Letter From the Editors As yet another school year rises on the horizon, we at Pulse would like to welcome all of our students both new and old - to campus. With another year comes new classes and a reset on school life as a whole, and our stories this issue strive to capture CCA’s identity as a school. From answers to some of CCA’s most frequently asked questions (answered concisely, with just a pinch of spice by Izzy Ster) to a terrifyingly accurate quiz produced by Emily Gao on which CCA founding staff member you’re the most similar to, we hope to cover every nook and cranny of what makes us Ravens. However, our pieces this issue are not without a more wide-reaching scope: take a look at Ella Lifset’s summary of the recent Hong Kong protests, while Alex Reinsch-Goldstein brings a spotlight to satirical political parties with charming names like “Official Monster Raving Loony Party,” among others. From the realm of social media, Maxine Mah examines why Facebook is declining in popularity, while our layout team mixes up the issue with a feature on art from our very own Mr. Sevilla! Throughout this issue, we have featured the work of CCA’s own student artists. Joyce Yang highlights the fun and enthusiasm that the autumn season brings, while Angela Zhang’s companion to the wellness column provides an atmosphere of calm and tranquility. The layout team has been hard at work this issue, pushing the boundaries of each story with photo mosaics and expertly-framed photography. With great excitement for what the future holds in store, we here at Pulse are honored to present Pulse, Volume 15, Issue 1. Stay weird, CCA.
Sincerely,
Emily Gao and Justin Wang
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Homeroom...What Do We Think About It?
CCA FAQ
Speed Limit: 16
Rise Up
Heaven’s Gate
What Do You Do in Humanities? Stranger Than Politics
What CCA Founding Staff Member Are You?
Facebook Facelift Mr. Sevilla’s Corner
2019-2020 NBA Season Preview
To The National Rifle Association
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Homeroom...
What Do We Think About It?
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By Angela Zhang
“Homeroom? Wait, what?” “So, what is the new advisory thing?” “Hey, who is your Homeroom teacher?” “What do we even do in Homeroom?” “Do we have to memorize a new bell schedule?” “Is this a prank?” These questions echoed in the hallways of Canyon Crest Academy as the implementation of a new advisory class was introduced at the beginning of the year. Homeroom, which takes place on most Fridays, is designed for teachers to show a weekly episode of CCA-TV, share key information with students, lead discussions, and engage in socio-emotional learning. With a mix of all grade levels, this short thirty-five minute period is the newest addition to CCA culture. But what are everyone’s thoughts about homeroom? Is this new change creating a more relaxed, enjoyable environment for students? After surveying a mix of students from each grade, here is what everyone has to say about homeroom. Although the idea of it is new to everyone, students enjoyed different experiences of homeroom. “I thought it was a good breather and a great opportunity to meet new people,” said Sanjana Sambhwani, a current junior. Each homeroom class has a mix of all grade levels, this gives students a chance to interact with people they usually do not get a chance to talk to. In fact,
in Mrs. Bryant’s homeroom, an activity was organized where lowerclassmen asked the upperclassmen questions they had for their upcoming high school year. Juniors and seniors then gave them some advice and lessons they had learned throughout their high school careers. Through these kinds of activities, homeroom becomes a special place where many students are able to benefit and learn from their fellow peers. It creates a friendly atmosphere and encourages communication and collaboration between students. However, it is also inadvertently putting pressure on new freshmen. Caroline Yao expressed how “it is awkward and I do not know anyone, so I feel
“I thought it was a good breather and a great opportunity to meet new people,” nervous and anxious meeting new people.” Although the first few weeks were all devoted towards twenty-plus different ice-breaker activities that may have seemed menial and pointless, Amanda Zhang (junior) states how she thinks “it will be a lot more fun when everyone gets past that and students in each class are able to share a unique bond with each other.” Despite the positive feedback, some students also raised concerns about the idea and process of homeroom. “Right now, I am not a fan of homeroom because we cannot use the time to do our homework,” says Praneet Varade, Junior. When homeroom
was first introduced, many thought that this would be a productive time where they can get some work done, or to simply do some studying. Many saw a thirty-five-minute class period as an opportunity for them to relieve some stress from classes. “CCA kids are busy people, many of us are taking AP classes that have a heavy workload,” and “the fact that we are not allowed to do homework is somewhat frustrating.” Time is eventually going to add up, and “having that extra time in class is probably more helpful,” states sophomore Amanda Chen. The frustration and concern from students stem from the fact that it was not the expected “study hall” type class. Certainly, socio-emotional learning and discussions about wellness are important things that can help students reduce stress and seek ways to become more productive. However, with the busy CCA schedule, it is understandable how some students wished more time to study was given to them, as a way to relieve their workload. Homeroom’s introduction to the CCA student body has generated mixed reviews from different people. While some wish for different ways to promote wellness, homeroom nonetheless creates an environment for more student bonding and emotional support.
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C CC CA A FF A AQ Q by Izzy Ster
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Will you ever have a football team? It is highly unlikely that we will have a football team but if you’re looking to live out the cliché high school experience, there’s always overpriced Torrey Pines tickets to partake in the age-old gladiatorial ritual of football on Friday nights. In the end, we’ll be perpetually undefeated since ‘04! How does the four by four schedule work? It’s pretty simple: there are four classes this semester and then at the end of January, every student gets four new ones. Have to suffer through AP Chemistry? The periodic table of elements will be your best friend for five (admittedly long) months. Does the kid who asked you to freshman homecoming sit next to you in math? You only have to deal with their longing stares for five more months. Do you have a pool? It depends on who you ask. Most of the staff and students will say no; however, there is one teacher on campus who may say different. Make sure to ask Mr. Malanga about the pool on the roof. What are conservatories? The Envision Conservatories are after-school classes for select students who are passionate about different mediums of art. Such include singing, instrumental music, fine arts, dance, theater, and humanities. For six hours a week, you can find EVA kids following Bob Ross tutorials, instrumental music kids banging instruments together to make some pretty noise, humanities kids holed up in the media center doing whatever it is they do, vocal kids soprano-ing, dance kids rehearsing eight-counts for their
upcoming showcase, and theater kids holding skulls while reciting Shakespeare monologues.
balance a conservatory, extracurriculars, and QUEST with one lab internship. Just the norm.
Why are the students so stressed out if you’re “The Arts School”? College Board! College Board! College Board!
Where is your cooking class? There’s one at Torrey Pines, but I personally would rather gorge on three-month-old Strawberry PopTarts from the vending machine in front of the gym than some halfbaked, salmonella-infested chocolate chip cookies.
Where are some popular places to go off during lunch? Most students just opt to go to the Village across the street to get some mac and cheese from Panera and vegan fruit snacks from Trader Joe’s (which is an absolute atrocity and another conversation entirely). Another hotspot is the Highlands, where although the risk of seeing Torrey students runs high, many students take their chances and head to Panda Express for some “authentic” orange chicken anyways. A little further is Pavilions, popular for their chicken tenders; many students tempt the jealousy of their third period peers and sometimes even their teachers. For braver souls, Chick-Fil-A is doable to a certain extent and, of course, there is the urban legend of the senior that made it to Cane’s in Santee during extended lunch. However, “going off” is only an option for upperclassmen unless lowerclassmen find a way to beat around the Busch. Is everyone is an over-achieving young adult? Believe it or not, not everyone at CCA took Calculus at age nine and is currently juggling fourteen AP classes while balancing Science Olympiad, Speech & Debate, Key Club, Yearbook, and two lab internships. We are less intense than that, don’t worry. Most of us took calculus at age thirteen, not nine, and are taking seven AP classes, not fourteen, while only having to
What is your mascot? Rupert the Raven. Why Rupert? I’m not exactly sure. Maybe someone else should have written this article. What is the advisory class? A safe space for students to engage in socio-emotional learning, counseling presentations, and CCA TV. In all honesty, most students do not know the answer to this question yet and some might say the advisory class is a safe space for more awkward icebreaker games. If you don’t have football games, how does your student body bond? Cramming for a third-period test in the Media Center at lunch. Comedy Sportz games on Friday nights. Hanging out in the Nest freshman year. Going to Chick-FilA during lunch at an ungodly speed. Riding in the back of Hector’s cart across the quad. Fighting each other for the leaderboard in Kahoot. Pretending to understand fall sports as we cheer our friends on. Herding the Rainbow Stairs alongside what seems to be the entire population of California during passing period. We make it work, sans the pom-poms and helmets.
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Speed Limit: 16 by Justin Wang Driver’s licenses, the quintessential sign of maturity and adulthood for adolescents, are no longer as ubiquitous as they once were. Teenagers across the nation are instead waiting longer until finally racking up enough practice hours to finally pass the threshold. But why? Why are so many of us including CCA students waiting to get our licenses? What has happened to the culture of independence and maturity that a car implies? Part of the answer may stem from the identity CCA has as a school; with students piling on APs, extracurriculars, and more, many just can’t find time to complete the license training. Leonard Fan, a senior who is currently racking up the practice hours many find so time-consuming, started driving not for independence, but to take the 8
stress away from his parents. “I wanted to be able to get to places without asking ‘Can you drive me here or drive me there’,” he says. However, Fan admits that he “does like driving”, but the independence and enjoyment were never his primary motivations. Similar sentiments are shared across the senior class. Many feel that a license is a necessity later in life, for identification and transportation, but have no urgency in completing the process. One senior, who hasn’t started the learning process, is waiting “until [she turns] 18, so [she] can skip the initial class.” Consistent with the trend, even those that don’t have licenses found it easy to get rides from others. Eric Han, an alumnus who waited until he was 18 before starting the process, was able to either bike, walk, or hitch a ride
to wherever he needed to go. Although Han needed to “deprioritize some things, since I didn’t have reliable transportation to those activities,” he felt no pressing need to have reliable long-range transportation. Teachers, having experienced the some of the hype surrounding licenses, have noticed this change, and are as intrigued as ever. Many CCA teachers shared a much different cultural view of driver’s licenses during their driver’s education, attributing cars to freedom. Although most teachers Pulse spoke to used their license for similar things to today’s students, like “In-n-Out and [going to] the beach,” the majority of the teachers interviewed acquired their license much sooner than CCA students today. Some teachers hypothesize
that teenagers are shifting to believe that “experiences are more valuable than possessions,” explaining that the rise of social media, streaming services, and online markets are emphasizing consuming, but not owning: “why go and physically explore places when you can just access it and watch through social media?” or “why bother studying for a license when you can just hire someone to drive you to places?” In some aspects, teachers believe that this is beneficial: party culture and peer pressure can lead to underage drinking and drug use that can compromise a teenager’s ability to drive; ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft offer much safer alternatives in such situations. Another possible explanation offered was the possibility of CCA’s hyper-academic culture, where students are “so busy with extracurriculars they don’t have time” to complete the licensing process. Mr. Malanga, an English teacher here at CCA, shares similar sentiments. Much like his friends at the time, Malanga was “itching to get [his] license at sixteen so that [he] could hang out at UTC [with his friends].” Malanga also mentions how driving, to many, was a symbol of freedom especially as pre-driving communication was limited to a landline (yes, those thousand-yearold artifacts of technology) and constant parental nagging and scrutiny. However, mirroring current CCA students, the vast majority of Malanga’s commutes were focused on errands like picking up his sister, going to the store, and commuting to and from school. Malanga attributes the changing culture surrounding cars and driving to social media, saying that now that “teens have the world on
their devices,” they feel less motivation to meet friends in person or explore the outdoors. Despite the changing times, Malanga maintains that physically engaging in the world around is far more rewarding and eating a “chimichanga in Tijuana” is always better than “looking at a Google picture of one.” However, accounts of the past cultural significance of licenses by Malanga and other teachers seem different than the current viewpoints of CCA students. To reconcile these differences, a survey was conducted to gain responses from multiple classes in all grade levels to gather more insight into this shift in priorities. As expected, many fifteen and sixteen-year-olds still have yet to get their license, but surprisingly many students aged fifteen have yet to even start the process. Another notable trend in the data demonstrates that the projected or current usage of licenses is much more similar to Mr. Malanga’s daily commutes: errands and commuting to and from school take up the majority of this category. However, coming in a close second is “Driving to hang out with friends,” implying that CCA students continue to value the freedom that driver’s licenses gives. An interesting development across ages is visible in the steadily increasing frequency of “Driving to hang out with friends” as students get closer to their permit, possibly signifying a change in the significance of a license. Similarly, across all age groups surveyed, the cultural significance of driver’s licenses mostly lies in the range from 7 to 10 when asked on a 1 to 10 scale how important driver’s licenses are to a high schooler ten
being most important and one being the least important. However, there are small differences between ages younger students often rated drivers licenses as less impactful, selecting ratings between 6 and 8 rather than the 9s and 10s commonly seen in students aged 16 and 17. Taken together, this data suggests an interesting trend surrounding the perception of licenses reversed from earlier years of hype surrounding the 16-year-oldbirthday, those that likely already have their licenses ( 16 and 17-year-olds) have valued them as more important compared to those that have still yet to get behind the wheel. As social media and apps like Uber and Lyft are becoming more and more popular, CCA students are less urgently anticipating the infamous DMV appointment on their sixteenth birthday. Although the stereotype of top-down convertibles filled with rowdy sixteen-year-olds may be quickly fading from highways across San Diego, driving still remains a cornerstone of both practical and cultural importance. The significance of a license, a tangible proof of the ability to not only handle yourself, but a threethousand pound hunk of metal, still symbolizes a huge milestone on the journey to adulthood. And, despite the ever-changing circumstances of today’s world, the experience of driving down Del Mar Heights Road, blasting your favorite song and singing along with your friends (with varying degrees of vocal success) remains a rare moment of freedom in CCA’s constant atmosphere of testing and academic stress.
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RISE
UP by Ella T. Lifset
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Airport demonstrations. Police and protestor violence. Tear gas raining from the sky. Many of us have seen the videos or headlines covering the recent Hong Kong protests that began in late March of 2019. But why exactly are the people of Hong Kong protesting? The history of Hong Kong is one rooted in independence. Hong Kong used to be a colony of Britain until 1997, thereby leading to the adoption of British customs, such as due process and other democratic values. Citizens of Hong Kong identify as culturally separate from the Chinese mainland, seeing themselves as a hybrid of Eastern and Western culture. However, China’s policies often put them at odds with Hong Kong’s democratic ideals. In early 2019, an extradition bill the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) 2019 Bill was proposed, which would help to establish laws regarding the extradition and detainment of Hong Kong criminals outside of Hong Kong. The bill also
However, China’s policies often put them at odds with Hong Kong’s democratic ideals. specified that Taiwan and Macau, other special administrative regions of China, could send criminals to be tried in the Chinese justice system on a case-by-case basis. However, many in Hong Kong expressed concerns over the bill and how it would bring the autonomous
territory further under mainland Chinese law. What began as a small demonstration by the Civil Human Rights Front, a pro-democracy organization based in Hong Kong, soon became a massive movement. On June 16th, the largest protest in the history of the country took place. On July 7th, thousands of demonstrators in Kowloon, an area in Hong Kong, marched and marked the first major instance of Chinese mainland coverage. On August 5th, a worker strike led police to use around 800 tear gas canisters, a record number in Hong Kong. August 25th marked the first time a live bullet was fired (as opposed to previously used rubber or bean bag bullets) from an officer warning attacking protestors, while October 1st was the first time a live bullet was fired directly at a protestor. The protests have since continued with no sign of abating. Peaceful demonstrations have inevitably escalated towards violence. Perhaps the most notable aspect of these demonstrations is the resistance the government has shown due to the growing number and size of the protests. The first front, and the most obvious, is led by the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). Dozens of videos have been posted online of police, armed with riot gear, tear gas, and water cannons, inflicting violence against the demonstrators. Of course, it should be noted that the protestors have begun to utilize violence as well, with arsenals comprising of steel rods and Molotov cocktails. This aggressive aspect of the protests is being highlighted by the Chinese mediathe second front of the government resistance.
Disinformation, or the deliberate spread of false information, is especially common in this modern age of connectedness through social media. The Great Firewall of China, or China’s method of internet curation and regulation, has specifically targeted Hong Kong with inaccurate news material. When a woman’s eye was injured by a projectile in August, China responded rapidly with assurances that the woman was struck by a fellow protestor, as opposed to the police. This spread of false information, however, has become yet another incentive for protestors to oppose mainland China’s policies. Although there is no primary leader of the protests, five specific demands have been outlined by the demonstrators: the withdrawal of the extradition bill, the release of arrested protestors, the government to discontinue the usage of the word “riot” when referring to the demonstrations, an investigation into police behavior, and greater democratic liberty in Hong Kong. On September 4th, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam officially withdrew the extradition bill, but there has been no move from the government to meet the other stipulations, thereby provoking citizens to continue the protest. Ultimately, the demonstrations in Hong Kong have inarguably risen past the proposed extradition bill and have become a battle of principle: a struggle for democracy
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Heaven’s Cults. Instantly, our minds jump to backward thinking, weakminded psychos living in the smalltowns of Alabama or South Dakota. Not San Diego. Not Rancho Santa Fe. But San Diego has been home to its own Jim Jones tragedy: Heaven’s Gate. When Marshall Applewhite, son of Presbyterian minister, first met Bonnie Nettles, a married nurse of 44 years, his life was in shambles. He had been fired from his position as a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston over an alleged relationship with one of his male students and had just divorced his wife, with whom he shared two children. Confused about many aspects of his life, including his sexual identity (as some reports state) and in the midst of a nervous breakdown, Applewhite stumbled across Nettle during a visit to his sick friend in March 1972, an encounter that would change their lives forever. The pair grew close rather quickly. Together they studied the life of St. Francis of Assisi, read through works by Helena Blavatsky and R.D. Laing, and analyzed parts of the New Testament. Applewhite also immersed himself in science fiction where he read works by authors like Arthur C. Clarke. During this period of investigation, the two were able to merge their rather outlandish ideas into one and, 12
by 1974, had laid down the foundation for the cult we now know as Heaven’s Gate. Applewhite and Nettle considered themselves specifically chosen to carry out the fulfilled biblical prophecies and believed they possessed a higher-level mind than other people. They also concluded that they were the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation and hinted at the fact that Applewhite was a reincarnation of Jesus. To garner support for their theology, Applewhite and Nettle created pamphlets and visited spiritual gatherings to discuss their ideas in which they referred to themselves as The Two or The UFO Two. They preached that in an event called The Demonstration, they would be killed, resurrected, and board a spaceship to reach “The Next Level” or, in other words, heaven. Their teachings, however, were poorly received by the existing religious communities. It may have been this encounter that convinced Applewhite and Nettle that evil space aliens called Luciferians, who possessed space-time travel, telepathy, and increased longevity among other attributes, had corrupted all existing religions, utilizing holograms to perform miracles and presenting themselves as God to the Earthlings. Despite their failure to convert major religious organizations, the pair continued in their search for posting advertisements for meetings
where they recruited disciples. In these meetings, Applewhite and Nettles posed as extraterrestrial beings who sought participants for an experiment that would bring them to a “higher evolutionary level,” which they themselves claimed to have already reached. The two garnered much attention from both supporters and naysayers. At its peak, Heaven’s Gate consisted of nearly 200 members from which Do and Ti, Applewhite’s and Nettle’s aliases, weeded out their followers so that only the most dedicated and obedient remained. However, due to increasing public scrutiny, the pair kept a low profile, sending their existing members out as missionaries to convert more individuals. In 1975, “the crew” (another name for followers of Applewhite and Nettle) gathered at a hotel in Waldport, Oregon. After Do and Ti being required the crew to sell all their worldly possessions, vanished from their hotel and the public eye. For several years, the group lived on campsites, avoiding the detection of authorities. Do and Ti experimented with unusual diets and practices with their followers. They forbade sex, drinking, and smoking for the members, for beings in “The Evolutionary Level Above Human” (TELAH) did not engage in such practices. All members were required to wear baggy clothing and have
Gate By Isabella Kwon short hair to mask gender and sexuality. In the 1980s, the group moved back indoors, renting houses in several regions. Some members even acquired jobs under fake names. It was around this time that Bonnie Nettle tragically passed away from cancer. The death of his friend and fellow leader hit Applewhite hard. Not only was this an emotional blow, but it also brought into
“In 1997, with the Hale-Bopp comet drawing closer and closer, the Heaven’s Gate members prepared for their ascension.” question the basis of the cult which required Nettle to act as a guide to the Next Level. This pushed Applewhite to modify the teachings so that the leaving of consciousness from the body equated to the boarding of a spacecraft in entering the Next Level. The group was against suicide, since they defined it as turning away the Next Level. In the early 1990s, Heaven’s Gate began producing a series of videos titled Beyond Human Last Call that detailed the practices of Heaven’s Gate and the Next Level. They also took out ads worldwide, urging people to join them.
In addition to videos and advertisements, the cult had generated a website and were running a successful computer business which they used to reach out to a wider audience. They encouraged others to leave to the Next Level with them. At this point, Applewhite had already made arrangements for their ascending to the Next Level. He saw the approaching Hale-Bopp comet and interpreted it as a sign that a spaceship was coming to deliver them to the Next Level. In their videos, they claimed that it was “the last chance to evacuate Earth before it [was] recycled.” In 1997, with the Hale-Bopp comet drawing closer and closer, the Heaven’s Gate members prepared for their ascension. Each one of them ate an identical last supper: turkey pot pie, cheesecake with blueberries, and iced tea. Before his death, Applewhite sent out packages to former members of Heaven’s Gate, informing them of what the cult were about to do. The suicides took place over a period of three days in which the members took turns taking phenobarbital mixed with applesauce or pudding chased down with vodka. In total, 39 people died, 21 women and 18 men, all between the ages of 26 and 72. But this cult did not die the day that the crew transitioned into the Next Level - traces of Heaven’s
Gate still remain in this physical world. The video series that Applewhite recorded as well as the members’ pre-suicide messages are available in both transcript and video format on the Heaven’s Gate website. The website remains untouched since 1997, with the message “RED ALERT” flashing in bright red across the top of the screen. The remaining members of Heaven’s Gate, while unwilling to change their website to fit a more modern look saying that “it is to remain as it did in 1997,” respond regularly to emails to this day.
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acebook facelift
By Maxine Mah
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Social media. The apps and websites that rule the minds of all ages. With the unlimited options that social networking services (SNS) provide us, such as talking with friends, meeting new people, and witnessing the private lives of the rich and famous, what’s there not to love? We have Instagram, the picture sharing social networking app; Snapchat, the messaging app; Twitter, the “microblogging” app (which we all know is just for “worldwide” issues); and ...Facebook? Facebook. We haven’t logged on in years. Since being over-run by moms, grandmas, and minion memes, Facebook has pretty much been out of use. “Bigger” social media networks have started evolving with stories and filters, and Facebook seems to be failing to keep up. Mark Zuckerberg’s app has been losing its target audience: young people. An anonymous senior from CCA discusses their opinions regarding the platform: “Facebook has become an artificial network with a surplus of minor acquaintances recognizing each other’s names, but not connecting.” Users recognize names and “friend” people but make no further attempt at connection. “Oh your 3rd cousin from Iceland wants to friend you? Sure. Why not accept. I’m probably never going to talk to them anyway” is the basis of Facebook. For Twitter, on the other hand, the basis is “I’m going to state my opinions on the world today. I don’t care whether people support me or not, I am going to say it anyway.” While both platforms allow people to share
different outlooks on the world, only Twitter seems to be able to provoke opinions on topical and trendy issues. It’s a worldwide news source where you can see everyone’s thoughts on the matter. Facebook, on the other hand, is essentially Twitter but for your family. Although you can change your privacy settings so the whole world can see your words, the amount of people who are likely to see your recent relationship updates or spring break excursions are much less for Facebook. The platform is arguably more personal and private. Ironically, in early 2018, Cambridge Analytica (CA), a data firm hired by the Trump administration, collected private Facebook has become an artificial network with a surplus of minor acquaintances recognizing each other’s names, but not connecting. information from Facebook users all over the world without the social media platform’s consent. As a full on invasion of privacy, the goal of the partnership was to see the personalities and traits of potential voters. Facebook insisted that it wasn’t a political breach. Instead, they stated “it routinely allows researchers to have access to user data for academic purposes, and users consent to this access when they create a Facebook account” (Granville 2018). Although Facebook allegedly didn’t sell the information to other data firms and no passwords were taken, the location of millions of users was still seen by the CA.
Sharing one’s location on social media is nothing new, as apps like Snapchat and Instagram also have location related features. But after Facebook’s major political scandal, many loyal users logged out for good for fear of their safety and privacy. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone’s grandma has joined the site. Maybe it’s because it just can’t keep up with other social media powerhouses. Or maybe Mark Zuckerberg just has better things to think about (namely Instagram, since it was bought by the company a little less than 8 years ago). Facebook has inarguably been losing popularity ever since 2016. People are moving onto other forms of social media, leaving Facebook stuck with the suburban moms and memes like Grumpy Cat (R.I.P. Tardar Sauce, you will be missed). The death of this site from the lives of the younger generation seems inevitable. I feel it’s safe to say we can all say goodbye to this website and move on to another form of social networking services. One (hopefully) safe from Minions.
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Mr. Sevilla’s C The art pieces on this page were all created by the extremely talented Mr. Sevilla, who teaches Digital Art & Design and Drawing & Design. For more of Mr. Sevilla’s art, check out his website at eusebiotravissevilla.com or sign up for his classes!
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2019-2020
Damian Lillard CJ McCollum
Stephen Curry D’Angelo Russell
After getting swept by the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, the Portland Trail Blazers aim to compete for a championship in the upcoming season. With Damian Lillard reaching the peak of his basketball career, there is a considerable amount of pressure amounting for him to make a solid run for the title. Thankfully, with the help of shooting guard CJ McCollum, some of the weight will be taken off of Lillard’s shoulders. The stellar shooting from this backcourt will tremendously impact their team’s play and will undeniably earn them a spot in the Western Conference Playoffs. Furthermore, when the star backcourt duo is completely healthy, they Kim have the potential to compete with any other guard combination in the league.
Following a disappointing loss to the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors look to shoot there way to the finals once more. Following the departure of superstar Kevin Durant and the injury of Klay Thompson, Curry will be accompanied by a new teammate, D’Angelo Russell. Russell is coming off of a breakout season on the Brooklyn Nets, and many NBA fanatics tend to forget the spot-on shooting from Stephen Curry that altered the style of play in the league forever. If Curry and Russell can maintain their physical health to back up their energetic play on the court, there will be no ceiling that can limit their play.
Season Preview by Peter Hong
The ending to the previous NBA season could not have been more hectic and intriguing. The thought of the Golden State Warriors superteam falling in the finals, the Toronto Raptors winning their first championship in NBA history, and multiple duos teaming up in the near future delighted many NBA fanatics. With so many changes occurring in the league, some superstar duo combinations will change the face of the league forever. Here are some of the most impressive duos ready to set the stage for the 2019-2020 NBA season.
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Advisor Editors-In-Chief Emily Gao Justin Wang Online Editor Izzy Ster Editorial Director Ella T. Lifset
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Christopher Black Staff Writers Bri Cateriano Peter Hong Isabella Kwon Sophia Larson Maxine Mah Liam McGuerty Alex Reinsch-Goldstein Angela Zhang
Guest Artists Angela Zhang Cover Art Joyce Yang Special Thanks Jennifer Travasos