November2017

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Giants score homecoming victory Read more on p. 14

Photo by Max Gilberg

Editors​ ​in​ ​Chief Anne​ ​Pritikin Daniela​ ​Schwartz Shannon​ ​Donelan China​ ​Granger

Spanish​ ​Editor Bea​ ​Cazares Business Manager Sydney​ ​Hilbush

Copy​ ​Editors Christine​ ​Watridge Social​ ​Media (Head​ ​Copy Manager/ Editor) Snapshot​ ​Editor Julia​ ​Jacoby Tilly​ ​Friedlander Neva​ ​Legallet Vincent​ ​Leo Art​ ​Consultant Alexander Max​ ​Gilberg Lieberman Sabine​ ​Lloyd Reporters Saaamya Nate​ ​Charles Mungamuru Sylvana​ ​Percek Josh​ ​Cohen News​ ​Editors Maxim Caroline Kawashima Cummings ​ ​Anna​ ​Compagno ​ ​Julia​ ​Scharf ​ ​Jacob​ ​Klionsky Lauren​ ​Conrow Opinion​ ​Editors Natalia​ ​Lazor Jocelyn​ ​Overmyer Grace​ ​Gaudin Jericho​ ​Rajninger ​ ​ ​Amanda​ ​Morse Jack​ ​Green Feature​ ​Editors ​ ​ ​Matthew Carolyn​ ​French Mulcahey Alexandra​ ​Lee Hannah​ ​Halford ​ ​ ​Sachi​ ​Nahas Sports​ ​Editors Lucie​ ​James Melissa​ ​Block ​ ​Veranice Jordan​ ​Overmyer Palczynski Charlotte​ ​Seton Review​ ​Editors ​ ​Sam​ ​Warren Natalie​ ​Cerf Maggie​ ​Smith Adviser Erin​ ​Schneider Lifestyles​ ​Editors Lily​ ​Baldwin Emily​ ​Sweet

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Criminal justice

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Homecoming game

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City council campaign

redwood high school ● 395 doherty dr., larkspur, ca 94939 ● volume LX, no. 3 ● November 17, 2017 ● www.redwoodbark.org

21

Tamalpais High School’s bathroom scratched with copycat threat

By Josh Cohen On Tuesday, Nov. 7 at around 1 p.m., an anonymous threat was made in the form of a written message in the upstairs girls’ bathroom of Tamalpais High School (Tam).

According to Tam senior Jack Loder, the threat read, “I’m going to kill everyone in this f***ing school tomorrow. I’m f***ing done with everything.”

“This was during our fourth period at the end of the day, so everyone was talking, saying ‘Should we come to school tomorrow? If we don’t come to school tomorrow then we let this person win, but if we do, I don’t want to die,’” Loder said.

Loder said Principal J.C. Farr sent out an email to the Tam community about the threat, which stated that the school would commence the next day with heightened security measures in place.

Farr wrote in the email on Tuesday, “If, at any time, law enforcement advises us to cancel classes, [parents, students and staff] will receive immediate notification via text, email, website, Twitter and Facebook.”

Because of Tam’s proximity to Redwood, Farr believes that the threat was influenced by recent events in the school community.

“Once students see these kinds of things, there is a response,” Farr said. “Whether it be good or bad, there is a response to threats, it does change things. It’s a disruption to the school environment. It maybe puts people on edge who are dealing with something related.”

Law enforcement members were on hand to lend Tam support, walk the halls, check the bathrooms and ultimately ensure a safe learning environment for the students and staff, according to Farr.

“Initially, when we received the report of the graffiti, we immediately notified the Mill Valley Police Department and we asked them to come in and do an assessment of the threat, take a look at it and see what their thoughts were,” Farr said. “And then from there we had a discussion Jack Loder, about how we would proceed, would Tam senior we close school, would we continue, how credible we felt the threat was, would we be putting anyone at risk.”

Tam senior Sawyer Shine said that although he took the threat seriously, he did not believe it should affect the school.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to close down school for that because we really can’t have it be that easy for a student to just write something on a wall and then bam,

Photo by Josh Cohen

FOLLOWING THE THREATS at Redwood, Tam High School received their own threat of violence in the girls’ bathroom on Tuesday, Nov. 7. there goes the entire day of school,” Shine said. “I just think that’s a little silly and I don’t think we should let little writing in the bathroom dictate what we’re going to do with our lives.”

There were about 15 to 20 police officers on campus that day, according to Loder.

“Personally, on Wednesday, I would forget about it most of the day, but then someone would remind me of it, and I would be like, ‘That could happen at any moment,’ so that would make me think,” Loder said. “I was never actually worried because obviously the likelihood of it being real was so slim.

Especially if someone was going to do that, he or she wouldn’t call attention to it the day before.”

Loder said that although he didn’t take the threat seriously, he believes that this behavior needs to stop.

“I’m sure that the driving incentive is to have school canceled. These are immature and insensitive people that are trying to get out of school,” Loder said.

Loder said he thinks that this threat is an outlier and the

These are immature and insensitive people that are trying to get out of school.

trend will pass, but still needs to be taken seriously.

“Especially in this day and age where gun violence in this country is such an epidemic, with all these mass shootings happening, why wouldn’t this be taken seriously?” Loder said. “It has become a norm in our country that people get gunned down every day and nothing is done about it.”

According to Farr, there are a few things that Tam can do now to ensure safety for all students and staff, including reviewing safety protocols, increasing familiarity with emergency response systems and providing students with support.

Farr said he believes that when a student commits an act like this, there is a need for support.

“We have to do a good job of reaching out to all of our students, making sure that we are building a safe, inclusive environment where all students feel welcome,” Farr said.

“When a student is maybe going through something, we want be able to have access to support rather than writing graffiti on the wall or even having the thought.”

jcohen@redwoodbark.org

Larkspur gas tax implemented Second schoolwide lip dub

By Nate Charles With the results of the November ballot coming out, Measure B received over 67 percent of the vote, qualifying it as one of the many measures that will go into effect right away. According to Larkspur Mayor Kevin Haroff, Measure B proposes a 1.75

Photo by Nate Charles

TAXING LARKSPUR GAS raises money to improve the city’s roads.

percent sales tax on all goods and services sold in Larkspur. The city hopes to use the funds raised from this tax to repair Larkspur’s roads.

Haroff sees the state of roads as a major problem, saying that they are in need of repaving. He cited a report by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which recently graded the quality of roads in cities around the Bay Area.

“The roads are in terrible shape,” Haroff said. “We’ve seen reports that rank the quality of our roads as among the worst in the Bay Area.”

Director of Public Works Julian Skinner also said he believes the roads are in less than ideal shape, pointing out that they ranked toward or at the bottom of multiple categories, including the MTC report.

“There’s a classification of streets and we’re in the second to last one, which is poor,” Skinner said. “If you look at our network as a whole, we actually have the worst streets of any other city in the county.”

Though there is no official goal yet ● Gas tax Continued on page 2

By Sylvana Perczek On Nov. 20, during advisory, Redwood will film its second ever lip dub. A lip dub is a music video that includes lip synching and audio dubbing to produce a complete music video. The whole production will be directed by junior Lily Derecktor and filmed by senior Jack Green, both of whom are members of Redwood TV. The motivations for the lip dub are to unify the school and show the school’s pride and support for one another, according to Derecktor.

Redwood’s first lip dub was produced three years ago by graduates Taylor Lee and Katie Olrick and filmed by graduates Jack Bushell, Lucas Wong and Alex Herez.

The 2014 lip dub is currently on YouTube and has over 120,500 views.

Leadership and social studies teacher Dave Plescia supervised the production of the first lip dub while this year Leadership, Link Crew and Redwood TV are all contributing to the making of the upcoming lip dub, according to Plescia.

According to Derecktor, there is a lot of planning that goes into creating a lip dub.

The steps that go into making it successful include knowing the correct timing of the song, planning the route the camera will take, organization of the different groups involved in the lip dub, rehearsal of where the groups will be and organizing with the custodial crew, administration, Leadership and Link Crew.

In 2014, there were a lot of schools creating lip dubs that were going viral on YouTube, according to Plescia. During the production of the first lip dub, there were essentially two students in the leadership class that took it over, doing everything from song selection to camera planning.

“At that time, we didn’t have advisory and SMART period so we actually had to vote as a staff to change the bell schedule for the day,” Plescia said.

Plescia said that Redwood TV’s intention for the lip dub is exactly the same as Leadership’s: to bring the school together, have fun and show off Redwood.

It’s also a way for students to showcase the various groups they’re a part of on campus.

“In a way, it’s kind of advertising for our school because it shows the different ● Lip dub Continued on page 4

bark

Page 2 • News

November 17, 2017

Photo Survey What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?

“My whole family comes together and sings Christmas songs.”

“My family travels to a different place each year. This year is Hawaii.”

“My family has mushroom berkeley; it’s super good with mashed potatoes.”

“Instead of eating Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I make mac and cheese for myself.”

freshman

sophomore

junior

senior

Anais Gorek

● Larkspur gas tax Continued from page 1 for the amount of funds the city hopes to raise, Skinner estimated they would pull in around 25 to 30 million dollars from the tax in order to fund the project. He also said that at least 80 percent of the money raised will go directly towards repairing the roads.

Skinner said this is something that needs to happen sooner rather than later, as he warned that unkempt streets could become an even bigger problem in the future.

“The sooner you can fix the pavement the better, because it continues to deteriorate over time,” Skinner said.

Haroff stated that the quality of the roads is something the community is concerned about and feels is a large problem. Skinner mentioned the ‘spring community survey’ that Larkspur conducted earlier this year that backs up that perspective.

“We actually did a survey before we moved forward with the ballot measure, and we had an overwhelming portion of respondents indicate that they were concerned over the condition of the streets and that they wanted streets fixed sooner rather than later,” Skinner said.

Because of residents’ desire to repair the streets, there has been a solid amount of support from Larkspur citizens for the proposed road work.

“We’ve had a lot of very positive feedback from the community on what we’ve done, as well as encouragement to continue,” Haroff said.

Both Haroff and Skinner said the repairs would impact the entire city, adding on to

the parts that have already been paved over the past few years.

“We’ll be doing a paving program for the whole city,” Skinner said. “Within the past five years we’ve paved a quarter of the city, so we’ll be looking to get the remaining 75 percent of the streets.”

As far as the timeline is concerned, both Skinner and Haroff expect the repairs to take about five years, though the exact schematics of the project have yet to be drawn out.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Haroff said. “We’d like to have the tax in place and then get help from financial institutions so we can upgrade the roads over the next five years.”

However, the efforts to maintain the roads has stretched much longer, going back a few years when the city first began to address the problem.

“For the last four years, we’ve had a very active effort to raise money and apply it to fixing our streets,” Haroff said. “[Measure C] was put in place four years ago and the proceeds of that tax have been used, by and large, for a program of fixing our streets.”

Junior Matthew Tede said that living on one of Larkspur’s many deteriorating roads can be a burden due to the construction, rather than the quality of the roads.

“I live on a street that has been getting a lot of work,” Tede said. “Piedmont Avenue only has one exit and that is Magnolia, which has also been getting a lot of work.”

Tede also pointed out that the construction inconveniences him in a variety of ways, from driving to walking.

“For me it is really annoying because when you turn onto Magnolia, you

Ellie Abrams

Miles Dean

Violet Loo

Photo by Nate Charles

IMPOSING A NEW tax on gas, Larkspur addresses the issue of dangerous road condtions by raising money to fund construction. cannot see oncoming cars very well,” Tede said. “Also, the pavement leading to the crosswalk is getting worked on, so the only option is to cross the street in a place with no crosswalk.”

Tede did say that, although he may not be the biggest fan of the new sales tax, he does believe it can be beneficial to the community.

“I think that a lot of people might be

really negatively affected by it, but at the same time this may allow for more funding to be directed towards bigger problems,” Tede said.

ncharles@redwoodbark.org

Bracelets made by refugees are sold to raise money

By Bella Roesler Cub Reporter

Art teacher Nicole Mortham is making a global impact in the Redwood community through a project she started this school year: selling bracelets made by refugees from various countries, such as Syria and the Ivory Coast, living on the island of Lesbos, Greece.

Over the summer, Mortham visited Lesbos to help the refugees fleeing Syria. She noticed that the majority of the refugees on the outskirts of the refugee camp, Moria, were middle-aged men with nothing to do but wait for potential asylum.

“Some of them have been stuck there for a really long time, so the refugee crisis is forgotten, but it is still an active problem. There’s still boats landing everyday with more refugees trying to make their way to safety,” Mortham said.

Each person in a boat wears a lifejacket that is eventually thrown into a growing heap on the island, according to Mortham. Mortham saw the substantial amount of discarded lifejackets and decided to do something helpful for the refugees.

“I wanted to make a positive impact while I was there and something sustainable when I got back,” Mortham said.

Mortham and her boyfriend decided to rent a scooter and drive out to the location of the lifejackets. They stuffed their backpacks full of the neon material and brought it back to Moria. Mortham sat down with a group of men whom she had befriended and started to make bracelets from strips of the lifejacket material.

“We wanted something for the guys to do everyday and make a little bit of income. We purchased the jewelry from them before we left, and we’ve been working on selling the bracelets here,” Mortham said. “Any extra money we make, we send back to the guys.”

Photo courtesy of Nicole Mortham

RESIDING IN A camp in Greece, refugees from the Ivory Coast work to make beautiful bracelets that will later be sold to Redwood students; the refugees will receive the profits.

“I think this is a cool community project to help those Students have been getting involved by selling bracelets and coming up with ways to spread awareness. Inês who aren’t as fortunate as we are. It is good to shine light on Schwartz, president of Amnesty International club, is people who most of our community doesn’t think about,” Hvistendahl said. helping Mortham with the bracelet project.

Members of the club have expressed their interest in “I thought it would be a cool idea to bring this project to the club because we’re a human rights club,” Schwartz the refugee crisis by devoting time to sell these bracelets. said. “The club could help sell the bracelets and we could Students and faculty may purchase bracelets today, Nov. 17, during lunch. There will be a table on the south lawn take on the project with Ms. Mortham’s support.”

Lauren Hvistendahl, a member of the Amnesty with informative posters and bracelets for sale.

International club, has been participating in the bracelet project too. broesler@redwoodbark.org

bark Young star shines bright in local production of ‘Chicago’ Page 3 • News

www.redwoodbark.org

By Sabine Lloyd Junior Claire Champommier played the character Hunyak, a Hungarian immigrant, in the Novato Theater Company’s production of “Chicago,” which recently sold out. The show ran from Oct. 19 to Nov. 12.

Directed and choreographed by Marilyn Izdebski, “Chicago” (book was written by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb) was set in the 1920s and ‘30s and tells the story of two vaudevillian murderesses, Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart.

The musical initially started as a play by Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins. The trials of two murderesses, Beulah Sheriff Annan and Belva Gaertner, were covered by Watkins and the play was based off of their stories.

Izdebski wanted to direct “Chicago” ever since she first saw it in 1975 with the original Broadway cast at the 46th Street Theatre in New York. She tried getting the rights to “Chicago” several times before and was unsuccessful, so when the opportunity arose with the Novato Theater Company, she jumped at the chance to direct the production.

Champommier found out about the production from the piano accompanist at St. Hillary’s, the church at which she cantors. According to Champommier, cantoring is singing solo or with a couple of other people. She emailed the crew for an audition slot, prepared a monologue, arranged a song and was accepted into her first all-adult cast.

“I think that working with an adult cast has made me a little bit more mature in a sense, of just being aware of my presence in an ensemble. A lot of the cast members didn’t know that I was 16,” Champommier said.

The audition that Champommier presented was not the type she was used to. According to Champommier, since she was a 16-year-old auditioning for an all-adult cast, her best chance of getting in was to perform the hardest monologue, which was all in Hungarian except for the line, “Not guilty, Uncle Sam.” “So the night before callbacks, I looked it up on YouTube and I spent that whole night memorizing that monologue in Hungarian,” Champommier said.

Alison Peltz, who plays Velma Kelly and is the mother of Redwood junior Kelsey Peltz, recognized Champommier’s talent and acknowledged her efforts.

Photo courtesy of Fred Deneau

PERFORMING IN NOVATO Theater Company’s production of “Chicago,” junior Claire Champommier (second from left) takes the stage as Hunyak with her fellow cast members.

“It is very fun to work with a young person who is passionate about the field and is there by their own choice.

She is very disciplined and takes whatever we have to give her, but also brings solutions to the table,” Peltz said. “I have friends that are in their 80s and now I have this new friend that’s 16, and the common thing is that we just have this passion to create art.”

According to Izdebski, the whole cast was able to bond during rehearsals, which started at the end of August and took place five days a week for three hours each night, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

There are three types of rehearsal, according to Izdebski. There are rehearsals to learn the music and rehearsals to work on choreography. Then, blocking rehearsals are when the dialogue and monologues are practiced. These are all put together, and the full show is run through several times.

The company was considering performing an additional show to help fundraise for the fire victims in the North Bay, but because schedules conflicted, they decided to have the actors in the lobby collecting money instead. Not only was this cause special to several North Bay residents, but also cast members in the show.

“Four people in our cast were deeply affected. Nobody lost their home, but they couldn’t even make it to rehearsal that week. It was very emotional for all of us,” Izdebski said.

Despite this tragic occurrence, the show continued on and was a success, as each performance had a full house.

“When people come together, doing the things that they love, putting 110 percent into what they love, they can’t go wrong,” Champommier said. slloyd@redwoodbark.org

bark

Page 4 • News

● Lip dub Continued from page 1 clubs, classes, sports, activities,” Plescia said.

Because Derecktor is in Leadership, Link Crew and Redwood TV, Peter Parish chose her to be the director of the lip dub. Parish teaches the Digital Communications course, which produces Redwood TV. Derecktor said she wants this year’s lip dub to be more organized than the original.

“The last ones, pretty much all the ones that have been done, were really, really chaotic. The camera was just going through the chaos, which is cool and fun and high energy, but I think what we want to achieve is sections and really differentiated clubs,” Derecktor said.

According to Parish it took a while to choose a song and try to please as many people as possible.

“There’s never going to be a song that everyone’s going to jump on board and and love it. So it’s just trying to get that maximum threshold of enough people that are jazzed about the song and then it’s what grouping of students do we want to offer it Peter Parish, to,” Parish said.

One of the teacher most important aspects of the lip dub is the music, according to Derecktor. The song selection survey has ended, but it had an option of ten songs to vote for. The song “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton is the song that has been chosen. The lip dub is going to be done in two takes during advisory on Nov. 20.

According to Parish, for a couple of years now Redwood TV has wanted to have a lip dub but it hasn’t been until this year that all the details got sorted out.

“Redwood TV wanted to do a lip dub last year, but they didn’t get it together enough to really organize an entire production involving the whole school,” Parish said.

November 17, 2017

The lip dub is going to get everyone together and really get a view on who we are.

The Abbott Family The Abbott Family Stacy Achuck The Agenbroad Family The Alden Family The Allen Family Callaway Allen Family The Ames/Bouton Family Susan and Mark Anderson The Anderson Family Anonymous The Ashworth Family The Ayres Family The Bailitz Family The Baldwin Family Jeff and Catherine Barcy Joanna Berman Mandel Lisa Bernardi The Bialek Santas Family Lauren and Ella Blazei Loren and Howard Block The Bludau Family The Blum Family Benjamin and Mari Bowler Kathleen and Bill Brady The Brown Family Linda Brune The Bucklar Family The Buechner/Whitt Family The Burgert Family Carrie and Jim Burroughs Kristina and Steve Campondonico The Carlson Family Liliana Carolina Naficy-Royal and Kenneth Eugene Royal Kathleen and Richard Cerf The Chou Family The Christman Family Bruce and Robyn Cohen David and Rebecca Conant The Conner Family The Conrow Familiy The Conti Family Deb and Kevin Cook The Corn Family Beth and Chris Cummings

Photo by Sylvana Perczek

LEADING A MEETING in the Little Theater, junior Lily Derecktor shares her vision for the lip dub with those who want to be featured as singers.

According to Parish, directing is one of those things where you have to have a vision, but it is also necessary to delegate work to other people on large projects.

During the last lip dub, Parish says that it was so fast and charged that they really got a glimpse of everyone, and this year he hopes to get snapshots of many different groups and individuals within those groups.

“The lip dub is going to get everyone together and really get a view on who we are and who everybody is.

I want to capture the individuals and their groups just a little more by getting clearer snap shots of who we are,” Parish said.

The 2017-18 school year started with a car break-in on

Jeff and Kari Cusack The Cusick Family Robyn & David Dabora The Dahlin Family The Dalzell-Piper Family Gina Deangelis The Desin Family The Diener Family The Donelan Family Laurie and Scott Dubin Roxane Polidora and Ed Duckers The Elliot-Diab Family Naz and Brian Erickson The Fargo Family Violich Farms The Felder Family The Fitzgerald-Davidson’s Family The Fogarty Family Shane Fricke The Fuches Family Eva Geitheim The Gibbs Family Jennifer and Michael Ginsburg Elon Ginzburg The Goray Family Brendhan and Katherine Green Lynn and John Green The Gullen Family The Gustafson Family Catherine Guthrie The Hackett Family Dominique and Heil Halilej The Hanssen Family Jan and Annabel Heinemann The Henderson Family The Hettleman Family The Hilbush Family Caren and Bill Horstmeyer The Jacks Family The James Family The Jeffry Family Cat and Dillon Jensen The Jessen Family Jill and Tyler Johnson The Johnson Family

Bark Patrons

Sylvia Jones The Kaga-McLay Family Nina Katz and Mike Fuller The Kawamura & Foley Family Rebecca and Jascha KaykasWolfe John and Frances Kellerman The Kempler Family John and Frances Kernan The Kim Family The Kimball Family The Klein Family The Klionsky Family Jill and Larry Knott Paul and Esther Kulhanjian The LaCarrubba Family David and Melissa Lee The Lee Family The Lefferts Family The Leo Family The Leslie Family Carolyn and Michael Lewis The Lewis Family Midori Liu and Bret Lama The Lloyd Family The Loebbaka Family The Loo Family The Malek Family Alice and Bob Marks Kerianne and Christopher McBride Kevin McGee and Kathleen Hamon Wendy and William McKinley The Mellberg Family Michael Metzner The Middleton Family The Minami Family The Morken Family Kathleen Morse The Mulcahy Family The Muller Family The Neustaetter Family Jennifer Newbury Timothy and Julia Noble The Nolan Family Mark and Donna Norstad

Sept. 13, a bomb threat on Sept. 19. Since then, there have been three potential shooting threats. On top of all this, there have been fires around Northern California that have affected the air quality.

Because Redwood has had such a rough year so far, Parish believes Redwood needs something to celebrate and to bring us together to have fun and be inspired, that being the lip dub.

sperczek@redwoodbark.org

The Notter Family The Overmyer Family Barbara and William Owens The Parker Family The Parsons Family Sabina Patterson The Perczek Family The Perry Family The Peterson Family The Pfeiffer Family Steve Pigott The Pole Family The Pritikin Family The Pritzker Family The Rajninger Family Christine S. Ramos Manny Ramos and Robin Synder The Rankin-Williams Family The Ratcliffe Family Dan and Jen Reidy The Renney Family Michele and Tim Richards The Riggins Family The Robinow Family The Rocha Family Frank J Rollo The Rosenberg Family Allison & Andy Ross Sean and Sonja Saylor The Scharf Family The Searles Family Chris and Corinne Seton Victoria Silverman The Sinatra Family The Skerrett Family The Smalbach Family Louis Smith D.J and T.T Solomon The Sparler Family David A. and Patti Stadlin Robin Steele & Dominc ----Spaethling The Steele Family The Stock Family Paul and Paula Strand The Strotz Family The Sweet Family

Patricia and Robert Taitz The Tantum Family The Tede Family Greg and Heidi Thomson Julie and Jeff Thomson The Three Larrys Marylou Tierney The Tippo Family TJ’s Gym Richard and Sophia Tong Tara Trask The Tull Family Kim Tully-Sutton Gabriel and Susan Underwood The Van Hooser Family Sellers Van Pruissen Philip and Kris Wade Towns Wagner Family The Wagner Family The Wait Family Héléne and Jason Walters Jim Granger and Yu-Ling Wang Jordan Warren The Watkins Family Peter and Linka Watridge Dr. Jenniffer Watters The Welch Family The Wentworth Family The Whelpley Family Michelle Wilcox Isolde and Aleck Wilson The Yoslov Family The Zeitz Family The Zlatunich Family The Zlot Family

To support the Bark, visit www.redwoodbark.org

opinion Media coverage on terrorism:

We mourn Las Vegas but not Mogadishu

By Jack Parsons

On Oct. 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock carried out the worst mass murder on American soil in modern history, when he shot and killed 59 concert-goers from the 32nd balcony of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. Rightfully so, this event made the front page of almost every American publication, and received extensive global coverage. For the following weeks, the investigation into Paddock and the stories of the victims and their families filled American media.

Thirteen days later, on Oct. 14, members of the East African Terrorist Group Al-Shabaab carried out a massive bombing in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. The bombing killed at least 358 people and injured an additional 400.

Another attack in Mogadishu on Oct. 29 killed 14.

The Somalia bombings, especially the first one, were covered in most American media sources (CNN, Fox, USA Today, New York Times). However, the manner in which they were reported was very different than that of the Las Vegas shooting. Coverage was limited, there were no faces behind the victims, no stories of families and no accounts from the lucky ones who survived the terror.

American media does a respectable job of humanizing the victims of disasters in the Western world. I found the stories of the 59 victims of the Las Vegas shooting disheartening, eye-opening and interesting. These attacks in the US. and Europe are still covered in following weeks, as new leads develop and victims’ identities are recovered. The extended coverage of these events is

Page 5

understandable, as media companies worthy of public grief. Usually, the only time are ultimately a business, and they a victim is covered in one of these foreign cover what Americans want to countries is if they are, in fact, American. For hear. Additionally, October and example, if an American reporter, student or November have seen multiple soldier was killed, they would be grieved attacks on U.S. soil; Las Vegas for and their stories would be covered. being the major one, followed by Many argue that the media Manhattan, New York and most covers what is relevant, and some recently, Sutherland Springs, may argue that attacks that Texas. happen in the Africa and H o w e v e r , the Far East are not as violence in relevant as ones in Africa, The the western world.

Middle East or Due to looser Asia is typically geographical, covered in a political and very different social ties, manner. News articles many may feel are shorter, there as if something is less information that happens on the attacks and in New York actual victims are City is more rarely discussed and important than empathized by the news. something that Due to this difference in happens in Kabul. the methods by which To an extent, an media companies cover American event is attacks, Americans could more important to us, easily assume that attacks as it has a more profound in the Middle East are not effect on our everyday lives. significant for the countries in But what about the which they take place. countless other people who suffered Illustration by Will Terrorist attacks are far more normal from these attacks that aren’t covered as Ethridge in the Middle East than the Western world. much? That’s a question I often ask myself According to the American National Counterterrorism when reading articles about foreign disasters like the Center (NCTC), between 2004 and 2013, “almost half of all Mogadishu bombings. Innocent civilians who lose their terrorist attacks and 60 percent of fatalities due to terrorist lives are important regardless of where they live, but the attacks took place in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.” And media fails to assert that. according to a report by the State Department, Africa, the Media need to be less biased in what they focus— or Middle East and Asia experience 50 times the amount of don’t focus—on. So to speak, media need give a broader terrorist-related deaths than the western world does. But focus to other regions in the world besides the United limited media coverage seems to be sending a message States and Europe in the time of violence or a terrorist that western lives are more important. Why doesn’t the attack, because those affected elsewhere are just as media give foreign attacks more attention? important as us.

Due to the fact that media companies rarely tell the stories of the victims in these attacks, it creates an illusion that these deaths—these innocent civilians—are not jparsons@redwoodbark.org

Admit it: Sexual harassment needs to be addressed

By Lily Baldwin “On a scale of one to ten, how do you rate that girl?”

“Eh, I’d say low seven.”

“Nah, dude. More like a high six.”

This is what junior girl “Veronica” heard one day on her way to the locker room. She could clearly hear the boys making comments about her body as they were standing less than five feet behind her.

Sexual harassment is legally defined as catcalling, sending inappropriate pictures to others, asking for such pictures, spreading a sexual rumor about someone, calling someone gay or lesbian in a derogatory way… the list goes on.

What “Veronica” experienced, sexualized remarks about her body, is harassment under the U.S. Department of Education guidelines. Sexual harassment often causes much more harm than expected, leaving targets to deal with the lasting effects, such as depression and the inability to feel comfortable in a school setting, according to the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center (NVAWPRC).

According to Equal Rights Advocates, a student who has been a victim of sexual harassment can experience fear, selfconsciousness, embarrassment, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite and may have trouble focusing in class due to feeling uncomfortable.

Even a small comment about somebody’s physical appearance or an inappropriate joke can make a student feel uneasy and interfere with their ability to function comfortably in a school setting.

Sexual harassment not only affects a victim’s personal peace of mind, but also their education.

The problem of sexual harassment at Redwood needs to be addressed immediately, especially considering the current social climate in the U.S. Victims of sexual harassment and assault are coming forward through campaigns such as ‘Me Too,’ which was sparked by the coverage of the sexual assault victims of producer Harvey Weinstein.

This movement, alongside others, has created an environment that allows victims of sexual harassment to speak about

Illustration by Christine Watridge

their experiences with others who have dealt with similar issues. However, this accepting and open attitude has evidently not extended to Redwood, as many students remain silent about their experiences with sexual harassment.

While 68 percent of Redwood students self-reported in a recent Bark survey that they have not been sexually harassed, 59 percent of students have had experiences at Redwood that constitute sexual harassment

by U.S. law.

This means that students are experiencing sexual harassment, but are unaware of what legally constitutes it.

Redwood students aren’t being sufficiently educated about what sexual harassment is and its consequences. This is likely due to a lack of education on the topic of sexual harassment that leaves students unaware of what constitutes sexual harassment. It is up to administration and the Wellness Center to change this.

Administration, along with the Wellness Center, needs to take a strong stance against sexual harassment and take initiative to educate students in order to create a safe learning environment where students can feel safe talking about their experiences with trusted adults.

When asked where students would go for support if they were sexually harassed, the majority said they would go to a friend, according to the same Bark survey. 22 percent said they would seek out support from parents. Only six percent of students said they would go to the Wellness Center for help.

The Wellness Center has signs hung up across campus with the welcoming words “Need a space at school to take care of you?” Providing a safe place for students to receive support is arguably the main purpose of the Wellness Center, yet most students wouldn’t go there for support if

they were being sexually harassed. More students (12 percent) self-reported that they would not seek out support at all.

It is the school’s responsibility to provide an environment where students can feel comfortable seeking out help in a situation of harassment of any kind, according to Title IX, a federal law passed to prevent sexual harassment in schools.

According to the NVAWPRC, schools that do not provide education on the process of reporting sexual harassment are liable for creating a “hostile environment.”

If administration members were to visit classes to talk about sexual harassment or assemblies were held in which students can hear from speakers who have dealt with this issue, students will feel comfortable seeking out support from trusted adults.

Representatives from Wellness could hold seminars to educate teens about the seriousness of the sexual harassment of fellow students and the effects certain acts can have on adolescents, thereby preventing further growth of a widespread culture of unwelcome sexual comments and judgements. But by not outwardly addressing the problem, the school is allowing the creation of difficult learning environment, and forcing these students to fend for themselves.

With rising support for victims of sexual harassment and assault, along with the ‘Me Too’ movement in the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s victims coming forward, Redwood and the Wellness Center have an opportunity to live up to their promises of creating a safe space for students. It’s simply a matter of whether or not they seize this window of opportunity to truly make school a place where students can confidently seek support for sexual harassment.

lbaldwin@redwoodbark.org

bark

Page 6 • Opinion

November 17, 2017

Trump isn’t winning.

We are.

By Jericho Rajninger

Since the election of President Donald Trump, the political sphere has been filled with unfortunate firsts. We have seen Twitter, a social media platform which limits communication to a mere 140 characters, emerge as the main method of correspondence between high political figures and the masses.

We have listened as political dialogue has deteriorated into arguments over hand size and sequences of distasteful, personal quips, abandoning meaningful debate over prevalent national issues. But, on the positive side, for the first time in decades, America has seen a rise in activism.

Sure, in all political respects, Donald Trump’s first 11 months of presidency have been, well, a huge disaster.

According to ABC, Trump received the worst six-month approval rating, 36 percent, of any president in the past seven decades.

He has officially ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which helped protect almost 800,000 undocumented immigrants, who entered the U.S. as children, from deportation, according to the Pew Research Center. And, as a sidenote, Trump’s reckless rhetoric with North Korea is increasingly provoking the dictatorship’s reckless actions.

But putting these policy flaws aside, as hard as that might be, Trump’s presidency has had one positive effect on American society: by simply being his racist, misogynistic, immoral self, Trump has single-handedly ushered in a new era of political activism.

The day following Trump’s presidential inauguration, and the culmination of a campaign riddled with sexist and demeaning remarks, the Women’s March attracted one of the largest single-day contingent of protesters (over four million people) in U.S. recorded history, according to the Washington Post.

And, according to NPR, out of a sample of 500 protesters at the march, one third had never protested before. Applied to the whole Women’s March population, we’re talking over one million new activists.

But that’s not all. While Trump has prompted activism in all citizens—leftist, rightist, centrist, young, old—there has been a considerable rise in youth and young adult political engagement.

Historically, according to Pew Research, younger adults, aged 18-29, have been less likely to follow political news than their older counterparts. In fact, over the past decade, only 50 percent of young adults have reported that they regularly track political occurrences in Washington D.C., as opposed to approximately 70 percent of seniors. And, according to a 2014 study published in Psychological Science, there has been a steady rise in political disengagement among high school seniors since the 1970s.

In a democratic country, participation in government is crucial, especially among youth. Student activism is not a new phenomenon. During the Civil Right’s movement, the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In, and countless other instrumental sit-ins and demonstrations, were led by student activists. And later, protests at Kent State University against the Vietnam War garnered national attention.

Youth have the potential to influence political decisions and instigate change for the future, and because younger generations will be the ones reaping the benefits or suffering the consequences of current government decisions, it is vital they engage in political activity to support the ideals they value.

And Trump has been the kick in the pants that young people need.

Since the 2016 election, 24 percent of 18 to 30-yearolds have participated in demonstrations or protests, compared to

only about 10 percent of older generations, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll.

Even Marin has experienced youth activism.

Following Trump’s election, over one hundred Redwood students walked out of their classes to protest, marching through Larkspur in solidarity with those alienated by Trump.

Larkspur is a quaint town, home to only about

12,000 residents. It is by no means a center of activism, yet students eagerly protested for a cause they felt passionate about. A political cause. That’s big.

And while the 100 Redwood student marchers may not have made an immediate impact on the current political climate—not even Trump’s advisors can control his decisions—the actions student activists take today will greatly affect their future.

According to Jocelyn Viterna, a Harvard sociology professor, activism as a young adult greatly influences one’s political and civic engagement later in life. She says young adults who participated in protests during the 1960s are shown to remain more politically active throughout their lives.

Because this wave of youth activism since Trump’s inauguration has the potential to influence government for decades to come, the increase in political participation is vital. And we have Trump to thank for that.

Maybe America needed Trump. Maybe the world needed Trump, not for his ignorant, bigoted and infantile ideas and views, but for the public response they have inspired.

Illustration by Jericho Rajninger

jrajninger@redwoodbark.org

Page 7 • Opinion

www.redwoodbark.org

bark

bark

Redwood High School 395 Doherty Drive Larkspur, CA 94939 www.redwoodbark.org

Editors-In-Chief Shannon Donelan China Granger Anne Pritikin Daniela Schwartz

Head Copy Editor Christine Watridge Illustration by Christine Watridge

editorial ‘Bump’ up maternity leave policies quick return rattles learning The U.S. is one of only three countries in the entire world that does not mandate nationwide paid maternity leave, along with Papua New Guinea and Lesotho. Let that sink in. It’s almost unbelievable, but true.

Within the U.S., only three states offer partially paid maternity leave, including California, New Jersey and Rhode Island and only 11 percent of American workers get paid family leave through their employers or state programs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The percentage of workers who don’t receive fullpaid maternity leave, who aren’t adequately supported in their choice to have children, includes our Tamalpais High School District (TUHSD) teachers. The current TUHSD policy, while in accordance with California leave, still falls short of teachers’ needs. The only form of fully paid parental leave TUHSD teachers have access to comes in the form of accrued sick days.

The 10 sick days given annually to TUHSD employees are meant for just that: sick days. However, teachers must refrain from using them if they want paid time off for pre or postnatal care. Under the Family Medical Leave Act, teachers have access to six weeks of differential pay, or the dollar difference between hiring a teacher a substitute teacher. They are eligible for reduced pay for up to 60 days, after which they receive no salary. Teachers also have the option to take multiple years off with no pay.

In the education sector, the goal is to nurture children, promote their well-being and foster higher learning. It is shockingly hypocritical for schools not to provide that same level of care to employees and their children. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, longer maternity leaves are linked to improved health in newborns. Mothers with paid maternity leave are proven to breastfeed longer and bring their newborn to more clinical check-ups.

An extra 10 weeks of maternity leave can even lower the threat of mortality in newborn children by as much as five percent.

Additionally, paid maternity leave improves the mental health of new mothers. According to the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, longer maternity leave corresponds to fewer depressive symptoms in postnatal mothers.

Teacher appreciation week is an opportune time to address the obstacles and personal challenges our teachers face. Teachers are critical to the education of future generations. The district spends thousands of dollars on new technology, days of free food, They are mentors, advisers, coaches and friends. If they aren’t fully supported themselves, how can they support us as students? Paid maternity leave, a policy dedicated

A BARK to the Houston Astros for winning the World Series. We really DODGED a bullet with that one.

A BITE to Black Friday coming up. Let the purge begin, all emergency services will be suspended.

A BARK to the French toast in the CEA. Oui love it!

A BITE to the graffiti threats in the bathroom at Tam. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

A BARK to the police on campus. Soon they are going to need a school schedule.

A BITE to Kevin Spacey. Hope your house of cards tumbles.

A BARK to Taylor Swift’s new album. It’s refreshing to see a

to the most fundamental need of working families, is the answer.

The deduction of sick days, in place of paid leave, is problematic for many reasons. First, it forces teachers to make difficult decisions about whether or not to come to work when they or their children are sick, a decision no one should be forced to make.

As students, we’ve all had to go to school sick, noses running and heads pounding. It’s incredibly distracting. Now imagine having to teach a class full of teenagers.

Secondly, upon retirement, teachers are paid for the sick days they didn’t take off. Not receiving this payout is another disadvantage for teachers who have used up sick days for maternity leave or childcare.

Last month, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a law that would have required school districts to give teachers six weeks of paid leave. As the teacher’s union plans to bring up parental leave in negotiations with the district later this year, we encourage the district to seriously consider making changes to the current policy for the well-being of our teachers and their families.

The district’s concern for implementing paid leave is affordability, however, there are options to get around this. In New Jersey, paid leave programs are financed by deducting from the taxable wage base of employee payroll. The maximum deduction per year is $29, less than $1 per week, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Another solution is one that has been employed by our district recently. When two members of Redwood staff’s homes were destroyed in the recent wildfires, teachers pooled their extra sick days for these employees to use. A permanent pool of sick days for teachers with young children would provide a little bit of flexibility and relief for teachers who are strained under the current system.

There must be a major culture change when it comes to maternity leave in the United States.

Schools are meant to support students, but this means supporting teachers as well. This change can start locally. It can start with the TUHSD. Have an opinion regarding anything that appears in the Bark or in general? We encourage our readers to submit letters to the editor. Letters to the Bark should be 500 words or fewer, typed if possible and signed. They must be submitted to room 177 or in the Bark mailbox in the facility. They may also be emailed to bark@redwoodbark.org.

celebrity’s “Reputation” ruined in a different way.

A BITE to Trump for tweeting he would NEVER call Kim Jong Un short and fat. Mean Girls references don’t belong in politics.

A BARK to Redwood teachers and admin.

Happy Staff Appreciation Week!

A BITE to the new Iphone glitch.

How am eye supposed to type?

A BARK to the second season of Stranger Things. Our grades just went to the upside- down.

A BITE to LiAngelo Ball for recording his first steal of the season. Too bad it was off the court.

A BARK to UC applications

finally being due. Now UC us, soon you won’t.

A BITE to the lip dub for being a Macklemore song. We didn’t realize that this was a seventh grade Bar Mitzvah.

A BARK to Virginia for electing the first openly transgender lawmakers. You go girl!

A BITE to political conversations at Thanksgiving. Wish the only dish being handed out was the mashed potatoes.

BARKS and BITES are the collective opinions of the BARK staff concerning relevant issues. BARKS are in praise of accomplishments, while BITES criticize decisions or events.

Copy Editors Julia Jacoby Neva Legallet Vincent Leo Alexander Lieberman Sabine Lloyd Saamya Mungamuru News Editors Caroline Cummings Julia Scharf Opinion Editors Jocelyn Overmyer Jericho Rajninger Feature Editors Carolyn French Alexandra Lee Sports Editors Melissa Block Jordan Overmyer Review Editors Natalie Cerf Maggie Smith Lifestyles Editors Lily Baldwin Emily Sweet Spanish Editor Bea Cazares Business Manager Sydney Hilbush Social Media/ Snapshot Editor Tilly Friedlander Survey Manager Devon McClain Art Consultant Max Gilberg Reporters Nate Charles Josh Cohen Anna Compagno Grace Gaudin Jack Green Hannah Halford Lucie James Maxim Kawashima Jacob Klionsky Natalia Lazor Amanda Morse Matthew Mulcahy Sachi Nahas Verenice Palczynski Sylvana Perczek Charlotte Seton Sam Warren

Adviser

Erin Schneider

POLICY: All editorials are unsigned and have been approved by the majority of the Bark staff.

español

Página 8

29 Años de Dia de Los Muertos en San Rafael Por Verenice Palczynski Bailarines tradicionales de danza Azteca crean un círculo al centro de una multitud de gente. Con tocados llenos de plumas largas y chachayotes alrededor de sus tobillos (nueces de chachayot secados que pegan juntos cuando se mueven los bailarines) hizo un sentido épico de cultura en el gimnasio con la gente que se reúnen para celebrar el Dia De Los Muertos.

El aniversario numero 29 de Dia De Los Muertos de San Rafael ocurrió en Sábado el 4 de Nov. Dia De Los Muertos es para acordarse de las vidas de familiares que ha perdido la gente.

El día festivo en el 1 y 2 de Nov. sirven como un tiempo para que los que han fallecido puedan regresar a la tierra y visitar a su familia y amigos, celebrar y reconectar. La celebración originó en parte de Latinoamérica y también México.

“Es fácil ir un día sin pensar [en los que hemos perdido], y siendo creada católica tenemos día de todos los santos pero no hay tanta celebración; es completamente intelectual,” dijo Noelle Mullen, una madre de tres niños que fue al evento con sus hijos.

“Hay algo en los rituales y haciéndolos presente lo hace real y tangible.”

La celebración en San Rafael tuvo varios grupos de personas que bailan bailes tradicionales, bandas de tambores, pinta caras, arte, y altares personales y

Foto por Verenice Palczynski

BAILADORES TRADICIONALES ESTAN aliniadas antes de su baile enfrente la audiencia. una marcha tradicional a las tumbas para honrar los muertos.

“Mi parte favorita de estar aquí, es el baile,” dijo Willow Mullen de ocho años.

Los hermanitos de Willow, Fallon Mullen y Tatum Mullen, dijeron que sus partes favoritas fueron la pintura para la cara complicada y el arte.

El primer baile de la noche fue uno baile

tradicional de los Aztecas. Cada miembro del grupo tuvo un tipo de tocado de plumas y atuendo tradicional.

Según Leilah García, uno de los bailadores que fue parte de los bailes Azteca y Mayas, miembros de la familia de él que ha fallecido ponen cosas personales en el altar como sus juguetes favoritos, libros, frutas y muchas otras cosas que fueron

importante para ellos durante su vida.

Esta celebración vibrante crea un espacio agradable para honrar los que han fallecido en lugar de un espacio para el luto o tristeza.

“Hace que las personas no piensen que sus amados que han fallecido no sean un agujero negro en el universo, hace que sientan como si están regresando y que estén vivos ellos sienten una presencia aquí,” dijo Garcia.

Para el grupo de danza de Garcia, ellas estaban vestidas en faldas y blusas tradicionales y sus caras estaban pintadas Personas vinieron al evento por muchas razones diferentes.

Algunos vinieron para honrar a un miembro de familia en específico o un amado que han perdido y otros vinieron para experimentar su cultura o a la cultura de otros.

“Todo de este evento es importante para mí, es importante recordar la tradición y la cultura y nunca olvidar a nuestros muertos,” dijo Jesus Martinez, el supervisor del grupo principal de baile.

“Hemos celebrado esta manera desde antes de que vengan los españoles, años y años antes. Este baile vino de mis ancestros y ha sido pasado de generación a generación,” dijo Martinez. vpalczynski@redwoodbark.org

Expresando amor de baile con redes sociales

de habilidad.”

Elias da crédito a sus habilidades de baile a su abuela Entre las fotos de tus amigos y memes en Instagram, que a los nueve años la enseño bailes. También da crédito puedes encontrar uno de los muchos videos de estudiante a las películas populares de baile “Step Up” (2006) y “Street Dance” (2010) como inspiración. de último año Danny Elias bailando Su familia de Elias siempre la ayuda ser con toda su alma a canciones de pop e positiva y tener la mentalidad que puede hip-hop. La música optimista siempre ser lo que quiera. complementa sus movimientos que Además de bailar sola, ella le gusta son completamente improvisados. enseñar a su familia y sus amigas, Usualmente una persona tímida, ella como estudiante de último año Julianna usa la plataforma de Instagram para Hernandez, quien era la primera amiga poder ganar confianza. destacada en los videos de Elias.

Elias se mudó a Fairfax de El Aunque Hernandez usualmente no Salvador hace dos años atrás para sea timida, cuando anda bailando esta vivir con su tía. Ella aprendió inglés renuente para bailar enfrente de otras en la clase de English Language personas hasta que Elias ayudo cambiar Development y practicando con su Daniela Elias su actitud.

Estudainte de ultimo año primo en su casa.

“Tomaria clases de baile con mi Describiendo lo en uno de sus hermana y me aseguraba que nadie leyendas de Instagram como su que conosca estaría en la clase si no, “manera para sacar las malas vibras,” no lo haría,” dijo Hernandez. “Cuando su primer video estaba publicado en Mayo de este año, cuando empezó a publicar los para publique un video con, ella me empujo a ser menos timida Foto por Bea Cazares y me hizo amar el baile y [yo podía] senitirlo en mis SACANDO LAS MALAS vibras estudiante averiguar cómo se reaccionaran sus amigas. de último “Como tenían una reacción buena, me siento con más huezos.” año Daniela Elias enseña su favorito paso de baile.

A largo de bailar por diversión, Elias también utiliza confianza para bailar enfrente de otras personas porque no estoy asustada que no vayan a tener una reacción buena,” el baile para descansos de dijo Elias. para Elias tomo clases en el estudio de MoveMe en San estudiar en Rafael durante el verano, pero estaba forzada para cuando destraserse porque regreso su maestra a la universidad. A pesar que el medio de hacer baile no sea su prioridad para una carrera, Elias le gustaría la tarea y otras cosas. continuarlo en la universidad el próximo año.

“Algunas Elias constantemente escucha música, buscando canciones para poner en sus videos. Las locaciones de sus veces si hay una videos son espontáneos. Si está en la casa de sus amigas, y canción que me siente como si quiere bailar, le pregunta a sus amigas que gusta mucho, me paro y empiezo la grabe para que pueda publicar el video en Instagram.

“Busco canciones adonde puedo sentir la música. Si a bailar. Despues Specializing in One-to-one Math and Science Tutoring no la siento, no la bailo. Nosotras [Mis amigas y yo] lo regreso y hago hacemos para divertirnos, entonces [me gusta bailar] pop y mi tarea. Si estoy Knowledgeable, Experienced Tutors SAT and ACT Preparation hip-hop,” dijo Elias. “Siento como bailar hip-hop es como limpiando la casa, estoy bailando. ser fuerte.”

Jock Christie, Director cuando Elias puede producir videos más frecuentemente que Hasta antes por la preferencia de sus amigas de estar grabando estoy bañándome (415) 457-7500 más que bailar. Juliana Santos, un estudiante de segundo estoy bailando,” Info@TamalpaisTutoring.com año de Drake High School, es la amiga que usualmente le dijo Elias.

TamalpaisTutoring.com ayuda a Elias grabar sus videos. Como viven en el mismo complejo de apartamentos las dos esetan juntas la mayoría del tiempo.

810 College Avenue, Suite 6, Kentfield “Es muy segura de sí misma, eso es lo que amo de Helping Marin students succeed in math and science since 2005 ella,” dijo Santos. “Aunque, si yo quiera estar en un video bcazares@redde ella, tendría que tomar unos meses para estar a su nivel woodbark.org Por Bea Cazares

Siento como bailar hip-hop es como ser fuerte

feature The Furry Faces of the Fire

Page 9

By Lily Baldwin

Residents of Northern California struggle to recover in the wake of the devastating fires that ravaged their communities. While the people mourn the loss of their homes and rifle through their charred belongings, their displaced animals remain in a state of confusion and helplessness. It’s impossible to drive through the roads of California without viewing hillsides of horses and cattle—and now that many residents are left without homes, their animals are homeless, too.

However, these displaced animals have not been forgotten. Students, such as senior Jemima Dominguez, wasted no time offering up their homes as sanctuaries for animals who needed fostering during the crisis. Dominguez and her family took in a dog named Juno for friends who evacuated from Sonoma. According to Dominguez, the family had to stay in an apartment, waiting to hear any news about whether or not their home had been burned and was unable to take Juno with them to the apartment, so Dominguez’s family offered to take her in.

“They have a farm, so that’s their whole business. If it burned down it would be their whole life savings, everything, gone.

It was just the waiting game,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez’s family was more than happy to open their home to Juno, who stayed with them for two weeks while her evacuated owners waited to be let back into their home. Dominguez says she felt compelled to help because of her fondness for animals.

“I’m interested in animals, so doing this was a way to help but also was something that I’m interested in. If people can try to find connections to something that they are passionate about that they can help, I feel like that’s the most natural way to [volunteer]. If you actually enjoy it, then you’ll spend more time and it will be more meaningful,” Dominguez said.

Novato resident Laura Schifrin, realtor and stepmother of two Tamalpais High students, also opened up her home and stables for any creatures that needed shelter. Within the first week that the fires had started, Schifrin provided shelter for nine farm animals. Five of those horses belonged to a family she didn’t know, but through postings on Facebook, they were able to find her and bring their animals to her Indian Valley home within ten minutes.

“The heart of people was so amazing, wanting to help. This was a big social media thing. Facebook was a huge contributor to the efforts, I think. I was just watching and spreading the word and letting people know I had space if anybody needed out,” Schifrin said. “Our Novato community came together like nobody’s business. It was a thing of beauty.”

While five horses were taken back to their undamaged homes, three pets still remain. According to Schifrin, there’s no better place for the animals to be while they wait for their families.

“The beauty of this place is that it’s so quiet back here. There’s no road noise, there’s no nothing, and there’s open spaces.

I think a lot of the horses who evacuated to

Photos by Lily Baldwin

BASKING IN THE sun of Laura Schifrin’s property, these two horses, Mambo and Bella, are just a few of the lucky animals who found temporary new homes after the devastating Northern California fires in the fall of 2017. the fairgrounds had it much harder because boarded animals remained in the shelter. they got put in little box stalls, with so According to Fennell, these animals’ homes much activity milling around and so much were destroyed in the fire. The majority of chaos. That must have been unbelievably the 13 families who own these animals stressful,” Schifrin said. have been in contact with the shelter, but Keri Fennell, the Shelter Director at there are still two who have been out of the Marin Humane Society, experienced reach since the animals were dropped off. that chaos firsthand when the fires began to “I was surprised on Monday, when I spread. According to Fennell, she oversaw went through the paperwork, how many the evacuation of over people actually lost 450 animals to the their homes of the Humane Society over animals we had here. I the past three weeks. As was thinking just a few, an open-door shelter, but it was quite a bit. the Humane Society Those are the ones that served as a haven for are still here,” Fennell displaced animals. said.

“We just kept Those who took counting how many in animals during the animals we could put emergency expressed in here. And then they similar feelings of just start to come, and heartache for the people came…we were families and animals no longer an adoption affected by the fires. center, we were an Fennell was particularly Laura Schifrin, evacuation center,” moved while witnessing Animal home provider Fennell said. families leave their According to animals. According to Fennell, it was a struggle making space Fennell, watching the devastation hit close for so many pets. All adoptable animals to home as a resident of Cotati, a parent had to be transported to other shelters, and a pet owner. such as Silicon Valley Humane Society, in “They didn’t know if their house was order to be able to make room for all the gone. It makes me cry a little bit, because “emergency board” pets. you had this little boy who had no idea what “We had cats and dogs and turkeys was going on and he’s leaving his dog, and and birds. Our whole lobby was filled. We his mom is trying to explain that they were put parrots in people’s offices; all of the coming back for the dog. That’s what got adoption rooms were filled with evacuees me, was the little boy and picturing my and every [dog] run was too,” Fennell son,” Fennell said. said. “We wanted to be prepared because The Humane Society has dealt with we didn’t know how many more would natural disaster evacuees before. According come.” to Fennell, the shelter took in animals and Three weeks after the fires started, assisted during Hurricane Katrina in 2004. only 33 of the original 450 plus emergency However, this case was different.

Our Novato community came together like nobody’s business.

It was a thing of beauty.

“For some staff, this was very personal.

Katrina was much different because we were so far, all we saw was what was on the news. But this was like, you smelled it. I’ve never experienced that, in that we were having something so personal happen,” Fennell said.

Schifrin and Dominguez also felt sympathy for their friends and neighbors who evacuated.

“It was really sad, because I know that the family already has a lot that they have to deal with and then this on top of it. That was really upsetting to watch. They had a pretty positive attitude about it, which helped,” Dominguez said.

Schifrin hopes that people will remember that just because the fires have been contained, it doesn’t mean that all is well. According to Schifrin, it’s important to remember that the fires were just the beginning of a long journey to recovery.

“The story is just starting for them.

Yeah, the fires happened, that was an emergency and we had a week of absolute panic. And now everybody else who lost their homes, who lost pets, who lost people, what are they doing? Where they going?”

Schifrin said.

However, while the aftermath is a heavy scene of destruction, there was a gleam of hope that emerged from the ashes. Schifrin and Fennell both recognize how quickly the communities came together with good intentions at heart.

“It was heartbreaking, it was rejuvenating, it was uplifting, it was sad.

People would come down here and say, ‘It just took us four hours to get here’... We really didn’t ask a lot of questions. [We just told them] ‘your animals are safe, take care of yourself,’” Fennell said. lbaldwin@redwoodbark.org

bark Page 10 • Feature Unveiling the district’s parental leave policies

www.redwoodbark.og

By Maggie Smith and Christine Watridge On Oct. 15, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have granted teachers and other academic employees of California schools a minimum of six weeks of paid maternity leave.

“I believe further decisions regarding leave policies for school employees are best resolved through the collective bargaining process at the local level,” Brown said in his official statement.

Emily LaTourrette, a Redwood English teacher who gave birth to her second daughter in August 2015, raised concerns about the state of maternity leave in California and the nation in general.

“I think generally, as a mom and as a working mom, I was certainly disappointed [in Brown’s decision] because I think anything we can do as a state, but also as a country, to move in the direction of maternity leave policies that are on par with other developed nations is something that we really need to do,” LaTourrette said.

The city of San Francisco put in place the Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (PPLO), which took effect on Jan. 1, 2017. The benefits program requires employers who have employees working in the city to provide supplemental compensation to employees receiving California Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits to bond with a new child.

The employees receive up to 100 percent of their normal weekly wages during six weeks of parental leave, according to sf.gov. org.

In the Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD), parental leave can combine multiple programs and levels of pay. A teacher who wants to take maternity or paternity leave first uses their 10 annual sick days, while still receiving full pay and benefits.

Then, a program called Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will kick in, giving teachers 60 work days off with benefits. During this time, teachers also receive differential pay, or the difference between their normal salary and the cost of hiring a substitute. However, differential pay is only given to teachers taking parental leave, and not for other situations covered under FMLA, such as injuries or illnesses.

The last program the district has in place for parental leave is Child Rearing Leave, where a teacher receives no pay and no benefits but retains job security.

Lars Christensen, the TUHSD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Facilities, explained that while many staff members would appreciate a policy like the PPLO, the district faces fiscal restrictions.

“I know that there is a strong feeling a m o n g teachers that they would

like to see, much like San Francisco, six weeks of paid leave,” Christensen said. “As a school district, you can do things like that, but the pot of money is only so large, and we all draw from the same account. That would mean there would have to be choices in other areas that couldn’t be made.”

Christensen confirmed that the teacher’s union has sunshined the maternity leave policy for this year, meaning the union is highlighting it as an item to be negotiated, which he said will probably take place after Christmas.

“It’s hard to argue against [maternity leave policies], but my other job is to make sure I don’t make the district insolvent,” he said. “In negotiations, many times there’s a good idea on the table, but you have to say ‘Sorry guys, can’t afford it.’”

LaTourrette gave birth on a Tuesday night after working an entire day, and used most of her sick days for maternity leave the rest of that semester.

When she returned, she was left with just two and a half sick days to use during the second semester, which she said was frustrating and challenging.

“I remember that spring thinking every time I didn’t feel well, ‘Should I come to work? I should probably go to work.’ That was really not okay, but I kind of felt like I had to go through it so the following year I got my sick days back. I really don’t think we should be putting employees in a position where they have to make those decisions,” LaTourrette said.

Counselor Ian Scott, who took paternity leave, also had only two sick days to use for an entire semester, which he said was difficult because if he or his daughter got sick, and he didn’t go to work that day, his paycheck would be reduced.

“We would have had to just cope with me losing whatever that pay was that day, which is significant for somebody working as a public high school employee,” Scott said, mentioning he was shocked that his female co-workers had used up their sick days for maternity leave and were forced to deal with the financial consequences.

Another cost of using a signficant amount of sick days for parental leave is that teachers get paid for their left-over sick days when they retire, meaning that a teacher who used their sick days for parental leave would receive less money at retirement.

“It’s an inequity for people who have had kids. That’s one of those things again that becomes glaringly obvious that doesn’t even really occur to you until you have kids. It really does fundamentally seem wrong,” LaTourrette said.

Additionally, teachers reported confusion surrounding the parental leave policies in the district.

According to Scott, when his first paycheck came after he started taking paternity leave, his pay had been docked significantly because he had been placed under FMLA instead of using sick days like he’d intended. (This was later cleared up and he received a retroactive Illustrations by Christine Watridge

Infographic by Maggie Smith

check.)

However, according to Christensen, the district’s policy doesn’t diverge from California laws surrounding parental leave aside from differential pay for maternity leave under FMLA, which was introduced in 2016.

He also reported having some confusion surrounding the policies as well, especially as a new TUHSD staff member.

“The laws change regularly. They’re very convoluted, and there’s lots of twists are turns.

It ebbs and flows all the time,” Christensen said.

The district allows for teachers to take an unpaid leave of absence of up to two years after having a first child, which Christensen said is a very unique ability of the district and industry as a whole.

“I dare you to find me another company where you can work for a single year, and take the very next entire year off. That just doesn’t happen; we’re a pretty special school district,” Christensen said.

Chemistry teacher Marissa Peck, who is pregnant and arranging her maternity leave, said that there are a lot of factors going into her plans, including how much a teacher has to work a year in order to move up the salary scale.

“You have to work 75 percent of the school days, and if I was out until the end of the year I don’t think I would meet that requirement,” Peck said. “That being said, the school and the district have been really accommodating; if I did want to stay out until the end of the year, they would be happy to accommodate me, but it would just mean that I would have make choices about how much money I’d make next year.”

Scott took paternity leave to spend time with his daughter, staying home one day a week for one semester.

“I really valued my one day a week I got with my baby all by myself, where I wasn’t sharing responsibility, and it got to be just me and her. It was really good bonding time for us,” Scott said.

Though the option to take unpaid leave is available, limited parental leave reduces the time a parent is able to spend bonding with their child if they want to continue working. According to Allan, the first years of a child’s life are very important developmentally.

Enlish teacher Fiona Allan had one child while teaching at Redwood, and believes that the current culture surrounding parental leave in the US impacts more than just the parents.

“One of the reasons we have so many social issues is because we spend and invest so little in the early part of life,” Allan said. “So many negative aspects of society could be repaired quite easily if we implemented some kind of policy of support for young children and their parents in the first year of life. And that really includes leave from work.” bark@redwoodbark.org

Page 11 • Feature

www.redwoodbark.org

Demystifying the private college counselor frenzy

By Saamya Mungamuru and Julia Scharf In an academically competitive environment such as Redwood, the insurmountable pressure to delve into college planning as early as the beginning of junior year or even sooner is felt by many students. Whether self-imposed or influenced by parental expectations and comparisons to one’s peers, the anxiety surrounding college admissions is especially high among upperclassmen.

With college fast approaching, the fear and stress surrounding the process is what leads them to an option that, according to the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), more students and their families are turning to nationwide: private college counselors.

Owing to the uncertainty and confusion surrounding college applications, private college consulting is becoming an increasingly prominent and profitable business. A recent report by the IECA found that $400 million was spent on independent college consultants in 2012.

These private consultants offer services ranging from providing a list of schools to consider visiting and applying to, brainstorming and revising college essays and assisting with different sections of the application including financial aid forms. For these reasons, the appeal of hiring an independent college counselor is understandable.

At Redwood, private college counselors are extremely popular within the student body. In a recent Bark survey, 29 percent of students self-reported that they are currently working with a private college counselor and 18 percent are thinking about hiring one in the future. The popularity of private college counselors is also seen nationally. According to a USA Today article, 26 percent of all college applicants in 2013 hired a private college

consultant, three times as many as in 2003.

Senior Manuela Rosenfeld hired a private college consultant to help with her college essays. However, she used this while simultaneously utilizing a resource that is available to all Redwood students: the College and Career Center, which offers the same services as a private college counselor would, except for free.

“I had the rest of my applications down, but I was kind of worried about my essays. I didn’t know what to write about, I didn’t know exactly how they were supposed to be written, so having a college counselor helped with that because she had all of the up-to-date information and tips,” Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said that she used a private college counselor as a way to get started, but now also goes to the College and Career Center’s afterschool workshops and during SMART period for additional application help.

So why are so many students opting for private counselors when similar resources are available at Redwood for free?

Meg Heimbrodt, the college and career specialist at Redwood, believes that the biggest difference between the services offered at the College and Career Center versus with a private consultant is accessibility. “[Private counselors] are working outside of school hours and although I do reply to emails outside of school hours, in terms of meeting with students, it’s really the 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. [availability],” Heimbrodt said.

According to senior Isabella Liu, who has a private counselor, enlisting the help of one is a decision that depends on a student’s personal needs in terms of navigating the world of college admissions.

“If you’re only going to have a Redwood counselor, you definitely need to be a proactive student if you want to get as much out of the experience as

possible. With a private college counselor, you definitely have your hand held more, simply because they have fewer students to look after,” Liu said.

“But that benefit is perhaps more important to students depending on their level of advocacy.”

Liu went on to explain how the College a n d Career Center provides support f o r students who seek o u t its guidance.

“I have found R e d w o o d ’s counselors to be exceptional.

If I were to apply to college again, I would most likely opt to use Redwood’s counselors to guide me through the testing process well into my junior year,” Liu stated.

However, Liu’s experience with her private college counselor reflects many of the reasons why other students hire their own. Oftentimes, the decision to acquire a private counselor is the result of anxiety from parents surrounding the mystery of applying to colleges.

According to the same Bark survey, 47 percent of students who do have a private college counselor said it was their parents’ idea or influence versus only 28 percent of students who reported that nobody influenced their decision to hire one.

Private college counselor Barry Beach acknowledged the large role that parents play in securing a counselor for their students.

“I appreciate the concerned parents, but sometimes they get a little too ‘ahhh’ because the media always tells us that the only place you could ever consider going to [college] are these top twenty schools.

So the pressure going into college today is crazy!” Beach said.

In Heimbrodt’s opinion, Redwood’s College and Career Center can offer the same guidance to students if they take advantage of its services.

“I do think you can get the same benefits [as a private counselor] if you utilize this room in the best possible way,” Heimbrodt said.

However, many students are unaware of the services that they can get from the College and Career Center. They do not know of the free guidance and information that they can receive if only they entered the room that they often walk past in the hallway every single day.

For a number of students, seeking help outside of school is not an option due to financial reasons.

According to Heimbrodt, in addition to the issue of accessibility, equity is also a major deciding factor in who Isabella Liu, chooses a private senior college counselor over using her help.

“The students who are going to see private counselors are those who can afford it. But there are a lot of students that can’t afford to go to private counselors,” Heimbrodt said. “So it’s an equity issue more than anything else.”

Senior Shayna Cohen, who says she cannot afford the services of a private college counselor, feels that the ability to hire provides more affluent students an unfair advantage.

“If you have money, it’s just easier to get into a school because you have so much extra help,” Cohen said. “It’s really unfair, I mean, it shouldn’t be a matter whether you have money or not for you to get a bunch of extra help.”

That being said, the business of college counselors isn’t entirely based around raking in large sums of money. According to Beach, he and his colleagues find ways to give back to the community through their profession.

“One thing I like to put out there is that we do work pro-bono,” Beach said. “The last couple weeks a group of B a y Area advisors have been going up to help with the students who are seniors that are in the Santa Rosa high schools [who have been affected by the fires].”

Beach explained the role that private college counselors can play in supporting the community.

“Everybody helps differently. Some people help out with the fire removal stuff, others help by donating,” Beach said. “This is completely free, we just want to help.”

Cohen believes that the appeal of private college counselors is due to the fact that the school does very little to educate students about the college applications process early on in high school.

“I had no idea what I was doing until I went to my counselor at school this year to find out about the whole college application process,” Cohen said. “It would’ve helped me create my own timeline without having a [college counselor] help me do that.”

Cohen suggests that the school should include sessions debriefing college admission requirements in classes such as Social Issues (a mandatory course taken by freshmen) or Advisory to benefit students who cannot afford the services of a private college counselor.

Though Cohen feels she would greatly benefit from resources that her friends can afford, Redwood graduate Jeremy Goldwasser, who is currently a freshman at Yale University, feels that much of the money Marin parents spend on counselors and tutors is unnecessary.

Although he received help from his English teachers and a friend’s mom who works as a college counselor, Goldwasser said that he realized early in his junior year that one can get through the applications process relying mainly on themselves.

“The amount of research that one can do on their own on the internet with regards to picking a college to apply to and hopefully attend vastly outweighs any need for private help,” Goldwasser said in a phone interview.

Though he acknowledges that the personalized attention that a private college counselor can provide may benefit certain students, he says that the pressure and anxiety surrounding where to go to college and getting into a top school, which is what drives the decision to hire a private college consultant, is not worth experiencing.

“I attend Yale, but if I had ended up at UC San Diego, something tells me that I’d be just as happy there,” Goldwasser said. “For a lot of people, it doesn’t make sense if they make themselves so crazy for so long and at the end of the day they go to a school where, had they not done all of those things, they would have been somewhere almost just as fine.”

With a private college counselor, you definitely have your hand held more, simply because they have fewer students to look after.

Infographic by Saamya Mungamuru

bark

bark@redwoodbark.org

Behind the Bar The dimly lit room is alive with love. A woman feeds her husband french fries. A father throws his daughter above his head and she squeals with delight.

A couple poses for a picture in front of a waterfall mural, staring affectionately into each other’s eyes.

Siblings chat about current family drama. Hand-inhand, another young couple walks laps around the room as they stare at what is beyond the window.

But there are bars on the windows. The men are dressed in blue, and “Prisoner” is bolded on the backs of their shirts. A security guard armed with guns roams nearby. This is the visiting room of San Quentin. These are the humans who live behind bars and the loved ones who they rarely get to see.

For 40 years, Guss Edwards has lived this life. Edwards, who goes by Lumumba, a 60-yearold African-American male, has lived in over six California prisons, including Pelican Bay, Vacaville, Tracey DVi, Old Folsom, New Folsom, Tahachee and now San Quentin.

Lumumba recalls waking up one night to the police shoving his father into a police car, and seeing his mother with her face bloody and busted open outside of his home. He was then brought to juvenile hall and after that, foster care. Four years later he was reunited with his father, only to learn that his mother had died. His father had remarried a woman who was physically abusive to Lumumba, and he faced neglect in a household with 12 step siblings.

“I was at home but still felt like I was in the juvenile system,” Lumumba said, as he sat to tell his story amongst fellow inmates and strangers in the middle of California’s oldest prison’s visitor center.

It was the rage and resentment he felt towards his his past that drove Lumumba to act up. He robbed pimps, stole from stores and sold drugs after his father left to become the “man of the house” and provide for his family.

At age 19, a friend suggested they rob a shop in Pittsburg, California. The two of them went into the store with the plan of taking the cash register money and leaving. They were armed with two handguns.

In the store there were three people: two women and a little boy. Lumumba shot both women, one of whom died. He ran from the scene, but was caught by a cop and later sentenced between seven years and life in prison.

“There was so much anger in me that I didn’t value her life. I didn’t value mine. I felt pain but I didn’t give a damn,” Lumumba said.

The young boy in the store that day, who was the son of the woman who died, has been active in Lumumba’s parole hearings, and Lumumba said that he hopes to continue making amends with him by deterring other people from violence.

“I let the son know that my life now belongs to public safety. Apology isn’t something that can be represented verbally, it’s by action. I’ll let him know that every day. My apology has to be represented by deeds and actions every morning when I wake up,” Lumumba said.

While serving his time, Lumumba has taken advantage of many rehabilitative programs such as Guiding Rage into Power (GRIP), a program that helps prisoners to deal with anger and aggression, and Healing Dialogue and Action.

Additionally, Lumumba has corresponded with numerous pen pals, including Brad Widelock, a Kent Middle School math teacher and advocate for criminal justice reform, through Human Rights Penpals (HRPP). The two have been corresponding for around a year, and have formed a close bond.

“I am everything that Lumumba is supposed to be suspicious of. I am White. I live [in Marin].

I am well-educated. What reason should he have to trust me?” Widelock said. “So our trust built up slowly, over time, over the course of letters, over conversations that we had.”

Widelock said he recognizes his privilege and uses it to aid in prison rehabilitation among other social justice causes.

“The more you can get outside of yourself, I think for everybody, the better you are. Realize who you are and what you have and what other people don’t,” Widelock said. “It’s really easy to take things for granted. It’s very easy to take for granted that I’m a White male, I’m 54 years old, and I represent the power structure.”

Yet within the prison doors, Widelock becomes

a minority. However, he said that his background and current lifestyle make him comfortable with not being a part of a majority that he generally is in Marin while he visits San Quentin. The highsecurity walls of San Quentin hold a different world than the affluent county that lies outside, but Widelock understands the value of viewing life from an opposing perspective.

“I grew up with a lot of black people, I grew up with a lot of Puerto Rican people, I grew up with people who I was told were bad, because they were different,” Widelock said. “Everything I’d been told about people of other races I discovered for myself was false. And that was a very wide awakening for my world.”

Widelock is involved with a variety of organizations such as Uncommon Law, The Essie Justice Group and California Coalition of Women Prisoners.

Additionally, he has worked with the Resolve to Stop the Violence program (RSVP) which aims to teach criminals about understanding empathy.

“Learning how to be empathetic, learning how to express it, is difficult.

It is difficult especially if your selfconception and what you have been is the “tough man.” Now you have to be the vulnerable person.

That’s hard to do,” Widelock said.

Regardless of the facade many prisoners put up, at the end of the day the emotions are there and oftentimes they build up, according Guss (Lumumba) Edw San Quentin inmate to Lumumba.

“Lumumba says it best, there’s not a guy in there who hasn’t cried on their pillow one night. Not one.

And he would know,” Widelock said.

Widelock worked with the group of prisoners associated with RSVP in person, and described them as a community. The members were very welcoming towards him, and each played a specific role within the group.

“If they weren’t wearing all orange or all blue, they could be Elks members, or a sports team, or a high school class,” Widelock said.

As a middle school teacher, Widelock notices parallels between his students and the prisoners he works with.

“When I’m [with RSVP prisoners], right after a couple thousand kids that I’ve taught, I could look around the room and say, ‘I know you. I don’t know what your name is but I’ve seen you before. I know what you were like when you were 13,’” Widelock said. “Because I have children [that] are victims of domestic violence in my room. I know how they act. I have children who are victims of sexual abuse.

Statistics on people who have committed crimes show that most are victims of crimes themselves.”

Widelock has also volunteered with Dolores Canales, a criminal justice reform advocate whose involvement began after her own incarceration and watching her son’s imprisonment.

“I think the one thing that is important is we have to remember the way

Now we have out of the fire ourselves. We to society. We to public safe

rs

Exploring the prison system By shannon donelan and Carolyn French

that prisons a r e designed right now, they are designed in an inhumane standard. Humans were not meant to be kept in cement and steel,” Canales said.

Canales believes that serious rehabilitation must occur to improve prisons to become more humane and create a cycle that is not a revolving door.

“That’s why I really believe in restorative justice and healing because at the end of the day these human beings are going to be returned into our communities. They are going to be our neighbors. They are going to be in our schools, in our stores, right amongst us. So treating them as if separate when they are really not is not the solution,” Canales said.

Four times a year Canales organizes bus trips from Los Angeles to Pelican Bay for families to see their loved ones who are inside of the prison.

The trip provides transportation, a hotel room, food and more, which many families wouldn’t be able to afford on their own.

The last trip she organized was on Oct. 27, but was originally scheduled for December. Canales said that she moved the trip up after getting a phone call from Marrion Hawkins, the mother of a Pelican Bay prisoner, who hadn’t seen her son in 14 years.

Jeff Hawkins, Marrion’s son, was transferred multiple times between prisons, which made it hard for her to visit him. On top of this, Marrion’s work commitment and lack of proper transportation to make the long trip prevented her from visiting her son.

“I’ve prayed and longed for this. God promised me that I would see him before the leaves fall, and that was two years ago,” Marrion said.

“And so it’s actually happening this year, and I’m so truly grateful for this.”

B e y o n d the bus trips, Canales has been

e to get up e and heal e owe our lives e owe our lives ety.

wards,

interviewed by Oprah, featured in the movie “13,” worked with a number of organizations and advocated for the Pelican Bay hunger strikes.

In 2013, Lumumba was one of the 29,000 people who participated in the hunger strikes fighting against the use of solitary confinement, according to the New York Times. For 20 days, all he had was an eight-ounce glass of water per day. He describes how they worked across gang lines to initiate this change and attack the administration together.

“You can feel the camaraderie around the enemy and friends. We built a bond of unity. We put our race and our gang affiliations behind us. Let’s unify. Let’s go after the administration,” Lumumba said.

In 20 days, two inmates died and two months later, seven more. Some had starved to death, one had passed out and hit his head on the corner of a bed.

“That’s why we wanted to jeopardize our lives for this. We got sick of it, being classified as monsters,” Lumumba said.

Angelica Camacha, a volunteer on Canales’s bus trips to Pelican Bay, became very involved in the hunger strike when it began. Camacha writes about both the hunger strikes and the criminalization of Latinos. She, alongside others, started with random, improvised protests, press conferences and talks at universities. Camacha said she would even conduct prayer circles, doing anything to bring light to the strike.

Camacha’s interest in social justice stemmed from two of her cousins: one of whom was shot and killed, and the other who had been in and out of the prison system system since he was 16, and had been on the run from the law for breaking parole.

“When [my cousin] was shot [my other cousin] had to come back, and they arrested him at gunpoint at his funeral. That moment just really stuck with me, and we grew up together so I didn’t understand how that had happened. I was trying to answer how my cousin ended up in a casket and how I ended up in college,” Camacha said.

In addition to her work with social justice organizations and the Pelican Bay hunger strike, Canales is working to end solitary confinement.

She and her son both spent time in the “SHU,” (special housing unit) or solitary confinement. “[My son] stays real upbeat because he studies a lot, but one time he wrote me and he said, ‘I have no doubt that this place was meant to drive men mad or to suicide.’ He said, ‘I know because I’m living in it,’” Canales said.

Lumumba was also placed in Pelican Bay and spent time in solitary confinement. An avid artist, Lumumba drew out tattoo sketches, and when guards found his drawings they went through his address book, finding a name and number of a gang member and labeling the drawings as gang affiliated. Lumumba maintains that he had no idea of either of these things, but they put him in the SHU. “They told me, ‘We hadn’t gotten a Black guy in a while so we had to get you,’” Lumumba said.

According to Lumumba, some guards would perpetuate prisoner stereotypes to discourage people

from visiting by warning them of the unstable people inside.

“They tell the rest of society ‘Pelican Bay [is] full of the most dangerous people, just forget about them,’ [They would] even tell people who came up there to help,” Lumumba said, describing how oftentimes human rights lawyers would drive up there only to be turned around by guards warning of the “monsters” inside.

Lumumba’s many years in prison have gained him respect from fellow prisoners. He said that he had no problem getting along with fellow inmates, but prefered to stay within his distinct group of friends. “‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ I flock with those who want to save lives. I keep my circle close,” Lumumba said.

Lumumba described some of the other prisoners he had encountered during his years in the system, one of which was a gang member who had tattoos of the names of all of the rival gang members he had murdered.

Despite this, he was in prison for only a year for possession of marijuana.

“He’s a certified killer.

And what is he in here for?

Possession of marijuana. And he’s back out there now. That’s the kind of justice system we have,” Lumumba said.

After spending 40 years in prison, Lumumba can now clearly pinpoint aspects of his life that impacted his decisionmaking and led him to where he is today.

Lumumba talked about how crucial it is for prisoners to have a safe space where they feel comfortable opening up and releasing emotions.

“There’s nothing better than talking to people in the same situation; if you don’t release that valve you become dangerous. No matter what, you have to release that valve and let the pressure out and talk to people,” Lumumba said.

To release the pressure that Lumumba spoke of, people such as Widelock and Canales are determined to bring social reform to the prison system, and create healthier and more effective facilities.

“You can’t get people to change if you don’t provide them with opportunity,” Widelock said. “It’s not going to happen.

There’s not a single factor as there is a set of factors. You need to create environments where people can be successful.”

Lumumba was granted parole on Oct. 31. Governor Jerry Brown has the next 120 days to either affirm or deny the parole.

“Now we have to get up out of the fire and heal ourselves.

We owe our lives to society. We owe our lives to public safety,” Lumumba said.

Artwork by Guss (Lumumba) Edwards Graphics by Daniela Schwartz Artwork pictures by Peter Merts bark@redwoodbark.org

sports

Page 14

Redwood almost fumbles winning homecoming game

By Anna Compagno and Jordan Overmyer For many seniors, the homecoming football game on Nov. 4 would be the last of their football careers; their last time to suit up and their last time to leave everything on the field. Determined to finish the game victorious, the Giants came back from a rough first half to solidify a win against Tamalpais (Tam), ending with a final score of 21-20.

“In the first half you could see our sideline was a little quiet and we started off slow. In the second half, the whole atmosphere of our team was different.

On the sideline, everyone was helping each other get into the game and that motivated us to all work harder and get our heads straight,” senior running back and linebacker Jackson Holscher said.

The first half consisted of fumbles and interceptions from both teams. Locking down on defense, sophomore Kobe Gerstein started off the game with a key play by blocking Tam’s punt and allowing Redwood to recover the ball at the 16-yard line. Unable to convert and score, Redwood fumbled the ball and Tam recovered. At the three minute mark of the first quarter, junior Alex Aguero intercepted the ball and the Giants regained momentum. Despite this, Tam scored at the buzzer and kicked to score the extra point, making the score 7-0 Tam at the end of the first quarter.

With eight minutes left in the second quarter, Redwood scored and made the two point conversion making the score 8-7. Intercepting the ball with four minutes left in the quarter, Tam scored another touchdown. Right before the buzzer

sounded, Redwood blocked the kick for the extra point, which in fact could have been the deciding factor between a tie and win in the end. The halftime score was 20-8 in Tam’s favor.

Aguero, linebacker and running back, gained 208 of Redwood’s 292 yards ran this game. According to Aguero, the team under performed in the first half due to the amount of turnovers.

“They, from film, didn’t look like they had that good of a passing game but they started to throw the ball well, but in the second half our DBs did a good job on holding them down,” Aguero said.

Despite the high spirits that the homecoming crowning and cheerleading routine brought at halftime, there was no question that Redwood had their work cut out for them in the second half of the game.

“At halftime, we went in [the locker room] and talked to them and they came out here and finished everything in the second half, which was great,” head coach Allen Talley said.

Both Talley and Aguero commented on the fact that the team has had trouble in the past with staying strong in the second half to finish off their opponents.

“The number one thing our coach was saying [at halftime] was just finish. A lot of the times during the year, we played well in the second half but we never finished the game and won.” Aguero said. “The theme was to finish and win.”

Like Talley and Aguero had hoped, the team did just that.

Towards the end of the third quarter, Gerstein recovered the ball and junior Jack Morken caught a pass in the end zone, making the score 15-20. Within the next

Infographic by Jordan Overmyer

Photo by Jordan Overmyer

HOLDING OFF DEFENDERS, sophomore Joey Calzaretta clutches the ball as he falls to the ground.

Photo by Jordan Overmyer

PUSHING THROUGH THE Tam opponents, Aguero gained 208 of Redwood’s 292 yards ran this game.

Photo by Anna Compagno

BLOCKING HIS OPPONENT, Aguero’s runs helped Redwood seal the win against Tam in their homecoming game. two minutes, Redwood recovered a fumble from Tam. The next play, Aguero beat out his defender and ran down the field with no defenders close to catching him to score the touchdown that would keep them in the lead.

In the fourth quarter, neither team was able to score as they both maintained strong defenses. Tam fumbled the ball at the end zone with 11 minutes left, which senior Aidan Metzner recovered, however Redwood was unable to convert that into a touchdown. In other attempts to further the lead, junior Sam Warren made a 20yard run and Holscher made two more interceptions.

“It was a big defensive effort on both those picks. The first one I was able to come up with it. The second one was also tipped by a defensive lineman. It was a

team effort to pick both of them and it was surreal to catch both of the picks in my last game against Tam. It was huge,” Holscher said.

The win was especially rewarding because both Aguero and Holscher speculated the natural tensions because Tam is their rival.

“Tam being cross-town rivals, this win meant something to us. It was my last regular season game here along with all the other seniors. It was a big deal for all of us to come out here and win this, especially against Tam because we haven’t lost to them yet,” Holscher said.

Despite the slow start, Redwood proved that determination could lead to an impressive comeback. bark@redwoodbark.org

Photo by Jordan Overmyer

STRUGGLING IN THE first half with a score of 20-8 at halftime, Redwood was able to come back and finish the game strong.

Page 15 • Sports

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bark

Dynamic Duo: senior captains dominate in the pool

By Amanda Morse Senior hole defender Ashley Lamar bursts up out of the water to block her opponent’s shot. Afterward, she instinctively launches the ball to senior hole set Caitlin Donnelly. The ball splashes in front of Donnelly’s fingers, before she shoots the ball straight into the back of the net. This has become the routine for Lamar and Donnelly, co-captains of the girls’ varsity water polo team.

“It’s just really easy for us to play off of each other because we are opposite positions: she plays hole set and I play hole defense, so we’re very competitive with each other. We push each other really hard,” Lamar said.

In water polo, the hole set acts as the key offender who mainly scores the goals.

On the other hand, the hole defender is the player responsible for marking the opponent’s hole set, making her the leading defender. In order for the team to be successful, having strong players in both of these positions is crucial.

From morning workouts during the summer with their club team, Sleepy Hollow Aquatics, to two-hour practices for Redwood five days a week in the fall, Lamar and Donnelly have built a strong bond in the pool. Being such close friends and teammates allows them to lead the team as co-captains in a more coherent way. They’re able to translate their knowledge of the game of water polo into their leadership role on the team.

“We care about the sport. We put in the work for the sport. We are working outside of it when we don’t have a practice. I have been playing the sport for a long time,

Photo courtesy of Ashley Lamar

ENDING THEIR FINAL season, senior varsity captains Ashley Lamar (left) and Caitlin Donnelly (right) embrace coach Kirsten Frazer.

Colleges shouldn’t violate athletes’ first amendment

By Sam Warren What is free speech? In a literal sense, it can be defined as the right to express any opinion without censorship or restraint. In our constitution, it is established that “Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

But with recent advancements in social media, free speech has taken a new form and sparked different, more nuanced debates. Though social media users can initially post anything they want on any website, moderators and filters can remove posts off the site’s database and suspend or delete accounts that post expletive content, hate speech or other offensive messages.

Not only are social media services filtering content, but certain organizations are also banning usage and accounts completely, specifically collegiate sports teams. Major programs such as the UConn women’s basketball team and the football teams of Boise State, South Carolina, Florida State, and Clemson have had social media bans placed on their teams by their coaches and athletic departments, according to ABC news.

These programs are banning players from using social media during the season to prevent them from possibly posting content that could paint the program in a negative light.

But this is simply unfair to the athletes.

In today’s society, social media is not just a means of connecting with friends: it’s a platform to express opinions. And while many people aren’t recognized for their social media accounts, athletes are still influential because they have thousands of followers and are featured in reports from sports news stations such as ESPN. The ban on social media takes away a system that has been proven by players in the NFL to be a successful means of protest and exposure.

Players such as Colin Kaepernick, Michael and Martellus Bennett, and Marshawn Lynch have made use of social media to advocate for racial equality

Ashley has been playing for a long time now [and] we both care a lot,” Donnelly said.

Although each has a different background when it comes to time spent playing water polo, none of it matters when they enter into the pool.

Donnelly has been swimming her whole life, but began playing water polo when her older brother started when she was in fifth grade. The minute she entered the pool and made her first goal, she was hooked on the sport. Throughout her fouryear varsity career, she scored 103 goals and had 55 assists putting her at a total of 155 points, according to MaxPreps.

As for Lamar, she began playing water polo as a freshman, but has never been on a swim team. She was brought onto the pool deck by her stepsister, who claimed that she would love the sport and the team. Taking her word for it, Lamar tried out. Later in the season, she was pulled up to varsity and ever since then, she has been a leader of the team. Lamar ended the season being the leader in assists with 26 and scored 23 goals overall, according to Maxpreps.

“I like how much teamwork [water polo] involves. If not every single person on your team has focus and has their head in game then the team doesn’t do well,” Lamar said.

As soon as Lamar became a varsity player, the bond between her and Donnelly began to form.

“Before every game we always go up to each other and hype each other up. We say, ‘Okay let’s go. Me and you. Let’s do this,’ because we know that we lead the team in a way that others don’t or haven’t in the past years because we really communicate a lot with each other and the team,” Lamar said.

According to varsity coach Kirsten Frazer, the two are the ideal team leaders

and social injustice, as well as attacking political figures.

Because athletes are able to use social media to spread their own message and views on society, administration should not be allowed to ban social media.

Other programs use various services to flag posts that could potentially hurt the college’s reputation. Services such as Varsity Monitor, founded in 2011, are employed by dozens of Division I college athletic programs to flag words and phrases that could potentially harm the university, as well as the names of rival players and schools if they appear in student-athletes’ Twitter, Facebook and YouTube posts. After the posts are flagged, the coaches are then automatically alerted. Often, the athletes are suspended for their actions and sometimes even kicked off the team, resulting in the revocation of their scholarships.

Although this rule may seem fair, many athletes are being reprimanded for seemingly harmless posts and accounts on social media. Shedrick McCall III was a star senior running back for L.C. Byrd High School in Chesterfield, VA, and was committed to Old Dominion University in 2017. An outspoken and extroverted teen, McCall decided to create a YouTube account where he would make videos expressing his opinions on life, fun experiences and adventures and share them with the world. But, after one video where McCall talked about an incident where he was trespassing and using profane language, Old Dominion revoked his scholarship because his actions were an “embarrassment to the university,” costing McCall his only Division I scholarship.

Illustration by Will Ethridge

Photo by Amanda Morse

TREADING WATER, SENIOR Caitlin Donnelly practices guarding the ball.

because they both have a strong work ethic and are willing to put in whatever is necessary for the success of their team.

Also, they have the knowledge and respect for the game that allows them to effectively lead the rest of the team.

“They are team players and they understand that they can’t do it alone.

They are also in the water helping their teammates and helping them improve because they realize that it takes all of them,” Frazer said.

Although their season recently came to an end on Nov. 2 after they lost their away game to Monte Vista 4-12, Donnelly and Lamar went into the game hoping to make the most of what could potentially be their last game wearing a Redwood uniform.

amorse@redwoodbark.org

What makes McCall different from any other prospective student that would have been attending Old Dominion? According to U.S. News, only 35 percent of college admittance officers check social media before they accept or deny a student. Although trespassing is a crime and shouldn’t go unpunished, what makes McCall more unacceptable than the average applicant who has posted photos and videos to social media of underage intoxication and outlandish behavior? There is no reason McCall’s offer should have been rescinded by the university while other students with controversial accounts continue to attend.

Other student athletes have been punished for even more innocent reasons. Donald De La Haye was a kicker for the University of Central Florida who had a popular YouTube channel. De La Haye posted daily videos of his life as a student athlete, as well as comedic skits about football. But, after De La Haye’s account started becoming more and more popular, the NCAA threatened to impose sanctions upon the university unless De La Haye demonetized his entire account. Because of NCAA rules, De La Haye could not collect money that had anything to do with his football career and academics at the collegiate level. To avoid further conflict, De La Haye was suspended indefinitely from the UCF football team.

Although monitoring what athletes are saying and doing on social media is a good idea for schools to make sure that their universities’ reputation is not being hurt, banning social media and punishing student athletes for posting incriminating opinions and photos is not the best way to go about reprimanding the players. College is a time where students should be finding their identity and developing their personal philosophies. Student athletes sharing opinions about their lives is an act of free speech.

By banning social media and threatening punishment, college administrators are treating student athletes as professionals and not as the amateurs, which they are.

Thousands of posts fill the Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat databases on Friday and Saturday nights from drunk college students at parties, humiliating themselves and often displaying intolerable behavior from a college’s viewpoint. Yet, they receive no punishment for posting. College athletes are still college students who are learning the ways of the world, and need to be treated as such. swarren@redwoodbark.org

bark Page 16 • Sports Stewart goes farm to field in ultimate frisbee

November 17, 2017

By Sam Warren Sustainable Agriculture and AP Environmental Science teacher Joe Stewart spends most of his school day helping students understand concepts of ecological farming on the “SustAg” farm or in the classroom. But after school, he partakes in a different activity, one involving just a disk and a patch of grass.

On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, Stewart, along with a group of friends, plays pickup games of ultimate frisbee. The sport was started in the early 1970s, but has recently gained popularity around the world. The Ultimate Players Association, the governing body for ultimate frisbee in the United States, now has nearly 30,000 members, a 168 percent increase since 2003.

Stewart is a seasoned veteran in the game, who began playing ultimate frisbee right after college and has been playing for 25 years. But when one of his former colleagues first told him about the sport, Stewart said he was a little hesitant to give it a try.

“One of my fellow teachers was really into ultimate. I kind of thought it was a silly sport, but I had been an athlete in college and was looking for something to do, so he got me to come out and it was actually just super Jeremy Morrell fun,” Stewart said.

Redwood graduate When he arrived at Redwood, Stewart brought his love for the game with him.

“A few of [my ultimate frisbee friends] and I started this Marin pickup game [at Redwood] in the mid-90s and it pretty much has been going ever since. It’s had a couple

Photo Courtesy of Joe Stewart

PASSING TO HIS teammate, teacher Joe Stewart has been playing ultimate frisbee for 25 years. iterations, but we still get out here twice a week depending on the season,” Stewart said.

The Marin pickup game that takes place on the South Lawn isn’t one of a kind.

Since ultimate frisbee has increased significantly in popularity, it is now played in more than 80 countries consisting of an estimated seven million active participants, according to USA Ultimate. Also, hundreds of pickup games have sprouted up across the country and world. Using sites such as pickupultimate.com, players can look for local pickup games and email or text the creator of the game, like Stewart, and ask to play. Sites like these have built a rich community of passionate players around the game of ultimate frisbee.

Not only does Stewart enjoy spending time and playing pickup games with his friends, he also plays at the competitive level.

“I also play for an over-40 club team that competes

Every time he’s on the field, he’s willing to sell out and dive to make a catch for his team.

at the national level (in the World Flying Disc Federation Masters Division),” Stewart said. “We have practices and go to tournaments. We were in the national championships over the summer and came in fourth, and we also just got a bid to go to the world championships in Canada in the summer of 2018.”

Stewart’s fiery enthusiasm for the game has inspired students to play along with him as well. Redwood graduates Jeremy Morrell, who had Stewart as a Sustainable Agriculture teacher while at Redwood, and Juan Miguel Hojilla learned about the game from Stewart and now often play in the Marin pickup games.

“There are a lot of parallels between [Stewart] in the classroom and out here on the field,” Morrell said. “He’s passionate about everything he does. Every time he’s on the field, he’s willing to sell out and dive to make a catch for his team and he’ll never back away from a challenge.

In the classroom, he literally wrote the curriculum for his SustAg class. If that’s not passion and putting everything you have into it, I don’t know what else is.”

Hojilla, who did not have Stewart as a teacher, learned the game from him in a different way.

“I was walking around on club day and saw the ultimate frisbee club and decided to sign up. I started going to practices and that really got me into the sport,” Hojilla said.

Stewart was the adviser of the ultimate frisbee club at Redwood and used to coach Redwood’s competitive team that spurred many students’ interest in the sport, like Morrell and Hojilla. Redwood still has an ultimate frisbee club, but does not have an active team because many former members have graduated and . Stewart’s schedule has become more crowded with work.

Although Stewart can no longer coach, he makes time to play with his friends whenever he can.

“Ultimate is just a way to get exercise and have fun and be with a community of people that I really like. I made a lot of my friends through ultimate so it’s just a great way to go out and meet great people while staying active and playing a great sport,” Stewart said. swarren@redwoodbark.org

Seniors dominate for the second year in a row at Klassy Kickoff

By Jack Parsons

For both teams, the game started off shaky, with multiple drives in which they both turned the ball over on downs.

However, the momentum shifted after senior Molly Kehoe caught the ball for her team’s first touchdown.

The seniors then saw stellar performances from Hannah Halford and Izzi Tallerico, who scored the next two touchdowns. Tallerico’s touchdown was followed by an extra point from Audrey Peck, who capped their score off in the final minutes.

“That string of touchdowns was when the game shifted. During our first offensive appearance, the juniors came out strong, and that psyched us out a little, but we got our bearings after that first touchdown,” Kehoe said.

The juniors made a strong first appearance on defense, forcing a turnover on downs for the seniors. However, throughout the rest of the game, the odds were not in their favor, especially when a crucial interception by Sophia Margulies was called back.

On offense, the team didn’t find their groove until the last minutes, when Mckenna McGonigle ran the ball in for a touchdown. According to the team’s quarterback, Kamalei Kaleikini, they made

The senior girls made things look easy at Redwood’s third annual “Klassy Kickoff,” defeating the juniors 19-6 on Nov. 3.

Photo by Jack Parsons

RUNNING BY HER senior opponent, junior Mckenna McGonigle carries the ball.

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DUCKING OUT OF the way of defender junior Emily Sweet, senior Molly Kehoe drives forward towards the endzone. a mistake during practice and would have performed better if they had corrected it.

“Up until this game, we thought that we were allowed to run the ball, and had three main plays that would have helped us,” Kaleikini said.

Despite the juniors’ tough loss, they maintained high spirits throughout the game. There were no obvious disagreements between the two teams, and the game turned out to being very clean thanks to Mr. Sondheim’s pregame address, in which he encouraged good sportsmanship and used the game’s history as a poor example.

The annual junior vs. senior girls football game, which used to be called “Powder Puff Football,” was cancelled until 2015 due to a series of fights that broke out. It was renamed “Klassy Kickoff” and has been restored as an annual tradition.

The senior coaches were in high spirits after the game as well. One of the coaches, Aiden Metzner, attributed the team’s success to the fact that they remained calm.

“We didn’t panic. We had that first three and out, but we remained strong and a team, and that’s why we won,” Metzner said. jparsons@redwoodbark.org

Photo by Jack Parsons

TACKLING SENIOR JACQUELINE Massey-Blake, junior Alexis Nunez attempts to grab her flag.

www.redwoodbark.org

Page 17 • Sports

Gillian Wagner brings more than championships to the cross country team

bark

By Jacob Klionsky Believe it or not, senior cross country captain Gillian Wagner wasn’t always a runner. In fact, it wasn’t until freshman year that Wagner began consistently running cross country.

After some early accomplishments, caring teammates and a supportive coach, Wagner knew that cross country would stick with her.

“Having success early on definitely helped me realize that this was something I was good at and something I wanted to pursue,” Wagner said.

However, ‘good’ might just be an understatement; as a freshman, Wagner finished sixth in all of North Coast Section (NCS), and was the first ninth-grade finisher.

Coach Laura Schmitt has witnessed Wagner progress from the very first day of her freshman year to the present, as Wagner and the cross country team prepare for this year’s NCS meet.

“She came in humble, quiet and just a lovely little girl, and then she just exploded onto the scene,” Schmitt said.

Photo by Jacob Klionsky

SCORING A RECORD time of 18:19, more than a minute faster than the second place finisher, Wagner runs in the MCAL Championships.

Three years later, Wagner has cemented herself among race plans. the cross country elite. After finishing second to her now“During practice she is the leader of the pack because graduated teammate, Glennis Murphy, in the 2016 NCS we all just follow her, and a few other girls. Wherever she and state championships, Wagner looks to build off of last chooses to run, we follow,” Allen said. year’s success.

Schmitt adds on and claims that Wagner’s transition to “All I want out of this season is to just have some fast leadership didn’t surprise her at all. times, grow from what I did last year and just have fun,” “She naturally is a leader, and generally people who are Wagner said. extraordinarily successful have leadership qualities. She So far, it seems like these goals have come true. During has a very gentle demeanor,” Schmitt said. “She doesn’t the regular season, she won every league meet, and on yell at kids, she supports and encourages.”

Nov. 8, beat her competition in the Marin County Athletic Above all else, Schmitt believes that Wagner’s best League (MCAL) championship quality isn’t her leadership race by a full minute, with a time ability or even her physical of 18:19.1. Her best 5K time is talent. Instead, it’s her ability 17:28 which she ran at the Clovis to create balance in her life. invitational.

Despite the chaos of On Oct. 21 at the Mount Sac high school, Wagner said invitational cross country meet, she has learned to prioritize Wagner raced a 17.13.7 three her time to focus on what’s mile, placing third in the Girls most important for her at that D1 and D2 Individual Sweepstakes. Schmitt claims that a moment. female racer from Redwood has never ran faster.

“I have had to learn where I need to let things go, so According to Wagner, in her previous seasons, there if that means not hanging out with someone on a Friday had always been an older and faster teammate that she night because I have race on Saturday then that's what I’m looked up to, but now she has become the role model for going to do,” Wagner said. “I have had to make sacrifices, the younger members of the team. but those have definitely helped me grow as a student and

“To be in a leadership role and a top girl on the an athlete which I think have given me important skills for team is pretty different and kind of weird, but it’s also very the rest of my life.” cool to know that there are younger girls looking up to Wagner looks continue her success on Nov. 18, at me,” Wagner said.

Hayward High School in the NCS championships.

Delaney Allen, a freshman on the varsity cross country team, feels that Wagner’s presence has helped her succeed this year. According to Allen, Wagner leads by example and constantly helps her teammates prepare their jklionsky@redwoodbark.org

SPORTS

SPOTLIGHT

Photo by Jacob Klionsky

RECUPERATING AFTER A race, senior Gillian Wagner has been running competitively since her freshman year.

Infographic by Jordan Overmyer

review

Page 18

Documentary explores the idiosyncrasies of American politics one year later

By Julia Jacoby Going into election day, the polls had Donald Trump at a seven to 29 percent chance of winning the presidential election, according to FiveThirtyEight. His victory was a shock to almost all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.

Nearly a year after his historic election — a year of paranoia, conspiracy and division—it was difficult for me to remember a time when a Trump presidency was just a distant possibility. That was exactly what the documentary “11/8/16,” following various Americans on the election day of last year, forced me to relive.

This time-capsule of a documentarystyle movie is a patchwork of footage from over a dozen filmmakers, depicting the course of the historic day through the perspectives of 16 different people, including a small-town businessman from Massachusetts donning a “Make America Great Again” hat, a Mormon housewife from Utah campaigning for a third-party candidate, a female politician from Chicago and a homeless couple in Honolulu who believe politics don’t affect their vagrant lifestyle.

What’s most evident and most powerful about this film is the one commonality between all of these people: they all believe that they are the stigmatized, and are all, to some degree, disenfranchised by our government. Whether it is the white women working for Hillary’s campaign or the Democratic Party, who believe they are moments away from shattering the presidential glass ceiling, or the Sikh cab driver who has been harassed because his turban causes people to label him as Muslim and therefore a terrorist or the West Virginia coal miner who believes the government is threatening the existence of his livelihood—all of these people have cause for dissatisfaction with the state of

our country.

The film cultivates a fascinating social study into the political perspectives of American citizens, all of different backgrounds. This is most notably seen in the most distinguishing trait of the subjects: whether or not they believe their vote matters. On one end of the spectrum is Anthony Ray, a black man who is voting for the first time since his exoneration from 30 years on death row. He wears his “I voted” sticker on his forehead like a badge of honor, and stops to take selfies with everyone he passes on the street. Sitting in his home, he tells the cameraman, “Thirty years ago today, my voice was stolen from me. And today, I get to have a voice again.”

In contrast, a Chicago artist tells another millennial that by not voting, he is challenging the pre-existing corruption in the American democratic process, labeling it a system that he w to abide by. Through these various stories, “11/8/16,” does an incredible job of illustrating the chasm in the faith of Americans in our government and our democracy.

However, in its attempts to create a mosaic of the American people through race, gender, religion and economic strata, it neglects the nuance of the human experience by turning its subjects into representatives of their social class(es).

These people are speaking of their own beliefs and politics, but the lack of juxtaposition between people in similar situations with different philosophies stereotypes them by making them seem as though they are speaking for their demographic as a whole. This distorts the truth of one person into the story of thousands.

The film has no real resolution; I knew exactly how it was going to end before it started. The documentary is devoid of a soundtrack or any real narration, and the filmmakers all vary in style: some interview the subjects on camera, others record the

Image Courtesy of The Orchard

EXPLORING THE PERSPECTIVES of 16 different Americans on election day, “11/8/16” is a powerful depiction of the current political climate. subjects conversing with other people.

This variation in style becomes choppy, and the lack of structure or plot becomes tiresome—I found myself checking how much of the movie I had left more than a few times.

But the significance of this film is not in a plot or in a shock-factor, but instead in the profound impact of watching it a year later. It was impossible not to think of the repeal of DACA while watching a family of DREAMers place their security and citizenship in their vote, or of Trump telling the family of a slain soldier that he “knew what he signed up for,” when a veteran emotionally describes his choice to risk his life “to fight for liberty.”

After the election, many were quick to vilify those who voted for Trump as

perpetuating bigotry. However, we often forget the years of neglect and intricately woven bureaucracy and oppression that led to our current political climate. Every subject in “11/8/16” was desperate for change.

If nothing else, “11/8/16” serves as a reminder that the needs and experiences of the American people cannot be defined by a two-party system or a single candidate, and asks us to re-evaluate the beliefs we held a year ago, the efforts (or lack thereof) we made to understand others a year ago, and the hopes we had for the future a year ago.

jjacoby@redwoodbark.org

Get dressed for less: best of Marin consignment

Goodwill San Rafael

By Devon McClain When it comes to shopping for affordable, quality clothing and accessories, Marin isn’t typically praised for its abundance of economically satisfying options. Luckily for students, there are plenty of second-hand nonprofits, consignment stores and thrift shops all within a 20 minute drive from Redwood. If seeking to take on a new and unique style, find some cool clothes your parents used to wear or even shopping for a friend, teens can acquire almost anything they’re looking for. Overflowing with decent to mint condition items, each store is individualistic and caters to many specific needs.

Mt. Carmel Salvage Shop

In downtown Mill Valley on 45 Lovell Avenue, the Mt. Carmel Salvage Shop is a Catholic resale store filled to the brim with an array of items to choose. The upstairs has everyday clothing for anyone around the age of 15 or older, a huge collection of books, athletic gear and various board games and decorations. The downstairs has housewares, shoes, children’s clothing and electronics. All of the merchandise has been donated to the shop and the items that they don’t accept, such as towels and washcloths, are either given to various homeless shelters or the Marin Humane Society. From creative holiday decorations and clothing to inexpensive second-hand suits and ties, this store exceeds all expectations of salvage shops. The one downside to the store being based entirely on donation, is that not all items are going to be “high end,” so if that’s what you’re looking for, this may not be the store for you.

However, this is a great place to go if you’re either looking for a quick new outfit or for an interesting accessory.

Photo by Devon McClain

BROWSING THE AISLES at the Mt. Carmel Salvage Shop, students can find inexpensive clothes and other goods.

Sugar Magnolia

Sugar Magnolia consignment shop is home to many vintage, upscale items. Mostly receiving items from collectors and over-buyers who have excess goods, this consignment store’s material is typically high end with extremely marked down prices. This store contains mostly women’s shoes, dresses and purses, with a few men’s accessories like wallets and watches. I received a warm welcome and great customer service upon entering the store and the owner is very personable and eager to help.

Although small, the shop holds hundreds of items and has a very unique interior with dozens of vintage decorations.

If aiming to find high quality affordable women’s items, this is the place to go. Unfortunately for guys, you’re out of luck, unless you’re shopping for your mom or in the mood to change it up and try something new.

Located on Lincoln Avenue in San Rafael, Goodwill is full of clothing, electronics and other useful items. Just one of the 19 stores on the West Coast, with 25 donation sites, Goodwill has plenty of basic items for men, women and children. Although it is large for a thrift store with an abundance of items, there isn’t much variety or originality.

After entering the store, there wasn’t any customer service and the employees were not very friendly. Even though most of the items are mainly for necessity, they are quite expensive compared to some of the other shops throughout Marin. Overall, it didn’t have any outstanding features and was quite pricey for a non-profit organization.

Swan Dive

The Swan Dive consignment shop located on First street in Corte Madera is another convenient location when searching for a women’s secondhand store. Existing for over 22 years, it has developed a network of loyal customers, and they receive varieties of quality jewelry, shoes and clothes from consignors. With a reputation of selling luxury and designer goods, the owners keep their store and inventory in great condition for their customers.

Although the items are sold for a large profit, they are still great quality and well below the prices seen at retail shops.

For many people looking to find women’s clothing, Swan Dive could take the place of a Nordstrom’s or Macy’s because of their impressive selection. dmcclain@redwoodbark.org

Page 19 • Review

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bark

Bon Air food trucks showcase variety of cultural cuisines

By Vincent Leo The wafting aromas of various cuisines fill the air in the Bon Air parking lot. A few people mingle around the large vehicles selling numerous cultural delicacies. Most of these individuals are workers from the mall and nearby offices, or shoppers dropping by to pick up their favorite meal.

Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday starting at 11:30 a.m., a variety of specialty food trucks arrive at Bon Air: Banh Mi Zon Vietnamese Gourmet, Mai Thai Kitchen and Cousins Maine Lobster. The trucks are located just a few feet away from Jamba Juice, utilizing a parking lane to sell their food.

These three featured options allow one to choose from mouth-watering seafood to fragrant stir fried noodles to fresh, juicy sandwiches. As I explored the various trucks, I set out to see what $25 would get me at each.

Sporting a dark oak color decorated with images of delicious sandwiches and fresh ingredients, the Banh Mi Zon truck was the most colorful.

Customers stood in line deciding what to order from a menu sign board. As I walked up to the window, the cashier greeted me with a friendly smile. Service is quick and once I placed my order, I was able to read a brief history of the Banh Mi sandwich painted on the truck’s side while waiting for my food.

The signature Banh Mi sandwiches are, without a doubt, the main attraction. From the 10 options, I chose the BBQ pork sandwich ($7.50). Wrapped in brown wax paper and delicately sealed with a red sticker, a delectable aroma rose from the contents when I ripped open the package. Inside, a large French baguette sat overflowing with crisp green vegetables.

As I took my first bite into the sandwich, all the ingredients came together perfectly. The bread had a crunchy crust and was nice and fluffy inside. Perfectly seasoned, savory pieces of meat lined the bottom layer of the baguette.

Filling the rest of the sandwich, a variety of vegetables provided a cool aftertaste. Warning!—be sure to ask for no jalapeños if you can’t handle spice; I learned the hard way.

Showcasing three rolls with plentiful shrimp and greens, the fresh spring rolls ($7.50) came premade in a clear plastic container. The rolls stuck to my hand, giving me a negative first impression.

However, their taste redeemed them. The shrimp were savory, while the mint and vegetables were refreshing.

Supplying a cool flavor overall, the rolls may have tasted better with the addition of a dipping sauce.

The vermicelli bowl ($12) was ample enough to be a meal itself, as it combined BBQ pork with lightly pickled vegetables and vermicelli noodles. Each piece of pork was rich with flavor, enhanced by the infused marinade of lemon grass, garlic and soy.

The vegetables and noodles balanced out the dish, contrasting the meaty taste with a cool one. There was also a light sweet and sour sauce that coated the dish, giving a little bit of a kick.

Mai Thai Kitchen stood out as the most exotic truck,

Marin Comedy Show

Photo by Vincent Leo

BURSTING WITH FLAVOR, Mai Thai Kitchen blended sweet, sour and savory ingredients together to create exotic dishes. with its bold pink color and a large purple elephant painted on its side. Multiple sign boards covered the wall of the truck displaying menu items in large laminated photos.

After the cashier took my order, I could see the cook light the stove and start making my food with fresh ingredients.

Acting as an appetizer, the crispy spring rolls ($6) arrived in a portion of three with a sweet and sour sauce.

Biting down revealed a crunchy coating, followed by a refreshing taste from a mixture of glass noodles, cabbage and carrots.

The sauce was tangy, adding just the right amount of zest. Flavor aside, the only downside was the size of the rolls, which seemed a bit too small.

The flank steak skewers ($8) exceeded all expectations.

Four skewers laid crowded in a paper food tray, supplying a generous portion of three pieces of beef on each stick.

The meat, cooked medium-rare, was juicy and savory, with the perfect amount of seasoning.

A peanut dipping sauce also accompanied the dish, which was very light yet saturated the beef with flavor.

The largest of the three dishes, the pad thai with shrimp ($10) consisted of plenty of noodles, shrimp and vegetables. All of the ingredients blended well together.

The sweet noodles contrasted the savory shrimp and the vegetables refreshed my palate. This being said, the sauce was a bit too tart for me. Digging into the bottom of the dish, the sauce drenched the noodles, making them a little soggy.

Establishing itself as the most famous truck with the owners’ appearance and success on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” Cousins Maine Lobster was, by far, the busiest. Groups of

people crowded around the menu, briefly deciding what to order before being greeted by the cashier.

Service is fast, with each order produced in less than five minutes. Waiting for food, one can admire the multiple news broadcasting networks the owners, who are cousins, have been on, which are all pictured in a neat row on top of the truck.

The Maine lobster roll ($17) was, hands down, the most delicious item. Large, succulent pieces of lobster gushed out of the sandwich. The meat was buttery, melting in my mouth, and tasted freshly caught.

A layer of mayo coated the bottom, adding a sweet touch. Perfectly toasted bread held together the contents, which showed no signs of sogginess.

Golden brown tater tots ($6) arrived in a paper food tray, filling it to the brim. Each tot was pipping hot and appeared to be freshly fried. The potatoes were crispy, with just enough seasoning and salt.

To my surprise, the Cape Cod chips ($2) turned out to be regular, supermarket brand chips. This, along with the extravagant price of the lobster roll, were the only downsides to the authentic Maine feel.

Overall, these food trucks were a fun way to try different kinds of cuisine, offering quality food at reasonable prices. My only wish is that they could be available closer to Redwood.

vleo@redwoodbark.org

Relieving stress through bountiful laughter

Other topics he touched on included airport travel, using the internet and raising You no longer have to go to San kids. Some of the most hilarious parts were Francisco to see great standup comedy. I when he was most vulnerable, for example found this out by attending Trek Winery’s when Hytner explained what he would’ve open mic comedy hour in Novato on Nov. done in high school to have a girlfriend.

3. The show was headlined by Steve Physically, Hytner would sometimes screw Hytner, who played Kenny Bania on the up his face or contort his body to illustrate his point in ways that very effectively hit TV show “Seinfeld.” added impact to his punch lines.

Hytner’s performance brought down Other comedians who the house. While his humor is for mature performed that night included audiences only, his comedic genius was Mike Betancourt and Susan on display as he spontaneously riffed with Alfieri.

Betancourt is from several audience members throughout the Sacramento area and the night. He joked with one couple explained that “We for being “boring” when they don’t have wine—we said they had met at Safeway, have moonshine.” suggesting they spice up their His impression get-together story using of Vin Diesel was various foodstuffs. hilarious, and Hytner’s material was he produced smart, sassy, well-prepared some wideand self-deprecating. ranging sound Classic lines included his effects.

Although observation on how women Betancourt go from “fishnets to oven interacted well mitts” as they transition with the audience, from the Halloween to Photos by Charlotte Seton his material wasn’t Thanksgiving holidays.

By Charlotte Seton

quite as smart or honest as Hytner’s.

Alfieri lives in Terra Linda, and her main topic was how White people in Marin do Halloween. While she was wellprepared, her gig did not include any direct interaction with the audience or physical humor. Trek Winery has a classic northern California feel. Each comedian remarked on the beauty of the venue.

The performance room was unique, with wine barrels stacked against the walls from floor to ceiling. It was easy to hear and see all the performers, and they were able to comfortably communicate with the audience.

Not surprisingly, wine was one of the themes of the night. I had never been to a stand-up comedy show before and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was delightfully surprised at how funny and relatable the performers were. I didn’t get all of their jokes, likely

because most of the humor was directed at the majority adult audience members.

For example, they understood the Seinfeld jokes that I did not.

Once or twice a month, Trek Winery hosts stand-up comedy showcases involving both amateur and professional comedians. With prices ranging from $15 to $25 per ticket, the cost is pretty comparable to going to a movie, particularly since there is no cover charge.

Although plenty of wine was available, there was no pressure to drink alcohol, and the winery bar sold non-alcoholic beverages as well.

The next Marin comedy showcase at Trek Winery will be on Dec. 15. I highly recommend this performance as a stress reliever during finals week. However if you are not an upperclassman, parental guidance may be advised due to the maturity of some of the topics. cseton@redwoodbark.org

bark

Page 20 • Review

November 17, 2017

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ strikes a balance between comedy and action

By Maxim Kawashima The opening scene begins with Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, hanging from the ceiling in chains. He begins with a monologue directed at the viewer explaining the situation. Suddenly, he drops and faces a fiery demon-like being known as Surtur. Surtur says, “Thor, son of Odin,” in which Thor responds, “Surtur, son of a….b***h.”

“Thor Ragnarok” came out on Nov. 3. Compared to the two previous films, “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World,” “Thor: Ragnarok” emphasizes action and humor. The movie is also heavily reliant upon music to support what each scene tries to display. “Thor: Ragnarok” rightfully deserves its high ratings and praise.

Something to note—as this is the third installment and intertwines with the other Marvel movies— there will be a few names and events that if you hadn’t watched the other movies you will not understand. This is not a huge negative and should be somewhat expected, regardless the movie is extremely enjoyable and feel-good.

Thor finds himself imprisoned on a world known as Sakaar. He is held prisoner by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) and must fight in a gladiatorial arena against the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). From there, he is forced to find a way off the world of Sakaar to return to Asgard to defeat the Goddess of Death, Hela (Cate Blanchett), who has taken over. Hela is believed to be the person to initiate Ragnarok, also known as the end of Asgardian civilization.

Compared to the previous two films, this one displays a much bigger comedic side, which seemed to work well for Marvel’s other films such as “Guardians of the Galaxy” and its sequel, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”

The comedy is quite appropriate and appeals to Marvel fans of all ages. Sarcasm is the basis of this humor and had me chuckling throughout the movie.

Some of the funniest scenes revolve around Thor and his witty responses to people that he speaks with, mainly villains. There are also many familial jokes and references throughout the film, especially related to Thor’s relationship with his twin-like adopted brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). They tend to bicker and fight as elementary

school brothers would. For instance, in order to beat the enemies behind the door and escape, Loki pretends to be injured, hanging loosely in Thor’s arms as Thor yells out for help, catching the enemy off guard. From there, Thor throws Loki unexpectedly, resulting in grumbling complaints from Loki as the two reminisce about similar occurrences in the past.

The relationship that Thor has with the Hulk/Bruce Banner, as he tries to appeal to the two halves individually, is another example of this humor. For example, when talking to the Hulk personality, he says that he hates Bruce and that Bruce is thinking too much. While appealing to Bruce, Thor says the Hulk is too barbaric and it is clear in both scenes he’s just trying to get each personality on his side.

The use of different types of humor allows the viewer to make a connection to the interactions made by characters. The connections are important as the characters being watched aren’t exactly normal humans or even are humans, but the humor provides something to relate to.

“Thor: Ragnarok” also uses third person viewpoint with its action shots, which allowed the viewer to feel as if they were watching in person. Many bird’s eye view shots were utilized to enhance fluidity of movements made by all characters in the shot.

In every fight scene, slow motion clips increased the intensity of the fight. They typically left the viewers anticipating the next action taking place.

A key aspect in enhancing and putting the finishing touches on the film was the music. For example, the world of Sakaar pans across the screen, with views of the city accompanied by sci-fi-ish melodies. This helped identify the scenes as something that were different from Earth and were instead alien. Classic rock music from the midlate 90s was used in order to pump up a scene’s action, reminiscent of “Guardians of the Galaxy’s” use of 70s rock songs.

To me, “Thor: Ragnarok” is the best of the three Thor movies and probably one of the better Marvel movie productions of their cinematic universe. The added humor throughout the movie was appreciated to allow a viewer to make a human connections with the very non-human cast. The screenplay regarding the music and third person

Bark Beats

Image courtesy of IMDb

SHOWCASING WITTY HUMOR and an exemplary soundtrack, the third movie of the series, “Thor Ragnarok,” is sure to entertain. views of scenes where masterfully done to value scene’s meanings and roll it plays throughout the film.

The humor is somewhat childish and crude, though not to the extent of “Deadpool,” so if you don’t care for that type of comedy then you might not fully enjoy this movie.

However, if you’re into comedic superhero movies then you’ll be in for a treat with the great acting, action and screenplay that “Thor: Ragnarok” bestows on a viewer.

mkawashima@redwoodbark.org

By Christine Watridge

Reputation Taylor Swift “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now/Why?/Oh, ‘cause she’s dead!” These lyrics, from Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do,” couldn’t be more accurate. Swift’s past personas are buried in the music video, and there’s no denying the powerful message she is sending us through these not-sosubtle lyrics and visuals. However, I am a die-hard fan of the “old” Taylor Swift, so it’s hard for me to get used to this darker and more provocative side. She is an extremely accomplished artist, evident in “Reputation” through haunting EDM beats and lyrical prowess. I think it’s just going to take me some time to accept that the old Taylor really is “dead.”

Recommended: “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” Swift’s pop songs highlight her ability to write compelling lyrics. “Everyone swimming in a champagne sea/And there are no rules when you show up here/Bass beat rattling the chandelier/Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year,” Swift sings, referencing her past success. The upbeat melody cleverly contrasts the stinging blows Swift delivers to Kanye West.

Pacific Daydream Weezer Every song on Weezer’s 11th album, “Pacific Daydream,” made me want to jump in my car and take a road trip up the California coast. The songs were lighthearted and beachy (one song is even titled “Beach Boys”), with feelgood melodies, resonant guitar strums and wistful lyrics. Weezer definitely focused on the Indie Pop Rock aspect of their style; Rivers Cuomo, the band’s lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, used a computer program to arrange musical fragments into songs, apparent in the pop and EDM undertones. Unfortunately, most of the album tended to blur together due to similar tempo and tone; there are no new classics like “Beverly Hills” or “Island in The Sun” on the “Pacific Daydream” album.

The Thrill of It All Sam Smith After rising to fame in 2012, when he was featured on Disclosure’s track “Latch,” Sam Smith, the “Stay With Me” pop and soul singer, released his second studio album on Nov. 3. Much like his last album “In the Lonely Hour,” released in 2014, “The Thrill of It All” is filled with skillfullysung songs about love and heartbreak and included plenty of piano melodies. The raw emotion and vulnerability is apparent in this collection of powerful ballads, but the singer remains mostly in his comfort zone with this album. He hits the high notes and nails the vibratos, but none of the songs push Smith to his artistic limit.

Recommended: “Weekend Woman”

Recommended: “Our Last Song”

Smith’s last album, was inspired by love and heartbreak, and in his 2015 Grammy speech he famously thanked his ex-lover.

“Our Last Song” is one last hurrah to this man. A dynamic chorus of “Oohs” draws the listener in, followed by fast-paced piano that effortlessly melds with Smith’s rich vocals. “When it was good, it was bittersweet, honey/You made me sad ‘til I loved the shade of blue” croons the singer.

“Weekend Woman” intrigued me, with lyrics such as “We fell in love on a Sunday/

By Monday morning I drifted away.” The chunky guitar beat intertwined well with the base strumming at the beginning of the song, and the nostalgic mood and look back at another era is captured nicely as a sigh methodically interrupts the upbeat rhythm.

Beach House 3 Ty Dolla $ign Full disclaimer: I am not a rap aficionado, nor do I regularly listen to R&B or hip hop music. “Beach House 3” is singer and rapper Ty Dolla $ign’s, or Tyrone William Griffin Jr.’s, third installment in the “Beach House” series. The album pushed me out of my musical comfort zone, with mixed results: a few songs stood out to me, such as “Message in the Bottle,” which included more thoughtful lyrics, but overall I found Griffin’s style to be too autotuned for my taste. The album features Wiz Khalifa, Future, Pharrell Williams, Lil Wayne, Tory Lanez and others, however, I was more impressed by Griffin’s solo performances than the collaborations.

Recommended: “Famous” “Famous” pleasantly surprised me; the guitar riff was catchy, immediately drawing me in and complementing the slow tempo of the song. Standout lines include, “They don’t wanna work all day, they wanna make it overnight/Just to look good in public until they spend their last dimes,” highlighting Griffin’s view of others’ motivations for fame and fortune. cwatridge@redwoodbark.org

lifestyles

Page 21

Students volunteer to work for Sausalito city council campaign

By Caroline Cummings Senior Rob Hoffman has always been interested in politics, but it wasn’t until this year that he was given the opportunity to take this enthusiasm into the real world of political candidacy by working as Melissa Blaustein’s campaign manager for Sausalito city council.

Hoffman first met Blaustein at “Jazz by the Bay,” a jazz and blues festival in Sausalito, when his mom, former Sausalito Mayor Jill Hoffman, suggested he might be interested in speaking with her.

“We hit it off talking about politics because she does work in international advocacy as her day job,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman proceeded to offer Blaustein his help on her campaign for Sausalito city council, adding that he knew of some students, such as Tamiscal senior Liliana Amador, who would potentially be interested in working for the campaign as well.

While Hoffman worked with other students involved in Blaustein’s campaign, including volunteers Vicens Vila and Kate Theriault, much of his responsibilities as campaign manager included working with outside political consultants Blaustein has hired for the campaign.

Photo by Caroline Cummings “We developed a field plan on how we were going to attack the vote basically, TALKING TO ENTHUSIASTIC volunteers, senior Rob Hoffman explains the protocol for speaking with potential voters when and developed a strategy,” Hoffman said. knocking on doors.

“One of these consultants is very adept at I had limited bandwidth because I have Blaustein in her policy, particularly when beyond Blaustein’s campaign. statistical analysis and stuff like that, so school and also devoted all my spare time it came to the issues of bikers. Vohland “I definitely think I’ll pursue a future I’ve been working with him a lot.” to how we were going to knock doors and explained one major problem, that bike in politics. To what that ends up being, I While Hoffman canvas,” Hoffman said. rental places don’t make certain routes don’t know,” Hoffman said. “It’s probably oversaw much of the While Amador available to tourists, causing them higher not going to be on the local level. It’s kind day-to-day work of knew the basics of how numbers of these tourists to bike through of exhausting, physically and emotionally, the campaign, Amador a campaign is run due to Sausalito. because you’re dealing with a lot of focused on other aspects her experience working “We’ve done a lot of outreach to those personalities, I think more so than you of the campaign in her as a volunteer for businesses in terms of advising tourists that would on a larger campaign.” role as field director.

Bernie Sanders in 2015, there are other places to go On a larger campaign, she had to do research to try to reduce congestion her work would include on policies that could be within Sausalito on the educating voters implemented at a local weekends,” Vohland said. about the candidate level, something she Hoffman, Amador and working on voter Liliana Amador, had not had previous and Vohland have all contact strategy. experience with. been interested in politics Tamiscal senior “Because we’re sort Redwood senior before this campaign. of a smaller campaign, Angelica Vohland, Amador cites middle it’s a city council the communications school as the time her election, I do a lot of that work, but I director for Blaustein’s campaign who interest in politics was also just do a lot of stuff that maybe on a heard about the campaign through sparked. national campaign, volunteers would do,” Hoffman as well. She also had political “I’m just passionate Amador said. experience, through running a campaign to about all the issues that While the basics of the voter outreach be speaker of the assembly for Junior State are decided politically, process was easy to manage, Hoffman of America, before obtaining this position. and I have a lot of faith experienced many difficulties due to According to Vohland, much of her in the ability of our his limited experience with political work consisted of helping Blaustein get government to get things campaigns.

Hoffman experienced involved in the Sausalito community. done,” Amador said. particular difficulty in dealing with the “We attend a bunch of events. We According to campaign signs promoting Blaustein. recently helped out and volunteered at Hoffman, he had “Figuring out how we were going to get the Sausalito Art Festival,” Vohland said. previously tried to signs out was pretty complicated because “We were wearing our merchandise and get involved in other everything to campaigns at a local level, advocate for but it never worked out.

Melissa.”

“I had tried and failed Vohland also to try to get involved helped Blaustein in the Kamala Harris write brief campaign and the Hillary paragraphs for her Clinton campaign,” Photo by Caroline Cummings platform, which Hoffman said. “Then this KNOCKING ON A Sausalito resident’s door, senior Vicens required extensive opportunity just happened Vila tries to gain voters for city council candidate Melissa amounts of to come by me and I Blaustein. research. didn’t pass it up.”

“I had to Hoffman’s biggest takeaway from Vohland wants to have a future relating become extremely this experience is the need to truly be to politics, but is unsure what specifically educated on the enthusiastic about the work being done. she will do. background of “You really have to love what you’re “I would love to be able to manage Sausalito—a lot doing in politics, otherwise it’s just and run my own campaign for a regional of the logistical miserable. If I hated the people that I’m or countywide candidacy. I hope to go into parts regarding working with, I would have quit in August,” politics at some point in my life, whether b u s i n e s s e s , Hoffman said. on a county level or a statewide level,” tourism and Part of this is due to the large amount of Vohland said. traffic,” Vohland time necessary to run a campaign. Hoffman Hoffman cites the people of Sausalito said. estimates he spent around 35 hours a week as being one of the most memorable aspects Much of this on the campaign. of working on Blaustein’s campaign.

Photo by Caroline Cummings LOOKING OVER THEIR walking routes, seniors Vicens Vila and research allowed Hoffman, Amador and Vohland all have Kate Theriault volunteer to help with voter outreach.

Vohland to aid hopes for future involvement in politics ccummings@redwoodbark.org

I have a lot of faith in the ability of our government to get things done.

bark

Page 22 • Lifestyles

November 17, 2017

Face-to-face: Should Netflix have canceled House of Cards?

By Josh Cohen Face-to-Face is a feature that allows two members of the Redwood Community to grill each other, argue, or simply converse about a relevant issue or event.

We provide the topic, and they do the rest. This month’s participants are junior Jackson Bender and Social Studies teacher Mike Kelemen. They discuss their different views on Season 7 of House of Cards being cut from Netflix due to the allegations that Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted actor Anthony Rapp when Rapp was just 14 years old.

Mike Kelemen - vs Jackson Bender

How does this affect your view of famous actors or directors?

Mike Kelemen: Whether it’s an athlete or an actor, they could personally be really horrible people and I wouldn’t want to hang out with them or have them be my friends, but I would still respect their ability to play the sport or enjoy their acting and want to watch their shows. So would I still want to watch House of Cards after all this stuff about Kevin Spacey? Yes. They could have figured out a way to kill him off and still keep the show going. So it would only just punish that specific actor, Spacey, and not the whole show and whole crew.

Jackson Bender: It’s a very common theme where celebrities and public figures will marginalize themselves in the process of apologizing, and it definitely comes down to people in positions of power and how they are using that. They use these things like coming out as gay as

an excuse for their actions and I just think that is horrible. After the allegations of what Kevin Spacey did, and after seeing the headlines read ‘Kevin Spacey comes out as gay’ instead of ‘Kevin Spacey commits sexual assault,’ to me, that says as a society we view sexual assault and coming out as gay as equal. I believe that coming out is an important part for someone that is gay, but I think that he used that strategically to propel his apology.

How do you feel about season 7 being pulled from Netflix?

MK: If Netflix wants to stand up as a company and say, ‘We don’t want to hire actors that act like this,’ then that is their right and I understand that, but I would have really liked to see the seventh season

MK: In the case of Spacey, he is being accused of harassing and being a sexual predator not to women, but to men, and then comes out and says, ‘Well, I’m gay.’ But it doesn’t matter if you are gay or heterosexual, that is not acceptable.

It doesn’t mean that all famous actors or producers are sexual predators. I agree that he gets fired and sued if Spacey is violating laws, such as sexual harassment. If Netflix as a company doesn’t choose to show his show that’s their choice, but I still want to continue watching the show, yes, with Spacey on it because I like the show. It doesn’t necessarily mean I like him, but I would have liked to see the season continue with him in it.

JB: I think that it was important for Netflix to not condone what Kevin Spacey did. And by taking it off of Netflix, they are saying that they don’t support Spacey’s actions at all. The punishment fits the crime. But all in all, I think it was important for Netflix and the show itself to say that they don’t agree [with], condone or support his type of behavior.

JB: Obviously not as many people are going to watch your show, and so I think that itself is enough punishment. But I think that once you are convicted and your name goes down the drain, no one is going to want to hire you anymore. Good luck getting another job, good luck being seen in the public eye from a positive perspective.

Ultimately, I think that the seventh season of House of Cards being taken off Netflix is good. [In terms of disciplinary action], there will be a trial and whatever that conclusion is will take care of itself, but I think the public uproar and backlash against Spacey is enough.This situation just happens way too often, and I just think that Kevin Spacey is another terrible example of people in positions of power abusing them.

Do you feel the disciplinary actions being taken are the right ones for Spacey?

jcohen@redwoodbark.org

of House of Cards continue. The show itself is really entertaining to me and is really well acted by Spacey. But the fact that Netflix is not showing the next season and that they have cut ties with Kevin Spacey, I can understand that from a business standpoint.

By students, for students tutoring business gains ground

By Hannah Halford

August 2016 marked the takeoff of the student-run tutoring business, Peer Tutor, founded by senior Zachary Tull and Redwood alumnus Grant Barnes, who earned his GED in 2016. Both students launched Peer Tutor to give students the help they need at an affordable price.

Peer Tutor costs around half as much as a typical tutor, charging only 40 dollars per hour, while most tutors in Marin charge from around 80 to 100 dollars, according to Tull.

“We are trying to provide access to mentors and high school tutors who have already gone through the process of school and have figured things out a bit. We want them to pass their knowledge on so these younger kids can get the most out of their school experience,” Tull said.

Barnes and Tull experienced trial and error when launching their entrepreneurial careers.

“We had no outside help from teachers, parents or other adults, besides the knowledge that they gave us. We benefitted a lot from mentoring and advising people our parents knew in the workforce, and that was a huge help to us, but we didn’t have someone actually involved in the business,” Tull said.

The success that both Barnes and Tull have achieved with Peer Tutor has helped them to build a legitimate corporation. Since February of 2017, Peer Tutor has been registered with the state of California and filed with the Secretary of State as a business. Barnes and Tull pay $800 per year to be a part of the system.

When the business first began, Tull developed a process to find the best tutors with which to provide his clients.

“I started needing to hire people that I’d never met before, so I had to start talking to teachers actually. They’d give me ideas about what qualities you could identify in a student that would make them a good tutor. I went in to see teachers at lunch, specifically English teachers, because I think they have a really good sense of a student’s character,” Tull said.

Currently, Peer Tutor has 20 tutors, one being senior Clark Chung.

“Peer Tutor isn’t just about participating to make money. Of course that’s the initial goal because everyone needs a few spare dollars to use every now and then, but at least for me, the people skills that I’ve learned by being a peer tutor have actually been more meaningful than the money that I’ve earned from it,” Chung said.

Sophomore Elsa Kemp, a client of Peer Tutor, believes the program has provided her with a unique tutoring experience.

Photo by Hannah Halford

LAUGHING TOGETHER IN their workspace, Grant Barnes (left) and Zach Tull (right) discuss their daily agenda for their business, Peer Tutor.

“It’s more personal and your tutor really gets what you Peer Tutor is off to a great start according to the go through because they go to Redwood and they’ve been founders, and Barnes and Tull have an ambitious vision through those classes, so I think that’s the best part about for the future of the business. it,” Kemp said.

“I can see it helping a lot of other communities. That’s The relationships Chung has built, as well as the next major challenge, finding ways to expand the opportunities that he’s been given through the parents of model,” Tull said. the kids that he assists, have been a great resource.

Tull will be heading off to college next fall, but he “One family has become [like] a second family when plans to continue the business. He already has a manager I’m there, they invite me to dinner and provide me with who will run the business while he’s gone. Barnes was opportunities for internships,” Chung said. unavailable for comment, but according to Tull, in the According to Chung, the tutors sometimes face a future he plans to focus strictly on Peer Tutor and business challenge when attempting to teach people their own age, in general. which can impede their authority.

“It should be able to survive in the coming years in “Sometimes the kids begin to see you as a kid. Of Marin, so no one has to worry that it’s going away. But I course you want to seem approachable as a tutor so they will be looking for ways to expand it in college and keep it will listen to you, but the delicate balance between making running in the long term,” Tull said. them feel comfortable but also knowing that you’re there to teach and not really there to have fun. Finding that delicate balance is challenging sometimes,” Chung said. hhalford@redwoodbark.org

bark The hunters of Redwood aim to educate Page 23 • Lifestyles

www.redwoodbark.org

By Emily Sweet

Sophomore Delaney Anderson smears camouflage paint on her cheeks to match her full-body disguise.

After loading a book, cookies and her .243 rifle into the Jeep, Anderson heads out to her assigned deer stand. She gingerly sprinkles the cookies near the deer feeder, a unique trick acquired in elementary school, and sits down to wait for her first deer.

Anderson’s first kill came in the form of a deer in third grade. In the pouring rain of her grandparents’ South Carolina ranch, Anderson reaped the rewards of patience and a watchful eye by her father’s side.

Nearly every winter during the annual break, Anderson and her family spend nearly two and half weeks at her grandparents’ ranch. During this time, Anderson has become accustomed to a popular pastime often overlooked in Marin: hunting.

Though since 1970, there has been an approximate 70 percent decline in hunting in California according to ABC7, several Redwood students have discovered a connection with the sport in addition to or in place of traditional athletics.

Similar to Anderson, who was exposed to hunting as a child, junior Hunter Bueman has been hunting since he could explore outdoors with his dad.

“My dad was bird hunting since he was a young boy with his dad. I got into it because of him. I would walk the fields with him, not holding a gun or anything, but because it was a thing we would do. When I came of age, around ten, I started hunting,” Bueman said.

While Bueman goes on about ten big hunts yearly, Anderson usually does the majority of her hunting during winter break. For Bueman safety is the most important factor when it comes to hunting and in a typical hunting excursion, safety takes priority.

“We get the guns out of the gun safe, load up the truck, head out.

We walk the field and always make sure we’re safe with that.

You walk in a line when you’re hunting so you don’t walk in front or behind anybody. Make sure you don’t swing your rifle. There’s a lot of safety stuff,” Bueman said.

Senior Sam Mauro was also involved with the sport as part of a hunting group in Colorado.

Though he did not grow up in a typical hunting community, his background of traditional English Fox Hunting in Colorado has given him a unique experience. Accompanied by 72 hounds and on horseback, Mauro and about 40 men and women of all ages clad in traditional English dress would trek over 160 acres of land every Sunday.

In search of a sole coyote, the Hunt Master would trail behind the hounds leading the mass of people. This weekly tradition continued until Mauro moved to Marin in eighth grade.

Photo courtesy of Hunter Bueman

AIMING HIS GUN, junior Hunter Bueman searches for a target during his hunt.

“Everyone has to keep up on their horses, it’s going through a bunch of obstacles and it’s a lot of horsemanship.

Going up and down embankments, under trees, through creek beds. The hounds get on the trail and catch up to the coyote. They’ll actually make the kill,” Mauro said.

Mauro found that the following potluck at his hunting club, the Arapahoe Hunt Club in Englewood Colorado, was equally as exciting as the hunt.

“My whole family would come. All our friends would come. Everybody would go, either follow the hunt in cars from a distance and watch or come together after the hunt to eat and talk about it,” Mauro said.

Mauro even partook in many yearold traditions that come with English fox hunting.

“If you’d never been on the hunt where a coyote was killed you get what’s called bloodied. That’s where they cut the paw of the coyote and smear the blood on you,” Mauro said as he demonstrated the path of blood along each side of his face.

After his move to Marin, Mauro has hunted less and instead has begun to build a skillset as a fisherman.

“There weren’t a lot of ponds near where I lived but now with the bay right here, I’ve turned more towards fishing,” Mauro said.

Though he has not foxhunted recently, Mauro continues to interact with animals through horseback riding and hopes one day to go into the veterinary field.

Bueman and Anderson both emphasized that they do not hunt for the purpose of killing.

Bueman and his family eat

Photo courtesy of Delaney Anderson

everything they hunt, storing it in a freezer throughout the year and Anderson’s family even donates some of their hunted meat to shelters.

“You have to explain that you’re not killing the animal just to kill. It’s going towards a good cause: you’re eating it or donating. You’re going to a grocery store anyway.

This way you actually experience what happens instead of just buying [meat],” Anderson said.

Bueman has received some pushback from the community, but it has not halted his hobby.

“Every conversation I have goes differently. It’s definitely controversial around here, but most of my friends understand that I do it for meat. I don’t do it because I like killing things. Not a lot of people agree with it around here,” Bueman said.

Anderson believes she has had influence on her friends to try her out-of-the-ordinary hobby with her, especially with her recent interest in bowhunting and the purchase of her first bow. Anderson was influenced by her dad’s interest in bowhunting to try out a new type of hunting, different from her childhood experiences.

Anderson recently obtained her first bow.

“That’s something that’s not like a gun. You can have a target in your backyard and shoot just to practice. My friends tried it and they really liked it. You introduce [hunting] to other people,” Anderson said.

Though Anderson now hunts by herself, it took a lot of practice before her dad felt comfortable letting her go alone.

“The first couple years my dad wanted to make sure I knew everything, how to track the deer if I killed it, there’s a lot of stuff that goes into it. Honestly with the deer stand, I bring a book because you have to wait. My heart beats,” Anderson said.

Mauro reflected upon hunting in comparison to other sports, noting that it doesn’t always bring the immense satisfaction many seek.

“It’s very rewarding, but it’s tough work. With the hunting, a lot goes into it. You have to make sure your horses are okay and then sometimes you’re on a trail forever and [you can] be super excited and it turns out blank,” Mauro said.

Mauro also noted the individualism that hunting can bring, offering a varied experience from typical sports.

“In sports there’s an opponent. [In hunting] there’s nobody you’re trying to beat. Versus sports, there’s no winner or loser… It’s all kind of relaxed and you can take your time with it. Not everybody is into the whole team mindset or into team sports. By going out and being an individual you can do your own thing and not be told what to do,” Mauro said.

Bueman believes more students should learn about hunting and hopefully enlighten themselves about the sport before getting involved. “Definitely educate yourself before you try it and make sure you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, you will get hurt. You will offend other people. Be careful what you say because it will get around and then the community won’t like you,” Bueman said.

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Photo courtesy of Sam Mauro

WALKING HIS HORSE during a fox hunt, senior Sam Mauro began hunting at a young age.

Ryan Brady’s journey from hospital to homecoming

By Sydney Hilbush

The last thing you would expect from a 17-year-old awakening from a coma is for him to be smiling. But he was, as usual.

Ryan Brady started Wednesday, Aug. 30, like any typical day. Driving his mom’s car to school with his little brother, Keiler Brady, in the passenger seat, the boys were heading down Paradise Drive on their way to pick up a friend for school. Ryan, going 39 mph, suddenly swerved on a winding curve to avoid hitting oncoming traffic and plunged 80 feet off a steep cliff on top of Paradise Cay. The car flipped eight times until landing, crushed, between a concrete wall and a porch.

Although Keiler emerged from the accident with only minor cuts and bruises, Ryan was left in critical condition, suffering injuries to his back, neck, arms, hands, clavicle and knee. Ryan lost consciousness soon after the car flipped, falling into a coma with no memory of the two weeks following the accident.

“I don’t remember any of the actual accident. The earliest memory I have is the day before the accident. I guess the brain, when it goes through something that traumatic, just totally erases it for you.

It knows that it would damage you if you remember that,” Ryan said.

The brothers were rushed to Marin General Hospital after being extracted from the car and Ryan was then transported to the Oakland Children’s Hospital for major surgeries. Ryan spent two weeks in the Oakland Kaiser Hospital before being transferred to the Kaiser Vallejo Hospital, where his rehabilitation and physical therapy took place. Although Ryan is still undergoing surgeries months after the accident, his broken back and neck were both healed in under six weeks.

Ryan’s accident left the community speechless and his family shaken. Each day presented a new silver lining between life and death for Ryan while in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). After 33 days in the ICU and numerous weeks in physical therapy and rehabilitation, Ryan is left with one final surgery on his elbow early next year before finishing off the surgical process, according to Ryan’s mom, Kathleen Brady.

“Thinking of [the injuries] he went through to thinking that

[now] the elbow is the worst part...he could have easily been paralyzed. He could have died. He could have easily died,” Kathleen said.

Despite the trauma of the situation, the Bradys have buoyed from the experience by a tremendousbeen outpouring of support from the community. Ryan’s extensive stay in the ICU was accompanied by numerous hospital visits from Redwood teachers, counselors, staff members and close friends.

“David Sondheim let Ryan’s close friends leave school when Ryan was about to have halo surgery, and these boys just needed to see him,” Kathleen said. “They needed to see he was alive. Ryan was on a ventilator and in a coma. He could hear what they were saying but he couldn’t respond. Those boys came with tears down their eyes. They just needed to know he would be okay.”

The stream of support for the Brady family has been connected with CaringBridge.com and MealTrain.com, websites that are run by their close friends providing essential resources to the Bradys. Through CaringBridge. com, subscribers to Ryan’s page are able to follow a timeline of Ryan’s recovery with continued updates p o s t e d by close friends.

M e a l Tr a i n is a platform that provides the opportunity f o r

friends, family and strangers to supply the Bradys with home cooked meals as well as groceries.

“My parents literally haven’t had to cook a meal since the accident because the community has totally supported us and have been giving us so much food basically since the week after the accident, and we have [food] scheduled until the middle of November,” Ryan said.

As with any major traumatic injury, there are sure to be surprises along the way.

In Ryan’s case, his surprise came in the form of language. When Ryan woke up from his coma, his brain had begun processing information in Spanish, and he was only able to talk in Spanish.

“I was already fluent before the accident, but now I literally speak Spanish at the same level I speak English,” Ryan said.

Ryan’s sudden inability to speak English required the help of multiple translators at the hospital to help him communicate with his parents and doctors. However, a few days after Ryan woke up from the coma, his mind “switched” back to English.

Although near-death experiences are often considered unfortunate, Ryan considers the accident a mixed blessing.

Through his recovery process, Ryan has witnessed the influx of emotional and mental support from his community, some of which he was not expecting from his peers. In particular, Ryan was shocked to find out he had been elected to the Homecoming Court after nearly two months of absence at school. “[Ryan] being elected to the homecoming court just brought tears to my eyes,” Kathleen said. “[The seniors] understand how much he’s been through and that he almost died. And they care that much about him to nominate and acknowledge him.”

The support from his classmates has assisted Ryan in his speedy recovery, prompting his expected return to Redwood for the second semester of the school year.

“I truly believe in the power of prayer and healing and positivity, and Ryan is living proof of that,” Kathleen said. “Ryan has been so positive and so grateful. He realizes he is getting a second chance at life.”

To read more visit redwoodbark.org

photo Jordan Overmyer Photo byby Jordan Overmyer

shilbush@redwoodbark.org