s online college resource, Naviance, will give staff the option to send letters of recommendation for prospective college students online. This is a change from the traditional form of handwritten and mailed letters of years past. According to counselor Dafna Tarle, the decision was made after several years of district consideration. The change was implemented at both high schools in the MVLA school district. “It’s a lot less work for [the students],” Tarle said. “[The students] don’t have to bother with the stamps and envelopes.” The new system lets students put all of their information online, allowing teachers to view it in an organized manner and write their letters based on the information given. Teachers still have the option of submitting letters by mail, but are encouraged to try out the online method. College/Career Center counselor Kristin Joseph sees the beneﬁt for students and teachers.

CONNECTION.NAVIANCE.COM

Naviance Family Connection allows students to manage the college application process online. “I think it will streamline the [college application] process immensely for teachers,” Joseph said. “For students, it gives them the ability to track the progress of their applications.” The Naviance method is optional for all teachers who are willing to try it; however, some teachers haven’t been introduced to the new system. Math teacher Carol Evans said that she has yet to be contacted by a counselor encouraging her to adopt the new system. “Someone has to tell me how it works before I can use [the

Naviance system]. I haven’t heard anything about it,” Evans said. “[Students] have heard all about it, I’ve heard zero.” The system will still require face-to-face interaction and the teachers will all see the same resume and essays on Naviance. Like the students, many of the teachers want to have personalized information on what they should be writing about. Having Naviance do everything discourages the student’s personalization. According to Tarle, everything

will also be visible online, allowing students and teachers to easily view resumes, prospective colleges and other information used to write the letters of recommendation. The website will stay updated and will show the status of all letters and schools, notifying students and teachers whether or not schools have received all the necessary parts of their application. Joseph and the counseling department as a whole hope the new system will impact application process positively.

September 22, 2010

News Briefs: October SAT date conflicts with Camp

Many juniors and seniors are unable to attend Camp Everytown because it takes place from October 7 to October 10, conflicting with the October SAT which falls on Saturday, October 10. The reason that Camp Everytown conflicts with the SAT is because “[it] always conflicts with something,” Vice Principal Cristy Dawson said. “We try to pick dates to get a nice amount of students available. We looked at all the dates and tried to pick the best. Spring conflicts with APs and so many kids were intense about APs.” Seniors taking the October SAT are unable to take the SAT on a different date because October 9 is the final date to send scores to colleges. However, it is possible for seniors to attend the camp and return after taking the SAT.

Choral Department invited to perform The Santa Clara Chorale invited the school’s Vocal Department to its annual invitational concert on Friday, October 22 at Mission Santa Clara. The concert will last one and a half to two hours and will feature Main Street Singers as well as Concert Choir, Santa Clara Choir, and one other select high school. According to the Santa Clara Chorale, the Invitational concert features “top choral ensembles.” Singers will perform a range of repertoire, from Renaissance to contemporary music. “It’s a big honor to be invited,” Department Director Mark Shaull said. “Not many schools have [this] chance.”

Seniors raise money with AP book drive On Tuesday, October 5 during the school’s College Application Night, the Senior Class will be selling used standardized test preparation books donated by students as a fundraiser. Slightly used SAT, SAT II, ACT and AP study books will be accepted until Monday, October 4 even if they are written in. Boxes for book donations are located in the attendance office, the College/ Career Center and the library. The books will then be sold before, after and during College Application Night. If needed, there will be a second sale at a later date. The profits from the fundraiser will go to the Senior Class to finance prom. This fundraiser relies more on the student body for its success than other fundraisers. “[We have gotten] only a couple books so far, [but we] expect more soon,” Senior Class Vice President Tyler Stout said. COMPILED BY JULIA SON-BELL AND YONATAN TADMOR

Editorial

The Talon September 22, 2010

Overall school improvement due to efforts of both students, staff Editorial Opinion of The Talon

Tutorials spent on STAR test prep may have finally paid off. Staff members find it difficult to pinpoint a defining reason for testing improvement, but the rising Academic Performance Index (API) score shows that the school is on the right track. This year, the school raised its score to 853—a 28-point increase from last year. API scores are evaluated by colleges and are partially based on STAR test results. Though staff responses as to why the jump happened are varied, and factors may not have been entirely academic, there is no doubt that the school has made a collaborative effort to raise scores through testtaking practice and curriculum alignment. Nevertheless, in order to sustain these scores, the school must maintain its work ethic and continue to strive for improvement. The faculty holds staff meetings every month and has intradepartmental meetings at least once every two weeks. Meetings are held to discuss curriculum and alignment along with other ways to improve the learning environment, and demonstrate staff enthusiasm in fostering student learning. One result of such meetings is the rearrangement of class curriculum. In an effort to

emphasize certain areas of learning that the STAR test covers, Algebra II teachers reorganized their curricula so that students would be better prepared for the test. The History Department had a two-day world history review session before the STAR test. In addition, certain science classes have accelerated the pace of covering curriculum in order to teach more topics. Regardless of whether these implementations are reasons for improvement, the school shows dedication to its students

Letters to the Editor

by taking time to evaluate lessons and teaching styles. It’s not just the staff that’s working to improve test scores. Students are becoming more motivated when it comes to testing as well. Though they’re not held individually accountable for STAR test results, students realize that API scores do in fact affect college admissions. Some who may not be college-bound, one teacher cited, still realize their scores affect their peers. Faculty infer what may have caused the API increase, but no particular reason has been

credited. Without further study, the school’s yearly API is not guaranteed to remain at its high score. Staff members must continue to collaborate, and students must follow through with diligence. The school should be proud of its improvements this year, and should continue to re-evaluate curriculum and strive for gains. But students and staff must not forget that higher standardized test grades can only be maintained by continued motivation and reflective work ethic.

Shirtless policy should be changed

The Talon welcomes letters to the editor. E-mail letters to lahstalon@gmail.com or drop them off in room 409 or the box in the attendance office. If you have any questions, send an e-mail or call (650) 960-8877. In the case of spelling or grammatical errors, obscenities, libelous information or personal attacks, a letter may be edited or not run. Letters must be signed, but a name may be withheld upon request. Letters may be published online, in print or both.

Dear Editor,

The Talon needs Home meet a political coverage chance for spirit Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

I find the lack of coverage on the political turbulence and stagnation of the current times [frustrating]. I would like to see stories about what the school thinks about politics right now. Also, maybe some coverage about the media’s effects on politics.

I really liked the home meet for cross country on Wednesday. I saw most of the meet, and I thought that by hosting meets like this we show more class spirit. It was also really fun! Marika Lee Senior

David Kirk Junior

thumbs Thumbs up to the incorporation of STEM ideas in the Science and Technology Week program. In response to a request from the Science Department, Science and Tech Week coordinators decided to include themes from the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Coalition. Broadening the scope of Science and Tech week will better meet the needs of students with multiple interests and inform them about possible careers. It also exposes students to academic ideas outside of the classroom and in the real world.

The shirtless policy is one I don’t agree with. I mean, what’s so wrong with showing off one’s rockin’ bod in the scorching sun? Mikey Vendelin Senior

iPods not an issue when not in class Dear Editor, I don’t agree with the school’s policy of iPods and music players outside of class. I don’t see it as a problem outside of class. Adam Colcord Junior

Thumbs up to the the emphasis of green projects in the Measure A bond money distribution. The solar canopies in the parking lot, scheduled to be completed by April 2011, will reduce consumption of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions as well as provide shade for parked cars. Remote-controlled window blinds for classrooms will allow teachers to use natural daylight more effectively. Also, thermal pool covers and buildings with solar panel roofs will save both money and energy. The district’s double-edged approach to these green updates will not only lower electricity bills but also lower the school’s carbon footprint.

Thumbs up to the school’s move to an electronic letters of recommendation system. Colleges prefer applications to be submitted fully either online or by mail. The new system allows students to submit applications online without worrying about mailing in recommendation letters. Moreover, counselors and teachers may easily access students’ information through Naviance Family Connection. Naviance is linked with the students’ in-progress Common Application, allowing teachers and counselors the ability to read students’ personal statements. The move will better organize a complicated process and save all parties from excessive paperwork.

Thumbs up to the student formation of Band Council to help the Music Boosters fundraise. The Eagle Marching Band has seen an increase in expenditures this year with a doubling of the number of scholarships and the purchase of new uniforms. The Music Boosters is in charge of funding these expenses as well as paying for instruments, repairs and travel expenses. This year, though, the student-formed Band Council is helping support the costs by working at and organizing fundraisers. Their proactive move to do their part in fundraising shows maturity, especially in light of recent economic hardships.

5 The Talon Los Altos High School 201 Almond Avenue Los Altos, California www.lahstalon.org September 22, 2010 Volume XXVI, Issue 1

Editor-in-Chief Carolyn Huang Managing Editors Mark Levin Zia Rosenzweig News Editor Trisha Nangia Opinions Editor Max Wiederholt Features Editor Justin Koehler In-Depth Editor Jason Hu Entertainment Editor Nika Ayat Sports Editor Michael Drake Information Editor Anny Dow Copy/Content Editors Vivian Hua Lauren Liu Curran Mahowald Kelly Moulds Business Managers Alex Kent Erika Schonher Staff Writers Caleb An, Sarah Corner, Jacqueline Chu, Megan Davis, Drew Eller, Grace Gao, Katie Gonsalves, Rachel Grate, Alice Hau, Catherine Hua, Libbie Katsev, Sparsha Saxena, Mark Schreiber, Julia Son-Bell, Zachary Strom, Yonatan Tadmor, Shilpa Venigandla, Jasmine Xu Photographers Mya Ballin, Amelia Evard, Alex Kent, Jenna Louie, Niki Moshiri Graphic Artists Jason Hu, Joey Giacomini, Lauren Liu, Lizzy Lukrich, Tin Huynh Webmasters Seena Burns, Austin Conlon Adviser Michael Moul Los Altos High School’s Compositional Journalism class is solely responsible for The Talon, which is published eight times a year. The Talon also maintains and updates its website, www.lahstalon.org, with fulltime coverage. The Talon is a public forum for student expression. The Editorial Board sets the policies of The Talon and crafts its editorials and thumbs. Its members are Jason Hu, Carolyn Huang, Alex Kent, Justin Koehler, Mark Levin, Curran Mahowald, Zia Rosenzweig and Max Wiederholt. Please send subscription and advertisement inquiries to Alex Kent and Erika Schonher at thetalon. business@gmail.com.

Talon Supporters Honorary Pulitzers Ashok and Bharti Killer, Jeanine Valadez, The Bergevin Family, Myriam McAdams, Jeff and Katie Wiederholt, Zorica Ljaljevic, Seth and Debra Strichartz, Shu-Hua and Ching Hu, Chuyen Do and Quyen Nguyen, The Nangia Family, Kefeng Hua, Ted and Rebecca Liu, Alice Hsia and Perry Huang, Mack Johnston Silver Supporters Jaleh Morshed, Alex Barreira, Michael Stanley, Camilla Bixler, Drew Lytle, Karen Eustis, Jacob Kuo, George Salah, Joanna Beyer, Barbara Small, The Biondi Family, Bill and Karen Shannon, Ali Nahm, Anne Hau, Bey-Bey Li, John Grate, Trudy and Jim Chiddix, Eugene and Shirley Radding, Don Schreiber and Lynn Saunders, the Kent Family

The Talon September 22, 2010

Opinions

hirty-five seniors squeeze into jazz band or cram 40 students into a sweltering portable “So you have two things happening: you have the State Microeconomics AP, giving new meaning to on the fringes of campus. Takeaway and you have less property taxes coming in, the phrase “cram session.” They’re discussing The school district lost $3.2 million, but it has managed which means there’s a hole in the budget,” Hope said. the economic recession. The irony isn’t lost. to escape such a fate; we have yet to have to say goodbye “We’re spending more than we’re taking in, so we have “In the last 2 years, my average Econ class to a loved history teacher or to field hockey, because of to make cuts to take down the budget.” size has gone up from 25 to 35. Every single seat is the roughly 1000 school districts in California, MVLA The State Takeaway was a conscientious effort by the full,” social studies teacher Robert Freeman said. “Is the is of the privileged 100 which can support itself with district to help out fellow schools. The declining property quality of the education the same? No.” taxes, however, stem from larger, economic trends. property taxes alone, according to Hope. Freeman’s class, like others throughout the school, The economic turbulence reversed the trend of “The state, in the most simplistic terms, calculates is a grim reflection of the financial reality property value in the cities of Mountain View of California’s public education. It’s not and Los Altos, which saw a steady growth in getting better: This summer the district property values in recent years. Without the Board of Trustees pulled the belt a bit rising revenue from taxes on rising property tighter—$3,275,141 tighter, to be exact. values, the district will have to find new “Obviously, when you cut $3.2 million sources of income to pay for the increasing out of a budget it’s somehow going to affect cost of living. students,” Superintendent Dr. Barry Groves “One of the critical pieces of funding for said. “Everything will affect them some way.” us is: How much does the property tax base Indeed, students, classrooms and teachers grow in this district from year to year?” Hope were all affected by the cuts, but the district said. “Because that growth is what helps us should be commended for making the most pay for new things, increase the budget, pay of the situation. for increased health care cost for insurance There were casualties and bumps and for the staff.” bruises, but what could have been a disaster But the solution isn’t as easy as waiting for for the students and their education instead the economic turnaround; political deadlock came through with the classrooms intact. The in Sacramento casts a shadow of uncertainty district’s goal was “to try to keep the cuts as on the already timid economy. Already, the far away from the classroom as possible,” state budget is months overdue on its June 15 according to Associate Superintendent of deadline, and that’s plenty of reason for alarm. Business Joe White, and it shows. Without a formal budget from Sacramento, One such way the district has kept the cuts the district has to ballpark its running budget “away from the classroom” is by essentially for the year. Undershoot, and students are finding all of the district’s loose change. cheated out of a quality education. Overshoot, Numerous one-time programs don’t use up and the rug can be pulled from under our feet their entire initial grants; the unused money at the last minute. then just sits in an account. “We have tried to anticipate the downside so “Let’s say your that we can avoid parents give you reactionary budget $100 to spend, but cuts,” White said. you only spend $95,” “It’s huge. When you Groves said. “At the have to make drastic Reduce GATES School end of that account, budget cuts midArt & Reduce ($16,000) Improvement you have $5. So we year, then there could Music Theater Reduce Program Reduce Board Budget Block Grant Managers Superintendent budget ($54,000) swept all the money be impacts because ($15,000) ($61,000) ($34,822) ($15,000) from the accounts you haven’t had Reduce District Office Allocations that wasn’t spent.” time to thoughtfully by 10 percent Reduce And by essentially determine what ($30,000) Deferred turning over all sofa would be the best Maintenance Computer ($88,000) cushions to find approach.” Refreshment Program Eliminate ($50,000) the coins that fell In the midst of Senior Staff Reduce cell phones Routine Restricted Maintenance Program through, the district all this uncertainty, Secretary and ($5,000) ($500,000) Senior Office saved $538,847. though, one thing Assistant Library Materials That’s not just petty remains constant: ($86,370) ($10,000) Sr. Staff Secretary Latino Outreach spending money. The economy needs Ten Percent Reduce IT Department Special Allocation Site Allocation GASB 45 The district then to turn around, ($100,000) ($10,000) Categorical Program Carryover Unfued Liability Reduction saved another and Sacramento’s Freshman Transition $538,847) ($56,000) ($138,000) ($10,000) half million by deadlock needs to be Reduce ACSA Extra pay Membership forgoing the broken. Because if for extra duty ($14,000) ($20,000) Routine Restricted trends continue the Eliminate Senior Office Assistant Maintenance way they are, more Senior Office Senior Office ($18,000) Program Specialist Eliminate lottery Assistant Assistant Program, the and more districts ($150,739) Reduce Economic Uncertainty transfer to Adult ($108,255) ($108,255) Reduce 4 of 8 extra annual summertime will see their funding Reserve from 5 to 4 percent Education counseling days New Teacher ($504,448) g e n e r a l runs dry, and then it ($171,000) Eliminate Exit ($22,000) Induction Exam Classes Reduce Staff Development Program Hire General maintenance. will only be a matter ($60,000) ($4,000) ($20,000) Eliminate Short Term Computer Cheaper Fund to Rather than “paint, of time before MVLA Fingerprinting for Eliminate sub-custodian Web Temporary Support Replacement Curriculum Instructional associated nonprofits temp contracts Contracts Positions Specialist Personnel Institute fix up the school, needs to make the Materials ($3,000) ($10,000) ($46,000) ($44,200) ($62,460) ($50,000) ($40,000) Jason Hu ($101,000) put up new roofs,” sweeping changes according to Groves, everyone dreads. the district decided to hold off on maintenance for a what the revenue limit is for that school … so there’s “Can we make it through another two years without year. a formula that does that,” Hope said. “In our district, making major reductions?” Hope said. “I can’t give you These cuts mean the walls of the school may look a being a locally funded district ... property taxes come the answer to that—I don’t know what the answer is. I bit lackluster, and teachers might need to smack the in substantially higher and give us more money per don’t know what the economy is going to do or how long appliances to get them working. But they saved the student than that formula would give us.” we can make it last.” district $500 thousand—money which would have Already, the district is tapping into its rainy day But then why bother with the budget cuts at all? If we otherwise come out of our textbooks, teachers and can stay afloat, especially in the economic recession, why funds. As part of its annual budget, the district supplies. cut $3.2 million? Because in the end, we are not the only sets aside five percent as an Economic Uncertainty These two cuts alone covered a third of the total district in this state, and we’d be insensitive—to put it Reserve fund. However, in order to generate the $3.2 reduction. nicely—to refurbish a track or purchase new technology million, the district lowered that amount to 4 percent, Budget cuts are never an easy burden, but the while others are slashing into their core. producing over half a million dollars, but pushing the district—by keeping the students far from the cuts— schools and students ever closer to the brink. The $3.2 million, then, was “to do our part.” makes the $3.2 million that much easier to bear. Although pulling from the funds was necessary, it’s an “These other 900 districts are getting reduction that We the students shouldn’t be happy, but we should we’re not getting, and that doesn’t seem to be fair,” uneasy reflection of our uneasy times. at the very least be thankful—because our district is Hope said. “So we said to the state, ‘We need to give our “The board wants to go back to five percent,” Groves wading in shallows, whereas districts across the state fair share also, so we will give back as much money as said. “But they need to wait until the economic climate is are neck-deep and treading water, waiting for an these other districts are being cut.’” better so they can gather some dollars and put it back.” unlikely life raft. Because the fact is that if the funding dries up, no MVLA can survive this year even with a slashed “The lack of funding for education is a tragedy,” budget; others might not be so lucky. So should we have amount of frugality can produce the money necessary to Associate Superintendant Steve Hope said. “In some cut our budget? guarantee a quality education. places ... they’re not getting new textbooks. Class sizes Solutions might work temporarily—like the current Most definitely. are getting significantly bigger; they’re getting 35, 40 budget reductions—but we’ll eventually sweep up all the people in a classroom.” spare change there is, and the walls will eventually need Looking to the future As Hope explains, public schools in California receive But at whom should we point fingers? After all, $3.2 to be repainted. the majority of their funding from property taxes, and the million isn’t just an accounting blip from rounding If the economic crisis doesn’t turn around soon, the state subsidizes the difference. But the recent statewide errors—someone somewhere made a mistake. best that we can do is keep tapping into the rainy day budget cuts slashed this subsidy, forcing many to cut funds, and hope that the weather clears up tomorrow. Hope explains the cause of the budget cuts.

Making the Cut

a look at the $3.2 million reduction by jason hu, in-depth editor

how $3.2 million breaks down

September 22, 2010

Opinions

AP/Honors drop policy valid Surely, you jest? Catherine Hua Staff Writer

The bell rings as students frantically scribble down the answers to the remaining questions on their test. However, one student turns in a blank sheet of paper and walks out the door. Strange choice? Yes. Smart move? Definitely not.

While the school’s two week drop policy for students in AP and Honors classes negatively affects some students, it is also fair and justifiable. Although students complain that they cannot drop their class until after two weeks, others praise these two weeks as the perfect period to decide whether or not they should stay in the class. No rule can work for

MYA BALLIN

Senior Cassandra Manco waits to meet her counselor. The school’s two week policy for AP and Honors classes is justifiable.

everyone, and this is as good as it gets. “The administration decided [the implementation of the two week policy is] in the best interest for the students,” Principal Wynne Satterwhite said. “Lots of students would just leave … we didn’t have enough room in the college preparatory classes.” Satterwhite said the policy was implemented for two reasons: to make sure that students have enough time to get to know the classes and because switching and dropping classes overloads the master schedule for the school. Her statements are clearly backed by the contract for AP and Honors classes, which was signed by all students who registered for these classes. The contract states: “I commit to remain enrolled in the Honors and AP classes I have chosen for the entire year. While transfers to a college preparatory class may be granted, … students will be permitted to transfer only after the first two weeks of class on a space available basis.” Calculus BC AP teacher Michael Richardson believes many students use the first few weeks to get a feel for how challenging an AP or Honors class might be. “I think most students want to see if they can get an A or B in the class,” Richardson said. Richardson believes that even if a student plans on dropping the course, the two weeks in class wouldn’t be wasted, especially for those who want to switch to a similar course. “You’d ideally need three to four weeks to know what a class is like after getting settled in, but that’s way too

long,” he said. However, some students think that the policy should be altered because two weeks is too long a wait period. Because opinions regarding the policy differ, two weeks is a fairly good compromise. However, some students believe that their schedules have been complicated because of the policy. “Your grade transfers with you when you drop the class,” sophomore Kevin Coelho said. “If you are overwhelmed in the first two weeks and … have a low grade in the class, it will follow you to the lower level, which erases any chance you had of actually doing well.” No policy is perfect for everyone. Rather than a need for change in the policy, the real issue is the lack of information that students have about the classes they sign up for. “What the syllabuses say is not an accurate reflection of the class,” sophomore Adam Evard said. “However, talking to the teacher would probably be a very informative option.” Students could also ask for advice from previous students who have taken the course. Richardson believes that asking previous teachers for advice may help because they know their students’ work ethics well. Students need to remember that the first weeks are always hectic, and understand that their grades within these two weeks may not reflect what they would receive during the rest of the school year. “I understand their need for balance,” Satterwhite said. “[But] I wish they would just kind of stick it out.”

Clubs more than just resume boosters Clubs provide students with a fun break from the academics of school Mark Schreiber Staff Writer It is a complaint students make every day: “We never do anything at school. All I did today was sit around and listen to an old guy lecture for an hour about something I don’t really care about.” Students who feel this way know they are being about as honest as Roger Clemens in court. School feels dull and seems like a waste of time because students make it that way. Students who do not put effort or time into their school community should not expect to get anything in return. But, how do students get more out of school? How can they leave the dullness behind? Clubs. Seventy-four of them to be exact. Students operate and organize every one of these clubs. From Model UN to Mock Trial to Interact to Key Club, students on campus always have a way to make school more than just tests and homework. “Clubs are really effective ways to get to know people,” said junior Olivia Santiago, ASB Clubs Comissioner. “It’s hard to

branch out to different groups, and clubs provide people with a common interest.” Clubs also give students the opportunity to learn something new or spark an interest in a new hobby. “Mock Trial allows me to experience what it’s like to be part of a trial in an actual courtroom,” said sophomore Christina Luk, Mock Trial Public Relations Officer. “I learn everything about the basics of the courtroom, law, debating and building a case.”

LIZZY LUKRICH

Most importantly, many clubs on campus offer students the chance to give back to those who need it most and help the community. However, despite all these opportunities, some students are turned away from club life because of misconceptions about the people involved and the time required to be a part of one. Some students feel clubs are for overachievers looking for a way to improve their standing with college admission officers by vamping

up their college resumes with community service projects and club titles. “I know at least five kids who are members of clubs and they aren’t that passionate about them. They just feel forced to do it,” sophomore Zoe Gelman said. These prejudices are untrue. Students who join clubs all have their reasons for doing so. Whether it is to meet new people, learn something new, or to just give back to the community they grew up in, there is a club for everyone. Students’ decisions should be made without influence from a few ignorant peers. Clubs are a great opportunity for students to do something new at school and may give them something to feel proud of and excited for every week. For the people who still feel clubs are just for students trying to make their resumes look good, since when did the Bay Area Sports Fan Club and Movie Fan Club make a lasting impression on any college official? Get over the common misconceptions and get involved. Maybe club life will be able to give school the zip and energy students desire.

By Max Wiederholt Statements made in this column are not to be taken as fact. Satire is protected by California state law. None of the content in this column is malicious in nature.

Prestigious frat recruits senior with drinking scholarship After reviewing a Facebook photo album containing no fewer than 7 beer kegs, 14 empty bottles of vodka and what looked suspiciously like a moonshine production vat, Dartmouth University’s topranked Mu Omega fraternity announced Tuesday that it intends to recruit LAHS senior Bruce Anheuser to its varsity drinking team. “Usually we try not to flatter our drinkers, but Bruce completely blew our recruiters away,” Mu Omega Dean of Admissions Bria Hale said. “We don’t get many applicants who take shots of 100-proof vodka then do keg stands to ‘catch their breath.’ That shows he has practiced.” Mu Omega’s team is in NCAA’s Division One, which means Bruce will have tough competition from schools across the nation—schools that are also recruiting top high school alcohol enthusiasts. Hale isn’t worried, though. “Bruce is a committed individual willing to challenge himself to achieve,” Hale said. “He regularly pushes himself past his limit in hopes that he will do better, and he is not afraid to throw up. Bruce is an inspiration and I can’t wait to have him on our team.” Of course, Bruce’s talents didn’t manifest overnight. While most other seventh graders were awkwardly trying to dance to hip-hop music at junior high dances six years ago, Bruce was hanging with the big boys. This is where he believes he discovered his true calling. “I was just a kid, really,” Bruce said. “Chilling with my older brother and his friends. I thought he said it was root beer, so I took a sip. That was the night I first fell in love.” “If you want to succeed, you’ve got to start young,” Bruce added. Bruce will apply to Dartmouth as a standard athletic recruit in the fall. He will also submit a supplement for Mu Omega’s scholarship package that includes an essay on why he wants to be a Mu Omega and data from an alcohol blood-test taken just before the threshold where he passes out. At certain parties, Bruce’s threshold has ranked among the top 10 in the nation, so he is optimistic that he might receive a scholarship in addition to admission. “This is my passion,” Bruce said. “I’ve worked my entire life for this. It just seems so incredible that I can finally achieve all my highest aspirations. Cheers.”

September 22, 2010

Opinions

Parking permit sales planned poorly Lauren Liu Copy/Content Editor Of the things a person might enjoy doing for six hours, waiting in line for a single parking permit typically does not come to mind. But that is what juniors resorted to on Wednesday, August 18, in what became an insane line for parking permits. That day, the administration announced that construction involving the installation of solar panels in the student parking lot would begin sometime in October. For the duration of the construction, 25 percent of the parking lot will be closed. As a result, the number of parking permits available was reduced by one-fourth. The school maintained the tradition of giving permits to all seniors who attend the permit sale. And so, the burden of the lack of permits fell entirely on the shoulders of this year’s Junior Class. There are few who do not see the long-term value of solar panels. Rather, it is the way the parking permit sale was conducted that angered many juniors. “I think the solar panels will benefit us in the long term,” junior

Alexie Ogonowsky said. “But I think the parking permit situation could have been handled better.” The administration’s handling of permit sales was both messy and chaotic. On the day of the sale, juniors began camping out by the Eagle Theatre during sixth period. By 3 p.m., around 24 juniors were already waiting in line, Alexie said. The line continued to grow throughout the afternoon, by the end including as many

as 50 juniors. For the duration of the wait, the juniors received no word about the permit situation. Many were forced to wait hours in line with uncertainty. And as if to add insult to injury, some seniors were able to waltz in after 7 p.m. and receive their permits 10 minutes later. But perhaps the worst part of the parking permit fiasco was the temporary parking permits. The temporary parking permits

allow the holders to park in the parking lot only before and after the construction. While this was not a terrible deal itself, the situation in which the permits were given amplified the anger the juniors felt. The administration delayed breaking the news to the junior class until after all of the seniors received full-time parking permits. After hours of waiting, juniors were notified that the entire class would be receiving them at around 7:50 p.m. It was under these conditions that the frustrations the juniors towards the temporary permits increased. A couple measures could have made the parking permit sale run more smoothly. For instance, the parking permit sale to seniors could have been held at 3 p.m. rather than at 7:30 Lauren Liu p.m. Moving

the time to four hours earlier would have saved the juniors’ time. Also, the parking permit sale for the juniors and seniors could each have been held on different days. That way, juniors would have avoided waiting with uncertainty. Some juniors think senior priority should have been capped. “I understand that they wanted to give the seniors priority, but there should have been a limit to how late they could come in order to get their permits,” junior Carolyn Lau said. Although the initial handling of parking permit reduction was disastrous, the district, as well as the school administration, has taken steps in the right direction. As a way of deterring students from illegally parking in the school’s front parking lot, the district plans to paint 42 angled parking slots along the side of the school facing Jardin Drive. The school administration estimates that this will allow an additional 27 cars to park at the back of the school. Ultimately, school events like the parking permit sale must be planned more carefully so that similar chaos can be avoided in the future.

UC art requirements too strict Freshman Advisory Practical art Alternatives Could Relieve demand assimilates students Sarah Corner Staff Writer

What’s worse: enthusiastic freshmen unable to take the art classes that interest them or reluctant underclassmen taking up those spaces to fulfill their mandatory credits? Growing demand for art class spaces has overlfowed visual art classes. This is only amplified by the school’s lack of additional fine arts that satisfy both the graduation requirement and the A-G UC college requirement. With so many students needing to complete these credits, there is less room for students genuinely interested in art. Although there is a high demand for art courses, the current art classes are locked. That is to say, no flexibility will be offered to the adding of art periods or subjects. And with the large incoming freshman class this year, art teacher Alice Araneda stresses that there is a constant “massive demand” for class spaces. “Right now it just comes down to money,” Principal Wynne Satterwhite said. “Cutting

[budget] makes it hard to add [classes]. I would love to add some other kinds of classes, though.” Although this means new classes could not be funded, the administration has done an exceptional job keeping cuts away from the classroom. Art classes have remained intact, but at the same time, the current program between visual, performing and practical arts is imbalanced. But if more classes were accepted by the UC faculty board to satisfy the fine art requirement, fewer students would need to take visual and performing art. This way fewer spaces would be filled and those expressing a desire to further their art education would be able to do so. There are three types of fine arts credits: Visual arts, like painting, drawing and photo; performing arts, like acting, vocal music and jazz dance; and practical arts, like auto shop, web design and culinary. For a course to be approved by UC faculty as fine art credit or the F on UC A-G requirements,

A paint palette awaits student use in art class.

it must typically be a visual or performing art (VPA), and meet the five VPA requirements: Artistic Perception, Creative Expression, Historical and Cultural Content, Aesthetic Valuing, Connections, Relationships and Application. So what doesn’t count? Marching band, color guard, Concert Choir, Varsity Men’s Glee, journalism and creative writing do not earn more than elective credits. Neither do any of the practical arts, including computer application, web design, automotive technology (auto shop) or culinary as they generally “do not adequately address the five strands of the state VPA framework,” according to UCOP.edu. In a time when budget cuts have exceeded $3 million, the UC faculty must, at least for the time being, become more lenient on course approval and expand the range of art credits accepted. Fewer students would be forced to take visual and performing arts for college requirements, allowing genuinely interested students to take those classes.

photo illustration By Niki Moshiri

Caleb An Staff Writer

With the new school year comes a new generation of students. Freshmen, sometimes jovially nicknamed “fresh meat,” are stereotyped as the bottom of the social food chain: clueless, awkward and uncertain. Sometimes these generalizations aren’t far from the truth. Freshmen are aptly named because they literally are ‘fresh’ from middle school. It is easy to forget that everyone was once a bewildered freshman, unlearned in the subtleties of high school life. To provide the freshmen access to information about high school, the school holds Freshman Advisory every Tuesday during tutorial for the first semester. Freshman Advisory is instrumental in bridging the gap of knowledge and making freshmen comfortable at school. “Advisory primarily is a time to help freshmen understand what high school is all about,” freshman adviser and science teacher Tom Budd said. “It talks about some of the nuts and bolts ... the standard kinds of things where if you’ve never been to the school before you don’t know.” Lessons learned in Advisory apply outside the realm of academics as well. “Because it’s a big jump to get into high school, we talk about what’s it like to be in high school, the pros and the cons,” Budd said. Advisory is not merely a time for cramming information into freshmen brains; it is a flexible

period when freshmen can raise questions and the teacher and student advisers will help. “I didn’t know how to use the SIS system and they gave a very good presentation on it,” junior Sasha Pchenitchnikova said about her experience in Advisory. “My friend didn’t have an email and they helped her set it up.” Budd said the class uses a “lot of Q&A, lot of questions and lot of modeling, lot of examples and modeling of what’s good behavior.” The results are tangible. After freshman orientation and one Advisory class, freshman Max Chi said he has a good impression of Advisory. “Advisory’s pretty fun,” Max said. “There’s new people in my Advisory class I have never known and I have time to talk and meet them too.” Freshman Advisory is a useful school policy that benefits the incoming class of freshmen. However, despite the utility of the class, there are always kids who think they are already informed or “too cool” to pay attention and show respect during Advisory, harming the receptive atmosphere that is integral to Advisory class. No matter how much a freshman may know, it is still wrong to disrespect the teacher and upperclassmen advisers. Freshman Advisory is a privilege; the teachers and advisers are taking their own time to help out freshmen. Until they are well seasoned with experience, freshmen should take full advantage of the aid offered in Freshman Advisory.

The Talon September 22, 2010

Features

LAHS grad vies for position on City Council Megan Davis Staff Writer

From the back of a bustling cafe, a young man clad in a blue shirt and a nametag approaches me. As he nears, an enthusiastic smile lights up his face. His nametag identifies him as Jarrett Fishpaw, a candidate in the 2011 Los Altos City Council election. An ‘05 alumnus of LAHS and ‘09 graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Fishpaw has returned to Los Altos in hopes of bridging the gap between the elderly community of Los Altos and that of the spirited young teens also residing in his hometown. At LAHS, Fishpaw was a member of Mainstreet Singers, marched bass drum, played water polo and served as captain of the diving and wrestling teams. “I think I learned as much from sports in high school as I did from academics,” Fishpaw said. “I needed a lot of determination to maintain schoolwork and sports.” Fishpaw looks back most fondly on his economics class with Robert Freeman, which shaped his career choices. “He was a very good teacher in my mind, very motivational,” Fishpaw said. “I chose to pursue economics because of my high school economics course.” The art of diligence and dedication has carried over to his political aspirations, as Fishpaw campaigns door-todoor. Because he is young, he feels it is important to validate his candidacy by making himself known around town. “I knock on about 200 doors a day, and at times, I just want to

go home and get a cup of coffee, but I know I just have to keep going,” Fishpaw said. “A little bit every day is such a powerful thing—you can move mountains by moving pebbles.” Fishpaw has embraced this mindset and applied it to all aspects of his campaign. To run an efficient, low-cost campaign, he has printed his own brochures, hired a few of his friends to design and maintain his web page, and asked for volunteers as a part of his campaign staff. This helps him “compete on a professional campaign level.”

While Fishpaw could not save money on professional-grade lawn signs, they are well worth the cost to him. “I had to get my lawn signs printed,” Fishpaw said. “That was kind of exciting. My lawn signs will be on the same lawns as some of Meg Whitman’s and Jerry Brown’s signs.” Prior to running for office, Fishpaw had been involved with the city for several years. He worked for the Village Association, organized events and participated in City Council meetings. “One thing that I really respect is [City Council’s] ability to address

the particular issue at hand and separate the broad emotions ... from what’s actually happening,” Fishpaw said. Although people may underestimate him because of his age, Fishpaw believes his youth enables him to represent the younger generations of Los Altos. “Age discrimination happens a lot,” Fishpaw said. “Many people think 20 is too young and 80 is too old, but there is no sweet spot in the middle. The only way to get experience is to get involved.” Fishpaw is not one to mask his youth by professing omniscience.

Although he has a comprehensive understanding of the city and its workings, he admits when he doesn’t have an immediate answer to tougher questions. “I don’t want to overstate myself,” Fishpaw said. “Sometimes my answer is ‘I don’t know, I’ll have to look into it.’” Fishpaw said it’s never too early for high school students to get involved. Even if they are underage and therefore unable to vote, he encourages them to become active in their communities, as a “wicked intelligence and a lot of energy” makes for a powerful student body.

courtesy jarrett fishpaw

Clockwise from bottom left, Jarrett Fishpaw, ‘05, was the captain of the varsity wrestling team at LAHS, played bass drum for the marching band, and now campaigns in downtown Los Altos to become a part of the City Council.

Back to School Night reminds parents of good old days Rachel Grate Staff Writer

Parents glance around the classroom where their children learn every day, the teacher’s voice fading to the background as their own memories of high school burst to the surface. Whether it’s the guy with the afro who always blocked the blackboard, the girl checking herself in the mirror, or the one teacher who marked tardies no matter how creative the excuse, Back to School Night caused parents to recollect past high school experiences and compare

them to those of their children, who are now going through many of these same experiences. According to parents, fashion trends have evolved since the time they went to high school. “[The fashion] was horrible,” said LAHS graduate Steve McDermott, parent of freshman Meghan. “It was very common for the boys to wear corduroy pants with big bell bottoms.” Polly Caddes, parent of junior Hayley and freshman Jake, said that back in the day, it was all about “dittos and sbiccas.”

alex kent

Sensing that neither “dittos” nor “sbiccas” are part of the modern student’s vocabulary, she elaborated. “Dittos are pants with a horseshoe around your butt; they outlined it nicely,” said Caddes, who was her high school’s Viking mascot. “We wore them in all sorts of pastel-y colors; my favorites were the yellow ones. Sbiccas were platform shoes.” Likewise, parents said that the dress code has also significantly changed since they attended high school. “You could

only wear skirts and dresses,” said Janie Jaffe, mother of sophomore Morgan. “They came out with a yardstick and measured the length, and mine was too short, so I got sent home. That was very embarrassing.” Many parents also remember humiliating moments from their high school years. “I was shy,” said Gideon Marks, father of senior Lynn and sophomore Ron. “There was one case in biology when the teacher called my name a few times and I just didn’t respond. I didn’t know what the answer was. Instead of saying ‘I don’t know’ I just looked at her like an idiot.” McDermott, who played football at LAHS with current coach Bill Waggoner, remembers attending a school dance where he was anything but shy. “[A friend and I] were dancing so we took our shirts off because it was hot and we wanted to be cool, of course. In the middle of the dance floor, the football coach … hands us a key and goes, ‘You guys are an

embarrassment. You need to go down to the weight room and lift weights and bulk up because you’re embarrassing me.’” An encouraging majority of parents have remained in touch with their high school friends. Jaffe had actually talked to her high school best friend last Saturday. “We met in third grade,” Jaffe said. “She’ll be here Thanksgiving, and I was just in Ohio to visit her in August, and I’ll be back there at Christmas.” Some married couples actually met in high school. Caddes and her husband went to the same high school but weren’t friends at the time. She said that at their 10-year reunion, “some people thought it was a joke when we said we were engaged, because we were so different in high school.” One parent, Amelia Corona, hopes her freshman daughter Jennifer will get the high school experience she never had. “When I was ready to go to school and I really wanted to go, I didn’t have money,” Corona asid. “She has a better life because in Mexico you have to choose [to] go to school or work. I expect she will make all my dreams [come true].” Back to School Night took place on Thursday, September 2 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Donna and Ted Simonides (left), parents of sophomore Spencer, sit attentively in class during Back to School Night.

September 22, 2010

In-Depth

In a time of two overseas wars, economic crisis and the rise of fundamentalism, The Talon takes a look at the stories of students and patriots to answer what it means to be a 21st century American

AMERICAN?

pilgrims and football

what does it mean to be

by vivian hua, copy/content editor

n 1620, sophomore Brenna Reid’s ancestor stepped off the Mayflower. Nearly two centuries later, her greatgreat-great grandfather conducted his station of the Underground Railroad. Flashforward to 2010, and Brenna sits in an air-conditioned library declaring her disdain for hamburgers and football. Like Brenna, current AllAmericans flourish in the land of their ancestors, but at the same time these native Americans (with a lowercase ‘n’) find themselves trapped in a stereotype ingrained in foreigners and compatriots alike: the label of blind patriotism. For Brenna, this can’t be further from the truth. She remembers clear instances where she “wasn’t proud to be an American,” citing America’s entry into the prolonged Iraq War and its response to 9/11. Her sentiments are shared by others. “I am proud to be American when our country pulls together to benefit others,” said junior Gabriella Seltzer, a fifth-generation American who shares Brenna’s distaste for hamburgers and NFL. “But sometimes I’m ashamed to be American when we live up to our reputation of being selfish or ignorant towards others.” Like Brenna and Gabriella, not all Americans are Islamophobic jingoists who are unappreciative of tea. Here on campus, a Talon poll found 45 percent of students don’t consider themselves patriotic. But still, All-Americans can’t shake off the image of do-or-die nationalism.

“It’s annoying when everyone abroad assumes you voted for Bush. Trust me, those were eight years when I was not proud to be an American,” said junior Camille Siegel, a fifth-generation American who watches Canadian hockey, dislikes Jimi Hendrix, and was once told by an English teacher that she should be tried for treason. (Jokingly, of course.) Third-generation American junior Nicole Larsen shares Camille’s opinion. Instead of hamburgers, Nicole had celebrated her last Fourth of July with salsiccia italiana, a classic Italian sausage.

immigrants

A self-proclaimed “Italimerican,” Nicole grates at the fact that as Americans, “we have to stick our noses in everything.” For All-Americans like Camille, being an American isn’t about a specific ideology—it’s about ideals, and violating those ideals is as un-American as it comes. The American identity, then, belongs to the Pilgrims 390 years ago just as much as it belongs to the immigrants who arrived at JFK yesterday. “The beliefs our founding fathers fought for, the ability to stand up for what you think, freedom of speech and freedom of religion define my American identity,” Brenna said. “These ideals— not any current American policies or my own American heritage—are what make me proud to be an American.”

by caleb an, staff writer

he song “Miss American Pie” croons of America as Chevy trucks and brokenhearted lovers on a riverbank, but immigrants humming Don McLean find that life in America can’t just be summarized by a few well-written lyrics. To junior Heidi Hernandez Montes from Mexico, the typical American was a denizen of suburbia. As a child Heidi heard stories which characterized America as the side with the greener grass. “A lot of people called it ‘El Norte,’” Heidi said. “I didn’t think much about it, but I heard it was really advanced in technology and whatnot. They have fair skin, they have good jobs, a pretty good amount of money, a

good house and basically all the necessities.” So when she moved to Mountain View as an eight-year-old, Heidi vividly remembers marveling at what seems to us mundane: paved roads and floors. “I was amazed,” she said. “In Mexico there was just dirt, so it was pretty amazing.” Freshman Daniel Jang of South Korea saw America as glitz and glamour, a giant episode of “Jersey Shore.” For Daniel, America was “the movies” and a “singer [or] rapper” was the typical American. But when he got here, Daniel’s experience strayed from the silver screen script. He’s yet to meet an underground rapper or budding star, but Daniel has

multicultural

by shilpa venigandla, staff writer

ife for first-generation Americans like sophomore Sarah Yam is a mix of cultures and patriotism. It’s a constant clashing of the “Pledge of Allegiance” and the “Hora”; it’s a fierce battle between hot dogs and spicy curries. Even though as elementary kids, we sang “It’s a Small World After All,” it really isn’t—and definitely not for first-generation Americans. Because sometimes, their world is too big with both hot dogs and spicy curry, and life for the first-generation is a story of juggling all their inheritances. Sarah’s mom was born and raised in Hong Kong, while her dad born in Japan but brought up in America. As a child of two immigrant parents, each with their own culture, Sarah keeps and practices the traditions of her ancestors. Her family celebrates both Chinese New Year and the Lunar Festival, but nowhere on the scale of a massive celebration. For the Yams, these holidays are more like family gatherings filled with a variety of steamed delicacies instead of a festival full of huge explosions of firecrackers, colorful masks and red lanterns.

experienced a different sort of social excitement: meeting people of different races. While America takes its diversity for “In mind granted, newcomers like and culture, Daniel remind us that I’m going at times it’s an odd and to be half wonderful mix. “It’s pretty fun; it’s American and pretty different,” half Korean.” Daniel said. “There’s -freshman a lot of different races Daniel Jang [in America] … in Korea there’s only Koreans.” This racial diversity struck Heidi as well. Before coming to America, she was “so used to seeing family and seeing one type of person.” For her, one of the biggest culture shocks—more than McMansions and $4 lattes—was the people.

soldiers

September 22, 2010

In-Depth Like Sarah, sophomore Sitar Terrass-Shah is a firstgeneration American. Her mom was born in America, and the maternal side of her family has lived in America since the 1600s; but her dad was born and raised in India. And like Sarah, she maintains a strong sense of culture, but instead of the Lunar Festival “If children have she attends Diwali parties. friends from other But for Sarah and Sitar, as much as they love their family countries, rather and cultures, holidays are but than being just a handful of days out of the another place across year. For the other 364 days, life isn’t about firecrackers an ocean, it is the and samosas, but about home of people they school. As such, daily life, even love.” the menial bits like listening to -sophomore Sitar the radio on the way to school, shapes their lives as much—if not Terrass-Shah more—than their home culture. School isn’t just a place where we sit at a desk and count the dots on the ceiling or doodle in a notebook; it’s a place where we are exposed to a variety of different cultures, opinions and perspectives. “The United States, especially the California Bay Area, is incredibly diverse,” Sitar said. “I grew up knowing a lot more about other cultures, including my own, than I

But for Daniel and Heidi, being American is more than meeting someone who looks different or listening to Lil’ Wayne. It’s not about accepting one culture or the other, but learning how to dig into both. “Officially, [my citizenship is] going to make me American,” Daniel said. “But [in] mind and culture, I’m going to be half American and half Korean.” And if anything, this is what it means to be American; America isn’t found in any one culture but in the amalgamation. “I am Mexican,” Heidi said. “But if you ask any of my friends, they’ll say I am a white Mexican because I don’t stick to only one particular type of person.” After all, even the quintessential American pie is a European invention. Someday, Don McLean may even sing about “Miss American Chai.”

by anny dow, information editor

enior Marika Lee hardly notices the mosquitoes and rain as she prepares for combat. It’s not even 4 a.m. Marika is one of the nearly 1.5 million Americans actively participating in the armed forces, the men and women who serve this country and shape it in ways unimaginable to citizens. Since 9/11, national defense has shaped—if not divided—American politics. According to a CNN poll, over 60 percent of Americans believe that all troops in Afghanistan should be brought home immediately and oppose the Iraq war. But for students involved with the armed forces, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Their story is one of family and friends and sacrifice. “A lot of times, people think of stereotypes for any soldier, but I think they’re just doing their job,” said junior Chip Cantrell, a member of the Civil Air Patrol. “I’m not saying I’m into this whole ‘war is awesome’ ideal, but that’s what they sacrifice to do for our country.” Senior Diamara Planell’s dad makes such sacrifices: He has been serving in the army her whole life. Diamara recalls a time when her dad was away for about three months for training, and he planned an early visit back. “It was amazing

just to see him home after so long,” Diamara said. Junior Peter Sobrino shares a similar story. When he was only three years old, his dad moved from base to base, often sending him postcards. The stories that his dad told him about the armed forces inspired Peter to join. With unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan entering “War isn’t their ninth year, patience racist or snaps and frustrations picky; it can fall on politicians and soldiers alike. hurt anyone But for students like at any time.” Marika, Chip, Diamara and Peter, patriotism -senior isn’t about agreeing or Diamara disagreeing with the war Planell but supporting the troops— in their case, friends and family—especially in times of dissent. For Chip, the experiences of not only flying planes but also of meeting the men and women in the cockpit never let him forget that there’s a face and story behind casualties. “There’s not only the physical sacrifice, but also the mental sacrifice of being away from family, being with friends, going without certain things that we just take for granted that seem so normal,” Chip said. Because in the end, once you get through the politics and the sound bites and the evening news—war is still war. People will be injured, broken and killed. Citizens can forget and criticize the war and the soldiers, but those involved with the armed forces always remember the cost. “I’ve seen people risk their lives, people crying when they’ve come back from Iraq,” Diamara said. “War isn’t racist or picky; it can hurt anyone at any time.”

would have in another country or region. I have friends of many backgrounds and am generally more open-minded about people with ideas that differ from my own.” Both Sitar and Sarah argue that their exposure to different cultures—at school and at home—allows them to form their own morals and standards. The mix is wonderfully new and unique. First-generation Americans, unlike their predecessors, are free to pick and choose the cultural touchstones they want to carry, but at the same time they’re free from the burden of institution and establishment. They have the unique gift to decide who they want to be. “If children grow up in a diverse environment, they tend to be less judgmental,” Sitar says. “If they have friends from other countries, that country becomes more real to them; rather than being just another place across an ocean, it is the home of people they love.” America is a place where cultures from other countries collide to make a country of unique perspectives. All citizens are different since they live according to their own standards, and this is why we see so many innovative ideas. “America is a [place] based on immigrants who originally came from England, so honestly America itself is a mix of cultures,” Sarah said. “Other cultures and ideas add to it.”

do you consider youself

PATRIOTIC?

yes

THEIR ANSWERS

& THEIR ANSWERS

what are your political associations? DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN or OTHER?

41|39|20 school percentage

would you live in the US when you grow up?

YES NO or NO OPINION?

do you agree with Arizona’s immigration law?

YES NO or NO OPINION?

21 | YES 32 | NO OPINION 47 | NO

YES | 10 NO OPINION | 65 NO | 25

who was our target in Iraq? SADDAM HUSSEIN OSAMA BIN LADEN or NOT SURE?

37 CORRECT CORRECT 33 32 WRONG ANSWER: WRONG 29

US-LED FORCES ENTERED IRAQ IN 2003 TO DISPOSE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN AND ALLEGED WMDs

who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks? AL QAEDA TALIBAN or NOT SURE? 58 CORRECT CORRECT 55 12 WRONG ANSWER: WRONG 10

19 AL QAEDA TERROISTS HIJACKED 4 COMMERCIAL AIRLINERS AND CLAIMED THE LIVES OF 3000

what’s President Obama’s religion?

CHRISTIAN OTHER or NOT SURE? 56 CORRECT CORRECT 52 21 WRONG ANSWER: WRONG12

“Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America.” -colin powell, former secretary of state 178 STUDENTS POLLED | COMPILED BY CALEB AN, ANNY DOW, VIVIAN HUA AND SHILPA VENIGANDLA

September 22, 2010

Student’s ‘fierce’ designs recognized Julia Son-Bell Staff Writer

Fashion has always been part of Taylor’s life. “I first started designing when I was in kindergarten but that was just playing around Think of Lady Gaga. It’s likely that you just with markers,” Taylor said. “The time I realized thought of her crazy sense of fashion, perhaps I really loved fashion was when I was nine and the plastic bubble costume she wore on her saw a fashion show on TV.” To learn, Taylor experimented with the worldwide tour. The fact of the matter is that behind every Lady Gaga, there is a group of sewing machine and consulted the internet extremely prestigious fashion designers who for information. “I’m terrible with studying and sports have risen up the ranks to dress her. “Fashion is a really cut-throat business,” and all that,” Taylor said. “But with fashion junior Taylor Tompane said. “You have to be design, it works.” Frequently producing atypical styles and fierce. You have to look fierce. You have to have the attitude that there’s a reason that you out combinations, Taylor chooses to follow her of 200 other people are going to be famous for creative intuition as opposed to a routine. “I don’t use patterns which you’re supposed your clothing.” Taylor embodied this mentality early—last to use,” Taylor said. “I usually draw out what I want. I just figure it year, out of 40 out as I go.” applicants for Music has played Future Faces I would like to base my a significant role in of Fashion, future fame and business off Taylor’s designing the internship process. program of the of hard work, to start from “The type of the song Stanford Charity the bottom and work my inspires what kind of Fashion Show, dress I make,” Taylor she was one of 10 way up, like Coco Chanel said. “If it’s a really accepted. Despite did. punk-like song, [my beingtheyoungest design] will probably applicant, Taylor, Taylor Tompane, junior be black with some who is self-taught, punk [influence].” was also chosen to For Taylor, her be one of the four passion for fashion is designersfeatured at the charity. To prepare, Taylor devoted two more than a hobby, as she plans to pursue the hours every Tuesday designing for the show, field in college as well as part of a lifelong career afterwards. which took place on Saturday, May 15. “I want to major in fashion,” Taylor said. The international event featured high-end clothing from over 40 designers, including “I would love to study that constantly, the history of fashion, [but] the science of it more the famous designer Nanette Lepore. One of Taylor’s standout designs than anything. ... When I got to see the first wasconsidered to be one of the top three model during my collection walk out on the designs of the show, along with a piece runway wearing the dress I made, [it] was the by Swatti Couture and W Design, because moment I realized I wanted to do this for the it stood out so much that it caused the rest of my life.” What drives Taylor to design more than audience to gasp. Taylor didn’t believe her anything is to pursue the integrity of her art. father when he told her. “I would like to spread what I love to other “I was like, ‘No, you’re just saying that because you’re my dad,’” Taylor said. “But apparently, people not because I want fame or I want it’s true. That’s what a fashion show’s about. money,” Taylor said. “I would like to base my You take a piece of clothing and you make it 10 future fame and business off of hard work, to times crazier and 10 times more eye catching. start from the bottom and work my way up, like Coco Chanel did.” You want them to gasp.”

“

”

Salespeople are people too

Photos courtesy Taylor tompane

Above, junior Taylor Tompane’s dress design draws gasps from the crowd at the Stanford Charity Fashion Show on Saturday, May 15. Below, she (left) poses with junior Allie Schmeising at the event.

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Photos Courtesy A2unes, Carol Evans

The White Panda group poses in an urban environment in its panda attire. In the right photo, members Tom Evans (left) and Dan Griffith (far right) attend Montclaire Elementary School together, where they met and became good friends. of graduation, the boys took separate college paths. Tom went to Northwestern University to study finance and mathematics, and Daniel went to USC. The two remained in contact, releasing music as The White Panda. Evans said they came up with their collaborative group name by considering Tom’s “white,” Caucasian background and Daniel’s half Japanese, half Caucasian heritage, symbolized by a black and white panda. With college diplomas, both Tom and Daniel were offered other jobs after college. Tom was hired by the Boston Consulting Group, but wanted to pursue his

Hau I see it By Alice Hau

The White Panda: mash-up group conquers college party scene

continued school together at Saint Francis High School. “They were friends from the beginning and they worked on academics as well as music together in high school,” Evans said. Tom said his high school years gave him the performance skills he now brings to live White Panda events. “My physics teacher, Chihiro Ikezi, used to let students jam on the porch of one of the buildings every Friday afternoon,” Tom said. “I also performed in a few of the student music productions, ‘talent shows’ of sorts.” After collaborating on an indie rock album the summer

Features

musical passion for another year. “I did not start producing music with any intention of it being my future,” Tom said. “However, the project exploded and presented us with incredible opportunities that were too good to pass up.” Evans believes that education is important for anyone to have as a basis for job opportunity, but if people want to chase their dreams, they should go for it. “Everyone should have an opportunity to be a rock star if they can while they are young,” Evans said. “This is a wonderful and unusual opportunity and they are going for it. If it doesn’t work out, they can do something else.”

The White Panda performs at college campuses, theaters and arenas. Tom said The White Panda experience is rooted in party atmosphere, complete with “smoke, lights and visual stimuli to keep people grooving.” “The music is loud, and the energy is intense,” Tom said. Senior Rishi Raman discovered The White Panda this summer while taking summer classes at Northwestern. “Both of their albums are great,” Rishi said. The White Panda updates www. thewhitepanda.com with free, downloadable mash-up albums and its full concert schedule.

This summer, my brother sold shoes to old people. Every night at dinner, he would come home and tell my family stories about the nightmarish feet and troublesome customers. “Do you sell Nike?” asked one lady, picking up a pair of shoes. “We don’t carry Nike, but we have New Balance. I assure you they feel even better,” he said, eager to make a sale. “How much are they?” the lady asked, picking up the shoe. She immediately jerked her head back, as if the price sticker had slapped her in the face. My brother talked her into trying a pair on, and she ended up buying them. But the next day, she came back. “I’m returning the shoes. I wore them all day and I loved them! So I’ll come back when they’re on sale.” I laughed at the crazy lady. Then I laughed at my brother. But I should have been laughing at myself, too. Looking back, I realize I’m actually quite similar to that woman and my brother’s numerous other quirky customers … and in more ways than just smelly feet. Though I don’t buy old-people shoes, I do love shoes. Even a rumor that Steve Madden boots are on sale will send me to the front of the line. After all, they could easily cost me a whopping $100. Three digits! I’ve got to wait for a sale! If I miraculously decide to try on the outrageously-priced shoes, then the poor salesman must risk spending time with a customer like me who will most likely not make a purchase. Salespeople have to shuffle to bring us our shoe sizes, including the pairs that are a half size smaller and a half size larger just to make sure one size fits more comfortably. Politely, they cater to our whims until we are satisfied. And even then, we may decide to wait for a sale or have some other absurd reason not to make a purchase. Am I being ridiculously irrational? Yes. But I bet you could be too. Many of us, including myself, are deranged shoppers, but we should all remember that salespeople have feelings. They’re not robots to tell us our shoe sizes and hold our feet. Salespeople have jobs and families just like us. Even though their jobs require them to listen to us complain about ankle aches and nasty foot fungus, don’t take that opportunity to unleash your inner wild shopper. So, next time you go shopping, wear socks. Let’s hide our repulsive foot fungus from the world. Not that I have any.

September 22, 2010

Features

Volunteers travel abroad to Haiti, for Amigos Grace Gao Staff Writer

This summer, several students traveled to foreign countries to participate in programs that help underprivileged communities. Social studies teacher Seth Donnelly and seven students formed the Haiti Solidarity Group in the spring. Its mission was to facilitate a trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which lasted from July 19 to July 29. While the Haiti trip was not a school-sponsored trip, it did

receive support from outside sources, such as Global Exchange. “We raised a lot of money ourselves to go,” senior Alex Cala said. “We sold chocolates, T-shirts and we did a car wash.” One Dollar for Life (ODFL) provided Haiti Solidarity with the remaining $10,000 the school raised last year to distribute on their trip. The group also brought over 15 bags of food, clothes and hygienic materials to donate to the people they visited. Among the items were 200 solar lights, donated by the Palo Alto-based

One Million Lights, a non-profit public charity group. They stayed with a woman named Rea Dol and her family for 10 days. An activist and director of SOPUDEP, Rea was already acquainted with Donnelly, who met her five years ago during his trip to Haiti, and she opened her home to the members of the trip. SOPUDEP is a school focused on education for children of all ages who could otherwise not afford an education. “She is an amazing activist that has been working tirelessly since

courtesy alex cala

Senior Ian Glasner hugs two school children he met abroad as part of Haiti Solidarity.

Eye on the Pupil: junior Bobby Andris Nika Ayat Entertainment Editor Many students work at grocery stores or in the back of an office sorting files, but junior Bobby Andris earns money doing what he loves: using and reviewing tech products. Since March 2009, Bobby has been reviewing tech products on YouTube on a weekly basis. Each of his reviews has 400 to 1,000plus views from an audience of young adults ages 13-17 and adults ages 40-55. His favorite MacBook review reached over 60 thousand views. Since his freshman year, when he was inspired by other reviewers, Bobby has reviewed products and applications from Apple, Sony, HP, Hitachi, Mackeeper and other major companies under the username bobby93macboy. “I started learning about different people and subscribing to them to see what they were all about,” Bobby said. “Once I felt confident and knew more than a

lot of [other reviewers], I decided to start my own channel.” Bobby’s tech interest is rooted far back in his family, as his grandfather has always been interested in Apple products and his grandmother even worked for the company. He got his first iPod and Macbook in sixth grade and took a computer class at Egan Junior High; his love for technology “sort of took off from there.” “I like talking about technology, and it’s really my main interest,” Bobby said. “I know that’s what I want [to pursue] for my career.” After Bobby created his own channel, he started off by reaching out to smaller companies and asking to review their products. However, because he did not have many subscribers or video views, he was placed at a disadvantage as companies look for people with a large viewing audience to advertise their products. “Generally, at first, I got a really low amount of views and it was really hard to get subscribers. [The amount of views you get] depends on how trendy the topic is,” Bobby said. “My goal was to have over

Jenna Louie

Junior Bobby Andris records a tech review for YouTube, which pays him to advertise products that he receives for free.

1,000 subscribers and to be a YouTube partner.” Technically, a “YouTube partner” works for YouTube and is paid to post videos regularly. YouTube has to consider a reviewer’s videos “to be of professional enough quality and have consistent views” for them to be accepted as a partner. “At first I got a video removed because I showed people how to download Photoshop for free,” Bobby said. “I was really concerned I wasn’t going to become a partner because I got a video deleted.” Still, Bobby was determined to make his dream come true. It was difficult for him to get accepted—he got denied three times in the process and had to wait two months each time before he could apply to be a partner again. “Eventually, they let me be a partner, and it’s really taken off,” Bobby said. Since he became a partner this past June, Bobby is being paid $200 every month for his tech reviews. He reached 2,000 subscribers by late August and hopes to be subsidized more. Companies send Bobby free tech products to review. “All the iPhone cases I have, I haven’t paid for a single one, and I get all these expensive headphones for free,” Bobby said. Reviewing tech products started out as a hobby for Bobby, but has become a responsibility. “I could be paying for a decent amount of my college [tuition] just from YouTube money,” Bobby said. “It’s like a job for me now.”

the earthquake to carry out relief to people who were devastated,” Donnelly said. As part of the nationwide Amigos program, other students elected to stay in another country for six weeks and lived with a host family in order to carry out a volunteer project. Seniors Jacqueline Chang and Ben Schneider and junior Lydia Vieraitis each went to a different country, where they worked as part of the Amigos group on community–based projects. Jacqueline went to Limone, Costa Rica, Ben helped out in Cocle, Panama, and Lydia worked in La Paz, Honduras. They each worked with one or two partners from other Amigos chapters of the country to teach children’s summer camps for two hours a day for five days a week. “It’s supposed to be fun for the kids to attend it,” Lydia said, “but you’re supposed to get across certain educational information as well.” When Jacqueline arrived in Costa Rica, she was warmly welcomed by her community. She was surprised that she could relate so well to the local people. “One thing that surprised me was how open everyone was, how people were willing to talk to us and invite us into their homes,” Jacqueline said. Jacqueline and her partner worked with la Universita Earth, a school that works with environmental health and sustainable agriculture. The two taught classes and worked on a community project in which they built a play area with a roof for the children of Limone. “We went around the community and got ideas from the people,” Jacqueline said. “Where we were, it rained almost every day.” Volunteers in Haiti and in Latin American countries look back fondly on connections they made.

“I loved meeting the people that I met,” Lydia said. “I would definitely go back again.” Ben worked with his partner in Panama to teach kids about dental hygiene and environmental health, holding activity days where they helped clean up garbage. He facilitated a school beautification project, a masatero, which was a flower box in the front of the school. “[This experience] turns you into a different type of leader,” Ben said. “This is a kind of leadership where you learn to step back, where you learn to encourage people rather than control them.” Similarly, the students in Haiti worked closely with local groups and organizations and were amazed at the warmth and gratitude of the people there. “The people we met were incredible, kind and passionate,” junior Katy Schaefer said. “I think everybody was sort of surprised; we weren’t expecting as much [generosity] as we really got.” Haiti Solidarity visited several women’s groups and childrens’ schools, exchanging many stories with the people they met along the way. The women’s groups help teach skills that women can use to work for their own living. The Haiti Solidarity Club donated $1,000 to each organization it met. Every night, Haiti Solidarity would gather up to debrief on what they had done that day. “Actually giving people something right in front of my eyes was the most rewarding thing,” Alex said. Donnelly explained the plans that he had for Haiti, and the solidarity that he wanted to establish with the people there. “The term solidarity means to stand with somebody,” Donnelly said. “We plan to establish longterm relationships where we walk with the Haitians. We also plan to learn from them.”

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The Talon September 22, 2010

Entertainment

‘Avatar’ re-releases special edition in 3-D Yonatan Tadmor Staff Writer

As if this movie wasn’t long enough in the first place. Following the immense success of his latest sci-fi epic “Avatar,” director James Cameron decided to re-release the film in 3-D and IMAX 3-D on August 27, nine months after its original release for those who missed the chance to see it on the big screen. This time, however, Cameron has added nine whole minutes of never-before-seen footage with several new scenes. But even the nine million-plus dollars it took to finish up these scenes were not enough to make this cashin significantly different from the original film. To be perfectly clear, this is the same old “Avatar,” except that now it’s 9 minutes longer and clocks in at an unbearable overall runtime of 2 hours and 51 minutes. Sound like fun? “Avatar,” originally released in December of 2009, was directed by Cameron, also the director of “Titanic” and “Terminator,” and is the single highest-grossing film of all time with a total haul of over $2.7 billion. The movie itself is probably one of the most overrated films of all time. Despite its spectacular special effects and the great score composed by James Horner, “Avatar” is painfully average and does not do much to differentiate itself from other similar tales such as “Pocahontas” or “Dances with Wolves.” Cameron created an incredibly imaginative world and has failed to utilize it properly. This film could have been so much more than the pretentious, overly long, eye

candy-filled ball of clichés that it is. As it stands, “Avatar” is just not as good as its success implies. It isn’t a bad film by any means, but it just doesn’t hold up to the hype. Average screenplay, average acting, solid score and spectacular special effects just don’t make for the best film of all time. Sorry. As for the new additions in “Avatar: Special Edition,” there are only a few major scenes worth discussing. None of them add anything significant to the overall plot and some are just outright boring. Others attempt to clarify details that were left unexplained in the original cut but none of the explanations were satisfying and conclusive, which is a real shame.

However, there is one saving grace to this entire re-release. There is one specific new scene towards the end of the film that depicts an event that occurred off-screen originally. This scene was actually heartfelt and emotional. It makes the climactic final battle more conclusive and brings some aspects of the film full circle. Needless to say, it really should have been in the film in the first place. Overall, the new footage adds virtually nothing to the film and just makes an already overly long film even longer. This rerelease was obviously intended for those who haven’t gotten the chance to marvel and gawk at Cameron’s “masterpiece” on the big screen in 3-D (another

pointless gimmick, but that’s a different story). In fact, the barebones DVD release and the upcoming special-featuresridden 3-D DVD release all seem like cash-ins so Cameron can squeeze just a little more money out of the already chart-busting success of the film. This is not hard to believe, especially when the so-called “Special Edition” left out five more minutes of extra footage (footage that Cameron confirmed to be scenes involving Earth and its gloomy state). The only question is, did this money-making scheme of Cameron’s work? Short answer is no. The re-release made a meager $4 million on its opening weekend, not even making

the top 10. Compared to the original’s $77 million opening weekend gross, the re-release tanked despite its relatively solid gross in comparison to the limited number of theaters it was released in. As of September 10, the re-release’s overall gross barely passed the $9 million it took to produce the new footage. The re-release’s surprising failure at the box office only goes to show that people aren’t blind, and they can see right through Cameron’s façade. This is the same old movie, same old “Avatar,” same old song and dance, for better or for worse.

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Catch up on the fro-yo craze in the Bay Area Catherine Hua Staff Writer

Watch out, Miyo. Everyone knows that the new hype is all about frozen yogurt, and “froyo” stores seem to be popping up around the Bay Area every day. The frozen yogurt craze started in 2005, when Shelly Hwang and Young Lee opened Pinkberry. Tangy, cold, creamy and sweet, frozen yogurt offers every good quality of ice cream but none of its sins. Although some people eat frozen yogurtforthehealthbenefits,others enjoy frozen yogurt simply for the fun of swirling flavors together and then adding the toppings they want. And the toppings aren’t the same as Coldstone Creamery’s Mix-ins either. On top of candies, nuts, fruit and cookies, most frozen yogurt shops also offer a greater selection of toppings, including jellies, lychee, mango, mochi, cereal and cheesecake bits. Although frozen yogurt stores may offer fewer flavors than Baskin Robbins, but combined with the toppings, the varieties are endless. Also, in selfserve frozen yogurt stores,

the customers can swirl in any flavors they desire into a cup, while in ice cream stores the customer is allowed only one flavor per scoop. Practically any frozen yogurt store that is able to survive the competition in the Bay Area is at least decent. However, there are a few that no frozen yogurt connoisseur can miss. It is absolutely necessary for any real frozen yogurt lover to try Fraîche. This small shop, located in Palo Alto Downtown at 644 Emerson Sreet, Suite 110, makes its own organic yogurt and even has a soy version for those who are vegan. Although Fraîche may be pricier compared to other stores around the Bay Area (5 ounces cost $2.95 and each topping is $.95), the quality of the yogurt surpasses

that of any other store. On top of being a perfect mixture of creamy and tart, the frozen yogurt also retains its shape because it melts slowly. The store carries three flavors: natural, chocolate and soy. Its granola is sweet, crispy, perfectly toasted, and handmade, and the fruit is always fresh. However, Tartini Frozen Yogurt Bar is the place to be when one feels like mixing flavors together and adding a variety of

toppings. Located at 20488 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Suite 2040 in Cupertino, the store currently has eight flavors, including some unique ones like lychee, pistachio and guava. At Tartini’s, customers can pick between at least 40 toppings, including cheesecake bits, cookie dough, extremely fresh fruit and crunchy cereal. There is also a variety of syrups to add, such as condensed milk, white chocolate, milk chocolate, honey and dulce de leche. The store also offers a great ambiance of pop music, an extremely clean environment and cool lights.

Also, at $.30 an ounce, yogurt of such quality can’t be found anywhere else for such a cheap price. However, when a frozen yogurt lover wants a quick fix, Yumi Yogurt is the perfect shop to go to. Located at 3787 Stevens Creek Boulevard in Santa Clara, the flavors the store carries are updated constantly. Many are very creative, such as chocolate crème brûlée and butterscotch. A child cup costs $3.75, while a petite cup costs $4.00. The child cup is so large that two people can share it. The texture of the yogurt is very rich and creamy. Toppings are $1.00 each. The shop doesn’t have as large a variety of toppings as do most other stores around, but it does carry different types of fresh fruit, granola, sprinkles, gummy bears and the like. The atmosphere of the shop is like that of an eatery, with gumball machines, checkered floor and small tables. Consider yourself lucky to live in the Bay Area, where frozen yogurt shops are nearly as common as Starbucks. It doesn’t seem like the popularity of frozen yogurt will melt anytime soon, so take a shot at frozen yogurt and you may as well get hooked.

September 22, 2010

Entertainment

September 22, 2010

Entertainment

Mark My Words

By Mark Levin

Homeless but Happy

Stacraft II zerg rushes South Korea Jasmine Xu Staff Writer What do you get if you cross old fashioned chess with modern day 3-D graphics and a science fiction storyline? Starcraft is a science fiction real time strategy (RTS) game developed for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. The game offers both a campaign mode, where individuals play the game according to a preset storyline, and a multiplayer mode, where individuals can play with friends or other opponents online. The basic storyline of the game involves three species: Terran, Protoss and Zerg. The Terran is the human race, the Zerg are mutant bug creatures, and the Protoss are a futuristic breed of aliens. The objective of the game is to collect minerals and build up forces for an army while trying to defeat other teams. The game

requires a significant amount of strategy. Gameplayers can build a myriad of units and implement various combinations of different abilities for their characters. The game is based on strategy and appropriate timing to fight for minerals and resources so one’s team will win. Starcraft was originally released in 1998, and part one of Starcraft II was released this past July. The release is split into three installments: “Wings of Liberty,” “Heart of the Swarm” and “Legacy of the Void.” Each installment will focus on one of the various species. Although Starcraft may be a mere hobby for Americans, the game has been heralded as much more than just a game in other nations. When the game was first released, South Korea shut down for an entire day because players wanted to play the game. Stores were closed and cars stopped driving. The entire country was put on hold just so they could press a few buttons on a keyboard.

South Korea’s obsession has gone so far that it has even painted an airplane from its major airline, Korean Airlines, with Starcraft characters. Because who would want to fly in a plain old white plane with just a streak? However, the most appalling fact is that instead of spending their time watching Korean Glee, Korean teenagers spend their time following Youtube channels that offer professional Starcraft game commentaries. As a result, Korea even has a television channel dedicated to Starcraft II replays. The country also funds professional Starcraft II players, many of whom are paid up to $300,000 to play the game. Although Local Area Network (LAN) capabilities have been removed, Starcraft II contains many new features. An LAN is a computer network that covers a small physical area like a home, a small group of buildings or an office. LAN capabilities allowed

players to bypass a lot of security measures and essentially play the game without paying for it. As a result, Blizzard, Starcraft’s creator, lost a significant amount of money. The creation of one localized server forces players to have a certain password or key to play. Starcraft II boasts a significant revolution in 3-D graphics. The game was designed primarily to enhance its multiplayer aspect, and as a result, Battle.net, Starcraft’s “ladder” system for ranked games, has been renovated. New characters and new units have also been added to the game. A new revolutionary aspect of Starcraft II includes its ability to allow players to record their games and then review them afterwards. Starcraft may be just a game to the average Joe, but it clearly has the magical ability to unify people from all over the world. Maybe politicians should play a game of Starcraft; that’ll achieve world peace.

Cool artists perform at cooler venues Michael Drake Sports Editor

While Justin Bieber’s “My World” tour is expected to sell out all 17,500 seats of HP Pavilion, the real musical talent will be playing at other venues. Some venues provide for a cultural feel, some offer the great outdoors, and some provide a place for more fans than HP can hold. For those who don’t crush over buttery-soft blond hair and blue eyes, check out where the real music will be playing this year.

PAC-MAN

The Greek Theater The Fillmore in San Francisco is associated with showcasing the great rock bands of the 70s and 80s while the preferred venue for today’s best indie, alternative and rock bands has passed to the 107-year-old Greek Theater at UC Berkeley. Though not quite as old as ancient Greece, the Greek Theater is very much a true classic Greek amphitheater, from the architecture to the seats, or lack of them. Built into the curvature of a hill, it is an outdoor venue where all tickets are general admission. Every spot in the intimate 8,500seat theater is part of just one long slab of stone encircling the ring of the upper theater. There are no armrests, so couples shouldn’t have trouble getting comfortable. Upcoming Artists: Band of Horses, Vampire Weekend, Train, Arcade Fire and Jack Johnson.

I may have eaten a meal out of the trash in middle school, but I am no bum—I was just hungry and cheap. In fact, most of what I know about the homeless comes from stereotypes: that they are either crazy or lazy, and so I usually stay away. That’s why I would never, for example, spend a week hanging out with a homeless man. But because I would never do it, I had to do it anyway. His name was Michael and, like some of the homeless I have encountered, his stench could make your stomach churn into butter. I met Michael in Iowa City, Iowa, where I spent two weeks of my summer. He was there, sitting on a bench, a character that matched my preconceived notions. Some kids are taught to stay away from drugs, but I was taught to stay away from homeless people, that they were dangerous and that they were couch potatoes without couches. But as I approached Michael, I asked him what there was to do in Iowa. Cook meth, I expected him to say. “Nothing, man,” he said. So cook meth, I thought. “I just think,” he continued. Michael was a homeless man who spent his time thinking—but about what? Which public bathroom had the best toilets? But food and toilets were not on Michael’s mind. Instead, he told me he liked to study physics, as he pulled out a notebook filled with concepts we hadn’t covered in my honors class. He had been reading and writing in order to learn. Every day, I came back to Michael, discussing politics and other topics with my homeless friend. And on the final day, I asked him the question I had been wondering about. “You have the mental capacity to have a minimum-wage job at the least, so why not work?” Michael told me it wasn’t worth it, that he would rather live on the streets and visit libraries than be paid $8 an hour to make sandwiches. It turned out that the most valuable time I spent in Iowa was on the street, talking life with a man some would call a nut. And while mental illness is sad, Michael was a reminder to do what makes you happy— shower or no shower. In life we’re taught to worry about money, food and shelter. But sometimes it is important to switch focus to the things in life that we enjoy. And so I challenge you to take a break from stress and find what fulfills you. For Michael, that was knowledge, but pleasure can come from anything: playing with the rubber duckies in your bubble bath or eating more than your body weight in meat. Thanks to Michael, that is now my typical Sunday afternoon.

Joey Giacomini

The Catalyst Night Club It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that any musical venue in Santa Cruz would only allow the grooves of Reggae and Ska to be played inside its doors. However, the Catalyst Nightclub in Santa Cruz holds no such restrictions, and enthusiastically embraces the rap community of the Bay Area. Despite its main occupancy as a night club, the Catalyst opens its doors to those 16 and older for nearly all of their concerts. But the experience is still definitely not for kids. Heavy smoke is constant around the enclosed night club, and

concert goers are expected to stand. However, the club has its perks, such as a cheap $3 for a slice of pizza. Ticket prices are always reasonable, so if you’re down for saving money and extra sweat on the dance floor, check out some of the acts coming soon to the Catalyst. Upcoming Artists: Ice Cube, Atmosphere, OAR + Dirty Heads, Tech N9NE, Wiz Khalifa, Switchfoot, Sublime With Rome and Zion I.

Treasure Island Music Festival Many Los Altos teenagers have experienced the chaos and fun of Live 105’s

BFD. However, it pales in comparison to a true festival like Treasure Island on October 16 and 17. Treasure Island, the large island between Oakland and San Francisco, is in its second year of bringing the best electronic and rock music to the Bay Area in a giant mash of lights, sound, shopping and food with the pristine San Francisco skyline serving as a backdrop. Saturday: LCD Soundsystem, Deadmau5, Miike Snow, Die Antwood and more. Sunday: Belle and Sebastian, The National, Broken Social Scene, Ra Ra Riot and more.

Talon Top 5: Late Night Food Places

The talon explores Katie Gonsalves Staff Writer

tasty restaurants and snack places open for a late night bite

The Palo Alto Creamery

Pluto’s

Gelayo Gusto

Kapp’s Pizza Bar and Grill

Though a name like the Boardwalk can conjure up childhood memories of the Giant Dipper carrying a full load of people screaming for joy and fear, this Boardwalk is the finale to your night of coasting all around town. The Boardwalk is open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and 1 a.m. on weekends. It’s hard to go wrong with delicious pizza, sandwiches, specialties (such as Philly cheesesteaks, buffalo wings and even cheese fondue), and soups and salads. This late night winner is perfectly priced with most menu items priced less than eight bucks, fitting the low-budget lifestyle of a teen. This restaurant also provides the perfect bar-like atmosphere with sports TVs all around. Just don’t get sucked in and miss curfew!

For those in need of a late night snack in Palo Alto, the Creamery provides a fun atmosphere complete with jukeboxes and poodle skirts. Open until midnight on Friday and Saturday, the Creamery offers anything from the “Sloppy Jose” to coconut shrimp and satisfies breakfast cravings until closing. Now who has a killer sweet tooth? Come on down to the Creamery where they will satisfy any craving for cakes, bread puddings, pies and cookies. But what the Creamery is famous for are its fountain treat milk shakes, made with homemade ice cream. The Creamery will have any flavor of milkshake you can think of. The Creamery has fruity flavors such as coconut, candy bar flavors like Peanut Butter Cup, and decadent chocolate flavors such as brownie a la mode and malt. The Creamery’s prices are perfect for any wallet size, so stop in and see what the rave is all about.

Pluto’s food will take you to infinity and beyond. It is the perfect “create your own” food restaurant. Unlike most ‘create your own’ places, Pluto’s is up and running until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Pluto’s menu consists of salads, meats and sandwiches. At the salad station customers can choose from different types of lettuce and 30 fixings (you’ll never leave wanting more). And just like the salads, the meats and sandwiches are out of this world. After creating the perfect sandwich, be sure to get “Saturn’s Garlic Potato Rings,” guaranteed to change your perspective on fries forever. The final destination on your late night space trip will be the sugary sweets. These homemade delights are made daily, so be sure to check out the special treats of the day. Come in commander, it’s time to head home.

Gelayo Gusto is open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, serving 100 percent natural certified meat and guaranteeing great food or your money back. The majority of its grilled sandwiches are under six bucks and the entire menu is under nine dollars. The restaurant also serve fried foods like fish and chips, popcorn shrimp and chicken strips. Unlike your usual choice of either onion rings or fries, Gelayo Gusto serves unique sides of crosscuts, jalapeño poppers, cheese sticks and even zucchini sticks. Gelayo Gusto serves every frozen dessert you could think of with its frozen yogurt options, endless gelato and best of all, the shaved ice bowls. Each dessert comes with a plethora of fresh fruit. For the freshest, cheapest and healthiest food around, check out Gelayo Gusto as you end your night.

Got a pizza craving you can’t kick? Kapp’s Pizza Bar and Grill provides mouthwatering pizzas and much more. Fortunately for teens, it stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant serves a multitude of appetizers (under eight dollars), salads, stuffed sandwiches, calzoni, pasta, pizza and of course, burgers and sandwiches off the grill. Kapp’s menu is neverending. With such a wide variety of items, it’s almost too overwhelming to choose, (especially when your stomach is rumbling). The appetizer prices are ideal for a cheap bite to eat and the entrees serve as an option for a perfectlypriced date night. Should you choose to go, Kapp’s will be sure to settle the night’s anxiety by putting you in a food coma with its many choices and graciously large portions.

4940 El Camino Real Los Altos, CA 94022

566 Emerson Street Palo Alto, CA 94301

482 University Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301

856 West El Camino Real Mountain View, CA 94040

191 Castro Street Mountain View, CA 94041

The Boardwalk

Cool iPhone apps provide satisfying diversions Zach Strom Staff Writer

Just about every owner of an iPod Touch, iPhone or iWhatever Else has his or her own collection of applications, some of these collections ginormous and some puny. For those wondering what to get next, these four make excellent choices.

Pac-Man This classic game has a free version in the App Store and a $4.99 full game for those who enjoy spending money. As in every Pac-Man game ever made, you are a little yellow ball who must eat all the pellets in a maze without getting eaten by ghosts. There are three methods of controls available: tilting the phone in the direction you want to go, swiping your finger across the screen, or using a joystick at the bottom of the screen.

Pac-Man

Sudoku 2 Sudoku 2

Pandora Radio Flashlight.

Although the joystick may seem more awesome, the tilting option is far more convenient for most people. Complete with the old graphics and soundtrack (which are great throwbacks), this game makes an excellent distraction from homework, boring plane flights or wedding services, and is thus a great choice for the iPhone.

Sudoku 2 Sudoku is a game that is more intellectually stimulating than most of those available, especially for all the “math-

lovers” out there. This iPhone adaptation of the popular newspaper game has three levels of difficulty along with a scoring system and two different layouts to choose from. This app is fairly easy to use, and a Pro version is available for $2.99 if the ads are too bothersome or if that wallet just won’t clean itself. Overall, this game is a great choice, probably even more so for those who are actually good at sudoku.

Pandora Radio For music fans, this is probably

the sweetest deal in the App Store. The user enters in a song or band that they enjoy listening to and like an iPod playlist, the app plays selected songs with similar qualities. It also offers a thumbsup or thumbs-down button for each song to better determine what else to play and explanations of why each song was picked. Pandora Radio is especially handy for those who want to hear something different or discover new bands. Furthermore, unlike the iTunes store, it is free. Therefore, this app is essential for anyone who enjoys music.

Flashlight. This app (Flashlight., with a period) is remarkably straightforward. All that the user has to do is open the app and the screen produces a bright light, with seven choices for color, although the white default works best. Although it is not as good as a regular flashlight, Flashlight. is a handy app to have in case it’s dark out and there’s no other source of light, which is not an unusual situation for the night owls of Los Altos. As the icing on the cake, it is also free, which is more than can be said for real flashlights.

Entertainment

September 22, 2010

17 guest columnist of the issue

“Measuring Up”

By Zia Rosenzweig

joey giacomini

Foursquare site eliminates privacy Libbie Katsev Staff Writer

Times have certainly changed in the era of social networking. It used to be that if you wanted to know where a friend was, you would send a text, and if you wanted a review of an establishment, you would Google it. Now with Foursquare, you can have both in one convenient little application. Foursquare is a social networking website that can be downloaded as an application. Users can either download the Foursquare application to their smart phones or access it via text message. With Foursquare, when you go anywhere, (be it a café, school or supermarket), you “check in” using GPS. Then your friends can log on and see where you

are. Foursquare has an entire network of places set up, and if a place (like your house) isn’t already on Foursquare, you can add it. Then, by linking it to Facebook, Twitter and/or their address books, users can see where their friends have checked in recently, and get tips about establishments like restaurants from any of the millions of users. Foursquare encourages users to check in as much as possible and even offers points and badges as rewards. For example, users can unlock the “Swarm” badge by checking in at a location where 50 or more people have already checked in, or the “Photogenic” badge by checking in at 3 or more places with a photobooth. If you check in at a location

more frequently than any other Foursquare user, you become the mayor of that location. While the tips and rewards can be useful to Foursquare users, some aspects of the site are just creepy. Strangers who visit the homepage are greeted with a newsfeed which shows what users have done recently. (In case you were wondering, Steve M. in Anaheim, CA unlocked the ‘Photogenic’ badge and Ivanna M. in Makassar, South Sulawesi became the mayor of Kosi Cozy.) Users can click on a username and see their full profile, complete with a fullsize picture. This means that if you become mayor of the local Jamba Juice, some curious stranger sitting at a coffee shop thousands of miles away—or a

registered sex offender sitting just around the corner—can click on your name and see your face, your badges, your friends on Foursquare and the places you visit most often. And as a bonus, if you add your house to Foursquare, people can even see exactly where you live and get a handy little map of your neighborhood in case they get lost while they’re following you home. Foursquare aspires to turn users into modern-day explorers who use phones and GPS as their guides instead of a compass and a map. With these tools, you can supposedly find happiness “just around the corner.” Once upon a time exploration was motivated by curiosity. Now, apparently, it’s motivated by the desire to unlock more badges.

‘The American’ leaves fans disappointed Sarah Corner Staff Writer

Lights, camera ... but where’s the action? From the misleading trailer, actor George Clooney stars as Jack, a thrilling spy ready to take on all of Europe. In reality, this movie is a string of artful shots of Clooney looking stoic and dramatic. Really though, does he ever blink? His cryptic stares take up half the movie. Jack, known professionally as “Mr. Butterfly,” is a retired agent seeking refuge in the Italian countryside. When he’s called up to take part in one final “errand,” he vows it’ll be his last. Jack is employed as an agent because of his unique talent for making and delivering specialty guns. Throughout the movie, George Clooney is portrayed as the hardened, cryptic and washed out American trying to deal with his crumbling life. He has no family, and in his line of work, he can never have friends. The slow and confusing beginning is compiled of short, silent scenes that do nothing but leave the audience waiting. A car drives down a road in complete silence. A man and a woman walk through the snow, also in silence. George Clooney

offered, the camera work adds a redeeming quality. Carefully thought out camera angles and clever scenes appeal to the patient-minded, or parents with a free evening to waste. (Not that you’d ever want to see this movie with your parents. Clooney has a run in or two with a friendly prostitute while in Italy.) The

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Thekla Reuten (left) and George Clooney (right) star in “The American.” In the movie, Reuten is one of Clooney’s clients. sits alone at a dark table alone drinking coffee. After about the first half of the movie, hints of a plot begin to tie together at a painfully slow rate. Awkward moments are frequent in the film, as there isn’t enough music or dialogue. The silence drags on as the plot goes nowhere. When there is music, it fades away shortly, and the lack of dialogue leaves the viewer trying to piece together the given information. The suspense grows all throughout the movie, lacking something, anything, to tie the tid-bits of information together into one cohesive storyline.

Although told in a confusing and disjointed manner, the plot is rather simplistic and not particularly captivating. As an agent past his prime, Jack struggles to keep himself undercover. But is someone trying to kill him? Does he not want to be a spy anymore? Viewers are left without a clear understanding of what’s going on through much of the awkward movie. In an attempt to become a sophisticated thriller, “The American” instead leaves the audience feeling disappointed and unsatisfied. On the other hand, the film quality of the movie is excellent. Although not enough content is

uncomfortable movie’s finish leaves the audience surprised to find that it is over before it ever really began. It has already been an hour and a half. The story feels unfinished as the movie makes a sad attempt to end dramatically. The dull, unsettled ending gives no warning that the story has just reached its climax, and is drawing to a close. Instead of adding interest to the film, the ending leaves viewers dissatisfied.

People, I bet, will always think of me as short. They might even subconsciously link my height to my name. If I had a common name like Emily, people would refer to me as “short Emily.” Even if I’m not “short Zia,” my height used to be an invisible nickname of sorts. The other day, I was walking with a friend from Almond (my extremely short days). “Saved your life!” my friend said, and pulled me out of the road. “The car may not have seen you, you shrimpie!” “I’m 5’3”,” I protested, waving my hands around. “That’s a perfectly reasonable height. Plus, I drink a lot of milk.” My friend squinted. “Wait ... you do look taller!” That’s right. I’m taller. For those of you who didn’t know me, in my freshman year I was four feet, nine inches. Kind of midget status. I used to joke around with my friends that I’d eventually grow. “Whatever floats your boat, Zia,” they would say. I wasn’t even sure if I believed I would ever be tall myself. After all, during my first week in high school a mean kid told me that Almond is located just down the road. And waiters and waitresses who thought they were just being nice gave me kids’ menus until two years ago. (I have negative feelings about Crayons.) Then this summer I realized I am taller than three of my friends! I shouldn’t take credit for something I don’t control, but there’s no denying that I’m proud. But what have I learned? For one, I’m sick of clichés. People say things like, “Good things come in small packages.” Believe me, I’d rather reach the gas pedal. (Which, contrary to popular opinion, I definitely can reach.) But being taller isn’t always better. I lost a game of hideand-seek the other day (admittedly, I was baby-sitting toddlers). One of my chores is now putting the dishes away, which I never had to do when I couldn’t reach the high shelves in the kitchen. Don’t worry, small people. I’m still looking out for you. Never tell a short person that they have a Napoleon’s complex unless they’re talking about taking over Europe in the near future. Never ask a short person if they’re enjoying eighth grade because they just may be in high school. Don’t bet against the shortest kid in your group. So take another look at your friends: Maybe they’ve grown. Maybe you shouldn’t call them “shortie” in the hallways and ruffle their hair. Maybe—just maybe—they will end up taller than you! And me? I’m going to go drink some more milk.

Sports

September 22, 2010

Sippin’ Haterade By Drew Eller My by-line might say I’m Drew, but I’m really known as ‘raiderhater.’ To people on AIM I am ‘raiderhater,’ on Xbox Live my friends lose to ‘raiderhater,’ and even some creepy guys on sketch websites call me ‘raiderhater.’ And that is what I have truly become: an avid ‘hater’ of the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders are truly a despicable team. There’s really no other way to put it. They’re run by a skeleton in a track suit and his draft luck is the equivalent of picking the right chili dog at 7-Eleven—no matter what he picks, he’s still getting diarrhea. As if it couldn’t get any worse, the team has had 7 straight seasons of at least 11 losses, and their future looks about as bright as the ‘Black Hole’ they nickname their medieval, biker-gang-looking fanbase after. Honestly, it’s not hard to hate the Raiders. I encourage you to try it. And yet, across the Bay I have found solace in the glory of the Red and Gold. I’m a 49er faithful, at least until stud WR Darrius Heyward-Bey catches more balls than there are parts to his name. But there’s no real reason for it; nothing literally connects me to the 49ers. I don’t bet on the team, I haven’t witnessed a superbowl, and even though I throw like him, I’m not Joe Montana. Still, once you become attached to a team, it evolves into something greater. It becomes an obsession. It’s a consistency in your life–the 49ers are always there. It’s every Sunday having something to care about, it’s your most intimate relationship until your first girlfriend. It determines the posters on your wall, the color of your wardrobe, and possibly what you name your first pet (in retrospect, ‘‘JJ Stokes’’ was both a terrible pick and a terrible name for a dog). Regardless, the 49ers—or the Raiders, if that’s how you roll— don’t break up with you, they don’t ground you, and they certainly don’t try to disappoint you. Sure, they may leave you heartbroken (Raiders. 2002 Super Bowl. Ha!), but about six months later the team is back on its feet, ready to do it all over again–and so are you. And all the same, it is your duty to hate the rival team. They become your punching bag, you, best diss, and the name of all your dog’s chew toys. So if there’s one thing you should look forward to this season, it’s a little friendly rivalry. October 17 marks the date of the 49ers-Raiders game, and I think it’s upon every one of us to make a jab at one of our friends, rag on somebody’s jersey, or ask how Jamarcus Russell looked this offseason. It’s only part of being a ‘‘raiderhater.’’

Wrestling Coach Jimenez third best sumo in nation cOURTESY p.a. Wang Photography

Wrestling Coach Randy Jimenez readies himself before a match at the U.S. Sumo Open. He finished 10-2, placing third. Trisha Nangia News Editor Though wrestling coach Randy Jimenez enjoy’s a “juicy steak dinner” before his matches while other athletes count their calories, it is not just the awesome diet that attracted him to the sport. “I’ve always loved the whole tradition of sumo,” Jimenez said. “Being able to … do something that’s been around for hundreds of years is a good thing. It was something that I had always wanted to do.” On August 22, Jimenez took the bronze medal at his first major tournament, the 2010 U.S. Sumo Open in Los Angeles. The coach’s only losses were to the current world and U.S. sumo champions, finishing with a record of 10-2. His success also ranked him as the third best sumo in the entire nation.

“There were competitors from around the world, [including] the European, Mongolian, U.S. and world champions,” Jimenez said. “Being able to compete at this level is very rewarding.” Randy competes in the heavy weight class, weighing about 352 pounds himself. Jimenez’s wrestling technique often relies on the “bull rushing” tactic or Abisetaoshi, a quick start to catch his opponent off balance and quickly force out of the ring (Dohyo). Coach Jimenez also likes to use the Kekaeshi technique, in which he sweeps his opponents legs out from underneath in order to force them to the ground; both are very nimble moves for the very large competitors. “In Sumo you have to be really flexible; there are moves where you [can] legally toss your opponent,” Jimenez said. “It’s not just two big guys crashing into

each other, there [are] actually style moves that you do.” Sumo participants can not punch, kick or pull hair, but all other aspects of wrestling are legal. To win, a wrestler must throw his opponent out of the ring or make a part of his body touch the ground. As for his training, Jimenez works on his sumo skills with a partner. Each training session lasts for one and a half hours and typically starts with 20 minutes of stretching. After this, the session moves right into sparring matches and heavy lifting, including each other. “My workout partner is 400 pounds; we throw each other around,” Jimenez said. “I lift him up and put him down and do that about 100 times.” Although Jimenez continues to train, he has taken a few weeks off to recover from a split in his head and bruised ribs, casualties

from the competition at the Los Angeles tournament. Once recovered though, he plans to participate in the East Coast Grand Sumo Tournament in November and Las Vegas Open in January. Though he does not have plans to make sumo a career, the praise and support he has received will keep him competiting. “I really appreciate all of my football players’, wrestlers’, and family’s support through this whole thing,” Jimenez said. “It has been fun and I am looking forward to my next tournament. I figure with a little more training I will win the gold soon.”

Action videos of Randy Jimenez sumo wrestling at

lahstalon.org

Volleyball digs its energetic team of young talent Mark Schreiber Staff Writer

The varsity volleyball team is experiencing a youth movement this season. Four underclassmen, including three freshmen, are now members of a squad that reached the first round of CCS last year. Freshmen Katie Tritschler, Hanna Koehler, Meghan McDermott and sophomore Natalie Dwulet have all made the jump to varsity and have become regular players for the Eagles this season. “The freshmen are doing a great job,” Head Coach Jason Kennedy said. “This is my fourth season and we haven’t had any freshmen on varsity prior to this year.” Hanna has even become the starting setter on the team, the main distributor of the ball and a key leader on the court. She, along with Natalie, junior Heather Sangster and senior Kelsey Ayers make up the core of the team. Katie and Meghan will play key roles on the team as well, with Meghan playing at outside hitter

and Katie getting time as libero, the defensive specialist on the court. Natalie the MVP of last year’s JV team, will play middle blocker. “All three of them are regular players and have great work ethics,” Kennedy said. The younger players have managed to break the rotation despite their inexperience because of their constant energy. A recent 3-1 victory against Kings Academy High School provided some perfect examples of the perks of their intensity. Even with a two-set lead, Meghan made sure her voice was heard loud and clear during every play, whether it was from the bench or on the court. Hanna and Katie layed out for digs on every ball. The third set ended when Hanna tumbled over the sideline bench in an effort to keep the ball in play. The team hopes to continue progressing and improving towards their goals of CCS berth. “We’re a young team,” Kennedy said. “we’ll get better as time goes.”

PHotos by Amelia Evard

Junior Megan Cyron (far left), sophomore Natalie Dwulet, freshman Hanna Koehler and senior Kelsey Ayers celebrate after winning a tough point against Kings Academy.

Katie

Meghan

Hanna

Natalie

Sports

September 22, 2010

Writer challenges sports, learns from failures Drew Eller Staff Writer

the pressure of both teammates and fans. “I can only imagine myself being put on the spot in front of a stand full of people screaming at me, putting their faith and trust in me,” Brett said. So maybe this season when the game is on the line and Brett’s the only thing between a win and a loss, we should take a second to

realize just how hard it is. Either that, or you hell of a lot worse than it seems. The first thing I noticed in my new should volunteer to give it a shot … err kick. challenge was the amount of gear I had to I always thought I’d look tough in pads. I Boy in full pads loses to girl in kilt wear: from a plastic helmet and thick chest mean, even without pads I felt tough enough Twenty-five pounds of gear is a lot heavier piece to cumbersome shin pads and foot to challenge kicker senior Brett Serviss to a than it seems. Ninty-five degrees is a lot guards to awkward gloves and a large stick. kicking contest and tell captain center-mid hotter than it seems. Playing goalie wearing By the time you’re done dressing you look senior Teresa Fabbricino her backhand shot 25 pounds of gear in 95-degree weather is a more like Iron Man than an athlete. had no chance with me in goal. Both of them After being coached on how to put on the agreed to put me to the test, promising to gear, I waddled to the goal. I was already make me eat my own words. sweating, and when I got there a line of balls and Teresa awaited me. Three points never seemed so far Teresa fired shot after shot, determined The time on the clock reads :04, and a to make me as tired and embarassed as physical, bruising game of football comes possible. Some of the field hockey players down to this one play. The level of noise in started to come out for practice and laughed the stadium is so loud that it rumbles. The as they saw the rookie goalie getting worn whole preparation for the kick seems to take out and beaten time after time. twice as long as the game, and the kicker is Teresa backed up a few yards, and as she all alone. He has one shot at three points; began to fire shots, I began to use more points most people call a ‘gimme,’ but if he instinctual reactions. I used my gloved hand misses he’ll let everyone down. And since to swat shots, ignoring the all-important use nobody really knows what it’s like to be a of my stick and feet, while looking more like kicker I had to give it a shot…err, kick. Shaquille O’Neal than a goalie. Wearing borrowed equipment, I held the At one point I decided to chase Teresa, and ball for Brett, and he demonstrated how inevitably ended up on the ground watching to kick as he took a few confident strides, a shot roll into the goal behind me. I had the looked up, and nailed a kick from the pointagility and mobility of a boulder, and I paid after mark, approximately 19 yards away. the price for even bothering to move. I did my best to copy his procedure: line For someone who had never played goalie, toes up, take two steps back, and … screw I had apparently impressed Teresa. it. I rushed forward, half stumbling, and “You were actually pretty good in goal,” watched as the ball I kicked spun sideways Teresa said. She even flattered me by saying and rolled off the turf. I was 0/1, and my first I had the potential to be effective in a game. kick probably never left the ground. The one thing our shootout lacked was On my second try I was able to make the true pressure, a factor which Teresa believes kick and save myself some embarrassment. weighs heavily on a goalie. My excitement was short-lived though, as “Goalies [deal with] amazing amounts of we moved the ball back to attempt a 30-yard pressure in the game,” Teresa said. “[Goalies] kick. With more focus, I made my attempt, need to be the leader of the defense and take and with far less focus, Brett made his. charge in the back.” We moved back to attempt a 40-yard field I could barely deal with the weight of the goal. Brett yawned, sent a text message, and gear, much less the pressure of an in-game made the field goal all at the same time. I situation. I’ve been told I ought to try a spent extra care prepping my kick only to see goalie race—a race between two fully geared it flop eight yards short of the field goal. At goalies from endline-to-endline that is used just 30-yards I had maxed out my potential. to break a tie. After dealing with the heat, Here’s the “kicker”: I made (and missed) Photos by Alex Kent the gear and the embarrassment, sadly I’ll my attempts under the nearly overbearing Senior Drew Eller attempts to copy senior kicker Brett Serviss’s perfect form but have to decline. scrutiny of an empty field. Brett will be under humbly realizes that, like being a field hockey goalie, its far more difficult than it seems. And Brett thinks he has it bad.

Sports Briefs

New coaches arrive Boys Varsity Water Polo Johnny Bega is currently the Associate Head Coach of Girls water polo at San Jose State. Before coming to Los Altos, he coached boys varsity at Menlo Atheron, winning a CCS title in 2007. He has also played and coached for Long Beach State. JV Boys Water Polo Jesse Figueroa began coaching water polo in 1968. He won six national championships as the goalie coach for mens varsity at Berekly from 1980-1992. Since then, he has worked on and off as a goalie instructor, and met Johnny at a camp this summer. JV Volleyball Rick Rasay coached varsity volleyball at Fremont Christian in Fremont for five years. He has played ameteur volleyball for 20 years, and started the volleyball program at his high school in kuwaii. JV Boys Basketball P.E. Teacher Bob McFarlane was a varsity basketball assistant last year. He has coached JV at the school before as well as varsity at St. Lawrence Academy in Santa Clara. During his playing career, he played at Cuesta College and was All-League at Saratoga.

JV Girls Soccer Heidi Galvez works in security at the school, but her passion lies in soccer. She played for the Olympic Development Team, the University of San Francisco and later for the Sacramento Storm. She has been coaching soccer since she was 13. JV Girls Tennis EnglishteacherGalenRosenberg has been playing tennis since he was eight. He currently plays for several United States Tennis Association teams and often plays in tournaments. He has coached several sports including JV girls basketball at the school.

No relief from heat for fall sports athletes The administration has increased enforcement of the school dress code for athletes. Before, many athletes in fall sports and marching band removed shirts to cool at practice. However, according to the school dress code, all students must wear shirts that cover them to their waists. Enforcement has been stricter this year because the administration only recently noticed that participants were breaking the dress code. “It has always been a rule for people to be covered down to their waists,” Athletic Director Kim Cave said “[Everyone] must wear t-shirts and shoes.” Many athletes are surprised

and angry over this sudden enforcement of the policy. “I feel infuriated because we run long distances dripping in sweat,” water polo member junior Kevin Stangl said. “This is intolerable.”

Rule changes affect age participation Two Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) rule changes will affect sports this year. First, SCVAL Board members have voted to deny senior girls the ability to play JV sports. The reasons for the change were inequity between both seniorfreshmen competition and gender double standards. “All seniors can only compete at the varsity level,” Cave said. “That’s not new for the boys, but it’s new for the girls.” Second, the board established Frosh-soph and varsity teams for boys and JV and varsity teams for girls this year and beyond. The change was made for consistancy, as boys soccer, which previously had JV, is the only sport that is effected. The regulations apply to all divisions within the 14-school league, including El Camino and De Anza. However, junior boys can still play JV wrestling and badminton, which are coed. Compiled by Alice Hau and Justin Koehler

Soaring Eagles Austin Bowie Junior lynbrook 2.1 mi 1st place

10:30.9

firebird invitational 3.0 mi

16:21

The Talon: How did it feel to get first at the Lynbrook meet? Austin: At the half-mile mark was the first time I took the lead and that in itself made my stomach jump because you have the lead and you don’t want anyone else to take it. My lead was by about 50 yards and I knew 30 seconds before the end that it was really in the bag. It was relaxing. T: What are your hopes for this season? A: I would like to break 4:20 for the mile, and hopefully our coach’s mile time, 4:16 [which] has yet to be broken. T: Ever feel so disappointed that you want to quit? A: For me, at least, when I don’t accomplish that goal, it makes me want it even more. A lot of the times... I’ll run a best time. But I won’t reach exactly what I want. So it’s this cycle of always wanting a little bit more than you can do and it just keeps you moving.

COMPILED BY JACQUELINE CHU JUSTIN KOEHLER

Sports Weighing

by Erika Schonher, Business Manager

This season’s football team possesses a different look than previous aerial teams, transforming itself into a physical force. The Eagles proved that they are a tenacious and strong team crushing their first two opponents by a combined score of 84-7. Thanks to an increase of size and talent on the offensive and defensive lines, the team hopes to control the trenches and continue dominating teams on both sides of the ball. With the new season came a new defensive coordinator, Matt Allard, and a new defensive front. The previous and most basic defensive set-up called for a 4-3 defensive formation (four linemen and three linebackers). Coach Allard, however, has altered the Eagles’ defensive strategy to a 5-2, which has proven to better utilize their defensive talent. “The 5-2 has the potential to be amazing if run properly,” captain senior Tyler Stout said. “Plus [we have a] solid defense controlled by two returning linebackers, [senior] Jason [Lopez] and myself that possess the capability to hold teams down under any circumstances.” The Eagles can afford to try the 5-2 formation thanks to the size and talent of the defense line,

which many players agree is the strongest part of the team. “Some of our strengths are our linemen and the size that we have there ... we have more linemen to fill those three [interior lineman] roles to switch to a 5-2,” head coach Bill Waggoner said. “We think we have two of the best linebackers in the league, so with five guys in the defensive front, it gives them more room to make tackles.” Players agree that the new formation is effective. “Our D-Line is going to make problems for sure, with Nolan O’Such and Aaron Tolliver as tackles, me as the nose guard, and

September 22, 2010 Defensive Line:

Offensive Line: Name Bobby Andris Paul Hernandez Kareem Hyver Nolan O’Such Jacob Thompson

ends Abel Kinard and Daniel Eaton,” senior Daniel Tangi said. “I can’t wait to see what happens in our season.” The defensive system lived up to the hype in the first two games, not allowing any points and even scoring some of their own. In the season opener, a 57-7 victory against Mills High School, the defense forced a safety and Jason returned an interception 45-yards for a touchdown. The next week against Woodside High School, the team forced 4 fumbles and had 5 sacks.

Height Weight Name 6’3” 5’10” 6’2” 6’2” 6’3”

210 230 240 255 250

Height

Daniel Eaton Abel Kinard Nolan O’Such Daniel Tangi Aron Tolliver

6’4” 5’10” 6’2” 5’9” 6’0”

The physicality and strength present on defense also extends to the offensive line and running game the Eagles possess, as evident by the 196 ypg average, “We bring back another physical line on both offense and defense,” Tyler said. “With returning players Nolan, Aaron and Jacob, we [have] a physical offensive line to compliment our backfield.” The line has also done a solid job protecting sophomore quarterback Steven McLean,

Weight 170 180 255 215 270

AVERAGE RUSHING

196 ypg

who has gone 12-21 for 226 yards 5 TDs,; 4 in the last game. Although the team hopes to utilize the strong lines this year, the team also look forward to, literally, growing together. “The fact that three of our five starting offensive linemen are juniors, and one is a sophomore, we are going to dominate teams this year and years to come on the line,” junior Bobby Andris said. However, in the near future, only one thought is dominating all of the football players’ thoughts. “There is one game I really care about this season and that’s Mountain View,” Daniel said. “I want revenge, end of story.”

Niki MOshiri

Kacey Incerpi Freshman rank: number one varisty girls singles record:

4-0 (2-0)

Sophomore tight end Conrad Rogers(left) and linemen junior Ramiro Ramirez and senior Daniel Tangi await the snap. The Eagles were comfortably ahead 34-0 at half so the second offensive line entered the 57-7 victory over Mills High School.

School hosts first home cross country meet ever, boys place first Top 10 Finishes

The Talon: How is playing number one on varsity as a freshman? Kacey: I’ve won most of my matches. It’s really cool to be number one because not a lot of people get to do that. It’s good playing time and good experience.

Varsity Boys

T: How long have you played tennis? How often do you train? K: I’ve been playing since I could walk, so like 2 or 3. I play at least six out of seven days a week. T: Do you approach high school matches differently? K: My confidence has risen a lot because I’m not a confident person when it comes to my tennis, but starting to play high school tennis, I started going for my shots a lot more. I found there was less pressure, and I thought there was going to be more pressure.

1. Austin Bowie (11)

10:31.9

2. Ben Schneider (12)

10:34.4

5. Dane Kreisman (11)

10:47.1

6. Mikey Vendelin (12)

10:51.9

9. Blake Bowers (12)

11:03.2

Varsity Girls 8. Claire Bowie (10)

13:38.3

Full XC article at

lahstalon.org alex kent

Seniors Mikey Vendelin (left) and Ben Schneider helped the varsity boys team protect home turf on Wednesday, September 15. The San Jose Mercury recently named the team number one in CCS.

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alex kent

Junior Sophia Steffens runs down the 200 wing during the last stretch of her race. The course required competitors to run around the track, back field, through the school and across the quad.