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OPINION
apachepowwow.com
September 2010
The Game of Life: Making the Right Moves By MELISSA SONG Staff Writer
Welcome to High School-opol School-opoly, ly, a nerve-racking strategy that gy game tha at high school students nts across the nation are playing. The goal? Simply mply staying in front ront of everyone one else—it’s it’s all about keeping the spotlight on yourself. And there’s only one way to distinguish the winners: whoever manages to get accepted to the best colleges.. It has become mandatory to dress up college applications plications as best as possible, which means planning ing these four years strategically. It seems as if I, and all the other high gh school students out there, really have no choice but to play this game, because a lot more is at stake here than fake money, and the ones who don’t play it well are kicked to the curb. But are they? Sure, the prospect of ending up at a college that falls short of my overachieving expectations is something that keeps me tossing at night (sarcasm intended), but I take a big step backward and begin to ask myself, “What in the world am I doing?”. This board game of high school is controlling my life, and it’s not even fun. In this game, AP classes earn me extra points (and A’s earn me even more!), and volunteer service and extracurricular activities are also brownie points that push me forward
a couple of steps by adding color to my college applications. Because my schedule can only spare one elective spot, I’ve debated betwe tween being in Orchesis and Pow Wow since freshman year. The main question isn’t which one I enjoy more, but rather what looks better on my college application. But no matter which one I finally decide to pursue, there’s always a nerve-wracking fear that the decision I made is something I will regret later on, and I’m always forced to take a step back and reconsider. I don’t know what the right move is until I realize that I’ve made the
wrong one. The summer before freshman year, otherwise known as the last peaceful days of my childhood, my parents forked over $625 to have me take a college elective during summer school because I thought I would have no opportunity to take an elective during the school year. Not only was the class horrible, it wasn’t until this year that I finally realized that the class I took was completely useless, an utter waste of both my time and money. I can curse myself for not planning my four-years better and being able to predict every unpredictable thing that comes across
my way, but because it’s impossible to go back in time, there’s nothing I can do about it. Every since stepping onto AHS (and even before that), I became completely devoted to making my college application look better and completely discarding my interests and talents. But there are times in life when you suddenly get a “Eureka!” moment, or when you suddenly start to see life clearly. I had one of those moments, and I realized that I’m tired of treating my high school years as a game that I am completely obsessed over. By making strategic moves, I created a front that I thought colleges would like to see, but eventually I started to ask, “What’s wrong with the real me?” Instead of simply being a pawn, doing what I am told to do, I should be able to decide what I want to do. So rather than taking every AP class
that comes my way just because they give extra points, I’ve decided to slow down and take only the ones that I find interesting. And
instead of poking around on the internet for hours looking for volunteer ideas that would give me an extra push on that cursed board game, I ask myself, “What do I want to do?” Once I start thinking of my interests, the options are endless, and they’re all things that I would be more than happy to do. My only regret now is that I didn’t realized this sooner, because I could’ve saved myself a lot of migraines. I’m not trying to say that I have completely rebelled against my parents and lost all my determination to get into a good college, but sim simply that I’m playing the board ga game with my interests in mind. The prospect of winning this board game and getting into the college of my dreams is still something that pushes me forward, but how I move forward has changed. Instead of me conforming to what the board game demands as the right way to succeed, I’m carving a new direction that screams me, even if it might not necessarily be the most effective way. After all, life isn’t all about winning, sometimes you have to slow down and smell the flowers. msong@apachepowwow.com Graphics courtesy of SQUIDOO.COM and FREEPATENTSONLINE.COM
The Contemporary (XX/XY) Chromosome Chism By YEJEAN KIM Staff Writer
I’ve given my younger brother tender advice such as: “If you refer to a girl as a ‘chick’ one more time, I will shave your head while you’re sleeping.” I was trying to teach my brother respect for girls. It never occurred to me that I was undermining girls myself by acting like the stereotypical angry feminist. So I talked to him like a normal person about respect, and thought this worked best. I was wrong. This realization came when my brother asked me, “Hey, how do you say ‘woman’ backward?” After pondering this for a shamefully long time (I thought he was literally asking), I gave in and said I didn’t know. He gave a great guffaw and said, “Kitchen! Ha ha ha!” I was silent. Being too busy pondering whether or not to throttle him, I neglected to laugh. He looked puzzled and then seemed to realize something. “Oh, yeah,” he said, “I forgot, you don’t laugh at those jokes because you think they’re sexist.” Rolling his eyes, he walked away. I wasn’t really mad about the joke; it was more like a wake-up call to how sexism is embedded into our lives. My brother got this joke from an app on his iPod Touch dedicated to sexist jokes. That’s how common it has be-
come to treat and take sexism lightly, which ment that a guy can’t help himself is invalid should never happen even if it’s everywhere. because boys presumably have as much self I believe sexism, especially in high control as any human being. It takes two to school, goes both ways. One of the biggest tango, so I don’t understand all these assumpexamples, and something I could never quite tions that guys can’t help cheating. wrap my head around, is what I call the cheatAnother thing that got me was something ing phenomenon. that happened freshman year when the When a guy cheats on a girl, the girlissue of sexist songs hit AHS. I was friend tends to go after or get angry sitting in English when my teacher y att the other party. That is, she mentioned a comment she had read goes after the other girl. on an article post about the issue. l There’s a lot of It said something along the lines oof,, “Oh, she definitely see eof, “Those girls who are getting duced him! [Insertt mad about the songs are the ugly boyfriend’s name ones who would never get asked here] would never o to dances anyway.” out have cheated on me I was like, huh? What? otherwise.” WHAT?! WH There was similar outI don’t believe rage from both the girls and the a word of it. Putting all boys in i my class. of the blame on the otherr W Whether it was a boy or a girl is of course sexist in a girl who wrote that comment, it very obvious way, but it is was deme demeaning e to both sexes. If sexist to the guy, too. I’m she were a ggirl, then she was basiaware that we are all under cally saying that only “ugly girls” the influence of hormones, are uunhappy. If he were a boy, then he but no guy I’ve ever met is iimplied that a girl’s looks are what’s imdumb enough to sucportant. Nobody wins with Graphic by MICHELLE ZHANG cumb to a one sexist assumptions. Sexsided tempta- THE TWO WAY MIRROR Sexism ism has worked itself into tion. The argu- can definitely go both ways. our beliefs, such as: Girls
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tend to be worse in math than boys. I believed this for a long time because a misinformed individual told me that boys’ brains are hardwired to specifically be able to do math better than girls. I eventually realized I was horrible at math because my brain wasn’t hardwired to think in numbers (and derivatives, and constants, and blah, blah, blah). Another common sexist assumption is boys can’t write, which funnels out into the monster sexist assumption that boys aren’t as emotional as girls. That is bogus. Boys are emotional; it’s the sexism in society that says, “be a man” and “what are you, a girl?” that keeps them from expressing their feelings. It’s the sayings like these that keep sexism alive. I think, as we get older, sexism becomes less obvious, and thankfully, less accepted. Some people’s beliefs will never change, but common sexist assumptions can. When I sit in AP English and read papers, a lot of the best ones are by boys. Many girls excel at math, and everyone becomes equally emotional during finals. Mannerisms, ability, or personality have nothing to do with gender, only character. I have a healthy respect for both genders, and hopefully, with a little helpful (not mean, angry, hysterical, or emotional) encouragement, my little brother will too. ykim@apachepowwow.com
