The Talon | Issue 7 | April 26, 2016

Los Altos High School, Los Altos, CA ■ April 26, 2016 ■ Volume XXXI, Issue 7

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

REMEMBERING BIG DADDY Wrestling coach Randy “Big Daddy” Jimenez passed away on April 5. Students and staff alike remember his big heart and compassion for all.

Sports, 19

Wellness initiative Prompted by recent developments, the district has taken a series of measures to address student mental health and well-being. News, 2

Harvard is “Turning the Tide” — naively Read editor Spencer Dembner’s opinion on the broken college admissions process.

Opinions, 6

A new promenade This year, a group of juniors banded together to organize an off-campus, self-funded junior prom, raising the question of whether the school should have a combined junior and senior prom.

Opinions, 7

Meet your next ASB president Whether it’s dancing, volunteering or avidly planning homecoming, junior Douglas Curtis’ bright spirit shines through in his work.

Features, 12

Munch Madness Four weeks, 24 restaurants and 1,500 votes later, we have a winner.

Entertainment, 15

The pros and cons of being a sports fan Writer Jim Hollingworth peers into the sports fandom from an outsider’s perspective Sports, 18

Housing crisis hits close to home

PHOTOS BY FRANCESCA FALLOW, CARL FAUST, ALLEGRA MAESO, KIMIA SHAHIDI

LAHS teachers struggle to cope with commutes and high prices; local cities search for solutions KATHERINE YEN ALEX WONG

C

Print Managing Editor Staff Writer

ome August, English teacher Carrie Abel doesn’t know where she’ll live. Her lease on a Mountain View apartment shared with two roommates is up by then, and with the rent rising by $600 the last time that happened, she knows

she’ll have to move. Even so, Abel can’t start apartment hunting until August because breaking her lease means thousands of dollars in fines.

“It’s very, very stressful,” Abel said. “I look at Craigslist almost every day, just as a maybe. I don’t know what would happen, because if there’s a great place to live, I can’t move into it anyway. But it’s almost reassuring to know that there is something [there] maybe.”

Among LAHS teachers, Abel isn’t

Flashback to the ’50s: life as a Los Altos teenager ANISHA DESAI Staff Writer

Centered in the heart of Silicon Valley, Los Altos combines the elements of small-town living, via its quaint downtown and countryside landscapes, with an innovative and technology-based atmosphere, making this town a unique place — but it hasn’t always been this way. Sixty years ago, aspects of life such as summertime activities, regular school days and the downtown’s layout looked vastly different and much simpler for teenagers in this area.

Back in the 1950s, the Silicon Valley area was known as Blossom

Valley because the prevalent industry in the area at the time was agriculture. In fact, much of Los Altos was still farmland until the population spike after World War II, which led to increased urban development and a reduction of the fruit orchards that Los Altos is remembered for.

Armand King, a Los Altos native, has been living here for most of his life and witnessed firsthand the growth of this town over the last 80 years. Born in 1935, Armand grew up on Orange Avenue by Saint Nicholas Church. He now resides with his wife Marjorie in one of the oldest houses in Los Altos.

“Los Altos”

continues on page 12

UPCOMING EVENTS April 28

Health Van May 2–13

AP Testing May 14

Senior Prom May 20

Yearbook Distribution Party on Grass Field May 25

COURTESY DON MCDONALD

May 27

Propietor Elsie Lewis (center) opened the 5 10 and 15¢ store with her husband Leandro in the 1940s, replacing an old pool hall. Los Altos native Armand King remembers growing up in Los Altos in the 1950s.

Senior Awards Night Senior Showcase

alone in her housing troubles; many echo similar sentiments of stress and frustration at the cost of housing in the Bay Area real estate market.

“Everybody’s feeling the same pinch,” English teacher Robert Barker said. “The success this area has had because of Silicon Valley has driven the [housing] market up to unreasonable levels.”

Many believe that high demand for housing and short supply are to blame for the skyrocketing prices.

Slow construction in the area, especially of affordable housing, exacerbates the growing issue. At school, the toll of this housing crisis extends into the personal and professional lives of teachers. Locally, growing frustration among residents has spurred many local cities and even school districts to prioritize the search for solutions to a multidimensional problem.

“Housing”

continues on page 4

Basketball coach resigns

KUNAL PANDIT

Coach Bob McFarlane transformed the school’s boys basketball program, leading the team to its first CCS victory in 2015. He resigned from his position on April 18 due to competing time commitments.

TEDDY CHMYZ

Copy/Content Editor

Basketball coach and P.E. teacher Bob McFarlane announced his resignation from his role as the boys basketball head coach on Monday, April 18. McFarlane’s resignation marks the end of an era for a team that has achieved unprecedented success during his tenure, peaking with the team’s first-ever CCS championship victory last year. He was involved with the basketball program in various capacities for 12 years, including the last four as varsity head coach.

McFarlane decided to resign due to the unexpected success of his business, a summer sports camps for kids known as Bald Eagle Camps, and a desire to spend

more time with his family. Between expanding Bald Eagle, teaching full time at Los Altos, raising three kids and managing the basketball program, McFarlane found himself unable to fully commit himself to any one project.

“I’ve been struggling to do all the things that I do for two years,” McFarlane said. “The problem is I run a business — that’s almost a fulltime business — on the side. I also have three little kids who are [going to be on sports] teams and programs and really wanting to be around me…

I’m their hero for the next six years until they realize the cape isn’t really there. That’s what happens with all kids at certain ages, so I’m going to fly around with that cape a little more before it comes off.”

“McFarlane”

continues on page 18

May 30

Memorial Day — No School News Editorial Opinions

2 5 6

Features 9, 12 In-Depth 10 Entertainment 14 Sports 18

In-Depth p.10 Examining the gap between drug education and culture

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The Talon April 26, 2016

Get daily LAHS updates and read the news archives at lahstalon.org/category/news

School tackles student well-being school therapist Susan Flatmo said. “How’s school? How’s home?

Staff Writers Importantly, we tell students [that] it’s about their safety.”

As conversations progress, theraords like “depression” and “stress” have long pists begin to draw from more recirculated in local high sources. They may involve parents, schools, infiltrating conversations with transparent communication from teens’ lunch tables all the way and inclusion of the student.

If necessary, school staff can utito the meeting rooms of district board members. This dialogue at- lize connections with El Camino tempts to address an issue that has Hospital, Stanford Medical Center only gained recognition in the past and the Crisis Stabilization Unit decade, prompting a push to pro- in San Jose for more expansive remote student wellness in the face of sources to help students.

“We have something called a increasing academic expectations.

LAHS’ first changes involved warm handoff,” Flatmo said. “If a structural remedies, including cre- person needs to go to the hospital, ating the modified block schedule parents are brought in, [and] we’ll and encouraging dialogue between have them fill out a release. Going to a hospital can be parents, students and scary, and we want it teachers. They were to be as good of an exintended to create a perience as it can.” new mindset focused The first thing Toward the end of on wellness that al- we want to do is March, the adminislowed more healthtration placed support centric engagement make a connecboxes around the camwith the student body. tion with the pus, where students But since teenagers student. “How’s can fill out a form to began to take their school? How’s refer someone in need own lives in nearby of help. Flatmo and cities, forming suicide home?” Importhe administrators creclusters at Gunn and tantly, we tell ated the boxes as an Palo Alto High School, students [that] extension of already LAHS administra- it’s about their available resources, tion has jumpstarted safety. including the team of a more urgent discus— district clinical four therapists, in the sion. Staff members services coordinator hope that students have begun assemSusan Flatmo would feel comfortbling teams to treat able in anonymity. diverse aspects of the “We realized there’s a group of issue, ranging from connecting with at-risk students to alleviating students that did not want to get help because face to face was too stress factors in the classroom.

“There are teens throwing them- much for them,” Principal Wynne selves in front of trains in Palo Alto, Satterwhite said. “It has been very [and] Palo Alto is not that different successful, [but] it has taxed our from us,” English teacher Margaret resources, because we look at that Bennett said. “It would be irrespon- three times a day.” sible to not [ask], can we do more as A TEACHER INITIATIVE a school to support students?”

The first step toward helping students is to identify their problems.

COUNSELING In February, the school adminisTHOSE AT RISK For therapists at the school, ad- tered a wellness survey to a sample dressing student suicide risks, while of students, giving administrators not routine, is not uncommon. The and the wellness team an underschool identifies students that need standing of student priorities.

“The bigger questions were, attention through self-referrals or referrals from friends, parents, ‘what is causing you stress, and what would make it less stressful?’” teachers or counselors.

After referrals come conversa- Bennett said. “The school’s been moving in the direction of having tions to assess students’ wllbeing.

“The suicide assessment is a data to back up their decisions inconversation, and the first thing stead of guessing at what was causwe want to do is make a connec- ing student stress.”

Students labelled grades and tion with the student,” district clinical services coordinator and homework as their main stress-

AVI VARGHESE ALEX WONG

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GRAPHICS BY VANESSA MARK

ors, which can be mitigated through district policy changes as well as increased teacher awareness of the work assigned. “[Teachers] should stop once in awhile to ask, ‘How has this helped you, how could it be more efficient?’” senior Stephanie Gee said.

“Teachers don’t ask enough whether we think what we’re doing right now is going to help us.”

furniture to their ergonomic needs.

“We’re trying to make it so that it’s not a one-size fits all, but it’s adjustable, movable and fluid,” history teacher Kelly Coble said. “Desks and chairs that you can move so that physically you’re comfortable, but also emotionally and mentally, you’re not just rigid in one desk everyday.”

P.E. teacher Kiernan Raffo is pursuing these goals through a different approach: a wellness unit for IN THE CLASSROOM freshman P.E. Currently, Raffo runs To confront student stressors a weekly program taught by profesin daily classroom routines, a few sional trainers in which P.E. students teachers on the wellness team have observe the benefits of breathing, turned their attention to environ- flexibility and yoga exercises. mental wellness. At its core, their be“The wellness people have done lief is that by changing the physical a good job of creating different cirenvironment of students, the school cumstances for [students] so that can affect their well-being through- they can relate,” Raffo said. “So they out the day. Due to a limited bud- can see that it’s much bigger than get, teachers settled on one specific just being in a classroom, whether change: replacing the furniture. it’s homework or you’re in a fight “We’re in these 1950s buildings, with your family.” and 1950s desks and This type of learnchairs,” Bennett said. ing is designed to “Is there more that we occur in classrooms can do with our en- We’re trying to as well, whether vironment to make it make [desks] so teachers choose to more modern or help implement the P.E. that it’s not a learning through the classes’ exercises or environment? If you’re one-size fits all, take different routes. having students sit in but it’s adjustFlatmo described an chairs all this time, is able, movable occasion in which a there a way to make it and fluid. chemistry teacher more ergonomic?” told her class that — history teacher With this in mind, she was going to Kelly Coble Bennett and a team of show them a “kitty three other teachers video” before a test. across subjects have begun order“As expected, the whole class ing and testing furniture that they groaned,” Flatmo said. “But she put believe will boost students’ comfort it on, and they watched it for a few and mood in addition to opening minutes. People chuckled, in spite of new opportunities for classroom themselves. And they took the test... spaces and group work. They are The teacher posted the results… and focusing on finding desks that are students did better than expected.” mobile and flexible, in which stuThe students took the next test dents can move around and adapt without the video, and their results

dropped back to normal. While the experiment holds no scientific bearing, Flatmo argues it’s an example of an in-class method to relieve stress.

“The next time she said, ‘Kitty video, or no kitty video?’” Flatmo said.

“They all said, ‘Kitty video!’ That’s a good example of teachers working with kids and giving them ways to relax before they take a test.”

Ultimately, the new path for the school focuses on alleviating broader stresses and reducing the load on students’ shoulders through varied approaches.

“The kids are multifaceted, [and] the schools are multifaceted,” Bennett said. “For some people, it’s their family. For other people, it’s the school load. For other people, it’s emotional issues... We tried a lot of different ways to get at it, and hopefully it’ll help all students in some way.”

A CHANGING CULTURE

As Bennett, administrators and the therapy department pushed for greater thought and discussion on mental health, they witnessed a change in attitude. Staff members became more receptive and concerned about student issues.

“It seems like now, when you say things like ‘stress’ and ‘mindfulness,’ you don’t get, ‘This is not even an issue,’” Bennett said. “You get, ‘Oh, what do you think would be [a] solution?’”

Satterwhite believes that this will empower student initiative in powerful ways.

“As a principal, you can say lots of things, but it’s hard to make those things happen without support,” Satterwhite said. “It’s trying to find buy-in from staff, and students and parents, so when you run into walls they can say, ‘No, this wall isn’t big enough, let’s take it down.’”

We’re trying to find buy-in from staff, and students and parents, so when you run into walls, they can say, “No, this wall isn’t big enough, let’s take it down.”

— Principal Wynne Satterwhite * Results from the school’s February student wellness survey

The Talon April 26, 2016

3

Mountain View takes action on housing KEVIN YEN

Senior Writer

It’s 11 p.m., and a nearly sixhour session, long by city council standards, draws to a close.

Mountain View Mayor Pat Showalter, ordinarily curt in adjourning the council, takes the moment to say a few words.

“We have wanted to be able to have this discussion for quite a while, so we’re really happy to have had it,” Showalter said at the March 1 meeting. “We look forward to the next round.”

It’s the end of a chapter in the ongoing discussions about the North Bayshore Precise Plan, which was adopted by the council in late 2014 to framework development of the North Bayshore.

The original plan stipulated that

the land could only be used for office space. Now, the city council is deliberating on how to incorporate housing, an issue that has grown alongside the influx of workers coming to Silicon Valley.

“What we’re doing is amending a brand new precise plan to add housing as a possible use in the North Bayshore,” Mountain View city council member Michael Kasperzak said. “We’re figuring how and where and under what conditions housing could be developed.”

The city council has endorsed a plan to develop up to 10,250 housing units in the North Bayshore, which is 1,200 more than what the Environmental Planning Commission, a city council designated research group, recommended.

“The council is more interested in creating more housing opportunities than less,” Kasperzak said. “There is on the planning commission, a slower growth contingence that [is] not as aggressive as the council is when it comes to housing development.”

So far, the Sobrato Corporation is the only group to propose housing in the North Bayshore, with plans to construct 670 market-rate and 130 affordable housing units. Kasperzak notes that this is in line with city expectations of a gradual development. “[There] are all sorts of community-serving business things that the community develops,” Kasperzak said. “My impression is that we’ll slowly get developments coming in. Somebody will build 600 units, somebody might

ALLEGRA MAESO

Mountain View City Council has modified its development plan for the North Bayshore area to allow for over 10,000 more units of housing than were originally expected. The area, home to Google and many other companies, has been flooded with new housing demand.

build 400 units. It’s not like suddenly one day there’ll be a project for 8,000 housing units. It’s not going to happen that way, it’s going to be more incremental.”

The process for developing the North Bayshore comes with a set of instructions and goals. There are the issues of vehicle trip caps, affordable housing and Environmental Impact guidelines, among others, that the council has to consider.

The current North Bayshore Precise Plan limits the number of cars entering the North Bayshore area during the a.m. peak period to 18,900 vehicles.

A recent study found that 13,900 vehicles trips are made daily in that period. If the trip cap is exceeded after two consecutive reporting periods, the city council is prohibited from granting any new building permits until vehicle trips are lowered.

However, the Environmental Planning Commission, in a recent report, advised the city to make residential development exempt from the restriction, emphasizing the importance of desperately needed housing in Mountain View.

“I think the city council is in favor of that especially if the people living there are working out there,” Kasperzak said. “Although we haven’t made any decisions, the council is generally inclined to not apply the trip cap to residential.”

As part of a strategy to encourage housing development, the city council is devising an incentivized structure formula that allows companies to build more office space in exchange for constructing more housing. “[The Environmental Impact report] makes it possible... to build more office than was originally permitted because

[of ] what we call the ‘housingitself mitigating,’” Kasperzak said. “By having the housing, it mitigates the impact of more office [space].”

Mountain View city councilman Chris Clark believes the council should be careful about how to put the incentivized structure in place.

“It’s kind of tricky with housing because we want people to build as much as possible,” Clark said. “If you say, ‘You can only build so much if you do x, y and z,’ then we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, because they won’t build the extra housing.”

Affordable housing has garnered particular attention in the North Bayshore due to high housing prices in Mountain View, which have roughly doubled in the past four years to an average of $1.3 million. The city hopes that developers will allocate as much as 20 percent of units towards affordable housing, but that number may change.

“What is the right mix where we get a significant amount of affordable housing, but we’re also maximizing the number of units we can get?” Clark said. “That’s a really important question that I don’t think anyone has the answer to. But it’s one of those balances that you have to strike and we’re all trying to figure out what that balance is.”

Councilman Lenny Siegel cautions that maintaining foresight, especially in the beginning of development, is crucial for the overall project to be successful.

“This is an innovative plan with a lot of moving parts, and it has to be done right,” Siegel said in a March 1 city council meeting.

The city expects to release Public Draft Plan this summer or fall with more details on building guidelines.

With growing enrollment, district hires counselors ANISHA DESAI Staff Writer

Due to pressure caused by a growing student population, the counseling department appealed to the school board and asked for another counselor to be hired in addition to the current six, a request that was recently accepted.

In recent years, counselors have found it harder to give students personalized attention because of their busy schedules.

“Our schools have grown significantly over the last few years,” Counseling Department Coordinator Ryan Carter said. “Our district has always been committed to providing our students with the best support possible. Adding another counselor at each school helps ensure that our services, and the quality of these services, remain at as high a level as our community has come to expect, while our student body continues to grow.”

The sudden increase in enrollment can be attributed to the rapid growth of the technology industry combined with the appeal and relevance of Silicon Valley. With the school’s current population, each of the five main counselors is currently responsible for 384 students on average. Union rules do not allow that number to exceed 400, meaning that an additional counselor may soon be contractually necessary. All students cur-

rently receive an annual 30-minute counseling appointment with their parents, which is becoming increasingly difficult for counselors to schedule and manage.

“The job of being a counselor has gotten so complicated and so multi-faceted that while students have anxiety, counselors have anxiety too about making sure they have reached all the kids and not missed something,” Assistant Principal Perla Pasallo said. “Even if [the caseloads haven’t] reached 400, it’s still a lot. To get more breathing room, to see more kids, to be more accessible, that is the reason we [need] this person.”

MVLA approaches counseling slightly differently from surrounding districts, specifically in the way that counselors are divided up. Instead of having specialized counselors who only deal with one particular area, the school’s counselors serve a single group of students for four years, nourishing growth of strong personal relationships.

“We use a highly individualized counseling model,” Carter said. “Our counselors meet individually with every student and their parents at every grade level, every year. This is something that you very rarely see in public high schools because in most public high schools, the student to counselor ratio is too

high to sustain [that model].

We’re fortunate in our district to have the resources to be able to support this model as well as district leaders who see the value in strong counseling support for our students.”

The administration is currently formulating a list of interviewees, and the hiring process will begin at the end of April. They expect the process to take about two weeks and will most likely

have hired a candidate by the end of April.

Characteristics the administration are looking for in particular include commitment to student wellness, understanding of the difficulty of college applications and comprehension of the achievement gap. In addition, the administration would prefer someone with as much experience as possible.

“If they understand [the

achievement gap], they’ll know how to help the student select classes, help the student get support, know that the student comes with a story that might be very deep and include things that they will need to support them emotionally or however else,” Pasallo said. “They’ll understand the importance of supporting the student with resources and a lot of care [to benefit] their achievement.”

ANNE SCHILL

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The Talon April 26, 2016

Housing crisis pinches LAHS teachers in Palo Alto. Tompkins recognizes the situation as unsustainable due to the costs of living in the area, yet finds it difficult to weigh the high cost of closer housing with the lifestyle sacrifices of cheaper Teachers’ stresses housing farther away. When her he MVLA school district ranks lease expires in the summer, she as one of the highest pay- does not know what she will do.

“What am I thinking for the ing school districts in the state, with teachers paid an average of future? I don’t know,” Tompkins $114,000 in the 2014-2015 school said. “Palo Alto is crazy expensive. year, according to EdData.org. Yet [I’d like] to move to more affordeven with a six-figure salary and able areas, but there is something a potential second income from a really nice [about] only having to spouse or partner, buying a house commute 20 minutes in the mornin nearby cities such as Mountain ing versus, [commuting] over an hour to get here.”

View or Palo Alto is Commute aside, nearly impossible teachers stated that without financial help the personal finanfrom family members If I get [out] cial strain of housor an inheritance. five minutes ing is significant as As a result, many late, I know well. More than half teachers move to citof teachers said they ies such as Sunny- that’s going to have reduced spendvale, San Jose, Camp- increase my ing on luxury services bell and Santa Clara, drive home by and cannot save as where houses are 40 minutes. much for retirement. more affordable, but — art teacher “[My wife and I] the commute is longer.

Christine An have made [sacriIn a survey of teachers fices] really on all conducted by The Talon, more than half of respondents levels,” Barker said. “Any kind cited stress from long commutes as of discretionary spending has a lifestyle sacrifice they have made almost stopped. Buying new clothes, going out to eat, orderdue to their housing situations.

“In the afternoon, [I’m] count- ing in, entertainment, going to ing minutes,” art teacher Chris- movies, traveling.”

The district is beginning to feel tine An said. “If I get [out] five minutes late, I know that’s going pressure to act on the issue. While to increase my drive home by 40 the district has yet to see a deminutes. So I get really anxious crease in the quality of teachers it because I know I have my pets hires, Associate Superintendent of and my family members waiting Human Resources Eric Goddard at home that need my attention, notes that the district has noticed and my work. I’m always anxious a small trend of prospective teachers turning down job offers to about my time.”

The time drain and stress from work in MVLA, once they realize long commutes also snowball the cost of living, something uninto teachers’ involvement in the heard of five years ago. “[It’s] something that we continschool community and ability to interact with students after school. ue to keep a close eye on,” Goddard For An, living in San Jose means said. “If the housing prices conmissing out on the Art Club’s vol- tinue to increase, I think it’s going to be challenging to attract a wide unteer work and activities.

“I can’t get involved because I range or pool of employees to work live so far away and it takes me with our students. We’re going to so long to go home,” An said. “If have to get more creative.”

I stay here for an afterschool activity or if there’s some event, that Is teacher housing a means I have to stay here for the solution? ome school districts have rest of the evening until the traftaken their own initiative fic is lighter, which is at like eight o’clock at night, which extends by building subsidized teacher housing, where housing units are my work day way too long.”

Many teachers who rent have a rented out to teachers at below longer-term issue, because they market rates.

Santa Clara Unified School Disstruggle to save enough to buy a house while facing increasing trict was the first school district to rent hikes. Like others, they are pioneer the idea, building a total forced to choose between closer of 90 units over seven years. The housing that may be too expen- initiative proved effective; the attrisive and less expensive options tion rate for new teachers who took advantage of subsidized housing which mean longer commutes.

English teacher Elizabeth Tomp- was 8 percent, compared to 24 perkins lives in a granny unit, a struc- cent for all new teachers.

More recently, the issue has garture located behind a larger housing unit, shared with a roommate nered action from local district

CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE

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officials. San Francisco Unified School District and Cupertino Union School District both announced plans late last year to build affordable housing units for their teachers. And during a board meeting last month, Mountain View-Whisman School District board members agreed to consider the idea of undertaking their own development project.

However, skepticism remains about the viability of teacher housing as a catch-all solution. Many districts would have trouble finding the land for new construction, and buying land in Silicon Valley is not an affordable alternative.

“All the land we own is already fully spoken for,” MVLA school district board member Phil Faillace said. “I don’t know where we would find the land, and even if we did [find a piece of land], I don’t know how we would buy it. There are all sorts of problems.”

Others believe that subsidized teacher housing doesn’t address the root of the problem: The average teacher salary precludes teachers from living where they teach.

“It’s a nationwide issue, like why are teachers in general not paid enough to live in the communities in which they work?” history teacher Margaret Blach said. “It’s the larger picture that teachers should be paid more to lessen that burden of housing.”

Where LAHS teachers live (and how long it takes them to get here)

*AVERAGED FROM SURVEY RESPONSES

VANESSA MARK

maximum land and density usage 2,000 new affordable housing in development projects. units. Yet according to Rosenberg, “How much impact [the city Mountain View cannot solve the of Los Altos] can have is really housing crisis by itself. kind of minimal... because we’re “We need Sunnyvale, Santa a totally built out community,” Clara, San Jose, Los Altos, CuLos Altos Mayor Jeannie Bruins pertino, Palo Alto, Menlo Park... said. “If you look at somewhere we need everybody to do this,” Meeting demand with like Mountain View, they’ve got Rosenberg said. “This is all supply or Mountain View Vice Mayor a lot of land…[and] opportu- hands on deck.” nity. We don’t have For teachers, however, the Ken Rosenberg, open land.”

North Bayshore projects are unthe issue of housing Mountain View likely to alter their housing opboils down to supWhy are teachhas begun exploring tions. Homes made available by ply and demand. If its opportunities, re- the land-use plan will likely be the housing supply ers in general stagnates while cor- not paid enough cently laying out an doled out to engineers and tech outline for as many as workers, as much of the land porations continue to live in the 10,250 new homes in available is still owned by Google to build more of- communities the North Bayshore and other corporations. fice space, the crisis area. According to “In Mountain View, there are only intensifies as in which they the Mountain View more developments, but they developers increase work?

Voice, the city also have to be shared with everyprices for profit, and — history teacher Margaret Blach looks to increase the body,” Faillace said. “It’s always a lower-income workamount of afford- small fraction of the population ers are pushed out of able housing units to that gets to take advantage of prothe area.

“In a word, gentrification,” 20 percent in the area, a step up grams like that, so it’s a solution Rosenberg said. “If you really from the usual 8 percent for most for those people that are lucky want anecdotal evidence to what’s projects. The result could be over enough to get in the door.” happening, walk up Castro and count how many help wanted ads you see in the windows. [It’s] a lot.

Making it work Those restaurants are finding it s cities like Mountain View seek to tackle the housing issue from a harder and harder to find people long-term perspective, teachers are left to struggle with their perwilling to work for those wages.” sonal housing situations. Abel remains unsure of where she will live Los Altos faces fewer options from year to year. An will still watch the clock anxiously in the hopes of than its sister cities of Mountain beating afternoon rush hour traffic, and Barker will continue to sacrifice View and Palo Alto do to increase lifestyle to his commute. its housing stock, primarily beUncertainty about housing and its accompanying impacts on their cause it is a residential communilives remains an unfortunate reality for teachers at LAHS. For now, their ty with few areas for high-density only option is to just make it work. development. However, the city “The prospect of never quite knowing where I’m going to live next is takes steps to contribute what it very unsettling,” Abel said. “I have no idea what will happen, but I’ll live can to the housing situation by resomewhere. I’ll be fine.” quiring developers to build below

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market-rate units and mandating

How teachers’ housing situations impact their lives

SAMPLE OF 60 TEACHERS

MIRANDA LI

The Talon April 26, 2016

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Please send letters to the editor to talon.lahs@gmail.com Los Altos High School

Campus should be more aware of student digital privacy risks

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n early March, Spanish teacher Terri Salsman De Rodriguex directed her students to download the software program Insight, a classroom management service that allows teachers to monitor students’ computer screens, access their Internet browsing history and take over computer controls.

While Rodriguex aimed to reduce student online distractions during class, her instructions to download the software on personal student devices made students uncomfortable and should have required parental consent for privacy and liability purposes.

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To the Administration

he administration first became were told to install Insight on their aware of Rodriguex’s interest in personal devices, and consequentInsight during fall 2015, when teach- ly risked exposing their personal ers throughout the district submit- digital information to an outside ted requests for Innovative Learning party for surveillance.

Instead of allowing Rodriguex grants from the MVLA Foundation.

While Rodriguex’s request was de- to pilot a trial version in her nied because it did not fit the Founda- classrooms, the administration tion’s requirements for an innovative should have notified Rodriguex learning experience, the administra- and all her students of the requirements tion should have for the approbeen aware from priate use of then on that inGiven the school’s priorInsight, prior stallation of this to allowing software on per- ity on cloud learning, the Rodriguex to sonal student de- administration should implement vices requires pa- discuss and establish a the software. rental consent for protocol for teacher and It is the utprivacy and liabilstudent privacy boundarmost responity purposes. sibility of It is within the ies regarding personal teachers and school’s legal electronic devices. administrarights to install tors to reInsight and other similar programs on all school-owned spect student privacy on camchromebooks and devices. However, pus; the administration and many students bring their person- staff did not fulfill their responal devices instead of checking out a sibilities and must not repeat a school chromebook. This means that similar error that endangers some students in Rodriguex’s classes student privacy in the future.

201 Almond Ave., Los Altos, CA April 26, 2016 Volume XXXI, Issue 7 Editor-In-Chief Sofia Guo Managing Editors Alice Dai (Print) Katherine Yen (Print) James Sun (Web) News Editor Spencer Dembner Opinions Editor Hanna Khosravi Features Editor Emily Aoki In-Depth Editor Olivia Jerram Entertainment Editor Jessica King Sports Editor Josh Kirshenbaum

To Students

Media Editor Carl Faust

T

he conditions under While Rodriguex has since haltwhich a student can ed use of Insight in her classroom, appropriately refuse to fol- this incident is extremely imporlow directions are clearly tant in alerting students that their subjective, especially when knowledge of their digital privaa student ency rights is curcounters an rently too limunfamiliar sitited to safely uation. Howev- In the future, if stuguard against er, in this parviodents are told to install future ticular case, lations.

Our students right- anything that is unfaschool is makfully felt un- miliar and causes them ing great strides c o m f o r t a b l e to feel uncomfortable, in innovative about install- they should thoughtlearning, but ing Insight. the administraDue to pressure fully and politely refuse, tion and staff from the teach- and instead communimust also fulfill er and their cate with the teacher their responsipeers, students and administration to bilities to edueventually folcate students find an appropriate lowed through. on protecting This is a crucial alternative. their digital inindicator that formation and the school has property.

By not fulfilled its duty to its establishing a protocol defining students to educate them student digital privacy rights, the on protecting their own school would insure that an incidigital privacy. dent like this won’t happen again.

Copy/Content Editors Claire Bai, Teddy Chmyz, Cole Hanson, William Jow Business Manager Eric Thiem Senior Writers Chris Dadok, David Lisbonne, Emily Terada, Kevin Yen Staff Writers Keith Bohrer, Paola Campos, Eli Colbert, Anisha Desai, Savita Govind, Jim Hollingworth, Akhil Jakatdar, Miranda Li, Rachel Lu, Alexis Malgesini, Booker Martin, Julia Santos, Tinomuda Tugwete, Avi Varghese, Alex Wong, Ben Zaeske Photographers Francesca Fallow, Katie Klein, Rachel Lu, Allegra Maeso, Kunal Pandit, Michael Sieffert, Kimia Shahidi, Meilin Tsao Graphic Artists Jim Hollingworth, Miranda Li, Skylar Maeso, Vanessa Mark, Anne Schill Videographers Bobak Afshari, Matt Carpenter, Britt de Visser, Danny Nguyen, Eitan Weiner, Andrew Young Adviser Michael Moul

POLICIES Los Altos High School’s Compositional Journalism class is solely responsible for The Talon, which is published eight times a year. The Talon also updates its website, www.lahstalon.org, with full-time coverage.

The Editorial Board sets the policies of The Talon and crafts its editorials and thumbs. Its members are Eli Colbert, Alice Dai, Spencer Dembner, Jim Hollingworth, Olivia Jerram, Josh Kirshenbaum and Katherine Yen.

ADVERTISE & SUBSCRIBE Send advertisement and subscription inquiries to Eric Thiem at talon.lahs@ gmail.com.

Dear Editor, In the spirit of Diversity Week, I would like to raise a few issues concerning inclusion at Los Altos, something that has been frequently brought up lately.

In my four years at Los Altos, I have seen some great things put on

by ASB for the students. These include food trucks, various sports tournaments, talent shows, and even puppies. However, I have also seen some not so great things. The problem is that it is either ASB’s way or no way. ASB’s idea of “inclusion” only

includes the interests of its members.

I have been an active member of several clubs that have done meaningful things on campus throughout my time here. But when the focus of these clubs does not comply with ASB’s agenda, they are simply ignored, pushed to the side. Every single year, ASB has consistently put the priority and importance of its own events above those of my club. I have received countless emails letting me know that I would have to reschedule or even cancel the things that my club had put thought and effort into planning.

You see, according to ASB, dodgeball is more important than Earth Day. Signs advertising school dances are more important than posters advocating for Syrian migrant rights. Raising money for prom is more important

than letting students collect money for causes that they care about.

Clubs are not even allowed to meet on Tuesdays because class council is perceived as more important. These are only a few instances that I have experienced, but I know that many other students have faced similar frustrating circumstances.

I have listened to members of ASB tell me that they were “apathetic” about what I was trying to accomplish when I attempted to speak up about what was happening. I have watched my ideas get ignored at class council meetings. I have slowly become aware of the marginalization of students who don’t fit the ASB mold.

I am not asking that ASB stops its activities but rather that it changes its relationship with clubs and that it

reconsiders its approach to school events. A lot of the existing diversity at Los Altos comes from the many different clubs, and for this reason, they should be better included within the school in order for ASB to truly consider itself as “inclusive.” I will never fully feel like I am “a part of the blue” until I know that ASB values me and my club as much as it values itself.

Name withheld The Talon welcomes letters to the editor.

E-mail letters to talon.lahs@gmail.com, drop them off in room 409 or the box in the attendance office.

In the case of spelling or grammatical errors, obscenities, libel 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.

Talon Supporters Honorary Pulitzers Sanjay Desai, Corrie Dunn and Rick Jow, Fallow Family, Elizabeth Faust, Haiyan Gao, Lisa Giannini and Simon Patience, Emily Goto, Tabitha Hanson, Gary Herbert, Su-Jane Hsieh, Quyen Nguyen, Susan Slater, Lillian Terada, Tracy Weatherby, Wendy Yang and Yusheng Bai, Danny and Tracy Young

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6

The Talon April 26, 2016

Read more opinions articles at lahstalon.org/category/opinions

Harvard is “Turning the Tide” — naively SPENCER DEMBNER News Editor

When it comes to shaking up the college process, there’s a new leader in town. Forget the Colleges that Change Lives, forget the Hidden Ivies, forget affordable public education. No, if you really want to be on the cutting edge, you’ll have to visit the obscure, scrappy school which has established colleges on the run — I’m referring, of course, to Harvard University.

Perhaps influenced by Cambridge’s vibrant startup culture, Harvard’s school of education recently issued “Turning the Tide,” an extensive report signed by over 80 similar colleges calling for major reforms in the college process. Aimed at reducing stress and increasing representation at elite colleges, it endorses recommendations that range from highlighting ethical awareness to limiting the number of extracurriculars students can list.

And yet, the report’s recommemdations, while well-intentioned, are also hopelessly naive. No amount of focus on “authenticity” or “community engagement” will solve the basic issue of college diversity — the students that are most underrepresented have the least resources to help them navigate the increasingly byzantine college process. If Harvard and its ilk want to get serious about solving these issues, they need to deal with their causes.

“Turning the Tide” is right that

elite colleges have a severe diversity issue. Statistics from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation indicate that almost three quarters of the most selective colleges’ students come from the top income quartile — the bottom quartile makes up just three percent of students.

And it’s not just an issue of academic preparedness — the Cooke Foundation concludes that “highly selective schools could increase the representation of low-income students by 30 percent without compromising SAT or ACT standards.”

So if disadvantaged students have the academic chops to make it at elite colleges, why do they remain so underrepresented?

“Turning the Tide” concludes that the problem is authenticity. The college process, it says, overemphasizes individual achievement and academic performance over more important issues. If colleges simply placed more weight on community engagement and family responsibility, so the reasoning goes, minority students would stand a fair chance.

However, most of these students don’t apply to highly selective colleges in the first place. While nearly half of the wealthiest applicants shot for a school classified as Most Competitive or Highly Competitive, less than a quarter of those in the bottom quartile did. It doesn’t matter how well a college’s application showcases the disadvantaged if they never fill it out in the first place.

That means shifting priorities. Admissions officers have a tendency to visit the schools — like Los Altos —

where students are already applying to top colleges, instead of schools with less support for the process.

For schools lacking the resources we have, like the College and Career Center, visits from admission counselors could work miracles in boosting confidence and demonstrating that students have a shot at the top schools.

What’s more, the report buys into admission officers’ favorite fantasy — the idea that based on a transcript and two or three short essays, colleges can or should “holistically” evaluate a person and try to discover something fundamental about their approach to life. The format of an application is inherently limited, which encourages a degree of self-coaching and selective presentation — students are under no illusion that the application will reveal their whole self, so why do colleges think it will?

That’s what makes “Turning the Tide” so worrying — it relies almost entirely on the hope that if only we hit upon the right formula for college applications (presumably one that can’t be coached, repels exaggeration and magically extracts a person’s academic and moral essence through their ears), then diversity will no longer be an issue.

It wills us to believe that as long as we let disadvantaged students “tell their story” through the application, the process will be fair to them.

But no single application can solve this issue, because the resources that make for a strong application — peer and adult feedback, robust writing instruction, familiarity with the

VANESSA MARK

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS USER HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harvard recently published a report titled “Turning the Tide” on reforming the college admissions process. Harvard, however, remains one of the world’s most selective universities, with an acceptance rate of just above five percent. process — are themselves unequally distributed. Rich students are the most likely to have counselors, know when recommendation letters are due or what a college essay looks like, which gives them a leg up regardless of what the application asks.

The problem with college applications isn’t the questions they ask, it’s the economic disparities behind them. If we ever want to solve the issue of diversity, we need to address those disparities head-on.

For instance, this could mean — as Cooke suggests — direct affirmative action to benefit poorer students when academic profiles are similar.

Arguably, the same achievement is more impressive for a student with less background support — and directly favoring disadvantaged students is always the simplest way to admit more of them.

No matter how you slice it, a solution to the college problem has to involve top schools like Harvard — after all, it’s their selectivity and admission standards that arguably created the problem in the first place. That means “Turning the Tide” is progress. But if they want our efforts to get beyond meaningless platitudes to real change, they have to get serious.

AP Human Geography diversifies social studies department SAVITA GOVIND Staff Writer

With already rigorous course options and limited choices, all students deserve the chance to study the world in a new light, from interpreting maps to using satellite images and aerial photographs. The AP Human Geography course offers each one of these opportunities and much more to its students. Next year, AP Human Geography will be offered to all sophomores as another option similar to AP Modern European History.

Although the school removed a geography class a few years ago because it was found unnecessary, AP Human Geography will allow students to learn about the different patterns and processes regarding alteration of the Earth’s surface. While developing abilities of spatial intelligence and landscape analysis, students will be able to analyze effects and consequences of human social organization. Because this course offers a variety of applications and skills, AP Human Geography should be offered to upperclassmen as well.

AP Human Geography covers a range of topics including population growth, cultural patterns and processes and urban development. Junior Sean Adibi, who took the AP Human Geography test after self-studying, sees

the benefit in this type of class.

“What’s really important about AP Human Geography is that it helped me learn the trends of geography,” Sean said. “Different overarching ideas that were really helpful in making me learn more about how humans interact with the land they’re on and how they work with one another. I thought that was really important for my future as well.”

One of the main focuses of this course is to interpret maps and examine geospatial data. The goal is for students to be able to use these skills in problem-solving situations and think critically based on what information is given in different maps.

Another targeted topic is identification and comprehension of the rela-

tionships among certain patterns and processes. Students are able to understand that the situation they are studying at one scale may well be influenced by processes and developments at other scales, such as a shift from local to global circumstances. These kinds of skills are applicable to all students who can have the opportunity to apply their geographical knowledge to their surroundings. “[AP Human Geography] should be offered to more than just sophomores,” Sean said. “If it was offered to the entire school, I would have taken it next year, just for my own enrichment. It’s a really important class, for all people to take geography, to understand where they are, where their surroundings are, how it plays into their lives.”

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SKYLER MAESO

Additionally, AP Human Geogra- AP Human Geography is a beneficial phy allows students to define global class which teaches students several regions and evaluate the regional- skills not utilized in other social studization process. Students not only ies courses. However, it should also be describe geographical patterns but open to juniors and seniors interested analyze their deriin an elecvation and signifitive humanicance. While studyties course, ing multiple regions [The course teaches] difas the school through analysis is lacking in ferent overaching ideas and exploration, non-required they move beyond that were really helpEnglish and locating and de- ful in making me learn social studies scribing regions to more about how humans classes. interpreting what interact with the land By reinstatthey reveal about ing a geogthe changing char- they’re on and how they raphy-based work with one another. I acter of the world. class, the Compared to other thought that was really school is taksocial studies courses, important for my future. ing steps toincluding AP United ward validat— junior Sean Adibi States History (USHing the worth AP) and AP Europeof liberal an History (MEHAP), arts courses.

AP Human Geography offers multiple While STEM education is vigorously perspectives rather than focusing only worked into the school’s curriculum, on certain areas of the world. it is also valuable to showcase the relFurthermore, this course enables evance of other fields and give students students to characterize and distin- just as many options in the humanities guish changing connections among as they have in STEM. areas. Students can view places and “I do think it’s important that patterns not alone, but in terms of their within MEHAP or USHAP curspatial and functional relationship riculum, or sophomore or freshwith other places and patterns. They man history, that we get a better are able to become aware that those understanding of the entire world relationships are constantly changing, around us,” Sean said. “It’s necesand they can understand how and why sary to learn about all the different change occurs. countries that make up the world Providing numerous areas of inter- rather than solely focusing on the ests to appeal to a variety of students, specific area which we live in.”

If you would like to write about your stance on an issue that’s affecting students at our school, email Opinions Editor Hanna Khosravi at opinions.lahstalon@gmail.com with a summary of your idea.

The Talon April 26, 2016

7

How to handle junior prom at LAHS EMILY AOKI JESSICA KING

Features Editor Entertainment Editor

In past years, juniors have expressed disappointment at the lack of a junior prom, and Jordan Auerbach and his friends are no exception. Over the winter break, Jordan and his friends, juniors Cooper Cornell, Kyle Godfrey, Lee Staufenbiel and Ryan Young, came up with the idea that the junior class should host its own prom. But this suggestion was no ill-thought out whim on behalf of Jordan and his friends; they decided to implement the plan and to take it a step further by using the prom as a fundraising event for a local charity.

While having both a junior prom and a senior prom separately sponsored by and paid for by the school, would simply be unfathomable due to budget issues, Jordan and the junior prom committee’s initiative to create an outside event that fulfills the gap of prom for LAHS juniors is both admirable and innovative.

Students must first understand that ASB is not going to fund a junior prom, and they should understand why — the budget cannot accommodate. So while students should not stop being excited for the chance to celebrate on their own at the Elks Club this year, it is not realistic to assume that a group like that of Jordan and his friends and family will be as passionate about the prom every year. Juniors should celebrate the prom they are being provided this year, but should realize that it is not imple-

mentable by our school, which has an annual prom budget of $40,000, and that the school’s current handling of prom is actually the most inclusive.

In regard to the new junior prom, Jordan and his group began to plan for the dance they wanted to provide to the students with full support from his parents, David and Lisa Auerbach, who volunteered to fund the dance.

“Honestly, I expected once they realized how much work they were signing up for that their bubble would burst and they’d lose interest,” Lisa Auerbach said. “In fact, it’s been quite the opposite, they’ve picked up steam and we meet almost every Sunday to keep the schedule on track.”

The school traditionally holds a senior prom only, and with the current budget, there is not enough money to fund two separate proms. The existence of this privately run junior prom raises an interesting question; should the school have a combined junior/senior prom in order to provide LAHS juniors with a chance at prom like juniors at many other school receive?

This could absolutely be a possibility. While the school has never hosted junior prom, doing so is feasible if our financial system is altered. For example, Mountain View High School (MVHS) has a combined junior/senior prom every year. Rather than the funds coming from class council fundraisers and the event being planned by the class president, prom at MVHS is entirely organized by members of ASB. They have a prom commissioner and a dance commissioner, who work on organizing the event.

VIA FLICKR USER TECH MUSEUM OF INNOVATION

Pictured above is the Tech Museum of Innovation. The senior class of 2016 will hold their prom at the museum in May.

CARL FAUST

Juniors Jordan Auerbach and Cooper Cornell have planned an off-campus junior prom with the help of Jordan’s family and their friends, juniors Kyle Godfrey, Lee Staufenbiel and Ryan Young. Jordan’s parents, David and Lisa Auerbach, have agreed to fund the dance, which will take place at the Elks Club in Palo Alto on Saturday, May 21.

“What Mountain View does is al- of the school — to make people feel zational issues, there is a sense of internate between a larger budget and included. The logistics, however, could timacy between the seniors and their guests that could never be matched a smaller budget [every year], and it lead to some issues.

A senior prom, which the school by a combined, upperclassmen prom. just [determines] whether or not your venue can be farther away, but there currently offers, is more realistic than Having prom for the seniors and the are still nice venues [nearby],” MVHS a combined prom in terms of planning seniors alone makes it an event that dance commissioner junior Leah Lam and execution. Due to lower ticket more clearly celebrates the high school said. “[The budget] doesn’t really cor- prices with a senior prom alone, prom experience and the finality and nostalrelate with how nice the venue is, it just would be more accessible to students, gia associated with graduation.

“I like the idea of all the seniors being means that on the big budget years you some of whom still need scholarship pick a farther location, which means to attend. If LAHS was to sponsor a ju- together one last time, [with] all [their] nior prom in addition to a senior prom, closest friends,” Jenny said. “And there you have to provide transportation.”

While it is true that members of not only would ticket prices hike for are a lot of juniors [who] come to the other grades can attend the LAHS both events, but the opportunity for senior prom, so it’s not totally exclusenior prom, they must be guested scholarships might be hindered. It is sive, but I like the dinner. I think that if by a senior. Not everyone who wants extremely important that everyone it changed, that’d be fine, but I do like to go to the prom has senior friends at our school, regardless of their eco- that at Los Altos, prom is something or a connection with a senior, which nomic status, can attend prom. Be- special that you save for the end.” leaves some people feeling excluded. cause LAHS only holds one prom, it is For now, however, a junior prom is “The benefit of having a combined practically guaranteed that anybody happening, and although it is and will junior/senior prom is just that you have who wants to attend prom will be able remain unaffiliated with the school or more people there and a lot of people to. As of now, the tickets start out at ASB, students are already enthused by have mixed grade friend groups,” Leah $75 farthest in advance, and over time the newfound sense of prom-oriented said. “And I don’t think that at either they increase in regular increments spirit. Invitations have been sent to high school [it’s] like a special gradua- up to $100. each student in the junior class and a “At Los Altos, we always cap it at date — Saturday, May 21 — has been tion dance where it’s just seniors, because people often bring their friends $100,” senior class president Jenny Chin set. Jordan Auerbach, his family and or significant others from other high said. “This is something [former as- the rest of the prom committee have sistant principal] Ms. Dawson really taken on an admirable responsibility in schools or from other grades.”

Holding a combined prom would stood up for, that every kid at Los Altos their planning of the junior prom, but mean having more people, and having would be able to attend these school the truth is, there are more sustainable more people is, many times, simply functions put on by ASB. And so we’re solutions in terms of proms sponsored more fun. It also allows more people to just never going to have a prom where by the school. But as of today, we are saying: Juniors — enjoy this year’s new be involved, which is always a wonder- the ticket price is $140.”

Regardless of financial and organi- prom! It should be awesome. ful thing and one of the main priorities

Taking too many AP classes is overrated CHRIS DADOK RACHEL LU Senior Writer Staff Writer

Throughout the years, the intent of AP courses has changed dramatically. However, one constant remains the same — the content for AP level courses are meant to prepare students for college, and many colleges do accept high AP scores as college credit, which saves tuition and allows students to get a head start during their first year in college.

But as acceptance rates for colleges steadily decrease, students are feeling heavier familial and peer pressure to enroll in these Advanced Placement courses to look more competitive on their application.

Just for California residents, acceptance rates to UC’s have dropped from 87 percent to 62 percent from 2007 to 2014, according to “Palo Alto Online”. Students have lost sight of the original intent of AP classes.

The growing trend of students taking three or more AP courses for the sake of looking competitive is alarming and must be stopped through changes in parents’ and students’

mindsets towards college.

In the 1950s, AP classes were created as a way to bridge the gap between high school and college, and College Board officialized AP courses after taking the pilot program under its wing.

“The original point of the AP program was to make college-level study possible for advanced high school students [and avoid repeating the same classes in college],” Kristin Klopfenstein, senior researcher at U.T. Dallas Texas Schools Project said in an article by “The New York Times”. “But now, the AP program has been transformed to serve many more purposes.”

Currently, many students see the courses as ways to boost their GPAs. Colleges see AP courses as indicators of prestige. High schools see it as a signal of quality to the community and real estate markets. And all these perceptions put exceedingly undue stress on students who pile on three or more AP classes each year.

The homework policy at our school states that each AP class should take an average of an hour and half of homework every night, but for those who have more than three AP

courses, homework loads exceed four hours per night. This load is much too heavy for too many students at our school and across the nation.

Students inherently spread themselves too thin when they take more than three AP courses. With students thinking that colleges would rather see more AP’s, and colleges favoring high GPA’s and students who enroll in multiple AP courses, student will suffer from an overall, unhealthy systemic issue surrounding AP courses. Although counselors at our school do not push students to take AP’s, there are many factors out of the school’s control that continue to perpetuate students’ desire to load up on AP courses.

“My parents are actually really laid back,” sophomore Javin Pombra said. “They’re like, ‘As long as you do your best, you’re fine.’ The only pressure I have is from my sister. My sister goes to the University of Chicago, and she’s super smart, so I guess [I try] to compete with her… [but] I don’t really have peer pressure.”

It is factors like Javin’s that continue to create a cycle of excess and overworking — every student has an array of reasons to take mul-

tiple AP courses in school, and many are willing to brave the pressures in order to boost their GPAs or place themselves into more competitive positions for elite college admissions. However, students need to wake up and see AP courses for what they really are: an

opportunity to explore one or two subjects that they really care about per year. AP courses were not designed to create sleepless nights and unnecessary burdens on the adolescent mind, but rather to further opportunities and allow students to excel in their passions.

SKYLER MAESO

8

The Talon April 26, 2016

Corporations are the real Common Core culprits SPENCER DEMBNER News Editor

It’s easy to forget that before the Common Core became the one thing everyone can agree to hate, it was the one thing everyone could agree on. Created in 2008 by a partnership of idealistic education reformers and the National Governors’ Association, the Common Core State Standards initiative originally gained the support of 48 states. It was viewed as an uncontroversial way of reforming and improving the education system.

Yet since then, the standards have become a political football, with elected officials of all stripes distancing themselves from what has come to be seen as a federal takeover of education. It’s true that Common Core’s implementation has been deeply flawed, but the reason for those flaws is precisely the fragmented, decentralized nature of the program, which allowed it to be dominated by corporate influence and made its implementation astronomically more difficult.

Common Core’s origins were as a reaction to the failure of previous, poorly-thought out education reform efforts, most particularly the infamous No Child Left Behind program passed under President George W. Bush. Under the program, schools were threatened with funding cuts if they didn’t meet performance targets — a counterproductive system, since it meant that the schools who most needed additional funding would have their budgets slashed.

In addition, previous standards such as No Child Left Behind did almost nothing to centralize standards across multiple states — in

effect, they made districts and schools beholden to high-stakes national testing, without developing any standards or curriculum to help prepare students.

Instead, according to the magazine “Mother Jones”, states filled in the gap by adding to an already convoluted mess of standards that had almost nothing in common. The standards, in addition to usually being far more than could be taught in a year, generally focused more on lists of facts to be memorized, rather than teaching fundamental thinking and reasoning skills.

In this context, Common Core was a significant improvement.

Although it wasn’t a national initiative, it was adopted by the vast majority of states, meaning it provided a degree of consistency. The new standards were broader, focusing on skills that students should know rather than specific details they would be forced to memorize.

However, the problem with the Common Core standards wasn’t that they were too central; it was that they weren’t centralized

enough. Because there was no nationally coordinated implementation effort, the program’s success relied on haphazard local plans, which often failed to adequately provide the skills students needed.

The federal government provided little support, beyond a onetime grant incentive in 2009 called the Race to the Top Program. As a result, the costs of implementing the program were borne entirely by the states. Many allocated significantly less money than was needed, forcing school districts to shortchange implementation or foot the bill for extra costs without any help from the state.

Thus, it should be no surprise that so many students did so poorly on the Common Core assessment results that have begun to be released. Without any support or centralization, there was no way that teachers, flying blind without curricula or guidance, could effectively teach the new material.

The shortage of funding also meant that education conglomerates and wealthy philanthropists took the lead. Bill and Melinda

VANESSA MARK

Gates, who provided over $200 million in funding to implement the standards, were often able to effectively dictate education policy through their power of the purse.

Huge corporations like Pearson lobbied for the standards due to the gains they foresaw from producing new textbooks — a fact that the standards’ opponents never fail to point out.

One example of this disastrous confluence of private and public interest was InBloom, a program created by private companies to help states manage the data produced by Common Core.

Amid concerns over the sale of individualized student records to private companies, InBloom came under significant fire and was forced to shut down.

It also doesn’t help that a revolving door has developed for many of Common Core’s strongest advocates to quit the movement and be employed by testing companies.

Tony Bennett, who oversaw the program in Indiana, lost his job and was hired by ACT to help plan the program. David Coleman, one of its original architects, left the movement to become the president of the College Board (where he pioneered the new SAT that everyone hears so much about).

Combined, these incidents make it easy to paint Common Core as coopted and controlled by the interests of huge education companies trying to make money. However, all these problems are the inevitable consequence of trying to reform education without federal help.

Make no mistake, America needs a new education model. But trying to develop such a model without national planning was a disastrous mistake that made Common Core’s failure inevitable. Hopefully it’s not one we’ll repeat.

Scheduling conflicts with SBAC testing BOOKER MARTIN Staff Writer

Last year, high schools in California introduced the newest iteration of standardized testing: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, also know as SBAC. The school’s primary issue with SBAC testing no longer revolves around the content on the exam itself. The problem nowis scheduling conflicts, which will likely increase stress on already overloaded juniors.

Earlier this semester, assistant principal Galen Rosenberg discussed potential testing schedules with a group of students from the junior class in order to get their input on the options.

Rosenberg and the administration took these thoughts and opinions into account when crafting the new schedule.

“After the experience last year with the first round [of SBAC testing], we feel like the schedule we have where students will go to [their English and Social studies classes to take the exam will not be] more work, but less work,” Rosenberg said.

The school contemplated the possibility of modifying semester finals to reduce stress, which would prove to be a significant aid to juniors who have to deal with SBAC testing from May 16

to 20, right in between AP exams and finals week. Unfortunately, this is no longer being considered, as the administration has decided to actively focus on reducing stress throughout the entire year.

“The junior teachers… will have to lighten the load that week,” Rosenberg said. “Inevitably, teachers in English and social studies classes will modify what they will be doing.”

During the week of testing, it will be primarily up to the teachers to reduce the load on the students. With no official plan, the amount of work taken from the curriculum to compensate for testing will inevitably vary between teachers.

While reducing student workload during SBAC testing week may lessen some stress initially, students will still need to endure five days of difficult testing. Students may also have to recover from a more cramped curriculum.

“We’re figuring you just go to class that week,” Rosenberg said.

“We’re not trying to make a big deal out of the SBAC testing at this point.”

With this mindset being enforced, students will likely not take SBAC testing seriously. This may reduce stress, but it defeats the purpose of the testing if students do not try. The administration encourages students to do their best, but an entire week of serious testing is a big deal. It

seems that there is no way to “not make a big deal” of SBAC while having students perform at their highest output. There is no way to treat the tests lightly yet do as well as possible.

Ultimately, SBAC testing will likely increase the already detrimental stress and workload some juniors face while calling for more organizing from teachers, though we have yet to see by how much. There seems to be conflicting messages about how students should approach the testing. Lack of of planning to reduce the additional stress caused by the tests and the time-pressed curriculum seems to justify the choice to take the test lightly. At

the same time, however, these scores reflect our school’s educational achievement, and it’s within every student’s responsibility to try their hardest. Of course, working hard on a week’s worth of testing in both history and English requires a lot of draining concentration, leaving us in a predicament.

The impact of this year’s SBAC testing will set the tone for upcoming years. Instead of waiting to witness its effects, the administration should take more initiative surrounding the SBAC schedule beforehand to lighten the load and help students perform better on a test that affects the school as a whole.

SKYLER MAESO

Jim’s Going to College

By Jim Hollingworth

The Most Obnoxious Problem The prophetic column title is coming true!

To begin – I got rejected from a big heap o’ colleges. Some of those were deserved, and some were dumb chance. But I also got into a few different places, and the same things can be said about those, too.

They say that you’ll know from the moment you step onto a campus if it’s the right fit for you. They’re wrong. Deciding which college to attend is like trying to figure out which ice cream flavor is your favorite, except now you have to eat it every day for the next four years.

There are a million different factors to consider, and the weighting of those categories depends heavily on what kind of person you are.

Determining the academic quality of an institution has become horribly convoluted thanks to the dark plague that is the US News and World Report’s college rankings list. I hear prospective students saying, “I’m gonna attend College A because it’s well-ranked” a lot more often than I hear, “I’m gonna attend College A because its curriculum and faculty are really aligned with my own educational values.” This is a dead-horse topic that I don’t want to beat any more – we all know the subjectivity of rankings lists and we’re all still going to look at them anyway. But numbered prestige shouldn’t outweigh more concrete factors in a decision process.

But I’ve done my research and visited the campuses, and I still can’t figure out where to go. I’m fishing with bare hands – every time I think I’ve got a coherent opinion, it slips away.

I’ve talked to a lot of people. Current students, admitted students, professors, teachers, parents, dog, myself, and I’ve concluded that about 90% of my findings are useless. A lot of people have biases, and a lot of people don’t know anything at all – a reality which they’ll try and compensate for by spurting improbable generalizations: “my friend Bob goes there and he’s smelly, therefore everyone at that school is equally smelly.”

Some well-meaning people will tell you to “follow your heart,” which isn’t particularly helpful when your heart feels like it’s blindly stumbling around in circles and bumping into things.

Be honest with yourself about outside input. Be wary of smart kids telling you a school is easy and basement-dwellers telling you a school has a poor social life; pay attention to the positives. College is what you make of it – if you’re not lame, then college probably won’t be lame (and there’s plenty of time in the next few years to expunge lameness).

So if you see me in the next few days blindly bumping into things, know that it’s because I’m trying to follow my stupid heart, and that I’ll probably be fine in the end, as long as I’m not super lame.

The Talon April 26, 2016

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Read more features articles at lahstalon.org/category/features

Bookstore owner shares unconventional past KATHERINE YEN MICHAEL SIEFFERT Print Managing Editor Staff Writer

Book Buyers owner Hotranatha Ajaya is 73 years old and still spends 15 hours a day working in his used bookstore. He loves chatting with customers and radiates a quiet, gentle presence wherever he goes. But before he became the owner of a used bookstore, Ajaya led (and still leads) a most unconventional life.

Born in 1943, Ajaya grew up in a strict, Christian fundamentalist family on the outskirts of Oklahoma City and attended a nearby college, majoring in music education and learning to play the French horn. This proved especially fortunate when Ajaya, a self-described pacifist and conscientious objector to war, received a draft notice in 1966 for the Vietnam War. He was able to avoid becoming a soldier by joining the Air Force Band instead and playing his French horn.

After his release from the service in 1970, Ajaya found a combined teaching and research position at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. It was during his seven-year tenure there that he stumbled upon the book, “Autobiography of a Yogi.” Until that point, Ajaya had rebelled against the fundamentalist religion he had been raised in, but was unsure what new faith to follow.

“When I read that [book], I said, ‘This is my religion. I finally found it!’” Ajaya said. “[Its] teachings satisfied my heart completely.”

Ajaya’s interest in Hinduism only deepened after he attended a yoga session and got the surprise of his life.

“They had us lay down in dead man’s pose, [called] ‘Sarvangasana,’” Ajaya said. “And I went into a very deep meditation spontane-

ously and unexpectedly… There was no world, there was no body. It was like being in a clear place. I almost didn’t retain that I’d had that experience, it was so far removed from the mind… A once in a lifetime experience. That changed my life. I started practicing yoga five hours a day, right away.”

During this same period of time, Ajaya and his wife bought 42 acres of property in upstate New York and tried to start a community that eschewed societal norms such as traditional schooling and nursing homes. The members would support each other by doing their own gardening and being as selfsufficient as possible. “[My wife and I] worked really hard on that,” Ajaya said. “Everybody who came loved the idea, but then when they saw how much work I was doing to get it started, they said, ‘I’ll be back when you get this finished.’ I was so amazed that they’d say that [because I thought]

they loved the idea so much.”

Ajaya continued to practice Hinduism and developed a strong interest in finding his true spiritual teacher, or “satguru.” In 1978, he and his wife packed up and headed across the country to what he describes as a “quasiHindu” community called Ananda in North San Juan, California.

He remained associated with the community for 10 years, teaching in its school, running its goat dairy farm and making tofu for the local Chinese restaurants.

He then joined a spiritual nonprofit organization in Santa Cruz called the Society of Abidance in Truth and stayed for few years before reconnecting with an old friend from Ananda, who worked in the Ananda-owned Book Buyers store and offered him a job.

Within a year, the two had expanded the store so much that the Ananda Church sold it to them.

And there Ajaya has remained

for the past 18 years. It’s the current chapter of a long and unconventional life, one characterized by a quietly stubborn determination to live by his own beliefs.

The strength of Ajaya’s beliefs is particularly evident in the unorthodox approach he took toward the education of his two daughters. While at Edinboro University, he found himself amazed by what kids could achieve without pressure from adults and began to reject the notion of sending kids to school. “[I wondered,] ‘Why are we making kids do all these things when they’re so willing to learn [on their own]?’” Ajaya said.

“I began to develop a theory I called natural education. I still believe in it today… My theory was, if we want children to do math, let’s see all the adults being interested in it, playing with it, investigating it, questioning it and sharing it… That

MICHAEL SIEFFERT

Hotranatha Ajaya, owner of Book Buyers on Castro Street, in one of the aisles of his bookstore. Ajaya began his life in a strict, Christian fundamentalist family, but later converted to Hinduism, which has grown to become a key aspect of his life.

is enough to get it done.”

So Ajaya never sent his daughters to school, instead choosing to read to them at home and allowing them to learn naturally.

They were raised Hindu and attended various outside classes to supplement their education: “Bala Viahar” (essentially Sunday school for Hinduism), Indian classical dance, carnatic classical vocal music, swimming, gymnastics and painting.

“They learned by doing,” Ajaya said. “We didn’t try to teach them anything...We read to them everyday and they spontaneously began to read… I was confident that they would learn without having [formal schooling], and they did.”

By all accounts, things have turned out well for Ajaya and his family. Yet one worry still lingers.

On Tuesday, May 31, Book Buyers will move out of its current location on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View. The move comes after years of struggling to keep the business afloat, especially after the 2008 recession.

“Our landlady’s been very great,” Ajaya said. “She actually lowered the rent so that we could survive.

And so it has to actually go back to normal… Book business is very difficult because people aren’t buying from bookstores so much, so our sales are seriously depleted.”

Ajaya has not yet found a new store location. In spite of the uncertainty, Ajaya says he’s never been happier in his life.

“What I’ve discovered about life is that adversity wakes you up [and] forces you to learn and work harder,” Ajaya said. “It’s unpleasant to have a bill I can’t pay.

It’s extremely painful. But… that doesn’t mean that pain and happiness can’t be right there together.

I’ve lost a lot of fears [and] being free of fear and anger is by definition happiness itself. That’s why I say it’s better than ever.”

Student pursues nursing through Adult Ed PAOLA CAMPOS Staff Writer

On the corner of Mountain View’s Moffett Street is the Adult Education Center, which has been home to numerous Los Altos students and alumni throughout its existence. The center is a gateway for many students hoping to continue, advance and complete their educational careers in the wide range of courses the program offers. This year, senior Teresa Casillas-Rocha is one such student who has joined the Adult Ed system in addition to her own courses here at Los Altos in the hopes of advancing her career as a registered nurse.

Teresa’s dream of becoming a nurse began at a young age, when she was influenced by her mother’s career as a certified nursing assistant. Though she admits part of her decision had to do with the absence of her own grandparents when she was growing up, Teresa’s love of caring for others, accompanied by the opportunity to learn from them, was the ultimate reason for her future pursuits.

PHOTOS COURTESY TERESA CASILLAS

Senior Teresa Casillas-Rocha (third from left, front row) stands with her peers at the Mountain View-Los Altos Adult Education Center, where she is pursuing her goal to become a registered nurse.

Teresa (left) practices taking blood pressure and pulse with a peer.

While still a student at LAHS, Teresa attends nursing classes and holds a part time job.

“I’ve always liked helping people and I always really enjoyed my time with elderly people,” Teresa said.

“It’s really nice to hear them talk and hear a lot about their history… you get a lot of history that you don’t read in the books and you learn a lot of lessons from them.”

Teresa’s experience has thus far been filled with positives: the confidence to help others and

“It’s very difficult to see some of these people in the position they’re in, especially when they’re dying, when they’re in hospice, and you know the only thing you can really do is sit by them and talk to them,” Teresa said. “You see how lonely these people are, and you kind of wish that their families would be there more for them. You don’t really notice how lonely people [can]

the formation of new friendships and business relationships that will extend well into the work field upon graduation. However, Teresa admits that she has struggled to manage the workload between the two schools while still working. Beyond this struggle is the difficulty Teresa has dealing with the emotional toll the job often takes on her.

get until they’re at that point.”

Although sorrow is unavoidable in dealing with such delicate situations, Teresa hopes that she may be able to bring joy to those in need while gaining a new appreciation for life. In a few years, once she has completed all the necessary courses to start her career, Teresa hopes to travel to the rural places like Guatemala and help those in need of aid.

The Talon April 26, 2016

Jim Hollingworth, Staff Writer | Alice Dai, Print Managing Editor | Eli Colbert, Staff Writer | Claire Bai, Copy/Content Editor | Miranda Li, Staff Writer | Tino Tugwete, Staff Writer | Emily Terada, Senior Writer | Kevin Yen, Senior Writer | Chris Dadok, Senior Writer | Alexis Malgesini, Staff Writer | Cole Hanson, Copy/Content Editor

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eaching young people about drugs is not precise: however individualized the curriculum, it will never be enough to account for the diversity of young people. A high school student who is intent on using drugs will not likely be discouraged by a health class or a student newspaper. And despite being informed by parents and teachers about the perils of drugs, some students are still intent on trying them.

However it is important to remember that a large population of the student body chooses to abstain from drugs completely. Regardless of where you fall on the legitimacy of this decision, surely we should equip young people with the knowledge to experiment safely, should they decide against what they’ve been told.

issue pits quantity against severity: is their formative high school years are How often do you consume marijuana? it better to have a few students harm so diverse and individualized that the 2% 2.7% themselves a lot, or more students existence of a drug curriculum that harm themselves less? can simultaneously convince the so8.1% Any authoritative figure, especially cial user and the borderline addict to More than once a week at this school, would surely tell you abstain from drugs is difficult.

7.4% So, if we acknowledge that a hardline that they prefer the latter. Nothing Once a week is more important than the lives of drug education program isn’t practithe students who pass through this cal, and a relaxed program isn’t safe, Once a month then what line do we system. But encouraging responsible draw? When does A few times a year drug use simply isn’t We should equip young someone go from 79.7% possible; beyond the people with the knowl- being a safe user to Never fact that these drugs edge to experiment safely, being negatively afare illegal, there’s should they decide against fected? How much is 148 students polled too much? a solid body of rewhat they’ve been told.

How often do you consume alcohol? search pointing to It’s hard to tell. The the correlation bedecision to use or 2% tween underage substance consump- not use drugs is steadfastly personal; 7.4% tion and long-term brain damage. it’s hard to compartmentalize as right More than once a week But the iron-clad approach we take or wrong. But thinking about how to drug education now just isn’t real- drug use interferes with a person’s life Once a week istic, and often causes an overreaction gives us a vocabulary for examining 13.5% of student distrust. If the truth about the line between safe experimentation Once a month o, the online health programs, drug use taught in health classes con- and dangerous usage. Yet the isolaflicts with the truth talked about by tion of this choice to use drugs creates based on the state and federal 14.2% A few times a year health standards, used by many peers, then the truth starts to seem less far more questions than definitive answers. In a search for answers, The high school students are flawed. They like truth and more like an agenda.

62.8% Never We live in one of the most liberal Talon interviewed students on camtend to present drug use as a binary pus about their experience with drug areas in the world, where calls for the oversimplification: students either 148 students polled completely abstain or risk becoming legality of marijuana swirl with the use. All names have been modified to addicts. This is ineffective because it’s political demand to free prisoners con- protect the students’ identities.

Do you feel you have been educated on the short unrealistic. The truth is that the sig- victed of marijuana possession. The and long term effects of alcohol and drug usage? way we’re taught about drugs is at a disnificant majority of students who try 2.1% marijuana or sip alcohol are complete- connect with this cultural background.

Students aren’t given enough intelly fine, and students know it.

However, the health curriculum can- lectual credit for their perception of n senior Emma’s perspective, the not encourage students to experiment this impossible divide; they know that current culture of drug use at the with drugs because doing so is illegal the truth about drug use exists some17.9% school is shrouded in normalcy.

No opinion and dangerous; presenting illicit sub- where outside the extremes of total “[Smoking marijuana] is fun,” abstinence and overstance consumption No dose scare tactics. Emma said. “It’s like going to the as “acceptable” validates students who Drugs have measurable, The fundamental movies. It’s like going to the pool…

Yes are at risk of overus- negative effects on health problem is that once It’s a thing you do.”

The illegality of taking drugs they recognize that ing, and harming 80% and mental develop- the over-exaggera- scared Emma when she first started themselves in the ment.

But letting a sip high school.

Rules existed for a reations of conventional process. It’s coun148 students polled terproductive and of alcohol pass your lips health class aren’t re- son, and crossing the legal boundpotentially harmful does not make you an alistic, students tend ary didn’t seem like an option to her. to promote safe drug instant alcoholic, and the to disregard other, However, after hanging out with hand. In my case I only smoke with older high school student with access important friends who did drugs without re- friends, so it’s always safe and it’s not to drugs as a means to cope. use because it inher- brief intake of marijuana more sub-lessons of those percussions, Emma joined. Now she super frequent… I guess you have to ently promotes drug “I was heartbroken, [and] this doesn’t necessarily make smokes marijuana and drinks alco- manage yourself.” same classes. use in general. guy was cool,” Lily said. “He had a It’s worth men- hol, or what she calls “the basics.”

So health class is you an overnight heroin car; he had drug connections, like “As a freshman… I was pretty tioning that the less put in a difficult po- addict. bottle connections… It was probably popular, in-class innocent,” Emma said. “[Now] I sition: it shouldn’t dangerous…We picked up weed, health taught at Los see people smoking in downtown tell students to abor students like Emma, knowing we picked up a bottle and I drank a stain, and it shouldn’t tell students to Altos is in many ways a much more Mountain View, and they just don’t how to manage their habits makes lot, on a school night too, and it was balanced alternative. Health teacher care. So I guess I came to learn experiment. the high consistently enjoyable. dumb and I smoked a blunt and I got Currently, drug education defines Vickie Christensen doesn’t subscribe that… you can do whatever you The real danger prevails when stu- really high and almost drunk. And a line that students should not cross, to the dismally severe approach to the want, it’s going to be OK.” even though I don’t normally get A particularly lax Silicon Valley dents put themselves in situations that drunk, I was [messed] up and then and teaches up to that point. For ex- issues of addiction and abstinence, get out of hand. ample, if the health curriculum took and instead opts for a more realistic, culture on recreational drinking and Sophomore Lily smoked for the first he had sex with me and I was — I smoking rationalizes drug use, dethe position that experimentation applicable and open curriculum. time in seventh grade with a friend was unaware… I would have prob“I don’t believe in scare tactics,” spite threatening stories about addic- who eventually joined a gang. Later, ably said no because it was too soon.” was okay, then it would need to teach Lily’s experience with intoxicaabout responsible drug consumption Christensen said. “And I always tell stu- tion and life-damnLily also started tion and subsequent nonconsenand practice. The conventional philos- dents, ‘If you do do drugs, you probably ing psychological drinking alcohol and Generalizing young peoophy in effect today is that all drug use won’t die.’ That’s not it. You’ll survive. damage. dabbling in cocaine sual sex seems to constitute date However, Emma ple creates a health cur- and prescription rape, or a sexual assault by someis condemned, and that health educa- And not everyone becomes addicted. belongs to a group of riculum that is tailored But some people do.” tion should match that view. body known to the victim. While Xanax pills. drug users at school But this is a problem when students this article does not discuss rape for every student without “It was so easy [to who have never excross the line. A student who decides in-depth, The Talon would like to perienced the dan- genuinely reaching any get the drugs], so I remind readers that Lily’s to experiment finds himself blind, was like, ‘Let’s try gers of drugs. Emma student. with no concrete knowledge of his own ndividual differences further com- is careful with her new things while we description of limits. For instance, there are cases of plicate the problem. There are many use and smokes and can, even though her experifreshman college students attending factors that influence how someone we knew in the future we had so their first parties and dying of alcohol will react to drugs: family history, up- drinks socially. She only uses during much time,” Lily said. “It’s all availpoisoning as they struggle to adapt to a bringing, environment, friends and weekends and never lets her habits able now [so we] just go for it, it new culture. Relaxing the way we view so on. Generalizing young people interfere with sports, family or school doesn’t matter.” underage drinking would perhaps creates a health curriculum that is obligations.

This is where Lily’s story diverges “[My parents] just think that I’m a solve this problem, but simultaneously tailored for every student without from Emma’s. After breaking up creates a new one — if the school tem- genuinely reaching any student. The 4.0 student who sometimes watches with her boyfriend, Lily found movies at friends’ houses,” Emma said. pers its perspective, it’s likely that more choices that students make during “[My drug use] has never gotten out of herself spending time with an students would try drugs. The general

The Line

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Student Perspectives: Emma’s Story

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Lily’s Story

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The Problem of Choice

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The Talon April 26, 2016

ence is neither normal nor accept- and lasting damage. able. Any person who experiences ]unior Gabe was out drinking. rape is encouraged to report it to a It was a normal get-together at a trusted adult and the police. friend’s house, and after playing Among underage drug users, expe- drinking games over beers and an riences like Lily’s are infrequent. The alcoholic energy drink called Four Talon’s polling reported that 84 per- Loko, Gabe didn’t feel any more cent of high schoolers who use drugs intoxicated than he usually would have experiences closer to Emma’s, have. After a few drinks, he started where their experimentation is safe, wrestling with his friends. while only 15 percent of the students “It kind of started out just playpolled indicated that their drug use wrestling and horsing around,” Gabe has had extreme effects on their lives, said, “We were kind of just tumbling around, and like it did on Lily’s. we started to lean It is important to see that Lily and I started smoking mari- against this old glass Emma’s stories are juana for fun a few times sliding door. It shattwo extremes that a week and noticed tered and the shards exist within a spec- that I was starting to didn’t really break trum of experiences have somewhat depres- very well… they in our student body. sive episodes. Once I came down and They have both con- stopped, I saw myself lacerated my back sciously chosen to becoming happier again and punctured my participate in recre- and I haven’t done it lungs, diaphragm, ational use, but their since then. bruised my kidney differing experiences and tore through all support the highly my muscle.” personal nature of — Anonymous student Maybe it was a using drugs. Their freak accident, maybe it was the alcohol, stories are one drop of anecdotal evidence, and the only but it only took a second for Gabe to sure takeaway is that students must put himself in life-threatening danger. ]That was a pretty scary experience, educate themselves on the drugs going through something so traumatthey’re using. Understand your limits.

Lily’s dangerous past experiences ic like near death,” Gabe said. “That spurred by drug use have motivated makes you realize how fragile your life her to find a healthier balance be- is, and sometimes it’s better not to go tween her social life and moral values. as hard as you usually would.”

Above all, family, school and self-love Gabe’s story is not as clear-cut as come first.

Emma’s or Lily’s. For Emma, drugs “I’m trying to get [on] good terms are purely social and have not with my parents before I ever think negatively impacted her life. about having privileges and being For Lily, drugs caused a sneaky about doing drugs again, be- particularly dangerous cause in the end it’s all just fun and experience.

For games,” Lily said. “You gotta put your Gabe, questionreal priorities in the beginning… ing whether his [Drugs] are just part of how you social- accident could ize. It should never intertwine with have been your identity.” p re ve n te d by staying sober becomes or every student like Lily and Emma, there will be a narrative where perceived control over drugs still leads to rash decisions

ambiguous.

“I don’t think you can just point to alcohol and say that’s it,” Gabe said. “It was kind of a freak accident and I definitely need to tone it down and take it easier. But overall before the incident, I already knew the risks and effects of what alcohol was doing to me, so I don’t necessarily think [the accident] will change [my drinking habits] that much.”

The fact that Gabe’s night of social drinking took a nightmarish turn is telling. Even the most experienced users expose themselves to danger every time they do drugs. Knowing when to stop is key, but drugs are only catalysts.

Sometimes, nothing bad happens.

But when things go wrong, the root of the problem is nuanced. Every situation will be a little different, and making a distinction between danger and chance assigns necessary responsibility to the user’s future choices.

A Flexible Line

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t is important to remember that the effects of drugs have a negative effect on mental and physical health; no matter how you view drugs, the damage that alcohol has on

the development of adolescent brain “I have seen friends who start doing tissue is sobering. Research on other [drugs] on their own... and their whole substances is less conclusive, but not life revolves around it,” Emma said. promising — it’s safe to say that sobri- “They’re not fun to be around anyety will always lead to an objectively more. I guess that’s what they’re warning you about in health class.” healthier life.

Some students know this, but continue to use drugs. The following guidance is not meant to normalize or encourage experimentation.

The stories of Emma, Lily and Gabe he truth is that students are most are related only by the illicit substances receptive to information that that they mention; in all other details, comes from the people they trust. their experiences diverge. The individual nature of these stories indicates The scare tactics and staunch abstithat student drug use should be treat- nence authorities in current health standards do not foster the necessary ed in a similar way.

We’ve already established that the relationship between students and the curriculum. existence of a hard “If you want to do line that defines drugs, the health I’ve been able to bond health education is curriculum is not gowith friends at parties, impractical. So, instead, the goal is to and it makes it easier to ing to do anything to create an individual, just let loose and have sway your opinion,” Emma said. “It’s retailored line. The fun with new people. ally your personal only person capable thing. The classes are of creating that line — Anonymous student not going to be the is you. thing that makes you The limits of drug change your mind.” use depend on personal values, a Health class must continue to person’s family history and the relationships that matter to each unique spark important conversations student. If substance use begins to about drug usage once the course negatively interfere with your life, you is over; it should guide student conshould stop. The question is a matter versation and foster a culture where of prioritizing values — is a brief high safe drug use is openly discussed worth long-term, or even short-term, among trusted adults and peers.

Maybe this ideal requires reforminterpersonal damage? ing the drug curriculum, replacing lectures with socratic seminars in which students are not afraid to share their own experiences and concerns about drugs. It means teaching students how to define their own limits in the context of their own personal values. And, ultimately, it means talking about drugs honestly.

The Role of Health Class in Campus Culture

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Gabe’s Story

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graphics by Miranda li

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The Talon April 26, 2016

Douglas Curtis: new ASB president rious event that takes so much work and so much planning, I really realized that ASB brings people together, and I wanted to play a huge part in that,” Douglas said. “Around sophomore year, I knew I wanted to be president, or play some [other] really large role, and so I did what I could to work towards that.”

In many ways, Douglas has had his eye on the prize since the start of his freshman year.

As he describes it, his campaign for President has been “three years long,” an indication of Douglas’s belief that every responsibility he has taken on since his initial involvement in ASB has served as a contributing factor to the campaign that won him the presidency.

“As soon as I started freshman year and I knew that ASB was something I wanted to do, I thought, ‘If I want to do something big, I need to make sure that this is who I am, and I need to represent myself throughout my entire high school experience,’” Douglas said. “So it was just continuing what I have been

[doing] these last three years, [but] showing people a bit more.

Like, ‘Here is a whole infographic about what I’m doing!’”

Douglas’ main goal as president will be to “make sure that people have the best high school experience they possibly can and making everyone a part of the blue at Los Altos.” However, his social adaptability and outgoing nature extend farther than just the high school environment.

After beginning a 50-hour per week summer internship at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto performing autopsies, Douglas knew he wanted to pursue medicine in his future.

His aspirations to become a doctor are not grounded in research or analytical studies, but rather in the human aspect of the medical profession.

“I definitely want to work with people hands-on, so [I don’t want] to go into the research… I want to be that side of a doctor where you get to experience what the patients are going through,” Douglas said. “[I want] to make sure that I am not only a source of medical help, but also a therapeutic person that they can rely on... When people are going through a hard time, I think it is really important to reach out and give the resources that you have. Obviously it is important to recognize that you need to support yourself, but when you are in a good place — and I am so lucky and blessed to be in a good place myself — I think it’s important to give back and make sure that as many people as possible that are around you are in a good place too.”

This motto of “giving back” seems to guide Douglas through most of his aspirations, both daily and long-term. He recognizes the

arriving in Los Altos would wake the children up. Armand remembers getting on his bike and makCONTINUED FROM THE ing his way to the local grammar FRONT PAGE school, where Egan Junior High School is now located. Back then, the school only had one classroom These days, summertime in per grade and served grades K-8.

Los Altos is packed with kids at- Once King entered high school, he tending summer camps, taking attended the old Mountain View classes or even lining up intern- High School just off of Castro ships at tech startStreet, on a street now ups. However, King called High School describes the ’50s as Way. What is now a simpler time for The water in Eagle Park served as teenagers, filled with Adobe creek their football field. exploring nature and ran all summer Los Altos Hills also working in the local used to have a few long, and you orchards. Mid-June different community was when the apri- could actually gathering locations. cots were ready for go and catch Past Foothill College picking, and it was steelhead fish. and up on Moody the job of migrant We’d go down Road, there was the workers and teenage Pink Horse Ranch, boys to help harvest there as kids where outdoor acand we’d pick the fruit. tivities, such as pic“As a kid, you wild blackbernics and swimming, could go to the creek ries. Summertook place. If people where Shoup Park is, went even further time was more called Adobe Creek,” up, they would reach King said. “The wa- fun than anythe Adobe Creek ter in that creek ran thing.

Lodge where there all summer long, was a bar and grill —Los Altos resident and you could acas well as dancing Armand King tually go and catch on Saturday nights. steelhead fish. We’d Hewlett-Packard go down there as kids and we’d also hosted their annual picnic pick wild blackberries. Sum- at Adobe Creek Lodge, an event mertime was more fun than any- that King recalls mischievous thing.” teenagers having some fun with.

During weekdays in the school “Us teenagers would wait until year at 6:45 a.m., the whistle from about 4:30 in the afternoon and the the Southern Pacific steam train guard at the gate would probably

not be there anymore,” King said.

“We’d walk right up to the keg and get a couple of free beers off of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. That’s the kind of fun we would have.”

Current Los Altos students often drive or walk past a shop on Main Street in downtown called Village Stationers; however, not everyone knows that the space used to be a movie theater, which opened in 1949 and ran until 1975. The soldout opening night had an old Hollywood glamour feel, with free gardenias for the women and crowds of curious spectators surrounding the venue. The first film shown was “Mother is a Freshman,” starring Loretta Young and Van Johnson.

King reminisces fondly about films he used to watch in that theater, including classics like “Psycho.” In those days, tickets cost less than a quarter.

“Tickets for the local movie theater over there were only about eleven cents,” King said. “Sunday morning, if you went real quick and met your buddies, you could go in the gutter near the bar, and if you [found] 10 or 15 cents, then you got to go to the show.”

Throughout the years, this modest village has evolved into a modern town, adapting to the reality of life in the twenty-first century. Although we may not spend our summers picking fruit in the orchards or go to school in one-room classrooms anymore, the small-town charm and family-oriented feel of Los Altos will always be present.

HANNA KHOSRAVI Opinions Editor

When speaking with junior Douglas Curtis, one eminent factor is consistently and undeniably evident: his unwavering ambition. Douglas is known on campus for his wide array of interests: he dances, is f luent in Spanish, spent his summer studying human anatomy while working at a morgue and is extremely passionate about his top priority, the Associate Student Body (ASB). So when Douglas decided to run for ASB President for the upcoming school year, not many were surprised by his enthusiasm and commitment to his campaign.

Douglas started out his ASB career as the vice-president of his freshman class, and admits that his initial induction into the tight-knit sixth-period class was both frightening and intimidating. However, one particular event completely shifted his attitude towards ASB from anxiety to excitement.

“After homecoming, that glo-

Los Altos

PHOTOS BY KATIE KLEIN

Above: Junior Douglas Curtis, who recently won the election for 20162017 school year ASB president, smiles for a photo. Bottom left: Douglas practices to dance in the Diversity Assembly with fellow Latino Student Union member junior Yesenia Gutierrez. While Douglas devotes much of his time to ASB, he also partakes in a myriad of other activities ranging from dance to medical internships. immense time commitment of being ASB president, but it doesn’t faze him. In fact, he welcomes the increased responsibility.

“For me, it’s never been about how much work or how much time it’s going to take,” Douglas said. “The biggest thing was just being frank with myself, saying that if this is something I want to do, then I need to work for it. And it was no question in my mind that I was willing to do that work, because reciprocity is a huge thing for me. ASB and Los Altos High School [have given me so much], so I am more than happy to put just as much work [into them] as they have into me.”

Douglas acknowledges the fact that a bit of timidity is inevitable when trying new things. But what drives him just as much as his undying eagerness to give

back is his utter fearlessness. He knows that his openness about his identity will help others struggling to accept themselves, and so whether it is spending his time volunteering after school at a group-home for disabled children or throwing himself into the rhythm dancing at the Diversity Assembly to dance for Latino Student Union, Douglas does not try to hide what makes him different, or rather, unique.

“I am very proud of who I am,” Douglas said. “I’m Latino, I’m gay [and] I’m a lot of other things. I think it’s important that we learn how to embrace ourselves, and maybe we don’t have to go around the world shouting it out, but [we should] be upfront with who we are and confident in ourselves, because we can help other people with our stories.”

PHOTOS COURTESY DON MCDONALD

Above: Downtown Los Altos in 1944, from the view of a U. S. Navy blimp.

Below: A large oak tree on the intersection of Main and First Streets, decorated annually by the volunteer fire department for the holidays. As told by long time Los Altos resident Armand King, being a teenager in Los Altos during the 1950s was a very different experience from that of today.

The Talon April 26, 2016

Choose Your Own Poetry Adventure!

13

Vickie Christensen’s musical history FRANCESCA FALLOW

used music as a way to unite people and to benefit the less fortunate. She Music is the passion that feeds involved herself in multiple different health teacher Vickie Christensen’s charities, such as the Stanford Hospisoul. It is simply a part of who she is. tal and Principal Scholarship Fund.

Christensen has conquered the world She even taught orchestra here at Los of music throughout her career: She Altos for five years, during which she has learned to play over 20 musi- organized an annual spring concert cal instruments (her favorite being to raise money for the school’s scholthe bassoon), worked with multiple arship fund, where they sold baked genres and played in famous places goods to raise money.

“The spring fundraising concert like Carnegie Hall and Notre Dame cathedral. Christensen’s interest in with the principal scholarship fund music began early and flourished I found really gratifying in a lot of different ways,” Christensen said. with the help of her family.

“Number one, we could “My family is very help out students who musical, and I grew couldn’t afford to do up singing and all some of the activities that kind of stuff,” I always say at school. Number two, Christensen said. “My kids need that it really helped every mom played violin and single student in the viola, my dad played thing outside orchestra step up and bass, my grandfather of academics be accountable for their composed pieces and that feeds your own parts.” played harmonica, soul. Whether These days, in addi[and] even when we it’s art or mution to teaching health, would go camping we sic or dance or Christensen uses music would sing in the car.” therapy to help disabled From the begin- sports or auto students at Mountain ning, Christensen dove or culinary...

View High School. head-first into music. something that Christensen works with As a fourth grader, she all kinds of students signed herself up for feeds your soul, who have disadvantages the high school and something that both physically and adult summer band you really love mentally, and music is camp. The fact that to do. one way she believes she she was young and less —health teacher can help them feel conexperienced never deVickie Christensen fidence and happiness. terred her love or confi“[Some] of them dence in music.

“One of my other friends, have other movement things that who was also an oboist, was also keep them from participating in a lot there,” Christensen said. “So we of different things,” Christensen said. were just like, ‘Okay, we are cra- “But there are ways [in which] we can adapt instruments or songs or clapzy, but we love all this.’”

Throughout her life, Christensen ping with their helpers and things Staff Writer

By Eli Colbert

Vol. 5: Anti-meter

Song of Theo | By Eli Colbert

Theo is from the shore and I am from the shore, but this woman is from the water, which is all we know, except that she is drowned.

She is toothy and dripping and exquisite and neither of us has been blinded like this in years. We, and all of our fingers spilled into the ocean to get her. She was drawing from chlorine, calcium, and potassium for too long to be alive. It’s an angry musculature that lets us see her at all. Suddenly shining through anoxia and squares of water. Legs burst through her nylons weeks ago from the pressure, emerging like sticks of sweated dynamite.

What’s she to do with all these ideas and no more skin? Theo, give me your second digression to live in.

Theo would like to graduate from focusing sunbeams to poking cadavers. In the ref lection of his scuba mask, the pencil sinks deeper. Take these sticks from her bones and push her out. The promise of the water feels ancient: Theo come closer.

Untitled | By Yalda Khodadad Drifting memories, mused the lover to the heart of those who cannot see the sights that we have sought Crying over teacups that could have been a part of the apocalyptic future we could have bought with our bank-teller friends who can’t wait to compromise the plan over land, name that brand of a depressed species who can’t seem to get enough of watching red f lowers bloom on their arms, and I can’t seem to turn this on, and please tell me what I’ve done wrong, and post tells us to get this message to the wrong man call it quits, this is it, sacrifice your plan go, go, run away while you still can

FRANCESCA FALLOW

Health teacher Vickie Christensen smiles with just a few of the 20 musical instruments she can play: her bassoon, flute and shakuhachi.

Christensen took interest in music at a young age, and she is currently a member of the South Bay Philharmonic. like that and they really enjoy it.” but due to the company downsizing, Christensen has seen on many the orchestra left and is now indeaccounts how music can be used pendent. to bring people together. People “This is their seventh season bewho would never be expected to be ing on their own, and so we have seen together are able to enjoy each been doing all theses pieces with other and have fun because of the seven in them,” Christensen said. commonality of music. “[We] just did Beethoven’s Sev“I invited anybody on the faculty, enth [Symphony] and before that, any of the teachers who played in- we did Dvořák’s Seventh.” struments to join in, and one of the Music is Christensen’s paraphysics teachers at the time was an mount passion, something that she oboist and one of the math teach- has always held with her throughers was a flutist,” Christensen said. out her life. To all those who have a “So they came in and one of the passion for something in their life, guys from the jazz band who played she recommends holding on to it guitar also wanted to play acoustic and doing anything possible to furguitar, and they did this excellent ther intensify that passion. thing. It was just amazing.”

“I always say... kids here need that Currently, Christensen is part of an thing outside of academics that orchestra called the South Bay Phil- feeds your soul,” Christensen said. harmonic, where she plays bassoon, “Whether it’s art or music or dance her main instrument. This orches- or sports or auto or culinary... sometra previously worked for Hewlett- thing that feeds your soul, something Packard by playing for employees, that you really love to do.”

Students for Haiti Solidarity travel to make change TINO TUGWETE Staff Writer

Haiti has faced many challenges in the past few years, with the largest being the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shook the country in 2010. This earthquake destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and the continued political interference from the U.S. only exacerbated the issue. To this day, the country is still struggling to recover, and its plight is what has inspired the work of the Students for Haiti Solidarity for the past 10 years.

“Haiti is our neighbor,” club advisor Seth Donnelly said. “It’s the poorest country in the hemisphere and I think we have a special responsibility, given the U.S. impact on Haiti, to change that relationship.”

This year, the club’s annual trip to Haiti took place over spring break.

The members visited the country and along with other workers helped construct the Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Petion-Ville (SOPUDEP), the Haitian sister school. Réa Dol, the director of SOPUDEP, hosts the club and helps as well. The main goal of the club since its initiation has been the construction of the school to meet the severe need for education in Haiti.

“Everyone kind of thinks of it as Haiti club goes to Haiti and that’s it,” club president senior Avery Paulick said. “That’s [part of] what we do, but [we have] such a special relationship with their school... I just love that aspect of Haiti, that we’re working with the same people year after year and seeing how our help has really helped them grow.”

This is likely to be the last trip focused directly on building the school since its construction is pro-

COURTESY AVERY PAULICK

Members of Students for Haiti Solidarty and students from SOPUDEP gather with members of Sakala, an afterschool program in one of the poorest parts of Haiti, for a photo after the honorary soccer game they play every year. The club, which was founded in 2010, travels to Haiti every year to give aid to the Haitian people through projects like constructing schools and delivering medical supplies. jected to be completed by April of next year. The completed school will have a large complex encompassing healthcare, adult education and K-12 education. There are currently around 15 finished classrooms and a 70,000 gallon water cistern. With this in mind, the club is looking toward the future of fundraising and tackling the needs of the school once it begins running as an institute.

“Our next goal, once the construction is finished, will probably be fundraising for food because a lot of the students at SOPUDEP don’t have food at home,” Avery said. “They get a hot meal at school [and also] get snacks because they don’t have meals at home. Also, teacher salaries [have] been a huge struggle. Teachers need to get paid, and there’s no money to pay them so those two things will probably be the main focus.”

In the tradition of the club, this year’s students stayed at Dol’s

house, as they have for the past few years. This allows them to experience firsthand the joys of the Haitian people, despite the poverty and struggle for education that most of the population faces.

“There’s a lot of bonding with her family,” Donnelly said. “We’re not in a hotel, we’re with the family and we’re in this kind of communal bunk bed setting. We stay with Réa and we see how much love they have.

[Their] joy and energy for struggle raises the bar for us and what we can do all the time… It transforms us, and it has transformed me.”

During this year’s trip, students helped with construction and meet with other organizations like the Fam SOPUDEP an Aksyon, the women’s micro-credit cooperative that focuses on equipping local women with the means to support their families and improve the local economy. The club also helps deliver medical supplies, along

with a team of nurses in a mobile medical clinic, to those in need.

“We met with human right activists and people in the labor movement, so it was very eye-opening and educational politically,” Donnelly said. “We also engaged in recreational activity, like [playing] soccer, and we have had friendly competition — we’ve never won — but we have had friendly competition with Haitian youth… They’re very active trips.”

Donnelly believes that the spirit of the club lies in the continuity of its program and its active work in Haiti. Over the years, it has had a consistent presence on campus, maintained strong relationships with SOPUDEP and Dol, and expanded other grassroots movements in Haiti.

“I just think the work in Haiti is particularly eye-opening and we hope that all students would want to plug in” Donnelly said.

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The Talon April 26, 2016

Catch reviews of new movies, music and more, plus read the entertainment archives at lahstalon.org/category/entertainment

‘Zootopia’ addresses societal prejudices ERIC THIEM

Business Manager

“Zootopia”

Mar. 4 2016 (PG)

Directed by Byron Howard, Jared Bush, Rich Moore Starring Ginnifer Goodwin

★★★★★

It’s not uncommon for animated kids movies to have deep underlying messages. “Wall-E” taught people the importance of taking care of the environment. “Happy Feet” showed us it’s okay to be different. Now, Disney gives its audience “Zootopia,” which tackles discussion of discrimination and stereotypes that hurt everyone. Along with delightful art and animation, this must-see movie expertly argues that even though society may act like they aren’t there, these negative connotations fester under the surface.

The movie opens by introducing a small-town bunny named Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin. Unlike other bunnies, Judy has big dreams of becoming a police officer in the shining utopia of Zootopia, where prey and predator live hand in hand.

However, police jobs are typically filled by large herbivores and predators such as elephants or tigers. Still, Judy is not deterred, and in a “Rocky” style montage, she goes from the verge of flunking out of the police academy to being the top student after learning to rely on her wit rather than her physical stature, eventually being accepted into the force as the first bunny police officer.

While working on her first assignment as a meter maid, Judy meets

Nick Wilde, a literal sly fox voiced

by Jason Bateman. In a flashback to her childhood, it is discovered that Judy was bullied by a young fox, leaving her with a wariness for the creatures. However, she helps Nick buy his “son” a popsicle from a prejudiced elephant who refuses to serve a fox, only to find that the fox had scammed her, and Nick’s son was actually his accomplice.

In “Zootopia,” foxes are stereotypically selfish, sneaky con artists, whereas bunnies are helpless, cute and complacent. Judy even comments how one bunny can call another “cute,” but another animal can’t, a detail with an obvious parallel the real world. Though Judy has outright rejected the role society has created for her, Nick seems to have embraced his.

Naturally, through the course of the movie, Judy and Nick end up working together as partners on the

case of a missing otter. As the two learn more about each other over the course of solving the mystery, it is revealed that even though Nick is outwardly a hustler as all foxes supposedly are, his motives aren’t as selfish as one might expect. In another emotional flashback, Nick remembers how he was physically bullied and mocked by his peers for being a predator and nothing more than an untrustworthy fox. Because of this, Nick feels that there’s no point in trying to be anything more that what society will see you as. In his words, “You can only be what you are. Sly fox. Dumb bunny.”

A deeper and more culturally relevant movie than one might expect from seeing a trailer or two, “Zootopia” invites discussion of the role of racial and socioeconomic status in today’s society. It directly commentates on how society separates demographics by establishing stereotypes like foxes being sneaky and untrustworthy and rabbits being dim.

However, while these stereotypes do exist, the movie highlights that most are usually externally ignored by people in the name of equality. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there though, and when something happens that falls in line with one of these negative stereotypes, people assume that means it has been proven right, a process that leads to the central plot of the film.

The overall plot connects distinctly to larger and more current events such as the “Black Lives Matter” movement as well as the fear and stigma around Muslims in America: When a ferret and panther go feral for unknown reasons, Zootopia citizens begin to fear harmless predators because of their historical biological disposi-

PHOTOS FROM WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS, WALT DISNEY PICTURES

tion to violence, although predators in modern Zootopia are civil. Members of the prey demographic begin to commit acts of violence against perfectly docile predators who are being discriminated against because of who they are, while predators organize protests against the oppression they feel. The police department even demotes a kind-hearted jaguar desk clerk, who only wants to eat donuts, because it doesn’t want a predator as the face of the department.

On a closer, more nuanced and detailed level, “Zootopia” makes direct references to social phenomena. From one-line references to daily social injustices to mirroring current events, the whole film can

be connected to stereotypes and prejudice in society itself. Parallels can be drawn between bunnies being discriminated against as police officers and foxes getting refused service at ice cream shops to instances of job discrimination, religious establishments refusing service to LGBTQ citizens, and other demonstrations of prejudice.

“Zootopia” definitely warrants a second viewing, if not many more.

The art, animation and worldbuilding is outstanding, and the humor may even make adults laugh more than kids. The lighthearted movie not only provides great entertainment, but also important commentary on today’s society.

SO

R MAE

SKYLE

‘Cleopatra’: for those sick of cliches ALEXIS MALGESINI Staff Writer

“Cleopatra,” The Lumineers Folk Rock

Apr. 8 2016

★★★★★

T

he Lumineers, the folk rock trio responsible for the whimsical, upbeat melodies of their most widely known 2012 hit song “Ho Hey,” released “Cleopatra” on April 8. “Cleopatra,” full of soothing tones and insightful lyrics drawn from real life experience, is a refreshing album that lives up to The Lumineers’ name.

Similarly to “Ho Hey,” songs like

DUALTONE RECORDS

“Submarines” and “Classy Girls” contribute to the more whimsical tone that the Lumineers became known for in their debut, self-titled album. Unlike the sounds of the first album however, those in “Cleopatra” take on a soothing and leisurely tone.

The easygoing melodies of “Cleopatra” can almost mask the

serious lyrical intentions of many of the songs. “Gun Song,” for example, may have you swaying along to its fluid, encompassing rhythm to the point that you don’t fully absorb how lead singer-guitarist, Wesley Schultz, is reflecting on a childhood moment when he found a pistol in his father’s sock drawer. He croons, “And one day, I pray, I’ll be more

than my father’s son, but I don’t own a single gun.”

The Lumineers intended to create a genuine album, lacking in lyrical cliches seen in today’s popular music, and they did just that.

Whether the album reflects on parenthood in “Gun Song”, combats illusions of social media in “Cleopatra”, or explores the effects of fame in “Ophelia” and “My Eyes,” “Cleopatra” sprang from real life experiences through and through.

The title song “Cleopatra” adds to the album’s assortment of unique stories. The idea originated from Schultz’s encounter with a taxi driver in Georgia, whose refreshingly realistic personality made him think about the contrasting false illusions of life that are portrayed through social media. A girl named Cleopatra tells her mournful story about lost love and potential suicide in this song.

She says, “But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life/And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I’ll be on my time.” The story is raw and free from false positive illusions.

Of the new album, “Ophelia,” which was released as a single prior to the album, has seen the most success thus far. Despite the song’s

charming and lighthearted melody, lyrics like “Ophelia, you’ve been on my mind girl like a drug/Ophelia, heaven help a fool who falls in love” contrarily refer to a more serious disposition that the band has become familiar with in their own lives.

“Ophelia” is about falling in love with the idea of fame, when in reality fame tends to be short-lived, and the rest of your life is the important part. These lyrics stay true to the honest, thoughtful and serious stories told in the album, but are embellished and almost concealed by the catchy folk beats that made “Ho Hey” such a hit. This creates a beautiful balance leaving listeners entertained and thoughtful.

The balance created by raw, thoughtful stories told through sweet melodies is what makes “Cleopatra” a unique album. Each song tells a distinct story, most of which seem to have sprung from the trio’s real life events. The lyrical composition is poetic and thoughtprovoking, while the tunes are soothing and often playful. While “Cleopatra” strays away from their cheery, 2012 hit, The Lumineers convey their multi-faceted musicianship gracefully into this new, more serious era.

The Talon April 26, 2016

15

Written and Illustrated By

JOSH KIRSHENBAUM

CARL FAUST

KEITH BOHRER

VANESSA MARK

Sports Editor Staff Writer

Media Editor

Graphic Artist

KIMIA SHAHIDI Photographer

The Talon asked and LAHS answered.

Here are the final results of the Munch Madness online battles.

Lulu’s lu-lu-loses in the quarterfinal to Chipotle.

In ‘n Out exploits the holes in House of Bagels defense and advances to the semi final.

Jamba Juice mangoa-go-goes on to the next round.

In a three-way battle, Chipotle gets eliminated by eating their own e coliinfected meat. At In ‘n Out, the heat of the grill melts Jamba Juice to a puddle in route to the final.

The pasta-breadstick combo of Pasta Market gives it a two-edged sword that cuts right through the fast food culture of Panda Express and one-dimensional Italian Deli sandwich.

It turns out marinara sauce is actually better on pasta than bread.

Panda takes the express lane to the semifinal.

With the Godfather on the Italian Deli’s side, they make you an offer you can’t refuse.

16

The Talon April 26, 2016

AVI VARGHESE Staff Writer

BEN ZAESKE Staff Writer

VANESSA MARK Graphic Artist

S

ince the earliest political cartoons, comedy has been an important medium to express political views.

With the wide variety of media available to the public today, comedy continues to have an increased influence on the political field and has made tough issues more accessible to the public than ever. Each night, viewers can flip across a variety of TV channels and learn more about current issues — placing much of public opinion in the hands of anchors like Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, and the cast of SNL. How does comedy in the media today influence politics, and how will comedy affect voter opinions in the future?

Politicians on Comedy Shows

like celebrities. It lets the audience see them as something more than itting down on a weekend just a face or a political idea. night, kicking your feet back, “The Tonight Show with Jimmy and watching Jimmy Fallon crack Fallon” and the “Weekend Update” a few jokes could be more than segment of SNL do something simjust a way to relax. After all, a lot ilar, only this time, the shows quesof his jokes seem to encompass tion issues and debates instead of some sort of political theme, poking fun at the candidates. which definitely has some sort of These shows are usually regardinfluence on politics, or at least ed as liberal in their views, but on the way people view politics. on any given program, they make Comedy shows such as “Saturday just as many jokes about DemoNight Live” (SNL) and “The To- crats as they do about Republinight Show with Jimcans. The jokes seem my Fallon” approach evenly spread for the political topics in a most part, which sugComedy alnonchalant and lightgests that they could hearted manner, and lows politicians be doing more than lend politicians a to act outside just reaching for a celebrity-like aspect the role people laugh. At first glance, making them, and it doesn’t seem like would normally the topics they dissnarky remarks about expect, making cuss more accessible. certain political canIn November them seem... didates and their poli2015, Donald Trump almost like cecies could have a prohosted SNL, giving lebrities. ductive influence, but the late-night comthe fact that comedy edy show the biggest shows bring them up overnight rating it has had in three in the first place is enough to have years. Having Trump host was fair- an influence on politics, or more ly controversial because SNL tends specifically how the public sees it. to be a more liberal voice, but the Additionally, popular shows such show was nevertheless beyond as “The Tonight Show” have a huge successful. What was most cap- number of viewers and a wide range tivating was Trump’s wide range of audiences, all of whom are being of performances that night. On exposed to political issues in a lighttop of some questionable propa- hearted ― albeit sometimes a little ganda-like sketches, Trump also rude ― tone. The effect is that viewseemed to be okay with poking ers are used to hearing about politifun at himself, and some skits were cal topics in a multitude of settings, filled with completely random and whether it is in the serious nonpolitical comedy which in- form of hard news cluded a parody of Drake’s music or the lightheartvideo “Hotline Bling.” ed tone of comThis isn’t the first time SNL has edy TV shows. invited politicians onto the show L a te - n i gh t in order to make fun of them or comedy TV just to mess around either. In the shows are doing same season, SNL also produced more than just a skit in which Hillary Clinton poking fun at played the role of a bartender political canwhile having a conversation with didates. They “herself,” as portrayed by Kate give candiMcKinnon, an SNL cast member. dates a new The skit pokes fun at and exagger- face, one that ates some of the political candidate’s mannerisms, but Clinton seems to go along with it and laugh just as hard as the audience.

So why would political candidates appear on a comedy show to make fun of themselves alongside cast members? The answer is that it makes them more likeable, and it makes them more relatable to the general public. When Clinton turned around and revealed herself for the first time in the sketch, the audience cheered for her just like they would for Justin Timberlake or any other celebrity host. Comedy shows allow politicians to act outside the role people would normally expect them to be in, making them seem more real and more personable, almost

S

is more believable and more human than what we are used to seeing. At the same time, they bring our attention to important political topics in a non-stressful and humorous environment.

Net Impact

I

n the days of Johnny Carson, widely considered the first big late-night comedy host, late-night shows were comfort food, an hour of lighthearted fun and relaxation with America’s favorite funnyman before it was time to turn in. As with any successful product, Carson was followed by a host of competitors, with David Letterman and Arsenio cultivating shows to rival his authority. The very nature of these shows — most of which occupied the 11:30 or 12:00 time slots — placed them in very direct competition, with each host fighting for the attention of an audience that was limited to watching their shows live. And just when it seemed like late-night shows were beginning to perfect the formula, to become established enough and refined enough to comfortably occupy their various niches, a new development arrived to stir the pot: the internet.

The most dominant forces in this new sphere have been Jimmy Kimmel, host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Jimmy Fallon, host of “The Tonight Show.” Kimmel and Fallon have been subtly changing the format of their shows to adapt to a format — and consumption habits — that call for short, easily packaged, meme-able segments.

Their popularity has been largely assisted by their subject matter; their most popular videos tend to be the least substantial. (Kimmel’s most-viewed video on YouTube is titled “Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan,” while Fallon’s is “Lip Sync Battle with Emma Stone.”) But a new cohort of late-night hosts is emerging into the social media game, and they

are charting a path towards a social half the viewership of those two media culture in which short-form and far outpaces his more politivideos are a space for serious ideas. cally-oriented rivals. How? Today, the arguments of comeWhen Oliver premiered an epidians like Trevor Noah, John Oli- sode focused entirely on the failings ver and Samantha Bee can extend of Donald Trump, news headlines across the social media-osphere as were flooded with one line: John short, packaged ideas — and they Oliver “slams” Donald “Drumpf.” At are evolving their monologues to the conclusion of Oliver’s show, he ease this experience. Nowadays, a notes that the Trump name, widely host must design his/her mono- considered to connote wealth and logues with four-minute start and success, is something of a sham; in end-points in mind if reality, one of Trump’s they want their video ancestors changed the to go viral the next day. name from “Drumpf.”

In an interview with A host must And even though “The New Republic,” design their Oliver spent the matelevision historian monologues jority of the episode Robert Thompson discussing Donald with four-minnoted, “You can almost Trump’s inconsistenpick the edit points [for ute start- and cies and questionable these videos.] You can end-points in success, he underalmost say, ‘ok, start- mind if they stood that creating ing here, this is where want their video a meme as powerful the viral video will be as “Drumpf” — and to go viral. tomorrow.’” supporting it with a In spite of — or, hat that reads “Make more likely, because of — this ef- Donald Drumpf Again” and a web fect, new shows have been experi- extension that converts “Trump” menting with formats that appear to “Drumpf” — could generate to go against this trend. “Last Week the sort of headlines that convince Tonight with John Oliver,” which viewers to sit themselves down, premiered in 2014, has been pre- spend their time on a 20-minute miering 20-minute videos every video, and, without even realizing Sunday and uploading them to it, educate themselves on why a YouTube in a promising effort to major political candidate is deeply compete with Fallon and Kimmel. unqualified for the role.

Thus far, Oliver has seen the most Millennials have been repeatsuccess; his top videos attain nearly edly accused of wasting significant amounts of time on unsubstantial Internet content. Even when they think otherwise, it tends to ring true; viewers who watch “The Tonight Show” are unlikely to return to their lives with any greater understanding of current politics. But as the art progresses and comedy hosts invent smarter and subtler ways to educate their audience, it is possible that the exact opposite may happen: that viewers who grab their phones to waste their time may be more informed on a variety of issues than any generation of Americans before them.

The Talon April 26, 2016

Avi(ew) on Music

17

Apple releases new, smaller iPhone WILLIAM JOW

Copy/Content Editor

By Avi Varghese

Clams Casino’s “Rainforest” I find myself slipping into bad habits browsing music on the internet. Searching for a rush.

Overestimating aesthetics. That beautifully filmed movie won’t make you feel anything a year from now; it’s just a saccharine hit. After hours of sifting through instrumentals that warrant “catchy” and little more, I’ll stumble upon a simple ballad, piano and vocals, that holds the essential factor: emotion. It returns me to that spiritual connection, that feeling of another presence there with you in the music.

Clams Casino’s “Rainforest” is a five-song, 20-minute affair, marketed as an in-between creation for a producer whose main work lands on the projects of others. Unlike other “natural” electronic music, usually robotic dross intended for philosophers on LSD, Casino hones in on humans: faceless, wordless vocals, their invocations reminiscent of the connections we form with inanimate redwoods.

He uses these to such effect because his methods are entirely unorthodox. Instead of placing chopped vocals in the background, allowing them to tease out the negative space in a drumline, he splashes them over the mix like a waterfall, an anonymous man’s plaintive singing on “Drowning” transformed into a cacophony of rushing cries. Each wordless chorus drives in, exploding in a rush of sound, belying the way their slow tempos create a measured, almost meditative pace.

This works to greatest effect during the verses and bridges, which initially appear to serve as little more than prefaces to the next punch of bombast, reveal secrets, hidden pockets, like a rocky waterfall newly explored.

“Rainforest”’s sounds can only be viewed as one twisting, sinewy animal, so carefully laid together are the individual pieces. So exploring that rocky waterfall, the listener begins to see that those twists and turns are truly so, that the shape of the music changes subtly as they follow its patterns.

And in the electronic medium, often appealing only from a catchiness mindset, these twists take the listener on a journey, pulling molasses of emotion straight from the chest with each cry of the vocalist. It’s an experience that need only be heard to be understood; for me, it’s taken its place as a fallback for when everything seems to be going down the drain. Not school or homework, but the times when I realize I have too much on my plate and I’m not dedicating enough time to the people as I should be. That’s when I put on “Rainforest,” pull on sweatpants, and imagine I’m in a dense grove of redwoods that are thousands of years old.

Ever since the launch of the iPhone 6, many unsatisfied Apple customers have been asking for a phone that isn’t the size of a small bus. After a year, Apple answered by releasing the iPhone SE in late March. The iPhone SE sports a 4-inch aluminum chassis similar to that of the iPhone 5s, but packs the new A9 processor and functionality of the iPhone 6s.

While the new processor will account for most noticeable changes in user experience between the iPhone 5s and SE, these improvements should be considered marginal at best, as many applications that users will install are not too resource-intensive.

The iPhone SE comes with Apple’s latest system-on-chip, the A9, which is a massive jump from its predecessor found in the iPhone 6. The new chip boasts a 70 percent increase in CPU processing speed and a 90 percent increase in GPU processing speed, allowing users to run more apps, have a better browsing experience and generally use the phone with greater ease.

Additionally, the SE inherits most

WIKIMEDIA USER KELVINSONG

WIKIMEDIA USER KELVINSONG

of its other hardware from the 6s.

Aside from the obvious differences in screen and case size, the only distinguishing features of the SE are its battery, front-facing camera, wireless antenna and lack of a 128 GB storage option and barometer.

These departures from the iPhone 6s will arguably have little impact in most use cases. Even with a downsized battery, the SE can match the battery life of the 6s thanks to its smaller display; the front-facing camera is simply similar to that of the 5s; the antenna is only sacrificing support for a wireless standard that is not available in most places; the largest storage option of 64 GB should be plenty with

a reasonable backup schedule; and a barometer will be useful for just a few niche applications.

But the internal hardware of the iPhone SE is impressive when considering Apple’s pricing scheme ― the SE starts at an MSRP of $399, while the 6 starts at $150 more and the 6s at $250 more. Even for customers who are open to using phones with larger displays, the SE represents the best overall value among Apple’s current offerings.

For people who are looking to upgrade from one of Apple’s previous 4-inch devices and are fond of the compact screen, the iPhone SE may be a worthwhile option, especially if budget is a concern. However, they should not expect the practical dif-

WIKIMEDIA USER ZACH VEGA

ferences between the SE and the 5s to be huge. For those who are looking for more innovative options, it may be wiser to wait until the fall, when Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 7.

Relocation of Castro Street businesses is for the best ANISHA DESAI MIRANDA LI Staff Writers

Before construction began, Castro street goers could inhale the familiar scent of kebabs, smoke and the savory breeze of Rose International Market. They could grab a Peet’s Coffee on a chilly Sunday morning or Gochi sushi for dinner. But these small businesses, close to the hearts of Mountain View and Los Altos residents alike, were relocated to various locations in the city when real estate broker Greystar began constructing a new residential complex above the existing buildings.

At first glance, Greystar seems the villain in a plot to rid us of our favorite local businesses. But Greystar has gone above and beyond what would be expected of a considerate real estate company.

The inconvenience of relocation is mollified by the assistance Greystar is offering small businesses, such as paying for location accommodations, paying for interior design improvements and signing long-term leases at low rents. All the businesses have the option to move back to their original, ground-floor locations after late 2017 to early 2018, when the construction is completed. Most importantly, Greystar’s construction of 164 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment units will only help alleviate Mountain View’s severe housing supply shortage.

The nature of a physical relocation entails the loss of customers who are reluctant to travel farther to the new location in Cupertino, but the change is not as disastrous for both the business owners and customers.

“It is a little bit inconvenient,” Persian supermarket Rose International Market owner Ebin said.

“We have had the [original location] for 23 years, and many customers came from Palo Alto and San Mateo, so this [temporary location] is far for them. Over 50 to 60 percent of the customers are still coming back though.”

Peet’s Coffee & Tea owner Joyce

Pippey agrees, adding that Greystar has been extremely accommodating through the situation.

“There were a couple movements and setbacks, but with moves there’s always something,” Pippey said. “But [Greystar was] extremely helpful. The construction crew they hired, the Greystar people, have been wonderful.”

Of the small businesses relocated, five will return to their original locations after Greystar finishes construction: Rose International Market, Tanya’s Hair Design, Le’s Alterations, Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Sufi Coffee Shop and Cultural Center.

Only one business seems particularly displeased about the move: Gochi Japanese Fusion Tapas, a high end Japanese restaurant. The owners of Gochi invested a hefty sum in expensive interior design, unaware of Greystar’s plans to sell the land when they first rented the location. Gochi declined to be interviewed.

“They started [renovations] almost six months ago,” Ebin said.

“I saw [the owner of Gochi] last week, and he said he had had only four months before having

to leave the building. They are losing money… When they started [those renovations] four or five months ago, they did not know this was going to happen.”

While some businesses like

Gochi have suffered as a result of this project, the overall benefit for the city’s residents and other small businesses far outweighs any inconvenience caused by Greystar’s construction.

PHOTOS FROM THE CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW

The two above sketches are renderings from the city of Mountain View of the apartment buildings in the works. In order to build the complex, the real estate company Greystar is helping small businesses move.

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18

The Talon April 26, 2016

Get daily updates on Eagle athletics and read the sports archives at lahstalon.org/category/sports

The pros and cons of being a fan JIM HOLLINGWORTH Staff Writer

My family has never had a lot of respect for sports. My dad has the same intellectual respect for football players as he does for rhinos, and is distinctly proud of the fact that he managed to rank dead last in his company’s fantasy football league. Once a year we get together to watch the Wimbledon finals because it seems like the expected British thing to do, and occasionally we play table tennis.

But a few months ago, because we couldn’t find anywhere else to eat, I found myself sitting in a sports restaurant and bar with my dad and brother. A faint TV in the background showed the Warriors running back and forth.

We were eating and talking normally when the entire bar suddenly went completely quiet. Every single pair of eyes was glued to a Warriors player, shooting two free throws with seconds left to try and tie the game.

He made them both, and the bar exploded. Drawn into the game, my dad and I watched the overtime, which culminated in Stephen Curry’s infamous half-court buzzer beater to win the whole thing. My dad and I stood up at the same time and yelled, as the bar dissolved into hysterics and shouts of elation and dismay.

There are moments in sports that break all barriers of cynicism and highbrow perspective; I’ve watched Kris

McFarlane CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE Although McFarlane was struggling to keep up with his increased workload, it was still a tough decision for him to leave his head coaching position, with his love for the team still as strong as ever.

“It’s hard to let go of things you love,” McFarlane said. “I was really struggling to make the decision… it took about a month of really strug-

JIM HOLLINGWORTH

Jenkins make that March-Madnesswinning 3-pointer about 50 times, and I didn’t even know what March Madness was until a few weeks ago.

My background is this: I own one sports shirt. It’s dark blue, comfortable and says “NFL” in big, vague letters. It was given to me, a joke gift, as a product of a conversation I had with a friend in which I couldn’t remember what those three iconically American letters represented.

It’s actually a great addition to my wardrobe, because it allows me to attend any football-related event and proudly display my affiliation and inclusion in the great

pastime; proclaiming that I support the NFL means I win and lose every game I watch.

I never had a team to follow, so I never followed a team. I didn’t get the inherited love for a premier league soccer team or the hometown love for a baseball team. It’s easy to descend into snarky pretentiousness: What’s the point of having a favorite sports team? What impact do their wins have on your life?

But recently I’ve noticed a kind of passion and excitement present at sports games that’s sometimes missing in my own life. A friend tells me that when his team wins in the

morning, he spends the rest of the day in a good mood and that when he sees a particularly amazing play, the excitement and adrenaline of simply viewing it outweigh the monotonous downsides of a single-team obsession. He says the good outweighs the bad, that the losses don’t bring him down as much as the wins bring him up.

There’s beauty in the community that can build itself around a team. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, one of the first rebuilt buildings was the football stadium. The defeated city rallied around the spirit and

gling [before I made the decision].”

For McFarlane, the most important part of coaching was not winning, rather helping his players improve, not just as players, but also people. He says watching the progress and maturity of just a single player over four years is worth more to him than any CCS title and that experience is what he will miss the most from his coaching days.

“You do it for the relationships and the growth and what you see in terms of the development of a boy over four years,” McFarlane said.

“Then he graduates as a young man.

There’s a lot of changes in that time

frame and you see a lot of guys turn the corner: you see a lot of guys work through their issues and their challenges and really become a young man who is more confident and more aware of who they are. That’s what warms me; that stuff means more to me than a CCS title.”

While McFarlane will no longer be in charge of shaping and developing every aspect of the program and able to watch this transformation firsthand, he still plans to stay involved.

“I’ll still be standing there watching the games and paying attention and helping them where I can help,” McFarlane said. “I can yell all I want now because I won’t be on the bench.”

McFarlane’s successor will be decided by a committee consisting of himself, athletic director Kim Cave, a player, an administrator, a parent, a teacher and an athletic booster. The open application for the position was posted last Wednesday, April 20, and will close after two weeks. After the window expires, applicants will be interviewed by the committee, which will ultimately make the decision for the upcoming year.

Although the change will certainly be hard on the team, McFarlane believes he has created a strong enough foundation for the team to continue its success with a new coach.

“I think they have the potential to be a very good team it just depends on how they come together and whether they will buy into what the new coach [brings],” McFarlane said.

Soaring Eagle

TALON FILE PHOTO

After 12 years of coaching boys basketball at Los Altos, Bob McFarlane resigned from his position as head coach on April 18.

energy of its football team, and when the Saints won the Super Bowl that very year, the spirit of the city soared around their central hope — maybe if the Saints could come back stronger than ever, so too could the city.

Then there’s the casual brotherhood head-nod of acknowledgement when you see a stranger wearing the same team gear as you, or the subcultures that allow instant connections in unfamiliar locations. “How ‘bout them Cubs, eh?” is the universal guy announcement that someone wants to make a friend.

There are downsides, too. For every win, there’s a loss — for every happy fist-pump, there’s a dejected face-palm. Players seem to drown constantly in scandal, from drug use to general abuse, and the trading system that exists in most professional sports leads to constant betrayal as star players trade jerseys like laundry.

I’ve concluded that it’s worth it. But how does one acquire a favorite team?

The key, according to my sportsfocused friend, is to suck it up and not pick the team that’s doing really well. It’s more fun to make an emotional investment and root for the underdog than it is to hijack the bandwagon and ride it all the way to pseudo-excitement-ville. That being said, there’s really no meaningful criteria for selecting a favorite team.

So do a bit of half-hearted statistical research, give up, pick a uniform color you like, and get ready to make friends, lose friends and beat your chest at sports bars like the primal balls of excitement we’d all like to be.

NATHAN SMITH JULIA SANTOS Staff Writer

After serving as team captain for four years, senior Nathan Smith will play Division I volleyball for Penn State University next KUNAL year.

Nathan PANDIT began his volleyball career in seventh grade at Egan Junior High after his mother pushed him to try out for the team.

As the starting setter in both his high school and club team, Nathan plays a position that requires him to be a dynamic and quick thinker because it is the most active position.

“Although setting is not the flashiest of positions, it is one of the most important because you touch the ball every play,” Nathan said. “It is also the most cerebral position on the court… you have to make the decision of who to

set, taking into account who the blockers are on the other side and which hitter has been hitting well that day.”

Known for his height, it’s hard to miss Nathan walking through the quad — but to him, a high volleyball IQ and the ability to execute are much more important than physical qualities.

“Volleyball is a good balance of athleticism and smarts,” Nathan said. “In volleyball, it can give you a huge advantage if you are tall and athletic, but size alone never really wins games. Being a smart player and being technically strong is very important, and I like that there is a largely cerebral side of volleyball that you need to become an elite player.”

It’s very unusual for a freshman to be the team captain of a varsity sport, but Nathan had the experience and the leadership qualities to do so for all four years of high school.

“My biggest role is to keep the team mentally strong and help individual players learn the skills the entire team needs to be successful, but in the end we win and and lose as one,” Nathan said.

The Talon April 26, 2016

19

Remembering Big Daddy Randolph George-Angel Jimenez (1973-2016) Randy Jimenez was a coach and father to not just his children, but also to all of the students he coached. Here’s how his wrestlers will remember him.

He would always be on your back, but it’s all in love and care… In practice you would see him as a coach, but outside of practice you would see him as someone you could go to as a father figure.

—senior Jason Durana

Even if you leave the wrestling room and even though you’re done, you’ve graduated, you’re still a Los Altos wrestler for your entire life and you’ll never be anything else. You’ll always be in Coach Randy’s heart even if you graduated the first year he was a coach. It doesn’t matter, you’re always Coach Randy’s wrestler.

—sophomore Jamie Bennett

The legacy he’ll leave is the way he trained his wrestlers. A lot of coaches out there would train them physically but not mentally, and I think that’s one thing that was really unique about Coach Randy. His training was how he would always find a way to get his wrestlers to think better and more about themselves and think that they’re more capable of what they can do and eventually be able to overcome what they think their faults are.

—senior Jason Durana

He always has the idea in mind that whenever he is pushing someone, their limit isn’t what they think their limit is. Their limit is what he thinks it is, and so regardless of what your mental state is at the time, and what your physical state is, he’s going to push you how he sees fit. I think we can all agree that he kind of raised the bar for all of us mentally and physically.

—junior Joey Donnelly

We can all agree that him being gone doesn’t necessarily mean that all that he’s worked for is gone. The wrestling

He was one of the realest coaches, if you know what I mean. He didn’t sugarcoat anything basically. He gave it to you straight up how it was and just like he quoted, ‘Boys try, men do,’ so shut up and do what you can do.

I’m sure Coach wouldn’t either.

Overall as a team, he brought us together as a family, and he really brought together that family environment. He said at the beginning of the season, it’s an individual sport in a team environment, and I think that’s really something other people don’t get to see a lot. It’s sort of a family type of bonding. In other sports teams, it’s just team work and all that, but no, in wrestling it’s more of a family.

team’s going to carry on. We’re going to continue, and we’re not going to mourn on it just like he wouldn’t want us to mourn on a loss. But we’re always going to remember it, like we would remember a loss. We’re going to use it to drive us to get another perfect season, and I don’t expect anything less of us next year, and

—junior Joey Donnelly

If you feel pain, it lets you know that you’re alive, and if you’re alive, you keep going.

—sophomore Josue Martinez Pineda

—senior Jason Durana

Whenever he noticed that someone was stressed out because of school or any other reason, he would pull them out of the room and give them a little pep talk, and he’d make sure everyone was doing well and he didn’t like seeing wrestlers being down.

—sophomore Tyler Calderon

— Randy “Big Daddy” Jimenez His mentality is really what I think anybody should remember him by. Regardless of whatever he was doing, whether it was his job or coaching, being a friend or being a father, every time I saw him, he was putting 120 percent in everything.

—junior Joey Donnelly

He was definitely the most caring person. He makes you feel like he’s part of your family, and wrestlers that he’s coached up could tell you he felt like another family figure to him. I think that’s what’s most memorable about him.

COMPILED BY TEDDY CHMYZ, AKHIL JAKATDAR, JOSH KIRSHENBAUM, JULIA SANTOS

—sophomore Tyler Calderon

MICHAEL SIEFFERT

The Talon April 26, 2016

T

he 2016 varsity boys tennis team is nearing the end of league play and setting its sights on league finals and CCS. With an overall record of 7-4 as of press deadline, the team aims to continue its solid performance on the courts through postseason play.

“I think that the season has gone pretty well,” sophomore Nick Cosgrove said.

“Although we have had a few tough 4-3 losses, I believe that our overall record is positive meaning that we are one of the stronger teams in the league.”

One of the biggest challenges for the players is not the physical skills involved in the game, but the mental endurance and team compatibility, especially with doubles partners. And with the amount of games played in the season, mental resilience is one of the key aspects of having a stellar season.

“Many of us prepare mentally by either talking with our partners or getting mentally set by ourselves,” junior Connor Akiyama said. “With the individualistic nature of tennis, there isn’t much we all do together besides be there for each other to make sure there’s always someone to be moral support.”

A major turning point in the season was the California Tennis Classic Invitational, one of the premiere tennis meets of the season, which ran from March 3-4 in Fresno, California. One of the biggest obstacles for the team was preparing for

the invitational. bles players. Teambuilding through the “As a team, our greatest problem at the training and practice routine has elevated beginning was lack of general spirit,” the team’s success on and off the court.

Connor said. “After some league victoThe season has highlighted the ries, hair-raising tiebreakers, and a huge strengths and weaknesses of the team, victory in Fresno, our team fixed this be- which many players look to improve cause we had hope again. We had strong as the season continues. With SCVAL teams that we could stand a chance Championships today, improvement is against and this the only thing was the biggest on players’ transformation in minds. the team.”

“I think that The teamthe team’s bonding expemain strength rience through is in our conAKHIL JAKATDAR high-pressure sistency,” Nick Staff Writer situations imsaid. “Most of proved the team the matches chemistry and that we won gave the boys a much-needed boost in were relatively comfortable and I think confidence on the court. that this was due largely to the fact that “There was good team spirit from all all of the players on the team have a very the teams,” Nick said. “Usually, in a lot of the league matches, there is not as much spirit...but [when comparing] the other teams we played against and our team, we were more hyped [at the invitational]. I think that was good practice before to have a few matches before the actual tournament to prepare. So, it was good mental preparation.”

Throughout the season, more close matches and heartbreaking 4-3 defeats have only strengthened the team’s spirit and resilience for both singles and dou-

BOYS TENNIS LOOKS TO CLOSE SEASON STRONG

SPRING SPORTS

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C

ourage. Pride. Poise. These three words the ground and going gap-to-gap to be more are the focal points of emphasis for the successful on offense.”

One thing the team has going for its is varsity baseball team this year. Just past the halfway point of the regular season, experience. The team is filled with senior the Eagles have a 12-9 overall record, which leaders from top to bottom, such as Adam includes their 6-4 record in league. Sitting Spielman, Trevor Rodgers, Paul Myers and in third place, the goal for the remainder Brennan Myers. Senior Nate Spencley, who of the season is to reach CCS, but it won’t also plays a leadership role, emphasized that come without extra effort, something se- equality and selflessness is vital to the team.

“It is important to nior Adam Spielnot distinguish who man clearly unis and isn’t a leader,” derstands.

Nate said. “We are all “Our goal for out there together [as this season is to a team] trying to win.” make CCS,” Adam The Eagles have said. “But not just KEITH BOHRER struggled to find Staff Writer make CCS, we consistency in their want to make a results, especially due good run while we are there and see what happens. [To do that] to an offense that is either very much on or alwe need to focus more on keeping the ball on most totally off. However, they’ve found a strong backbone in their pitching, led by Trevor and sophomore Alex Reelfs, who leads the De Anza League in wins and threw a complete game shutout to hand the then undefeated Palo Alto Vikings their first loss of the season on March 30. Through it all the Eagles have been able to crucially establish a winning mentality.

“It’s important to know how to win,” Nate said.

“Once you experience winning, [it drives] you to experience that feeling over and over again. The win streak is a great thing to build on.”

Other than that, there is something extra special about this team. Maybe it’s the fact that they have completed the hardest defensive play in baseball, a triple play, twice. As KUNAL PANDIT for now, the team will keep its head down Sophomore Alex Reelfs throws to first. The and try to continue driving its way up the baseball team is over .500 and looking to league standings in hope that they will sit at make a run in CCS. the top at the end of the season.

BASEBALL SWINGS FOR CCS

solid all round game.”

Because the team is younger than usual, with only four seniors, they have had to focus on making sure everyone, especially the younger players, are prepared to perform well in high-pressure situations.

“I think that our main weakness is composure during high stress situations,” Nick said. “A handful of our losses were incredibly close and in the end only came down to a couple of loose points here and there. But I think that through the frequent practices, nerves are something the team is starting to worry less about.”

The team believes that its greatest strength, consistency, will boost its confidence and spirit through the SCVAL Championships. Whether it be on or off the court, the Eagles’ success will continue on, and the team will hopefully produce brilliant results for seasons to come.

KUNAL PANDIT

Junior Alec Jenab winds up to serve in practice. Despite a few tough losses, the boys tennis team boasts a 7-4 record and has SCVAL championships in its sights.

T

he badminton team has started off its season strong after moving down a division. With a nearly spotless record of victories, the team is set on proving it belongs among the best.

The Eagles have been defeated only once this year during a close game against Milpitas, lost in a tiebreaker. If the Eagles refuse to relent in their current efforts, the team could achieve its goal of moving back to the upper league the following year.

“I want to see everybody on the team continue to improve,” junior Martin Mitchel said. “We can definitely be at the top of the league and move back to the upper league.”

KUNAL PANDIT This year, the team consists of over Junior Henry Ma stretches to hit the 50 members, enough for a complete shuttlecock.

The badminton team has roster and a few backups. While there turned in a solid season so far. are fewer players than in previous years, the current number has proved sity members facilitates improvement. to be more than enough given the Combining practices also helps the team’s impressive number of wins. team meet its season goal of unifying There are two new badminton varsity and junior varsity. coaches, Eric Liu and Bryan Edwards, “We want everyone to support the who have brought some beneficial people around them, versus only the changes with them. people in their friend groups,” senior “The team’s dynamics this year are Selynna Sun said. really good because of the way pracObviously, another of the team’s tices are run,” Martin said. “Since goals is to continue its season record. most of the “Coach Eric time pracalso spends tice is split by much of his events, both time thinkvarsity and ing about our junior varsity ladder for members get the games, BOOKER MARTIN to go through so that we Staff Writer practicing tohave a higher gether.” chance of In particular, junior varsity players winning against strong teams in our are showing strong growth as a result. league,” Selynna said.

Usually, their only exposure to compeAs the season passes its midway tition is from JV teammates and other point, hopes are rightfully high schools. Thus, practicing with the var- across the team.

BADMINTON AIMS FOR DIVISION PROMOTION