Friday, February 10, 2012
Volume 21, No. 5
Nutrition Facts Serving Size: One Café Meal
San Rafael, CA 94901
pgs. 4 & 5
Amount Per Serving Calories 674 % Daily Value* Total Fat 26g
40%
Saturated Fat 6g
30%
Trans Fat Total Carbohydrate 81g
27%
Protein 27g
54%
Total Price $9.50 Romney leads GOP race
pg. 2 •
Energy audit shows ways to save pg. 3
Literary Festival turns 20
pg. 6 •
Review of Minicourse
pg. 7
*Pecent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily needs may be high or lower depending on your calorie needs.
www.mavoice.org
2
News
February 10, 2012
Cap and gown? Check. Graduation Requirements...? Lena Felton & Elba Morales Copy Editor & Staff Writer
Each spring, second semester seniors anticipate the pinnacle of their high school careers: graduation. Little stands in the way of reaching that metaphorical summit. Unless, of course, a student does not meet those little things called graduation requirements. “A total of 20.5 credits are required for graduation,” Registrar Evie Koh said. “Eighteen point five of these credits are required courses or courses elected from among designated departmental offerings, and a credit is a yearlong course.” One of the more elusive necessities for graduation is the American literature requirement. As a result of a recent change in the sophomore curriculum to focus on world literature, students are now expected to take an American literature elective in addition to American Dreams and Realities, a semester-long course for juniors. Both Dean of Faculty and English teacher Nicole Stanton and English Department Head Jim Baldwin said that while the school values the study of American literature, it also wants to honor the freedom juniors and seniors have
Annie Warner
to choose electives. “American lit is sort of the core experience that everybody should have at Marin Academy, and we like to do it in a way that doesn’t deprive students of the opportunity to take classes that they choose,” Baldwin said. “We would like to preserve the opportunity for seniors and juniors to be in mixed classes and all of those things are hard to juggle, but those are our values.” This requirement can pose problems for scheduling juniors’ and seniors’ classes. “I hear from Evie and Scott that
they really wish we had one more American lit class,” Baldwin said. “Sometimes there’s not enough room [in classes] for people to easily fulfill the American lit requirement.” With evident scheduling problems comes the dreaded question: What happens if the requirement isn’t met by graduation? “It would be a case-by-case situation,” Baldwin said. “If it was simply a question of that there wasn’t a class available for that person and there was nothing that that person could do, and that person had acted in good faith all
the way through, we would try to finesse it somehow, facilitate it.” According to College Counselor Jennifer Blake, the English requirements are important beyond graduation. “If a student for some reason wasn’t able to get an English class or failed an English class, that would absolutely impact their ability to follow through on their acceptance and actually go to college,” Blake said. Academic Dean Scott Young believes that every student should meet the same requirements so that all students have an equal experience at MA. Another controversial prerequisite is the P.E. requirement. Students must earn 3.5 points of P.E. credit by graduation. Students accumulate one point for each season of a Marin Academy sport, and can gain credit from independent endeavors as well. The program is unique in that the school doesn’t offer a standard physical education class. “Certainly in my 15 years, [the P.E. program has] been shaped and redefined and the process has gotten better, so we do a better job of guiding kids in their quest to meet the requirement,” Assistant Athletic Director Josh Kalkstein said. Outside of sports at MA, stu-
dents can choose to complete a minimum of 20 hours of physical activity for half a point of credit. Kalkstein recognizes the varying degrees of students’ commitment to athletics and to filling out the essential P.E. forms. “Obviously there are some kids who are just not interested in doing anything athletic in any way, shape or form,” Kalkstein said. “And we’ve also seen kids who are hyperactive and don’t want to do the detailed minutia of tracking it and providing us with the completion form, which is ridiculous.” From her days as academic dean, Blake knows how difficult it can be to get students to meet the P.E. requirement. “I think we are pretty generous with P.E.,” Blake said. “We definitely had to follow up on the P.E. points and beg and plead and make lots of phone calls.” The notion of graduating with all credits is one that’s important to the academic dean as well. “It’s important to me that every student [meet graduation requirements] in an effort to ensure that there is a shared experience in attending MA,” Young said, “and that every student is leaving here with the same quality of education.”
Recent polls project Romney as Republican candidate Campaign speeches discussing job creation and healthcare ring from television speakers, middle-aged men and women in suits cover every newspaper, and political pundits from around the globe come up with percentages predicting what will happen. That’s right, it’s election season in America. For a majority of the year 2011, and especially in the first few weeks of 2012, the press has kept a close watch on the Republican Primary elections. This convention-style election will determine who will run against President Obama for president this November. In total, just after two state elec-
Approval ratings among registered Republican voters as of 2/1/12 Ratings from official Gallup poll website
40
Mitt Romney
35
Former Governor of Massachusetts
Newt Gingrich
Former Speaker of the House
Rick Santorum
Former Senator from Pennsylvania
Ron Paul
U.S. Representative from Texas *Photos courtesy of official campaign websites
tions, the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire Primary, the race went from including seven candidates,
percent of voter approval
Neha Budhraja Co-Editor in Chief
30
28
27
25 20 15 10
17 13
5 0
to just four. Although former Senator Rick Santorum was announced the Iowa Primary winner
Neha Budhraja
after the fact, former Governor Mitt Romney carried the momentum of winning both states.
“It’s historical that a non-incumbent candidate, so a candidate not running for re-election, cannot win both Iowa and New Hampshire, so Romney has already made history by doing that,” Maffei said. “If I were a betting person, I would bet on him getting the nomination.” Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who won with over 40 percent of the votes in South Carolina on January 21, briefly upset Romney’s initial victories. But Romney went on to sweep Florida with over 46 percent of the votes on January 31 and his likelihood of becoming the presidential nominee continues to increase.
Continued on Page 3
3
Features
February 10, 2012
After audit, school looks to reduce carbon footprint Annie Warner Managing Editor In 2009, the administration completed a grand-scale energy audit, in addition to a series of studies based around the school’s energy use. The studies determined the school’s baseline carbon footprint, water usage (and ways to conserve) and LEED feasibility (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design). Even today, the changes resulting from the audit are continually being implemented to help the school save money and reduce its carbon footprint. “The purpose of the energy audit was to identify opportunities for reducing our energy consumption,” Operations Director Michael Morris said. “The school increased the scope of the project to include ways to reduce our water consumption and to benchmark our GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions.” In 2008 the school emitted 898 tons. The audit came about after a student petition in the spring of 2008, and was paired with work by the school’s Board of Trustees and the operations department. “It’s important to recognize that in a large part this initiative was on the part of the students to get this going,” Mark Stefanski said, “and
Continued from Page 2 “Momentum is huge in politics,” U.S. history teacher Tom Woodward said. But the race is not over yet. “Romney is from the moderate conservative side, which used to be a big part of the Republican party,” Woodward said. “And on the more conservative end you have a split race between Santorum and Gingrich whose combined votes actually exceed those of Romney.” Thus with Santorum and Gingrich covering the majority of Republican voters -- and with Representative Ron Paul still drawing his own attention -- Romney may
the Board was very responsive in a positive way.” The data from the audit served to show the administration what was needed to cut down on energy use on campus, and highlight what changes to make. “What the reports showed was that there are many opportunities to conserve and reduce,” Morris said. Some steps were taken by the administration, such as replacing light fixtures and installing more efficient water regulation systems, significantly reducing the
be left in a fragile state. Some say even if he were to receive the nomination, he may not draw enough of the conservative base in the general election to beat Obama. “[Romney] is not exactly the favorite,” American Government elective teacher Pam Maffei said. “He doesn’t quite fit what [Republicans] usually want.” There might only be one explanation for why the Republican party would settle for Romney over an evidently more conservative Gingrich, or even Santorum. “The conservative base of the Republican party ideally supports Gingrich and Santorum,” Woodward said. “But now they’re just
Graphics by Annie Warner Images represent energy use in 2008
thinking, Romney is the most ‘elect-able’ guy we have in terms of personal character.” Personal issues, however, may also hinder Romney if he ends up contesting Obama. “A big issue in national elections is always religion, and while Mitt Romney might be nominated there are going to be a lot of issues that he runs into in terms of his Mormon faith,” senior Terry Castleman said. “America doesn’t really vote in presidents that aren’t Christian.” Overall, the election has already drawn immense media attention to scandal, debate, and dropouts.
“The Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain additions did cause there to be a whole lot of media attention. It made the group look as if anybody could be a nominee,” Maffei said. “But once they dropped out, I think who is left is a pretty serious group of people” Being educated in Marin County may also add a certain bias to judging these politicians. “[The Republican nomination] seems less serious because we’re in the Bay Area looking at them like that,” senior Terry Castleman said. “For the rest of the country it’s really serious. I don’t think any of them are running as a joke and while some of them make gaffes,
school’s energy use. The school has reduced its electricity usage by 19% (or 150,000 kilowatts), its water usage by 13% (or 400,000 gallons) and it’s GHG emissions by 8% (75 metric tons). It seems what is needed now is wider community participation. “It’s up to everybody!” junior Eco-Council member Jessie Capper said, “If not all the members of the community try, then it can only succeed so much.” Though not all the changes made will require student participation, eventually the student body will need to get involved. “The money stuff won’t really affect the students,” Chief Financial & Information Officer Mike Joyce said. “The more challenging ones are going to be behavioral…if there is an impact on students, it’s the behavioral elements.” Besides the tangible changes, there is also the question of the student’s role in the global greening movement. “Directly, MA’s energy use doesn’t significantly change any of our lives,” sophomore EcoCouncil member Ari Goldstein said, “but as global citizens, we play a role in a changing world and unsustainable energy use will definitely come back to haunt us some day.”
that’s normal for any party.” Both Maffei and Woodward stressed the importance of learning about both sides of the political spectrum, no matter if the area surrounding is predominantly one side or the other. “I try in all of my classes to make sure that different sides are represented and presented” Maffei said. “And specifically around election time a lot of the adults here realize ‘hey there are kids here, there are adults here that are not Democrats’ and their voices need to be respected.”
4
Features
February 1
How to fuel your tank witho Greig Stein Staff Writer There are a number of reasons that the food Epicurean provides in the cafeteria is healthy. Produce is brought in each day and most of the food is organic and local. There is no fried food and no soda, and meals aren’t just stuffed with calories and fat. When measured nutritionally against other local lunch spots in San Rafael, lunch portions in the café are the perfectly apportioned amount of food. The meals are fresh, balanced, nutritious and cheap. Yes, the food is cheap. Even if you look at your plate and see chicken for the fifth time this week, you should know you’re getting a healthy meal at a low price. “According to the industry, we should be charging closer to $10 to $12 a meal,” Chef Seann Pridmore said. Pridmore cites the quality of ingredients and rising food prices as the reason it costs so much to make each meal. He said his food is underpriced. Epicurean was even losing money at the end of last year due to inflation of food prices, which is why the school permitted the company to raise prices by 5 percent at the beginning of this year. The reason that Epicurean’s food has such a high cost is because of what goes in it. “I try to keep it as organic and as local as possible. Most of the produce that goes into your food comes that morning. The meat usually comes the day before,” Pridmore said. The food is prepared daily. “We cook from scratch. There’s not much in our freezer at all, which we are proud of,” Sous Chef Kate Karo said. Leftovers are not kept around for a week and thrown into a meal, contrary to popular complaint. The quality isn’t always appreciated due to the high cost of the food. To some, quality doesn’t mean quality of ingredients. It means quality of the enjoyment of eating the meal. “I find myself eating off campus a lot because I prefer the taste,” Senior Hassan Gali said. The cafeteria lunches seem expensive when compared to five-dollar lunch deals that many restaurants like Subway and Quiznos offer. “Other places I can get a club sandwich, chips and a drink for five dollars. Here, I get a plate of rice and cookies and a little drink for $7.50, so why not eat off campus,” Gali said. What these other lunch options lack is the quality nutrition that Epicurean offers. This lunch that Gali favors contains chips and a soda, whereas cafeteria lunches are accompanied by healthier alternatives like salad and juice. Pridmore and Karo, who is also a certified nutritional therapist, meticulously plan the meals out. There are many limitations to what food can be prepared. “[Meals] are determined by product availability, equipment which we have available, vegetarian options, weather …” Pridmore said.
The chefs also keep students’ preferences in mind. Ever wondered why there’s so much chicken on the menu? Chicken is the only meat that everyone can agree on. “There’s so many people here that only eat chicken, it’s ridiculous,” Pridmore said. The extent to which meals are designed around students’ preferences may be overlooked. Pridmore knows exactly how many meals are served on a given day, and the numbers influence future plans. Between 300 and 350 meals are served on a usual school day. The two most popular meals are chicken teriyaki and grilled cheese with tomato soup. These meals will sell out, while the least popular meals, paninis and cream-based soups, only sell about 50 servings. Another hurdle Pridmore faces is having to prepare vegetarian options. It’s hard enough to cook for an entire school, but mix in a bunch of vegetarians and it can get downright tough. “They run out really fast and the only vegan food available is the salad bar and the soup, and some bread sometimes. There’s pretty much nothing for me. I have the salad bar every day,” Senior Anwen Baumeister said. Having fresh and nutritious food served on campus is a great option, but what else is available because of an opencampus policy? San Rafael offers many alternatives to cafeteria lunch at a varying price, but think twice before you walk off campus to find something better than Pridmore’s meals; it may not be worth sparing a couple dollars. One finds this, for example, when comparing a meal from the cafeteria to a meal from Moonlight Deli on 4th Street. A BLT from the café, accompanied by a salad and a Guayaki, totals 670 calories. A sandwich, chips, and Coke from Moonlight Deli, on the other hand, is almost 1000 calories. The cafeteria may be more expensive, but it very often offers students the meal with fewer calories. The nutritional breakdown that The Voice did of a variety of meals showed that lunch in the café has a healthy amount of calories, and a good balance of carbohydrates, fat, and calories. Other meals had more of these sources of energy, but in most cases it was too much. A huge amount of the calories in meals from other restaurants in San Rafael come from things like chips and soda. Limeade from Sol Food and a Tai Iced Tea from My Thai each had almost 250 calories alone. A bag of chips from Moonlight made up a quarter of the entire meal’s calories and half of the fat. There is a difference between a meal that fills you up and a meal that gives you the proper type of energy. Karo’s training as a nutritional therapist adds a lot to her ability to design balanced meals. She says her experience, as well as her training as a nutritional therapist, helps her make the food healthy without taking too much away from its taste. All complaints aside, measurements show the cafeteria to be a healthy lunch option. The meals offer a balance of calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein, and for $7, you are getting a fresh, local, organic, and wholesome lunch.
Cafeteria meal:
$9.50
- Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich - Salad
Arizmendi:
$9.50
- 3 pieces of Mushroom and Feta pizz
METHODOLOGY
The Voice staff convened during one lunch period to photograph, pick apart, and weigh each ingredient of the meals to determine their nutritional value. After weighing each ingredient, nutrition facts were looked up online and compared to amount in each meal. These values were added up to produce the totals. Data source: nutriondata.self.com
Photography by Lena
5
Features
10, 2011
out breaking the bank Brought from home:
Nutrition facts per meal: CALORIES FAT SATURATED FAT PROTEIN CARBOHYDRATES
$5.04
674 26 grams 6 grams 27 grams 81 grams
Nutrition facts per meal: CALORIES FAT
28 grams
SATURATED FAT
4 grams
PROTEIN
16 grams
CARBOHYDRATES
87 grams
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich - Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers
- Guayaki Organic Bottled Yerba Matte
707
- Apple
Moonlight Deli:
$6.49
Nutrition facts per meal: CALORIES FAT
Nutrition facts per meal: CALORIES
1130
FAT
25 grams
SATURATED FAT
12 grams
PROTEIN
56 grams
CARBOHYDRATES
172 grams
960
28 grams
SATURATED FAT
3 grams
PROTEIN
33 grams
CARBOHYDRATES
155 grams
- Sandwich (turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayonaise, mustard) - Lays chips - Coca-Cola
Sol Food:
za
- Strawberry Lemonade Purity
DAILY RECCOMENDED INTAKE: CALORIES FAT SATURATED FAT PROTEIN CARBOHYDRATES
$16.00
Nutrition facts per meal: CALORIES
2000 65 grams 20 grams 50 grams 300
1080
FAT
29 grams
SATURATED FAT
10 grams
PROTEIN
83 grams
CARBOHYDRATES
124 grams
Values from netrition.com
Felton and Sam Pritzker
- 2-piece Chicken
- White rice - Black beans - Sweet plantains - Sparkling limeade
6
A&E
February 10, 2012
Two decades later, Lit Fest still going strong Avery Hale A&E Editor
This year, February 7, marks the 20th anniversary of Marin Academy’s annual Literary Festival. From Pulitzer Prize-winners to United States Poet Laureates, Lit Fest brings in speakers from across the country to celebrate the various texts presented by the English department. Reading and writing workshops will be held daily, giving members of the community the opportunity to partake in structured discussions with some of the most talented writers in our area. While some of these writers are critically acclaimed novelists or poets, other speakers include faculty, current students, and even a handful of alumni. “This year for the first time we’re going to be having alums come back to talk about how they continued writing after high school, and after college and how
they’re making it a career,” CoDirector of Lit Fest Jim Baldwin said. “This is a way of showing how writing can become a life and how human beings as creatures tell stories.” Each of the workshops held throughout the course of Lit Fest will highlight literature beyond what is taught in the classroom. From story telling to poetry slams, the purpose of this festival is not only to provide entertainment, but to celebrate and emphasize the importance of writing beyond what is required in school. “I think Lit Fest gives the student body a different view of literature,” junior Maia Sinaiko said. “It’s not like picking up a book to read at home, or reading the book you were assigned in English class. It’s learning about the purpose of writing, from real writers who dedicate their lives to literature.” While MA strives to introduce students to a broad array of literature, offering several English
classes and a wide variety of required texts, Lit Fest helps to offer a new approach to literature. “Lit Fest is important because it brings in new topics,” senior Meredith Parish said. “It seems like the MA curriculum covers everything, but despite the long hours of homework I still feel like each Lit Fest covers new topics that not everyone has learned.” While some students appreaciate Lit Fest simply for its interesting content, others love this event for its focus on unique interests, just as Conference on Democracy focuses on politics and Green Fest emphasizes sustainablitiy. “I think Lit Fest is an important part of the MA experience because we pride ourselves on being open
minded and diverse about our pursuits,” junior Henry Kinder said. “We have so many other events that highlight our different interests and this is just another forum to explore, in this case, literature.” After twenty years, Lit Fest
continues to use the power of writing to bring the community together year after year. With countless inspirational speakers and daily workshops, it seems that the MA community truly views this event as a celebration.
Depression. Film photography educated me about events in ways that textbooks and PowerPoint presentations simply couldn’t. In many ways, the future of film photography parallels that of
Fires were sold this past Christmas, in spite of its lukewarm reputation — and that’s only one kind of reading device. Technology is changing how we read and how we appreciate the visual arts. And don’t get me wrong, I love technology (I did, in fact, write two pieces about Steve Jobs last year), but there’s also something about innovation that makes it a double-edged sword. In some ways, progress has shown us creations that are beautiful and efficient but they tend to also replace that which was comfortable and tactile Sam Pritzker — more human somehow. print journalism. Technology is The digital camera has democraevolving rapidly, and in 2012 the tized photography. Anyone can Internet is quickly overshadowing be a photographer now, which has the printed word. E-readers have its good points and its bad points. flourished in the past few years; At the same time, there are almore than four million Kindle ways going to be bad pictures and
good pictures, no matter what kind of camera you’re using. The key to photography, as with all visual art forms, is the ability to see. All of the stories have already been told. What is new is how they’re being told, how the teller’s unique vision offers up the world in an original way. I’m sad about the demise of Kodak because I’m conflicted about digital photography. I love darkroom work because it’s so engaging on a physical level. I’m really in there, getting messy with my pictures. Editing my images on a computer feels a bit removed and somehow less intense or “real”, so a part of me sees digital photography as somehow less valid than film photography. Still, I am able to take a step back and understand that there is shortsightedness to that approach. Digital doesn’t have to be less than film it can just be different. Maybe the iPhone is the Polaroid of the future. Only time will tell.
Anna Kelly
Kodak goes down, takes film photography with it Sam Pritzker Features Editor Wednesday, January 19, 2012 was a sad day for me. On the car ride home from school, Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi was playing, an apt ballad for KFOG to put on the airwaves. I had just learned that Kodak was filing for bankruptcy. Mitchell was right: Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone? For years I had reveled in the magic of darkroom photography, but I had never quite stopped to think about that magic ceasing to exist. And yet, Polaroid, another photographer-favorite, had halted production just four years prior. As a young kid, my dad would wake me up early on the weekends to take me to art exhibits all across the Bay Area. Ansel Adams’ work transported me to the rich and misty valleys of Yosemite, while Dorothea Lange provided me with a jarring look into America’s Great
7
Opinion
February 10, 2012
What’s wrong with our minicourse system Marshall Levensohn Op-Ed Editor Skiing in Tahoe or community service in San Rafael? Scuba diving in Southern California or listening to classical music? Backpacking in Utah or Art Activism in the Bay Area? The controversies that these three questions raise summarize what is wrong with the current minicourse system. There are blatant disparities in the courses’ premises, appeal, and affordability. In the midst of my work on a Minicourse Task Force, created by Dean of Students Lynne Hansen, I want to address what I believe are the shortcomings of minicourse and what changes should be implemented in the its future. Whether the faculty accepts this notion or not, students view minicourse as a week of vacation. With active courses like skiing or “educational” courses like listening to classical music, who wouldn’t? While the mission of minicourse is
to have either a physical or educational element to it, the traveling courses’ luxuries and the local courses’ undemanding nature undermine the purpose. Why do we have such a broad spectrum of minicourses offered? Teachers. Based on their personal interests or skill sets, teachers go through a minicourse creation process in which their proposed course will be passed unless it clearly does not meet any educational or physical requirement. Without gauging any sense of student appeal, the course will end up in the catalogue come November.
Whether we choose to accept it or not, ubiquity, for many in high school, is a substantial part of our lives. So much of what we, as high schoolers do, varies very little from one person to the next: we all go to class, we all go down to the cafeteria to grab a snack, we all head back to class, and then it’s lunch. Ah. Lunch. A time when MA provides us an opportunity to distinguish ourselves. Do we bring a homemade lunch to school? Do we pay $7 to Epicurean for some organic food courtesy of the well-intentioned but occasionally less-than-amiable Chef Seann? Or do we use our open campus and explore San Rafael restaurants? Let’s start with the most common option: eating in the cafeteria. There are many upsides to the cafeteria. There are always a couple of friends around, it’s convenient when you have that lunchtime meeting to attend, and — although we recognize the generalization
— the food is paid for, for most students, by parents. On the other hand, there are several issues with the food at MA. For many, the prices — high because of the “organic” and “local” labels — are a point of contention. Yet, we mostly only take issue with the cost of the snacks and drinks rather than the cost of the main meals themselves. These add-ons entice us, yet also appear to be in certain cases grossly overpriced. The food is good enough, if not a bit too … chicken-filled. These issues raise the legitimate question of whether or not having a service like Epicurean bring in organic food is worth it. And the only real way to evaluate this issue is to explore the alternatives. Eating off campus appears to be, mostly, a draw. We have the privilege of “exploring” (yes, I use that term liberally) San Rafael, and eating off campus allows us control over different factors in our
of minicourses that appeal to students does not meet the demand. It has become all the more common for a student who is not interested in the minicourse he or she is placed in to minimally participate in the
It would be unreasonable, however, to criticize any teachers for proposing courses that may not be the biggest hits with students. The most popular minicourses have proven over the past 40 years to be the ones that travel outside of the Bay Area. Without any incentives, who can blame a teacher for not leaving their home-life behind to spend a full week with a group of teenage students? Due to this dilemma, the supply
Editorial: lunchtime choices
lives, such as dietary needs. Yet the feeling of freedom notwithstanding, eating off is often more expensive than Epicurean, is usually not as organic or locally sourced, and can seem to be a hassle once you’ve made it past freshman year. So, we come to the least exciting of our choices: bringing a lunch from home. It is, without a doubt, the most unheralded option, yet probably the one with the most merits. Bringing a lunch from home is more cost-effective, can be healthier (depending on what you pack), and in reality gives you the greatest opportunity to get creative with your lunches. There are a lot of innovative ways you can make a good PB&J sandwich. All you need is a little love. We hazard a guess that this option doesn’t sound too appealing to you. That’s OK. We know that bringing a lunch from home isn’t really that sexy. It isn’t freedom, either. But it’s pretty smart.
course. Thus, the belief that minicourse is not central to an MA education, and is more like a vacation,
has emerged. If the administration would like students to see minicourse as the educational experience it advertises, it must make some significant decisions about the future of minicourse, though they may not be popular with students. MA must choose to make minicourse designed for either education or fun, and solve how to make the supply of courses meet the student demand. I believe that minicourse should morph from its current state, like many other schools, to an outdoor-ed week. It would be easier to offer fewer trips with multiple groups on a single trip. The trips would emphasize outdoor leadership and school bonding, and would not be grade specific. Fewer courses would benefit both students and faculty. And if all else fails, there’s always Ski Week… Drawing by Anna Kelly
marin academy voice 1600 Mission Ave., San Rafael, CA 94901 website: http://mavoice.org pdf edition: http://issuu.com/mavoice
The Marin Academy Voice is a student-run newspaper published free from faculty or administrative censorship or prior review. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the entire staff. Columns represent the views of the writer, not necessarily those of this paper. Letters to the editor and guest columns/articles are welcomed and encouraged. Editors reserve the right to edit for space and appropriateness. Please submit to voice@ma.org. The Voice is distributed to the entire school community (400 students and 50 staff members). Editors-in-Chief Neha Budhraja Max Weiss Managing Editor Annie Warner News Editor Olivia Lloyd Features Editor Sam Pritzker Op-Ed Editor Marshall Levensohn A&E Editor Avery Hale Copy Editors Lena Felton Julia Irwin Web Manager Greig Stein
Staff Elba Morales Faculty Advisor Mary Collie Scholastic Press Associations NSPA First Class 2008-current CSPA Gold Medalist 2008-current
8
Sports
February 10. 2012
The man behind the scandal: Paterno remembered Max Weiss Editor-in-Chief
Several weeks ago, one of the most, if not the most, legendary college football coaches of all time passed away after a short-lived battle with lung cancer. For many of you, Joe Paterno’s death would normally have gone unnoticed. After all, college football, and in particular Penn State’s college football team, does not exactly take on an oversized importance here at MA. But undoubtedly, most of you did indeed hear and take note of Paterno’s recent passing not because of his storied football career, but because of recent damning events. Paterno’s failure to report alleged child sexual abuse that occurred on Penn State’s campus by his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, forced Paterno out of the coach-
ing job he had held for almost 46 years and directed much public scrutiny towards a man that had previously been morally untouchable. The entire Paterno ordeal raises endless questions, but to me the most interesting one has to do with the role of coaches in young peoples’ lives. Despite the fact that I certainly do not exempt — as some in Penn State’s circles have — Paterno from the mistakes he made in not doing enough to prevent sexual abuse on campus, I do recognize that as a coach the man was everything that other budding athletes and I dream of. Paterno, in this sense, truly embodies the ideal of a coach-player relationship. As someone who has had plenty of coaches over the years, I certainly know the good ones from the bad ones. The best coaches challenge you, push you
Annie Warner
January 22, 2012: Paterno passes away after battling lung cancer
to your limits, make you better, and support you when you fall.
They are friends, teachers, and mentors all at once.
I know the importance of these types of coaches. A great coach can be one of the most formative people in an athlete’s life. As cliché as it comes off, a lot more than technique and strategy is learned from sports. Great coaches have the ability to build us into not only the type of athlete we want to be, but also the type of people we want to be. Let this be a call of sorts to our MA coaches: be like Paterno. No, obviously I’m not referring to the side of Paterno that we saw who lacked serious morality. I’m referring strictly to his transcendent work as a football coach over 61 years. There is a reason that all of Paterno’s former pupils still speak so glowingly of him, despite the scandal. He taught them more than just the game of football. Every single coach here has that opportunity.
Wild-captains of the issue take spring season by storm Peter Schneider
Julia Irwin Copy Editor
When and why did you start playing baseball? I started playing baseball when I was six, but my interest began when I was really young and my dad would take me to a lot of Giants games. The precision involved in every aspect of the game is something that really lured me in. What do you like best about baseball? What I like about baseball is that it is intense and keeps you on your toes. While baseball may not be as much of a constant high-energy game like basketball, it’s the nail-biting, 3-2 count, 7th inning clutch finishes that I live for. Who is your biggest rival? Obviously University is our number one rival but they haven’t beaten us in the last few years so we’re not too worried about them. Stuart Hall and Lick, however, have proven to be challenging opponents and it’s going to be one of our goals Olivia Lloyd this year to beat them, especially when the playBatter up! Schneider perfects his swing offs come around. Who has been you biggest inspiration in playing baseball? Someone who has really inspired me is Domingo Ayala. He has provided me with many words of wisdom and showed me how to play baseball like a champ. He ain’t no semi-pro.
Torie White
When and why did you start playing soccer? I started in first grade because I wanted to channel my inner hyper-energy into something useful, and I wanted to be cool, and my brother decided to start playing then, too. What position do you play? What is the best part about that position? Center forward. I get to score a lot of goals, and be on the receiving end of a lot of beautiful plays. It’s also raw that I have the least running-intensive position, apart from goalie. What would you consider to be your biggest motivation? The fact that I only play spring soccer - it’s my one season of the whole year, so I’m really motivated to make the most of it. Also, fans are a huge motivator. But most of all, it’s knowing the feeling of total satisfaction and glory when I score or win and being able to share that with my teammates. David Irwin Knowing I am capable of achieving that happiness White makes a mad dash for goal makes me work my hardest to get it. What do you like best about soccer? I like that everything else in life - stress, work, drama, whatever - falls away. When I’m playing, all that matters to me is the game and my teammates. It’s such a pure, physical, and focused time that I’ve never found in any other part of my life. I love it so much it’s hard to put into words.