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www.edinazephyrus.com
Features
Volume 34 Issue 5
February 28, 2014
6754 Valley View Rd. Edina, MN 55439
Life as a Refugee: an Inside Look tain range. “[They had to leave] in the middle of the night because there were [Chinese] guards watching to see if anybody was fleeing,” Methok said. Methok’s grandparents gave birth to her mother in Shimla, a small village in Northern India. “They didn’t know any Hindi, so they started working on… railroad construction,” said Methok. Born in India, her mother learned Hindi in school and from her surroundings, all while speaking Tibetan with her parents at home. Her family moved to the New Delhi refugee camp because it had the best resources – a school located in the camp and jobs for the tenants. “Comphoto by Bridgit Loffelholz pared to here, it wasn’t that nice. There were only four public restrooms, one for [every] two hundred In her fourth year at Edina, junior Tenzin people, ” said Methok. Furthermore, the hospitals Methok is a member of the badminton team and were located outside the refugee camp. a participant in the Multicultural Club. She clearly Methok lived in a house with her family near enriches Edina’s student body. Her childhood story, the entrance of the camp. When her family arrived, however, is far from ordinary and widely unknown. they had to build their own house if they wanted “I was born in Dehli, India, in a refugee camp,” shelter. Food and clothes weren’t provided either. said Methok. After Chinese occupation and oppres- A large road ran through the camp, leading to the sion, her grandfather and grandmother – married in camp bazaar where the residents would buy their Tibet – fled together, leaving their families behind. necessary supplies. The camp was run by the Indian They crossed the border into India, journeying government, and except for the land itself, the camp through the Himalayas, the world’s highest moun- provided very few resources. Everyone had to fend
Undercover Hangouts
A typical Saturday night in Edina goes like this: you’re with your friends in someone’s car looking for somewhere to go. Nobody offers up their house, and there’s no party happening nearby. You and your friends head to McDonald’s or Taco Bell, arguably the most popular late-night Edina hangout spots. However, these fast food joints get old after a while. “There’s not much to do in Edina. It gets really boring sometimes,” said junior Anna Hans. Here are three ideas for what you can do with friends next time you’re bored: 1. The Airport. I know what you’re thinking: why would I want to watch planes take off? The airport can be a nice, quiet spot for you and your friends. Before the Terminal One exit on Interstate 494, you take the Post Road exit and turn left, which leads to the Cell Phone lot. There’s also a great view of downtown Minneapolis. It’s fun to go there at night because it has an eerie feel to it, and it’s great if you’re looking for photos by Drew Davis a peaceful place to talk with friends. “Sometimes I like to hang out with my friends and just relax and talk,” said Hans. 2. Big Stores. Superstores such as Target can be zoos during the day, but at night it’s only the agoraphobes who go shopping there. There are a multitude of different activities in which to partake in at stores such as Target or Walmart, including Hide-and-Go-Seek. Trust me, there are a ton of great spots to hide in Target (hint: the luggage section). Just make sure not to make a huge distraction while you’re there, because the last thing you want to have happen is get kicked out. “I think it’s fun to try on random outfits at Target with my friends,” said junior Amy Fang. 3. Furniture Stores. Furniture stores are just great; they have beds, fake kitchens, and nobody goes to them at night. Stores like Ikea are the perfect place to have fun with friends, and also do some furniture shopping if you’re in the mood. “One time my friends and I didn’t have anywhere to hang out, so we sat in the JC Penney furniture section for two hours,” said junior Emily Marshall. Hopefully, these three places will help you break away from the traditional hangout spots in the bubble, and try something new. But as junior Sophia Munic puts it, “Where you hang out is important, but it’s who you hang out with that really matters.” Drew Davis, news editor
for themselves, Methok recalled. “Even though I was born there, I am not an Indian citizen. A refugee is what I am considered if I go back there,” said Methok. Methok celebrated her Tibetan culture in the camp, but she was also engaged in local Indian celebrations. She recalls that as a child she enjoyed the Indian celebrations more. “It didn’t seem like our culture was so different, until you stepped outside the camp,” she noted. For Tibetan New Year, Methok and her family would celebrate for three days, which they still do today. They make noodles that contain paper inside to give to everyone in the family. The paper describes the person’s relationships and attitudes from the previous year. The teachers were both Tibetan refugees and Indians helping the children learn the culture. “In the mornings, we would have to line up and go outside [and] we would have to sing the Tibetan and then Indian national anthem. It would be sort of like military style,” recalled Methok. By American standards, Methok would have been a preschooler. Each day in the refugee camp, Methok would wake up early and her aunt would make her breakfast and take her to school. “School had a lot of requirements that they don’t have in America. I couldn’t grow my nails out, so every morning I
would have to cut them,” said Methok. She remembers severe punishments for children who did not meet the requirements. Teachers would check the students’ uniforms, shoes, hair, and nails every morning. If anything was not satisfactory, students would be placed in a separate line to receive three hard thrashes to their hands with a stick. “After my mom moved to America, I was still in India… I was living with my aunt,” said Methok. Her grandfather died when she was young, but her aunt and grandmother raised her in the camp. Her mother received political asylum in America and Methok followed her shortly. “I was very young at that time and... [my mother] wanted to prepare everything first in America before I came, so it would be easier for me to settle in,” said Methok. Methok’s family had to pay for their flight tickets. “We didn’t know a lot about America, I always thought Americans were rich. They earn a lot of money. It was the rich land,” Methok said. Her family flew into New York and from there went to Minnesota. Methok lived in Minneapolis for seven years where she attended elementary and middle school. Continued on www.edinazephyrus.com Audrey Sheehy, staff witer
McManus: the McMan, the McMyth, the McLegend
photo by Bridgit Loeffelholz Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry teacher Timothy McManus is one of the most interesting teachers at Edina High School. “I came up with a way to make infrared cameras lighter and consume less power so it’s possible for them to be mounted onto a helmet of some sort so firemen could use [them],” recounted McManus, describing his favorite of his seven patents. McManus has an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institution of Technology in electrical engineering and a Master’s from MIT as well. “About ten years ago now, I went back to school at St. Thomas to get a degree in teaching so I could teach arithmetic,” said McManus. He said he simply enjoys teaching and was inspired by his math teacher in high school. He also has a few hobbies. “I tinker with electrical hardware in my basement. And mainly in the summer time, I run and ride my bike,” McManus said. He doesn’t have a favorite book, but he does have a favorite music genre: jazz. Although he has time for biking and running in the summer, he still has a year round engineering job on top of teaching. “It was originally called [Community Health Solutions] and got bought by Baxter eventually, and we’re developing a dialysis machine on steroids. This summer it looks like I’ll be working at Honeywell, upgrading one of their inertial navigation systems,” said McManus. “I’ve led a very interesting life and have met a lot of interesting people,” said McManus. This includes
musicians like Woody Herman and Stan Kenton. Woody Herman was an American jazz clarinetist featured in Super Bowl VII. Stan Kenton was a pianist and composer who led an American jazz orchestra. In addition to that, the girl McManus took to Prom in high school is now congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, representing the fifth district of Connecticut. McManus also shared a house after graduate school with a man who went to federal prison, Jim Fry. Fry was found guilty of conspiracy and fraud and got twenty years in federal prison; he’ll be released in 2029. McManus’ children share his love of math. “My daughter, on the other hand, is a big time math weenie,” McManus added. His father-in-law was a world famous mathematician who knew John Nash and Ted Kaczyinski. The movie “A Beautiful Mind” is based off of John Nash, and Ted Kaczyinski, known as the “Unabomber,” was an American mathematician and serial murderer. Students are big fans of McManus. “I really like Mr. McManus as a teacher because he knows so much about FST and can explain it well. He really helps his students through our journey of math, I’m lucky to have him as a teacher,” said sophomore Will Staunton. So from the esteemed academic halls of MIT to the slightly less esteemed halls of Edina High School, McManus has made his mark as a scholar. Erik Lindquist, staff writer