the Epic, Volume 57, Issue 2 - November 9, 2021

BY DEEKSHA RAJ

C

ulinary and Spanish classes celebrated the Day of the Dead by decorating calaveras, edible skulls created from sugar, led by Spanish teacher Michael Esquivel and culinary arts teacher Megan Miller.

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a well-known Latin American holiday celebrated from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3 in many Latin American countries. The colorful food eaten on Day of the Dead represents the liveliness of the holiday, which focuses on celebrating loved ones who have passed away rather than lamenting over their passing. Calaveras, typically made from chocolate or sugar, symbolize a departed soul.

To honor the return of one’s spirit, the skulls are typically placed on the ofrenda, an altar that holds a collection of items honoring a lost loved one as a ritual display.

“We’re always looking for cross-curricular activities to do, and it’s been a long-standing thing,” Miller said. “The world language department has always incorporated food into their teaching.”

The Day of the Dead celebration marks the first collaboration between Spanish and culinary classes. For the lesson, Esquivel and his students presented on the Day of the Dead, focusing on its meanings and traditional celebrations.

“I really liked their presentation,” junior Culinary student Janet He said. “I learned a lot about Spanish culture. Having different cultures in the culinary classroom lets a lot of students experience different things.”

Miller presented the process of making sugar skulls and the technical skills involved in decorating them. In total, six classes heard the presentations and were given the opportunity to decorate their own skulls. Miller prepared the lesson by making 180 sugar skulls for the students to decorate.

In the 2019-20 school year, Miller held a similar lesson with Japanese teacher Jeremy Kitchen for his Japanese classes, which inspired this year’s Day of the Dead lesson. They collaborated for an activity called Onigiri Action, for which Japanese students came into the culinary classroom and made rice balls. Kitchen also gave a presentation on onigiri and its importance in Japanese culture.

Miller enjoys collaborating with different departments because it allows her to learn about different culinary cultures and provides her students with opportunities to experience nontraditional lessons.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn and then share that learning with my students,” Miller said.

Esquivel typically celebrates Day of the Dead by having his AP students bring in an item to display on the ofrenda in his classroom. Students brought in a photograph or a personal belonging of a family member, friend, celebrity or a person who has passed. However, Esquivel was excited to try something new this year by giving students the hands-on experience of making the food associated with the holiday to understand how it is traditionally prepared.

“Food is very important,” Esquivel said. “The Aztecs believed that the spirits would come back on these days and enjoy the food, and this tradition still lives on today.”

Both Miller and Esquivel have worked hard to design this collaborative lesson and hope to continue this tradition in the upcoming years.

Additionally, Miller has already reached out to Kitchen and French teacher Elizabeth Louie for more cross-curricular lessons in the future.

“I enjoyed working with the culinary arts class,” junior Spanish student David Olmo Marchal said. “Culture is a very important part of our class. Being able to make the food and present it to our fellow classmates is part of learning of the culture, and I honestly think we should do it again.”

PHOTOS BY MYLES KIM GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY AMY LIU

Culinary and Spanish classes celebrate Day of the Dead

French Honor Society programs connect students

BY ANIRUDH SESHADRI

L

ynbrook’s French Honor Society plans to establish a pen pal program that will connect students to French-speaking students from Louisiana to help each other learn about their respective cultures.

Additionally, SHF will launch an introductory French program, which will cover the basics of French grammar, vocabulary and culture for elementary and middle school students in the Bay Area.

SHF’s planning committees, Calissons and Croquembouche, have already begun to organize the program’s contents, hoping to launch them in 2022.

Previously in the winter of 2020, French 4 students wrote letters to elderly French people in retirement homes. SHF officers wanted to implement a similar program and connect students to those of their age who speak French as a first language, sparking the idea for a pen pal program. The Croquembouche committee plans to work with high school students from Louisiana, Martinique, Canada and even France.

“We chose Louisiana since it’s a big region with a high French-speaking population that’s in the U.S.,” SHF Co-President Jiatian Yuan said. “We also want some schools in the francophone parts of Canada, but there’s also something similar to international schools in Canada where they follow a French curriculum.”

The officers believe that the program would pave the way for students to learn about French-speaking cultures beyond just France. If the program is successful and students have positive interactions, especially with those from Louisiana, SHF hopes to introduce it to Lynbrook French classes in the future.

“It’s an opportunity to connect with people in ways that we don’t really learn about in the classroom because you don’t get the chance to be directly involved in French culture unless it’s through your teachers,” Yuan said. “For example, we don’t know what the trends or what slang is hip with the students, so it will be cool to actually talk to people our age as an extra way to dive into the culture.”

In addition, the Calissons hope to release their introductory French course for elementary and middle school students, mainly targeting those in the Bay Area. By January 2022, SHF aims to have the content for live classes ready so they can start to teach in mid-January. They are in the process of making the course more intricate and interactive after learning from their fiveweek pandemic workshop, in which they taught French skills and culture.

“The courses will be online, and we’re planning to use interactive games like Blooklet to enhance the learning process,” SHF Co-President Selena Yao said.

In the course, SHF officers want to teach students how to greet others and introduce themselves, as well as French culture, tourism, famous foods and celebrities.

By launching these programs, SHF hopes to help students further understand cultures from different French-speaking nations, fulfilling their mission of encouraging engagement with French and their community.

GIANTS // pg. 19

02

November 09, 2021

NEWS

Choir and drama tell stories through Literature Concert

BY KATIE CHIN

L

ynbrook’s Literature Concert, hosted by the choir and drama departments, brought the literature pieces in English classes to life through fascinating songs and dances. From a passionate reenactment of Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene to an enthralling performance of the Dominican Republic’s national anthem, the musicians and actors showcased fantastical performances to family and friends. 6 years since its first show, the Literature Concert returned to Lynbrook on Oct. 11.

The concert kicked off with a rendition of “Ain’t We Got Fun” from The Great Gatsby, a traditional component of both the juniors’ American Literature and AP Language and Composition curriculum. The choir performed a lighthearted routine, choreographed by junior Isha Shah, as their voices filled the room, the angelic singing ringing loud and clear. Actors from Studio 74 portrayed cackling witches in a performance of one of the most famous scenes from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. The National Anthem of the Dominican Republic was sung as a nod to the book, In the Time of the Butterflies, which sophomores are reading in their World Literature class. The event ended with a wistful performance of “Call Me But Love” from Romeo and Juliet, a play read by the freshmen.

First presented six years ago as the Novels Concert, the Literature Concert was driven by the idea of a collaboration between the choir and English departments. This year, the drama department joined in on the action, with actors performing dramatic monologues and scenes from the books presented, elevating the engaging experience of the concert.

In the Time of the Butterflies, a story of four sisters

from the Dominican Republic leading the revolt against the cruel dictator Rafael Trujillo, proved to be particularly difficult to bring to the stage. Choir director Crystal Isola undertook the strenuous project of finding choral arrangements for traditional Spanish songs, reaching out to professors from several Latin countries.

“The book says that the song ‘My Little Sky’ is in the music box, and I couldn't figure out what that meant,” Isola said. “I was on the internet for days trying to figure out what ‘My Little Sky’ was, and finally I figured out that it was the song ‘Cielito Lindo,’ a Mexican folk song, but I guess in the Dominican Republic, they called it ‘My Little Sky’.”

Many Dominican songs did not come with music fit for choir, so Isola ultimately decided to have soloists or small groups of students — rather than the entire choir — sing.

Senior Arya Ramchander was the only student to take up the role of soloist, giving a spirited performance of the Dominican National Anthem. The Spanish songs were brightened by traditional Dominican dances, such as the charming merengue dance, performed by three students.

While The Great Gatsby boasted plenty of musical components, To Kill a Mockingbird had no mention of music within it, so Isola proudly decided to write her own choral arrangement for the song “Strange Fruit.” For both books, the music performed was composed to harmonize with the time period of the book. However, the music for Shakespeare’s plays were chosen for their similarity in tone to the play, rather than their historical accuracy.

Much of Studio 74’s work in the concert was directed by students. 6 student directors worked together to produce dramatic readings and reenactments of the books’ most notable scenes. Due to drama director Dani Howard’s maternity leave, the drama students held meetings and rehearsals at a student’s house. While some had prior experience with directing, it was a new venture for others.

“We’re all learning together as a team,” said sophomore Annika Dhebar, a student director for the concert. “We really got to know each other better, and now we’re like a mini family.”

Since many of the students had read the books performed in the concert, the directors were able to incorporate their personal knowledge of the stories into the performances.

Due to the shortage of drama students participating in the concert, many performers were casted in several roles, and directors and managers had to be casted in the show as performers. In Howard’s absence, the students learned to handle last-minute changes and plan and run rehearsals by themselves.

As a member of both choir and drama, Dhebar was the lead coordinator between the departments.

“We learned how to take on a lot of responsibility,” Dhebar said. “It really showed us what we’re capable of together, and not just individually.”

Through the concert, Lynbrook students were given the rare opportunity to immerse themselves in the books they are reading in their English classes.

“I think it’s wonderful to have a partnership between two different disciplines,” English teacher Joanna Chan said. “It develops this idea that learning can be crosscurricular and can give students a more wellrounded understanding of the place of literature in their lives.”

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CATHERINE ZHOU, PHOTOS BY KATIE CHIN

BY NEHA AYYER

C Letter from the Editors Dear readers, We hope you all had a spooky Halloween! As seniors move past early application deadlines and everyone heads into our final stretch of the semester, we hope that Issue 2 of the Epic will give you a chance to sit down, relax and catch up on what’s happening around campus.

We’re gearing up for the holiday season, and the first of our holiday packages is out on our website, lhsepic.com. Make sure to check out our Halloween make-up challenge and pumpkin carving video.

The Epic strives to share your stories and ideas. We encourage you to send in your opinion to our newspaper. Submit any sub-200 word response to a piece from this issue (Letters to the Editors) and your sub-500 word opinions on any issues relevant to our school, community, country and globe (Guest Columns) to us at enc.epic@gmail.com. We read all submissions, but only ones that we deem timely and of interest to the Lynbrook community will be selected. Guest columns and Letters to the Editors will be published on our paper and/or website.

Follow our Facebook and Instagram at @lhs.epic and subscribe to our YouTube and our Spotify, both linked on our website. All of our old print issues are available on issuu.com/theepic.

Rock on, Mei Corricello & Bennie Chang Editors-in-Chief

onstruction plans to expand and improve Lynbrook’s campus have been underway since the 2019-20 school year. The construction of new science, auditorium and classroom spaces by the 2022-23 school year will welcome students to a more modernized Lynbrook.

The theater lobby is still under construction and will be complete by March 2022. A lobby entry for the auditorium to welcome the audience has been on the to-do list for many years and is finally happening.

“The new lobby creation would incentivize more people to show up to performances and increase the popularity of the arts programs at Lynbrook,” senior and Studio 74 President Siddharth Chatteroraj said.

The new design will create a wider walkway to the school’s main entrance. In addition, the theater doors will have a light and sound lock to reduce external light and sound pollution during performances, with double doors at the entrance to the lobby.

Additionally, construction for the new science building at the location of the old office will start in June 2022. The building will have two stories, including rest areas for students.

“I’ve seen two-story classrooms in other schools, so I’m excited that they are finally building one at Lynbrook,” junior Avani Kinikar said.

Winding staircases on both sides of the building will take students from the first floor where the Chemistry classrooms are located to the Physics classrooms on the second floor. There will also be an elevator for equipment transportation and people with disabilities or injuries. The old science wing will be used for Biology classes, with each room’s walls being knocked down to merge and expand existing rooms.

Much of the inspiration for the new science building came from Cupertino High School. Since this building’s plan was already

approved for CHS, it was easier to get state approval for Lynbrook. Multiple science teachers toured CHS to decide what they wanted for Lynbrook’s twostory building.

“The only difference between CHS’s IENCE WING building and ours is the fume hoods,” Physics TWO STORY SC teacher Thanh Ngyuen said. “Our Physics and Chemistry curriculums are designed so that students can safely perform most experiments without the need for fume hoods, so the only fume hoods in the building will be in the staff stockroom on the Chemistry floor.”

However, before the construction of the science building can begin, the old office must first be demolished, a difficult and time-consuming task.

Fire alarms and pre-existing technologies will need to be rerouted. As of now, plans for the rerouting are still in progress as the administration and construction teams are devising an efficient process that will not interrupt classes.

Outside the classrooms, some fields are getting their turf redone, while others are getting turf for the first time. There is also an THEATER incorporation of new bike racks near the tennis court, with a bike repair station for students. The number of old racks near the pool will be reduced, and some will be moved to the Lynbrook Way entrance.

“The new bike racks will make it less stressful as it would be easier to find a space to park my bike; it would be safer because bikes won’t crash on top of each other and students won’t get scratched from other bikes,” Kinikar said.

The new construction will give staff and students larger and more modern amenities to teach and learn in, respectively. For teachers, the new space will provide more ways to use different styles of learning.

FIELDS WITH “With every project that gets completed, NEW TURFS people feel more proud of their campus,” Principal Maria Jackson said. “We worked hard to design the space with students in mind, and they’re kind of owning the place, which is great.”

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY JASMINE RIHAL

Campus construction on track for 2023

November 09, 2021

NEWS

03

TikTok trend motivates bathroom vandalism

BY ANUSHKA ANAND

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n early September 2021, Lynbrook bathrooms were missing soap dispensers and featured graffiti and disassembled sinks. Cases like these took place almost every other day throughout the month, which is also when the Tiktok trend “Devious Licks” went viral.

“I was looking at the bathrooms and saw that there was a bunch of graffiti and scribbles with markers,” sophomore Suchir Vyasamudri said. “The bathrooms looked really messy at the time.”

The goal of each devious lick is to commit a grander instance of school bathroom vandalism than the previous act. The trend has influenced instances of bathroom vandalism and theft have occurred at all other FUHSD high schools and at many schools across the country.

“Personally, I don’t think social media was responsible for this,” facilities manager Edgar Dueñas said. “It’s more about the individual making a conscious decision to participate in this TikTok trend.”

As a student, Vyasasmudri agrees with Dueñas’s assessment.

“It’s the students’ judgement to go out there and vandalize the school,” Vyasasmudri said. “People think this is funny and don’t understand the consequences for other students in the school. The bathrooms were closed for a while, so it was hard to find a free

USED WITH PERMISSION FROM EDGAR DUENAS

A coat hanger in a boys’ bathroom stall.

USED WITH PERMISSION FROM EDGAR DUENAS

Graffiti drawn inside the bathroom stall.

bathroom to go to during the month.”

Lynbrook custodians spent eight hours a week in September repairing the bathrooms.

It cost approximately $1,000 to fix all damages, in addition to paying the custodians extra money for their additional time and efforts. Luckily, no parts were stolen from the disassembled sinks, so very few repair kits needed to be purchased. The graffiti, on the other hand, was difficult to remove, and custodians spent hours scrubbing to remove it off the walls.

“We found and fixed some components from sink faucets that were missing due to vandalism,” Dueñas said. “It was about $375 in parts to replace the missing components in the Lynbrook restrooms since you can’t buy some specific items as individual pieces — you need to buy it as a set of pairs. Due to the time we spent cleaning the graffiti, custodians had less productivity and could not focus on their regularly assigned duties.”

Bathroom vandalism of this severity has never occurred at Lynbrook in past school years. Many staff members are shocked that students have gone so far as to destroy school property.

“Sadly, this is the most vandalism we’ve seen, and that is the case for a lot of schools in the area,” Assistant Principal Eric Wong said. “Kids know better than us for who’s doing this, and if they are okay with having bathrooms locked or making custodians go through this, that is very disappointing.”

Wong encourages students to do their part to prevent further vandalism of school property.

“If you see something, say something,” Wong said. “That culture of standing up for what’s right is really important.”

Since many of the bathrooms were closed, students had to walk around campus to find an open one. Because of a reduction in serviceable bathrooms, many students missed or were late to class and had less time to enjoy brunch and lunch.

“I think it’s important to make our rules clear and show what should not be tolerated in the school,” Vyasamudri said. “We are supposed to be a caring community. We just need to promote a positive message.”

In the last few weeks, Lynbrook has been a very clean and safe campus, and no new incidents have occurred. If students see any destruction on campus, they are encouraged to report it to Principal Maria Jackson, Executive Assistant to the Principal Maya Baba or Assistant Principals David Erwin, Susan Rocha, Yukari Salazar and Eric Wong. Students can additionally go to school therapist Jenna Starnes or guidance counselors Nikki Dang, Malissa Goldstein and Shana Howden. The faster such sightings are reported, the faster the school can fix it and hold students accountable.

Upcoming Viking Events No School on Nov. 11 and 12 There will be no school on Thursday, Nov. 11, for Veteran’s Day, and Friday, Nov. 12, for a Teacher Non-Duty Day. Enjoy the four day weekend!

AISA Sanskriti Performance Watch a South Asian classical art performance

by AISA in the cafeteria from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 19.

LIMB Winter Craft Faire On Saturday, Nov. 20, LIMB will be hosting its annual Winter Craft Faire. Come out between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m to buy handcrafted items and support our music programs!

Thanksgiving Break There will be no school on Thursday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26 for Thanksgiving Break.

Progress Reports Available Progress reports will be released on Infinite Campus on Nov. 12.

Winter Concert Listen to band, orchestra and choir perform at the Winter Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8 or Thursday, Dec. 9 at Monta Vista High School.

Winter Wellness Week From Dec. 13 to Dec. 16, enjoy fun holidaythemed activities and grab care packages with hot cocoa and hand warmers provided

by ASB Recognition.

USED WITH PERMISSION FROM EDGAR DUENAS

Grafiti found inside a bathroom stall.

By Myles Kim Photo by Jasmine Rihal

04

OPINION

the Epic lhsepic.com

Editorial: Does the Epic fairly represent the community?

A

s part of our ongoing effort to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, the Epic is taking a look at our diversity statistics from the past four school years, 2017-21. Diversity in coverage includes but is not limited to: race and ethnicity, age, sex and grade. In hopes of providing inclusive coverage to all students, staff, sports, clubs and groups on campus, we have audited our previous issues to reveal both our successes and shortcomings in equitably representing the Lynbrook population and promoting diversity. We chose to share these numbers with the wider community not only to keep the Epic accountable but also to share our goals as a publication and demonstrate the impact that our readers have in shaping our content. We would like to note that this data only includes our print coverage and does not take into account our web-exclusive content or continuous coverage on social media.

the Epic’s staff demographics

84%

Figure 1.1: The Epic staff by race

of the Epic staff identifies as female.

The Epic staff is composed of more females than males, largely because we receive more female applicants. To account for this, we will continue to advertise the application to our

publication through annual presentations to freshman and sophomore literature classes and social media posts in hopes of attracting a larger male audience.

Student interviews

Clubs and groups Figure 2.2: Interviewee distribution by sex

From 2018-21, Lynbrook has hosted a predominantly Asian Indian and Chinese student population. Using a chi-squared goodness-of-fit test based on the data show in Figure 2.1, the result was p-values less than the 0.05 alpha level. A higher p-value, ideally above 0.05, indicates that date is more representative of the group it is sampled from. As our p-values fall significantly below that number, our data does not match that of our student population. 75% of the Lynbrook population is Chinese and Indian, while 80.2% of our interviewees are of these two ethnicities, meaning we have room for growth.

Based on statistics released by FUHSD, Lynbrook’s class sizes are nearly equal across all grades. In our interviews, we interviewed seniors and juniors more often than sophomores and freshmen. In fact, more than 73% of our interviewees were upperclassmen. However, we would like to acknowledge that most club officers and group leadership positions are held by juniors and seniors. Regardless, we aim to balance this disparity by increasing coverage of underclassmen events such as Link Crew and JV sports.

Lynbrook has a 52-48% split between male and female students. Our data, shown in Figure 2.2, indicates that we lean significantly toward female interviewees, with only 30% of our interviewees identifying as male.

Staff interviews

Figure 3.1: Department interview coverage Figure 3.1 shows our top-covered departments with respect to staff interviewees. We have interviewed staff from the school administration 54 times, the social studies department 41 times, the English department 37 times, the guidance

This year, we will work to better represent the Lynbrook population by being more mindful of interviewing students of both sexes and contacting potential interviewees. For example, we plan to post Instagram polls about future story topics and direct message students who voluntarily respond.

This way, we can quote anyone who demonstrates an interest in giving their opinion on the subject and wants to have their voice shared through the Epic.

Figure 2.3: Interviewees by grade level Percentage of interviewees

Figure 2.1: Interviewee distribution by race

Percentage of interviewees

female male

T

Figure 1.2: Student population by race

*bars represented with class colors

department 29 times and the science department 26 times.

It is important to note that the data on these staff interviews often reflects the content of the stories we choose to write and publish. the Epic, being a news publication, covers current events. Many timely and relevant issues are associated with social justice and national headlines, which are often the expertise of staff in the history department. Nonetheless, we are seeking to diversify the topics of our articles and cover more than history, the government and current events. We plan to highlight the use of “beats,” a system to stay informed about all relevant communities in the Lynbrook community, to allow for a deeper and more comprehensive set of topics.

Of the 84 groups and clubs on campus, we have featured 37 unique ones across all four years. However, some notable clubs and groups, including ASB, Science Olympiad and Intersections, are mentioned at least four times, while others are mentioned at most three times. Although some clubs naturally contribute more toward campus culture

56%

or generate more newsworthy events, we strive to increase coverage to less widely known clubs by emphasizing “beats” to stay in constant contact with officers from every club on campus. To compensate for any further disparities, we will increase social media coverage for these clubs in the form of quick turnaround media.

of clubs on campus have not been covered since 2017.

Sports Lynbrook hosts seven fall sports, three winter sports and nine spring sports in addition to a few year-round sports. Of these sports, nine are girls sports, 12 are boys sports and four are coed. Based on the bar chart in Figure 4.2, which excludes any social media or web-exclusive photo coverage, we cover fall sports markedly more than other seasons. We have also featured certain popular sports a disproportionately high number of times: These include field hockey, cross country, football and swimming and diving.

However, the distribution of boys, girls and coed sports coverage is very similar, with 39.7% being girls, 38.8% being boys and 21.5% being coed. This year, we are continuing to step up our equitable sports coverage by creating a recurring sports

Figure 4.1: Sports coverage by gender photo spreadsheet to provide continuous coverage of Lynbrook athletics, both online and in print. We record dates of games and tournaments for each sport upon release and encourage staffers to photograph and interview players.

Figure 4.2: Sports coverage by season

Number of times covered

he Epic is constantly working toward equitable coverage of Lynbrook’s student and staff population. By interviewing community members with various experiences and of different races, genders and backgrounds, we aim to provide complete and nuanced perspectives on relevant issues to the Lynbrook community. Conducting this diversity audit on our own processes has brought to light discrepancies that we pledge to correct in the future. Through concrete methods such as maintaining an interviewee blacklist, implementing a postissue diversity analysis at least once a semester and holding open critique sessions to attain candid feedback from students and staff on campus, we will continue being transparent with our dedication to reporting on the Lynbrook community.

November 09, 2021

OPINION

One company to rule them all

05

BY MYLES KIM

BY LILLIAN FU// IN MY OPINION

Saying FU to marital naming traditions

I

n a second grade classroom, as winter rain darkened the window, my 7-year-old self sat at her desk and thought about how one day, she might not be Lillian Fu anymore.

She would have some other last name, belong to some other family, be some other girl. Even then, she was repulsed by that idea.

It wasn’t long after that I decided I will never change my family name upon marriage. I will be Lillian Fu forever.

The tradition of wives taking their husband’s names was never matter-offact to me. My mom, like most Chinese women, didn’t change hers — in many Asian cultures, women retain their surnames after marriage. The concept was introduced to me through school and Western media, and I grew up knowing that it was optional.

But that’s a luxury many girls don’t have.

I know that most women aren’t signing away their individuality when taking their husband’s last name, but I still can’t help but see it as a surrender. I can’t help but see its traditional function as a mark of ownership, the erasure of a woman’s identity. I can’t help but see generations upon generations of nameless wives, millions and millions of “Mrs. John Smiths” lost to history. And I can’t help but get a bit mad.

To me, the expectation society introduces to girls from a young age to change their last name tells them that their identity is less important than their future husband’s identity. Yet some women never question this expectation, instead taking it as romantic or familial.

We’ve all seen that scene in every romantic-comedy where the schoolgirl dreamily doodles hearts around her name in her notebook, with her crush’s surname in place of her own. When I wonder how scores of women carry on this tradition so willingly, I think of that schoolgirl, tossing her last name, which carries little weight when balanced against romance, away with such ease.

My last name is heavy to me. It’s weighed down by heritage, and I carry it with pride.

It’s my legacy contained in a family name passed down from parent to child. As an American, I’ve never set foot in the halls of my ancestral home, or even met most of the people who share my blood. My name is one of my only connections to my roots.

But only sons are given the right to continue that legacy. On a walk last year, my older brother told me that my dad expects him to have children so that he may pass down “Fu” to another generation, though he’s never wanted kids himself. Looking down at the concrete passing below my feet, I thought: “But why can’t I do that?”

Why can’t my brother’s burden be my privilege? I want my children to have my last name. I want them to be able to trace their roots to the village in South China where their ancestors once plowed the fields. I want my family to belong to me, and I don’t want to compromise.

But every time I tell someone this, no matter how progressive they are, the reaction is never fully positive. I grimace through their subsequent inquisition, hating it all the while. I shouldn’t be judged for wanting something that half the world is given at birth.

I shouldn’t be questioned at all. I shouldn’t have had to sit in my second grade classroom and cycle through potential last names I might have in the future, mouthing them to myself, wondering which one would make me feel the least sick.

The answer is always none of them.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BAY JASON SHAN

F

acebook’s global outage on Oct. 4 lasted for seven hours and left billions who rely on the app and its subsidiaries for digital communication stranded. This put the company’s unethical, continued monopolization of social networking and digital communication, along with its pursuit of higher profit margins, on full display.

The word monopoly has become synonymous with mega-companies like Facebook, which recently rebranded itself as Meta. Meta refers to the metaverse, a term used to describe shared virtual world environments accessed by the internet.

A monopoly is defined by the Federal Trade Commission as a single firm that unreasonably restrains competition by maintaining power over a market. Over the last decade, Facebook has bought multiple communication competitors including Instagram and WhatsApp, valued at a total of $20 billion at the time of purchase. In December 2020, the FTC sued Facebook after years of anti-competitive conduct.

“In general, competition with the exception of geographic monopolies is in the favor of the consumer,” business teacher Andrea Badger said.

A person may start a company with a noble cause — to solve world hunger or to make software applicable to daily life — but that nobility erodes as the company grows and its vision falls second to the pursuit of profit. If a company controls its competitors and supply chains, it prevents innovation, and the consumer receives worse products or services as a result. That problem is communication magnified with a monopoly’s failure, like infrastructure Fackebook’s outage on the first day of and economic Homecoming week. opportunity “It was really difficult for the freshmen would not to communicate with each other during the have come to a school day, and ASB Tech and all of the class screeching halt, officers experienced the same problem,” said and activists in regimes would have been senior and Public Relations Commission able to spread their word to the masses.

Lead Michael Ma. In 2018, Facebook also garnered global Thankfully, Lynbrook students could animosity when the Myammar military still communicate through text messages. used Facebook to spread hate speech and However, the ramifications of this outage are propoganda to rile up support to justify ethnic more severe on a global scale. genocide against the Rohingya Muslims. The The outage affected developing crisis forced millions of refugees to flee to countries, many in the Middle East, where neighboring countries and facilitated the communication is reliant on WhatsApp. murder of hundreds of thousands.

Crippling economic, social and political While Facebook tried to ban instability make it impossible accounts, it failed to stop the to establish infrastructure spread. By then, millions of needed for reliable internet refugees had already fled and cellular service. because of Facebook’s People in these regions ineffectiveness. rely on WhatsApp for In the 2020 U.S. everything, from finding jobs presidential election, to communicating with family.

Facebook created a Civic Junior and Paper Airplanes Integrity department tutor coordinator in order to curb Aneesha Jobi was misinformation unable to contact about voting but refugee students disbanded it In general, competition, living in the the day after with the exception of Middle East for the election. geographic monopolies, the entire day.

The company “We had is in the favor of the deemed it no to cancel consumer. longer necessary, our lessons, ironically because which was no riots had Andrea Badger, unfortunate occurred during Business because they the election. Many were living in Republican politicians really difficult were still advocating for situations,” Jobi said. “If the idea that the election was they can’t depend on having stolen through voter fraud, which a good internet connection or having an app led to the Capital riots. Facebooks’ inability that works, then it’s difficult for us to tutor to moderate its platform, or rather its lack them.” of responsibility, enabled conservative The debacle illustrates how reliance on a politicians to spoon-feed misinformation few companies for global communication and to their followers, directly impacting the social networking infrastructure is dangerous. organization of the insurrection.

Facebook and other tech giants should be As further evidence of Facebook’s heavily regulated and possibly broken up incompetence, whistleblower France to prevent further outages. If Facebook had Haugen revealed that Facebook’s algorithms not been authorized to buy WhatsApp and purposely show content that is divisive, Instagram, among other competitors, the hateful and polarizing. They are designed outage would only affect Facebook itself and to keep users engaged and on the platform, not its sibling apps. Developing countries increasing advertisement profits. Facebook that rely on Facebook’s platforms for must change their algorithm and abandon

its practice of profit over ethics.

A quick buck is not worth social and political harm.

Consumer activism can influence what goods or services are on the market, but previous attempts have varied in their success. Individual actions like deleting the application in protest will barely affect the company.

Because of the U.S. government’s selective enforcement of antitrust laws, monopolization has been effectively legal for the past decade. When enforced, antitrust laws result in insignificant fines and short imprisonments. Because of their ambiguity, Congress must reform antitrust laws in order to prevent future mergers and to make it easier to break up monopolies.

Legislatures can also threaten to remove Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides legal immunity for website platforms that publish thirdparty content. In the past, when Congress threatened to repeal Section 230, larger social media platforms were forced to comply. This can be levied against Facebook to force it to take corporate action. However, some argue that through regulation and crackdown, the government is walking a fine line between protecting people and government overreach.

“We are primarily a market economy, so it’s ruled mostly by supply and demand,” Badger said. “I think our government has an obligation to protect our citizens, but we’re still figuring out where that line is and where they are crossing over too much.”

Facebook’s playbook is simple. Create the rules in their favor, destroy competition and create the illusion of a sustainable and responsible company while making as much money as possible. Through legislation or legal action, Facebook must be regulated and broken up to prevent further political and social polarization and to set a precedent for other corporations: They are not above the jurisdiction of any one government.

06

Letter to the Editors

I

’m Aryan Dwivedi, a senior at Lynbrook this year. I picked up the Epic’s latest issue with great interest and wanted to let you guys know that it truly was a great GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH CHENG read! However, something did bother me.

The Staff Editorial about the abundance of clubs on campus was something I was truly excited to read because I’m aware of this issue as an officer for multiple clubs, a Legislative Council Speaker last year and a council member this year. As I was reading, I noticed language about how the variety of medical clubs on campus “weaken” Pre-Medicine Club. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I found this to be unfair and a negative way to namedrop a lot of clubs on campus who’ve proven their worth. Did it hurt to see HEAL and Sports Medicine, clubs that I’m an officer for, name-dropped in that cluster? I’d be lying if I said no. However, it’s not about my situation.

I just find it unfair how certain clubs that put a great deal of effort into building a sustainable community of students over the years were referred to in a negative fashion. The same could be said when multiple clubs in the engineering and computer science culture were discussed.

I find that the approach of the article wasn’t right, since from my experience in Legislative Council and in Lynbrook clubs, the reason for our current challenge of club abundance is clubs whose officer teams have removed themselves from their respective clubs. I’ve known of senior officers not showing up for their clubs, attendance numbers falling below 10 and more. Finding these clubs and implementing consequences is what helps the club abundance issue, not name targeting healthy clubs that cover a niche topic. The language, even if unintentional, targets clubs that in actuality do not have these flaws. I found that to be an issue with the approach of the article.

It’s possible that I may have misread or misjudged the argument or intention of the article. However, if that’s the case, that’s probably due to poor word choice.

Those were my thoughts regarding the article; I don’t mean to bash the Epic in any way.

This is an important topic to cover, and I find it to be great that the Epic decided to cover it. I really don’t want this to come off as passive-aggressive, and I hope it’s perceived in the form of constructive criticism. Keep up the great work!

BY SAMYUKTA SARMA//IN MY OPINION

Thanksgiving, but with yogurt rice?

T

November 09, 2021

OPINION

he streets of San Jose, Calif. were deserted on a stormy night in 1997 when Seetha and Sankara Sarma arrived at the lobby of Motel 6, drenched and holding a 5-year-old child in their arms.

My parents arrived in the U.S. on the night before Thanksgiving after a long journey from Bangalore, India. They had no prior knowledge of the holiday and were reasonably frightened when the streets

It is okay to be absent for your mental health

BY JASMINE RIHAL

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any students experience running on only a few hours of sleep, bubbling with anxiety and dealing with the constant stress that comes with being a teenager. Left unaddressed, these issues can lead to mental burnouts. Unfortunately, health issues have been stigmatized to a point where students feel uncomfortable talking about their struggles or taking absences to recover. Lynbrook and other schools should promote student dialogue that challenges school-inspired stress and the hardships of being a student.

In a recent Homeroom student survey conducted on Oct. 19, more than 50% of students agreed that school has been harder than expected, around 80% of students agreed or strongly agreed that it has been more challenging to focus on school related tasks and 49% of students have felt their mental health worsen. These statistics are concerning as they show that an overwhelming number of Lynbrook students are struggling with their mental health.

“Students think taking a break or asking for help makes them look weak, or they believe what is a mental health struggle is just them being lazy,” Lynbrook school-based therapist Jenna Starnes said.

Unfortunately, students are often afraid to ask for help from teachers because they fear that teachers might doubt the validity of their struggle. If schools help students become more comfortable with taking care of their mental health, students would have an easier time asking for help.

“Stigmatizing mental health produces self-doubt, which means students are less likely to go and talk to a teacher to say, ‘I’m completely overwhelmed and I just mentally am not in this

space’ because they believe it times, students feel like some teachers don’t may be their fault,” Starnes said. pay enough attention to how large volumes of Some teachers assign an overwhelming schoolwork affects students’ mental health. amount of assignments, which negatively “Most of the time, teachers expect affects students’ mental health and can us to have time to study for their tests reduce their ability to perform well in school. and everything while still giving us Many students are pressured by their parents homework,” junior Patricia Chang said. to maintain good grades, take challenging “I have to push myself to keep studying, classes and keep up with demanding especially with a big test the next day, extracurricular activities that can further and it really affects your mental health.” cause fatigue. Parents also may not believe The stigma behind improving mental in the detrimental effects of stress or mental health makes those who are struggling health issues caused with theirs less by schoolwork, which willing to take causes them to believe care of themselves that their students or reach out and “I have to push myself to are overreacting. talk to someone. keep studying, especially Some teachers try This problem is with a big test the next to relieve stress for compounded at day, and it really affects students by excusing Lynbrook because my mental health.” them from certain many students assignments to lighten are constantly students’ workload, competing against Patricia Chang, a potential solution each other and are Junior that should be offered desperate to earn more widely by perfect grades. teachers. For example, “The culture here art teacher Matthew at Lynbrook is one of Reynolds offers his students a Day of excellence, which I appreciate,” Reynolds said.

Peace Token that allows students to opt “To that end, I think sometimes that mental out of class once each semester. He was health takes a backseat to this pursuit.” given this option as a student during his Students experience mental burnout credential program and found it helpful. due to a multitude of factors: the amount of “We all have days when things don’t work they receive, pressure from parents go right, you’re exhausted or you have and extracurricular activities. Schools can something that is affecting your ability to take more action to destigmatize mental concentrate or work,” Reynolds said. “In health issues to improve students’ abilities those moments, it’s important to be to focus in class and foster healthier able to say, ‘I really need lifestyles. This starts by permitting a break, and I and normalizing the act of need to not do students taking time off from this now.’” school to work on themselves.

A t

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH CHENG were empty and every store was closed, leaving them unable to buy food or water.

Although it was only 5:30 p.m., the annual El Niño rainstorms had darkened the sky with clouds, sending streams down my mother’s raincoat. Isolated and cold, my parents’ initial reaction was that they had made a mistake. This was not the sunny California they had signed up for.

After being reassured by my mother’s friend and colleague, who was kind enough to bring over food for the night, my parents decided to remain in the U.S. and find an apartment as soon as possible. That week, my father stayed in the motel to take care of my older sister while my mother went to work. My father often recounts with a crooked smile how horrible it was in that tiny room, eating only yogurt rice while trying to entertain my sister.

Growing up, I would watch my favorite characters on Disney Channel share a bountiful Thanksgiving feast and wonder why dozens of people never gathered at my family’s dinner table for huge portions of turkey and pie. But I soon realized that we would never be like the “normal” American family shown on TV: We were vegetarian, and

they had turkey; our relatives were in India, so it was only the five of us; and ultimately, my parents did not care about a holiday that wasn’t culturally theirs.

But I still can’t help but think about that night in 1997. As people all over the country gathered with friends and family to feast, my family ate yogurt rice in a motel room.

When my sisters and I were growing up, we would make holiday crafts at school, hear about our peers’ plans to travel across the country and watch Thanksgiving specials on TV. It was inevitable that we would want to celebrate Thanksgiving, so our parents always allowed us to celebrate the holidays — also so they could escape our tantrums. I would spend hours curating the perfect Thanksgiving table: carefully baking pumpkin pies, finding replacements for turkey and instructing my family members on what to cook. They would laugh at me, but deep down, I was upset that my parents didn’t care as much as I did.

However, my Thanksgiving mania soon ended. Through lessons in school, I learned that the holiday contradicted my personal beliefs because it celebrates colonization, which has harmed native communities. The

British’s exploitation of India, the country of my heritage, made me feel especially guilty for celebrating a holiday that applauds settlers claiming indigenous peoples’ land.

I also realized that it was kind of my parents to let us celebrate, at all, a holiday that had welcomed them with rain and nonexistent arms.

I had learned that some immigrants choose to celebrate Thanksgiving with the pride and gratefulness of successfully becoming American. Yet, I was still unsure whether Thanksgiving, with all its flaws, could ever be a holiday that represented the struggles and successes of the immigrant community. So when my father remakred that we came to America around Thanksgiving day while recounting our immmigration story, I was relieved to end my conflict with the holiday. I hadn’t known until then that their arrival to the U.S. perfectly coincided with Thanksgiving.

Suddenly, I knew where I stood with Thanksgiving: I didn’t want to celebrate it — I wanted to celebrate my parents’ immigration. With the addition of pumpkin pie, of course, because at the end of the day, we’re still American.

November 09, 2021

OPINION

07

Being rubbish at recycling is not responsible

BY CATHERINE ZHOU

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s waste increasingly piles up in landfills, the question of whether to recycle or not is surprisingly still inadequately addressed at Lynbrook. While recycling is an effective way to reduce waste and lower environmental impacts, various obstacles such as COVID-19 and a lack of school personnel have put somea recycling programs on hold. However, the future benefits of sustainability outweigh the challenge, and initiating plans that contribute to a greener campus is a good place to start.

Due to alarming climate trends such as increased pollution and g l o b a l

warming, recycling has become less of a suggestion and more of an expectation in recent years. Although Lynbrook currently makes an effort to recycle paper and bottles, students are not educated in what should be recycled, so they often throw recyclable or compostable materials straight into the trash, contributing to pollution and the growth of landfills.

Although recycling initiatives were implemented by the school in the past, they have fallen apart due to declining support and awareness from students and administration. The classroom paper recycling program was initially started by a club, but they lost interest, leaving the task to former club adviser Debbie Schmalz’s teacher assistants. In addition, cans and bottles recycling is managed by the Lynbrook Academic Community Transition program, which helps students with learning and behavioral disabilities become independent and gain vocational skills, but they have faced difficulties during the recycling process.

“The biggest issue we’ve had is people throwing garbage into the recycle bins instead of the trash can,” ACT instructor Dave Herz said. “When we go around and collect bottles or cans from our bins, we have to first weed out all the trash, and sometimes the students just don’t like it.”

COVID-19 halted both initiatives, and reviving

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SAMYUKTA SARMA AND AMISHI CHANDRA

LHSEPIC.COM Check out our AWARD-WINNING WEBSITE to watch our spooky series, Mac Miller podcast, energy drink review, armwrestling video and an energetic video where two sports teams swap sports!

recycling efforts has been challenging.

Currently, the ACT program only has half of their recycling cans out on campus because students are still learning to work after a year of distance learning. The custodians also agreed to collect recycled paper along with regular trash, but some custodians do not have time to do so properly. Every night, their schedule is packed with not only emptying trash cans but also setting up and cleaning up large events that are held in school buildings.

Therefore, a large part of the success of a recycling program depends on students properly disposing their waste. Because they are often not educated on how to recycle, students repeatedly wish-cycle — the practice of throwing trash into the recycling bin without knowing its recyclability.

Students must not contaminate recycling bins with other waste so custodians and ACT students are not forced to either sort through the recycling bin or simply throw the recycling products into the trash.

“A lot of students aren’t aware that you must rinse your containers if they have food, and all items have a label affixed to the container or the side somewhere that states what type of recyclable it is,” facilities manager Edgar Dueñas said.

The solution to reducing Lynbrook’s environmental impact is not easy, but it is within our reach. Lynbrook is capable of adding labeled composting containers and educating students about sustainability, but no actions have been taken by administration. To help the district start implementing green initiatives and climate friendly actions, several students, including Lynbrook Conservation Action Association officers Cindy Chou, Nicholas Kong and Apurva Krishnamurthy, are drafting a climate

resolution for the district. An important aspect of the resolution is organic waste collection, which has the potential to help Lynbrook reduce its waste markedly.

“A lot of our waste is organic waste, like paper plates and food waste,” Kong said. “If we implement organic collection with our school’s waste provider, then I feel like that would divert a lot of waste from the landfill.”

Composting organic matter, such as food and soiled paper plates, prevents the release of methane in landfills, and on top of composting, a garden can be added to further aid in sequestering carbon emissions.

Furthermore, increased education about what should be recycled, composted or thrown away is necessary for students to know which items go into which containers.

Individuals must make an effort to educate themselves and others about sustainability, and the district should promote education about recycling.

“I think having a homeroom dedicated to teaching people about how to separate different types of waste would help,” Chou said.

Apart from recycling, CAA also recommends making small steps toward sustainability such as carpooling to school, buying from sustainable clothing brands and being aware of which items can be recycled.

In a time of climate crisis, the recycling system at Lynbrook must be addressed and improved upon. Students and staff need to not only increase awareness of their impact on the environment but also strive to implement changes toward a greener campus. However, improvement can only occur if the district is in line with student goals. United as a school and as a district, it is time to take action in the fight against climate change.

08

FEATURES

the Epic lhsepic.com

Medha Belwadi tackles the world on one wheel

BY SRUTHI MEDEPALLI

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uarantine has revealed a host of unexpectedly talented Lynbrook students, including junior Medha Belwadi, who reintroduced herself to the art of balancing on one wheel. Despite discovering the unicycle through a middle school elective course, it was only during 2020 that she found the time to return to it.

While unicycling might conjure the image of clowns in a circus, the sport can be practiced by anyone. When Christa McAuliffe Middle School presented unicycling as a course offering for Belwadi, its eccentricity drew her in. Practicing unicycling, juggling and spinning a diabolo helped her hone the necessary skills of balance and spatial awareness.

“It’s something you don’t see around very

often, and I thought it was really cool that I was learning to do something that was so extraordinary,” Belwadi said.

Learning to balance on the wheel is not only an unorthodox skill but also a way to get mental and physical exercise. Amid students’ technologyfilled days, taking a step away from a computer and getting on her unicycle improved Beldwadi’s mindset and her ability to focus. Because of the complexity of unicycling, she developed skills such as balancing and checking spatial awareness.

Unicycling connected Belwadi to those around her. As a rookie to unicycling and a middle schooler with a low attention span, she forged

relationships with teachers and friends as they helped her to learn the sport.

In order to fully begin cycling, Belwadi needs someone to keep her balanced and give her a push.

This seemingly individual sport became a team effort and a way for her to spend time with people she loved.

“Every time I ride my unicycle, something funny and memorable happens, and it allows me to remember to cherish the people in my life,” Belwadi said.

While other wheeled sports have increased in popularity, unicycling remains close to

Belwadi’s heart. Balance is the deciding factor of a unicyclist’s success, as unicycling requires constant rotations of the leg and arms to maintain a stable center of balance.

At her best, Belwadi recounts being able to unicycle up to 30 feet without falling off and looks to improve this record with more practice. Over the past year, she has devoted around an hour a week to the unicycle and has improved greatly. Other sports she enjoys include skateboarding and biking.

In unicycling, Belwadi found a creative stress-relieving activity to clear her mind.

Her experience has given her not only an unusual skill but also personal joy.

“It’s something fun for me to do, and it pumps my adrenaline,” Belwadi said. “When you’re riding a unicycle and you’re constantly terrified of falling off, it takes your mind off everything else.”

PHOTO BY SRUTHI MEDEPALLI

Gym lobby digitalizes Vikings’ past

BY MEERA NAMBIAR

H

idden in a corner of the gym lobby, an unassuming touch screen monitor holds Lynbrook’s history through generations of yearbooks. With volumes dating back to the school’s founding, the interactive monitor allows students to travel through time and visit Lynbrook from decades past.

“We added it as a way to honor the history of Lynbrook, and we hope that students will see that they are part of a larger Lynbrook legacy,” Principal Maria Jackson said.

Although installed in December 2020, the 2021-22 school year is the first year students can use the monitor. As a new feature in the new gym lobby, the monitor is unknown among most students.

“Looking through the yearbooks was really interesting, and I was surprised they existed,” junior Sruti Elangovan said.

“I didn’t think that the pictures from the 1960s would be colored.”

The monitor was the idea of athletic director Jennifer Griffin, who wanted to make the yearbooks more accessible to students and showcase the school’s legacy.

“The yearbooks show Lynbrook’s history, and it’s fun to see the different styles over the years,” Griffin said. “It’s also easier to look at than going to the library and finding them. I wouldn’t do that, but if I’m at the gym for a game, I

would come look at it.”

Organized by decade, every yearbook is on the monitor. Swiping through them, one can spot how dramatically the school has changed in both appearance and culture. In the school’s first yearbook from 1966, students are seen in 60s style outfits and haircuts. Groups ranging from Home Economics Club to the boys basketball team, as well as events such as the Sadie Hawkins Dance and the Winter Ball, are featured. By the 1980s, pages come to life with color, and familiar events, such as Homecoming, begin making an appearance.

The interactive monitor features tabs for yearbooks as well as athletics, showcasing photos of student athletes and sports schedules. In the athletics tab, one can look at each sport and see the Central Coast Section titles that teams and individuals have won throughout the years. The monitor also live streams sports games in the gym.

As an additional component, Griffin hopes to create a digital Hall of Fame for student athletes, for which athletes of both the past and present can have their sports accomplishments memorialized.

“A lot of schools have a Hall of Fame when it comes to athletics, and our school has never done that, and it’s something I would like to add,” Griffin said. “It’s a Hall of Fame and you get inducted into it for a sport, and it would be on the monitor.”

In addition, students can find photos of teachers who attended Lynbrook in the past, including Griffin. Past alumni can also see their yearbooks and reminisce on their high

ATHLETICS GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SUSANNA TANG

school memories.

“It’s fun to look back at Homecoming memories, and I think it would be fun for new students to see how things were done many years ago,” Griffin said.

The monitor is a unique addition to campus, and Jackson hopes that students will explore the monitor to compare Lynbrook now versus then.

“I would like students to see how similar and different generations before them were,” Jackson said. “Looking at old yearbooks offers a unique perspective on the life of teens since 1965.”

ACADEMICS

YEARBOOKS

IN MEMORIAM in loving

MEMORY

Coach Jake White 1942 - 2021

the Epic lhsepic.com

09

O

n Oct. 4, 2021, Jake White, beloved cross country and track and field coach began when he was 32, and he achieved excellent times for distances rang tremendous impact of his mentorship is keenly felt at Lynbrook, where h cross country team to states twice.

Known for his daily summer training practices, Jake supplied all runners with wa his iconic grey van. Some of his most memorable sayings include signaling the start “you’ve got a bug in your butt,” describing a slow pace as “pitty-pat” and an indeterm on, rain or shine, whenever the team needed him.

Jake could always be counted on to provide positivity and support to each one of why they started to and consistently run. He believed in every single person and smile through the pain afterward. His smile, humor and pre-race pep talks are imp Jake will forever live in the hearts of everyone who was blessed enough to know Rest in peace, Coach Jake.

Scan the QR code to read me

passed away peacefully at the age of 79. Jake’s impressive personal running career ging from 800 meters to marathons. Though he coached at a few other schools, the he began coaching in 2008. During his coaching career, Jake brought the Lynbrook

ater in bright red jugs at rest stops, gave out crunchy granola bars and waved from t of a time trial or workout with “hit it,” complimenting a runner on a fast race with minate increase in pace for a workout as “a titch faster.” He could always be counted

f his athletes, regardless of their speed. Countless runners cite Jake as a key reason their ability to do their best, teaching everyone how to challenge their limits and printed in every runner’s memory. him.

essages from current and past athletes.

November 09, 2021

FEATURES

13

Phuong and Chan keep campus technology running

BY SOPHIE AU

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rom setting up computers to managing the school Wi-Fi to fixing projectors in classrooms, Lynbrook’s network and computer support specialists Toan Phuong and Allen Chan do it all. Even though students may only see them for a couple minutes at a time, Phuong and Chan are the backbone behind Lynbrook’s highly technology-based learning environment.

As network and computer support specialists, Phuong and Chan’s main job is to take care of the school’s computer and Wi-Fi needs. This includes helping teachers with computer and projection, login and password issues; updating school computers; and setting up Wi-Fi on student laptops. Phuong and Chan keep all of the school’s technology up and running at all times. In addition, they maintain the technology budget for the school and work with the school’s construction company to ensure that all technology in newly constructed buildings are useful and functional.

Phuong started working at Lynbrook as a network and computer support specialist more than 20 years ago. His background in technology, his love for computers and the support from the district has made Phuong enjoy the job.

Chan started his job 11 months ago and has enjoyed working alongside Phuong at Lynbrook. When he first heard of the opportunity, he saw it as a chance to experience tech in a noncorporate world.

“I wasn’t really aware of what it’s like on the administrative side,” Chan said.

“I’ve been through high school on the student side, so it’s interesting to see how it’s run in the background, and it’s been very interesting.”

A typical day for Phuong and Chan largely consists of being on call to answer teacher calls and student emails

about tech issues. Phuong and Chan are busy running around campus from classroom to classroom to assist teachers and students, whether it be for those locked out of accounts or for people experiencing projector issues.

On top of that, they balance tasks left behind from the previous day with new issues that pop up throughout the current day.

“We prioritize the teachers and students,” Phuong said. “Any time they call or email, we respond to their call to help them get their password or anything that pops up through the computer.”

Before the start of a school year, Phuong and Chan do as much as possible to technologically set up the school, updating

needing them for school,” Lynbrook librarian Amy Ashworth said. “Their tasks completed before school ensures that all technology is ready for students to use.”

Besides individual technology issues, Phuong and Chan coordinate with the other network and computer support specialists in the district in the event of a district-wide Wi-Fi crash. Communicating on the Wi-Fi situation at other schools helps them narrow down the cause of a possible issue and update teachers and administration of the current situation.

The role of a network system specialist has changed in accordance with the technological developments at Lynbrook. The school used to have very few devices, but Lynbrook is now home to more than 2,000 devices. Students’ personal mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, are considered additional devices that are now running on the school network.

“Students used to have only one laptop, but nowadays, a student has many devices — they are running four or five devices,” Phuong said. “I don’t know how they manage all the devices.”

In a world with fast-paced technological changes, Phuong and Chan keep up with the newest devices and update Lynbrook with the newest and most recent technology.

“Another task we do is just keeping up to date with all the current trends,” Chan said. “We see what new technology there is and see how we can implement them for students and staff as well.”

As Phuong and Chan go around Lynbrook to assist anyone in need, they have quickly become MVPs of their own.

“Both of them have their hearts in the right place,” Ashworth said.

“They’re all about service, even if they get tired of saying, ‘Have you tried turning it off and on again?’”

PHOTO BY SOPHIE AU

all computers and laptops to prepare for he students’ return.

“We usually make sure the computers are updated so that when classes go on, the update doesn’t happen suddenly and prevent students, or even the teachers’ computer from taking class time, or running the class,” Chan said.

Alongside the library staff, Phuong and Chan manage new devices coming into Lynbrook every summer.

“The entire team, including Mr. Phuong and Mr. Chan, worked for hours to get the new ‘freshmen’ chromebooks into their protective cases, then piled them up to prepare for the onslaught of students

No time to die: Daniel Craig’s final act as Bond

BY BENNIE CHANG

F

or decades, James Bond has been the epitome of emotionless, brutal masculinity; however, in Daniel Craig’s final appearance as 007, the actor exists in the most pleasant of twists, one centered around emotional maturation and self-sacrifice.

The character development of Bond is successful and much needed, but the nearly three-hour plot lacks clarity and fails to do justice to its main character.

The movie follows Heracles, a contactspreading biological weapon that kills targeted individuals. In his journey to stop its mass production, Bond meets 007 successor Nomi, the first Black and female agent, infiltrates Spectre meetings and loses a friend. After Safin, the broody antagonist played by Rami Malek, kidnaps Bond’s love interest, Bond journeys with Nomi to the manufacturing island where the weapon and his love interest are. The movie leaves with an unusually touching resolution that successfully wraps up Criag’s decades in the 007 spotlight.

Nevertheless, the long, drawn-out plot’s vast number of moving parts makes it extremely difficult to follow. Adjacent storylines don’t flow together, and some are never elaborated on. The movie

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SUSANNA TANG

dedicates the first hour and a half toward deciding who the antagonist is, only to reveal that Safin, the mass producer of Heracles, is the true criminal mastermind. Most annoyingly, Heracles parallels COVID-19, turning the fantastical world of theaters into a perpetual reminder of the pandemic.

The massive production only adequately meets its cinematography and editing expectations. While beautiful scenic shots of Italy’s dramatic city of Matera, Jamaica and the Faroe Islands shine, several high intensity scenes lack creativity and suspense despite fantastic cinematography. By reintroducing overused and predictable action scenes, like car chases and gunfights in stairwells, the director underachieves the potential action of 007.

However, the film introduces new favorite characters like Nomi, played by Lashanna Lynch, who brings a much needed flair and freshness to the movie. Strutting into the retired Bond’s bedroom — with the audience fully expecting the latest Bond girl — Nomi takes off her wig and announces that she is the new 007. While she too desperately challenges Bond at times, her kick-ass personality and skills are admirable.

Also notable is Mathilde, played by the young star Lisa-Dorah Sonnet, who steals the show with her adorable eyes and calm personality. Watching Bond rescue and

care for her are some of the most heartfelt moments of the film.

Of course, Craig cannot be left out. Through his tender embrace and pleading eyes, the audience is left with no doubt that Bond has forever lost his strict-faced self. Even Craig’s expressions in the opening scenes betrays Bond’s supposed coldness, foreshadowing Bond’s eminent recharacterization. The change in Bond since Craig’s first start in Casino Royale has led to this masterpiece.

While effectively showcasing the heartless Bond in prequels, Craig does an even better job as the warm 007. The script fits him perfectly, and he reflects it flawlessly. While not showcasing complete intimacy and softness, he balances Bond’s strength and newfound softness.

Although far from perfect, No Time To Die does something that no other 007 movies has done: humanizing Bond and weaving the emotions of compassion, regret and sadness into all crevasses of the movie. His selfless act at the end of the movie never seemed possible in the realm of 007, yet he achieved it. By challenging the status quo, the Bond franchise is revolutionized. While the conclusion of Craig’s James Bond may not perfectly connect to the next torchbearer, it is a representative end not only to Bond’s character arc but also to Craig’s impressive era as Bond.

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November 09, 2021

FEATURES

Section leaders mentor marching band members

BY AMISHI CHANDRA

M

ore than 100 students synchronize their moves and practice relentlessly at sectionals, all to present their captivating show and make the crowd go wild. The people who drive this magic are the section leaders: mentors for each marching band member who plays their particular instrument, and they are responsible for making sure that their section stays on task and knows their music.

Getting 127 students to play together is not easy, especially because the musicians have to march, pose and play their instruments simultaneously. Every team needs good leaders, and the section leaders are the backbones of a successful marching band. Although each section has different music and choreography to prepare, they all work together. Each section holds practices in their own time, which are called sectionals.

“I held around 26 hours of sectionals just during the summer, even before band camp started,” senior and percussion section leader Ty Hosein said. “And then after that, we’ve been holding one hour and a half sectionals each week with the entire drumline. Then each subsection — snare, base and tenor — holds around one hour of sectionals.”

There are 11 sections in marching band: flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, low wind, trumpet, mellophone, trombone, baritone, sausa, battery, pit and color guard. Low winds bring fun to the field, and flutes and alto saxophone are responsible for enthusiasm because they are always energetic in their moves. Battery is in charge of the drum beats, and although each person in the lineup is a soloist, they all come together to create a rhythmic background. Baritones bring creativity and fun choreography while the

low brass section, consisting of the trumpet, sausa and trombone, add their own twist to the music. The clarinet section is responsible for highlighting the melodies in the music.

During the entire show, each section gets the spotlight one or two times.

“We’re a really big family and I’m pretty sure everyone in the section is close to each other,” clarinet section leader Faith Ju said.

“Marching band is unique because there’s a lot of underclassmen who are supported by upperclassmen advisers.”

Section leaders not only lead their section but also play their instrument and march with the rest of the section. This also means they must have excellent organizational and technical skills to memorize the and the music. These leaders are also responsible for making marching band a fun experience, which requires them to know when to be playful or strict with their section.

“Being a section leader means riding the fine line between being a friend and being a mentor,” low wind section leader Rahul Idgunji said.

To guide their section, section leaders must be able to differentiate between when people are hard at work and off-task. Some section leaders enforce these guidelines by making their students run laps or do pushups when they slack off. In the end, this is a tactic utilized to emphasize the importance of knowing the music and respecting their section.

Being a section leader requires considerable dedication and effort, but the values and lessons they learn are worth all the work they put in. The role requires responsibility, being a good role model, being proficient in their section’s instrument and most importantly, having experience marching. Section leaders usually set the bar for the years to

I

n a 17,000-seat stadium, the scintillating light beams peel my eyes open. The clanging of fencing blades reverberate through my skull as beads of sweat glisten on my temple. Swallowing my nerves, steadying my twitching lips and silencing the drumming of my heart, I connect myself with the fencing strip.

I was halfway across the globe, among towering pyramids and shaggy camels, in the dusty landscape of Cairo, Egypt. This was it. For all my life, I had worked toward this moment: making the U.S. World Team and competing at the World Championships.

For a fleeting moment, I had it all — until I didn’t.

On the biggest stage of my life, I crumpled under the pressure. Thoughts of failure whizzed through my mind as my confidence disintegrated into chaos. The moments following my defeated footslog out of the stadium were a dizzying blur of disappointment and desperation.

Hazy recollections from a year earlier began flickering through my mind. I flashed back to April 2020, when I was training in my unventilated, dust-lined garage through the four corners of my Zoom screen. I was battling a stress fracture in my aleft foot, and I resorted to swimming to maintain my athletic shape. My disconnection from the fencing strip morphed my fervent drive into a soup of disorientation and sentimentality.

Nothing felt right — nothing came close to emulating the intensity and rapture on the fencing strip.

Where was the familiar cacophony of clanging blades, blaring lights and screeching rubber soles? Where were the deafening screams of ecstasy following every point?

Where was the tingling adrenaline that rippled through the pores of my being?

I missed everything about fencing. I missed my travels to distant corners of the country and the world for competitions. I missed the time when I furiously scribbled annotations to seven chapters of The Kite Runner on my flight back from Marseille. I

missed the goofy smiles and the effervescent chatter of my East Coast friends that greeted me monthly.

But as COVID-19 restrictions loosened, and I fenced with a foil in hand again, my trepidation melted into the shadows — and it stayed there until a year later, upon my lamentable performance at the World Championships.

I was unaccustomed to failure of this degree. While clinching a spot on the U.S. World Team had been my lifelong dream, my poor exhibition nearly made me wish I hadn’t competed at all. Coupled with the reemergence of my foot injury, my grapples with adversity shocked me into stringing together my jumbled daydreams of quarantine: I was afraid to let go. I was afraid to let go of what had defined me for so long. I was afraid to let go of my cat-like reflexes; of my purpose and commitment to excel; of eventually leaving my fencing club, my wellspring of constancy and comfort.

My crippling incompetence to cope with failure was fueled by my desire to fence at a high level endlessly. I allowed my grasping ego and pride to consume me; in reality, I lacked the technical prowess to achieve my quixotic expectations.

Today, I still seek solace within the frayed walls of my fencing club: a haven of immutability amid external entropy. In

GRPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY THE FEATURES SECTION

Take a new stab

come, so each leader has to demonstrate good qualities that their section can follow and eventually emulate when they have to lead.

“I think it’s about being a good role model and setting a good example for the future kids because in marching band, a lot of things are passed on,” senior and baritone section leader Tyler Liu said.

“There is no individualized instruction for the sections, and I think the section leader has to pass on different things like traditions and values.”

Senior Rahul Idgunji leads the low wind section as they march across the field.

Senior Ty Hosein leads the drum line during the marching band performance.

CRYSTAL QIAN//PURSUITS AND PASTIMES

Senior Faith Ju leads the clarinets.

During their competition on Oct. 23, marching band achieved first place overall in their division, which was in part due to the effort that the section leaders put in to make their section flawless.

The best part about being a section leader is the many lessons and ideas learned from the experience. As future section leaders learn to go with the flow and mature into the role, they also need to keep in mind when to discipline their section and when they can have fun with them.

They should be confident in their leadership but also ask for feedback from their sections.

“Just be careful because you don’t know what type of day the person you are trying to teach has had, so be mindful,” junior and flute section leader Wesley Goh said.

In the end, the marching band is similar to a miniature army. The music that they produce is not only as a result of the hard work of the section leaders but also of the coordination and strong performances from everyone in each section.

my darkest days, I channel my turbulent emotions behind my mask. Fencing has given me a second family, innumerable lessons about character and a chance to achieve the unexpected.

When I first picked up a foil, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be representing Team USA on the international stage. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be recruited to fence at the collegiate Division I level. Who knew how dramatically a flimsy metal stick would shape the trajectory of my life?

But my reality shock from the World Championships has colored my perception of achievement, imploring me to open a new chapter in my life: to emerge from the sport that has defined me for so long — and venture into the fluid cosmos that is my future.

Collegiate fencing is the bridge that guides me away from my unvarying past, and toward an inevitable future when the phrase “I can’t, I have practice” is of a bygone era; when I won’t have 60 missed classes in a single semester; when I’ll actually have a social life; when days are not exhausted in a convention center — stomach flipping, head spinning, legs trembling — in nauseating nervousness.

And maybe that’s okay.

IN-DEPTH

the Epic lhsepic.com

15

There’s no turning frack Exploring the environmental effects of fracking

BY EMMA CIONCA AND LAUREN LIU

contaminate usable and drinking water to a disastrous degree. Additionally, fracking ydraulic fracturing, a modern companies are not required to disclose the method of oil extraction commonly chemicals present in their fracking fluid. known as fracking, produces a “The fracking companies should disclose cleaner source of energy compared to the chemicals they are using as injectants other fossil fuels. The actual process of into the ground so that groundwater fracking, however, raises environmental could be analyzed if it is still fit for human concerns regarding the release of consumption in case fracking fluids leak or toxic chemicals, increased methane seep into the water table,” said Agarwal. emissions and even a heightened risk of Public disclosure of fracking fluid earthquakes. chemicals is recommended by the Shale Gas Fracking involves drilling into shale Production Subcommittee of the Secretary of rock, a common type of sedimentary Energy Advisory Board. However, there are rock consisting of thin layers of silt and no regulations at the federal level despite clay. Fossils within these layers turn earlier efforts to implement them. to natural gas after being subjected Former President Barack Obama said in to extremely high temperatures and his 2012 State of the Union Address that he pressure over millions of years. would require the disclosure of chemicals due “Fracking injects water and chemicals to public health concerns. Furthermore, the at high pressure inside the earth which FRAC Act states that a list of the anticipated create a fracture network inside the rock volume of fracking fluid chemicals should and that makes pathways for the gas to be supplied to the State before and after any flow out of the rock,” Physics teacher fracking operations. Chemicals that must and former petroleum engineer Anshul be publically disclosed should be posted on Agarwal said. the appropriate website. However, neither The fracking process begins with a gives the State the authority to require full wellbore, a hole drilled 2500 to 3000 public disclosures of fracking chemicals. The meters into the ground and lined trade secret regulations in a state also factor with concrete and steel to prevent into how much information companies are contamination of the surrounding required to provide. Each wellbore requires ground and groundwater. From that 3 to 6 million gallons of water for use in point, known as the kick-off point, the fracking fluid annually. The amount itself is drill gradually turns 90 degrees and not significant, especially compared to other begins to bore horizontally. For another industries like agriculture, but it can put 1500 meters, the well extends parallel to strain on local water reserves since fracking the ground, into the shale rock. The drill sites can be set up anywhere with shale rock is then removed, and a perforating gun formations, including cities and towns. is extended into the well to punch small After being extracted from the well, holes through the concrete and steel fracking fluid, now contaminated with casing and into the surrounding rock naturally occurring radioactive material and along the horizontal section. salts is referred to as flowback and must be Three to four months later, fracking disposed of. fluid is injected into the wellbore “The real problem is what do you through the small holes and do with the water, into the rock, at because very high pressures often, the that crack and formation fracture the water is very shale rock. This salty, so what “The fracking companies allows the oil in you’re getting should disclose the the rock to flow out is fracking chemicals they are using as out and through brine,” said injectants into the ground the cracks into Jordan Clark, so that groundwater could the fluid, which professor of be analyzed if it is still fit for is then pumped Geochemistry human consumption in case out of the well. and Hydrology fracking fluids leak or seep Oil that seeps out at the UC Santa into the water table.” of the fractures Barbara. following the The most extraction of the c o m m o n ANSHUL AGARWAL, fracking fluid method is to FORMER PETROLEUM ENGINEER is also pumped inject fluid out. underground Fracking fluid into injection consists of 90% water wells, porous rock and 10% proppants — clay or formations near the fracking sand that maintain the fractures and site. In rare cases, the pressure from allow oil to continue seeping from the pumping flowback can lead to an increased in fractures — and chemical additives, earthquakes in the surrounding area. These which differ depending on the earthquakes are relatively minor, ranging from conditions of each fracking site. These a 1.0 to a 4.0 on the Richter scale, at which additives are usually acids to dissolve point they can be felt by humans and can debris, slickwater to decrease friction damage infrastructure, especially in areas that and disinfectants to prevent bacterial lack earthquake precautions. growth along the well. Often, the “Because you are inducing fractures chemicals are toxic, which is where the inside the earth, you might be causing environmental concerns surrounding little earthquakes,” Agarwal said. “Those fracking begin. earthquakes could build, and could potentially Since wellbores extend past become really big causing more damage.” groundwater, fracking spills can Another option for flowback is to recycle

H

it by reusing it for fracking, but this method only further contaminates the fluid following each use. It is also possible to treat flowback at a local water treatment facility and have it released as surface water, but in many cases, these treatment facilities are not equipped to handle fracking fluid-contaminated water.

“I’ve heard reports in Pennsylvania that the company didn’t know what to do with the flowback, so they took it to the local wastewater treatment plant and dumped it there,” Clark said. “Wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove salt, so the salt went through the treatment plant, and the treatment plant discharged it into a small creek and killed all the fish.”

Besides harming marine life and their habitats, fracking continues to disrupt wildlife as a whole.

“Drilling companies industrialize wild and natural areas where animals live, so it takes away their habitat,” sophomore and Conservation Action Association activities coordinator Apurva Krishnamurthy said.

The combination of industrialization and water contamination poses a threat to California wildlife, such as the California condor and the San Joaquin kit foxes, whose habitat extends throughout areas in California with concentrated fracking activity. Fracking equipment can introduce invasive species into their habitats, and noise from fracking adversely affects migration and reproduction, especially in birds.

Despite fracking’s negative effects on the environment, it continues to be utilized as an energy source because it produces shale gas, a natural gas that generates two times less carbon dioxide than coal, and is considered a viable energy source for the transition toward cleaner energy. Unfortunately, fracking also releases methane, a greenhouse gas that traps up to 80 times more atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide, essentially offsetting the benefits of shale gas.

Since fracking became a commercially viable option for oil extraction in the late 1960s, the nation has seen an increase in accessible energy and a decrease in energy prices, and the process has helped the country become more self-reliant in regards

to energy resources.

The political climate surrounding fracking reflects both its pros and cons. In April 2021, California Sens. Scott Wiener and Monique Limon, both Democrats, proposed a bill that would terminate new oil and gas permits, which allow companies to create new fracking sites, by the end of 2021 and end all fracking operations in California by 2027. The main reason for the proposal was to reduce carbon emissions in an attempt to curb climate change. However, opponents noted that natural gases like shale gas do more to reduce carbon emissions than coal, bringing to question whether or not banning fracking is truly the most effective solution to stop climate change.

Alternative energy sources also lack sufficient power to provide energy for a state as large as California, and based on the availability of current energy sources, the state will continue to be heavily reliant on carbon-based fuels.

Ultimately, Wiener and Limon’s bill was rejected, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in April 2021 that would ban new fracking operations — not affecting existing ones — effective beginning in 2024, making California the largest oil-producing state to do so. The order aims to completely remove oil extraction in the state by 2045.

Critics of this order claim that banning fracking will place pressure on the job market in areas with fracking sites. In California, 95% of the state’s fracking sites are located in Kern County and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley, providing almost 50,000 jobs. Reflecting the general consensus throughout the U.S., political groups opposed to the order are worried about potential job loss, while supporters are pleased with the environmental benefits and find the proposed timeline to be too relaxed.

Although fracking renders negative impacts on the environment, banning it with no other current proposed energy source remains a controversial topic among lawmakers and voters.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY IN-DEPTH SECTION

16

November 09, 2021

IN-DEPTH

Does retail therapy inspire relief or unhealthy reliance?

BY EMMA CONSTABLE AND CHELSEA LEE

I

n-store or online shopping is a common leisure activity, but it is also a method of stress relief that many people engage in, both consciously and unconsciously. Retail therapy, the act of buying something with the intention of lifting one’s mood, provides shoppers with psychological rewards and is a proven outlet for releasing feelings of negativity. However, the behavior can develop into an unhealthy coping mechanism if one’s impulsivity goes unchecked.

The term retail therapy stems from its effectiveness in relieving stress. Similar to how people often crave sweets when stressed, many turn to shopping when under pressure. Shoppers form a psychological connection between spending money and positive emotions because shopping promises a material reward. When someone shops, dopamine, a neurotransmitter that interacts with the pleasure and reward center of the brain, is released along with other chemicals including serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. Dopamine naturally increases happiness levels and feelings of well-being, while serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins stabilize one’s mood.

“I don’t know if I do it to relieve stress consciously,” sophomore Justin Tseng said.

“But I feel like there’s definitely a level where if I’m super stressed, sometimes I’ll just say, ‘Okay, I’m going to go shop for an hour.’”

Even simply filling up an online shopping cart and abandoning it can produce

feelings of satisfaction. “Window shopping,” or scrolling through a website or browsing in a store without actually making a purchase, can boost mood due to the anticipation for a reward, and studies have shown that dopamine is released before a purchase is even made. Similarly, eagerly waiting for a package or saving up for a big purchase can be therapeutic because it builds excitement and releases dopamine over time. Since the desire to continue “feel-good” activities is increased by dopamine, shopping, and hence retail therapy, can be extremely addictive.

“If I wanted to take a break from stressful stuff, I could do something like watch a movie,” senior Oviya Seeniraj said. “But for me, retail therapy is the most satisfying because I can get something out of it while also being able to give my brain a break.”

Several other factors also explain retail therapy’s allure. For one, shopping can help restore a sense of control in someone’s life. When people make decisions with money, they feel an augmented sense of responsibility and may experience greater self-esteem after making a purchase. In a 2014 study by the University of Michigan, researchers found that purchasing items one enjoys can be 40 times more effective at establishing a sense of control than not shopping. Simply browsing was also found to ease general feelings of sadness, but subjects who made a purchase were on average three times happier than those who did not buy anything.

“When we feel stressed, we feel out of control, right?” De Anza

College Psychology professor Robin Schulte said. “Shopping is one of these things where it makes you feel in control.”

Shopping also keeps feelings of stress at bay by stimulating the senses. Brightlylit stores and flashy websites encourage visualization, a technique known to fight anxiety by forcing one to focus on a single object or color rather than their entire surroundings, which can be chaotic and overwhelming.

Recently, shopping has become more accessible with the convenience of the internet. The additional outlet of online shopping, in particular, has gained even more popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Isolation during the pandemic has also pushed more people to turn to retail therapy as a distraction from their loneliness.

Although retail therapy provides many benefits, too much of it can be harmful.

Transactions intended for relief may become a dangerous shopping and stress paradox if they get out of hand. If one’s only avenue to relieve stress is through retail therapy, then they will only receive temporary gratification from materialistic items that fail to address the root of their negative emotions. Compulsive shoppers like this are often labeled as “shopaholics,” and obsessive shopping can escalate into addictions such as oniomania, compulsive buying disorder, buying-shopping disorder and pathological buying. These extreme forms of retail therapy cause shoppers to experience doubt, anxiety, frustration and feelings of loss of control. As with all coping strategies, excessive use of shopping as therapy can reach a point where it is unhealthy and counterproductive to its intended advantages.

“People generally engage in two types of coping: active coping, which is a coping method where people try to actively address the problem at hand, and passive coping, where people engage in activities that help them escape from their problems,” De Anza College Psychology professor Taiki Kondo said. “Generally, it’s fine to do the second one every now and then, but you are eventually

Lynbrook Student Opinions on Retail Therapy ITEM 1 Do you feel better after shopping?

Yes

Green (68%)

No

Blue (11%)

Not sure

TOTAL RESPONSES*

Yellow (21%) 163

ITEM 2 How effective is shopping as a stress reliever?

1

2

3

4

5

1

Not effective Very effective

5

Average answer

3.5

TOTAL RESPONSES*

41

*Survey responses were collected through an Instagram poll.

going to have to address the problem.”

With both pros and cons, retail therapy can be effective if managed properly.

Recognizing what triggers one to shop, making a budget to stick to and postponing purchases to a later time to ensure the items are still wanted are all methods to combat falling down the rabbit hole of retail therapy.

Shopping can help decompress, but it has limits and should not be used as a singular stress relief method.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ANWEN HUANG AND EMMA CONSTABLE

A layperson’s guide to cybersecurity and malware

BY ELLIU HUANG

J

une 2021: A ransomware attack shut down the Colonial Pipeline, the East Coast’s largest fuel supply line, for nearly a week. As critical infrastructure, personal information and databases rely more on storing and transmitting data online, there has been a sharp increase in malicious actors orchestrating cyberattacks. Security in the online world has become a serious threat, with many different types of malware being utilized to steal information or gain access to personal accounts.

Keylogger

Trojan

O

riginally invented for employers to keep an eye on employees, keyloggers are a type of spyware typically downloaded from trojans that record and send a user’s computer keyboard inputs to a hacker’s database. Hackers then parse through the data with computer algorithms and deduce passwords and usernames. For example, algorithms look for the inputs after someone types “gmail.com” because they will usually be someone’s username and password. More advanced keyloggers can glean usernames and passwords to bank accounts, collecting banking, credit card and transaction data.

Rootkit

R

ootkits encompass a family of clandestine programs that root themselves in the computer system and are very difficult to detect and remove. They are powerful enough to collect personal data or provide hackers remote access to devices while hiding the spyware’s presence. There are two main types of rootkits: kernel rootkits and user space rootkits. Kernel rootkits insert themselves into the heart of an operating system, fundamentally altering the system and concealing themselves from antivirus programs.

From there, the malware allows hackers to collect personal data or install other forms of malware undetected. User space rootkits usually manifest as specific applications, such as a hidden extension on a web browser, and a re generally easier to detect. But, they can still access personal information and crash browsers.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA CONSTABLE

O

n the surface, trojans seem harmless and look nearly identical to ordinary download links on websites or in emails. In reality, however, they are malware disguised as common computer applications.

Used to transport all sorts of other malware, such as ransomware, spyware, backdoors and gateways for remote access, trojans can be found on both computers and smartphones. Short message service trojans are specifically designed to send and intercept text messages on mobile devices to steal personal information or send suspicious messages.

Malware Analysis

A

s the name suggests, malware analysis is when malware researchers study the nature of different types of malware. Static malware analysis involves reverse engineering the code in order to understand how the malware functions and find a cure. Dynamic malware analysis involves running the program in a sandbox environment where the malware is executed in a virtual space that does not affect the system. Then, malware researchers can observe the behavior and debug the code. More advanced malware analysis relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect malware evolution, the process of malware code evolving to avoid security systems. Several studies in this field rely on powerful AI to find patterns in the code and detect new variants of malware.

November 09, 2021

IN-DEPTH

17

Parched for fresh cuisine: Life in food deserts

BY JASON SHAN AND SUSANNA TANG

P

icture a desert: arid and empty, without an absence of public transportation, weak water in sight. Similarly, food deserts are local economies, sudden shifts in population, impoverished regions where immediate gentrification, complicated geography and food access to healthy foods is out of reach, and their insecurity. Food desert residents often cannot afford groceries because they are cash-poor, but prevalence affects millions of Americans.

The United States Department of Agriculture another major hindrance is that they are timedefines a food desert as an area where at least poor. It is possible for some people to take a long 33% of the population lives more than one mile trip to the store, but it is often not feasible for in an urban area — or more than 10 miles in those who have to look after family members, a rural area — from the nearest large grocery work or perform other tasks. In some cases, groceries may have to be hand-carried over store.

“It’s not just about there being physical long distances, something that is problematic locations where people can access healthy for large families.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, food but also how reasonable it is for people to actually get there,” said Joanne Seavey- food insecurity increased nearly 32.3%. This Hultquist, director of the CalFresh Healthy significant spike isolated already marginalized Living Program for the Santa Clara County populations and greatly exacerbated the effects of food deserts. Greater unemployment levels Public Health Department.

Many other terms also describe a population’s have caused an uptick in food insecurity, access to food. These include food oases — shortened grocery store hours, decreased public areas with a high access to fresh produce like transportation usage and increased food prices. the Bay Area — and food swamps, areas with Although online delivery systems may alleviate an abundance of junk food, convenience and some issues, they are not options for many Americans who lack liquor stores. Many the internet, are unable food deserts are also to afford the delivery food swamps, but food fee or live outside swamps have high junk “I think it boils down to structural the delivery range. food density, while racism, in which we associate Research published by food deserts define minority communities with the CDC states that due the scarcity of healthy oftentimes having higher rates of to food insecurity and ones. Also associated poverty.” poor food quality from with food deserts, food deserts, Latino food insecurity Matthew Landry, and Black populations describes places with Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford were 4.7 times more limited access to food likely to get infected because of financial

by COVID-19 than constraints.

Caucasians.

Between 2000 The consequences and 2006, the USDA identified approximately 6,500 food deserts; are dire for those without easy access to healthy today, estimations show that more than food. Residents often stick to unhealthy food 23.5 million Americans inhabit them. The because they are cheaper and have a longer shelf Food Empowerment Project’s study of Santa life.

“After learning about food deserts and their Clara County concluded that low income communities were 14 times less likely to have effects on communities in the U.S., I don’t take access to even frozen food compared to higher the countless healthy options I have for granted income areas. Despite the problem’s prevalence, anymore,” senior Melissa McCollough said.

“It’s definitely important for your mental and food deserts are not a sole cause.

Of the 23.5 million Americans inhabiting physical health to eat healthy foods and fulfill food deserts, 11.5 million have low incomes, nutritional guidelines.

A 2017 correlation study from the and communities of color, mostly Blacks and Latinos, are disproportionately affected. The International Journal of Environmental National Center for Biotechnology Information Research and Public Health found that food conducted a study on two low-income African swamps are good indicators of obesity and American food desert neighborhoods in that the promotion of unhealthy diets in these Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that were suffering areas leads to malnutrition, diabetes and from food insecurity. The study found that cardiovascular diseases for many. Stores also from 2018 to 2020, while food insecurity in the encourage these unhealthy foods and entice nation increased by 60% due to COVID-19, the consumers to purchase junk foods by putting sampled neighborhoods saw an 80% increase, candies, snacks and sodas by the cash register, indicating a racial disparity of food insecurity where all shoppers will pass through before between African American communities and paying.

“There’s a very conscious effort by marketers the nation as a whole.

“I think it boils down to structural racism, to design stores just to tap people’s impulse buy,” in which we associate minority communities Seavey-Hultquist said. “The CalFresh Healthy with oftentimes having higher rates of poverty,” L i v i n g said Matthew Landry, a postdoctoral research P r o g r a m fellow in the Stanford Prevention Research w o r k s Center. “And for a food store brand to want to build a store in that community, they’re going to want a number of households that can pay higher prices because that’s where they get the greatest sources of revenue.”

Other factors include

alongside store owners and asks them, ‘Do you think you can put apples and bananas and pears at checkout?’ Because at the last minute, if people are impulse buying, we want them to impulse buy healthy.”

Additionally, residents in poor communities are commonly unable to get proper medical help. Another study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that people with an income two times less than the federal poverty level used an average of 14% of their family’s income to pay for medical services, compared to 4.5% for those living with an income of at least four times that of the poverty level. Furthermore, the American Journal of Accountable Care found that rural and suburban areas were hindered by unaffordable medical care and relatively fewer primary care physicians.

Food deserts are an extensive and persistent problem, but people and organizations alike are working to find solutions.

Community gardens, local farmers markets and growing public transportation are helping to eradicate food deserts. For example, nonprofit organizations like Meals on Wheels provide food to community members that need it.

In California, the CalFresh, or food stamps, program helps residents subsidize food costs. Moreover, California and other states participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program, which matches the amount that food stamps users pay, doubling the amount of groceries purchases.

Education can go a long way to help people in food deserts. Programs like Plan, Shop, Save and Cook from UC CalFresh Nutrition Education teach people how to make healthier choices. The federal Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program provides grants to organizations that promote vegetables and fruits purchases among underprivileged communities.

Educational services with multilingual options also help immigrants and residents who don’t speak English.

Even small actions can prove invaluable.

Raising awareness through posting on social media, volunteering at food banks and pantries and donating money and food are all ways community members can help. People can also learn more by subscribing to informational sites, such as Nourish California’s action alerts, about food legislation.

“I think the biggest thing to remember is that even in the wealthiest areas, there are still people that live under the poverty level and don’t have easy access to healthy foods,” Landry said. “Even though it might not be impacting you, there are still ways to help out because food access is just a basic human right.”

GRAPIC ILLUSTRATION BY IN-DEPTH SECTION

18

SPORTS

the Epic lhsepic.com

Viking athletes conclude successful fall season

BY TANIKA ANBU AND LINA MEZERREG

F T

ollowing months of postponed athletics, many teams started conditioning over the summer, and the fall sports season officially commenced in August 2021. Through hassles of mask mandates and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations, teams faced new challenges while fostering close relationships with fellow athletes. As the season comes to an end, eligible sports teams are working in preparation for the Central Coast Section competitions and holding team events to commemorate graduating seniors.

he girls golf team boasted strong performances throughout their season, finishing with a winning record and only two losses against Palo Alto, which qualified them for CCS. From conditioning to practices to even the way games were held, the season brought many changes to the team. However, the team saw a full roster, and many members were excited to rejoin or participate in team activities for the first time. Its senior game was on Oct. 14 against Los Gatos. Despite some lastminute preparations, all members were happy with the outcome and fondly shared memories of the event.

“I want to thank all of our seniors,” sophomore Anne Xu said. “But I’m also really grateful to all the members who helped pitch in to make senior night a really memorable experience that brought us all together.”

T

he girls water polo team was undefeated at the beginning of their season, recording wins against several teams such as Monta Vista and Milpitas. Despite a few injuries, the team recovered and emerged victorious in most of their games. The boys varsity team remains ranked first with only one loss. At their combined senior night against Monta Vista, the girls and boys both won by scores of 8-4 and 1511, respectively, which brought them to their league finals. At the championship game, the boys won 8-7, advancing to CCS, while the girls lost 9-6. In addition to these memorable games, they built on their existing skills through challenging different high schools at their two-day Watsonville tournament from Sept. 17 to 18.

“It was a really interesting experience because we’ve never travelled, so it was our first traveling tournament,” said junior and girls water polo captain Dasha Kiryashova. “Having outside teams come in was really eye-opening.”

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irls volleyball experienced a successful season, ending with only two losses to Fremont and Cupertino. They qualified for CCS, securing their first round win against Pioneer and making the quarterfinals, in which they lost to Aragon. With nine sophomores on the varsity roster, the program hosted a younger team than usual, but their new perspectives and energy was welcome on the team.

“Despite the uncertainty that this year started out with, I’m proud of how far the team has come, and I’m excited to see what they accomplish in the future,” said senior and varsity volleyball captain Jasmine Hou. Senior night took place on Oct. 26 as a home game against Santa Clara, which concluded a 3-1 win among an outpouring of support from friends and family.

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ith wins from JV and varsity athletes against schools such as Fremont, Los Altos and Valley Christian, Lynbrook field hockey worked hard for their many accomplishments. Despite wins against several high schools like Santa Clara and Wilcox, they did not qualify for CCS due to goal count requirements, ending the season second in their league.

From mask requirements to summer practices accompanied by the merciless heat, the team faced a variety of challenges that only strengthened them, leading to their numerous victories.

“I’m amazed at how far we’ve come because in freshman year, we were one of the lower-ranked varsity teams,” said senior and varsity field hockey player Divya Singh. “I’m glad to see how much we improved this season because this is the closest we’ve been to CCS in a very long time.”

To conclude their season, the team celebrated at their annual senior night on Oct. 15. They honored their seniors with decorations and gifts and played the final home game of their season — an 8-0 victory over Wilcox.

S

tarting the season strong with a 62-7 win against James Lick, the football team went on to challenge Cupertino, Fremont and several other high schools in the region. Their efforts culminated in a victory at the Homecoming game against Monta Vista, which snapped the eight-year Homecoming drought.

Winning 40-13, the crowd cheered as the football team scored touchdowns and made field goals.

“It just felt more dynamic this year. We got more people out on the field and were able to accomplish way more things,” said junior and varsity football player Tristan Dowdell.

Attendance for football games increased markedly this year, and the team celebrated their senior night on Oct. 22. Recognizing their 16 senior players, they played against Saratoga, winning their last home game by a score of 47-21.

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ollowing last year’s short season and an underwhelming preseason, cross-country started off the regular season strong and eventually qualified for CCS. Lockdown presented several obstacles to the team, causing not only limited attendance to races but also a lack of motivation for members to practice.

“The team dynamic is a huge part of what makes cross-country, cross-country,” said senior and varsity cross country runner Diana Kohr. “It’s really hard to feel like going out to run when you’re working out by yourself at home, but being back with the team, and running and bonding together, helps push us all to improve.”

The team has made significant improvements in their overall speed and decreased their collective spread, a method of scoring teams at meets in which judges add up the times of the five fastest runners. The team has worked together well this year, even coming in within one minute of each other’s times at one meet.

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ith wins against schools such as Wilcox, Santa Clara, Fremont and Milpitas, girls tennis inched closer to their qualification to CCS. In their pre-season conditioning, the athletes attended practices lasting hours long, effectively preparing them for the upcoming season. As the season geared up, they bonded with teammates between water breaks and post-game time.

“Tennis is a really individual sport, so being on a high school team is a really cool experience because you’re playing on a team rather than just individually,” said junior and varsity tennis player Jamie Tan. The team consistently won games, ending with only a few losses in their season. With a winning record of 11-2, the team perfected their skills and qualified for CCS. In the last game of their season, the players celebrated their time together at their annual senior night and banquet. The team gave their usual senior gifts — a cut-up tennis ball with inspiring and hopeful messages stuffed inside — to graduating players.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SPORTS SECTION

SPORTS

November 09, 2021

19

Giants score giant ticket to postseason

BY YOUQI HUANG

My ski journey

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t seemed that my young skiing career was plunging downhill. My six-yearold self and my first-time skier dad had just tumbled off the lift on the easiest green trail at Mount Rose Ski Resort. A quarter of the way down the trail, I fell for what seemed like the millionth time that day, crying and refusing to continue.

As we trudged down the remainder of the trail, my dad carrying my skis, I told myself that I would never ski again.

My whole family was too scared to attempt skiing the next year. However, the following year, I reluctantly agreed to go on a ski trip with a group of family friends, and the parents signed us all up for lessons at Boreal Mountain California.

I grumpily woke up at 6 a.m. and dragged my skis to the lesson, where the instructors kindly helped me fit into my uncomfortable ski boots. Despite initially resenting giving skiing another shot, I followed the instructor’s directions and learned the Pizza, a way to control speed by angling my skis inward. The instructor taught me that when falling, I should try to fall toward the mountain rather than down the mountain to land safely. Gradually, I began to enjoy slowly skiing down the slope as the view through my goggles shifted from distant snowy mountains down to the familiar wooden ski lodge. After a week of daily lessons, I felt more hopeful in my skills and asked my parents to ski again next winter, and soon, skiing became an annual tradition.

Despite taking a professional skiing lesson, my most effective instructor has always been my dad. While I was taking my first ski lesson, my dad simultaneously took a private lesson, and his skills drastically improved. When we were at home, he showed me ski tutorials from Youtube, and we pretended to ski on our wooden floor. During our next trips, my dad patiently taught me the parallel turn and the hockey stop, a sharp sideways parallel turn that would allow me to stop, even on steep slopes. Correcting my mistakes as I progressed, he challenged me to raise my difficulty in trails, and together, we embarked on blue and blackrated trails. Whenever I fell, he was always there to help me back up again.

After seven years of our annual skiing tradition, COVID-19 hit us like a massive snowball, launching us off our trail. The moderate San Jose weather felt unfamiliar and even unwelcome. I wasn’t used to not driving four long hours to Lake Tahoe while battling my carsickness.

Each day, I wistfully dreamed of zooming down the open slopes and dodging trees on unmarked trails. I scrolled through my photo albums of our past ski trips, wishing I could travel back in time to those moments of laughing with my friends after falling. I missed gathering early in the morning to put on my stiff boots, relaxing during lunch before taking the lift back up the mountain and accusing each other at our late night Mafia games. Skiing transports me to a blissful world without the stress of school. Most importantly, skiing is a nostalgic portal to my childhood and an opportunity for me to spend time with my family and friends.

The ski break from the pandemic made me realize how our annual ski trips have truly become an integral part of my life.

This winter, I can’t wait to feel the winter breeze tickling my face, the powdered snow flying behind me and the rush of freedom and adrenaline. While I may be skiing downhill, my ski journey goes only uphill from here.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN LIU

“One of the main strengths for the Giants is their President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi,” Wong said. “I have full faith because of the players he chooses, and he doesn’t hold on to players if they’re not performing well. The Giants had depth and a lot of very good players this year.”

The NLDS meeting between the Giants and Dodgers was tense, with the two teams reaching Game 5 tied 2-2. Indeed, in the 9th inning of Game 5, they were tied at a run each, but the Dodgers scored the game-winning run thanks to an RBI-single from Cody Bellinger. The Giants’ offense in the inning was ended by a controversial check swing call against Wilmer Flores, which unfortunately ended their postseason run.

“When the Giants entered the postseason, I thought they would go all the way,” Hsu said. “I think a lot of people are upset with the way they exited because pretty much everyone unanimously agreed that the play Flores struck out on shouldn’t have been called a strike. Regardless, I think the team is good enough to make another run next year, so I’m not too down about it.”

The Dodgers exited the postseason in Game 6 out of seven in the National League Conference Series against the Atlanta Braves, who advanced to the World Series finals to face the Houston Astros. Their exit was a surprise for many, especially because they won the World Series last year.

“I would argue that the Dodgers lost the NLCS because they were wasted after we took it out of them,” Williams said. “They were tired after the Giants took them to five games in the NLCS. The Dodgers’ pitchers’ arms were dead.”

Despite the Giants’ heartbreaking end to the season, their success until this point deserves recognition. A continuation of this strong form will spell success in following seasons as well, but only if Giants fans are patient with their team.

“I think they have a great trajectory,” Williams said. “They’re coming off a year when they won so many games, and that team is largely sticking together. This could be the start of two, three or four years of Giants dominance.”

Football player Michael Wu makes his mark

BY SAMIYA ANWAR

I

n a span of three years, senior Michael Wu has made a significant mark on Lynbrook’s varsity football team not only as a talented running back, cornerback and linebacker but also as a leader and friend to his fellow teammates.

Wu ended the season ranked fifth in rushing yards and 10th in touchdowns in the Central Coast Section. At one point becoming the CCS rushing yards leader in September 2021, he rushed for a total of 1,069 yards in the 2021-22 season. He averaged 10.5 yards per carry, and his longest rush was recorded at 96 yards when Lynbrook played against Evergreen Valley on Sept. 11. He tallied 14 total touchdowns, 12 of which were scored by rushing. In just one season, he accounted for 90 of Lynbrook’s total points as a versatile two-way player.

Wu’s football career started his sophomore year when he transferred to Lynbrook from Summit Denali and looked to football as a way to make friends and create connections on campus. Football wasn’t always his main sport, as Wu had previously played many other sports such as basketball, volleyball, soccer and baseball. To Wu, switching from basketball to football was a challenge, especially because he had played club basketball for most of his life. However, Wu frequently watched NFL games growing up, and he credits these experiences for helping him transition into football.

Wu’s athleticism has always been one of his strengths, and his favorite aspects of football are running and tackling. Playing a numerous amount of sports since elementary school meant that Wu was always in shape.

However, what sets him apart is his leadership. As the captain of the football team, Wu recognizes the importance of setting a good example for the rest of the players. He made sure to never come to practive with a bad attitude, because he knows that it negatively affected his teammates.

“I’m most proud of his growth as a leader,” varsity football head coach RJ Davis said.

“He’s grown into someone that everyone relies on, and I don’t think he has any weaknesses as a leader.”

Playing football has not only helped Wu become a better athlete, but also shaped his character tremendously.

“He has a drive to win,” Davis said. “He has the ability to lead. And most importantly, he understands the commitment of what we require of our players.”

Joining the team was a big commitment for Wu. Often following a tiring day at school, attending two hour practices every day created a demanding schedule for him. Wu learned the importance of dedication and not forming excuses in order to avoid work. This type of time commitment has helped him develop a stronger work ethic.

Along with leadership and diligence came an opportunity for Wu to form life-long friendships. He is grateful that he and his teammates were able to play together and collectively improve throughout high school.

“The program brought me a group of friends that I call my family now,” Wu said.

Spirits were high for Wu’s senior season after COVID-19 restrictions eased. More students attended Lynbrook’s home games, which created an energetic and positive atmo-

PHOTO BY EMMA CIONCA GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY LINA MEZERREG

AMY LIU//IN MY OPINION

T

he Giants overcame several years of mediocrity this season, boasting a 107-55 record during the regular season and finishing at the top of their division to earn a spot in the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Following a Game 5 loss on Oct. 14, the Giant’s postseason dreams were over, but what made the season great endures.

The last time the Giants made the postseason was in 2016, when they won their Wild Card game against the St. Louis Cardinals but lost to the eventual World Series champion, the Chicago Cubs, in the NLDS. At the start of the 2020-21 season, expectations were low from fans, commentators and bettors alike, with some expecting 100-1 odds for the Giants to win the World Series.

Instead, the Giants not only recorded a marked improvem e n t from

their previous seasons, but also set multiple records in the majors. Their 107 wins was a franchise record, as well as the most in the majors during the 2020-21 season. The Dodgers were close behind with 106 wins, making their NLDS matchup significant not only because of the two teams historic rivalry but also as a showdown between the two teams with the strongest regular season performances.

“When the Dodgers came to town around Labor Day weekend, their records were very close, but the Dodgers had the momentum and people believed they were going to take the lead,” Assistant Principal and long-time Giants fan Eric Wong said. “Then, the Giants beat them in two out of three games in that series, and from that point you’re like this team has ‘it’ — the feel of a sports team that can do big things.”

Other fans were brought around with consistency. Senior Gavin Hsu and AP Government teacher Mike Williams, both big Giants fans, needed time to believe that the Giants’ early success was more than a hot streak, and it was around the middle of the season when they were convinced that the team had a chance to reach the postseason.

“I started to feel like the Giants really had a chance after May,” Williams said. “It started to feel like 2010, 2012 and 2014: the years when they reached the World Series. There was something about the team that was kind of magical.”

Their success was in part due to team chemistry: Strong performances from all players, instead of reliance on a handful of stars, helped the team lead the National League in home runs, even though they were often scored by different players. There were 17 players who finished the regular season with more than five home runs and 18 scored by pinch-hitters.

The Giants didn’t lack star players either: Multiple players were selected for MLB’s annual All-Star Game, including Kevin Gausman, Brandown Crawford, long-time catcher Buster Posey and Kris Bryant, who was traded from the Cubs this summer. Players like Posey, Crawford and Brandon Belt used their experience as veterans to guide the team.

sphere for the players.

Improvem e n t was immediate: the team closed the season with a 4-5 record, a significant difference to the 201819 season, when their record was 0-10.

“In previous seasons, we would talk about our goals and where we wanted to be,” Wu said. “It’s cool to finally see our dreams come true.”

Although he doesn’t plan on continuing to play football in college, Wu is grateful for a meaningful high school football experience.

He encourages young players and anyone who is interested in trying a new sport to take risks and work hard, saying that the results will come with it.

20

November 09, 2021

SPORTS

Commemorative bricks leave legacies

BY ELIZABETH CHENG

S

ome bricks are adorned with a basketball, others are embellished with a Class of 2009, Newbolt was the goalkeeper for Lynbrook’s field hockey team.

Newbolt and her brothers were both involved in Lynbrook athletics. Their field hockey stick and many boast the Viking logo. brick has the nickname “Thurmanators,” a play-on-words with their family “Rah Hockey! Rebecca Hatton.” surname “Thurman.”

“Dream it, believe it, achieve it! The Sarathy family.”

This year, Athletic Boosters began a new program of tiles similar to the “Thank you, Coach McCloskey!”

Commemorative bricks filled with the legacies of students, teachers and bricks. The tiles are available in three sizes that range from $100 to $200. coaches surround the Lynbrook sign at the entrance of the football stadium. Swimming or water polo-related bricks will be located on a wall near the Originally created by Lynbrook Athletic Boosters in 2012 when the stadium swimming pool, while all other tiles will be placed in front of the gym lobby.

“We decided to sell tiles after we purchased a special memorial tile for was built, the mosaic on the ground has become filled with numerous alumni and coach Jerome Chung,” athletic director personalized bricks recognizing families and Jennifer Griffin said. “Purchasing it, I realized that faculty. Since the creation of the fundraiser, alumni Boosters could also sell tiles, so I spoke with Mrs. from classes as far back as the 1960s have returned Jackson about putting them in front of the gym.” to purchase a brick.

“They create a sense of pride, Chung’s tile was unveiled during the halftime Members of the Class of 1968 and Lynbrook’s of the boys water polo’s Senior Night on Oct. 21. first principal, Kendall Paul Stranger, have bricks as it’s something permanent.

It bears Lynbrook’s swimming and water polo together near the “L” of “LHS.” These bricks are Having their name set in a logos, symbols of Chung’s dedication to sports at integral to the class’s mega-reunion that is held brick on the ground as people Lynbrook. every 10 years, with the next reunion planned for walk to a game is something Current athletes can also purchase a brick or 2022. that anyone would be proud tile. Senior Austin Wang, who is a part of Lynbrook’s Fostering a sense of pride, the bricks are a swim and boys water polo teams, has a brick in permanent reminder of Lynbrook’s past athletes. to have.” front of the football stadium. Wang’s family decided Members of the Lynbrook community walk past to purchase a brick with both Wang’s and his the bricks as they enter the stadium for events such Diana Trujillo, sister’s names because athletics are a central part as the alumni football game, where past Lynbrook Athletics Boosters Director of both of their lives. football players can reconnect with their high “We wanted to give back because we’re really school athletic experiences, and the Homecoming thankful for the sports programs Lynbrook football game. provides,” Wang said.

“The football alumni come to the alumni football The brick recognizes Wang’s involvement in the game with their families, and it’s cool for them to swim and boys water polo teams since he was a be able to look down at the stadium ground to find their brick and show it off to family and friends,” Athletic Boosters director freshman. Wang and his water polo teammates worked diligently during the off-season after not winning a single game during their freshman year, and Diana Trujillo said.

On engravedbricks.com, community members can purchase bricks in two their perseverance through the years has led to the team’s winning league sizes, costing $100 or $175. Students, parents and staff can add a few lines finals this year.

The bricks and tiles recognize the legacies of alumni, staff and coaches of customized text to the commemorative piece, depending on the size of the brick. Symbols that represent a variety of activities, including sports like who have contributed greatly to Lynbrook.

“They create a sense of pride, as it’s something permanent,” Trujillo said. swimming and baseball, can also be included.

Athletic trainer Katie Newbolt also has a brick in front of the football “Having their name set in a brick on the ground as people walk to a game is stadium, which bears both her and her brothers’ names. A member of the something that anyone would be proud to have.”

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY NEHA AYYER

2021-22

editors-in-chief mei corricello bennie chang news editor amy liu

managing editor elliu huang

opinion editor elizabeth cheng

business/pr manager ria phelan

copy editors youqi huang crystal qian

features editor sophie au

staffers amishi chandra anushka anand audrey sun

design editors sharlene chen lillian fu

in-depth editor anwen huang

catherine zhou chelsea lee deeksha raj emma constable jasmine rihal jason shan katie chin

adviser josh miller

sports editor emma cionca

lauren liu lina mezerreg meera nambiar myles kim neha ayyer nicole ge samiya anwar

web editors sruthi medepalli anirudh seshadri

samyukta sarma susanna tang tanika anbu timothy kim

small print: the Epic is the official newspaper of Lynbrook High School and is a student-run open forum not subject to prior review, as protected under the California Education Code. Views expressed in the Epic do not necessarily reflect or represent those of the administration or faculty of this school or district.

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