Verde Volume 10 Issue 3 by Verde Magazine

index ::Viewpoint::

::Paly Original::

A Passion for Paintballing by Jackie McElaney

::Campus::

19 22 25 31

Programming Ecology by Aaron Lerner and Tim Qin Tackling Truancy by Maddy Mihran The Evolution of Paly Classes by Vrinda Khanna Hairing is Caring by Natalie Lin

::Spectrum::

33 34 38 47 57

Demanding Diversity by Sarah Jacobs and Ally Messick Broken Homes, Emerging Dreams by Asha Albuquerque Fighting Dirty by Sarah Jacobs Homeless but not Hopeless by Sophie Cornfield and Whitney Drazovich On the Bright Side by Caroline Wang

::Cover::

64 69 2 verde magazine

Redefining Family by Amanda Young So, same-sex marriage is legal. ¿Y qué? by Caitlin Watson

30 37 42 44 50 51 52 54 55

Dear Mr. President by Ally Messick Ride on the Magic Prom Bus by Emily Hamilton Oscar Watch by Sydney Lundgren Delicious and Under $10 by Melanie Maemura Facebook Failure by Shoshana Gould How to Lose a Facebook Friend in Five Minutes by Kailey Flather and Emily James Saving the Planet, One Restaurant at a Time by Silvia Maraboli We’re not in Sparta anymore by Emily Wang Fish Out of Water by Mary Minno

::Verde Short::

32 36 41 56

Inside the Office of... by Shoshana Gould Paly Speaks by Sydney Lundgren 10 Questions by Sydney Lundgren Post-it Art by Paly Students

::True Life::

My Boyfriend is Going to War by Megan Mitchell

Karen Gould, MA Marriage and Family Therapist Adults, Couples, Teens, Women’s Groups Ongoing Support Groups for Women: La Femme Tuesday mornings, 10:30-11:50 Feeling isolated? Anxious? Unsure of your goals? Gain support and wisdom from other women in a warm and safe environment.

Writing Got You Reeling? I can help.

Writing for SAT essays, high school, college — life! Planning & refining college application essays Understanding & appreciating literature

Chapter Two Tuesday evenings, 7:15-8:30 Separated? Divorcing? Nervous about your future? Learn how to move forward in your life with strength, confidence and meaning.

Anne Knight 2 degrees, English, Harvard 7 yrs. teaching, 5 at Harvard 18 yrs. marketing communications 2 yrs. magazine journalist (Horizon, Look) 2 sons, recent college grads

1040 Noel Dr, Suite 209, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 324 - 4429 Lic# MFC24117

(650) 852-0810 www.knightwrite.net knightwrite@comcast.net

Student Discounts

Reasonable Rates • Flexible Hours

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manicure/pedicure, waxing, tanning, facials, private parties

Paly Student Discount Bring this coupon, along with your valid Paly ID and receive $5 when you spend $25 or more.

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Early Bird Special

M-F, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. bring this coupon and reiceve a a free manicure with a purchase of a hot stone spa pedicure. One coupon per customer. Offer cannot be combined with any other promotion.

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How many Facebook friends do teachers have?

verdeexcerpts “I don’t even know what kinds of beliefs people have in order to think that my parents’ marriage is not OK.”

junior Josh Lay “Redefining a Family”

Radu Toma 47 Friends

“Some students learn to play the system but that’s not a good habit to get into. Eventually it’s going to come back and haunt them.”

Paly assistant principal Jerry Berkson, “Tackling Truancy”

Eric Bloom 119 Friends

“They tell you everything is your fault. You love the person and you believe, maybe there is some truth in what this person is saying. Maybe it really is my fault.” Diana “Broken Homes, Emerging Dreams”

Arne Lim 160 Friends

“I started smoking marijuana with my second husband, and after he threw me out, it only got worse.” Annamae Thomas “Homeless but not Hopeless”

Letitia Burton 167 Friends

“Suddenly, you just find yourself having a sophisticated conversation with seventh and eight graders. We just sit here and create together.” John Colleton “On the Bright Side”

4 verde magazine

verde

volume 10 edition 3 february 2009 Staff List Editors-in-Chief Sara Connolly Emily Hamilton Managing Editors Shoshana Gould Mary Minno Megan Mitchell Design Editors Jackie McElaney Tim Qin

from the editors

s the Paly class of 2009 knows well by now, second semester is a different kind of beast. Senior English classes actually promote creativity, our fingers are finally starting to thaw after our 50 degree California winter, and Thursday afternoons now seem to last forever. For many, college apps are complete and being scrutinized by committees all over the country; for others, SATs are looming in the not-so-distant future. Most wouldn’t deny that now, a month into the spring semester, we feel the denouement of this school year has begun. Unfortunately for us seniors, our teachers don’t always seem to feel these same second semester vibes, which means that the academics aren’t letting up. You might hope, you might pray, but there will continue to be outside reading, essays, labs, and yes, tests. Our advice? Come to this harsh realization now rather than later, and continue to work as hard — or almost as hard — as you have for so long. In the meantime, we are excited to present this year’s third edition of Verde, which we only hope can provide some entertainment to lessen the drawn-out second semester pain. For our cover story, we explore the lives of two Paly families who share a common trait: homosexual parents. With the November passage of California’s Proposition 8, we decided to focus on how this legislation affects already-married homosexual couples. We also have several powerful features that explore lifestyles that may be quite foreign to most of us. “Homeless but not Hopeless” (pg. 47) examines the life of one Palo Alto woman who has battled with homelessness and poverty her whole life. “On the Bright Side” (pg. 57) investigates an East Palo Alto elementary school that is striving to overcome its disadvantages and measure up to other local schools. In addition, we explore the changing tide of the Paly course catalog, taking a look at little-known classes from the past and present. We also have several profiles of unique Paly characters, including teen programming genius Alex Wein and paintballing professor Kirk Hinton. So, Paly, we hope you enjoy this edition and this semester! — Emily & Sara

Business Managers Lynn Chang Claire Heritier-Kerby Distribution Manager Aaron Lerner Copy Editors Melanie Maemura Maddy Mihran Short Features Editor Sydney Lundgren

Photographer Julia Singleton Artist Emily Wang Staff Asha Albuquerque Sophie Cornfield Liza Dernehl Whitney Drazovich Ryan Flanagan Kailey Flather Sarah Jacobs Emily James Vrinda Khanna Natalie Lin Jessica Linebarger Silvia Maraboli Ally Messick Caroline Wang Amanda Young Adviser Paul Kandell

Verde Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301 650-329-3837 pkandell@pausd.org Letters to the Editor Verde, a feature magazine published by the students in Palo Alto High School’s Magazine Journalism class, is an open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership. Verde is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost. The staff welcomes letters to the editor but reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity. Send all letters to verdeeds0809@googlegroups.com Advertising The staff publishes advertisements with signed contracts providing they are not deemed by the staff inappropriate for the magazine’s audience. For more information about advertising with Verde, please contact the Verde business managers Lynn Chang and Claire Kerby by e-mail at verde.biz.paly@gmail. com or call 650-329-3837 for more information. Printing & Distribution Services Verde is printed five times a year in October, December, February, April and June by Fricke-Parks Press in Fremont, California. The Paly PTSA mails Verde to every student’s home.

verde magazine 5

[editorial]

staff verdict Student input, consistency, and transparency are key to improved truancy policy

he recent announcement outing 69 percent of students at Paly as truants caused mixed reactions throughout the Paly community. As new policies arise in an attempt to curb truancy, Verde feels strongly that the administration must take into account student input and the need for consistency and transparency in its future changes to the attendance policy. It cannot be denied that many students at Paly have been involved in cutting classes; the data proves that the problem is rampant and not widely recognized as an issue by students. In Verde’s “Tackling Truancy” article (pg. 22) Social Studies Department Instructional Supervisor Eric Bloom correctly identifies Paly’s deep-rooted culture of “strategically cutting.” The main truancy problem, as Bloom said, is that many students choose to forgo attending class in order to allow themselves more time to study or complete homework for other classes. In many cases, parents are sympathetic to the overwhelming workload at Paly and are willing to excuse such cuts. In response to high truancy rates the administration implemented a plethora of new policies during the 2007-2008 school year. However the new system also fails to contain the truancy problem, as shown by the 41 percent rise in truancy since the 2006-2007 school year. Paly Principal Jacqueline McEvoy has several ideas for targeting truancy, and Verde hopes that new policies will be made with student input, a fashion that has yet to be embraced by the administration. Verde believes the truancy problem is directly related to Paly’s culture of strategic cutting. To open the lines of To communication would give students a chance to talk freely with the administration about the preserve ways in which the culture has so deeply affected the student attendance. The administration should seek out student views on truancy and be willing integrity to brainstorm solutions with students. Student of the Paly ideas are crucial because they would provide the most realistic ways to change the culture of truancy truancy. Student involvement would also give policy, the administration a better idea of why students equality cut and begin a dialogue where administrators could better understand student reasoning and amongst work towards solutions that could benefit both students sides. Verde also believes that the administration must be must be consistent in the manner in which upheld. it deals with truants. According to Assistant Principal Kimberly Diorio there are cases of truants who have been allowed to continue with their minimum required course load of five classes despite their cutting tendencies. Although these students have to meet with the administration, McEvoy admits that in most cases she has allowed such students to continue with their classes in order for them to graduate. Yet truants 6 verde magazine

Paly’s truancy rate has skyrocketed while the California state average has stayed stable since 2004. Source: WASC reports who have chosen to take more than five courses are dropped, with a “N/A” on their transcript. The variation in times students are actually punished leaves some wondering why truants taking more rigorous workloads feel a punishment rather than those taking the minimum possible classes. Students are left in extreme situations when they are dropped, ruining chances at college, scholarships, etc. Verde believes that the fact that the policy has been selectively enforced in the past is disconcerting. The administration must either abolish its practice of letting certain students pass under the radar or make its use of conditionals known. Indecisiveness in the use of the policy cannot be allowed to continue in such a manner, and the administration must decide a fair course of action for the policy. Although Verde applauds Paly’s liberal policies concerning student freedoms, the current situation is not improving the student body’s trust issues of the administration. To preserve the integrity of the Paly truancy policy, equality amongst students must be upheld. We understand that flaws are still being worked out, but to drop one student and not another creates unnecessary confusion among students. Verde also feels that the critical element of transparency is missing within the attendance policies. Students who are not aware of the rules or consequences of cutting are thus unable to properly follow them. The rules must be clear and concrete and the student body must be better informed of what is going on. Verde believes that students feel alienated and frustrated by the lack of communication that currently exists, and therefore thinks it is necessary to make policies more widely known and understood. If the administration wants to target truancy in any meaningful way in the coming years, it must begin to understand the culture of cutting at Paly and begin a new era of communication with the student body. Student input, consistency and transparency are key to a more comprehensive and effective attendance policy. — Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Verde staff

[photo essay]

The 8th Wonder of the World The California Academy of Sciences proves that green is beautiful text and photography by julia singleton

he old California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco was nice, but nothing special. People didn’t come from all over the world to view the beautiful architecture and grass roofs that now exist and continue to draw people in. But now, San Francisco holds the key to a beautiful modern building that is eco-friendly and that exhibits brilliant architecture that Rezno Piano, a Prizker Prize winner, envisioned. The new Academy of Sciences did in fact earn the highest possible ranking from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to the USGBC. The new building is equipped with glass walls for natural lighting, solar panels on the roofs for energy, lots of open space and tall ceilings, a “living roof,” and much more. After almost 10 years of construction, this museum has become the model for more energy-efficient and environmentally-safe buildings to come. It

is no longer just the exhibits that attract people of all ages, but the building itself. The $500,000 building is now the pride and joy of San Francisco and a sneak-peek of what we should expect to see with San Francisco in the future. v

Left: The living rainforest in the San Francisco Academy of Sciences has four floors of plants and animals, giving visitors a trip to part of the world, and not just a museum. Right: Natural sunlight through circular windows is just one of the many “green” features of the Academy. The building is considered the greenest building in the United States.

verde magazine 7

Top Left: The new dining hall has tall ceilings with hanging structures and light fixtures that give it a futuristic feel. Top Right: From inside the rainforest you can see everything; even the floor below the water. Bottom Right: The huge walls with high ceilings are the perfect place for large vibrant photographs that allow viewers to get close up and personal with the small beauties of the world. Bottom Left: The amazing rainforest puts you in the canopy with an abundant amount of butterflies flying around your head. Middle Left: There is no end to creativity in the new Academy of Sciences building; even the ceilings have a pleated look as they form waves in the sky.

8 verde magazine

[photo essay]

Top Left: The huge, glass-windowed entrance is crowded with people on a Sunday afternoon. Top Right: The Planetarium is a common destination for families and has the same round architecture as the rainforest exhibit. Middle Right: Looking up from underneath the rainforest, you can see fish above and the people looking down at you in awe. Bottom Right: The roof of the building has long lines of solar panels to make energy more efficient. Bottom Left: Alongside the solar panels, hills make up the “living roof” of grass and plants. Covering two acres, this roof gives a new meaning to a “green building.” Middle: The coliseum-like columns lead people into yet another wide open multi-level exhibit.

verde magazine 9

verde news u

by the numbers

Percent of Paly students who are registered as truants by California standards

Limo Luxury In previous years, limousines served as the main transportation for students to go to prom. Newly implemented this year, buses are the only option.

Like limos? Well, too bad

Students will not be allowed to take limousines to Paly’s prom this year, according to Principal Jacqueline McEvoy, who made an announcement on Feb. 5. In a press statement sent to Paly parents via e-mail, McEvoy says that the poor economy was a major factor in her choice. “We want to make sure that we have done everything we can to be as supportive as we can in these tough economic times,” McEvoy said in the e-mail. After ASB got word of McEvoy’s idea, it asked that students sign a petition against the change in policy, according to ASB Spirit Commissioner Olivia Diamond. “When we showed [the petition to McEvoy], she didn’t touch it,” Diamond says. “She said she understood that she was opposing the students.” Diamond believes that the current economic situation should not be a deciding factor, as “scholarships are offered for people who can’t afford prom.” “Out of the 30 people who needed a prom scholarship [last year], only two of those took the bus,” Diamond says. “The rest took limos.” Prom will be held in a currently undisclosed location in San Francisco on April 25, according to Diamond. v — text by shoshana gould, photo courtesy of kristen witte

Paly 2.0: construction is imminent q The final presentation and board approval for the Paly construction master plan is expected to take place on March 17. To ensure that the community members are satisfied with the final results, members shared their opinions during a Feb. 3 meeting after being debriefed on the current draft of the master plan that would be the outline for the construction of the Paly campus. Topics included the possible expansion of the Paly quad, the construction plans for a new theatre, renovation the Paly front parking lot and addressing the issue of student safety while entering the Churchill parking lot. v — text by lynn chang 10 verde magazine

Percent of students statewide who are considered truants by California standards

Percent of Paly students who were registered as truants 4 years ago

Percent of students who scored proficient or advanced on STAR tests last year at Costaño Home of the 49’ers School

70 70

Percent of students who are English leaners at Costaño Home of the 49ers School in East Palo Alto

Inches of hair sophomore Carrie Adams cut off for Locks of Love in second grade

88 88

12 12

Number of apartments in Palo Alto provided by the Opportunity Center for the homeless

[news]

Administrators hem, haw over rising student truancy q The administration is pushing for more progressive and preventative punishments for students who cut class, which could include restrictions from extra-curricular activities and the prohibition of off-campus privileges for students with three or more cuts in one class. Paly principal Jacqueline McEvoy is focusing much of her time on changing the Paly attendance rules in an attempt to decrease the 69 percent of students who are considered truants. By California law, a student is considered a truant if he or she has three or more cuts total, from all classes. “We need to have consequences that a student really cares about, so it will prevent that student from making the decision to cut class,” McEvoy says. The current punishment system against truants — a warning letter and meeting at the third cut followed by a “drop nonattendance” at the fifth — has been proven inefficient by the dramatic increase in student ‘truants’ during the 2007-2008 school year, McEvoy says. “[Albert] Einstein defined insanity as continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” McEvoy

says. “Considering the increase in the number of student truants, we need to change the current cutting policy at Paly. Our question is, how can we set it up so that cutting a class isn’t used strategically at Paly?” Paly English teacher Kevin Sharp agrees with the administration that the truancy problem has spun out of control. “I like Gunn’s policy [of including the number of cuts on a student’s transcript],” Sharp says. “If the students knew that a cut would be included on their transcript, fewer students would cut and it would help the problem.” Although some students skip class “strategically” — cutting class to do work for other classes — McEvoy says these strategic cuts just demonstrate poor time management. “We have a lot of student-athletes at Paly who have trouble maintaining school and sports,” McEvoy says. “But notice the word ‘student’ comes before ‘athlete.’ The academics are more important.” The administration has already implemented more severe consequences for numerous Paly truants. According to McEvoy, some of these student have had

Cracking down Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson looks over lists of truants. their off-campus privileges taken away and are required to check in with the office during lunch and all free periods. “I don’t want kids to be unable to go to college for a sport because we as an administration didn’t do everything we possibly could to promote strong academics in that student’s life,” McEvoy says. This issue was to be addressed extensively during the staff development day earlier this week. v — text by mary minno, photo by shoshana gould

Loser books finding long overdue companions To create more space for an anticipated remodel of the Palo Alto High School library, librarians are taking hundreds of unpopular books off the shelves, according to librarian Rachel Kellerman. According to Kellerman, some of the books have grown mold or have been victims of graffiti, while others contain material that is sexist or prejudiced. All of the books being removed from the library have not been checked out for at least eight years. This process is called weeding, according to Kellerman. “We weed for condition, timeliness of information and circulation,” Kellerman says. The district cannot resell the books because they are government property, so Paly students and staff are welcome to come to the library to take a look through the books and

take home whatever they find before they are given away to other places. There is also a section of books that Kellerman calls “vintage books,” which do not fall under the “loser book” category. Instead, these books are being taken out of the library because they are too old to withstand shelf life; some date back to the 1890s. “We are going to do evaluations on these books to see if they’re worth anything,” Kellerman says. In addition to getting rid of unwanted books, the library is also replacing certain books that are simply too old but that the librarians want to keep in the Paly database. “When we replace [an old] book for one with a better cover, it almost always gets checked out,” Kellerman says. “People really do judge a book by its cover.” v — text by silvia maraboli, graphics by megan mitchell

Title

Published

Worth

1967

$100

Centenary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1959

$500

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

1941

$140

The History of Costume

1861 -1880

$400

1934

unknown

Winnie the Pooh (The only authorized Russian publication)

Forward March (extensive coverage of World War I)

Lost Literature A collection of “vintage books” were discovered as goldmines in Paly’s library. The books may be kept in the library or sold. verde magazine 11

API scores increase q

Red Cross merges to safeguard savings q “Both organizations are struggling financially,” says Brad Larson, CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter. The collaboration will bring more efficient use of donor dollars, such as sharing office space, according to Larson. The two chapters already share motives and conerns, making the change easier. “We believe [the merger] will help support the Silicon Valley Youth Services and disaster relief, as many non-profit organizations are not doing so well in the economy,” Paly’s chapter co-president Seung-Yeon Choi says. v — text by whitney drazovich

Paly’s Academic Performance Index increased by 17 points in the 2007-08 school year. According to the California Department of Education’s Web site, the API is calculated using results from the STAR and CAHSEE tests. Principal Jacqueline McEvoy attributes the improvement to a new testing policy which requires all students enrolled in an AP class to participate in the STAR test. “[With the new policy], we’re just getting a more accurate read of their capabilities,” McEvoy says. — text and photo by maddy mihran

Staff to stalk students for teacher education q Paly hopes to implement a program in the near future for teachers to routinely shadow students, a cost-effective method of teacher education. Gunn High School established a similar program last September as a part of their Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation process, when teachers shadowed Gunn students with a variety of schedules. v — text by sophie cornfield, photo by megan mitchell

Extra! Extra! Read all about Calliope! q The staff of Calliope, Paly’s literary magazine, is celebrating the Feb. 12 release of its semi-annual publication. The staff of around 20 upperclassman had been accepting submissions for the magazine since the start of this school year. While the majority of the published pieces are short stories and poems, the magazine also publishes works of art. “This is an opportunity for students who have really good work to get it published,” says senior Monica Bhide, Calliope president. Copies of Calliope are available for purchase through the magazine’s staff or English teacher Kevin Sharp, the club adviser. The 80-page magazine costs $3. People can also purchase a copy by sending an e-mail to calliope.paly@gmail.com. “It’s turned out really well,” Bhide says. “We’ve been working really hard.” v — text by shoshana gould, photo by julia singleton

‘91 graduate sheds light on campus inefficiency Think Paly is pushing green practices as best it can? Not so, says Matt Stone, Paly class of ‘91, a solar energy expert who visited on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Stone offered solutions for the Paly gym’s inefficient lighting system and conservation of energy during presentations to selective AP Environmental Science and Geology classes. If Paly can finance environmental renovations, Stone recommends the replacement of the current lighting structure 12 verde magazine

in the gym with fluorescent lights, which would reduce electricity costs, provide athletes with a brighter practice space, and eliminate the incessant buzzing sounds. According to Stone, the installation of solar panels would also save Paly money and energy. However, solar panels are expensive. The initial expenses often deter customers, but the panels can last more than 30 years and can significantly decrease the long-term cost of electricity, Stone says.

After seven years of studying green practices and participating in various environmental activities, Stone found his ideal job as a representative of SPG Solar, a company designed to make houses and larger organizations more energy efficient through the use of solar panels. “Our main focus is on efficient lighting,” Stone says. “You can save a lot of money and time.” v — text by jessica linebarger

Career Month: Paly wants YOU to join the workforce q Paly’s Career Month, previously known as Career Day, will take place throughout March 2-17 in the English and Social Studies Resource Centers every day during lunch. The goal of Career Month is to inspire students to explore their interests, according to Career Month coordinator Christina Owen. This event has previously been a one-day event that took place during third period. However, the limited exposure to professionals did not inspire some students. “Our hope is to bring in dynamic speakers from around the community [so students can] find things they’re interested in,” Owen says. “This may help [students] focus on colleges and career paths that specialize in their interests.” Paly students were surveyed during

their third period classes in December about what speakers would interest them. At the top of the list were chefs, video game designers, and psychologists, according to Owen. Through Career Month, Owen hopes that students will be able to recognize their interests and will turn to the College and Career Center to help get on the right path. Following the two weeks of speakers, Paly’s College and Career Center plans to promote the resources of their office by encouraging all students to log onto Naviance and visit the guidance office to talk to a counselor about specific interests. “We [in the College and Career Center] have so many resources to help students reach their full potential,” Owen says. v — text by mary minno, graphics by megan mitchell

Date/Time

Name

Profession, location

March 2 11:40-12:20

Dana Kirsch Ray Carl Steffens

Shot-spotter: Crime Scene Gunfire, ERC Adobe Systems: Marketing Director, SSRC

March 3 11:40-12:20

Nancy Cassidy Lisa Hunter

Nancy Cassidy Music, ERC Vian Hunter: Fashion Designer, TBA

March 4 12-12:40

David Hornick Erik Jacobsen

Venture Capitalist: August Capital, ERC Graphic Designer and Artist, SSRC

March 5 11:05-11:45

J.D. Daniels David Weill

Psychologist, ERC Stanford Heart/Lung Transplant Doctor, SSRC

March 6 11:40-12:20

Bob Simoni Peter Fox

Stanford Prof., Chairman Dept. of Bio, ERC Photographer to the World, SSRC

March 9 11:40-12:20

Mark Morrison Don Romero

Director of Licensing (Video Games), ERC Woodside Fire Chief, SSRC

March 10 11:40-12:20

TBA TBA

Ballet Dancer, Architect, Attorney, ERC Ballet Dancer, Architect, Attorney, SSRC

March 11 12-12:40

Bill Johnson Russ Hancock

President, Embarcadero Publishing, ERC JointVenture President and CEO, SSRC

March 12 11:05-11:45

TBA Deepak Ahuja

Ballet Dancer, Architect, Attorney, ERC Tesla Motors CFO, SSRC

March 13 11:40-12:20

Charlie Ayers Grand Finale!!!

Chef, Haymarket Haymarket

[news] VERDE VAULT YOUR LINK TO PALY HISTORY

WINTER 2000

The Verde staff decided to research Paly’s history. Then-staff writer Scott Hartley describes Paly’s beginning in the 1900’s:

n 1894, a permanent schoolhouse was constructed at the corner of Webster and Channing in what is now downtown Palo Alto. Although the first floor of the building was used for a grammar school, two rooms upstairs were rented by Charles Marx, David Sloan, and Anna Zscholle, trustees who wanted to create a high school that would filter students into Stanford. Twenty four students who each paid $6.00 per month, under the supervision of three teachers, occupied Palo Alto High School in its first three years as a private institution. By 1897, the population of the grammar school children had increased and the upstairs rooms were no longer available. A three-room building to house all of the students was constructed on Forest Avenue. In June, Palo Alto High School had its first graduates and nine out of ten moved on to Stanford University. In 1901, following a successful bond election, a new nine room Palo Alto High School was constructed across the street from the grammar school on the corner of Channing and Webster for a cost of around $20,000. The school has expanded to an approximate size of 100 students.

Above: This table shows the draft schedule for the career visits in March. verde magazine 13

[news]

PAYC hosts fair for eco-friendly fun q Palo Alto Youth Council and the Palo Alto City Council will host an environmental fair, filled with relay games and eco-friendly prizes, to raise awareness for saving the environment. The fair will take place at Lucie Stern Community Center on the weekend of April 17. “Right now we have to figure out what the city is doing, and somehow connect with what they are doing and also come up with something new,” Paly junior Christine Chang says. Paly sophomore and PAYC member Chloe Chen says that the group has contacted companies, including Klean Kanteen for canteen donations, Ace Hardware for fluorescent light donations, and Whole Foods. According to Chang, the group plans to use these donations as prizes in relay races and other games. Chang says that PAYC hopes to give people a more interactive experience at the fair. “Right now, we’re talking about buying canvas bags for people to decorate,” Chang says. “At the fair we want to sponsor more hands on things, not something where people will just talk to you or hand you flyers.” PAYC raised $350 from the January “Band Night” fundraiser to

Student Serves Christine Chang helps to lead PAYC’s April fair. go towards the fair, According to Chang. However, Chang says that the group is still in the beginning stages of planning the fair. “The Theme for our fair is Little Changes We Can Make,” Chen says. “We’ll focus on nontraditional ways to help the environment, like not just recycling, but composting, and turning off your thermostat when you leave the house.” v — text and photo by caroline wang

Math Department adds, subtracts to fill APs

Not only will the changes drastically alter students’ math The Paly Math Department has struggled with a way to get students more interested in math for years. Recently, Radu Toma, the performance, but Toma also expects that his changes will encourage department’s instructional supervisor, found a revolutionary solution students to complete more years of challenging math throughout high school and do better in college. to the problem. In a survey of the Class of 2008 advanced Paly math course Toma plans to rearrange course material and emphasize the importance of advanced math classes for college admittance. He students, Toma found that achievement in math is a major addressed his goals for future students in a presentation to teacher determinant in the likelihood of college acceptance. According to advisors at a school-sponsored retreat on Jan. 29. The long-term changes Toma, students who successfully completed BC Calculus have twice in the math department are planned to be gradually implemented the chance of being admitted to Stanford and UC Berkeley as AB Calculus students do; and the during the 2009-10 school year. AP Statistics AB Calculus BC Calculus completion of Pre-Calculus is If successful, these adjustments Highest Math almost always necessary to be will inspire students to take more course/University Admissions considered for UC schools. years of advanced math courses 15/91= 16% 33/91= 36% 12/91= 13% “Taking the advanced and help increase Paly students’ UC Santa Cruz Stanford 1/14= 14% 4/14= 29% 8/14= 57% courses in math and sticking college admittance rates. with them is imperative for “The math department UC Berkeley 1/38= 2% 13/38= 34% 24/38= 63% college acceptance, and the level is looking at a change in By The Numbers Results of a survey by Math Department of the course they [students] take philosophy,” Toma says. Toma says the department Instructional Supervisor Radu Toma show that the successful matters as much as the grade will drop elective topics from the completion of advanced math courses can drastically alter college does,” Toma says. Toma also plans to encourage curriculum and move material admittance. Toma compiled the data from top math students in the from one lane to another to Class of 2008. local middle schools to integrate more Algebra curriculum into existing courses. He hopes that earlier make more time for mandatory lessons. “There is a very fine line between doing what we need to do and training will result in more students taking Calculus in high school and, ultimately, graduating at a high level of math. dumbing down the curriculum,” Toma says. “The message to students needs to be: If you’re shooting high, To coincide with the redesigned math courses, Toma hopes to you need to take advanced classes; you need to stay in the honors and provide new textbooks to cover the fresh material. “We are on the path to obtain new books for several courses next advanced lanes,” Toma says. v — text by jessica linebarger, data courtesy of radu toma year,” Toma says. 14 verde magazine

[paly original]

What started out as casual games between friends for Paly English teacher Kirk Hinton grew into a hobby and ritual held throughout adulthood.

text by jackie mcelaney photography by julia singleton verde magazine 15

aly teacher Kirk Hinton crouches on his knees, desperately barricading himself from his opponent, using a beaten-down wooden fort as his only source of protection. Adrenaline rushes through his body as a trail of fast-moving, multi-colored objects zooms past his head. All around him, men are falling to the hands of their attackers. This is a modern day battlefield, and the fight for Hill 3234 has just begun. But this isn’t war; it’s paintballing. Hinton first began playing paintball at an early age. “In seventh grade, I just started borrowing [paintball] guns and playing,” Hinton says. His love for the outdoors helped him to find a niche in paintballing, as he grew into the avid gamer he is today. “I, like many guys, grew up playing ‘war’ with my friends where we would ‘shoot’ each other with plastic guns,” Hinton says. “To some extent, paintball is an extension of that.” Paintball is a sport practiced nationwide. Speedball, which is the more popular version of the game, is very fast-paced, whereas Woodsball takes course over a whole day. In Woodsball, strategy determines the game, as the players have to find ways to meet certain objectives. These objectives can range anywhere from capturing a flag to eliminating all opponents. At Venture Games in Walnut Creek, where Hinton plays, the games vary every day. “On a regular day at Venture Games, it is some form of capture the flag, just like kids play, but you use your marker [or] gun to ‘tag’ them out,” Hinton says. “Sometimes both teams have a flag and try to get the other team’s flag and bring it back to their base.” Every month, there is a themed battle which is based on past wars and events, according to Brian Leon, head of Venture Games. “I go through all the [history] books, and I try to get the battle to fit the field,” Leon says of his preparation of the battles. While the Woodsball games may seem to promote the values of war, Hinton says that the experiences in fighting in battles does just the opposite, as it gives the players a taste of what war is like. “Most people get shot enough to realize that a battlefield is the last place that they really want to be,” Hinton says. While Hinton feels that paintballing

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deters people from war, for Leon, it is reminiscent of his former career. Leon opened Venture Games in 1969 after working for the U.S. military. According to Leon, the game was an escape on the weekends for him and his friends, and grew into a business as more people slowly came to play. While Speedball is a more publicized version of paintballing, Leon says there is a lack of honor and value in the game, reiterating his love of Woodsball. “I call it [Speedball] the dark side of paintball,” Leon says. “I’m a career military guy, and there’s no honor in it [Speedball].” In Woodsball, there are safety restrictions that are not acknowledged in Speedball. Bunkering, which Leon made an effort to restrict prior to the Battle of Hill 3234, is when an opponent sneaks up on their target and shoots them from behind a bunker. This leaves the opponent with an unfair advantage and can result in the notorious welts and bruises commonly associated with paintball. Apart from the potentially dangerous aspects of Speedball, Hinton prefers Woodsball because of the intricacy of the strategy. “I like that Woodsball involves a lot more tactics [than Speedball],” Hinton says. “You have to think carefully about

Previous page: English teacher Kirk Hinton (left) poses with teammates. Above: Hinton stands with marker between paintball games. Opposite page: Hinton crouches behind a wooden fort, a marker in hand, with paintball canisters tied around his waist and goggles to protect his face from enemy fire

“I enjoy being outdoors, as well as having a problem that takes teamwork and strategy to solve. It is, of course, a huge adrenaline rush.” — Paly teacher Kirk Hinton

[paly original] where the other team is likely to go on the large field, and you have to think about what you need to do to out-maneuver them.” This idea of “out-maneuvering” someone is lost in Speedball as the games are very uniform and lack the surprises prominent in Woodsball. “It [Speedball] is a lot faster-paced, but the games tend to involve the same thing every time,” Hinton says. Hinton’s life-long practice of paintballing landed him among the more talented group of paintballers at Venture Games. “At our field [Venture Games], we’re probably considered ‘hard-core,’” Hinton says of the level of dedication and skill he has. For Hinton, his advanced skills help him figure out ways to win the games he plays. Because the games are different, Hinton says the biggest task is to understand the objective of the game and how to go about achieving it. “It also involves sneaking around, trying to flank [go around and get behind or to the side] people, and planning an overall strategy that might be complex, something that appeals to me,” Hinton says. While themed games are fun and fulfilling for the hard-core paintballers, they usually only take place once a month, as they take a while to prepare, according to Leon. In addition to the thrilling experience of paintballing, Hinton says Woodsball also provides a lot of exercise. Especially because the fields generally cover multiple acres, this

game is not for the weak. This factor tends to draw in a younger crowd, with the average paintballer barely legal. “We’re kind of the old guys of the field,” Hinton says. “Every time I go, the majority of the people there are under 18.” However, despite the amount of physical work, Hinton says that paintballing is very easy to pick up. For seasoned professionals, renting equipment is not an issue, as many of them have their own. The equipment consists of a marker, or gun, which generally costs anywhere from $80 to $2,000 to buy. For newcomers, renting equipment is cheap and easy, with a $20 initial fee to enter and $15 fee for marker and mask rentals. Vests are optional, as they serve to hold more ammunition for the paintball guns. In comparison to Speedball, Woodsball is more cost-efficient according to Leon. However, that does not make-up for the declining number of paintballers. According to Leon, the current economic crunch is playing a major roll in the number of people showing up to paintball throughout the U.S. Especially in Speedball, players use a lot of cases of paint balls. The cases generally range from $38-$58. In the game of Woodsball, the average player uses one case per game. However, in Speedball, players can go through more than two cases per game as they are not restricted from “ramping,” which increases the rate of firing according to Hinton. “The guns can shoot 14 balls a second,” Leon says, and with 2,000 balls in a case, this

can go by very quickly. Despite the costs, Hinton manages to make it out to the field every month and continuously finds thrill in the adrenaline rush and escape from his everyday life. “I enjoy being outdoors, as well as having a problem that takes teamwork and strategy to solve,” Hinton says. “It is, of course, a huge adrenaline rush. It’s also fun to have a day each month when I can go out, not worry about grading, and hang out with the guys.” While paintballing is an outlet from his regular routine, Hinton says that paintballing and teaching can be very similar as they both require one to constantly think on one’s feet. “If a game or a lesson is going in an unexpected direction, you have to be able to make the most of it,” Hinton says. “Also, if you see an opportunity, either to exploit the other team’s weakness in paintball or teach an unexpected lesson in the classroom, you have to be willing to seize the opportunity.” Recently, the land adjacent to Venture Games was bought out, forcing Leon to close the field. Despite the small number of Woodsball fields in the Bay Area, Hinton is adamant that this loss will not prevent him and his friends from playing the game he loves. Hinton is currently looking into playing fields in the Vallejo area, where he hopes to carry the long-help tradition that has uniquely set him apart from the other teachers at Paly. “We’re going to keep playing,” Hinton says. v

SPEEDBALL AND WOODSBALL: (n) two different versions of paintball BUNKERING: (v) When a player sneaks up on their opponent and shoots at them from behind a bunker MARKER: (n) Paintball gun FLANK: (v) to go around, behind or to the side of someone RAMPING: (v) When a player shoots quickly with a semi-automatic gun, increasing the rate of fire verde magazine 17

Jean Hamilton, MFT Adult, Adolescent, Child Therapy Family Counseling Parenting Skills

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

560 Oxford Avenue, Suite 5 Palo Alto, CA 94306 650.493.2484

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The Program Paly senior Alex Wein’s video game, Age of Ecology, a scene from which is displayed here, won first place at the I/ITSEC.

Programming Ecology Paly senior wins national competition and aides the US military text by aaron lerner and tim qin

• photography by julia singleton and courtesy of alex wein

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he years go by on the digital clock. Buildings crumble from the impact of an earthquake. Air pollutants grow too harmful. Fishery stocks plummet. No, this is not depicting any current environmental disaster of the United States or another nation. The scenes are from Paly senior Alex Wein’s computer game, Age of Ecology, which won the Serious Game Showcase Challenge in December 2008. The Serious Games Showcase Challenge is an annual national contest held by the US military to evaluate games that could aid military training. After entering Age of Ecology into the competition, Wein and his friend from Massachusetts, senior Carl Jackson, won first place in the student category for their game. According to Wein,

the purpose of the game is to teach players about environmental sustainability issues in development. “It’s really all about using resources in a way that will ensure long-term profits,” Wein says. The whole process of making the game began when a member of the United States Geological Survey, Bill Labiosa, asked Wein and Jackson to create the game as a part of his summer internship. The USGS is a government agency that is an unbiased, multidisciplinary science organization that focuses on biology, geography, geology, geospatial information and water, according to the USGS Web site. According to Wein, the purpose of the internship was to make

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01000001 01101100 01100101 01111000 00100000 01010111 01100101 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101001 01110011 0010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01101100 00101110 01000001 01101100 01100101 01111000 00100000 01010111 01100101 0110 a game that would simulate environmental and sustainability concepts in city planning. “[Jackson and] I got an internship last summer with a USGS person and Stanford professor as our supervisors,” Wein says. “We had a five-week internship to make the game, while my intern partner Carl [Jackson] lived with me for the time being.” The boys’ programming skills were crucial in the development of the game. Wein recalls that they have been programming together ever since elementary school. “I’ve known him [Jackson] since before the fourth grade” Wein says. “His parents were both programmers, so when I went to his house we did all sorts of stuff.” At first, Wein and Jackson mostly worked on simple school projects. But in the sixth grade, Wein began to make actual games using the programming platform called Adventure Game Studios. “It was a really good platform for making games, and it was really easy to use,” Wein says. “It was mostly interface-based and very beginner friendly.” Wein quickly progressed to more advanced programming languages such as Flash and Java. “I basically kind of taught myself that,” Wein says. “I bought a huge Flash manual and learned Java at Paly.” Wein has taken all the computer science classes at Paly, including Intro to Java, AP Computer Science, and Java Projects. However, even with his extensive repertoire of programming languages, Wein had to learn a new one for the USGS internship, and he later used Adobe Flex to make the Age of Ecology. According to Wein, Flex is similar to Flash, with lots of web-based, action script that incorporates HTML style components. In addition to the validation Wein and Jackson would later receive from the award, they gained much respect from their mentors along the way. “Wein was very qualified to do this internship, and he and his friend [Jackson] did a very good job with the programming aspect of the game,” Stanford professor Jie Wang says. “The game represented many environmental concepts that we deal with today and was very well done.” Soon after the internship, Wein and Jackson found out about the online contest. “We just happened to find the competition, and we had a game that already fit the criteria,” Wein says. “So we went ahead and entered it.” Several months later, they were notified that they were among the three other finalists invited to the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference. “We were pretty shocked,” Wein says. “We were among the top

The Exhibition Alex Wein’s game is on display at the I/ITSEC Conference in December 2008.

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The Award Senior Alex Wein shows off the plaque that he received after winning at the Serious Games Showcase.

three student games selected to go to the next round.” The military hosts the I/ITSEC, which includes a variety of technology and army training software showcases. Among these exhibitions was the display for serious games. Wein was initially overwhelmed when he arrived at the I/ITSEC in December 2008. “It was a pretty crazy place with a lot of people walking in camouflage,” Wein says. “I felt really out of place among CEOs of gaming companies, highly-ranked military generals, and a bunch of other older and more important people.” According to Wein, the winners of each category were announced at the conference. Wein and Jackson were told that they won first place in the student category. Wein was amazed when he found out he won the contest. “I was just shocked, and didn’t really know what was going on,” Wein says. “I was completely surprised. I didn’t expect to win at all.” Wein’s recent success along with his long-held programming skills has led him to plan on pursuing the field in college. “I really want to major in computer science along with chemistry or some other science,” Wein says. For a future career, Wein hopes to work with computer science, but wants to keep his options open. “One possibility is being a software engineer,” Wein says. “But I don’t really know.” In the meantime, Wein has a lot of motivation to make games, whether it is for fun or for a specific challenge given to him, and he never gives up. “Whenever I finish something, it’s really fun to see people play it,” Wein says. “I mostly just make games to see them work and have other people play them.” As for beginning programmers, Wein has a variety of suggestions for basic programs to practice with. “Flash is a good program to get started with,” Wein says. “Start with simple animation stuff. Then start to learn action script, like getting tutorial [beginning] or manual.” In addition, he believes in the value of Paly’s programming classes. “I would also recommend the Paly computer science classes, especially Java projects because you get to basically make whatever you want,” he says. “Anyone can start programming, but only a few stick to it.” However, Wein believes that aspiring programmers should explore outside of the classroom. “If you want to get good at programming, you just need to do it in your spare time,” Wein says. “Just keep making programs for fun without worrying about the rewards.” v

Tackling Truancy Paly administration and teachers struggle to find policies that will deter truants from cutting class

text by maddy mihran art by emily wang

“T

ruancy is a problem, attendance is a problem, tardiness is a problem,” Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson says. “The current system is not working, and we’re trying to find the right answer. We just want to fix the problem.” In the 2007-2008 school year, 69 percent of Paly students were truants, compared to just 25 percent at the statewide level, according to Berkson. A student is considered to be a truant if he or she has acquired a total of three non-excused absences, according to the California Department of Education’s Web site. Four years ago, in the 2004/2005 school year, Paly’s truancy rate was only 12.7 percent and has since sky-rocketed to reach almost three times the California average. Last year, when the administration began to notice the climbing number of truants, two changes were made to the attendance policy. It now mandates that absences be cleared by the parent or guardian within 48 hours and no longer allows teachers to use their own discretion in deciding whether a student should be dropped from a class. If there is not a significant drop in the number of truants, Feinberg 22 verde magazine

says there is a possibility that the attendance policy will change yet again. “The Paly administrative team is constantly reviewing all of the policies at Palo Alto High School,” Feinberg says. “In fact, we currently are working with Ed Council and are in the process of reviewing the attendance policy as part of the WASC process.” As the administration continues to amend and improve the attendance policy, Paly teachers are examining and sharing their opinions on the important issues surrounding the rising truancy rate. English teacher and Instructional Supervisor Trinity Klein acknowledges the fact that some students are able to avoid the consequences of cutting by either illegitimately excusing their own cuts or by convincing their parents to excuse them. “A large issue is parental integrity,” Klein says. “It’s a problem when parents are calling in to excuse their child’s absence [when they have cut class].” Because of this, Paly Economics teacher and Social Studies Instructional Supervisor Eric Bloom is worried that the actual number

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of truants at Paly may be even higher than 69 percent. Although music,” Paly librarian Debbie Henry says. some students might get into the habit of convincing their parents to If the librarians have reason to believe that a student is cutting call in their cuts, Berkson is confident that this type of behavior will class, Henry says they will double check the student’s schedule on the not be sustained. computer. If they confirm that the student is cutting, the librarians “Some students learn to play the system, and that’s not a good will notify the teacher and ask the student to go to class. They will habit to get into,” Berkson says. “Eventually, it’s going to come back also call the Attendance Office and tell them to ensure that the cut is and haunt them.” not cleared by the student’s parents. Even though strategic cutters are skipping class Occasionally, teachers will communicate with to improve their grades, Principal Jacqueline McE- “Some students the librarians via walkie-talkie if one of their stuvoy says that it actually has the opposite effect. dents is suspiciously absent from class. If the librarlearn to play the “We’ve found that even among kids who cut ians spot the missing student in the library, they strategically, it [negatively] affects their grade,” system, and that’s will tell the student to go back to class. McEvoy says. “They [the teachers] put a lot of work into their not a good habit Although 69 percent may seem like a large class plans,” Henry says. “It’s not fair for them to be number compared to the statewide level of 25 per- to get into. expected to help a student catch up when they’ve cent, Bloom says that the comparison is not entirely Eventually, it’s cut.” a valid one. In cases where students have become habitual going to come “That [state] number is misleading because truants, Henry says it is important to give them it includes all grades from kindergarten to 12th back and haunt more individualized attention to support them in grade,” Bloom says. “Kids in elementary school them.” changing their behavior. can’t cut and middle school students don’t cut as “I think we need to work directly with the stuoften as high schoolers. — Assistant Principal dents who are cutting and help them to realize that In spite of the misleading comparison, Klein Jerry Berkson they are only hurting themselves,” Henry says. is still surprised by the number of truants at Paly. As evident in the library, truants generally fall However, she is more troubled by the fact that stuinto one of two categories: those who are absent dents who are enrolled in only five classes cannot be dropped from because they genuinely don’t won’t to be in class and those who are one of their classes even if they cut more than five times. absent because they want to study for other classes. “The number [of truants] is alarming but it’s not my biggest “It’s my opinion that most kids [who cut] are strategically cutconcern,” Klein says. “My biggest concern is conflicting policies. It’s ting to avoid tests and study for other classes,” Bloom says. something that needs to be addressed.” The truancy situation at Gunn High School is notably different. Because the number of truants at Paly has increased at such a According to the school’s 2009 Western Association of Schools and rapid rate, Klein says it is important to upgrade the technology that Colleges report, 54 percent of students were truants last year. Unlike tracks attendance. Paly, Gunn has taken several extra steps that have been successful “It’s not very user-friendly,” Klein says. “It takes me quite a bit of in decreasing the truancy rate. The Gunn WASC report states that snooping to figure out the number of times a student has cut class.” “Saturday school, introduced in 2005/6, has had a positive impact Bloom also expresses his concern about the lack of available in- on attendance ... Another deterrent to cutting class is the fact that we formation surrounding the truancy issue. show the total number of cuts per class on the students’ transcripts.” “Sixty-nine percent is this crazy number but we don’t know what Although introducing Saturday school at Paly might have the it really means unless we have more data,” Bloom says. “The next step potential to discourage truancy, Paly mathematics teacher Kathy should be to look at the individual students who cut and where those Himmelberger is worried about the extra cost it would require. [cutting] incidents fall.” “Saturday school would cost more money because we would Paly mathematics teacher Scott Friedland has observed a suspi- have to hire someone to watch the kids, and Paly doesn’t have very cious number of students who are absent on days in which tests are much extra money right now,” Himmelberger says. scheduled. Regardless of the specific consequences that Paly implements to “Occasionally, we will see an increase in absences on test days,” deter cutting, Feinberg stresses the importance of attending class. Friedland says. “I believe that students need to be in class, having access to the In addition to cutting class because of coursework, some stu- curriculum,” Feinberg says. “If a student is cutting to hang out with dents skip class for recreational reasons. their friends, they can do that after school or at lunch. If a student is “Not all kids [who cut class to be in the library] are doing work cutting class to study, they need to find an alternative time to study or for other classes — some people are just playing games or listening to reexamine their workload. Students just need to be in class.” v verde magazine 23

[campus]

text by vrinda khanna photography by julia singleton art by lisa ke

A Master of the Domain Assistant Principal Kimberly Diorio arranges the master schedule, which details all the classes at Paly, which department they’re in, which periods they’re taught in, and who teaches them.

s Paly began to widen the breadth of its course selection, a meteor of “sexier” electives crashed down. Some classes survived, but others found their popularity waning. When they were replaced, a new era began. Meanwhile, other classes found their niches. Here you’ll find everything you wanted to know about those Paly classes that lived (and are living) life to the fullest. verde magazine 25

“We offered Analysis of Writer’s Craft, but it didn’t get a lot of signups during the school year because there were a lot of other sexier electives.” — Trinity Klein, instructional supervisor of Paly’s English Department Extinct: Creative Writing and Advanced Composition 11 (H)

When the Paly English Department’s current instructional supervisor Trinity Klein began working at Paly in 1997, Creative Writing and Advanced Composition 11 (H) were the only two English electives offered other than Humanities. Consequently, they never lacked enough students to fill their classrooms. According to Klein, as more teachers were hired and brought more specialties with them, a greater number of electives were available, and Advanced Composition 11 (H) stopped being offered. Creative Writing also faced a tough blow. “Creative Writing lost UC [University of California] credit because the class was pretty much just free writing,” Klein says. “There was no core literature involved.” Klein and the English faculty wanted to continue offering a creative writing class. Eventually, the faculty came up with Analysis of Writer’s Craft, which included literature, and could therefore meet UC requirements. The class became popular in a way that Klein didn’t expect. “We offered it [Analysis of Writer’s Craft], but it didn’t get a lot of sign-ups [during the school year] because there were a lot of other sexier electives,” Klein says. “However, we got a lot of sign-ups in the summer for summer school.” Analysis of Writer’s Craft evolved from Creative Writing, and continues to thrive mostly in the summer months today while its predecessors are no longer alive. See pg. 29 for more information on Analysis of Writer’s Craft

Extinct: Dramatic Literature in Performance

Dramatic Literature in Performance combined a literature-based curriculum with theater. According to Klein, the class was offered five to six years ago, and only one teacher, Ann Monro, taught it. According to Klein, no other teachers were interested in teaching

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the curriculum after she left, so the class was dropped. Fortunately, the material was not completely forgotten. “We spread the text to other classes,” Klein says. “Since then, our drama program has been teaching more text than just drama skills.”

Extinct: African American Stereotypes in Literature

The class was taught six years ago and lasted for one semester. According to Klein, it didn’t meet students’ needs because the course was primarily about white authors’ perceptions of African Americans. “It was interesting, but it wasn’t what people wanted,” Klein says. “Students are interested in different voices.” In order to create a class that gave many different perspectives in literature, American Writers of Color evolved. See pg. 29 for more information on American Writers of Color

Extinct: Music Appreciation

Music Appreciation surveyed the history, development, and compositional elements of three major categories of music: classical, jazz and popular. Its existence hung on one man: Paly’s choir director, Michael Najar. Najar had the chance to choose whether to teach Music Appreciation at Paly. According to Najar, he would have either had to put a lot of effort into Music Appreciation, a course which might not receive many sign-ups, or spend his energy on a class that would consistently stay full, which was AP Music Theory. Eventually, Najar decided not to teach Music Appreciation because of the possible extra energy he would have to spend and also because he would be teaching over full-time. However, he regrets being unable to implement the course at Paly. “I had hoped to get a different sort of student in the classroom who didn’t really fit into one category,” Najar says. “[But] it didn’t work out, so we stuck with the higher level music class.” The class has never been offered and so has no descendents.

[campus] “It is vital that people are educated so that they can both understand history and prevent discrimination in the future.”

— Paly senior Jessica Apple, stressing the importance of Women Writers

Endangered: American Writers of Color

American Writers of Color provides a survey of American literature written by people of color. Students examine themes such as the emergence of personal identity and cultural tension and read novels, essays, poems, short stories, and films by African American, Asian American, and Latino writers. Despite the course’s interesting curriculum, there were fewer sign-ups for American Writers of Color during the ’08-’09 school year than for previous years, according to Klein. “It [American Writers of Color] is very hard to schedule and make an effort to keep the students who take the classes,” Klein says. If Klein and the rest of the English faculty decide to stop offering the class, the curriculum won’t be lost forever. “We will place the literature in some other core classes without having a specialty class,” Klein says. “We’re moving in that direction within the next year or two.” Senior Ana Yáñez, who took American Writers of Color last year, says that it is important to retain its curriculum at Paly. “Paly students need to become aware of every kind of student there is,” Yáñez says.

Endangered: Women Writers

Women Writers introduces students to women authors from a variety of cultures and times. Students study the development of the female subject and voice across the works and throughout history, according to Paly’s course catalog. According to Klein, there were fewer sign-ups for Women Writers this year than in previous years, so its future is uncertain. Senior Jessica Apple took Women Writers the second semester of her junior year and thought that it was an eye-opening experience. “The class served to educate over 20 students about the subordination that women experience,” Apple says. “It is vital that people are educated so that they can both understand history and prevent discrimination in the future.”

Endangered:Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies covers the history and culture of various ethnic groups in the United States. Students look at historical events from multiple perspectives and explore issues and challenges of diversity in America today. According to Eric Bloom, instructional supervisor for the Social Studies Department, 14 students signed up for Ethnic Studies during the ’08-’09 school year. According to Bloom, if at least 25 students sign up for a class, then the class will be offered. Unfortunately, that was not the case with Ethnic Studies. “This is the first time in a while we’re not running it,” Assistant Principal Kimberly Diorio says. Bloom does not know if Ethnic Studies will continue to be offered in the future.

Endangered: Gender Studies

Gender Studies covers many topics, from the study of relationships between men and women of various ethnic groups to issues of communication between the sexes in various cultural contexts. According to Bloom, although the class has always been offered, there have never been more than 16-17 sign ups, and therefore has not yet been taught. “I imagine that some time in the future, if it never gets run, we would consider dropping it from the offerings,” Bloom says.

Endangered: AP Physics

Of the 19 students who signed up for AP Physics, 12 students remain for second semester this year. Because of the lack of enrolled students, Diorio is unsure of how to proceed in the next few years. According to Diorio, the administration has three options: to continue to offer the class every year and risk a low enrollment due verde magazine 27

to mid-year drops; to offer the class every other year so that current juniors can take it as seniors and vice-versa; or to stop offering the class completely and disappoint students who want to take the class. Junior Lynnelle Ye is strongly opposed to the option of offering AP Physics every other year. “I would be highly disappointed in Paly if we stopped offering AP Physics every year,” Ye says. “Offering it [AP Physics] every other year would simply unfairly remove the opportunity to take AP Physics from half the school.”

Consequently, there was a waiting list of students who wanted to take AP Economics, but for whom there wasn’t any room. “The allocation of resources is always a problem,” Bloom says. Senior John Mitchell, who is currently in AP Economics, recognizes the problems that arise with having a limited number of AP Economics classes and more than enough willing students. “I know a few people who didn’t get into AP Economics, probably because of the large demand for the class as economics is becoming an increasingly popular subject,” Mitchell says.

Alive and Thriving: AP Economics

Alive and Thriving: Interior Design

AP Economics, first offered this school year for students who were interested in continuing their study of economics, had 100 student sign-ups. Bloom wanted to have four classes comprised of 25 students each, but there was a problem which he did not foresee. “We forgot about the gigantic freshman class,” Bloom says. According to Bloom, not as many classes could be allocated for upperclassmen because of the unprecedented number of freshmen who entered Paly. “We could not afford the luxury [of having four AP Economics classes],” Bloom says. “We had to kill a period of AP Economics and move it to the ninth grade.” 28 verde magazine

Theresa McDermott, who came to Paly last year and taught Foods and Critical Thinking II, introduced Interior Design to the Paly campus this year in order to add more home-economics classes. According to McDermott, Interior Design has been met with a flood of enthusiasm. “The first semester went really well, and I feel that it has been really successful,” McDermott says. According to Diorio, approximately 100 students signed up for the class, and McDermott is currently teaching two classes of Interior Design each semester. Next year, there will be a follow-up Interior Design class during second semester for students who want

[campus]

to continue studying Interior Design. “This year’s class is just an introduction class,” McDermott says. According to Paly’s course catalog, Interior Design enables students to create their own floor plans. In addition, they select and arrange furniture, fabrics, and accessories for their dream home. Students learn architectural and furniture styles, line, form, color, and texture, and are able to combine them into the kind of living environment which best reflects them. McDermott believes that Interior Design was a great investment and is happy to bring a new kind of class to Paly. “I think it’s a good opportunity for high school students to open the window into the design world,” McDermott says. “The class is hands-on, project-based, and in the classroom, so there’s no homework.” Junior Annie Lada, who is currently in the class, agrees that the class’s atmosphere and curriculum are relatively relaxed. “We’re learning, but it is all very basic,” Lada says. “The best part probably is the fact that there is no homework for the most part. It’s not a tough class, which is nice to end the day with.” Interior Design will continue to be offered until it dies out. For now it remains a popular home-economics class.

Alive and Thriving: Analysis of Writer’s Craft

As previously mentioned, Analysis of Writer’s Craft was introduced after Creative Writing passed on its genes and died out. Currently, it receives more sign-ups for the summer than for the school year, according to Klein. However, many students enjoy the benefits of the class as a school year course. “It was by far the best class of high school,” says senior Sarah Adams, who took the class as a junior. “It’s a combination of one of my favorite pastimes — creative writing — and the most inspiring teacher at Paly, so my love for the class was inevitable.” Senior Lisa Ke, who is currently taking Analysis of Writer’s Craft, has also enjoyed her experience thus far. According to her, the class is less literature-based and focuses more on free-writing. “I think that it’s more creative writing [than literature] because, although we do read a lot of examples of other people’s works, we get to write about whatever we want to, using the specific type of creative writing,” Ke says. According to Adams and Ke, Analysis of Writer’s Craft is extremely popular. The class continues to thrive in the hot summer and mild school months today. v verde magazine 29

[viewpoint]

Dear Mr. President My advice for Obama on how to fulfill our expectations text by ally messick art by emily wang

“Y

ou’re going to school today? But I bought a carrot cake.” My mom’s excited and eager voice greeted me on the day of Obama’s inauguration. I could not believe that my mom actually wanted me to stay home from school and watch television. As the day progressed, all I could hear was chatter about the new presidency. Tickets for the inauguration had sold for more than $20,000 on eBay, Americans were considered cool again in France, and white men everywhere were wishing they could play basketball. The nation seemed in love — obsessed even — with Barack Obama. We had good reason to be excited; after all, that Tuesday had finally come. It was the day an African American would become the president of the United States. People of my mom’s generation could still recall the discrimination African Americans faced only 40 years ago. Obama’s inauguration showed everyone just how much our country had changed. With Obama becoming president, people of all different races gained a new sense of hope. Caught up in all the excitement, I could not help wondering whether our expectations of Obama are too great for any man to meet. Can one man really solve all our nation’s problems? People are expecting Obama to withdraw troops from Iraq, quickly “win” the war in Afghanistan, eliminate the huge budget deficit, and of course revive our troubled economy. The kind of economic problems Obama faces have not been seen in 70 years; it seems that this would be a tough task even for the most experienced man to tackle. And, while Obama’s promises are vast, his experience is lacking. Obama’s two years in the Senate may not have taught him how to rescue our country’s whole financial system. And what if he knows the action to take, the country is ready, but he still cannot persuade Congress to meet his agenda? New conflicts could arise even after he is certain about what the country needs. The president has top notch financial and political advisors working with him, but if I ever got the chance to speak with Obama , here’s what I would tell him: first, keep making bold political choices. 30 verde magazine

As more and more Americans lose their jobs, our country does not have time for timid moves. Although some groups feel we have already spent too much money on the bailout, others believe we have just touched the surface. No matter what you do, your choices are destined to upset a certain group. You cannot worry about keeping your record high-popularity; you need to make decisive choices with the economy’s interest in mind. Second, prioritize. While it is important that you continue to remember all the promises you made on the campaign trail, we cannot expect you to fulfill every promise immediately. According to the Obamameter Web site that tracks how well you are executing those 500 promises you made on the campaign trail, you kept six of the promises in your first two weeks of office. The Web site also states that you “broke” a promise by not allowing five days of public comment before you approved a bill. While I do not condone wholesale promise-breaking, you should not let what you have previously said restrict your leadership. Your job as president is to decide what is best for our country right now, even if that means breaking a promise or two. Most importantly, you need to keep up the positive and hopeful mood that you evoked on the campaign trail. With businesses and companies closing down, people losing their jobs, and house prices tanking, the American spirit is at an all-time low. Only with your positive attitude will we be able to accomplish what needs to be done. After all, you have already proven that you have the ability to unite and inspire people, a quality needed in these times of turmoil. You also have shown that you can easily get the whole world’s attention, while restoring the nation’s image. Lastly, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for what you have already helped us accomplish as a nation. You proved to me that our country is capable of more than I had ever thought possible. We should not just be proud of you for getting elected, but we should be proud of the barriers we crossed as a people in order to elect you. Even if you do not fully meet these high expectations we have set for you, that will not lessen what we as a nation have already done. v

[campus]

Hairing is Caring Paly girls donate hair to children with medical issues text by natalie lin photo courtesy of carrie adams

aly sophomore Carrie Adams waits nervously in a chair in her living room. She runs her fingers through her long hair before tying the locks in a tight braid. As her heart thumps sporadically against her chest, her eyes follow the gleam of scissors inching towards her hair. She squeezes her eyes shut as she hears the faint snip, snip. As she peeks through one eye, she sees her long blonde braid of hair in her mother’s hand. Adams, along with many other Paly students, decided to participate in Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides human hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss. The organization focuses on returning a sense of self, confidence, and normalcy. After donating to Locks of Love when she was in second grade, Adams was inspired to donate on three more occasions. Her second time was during the summer before fifth grade and her third donation was at the end of seventh grade. Adam’s most recent cut was about a month ago. She initially heard about the organization through her father and was excited about the idea. “I just kept growing my hair out, so I kept donating,” Adams says. “It’s great to be able to look forward to something that’s going to happen in a couple years.” During her first Locks of Love haircut, Adams was terrified of losing her locks. However, she soon not only became fond of donating, but also fond of her short hair. She became confident and looks forward to donating again. “I think this organization is really fantastic because now people have a reason to chop off all their hair,” Adams says. Paly junior Claire Cooper has also recently participated in Locks of Love. Cooper went to Juut, a high-end salon located in downtown

Palo Alto, where haircuts intended for Locks of Love are free for any participant. Once the hair is cut, Juut takes care of the donated hair and ships it to Locks of Love. Many salons have contracts with Locks of Love, each giving free haircuts in exchange for donating hair. Junior Hanna Brody cut 12 inches off her hair at the beginning of her junior year. “I decided to do Locks of Love because it just felt good to know I was helping someone,” Brody says. “I know that to girls, hair is kind of part of who they are in a sense. I wanted someone else to feel good about themselves. I wanted a girl out there with a disease preventing her from having hair to be able to have more self-confidence.” However, snipping away her long locks was not so easy for Brody. Right before the moment of the haircut, Brody became hesitant and her “stomach was in knots.” “I literally almost started crying because it was going to be such a huge change,” Brody says. “But soon I got used to [short hair] and felt accomplished and proud.” Even though Locks of Love was not a life-changing experience for Brody, she feels that she has gained a sense of selflessness. “It makes me feel amazing that I have changed a girl’s life,” Brody says. “I hope that anyone who can [donate to Locks of Love] would because the feeling of changing someone’s life for the better is truly incredible.” v Photos: From left to right: 15-year-old Carrie Adams measures her hair before her major haircut; Adams holds up her 10-inchlong braid after her haircut at home, during the summer before fifth grade; young second-grader Adams smiles after her first haircut for Locks of Love. verde magazine 31

[short]

Inside the office of... Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson allowed Verde an exclusive look into his office. Here are his favorite items:

Jerry Berkson text by shoshana gould photography by megan mitchell

1. Coat rack: “I have a bunch of ties underneath all the clothes,” Berkson says. “They’re in case someone important comes in.”

2 2. Thank-you card: After Berkson “fixed something” for Data Processor Lue Phelps, he recieved a thank-you card. “I made her happy,” Berkson says.

3. Ceramic gnome: “Frenchie was given to me by a student,” Berkson says. “It’s been here for years.”

4 32 verde magazine

4. Recycling bin: Being the “head liason” for Paly’s Green Team has revived Berkson’s interest of recycling. “My garbage is down 50 percent,” Berkson says.

5. Breathalyzer certificate: “The worst part about breathalyzing is all the kids breathing all over me,” Berkson says. “I have to buy a gallon of Purell.” Notice it isn’t signed...

[spectum]

Demanding Diversity New UC policies have pros and cons for Paly class of 2012 text by ally messick and sarah jacobs photography by ally messick

lass of 2012 freshmen may face new challenges in getting students will be on course in their completion of all of their “a-g” into a University of California campus as a result of the re- requirements by senior year, according to Vazquez. “Students who have not completed 11 of their ‘a-g’ classes by cent changes in the university’s admissions policies. The changes, approved by the UC Board of Regents Feb. 5, their junior year will not necessarily be denied admission,” Vazquez introduces three major changes: applicants will no longer be required says. “The policy was made to encourage students to stay on track to submit SAT II subject tests when applying to UC schools, students with their required courses, but it depends on the situation.” The need for 11 of the 15 required “a-g” classes to be done by will have to complete 11 of their 15 “a-g” course requirements by the end of their junior year, and only the top 9 percent of students in the end of junior year may negatively impact Paly students who need the state, as opposed to the current 12.5 percent, will be guaranteed to repeat classes to fulfill eligibility requirements. Paly College and Career Center advisor Sandra Cernobori believes that there will be admission to a UC. Previously, each student had to complete a minimum of two less time for students to fulfill graduation requirements. “Some students will delay taking graduation requirements like subject tests and did not have time restrictions regarding their “a-g” requirements, as long as they completed the required 15 by their high Career/TechED and Living Skills classes until senior year [because of this new requirement],” Cernobori school graduation. says. The UC policy outline Another aspect of the new explains that the changes were policy will grant only the top 9 made in hopes of lessening percent of California high school emphasis on test scores and grades, students automatic admission and more on the individual person. to a UC. A high number of With the elimination of the SAT Paly students fell in the top 12.5 II tests, students who were not percent of California applicants. previously eligible will now be The new reduction in guaranteed able to apply to UCs, according admissions may adversely affect to the new policy outline. This Paly students, according to will increase the number of Cernobori. “It worries me that students qualifying for “selective fewer high-achieving Paly students review,” the process of choosing will receive those admissions,” applicants based on more factors Cernobori says. than simply numbers and grades, Some Paly freshmen feel that according the University of the removal of the SAT II test will California Office of the President Web site. SAT Prep A student studies for SATs. Dropping the SAT II not affect them because they still One of the primary motives subject test leave more time to focus on other requirements. would take the test in order to apply to private universities. for the changes in the policy was to “I would take the SAT II’s anyway,” Paly freshmen Aaron Zelinger encourage minority students and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who otherwise would be ineligible, to apply. Ricardo says. “I want to keep my options open.” Dropping the subject tests might be helpful in that less time will Vazquez, a member of the University of California Board of Regents, says the changes will encourage a wider and more diverse pool of be spent preparing for testing while applying to a UC. “Perhaps if the UC stops using the subject tests, some other applicants. “The University of California feels that the new policy is more schools which now require them may follow suit,” Cernobori says. Although the changes may adversely affect Paly students, many fair and will not decrease the standards of UCs, but will allow more high-achieving students to be considered and given the opportunity feel the changes will not greatly impact them. “It shouldn’t matter that Paly students may be affected,” senior Marie Lefebvre says. “Anything to succeed at a university,” Vazquez says. The new “a-g” requirements change is designed to ensure that that makes the process easier [for minority students] is good.” v verde magazine 33

The stories of two victims of violence and their struggle for freedom text by asha albuquerque art by emily wang

n a Friday night late last year, Maya, a stay-at-home mom in her 30s, is dreading her husband Carl’s return. At 2 a.m., Carl finally returns after a night shift as a taxi driver in Santa Clara. He arrives intoxicated and enraged after stopping at a bar. For Maya, this is ordinary and expected. But this time is not like the other times. After Carl beats her and her children repeatedly that night, Maya has finally had enough. She gathers her children, walks out of the house, and dials 911. After the police arrive, Carl is arrested and Maya calls the Maitri domestic violence hotline. Liberated of her abusive husband, Maya now looks to a life as an independent, self-sufficient single woman. With the aid and advice of Maitri, Maya will never be forced to depend on Carl again. Maitri, based in San Francisco, is one of over a dozen organizations in the Bay Area focused on aiding victims of domestic violence. Although Maitri deals primarily with victims of South-Asian descent, Maya’s struggle is universal. For the past few months, Maya, who like all domestic victims in this article wishes to be anonymous for privacy reasons, had met with Maitri volunteer Tej Singh. Singh has volunteered in domestic violence outreach organizations through the Mid-Peninsula Support Network. She has worked at Maitri for over 30 years and had used her home in Palo Alto as a safe house for 17 of them. According to Singh, since the 1970s the number of cases and the causes of domestic violence have not changed, yet there are increasing numbers of people seeking help. Despite more open discussion of domestic violence, the road to freedom is not always easy. “Nobody talked about [domestic violence] before, nobody sought help about it before, no one felt like they could talk about it and get help,” Singh says. Editors Note: Tej Singh, a volunteer at Maitri, a support organization for victims of domestic violence recalls Maya’s struggle for freedom after years suffering from domestic abuse. Maya does not speak English so Singh has translated all details of Maya’s experience. According to Singh, Maya’s story is a typical narrative of a victim of domestic violence. 34 verde magazine

Laura Guthridge, a volunteer at the Support Network for Battered Women in Sunnyvale, agrees that more women are seeking help. According to Guthridge, the Support Network answered 6,208 crisis calls in 2008 and sheltered 247 women and children. Maya’s call to Maitri immediately after Carl’s arrest was one of many crisis calls. According to Singh, Maya’s case is unusual due to the reasons behind Carl’s abuse. “Her husband gets drunk, comes home, beats the kids, pulls them by the hair, pulls her hair, throws them from room to room,” Sing says. “Her husband knows he drinks, he knows it’s a problem, but he can’t stop.” Through their calls, Singh informed Maya of the available options including obtaining a restraining order, divorcing her husband, and gaining exclusive custody of her children. However, the immediate concern was available housing at a shelter for Maya and her three children, ages 11, 13 and 15. None of the shelters in the Bay Area had space for four people.

[spectrum] In the meantime, Singh placed Maya and her family in a hotel. For the next few weeks, Singh filled out paperwork, filed a restraining order with the San Jose Supreme Court, and looked for an apartment for Maya. “I couldn’t find any apartment to take her because either her income was too low or they didn’t allow four people in one room,” Singh says. Fortunately, Singh finally found a generous family willing to accept a lower rent for an apartment. Maya is currently in the process of divorcing Carl. To some extent, Carl maintains contact with Maya and their kids. He will continue to do so until a final custody arrangement is established. “He still drives his taxi,” Singh says. “Some weekends he comes to pick up the kids, some weekends he doesn’t bother.” However, Maya has no desire to go back to Carl. For the first time in her life, she is learning to live as an independent woman. Like Maya, there are hundreds of women throughout the country struggling to break away from abusive situations. According to Singh and Guthridge, they come from every race, culture, and class. “The rate of violence is pretty stable across time and across sections of society,” Guthridge says. Diana, a divorced survivor of domestic violence, agrees that violence transcends class and economic barriers. “I always thought that violence was something that happened with poor, uneducated people,” she says. Diana’s husband, John, was a Stanford graduate. From the early days of their marriage, Diana experienced emotional, verbal, sexual, physical, and financial abuse. According to Diana, John constantly belittled her and said nothing she did was ever right. “He constantly called me a good-for-nothing,” Diana says. At first, Diana had no idea she was in a violent situation; she didn’t know what domestic violence meant. “The [abusers] tell you everything is your fault,” Diana says. “You love the person and you believe, ‘maybe there is some truth to what this person is saying, maybe it really is my fault.’” Diana struggled to find a rationale for John’s behavior. He never drank or smoke. Although he did have a bad temper, she figured that a lot of husbands did as well. Diana felt that John showed one face to the world and another to her. Although physical abuse was infrequent in the early years of the marriage, it was expected later on. “He was very smart,” Diana says. “He would say to me, ‘I will never hit you on your face because then the world will see and I will never hit your stomach because then you may have internal bleeding and I will have to drive you to the hospital.’” Instead, John beat Diana on her arms and legs. Diana wore long sleeves and long pants to work in order to cover the bruise marks. John also abused Maya financially. “He never let me have a bank account or checkbook,” Diana says. “He had my paychecks deposited in his account.” When she received a promotion at work, John was furious and he forced Diana to quit her job. Aside from financial abuse, Diana also suffered from mental abuse as well. John was convinced that Diana suffered form psychotic episodes. He coerced Diana into seeing a psychiatrist in spite of her admonitions that she was mentally stable. “This was the red flag,” she says. “A normal husband would be

“The [abusers] tell you everything is your fault. You love the person and you believe, ‘maybe there is some truth to what this person is saying, maybe it really is my fault.’ ” —Diana, Silicon Valley victim of domestic violence

glad when a psychiatrist finds that there is nothing wrong with you; [John] was extremely unhappy and violent.” Diana first considered her situation to be abusive after learning about domestic violence from her marital therapist. A friend later referred her to Maitri’s hotline. Diana found all the signs of domestic violence in her relationship with John. Talking to Maitri helped put the wheels in motion for Diana’s freedom. It had gotten to the point where the mental abuse was so bad that she wanted out. She told John that she wanted to visit relatives overseas and left the country. Upon her return, relatives picked Diana up from the airport and provided her with a place to stay. The relatives’ phone number was blocked from caller identification and John had no information about the whereabouts of his wife. “My family was incredibly devastated that John’s treatment was so inhumane,” Diana says. “They were supportive, as it was evident that he wanted to leave me high and dry.” On the other hand, John’s family was furious and blamed Diana for all of their marital problems. With the aid of the police, Diana invoked civil standby and had a police escort to retrieve her belongings. Seventy-five percent of their shared belongings were missing from the home but John’s stun gun was ready and loaded. Thankfully, the police confiscated the gun and John was silent during the entire proceedings. The divorce took over a year to complete but Diana is finally free. She has not contacted John since that final day in court when they signed the terms of the divorce. He emailed her on her birthday last year, but Diana believes it is too dangerous to see him. “It’s very common for victims not to have the courage to leave,” Diana says. “You’re miserable, but in a sense you’re in a comfort zone; if you leave you don’t know what will happen.” Diana has moved on after a seven-year marriage. She has a new job and shares a condominium with a friend. She keeps herself busy through singing in her church choir and hiking with friends. Singh knows that cases when the women finally have the courage to leave are rare. “Sometimes [the victims] call you every two years to talk about the violence they experience but they choose to remain in the relationship,” Singh says. “Our job is not to tell them what to do, our job is to tell them the options, and sometimes they don’t take the option of leaving.” Although, overall the rates of violence in the Bay Area has remained static, organizations like Maitri and the Support Network succeed through providing advice and shelter to women in need. “The organization has succeeded by being there for the victims,” Guthridge says. “Domestic violence was something taboo; people didn’t want talk about it, people ignored it.” Thanks to the existence of organizations like Maitri, countless women like Maya and Diana are finally free. v verde magazine 35

[short]

What’s your favorite pick-up line? “I wish you were a hyperbola so I could snuggle up to your curves.”

Brendan Ward, senior u

“Do you have a map because I just got lost in your eyes.”

Haley Vertelney, junior u

Joshua Gould, t junior

Sai Boddupalli, senior t

“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put U and I together.”

“Are you a terrorist? Because, baby, you’re the bomb.” Zayla Williams freshman u

“Do your feet hurt? Because you’ve been running through my mind all day.” interviews by sydney lundgren photography by sydney lundgren 36 verde magazine

Claire Cooper, junior u

“Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?”

[viewpoint]

Ride on the Magic Prom Bus Principal’s new prom plan is best for us text by emily hamilton art by emily hamilton and emily wang

s we have all heard (and yelled about) by now, Principal Jacqueline McEvoy has made yet another controversial decision. She decided that having every prom-goer take a bus instead of a limo to the April event would be a more practical and thoughtful plan. Upon this announcement, the student body went into the kind of uproar that has been avoided for most of this school year, an outrage reminiscent of last year’s bell schedule debacle and the breathalyzer frenzy. And though the debate over studentadministration communication persists, this time, I believe McEvoy may have done something right. “There are families in our community who now have to make tough financial choices about what they can and cannot afford,” McEvoy said in her Feb. 5 letter to Paly parents. “We want to make sure that we have done everything we can to be as supportive as we can in these tough economic times. We also want to ensure that all of our activities are as inclusive as possible.” While I understand that taking a limousine is as much a part of our conception of “prom” as dressing up, getting hair and nails done and buying corsages/boutonnieres, it is important to realize the validity of McEvoy’s point. The cost of the limo, though, yes, many of us are fortunate enough to afford it, does create a disparity between students of different economic backgrounds. I can’t speak for others, but I know that I would feel alienated if people were taking limos and I couldn’t afford to do so. As part of a so-called progressive and accepting community, we should be understanding in the decision to promote equity among students. Moreover, many local high schools implement a bus-only policy for their proms; many believe that the busses even add to the fun of the event. Instead of seeing the busses as mandatory, rain-on-our-parade busses, we should see them as “party busses.” Besides eliminating the (socio)economic rift, a larger more inclusive transportation vehicle could actually promote class unity, something that seems to be lacking at our school. It would be far too unrealistically idealistic for me to hope that our soon-to-be prom vehicles are really magic school busses that can unify the entire senior class and solve all of the United States’ societal habits, but they could be one step in the right direction. At least now you don’t have to choose between your best friend and your date. I may be criticized for agreeing with — what is called by some — our over-bearing, totalitarian, unfair, irrational administration, but

I believe there are advantages and disadvantages to every situation and that it is important to consider the trade-off maturely. As all seniors should know by now, analyzing trade-offs involves weighing the opportunity costs of your various options. In this case, we have a fairly simple juxtaposition: feeling less-than-fancy for 45 minutes versus coming across as spoiled Palo Alto brats. You pick. I’ll agree that riding in limousines to prom is somewhat of a Paly tradition. Most of us can’t imagine a time when prom wasn’t an event to gather with our dates and closest friends and ride in a vehicle usually reserved for the red carpet. But traditions change. When our parents were in high school, they would go to their school on Prom Saturday with the rest of their class to decorate the gym. They would then go home and get dressed, wait for their dates to pick them up, warmly receive their send-offs from their parents, and make their way to campus to celebrate the close of their high school careers. Clearly, traditions change. Furthermore, the environmental impact of multiple limos driving to the same location should be enough to persuade students to accept the decision. You might argue that this one night won’t incur serious damage to the Earth, but this is one small choice we can make to lessen our carbon footprint. Just the other day I had this discussion with my friends: how much can we really do to save the environment? One of my friends, who, over the past year, has become increasingly devoted to the tree-hugger cause, stated plainly, “We should do everything we can. This,” she said referring to recycling, “is something well within our power to do.” Carpooling to prom may seem like an insignificant favor for the planet, but it is easy. It’s the least we can do for our shared environment, and it is well within our power to do. As a junior, I enjoyed getting into my white stretch limo, feeling glamorous, loving that my ride fit the occasion. I remember hoping that night that senior prom would be even more special, as I know many of you did as well. But I didn’t lose that hope when McEvoy made her decision. (Ironically, now the only thing that threatens my prom is that the rest of my class might not show up.) Instead, McEvoy’s choice made me think about those in our student body who may not have been able to share in the thrill of the limo ride, or who might not have been able to attend prom at all because of the high costs. Especially because prom is supposed to be a unifying event that culminates the near-close of a year at Paly, I think it is important to strive for the highest level of inclusiveness we can. v verde magazine 37

Palo Alto composting faces uphill battle text by sarah jacobs photography by julia singleton

he rolling hills of Byxbee Park stretch toward the bay, Bryan Long, a sustainability educator and Palo Alto resident, slightly hazy in the distance. The grass, a vibrant, emerald acknowledges the difficulty of the issue. green since the last rain, ripples in the breeze. It’s a beauti“It’s a division in the environmentalist community,” Long says. ful and idyllic scene. But just over the hill, there is a vastly different “On one hand is the desire for local municipal composting, and on spectacle. It is the Palo Alto Composting Facility, part of the Palo the other is the commitment made years ago to turn the landfill site Alto Landfill and the source of a brewing controversy over what will into parkland.” become of the facility after the land is scheduled to be turned into The Palo Alto City Council has discussed the issue for months, protected parkland next year. yet it has not reached agreeA history of safety violations ment. Although there are countand fires suggests to some that less possible solutions, each one the composting system needs seems to impinge on one group to be rethought completely, not of environmentalists or another. just moved to a new area. In the absence of an agreeTo preserve open space, the ment, the council appointed a Palo Alto City Council voted to task force on Jan. 12, accordturn the current site of the coming to Council Member Greg posting facility that borders the Schmid. The task force will bay, west of Highway 101, into research and look further into parkland. That much is clear. other possibilities. After the Task Less clear is what happens next. Force convenes for an expected Nearly everyone involved in six months or so, it will make its the issue, from environmentalrecommendations to the counists to city council members to cil. business owners, has their own One solution might be reloGobbling up compost The “wood hog” is used to grind green idea of how to solve the probcating the facility to another area material so that it can be piled in windrows to decompose lem of where to put Palo Alto’s of parkland. The council discompost and how to run it. It’s cussed eliminating all parklands a green-on-green clash, a breech between the different sectors of the from consideration, but ultimately decided that this would unduly environmental world. restrict the task force, according to Palo Alto Online. It is of the utmost importance to some not to build on parkland, According to Bob Wenzlau, the father of two Paly students and but at the same time, others are fiercely opposed to ending the com- the Chief Executive Officer of Terradex, a company that helps deal posting program. There are several possible new sites for the facility, with contaminated properties, one venue that has been proposed for but each has its drawbacks. It is next to impossible to find land for the facility’s new location is the land directly surrounding the Water a composting operation, largely due to the odor and dust particles Treatment Plant. This site is just down the road from the current released during the composting process. location in the landfill, and because it is relatively out of the way and

38 verde magazine

[spectrum]

Mud pies These are three of the six, 300 foot-long open-air piles called windrows that make up Palo Alto’s current composting system at the southern tip of the Palo Alto landfill. The compost decomposes here for six months. removed from residential districts, it would incur fewer objections threat to those in the surrounding area, especially people with asthma than virtually any other place in Palo Alto. or other respiratory concerns. Nevertheless, the area around the plant is still parkland, and us“Bioaerosols make the land for acres around unusable,” Schmid ing up parkland goes against the idea of preservation. says, “In our case beautiful hills overlooking the bay and the land” “I think that as long as we are using our current system of com- Furthermore, the current composting operation has had a history posting, it should not be in parkland,” Schmid says. of California Integrated Waste Management Board violations, acApart from parkland, there are very few cording to Palo Alto Online. On July 16, an sites within the city that would be suitable inspection revealed that the windrows were for a composting center, according to Wenover 12 feet in places, too high for CIWMB zlau. standards. It was also too hot, above 180 de“We’ve been selling off land we need for grees Fahrenheit, inside the windrows. The sustainability,” Wenzlau says. whole system was also about 17 tons too On the other hand, most agree that the heavy. Barely a week after the inspection, a city’s composting is too vital to discontinue. fire broke out at the site and firefighters were “Composting is a very important aspect forced to work for days to extinguish it. of a sustainable community — a fundamenHowever, replacing the current system — Bryan Long, sustainability educator tal responsibility,” Long says. with a more modern one would involve exAnother possible solution is to transport tensive funding and research, according to the organic matter to another town’s composting facility, according Schmid. One of the more feasible new technologies that could be to Long. This would be no mean feat however, due to the immense used is called “in-vessel,” and involves sealing the compost in enorquantity of organic material processed at the facility. According to mous steel vessels. This process is faster, requires less space, and has the Palo Alto City Manager Department report on the issue, about fewer health hazards. 21,000 tons of green material is processed there each year. In addition to new forms of technology, individual efforts on the In addition, the trucking necessary to transport the compost part of Palo Alto citizens can contribute to a more effective system. would significantly increase the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Schmid says we can all pitch in by doing our own backyard compostA further facet to the dilemma is the technology used at the ing. Palo Alto Compost System. Schmid says there is certainly room for “If we want to be green and to take green seriously, it’s a good improvement within the current composting method, and as a result, idea for people to do some composting individually,” Schmid says. “It the task force will consider an array of possible improvements to the would take a big chunk out of our current system.” system. Some of these technologies are quite promising, while othAlthough this composting dilemma has caused a rift in Palo ers have less appeal because of cost restraints or lack of conclusive Alto’s environmental community, Wenzlau sees opportunity in the research, according to Schmid. present quagmire. Currently, the compost is trucked in and piled in long, open-air “What inspires me is that we have an intersection between enviwindrows to decompose. According to Schmid, the compost releases ronmental preservation and sustainability,” Wenzlau says. “I’m hopbioaerosols, tiny floating particles, into the air. This can pose a health ing we can generate an outcome where both sides can be happy.” v

“Composting is a very important aspect of a sustainable community — a fundamental responsibility.”

verde magazine 39

[short]

Debbie Whitson Paly Economics teacher Debbie Whitson sits down with Verde to tell us about her favorite teaching moment, her two daughters and what she thinks of Gossip Girl. Why did you decide to become a teacher? I was always a quiet observer who could find commonalities between people to bring people together. People told me that I had a natural talent for teaching and I finally decided to pursue it. What is your teaching philosophy? I believe in creating an environment in the classroom where students are comfortable interacting with each other and the teacher. I like to use a variety of teaching methods to make learning enjoyable, motivating the students to learn. Any favorite teaching moments? Catching Mr. Feinberg’s friend with a beer can in my class when Mr. Feinburg was at a Paly. What’s it like having your daughters’ friends in your classes? For the most part, it’s great. If it were a boyfriend in my class, I’d have to remember to keep my mouth shut. I’ve almost felt like I’ve been spying on people. I know what parties happened over the weekend and which kids got in trouble. I have to pretend like I don’t know. Why is it important for our generation to be aware of how our economy functions? It’s important to be able to manage your own lifestyle. Your own daily life involves all aspects of economics like time and money. It also helps you become aware of consumer behavior and how it affects your own lifestyle. Finally, as part of your role in a democracy, it helps for you to understand economics. What do you do in your spare time? I play tennis and swim. I played singles and doubles at Lewis and Clark College, and I am still in the sports Hall of Fame there. What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done? I traveled all over western Europe for six weeks by myself right after college. Back then there was no internet or cell phone, so my parents didn’t have the ability to check in on me. I didn’t have a set plan where to go so I just traveled around to six different countries. What do you think about Gossip Girl? My gut is that it’s pretty trashy. I don’t have the patience to watch TV. It’s good for a boring day, but you need reality. If you watch too much of it, it will corrupt your mind. Do you have a celebrity crush? Can I say my husband Bruce Whitson? He’d like that. But, I guess, Robert Redford or Paul Newman. But they’re either dead or 80 years old. I’ll stick with my husband. Best advice you have ever received? “Bloom where you are planted.” It just means to make the best of whatever situation you are in. v verde magazine 41

Oscar Watch: What’s hot and what’s not Want to impress your friends? By reading our guide, you’ll be up-to-date on the films nominated for Best Picture at the Feb. 22 Academy Awards.

FROST/NIXON

“F

rost/Nixon” would not have been such a compelling political drama without the chemistry between Michael Sheen as TV host David Frost and Frank Langella as disgraced former president Richard Nixon. Add in director Ron Howard and his screenwriter Peter Morgan and you have an Oscar-worthy film. “Frost/ Nixon” is the story of the 1977 televised interviews between Frost and Nixon. At the beginning, Nixon sees the interviews as an easy way to earn back his reputation because he considers Frost an idiotic loser. Sheen plays Frost as a good-natured journalist who functions best as a person who can quickly relate to others. He seems to be able to analyze every sign projecting from Nixon’s tense figure and creased brow line. Langella portrays Nixon as a solitary man whose brooding aura makes him seem larger than life at times. But we are able to see the loneliness that Nixon experiences because of his inability to trust people who are not devoted allies. What truly connects the two actors is their ability to show deep feelings in subtle expressions that allow the audience to feel the characters’ emotions. These moments capture the idea that the connection Frost created with Nixon exposed Nixon for who he really was. Status: Hot v

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Merrick MortonParamount Pictures

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text by sydney lundgren

Ralph Nelson – Universal Pictures

he curious thing about the “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is that it has the ability to be moving, yet no piece of the film captures the attention of the audience. Though the movie has Oscarready actors, superb art direction, and sophisticated digital cinematography, there is a lack of emotion. The movie follows the life of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), a man who ages backwards. The adventures he experiences could be exciting but Pitt’s depressed expression refuses to change no matter what situation he is in. I was unworried about the fate of his character because of his inability to have any goals. The only apparent ambition that occupies Button’s life is his quest for a relationship with Daisy (Cate Blanchett), with whom he falls in love at first sight. The story line seemed to drag on for hours; I started to hope Button’s curious case would cause him to have a shorter life. “Benjamin Button” leaves the audience with the message that time is irrelevant, apparently even to directors. Status: Freezing Cold v

[viewpoint] Phil Bray - Focus Features

“M

ilk” opens with a montage of footage from the media coverage of the 1978 fatal shooting of San Francisco district supervisor and gay rights icon Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) by Dan White (Josh Brolin). But what is most riveting is Penn’s superb portrayal of Milk’s charismatic persona. Whenever Penn smiles, there is a subtle hint of sadness that lets the audience sympathize with Milk. Penn’s delivery of Milk’s signature line, “My name is Harvey Milk and I am here to recruit you,” exemplifies his commitment to getting citizens to become involved in his political movement. “Milk” is an inspiring story of a politician who went across political lines to fight for the rights of the gay community against unjust forces. Penn deserves an Oscar for his ability to capture the hearts of the audience and show the immense amount of soulful time and effort Milk gave to bring people together. Status: Flaming Hot v

hough “Slumdog Millionaire” revolves around the vivid portrayal of Mumbai, screenwriter Simon Beaufoy’s story line has the audience wondering about the fate of the protagonist, a teenage boy named Jamal (Dev Patel), who is a participant on India’s popular “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” TV show. British director Danny Boyle’s ability to tie together Jamal’s life experiences with his answers on the show allows the audience to experience a full range of universal emotions. Though Patel is young, his acting does not disrupt the emotional significance of the images of starving children dressed in rags and the dirty drinking waters of the river. “Slumdog Millionaire” gives us a reality check as we witness the harsh struggles of poverty through the eyes of strong teenage boy who believes that love can triumph after all. Status: Flaming Hot v

The Reader

Melinda Sue Gordon – The Weinstein Company

Inshika Mohan - Fox Searchlight

“T

he Reader” is different from other Holocaust films because it focuses on a criminal trail of a perpetrator, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). The affair that occurred between Schmitz and 15-year-old Michael Berg (David Kross) has haunted the older Michael (Ralph Fiennes) throughout his life for a very good reason. Kross does a mediocre job of portraying a man in love and does not convey a very impressive aura of hopelessness. Fiennes’s performance evokes a little more sympathy from the audience, but the movie runs on for so long that it is easy to forget his performance. The most compelling component is Winslet’s performance as she portrays a puzzling, yet completely human character. The movie leaves us pondering whether we should judge people by what is right by law or by our own moral values. Status: Lukewarm v

verde magazine 43

Palo Alto, but somehow Los Charros trumps them all. Translated as "The Cowboys," Los Charros beautifully creates a laid-back, sociable atmosphere with Mexican cultural undertones through its scenic murals and yellow and blue walls. Here, one can watch a rousing televised game of soccer, laugh loudly and unrestrainedly with a group of friends, or simply sit alone and read a newspaper. Like the atmosphere, the food is also genuine. The restaurant does not stray far from traditional Mexican food, serving the essential basics: burritos, tacos, nachos, and so on. Yet the freshness of the ingredients, the simplicity of each dish, and adherence to tradition make the food exceptional. A perfect example of this can be seen in the popular fajita plate ($9), which features an assortment of freshly grilled onions, green peppers, chicken, guacamole, warm beans, melted cheese, and plenty of hot flour and corn tortillas. The portion was almost enough for two people. Another superb dish is the burritos ($7), containing the usual tomatoes, beans, guacamole, vegetables, cheese, sour cream, and meat. Despite its traditional ingredients, somehow it tasted more flavorful than the typical burrito. Earlier fans of Rojoz will be pleased with Los Charros' burritos.

In addition, the nachos ($3) were also good, but not very different from the fresh tortilla chips served for free with two types of salsa. The nachos contained a pleasing pile of tortilla chips drowned in fresh guacamole, tomato salsa, sour cream and cheese. Los Charros is an ideal place for students. It may be difficult to locate parking in the busy Castro District, but aside from its rather inconvenient location, the low prices and friendly environment make Los Charros worthwhile. v

an asthetically displeasing environment, this 30-year-old business relies on its fast service, popular food items, and cheap prices to lure its customers. Known as Cho’s, this local business is often confused with the well-known national Chinese fast-food chain, Mr. Chow’s. However, long before the arrival of fast-food chains and expensive restaurants, owner Cho Yu and his wife began selling homemade dim sum dishes 20 years ago at a small space on California Avenue in Palo Alto. The business has since developed a strong following among Stanford students and business workers, according to Yu. Those accustomed to the more traditional restaurant experience may be turned off by the informal, laid-back system at Cho’s. Nevertheless, hungry, budget-constrained teenagers will most likely not mind. The restaurant’s one and only menu is plastered above the cash register and is limited to five well-known dim sum dishes: pot 44 verde magazine

[viewpoint]

text by melanie maemura photography by claire heritier-kerby and melanie maemura

grilled vegetables can be smelled yards away from this quaint restaurant nestled among the row of businesses on California Avenue. Eating at Mediterranean Wraps is an experience in itself. Vivid murals depicting the beautiful scenery of the Mediterranean countryside cover the walls of the small dining area, and upbeat ethnic music is always played. Mediterranean Wraps has an informal set-up in which customers place their order with the chef, who then begins to cook the dish. They then walk to the end of the counter to order refreshments and desserts, and to pay for the entire meal. While waiting for the food, customers watch the chef in action: chopping, grilling and wrapping. Knowing my food was fresh added to its deliciousness! The restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speciality falafels, fried balls made of spiced fava beans and chickpeas, can be served on a dish (Falafel Plate $7.99) or in a wrap (Falafel Wrap $6.15) and are especially delicious. However, the wrap is a bit inconvenient as it can create a mess. The restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special lentil soup ($3.25 per cup, $5.99 per bowl), served with pita bread, was absolutely superb. The warm blend of fresh lentil beans, vegetable broth and hint of lemon and cumin was very flavorful and surprisingly filling for a soup. The vegetarian combination plate ($8.95) was quite a deal, containing a myriad of ethnic foods: hummus, falafels, tabouleh,

stickers (chicken, pork, or beef ), steamed-buns (meat, plain, or sweet), dumplings (shrimp, meat, or vegetable), egg rolls (meat or vegetarian) and a variety of soups. After placing their order and paying, customers must find their own table in the cramped eating space. After about five or so orders, either Yu or his wife begins cooking the dishes from scratch, and Yu then hobbles over to each customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s table to deliver the food. According to Yu, the pan-fried potstickers ($5 for 6) are the most popular dish. I found the skin of the potstickers delightfully crunchy and the meat very tender and juicy. While the dish was a little too greasy for my liking, it was still satisfying and very filling. Another dish similar to the potstickers are the dumplings that are served scorching hot. Instead of being pan-fried, they are steamed and contain a warm flavorful liquid. The dumplings were not at all greasy and tasted very homemade. The steam-buns ($1 for 1 or $2.50 for 3), served straight

baba ghanoush, and dolmas. The plate was more than enough for one person! A wide variety of traditional sweets are available for after dinner. My favorite was the bavkla ($2.50) that came in chocolate, walnut, pistachio. However, it was very expensive considering its rather small size. For under $10, one can easily come away with a yummy yet healthy meal. v homemade french fries ($3) kufta kabab plate ($9)

433 S California Ave Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 321-8189

from the steamer, were equally delicious and absolutely flawless. The steamed white dough was warm and fluffy, perfectly complementing the sweet Chinese-style barbecue pork inside. I find them best eaten hot. The wonton soup, however, was not so tasty. The wontons were decent, but the soup lacked flavor. Seating is very limited, especially during lunch hours, and is on a first-come-first-served basis. Service and customer-friendliness is inadequate as only Yu and his wife run the restaurant, but the pace of the service is not affected. Most teenagers would be content with the food as the meals are reasonably priced and very filling. v

verde magazine 45

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[spectrum]

With help from the Opportunity Center, Annamae Thomas rises above the cycle of poverty

text by sophie cornfield and whitney drazovich photography by julia singleton

nnamae Thomas’ cluttered, one-bedroom apartment at the Opportunity Center in Palo Alto can barely accommodate company. Stuffed with essentials such as a mini refrigerator, a collapsible clothing rack and a television set crammed in the corner, the apartment is reminiscent of a college dormitory, not the residence of a 56-year-old. However, because Thomas has spent a portion of her life living under a bridge, she says this lifestyle has been sufficient. Nonetheless, after two years at the Opportunity Center working towards a better life, Thomas is ready to move on, like many clients who have been removed from the cycle of poverty with the help of the Opportunity Center and InnVision. Originally called The San Jose Urban Ministry, InnVision was founded in 1973 by nine churches to combat the rising numbers of homeless people in the Bay Area. In partnership with three other organizations in the area, InnVision opened the Opportunity Center nearly two years ago. According to the center’s Web site, Palo Alto offered only basic services to its homeless population prior to the opening of the center. Today, access to an apartment, food, medical care and the guidance of a case manager has allowed Thomas and

A Happy Home Annamae Thomas moved to the Opportunity Center two years ago. Since then, she is pleased with her new life. With the help of the center, she will soon be able to rent her own apartment in Sunnyvale.

nearly 90 others each day to get back on their feet. According to a Verde article written in 2006, the center faced both trepidation and excitement from the Palo Alto community. But since then the Opportunity Center has become one of Palo Alto’s great prides. Thomas’ journey and others like it attest to the great success of the center as an agent of progress for Palo Alto. Hearing Thomas’ specific challenges highlights the need for support for others like her struggling to overcome their difficult circumstances. Born in San Jose and raised in Fremont, Thomas has lived in California her whole life, moving around the Bay Area sporadically. Because Thomas never developed the necessary skill set for selfsufficiency, she spent years struggling with poverty. “It was a circle of surviving to live and living to survive,” Thomas says. “I lived in a bunch of cities, just areas where I knew I would be able to find a place to live.” With only a high school diploma, Thomas married her first husband at the age of 18. “I was just out of high school and I did not know anything better,” Thomas says. “Let’s just say he was very old-fashioned in verde magazine 47

the morning, I would take her [Teresa] to a park where terms of ‘You can’t drive, you can’t go out.’ He wouldn’t we could shower for a dollar.” even give me money, and sometimes he hit me.” During this period, Thomas searched for permanent After nine years of marriage and three children, housing around the Bay Area, but never remained Thomas had finally had enough. stationary for long. “I am lost on what happened from “I was fed-up,” Thomas says. “I was young, and I then on,” she says. “It was all a blur.” guess I didn’t realize that I should stick with it.” About two years ago, Thomas was directed Because Thomas’ ex-husband was financially well off, to the Opportunity Center, where she started to he was able to hire an attorney and private investigator to receive counseling and guidance from one of the case gain custody of their children. managers. “I didn’t know where to get help,” Thomas says. “Living here [the Opportunity Center] is so good,” “There may have been help, but it was not easily Thomas says. “I am so thankful that I can live here.” accessible, not like today.” As Thomas finishes her treatment at the Opportunity In the midst of these custody battles, Thomas met Center, she says she sees a great improvement in her life her second husband. as a result of her time there. “I was always falling in love before I knew [the “It is a wonderful program,” Thomas says. “I get man],” Thomas says. “I was insecure. I didn’t even know to see the doctor, I do volunteer work and I am taking myself. I guess I was always trying to make him happy.” a cool class. It is such a nice place, Soon after marrying her second I love it.” husband, a pregnant Thomas was “I would pick up the Thomas also recognizes the grocery shopping with her three young girls from school, and benefits the center has for drop-in children when they were taken from homeless clients. “Everything is in her by a private investigator hired by we would go panone location for them, everything her first husband. From this point on, handle to pay for that from laundry to showers,” Thomas Thomas has had little or no contact night’s dinner” says. with the three children from her first - Annamae Thomas InnVision also offers countless marriage, she says. other benefits. According to Jill “I used to go see them, but then I Dawson, a case manager who has lost my car and it got difficult,” Thomas says. worked at the Opportunity Center for almost a year and While Thomas was devastated, she did not allow a half, lockers are available to the homeless for up to a this tragedy to define her. three-month period. “You just have to work through it and move on,” “If you can imagine, being homeless you carry all Thomas says. “Some people carry the pain in their heart that you own around with you,” Dawson says. with them and never advance. I couldn’t just let that In addition, a communal gathering area allows happen.” residents and homeless to refine their social skills, giving During her second marriage, Thomas started to them an opportunity to mingle. experiment with marijuana. InnVision has provided Thomas with basic services “I started smoking marijuana with my second that most people take for granted: a steady address, a husband, and after he threw me out, it only got worse,” set income, friends, and educational opportunities. Thomas says. “Then I started drinking, and then binge These amenities have enabled Thomas to be sober for drinking.” 13 years. Despite it all, Thomas still remained the primary With so much help, Thomas is ready to move on caretaker for her two young children from her second to better things in her life. “It is really nice to live here, marriage. Stephanie Castillo, one of Thomas’ daughters, but it is too small,” Thomas says. “My refrigerator is acknowledges both her mother’s hard work and struggle. tiny, and there is hardly any room for my grandchildren “We never had much, but she always found a way,” when they come to visit.” Castillo says. “She always fed, clothed and took care of Thomas has made arrangements to lease a oneus. There was always food on the table.” bedroom apartment in Sunnyvale. Even though Castillo did not grow up with a typical “I am so excited to have my own kitchen, my own childhood, there was still some routine in her schedule. space,” Thomas says. “It really will be great.” “I would pick up the girls from school, and we After over 20 years of struggle, it seems as if Thomas would go pan-handle to pay for that night’s dinner,” has finally achieved her goal. Thomas says. “Then we would go do our laundry at the “It’s amazing to see how far I have come,” Thomas local laundry mat. Stephanie would sleep at a friend’s says. v while Teresa [my other daughter] and I slept in the car. In

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[spectrum] Social Butterfly Thomas talks to one of her friends at the center. The center provides such amenities as a communal gathering area, computers and free food.

Moving On Thomasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; low-income apartment at the Opportunity Center contains such necessities as a mini kitchen, a twin bed and a clothing rack.

verde magazine 49

Facebook Failure What my mom needs to learn in order to be successful in the world of social networking text by shoshana gould art by emily wang

Dear Mom, Congratulations! You have finally come around to modern times and made a Facebook account. While I appreciate your effort to be young and hip — basically, just like me — the whole thing is an epic failure. It is just completely unnecessary for you to have one. I would be much more comfortable if you stopped humiliating me by posting pictures of my brothers and me to show your 35 friends. If they care, send them one of your Jewish New Year cards. While still embarrassing, they are more simple and traditional, just like you. I have taught you many things in my 18 years on Earth, many of which have been very useful to you. Do you remember who taught you how to access iTunes when on a computer? Who taught you how to Skype with your brother in Japan? And most importantly, who taught you never to wear a denim jacket with jeans? That’s right — me. I hope you realize that I am wise beyond my years. As a soon-to-be high school graduate and college student, my intelligence is quite remarkable. While I will not be attending an Ivy League university, you still have plenty left to learn from me. One of those things is how to properly use your Facebook account. I have partially accepted that you will not delete yours; so you have left me in a tricky position. Part of me wants to figure out your password and delete your account, while the other, more sensible side of me, just wants to teach you some Facebook etiquette, so one day (in 10 years, perhaps) we can possibly be Facebook friends. An important thing to realize is that you have an ability to set your pictures to private so only your friends can see Nathan and I at prom instead of every single person on Facebook. It’s actually very simple and easy to change your privacy settings, and I’d love to show you one of these days. Another thing I want to teach you is how to manage your time 50 verde magazine

now that you have become addicted to this little social networking site. The maximum time one should spend playing Scramble on Facebook per day is 10 minutes. And this does not need to be done while watching “Grey’s Anatomy.” Get those priorities in order. Let’s now talk about how you update your status almost daily. (I know this because, well, as I said before, I’m a genius.) It’s just not necessary. At all. Limit the status updates to one per week. It will help suggest some mystery about your life. Also, please stop commenting on other people’s statuses. Once in awhile, doing so is okay, but everything should be done in moderation. Otherwise, you’ll seem like a stalker. Isn’t it ironic that while you preach to me about not being friends with people on Facebook who I don’t actually know, you are friends with dozens of adults who you haven’t talked to in years? If you haven’t talked to someone in the past 20 years, it’s time to let that relationship go. They obviously were not an important part of your life. Dry your tears and move on. One last thing, and this goes for all parents out there: if you do have a Facebook account, and your child has one as well, that is a clear sign that you are much too old to be on such a site. It’s fine if a parent of a 2-year-old has an account — they have potential to be somewhat cool, but once your child is a teenager, that parent automatically becomes a dork. No need to make Facebook full of dorks. So, mom, I hope that you listen to my advice and take it to heart.

With love and encouragement,

[viewpoint]

How to Lose a Facebook Friend in Five Minutes text by kailey flather and emily james

ou’ve been there. You’re walking down the hall on the way Curious as to what is going on, you comment on their newly-hidden to class when suddenly you see your most recently added relationship status, “Who’s the lucky man?” The next time you log Facebook friend. You’re immediately faced with a dilemma: on to check your Facebook, they have commented back: “Um, what Do you say hi? Do you wave? Do you acknowledge them at all? You are you talking about?” You realize that they had never been in a wonder if you even know the person well enough to say hi. Unable relationship and had chosen to hide their status from creepers like to decide, you attempt to pass them without making eye contact and you. Fortunately for them, you will never be able to make a stalkerish hope your next encounter is a little more promising. Don’t deny it; comment about their personal life again because they wisely chose to you’re awkward. keep it private. Unfortunately, it’s become impossible to exist without a All minute details of your life should also be kept hidden from Facebook, so you’re forced to deal with all that awkwardness on a the people on your friends list. However, some people choose to share daily basis. But you’re not alone. Many Facebook users feel just as way too much through status updates. Statuses are a simple way to socially inept as you do. tell your friends what you are doing, how you are Curiosity is natural, and unfortunately there’s feeling, and so on. Sadly, some people choose to just no way to hold yourself back from dissecting take this tool a little bit too far. Have you ever felt the wall-to-wall conversation of someone so upset that you just needed your status to match Admitting to you don’t know (but want to). You stalk their your mood? Have you ever repeatedly put Taylor your stalker profile, stumbling upon unimportant details of a Swift lyrics as your status to mirror the situation conversation that no one except you will ever see. you’re going through with your boyfriend? You tendencies is Next thing you know, you’re actually talking with have? Well, this may seem harsh, but nobody not an option ... the person you stalked. cares. A good status should share a mood casually, Things are going fine, until you slip up and or maybe have lyrics to an underplayed song as You’re trapped. mention that minute detail. A suspicious look opposed to one that plays five times an hour on crosses their face as they ask how you could the radio. You may also have the tendency to be possibly have known such an insignificant aspect indecisive about your status and feel the need to of their daily routine. Admitting to your stalker change it every few minutes, even though nothing tendencies is not an option, yet no excuse can be made for your important has occurred in the time span between the updates. Spare deviant behavior. You’re trapped. us please, and don’t share every hungry, tired, or bored moment of Some people have obscene amounts of photos just begging to your life with the Facebook community. be discovered. From pictures of scandalous activity to vain MyspaceAnother way to annoy your fellow Facebookers is through esque photoshoots, photos cause an irresistible urge to lurk. In doing excessive poking. When it comes to your friends, poking is a fun way this, however, things can go horribly awry. You did it. You crossed the to remind someone of your existence. However it can go horribly bridge from the wall to “view all photos.” You’re having a grand time wrong in one poke. Ever been in a tiresome poke war that you can’t creeping on every moment of this person’s life since the origin of their even remember starting? Yes? Well regrettably for you, there is no end Facebook when you see a photo that’s just begging to be commented in sight. Once you start a poke war, there’s no going back. Ending a on, so you satisfy your craving. poke war is essentially telling someone to back off, and that seeing Within the next few minutes you receive a notification saying their name on your screen every hour is annoying. There’s just no that the person has commented back. Eager to see what they’ve polite way to tell someone that. And what if someone that you barely written, you return to the photo in question. To your horror, they even know pokes you? Do you poke back? No. Don’t get involved. It have written back simply, “This is from so long ago — how did you will only end badly. find this?” You immediately realize the gravity of your mistake. You All of this awkwardness can be avoided if you simply do not add creeped, and they know it. people you don’t talk to but vaguely kind of know from “around,” do Relationships are an aspect of one’s life that should be kept semi- not comment on photos long past, do not tell us via status that you private. However, you will often find the details of someone’s love life just ate dinner/are bored, don’t engage in drawn-out poke wars, and thrust into the public via news-feed. You’re on Facebook one day and never, ever, under any circumstances, bring up your stalking habits you are at your homepage for about the 100th time. To your surprise, in real-life conversation. Doing any of these things will take away the someone in your class is “no longer single.” You quickly navigate magic of having an anonymous place to chat, post vain pictures of to their page but you find no evidence of any significant other. yourself, and above all, creep on everyone until your eyes bleed. v

verde magazine 51

Saving the Planet, One Restaurant at a Time Vegan restaurant Loving Hut brings concept of peace and harmony to downtown Palo Alto

text by silvia maraboli photography by silvia maraboli and courtesy of loving hut

know many people who think that if the words “organic” according to Mueller. He notes a United Nations report claiming that and “vegan” are used in the same sentence to describe food, it “raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the can’t possibly be good. However, Palo Alto’s new Loving Hut cars, trucks and planes combined.” Mueller has a definite view of what makes a vegan lifestyle restaurant defies this perception by offering delectable and satisfying beneficial. entrées, side dishes and desserts, “There is an alternative way of all of which are 100-percent “Loving Hut offers an accessible living that is peaceful, compassionate organic and vegan. Located on starting point for those wishing and noble,” Mueller says. “Loving the outskirts of downtown Palo Hut offers an accessible starting Alto, Loving Hut is situated to try or adopt a plant-based diet point for those wishing to try or on the east end of University without compromising flavor.” adopt a plant-based diet without Avenue. In the past year, 31 compromising flavor.” Loving Hut locations have — Sunny Mueller, Palo Alto Loving Hut Loving Hut indeed opened worldwide, including manager accomplishes this task by serving four in the United States, with delicious, wholesome vegan dishes. plans to open more in major The restaurant’s bright lighting and perky décor make for a cities around the world. As the Web site states, it is currently the cheerful and pleasant dining experience. White booths face a large fastest- growing international vegan restaurant chain. plasma TV hanging on one wall, which advertises the benefits of According to Sunny Mueller, manager of the Palo Alto Loving living a healthy, vegan lifestyle. Along both sides of the restaurant Hut location, Loving Hut was created with a vision that all beings runs a large mirror, giving the tiny café a modernized look. As we could live in peace, love, and harmony with each other and the entered Loving Hut the amiable and courteous staff greeted us and planet. Living a vegan lifestyle is also environmentally conscious, were readily prepared to take our order. More low-key than fancier 52 verde magazine

[viewpoint]

Clockwise from Left: Downtown Palo Alto’s new vegan restaurant Loving Hut opened in October 2008; the Pesto Divine ($8.95) features tofu instead of meat, which makes for a surprisingly tasty and filling sandwich; the café’s friendly staff welcomes customers, creating a pleasant dining experience; the Avocado BLT, also made with tofu, is a great alternative to the classic BLT.

eateries of its kind, Loving Hut operates on a pay-then-serve basis. While the somewhat high prices may be startling at first, one must take into consideration the use of the high-quality, all-organic ingredients that the chefs use to prepare their dishes. My fellow staff member and I had just enough time to choose a table and admire the quirky ambiance before our food was served. The tofu in the fresh spring rolls ($5.50) puts a new spin on the usual vegetarian or meat-filled appetizer. Another tasty starter is the potato and yam soup ($3.95/$5.95). The creamy consistency and large chunks of potatoes make this soup a perfect starter to a meal.  For an entree I decided to try the Avocado BLT ($8.95), which features smoked tempeh, a special type of tofu, on toasted ciabatta bread, layered with the classic lettuce, tomato and ripe avocado. The tempeh is seasoned with paprika, maple syrup and sea salt, which altogether may sound strange, but proves to be an excellent alternative to the prevailing bacon. Another delicious sandwich is the Pesto Divine ($8.95), which is prepared with seared tofu, tomato, lettuce and walnut pesto, and is served warm on a French baguette. Both sandwiches are also served with a generously-portioned side salad of your choice. I chose the Loving Hut Salad ($8.95 for a regular serving), an eclectic mixture of fresh fruit, peas, corn, cranberries, and pistachios on a bed of field greens.

Aside from the sandwiches, Loving Hut also offers several other delectable entrées. The Guru’s Curry ($8.95) is a savory Indianinspired dish with tofu and potatoes in a rich curry sauce. Served with steamed brown rice, this entrée is another example of how vegan food can be healthy and delicious. Loving Hut also offers a wide variety of organic coffees and teas. Aside from the usual herbal teas, the restaurant serves the newly popular pearl teas ($3.50-$4.50). These teas contain black tapioca balls, known as boba, that sit on the bottom of the cup. My favorite is the Thai tea, which is sweetened with milk and sugar; also available are Jasmine and Fresh Taro. One surprising factor of our meal was how light everything was; even after eating most of my sandwich and salad, I felt satisfied but not weighed down. Loving Hut also offers a 15-percent discount for all Paly students who show their ASB card upon ordering. We realized halfway through our meal that we had forgotten to do this, and when we mentioned it to our friendly waitress, she brought us each a chocolate chip cookie as compensation. With healthy contemporary food that is both savory and satisfying, Loving Hut café is the perfect place to enjoy a vegan and organic lunch or dinner. v verde magazine 53

Hollywood’s comic book obsession may have found salvation text and art by emily wang

ith Hollywood’s creative decline in recent years, the movie industry has resorted to numerous subpar strategies to fill up the theater seats. On the list of popular recent methods of enticement, favorites include the endless horror remakes of movies recent and dated alike (will they ever end?), musical-turnedmovie-adaptations (hello, “Hairspray”!), grindhouse revival (oh, no, no, Tarantino; lose the ego first), and comic book adaptations for big screen. This last trend is far from being a new phenomenon, just as “The Dark Knight” will not be the last in the long generation of Batman movies. This is true even if director Christopher Nolan decides not to put out for a third round (the first being “Batman Begins,” 2005). The practice of adapting decades old comic books into film ventures awkwardly into a realm foreign to the original medium. Without these movies and their resulting franchise, many would, at best, be only marginally aware of these cornerstones of American pop culture. On one hand, comic book movies spark new interest in the comic book and superhero franchises with mainstream audiences; on the other hand the issue of loyalty to the original comic and to the actual story lines and intentions of the writers is often an issue among devotees. Unknown to many, a small demographic of devout comic book enthusiasts are alienated each time a comic book adaptation makes its appearance onto the big screen. These mythical creatures of (supposedly) voluntary solitary confinement are known for the quasi-religious superhero worship and immense loyalty to the comic book fandom. Of course, the small group of zealots angered by the butchery and rabid commercialization of their favorite comic is an insignificant obstacle to major picture studios out to make a buck. They’ve got nothing on the thrust and power of any new summer blockbuster. Personally I’m no big fan of superhero comic book movies. I’m partial to neither DC’s Justice League nor Marvel’s troubled band of freaks and rejects, i.e.; “Spiderman,” “X-Men,” “Fantastic Four,” “Hulk,” “Daredevil,” “Punisher,” and so forth. I’m a little more partial to the comic book movies with a little less spandex, a little less superhero. The rippling musculature beneath skin-tight leotards doesn’t appeal much to me (for those that feel differently, there’s always American Apparel).

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There are a handful of movies that I do like, for both novelty and story lines alike. Calling “300” ridiculous is an immense understatement, but that doesn’t detract from its visual and trashy one-liner achievements. I did like “V for Vendetta,” and not just because Natalie Portman looks excellent with a shaved head. “Sin City” was good entertainment. I’m tired of having to wait yet another year for the sequel to be released. There is however another film soon to be released in March that draws most of my attention, and of course, that film is “Watchmen.” “Watchmen” is largely considered to be a huge turning point in the conception of comic book writing, introducing dense psychological complexity and a form of social commentary unknown to comics before. Anyone who has not heard of “Watchmen” before cannot know how highly anticipated this film has become to those who have followed the movie’s development from the beginning. Zack Snyder, director of “300” and “Dawn of the Dead,” is the main driving force behind “Watchmen”. He will be the one mainly accredited for how the film will be received come March. Alan Moore, the writer behind the original 12 issue “Watchmen” comics in the late 80s, does not approve. Then again, he didn’t approve of “V for Vendetta” either, nor of any attempts to translate his works into film. It’s a fairly well-known fact that besides working on comic book projects and writing brilliant stories, he spends a good deal of time getting his panties in a bundle over people who mess up the essence of his work. The fact of the matter is that DC Comics owns the rights to “Watchmen” and Moore has as little control over his work as music artists do when they sign on to big Recording Industry Association of America backed record labels. It’s no frivolity or inane artistic grudge against Hollywood; trying to get the gist of “Watchmen” through watching the movie will be like kissing someone through a handkerchief, no matter how faithfully our dear Zack Snyder performs. Then again, I’ve already read “Watchmen.” Anyone who finds themselves interested in the movie should read the graphic novel. I won’t feel guilty drowning in the usual sheepish desire to see a movie of whose background I am completely ignorant. Despite all the negative anticipation, I still feel it’s worthwhile to see the movie and judge for myself the legitimacy of the “Watchmen” flick. The same should go for anyone else who may have doubts about the movie industry’s ability to adapt a good story. v

[cover] [viewpoint]

Fish Out of Water Why Michael Phelps still deserves our respect text by mary minno art by emily wang and gaston rivetta

e’s the All-American golden boy admired in many households. He’s the small-town kid who grew into an internationally acclaimed swimmer. He’s cute, friendly, and has 14 Olympic gold medals to his name. He’s America’s superstar. Aspiring to be like Michael Phelps has become a recent trend in our country. By overcoming obstacles and completely dedicating himself, Phelps has proven that hard work can make dreams a reality. His struggle has inspired the minds of those who desire greatness. For many teens, the superhero image has transitioned from a desirable man cloaked in full spandex attire to a goofy looking 23-year-old boy in a Speedo. Phelps has replaced the make-believe characters in many kids’ fantasies; instead of wanting unachievable powers, kids want to be able to swim as fast as Phelps. Unfortunately, the difference between him and our old-school superheroes became very obvious during the past few weeks: unlike Batman or Superman, Phelps isn’t perfect. Unless you have no access to any news source besides, well, this one, you have probably already heard about or seen the photograph of Phelps holding a bong to his face, reportedly at a college party in November. And then one day, months after taking that hit at a party, Phelps was sold out by some low-life to a British tabloid for a couple bucks. Thanks to the photograph’s sleezy vendor, America’s superstar fell quickly from power and millions of little swimmers-in-the-making were devastated. I hope however much you made off the photograph was worth it, bud. I’m sure that as Phelps was hitting the bong, he did not stop to consider the possibility of someone sneaking a picture of the illegal activity on their camera phone and the catastrophic effect it would have on his life. It is safe to assume that he just wanted to have a good time and take some stress off by getting high. Sure, maybe this wasn’t his first time smoking pot, or just a one-time mistake. But it was just a small, bad decision — one that did not physically harm any human beings. Between his suspension from the USA Swimming Association for three months and sponsors, such as Kellogg, deciding not to renew endorsement contracts, Phelps’ world is falling apart. He so quickly went from being the perfect role model to a troubled young adult. What Phelps forgot to take into account that he’s no longer a

private figure; the public is fascinated by everything he does. Because of the incredible media reaction around the picture, Phelps now understands that he is in a far difference playing field from when he got in a bit of trouble for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2004. It’s not just about him anymore; he is now an international icon of hope and inspiration. Because of his new-found fame, Phelps must face his fans, who look up to him as a role model, and attempt to make up for what he calls his “regrettable behavior.” Many different people have many different opinions about the ‘heat’ Phelps is currently taking. Some think he is a total screw-up whereas others don’t see a problem with his marijuana use. Regardless of one’s personal beliefs, I think America really needs to remember that everyone is human and does things they shouldn’t do. People mess up. Nobody’s perfect. However, the way one acts after making a bad decision is the most crucial part of the incident. And Michael Phelps is responding exactly America’s ‘superhero’ should respond. Upon release of the photograph, Phelps addressed the public and admitted to his mistake, asking America to forgive his human inadequacy and imperfection. He then assured America that he would not engage in “inappropriate” behavior again, which is the key aspect to Phelps’ bad decision. This incident has helped him better understand his new responsibilities to American youth. I have faith that Phelps will not let them down again. I would like to end by saying Michael, I am extremely sorry you have to go through this. Even though you made a bad choice when you decided to smoke pot, you’ve worked extremely hard and don’t deserve the media frenzy that has surrounded the photograph. You’ve participated in two Olympics and done an amazing job representing our country internationally. You’ve been treated like American royalty since you broke the world record and won eight gold medals in our country’s honor this past summer, but you never let your accomplishments turn you into a disrespectful Hollywood wild-child. Instead, you have risen to the occasion of being an American superhero over the past months and acted in a way fitting of the superhero title. So, for that I would like to congratulate you, Phelps. Word of advice though: if you’re gunna do something illegal, don’t do it in public for people to take pictures. v verde magazine 55

56 verde magazine

emma lenke, sophomore

shaina kaye, senior

vienna tran, senior

wyatt kozelka, sophomore

philip chen, junior

post-it art

anna bastidas, senior

[short]

[spectrum]

An East Palo Alto school remains optimistic, despite the threat of government control

text by caroline wang photography by julia singleton

indergartners and first graders at Costaño school, Home of the 49ers’ after-school program in East Palo Alto, sit around a table in a sunny classroom, coloring their homework with crayons. “What color is this?” after-school teacher Nubia Barraza asks one student and points at the boy’s brown crayon. “Café,” he responds in Spanish. “No, in English,” she says. “Uh,” he hesitates, jumps up from his chair and places his crayon next to a picture of a brown crayon along the wall. “Red,” his large eyes hopelessly look up at Barraza with a young innocence. “No, this is brown,” she kindly replies. As this first grader demonstrates, academic English is a problem at this East Palo Alto K-8 school. Though Costaño is located just 4.9 miles from Palo Alto High School, its academic performance is far below that of Palo Alto schools. At this colorful and cheerful school, the students’ state test scores have not met expectations, which has left the school in danger of state control, a threat that has inspired the staff to refine the school’s verde verde magazine magazine 57 57

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[spectrum] Community Mural (page 57) Morgan Gessford Bricca and volunteers from HandsOn Bay Area painted this mural in the front of Costaño school Vibrant Colors (Opposite page: clockwise from top left) John Colleton in the recording studio; a play structure built in one day with community help; a mural painted by Bay Area volunteers; a hopscotch pattern; an image of Obama painted by a teacher; Principal Gina Sudaria in her office

program and to bring better opportunities for the children. According to Costaño Principal Gina Sudaria, more than 70 percent of the students are English learners, compared to the California state average of 25 percent. Despite this extreme disadvantage, the state expects the school to perform as well as other schools where English is not a problem. This high expectation has put the school in danger of complete restructuring, where a replacement of every single member of the school’s staff and administration is possible, according to Sudaria. California’s Standardized Testing and Reporting test scores that come out in August will be critical in determining the future of the school. Low scores in the last couple of years and failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress two years in a row have caused the school to be put into the five-year federal intervention program called Program Improvement. August scores for Costaño will determine if the school will enter the fourth stage of the PI program, in which the state and county could replace the school’s entire staff. Sudaria believes that replacing the whole staff would have a negative impact on the school. “Reassembling the whole staff is starting from ground zero,” she says. “It takes time to have to rebuild the school’s culture for the school to be successful.” To exit PI, the school must meet its AYP goals two years in a row. However, the school has a lot of necessary improvement to make in a limited amount of time. Sudaria says that currently, 20 percent of the school’s students are scoring proficient or advanced on the STAR test, but to exit PI, the school must raise this statistic to 50 percent. However, with 80 percent of the students two or three years behind their grade level in English language arts and math, Sudaria does not believe five years is a realistic amount of time to reach the goals of the PI program. The time crunch of five years is also unrealistic because so many of the students do not speak English at home. According to the school’s Accountability Report Card, 86 percent of the school’s students primarily speak Spanish. “The students know conversational English but not academic English, which is vocabulary that’s needed to expand and analyze text in language arts and math,” Sudaria says. Another cause of the students’ English problem could be their families’ financial and educational backgrounds. According to the

Accountability Report Card, 93 percent of the students qualify for the free or reduced-price meal program at the school, given to families who earn less than $38,203 a year. The card also shows that only seven percent of the students have parents with a college degree, which is a possible explanation for the low English literacy level of students when they begin at the school. Despite the school’s disadvantages, parents, teachers, and the principal are all passionately working together to help the students learn and improve their scores. “The school’s culture is a cohesive group working collaboratively to achieve success,” Sudaria says. “The students and teachers are always learning.” According to Sudaria, part of the school’s improvement plan is implementing small group instruction. “We target students with specific performance levels, such as groups that are two grade levels below,” Sudaria says. “By separating students by achievement levels, we’re able to target students specifically to where the needs are versus the wide spectrum.” Following a strategic plan given by the county through the PI program, the school has adopted new policies and programs to improve test scores. “We make sure we use the school’s state-adapted curriculum, have the appropriate instruction time for each curriculum, and improve oral language development,” Sudaria says. According to parent volunteer Rita Armijo, the school has also improved through the building of a new playground, funded by different organizations and built this past November. “It was a six-month process to plan the playground, but it only took one day to build,” Armijo says. “On the day of the building, we had churches, KaBOOM!, Adobe, SAP, and people from the community here helping to build. It was unbelievable.” Beginning this school year, the school has also improved and expanded its after-school program, according to the main coordinator Tania Ness. Barraza says that there are 130 students who take the after-school courses, which last until 6 p.m. every day. “The program lets students know that college is OK to go to,” Armijo says. “We have games, such as flag football. We also teach music, photography, film editing, and other things for free.” Music, photography, and film-editing are taught in the year-old media center that was built with donations from Steve Young verde magazine 59

[spectrum] Patient Guidance Nubia Barraza helps a first grader identify colors in English from a crayon box after school.

and Jerry Rice, says John Colleton, the multimedia director. Inside the media center, middle school students sit at the computer, playing around with beats and rhythms. The walls are a vibrant red and on one side of the room, there is a large green screen and professional production lights. In the next room, one student’s rhymes are loudly replaying over the speakers as three boys and Colleton huddle around two computer screens. They stare at the monitors in deep concentration, talking to each other and working in collaboration to improve the rap and rhythm. Nothing seems to distract them. On the table, there is a synthesizer board and other advanced equipment for creating beats. Colleton, with his hair back in a ponytail and a relaxed attitude, suddenly appears from the door of the studio and tells the students to get ready for the bus. “Don’t forget your bass,” he tells one student. “Uh, I can’t bring it on the bus,” the student responds. He plans to go directly to the Boys and Girls Club from the afterschool program. “All right, just leave it here then and bring it home tomorrow,” Colleton says. 60 verde magazine

“Go, you have to catch the bus.” “Peace, John,” another student says as the student walks out the door. Colleton has been working in music studios with students in less fortunate communities since 2001, when he first began volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club. Also a musician, Colleton says his passion for music allows him to connect with the students through their collaboration in the studio. “There’s a student named Marvin; he spent the last nine months in Mexico with his mom,” Colleton says. “He was almost going to stay down there. But since he’s come back, his rhymes and his rhythm have become really different. He’s really perceptive, so I can see why he would catch on to a different rhythm easily.” Colleton mentions that his favorite thing about working with the students is creating music together. He says that the students are talented at creating beats. “Marvin’s friends will tell him if he’s stretching it, his rhythm’s off, or if it needs to be a little faster,” he says. “All I need to do is show them how to work the equipment. Suddenly, you just find yourself having a sophisticated conversation about rhythms with these seventh and eighth graders. We just sit here and create together.” The media center, Colleton believes, is a great way to teach the students. “These are the crafts,” he says. “We want to get their interests going so that hopefully, by the time they’re in high school, they’ll have something. It’s more project-based stuff instead of sitting in class where you’re just going to sit there and listen to me.” Colleton sees the benefits of projectbased learning. Therefore, he also uses the media center in his Life Skills class during the school day. “The students are given topics to research

and they use the media, such as PowerPoint and videos, to teach the topics,” Colleton says. “The idea is that it’ll be much more internalized this way.” The media center has allowed teachers at Costaño to find new ways to teach students. It has given the students opportunities to learn new skills that they can use in their future careers, Colleton says. Visiting the media center, exploring the depth of the after-school program, and viewing students’ interactions with teachers, one sees the passion that teachers have towards helping the students strive for a successful future. Despite the many disadvantages of students’ English deficiency and the school’s low-test scores problem, the staff members keep a positive attitude. This happy school culture is reflected by the smiles on teachers’ faces when they talk about students, the feeling of community that surrounds the school and the vibrant, optimistic colors that decorate the walls. Around the school, walls are painted sunshine yellow, lime green, and robin-egg blue. Even hopscotch patterns on the grey concrete are in neon shades. There are also murals, painted by volunteers, in multifarious colors to display images of a diverse population of students, all with smiles on their faces. Sudaria’s office also gives off a positive feeling. She sits in her office with images of President Barack Obama surrounding the room, representing hope. As an example of the strong sense of community at the school, one of the Obama portraits was painted by a teacher from the school. Sudaria is enthusiastic about the positive changes being made to improve Costaño. “It’s great being able to motivate students and staff to work together to achieve student achievement,” Sudaria says. “We focus on the positives because it definitely encourages the students to achieve.” v

[cover]

Redefining B

etween June and November 2008, thousands of Californian gay and lesbian couples were able to call their partnerships by a new name: marriage. But the Nov. 4 passage of Proposition 8 overturned the legalization of same-sex marriage in California, causing heartbreak in the gay community. It also left confusion for those already married, as questions over the constitutionality of their marriages loomed ahead. In a few weeks, on March 5, the California Supreme Court will decide the fate of these newlyweds. With the court decision impending, Verde decided to delve into how two homosexuallyheaded households in our community have been affected by the recent legal turmoil. In “Redefining Family” (page 64), we explore this issue. Though the ever-changing laws are having a profound effect on homosexual couples throughout the state, the children of these couples have a unique perspective. In addition to the legal implications of not being legally married, such as not having shared guardianship over the children, gay and lesbian parents must deal with the psychological ramifications of the flip-flopping laws on their kids. The parents in our story agree that the legalization of same-sex marriage in California gave their children a validation they had not before felt. Their wedding days teemed with hope for a new generation of acceptance. But now, these parents are worried about how their children will be affected if their marriages are annulled. After one giant step forward and another great step backwards, how will the children handle what is coming next? Accompanying this main feature is an opinion piece by Caitlin Watson, a former Verde staff member who is currently studying in Spain. There, gay marriage has been legal for four years, and she discusses what’s next for a country that has already taken that step (page 69). While questions remain for many in the Bay Area and around the world, we all must remember the value of family and remain optimistic. As Kanye West said in his song Family Business, “keep your face to the rising sun.” v

Family verde magazine 61

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text by amanda young photography by julia singleton and courtesy of leslie pirritano

n March 5, 2009 at 9 a.m., while Paly junior Josh Lay will sit in his Physics 1 class listening to a lecture on sound waves, electricity, or magnetism, a discussion that could change his life will have commenced in the state Supreme Court’s chambers in San Francisco. Josh will sit restlessly in his seat, anxiously watching the clock tick and imagining the court hearing. Questions will race through his head: What are the witnesses saying? How long will it take for the jury to make their decision? Will his family be OK? “I’ll be wondering the whole time what’s going on in the courtroom,” Josh says. “I’ll be thinking about it constantly, hoping my mothers’ marriage isn’t nullified.” Across the school in his World History class, Josh’s brother Paly freshman Jeremy Lay will also be worrying about the state of his family. “Maybe I’ll get to watch the hearing on TV, because Mr. Boloños shows us things like that,” Jeremy says. “I’ll be hoping for the best.” On March 5, 2009, the state Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the 64 verde magazine

measure that passed last November, banning marriages between same-sex couples. The court will also decide whether to nullify the same-sex marriages performed from June to November, numbering about 18,000, according to the William Institute at UCLA. Mary Pirritano and Leslie Pirritano, Josh and Jeremy’s biological mother and stepmother, married during the summer of 2008, but their marriage may face nullification if the Supreme Court upholds Prop. 8. The jury must make a decision within 90 days of the hearing. Most children take their parents’ right to marriage for granted, but Josh and Jeremy, along with the other 6 million to 14 million children worldwide living in gay- and lesbianheaded households, have had to watch people constantly question their parents’ marriage. Especially for the children living in the 108,734 gay and lesbian households in California, the fight for equality for their family has been a roller coaster. From Proposition 22, which illegalized samesex marriages in California in 2000, to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s decision in 2004 to issue same-sex marriage licenses, to the 2008 state Supreme Court ruling to

legalize same-sex marriages, to Prop. 8, the children of gay and lesbian parents have realized the legal fragility of their parents’ marriages. This has put thousands of these children under a psychological threat so new that researchers and psychologists can only speculate on its severity. Until new research is uncovered, only personal accounts can demonstrate the psychological distress that children living with gay and lesbian parents suffer from because of the discrimination they face daily. The March 5 Decision The possible nullification of his parents’ marriage angers Josh. As he sits in the armchair in his living room, his jaw tightens and he slouches further in his seat, brows furrowing in frustration. “I would be extremely mad,” Josh says. “I don’t even know what kinds of beliefs people have in order to think that my parents’ marriage is not OK.” Josh disapproves of the message the state Supreme Court would be sending and believes that the USA would prove that American society still has far to go to reach the egalitarian ideal.

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The Family (From left to right) Mary Pirritano, Josh Lay, Antigony Pirritano, Leslie Pirritano, and Jeremy Lay stand in front of Leslie’s pick-up truck, which displays a “No on Prop. 8” sign. Leslie Pirritano is an avid gay-rights advocate and takes part in protests and rallies regularly. “I want to do my part to fight Prop. 8,” Leslie says.

“They would be saying that not everyone is equal in our country, despite what people say,” Josh says. Jeremy says that if Mary and Leslie’s marriage were nullified, he would also feel that his family was inferior to families headed by heterosexual couples in the eyes of the law. “The government wouldn’t be giving my parents the same rights as others,” Jeremy says. “They would be calling us different.” Suzanne Johnson, a professor of psychology at Dowling College in Oakdale, N.Y., has spent the past 10 years studying gay- and lesbian-headed families. However, no current studies have detailed the specific psychological consequences on children whose parents are barred from marriage by the law. The American Psychological Association circulated a press release in 2004 that stated that discrimination and prejudice based on

sexual orientation detrimentally impacted gay and lesbian couples, but no research about the children has been conducted. “I don’t know of any research that has specifically investigated how children feel and react to experiences where their parents lose rights,” Johnson says. “We can only know from first-hand accounts.” Questions about the psychological effects on these children have never been raised before because the number of children living in gay- and lesbian-headed households has just recently spiked. According to an Urban Institute demographer, the number of lesbian couples raising children jumped to one in three in 2000 from one in five in 1990, and the number of gay couples raising children jumped to one in five from one in 20 in the same time frame. “No studies have asked children how they feel about living in a household unapproved by the government,” Johnson says. “The

focus always seems to be on the parents who are being actively discriminated against and that’s as far as it goes. Hopefully research on children will happen eventually.” Even though no research has been done on the psychology of children living with gay and lesbian parents, the children have been profoundly affected by the rights denied to their parents. As Jeremy thinks about what would happen if his parents’ marriage were nullified, a wave of disappointment hits him. “My parents went through so much trouble to get married, and they waited a long time for their marriage to be OK,” Jeremy says. “Now the government is trying to take the marriage away from them again.” As Mary imagines her marriage being prohibited, she tilts her head to the side, deep in thought. “I would feel like a second-class citizen,” she says. “It would make me feel like my verde magazine 65

relationship is not as good as a heterosexual relationship.” Paly freshman Sophie, whose name, along with those of her family members, has been withheld for privacy reasons, has lived with gay parents her entire life. Like Mary and Leslie, her parents married in the summer of 2008. As she thinks about the vulnerability of her fathers’ marriage, she says she is angered by the constant battle between gay rights advocates and gay rights opponents. “It seems stupid to try to reverse gay marriages again,” Sophie says.

Wife and Wife Mary Pirritano and Leslie Pirritano walk down the aisle after saying their wedding vows. 120 family members and friends celebrated the couple’s marriage at the Unity Palo Alto Community Church. “I felt so happy watching my parents say their vows,” Josh says.

“My parents went through so much trouble to get married. Now the government is trying to take the marriage away from them”. — Paly freshman Jeremy Lay

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The Lay-Pirritano Family The Lay brothers have not always lived with Leslie, and for most of their childhood, they never knew their mother was a lesbian. After being married to their father for 13 years, Mary and her husband suddenly divorced when Josh was in the fifth grade. Then, while Josh was in the seventh grade, Mary and Leslie met. As their relationship became more serious, Mary decided to finally open up to her children about her sexual orientation. “I didn’t want to tell my kids until I had a serious, long-term relationship,” Mary says. “It was a great relief to tell them; it’s hard to pretend to be someone you’re not.” Mary’s news surprised Josh at first, but he was very accepting. “At first, I was shocked,” Josh says. “Then, I just got used to it. I didn’t see being gay as weird; being gay is just another way to have a relationship.” As Josh began attending the Unity Palo Alto Community Church, a church with many gay and lesbian members, he began learning more about gay rights. “Before, I didn’t really think about gay rights,” Josh says. “Now, it’s everywhere around me. I’ve become much more supportive of gays.” Leslie is an avid gay rights activist, and she is currently training to be a gay rights lobbyist for Equality California, an organization that will try to pass resolutions in support of invalidating Prop. 8. “I make it a goal to do something for my cause once a month,” Leslie says. “I always look for what I can do to save our marriage.” In contrast, Mary does not feel the need to attend rallies and protests. She feels that by being openly gay, she contributes to the

[cover] Around the neighborhood The members of the Lay-Pirritano family take their two dogs for a walk. “We are like every other family out there,” Mary says.

gay rights movement. “I’m a terrible lesbian,” Mary jokes, and she and Leslie laugh together. “I think that equality will come eventually, but I’m the observer and Leslie’s the catalyst.” Each member of the Lay-Pirritano household contributes to the gay rights movement in his or her own way. Josh feels that he will participate in the gay rights movement by showing that living with lesbian parents has not affected him negatively. “I’m a normal kid,” Josh says. In Johnson’s national study administered from 2001-2002, she and another researcher studied 256 families from 34 states. According to Johnson, they looked at family functioning, the disciplinary methods of the parents, marital harmony, and the parental responsibilities. “In general, the families with gay or lesbian parents were functioning as well or better than heterosexual households were,” Johnson says. “Usually, the homosexual couples had to go through a much longer process to become parents, which meant that they were highly motivated and invested in having children. One saying, ‘There are no unwanted children in a gay or lesbian family’ is to some extent true.” In 2004, the American Psychological Association Working Group on Same-Sex Families and Relationships found similar results to Johnson’s after studying many homes of same-sex families. Based on research, they confirmed Johnson’s claim that homosexual couples are similar to heterosexual couples, and the sexual orientation of the parents has no psychologically damaging effect on the children living in these families.

“The research on same-sex households is striking because all of the results show the same thing over and over again, despite the motivations of the researchers,” Johnson says. Leslie has heard of this research done on same-sex households and feels her family supports the findings. Leslie believes that she and Mary have raised their family the same way heterosexual couples raise their families. “We discipline the kids and give them love,” Leslie says. “We are just another set of parents trying to make the world better, just like everyone else.” The Effects of Prop. 8 As Josh’s family and Sophie’s family worry about the March 5 decision, they turn their anger towards Prop. 8 and its impact on their families. “I felt sorry for the ‘Yes on 8’ people because of their ignorance,” Josh says. “They just don’t understand that gay marriages are not bad.” Mary was disappointed after Prop. 8 passed, but she refuses to let the proposition change her family. “I feel like society and laws shouldn’t affect us,” Mary says. “Life in our household hasn’t changed.” However, she does feel that marriage has changed one aspect of her life: the way people perceive her relationship with Leslie. “My family looked at our marriage as a serious relationship,” Mary says. “We gained greater equality from our extended family with our marriage, but now…” Prop. 8 also diminished Sophie’s family’s feeling of equality under the law. One day.

while the family was driving around the neighborhood, Sophie’s brother Justin noticed “Yes on 8” signs on the lawns of various houses. Brad, Sophie’s adoptive father, vividly remembers Justin’s reaction and feels pained that he could not help Justin. “Justin said confusedly, ‘They hate our family and they don’t even know us.’ This struck a chord with me,” Brad says. “As a dad, it was so hard to watch my son feel discriminated against.” Gary, Sophie’s other father, believes that Prop. 8 awakened his family to the inequality in California. “It was a reality check for the kids,” Gary says. “It showed them that the world is not accepting. In Palo Alto we live in a bubble, because it is a very open area, but you don’t have to travel very far to realize the realities of our situation.” When Prop. 8 passed, Sophie felt very disappointed and confused by the Prop. 8 advocates and the mass support they received. “I don’t understand why people don’t like gay people and don’t approve of my family,” Sophie says. “Prop. 8 frustrates me because other people shouldn’t be able to tell you how to live your life.” Johnson believes that there are many possible psychological consequences on children who feel that their family is unequal under the law; they could feel rejected, hated, and discriminated against. “There are many layers of how the children of gay parents will be affected by Prop. 8,” Johnson says. “There are profound emotional and psychological ramifications of being denied what most people consider to be verde magazine 67

a basic human and civil right. Prop. 8 denies children the right to have two parents.” There are also many legal benefits that married couples have that many gay and lesbian couples do not share. Domestic partners cannot file joint-taxes, have survivor benefits through Social Security, or have hospital visitation rights. “What happens if I’m in a car wreck?” Leslie asks hypothetically. “Mary won’t be able to see me in the hospital if she is not legally my family, and we won’t be able to do anything about it.” Sophie’s Story Sophie has lived with two fathers her whole life, so she has never known what it is like living in a household headed by a heterosexual couple. “I’ve gotten used to living with two dads,” Sophie says. When she was little, she was occasionally asked questions inquiring where her mom was, but she never let these questions upset her. “When I was little, I noticed that I was living with two dads, but it didn’t bother me,” Sophie says matter-of-factly. She shrugs her shoulders and a lop-sided smile appears on her face. “I figured that everyone should have two parents, and these were mine.” Sometimes Sophie wishes that she had more female figures in her life, but she does not feel at a disadvantage because of her living situation. “Some things are harder to talk about when living with all guys,” Sophie says. “But we are an average family. We have family dinners, go on vacation, and drive to school together.” Brad understands that living with all males is sometimes hard for Sophie, so he tries to provide female figures for her to look up to, including a family friend and a nanny. Brad, like Sophie, feels that they live in a normal household, but he does cite one difference between their family and the families of heterosexual couples. “Typically in our society, women are expected to work in the home,” Brad says. “However, in a household with two men, there are no assumptions. We can be the ‘moms’ and the ‘dads’ because we have flexible gender roles.” When the state Supreme Court overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage in May 2008, Sophie felt greater 68 verde magazine

Brotherly bond Paly junior Josh Lay and Paly freshman Jeremy Lay hope that the state Supreme Court does not nullify their parents’ marriage. They may have to wait 90 days after March 5 before the final decision is made. “I hope that my parents’ marriage will be OK,” Jeremy says. acceptance from society. When Brad and Gary were married, Sophie and Justin stood by, watching with a sense of justice and pride. Even though the marriage only took five minutes inside a courtroom, Sophie remembers it as a significant moment for her family. “It felt good to know that they were now married in the eyes of the law,” Sophie says. Brad remembers that his children felt more secure when he became married to Gary under the law. “The kids felt better when they could officially say that we were married,” Brad says. “They felt that we were more normal. Justin was so proud that he told his whole football team.” The Bonds of Family Mary understands the possible ramifications of the March 5 state Supreme Court decision, but she does not worry too much for her family. “Regardless, we’ll still wake up in the morning, go to work, raise a family, and love each other,” Mary says. Sophie would feel disappointed if her parents’ marriage were nullified, but she hopes that it will not affect daily life in her household. “It would be bad, but my parents have always said that they are married in their

hearts no matter what,” Sophie says. “Even if they’re not married in the law, it won’t kill them.” Even if the state Supreme Court decides to uphold Prop. 8 and nullify all gay marriages in California, Josh would still have hope for the future of the gay rights movement. Josh and Jeremy will continue fighting for Mary and Leslie’s right to marriage and for the integrity of their family. “Children of gay and lesbian parents can show that being gay or lesbian does nothing to affect society negatively,” Josh says. Johnson also believes that, as more gay and lesbian couples raise families, the children will play a key role in the gay rights movement. “The kids in openly gay and lesbian families will have a great social impact on gaining civil rights for gay and lesbian people,” Johnson says. “The children will be functional and healthy people who will show the world that their parents are equal to heterosexual parents.” Sophie plans on fighting in the future to preserve the bonds of her family, and to fight to secure rights for her parents and the other gay and lesbian couples in the USA and in the world. “The next generation has to fight for gay rights,” Sophie says. “It will take a while to get change, but change will come.” v

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So, same-sex marriage is legal. ¿Y qué? How a year in Spain has shown me the power of legislative equality ... and its limitations text and photography by caitlin watson

ame-sex marriage is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Nepal and Norway. We’ve also got two of the 50 U.S. states: Massachusetts and Connecticut. Until November 2008, the wonderful state of California also had a brief stint on that list. Although the fact that gay marriage is now banned in my home state pains me, I have no doubt that within the next 10 — 15 years at most — same-sex marriage will be legal across the U.S. What I want to know: how will the legalization of same-sex marriage affect American society? There’s no way of getting a perfect answer, but we can look to other countries for some insights to the future struggles of the U.S. LGBTQQ community. Here in Spain (where I am studying abroad for the year), not only is same-sex marriage legal, but homosexuals are allowed to serve openly in the military, same-sex couples have the same adoption rights as heterosexual couples and all anti-gay discrimination has been officially banned. As a fairly involved LGBTQQ activist, I have always looked to Spain as an inspiration for the U.S. This year, I get to experience, first-hand, what it’s like to live in a society where homosexuals enjoy a legal status that is unimaginable for the majority of the world. I have been both gratified and disappointed with what I have encountered in a little fishing village just north of Barcelona. I went to a gay wedding and I liked it It was the first month of my “life-changing” study abroad experience when one of my friends mentioned that his uncle was getting married to his partner that Saturday. Well, I got myself invited to that wedding, and then cried for about half an hour after the couple took their vows. The other guests were a little shocked by the strange American desconocida who couldn’t seem to control her tears. I’m not even that big of a fan of marriage as an institution, but the wedding of these two elderly, dignified men was completely magical for me. Besides the sex of the two grooms, the only other difference between your average wedding and this one was that the couple had been “in courtship” for 42 years. That just made me cry even more. That simple little ceremony outside of Barcelona showed me the real social power of same-sex marriage. With its legalization, homosexuality becomes wonderfully normal, and rightfully so. But the fight does not stop there. The LGBTQQ social movement involves so much more than the politically ubiquitous issue of same-sex marriage. One of the main battles is against homophobia, a phenomenon

that, much like racism, will probably take decades, if not centuries to eradicate. Maricón in the Classroom Besides the usual suspects — the Catholic Church and Spain’s main conservative political party — Spanish secondary school (a combination between middle school and high school) remains one of the unfortunate vestiges of homophobia. The gay slur maricón is probably one of the most used words at my school, especially by those of the male gender. It serves as the descriptive term for just about everything. I guess that gay slurs will exist for now regardless of cultural or language boundaries. I seem to remember “faggot” and “that’s so gay” being pretty popular at Paly. According to El País (the Spanish equivalent of the New York Times), homosexuality is the number one cause of harassment in Spanish secondary schools. In order to change this demoralizing statistics, students need to be exposed to homosexuality in a normal manner. Much to my delight, Spanish education activists are already at work creating a required class for secondary school public education called “Citizenship and Human Rights,” which would promote democratic values such as freedom, pluralism, tolerance and diversity. Currently, the subject is in judicial limbo in the Spanish Supreme Court. The Next Frontier: Normalizing Homosexuality Thanks to the struggles of the older Spanish LGBTQQ generations, young homosexual Spaniards are free to grow up and live in a much more tolerant society. Also, LGBTQQ organizations are now free to focus on more pressing issues: AIDS education and prevention, eliminating hate crimes, passing non-discrimination employment laws, promoting tolerance in public education and most of all, working to normalize homosexuality. As my 21-year-old friend Martí, who identifies as homosexual, tells me: “At a legal level, we are in the best moment in the history of our country. I can get married, adopt children, and raise of family like any other person ... I am grateful to the older generation of gays; because of what they have achieved, I can have a different life than them. I don’t have their bitterness, and I don’t have to live with resentment. I am happy and hopeful.” Although the Spanish are often characterized by their rather slow-moving culture, it has taken Spanish society and government a short 27 years to evolve from a country in which homosexual conduct was punishable by imprisonment to one of the globe’s pioneers in terms of LGBTQQ rights. It seems that we in the U.S. are the ones who are going paso a paso and getting left behind. This is the civil rights struggle of our time, and there’s no need to get too down on ourselves; we are fighting a winning battle, of that I am sure. v verde magazine 69

[true life]

True Life:

my boyfriend is going to war text by megan mitchell photography by sahar raz

e ordered a Grande Caramel Frappuccino with whip. Surprised me; he didn’t seem like the kind of a guy with a sweet tooth. He then insisted on covering my drink order as well. Once again, I had to do a double take to see who I was standing next to. I hadn’t thought of him as the gentleman he was starting to seem like. We took our seats, facing each other, both kind of tense because we didn’t know each other too well at the time. I had just been assigned to profile him for the upcoming issue of Verde, and the first step was this interview. As I struggled to plug in my laptop to the outlet on the wall, he readily began telling me about his dream of becoming a Marine. He explained to me why he had enlisted and what he was expecting. I listened and grinned when he made little jokes, taking in as much as I could. He wasn’t used to my sarcasm yet and I hadn’t adjusted to his bleak honesty, so the interview was full of awkward, delayed laughter and overlyflushed cheeks. I haven’t changed too much since then. I’m still in high school, wear the same sandals and have the same hairstyle. I still drive my Honda Civic to school every day, and I never forget to pet my yellow lab goodbye on my way out the back door. At the time of our interview — around a year ago — he hadn’t yet lived on base, hadn’t fired an M16 and didn’t have his dog tags. He was green, so to speak. But a few months later, the unadorned barracks of bootcamp became his home. We wrote letters back and forth. I would tell him of my lazy days in the summer sun, my recent trip to Hawaii, and funny gossip that I thought he’d enjoy. He’d respond with stories of drill instructors choking him by his chain necklace, how he had to run several miles with 50 pounds of baggage, or how much weight he was losing. I was somewhat worried, of course. I couldn’t see his expressions, but the words on the paper were enough to tell how he felt. From that point on, I knew it was real. The first time he came back home was completely dreamlike. Having been away from him for months, I couldn’t believe that his figure was right in front of me. Of course, his belly had vanished, the scruff on his chin was gone and he had the appearance of an official Marine. But he was still the same guy I had sat down with in Starbucks to interview seven months before. Then, he left again. Came back. Left. Came back. Left. And now, I’ve got my best friend all the way across the country in North Carolina as he trains for war. I know we’re not blood, and I know we’re not bound by marriage. I know we’re not engaged or have any sort of family together. And no, I don’t want these things. I know that we’re young and that we have our entire lives ahead of us. I know, after being told countless times that long distance love trials are never successful, that he is still my closest friend. So when I say that my boyfriend is going to war, it’s not a cry for pity. It’s not a plea for attention or sympathy. It’s not me overreacting about my situation as I deal with a reality 70 verde magazine

that millions of Americans experience daily. It’s a way for me to understand my own experience and confront what is in the near future for my best friend and me. By the end of September, he will be deployed to Afghanistan. As we await his departure, we talk as much as we can. We talk about his job as a gunner and how he will be shooting at the enemy from the top of a humvee. We talk about how he will be gone for several months on his first overseas trip and how, if I’m lucky, I will hear his voice once a month. We talk about how my hands will get sore from all the letters and e-mails I’ll be writing, while his may develop calluses from handling his equipment constantly. More than most things, we talk about how passionate he is. I could tell from day one that he is completely committed to defending this country. He is devoted to the discipline it requires and the fearlessness it demands. I’m not sure if he’s ready for what is coming, but he’s already given every part of himself to the Marines. He’s spent hours each day training for the physical ultimatum, studied the ins and outs and in-betweens of what it means to be a Marine, and never left behind his ability to grow. I’ve never really known anyone who has been to war aside from my grandparents. So, even though he might be prepared, I’m not. When it comes to fear, I am right there with anyone else in this position. I won’t deny that I’m scared. Having one of my friends across the country would scare me no matter what they were doing. I’ll send him off with a smile and he’ll return to us with just the same. My worrying will not change his daily endeavors or his final destiny. Instead of sulking in my fears, I will reach a state of optimism. Not ignorance, not foolishness, but an open eye to the positive side of what my best friend is accomplishing. Although this is just the beginning of his journey, he has already put himself on the edge so many times just so he can go one step further. As he sees it, the war after the training is just another step to go. He still has a blind eye to war, since he has not experienced it before, but he recognizes that it is a real destination for him. My lucky day won’t be the day that he comes home safely; it’ll be each day in between where I know he’s living out his dream. When I start worrying about him, I’ll close my eyes and think of his smile. When I miss spending every day with him, I’ll remember that there are millions of people throughout the country who are thinking just the same thing. I’ve never even thought about what it’s like to be on the battlefield, or on top of a humvee for that matter. But, I’ve got someone close to me who is about to figure it all out. So when he’s across the world and I’m here worrying about whether or not he’s got enough protective armor harnessed to his body, I’ll remember that I can’t assume anything. He taught me that you can’t judge something that you don’t know enough about. After all, he’s the one who turned out to be the gentleman with a sweet tooth. v

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