11.13.09

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VOLUME XXXII, ISSUE 3

100 N. LAKEVIEW CANYON ROAD, WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA 91362

November 13, 2009

IN PURSUIT OF A PERFECT 10: Coach Benkert offers lastminute strategies at practice to prepare the Warriors for the final league game. With a 9-0 record, Warriors will face the Moorpark Musketeers in the most decisive game of the season. The winner of this game will be the Marmonte League Champions.

PHOTO BY HANNA HONG

Westlake, Moorpark Set to Collide Tucker Higgins Christina Vasiliou Staff Writers Undefeated Moorpark will visit undefeated Westlake tonight for a showdown between Marmonte League powerhouses that pits the league’s best defense against the league’s best offense. Both teams will enter the game with a 9-0 record, hoping to remain

AcaDeca’s Preparation Put to Test Tiffany Loh Editor-in-Chief

football programs such as Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park making tonight’s game a perfect ending for this momentous season.

When asked about the game Coach Jim Benkert said “Moorpark, 7th in the state, will make this game very competitive; however, our high powered offense will put Moorpark’s renowned defense to the test.”

Fan attendance is expected to be

high and the tribe hopes that this will help the Warriors claim victory. Benkert expects the crowd will be an influence in the outcome.

“Moorpark has been really strong throughout the past five years, but we are hoping the crowd makes a lot of noise tonight, and we prove ourselves to be the thorn in their side,” Coach Benkert said.

See Page 14 for related story

Conti to Officiate CIF Football Finals Iris Yan Editor-in-Chief Drama teacher Catherine Conti, a football official of ten years, was recently nominated by the CIF Southern Section office to officiate at the Division II State Championships at the Home Depot Center on Friday, Dec. 18.

The best five teams of Northern California will play against the highest ranked five teams of Southern California.

Right before graduating from Westmont College, Conti created a small fib when everyone asked her of her future endeavors—bragging to everyone that she was going to be a “yard marker” in the NFL. Eventually, everyone started believing her. Years later while she was a waitress, Conti met the head coach at Rio Mesa, George TIME OUT!: Catherine Conti officiates at the Pride Contreras, and he urged Conti to Bowl charity event hosted at NPHS L.A. Sheriffs vs.

LAPD last June. attend a meeting for interested football Goleta all the way to Simi Valley and even officals.

“I thought, no, I don’t want to be in Malibu. She never regarded herself as an the game...would I have to wear the stripes athlete in her younger years, but since she and all?” remembers Conti. She eventually must keep up with the football players, she now considers herself athletic, training showed up on a whim.

“It was at that moment, when I saw four or five days a week year-round.

With her goal in mind, Conti thinks the quintessence of All-American football in the man, that I decided I wanted to be “being the first woman would be a meaningful vehicle to open doors so that, the first female official in the NFL.” As a member of the Channel Coast if given the chance, I have the opportunity Football Officials Association, Conti to change the lives of young people across usually officiates in regions ranging from the nation.” Conti hopes to give the

message that, “You never know which choices are life-changing, no matter how whimsical they may be. So being a female in a male-dominated sport gives all the girls the hope that they can do anything, and for the guys, it elicits respect.”

For Conti, officiating is simply “effortless” because “the task at hand is not laborious. It is only easy because I love it.” The most entertaining part of her job is the personal relationships.

“I loved that in my early years as an official, the reactions of the coaches and some players to me when they realize I am a woman is priceless. Also, witnessing kids I have reffed over the years grow up really makes my job fun.

Ultimately, 15% of this art is officiating while the 85% of it is interpersonal skill.”

“I have been so lucky that I have had the opportunity to attend several training camps every summer and meet the people who are at the pinnacle of what I want to do. Having someone like Mark Perlman (last year’s superbowl line judge) give me pointers on the field is amazing. It’s a tight-knit community, a genuinely supportive family,” said Conti.

Though she is excited for her promising future, she is taking it one step at a time. “I just hope my hardwork and concentration in my passion will pay off in my moving to Division I football someday,” said Conti.

COURTESY PHOTO

AcaDeca team will put its hours of study to the test when members pit their skills against Ventura County competitors in the first scrimmage of the year.

The scrimmage, which will take place on Nov. 14, will allow the team to evaluate its progress and provide more competition experience for the students.

“The scrimmages are really important because we can get a better idea of the questions we will be asked in the actual competition,” said Kimberly Ha ‘10.

“It’s not one of the competition days, but it is a way to view the competition.

It also gives us a time to practice timed testing,” added AcaDeca President Karen Tsai.

In addition, WHS will use the results from the scrimmage to determine who will be on the Warriors’ A and B teams for the actual competition in February.

This year, one of the biggest surprises was that Moorpark, the national AcaDeca champions will not be competing. At the last competition, Moorpark took first place in Ventura County, while WHS placed second.

“With the national champions out of the way, I think our biggest competition this year is Oxnard,” said Tsai. “Hopefully, we can be the first team in WHS history to win first at the regional competition and also to go to State.”

undefeated.

Throughout this week, coaches have been playing music during practices in order to encourage the players’ excitement for the big game. Both the WHS coaches and players are well aware that the clash between the two schools will determine who becomes Marmonte League Champion.

Both teams have faced much adversity this season going up against respected

2

NEWS IN BRIEF

New Hip Hop Club begins

Astronomy attends meteor shower Astronomy Club, now in its second year, has several upcoming events. The club will attend the meteor shower on Nov. 17 in Newbury Park.

Later in the year, they plan to visit the Griffith Observatory.

Their meetings are every other Wednesday in Room 43J. The next meeting is Nov. 18, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Operation Christmas Child donates gifts Campus Light will be working with Operation Christmas Child, a nonprofit organization that helps unfortunate children in thirdworld countries who have been devastated by natural disasters, during the week of Nov. 16-23.

The club will collect shoe boxes filled with gifts for children, such as school supplies, small toys, toothbrushes, hard candies, clothing and much more. Each shoe box must also contain $7 to cover shipping costs. The boxes will then be sent to the children for Christmas. To pack a shoe box for an unfortunate child or for more information on Operation Christmas Child, see Advisor Richard Acton in Room 43T or visit www.samaritanspurse.org

Science Olympiad selects team Science Olympiad, formed by a group of students talented in many aspects of science, competes with other schools in subjects such as anatomy, biology, environmental science, physics, chemistry, and engineering. This year’s competition team has already been selected, but students interested may attend the club meetings. Email President Vivian Shi ‘10 at whs.scioly@gmail.com.

Brain Connection offers tutoring The Brain Connection, a student run organization, needs high school students to tutor fourth and fifth graders at Lang Ranch Elementary. Tutoring is every Thursday from 3:00 to 4: 15. The first session goes through Dec. 17 of this year, and another six-week session will begin after winter break. For more information email Hanna Mandell ‘11, hm@th ebrainconnectiononline.com.

Advanced Graphics sparks creativity Sarah Gerlach Staff Writer Creative f r e e d o m , an attentive teacher, and preparation for a career—all of these factors are attracting students to a new elective offered in the vocational arts department: Advanced Graphics.

Taught by R o b e r t Biersborn during first period, the class has proven to be one of the most enjoyable.

TECHNO-LOGIC: John Howe ‘10 experiments with designs in Advanced Graphics.

W h i l e s i m i l a r Although it is only first students find it difficult to have to Computer Graphics, the semester, Advanced Graphics few limitations. “The biggest beginning graphic design class, has already completed many challenge would be thinking of Advanced Graphics is more projects. “My favorite project stuff to draw and learning new professional. “My advanced was making a book cover,” said tools on the programs,” Donadio class aims to prepare students for Tyler Lillie ‘11. The class has said. real-world jobs,” said Biersborn. also completed projects such Although there are no “I want students to have a as making a Halloween mask, defined prerequisites for joining professional-looking portfolio.” creating a mimbot design, and the class, Mr. Biersborn prefers Many students have chosen working with Photoshop and his students to have taken to take the class for this exact Illustrator.

Computer Graphics. reason. “I am looking forward Advanced Graphics allows “Students can also show to creating many projects to students to be artistic and me that they have a basic possibly use them in a portfolio innovative. Emma Schuett ‘11 understanding of using programs for a future career,” said Kyle enjoys Advanced Graphics like Photoshop, or show me past Donadio ‘10. “This class made because everyone is encouraged work,” Biersborn explained. me decide what career I want to be original. “My favorite part Overall, the class gives to take on and it has further has been the amount of creative rewarding experiences and also increased my artistic ability.” freedom we have in this class,” makes room for fun. “Although Other students feel the same Schuett said. it is an academic class, Advanced as Donadio. “I am definitely The class as a whole has not Graphics is more entertaining interested in a career in graphic had any challenges, though some than other classes,” Biersborn design,” added John Keller ‘10. said.

PHOTO BY SAM WEXLER

Seniors Adam Li and Jesse Hu recently created Hip-Hop Club where members can learn all forms of hip-hop and break dancing.

“Students can learn how to pop, lock, break dance, and the basics of hip-hop,” said Advisor Rebecca Alderson.

The club members will start choreographing in a week and hope to start preparing for the Winter Rally. The club meets at lunch on Mondays and will start having night classes once a week. To join Hip-Hop club, see Alderson in the Mezzanine at lunch on Mondays.

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Mock Trial investigates murder case Lisa Battaglia Feature Editor Newly selected Mock Trial team members will need to consider search and seizure challenges to the Fourth Amendment as they prepare for a murder trial.

Nineteen students were selected to the team this year, including eight attorneys, eight witnesses, one bailiff, one clerk, and one alternate.

“We have a very strong team this year and we very well might even win,” said Mock Trial Coach Christina Harrison.

The court case this year is People vs. Bratton, which involves the murder of Preston Palmer. The pretrial argument will feature the Fourth Amendment rights.

Four-year member, Nik Crain ‘10 is expecting “a comeback year” with the new and diverse personalities.

Hannah Englander ‘10 will play defendant Jordan Bratton, who is accused of murdering comedian Preston Palmer. Englander is familiar with playing a witness, winning Best Witness her sophomore year and playing the defendant in last year’s case, People vs. Lane.

Practices are held on Monday and Thursday evenings and will continue through the end of February.

The Ventura County competition will take place over three days on Feb. 22, 23, and 25.

WHS considers implementing block schedule Max Avruch Copy Editor A block schedule might replace the traditional seven-period school day this coming spring if the school leadership approves the change.

A tentative schedule includes having Tuesdays and Thursdays dedicated to the block schedule and is in the process of being reviewed.

However, no permanent changes have been determined.

“The leadership team, which is made up of the department chairs and the administrators, is discussing the possibility of a pilot program to be implemented in the spring, but no decisions have been made,” said Assistant Principal of Instruction Nicole Funfar.

Counselor Susan Wilson recommended doing the rotating schedule, where “students rotate their class schedules daily.

For example, having periods 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 one day, the following day—2, 3, 4, 5, and 1.”

“Any type of block schedule where some classes meet on longer days than others, like lab classes or art classes is great, but for subjects like math, having a block schedule is harder to adjust to,” said School-to-Career Coordinator Dr. Laurie Looker.

Because the block schedule

is still extremely tentative at this point, arrangements are still up in the air.

Administrators and department chairs are considering possible scenarios for the block schedule, including looking at nearby schools that have the variation, including Newbury Park and Agoura. At this time, “they are just exploring,” said Principal Ron Lipari.

NPHS has a schedule in which students take three classes per semester, so by the end of one year, students have completed at

least six classes. However, all AP classes are year-long.

But implementing a block schedule may result in some problems. “For example, if we follow what Newbury does, a student who takes a foreign language like Spanish first semester does not need to take it again for second semester,” said Looker.

“But, since that student already fulfilled the requirements for the year during first semester, not taking the class second semester leaves a gap between first semester and the following year,”

she added.

If the block schedule passes, students could follow a schedule that looks like the following: on Tuesdays, periods 1, 3, 5 and 7 will be implemented, and then on Thursdays, periods 2, 4, and 6 will also be added.

However because the schedule is under very “tentative arrangements, it can easily change,” said Funfar.

With a block schedule, classes meet for 90 minutes each a day, instead of the traditional 55 minute classes.

3

OPINION

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Has email gone the way of the Pony Express?

Zak Kukoff Staff Writer

Bring o n n y

Tucker Higgins Staff Writer

In a surprising decision based on appeals by Oaks Christian, Calabasas and Ventura High Schools, the CIF Council voted on Oct. 22 for the entrance of Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure into the Marmonte league for football only, starting in 2010.

There has been a long debate on how to handle these two private high schools with powerhouse football programs that have dominated their leagues.

According to an article in the Ventura County Star, the CIF Council ultimately ratified a proposal that had been dismissed early in a process that began more than a year ago.

It overruled a 7-1 decision by the Northern Conference to switch Oaks Christian and Calabasas for all sports in their respective leagues.

Ventura High School added its own appeal because it simply wanted St. Bonaventure’s dominant football team out of the otherwise public school league. The catalyst is the dominance of Oaks Christian and St. Bona venture in the Tri-Valley and Channel leagues respectively.

St. Bonaventure has not lost a Channel league game since 2002. Oaks Christian has won six of eight lower-division titles, including all of the last six, since the school’s founding and entrance into the Tri-Valley league in 2000.

These records illustrate the private schools’ unmatched dominance when competing against at least the smaller public schools.

These two private schools, with respected academic programs and smaller classrooms, are able to recruit from broad

It

areas and attract talented athletes beyond the reach of public high schools.

Through “scholarships” and unrestricted geographic boundaries, Oaks and St. Bonny are able to assemble teams with unusual talent, despite their relatively small student population.

Ironically, both schools like to say they are a “small school” despite the powerful football teams they field every year.

They compete with each other, although rarely directly, to play in the Division III or the “small school division” state championship game that pits the best of Northern California against the best of Southern California at the end of each season.

One or the other school has represented and won the Division III State Championship game since its inception in 2006.If public schools in the previous leagues were unhappy with the private schools’ advantage, why would the CIF transfer Oaks and St. Bonny into another all public school league such as the Marmonte?

For one reason, the Marmonte league is well known for its powerful football programs ranked among the top in the state, such as the Warriors.

As well, the transfer is limited to football only; thus the decision will allow other sports in the Marmonte League to continue to compete unaffected by the ruling.

Although the decision has caused much unrest among coaches and teams in the affected leagues, the ruling can have a positive outcome for the public schools in the Marmonte League. The new competition that will be joining the Marmonte will arguably form the most powerful football league in the state of California, with four teams currently ranked in the top 20 on MaxPreps.com. A healthy rivalry always

CARTOON BY TUCKER HIGGINS

For many people in both the social and working worlds, email, one of the oldest internet-communication devices in existence, is the one, indispensable communications tool that they use every day.

Despite the prevalence and popularity of new networks like Twitter and Facebook, email remains the primary way to send a message quickly and efficiently.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Vascellaro wrote an article that argued email was increasingly inadequate in a world dominated by so-called “new media” or “web 2.0”—what we would consider status update services. Email, she claims, “was better suited to the way we used to use the Internet—logging off and on, checking our messages in bursts.”

While this makes for good prose, it happens to be untrue. A newly viable technology, casually called “Push,” is making its way into the mainstream. Push powers not only mobile GMail, but Yahoo Mail Plus and Apple’s MobileMe as well. Newly received emails are instantly “pushed” to a phone or any other mobile device, rivaling the speed of Twitter and enormously faster than Facebook.

Vascellaro goes on to ask, “Why wait for a response to an email when you get a quicker answer over instant messaging?

Thanks to Facebook, some questions can be answered without asking them.”

Unfortunately, this too is untrue: while doing research for this article, I

changed both my AIM and Facebook statuses so that they asked for people’s opinion about this issue. The vast majority of responses were almost useless variations on stereotypical 14-year-old boy jokes like “your mom” or “that’s what she said” - answers that had little-to-nothing to do with my question.

Although Vascellaro claims that Twitter and Facebook can provide quick and to-the-point responses, it took an email to gain any opinions of value.

Chris Lim, a freshman at Millburn High School in New Jersey, said that “No one really uses email anymore except to do stuff for class.” Andrew Vollavanh, another student at Millburn, said that when asking someone for something over IM, the usual response is “Srry gtg ttyl bye, ... So its hard to get anything done.” Zach Flyer, a freshman at Millburn, said “I text people when I want to hang out, and I email people for class.” Despite Vascellaro’s assumptions, email is still very much alive in the academic world.

However, there’s no denying that email has its fair share of problems, and many new services are trying to fix them.

Google has developed a program called Google Wave, which bills itself as “email if it were invented today”. It tries to blend email, IM, Blackberry Messenger, and Facebook, and is currently in an inviteonly beta. Other services like 3jam and Zenbe’s Shareflow are also trying to improve - or compete with - email.

Email is not in danger of dying, however: as it stands, there is no better way to

send teachers an attachment, employers a resume, or classmates an assignment than the time-honored system of email.

On a k s

inspires greatness and Westlake has never been afraid of competition. ”We are excited and looking forward to the next season’s challenge,” said Assistant Principal of Athletics Jason Branham about the recent CIF decision.

As well, Oaks Christian’s entrance into the league will create the ultimate cross-town rivalry that should deliver an exciting public private match-up every year.

“We have an extremely competitive football program and I am confident that we can compete at their level,”said Branham This game will no doubt draw significant media attention, which will promote both schools and enhance school spirit.

According to Coach Jim Benkert, “With the addition of Oaks and St. Bonny into the Marmonte, we will be a contender in one of the most challenging leagues in California. Most importantly, the players have shown great enthusiasm in preparing for next season.”

In the end, the CIF decision affects Oaks Christian more than St. Bonny, Westlake, and other teams in the Marmonte, all of which already compete in the highly regarded Northern Division and have played each other regularly in the last decade.

Surely their detractors, and any serious high school football fan in California, will be very interested to see how oaks does when playing against top-notch football programs every week.

While some schools in Marmonte may not welcome the new competition from private schools with a distinct recruiting advantage, Westlake will no doubt welcome the two newcomers with a couple of good old-fashioned butt kickings!

THE WESTLAKE HIGH SCHOOL

ARROW

100 N. Lakeview Canyon Road Westlake Village, CA 91362 (805) 497-6711 ext. 4225 whsarrow.webs.com westlakearrow@yahoo.com EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Tiffany Loh, Iris Yan COPY EDITORS Max Avruch, Annie Gerlach OPINION EDITOR Becky Sadwick FEATURE EDITORS Lisa Battaglia, Alexandra Biston, Jared Erman, Julia Model, Marika Price, Katie Roughan, Dashiell Young-Saver ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Jacob Cavanah, Sam Wexler SPORTS EDITOR Sofia Talarico CARTOONIST Kabir Nagarkatti ADVERTISING MANAGER Rachel Bernstein ADVISOR Caron Battaglia STAFF WRITERS Brian Chang, Meini Cheng, Aaron Demsetz, Jose Ermac Celine Flores, Sarah Gerlach, Charlotte Gibson, Kayla Greenberg, Tucker Higgins, Hanna Hong, Zak Kukoff, Jamie Mark, Katelyn Masket, Michelle Noyes, Steven Paro, David Samuels, Christina Vasiliou, Delaney West The Arrow is written, designed and run by the students of the Advanced Journalism

and Journalism 1CP classes at Westlake High School and is published monthly. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the Conejo Valley Unified School District, Westlake High School administration, faculty, or student body. We welcome feedback. Letters must be signed by the writer, though names can be withheld by request in the publication.

Please send submissions to Mrs. Battaglia’s box in the main office or to Room 42E. For The Arrow online, visit whswarriors.com and click on Activities menu.

4

FEATURE

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Recession leads to local closures

Economy unpredictable after steep drop

only be wishful thinking.

“The present picture Today’s economas of the last ic recession is one of quarter is rosithe largest problems er, but it’s most that our country has likely an exagfaced so far. geration,” said When the stock UCLA Profesmarket started to desor Emeritus cline in December of of Economics 2007, the world reHarold Demtreated into a state of setz. Demsetz fear at the prospect of believes that more banks failing while many and stock prices hitpeople think ting rock-bottom. that the world But lately, due to is already rebillions upon billions covering from of dollars spent on the economic aiding failing busidownfall, the nesses and comparecovery will nies “too big to fail,” be dragged out things have started to for a prolonged straighten out. Hopeperiod of time. fuls believe that the WHERE ARE WE NOW?: Economists say that the economy is no longer dropping at the rate it was People world economy is on previously, but its future state is still unknown. must take care the verge of a breakthrough and will rapidly accelerate to, and ile, any attempts to bolster trade will have that they do not jump to conclusions in perhaps beyond, its once former glory. to be planned out quickly and efficiently. this matter. Just because the decline has The question of the day is no lon- Despite the fact that signs of a recovery are stopped for the time being does not mean ger “Is the worst over?” but rath- present, the unemployment rate continues that a full-on recovery is already on the er, “How are we going to recover?” to rise to more than 10%, higher than it has way. Many unforeseeable factors can influKeeping in mind that at this point in ever been since 1983. What the general ence the already unstable economy. Only time, the economic state of affairs is frag- public views as a legitimate recovery may time will tell what is in store for world finance.

Aaron Demsetz Staff Writer

Jacob Cavanah Entertainment Editor

CARTOON BY KABIR NAGARKATTI

Certain products fare well when economy takes a downturn.

Dashiell Young-Saver Feature Editor With so many “for lease” and “bank foreclosed” signs up around Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks, it is hard to believe that any business can be profiting more than before the recession. However, there are some products and businesses that prosper during hard economic times.

Products that are inexpensive appeal to Americans’ light wallets, and products that are relaxing appeal to Americans who are stressed due to economic struggles.

Donuts, for example, have always turned profits for small and large businesses when people cannot afford more expensive breakfasts.

“When people cannot afford coffee and pastries at Starbucks they can get them here for much less,” said Steven Te, the owner of the Thousand Oaks-based small donut shop Best Donuts. According to Te, more people are switching from expensive coffee shops to economical donut shops; consequently, his business is spared from the losses other local businesses are experiencing.

America’s two largest donut chains, Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme, hit peaks in sales when other businesses crashed. When the economy declined, Americans started getting cheaper

breakfasts from these two chains.

According to Time magazine, Krispy Kreme’s sales were up 56% during one four week period in 2009.

Not only are there profitable trends in money saving items, but in stress relieving and feel-good products too. Harlequin Books, a publisher of romance novels, saw a 13.5% increase in profit in the first quarter of 2009.

In addition, comedic and escapist movies are doing well at the box office.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was the number one grossing movie for its two opening weekends, beating Surrogates, Fame, and The Informant, grossing a total of 60 million dollars. Zombieland was number one at the box office during its first weekend, making 25 million dollars, followed by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Another relaxing business, yoga, is growing. Manduka, a company that sells yoga products, has been making great sales with their 100 dollar mats which are up 55% in the first four months of this year, according The New York Times. Also, of the many people doing yoga for the past 6 months, about 12 million of them are trying it for the first time.

The White House demonstrated a large trend in America by planting their own organic garden. Seeds are hitting

highs like never before because people want to have organic foods for less; the cheapest way to get these foods is to grow them. Burpee seed company expects sales to be up by 25% by the end of 2009.

Gold trade-in businesses, the largest of them being Cash4Gold, are very popular now due to the dollar decreasing in value and gold rising in value. Cash4Gold had a super bowl commercial featuring Ed McMahon and MC Hammer, and spent 121 million to buy and place ads last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The New York Post said that Cash4Gold sales are predicted to reach 160 million this year.

Hasbro saw large economic growth in the last year featuring 2 Transformer movies and selling many more toys. The company had a rise of 8.8% in the third quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

CEO and Chairman of Tupperware, Rick Goings, said in a FOX interview that people are eating at restaurants less often and there is a 40% rise in people taking their lunch to work. This means a large increase in business for Tupperware.

Being economical and relieving stress is on the minds of Americans during this bad economic climate. Businesses that cater to these ideas are growing and prospering while the others decline.

COURTESY PHOTOS

Recession-proof products

PROSPERING ITEMS: Products that sell well in the recession include gold, donuts, seeds.

Because America’s economy is in a recession, local businesses and restaurants were involuntarily forced to shut down.

General Motors (GM) acquired debt affecting the GM car dealerships in the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall.

Chevrolet’s car dealership, Courtesy Chevrolet, recently closed.

The well-known nationwide car manufacturer was in the same location for decades.

Other American car dealerships in the same auto mall, such as Dodge and Chrysler, were forced to close down.

The Cold Stone Creamery location in the Promenade was another victim of these tough times.

The store recently closed down. It will be taken over by Menchie’s, a frozen yogurt business.

Even with the closing of this popular store, locals have not given up their cravings for cold snacks.

They have found healthy and inexpensive alternatives.

The frozen yogurt stores Pinkberry, Golden Spoon, Yozen Frogurt, Dairy Queen’s replacement Misty Berry, and Menchie’s are all choices that benefit the consumers’ wallet and health.

Since the downfall of local ice cream shops, business has boomed for these favorite yogurt spots.

Yozen Frogurt previously had stores only in Thousand Oaks and West Hills but, due to their success, were able to expand into Westlake Village. Since Agoura Hills’ Golden Spoon is out of the way for local yogurt lovers, the chain made it more convenient for citizens of Thousand Oaks by opening up two more locations in Thousand Oaks (one on Avenida de los Arboles and one on Moorpark and Janss road).

Along with the other refreshment hot spots, sit down restaurants are also closing.

Enjoyable family restaurants that are no longer in business include the Promenade’s Applebee’s and Rosti, Dakota’s Steakhouse, and The Lakes’ Sushi Ko. Dakota’s, the high end steak house, was not a reasonable outing for steak lovers anymore. A $100 dinner date for two is a price many people are now not willing to pay.

At The Lakes, Sushi Ko closed.

It is going to be replaced by the delicatessen Nate’n Al. In addition, local high end apparel shops are closing. The clothing stores Just U ‘N Me, Mervyn’s, and Foot Locker closed.

Considering the many clothing stores Thousnd Oaks and Westlake Village host, not many have closed down. Residents are not sacrificing their fashion even in these tough economic times.

Both students and other locals are cutting back on expensive items in the community.

As a result of the recent recession, some of the local businesses have faltered, but some remain stable.

5

FEATURE

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

What not to wear: Interviews for beginners Kayla Greenberg Charlotte Gibson Staff Writers Despite years of hard work and mountains of recommendations swearing that you are, in fact, the Chosen One, it turns out you only have seven seconds to get into college. Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA asserts that first impressions are not only formed within the first seven seconds of introduction, but are also 55% based on nonverbal cues.

Therefore, dressing appropriately is crucial to a successful college interview.

Carefully consider the particular

Girls Do’s:

. cardigan . blazer . clean, styled hair . natural makeup . ruffled or collared blouse . ballet flats . conservative heels . smile

college when selecting an outfit for the interview. If a school such as Princeton emphasizes conservative values, dress professionally, but a school like Columbia that values individualism allows more personalized outfits.

As a general rule, outfits worn to college interviews should be both professional and individual. The ideal outfit should let the student feel like him or herself while still making a serious impression on the interviewer.

In The New York Times article “Free Fashion Advice for College Interviews,” Eric J. Furda, a previous admissions official from Columbia University, recalls

a particular interview where the student arrived dressed in gothic clothes. She defended her clothing choice by saying, “I figured if you didn’t like the way I am, maybe this isn’t the place for me.”

As a response, Furda said, “What’s most important is that you’re yourself.”

Although intimidating, the college interview is crucial to the application process. The interview humanizes the applicant, and gives a face to the papers of the application. Therefore, dressing with professionalism and personality lessens the pressure and anxiety caused by a college interview.

Boys Do’s:

. blazer . collared button down . black, navy, or charcoal suit . dress shoes . khaki slacks . clean hair . smile

PHOTOS BY KAYLA GREENBERG

Girls Don’ts:

. too much perfume . too much makeup . revealing clothes . nervous habits

Boys Don’ts:

. too much cologne . scruffy facial hair . jeans . nervous habits

DRESSED TO THE NINES: Seniors Mark Friedman and Lindsay Grossman model looks that would inspire memorable interviews.

Two plus two equals a good education Celine Flores Staff Writer Most students have been saving for the dreaded tuitions that precipitate a traditional university education since childhood, but with the nation in a financial limbo, those looking for a degree are leaving behind plans of a four-year institution and opting for another route: community college.

Community colleges are often recognized primarily as relief for the wallet: for a set of six full units, fees at community colleges stand at about $1200, less than what University of California Los Angeles demands for books and supplies alone. But it’s the hidden qualities that make the choice such a valuable one.

Many former WHS seniors have taken advantage of Moorpark College’s inexpensive tuition and convenient location over the years and have opted for a “two-plus-two” education, a term for obtaining an Associate degree through two years of community college and then transferring to a four-year university afterward for a Bachelor’s Degree.

“WHS has a large number of students who attend Community College after they graduate In the class of 2009 we had 194 students attend Community College. And even this year I have already spoken to a number of students who are looking to attend community college first,” said Cassie Sandifer of the WHS College and Career Center.

College Board advises high school seniors to take several factors into consideration before committing to a school, including cost, location, campus life, and preferred major. Community colleges fulfill the expectations of many students and pleasantly surprise most with unexpected benefits.

“I have received feedback from students who have attended community college and it has all been positive,” said Sandifer.

The environment of community colleges like Moorpark are similar to a university, minus the dorms and large classes. While you may not get the big university feel, there is a distinct advantage to being one of 30 students in a classroom versus one of 300: it is highly likely that you will get more opportunity to contribute to class discussions, ask questions, and interact with other students and faculty.

“As far as the quality of teachers, it’s the same; but I think community colleges are more focused on integrating students into the community, there’s more availability to them,” said Denise Gibson of the Moorpark College Dance Department.

“It’s a smoother transition to college from high school.”

Gibson pointed out that while most clubs on university campuses are academic in nature, community colleges tend to offer a wider variety of social opportunities, some of which are based on purely nonacademic interests ranging from swing

dance to an international studies club.

“Students are going to be academically challenged at the community college as well. Students who want to challenge themselves can enroll in the honors program,” added Sandifer.

The transferring process from community college to a four-year university, however, is a more complex one.

With more potential for misunderstanding and error, the applicant must be prepared to run into challenges concerning credits and courses.

Viewing college as a “two plus two” versus a traditional four-year university route results in the same solution: an education leading to the career of one’s choice.

“Each student has to examine themselves and figure out what path works for them. There is no single, set way to obtain a four-year degree. Students will take different paths, but in the end they will end up with the same level of education under their belt.”

Sandifer continues, “The biggest message that I want to get out to students is that going to community college is not a ‘just.’ So many students will say to me, ‘I am just going to go to Moorpark.’

Students need to be proud of the path that they choose for their college education.

Attending Moorpark or SBCC is a great honor. They are making the decision to continue on with higher education and that alone is a great accomplishment.”

Rise in tuition fees causes student protests Annie Gerlach Copy Editor For seniors, fall ushers in an overwhelming wave of standardized tests and applications. However, this year college applicants will suddenly face a much more daunting obstacle: paying for higher education in the midst of the economic crisis.

Governor Schwarzenegger signed the final budget for California on July 28, and while it is disgraceful enough that he reduced funding for such programs as AIDS prevention and child welfare, perhaps the most alarming cut occurred within the public education system.

Schwarzenegger cut $8.1 billion in funding for education, $6 billion from the K-12 system and the rest from community colleges and public universities. In one fell swoop the governor managed to devastate the entire education system of California. “It’s really disappointing that in times like these the government can’t figure out a way to give money to education,” said Sam Rose `10.

The new budget unfortunately places yet another undue burden on faculty and students at every level, especially when it comes to higher education.

In particular, the University of California (UC) system increased fees by nine percent and decreased incoming freshman enrollment by six percent, while the California State University (CSU) system increased fees by 32 percent and cut enrollment by 40,000 students. Furthermore, despite the increase in fees, the government plans to completely phase out the Cal Grant, a financial aid program awarded to students who meet specific financial and scholastic requirements, by 2011. The official UC website claims that “UC offers an extensive aid program” and “most undergraduates receive some financial assistance,” yet how does the system expect to maintain such standards while simultaneously eliminating the largest source of aid in California? “All around, getting into college is much more difficult,” said Sheena Vira `10.

Both UC and CSU fees have more than doubled since 2001, and the extreme trend is not stopping anytime soon. As a result, low and middle income families find it increasingly difficult to afford college, and what was once considered a valuable education has since deteriorated into yet another stark reminder of the budget crisis.”

Every year it gets more difficult to get accepted into local universities,” said Hayley Sherman `10. “Raising tuition and lowering admission rates just make it more difficult for incoming classes.”

However, students and faculty alike refuse to silently accept this latest string of abuse. Most notably, after the UC Regents approved a plan in July that increased class sizes and implemented employee furloughs, faculty on multiple campuses called for a walkout on Sept. 24—the same day as the start of the fall quarter. Student groups and labor unions joined the cause, protesting and disrupting classes in order to call attention to the budget cuts throughout the education system. Nonetheless, even the most extreme of efforts almost go unnoticed, and the California government does not seem to heed the pleas of the students and educators across the state. “It seems like people just aren’t going to go to college anymore,” said Joacin Gurrola `11.

6

FEATURE

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Fongheiser keeps ’em laughing out loud

In the Mood: How Music Reflects Personality

Katie Roughan Feature Editor

focus on. That’s how I think I get so good at something so quickly. “ Senior Hayden FongThe proof is in the fact heiser created a local comthat Fongheiser has been edy buzz and kept audiences practicing comedy for only laughing at his show, “Life’s a three months.

Funny Thing.”

Fongheiser continually Fongheiser opened his wrote down jokes in his black own home to showcase his composition book, where he comedy. Over 40 people were continually reworked his mapresent, showing their support terial. for Fongheiser. The audience Whatever Fongheiser ranged from young to old and sets his sights on, everything included relatives, friends, and is geared toward his ultimate strangers. goal of directing.

When asked about the auIronically, he loves to dience reaction, Fongheiser make dramas. Fongheiser said, “I’m ecstatic with the said, “To understand drama crowd’s responses. I didn’t exyou need to know comedy pect it to be that loud in there. first.”

I expected maybe giggles or Comedy has opened certain people would laugh many doors for Fongheiser but not everyone at the same and is helping him academitime.” cally as well. He looks for inDavid Soloway `10 spiration in everything, from opened the show reminiscEnglish class to everyday obing about old memories of his jects. childhood friend.

Comedians that inspire Once Hayden took the Fongheiser include Jerry stage he maintained the enerSeinfield, Steve Martin, and gy with short, smart jokes; vidAdam Sandler. Although his eos, and drawings were also main passion is film, Fongintegrated into the show. Fongheiser plans to keep doing heiser got the idea of incorpocomedy and will hopefully rating these different mediums have another show within the from one of his idols, Demitri SENIOR STANDOUT: Fongheiser showcases one of his many talents as next three months. For now, Martin. a stand-up comedian.

Hayden is keeping his classWhen asked what the mates entertained and workdefinition of comedy is, Fongcountry, choir, acting, photography, muing on his many talents. heiser said, “For me comedy represents a sic, and film making. This substantial “With photography and now comedy, the mind exercise much like a puzzle, trying résumé makes Fongheiser a man of all reward has been so great,” Fongheiser to see if I am in fact a funny person.” trades. Fongheiser said, “When I set my said. “I just want to continue what I’m Attending Westlake since freshman sights on one thing, I try to immerse mydoing right now.” year, Fongheiser has participated in cross self as much as possible so that it is all I

Alexandra Biston Julia Model Feature Editors

COURTESY PHOTO

Keane Rides for a Cause COURTESY PHOTO

Katelyn Masket Jamie Mark Staff Writers

While others are enjoying a lazy Saturday morning, junior Katie Keane is already on her way to Ride On in Newbury Park. Keane has been volunteering at the CHARITY RIDER: Keane interacting with the Ride On students. Keane makes a difference voluntherapeutic horse camp for disabled indi- teering while doing something she loves. viduals since eighth grade, and it is the perfect place where her love of horses comgoing.” bines with her passion for volunteering. horse, and he wasn’t very responsive.”

“School is very stressful,” Keane said, Strangely enough, Keane’s father After countless Saturdays spent facfound out about Ride On from a stranger ing his fear, Keane said that “he has got- “but I still choose to go to Ride On and I at Osh Hardware Store. Over four years, ten to the point where he can talk to us and see these kids who are so happy. They Keane’s duties have evolved from clean- can use the reins correctly. It’s inspiring have these huge smiles on their faces.”

By donating her ing the horse stalls to preparing and lead- that he has developed time twice a week, ing the horses. so much through Keane has gained Junior Helen Grant has also partici- horse riding. I saw new appreciation for pated in the program for a year and a half, him develop into this what she has. She and she lists her duties as “supervising, rider that has so much here is one rider that I says that the riders taking care of the kids, and grooming the confidence.” “have to deal with really connected with. When horses.” Both Grant and Keane joke that Grant agrees, much more than I “falling off horses” has become a daily rou- noting that one of he first came, he would not could ever fathom,” tine at Ride On, but the bruises never stop the main reasons she even touch a horse and he was which opens her eyes them from coming back. loves going is because to how fortunate she not very responsive.”

Though cleaning horse stalls can be “the kids are hilariactually is. somewhat tedious, the rewards of working ous.”

-Katie Keane While many colat Ride On are endless and have even beIn addition, vollege-hungry teens come personal. Over many five-hour work unteering at Ride On drag themselves to days spent at the facility, Keane has devel- has given Keane a superficial communioped strong relationships with the riders. new perspective on When children begin to learn, the sight of her own life. She shares the story of a ty service activities, Keane and Grant jump a large and powerful horse is frightening, wheelchair-bound rider who “can’t con- out of bed at 6:30 a.m. each Saturday mornand many are uncommunicative with the trol his disability, but he can control the ing to do something they are truly passionvolunteers. Keane said, “There is this one horse. For 30 minutes he sees the world ate about. At Ride On, Keane says she rider that I really connected with. When from a different point of view, which em- works with “the happiest kids,” and she he first came, he would not even touch a powers him. He can control where he is says, “it cheers up my entire week.”

“T

Music is usually a remedy for alleviating stress and can often bring about a positive or negative state of mind, depending on what you listen to.

Many feel that their lives would not be complete without music because music has the power to bring back memories and emotions that once existed but have since been forgotten.

Often times, people want to specify their preferences according to their personal musical tastes. But what are the factors that determine an individual’s interest in a certain music genre?

According to research done by sociology professor, Jim Gundlach, a person’s music preference relates to his or her own personality. People listen to all types of music depending on their moods, and different moods tend to relay different feelings after listening to a certain song.

Although not the most popular amongst teenagers, research shows that classical music enhances creativity and formulates an ideal environment for thinking.

Classical phenomenon Yo Yo Ma’s music promotes healthy thoughts of joy and peace. This type of music usually leaves people feeling calm, content and productive.

Similarily, the sounds of country stars such as Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, and Tim McGraw help listeners cope with everyday depression. However, Gundlach found higher rates of suicide among those who listen to country music.

“Many country songs include topics such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation from work,” Gundlach said.

According to a cognitive psycholgy article, rap music generally tends to be associated with violent actions, specifically towards women, and many are more inclined to express materialistic attitudes. Rap music fans also tend to have behavioral problems and lower academic achievement. Rap artists usually express their childhood memories through their lyrics.

“Rap music is a direct reflection of one’s personality,” James Freymouth ‘11 said. “Like all types of music, you really get a sense of who the person is and you can feel their passion and emotions through the music.”

The affects of rap music are the same as rock music. In rock music there are several sub-genres which include, “emo” or “emotional rock,” punk rock, and classic rock.

According to a Psychology of Music article, rock music can leave the listener feeling angrier than before; however, it can also give a rush of energy and can increase happiness in certain individuals.

It is often said that music enriches peoples lives and therefore, it is important to know how the type of music you listen to influences your mood.

7

FEATURE

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Regiment seizes the day at Hart Rampage field show Brian Chang Steven Paro Staff Writers

PHOTO BY ALEXANDRIA MCCOMAS

STRIKE A POSE: Olivo prepares for the Westlake Regiment’s field show at Mission Viejo High School

Jared Erman Feature Editor

Band of Brothers program for three years.

“The competitions are the best part of band,” explained Bennett. “I enjoy hanging out Westlake’s Instrumenwith my friends and watching tal Music program provides a other bands perform.” unique experience for each of “I was thrilled to find out its members. Brothers and muthat I had a Ryle in my section,” sicians Jordan Ryle ‘10 and Benexplained Alto Saxophone section nett Ryle ‘13 share an uncomleader Julianne Boisvert ‘10. mon bond because of their musi“Bennett has turned out to be far cal backgrounds. more skilled than I could ever The Ryle brothers have imagine.” talent with various instruments.

Jordan’s fellow trumpet Bennett plays three different players think very highly of him; types of saxophones, piano, “Jordan is an awesome section guitar, and upright bass. Jordan leader. He is always available if I is a skilled trumpet and piano have a question or problem,” said player and also serves as the Ethan Walker ‘13.

Westlake Regiment’s Horn The Ryles come from a very Sergeant and Trumpet Section musical family. Their parents Leader. founded Line 6, a company that “Being a leader has made manufactures digital modeling me look at the other side guitars. Their products include of the equation,” explained guitar and bass amplifiers, Jordan. “It has helped me make pedalboards, portable recording better decisions instead of just devices, and audio interfaces. following orders.”

One luxury that Jordan and Jordan feels that having Bennett receive from their parent’s his younger brother in band business is their opportunity to is “interesting. It’s cool to see meet many famous musicians. how I acted as a freshman since “I once spent an hour and a half Bennett and I are so alike.” with James Taylor,” said Bennett.

Band Director Brian Peter They have also met Hans Zimmer, constantly refers to “wide-eyed MEET THE RYLES: Jordan with his trumpet and Bennett with Stevie Wonder and members of freshmen” who stumble upon his bass during Studio Jazz Ensemble Chicago and REO Speedwagon. marching band without truly “Music has been a part of our knowing what the activity lives since we were born,” said entails.

Many eventually Jordan. “We appreciate all types become great leaders within the program. challenges that marching band presents Bennett feels that he was prepared for the after watching his brother rise through the of music and enjoy performing.”

Jared Erman Feature Editor

PHOTO BY JARED ERMAN

The Westlake Regiment caters to the needs of many different students. One group of individuals within the band that is often overlooked is the Color Guard, led

by Yosemite Olivo ‘10.

Olivo is currently the only senior in the Color Guard. She has participated in the program for all four years at WHS and was chosen to be this year’s captain by her instructors.

“Color Guard is a unique form of exercise,” explained Olivo. “I really love Guard because it’s fun and we get more than just P.E. credit out of it.”

The Guard has to perfect many skills other than just marching.

“While we perform, we have to focus on so many things. We must toss, spin, count, march, breathe, and try our hardest all at the same time,” Olivo stated.

Although their love for Regiment is just as strong as the band’s, Color Guard members see the program from an entirely different perspective. They learn their marching patterns entirely separately from their work with flags, rifles, parasols, and other props. When they sew the two parts together, the must avoid hitting the horn line and always perform with a smile.

Olivo especially loves Color Guard because it offers her a unique experience to work with other students. She has the opportunity to spend time with the other girls and get to know them very well.

“It’s so great to see our hard work pay off in the end,” she stated.

Being captain has greatly altered Olivo’s view of Color Guard. “It’s much more difficult and there is a lot more pressure,” she explained. The challenges that being captain presents only helps her love for the program grow even more.

The Guard members are very glad to have Olivo as a captain.

“She inspires me to do my best through her constant positive attitude,” said two year Guard member Alexandria McComas ‘12.

The entire Regiment benefits from Yosemite Olivo and the Color Guard’s hard work and dedication.

PHOTO BY JARED ERMAN

Olivo flies her colors high

Marching band season is at its peak after the team’s division-winning performance at Hart Rampage. With the ongoing competitions that follow week after week, the WHS Regiment could not be busier.

The theme for this year’s field show is Carpe Diem, which is Latin for seize the day.

The four movements in this program each tell different stories and have different themes.

Band Director Brian Peter seems very optimistic about the marching band this year. The band attempts to give the LIFT UP: The Low Brass section, led by Paige Binsley (second left), stands at attention, ready to perform audience their best show. “We are trying the Mission Viejo Competition on Oct. 24 to be a highly entertaining show for the previous shows this year.

“We try to be competitive against and is looking for more wins in the near audience to relate to,” said Peter.

The Regiment performed at the ourselves. I care more about performing future.

Peter is looking forward to many Southern California School Band and to our new maximum than beating other improvements; “Our strength is our music.

Orchestra Association Regionals on Oct. bands” explained Peter.

An exciting array of visuals has We could, however, always improve our 31 in Valencia. The show featured schools from Texas, Nevada, and Arizona. In total, been added this year to keep the audience visual and marching performance.” The at the football games in their seats rather Regiment is trying to improve on its visual 31 bands performed.

The WHS students did not crack the than at the concession stands. Trampolines package and movement to create a better top 10, but they won first place in their and a bicycle-riding tuba player are just a overall show.

In order to achieve the highest division at the Hart Rampage field show couple of the innovative ideas put into the potential, the group practices nine hours last weekend, and have two more shows program this year.

The program is showing promise this each week. They have two more shows to look forward to this year. The band also has mastered the final movement of Carpe year with a strong gathering in the PIT. before the season comes to an end.

Diem, which has not been presented in The percussion section won first place at

8

Court cases of the past century

FEAT

Creationism

Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)

In Epperson vs. Arkansas, a high school biology teacher from Little Rock, Arkansas found herself in a dilemma when she realized that her district had adopted a book containing evolution: she could either use the book and violate a criminal law, or refuse to use the book and risk disciplinary action from the school board. She chose to try to eliminate the dilemma by eliminating the law.

The court ruling demonstrated that although state governments have the authority to decide what sort of things should be taught in public schools, teaching Genesis as a form of a particular religion goes against the freedom of religion.

As a result of this Supreme Court decision, states were forbidden to ban the teaching of evolution, even in public schools. Because of that, creationists had to find some other means to oppose “godless” evolution. At this time “scientific creationism” evolved from those looking for a way to challenge evolution in the science classes with something that did not appear to be as overtly religious.

vs.

Evol

Segraves v. California (1981)

Kelly Segraves, a parent with school children, challenged the teaching of evolution in California public schools. According to the father, discussion about evolution, even in science classes as mandated by the California State Board of Education’s Science Framework, infringed upon the free exercise of religion of himself and his children who were forced to listen to and learn the material.

The court decision was that evolution was not a religious doctrine and thus did not violate one’s freedom of religion. This decision is one of many which has established that, however objectionable evolution might be to some religious groups, merely teaching about evolution in science classes cannot be construed either as an establishment of a religion or as an abuse upon students’ and parents’ freedom of religion.

Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)

Louisiana passed a “Creationism Act” that prohibited any teaching of evolution in public schools unless the course also included the teaching of creationism. Despite Louisiana’s theory on creating a balance in education, parents felt it went against the Establishment Clause, that any requirement of teaching creationism is supporting a religious cause.

The court ruling, a 7-2 decision, mandated that Louisiana’s “Creationism Act” violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

This decision concluded that requiring evolution to be taught only when alongside creation science does not further a secular purpose. Therefore, it was found unconstitutional for violating the first prong of the Lemon test, a three-pronged test developed during a previous trial.

Freiler v. Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education (1999)

Following a failed attempt to introduce creation science into the Tangipahoa curriculum as a legitimate scientific alternative to evolution, the Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education adopted a resolution disclaiming the endorsement of evolution.

The resolution stated that before an instructor teaches evolution in the classroom, the lesson must be presented, saying it is the Scientific Theory of Evolution and in no way is intended to replace the Biblical version of Creation on any level. In addition, the resolution recognized that each student has a basic right to form his or her own opinion on the subject.

The court’s decision made it clear that an attempt to “water down” evolution with any explicit references to religious beliefs about the origins of life and the universe are ultimately attempts to have the government promote particular religious beliefs.

Although it is permissible for a school board to try to keep from offending parents, they cannot do so in a way which encourages anyone’s particular religious beliefs.

LeVake v. Independent School District (2001)

Like Segraves v. California, a biology teacher named LeVake, who did not like teaching evolution in his biology class, filed a lawsuit for infringing on his right to exercise freedom of religion. The court ruled that a school teacher does not have a right to teach religion and that the teaching of evolution is a valid course in public schools.

A tale of two origins: religion an

Creationism and evolution both attempt to explain h still arousing debates in classrooms across the

Max Avruch Copy Editor

Creationism

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…

And these first ten words of the Bible tell the story of how the world was created, beginning with God’s first design.

The first sentence of the Bible has also created a belief in the beginnings of the world and the origins of where humans came from, in the eyes of a creationist.

The belief that the world was created by a single deity or a supernatural being, commonly referred to as God, is the basic idea of creationism thought. Yet creationism branches out into sectional parts that slightly vary in interpreting how the world was created.

According to the Regional Director for the Council of Secular Humanism, renowned religious-science lecturer Austin Cline provides insight into the branches of Creationism and the ideas of Evolution.

Young Earth Creationists are people who believe that the Heaven, the Earth, and the life on Earth were directly created by God in a period of six days, consisting of 24 hours each day.

These Young Earth Creationists follow either the Christian or Jewish religions and take the Old Testament account of Genesis as the ultimate source for understanding the origins of the world.

Young Earth Creationists also believe that the Earth was created about 5,000 years to 10,000 years ago on an actual timeline. Everything in ancient history is considered historically accurate according to the Christian or Jewish versions of the Bible.

A second type of creationists is the Old Earth Creationists who, like the Young Earth Creationists, still believe that the Earth was created directly by God, but they can further be categorized as Gap Creationists and Progressive Creationists.

Gap Creationists believe that God formed the Earth in six “days” but there was a gap between the first and sec-

1850: Louis Agassiz, nineteenth century glaciologist, promotes his theory that the Earth once experienced an Ice Age, and argued against Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection.

1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, inspiring revolutionary thought in evolution and natural selection.

ond verses of Genesis, thus explaining the scientific view of Earth’s extreme-old age.

Progressive Creationists believe that God created new forms of life gradually, over a period of hundreds of millions of years, yet these creationists accept the evolutionary time scale, that the Earth was created over a long period of time.

Lastly, Intelligent Design Creationists believe that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.

This intelligent cause is the answer to how earth was created; but of all forms of creationism, Intelligent Design Creationists hold the most secular and least specific references to the exact identity of the Creator and refer to it as an “intelligent cause” or the “source of intelligent design.”

Intelligent Design Creationists stand on the verge between religion and science, almost bridging the debated gap into one universal concept on the origins of the world.

Creationists believe that Adam and Eve were the first people to have lived on earth, and the descendants that followed dispersed over time into regions across the world.

Evolution

On the other side of the coin, evolution stands as a theory, not a religious belief, that explains how the world created itself and how human beings were formed through a thorough scientific explanation, according to lecturer Cline.

The literal definition of evolution is the change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next.

Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a process that can result in the emergence of new species.

The similarities among the different species propose that all known species descended from a common ancestor through this process of gradual divergence.

Evolution’s figure head, Charles Darwin, advanced his

The Evolu

1925: Scopes Trial marks the beginning of religio science court debates; ruling in this case was t Creationism cannot be taught in the classroom, a imposes religion on student learning.

9

TURE

WANTED!

Have You Seen This Man?

lution

Charles darwin

nd science clash

human origins, e country.

famous theory of natural selection—the process by which heritable traits, that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce, become more common in a population over successive generations.

Natural selection remains a key mechanism in the theory of evolution, and natural selection branches out into other forms of ideology, including modern psychology and political science The debate between creationism and evolution started when evolution emerged as a prominent theory in the early to mid-nineteenth century, replacing creationism’s religious concept into a scientific, secular point of view.

Schools around the country have witnessed the ongoing heat between conservative Christians who want creationism to be taught and people who put aside religion and prefer evolution to provide the facts for students.

Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, the Supreme Court has reviewed various cases that touch on the fight between teaching traditional Creationism and teaching modern science, evolution.

In the heat of the debate, students voice their own opinions as to what they believe to be true.

“My theory is the biological theory that the Earth was created through evolution. God did not play a role in creating the beauty of nature. People perceive how perfect nature is to God, but in reality, it’s the perfection of how nature evolved so that species could survive,” said Simha Sankar ’11.

What the Supreme Court cases have brought to the conflict between Creationism and Evolution gives all people, regardless of religious background, the chance to ponder how the two topics play into understanding the origins of where humans came from.

Despite the tension that arises when creationism is compared with evolution, the inevitable truth is how people will eventually have to accept whatever they want to believe in, for never will humans obtain the concrete proof that the world was created through the divine works of God or through the theoretical dispositions of Darwin.

utionary

ousthat as it

-Reward-

Claim to Fame: Mastermind behind the evolutionary theory, this “natural scientist” searched for answers on his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle, where he investigated the transmutation of species and his conceived theory of natural selection in 1838.

The Damage Done: The incident at the Galapagos Islands fueled his notorious writing, On the Origin of Species. His revolutionary book established the evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature.

Darwin’s Contribution: After Darwin’s notorious voyage across the seas from the Galapagos Islands, the natural scientist returned to London where he conducted research of his notes and specimens.

One of the theories that developed was that evolution did occur, evolutionary change was gradual (requiring thousands to millions of years) and the primary mechanism for evolution was in the process known as natural selection. Darwin also wrote that millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a branching system called “speciation.”

Darwin continued to avoid talking about the theological and sociological aspects of his work. Yet Darwin’s theories soon became his legacy, as writers around the world incorporated his ideas into explaining other concepts of society.

Last Seen: One of five 19th century United Kingdom non-royal people to be honored by a state-funeral. Darwin is now buried in Westminster Abbey.

Timeline

1942: Julian Huxley, an English evolutionary scientist, invents the term, The Modern Synthesis, which united several biological theories on evolution, natural selection, population, and genetics.

2003: Origination of Organismal Form, published by multiple authors, gives further insight into what may be responsible for the origination of biological, multi-cellular life, using technology and science to give further explanation.

1975: E.O. Wilson, modern American professor of Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis which claimed Evolutionary theory could be explained through aspects of human and animal behavior.

10

FEATURE

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Gardens plant seeds of healthy living in schools nationwide Annie Gerlach Sports Editor

Marika Price Feature Editor

COURTESY PHOTO

The general health of children around the country seems to be headed downward.

Childhood obesity has increased fourfold within the last 40 years alone. Even worse, more than 65% of adolescents who are currently overweight will remain so during adulthood and even run the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol. Many factors contribute to this degeneration in the health of today’s youth, and while some such as environment and genetics might be outside a child’s control, other conditions are not.

Adolescents play video games instead of soccer and eat fast food instead of all-natural, home-cooked meals.

Both the national and state governments have tried to combat this dangerous phenomenon. For example, most high schools require some form of P.E. credit in order to graduate, and elementary schoolers still rejoice in the daily recess break.

California has even periodically administered a Healthy Kids Survey in order to research and better understand the everyday habits of children from grades five through 11.

Perhaps the most obvious change to the education system’s “healthiness” has been the complete overhaul of the childhood staple: the school lunch. School lunches have indeed become more balanced lately, offering less sweets and more fruits and vegetables. In fact, many WHS students still lament the loss of the delicious yet unhealthy Otis Spunkmeyer cookie a few years back. However, many still feel that this change is simply not enough, as students can still purchase food items separately or even go off campus for the lunch period. And so some proponents of healthy living among the American population and young kids in particular have implemented a new routine into schools around the country: schoolyard gardens planted and maintained by students.

This radical new idea is modeled after the original Edible Schoolyard, founded

by Alice Waters 12 years ago in Berkeley, California, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Mid-

ALL THINGS GROW WITH LOVE: MLK Jr. Middle School maintains student-run gardens.

dle School. Simply put, the Edible Schoolyard is a small garden on school property completely maintained by the students; not only do the kids learn the origins of the food they consume, but they also learn how to incorporate the food into healthier meals.

It has not taken long for others to hop on this bandwagon: according to the National Gardening Association, about 25,000 schools nationwide currently have student-run gardens. Other metropolitan areas such as New Orleans have followed Waters’ example, planting organic gardens with everything from broccoli and lettuce to strawberries and blueberries.

This system has many obvious benefits. For one, most gardens also require classroom learning as part of the curriculum; students learn how to prepare the fresh food in an actual teaching kitchen, and they learn the value of proper nour-

ishment.

In addition, a 2007 study by the St. Louis University School of Public Health found that kids who ate home-grown produce were more than twice as likely to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, the FDA recommended amount. Above all else, children gain a sense of accountability and responsibility for themselves and their health with these gardens.

There is an old adage that seems to ring true with the Edible Schoolyard project: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” The Edible Schoolyards around the country do not merely give students a well-balanced meal every day; rather, the gardens instill lifelong knowledge in the minds of children on the importance of healthy living.

Easy techniques to release the stress Sofia Talarico Sports Editor High school years are undeniably stressful, but there are ways to kick in the zen factor and ease your mind by staying healthy.

Whether you are crunched for time or are on a tight budget, there are plenty of options available to stay healthy and fit.

If you’re interested in benefitting both oneself and the community, signing up for a charity walk or run is an ideal way to give back. Not only do you get exercise (most of these walks and runs are either 5K’s and 10K’s) but you are also helping the charity raise money. When you are exercising and helping a cause, the endorphins and warm feeling you get by helping out, combine to bring you to an all-time high.

Senior Jen Soucy said, “Running keeps me in shape and relieves any stress I have.” Soucy also frequently goes to the gym which makes her feel better and more balanced.

Revisit your daily rituals periodically.

Repeatedly doing the same activities loses its luster quickly and your body is worn out faster. Shake up your schedule; instead of going to the gym, go for a long hike or do lunges up and down your street for a change of scenery. Rather than eating

Peace, love, and fashion

in every night, get dressed up and go to a nice, but healthy restaurant which is guaranteed to enliven your night.

Buying fruits and vegetables from a local farmers market is a way to ensure the healthiness of your produce. The products are often fresh and organically grown, which makes them taste better.

Not only are there fresh products but the atmosphere is also friendly and inviting.

The booths display fresh vegetables, such as corn and zucchini, and other homemade goods. The local Westlake Farmers Market is currently occurring every Sunday in the Village Glen parking lot, between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00.

The thrill of doing something different, such as taking a rock climbing class, at Boulderdash, or volunteering in the local community is a sure way to lift your spirits and stay positive. Sunrise Assisted Living Center is always looking for new volunteers and giving your time to them will provide an irreplaceable feeling of satisfaction.

Enriching your mind by learning a new language or taking a new elective, helps add energy to your day. Trying new things keeps your stress levels down because of the exciting feeling brought on by a refreshing activity. Finding an outlet is a sure way to reduce anxiety.

SUPER FOODS When we are stressed we usually gravitate towards food high in sugar and salt that exacerbate the anxiety already occurring in our bodies. Next time, opt for these natural stress relieving foods: 1. Oranges are rich in stress fighting vitamin C. Their natural citrus helps ward off sicknesses and refresh the immune system.

2. Spinach helps curb the effects of stress by stopping blood pressure from spiking at rapid rates.

3. Oatmeal contains vitamin B which stimulates seretonin, a neurotransmitter that sends soothing signals to the brain.

4. Berries are low calorie fruit options that contain plenty of antioxidants, vitamin C, and fiber.

5. The cocoa found in dark chocolate helps boost neurochemicals that produce a sense of relaxation.

When it comes to eco-friendly fashion, burlap sacks and hemp threads are no longer the only options. With the heightened media attention to treat the earth with care, more fabrics are available that do not compromise style and minimize the impact on our planet. From recycled goods, soy material, and organic cotton, a green revolution has begun.

Highly acclaimed designers such as Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, and Oscar de la Renta are making commitments to safe manufacturing and organically made apparel.

Everything worn in Oscar de la Renta’s show during New York fashion week was made with “green” fibers such as bamboo, corn, and organic cotton.

With advances in technology and increased access to materials, there is no excuse for animal cruelty and any variation of animal testing. Many designers and celebrities have taken a stand on the issue and opt to wear an unrecognizably different “faux fur.”

Not only are these designers changing their methods and materials, but they are also incorporating nontoxic makeup in their runway shows. Marc Jacobs uses Plant Love lipstick in all his runway shows, which is offered in twelve different shades and is made with a botanical formula containing jojoba and shea butter, rather than mineral oil and petroleum.

The most popular trends are offered in environmentally friendly options and are easy to access.

“Boyfriend” apparel including jeans, blazers, and shorts fill shelves at malls and boutiques and many brands are starting to take advantage of new materials.

Seven for All Man-Kind features a “Josefina” boyfriend pant made from organic cotton and recycled materials for buttons and zippers.

Levi jeans are also introducing a new line of 100% organic cotton jeans that focus on a comfortable fit and an earth-conscious message.

Stores and brands are also donating a portion of their sales to beneficial practices. Nike has a “Reuse a Shoe” program which turns an old shoe into playground turf and has switched 5% of its cotton, to organic.

Trendy bags with positive, healthy phrases have made the “Get Hip Get Green” bags practical and popular.

The creators of this purse spread awareness and donate a percentage of each sale to a children’s Green Ambassadors group.

Although shopping for healthier clothes and beauty products is a step in the right direction, reusing is by far the best way to spare the earth from emissions and pollution. By reusing or rediscovering an existing item one needs not waste manufacturing resources. With a little creativity, used objects can transform into accessories and fashion statements.

Applying certain lifestyle changes can help achieve a healthier planet. A fashionable look can be created without being destructive and shopping “green” is trendier now than ever before.

11

FEATURE

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Robert’s Reality

Give more than thanks Marika Price Feature Editor

PHOTO BY BECKY SADWICK

Autumn’s Days are Trying Times

In the fall, leaves change, And people change too It may sound strange, But you know we all do.

The memories are fading now; Summer’s days seem so long ago.

I once felt warm sun upon my brow.

Now dark, cold nights are all I know.

In the afternoons, we used to play catch.

Having fun was all we’d do.

Now the only thing we can hope to catch Is a case of the swine flu.

As cold wind blows all across the land, My time is consumed by college apps.

It takes me a while to understand There’s no such thing as a “power nap.”

Halloween – it comes and goes.

Now that too is in the past.

The question that I want to know Is how long will my candy last?

Candy just gives you cavities That one day the dentist will find.

But all the good times gone will leave Cavities within my mind.

It’s easy to grow tired and solemn When I’m stuck inside my home.

Instead of an actual column, I just write a stupid poem.

Here is the truth, (trust me, it’s true), Autumn’s days are trying times.

So let me tell you what I’ll do, I’ll explain my point in the final four lines: Before my brown eyes, The green leaves turn brown too.

Sure can make a white guy Feel a little bit blue.

Senior Robert Dillon is a free-lance contributor to “The Arrow. “

CARTOON BY LUCY GAO

By Robert Dillon

The fourth Thursday in November will bring more than the aroma of turkey and pumpkin pie. It is also a time filled with appreciation for the blessings and special people in our lives.

Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to reflect over past memories and celebrate good fortune.

But this holiday causes more than reconnections with long distance family members and friends; it inspires many people to reach out to those in need.

A temporary decline in poverty and an increase in community service participation occur during the thankful holiday season.

Volunteering and giving back to the community have become Thanksgiving traditions and a way to create memorable experiences with loved ones.

Visiting a homeless shelter is a helpful and easy way to express gratitude. While most are consuming mass amounts of food on Thanksgiving and surrounded by family members, many are in desperate need of a warm meal and a good conversation. Surprisingly many children spend their holiday in shelters

and soup kitchens. But the interaction between young volunteers and children creates lasting bonds that can help those less fortunate forget about their struggles.

By donating time, volunteers can make a significant impact on someone’s life and

make the holiday one to remember.

Baking and cooking are two activities largely associated with Thanksgiving.

Donating prepared meals and collected goods through organizations, including MANNA and SOVA, reach out to local families and shelters in need. Melissa Johnson ‘10, National Charity League

member, is a contributer to the MANNA mission of making the holiday one everyone can celebrate. She describes the experience of stocking and loading bags with goods and giving food to those in need as “a great feeling.”

“Helping people who really need it and watching them get groceries for Thanksgiving without stress, is really rewarding,” said Johnson.

Charity organizations are available throughout the year, but the holiday season is the ideal time to get involved.

Volunteer activities range in all areas of interests. For sports fans, playing games with autistic children in an interactive program called “Friendship Circle” is an one way to help in the community. Animal lovers can surround themselves with abandoned but loving cats and dogs at the Thousand Oaks Animal Shelter.

Those looking for interesting conversations can form deep connections with elders at Sunrise Senior Center and Gobel Senior Center. Opportunities to turn an interest into a productive, helpful activity are easily accessible and can make a difference not only on the community, but also on yourself.

Thanksgiving is more than an excuse to eat more food than necessary, but it is a time to be grateful for the blessings in our lives we typically take for granted.

By understanding that many people are struggling and not relishing in our simple luxuries of three meals a day, a warm bed, and unconditional love, many volunteers are making this holiday a universal celebration.

Volunteers find warmth in sharing at Sunrise Assisted Living David Samuels Staff Writer Where in Westlake Village can you play chess with a World War II veteran, watch T.V. with a producer of I Love Lucy, dine with an ex-member of the Glendale Orchestra, and accumulate volunteer hours at the same time? The Sunrise Assisted Living Center.

Friendly staff are always overjoyed to see new volunteers in their midst.

The smallest acts of kindness can make a resident’s day.

Lisa Villasenor, the coordinator of volunteers, said, “It’s great community service. [Our] volunteers are reaching out and making a difference.”

Sunrise is comparable to a home.

Volunteers can expect to walk residents’ animals, water the garden, and generally enjoy spending time with the residents.

“Volunteers are here for residents through a capacity of various tasks. We look for their skills and talents to match them [with something to do],” said Villasenor.

Whether it’s playing Monopoly or baking brownies, there’s always something on the busy agenda. Of course the main priority of a volunteer is to make the residents feel at home. Eugene Valenta in particular enjoys the company he receives from the volunteers.

“They are doing good. Everyone enjoys company,” Valenta said.

It is evident at Sunrise that everyone needs a ray of sunshine and the elderly are no exception.

When asked whether or not the volunteers at Sunrise have improved his stay, Valenta reponded, “Yes, because we appreciate any moment somebody spends with us. The

most valuable thing in life is the time people spend with others.”

Valenta is one of a last handful of veterans who fought in World War II. A native Czechoslovakian, Valenta gathered soil from Israel before beginning his service in the war: he was not sure if he would ever return. Priceless stories such as these are the kinds which volunteers tend to hear daily while working at Sunrise.

As everyone knows, the most heartwarming thing someone can do is give their time to others. Lisa Villasenor said, “I’ve been working here for two years and eight months and loved every minute.

I love working with the elderly; it all begins with a caring heart.”

Anyone can volunteer at Sunrise by either calling the main office or picking up a volunteer application from the office.

Students share Thanksgiving traditions Sofia Talarico Sports Editor Thanksgiving is a time where families establish and celebrate traditions that last a lifetime. Every family has something special about Thanksgiving that makes the holiday notable.

With all the chaos of academics, sports, hobbies, and personal life it is a surprise that cherished family traditions survive. Several students have a specific family tradition that is upheld at their house every holiday.

Senior Matthew Cole, has a yearly tradition of traveling to Ohio to be with his family. Before the big dinner, Cole’s family has a “Toilet Bowl” which is an intricately

organized football game. Cole said, “My family is so big, that we have to split into four teams.”

They play through the afternoon, and the final two teams have a battle for first place. Once the winner is chosen, people are given awards, such as MVP and Best Defensive Player, which Cole won last year.

Clyde Lee ‘10 celebrates Thanksgiving in a more traditional way. His entire family congregates at his grandmother’s house and they eat a customary dinner.

Senior Micah Smith’s family spends Thanksgiving at the Hilton Hotel at Universal City walk. His entire family meets and “has a feast”, said Smith.

Junior Shannon Sharpe alternates

between her mom and dad every year.

When it comes to Thanksgiving with her mother, who is adopted, Sharpe delights in a brunch. However, when it comes to desert, Sharpe finds contentment with her mother’s birth family. On Sharpe’s dad’s side, it varies between a traditional dinner at either her dad’s house or her aunt and uncle’s house.

Thanksgiving is celebrated by the majority of WHS students and their families; how they celebrate this holiday is what makes these families unique.

Whether it is organizing a full-family football game or having a conventional Thanksgiving dinner, these WHS family traditions will continue to be celebrated every year.

12

ENTERTAINMENT

Annie Gerlach Sports Editor

November 13, 2009• THE ARROW

Historic U2 concert rocks Rose Bowl

COURTESY PHOTO

Nearly 100,000 strong, the massive crowd that descended upon the Pasadena Rose Bowl came to experience one of the greatest concerts of all time: the U2 360° tour.

This show was without a doubt part of the biggest and best rock ‘n roll performance on record.

Statistics alone prove this fact: the stage and sound system are both the largest ever built for any performance; total ticket sales for the tour reached 2.5 million; a live streaming of the Rose Bowl concert on YouTube drew in 10 million viewers from 188 countries; and the Rose Bowl date set a new U.S. record for attendance for a single headlining act.

However, one look at the thousands crowding the stadium, and it was nearly impossible to deny that the tour was a complete success. After all, the roar of the audience when the lights dimmed and the band burst into the opening bars of “Breathe”

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY: Lead singer Bono, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen put on an unbelievable show for an ecstatic audience.

was enough to bust an eardrum or two. Whether U2 was playing a classic such as “Vertigo,” or a fresh track from No Line on the Horizon, the sound of the crowd singing along was loud and clear.

The Black Eyed Peas were a perfect opening act, even performing an unforgettable

rendition of Guns ‘n Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine” with Slash himself. Their closing song, “I Gotta Feeling,” seemed to be a promise to the audience about the excitement and energy to come.

Bono, the Edge, and Adam Clayton lit up the crowd by strolling the stage, jumping onto

the bridges circling the stage and shamelessly working the crowd.

During the Redanka remix of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. even left the confines of the drum set and roamed around with a hand congo.

Of course, it would not

be a true U2 concert if Bono did not add some political and humanitarian activism to the set list. During “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” the video screen streamed images from the 2009 Iranian election protests. Before the encore of “One,” a video of Archbishop Desmond Tutu raised awareness for aid to Africa and the ONE campaign.

Other memorable moments include the encore performance of “Ultraviolet,” in which Bono donned a jacket embedded with lasers and swung around the stage clutching a steering wheelshaped microphone. Even though Bono slightly slurred the lyrics to “With or Without You,” he more than redeemed himself when he asked the crowd to take out their cell phones and wave them in the air. “Turn this place into the Milky Way,” Bono said as tiny LED screens lit up the stadium.

The U2 performance at the Pasadena Rose Bowl made history, and it was truly a night to remember—the best concert, the best audience experience. So all in all, U2 was right: It was a beautiful day.

NEW ALBUM RELEASES: Swift shows no fear

THIS IS IT GROSSES OVER 100 MILLION WORLDWIDE: Jackson speaks to his adoring fans about his planned comeback tour.

COURTESY PHOTO

King of Pop takes over the big screen Jose Ermac Staff Writer Michael Jackson’s This Is It renounces all the past misconceptions and the preconceived notions of the legendary “King of Pop.” One need only toss away the screams from the angry mobs and just listen to the perfectly haunting voice that blares from the theatre speakers as Michael Jackson’s This Is It plays out on the screen.

Watching the movie, it is hard to believe that the founder of the moon walk has left us forever. In the film, Jackson is a frail but astoundingly amazing entertainer at the top of his game. His dance moves

are ones that most can only dream to do.

There is no recognition of the June 25 death of Jackson throughout the movie. It properly paid tribute to the greatest pop star of all time.

The beginning of the film starts slow, transitioning from one tune on the fourteen-song set list to the next; but as it progresses, the excitement heightens.

The graphics that play on the screen behind Jackson at the Staples Center, where the film was shot, are works of art themselves.

One graphic portrays an army of background dancers—eleven men that were multiplied to thousands—marching along to “They Don’t Care About Us.”

This leads up to what would have been a stellar performance of “Smooth Criminal.”

Based on the recorded rehearsal footage of “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” one could definitely come to the conclusion that Michael Jackson was preparing for a dazzling and entertaining performance.

His music is the only of its kind that can transcend gender, social, and cultural lines. From this movie, Michael Jackson has a new generation of fans that have been caught in his dance moves, timeless voice, and catchy tunes.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It is a “must-see” film and is a glimpse of what definitely could have been the biggest musical comeback of all time.

STUDENT DJ COMPANY GETS THE PARTY STARTED Steven Paro Staff Writer Planet Red Entertainment, a local DJ company that specializes in Bar Mitzvahs, sweet sixteens, and birthday parties, turns up the volume at numerous Thousand Oaks locales.

The head of this entertainment business is an aspiring DJ, sixteen yearold junior, who attends WHS, Andrew Stone ‘11.

A benefit that his business pertains is that a teenage disk jockey is able to relate to the party-goers.

“We can connect on a personal level with our customers because we know the

music that they’re listening [to],” says Stone.

Planet Red Entertainment have every top 40 from the last 20 years at their disposal. Stone is equipped a 700 watt B52 Matrix 1000 PA system, two 50 foot 100 watt monitors, disco lights, and a brand new set of turntables.

To make the party more energetic, Planet Red is now playing their song selection as music videos through their projector.

“Our goal is to provide our customers with the most energetic and best quality party at the most affordable price,” says Stone.

The DJ company main focus is being

affordable, especially to the teenage audience.

Stone believes that if someone were to spend the money on a DJ, he or she should get his or her money’s worth.

Stone’s service is not to make a living, but to have a good time. His hourly rate is $50, and an additional $75 set-up fee.

“A band can only do so much, we can play over eighteen thousand songs, a band can only play what they know, we can play whatever song we got,” replied Stone.

This explanation is why Stone believes that a DJ is able to make a party more fun.

Planet Red Entertainment will provide a party that is both affordable and exciting.

Having been the center of attention of a less than pleasant tabloid frenzy for the past few months, Taylor Swift is receiving positive recognition for her re-issue album, Fearless: Platinum Edition.

The album, with an accompanying DVD, features six new recordings along with the original thirteen, including chart-toppers “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.” Previously acclaimed as a mature turn musically and lyrically from Swift’s self-titled debut album, Fearless has garnered attention from mainstream pop and country radio.

Along with photographs and behind-the-scenes video footage from her 2009 headlining tour in support of the original album, the DVD showcases several of her music videos such as “Thug Story,” the singer’s recent collaboration with radio hit maker, T-Pain.

Pop and country fans who did not buy her last album, are recommended to buy Fearless: Platinum Edition.

Written by Celine Flores.

Raditude appeals to mainstream listeners Alternative-rock band Weezer’s latest album, Raditude, was released to eager and disappointed listeners alike.

Raditude proves to be a disappointment to die-hard fans, but to new fans, it establishes a great starting point.

Drifting away from their roots in previous albums, the band’s newest record appeals to the mainstream music listener, but it does not create a memorable experience.

As of late, Weezer has been more willing to use catchier song structures, and although Raditude is instrumentally solid, their lyrics are lacking.

Rapper Lil Wayne appears on the song “Can’t Stop Partying.” Hailed by many as the “best rapper alive,” Lil Wayne is almost out of place on such a record.

Ratitude should only be purchased for the few standout tracks, or to complete a Weezer collection.

Written by Aaron Demsetz.

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

13

ENTERTAINMENT

Clooney charms goats and more

Sam Wexler Entertainment Editor The Men Who Stare at Goats is a funny and witty film that is sure to bring out the Jedi Warrior in everyone.

The film follows Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a reporter who goes to the Middle East in 2003 to prove himself to his ex-wife.

While trying to find a way to cross into Iraq, Bob meets Lyn Cassady, a member of a special branch of the US Army that trained psychic spies. As Bob accompanies Lyn on his mission in Iraq, Lyn tells him the story behind the New Earth Army, and begins to show him the way

of the Jedi.

The film is adapted from the book of the same name, and adds a narrative story to the analytic novel.

Ewan McGregor and George Clooney make a good comedy team in this film because every time McGregor’s anchored in reality Bob begins to be enthralled with Clooney’s Lyn, he does something, such as crashing their car in the desert, to completely turn Bob away from him.

Clooney does an excellent job as the farfetched, dark humored Lyn. It is not so much Clooney’s bizarre lines, but his dry mannerisms and deadpan comedic delivery that make

his character funny.

Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey also lend their talents to Goats. Bridges, who plays the New Earth Army’s creator and leader, is the funniest person in the film with his hippy ideas and psychedelic antics, like putting LSD in the water supply and getting an entire army base to trip out on acid.

Spacey, on the other hand, plays an uptight Jedi warrior who is jealous of Lyn’s skill and is the antagonist of the film.

Although he is the opposite of Clooney’s character, he still adds comedy to the film by creating funny confrontations between the two.

The film consists of both present day—

with Lyn and Bob in Iraq—and flashback scenes, used to explain the origin and teachings of the New Earth Army.

In other films this structure can become confusing, but all the scenes flow well in Goats.

This style of organization works well for the film because all the information given in the flashbacks comes together at the end of the film.

Overall, Men Who Stare at Goats is clever.

With so few film choices at theaters this month, Goats is a good reason to go the movies.

Wild Things offers pathway into children’s imaginations native worlds that children create.

Even though the movie is filled with giant puppet like characters, which most find inviting and cute, some may fear these costumes as well. The costumes are enjoyable, but also give off the sense of wildness and insecurity, which may scare some younger children.

Fans of the children’s book may not love the movie but Where The Wild Things Are takes nothing from the legacy of the book, but only adds to it. It is a memorable moving that both parents and kids can participate in.

Delaney West Staff Writer

Rating

Men Who Stare at Goats

COURTESY PHOTO

Adapting a movie from a beloved children’s book is difficult for any director; audience expectations are difficult to measure up to. But for Spike Jonze, the task of directing Where The Wild Things Are, only his third feature film, proved even more challenging because he wanted to create a movie that both children and adults could relate to.

The main character, a young mischievous boy named Max (Max Records) is extremely misunderstood at home so he escapes to a land inhabited by creatures known as the Wild Things. Max becomes the leader of the Wild Things and promises them a fair and safe kingdom. However, Max soon realizes that the Wild Things are very complicated, not just the majestic, fun-loving creatures as he thought they were.

Along with all the other challenges of creating a film from a 20-page children’s book filled with mostly pictures and only nine sentences of text, Jonze had to tackle the process of creating a believable movie filled with imaginary characters. The Wild Things are portrayed as overgrown dolls with expressive, untamed facial expressions. The actors who provided their voices for the Wild Things added a lot of appeal to the movie, especially James Gandolfini who is the voice of Carol, the main Wild Thing.

This movie gives its viewers a path-

BLOWING IN THE WIND: Carol (Gandolfini) takes Max (Records) on a tour of the island in Wild Things .

way into children’s imaginations. It has been said that children are more openminded and imaginative than adults.

Where The Wild Things Are truly symbolizes childhood.

Where The Wild Things Are is suitable for both children and parents. It is an excellent aid in bringing parents into a creative state of mind where they can relate to their children. It is a perfect display of the imagi-

Where the Wild Things Are

The Box

Top 5 classic comedies before the 90’s

ries and funny one-liners that satirize the whole genre.

In the response to recent comedies like The Hangover and The Proposal, the Arrow’s Entertainment staff has compiled this list of the top five classic comedies.

The method for creating the list involves the following: identify movie, argue for movie, and flip a coin for all ties. The only difference between this list and the other lists, is that every movie below had to be made before 1990, to qualifying as “Before our Time.”

4) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Animal House is the comedy that all other college comedies are derived from.

The film follows the antics of the Delta House, a group of slackers who represent every bad connotation of a frat house, as they party and drink themselves right out of college. Although the film is centered on the Deltas, it also covers all the other college stereotypes, like the jerk dean and the rich jocks. With memorable scenes like accidentally scaring the Dean’s horse to death, John Belushi’s infamous and historically inaccurate pep speech, to the iconic “Toga! Toga! Toga! Toga!” chants of Belushi, Animal House is the godfather of all college comedies and the best comedy before our time.

2) Blazing Saddles (1974)

By far the best known Mel Brooks

COURTESY PHOTO

1) Animal House (1978)

ORIGINAL SLACKERS: Animal House’s infamous Deltas lounge outside their frat house.

movie, Blazing Saddles follows the story of Sheriff Bart, a new black sheriff, and his attempt to save the Western town of Rock Ridge from the maniacal government official Hedley Lamar. Meanwhile, he creates a coalition of unlikely heroes and changes the racist townspeople’s attitudes in his favor. Between Gene Wilder’s steady shooting hands, Lilly Von Shtupp’s incredible schnitzengruben, and Mongo’s philosophically hilarious statements, Blazing Saddles is sure to provide an excellent experience for all comedy fans.

3) Airplane! (1980)

“Surely this film can’t be number three.” “It is, and don’t call me Shirley.”

If Animal House started college comedies, then Airplane! started film genre parodies.

The film is a satirical parody of the disaster genre, and follows an airplane traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago that gets caught in a storm, has a deadly stomach flu outbreak, loses the flight crew, and has to get a little girl to Chicago in time for her heart transplant. In the midst of all this devastation are a lot of hilarious side sto-

The king of all British comedies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is filled with some of the funniest scenes ever produced in film history. Following the story of a bumbling King Arthur, Holy Grail is chock full of memorable quotes like, “Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!” The sheer foolishness of the characters is overwhelmingly hilarious, as shown when a mob condemns a woman as a witch because she weighs as much as a duck. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a must-see for anyone who loves to laugh.

5) Caddyshack (1980)

Caddyshack follows a young caddy’s journey to earn a scholarship from a local judge. Characters such as the promiscuous Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan), the babbling Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield), the clinically insane Carl Spackler (Bill Murray), and the dancing gopher are unforgettable. Despite Journey dance parties on the green and the classic “Baby Ruth in the pool” scene, the greatest moment is by far the explosive ending to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

Compiled by Aaron Demsetz, Jared Erman, and Sam Wexler

14

SPORTS

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Isham chases state passing record Jacob Cavanah Entertainment Editor

PHOTO BY HANNA HONG

Undefeated so far in the season, WHS quarterback and safety Nick Isham ’11 is now one of the top three quarterbacks in the state with the highest passing percentage, completing about 78.2 percent of passes, according to Ventura County Star.

For a football player leading an offense with outstanding statistics, Isham maintains his composure.

Since Isham joined the Warriors last year, his relationship with his teammates has become increasingly friendly.

“I was welcomed in, but it’s now more comfortable,” he says, regarding his chemistry with the team.

Averaging nearly 158 passing yards per game, 201 total yards per game, and 22 touchdowns with only two interceptions on the year, Isham has been a dominant reason for the Warrior’s remarkable season.

“The experience has helped me a lot this year mentally,” said Isham about improvements he made to his game. “And during the off season, I worked hard to get bigger.” The areas that he worked on during this past off-season have benefited him, his teammates and his coaches. Other accomplishments for Isham included his timing with his receivers, getting more comfortable in the pocket, and creating a good atmosphere with his team.

“Nick is a good leader, he is a great athlete, he is versatile, but most of all he’s just a great kid,” said Defensive Linemen and Special Teams coach Bill Culpepper about Isham.

The respect he has earned from his coaches and teammates also contributes to his admirable work ethic.

“Nick is seen as a team leader because he unites the team, keeps us ready in practice, says what we need to get done, and

helps us win games,” said Jack Shepherd ‘11 about the WHS star quarterback.

The next game, on Nov. 13, is against the 8-0-1 Moorpark Musketeers. Both the Musketeers’ and the Warriors’ strong, undefeated records are going to make this game the brutal battle.

MHS, ranked number four in California and number 25 in the nation, will more than challenge the Warriors.

Last year’s embarrassing 35-0 loss for the Warrior’s even more reason to come out strong this time around.

WHS demolished their biggest rival, annihilating TOHS at 43-17, while MHS was able to hold on long enough to get by with a 28-21 victory against the same team. On the contrary, MHS had an easy win over NPHS 35-14. But WHS, in comparison, barely got by with a 31-27 win.

The different way the Warriors and Musketeers play against the same teams hypes up this match up.

The explosive offense that WHS has this year is going to be the essential for success against MHS’s defense. Offensive play makers such as Isham, Tavior Mowry ‘11, Nelson Spruce ’11, and Tre Wilson ’11 are going to have to contribute for the Warrior’s to stay unbeaten. Spruce’s 20 yards per catch average, with his 13 scores, and Mowry’s eight yards per carry and his eight rushing touchdowns on the season, are statistics that need to be maintained to reach the end zone against the MHS defense.

The current WHS defense has been a reason for the team’s success as well.

However, they need to tighten up even more against the Musketeers’ offense to win. The Warriors have allowed 137 points thus far, while the Musketeers have recorded a total of 284 points so far. Keeping MHS’s offense from the end zone is a priority for the Warriors.

At 5’7 and 175 lbs, MHS’s tail back Austin Edmonson is the player to watch

ON THE MOVE: Nick Isham practices earlier this week in preparation for the game against Moorpark. Isham is one of the state’s top quarterbacks, with 97 of 124 passes completed.

for WHS’s defense. His 107 rushing yards per game average, along with his 16 touchdowns on the year, enables MHS to maintain its high national and state ranking.

However WHS refuses to let the pressure distract them.

“We’re going to treat it like a normal game,” said Isham about the last game.

Girls golf ready for individual finals Annie Gerlach Copy Editor The season may have ended weeks ago, but with a strong postseason finish the girls golf team refused to retire the golf clubs quite so fast.

The team garnered a first-place finish in Marmonte League and remained undefeated all season, with 11-0 in league

and 14-0 overall. Critical wins throughout the season against tough rivals such as Calabasas High School secured its topranking in the league. Standout athlete Danielle Kang `10 even won this year’s MVP for Marmonte League.

Success in league easily translates to success at the higher CIF-Southern Section level for the seven teammates.

Last week on Nov. 3, three girls—Kang,

Charlotte Gibson `10, and Lauren DiazYi `13—competed in the CIF-SS Northern Individual Regional at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai. Both Diaz-Yi and Kang, who won the tournament with a 4-underpar 68, qualified for Individual Finals, which took place at Talega Golf Club in San Clemente on Thursday, Nov 12.

In addition, girls golf also experienced postseason team wins. At the CIF-SS

Northern Team Divisional in Arroyo Grande, the team placed second overall with a team score of 393 and qualified for CIF-SS Finals. However, at that tournament the team placed 6th and were unable to advance to the next round.

Although the team fell short of a state title this year, with these talented athletes and their unbeatable skills the team clearly knows no limits.

Cross County gives CIF a run for its money EYE ON THE PRIZE: Nicki

Becky Sadwick Opinion Editor

PHOTO BY SARAH GERLACH

With an incredible season and strong performances in league finals, boys and girls cross country are poised to compete all the way into CIF finals Nov. 28.

CIF Prelims are tomorrow, and if Westlake places in the top four teams there, they will advance to finals. Head Coach Joe Snyder said, “We’re very hopeful we can make it with both teams to State Finals.”

Both teams got second place in the Marmonte League finals last Thursday in their respective races. At Marmonte League Championships, Nicki Ghazarian ‘12 finished third overall with a time of 18:11.80.

“This year overall has the most talent we’ve ever had on both boys’ and girls’ teams. It also looks promising for

Ghazarian `12 races toward the finish line in a recent meet against Simi Valley and Thou-

future years because a lot of the team is so young,” said Molly Norling-Christensen ‘10.

sand Oaks. A newcomer to the team, Ghazarian is a strong varsity runner who will help the girls team reach CIF-SS Finals.

Senior James McAfee is also looking forward to a strong performance, saying “We’ve come a very long way. We’re in a

good position to finish off strong in post season.”

The strong combination of committed coaches and encouraging teammates will propel the cross country teams into a strong finish of an already successful season. While natural talent and strong coaching is instrumental to the success both varsity teams have experienced thus far, the bond and camraderie between the runners is equally important.

“This year more than any other we have a team with a really strong bond. We like spending time together even outside of school,” said Caroline Hollister ‘11.

“Once we’re out on a course we all push and encourage each other to do our best,” added Ali Kazen ‘10. “We don’t compete with each other at all. We all want each other to do well.” If the trend continues, the team will give the competition a run for their money.

15

SPORTS

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW

Freshman Krems Leads Way to CIF SERVE IT UP: Senior Alexandra Bass and junior Elise Bass (left) prepare to return serves from their Moorkpark opponents.

Freshman Sivan Krems (below) earns Marmonte singles title.

Hanna Hong Tucker Higgins Staff Writers Winning singles championship at the Marmonte League Tournament last Tuesday, Sivan Krems ’13 has surpassed all her competitors in her undefeated contribution to the WHS Tennis team.

The team, 11-3 in league and 15-4 overall, is as “strong as possible” said Coach Connie Flanderka.

At each match, one may hear co-captain Alexandra Bass ‘10 taking on the role of team cheerleader, or Noelle Starr ‘10 and Lissa Gallucci ‘11 dominating the doubles courts, while Krems concludes the season undefeated.

“As of right now, after the close loss to Thousand Oaks, we’re striving for second place in league,” said Gallucci. Although

the 11-7 loss put the girls behind TO, they still have a chance to tie for first place if TO loses another match. The team continues to have high hopes and it appears they will finish the season off strong.

The first week of November, the tennis team played one of their biggest rivals Simi Valley. Due to Simi Valley’s unorthodox playing style, the team was forced to make adjustments to their strategies as well.

When asked how this affected Starr’s success she stated, “Simi Valley gave us the most competition because of their style of play, their high lobs threw off all aspects of my game, but that is a part of tennis that all players must overcome.”

At the Moorpark match, the senior tennis players were honored for their last game.

Among these seniors are captains Bass and Megan Winer ‘10, Starr, Kelly Deneny

‘10, Tiffany Loh ‘10, and Roseann Zhong ‘10.

On another note, the JV team ended the season with high honors. With an overall impressive 16-0 record, they finished the season on top. With the help from exceptional double partners Lauren Greg ‘11 and Lisa Peng ‘11, the JV superior title was upheld.

When asked how she wants to finish the season off, Greg said, “I’m pleased with how the season ended and perfecting my serves will help me succeed at CIF.”

Also striving to keep her girls motivated to succeed, Coach Flanderka brings an unprecedented amount of experience.

Coaching since WHS’s opening, Flanderka has had plenty of time to study the game and pass that information on to her players.

“The best part of the job is being able to see the improvements, and watch my team put the drills to work during matches,” she said.

The girls played Harvard-Westlake on Thursday at their first CIF match.

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16

FEATURE

Turning the camera lens on Kelsey Lindseth Fashion and make-

up photographer Kelsey Lindseth ‘12 discovered her passion when she pulled out some of her makeup and her digital camera. She started to take pictures of herself and her friends and developed a new love for film and photography. Lindseth has never taken professional classes but wants to go into film in the future. For now, Lindseth will continue with her photography.

Q: What inspired you to do photography?

A: Well, I sort of just fell into it on accident.

Q: How and when did you start photography?

A: During the summer of ‘09 it began to become a hobby. It happened when I got bored and took out a bunch of psycho makeup and goofed off with a little digital camera. Everything just kind of grew out of that and now my team and I find inspiration all over the place.

Q: When do you do your photoshoots?

A: On the weekends usually at sunset or sunrise.

Q: What is it about photography that you enjoy?

A: Photography for me is just a way to express messages or emotions I am feeling at the time. I love the whole process.

Q: How would you explain your style?

A: Every shoot has a theme. There is always an underlying message.

With that, the team and I just try to do things people have never seen before.

Q: What is your process in making a photo shoot?

A: It always starts with a concept. That could range anywhere from just a makeup look to a full blown shoot where we need to build certain props or pieces the model will wear. When we finally have a concept we like and a setting where we are going to shoot, we set a rough date and begin gathering supplies. On the day of the actual shoot, depending on how complex the look is, the prepping period takes about an hour to four hours.

Q: What do you hope to do with your photography in the future?

A: I really want to go into filmmaking, and since I do not have a video camera, I am using photography as a way to explore visual arts. Though, I think it’s safe to say that I will always have a passion for photography.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KELSEY LINDSETH, COMPILED BY LISA BATTAGLIA

November 13, 2009 • THE ARROW