Issue 1, 2014

ROBBED.

OPINION//

CSU wrongfully derecognizes Christian club

16 houses broken into in 28 days

BY AMANDA CHANG

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ixteen burglaries occurred in the residential area around Lynbrook from Sept. 1 to Sept. 28. The San Jose Police Department (SJPD) reported that no suspects were identi�ied or located in San Jose, but an investigation led to the arrest of a suspect in Turlock, Calif.

“The San Jose Police Department is doing all we can to combat this steady increase in burglaries,” said Albert Morales, a SJPD public information of�icer.

“As staf�ing and call volume allows, patrol units try to be visible inthe areas where burglaries are occurring. When a burglary is reported, a patrol of�icer responds to conduct an investigation.”

On Sept. 16, the SJPD received a tip about a suspicious person around Johnson Avenue and set out in a helicopter to scour the area. The tip reported that the man was between the ages of 20 and 30. At around 12 a.m. on Sept. 17, a man broke into senior Kevin Lin’s house. Lin, his sister Jackie Lin, and their mother were in separate rooms inside the house at the time of the burglary but were unaware of the intrusion until Jackie caught a glimpse of the burglar.

“My sister only saw him for a second, but she saw that he was shirtless and mistook him for me because I was taking a shower when the burglary happened,” said Kevin Lin. “The burglar left the room as quickly as he could, so she couldn’t get a good look at him. She saw me come out of the bathroom later, and it clicked.”

In addition to �inding the burglar shirtless, the Lin family discovered that he was shoeless, as they found dirty footprints on their kitchen �loor.

After the family realized that they were being robbed, they locked themselves in Kevin’s room and called the police. The Lin family did not realize until 20 or 30 minutes later that the thief had also driven off in their car.

“When the police arrived, they asked us a few questions. Apparently, we weren’t the �irst house to get robbed that

night,” said Kevin. “In fact, we were told that two other houses got robbed a few blocks from our’s.”

Fortunately, because the man had used Jackie’s stolen phone the day after the burglary, the Lin family was able to trace the phone back to Turlock, Calif., a city located about two hours away. On Sept. 17, the police found several stolen items including purses, electronic devices and credit cards inside two stolen cars parked near the apartment that the phone call was traced to.

“We had to drive two hours to get to our car,” said Lin. “But, when we got there, we found our car in a mess.”

The possible thief left his clothes in the Lins’ car, leaving traces of DNA that matched the DNA found in the vomit he had left in another victim’s home. Fingerprints and other incriminating evidence found in the cars led to the burglary suspect’s detainment.

Currently, the Turlock police are compiling more evidence to charge the suspect and get a warrant to search his apartment. Among others, Kevin Lin’s family was called in to get a look at a lineup of suspects.

Kevin Lin was not the only Lynbrook student affected by the burglaries; senior Jeffrey Yang’s family was also one of the 16 cases.

By 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 25, all of Yang’s family had left their house near John Muir Elementary. No one had remembered to close and lock the front window. see ROBBERIES page 2

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY JEFFREY YANG

BY SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY AND FRINA REDOLOZA

NEWS//

Teachers research cheating to ensure academic honesty

BY JESSICA LUO AND MEERA KRISHNAMOORTHY

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his year, teachers are reinforcing the importance of academic honesty for various reasons. The issue of cheating was brought to light through the number of academic infractions over the past few years. Because of this, English teachers Joshua Miller and Diana Ball and math teachers Michele Quindipan and Sara Kraemer have been conducting a research project on causes and possible solutions to cheating as a part of the coursework for their master’s degrees, so changes in their classrooms re�lect the discoveries that they have made while researching. All teachers, however, are working toward the same goal: ensuring that students work their hardest to preserve academic honesty in the classroom.

Ball, Miller, Quindipan and Kraemer have been working on this study since last year for their Master’s in Educational Leadership at San Jose State University.

“We were interested in cheating because it’s pretty prevalent,” said Kraemer. “There were some pretty big incidents last year. In my opinion, [cheating is] growing to be accepted and the school culture is becoming a cheating culture. It keeps growing and growing, and we need to �ind a way to change it.”

Each teacher is conducting individual research on a different aspect of cheating, and they will combine their work to put together a comprehensive report.

“Right now, I’m looking at the forms of cheating, from copying homework to morally dangerous decisions like buying essays online,” said Miller.

Another aspect of their project is the different perspectives of cheating, which is being researched by Kraemer. She mentioned how oftentimes teachers and students have different de�initions of cheating, and how that may lead to confusion.

“I think in the future, teachers should make it clear in the beginning of school, ‘what does cheating mean for my class,’” said Kraemer.

For example, in Quindipan’s classroom, �inishing homework in class does not count as cheating. Other teachers, however, may consider completing work the day it is due as a form of academic dishonesty. Her reason is that students understand what is taught better when a teacher is there to guide them. see CHEATING page 3

t the start of the school year, the California State University (CSU) system derecognized the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), an evangelical Christian fellowship with around 860 chapters on U.S. university campuses. The derecognition occurred because IVCF does not allow nonChristians to serve in leadership roles, a reason that is unjusti�ied because it is important for a Christian club to have committed and faithful leaders who are capable of leading others to Christ . As a result, IVCF, which has branches at 19 of the 23 CSU campuses, will lose access to student fairs, on-campus meeting rooms and other school functions. This decision comes a year after directors of public affairs at the CSU system informed IVCF that they would have to sign a non-discrimination policy requiring leadership roles to be open to all students.

Although it is sensible for the CSU system to want equality in all club organizations, allowing non-Christians to become leaders of a Christian club would harm the club’s community because the non-Christian leaders would not be able to properly teach or help the other members of the club. Likewise, at Lynbrook, the Agape Christian Club community shares the same belief.

“The purpose of all Christian clubs is to serve Christians and other non-Christians who are interested in the religion,” said senior Tiffany Chen, a core team leader of Lynbrook’s Agape Christian Club. “In order to do so, the leaders need to be Christian. It’s a requirement that the leaders need to uphold.”

Many other clubs on high school and university campuses have prerequisites to become a leader, and InterVarsity’s rules requiring leaders to be Christian are just as reasonable. Similar to how Speech and Debate requires captains to have experience in their events to indicate their commitment and how sororities require their members to have a certain GPA, InterVarsity, as well as Agape, requires its leaders to be Christian.

“All of Agape’s leaders are Christian,” said Chen. “As leaders, we’re supposed to help others develop better relationships with God and further our relationships with each other. That’s not really possible if the leaders aren’t Christian.” see RELIGIOUS CLUBS page 6

“Welcome Back” to a changed rally

ROBBED| The Stories of Lynbrook Students

continued from ROBBED page 1

SOUND OFF | Sophomore football players cheer in unison. The rally places importance on unity.

GAME OF THRONES | Students from different sports teams compete in a chair game.

BY PRASANN RANADE

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he “Welcome Back” rally on Aug. 29 was a stark change from previous rallies due to its non-competitive nature and changes in recognizing sports teams.

Because the �irst rally was primarily meant to be a trial run for the Spirit commissioners, future rallies will retain their competitive aspects with possible changes in how sports teams are announced. Nevertheless, ASB plans to make further changes to future events like the Homecoming game and dance.

While planning the �irst rally of the year, the Spirit commissioners broke from tradition to change the competition within rallies.

“We don’t think it’s good enough for us to keep saying ‘Oh, we have competitive rallies because that’s what we’ve always done [and] that’s what we’re always going to do,’” said senior Jessica Jiang, one of the Spirit commissioners. “We wanted to have one [rally] that could be our experiment.”

Opinions on the rally changes were quite negative, as shown through the Spirit commissioners’ anonymous survey on Sept. 3.

Speci�ically, a great deal of animosity centered on changes to calling out sports teams.

Instead of calling out each sports team during the rally, the commissioners incorporated teams into the rally games. Traditionally, students from each class compete in the games, but for this rally, members from each sports team across the four classes competed together against other sports teams. The modi�ication regarding sports teams, however, was also an experiment to reduce the length of rallies, but whether it will be continued for future rallies remains to be seen.

For some class of�icers, the rally’s noncompetitive nature allowed them to better work with other classes’ of�icers. For example, the senior class of�icers cooperated with

the freshman class of�icers in decorations. Junior class president Sally Wan says that her of�icer team behaved similarly.

“Our vision going into this rally was for the classes to come together to support the class of 2018,” said Wan. “It’s extremely dif�icult and disheartening for a freshman class to be thrown into such a foreign environment, [so] we wanted to prevent others from going through it.”

In that sense, this “Welcome Back” rally led to questions regarding the purpose of rallies. By changing tradition to support the current freshman class in their �irst rally, future freshman classes might have an easier transition into high school.

“It’s all about precedence,” said Wan. “If we can change things now to welcome the incoming freshmen, I personally feel like we can deal with the negative repercussions.”

The �irst rally serves as an initiation for the freshmen class. As sophomore class president William Shan says, it is the hardest, and carries implications for future rallies.

“As a freshman of�icer last year, one of my greatest dif�iculties was getting past that initial rally because [it] left a lot of room for improvement, but there’s nothing we could have done as freshmen to make it as good as our class expected,” said sophomore class president William Shan. “Regretfully, I almost wished that 2018 had a bad �irst freshmen rally so I could prove to my class that yes, we all have bad freshmen rallies, we all go through this time.”

Other changes planned for the future go beyond experiments with rallies. In particu-

ALL PHOTOS BY STEPHANIE LU

CANS | Sophomore Chantal Naugle, a Girls Golf player, competes in the soda-stacking competition.

lar, ASB has planned a few changes to Homecoming this year. Attendance at the football game will be included in the grading rubric, adding an incentive for students to watch the game. Additionally, the �inal results for Homecoming will be announced at the dance as a way to increase attendance.

The modi�ications are due to the ASB of�icer team’s greater emphasis on events with a purpose, beyond just tradition.

“When we have Homecoming results announced at the football game and [the ASB of�icer team] asked why, the answer is, ‘It’s always been done that way,’ but we thought there could be another way of doing it,” said senior and ASB President Amit Pasupathy. “We want to honor football and ensure that we’re not distracting the game with the announcement of the results, but still make it a part of the Homecoming competition.”

Looking to the future, ASB has also planned more changes, including the �irst annual Viking Pumpkin Run on Oct. 25 to bene�it the Athletics department.

Whether these events will set a precedent for future years is unknown.

Later that day, Yang came home to �ind his house overturned; all of the drawers had been opened and the mattresses had been �lipped over. He called the police who, upon arrival, told him to stay away from the house until they had inspected it completely.

Later, Jimmy Yang, Jeffrey Yang’s father, received a call from his son about the burglary.

“The burglar took our camera, three notebooks, an iPad, a Kindle, and a Nexus tablet,” said Jimmy Yang. “We were also missing pillow cases so we assumed that the burglar used them to carry our stuff.”

The Yang family’s safe had also been stripped of all its jewelry and cash. Much of the jewelry was hidden on their top shelf of a closet and would have been hard to �ind.

“I think the burglar used a metal detector because our safe was really wellhidden,” Jimmy Yang. “The burglar was smart and he came prepared.”

Another Lynbrook student who was affected by the robberies is sophomore Uday Tripathi. Tripathi’s house was empty when the burglary occurred. At around 1 p.m. on Sept. 24, the burglar broke in through a glass panel on their front door and unlocked the door by reaching through the resulting hole in the glass.

When Tripathi’s grandparents walked in later that day, they found their house a mess, with things strewn all over the ground. Expensive jewelry, laptops, an iPad and three cameras were all reported to be missing.

“It was peculiar,” said Tripathi. “I live on a very busy street, and there are many cars there in the afternoon. The robber must have been really daring.”

Tripathi called the police who arrived two hours later to investigate the scene.

Although the suspect in Turlock remains in custody, the police urge the public to report any crime or unusual activity.

“The most important element of burglary suppression is citizen involvement,” said Morales. “Citizens need to be encouraged to look after their neighbors and to report suspicious activity.”

The newest additions to Lynbrook’s admininistration

BY URMILA VENKATARAMI

Letter from the Editors Dear Readers,

We are excited to welcome the new school year as the Epic’s new Editors-in-Chief. In our �irst issue of the year, we discuss some of the important issues impacting Lynbrook.

From the recent string of robberies (pg. 1) to the new male cheerleaders on this year’s squad (pg. 13), there has been no shortage of information to report on.

For an in-depth look into some of the hard hitting stories this issue, check out a detailed account of the anonymous social media platform Ask.fm (pg. 10), and for the Epic’s take on the lack of communication between the student body and ASB, take a look at the staff editorial (pg. 5).

Happy Reading, James Wilhelmi and Khaya Bhatia

Assistant Principal of Activities Craig Tuana and guidance counselor Jessica Coscia are joining the staff at Lynbrook this year, each bringing a unique group of experiences to the school.

Craig Tuana Craig Tuana, a Class of ‘94 Lynbrook alum, worked at Lynbrook for a year and a half as a teacher in the Voyager program.

He then transferred to Fremont High to try inclusion teaching, which allows two teachers to deliver the curriculum together. After six years, Tuana moved to Palo Alto High to become the Dean of Students.

He worked there for three years before taking the place of David Erwin, the current Assistant Principal (AP) of Curriculum, as AP of Activities at Lynbrook.

Tuana’s new responsibilities include overseeing activities such as clubs, athletics and facilities. For him, the most dif�icult part of the job is the details.

“There’s a lot of gray area in questions like, ‘Can we use an electric guitar at Homecoming?’” said Tuana.

This year, Tuana is looking forward

STEPHANIE LU—EPIC

STEPHANIE LU—EPIC

GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: JESSICA COSCIA

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: CRAIG TUANA

to the renovations that the Facilities Master Plan will bring about.

“I’m interested to see how we can make buildings accommodating and enjoyable for students,” said Tuana.

While the upcoming changes present potentially challenging work for Tuana, the prospect of coming back to where it all began has a more profound meaning.

He said, “It’s nice to be back where you feel comfortable, almost like home.”

Jessica Coscia Filling in for Shana Howden is Jessica Coscia, the new guidance counselor for last names I-Pg. Before coming to Lynbrook, she worked at San Jose High School as a counsel-

or for seniors.

“The students and I became very close just because they needed so much support,” said Coscia. “They still keep me up to date with what they’re doing, and that means a lot to me.”

Coscia hopes to bring that same level of closeness to Lynbrook. Meeting many students in a short amount of time is dif�icult, and Coscia appreciates when students visit her of�ice to check-in with her.

Coscia’s favorite thing about her job is working with staff and students.

“The staff members that I get to work with are hilarious,” said Coscia. “They make me laugh everyday.”

News in Brief

Rani: 11,000 voices in one

Homecoming Dance The Homecoming dance will take place on Saturday, Oct. 18. It is semi-formal but dateless, and the theme is “A Trip Down Memory Lane.” Results from Homecoming week will be announced. Tickets are $8 with ASB and $10 without until Oct. 17, but are $10 at the door.

Fright Music Concert The Lynbrook Choir will dress up in spooky costumes and host a Halloween-themed concert on Oct. 24. at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Ticket are $5 regardless of ASB, and sales begin on Monday, Oct. 20.

Viking Pumpkin Run In order to support the athletic teams on campus, Lynbrook’s community has been invited to participate in either the 5K, Kid’s Run, or Viking Mile Run on Oct. 25. Each event begins at a different hour, but all cost the same. Ticket prices start at $15 for students and staff, and anyone who registers online is given a t-shirt. Everyone is encouraged to attend and compete for prizes.

Marching Band Competition The Marching Band will perform in the Valley Christian/Chabot Band Competition at Chabot College on Oct. 25 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 each.

Halloween Parade On Halloween, the Lynbrook student body will have the opportunity to show off its holiday spirit. All are invited to march in the quad at lunch on Oct. 31.

Challenge Day Lynbrook’s �irst Challenge Day will take place on Oct. 30. Challenge Day leaders will spend the day with students and teach stress-relieving techniques.

by JJ Ignatescu

USED WITH THE PERMISSIION OF SUE LARSON

NO LAUGHING MATTER| Senior Rani Mavram sits with the FUHSD Board of Trustees during her first meeting as the Student Board Representative.

BY RENUKA BELWALKAR

A

t the beginning of August 2014, senior Rani Mavram was appointed as the student representative on the FUHSD Board of Trustees, a position that a Lynbrook student has not held in 10 years.

After two applications, interviews and approval from the Board of Trustees, Mavram was selected to represent the voices of more than 11,000 students in the district for the 2014-2015 school year.

Her interest in having the student perspective be more transparent at an administrative, -wide level motivated her to apply for this position.

Now, Mavram gets the opportunity to hold the position that fosters this interest. She is responsible for collecting and presenting reports from all Intra-District Council (IDC) representatives to the board.

Principal John Dwyer thinks the position of student board representative on the FUHSD Board of Trustees is extremely important because it gives the board an op-

portunity to hear the students’ perspectives and opinions regarding important decisions that may affect them.

“Because different stakeholder groups all have different perspectives, it’s critical for students to be involved with decisions made towards them. Everyone needs to be heard,” said Dwyer.

During meetings with the board and IDC representatives, Mavram plans to discuss issues such as the ways that district money will be used and the amount of AP classes at each school in the district. She would also like to spread awareness about topics such as Common Core and �iscal changes occurring in the FUHSD. Furthermore, she hopes to improve interaction between members of the district of�ice and all the students and parents in the district by creating a monthly newsletter. She also plans on managing a website that gives updates on the district of�ice and any relatable questions each student might have.

“I think to some extent [the students] don’t really look at the district as people that pertain to us,” said Mavram.

“Some may think, ‘They’re just the district, and they don’t affect me.’ And in all honesty it affects you in every single way out there.”

Mavram’s past experiences, from being an IDC Representative to serving as the National Executive Parliamentarian of the Future Business Leaders of America, have helped her learn how to work well with others. It has also allowed her to adapt to the professional environment in the board meetings.

“For me, it was very instant. I knew what was going on, and it made it easier for me to voice my opinion as I spoke,” said Mavram.

FUHSD Communications Coordinator Sue Larson describes Mavram as very well-quali�ied for this role and believes that she is off to a great start.

“Her intelligence, knowledge, experience, poise, and upbeat personality are real assets, and I look forward with joy and eagerness to see her contributions during this school year,” said Larson.

Mavram is excited to see what the 20142015 school year holds. She anticipates meeting new people and looking deeper into what policies should be implemented this year. Her dream for the district and campus includes visions of every student feeling excited for each new day of school, and having the school and district feel like a second home for students.

I’ve made this year: being more accepting.”

The different pressures that motivate students to cheat are currently being investigated by Quindipan.

According to her �indings, students feel pressure to cheat from their peers, themselves, their parents and their teachers, so they turn to dishonest acts to try to meet the high expectations.

This year her main focus has been to help students understand her expectations, and she also looks for strategies that help the student learn instead of condemning them to a bad grade.

“I speci�ically told students what they can do rather than what they cannot do,” she said.

“Telling students what they can do leaves very little room for them to guess about what is appropriate and what is dishonest behavior. This is probably what will help guide the students to become more honest.”

Around late October or early November of this year, these teachers will have all Lynbrook students take a survey to see what they de�ine as cheating and why they cheat.

The survey will be given in partnership with Stanford University and the corporation Challenge Success, which has been studying cheating for several years.

“It’ll help us determine more about why students are so stressed,” said Kraemer. “Also, it’ll give us some sense of cheating from the student perspective as well.”

After discussing cheating with his students, Miller has had students approach him about being stressed, and requesting exten-

sions on assignment deadlines instead of resorting to cheating.

“It’s really nice for me to see that they feel like they can approach me with issues like that,” said Miller. “I’m hoping that their honesty is due, in part, to the conversations about making sure that we have wide diversi�ication in tests,” said Bale.

As for test corrections and retakes, both teachers will be strictly monitoring times and locations. Last year test retakes were more social, which made it very easy for students to exchange information.

“If we do test corrections, it’ll be in a very speci�ic time frame, and it’s going to be more of a testing environment,” said Williams.

“Notes will be allowed during the quizzes, but will be collected afterwards so they’re not dispersed.”

According to Bale, cheating incidents not only affect grades and of�icial transcripts, but also in�luence the level of trust between students and teachers.

“You want to continue to think positively about students, but when these types of threats out there, it forces you to be more cynical about the situation,” said Bale. “You want to give everyone a fair shot, but there’s less trust thats naturally given.”

Teachers and administrators remain hopeful and are experimenting with small changes as the school year progresses. Ball, Kraemer, Miller and Quindipan continue their research on the different aspects of academic honesty and search for potential solutions to further prevent cheating in the future.

CHEATING: Teachers’ plans to ensure honesty continued from CHEATING page 1 Rather than struggling to �inish unclear problems at home alone, she much prefers them asking for help.

Learning about different perspectives has also led Kraemer to be more empathetic toward her students.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY IRIS ZHAO AND JESSICA LUO

Instead of expecting homework to be done on time each day through cheating, she much prefers her students coming to class with un�inished homework but with a willingness to learn.

“We hold students to such a high level of excellence, which is a reason why they feel so pressured,” said Kraemer. “That’s one change

Body cameras uncovering the truth I

BY SHREYAS IYER

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE SHEIH

n the wake of the August 19th shootings at Ferguson, Mo., there has been a national cry for police reform, primarily for the implementation of body cameras for police of�icers on duty, stemming from the plethora of police abuse cases over the past few months. As a result, the Santa Clara County police department should adopt a pilot test for body cameras for police of�icers.

Prior to Ferguson, the police have experimented with cameras for police of�icers in Rialto, Calif., reporting positive results for a pilot test with body cameras. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rialto’s police department has reported that the use of force has been down 60 percent compared to the previous year, with 88 percent less complaints. The cameras they used are small yet distinguishable and located on the chest, clearly visible to citizens. These cameras would provide of�icers with a replayable view of confrontations with civilians to prevent unwarranted police force. Rialto’s method for implementation is being modeled in Los Angeles and New York.

San Jose needs similar measures as well.

While the Santa Clara County Sherrif’s Of�ice (SCC) has implemented in-car cameras, it is not enough for a city with a rise in violent crimes. San Jose has the highest violent crime rate per 100 persons, at 3.63, than any other city in SCC, and to combat the problem San Jose has since started to implement body cameras with a small percentage of of�icers.

“Because [some of] our of�icers don’t have cars...they carry body cameras,” said SCC Deputy Aaron Baker.

In the face of this problem, body cameras would be an effective way to stop this trend of crime from continuing. “[Cameras] would help quite a bit, espe-

cially when people make false accusations, which they do a lot,” said Deputy Baker. “[They] would help prove or disprove any allegation towards you, and in an investigation too. If somebody forgets a speci�ic statement, you can go back and put it in your report, so your report’s more accurate.”

Charles “Chappie” Jones, member of San Jose’s District One Leadership Group, would like to see police body cameras. “I’m in favor of police body cameras, and want to see them in San Jose,” said Jones. “It protects both police and citizens.”

Due to the effects of body cameras across the country, it is time for San Jose to modernize. Body cameras restrict the police force from abusing their power while also making sure citizens cooperate with of�icers.

The cameras’ usability extends to any place at any time and would help in of�icial investigations, police reports and inside courts and other of�icial places of law.

From a more localized point of view, students at Lynbrook also express positive views about the implementation of body cameras.

“I’d feel more safe [with body cameras] based on [effectiveness], ” said sophomore Alina Ying. “I feel like I would respect [of�icers] a lot more.

They wouldn’t be doing anything unlawful or unof�icial.” Senior Dhruv Walia echoes Ying’s sentiments, “I think [the cameras] are necessary in areas, where there is police brutality.”

Consenting with popular opinion, Ying and Walia agree that the cameras would help out a crime-ridden city, and while that may not apply to San Jose just yet, it would be best for us to quell any rise in crime before it starts to affect the whole community. Body cameras could also lead to a greater sense of awareness and liberty for civilians, which would contribute to a balance of power between civilians and police. A more aware mindset would prevent the police from breaching citizens’ rights, through citizens’ knowledge of their actions.

“I would be more assertive of my rights,” said Walia. “[Of�icers] would be more care-

ful because they don’t want to get in trouble.

I wouldn’t be disrespectful, but if they try to do something illegal, then I’ll check them.”

With cameras, students can be assured of less scrutiny as all actions would be recorded, allowing both citizens and of�icers to be wary of how they act. The City of San Jose should be looking to follow Hayward, which recently ordered body cameras for its police.

Currently, the idea is being debated, but no serious legislation has been put forth.

“Yes, there have [been talks],” said Jones. “[Councilmember] Sam Liccardo has advocated for body cameras. I don’t know if it’s a consensus among the council.”

While the effectiveness of body cameras has been universally acclaimed, the system still is not perfect, with a few cons holding back counties from instituting cameras. The primary deterrent from its implementation in most counties, is the cost. The cameras range from $120 to $2,000, not to mention city plans for the cameras costing millions, with data processing making up the bulk of the plans.

When it comes to these costs, however, Jones offers reassurance that the cameras’ use outweighs the monetary drawbacks.

“I know that the cost of settling lawsuits against the police runs up millions of dollars,” said Jones. “Even if body cameras cost millions of dollars, they will pay for themselves in terms of eliminating those lawsuits.”

From what has been put forth, body cameras would provide a safe and effective way for San Jose of�icers to �ight crime, with a feasible cost to boot. With the factors currently in play in the city, San Jose should take immediate steps toward implementing body cameras for their on-duty police of�icers. They would bene�it not only our cops, but our citizens, as well as making sure that police brutality never occurs again. Hopefully, when we look back at the Michael Brown shooting and other similar heinous events, we will remember them not as dark moments in American history, but instead as catalysts of social justice, as catalystcs of reform, peace, and a brighter future for civilian justice.

plying that their bodies will and should be judged if exposed, but also they are assuming that boys will inevitably be distracted by immodest dress. By censoring dress, schools perpetuate the idea that it is the victim’s fault if her body is assessed, and that it is the victim’s responsibility to prevent such things from occurring—at the risk of discipline. By presuming that women are designated for exploitation, people subconsciously accept societal issues such as rape culture and domestic violence. Slut shaming justi�ies the idea that if a woman does not adequately cover herself, she deserves discipline.

“I feel like slut shaming changes the way we dress and how we feel others look at us,” said sophomore Kathy Lam. “It causes people to be more self-conscious, and negatively pressures girls to dress more conservatively.

Girls lose respect for themselves.”

The idea that a viewer has the right to criticize and objectify a woman’s body, and that the woman’s body is not rightfully her own., stem from slut shaming. It is ironic that schools, knowledge havens, bear dress codes that embody the essence of slut shaming.

“My friends and I are careful about what we wear,” said freshman Juney Lee. “We do

not want others to assume things about us, so we don’t wear anything too revealing.” In this way, schools make students bend to the criticism and sexist dress code standards.

Slut-shamers justify their actions by claiming that immodest girls enjoy having their bodies exploited. Yet this is hardly the case—the clothes that girls wear represent their are a form of self-expression.

“People wear what they want for personal reasons,” junior Sherrie Guan said.

“There is no implied meaning behind it; they are just wearing what they like.” Clothing is a form of individualism. If clothes make girls feel con�ident, nobody else has the right to criticize.

The easiest way to mitigate slut shaming is to stop judging others based on what they wear. The fabric on their back does not determine their moral worth—

what does contribute to peoples’ worth is their ability to uphold beliefs and ignore irrational criticism. The next time you unwittingly slut shame, think who the better person is: the girl brave enough to wear what she wants, or the critical onlooker?

A girl should not be two things: ashamed and exploited

BY KATHLEEN CUI

S

lut shaming occurs when a woman’s body is objecti�ied and her morals are assumed based on what she wears. Students unconsciously accept slut shaming as an acceptable way to compel women to dress appropriately, and this shaming is covertly disguised in schools and dress codes.

Numerous schools have regulations that enforce modest wear because revealing clothing is supposedly distracting to the learning process. While some wonder how crop tops can disrupt the operation of a 1,800-student school, the Lynbrook planner speci�ically states such guidelines: “Appropriate dress is necessary for the healthy, safe, and undisturbed operation of the school.”

“Inappropriate dress” is de�ined by faculty, who speak to the student if he or she feels the student’s dress is not modest enough.

The student must then change, either by borrowing clothes from of�ice staff or friends, calling a parent, or donning a PE uniform.

Policies like these imply that at Lynbrook, girls must cover themselves, and if not, face chastisement and appraisal by their peers.

Not only are schools demeaning girls by im-

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE SHEIH

Staff Editorial

The Voice of the Epic

The broken link between the ASB and the students

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY

A

fter ASB implemented massive changes at the Welcome Back Rally, an outcry erupted amongst the student body; not because the changes were unexpected, but because ASB did not consult the student body about these changes. The ASB is meant to represent the “associated student body” in all school related activities.

This, however, is not what students feel like it has been doing. ASB has also implemented additional changes that impacted Homecoming, eliciting a widely negative response from the student body. The ASB and student body both must improve their communication to meet expectations of both parties.

A prime example of this lack of communication between students and the ASB of�icers is the Homecoming dance.

“We felt that the Homecoming dance should be a celebration for those that worked hard,” said ASB Social Manager Sarah Kim. “We didn’t want people to not go just because they didn’t have dates.”

On the other hand, many students feel that Homecoming is to enjoy with a date in a semi-formal atmosphere rather than a casual celebration. After announcing the switch, ASB again changed the attire of the dance to semi-formal, still maintaining the fact that it was a “no date” dance in a casual setting.

“A casual atmosphere is for Welcome Back and Link Crew Dance, but Homecoming needs a formal environment,” said junior Mukund Hari. Likewise, others are displeased with ASB for making changes without consulting the general student body beforehand.

“We elect ASB of�icers so that our voice can be heard, but they didn’t ask for our opinion in changing the Homecoming dance,” said senior June Hong. One way to combat this miscommunication is to survey students beforehand to gauge interest in changes instead of simply collecting feedback after the event. Constructive criticism before the event could only aide ASB in planning.

Compounding the situation, ASB uses an inconsistent and narrow system to collect student opinions. At the end of the 20122013 school year, ASB conducted a schoolwide survey covering various facets of school events, planning to build off the data and improve for the next school year. As of the ASB Town Hall meeting held on Thursday, Oct. 3, representatives said that they are still basing many of their decisions on the data from that survey. The problem here is that it cannot accurately re�lect the thoughts of the current student body: the current freshmen and sophomores never got to vote in this survey, and two graduated classes are not here to experience the changes they suggested.

Currently, ASB uses Google Forms posted

on the “Lynbrook High School” Facebook group and on ASB of�icers’ pro�iles to get feedback on past events. While social media can be an effective for communication, there are glaring problems with the way in which ASB uses it. There are many students that are not on Facebook or on the group, making this mode of communication ineffective.

“I didnt even know ASB ever sent out surveys about social events,” said junior Dara Jovkar, who does not use Facebook. “I didn’t understand what was happening during Movember month because all the information was only on Facebook.”

To comprehensively survey the general student population, ASB should use a variety

so,” said junior Nikhil Mannem.

Student participation is a constant point of frustration for ASB. When students do not respond with concrete feedback to their surveys, ASB must rely on their own opinions in planning events; still, students blame ASB for not meeting their expectations. In order to have their hopes satis�ied, students must be proactive about responding to ASB surveys with speci�ic information pertaining to what they expect from school events.

“We sent out a survey about Winter Formal last year and learned that students would attend if prices were lowered, so we lowered them,” said ASB adviser Andrea Badger; yet, attendance for Winter Formal

of approaches. School Loop emails, for one, help get the message to the whole student body. In the case of the Welcome Back Rally, a post-survey was put on Facebook and sent through School Loop. While sending this survey through both mediums was an effective way to reach all the students, the fact that it was sent out after the rally took place made the feedback less useful.

Legislative representatives could also be used as a pre-surveying mechanism to inform students about potential changes to be made. This method would allow representatives to conduct a class vote in addition to collecting any outstanding opinions about the changes, which they can then report back to ASB as a litmus test.

Though implementing these changes would increase the reach of ASB to the student body, it is also the responsibility of the students to participate in these surveys in order for ASB to meet their expectations.= “The changes to school events have de�initely made me upset; however, I don’t offer feedback because I never �ind the time to do

that year was at an all-time low. If students had responded to ASB’s survey with honest, extensive feedback about why they choose not to attend, ASB may have had the opportunity to better those aspects of the dance.

This trend was exempli�ied in the ASB Town Hall meeting on Oct. 3. ASB provided students the opportunity to voice their concerns on a variety of topics, including past and future changes to student events. But of the approximately 25 students who showed up, only about ten were non-ASB members.

Clearly, whenever students are handed the opportunity to make their voices heard, a great majority of them do not take it.

Essentially, events like rallies and Homecoming dances are created for the students and, without improvements in communication between ASB and the student body, these events cannot meet the expectations of the students. In order to remedy the lack of communication between ASB and the student body, both parties must play an active role in expressing their opinions throughout the planning of all school events.

IZZY KIPNIS//AS I SEE IT

The Land of Milk and Rockets

W

hat began as a summer program about leadership and advocacy in Israel quickly evolved into an enlightening journey that gave me a new perspective on the con�lict in the Middle East.

Throughout my �irst week in Israel, tensions were high. The three Israeli boys who had been kidnapped earlier in June by Hamas terrorists in the West Bank had been found dead. In retaliation, Israeli extremists murdered a Palestinian boy. Of course, I understand these acts of terror weren’t humane, but at the time I was more concerned with the responses of the respective governments.

When asked about how he would handle the Israelis who killed the Palestinian, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the acts, while Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal praised the kidnappers. I was appalled. How could a government commend the killing of innocent boys? More importantly, how could anyone see moral equivalence between the Israeli government, which condemned all of the acts of terror, and Hamas, the government that commended the unprovoked murders and kidnappings of three innocent teenagers? Furthermore, how could the media disproportionately represent only one side to such a complex issue?

Prior to my trip I only knew the basics of the con�lict between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Like the rest of America, I was in�luenced by a biased media that portrayed skewed facts, but unlike most Americans, I acknowledged it. So, I spent the program learning as much context as possible. I was not looking to �ind reasons to support Israel, but rather looking to establish an objective background that would help me form my own opinion.

The media could not have played a larger role in the con�lict this summer. Each news source told a different story and typically focused on one isolated aspect of the con�lict.

Surprisingly, even in the midst of a crisis, I felt safer in Israel than I’ve ever felt at home and had full faith in the government, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and the Iron dome (an air defense system used to intercept and destroy rockets aimed for populated areas) to protect me - an American, not an Israeli.

As I was shuttled from city to city to avoid locations where rockets had hit, I could not help but feel a deep sorrow for the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. Israel does not allow its citizens’ lives to be endangered and it is a shame that Hamas, the current leadership in the Gaza Strip, does not do the same.

Hamas’ rockets from Gaza were double war crimes; they were not only aimed at civilians in Israel, but were also �ired from heavily populated locations in the Gaza Strip such as schools, hospitals, and even mosques. This is a potential cause of the disparity between the Palestinian and Israeli civilian casualty rate. Israel uses its rockets to defend its civilians while Hamas rules over Gaza with an iron �ist, but neglects to protect its people.

One reason why this con�lict is so hard to talk about is that people are so quick to form strong opinions with little knowledge.

Just reading news headlines or looking at a graphic does not make someone an expert.

I believe that supporting one side over the other is not the so-called “humanitarian” stance. The only progressive approach to the con�lict is pro-peace, and peace will not happen if both sides do not learn to coexist.

You may think that I’m biased because Im Jewish, but that isn’t the case. Being Jewish doesn’t make me biased; it makes me invested. If you disagree with me, or if I made any false statements, feel free to approach me to discuss. Dialogues are more bene�icial than monologues. I only ask that you approach me

For the full version, visit www.lhs.epic. com. For more on this topic, see page 11.

Professional Posts, Please Explaining the importance of staff social media guidelines

BY MEERA KRISHNAMOORTHY

C

onfusion ensued in Newark, Calif. when Newark Memorial High School teacher Krista Hodges was charged with improper social media use for posting a string of threatening tweets about her students, including this violent statement: “I already wanna stab some kids.” The school district was confused because it did not have a plan in effect to discipline Hodges. The school community was confused because no one thought that such an event could occur. And Hodges herself was confused because she was unaware anyone would read her tweets and take her seriously. Had such a scandal occurred at one of the FUHSD schools, similar events would unfold because FUHSD, like Hodges’ school’s district, does not have codi�ied social media guidelines for staff members. The district, therefore, should adopt social media guidelines to guide the FUHSD community on how to use social media in an educational environment.

Instead of using guidelines, the FUHSD currently just advises staff members to remain professional on social media.

“Although there are not speci�ic detailed social media guidelines for FUHSD staff members, the clear expectation and requirement is that in all interaction with students, staff members adhere to the highest standards of professionalism and appropriateness,” said Sue Larson, FUHSD’s Communications Director. “This overarching expectation addresses staff members’ social media interactions with students, along with all other interactions.”

Hodges’ case is not unique; teachers in other districts have been charged with inappropriate handling of social media. Others

include former Lincoln High School teacher Meredith Powell, who sent explicit photos of herself to students at the Tacoma, Wash. school via Snapchat, and several employees of the Fox C-6 school district in St. Louis, Mo., who were sued for insulting remarks they made about parents online.

“For most teachers, being professional on social media is common sense,” said English teacher Andrew Seike.

“However, I think guidelines are necessary because that may not be common sense to everyone.”

The guidelines advocated here should be more openended than policies or school laws. Implementing policies would be dif�icult due to the district’s lack of experience with social media issues, the lack of laws surrounding social media and the fact that the district cannot write policies to account for every situation. Creating guidelines would be appropriate because they are not stringent rules, but rather suggestions to consider.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to student safety and the reputation of a teacher,” said Spanish teacher Michael Esquivel.

“If I were interacting with students on Facebook, I would want their parents to know why. If my 14-year-old daughter was interacting with her male high school teacher on any social media site, I would want to know why. Guidelines could clear that up.”

Using guidelines would also give teachers the �lexibility to use social media in whatever

manner best suits their course.

“Facebook is a way for me to share articles with my students that complement the curriculum,” said Williams. “It gets students out of the textbook, and allows them to see the implications of real world.”

It is assumed that most teachers know how to act on the Internet; therefore, the use of guidelines simply makes sure that teachers are not going to be strictly policed on what they post on social media.

“As a teacher, my reputation is something I hold very highly, so I would never do anything online that would jeopardize my reputation in the public eye,” said Esquivel. “That being said, I should be able to post or say things I want on social media without wearing the hat of a teacher.”

Guidelines would also be useful when deliberating how to discipline teachers based

on misuse of social media. Responding to a question on how the district would discipline misuse of social media, Larson said, “It is not possible to speci�ically describe the consequences that would arise from a teacher using social media in an inappropriate manner.

Certainly consequences would be implemented, but the degree and severity would relate to the nature of the transgression.”

While this is understandable, given that the district should not be expected to preemptively respond to every possible social media issue, the FUHSD should formulate a general procedure on how to deal with social media misuse. This is important primarily because the district needs to inform staff members of their rights.

“Things you say in writing can always be held against you,” said Seike. “We need to all be aware of what the repercussions are of what we say, especially on social media, because when content is posted, it can never really be erased.”

Creating rules on how to use social media is a relatively new concept because people are still getting used to the idea that what they say on the Internet can be viewed and judged by the entire world. As social media becomes more prominent in people’s lives, being unable to distinguish acceptable social media behavior from the unacceptable can do irreparable damage, particularly in a school environment. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that the FUHSD codi�ies social media guidelines for the bene�it of the FUHSD community.

campus, and the church has always been able to thrive under persecution.”

Not only will changing their policies result in the possibility of more compromise, but it would prevent InterVarsity from voicing their opinions on the CSU’s nondiscrimination policies for leadership.

“It’s a matter of integrity,” said Eric Chen, an InterVarsity staff member at San Jose State University.

“We could take the part requiring leaders to be Christian out of our constitution, and still only have Christian leaders, but we want to take a stance on this instead of quietly going along with the policy. We think it’s best for the university system, and that’s part of our commitment to the campus.”

InterVarsity believes universities should be places where ideas can be shared freely.

“Our understanding of the university is

that it was founded on the basis of exchanging ideas,” said Eric Chen. “So if the nondiscrimination policy is enacted, it’ll detract from the reason why universities began in the �irst place: the exchange of ideas, information and culture.”

Requiring leaders to be Christian cannot be considered discrimination; it’s ensuring that leaders are knowledgeable enough about Christianity to lead others. The prerequisites for leaders, however, do not apply to any students who want to become members.

“Derecognizing InterVarsity for not allowing non-Christian leaders gives a wrong impression of what the organization is about,” said Lynbrook Class of 2014 alumnus Tony Pan, a member of the IVCF chapter at Johns Hopkins University. “InterVarsity is an inclusive group that welcomes members regardless of their beliefs or sexual orientations.”

The CSU system accused IVCF of discriminating against non-Christians, but IVCF was only trying to ensure that its members were in the best possible community. Allowing non-Christian leaders could place that community in jeopardy because non-Christians are less capable of leading IVCF and might compromise Gospel faith when teaching and leading others. Furthermore, the derecognition of IVCF will discourage Christians from applying to universities in the CSU system, or other universities like Tufts and Vanderbilt, both of which have also derecognized IVCF.

“It’s so important for me and other Christians to come together and have a time where we can be with God and each other on campus as well,” said junior Alyssa Zhang, another Agape core team leader. “We’re not only Sunday Christians, so we need that kind of support on campus. If the school doesn’t recognize InterVarsity, it would be more dif�icult for me to �ind that kind of oasis on campus.”

By derecognizing IVCF, the CSU system robs Christians of the opportunity to be a part of a Christian community on campus. Just as students who love medicine can �ind friends and community in a Pre-Med club and as students who love writing can �ind fellow writers by joining a literary magazine, Christians need IVCF to �ind fellow Christians.

If more universities derecognize InterVarsity or other religious clubs, Christians who value an on-campus religious community will have fewer options when applying to college, which will not give them equal access to all universities. Christians who are currently on university campuses that do not recognize IVCF do not have equal access to the university.

Ultimately, the derecognition of IVCF will prevent Christians at Lynbrook and other high schools from having as many options for universities as non-Christians for a reason that, in regard to the CSU’s original intentions, seems ironically more discriminatory than it is fair.

RELIGIOUS CLUBS| CSU makes changes continued from INTERVARSITY pg 1

It is not sensible for a leader of a Christian club to be non-Christian, and the CSU system should not try to enforce this policy.

“The CSU system is saying that you can be president of the Christian Club and be Buddhist or not believe in the Bible,” said Quoc Nguyen, a pastor at the River of Life Christian Church in Santa Clara. “But that’s unreasonable, especially in a place of higher education. That’s like a white person being the president of the Black Student Union or someone who doesn’t believe in homosexuality being the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance.”

While some believe that IVCF should have compromised with the CSU’s requests to change its leader policies in order to avoid derecognition, many Christians agree with IVCF’s decision to maintain their policies.

“It starts with a little bit of compromise, and eventually it’ll be a lot of compromise,” said Nguyen. “The Christian community does not need permission from authority to be a community. Christian clubs are churches on

S

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BY MICHELLE SU AND FREYA LIU

W

ith the start of the 20142015 school year, Lynbrook welcomes seven new teachers.

Below, we have featured some of these teachers, their backgrounds and fun facts about them. To read about all of the new teachers this year, please visit www.lhsepic.com for the full story.

PRASANN RANADE- EPIC

Isaac Pallone, Science While not new to the district, this is Pallone’s �irst time as a full-time teacher, and has enjoyed his time at Lynbrook thus far. He said, “Lynbrook really has a family mentality, and that is very different from my own high school experience at a less spirited and lively school in Western New York.” Upon moving back to the Bay Area from the East Coast, Pallone completed his student teaching requirements at Homestead High School while attending San Jose State University, and then worked at Cupertino High School as a long-term substitute.

He now teaches �ive classes of freshman biology at Lynbrook, wanting to help his students “gain more than what they learn from the book and really question and appreciate the science in the world around us.” Like other teachers, Pallone also enjoys travelling and sees it as a way to diversify his views and share his knowledge with his students. Since he has already backpacked through Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Australia, he hopes to visit Antarctica one day to complete his quest to visit all seven continents.

Ryan Lonergan, Special Education Currently completing his internship credential, a program that allows individuals to serve as a counselor or administrator while completing a professional preparation program, Lonergan is a �irst year special education teacher. While he has been in�luenced by his family, most of whom are all teachers, Lonergan became a teacher for other personal reasons. In high school, his closest friends suffered from different learning disabilities—something that inspired him to “provide help to students like his friends so they could have the opportunity to grow with all their learned skills.” In his free time, Lonergan enjoys coach high school sports.

Every summer, he coaches basketball at Camp Taylor, a summer camp for kids with congenital heart disease. Despite being new to teaching, Lonergan is excited to teach at a school with “so much spirit and enthusiasm.”

Kristy Harlin, English

Inspired by one of her high school literature teachers, Harlin has wanted to become an English teacher since her sophomore year of high school. Having graduated from UC Davis in June with a major in English and a minor in education, Harlin is now teaching World Literature and European Literature in her �irst year at Lynbrook. Part of her goals as a teacher include helping people “discover their voices and discover books and reading and writing.” This is something she developed through her own high school experience. Similarly, Harlin believes that being able to explore new cultures through travelling helps her bring more new ideas to the classroom. Travelling is also a part of her long-term goals. “Last summer I went backpacking in Europe, and I’m currently planning a trip to Thailand,” she said. “At some point, I would also like to teach in a different country, particularly a Spanish-speaking country in South America because I know Spanish.” For her, teaching is a way to help students develop their potential, and she hopes to bring her knowledge to schools in less privileged areas of the world.

1. He creates funny

memes to include in his lectures at least once a week.

2. When he visited Africa he

tracked mountain gorillas on a safari in Tanzania and Rwanda.

3. When he was a kid, he had a really awkward

1. His most embarrassing memory

of high school is when he had to be Romeo and act the intimate scenes of Romeo and Juliet with a girl he didn’t know very well.

2. His earliest memory is riding a

bike with his friend to the park right around his house.

3. His goal this year is for his students

to understand the material so they know that these concepts translate to everyday life.

1. Her favorite book is East of Eden by

John Steinbeck because to her, it is a powerful story about human nature.

2. One of the most exotic places she’s

been to is Spain, where she ran with the bulls during her visit last summer.

3. She has lived in California her

whole life and loves it here; she grew up in Santa Rosa, went to school in Davis, and has now moved to the South Bay.

experience on the dance floor, so don’t ever ask him to dance at a school dance!

The hottest entertainment of the summer

BY FRINA REDOLOZA AND AUDREY ZHENG

Orange is the New Black

Net�lix’s best series, “Orange is the New Black (OITNB),” deserves as much praise for its bold writing and interesting plotline as it does for its cast. This is one show that doesn’t attempt to steer clear of lgbt representation or minorities. Set in a women’s federal prison, OITNB manages to defy media’s gender and racial norms, satirize political and social issues and give insight into a life behind bars.

The series follows Piper Chapman, a New Yorker whose past relationship with her ex girfriend and drug smuggler lands her behind bars. As Piper adapts to her life in prison, she becomes acquainted with her fellow inmates, drama ensues and personal background stories are revealed. Most notably, OITNB has succeeded to portray women as human, imperfect and powerful individuals.

“A Sky Full of Stars”

Here’s to a song that deserves its place in the Top 100 tracks on Spotify. “A Sky Full of Stars” by the British band Coldplay made its debut on May 2, reaching the top charts within just a few days. While it’s true that plenty of unoriginal electronic rock songs have topped charts, the concept behind “A Sky Full of Stars” and its unique mix of classical, electronic and rock music, justify its ranking.

The piano music grows to a crescendo in the very beginning, giving this electronic song a classical twist. Gradually, the piano fades out and the track’s electronic beats blend in smoothly all the while background rock tunes accentuate lead singer Chris Martin’s lyrical voice. “A Sky Full of Stars” fully develops the album’s overall theme of past mistakes and future prospects.

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood

As a disclaimer, Kim Kardashian’s game only wins �irst place because, honestly, it was the ultimate guilty pleasure app of the summer.

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is a free gaming app, that requires the players to complete missions to gain fame and fortune with frequent visits from Kardashian herself..

In others words, this is the type of game to play with shifty eyes, a hunched back and cupped hands while in public.

In terms of graphics, the game actually does a good job with the character design, background design and color scheme.

Because of its wild popularity and its ability to generate enough curiosity to pull in an ordinarily respectable man, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood can boast gold on the red carpet.

Guardians of the Galaxy

“Guardians of the Galaxy” follows Chris Pratt as Peter Quill and a group of criminal mis�its as they attempt to sell the galaxy’s most dangerous stone to the highest bidder and keep it out of terrorist Ronan’s grasp.

This �ilm’s popularity spread like wild�ire throughout the internet. The “Guardians of the Galaxy” fanbase birthed the “Socially Oblivious Drax” memes, several popular Tumblr blogs, and thousands of DeviantArt fan art.

The movie itself was ripe with wit, lovable characters, an engaging plot, romance, drama, action and suspense.

Although the time must come when “Guardians of the Galaxy” fades into an old hit from the past, the mantra of “We are Groot” will continue to linger in the air.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SHREYAS IYER

BY JULIA PARK

O

n Sept. 9, I walked into the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts with tickets in my hand, my heart pumping with excitement. I had heard only great things about “Wicked the Musical.” I was shocked by the size of the turnout; the show had sold over 2,600 tickets on a Tuesday night. I was looking forward to a night �illed with laughter and tears; after watching the show, I happily report to you that the musical did not disappoint.

Wicked, the story of Wizard of Oz told from the perspective of witches in Oz, tells the bizarre but witty tale of two unlikely friends, Elphaba and Glinda. Elphaba is played by Emma Hunton, and Glinda is played by Chandra Lee Schwartz. Schwartz was the perfect actress to play Glinda because of her perky, bubbly personality and her girly voice. Emma Hunton plays Elphaba’s seemingly introverted but fearless

character �lawlessly. When Glinda and Elphaba �irst meet, their opposite personalities hinder them from becoming friends. Elphaba’s green skin makes her hard to approach. Glinda, the popular blonde, immediately despises the ugly green girl. “Loathing! Unadulterated loathing! For your voice, for your face, for your clothing!” they sing at each other.

In an unfortunate series of events, Elphaba and Glinda end up rooming together at college, and they discover one another, inside the ugly facade of a teenage girl. They grow closer through makeovers and late night talks. However, their friendship is tested when they learn that they are the only ones who can save the corrupt government of the Land of Oz; they �ight to be the sole hero, but realize soon after that they cannot save the city alone.

The musical has accumulated many supporters and fans who watch the show multiple times, despite its rath-

er pricey fees--a ticket ranging from $57 to $232. One reason this musical is loved is because of its humorous content and clever puns. For example, when Elphaba became angry during class, Glinda said, “It seems the broccoli is steamed,” mocking Elphaba’s green skin. But the true reason for the musical’s fame is that it tells the touching story of two girls who learn to love each other despite their differences.

Although the storyline was great, my favorite part of the musical was the singing. The munchkins’ angelic harmony, Schwartz’s delicate soprano and Hunton’s strong alto voice exceeded everyone’s high expectations. When Hunton “�lew” up to the ceiling above the angered citizens of Oz and sang about her determination to rise above the hate in the song “Defying Gravity,” I couldn’t help but tear up in awe.

Shortly after “Defying Gravity,” and moments before Elphaba and Glinda parted for good, they sang together,

“Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.” Hunton and Schwartz sang the song with impeccable harmony and just the right amount of emotion; their vastly different voices contrasted beautifully.

Without even realizing it, I held my breath throughout the whole song and by the end of the song, you would not have been able to distinguish me from Elphaba.

Glinda and Elphaba’s trip down the yellow brick road left me speechless.

Although their tour in San Jose lasted a mere three weeks, the musical left many people changed for the better.

Many people tend to think that musicals are tacky and childish, but this show broke the stereotype for musicals; it de�ied the odds, and maybe even gravity. If you are looking for a night �illed with magic and awe, I hear something Wicked is coming to San Jose next fall. Go give it a try.

On my experiences of being robbed

S

ICEBOX

A review of the newest creamery in town

BY YONATAN ZEMLYAK

W

hen I was told that Icebox - Cupertino’s newest ice cream shop, at 19929 Stevens Creek Blvd. - rivaled its better-known predecessor CREAM, I jumped at the opportunity to review it, because, you know.

Located in a brownish, relatively indistinguishable building, Icebox bore no initial resemblance to CREAM’s cheerful, colorful exterior, but I felt much better once inside, looking at the menu.

Icebox allows you to choose between �ive different cookies, �ive different macaron shells which consist of coconut) and 16 �lavors of ice cream featuring traditional �lavors like “Old Fashioned Vanilla” and newer, more exotic ones like “Marble Black Raspberry.”

KASTURI PANTVAIDYA- EPIC

To the tune of 1980s rock’n’roll, I sat down and began eating. I �irst sampled the Old Fashioned Vanilla in a chocolate chip shell, wanting to start simple in case the sandwiches were a bust. I don’t know how much to credit Icebox, but vanilla ice cream combined rather �lawlessly with the chocolate chip shell, and I unconsciously scarfed down a good two-thirds of the sandwich before one of my friends violently ripped it out of my hands. From there, I moved on to the Tin Fudge Sundae sandwich, Icebox’s most popular selection according to the cashier.

HOW TO

MAKE EASY MONEY

BY IRIS ZHAO

The ice cream itself tasted like a melted brownie, and when smothered all over a sugary snickerdoodle, the result was a tad too sweet.

Avoid if you don’t like sugart highs.Next in line was the Coffee Almond Fudge in a cookies’n’cream shell. I’m not a fan of coffee, so I initially hesitated before trying it, but my qualms proved baseless, the tangy coffee �lavor perfectly complementing the mildly sweet and chewy cookies ’n cream shell.

I had high hopes for the macaron; after all, the �irst three items had exceeded my expectations. Unfortunately, the mint ice cream felt far too strong, mixing poorly with the

D

dark chocolate shell. As one of my friends aptly stated, it tasted “funky,” and I hurriedly set down the half-eaten macaron, doomed to languish eternally in pastry limbo.

Overall, Icebox’s relaxing atmosphere provided a welcoming break from Lynbrook’s incessant grind, and the food tasted good for the most part. The main downfall was the pricing (see center), which neither justi�ied the amount of food I received nor compared favorably to CREAM. The building, however, allowed me to sit down and eat in peace, which is more than I can say for every crowded CREAM shop I’ve attended.

If you �ind yourself at the plaza which houses Icebox, you’re probably there for TPumps, which stands about 80 meters away. And if, at that moment, you �ind yourself tired of PMT, make the walk to Icebox for an enjoyable ice cream sandwich. Just bring a lot of money.

espite the squalid conditions of poverty at Lynbrook (no pumpkin spice lattes for a week? The horror!), it’s undeniable that much of the student body would prefer being “broke” over selling their bodily �luids. Luckily, there are more than a few ways to make money that are completely free and won’t cost you your hair and plasma (though you can sell that too if you wish.)

Here are a few suggestions, ranked from my favorite to least favorite:

Putting ad decals on your car One of the quickest ways to make cash. putting ads on your car give you the potential to make anywhere from $50 to $400 a month through websites like freecarmedia.com

Using Mobile Apps Free rewards apps like Viggle offer a huge perk for doing nothing: “points” for listening to songs or watching live TV, which can then be redeemed for prizes that range from a free song download to 32” inch TVs. The best feature of this app though? The Emmyworthy comedy that arises from its hilarious misidenti�ication of the shows you’re watching.

Selling your photos to stock photography sites There are a lot of bene�its to selling stock photos to websites for the budding photographer: not only do a lot of sites let you sell the same photos to other sites, but it also looks really good on your resume. As an added bonus, you don’t even have to take good pictures, as evidenced by the numerous hazy images of Justin Bieber at concerts that I found.

Reading Emails If you want to make money by reading emails, you will have to realize sooner or later that this is not a get-rich-quick kind of deal, since sites like InboxDollars only pay you 2 cents per email you read. While the money will build up over time since you get an email daily, if you plan to be a millionaire in two days, reading emails isn’t a good �it.

Tweeting sponsored ads If you have at least 50 Twitter followers, you have the potential to earn big bucks through websites like Izea, which peruse user pro�iles on the site and message those that they are interested in paying to promote their product. Once in, you will be in the company and (hopefully one day) price range of the illustrious stars of today like Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian, the latter of which makes $13,000 a tweet.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY FREYA LIU

o you may have heard about the string of break-ins that happened around Lynbrook, or you may have been one of the few unfortunate people who were robbed.

Suf�ice to say, I was one of those unfortunate people.

I was originally going to write this column about how not to get robbed, but I’ve realized that we pretty much all know the precautions we should be taking to prevent theft, and me repeating them wouldn’t do anyone much good. The thing is, even if you’re securityconscious, you don’t expect to get robbed; you don’t look at your calendar and say “Oh, tomorrow at 2 p.m. my house will be broken into.” Theft is something that seems like it only happens to other people until it actually happens to you. So in the event that it does happen, here are some fail-proof steps you should take to make the experience the least damaging it can be.

Tip 1: Make sure you have no personal belongings.

This �irst time-tested adage is my favorite, and for good reason: it makes almost too much sense. How can somebody rob you if there’s nothing to rob? So sell everything that isn’t nailed down in your house, and the next time the thieves visit, the joke’s on them.

Another thing: being robbed can actually be a positive experience if the belongings you own are so worthless it would be better not to have them. Take my laptop that got carried off for example; that thing’s keyboard was covered in so much dog hair and radioactive food remnants that it could be considered a health hazard. The thief who stole it probably already lost a few years off his life because of it, and really, how could I not feel great about that?

Tip 2: Don’t be the hero.

Rule #4 from Zombieland makes it on this list, and for good reason. When you arrive home to see that everything in your room has been torn apart and all your belongings are missing, instinct might dictate that you pick up a weapon from your BB gun collection and go after the thief like people do in a crime drama series. However, it’s important to note that such action is dangerous; you’re better off running out of the house like a frightened child and calling the police, which is more or less what I did.

It might even help to be courteous to the thief in the event that they are still present.

You could wish him a good day, or shake his hand as he leaves with your stuff. They really appreciate that.

Tip 3: Seek emotional therapy.

Getting robbed can be traumatizing, or frustrating. You feel victimized, like someone was out to get you, speci�ically. You might ask, “why my house out of the ten in my block?”

But luckily there are ways that cope with this, my favorite of which, of course, is to make a report of what just happened to you on social media. Make it seem like a big deal, and soon comments �illed with support will come spilling in from people you barely know, reminding you how great of a person you really are. I know it works because I did just that-and get this--it resulted in the �irst time in a month people at school actually spoke to me. Pictures along with the post are optional but recommended, as they ensure you extra credibility and pity points.

So those were all the tips I could �it in this column, but if you want more, feel free to corner me on campus and ask. And while you’re at it, you might as well ask me about every single detail of the break-in at my home. Because people who get robbed absolutely love to share their story with everyone.

ART ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE SHIEH

SUCKED INTO A BLACK HOLE OF NEGATIVITY

A look into the dangers of anonymous social media sites

BY CLAIRE CHIANG & SABRINA JEN On Feb. 14, 2011, a British �ifteen-year-old named Natasha MacBryde took her own life after receiving numerous negative messages through Formspring, an anonymous social networking service which now exists as Spring.me following a rebranding last year. This idea of online anonymity, however, did not go away with Formspring.

In the past few years, Ask.fm, a social media forum very similar to Formspring through which anyone can anonymously ask users questions, has become increasingly popular among teenagers. Unlike Formspring, Ask.fm includes features that protect its users from anonymous negativity, including the option of disabling anonymous questions; however, students still feel that the site could potentially lead to serious problems similar to MacBryde’s suicide.

When senior Aneka Suri �irst created her account on Ask. fm, she was caught off guard by the severe negativity she encountered through the many questions that targeted private aspects of her life in a disrespectful manner.

“The questions made me feel sick to the stomach,” said Suri. “It was taking a toll on my emotional being.” The overwhelming questions brought back unpleasant memories for Suri and within forty-eight hours, she deactivated her account.

On Sept. 16, 2014, PTSA held a cyberbullying lecture for the public where Project Cornerstone’s representative Mary Crum was present as one of the panelists. She explains that social media forums similar to Ask.fm are essentially supporting a harmful environment.

“The cloak of anonymity fosters the opportunity for people to misrepresent themselves and sometimes convince young and impressionable individuals to engage in unsafe, unhealthy or illegal activities,” she said. Crum explains that this exposes users to the potential of serious harm.

Suri agrees that using Ask.fm brings a large possibility of harm that is often overlooked by those who are asking questions.

“You may think that it’s all fun and games, but you never know when you are going to say something that pushes someone over the edge,” she said. “How would it feel to wake up and realize that your rude words prompted someone to end their life?”

Like Suri, junior Sherrie Guan has been targeted by peers who remain anonymous through the use of Ask.fm. She often receives negative questions or messages that pertain to her appearance or relationships. Guan also addressed how hurtful and offensive inconsiderate questions or messages can be

if received at the wrong time.

“You don’t know if I’m having a bad day or not,” said Guan.

“And even if someone is in a good mood, why would you go out of your way to spend time bringing them down? It’s really unnecessary.”

Guan also brings up how the factor of anonymity escalates the severity of a negative question or comment. She explains how because she is unable to confront the person who has made her feel agitated, there is no easy solution to �ix the problem mentally.

“I would rather have people just say it to my face,” said Guan. “No one deserves anonymous negativity from people that they can’t even confront.”

Crum explains that because people often �ind themselves able to be more bold and honest when they are anonymous, sites like Ask.fm are the perfect environments for users to feel put down when they receive cruel messages, impacting them negatively.

“Anonymous Internet sites are the perfect storm for changing a comment that might even start out relatively harmless to ultimately morphing into very cruel and hateful cyberbullying,” she said. “If you aren’t held accountable for what you say or post, self-censorship is signi�icantly diminished.”

Negative messages and conversations on Ask.fm are often also seen by the target’s peers and friends. More often than not, nothing is done to defend the target or attempt to stop

the person sending the messages.

“Last year, there was an argument on Ask.fm, and one of my friends was involved. I was too afraid if I got involved, it could make the situation worse, so I didn’t help him,” said sophomore Harsh Jain, explaining why even friends are sometimes afraid to help out and defend the ones that are receiving negativity.

Silent bystanders are one of the main reasons why sending hate messages from behind a computer screen has become so prevalent. If there is no online censor telling the sender to stop, they can feel that what they are doing will not bring much harm.

“Often, when there’s a dramatic or controversial post on Ask.fm that doesn’t entirely apply to me, I often get a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the explosion of comments, and see how everything plays out, until someone proactive stops it,” said freshman Lilian Chen. “In reality, while you may not want to get into the public conversation, it’s just as simple to message that person and tell them to take it down, or tell them to work things out in private, rather in public, which is what I try to do when I see these things happening now.”

Suri feels that it is crucial that those using Ask.fm to target certain people understand how much potential harm a single message has on users.

“Do not send hurtful messages. Do not send hate mail,” she said. “Words are far more powerful and hurtful than commonly thought. They can kill.”

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA PARK

New technologies yield opportunities Disabled students benefit from valuable new devices

BY CLAIRE SHIEH & ALLISON YUAN

I

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SHEFALI VIJAY

t all started with a thin metal tube, about a foot in length. The ear trumpet was a primitive 18th-century device that improved hearing for the mildly deaf. Over the years, assistive technology has evolved considerably. Now, with assistive technology more advanced than ever, students with special needs are able to reach success and independence on a completely different level.

“I’ve worked with a very wide range of disabled students,” said Eileen Jones, a special education teacher at Lynbrook. “Some are on the autism spectrum, others are learning disabled, and other students have developmental and communication disabilities.”

Students with communication disabilities �ind it dif�icult to convey their needs to other people. Several communicative devices have been invented to help them.

“We often take our ability to communicate for granted,” said Jim Schussler, a special education teacher in the Academic Community and Transition Program. “For students with speech impediments, though, something as simple as asking to use the restroom may prove dif�icult.”

For these students, the invention of new assistive devices has brought easier communication. One such device is Dragon Speak, a voice interpreter that can be downloaded onto a computer. When an individual speaks into a microphone, Dragon Speak uses the input to create a clear text interpretation of what the individual wants to say.

Interactive maps also help disabled individuals �ind their way and avoid getting lost. “[The maps] show you where you are, and the place where you want to go,” said Brian Chang*, a special education student.

In the past, students with learning disabilities have used assistive computer programs like Kurzweil, an assistive software that can scan various types of documents and reads them out loud.

One downside of Kurzweil, however, is that it involves a substantial amount of scanning, which is dif�icult for students.

“Even teachers get intimidated by Kurzweil, and for good reason,” said Jones.

An alternative to Kurzweil is the Snap and Read program. Unlike Kurzweil, Snap and Read reads highlighted passages out loud.

“Snap and Read is easier to use and more accessible,” said Jones. “It’s de�initely a step up from the Kurzweil.”

With programs such as Snap and Read, individuals with learning disabilities are able to function at a substantially higher level.

In addition to specialized devices, regular electronics such as laptops and smartphones play a key role in helping disabled students through the day.

“The Apple products are intuitive and easy

to use,” said Schussler. “They also have many different apps that can help our students. It used to be that we had to buy equipment for each �ield of assistance. Now we can have multiple learning tools in one device in the form of many different apps.”

One such app is See Touch Learn, an interactive game that uses images to teach vocabulary words. Other apps provide virtual examples of real world situations, allowing students to learn how to handle real-world encounters like public transportation.

“These apps have been enormous assets that help increase students’ independence.” said Schussler.

Even apps that are not made especially for disabled individuals can have a positive

impact. Jacob Lu*, a special education student at Lynbrook, uses the Spills and Thrills game pack. This game includes three interactive scenes in which the user manipulates objects on the screen using a �inger, and it builds hand-eye coordination, creativity, and problem-solving skills. In one scene, Thomas the train leaves a trail of debris as he drives along a railroad track shaped like a �igureeight.

“It’s really easy to use your �inger to go around [the track],” said Lu. Some of Schussler’s students are noise sensitive, meaning that they become agitated in a noisy environment. For these students, the iPod shuf�le provides calming and portable music to help them venture outside their comfort zone. In the past, calming tools have mostly included low tech objects such as stuffed animals, weighted vests and chew sticks, and the iPod is a recent addition.

These new technologies have some downsides, though. Money is a large problem: it is quite expensive to purchase iPads for an entire class. Fortunately for disabled students and other individuals in the area, the district is understanding and willing to help.

“We have one of the best districts around,” said Schussler regarding the school district’s view on assistive technology for students with special needs. “If I need something, they will let me have it.”

The district’s willingness to cooperate with the needs of special education teachers means a suf�icient amount of assistive devices is available to disabled students.

“Assistive technology makes disabled students able to interact with the material in the way that their brain works, so they can gain that same knowledge that everyone else has gained,” said Ryan Lonergan, a special education teacher.

Assistive technology has become a leading equalizer for those with disabilities.

These devices have leveled the playing �ield for disabled individuals, helping them take major steps to close the gap between what they can and cannot do. *Names have been changed

Dealing with media bias in the Israel-Gaza conflict

BY SHREYAS IYER

T

he world breathed a sigh of relief on Aug. 26, when the the State of Palestine signed an inde�inite cease�ire with neighboring Israel, signaling the end of the most recent in a long line of armed con�licts between the two nations.

In January 2006, the political organization Hamas won the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, promising reform for the millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip; it must be noted that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization. Since then, Hamas and Israel have maintained a volatile relationship that peaked recently in Israel’s 2014 Pillar of Defense Operation, during which Israel bombed the Gaza Strip in response to continued rocket �ire. The con�lict, which lasted 50 days, left over 2,000 people dead, the majority of whom were Palestinian civilians. It also ignited political demonstrations around the globe.

Major American media outlets like CNN, ABC and Fox News inundated their shows with coverage of the con�lict, driving up ratings with sensationalized and incomplete reporting, and frequently ignoring the con�lict’s political inner workings. Senior Greg Lerner, who closely monitored the con�lict throughout, believes the media twisted the opinions of the vast majority of viewers.

“It seemed like people who weren’t fully educated about the con�lict were posting their opinions on social media for people to read and in that way it kind of gave their opinions validity,” said Lerner. “It seemed like many people latched on to fragmented facts without checking to see if they were true.”

Senior Ali Khan also expressed a negative opinion of social media’s role during the con�lict, stating how skewed information propagated on social media gave an unfair representation of what was occurring.

“With social media being as prominent as it is, we often have seen video footage of casualties that have far outweighed initial estimates,” said Khan.

The mentality of social media users �luctuated with portrayals of the con�lict on news outlets and in newspapers and the Internet.

This fact was compounded by frequent gaffes in reporting. Recently, ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer mistook a Palestinian family for an Israeli one, and CNN anchor Diana Magnay falsely called out Israeli men for cheering on the shelling of Gaza; Magnay was removed from her post as CNN’s reporter in the region, and Sawyer was forced to apologize after receiving criticism. Lerner cites such trends as factors that contributed to what he perceives as a misled public.

“You can never really know that the information you’re looking at isn’t biased because all of the sources that you read will be biased in some way. There was a lot of context and small details that I knew were missing from [the media’s] stories when I read them,” said Lerner. “Con�lict is all about the context that happened beforehand.”

Khan points to bias in the mainstream media as another factor, claiming that on most American networks, “...interviews were weighted against those who gave pro-Palestine opinions.” He contends that the “...U.S. media is often keen to cover Israel as they continue to be a major benefactor of U.S aid money year in and year out.”

To combat this problem, Senior Sabiq Khan chooses to get information from multiple sources to get the most accurate, least skewed data.

“The media is how most people learn that these con�licts even exist in the �irst place. If they uncritically accept whatever, they will carry over exactly the views fed to them,” he said. “This is why it is important that people take their information from different media outlets for different perspectives.”

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA PARK AND FRINA REDOZOLA

The inconspicuous power of words

BY AMANDA CHANG

T

he. This. I. That. And. A. There.

Although short and seemingly unimportant, these function words, the words that tie our sentences together, can reveal different personality traits and relationship dynamics.

Function words include articles, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. One of the most analyzed function words is the word “I.” Various studies have shown that people who are in positions of lower authority tend to use the word “I” more often in correspondence than those who are in positions of higher authority. Phrases like “I was wondering” and “I was hoping” play important roles when talking to authorities. On the other hand, these authorities tend to respond without using the word “I” at all. Although one would assume that people in authority such as CEOs would be more self-centered and use the word “I” more often, the opposite is the case.

“People in power tend to use ‘I’ a lot less because they’re already in power and don’t have a lot more to gain,” said Stefan Frazier, a Linguistics professor at San Jose State University. “On the other hand, people who are lower in power will be more ambitious and thinking about what ‘I’ need to do to make it to the top.”

People in lower positions, however, are not only ambitious but also more self-conscious, so they tend to be more cautious about how they word their sentences and emails.

“Using the word ‘I’ and phrases like ‘I was wondering’ seems to soften your request,” said school psychologist Brittany Stevens. “It’s less aggressive and more respectful because you’re assuming the other person might have a different perspective that needs to be considered. But if you’re in a more authoritative role, you’d probably care less about how you’re phrasing your communication because the stakes are not as high.”

Students often find that they use the word “I” much more often while composing emails to teachers than when the teachers respond to their emails.

“When teachers respond to my emails, they rarely use the word ‘I’ because they don’t really give their opinion,” said freshman Angelina Zhou. “Their responses are mostly meant to answer my requests.”

Often analyzed with the word “I,” the function word “we” is also used differently in various situations. People who have just gone through a breakup, for instance, will use the word “we” more often when telling others in public about their breakup but use the word “I” more often when writing about their breakup in private.

“This [situation] indicates that when people talk to others about their breakups, they’re more interested in discussing what happened, whereas when they’re thinking about it privately, they’re concerned about how they’re coping,” said Frazier. “I think that’s an interesting reflection of people’s mindsets after an event. In this case, people don’t want to insult the other person when talking about the breakup in public, so they use the more all-encompassing ‘we.’”

Furthermore, function words can reveal not only relationship dynamics such as positions of authority but also different personality traits. For instance, other analyses of the word “I” have revealed that trustworthy people, younger people, people who are depressed or stressed and females all tend to use the word “I” more often.

It can be inferred that trustworthy people use the word “I” more because they are more likely to own what they are saying by making their language more personal. Honest people also frequently use exclusive function words like “but,” “except” and “without,” all of which are associated with a more complex cognition.

“In my experience, people who are trustworthy are willing to take the blame if whatever they said wasn’t true,” said Zhou.

“But if they’re lying, they want to push the blame onto other

people, so they won’t use the word ‘I’ as often.”

In addition, as people grow older, they tend to use the word “we” instead of “I” because they start to make more distinctions, distance themselves from the topics that they are talking about and and talk with a higher cognitive complexity. People who are distressed use “I” because they are more focused on themselves and their problems.

Finally, it is believed that females use “I” more often because they tend to be more prone to depression and self-consciousness, and they have traditionally held lower status positions.

These situations demonstrate that people with similar personalities use similar amounts of the various function words.

“Personality deeply affects the way people talk,” said Stevens. “People who are really nervous use ‘uh,’ ‘um’ and other filler words to give their brain time to overcome their nerves and stress.”

Analyzing people’s language can provide many insights into others’ personalities, even if they might not realize it.

“We say that there aren’t necessarily certain rules in language, but there are,” said Stevens. “there are rules in language we observe, which are never taught overtly. We learn not only from what we’re taught but also from our interactions with others.”

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY FRINA REDOLOZA & AUDREY ZHENG

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GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY JEFFREY YANG AND THE SPORTS SECTION

The addition of male cheerleaders brings the team to new heights s Lynbrook cheered on the football team in its season opener against Mt. Pleasant High School on Sept. 5, the many changes in the team’s makeup and strategy were made evident. Even so, one of the most astonishing changes was not on the �ield, but instead on the sidelines. Three male cheerleaders are on the 2014-2015 cheer team roster.

This year, freshman Matthew Fox and seniors Patrick Fox and Mike Malagon decided to join the cheer team, sparking a sense of curiosity throughout the Lynbrook community.

The three students have joined what has almost always been an all-female team, making them the �irst boys on the team since a solo male cheerleader in 2000.

The boys each had different reasons for joining the squad. Malagon, who is also on the football team, decided to participate to become a better overall athlete.

“I joined football so that I could condition and because I enjoy the sport, but cheer so that I could strengthen my upper body muscles,” said Malagon.

Malagon spends the day at school, attends football practice until 6 p.m. and immediately heads to cheer practice, which lasts from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

“I’m always physically and mentally tired because of the two sports, but I hope that this will really show colleges my ability to persevere when I put my mind to something,” said Malagon.

Patrick and Matthew joined due to coaxing from the girls on the cheer team.

“I was nervous at �irst,” said Patrick, “but the tricks looked like a lot of fun.”

The Fox brothers both have backgrounds in tumbling, which has proved to be extremely bene�icial for the team.

“The martial arts place that I work at has gymnastics every Saturday,” said Patrick. “I use [the gymnastics sessions] to learn new tricks that can be used for cheer.”

They have been teaching the girls more technically advanced stunts, which has helped put the team in a better place for their competitions. One of the greatest assets that the boys have is their strength and ability to easily lift up the girls, which helps them perform stunts that girls sometimes have trouble with. This translates to extra points when competition season comes around.

“We are stronger as a team because the guys are more �it,” said co-captain Kathy Ornelas. “We have more people, so we can do more stunts. Also, they can throw the girls really high, which is amazing for our competitions.”

Initially, both students and members of the cheer team were surprised by the new additions.

“At �irst, when we heard they they wanted to join, we thought it was a joke,” said co-captain Tomiko Rinaldo.

“Later, we realized that the boys would give us a competitive advantage and that it would be a great experience for the girls as well.”

The three captains let the boys try out, evaluated their skills and added them to the team, keeping in mind that they would learn the routines and more complex cheers as the year went on.

“I thought it was awesome that the boys decided to join,” cheer coach Afton Usry said.

“Cheerleading has a stereotype. Not many boys participate in cheer and having them really helps.”

Shaking up the team dynamic has been very bene�icial to the team as a whole and the team has responsded very postively.

“We’re used to being crazy during practice,” said Usry. “We’ve had to tone it down a lot and learn how to behave. They help keep us focused on cheer.”

Although the boys’ team and families were supportive of their decisions from the start, they experienced initial animosity from community members. Their intentions were questioned, and some even went as far as to call them “gay” for participating in cheer.

“Many people think that guys shouldn’t be on cheer teams.” said Matthew. “But it’s not their decision.”

These critics gave their opinions on the boys’ decisions with negative messages on anonymous sites like Ask.fm.

“I just dealt with it and told them to go away,” said Matthew. “People are starting to accept it now; they get that cheer is not just a girls’ sport.”

Malagon also experienced teasing until his performance in the �irst rally.

“The guys de�initely made fun of me,” said Malagon. “But they stopped when they saw me do cool stunts con�idently. Their jaws dropped at the speed of the choreography in the routine and they cheered for us.”

The other cheer team members are ever supportive of the boys on the team. In the past, the team has done sleepovers and mall trips as team bonding exercises, however, in

the future these activities will be adjusted to �it the new team makeup. The addition of the boys has not altered the bonds or closeness of the team members.

“We were like a family before, and we’re still like a family now,” said co-captain Ayesha Godiwala.

Despite the original opposition the boys felt, they are happy they persevered and stayed on the team.

“If you quit, you’re going to be labeled as a quitter. If I do something, I stick with it so I can pat myself on the back at the end,” said Malagon.

He hopes to use his strength in both cheer and football to help him get into a wide array of colleges. In the future, he hopes to actively be part of a co-ed cheer team while continuing his education.

Matthew and Patrick are uncertain of a future in cheer at a college level, but are de�initely not ruling it out. Together, the boys are con�ident of their outlook as part of the cheer team and are aware that they are making an impact on the community.

“Pink used to be a guy’s color, but then it became a girl’s color,” said Malagon. “The same way, everyone thinks that guys being on cheer is strange. We hope to change that.”

“I have gotten stronger because I’m doing both football and cheer, but I’m also mentally and physically tired because I’m doing two sports.”

MIKE MALAGON // SENIOR

“The best part is being able to help the girls on the team with the tricks. The worst has been that learning the cheers is pretty slow.”

PATRICK FOX // SENIOR

“The best part so far has been stunting, and the worst is having to learn all cheers. There’s a lot of them!”

MATTHEW FOX // FRESHMAN

SOARING HIGH | Freshman Matthew Fox performs an aerial flip which is incorporated into some of the team’s routines. Fox has a background of tumbling which has proved to be beneficial.

BY KASTURI PANTVAIDYA AND SHEFALI VIJAY

A

ALL PHOTOS BY STEPHANIE LU

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE SHEIH

Red card for sexist sports spectators

BY KRISTEN WONG

I

t happened one night a couple years back, when my dad took my brother and me to see the San Jose Earthquakes play a Major League Soccer game. We took our seats in the bleachers, and I remember being vaguely aware of the mass of hefty bearded men behind us, each holding a Heineken bottle and one sporting a motorcycle tattoo. It was during the middle of the game, when an Earthquakes player shanked the ball out of bounds, that the tattooed man shouted, “Hey! You kick like a girl!” I don’t think I have ever felt so offended in a public environment in my life. It was the �irst of what was to be a series of injustices in my soccer-watching career.

Don’t get me wrong, there is some special sort of companionship in watching a game in public side-by-side with fellow sports fans, but as with everything, it comes with its consequences. Crowded, sweaty, alcoholic ones. Since the beginning of my soccer experiences, I distinctly remember two things: one, getting hit by a ball in the stomach in my third year of AYSO; and two, being surrounded by a group of testosterone-�illed guys. Now, if you imagine standing in the middle of a chimpanzee attack, you can put yourself in my shoes. That is not to say, however, that all men act like chimpanzees - rather, it is the passion and fervor of the game that momentarily turns most men into inhuman barbarians, to say the least. And believe me, I’ve been through it all. Cursing, screaming, spitting, �lipping off, spraying drinks, throwing hot dogs, and the stadium, restaurant or bar going into a wild and crazy gladiator furor. To my right, blonde-haired Germans swearing at the players on the �ield. To my left, a

skirmish between two opposing fans involving, quite surprisingly, beer bottles. In front, bald, bulging, bare-chested men with no sense of “personal space” waving �lags and chanting inarticulate phrases while the rest of the world breathes in their armpit scent. Me? I’m just the observer, the loyal fan trying to watch the game while being aware of the nearest exit should things get too heated. The thing that stumps me the most about these sports-watching guys is that they actually enjoy the atmosphere of wild fanatic craze - they bathe in it and roll around in it and pride themselves on acting the way they do. From my feminine point of view, I see their behavior as rude and obscene; they see it as perfectly acceptable and ordinary, as if such behaviors are warranted by watching a sports game. Maybe it’s just a part of American culture (but then again when I went to Brazil for the World Cup, the circumstances were similar and not at all helped by the vendors selling jumbo cups of beer outside the stadium) or maybe it’s what constitutes each gender role - I don’t know. But what I do know is that soccer is one of the most prestigious sports in the world and it should be watched without the tailgating traditions of football, without the March Madness frenzies of basketball, without the ice rink slamming tendencies of hockey, but simply with digni�ied passion for the game.

And yet the �ilth and stench of a masculine atmosphere is only one part of the problem. The other: obnoxious attitude.

Maybe it was because God created Adam �irst, or maybe a result of male dominance throughout most of our history, but at least for me, men have tended to act in a rather arrogant manner in sports environments. Every once in a while, I would go with my family to see a soccer International Cup tournament

game featuring Real Madrid and every single time, I would encounter this group of self-proclaimed “douchebags.” And by douchebags I mean male adolescents with their pants sagging and hair gelled back, roaring in admiration every time Cristiano Ronaldo did one of his 15 stepover moves or nutmegged a defender. Boys, please, go back to your FIFA 14 video games and come back when you’re ready for real soccer. And on the occasion that I get an opportunity to yell a little something at players or criticize the ref, the guys turn around and stare at me as if I was dumb. Excuse me, but just because I happen to be a girl does not mean I don’t follow sports - I have been playing soccer for ten years and I know more about Lionel Messi than I do about my own grandfather, so don’t you look at me as if I was inferior to your fanboy soccer status when some men standing behind me are saying phrases like “Where are the cheerleaders?” or “Call a timeout!” or my favorite, “What do you mean the game’s a tie?”

So there you have it: my female perspective of watching soccer in male-dominated areas. If you’re a guy and you’ve read this far, please don’t be too offended; just remember that girls attend sports events as well and want to get the best out of their experiences just like anybody else. After all, soccer (and life in general) is about respect - I mean come on, ever since your �irst AYSO game you learned and memorized the “2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate?” song by heart - and it ought to stay that way whether you’re playing the beautiful game or cheering in the stands. Because if professional soccer players can respect each other in competitive games on the pitch, I’ll bet you my next San Jose Earthquakes game ticket that you can respect the girl sitting right next to you too.

BY DHIRAJ NALLAPOTHULA

teams and warrants a different strategy.

Going into the tournament, the Ellington’s team was “psyched” because they played very well in the national tournament, and playing in the world tournament was a big deal to them.

But Ellington found the out of the pool experience to be just as rewarding.

“The fun thing about this competition is it’s the same guys year in and year out,” said Ellington. “So friendships you developed in college are renewed and enjoyed during the week the tournament is running.”

And despite the competition and heat of the game, friendship and camaraderie outweigh any medal or trophy for him.

“There’s nothing like competing as hard as you can,” said Ellington “...and then have the guy that just slugged you in the mouth and tried as hard as he could to beat you in every way to ask you to get a beer.”

As thrilled as the team was to �inish 3rd in the tournament, it had a bittersweet feel to it as they lost to Germany in a shootout that would have taken the team into the championship game.

But the third place �inish also gave Ellington a new mentality on the coaching side. Ellington �inds that developing a core group of youth players that play together from a young age is vital to a team’s success as it creates chemistry and continuity within in the team.

With the 2014 championships wrapped up, Ellington is looking to the tournament in Guadalajara, Mex. in 2018 with both a competitive mentality and the open-mindedness to continue to develop his relationships out of the pool with teammates and opponents alike.

Breaking the ice through water polo S

Math teacher Patrick Ellington’s water polo team goes far in FINA finals this past summer EP

ST N HA IC

EP

— LU IE

ports are not sports without competition. It is the pursuit of competition and drive to perform at the highest level that separates the good athletes from the great ones. Math teacher Patrick Ellington pursued such athletic competition at the Federación Internaciónal de Aquatica (FINA) World Swimming and Water Polo Championships this past summer in Montreal, Canada.

As an international tournament, the FINA championships bring some of the best teams from around the world to compete against one another. Most of the players on the water polo teams are ex-national team players. Ellington’s team was from Santa Barbara and placed third overall in the 60+ age bracket.

One of the biggest challenges for Ellington’s team was adjusting to the international STEPHANIE LU—EPIC style of play, which was a huge emphasis for the team as many of the teams in the competition played that style.

“The European style of polo is so much more physical [that] in order to compete internationally, our national team guys [had to] learn that style,” said Ellington.

His preparation for the tournament went beyond just team activities and included personal training to avoid any health scares during the competition.

He said jokingly, “I spent a lot of time working my way back into a semblance of swimming shape before the tournament.”

In fact, this training was vital to Ellington as he saw some players who were out of shape experience heart problems during the tournament.

Additionally, this conditioning and training was vital to his team’s success because of the intensity of the European teams. According to Ellington, there is more “beef” in European water polo, which makes endurance critical to opposing

STEPHANIE LU—EPIC STEPHANIE LU—EPIC KASTURI PANTVAIDYA—EPIC

SHEFALI VIJAY—EPIC

BY STEPHANIE LU

F

rom go-karts to BMX bikes to cars—or in his words, “anything with wheels that moves”—senior Drew Cyrus can do it all. His garage is a bona �ide gearhead zone, with various parts and tools and, at times, senior JR MacPherson and junior Shashank Gudla.

(Side note: if a motorized scooter has ever temporarily deafened you as it went by, that may or may not have been Cyrus’ handiwork.)

Top left: Cyrus �inds the fact that his wrench �its perfectly onto one of the bolts in his car extremely exciting.

Upper top right: MacPherson takes out the car’s leaking washer �luid reservoir so Cyrus can pour water through the container to �ind the location of the leak. MacPherson also works on cars, something that runs in his family; for example, his grandmother built her own car. He has taken auto tech classes at Fremont High School for 2 years, and is applying for the auto tech program at De Anza next year alongside Cyrus.

Lower top right: Sockets for Cyrus’ ratchet wrench sit in his garage. Different types of sockets are used to turn variously shaped nuts and bolts.

Bottom: From left to right: Cyrus’ neighbor Gudla, Cyrus, and MacPherson stand in front of Cyrus’ car, a 1996 Chevrolet S-10. Gudla, who has been interested in cars since a young age, frequently helps out with Cyrus’ projects.