Issue 3 of the Standard 12-13

CULTURE Teaser text goes here. Page X Teetotalism: A look at the club promoting students’ Mark Hoppus: An interview with the Blink-182 singer and abstention from alcohol. Page 15 bassist. Pages 16-17 FEATURES

standard.asl.org standard.asl.org

THE STANDARD

The American American School School in in London London || 11 Waverley Waverley Place Place || London London NW8 NW8 0NP 0NP U.K. U.K. The

December 2011 2012 || Volume Volume XXXVII, XXXVIII Issue Issue IIIIII November-December

Principal to depart Thomas Risinger NEWS EDITOR Principal Paul Richards will move to Saudi Arabia at the end of this school year after accepting a job as the Superintendent of the International Schools Group – Saudi Arabia. A letter was sent to all ASL parents on December 10 to inform them of Richards’ decision to move on after four years at the school.

“We are very happy here, but there are opportunities out there and you have to decide when it is the right time” Paul Richards, Principal

In his new position, Richards will lead a district of seven schools. These schools vary between the American; international and British curriculums.

“I will be overseeing all seven schools and working closely with the principals of each of them to ensure that they are the best that they can be,” he said. “There are almost 4,000 students in the schools, some being American and some being truly international.”

The seven schools are not all within close proximity of one another. For example, Richards will have to travel by airplane to visit one of his schools that is approximately 900 miles from where he and his family will be living in Yanbu. Due to the cumbersome travel requirements and the fact that his new job involves working at seven different schools, Richards said that his contact with his new, larger student body will be different from how it is now at ASL. “It will be more administrative work, although I do hope to teach a class. However, I do not believe I will be able to coach like I do here,” he said.

Continues on page 2

Creativity The Standard explores creativity at ASL and takes a look at several artistic students in the community

CLAYTON MARSH LEAD FEATURES EDITOR | HAMISH STEPHENSON ONLINE EDITOR Pablo Picasso once said, “All children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.” Everyone is creative, but perhaps we get educated out of our artistic capabilities.

Our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability, and this academic ability has come to dominate our perception of intelligence. Mistakes, in our current education system, are perceived as the worst thing one can make. Educationalist and creativity expert Ken Robinson defines creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value. He believes that, “If you aren’t prepared to be wrong, then

you will never come up with anything original.”

Singer Billy Bragg has warned that the U.K. government’s education reforms risk stifling creativity. “At a time of cuts to the education budget, the pressure is on schools to dump subjects like music and drama,” Bragg said.

Bragg, delivering the second annual John Peel Lecture at the Radio Festival in November, said, “Under the English baccalaureate, with its reliance on a single end-of-course exam, the child with the creative imagination will always lose out to the child with the ability to recall knowledge learned by rote.”

Continues on page 12

Graphic by hamish stephenson

(Please recycle after reading)

front page to use.indd 1

12/14/12 3:46 PM

News

THE STANDARD VOLUME XXXVIII ISSUE III DECEMBER 2012

FROM PAGE ONE

“I will be living on campus and my children will be attending one of the schools so in that way I will be getting a lot of contact with students, but it will just look different.”

Richards decided to make this move not out of dissatisfaction with life at ASL but rather because he feels that he and his family are at a point in their lives where it feels right to take the next step. “We are very happy here, but there are opportunities out there and you have to decide when it is the right time to take one of these opportunities,” he said.

Head of School Coreen Hester said that this move is common for administrators like Richards. “If you are a smart professional, you are always looking for the next step up. It doesn’t happen much in international schools [when] a high level administrator stays for more than

“If you are a smart professional, you are always looking for the next step up.”

Coreen Hester, Head of School

three years,” she said. “I did the same thing when I was the principal of a high school.” Hester also stressed how grateful she is for all that Richards has done for the school, and will be very sorry to see him leave in the coming year.

The setting of a diverse and non-western environment appeals to Richards. “I have always been looking to become the head of a K-12 school and I also wanted to do that in a non-western setting. We

NEWS | briefs NEW LS PRINCIPAL CHOSEN Susan Young has been appointed the new Lower School Principal, effective July 2013.

She will replace current Lower School Principal Julie Ryan, who will retire at the end of this school year. Currently the Elementary Principal of the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India, Young has also served as an educational administrator in Lima, Peru and Cairo, Egypt. Head of School Coreen Hester said that Young has been described by colleagues as “a person of impeccable integrity and a brilliant educator.”

Principal Paul Richards (left) is set to switch London, U.K. for Yanbu, Saudi Arabia from the start of the next school year. He will have spent a total of four years at ASL. Photo by emily mark

looked at a few different schools that ticked those boxes but settled on Saudi Arabia,” he said.

The desire to work in a non-western environment will, however, lead to several undesirable consequences for Richards and his family. “We will be living on a compound and within that compound there will be no restrictions on my wife and daughter. However, when we leave the compound, my wife will not be allowed to drive and both she and my daughter will have to wear an Abiya, which is a lightweight black robe that covers the women.

They will not have to wear any head coverings, however,” Richards said.

That said, Richards hopes that the proximity of the relatively more liberal countries Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates will prove to be convenient. “We are very close to Bahrain and Dubai where a lot of westerners visit and live so there

will definitely be a chance to get a break from it all,” he said.

Hester said that Richards has done much to benefit ASL. “We are so appreciative of the fine work of Paul Richards and all he has given to the ASL community,” she said.

Hester is currently in the process of searching for an interim principal for the coming school year. “I have been talking to both internal and external candidates.

In the best of all worlds, an internal candidate would make for the smoothest transition,” she said. The position will be open for all faculty members. However, the position will only be held for one year while Hester and her administrative team conduct a search for a long-term principal.

Hester hopes to conclude her search for an interim principal by the end of February.

Flash

OLYMPIC ATHLETE VISITS Alex Partidge, a British medal winning Olympic rower, will visit the school on January 9.

Partidge is also a Right to Play Athlete Ambassador. His visit to the school has been organized by the Right to Play club.

“I’m looking forward to Partidge helping the community get a better understanding of the work that Right to Play does around the world,” Right to Play Club President Will Conway (’14) said.

NHS STARTS SKYPE TUTORING The administration has passed a proposal by the National Honor Society (NHS) to initiate tutoring sessions with students who request them via the online program Skype.

NHS President Kabir Sadarangani (’13) has expressed optimism that the development in tutoring will help assist students in need and continue to extend the outreach of the NHS to a more widespread base. The accounts will operate from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. There will be four different accounts devoted to different subjects.

HOLIDAY GIFTS GATHERED Approximately 130 presents were gathered for children at the Doorstep Homeless Shelter. Mafalda Albanell (’14) led this initiative to help the underprivileged children receive presents for the holiday season.

Albanell hung a paper Christmas tree with 129 paper ornaments detailing the name, age and gender of each child. The program needed 149 presents: 129 for the current children and an extra 20 for those who may arrive.

“This could be the only present [the kids] get this holiday season,” Service Learning Coordinator Tamatha Bibbo said.

DIVERSITY EXPLORED

Musical: Performing Arts Teacher Lorraine Davis conducts the Chamber Orchestra. The Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra performed at their Winter Concert on November 9. Photo by emily mark

REAL PAGE TWO.indd 2

Four students, two teachers and two administrators went to Houston, Texas, to attend the People of Color conference for teachers, and the Student Leadership in Diversity conference for students.

The students involved were Amnah Ahmad (’15), Mafalda Albanell (’14), Alec Ashley (’15) and Erik Hess (’14). The conference was attended by 1,400 students and 1,500 teachers from private schools across America. It was held over the course of four days.

Its main focus was to network and have teachers develop professionally on how to best make private schools more diverse.

12/14/12 3:51 PM

THE STANDARD | December 2012

•••

Page 3

Newsddd

OutsidetheBubble -out of the ordinary news-

Economic Disparity Thomas Risinger News Editor

Since the global economic crisis of 2007, poverty in both London and the the greater world has increased. There have been fewer available jobs and a growing trend of lower income levels. At ASL, it is hard to notice that any economic downturn had occurred at all.

In the bubble of ASL and the immediate surrounding area there is hardly a sign of economic downturn. Many students possess the latest and most expensive technological gadgets and wear designer clothing brands.

This being said, the city of London, specifically the areas surrounding St. John’s Wood, has garnered recent attention regarding the gross economic disparity.

According to “The Great Divide” a recent feature by Time magazine, London ranks as one of the most unequal cities in the developed world, surpassing New York City, New York in terms of economic urban inequality. According to the article Lisson Grove has 95 percent of resident children living in poverty. This area is less than half a kilometer from St. John’s Wood. St. John’s Wood, in turn, is described as the abode of wealthy bankers, football players and the home of Paul McCartney.

Lisson Grove is not the only impoverished area near ASL. Another half-kilometer to the west of St. John’s Wood there is the

Borough of Brent. According to a study conducted by The Kilburn Times, Brent ranks as the borough with the highest degree of child poverty and homelessness in London. Six-thousand children in Brent are reported to be living in temporary housing.

The existence of great economic disparity around St John’s Wood is not a new occurrence. In fact, many areas of London are actually designed to intersperse the wealthy with the poor wealth with poverty. For example, Council Houses are built so that they are spread out throughout London to keep a whole sector of London becoming completely impoverished.

The economic crisis that struck london in 2007 appears to not have affected the wealthy, St. John’s Wood has stayed much the same during the downturn while the poverty numbers in these surrounding areas such as Brent or Lisson Grove continue to grow.

An article published late last year by The Guardian states that the United Kingdom has a faster growing income inequality than any other developed country.

Although, on the surface, ASL appears oblivious to the poverty that surrounds it, there are in fact a number of both school and student led initiatives that are making an effort to help out in the local community. In the High School, the majority of these efforts are run through the Community Partnerships after school program. These efforts are spearheaded by K-12 Service Learning Coordinator Tamatha Bibbo. Through this program, ASL students, faculty and staff assist a variety of charities that

How to Help 1. St Johns Wood Hospice

Volunteers work in the hospital playing, reading and spending time with patients. Time commitment based upon the one’s schedule. Find out more by contacting the volunteer coordinator, Sophie McEwen, at sophie.mcewen@hje.org.uk

2. Christmas Emergency

Christmas Emergency helps families have a safe place to stay and raises money for homeless families regain and sustain a job. To donate go to http://www.england.shelter. org.uk/donate.

3. The Pavement

The Pavement is a local soup kitchen, which provides hot meals to people and families that cannot afford it. It gives students the opportunity to serve and help cook food for people less fortunate. It is located at the American Church Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information go to soupkitchendirector@ hotmail.com.

Council Estate (top) and a private residence within five blocks of each other show the disparity in St. John’s Wood. Photos by emily mark

4. The British Red Cross

help the impoverished, such as The Winch, Doorstep Homeless Shelter, Kilburn Park School and several others. Currently, a total of 119 students, faculty and staff are participating in the winter season of the program.

There is a trend among the partnerships to focus on the impoverished. Bibbo explained that this trend is due to the large

Reporting Contributed by Annabel Kronfeld.

scale economic disparity that exists in the neighboring areas. “In Camden and St. Johns Wood you have the extremes [of poverty and wealth] right next to each other.

There is enough need within just a mile of school, that you have the opportunity to help right here. There are homeless shelters next to houses worth millions of pounds,” she said.

The British Red Cross helps people of all ages and can potentially save lives and raise awareness. The program helps people in crisis or people with medical problems. The time commitment is flexible and is based on your free hours. For more information contact information@ redcross.org.uk.

Mandarin course grows in popularity Paul Ryan

Staff Writer With Mandarin rapidly transforming and expanding into the “language of the future,” ASL adapted with the implementation of a Mandarin program three years ago. This program that started in as an independent study has developed into a core language class, gradually gaining popularity amongst High School students.

For Charlie Woodhams (’14), who added Mandarin to her academic schedule for the first time this year, taking on the language

REAL PAGE THREE.indd 3

has proven to be a worthwhile decision. “My parents have definitely pushed me towards taking it since I was in Middle School but it wasn’t offered then,” she said. “I didn’t want to take it at all, but now that I’m learning it I actually quite enjoy it, which is a surprise.”

Woodhams said Mandarin has become increasingly important due to its rapid growth. “I think speaking Chinese is extremely useful even beyond academics. It is spoken by over a billion people around the world, and is becoming just as important as English,” she said.

Like Woodhams, Head of Curriculum and Instruction and previous Head of Languages Roberto d’Erizans said that the Mandarin program’s transformation into a core language class reflects the language’s increasing global importance. “This change took place many years ago due to increased enrollment and our need to prepare students for today’s world,” he said.

D’Erizans said that the program has grown in popularity at ASL, as well. “Our programs have doubled in the past couple of years,” he said.

The Middle School (MS) Man-

darin program, which was initiated two years ago, has become very popular with more than 90 students taking Mandarin this year. Middle School Mandarin Teacher Chris Chen said that this sudden change is due to the creation of the AP Mandarin program. “Since 2007, when the AP for Chinese was set up, more and more people have become interested in including [Mandarin] in their core selection,” he said.

“As a result, I think that a lot of students see the importance of starting a language as early as Middle School.”

The Mandarin program in the

MS will be putting on the annual Chinese New Year Assembly after Winter break, which Chen believes is a great means of spreading awareness of the Chinese program and has been contributing to the increasing number of students involved in the Chinese program in the Middle School.

Middle School student Max Coulson (’17), who is currently taking his third year of Mandarin, chose Mandarin because he liked the idea of learning a language that was completely new to him. “I chose [Chinese] because it seemed cool and different,” he said.

12/14/12 3:11 PM

•••

Page 4

Newsddd

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Caught in th

A Palestinian child looks out from within a war-torn house. The latest episode of violence in the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine claimed more than160 lives.

Photo by Flickr/EU Humanitarian Aid and civil protection

Inside the conflict Anna Young

Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Z

ach Ezickson (’12) and Jordan Plotner (’12) did not expect to go to a bomb shelter four times in one day when they decided to go on a Kibbutz in Israel. When the first bomb hit the town next to their Kibbutz at 9:30 a.m. on November 15, Ezickson was sleeping and Plotner was working in an avocado field. There are approximately 30 bomb shelters set up around the camp and the two had 45 seconds to get to one before the bombs hit the ground.

“It’s kind of exciting in a way,” Plotner said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going to a bomb shelter.’ So it’s an adventure kind of. But then you realize, ‘Oh, now I’m in the bomb shelter and we’re being bombed.’”

Bombs were going off in the towns around their Kibbutz for some time before they were directly in danger. “All the explosions would make the windows start rattling and sometimes if it was close enough, I could hear it in my chest because it was such a big boom,” Ezickson said.

Anna 4+5.indd 4

Ezickson and Plotner left Israel on November 18. While on the road to Tel Aviv, another bomb siren went off. The people on the street hid under their cars and saw missiles flying overhead five minutes later.

Maya Lavie (’13), who transferred from ASL to the American International School of Tel Aviv for her senior year, said that driving and being in crowded cities during the conflict was dangerous. “If you’re driving when the alarm goes off, it’s all about luck,” she said. “I stayed out of Tel Aviv mainly, but when I went there toward the end of the ‘war,’ if you can call it that, and I felt scared.”

Mentality has become key in the conflict. Ezickson and Plotner said that the people they encountered were going on with their lives despite the rockets flying overhead. “A lot of people think that if they get scared it’s kind of a way of admitting defeat to what they view as the terror,” Plotner said. “They kind of had a fatalist mentality in which ‘If a rocket hits me then I die, but there’s nothing I can do about it.’”

In Gaza, as well, the many

deaths have created an indifference towards death. Khader Tawahina, a student at the American International School in Gaza who attended the Seeds of Peace summer program with Thomas Risinger (’14), has lived in Gaza his whole life. “I am not actually scared for my life. For me it is normal if I die. When you see kids dying, you don’t become scared anymore,” he said. “In Gaza, 16and 20-year-olds send rockets and most of them get killed, so why should I be scared?”

The bombings and deaths that both sides of the conflict have endured both in the past and in the present created a deadlock in the situation. “Palestinians see themselves as victims and they have reasons to see themselves as victims,” New York Times Op-ed Columnist Roger Cohen said. “Israelis in turn see themselves as victims – victims of the Holocaust. And they see everything through the prism of the Holocaust. I think both sides need to get out of the victimhood mentality in order to put the lives of their children ahead of their forbearers.”

However, people living in both

Israel and Palestine have grown used to the bombings. Tawahina first saw Israeli F16s in 2004, and since then they have become a part of his daily life. Likewise, when sirens first started going off on Ezickson and Plotner’s Kibbutz, Israelis were advising them to go to a hill to get a good view of the missiles instead of going to a bomb shelter. For all involved, peace seems far off. “To be honest, I don’t think there is such a thing as winning,” Lavie said. “The only way to win is by finding peace, and since it doesn’t seem to be coming at the moment, we have to be patient and wait.”

Cohen said that Israel could make a move for peace, but lists a number of reasons why the Israeli government has become less interested in making peace in Gaza, including a shift to political conservatism, an influx of anti-Palestine immigrants, civilian frustration over the conflict and physical barriers between Israelis and Palestinians. “I think a lot of Israelis just kind of think, ‘Well as long as the economy is ok and things are relatively quiet, let’s just go on,’” he said.

The prospect of conflict strikes fear in Lavie, who will start her mandatory service in the Israeli Army in March 2014. She hopes the conflict will be calmer so she can serve during a time of peace.

However, Cohen said that there is still much to happen. “Israel has been very reluctant to see, acknowledge and engage with those parts of Palestine that have really changed, like in the West Bank where there’s been quite dramatic movement in the last several years without any real positive response from Israel,” he said.

Tawahina said that tense relationship between seeds on either side of the conflict persist because of a lack of change in the situation. “[The other seeds] can’t do anything about it. If they support the government in [the bombings] then our relationship has changed, but I do not know if they do, so nothing has changed,” Tawahina said.

As of now, the situation is spiraling out of control. “Now, after the Israelis killed him [Ahmed al-Jabari], even baby children will send rockets to Israel,” Tawahina said.

12/14/12 3:59 PM

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Page 5

in the middle

more than160 lives.

Newsddd

When the most recent chapter in the Gaza conflict broke out on November 14, the effects were felt worldwide. The Standard caught up with members of the ASL community inside and outside of the conflict

Outside the conflict Fares Chehabi Editor-in-Chief

M

issiles, bullets and lives have been expended, leaving a plethora of people in a dire situation. And although the Israel-Palestine conflict – recently ignited once again by a nowended episode of violence in November – is taking place thousands of miles away, it has succeeded in sparking opinion and igniting emotion among ASL students.

As a matter of fact, the violence associated with the Israel-Palestine conflict has managed to impact ASL students’ family directly. On May 15, 2011, Munib Masri, cousin of Palestinians Tarek Masri (’13) and Tamara Masri (’15), was hit by an Israeli bullet while participating in a peaceful protest in Maroun al-Ras, a Lebanese city near Israel’s border. The shot has left him paralyzed.

past summer, said that the media does not accurately reflect the mentality of the Palestinians. “I think [the media] perceives Palestine as more of a victimized state. But when you go there, you actually see the country, you meet the people, you see how they’re trying to live.

They’re trying to find a way out of the situation,” she said. “It makes me feel hopeful. If people in Palestine who are being oppressed and occupied right now can find good in what’s going on, it’s just something that’s unbelievable because I honestly have a hard time finding something good out of the situation.”

Benny Kollek (’14), whose late great uncle Teddy Kollek was the Mayor of Jerusalem, regularly visits his family in Israel. Kollek has even visited Gaza, and his time in the battle-worn Palestinian city has given him hope for Palestine’s future. “I’ve seen Palestine dirty

the religion exists.”

Tarek, however, downplayed religion’s role in the conflict. “Religion should bring us together and should not be used to separate us,” he said.

“Just like the three Abrahamic religions in the conflict share the Holy Land as the setting for much of their development, so should the people of those religions.”

Indeed, the matter of human rights, instead of religion, concerns Tamara the most. “I think the issue of religion has long passed its date.

Right now it’s about human rights and it’s about what’s right and what’s wrong,” she said. “I think the entire aspect of religion is put aside when it comes to this.”

Students’ desires to discuss the conflict have produced mixed results. At a grade-level meeting, Tamara used the ‘open-mic’ platform to invite students to converse about the conflict only to be dismissed

body’s perspective.”

Tamara, like d’Erizans, hopes for a wider discussion on the conflict. “My wish is for ASL to actually bring [the conflict] up in discussion and let people voice their opinions, whatever their opinions may be,” she said. “This is a great school and we’re shaping the next leaders, in some sense, of the world. To be able to have this kind of discussion will bring a certain higher level of maturity within the students.”

Johnathan Cirenza (’14) attended a Seeds of Peace camp, a program designed to educate its students on the importance of peace. There, he discovered an emphasis on the need to hear others’ opinions on the conflict. “The whole idea behind Seeds of Peace is not that it intervenes directly in the conflict but that it sets up the future generation of leaders with the ability to make a difference by seeing the other side and know-

Israel and Palestine live together on the same land, or a two-state solution, where Israel and Palestine live separately, as two different entities.

Suffice to say, opinion is split on the best way forward.

Tarek said that the one-state solution is the only option left to truly consider. “The only solution is the one-state solution because I feel that so much has been taken from the West Bank. There have been so many concessions made from the Palestinian side that it’s impossible to have a viable state with no control over natural resources, settlements on every hilltop and lack of authority over their own land,” he said. “Israel has failed to compromise thanks to recent governments favoring nationalistic zionist and fundamentalist Jewish ideas over peace.”

For Kollek, however, a two-state solution seems feasible. “I find no

You don’t realize that these are people with families, brothers, sisters, pets, jobs, everything.

-Tarek Masri (’13) After catching wind of the incident, Tarek stayed glued to the television screen. “The news ticker said: ‘10 dead, 100 injured’,” he recalled.

“The fact that my cousin was part of the 100 was such a powerful thing to me. It showed the human side to the numbers you see on TV. It means a huge deal, especially when you see 10’s, 100’s, 1000’s being killed in Gaza and everywhere else. These numbers kind of blend into one and you don’t realize that these are people with families, brothers, sisters, pets, jobs, schools, everything.”

The media’s representation of the mentality of the directly affected people is understandably difficult to portray in an optimistic light, considering the copious amounts of deaths caused by the conflict thus far. According to a report in The Guardian, more than 160 people alone died in the longstanding conflict’s latest episode of violence, one which was ended by ceasefire one week following its commencement.

Tamara, who last traveled to see her aunt in Ramallah, Palestine this

Anna 4+5.indd 5

and unorganized. Obviously, Israel has a large role in that, but I do see development more and more. Each time I go [to Palestine], I see more development, more people, and you definitely don’t see people from either side that want to go through what they’re going through at the moment,” he said. “All they want to do is live their lives.”

The subject of religion remains a polemic part of the conflict. Alex Epstein (’13), a Jewish student, indicated that many members of his family are pro-Israel for faith-based reasons. He said that religion is a factor that is impossible to ignore.

“Every religion has a home, a place where people belonging to their system of beliefs make up a majority of the population and-or run the country according to their views,” he said. “Christians and Muslims can live in or travel to a number of countries without fear of being discriminated against for their religion. The Jewish people have one: Israel. They have only ever had one, and will continue to fight for the place they call home for as long as

by a loud minority of students who felt that the matter was an inappropriate topic for discussion.

Meanwhile, the Middle East Club, of which Tarek is a Co-President, held a largely successful and productive open discussion that started during students’ lunch period and continued after school.

Director of Curriculum and Instruction Roberto d’Erizans commended any effort to initiate discussion on controversial matter. “I think that’s the purpose of education: To empower people to talk about complex issues today but not do it in a way to be hurtful or damaging,” he said. “We can disagree or agree to disagree, but still learn from each other.”

Still, d’Erizans would like to see such discussions occur on a larger scale. “The part I see missing, or what I’d like to see more of, is us coming together as a whole community,” he said. “I wish that we took time, whether it’s Gaza or another significant event, just like we did with the United States elections, to explore the issues and hear some-

ing that the way to peace is not through launching bombs at the other side,” he said.

Nonetheless, Epstein is of the opinion that a community-wide focus on the matter would be unhealthy. “I don’t believe ASL should cover the conflict at all. ‘Ignorance is bliss’ is a widely known saying, and while ignorance should rarely ever be encouraged, especially at an educational institution such as ASL, there is simply no way to cover the conflict without stirring internal conflict within our community,” he said.

Incidentally, Cirenza recalled the tension from his time in the Seeds of Peace camp. “In dialogue, it was a regular occurrence when kids would leave the ‘dialogue hut’ crying and there would be screaming.

There was a lot of tension at camp,” he said. “One of the kids was actually punched out of the window in the opening weeks.”

Looking ahead realistically, only two potential solutions have emerged from the mire of the conflict: A one-state solution, where

issue with the two-state solution,” he said. “For the last few years, we’ve essentially had a two-state solution but the only difference is Israel hasn’t fully let go of Palestine.”

Meanwhile, Koren has looked past either solution specifically and only hopes for peace. “I hope that it will come to a point where peace in that region can come back to the way it was for centuries. That’s my dream for it to be, but right now I feel as if one side or the other is going to suffer heavily and through that, peace [will come]. But I hope it doesn’t have to get to that point,” he said.

Epstein was rather more pessimistic in his view of a solution in the long run. “In a conflict this messy, there will never be a winner in the long term. Both sides want what the other has, and will never agree to share in the long term,” he said. “If the conflict ever ends, which it very well may not, it will almost certainly end with the death or annihilation of a people, which can’t be called anything other than an atrocity.”

12/14/12 3:59 PM

Opinions

THE STANDARD VOLUME XXXVIII ISSUE III December 2012

THE STANDARD FARES CHEHABI Editor-in-Chief ANNA YOUNG Deputy Editor-in-Chief THOMAS RISINGER News Editor PATRICK COLLINS Opinions Editor CLAYTON MARSH Lead Features Editor MINA OMAR Features Editor IAN SCOVILLE Features Editor MATTHEW BENTLEY Culture Editor SHAHID MAHDI Culture Editor Patrick Mayr Sports Editor JESSICA HAGHANI Photo Editor EMILY MARK Photo Editor HAMISH STEPHENSON Online Editor TYLER ZSCHACH Online Editor SVENA BHASIN Copy Editor STAFF WRITERS Nicole Adams, Alec Ashley, Zach Ashley, Nikolai Birch, Katie Dillon, Kate Kennedy, Annabel Kronfeld, Zack Longboy, Gabriel Ruimy, Paul Ryan, Dariush Yazdapanah, Charlotte Young Andrew Plonka Adviser MISSION STATEMENT The Standard staff and adviser are dedicated to creating an open forum that strives to promote productive dialogue among the student body, and witin the greater school cumminity, by publishing exemplary student news media according to the strictest standards of journalistic integrity in writing, editing, coverage and production.

CONTENT The Standard covers news related, but not limited, to the school community. Issues-driven coverage that aims to explore ideas, themes, concepts, trends and recent developments beyond the campus that are relevant to members of the community are also included.

Cartoon by Daniela al-Saleh

Lifting the morale Charles Dickens’ immortal words, which begin A Tale of Two Cities, are “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of foolishness...” These words resonate strongly with the feelings that all within our community latch onto at some point or the other. But what do the emotions expressed by students say about how they treat each other?

Even if students have homework for the next day, their mind is saturated with thoughts regarding college, their appearance, friends, grades, what they’re doing this weekend, and so on and so forth. In such an intimate, small school setting, it is as if every interaction has repercussions beyond the people concerned. It leads us to ask: If rumors and gossip can spread so vehemently, then why can’t the good deeds and traits of students and faculty spread as quickly?

The onslaught of positivity brought about by the nonschool entity ASL Compliments is the spark for greater etiquette changes. Encouraging the community to smile as often as possible and enforcing the How Full is Your Bucket program are both perfectly valid ways of raising the morale of the student body. In fact, had they not been successful in other work environments they wouldn’t have been prescribed for ours. However, it is the “encouraging” – the pressure that the school places on students to manifest these policies – which ultimately makes them unsuccessful. Enforcement of any unnecessary program upon teenagers’ preoccupied minds will almost always be met with disgruntlement.

page 6.indd 6

This goodwill is akin to an athlete trying to be the best in his or her respective field. Indeed, the coach may pile an intense fitness regime upon this girl or boy, but the drive and determination for maximum performance must also be the athlete’s goal, not only the coach’s. Thus, the athletic goal must be grappled with mentally as well as physically – it must come from within.

This is precisely why ASL Compliments is a morally lucrative idea – it came from the students. The notion of creating this Tumblr is grander a gesture than actually sending the compliments themselves.

As a school we must take it upon ourselves to spread this positive energy, not in order to conjure up new rigid schemes of how to improve our self-esteem, but for the simple satisfaction a compliment might give to someone you’ve never met.

Alas, the infringements of integrity, the petty crimes, the insults, the rumors, the verbal spats, the complicated relationship situations, and remorseful decisions that we make as teenagers will hopefully only characterise a small part of our high school experiences. The power lies in our hands to improve our school’s esteem, and we must do so out of our own volition.

There’s no reason for a more positively-geared school environment not to rise. In ten years time, it may make those memories from the ASL chapter in your story that much sweeter.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send submissions to the journalism lab, room O-329, or to the_standard@asl.org. These must adhere to the same set of ethical guidelines that all staff content is held to, and will only be published at the discretion of the editorial board and the adviser. The Standard retains the right to edit letters for length and AP/Standard style. All letters must be signed in order to be considered for publication.

EDITORIALS Articles published with the word “Editorial” written above it and presented in the same location issue-to-issue represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. They are unsigned.

COLUMNS Articles with a byline and a photo of the author in the Opinions section of the newspaper are opinions articles. They represent the view of the writer only, and not necessarily the staff of the newspaper or any other individual or group in the community.

ENGAGEMENT WITH READERSHIP The Standard encourages all readers to submit their thoughts through letters to the editor, guest columns and story ideas.

Contact the appropriate section editor(s) for submissions.

ONLINE VIEWING The Standard can be viewed online at standard.asl.org.The Standard can also be viewed in PDF format on the high school page of the ASL website, www.asl.org.

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, 01507 523456 Clarification: An article in the November issue indicated that specific students were addicted to caffeine. However, the students have not been medically diagnosed with an addiction.

12/14/12 1:32 PM

THE STANDARD | December 2012

•••

Page 7

Opinionsddd

Cartoon by Nicole adams

Regaining our right to speak Everyone has an opinion. It may not be strong or sway to a radical or reactionary view, but it is an opinion nonetheless.

And all those opinions should be allowed to be expressed. No one’s opinion should be suppressed or silenced for any reason and instead, as a school, we should promote the sharing of opinion, welcoming all views to mix together in a healthy environment.

The Middle East Club took a positive step in this direction, hosting a debate covering the conflicts between Israel and Palestine. However, discussions such as this one need to become commonplace. We often neglect addressing and discussing controversial subjects within the school, or if we do, it occurs in an extremely controlled manner in which a complete spectrum of opinions are unable to be expressed.

From 8:05 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. on a regular school day, current political, social and even economic controversies are seldom discussed in a completely open forum where all those who find the topic relevant to their lives can share their thoughts.

This lack of open forums has led to a dangerous silencing of many views, especially those views that are contrary to the mainstream opinion. When an attempt has been made to voice a contentious opinion that is contrary to that of the majority, it is almost always overwhelmed by a swarm of the infuriated. It is ridiculous that, in a school that strives to produce global and well-rounded citizens, opinions can be met with such hostility.

Such hostility was exemplified during an open-mic discussion in a grade 10 meeting. An open-mic is the perfect opportunity to discuss topics in an open forum in which students can express whatever opinion they have. However, after suggesting starting a discussion regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, Tamara Masri (’15) was personally attacked, told the topic she was discussing wasn’t relevant in such an environment and that she shouldn’t talk about it again.

It is disappointing that, in a supposedly welcoming and respectful environment, students can be ridiculed and per-

page 7.indd 7

sonally attacked simply because they shared their opinion.

This can never be allowed to happen again, or if it does, the repercussions placed upon those who attack people who share their opinion must be severe. Continued attacks against people’s opinions will cause students and community members to shy away from sharing their own. A disagreement with a person’s opinion doesn’t excuse attacks against them, and no matter how small of a minority an opinion holds, the school has the responsibility to protect it. It is inexcusable that the school deems it fit to promote acceptance, but stand idly as people are targeted when their opinion does not align with that of the majority.

As a community, we need to appreciate that controversial subjects should not be kept in the dark, and that opinions that differ from the mainstream are not dangerous, but, in fact, beneficial. They aid in broadening the views of the community by allowing greater insight into topics.

This can be done by the utilization of the powerful tool of debate in an open and safe environment. From this platform, light would be shed upon topics that are often suppressed and students would be able to share any feelings they have on any given topic. In these discussions, all sides need to be able to share their opinions and no one can be attacked for doing so. It is also important to teach that even though subjects can generate a great deal of passion on both sides of the argument, controversial topics should not be avoided for simplicity’s sake.

Steps have already been taken to induce more open discussion, however, they need to increase tenfold. Students should follow the example set by the Middle East Club with their debate about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Not only did this discussion cover a current and controversial event, but during the discussion all opinions were able to be expressed in a healthy manner. If students follow this example, our community will strengthen and will be truly be able to embody the values of respect and acceptance outlined in our mission statement.

12/14/12 1:30 PM

•••

Page 8

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Opinions

Looking into how we learn Patrick Collins patrick_collins@asl.org

“

The school needs to have a better understanding of academic pressure placed upon students and how it can consume the lives of students at different points during the year.

High school is a learning experience.

This learning takes place not only inside the classroom, but also during the time students spend outside the classroom, interacting with others socially and participating in extracurricular activities. While the learning inside the classroom focuses on academic development, drilling facts about history, science and mathematics into students’ heads, outside the classroom, students grow as people. They are able to mature together with their peers, develop their character and learn about themselves and the activities they enjoy. However, this learning process isn’t able to take place when the time students spend outside the classroom is squeezed by their academic work.

High school needs to stop being dominated and completely controlled by academics. It is detrimental to students and their potential to develop as people. I appreciate that schools are academic institutions, and that it is necessary for the main focus to be on academics, but that does not mean schoolwork should choke every other aspect of students’ lives into submission.

This domination of academics doesn’t originate from the school. I do not believe teachers and the administration met one day and spontaneously decided that they would attempt to make academics rule over ASL in a single-party state. That’s far too conspiratorial for me. Instead, this academic domination has been brought on by a culture created within the ASL community. A mix of commendable academic achievement of past students and parental expectations has created a deadly concoction that current students now have to live up to.

In this academic environment, it becomes “school over everything,” and other aspects of high school become irrelevant to a certain degree; people still pay attention to them, but they don’t seem to matter in the eyes of the community. This cannot be allowed to happen. Putting such an absurd emphasis on schoolwork blocks out some of the other opportunities students have to develop.

Due to the intense academic focus, students can be forced to place the entirety of their attention upon their schoolwork,

smothering access to outlets of creativity or athleticism that they otherwise may have had.

Taking away these outlets is not only detrimental to development but also can take away opportunities that students have to express and enjoy themselves.

It is in these blocked-out opportunities that the most effective development takes place. When students become too concerned with their academic work, they are unable to spend as much time with the experiential aspects of learning that are available in high school. The environment the ASL community has placed around academics puts too much emphasis upon constant high performance for students to be able to spend time focusing on their growth as a person when working. Inside experiential activities, students are offered better opportunities to develop as people than they are when working academically because there is less of a focus upon perfection, and so they can truly learn by taking time to evaluate mistakes and put time into bettering themselves.

I am not advocating that the students suddenly start to ignore their academic work, nor do I believe that the school should hold students to a lower academic standard. However, the school needs to have a better understanding of the pressure academics place upon students and how it can consume the lives of students at different points during the year. It is the responsibility of the school to help create a better balance between academics and the other aspects of High School life. This is because it is the school’s responsibility to aid students in learning and the majority of personal learning takes place in those aspects of high school that are too often ignored.

The implementation of experiential learning classes such as the Foundations class and the Outdoor Leadership class into the required curriculum is a positive step forward, but many more steps must follow. Students should be given more opportunities to experience a variety of the aspects of life, such as success and failure, in classes or environments in which a grade is not the final goal.

The lack of a focus upon a graded performance would allow students to instead concentrate

upon learning about themselves and how they can handle different life-like experiences.

However, I would argue that the areas in which students are able to develop as people and learn the most effectively are areas of school that students enjoy participating in.

Whether it is a certain academic class, an art class or a sport that a student enjoys, they are able to develop more effectively because their enjoyment of the activity causes them to focus more upon what they are actually doing, and less upon their graded performance. When focusing upon their actions, students can reflect upon their experiences and apply those reflections into their lives.

In an ideal world, students would be able to focus their learning upon the subjects and activities they enjoy and applicative learning would be ranked higher than graded evaluations. However, this would never fit into our current system of education and if any school attempted to apply this model, the chances any of their students receiving admission into university would most likely plummet. Nevertheless, schools could easily cherry-pick specific aspects of this model, still requiring students to fulfill certain credits but also giving them the freedom to choose which subjects and activity to further focus upon. In these subjects and activities that students focus upon, the education could become more experiential with less of an emphasis placed upon grading. This would relieve a portion of the academic pressure placed upon students because they would be enjoying a greater number of the classes they would be taking. The academic learning process would still be taking place at an equal rate, but students would be able to develop as people more effectively because they would have an increased participation in the areas in which they are able to do so.

High school is all about learning, and although I believe in a strong academic foundation, for me, it is more important for students to learn to develop as people and to be able to apply themselves in real-life situations. That part of learning is the more important one experienced in high school. It needs to be appreciated to a greater degree.

Let students in Anna Young anna_young@asl.org

“

Midterm reports should serve as motivators for students to do better.

page 8.indd 8

Midterm reports are a tool meant to be used by students in order to gain insight into their academic performance halfway through a semester. The grades and comments are, supposedly, for the students’ use to help them improve in their courses. Note how in all of this, I’m talking only about students. Parents are not mentioned.

In previous years, midterm reports were mailed home in an envelope addressed to the student. While there was a letter enclosed in the envelope to parents, it stated that the reports were for the student’s growth.

This year, midterm reports were emailed to parents. I personally didn’t even know that reports had been sent out until my mom called me downstairs to help her log into the school’s online portal to view mine.

I appreciate that the school is trying to save

paper by putting such reports online. I appreciate that it is trying to become more tech-savvy by using websites such as Veracross for parents to view comments. However, if the administration is going to start to use password-protected sites for documents important to our school work, they need to let us access them, too.

Our grades are our responsibility. We have the right to be told how we are doing and what we could improve on at the same time that our parents are told. Now that they are sent solely to parents, midterm grades – which do not count for anyone except first semester seniors and are subject to vast changes – are viewed with the same amount of anxiety as semester grades are.

Midterm reports should serve as motivators for students to do better. After all, it’s students who can implement the suggestions teachers

give them to improve their work, not parents.

Reports should not be the stressors that they have become because they affect nobody but the individual student.

If the decision to send grades out via Veracross is one that will continue for all future midterm reports and semester reports, then students need to be notified that they have been sent out at the same time the parents are notified. In addition, students need to be granted the ability to view the reports on their own Veracross accounts.

It is unfair that students are passed over when our own grades are being shared with our parents. If students are included in the sharing of reports, then either way parents will be able to see how their children are doing. They are our grades. They are the product of our effort.

We deserve the ability to view them ourselves.

12/14/12 1:27 PM

THE STANDARD | December 2012

•••

Page 9

Opinionsddd

A meaningful student voice Tyler Zschach tyler_zschach@asl.org

“

The fundamental difference between me and the administration is that I believe the students should have a more heavily weighted say in the decisions that affect them

Photo From www.djangounchained.com

My ’stache - Do you remember Brad Pitt’s superb moustache from Inglourious Basterds? Yeah, no, mine looked nothing like that. I gave no-shave November my all, or at least I nearly did. I assure you, I scratched my neck almost every November morning like a dog dealing with a bad case of fleas. But during November break I had an epiphany. While in the midst of a wonderful dream involving Mila Kunis and me as the last human beings on earth, my fantasy was abruptly interrupted by the arrival of three great, mustachioed men: Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson, full-time prisoner and part-time bareknuckle boxer Charles Bronson and the delightful Tom Selleck. Each of them stepped forward individually and told me, in beautiful, emotional detail about how truly life-changing having a moustache really is.

Words cannot precisely describe how mesmerizing the experience was. I shaved the next morning, but I left my moustache untouched.

So, until December, my upper lip was blessed with magnificent pubescent glory. Empty in places and thoroughly frightful, I came out of No-shave November learning one crucial lesson: Sometimes, stubble is best. Also, shoutout to Owen Rees (’13) for best Movember. - FC Movie Month - January is going to be a very simple month in my life.

I know this for a fact. The reason: Movies. A lot of movies. I am even tempted to write a letter to whichever member of the government in charge of giving months nicknames, because, in the United Kingdom, January 2013 should hence forth be known as Movie Month (it will be a thing, trust me).

page 9.indd 9

I have always been a big advocate for student government and a strong, unified base of students. A healthy student government is one that can maintain an effective working relationship with our administrative overlords, accurately represent the opinions and needs of the students they represent, and most importantly, accomplish the goals the government decides it can achieve to improve the experience of the students. I can safely say that after sitting in on almost all of this year’s StuCo meetings, this group of student leaders is doing its job and doing it well.

A meaningful student government that can represent its student base is necessary to facilitate deemphasizing an administration that I believe is no longer in touch with the students they are trying to govern. This is apparent following the Core Values initiative, and the gender equity discussions, both of which showed only minority student interest.

I firmly believe that any group of young adults in a school must have a governing body in order to function. However, the fundamental difference between me and the administration is that I believe the students should have a more heavily weighted say in the decisions that affect them.

Therefore, when the administration is making decisions, StuCo should have a weighted voice in them. This would allow actions made by the administration to reflect the voice of the students, which StuCo represents. This should start with the administration reconsidering which pushes they keep or cut, using StuCo’s opinion as a filter. This would allow for the actions made by administration that affect students to reflect student voice. Doing this would enable students to participate in greater numbers and with more sincerity during administration-led activities.

Recently, the community participated in a Core Values exercise. We were asked to highlight the characteristics from our Mission Statement that we feel are most important to us. The administration would not have created that exercise if they did not feel that there would be some sort of widespread impact or effect. The notion that the students and faculty could define these values themselves is relatively new, considering that in the past, the areas on which the administration focused were cherry-picked by themselves. Administrative action that pertains to students should continue to ask for student voice, either directly, as done through the Core Values exercise, or

Opinions Editor Patrick Collins and Editor-in-Chief Fares Chehabi break down recent key investments

“Why Movie Month?” asks the ignorant reader. Well because throughout Movie Month, the United Kingdom will be graced with a series of films that will give a new meaning to the term, starting the year off right. Some will be classics, others will be breathtaking and they will all be the reason why my backside will become very familiar with the soft cushions of cinema seating.

Movie Month will start off slow, with films such a Gerard Butler’s sporting romance flick Playing for Keeps, which will actually be prime, and the never ending Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, now in 3D, keeping moviegoers entertained. However, once the 11th rolls around, things will really start to spice up.

Ryan Gosling as a gritty 1940s cop will fight Sean Penn, playing a mob boss terrorizing the city of Los Angeles, in the film Gangster Squad. Emma Stone adds a nice touch of sex appeal to a film that draws parallels to the 1987 movie Untouchables. Coming to cinema on the same day and undoubtedly overshadowing the shoot ’em up film at its release is the movie adaption of the 19th century French novel Les Misérables. I will be the least surprised if the all-star cast of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway brings tears to my eyes during the two-and-a-half hour film that is sure to be an epic.

I am confident in already declaring Les Misérables the second-best film of Movie Month, although it won’t come anywhere close to touching Quentin Tarantino’s latest masterpiece, Django Unchained. The story of a revenge-driven slave-turned-bounty hunter, set in antebellum America, stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and

more and is bound to be the pinnacle of Movie Month when it releases in U.K. theaters on the 18th. I could not be more excited to watch Jamie Foxx shoot his way through the plantation south and to watch Leonardo DiCaprio portray Calvin Candie, the most notorious plantation owner in Mississippi (my mouth watered writing that sentence). I predict that I will view the film three times before it leaves the theaters.

Movie Month will come to a close on the 25th with a duo of patriotic films covering both recent and century old American history.

Steven Spielberg directs Lincoln, a film covering the amazing story of Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to lead the United States during the Civil War and rid the country of slavery. Lincoln is bound to be a miraculous film and will receive more attention on release day than the equally amazing story portrayed in Zero Dark Thirty: the film chronicling the United States’ hunt for Osama bin Laden that will culminate with the Navy SEAL Team Six mission that successfully killed the former leader of al-Qaeda. I have complete confidence that both films will send shivers down my spine and that I will leave each one with goose bumps the size of thimbles.

However, if I had to choose just one film to watch during the entirety of Movie Month, I would undoubtedly pick the recreation of the 2001 Pixar classic Monsters, Inc in 3D. Unless deprived of a childhood, I have no doubt that every High Schooler would agree that reminiscing upon the much simpler times while watching Sulley and Mike tear it up in 3D will be the highlight of Movie Month, if not the entire year. - PC

indirectly through StuCo. I attended the StuCo meeting where the Core Values initiative was introduced and numerous valid concerns were raised over the course of the meeting. It was enough to warrant questioning whether the Student Council even agreed if it would be a good idea to implement. If the StuCo was, at the time, empowered to say no to these types of proposals from the administration, would we have gone through the exercise in the first place?

A complacent student body that is indifferent to the fact that the administration has marginalized our student government will never see change in favor of the interests of the students. We must demonstrate our support, show that our council has the backing of the students, and prove that the council is representative of what direction we as students feel the school should be going in. StuCo is far from perfect, but if we are more involved then we can also shape the StuCo into what we want it to be. We have the potential, but we have to act on it. This starts by attending events they host. Let us stand together as a student body and at least attempt to obtain a legitimate voice when cooperating with the administration.

Photo courtesy of Student council

Frost - There are few things I dislike about winter. I love the cold. I love the shortened days. I love the holiday sweaters, the Christmas music and the eggnog. However, the one thing that I hate about what Andy Williams calls “the most wonderful time of the year,” is the frost. I could easily spend hours on a Grinch-esque rampage due to my hatred for frost, but I have yet to find a cute enough Cindy Lou to co-star with me.

So for now, this rant will have to suffice. Frost is the world’s largest tease. It implements the idea of snow into your mind, letting you know that those lovely white flakes could easily fall, yet don’t. Instead you are left with crystallized surfaces that laugh at every sad soul who looks upon them with dreams of snow. Frost is a worse tease than a Kate Upton video. It shows everyone exactly what is possible. Presents you with an idea that you can have something, yet never brings you anywhere close to it. Oh, and yes, the anticipation of a snow day has already begun. Jump on the bandwagon. - PC DJ Tevisco - ASL’s official disk jockey, the master of the tracks himself, is apparently taking a page or two out of the Puff Daddy / P. Diddy book How To Be Successful in the Music Business, by changing his name yet again. First it was DJ T8 and now its DJ Tevisco (I have a tenner on the next name being DJ Tescos). If he keeps following Diddy’s footsteps, be prepared for a club shoot-out that results in Tevisco’s best friend being deported. Tevisco = Diddy. Diddy = great.

Tevisco = great. Math. - PC Post Scriptum: Get turnt up this Christmas.

12/14/12 1:31 PM

WISH WE WERE BETTER FRIENDSTRULY BEAUTIFUL AND BREATHTAKING

ASL Compliments.indd 10

WE LOVE YOU

SO GLAD YOU CAME TO ASLINCREDIBLE

CONSTANTLY LAUGHING

KEEP ON LAUGHING ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP OUT YOU ARE LOVED BY EVERYONE YOUR OPTIMISM AND KINDNESS RADIATE

YOU MAKE ME HAPPY EVERY SINGLE DAY

BR IG HT EN MY DAY NOT AS APPRECIATED AS YOU SHOULD BE

Photo by Jessica Hagani

YOU SHINE LIKE A STAR

Culture Editor Shahid Mahdi and Features Editor Mina Omar investigate the creation of ASL Compliments

BEHIND THE SCREEN

SPEAK WITH GREAT PASSION SO GLAD THAT I KNOW YOUPLEASE KEEP BEING FABULOUS MY DEFINITION OF PERFECT SINCERE YOU ARE CUTER THAN CHRISTMAS LOVE TALKING TO HIM

THE BESTRARE ABILITYCONSTANTLY SMILING AND LAUGHING

I DON’T REALLY KNOW YOU BUT...

SEEM REALLY NICE WILLING TO LISTEN G EN U IN E CONGRA TS ETTIEST NOT APPRECIATED ENOUGHPR ...

Features THE STANDARD VOLUME XXXVIII ISSUE III DECEMBER 2012

12/14/12 3:58 PM

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Page 11

Featuresddd

A

SL Compliments was first started with the intention of bettering what the creators called “ASL’s hostile environment.”

The founders of the page believed that it would be extremely beneficial to the High School community. One co-creator explained that they had wanted to create the Compliments account after seeing it successfully applied at other schools. They felt that there was an unfriendly atmosphere often seen at ASL and that the addition of a Compliments page could help to lessen it. “[At ASL] There seems to constantly be a stream of rumors that are going around … but no compliments,” the co-creator said.

The “cliquey” climate of High School was also cited as a rationale for the conception of the group. “We found that the social structure of the school is definitely exclusive, and so this is a way of communicating something good about everyone,” they said.

As it stands now, ASL Compliments has more than 350 friends and has been posting compliments for more than a month.

The account caught many students off guard as they began to receive friend requests from this unknown Facebook profile.

“I was a little confused,” Momo Steele (‘14) said. “I didn’t know what it was. It had ‘ASL’ in the title so it seemed like it was related to school, but I wasn’t sure what it was all about.”

Within the course of three hours, “ASL Compliments” had gathered over 75 friends. Heaps of messages about the account’s identity and whether it was a school-endorsed scheme quickly became a contagion. During school, over the course of the following days, the question on everyone’s mind was, “who is Asl Compliments?”

In the account information window on Facebook, the following message was written: Created anonymously by a few high schoolers, who felt that ASL needs a little more love. Inbox us, or send an anonymous message... about anyone or anything...and we’ll publish them without revealing your name – a silent act of kindness.”

ASL Compliments.indd 11

ASL Compliments also operates from a Tumblr page, in which visitors are able to type a compliment into a text box. After a given period of time, provided that the compliment is appropriate for publication, the compliment’s recipient is tagged and the compliment is posted as a status update from ASL Compliments’ Facebook account for everyone to see.

The Tumblr page also accepts questions directed towards the administrators. Many queries praised the person(s) running the

dents leave school. “What this [forum] provides is a way to incorporate a form that students are using currently and use it in a positive way quickly and easily.

There aren’t a whole lot of ways to do that,” he said.

As word of the operation spread to other members of the faculty, Guidance Counselor and Psychology Teacher Lianne Thakur expressed a similar sentiment to Chodl’s. When first stumbling upon news of ASL Compliments’ existence, Thakur’s primary presumption

Due to the online emergence and rapid spread of the page, some students were led to believe that both the page and the blog were components of an elaborate joke.

Anya Mer (’13) said she feels that some students are not taking the page seriously. “I think that some [people] are using the page as a forum to make fun of other students and their friends,” she said.

Other students felt flustered when compliments were being uploaded but not the ones that he

“Created anonymously by a few high schoolers, who felt that ASL needs a little more love. Inbox us, or send an anonymous message...about anyone or anything...and we’ll publish them without revealing your name – a silent act of kindness.” system and many also sought to identify who was operating the program, the founders said.

As the account became exponentially popular by the day, the founders decided to talk to Dean of Students Joe Chodl about their operation. “When we first spoke to him about it he said that we should shut it down,” one creator said. “But when we explained what we were trying to do, he agreed that it could be a good idea.”

Chodl soon warmed to the idea. “I really like the idea of students complimenting one another ... but I had a hard time understanding how the comments would be filtered,” he said. “I said that if they [could] manage it in such a way that it maintains the character of what they are trying to do, then I would be in support of it.”

The idea of anonymous compliments is not new to the High School. Health Teacher Joy Marchese talks to her students about “filling each others buckets” every year. She encourages students to focus on the small things that either make or break their day.

She also asks her students to remember the small things that make their days and then imitate them for others. Chodl is supportive of what Marchese is trying to do but thinks that the act often gets forgotten once stu-

was that the forum was created and run by a member of the faculty. Thakur said she was delighted when she discovered that this compliments scheme was derived from students. “I found it really cool that someone would take it upon themselves to do this,” she said.

Thakur, though supportive of this idea, was particularly concerned with how “veiled sarcasm” may be in the guise of some compliments. “The person who receives a compliment may know that it’s not really a compliment at all, and so hopefully whoever’s running it can see through this,” she said.

That being said, one of the founders of ASL Compliments was confident that he or she would be able to filter compliments that were sent in with negative or mocking intentions.

“As we are a part of the ASL community, we felt that we would be able to detect running jokes or backhanded compliments,” a creator said. The number of compliments that were comical in nature was so high that the founders posted a status update clarifying their purpose: “We’re trying to stray away from inside jokes, just because it clogs up a lot of people’s news feeds. We appreciate all the messages, but we’re really a compliments page, not an inside jokes page.”

or she had sent. “I liked it at first but they seem a bit self-righteous now ... because they reject a lot of compliments [I’ve sent] which are genuine and sincere,” Kareem Asfari (’13) said.

The members of ASL Compliments were keen on expressing how difficult it can be to get all the compliments submitted posted in a timely manner as there is no regular timed basis for how often compliments are uploaded to the Facebook page, since the Tumblr is not automated.

The factor that singlehandedly controls ASL Compliments’ process is its anonymity. From its founders’ hidden identities to the compliments themselves, the entire nature of the program bears a resemblance to the veiled identities that millions of teenagers across the world use online. From obscure “threads” and chat-rooms littered across the blogosphere to more prominent websites like Omegle, whose slogan is “Talk to Strangers!”, and Formspring, the concept of anonymity became extremely popular due to one simple mantra: No one can be held accountable.

Thakur said that while the internet can be used for good, it is used for the opposite more often than not. “I think that [anonymity] can be used for evil, especially on many forums on the internet, and there’s a lot of negativity, es-

pecially when people say things that they wouldn’t say [in person] otherwise,” she said.

However, the forum in question is one that its creators believe can and will only be used for good. “ASL Compliments” believes that, with students filtering compliments, they can send the message: “You can’t bully on this website, because we’ve designed it to run that way.”

One month since “ASL Compliments” inception, the service doesn’t experience as much online traffic as it used to. “Now that [the congestion] has sort of quieted down, we don’t deal with as many compliments as we used to,” one of the creators said.

Given that the online service is simply doing the job of spreading compliments, faculty members agreed that the entity does not need any official school regulation or affiliation. “There are people, like Ms. Marchese or myself, who’d like to see what exactly is going around, but … I think as long as it continues in the same path that it’s going down, it’s fantastic,” Thakur said.

Chodl agreed with this sentiment, but clarified that if it strayed from the path it is now on it would be removed immediately. “If it started to become a place that people were making fun of [their peers] rather than just [making] simple lists of good things about students, then we would take it down,” he said.

Marchese believes that the anonymity of the compliments brought about by the account’s conception stresses how heartfelt the messages being sent in can really be. She was quick to state that stripping away one’s identity can add an entirely new level of sincerity. “I think that the most amazing output, whether it’s charity donations or compliments, is unconditional,” she said. “They’re not looking for any recognition, they’re doing it just because they care, they’re not making it just about themselves.”

Marchese went on to say that she hopes the addition of this forum to the school community could eventually lead to a more open, positive atmosphere in the hallways. “I think it’s a ‘people’ thing. We need to be treating each other better, treating each other well, end of story,” she said.

12/14/12 3:58 PM

•••

Page 12

THE STANDARD | December 2012

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Featuresddd

Features

Creativity Visual Arts Teacher Erik Niemi underlined the importance of creativity in our education system. “A lot of educational research and cultural progress is emphasizing creativity as an aspect that will be very important in tomorrow’s workplace, not just in the creative arts or commercial arts but also in business or in finance or in politics or in any other field that you end up going into,” he said.

Media Services Coordinator Chris Clark, referring to creative outlets available in the school such as the photography darkroom, recording studio, and arts theater, sees ASL as “an incredible school at which to pursue

CLAYTON MARSH LEAD FEATURES EDITOR | HAMISH STEPHENSON ONLINE EDITOR

creative impulses.”

Niemi reflected a similar sentiment. “I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity not just in classes but outside that framework for students to work independently and explore creativity on their own as well,” he said.

Niemi and Clark both questioned the distinction between “creative” courses and “academic” courses. “For example, English is considered one of the two primary academic courses, but I fail to see how it is not founded on studying, understanding and nurturing creativity,” Clark said.

Niemi said that the environment at ASL is open for students who are creative, but

Christian Nguyen C

photo by hamish stephenson

centerspread to use.indd 12-13

W Jack Douglas

hristian Nguyen (’16) has always feared one thing: That education would kill his passion for music. In fact, while he dreams of becoming a successful recording artist, he has no interest in pursuing music as a major in college or taking music classes at school, which he has not found beneficial. “I feel like if it was my major in college I would feel pressured to write music or feel like, in a way, that I have to do it in order to pass an exam,” he said. “It would take the inspiration and the love I have for music out of it.”

The freedom it gives him is what makes Nguyen love creating music so much. He has taken classes to try and improve as a songwriter, but felt none of them improved him as a musician. “I feel that if I am just by myself or thinking up a new melody by myself it is a lot better than what I could have created with someone telling me or instructing me on how to create it,” he said.

Nguyen agrees with the notion that there is a greater emphasis placed on the purely academic or core classes than on the more artistic or creative classes at ASL due to parental pressures. “I feel like a lot of the parents at ASL are always telling their children what to take, but my parents have always given me a lot of freedom so I don’t feel as pressured to take academic classes or pursue courses I’m not passionate about,” he said. “I think I should take the time to make my high school experience fruitful and learn what I want to learn. Otherwise I feel like I am wasting my time.”

Nguyen, who identifies himself as “an indie alternative singer-songwriter,” started playing guitar when he was eight but didn’t start singing until he was twelve when he began participating in the ASL student choir. “I auditioned for a solo and [Choir teacher Keith] Montgomery

there is more room for collaboration and cross-disciplinary education than what there currently is. “I feel the subjects offered don’t have the same separations that the school puts on them as compared to out into the real world,” he said.

Clark thinks the idea that the school puts a stronger emphasis on academic courses as a distortion. “This may be an impression, but it isn’t borne out by facts as I see it. A student can spend as much time studying the violin in class as studying maths over four years in the High School,” he said.

While he felt, as a teacher of the arts, that his voice is as important in faculty meet-

ings as any other, he acknowledged that he is “rarely visited by parents for conferences though.” He also pointed out that arts teachers are almost never given the teacher of the year award. “It is a distinction almost universally given to teachers of English, social studies, maths and science. This doesn’t bother me at all, but it may be an indication of where the students feel they do their most important work,” he said.

Even if some students do in fact feel that academic courses are their more important courses, several students have truly taken the opportunity to pursue their creative interests inside and outside of school. photo by hamish stephenson

photo courtesy of christian nguyen

thought I had a good voice so I started singing. I started writing music last November and ever since I’ve been a lot more into it,” he said.

Now, two years later, he is working on his first extended play (EP) of four songs, which will be released in 2013 and is comprised of entirely original work. In addition to the EP, he is also working on an album of 12 songs that will be released afterwards. “The EP is almost like a four part story. It’s called The American Dream and is about a bunch of archetypes and their pursuit of the American dream. The album itself will have that story but it will also have songs that have nothing to do with it and are more personal to me,” he said.

His inspiration for The American Dream came about because he wants to mix his love of music with his love for a certain time period, the 1960s, in America. “I have always felt really connected to the time period and thought it would be a good way to inspire my first record. There is the whole glamour side to the time pe-

riod, but there is also the underdog side of the whole idea, and I feel like the contrast of the two can paint a very beautiful picture,” he said.

A lot of the inspiration for his music comes, of course, from other music, in addition photography and film. “My songs are sort of a compilation of all of those things [music, photography, film] combined. If I’m really inspired by an idea or an event then I’ll decide to write about it,” he said. “At times, it may be exaggerated but at other times not, and it just depends on how I want the music to feel and how I want the lyrics to make others feel.”

Money doesn’t matter much to Nguyen, and neither does fame. All that matters to him is that music remains a part of his life. “In 10 years, to be honest, I want to do exactly what I am doing now,” he said. “I don’t necessarily want to become famous from it or make much money. If it’s my job then it will be everything in my life and as long as my life is surrounded by music, I will be happy.”

Sarah Fletcher

FROM PAGE ONE

Page 13

photo courtesy of sarah fletcher

hen Jack Douglas’ (’14) parents arranged piano lessons for him with Alexandra Cochrane, little did he know that a new chapter of his life was about to begin. Douglas told Alexandra and Pete Cochrane, founders of management company Hypnoparadise, that he produced and they invited him down to the studio to meet singer Vince Kidd, now a successful musician signed with Island Records. “I played Vince some tracks and he liked them, so the relationship went on from there,” Douglas said.

Douglas said that the production of a song usually starts when he hears a sample that he likes or something that inspires him. “I usually load up a music program and stare at the screen for five minutes not knowing what to do. Then I normally load up drums. From there, I like to make a bed of a track, a base idea so I can present it to an artist and let them record their vocals on it and then go back and do the nitty-gritty details.”

Douglas began to produce for Vince Kidd, and produced and wrote one of his first releases “You and Me,” which featured British rapper Kelz. Vince Kidd and Kelz performed “You and Me” live for online media channel SB.TV, a video which, since its release in March 2012, has had almost 800,000 views on YouTube. On June 2, 2012, Kidd finished in fourth place in talent competition The Voice U.K. Following the tour, he toured Britain performing a song written by and some material produced by Douglas. Douglas also recently had a remix and was credited with additional production on two songs on “Sick Love,” Kidd’s debut extended play (EP), released on November 2, 2012, an EP that made the top 50 on iTunes.

Aside from Kidd, Douglas has also been working with singer Leah McFall, Emar, a rapper from the U.S., and Welsh rapper Elro, who is signed to 679 Artists, a label owned by Warner Music.

In terms of the presence of creativity at ASL, Douglas has mixed views. He feels that the school does push creativity but that it could be improved in certain ways. Douglas said, “There are more

I

t all starts with an idea. An idea or an image or a word that draws her attention. Slowly but surely, Sarah Fletcher (’13) begins to piece together words, culminating in the finished product of a poem.

She can’t put a specific moment on it; she has always written poetry for fun, regardless of the form. “When I was younger, I used to really like music so I would write song lyrics that were kind of poetic in themselves. Then I realized that I wasn’t very good at the guitar but pretty good at writing lyrics, so I dropped the guitar and continued with the lyrics,” she said.

Today, she is an accomplished poet with awards like the 12th Christopher Tower Poetry Prize – a competition with participants from 356 schools around the U.K., as well as the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award, an international competition of fifteen winners chosen from around 12,000 entrants. She emphasized the importance of editing, stating that all her poems that have won competitions had been edited for

things creatively you can do at ASL than you can have time for.” He said, “[ASL] is definitely imbalanced in terms of sports and creative after-school programs, but to a certain extent ‘you can walk a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink’ and if kids don’t want to do creative programs

progress anytime soon. Douglas wants to study music in college and pursue something music-related as a career. “I definitely see music as being my full-time job. Even if I’m not producing music, I’ll still be involved in the music industry, maybe managing or something like that,”

Vince Kidd at Coalition, Brighton in June 2012, performing a song produced by Douglas. photo by hamish stephenson you can’t necessarily force them to, some kids just want to do sports more.”

Douglas also said that students should be required to take at least one art or technology class each year in High School.

“Right now, [students] can get them all done by the first semester of their sophomore year, so I feel that a lot of kids just don’t take an elective class that’s creatively-bound if they don’t have to,” he said.

Douglas has come a long way in the year and a half that he has been working on music as more than just a hobby. However, he has no intentions of halting his

he said. “And [college, I’m] definitely going, probably going to major in music production and minor in music managing, that’s the dream.”

Kidd’s manager, Pete Cochrane, sees a bright future ahead for Douglas. “Jack brings a fresh, young approach to writing and production. He is confident in his opinions which helps keeps things moving in the right direction,” he said. “In five years’ time I expect he will be widely regarded as a top flight writer-producer with a string of impressive credits in his discography.”

over a year.

Fletcher’s love of poetry allows her to overlook the flaws she sees in it as a profession. “Even though poetry is the type of writing that makes less money and has a smaller readership, I write it because it just comes more naturally to me,” she said.

Fletcher is consistently involved with poetry in some way, shape, or form, “I’m now a poetry editor for an online journal and I am always kind of immersed in poetry. On the weekends, I take a lot of poetry classes and go to a lot of readings and events. Even when I’m not writing, I’m always doing things that will give me ideas for writing or help further me as a writer,” she said.

Fletcher sees herself as a very lucky girl after finding her love of poetry ay such a young age. “I found what I am passionate about early on in life, which not many people do,” she said. “No matter what I do in the future, I will always try to get that creative literature aspect in my life.” With her poetry, Fletcher seeks to give the reader a

new perspective on something. “A theme in my work is that I’ll make a metaphor that seems pretty straightforward, but then I will expand on it and make someone think in a different way,” she said.

After her recent successes, Fletcher sees being published in the U.S. as the next step in her journey. “There are a lot of esoteric awards that I want to win, but I also would like to get my poetry published in America, where the stage is very different and more exclusive,” she said.

Fletcher blamed the college process on the reason for her percieved disparity over importance of different types of classes. “Going through the college process, a university will put more emphasis on academic classes as opposed to artistic ones. It’s a blame to the system rather than the school,” she said. She also said that while ASL is a “creative school,” it has not influenced her to write in any way.

“I don’t feel that ASL as a whole can take responsibility for my success in writing.”

12/14/12 3:48 PM

•••

Page 14

Features

Zack Nathan A

Jamie Fass

EA

C R CR EAT I

ITY

V I TIV TY

s an artist, musician, programmer and even chef, Zack Nathan (’13) has a plethora of skills. Nathan’s creative spark was effectively innate; before he was one, his interest in the arts was established by playing games with his grandmother.

Nathan also remembers exploring his creativity from an early age while living in New York. “I would get strings and shoe laces and ribbons and stuff like that. And I would just tie everything in my apartment to everything else in my apartment... And when my mum asked me what I was doing I said I was powering the city,” he said. Nathan feels moments such as those helped form his interest in programming.

Nathan said that his interest in music seems to have stemmed from his father.

Whenever his father was home, he would play the piano or violin. continued by describing how he was surrounded by music from a young age. “[Growing up] I was surrounded by music 24/7, literally every single day,” he said.

From drawing comics to hacking, Nathan grew up with a profound interest in being creative. In fifth grade, Nathan started burning CDs and DVDs and selling them at his old school. He also drew comics for a magazine handed out by his friend at Westminster School.

From a young age, Nathan was involved in music, originally playing the double bass but later transitioning to playing the guitar.

He then got involved in bands, and although not currently in one, he has been a member of four different bands. One of these was with three other ASL students, through a music school called the Rhythm Studio. A conflict of interest in music genres led to the band splitting up. Nathan worked in another band for two years after that, but time constraints held him back.

However, Nathan still has a strong interest in music. “I think one of the great things about being a performer is that you are yourself and people do appreciate you for who you are and what you do, so I do hopefully see myself one day having a proper band,” he said.

Nathan is currently focused on visual art and plans to study it in college. “I never thought of art as being something I could do for a career, something I would pursue my life with. It’s always been there for me. It’s

photo courtesy of jamie fass

third page to use.indd 14

F

or Jamie Fass (’15), the end of the year will represent what could be a lifechanging moment. With approval from her parents she will have to decide whether to stay at ASL and pursue academics or to leave to attend ballet school and pursue her passion for ballet. “Ultimately, I want to be a dancer, and yes, I care about my academics and it’s important, but it’s hard … My perfect scenario would be if ASL was really flexible and gave me their coursework and just let me go to a dance school,”she said.

Fass is currently applying to ballet schools but if her parents won’t allow her to go, it would end her long journey that began when she started dancing at the age of three. After school, Fass dances at The West London School of Dance and recently performed in their annual performance of the Nutcracker for the twelfth year. This year the performances were at the Bloomsbury Theatre on December 8 and 9. The school

THE STANDARD | December 2012

PAINTIN

G

DRAWING photoS courtesy of zacK nathan

always been really prominent in my life, but I never thought it would be that prominent.

I would say end of sophomore year I started to realize, ‘Hold on a second, this is something I really want to do. This is one of my passions,’” he said.

For his AP Studio Art concentration Nathan is exploring how externalities can bring out dark undertones in personalities, like violence and menace. He is painting subjects who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol emerging from darkness.

Nathan draws inspiration from a number of places. “Sometimes I just have thoughts, even if they’re completely random, and I think that’s representative of how I get ideas,” he said.

Art has become Nathan’s way of expressing and exploring his feelings. “[Creativity is] built into my character,” he said. “I’m always thinking, and I’m always trying to think of something new, always trying to understand the world around me. I’m quite curious as a person, naturally.”

Nathan had mixed opinions on the way ASL deals with creativity. He said that the school offers unique artistic opportunities, such as the Digital Music Creation class, but he was disappointed that there are many assemblies dedicated to sports and academics but not to students involved in the arts.

Nathan said that an emphasis on academ-

ics is detrimental to the learning process. “I hate to be restricted. I hate being confined, physically and mentally. I think the education system, no matter where you are, is a confinement. You have to tick boxes. This isn’t what I think you should be learning,” he said.

A problem, Nathan said, is that often students who are not academically smart get overlooked. “Someone who’s a virtuoso violinist, with the hand of god, who can play so sweetly to make people weep, is incredibly smart and clever,” he said. “They have to manipulate the muscles in their fingers. They have to interpret the music and portray it in a way that the audience will be affected. That’s genius, but they might be getting ‘C’s in math class.”

Nathan said that he, too, is guilty of placing too much emphasis on academics. He always pushed himself to be in the most difficult courses possible. “Then I realized, ‘Wait a second. Being smart, being clever, isn’t about that at all.’ And I think this school, especially, focuses on that and I think that’s terrible,” he said.

Nathan said that an emphasis on grades hinders self-exploration. “If the first 18 years of your life are completely restricted and stop you from exploring your natural instincts and your natural interests, how do you end up?” he said.

also performs Peter Pan in July each year.

Fass has not been able to participate in the productions due to summer camp, but may be able to this year.

Although Fass would love to dance professionally, along with injuries that have held her back, she doesn’t feel she is good enough. However, she said she will continue to dance even if she doesn’t make it to a professional level.

Fass said she gets inspiration from other dancers she works with. “There were two girls last year from my dance school who were amazing and they played the main part in the Nutcracker and they’re really inspiring,” she said. “There was [also] a girl this year – she’s playing Clara – and she’s the best in the school by far, and she’s 12 years old.

She’s really inspiring because she just works really hard and she’s really humble as well.”

Fass said that more could be done with dance at ASL. “I think its impossible for a school to be able to offer everybody every-

thing, but I don’t think there’s enough high level kind of arts, in terms of dance,” she said.

Fass thought the emphasis on academics was tricky because “the obvious route of a young person is going to school and going to university and getting a job and thats fine, and I think especially with me, my parents have no idea about a dancer’s life,” she said. “I think in Lower School and Middle School the focus should be on academics, but then I think once you get to High School you kind of have to figure out what you want and I know in the English schools they have to really decide what they want when they’re 16, which I mean yeah it’s hard but I’m essentially having to do that because if I leave ASL my academics are going to change no matter what and if I stay here then I won’t pursue dancing so I think high school is kind of where you make your big decisions, but I think [ASL] should be open-minded about having different paths.”

G N I C N A D 12/14/12 3:47 PM

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Page 15

Featuresddd

E

Photo by Emily Mark

Resisting the temptation According to a poll conducted by The Standard, there is a strong minority of students who resist the temptation of alcohol. Features Editor Ian Scoville and Staff Writer Nikolai Birch investigate the trend and the club supporting it

arly this semester, a group of students gathered to discuss a need for a new perspective in the High School. This group wants to represent a faction of students who abstain completely from alcohol.

According to a poll conducted by The Standard of 234 high school students in October 2012, 29 percent of students maintain their sobriety consistently. This new club aims to become the face of this minority.

Despite the majority of drinkers in the school, the Students Advocating Life Without Substance Abuse (SALSA) club offers refuge to those who don’t drink and aims to find fun activities to do while maintaining sobriety.

“I started the club because I realized that there was a community of students in the High School that chose not to drink and I knew that some of them were starting to feel pressured,” SALSA Club President Kelly Swensen (’13) said.

Contrary to popular belief, students seem to be aware of the issues associated with drinking. Students choose not to drink due to health concerns, effects of alcohol on academic performance, the illegality of the act or a combination of the three.

“Although I initially made the choice not to drink because of my religion, I continue to refrain from drinking because I don’t see ways it could benefit my life, health or high school experience,” Millie Goldrup (’14) said.

Some students, like Goldrup, choose not to drink because of their religion. “[I don’t drink because of] faith but I know people of the same faith who drink as well,” Mohammad Adnan (’15) said.

Whether students drink or not, they appear to be aware of the consequences of alcohol. Students who do

The Dryathlon will attempt to raise money for Cancer Research UK by promoting people of all ages to abstain from alcohol for a month.

Photo from dryathlon.org

choose to drink normally do so to escape their day-to-day lives, Counselor Liane Thakur said. Students drink for “a variety of reasons - and the same reasons why [students] dress the way they do, hang out with who they do to fit, to feel good about themselves, to hide,” Thakur said.

The SALSA Club aims to change this factor, by holding fun events without alcohol. “Our ideas for the year are obviously having a very fun fundraiser. We’re using this fundraiser to earn money so we can host events, such as paintballing, without alcohol,” SALSA Club Vice President Isabelle Preddy (’15) said.

The club plans to hold events such as pizza parties, and if these are successful, more “public events” such as bowling, she said.

By the end of the year, the club wants students who don’t currently drink to continue to abstain from alcohol. “I don’t want students to feel like the club is putting down other choices, but more to encourage those who have chosen not to drink to continue to do so,” Thakur said.

Although it’s not as easy to get involved with parties, students who choose not to drink still believe they can go to them and still have fun.

“Sometimes it can be a little weird

knowing that almost everybody else in the room is feeling something that I am not, but usually I just go with it and have a relatively fun time. It is only when things get out of hand that I actually feel uncomfortable at a social event,” Goldrup said.

In The Standard’s poll, 98 percent of students said they can have fun without the help of alcohol. This challenges the typical stereotype that, in order to enjoy yourself, the consumption of alcohol is necessary.

According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011, 22 percent of high school students in the U.S. admitted to binge drinking in the past. Furthermore, 90 percent of the alcohol served to people between the ages of 12 to 21 is used for binge drinking, according to the data. The data in The Standard’s poll shows ASL does not adhere to this statistic, as only five percent of students polled felt that they abused alcohol when they drank.

No matter its opinion on whether or not alcohol is necessary to have fun, SALSA is available to all students. “I just want kids to have fun and know that they can have fun without alcohol. Even kids that do drink can come and have fun without alcohol,” Swensen said.

Alum donates tables in memorium of tragedy Zack Longboy Staff Writer

A

babble of noise comes from one of the round tables in the Mellon Library. Four students sit around it with laptops open and textbooks spread out. A librarian quiets them with a friendly gesture and the students lower to a whisper, continuing with their work. The students probably do not know the story behind their workspace.

A total of 61 fatalities, four crew members and 57 passengers dead. This was the news that Steven Gangelhoff (’69), a 16-yearold junior at ASL, received on March 24, 1968. “I was sitting in our family room at home, watching early afternoon television when the news bulletin was broadcast that there was a plane accident in the Irish Sea, a flight from Ireland to London.” He and his brother Richard Gangelhoff (’70) eventually learned that Aer

Features Page 15.indd 15

Lingus Flight 712, carrying both of their parents, had spun out of control and crashed. There were no survivors.

Their parents had been flying home from a business trip in Ireland when the tragic accident occurred. After he learned his parents had died, Gangelhoff had a strong feeling of loneliness. “I spent the rest of that day with my brother, but feeling mostly alone, pondering what would become of my brother and I, and our older sister,” he said.

More than 30 years after the accident, in April 2011, the Mellon Library received a considerable donation from Gangelhoff.

This money was used to purchase six new study tables now situated in the main room of the library.

“These tables are a nice space for students to work on their own, yet they are also the perfect size for multiple students to have a quiet discussion,” Head Librarian Karen Field said. The librari-

ans also plan to fit the tables with reading lamps and computer outlets in the near future.

Gangelhoff attended ASL as a sophomore and junior. “ASL and London opened my mind to a wide variety of cultures and spectrum of thought, which had a strong impact on me in later life,” he said.

While he never graduated from ASL, Gangelhoff regularly attends Class of ’69 reunions.

When in London for the most recent reunion, he learned that he could provide a special gift to ASL in memory of his parents. “[The Director of Development] suggested a few ideas, including a donation in support of the Mellon Library. I thought that was an excellent idea, as my mother was an avid reader all her life, and she especially would be delighted with this gift,” Gangelhoff said.

The American Memorial Collection (AMC), a non-profit or-

ganization founded in 1974 and staffed mostly by parent volunteers, was created after another devastating plane crash in which a number of ASL families died.

Friends of the victims wanted to honor their loss by creating a charity that would help build the collection of American books in all ASL libraries. Since its creation, the AMC has expanded to help manage all donations to the library, not only dealing with book funds, but also for general improvements.

“The libraries are an integral part of every student’s education at ASL,” Head of the AMC Melissa Janssen said. “Contributing to the library is a way to directly impact the education of all students at ASL. No matter what subject students are pursuing, they all use the library.”

His time in London and at ASL, however short, was a huge turning point in Gangelhoff ’s life. For good or bad, monu-

Timeline March 24, 1968 Gangelhoff’s parents die in plane crash over Irish Sea 1968 Gangelhoff leaves ASL March 2011 Gangelhoff makes donation to school 2012 Mellon Library purchases new tables mental changes occurred. And despite the challenges he faced, he said, “People heal, even from tragic or traumatic events. I’ve had a great life, wife and two sons. We’ve travelled the world together. Things usually work out for people.”

12/14/12 3:38 PM

Culture

THE STANDARD | December 2012 THE STANDARD VOLUME XXXVII ISSUE III DECEMBER 2012

Blink-182 Owl Song +44 Whats my age again Fender All the Small Matthew Bentley

Culture Editor

Mark Hoppus sat across from me in a music room. He looked neither like a father nor a rockstar, but an odd amalgam of the two. His hair was done in a style I have never seen a father wear before, yet he presented himself like a father would: Dignified and wise. His attire placed him at the cross-roads of getting older. He seemed to be dressing as if he were a younger man. I suppose he is one of the few people who could get away with doing such a thing. When we spoke, he talked excitedly both about his band and his son. It is clear that he is talented, yet he seemed humble, friendly.

B

Culture 16 and 17 .indd 16-17

Mark Hopp us W

Normal Life Jack Skye ASL Fatherhood The Father

hile filming a music video in 2000, Hoppus met video producer Skye Everly. Delange asked Everly out for Hoppus as a joke. She flatly rejected him.

By 2002, they were married and had a son, Jack Hoppus (’20).

All three members of the band had children by 2003. This has brought the band together, because when “doing sound check, the kids are riding their razor scooters through the arena,” Hoppus said, smiling.

Jack, along with the rest of the band’s children, used to attend most of the concerts that Blink-182 would perform. This has created an awkward spot for these men as parents. They had to explain to their children the band’s onstage persona and the immature videos (the video for “What’s My Age Again?” shows the band streaking through the streets of L.A). Hoppus sat down with Jack, when he was young, and told him “there are times where you can say the ‘Fword,’ and times you can’t.” Hoppus tells me that he believes that understanding that distinction is “growing up.”

Just because Jack has been to Blink’s concerts does not mean he is a fan. Driving through L.A. five years ago, a Blink song came on the radio. Hoppus pointed it out to his son. Jack’s response was, “Yeah, that’s

Writing Blink’s music is a personal, creative process. Every member of the band takes turns writing songs, but they each do it differently. Hoppus comes in with a rough idea for a song and they work from there, whereas Delange comes in with a completed song and they deconstruct it. This does not stop band members from commenting on or composing for instruments that are not there. While Hoppus writes the songs on bass, he has ideas

for drums or guitar parts, as well as vocal lines. In order to do this, though, “There’s a lot of talk that goes on in the studio of people trying to make music sounds with their mouths,” Hoppus said. Alongside this abstract discussion, a more technical conversation takes place. “[Barker] may say, ‘Mark why don’t you hit on the one-and instead of the one?’” Hoppus said.

Hoppus said that the band has grown and developed as they have grown older. “We don’t want to write the same album we wrote twenty years ago, so we have expanded as

Page 17

Cultureddd

The rockstar

link–182 started in 1992. Hoppus moved from “the desert,” Ridgecrest, California to San Diego to go to college, at California State University in San Marcos, and start a band. It was there that he met Tom Delange, lead guitarist of Blink, and began writing songs in his garage until the met drummer Travis Barker in 1996. “That’s when the band coalesced,” Hoppus said.

Hoppus believes that there was never one big break for Blink-182. “It was a thousand little steps,” said Hoppus.

“I never thought we would be huge,” he said. “Our biggest goal, when we started off, was to play SOMA [a concert venue] in San Diego, so when we headlined it and sold it out, we thought we had made it.”

He goes on to describe the rest of the history: Labels, the Great Western Forum, Madison Square Garden. “It’s like, amazing opportunities that everyday you think, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that happened,’” he said.

After meeting producer Jerry Finn in 1999, Blink-182 began to develop its identity. He “passed on the knowledge of why he did what he did [which] made us who we are.”

According to Hoppus, Blink is a “punkinfluenced rock band,” with influences from most Southern Californian rock bands. These include the Descendants, Bad Religion and Face to Face. “When you grow up with punk rock, you will always have that influence,” he said. The tone of the band remains consistently punk, and many of their non-punk songs still carry punk influences.

Blink-182 will rehearse for 7 to 10 days in a studio in Orange County before a concert or a tour. “We are either really rough in the beginning, or we are pretty good at the beginning, and we get better from there,” Hoppus explained. “We will show up, make some jokes and start going through some songs.”

When going to rehearse, they work on the songs they have been performing for 20 years.

Most of what the band performs in concert is old material. “Being in a band for 20 years, people want to hear new stuff, but people also want to hear the singles that were on the radio 10 or 15 years ago,” he told me.

•••

musicians and music listeners,” he said. They have looked to produce a wide variety of music, dabbling in electronic, dance and acoustic music.

Despite living 5000 miles away from the rest of the band, Hoppus said that working with them has not changed. “It is just more travelling on my part,” he said.

It has changed his family life, though.

When he lived in Los Angeles and would record an album he could “get [his son] Jack [Hoppus (’20)] up in the morning, get him off to school, head to the studio, work a full

day in the studio and be home in time to have dinner and help him with homework,” Hoppus said. Now, when Hoppus goes to rehearse or record with the band, he has to leave for a week and a half, but when he is not, he can act as a full-time parent.

Looking back on the last 20 years, Hoppus would not have done anything differently.

Even though they had a breakup in 2005, which he described as “heart-wrenching,” Hoppus believes that they couldn’t be where they are today had they not gone through that.

Hoppus throughout his life, a rockstar, a father and an ASL Parent.

Above photo by Hamish Stephenson. All other photos courtesy of Mark Hoppus.

Background graphic by Matthew bentley.

COncept by Hamish Stephenson

cool but you’re not really my top three”.

Hoppus’s move to London largely revolved around Jack. “We want him to appreciate different cultures and parts of the world,” Hoppus said. As much as he tries to give his son a worldly view, he will always have certain problems. “[Jack] has never had to wait in line at Disneyland for a ride, so does that ruin the [worldliness]?” Hoppus would love to make him wait in a line for him to experience that, but, “I wouldn’t stand with him, because it is too boring. I’d make him do it on his own,” He joked.

Jack’s friends never really understood the importance of their friend’s father until recently. “I was always ‘Jack’s dad who was in a band,’” Hoppus said. This changed when Blink-182 performed at the O2 Centre last year, and Jack took 15 of his friends to watch the concert from the stage.

Hoppus said that Jack does not want to follow in his father’s footsetps. He played drums for a while and recently learned his way around a guitar but he does not play very often.

Hoppus does not find this to be strange.

“We are going to put every different opportunity and idea in front of Jack and whatever way he gravitates towards, that’s where he should go,” said Hoppus.

I walked Hoppus from the music room we had been sitting in to the Lower School craft fair. He met his wife, they looked around for knickknacks to buy. He looked totally normal, like any other father spending time at his kid’s school. It is difficult to imagine that this ordinary person with crazy hair is actually so extraordinary. He laughed with parents at their booths. He thanked people.

He walked away with his wife and kid. He faded into the crowd.

12/14/12 5:36 PM

•••

Page 18

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Culture

What else?

In a recent study published in The New York Times it was estimated that the cost of raising a child until the age of 25, is $2 million, bringing the cost of raising the entire high school to roughly $1 billion. Culture Editor Matthew Bentley looks at what else our parents could have bought in the mid-90s instead of having us Buy 17,559,000 pairs of gloves that will not fit during your murder trial, at a unit cost of $56.95.

770,000 original iMacs, at a unit cost of $1299.

Approximate Total Cost: $1,000,000,000 Make Titanic 5 times, using $10 billion, with a budget of $200 million for each film.

Start Google 10,000 times, making $230 trillion, for a starting cost of $100,000

3,344,000 Playstations in 1995, at a unit cost of $299.

OJ Simpson photo from http://josefbrandenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/OJ-glove-dont-fit.jpg. Titanic Poster from http://www.traileraddict.com/content/paramount-pictures/titanic.jpg. Google Beta Logo from google.com. Playstation 1 from http://www.swish-designs.co.uk/blog/wp-content/ uploads/2012/04/ps1.jpg. iMac Photo from http://bindapple.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/i-ve-had-my-imac-since-2001-is-that-considered-to-be-old-2.jpg. Baby Photos by Emily Mark

From convention to passion Features Editor Ian Scoville sat down with Milo Rechler (’15) to talk about the instrument he knows best

Milo Rechler (’15) performs his beatboxing at a Student Council event. He has been beatboxing since he was nine-years-old.

Photo by Emily Mark

Culture 18.indd 18

For Milo Rechler (’15) making “weird noises” has always been something of a habit. But when his dad brought him to the Human Beatbox Convention, Rechler transformed this hobby into a full-fledged passion. His love for the art of beatboxing, a mixture of beats and vocal sounds, has led him to an uncommon yet enjoyable pursuit.

Though the artform of beatboxing appeals to Rechler, its uniqueness and flexibility is what consistently keeps him interested. “It’s a unique thing to do,” he said. “It’s also especially fun to do if you’re bored or instead of having to learn to play the drums or buy a drum kit, you have your mouth and your voice.

With that you can do a lot of cool things, and also you can show off your talents.”

The ability to beatbox on-thego enables Rechler to practice his talent whenever and wherever he wants, allowing him to constantly work on and improve his sounds. Rechler finds the majority of his sounds through experimentation while practicing his

beatboxing. If he “experiences” a worthy sound, he’ll add it to his skill set.

More and more though, Rechler’s focus is on using a loop station, in which Rechler can perform one thing while the machine plays another. “[I’d like to do] another performance with a loop station. It’s not as cool because I’m not doing everything at the same time, but I can do one thing and lay down other things at the same time so it becomes more musical and intricate,” he said.

Rechler is heavily influenced by artists such as Rahzel and Shlohmo, as well as artists who publish their music on YouTube.

Even so, Rechler has his own techniques to remain unique.

“I don’t really have a signature sound, but what I will do is make my taking in of air less obvious and my breathing more seamless,” Rechler said. “[For example] when I make the snare drum sound I breathe in at the same time. It gives my snare drum sound a really cool effect.”

When Rechler performs, he

doesn’t have an idea of what he wants to perform. “When I performed at Creative Spotlight, I didn’t have any plan; I knew some things I wanted to do and showcase, but I didn’t have an order, so as I was doing one thing I would think of what to do next,” he said.

Even though Rechler performs without a plan, he’s still thinking about the audience’s reaction.

“The only real challenge I have when I am performing is trying to make the performance interesting enough that it holds the audience’s attention,” he said.

Looking to the future though, Rechler does not believe beatboxing is something he can professionally pursue – though it is a hobby he believes he can “maintain.” “I’d love to do it in the future but the thing is beatboxing is something that hasn’t got a huge fanbase at the moment,” Rechler said. “It’s a growing art form, but I wouldn’t say too many people would listen to a guy beatboxing on their iPod, which isn’t a problem, but it does leave a lot of room for interest.”

12/14/12 1:39 PM

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Page 19

Cultureddd

Pitt Cue serves up taste of America Alec Ashley Staff Writer

Just off Carnaby Street, Londoners line up at Pitt Cue Company to delight in pulled pork, beef brisket and ribs complemented – if you’re 18 or over – by some American bourbon.

The unassuming entrance and the finger-licking grub inside would not seem out of place in Bowling Green, Kentucky, although Pitt Cue is actually 3,500 miles east of Bowling Green in Soho, London.

In recent years restaurateurs have been traveling across the Atlantic for inspiration, fostering a boom in the ambitious goal of creating American comfort-food dining in London.

Those who are homesick for some vintage American cooking should try this restaurant, which showcases the best of both cuisines­­, as long as they don’t mind the wait.

Pitt Cue is an 18-seat restaurant in Soho, which opened in September after a successful nine-month run as a food truck. Since then, it has been packed every weekend, with lines out the door and down the street.

I waited about 30 minutes at lunchtime for a table. The host led me past the bar to the dining room downstairs, a cramped basement area with stone flooring and bare putty-colored walls. It had a utilitarian design. The only light emanated from retro lamps hanging from above. Utensils were thrown into a metal jar in the center of the table and our dining neighbors were a little closer than I would have liked.

My initial skepticism, however, was erased when our meal was served. It was not the usual British version of barbeque, which is usually encrusted with charcoal and soot, but smoked, slow-cooked meats.

Jamie Berger, the owner of Pitt Cue Co, described the restaurant’s food as “a marriage of American techniques and recipes with rare breed English meat.”

This marriage began when he was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia where he became accustomed to the techniques used in slow-treated comfort food. Later, he pursued his education in England and became inspired to get into the restaurant business.

The juicy and textured pulled

pork dish served with bone marrow mash to the sticky toffee pudding with Kentucky bourbon exemplifies this marriage of cultures.

Another highlight of the meal were the smoked beef ribs. They were thick and juicy and laced with sweet notes throughout, rather than char, an unfortunate staple of British barbecue. The tender beef brisket was a more original kind of alchemy and had just the right amount of chew before it fell off the bone. It was a unique blend of London and Southern flavor not found anywhere else.

Pitt Cue Co. does not take us on a theme park ride back to America but serves barbecue unique to Britain, contributing to Londan a domain that was, until now, monopolized by America.

The Standard’s Rating: 4/5 The Perfect Meal: Main: Pulled Pork Bun, coleslaw, sauce, pickles- £9.50 Side: Bone marrow mash or baked beans (free with main course) Dessert: Bourbon Sticky Toffee Pudding- £7

A new American restaurant, Pitt Cue Company, aims to unite British ingredients with the taste of the American Barbecue.

Photo by Alec Ashley

ASL Style Necklace - H&M

Caroline Tisdale (’14)

Phoebe Mitchell (’13) Is there a style that inspires you?

I’m not sure if I really have an inspiration. I like to dress simply with lots of jewellery and usually converse or boots.

Shirt - Topshop

Is there a style that inspires you?

I probably just gain inspiration from people I see on the streets, different vintage styles, my friends.

Skirt - Cooperative

If you were to pick one item from your wardrobe to show, what would it be?

My favorite wardrobe item is probably an oversized USA sweatshirt that used to belong to my dad in the 90s, it’s super comfortable and homey.

If you were to pick one item from your wardrobe to show, what would it be?

If I could pick one item from my wardrobe I’d probably pick my favorite pair of pants that are red with blue stripes down the side. Either that or all of my rings.

Where do you normally shop?

I stick pretty much to Oxford Street when I shop or even online

Collared shirt - Zara

Shoes - Doc Martens

Where do you normally shop?

I don’t shop that often but I seemed to have accumulated a shameful amount of clothing from Urban Outfitters and a little J.Crew.

Shoes - Topshop

Photos and interviews by Online Editor Hamish Stephenson

Culture 19.indd 19

12/14/12 1:39 PM

•••

Page 20

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Culture

‘Seven Psychopaths’ review Fares Chehabi Editor-in-Chief

Marty Faranan (Colin Farrell) is struggling with a combination of alcoholism and writer’s block. He is desperately trying to write his latest screenplay, which revolves around seven psychopaths, who, Faranan insists, must find peace in the end to avoid ending like any other Hollywood film involving psychopaths. His best friend, Billy Bickle, played by a show-stealing Sam Rockwell, is an actor who also makes a living stealing dogs before returning them to their owners in exchange for monetary reward. It is business as usual for Bickle and his partner Hans Kieslowski (Christopher Walken) until Bickle kidnaps mob boss Charlie Costello’s (Woody Harrelson) cute, pocket-size ShihTzu, Bonnie. Moreover, Bickle plans on keeping it for good. The absence of Bonnie drives Costello into a violent search that thrusts Bickle, Kieslowski and a wary Faranan into all sorts of exciting, adventurous trouble.

Suffice to say, eccentricity is not exactly hard to come by in Seven Psychopaths. Similar to writerdirector Marty McDonagh’s debut feature film In Bruges, also starring Farrell, violence and lively, comedic dialogue reign supreme. However,

the comedy seldom becomes lighthearted enough to overshadow the film’s melancholic undertones and abundance of violence. Indeed, there are a handful of moments – particularly the cutaway scenes describing certain “psychopaths’” – that will make you want to shed a tear in sadness as opposed to laughter, making the film rather darker than its trailers and TV commercials make it out to be. That said, that does not make the film any less watchable.

The film’s many layers and intertwining tales provide an exhilarating backdrop for some solid acting. Kieslowski is played calmly and coolly as only Walken can pull off so brilliantly, and Farrell is utterly convincing as the miserable, reluctant Faranan, a character who is quite similar to his previous McDonagh role, Ray from In Bruges. Nonetheless, it is Rockwell, as aforementioned, who steals the show. His crude goofiness and unpredictable, haywire behavior make him riveting to watch. Tom Waits, as growly as ever, also joins the fun with a brief, yet memorable, involvement in proceedings.

Waits’ character, I should add, carries a white rabbit with him at all times. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that I have not seen on-screen personalities this quirky

From left to right: Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, and Sam Rockwell as Marty Faranan, Hans Kieslowski and Billy Bickle in Seven Psychopaths.

Photo from www.sevenpsychopaths.com

or entertaining since Pulp Fiction.

Although the building up of the action is relatively slow to begin with, the film’s gripping finale is worth the ticket price alone. In fact, the entirety of the film’s third act, set in the desert, is a true treat for the audience and contains some of the most entertaining scenes I have seen in the past year. An Academy Award nomination for McDonagh for Best Original Screenplay may seem a long shot, but it would not entirely surprise me.

The Standard’s Rating: 4/5 The bottom line: A rich, lively tale that brilliantly compensates for its flaws with a riveting third act.

‘Privates on Parade’ & Michael Grandage Company Matthew Bentley Culture Editor

Top: The cast of Privates on Parade. Bottom: The Michael Grandage Company’s stars for next season.

Photos from michaelgrandagecompany.com

Culture 20.indd 20

A large box labeled “SADUSEA” sits in a warehouse. Suddenly the steel door pulls open, to reveal Sergeant Flowers, an intelligence officer, arriving at his new post at the Song and Dance Unit South East Asia, in Singapore. A gruff officer enters, his every third word is profanity. He is quickly followed by Captain Dennis, the overly camp, crossdressing star of their show.

This “play with songs” centers around the military dance and theater group, most of whom are gay, and their exploits as the Malayan emergency begins to boil over. Privates on Parade started the 15-month season of Michael Grandage’s new theater company. It stars Simon Russell Beale in the lead role of Captain Dennis, and its humor, alongside its poignancy, makes it a great show.

While the show struggles from a lack of plot direction, (the only plot I saw developing was cut short at intermission), the acting really carried the show. Every member of the cast was admirable. The five young soldiers played their parts fantastically, each dealing with their own problems, whether it was dealing with a

fiancée leaving him, getting a local woman pregnant or realizing that he is gay. All these problems added a lot of depth to the play: It was not an anti-war play or a pro-homosexuality play but a play about growing up.

They just happened to be doing it in the middle of a musical, touring Malaysia as guerilla warfare exploded all around them.

The older characters were fantastically performed. From Beale’s crossdresser, to the drunk, worn out Sergeant, to the falsely Christian general, the range was tremendous.

Even the evil characters were not played as evil, but foolish.

The songs were hilarious. The play begins in dress rehearsals, so the costumes are incomplete and cues are missed. I think the funniest moment comes as Beale rushes through a speech in the middle of a song, as he has fallen behind. It is contrasted, however, with songs like “Could you please inform us?”.

Beale appears on stage wearing a tuxedo, and looking professional for the first time in the play. He sings of the austerity in England, and how Germany is being paid, and England is starving. Furthermore, he sings about how, just three years later, they are fighting again.

The anti-war and pro-homosexu-

al play was good but it became a bit too preachy. Its anti-colonial sentiments, right up until the end, when they portray the British as the true heroes, seemed a bit long-winded.

That being said, the most beautiful moments of the play came from these poignant moments. The gay officer asking Beale why he was so camp. Why couldn’t he just be normal. An officer paying for a local abortion. Letters read out loud for their families back home.

This is the first of the Michael Grandage Company’s season, which will star Dame Judi Dench and Ben Winshaw in the new play Peter and Alice, Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Sheriden Smith and David Walliams in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jude Law in Henry V. Grandage previously served for ten years as the Artistic Director of the Donmar Theater Company, and will direct all five shows. In order to reach new demographics, they are selling more than 100,000 tickets for only £10 each. All shows will play at the Noel Coward Theater. Privates on Parade will run until March 2, 2013.

Privates on Parade is not perhaps the most ambitious start to this new theater company, but it sets a good tone for the future.

12/14/12 1:40 PM

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Page 21

Sportsddd

A new identity After losing almost all of its players, the boys varsity basketball team needs to gel together quickly in order to fulfill its ultimate goal of winning gold at ISSTs. Despite losses in the first two games, the team is on track to finding a new winning formula with a recent win over Egham. Sports Editor Patrick Mayr looks into the much-changed team

D

ue to fleeting nature of life in an American school abroad, the annual turnover of athletes is a familiar occurrence. The school’s sports teams lose and gain new personnel every year, and coaches are forced into tweaking their game plans to accommodate the strengths and weaknesses of new players.

The boys varsity basketball team, however, has faced a mass departure of players either graduating or transferring to different high schools or sports.

“In all my years here, I have not seen a team with so many new faces at the beginning of a new season,” Athletics Director Sandy Lloyd said.

After losing all five starting players from last year and boasting only two returners from 10 players, the team is in the midst of developing an entirely new character.

Coach Joe Chodl recognized that he has rarely had so many of his players leave at once, but that he did not want to call this season a reconstruction period.

“I don’t like the term ‘rebuilding,’” Chodl said. “No matter how many players leave or return, the team is always different than the previous year. Whether we bring back 10 guys or none, the unique team presents a unique challenge and my job is to utilize the players in positions to succeed based on their skills.”

Whatever one may choose to label it, the departure of key players such as former captain Aboudi Qattan (’12), Luke Gilbert (’12) and Bennett Grigull (’13) among others, has stripped the team of its spine.

Current co-captain Jake Dooris (’13) asserts that this season’s goals are the same as in previous years, despite a turnover in personnel. Perhaps the bar is set very high for a team that has traditionally attracted the most spectators during its games and has celebrated numerous successes, but doubts linger about the team’s ability to compete against stronger and more experienced opposition.

Page 21 Dec.indd 21

“We know that there are a ton of people that believe that we won’t amount to anything and we want to prove them wrong,” Dooris said. “This just gives us extra motivation.”

Furthermore, Chodl insisted that there is plenty of room for optimism. He has been positively surprised by influx of new players on the team and commends the “severe motivation” of his athletes. He believes that the time is ripe for some of the younger players to step up to the plate and take responsibility.

Nick Muoio (’16) is relishing the opportunity to get some valuable playing time this year and hopes to make his mark. “I think the fact that so many experienced players left gives us young players the opportunity to play and improve our game. Also, the more we play together the more accostumed we get to each other which will benefit us in the long run,” he said.

Although he is very happy with the current progress of his team, Chodl admitted that the current level of communication on the court is not ideal. “This year’s team is not quite as vocal as I would like them to be. At the end of the season you would expect a team to have good communication. Right now we’re missing that,” he said.

“We know that there are a ton of people that believe that we won’t amount to anything and we just want to prove them wrong. This just gives us extra motivation” Captain Jake Dooris (’13)

Dooris thinks the team’s biggest loss from last year’s team was Qattan. “He was our captain, and as a leader he brought the team together and made us cohesive.

In terms of tactics, Chodl does not plan on altering too much from his game plan last year but acknowledges that he will need to tinker with certain aspects.

“I don’t run a system that guys fit into, but a system that enhances and that’s tailored to the strengths of each team,” he said.

“The strengths of the current team are its competitiveness, energy, defense, athletic ability and aggressiveness and I will adapt accordingly.”

He plans on running a very strong man-to-man defense and aggressive offensive style which utilizes a lot of screens and down screens.

After last week’s surprising loss at home to TASIS as well as the disappointing last-minute loss to Lakenheath High School, the team looks to have turned a corner with a win over Egham.

Dooris acknowledged that the beginning will be tough, yet he has no doubts about the character of the current crop of players and their ability to turn results their way. “We have a group of players that are not only talented, but also mentally strong. A combination of the two will get us the wins we need,” he said.

Top: Last year’s team with all of the leaving players blurred out.

Graphic by Emily Mark

Bottom: The current team huddles during the first loss to TASIS Photo by Emily Mark

12/14/12 3:12 PM

•••

Page 22

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Sports

Kick, pull, swim, success After years of domination at ISSTs, Sophie Rittenhouse (’13) is ready to test herself at the next level. Now a college swimming recruit to a Division I school, The College of William and Mary, Rittenhouse discussed her journey with Copy Editor Svena Bhasin

S

ophie Rittenhouse (’13) emerged from the pool with a wide grin on her face. Finishing the ISST swimming tournament with a gold in her final race was the best possible end to an extremely successful season.

After her junior season of swimming, she could return back to ASL with her head held high. With four medals and two new ISST records, Rittenhouse’s hard work had finally been rewarded.

Rittenhouse has been swimming on the ASL varsity swim team for seven years and has a history of shattering records and bringing back medals. She excels at backstroke and butterfly; at last year’s ISSTs she competed in the 100 meter butterfly, the 100 meter backstroke, and the 200 meter individual medley, coming in first place for all these races, as well as breaking ISST records for the latter two races.

Another one of ASL’s sporting recruits this year, Rittenhouse received the news that she had been accepted into The College of William and Mary’s Division I swimming program.

College touring was a different process for Rittenhouse compared to that of her friends. She searched for a school with a strong swimming program as well as academic education. “I looked at [the University of ] Florida, The Gators, who have a really strong swimming program,” she said. “I talked to the coach on Skype and it seemed ridiculously hard and really serious and I didn’t want [swimming] to be that much of a stress in my life.”

After speaking with the coach at William and Mary, the university her older brother (John Rittenhouse (’10)) currently attends, Rittenhouse was more at ease about the college process. “I submitted all my times. [The coach] said they were very good and he would love to have me there,” she said. “The coach was really nice, and he could guarantee me a spot.”

Rittenhouse was convinced by the ease William and Mary would afford her during a usually stressful and prolonged college process.

The assurance of a starting spot at a top swimming program but the journey has been a long and strenuous one for Rittenhouse.

Since the fifth grade, when she joined the Camden Swiss Cottage Swimming Club, Rittenhouse has been swimming competitively. Swimming almost seems to run in the family for her. “My dad is a big swimmer; he

used to have a British record for his age group,” she said. All but one of Rittenhouse’s siblings swim competitively as well.

Rittenhouse usually trains between eight and nine times a week. On weekdays, she swims at Swiss Cottage from 6:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., and trains with a separate squad over the weekend for three hours at a time. “I have to go every single night, and if I miss a night, then I have to go in the morning which involves waking up at around 5:15 a.m.,” she said.

During the winter season, Rittenhouse has an adjusted schedule in order to balance her additional commitment with the ASL swim team. “I try to swim with ASL once a week. If I can I’ll do twice a week, but usually that doesn’t happen. I’ve only gone once this season so far,” she said.

With so much time spent swimming, Rittenhouse admits that it’s a challenge to adjust her life to that of an average high school student. “Socially, I have to make a lot of different arrangements. It’s really different than it is for other people,” she said. But through years of long hours of training, her teammates have become her close friends. Some of her favorite swimming memories are just that. “Hanging out with all my friends during swim meets and training and becoming really close.”

Even though she rarely practices with the ASL team and swimming is a sport that values individual achievement. “ISSTs are generally so much fun and it’s really like a team meet,” she said.

Going into her final year of ISSTs, Rittenhouse has high hopes for this season. “I want to get some more ISST records, in one or two events, especially in backstroke. I want varsity girls to get 2nd [place] overall,” she said, “I think that’s possible with the team we have this year.”

Rittenhouse has had her share of disappointments, but never regrets her swimming commitments. “I always wonder what it would be like, not swimming, but I don’t regret it at all because it has made the college process so much easier, and I know I’m going to have so much fun in college,” she said. “Even though sometimes I don’t like it, I still enjoy training and racing, and being able to say that I’m really good at something.”

Photos by Emily Mark

Sophie’s 2012 ISST Gold Successes

1:05:02 100 Meter Butterfly Varsity Girls

page 22.indd 22

1:02:83 (ISST Record) 100 Meter Backstroke Varsity Girls

2:22:98 (ISST Record) 200 Meter Individual Medley Varsity Girls

12/14/12 3:25 PM

•••

THE STANDARD | December 2012

Page 23

Sportsddd

TRUE FAN With Arsenal F.C. Fan Costa Gazidis (‘15) How did you become an Arsenal fan?

ground, making things happen in the box, as well as being an aerial threat. A solid defensive midfielder would also be something that I feel we need.

I have always been a football fan. I have been watching the Premier League since I was young. Arsenal was always a club that stood out to me and I loved to watch them play. A few years ago, my dad was offered a job at Arsenal, and we moved to London. This allowed me to truly get involved, attending matches, and following the club avidly.

What do you think of the club’s bad start to the season?

I think that the start to the season has been disappointing and it is upsetting to see Arsenal in 10th after 15 games, but I think that we will come back; we are only fivepoints off the third-place spot.

The season has been rough I think, not because of the lack of talent, but rather a lack of squad depth, due to an injury prone team, as well as lots of new players who are just now finding their place in the squad. For example, Olivier Giroud had a rough start; he went a few games without scoring but has recently found his form and is playing fantastically.

Who is your favorite current player and why?

I think my current favorite player to watch is probably Santi Cazorla. I love his technical ability and the way he is able to find and play passes with excellent precision. He is a great player to watch. I also have always liked Sagna. I admire his devotion to the club as well as his work rate on the pitch. He is able to go forward with the attack amazingly, and well as run back to be a critical part of the defense.

What is your most cherished moment as a fan?

My most cherished moment as a fan was probably when we won the gold Premier League trophy during “the invincibles” run.

This was when I was very young but I remember being impressed that they went through the entire season unbeaten. In more recent years I think one of my favorite moments was when we beat Barcelona 2-1 at home, even though we lost 4-3 on aggregate.

Photo Photo

by Jessica

by Emily Haghani Mark

An avid Arsenal supporter, Costa Gazidis became a fan of the Gunners long before his father became the CEO of the club. Currently suffering its worst start to a season in 20 years, Arsenal must find form quickly. Sports Editor Patrick Mayr sat down with Gazidis to talk about Arsenal’s struggles, ambitions, and dream signings What is your worst moment?

My worst moment has to be the 8-2 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford, for obvious reasons.

Have Arsenal’s ambitions declined over the past year?

I don’t think that Arsenal’s ambitions have declined over the past year. We have had some tough times, but I don’t think that is due to a lack of ambition. We are always challenging for trophies, but we have still been competing at the highest level. We have finished in

the top four, and made it into the knockout stages of the Champion’s League every year. Although we have not managed to win a trophy in several years, our ambition remains to challenge and compete at the highest tier of football, and we succeed in doing that.

Is it tough to watch some of the club’s best players leave each summer?

It is tough to see some great talents leave, but it is also exciting to see new players join and step up. I will always miss the likes of Fabre-

gas. We have lost two great players this summer, van Persie and Song, but we have also made some great signings [such as] Cazorla, Giroud and Podolski. Along with these three, we also have Wilshere back who is finding his way back into the squad and looks to be a critical player for us this year.

If Arsenal could sign one player during the January transfer window, who would it be?

I would like us to bring in a creative striker; for me this would be Edinson Cavani. He is great on the

As a fan, do you think that Arsene Wenger’s assertion that 4th place is a trophy in itself is accurate or satisfying?

I think that fourth place in not a trophy, but Arsene Wenger was not being stupid when he said that it was like a trophy. Being able to finish in the top four allows us to compete in the Champions League with some of the biggest clubs in the world. This is extremely important for the club.

When two clubs are interested in a player, the player will not look at who has won the league cup most recently, but who is playing Champions League football. I would personally take a top four finish over the league of FA cup any day.

What might have been...

Every summer Arsenal faces a mass exodus of players leaving for other clubs.

Had Arsenal kept its star players over the last five summers, the line-up would have looked markedly different

Van Persie Nasri

Giroud

Dream Team

Walcott

Gervinho

Fabregas

Cazorla

vs.

Wilshere Song

Clichy

Sagna

Vermaelen

Toure

Szczesny

Chamberlain

Starting line-up vs.

Sunderland (December 8, 2012)

Wilshere Arteta

Gibbs

Sagna

Vermaelen Mertesacker Szczesny

Photo by Fakelvis/flickr

Page 23 Dec.indd 23

12/14/12 3:17 PM

Sports

THE STANDARD VOLUME XXXVIII ISSUE III DECEMBER 2012

The line-up: Girls varsity basketball With new players and great potential, the girls varsity basketball team is expecting success. Photo Editor Jessica Haghani talks to Coaches Jessica Mazzenga and Rich Harris about the players.

Louisa Philips (’15)

Gabi Bielsky (’13)

Philips is a calming presence on the court. She is taking a larger leadership role and is looking to have an active presence in the post.

Bielsky is a major threat when driving to the basket. She is a good defensive player with speed and makes defenders’ jobs hard.

Position: Forward Years on Team: 2

Position: Forward Years on Team: 2

Courtnay McClure (’13) (C)

Harley Williamson (’14)

Position; Guard Years on Team: 4

Position: Guard Years on Team: 2

The team is looking to McClure to be a primary scoring threat. She has been developing a strong outside shot.

Williamson is tenacious on the defensive end.

She has worked to improve her offensive game and is becoming a confident player.

Chrissie Timbers (’14) Position: Point Guard Years on Team: 1

Timbers is a great shooter and is a key defensive player. She operates on the court with great poise and has a good basketball mind.

Photos by Jessica Haghani

Substitutes Courtney Welch (’16)

Sydney Fass (’13)

Natalia Sollecito (’13)

Charlie Woodhams (’14)

Evie VANN (’16)

Welch plays good defense and brings height to the team.

She’s learning the offensive system and has natural talent.

Fass is a great leader on the team and pushes her teammates. She has a nice shot and is looking to improve.

Sollecito is a superb rebounder on both ends. She is a hard worker and a good leader for the team.

Woodhams worked hard in the offseason to improve her general skills and is playing with a lot of awareness.

Vann is strong and a great athlete. She is a good defender and is always willing to take risks.

Years on Team: 1

Sports 24.indd 24

Years on Team: 2

Years on team: 2

Years on Team: 2

Years on Team: 1

12/14/12 3:39 PM