The Wildcat Tribune: Volume V, Issue 7

THE WILDCAT TRIBUNE Volume V Issue 7 April 26, 2018

“THE G REAT G ATSBY IS MOR ” PRO E THAN M BY J U ST A P VIKRAM ARTY BALASUBRAMANIAN & MEGAN TSANG Satire Editor & Co-Arts and Entertainment Editor

During the silent disco, participants wear headphones that sync with their friends, and can dance without judgment. The system has been very successful at other schools’ proms and is an innovative way to tailor music for everyone.

In a blast from the past, this year’s prom will feature a casino, an idea taken from the James Bond-themed Prom a few years back. If video games are more your preference, then Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros will be set up. And for those who want to bring

This year’s prom is designed to be the most glamorous and fun event of the school year. Hosted at the San Francisco City Hall and put on by Leadership for the junior and senior classes, it is the most popular of any surrounded by the opulent decor school-hosted event. of City Hall.

Maryam Siddiqi, the current ASB “Harry Potter” was also a close Treasurer and member of the Prom contender for the theme, losing by Committee, is excited for the coming a 52–48 percent margin. event, calling it an experience that is Food vendors returning from last “great for every Dougherty student.” year include boba, crepes, chicken Students in both classes have simiand waffles, donuts and Dippin’ lar expectations. Among the Junior Dots. In addition, vegetarian opclass, who have never been to Prom tions will be available. There will before, buzz for the event has been also be some changes, some for the running wild since the start of secbetter and some ond semester. for the Junior Alise Bruevich shared, The lavish interior of worse.

“Prom is something that is heavily to dazzle prom attenSan Francisco City Hall is sure “ T h i s dees. // PHOTO CO emphasized as an integral part of the URTESY year we OF IQPHOTO ‘high school experience’ and I think have a few the opportunity to go to our first new food home a souvenir from prom brings and excitement has items, such the night, caricature artists and many juniors looking forward to [it].” as the taco photo booths will be available, Following the success of last year, bar,” Siddiqi although no formal photos will the senior class will be hard pressed says. be taken. to impress. Attendants of the prom The prom ticket’s Art Deco style and Unfortureported that it was a night of magic gold & black design reflect the opulent nately due to Tickets are pricier than ever, and fun.

Gatsby theme . a scheduling reaching up to $120. This con“Last year’s prom was great … I really isco liked the theme,” senior Vittoria Lee said. “I hope this year’s conflict, the Prom Committee was San Franc ws trasts sharply from last year lo g , m ro forced to change the boba vendor from p where Mrs. Peggy Thomas, ar’s is just as fun.” for this ye OURTESY Leadership has planned and organized since November the popular San Francisco chain Boba City Hall, the venninuge light. // PHOTOSECRGIO RUIZ DV bookkeeper, stated it OF was a goal to keep the price with the help of professional planning company, “Events to Guys to Plentea. Though not the fault of softly in the eve Leadership, this change spurred a surunder $100. The change comes the ‘T’”. The theme will be “The Great Gatsby,” a reference to mainly from last year’s oversight on early bird prices the classic American novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In it, the prising amount of objection.

But, Siddiqi tells us that there are other that led to budget concerns. titular Gatsby throws lavish parties, all in hope that one girl, Prom tickets are selling out fast, and Leadership encourDaisy Buchanan, will show up. To emulate the grandeur of surprises in store for lucky attendees.

For the first time ever, DV Leadership is holding a “silent ages everyone to attend. Tickets are still on sale until May 2. the 1920s, attendees will be treated with Martinelli’s will be disco” in order to get more people onto the dance floor. Prom promises to be a night to remember.

Tiffany Deng pursues career in the arts | 4 • Featured: Why climate change still matters | 5 Opinion: You’re missing out on the deal | 8 • Women’s lacrosse scores win against Monte Vista | 10 Front page design by Sasha Hassan & Taylor Atienza

NEWS PRATICING PLOGGING PAVES PATH TO A PRETTIER PLANET

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BY AMANDA SU Co-Editor-in-Chief

When I first yelled “Hey Jonathan! Do you plog?” to DVHS senior Jonathan Chen one day in our Government class, he paused for five seconds, before yelling back—”What?”

Plogging is an exercise activity that combines jogging and the picking up of litter. It began as an organized activity in Sweden in 2016 and soon spread to other countries. In Swedish, the term is “plocka upp.”

Although Chen has been an avid plogger for the last several months, his decision to start picking up litter during his runs doesn’t originate from a desire to participate in this Swedish fitness craze. In fact, he didn’t even know plogging was a thing. It was just something he thought of doing on his own.

In his sophomore year, Chen joined the Track and Field team and quickly began to observe that there was a significant amount of trash on the sides of the road. Around winter break during the following year, when Chen and his friends were running around the community during preseason, they noticed that the same trash was still on the same trail they had run on the day before.

It was at this point that they decided, the next day, to go on another run on the same trail from Dougherty to the Safeway plaza, picking up and filling two black trash bags full of litter.

“That was only one side of the road. The other side probably had more trash. I knew there was a lot of trash, but I wasn’t aware that there was so much,” Chen said.

From then on, Chen became more “conscious” of the trash around him, picking up and throwing away litter anytime he spots it on the road during his runs.

“Even if there isn’t a trash or recycling bin for a few miles, I just carry [the trash] with me until there is one,” he said. “Most of the time I don’t necessarily bring along a trash bag because it could hinder my ability to run. I just carry the trash in my two hands. Sometimes I recruit my friends to carry some too.”

But even before he started plogging, Chen has always been environmentally conscious, describing himself as a bit of a “hoarder.”

“Honestly, ever since I was little, I’ve always really felt guilty throwing any trash away. I felt really personally connected with the trash,” he said, grinning. “To me the trash has served me a purpose. It doesn’t feel right to me to use something one time and not reuse it.”

As an experienced artist and incoming freshman at CalArts, Chen often uses recyclable materials in his pieces.

To find these materials, he goes to Micro — a recycling plant — to sort out different recycled items, notably cardboard, for his artwork.

S o m e times, he paints directly on the cardboard or cuts it up to use within pieces. One of his most recent works includes a small cardboard diorama of a train going through a tunnel.

He does clarify, though, that he usually doesn’t reuse the pieces of litter from his runs in his art since “who knows where they have been and how long they have been there.”

This eco-friendly mindset of his has many origins, one of which includes his longtime participation in the organization Tzu Chi — described

by Chen as a “global, humanitarian, Buddhist organization.”

Chen was introduced to Tzu Chi through their Chinese school when he was four years old. But Tzu Chi also operates numerous recycling and reusing projects, including sending shirts, blankets and houses made of recycled water bottles to disaster relief centers.

Chen’s passion for sustainability and protecting the environment also stems from his engagement in global environmental issues via his media consumption.

“I remember reading about the giant

trash island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And it was crazy hearing how large it is — the size of Texas,” he said.

More and more, as Chen became more educated about environmental issues, he began to realize and understand the impact that an abundance of trash can have on communities and ecosystems. “[When we have trash everywhere], the trash breaks down, and they don’t break down to the point where they got back to natural soil or elements. So a lot of the time, it becomes microtrash, which goes into our food system and gets ingested,” Chen said. “Trash also clogs up our water systems so that can have a large impact on our availability of water. And the trash can flow out to the ocean and harm a lot of animals there.”

Chen has been encouraging his Track and Field teammates to help him play a part in clearing San Ramon’s roads of trash. But he also encourages even those who don’t run regularly to just start picking up trash within the school, on the way to school, around Safeway and around neighborhoods.

“If you’re walking your dog, don’t just ignore trash you see. Put it in one of the poop bags you carry with you,” he laughs.

Admitting his childlike naivety and optimism, Chen has always firmly believed that every action counts.

“When I was little, I always thought that world peace should be easy. Everyone just has to love each other! And anything is achievable. So even if one of us just starts to pick up trash, we can save the earth.”

1 | Eve Zhong and Jonathan Chen // SPURTHI RALLAPALLI ILLUSTRATION BY SASHA HASSAN

APRIL 26 2018

IT’S NOT JUST YOU: THOSE WHITE TREES ON CAMPUS REALLY DO STINK

BY MICHAEL HAN Staff Writer

In the spring, blooming flowers create a picturesque background anywhere you look. Ultimately, all things come to an end, and many of the flowering trees have already shed their petals as new buds grow. Less regrettably, however, is the dissipation of the trademark scent of these smelly white trees.

However, these smelly trees, or callery pears, hold a surprisingly sinister secret. As if their infamously pungent odor wasn’t enough, the trees are also considered an invasive species in many parts of the US. Although callery pears are common throughout San Ramon and the US, they are actually native to parts of East Asia.

During the 1900’s, the callery pear became popular as an ornamental tree in American cities due to its beautiful foliage, resilience, and sterility. Over time, the callery pear’s major weakness became apparent: poor branch structure. Its production of densely-packed upright branches left it susceptible to splitting and damage during storms. To overcome this flaw, breeders developed cultivars such as “Aristocrat” and “Chanticleer” with better branching habits.

However, this short-sighted action had unforeseen consequences, namely increased genetic diversity. Due to breeding and the creation of genetically different cultivars, callery pears gained the ability to produce viable fruit. From then, the trees spread profusely, often crowding out native species.

The severity of the invasion varies throughout the country, with several eastern and midwestern states labeling the callery pear as an invasive species.

There is science behind the smell of these trees. // ELISA FANG

Not everybody knows about the destructive nature of these trees, but nearly anybody can describe their putrid smell. The scent produced by callery pears has often been compared to rotting fish, which is unsurprising since both contain similar compounds.

Richard Banick, a botanical manager at Bell Flavors & Fragrances, attributes the smell to volatile amines such as dimethylamine and trimethylamine.

As reported by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, dimethylamine and trimethylamine are present in fish and other seafoods. In low concentrations, both chemicals have a distinctively fishy smell.

Although the smell may be revolting, it is actually a boon to the trees. Dr. Eloy Rodriguez, a professor of plant biology at Cornell university, surmises that the volatile amines produced by the flowers actually attract pollinators. Consequently, the trees only produce the chemicals when they are flowering, explaining why the air smells terrible around March. This evolutionary perk is an unpleasant reminder that one man’s trash is another man’s—or insect’s— treasure.

PODCAST REVEALS HIDDEN TALENT AT DOUGHERTY

BY ASHITA JEWARGI & TEJU ANAND Staff Writers

Project.’

“I wanted them to build a project around something that they were passionate about and the only two requirements was that it had to be In order to help the community learn more some type of product that they were producing about the school, DVHS Assistant Principal and also had to be benefit someone other than Demetrius Ball started a podcast about people in yourself,” Mr. Ball said.

After he looked at his students’ projects, he Dougherty who have achieved something or are decided to do a podcast as on the path of creating somehis own passion project. So thing brilliant. The podcast is he developed some skills sponsored by Crow Canyon which helped him produce a Orthodontics and each epipodcast at DV. He used the sode is around 10 to 20 minutes Internet as a tool to figure out long. how to produce a podcast. He “When I got to Dougherty last listened to a podcast that inyear we were in the middle of troduced him to the website WASC and one of the things “Spreaker” where he could that came out was the percepupload his podcast. His love tions about what kind of school for podcasts inspired him to Dougherty is. So I was like dostart a podcast. ing a podcast would allow us “One thing I really enjoy is to tell our own story as opbuilding relationships. I realposed to letting the outside Check out the podcast website here! ly enjoy listening to podcasts community have a bunch of assumptions about who Dougherty is and because I can listen to it while washing dishes, or what we’re all about. So, just like anything, some I could be doing yard work, or I can be in my car preconceptions or some opinions are true, but driving. And I love listening to the stories the folks there’s a lot more to what people seemed,” Mr. have to stay. I listen to sports podcasts, news, and Ball said. “It gives students insight to what their a lot of educational ones and I like to learn. That’s opportunities are on this campus. It is good to one of the reasons why I am an educator, so I am get that kind of historical knowledge about the always trying to learn something new, something different, something cool people have going on school.”

Mr. Ball was inspired to start a podcast a couple in their life. I would be able to incorporate what I of years ago. Two to three years ago, he taught learn to help us make our school better,” Mr. Ball leadership at Howard High School in Howard said.

Mr. Ball pays very close attention to what’s County, Maryland. In that class he had given his students an assignment to create a ‘Passion happening in our school. Every time there is

some club, or a student that is trying to achieve something, or to promote something, or if there is a department that is trying out something new, then Mr. Ball asks them to feature in the podcast.

“Each episode will feature a member of our school’s leadership team. Our leadership team is every single person, student, staff, parent, that is part of our community. We all have a voice. Each team member will share how they are contributing to our community for the benefit of us,” Mr. Ball states in the podcast website.

There have been 31 episodes through April 9, 2018. The episodes always start with a catchy soundtrack and then Mr. Ball introduces the guest and gives a brief explanation on what that particular podcast is going to be about. Then he asks the speaker an open ended question and they proceed to have a long conversation about the topic. The first episode was released on the first week of school in August. It featured Mrs. Knapp, the DVHS Librarian, who spoke about WASC and its processes, and also school resources that aren’t very popular with the students. Episode 30 featured Quincy Zhao, a 2011 DV graduate, who is currently working for Wells Fargo in San Francisco.

“As far as my podcast experience, I came back to San Ramon and met Mr. Ball at DVHS on a Sunday for that episode. We sat down in his office for 30 minutes to share about my experiences before, during, and after my four years at DVHS as well as the lessons I’ve learned along the way till today. I would say that episode is full of reflective storytelling about my experiences to date,” Quinzy said.

Episode 31 aired on April 9 and the guest speaker was Coach Adam Seipel. Some of the things he

Vice Principal Demetrius Ball created the podcast to highlight new voices. // DVHS

talks about are the benefits of physical education and about his experience in developing DVHS’ strength and conditioning program. Episode 32 featured another 2011 DVHS graduate, Suk Bal. This was the first video call interview.

“I’m working full time at MGH/HMS researching primary brain tumors and I’m working parttime at a center that focuses on student mental health. I speak about mental health all over (BU, Northeastern, Harvard, the Indo-American Psychiatric Assn etc.) and I’m a grad student at BU getting my master’s in Public Health. They actually just featured me on their page,” alumni Bal said.

According to Mr. Ball, podcast really enhances what is there in a news article because one can lose a lot of context when not a part of the conversation. “When I’m listening to a podcast, even though I might not ever meet that person, I feel a stronger connection to that person because I hear their voice.”

NEWS

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APRIL 26 2018

DRIVERLESS BUSES “DRIVE” TECH INNOVATION INTO SAN RAMON

BY RONIT KUMAR Sports Editor In early March, Bishop Ranch and Contra Costa County Transportation Authority granted permission for California’s first driverless bus to be tested on the streets of San Ramon in an attempt to reduce the expenses of the city transportation.

The driverless bus, also known as an autonomous vehicle, is capable of sensing its environment and navigating through an area without human input. It is programmed beforehand with computers and sensors to help it function.

The driverless bus contains electric brakes and drivers along with a previously programmed route to run. It also has the accessories such as sensors to detect any dangerous object in front which alerts it to stop.

“This is one of the first ones to have no brake and no steering wheel, but the routes are all programmed in,” said San Ramon Mayor Clarkson.

Around the beginning of March, the autonomous vehicle traveled on a public street for the first time. It was programmed a route between Bishop Ranch 2600 and 6 to do its main run.

The autonomous bus is definitely less expensive than a regular human-operated vehicle. Firstly, there is no driver cost which allows

more frequent stops and more passengers to use public transportation.

“Now, you use cell phones all the time because it is less expensive. Same to do with the transportation of the states,” said Clarkson, regarding the purpose of the autonomous bus.

Currently, the bus systems in San Ramon are not very efficient, as the fastest ones arrive at a stop every thirty minutes. In contrast, in large, metropolitan urban areas such as San Francisco, there is an abundance of public transportation systems which have a frequency of almost every ten minutes. Because of this significant difference in efficiency, many passengers use buses and trains rather than cars in San Francisco.

The driverless bus still remains in its trial stage during this period of time. As a result, Contra Costa County Transportation Authorities have not yet granted

FACEBOOK COLLECTS AND EXPOSES CONSUMER DATA WITHOUT CONSENT

BY ARSHIA MEHTA & ANOUKI PANTHAGANI Staff Writers In today’s technology-based age, someone sitting behind a computer on the other side of the world may know more about you than your neighbor.

This emerging trend of social media users experiencing no privacy can easily be traced back to one main culprit- the social media platforms themselves.

And in fact, a recent breach of security has proven just that.

Recently, Cambridge Analytica, a data firm owned by rightwing donor Robert Mercer, with former Trump aide Stephen Bannon, have used data from millions of Facebook users to unlawfully build voter profiles. On April 4th, Facebook’s chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, released a more accurate estimate for the amount of users affected by this breach: 87 million people, most of which reside in the United States.

Since the news broke, Facebook — and Mark Zuckerberg — have been under fire.

Several news sources have been debating as to whether or not this breach occurred as a result of an actual bug in the system, or political bias within the analytics firm.

The Atlantic was quick to point out that “Aleksandr Kogan, the Cambridge University researcher who built a quiz to collect data on tens of millions of people, didn’t break into Facebook’s servers and steal data. He used the Facebook Graph API, which until April 2015 allowed people to build apps that harvested data both from people who chose to use the app, and from their Facebook friends.”

However, Zuckerberg hasn’t issued an apology explicit-

ly claiming responsibility for this apparent bug. Numerous Americans believe he is trying to avoid the issue at hand, while apologizing for matters not in his control.

Zuckerberg has even had to testify in front of Congress, answering questions from several senators. One of the most memorable queries came from Senator Richard Durbin (D-ILL). Sen. Durbin grilled Zuckerberg regarding why he won’t reveal the hotel he stayed at, or the last few people he messaged, when he was posed this question during the testimony. He then related Zuckerberg’s apprehension to what Americans are facing every single day.

“I watched the testimony Mark Zuckerberg took part in,” sophomore Garima Sharma comments. Garima is an avid Facebook user, both for recreational and academic purposes (as many Dougherty clubs are connected through Facebook groups.) “And while I did appreciate how apologetic he was acting, I feel like something more needs to be done. Something that ensures this chaos never happens again.”

It’s not the first time something like this has happened, either. In fact, data unveiled by the New York Times talks about how the 2016 Brexit campaign also used a Cambridge Analytica contractor to gain access to voter profiles and “skirt spending limits.” Essentially, this violation has been going on for years.

Users have been becoming increasingly uneasy regarding this lack of basic privacy boundaries.

At DV, where most clubs and group events are coordinated through Facebook, and students are incredibly avid Facebook users, teens were particularly shocked.

“I think that there are prom-

inent privacy concerns in place,” says David Jung, junior at Dougherty Valley High School, and president of a club at Dougherty, EESY. As president, he finds utilizes Facebook’s platform to communicate with club members very often. “We’ve always known that corporations use consumer information to target specific spending patterns. However, it’s worrying that in this day and age, surveillance capitalism is being used to fuel political research for candidates we may not even support.”

But unfortunately, this isn’t just a burden on Facebook’s shoulders, nor is this the first time it’s occurred.

“Like Facebook, Google develops profiles of its users, with information from people’s private searches and tools like Gmail and office applications, to help advertisers target messages to them,” says the Atlantic.

Here’s an interesting analogy: if you are reading this article online, roughly three dozen ad trackers can be watching you, adding your interest in this story to profiles they maintain on your online behavior.

It’s important to consider your digital footprint whenever active. Though it may be extremely unethical, someone is always tracking your every move, for their own benefit. That is unfortunately the age we live in, and it’s up to this generation to fight for the most basic rights: the right to a private life.

The next time you meet a neighbor, try telling them when your birthday is, what your most visited website is and what kind of content you most often watch on YouTube. Better yet, just send them your browsing history from the past couple years.

That’ll bring them one step closer to the computer tracking you halfway across the world.

permission to spread the usage of the driverless bus beyond Bishop Ranch in San Ramon.

fits of the driverless bus is most clearly explained in a cell phone analogy. A few decades ago, long distance calls always went through operators According to Mayor Clarkson, the bus has not and cost approximately three dollars per minute caused any accidents during its early testing to conduct. Through modern day technology, it stage. However, the possibilis absolutely free to do ity of any disaster occurring any long distance call The autonomous bus as the user is already in a future due to this technological invention still looms, paying a fixed rate per provides San Ramon month for cell phone as even the smallest human error in programming a usage. Similarly, the with a more efficient autonomous bus proroute or building any sensors can lead to unfortunate San Ramon with transportation vides injuries or even deaths. As a a more efficient transresult, the autonomous bus option. It option. portation in San Ramon is clearly not can run routes more exempt from the possibility consistently than curof any future accidents. rent buses with the On Sunday, March 18, a added benefit of a reself-driving Uber car which also contained an duced cost. emergency backup driver behind the wheel “If you can take a bus down to say, City Center, killed a woman pedestrian in Tempe, Arizo- for a future job or your school, and it costs a dolna, exhibiting the severe flaws that may exist lar and a bus comes every ten minutes, you don’t in human-operated robots. After this mishap, need a car to do a lot of commute in San Ramon,” the testing of autonomous vehicles was sus- said Mayor Clarkson, on the benefits of a driverpended in Tempe, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, less bus. “The efficiency is that it drives down the and Toronto. cost.”

Bishop Ranch, the large business park in Unfortunately, the City of San Ramon doesn’t San Ramon, purchased the driverless bus currently know surely when the autonomous and even gave the city permission to test bus will be implemented for public use. Howevthe vehicle on their ground. They were the er, the tests have produced positive results so far primary player in the successful trials of the which gives hope that this new technology will bus. Contra Costa County Transportation shortly begin to function frequently.

Authority then gave the City of San Ra- The autonomous shuttle is running a promon the official authorization to run tests grammed route at Bishop Ranch, San Ramon. of the autonomous bus.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CBS SFBAYAREA According to Mayor Clarkson, the bene-

PRESSING THE BRAKE ON TEEN DRIVERS

BY AISHA KHANDELWAL Staff Writer

In the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, all students in the San Ramon Unified School District who plan to drive to school are required to take a two-hour California Highway Patrol Start Smart traffic safety class in order to receive a parking pass.

Currently, students simply apply for a parking pass with their license, and pay for a parking spot. However, with reckless teen driving on the rise, more measures are being taken in order to prevent these accidents before they happen. According to the CDC, six teens died everyday between the ages of 16-19 in 2015 from fatal car accidents.

The class is organized by the California Highway Patrol, a separate division from To sign up for a CHP Start Smart class, go to chp-bayarea.eventbrite. com. Choose the location and register for the specific class. It is required to get a parking permit in the 18-19 school year.

the Police Department. Their sole mission is to prevent loss of life on the road. The class consists of basic driving rules and focuses on driving while under the influence and peer pressure.

Throughout the class Officer Keanu reiterated, “The point is to scare you a little, because two hours can save your life.”

Class attendee Kaitlyn Said explained, “This class is important because most teen drivers don’t understand what’s at stake.

When someone is being unsafe on the road, they’re not only risking their life, but everyone else on the road as well.”

Along with driving dangerously with a license, another issue is students driving without a valid license or parental supervision. It’s almost a rite of passage in high school to obtain a license; however, because students are still minors, it’s a long road to finally passing that drivers test. California has initiated several checkpoints along the way to ensure students are as fully prepared to be driving on the road with everyone else. On average, the entire driving process can take over half a year. The process usually begins at the age of 15 and a

half. Even so, the most confident student drivers still lack years of experience, and are at a high risk for an accident.

“Clout,” or respect from peers, is often the main reason why risky activities entice students to gain acceptance from their friends.

“I don’t really know why my friends drive without getting their license. Maybe it’s because it’s more fun to do something you know you’re not allowed to do, or it’s probably for the clout to say you drove 80 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone,” said an unnamed student.

This dangerous mindset among students at school is exactly why the Start Smart class has now been made into a requirement for new student drivers.

“While we know it’s impossible to stop all dangerous driving activities, we hope from this class, even one life can be saved. Teenagers’ brains aren’t fully developed yet, and so this is why they are inclined towards such risky behavior. I believe if they understand the consequences and the responsibility they can be safe on the road,” said a concerned parent from the class.

Dangerous teenage driving is a leading cause for deaths among high school students.

Educating both students and their parents might reduce teen fatalities and create a safer city.

4

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

DV SENIOR PURSUES ARTISTIC ASPIRATIONS

BY BRANDON SHI Opinions Editor This fall, senior Tiffany Deng will start her college career by attending art school in sunny Pasadena, Calif. — following a path many Dougherty students don’t consider.

Deng, who has been drawing and painting since she was little, will study Illustration at ArtCenter College of Design under its Entertainment Arts track. Deng hopes that ArtCenter — which boasts alumni such as Linkin Park and Fort Minor’s Mike Shinoda, as well as illustrator Drew Struzan (who designed the movie posters for the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” movies) — will prepare her for a successful career as an animator in the entertainment industry.

“With an Illustration degree you can go into visual development in the entertainment industry … creating the scenery and the concept art for movies before they’re actually animated,” said Deng, explaining that in the future she hopes “to be part of a feature film by companies like Pixar, Disney or Cartoon Network.” She cited Pixar films “The Incredibles” (2004) and “Ratatouille” (2007) as inspirations for her deep interest in animation.

Looking ahead, Deng believes that ArtCenter’s creative, driven culture and its experienced faculty, will enable her to achieve her aspirations.

“ArtCenter is known as kind of the medical school of art schools — it’s really rigorous and promotes self-motivation,” she said. “You learn how to work under pressure and deadlines and all the professors are people who are still in the industry … Peter Han, Khang Le, Will Weston, some of them are at Disney and Pixar. There’s a [drawing] hands and feet class; someone called Rey Bustos teaches an anatomy class. First-year illustration majors also have to take perspective.”

“I hope to make lots of friends for the future, gain more technical skills and overall just get my way into the industry,” she

added. “I think it will be nice to be around a bunch of creative peers. You get connections and work ethic out of it.”

According to Deng, ArtCenter’s rigor manifested itself in the demanding, multi-component application process.

“I had to do 20 portfolio pieces for my major specifically. [To apply] you have to have a lot — 10 to 15 — figure drawings and go to live figure drawing sessions … you can incorporate paintings and drawings to show your technical skill,” she reflected. “I also had to write three essays about artists that inspire me and the impacts of my cultural background. I also had to make a video essay explaining one of my drawings. In my application, I talked about being at Dougherty and — I have Asian parents, obviously — and they told me to pursue a medical or biology field instead of art ... I started drawing on the side, and I had to balance both of them which was hard, but ultimately, I was able to commit to art.”

To prepare for such an intensive application process, Deng sacrificed her Friday evenings, regularly attending figure drawing sessions at UC Berkeley to develop “gestures and fluidity in [her] lines.” She also currently takes three-hour art classes at Diablo Valley College on Mondays and Wednesdays and nine-hour classes on Saturdays in Union City, supplementing this guided instruction with independent drawings and sketchbook studies throughout the week. Last year, Deng enrolled in Dougherty’s AP Studio Art class.

Deng has also won numerous awards for her artwork. Most recently, in March 2018, she received a Scholastic Art and Writing Awards National Gold Medal in the Drawing and Illustration category — a recognition reserved for less than one percent of over 350,000 contest entries, and previously bestowed on artistic visionaries such as pop artist Andy Warhol and abstract expressionist painter Cy Twombly. Her award-winning 18 by 24 inch soft pastel piece, “Model Minority,” dealt with the model minority stereotype surrounding Asian Americans.

“Model Minority” was created for Deng’s application to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

“Their prompt was ‘plastic’,” she reflected. “So I took a picture of myself with plastic wrap over my head, like I was being strangled by it … [illustrating] the idea of how the label ‘model minority’ suffocates Asian Americans because it places them in a stereotype and people judge them before they Tiffany Deng works on a painting. // BRANDON SHI

know their skills, or what they want to do. In the back of my drawing I wrote down some lines about what me and my friends always hear: ‘What are your grades?’, ‘Do you have straight As?’ or ‘I bet you play piano’ … which are just common stereotypes.”

Additionally, Deng also received a second-place award in the 2017 Congressional Art Competition, with her oil painting of San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts recognized by U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell.

However, the extensive time commitment and prestigious awards have not always come easy.

“Even now, I have to focus on not just art, but also academics … I just try to finish my homework as fast as I can so I can spend the rest of the day drawing,” she said, noting, “[I have] interests such as psychology and other academic subjects, but I don’t put as much time into those compared to art.”

Deng is also aware that pursuing an art degree is not a common choice at Dougherty, particularly in such an academics-focused, STEM-driven environment.

“I think people don’t consider art school at all … people are always talking about Ivy Leagues or UCs; that’s what most people are aiming for. But there are a lot of art schools in the U.S. that should be considered.”

“I was talking with a friend … about how, especially at the schools we go to, because there’s so much competition, our parents expect us to focus on our academics and take so many AP and weighted classes along with art,” she said, explaining that, as a result, “art was kind of just a side thing … I didn’t decide that I would want to go into art [as a career] until last year, actually.”

She continued, “I think people don’t consider art school at all … people are always talking about Ivy Leagues or UCs; that’s what most people are aiming for. But there are a lot of art schools in the U.S. that should be considered.”

Ultimately, Deng remains confident that her hard work will pay off.

“I think [last year] I just saw this potential in actually getting a job in this field,” she said.

“Parents are always like, ‘you’re going to become a starving artist’ or ‘you won’t be able to get a job’, but once you actually look at all the people in the industry, you can see that there actually is a potential.”

To underclassmen interested in pursuing a career in art or unsure of where to start, she suggests, “Just get a sketchbook and just draw everything, as much as you can. The earlier you start, the more you’ll be able to improve.

It’s all about how much motivation you have in yourself, and your own work ethic.”

She then added, “No one can help you improve, not even art school. It’s not like if you go to art school, you’ll become a master at drawing. It’s all about how much work you put in to it.”

EVENING OF THEATER DISPLAYS SCHOOL TALENT

BY ELISA FANG Managing Editor In the last DVHS Drama Program production of the 2017-2018 school year, Evening of Theater was the final showcase of student talent — in acting, singing and dancing alike. This series of mini-acts and songs was mostly run by the performers themselves, and, with the exception of a check-in in the middle of the rehearsal process, and technical tweaks within the week prior to the performance, minimal input from Paul Vega, the Drama Program adviser. Students auditioned with a song of their choice, and Vega offered advice; for example, for Filo Ebid’s rendition of Corner of the Sky, Vega believed

that a modern twist would better suit his voice, and the result was a stunning performance that highlighted Ebid’s flexible vocal abilities. Other notable performances included multiple songs from “Dear Evan Hansen,” an awe-inspiring vocal performance of “Too Beautiful for Words” by Jade Tsao, a seven-person, senior-dominated cast performing a scene called “All I Have Left” and a stripped performance of “Dear Theodosia” from the hit musical “Hamilton,” performed by Ayman Azizuddin and Filo Ebid, with Aiden Vehemente on the piano.

For a $5 general admission, the audience was filled with proud family and friends cheering on both new faces and graduating seniors — showing just how much DV supports our aspiring performers.

APRIL 26 2018

“ISLE OF DOGS” HITS IT OUT OF THE DOG PARK

BY ANIKA GARG A&E Copy Editor Wes Anderson’s most daring film to date, “Isle of Dogs” is a stunning stop-motion canine adventure filled with charm, deadpan humor and surprises at every turn.

The movie is set in the near future in the fictional city of Megasaki, Japan, where corrupt mayor Kobayashi issues a decree to banish all dogs to “Trash Island” — which looks exactly like it sounds — in an effort to stop the spread of dangerous canine diseases. A group of the exiles soon finds Atari (Koyu Rankin), Kobayashi’s 12-year-old ward, stranded on the island after crash-landing in an attempt to recover his beloved dog “Spots.” A band of mutts led by battle-scarred stray Chief (Bryan Cranston) help Atari on his mission, which involves exploring the scarier parts of the island, a mix of industrial wasteland and abandoned funfair, with fully functioning mechanized parts. Meanwhile, a pro-dog student group, led by American visitor Tracy (Greta Gerwig), are rising up against Kobayashi with the help of research scientist Yoko Ono. The funniest scenes were portrayed through visual gags, especially as each tooth-andnail fight scene was shrouded by puffy cotton clouds. The production design itself was incredibly unique, with each detail clearly thought out — even the individual hairs on the dogs moved from scene to scene, giving the impression of fluid movement.

Despite the gorgeous rip-

“This is Anderson’s magic: his ability to pack a powerful punch at the right moments gives his films a compelling flair.” pling waves and the gritty wastelands, the most powerful scenes were the most simplistic; when “Spots” was transferred from Megasaki to Trash Island, his eyes furtively searching his new environment, I was transfixed.

This is Anderson’s magic: his ability to pack a powerful

punch at just the right moments gives his films a compelling flair.

All of these moments were supplemented by Alexandre Desplat’s score, which combines the energy of Eastern and Western styles of music into a minimalistic harmony. The standout track was “I won’t hurt you” by psychedelic rock artist West Coast Pop Experimental Band, which, both chilling and whimsical, provided a perfect backdrop to the exceptional film.

Thematically, “Isle of Dogs” is a straightforward commentary on corruption and repression in our society, especially as student activists against the canine decree are able to voice their opinions, but have little power. Though the plot was exciting, there was little substance to the film. Still, Anderson managed to deliver a fun-filled journey in its nearly two hour runtime, which didn’t feel nearly so long.

Liev Schreiber voices Chief. // SARAH KIM

The prominent issue with “Isle of Dogs” is the lack of soul; few of the characters were given a personality, or a distinct individual voice.

Within the canine pack, aside from Chief, it became difficult to discern between each of the dogs, and Atari was given little character development until nearly the end of the film.

Even the romance between Chief and Nutmeg (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), was more of a side-thought than a truly memorable aspect of the film.

It felt like things were left underdeveloped, as if the movie focused more on being quirky than complete.

However, the dogs delivered an emotional performance through thoughtful expressions and painful markers of abuse, including torn flesh, dirt and even matted blood.

The movie may be about dogs, but Anderson certainly did not make them adorable.

“The Tango Maureen,” performed by Jared Fisher and Emma Wong, describes a similar situation to what the two experienced themselves: liking the same person and temporarily severing their friendship. They originally planned on auditioning for Evening of Theater alone, but, apparent as they appear on stage together, they patched things up and assert: “We’re best friends.” // ELISA FANG

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APRIL 26 2018

WHY CLIMATE CHANGE STILL MATTERS: INVESTIGATING IMPACT, INVOLVEMENT AND UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS

BY TAYLOR ATIENZA Co-News Editor

Contributions by Pranav Chillappagari Climate change. You’ve heard the term at least once, but likely more than you’d really care to. It’s repeated constantly, in reports about those poor starving polar bears, the gradually rising ocean levels, the dying bees.

You’ve heard it, certainly, but let’s face a fact: we mourn those poor bears, and momentarily entertain the idea of an city sinking under the sea — but rarely do we ever retain that conscious awareness that the world is falling apart around us.

And yes, climate change is a phenomenon that probably isn’t directly affecting you (not just yet, of course), which is why it’s not necessarily something to feel ashamed of if it’s slipped your mind. That willful avoidance is natural. It’s common. It’s comfortable. It’s the process of desensitization and conscious ignorance when concepts like climate change,

... but it remains too far off, always striking down those polar bears a million miles away and never wreaking havoc in our quiet city of San Ramon. global warming and mass extinction seem far too complex and abstract.

The culprit for why global warming seems like such an evasive concept is the positivity bias, that invisible mental hurdle that we all face: the belief that the crisis will never come to us. It’s why climate change always seems to lie outside that realm of “things to care about.”

The term is reiterated in news, in your science class, but it remains too far off, always striking down those polar bears a million miles away and never wreaking havoc in our quiet city of San Ramon.

But despite this illusion of uninvolvement, you are in no ways separate from this issue, and that its impact reaches far deeper than you think.

There are quite a few people at the frontlines of this social, political, economic and environmental crisis. They, unlike the insulated majority, do not have the luxury of the positivity bias. They are able to see the neoliberal market pressures that threaten the world around them, and in some cases, force them to further degrade the environment. The majority of these people have no voice in the media — they are marginalized, isolated and often minority communities. They face the consequences of our conscious ignorance, the first victims to this crisis.

So while all of these ideas are all uncomfortable, they have to be acknowledged to push for environmental justice. But such “uncomfortable things” are truths, and we do not benefit from running from them in any way.

Let’s return to neoliberalism first. The philosophy has less to do with “liberalism” as it relates to political orientation and more to do with economics. It’s an economic ideology that believes encouraging the growth of business and reducing market restrictions will eventually benefit more people. In theory, allowing more free — or liberal — market practices and giving corporations the resources they need to expand will result in more jobs and higher wages. Think trickle-down economics.

Which seems ideal. But again, remember that this is what a neoliberal economy is supposed to achieve. There’s good indication that when applied, the wealth fails to “trickle down,” and those who were supposed to benefit are exploited by business expansion. In short, neoliberalism isn’t always reflective of reality.

Deregulation of businesses increases the capabilities for environmentally destructive behavior, and human exploitation. International cases of deforestation for natural resources, and the palm oil industry in particular have proved to have a variety of ramifications for both people and the natural world.

Though widely consumed in Asia, the World Wildlife Foundation reported that more than half of all consumable packaged products in the U.S. contain palm oil. Demand for the re-

source has accelerated in the past year as a result of suggested health benefits from consumption, as well as its use in everyday products like lipstick, detergent, ice cream, baked goods and soap.

However, the true cost of palm oil isn’t always seen by more insulated communities.

In more places like Indonesia, Columbia and Papua New Guinea, where palm oil thrives, companies have cleared space for plantations through deforestation. And indeed, it seems like granting companies that manage these plantations freedoms would provide consumers with their palm oil and local communities with jobs. But nothing is ever that simple, and there is a hidden trend of unfair labor practices and consequences that result from global demand and neoliberal economic pressures that result in deforestation.

“It’s a race to the bottom,” Mr. Adam Bellows, AP Comparative Government, US History and Sociology teacher, said. “Because if you open up those barriers, the money to pursue growth and to accumulate wealth is going to go where there are lax labor laws, where you don’t have to pay workers as much, and where you don’t have to worry about environmental degradation because countries don’t have those [laws] in place.”

According to the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), many plantation workers are underpaid children or individuals seeking work who are purposefully held in their position by unfair debt systems. Of course, this is all kept very neatly under wraps by major corporations so that labor exploitation continues in the name of demand and growth. It’s made worse by the fact that companies enabling these abuses are multinational brands we recognize and trust. The ILRF reports the list of companies exposed for allowing such exploitative conditions includes prolific names like Kraft, IKEA, McDonalds and Néstle.

The RSPO not only falls short on delivering on promises for fair labor, but also in the realm of environmental protections. According to a 2013 Greenpeace report, while members certified by the RSPO are supposedly prohibited from converting primary or high conservation value (HCV) forests, there are no rules restricting deforestation of secondary forest regions that constitute the majority of undeveloped forest in countries like Indonesia.

Clearing trees to create space for palm oil plantations is executed either through burning rainforest or using machinery. Both processes produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, degrading air quality for the laborers in the surrounding area and contributing to global warming.

And the dark and uncomfortable truth behind all of this ... hidden so carefully in our faith in large coporations and our own avoidance of disturbing truths, is that we favor our own comfort.

According to a 2016 investigation of palm oil plantations by Amnesty International, workers are regularly exposed to pesticides like paraquat — a known carcinogen.

Despite the incriminating reports and damning investigations on the ethical and environmental issues associated with the industry, palm oil is still very much in demand and very much in use. It’s likely still in your toothpaste, shampoo and candy. Underpaid children are still deprived of an education, and forced laborers continue to work in harmful conditions for little to no compensation.

And the dark and uncomfortable truth behind all of this, the reason for the persistence of these egregious human rights violations and environmentally destructive practices, hidden so carefully in our faith in large corporations and our own avoidance of disturbing truths, is that we favor our own comfort.

We — consumers and companies alike, throughout the world — allow this to go on because we benefit from it.

The basic idea that we benefit from anoth-

er’s suffering isn’t easy to accept. It certainly makes me wince every time I roll this thought around in my head. It’s not easy to write this, either. I hate these ideas just as much as you do, and in no way do I claim to be morally superior, because we’ve all lived in this state of conscious ignorance for a while.

Pressure for economic expansion in industries that only exacerbate climate change and environmental degradation has also resulted in rising sea levels, another well-known phenomenon with far-reaching impacts. It’s caused by global warming that is further intensified by emissions largely from global industry and automobile use. While a 2013 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated a cautious 2.7 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit increase in global temperatures, this seemingly minimal shift has large repercussions.

Bangladesh — one of the countries of the world more vulnerable to rising ocean levels due to its low elevation — has experienced intensified natural disasters and destruction caused by saltwater intrusion. The trend of developing countries facing the consequences of the actions of industrialized nations repeats itself, this time with implications of displacement and death.

Flooding and vanishing coastlines have left many homeless or struggling to survive while farming soil saturated with salt. Scientists in Bangladesh agree that an estimated 18 million are expected to eventually be displaced by 2050 after 17 percent of land is lost to rising sea levels (The New York Times). Worse still, Bangladesh has also witnessed extreme storm patterns attributed to the changing climate.

While anthropogenic climate change is named as only a factor in some major weather disasters, others can be attributed entirely to human activities. Events like these identified by a 2016 report by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) included an extreme heat wave in Thailand, as well as the discovery of new marine hotspots that could disrupt aquatic biodiversity.

“Climate change was a necessary condition for some of these events in 2016, in order for them to happen,” Mr. Jeff Rosenfeld, Editor in Chief for the AMS, stated.

Increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters has disproportionately impacted developing countries, where impoverished communities that have struggled to cope have been silenced by lack of coverage and our own ignorance to our agency in the issue.

But as mentioned before, there is no separating yourself from this phenomenon despite the distance you may feel from these problems. Most of the crises named so far have all happened halfway across the world, but as environmental degradation and global warming worsen, and we prioritize economic growth at the expense of the welfare of marginalized and the natural world, the issue continues to press closer and closer to where we once believed would never be affected. The impacts of the crisis hit closer to home than you may think—especially when considering the Sonoma County wildfires that ravaged the region just last October.

“God forbid the actual catastrophe happens here, but those communities, I’m sure felt very much the same way, like, ‘We’re fortunate enough to be living in California, we don’t really have major disasters here.’ And then you have these wildfires, where literally, in just a moment, people have lost their homes,” science teacher Annie Nguyen explained. “And after the wildfires, there are still possible mudslides and all kinds of these chain reactions that happen because of the loss of the ecosystem. Aside from health, we also have the concern of what would happen to our insulated, isolated little pocket if any of those disasters we have seen in the past year were to happen here as well.”

I could go on pleading with you to care, because all of these issues have no endpoints in terms of their repercussions. Working conditions on palm oil plantations prevent children from a proper education. Clearing trees exposes humans to diseases like SARS or Zika that are carried by displaced species. Millions will continue to lose their homes to natural disasters, and countless others will lose their lives to these catastrophes. Marginalized and indigenous communities will lose the lands they once inhabited and their culture. Pipelines like the DAPL or the Keystone XL will be built, continuing to endanger water supplies and surrounding wildlife. Industrial expansion will also come to an end after the natural resources that sustain it are finally depleted,

and millions will lose their jobs.

We could both step away from all of this, forgetting, avoiding consciousness about all of these uncomfortable truths. It’s easier to sleep at night that way.

You could also say it’s far too idealistic to believe you can help save the planet. But it’s also far too idealistic to believe that neoliberal economic policy benefits many besides the 1 percent that head multinational conglomerates. And it’s certainly far too idealistic to believe we can continue taking from the environment as we have for decades while ignoring the problems it causes for people and the natural world.

But there is small good to be found. Climate change is a daunting issue, but that doesn’t render your contributions insignificant.

Seemingly negligible victories are all crucial in a greater push for environmental justice. “[In] every small action that we are capable of doing to improve our environment or to improve the lives of people around us, there should definitely be a satisfaction in knowing that you’re doing the right thing,” Nguyen said.

We are privileged enough to not have witnessed the effects of climate change and environmental degradation as a result of economic pressure in our own community. And yet as a part of that privileged group, we have a responsibility to help those at the front lines of this crisis.

And yes, it’s hard. Especially with the current administration, fighting for greater environmental protections and limiting to neoliberal expansion is more of an uphill battle than ever before. The issues of combating climate change, environmental destruction and violations of human rights, while confronting our own role in enabling them, are in no ways easy concepts. Certainly, it’s terrifying to think about all these things — there’s no denying that. But the longer it takes for us to face that fear and the real consequences of our actions, the longer we allow ethical injustices to persist and the world to suffer.

I’ll present a challenge for us: keep investigating and confronting these uncomfortable truths, and avoid the easy way out. Think about expansive environmental degradation and those often forgotten communities whose welfare is too often neglected for the sake of economics.

“If you can localize it to [those groups], and actually start with empathy, and go, ‘Ok, I’m not as impacted right now, but it seems like other people are more “on the front lines” of increased natural disaster, flooding, losing shoreline, economies being hurt as species aren’t available...” Bellows remarked. “If you focus there, you might be able to realize, ‘Oh. Maybe that could be us.’”

THINGS YOU W

BY MIGUEL DICKENSON & STEVEN DENG

CARING FOR EARTH In the spirit of Earth Day, the Tribune decided to dedicate a section to Earth-related issues: climate change and its causes, yes, but also some glimpses at what we can do about it, be it through fighting ignorance or thrift shopping.

Climate change will affect everyone, including you, and in more dramatic ways than just rising temperatures. The following is a list of various things that’ll be gone, or largely affected, in the future due to global warming if we fail to take appropriate measures.

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BY MIGUEL DICKENSON, ELISA FANG, ARMAAN RASHID & SRAAVYA SAMBARA Ninety-nine percent of scientists have come to the conclusion that our earth is warming unnaturally. But only 69 percent of citizens agree.

Let’s explore that gap: do any of the common arguments against climate change have any merit?

ONE MAN‘S TRASH...

BY ELISA FANG, SHEYDA LADJEVARDI, SKYLER SPEARS, KATIE WILLIAMS & CLAIRE ZHANG Cue the dumb, cliche phrase: “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Second-hand clothing has long existed within the fashion industry — and its appeal has been increasing within the last few years. As the fashion of the ‘80s and ‘90s returns, and the wasteful, immoral results of fast fashion revealed, thrift shopping has become a practice not only fueled by necessity, but by curiosity and the pursuit of the eco-friendly as well.

American Cancer Society Discovery Shop The American Cancer Society Discovery Shop is similar to the Hospice in that they both support organizations and are primarily charitable shops. But the Discovery Shop, representing such a big organization, holds its reputation a little higher, identifying “more as a boutique, and less of a thrift store,” says Julie Pearson. She’s one of the store managers of the Pleasanton, which is one of 48 shops on the west coast alone.

In the little shop, selling clothing, appliances, jewelry and even flower bundles, price their items individually, often adding a tag right on top of the original tag.

Hospice Thrift Shoppes Hospice Thrift Shoppes is a chain of six thrift shops around the Bay Area that supplements the costs of in-patient living at the Brun’s House, a six bed facility whose mission is ensuring “compassionate and dignified end-of-life care in a home like setting,” according to their website.

“Depending on their insurance, [the patient] might not be able to pay all of the bills,” Nicole Kannier, the store manager of the Walnut Creek branch, states. So, the community pitches in, and “strictly [through] donations,” friends and family of the patient as well as unused items from local businesses supply the charity stores with enough oddities and one-of-a-kind items to fulfill the hunt for curiosities that comes with thrift shopping.

Depop Unlike most standard thrift shops, Depop is a mobile application that allows for people all around the world to put their items for sale and purchase other sellers’ items. Depop serves the same purpose of any other thrift store, all from the comfort of one’s own phone. Having this platform grants people the opportunity to easily recycle clothing, rather than support fast fashion industries. The culture surrounding thrift can only prosper as economically and environmentally literate people continue to discover the practice of thrifting, and the thrill of the hunt continues.

“You’re also not supporting the sweatshop industry where thousands of workers are underpaid and overworked for people’s fashion choices,” said Depop seller Daniela Gomez.

The culture surrounding thrift can only prosper, as economically and environmentally literate people continue to discover the practice of thrifting, and the thrill of the hunt continues.

Counterargument 1: “Models are unreliable” Models are the easiest way to communicate data — so the idea that models are unreliable is a low-rent argument that the data behind climate change, as a whole, is unreliable. And on a technical level, that argument is not unfounded. Data, in its purest, vaguest form, is just the product of a study then used for reference or analysis. Which means, what actually makes a “study” is left to a simple structure of a question to answer, an experiment and a conclusion, if even that. Not a single scientist can write a single brilliant paper and establish a scientific precedent for the immediate future. Data is not credible on its own; scientific consensus comes from years and years of dispute and peer review.

Unfortunately, media, both for and against climate change, often misrepresent this, and that can lend itself to bias — how conservatives cherry-pick scientific studies that say climate change isn’t real, and liberals cherry-pick the studies that don’t acknowledge nuclear energy as a possible resolve for it.

The bigger point here, is that individual data from a single study is not science, and shouldn’t be treated with the same credibility science should be.

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Counterargument 2: “It’s a conspiracy” The idea that climate change is a conspiracy driven by “corrupt, agenda-driven scientists,” in the words of popular InfoWars correspondent Paul Joseph Watson, has been around ever since scientists have been discussing the issue.

“They’ve been proven wrong time and time again, because they’re lying to you, so why should we believe them now?” says Watson in his video “‘Global Warming’ is a Crock of Sh*t” which, it should be noted, has been viewed over 600,000 times on YouTube, and has 19,000 likes as opposed to 11,000 dislikes. Climate change conspiracy theorists are not fringe characters; they do have an impact on the public consciousness (a 2013 poll showed that 40 percent of Americans believe climate change is a hoax) and thus are worth considering.

To go through and defeat Watson’s arguments “proving” climate science wrong, which largely consist of cherry-picking statistical anomalies — most notably, he shows global temperature trends only as far back as the 1990s to make

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WILL AND WON’T HAVE AFTER CLIMATE CHANGE

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THINGS YOU WILL HAVE Allergies Allergies proliferate during the spring. Watery eyes, constant sneezing, and a runny nose, these symptoms will continue to get worse and last longer if nothing is done about global warming. With increasing temperatures, the period during which plants release pollen lengthens, and with more CO2 in the atmosphere as well, the amount of pollen in the air has been increasing and will continue to as warming worsens, so make sure to bring extra tissues to school.

never being able to taste chocolate for the rest of your Well, it could easily become a reality, scientists say. produced from West Africa, where drought is already e and becoming worse every day. Because cocoa reecial conditions in order to thrive, a change in temkill off all plants by 2050. Goodbye, M&Ms; goodbye, bye, fancy dark chocolate; goodbye, my old friend.

“Natural” Disasters When water heats it evaporates into water vapor in the atmosphere.

And water vapor is one of the ingredients of intense storms. So after global warming, storms that develop will become even more deadly than they originally were. There’s already been a large increase in the number and severity of hurricanes and wildfires in recent years.

Flooding will worsen; drought will run rampant, that could lead to crop failure, and ultimately famine, disease, and death.

namely industrial work — and the production of greenhouse gas. Ever since the invention of the spinning jenny, a machine for spinning, created at the start of the industrial revolution, humans have embarked on a seemingly never ending trek towards efficiency and perceived comfort, stopping at nothing to get there. In 1760 a bomb of unabating progress was ignited and, sure enough, progress ensued. We pursued efficient spinning mills, and achieved that, a steam engine, and achieved that, transcontinental railroads, and achieved that, the telephone, and achieved that, and now the internet, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, multi-use space rockets, and CRISPR, to name a few, have all come into fruition from the seeds of the industrial revolution. Along the way, there has been little concern for the implications of such massive projects. It is comparable to building a giant house of cards on top of a mountain on a windy day without worrying of its potential collapse. There are a myriad of projects which generate greenhouse gases but I will only highlight a few.

According to the Union of Concerned Citizens, cars, on average, emit approximately 24 pounds of carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) for every gallon of gas. As a result, transportation accounts for 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. And this number has been on a steady incline since 2007 when emissions had been expected to increase by 80 percent until 2030. The significance of this statistic lies in how catastrophically greenhouse gas presence in the atmosphere will be inflated by the near doubling of its greatest contributor (transportation).

This figure (the doubling) can be attributed to the fact that the number of licensed drivers in the U.S has been increasing at about 2,107 people per year since 1990 and car manufacturers have not have not sufficiently transitioned to more renewable fuel sources. Fuel economy is getting better. However, the 2,107 new drivers each year cloud this progress. Additionally, it can be argued that this increasing efficiency is due to the increasing price of oil and not genuine interest to revolutionize our energy production. Looking at the graphs, there is a direct correlation between the drastic rise in oil prices since 2004 and the escalating of fuel efficiency.

It is equally important to note that fuel economy in the U.S still lags behind that of Europe and Japan’s. Until further notice, our deeply rooted transportation system is a menace towards greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately, global warming.

NKING ENIALISM

ut that circular logic is itself a fallacy, t does little to convince someone who fundamentally in the nefarious intengovernments and other such organiza-

much more valuable to examine that n of intention: what nefarious motive y, the United Nations have in store by the wool over our eyes with the myth of change? If it’s the implementation of a nist-authoritarian New World Order, ted Nations sure does have a strange encouraging neoliberal capitalist polits 2015 Sustainable Development Agenicularly the section on “decoupling”). ps that’s just institutional gaslighting,

terargument 3: not manmade” are some in the denial group who live ge zone — where they concede that clihange is occurring but do not believe it d by man. In tangent with the “cycles of and cooling” argument, these people at the changing temperatures observed re part of another natural cycle — “nating the operative word here. They do rpret causation between the prodigious ouse gas emission of today and earth’s mperatures. portant to first elucidate the aforemenconnection between human activity —

Conclusion There are many more arguments against the reality of manmade climate change that are worth considering — but this treatment of the most common arguments is a good start. Denialists are worth reckoning with, though, because they still represent a potent ideological force in America.

BY OCE BOHRA & HARSHITA NERALLA

like the earth has not warmed signifineglecting to show how the past few of warmth compare overall to the cenn record — would be redundant with ier sections of this article. Instead, the s of conspiracy thinking itself is worth ating. l strains of climate conspiracy exist, generally revolve around the idea that ts are engaged in the faking of data to certain agenda — in the most severe s seen as part of a larger effort by comor authoritarians (who may be found nited Nations, the Democratic Party, or re) to exert control over society by taky fossil fuels and implement disgustingctivist” approaches to human society. convenient about this is that all sciendence can be dismissed as part of this so conspirators are caught in a circular here their conclusion (climate change is da that doesn’t hold any basis in fact) nto the premise (the “facts” supporting change are created by people with an . It is extremely difficult to pull someof this kind of circular logic — one can

IN HONOR OF NATIONAL POETRY MONTH, A POEM FOR EARTH DAY

e top climate change concern throughout the globe. eason. With increasing temperatures, water evapond soil is drier. So even when it does rain, water is not e soil, but rather left on the surface to feed into a porought leads to food shortage; we know this. One bilon agriculture as their primary source of food. Many will be put at risk after global warming.

avenoir the trees have been calling to me these days pressing their roots further and further against my skin in hopes of feeling something alive i retreat into myself like the newest edition in a set of matryoshka dolls * what people don’t realize is age comes with what is new life is not only the way your heart pumps erratically but the centuries of ancestors before you breathing and living and killing and dying and sinning and looting and burning in the name of progress you accumulate that weight throughout the centuries like a stone pressed up against your forehead and you disavow it i dissolve it from your bones and let it settle into mine the earth accepts the dead and with it, their history what is the word for when your body is no longer your own? for when you withdraw deeper and deeper into yourself in search of that last haven only to look up at the sky and see your dead flesh splayed out against the clouds and spewing from the ends of cars? inversion, that’s it the word for when what’s sacred and untouchable slides into the place for the temporary and the easily forgotten and vice versa the trees have been calling to me these days and i let them creep into my veins to drink up the last vestiges of life life slows like a heartbeat and history flows backwards until they die with an axe on their backs and the taste of the past on their roots they drain the last bit of youth from my hips until all I’m left with is the taste of sulfur, of carbon of spewing volcanoes and poisonous seas and that is death, when bones alone can no longer hold a history so they release it to the wind * i let the dolls in between shrivel, until all that is left is me now, and me before, and the space between

OPINIONS

8

APRIL 26 2018

YOU’RE MISSING OUT ON THE DEAL

BY ARMAAN RASHID Co-Editor-in-Chief

Dear Reader, All this talk of a “polarized” and “divided” nation is misleading: if all politics is just a negotiation of sympathies, and it is, we’re only divided because this is the first time we really have to negotiate.

Actual, capital-P Policy is just a negotiated sympathy — the ongoing debate about DACA and the border wall is something like a negotiation of just how much sympathy our government is willing to have for immigrants, for what kind of immigrant.

Almost all political moves can be interpreted this way, and I think it’s perhaps the most interesting way to view them. A recently negotiated sympathy culminated in the Supreme Court’s decision to nationally require states to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples, a move that — while practical, in the sense that marriage affords many practical benefits — also functioned as a sort of signal, a legally symbolic validation of same-sex love as much as one of same-sex marriage, in the same sense that marriage validates love for people in society generally. As much as it was a policy move it was also a negotiated sympathy for queer people, a strange sort of recognition.

There are a lot of reactionaries — that is, people or organizations opposed to political change in society — out there today; indeed, they are something of an animating force these days, trying to renegotiate sympathies back to what they once were. “Reactionary” is, itself, an

We are constantly cutting deals to get one over the other; to avoid pain, to maximize pleasure. inflammatory word that brings to mind an inflammatory person with a tower to his five-letter last name, but it’s not always so; sometimes, reactionaries, and their renegotiation of sympathies can be thoughtful, disarming and considered.

Consider the case of Them Before Us, a website dedicated to advocating for “traditional marriage” through the lens of “children’s rights” — basically, the website aims to advocate against gay marriage without necessarily advocating against gay people.

The website features numerous accounts from the children of same-sex parents recounting their lives with their parents, and how not

having a mother and a father damaged them.

All of these people are quick to assert that they harbor no ill will towards actual queer people, but only that they advocate traditional marriage.

These stories are laced with the usual dog-whistles — references to the “gay lifestyle” and the “gay agenda” — but the truth is that they are, for the most part, genuinely sad.

These are people actually damaged by their same-sex parents, and in that sense, these stories are ingenious moves in terms of renegotiating a sympathy.

The worst of these stories is the utterly horrifying account of Moira Greyland, daughter of (formerly) revered feminist sci-fi author Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Greyland’s account, published on the site that preceded Them Before Us, Ask the “Bigot,” is nothing short of harrowing. In it, she describes how her parents — who divorced, and then both had samesex relationships — indoctrinated her with the belief that, one, all men are gay and thus no one would ever want her, and two, that it was normal and natural for everyone — even kids — to have sex.

That’s unsettling enough before you even get to the actual, repeated and violent sexual abuse from her mother and father, which is horrific and doesn’t need to be repeated in detail here. Even more alarming is some of the abuse of other children she describes at the hands of her father — some of which happened in public, at parties and in front of other families, even in front of some of those children’s parents. Horrific doesn’t even begin to communicate it.

So when, at the end of her column, Greyland comes right out and says that “it IS the homosexuality that is the problem,” I didn’t bristle — I felt an overwhelming flush of sympathy for her position, even as I could recognize that she might be wrong on a logical level. In blaming “homosexuality” for the things that happened to her and other children, Greyland says some questionable things in this section of her story — she strangely assumes that everyone in the “gay community” believes that “everyone is closeted” — but her ideological clarity, in its own, strange way, felt sort of inspiring. The renegotiation was done.

If I left the narrative here, it would be very easy to paint feminism and gay marriage and leftist social politics more generally as evil, nefarious and, most crucially, violent. But of course, this would be bias by selection: I have neglected to talk about the well-documented histories of violence against women and queer people,

but that’s the thing — they’re well-documented, or at least better-documented than stories like Moira Greyland’s. Who do we sympathize with?

Bias by selection is, in fact, key here. A horror story like Greyland’s, supported with the other, less-horrifying-but-still-sad stories that are all over Them Before Us, starts to build an image of what causes violence — gay marriage, and though no one comes out and says it, gay people and their “lifestyle.” But Them Before Us, ingenious renegotiator it is, is still in the minority. Images of queer people being subjected to violence at the hands of homophobic straight people now saturate pop culture — a few weeks ago, the (brilliantly unhinged) CW show “Riverdale” used the horrors of gay conversion therapy as a throwaway plotline.

This is the deal: between who is “really” violent and who is not, between who’s got the chainsaw and who’s just fighting for their rights with the shirt on their backs, maybe a steak knife if they can get hold of one. The chainsaw is powerful, but everyone wants to look like they’ve got the knife.

I’m not really interested in making a point about gay marriage as an issue as much as I am interested in noticing the deals that happen.

The people in power always get the sympathy — as sympathies shift, so does the power structure.

The nonviolent civil rights movement made huge progress for several reasons, but among them was that nonviolent protest, especially as depicted, made it seem like white people had the chainsaw (which they very much did).

Nowadays though, there’s still so, so far to go, we theoretically live in a society where it’s not okay to be openly racist, but liberals and conservatives alike support neoliberalism. Capitalism kills — or at least is violent — towards a lot of people, and yet it’s perfectly acceptable for

people (most recently, though there are many examples, King’s College professor Emily Skarbek) to go on about the benefits of sweatshops in terms of helping the world’s poor. Who cut that deal?

The people in power, of course, who generally benefit from neoliberal exploitation of cheap, foreign labor. (I should note, dear reader, that for the most part we are very much included in this definition of the people in power.) But I also wonder about the usefulness of seeing everything in terms of hierarchy, in terms of the powerful, even if that hierarchy offers beautiful, overwhelming intellectual relief: these are the people in power, the people siphoning pleasure from your pain in some act of violence.

The basest hierarchy is the one between pain and pleasure, because it is a hierarchy of desire: we want one over the other. We are constantly cutting deals to get one over the other; to avoid pain, to maximize pleasure. Moira Greyland probably sees homosexuality the way she does to avoid pain; rich politicians cut taxes for rich people to maximize pleasure. Almost every political decision can be seen like this.

Look for long enough and then you’ll become ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF SARAH KIM jaded about the fundamental self-interests of pain and pleasure and be really invested in the coolness of your own “freethinking” jadedness, as it seems to be happening to so many of us young people in particular, until that cynicism becomes non-negotiable.

What I’m trying to get at, dear reader, is that I get incredibly overwhelmed by politics, even as I have strong political beliefs, because how could you not be? I think I go on the Internet less than the average young person, and still it is hard not to be subsumed by a feeling of boundless tragedy and violence, but I engage with the stuff anyway, because if I didn’t, I would definitely be minimizing my pain. That feels like giving in somehow.

Beneath the feeling of terrorized paralysis, my lack of years has still managed to sneak some idealism in there, a belief in a utopian alternative, where, in the words of Hannah Black, “it is still possible to negotiate between pain and pleasure, on the vanishing edges of pain and pleasure, as if cutting a deal, the best deal, a beautiful deal.”

MONTHLY EDITORIAL CARTOON: ‘TRUMP STORY’ CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: The Wildcat Tribune encourages all readers to respond to important issues by creating and submitting a letter to the editor or an editorial cartoon. Letters to the editor and editorial cartoons should reflect a perspective on contemporary culture or politics or respond to a past Wildcat Tribune article.

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EDITORIAL POLICY: Columns and guest contributors do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Wildcat Tribune. The Wildcat Tribune encourages all readers to respond to all articles or important issues by writing a Letter to the Editor. Columns and letters in the Opinions section are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. The Wildcat Tribune reserves the right to refuse or edit any letter submitted for publication. Letters must be signed with a full name and contact information. Letters may be emailed to wildcattribunestaff@gmail.com or delivered through campus mail.

CARTOON COURTESY OF SUMUKH CADPAKAR

APRIL 26 2018 OPINIONS ASK AMANDA: CRUSHES, DESTIGMATIZING DV COLLEGE & CONFUSION MENTAL ILLNESSES

9

BY AMANDA SU Co-Editor-in-Chief Everyone,

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions this issue!

Since April is the month right before college decisions, prom and graduation, it’s understandable that everyone is going through their own existential crises.

For my second to last advice column this year, I decided to help people tackle many of the issues that I’ve personally dealt with myself throughout high school (and answer the occasional question that made me snicker).

— Amanda Q: How do I raise my grade last minute?

— A Dead Grade Walking A: “You don’t. And even if your class has some kind of test bail-out/quiz drop, that won’t help you if you’ve been failing your tests this entire semester. I know.” — Elisa Fang If you’re really desperate though, you could somehow ace the final and bring your grade up at the last second. To do that, make sure you take advantage of every opportunity possible to ask your teacher and peers for help. Ask your teacher, “What can I do to study?” or “Are there any additional resources I could use to help me study?” Good luck! I feel your pain.

— Amanda Q: Is the yearbook so desperate for material that it has created an advice column?

— He who shall not be named A: No. Not yet. I love news.

— Amanda Q: Why am I alone at prom :( ??

— Sad boi A: It’s a social construct that you have to ask someone or be asked. You could (1) ask someone to go with you as a date or just as friends (2) go with a group of friends. And if neither of those are options for you, then just don’t go. Don’t pay hundreds of dollars to go prom and not have a good time. Put on your sweatpants, stay at home and binge watch an entire TV show. That’s also an equally good time.

— Amanda Q: I don’t know what’s more appealing: an Ivy League education or the idea of it. Freshmen year, doors seemed wide open, and they slowly started to close more and more. How do I know if my goals are even the same as they were? How do I know if I’m doing enough to get into an Ivy??

— confusedscholar A: Answers based on my personal experience and testimonies from several of my other classmates: You never know. But you shouldn’t do whatever you’re doing in high school because you want to get into an Ivy. Setting your eyes on that kind of goal just leads to a low self-esteem and doing a lot of stuff that you hate. I know from personal experience. Focus on (1) doing well in your classes and getting good grades because you genuinely want to learn and prove that you have a firm grasp of your course material and (2) following your passions. Join clubs that you’re interested in and make the most out of every opportunity to pursue your passions. Ivy Leagues are not your passions.

If college admissions has taught me anything, it’s that the whole Common App, essay writing (the pouring-“yourself”-onto-a-page) process is SO MUCH easier if, throughout high school, you actually did things you enjoyed. Otherwise, you just find yourself scrambling to justify why it is you did what you did in high school and trying to write about how it contributed to some “life goal.”

So seriously, if you want to go to an Ivy League, don’t think about wanting to go to an Ivy League, and just do your own thing. Ultimately, it’s not up to you. The admissions process is insane. There’s no formula to get in. There are so many factors other than “how good you are.” (“Read my column in the last issue.” — Armaan) — Amanda Q: So there’s this guy I like, and yes, I’ve checked the list for whether someone actually likes someone or the idea of them. The problem is I can’t seem to figure out for sure if it’s requited, because sometimes it feels like it is and sometimes it doesn’t. (Spoiler alert: we’ve never talked) One of my friends suggested that you “be friends first”, but that doesn’t really seem to make sense, because how can you act... “natural” if you really like that person? Thanks in advance, — Outoflove A: Okay, so I think the first thing you need to do is talk to the guy first. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but if you haven’t ever talked to him before, the likelihood of you actually liking him for who he is and not just for his appearance is very low. And how could he possibly express any kind of reciprocation of feelings if you two have never talked before? What if

he doesn’t even know who you are?????????? So you should always get to know someone first before you even start thinking about whether or not you like the person or if they like you.

— Amanda Q: How do I get a W on Fortnite?

— Lord Farquad A: You can’t.

— Amanda

Q: How do I know if the guy I’m chasing is a [insert a kinder word for f-boy]?

— not looking for a f-boy A: Check the hair.

— Amanda Q: I am going to community college this year instead of going straight to college and I feel likes my mom doesn’t like that and now I am really feeling bad because of it. Should I feel bad when all my friends know their future past from high school and I don’t know mine?

— Bob A: There is no one “right” path to take after high school. Although many DV students do end up going directly to a four-year college, that’s not the only option, and it’s not necessarily the better option.

Ivy Leagues are not your passions ... just do your own thing.

And I promise you that even the people who are going straight to a four-year most likely don’t know their future past high school. Maybe they know what they’re going to major in, but a majority of the people I know, including myself, are still figuring it out as they go. And plans change! Take comfort in knowing that literally no one can, with 100 percent certainty, know what their future is. In fact, it might even be better for your future to be more open so you have more flexibility as you change and the times change.

— Amanda Q: College seems so scary — Afraid A: Yeah.

— Amanda Q: How are the first 2 months leading up to college admissions really for seniors?

— Salt Master A: Rough.

— Amanda Q: Is it better to play it safe when picking your college or take a big risk? I am unsure whether I should challenge myself and discover a bunch or stay comfortable and certain of success.

— confused senior A: Even though it’s a lot scarier, I would say that you should go to a college that will challenge you. College is a time during which you should be trying new things and going out of your comfort zone. Take the risk! And if it really doesn’t fit you, transferring is always an option.

— Amanda Q: As a senior, this time of year has been a bit nerve wracking. Of the colleges I applied to, I only got into two, both of which have some flaws that make them less than favorable. I try not to care so much (it isn’t the end of the world, I know), but seeing friends and peers achieve their dreams and get into wonderful colleges is contributing to my already low sense of self worth. On top of it all, everyone is asking me where I’m headed, and I don’t know what to say. How do I get through the day without feeling terrible about myself?

— Semi-Sad Senior A: When I was in the middle of applying to colleges and waiting for results, my very wise mother sat me down one day and gave me a lot of great advice: Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where you go to college.

It’s what you make of your opportunities there. There are plenty of people who go to really prestigious colleges who struggle because (1) they get a false sense of security and confidence, losing their motivation to learn more and improve or (2) they had to try way too hard to get into their dream college in high school and barely got in, so once they’re in that college, they realize that it is too intense for them.

Use the fact that you didn’t get into your dream college as something to motivate you to work even harder in the future. Take some classes over the summer to prepare yourself for next year. Know that no matter how successful and unsuccessful people seem right now, in the end, what matters isn’t where you go to college but what you do there.

— Amanda

BY RIYA BINDLISH Sports Copy Editor

The hallways look a lot different now — at least to me.

I see something that I didn’t see before. It prowls around, consuming us, slowly, and attacking us at our weakest moments. Yes, there’s a creature hidden in the shadows. One that is constantly overlooked, yet omnipresent and deadly: mental illness.

It’s human nature to run when things get scary. It’s our fight or flight response, but our flight has thrust us into a new realm of denial. The refusal to accept and understand mental illnesses (specifically depression), or even worse, to paint an inaccurate picture for ourselves of what being diagnosed with a mental illness truly means (maybe to protect ourselves, or maybe to make it easier to talk about), is what prevents us from finding a viable solution.

There is so much we don’t know, and the barrier to that knowledge is ourselves. I acknowledge that depression exists, definitely, but do I ever bother to understand what that means at Dougherty? The easy answer is no. The harder one is “Yes … kind of ... maybe? Can I even fathom what it means to have a mental illness?” No, I really can’t. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.

I have constantly pondered over the issue of mental health, and tried to ask myself questions: what does being depressed really mean? Have we created an irreversible environment at our school where, while we recognize that mental illnesses are naturally occurring and detrimental to our health, we still stigmatize them? I only ended up with a superficial response that I secretly know will create no change: “Yes, we need more awareness centered around mental illnesses.”

As if nobody has said that before.

And that’s when I realized that while I may have this ready-made response in my head, this answer that I created for myself was ultimately preventing me from understanding what it means to have a mental illness, and what “fixing” the issue might mean. In other words, I had created a scapegoat for my thoughts, in the sense that I had alleviated my own mind to a point where I avoided the issue.

And to be completely honest, I was terrified to know more, and a lot of us are, because it makes the problem “real.” It solidifies it, and suddenly mental illness is no longer that issue you read about in books or in health class. That issue that you say will never happen to you, or those around you, is happening. Very much so.

The idea that we can struggle with a mental illness, and are susceptible to them, is scary. We shut things out when we’re scared, we go and hide under the bed. We know that it’s there, but we refuse to get out and simply try to understand what it actually is.

So we make a version for ourselves: a version that helps us deal with and understand this untouchable subject, a version so watered down that it can’t even compare to the reality. And when we have a simple problem, it’s easy for us to come up with a solution for ourselves, even though we know subconsciously it won’t change a thing.

“It’ll be ok.”

“It’ll go away.”

We can fool ourselves into thinking we can understand what it takes to alleviate mental illnesses, such as depression, without actually empathizing with these individuals. However, it is blatantly wrong to try to find a solution when we don’t even know what the problem is.

And in complete truth, it is somewhat selfish to live in our own glorious world of lies, when there are many who can’t be open about how they feel or what they go through every day for fear of being a burden, and of scaring their friends and family. I have done it, and maybe you have too, so let’s learn from that.

In an attempt to break out of this world of lies, I recently asked Kaihan Qazan, a Dougherty sophomore who is clinically diagnosed with depression, to give me insight into his illness.

“I kind of knew it all along, so when I was actually diagnosed, it was just confirmation and relief that I’m not feeling down all the time for no reason,” said Qazan.

“My peers were very surprised because I do such a good job of putting [on] this happy face and smiling all the time.”

When asked about the effects of raising awareness about mental health at Dougherty, Qazan said, “[Awareness] stops people from making people happy because, ‘Oh crap, they’re depressed.

There’s no way I can make them happy.’

It’s bringing it to people’s attention that this is real, and instead of us putting on a mask, and having nobody know, people would have a general idea, and it’s something we want to keep more private than public.”

Once again, our reactions to the idea of depression are what ultimately stopsthose with mental illnesses from feeling comfortable talking about it.

It creates a different kind of stigma. Not a “what is wrong with you?” sort of stigma, but a pitiful one, which is worse in some ways.

I dived even deeper, and finally got the nerve to ask my friend about what they go through. Out of respect for their privacy, I’ll refer to them as Betty. Betty’s answer was by no means expected, but it completely changed my view on what I thought depression was.

“Depression to me is stifling. I lose the effort to do anything, like homework.

Suicidal thoughts can plague my mind, and sometimes I cry myself to sleep.

Sometimes I feel so low I stare at my wall for hours on end, feeling broken beyond repair,” Betty explained. “Depression is like the lava in a volcano; you hold all the magma in, pressure builds, and then you explode. Depression feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”

Based on my conversations with Qazan and Betty, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two sides of depression.

First, there is the perception by those who don’t suffer from it, the assumption that it’s a constant state of sadness, but that presumption couldn’t be farther from the truth. And then there is there is the more complex, more nuanced reality.

Those with depression can feel happy.

They can laugh. They can love.

She continued, “I’m tired of people ro-

“Depression is feeling the warmth of the sun on your face and remembering what peace looks like, because you’ve forgotten what life with light is.

Depression is dancing without a care in the world, and [having] supportive friends.”

— Betty, DV sophomore manticizing my mental illness, because people don’t realize that I feel joy and sometimes I’m so incredibly happy. Depression is feeling the warmth of the sun on your face and remembering what peace looks like, because you’ve forgotten what life with light is. Depression is dancing without a care in the world, and [having] supportive friends.”

By treating those with depression as those who can’t feel anything besides sadness, you confine them to that state of mind and that despair. You limit their ability to feel joy because they are seen as those who can’t.

We are terrified of the creature, but little do we realize that we feed it with stigma and ignorance.

Is there a solution? Can you “solve” mental illness? I don’t know. And we don’t have to. Instead of taking a placebo and tricking ourselves into thinking that there is a simple solution that truly does nothing but comfort yourself, take baby steps.

Learn about it, talk about it, and most of all, love and support those who need it.

The hallways look different.

I see depression. I see bliss. I see despair.

I see hope. I see isolation. I see friendship.

I see weakness, but I see so much more strength. I once saw a creature.

SPORTS APRIL 26 2018 ALYSSA O’BRIEN “SCORES” LACROSSE SURVIVES MUSTANG SCARE HER WAY INTO COLLEGE 10

BY TEJU ANAND Staff Writer

DV sophomore Alyssa O’Brien, captain of the women’s varsity soccer team and midfielder of the lacrosse women’s varsity team, has received D1 soccer scholarship to attend UC Santa Barbara for her higher education.

“UCSB was definitely my top school for soccer. I honestly didn’t know which sport I was going to commit at a school for and it ended up being soccer and I am really really happy with it because UCSB is just like the perfect school for me,” O’Brien said.

Apart from playing for DV, O’Brien also plays for Mustangs Soccer at Danville. She has a large amount of experience as she has been playing soccer for about 10 years, starting in kindergarten.

“I enjoy it because it is like an exit in life, a way to let out everything that I am feeling. If I have a bad day or if I am mad that day, then I will play really aggressive. Since I am on a high and competitive level, it is okay.

It is fun, and it’s just a way for me to let out everything that I am feeling,” O’Brien said.

A player’s love for the sport is one of the key factors in getting a scholarship. According to O’Brien, it is important for the players to stay in touch with their main coach and also their club coaches. More importantly, it is very important to stay in touch with as many colleges as possible, so that the coaches know the player’s interest and involvement in the sport. After that, the coaches come to the players tournament and showcases to see how the player plays. Then the college coaches con-

tact the player or the coach if they are interested in the player.

“Besides the obvious of being an extremely talented soccer player. She earned everything she has coming. I want that to be very clear. She earned that D1 scholarship due to her hard work, determination and responsibility. Her soccer skills are only a small piece to her success and scholarship.” coach Luis Siu said, reacting to her invitation.

Sports run in her blood; her dad played basketball and soccer. Her mom, a Brazilian, played soccer and adores it to this day. Her brother plays football, basketball and soccer.

But her biggest inspiration is her older sister Amanda, who was the captain of the DVHS Women’s Lacrosse team in the 2015 - 2016 season and the 2016 - 2017. She graduated in 2017 and is currently studying at UC Santa Barbara.

“She was the one to encourage me to play sports competitively and now it’s like literally my favorite thing to do,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien received an “Athlete of the Year” award at Gale Ranch in 8th grade and has received all league awards for soccer and lacrosse. Athletes receive a league award when they are chosen as one of the most “outstanding players in the league” by the coaches. She has been in Varsity Soccer and Varsity Lacrosse since her freshman year and was made one of the captains of the Varsity soccer team this year.

“Alyssa is a great kid. She is an absolute joy to coach. I am very fortunate to be able to coach her during the high school season. I know that with the attitude that she has a great head on her shoulders she will be doing far greater things in life than being

THE WILDCAT TRIBUNE www.thewildcattribune.com Facebook: DVHSTribune Twitter: @WildcatTribune Instagram: Wildcat_Tribune The Wildcat Tribune strives to cover the news accurately, fairly and honestly. It is our policy to correct significant errors of fact.

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The journalism class is located in Room 1205 at Dougherty Valley High School 10550 Albion Road San Ramon, CA 94582

EDITORS ARMAAN RASHID & AMANDA SU, Editors-in-Chief ELISA FANG, Managing Editor ANUMITA JAIN, Managing Web Editor TAYLOR ATIENZA & SASHA HASSAN, News Editors BRANDON SHI, Opinions Editor KAVIN KUMARAVEL & MEGAN TSANG, Arts & Entertainment Editors RONIT KUMAR, Sports Editor MIGUEL DICKENSON, Assistant Ops & Sports Editor VIKRAM BALASUBRAMANIAN, Satire Editor SKYLER SPEARS, Photography Editor HARMONIE YACOB, Assistant Photo Editor SARAH KIM & ELAINE PARK, Arts & Graphics Editor RIYA BINDLISH, ANIKA GARG, SRAAVYA SAMBARA, DANIEL SHEN, Copy Editors MAITRI PARIKH, Social Media Editor AMRUTA BARADWAJ, Activities Director

STAFF WRITERS TEJASVI ANAND, OCE BOHRA, PRANAV CHILLAPPAGARI, ERIC CHANG, STEVEN DENG, MICHAEL HAN, ASHITA JEWARGI, AISHA KHANDELWAL, SHEYDA LADJEVARDI, CAROLINE LOBEL, ARSHIA MEHTA, HARSHITA NERALLA, ANOUKI PANTHAGANI, JESSIE TSANG, KATIE WILLIAMS, CLAIRE ZHANG

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR KAREN WANG

ADVISOR MS. RACHEL DECKER

BY STEVEN DENG Staff Writer

Sophomore Alyssa O’Brien received a soccer invite from UCSB this year. // TEJU ANAND

successful in soccer-I know she will be doing some great things in life,” coach Siu said.

She is loved by all her teammates as she has phenomenal athleticism along with leadership skills.

“She definitely deserved it because of her willingness to work on and off the ball as well as her amazing dribbling skills. She just cuts inside with a really quick pace that the defenders can’t keep up with,” co- captain Charley Okmin said.

Alyssa has her life figured out as of now. She is going to UCSB for school after she graduates from high school.

When she is older in college, she wants to study communications and dreams to be a business woman as her adult career.

Despite a tight score in the first half, Dougherty Valley High School’s women’s varsity lacrosse team managed to pull through and ultimately defeat Monte Vista 16-12 in a home game on April 13.

The game started out with the Mustangs gaining possession of the ball after the first draw. They were able to take a shot but it was blocked by goalie senior Nika Shirazi. Regaining possession of the ball, the Wildcats were able to rush it down to the opposing side. About four minutes into the game, sophomore Alyssa O’Brien scored the first goal. The rest of the first half was a tight game and followed a similar pattern, ending with a score of 6-5 with the Mustangs in the lead.

“We knew that we had the ability to win since we were only down by one point, and we were able to come back from that small portion we were down by,” midfielder junior Mei Lani Ferreira said.

Going into the second half of the game, the Wildcats pushed through and quickly scored a goal within the first 2 minutes, evening the score to 6-6. Soon after, they scored two more goals and maintained their lead the rest of the game. In particular, the Wildcats won a majority of the draws throughout the second half. Although the Mustangs played a tough defense, the Wildcats ultimately won the game and defeated the Monte Vista 16-12. Coach Banducci also attributed the team’s great defense, goalie play and “overall good team effort” to their hard-fought victory against Monte Vista.

“The whole game we were doing a good job, but eventually, my coach

Senior Nika Shirazi guards the goal. // HARMONIE YACOB

called a time out and then he gave us like a pep talk and he was like, ‘Okay guys, these are the things you need to do,’ and we really put everything out there on the field that he told us to do and everyone on the team was giving their 100 percent effort,” O’Brien said.

Ferreira agreed and mentioned the improved defense and better communication in the second half of the game: “In the second half we really stepped it up, our defense looked alot better, we were winning the draws, and I think we just ‘woke up’ and really communicated together as a team.”

After barely defeating the Campolindo Cougars 14-13 in an away game just three days before, the Wildcats held a record of 5-6 before facing off against the Mustangs. In regards to their victory against Monte Vista, Banducci stated that, “this is one of our best games in the history of the program, so it was a big win for us.”

Looking forward to the rest of the season, the Wildcats still plan on improving and performing “I think something we can work on is just keeping our heads up and maybe not letting the other team be ahead at all in the first half,” said Ferreira.

Women’s lacrosse’s last few games are against the Carondelet Cougars on April 27, and against the Dublin

DV BASEBALL TAKES UNFORESEEN WIN AGAINST HIGHLYRANKED FALCONS

BY SHEYDA LADJEVARDI Staff Writer

On April 18, the Dougherty Valley Wildcats faced the Foothill Falcons, who rank second out of 25 Northern California teams — and, unexpectedly, took a 3-2 victory for the Wildcats.

The game progressed at a slow pace until the Falcons made their first run home in the top of the fifth inning. Leading up to that point, the Wildcats struggled to score runs, causing tension to rise among the crowd and on the playing field.

This tension increased as the Wildcats struck out in the bottom of the fifth and the Falcons continued to exceed in their offensive and defensive performances, scoring another run home in the top of the seventh inning.

As the end of the game approached, the Wildcats grew dispirited. Fortunately, they struck back during the bottom of the seventh inning. The inning began with seniors William Brega and Ryan Grove hitting singles that conclusively led up to a run home by Brega.

“I knew that my run meant nothing to the team at that point because we needed to score twice, so I was just playing it safe, trying to knock out and then waiting for my team to make a big hit so that I could score,” Brega said. “[But] it definitely got us going and got the ball rolling and started that momentum in the last inning for us.”

That momentum came through in

Junior Owen Griffin steps up to bat against the Falcons. // SHEYDA LADJEVARDI

the last inning, when the Wildcats scored two more runs. With two strikes, junior Xavier Coleman felt the pressure of the game riding on his shoulders. But he left the crowd in awe as he hit a double which drove Grove and junior Brandon Louie to home base.

“I knew I had to stay alive no matter what, and with a touch of luck I was able to pull through for my teammates and scored the game-winning run,” Coleman said.

Grove expressed his excitement when explaining the victory of the team and the effect it had on them.

“I don’t really know what I was thinking, I just remember that I was super happy and I sprinted out to Xavier who hit the ball and it was

just super exciting. I think it was the best win that I’ve ever experienced in high school.”

Brega was similarly elated.

“It was incredible, I have been playing on this team for four years now on a varsity level and we haven’t won that many games but to beat a team like that, in that fashion was…

I really didn’t know how to act, I was just trying to celebrate the hit with Xavier and the rest of my team.”

The final triumph led to an emotional celebration on the field for the Wildcats, potentially setting the tone for more games to come.

The Wildcats face off next against De La Salle on April 27 at home.

SPORTS

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APRIL 26 2018

NBA PLAYOFFS: WHO WILL QUALIFY? EASTERN WESTERN Use the QR Code on the right to vote for who you think will play in the 2018 NBA Final!

RAPTORS:

CELTICS:

76ERS:

CAVALIERS:

Strength: Young talent Weakness: Inexperience

Strength: Lebron James Weakness: Defense

PACERS

HEAT:

BUCKS:

WIZARDS:

Strength: Defense Weakness: Passing

Strength: Victor Oladipo Weakness: Mid-range shooting

Strength: Defense Weakness: Kyrie Irving injury

Strength: Defense Weakness: Playmaking

Strength: Defense Weakness: Shooting

Strength: John Wall Weakness: Defense

ROCKETS:

WARRIORS:

TRAILBLAZERS:

THUNDER:

JAZZ:

PELICANS:

SPURS:

TIMBERWOLVES:

Strength: James Harden Weakness: Turnovers

Strength: Defense Weakness: Turnovers

Strength: Shooting Weakness: Turnovers

Strength: Playmaking Weakness: Defense

Strength: 3-point shooting Weakness: Rebounding

MEN’S TENNIS “SERVES” SOUND VICTORY AGAINST THE SPARTANS

Strength: Rudy Gay signing Weakness: Leonard absence

Strength: Westbrook & George Weakness: 3-point shooting

Strength: Athleticism Weakness: Defense

DV TRACK WINS AT MV

BY ARMAAN RASHID & ELISA FANG Editor-in-Chief & Managing Editor

penetrable wall, nimbly volleying back any attempt by the Spartans to claim a point. “[Our] styles complement each other well,” Sathiya said. “Luckily, we went on to win Despite a rare loss to Amador Valley on that [first set] 6-3, and then win the next six March 29, DV Men’s Tennis has continued games to take the match.”

The first-rank Singles matchup was indictheir season with characteristic strength, deative of where Dougherty struggled most, feating the De La Salle Spartans 7-2 on April however, with the closest plays between 17.

Most of the matches were characterized by sophomore Arjun Sahasrabuddhe and Sparthe ease with which the Doubles 1 players, tan Jeffery Kubota. As both players got used consisting of Team Captain Akshay Sathiya to playing against one another, the first set and Yuval Gottlib, were able to defeat their was characterized by relaxed rallies — to the opponents, though they did struggle in the point where the labored breathing seemed mismatched to the simple sailing of the tenbeginning of the match.

“We were really inconsistent starting out, nis ball across the court. This calm did not and it was an even match through the begin- endure, however, as Sahasrabuddhe began ning of the first set, until the score was tied to rally the ball to the opposite edges of the court, and Kubota dramatically dove for Saat 3-3,” Sathiya said.

Sathiya and Gottlib’s strong synergy even- hasrabuddhe’s soft volley and successfully tually pulled them through, with Sathiya received it, though consequently it brought mostly covering the baseline as Gottlib the Spartan closer to the net. Sahasrabudmanaged closer to the net. Indeed, when dhe’s next hit sailed the ball behind Kubothey were at their peak, Sathiya’s strong ta to win the point, and from then on the serves and Gottlib’s extremely high mobility competition heightened and became a close prohibited the Spartans from doing much battle for who could hold out the longest. of anything. Several times throughout the Kubola put up a good fight, however, matchmatch, Gottlib effectively served as an im- ing Sahasrabuddhe’s deliberate volleys with running stamina of his own. The Spartans ended up taking the first set with a close 5-7.

The second set was approached with greater vigor, and Kubota’s steadfast strength pulled in front of Sahasrabuddhe’s deft responses in an immediate 3-0 lead. However, Sahasrabuddhe was far from giving up, pulling in the next two matches with rallying patterns that often found the Spartan on the floor and even close to a split at one point, because of his attempt to save the ball.

“I felt a little tight initially,” Sahasrabuddhe commented on his performance. “It wasn’t until towards the end that I was Singles 1 player Arjun Sahasrabuddhe prepares to swing. hitting more shots and hitting well.” // AMANDA SU After around one and a half hours into the match, the conditioning of the play-

BASEBALL: Season: 12 - 4 League: 2 - 3

TRACK: (EBAL VS SRV - 100 m) BOYS: 11.67 GIRLS: 12.98

GOLF: Season: 5 - 1 League: 3 - 1

BADMINTON: Season: 5 - 0 League: 5 - 0 LACROSSE(M): Season: 7 - 6 League: 2 - 5

Team Captain Akshay Sathiya and doubles partner Yuval Gottlib high-five between sets. // AMANDA SU

ers became a factor in who would win the match; while Sahasrabuddhe was capable of employing a wider range of strategic plays, Kubota was adept at receiving those plays, and he was consistent in doing so. The game approached a score of 5-4 to the Spartan, and a final call of Sahasrabuddhe’s out meant Kubota took his second set.

Overall, however, DVHS Varsity Men’s Tennis was able to sweep the competition otherwise with an overall score of 7-2.

DV’s strong performance against the Spartans belied a brief loss of confidence after a loss to Amador Valley’s Dons on March 29, which broke a four-year-long winning streak for the Wildcats, with Sathiya noting that the team’s “focus” briefly wavered.

Indeed, Coach Erin Callahan notes that “it’s been a growing season [for the team]. In past seasons we’ve been really stacked; now, the boys are fighting for their place.”

However, strong performances like this one, and their 9-0 win against San Ramon Valley on April 19, demonstrate a renewed confidence.

“We have to turn over a new leaf — we’re definitely more awake now. I can already see it in a lot of the players. We’re excited looking forward to EBALs and NCS,” Sathiya said.

TENNIS: Season: 6 - 1 League: 6 - 1

VARSITY SPRING SPORTS RECORDS

Senior Bayley Robinson prepares to ascend in the long jump event. // HARMONIE YACOB

BY HARMONIE YACOB Assistant Photography Editor On April 11, DV Track and Field team competed in an EBAL meet against the Monte Vista Mustangs.

Starting with the 100m dashes, senior Jake Longson earned himself a personal record with the quickest time of 11.48 seconds.

Coming in after him was junior Ryan Farrior with another fast time of 11.56.

Both Longson and Farrior also had extremely quick times in the 200 m dash with Longson at 23.72 seconds and Farrior followed close behind at 23.79.

Scoring the fastest times for the girls’ teams in the 100m dash were junior Swetha Boaz, 12.90 seconds and sophomore Lauria Sun, 13.37 seconds. Boaz and Sun also had the fastest times for the 200 m dash: Boaz, 27.31 seconds and

Sun, 27.72.

In the 400m dash, sophomore Nicholas Adair ran the quickest time, 56.21 seconds, for the men’s team. For the women’s team, freshman Arianna Horner scored the fastest time, 1:04.03 minutes.

In field events, senior pole vaulter Cameron Armas got not only the highest in the men’s division but his personal record of 13 ft. Junior Steven Bratcher had the furthest long jump of 20 ft, which was also his personal record. In the women’s division, senior pole vaulter Maryam Nazir was the only female DV Vaulter in the Monte Vista meet and earned a personal record of 7 ft 8 in.

Overall, out of 180 athletes competing, an outstanding 80 members earned personal records.

The track team will be competing in EBAL league finals on May 12, at Cal High.

STUNT: Season: 7 - 0 League: 7 - 0

SOFTBALL: Season: 5 - 7 League: 2 - 4

VOLLEYBALL: Season: 5 - 15 League: 2 - 10 LACROSSE(W): Season: 6 - 8 League: 3 - 3

SWIMMING: (PENTATHLON) BOYS: 24.87 GIRLS: 38.23

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MARCH 29 2018