BERKELEY HIGH
PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE STUDENTS OF BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL no. 8
www.berkeleyhighjacket.com • friday, december 10, 2021
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MALINA MEISSNER & STELLA RANELLETTI
FEATURES BY MARGOT JOHNSON & AMELIA WILEY MOREIRA staff writer & features editor
On Thursday, December 2, the Berkeley High School (BHS) African Diaspora Dance Department hosted the opening night of its 53rd annual winter performance, which is titled Dancing
since 1912
Through Life’s Changes. The thoughtfully curated collection of dances, step routines, and drum calls paid homage to numerous countries, including Senegal, Barbados, Guinea, Mali, and Haiti, among others. African diaspora dance refers to traditional African dance that has evolved due to major events in African his-
tory, such as slavery and colonization. Marleigh Leaks, a senior in Academic Choice (AC), has been enrolled in Afro-Haitian Dance since her sophomore year. She said, “[African diaspora dances] are dances from all over the world, and all of us coming together to dance.” The performance included both traditional African dances and
rituals, as well as more modern forms of dance, like hip hop, that have come from the Black community. To open the show, Executive Director Dr. Dawn Williams poured water in libation to honor the students’ ancestors. The audience members were asked to say ashe — a word used by the Yoruba people of West
Africa — after the names of the students’ ancestors were read. The process of libation is commonly found in ritual dances from West African culture. This year, Leaks performed in three dances. The first, titled “Ibo,” was about African people on a slave ship crossing the Atlantic. The dancers started in the
NEWS
New BUSD Title IX Coordinator Hired BY SERENNA REDWOOD staff writer
On November 29, Jasmina Viteskic officially started working as the new Title IX coordinator for Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD). As Title IX coordinator, Viteskic will process sexual assault cases at schools and work with victims of sexual or gender-based harm, as well as work to prevent sexual harm. Viteskic said that in her approach to the job, she
wants to hear “what [students’] concerns and goals are” to frame her priorities. Viteskic is Bosnian and came to the United States as a refugee from the Bosnian War. After graduating from University of California (UC), Berkeley, Viteskic returned to post-war Bosnia and began working in human rights development, specifically with victims of sexual and gender-based violence. “I come to you as a human rights person,” said Viteskic. “And I think Title IX issues are human PAGE 3
College and Career Center Offers Oasis for Seniors On Campus The CCC provides valuable help on college applications. PAGE 2
JOCELYN CHAMU
INVESTIGATIVE
SAT Plagued by Inaccessibility BY KIRA RAO-POOLLA staff writer
Last Saturday, the SAT was offered at Berkeley High School (BHS). However,
only six percent of the students taking the exam were actually from BHS. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a shortage of SAT exam spots at testing sites in the Bay Area, leading many
students to register months in advance to secure a spot. As a result, BHS students have been forced to compete for these scarce spots with students from other schools, who are often more advan-
shape of a boat, and then one dancer started to break off their shackles. Leaks said, “[Ibo] was more than just a fun little dance, it was telling a story.” “Triba,” the other dance Leaks performed in, was choreographed to replicate the movement of a bird. Finally, there was “Carnival,” which was choreographed PAGE 9 taged in terms of access to resources about college. Some schools are addressing the scarcity by providing an SAT exam during the school day, which saves students the trouble of finding spots. However, BHS chose not to offer this option to its students. In past years, BHS has offered 350 to 400 SAT testing spots. This year, they reduced the number to 200 spots, according to Benette Williams, SAT coordinator at BHS. Williams attributed the SAT shortage primarily to physical distancing requirements and a loss of proctors, many of whom are worried about contracting COVID-19 from large groups. She also said that the College Board eliminated waitlists this PAGE 8
Should Public Schools Be Funded by Property Taxes?
‘The Feminine Urge’ TikTok Trend Glorifies Misogyny
When property taxes vary greatly between districts, inequity arises in the funding and quality of schools. PAGE 7
Though seemingly harmless, “the feminine urge” trend enforces gender stereotypes we’ve worked to erase. PAGE 12
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
NEWS BERKELEY HIGH JACKET
news editors: Naomi Rubalcava Levinthal & Clara Brownstein
naomirubalcavalevi@students.berkeley.net
Students Find On-Campus Oasis in College and Career Center BY SYLVIE FOLEY MADDOX staff writer
With seniors in the midst of the college application process, the College and Career Center (CCC) at Berkeley High School (BHS) is often packed with students. While the services at the CCC are for all grade levels, Mary Jacobs, the assistant in the CCC, said they are “mainly focused on seniors meeting college deadlines.” Along with Jacobs, the CCC has two college counselors, Jennifer Hammond and Yasmin Navarro, and they work in partnership with the students’ academic and intervention counselors. The counselors are assigned to students based on their small school. The CCC also employs a college advisor, Julia Maciel, and a career advisor, James Dopman. “All five of us are here to offer services for reviewing transcripts, deciding on eligibility for college, your interests in college, the college search, and then the actual execution of
the college application,” Jacobs said. At this time of year, the CCC also works with 24 volunteers to read essays for seniors. “ T h e y w i l l h e lp y o u brainstorm, revise, and edit your final copies for the college essays. … They work individually with students for a half hour or longer,” said Jacobs. The readers are present in the CCC most afternoons and Monday mornings via Zoom, and students often return to the same essay reader several times to get comprehensive feedback at multiple points in their essaywriting process. “I love the CCC,” said Claire Greene, a n e s s ay reader who has been a volunteer for ten
years. “There are a lot of things I could do with my time, but I can’t tell you how much I look forward to this time of year. It’s really exhilarating work. Really hard word work.” Natael Worku, a senior in Academic Choice (AC), said that he had the chance to get into Questbridge, a scholarship for low-income students, largely thanks to the support offered by the CCC essay readers. “I had to write tons of essays. … I came to the CCC every single day for two weeks, and I got into the program,” he said. “So I would say that the essay reading is one of the best things about the CCC.” Every year, the Berkeley Schools Excellence P r o g r a m (BSEP) votes to keep the CCC running. “We’ve applied ever y year to continue the services, and every year, they
approve it,” said Jacobs. The CCC is also funded by the BHS Development Group, a parent-run non-profit that raises money for equipment, educational opportunities, and more. According to Jacobs, the CCC works with the organization Destination C ollege Advising C or ps (DCAC) to better help seniors with applications. DCAC supports students with fewer opportunities by placing highly trained college graduates in spaces like the CCC to advise them. They work with a cohort of 150 students to provide college preparation support and advising. Like many aspects of school, the pandemic was a challenge for the CCC. Jacobs said that
there was a decrease in availability for students, as could be expected. Although the CCC was entirely virtual last year, counselors still helped students through the application process. Despite the fact that school is back in session, the CCC uses a hybrid model in some instances. According to Jacobs, this is because Zoom opens up more opportunities for students, such as college visits. Now students can simply click on a link to hear a presentation and ask questions about a college they are interested in. The pandemic also changed, and in many cases eliminated, the testing requirements for many colleges. “We hope the college you choose has gone testblind,
because we believe that a holistic approach is a better assessment,” said Jacobs. “You are looking at the strength of someone’s schedule, the grades, the activities that they pursued outside of the classroom. All show more of a student’s potential than a test score.” “It is not just college oriented here. Mr. Dopman supports students learning about careers and jobs,” said Navarro. Dopman runs resume workshops, as well as finding student work opportunities. Students the Jacket spoke to said they were extremely grateful for the time and effort CCC counselors and staff put into helping students. “Even during Thanksgiving break, Ms. Navarro was there on Zoom with me, helping me step by step,” said BHS senior Karan Bhakta. “They give you a lot of support, and they really wish for you to do the best.” CCC assistant Mary Jacobs, college counselor Jennifer Hammond, and college advisor Julia Maciel. ISABELLA TASSO & ANDREW HUANG
Socialist Organization Speak Out Now Meets with BHS Students BY ELLORA MOOKHERJEE-AMODT & NAOMI RUBALCAVA LEVINTHAL staff writer & news editor
A s s o c i at e s f r o m t h e socialist organization Speak Out Now (SON) are holding Friday discussion groups with Berkeley High School (BHS) students at Civic Center Park across the street
to discuss issues stemming from capitalism. SON is focused on the wrongdoing of capitalism and promoting a socialist agenda, in hopes to combat global systemic problems. “The way the organization SON defines socialism is a society where we no longer have a capitalist class … [and are no longer] exploiting the profit or the benefit of the
work of others,” said Kim, one of the members of the SON meetings who would like her last name to remain anonymous. “[A] socialist society is run democratically by the majority of people, as opposed to having to depend on the rule of a small minority.” Kim has been with the organization for ten years, and reached out to BHS students through flyers and word of
BHS students speak with Kim from socialist organization Speak Out Now at Civic Center Park.
LILY FROST
mouth. She became interested He continued, “Part of that is — even if they don’t identify in speaking with students talking to people, and building socialism as a solution. after seeing how many people that understanding … [and] “I think a lot of kids at BHS surround the building aren’t socialists, but they when school gets out. hate capitalism because Students have also they see the pandemic “The goal is to build a group of b e e n s h ar i ng t h e and our government flyers on social media. people with an understanding that not helping us at all,” capitalism is not sustainable.” Currently, enough Baldwin said. “But, they people are attending don’t have a name for the weekly meetings what they would want Cole Herman that they have stopped as the alternative.” BHS senior handing out flyers. Kim views socialism At t h e g ro u p’s as a transition between November 12 meeting, capitalism and Kim and her friend Eden deciding what to do.” communism. She works co-led. There were around T h e d i s c u s s i o n s a r e to break down the stigma ten attendees, mainly BHS t y pi c a l l y b a s e d arou n d a r o u n d a l t e r n a t i v e s t o juniors and seniors. Cole material assigned from the capitalism through having Herman, a senior in Berkeley previous meeting and issues “honest conversations,” such International High School BHS students are concerned as the meetings with the BHS (BIHS), heard about the group about, such as climate change. discussion group. through friends. Travis Baldwin, a senior “That is one of the benefits “ The goal is to build in Communication Arts and of having the meetings in the a group of people with an Sciences (CAS), said the grassy area,” she said. “We’re understanding that capitalism group discussions “can really not hiding anything. We’re is not sustainable and, from go anywhere” and “aren’t actually making it extremely that, decide what actions super policed.” He said many apparent to people that we are most appropriate and students at BHS take issue with exist and anybody can join us beneficial,” Herman noted. the current state of the world and discuss these questions.”
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
NEWS
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Meet Jasmina Viteskic, the District’s New Title IX Coordinator CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Viteskic must distribute prove on, it has made sevtheir time between the rest eral changes since the walkrights issues. … I will apof the district and BHS, they outs in 2019. proach [the job] as a human The changes include exknow that Title IX work is rights advocate for the stuespecially important at BHS. pansion of the Green Dot dents.” Both Raygoza and Vites- Program, implementation Mary Keating, the diskic recognize and appreciate of school-wide consent edutrict’s Title IX investhe activism around cation, digitalization of Title tigator, and Megan sexual assault that IX files, and more. Farrell, the interim “I would like to engage more with has occurred at BHS. “In terms of making the Title IX coordina“I think that [ac- process accessible, that’s retor, are both cur- the students because I think that is tivism around sexual ally part of our goal, and I the best resource we could have.” assault at BHS] is think we’re making strides rently working with Berkeley High School the most fortunate there, and with the educa(BHS) Principal Juan aspect of the Title tion portion too,” Keating Jasmina Viteskic, Raygoza and other IX office, the active said. BUSD Title IX coordinator administrators to All the applicants for the student body,” Vitesmake sure that Viteskic said, “Because I position of Title IX coorkic has a seamless see that [students] dinator had to go through transition into BUSD. Viteskic said. “It makes my are very, very engaged. … an extensive hiring process The job has historically job a lot easier when I don’t [Students] are willing to that started with a screenbeen challenging — since have to overcome the hurdle stand up and advocate for ing from an unbiased panel. 2014, the office has cycled of convincing [people] that classmates. [BHS students’] Applicants also had to comthrough at least one coordi- [sexual harm] is an impor- activism is something [they] plete written and oral exams nator each year — so Vites- tant issue,” she added. and undergo three rounds should really be proud of.” kic will be given a few weeks Viteskic did not idenViteskic would like to of interviews with panels. to listen to the students and tify any areas she wants to work with and utilize the The final panel had a share words with them be- change within the BUSD students’ activism to inform BHS student representative, fore she takes on her own Title IX office, but she which Viteskic felt Title IX cases. showed how much does have several goals Farrell will be staying moving forward. The [Title IX coordinator] job students care about on to help make that posthis issue. First, she plans to has historically been challenging sible. Raygoza said meet with different “[Farrell] will stay student groups and — since 2014, the office has cycled that he “went into through at least one coordinator [the hiring process] around to consult for as long gather student suggesas we need her because she tions and ideas whenlooking for a candieach year. has some specific knowl- ever possible. date that was really edge of some of the ongoing interested in workKeating and Vitescases [and] she also has re- kic also intend to have at the office about what needs ing with and supporting our ally deep knowledge of be- least one of them present on to be its focus moving for- students at BHS.” Raygoza ing a Title IX coordinator in the BHS campus every day ward. believes that Viteskic ema California school district,” of the week. Although the Title IX bodies just the passion for Keating said. Although Keating and office still has issues to im- helping students that he was Viteskic said that for the first month, she just wants to soak everything in. “I would like to engage more with the students because I think that that is the best resource we could have,”
Some school districts are considering new grading systems to combat student anxiety.
CLARA ELM NETTESHEIM
BUSD Teachers Weigh in On Challenges of Grading System BY AELIA GYGER staff writer
With finals fast approaching and the first semester coming to a close, Berkeley High School (BHS) students are feeling the stress, especially with regards to their grades. Other school districts have considered changing their grading systems, such as Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), which has been considering removing the D grade. Some believe that doing so would make school easier on students who already have high grades and harder on students who struggle with
grades. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has also been reconsidering its grading system, as it seeks to grade students on understanding rather than on homework completion and in-class behavior. Although Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) has not yet reconsidered its entire grading system, teachers are making their own modifications. “If you come to class frequently and you make an attempt, [teachers] shouldn’t be failing students ... especially these days when it’s so competitive and in order to get into college, failing a class can sort of ruin your chances,” said Roald Dejean,
a Universal Ninth Grade (U9) math teacher who has been teaching at BHS for the past four years. According to several studies, grade anxiety has become common among students. In a 2020 Newport Institute study, 59 percent of students reported worrying about taking a test, 37 percent reported having felt tense while studying, and more than half of students admitted academic anxiety, even when feeling prepared on the subject. “I don’t think grades should be so stressful,” said Amanda Toporek, a government and economics teacher and lead teacher of Arts and Humanities Academy
BUSD’s new Title IX coordinator, Jasmina Viteskic.
determined to search for. Learning from the students is central to Viteskic and Keating’s goals at BHS, said Viteskic. Viteskic did say that before there are fewer Title IX complaints, there will first be an increase because of the heightened awareness
JULIAN CURRIER
and understanding of the Title IX process. “Human rights development and human rights advancement are things that will always take time,” Viteskic said. Keating and Viteskic can be found at BHS most days in room G-202A.
(AHA). get an F and not a lot of ways [when] we say, ‘Okay, we’re Dejean thinks that tests to get even a D, C, B, or let going to work with you and shouldn’t be the only way alone an A,” said Toporek. make sure that you pass.’” for students to prove their “So a lot of teachers at BHS Another aspect that is knowledge on a subject. already do the 50 percent linked to grades is homeHe said, “I think students missing, so that you never work, something teachers should get an opportunity get a zero because ... if you are beginning to look at difto show what they know [in get a zero, or even a 25 per- ferently. order to pass], whether it’s cent on something, you’re “I don’t like how much through a project, or a test, crawling your way up from [grades are] focused on tests or a verbal interview.” the depths of despair over as opposed to classwork and Teachers at BHS have there.” homework,” said Reed Laubeen considering the gradDejean said that having rence, a student at BHS. ing system, and how to a proper summer school On the opposite end of make it more equitable. The could help students pass the spectrum, BHS drama 50 percent pass idea teacher Jordan Winer has become popular at thinks that homework BHS and other schools shouldn’t be such a “There are a lot of ways to get an large part of the learnin recent years. “[The grading sys- F and not a lot of ways to get even ing experience. Winer a D, C, B, or let alone an A.” tem is] such a hard expressed an interest system to get past ... in standards-based First of all, I think 50 grading, a system that Amanda Toporek, percent pass is exonly counts assessAHA social science teacher tremely helpful,” said ments in the gradeBrook McKinney, a U9 book, and which is English teacher. gaining popularity at “What that means is more classes. BHS. that no student gets a zero, “I really think that [we “I personally get kind of so that every student has should have] a function- annoyed when … I have to the opportunity to kind of ing summer school,” said ... ease off on work because climb out of a difficult situ- Dejean. “In a traditional kids are, let’s say, battling ation and to rise to the occa- system, [if students fail mountains of chemistry, sion and get a good grade in one to two modules in the and I don’t think it’s fair,” the class.” first semester] they end up said Winer. “I will say I The 50 percent pass rule, failing first semester, but think there needs to be a also called the no zero poli- there should be like two or serious conversation about cy, is a grading system that three weeks in the summer homework.” means no students can get below a 50 percent on any assignment. Even in extreme cases, such as when students don’t LOCATION SINCE 11/19 TOTAL complete work, teachers put 4 34.5 Berkeley High School a 50 percent in the grade book instead of a zero. 140 BUSD 28.5 “There are a lot of ways to
COVID-19 DASHBOARD
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
NEWS
School Board Discusses Potential $6.6 million in Budget Cuts BY SHANZA SYED staff writer
On November 17, the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) School Board discussed potential budget cuts for the 2022-23 school year. Things have begun to return to normal for BUSD schools. However, as more and more people go back to work, student enrollment in BUSD and all public education institutions across the United States is in fact decreasing. According to BUSD’s Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Pauline Follansbee, in the past two years, BUSD has seen a loss of around six hundred students in schools across the district. Currently, district-wide enrollment is at 9,800 students, with over 3,000 at Berkeley High School (BHS). As student enrollment has a direct impact on the amount of school fund-
ing the district receives, BUSD may have to cut $6.6 million from its annual budget for the next school year. Even so, Associate Superintendent Rubén Aurelio said the school board is determined to provide the best possible resources, services, and education for Berkeley students. Working with the budget cuts, the district will act according to their “Budget Development Principles.” “Using the budget principles that Assistant Superintendent Follansbee presented, we would be really looking closely at not trying to cut positions that are directly serving students,” Aurelio said. The school board has been working on a proposal to accommodate these budget cuts into the current spending of the district so as to not unnecessarily disrupt current systems. The various areas from which budget cuts are to be made have been classified into several categories, including educa-
tional programs, operations, human resources and staffing, Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP), and grants. The educational programs section encompasses special education services such as mental health assitance, the English Language Learner program, and Universal Ninth Grade (U9) Learn, Engage, Accelerate, Persist (LEAP) classes. The operations category relates to the central district office, overall maintenance, and the school lunch program, which has become free to all students until next year. To plan for the budget cuts, BUSD has employed a strategy of searching for people and positions within BUSD instead of outsourcing to other agencies. “The interesting piece here is that it wouldn’t be a reduction in staff,” Aurelio said. “In fact, we would be adding staff and services, but the assumed saving would come [with] the fact
that we wouldn’t be contracting out.” The category of human resources and staffing involves hiring or freezing vacant administrative positions, as well as taking into account the possibility of an increase in student enrollment with vaccines becoming available for kindergarteners through sixth graders. Knowing that their children are protected from COVID-19 may make some parents more comfortable with sending their younger students to in-person school, and BUSD is taking this trend into account to plan for this scenario should it occur. However, if enrollment doesn’t increase, instead of reducing class sizes to account for fewer students, BUSD could reduce the number of classes, keeping sizes the same. This would get rid of the need for some classes altogether, thereby saving on the cost of having them. Given that getting rid of
outsourcing could lead to more jobs in BUSD, there may not be a net loss in staff despite the potentially lower number of classes. Lastly, the grant section would pertain to the Educator Effectiveness Block
MAHELA CABRINI
Grant that the district receives from the government, as well as future grants providing BUSD with funding. A multi-million dollar budget cut is significant, but BUSD is aiming to minimize negative effects.
Berkeley Free Clinic, City Offer Vaccines to Unhoused People BFC is unable to offer COVID-19 vaccinations due to limited volunteer staff and the absence of equipment that can store the vaccines at the required temperatures. Black highlighted the importance of employing a “multi-pronged strategy” when reaching unhoused populations to offer health services. “A lot of [unhoused] people have pretty intense medical trauma that may make them not want to go into certain clinics,” Black said. “But, I think it is really helpful to provide vaccines in a way that meets people, literally, where they’re at.” MALIN MORELL BFC and the city provide free health services to unhoused people, including vaccinations. Black also said that in the context of COVID-19 accessible health services to during the time that we’ve BY FINOLA JACKSON vaccination, it’s important Berkeley’s unhoused popu- been closed, we’ve actually staff writer to offer vaccination at clinlation during the pandemic. really been struggling to get ics where unhoused people Acute care is treatment for enough volunteers to realready get services and at Unhoused people face non-common and treatable open,” Black said. encampments and syringe many challenges surround- medical concerns such as While the clinic was able exchanges to make vaccinaing receiving medical care coughs, colds, and rashes. to eventually reopen, BFC tion more accessible to unin traditional health set- Like many volunteer or- has lost the capacity to prohoused people who tings, such as high costs, ganizations, BFC was im- vide acute care due to don’t want to come stigma and discrimination. pacted by the COVID-19 a limited staffing cainto traditional clinThey often receive no fol- and clinics closed when the pacity. BFC still pro“If someone is constantly having ics. low up care, making receiv- first shelter in place order vides some of these ing all necessary services was released. services, however, their belongings taken from them According to ... it can be really hard to find Black, anti-homeless difficult. The Berkeley Free “We didn’t feel like we many are adapted to Clinic (BFC) and the City of knew enough about CO- having fewer volun- someone to follow up with them a laws make it difficult to follow up with Berkeley both strive to pro- VID-19 to be able to stay teers and following few months later.” unhoused people. vide accessible medical care open safely,” said BFC reg- COVID-19 safety Because actions ofto Berkeley’s unhoused pop- istered nurse Finn Black. precautions. On their Finn Black, ten necessary to unulation to help them work The number of volun- website, BFC states BFC registered nurse housed people that around these challenges. teers for BFC dropped sig- that many of their include sitting and The Berkeley Free Clinic nificantly during the time services are currently laying on the sideis a volunteer-run public BFC was closed, which has only available over walk, and camping health clinic offering free made BFC’s reopening more the phone. health services to anyone difficult. Prior to the pandemic, hepatitis A vaccines from in public are criminalized, who wants them. While “Because of a lot of peo- BFC offered many free California’s health depart- unhoused populations often COVID-19 has limited ple dealing with burnout health services to unhoused ment. Once BFC had the have their belongings conBFC’s capacity to offer acute and stress and depression communities from their 13 vaccines, they started visit- fiscated by police officers care, the clinic has still been during the pandemic and clinic divisions. Current ing homeless encampments and are told to move elsewhere. crucial in providing other loss of a lot of volunteers services include testing for and vaccinating residents. HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis, influenza vaccinations, peer counseling, testing and treatment for STIs, and assistance enrolling in food benefits and health insurance. BFC makes these services more accessible to unhoused populations by visiting shelters and syringe exchanges directly, as well as pop-up health fairs and clinics that serve many unhoused people. Of these services, BFC is currently focusing on influenza and hepatitis vaccinations, according to Black. BFC started providing vaccinations in 2017 when many unhoused populations, especially in Southern California, were experiencing severe outbreaks of hepatitis A due to unsanitary conditions in encampments. According to Black, the City of Berkeley said they didn’t have the capacity and weren’t planning to respond, but BFC was able to get free
“If someone is constantly having their belongings taken from them, especially if that includes things like their phone, and they’re dealing with that constant stress and uncertainty, it can be really hard to find someone to follow up with them a few months later,” Black said. While unhoused people can’t get vaccinated for COVID-19 through BFC, the City of Berkeley provides COVID-19 vaccination clinics for unhoused people. Dr. Lisa B. Hernandez, the City of Berkeley Health Officer, said that the City of Berkeley is following up with unhoused people to help them receive a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by providing follow up clinics. “We provide follow up clinics at the time interval corresponding to the [date] of vaccine administered. We are also providing information and incentives to unhoused individuals to get vaccinated,” Hernandez wrote in an email to the Jacket. Beyond COVID-19 vaccination, the City of Berkeley also provides other vaccines at shelters, downtown Berkeley, and other locations accessible to the unhoused community, according to Hernandez. Henandez said the Preparedness and Immunization programs also annually host pop up flu vaccine clinics at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park across the street from BHS and Good Shepherd Church.
OPINION BERKELEY HIGH JACKET
opinion editors: Anjuna Mascarenhas-Swan & Lianna Leung
Tenure Ensures Professional Freedom BY MARINA HOWARD staff writer
Teachers dedicate themselves to their jobs in a way few people can. Long hours, emotional tolls, and financial struggles are just a few of the problems educators face. Tenure is something afforded to teachers who have been in the same position for a number of years, helping to provide job security. Without tenure, educators everywhere would lose the security they have to teach controversial topics and advocate for their rights. There are, however, major downsides to such job security, especially within the Berkeley High School (BHS) community. Recently, a horrifying case of alleged assault was brought to the forefront of the BHS community. Former teacher Matthew Bissell worked at the school for approximately 24 years, during which he continuously harassed and assaulted female students. The community has speculated that the reason he stayed for so long was, in part, because of tenure. Continued allegations of his actions of sexual harassment towards students were ignored and excused because of his tenured sta-
tus. This was one of many a tenured teacher is much day and avoid crisis. Teachcases that has been brought safer speaking out against ers are well within their up constantly when discuss- injustices within adminis- rights to take matters into ing the opposition to tenure tration. What would happen their own hands when they within Berkeley Unified if that freedom was taken feel unsafe. However, fear away? Educators are already among non-tenured teachSchool District (BUSD). ers became an issue. Unfortunately, the They worried about real issue in the Bissell case was the fra- Making it so that teachers can losing their liveliternity-like behavior teach controversial topics without hoods by protectof administration for fear of losing their jobs fosters a ing themselves. This shows the dangers of over ten years. “Protecting” fellow teach- safer and more diverse classroom. a world without tenure on a small scale. ers even in the face of For teachers to allegations of the assault of minors is a disgust- underpaid and overworked. feel safe and comfortable ing habit tied to the idea of Their few protections can- in their place of work, they not be stripped away. need security. Tenure is one brotherhood over legality. On the other hand, ten- An example of tenure be- of the only ways teachers are ure ensures the right to free ing a necessity came up re- able to fight for their rights. speech within the class- cently at BHS. Rally Day was If tenure is taken away, a room. Education always has considered the most dan- devastating loss of educators and always will be a polar- gerous days of the year for would occur throughout the ized issue. Making it so that students and teachers. Many district. If BUSD wants dedteachers can teach contro- teachers proposed a protest icated, hardworking, and versial topics without fear of sorts, known as a sick-in, diverse educators, they must of losing their jobs fosters a to combat the chaos. The ensure the right to job secusafer and more diverse class- goal was to cancel the school rity. room. Without such protections, parents and administrators have every ability to stifle the voices of those trying to educate our youth. Another huge part of tenure is enabling educators to advocate for their rights. While unions are legal and generally accepted, nontenured teachers are often still targeted and removed from their jobs, simply for protecting their rights. It's common knowledge that OWEN BLAIR
All BHS School Lunch Must Be Vegetarian BY ELTA TRACY staff writer
Berkeley High School (BHS) has always greatly valued climate and community. However, one clear pathway to improve in both areas is through the food served to students. An impactful way of improving the menu to preserve our environment, bodies, and community would be making all food served at school vegetarian. Currently, there is one BUSD (Berkeley Unified District) district-wide vegetarian day each week. If this is possible for one day, it
should be possible for multiple. Making the change to all plant-based food would be no small task. However, many restaurants have proven that catering vegetarian or even vegan food to a large number of people is manageable. Simon Trabelsi, the executive manager at Butcher’s Son, an all-vegan restaurant in Berkeley, believes that for many schools, this switch is an achievable goal. “In California, specifically, where plant-based diets are becoming more and more common, it's absolutely possible,” he said. Meat, especially red meat, can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart
RAQUEL CLYDESDALE
disease, certain cancers, and strokes. Keeping students safe is a top priority of the school, and feeding students healthy alternatives to meat is a great way to do this. In addition, there are plenty of vegetarian staples that give the same, if not more nutrition to students such as beans, lentils, tofu, and more. Not only is meat bad for students' health and our planet, but it is horrible for the animals in the meat industry. Almost all American livestock farms are factory farms, and have terrible conditions for the animals who live there. Choosing not to support an industry such as this one would show that the school and district value the wellbeing of those that we share the Earth with. Furthermore, the meat industry takes up 60 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions produced by the agricultural food industry, and cutting it out of our school meals would significantly decrease our carbon footprint. While movements like the Meatless Monday Chal-
lenge are a great studentled activity, a school-wide switch to meatless meals would be far more impactful. The responsibility to resolve this has been placed in the hands of students too many times. BUSD and BHS admin must to take the lead by implementing a fully vegetarian menu for all days of the week. In addition to a meat option, a separate vegetarian option is prepared for students every day. If all food were vegetarian, it would reduce the work for cafeteria workers. Additionally, some religious diets involve plant-based food. Eliminating meat completely would be a thoughtful and inclusive choice. Caring for ourselves and each other is a human responsibility. Uplifting plantbased alternatives at BHS would do that for both our Earth and our bodies, as well as for the lives of animals. As Trabelsi said, “It’s what's better for the body and it's what's better for the Earth … [Meat is] a cost to society in the long term.”
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
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anjunamascarenhass@students.berkeley.net
PAROLE SYSTEM ENCOURAGES MASS INCARCERATION AARON STEVENS
Parole boards are typically made up of a small panel of people. They decide whether or not an incarcerated person should be released from prison after serving their minimum sentence. Parole boards are often seen as one of the major causes of mass incarceration, as they are strict and frequently unfair. Parole in the United States is legally defined as a privilege rather than a right. But when one has overstayed their sentence while having a perfect prison record, we must question the system as a whole. Our current prison population has doubled between 1990 and 2013, and it keeps rising. One would expect that, as more people are incarcerated, more would be released — but this isn't the case. One man was sentenced to seven years to life after killing another man during a drug-fueled fight. While incarcerated he became sober, helped mentor other incarcerated men, and followed the rules. But, after going to the parole board with a clean prison record and letters from prison staff encouraging his release, he was rejected. He applied again and again, eventually being rejected ten times. He later died in a prison hospice 40 years after being incarcerated. This is not an uncommon story. Last year, only 16 percent of parole hearings ended in approval. It’s important to note that only 46% of parolees actually complete their parole. Many people who are on parole are sent back because of petty violations such as not being able to find a job in time or breaking their curfew. Our current parole system is also racist. In states such as Alabama, the likelihood for a black person being approved for parole is half as much as a white person’s. Even in states which are considered more progressive, there's still a significant difference in parole approval by race. During the COVID-19 pandemic, prisons were pressured to let people out in order to minimize transmission in already overcrowded prisons. Despite this, many states' parole boards approved fewer people to be released in 2020 than in 2019. This led to prisons becoming major hotspots for the virus. One doctor in charge of managing COVID-19 at her facility told me, “No matter how hard we tried to keep COVID out of our facility, it was not possible, given the high rates in the community and over a thousand employees that cycle in and out daily. The number of incarcerated people over the age of 55 has grown 400 percent between 1993 and 2013, so the question wasn't if people were going to die, it was how many.” California’s state prisons have had over 51,000 cases of COVID-19 in incarcerated people alone. That means that over half of the prison population has been infected with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. We can’t deny that the parole board is yet another unjust system in the United States. Not only is it inhumane to incarcerated people, but also a public safety risk for everyone else.
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
EDITORIAL
Negative Portrayal of Gap Years Harms BHS Students “It felt like I was actually in control for the first time,” said Esme Segall of her 2020-21 gap year. Segall is a recent Berkeley High School (BHS) graduate and current student at the University of Chicago. Already familiar with the concept of taking a year off between high school and college through her parents’ own experiences with gap years, Segall dove into self-directed research, crafting what became a formative experience. The pathway she took is typical. BHS counselor Addison Fonseca affirmed that the process of gap years for most students is very self-initiated: “When we talk about a gap year, it’s usually promoted by the student.” In the overwhelming amounts of information given to prepare students for college applications, gap years are briefly mentioned at best. We must shift initial college presentations, conversations, and resources to focus on the many valid posthigh school options before narrowing in on the specifics of college. We must give opportunities such as gap years the same respect as attending college right away. We don’t necessarily mean to hold gap years in a lower re-
OPINION
gard. “I haven’t gotten the impression from my co-counselors that it's a lesser option,” said Fonseca. However, somewhere along the chain of communication, perhaps due to the sparse coverage, the view of gap years takes a negative twist. Out of 75 BHS seniors surveyed by the Jacket in Academic Choice (AC) and Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) Advanced Placement (AP) English and Latinx Literature classes, 23 said they felt gap years were presented as an option worthy of less respect than attending college straight away, while only 1 said they were presented as worthy of more. This disconnect from source to student speaks to the underrepresentation of gap year benefits. Gap years provide relief from burnout, give time for exploration before college, enable youth to build up savings, and teach new perspectives and life skills within broader peer groups. They offer high school graduates freedom and experiences unlike anything available within the typical education system. The soiled image may also be due to negative portrayal of gap years in settings beyond well-meaning BHS resources. Contrary to popular belief, gap years don’t strictly adhere to the lavish trip abroad that they are sometimes portrayed to be. In her year off, Segall first moved to Portland with friends and did volunteer campaign work, then spent four months in the deserts of Southern California as part of a trail restoration crew, and finally hiked along the Pacific Crest Trail. The loose structure provides room for the experience to be fitted to the individual. Another judgement of gap years is that they take students off of the college path, and that after a year off, they will never return to school. Beyond this being a myth — 90 percent of
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In an age where a simple click of a button brings vast amounts of information to your fingertips, rampant cheating has become almost inevitable. The real test of our education system, however, will be how schools and students join together to maintain honesty in school environments, with the added challenge of technology. You could say that to fix a student problem, you need to think like a student. What stresses students out? Why does cheating seem more convenient than giving an honest answer? Once teachers and administrators understand the answers, our school will be more wellversed in the student mind, which is the key to finding solutions to this problem. During the height of the pandemic, when school was online and students did all their work at home, academic dishonesty was hard to screen for. The disconnect between the teacher and the student was part of the problem. Instead of physically being in a room with a teacher and other kids, individuals were alone in their academics, which eliminated the personal aspect of school, such as teacherstudent relationships. Harvard Professor of the Practice of Computer Science David J. Malan uses a concept called the “regret clause” to discourage stu-
dents from cheating. Malan’s policy is to let students receive an incomplete or failing grade on an assignment if they admit to cheating 72 hours after submission, and he refrains from punishing them more severely. He hoped this would let students correct their own blunders, and train their consciences to keep them from cheating again. However, while this may work for some students, not all may be fazed by their own consciences. Everyone is different, and everyone’s relationship with learning is different. This means that students who had a more difficult time with learning during the past year and a half of online education will most likely feel more inclined to cheat. For those who are desperately trying to stay afloat in school, the regret clause
long-term effects of cheating, such as not fully learning information students could use in the future, or not developing productive study habits. While this dilemma seems to loom above school administrations as something to fix, a change in student culture would be exceedingly helpful as well. Trends are something that dictate the teenage world, and using this to teachers’ advantage could be the way to go. At the beginning of the school year, students began doing “angelic yields,” a parody on the devious lick trend on TikTok, showing how they could use the wide range of social media to do some good in their school. This was one way a trend positively impacted student culture, and it could be done again with the problem of cheating. Encouraging each other to stay honest in our studies would help us all out, and it would give us a better basis on which to connect with teachers, strengthening our community.
MA AYA
The Berkeley High Jacket is a designated public forum for student expression without prior review by school officials in which students make all final decisions on content. The by-lined opinions expressed in the Editorial/Opinion and Entertainment sections and columns are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Jacket. Non-by-lined editorials represent the opinion of the Jacket and must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Editorial Board. Any opinions or views expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of the Jacket. We encourage students, staff, and the community to submit letters to the Editor for publication. All submissions must be signed; anonymous letters may only be printed with a two-thirds vote of the Editorial Board. Not all submissions will be printed and may be edited to conform to Jacket policy or to meet space restrictions. 1980 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA (510) 644-6121 | www.berkeleyhighjacket.com
BY SOPHIE HORVATH staff writer
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Editorial Policy
The Solution to Cheating Lies in a Change in Student Culture
RIO
Poppy Chambers, J Horsley, Raphael Barboza, Zoe Fung, Oliver Parsons, Alex Morgan, Mahela Cabrini, Gabriella Busansky, Raquel Clydesdale, Anja Ball, Annelise Schouten, Sienna Prak-Perry, Maia Kesler, Lucinda Rickart-Webb, Lydia Kim, Robert Gellner, Leilah Doostan, Ellie Schrag
those who take gap years attend college the next school year, according to the American Gap Association — gap years actually enhance the college experience. When college is presented as the automatic next step, students go because they think they should. However, bundled within the transition from a gap year to college is an element of intentionality on the part of the students, who decide for themselves to take a year off, and then make an active choice to come back to school. When students have determined the terms upon which they want to go to school, and have spent a year gaining life experience and context for the world they will graduate into, they are able to get more out of the education they return to. Segall said, “I was able to come in [to college] more mature, and I feel like I have more focus.” This is not to say that a gap year is the avenue for everyone, or that going straight to college is inherently less meaningful than going after time off. But it is to emphasize that jumping into college isn’t the necessary course instantly after high school, despite it being the dominant one. It is to assert that BHS’s college resources have an obligation to reflect this. According to Fonseca, “We have been striving to do this for a while.” This moment has the perfect momentum to complete this shift, as the pandemic has immensely altered how we view education. Though the current norm works for some, a gap year can be incredibly useful for exploring what one wants on their own terms, which is lost on the many who are never prompted to consider taking one. As the educational narrative naturally adapts, how we guide students must evolve as well, emphasizing giving them agency and ownership over their pathways.
won’t cut it. Teachers need to investigate what motivates their students in their lives, and try to apply that to the classroom. Finding common ground with students will help them realize that they have a place in school, and people care about their wellbeing. Another thing teachers could do is discuss the
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
OPINION
7
Disparity in Property Tax Causes Inequity in School Funding BY ANJANI CHOKKALINGAM staff writer BY LUCY RICKART-WEBB staff illustrator
In recent years, terms such as “systemic classism” and “institutionalized racism” have battled
their way to the forefront of public conscience. What makes classism and racism in American institutions so
Alameda County:
$12,130
spending per student
$5,097
median tax per property
Santa Barbara County:
$7,767
spending per student
$3,462
median tax per property
San Bernadino County:
$3,388
spending per student
$2,315
median tax per property
problematic is how difficult they are to escape from, as their effects accumulate over time. Starting with education, society’s widening education gap has only exacerbated inequities. Getting a good education is said to be a means of advancement, but there is stark inequity that prevents this from happening, which all stems from funding. According to Funding Gaps 2018, a study by Education Trust, “Across the country, the US spends approximately 7 percent — or one thousand dollars — less per pupil on students educated in our nation’s highest poverty districts than those educated in the wealthiest.” What causes funding to be so drastically different
amongst school districts? In order to fund services, governments heavily rely on property tax, as it is a steady source of revenue. But the policy that governs property tax revenue allocation says tax dollars must fund local schools. So, in areas with expensive homes and higher property tax revenue, there is more funding available to schools in that area. The opposite happens too. In districts with less expensive homes, there is less property tax money to fund school districts. Schools with more funding have more resources and opportunities to offer their students, who will then have higher educational outcomes on average. This only leads to intensified wealth gaps later on, as education is, more often than not, a clear predictor of future income. As a reliable source of funding, property tax revenue must continue to fund schools. Rather than allocating more money to schools proportional to the property tax revenue generated from its community, we must distribute this funding equally amongst schools. In order to do this, we need to pool together all property tax
collected in California. Once money is collected at the state level, we can then distribute it evenly to schools, regardless of location, and proportional to the number of students attending that school. The purpose taxes serve is to redistribute wealth and improve communities, and this simply cannot happen if we only use taxes in local communities, as wealth will remain in wealthy areas. The areas that people are born in, which highly depend on their family’s wealth and race, will directly impact how much money they will make in the future — a cycle that makes this problem “systemic.” If all school districts were to deliver resources equally to their students, students would have more opportunities to receive higher education, to pursue an interest, or to explore more options in the future. In a society with a broken social safety net and widening wealth gap, it is not only low-income communities that disproportionately take the hit for this flaw in education policy, but communities of color and some of the most vulnerable in society. Having this disparity piled on top of the influence of money in politics, an unrealistic minimum wage, and the soaring cost of living, strengthening our education systems in this way is a step to doing better by America’s students and working to dismantle institutionalized racism and classism.
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
INVESTIGATIVE
Testing Shortage Impacts Equity: Who is Taking the BHS SAT Spots? CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 year, so students could not fill any empty seats. As a result, BHS students who wanted to take the SAT were compelled to travel great distances, according to Williams. Chaya Haugland and Maclain Pagenhart, both seniors in Academic Choice (AC), were among those students. Haugland said that even months in advance, the closest testing site she could find was in Klamath Falls, Oregon. She drove there with her friend and her friend’s mother and stayed at a hotel the night before the exam. She characterized her testing circumstances as stressful and said that she had been forced to find information about the SAT herself. “I could have done with a little more support from [BHS],” Haugland said. “If you actively seek it out, you can find it, but it's not offered or automatic.” Jennifer Hammond, AC and Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) college counselor, described the disproportionate impact of the SAT shortage. “Taking time out to drive or fly somewhere far away is not accessible to many students, specifically students who come from low income households,” she said. “Those are the students who were already disadvantaged by standardized tests in general … and the shortage just perpetuates inequities.” “Frankly, most of the people we served were from very elite schools in the Bay Area, whose college advisors tell them ‘as soon as that window opens, you go and sign up," Williams said. Jed Fogelson is a student at Bentley Upper School, a private school in Lafayette, who was able to secure one of the coveted SAT spots at BHS in December. He registered for the exam on July 1st because he was encouraged by instruc-
tors on an SAT webinar given enumerated the benby his school. efits of reducing reli "We were thinking, ‘First you ance on the SAT. think about the prep and then “Instead of studying you think about the test,'" said for the test and taking Jodi Short, Fogelson’s mother. and retaking the test, stu“They were like, ‘No, you first dents are investing more get your test date, and then you time into looking up the work backwards because you best colleges for them, and don't even know what test date that's paying off because you're going to be able to get.’” then they have much bet Bentley strongly emphasizes ter nuanced essays to write,” college counseling, and every Hammond said. “The SAT December, they pair up juniors takes up so much of their time with college counselors who in this college application progive one-on-one advice about cess, so it's actually kind of registering for and taking the beneficial in another way to not test. have it be accessible.” In the spring, Bentley offers Arts and Humanities Acadthe SAT on campus to their emy (AHA) senior Dwayne own students. BHS also had Clay agreed, describing how the option of offering a school his decision to not take the day SAT exam, which would SAT freed-up time for him to have allowed all seniors to take work on college applications the SAT during a school day in and keep up with school. He October. According to Berke- added that no one in his famley International High School ily has graduated from college (BIHS) Vice Principal Harri- and that his experience with son Blatt, the school ultimately the PSAT was very negative. decided not to do so because of “We were just thrown into “logistical challenges and safe- a bubble to take the test,” Clay ty concerns.” said. “I had no idea what we This decision may be part of were supposed to be doing. If I a movement towards equity. don’t have to use up time that Although Hammond acknowl- I don’t really have [on the edged that the SAT shortage ex- SAT], then I choose acerbates inequities, she added not to.” that “the whole college admissions process is inequitable. If the test were gone, it's just one more way that we could make it a little bit closer to equitable.” Hammond also explained that many universities have Over of transitioned to being test-blind or testDecember SAT testoptional. takers at BHS were She
6%
of students who took the December SAT at BHS were actually from BHS
50%
from private or elite public schools
Note: Elite public schools are defined as being within the top 100 schools in California, according to US News and world report rankings. ILLUSTRATED BY OLIVER PARSONS, staff illustrator
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
FEATURES BERKELEY HIGH JACKET
features editors: Raven Fonseca Jensen & Amelia WIley Moreira
9
Ravenfonsecajensen@students.berkeley.net
African Diaspora Dance Show Returns to BHS
MALINA MEISSNER, NINA PARRY-FRANKLIN, & SAYLOR COLE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
by Emike Obidah-Allenye, one of Leaks’s fellow students. “[Being choreographed by another student] was all fun. She was really good teaching it, and it was really fun, especially with all of us together,” said Leaks. Dr. Zakarya Diouf, known as Papa Zak, was a beloved BHS teacher and founder of Diamano Coura West African Dance Company who recently passed away. His wife, Naomi Diouf, known as Mama Naomi, was also a teacher at BHS. To honor his memory,
the BHS African Diaspora Dance Department dedicated the winter performance to him and his achievements. "Among their many accomplishments, Papa Zak and Mama Naomi also received the prestigious National Heritage Award. This is from the National Endowment for the Arts. It is the highest honor for awards of art in the nation,” said Williams. This dance performance is the first one in-person since the end of distance learning at BHS. Students in the dance department reflected upon this return by performing a
step routine called “Dancing and Learning through the Pandemic.” This piece, choreographed by Williams, expressed the challenges of quarantine and reviewed ways to practice self care. Tanzia Mucker, known to her BHS dance students as Ms. Shorty, emphasized the significance of this first performance back from online learning, which was an isolating experience for many people. “This is what we missed in dance. Being together, dancing as a movement, as one,” Mucker said.
Xin Chen: the Woman Who Revived BHS’ Mandarin Program BY LAUREN HUANG staff writer
Every day at Berkeley High School (BHS), 116 students circulate in and out of C220, the only classroom on campus that offers Mandarin Chinese. BHS' Mandarin program covers Mandarin I through III and Advanced Placement (AP)/International Baccalaureate (IB) Mandarin. Unlike the other language programs at BHS, every Mandarin student will be taught by a sole teacher: Xin Chen. Chen has taught Mandarin Chinese for the full 16 years she has been on campus. She was teaching at a weekend Chinese school when a BHS student convinced her to try her hand at teaching at a high school. When Chen came to BHS, she restarted the program and has been the only teacher to instruct it since. Before moving to the United States from Taiwan, Chen was uninterested in the job of teaching: it seemed too difficult to have to juggle multiple students. However, after attaining her bachelor’s degree and be-
coming a language teacher, she came to appreciate the fulfilling feeling of teaching her first language. “To see my students everyday … and to have this relationship with them is a very rewarding experience to me,” Chen said. “That's how I feel I can [own my] values.” Restarting the program meant Chen had to start from teaching Mandarin I classes and work her way up the levels each year as the last year’s students advanced. She filled the rest of her teaching schedule with math classes. Now, Chen works with every student in the program and can observe how their learning develops over time. Chen enjoys the ability to teach each student as they progress through learning the language. She voiced that although the job is certainly not easy, it is rewarding to work with a diverse student body. Being the only Mandarin teacher allows her to be further involved in her instruction. “I know how I want to lead them right now, [whether for] taking a test or what they want to learn.
I know the levels from one, two all the way to the fourth,” Chen said. The class is heavy on interactive learning and includes activities such as singing, skits, and culture Fridays, where students learn about cultural topics and current events. For Sonia Delangle, a junior in Academic Choice (AC) who is in her third year of Mandarin, learning the language has been a guided process where she has worked her way up from speaking mostly English to Mandarin. “I picked up on things pretty fast because of all the class activities we did,” Delangle said. “[There were] lots of songs that would stick in my head. ” Outside of the classroom, the class takes a trip to Chinatown around Chinese New Year to learn the significance behind the holiday and explore the area. Students search for Chinese characters and have dim sum for lunch. Previously, Chen has offered the option for interested students to take a trip to Taiwan, although last year’s trip was canceled because of
COVID-19. This year, Chen is not certain whether the possibility of travel will be any better than the last. For those who have not been able to go to Taiwan, Chen would organize for students from Taiwan to come over and shadow BHS students for a couple weeks, which serves as an opportunity for them to practice their Chinese with a language partner. “It's a great motivation for them to learn the language when they come back,” Chen said. “It opens the door for them and broadens their vision so they feel they can use the language [as
they] continue.” The Mandarin program attracts new students each year and is slowly growing to need more teachers, which Chen has had a difficult time finding. When she started off teaching, she needed to take on one session at a time, which gradually accumulated to Mandarin I through III and AP/ IB as additional students started the class. Now, there are enough students for one extra class period, which has proven unattractive to potential teachers. At times, Chen has had to teach six sessions a day. Delangle said that hav-
ing the same teacher every year allows students to get used to her teaching methods and develop a bond over time, which makes it easier to jump into the material right away. While learning Mandarin feels hard in the moment, she said, it is gratifying in the long term. “I feel teaching the language is very important and can be a very creative way [for] a student to apply the language in a very rewarding experience,” Chen said. “Although the job is not easy in the first place … I have very supportive parents, and the students — they want to learn.”
Xin Chen, pictured above, has taught Mandarin for the full 16 years that she has been at BHS.
ASHLEY DIAZ
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
GUEST COLUMN: MULTILINGUAL PROGRAM YOSAN GHIDE
While some of COVID-19’s impacts on students include losing motivation during distance learning, forgetting how to socialize, and making it hard not to see friends, there have been positives as well. On the upside, distance learning has helped us focus more on self-care, education, and building relationships with family. In the wake of COVID-19, navigating the return to in-person school at Berkeley High School (BHS) has proven challenging and rewarding. I decided to interview three students from different grades in the Multilingual Program (MLP) to tell us how they feel about school and being in the MLP right now. Kyla Bayonas, a senior in the MLP who came from the Philippines early in the pandemic, said that the MLP is a welcoming community, and that the teachers are considerate and patient. She described being back to school as easier and fun because you get to see your friends “in person” and hang out with them, especially when you’re stressed. When asked if she could go back in time and do something different, she responded, “I wouldn’t change anything, because I believe everything happens for a reason.” She feels that school is different now than before the pandemic. “Before COVID-19, I could hug my friends or shake hands with people, but now that [there’s] COVID-19, you have to social distance with people, and when you cough or sneeze it feels different because people make a big deal out of it.” Felipe Calderon, a freshman in the MLP from Colombia who came to BHS during the pandemic, said that the MLP is a great community. “I feel comfortable being in the MLP because it’s a way to learn English while you have students from different countries who are learning English like you. You get to make friends from other cultures and learn about different cultures.” He said that he feels great to be back to school in-person because he found virtual school boring and wasn’t taught many things. “I didn’t learn so many things, but being back in school in-person is so great because I’m learning many things and making new friends, and I’m more confident in myself.” When asked if he could go back in time and do something differently, he responded that he would go outside more with his family and friends and appreciate the things that he used to have. He said that school feels different now because you are not able to see people’s entire faces. Atchariya Phuangpolchai is a junior in the MLP from Thailand who came before the pandemic in 2013. He said that he feels happy and proud to be back on campus. “I feel happy to be back at the BHS campus because I didn’t like online school… Now I can get my grades up.” Online, he said that it was hard to focus because he would get distracted by his family. Now that he’s back in person, Phuangpolchai is ready to finish high school. When asked if he could go back in time before COVID-19 and do something differently, he said that he would exercise and do more workouts. Overall, the multilingual community is happy to be back at school and able to learn more effectively, as well as spend more time with friends and teachers.
FEATURES
How Does BHS Celebrate Thanksgiving? BY SASKIA FREEDBERG staff writer
How do the students of Berkeley High School (BHS) celebrate Thanksgiving? Everyone has different traditions that reflect their family’s history, religion, and beliefs. For Cahyani Dewi, a sophomore in Academic Choice (AC), Thanksgiving is an opportunity to have a meal with her cousins, but isn’t really “a big thing.” Dewi said that because her parents did not grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, she has not inherited a personal connection to the holiday. “I would say that we don’t have much of an emotional connection to it, so sometimes we’ll celebrate it, sometimes we won’t, it really just depends,” Dewi said. “I don’t find it to be a very important celebration.” Eloise Bear shared a different perspective. Bear, a freshman in Universal Ninth Grade (U9), sees Thanksgiving as an important holiday. She has been celebrating Thanksgiving every year with her family for her entire life and plans to continue this tradition into the future.
Noa Ledor, a junior in Berkeley International High School (BIHS), does not participate in Thanksgiving for religious reasons. “It’s not permitted by Jewish law for a Jew to adopt holidays celebrated by gentiles,’’ Ledor said. “So for that reason, I only celebrate holidays that are exclusive to Jewish people.” But the celebration still continues around him. Ledor’s nuclear family “alternates” between celebrating Thanksgiving and not. Ledor said that he doesn’t go out of his way to avoid Thanksgiving, he just doesn’t see it as special. Thanksgiving is a unique holiday for many people in that their celebrations revolve primarily around food and not gift-giving or religion, as is common with other holidays. Gwen Weber-Stover, a sophomore in BIHS, observed that her family’s Thanksgiving traditions are similar to those they have for other celebrations, like family birthdays or other events. “You can get together with your family and make a bunch of food,” WeberStover said. “I kind of do that anyway for birthdays.” Weber Stover also point-
ed out that COVID-19 was affecting family gatherings for the second year in a row. People may feel less comfortable traveling to see family or interacting with unvaccinated relatives. “We were going to go to my grandma’s house, but then my aunt got COVID-19 so we’re not going, because she is still going,” said Weber-Stover. “My mom feels like my aunt is putting my grandparents and the rest of our family members in danger by being unvaccinated, having COVID, and still choosing to be unmasked in my grandma’s house.” Weber-Stover had a moderate view on the importance of Thanksgiving,
saying that she would probably celebrate a similar holiday in the future, but wasn’t sure that she wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving as an adult because of the history associated with it. “I don’t think that’s a good thing to be celebrating ... but I might make my own holiday with my family.” Weber’s views echo a growing sentiment against the celebration of Thanksgiving. For many indigenous people, Thanksgiving is seen as a day of mourning for the genocide of Native American people and the theft of their land. The debate around the ethics of celebrating Thanksgiving remains prevalent in the US.
MAHELA CABRINI
WORD ON THE STREET What is your worst fear?
Mari Star, a sophomore in Berkeley International High School (BIHS), shared that his greatest fear is something that he carries with him every day. “My biggest fear is dying before I’m 21 because I’m Black,” Star explained. “I feel like I could die at any time because of the police.”
Alaya Alexander, a sophomore in the Academy of Medicine and Public Service (AMPS), fears drowning. “I think a part of it is just the fear of not being able to breathe in general.” She went on to say, “When there are big crowds or the classroom is super stuffy, I find it hard to breathe.”
For some students, their fears are close to the heart. Ka’mel Carpenter is a senior in Communications Arts and Sciences (CAS). He stated that his biggest fear is “Loving a h*e.” To elaborate, he said that he has a fear of “falling in love with the wrong person.”
“My biggest fear is spiders,” said Camden Bernhard, a freshman in Universal Ninth Grade (U9) at BHS. “My friends and I have always believed that they come from Mars and that their eyes are cameras.” Bernhard’s fear originates from finding a nest of daddy long legs.
A BHS freshman in U9, Jocelyn Mae Sandiego said, “A fear of sharks is something that has been instilled in my mind since I was small, mainly because they can smell you if you’re bleeding.” She added, “When my parents want to go to the beach, I just don’t want to go.”
Some students’ fears relate more to the future. “My biggest fear is working really hard and failing at everything I try to do,” said Eve Le Liboux, who is currently a sophomore in BIHS. “I’m scared I would put in a ton of effort and it would all go to waste.”
COMPILED BY AVHA MEISELS staff writer
PHOTOS BY JULIAN CURRIER staff photographer
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
FEATURES
BHS parent volunteer Patricia Duignan monitors the girls bathroom in the G-Building.
FIONA FIREPINE
Why Are Volunteers Sitting Outside Student Bathrooms? BY MIRIAM REICHENBERG staff writer
Re cent ly, students at Berkeley High School (BHS) may have noticed adults outside many of the bathrooms on campus. These adults are parent volunteers, who, after receiving repeated reports of vaping and other unwanted behaviors taking place in
bathrooms, decided to take action. They are appointed by the BHS administration through Berkeley Schools Volunteers, a program of the Berkeley Schools Fund. In late October, Claudia Gonzalez, the dean of students at BHS, sent an email to the BHS parent volunteer list that said, “[I’m noticing an] increase in undesirable bathroom behaviors.” These
behaviors include making phone calls, vaping, and participating in the “devious licks” trend in which students vandalize school property during instructional time. BHS has 12 safety officers for the entire school, and is unable to assign an officer outside ever y bathroom. As a c o n s e q u e n c e , t h e administration has turned to parent volunteers to help deter
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these “undesirable bathroom Gonzalez, who is in charge not invasive. behaviors” and encourage of assigning volunteers to “If [the parent volunteers] students who wander the halls be stationed throughout were standing inside the during class time to return to campus, explained that the bathrooms, that would be a their classrooms. bathrooms that have adults different story. But because In her parent volunteer outside of them are selected [volunteers] are standing email, Gonzalez urged outside the bathrooms, parents to sign up, in they don’t make people order to fill the void feel that uncomfortable.” “It’s useful to have parents ... left by a shortage of When the volunteers like me as a presence at the security officers, saying, arrive, they receive school.” “This volunteer request instructions from is incredibly important Gonzalez and a tour to b e c aus e we s i mply familiarize themselves Patricia Duignan, do not have enough with the campus. From Parent volunteer staffing to cover all the what Gonzalez can tell, bathrooms throughout “the number of students the day.” She also added taking extended breaks that “students are becoming based on the number of in the bathrooms has been more and more aware of [this reports of misconduct that the decreasing, and [volunteers] lack of supervision].” administration has received. have also reported seeing more Patricia Duignan, one “For n ow,” G on z a l e z students using hall passes.” of these parent volunteers, explained, “I’m prioritizing Dedlow, however, doesn’t believes “it’s useful to have [appointing volunteers to] think that these volunteers parents … like me as a the bathrooms that receive are very effective in deterring presence at the school.” She the most frequent complaints students from participating said that so far, not a single from students and staff.” in “undesirable bathroom act of vandalism or vaping has Currently, the administration behaviors,” such as vaping or occurred while she has been is working with a handful of smoking during class time. monitoring the restrooms. volunteers. “I think it’s very likely However, when Duignan Phoebe Dedlow, a BHS that students will go vape in was asked to patrol the freshman, reported that she a different bathroom, one h a l l w a y s , s h e f e l t l e s s has noticed one of these parent without an adult standing successful. “I just couldn’t volunteers sitting outside outside,” Dedlow added from bring myself to aggressively the girls bathroom on the her perspective as a student. ask for hall passes or say things first floor of the G-Building. “It’s still too early to tell just like, ‘Phones are only to be Dedlow said she was only how much of an impact these used in emergencies,’” she said. “slightly surprised” to see an parent volunteers will have,” “I think the parent volunteers adult monitoring the outside Gonzalez said, “but I would should leave the discipline to of the bathroom and believes say that the progress thus far security,” Duignan added. that this new development is is a step in the right direction.”
BHS Students Respond to Long-Awaited Consent Assemblies to those that had been shared it’ll usually fall flat, because presentation, with one other with her by other teenagers to they’re no longer teenagers,” to come in the spring, is not provide jumping-off points for she added. enough: “It could have been discussion. She said that it was “She, maybe, was not weekly, or incorporated into Over the past weeks, sexual important that students knew familiar enough with the a class,” suggested Costello. health educator and consultant what consent meant in practice Berkeley High community as “There should have been Shafia Zaloom presented on and in context. She aimed to be she really needed to be,” said more.” consent to Berkeley High “concrete and specific” in her Cline. “[She] did not get into Franklin agreed, “Consent School (BHS). Zaloom teaches presentation. Zaloom also a lot of nuance about where education is not necessarily “healthy sexuality and focused on “relationships [her scenarios] happen, and a full solution to the issues relationship education.” … as a fulfilling part who they happen to.” Berkeley High is facing. It will She was asked to present of adolescent life,” and Cline would like to see [be helpful to] the people who For Zaloom, it is important to aimed to help students more granularity in the are … committed to learning in the wake of BHS students’ demands for understand what consent “looks, figure out how to “have consent education at BHS in … and bettering themselves.” more comprehensive sounds, and feels like in context, s u s t a i n e d , h e a l t hy, the future, such as “catcalling, “Even the best sexual consent education and intimate relationships. ” sexual harassment in the health and consent education when ... put into practice in an a more functional Title Zaloom’s scenarios, hallways, physical contact program [might not] solve any interpersonal dynamic.” IX Office, and will lead some said, were out of versus verbal.” With more of the issues,” Franklin said. s ma l l e r s e ss i ons i n touch with the actual specificity, she anticipates that Costello wishes the district classrooms in the coming climate at BHS: “[They] students would have an easier would address the student months. “I don’t feel like I learned seemed… like adults trying to time reporting harassment to body’s demands by discussing “It was super important anything new,” said Nora come up with what kids these the district. “the allegations that are that this step was taken by the Costello, a sophomore in days were acting like,” said “[The consent presentation] already existing first,” hoping Berkeley High administration, B e r k e l e y I n t e r n a t i o n a l Franklin. was a good step, and there’s so that the district would take and Shafia Zaloom [seemed] High School (BIHS), on the “[Teachers] worry a lot much more the district could more ownership of the role incredibly talented,” said Maize content of the presentation. about relating to students, and have done,” said Costello. One it plays in this issue. “When Cline, a senior in Academic For Costello, recalling the Choice (AC) and co-president sex education curricula of of the Women’s Student Union years past, it was important (WSU) at BHS. to go over again, but she was For Zaloom, it is important “expecting to learn something to understand what consent new.” “looks, sounds, and feels like Moore sympathized in context, when ... put into w i t h C o s t e l l o’s p o i nt s , practice in an interpersonal acknowledging that “there was dynamic.” a lot of beneficial knowledge “We don’t take enough for people, but … as someone time as adults to model [what who has been around friends successful relationships look w ho ha d b e e n s e x u a l ly like], or how to get there. … assaulted, I hear all this stuff I want to put in front of [my] over and over again.” audiences what we’re aspiring “It doesn’t seem like it’s to be,” she said. what we’ve been asking for Zaloom covered how to … with the walkouts … discuss consent with a partner, [requesting] more consent and how to consider sex as education,” said BIHS junior a dialogue. “Sex is … a self- Molly Franklin. experience … an expression In h e r p re s e nt at i o n , of how we feel,” she said, Zaloom used scenarios similar Consent educator Shafia Zaloom presents to BHS students in the Florence Schwimley Little Theater in November. BY SAMUEL FELDMAN staff writer
emphasizing that it’s not a performative act. “I thought the assembly was something that had good intentions,” said Madelena Moore, a senior in AC, “but [it] wasn’t necessarily executed in the way that I wished it had [been].”
they were responding to the allegations, they used dismissive language,” she said, “and it didn’t really seem like they were genuinely hearing the people. Before we do this consent education, it’s important that BHS admin addresses the already existing allegations.” The district, Franklin said, “needs to offer better pathways for dealing with sexual harm, and putting the onus on the perpetrator rather than the victim.” Moore thought that it would have been good for the district to cover “how the whole reporting process goes, because it is something that no one really knows about until you have to … experience it.” Franklin wants BUSD to take accountability, saying, “[BUSD must] step up and own up to their part in this.”
SASHA BALASUBRAMANIAN
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
ENTERTAINMENT BERKELEY HIGH JACKET
Entertainment editors: Asha Baudart-Gehlawat & Ruby Freedman
ashabaudartgehlawa@students.berkeley.net
‘The Feminine Urge’ TikTok Trend Glorifies Misogynistic Ideas BY VIVIANA HILARIO staff writer
“The feminine urge” meme is the latest trend to blow up on social media; it consists of making lighthearted jokes out of questionable traits and desires. On paper, that’s all that this trend appears to be: a lighthearted joke. With viral tweets such as “The feminine urge to lure sailors into shipwrecking on my rocky shores” or “The feminine urge to gone girl,” this trend appears to be nothing more than another meme. However, as the tweets and videos become increasingly stereotypical, it is hard to ignore the perpetuation of gender roles that this joke enables. According to Know Your Meme, the very first “feminine urge” joke emerged on Twitter on December 21, 2009. “The feminine urge to be passive aggressive until I get what I want” can be funny at first glance, but it begs the question as to why certain traits are being assigned a gender. Although the idea of socially acceptable jokes has changed drastically since user @stompanie sent this tweet, it’s surprising to see similar tweets and TikToks going viral even today. In recent years, gender norms have been increasingly questioned and dismantled; some efforts include separating gender f r o m certain
clothes, colors, and media consumption. However, “the feminine urge” trend seems to revert back to these norms by associating femininity with traits like manipulation or passiveness. “The feminine urge to spend ₤3 on a latte,” or “The feminine urge to wear fuzzy socks,” though not inherently problematic, do further enforce the separation between men and women and enable a more binary view on gender. Furthermore, there has been little to no discussion on the implications of this trend in the media, largely due to the fact that it is seen as nothing more than a joke. Humor oftentimes has the effect of excusing problematic or hurtful rhetoric under the guise of comedy. If something is deemed a joke, those who take it more seriously are seen as hyper-sensitive and ridiculous. However, there are times when humor can be less lighthearted than it appears to be on the surface. Humor is a perpetuation of societal norms, and the majority of jokes are based, at least loosely, on reality. After all, a joke about how ugly someone’s hat is wouldn’t be
funny unless they were actually wearing a hat. Therefore, although “the feminine urge” trend is largely seen as a joke, many takes on the trend are at least based loosely on the belief that a given trait is inherently feminine.
POPPY
CHAMB
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On the other hand, separating traits as masculine or feminine is not inherently problematic. After all, they are two opposite ends of the spectrum, and so the characteristics of the two must vary. What is more concerning is the implication that femininity and identifying as a woman, or masculinity and identifying as a man, are equiva-
lent. Though initially this trend seemed to perpetuate gender roles — specifically with women — by assigning a gender to certain traits, more recent spins on the trend have been more inclusive. “The feminine urge” is no longer the only type of urge to be included in this trend. L a t e l y, tweets and v i d eos with “the masculine urge” or “the nonbinar y urge” have been gaining traction. The trend has become a place for everyone to poke a little fun at themselves and find people to whom they relate. With tweets such as “The non-binary urge to wear the worst outfit [you] have ever seen,” or even, “The feminine urge to just die,” many social media users are trying to change the narrative about what is feminine and masculine. While the trend is still very satirical and points out certain stereotypes within gender expression, the added inclusivity makes it deceptively progressive. There’s
nothing wrong with conforming to stereotypical traits in the way you express yourself, but enforcing the differences between men and women as universal and absolute is what raises concerns regarding this trend. For the most part, “the feminine urge” is seen as nothing more than relatable and self-deprecating jokes from women, intended to poke fun at stereotypically feminine traits. Although gender expression and identity are entirely separate, this trend associates femininity exclusively with women. By assigning a gender to certain actions and behaviors, this trend threatens to reverse the progress made in society’s perception of gender with antiquated stereotypes. While this trend isn’t inherently harmful and has even become progressive in some ways, it’s important to discuss the potential dangers of this type of comedy. Satire, though effective in calling attention to societal issues, can sometimes fall into offensive territory, excusing harmful rhetoric as a joke. Since the issues with this trend are hidden under the guise of comedy, very few people seem to be discussing it in depth. However, now that I’ve fulfilled the feminine urge to analyze this trend, perhaps further discourse on the subject will ensue.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
ENTERTAINMENT
Venues Must Prioritize Safety at Concerts BY SKYLER ROCKMAEL staff writer
On November 5, the first day of Travis Scott’s music festival named Astroworld, a horrifying tragedy struck, leaving ten dead, hundreds injured, and many more traumatized. Fifty thousand devoted fans gathered in Houston, Texas, to see Scott and other musicians perform. The concert had been postponed due to COVID-19, so fans were incredibly excited to see Scott, their hometown hero. Their celebration turned to di-
saster as overcrowding and poor planning led to one of the worst tragedies in music history. Hundreds had rushed the gates, there was a shortage of merchandise that upset many fans, the venue was past capacity, and there was an overzealous energy in the crowd. Though the chief of police met with Scott in his dressing room before the concert to express his safety concerns, the day ended with 10 dead and many more injured. Although the level of the tragedy at Astroworld was unique, present day concert environments are intense
ELLIOT SHRAG
and often dangerous. It is evident that the concert industry values profit over people’s safety. This hazardous way of managing concerts impacts the overall environment and sets a standard of a violent stampede. Although all shows have security to help break up the rush, most securities protect the artist, not the people. Concerts are built to take your money, not to protect the audience. The safety protocols that concert organizers and venues uphold are lazy. People are getting hurt, and when lives are at stake, it becomes undeniably clear that things need to change. Astroworld was not the first tragic concert; there have been so many more warning signs. For example, in 1979, at a concert for the rock band The Who, 11 died due to an aggressive stampede. Eight people died at the Pearl Jam at Roskilde music festival in 2000 due to suffocation. At the Love Parade techno music festival in 2010, 21 people were killed by another stampede. Even with
these concert disasters, the industry has never put in a significant effort to prioritize safety. As consumers, we must not ignore this lack of action. It’s possible to find a solution where concerts can be safe and fun. Frequent concert attendees know that creating a higher level of safety must be accomplished without compromising the fun components of concert going. One idea is that less security would be devoted to the VIP section. It is understandable that VIP members want to pay extra for better seats, security, and overall experience. However, the fact that guaranteed safety at concerts is purchasable exemplifies how immoral this whole system is. All concert goers should be guaranteed equal protection, regardless of how much they are able to pay. At large, concert safety is an apparent issue that needs to be addressed. Consumers, organizers, and artists need to find a happy medium where safety and a good time can be balanced.
Kaepernick’s Story Told in Netflix Series BY STEPHANIE JERSEY staff writer
Colin Kaepernick is well known as not just a former 49ers quarterback, but as the leader of a social justice movement that rocked the National Football League (NFL). Now, in the new dramatic series Colin in Black and White, the audience gets an insight into Kaepernick’s upbringing that made him into the activist he is today. The six-episode series delves into the complexities of identity, culture, and race that Kaepernick faced as the Black adopted child of a white family. Throughout the show, the complicated dynamic between Kaepernick and his adoptive white parents is a central aspect of the plot. Rick and Teresa, played by Nick Offerman and MaryLouise Parker, are portrayed as well-meaning, conservative, Christan parents who want the best for young Colin. However, they aren’t prepared for, nor do they acknowledge, the racism he faces. Their oblivion when it comes to raising a Black child is directly represented by Colin’s hair throughout the show. In the first episode, Colin is inspired to get his hair braided into cornrows just like a Black friend of his. He pays a visit to a young, inexperienced hairstylist who braids his hair so tightly he is unable to function properly the next day due to a headache. Although
Teresa clearly disapproves of the cornrows, she sees Colin’s misery and awkwardly asks her Black coworkers where Colin can get his hair professionally braided. At the new salon, Teresa is overwhelmed with the experience and atmosphere, but she puts in the effort to learn about Black hair care. This dedication conveys a sense of endearment in Kaepernick’s relationship with his parents and demonstrates the positive side to her parenting. However, this narrative takes a negative turn when Colin’s baseball season begins. His pitching is better than ever, but his coaches are more focused on his cornrows, calling them “unacceptable.” The coach tells Rick and Teresa that Colin needs to cut his hair. Rather than standing up for their son by challenging the double standard, Colin’s parents defend the decision. When Colin protests, Teresa sharply responds, “You look like a thug.” Throughout the entire series, you may find yourself going back and forth with loving his parents and, at times, hating them. The unrelenting support they offer Colin when it comes to sports is heart-warming. But, they often choose to ignore the discrimination he faces and even act on their own biases, as shown by their treatment of his hair, an important expression of his identity. The conflict around his hair is just one aspect of
the series that allows us to understand the motivation behind Kaepernick’s protest in his later years. It demonstrates the overt and implicit racism that he had to face, even in his own home. The series creates an opportunity for the audience to see the true Kaepernick, rather than the demonized version portrayed by his critics. Jaden Michael, who plays young Colin, makes it easy to empathize with him as he grows up. Michael does an excellent job of embodying the driven, smart, and talented athlete that Kaepernick was and continues to be. The rest of the characters are equally compelling, making the show more enjoyable to watch. Despite Kaepernick’s lack of experience when it comes to acting, he was able to fill the role of the narrator, providing critical context to many scenes. Throughout the episodes, he directly
lectures viewers about racial movements and the history behind certain words or stereotypes. The entire series acts as both a history lesson and an insight into the personal experiences that shaped his activism in the future. Colin in Black and White does an excellent job of educating about racism and the various manifestations of discrimination while being emotionally engaging and providing an interesting storyline, thereby increasing the impact of the series. Its clear nature allows viewers to begin to understand the experience of many Black people in our country and causes the audience to truly empathize with Colin. Whether this series purely educates people or even inspires them to take action against social injustices in our current world, the series creates a positive and profound impact.
ANNELISE SCHOUTEN
BERKELEY BIZ & ENTERPRISE NICHOLAS DIMARIA
Music critic Alex Ross, on a trip to an Oakland Italian eatery, was more intrigued by the sound of the restaurant than the food. Ross said he was able to “tune out the noise and hear only what [he] wanted to hear,” thanks to a Meyer Sound Constellation system, which samples noise in a room, analyzes it elsewhere, and sends it back in altered form. It also happened that this music critic was dining with John Meyer, designer of this system and founder of today’s business spotlight, Meyer Sound. Sound dampening is just a tiny fraction of Meyer Sound’s portfolio. What Meyer is really known for is being the world’s premier manufacturer of massive loudspeakers and sound systems. To begin, the loudspeakers one sees at concerts for artists such as Ariana Grande, Metallica, and many other major names in music are most likely made by Meyer Sound. Many of the world’s preeminent music festivals, theaters, film studios, and sports arenas rely on Meyer Sound for their sonic needs. The company has reached new heights in the sound reinforcement industry. One example (metalheads take note) is Meyer’s very low frequency control (VLFC) loudspeaker, which produces ultra low frequency vibration, which is noise below the threshold of what the human ear can hear, adding a bombastic and explosive feel to heavy rock performances. Meyer Sound was founded in 1979 by John and Helen Meyer in San Leandro, to create a higher fidelity experience compared to the lower quality speakers of the time. John Meyer found his way into the business after spending many childhood days hanging around the audio engineering section of his parents’ workplace, Berkeley’s KPFA radio station. Meyer Sound came about when John’s wife, Helen, wanted to turn his enthusiasm for the sonic world into a practical business. Today at Meyer, John oversees research and development, while Helen heads up business and customer relations. Some of Meyer’s most notable creations include the VLFC system, a speaker which can play sounds below the threshold of what a human can hear– thirty down to thirteen hertz. This sound system was first developed for NASA, in order to replicate the vibration of a rocket launch for testing. Today, the system is mostly used for concerts, creating a thunderous and visceral experience for the listener. Another innovation from Meyer is the LEO system, a curving vertical array of trapezoidal speakers, which you often see on either side of the stage at many concert venues and theaters. Meyer was one of the first companies to offer high quality sound systems for large concerts. Chances are, you might have even experienced Meyer Sound yourself! Local music venues such as the Fox Theater, UC Theater, and Zellerbach Hall, as well as the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco, are all equipped with sound systems designed by Meyer. On top of that, some of our own favorite local restaurants, such as Comal in Downtown Berkeley, employ Meyer to further perfect the atmosphere of their eateries. Even our own Florence Schwimley Little Theater contains a Meyer sound system.
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
ENTERTAINMENT
Media Offers a Unique Opportunity to Tell Addiction Stories
BY JOSEPHINE MORASKY staff writer
Since 1999, roughly 841,000 people have died from drug overdoses. Over 4,700 teens alone died in 2019 from a drug overdose, and the numbers continue to rise. As our society has become increasingly aware of the importance of discussing and confronting drug addiction, the entertainment industry has attempted to propose new viewpoints and stories
about the issue. Beautiful Boy, released in 2018, uses repetition to show the vicious cycle that encapsulates teenage Nicolas, played by Timothée Chalamet, as he suffers from a methamphetamine addiction. The film moves slowly, giving the audience a unique insight into the boy’s life; it humanizes him and helps us empathize with his struggles. Perhaps contrarily, Gus Van Sant’s 1991 film My Own Private Idaho uses drugs to reinforce and idolize a coun-
J HORSLEY
terculture lifestyle. The film focuses on characters Mikey and Scott (played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, respectively) who are living as hustlers on the streets of Portland. Van Sant illustrates the hardships of their situation, and validates their experiences but uses drugs only as a prop to enhance the story. Although the film doesn’t really focus on the withdrawals or long-term effects of drug use, the film was revolutionary because it provided a more liberal take on drug use.
THE CROSSWORD
This almost-glorification of drugs has become a common theme in Hollywood and the overall entertainment industry. Shows such as The Queen’s Gambit or movies like The Wolf of Wall Street confront drug addiction using a more humanistic approach, which some critics argue invalidates the experiences of drug addicts. This normalization of drug use in media is a newly recurring topic. In the popular Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, Beth Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, depicts a chess prodigy who uses drugs to try to heighten her playing ability. The show portrays her addiction in what some have called a controversial manner, but a deeper look proves that what may first appear like glorification is really showing someone who unwittingly fell victim to drugs at a very young age. Another somewhat common take can be seen in films such as Martin Scorcese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, where a young businessman quickly be-
DOWN 1. In front 2. Lacking intentionality 3. Rubber school supplies 4. Projectile path 5. Makes use of a chair 6. Cauldrons 7. John Lennon’s wife Yoko ___ 8. Relating to fighting 9. Unpaid assistant 10. Mouth sense 12. ___ Rogen, Canadian actor 13. Affleck and Roethlisberger 15. Unmanned vehicle 16. To be ___ ___, to be done with 19. Warm fermented beer 22. An essential part of a story 24. Unspecified stuff and things 26 Superdome resident 28 Stand one in good ___, helpful 30. Wildebeest 32. Credit card penalty 35. Check the dimensions 36. Unstressed central vowel 37. Small and feisty dogs 38. A helicopter, or a salmon 39. Split up between multiple people 41. Embrace 43. Florida recount victim 44. Give to others 45. Depressions in mountain saddles 46. Scientific moniker of a persimmon 48. Francesco ___, Italian Roma legend 50. Roman moon goddess 51. Outer edges of wheels 54. Wrigley product 56. Potentially harmful chemical found in plastic
— Raven Fonseca Jensen — Nicholas McGlashan
ficult for any of these films, as well as our entertainment industry as a whole, to claim an accurate representation of drug use in our society. While the dangers that come with these oblivious forms of entertainment may lead to the promotion of drug consumption, they also allow for a different perspective of drug addiction. Instead of laying it out for the viewer or exaggerating the effects of drugs to prove a point, these films give the viewer room to challenge the perspective and find their own meaning behind the stories. In film, drug abuse is often used as a device to augment or express another concept, such as greed in The Wolf of Wall Street or societal othering in My Own Private Idaho. Due to the complexity of any conversation surrounding drug use, these narrowminded representations cannot be expected to present the full picture of drugs and their potential consequences, which is why we must be open to a variety of interpretations.
Taylor Swift Explores Age Gaps BY ZADA SANGER staff writer
ACROSS 1. Length times width (plural) 6. Toss your cookies 11. Joey B’s right hand 13. High potassium fruit 14. Established into law 16. Counters an argument 17. Visuals used to influence buying habits 18. Types 20. Vietnamese Lunar New Year 21. Buck spouses 23. Opposite of releases 24. Down to the ___, close 25. Army rations 27. Keanu’s biggest role 28. Burmese ethnic group 29. What the Bard says all the world is 31. Deadly 33. Sn 34. Furry friend 35. Without 37. Genevan cash 39. Shipped 40. The Chinese concept of life force 42. World Cup 2022 capital 44. A mass of tangled hair 45. Up ___, another way to say 6 across 47. Destabilize 49. Possesses 50. What you should be in on a hill 52. Private nonprofit group 53. Common salad leaf 55. Common alpine attire 57. Repeated television broadcasts 58. Buy from a foreign firm 59. Bodily swelling 60. Lactobacillus bacteria species used in sausage making
comes corrupt as he’s overwhelmed with power and money—much of which he spends on extravagances and drugs. The film demonstrates in an almost comical manner the harm of persistent drug use, as well as the denial that comes along with it. Similarly to My Own Private Idaho, however, the film doesn’t show the tiring struggle that comes with recovery. This way of telling the story can be justified, considering many drug addicts are not always able to fully recover or even begin the journey to do so. What none of these films address, or even hint at, are the heightened disparities in the drug industry, with specific reference to race. Films that do address this topic are either not well known in Hollywood or not very widely distributed. The deep-rooted oppression built into laws and stereotypes surrounding drugs has disproportionately affected people of color, and this is not often represented in the entertainment industry. This makes it very dif-
On November 12th, 2021, Taylor Swift re-released her immensely successful third studio album Red. After losing the rights to her own music, Swift decided to re-record all her previous albums up to her album Reputation, which was released in 2017. Along with the release of the song “Red (Taylor’s Version),” nine previously unheard tracks were added onto the album, as well as a short film written and directed by Swift herself. The film All Too Well is an extensive music video to Swift’s new ten minute version of her hit song of the same name. It is widely believed that the song is about Swift’s whirlwind romance with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, who is famous for dating significantly younger women. Both film and song highlight the issues that come exclusively with age gap relationships. All Too Well stars Sadie Sink, known for Stranger Things, and former teen heartthrob Dylan O’Brien. The video takes us through Swift’s emotional process and explores the mindset of a young woman (Sink) who feels the vulnerability arising from an age gap and the downfall of the relationship. Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift dated for a few months in 2010. Swift was not yet twenty-one at the time, while Gyllenhaal was
nearly thirty. Swift didn’t miss this specific factor: Sink is nineteen in reality, while O’Brien is thirty. It is noticeably uncomfortable to watch the fresh-faced Sink make out with the bearded adult O’Brien. This cinematic decision instantly establishes skepticism of the relationship. The film illustrates the unequal power dynamic created by the age deficit; for the young girl, the experience is intense and defining, while for the much older and inherently “experienced” man, it is clearly more trivial. A fan-favorite lyric from the song is “You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath.” This line underlines the dissonance between each partner’s expectations of the relationship. Evidently, partners being on the same page—a crucial component of a healthy relationship—can be difficult when they are in such vastly different stages of life. Swift explicitly pinpoints the significance of age in the relationship in the line “You said if we had been closer in age, maybe it would’ve
been fine … and that made me want to die.” The turning point of the romance occurs in a scene where Sink claims she feels dismissed, infantilized, and abandoned by O’Brien during a dinner with his friends. O’Brien is defensive, and attempts to gaslight her while she struggles to articulate her feelings. This scene is especially important as it is the only one with dialogue, clearly emphasizing the significance of this conflict between the lovers. Age gaps often come with an irreparable power imbalance, as All Too Well demonstrates flawlessly. In our society, age is often a factor in unequal power dynamics: teacher and student, parent and child, senior and freshman. In most situations, we are taught to respect and obey those older than us, but more often than not, this respect turns into a dangerous, god-like portrayal of the older party. A healthy romantic relationship requires equal footing between partners, which is objectively harder to achieve with large age gaps.
MAIA KESLER
SPORTS
SPORTS BERKELEY HIGH JACKET
sports editors: Luisa Bertolli & Norah Lee
Zero Period PE: An Attested Timesaver BY SOFIA RODRIGUEZ staff writer
Zero period physical education (PE) at Berkeley High School (BHS) is no different in its curriculum from the PE classes offered during the regular six period day. So why do students choose to be at school for PE at 7 AM? In order to graduate, students have to earn twenty credits — the equivalent of two years — of PE. Students
can fulfill this by choosing to play team sports at BHS, completing a waiver for outside activities such as club sports, completing exercise hours at the YMCA, or by taking BHS PE classes. The course catalog describes the “traditional” PE class as a one that rotates through several team sports throughout the year. While the early morning PE classes and those that take place during the day may be structured the same way, the reasons students take one or
Students play ping pong during a BHS zero period PE class.
AVA MUSSI
the other are different. Coach James Moore, in charge of both the morning and school-day PE classes, said of zero period PE, “Its original purpose was for students in certain [BHS small] schools who don’t have time in their schedules to take PE during the regular day and don’t get the waiver.” This is true for Sunshine McCarthy, who is currently taking zero period PE because McCarthy is “in [Berkeley International High School (BIHS)], so I couldn’t have it during my school days.” Students in BIHS have a required set of classes they need to complete that make it difficult for them to fit PE into their schedules. Zero period can be a timesaver for many students who don’t have space or time for PE throughout the day. Max Lim is another student who chose to do zero period PE because it allowed him to take classes during the day that he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to take. However, Lim
also simply enjoys having early morning PE. “You have to wake up maybe an hour earlier than you usually would, and you get to start your day off with some exercise,” Lim said. Some students, especially seniors who need last-minute credits in order to graduate, take two PE classes, one in the morning during zero period and the other during the regular school day. Although zero period PE provides solutions to the multitude of challenges students face in fitting PE into their schedules, it isn’t obstacle free. Some students who may not live close to BHS encounter difficulties in getting to school at such an early time. With working parents, it can be a struggle to get to school, leaving students to rely on public transportation — which isn’t always consistent. Some students benefit from zero period PE more than others. However, having the option of zero period PE addresses the needs of BHS students.
BHS Soccer Club Promotes Community BY ARIANA YEROVAM staff writer
Soccer Without Borders is a worldwide organization with a chapter at Berkeley High School (BHS). As said by the organization, “The Soccer Without Borders mission is to use soccer as a vehicle for positive change, providing under-served youth with a toolkit to overcome obstacles to growth, inclusion, and personal success.” BHS contributes to this cause through its own Soccer Without Borders club, led by BHS co-presidents Andreas Baechler, Trey Wenrick, Ko Wiedlin, and Leila Mirza. Baechler, a BHS senior in Berkeley International High School (BIHS), said about the club, “It’s a fun, safe place for people within but also outside of the soccer community to join in. We try to create [this community] as much as we do the fundraising aspect.” Wiedlin, a BHS senior in Academic Choice (AC), added, “A goal of the club is to ... have fun and make sure everyone’s included.” Through fundraising events, which the club hopes to host once a month, BHS’ Soccer Without Borders strives to meet the goals of the larger organization. The club hosted a bake sale earli-
er this year, which proved to be very successful. Baechler said, “We are in the process of renewing our affiliation with the actual Soccer Without Borders organization because what we want to do is send in the money we fundraise for them to distribute.” Soccer Without Borders provides an excellent outlet for people to come together and help the world by way of soccer. For that reason, being a part of the club community comes with responsibilities. Baechler said, “As co-presidents, we make slide presentations each week that we have a meeting, we facilitate discussions, and we mostly help spread word of the club.” Wiedlin also stated, “This year, within the club, we’ve held soccer viewing parties, we’ve also gathered everyone and had
slideshows for upcoming fundraisers.” Wiedlin later added, “It’s kind of like everyone is equally involved in the club, not just the presidents.” The club not only fundraises, but offers a supportive community for all those involved — leaders and members alike. The club’s culture at BHS has a lot to do with legacy. “Soccer Without Borders has been at Berkeley High for many years — at least five,” said Baechler. The pandemic threw a wrench in the club’s progress, and they are now working to reestablish and uphold the founding principles of the organization. “Because of COVID-19, there’s a disconnect. I’m sure if our grade hadn’t continued this club, it wouldn’t have happened,” said Baechler. He also stated, “Being friends
with past presidents of the club, I made a commitment to them and to continue the legacy.” Soccer Without Borders is largely connected to the BHS soccer community. Many members and presidents “play soccer or come from the soccer community,” said Baechler. Nonetheless, they invite anyone who may be interested to participate. Wiedlin said, “It’s always been about community building. I feel like the club has always been this place where people can come hang out during lunch and bond.” As Baechler put it, “The club has more of a soccer connotation, but we are always open for anyone who’s looking to contribute. … We’re a strong community, and adding more members helps us to become stronger.”
Club presidents Trey Wenrick, Andreas Baechler, and Ko Wiedlin pose with members.
MARINA PEDEMONTE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
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norahlee@students.berkeley.net
JUSTICE FOR THE GROVELAND FOUR SIMONE FAULKNER
Carol Greenlee waited 72 years to hear the word “innocent” attached to her father’s name. For her whole life, she had watched her father live falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit, constantly feeling, in her words, “that nobody [was] listening.” Carol’s father was Charles Greenlee, one of the Groveland Four, who were exonerated on November 22, 2021. In Groveland, Florida, on July 16, 1949, four men stopped on the side of the road to help a couple with a broken-down car. Seventeenyear-old Norma Padgett reported to the police that the four Black men assaulted her husband before taking her out of the car and raping her. The men were Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas: the Groveland Four. After Padgett made her accusation, a fleeing Ernest Thomas was killed by a mob of 1,000 men organized by Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall. Shepherd, Irvin, and Greenlee were taken into custody, where they were brutally beaten and forced to confess to the crime. They were promptly convicted by all-white juries, with no more evidence than the white woman’s testimony and their coerced confessions. The prosecution refused to question the doctor who had examined Padgett after the incident, as there was no evidence of rape. Shepherd and Irvin were sentenced to death, and Greenlee to life in prison, because he was only 16 at the time. Later, while being taken to another hearing, Shepherd and Irvin were shot by the same sheriff who had led the mob that killed Thomas. Shepherd was killed and Irvin injured. An all-white coroner’s jury of the sheriff ’s friends concluded that he was justified in killing both Thomas and Shepherd. In his motion to dismiss the charges, Florida state attorney Bill Gladson wrote that he had never “witnessed a more complete breakdown of the criminal justice system,” and that no modern, unbiased prosecutor would file the charges. Neither Greenlee nor Irvin would live to see their names cleared. After being paroled in 1962, Greenlee met his daughter for the first time and moved with her and his wife to Tennessee. He died at age 79 in 2012. In 1955, Irvin’s sentence was commuted to life in prison, and he was paroled in 1968. A year into his parole, Irvin returned to Lake County. There, he was found dead in his car. The hearing to exonerate the Groveland Four was held in the same courthouse where they had been convicted. They were victims of the justice system’s archaic tactics of sentencing Black men with coerced confessions, all-white juries, and intentional ignorance of facts that would ensure their innocence. Nonetheless, they received justice, even in death, because this case didn’t just affect them; relatives of the four witnessed the injustice first hand and fought in memory of their loved ones. In the words of Carol Greenlee, “If you know something is right, stand up for it. Be persistent.”
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
SPORTS
Athletes Perpetuate Vaccine Dishonesty BY FINN GARDNER staff writer
Sophomore Nasir Daniel takes a shot in a casual pick-up basketball game on the BHS campus.
YASMEEN BAWANY
Local Pick-up Games Inspire Camaraderie BY JONAH LACHS staff writer
Berkeley Unified School District Berkeley High Jacket 1980 Allston Way Berkeley, CA 94704
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Pick-up games are constantly running in parks around Berkeley, consisting of groups of people who come together — often spontaneously — in a public place to play sports. These games are for recreation and are unaffiliated with particular teams or leagues. Despite the impromptu nature of pick-up games, a website called Meetup is adding a level of organization to pickup soccer in the East Bay. The most famous pick-up sport is basketball, but there are many different sports played in the greater Bay Area, where athletes of various disciplines are always on the lookout for extra hours with their sport. Through pick-up games, athletes find a community that shares a love of their sport, as well as an environment in which they are able to grow. A range of players partake in pick-up games, from
casual participants to more skilled athletes who may use these games as a way to improve their skills outside of their normal training schedules. Joaquin Almanzan is a sophomore at Berkeley High School (BHS) who enjoys the ease of pick-up games. “I enjoy playing pick-up basketball because of all the sports, it’s one of the easiest to grab a ball and go out to play,” Almanzan said. When asked about the range of players in the pickup environment, he said, “I think this is really the point of playing basketball entirely, to play with people who have different skill sets than you and learn to play against them or with them.” Like many other days, on a Friday in November at around 4:00 PM, a pick-up basketball game was started at Ohlone Park in Berkeley. The game was an intense three on three, with contested shots, feats of athleticism, and a fast pace. The pick-up game ran for hours, until the
sun went all the way down, and after the competition, all the players went their respective ways and didn’t look back. Antonio Nordman, a sophomore at BHS, likes to stay active during his offseason with pick-up basketball. Nordman, who played in this Friday night game, shared his thoughts on the relationships one makes when playing in a pick-up game. “A lot of the time, you don’t know almost everybody you play with, and you don’t really plan on knowing them any further,” he said. However, this does not mean that people are disconnected or icy when engaging in a pick-up game. “It’s this camaraderie. In a game, if you drain a three, you’re gonna get this nice dap up. It’s a very good time,” Nordman added. Although pick-up games can be much fun, there can be downsides to playing with strangers. With such a spontaneous event, you have no idea whose team you’re
going to be on, and it’s possible to end up with poor chemistry or an unhealthy sense of competition. Scott Friedman is from Portland, Oregon, and he has enjoyed playing pick-up basketball since childhood. He spoke a little about his experience of playing in toxic pick-up environments. “Basketball is at its most beautiful when you have five guys playing as a unit. When you have even one selfish player on your team, it breaks the flow of what it means to play team basketball. At that point, everyone else starts playing selfishly, [and] the game loses its fun, its beauty,” Friedman said. Pick-up culture has been embedded in sports since their creation, and people throughout the country have come to understand an unwritten set of rules for the pick-up versions of their games. These centers of informal yet authentic play have ultimately helped to popularize many of the sports we know and love.
Out of the four major American sports leagues, three have player vaccination rates over 90 percent, relying on the initiative and reporting of individual players, rather than universal mandates. The growing issue of professional athletes lying about their vaccination status draws uncomfortable parallels to the discussion over how to handle vaccination for athletes at Berkeley High School (BHS). It came to light earlier this season that Aaron Rodgers, a Super Bowl-winning National Football League (NFL) quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, had lied about his vaccination status, citing an allergy to some of the ingredients in the vaccines as his defense. William Graham, a Berkeley High School (BHS) freshman in Universal Ninth Grade (U9), is a Green Bay Packers fan who said that “[The controversy is] dirty and puts others at risk.”
Antonio Brown of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been a top NFL receiver for a decade, during which he has faced a few suspensions from the league. Brown is currently facing allegations of faking his vaccination status. However, it goes beyond individual players: one NFL agent told sports website the Defector that up to 15 percent of the NFL players have fake vaccination cards. Graham proposes a league-wide restructuring of vaccination guidelines to address these falsities. “I think vaccines should be mandated for professional athletes to keep people safe,” he said. California is the first state to require vaccination for in-person school — with a personal belief exemption — a measure that will take effect next school year. BHS student and staff safety must be the main priority, and instances of dishonesty in major sports leagues bring into question how safety measures should be enforced on a schoolwide level here in BUSD.
OLIVER PARSONS
ATHLETE PROFILE CHARLOTTE DIERKS, a senior in Academic Choice and captain of Berkeley High School’s (BHS) girls varsity soccer team, has been a defender on the team since her freshman year. Her BHS soccer career has been challenging; Dierks tore her hamstring her sophomore year and COVID-19 hit during her junior year — the college recruitment season. Despite these setbacks, Dierks has committed to play for a Southern California college next year, on their Division III women’s soccer team. On top of that, Dierks’s obstacles have connected with another passion of hers, medicine. “I’ve always been pretty interested in health, and that kind of field,” she said. Dierks hopes to work as a nurse or nurse practitioner someday, but until then, Dierks works to balance her demanding priorities. “But I love soccer, and I love school, so that definitely helps,” Dierks said. NOLAN WHITEHILL
— Pearl Gauthier