SCDS Octagon December 2012 edition by The Octagon

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Former teacher battles dead pigs and dog attacks on his new farm

The heartbreak and redemption of a four-year soccer career

THEOctagon SCDSOCTAGON.COM

VOL. XXXVI, NO. 3

December 4, 2012

Alumni unaffected by Sandy

Points of Interest

No Advanced Topics

By Kamira Patel Page Editor

George

Washington

Senior Jianna Gudebski cracks up, while portraying Aunt Abby, as senior Nick Fesler makes an attempt at the old man’s voice of his character, Mr. Gibbs. Mr. Gibbs is one of the old men whom the Brewster aunts plan to kill out of pity. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

Murder, madness and missed lines: cast working overtime on new play By Annie Bell

Reporter

Junior Patrick Talamantes laughs at his missed line (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

See Sandy

BSAC gets new program coordinator By Connor Martin Page Editor

See Play

Goodfellas lunch program promises organic, handmade food at lower cost By Maxwell Shukuya

Reporter

oodfellas 4 Kids prevailed over two other

“What sets us apart from LunchMaster is our outstanding customer service and how our food is homemade.” —George Baratta, Goodfellas owner

See Breakthrough

See New Lunch

Chemistry teacher Alan Beamer is no longer offering his Advanced Topics class to sophomores. Advanced Topics, offered last year and the year before, was a zero-period class that taught students advanced material not covered in the regular curriculum. Beamer said he no longer has time to prepare for the early-morning class because he is teaching the Forensic Science elective and geometry, in addition to AP and regular chemistry. —Grant Miner

First Pacemaker since 2002 The 2011-12 Octagon won a Pacemaker, the “Pulitzer Prize of high-school journalism,” at the JEA/ NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 15-18. The paper has been a finalist for the award five times but won it only once before—2001-02. The Octagon also placed fourth in Best of Show in the 9-12 page category at the convention. In addition, juniors Darby Bosco, Ryan Ho, Connor Martin and Kamira Patel and senior Jeffrey Caves received individual awards in write-off contests. —Zoe Bowlus

Prodigal Student Crossing through the high-school quad, you might recognize a familiar face back on campus. Junior Alexa Griggs has returned. After eighth grade, Griggs left to attend Christian Brothers High School. But Griggs returned on Nov. 1. “I came back because I really like the environment, and the education is wonderful,” Griggs said. “I think the environment at CB isn’t as friendly and the kids aren’t as welcoming as the Country Day kids. It’s hard to be yourself at CB.” Griggs’s father, Chris, who also graduated from eighth grade here in 1983, encouraged Alexa to return. When her father was a student, he was taught by teachers Sue Nellis, Daniel Neukom and Patricia Fels, all of whom taught in the middle school then. —Micaela Bennett-Smith

2 Community

The Octagon

Catching up

December 4, 2012

What’s happening in the new lives of ‘old’ teachers

Former science teacher Joe Doherty sits with his wife, former Spanish teacher Laura Pedersen, and daughter Ella. (Photo courtesy of Doherty)

Doherty, Johnson find homes at new schools in Charlottesville, San Diego By Annie Bell

Reporter

h a t comes to your m i n d

ence class? What about

Former English teacher Danny Dineen rubs the back of one of his four pigs, Porker Posey, an eight-month-old Guinea Hog. (Photo courtesy of Dineen)

From students to hogs: Danny Dineen abandons education for agrarian lifestyle

tory? Well, if you were in either of these classes at Country Day before 2009, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” and Ellis Is land Day are two tradi tions you were one of And you were probably

Former history teacher Kristy Johnson and husband Dave pose with daughter Riley at a friend’s wedding. (Photo courtesy of Johnson)

from two teachers: Joe Doherty now coaches varsity

By Skovran Cunningham

Page Editor

Doherty moved to Charlottesville,

All these plants are fertilized by a compost pile

Cause of death? His brother’s German shepherd had chased the math and science at Tandem Friends which is a part of the Friends Coun

role as a teacher with her job as the Johnson’s husband accepted a po

Friends Council’s website, it em phasizes friendliness, mutual un

Currently the Dineens have

I wanted to have a kid and pursue my other

“We try to eat head to tail like the Native Americans and the buffalo.” —Danny Dineen

Of the four, two are female named Martha Plumpton and

Doherty said Tandem is simi lar to Country Day in many

“You can leave Country Day, but it’s always a part of you.” —Joe Doherty

job, Johnson ap plied for a teach now

teaches

Johnson miss

school, Tandem hosts more sports than students have time for

95 percent of its students are not

addition to academic excellence, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” to his classes, and Johnson admits that she values of service, simplicity, stew ardship, justice, community, and “You can leave Country Day, but it’s always a part of you,” Doherty

Water is pumped to the home from a well on the

Dineen

The Octagon

News 3

December 4, 2012

At left, Aunt Martha (Savannah Symister) and death in their home. Above, Mortimer Brewster (Eric Hilton) talks to his boss Al about the play he is reviewing. (Photos by Kelsi Thomas)

Play: working out the kinks in ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’

“A couple people have all their lines memorized. We goof around but we stay on task.” –Jianna Gudebski, senior

Garbage attracts unwelcome guests By Manson Tung

Breakthrough: sibling of CD alumnae gets new post

Reporter

A Musca domestica Ying Lo, BSAC program coordinator

one of the very sticky trash cans in the freshman quad. (Photo by Will Wright)

4 Sports

The Octagon

December 4, 2012

Boys clinch last-minute victory; girls win by 44 By Maddy Judd and Eric Hilton

Reporters

Girls’ Varsity Basketball For 12 years the girls’ varsity team has strug

Freshman Saachi Sikaria (right) battles for the ball in the girls’ varsity 60-16 win over Freedom Christian, Nov. 7. (Photo by Will Wright)

Boys’ Varsity Basketball

a little afraid, but once they started to compete, the rest took care of itself.” —David Ancrum, varsity boys’ coach

Senior Donald Huchinson shoots the game winning 3-pointer with six seconds to go, making the score 45-44. (Photo by Will Wright)

PE department cancels popular Cross-Fit elective due to finances By Emma Williams

Page Editor

Sophomore Aishwarya Nadgauda and senior Annie Bell start at the jump roping station, while senior basketball relays during last year’s Cross-Fit elective. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

Mary-Clare Bosco Senior Mary-Clare Bosco had 27 points in the Nov. 27 game against Freedom Christian as well as 15 rebounds and four assists. She is currently the leading scorer on the girls’ basketball team.

Donald Hutchinson Senior Donald Hutchinson made the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer during the varsity boys’ basketball game against Freedom Christian on Nov. 27. Hutchinson scored 21 points in the game.

The Octagon

Sports 5

December 4, 2012

PLAYOFFS

FALL

Above, seniors Natalie Polan (front) and Alison Walter embrace following their

Above, the boys’ varsity soccer team celebrates onship in four years at Cosumnes Oaks High School

ebrate their championship Top photo courtesy of Sarah Song, bottom photo by Alison Walter)

(Photo by Alison Walter)

At left, senior Jianna Gudebski goes airborne in the girls’ varsity volleyball section semifour sets against Turlock (Photo courtesy of Sarah Song)

At left, mothers Gretchen Reddy and Marci Gudebski react to the winning point scored against the girls’ varsity volleyball team by opponent Turlock (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

Boys’ soccer breaks playoff curse, wins Div. VII championship

or three long years the boys’ varsity soccer team was cursed, losing in the When the seniors began this year’s season, they did so with the understanding that there

Finally, three section title games, 45 er, however, and another bitter loss belonged

section championship banner to hang in the Sierra Ridge put up little resistance as the

By Morgan Bennett-Smith

Facing a tough opponent in Ripon Chris tian, once again Country Day bore down and The seniors would get a chance to put on

Commentary The championship game was eerily similar secured yet another championship game Elliot Christian put an end to the Cavs’ title But it was the same sad story in the cham pionship game, again against Millennium

in a position to redeem themselves against

}

Centerpoint SparkNotes can be a helpful homework and reading aid. However, some students use it to pass reading quizzes without even reading the book.

Due to the in-

only inappropriate content, the entire site is blocked. In addition, it uses up too much bandwidth.

students independently wrote SparkNotes should be unblocked

Unlike online websites, SCDS doesn’t censor library books.

}

students think YouTube should not be blocked

One of the school’s goals is to provide an academic environment. Facebook doesn’t meet this standard, the school says, as it is both non-educational and a potential distraction for students.

Reddit gets blacklisted

students think Facebook should not be blocked

Students protest websites blocked by school administration

If you’re a regular Reddit user, you know how to use the social news website: you can visit any section simply by adding its name to the URL. There’s reddit.com/r/aww for puppies, kittens and anything cute. Or when you’re in the mood for more raunchy content, simply replace “aww”

]] books have been removed from the highschool library since 1994

}

112

BANNED BOOKS?

In early September, Stephen King’s “Different Seasons” was removed from Rocklin High School’s library shelves

approved a parent’s wish to nix the book due to its “graphic rape scene,” according to the Sacramento Bee. The process of review began at the beginning of the school year; however, in October, Kevin Brown, Rocklin

over 18 years of age and behold pages of female Reddit users For those not familiar with the process, Reddit is a social news website where users post and comment on content encompassing any and every subject. Users post links (to images, videos, articles—literally anything) or written “self posts” in one of over 67,000 distinct sections (“subreddits”). Links are displayed based on age and popularity, so the newest submissions with the most “upvotes” appear at the top of the page. In addition, content is “completely new every two hours,” sophomore Alex Bushberg said. About 10 percent of highschool students say they visit the site daily, and 6 percent more visit at least a few times a month. But the site’s boundless content also led to it becoming blocked on the school’s network two weeks ago. “There’s so many things on there that are less than desirable,” Tom Wroten, director of technology, said. Bushberg suggested only the NSFW (Not Safe For Work) subreddits such as “gonewild” be blocked. cult—there are over 1000 distinct NSFW subreddits alone. —Garrett Kaighn

}

CENSORED The Octagon

“Unless it’s porn, don’t block it.”

By Garrett Kaighn

–Savannah Symister, junior

The “/r/funny” section of Reddit is the busiest section on the site with

6.5

million page views per day

275 thousand page views per hour

600 thousand individual visitors per day ***statistics from digitaltrends.com

CAMPUS PERSPECTIVE What sites do you think the school shouldn’t block?

“The Rubik’s Cube site is blocked, and I don’t understand why because it involves math. Its blocking category is “Games”— and should games be blocked? —Hunter Edelen, freshman

“Sporcle because it’s an educational site. If I’m done with my homework, I want to be able to entertain myself with a fun quiz.” —Emily Berke, freshman

committee’s decision because he said the call should have been made by a committee of districtwide representatives. The newly formed committee chose to keep the book on library shelves. Brown offered the complaining party the ability to appeal, and, if they do, they may take their argument to the school board. Although similar scenarios are occurring in other high schools in the Sacramento area (like Del Campo and Rio), censorship isn’t happening at Country Day, librarian Joanne Melinson said. And, to make that fact even more impressive, consider this: the majority of books read from sixth grade on in the curriculum are on banned-book lists. Here are a few of them from the classes of English teachers Brooke Wells, Lauren LaMay, Jane Bauman, Patricia Fels and Ron Bell: The Giver—Wells, 6th Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—Wells, 6th The House on Mango Street— LaMay, 7th Of Mice and Men—LaMay, 8th To Kill a Mockingbird—LaMay, 8th Lord of the Flies—Bauman, 9th Animal Farm—Bauman, 9th The Catcher in the Rye—Wells, 10th The Prince of Tides—Wells, 10th Things Fall Apart—Wells, 10th The Sun Also Rises—Fels, 11th Slaughterhouse-Five—Fels, 11th Catch-22—Bell, 12th Heart of Darkness—Bell, 12th —Madeleine Wright For a complete story, see www.scdsoctagon.com

}

Centerpoint SparkNotes can be a helpful homework and reading aid. However, some students use it to pass reading quizzes without even reading the book.

Due to the in-

only inappropriate content, the entire site is blocked. In addition, it uses up too much bandwidth.

students independently wrote SparkNotes should be unblocked

Unlike online websites, SCDS doesn’t censor library books.

}

students think YouTube should not be blocked

One of the school’s goals is to provide an academic environment. Facebook doesn’t meet this standard, the school says, as it is both non-educational and a potential distraction for students.

Reddit gets blacklisted

students think Facebook should not be blocked

Students protest websites blocked by school administration

]] books have been removed from the highschool library since 1994

}

112

BANNED BOOKS?

In early September, Stephen King’s “Different Seasons” was removed from Rocklin High School’s library shelves

}

CENSORED The Octagon

“Unless it’s porn, don’t block it.”

By Garrett Kaighn

–Savannah Symister, junior

The “/r/funny” section of Reddit is the busiest section on the site with

6.5

million page views per day

275 thousand page views per hour

600 thousand individual visitors per day ***statistics from digitaltrends.com

CAMPUS PERSPECTIVE What sites do you think the school shouldn’t block?

“The Rubik’s Cube site is blocked, and I don’t understand why because it involves math. Its blocking category is “Games”— and should games be blocked? —Hunter Edelen, freshman

“Sporcle because it’s an educational site. If I’m done with my homework, I want to be able to entertain myself with a fun quiz.” —Emily Berke, freshman

8 Editorial

The Octagon

December 4, 2012

By Aishwarya Nadgauda

My Angle Use the lockers; they’re there for a reason

EDITORIAL: school should keep promise to leave educational websites unblocked

e realize that SparkNotes was blocked for years before the school switched to a new blocking software. We realize that the school has blocked it again, and we realize why. But we realize one more thing. They are wrong. They were wrong to block it before, and they are wrong to block it now. SparkNotes is a legitimate educational tool that is helpful to students and does far more good than harm. The same could be said for the unblocked Wikipedia, and, in fact, the two are no different. They are both sites that are fundamentally intended for education, and even though they can be used to they are still useful. Yes, a student could escape doing their class reading by using SparkNotes, just as they could avoid indepth research by using only Wikipedia. But if they want an alternative to reading, they could just as easily use BookRags or GradeSaver or any of the hundreds and thousands of other sites dedicated to the same thing. Yes, a student could cheat on a quiz, especially one given on a laptop like those in sophomore English, using SparkNotes. But they could do the same thing with their notes or someone else’s.

If they could cheat just as easily using any site dedicated to book notes—why is SparkNotes alone being singled out? This cannot be a bandwidth issue, as is the case with YouTube. SparkNotes takes up no more bandwidth than any other text-based site. But most importantly, SparkNotes is an educational tool. It provides a massive resource for concise and easily understandable material that can be incredibly helpful to struggling students. Its summaries and analyses are valuable tools that when used as intended—to complement, supplement and enhance reading, not replace it. It could be abused and it has been, but that is not reason enough to deny students access to an educational resource. Isn’t educational material the one thing the school intends to provide with Wi-Fi? Isn’t that the reason they give for blocking thousands of other sites? They wish to provide only educational content through the school Wi-Fi, and they have every right to do so. But the administration also needs to be consistent in this policy—that means they shouldn’t deny students access to a useful educational resource simply because they fear it could be abused.

The Octagon Editors-In-Chief Jeffrey Caves Yanni Dahmani Madeleine Wright Copy Editor Garrett Kaighn Business Manager Jeffrey Caves News Editor Yanni Dahmani Editorial Editor Ryan Ho Community Editor Darby Bosco Sports Editors Micaela Bennett-Smith Morgan Bennett-Smith Skovran Cunningham Centerpoint Editor Madeleine Wright Opinion Editor Emma Williams Feature Editors Connor Martin

Kamira Patel Online Editor David Myers Photo Editors Kelsi Thomas Will Wright Reporters Annie Bell Zoe Bowlus Emma Brown Elise DeCarli Eric Hilton Madison Judd Grant Miner Aishwarya Nadgauda Max Shukuya Manson Tung Anthony Valdez Foreign Correspondent Margaret Whitney Cartoonist Shewetha Prasad Adviser Patricia Fels

The Octagon is published eight times a year by high-school journalism students of Sacramento Country Day School, 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, Calif. 95864. Phone: (916) 481-8811, ext. 347. Email: octagon@saccds.org, Web address: http://www. scdsoctagon.com.

Orchids

Onions

apers fluttering in the wind, drenched copies of “The Odyssey,” leftover lunches strewn across the ground. Despite having more than 160 lockers, SCDS students are unable to keep the quad in a decent state, particularly the freshman quad. Country Day has invested $25,000 in providing a safe, dry place for us to keep school supplies. Just this year the school added brand-new lockers and awnings to keep the lockers dry. Yet many high schoolers are incapable of turning their dials three times. A whole 30 seconds would be wasted in opening their lockers. Putting in that much time and effort into keeping our high school looking good? Unfathomable. Instead, they toss their belongings in their backpacks and on the quad tables. The backpacks are then clumped together at the base of the lockers. A little bit of initiative on the students’ side would go a long way. We might actually be able to see the floor in front of the lockers. But apparently the easier option is to leave textbooks, homework, laptops and calculators cluttering our own work area. As a result, students’ supplies go “missing.” And then they wonder how on earth their things disappear when they left them right in front of the lockers? Because of this carelessness, there is often a frantic search before class to borrow other people’s supplies. If a student needs a chemistry book and finds one lying in front of the lockers, it is so simple to “borrow” it. Thus, when that person whose chemistry book was borrowed needs a chemistry book, they pick up another one that happens to be lying there. And so it becomes a vicious circle. And let’s not forget how the changing weather affects our quad. November brought with it winter rains and wind that soaked homework, notes, handouts, books, lunches and laptops—brand new MacBook Airs that cost the school $1400 each. A pause in the rain reveals a dismal sight. The ink from our chemistry notes has bled, leaving a soggy paper dyed black. Copies of “Catcher in the Rye” are coverless, their pages glued together. Lunch bags are in bits and pieces, and soggy sandwich bags filled with who-knows-what lie beside them. And thank God for the TI-89s’ hard outer cases or they too would be ruined. If we weren’t quite so lazy and scatterbrained about our supplies and lockers, we might be able to keep our quad in decent shape. But that’s a long shot.

rchids to. . . everyone who contributed to the Dyer Kelly food drive, especially the seniors who now hold the Golden Can. But watch out! The juniors aren’t far behind.

nions to. . . the installment of railings in the high-school quad. We understand they’re necessary for legal issues, but now Ms. Bartarseh can’t even open her windows fully.

rchids to. . . the change in the Auction’s raffle ticket system. Now students can participate in the Auction—and even win grand prizes, such as gift cards!

nions to. . . lack of participation in the Annual Fund Drive. Just look at the graph below the sign board: three out of four grades in high school are under 50 percent.

The Octagon

Opinion 9

December 4, 2012

By Jeffrey Caves

Cooking in the Cave

After a difficult science lab, you work with a non-lab partner on your report. The two of you work on questions together and compare answers.

Collaboration or Cheating?

Your friend asks you to email her your history notes (even though both of you were in class) because she knows your notes studying are more for specific. You send them to friend her. While a history test, your asks you

to email her your own notes (even though both of you

Revisiting the root

here is nothing quite like a pan of dark, richly browned root vegetables. They absorb every lingering flavor of the juices from whatever else you may be roasting and perfectly complement a chicken, leg of lamb, or anything else large and meaty. Root vegetables are peasant food in the most glorious sense—rich, rustic, simple and intensely flavored. Now granted, a few million starving medieval peasants might disagree, and I might agree with them after a few years of nothing but potatoes with only the occasional turnip and a sprinkling of misery to liven things up. But, thanks to industrial scale agriculture, we get to enjoy them as the French (our culinary lords and saviors) intended—with meat, butter and herbs. I have admittedly written on this topic before, two years ago for the online edition. And in no way do I wish to diminish the gratitude I have to all three of the people who likely read it. But I feel that the noble root is worthy of still more coverage. It is winter after all, when root vegetables are at their best. The root is emblematic of winter—the rich savoriness, the caramelized sweetness of a perfectly roasted carrot, potato or parsnip. Most think of potatoes if they think of the poor root at all. But as much as I love the tuber, there is infinitely more that the root family offers. A pan of carrots and parsnips, fennel and celery root, gently roasting, caramelizing with nothing but salt, pepper and olive oil is nothing short of sublime. Experiment with the root vegetable, I beg you. Walk through the aisles of a market and find something root-like, and I’ll bet that with enough heat and a roasting hunk of meat, it will taste unexpectedly good.

Five minutes before a class, you realize you haven't done the last question on your math homework because you didn't understand it. You do, however, after your friend explains it. You don't have time to actually do the problem on your own, so you copy the key numbers for the problem.

87%

13%

85%

15%

35%

65%

124 of 138 high-school students polled

Millennials change cheating’s definition

recently read an article in The New York Times entitled “Stuyvesant Stu dents Describe the How and the Why

Those who would strictly enforce a col

and said what had been on my mind since the

By Madeleine Wright

Commentary

is a way of banding together against a system

and test advice in a common understanding

tory homework and another student does be

Country

Day

would

condone

section devoted to the issue says

English teachers ask students

cial is As

currency academic Karina

everybody un derstood it was wrong to take

And the cheating described in the story is on The kids there seem to have it down to a

And suddenly the New York cheaters and

students who have been cheating their entire

homework

assign

“The culture surrounding the act, just like the

Once I was in a class where a teacher saw a stu in an environment where every single kid is

ically asked students to turn in handwrit And so we return to the idea of collabora The story even

And the boy was asked to

Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with Sage 8 carrots, cut into 1 in. pieces 4 parsnips, peeled and cut into ½ in. cubes 1 celery root, peeled and cut into 1 in. cubes 12 large sage leaves, finely minced 2 tbsp. olive oil salt and pepper Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the sage, parsnips, carrots and celery root with the oil and sage. Salt and pepper the mixture heavily. Roast the vegetables in a heavy ceramic or glass roasting pan—or in the pan with any sort of hearty roasted meat— for 45 min. or until the vegetables are soft and browned.

So is working together on homework cheat

his chances of getting into a good college The majority of SCDS students would label Is it really worth

Making connections between people and homes for over 20 years. Nancy Reid & Richard Price

10 Remainder

The Octagon

December 4, 2012

Sandy: alumnae face power outages, gas lines (Continued from page 1)

station. Josh Borg, ’90, waited over an hour

Siragusa agrees there was no reason to cancel school. “The storm that we had in July was worse than Hurricane Sandy because we actually lost power,” Siragusa said. country practice despite the cancellation of school. experience as “underwhelming.” Currently attending Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y, Jackman was expecting something memorable but got exactly the opposite. “We did not lose power, we did not have not cancelled,” he said.

upstate New York, he said. “I got a few friends together and we went

County, N.J. the oil embargo,” he said. “Many folks waited Borg lost power for seven days because of extremely high winds. Given no power and below freezing temperatures, Borg decided to drive an hour away to stay at a hotel for a couple of days until a generator could be secured to run heat in his house. also went out, and classes were cancelled for a week. The only place students at NYU could charge phones and get hot food was at the Kimmel Center on campus. “It’s a madhouse in here. It feels like liter ally every student at NYU is trying to snag the last wall plug in the building,” Camille

Getz said that she had to wait in line for The greatest inconveniences for many alumni were the loss of power and the wait about 30 minutes to get food, and when she got to the front of the line, it looked like a in line for gas. homeless shelter. In Manhattan, Victo “They were just ria Loustalot, ’03, lost pushing students power around 6 p.m. “ People on our block through a line and the night that Sandy hit giving them all the land. were selling coffee “People on our block from their home pots Getz said. “It’s pretty for $10 a cup—like much our one meal a day that they’ll give adult lemonade stands. ” us; we’re expected to onade stands,” Loust eat the food that we –Victoria Loustalot, ‘03 alot, who lives in the stocked up on during West Village, said. the day.” “In any other neigh After about three borhood, they probably or four days without power, many students free of charge. But not in the West Village.” evacuated to escape the cold temperatures Sydney Wasserman, ’03, who currently and to get water. Getz was one of them, going up to lives in Greenwich Village, also experienced Barnard College for a night and then staying a power outage that lasted for a week. She stayed with her cat and a powerful in the house of the CEO of JCrew with her cousin. going to the gym uptown to shower. Wasserman said she was most surprised

Manhattan, New York Residents check out the aftermath of the storm in the East Village moments before the power substation blew and the neighborhood lost electricity. At right, a fallen roof top in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, lies on the sidewalk in front of the building of Sydney (Top photo used with permission of Creative Commons, right photo courtesy of Wasserman)

West Harlem, New York Although damage was minimal in this part of Manhattan, the NYFD worked to clean up debris left from the storm, including a building’s facade brought down by winds. (Photo used with permission of Creative Commons)

At the CEO’s house she had housekeeping service and private chefs.

New lunch: decline in ordering prompted shift to local company (Continued from page 1)

Goodfellas, while three preferred the older program. Despite preferring Goodfella’s lunches, only 10 high schoolers order from the new provider.

Goodfellas owner, George Baratta, said he cooks everything himself and purchases the majority of the ingredients at the local farmers market, he said. more of a variety of entrée choices and more options,” Baratta employs about four others that help with Esmail said. delivery and packaging. “What sets us apart entrees while LunchMaster from LunchMaster is our outstanding customer “The popcorn chicken was service and how our food is good. The food doesn’t a larger meal. Each meal homemade,” he said. Almost all of Baratta’s taste as fake (anymore)” comes with either fresh lunches are made from fruit, vegetables or a healthy –Patrick Talamantes, junior snack and a beverage. scratch and almost all of the food is organic, he said. Baratta also explained that everything is cooked the For birthdays, Goodfellas day it is served and is never has the option for cupcakes reheated. or birthday boxes that include “three fun items” and Talamantes agrees that the food is an improvement. a cupcake. “The popcorn chicken was good. The food doesn’t Snacks, provided by the Parents’ Association in the past, have been discontinued and will not be provided In an Octagon poll four students preferred by the new program.

Lisa Wible Wright The Nadgauda Family

Sutcliffe LLP The Martin Family

We thank

Lee Tait The Kong Family

The Myers Family The Williams Family

The Octagon

December 4, 2012

Predictable presents: By Elise DeCarli

Reporter

Feature 11 Annual hippos, butterflies & Lego Starships become too much “(The rabbits) started out as lovely gifts, but then they just got to be too much.” —Jane Gillette, teacher

“My parents still give (Legos) to me even though I tell them every year not to.” —Eric Hilton, junior

Illustration by Kamira Patel

Dineen: self-sufficiency is goal for ex-teacher

Photo courtesy of Dineen)

12 Feature

The Octagon

December 4, 2012

“Skull”

“I got this idea from a famous designer— Alexander McQueen. He really likes to do his designs with death, such as skulls and skeletons. I was inspired by him and tried to do something from him in order to glorify him. The skull I was modeling after had its tongue out; that’s why the inside of the shoe is red. This one was actually really hard to make because it required a special type of vegetable-tanned leather. I used that leather to cut up the pattern of the skull. I needed to heat it up and play with it like clay. It cools down really quickly, so I had to heat it up again and wait for it to cool.”

“Hip - Hop ” “I really like this one. I was inspired by the pop culture in general. The side of the shoes is a headphone design. I used strong metal colors such as gold and silver to represent pop culture. The wigs represent the black singers’ in China, so I bought a straight-hair wig. I used a curling iron, hair wax and hair spray to make the hair frizzy. It took me a while—I’m not a hair designer.”

“Yin Yang” “I got this idea from the Yin Yang pattern. High-heeled shoes are a Western idea, and I was trying to combine it with the Asian culture. Each one of the pairs is different because Yin Yang in Chinese means ‘balance’ and I was trying to balance the color scheme. It was hard to hold the leather on the shoe last because the leather was very soft. But compared to the other ones, this one was easier.”

“The Changeable” “I got this idea from an iPhone case. For iPhone cases, we can switch them all the time depending on our moods. With this pair of shoes, you can change the straps. I’ve made blue and orange ones, and if this pair was for sale, we could just sell the straps themselves. The hard part of making this pair was how I was going to put the straps on the shoes because I didn’t have room there. I needed to put the buttons on the shoes, so I added extra leather, which was unusual. I designed it for a special someone.”

“Bandages” “I got this idea from bandages and mummies. There was a worker at my father’s factory who broke his arms and couldn’t work for a few days. This was based on a pair of normal leather shoes. I had to cut the strips of leather and bind them myself. I used hot glue, so I had strips before I put them on. I chose gray on the outside and turquoise on the inside because they form an interesting contrast.”

Tommy Peng—he’s a ‘sole’ man

ther is the owner of the factory.

with glue or staples. According to Peng, gluing the leather in place was RADDISSHMe. a very easy step to make mistakes, and when mistakes Though he eventually wants to design all kinds of were made, the shoes were sometimes placed into the clothing and accessories, Peng decided shoes were a oven to melt the glue or the refrigerator to cool the good place to start. shoes or hold their shapes. By the end of that internship, Peng had designed Next, Peng placed the outer soles on top of the in ner soles. including one that was inspired by the Water Cube “Folding the extra leather underneath the inner sole was the hardest part because you need to stretch In 2012, Peng wanted to go a step further. it really hard or otherwise the shoes would look loose “After I learned the designing aspect, I wanted to when you take out the shoe last,” he said. “The shoes know how shoes are actually made,” he said. Peng also thought he could use this opportunity to Then he had to attach the heels, which was done by sticking a screw into the bottom back of the shoes First, Peng had to create 20 shoe designs. He took ideas from everything around him and sketched the with their individual designs. Making the shoes was no easy task, Peng said, piece of paper. especially when he had to choose materials himself Ten designs were chosen, and of those, four were from the huge material market. eliminated for being unrealistic. grades, I do care about the little mistakes of my de Peng simply gave the six remaining designs to the signs,” he said. “masters” of the factory, who handmade the proto But Peng sees the process as a necessary experi types while showing Peng every step. ence. “If you want to be a designer, you have to go

closer to his childhood dream of becoming a designer. Peng has been a talented art student for many years.

types.

By Ryan Ho Senior Tommy Peng weaves through a crowd of people in the vast market in Guangzhou, China, in search of his desired merchandise. Peng glides past exotic leathers, fabrics and animal arrive at a stand where he purchases some leathers. He pauses and mentally checks his shopping list.

Peng hops on a bus. On the way home, he thinks about how to assemble Over the summer, Peng interned at a shoe facto learned how to make high heels. To others, it may seem like Peng did it for fun, as

In summer of 2011 Peng was also in Guangzhou, in

ums,” art teacher Patricia Kelly said. “He has a good eye for composition and design.”

“Art is a scaled thing,” he said. “You borrow ideas from images and use them to tell a story. “In design, you express the idea with a story of the product, the story that you want to tell people, the story that is too strong to be expressed through words.”

high heels that he made last summer. design.

as disappointing. Peng then decided to get involved himself.

the versions of the shoes that he was happy with. Peng debuted the six pairs of high heels to Jane Brady, the assistant director of undergraduate admis sion at California College of the Arts, Oct. 23, and received praise. “I was immediately impressed with the sculptural elements and craftsmanship,” Brady said in an email.

he must have had someone else produce them. To my surprise he had produced them himself! “It is uncommon to see functional sculpture in a freshman portfolio.” Peng hopes to receive similar praise when he ap Then, he put the cardboard over a piece of leather plies to Parsons The New School for Design in New took the leather, put them on the shoe last and bound And in the future, Peng plans on working with fa the extra leather to the bottom of the inner shoe sole mous fashion houses before building his own.