Inside - The Lowell

■ Students strut their stuff
in a highly competitive
costume contest on the
catwalk for the annual
Halloween Rally.
Page 10
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What’s
Inside
News
Pages
1-9
■ School installs computer
updates and improves Internet
■ International visitors galore
Sports
Pages
11-14
■ Varsity soccer looks hopefully
to next year for successful
season
■ JV football overcomes
disappointing season through
team bonding
Columns Pages 15-17
■ Reporter finds self
in Asian egg dish
■ Senior faces
decision between
watching Sex
and the City and
living it.
Opinion
Pages
18-19
■ China shows incompetence
in prioritizing profits in space
over health and equity
■ Students express
themselves through
blogging, sharing tips
and personal experiences along the way.
By Dylan McHugh
A
Today
I
What’s in a blog?
Page 20
Barrelin’ down ... Student under
suspension for
threatening peers
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In the news
N JUST ONE extravagant and
scrumptious day, you can get
a taste of China, Italy, Taiwan,
Vietnam, Mexico, Greece and so
much more. Story of a cultured
daredevil jetsetter? More like a
Lowell student at Co-Curricular
Day! Starting Mod 8, you can go
into the courtyard and get a glimpse
of every corner of the world in less
than eighty seconds. Clubs and student boards will be fundraising and
selling all kinds of food, from crepes
to egg rolls to tapioca to In-N-Out
burgers. Support your class and
clubs by expanding your waistline!
Save the half-baked cookies, chicken burgers, bagels and celery salads
for another day, and get your money and hungry
stomachs to
the courtyard!
Backpage
In Photos
LOWELL HIGH SCHOOL, CARDINAL EDITION, VOL. 210 NO. 3, NOVEMBER 14, 2008, www.thelowell.org
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And the prize goes to ...
ELENA CHIN
Seniors James Tse and Andre Lorico compete in a fast-paced
wheelbarrow race between the grades during the annual Spirit Rally on
Nov. 7 as spectators look on.
STUDENT is awaiting a
district expulsion hearing for producing threats
against 14 other students on a
social networking Web site.
According to anonymous
sources, the Lowell student was
suspended for creating a list of 14
people that the student “hate(s)
and would willingly contribute
funds toward their assassinations,”
[sic]. Initially, on the student’s
profile on the social networking
Web site Facebook (www.facebook.
com), the student offered to send
the list to any Facebook friends
who asked for it, the sources said.
The student published a Facebook
note stating, “I even have a physical list of the people I hate and
I will make it public if enough
people ask me to,” according to
the sources.
Dean Ray Cordoba was alerted
to the list on Oct. 27. Families
of the anonymous sources were
notified of the student’s suspension and an expulsion hearing
that is required to be held before
Nov. 28.
According to Section
48900(a)(1) of the California
Education Code, a student may be
suspended or expelled from school
if “the principal… of the school
in which the student is enrolled
determines that the student has
caused, attempted to cause, or
threatened to cause physical injury
to another person.”
As of Nov. 10, at least four students have filed restraining orders
against the student, according to
anonymous sources.
Principal Andy Ishibashi said
that he was following district
procedure in refraining from answering questions about the case
and the student’s punishment, but
confirmed that the student
See SUSPENSION on Page 5
Halloween rally act stirs up controversy
By Lydia O’Connor
A
GROUP of students is
awaiting disciplinary action
after their costumes and
performance during the Halloween
rally offended and upset some students and faculty members.
Ten senior boys dressed up as
characters from the music video for
the song “Gay Bar” by the Electric
Six in costumes composed of shorts,
tank tops, and top hats with beards
in imitation of Abraham Lincoln,
whom the actors in the music video
based their costumes off of. During
their entry in the costume contest
portion of the rally, one student
announced to the crowd that they
were the “the gay barmen.” The song there, I would have stopped it in a
played, and they began lifting bar- minute,” Ishibashi said. He recogbells, doing pushups and dancing in nized that the other administrators
what some interand faculty mempreted as sexually
bers present dursuggestive moves.
If I were out ing the rally were
According to
doing their best
there, I would to keep track of
principal Andy
ything but
Ishibashi, who
have stopped it ever
was at a meeting
that they were all
in a minute.”
during the rally,
very busy.
several students
Lowell Student
ANDY ISHIBASHI, Association diand teachers apprincipal rector and social
proached him
after the perforstudies teacher
mance and complained of what Steve Schmidt said many could have
they considered to be homophobic stopped the performance but accostumes and actions. “If I were out knowledged his responsibility in the
Admin probes
student behavior
at after-party
“
I
situation as LSA director. “In terms
of whose responsibility it was to stop
the performance, many could have
intervened: SBC, the administration, other teachers, other students,
the dean,” Schmidt said. “However,
ultimately I will take responsibility
for not having stopped it when I
could have.”
Schmidt added that he did not
give permission to the boys to
perform to the song. “I had no idea
that they were going to ‘hijack’ the
rally with their dance performance,”
Schmidt said.
Assistant principal Holly Giles
said she was present at the rally
See RALLY on Page 5
Man vs. society
By Shelly Tong
A
FTER A PARENT’S complaints about a senior
dance after-party involving underage drinking,
the administration has begun to investigate
whether the school’s image was being tarnished.
According to principal Andy Ishibashi, the administration was notified by a parent who had seen pictures
on students’ Facebook (www.facebook.com) pages of
students drinking alcoholic beverages at an after-party
that took place on Oct. 25 after the Senior Boat dance,
Havana Nights.
According to a student who attended the party, pictures of the party held at a student’s private residence
were taken and put up on Facebook.
The parent notified the administration of the pictures
out of concern over the students’ actions and over the
possibility of tarnishing the school’s reputation.
Dean Ray Cordoba was given the responsibility of
investigating the matter. Ishibashi received the pictures
from the parent that notified him of the issue and
See BOAT on Page 5
ELENA CHIN
Reverend Parris (senior Dylan McHugh), on right, stares accusingly at Giles Corey
(sophomore Dillon Dong) and John Proctor (senior Karel Ebergen) during a rehearsal of
The Crucible, running in the Carol Channing Auditorium from Nov. 13-16.
2 NEWS
November 14, 2008
NEWSBRIEFS
School parking spaces shared
The school has allowed staff at a neighboring
elementary, school which is undergoing renovations,
to use its parking spaces.
Twenty parking spaces in the student parking lot
have been occupied by the Lakeshore Elementary staff
since Nov. 1 while their site undergoes renovations
to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We don’t really fill up the parking lot, so we gave
them the extra spaces,” Assistant principal and head
of Buildings and Grounds Michael Yi said.
This arrangement will last until Dec. 19 “because
we want to see how much it’ll affect us,” Yi said. “If
there is a negative impact, we will have to talk it over
with the Lakeshore staff.”
The Lakeshore administration first consulted the
school about their lack of parking spaces at the beginning of the school year. Yi, along with other administration members, the Union Building Committee and
the administrative council, decided to help out.
“The student side of the parking lot is usually
pretty empty, so it probably won’t be too big of a
deal if we share with the Lakeshore staff,” senior
Mona Man said.
— Lily Mak
Teacher takes extended leave
A substitute teacher replaced a teacher on a leave
of absence since the beginning of the semester.
Math teacher Anthony Costa broke his ankle on
Aug. 21, according to math department head Tom
Chambers. “I haven’t seen him since,” he said.
Math teacher Nadine Arzumanova has taken over
all of Costa’s classes save his Mods 19-20 Algebra 1
class. Chambers moved the students to math teacher
Francisco Rosales’ Mods 19-20 10-student class.
According to the principal’s secretary Maryline
Hee, Costa “is absent due to a medical document
that allows him not to return to work until Nov. 18,”
Hee said.
Some students are upset at having a substitute
for an extended period of time. “I haven’t learned
anything,” sophomore geometry student Charley
August said.
Other students appreciate the break from intense
work.“It’s not stressful at all having a substitute,”
sophomore geometry student Gabe Quintana
explained. “I do a lot better when I’m not under
stress.”
Principal Andy Ishibashi appreciated Arzumanova
for subbing for Costa’s leave. “There’s nothing we can
do about Costa’s absence,” Ishibashi said.
— Sean Lee
PE dept hires new teachers
The physical education department hired three
new teachers to offset the loss of several PE teachers
who have retired or gone on sabbatical.
After PE teacher John Donohue decided to go on
sabbatical and former PE teacher and gymnastics
coach Jerilyn Jank retiring. The department hired Brian
Okita, Katy Mason, and Christine Hosoda, three new
additions to the department.
A previous teacher at Mission High School, Mason
says she is astounded at the difference between Mission’s and Lowell’s PE programs. According to Mason,
she and another teacher taught a class consisting of
80 P.E. students.
“It was a totally different world,” Mason said.
“These kids don’t realize how good they have it.”
Christine Hosoda, another addition to the department, and a former teacher at Wallenburg High
School, says she is excited about the challenges Lowell
has to offer. “Lowell has more facilities and equipment, plus a bigger department with more colleagues
to collaborate with,” she said.
The final teacher to be added to the PE department, Brian Okita, previously taught at Jefferson
Elementary School in Redwood City, and has enjoyed
the impressive jump from elementary school to high
school.
“Lowell students are more disciplined and enthusiastic,” he said. I’m glad to see that they are excited to
try different sports and learn new skills,” he said.
— Caitlin McKewan
F O R T H E C O M P L E T E V E R S I O N S OF STORIES, PLEASE VISIT
The Lowell on the Web
www.thelowell.org
Lowell High School
Cafeteria serves healthy bites
By Lily Wong
T
HE CAFETERIA and beanery
now offer new nutritious lunches
in an effort to provide students
with healthier and heartier meals.
Introduced in late October, the new
menu items include larger portions
of whole-wheat pasta and brown rice,
according to school nurse MaryAnn
Rainey. A typical lunch now includes one
of the main items, a side of salad, fresh
fruit, a slice of bread or a corn muffin and
a half-pint carton of milk.
Student Nutrition Services director
Ed Wilkins approved the decision to
improve the meals after the United States
Department of Agriculture held a forum
directing Congress to provide more
funding for SFUSD cafeteria food.
However, according to the district’s
Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee chair and founder Dana
Woldow, the reauthorization process
will not be until 2009. According to the
USDA Web site, the process will enable
Congress to analyze the federal nutrition
assistance programs — school lunches
— more closely.
The larger lunches come with a price
increase: A school lunch currently costs
$3, up from last year’s cost of $2.
According to Woldow, the cost of
school lunches would have increased either way. She hoped more students would
purchase school lunches to balance out
BEN UDELSON
Sophomores Mo Tsui, Chioke Bautista, Gabriel Bonilla, Lydia Lui and Justin
Chung enjoy the cafeteria’s new food.
the cost of food. “These improvements
have definitely driven up the cost of providing school meals, but it is hoped that
more students will eat the better food,
and that this increased participation will
bring in enough extra revenue to cover
the additional cost,” she stated in an email. “Although these changes cost the
district more for food, there would have
been cost increases anyway.”
According to Student Nutrition Committee member sophomore Anastasia
Salazar, the committee plans to inform
students about the new food by listing
nutritional facts. The group will also hold
a health fair to compare food purchased
on- and off-campus.
Rainey approved of the healthier options. “The portions are definitely bigger
and more filling,” she said.
However, some saw little difference.
“It looks healthy but still tastes bad,”
sophomore Liang Wu said.
Senior Alice Tan, who has been eating
school lunch since elementary school,
was one of the few who noticed the
change. “The portion size is bigger than
before but I would only buy a school
lunch if I had no other food and was really hungry,” she said.
School switches to safe district server
By Angel Au-Yeung
Additionally, the log-in
FTER THE security domain has changed from
breach in the school’s “Lowell” to the district confile server last month, trolled “SF” system.
Although the SF domain
the district has begun implementing a controlled domain is new to Lowell, the system
is used in other
f o r L ow e l l
SFUSD schools
and a ne w
log-in sysIt’s a little such as Thurgood Marshall
tem for all
daunting, Hi g h S cho ol
students.
Students
seeing that ai nngdt onWaHis ghhreceived registry notices
warning.” School for several years, and
starting Oct.
20 containKeil Chase, the recent hacking their new,
senior in prompted the
district to inteunchangeable account names and grate Lowell’s computers into
passwords. Instead of having their domain.
Technology system adone school-wide username,
students must log in to their ministrator Alex Hsieh was
own account to access any relieved about the change.
“I’ve been asking the district
school computer.
Students’ usernames con- whether we should join the
sist of the first two letters of SF domain every summer for
their first name with their several years now,” he said.
full last name and passwords “The hack-in didn’t so much
are random seven-digit num- cause but press the district to
bers. The slips have an extra include our computers.”
Now that the school is
warning to the students to
“keep the passwords safe included in the district’s dobecause you will not be able main, Lowell students can
also access their accounts on
to change it.”
A
“
I
computers in other district
schools. Regardless of where
they sign on, users are greeted
before log-in with a disclaimer
warning them of “no explicit
or implicit expectation of
privacy” — anything in the
account can be “intercepted,
monitored, recorded, copied,
deleted, audited, inspected
and disclosed to authorizedlaw enforcement personnel.”
Some students feel scared
after seeing the warning for
the first time. “It’s a little
daunting, seeing that warning,” senior Keil Chase said.
“It makes me not want to use
the school computers, even if
it’s just for homework.”
Others complained that
the passwords are too random
to remember easily and that
it takes too long to log-in to
their account. “The passwords
are impossible to remember,
and it takes an average of
two to three minutes just for
our account to load,” junior
Timothy Crowley said.
Although the passwords
are hard to remember, officially they have been alerted
to fewer problems than ex-
pected. “I thought a lot more
students were going to forget
their passwords, but Lowell
students are responsible and
they kept the notices they got
(in reg),” librarian Linda Guitron said. “If they do forget,
which hasn’t happened a lot,
we have a master list of all the
students’ passwords.”
When users enter their
information, their information is sent to the district’s
computers at 601 McAllister
Street to confirm or deny the
log-in, causing the lag users have been experiencing,
according to Hsieh. “We’re
working on a local server domain controller, so the users’
credentials don’t have to be
sent all the way downtown,”
Hsieh said.
This is just one of the
changes being made to the
school computers as the
school transitions to the district system, and Hsieh anticipates many more changes in
the months ahead.
“We still have a lot of work
to do, but the system will improve throughout this year,”
he said.
Parent heads Beautification Day
By Caitlin McKewan
T
HE Parent Teacher Student
Association’s change in leadership
has left some student leaders concerned about the success of tomorrow’s
Beautification Day.
Parent Marny Leslie, who was elected
the PTSA second vice president, has
taken the reigns in this year’s Beautification Day, a coordinated effort by parents
and students to clean up and decorate
portions of the school.
Leslie defeated senior Tiffany Nguyen,
who is also the Student Body Council
club coordinator, in last May’s PTSA
elections.
According to PTSA first vice president
senior Scott Lee, Beautification Day
may be affected now that Nguyen is not
involved.
ond vice president Mona Marachli with
“Club participation may decrease Beautification Day for the previous three
now because of the
semesters.
lack of Tiffany’s adWhen Marachli ran
vantageous position
for PTSA treasurer,
Tiffany is the Nguyen decided to
of club coordinator,”
he said, explaining that
Holy Grail of run for the position of
she encouraged club
second vice president,
volunteer co- whose main job is to
involvement in the
project. “Tiffany is the
coordinate Beautificaordinating.
Holy Grail of volunteer
tion Day.
coordinating.”
“I met with prinSCOTT LEE,
Leslie said that the
cipal Ishibashi dursenior and PTSA officer
ing all my free mods,”
change in leadership
will not have any effect
Nguyen said. “Since I
on Beautification Day. “We have some had the most experience, I believe that I
fabulous volunteers,” she said. “It’s going was the most qualified candidate for the
really well.”
position of second vice president.”
See PTSA on Page 9
Nguyen had aided the former sec-
T
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The Lowell
CAMPUS
November 14, 2008
3
Super group breaks through school’s dancefloor
By Nancy Xie
an all-new, awesome performance,” SuperITH THEIR SUPERMAN-like, friends member, senior Chris Wai said.
A semester later, the Superfriends expandblack and white logo, this group
declares themselves to be “a band, ed, adding 16 students to include a new group
of dancers and even a
a crime fighting unit and
band with two basses, two
an ice-cream compaelectric guitars, drums, a
ny.” What in the world
You have to go
banjo, a saxophone and
is this all about? And
who makes up this tough
through at least a two violins. They also
boast a Facebook “Susquad? An all new Supertrial that involves perfriends” group with
man-CSI-ice-cream organization? Not exactly. It’s
doing something over 160 members. “The
Supercouncil votes on
just the Sudangerous.”
each new member of the
perfriends.
dance crew and band,”
T he Su CARLOS RAMIREZ,
said Ramirez, the Harbinperfriends
Superfriends member and senior
ger of Boom. “You have
earned their
to go through at least a
reputation as
the student break-dancing crew trial that involves doing something dangeron campus after performing “The ous,” he said.
The Superfriends are searching for talented
Variety Hour” in last year’s talent
show in February, which featured a musicians, dancers or anyone with a serious
group of animal-masked dancers accompanied interest. “If you’re amazing, it helps,” said
by a band playing the alternative band Arctic senior Eric Rodriguez, Lead Rhythm Guitar
Monkeys’ “Fluorescent Adolescent” and Sugar Number 4. The new members include students
from other high schools in the city — seniors
Hill Gang’s “Apache.”
The group began with the “original six” Jonathan Chimento from Abraham Lincoln
members — seniors Davin Chan, Carlos High School and Francis Rivera from ThurRamirez, Eric Rodriguez, Michael Banta, good Marshall Academic High School.
Even though the members are scattered
Brandon Iljas and Kevin Ouyang. “It began
with senior Sean Nederlof dropping out from around the city, the Superfriends still mana break-dancing performance, thus causing the age to practice as a group. Every one to two
original six to get together and come up with weeks, the group rehearses at least once at
“
Y
arts
W
a local Baptist church with their musicians. “Breakers’ Club” at Lowell,where about 15
“The Superfriends now plan to recruit a small friends of the Superfriends get together and
orchestra,” Rodriguez said.
break-dance in school hallways after school.
The Superfriends draw inspiration from “But they’re not an official part of the group,”
“anything awesome,” Ramirez said. “Rock ‘n Ramirez said. The “official” part of the Superroll, hip pop, funk — just about anything.”
friends, on the other hand, performed in the
They also aim to maintain a connection Winterfaire and Talent Show last year and look
with nature through their art. “Mother Earth forward to doing so again.
plays a big role in what we do,” Rodriguez said.
They have other important things on their
“Nature is a force that ties everything together agenda, which include supporting human
and break-dancing is a very natural type of rights causes, making films and selling icedancing because it’s improvisational.”
cream. The Superfriends contend that “art is
Just as nature is unpredictable, so are Super- a unique theme that runs through everything
friends’ performances.
we do,” Supercouncil vice
Their efforts to emphapresident senior Andrew
size the natural quality of
Chang said.
I think it’s cute
break-dancing highlight
Aside from their club,
that they are all
the importance of sponthe group enjoys support
taneity and immediacy
friends of the Supersuch good friends from
in all their performances.
friends. “I’m a fan of the
“We don’t want to overSuperfriends,” senior Midoing something
perfect things because it
chelle Chung said. “Now
they all enjoy.”
takes the soul away from
they are branching off as a
the performance,” said
fashion statement as well,
Chan, who plays the bass,
MICHELLE CHUNG, with their cool sweatshirts.
guitar and drums in the
senior I think it’s cute that they
Superfriends’ band. “And
are all such good friends
we don’t record — when you record something, doing something they all enjoy.”
it’s going to be that way forever, but we don’t
And how do the Superfriends identify
want (our performances) to be the same way themselves? “We’re the most awesome breakforever.”
ing crew/Rock-and-Roll band/stand-up comIn addition to their dancing crew and band, edy troop/civil-rights activists!” Rodriguez
some members have started an impromptu said.
“
I
Science class observes environmental life up close
By Maggie Huang
student to find his or her own tree
or bush and observe its environment,
noting the types of birds, insects,
temperatures and clouds. Students
record their observations and may
use universal indicators, liquids used
to determine the acidity of the plant’s
soil. After the semester-long series of
observations, students write a formal
lab report modeled on professional
scientific papers.
Senior AP Environmental Science student Crystel Hadley said
that she has improved her attention
to detail through completing the
journals. “You learn to really observe
what animals come around and how
they interact with each other,” she
explained, noting the biodiversity
surrounding her subject, a stunted
redwood planted by the gym. “One
time, I saw two moths mating.” Hadley was also interested to see how the
redwoods’ visitors changed with the
weather. “When it’s sunny, there are
different bugs,” she said. “When it
rains, there are termites and ants.”
A large variety of creatures also
surrounds junior AP Environmental nometric function to calculate the
Science student Denisha Govin’s sub- tree’s height. “The first time students
ject, a pine tree in front of the math draw a tree, it looks like a cartoon,”
Melvin said.
wing. “One day, I
While amasaw seven crows
teur sketches
near my tree,
and on another,
The first time may be amusing,
I saw a red-tail
the power of obstudents draw servation reveals
hawk sitting on
al
my tree,” Govin
a tree, it looks environment
problems that are
said, adding that
monarch butlike a cartoon.” no laughing matter. Through obterflies also frequent the area.
KATHY MELVIN, servation, Govin
Observations
science teacher discovered that
some pine trees
may not slip by
around school,
unrecorded,
however. Students must sketch the including her subject, are infected
organisms to scale after identifying with red fungus.
them and measuring the heights
Melvin also emphasized that
of trees. Although Melvin taught observation leads to discovery. “The
students the technique for scaling, Monterey pines are dying because
measuring the height of a tree draws they are sick,” she said. “They are sick
upon their knowledge of geometry. because they are not native to the
Students practice measuring the climate, and the climate is changing,
angle between the tree and the This (discovery) is based on the fact
ground by approximating their dis- that people watched the trees and
tance from the tree and using trigo- made connections.”
“
T
Students also learned how human
carelessness may also exacerbate
environmental damage. “Teens
don’t actually take time and look at
nature around us,” Govin said. She explained
that she last seriously
cared for the environment in eighth grade
by cleaning up trails at
California’s Tennessee
Valley Watershed. “We
have an impact on the
environment,” she said,
rationalizing that people
contribute to the air pollution that affects trees
which, in turn, affect
animals. “The lab lets
us step back from the
stress (of school) and
pay attention to the surroundings.”
Melvin understood the importance of observation. “It’s good to see
what’s happening in the world,” she
said. “You never know what you will
see when you get out there.”
curriculum
L
ADEN WITH ZIPLOC bags
of universal indicators, Sharpie markers and rubber bands,
stacked high with field guides on
insects, beetles and wildflowers and
covered with various scientific lab
tools, the table in Room 239 seems
ready for a decade-long safari adventure.
But in fact, these are the tools for
Kathy Melvin’s Advanced Placement
Environmental Science classes’ trips
around the Lowell campus for their
environmental journals. Through
visiting the same plant at least 10
times during the fall semester and
recording their observations, AP
Environmental Science students
learn to understand changes in the
world outside of the classroom. “In
some classes, students learn the
chapter, do the test and forget about
the chapter,” Melvin said. “But in
environmental science, you have to
make connections.”
The journal project, which Melvin began in 2000, requires each
Teaching century-old tradition to curious gamers
CR
EE
DO
N
tience at the table. “You are supposed to
play fast and not think too much,” Tsui
explained.
Although the game has an intense and
back-breaking pace, inexperienced players
should not be afraid to join the club. “It’s fast
thinking, but if you’re a beginner I won’t rush
you,” Tsui said.
So if you too are interested in learning how
to throw around some intense “Gong”s and
“Sick wu”s properly, join Mahjong Club. They
meet every Wednesday after school from 3:30
to 5:30 in Rm. 114.
A
Mahjong is traditionally a gambling game;
however, the club does not practice gambling
and eliminated betting with chips.
But gambling or not, players always rely on
their wits to win, trying not to rely too much on
luck. “If you win off luck, senior citizens who
play the game with you at home would kill you
because you won without strategizing,” Cheng
said. “But we can teach you to be as good as
your parents.”
Several members said they learned from
and played with their parents or grandparents
before joining the club.
“My grandparents played so fast,” club
member freshman Anthony Chang said. “My
grandparents and I used to have so
much fun playing together.”
Other members don’t have the
opportunity to play at home, so
they come to the club to play the
game. “I learned to play Mahjong
from relatives in China, but now I can
only play here,” club member junior
Waito Tsui said.
According to Tsui, because he
is one of the more skilled players,
members often complain of his impa-
EL
clubs
what tiles the other person plays to adjust their
hand and to increase their odds of winning,”
club vice president sophomore Eric Wong
said. These strategies are extremely important
because only one of the four players wins the
game.
Veteran members of the club help new
members feel more at home and comfortable
playing the game.
“We start teaching members Chinese numbers if they
are not Chinese, or we start a
teaching game by the
new player hovering over another
player’s shoulder
to learn,” club
president senior
Brandon Cheng said.
Although the game’s concept may be confusing at first, players
easily learn the basics of the game. “I like
the fast pace, even though it’s confusing,”
Moore said. “I can’t read the characters but
I just learned the numbers. I use more of my
brains (in mahjong), unlike in other mindless,
boring games.”
AH
G
ONG! PONG! SHANG! Sick wu! Do
these words mean anything to you?
To Mahjong Club members, they
mean quite a lot. They are the calls required
to win the strategic game that was started approximately 128 years ago in China.
Mahjong is a strategic game
which requires players to
think on their feet.
“It challenges your
mind,” sophomore Hilary
Louie said. “You
learn while you look
at people play.”
Mahjong is similar
to poker, only using
tiles instead of cards.
Each player gathers
a total of 14 tiles,
grouping similar
tiles into either a
triplet, pong, or a straight, shang,
and finally a set of “eyes” or two tiles
of the same face to win the game.
“Mahjong is a mixture of mostly luck and
probability, so skilled players keep track of
M
IC
By Lily Mak
The Lowell
NEWS
November 14, 2008
Student awaits Unflattering photos online may
consequences affect student body’s image
for actions
From SUSPENSION on Page 1
is not allowed to be on campus at this time. “I notified
the staff (of the incident) verbally,” Ishibashi said. “The
teachers are bound (by district policy) from talking
about it.”
Ishibashi also added that all of the students involved
were discreetly notified of the current situation.
However, a general statement to the student body
in its entirety has not been issued as of yet.
Ishibashi said that he was concerned about the
case.
“I think students know that I care about them,” he
said. “We’re doing everything we can to stay safe.”
Speaking as a staff member, English department
head Svein Arber said he did not feel unsafe around
the school. “The administration is doing what needs
to be done,” he said.
Science teacher and United Educators of San Francisco building co-representative Kathy Melvin said she
was unsure whether the union had a position as of yet
on how the incident would be handled, but was certain
of the union’s concern.
“The Union is concerned about the safety of the staff
and the students,” Melvin said.
In the meanwhile, the administration is waiting for
action from the district. “Everything is in the district’s
hands now,” Ishibashi said. “We did our job here.”
From BOAT on Page 1
According to Cordoba, the school
may not have the authority to discipline
passed them on to the dean.
He then called some students who students for behavior at an event that is
attended the party, including some mem- neither sponsored by the school nor takes
bers of Lowell Student Association and place on-campus.
“It is general knowledge that the
Student Body Council, into his office for
school only has requestioning.
sponsibility for stuA student leader,
dents during school,
who was spoken to by
at dances and for
the dean and requested
I also feel that
to remain anonymous,
clubs and sports,”
believed the administhey were prying Cordoba said. “We
are limited to only
tration’s investigation
into my personal watching them durof the dance’s aftering school activities,
party was an invasion
business and
and beyond that, it’s
of privacy.
“I understand what
undermining my the parents’ responthe administrators are
sibility to raise their
personal decision- kids to have specific
saying and that what
happened is reflecting
values.”
making.”
poorly on the school,”
LSA director
the student source
Steve Schmidt exANONYMOUS, pressed a concursaid. “I also feel that
student ring opinion in an
they were prying into
my personal business
e-mail.
and undermining my personal decision“Though it is unfortunate that pictures
making.”
posted on Facebook may have tarnished
However, Ishibashi disagreed. “I don’t the reputations of some of the officers in
consider this an invasion of privacy the Lowell Student Association, it is inapbecause the pictures weren’t looked up,” propriate for the school to punish any of
Ishibashi said. “They were given to the them,” he stated in the e-mail. “Any punschool.”
ishments regarding a party held after the
“
I
5
Senior Boat Dance should come from the
parents of said students and, if underage
drinking occurred, possibly from the San
Francisco Police Department.”
The SBC president of the ’07-’08
school year, Class of ‘08 Carter Chung,
said there was no mention of personal
conduct within the binding agreement
that prospective members of student
government were required to sign while
running.
Chung added that he thought there
were higher expectations for people currently sitting on the student government
boards.
Cordoba said that student leaders are
intended to be role models that students
look up to within the school community.
He added that he felt that some people
tend to experience a loss of their common
sense while in the party atmosphere, due
to increased peer pressure.
The parents of the student who hosted
the dance after-party are not going to seek
any disciplinary action or legal action
against any of the students who attended
the party, according to the anonymous
student.
“They don’t care,” the student said.
“Those kids are not theirs, so they just
want to punish me.”
Seniors face repercussions for performance at rally
Spellicy also said he felt the situation was
From RALLY on Page 1
mocking the homophobes who believed Abe
Spellicy acknowledged SBC’s apology but
but was not at the performance. “I did see the Lincoln was gay.”
mishandled by SBC, which planned and led the said he felt it was lacked important aspects. “I
boys with the barbell,” she said. “They menThat interpretation was expressed in a rally. “I felt that as the performance got more recognize that SBC sent out an apology, but I
tioned they were going to do posing with it. music review on Pop Matters (www.popmat- and more out of hand it was the responsibility don’t think the apology educates,” Spellicy said.
To hear that it happened differently was a bit ters.com) by Stephen Haag, who agreed that of SBC to stop the performance,” he said.
He suggested such education would involve
shocking.”
the Electric Six’s music is
SBC president senior Celi Tamayo-Lee said students and faculty going through sensitivAs soon as the rally
supposed to be nonsensi- that SBC was put in a difficult situation. “It’s ity training.
ended, Ishibashi called
Spellicy has planned conferences with the
cal and not homopho- hard when you’re trying to provide entertainWhat kind of
the participants into his
bic. “‘Gay Bar’ (is) … too ment, and it appears that everyone is enjoying boys’ parents. “We will discuss their behavior
message does
office. “I talked to them
funny, too harmless (read: it,” she said. “It’s also just hard to control these and why I was upset about it,” Spellicy said.
about what I and others
dumb) and too catchy to things in the moment when they’re happen- “And we will decide whether or not (the parthat send to
felt about their perforbe considered racist or ing so fast. At the time, we didn’t realize how ticipating students) will remain in my class.”
mance,” Ishibashi said.
homophobic,” Haag said. offensive it was.”
Spellicy acknowledged he does not have the
students who
“I told them that they
“But these guys will take
On Nov. 5, SBC issued an apology letter, authority to remove them on his own.
are questioning your attention any way penned by Schmidt and SBC Community
… reflect their school,
Ishibashi discussed the students’ behavior
they can get it.”
and problems arise when
Liaison senior Roy
with the staff and the
coming out?”
people are offended.”
In an interview with Lee, to be read in regPTSA. At a staff meetSocial studies teacher
Alexander Laurence on istries. “(The letter)
ing, a handout outlinIt’s also just hard to
JAMES SPELLICY, his blog (www. portable- was just to clear up
James Spellicy said he was
ing Board Policies 3810
social studies teacher infinite.blogspot.com), the that we know we ofdeeply offended by the
control these things on sexual harassment
band described the song fended people because
performance. “I was of5162 on anti-slur poliin the moment when cies was given to the
fended by what I thought to be simulating gay “Gay Bar” as “a song of nonsense.”
we knew people would
Gadye further explained that the rally per- have liked us to stop
sex and one individual simulating ejaculation,”
Spellicy said he
they’re happening so staff.
he said. “My bottom line is that simulation of formance was done in jest. “To put it simply, we it,” Tamayo-Lee said.
trusts Ishibashi to keep
sex, gay or straight, has no place in a school wanted to make fun of ourselves,” he said.
Schmidt added, “It
his promise that some
fast.”
performance.”
Schmidt said he saw the performance as stated that SBC was
action will be taken.
Schmidt said he didn’t see the act as sexual. more accepting than homophobic. “As a gay sorry for not stopping
According to seCELI TAMAYO-LEE, nior performer Shant
“From my vantage point on stage, I could not man, I was not offended by the ‘Gay Bar’ the ‘Gay Bar’ perforsenior and SBC president Siyahian, the boys are
see everything that transpired,” Schmidt said, performance,” he said. “I believe it to be an mance sooner. It also
“But from what I understand, the accusations expression of how comfortable the boys were stated that I should have been more proactive voluntarily writing their own letters, but some
that are being made regarding sex acts being with homosexuality in general.”
in stopping the performance and escorting the remained unsure whether they have been
mimicked onstage are unfounded.”
However, Spellicy was hesitant to accept boys off of the stage once I realized the nature treated fairly. “We are absolutely being singled
Spellicy also expressed concern that the Schmidt’s explanation. “I reject the idea that of their performance.”
out,” Gadye said. “There were many more
performance created a homophobic envi- has been suggested that the students are just
Schmidt also issued additional apologies. “I highly ‘offensive’ costumes: The playboy bunny,
ronment that might be hostile to students comfortable with their sexuality and were just publicly apologized for not being more proac- the terrorists, or even the kids who dressed up
questioning their own sexuality. “You have imitating the video,” he said. “I’ve seen the tive in terms of stopping the performance to like nerds. Last year, (an) openly anti-Semitic
members of the soccer and football teams up (‘Gay Bar’) video, and at
the entire Lowell faculty student at Lowell dressed up as Hitler and no
there, who are considered the ‘senior boys,’ no time in the video did
and staff at last Wednes- teacher … spoke up.”
frolicking on the catwalk,” Spellicy said. “What the actors take actions
day’s faculty meeting on
However, Ishibashi made it clear that he
Spellicy has the
kind of message does that send to students who even somewhat close
Nov. 5,” Schmidt said. knows these students are good people but that
are questioning coming out? In my 15 years at (to what the students
right to be offended, “Furthermore, I have they did something in bad taste.
Lowell, I have never seen a performance that performed).”
Gadye, however, did not see the perforread and gave my apbut we feel like he is proval to a letter written mance as serious. “There is a certain point
was so, so upsetting to me.”
Spellicy also rejectIshibashi confirmed that a few students ed the idea that stuby the performers ad- when you have to take things with a grain of
overreacting.”
came to him and said they felt very offended dents were making fun
dressed to Mr. Spellicy, salt and just laugh, especially when you know
by what the performance suggested.
of themselves. “They
NARIN LEININGER, which apologizes for that the message is meant to only make fun of
However, performance participant senior were making fun of gay
senior performer their actions and tries ourselves, not a specific group of people.”
Nathan Gadye said the costumes and per- people, whether that is
to explain their point
Spellicy said still he felt the performance
formance were meant to be humorous. He the purpose of the video or not. It suggests of view.” Schmidt also attended a Gay-Straight was inappropriate. “I’m disappointed that
explained that the Electric Six’s music video intolerance or ignorance on their part.”
Alliance club meeting to apologize and discuss Lowell has done such a weak job in helping
does not make fun of gay people, but makes
Gadye said he understood Spellicy’s anger. how the members felt about it.
students understand when it is appropriate to
fun of people who consider Abraham Lincoln “Spellicy’s reaction is understandable for
GSA member senior Ariana Hirsh said select certain groups when they are the brunt
to be gay. “In my eyes, the video makes fun of someone who doesn’t want to understand the that while she was not offended by the per- of their humor,” he said. “It shouldn’t be swept
people who are homophobic, like the ones that whole picture of what our costumes were,” he formance, she was thankful for the apologies. under the table.”
thought Lincoln was homosexual,” Gadye said. said. Senior performer Narin Leininger agreed, “Yes, their performance was wrong, but they
Hirsh agreed. “It doesn’t matter what the
“We were not dressing up like gay people. We adding “Spellicy has the right to be offended, apologized, and it’s fine,” she said. “Overall, I performance meant,” she said. “If people were
were dressing up like the music video which is but we feel like he is overreacting.”
think the whole thing was overblown.”
offended, then there’s a problem.”
“
W
“
“
S
I
6 NEWS
Lowell High School
November 14, 2008
City approves JROTC; board approves alternative
By Lily Wong and Sol Granados
T
HE SAN FRANCISCO Unified School District’s Board
of Education approved of an
emergency preparedness program
for students as an alternative to the
Junior Reserve Officers Training
Corps program, which is currently
in jeopardy of termination.
A proposal for the Student Emergency Response Volunteers program
was passed by the school board 5 -1
on Oct. 28.
SERV, first introduced by school
board commissioner Jane Kim, is
designed to provide leadership training without military implications
by teaching students about first aid
training, CPR and disaster planning.
It will be offered as an elective and
billed as a leadership course.
According to an October article
in The San Francisco Chronicle, Kim
and board member Norman Yee
authored the resolution.
gram was followed by the passing of
School board president Mark San- city ballot measure, Proposition V, in
chez supported SERV but believed support of JROTC on Nov. 4.
The measure was approved by
that it is meant to be an alterna54.5% of voters.
tive for students,
It h a s n ow
not to replace the
been two years
program.
It’s a good
since the Board
“It’s not meant
f Education
to replace JROTC,
achievement to ovoted
to phase
but meant to be
another option
get that passed, out JROTC, but
now the board
for students to
considering
is actually trycho os e f rom,“
ing to put their
he explained. “I
San Francisco
words to action.
think it’s important for students
is a liberal city.” The program is
to learn about
s che du le d for
emergenc y retermination in
JARRETT HORNBOSTEL,
sponse. It would
seven months.
senior
be good to have it
Prop. V was
in most, if not all
put on the ballot
of our schools for students to be pre- to sway the school board to keep
pared in case there’s an emergency JROTC in district high schools.
on any major level.”
Many JROTC students were happy
The approval of the SERV pro- that it passed, but know that the fight
“
I
is not over. “It is a good achievement
to get that passed, considering San
Francisco is a liberal city,” senior
Jarrett Hornbostel said.
JROTC students are aiming to
overturn the previous decision to
replace JROTC at an upcoming
school board meeting that will take
place in January.
Some JROTC students, however,
believed it unnecessary to replace
the program with another one that
involves similar, if not less, curriculum.
“I don’t understand why we need
an alternative JROTC proposal when
it’s practically teaching the same
thing,” sophomore Hesper Wong
said. “The new proposal doesn’t
have the special units or teams that
practice for competitions, and it’s
just wasting money on a program
we already have.”
Senior Stephanie Zhu seconded
Wong, agreeing that JROTC offers
more. “Personally, I think SERV is
a good program for learning more
about disaster planning, but it’s only
five percent of what JROTC teaches,”
Zhu said.
According to Hornbostel, JROTC
teaches first aid and disaster preparedness in the first six-week grading period.
“The new program itself lacks
the other five or six week quarters,”
he said. “It provides little leadership
opportunities, college and career
planning or life skills.”
JROTC instructor colonel Douglas Bullard that SERV is a great idea,
but believed that it is already incorporated in JROTC.
“If they gave SERV to us, we
would make it happen,” he said.
“That way, more students would be
exposed to it.” Bullard also wanted
the board to respect the voice of voters. “Prop V. passed, so they need to
honor voters’ opinions,” he said.
Homecoming festivities rescheduled, rally moved
By Lily Mak
homecoming dance could not be Friday,” said
SBC Events Coordinator Eryn Kimura. “Also,
dances on Saturdays get a fewer amount of
people and do not work out too well.”
The Lowell Student Association and SBC
voted to postpone the rally to the first week
of November following the Lowell vs. Mission game.
The delay of the rally also helped with the
planning process
of the rally. “Mr.
Schmidt wanted to
switch up Lowell’s
u s u a l s c h e du l e
from the beginning
(of October) to later (in November)
when most football
games are,” Kimura
said.
Class of ’10 Vice
President junior
Tristan Leder had a
similar opinion.
“Normally the
rally is tied with the
football games, but
the football games
are usually pre-seaELENA CHIN
son and not the
Above: Song girls show off their moves during the homecoming rally
regular AAA sealast Friday. Right: Grannies of the ‘09 senior class hobbled their way
son,” he said.
from Bingo Night to the football field and got their groove on, stripping
He b e l i e v e d
down to their bloomers to show their senior citizen class spirit.
T
HE SCHOOL celebrated spirit week
from Nov. 3-7, one month later than
the traditional date of the rally in late
September.
Initially, the change was made to accommodate the October standardized testing. “Spirit
week was scheduled from Sept. 29 through
Oct. 3, but with SATs the following day, the
pushing back the
rally would have
other benefits as
well.
“With the rally further away,
spirit committee
would have more
time to get their
act together,” he
explained.
However,
Kimura foresaw
several problems
arising due to the
change of date.
“There won’t be
a late night for
spirit committee
and having the
Halloween rally right before the homecoming rally is very stressful,” Kimura said. “It also
usually rains in November. We were so lucky
it was sunny.”
However, this did not prevent problems
with the class skits, which were considered for
disqualification.
“I thought there were high expectations
and I don’t think the classes met any of the
expectations,” senior James Won said.
Most students had similar opinions of
the outcome of the skits, especially after the
sophomore skit was interrupted and later dis-
qualified due to their use of a teacher’s name.
“I couldn’t hear or understand the skits,” junior
Kyra Bannister said.
Besides the issues concerning the skits,
many enjoyed the rest of the rally. “The rally
went so smoothly and well; tech was perfect
and electricity worked out great,” Kimura
said. The last homecoming rally left a bittersweet memory for many of the students in
the senior class.
“I really liked that the seniors showed their
spirit and went all out as a class this year; we
came together unlike in past years,” senior
Dasha Zakharova said.
School integrates wireless Internet into campus
By Traci Liang
and encryption code, both posted in
TUDENTS AND FACULTY the library and main office. “I bring
are now taking advantage of my laptop to school sometimes and
school-wide wireless Internet, check my email,” senior Matthew
installed in September in response to Kitagawa said.
The district was hesitant to allow
the district’s new Wi-fi guidelines.
The system, which encompasses the installation of school-wide Withe whole school, fills the need for fi for security reasons. “The district
greater Interd i d n’t w a nt
net access on
people to look
at i n ap p r o campus.
Now students
priate things
“People
can bring in their online,” Lowhave been asking for Wi-fi
webmaslaptops and access ell
for a long time
ter and math
and someWi-fi anywhere in teacher Kevin
times we don’t
Sullivan said.
the school.”
“They have a
have enough
filter and it gets
computers for
ALEX HSIEH, updated, but
everyone,” nettech system administrator there are inapwork adminpropriate Web
istrator Alex
Hsieh said. “Now students can bring sites that get created all the time.
in their laptops and access Wi-fi I guess they realized that teachanywhere in the school.”
ers were getting their own routers
Students who wish to access anyway, so they might as well allow
the school’s wireless network must people to get Wi-fi and set guidelines
enter a Service Set Identifier code to monitor usage.”
S
“
N
The district sent a letter last
January to all schools listing usage
guidelines and calling for schools
to notify the district of the locations
of their routers, a hidden SSID, a
unique administration password
and an encryption code. “If you just
turn on your laptop you won’t see the
connection,” Sullivan said. “You have
to join the network and enter in the
SSID and encryption code.”
These guidelines were put in
place in order to ensure Internet
safety, according to Hsieh. “We meet
all the guidelines but we haven’t
installed Wi-fi until now because of
funding issues,” Hsieh said.
Teachers are using the new Wifi, anchored by eight on-campus
routers, to enhance their lessons
and teaching. “I use Wi-fi to stream
images that I need for class, to access
my online gradebook in class or to
gather information or do other prep
work,” social studies teacher Cambria Gersten-Bower said. “I use it all
the time, every day.”
However, students and faculty
who use in-school Wi-fi will still be
accessing the district’s network, so
all the district’s content filters will
apply. “The filter blocks youtube, but
I find that Web site to have some very
good example material sometimes,”
Gersten-Bower said.
School-wide Wi-fi has also made
working in department offices easier
for teachers.
“Some desks are arranged in the
middle of the room, so there’s nothing you can plug into to get Internet,”
Hsieh said. “But with Wi-fi, every
teacher can bring in their laptop and
use the Internet.”
Previously, teachers desiring Internet access had to tape wires to the
floor. “The wires were a real safety
hazard, but now it’s a lot easier,”
Gersten-Bower said.
The implementation of wire-free
Internet has also improved convenience. “I don’t have to have a bunch
of wires and keep plugging and
unplugging to switch computers,”
Sullivan explained.
But some teachers are stuck
without the new wireless Internet
benefits. “It doesn’t work in my
class,” social studies teacher Nader
Jazayeri said. “I have to download
video clips onto my laptop and then
show them to my students in class.
But I think there should be Internet
in classrooms.”
The school’s limited budget is the
main source of the occasional inconveniences in the system. “There is a
big difference between a fifty-dollar
router and a two hundred-dollar
router,” Hsieh said. “Right now we
just have to work with what we have,
but hopefully the district will step in
and get us something better.”
Even though the network can
be improved, students can still take
advantage of the expanded Wi-fi
system by entering in an encryption
and SSID found posted in the library
and main office.
“It’s great that students can use
the Internet anywhere on campus,”
library assistant, senior Amy Lei
said. “Sometimes there just isn’t
enough room in the library.”
The Lowell
November 14, 2008
ARTS
Teacher travels abroad to show thread sculpture
By Camille Smyth
A
CERAMICS TEACHER flew to Japan
to showcase her artwork at an art exhibit last month.
Kirsten Janssen was one of 80 artists selected to be a part of The Missing Peace: The
Dalai Lama Portrait exhibit, which traveled to
Tokyo on Oct. 11. The exhibit began on Oct.
16 and ended on Nov. 9. “The woman who
chose me is Randy Rosenberg, who used to be
a private curator for the World Bank,” Janssen
said. “Since I’m an established artist in San
Francisco, she knew about my work and liked
its spiritual sense.”
According to Janssen, this is the first time
the mainly American art exhibit went international, featuring the work of artists from
around the world. It was Janssen’s first time
exhibiting her work overseas. “Back in 2001, I
had created a gun made out of chewed chewing gum for an art exhibit in London,” Janssen
said. “The piece never made it because it was
held at customs.”
Luckily, Janssen’s piece made it abroad this
time. After traveling to Tokyo, the exhibit also
stopped in Madrid and Barcelona on Nov. 9.
However, Janssen could only go to Tokyo
because she had to take care of her daughter,
and the trips were not completely free. “I left
on the 11th and came back on the 20th, so it
was a long time for me to not be with my sevenyear-old daughter,” she explained.
This was not Janssen’s first time in Japan.
“I’m actually of Japanese heritage, so I had
visited some family ten years ago,” she said.
However, this time she was accompanied
by her sister. Together they visited temples and
museums. “We love the food over there, and
we got to go to a fish market,” she said. “It was
great to go to the motherland together.”
They also attended receptions and dinners
surrounding the show, which were funded by
Japanese corporations.
For the show itself, Janssen created an interactive sculpture which she named “Measuring around the Earth with a Golden Thread.”
The piece is constructed with wood, cones of
golden thread and paint rollers with one cone
of thread that weaves through the other 13.
When one of the threads is touched the rest
of the spools move.
“Each visitor is asked to pull the strand
from the right side of the artwork and measure
one arm span,” Janssen said. “As they pull the
thread the fourteen spools rotate similar to a
prayer wheel, releasing pleasant thoughts into
the universe.”
Viewers of the piece also had the chance to
read a poem called “Milestones,” which Janssen
wrote herself, displayed next to the piece.
7
Although she
c ame up w it h
the idea for her
piece in half an
hour, creating
it took around
eight months. “It
constantly had
issues,” Janssen
said. “It’s a sensitive piece.”
The fact that
the piece was being showcased
in Tokyo did not
help much either.
“Pe ople were
smoking in the
gallery, and it was
extremely humid,”
Janssen said. “I
COURTESY OF KIRSTEN BAHRS JANSSEN
had to make some
last-minute adap- Ceramics teacher Kirsten Bahrs Janssen brought her piece,
“Measuring around the Earth with a Golden Thread,” to Tokyo, Japan, as
tations.”
part of a travelling exhibit honoring the Dalai Lama.
The Missing
Peace was not restricted to sculptures as several artists’ projects Foundation as well as inspired artists such as
included photography, painting and video. The Janssen. Prior to traveling to Japan, the exhibit
show was a collaboration among the Com- had been featured at San Francisco’s Yerba
mittee of 100 for Tibet and the Dalai Lama Buena Center from Dec. 1 to March 16.
Bay area jazz master returns for sparkling show
By Glennis Markison
“Y
EAH! KEEP EM’ comin’!” Dave Brubeck
yells encouragingly to
latecomers entering after his first
tune at the Davies Symphony Hall
on Oct. 22.
The crowd laughs, already enraptured with the 87-year-old legend.
Brubeck, whose frailness required
him to hold onto a bandmate as he
took to the stage, spoke to the crowd
with the same vigor and enthusiasm
he played with.
At what may have been his last
Davies Symphony Hall performance,
the Bay Area native with fellow
white-haired bandmates — alto sax
and flute player Bobby Militello,
bassist Michael Moore and drummer
Randy Jones — played a variety of
tunes, told stories and provided just
the performance fans craved.
In an almost two-hour set for the
San Francisco Jazz Festival, Brubeck
and his band mates played ballads, stage, Brubeck’s poignant intro to
up-tempo pieces, odd-metered “Stormy Weather” created a dreamy
tunes and Southern-style hoedown mood. Controlling his dynamic
numbers. He and his fellow players range with incredible precision,
had a spot-on sense of their pieces, Brubeck provoked one fan to stand
up and clap before
often speeding up
the alto sax even
or slowing down Brubeck’s
launched into the
depending on their
poignant intro to melody.
moods.
E a c h p l a y e r “Stormy Weather”
As Militello
sweetly entered
played intense sowith the melody, he
los — the drum- created a dreamy
held notes for what
mer aggressively
seemed as long as
striking his drums, mood.
thirty seconds, his
t h e s a x p l ay e r
use of vibrato alcharging through
melodic lines at incredible speeds, lowing notes to resonate even to the
the bassist plucking powerful eighth highest, farthest seats.
Militello’s solo-style changed to
note phrases and Brubeck easily
switching styles — that the concert a spicy, soul flavor and the group
hall roared with applause after each easily adapts to the shift. The drumtunes. Of particular note were the mer immediately provided strong
group’s versions of “Stormy Weather” accents as Brubeck and the bassist
and “Crescent City Stomp.”
offered more aggressive rhythmic
As deep blue lighting covered the support. The tune eventually ended
softly, the alto’s sweeping cadenzas
filling the hall.
The group displayed their
versatility yet again in “Crescent
City Stomp,” a hoedown tune that
prompted audience members to clap
to the beat.
With the drummer providing an
energetic funk feel, Brubeck played
the melody, infusing it with the
energy of a young kid at a Southern
fair. Militello soon soloed, his sax
screaming long notes across the
funky beats. The tune really heated
up as he quoted the melody; meanwhile, the bassist got so into the
groove that he practically danced
with his bass.
The lengthy drum solo set the
tune on fire, with Jones moving his
sticks so quickly and powerfully that
Brubeck stood up and stared as the
audience remained mesmerized.
Needless to say, “Crescent” inspired
the biggest applause of the night.
Not only did listeners appreciate the variety of tunes the group
played, they were very impressed
with Brubeck’s charisma.
Brubeck talked about the first
time the group played “Crescent
City Stomp,” joked about how friend
Paul Desmond always seemed to find
parking spots in the nick of time
before gigs and explained his role in
creating “cool jazz.”
Audience members felt that not
only was Brubeck an incredible musician but also a very friendly person.
He even complimented the audience,
noting that “you’re the most musical
audience I’ve ever worked with.”
Brubeck and his trio ended the
night with the same youthful energy they started it with. The group
thanked the crowd for coming out
instead of staying home to watch first
night of the World Series, and ended
with none other than “Take Me Out
to the Ball Game.”
Canadian charms French students through art
By Camille Smyth
“Y
French Consulate Jean-Francois Questin, this
is the ninth year the consulate has arranged the
presentation for high school French classes.
“We got in touch with Madame Fortier through
an old colleague who works for a French publishing company that specializes in children
literature,” Questin said.
Aside from learning about the artwork, the
AP French students were able to work on their
speaking skills by asking her questions and
attempting to understand her rapid speech. “I
knew most of the vocabulary she used,” freshman AP French student Noah Stier said.
Puretz believes that the students understood the presentation and that it was a success. “It was such a great activity
and a great way for the students
to play with their imagination,”
she said.
RTIER
LI FO
NATA
A clay character
sculpted from
Fortier’s 2006
picture book
Mathurin
models different
poses.
Y OF
acters hair by using two colored chalks and
drawing random spirals on their heads.
The students barely had time to copy what
was on the board as Fortier quickly erased her
sketch and moved onto something else. “I love
drawing so much that I need to start another
one,” she said.
Just as Fortier can’t stay on one drawing for
long, she also finds it difficult to stick to one
form of art. Her skills are not only restricted
to paint and pastels. After showing some of
her handmade sculptures, she encouraged the class members to
create their own characters
out of clay. “Use all the
instruments around you,” she said, pointing
to a fork and a popsicle stick. “But always
think of the character you are creating.”
Fortier believed it was important that
her sculptures have personality, since
they are the only comfort she has in her
workshop. “They surround me in my
workshop and they are always speaking
to me,” she said.
Fortier even has baskets filled with
heads made out of clay. “It’s a bit scary,” she
confessed.
What scares Fortier even more is how
popular her books have become. “I’m always
surprised that people understand me,” she
said. “It’s extremely satisfying because I never
thought that I would be able to write.”
According to the Cultural Attaché of the
RTES
After studying art, Fortier began writing
and illustrating childrens’ books. She has illustrated more than 20 books, including the
award-winning books Lili Plume, Mathurin
and Graines de petits monstres
monstres.
According to Fortier, there is no reason
why she writes for children instead of
adults. “Painting
for me is like
a game,” she
said. “The writing part requires more concentration, but
I’m not thinking about the
children when I write.”
Fortier encouraged
the stressed-out
Lowell students
to unwind and
release their inner child
by passing around paper and crayons
to copy Fortier’s chalkboard drawing
of a character from Mathurin, a
children’s story about a boy who
is abandoned by his parents and
attempts to make a costume out
of bird feathers only to be kidnapped by a
wicked Queen.
While watching Fortier’s demonstration
and working on her own masterpiece, junior
AP French student Jessica Noss noted the
illustrator’s quirky drawing style. “Her style is
interesting because she’s ambidextrous when
she draws,” Noss said, as Fortier gave the char-
COU
OU CAN even kiss them
if you want,” Canadian
illustrator Natali Fortier said, pointing to her colorful
paintings during a presentation on
Nov. 3.
Colored mostly with pastels
and occasionally carved into with
a knife, Fortier’s paintings and techniques are
anything but ordinary. “I
use people for inspiration and I always
feel like I’m swallowing them,” she explained.
Sponsored by the French Consulate,
Fortier shared her art through an interactive presentation with the Mods 11-12
Advanced Placement French class in
Room 76. “Every year we welcome an illustrator and writer of children’s literature,” AP
French teacher Annie Puretz said. “However,
this is the first year the French class has done
it in conjunction with the art department, and
in the art room with art teachers.”
While speaking rapidly in French, Fortier
explained that she developed her techniques
through attending multiple art schools, including San Francisco’s Academy of Art University
and the Paris’ École Nationale Supérieure des
Arts. “My professors taught me a lot, so I
believe it’s important to study at art schools,”
she said.
8 NEWS
November 14, 2008
Lowell High School
Prom no longer in civic monumental splendor
By Lily Mak
S
ENIOR PROM will be held at a
new venue this year and ticket
prices will have a slight increase
over past years, according to Senior
Prom Committee president Lily
Ling.
The formal dance event, which has
taken place at City Hall downtown for
the past four years, has been relocated to a new location — to be
announced in April — due
to scheduling unavailability.
Ling explained
that although the
Senior Prom Planning Committee
contacted the
monumental
landmark
and official
governmental
building
City Hall
one year
and two
months
in advance, anticipating to schedule the expressed disappointment at seeing the
dance early, Washington High School had supposed end to their beloved four-year
already booked the venue and all other tradition of holding the dance at City
possible dates for the dance were already Hall.
booked by wed“I am mad bedings.
cause City Hall is
Ling added
Lowell’s tradition,”
that the comThere is no point in senior Niki Irgensmittee began its
Moller said. “I have
complaining (about been excited since
search immedifreshman year to
ately after finding
the change in venthat the venue
go to prom at City
was booked and
Hall and all my
ue): we can start a
unavailable.
friends have told
new tradition.”
The commitme that City Hall
tee will announce
was really fun.”
FIONA TSANG,
this year’s senior
Other students
senior were more optiprom location in
mistic about the
April, a month
before the dance is scheduled to take change of senior prom’s location.
place.
“There is no point in complaining
However, Ling hinted at the surprise (about the change in venue); we can start
the senior students could look forward a new tradition,” senior Fiona Tsang said.
to on the often memorable senior prom “I don’t care where the venue is as long as
(senior prom) is memorable.”
dance night.
“It is a beautiful venue,” Ling explained.
In order to keep the promise the Senior
“It is a very classy place. It is not outside Prom Planning Committee made to the
and not on separate floors, and you can senior class at the end of last year, that they
look fancy even if you’re would ensure a special prom, the comgetting there by public mittee members went to great lengths to
transportation.”
choose a new venue for the dance, searchA plethora ing far and wide before making their final
of senior decision.
s t u According to Ling, the senior prom
d e n t s committee members looked at as many
as 20 other places in their venue hunt
before deciding on the final
“
T
location.
Ling emphasized that the price of senior prom tickets, which will go on-sale
in April 2009, will increase from last year’s
price of $50 on account of the new venue,
but added that the increase would not be
dramatic.
“Tickets will be around $60 to $70,”
Ling said.“We negotiated a lot with the
price, and brought it way down.”
The committee as a whole also hoped
to further lower ticket prices through
participating in fundraising projects and
other school-sponsored events throughout
the year.
“We are selling tapioca and In-and-Out
Burgers on Co-Curricular day and holding Eggettes nights throughout the year,”
Ling said.
She added that the senior class could
always stand to raise more money as a
whole.
“Our goal is to fundraise $10,000, but
we are prepared to fundraise even more,”
she said.
Senior prom is scheduled for May 24,
2009 from 8 p.m. to midnight.
“It is going to be the best prom ever.
Better than City Hall,” Ling said.
She emphasized the benefits of relocating senior prom to the new venue.
“It is bigger and better than the junior
prom venue, and we are going to do it
bigger and better than Washington High
School,” Ling said.
Look forward to the announcement of
prom’s location this April.
The Lowell
November 14, 2008
NEWS
9
Trader Joe’s mall opening offers new lunch spot
By Daniel Kim
A
N ALTERNATIVE GROCERY store will
soon open at a mall near campus.
The city’s fourth Trader Joe’s will
open in the former location of Copeland’s
Sporting Goods between McDonald’s and
Borders on the southern end of Stonestown
Galleria.
The mainly health-food centered market
will be Stonestown’s first supermarket since
the locally owned Petrini’s grocery store,
which closed down 10 years ago.
Faculty and students alike look forward to
the addition. “I would definitely appreciate
Trader Joe’s in the Stonestown area,” counselor
May Choi said. “It will certainly fill that void
Petrini’s created after it closed down.”
The new store will face competition from
fast-food chains and other grocery stores such
as the Lucky in Lakeshore Plaza.
However, many said they would choose the
healthier organic Trader Joe’s over the neighboring McDonald’s. “I would rather spend more
money on better-quality food and support a
store that sells locally grown food than a store
that transports processed food from outside this
region,” freshman Nadia Diamond said.
However, due to the lack of security, the
Lowell administration will keep Stonestown
off-limits to students despite the opening of
Trader Joe’s. “We don’t have enough people
to watch over the entire city,” principal Andy
Ishibashi said.
Nevertheless, many students are excited at
the prospect. “A Trader Joe’s in Stonestown can
make students’ diets healthier because they offer
more organic choices than Lucky,” sophomore
Ryan Lui said. “I would choose Trader Joe’s over
Lucky because they offer better tasting food.”
Sophomore Adar Schneider agreed with Lui,
especially when it came to the quality of food
at Trader Joe’s. “They have a wide variety of
premade food that would be good for lunches
and snacks,” Schneider said. “Whatever I get
there is most likely going to be healthier than
what I would get from Lucky. I try to be as
health-conscious as I can be.”
Others such as junior Matthew Huang prefer
products from Lucky. “The quality of food at
Trader Joe’s is overrated and it’s too expensive
for me,” he said.
School nurse Maryann Rainey, however,
didn’t object to either grocery store. “They are
both fine,” she said. “I do try to buy fresh food
that’s grown locally because it supports local
farmers and costs less oil to transport it.”
Science teacher Kathy Melvin, on the other
hand, had mixed feelings about Trader Joe’s. “I
want to give Trader Joe’s credit because they
offer a diversity of organic choices, but its products are packaged,” Melvin said. “It’s definitely
better for you and better for the environment,
but it’s the plastic packaging that they’ll have
to look into.”
BEN UDELSON
Traders Joe’s at Stonestown Galleria opening this fall offers job opportunities as well
as convenient dining locations.
PTSA preps cleaning day
From PTSA on Page 2
PTSA president Debbie Gee
Wong, who was elected at the same
May election, nominated Leslie
as a candidate for the position of
second vice president, running
against Nguyen, who had already
been nominated.
Wong supported Leslie because
the PTSA bylaws state that the first
and second vice presidents are
also authorized signers of checks,
she said.
The PTSA first vice president,
Lee, a minor, had already been
elected by the time the position
of second vice president came up
to the vote.
“Had I supported a second minor for the second vice president
position, the check-signing duties
would have fallen on only two individuals — the treasurer and the
president,” Wong explained.
According to Wong, minors
on the PTSA are prohibited from
signing checks, and she explained
that many members of the PTSA
have work schedules that make
it difficult to secure signatures
and process checks in a timely
manner.
According to Nguyen, after
Leslie was elected to the position
of second vice president in May,
Nguyen and Wong spoke on the
phone and decided that Nguyen
would be appointed “volunteer
coordinator” of the upcoming
Beautification Day school cleanup event.
However, Nguyen later decided
not to participate in Beautification Day.
“When I talked to Ms. Gee
Wong, it sounded like they didn’t
need me,” Nguyen said.
Gee Wong explained that
Nguyen’s resignation was “most
unfortunate and unnecessary,
because we had agreed to Tiffany’s
request (of participating in Beautification Day), but she decided
otherwise.”
Members of Lowell’s Student
Body Council have already felt
the effects of the new leadership
for Beautification Day.
“The adult members of the
PTSA have not treated us with
respect,” SBC President Celi
Tamayo-Lee said. “At this level
and in these kinds of situations,
parents and students should be
mature and cooperative, or nothing will be accomplished. The
PTSA’s attitude towards SBC and
their approach to the event have
been very condescending. They
have asked Tiffany (Nguyen) and
myself for help with and information about the process, and have
not shown respect for the help
Tiffany has offered in the past.”
Tamayo-Lee stated that SBC
plans to help out with Beautification Day, but did not participate
in the planning process.
Nguyen said that Beautification Day will still achieve its
ultimate goal of improving the
school, but she believes it won’t
be at its best in terms of student
involvement.
“I want Beautification Day to
continue,” Nguyen said. “The only
thing I’m worried about is that the
current leadership won’t be able to
coordinate and involve students as
much as I had.”
New district initiative
gets schools “greener”
By Matthew Estipona
OWELL IS BECOMING
“greener” under a new district-wide initiative to make
San Francisco Unified School District schools more eco-friendly.
The Environmental Service
Learning Initiative, headed by
mayor Gavin Newsom and Superintendent Carlos Garcia, was
instated on Sept. 30. Since then,
it has encouraged environmental
justice, “meaningful” community
service and civic responsibility in
SFUSD students throughout the
city, according to a Sept. 30 press
release on the initiative.
Among other things, parents
have helped plant flowers near the
main entrance, compost bins are
now available in most restrooms
and the Book-to-Book store is now
selling eco-friendly bags.
The initiative has garnered
popular support among faculty
L
and students alike. “I think it’s
about time,” Advanced Placement
Environmental Science teacher
Kathy Melvin said. “The fact that
we are beginning is great because
of all the benefits our school and
community will reap in the future.”
Besides school community
involvement, both organizations
Community Educational Services
and Global Exchange support the
initiative, allocating $860,000 in
total and planning to introduce environmental ethics-based lessons
plans for teachers as well as group
discussion workshops in several
high schools city-wide.
Student organizations are
equally supportive of the district’s
new measure. “I know that the
work we are doing benefits not only
our school but our community as
a whole,” Recycling club member
sophomore Simon Wong said.
-
-
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
Spotlight
November 14
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
2008
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
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HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
HARRY HALLOWEEN!
Clockwise from above: Social studies teachers Monty
Worth (above, left) and Cambria Bower-Gersten (above,
right) storm the stage as Sirius Black and Hermione Granger
with the rest of Hogwarts; senior and SBC Events
Coordinator Eryn Kimura (below left) announces the Wizard
of Oz themed group contestees seniors Bryan Wong,
Cathrine Fong, junior Thomas Chu, seniors Cassey
Miguel, Christal Tossany, Samantha Tak, and sophomore
Julianna Sindell; junior Robert Byrd is elected winner of
the singles contest as Barack Obama; (from right to left),
senior Ana Billingsley, sophomore Zach Ruylemeyer,
and seniors Michelle Agbayani and Camille Smyth win
best group-costume as Hot Dog and his Condiments; (below)
seniors Lilianna Pedroni and Eitan Neumark win the pair
category as Sarah Palin and John McCain.
ALL PHOTOS BY ELENA CHIN
By Cherry Manoonsilpa
W
HAT’S THE USE of
wearing crazy costumes
if you’ve got no place to
flaunt them? On Oct. 31, the Student
Body Council held their annual Halloween rally on the catwalk, complete
with snappy costumes and sugary
treats. The crowd went wild when
Barack Obama took center stage in
the singles costume contest. But his
GOP opponents senator John McCain
and Alaskan governor Sarah Palin
retaliated soon enough, capturing the
crowd’s votes with a joint speech during the pairs contest portion.
A contest highlight was the Social Studies Department showing in
Hogwarts garb, ranging from Albus
Dumbledore to Harry Potter himself.
The groups contest also included Tutti
Melon fro-yo costumes, 26 alphabet
letters, China and USA’s ping-pong
teams and the winners, a human-sized
hot dog and his condiments. As the
contests ended, audience members were
drizzled on by light rain and handfuls
of candy.
■ Football hopes to recapture
city championship
Lowell High School
November 14, 2008
Page 11
■ Tennis continues tradition of
dominating all-city
Volleyball “killing” its way to the championship
By Traci Liang
mance left the Washington crowd speechless.
RACTICE REALLY DOES make perfect, “We had very good blocking,” senior outside
and the girls’ varsity volleyball know hitter Kerry Ho said. “Wash had a very strong
this lesson better than anyone else. hitter but senior middle blocker Laura NapoAnd more practice time in the gym is exactly liello and junior opposition Nicole Lee were
what the team needs to improve their game able to block her throughout the game.” The
and extend their twelve-year AAA champion team stepped it up during the third set when
Lee smashed the ball two feet away from the net
legacy.
Lack of gym time has been holding the girls on an overpass, just short of the Washington
back. Varsity volleyball starts practice at 3:30 Eagles’ reach. The girls kicked it up another
and has to share the gym with JV volleyball or notch at the end of the match. “Junior middle
boys’ basketball. At 5:30, they have to leave the Allison Wasserman put it away amazingly,”
Ho said. Varsity volleyball
gym and hand it over to the
brought home another
girls’ basketball team. “We
win, beating Washington
only get two hours after
25-15, 25-14, and 25-23.
school to set up nets, do
The girls know that
warm ups, and train ofbeating some of the toughfense and defense,” senior
est competitors means
defense specialist Elaine
nothing without a chamNgo said. “We need at least
pionship win. They are
three hours but now we just
hoping to make it to the
don’t have enough time to
AAA championship game
go through everything.”
today at Kezar. A win in this
According to senior center
game would mean another
Katrina Lau, the girls can- Katrina Lau,
year added on to the girls’
not get through all their varsity volleyball MVP
varsity volleyball’s AAA
rotations during practice
championship streak, which has been going
and have to warm up outside occasionally.
The crunch for gym time also adds pressure strong for the last twelve years. “It’s my senior
on the girls during practice. “We’re forced to be year so it’d be awesome to bring home another
super focused but we’re used to being relaxed victory,” Ngo said.
The playoff game on Nov. 12 was too late
at practice,” Lau said.
The lack of practice time is keeping the for press, but if the Cardinals make it to chamteam from improving and developing new pionships, then come out to cheer them on at
techniques, which could hurt the team later on 7 today at Kezar.
when they face strong opponents. “We should
be running more plays but we don’t have time
Most Valuable Player
The varsity volleyball team has truly taken
to try out new stuff so we have to stick with
what we’ve been doing,” Lau said. Sometimes the game to a new level. Each and every team
member has stepped up and given her all, but
coach cannot explain things to us.”
Even though the girls still need more Katrina Lau, this year’s co-captain and center,
practice, they are dominate on the court. They has truly inspired the team, and is The Lowell’s
defeated Washington during the Battle of the pick as MVP.
Lau’s leadership is truly felt throughout the
Birds on Oct. 21. Many Washington supporters
showed up at Lowell to cheer on their team and team. “Without her, we wouldn’t be the same,”
distract the Cardinals, but the team’s perfor- junior libero Jessica Peng said.
P
CAROL MAMON
Senior Laura Napoliello gets a kill on the feeble Mustang defense.
Cardinals can’t break playoff curse
By Julia Kotzian
“O
FFENSE SELLS TICKETS,
defense wins championships,”
according to junior forward
Safa Mannah.
An improved defense has brought the boys
to third place in the semi-championships,
despite a tough defeat at the hands of Galileo
on Nov. 4.
“This defeat makes us a ‘choker’ team,” said
junior right midfielder Jono Loeser, noting
that last year the boys also ended their season
BEN UDELSON
Senior Hugo Moreno prepares to launch a
long ball down field.
at the top of their division, but lost their first Penn Scoble as sweeper and stopper, in place
game in the playoffs.
of junior sweeper Zack Deutch-Gross,” he
Before their defeat, the
said. Deutch-Gross, who
boys were on a roll. In the
is a strong defender on
game against Washington
the team, injured his left
on Oct. 30, the boys killed
knee. “The replacements
the Eagles 9-1, with senior
have done a good job in
Joey DiMatteo scoring four
Zack’s absence, but they
of the team’s nine goals.
are not nearly as effective
Another victory was
as Zack,” Pollack said.
tallied on Oct. 23 when
Deutch-Gross also batthe boys conquered Waltled a cramp during the
lenberg 8-0. During the
Galileo game but was able
game, every player got a
to overcome the cramp
chance to participate on
and play. Contreras was
Anthony Clay,
the field, bringing the team
also injured and played
varsity soccer MVP
together as a whole.
the first fifteen minutes
On Oct. 16, the Cardiagainst the Lions.
nals handed O’Connell a crushing 4-1 loss,
Most Valuable Player
with goals from senior forward Jose Contreras
and junior captain Anthony Clay. Later, two
Anthony Clay, who is on The Lowell, “really
goals came from Mannah in the last 10 min- brings us together as a team with his leaderutes. That victory followed a 2-3 loss to the ship and is extremely skillful,” according to
Mission Bears on Oct. 14.
Pollack. Significantly, Clay was named captain
Even though the boys have had a successful as a junior, a first in Lowell soccer history.
season, they still have a list of goals. “We want
One of his most vital moments was when
to build off of this year and become more skill- he confidently stepped up and made the only
ful and stronger for next year,” junior forward penalty kick out of the four taken against
Sam Pollack said.
Galileo in the playoffs. Clay hopes to lead the
Back in the beginning of the season, the team next year to the finals.
boys had problems with their defense, mainly
Clay is a player with a future. “His general
due to injuries, Pollack explained. “We had to presence and presence in the midfield can’t go
put sophomore “Bagels” (Julian Innis) and unnoticed,” Contreras added.
Sophomore
dominates
the green
By Julia Kotzian
A
FTER A NEAR-STELLAR SEASON,
the girls’ golf team obtained 2nd
place in the AAA Individual Tournament Finals.
Their opponent on Nov. 3, the Lincoln
Mustangs, trumped the girls with a score
of 500 on 18 holes, while the Cardinals
hit 585.
The Cardinals started their winning
streak on Oct. 20 when they crushed the
same Eagles with a score of 225 to 266.
The girls triumphed with an easy win on
Oct. 14 over Galileo. This was an important
win for the girls, considering the Lions’
crushing victory over the Cardinals last
year. The Cardinals were more than ready
this year, destroying the Lions by a score
of 226 to 281.
Most Valuable Player
Sophomore Shae Kim has led Cardinals
to the AAA/CIF SF Section Girls’ Golf
Individual Tournament Finals. Combined
with good technique and practicing nonstop, Kim is a unique player. Her love for
golf has made her an important player on
the team.
12 SPORTS
Lowell High School
November 14, 2008
Cardinals confident to clinch coveted spot
By Cherry Manoonsilpa
T
BEN UDELSON
Junior wingback Ronald Ng tackles a Mission offender to prevent a touchdown.
HE CARDINALS are entering the
playoffs with high hopes, either on
their way to the city championship, or
just a game away from a repeat of last year’s
defeat.
Refusing to miss the championships, the
Cardinals have mustered a guaranteed spot in
the playoffs with a 3-2 record. The team has not
won the city championships since 2005, while
the Lincoln Mustangs and their star runningback David Henderson have dominated the
division for the past two years.
On Nov. 6, the Cardinals faced off against
the Mission Bears in one of their last games
before the playoffs. The Bears have always
put up a worthy fight on the field and, sadly
for the Cardinals, this year Mission’s efforts
finally prevailed.
The Cardinals took the lead at the beginning of the first quarter but when the Cardinal’s
defense began to falter, the Bears took their cue
and scored two touchdowns. The Cardinals
failed to get past the Bear’s defense and lost
20-16.
That loss followed a victory on Oct. 24 over
the weak Galileo Lions. The Lions were no
match for Lowell in the first quarter, making
way for three Cardinal touchdowns. However,
the Cardinals were shut out during the second
quarter, and failed to double their halftime
score of 21, which was the team’s goal in the
second half.
“We should have beat Galileo by much
more,” senior wingback Wang Han said.
“Our defense wasn’t supposed to allow them
their one touchdown. We can’t play at our
opponent’s low level.” The Cardinals still embarrassed the Lions 37-8.
On Oct. 18, the Balboa Buccaneers put up a
gallant effort, though the Cardinals dominated
the game with a score 38-28.
“The score is deceiving,” senior linebacker
and captain Shant Siyahian said. “Our defense
let up a little, which allowed them to score
some touchdowns, but there was no way we
were going to allow them to win.”
With the season coming to an end, many
players are playing in their last season as Cardinals, including all four captains, offensive
lineman Ian Maguire, wingback Kevin Li,
wingback David Kwong, and Siyahian, and
senior wingbacks Nathaniel Banks and Wang
Han — who contributed the highest amount
of touchdowns to the scoreboard this season.
“I am going to miss being a Cardinal football
player,” Siyahian said. “But I have high hopes
on how the season ends.”
Although they lost some games this year,
the Cardinals still harbor some of their best
players and possible keys to next year’s domination of the AAA league.
Still to remain a Cardinal for another year
is junior quarterback Ryan Louie, who has
stepped into a strong leadership role this season. Also predicted to rise in next year’s season
is sophomore linebacker Ernest Marshall, who
is one of the youngest players on the team, but
has greatly developed throughout the season,
according to Han.
The Cardinals next game will be the semifinals, TBA.
Cross country aims for perfect season end at All-City
By Rosa Shields
cause there’s not very much competition for
us
this time.”
OWELL CROSS-COUNTRY runners
Olson’s prediction proved true as the Cardiare stretching out their sore muscles
and tightening their battered shoelaces nals swept both the Oct. 24 and 30 meets. The
as they confidently prepare for the All-City Cardinals exhibited impressive decreases in
Championships.
time and postings of personal records in both
On Nov. 12, the Cardinals
meets. Cross-country
raced the Galileo Lions in
coach Michael Prutz
Golden Gate Park, though
believed his team posted
this occurred after press
faster times overall as
time. On Nov. 6, Lowell took
a result of challenging
on Mission as well as their
itself.
toughest rival, Lincoln. They
“We focused on an
triumphed over June Jordan,
outside goal of going
Balboa and Thurgood Marout stronger and I think
shal on Oct. 30.
people really surprised
themselves with how
On Oct. 24, they emerged
well they did,” Prutz
victorious in their first AAA Sarah Gulli,
said.
meet against Washington, cross country co-MVP
A prime example of
ISA and Burton. Prior to the
this was Olson, who immeets, senior captain Mark
Olson felt optimistic. “There’s a good chance proved his time by almost a whole minute,
we’ll win based on what I’ve seen in previous from 19 minutes and 51 seconds to 18 minutes
AAA races,” he said. “I’m predicting Lowell and 56 seconds.
will sweep the top four places in varsity beOne factor in the team’s triumph is the
L
motivational activities Prutz
tion to the cross-country
has implemented, such as
team. Although Olson was
honoring a Runner of the
somewhat abruptly named
Week. According to Prutz,
captain after several veteran
the criteria for a Runner of
runners did not return to
the Week is to do something
the team, he has fulfilled
extraordinary, such as posthis responsibilities beautiing a personal record time or
fully. “Mark’s been a great
improving consistently.
role model because of his
For the week of Nov. 3,
intense drive and dedicajunior Reilly Clewes and
tion,” Prutz said.
sophomore Corey WorthingSophomore Karen Chin
ton were both named “Run- Mark Olson,
agreed with this sentiment.
“Mark’s our one and only
ner of the Week” for both cross country co-MVP
senior, so him continuing to
their postings of personal
records and speedy times overall. Sophomore run shows that he really wants to be here,” Chin
runner Alison Leung believed the team’s suc- said. Gulli has also demonstrated unwavering
cess also stemmed from their unique bonding perseverance throughout the season.
“She’s here all the time, she’s interested in
activites.
improving and she’s passionate about running,”
Prutz said.
Most Valuable Players
Junior Amber Murakami-Fester admired
Two runners in particular are pushing
themselves to their true potential. The Lowell’s Gulli for her drive. “She’s an inspiring prodpicks for Most Valuable Player are Olson and uct of hard work,” Murakami-Fester said. As
junior Sarah Gulli for their passionate dedica- All-City Championships near, the Cardinals
Cardinals tennis continues to dominate competition
By Cherry Manoonsilpa
When finals were held on Nov.
ITH THE NorCal Tennis 7, Etin advanced to the final match
Championships quickly to play Wallenburg’s talented Jenapproaching, the tennis nifer Salomon. Etin lost her first
team looks to gain more experi- set 6-1, but when the girls tied 5-5
on the next set,
ence by playthe court lights
ing matches
went out and
against each
two were
other durAll City makes the
forced to delay
ing All-City
games. From
you appreciate the their game further until Nov.
Oct.
27
team.”
10.
through Oct.
Back in the
31, sophoJIMMY ROSENHEIM,
All-City games,
mores Nina
coach
t he doubles’
Liu and Karen
rounds began
Etin, junior
Brandee Ma, senior Yana Nebuchina with a total of 32 doubles teams,
and freshman Kiyomi Kuroda com- many of the Cardinal players facing
peted in the annual All-City singles’ off against their own teammates,
including juniors Amanda Lum and
matches held in Golden Gate Park.
After playing two games each, Liu Sally Ness against juniors Gabriella
and Etin further advanced to semifi- Rustia and Deanna Chang, and senals, which were delayed until Nov. nior Kira Ostapenko and sophomore
Chloe Roddy against juniors Maria
6 due to inclement weather.
W
“
A
Klionsky and Amy Yee.
Seniors Mona Man and Tiffany
Leung were set to play finals against
fellow teammates senior Lum and
Ness, who were
declared the AllCity champions
in the doubles’
matches due to
an unfortunate
forfeit by both
Man and Leung.
Playing their
teammates,
however, proved
to be very valuable. “All-City Sally Ness,
is a really good girls tennis MVP
experience,” Klionsky said. “A lot of
the other teams in the league aren’t
that competitive, so playing our own
teammates is good competition.”
Though the NorCal tournaments
have been thought of as more important than All-City, head coach Jimmy
Rosenheim hoped to take away more
from the All-City games than just a
title. “All-City makes you appreciate
the team,” Rosenheim said. “When
you have them
backing you up
and supporting
you, especially in
such an individual player’s sport,
you realize how
important they
are.”
On Oct. 24,
the tennis team
arrived at Golden
Gate Park to defend their title in
the city championship, which they
had rightfully held onto for the past
nine years. To little surprise, the girls
snagged an 6-1 victory over Wallenburg for their tenth year in a row as
city champions.
During the AAA semifinals
against Lincoln on Oct. 22, the Cardinals shut out the Mustangs 7-0.
The Mustangs had barely managed to secure a spot in playoffs, but
it was all in vain when the Cardinals
quickly beat them and destroyed
their chances at championships.
Most Valuable Player
Though the victories have truly
been a team effort, leading the team
in their victories has been junior
Sally Ness, who has shown exceptional talent since her freshman year.
She has also captured the captain
positions as a junior.
“She has done an excellent job on
and off the courts on organizing the
team, decision making and fundraising,” Rosenheim said.
Ness ended the regular season
with just one loss, and also has been
the only girl in the league to utilize
the net, according to Rosenheim.
The Lowell
November 14, 2008
JV Football bonds despite several losses this season
By Shelly Tong
T
HIS SEASON, the JV football team has learned that
a team’s worth has little to do with the number of its
victories.
Though they only won two out of six games this season, the
Cardinals still soar.
The Cardinals lost to the Mission Bears 12-26 on Nov. 7.
They were leading by a touchdown until the second half, when
the Bears stepped it up and showed how much they wanted the
win. The Cardinals were not discouraged, however. “Since the
season’s almost over, the whole team is just looking towards to
the Lincoln game,” sophomore fullback and linebacker CeeJay
Silvestre said.
Although the team lost their previous game 26-46 they
cannot be considered losers by any means. After the first half
of the game, Marshall was leading 20-0. At halftime, the team’s
morale was down and coach Ken Jew gave the team the option
of letting the second stringers play or trying their hardest with
the starters, because Marshall had upperclassmen on their JV
BEN UDELSON
Two Cardinals players scramble to recover a fumble.
13
SPORTS
team.
yards and sophomore Silvestre following through with a 5The Cardinals went back to the game with new inspiration, yard touchdown, the team was exhausted and defeated after
and they caught up, scoring 20 points in a straight shot by get- halftime and lost.
ting three on-side kicks in a row. Though the final score came
This crushing loss was hard to bear after the team’s recent
out to be 26-46, none of the players were too disappointed 26-8 victory against Burton on Oct. 2, only seven days before
because they found their own victory within defeat. This Battle of the Birds. The sweetness of that victory was even
game was pivotal in bringing the team closer
greater, as the preseason games before the
together and helping them understand that
victory were also devastating losses — 0-60
anything can happen in football and that the
against Liberty on Sept. 20 and 8-54 against
game isn’t just about winning.
Menlo on Sept. 26.
The Cardinals also won 20-14 against GaliThe team has come a long way since their
leo High School on Oct. 23. In the first half of
first few games. They have learned many lesthe game, Silvestre and sophomore wingback
sons and built a real team from the ground up.
They began the season as a disconnected group
Yuriy Torchiyan both scored touchdowns. The
score held at 12-6 with the team in the lead
of boys with only a love for football, but they
until the fourth quarter, when Galileo ran in
are ending it as a family. “We’ve improved a lot
a two-point conversion and scored a touchsince the first game,” Silvestre said. “We trust
down with a minute and 30 seconds left on Yuriy Torchiyan,
each other more and our team bond is stronger
the clock before the game ended, making the JV football MVP
because we’ve spent more time together.”
score 12-14. Everyone thought the game was
The greatest lesson they have learned as a
over, but with 40 seconds left on the clock, sophomore quar- team this season is resilience. “The game’s not about who’s losing
terback Jordan Lee threw the ball to freshman tight end Daniel or who’s better,” Ma said. “It’s about playing your hardest until
Maionchi who scored a touchdown. After that, Torchiyan ran time runs out. It’s about playing in the moment.”
They are looking forward to playing their last game together
in a two-point conversion, bringing the score to 16-14.
Sophomore running back Calvin Ma described the game as a team. “Since it’s going to be the last game of the season,
as a huge turning point for the team. After the win, the team we’re all willing to put our lives on the line for this win,” Silvestre
was ecstatic. “I felt almost heavenly,” Maionchi said. “Before said. “It’s the biggest game of the season and the whole team
this game, we weren’t really a team and we were unsure about really wants (to win) this.”
Come support the team at 2 p.m today at Lowell against
whether we’d all do our jobs, but now we’re working together
Lincoln.
and we can really call ourselves a team.”
Torchiyan said that he was proud of the defensive line for
Most Valuable Player
holding the entire game. He felt that a lot of players improved.
“This game changed the way we practice and play,” he said. “I’m
The Lowell’s choice for MVP this season is sophomore runproud we won our first home game.”
ning-back Yuriy Torchiyan. Ma described him as the guy with
Silvestre also said the game was good for the team’s confi- the “biggest heart and greatest attitude as well as great leaderdence and it also meant a lot to the sophomores. “Gal is the ship skills.” Torchiyan hates to lose just as much as the rest of
only team we lost to last year, so winning against them was his teammates, but instead of staying upset about it, he gets over
really important to us personally,” he said.
it quickly and learns from his mistakes. He is extremely hard
The win followed a 6-33 loss to Washington in the Battle working because he practiced hard over the summer, and has
of the Birds on Oct. 9. Though they kept up with the Eagles improved a great deal as a player.
during the first half of the game, with Torchiyan running 80
Torchiyan’s stellar play makes him The Lowell’s MVP.
14 SPORTS
November 14, 2008
Lowell High School
Girls stick together, conquer competition
By Ashley Wu
During the set, Menikheim did a noteworthy tricky tip instead
HE JV GIRLS HAVE COME TOGETHER and swept of a spike, surprising the opponent and winning the tenth point
up outstanding wins throughout their undefeated of the first set. The set ended with an incredible ace served by
Lei. The Cardinals started their second set with five consecuseason.
One of these amazing wins includes the match against tive aces. Tsang shone by doubling the score 20-10 by serving
Balboa High School on Nov. 4. Early on in the season, Coach three slamming aces.
On Oct. 17 the team faced off against the Galileo lions at
Wesley and returning sophomores felt that their biggest competitor would be Balboa. The match started out in Balboa’s home. In the second set, the girls kept up their strong 4-0 start,
favor as the powerful Bucs won the first set. However, in the destroying the Lions with a score of 25-27. Only once in the
first set did the Lions manage to gain a one
second set, the tide turned at the last
point lead over the Cardinals, but sophomore
minute due to the girls’ wonderful
opposite hitter Chanel Piper quickly brought
teamwork. “After the first set, coach
the game back to a 12-12 tie.
reminded us that we wanted to keep
Nearing the end of their season, the Carour record clean,” sophomore libero
dinal girls have learned to communicate and
and defensive specialist Tiffany Chan
play even better together. “We bonded and
said. “We talked it up and our energy
became an even greater team,” Menikheim
picked up in the second set.”
said. The bonding that Coach Wesley encourThe score was close at 21-22, when
aged throughout the season really paid off for
both sophomore outside hitter Winthe girls. “We learned to trust one another on
nie Tsang and libero and defensive
and off the court, allowing us to play better
specialist Jocelyn Kuswanto dived for
together,” freshman libero and defensive spethe ball and saved it, leading to a tie at
cialist Jasmine De Castro said.
22-22 and allowing the girls to steal
Winning all of their games throughout
Jocelyn Kuswanto,
the win 25-22.
the whole season and destroying their biggest
The Bucs started off the third set JV volleyball MVP
competition, the girls are looking forward. “I
with two points, but an ace by freshman setter Vivian Lei started the Cardinals’ points going. With am excited for next year,” Wong said. “We will be playing with
five consecutive points on hits made by Tsang, sophomore Cap- the people we played with in 2007.”
On top of reuniting as a team with the players they played
tain Ruby Wong, and freshman outside hitter Chelan McGinty,
with in their freshman year, sophomore opposite hitter and
the Cardinals won the match, 15-7.
Shortly after their win against Balboa, the Cardinals played setter Sheryl Quock knows that varsity will be a lot tougher.
their final match before championships against Lincoln on Nov. “The attitudes on varsity are different from JV,” Quock said.
6. The bleachers were packed with fellow Lowell supporters “You have to prepare mentally, and work constantly. Varsity is
shouting encouragements to the team. The start of the match a whole different level of play.”
While most of the sophomores will return as varsity players
against the Mustangs was similar to the Cardinals’ match
against the Bucs as the Cardinals lost the first set. But the team their junior year, the freshmen will return as sophomores playpowered up, winning the second set 25-16 after a tug-of-war. ing with the new freshmen. “I am definitely looking forward
The girls hustled for their final set in the match. After three to another undefeated season,” McGinty said.
aces made by freshman middle blocker Danielle Menikheim,
Most Valuable Player
freshman opposite hitter and setter Isabela Haeger ended the
This year’s pick for MVP is sophomore libero and defenmatch with a score of 15-9.
sive specialist Jocelyn Kuswanto. Kusawanto is known for her
On Oct. 30 the girls beat O’Connell after letting them score
five early points, but then coasted their way up to a 25-7 win. hustle and heart. Not only did she play multiple positions on
T
CAROL MAMON
Freshman middle blocker Chelan McGinty jumps up to smash
down a spike onto a Lincoln defender on Nov. 6.
the team, she was a very reliable teammate. “Jocelyn held the
whole team up,” freshman Reilly Fitzpatrick said.“She pushes
herself hard and doesn’t realize what a good player she really
is.” Wong agrees with Fitzpatrick, commenting that, “Jocelyn
is a persistent player. She is the main contributor, and when
the balls come over the net, she’s the one to set it up for the
team to play.”
November 14, 2008
The Lowell
Foreign exchange students visit campus
Japanese teenagers share life with language class
by Soraya Okuda
“H
AJ I M E M ASH I T E,”
the American students
say, bowing as they
introduce themselves to the students
from Japan.
This was the welcome given to
a group of Japanese exchange students from Shizuoka, Japan on Oct.
16, when they attended
COURTESY OF ERINA ALEJO
class with their host students in order to learn about American schools
and culture.
Principal Ishida Kuniaki and the
teachers of Shimizuhigashi High
School arrived at the school with 37
students, and toured the Bay Area for
a total of four days through the Japanese Cultural Community Center of
Northern California. To organize the
trip, JCCCNC
notified both
principal Andy
Ishibashi and the
world language department head Dorothy
Ong.
Senior Pamela Chew, president of the school’s
National Japanes e Honors Society,
helped prepare
for the students’
arrival. “Takemotosensei asked us to recruit people to sign up,”
Chew said. “Since there
were only around 20 people
in the society, we (NJHS members) decided to have around two
Japanese people per Honors Society
member.”
Ishibashi and Japanese teacher
Kiyoko Takemoto arranged an 8 a.m.
welcome ceremony for the visitors,
during which students catered to the
guests in Room 218.
Ishibashi began by welcoming the
group, presenting gifts and briefly
recounting Lowell’s history.
“I hope you enjoy your stay
here,” he said. “This is one of the
best schools in the United States. We
rank in the top three nationally for
the number of Advanced Placement
exams given.”
After a tour around school, the
visitors followed their assigned
JNHS members to their classes.
“The classes were amazingly interesting, but economics was kind of
boring,” Reko Watanabe said.
According to Japanese junior Yusuke Kazama, students in Japan must
begin their ideal profession early.
“In our school, you choose
whether you want to take economics and government or science and
German rowers tour,
dance, shop and row
with American friends
By Camille Smyth
A
SAN FRANCISCO rowing club
welcomed flocks of tanned, blond
teenagers from Germany to San
Francisco last month for a week of rowing
and sightseeing.
Twenty-two rowers from Ratsgymnasium Osnabruck, a college preparatory high
school in Osnabruck, Germany, took part in
an exchange with the Pacific Rowing Club,
a crew team located at Lake Merced which
boasts around 20 members from Lowell.
The semi-annual Pacific Rowing Club-Osnabruck Ratsgymnasium Exchange began
in spring 1986 — each fall, German rowers
visit the city and PRC members travel to
Germany during summer vacation.
This year, Ratsgymnasium students took
advantage of the chance to travel to the
United States.
Prior to landing in San Francisco, the
German rowers started their month-long
tour of the country in the Southwest, visiting
beauties such as the Grand Canyon, Zion
and Bryce National Parks.
“It was beautiful, but it was hard to
walk down and up the Grand Canyon,”
16- year-old German rower Jana Homann
said. The group also visited the San Diego
Rowing Club and ZLAC Rowing Club in
San Diego.
After sun-tanning in Southern California, the Germans headed to the City by the
Bay for some not-so-sunny weather.
While staying in San Francisco, the exchange rowers used PRC’s equipment to row
on Lake Merced every morning.
They then toured the city, visiting
landmarks such as Twin Peaks and Golden
Gate Bridge, returning to the boathouse in
the late evening to meet up with their host
families.
While exploring the San Francisco,
German rower Charlotte Dukat had some
pleasant and some not-so-pleasant experiences. “We saw a group of nudist runners,”
she said. “That was not something I wanted
to see.”
And thanks to the strong Euro and the
weak US dollar, the Germans were able to
indulge in some shopping at their favorite
stores — Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister.
Besides stocking up on ripped jeans and
tight-fitting t-shirts, the German rowers also
did what they do best — row.
On Oct. 25, PRC and the Ratsgymnasium rowing team headed up to Sacramento’s
Lake Natoma to compete at the Head of
the American race, an annual competition
that includes teams from all over the West
Coast.
The women’s boat placed 4th out of seven
boats while the men’s boat placed 22nd out
of 25 boats, but according to Homann “the
race was one of the things I enjoyed the most
while staying in California.”
Fourteen year-old German rower Laura
Bermel noted that German equipment differs from those that PRC uses.
“Our boats are much lighter than
Pacific’s,” she said. “I feel like our boats go
faster.”
After a tiring day of racing, the American
students bonded with their exchange students for the remainder of the trip, taking
them to football games or introducing them
to their friends.
Others, such as Homann and Bermel,
attended this year’s Senior Boat dance on
Oct. 25, catching an up-close view of San
Franciso’s Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge.
Homann compared the dance to the ones
in her homeland.
“German kids dance just like American
kids,” Homann said, adding that she recognized the majority of the music that was
played. However, “The dance floor was too
small,” she said.
Unfortunately, as all visits must come to
an end, the Germans had to return home
on Oct. 30 after a series of tearful goodbyes.
“My favorite thing I did with my Germans
was visiting Coit Tower with them,” said
senior Lily Kurkjian, who hosted Homann
and Bermel. “We also ate chicken wings at
Hooters, which was fun.”
Besides tacky restaurants and their
American rowing friends, what will the
Germans miss most?
“I liked the hamburgers,” 17-year-old
German rower Max Hunsche said.
15
INTERNATIONAL
math, depending on what subject
and career path you like,” he said.
In addition to subjects structured
around career paths, the Japanese
school system differs in classroom
structure.
“The difference between Japanese
and American schools is that our
teachers go back and forth so that
we don’t leave,” Kazama explained,
reflecting on his shadowing experience. “When you have a question,
you’re supposed to raise your hand
in Japanese school, but American
students seem to be a little more
outspoken.
AP Japanese student and JNHS
member senior Cynthia Tan realized
the true difference between Japanese
and American education when she
brought her two Japanese shadows to
David Hunt’s Precalculus class.
“We were working on tangents,
and one of the exchange students
solved a difficult homework problem
that no one in the class was able to
figure out,” Tan said. “He did it without flipping through the textbook,
and without a calculator or paper,”
she said.
To create an authentic atmosphere, students were treated to
food from the Beanery. “The lunch
didn’t taste very good,but the overall
school experience was nice,” Watanabe said.
After the typical school lunch,
the exchange students became the
hosts, sharing Japanese activities
with students in the Mods 11-12
Japanese classes.
The activities included folding
origami, calligraphy and tea ceremonies.
The exchange students ended
their Lowell experience with a closing ceremony, saying goodbyes and
exchanging e-mail addresses with
their new friends.
The trip to San Francisco left
a mark on some of the students.
“I definitely want to come back to
San Francisco,” Megumi Nagayama
said. “I really like it here and it is
very pretty.”
Others hoped to return to America to further their educations. “I
want to go to an American college,
studying science, and environmental
science,” Mochizuki said.
Korean students experience
a day in the life of Lowell
By Sean Lee
other,” Park said. “I would love to come back.
IGH SCHOOL students from South The weather in San Francisco is really cool,
Korea stopped at the campus during the people here are lovely and most of all, the
their tour of United States schools landscape was really great.”
Although the Korean students were generlast month, shadowing students from Korean
ally impressed with the freedom students enclasses.
Seventy high-ranked students from Seoul joy in the American school system, sophomore
Global High School, a highly-regarded state- Ji-Yoon Heo felt that the students should be
run co-educational boarding school located more limited in their freedom.
“I like the education system at Lowell,” Heo
in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, spent the
day shadowing host students to their classes said. “However, I felt that it was too free. I
think that controlling students is sometimes
and spending time on the campus.
According to Korean teacher Ah-Mi Cho, needed.”
Principal Andy Ishibashi wholeheartedly
the visitors specifically requested to visit the
school after hearing from a U.S. representative approved the idea of hosting the Korean stuin Korea about its high academic standards. dents for a day.
“I feel proud that schools from other na“They heard about our school and its excellent programs,” Cho said. “So they specifically tions want to come visit Lowell,” Ishibashi
said. “I think we can learn from each other.”
contacted me.”
Cho was pleased that so many students Although Cho was responsible for organizing
were able to visit this year. “Two years ago the Korean students’ visit, she still needed
we had twenty students visit the school,” Cho approval from Ishibashi, who had no qualms
said. “This year, we had seventy students and about having them visit. “There was no
five teachers.” According to Cho, this made it hesitation,” Ishibashi said. “The only thing is
possible for each student in her Korean classes that it had to be on a day when there was no
to host a shadow, an experience many found testing.”
The students arrived in San Francisco on
memorable.
Junior and Korean student Eileen Kyaung Oct. 21 and spent four days in the city before
expressed her excitement at hosting the stu- leaving to visit the East Coast.
dents. “Not only were the Korean shadows
fluent in English, but they were also fluent in
Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish,” she said “I
was impressed. It was fun to hear from my
shadow what a teenage high school student’s
life is like in Korea.”
Walking around the campus in her easily
recognizable brown-and-white school uniform, Seoul Global sophomore Hyeon-Jin
Jang noted the differences between the two
teenage lifestyles.
“It’s very different,” Jang said. “We are not
allowed to date or hold hands with boys in
school. We do not dress like you guys either.”
Sophomore Subin Lim was impressed with
the diverse ethnic groups she observed at
Lowell. “I liked the various kinds of people,”
Lim said. “In one class there were at least three
kinds of ethnicities. In Korea, I only see Koreans, which is quite boring, I think.”
Sophomore Ha-Neul Park felt comfortable with the school atmosphere and students
and expressed an interest in returning to
the school. “I liked it very much—how the
students made their own time schedule, how
BEN UDELSON
the teachers taught in their own unique way
and also how the students got along with each Korean student strolls with senior Mona Man.
H
L
The Lowell
November 14, 2008
COLUMNS
17
Teen tastes cultural potluck Sex & the City
lures girl from
A
college apps
By Nancy Xie
BASKET OF Indian Naan
flatbread with a steaming bowl
of potato curry. A dish of stirfried shrimps in soy-sauce. A chocolate-covered tiramisu cake. These were
just some of the many dishes at one of
my family’s dinner parties, reflecting
the heterogeneity of guests: Jeremy
was avidly chatting in a thick British
accent with my Indian friend Mathew;
meanwhile, Hubert, a native of Poland,
was trying out chopsticks with the
help of Deondra, an African-American
woman from Illinois. My gaze fell on
my favorite dish, a platter of Mama’s
“lu-shui” eggs — browned, hard-boiled
eggs brewed in Chinese spices — and
I mused over their resemblance to my
own experiences.
“How would your German parents
like our lu-shui eggs?” my mom teased,
as I helped her shell hard-boiled eggs
that afternoon. I laughed. Well, I
thought, they certainly wouldn’t mistake them for Osterei (Easter) eggs.
With the warm eggs in my palm, my
thoughts drifted to the summer I spent
in Germany as an exchange student
last June.
It seemed like only yesterday that
I had never dreamed I could leave my
home’s comfort zone and venture to
a foreign place alone; yet as soon as I
stepped on the plane to Berlin, I knew
that I would never regret taking this
trip.
The Hildebrandts, my host family,
not only opened their home to embrace
me, but also immersed me into their
culture and country. Being perhaps the
only Asian on the tiny island of Sylt dur-
ing our vacation, I attracted wondering
glances from our German neighbors;
however, they welcomed me with such
heart-felt frankness that I immediately
felt at home with them. “This is Nancy,
our American-Chinese gast-kind (hostchild) from San Francisco,” my host-dad
would introduce me.
“Look what you’re doing!” my mom
yelled from across the kitchen, jerking
my mind back into focus. I discovered
that I had dropped all the eggshells into
brew pot. Painstakingly I picked
out all the shells, and then
carefully dropped the eggs
into the spices brew, still reflecting on my trip abroad.
After their initial boiling,
the shelled eggs reveal spotless, smooth surfaces — like
my unexposed mind that had
been contained in its own
shell. The eggs are then
immersed in a brew of
spices for two days, until
they fully capture the flavor and turn deliciously
brown, just as
my home s t ay e x perience
cultivated a new
outlook
in me.
Once too
shy to speak in
class, I conversed
at ease with strangers
in
Germany. I did not shyly feel the need to
“fit-in”; rather, I simply enjoyed myself.
As I waved good-bye to my host-family
from the train station, I realized that
cultural diversity is more than just tolerating people of different backgrounds;
it is a recipe for building open-minded
connections with others.
Before my trip, I had been unwilling to step out of my culture’s comfort
zone, but now I always browse through
a college’s study abroad programs. And
what’s more, I love to learn new food
and recipes from different cultures.
“How do you make your vegetarian
curry?” I’d ask Mathew.
But at the same time,
the yolk of my inner self
remains unchanged
as I continue to respect the values
of my own culture. I still stick
to my family’s
traditional
teachings of
Confucian
values. Finally, as the
eggs emerge
from the
spiced
b r e w ,
ready for
serving,
NG so do I feel
UA
H
A
SIC
JES
refreshed with a
sense of being “spiced”
with life.
“Dinner’s ready!” I called to
our guests, bringing out a steaming
platter of freshly brewed lu-shui eggs.
Fervet olla, vivit amicitia, I thought.
The man who gives good dinners has
plenty of friends.
The art of social skills: mastering
just what to say and when to say it
By Shelly Tong
with as soon as possible.
Another huge aid in preventing future awkwardness
HAT IS SOMETHING every student wants?
Well, besides straight A’s? Teenagers want a lot of is just being honest. Telling it like it is makes for less conthings like the best math teacher, the most stylish fusion the next time
clothes and more, but as in all the teenage angst-ridden chick you see a person. For
flicks, like Mean Girls, the holy grail of them all is a cure for example, when you’ve
met someone before
social awkwardness.
As a freshman last year, I epitomized awkwardness. I but you have the unwas clumsy, inarticulate, timid and oblivious. I started high fortunate luck of forschool knowing a grand total of six people at school. I was getting their name,
never assume that
all too aware of my inability to socialize.
I remember my first day of high school without incident. your instinctive guess
I introduced myself to a few people in my classes who made will automatically be
eye contact, smiled or didn’t look particularly severe — the correct. In my experimost likely to converse with me — but on the inside, I was ence, “Hey you!” never
terrified they would hate my jokes or scoff at my opinions. I works for very long.
Also, instead of saycouldn’t decide which would be worse: having someone not
know me and dislike me for no apparent reason or having ing every unfiltered
someone learn almost everything about me and still decide thing that comes to my mind, I relax, and I choose what silly
thoughts are allowed to come out of my mouth, considerthat they didn’t care for me.
The most embarrassing thing that happened on my first ing how what I say will be received. For example, instead of
day of school occurred in the morning when I was looking saying “Wow, that’s so ugly, but I like it,” I’ll take the time to
for the gym. I recognized a student I knew by face but not think and say, “I like that.”
By the second week of school, I took my own advice, and
by name with another girl and decided to approach her. “Hi.
things started to improve. A formal
You’re Kerina right?” When she gave
“hello” turned into a casual “what’s
me the “do I know you?” look, I told
I started introducing myself to
her of our distant connection, and she
To our mortification up?”
my friends’ friends and their friends’
informed me that she was also looking
friends. Eventually, I found a group of
for the gym. The three of us went up
we had stumbled
friends that I felt totally at ease with.
to the first door we saw in the general
into the boy’s locker They were a little quirky, like myself,
physical education area and opened it.
and they were also intelligent and fun
To our mortification we had stumbled
room.
to talk with.
into the boys’ locker room. Luckily,
One of girls quickly became my
we had the sense to let the door slam
best friend. One day, we spent our entire lunch “getting a
before they reacted to our intrusion.
Today Kerina and Rosa, my accomplices in the locker- soda” and just walking around talking about our love for
room incident, are two of my closest friends and we continue John Legend and our obsession with Trader Joe’s Orange
our routine of embarrassing things on a daily basis. If I hadn’t Flavored Cranberries.
Looking back, if I hadn’t put myself out there despite the
taken that initial step forward, without fear of the “do I know
you?” look, I probably would not have met either of them awkwardness, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
Though awkwardness is uncomfortable, it is practically
and would not have become friends with them.
The constant bombardment of social anxiety gave me a a conditional clause to being an adolescent. We even have
reason to strategize and develop a method for overcoming a hand sign for it; the “awkward turtle” has integrated itself
my gracelessness: simply sprint through it as quickly as pos- into our vocabulary. Social anxiety may be difficult, but realsible. Uncomfortable situations are bound to arise at the most izing that it’s something almost everyone deals with is a step
inopportune moments, and you might as well get them over towards overcoming it.
W
T
By Glennis Markison
“C
AN I AT LEAST EAT the last quarter of my muffin without hearing about my obligations?!”
My outburst at breakfast a few Saturdays ago
was nothing out of the ordinary. My parents feel the need
to bring up college applications as frequently as possible. I
usually stop them in their tracks. The college application
process frightens me, and baked goods aren’t the only thing
distracting me from my future. Sex and the City has sidetracked me for weeks.
As I start an episode of Sex and the City on the internet,
my ears tuning in to the playful theme song, my eyes carefully
searching for which male “guest stars” will grace the episode,
I fall into a world in which there are no “Common Apps,”
no personal statements and no postmark deadlines. I watch
several episodes a week, and as I become more and more
engrossed in the fantasy realm of Sex and the City, I avoid the
reality of applying to college. I’m sure I would try harder to
tear myself away from the show if I weren’t convinced that it
actually helps me understand what I want out of the college
experience.
Rather than stop coldturkey, I choose to benefit
from the show’s emphasis
on friendship, fellows and
the fruits of one’s career.
Set in New York City,
Sex and the City explores
the friendship between
four women — Carrie,
the spunky columnist;
Samantha, the over-sexed
public relations gal; Charlotte, the old-fashioned art gallery worker and Miranda, the
somewhat judgmental lawyer — and their relationships with
men. The women are so comfortable with one another that at
mealtimes they almost always share details of their romantic
lives. In the Sex and the City movie, the ladies even witness
Charlotte’s untimely bowel movement after she drinks tap
water in Mexico. Unfortunately, they don’t manage to suppress their giggles before she scurries off to a bathroom.
Through marriage, divorce, first dates and break-ups via
“post-its,” they help each other in the best of times and the
worst. Though I may not have the same relationship dilemmas — or bowel problems — in college, I hope to have equally
supportive lady friends. I also wouldn’t mind having plenty
of boys to gossip about.
Sex and the City has spoiled me by suggesting that just
when a single woman’s feeling lonely, out pops a single man
to keep her company. The show’s man-filled environment
makes the gender balance of most colleges — around 55%
girls and 45% guys — appear especially harsh. While Sex and
the City enables me to hide from these depressing statistics
and simply root for the ladies and their love lives, it has ultimately taught me that quality trumps quantity.
The show’s four ladies may have dated guy after guy, but
they each end up with the man who matters to them most. In
Carrie and Mr. Big’s case, even multiple break-ups and their
engagements to others can’t stop them from being together.
All in all, Sex and the City has exposed me to men of all types
— the good, the bad, and the ugly. I imagine college will be
no different, and while I certainly won’t be applying to any
all-girls schools, I will just have to accept the gender statistics
and try my best to find a man of “Mr. Big’s” caliber.
Of course, the dating scene won’t be as important a factor
in where I’ll apply as what academic opportunities are available. After all, if I don’t have opportunities in film studies,
journalism or jazz, I don’t care if my school is chock-full of
John Stamos look-alikes.
Sex and the City also spoils me with respect to career
opportunities. All four women do what they love while miraculously enjoying a paycheck that grants them access to
expensive clothing, shoes and handbags. I watch with awe
and envy as Carrie buys Prada pumps on a journalist’s salary. Though I don’t expect to make that kind of cash while
pursuing my dream job, it’s inspiring to see that at least these
ladies can have their cake and eat it too.
Having watched the women of “Sex and the City” go
through all of life’s highs and lows, I find the hardest part
for me is not so much waiting anxiously for what happens
to them next, but rather approaching what I know awaits
me when the episode is over. However, having realized how
much “Sex and the City” has taught me about what I want,
I might as well buck up and apply to schools that will help
give it to me. I may not have a weekly column or a “Mr. Big”
in college, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look for bargains on
attractive shoes.
The Lowell
November 14, 2008
China must put people before space
By Shelly Tong
whole, the government’s money should
EACHERS AT LOWELL com- be invested in programs like healthcare
plain that too much cheating that will increase standards of living
occurs at the school. They don’t for all.
In no case should the profits of comrealize that this is just small cheating.
panies take preLeaders in
cedence over the
China are milkhealth of consuming the country’s
Four infants have
ers they are suppolitical paramposed to serve.
eters and cheatdied as a result of
Instead, while
ing big on infant
melamine-caused
children
are dyformula health
ing from kidney
tests.
kidney stones.
stones, China
According to
is investing
an Oct. 16 New
Over 50,000 are
billions of
York Times arsick, but no courts
dol l ars in
ticle, since early
advancing
April babies in
will hear parents’
its space
China have been
program.
dying as a result
cases against Sanlu.
In order
of kidney stones
to boost
that developed
its interfrom ingesting
poisonous baby formula produced by national reputation, China has
companies like Sanlu Group, one of manned three space missions
in the last five years, inChina’s largest milk suppliers.
Sanlu added a dangerous and illegal vested millions of dollars
chemical called melamine to watered- to develop a space suit,
down milk so it would appear to have and walked on the
more protein and deceive government moon.
China
safety tests. At least four infants have
should
take
died as a result of melamine-caused
kidney stones. Over 50,000 are sick, but care of its
no courts will hear parents’ cases against p e o p l e
Sanlu.
During the Olympics, as a
part of an initial stonewall by
the goverment, Chinese politicians covered up news of
the kidney stone disaster by
asking journalists to keep
negative news from being released, according
to a Sept. 27 New York
Times article.
The countr y has
shamefully put its public image before the
welfare and health of
its people.
China’s advances
are leaving too many
of its own people behind. Although its economic progress creates
jobs and improves the
country’s image as a
T
F
before jetting off to space. If the country continues to squander
its wealth on its space program without raising the
standard of living for
its poorest or protecting its consumers
— especially infant
ones — China will
be neglecting the
greater good of its
people. And that’s
cheating.
California should redouble efforts to
transition to renewable, green energy
A new study that confirms the success of California’s eco-friendly energy approach gives the green light
to the green energy movement.
new jobs over a three-decade period.
This recent evidence of the success of conservation in California is a nail in the coffin for the dysfunctional energy policies of an administration that did not pay enough attention to
green energy. Knowing that the state’s energy policies are saving
money, the state needs to continue looking for innovative ways
to make the state greener. Already, governor Schwarzenegger
By Tiffany Leung
HE FALSE CLAIMS of the uncertainties of the “theory” has stepped up efforts to “green” the state. The governor has
of global warming have tried to lead Californians to appointed a Green Action Team to help implement sustainable
believe that green policies will hurt California businesses building practices and energy efficiency efforts statewide.
Currently the team has been working on Executive Order
and drain money from the state.
For a long time, environmentally friendly policies were not S–20-04, also known as the Green Building Initiative, which
is aimed towards making government
welcomed by some government figures.
buildings 20 percent more energy efficient
President Bush’s Energy Policy Act of
by 2015. In order to meet the 2015 goal,
2005 focused on using greater amounts of
California has been practicing sustainable
coal provided incentives for oil companies
California’s green
or “green” building, designing, operating,
drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and did not
energy plans have
maintaining and removing buildings in
give support for conservation, according
that conserve natural resources and
to the president of the National Repubcreated 1.5 million ways
reduce their impact on climate change.
licans for Environmental Protection AsThe Green Action Team has also been
sociation, Martha Marks in an MSNBC
new jobs.
integrating technologies for renewable
article from Aug. 8, 2005.
energy in state buildings, such as solar
Nevertheless, under the guidance of
panels and fuel cells rather than coal fuel
governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and
state legislators, California has implemented many environmen- for electric energy. In addition to the changes the government
tally friendly policies on energy efficiency and conservation, has implemented, the team also encourages individual consersustainability, green building and green purchasing practices. vation and sustainability.
California’s continued support of green energy policies has
And this all seems to have paid off.
According to an Oct. 20 article in the New York Times, shown the nation that such policies do indeed create new jobs
California’s green energy plans have led to a $58 million reduc- and reduce the cost of energy for businesses, and serves as a role
tion in energy costs as well as creating as many as 1.5 million model for other states seeking to adopt similar policies.
T
C
OPINION
19
Suburban
lifestyle ecounfriendly
By Karyn Smoot
T
HE STATE OF CALIFORNIA recently passed
Proposition 1A, which proposed to fund a highspeed rail system between San Francisco and Los
Angeles, by a margin of 412,497 votes.
This high-speed rail system will reduce the need for
polluting cars and fuel-burning airplanes. However,
according to an Oct. 20 San Francisco Chronicle article,
the success of this high-speed rail depends heavily on
communities to live in dense concentrations around stations. Though this high-speed rail is supposed to reduce
pollution, unless its commuters resist the urge to live in
sprawling suburbs, its advantages may be leveraged.
California will now need to encourage smart development in the urban areas around stations, such as the
Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, in order for the
California high-speed rail to be as successful as trains in
Japan and Europe. But furthermore, urban sprawl into
suburbia hurts the environment through both practice
and design.
Since the end of World War II, suburbs have
indicated a higher standard of living, the pinnacle
of the American dream. The higher standard of
living offered in suburban living appeals to
growing families seeking out safe, spacious communities far from industrial cities. However, Americans
need to realize that this aspect
of the stereotypical American
ideal simply is not sustainable. Families rely heavily
on cars for transportation to work, school and
shopping, which increases dependency
on gasoline, a limited resource as
well as a contributor to
greenhouse
gases when
burned.
Sprawling
suburbs inc re as e d is tances traveled in
MONICA ZHANG
order for residents to
commute to work or to the
local mall, further increasing the
demand for gasoline. Furthermore, paving over
large amounts of land for use by cars also releases large
amounts of carbon dioxide, while allowing rainwater
to wash street pollutants into sewers. The Sierra Club
released reports in 2004 that found that vehicle-related
pollution adversely affects human health.
Those who oppose urban sprawl for its inefficiency
suggest alternatives that make the most of existing
developed land and revitalize communities. “Sprawl
and urban decay continue because development grows
with outdated standards or no standards at all,” stated
Urban Advantage, a company that digitally transforms
photographs to visualize sustainable urban communities
on their Web site.
The company’s use of computer imaging helps communities see how “smart growth” can revitalize existing
suburbs. Their vision of “urbanism” involves a closer
proximity of businesses and homes to promote efficient
use of space while encouraging interaction. A popular
example of such sustainable development is Portland,
Oregon’s urban renewal in their Downtown Waterfront
district. The project focuses on commuting by bicycle
and public transportation and creating a space suitable
for community interaction like open-air markets.
Centering similarly attractive and practical communities around public transportation would be a big step
forward for California in making the most of the new
high-speed rail system. Dynamic communities would
not only be more efficient and uphold Prop. 1A’s promise
to reduce emissions, but also encourage stronger connections between neighbors.
We have heard about how we can be more environmentally friendly by making small lifestyle changes, but
what many environmentalists have been afraid to mention are the big lifestyle changes that we need to make
in order to preserve the environment. Americans need
to realize that suburbs, idyllic as they may be, can be an
environmental mess.
18 EDITORIAL
November 14, 2008
EDITORIALS
City should collect rain
A
N ANCIENT agriculture technique
is now being used in a modern way
to improve our environment. On
Oct. 9 mayor Gavin Newsom launched an
initiative to promote the collection of rainwater for non-potable purposes, such as irrigation for yards and even indoor plumbing.
Known as rainwater harvesting, this method
is an innovative step towards reducing water
waste and conserving natural resources.
The initiative features a partnership with
Cole Hardware and permission to collect
non-potable rainwater in San Franciscan
homes.
The local hardware store is offering a
highly discounted price of $69.99 for a 60gallon rainwater barrel — subsidized by the
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
— with valid identification of a residence
in the city.
Rain harvesting is the practice of collecting rain from flat surfaces, such as roofs
and gutters, and conserving it in technologically equipped barrels. This ancient practice,
which originated in farming communities in
Mesopotamia and Egypt as far back as the
third millennium BCE, will renew awareness of water consumption and act as an
innovative step towards reducing our “water
footprint.” This technique is part of the “gray
water” movement — conserving bathwater,
laundry water, dishwater and now even rainwater. Rainwater harvesting will also reduce
flooding in urban areas and minimize sewer
discharges.
While rainwater harvesting will by no
means alleviate the drought of the last two
years, or support all of San Francisco’s water
needs, it is a creative step in the direction of
better water conservation. This innovative
system will ultimately help San Franciscans
become directly involved with the green
movement, and raise water conservation
awareness, while providing a simple yet
effective contribution towards our climate
crises.
To get involved in the age-old practice of
rainwater harvesting, simply purchase one
of the discounted 60-gallon barrels at your
local Cole Hardware. While $70 may seem
expensive for a bucket, this innovative and
well-equipped system will be well worth the
investment and result in savings on your water bills. So let’s reach back to our roots, and
irrigate. This creative method to conserve
water will be well worth it.
YouthVote error-ridden
W
HAT IF ON the November fourth find that Proposition Q will “enable our small
ballot, Obama’s name had been businesses to hire more employees, expand
misspelled Osama? This is the benefits, and provide additional services to
kind of question the authors of the 2008 our communities.”
YouthVote should have, at the very least,
YouthVote ballot should have asked themselves when writing their informational drafted a fair argument in opposition, because without the second side of the issue,
pamphlet and ballot.
On this year’s ballot, distributed over a students will not know the high cost of doing
period of time before the November 4 elec- business in San Francisco and how the effects
tion, Question 7 of the student survey asks, of Proposition Q could drive more businesses
“Would yo [sic] enjoy skill or job-training out of the city.
classes at school?” Question 17 asks, “Who
Many students reacted negatively to
who [sic] is responsible if students miss the errors in the ballot and on the student
school?” Mistakes like these brought many survey.
students to hunt through the survey for
“The mistakes showed how unprofesmore typos, rather than to take the survey sional it really was,” junior Emma Shaw said.
“If they’re not going to take us seriously, then
seriously.
Founded in 1993, YouthVote is organized why should we take them seriously?”
The results of the survey and the ballot are
for the students, by the students, in an effort
to engage the school community in the politi- significant because “they are released back to
cal world that has saturated our minds and the schools, the media and the campaigns,”
our televisions, especially in recent weeks.
according to Peter Lauterborn, YouthVote
Although we comCoordinator. They are
mend YouthVote’s inalso shared with govtentions to involve the
ernment bodies like the
Proposition Q has School Board.
city’s high school community in local politics,
Despite these claims,
an argument in fa- the only access students
the mistakes in this
fall’s YouthVote balvor of it listed in the have to these results is
lot and student survey
through the YouthVote
have brought students
handbook, but no Web site (http://www.sfto take elections less
gov.org/site/youth_comargument against mission_index.asp), a
seriously.
fact which was not anThere were errors
it.
nounced to students.
that not only brought
Junior Shira Kogan
confusion to students,
believes that Youthbut also hurt candidates. In the voter pamphlet, Kevin Dempsey Vote’s lack of seriousness was reflected even
Petersen, a candidate for the Representative more in the fact that they did not announce
of District 12 to the U.S. House of Represen- the results to students. “If the results would
tatives, spoke of his advocacy for personal have been somehow announced to us via the
freedoms and provided good arguments bulletin, I may have looked them up,” she
against spending tax dollars on special said, “but they are so unavailable to students.
interests.
It shows it doesn’t matter, and that it was a
However, Petersen was not represented pointless thing to do.”
on the ballot itself, so even if students agreed
Statistically, U.S. citizens between the ages
with his proposals, they could not have sup- of 18 and 30 represent the smallest voting
ported him with their vote.
demographic, and according to Lauterborn,
Only one candidate, Barry Hermanson, one of YouthVote’s goals is “for high school
was represented both on the ballot and in graduates to continue to vote because they
the pamphlet. Furthermore, School Board are in the habit and are used to considering
candidate Kimberly Wicoff, who wanted to and researching issues.”
improve schools in the Bayview and VisitaBut students cannot rally behind a propocion Valley neighborhoods, also did not ap- sition if they are only aware of half of the
pear on the ballot.
argument, or endorse a candidate who is not
Not only are various candidates left off on the ballot.
the ballot, but one proposition, Q, which
Even smaller grammatical errors distract
endorses a modification of the payroll tax, students away from the content of a survey
has an argument in favor of it listed in the that could shape their educational future.
handbook, but no argument against it.
And if they do not take it seriously now,
By reading the pamphlet, students will when will they?
P
Lowell High School
The College Board’s new test, ReadiStep, gets
young’uns fit four years before they take the SAT.
JESSICA HUANG
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
and a place on the Lowell wall of fame.
In fact, we should print a picture in every
classrooom of the face of any such heroic
As a distinguished Lowell alumnus, I have parent so that students are reminded that
to say that I am appalled to hear about the we are always watching.
recent events taking place at Lowell High.
Students have to know that we will infilNever before have I heard of students par- trate Facebook, Myspace and even Xanga to
ticipating in such irresponsible behavior such make sure our school is a safe place.
as teenage drinking, especially after a formal
I think each parent should do a bi-weekly
dance like Senior Boat. Our upstanding search of their child’s room and backpack
community has no time
to make sure they aren’t
for teens to celebrate
getting away with anythe end of their high
thing.
Students have to
school years by consumWe have to remember that the students
ing alcoholic beverages
know that we will of the best high school
in time they could be
spending on college apinfiltrate Facebook, in the state are unable
plications and gathering
to make intelligent
Myspace and even decisions, so we have
Advanced Placement
make decisions for
study groups.
Xanga to make sure to
them.
Are these students
really the leaders of
It’s not like when our
our school is a safe
tomorrow? Much apkids go away to college
place.
plause should be directthey will resent the overed towards the chamcontrolling parents they
pion-of-a-parent who
had in high school. It’s
allegedly discovered the
not like our kids will
condemning photographs on that social miss out on a proper education about maknetwork called Facebook. Our community ing smart decisions regarding alcohol and
needs more upstanding citizens who are drugs at parties.
prepared to make sure the children of our
It’s not like we are making the wrong deaward winning high school are safe by any cision in trying to execute complete control
means necessary.
over our kid’s lives.
I would like to be the first to suggest that
— Avi Baskin,
we nominate the parent for a Purple Heart
Class of ’08
Alumnus questions the
role of intrusive parents
S
Want to have your opinions printed in the next
issue of The Lowell?
You can now submit your letters to the editor by
email to matuseks@sfusd.edu or deliver them in
person outside of S107.
Accounting Mona Man
Web Editor-in-Chief
Jonah Varon
Editors-in-Chief
Sandra Chen • Amy Seaman
Rachel Hwang• Roy Lee
News Sandra Chen, Lydia O’Connor, Amy Seaman
Sports Cynthia Chau, Anthony Clay, Bonnie Tong
Features Rachel Hwang, Soraya Okuda
Columns Sandra Chen, Glennis Markison
Opinion Roy Lee
Reporters Angel Au-Yeung, Cynthia Chau, Matthew
Estipona, Sol Granados, Maggie Huang, Daniel Kim, Julia
Kotzian, Sean Lee, Tiffany Leung, Traci Liang, Lily Mak,
Cherry Manoonsilpa, Glennis Markison, Caitlin McKewan,
Dylan McHugh, Lydia O’Connor, Soraya Okuda, Rosa Shields,
Karyn Smoot, Camille Smyth, Shelly Tong, Lily Wong, Ashley
Wu, Nancy Xie
Photo Editor Elena Chin
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The Lowell Backpage—November 14, 2008
Blogging offers a new outlet for teen self expression
By Karyn Smoot
er form of journalism,” said Eming Piansay,
blog editor of “living literary journal” Youth
Outlook (www.youthoutlook.org). “It’s at the
moment, on the fly, whatever’s going on at
the time.”
Youth Outlook, a San Francisco-based
branch of ethnic news organization New
America Media (www.newamericamedia.
org),
), uses the Internet to help teens express
their opinions on hard-hitting issues in their
communities through posted works of art and
writing. “We pick up on news stories and we
give them our own twist,” Piansay said. “The
writers’ experiences always come out in the
stories they write.”
Recently, Youth Outlook extended an
open invitation to local teen writers to participate in a weeklong “Blog-a-Thon,” where
bloggers post about the week’s topic and
provide unique points of view.
From Oct. 22 to Oct. 29, Youth Outlook
prompted discussion on the election and its
overlooked impact on the lives of teens. Posts
ranged from a video spoof of the presidential
debate to an in-depth discussion of Prop. 4’s
Evolution of blogging
ramifications for young women.
“A lot of people that are talking about
For those still unfamiliar with the In- issues affecting youth aren’t youth,” said Maaternet revolution, blogs, formerly known hum Chaundhry, a Youth Outlook contribuas “Web-logs,” are frequently updated pertor and former Lowell
sonal websites that began cropping up in the
student. “Stories about
late-90s. In the early days of the Internet,
the youth are more
bloggers were mostly Internet-ineffective when
dustry workers with the time and
written by the
the know-how to post about
youth themtopics that interested them.
selves.”
Today, there are more than
Yo u t h
112 million blogs out
Outlook althere, and though only
lows writ11 percent are actually
acers like
is a
tive, roughly 120,000
n Blogging
e w
Chaundhr y
blogs pop up every
d a y ,
to speak freely
quicker form of
according to global
blogabout current
ging hub Technorati
( w wjournalism.
w.
events without
It’s at
technorati.com).
the constraints of
the moment, on the
Bloggers are also
print media conconstantly redefinvention.
The site’s
fly, whatever’s going
ing the term “blog”
f re e - t hi n k i ng ap on at the time.
by including audio
proach allows multiple
(podcast) and vidEming Piansay
writers to express their
eo (“vlog”) posts,
Blog editor of Youth Outlook
thoughts on the same issues.
not to mention
Youth Outlook’s blog isn’t the
connecting their
only online community for socially
blogs to various soconscious teens. WireTap Magazine
cial networking Web(www.wiretap.com) is a national Web-based
(www.wiretap.com
sites like Myspace and
news and culture publication also by and for
Facebook.
youth. Young writers suggest article ideas
With user-friendly blog generators, blogs to the blog’s editors, then work with staff to
are available to everybody, especially com- research and write their own articles.
puter-savvy teenagers, and run the gamut of
A recent contributor, Balboa High School
themes. Many young people use blogs to re- senior Monica Guerra, wrote an article support on their own lives in unnecessarily great porting her belief that 16-year-olds should
detail, but any subject is fair game — topics have the right to vote. According to Guerra,
from voting rights to fashion, international WireTap allows her to practice her journalpolitics to gaming.
istic writing skills while strengthening her
own convictions. “I think it’s a way to express
Blogging for free speech
yourself, not just by ranting, but
saying, ‘Here are
On the other hand, “alternative” press
blogs provide up-to-the-minute
reporting and
commentary.
Somewhere between these two
extremes lies the
new frontier of
youth-generated
media.
Blogs have
changed not
only individual
expression, but
also created a new
journalistic forum.
“Blogging is a quick-
“G
uess where I am right now?”
blogs junior Tristan Leder. “You
guessed it, Starbucks.”
One summer afternoon, Leder and his
friends took blogging to its limits — a post
every hour of an uninterrupted 24-hour stint
at a Starbucks. Posts to Leder’s blog, The
Weekly Accident (www.weeklyaccident.com),
updated his faithful readership on which
drink he was having that hour and what he
was doing to kill the boredom.
“Current beverage: tall doubleshot on
ice,” he posted at the start of the experiment.
“A decent choice for a starting beverage.
With high amounts of caffeine and only
70 calories, I’ll be having plenty of these
today.”
Posting your hourly occupations is just
one way to blog. Students as well as local
youth media organizations are catching on to
the blogging trend, swapping paper journals
for public Web space where they can express
their opinions in cyberspace.
B
“
some facts to support (my views),’” Guerra
said.
With such inspired young writers, the
trend is catching on as a legitimate form of
mainstream media. For example, in the recent
election, both major candidates took advantage of blogging’s popularity among younger
citizens, keeping their sites updated with the
latest campaign news.
Student blogs
But blogging extends far past journalism.
For those who find their own hobbies more
inspiring than current events and social issues, personal blogs can also be a valuable
tool. Popular blogging sites like LiveJournal
and Blogger allow users to create their own
profiles, posting entries on any topic.
Blogger (www.blogger.com), Google’s
response to the blogging craze, calls it “pushbutton publishing,” and, like other sites,
allows users to customize their blogs for a
personal feel. Livejournal ((www.livejournal.
www.livejournal.
com) currently hosts nearly two-million active accounts, where users can not only post
journal entries, but also share music and
discuss hot button issues in user-created
communities.
“My LiveJournal (account) is like a
personal diary, but I can share it instantly,”
sophomore Dillon Dong said.
Many Lowell students are creating their
own online personas with blog templates
other than Livejournal, such as Leder, who
subscribes to web-hosting site GoDaddy.
com.. His blog, The Weekly Accident, features
weekly podcasts and writings on “this and
that from a geek’s perspective.” The “non-diary” blog allows him to editorialize on his
latest comic book, video game and movie
finds with plenty of music thrown in.
Junior Tim Crowley is a fan of Leder’s
blog. “He brings up random things that I’ve
never heard of,” he said. “It’s a good way to
share cool information.”
While some bloggers revel in the prospect
of a worldwide audience, others hesitate to
make their personal thoughts public. LiveJournal addresses these issues with customizable privacy settings, allowing users to choose
which friends can access their entries.
However, some students don’t consider
privacy to be concern. “I have no hesitation
to post personal information,” Leder said. “It’s
essentially the same as writing something (on
paper); it’s just easier to get out there.”
While blogging may be as easy as writing
on paper, it is legally equivalent to printing
words in a formal publication. Legally-minded blogs like Buzz Machine (www.buzzmachine.com) advise their fellow bloggers to
check their facts, avoid feuding, obey libel,
privacy and copyright laws and follow several other tips.
“There are ways to keep (your blog) private,
as long as you practice common sense,” said
senior Devan Lane, a LiveJournal user.
Blogging’s virus-like contagiousness
might get some in trouble, but for the
most part has only helped The Weekly Accident, attracting over 1,600 visits so far.
Nevertheless, Leder stressed that he blogs
for his own gratification. “Regardless of
feedback, if you’re taking the step to start
your own blog, it’s because you want to
have that outlet of expressing yourself,”
Leder said.
Another blogger, junior Wendy Chak,
testified to the free-expression blogging
allows, but said that readership plays an
important role in the blogging experience.
“It’s really nice to know you have readers,”
she said. “It (doesn’t) feel like you’re just
writing it for yourself.”
Chak, who writes a fashion blog called
www.handmeover.blogspot.
Hand It Over (www.handmeover.blogspot.
), began blogging as a personal project,
com),
but got more serious once she realized she
was attracting more and more readers.
“They can comment on what you post,”
Chak said. “Once in a while you get emails
and it feels really awesome.”
For both Chak and fellow fashion blogger Richel Kumar, blog popularity has paid
off in internships with fashion Web start-up
). Kumar’s
Weardrobe (www.weardrobe.com).
blog, Ragamala (www.ragamalas.blogspot.
com), shares in Chak’s love of fashion,
featuring clippings from magazines and
pictures of her favorite outfits
According to Chak, not all blogs are
so successful. “A lot (of fashion blogs) are
really bland,” she said. “It just depends on
what you write.”
But some blogs are quite successful. For
budding celebrities, the viral popularity of
blogging has provided free publicity and a
jumpstart into stardom. Indie rock band
Tapes ‘n Tapes gained most of its momentum through various music review blogs.
The Internet provides accelerated word-ofmouth popularity for these “blog bands” as
well as other pop culture trends.
The future of blogging
Potential web-stardom or not, Chak and
Leder both plan to continue using blogs as
to express themselves. While Chak hopes
to expand her blog into a well-known
fashion resource, Leder plans on blogging
as a career path.
“I want to be in this community and try
to make something out of it,” Leder said.
“This is what I want to do for the rest
of my life.”
HUANG
JESSICA
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