Carlmont Highlander December 2017

The Highlander December 2017 Vol IX Issue III

Carlmont High School — Belmont, California

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@scotscoopnews

Our Memories are Not as we REmember

Photo Illustration

by Jordan Hanlon

Time is degrading how one remembers the past Sean Vanderaa Staff Writer

Nelson Mandela died in prison.

But he didn’t. He died in 2013, long after being freed.

Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father.”

But he didn’t. He actually said, “No, I am your father.”

All of these misconceptions have a common basis. They are all a part of what has become known as the Mandela Effect.

“The ‘Mandela Effect’ is what happens when someone has a clear, personal memory of something that never happened in this reality,” states the Mandela Effect website, run by Fiona Broome, who believes that other dimensions are leaking into our own and altering our recollection of the past, giving people memories of things that actually never took place.

Her theory originated in 2010 after she

discovered at a convention that she and many others shared the same memory that Nelson Mandela, the president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, had died in prison, when in actuality he had died in 2013, 23 years after getting out of prison.

This occurrence led her to discover other streams of memories that were in fact wrong.

Another example of the Mandela Effect is the misspelling of a popular kids book in the 1990s and early 2000s. It’s title is The Berenstain Bears but many recall the name being The Berenstein Bears with an e rather than an a.

“I’ve experienced the really popular [false memories] like when I saw that the cover of the Berenstain Bears wasn’t the Berenstein Bears, I was completely shocked” Julia Walsh, a senior, said.

As well, the television series Sex and the City is often recalled as actually being named Sex in the City, and yet at no point was the show ever titled that.

All of these instances can be classified as “false memories,” but the way that they come about is different from what Broome is claiming. Although the theory that false memories come about due to other dimensions leaking into our own, it is far from the truth.

According to Elizabeth Loftus, a cognitive psychologist and human memory expert, our memory is prone to change and is often full of false memories.

“We can’t reliably distinguish true memories from false memories. We need independent corroboration,” Loftus said in her Ted Talk, How reliable is your memory?

These false memories are easily changed, because simple interactions can alter our minds to perceive something as true that isn’t.

“We get misinformation not only if we’re questioned in a leading way, but if we talk to other witnesses who might consciously or inadvertently feed us some erroneous information, or if we see media coverage

about some event we might have experienced, all of these provide the opportunity for this kind of contamination of our memory,” Loftus said.

These false memories can lead to many problems in one’s day to day life, but the main problem is with eye-witnesses whose convictions lead to the false-imprisonment of hundreds.

Continued on P. 16 See more about how time affects us throughout our lives - Where you are is when you are Page 11 - Experiences change value of time Page 15 -Time ticks; fear heightens Page 18

In This Issue

Bay Area’s Influence on Sports Bay area teams are trailblazers in every sport Page 3

Gun Control in America Americans believe gun control

restrictions have room for improvement Page 9

Introverts Vs. Extroverts Your personality type

defines what makes you happy Page 16

Sports Campus News Time in Cultures Lifestyle Features Opinion Holiday Talk Back

2-3 4-5 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-16 17-19 20

SPORTS

2

December 2017

Boosters Club funds athletic department Parent contributions fill gaps with donations

Parker English Staff Writer Although the Sequoia Union High School District provides funding to the Carlmont High School Athletic Program, it is not enough to meet the financial needs of the over 30 Carlmont sports teams.

Parent contributions to the Carlmont Scots Boosters Club supplement the district’s funding.

“We get a total of 45 coaching stipends that amount to $176,085.

We get a total of $60,000 from the District for transportation and supplies. Last school year we spent $34,000 on buses, $10,000 to recondition the football equipment (which is mandatory) and had $16,000 left over for other needed equipment,” said Patrick Smith, the Carlmont Athletic Director.

The Boosters have raised nearly $100,000 per year, to ensure that the needs of the other

sports teams are met.

“Over the last four years, the Boosters have raised about $380,000, just shy of $100,000 per year. The four years prior to that, the Boosters raised $190,000, just shy of $50,000 per year, so the fundraising success has increased,” said John VanArsdel, the Boosters treasurer.

The majority of the funding raised for this school year was used toward the completion of the new Carlmont gym based on the coaches’ input, which cost $100,000. The remaining $42,000 was distributed to other teams based on need.

“There isn’t priority given to any particular sport unless that sport requested a bigger ticket item (scoreboard for baseball, fencing for softball, sound system for the gym, etc.) that the Boosters agreed to fund. The funds aren’t distributed evenly, but based on the need or asks by each individual coach,” said

Kathryn Zorb, the President of the Boosters.

The fundraising goal for this school year is $75,000. The Boosters raise money through membership sales, senior athlete volunteers, the selling of Scots gear, and most importantly, a yearly fundraising party called The Shindig, which raises the most revenue for the program.

Membership sales are $50 for an individual, $100 for a silver family, $200 for a gold family, $300 for a platinum family, and $500 for a millennium family, with the more expensive memberships providing benefits.

“It’s really important to increase and retain membership numbers at high level to continue to be able to fund the programs we have and invest in future capital projects,” said VanArsdel.

The Shindig is being held on April 21, 2018, at the Devil’s Canyon Brewery. All parents and students are welcome to attend.

Isabel Mitchell

Isabel Mitchell Liz Boman, a senior, uses stick-on wallet for her phone.

SPORTS

December 2017

3

The Bay Area’s influence on sports

The local competitive environment changes the game of every sport

Photos by Isabel Mitchell

Briana McDonald Staff Writer “They keep doing it over and over, in basketball, in football, in baseball, in tech, in business. This is the hub — it is the greatest concentration of brilliance in North America. High IQs. Evolved thinking,” said Colin Cowherd for Fox Sports Radio and FS1.

Cowherd praised the community for its innovative teams that change the game of every sport.

Creating new offensive concepts, perseverance through roster challenges, and talented players, Bay Area teams continue to be trailblazers.

The San Francisco 49ers forever changed football with the execution of a new concept. Coming from a devastating record of 2-14, Bill Walsh was soon hired as head coach for the 49ers in 1979 where he brought the philosophy of the West Coast offense.

In a traditional offensive route, a team must establish its running game first, which will draw the defense in and open up passing lanes downfield. On the other hand, the West Coast offense has a greater emphasis on passing the ball rather than running the football.

Walsh’s 49ers went on to win three Super Bowls along with the help of the legendary quarterback Joe Montana, who both have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Their success paved the way for more innovative plays, and now almost every football team implements Walsh’s West Coast Offense

into their playbook. College teams such as the University of Alabama to NFL teams like the Kansas City Chiefs use Walsh’s offense.

According to NFL Networks’ A Football Life, Current head coach for the Baltimore Ravens John Harbaugh referred to Walsh’s book Finding the Winning Edge as “the bible of football coaching.”

Not only did a Bay Area team change the game of football, the Oakland Athletics made franchise MLB history.

In 2002 the Oakland A’s began on a bumpy start, losing three key players: 2000 AL MVP Jason Giambi to the New York Yankees, outfielder Johnny Damon to the Boston Red Sox, and closer Jason Isringhausen to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Faced with a significant loss on the roster, general manager Billy Beane replaced Damon and Giambi with free agent hitters Scott Hatteberg, David Justice, and Ray Durham. Beane also traded for Toronto Blue Jays reliever Billy Koch, who ultimately succeeded Isringhausen as the team’s closer.

Beane stood in a problematic situation with his team. The A’s were a small-market team on a limited budget and had to compete against big money teams such as the New York Yankees.

To Beane, the answer was simple.

Beane built a team of undervalued talent on Oakland’s limited budget using sabermetrics, the analysis of observation and experience rather than the logic of baseball.

Turning non-believers into believers, the A’s 2002 season ranks among the most famous in franchise history. They won 20 consecutive games between Aug. 13 and Sept. 2, 2002.

Previous critics of the sabermetric model quickly realized that it would be the future of baseball.

Declining a $12.5 million salary, Beane refused to coach for the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox went on to win the 2004 World Series using the sabermetric model pioneered by the Oakland A’s.

In recent years, the Bay Area’s Golden State Warriors have dominated the game of basketball.

Since the NBA added lines to the court in 1979, only 22 percent of shots were earned from threepointers, according to the Wall Street Journal. When Silicon Valley executives bought out the franchise in 2010, team directors noticed the underuse of the three-point line in the NBA and used Stephen Curry to take advantage of it.

Known as the splash brothers, teammates Curry and Klay Thompson execute the Warriors’ threepoint plan. Dominating the three-point line, the Warriors are the only team in NBA history to win at least 65 games for three seasons in a row.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Curry is a better shooter from 30 to 40 feet than the average NBA player is from three to four feet.

This newfound execution from the three-point line has resulted in an of-

fense no team has found to defend.

Successful teams draw talented people into the Bay Area, creating an environment filled with innovation and ingenuity. Bay Area teams continue to inspire their fans with their accomplishments and excitement for future seasons.

Living in the Bay Area comes with fierce competitiveness. Not only within sports, but within schools, work, and daily living.

For many student athletes, it can be challenging working towards the team’s goal while also maintaining strong grades in school.

Julian Morin, a junior and a football player, said, “As a student-athlete, it’s hard managing my time between having a lot of homework and trying to find a job, while also trying to find time to workout during the offseason so I can better myself and perform better than the other players that I’m going up against.”

Especially if the studentathlete has a goal of getting to college, giving up free time is a sacrifice the athlete has to make.

Carlmont’s athletic director Patrick Smith said, “For a student-athlete in the Bay Area, getting into college can be very competitive.

Especially with the rise of the number of AP classes students take now, it has become even more competitive. Being an athlete takes a lot of time out of your day to dedicate to your craft, becoming better so your team can become better. Putting these two things together a student-athlete has to sacrifice free time.”

Isabel Mitchell

CAMPUS

4

December 2017

Website blockage success is limited

Users can get around campus internet restrictions Talia Fine Staff Wrtier

The reality is that a student can watch videos on how to make methamphetamines on YouTube.

The intent is that the new Sequoia Union High School District internet blocking software protects students from potentially harmful content. While that works for the most part, there are still loopholes.

Dating profiles on loveaprisoner.com, registering for Neo-Nazis Unite, and buying “game changing” DNA pills on Infowars are areas of the internet that are not blocked.

Satire on the Onion was blocked for “adult content” and the Huffington Post news site was inaccessible before September of this year.

The inconsistent blocking can cause challenges for the school population.

“My class was assigned to research race in America as it pertains to the justice system in conjunction with the novel Native Son. As students began researching articles that had to do with how different races were treated by the justice system, they found that there were a slew of sights that were completely blocked to them.

It was haphazardous and random,” said Denise Steward, an AS English and AVID teacher.

The blocker has proven to be a mild hassle in students’ educational experiences, as students regularly face issues with the blocker’s restriction of access to various websites they actually need to explore.

“I contact members in my school club through social media,” Annika Nambiar, a junior said, “It’s really inconvenient when the sites I need to use for that are blocked.”

The blocking also affects homework, research, and general in-class projects.

“I was trying to do research for an English project and I got inconvenienced by the software,” said Nico Franchi, a junior.

As of early September, Huffington Post was one of the sites reopened to the students of Sequoia Union. A generally credible news source, Huffington Post’s

unavailability was an accident.

“If we get information about specific blocked sites, we can fix that,” said Principal Ralph Crame.

The incident illustrated how issues that would potentially arise from the blocking software would be solved: little by little, site by site.

Aside from the depth of the internet making that legitimately impossible, it sparks the question as to why administrators would try to block any news or resources at all.

The intent is to protect.

In Steward’s opinion, along with many other adults, teachers, and administrators, when it comes to minors, protecting them from actually dangerous and harmful content is completely logical and necessary.

“I think that the blocking software has come about from a genuine need to protect our students from all kinds of internet dangers, such as pedophiles, people that would stalk you, just dangerous places for students to be. We want to make internet safety a priority because you need to be able to do your research and do your school stuff without the fear of falling into some of these traps where you get misinformation or you become prey for someone else. The software was designed with that in mind,” said Steward.

Additionally, it is the duty of school officials to make instruction safe and focused for students.

“It’s our job to make sure students are safe and are not viewing inappropriate content that distracts from learning,” said Crame.

Regardless of whether or not Carlmont students and staff want to implement the website blocks, the Sequoia Union High School District receives federal funding for the network and other technology.

This means that the district must follow Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) guidelines.

“A large part of my role is ensuring safety for both students and staff,” said Bob Fishtrom, the director of instructional technology for the district. “Essentially, we must filter what users do and where

users go on the internet. Inappropriate and non-education-based websites are generally blocked to ensure safety, not ever to compromise the performance of the network and services.”

It sounds like censorship or a violation of individual freedoms, but after some dissension, laws were enacted with the specific purpose to protect adults who are protecting students.

The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was passed in 1998. It was intended to protect children from pornography and nudity on the internet, but it was eliminated as of 2009.

Former President of the Journalism Education Association H. L. Hall thought that school administrators would look at COPA as a way to justify censorship, which would infringe on students’ rights to use the internet for actually valid research.

However, the CIPA, signed into law in 2000, provides schools with protection from the Federal Communications Commission to block or filter internet access on computers that are accessed by minors. The filtering applies to pictures that are obscene, pornographical, or generally harmful to minors, as deemed by school administrators.

However, the problem with internet censorship of any kind is that the internet is huge, and seriously dangerous sites can slip through the cracks.

Within the Sequoia Union High School District, the Ku Klux Klan recruitment page is blocked due to “intolerance” and “hate” and the Daily Stormer is blocked with a warning that the site may be fostering attackers. However, any student can click through the “Neo-Nazis Unite” page or read Breitbart.

The software isn’t even fully protective of the websites it does filter.

On borrowed school computers outside of school Wi-Fi, all websites are unblocked.

The XVPN phone app gets around the blocks of Snapchat and Instagram.

Plus, kids can get creative; websites to teach students how to get around website

Skylar Weiss

blockers are not blocked.

“We understand students sometimes find ways around our filters; we also understand they more often than not can access these sites away from our campuses. However, when they are on campus, we want them to be responsible digital citizens and use the technology productively for their academics and in life,” Fishtrom said.

Blocking content is logical to protect young people, but it potentially creates strife among students and teachers, and it is not always effective in blocking dangerous content.

According to Nambiar, the solution to the limits of the internet block would be to teach students to respectfully utilize their materials; it is not a question of protection but education.

“We could be taking a more constructive, less inconvenient approach by teaching students about properly using the technology we’re given,” said Nambiar. “High school students are not always seen as the most mature, but it’s clear that the blocking [software] is not as effective as we’d like it to be, so maybe we could try something different.”

Cast doesn’t earn school credit for the musical Maya Benjamin Staff Writer

students don’t receive credits for participating in a play or musical,” Crame said.

Juliana Rinaldi, a junior, has been playing soccer her Angie Grundig, a senior, laces up her cleats and heads entire life. After passing PE I freshman year, Rinaldi was out to the soccer field for Carlmont varsity soccer practice. eligible to play three seasons of sports in lieu of taking PE Dagny Klieman, a sophomore, warms up her voice be- II or another physical education class. During both her fore her rehearsal for Carlmont’s musical, “The Wedding freshman and sophomore year, Rinaldi played on the Carlmont JV girls soccer team during the winter sports season, Singer.” but this year she decided she wanted to One of these girls receives graduation try something new: auditioning for the credit for her extracurricular, and the When obtaining credits, school musical, The Wedding Singer. other doesn’t. Why? students must earn 20 total P.E. Unfortunately for Carlmont stuAt Carlmont, students who participate credits. The first 10 must be in a play or musical will not receive Fine earned through freshman P.E. One dents, the problem isn’t so black and white. According to Crame, the deciArts credit towards graduation. sport season counts for 3.5 P.E. Students who play a sport at Carlmont Credits, so students may play three sion to give students graduation credcan receive 3.5 physical education gradu- seasons of sports in order to earn its for playing a sport instead of an additional year of PE II is district-wide. ation credits per season. their second year of P.E. Credits.

In addition, all fine arts classes are The policy of receiving graduation Students must earn 10 total credits credit for playing sports has been in effect for Fine Arts, which can be fulfilled UC approved, compared to the second year of athletics, which isn’t. since Carlmont’s current principal, Ralph through one school year-long art “Those classes are UC approved.

Crame could remember. class.

The second year of PE is not; it’s only a “It’s been in place for a number of graduation requirement,” said Crame. years. I have been at Carlmont for 11 Crame also mentioned that arts and athletics have difyears and I was at Woodside before, and in some form or another you could always receive credit for playing a sport ferent requirements. Playing a sport at Carlmont requires at least 2.0 GPA throughout the whole season, while partowards graduation,” said Crame.

According to Crame, the question’s never been raised to ticipation in a Carlmont musical or play doesn’t. The only administration as to whether or not students should receive exception for a GPA minimum in performing arts participation is the Carlmont Technical Career Association graduation credits for participating in a musical or play.

“I have never heard the question before about why or CTTA crew in which a 2.0 GPA is required. The dis-

crepancies with the requirements for participation have led Crame to believe that UCs will probably never allow Carlmont students to receive credits for participation in a musical or play.

Students like Rinaldi feel this policy is unfair and should be changed due to the sheer amount of work put into the performances.

“It is unfair that the students that participate in the musical or play don’t receive credit. We work very hard, along with everyone involved in the Carlmont Technical Theatre Association (CTTA) community, and should receive credit for putting just as much time and effort into making these productions for our school and community,” said Rinaldi.

Klieman, a sophomore, has similar beliefs to Rinaldi, “We rehearse [for the musical] almost every day for two to three hours per rehearsal for three months, which is not including tech week, where we rehearse up to 10 hours a day. We practice several different aspects of the fine arts program including dancing, singing, and acting. Participating in the musical is like taking three fine arts classes.”

Despite Rinaldi’s and Klieman’s frustrations with the current policies in place, Crame believes that in order to keep the integrity of the current fine arts classes intact, students should not receive credit for their participation in plays or musicals.

“I think those policies need to stay intact because the classes are a little more rigorous, so I think keeping the credit no credit system is key. I don’t think you’re getting the same educational experience than you would taking the class that has a set curriculum,” said Crame.

CAMPUS

December 2017

5

Campus sanitation has loopholes Sarah Cheung Staff Writer

As the pressure of classes looms over students, they are sometimes forced to choose between their health and their education.

Sometimes, students who are sick will still attend school in order to avoid missing class time that they believe is valuable.

Although many state that they have good intentions when continuing to attend class, bringing their germs to school puts staff and students in danger of becoming ill.

Ryan Franaszek, a junior, said, “I come to school even when I’m sick because I don’t want to fall behind in my advanced classes.

Of course, if my sickness was so severe that I could barely stand, it would likely be best for me to stay home, for myself and the well-being of others.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are eight core components to maximize students’ health and learning abilities. The components include health education, nutrition education and services, physical education, nursing services, safe and healthy school environments, counseling and social services, staff wellness, and family and community education.

Carlmont has an onsite health aide, Samantha Gingher, whose role is to perform nursing assessments, interventions, case managements, treatments, health screenings, consultations, and referrals.

Gingher said, “If a student has a sore throat, some hot tea or warm water and salt can be given. If someone has a headache, I encourage them to rest and drink water.”

Students with more serious conditions cannot always find a remedy by visiting the health aide.

“The health office is mostly a triage center and cannot provide medications, even over-the-counter ones. If a student is presented with active cold or flu signs and symptoms, the push is going to be to

get them to go home in order to protect the immunity of everyone around them,” Gingher said.

At Carlmont, students are allowed to have 18 excused absences in order to still receive credit for a course. This may influence students when they are deciding whether or not to still come to school sick.

Carlmont teacher Denise Steward said, “Ideally, it’s best to stay home, but a common cold is pretty standard. This does not necessarily make it right to come to school, but there are five common colds throughout the year, and if people take time away from school to recover from all five of these, then they are missing a lot of class time.”

According to the Sequoia Union High School District, all students must observe the immunization requirements that are enforced by California schools. The immunization requirements for grades kindergarten through twelfth include getting vaccines that prevent polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, Hepatitis B, and varicella.

Regarding district spending on health supplies for classrooms, Steward said, “Our school is given money and the department has to decide how that money is best spent, and usually it is spent on curriculum rather than things like tissues. This is because the school has a very small budget, and it must be spent on materials used to teach, which is what we’re here to do.”

However, the district does choose to buy economy-sized hand sanitizer bottles, which are available to all classrooms if teachers request one.

Some teachers, like Steward, use their own money to purchase disinfectants such as bleach wipes to help prevent the spread of bacteria.

Another factor that may have an influence on sickness at school is the installation of electric hand dryers. Carlmont has roughly three times the number of hand dryers than

Skylar Weiss

paper towel dispensers.

Grant Steunenberg, an administrative vice principal at Carlmont, said, “A main reason why electric hand dryers were installed is because some immature students use the paper towels to clog toilets and sinks. Hand dryers eliminate the amount of extra work that custodians have to do in order to clean up after this sort of behavior.”

Despite the practical benefits of having electric dryers, they are actually said to be less hygienic than traditional paper towels.

The European Tissue Symposium, an organization representing tissue paper manufacturers, has scientifically proven that jet-air dryers increase the amount of bacteria on the hands from between

42 to 200 percent, while paper towels can reduce bacteria by 77 percent. However, some say the solution to the debate about paper towels versus electric dryers may lie in actual good hand washing rather than methods of drying.

While districts should take precautions to combat the spread of illness, students are held accountable for monitoring their own health.

Steward said, “In high school, students’ health is not assessed to the degree that it is in elementary school, so the responsibility is on students to decide when they should stay home. Some students eventually discern that if they have a fever or something similar, they might not be very productive anyway, so they stay home.”

Fear dominates participation in class Nicole del Cardayre Staff Writer

“Questions?” says a math teacher.

Half the class has questions to ask, however the overwhelming social anxiety and fear of being judged trumps any desire to clarify their knowledge of math.

Many students report that participation is worth around 20 percent of a student’s grade.

Because of this, some students say they are walking away with poorer grades because of their lack of selfconfidence to participate in class.

Social anxiety disorder is the third largest mental health problem in the world, according to U.S. epidemiological studies cited by the Social Anxiety Association. Government data reveals that social anxiety impacts around 7 percent of the population; for the general public, the chances of social anxiety developing into a disorder is 13 percent.

Lee Emery graduated from Mohawk College this year with a diploma in architectural technology. Participation in Emery’s class accounted for 20 percent of his grade.

According to Washington University in St. Louis, some students who do not speak often in class are reflective learners. Reflective learners typically develop ideas and questions in their minds before speaking them aloud to a classroom.

“I am an extroverted person and don’t mind asking questions in class; however not everybody has outgoing personalities and might feel timid to express their confusion,” said Kevin McGee, a senior.

Other students can be classified as shy students who

Skylar Weiss

Alex Luna, a freshman, raises his hand in order to answer a question in his English class. don’t initially feel comfortable participating in class.

Nico Franchi, a junior, said, “I’m an extroverted person, but participating in class isn’t something I enjoy. A lot of kids judge others when speaking because in their minds what I say is not at their intellectual level.”

John Spencer, a teacher at an Urban Phoenix School, stated that students who participate frequently are classified as active volunteers. These students usually speak as they think instead of formulating an idea beforehand.

Teachers are encouraged to help quiet students speak up and to occasionally ask the most extroverted students to hold back from commenting in class in order to provide more opportunities to others to speak.

Spencer conveyed from his past experiences that many times, introverted students just need extra time to think through their thoughts and craft sentences before sharing them aloud.

“As a student, I was an eager hand-raiser. I spoke up. I shared my opinions. I wasn’t particularly quiet. Inside, though, I was terrified. I didn’t want to be caught offguard or forced to share my thoughts to an entire class without having the chance to think through things on my own. For this reason, I developed a strategy. When a teacher first started talking about a particular topic, I’d jot down five of the best questions I could conjure up,” said Spencer.

In one of Spencer’s blog posts, he states that the key to having an actively participating class is to have conferences with the anxious students and to create encouraging strategies to help them participate.

Veronica Heintz, a teacher at Carlmont High School, stated that in order to increase class participation, she implements new types of learning styles and participatory activities that are friendly to everyone.

“As I’m not completely comfortable speaking in front of large groups myself, I try to find ways that would make me feel comfortable participating and hopefully that will help and empower students to participate,” said Heintz.

Izzy Bruguera, a junior, tries to participate in class as much as she can despite fear of judgment from her fellow classmates.

“I try to be an active participant in class as much as I can. Some teachers and students are intimidating, however in the end, my education is what matters,” Bruguera said.

NEWS

8

December 2017

2018 elections pose a political shift Midterm elections may alter the political landscape Adrian Cunningham Staff Writer

American presidential elections: once every four years to elect the next leader of the country.

However, the Congressional Midterm Elections of Nov. 6, 2018 could find a more prominent place in the minds of politicians than the elections of the president.

“If the Democrats gain one or more of the house seats, they would obstruct the president’s agenda,” said AP United States History teacher Jarrod Harrison.

In the Senate, 34 seats and all 435 House of Representative seats are up for reelection. In order to control the Senate, a party needs to control 51 seats, and to control the House, 218 seats are needed.

“There has been quite a strong swing in the Democrats’ favor following the first year or so of President Trump’s presidency, due to his disastrous approval ratings. Many of his supporters have begun to question their faith because of Trump’s inability to appeal to the entire Republican spectrum,” said Joe Bazarsky, a junior.

Currently, Republicans occupy the majority of the seats in both the House and Senate, holding 240 seats in the House compared to the Democrats 194, and 54 seats in the Senate compared to the 46 occupied by Democrats, but this all could change in the 2018 Congressional Elections.

Donald Trump has a 37.6 percent approval rating, which according to Gallup

News, is only 3 percent higher than President Richard Nixon’s at the end of his presidency.

With Democrats winning in special congressional elections in states such as Virginia and South Carolina, the prospects for more Senate and House of Representative seats are hopeful for the Democrats in the coming election.

“If he continues to alienate more of the Republican populous, his party risks losing their congressional majority, which would make it easier for the opposition to filibuster his plans,” said Bazarsky.

Democrats could obstruct, or in an extreme circumstance, filibuster the Republicans if they were to have the majority.

“A filibuster is a technique that allows the minority in Congress to make up for the fact that they don’t have the majority,” Government and Economics teacher David Braunstein said. “In essence, a filibuster occurs when a political party stalls a political decision or works to modify this decision.”

Filibusters have the potential to halt some of the president’s power in situations regarding legislation.

“The House and the Senate have the power to enact laws,” Harrison said. “The president can promote policy, but Congress has the power to do the actual legislation,” said Harrison.

By winning the majority in 2018, the Democrats could put a halt to the policies, both foreign and domestic, that President

Trump wishes to go forth with. These include reducing gun control and Republicans’ new tax bill.

“There’s been a lot of animosity in Washington, D.C. and politics in general, as of late,” Braunstein said. “Neither party agrees with the other. If in 2018, the people like and support the direction that the President is taking the country, the Republicans may hold these seats in Congress, and we’ll see politics that are the same as in the President’s first two years. If the Democrats win these seats and turn Congress over to more left wing politicians, this would be enough to stall until the next presidential election of 2020.”

If the Republicans can keep their seats, Trump will be able to reverse many of the laws Barack Obama signed when he was in office.

One such law is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) which offered protection for the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States. If the law is overturned, students protected under the act may be deported .

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, more illegal immigrants

live in California than anywhere else in the country.

“American politics can be compared to a pendulum in the sense that one party may takes power for some time, but the pendulum will eventually swing back and the other side will regain the power,” Braunstein said. “We’ve seen this recently when Barack Obama, a Democrat, took office after George W. Bush, a Republican. It just happened when Donald Trump, a Republican, was elected and gained power after Obama’s second term ended. The same thing oftentimes happens in Congress as well.”

Nina Heller

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NEWS

December 2017

9

America takes a shot at gun control

Recent shootings spark debate over gun legislation Joseph Gomez Staff Writer

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

When James Madison drafted the Second Amendment, it was not an original idea. The belief that citizens should have the right to own weapons dates as far back as the writings of Aristotle and Cicero.

With the recent shootings in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada, another wave of debates overwhelms American politics and Carlmont.

The subject: gun control.

Jayson Waller, a history teacher, believes that the system for gun control in America Zana Lunsford has some room for improvement.

“I think there should be a marginal in- After mass shootings in the past few months, the debate over gun concrease in terms of gun control legislation,” trol has reignited, causing much public debate and conversation. said Waller.

Alex Derhacobian, a junior, believes that from all citizens legally would gradually What he is referring to an increase in background checks and an increase in the the United States does not need more gun decrease gun violence.

“I think if you take a look at a lot of these control laws and doubted the legitimacy of waiting period for purchasing firearms.

Julia Rhodie, a junior, believes that some current gun laws in protecting the mass shootings, there is a correlation with mental health,” Waller said. strong gun control laws are growing in- people.

But, banning all firearms, Waller “Why do you need to wait 90 days creasingly necessary.

“There is absolutely no reason for to get ammunition? That’s not going to believed, would not solve the problems of Americans to own guns for recreational prevent a mass shooting from occurring,” mental health.

According to the American Public purposes,” said Rhodie. “All that they are Derhacobian said.

“Criminals break laws,” Waller said. “So, Journal of Mental Health, however, used for is pointless, sadistic satisfaction of you can have as many laws on the books, mental illness is not a reliable cause for killing animals and people.”

Rhodie said that Japan’s gun laws would but criminals will break laws no matter most mass shootings. The U.S. National how well-meaning those laws happen to Library of Medicine National Institutes of be best for saving lives from gun violence.

Health states that drug abuse and domestic According to Gun Policy gun deaths in be.”

The illegality of something doesn’t violence are the best tracers of future gun America totaled 33,599 in 2014; Japan had necessarily mean the people will stay in violence. six.

“Definitely when you buy a gun, you On the gun laws in Japan, BBC News line.

“I understand how many say that there should be screened for your mental health, said, “You have to attend an all-day class, take a written exam and pass a shooting- is no point in enforcing such strict gun laws you should have a background check,” range test with a mark of at least 95 percent. because people won’t follow them,” Rhodie Derhacobian said. “Those provisions already exist in most states. However, not Handguns are banned outright. Only said.

Rhodie also believed that seizing arms all of those can prevent people with mental shotguns and air rifles are allowed.”

health issues from getting guns.”

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, however, modified his own legally purchased guns, with a legally purchased “bump stock,” which uses the recoil of a semi-automatic weapon to fire, simulating a fully automatic firearm, and he also passed all background checks.

Sutherland Springs shooter Devin Patrick Kelley was fired upon by NRA member Stephen Willeford.

“So that goes to show you that the vast majority of people that carry guns are fairly sane people,” Derhacobian said, “If he hadn’t have had a gun, probably more people would have been killed.”

As for Madison’s Second Amendment, Derhacobian believes that the conversation has veered off from its view as a right to bear arms.

“The purpose of the Second Amendment isn’t to go hunting or to own guns for the fun of it. The Second Amendment is there to protect people from government tyranny,” Derhacobian said.

Some, such as Rhodie question the motives of America’s founding fathers.

“Those founders also believed in slavery and racial segregation,” Rhodie said, adding that times have changed, and so has society, and so laws are constantly being modified.

“I think the Second Amendment is not going anywhere,” Waller said, “The initial reason for the Second Amendment is no longer as valid as it once was.”

Congress would have to vote in a twothirds majority to make a new amendment, so changing the Second Amendment poses many issues.

“It’s part of our history,” Derhacobian said. “Our history is one of rebellion, protection from government tyranny. Guns are embedded in United States culture.”

Charities try to make holidays special

Acts of giving are emphasized during holiday season Zana Lunsford Staff Writer

With the cost of living on the rise, buying gifts and preparing an expensive Thanksgiving dinner isn’t at the top of some families’ holiday checklist. With the help of charities and nonprofits, being able to give kids a turkey dinner and that Lego they’ve always wanted becomes possible for Bay Area parents running a low-income family.

One of the most prominent charities in the Bay Area and all over the nation is Toys for Tots, a charity dedicated to giving less fortunate kids a gift during the holiday season.

Founded in 1947 by Bill and Diane Hendricks in Los Angeles, California, Toys for Tots began as a charitable effort to allow communities to donate gifts and toys to families in need.

The organization has spread far across the nation, with toy drop-offs at local fire stations and other places.

Donating and volunteering isn’t limited to firefighters and Toys for Tots employees, junior Kinsey Cook, a junior actively

helps out at the charity.

“Although my family and I donate gifts to Toys for Tots, my AVID class and I help out at a gift wrapping event to help Toys for Tots deliver gifts to kids that aren’t just in the generic box it comes in. It makes giving the gift a little more personal and special while reducing stress on the parents by eliminating the expense of wrapping gifts,” Cook said.

While Toys for Tots does their part in helping low-income families in the gift department, people also struggle with simply feeding their families at such a financially impacted time of year.

According to the SF-Marin Food Bank, almost 23 percent of San Franciscans struggle with hunger. With the holiday season bringing large feasts and high expenses, saving money for gifts is not always a given.

Charities that specialize in feeding the less fortunate like food banks are taking extra steps to help the public, such as Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB).

Founded in 1974, SHFB is one of the nonprofits that helps distribute food to families in need, especially in the holiday season.

According to SHFB, the nonprofit has 905 food distribution sites and 300 partners, allowing it to provide more fresh produce and full meals than any other food bank in the nation.

The charity has also accepted donations of frozen turkeys and other holiday dinners. As well as thousands of canned goods from food drives.

SHFB also gives back to the community by allowing the public to take action. According to their volunteer page, they have up to 338,000 hours of service, which more than doubles the size of their staff.

Ben Fong, a junior, donates food and time to SHFB. “I go there [SHFB] monthly to help sort and package all the items that were donated. After sorting and organizing we took items from the separate containers and boxed them up so they were ready for families when they came for pick up,” said Fong.

While volunteering at organizations like SHFB and Toys for Tots is one way to help, Carlmont has brought more charities to the local community by initiating events like canned food drives and

the toy drive on campus.

ASB senior and food drive coordinator, Liz Boman helps organize the food drive An annual event, the canned food drive brings in tons of canned items to help feed the local community and is an easy and practical way for students to get involved with a charity.

“Students can donate cans to their second-period classes. The food that we collect is sent to a food bank where our community has access to the donated products,” Boman said.

Carlmont also offers a toy drive where students can donate toys to for less-fortunate families, similar to Toys for Tots.

“There’s also a toy drive this year not run by ASB but by other clubs trying to get involved with giving back during the holiday season,” said Boman.

According to the SF-Marin Food Bank, many in the area do not have the food that they need.

“During this time of year, it

becomes more important to give to those less fortunate. The holidays are a time of giving and having the school food drive and toy drive gives great opportunity to do so,” Boman said.

Communities all over the Bay Area are helping less fortunate families get what they need during the holiday season to try and help make this time of year feel a little more normal for families that are struggling to get by.

Boman said, “If you have enough to donate to charity and nonprofits, it’s a good thing to do.

While donating or volunteering is a personal choice it creates a step forward in aiding less fortunate people and making the holidays a more memorable time of year,”

Nina Heller

10

Photo Illustration By Connor Lin

HOW DIFFERENT CULTURES PERCEIVE TIME Kaylee George Staff Writer Time is money.

From a young age, Americans have held this mindset when approaching their daily routines because to them, time is truly expensive.

In America, time is viewed in relation to money. Americans’ lives revolve around appointments, career salaries, and schedules, in which any doctor, lawyer, or software engineer can explain just how valuable time is.

This outlook can be traced back to the competition within the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, when time was a tangible commodity.

Industries had strict regimens and precise time allocations in order to produce the most income.

hdqwalls.com,

ness Insider article.

Another perspective that cultures have is polychronic.

These cultures, which include many Asian and Latin American countries, revolve their lives around tradition and rural-based ideals, such as agricultural seasons or religious celebrations.

“In India, we are greatly focused on a sense of community, like our big festivals that focus on religion or agriculture,” said Gaglani. “We seem to value the past because our culture and ideals have been around for so long.”

Similarly, Spaniards, Italians, and Arabs tend to focus much of their lives on human interaction and authentic relationships. They value carrying out their conversations, even if it means missing prior engagements.

“In Italy, the pace of life is much more relaxed.

Another example is mealtime—meals are served with multiple courses, and they can last for hours.

When I was in Italy and eating with my relatives, meals would last for three to four hours because the food just kept coming, and the conversations never stopped, as being together is a celebration,” said English teacher Lisa Simpson.

In several Eastern cultures, as well as Asian cultures, citizens have embraced cyclic time, in which time is perceived as a constant cycle where the past is not regretted and the same opportunities will represent themselves in the future.

Cyclic time also highlights how people always have time to pursue what they would like to do and achieve.

“In these cultures, time is viewed neither as linear nor event–relationship related but as cyclic instead. Each day the sun rises and sets, the seasons follow one another, the heavenly bodies revolve around us, people grow old and die, but their children reconstitute the process,” said Lewis.

For instance, the Japanese time perspective pulls from both cyclic time and linear time but mostly can be seen through tradition and properness.

“There are two ways that the Japanese view time: There is a fast-paced urgency to succeed and get things done, and there is the relaxed, traditional view that focuses on respecting and taking in the beauty around us,” said Nishikawa. “We try to focus on the elegance and courtesy through traditional events such as tea ceremonies, calligraphy, and walking through Japanese gardens.”

These time perceptions are also prevalent in the workplace, as a diverse mix of cultures are intermingled within corporations and must cooperate with one another.

In an article featured in the Harvard Business School, businessman Bhaskar Pant traces his own experiences with cultural time values.

“In order to get people from multiple cultures to meet an important deadline, appeal to what they value. If it’s maintaining good relationships, stress how failure to meet a deadline will damage relationships and result in loss of trust,” said Pant.

Despite these diverse backgrounds, students still believe that in high school, time should be valued and well managed as many must juggle the highschool lifestyle full of homework, jobs, applications, and a social life.

“Even though we all come from different backgrounds, we all have similar paces of life here. However you want to approach your time is up to you, as long as it works for your life and what you want to achieve,” Gaglani said.

SOURCES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM:

Americans even use the phrases “spend time,” “save time,” and “waste time” to describe their irreplaceable time usage.

“I think our society is so centered around capitalism and the idea that every second of our day should be used to work toward success that time is now seen as a unit of money. We are trained to be like machines—to work and produce at the maximum efficiency, and if we delay even for a little bit, we will fall behind in life,” said Kaila Nishikawa, a junior who is Japanese.

Americans’ fast-paced, profit-oriented lifestyle is described by linear time, in which actions, conceptually, are viewed sequentially, with a past, present, and future. Americans see the past as over, the present as something that you can grasp in the now, and then incorporate plans from the present to worry about the future.

However, this is not true for all people.

The perception of time varies for each individual based on their culture and location. The pace of time is relative to the country’s lifestyle.

American ideology, similar to the Netherlands and Switzerland for example, encourages citizens to carry out actions one at a time within a fixed schedule so that they maximize their efficiency in order to be financially successful. These countries are classified as monochronic.

“I think a lot of America is focused on industrial output and revenue. Americans are very focused on a rigid routine to achieve this, and we even have a perception of the American Dream where earning the most amount of money in the least amount of time is idolized,” said Karan Gaglani, a junior who is Indian.

On the other hand, according to Business Insider, Southern Europeans are multi-active, in which the more they do, the more fulfilled they feel.

“Multi-active peoples are not very interested in schedules or punctuality.

They pretend to observe them, especially if a linear-active partner or colleague insists on it, but they consider the present reality to be more important than appointments. In their ordering of things, priority is given to the relative thrill or significance of each meeting,” said Richard Lewis, an internationally renowned linguist who authored the award-winning book “When Cult u r e s Collide,” in a Busi-

Pinterest, The Global Millennial, California State University, Wikimedia Commmons, s3.india.com

12

LIFESTYLE

December 2017

Smartphones invade other industries Ben Balster Staff Writer As smartphone sales continue to rise, the utility provided by these multi-purpose electronics have pushed a multitude of industries into decline.

Everything ranging from communication, time, photography, travel, entertainment, and information can be done with a smartphone, and the versatility of these devices have influenced the sale of countless industries.

Four main industries are directly affected by the rise of smartphones: watches, cameras, pagers, and GPS. Sam Hosmer, a junior, said: “I used to wear a watch, but when I lost it, I didn’t have any reason to get another one. Taking my phone out of my pocket and checking the time only takes a fraction of a second longer than checking a watch.”

According to Credit Suisse, a financial services company, the high-quality Rolex, Omega, and Swatch Swiss watch brands dominated the market in the early 2000s and grew steadily, but after the release of the iPhone in 2007, this growth slowed. As smartphones became connected to the World Clock, their accuracy replaced the need for wristwatches

in daily life.

All over the economy, the influx of mobile device utility has eroded the sales of the affected companies.

According to The New York Times, the companies Google, Apple, Samsung, and Nokia’s free GPS mapping systems have outstripped Garmin, TomTom, and Mitac International. At the same time, instant messaging and the very idea of a cell phone has all but destroyed the use of pagers for the purposes of communication.

However, from a consumer standpoint, phones have made time-telling, picture-taking, traveling, and communication all the more convenient.

“As a consumer, I’m going to purchase the cheapest and most efficient option; there is no incentive to lug around four plus devices made obsolete by what I carry in my pocket,” Hosmer said.

As for photography, built-in smartphone cameras have improved rapidly, complementing the increased use of picture sharing on social media. According to the Camera and Imaging Products Association, by 2010, the quality of smartphone cameras rivaled that of standalone digital cameras, and the camera industry’s growth in the early 2000s was reversed and the industry has

been in decline since.

“With the rate that phone cameras are improving, the line between camera and phone has completely blurred now,” said Leon Tan, a junior. “In most cases, if you put an image from a top-of-the-line smartphone and an image from a DSLR camera [digital single-lens reflex camera; a higher-end camera model], you can barely tell the difference, and sometimes, the phone might even look better.”

For the average consumer, the increase in picture quality that professional cameras bring may not justify the difference in cost and utility from smartphones.

Tan said: “These days, a midrange camera is $1000, and an iPhone X is $1000. A phone is not meant to replace a camera, but with the phone, you are texting, calling, playing games, consuming news, and using social media. Meanwhile the camera only serves one purpose; the phone just has so much more value.”

The smartphone industry has exploded within the past seven years, with smartphone sales in 2016 around 1.5 billion according to Gartner, changing the trends in technological use and making a number of industries obsolete.

David Wu, a general partner for Maveron (a consumer venture

capital firm that invests in technology start-ups), said, “Every few decades, there is a tectonic change in technology that alters how people use technology.”

Telegrams, phones, personal computers (PCs), the World Wide Web, laptops, and smartphones are all examples of such technological changes. Each innovation had a profound effect on society and it incorporates technology into daily life.

Wu said: “When the smartphone came out, it disrupted just about every industry. Harnessing the full computing power of technology and putting it in your pocket really changed how people interacted with technology; it became an extension of your arm.”

Today, the utility of a smartphone is almost limitless with the use of apps, and special programs for smartphones designed for the needs of consumers. The use of apps ranges from socialization, entertainment, and education, and the programs have given rise to new industries such as mobile games or social media.

Tan said: “Just the idea of apps is such a good concept. When you make a useful app for a phone and people buy it, everybody gets what they want: companies get money from selling phones, app developers get money from the

apps, and the consumer wins.”

Even as the benefits to the consumer increase, the smartphone’s revolution was not entirely bloodless, and multiple industries were destroyed by the newer technology.

Wu said: “With smartphones and apps, there is no reason for a standalone ‘blank’ anymore. Pagers are a perfect example; GPS systems are a perfect example,” Older technology can be eclipsed by cheaper, more efficient devices, and the reasons for buying outdated items will often vanish.

Hosmer said: “Industries go obsolete all the time. From a layman’s perspective, it just looks like the payphone of our generation. If there is no incentive to buy them, then they become obsolete and the world continues to turn.”

The growth of smartphones has linked together, merged, or overrun the markets of a multitude of different industries. For companies, this constant technological innovation and interconnection has forced them to adapt to changing trends and economic impact smartphones bring.

Tan said, “Every company is eating away at the mobile industry right now, and if they didn’t, they’re probably either dead or dying.”

13

LIFESTYLE

December 2017

Allergies stimulate companies’ profits Samantha Dahlberg Staff Writer

Blueberry muffin: $3.

Gluten-free blueberry muffin: $5.

Gluten-free versions are sold in smaller sizes but listed at a higher price.

In fact, some see this as food companies profiting off of people’s allergies.

According to Gluten-Free Times, a blog dedicated to giving advice on how to be gluten free, “[Companies] know those who rely on a gluten-free diet as a treatment won’t stop buying their products, so they keep the prices high.”

As many people are piling onto this new diet trend, some do not see the rare disease that has affected very few.

“Only about 1 percent of people worldwide actually have celiac disease, the rare genetic disorder that makes people intolerant to gluten,” said Erin Brodwin to Business Insider Magazine.

Allergies are serious health problems and some have to strictly stick to a diet for possibly the rest of their life.

Dr. Rachel Bensen is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist who works at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

“In Celiac disease, exposure to even small amounts of gluten can lead to different problems, including symptoms of abdominal discomfort, weight loss, and intestinal cancers,” said Bensen.

It can be challenging financially for people who need to survive on this specific diet.

According to food writer Corby Kummer from the Atlantic, “In the United States, where gluten-free products can be twice as expensive as their glutinous counterparts, people can only hope their

Samantha Dahlberg

Gluten-free products sold in stores are often more expensive than the regular product and may contain more calories, sugar and sodium. insurance flex plans will cover the excess cost.”

People who buy gluten-free food can sometimes be paying over double the amount of money for a comparable product in order to avoid a minor disturbance from their sensitivity.

Psychotherapist Lesley Alderman said in a New York Times article, “The extra cost of a special diet is not reimbursed by health care plans.”

Some restaurants have offered more options to make their products gluten-free, but they come at a price.

One such example was in 2013, Anna Marie Phillips ordered off the gluten-free menu at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and later filed a lawsuit after reading the check. They have a gluten-free menu, but Philips noticed she was charged an extra dollar for each

gluten-free item she ordered. According to Legal News Line, over 30,000 people in 39 states have also been affected by this price hike at other P.F. Chang’s locations.

The lawsuit stated the customer’s side of the story: “Gluten-free patrons have no choice but to order at the higher price. Surcharges for gluten-free items are claimed to occur even where the items at issue may naturally be gluten free, such as vegetable dishes,” according to Scott Adams from Celiac, which is his website about bringing awareness to celiac disease.

Back in September of 2015, Cheerios released a gluten-free version of their original Cheerios product.

When the company produces products, they wait until they see the product sales rise, then they decide to make a gluten free version of the product at the same price,

said Megan McDermott who is a Customer Service Representative at General Mills, the company which produces Cheerios.

Although gluten-free versions of food benefit those who are allergic, some believe grocery stores take advantage of people who rely on a certain diet.

According to writer Martha C. White from the Money section in Time Magazine, “Food companies are all too happy to cater to this kind of self-reinforcing behavior because it helps them sell more (generally more expensive) gluten-free foods. Mintel found that sales of gluten-free foods grew from around 3 percent to 6.5 percent of overall category sales in the past two years alone.”

Lucy Perrone, a junior, has been glutenfree for at least two and a half years; she does not have Celiac Disease, but she has to strictly stay away from wheat.

“I honestly don’t know why glutenfree companies make their food more expensive, it’s aggravating because I can’t control the fact that I can’t eat it,” said Perrone.

On the other hand, some grocery stores rely on their customers’ feedback and they might allow them to return the food if it does not satisfy their taste buds. This means that some companies and manufacturers are getting on board to make gluten-free products more attractive to consumers.

Diana Herrington’s blog Real Food Whole Life stated, “Safeway has launched ‘Gluten-Free Eating Right’ line where there is a 100 percent money back guarantee if you’re not happy with your purchase.”

As more people demand gluten free, perhaps consumers can look forward to reasonable prices for gluten-free products in the future.

Students volunteer to improve personal image Lily Bakour Staff Writer There are no completely selfless acts.

According to research at Northwestern University, humans are hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Kaylie Moropoulos, a junior, said, “Knowing that you are doing something purely to help others will naturally make you feel good.

It is what you do with how you feel that defines you. Some people will take this as an opportunity to grow, while others will do it for disingenuous reasons.”

While performing a selfless act, a similar amount of dopamine is released into the brain as receiving money, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes.

When it comes down to the individual, there are even more reasons that inspire one to donate or help others than a feeling of pleasure.

One might choose to volunteer to gain career experience, build self-esteem, or genuinely help those who are less fortunate.

Andres Raddavero, a sophomore, said, “I think volunteering is just a good skill to have and a good experience.

A lot of what you learn while volunteering will be brought with you into your everyday life just on accident. It’s healthy to practice giving to others and making a part of your routine.”

However, it has become a recent trend for volunteers to look into the genuine mission of the organization they are thinking of joining.

For example, a cultural immersion program called GIVE has a mission to do more than just donate to developing areas: “Our sustainable development initiatives have a lasting impact on communities we serve and volunteers who engage with them.”

Casey Costello, a graduate of

the class of 2017 at Carlmont said: “A lot of people use volunteering as a way to mask their objectification of disadvantaged people. Many volunteer groups use people as props to boost their image and do not look at the complexities of the different societal issues that impact the people they are trying to help.”

Avoiding these issues would include using the resources that developing countries have in order to provide accessible solutions to their issues.

Some volunteering in developing countries will arguably have a shorter and more surface level effect on the group of people than a volunteering service that is strategically meant to leave long impacts on a community.

It is also likely that one could volunteer to build a resume.

Whether that be to brag about it with friends or put it down on paper for employers

or colleges, volunteering can very well be for selfish reasons.

Moropoulos said: “I think specifically at Carlmont, people volunteer a lot to build their resume for colleges, rather than for intrinsic motivations. If people took the time to do it for others, it would be so much more beneficial for everyone involved.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Caucasians continue to volunteer at the highest rate in the United States.

Raddavero said, “I think that overall a lot of advantaged people are able to volunteer and donate money aside to their normal living, while others have to spend their

time providing for themselves in order to make a stable living.”

Regardless of the intention, the root of volunteering benefits everyone involved.

“We should all be aware of how we are helping those around us.

Those who are fortunate enough to put themselves in positions to give have an unbelievable chance.

Overall, no matter the reason, assisting others strengthens a community and the people,” Costello said.

Rachel Borshchenko

FEATURES

14

December 2017

Procrastination helps individuals get creative Waiting until the last minute can stimulate new ideas Celine Yang Staff Writer

onto the unusual and spotting unexpected patterns,” Grant said.

Natsuko Nozaki, a senior, has It’s 1 a.m., and you haven’t started the experienced this effect. science project that’s due tomorrow. ‘Not “The best essays I’ve written are again,’ you think to yourself. probably the ones I procrastinated on This is the scenario that many high because of the intense concentration and schoolers face. According to the American the ‘spark of creativity’ that comes out of Psychological Association, over 70 percent of the blue. And if something unexpected students procrastinate, comes up, I approach potentially leading to As a ‘precrastinator’ you it more calmly poor performance, because I would have could be able to spend more done it at the last decreased well-being, and reduced life time on tasks, which could minute too,” Nozaki achievements. said. be a waste of time. But However, a new study If there are people when you procrastinate, shows that there might be who are considered since you have a short more to procrastination procrastinators, then than its negative amount of time to get tasks there are people who stereotypes. done, you look for ways to are a “precrastinators” Adam Grant, an author — someone who, shorten tasks or take the and one of the psychology instead of leaving professors at the Wharton work up until the easy way out.

School, argues that while last minute, has the delaying until the last tendency to get work Julia Tu minute might not be ideal done as soon as Senior for productivity, it can possible, which might help stimulate creativity. not leave room for creativity. But being “Our first ideas, after all, are usually our early and the opposite of a procrastinator most conventional. When you procrastinate, might not necessarily be good, according you’re more likely to let your mind wander. to a study by Psychology Science.

That gives you a better chance of stumbling “As a ‘precrastinator’ you could be able

“

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to spend more time on tasks, which could be a waste of time. But when you procrastinate, since you have a short amount of time to get tasks done, you look for ways to shorten tasks or take the easy way out,” said Julia Tu, a senior.

According to Psychology Today, creativity isn’t the only benefit. Waiting to finish a task can help with prioritizing and eliminating unnecessary tasks and assisting in getting work done.

“When I start my work right away, I plan and end up going on a million tangents.

But when I procrastinate, all the ideas come at once, and they’re all somehow preorganized to use at my own device,” said Alyssa Higdon, a junior.

While procrastination may have benefits like creativity, there’s a difference between the procrastination that supports creativity and the destructive type of procrastination.

Nozaki said: “The negatives of procrastination, though, are that people might not take you seriously or rely on you as much.

For studying, memorization never really works, and if other people are involved in a group project, you can’t procrastinate because it’ll affect them.”

Many students have found various ways to manage the negative aspects of procrastination, whether it be making a schedule or prioritizing certain tasks over others.

“I make a schedule of what I have to do and split up the work so I know how much to do each day. But I usually end up doing it all on the same day,” said Tara Najafi, a senior. “I think procrastination causes unnecessary stress, and most people don’t start earlier because they might not be motivated or interested.”

To take advantage of this type of procrastination, Grant and other psychologists offer advice, such as “imagining yourself failing spectacularly so that the ensuing anxiety can motivate you to get started on the work,” as well as “lowering expectations for what counts as progress.”

Despite what this study shows, others could argue that the benefits of procrastination would depend on the type of situation.

“The type of procrastination that stimulates creativity isn’t practical for high schoolers. First, we don’t need that much creativity to do well on our projects.

Second, our lives are stressful enough — why put off something if you’re able to get it done now?” Tu said.

While there is still research to be done on the benefits and negatives of procrastination, it has been shown that there may be more to procrastination than there was previously thought to be.

Media distorts the queer community through film and television Cath Lei Staff Writer

In 2016, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a media monitoring service, found that 71 out of over 900 characters in mainstream film and broadcast television were LGBTQ. According to GLAAD, just under half of those characters had died, and for reasons that could have easily been applied to non-LGBTQ characters.

Oliver Golden, the president of GSA, said, “If all the representation you have is either dead or evil, it instills this sense of internalized homophobia.”

Throughout the early to mid-20th century, overt references to homosexuality were prohibited by the Motion Picture Production Code. In efforts to dodge the rule, directors like Alfred Hitchcock played on subtext and subtle stereotypes to infer homosexuality.

William Yonts, a junior and the president of the Classic Films Club, said “if the character was allowed to be LGBTQ, sexual identity was the only defining trait in that character. In the film Victim from 1961, aside from being the titular character, the only gay man in the film never gets any development outside of his sexuality.”

Nearing the second half of the century, films began to depict LGBTQ people differently; they appeared more often, but took on separate stereotypes and tropes.

English teacher Joseph Hill said, “Queer characters who lived normal lives became more of a commodity, especially after Stonewall. Everything ends and begins with the Stonewall riots. It changed lives both on and off screen.”

In the summer of 1969, queer women of color spearheaded the historical riots that changed LGBTQ history.

However, in 2015, Roland Emmerich’s film “Stonewall” received backlash for portraying the movement in a more fictional light, focusing on the personal struggles of a white gay man instead of the struggles of the queer community as a whole.

In 1970, the first gay pride event took place to remember the events of the Stonewall riots from the years prior.

From a march of remembrance to modern celebrations, pride events have evolved, and with that, came change in the way that the gay community is represented in the media.

“Up until recently, gay men and women in film were repeatedly placed in similar roles. You had the typically flamboyant and even if they weren’t villains, often insidious characters,” Hill said. “On the other hand you had gay men and women who were destitute, suicidal, and miserable. Homosexuality was treated like an illness, and even more so during the AIDS epidemic.”

In 1987, Congress banned the use of federal funds for AIDS education campaigns that promoted or encouraged homosexual activities.

Golden said: “Without taking a stance against queer people as a whole, Congress took a stance against what we do and what we do with each other. That’s what inspires more anti-homosexual sentiment in public.”

Outside of film and television, lesbians found themselves represented by characters in pulp novels. As the successors to dime novels in the 1800s, they came into play in the early 1900s -1950s, and they were known for their often exploitive and sensual content.

“Lesbians were only ever there for the male gaze,” Golden said. “There’d be a love affair, and then one of the women would die a tragic death or go insane, while the other would essentially go back to being heterosexual.”

Later on in the century, many villains during the Disney Renaissance era were depicted as traditionally flamboyant and narcissistic, traits Golden and Hill say were commonly associated with the queer community.

Golden said: “I grew up on Disney, and seeing so much of this anti-gay subtext made me seriously question and doubt myself. That’s an experience that so many of us share.”

In 2016, 18.4 percent of films featured an LGBTQ character, nearly a whole percent above those in 2015. Perhaps it was this increase of LGBTQ characters that inspired some to focus on other queer issues and struggles.

Alina Zeynalova, a senior, said, “There’s more impor-

Cath Lei

tant issues in the community than film representation, so it’s not something that I pay attention to.”

Despite recent progression in the numbers of queer characters in film, those in the community feel that it is vital for film studios and non-LGBTQ audiences to address the concerns with representation so that positive change can happen.

Hill said, “It can save your life, or it can ruin it, but it all depends on who you are, and who you’re seen as through the eyes of the media.

FEATURES

December 2017

15

Experiences change time perception Time is altered by emotions throughout one’s life Hanalei Pham Staff Writer

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The clock ticks forward without pause, a continuous beat of tick-tock, tick-tock.

Yet, though the clock’s hand moves at a steady, unchanging pace, it seems sometimes that time speeds up or stalls or even goes backward.

An individual’s mood, attention, and memory influence a person’s perception of time. For example, for many students, dull classes seem to drag on endlessly.

“It’s kind of like the watched pot will never boil sort of thing. It’s the same concept. If you’re constantly watching time and paying attention to time, it seems like it will take forever,” said Jim Kelly, the ASB Activities Director.

In other circumstances, time can appear to speed up.

When one’s attention is divided, for instance, and they are busy with several things at once, time seems to pass more swiftly. This may be because people pay less attention to the flow of time when they are multitasking.

Edison Bai, a senior, said, “When I’m with friends, and we are goofing off, time always seems to flow faster because we are having a good time. Also, when I’m swamped with homework and assignments, time slips by and running to keep up. Or in tests, for instance, time seems to go faster, and I’m working up to the bell.”

Emotions such as awe and fear also play a part in how a person perceives the availability of time and the speed of its passing.

According to an article published in the Association for Psychological Science, experiences of awe often involve a sense of timelessness and expands people’s perception of time availability.

Fear makes time seem like it has slowed down, according to David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine studying how our brains perceive time. According to National Public Radio, Eagleman said that these tz ra

St

frightening near-death experiences cause our brains to retain more sensory data. This tremendous amount of memory from a short time period makes an event seem longer.

In an interview with the Guardian, Sylvie Droit-Volet, a professor at the Social and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory at Blaise Pascal University, France, said, “Our perception of time is very revealing of our emotional state. There is no single, uniform time, but rather multiple times which we experience. Our temporal distortions are a direct translation of the way in which our brain and body adapt to these multiple times, the times of life.”

However, for many people, the biggest change in their sense of time happens as they age.

A common complaint is that time speeds up as people get older, weeks pass in a blink of an eye and before one knows it New Year’s has turned into Thanksgiving.

A common explanation for the change in time perception is that most external and internal experiences are new for young children, while most experiences are repetitive for adults. Children have to be extremely engaged in the present moment because they must constantly reconfigure their mental models of the world to assimilate it, and properly behave from within.

On the contrary, adults may rarely step outside of their mental habits and external routines.

When an adult frequently experiences the same stimuli, their brain renders them “invisible” because the brain has already sufficiently and effectively mapped those stimuli. This phenomenon is known as neural adaptation. Consequently, the subjective perception is often that time passes by at a faster rate with age.

Casey Felton, a senior, said, “People always say life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes. I disagree. I believe we experience things at the same rate our whole lives, but when we reflect on

elapsed time, we reflect upon said time in relation to our lives.”

When a person is one year old, a year is their entire lifespan -- it’s all the time that they have ever known. But as they grow older, one year is a smaller and smaller fraction of their total life.

Bai said, “I remember as a kid, the week leading up to Christmas seemed like last forever. I was always asking my parents how many days left till Christmas. Now, as a senior, the whole first semester flew by so fast.”

As time slips by, people search for ways to make the most of the time they have--spending time with family, working, or for oneself. According to the Economist, ever since the advent of clocks, time has been seen in relation to money, and as time often determines one’s pay, people became ever more concerned with wasting, saving, and using time profitably.

Kelly said, “I really try to consider what I am giving back to the situation I’m in. What am I giving to my kids? What am I giving to my students? I don’t ever want to waste my students time. I want my students to be able to say ‘my time spent in Mr. Kelly’s class was useful.’ So the giving of myself is a very important use of my time.”

Another explanation for the change in time perception is that most external and internal experiences are new for young children, while most experiences are repetitive for adults, according to Eagleman.

Kelly said, “Ten years ago you were 8 years old. Ten years ago your life was totally different. For me, 10 years ago wasn’t that much different. The same job, relatively the same body and thought processes, the same house, the same living situation, the same wife, the same car.

The older you get, the more similar things are despite the passage of time. For you guys, your life is going to continue changing fast. At your age, your status quo is always going to be different.”

Trying new things, being engaged, and continuing to learn are all ways people have tried to slow down the passing of time.

“I have found that when I am doing something new, time feels slower and just a little more in my control.

Maybe it’s because my brain is processing the new stuff, but the novelty of a new skill or experience,kind of just stalls time. I keep challenging myself and pushing myself to do new things because, when I do, time doesn’t go so fast, and I feel like I have done something valuable with my time,” Bai said.

As the world moves faster because of technology and the pace of people’s lives gets faster as well, sometimes it is difficult for some to “stop and smell the roses.”

Kelly said, “To say there’s not enough time simply means you’re one of a couple things: you’re trying to cram too much in, and you’re not prioritizing it, not utilizing the time available properly. So if you’re feeling like you don’t have enough time, you can’t create time, but you can solve how you use the time that is allotted to you.”

FEATURES

16

Mandela Effect from P. 1

“The circumstance where false memories are most problematic are in cases involving eyewitness identifications. They are notoriously unreliable and eyewitness errors are thought to be the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the U.S. In other words, eyewitnesses who pick the wrong person out of a lineup can send an innocent person to prison,” Steven Frenda, PhD, said.

Since false memories have the ability to imprison an innocent person, they are more than likely able to change our perceptions of TV shows and book titles as well.

There are three conflicting theories as to how the Mandela Effect comes about.

One is that there is an alternate dimension

that is leaking into this dimension and changing the past. Another is that this is just a simulation.

“I believe it could be from another dimension but I also kind of believe in the theory that we could be in a simulation and that these could be glitches,” Walsh said.

The third theory is more rooted in science, and is that it is simply our brain struggling to or making false connections to the past.

The human memory system doesn’t record an entire event or moment, but rather holds parts of an experience.

This leaves it susceptible to change from other information or events that it thinks correlate.

“Memory doesn’t operate like a video

December 2017

recording device, where we record information about what we see and then later play it back in our mind. Instead, it’s more like a reconstruction of what we saw or experienced using many sources of information—it’s vulnerable to error and suggestion, and it can change over time, sometimes without us even noticing that it changed,” Frenda said.

Not only can memories be recalled differently than they actually were, but fake events can be implanted into our memory.

In studies conducted by Loftus and her colleagues, they discovered that entire events could be planted into participants’ memories. They did this by showing fake pictures and descriptions of scenarios and making the participants believe they had

been there. Afterwards, they were even able to recall small details from the events as if they had actually occurred.

These experiments showed that it was possible to insert memories of imaginary experiences such as being lost at the mall or being attacked by a vicious animal.

Since our brains are so susceptible to being influenced and have been shown to have trouble remembering events with accuracy, it is not surprising that memories such as those regarding Nelson Mandela’s death and titles such as the Berenstain Bears are false.

Therefore, instead of the cause being an alternate dimension leaking into our own, it is more likely that our brains are simply incorrectly remembering the past.

Individuals benefit by embracing natural lifestyles Brooke Chang

Scot Scoop Editor-In-Chief

Party or study?

Go to a concert or listen through earphones?

Movie theater with friends or Netflix at home?

While many introverts would choose to study, listen through earphones, and watch Netflix, the common answers for extroverts are party, go to a concert, and movie theater with friends.

“The majority of the time, I just want to have fun and not work,” said Tyrese Lopez, a senior. “I’m a loud and outgoing person, and I like going to social events and putting myself out there to meet new people.”

Extroverts are characterized by outgoingness, responsiveness to other persons, activness, and the ability to make quick decisions, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, a general knowledge English-language encyclopædia.

On the other hand, introverts are shy, contemplative, and reserved. They also tend to have difficulty adjusting to social situations.

“I’m an introvert because I get my energy from being alone.

Hanging out with people for too long makes me tired, and I feel the need to ‘recharge’ by myself for a while. Being introverted doesn’t mean I’m antisocial or don’t like hanging out with people, it just means, in general, I get energy from being alone,” said Lauren Morris, a senior.

Many find that society pushes the extroverted lifestyle as the model to follow and creates an environment in which introverts are encouraged to change their way of living.

According to Forbes, Beth Buelow, an introvert coach and the author of “Insight: Reflections on the Gifts of Being an Introvert,” said, “There’s a strong extrovert expectation in most work environments that leads the

typical introvert to believe that there’s no room for a more reflective, deliberate style.”

Contrary to the message that society presents by encouraging only extroverted characteristics, there are benefits to both being introverted and extroverted.

“Extroverts tend to report being happier and generally experiencing more positive emotions than introverts, but it’s hard to say if this is a difference in actual mood or simply a difference in reporting. Extroverts also tend to report higher self-esteem,” said Elaine Blank, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. “On the other hand, introverts tend to do better in academic settings than extroverts, and they tend to be less impulsive.”

Some have found that introverts and extroverts differ in more than just social tendencies.

Debra Johnson, Ph.D., and John S. Wiebe, Ph.D., studied brain activity in individuals who socially active life. labeled themselves as introverts Although it is comforting for a and extroverts. person to participate in social Johnson and Wiebe found that activity however they see fit, introverts have increased blood both extroverted and introverted flow in brain structures associated lifestyles have their flaws and with recalling events, making can be seen as obstacles when a plans, and problem-solving. person is trying to pursue a task Extroverts were that doesn’t fit in with found to have their natural lifestyle. increased blood Many extroverts I like that I’m not flow in brain find themselves structures that afraid to put myself struggling to manage are known to time by ignoring out there and be interpret sense social. However, I do school work to attend data, which social events. implies that they understand the perks Lopez said, “It of being introverted. can be hard to get require sensory stimulation. things done because Either way, being Due to this who you are is most staying focused isn’t difference in my strong suit. I important. blood-flow, it is always want to be natural for an with people and have Tyrese Lopez extrovert to take fun, which means part in a social I always want to be Senior lifestyle; it is also doing something natural for an new instead of doing introvert to view one thing for a long the lifestyle of an extrovert as time. I like the way I am, but exhausting and wish to live a less sometimes I just wish I could be

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a little bit more of an introvert because some circumstances require being reserved.”

Meanwhile, introverts excel at being reserved and being able to focus on projects; where many introverts struggle is in making connections with others.

“Being introverted makes it harder for me to meet new people because it takes a lot of effort for me to reach out and get to know someone new,” Morris said.

“Sometimes I wish I was more extroverted because so much of society is structured around interacting with others. I feel like life might be less stressful, or at least less tiring, if I was extroverted, but I enjoy that I can be alone and focus on certain tasks for long periods of time.”

Although neither lifestyle is perfect, many people find that they appreciate the aspects of their personality that make them who they are.

“I like that I’m not afraid to put myself out there and be social.

It’s really fun to be able to just

go up to new people and form connections. I do understand the perks of being introverted and I think that lifestyle just works better for some people while being extroverted works for others. Either way, being who you are is the most important,” said Lopez.

Even though being extroverted is more suitable for some situations and being introverted is for others, many professionals encourage others to follow Lopez’s model and stay true to their natural way of life.

Blank said, “In general, there may be situations in which it is beneficial to adjust one’s behavior.

However, by and large, it’s more helpful for people to behave in a way that’s comfortable for them and does not require acting.

Introverts fare much better when they learn to see their own needs as valid and don’t try to pretend to be extroverted while extroverts do better when they can have regular social contact.”

OPINION

December 2017

17

Editorial

Transform the past to create a new future The unknown. It’s worse than anything that has happened in the past.

We dwell on the past. It’s human nature. Even though the future may hold greater possibilities, it’s a struggle to move on, especially when the past feels much more comfortable.

“Even if we are sick and tired of our current situation, or have outgrown it, at least it’s familiar. We can operate within it and negotiate familiar obstacles with relative ease. With any new situation comes new potential for discomfort and loss,” said clinical psychologist Joseph Burgo.

However, there are reasons to why we think about the past as much as we do. It holds events and other experiences that are both good and bad. The good ones, we don’t want to forget. The bad ones, we can’t get out of our heads.

“Even though part of you is excited about the possibility of change — a new job, a new home, a new relationship — there’s another part that’s attached to your present reality, comfortable with your inertia. And that part is making it very difficult for you to move forward,” added Burgo.

According to Northwestern University, inertia is the tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.

A human’s inertia is basically the contentment held in their current state. There is no reason to want a change. Following a routine is easy, certain, and the main reason humans don’t favor the idea of moving on or making changes in their lives.

Uncertainty goes hand in hand with time. Time is constant, always moving forward, and it’s impossible to go backward and redo something. That’s the scary part.

According to Forbes, 38 percent of people are comfortable with change in their life, whereas 62 percent do not want to leave their comfort zones.

The idea of a fresh start or a change is exciting to some. This is due to their current or past quality of life. If one experiences a trauma or accident in their past, they would be more open to moving on.

However, others experience the exact opposite feeling, and that’s because their life is currently content. Moving on seems terrifying because everything they already have is close to perfect.

According to Act of Libraries, a psychology website, “People do tend to dwell on the same plot over and over again. They live in the past repeating the same storyline because the past feels safe, the past is predictable, and the past is quite comfortable compared to

Hanalei Pham

the alternative.”

Living in the past is not only unhealthy, but often uncontrollable. The human brain subconsciously fears change.

In order to move on from the past, we must acknowledge what we are giving up.

According to Burgo, humans aren’t perceptive to change because often accepting something new means giving up something old. Once we understand what

we’re giving up, it’s much easier to picture life with new aspects.

Moving on also requires an open mind and no expectations.

Since the future is unknown, we cannot expect for it to be perfect.

It is important to set goals for oneself, but still understand that we don’t always have control.

“Dwelling in the past does nothing to move a person’s life forward or the lives of those with whom he or she touches. The fu-

ture is where we’ll find our goals and aspirations all shiny and unscathed. Indeed, the present has far more potential even still as a comfortable, though constantly fleeting, focal point,” said Acts of Libraries.

Instead of dwelling on the past and fearing the uncertainty the future holds, we should take our mistakes and experiences from the past and use them to improve and build our lives in the future.

Don’t judge Ivanka Trump based on father’s missteps Kathryn Stratz Editor Ivanka Trump is a mother of three, wife, business owner, University of Pennsylvania graduate, and charity worker.

She has authored multiple books, worked for her father, started the #womenwhowork brand, and accomplished all of this by the age of 35. Yet, the media cannot seem to find anything positive to say regarding her. Why? Most likely due to her close relationship and support shown for her father, who has sparked controversy since his running for the presidency.

Yes, she is an adviser to the president, but she is also an educated individual with her own brain and opinions and should be treated as such.

People tend to criticize Ivanka Trump in areas of her life outside of politics because of her relationship with her father. For exaample, her attire at various events has been deemed inappropriate.

According to the New York Times, “The president’s daughter felt a…sting of backlash for the red off-the-shoulder dress that she wore…with some saying it was more appropriate for a night out than for a high-profile speech.”

It seems as though Hillary Clinton is the only female politician willing to wear pantsuits.

This is quite hypocritical of the media, which claims that Beyoncé’s thong leotards represent feminism, but Ivanka Trump’s shoulders are inappropriate. Beyoncé is an entertainer, whereas Ivanka Trump is a politician’s daughter, but at their cores, they are both strong supporters of women’s rights.

The real question is, where have all the

feminists gone? One could think that this would be an opportunity for feminists to support the first daughter in her decisions to dress in a more feminine fashion.

They are most likely sitting in judgment at Ivanka Trump for daring to support her out-there father’s opinions.

At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in 2016, she said, “I have opinions, my opinions are my own, I express them to [my father] when I am excited, when I am disappointed, and everywhere in between.”

Just because she is not bashing the president doesn’t mean she agrees with all of his policies and remarks.

Hillary Clinton views this differently.

In an interview with Refinery 29, Clinton said, “Everyone associated with [Don-

ald Trump]…they’re either on board with that, or they’re not. And if they’re not, they need to be speaking out or leaving.

But if they remain silent and just give lip service to contrary points of views, then they are part of his agenda and should be judged and held accountable for that.”

According to Clinton, Ivanka Trump’s options are to openly agree with everything her father does, or completely disagree, and remove herself. There is no reason why the first daughter should be held to those standards.

Ivanka Trump said, “I am certainly not sheepish about sharing [my] opinions, but I do so in private.”

This is reasonable, for it would not work to have the president’s advisor speaking out

against him. She was even a part of the Independent Party until after October 2015, when the preliminaries for the presidential race occurred, which she admitted openly.

In an interview with TIME’s Nancy Gibbs, said: “I stood in front of the [Republican National Convention] and shared that I’m an independent which is very consistent with many other millennials and many other people. I’m not dogmatically aligned with any party and I share my thoughts with my father very candidly.”

Many people probably assume she’s a so-called “Republican neo-Nazi,” but that’s not the case.

Instead of being quick to judge Ivanka Trump by her last name, learn about who she is and what she stands for.

The Highlander Editor-in-Chief

Editors

Staff Writers

Jordan Hanlon

Rachel Borshchenko

Lily Bakour

Managing Editor

Nina Heller

Connor Lin ScotCenter Editor-in-Chief Sophie Penn Scotlight Editor-in-Chief Mona Murhamer Scot Scoop Editor-in-Chief Brooke Chang

Kylie Lin Sophie Lynd

Kaylee George Joseph Gomez

Ben Balster

Cath Lei

Maya Benjamin

Zana Lunsford

Adrian Cunningham

Briana McDonald

Sarah Cheung

Mackenzie O’Connell

Isabel Mitchell

Riley Collins

Hanalei Pham

Kathryn Stratz

Samantha Dahlberg

Justin Som

Skylar Weiss Faculty Adviser Justin Raisner

Nicole del Cardayre

Sean Vanderaa

Talia Fine

Katrina Wiebenson

Daniel Friis

Celine Yang

The Highlander is a newspaper dedicated to providing Carlmont students, staff, and the community with high-quality news, features, and opinion articles. We want to keep our readers informed on important issues ranging from events at Carlmont to international news, and want to engage them with unique stories and images. The Highlander is a publication completely run by the students of the journalism classes at Carlmont High School. Story ideas are generated by the students and the published content is up to the discretion of the editorial staff. This month’s editorial was written by Jordan Hanlon and the editorial cartoon was drawn by Hanalei Pham.

18

OPINION

December 2017

Give your parents a break

Being a parent is just as difficult as growing up is for teens Katrina Weibenson Staff Writer

“There’s no point in talking to you. You don’t understand!”

If this has been said this to either you or your parents, it is not odd. It is the mindset of a teenager.

It is common knowledge that teenagers and parents get into some heated arguments with each other over issues such as phone use and irresponsibility. These arguments cause some teenagers to act as though they do not care about their parents as much as they did before.

As a teenager, I have caught myself doing just that. However, after my own constant arguments with my parents, I’ve realized that I just have the desire to exercise my own independence.

Teenagers are growing up and are beggining to separate from their parents. Once they get a taste of independence, they rush to the conclusion that they don’t need their parents anymore.

In high school, teenagers are struggling to find who they really are and where they truly want to go in life, and independence is the exact way to find it. But, parents sometimes do not agree with their child’s opinions or dreams and may try to alter the child as they grow.

This is frustrating for all teens, as most of them will experience this struggle as they grow up, especially in their younger years. This is especially why teenage years can be difficult, as this issue of finding who

they truly are is piled onto social anxiety Parents are not trying to make their and academic stresses. children miserable by disagreeing with However, a lot of these decisions that them or not letting them go out alone; they teenagers make may not be only to go are only trying to protect their children and against their parents. show them what is right to make sure they According to the American Psychologi- are developed with good morals and judgcal Association, this trouble with decision ment. making may have to do with the prefronAs I was growing up, my parents did not tal cortex of the brain, the main part of the give me all the opportunities I wanted as a brain that functions with many cognitive young teen. I could not go out without a processes, such as planning, reasoning, and parent, I could not hang out with boys, I behavior control. had to be tracked on my phone, etc.

This part of the brain is still developing However, as I got older, my parents as a teenager, which eventually trusted may be why teenagmy maturity and reers tend to disagree sponsibility enough Parents don’t raise a child with their parents so to give me these opwith a set plan on how to do often. portunities. I made It may be hard to sure to prove that so; they learn over time what accept, but teenagers I was responsible works best for their child to do need their parand would agree to raise him or her the best they ents in these years. their terms. I found The small income out that arguing my possibly can. a teenager would way through to them make from their wouldn’t get me anypart-time job isn’t where. enough to support At the same time, themselves in general. Without parents, my parents soon learned how to deal with a teenagers won’t have a place to live. They growing teen and how to give me freedom wouldn’t be getting all the opportunities with boundaries the correct way — not many teenagers do now. being too invasive or unreasonable in my Teenagers are not the only ones strug- eyes. gling with their growth; parents are too.

Although the arguments with my parParents don’t raise a child with a set plan ents did tend to become less frequent, the on how to do so; they learn over time what bickering did not end completely. works best for their child to raise him or I found that believing that all of their arher the best they possibly can. guments would be too unrealistic, so end-

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ing them as a whole was not my main goal anymore.

I decided that the best option I had was to have a serious conversation with my parents about my hopes for the future and my true feelings regarding our disagreements.

We came to understand our feelings to get a better understanding of the emotions in our arguments and why we had the arguments in the first place.

Now, my parents and I have the best relationship we have ever had.

Overall, a family requires a mutual understanding of everyone’s emotions and feelings regarding important topics.

According to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, open and honest communication among families allows for an atmosphere that helps all members to express both their love and their differences, helping families to resolve unavoidable issues that arise within every household.

Communication is key in teenage years since teenagers are becoming more independent and finding themselves. They do need parents’ guidance to get through these difficult years.

It may be difficult to accept that we need guidance and that there have to be mutual agreements among all members of the family, but later on, the benefits of this communication will shine through.

Give the family a break from all of the arguments and realize that you are all different people. It is alright to disagree, but it is how you handle the disagreements that make a true difference.

In response to: 2018 elections pose a political shift

Democrats need to reassess campaign strategy Justin Som Staff Writer The Democrats are becoming too confident once again.

After their victories in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections in early November, many Democrats in office have expressed their feelings of a possible “comeback” in light of their defeat during the presidential election.

Still, let’s be real. A victory for the Democrats isn’t guaranteed, so they shouldn’t be so certain.

They made this same mistake just last year.

Just like in 2016, early ballots are showing high approval ratings for Democrats over Republicans.

In fact, according to Five Thirty Eight, a website that generates polls on economic and political opinions, the Democrats currently have a historically high lead in ratings: 44 to 37 percent over Republicans. In comparison to the approval ratings taken from the night of the presidential election of 45 to 44 percent in favor of Democrats, these numbers seem more hopeful for the party.

For Democrats, the key to winning the congressional elections in 2018 may lie in making sure that candidates don’t cater exclusively to groups in cities or rural areas. In this manner, those running for reelection can widen their voter bases.

To maintain their seats against Republican opponents, incumbents should readdress the issues that voters originally chose them for and establish a localized agenda that is separate from what the national party leaders want.

One example of this type of behavior can be found in the strategy employed by Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin who is running for reelection in 2018.

To gain the most votes, Baldwin’s platform is based off of establishing milk standards that favor farmers in rural areas.

According to Politico, Scot Specter, who is Baldwin’s campaign manager, said: “We are definitely mindful of the fact that the Democrats, in general, underperformed with [rural] voters in 2016. It’s not changing who Tammy is or repositioning Tammy, but reminding them why they voted for her in 2012.”

In general, instead of focusing on trends and voter patterns, the Democrats should focus on campaigning for more localized issues that will help them to gain regain some of the Democrats who didn’t turn out to vote in 2016.

The Democrats shouldn’t be looking to the example of the gubernatorial elections as a symbol of voter turnouts for their party.

Undoubtedly, the victories in Virginia and New Jersey in the gubernatorial elections were boons to the party, but this trend won’t

necessarily apply to the midterm elections unless certain conditions are met.

An analysis of youth voter turnout from the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tuft University noted that in the Virginia gubernatorial elections during 2013, participation was only at 26 percent, but in 2017, that number rose to 34 percent.

As such, the reasons for why Democrats performed so well was because of an increased show of support from their constituents.

In order to replicate what happened in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats are going to have to show up in even greater numbers if they want to win in red states.

On a different note, in the case that the Democrats do make comebacks in the states that they have held in the past, there is no promise that they will swing the majority in Congress.

The ballot tracker on FiveThirtyEight indicates that “Democrats may need to beat Republicans by five to eight percentage points nationally to win a majority of House seats.”

As such, until that percentage is exceeded, the Democrats are still not promised control of Congress even with their comeback.

Thus, this means that the shared agenda between President Trump and the Republicans will continue to gain steam. New leg-

islation will remain focused on the repeals of Obama-era laws and tax cuts for specific groups.

For an example of this, one must simply look to the latest tax revision passed by the Senate on Dec. 2. Although the Democrats had the entirety of their party to vote against it, the Republican majority in the Senate easily bypassed the opposition with a bill that lowered the tax rate of the wealthy from 39.6 to 35 percent, scrapes the estate tax, and removes the additional standard deduction and the popular personal exemption.

Looking forward, the Democrats should center their reelection efforts towards issues like Obamacare and measures for how they will try to combat the newly approved tax plan. Given that Trump’s tax plan had only a 29 percent approval rating from when it was first proposed in September, this feature may be a critical point in the campaigns of Democrats.

Similarly, the Democrats that are running for office in 2018 should also establish a wide set of localized goals within their state.

In this manner, neither urban nor rural voters will be neglected by a certain candidate’s platform.

But until the congressional elections occur, as tempting as it may be, no assertions should be made from the basis of early approval ratings.

Kylie Lin

Time ticks; fear heightens Mackenzie O’Connell Staff Writer

The test is soon.

The interview is sooner.

The presentation is even sooner.

We age each day with the tick of the clock, time keeps moving forward, but what if we don’t live up to the standards of time?

While it isn’t an official diagnosis, according to Dictionary.com, the constant fear of time can be classified as chronophobia.

Anxiety and stress over being late to a party, appointment, movie, or math test can all be symptoms of chronophobia.

People also fear running out of time and dying. According to the website Dictionary.com, thanatophobia is an abnormal fear of death.

People who experience thanatophobia or chronophobia tend to become narrow-minded, miss events such as birthdays, sports games, a trip to afavorite restaurant, and also ignore everything that is happening around them. They begin to focus on their death or the ticking of a clock. With that mindset, it is almost impossible to be productive and enjoy fun experiences throughout life.

Both kids and adults are diagnosed with Thanatophobia. As a result, this portion of society fears their death date, not fulfilling their goals, and having a meaningful life before they die.

This group becomes so focused on death that they ultimately forget to live.

A study by The National US Medicine Library showed that elderly people had low levels of anxiety concerning time (scoring 4/15 on Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale), but their children scored higher (6.9/15). The Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) has been used since 1970 and is used as the most accurate technique for measuring death anxiety, according to the Professional Medicine Journal.

It is alarming that adolescents waste their youth with the fear of death rather than take advantage of the time they have to live.

According to FearOf, a website specializing in a variety of fears, the symptoms of chronophobia may include feeling completely detached from reality, having full-blown panic attacks at the thought of passing time, experiencing heart palpitations and dizziness, fainting, sweating excessively, and in general, feeling completely out of control.

Although chronophobia is an actual fear, fearing time may be one of the most unproductive lifestyles and can cause people to miss certain opportunities given throughout a lifetime.

By living life with a constant focus on time, those affected by chronophobia lose a chance to experience cheerful moments in life with friends and family, as this fear overwhelms their everyday moments and experiences.

Chronophobia can appear among groups of people who are in school and are employed. Most people have undergone a point of stress where there is not enough time and wish the clock would freeze. Some cry with frustration or run away from an assignment to avoid their responsibilities. These are all symptoms of chronophobia.

However, there is a way around this fear.

Hypnotherapy is a therapy which has resulted in positive results and has been approved by American Medical Association to treat various mental disorders. Psychotherapy is similar to Hypnotherapy, as they both communicate with the subconscious mind. It is a proven therapy for overcoming the fear of the future phobia. An expert practitioner can help the phobic “fix” his or her preconceived notions about time and the future, according to Fear Of. At-home remedies to avoid the fear of time include yoga, meditation, deep breathing, Tai Chi, and more. A simple

deep breathing strategy to keep oneself calm or finding a zen is a perfect way to realize that this stress is simply not worth it. Find a hobby, become involved in a sport, use time effectively.

Many tend to fear time because it comes with the unknown. The US National Library of Medicine stated, “a basic aspect of anxiety appears to be uncertainty.”

Uncertainty links directly to the future, as some fear the uncertainty of a test grade or (even more extreme) when they might die, which is something they simply just cannot control.

Although many cannot help avoiding the concept of time as it keeps pushing forward, for others it is a remedy. Time to relax after a chaotic day, heartbreak, or broken bone, can all be a remedy to lift people back to their full potential.

Time is beneficial when it is used to relieve stress and better oneself. Death is inevitable; rather than run away from it, make the best of life before it catches you.

If you are a couple minutes late to your best friend’s birthday, think to yourself: what is the worst that can happen? Maybe you’ll get a joke from your friend. Maybe you’ll miss the birthday song, but I am sure they will save you a cupcake.

The saying “Everything happens for a reason” is genuine, and if we live by that statement rather than base our schedules on the tick of a clock, anxiety will be reduced.

Time is never going to stop. These words have been read, and time is still moving. Every breath taken, the time is ticking. Stop being afraid. Take advantage of the time you do have. Say “I love you” and live every moment to the fullest because even though we don’t know when time will stop, we have the power to live the life we choose.

Consume yourself in positive experiences and make life worth it. Control the memories you make, because time will never be controlled.

First comes sadness, then comes regret Jordan Hanlon

Highlander Editor-in-Chief When people die you’re supposed to feel sad.

But why do we miss people so much more when they’re gone than when they’re here?

You’re supposed to mourn and grieve until you’re able to move on.

However, sometimes the overbearing feeling that comes with losing a loved one isn’t sadness, it’s regret.

Regret is the unsettling feeling of guilt and disappointment over a loss or missed opportunity.

Regret or guilt can come from many different things; whether it’s not being able to say goodbye, never making amends, or wishing we’d done something differently.

According to Grief Healing, a blog that gives individuals advice on how to cope with death, “Unfortunately, guilt is a natural and common component of

19

OPINION

December 2017

grief. When someone you love dies, it’s only human to search for an explanation, to look at what you did or did not do, to dwell on the what if ’s and if only’s.”

The idea of someone that you loved and cared for being gone is not an easy concept to understand.

Especially if that person is someone you’re with on a regular basis and is frequently involved in your life. And then just like that, you never see them again.

In some cases, after the loss of someone who didn’t change your life significantly, the feeling of regret can still be unsettling and there is a sense of guilt.

And that feeling of repentance may come from the lack of closure or the unsettling feeling that their absence affects so many other people.

The whole concept of death is surreal within itself, and it’s never easy to cope with.

There are so many emo-

tions that come with it: anger, sadness, love, disbelief.

It’s not always that we miss them being with us, it’s that we literally miss what we could have done differently, which is what drives the feeling of guilt.

Although we don’t know when we may see someone last, it’s also unhealthy to live a life constantly thinking “this could be the last time I ever see you.”

But this is not easy because the reality is that this could be the last time you ever see someone.

That is where the fear of uncertainty comes in.

Uncertainty goes hand and hand with time. Time is constant, always moving forward, and it’s impossible to go back and redo something. That’s the scary part.

When someone dies, people begin to realize that they can’t fix the past.

When people die you always hear “I wish I could’ve said goodbye,” or “I wish we could’ve done this.”

Guilt is a normal feeling, and people feel guilty because they are guilty. Humans make mistakes, and when someone dies, we are reminded of them.

“Guilt is a powerful emotion[...]Realistic guilt exists when we have done something we knew was wrong, but we may also unrealistically blame ourselves for things over which we had no control,” according to Transitions LifeCare, a health website.

The feeling of agony applies to more than just death. Someone moving away or switching schools can have a large emotional impact because of the fact that we do not appreciate the people in our lives while they are with us.

We need to recognize that it’s important to love all the people in our lives a little more and take advantage of the things that we do have, rather than complaining about the things that we don’t.

The Penn Perspective Sophie Penn Staff Writer “I became a journalist to come as close the heart of the world as possible.”

-Henry Luce It’s cliché, I know, but high school really has gone by incredibly fast.

As a senior, I still vividly remember walking onto Carlmont’s campus for the first time — looking up (both figuratively and literally) to all the upperclassmen, sprinting to my classes when the minute bell rang, and practically shaking with excitement at everything I thought high school was going to be.

Was it everything I had ever hoped and dreamed of?

Yes, and no. There were some amazing parts, don’t get me wrong, but if I’m being honest, it wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows.

So many people say, “Make the most of high school.”

It’s such a simple statement, but what does it mean?

Should I get involved in clubs? Focus on grades? Make strong friendships? All of the above?

It can be hard to balance your time correctly in high school. Oftentimes, there’s just too much going on to do everything you may want to.

While there is some experiences I’ve had that I’m incredibly grateful for, there’s also a lot I wish I had done differently. I’ve decided to share a small portion of some of the best and worst ways I’ve spent my time over the past four years.

Football games. I know that they can get pretty tedious, especially three or four games into the season, but every time I decided to skip out on going to a Friday night game, I missed out. I’ve spoken to so many seniors who had just attended their first football game, and instantly regretted not going to more in the past. Football games are a high school staple, and I promise that going to a game will be more memorable than staying cuddled up inside with your computer.

On the topic of high school staples, dances are another big one. My freshman year, I decided to stay home from the winter formal dance because I didn’t have a date, and I thought that all of my friends would leave me alone.

It was a huge mistake. The moral of the story is: always choose school events over staying home with the TV. I do have to say, one thing I wish I spent less time on was homework. Hear me out. For my first two years of high school, I would obsessively strive for perfect grades and often stay up half the night struggling to finish an AP assignment. Looking back on it, I missed out on a lot of great adventures with my friends because of all the stress I put on myself and probably spent way too much time on those AP Euro outlines.

I wish I had recognized the importance of giving myself a break from schoolwork and activities and instead socialized more often. I would always get sick at least once a year from simply overworking myself; if I had allotted more time for just relaxing and taking a breather, I most likely would not have ended up missing as much school as I did.

Although my grades may have suffered because of it, one thing I am eternally grateful for is getting involved in on-campus groups, which for me was journalism and ASB. Having something that makes you excited to come to school in the morning and sad to leave in the afternoon is priceless and really will make your experience that much better.

Most people don’t consider this one, but taking the time to form connections with teachers actually does come in handy. Going in for office hours, popping in to say hello, or going in during lunch to get help on an assignment helps teachers to get to know you. Not only does this make your life easier when you request that extension on an assignment, but it also is useful for letters of recommendation when they come up.

All in all, the past four years have resulted in some of the best, worst, funniest, most stressful, and most rewarding experiences of my life.

There’s always going to be homework, there’s always going to be a sports game or dance, and there’s always going to be some other friend or family commitment. The key to making the most out of high school is figuring out how to balance everything going on in your life and prioritize the things that you will be able to look back on and remember fondly.

Four years goes by faster than you could imagine, so make the most of it while you still can.

20

Happy

Holidays

Christmas

Chances are, your neighbor celebrates Christmas.

Chances are likely to be high, because according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study, about nine in 10 Americans celebrate Christmas – 92 percent, to be exact. More unexpectedly, about 81 percent of non-Christians celebrate Christmas, as well. For some, the holiday is religious, but for others, it’s a commercial cultural holiday. According to the same study, only 51 percent celebrate Christmas for religious purposes. The other half just join in on the festivities.

Christmas traditions generally include decorating a tree, stringing lights, and settling into the couch for a holiday movie marathon with the family. For younger kids, Santa Claus is a popular visitor during the night, bearing gifts to open in the morning. For others, Christmas Eve may mean a traditional evening mass to sing carols and exchange wellwishes.

However a family decides to celebrate Christmas, the broader meaning is spending time with loved ones during the otherwise hectic holiday season.

“I celebrate Hanukkah not too religiously, but just enough so that it’s still religious. This means we do everything throughout a normal day, and then at the end of the day we all get together, shut off electronics, and go sing the prayers and light the candles. As some people do, sometimes we get a little gift to celebrate the candles being lit one more day.

Honestly, I’ve never been affected by Christmas being popular in this area because no one judges. If anything, it makes you special because not many people celebrate it. There aren’t that many Jewish people that I know here.

The tradition we always have for Hanukkah is throwing a family get-together and inviting a couple friends. We play dreidel the whole night, there’s food, and my grandma tells the story of Hanukkah. My family celebrates Christmas too because my mom always wanted to celebrate it when she was younger, and my dad always celebrated it as a kid. We do it because it’s fun, and it brings our family together.”

Nyah Dompier-Norrbom Freshman

92%

of Americans celebrate Christmas

“My friends usually stay home during Christmas, but my family usually makes it a going-away type of thing, either in Tahoe or Hawaii. We always do a Secret Santa between three people, which isn’t really a big surprise, but it’s still fun because it switches every year.

Christmas is pretty important because we’re all pretty busy and don’t get to see each other a lot, so it becomes that one time we can see each other during the year. Christmas has always been a big religious holiday, and presents have been made to be a big part of it, but when a family makes it their own, that’s when the holiday becomes special.”

Elizabeth Gurevich Freshman

Hanukkah A stark contrast to the 92 percent celebrating Christmas is Hanukkah’s 6 percent, according to a Public Religion Research Institute study. While it is not as celebrated in Israel, an American Hanukkah has become increasingly a bigger deal with the boom of Christmas culture. Originally a celebration of the lasting oil in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, the holiday has evolved into a cultural equivalent of Christmas in America. During the eight-night celebration, families light a candle each night on the nine-candle holder known as the menorah. Festivities include reciting prayers with the candles, eating foods fried in oil, and playing with a dreidel, a four-sided top, for prizes.

6%

of Americans celebrate Hanukkah

For those not celebrating Christmas this season...

Movies Premiering this Season “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Dec. 15 “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” Dec. 20 “Pitch Perfect 3” Dec. 22 “Downsizing” Dec. 22 “All the Money in the World” Dec. 25

Art and article by Mona Murhamer Page design by Sophie Lynd

Some families choose to spend their time off huddled on the couch watching Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas,” while others use the free time to go hiking, biking, or ice skating . Unbeknownst to many, movie theaters tend to stay open on Christmas Day and have even started showing new releases for the holiday season. Whatever a family chooses to celebrate, the holiday season is meant to bring people closer together for quality time.