The Mustang Nov. 2011

The Mustang

Issue 2, Volume 16

November 14, 2011

The Mustang

October 7, 2011

managing editor arts editor Angela Zhang

22 steeze a hairstyle to “dye” for Opal Theodossi gives advice on dyeing hair all colors of the rainbow.

4 news The mosaic The new cafe run by the business managment class will open at the end of October.

24 Circus animal fun

facebook at school Students unanimously agree that social networking at school will totally be used for educational purposes only.

5 news graduation rates SDA has the highest graduation rates in the district, with over 99 percent of students graduating.

25 sports

7 opinions “courting” change Anna Williams reflects on the sad disappearance of SDA’s old senior court.

field hockey The varsity girls field hockey team had an 8-0 victory over Mission Vista High School on Sept. 28.

14 28 backpage all dressed up Arin Malin and other costumed students show off the unique outfits they wear to school.

11 features urban fishing Kyle Hoff has some change to spare, and uses it for an afternoon of whimsical people-baiting.

14 centerspread from desk till dawn Students, like Cassidy Mayeda, and teachers give The Mustang a peek at their unusual desks.

Numbers

Opinions Editor Laurel Sorenson Features Editor Caitlin Hird Sports Editor Anna Sheridan Asst sports editor Sarah Kochanek Steeze Editor Tatiana Skomski CAF Editor Eleanore Hendrickson Photo Editor Jocelyn Lee Asst Photo Editor Emily Maxwell Ads Manager Emma Lindley Advisor Tim Roberts staff writers Hope Alba, Katie Berriochoa, Gabby Catalano, Stephanie Cigna, John Deane, Kianna Eberle, Kira Elliot, Caroline Glass, Emily Hall, Kyle Hoff, Joey Kobara, Sarah Kochanek, Karolyna Landin, Lilyan Leavesseur, Charlotte Ohrbom, Cassia Pollock, Kai Schlesinger, Dana Shin, Nicole Smith, Katy Swanson, Opal Theodossi, Maddy Thunder, Andrew Walker, Anna Williams, Sam Winter, Mae Wright

4 students unable to attend

school for not complying with tdap vaccination guidelines

9 cast members in the the-

atrical production “noises 18 off!”

86 people signed up for the business managment class

18 arts fall previews The Mustang previews this season’s newest films, albums, and shows, no matter how void of talent (like Kenny Wormald in “Footloose”).

20 arts missing neptune Don’t miss out on the new band featuring SDA graduate Robert KnappRamos (‘10).

Editor-In-Chief News Editor Lindsey Agnew

402 students in the incoming freshmen class

22 days before seats will

be installed in the new theatre

473 people who took the

sat at sda on oct. 1 28

Cover artist, senior Sammay Ness, channels her inspiration from markers, coloring contests, and steampunk to create a visionary artwork that is entirely her own. To learn more about this unique artist, check out the story on page 17.

San Dieguito Academy / Room 93 / 800 Santa Fe Drive / Encinitas, CA The Mustang is the student newspaper of San Dieguito Academy. Advertisements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the newspaper.

The Mustang is an open forum which welcomes letters. Letters can be submitted to room 93, emailed to sdamustang@gmail.com or mailed to the above address.

The Mustang

Editor-In-Chief News Editor Lindsey Agnew

February 10, 2012 25 steeze A new kind of inspiring Senior Claire Li is breaking into the fashion industry with her fashion line “Nocturne Rose.”

4 news

Marijuana use rises A national study shows an increase in teen marijuana use, but SDA staff says the trend is not mirrored here.

26 Circus animal fun

gop candidate flashcards Confused whenever people start talking politics? With these handy Republican flashcards, maybe someday you’ll be good enough to run for office yourself!

6 news SOPA and pipa protests SDA students joined internet protestors against the bills which could limit internet freedoms.

14 8 opinions SDA’s Superheroes Cassia Pollock exposes SDA’s underground support system: PALs.

30 sports students mourn sda coach The freshman girls volleyball coach, Karen Reis, was killed on New Year’s day.

managing editor arts editor Angela Zhang Opinions Editor Laurel Sorenson Features Editor Caitlin Hird Sports Editors Anna Sheridan and Sarah Kochanek EATS Editor Kianna Eberle Steeze Editor Tatiana Skomski CAF Editor Eleanore Hendrickson Photo Editor Jocelyn Lee Asst Photo Editor Emily Maxwell cOPY EDITORS Charlotte Ohrbom and Mae Wright Ads Manager Emma Lindley Advisor Tim Roberts

32 backpage Sourpuss Daniel Kim and other students react to the taste of Warheads.

13 features enD OF THE wORLD? Charlotte Ohrbom writes that 2012 isn’t the end of the world.

The past has been wrong before.

Numbers

compiled by katie mcpherson

610 students who attend-

staff writers Natalya Ballard, Katie Berriochoa, John Deane, Kira Elliot, Elisa Figueroa, Caroline Glass, Emily Hall, Kyle Hoff, Taylor Knudson, Joey Kobara, Sarah Kochanek, Lily LeaVesseur, Katie McPherson,Cassia Pollock, Kai Schlesinger, Nicole Smith, Katy Swanson, Maddy Thunder, Andrew Walker, Anna Williams, Sam Winter,

ed formal

14 centerspread sda uncovered The Mustang takes you on a tour of SDA’s secret nooks and crannies, including Jeff Germano’s office above the autoshop room.

212 bags used for coat check at formal

20

ing to SDA

1436 gallons of water used for pool in “Metamorphoses”

20 arts Metamorphoses The theater department shows us its serious side. Sophomores Allison Thompson and Wesley Whittlesey featured above.

24 eats Taste Test SDA students put Rico’s and Jorge’s hot sauces to the test, blindly evaluating which is superior.

25 Austrian students com-

50 paninis sold daily at the mosaic

25 homerooms participat-

ing in the dodgeball tournament

13 days until airbands 32

Cover by Allyssa Baldini.

Read about her on page 19.

San Dieguito Academy / Room 98 / 800 Santa Fe Drive / Encinitas, CA 92024 The Mustang is the student newspaper of San Dieguito Academy. Advertisements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the newspaper. The Mustang is an open forum which welcomes letters. Letters can be submitted to room 98, emailed to sdamustang@gmail. com or mailed to the above address.

News

The Mustang 10.07.2011

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03

Tattoos and Toothpaste: Our New Principal In this question-and-answer session, Principal Tim Hornig discusses his penchant for fast food, love for camping, and what he would do if he were immortal for a day. Story by Kianna Eberle.

1.

What’s your full name?

Timothy Francis Hornig, Francis is after my grandma.

2.

Do you have kids?

Yes, a 5 ½ year old daughter named Kylie and a 4 year old son named Owen.

3.

Do you have a special talent?

I make a mean meat spaghetti, and Caribbean glazed baby back ribs too. I’m also an avid cyclist; I plan on doing the 100 mile Solvang Century in March.

4.

Do you still have your tonsils?

Wisdom teeth?

Yes on the tonsils, no on the wisdom teeth.

5. What are your favorite smells?

I love the smell of a summer day, rain when it’s hot out. Like wet hot pavement. And the smell of the ocean durng winter, and pine trees, it makes me think of camping.

6.

Do you believe in extraterrestrials or life on other planets?

No.

7.

Apple juice or orange juice?

Apple

8. Have any bad habits?

I love fast food. If you gave me the ability to eat Taco Bell every day, I would. It defeats me every time. I’m also a sports junky; I will watch absolutely any sport on T.V. I even watched darts for a while once before changing the channel.

9. When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you pass the time?

I love to surf, run, and read. I like alone time too, as with my job and the kids, I really don’t get much.

10. What is the #1 most played song on your iPod? Probably something by Jack Johnson. I love Kenney Chesney too though, and I grew up on Smashing Pump kins and Metallica.

11. Do you untie your shoes

when you take them off?

No, but I should. I prefer san-

dals.

12. If you were immortal for a

day, what would you do?

Paddle into big break or may be jump out of an airplane.I’d love to do that snow boarding thing where you drop out of an airplane onto the slope too.

13. Any tattoos or piercings?

I have a sun tattoo on my shoulder.

14. On the way to the electric

chair, what do you have as your last meal?

One of those gigantic Mexican combo meals where you can get like 4 items – a tamale, an enchilada, a taco, and a burrito.

15. If you could own a non-tradi

tional pet which would it be?

I would love to have a big property where I could have a horse or two.

Principal Timothy Hornig sat in during the first Students Developing Acceptance homeroom activity day. Homerooms focused on the themes of inter-school unity on Tuesday. Photo by Emily Maxwell.

16. If you were reincarnated as

a crayon, what color would you be?

That color blue that you want to see when you go to the Caribbean and look out at the ocean.

17. Why are manhole covers round?

‘Cause they are.

Hello Hornig

The new principal opens up about his prior experiences in education and why he chose to accept the role at SDA. Story by Anna Williams.

W

alking up the front steps onto campus on the first day of school, new prin18. Do you squeeze toothpaste cipal Timothy Hornig felt his “heart from the middle or end of skip a beat” as he looked up and the tube? saw the SDA Mustang sign. It was It depends on how far along I the moment that made it all feel real am in the tube. You’ve got to for him. strategically take care of the Mike Grove, the previous printoothpaste. cipal, left SDA at the close of the 2010-2011 school year, to become 19. What would I find in your re executive director of curriculum, infrigerator right now? struction and assessment in the San Veggies, hummus, cheese, Dieguito Unified High School District milk, yogurt, tortillas, sandwich office. meat, Acai in the freezer Hornig, having been in education for 10 years, is no newcomer 20. What was the last movie, TV to the workings of high schools. In show or book that made you fact, at his prior job at Dana Hills cry or tear up?

High School, he experienced a wide During the 9/11 Sunday Night array of areas, teaching English nine football game when the buthrough eleven, English literature, inglers were playing Taps on the troductory speech and debate, and Hudson and the bagpipe and he was the girls water polo coach. drums started playing and He eventually became English they showed the faces of those department chair, and after earning killed from the fire and police his M.A.E (Master of Arts in Educadepartment, that got me. tion), he became assistant principal

for five years. During his last four years there, he was guidance assistant principal. In this role, he oversaw the counselors, created and organized the master schedule, and was involved in helping students with the college process, similar to SDA Assistant Principal Jeanne Jones.

Hornig completed his undergrad education at Pepperdine University, and got his teaching credential at Indiana University. He went on to get his Masters of Education at Chapman University.

On becoming a principal, Hornig said, “It’s an interesting realization.”

He talked about how he believes it’s a job that you don’t really set out to become; it’s a role that an educator grows into. “I have always been vocal, and I like leading. It’s fun and it’s a challenge for me – I like that about it,” he said.

To Hornig, being a principal is “making sure everything’s happening for the right reason.” As an educator, the most rewarding thing to him is positively affecting the

hundreds of kids he taught, and by accepting the larger role, he said, “I firmly believe that I can have a positive effect on that many more.”

What drew Hornig to SDA was the program and the students. “Everything here is student-oriented.

The 4 x 4 schedule is an opportunity.

More kids can take classes, and have access to things that make their time at school that much more valuable.”

Hornig said that at SDA, he feels that the schedule automatically provides the opportunities for the kids that he doesn’t have to try to come up with.

So far, he has had a positive reaction towards the students and SDA. He said, “It’s been great. It’s been completely validating – beyond my expectations. He loved that the students of SDA approached him during the first week of school, and wanted to introduce themselves to him. He even had a group of kids who came up to him on the first day of school and bowed to him, which he described as “interesting, definitely a first.”

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SDA’s New Café is Named

News

10.07.2011 The

Mustang

Business managements students raise money at Back to School Night on Sept.

21 to buy supplies for The Mosaic. About $700 was raised for the café. Photo courtesy of Rod Keillor.

“The Mosiac” was chosen by a student poll as the new name for the café run by business management students. The café is set to open at the end of this month.

The name for San Dieguito Academy’s student-run café has been chosen. The business, which will be named “The Mosaic,” will be run by SDA’s Business Owning and Management class. According to the class’s teacher, Oly Norris, The Mosaic will be located in what was formerly known as the Mustang Center and provide an alternative to going off campus during lunch.

The Business Owning and Management class learns about business theory and gets to test what they learn by running their own business, thus The Mosaic. For the students in the class, Norris described the experience as a chance “not just to learn about theories but to be able to put them to the test in the real world.” It will provide the students the opportunity “to take risks, be creative, and make mistakes,” Norris said.

Business class student, senior Carolina Diaz, appreciates the opportunity. It “provides an intro to what it feels like to be part of a business,” she said.

The business will be beneficial for all of the students at the school. According to Diaz, The Mosaic will provide, “pianos, couches, a really good menu, and be a place for students and staff to hang out and have a great time.”

“The goal is to create a community center through The Mosaic,” said Norris. Norris explained that The Mosaic will include a music venue, karaoke, and provide healthy and creative food choices and apparel and merchandise from both students and other sources. The Mosaic will be open to students during lunch and to the public on some days after school.

“The name was chosen in the first two weeks. The staff all brought in name ideas,” said Norris. The students “discussed them as a whole class and narrowed it down to four.” Some of the final name ideas were “The Palate,” “Kooks Korner,” “The Shore Shack,” “Hungry Hungry Hipsters,” and “The Mosaic.” The class chose their favorite two names and put them out to the school for a vote.

The name was selected because “a mosaic is like a lot of little things in one big thing,” according to business class student, senior Amber Michaelis. She equates this to SDA. The Mosaic staff is currently raising money to start the business, as well as preparing for its opening. Speaking for the business class, Michaelis said, “[We are] focusing on fixing up the Mustang Center, figuring out what we are going to sell, and trying to get it open as soon as possible.” The Mosaic is projected to open at the end of October. nicole smith

Cuts in CA School Budget SDA is facing a $250,000 loss in transportation funding as the budget deficit affects district spending.

Students wishing to use the student parking lot, like those pictured, are required to attend the Start Smart Driving Program. Photo by Emily Maxwell.

Students Start to Smart from Start Smart Students voice their complaints about the mandatory driving program.

Beginning this school year, students that wish to purchase a parking sticker in order to park in the student parking lot are required to attend a Start Smart Driving Program with a parent or guardian.

However, in response to this new requirement, some students do not feel that the program has been completely effective in teaching students about safe driving.

The program, which lasts between one to two hours, is taught by a local police officer. In order to attend the Start Smart Program, it is necessary for either the student or the guardian to schedule an appointment via phone or email.

Though the program is mandatory to park legally at school, the program is limited in the number of programs occurring on the campuses per month, as well the number of

families that attend. “The fact that we have to bring our parents along really complicates the whole ordeal,” said Derrik Marow, a senior.

Marrow faced difficulties attending the program because his parents struggled to find time in their busy schedules between work and other obligations.

The majority of the complaints from the students were directed towards the fact that the program mostly reviews information already learned and tested when going through the student permit process. “I think [the program] is a waste of time because I have already completed driver’s ed to get my permit. It was just reteaching the basics of driver’s ed,” said senior Madeleine Holcomb.

“There were a lot of technical difficulties which made it hard to

pay attention. The police officers presenting had also never done the program before, so it wasn’t very helpful. It was an hour of my life that I will never get back,” said senior Walker Chuppe.

“I just didn’t see a point in doing the program if we have already passed the permit test. They just beat the same ideas in our head any chance they can get,” said Eric Rumble, a senior.

Despite the some of the negative responses towards the required program, students still admit that Start Smart is important. “Although I don’t think Start Smart should be mandatory, I still think that it has good intentions. Safe driving is always important, especially since we have lost many teens in the San Diego area due to accidents,” said Marow. katy swanson

As California’s long-running budget deficit of $25 billion is being brought to a close, schools still face serious loses in funding. SDUHSD is eliminating $3.5 million in spending for the third year in a row, and may have a midyear loss of transportation funding, said District Superintendent Ken Noah.

“We have applied reductions across the district, at every school, and in nearly every program, but we have not laid off any teachers and we have been careful not to eliminate any opportunities for students,” said Noah.

The final $2 billion that is projected to close the deficit comes from a variety of sources, including increased vehicle registration fees, fees for residents in wildfire prone areas, and fees from forcing online retailers to collect sales tax on good sold to California residents, according to the Office of the Governor.

If the extra revenue does not appear, lawmakers will enact trigger cuts to reduce funding for various

programs. This could lead to shortening the school year by up to seven days in certain districts, according to the Department of Education.

If trigger cuts occur, SDUHSD is not at risk of reducing the school year, but the district would lose $240,000 in transportation funding, said Noah.

School officials are unsure of the effect that this cut would have at this time, but stress that busses bringing students to and from school will be saved. “[If cuts to transportation funding occur] the last thing to be touched is transportation to and from school, the first are things regarded as extra, like field trips,” said Principal Tim Hornig.

To cope with budget reductions at SDA, certain groups are becoming more self-sufficient in funding, according to Hornig. Athletic teams now raise their own funds, and some classes and clubs are now required to cover more of their own expenses, said Hornig. lindsey agnew

05 News SDA has Great Graduation Rates PAGE

The Mustang 10.07.2011

SDA’s graduation rates are the highest in the district.

San Dieguito Academy had a graduation rate of 99.5 percent in 2010, significantly higher than the statewide average of 74.4 percent, according to a new study by the California Department of Education.

“It’s not a suprise that SDA has that high of a graduation rate – when kids have chosen to come to this school they stay at this school,” said Principal Timothy Hornig.

Hornig credits classes, sports, clubs, and events that get students involved at SDA as a key reason for the high graduation rates. “If kids have anything that is a link to school ... they want to be there, and then all of a sudden four years are over like that,” said Hornig.

The Department of Education study highlights a large gap between statewide graduation rates of some minority groups and their peers. The statewide graduation rate for African American students in 2010 was 59 percent, and the graduation rate for Hispanic students was 67.7 percent, according to the study. Students still learning English also have a significantly lower graduation rate, at 56.3 percent in 2010.

These results have been obtained through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), and were released by the Department of Education on Aug. 11, 2011.

CALPADS is more accurate than previous data collection systems, and takes into account factors such as students continuing education for an additional year or graduating via the GED, according to the Department of Education. lindsey agnew

SDA has the highest graduation rate in the district, significantly higher than the state average of 74 percent. Map by Emily Maxwell.

New CA Law Briefings

Students without Vaccine are Sent Home

Over the summer, legislators enacted many new laws, affecting students at school and at home.

No students were disenrolled from SDA, but several were sent home for coming to school without proof of receiving the TDaP vaccine.

LGBT History

Two students were sent home on Tuesday Oct. 4 after failing to turn in immunization records regarding the government required TDaP vaccination, said school nurse Kristina Martinez. Three other students, who didn’t show up to school today, did not have the immunization, said nurse Martinez.

Students that had not turned in vaccination paperwork were informed of the Oct. 3 deadline by school administration late last week by an all-call, according to school principal Timothy Hornig .

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation over the summer that mandates that textbooks and history classes in California cover the importance of the contributions of the members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender American population.

Violent Video Games “Violence in a video game doesn’t lead to violence in real life. It’s no one’s right to make it illegal to buy content like that.”

Shane Pollock, Senior

The Supreme Court has thrown out a California law which banned the sale of violent video games to minors, arguing in the name of free speech. Reactions of state politicians varied, some agreeing with the decision, but only because the law had been too vague.

Sites like Facebook are now accessible at school.

Dream Act Gov. Jerry Brown has recently signed a law providing illegal immigrants access to private scholarship funds. Supporters are pushing for access to California public grants as well. Both of these new policies are part of the California Dream Act, aimed at giving illegal immigrants who graduate high school better access to financial aid their education.

“It would be better to just make it easier for people to get citizenship rather than giving them things. Then this problem wouldn’t exist.”

Anonymous

Hybrid Carpool Privileges End

Illustrations by Maddy Thunder

Websites Unblocked

On July 1 the stickers issued to hybrid car owners that allowed them to use the carpool lane regardless of the number of passengers expired.

However, electric and natural gas powered cars with stickers may still drive in carpool lanes up until January 1, 2015. kianna eberle

Previously inaccessible social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, have now been unblocked on school computers.

YouTube used to be part of that list, but it was accidentally unblocked for a short time before the walls went up again. “I suspect there was probably a problem with the web filter not applying correctly to all computers that was giving students access and it has been repaired,” said Principal Tim Hornig.

“Facebook was more designed for the teachers to set up class sites, basically like a class page,” said Donna Gonzalez, the lead library technician.

“We want to empower students with social media, to embrace it,” said Hornig. hope alba For more on this story, go to sdamustang.com

As of Tuesday, five students had not turned in any paperwork, said Martinez. For reasons unknown, the school relented on its promise to disenroll students from SDA. Two students were removed from class by assistant principals, said Martinez.

One such student returned later that day with immunization records, while the other hadn’t been heard from as of fourth period. According to Martinez, the three remaining students were absent from school, though whether or not this was related to the deadline is unknown.

Due to a widespread outbreak of Whooping Cough in California last year, state lawmakers have required all students between grades 7 and 12 to get the TDaP vaccination. This law has been met with minimal protest, mostly in regards to the fairly expensive price of the booster shot, according to Martinez.

Students unable to receive the vaccination were asked to turn in a parent signed exemption waiver.

Such waivered students, however, run the risk of being sent home in case of an outbreak, said Martinez. sam winter

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Essays

10.07.2011 The

Mustang

YouthNoise activist Jessie Gee shows a poster at the Oakland Health Summit for Youth Building Healthier Communities, one of the organization’s many campaigns. Photo courtesy of YouthNoise.

leaders be loud I

CHANGING THE WORLD ONE KEYSTROKE AT A TIME. STORY BY DANA SHIN.

had always wanted to be someone who made change. Motivation was getting the best of me and urging me to raise awareness, make some noise, and maybe even take a step outside my inner shell. I was lucky, for this summer, I embarked on one special journey.

August marked my entrance into a community of young activists and leaders who, through the blogosphere, work towards empowering young leaders to make change.

It was also the beginning of being a featured blogger for YouthNoise, an independent organization created in 2001 for high school and college students to be “noisemakers” and write blogs to raise awareness. Activists are celebrated for their work and can be nominated to earn grants for projects, attend global events and conferences, and volunteer for non-profit organizations such as StandUp For Kids, a program with a mission to end youth homelessness in places like Oceanside.

But above all, I discovered that YouthNoise was a place where everyone had a voice.

“Youth wanting to buck the system or make a positive change in the world isn’t a new phenomenon,” said San Francisco State sophomore and YouthNoise Media Coordinator Megan Emme. “Youth have unparalled passion and YouthNoise strives to turn words and ideas into actions... not only do we listen to what youth have to say, we celebrate their ideas.”

Activists wrote stories and depicted their time spent in Nigeria constructing health centers for rural communities. I could only hope that what I wrote would be as powerful as the voices of these heroes. But the more involved I became in the YouthNoise community, the more I learned that bloggers and activists were alike in the mission for change. Feeling invincible, I wrote my first couple of blogs on body image, energy conservation and loss and friendship which, to my delight, sparked responses by other noisemakers who welcomed and told me how eager they were to hear my “gunshots” and future issues I would take on.

Each time I visited the site, what should have been one hour’s worth of blogging ended up as all-nighters. I was captivated by blogs on subjects like “the most dangerous country for women,” binge drinking, or how Blake Mycoskie became inspired to create TOMS after traveling to Argentina and seeing children walking around with no

shoes. Never before had I felt so close to such causes and activists my age.

Fellow noisemakers such as 15-year-old model Sophia Sargeant would write about true beauty and discrimination in the media, giving everyone a glimpse of the pressures of body image and prejudice faced in the modeling industry. As teen ambassador of Models of Diversity, an organization founded in England set on changing the face of the fashion industry, it was visible that not only did Sargeant want to share with others her work, but she wrote to bring out the beauty in women and men of all races, shapes, and abilities.

“As a model, I had experienced setbacks from casting agents: ‘you’re too short’, ‘we’re only looking for Caucasian models, not mixed raced’, etc. I wanted to change the media’s perception of beauty to avoid having other teens feel how I felt,” said Sargeant.

Reading the blogs of other noisemakers, my thoughts left all the organizations and foreign countries and came back to the activism that was happening around me. I thought about the students in school clubs like Amnesty International and how every time a benefit concert or other event was held, small but great changes were being made that had to be shared with those outside of the community. I wanted to inspire being active for a cause and YouthNoise would be the way to do it.

“Your voice gets heard. Being a youth activist has given me confidence and voice to speak out for what I believe,” Sargeant said.

Finding a place where activists share stories of their visits to third-world-countries, models speak up for true beauty, and young leaders make a difference through their words, I can say that I took a big step out of my shell and reached out to others. After all, it’s youth activists who care to make change and desire to be heard, who are making a difference.

For me, this is only the beginning of my entry into the world of caring for a cause and having a voice to raise awareness. Working with other students to spread activism is not a job; it’s my passion. Applying to become a noisemaker has got me engaged with countless causes, people, and perspectives. So if you want to make a difference or you’re looking for a little inspiration, get ready to be caught up in the voices of youth and visit youthnoise.com or their new partner website, mobilize.org.

Opinions

The Mustang 10.07.2011

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07

Dear Mr. Hornig. . .

Like a lost kitten, you found us. As your new home we’d like to welcome you and give some advice. By the way, we left milk by the door.

Senior Court: A Memoir

Senior Court received a major facelift this summer, but not to the contentment of all. There are laments on the loss of SDA spirit and the trademark center of our school. Story by Anna Williams.

S

enior Court was more than a centralized location on campus. Not only was it a place, but it was a feeling, an idea, with an almost intangible concept. To become truly accepted into the surrounding area, one must have earned the title of “Senior,” or have completed their three years as a sort of guppy prior to immersing themselves in the great river of high school as full grown king salmon. Needless to say, it was the ultimate bummer for many who finally reached this pinnacle, only to have the entire area reconstructed.

Those who sat in the midst of this meeting location were viewed by the underclassmen who perched themselves around the perimeter of the court, observing and waiting for their day in the sun. Their conversations were listened to, their games watched, and their actions remembered. It was like they were in the public spotlight.

During passing period, huddles of students would linger sporadically throughout the common space, and the grass served as a lounging area towards the summer for those taking a respite from cooking, feeling quite accomplished, with a freshly baked

Then

Now

Each Exhibition Day, the central circle was used for the chalk mandala. It is unknown if this tradition will continue. Photo by Emily Maxwell.

The remade Senior Court lacks in greenery, save for a few adolescent palms and some woodchips. Photo by Emily Maxwell.

cookie ice cream sandwich poised in hand.

After the devastating effects of the new construction on campus, what once was pristinely sculpted grass hills with a convenient cement walkway surrounding, has been jack-hammered and disappointingly metamorphosed into a vacant concrete arena. The overwhelming wash of gray seems to instantly disintegrate any trace of potential creativity or flickers of artistic ideas, and the

loss of the grass seems to serve as an emphasizing point of the lack of life that remains.

Even the skinny, yet tall tree that donned ceramic faces on its trunk for the enjoyment of passersby didn’t survive the construction. Now, the only plant-life occupying the area is a few infant palm trees, which are at that awkward juvenile phase that can be seen in new residential neighborhoods. You know, where they look as if they just graduated from the

pots they were born in, but aren’t yet ready to fully emerge as actual trees.

I miss those metal benches coated with the generic elementary school shade of blue plastic-like rubber. And for all of those times when I’d almost trip in that random manhole that was sneakily placed between the grass and the pavement, just waiting for an unsuspecting freshman’s ankle to drop into, and that time that I actually did completely fall, my complaints were just that…

complaints. I really didn’t mean it.

It’s fine. I could trip even three more times, just to have the original senior court back. Where’s the precious concrete that held so many years’ worth of Exhibition Day chalk mandalas, unlike now where the entire area could be one, over-sized chalk mandala?

I say we ask for those simpler times back, not this bleak replacement of a landscape with the amount of concrete as a skate park.

Opinions

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10.07.2011 The

Mustang

The My-Pod Life, liberty, and the pursuit of musical freedom. Story by Kyle Hoff.

T

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all music is created equal.

Even Ke$ha. Photo image by Kyle Hoff.

he screech echoed throughout the party like nails on a chalkboard “Whose music is playing?” With the tone you could tell the music irritated them. You know, the kind of snarky tone with a little pre-teen attitude attached.

That first time, along with everyone else, I neglected to respond, but the second time she asked I decided to man up and say it was my iPod. It’s fascinating to me that someone’s views contradicted mine so much that she felt the need to vocalize them. Calm down, it’s just not the top 40 on infinite replay.

Come on people. Honestly...What defines a great song is open to interpretation. Whether it’s popular or not? Whether you knew about the band before their famous album or not? Hell, who cares? None of that matters. What determines if a song is great or not is all up to YOU, the listener.

This question has been posed between people who take pride in

their indie music and those who follow mainstream. Mainstream, for the people that haven’t been at SDA long enough, means actively fitting into pop culture and what’s ‘popular’ at the time, commonly defined by Justin Bieber.

The indie aspect is from the other side of the spectrum where one takes pride in traveling the road less wandered, paved with obscure lyrics and filled with smart cars. A band that previously headlined this genre is Arcade Fire.

The arguments amongst these two styles of music fill the web (specifically YouTube) with hate over music and what’s indie and what’s not.

The real answer is that no one cares.

What makes music great to me is the pure enjoyment and nostalgia I receive upon hearing it. It is that song that gives you chills and makes you want to cry out to hear it again.

It puts the listener in a world of their own. It shouldn’t matter if the kids to your left and right enjoy it.

Think Outside the Bun Y

Your past experiences can shape how you perceive my music. For me, my dad’s classic rock and my mom’s R&B have permanently altered my tastes. What I hear on the radio plays a role in the type of music I tend to fancy and follow. Unfortunately, other people affect this unwritten freedom through biases and critiquing our tastes of music, whether it’s on purpose or not.

Later on the girl at the party apologized to me by saying, “Oh I didn’t know it was your music.”( she goes to CCA and fits like a glove in its unaccepting stereotype) Not wanting an ounce of her pity I responded saying I could care less if she had interest in my personal musical preferences.

It makes me remember, want to dance, start to cry, and beat my fists.

It evokes my emotions in ways nothing else can do for me. My Jamie XX, Fleet Foxes, and SBTRKT have meaning to me, indie or not, and I don’t care what you think about my postdub and folk music.

And behind the counter. Fast food restaurant cashiers deserve a thank you. Story by Laurel Sorenson. ou grudgingly hand over a steaming plate of food that you’re not allowed to taste as an impatient voice reminds you about the extra napkins they asked for seconds ago, while you were in the middle of making change from a $100 bill.

You feet ache, grease has splashed its way into your hair, and you’re being verbally attacked for the high prices you have no control over. Welcome to the food service industry.

As soon as you don that apron you lose any type of identity. You are now part of the machine that processes orders, calculates change, and dispenses large quantities of cheap, greasy food to the masses.

You have been programmed to be perpetually animated and flash a strained smile every time you recite the words, “Have a nice day.” As part of the machine you must learn to accept that this is how the public views you. You have to suck it up and get tough. When you’re being yelled at for incorrect cheese quantities or have become the butt of every hilarious joke made by the party of drunk twenty-somethings, you know it’s nothing personal. It’s never personal.

Sure, there are the occasional cute guys who converse with you and lean against the counter, looking at you with stares so penetrating you swear they can see your soul. Maybe it’s because they think you’re pretty; after all you did wear a sparkly red headband specifically to match your uniform.

Alas, the prospect of potential infatuation comes crumbling down as he winks and casually drops into conversation that he wouldn’t mind some free fries.

After an experience like this, all you want to do is smack the blue eye shadow right off that fourteen-yearold who alternates between telling you to hurry up with her Mountain Dew and adjusting her crop top so that it shows prime amounts of both non-existent bust and belly, but you can’t.

All you can do is pray that when she turns 25 she’ll become enormously fat as a result of all the French fries and milkshakes she’s consumed over the years.

When you hand over her meal you can’t help but relish the fact that you are assisting her towards this grisly fate, and a sinister grin creeps up onto your face. The manager notices this and gives you a hardy pat

Be nice to the cashiers. They have feelings too. Illustration by Emily Hall.

on the back: “That’s what we’re looking for, service with a smile.”

It’s safe to say that sometimes it just doesn’t feel worth it to deliver those pizzas, deep fry those Oreos, or assemble those sandwiches. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, over 210,000 teens are injured and 70 are killed in the workplace each year.

These waiters, waitresses, and cashiers are risking their precious lives to serve you large amounts of chicken nuggets for very little money.

They brave grease, fires, burns, and restaurant explosions for your benefit. With all of the faux flirts, cranky old people, and flocks of their peers walking by with upturned noses at their lowly workingclass plight, it seems that they deserve some recognition.

I know what you’re thinking: “What do I possibly have to offer those who spend all day recieving verbal abuse for my benefit? How could I ever repay these selfless heroes of the everyday?”

A thank you, a smile, a compliment, or even a tip would probably suffice to show these pieces of machinery that even when they’re wearing an apron and a paper hat, they are people too.

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The Mustang 10.07.2011

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Face it Facebook The new rule allowing Facebook in school may be a bittersweet victory for students.

Facebook is not a diary Statuses on Facebook are becoming increasingly disturbing. Story by Cassia Pollock.

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hat’s on your mind?

That’s the question I’m asked every time I go online to slack off. Do not take offense at my hesitation. That is an incredibly personal question, and I have to weigh what I say carefully. When I post things on Facebook it’s like making a public announcement to SDA, future employers, and my relatives. Even my grandma uses Facebook.

When I’m feeling unpleasant, the last thing I want to do is alert all these people. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” However, some people constantly ignore this piece of advice.

I look at my newsfeed and see many red flags. Statuses like, “Y does my life suck so much? FML.” Or, “Y am i so freaking ugly? L” They don’t seem to realize they’re bringing people down.Emotional turmoil and angst do not belong in Facebook’s newsfeed. The thoughts some share are too deep, philosophical, and

easy to judge. “Woe is me” statuses cripple one’s ability to take people seriously. A status like “No1 <3s me” is supposed to attract sympathy but instead it just makes them sound extremely insecure. They might as well take a box of paper clippings made from their love letters, calendars, and private journals, and dump it over my head.

Still, it can’t be denied that people will keep dumping their problems over everyone on Facebook, from their grandma to that random guy they met at a party last week. There seems to be no way to keep everyone from using the site as their public psychiatrist.

All I can do is try not to speculate about the emotional stability of someone who would proudly display a statement to the world such as, “Sitting here alone, eating bucket of Haagen Dazs ice cream, and wishing i still got U babe.” When I was faceto-face with the person who wrote that, they seemed sane. Facebook forces everyone to draw their own conclusion.

Facebook in School: Unlike

The temptation of Facebook at school is proving too be difficult to resist. Story by Madeline Thunder.

A

s a high school student, I may occasionally take a stab at homework. However, the temptation of Facebook slowly ebbs away at my work ethic on a nightly basis, mutating half-hour assignments into all-nighters.

My homework is completed sporadically between lurking friends’ Facebook profiles. English papers are abandoned mid-sentence, math problems are abandoned mid-equation for the endless scroll of the tantalizing blue and white of my home page. No matter what defenses I employ against Facebook, I usually succumb to its captivating news feed by the end of the night.

School was once a sanctuary from the Facebook Empire, a whitewalled haven whose internet administrators cast an indestructible Protego Charm against its temptations.

I once sought refuge inside our school’s internet force field, having

guaranteed protection from the useless lurking of my sister’s friends’ boyfriends’ profile pictures. Here, productivity was enforced for my own benefit.

However, with our newfound freedom, I am neither mentally nor physically prevented from giving in to the naughty temptations of Facebook fun. Now that Facebook is available at SDA, the possibilities are infinite and inevitable.

Classes taking place in the library may very well turn into chat sessions between me and my peers. In fact, one of these days the need to be notified may overtake me completely, driving me to hijack the nearest teacher’s computer to see if anyone has liked my status yet. Will I ever escape this potential procrastination?

The sad new truth remains: my freedom to Facebook is imposed against me, no longer promising to save me from my unproductive self.

Facebook faux pas include the classic “duck face” profile picture and vague party status. Illustration by Laurel Sorenson.

Friend Request, Ignored Facebook relationships between teachers and students may have more drawbacks than advantages. Story by Stephanie Cigna.

S

itting in your desk waiting for class to start, your teacher approaches you wondering the meaning behind your status or if it’s true that you’re no longer in a relationship.

Mortified that your teacher is even aware of what your status was strikes you with fear. This is what student/teacher Facebook friendships might come to.

We all know the boundaries between teachers and students. There are just some things you don’t want to know about your teachers and a whole lot of things you don’t want them to know about you. Adding them on Facebook and letting them in to your social internet world is something to consider preventing.

The district is suggesting teachers make Facebook pages so they can add their students. As policy stands right now, teachers are prohibited from adding any of their students on their personal Facebook pages, but rules are bound to change.

They say that it will be an easier way to inform students about tests, projects and homework assignments. Isn’t that what Blackboard is for?

I must be honest; at first I might be a little curious to see what teachers’ Facebook’s might be like. Do they complain on their status about how many papers they have to grade or how their students just wouldn’t listen that day? Do they have way too many pictures of their own face making the same expression?

On the bright side my newsfeed would probably be filled with adorable cat videos, more deep inspirational quotes, math and science jokes, and grammatically correct statuses. Teachers true interests and hobbies would finally be exposed.

Maybe some teacher drama would arise?

After a while, seeing all my teachers fill my newsfeed would kind of creep me out. I don’t want to log onto Facebook and see my teachers commenting on my pictures or liking my

statuses. What if they start to write on my wall or talk to me over chat when I miss a day of school?

Students would be apprehensive to go along with this plan knowing that there is a possibility that their teachers could see pictures from their crazy hectic, party weekends.

Teachers wouldn’t even want to see that side of you in the first place and find it as weird as students would.

Imagine if you saw pictures of your teachers engaged in various inappropriate actions, it may make you feel uncomfortable walking into class the next day.

Whether we want to believe it or not, teachers and students are more alike than we may be aware of. Teachers have their own lives and sides of them that they would rather not reveal.

Everyone deserves his/her own degree of privacy and it shouldn’t be crossed just because it can be easier to send updates. Maybe it’s best that we stick to Blackboard and make everyone happy.

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Unhealthy Politics

Opinions

10.07.2011 The

Mustang

The HPV vaccine has been subject of debates in recent weeks, and there is hope for a positive change ahead. By Caitlin Hird.

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ecently, the HPV vaccine has been politicized through state-wide and national debates. This vaccine treats cervical cancer for women ages 12 and up, and can save some of the women (roughly 11,000 a year) who are diagnosed with this potentially fatal disease.

In 2004, the governor of Texas and current potential Republican candidate, Rick Perry, issued an executive order that made it a requirement for all girls in Texas to receive the cervical cancer vaccine, with or without parents’ permission (though women could opt out if they wanted to). Perry saw the devastation this cancer had the potential of causing and, though it was a bad political move considering his conservative background and voters, he tried to make a good change in regards to women’s health.

Though this bill was later overturned, it didn’t stop current potential Republican candidate Michelle Bachmann from bashing Perry in the recent debates this month, four years after the original order was made. While the argument that parents should always have a say in their children’s vaccinations is valid, Bachmann took it a step further by

targeting the vaccination itself.

After getting cheers from the audience for opposing Perry’s executive order, Bachmann made the rash statement the next day that the Gardasil, the vaccine used to treat HPV in the United States, is a “very dangerous drug” that “could lead to mental retardation”.

By the end of the week, even extreme conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh were questioning her accuracy. If the statement she made was founded in any sort of research, one might take note of it.

Unfortunately, Bachmann made the executive decision to announce on national television that one of the most life-saving vaccines causes mental retardation. She used only one woman’s testimony that her daughter had gotten the vaccine and had later been found to be mentally challenged as evidence.

Though the rash statement about the vaccine is obviously false (which was later confirmed by the Center for Disease Prevention), it does not stop one from wondering how this kind of ignorance and naivety has slipped through into presidential elections.

The reaction to her statement has not been positive. One local Rotarian stated recently at a meet-

Bachmann is criticized for her claims agianst the cervical cancer vaccine. Photo Courtesy of bachmann.house.gov/

ing: “When this vaccine first came out, my son –who is a doctor—told me that I have to immediately give all my grandchildren, seven in total, the vaccination because it is potentially life-saving.” Others have been baffled by Bachmann, calling her “ridiculous.”

Bachmann later denied that she had made any such statement, seemingly oblivious that her words were recorded, filmed, and reported by every news source from the New York Times to Fox News.

Currently, our own governor, Jerry Brown, is being faced with a bill similar to Perry’s. It is not being received well, especially with all the (unfounded) controversy currently surrounding Gardasil. Though no one who is at all informed is worried about their

Perry passed a law requiring all girls to be vaccinated for cervical cancer. Photo Courtesy of governor.state.tx.us/

child suffering from mental retardation as a result of the vaccine, many are outraged by a different aspect of the vaccine—the protection from a sexually transmitted disease.

One father proclaimed that he won’t get his child inoculated because he “does not want his twelve year old daughter having sex.” Getting a cervical cancer vaccination is not a green light to become sexually active. Those who believe this do not take into account that the vaccine does not protect against other sexually transmitted diseases. One must also take into account that a woman can be at risk for cervical cancer at any point in their lives if not inoculated, so it is important to get a girl vaccinated as early as safely possible.

Though Brown has yet to take a

stance on the vaccine, I believe it needs to be supported with full force in order for the public to realize the vaccine’s necessity. The fact that this bill even exists goes to show that there are politicians and citizens in this state who realize that the HPV vaccine has the ability to save thousands of lives. I am a proponent of the vaccination and have been working to make it accessible to girls in Tijuana, who don’t take its life-saving potential for granted the way many of us do in the United States.

Though it is unfortunate that my health, along with the health of all women, has been politicized, it brings to light the necessity of education and open-mindedness regarding new discoveries in disease prevention.

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The Mustang 10.07.2011

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Hello, my name is...

With days of Mom’s carefully labeled lunch bags over, students test-drive new pseudonyms on Which Wich sandwich bags. Story by John Deane.

O

ften dwelling at the bottom of one’s sack or the back of one’s refrigerator, the sandwich occupies a solitary niche at the bottom of the food chain. From the everyday peanut butter and jelly to the more rare chicken-from-lastnight’s-barbeque sandwich, this quintessential yet underappreciated food has been around since Neolithic times.

Legend holds that the word “sandwich”(used to describe meat or vegetables between bread was coined by the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, after ordering his servants to serve him meat between two pieces of bread in order for him to more easily continue to play cards while enjoying a fine meal.

This food even sports its own spot in the annals of the calendar, in there with other important holidays such as Caesar Chavez Day and Hanukkah. November 3rd: National Sandwich Day. When it comes to acquiring one these delectable morsels, there are several options; besides the obvious DiY sandwich, a plethora of names cater to your every sandwich need.

Togo’s, Subway, Quizno’s, Blimpie’s, Jimmy John’s, and The Tasty to name a few.

One of the newest sandwich

Senior Grifen Buck poses with his unique name on his bag. Photo by John Deane.

shops to join this diverse list is Which Wich, founded in 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Our local chapter of this fine delicatessen lies in the Forum, sandwiched between Panera and Gepetto’s.

Central to the Which Wich vibe is

an unique ordering system featuring a brown bag and red Sharpie. Under this system, the customer checks off their preferred toppings, cheese, and sauce on the pre-printed bag; at the bottom of the bag is a blank space for a name.

This is where it gets interesting.

Lewd, weird, normal and straight-up random names a plenty, that one brown name box is open for boundless creativity.

According to Wichster Rosendo Gutierrez, popular names include

Justin Bieber, Batman, “that one Disney princess [after much deliberation over which princess, the author and Gutierrez came to agree upon Rapunzel]”, and countless explicit names that could not be said by Gutierrez or written in this paper.

These names do not go unnoticed. Sophomore Sabrina Zunichalso known as Franchesqua, Svetlana, and Ricardo-receives a “weird smirk and a confused look” every time she fibs about her name.

Senior Grifen Buck goes by names such as Geroge, Jimbe, Ronaldo, Dan the Man, and “ Fronk.”

One time he even wrote PRIM8PE. When questioned about the names, Geroge Buck weaved an elaborate story involving his French philosopher and poet grandfather with the same name. According to Buck, “they believed it”.

Those who are planning to write these jokey names on their ‘wich bags, be warned: Which Wich has a policy of not calling vulgar, offensive, or racially insensitive names, according to employee Vicky Tapia. These kinds of names are either scribbled out by employees or simply not called.

So, when creating your persona, make sure to be prepared with a backstory and a sense of humor.

Urban Fishing

Silly? Definitely. Better than what you’d be doing otherwise? No doubt. Story by Kyle Hoff. Illustration by Kai Schlesinger.

I

t’s a Wednesday. You had to pay $5.36 for a $5 footlong. To make the line continue moving, you pull out 6 dollars to make the payment go faster. Not only does it irritate you deep down that Subway inaccurately portrayed a deal for $5, but now you get an awkward 64 cents back. Well don’t sweat it; your solution is here.

Welcome to urban fishing, the purposeful placing of coins in public areas to watch people of all ages score the jackpot in change.

Having no life, I went out on a Fri-

day night adventure to discover what mall in our area is the best place to urban fish. I started out at the 99 cent store to just throw the idea out there (pun intended). After my nerves passed, I dropped 10 coins on the ground and ran back to my car to see what happened. Two people later, a brown-haired reflection of Sue Sylvester picked up every single coin individually only to walk back to her Lexus.

The next store I tried was Target. Though it was a great location, it was also problematic because the amount of foot traffic

through the store made it hard to drop coins without anyone seeing.

Finally, I managed to place the bait.

I waited until I saw two people ever so intelligently cruise outside through the wrong automatic doors.

The louder of the two eyed the coins and immediately dropped to his knees scrambling to pick them all up. I kid you not he said to his friend: “Oh! I must have dropped these on my way in!” Last I checked it’s pretty hard to lose 10 coins out of Dickies

but I’m not him. Let’s just say I no longer feel secure in Target.

The last shopping complex I attempted my fishing at was The Forum. The deposit of 10 coins to the ground was made and my partner in crime and I sat down. Thirty people passed until someone bit the bait.

This particular woman stopped on top of the lure exclaiming, “Wow look how many coins there are!” She then politely asked if these coins were mine. Once I white lied back she proceeded to pick them all up and put them in her

purse.

On paper it’s kind of hard to get excited for less than a dollar. But in person, people treat the coins like they hit the jackpot with an excitement nearly un-paralleled. So next time you get that awkward amount of change you could put it in your pocket...But where’s the fun in that?

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bass, helmet, battle axe Nordic enthusiasts gather at the two-day 2011 Viking Festival in Vista. Story

by Mae Wright.

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istorians know about Vikings through burial sites and stories they wrote on big rocks called rune stones. I am neither a historian nor an archaeologist, and I am not an expert on Vikings, but I do know they are gone and there was no chance that a real Viking would show up to the 9th Annual Viking Festival in Vista.

Nonetheless, many people could easily have been mistaken for a Viking that Saturday, Sept. 24.

There were men with belted tunics and wide-legged trousers. Small girls in long dresses with hems to their ankles barely avoided tripping. Girls meandered through the stands, dressed up like friars, save the balding heads. Near the entrance, men ranging in age across generations stood, letting their chainmail and armor glint in the sun.

A hint of a trail led from the entrance down to Loki’s Stage, one of two designated areas for performances. There the eclectic music group The Dread Crew of Oddwood prepared for their first show. The seven members handle a range of instruments from mandolin to accordion to double bass, with an axe or two thrown in for good measure.

In the midst of their performance, toy piano player Riven Rahl took the microphone and looked out into the small but supportive audience perched on bales of hay. “People like to call us a heavy metal band,” Rahl proclaimed, “but we like to call ourselves a heavy mahogany band. ‘Cause of all the wood.”

Besides listening to The Dread Crew of Oddwood, and snippets of other performers and groups including Needle in a Haystack, the Bawdy Juggler, and the acclaimed group Highland Way, I took to wandering around the area as a whole and talking to the people that had set up stands there. Across from an oven crafted out of clay, a woman sat behind a loom; behind her, a circular stand held an array of what looked like colorfully woven ropes.

The woman, who gave her name as Terry, was part of a group called Drafn, which gets its title through the combination of the Norse words for dragon and raven. The group is described on their website (drafnwarband.org) as “a medieval re-enactment group” that specializes in various kinds of combat.

Terry joined the group six years ago for the crafting aspects like learning inkle weaving, a style that originated in the 1930s with earlier influences, and the traditional nålbinding method. Overall, five San Diego county-based medieval reenactment groups attended the festival.

10.07.2011 The

Mustang

On the opposite side of the fair, people lined up and took turns firing arrows at targets. A plain clothed girl stepped back after her turn and smiled nervously at her friend.

A child that looked to be about four took her place, eagerly listening to a man explain the proper way to hold a bow.

Down the slope, in the Brandenburg camp, a bored looking boy sat with a variety of woodworking tools spread across the tabletop before him. From a distance, he had seemed high-school age, but closer he seemed a little older, tall and lanky.

After talking to him for less than a minute, I realized he only knew the basics of whittling; he told me that a spoon is crafted from a plank of wood by cutting it out in a similar fashion to cutting out a star in construction paper, only instead of using scissors you use a knife. From there, a hollow is carefully carved, giving the spoon its shape. I asked him why he was interested in Vikings. “Fighting,” he replied, his face splitting into a grin.

The camp for Wolves ov Odin was the smallest, at two tents. A woman stood alone in the main area, where the contents of an ancient-seeming room had been placed under a tarp. Enunciating carefully, she explained the textile methods the Vikings had used. I asked her where her interest in Vikings originated and she recounted her stay in York as an archaeology student.

She gestured towards three donut-shaped stones on the table; called spindle whorls, they are the component of handheld spindles that enable the spinning motion which pulls wool into yarn. She had purchased the spindle whorls at a store in York and they were the only historical items on display.

Standing near a fire that seemed out of place on a day that had gone from brumous to warm, in the midst of an intentional anachronism, I wondered if anyone I had met that day would be willing to give up the twenty-first century to live in another time.

Maybe Viking Festivals and Renaissance Fairs aren’t simply there for the sense of reverie, but rather to slow us down. They demonstrate the comfort in wasting time.

These days we don’t have to spend hours weaving a tapestry, or whittling a spoon that could easily be purchased, or fight invisible monsters with a rattan sword. But that’s what makes it so appealing. We have the luxury of reliving the past and slowing down the present, collecting every moment into a stitch or bead of sweat.

Then again, maybe a Viking festival is nothing more than a fleeting diversion to assuage our weary minds.

Wolfbeard O’Brady (on accordian) of the Dread Crew of Oddwood explains the benefits of wearing a kilt, during the 9th Annual Viking Festival in Vista.

Features

The Mustang 10.07.2011

PAGE

best burgers in town Like its people, burgers are a quintessential part of American history. Ever since the first patty was made, the art of the burger has been slowly revolutionized, as has our country. With the help of some hearty appetites and a strong dedication to our cause, we set out to try as many burgers as we could fit in our poor, sad tummies. We found that whether you like toasty buns or buttery buns, small burgers or facesized burgers, crispy or the opposite of crispy ingredients, there is an option for you. So go forth and clog your arteries with the grease of freedom. Story and photos by Emily Hall and Stephanie Cigna.

In N Out

Nessy Burgers

Elevation Burgers

Knockout Burgers

Five Guys

Bun

Ingredients

Beef

Sauce

Overall Rating

Location

Soft and buttery, with a nice toasty finish around the edges.

Lettuce and tomato not as crispy as they could have been. Still very fresh though; can’t complain. One very melty piece of cheese.

Thin patty with good, non-McDonald’s-esque taste.

Pretty juicy, good quality burger. Beef is hand-raised in western US. Handraised sounds good, right?

Delicious 1000 Island dressing that has spurred many copycat sauces at other burgeries.

9/10

5950 Avenida Encinas Carlsbad, CA 92008

Warmed up, squishy bun with sesame seeds. Good squishy. Not bad squishy.

Lots of ingredients per burger; some lettuce fell out while we were eating. Supes fresh, crispy ingredients. One slice of cheese, possibly a Kraft American Single.

Main aspect of the burger. Very large patty with lots of flavor due to Nessy Burger’s signature spice mixture. Even more juicy than In N Out. Beef raised locally in Fallbrook. (find Fallbrook, and fall in love!)

Similar sauce to In N Out, but more mayo-y.

10/10

Small and moist white bread Not toasted at all.

Tasted sweet like Hawaiian bread.

Lettuce and tomato soft and not very crisp.

Cheese was also oddly sweet.

Thin patty. Very juicy.

Beef is grass-fed, so it’s super healthy.

Unfortunately, super healthy in this case = super weird.

Sweetest of all sauces, tasted light and healthy. Texture similar to Jello.

5/10

Very thick and soft bun; kinda squishy but not too squishy. Not toasted.

Crispy pickles, lettuce, and tomatoes. These ingredients worked well together, like a group of old friends.

Good, classic flavor.

Good amount of juiciness. Not too greasy.

Pretty average, similar to others. If it was a person, it would be the kid who gets straight B-‘s.

10/10

Very squishy with toasted edges. Gets soggy if left in its foil for too long.

Lettuce and tomato very crispy and fresh.

Ketchup was kind of overpowering. Lots of melted cheese.

Very tender, thick patty. Regular burger comes with 2 patties, “little” burger comes with 1. Depends on how fat you want to feel afterwards

Didn’t get any special sauce; has more common ingredients

8/10

The go-to burger joint in Encinitas for a reason. Just an overall good burger.

One of the best burgers ever. Very filling, but ingredients and burger create the best burger of all 5. If you want to feel fulfilled in life, eat this burger.

The fact that all of the ingredients are organic made it sweet…TOO sweet.

Was a very good overall burger. Not too greasy, not too big, not too anything.

Close to In N Out in overall taste and quality. A pretty spankin’ burger in general.

4760 Highway 76 Fallbrook, California 92028 (hecka far)

2641 Gateway Rd Carlsbad, CA 92009

2971 Carlsbad Blvd Carlsbad, CA 92008

130 North El Camino Real Encinitas, CA 92024-2880

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Centerspread

The Mustang 10.07.2011

1. Kaitlin Spooner, Senior “ My desk is more a place of storage than studying. The more creative it is, the happier I am in the mornings.”

2. Riley Murphy, Freshman “Most of the time I spend in my room, I’m either making duct tape wallets or doing homework. I never leave anything on the floor, otherwise my dog would eat it.”

3. Stephanie Siers “The first school I taught at, my office was in the boys dressing room. Last year, I had a little office shoved in the corner at the back of the theatre. It’s nice to have my own office finally. Other teachers and administrators come by and always say I have the best view on campus, especially on a clear day I can see the ocean really well.”

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Desktop Icons

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SDA is a school known for its diverse students, and it turns out that these students’ desks are equally as unique. Story by Emily Maxwell.

Photos by Jocelyn Lee and Emily Maxwell.

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f a bedroom is a sanctuary, a desk is a shrine, a sacred space that bridges both personal and work-life. As comfortable as studying and doing homework on a bed sounds, it’s hard to escape the relax-all-day mentality when propped up by pillows on a softy fuzzy blanket with your cat in your lap; this is where a desk becomes a student’s best friend.

A desk can be a place for collections: trophies, books, hats, home-made wallets (see Riley’s desk).

Whether a desk is impressively tidy or embarrassingly cluttered, is used regularly, or has been neglected for months, it always says something about its owner’s personality.

As students, we are inspired with some of our best ideas at our desks; we are able to finish projects the night before they are due at our desks; we are able to feel like we are being productive at our desks even if we are just watching Netflix on our computers. For teachers, a desk is a place for grading said projects, for creating/storing lesson plans, and for doing whatever it is teachers do all day. In short, a desk

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means something different to everyone.

A desk can be a place of frustration, accomplishment, angst, and boredom, and because it is so multi-functional, it should not be regarded as an ordinary work space, but rather as a holy ground.

Those of you without desks may now find yourselves asking, “Are they as awesome as I hear they are?”

The answer is definitely.

So desk owners, when you go home today, thank your desk for all it’s done for you: for staying strong when you stacked 40 pounds of text books on it, for providing a place to rest your head when you fell asleep in the middle of doing homework at 2 a.m., and for offering its drawers as a place for you to stash your papers from middle school that you’re too lazy to throw away. Or, if you don’t use your desk, thank it for sticking around anyways, just waiting patiently for the day you set something on it’s lonely surface. Oh, and a shout out to those adjustable desk chairs with the little lever that lets you raise and lower it for endless entertainment (you know you love them too).

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4. Aly Baker, Junior “I collect musical instruments just to have them around. I teach myself how to play most of the instruments, I try to figure out how to play songs by ear.”

5. Cassidy Mayeda, Sophomore “My desk is obscenely organized because it has to be in order for me to function. I have to-do lists on white boards and bullitin boards, and I usually have my thouroughly abused agenda there. When I’m not doing homework though, I make buttons, and jewelry, or listen to music.”

6. Brian Kim, Senior “ I just can’t work when there are things everywhere on my desk because I get distracted easily and I just can’t stand dusty things so I have to wipe my desk a lot.”

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10.07.2011 The

Mustang

Eat Your Chia Seeds!

Kianna Eberle explores

the health benefits of chia seeds, those same ones that grow on clay heads.

I

t was Christmas time and I was 5 years old. All I wanted was a Tazmanian Devil Chia Pet. Now, as I make breakfast, I reach for my chia seeds in my pantry to stir into my smoothie, yogurt, or oatmeal.

Those same little seeds that we all diligently farmed on those cartoon busts of ours have now been rediscovered as one of the healthiest foods in the world.

Chia seeds seem rather unimpressive at first glance, small and grey and tasteless, but upon further inspection they’re really something remarkable. The Aztecs discovered this centuries ago, chia seeds being one of their main food groups. Warriors would eat one tablespoon and garner enough nutrition and energy to fight and travel for 24 hours.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., Chia seeds have the highest amount of Omega-3’s and 6’s in any food known to man, have two times the protein of most grains, and have five times the calcium of milk. They are also loaded with fiber.

They’re fairly tasteless and can be added to anything or eaten alone.

Not only that, they keep your body hydrated, keep your blood sugar up, and keep you full and satisfied for hours. They’re a great addition at any time and are especially ideal before exercising or exerting energy.

But it gets better. They have this strange ethereal quality of being able to soak up twelve times their weight in water in a matter of 10 minutes, turning any liquid you put them in into a gel that surrounds the seed. They’re reminiscent of shrunken boba bubbles and turn simple things like water, juice, oatmeal, or yogurt into an exotic treat full of little flavored gelatinous pearls for your mouth to enjoy.

A chia gel made with water and seeds can be mixed into any food as a taste-free addition that packs on the nutrition and zings up the texture like you’ve never experienced.

Santa didn’t bring me a Taz with sprouted hair that year. Apparently, by the time he got my list, the “workshop” shelves were barren spare a few Tweetie and George Washington rejects. However, I’ve come to terms with that Christmas and have been able to forgive, forget, and be grateful for chia seeds in a whole new way: as an exciting addition to my breakfast, lunch, or dinner that makes me feel good and even Santa proud.

Tasters eagerly await their French pastries outside of St. Tropez Bakery and Bistro. Photo by Jocelyn Lee.

A Taste of Encinitas

As the streets of downtown Encinitas fill with people, local restaurants come out with an assortment of scrumptious samples to distibute for the annual Taste of Encinitas event. Story by Angela Zhang.

T

he first thing I notice after the stench of car gasses dissipate from the small parking lot is the smell of sweet, savory barbequed pork wafting from around the street corner. It is the evening of Sept. 15 and I’m walking the busy streets of what is perhaps Encinitas’s main attraction: the Highway 101.

But tonight, the crosswalks are unusually busy and the air is brimming with the smell of food, and lots of it. It is the annual Taste of Main Street event, a night where 35 restaurants along the Highway 101 set up tables outside with samples of their cuisine, whether it be lavendercaramel chocolate or tuna with mango salsa and teriyaki sauce.

DEMA office member Carolyn Cope (a Mustang newspaper staff

alumnus!) spoke with us about the event. “We always sell out,” said Cope about the Taste of Main Street tickets. “I used to take kids down in their wagon.”

Taste of Main Street has been going strong for 22 years and based on the huge crowds shows no signs of dying out anytime soon. A employee manning the Saint Tropez table said “[the event was] overwhelming.”

How many people he served? “Probably somewhere in the hundreds.”

To participate, guests pick up their pre-ordered $25 stamp cards at the beginning of the evening and are free to visit each participating restaurant, have their card stamped, and enjoy a sample.

Don’t be fooled by the connotations of the word, though—the

samples were never single bite. For instance, people could stop by Ogata and receive a plate of four California rolls or visit Saint Tropez for an entire pastry, lemon bar, muffin, etc.

Restaurants which participated were required to make one thousand samples for distribution, and judging by the crowded streets and long lines for delights like St. Germain’s parmesan crisps topped with mascarpone mousse, caramelized pears, arugula, and edible flowers, even that wasn’t enough.

“We’ve definitely been going through everything we’ve brought out,” said a Whole Foods employee.

The event was originally scheduled to take place a week earlier but was postponed a week due to the San Diego County blackout. Unfor-

tunately, much food was thrown out due to the inability to refrigerate it.

“We had three trays of crème puffs we had to throw out,” said Brock.

The event also ended up taking place on the same night as a DEMA Classic Cars Night, so guests could eat miniature acai bowls from Encinitas Café and look at shiny old Mustangs at the same time. Said SDA senior Max Pruitt, “For $25 it’s a bargain. I’d say [my favorite part is] the old cars and the food—I know, what a surprising answer.”

The Lotus Café offered mock chicken, savory grilled vegetables, and ginger tofu. Said co-owner Johanna Wright, “We’ve found vegetarians having a hard time, so they’re piling their plates.”

Our Recipes Aelplermagronen: A Traditional Swiss Meal [OW-plair-mah-gron-uh]

Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Written by Philipp Aebi, exchange student from Berne, Switzerland. This simple dish was originally eaten by Swiss miners.

Contributed by Kira Elliot, this delicious and simple cream sauce goes well with pasta and spaghetti squash.

Saltwater 4 oz. Bacon 7 Medium potatoes 1 Onion 1 lb Penne Pasta Salt, pepper and nutmeg 6 oz. Milk 12 oz. Cream 1 lb Real Swiss Cheese, grated or Trader Joes Gruyere ( Tested by me) 1. Boil the water.

2. Wash the potatoes, peel, rinse and cut them into uniform pieces.

3. Put the potatoes into the boiling water.

4. Wait five minutes Add the Penne, cook everything over low heat 10 - 15 minutes. Drain well.

5. Bring the milk, cream, grated cheese to boiling temperature and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

6. Add the potatoes and penne, mix thoroughly and heat.

7. Cut the onions and the bacon into thin strips and sauté them until light brown. Spread over the done Älplermagronen.

Three cloves of garlic, minced 2 shallots, chopped 2-5 sausages, cut into 1-inch balls (roughly 1 sausage per person) 1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, drained 1 ½ cup of heavy cream 1 tbsp butter, 2 tsp olive oil (to grease pan) 1. Grease saucepan with the butter and oil, coating the bottom. Add the garlic and shallots, cook until shallots are translucent.

2. Add the sausage to the garlic and shallots, cook until brown.

3. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and let them sit with the other ingredients for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add cream and turn the heat on, stirring occasionally. When the cream has thickened a little and is at a little above room temperature, remove from heat. (If the cream is not thickening, add a little bit of lemon juice. It will not affect the taste)

The Mustang 10.07.2011

Arts Screenwriter of “50/50” Will Reiser (middle) discusses crudity, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and improvisation with actor Philip Baker Hall (right) during a Q&A session after the film’s premiere. Photo by Jocelyn Lee.

Film, Festivities, Fêtes A visit to the screening of “50/50” at the San Diego Film Festival opens the mind of a cynic. Story by Angela Zhang.

I

almost didn’t make it on time. It was 6:45pm, just fifteen minutes before screening, and I was asking strangers if I could borrow a quarter for the pay station that wouldn’t give me change for a twenty (I was already paying $17 for parking; there was no way I would lose another $3). And then I ran, in my high heels, down the streets of downtown San Diego to the Gaslamp, lights shining on the corner of 5th and G street. I met up with Jocelyn Lee and after claiming our screening passes, entered the elusive world of high-brow film intellectuals at the tenth annual San Diego Film Festival.

The theater was buzzing with excitement over its opening night screening, the premiere of “50/50” featuring Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Seth Rogan, and Anna Kendrick. People were everywhere — trying to get to the bathroom before the movie started making me feel like swimming upstream to spawn.

I was sort of disenchanted with it all the well-dressed, the people taking photos in front of the banner thing that they always have at big, rich red carpet events, the young folk donning berets. A lady sitting next to me chirped about Burmese mountain dogs and how she enjoyed the “disposition” of Labradors.

It was all very bourgeoisie.

The audience settled down as a woman, co-founder of the festival, stepped up and introduced “50/50” screenwriter Will Reiser. Reiser, young and in a v-neck cardigan, told us the film was based on his own battle with cancer. He and best friend Seth Rogan “tried to inject as much humor into [the situation] as we could. We felt like there needed to be a movie [about cancer that wasn’t] just sad and morbid, one that would just be honest.”

People were enthusiastic. The laughter wasn’t stifled for the sake of controlled behavior in a public location — everyone was there to enjoy together and no one was ashamed of it. By the end of the movie Jocelyn and I had laughed at Seth Rogan’s antics and cried at Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s depression with eighty something other people. Suddenly, the bourgeoisie-seeming beret-donners had a little more depth. “Wasn’t it good?” the woman next to me asked.

“So good, I cried a lot,” I said back.

“Me too. My sister died from breast cancer several years ago. She went to the doctor regularly, we don’t know what happened,” she told me.

It was then I realized that misconceptions about the pretentious didn’t always have to hold true. People weren’t here to flaunt their wealth or ask smart-sounding questions to famous people. Rather, they were here because they loved film and what it could do, the way it could bring people together.

By the end of the night we were all feeling artistically inspired and, I’ll admit it, a little star struck (actor Philip Baker Hall, a pot-smoking chemo patient in the film, sat just two seats away during the screening. We didn’t find out until he walked to the front of the theater for the Q&A afterwards). We returned once more for the closing night of the festival to watch Lee Hirsch’s documentary, “The Bully Project.” The enthusiastic atmosphere we discovered the first night was unchanged and still very much unaffected.

The SDFF really does welcome film lovers, whether connoisseur or the local theater layman. Go next year—you’ll believe me when you see it.

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Student Artist Spotlight

This issue’s featured student artist, senior Sammay Ness, discusses the heart and soul of her doodles. Story by Charlotte Ohrbom.

Q

: When did you start with art?

A: I have been in art since finger paint was a respected medium. But I’m not sure if I ever moved on; I never have taken art extremely seriously, because to me it’s a hobby.

I still get covered in ink all the time.

A portrait of the artist as a young Q: What medium do woman. Photo bylJocelyn Lee. you prefer?

A: I love markers - vivid, intense colors that are stable. They don’t change constantly like paint. My heart lies among the felttip pens.

Q: What have you done at school to work with art?

A: I took Painting last year, because I wanted to attempt it.

Only in certain . . . live-action art presentation (Art Wars) around school have I felt like a painter because I’m closer to my style.

I am really comfortable with free form patterns. I let myself go with my art and don’t really think about it too much. When you put too much pressure on your art, it doesn’t come out as well.

I’m in AP studio art now.

Q: What projects do you outside of school?

A: I regularly participate in grocery store coloring contests.

And win.

Q: What subjects do you prefer to paint, draw?

A: I love patterns, I suppose! I’m trying new things currently, but I like young people, woodland creatures, and themes of office life and the afterlife. There is no unified subject I prefer. It’s different from your everyday drawings.

Q: What inspires your art?

A: I’m inspired by odd conversations and cartoonists turned graphic novelists, such as Nate Powell and Jen Wang (not your manga or your superhero artists–the dark weird ones, see. I like the fact that they really break the laws of storytelling, that sometimes there will just pages of black, or go off on a surrealist view that would cost thousands in movies and can be described in books.) I also like the art magazine Communication Arts.

Q: When are you most inspired?

A: Truly, some of my best art has come out of math class.

I’m sorry. But it’s something about a lack of pressure. . . I can’t work with people watching me, ever. There is no pressure in math, because there’s no pressure from the art teachers and the art students.

Q: Do you listen to music while you draw?

A: Often! Music is a large part of my life along with art, and sometimes I can’t work without it. I like listening to Ratatat because it’s all instrumental. I know the songs so it has become background music. I also like Of Montreal, Queens of the Stone Age, and Ska. Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: I don’t plan to go to art school but I plan to go to a university with a good art program. I want to keep my options open! Art will always be a hobby for me no matter what I do, but if it were to become part of my career I definitely think it would involve graphic design or some side of Ness’s work. Photo courtesy of applied art.

Sammay Ness.

Arts

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18

Fall Previews

10.07.2011 The

Mustang

As the leaves begin to drop, so do the beats. A new season means all new albums, movies, and TV shows. Whether you like the classic feel-good vibes of the Beach Boys or the electronic anthems of Justice, the nauseating horror of The Human Centipede or the cutesy cartoon antics of Puss in Boots, something out this fall is sure to catch your attention.

Sounds

The old, the new, the new of the old. This fall welcomes the sounds of 2011 with open arms. Stories by Emily Hall, Joey Kobara, Angela Zhang, Gabby Catalano, Caroline Glass, and Andrew Walker.

The Beach Boys

Justice

Björk

Still as fresh and summer-y as they were when they were recorded 44 years ago, the Beach Boys are releasing the full version of their album The Smile Sessions for the first time. The songs on the album have been widely discussed among Beach Boys fans since they were first rumored to exist in 1967.

The album has been received acclaim due to its enigmatic nature– the songs from the album were supposed to be included in the Beach Boys’ most well-known album, “Pet Sounds,” but were never released.

Being undusted from the archives are never-before-heard songs and ‘studio chatter’ of the band talking in the studio.

Apart from the music, the box set will also include memorabilia like a photo booklet of band members and several essays written by the Beach Boys themselves, including one from lead Boy, Brian Wilson. For fans of: The Ronettes, Best Coast

Will Justice, the French electronic duo, live up to their legendary album † (“Cross”) with their upcoming release? The album is already sparking anticipation among Justice fans.

The band, featuring Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, recently announced their upcoming release titled “Audio, Video, Disco”(Latin for I hear, I see, I learn).

About five months ago, Justice pre-released the digital single, “Civilization,” featuring the typical religious messages and edgy piano sounds that fans have come to expect from the band. And judging from other song titles on the tracklist, such as “Horsepower,” “Helix,” and “Canon,” it would appear that the band has no plans of straying from their Dark Anthem-Rock genre. Although the new album will incorporate real drums (as opposed to synthetic ones) and other hard rock elements, Xavier himself stated the album is meant to have a lighter sound, like “daytime music”.

For fans of: Skrillex, The Bloody Beetroots - jk

Björk is a strange sort of woman, her music videos ranging hidden cameras in insane asylums to artificially intelligent-bots making love.

True to her avant-garde style, the “Crystalline” video for the single off her new album “Biophilia” features stop-motion animation, a moon with light-up golf ball craters, homemade aurora borealis, and Björk’s face in a spinning ball of light.

The album was originally scheduled for release earlier, but after creating an “app album” version of “Biophilia” featuring an interactive galaxy and BBC narrator David Attenborough, Björk thought it appropriate to work more on the CD version.

I’m not sure if I’ll play the album in my car or have nightmares. Probably a bit of both. But if an Icelandic, more disturbing Joanna Newsom plus heavy synth is something that piques your interest, I’d say it’s about time you got some Björk in your life.

For fans of: Portishead, P.J. Harvey

Radiohead

Coldplay

Neutral Milk Hotel

In this age of music, artists are remastering, rerecording, and recreating classic songs from legendary bands. Radiohead is taking a different approach. They’re selecting popular DJs and influential remixers and having them recreate their latest album, “The Kings of Limbs.”

T DJs such as Caribou, Jacques Greene, Nathan Fake, and Jamie xx will be featured in the sensational and distinctive remix album, titled “TKOL RMX.” Since the early 90s, Radiohead has spearheaded today’s modern alternative music genre. To date, they’ve sold over 30 million albums and are still going strong. They’re known for their ingenious sounds, mystical melodies, and house/ dance beats. They hope that fans will appreciate and acknowledge their new approach in the music industry.

To give fans a preview of the new album, they released the Jacques Greene remix of their single “Lotus Flower.” Find it on soundcloud.com.

For fans of: Pink Floyd, Coldplay

Grammy-winning band Coldplay is back this October with their new album “Mylo Xyloto”. This is the English alt-rock’s 5th album, and it is expected to be welcomed with rave reviews. Two singles have already been released from the album, “Every Tear is a Waterfall” and “Paradise”. The new songs take a different approach than the band’s previous work, incorporating techno and syncopated rhythms to the once strictly guitarand-drums based band. This has spurred mixed reactions from fans.

Following in the footsteps of legendary rock operas like The Who’s “Tommy” or Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, “Mylo Xyloto” loosely follows the plot of a love story taking place in an oppressive environment. R&B singer Rihanna will be featured on the track “Princess of China.” The addition of a tween/teen icon like Rihanna is likely a ploy to attract a new demographic to the mostly adult fan base of Coldplay. For fans of: The Fray, Snow Patrol

Neutral Milk Hotel has been revived since its disbandment in 1998 with its lead singer and front man Jeff Mangum going on tour once again. And even though the band’s been gone for a while, they’re back in action, releasing previously unheard tracks in a box set this fall.

If you listen, be prepared to hear singing saws, acoustic guitars, trumpets and variety of other instruments paired with a voice that’s reminiscent of melted butter and southern comfort. Simply put, it lets loose shivers and fuzzy feelings.

If being charitable is appealing, a portion of the proceeds from the concerts and the new box set will be donated to an organization called Children Of The Blue Sky, where abandoned street children in Mongolia find foster families and go to school. For more information, visit the band’s new website walkingwallofwords.com. For fans of: Tallest Man on Earth, Johnny Flynn

Nov. 1

Oct. 25

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Oct. 11

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Cover up. From top to bottom, the cover designs for upcoming Radiohead, Colplay, and Justice albums.

Arts

The Mustang 10.07.2011

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Sights

This fall’s film selection boasts Oscar-winning potential, but that’s not to say crimes against humanity will be nonetheless committed. Stories by Natalya Ballard, Eleanore Hendrickson, Emily Maxwell, Kai Schlesinger, Stephanie Cigna, Emily Hall, Gabby Catalano, Maddy Thunder, and Charlotte Ohrbom.

The Human Centipede II Puss in Boots Footloose

Nov. 4

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried star in “In Time.”

Photo courtesy of intimemovie.com.

Oct. 14

This November, Dreamworks will release its newest animated adventure, Puss in Boots. Viewers may recognize the feisty feline protaganist as Shrek’s quirky compadre, seen previously in Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, as well as in Shrek: Forever After. This time around, audiences will tap into what was the legend of this zorroesque Latin cat, before he joined team Shrek.

Once again, the audience is thrown into a world of fantasy and fairytales as Puss (Antonio Banderas) journeys along with Kitty Soft Claws (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) to steal the goose who lays the golden eggs, on what appears to be a quest to save the world. The film will no doubt rely heavily on its character’s Hispanic roots, as well as cute kittens and their mannerisms for comedic effect.

Although the film is quite an obvious sign of Dreamworks resistance to ending its highly succesful franchise, it will surely be a crowd pleaser for children, as well as those who grew up with Shrek during their own childhood. For fans of: Shrek, Up - nb

Antonio Banderas voices the feisty “Puss in Boots” feline.

Photo courtesy of pussinbootsthemovie.com.

Julianne Hough (actress/ ballroom dancer/ country singer extraordinaire) stars alongside Kenny Wormald (uhh) in Craig Brewer’s (“Hustle and Flow”) modern take on the 1984 classic “Footloose.” For those who haven’t seen the original movie, the storyline follows rebellious teen Ren McCormick (Wormald) to a small country town where rock n’ roll and dancing have been forbidden. Along with the preacher’s daughter (Hough), McCormick starts a revolution of sorts by rebelling against the city through dance.

The trailer alone covers almost every movie cliché ever written. The new boy in school meets a pretty girl, the pretty girl has an overprotective father, the boy and girl are connected by something forbidden, the boy and girl fall in love, everyone dances. My reaction to the trailer sums up my expectations for the movie: the more I saw, the less I wanted to keep watching. Props to the director for staying true to the original storyline (aside from the addition of street hip-hop dancing). The new casting, however, is questionable. For fans of: Step Up...that’s all. Maybe The Last Song - em

A refresher on the first “Human Centipede”: German doctor kidnaps three people, stitches three people together mouth to anus, and calls it “human centipede.” Horror ensues.

Details from “Human Centipede II: Full Sequence” have already been disclosed, mostly due to a decision by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to deny the film a rating certificate–meaning the movie is illegal to distribute anywhere in the U.K. “The Second Sequence,” according to the BBFC, “poses a real... risk that harm is likely to be caused to potential viewers.” The censorship has only drummed up more publicity.

In “Full Sequence,” the first movie exists on DVD, much to the pleasure of one Martin, last name unknown. And when I say pleasure, I mean... you know. Martin sets out to one-up the prequel’s antagonist by creating a 12-membered centipede to fufill his sexual desires. And–no.

This is just too disgusting. I won’t go into any more details. Not going to mention the way Martin rapes the woman at the end of the chain with barbed wire wrapped around Martin Junior. Nope. Not going to go there.

For fans of: The Human Centipede, BBC: Nature’s Most Amazing Events - eh

The Ides of March

J. Edgar

In Time

For the first time ever George Clooney will not only be acting in a new film, but also directing it. “The Ides of March” is a new political drama starring George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, and Evan Rachel Wood.

Based on the play “Farragut” by Beau Willimon, Govenor Mike Morris (Clooney) is running for President of the United States with Stephen Meyers (Gosling) as his press spokesmen. Meyers gets a crash course in dirty politics when secrets arise about Morris that have the potential to ruin his career.

Despite political dramas not commonly being popular with teens or young adults, “The Ides of March” has become increasingly anticipated. The film has already aired at the 68th Venice Film Festival, winning the Brian Award. For fans of: W, Frost/ Nixon

A yellow match is struck in the center of the black screen, lighting the face and hands of Leonardo DiCaprio as he smokes in a clean dress shirt. The silence is soon broken by the dulcet tones of flatulence. A continuous fart that nearly carries a tune for a good 30 seconds. As viewers’ ears are entertained by the melodic sounds of the unseen flatulator, their eyes are left to gape as DiCaprio reacts rather passively, raising an eyebrow at the higher notes and scowling slightly at the lower tones.

The fart dies out, DiCaprio smirks, a date of release is advertised, and fin. Presumably, the lack of information provided in the trailer will leave its viewers unsatisfied and downright curious. DiCaprio fans will simply have to wait to find out if the movie will grant any explanations. For fans of: Public Enemies, Bonnie & Clyde

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried costar in upcoming thriller “In Time,” written and directed by Andrew Niccol (“GATTACA”). The story follows the life of a poor man in a society where people stop aging at 25 and time is the currency. Will Salas (Timberlake) is left with hundreds of years of time, putting him in a position of danger. Salas is forced to go into hiding with Sylvia Weis (Seyfried) as his captive, donating his excess time to others before the timekeeper sets his clock to zero.

For a better preview of “In Time” watch the lengthy trailer online. Although the plot line is layered, the concept is promising. For fans of: Inception, Eagle Eye

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More previews on pg. 21

Oct. 7

“Footloose” sounds as bad as Kenny Wormald’s hair. Photo courtesy of footloosemovie.com.

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Arts

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From left to right: Tim Knebel, Robert Knapp-Ramos, Rob Salvatore, Bill Schwartz.

Photo courtesy of Missing Neptune.

In Orbit SDA grad Roberto Knapp-Ramos and Tim Knebel of progressive rock band Missing Neptune discuss making music, creativity, and Alicia Keys. Interview by Angela Zhang.

I

t is Sunday evening, cold, and already past 7:15pm when I walk into Panera Bread to see the eager faces of Missing Neptune members Roberto Knapp-Ramos (drums) and Tim Knebel (guitar). Berto graduated from San Dieguito Academy in 2010 and Tim from La Costa Canyon High School just this year, but both band members are all business when it comes to rehearsing. For two to three hours a week they are usually in their Oceanside studio writing new songs or rehearsing for upcoming gigs. The band is impressively different from the typical metal band prototype that won’t stop cropping up everywhere. Their sound is like a fresh take on Tool with the same taste for potent lyrics and progressive musical ornamentation. And people have been noticing—they’ve played shows at Queen Bee’s, Brick by Brick, and The Royal Dive.

How did Missing Neptune come to be?

Berto: I was currently in other bands at the time. I actually went on Craigslist (because I was that desperate). It ended up being our singer, Rob Salvatore, and Bill Schwartz on bass. We figured that we needed a guitarist, so that’s when we stumbled upon Tim. Tim: Rob, our singer, used to live in New York City. And Missing Neptune was what he used to call his solo acoustic stuff at the time.

You say you are influenced by artists like Tool (which is very visible), but also some unexpected artists (Alicia Keys, Beethoven, The Police, and “horror films”).

B: I’ll take full credit for the Alicia Keys. I’m a really big pop fan. The soul you get from that kind of pop music—Alicia Keys, ’N Sync—it’s unmatched. As for the horror films, I’m pretty sure that’s Rob.

10.07.2011 The

Mustang

T: He’s very much an outside the box kind of person. The Beethoven thing is me, I’m a really big classical fan. And being a school musician and in theory, it’s kind of more the academic side of our music.

And the whole horror film thing…how has that influenced your sound?

T: For whatever reason it connects with people because it’s outside the box and unexpected. It challenges things and I think that’s more or less one of our founding beliefs as people and musicians, doing something different.

B: And to add on to that, our singer Rob, for one of his old projects, was singing about some killer that he made up for the song. And to get the lyrical ideas, he posted pictures of dead, slaughtered people on his walls [in the recording studio] from scenes from horror films.

Describe your sound.

T: Oh boy. Our ultimate goal is to serve the song, doing whatever the song needs. We don’t try to just sound like someone or impersonate people. What comes out is what comes out.

B: I would say we like to be aggressive when we are aggressive.

T: We’re very dynamic—we use lots of different sounds, this or that, to get our message across, both lyrically and musically. We try to keep it interesting.

So if I gave you a three word limit?

B: I would say intense.

T: Dynamic. I would say spontaneous. Because we write stuff that even surprises us.

What is the creative process like when you’re writing new music?

B: A lot of jamming—that’s how we get a lot of our riffs. It’s kind of amazing that sometimes we start writing something and eventually have a whole song from one jam. Listening is huge.

T: The openness of willing to try new ideas too.

And in terms of lyrics?

T: Lyrics are all Rob. He has a very, very interesting way of putting things, even just talking to him. He’s very creative and unorthodox with how he puts the melody over something.

B: Where he comes from is so beyond anything I’ve ever seen. It’s a really cool process.

T: He uses a lot of references to ancient cultures in art or literature and compares it to how things are today.

Was there a certain point when you felt like things were really starting to come together?

B: When we were writing “Full Frontal” and “Defy,” two songs on our EP (“Rising,” available on the band’s Facebook page). Fine tuning those first four songs was a huge turning point. We all saw what potential the band had. Writing each song is a test of patience. It takes a lot to get to that spot and when you’re there, it’s in itself just a journey. It’s just a small town girl.

Living in a—?

T: Yeah, a lonely world.

What advice would you give to rising new bands?

T: You have to trust what naturally comes out—you can’t force it. Give the music the attention it deserves. Be very open-minded and respectful of your band mates.

B: First thing, don’t expect things to happen right away—getting shows and your name out there. If you have an idea, let everyone put their traits into the song. Don’t just shut everybody out.

It’s all about feeding ideas off of each other. And patience. And, uh…what else? Food?

T: Yeah, food’s very important. I would definitely say food makes or breaks a band.

B: Maybe incense?

T: Incense is the reason that we can write songs.

B: Lavender paraffin wax really helped.

T: Challenging yourself and challenging the people you’re in a band with.

B: And challenging your boundaries too. Don’t let one genre hold you down…write what inspires you.

So, like, Alicia Keys?

B: Yeah. Exactly.

For more on Berto, Tim, and Missing Neptune, visit the band’s Facebook page to hear their EP and buy tickets for their Oct. 21 show at the Ramona Mainstage.

Above left, the band playing at Brick by Brick, a San Diego entertainment venue and club, on April 14. Right, a show at Queen Bee’s Center for the Arts in San Diego on July 29. Photos courtesy of Missing Neptune.

Arts

The Mustang 10.07.2011

Theater

The Rocky Horror Show Through Nov. 6

“The Rocky Horror Show,” stage version of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a 40-year-old tradition with a cult following, is currently showing at the Old Globe Theatre in downtown San Diego. The story is just as it is in the movie: Brad and Janet, an innocent young couple, are drawn into

“Rocky Horror” cast members do the time warp. Photo courtesy of oldglobe.org.

PAGE

21 the castle owned by one Dr. FrankN-Furter, a sweet transvestite from “sinsational” Transylvania. Brad and Janet learn that they are not as sweet and innocent as they thought they were, thanks to the mind opening antics of Frank-N-Furter, who takes both of their virginities.

Throughout the play, the audience experiences the skillful acting and dark and sexual humor. The play offers a more personal feel than the film, for the audience is encouraged

to interact, much like the showings at La Paloma. The play, runtime two hours , is ideal for not just the hardcore Rocky Horror fans, but any open-minded student with a varied sense of humor and unsqueamish conscience regarding to sexual themes. For fans of: Jesus Christ Superstar, Spring Awakening -co & gc

Ever hear about the Great Depression?

THEY LIVED IT. Ever watch “Band of Brothers”?

THEY SURVIVED IT. They're in their eighties and nineties now, but once they were...

JUST LIKE YOU. They walked these halls 75 YEARS AGO, and they're going to walk them again on OCTOBER 21 as part of our school’s 75th anniversary.

Come and meet them between 1:30 and 3:30 IN THE MEDIA CENTER and learn what high school was like back in the day.

(Take notes, because in 2087 we'll invite you back to school for a special reception, too.)

Ever watch “Glee”?

This is what it looked like in 1940

For more information: 760-753-1121 x5085 sda.alumni@gmail.com

Deschanel as Jess. Photo courtesy of fox.com/newgirl.

New Girl

TV

Zooey Deschanel is like the female version of James Franco. Or maybe like a platypus or something.

She has about a million cool qualities, and now something she can add to the list is her own new comedy TV show on the FOX channel.

Deschanel stars as a quirky, moody twenty-something named Jess who has just been cheated on by her long-term boyfriend. In the pilot episode, Jess decides she wants a fresh start after the breakup,and moves out of her old apartment into a new one with three dudes looking for another roommate to help pay the rent. The guys, unaware of Jess’ emotional fragility until she moves in and begins a daily routine of watching Dirty Dancing and crying on the couch, step up to the role of helping her get over her rough breakup and jump back into dating again.

Each plays a role in helping Jess, from bartender Nick (Jake Johnson), smart and funny guy Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and even the gruff athlete Coach (Damon Wayans Jr). “New Girl” airs at 9:00 pm on FOX every Wednesday. For fans of: 30 Rock, The Office - eh

Steeze

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22

10.07.2011 The

Best Deal Ever

Mustang

The inexpensive treasures that the frugal students of SDA have discovered for a magnificent bargain are revealed. Story by Cassia Pollock.

T

hrift stores are made for finding that exotic accessory that no one else will have, at a great bargain. Students at SDA are always raving about the deal they find at thrift stores, the sure-fire place to find an item that defines the spirit here at SDA. By embracing the most unique ideas about fashion, students can find prized possessions at thrift stores. Some even restyle clothes from thrift stores, using SDA’s creativity.

“I found a really sparkly fedora that looks like the one from Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’ music video at the San Diego Resource center. It was about eight bucks,” said senior Teesa Lhota.

“A really expensive brand called Free People was selling [at a thrift

store] for five dollars. I got a cropped green shirt,” sophomore Michelle Antonorsi said.

“The best deal I’ve ever gotten at a thrift store was at a sale they had one day. You could fill up a big bag to the brim,” said senior Kendra Scruggs.

“I got two shirts, a dress, and a skirt for only three dollars. My favorite is probably my white purse that I use for everything. It’s really nice,” Scruggs said.

“I found this really cool vested denim jacket that had vintage fabric on it. I was so happy. Also, I got these shorts that looked almost identical to ones in the magazine Seventeen. The only difference was the one at the thrift store cost eight dollars,”said sophomore Ashlie Davis.

“At a thrift store called Amvets, I got these awesome, crazy goth go-go boots. They were only three dollars.

The fact that they’re so cheap and cool made me have to buy them,” said senior Katie Clinton.

Some thrifty fashionistas at San Dieguito restyle clothes they buy at thrift stores by taking bad purchases and altering them, turning them into masterpieces.

“I visit thrift stores to look for materials to alter, and transform into new garments. I once took a hideous size 16 bag dress, and transformed it into a 1960’s style waist-fitted dress that was knee length,” said senior Claire Li. “Also, I’m turning a maroon men’s dress shirt that I got for four dollars into a women’s ruffled and cropped bolero,” said Li.

ultimate steeze

Junior Eric Poincenot and sophomore Nicole Trancone show off their styles. Story by Tatiana Skomski. Photos by Kai Schlesinger and Emily Maxwell.

jacket: urban outfitters $40

vest: thrift store $5

shirt: thrift store $5 shirt: imaginary foundation $25 pants: ross $10 pants: tilly’s $40

shoes: hansen’s $20

shoes: urban outfitters $10

Senior Kendra Scruggs got this white purse for a steal at a local thrift store.

Photo by Cassia Pollock.

Senior Katie Clinton rocks her thrifty $3 go-go boots. Photo by Cassia Pollock.

Hair Scare

The trend of colorful dyed hair is for the fashionably bold and mentally insane. Story by Opal Theodossi.

B

lue, green, yellow, red, purple!

Although those are all my favorite colors in the original 24 pack of Crayola crayons, that’s not what I’m referring to, nor am I referring to your nail color during the summer. Give up?...Okay, it’s the color hair you see when you walk outside lately.

Now I know it’s a “Fashion-Do” for the time being, but colored hair such as pink or green is awfully hard to dye over and hair doesn’t grow all the way out in a day, a week, or even a month.

Although many may scoff, (har-har-har) at this insanely bright Crayola-worthy development in the hair care world, you have to be a true “brave soul” to go through with the almost unquestionable. It takes an even more adventurous personality to be able to pull off

these shocking hues.

If you’re going to go through with it though here are a few tips on coloring: if you have pale skin, go for pastels. Dark-olive skin? No problem, go for deep rich colors, such as emerald or royal purple, and if you have tan skin then go for a bright, vibrant color.

If you’d like to dye your hair but are little nervous about the turnout, don’t worry, just try it out first!

You can dye a streak that shows in a ponytail, multiple streaks, or even the tips of your hair or bangs.

So if you’re planning on dyeing your hair a vibrant color from your highlighter collection, I suggest you do it soon, seeing as this fashion “trend” will soon fade (along with your hair dye), and you’ll still be stuck with that cotton candy color in your hair.

Do nonviolent battles appeal to you? Have a musical talent?

Sign up for Battle of the Bands!

SDA’s Battle of the Bands is coming in late October!

If you have a band and would like to participate, sign up in room 70.

Circus Animal Fun

The Mustang 10.07.2011

PAGE

23

San Dieguito Sentinel’s Horoscopes

130¢

Why should we be in control of our own fates when we could simply act based on the pseudoscientific advice of celestial beings? “Doctor” Horace Scopes gives his zodiac prognostications below so we can all avoid being accountable for our actions.

Taurus (Apr 21 - May 20)

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 21)

Cancer (June 22 - July 22)

You will feel a strong urge to bring this article’s author, Dr. Horace Scopes, a large pie at the end of this week.

Otherwise, the stars caution your life is in danger. A foot rub would also be nice.

Tomorrow will certainly be a day you may or may not remember for the rest of your life.

Following last week’s failure on your part, the celestial beings are reminding you not to let anyone, particularly law enforcement officials, to look into your trunk.

Libra (Sept 20 - Oct 20)

Scorpio (Oct 24 - Nov 21)

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21)

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19)

You will feel guilty enough to go back and read the other horoscopes that you skipped over to get to your own.

The stars officially apologize that your zodiac symbol is basically a rip-off of Virgo’s. Sorry.

The planets are aware of your nightly habits. Stop that.

You will come up with an awesome idea while brushing your teeth, but then forget it while spitting out the toothpaste.

Aeries (Mar 20 - Apr 20) Instead of using its alignment powers to, say, cure cancer, the sun has determined that your confidence will be given a boost Tuesday, impressing everyone. You’re welcome.

Leo (July 23 - Aug 22) There’s a sign called Leo?

Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18) The planets have to meet their weekly quota; someone’s gotta find love.

Might as well be you.

Virgo (Aug 23 - Sept 22) You will forget something important. For instance, this article reminding you that you’re forgetting something.

You only have yourself to blame at this point, Virgo.

Seriously.

Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 29) ;)

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24

CHAIR RECLINES AFTER LONG DAY’S WORK Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

story on A0

sdamustang.com

Circus Animal Fun

10.07.2011The

STUDENT MAKES VASE, OR MAYBE BOWL

Photo courtesy of Raysonho

story on B(-2)

AREA MAN CRIES OVER SPILLED MILK Photo courtesy of Stefan Kühn

San Dieguito Sentinel

story on X9

We do what we damn well want

SAT to be reformed

140¢

Facebook heralded at school

By Cassia Pollock

The College Board declared their decision to reform the SAT last Tuesday. The letters now stand for Super Awesome Test, instead of Scholastic Aptitude Test. College Board administrator Ed Ucate said, “The test doesn’t consider each school’s priorities when selecting students. We’re planning on assessing the ability to party as well as study.”

Starting Nov. 5, tests will no longer occur in quiet rooms with florescent lights. The official College Board website is now plastered with statements such as, “expect strobe lights, frappuccino bars, and a new section on the test dedicated to analyzing each student’s ability to get down.”

Various colleges have advocated this revolutionary movement. “These days you can’t make it at a university if you’re only in it for the academics. We need to know if students can survive the weekends of drink guzzling and head-pounding music. This will make it convenient for us to decide if they’d be a good fit for our school,” said professor Al Cohal who teaches the Avant Garde department at the University of Santa Partay.

Along with the standard supplies students are expected to bring to the reformed test, they are now required to bring plastic red cups and an open-minded attitude.

Mustang

By Eleanore Hendrickson

poijoiuoiuust don’t know what to say,” sobbed the student, Devon Stayted, “How cou Such an enthusiastic wave, like in this dramatization, was never returned to senior Devon Stated. Photo by Jocelyn Lee.

Student sad after wave goes unnoticed

By Mae Wright

A senior traveling to his English class during passing period became “utterly depressed” after a friend did not return his wave last Thursday.

“I just don’t know what to say,” sobbed student Devon Stayted, “How could he have ignored me like that? I thought we were buddies, you know?”

Stayted, trembling with despair, was barely able to make it to class. When his wails covered up the discussion on Dante’s “Divine Comedy” he was sent to the nurse’s office

for what medical reports later called, “emotional anguish.”

“We’ve had these sorts of incidents before,” the nurse recalled, sneezing on a tissue before handing it to the boy, “but never like this.”

In response to complaints by community members who overheard the disturbing sounds blocks away, the school plans to open a special therapy center for students suffering a similar affliction. “Legally, we can’t force kids to wave back. But we can provide the support and love the victims desperately need,” stated a counselor while

looking up tropical resorts on her computer.

Studies show that students who are not waved back to are .004 times as likely to commit petty theft. University of Peppy Mountain researcher Tess Tübe says, “The exertion of lifting an arm brings back bad memories of the waving incident. They want to find a new use for their lonely, unwanted, potentially filthy hand, so they take things off shelves and steal.”

When reached for comment, Stayted’s friend, senior Joe Blivious seemed baffled by the news. “What? He waved at me?”

Students campus-wide have all unanimously agreed that the use of social networking sites on school computers would definitely foster education, and would not at all be abused for entertainment purposes.

Many students agreed with the district’s recent decision to lift the ban on sites like Facebook and Twitter from school computers. The new policy was heralded as one that would dramatically increase student productivity rather than the other way around.

“It was so frustrating when I wanted to share a video with classmates, but I couldn’t because of the ban,” said junior Tom Bler as he scrolled through Kim Kardashian’s Twitter account during his English class.

“But now we all can revel in the educational value of Nyan Cat!” The change in school policy was brought on by the belief that teachers would be able to communicate with students through social networking tools, which students agree is exactly what they were intending to use such websites for anyway.

“I think that social networking websites are a really valuable educational tool,” senior Maya Space said, pausing to reject a Facebook friend request from her biology teacher. “It will be so helpful for teachers and students alike.”

Maturity of this year’s freshman class shocks SDA

By Joty Swanbara

The majority of upper classmen and staff were amazed to find the incoming freshman class surprisingly conservative both in clothing and values this year.

This unusual change was immediately noticed by the school staff. Normally after the first week, crude depictions of male genitals are scribbled on boys’ bathroom walls and

on desks by freshmen. Instead, detailed drawings of landscapes and mountain sceneries adorned the school’s various surfaces.

One freshman even painted a rendition of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” with accurate shading and delicate brush strokes on a desk during homeroom.

Assisstant Principal Oliver Sutton also noted positively on the students’ tasteful attire.

Instead of wearing the typical Hollister and Abercrombie

wardrobe, the underclassmen were found to be sporting J-Crew turtle necks, Old Navy high waisted “mom” jeans, and running shoes, for “a more cushier walk to the geometry classes on the hill,” stated freshman Stu Dius.

“Normally I have to dress code freshmen girls all the time because they dress too risqué,” said Sutton. Thankfully, he did not have to dress code a single freshmen, a new feat,

considering that the dress code had been broken every year before.

“These freshmen are way cooler than me!” exclaimed senior Suri Prized.

The freshmen continued to show their high levels of class when many brought tea in the morning to prepare for the school day. “I like the subtle but earthy flavor of my green tea. It’s the perfect morning beverage for my rigorous class schedule,” said

freshman Austin Tacious.

These changes seem to be affecting the school in a positive manner. In fact, teachers have even offered to teach more freshman classes.

“These students are so selfless and determined. They are very mature, and actually care about school rather than making ‘that’s what she said’ jokes or farting noises,” said Sutton. “They will definitely make SDA an even more welcoming place to be.”

The Mustang 10.07.2011

Sports

Chicks with Sticks

With multiple wins against Division 1 schools, Field Hockey starts strong.

Senior Mary Lyons gains control of the ball during the game against La Jolla on Sept. 16 at SDA. The Mustangs won 1-0.

Photo by Jocelyn Lee.

PAGE

25 The varsity girls field hockey team has a record of 6-2 as of their most recent game, a victory over Bishop’s, on Oct. 4.

Their four-game winning streak of September was broken by Torrey Pines when SDA lost 3-0 on Sept. 28. The team rebounded from this loss with an impressive win over Mission Vista 8-0.

The Mustangs started off the season with a 4-2 tough loss to Poway during their first game, but turned it around with four straight wins against Division I schools. Although they beat Cathedral Catholic, La Jolla, and Westview, varsity coach Brooke Wilson was most proud of the win against La Costa Canyon.

“LCC was a huge rival and it has been a few seasons since we beat them. It was a good win, well deserved by the Mustangs,” said Wilson.

SDA played strongly as a team during the middle of September, taking on, and beating La Costa Canyon, Cathedral, La Jolla, and Westview.

Sophomore Anisa Smith said that a component of winning at home is the field at SDA is filled with dirt patches and uneven grass. Since most of the Division I schools are used to playing on artificial turf, the SDA field throws off their game.

During mid-August, tryouts, ten new freshman and 17 returning players tried out. After forming the teams, Wilson and junior varsity coach Gina Tashjian began preseason practice. “There is nothing worse than losing to a team because we are tired and can’t keep up, so I make sure the girls get into game shape quickly,” said Wilson.

Some dedicated students played in a summer league to stay in shape. “It aims to get them running and playing with their sticks before tryout,” said Wilson Wilson expects the team will do well again this season. “We hope to be Valley League champions for the third year in a row, but Canyon Crest Academy will be our biggest competitor.”

The captains who were chosen by Wilson this year are Teesa Lhota, who is also the goalie, Grace Collins, and Colleen Haynes. Lhota and Collins are seniors, and Haynes is a junior.

Last year, the Mustangs went 15-4 overall, and were undefeated within their league. They also made it to the CIF Division II semi-finals. sarah kochanek

Deeper Water

Putting Away

Game Point Girls

The Mustangs boys waterpolo team now compete at a varsity level.

Despite a losing streak, the girls golf team has potential to be great.

With lots of new talent, the girls tennis team is anticipating a season that could take them to CIF.

Varsity coach Al Zamora joined the girls golf team this year. The team is younger than ever, without a single senior. Despite their youth, new personal bests are being recorded every day.

Zamora says that the team has a lot of talent.

“The core of the players are poised to go to the next level,” said Zamora. Though confident, he does admit that this will be a building year.

“SDA doesn’t have the pull of players like the larger schools such as Torrey Pines or LCC, but we have a great bunch of girls that desire to be better,” said Zamora Instead of answering with the usual cliché “beat CCA” answer, since Zamora is a new coach his personal rivalries have yet to form. “Any league match will be a good match,” said Zamora, although he continues to comment on how he feels rivalries forming already.

Sophomore Kathryn Chapman, a recognized strength from her coach, shot a personal best against a match against Westview on Sept. 11.

The team had an unfortunate four game losing streak at the beginning of the season. The Mustangs lost the Academy game rival with a 261 -230 defeat

by CCA on Sept. 21.

The golf team, like many other SDA sports is often seeded against Division 1 schools. The coach said that the experience of playing against powerhouse schools like Westview or El Camino gives the girls great exposure, and helps them prepare for league games. Since then, the team has turned it around, winning against another league rival Mission Vista.

Their record is currently 1-4, and the team looks forward to a rematch against CCA on Oct. 10 anna sheridan

There is no lack of a good time on the tennis court this year. Varsity coach Joe Tomasi said that it is important to “take practice more seriously.”

But, all fun aside, he has confidence in the strength and talent of his team. After a tryout yielding 34 girls, 28 were invited to play on one of the girls tennis teams this year. “[I] worked with some of the girls over the summer, but the

The newest varsity sport to SDA has just started, but the team has been training since two weeks before school. They have been working out for two hours four days a week.

Coach Ryan Upper says that the hardest thing about coaching this team revolves around extraneous variables.

“The school does not have a pool and many area pools have other teams in them already,” said Upper. The girls waterpolo team faced the same problems in the past. Coach Upper said says that the boys are splitting practice time, practicing both at the Monroe Street Pool in Carlsbad and at the UCSD Natatorium.

Despite the hardship of having two different home pools, the boys are focused on the season ahead. He attributes the leadership of the team to the three captains this year, seniors Kolten Horner

and Richie O’Riley and sophomore Nate Willert.

“Practices have been really productive this year, and I have grown a lot this year because of them,” Horner said. He believes that the team could get to CIF this year because of the hard work used in practice. “It’s a big advantage,” said Horner.

The boys had a league game against San Paswual on Oct. 5.

The team is geared up to play CCA. Willert is convinced that the team has a chance this year because of the training that they have recieved. “We are better in terms of team structure and I think it is very possible [that we will beat them],” said Willert. Both captains encouraged anyone that swims or surfs to explore the game of waterpolo.

“You definitely need to try this sport out,” said Horner. anna sheridan

team started [practicing] in August, at least two to two and a half hours a day,” he said.

He believes that the extra practice that some girls recieved when they participated in tennis camps and practices over the summer will help the team succeed in their league games this season.

Tomasi accredits his team strengths to the singles this year, naming top players Sam Hodges, sophomore, as

well as Jennai Macchi and Julia May who are the senior captains.

The academy cup is again up for grabs, and the team is focusing the training into winning that game. “CCA is and always will be the rival,” said Tomasi.

The team is currently 1-3 as of Oct. 3, according to nctimes.com, and sees themselves having a good season, possibly good enough to take them to CIF. anna sheridan

Senior Michaela Whatnall prepares to hit a backhand volley during a match against Orange Glen on Sept. 27 at SDA. Photo by Emily Maxwell.

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26

10.07.2011 The Mustang Sports Cross Country is off to a Running Start

This year, Coach Conn gave the team a different kind of motivation to win.

Art by Maddy Thunder.

More Than Sibling Rivalry Anna Sheridan believes that CCA is more than a sister school. Through the rivalries in sports and differences in creativity, they are like a younger sibling that she wants to hit.

It’s unanimous. Ask any coach or student athlete what his or her goal is for the season and you will get the same answer. We want to beat CCA. School officials say that Canyon Crest Academy is our sister school, but the feud between us runs deeper than sibling rivalry.

Last year, when SDA was lucky enough to be seated against CCA’s nationally ranked team for the volleyball CIF semi-finals, the Mustangs walked into the gym with a banner that read “SDA all the way.” The team had trained for this game for weeks. Sophomore Amanda Colla, starting outside hitter for both the 2010 and 2011 season explains why the team pushes through the sweat and the tears for the chance to take them on. “They are pretty much the biggest rivals we have in volleyball,” said Colla.

And although our two schools are usually seen as more of an arts-based student body, Colla says that both the Ravens and the Mustangs are very involved in sports. Last year, after losing both league games and the CIF semi-finals, the team is more determined than ever to beat the Ravens. “We push ourselves to the limits just to have the chance of beating CCA, and I have no doubt in my mind, we can beat them this year,” said Colla.

Now, this cannot just be attributed to girls’ hormonal feelings. The boys teams feel it too. “It’s a totally different atmosphere when we play them. We don’t just play to win. We play for bragging rights,” said senior Jordan Golden.

Field Hockey has a physical reason to beat CCA. The “Academy Cup” is at stake. While other teams just want to beat CCA for bragging rights, Coach Anna Gerber explains field hockey’s motivation. “Many sports already have something called the Academy Cup between the schools and are starting a tradition passing a “cup,” field hockey stick, or some sort of trophy between the schools to the victor after each contest,” said Gerber.

These hurt feelings run deeper than just a couple losses. Mustangs hold themselves to high sportsmanship standards, and we try not to let losses get us down. It’s when the integrity of the other team falters that it makes us mad. Last year, during the SDA vs. CCA soccer game when the Ravens beat us 3-2, a couple of the boys then proceeded to run laps around our field with the CCA flags. It’s obnoxious, really.

As you may know, two years ago SDA’s track team lost a heartbreaking league finals meet to CCA all due to one of our players wearing an earring. We were disqualified, and the win that rightfully belonged to SDA was handed over to our “sister.” According to junior Emily Nathan, who has run track during her time at SDA, the CCA coach overstepped his boundaries during a track meet last year.

“The Canyon Crest Academy coach came up to coach Justin Conn and told him that if his girls relay team needed inspiration, they can come look at the banner hanging in our gym (of the year before),” said Nathan. Nathan said that instead of getting angry at the coach, Conn said that- he wanted the girls to fight back with a win.

A different kind of sport is feeling the feud as well. Senior Mitch Lange, a member of our Comedy Sportz team for the past four years, says that the Ravens never want to take us on. Comedy Sportz games are held through the students challenging other schools. CCA rarely accepts. “I guess they think they are the better academy or something,” said Lange.

It’s more than only sports teams that are experiencing this rivalry. Not only have the Ravens copied our “academy ways,” but they have also borrowed many creative aspects that make SDA unique. Walk around the halls of CCA and you will see banners for Academy Idol, professionally done of course, with laminated reminders posted all around campus. If you’re going to win, my dear Ravens, win with grace. If you’re going to copy our creative activities, give us credit. And if you’re going to be rude, please just take your fancy cars and leave.

The 2011 cross country season started with the famous Camp Gordy over the summer. The preseason boot camp is hosted by head coach, Gordy Hasket.

Junior Emily Nathan described it as “beautiful, painful, sweaty running fest.“ It’s a three day camp where 30 SDA runners get together at San Onofre campground to run and bond.

Even with a loss to Del Norte to start off the season, students still run with their heads up.

Some students run for the joy of victory and chance to qualify for league and State CIF competitions. However, this year, assistant coach Justin Conn has given the team an incentive that involves personal sacrifice.

In the case that cross

country wins girls or guys league this year, Conn promised that he will get a tattoo of a seahorse.

The location of the tatoo has yet to be specified, but the team must work hard in order to find out.

Students on the cross country team call Conn the C-horse (standing for Conn-Horse.)

According to Nathan and Conn himself, he received the nickname

from a team member.

While running on the beach, he was “prancing over waves like a horse.”

Thus, the term C-horse.

Asked about the team this year, Conn said, “We have a lot more depth.”

Senior Nolan Gallagher said, “There is a different dynamic this year that should help us be very quick.” kyle hoff

Sophomore Amanda Colla makes a flying leap to hit the ball. Photo by Phillip Colla.

Mustang Girls Volleyball, Can You Dig it?

After losing 11 seniors, the volleyball program gears up for games against rival CCA, and bounces back from tough losses.

In their most recent game versus San Pasqual on Sept. 29, the Mustangs emerged victorious against the Eagles with a 3-1 win.

In the first away match for the Mustangs against University City on Sept. 20, SDA earned their first win of the season, beating the Centurions 3-1.

SDA played Francis Parker on Sept. 15, and things did not go as smoothly as an eager fan would have hoped.

SDA lost to the Lancers after only three games, none in favor of SDA. Last year, the Mustangs beat the Lancers for the first time in decades, leading to

an upset and another rivalry. The girls won’t have another opportunity to beat the Lancers, as this was their only game against Parker.

The season started out rocky. The Mustangs’ first match was at home versus the Carlsbad Lancers on Sept. 6. Although they fought hard through four close games, Carlsbad won 3-1.

The dedicated girls of the SDA volleyball team began preseason training in August, sometimes giving up more than five hours of their day. Park said, “Summer practices were usually four hours long, four days a week.”

Since the beginning of the season, the girls have had tournaments almost every other week, keeping the team busy. Varsity coach Rebecca Bailey chose seniors Anna Sheridan, Sabrina Ruediger, and Casey Carlson to lead the team as captains.

The varsity team this year has only four seniors, compared to the 11 it had last year. ”With few seniors and several new players to Varsity, our overall experience playing at this level is less than what we had to work with last year,” said Park.

The team faces more injuries than they

have before. With the starting setter with a broken foot, a starting outside hitter in physical therapy for her shoulder, and a hitter recovering from mono, the team is not at their best.

They still have an optimistic outlook for the rest of the season.Junior Monica Lundgren, varsity, said, “We are one of the first sports at school and we kind of get the school spirit going… come to our home games. They are really fun to watch and a lot of people go. We are also going to win the rest of our games so it will be a lot of fun!” sarah kochanek

The Mustang 10.07.2011

Sports

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10.07.2011 The

Mustang

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1. Elio Hollenbeck, senior, wears a formal steampunk-style outfit to school every day.

2. Senior Rachel Murphy sports an eccentric variety of clothing (including this hot dog suit) to match an eccentric personality.

3. (From left to right) Japanese Lolita dresses and Fairy Kei is an everyday thing for junior Arin Malin. Bambi Costa, sophomore, can often be seen wearing a variety of Japanese style clothing. Brigette Williamson, junior, wears theatre costumes to match her theatre eccentric personality.

4. Senior Alex Van Valkenburg and junior Eli Turner sport stylish steampunk overcoats and hats.

5. Sophomore Alex Stofer often wears kigurumis, like this raccoon one, to school.

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From hot dogs to raccoons, SDA students express themselves with their favorite unconventional ensembles. Story by Emily Hall. Photos by Jocelyn Lee. SDA’s attitude of fitting in by standing out is emphasized by the eccentric clothing of students who express themselves through the various whimsical outfits filling their wardrobes. By expressing themselves through their clothes, SDAers are able to communicate their favorite styles. For those who fancy Steampunk, Lolita, or everyday black-tie events, there is room for expression on campus.

Juniot Arin Malin often comes to school in unique outfits. “The way I dress is a fashion style from Japan called Lolita that I got interested in last year. I quickly fell in love with it so I wanted to wear it as much as possible,” said Malin.

Sophomore Alex Stofer said her outfits are also influenced by Japanese culture. “I started dressing up with my best friend because we were fans of anime and we wanted to express ourselves wildly. After she passed away, I wanted to continue to dress up for friendship’s sake,” said Stofer.

With the absence of a strict dress code at SDA, students have the opportunity to feel comfortable in their own skin, and, for that matter, their own trenchcoat, frilly skirt, wig, tail, or tie.